Tis the dry season in Costa Rica and on this side of the mountains, we are under the direct rule of the glaring sun. I walk outside and move from shadow to shade, keeping to the edges of walls and houses. If there were more trees in the Central Valley, the walks would be more leisurely, and, I dare say, with a bit more moisture in the air. But, at present, theres not enough room for trees in most of the urban zones, only cement, asphalt, and houses. Get to the edge of the urban zone and you can smell the change in the air, a scent that speaks of more life.

The absence of rain is further accentuated by wind that rattles the roofs and rushes through the trees. During cold fronts, the wind has a serious hey-day and dares the trees to hang on to stubborn foliage. Down in the lowlands, it even more dry, and the day is accompanied by dust. Cover the optics and roll up the windows because every road is powdered with a fine carpet of dirt just waiting to take flight. I wonder how the birds cope with it but suppose that the dry forest species are more adapted to this fact of dry season life than the birds of the rain on the other side of the country.

Yes, there are birds in those dry, dusty places, and you will see lots of them during the morning hours, especially in the southern part of the Nicoya Peninsula where more forest equals more birds. The rest of the day, they do their hidden thing to keep away from the hot stare of the ruling sun.

I joined this White-throated Magpie-Jay to relish the solid shade of a pruned Beach Almond.

While birding the Rio Gigante area, I was surprised at the number of White-necked Puffbirds.

Not a kingfisher, although the White-necked Puffbird is kind of like one.

We had non-stop birding action from dawn until at least 8:30. In fact, Susan, Robert, and I were late for breakfast because the birds wouldnt stop moving. Olive Sparrow, Rufous-capped Warbler, Banded Wrens, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, and several flycatchers all made it into the list along with several migrants. Ruby-throated Hummingbird was the most common nectivore. It was downright abundant, perhaps because of the high number of flowering trees, and was joined by Green-breasted Mango, Steely-vented Hummingbird, and a few other species of feisty Trochilids.

We also had several beautiful Long-tailed Manakins,

more than one Elegant Trogon (a green instead of copper-hued tail, and a slower, slightly different song than Arizona birds),

Ivory-billed Woodcreeper,

White-lored Gnatcatcher,

and many Myiarchus flycatchers. In fact, Im not sure if I have ever had so many of those crested, rufousy flycatchers at one site in Costa Rica. Great-crested Flycatchers were quite common, we had several Dusky-capped, and

a few Brown-crested Flycatchers,

and many Nuttings Flycatchers.

Out in the fields, Double-striped Thick-knees called, two species of caracaras flopped around, and a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was content with its Texas-like surroundings. The birding was hot and the dust moved along the roads like a pale brown, airborne river but the mornings were pretty impressive. I would guess that 80% of the species on this eBird list were before 9:00 am.

If you are birding Costa Rica anytime from now until early April, be ready for that dust, wind, and sun on the Pacific slope. However, in the morning, you can also be ready for a few, fine birdy hours.

After 9, wash off the dust in the pool until 4, a bird or two might join you.
 

         

                     ,  ,    ,       ,   .
Hear Nebraska is taking over the long-running Lincoln Calling music festival.

The biggest change to the festival will be a focus on more national acts.

Lincoln Calling has been focused on local bands with some touring acts in the mix. In taking the reins from Lincoln concert promoters Jeremy Buckley and Spencer Munson, Hear Nebraska plans to book primarily touring artists to expand the festival.

The 13th annual Lincoln Calling will be held Oct. 6 to 8 in downtown Lincoln, where about 60 artists will perform.

Hear Nebraskas vision is to make the state a globally recognized cultural destination. Lincoln Calling is our newest, awesome tool with which to do it, said Andrew Norman, the nonprofits founder and executive director.

Hear Nebraska also hosts the free concert series Hear Lincoln and Hear Omaha as well as the Good Living Tour, a concert tour that will hit several Nebraska cities for the second time this summer.
On his left forearm Sam Fried carries a reminder of a tragedy so personal, yet so vast, he knows he will never comprehend it.

More than seven decades have passed since he escaped from a concentration camp, but a prisoner ID remains inked on his arm: A-5053.

A Holocaust survivor, Fried has shared his story with thousands of students, and now he hopes a new program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha will help spread the message and lessons of the atrocities to future generations.

Its not for me, not for my children, not for my grandchildren, said Fried, 88, a retired Omaha businessman. Its for humanitys sake.

UNO began offering a minor this semester in Holocaust and genocide studies funded with an endowment established by Fried and his wife, Frances. Fried said he is grateful to community members who have contributed to the fund.

Holocaust and genocide studies programs are becoming more common at colleges and universities nationally, driven by student interest and by the need to keep the Holocaust story alive as survivors pass on, said Robert Williams of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Holocaust education is also becoming more diverse at college, high school and middle school levels, educators say. Along with studying the Holocaust in history classes, students now also learn about it in other ways, whether its reading historical fiction, writing essays or drawing sketches of survivors.

At UNO, students will explore the Holocaust and genocide through history, political science, literature, English, black studies, philosophy, sociology and religious studies. Faculty from a mix of departments will share their expertise.

Lana Obradovic, UNO assistant professor of political science, said the minor is aimed at remembering the victims, understanding the causes of genocide and helping students understand ways to prevent it. Students will learn about genocide during ancient times as well as those in recent decades such as mass killings in Bosnia in the 1990s and ongoing atrocities in Darfur.

Obradovic said the minor is a good complement to such majors as political science, education and social work.

Kelli Robinson, a UNO senior majoring in secondary education, enrolled in the minor because she said it will help when shes teaching the Holocaust to high school students.

I think its extremely relevant, she said.

Robinson first became interested in the Holocaust while in middle school and was initially drawn to the topic because her grandfathers served during World War II.

She was also fascinated by the psychology behind Adolf Hitlers campaign of genocide and was pulled in by stories she read of Holocaust survivors.

Fried began sharing his Holocaust story with students more than three decades ago.

He was just 15 when his family was rounded up in spring 1944 with other Jews in their Czechoslovakian village and sent on a cattle car to Auschwitz.

He remembers the terrible odor, the screams, the guard towers, fences and floodlights.

As he stepped off the train car, a prisoner told him to lie about his age and say he was older.

Fried told the guards he was 18 and was put in a line with other healthy young men. Children, old people and those deemed frail were put in another line. His parents were sent to that line, but before he was separated from them his tearful mother spoke an urgent message: Save yourself.

He never saw his parents again.

Guards stripped Fried of his pants and shirt and he was given striped prison clothes. His head was shaved, and he was inked with his prison ID.

Over the next 10 months, he endured beatings and starvation. In January 1945, he escaped by hiding under a bed as the Nazis lined up Jews for a death march away from the prison camps.

After walking into the woods, he spotted Russian soldiers who pointed him toward safety. He weighed only 80 pounds.

He married after the war, worked as an electrician and in 1949 moved to the United States, living in New York City and taking a job at a ballpoint pen factory.

Fried grew bored with that job after three months and decided Omaha would be a good place to live because it was in the center of the country, making it easy to move somewhere else if things didnt work out.

He found work as an electrician here and later owned and operated an electrical business and raised three children.

Fried and other survivors have played an important role in spurring student interest in the Holocaust, said Liz Feldstern, executive director of the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha.

But even the youngest survivors are in their 70s and 80s, and as they pass on, that eyewitness voice will be lost, making it even more crucial that strong educational programs are in place, said Feldstern, whose organization provides teacher workshops, survivor testimony and other resources in Nebraska.

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were more than a dozen Holocaust survivors in Nebraska sharing their stories with students and now there are just three, she said.

There is a sense of urgency, said Feldstern, whose organization is not tied to Frieds education effort.

In response to the declining numbers, schools locally and nationally have been strengthening and expanding Holocaust education, she said.

For example, Holocaust education is listed as a way high schools can help meet the states social studies standards approved four years ago, said Harris Payne of the Nebraska Department of Education.

It sent a message, he said. Its an important topic to make sure you cover.

Donna Walter, education coordinator for the Institute for Holocaust Education, said students first explore the Holocaust in middle school through reading and writing classes, and now there are more ways of accomplishing that.

There are, for example, more books for teens on the Holocaust than there were 25 or 30 years ago, she said. Middle school students still read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl but now are also reading such books as Number the Stars, historical fiction with a Holocaust theme.

Shelley Erikson, an administrator with the Omaha Public Schools, said the availability of more books has helped improve Holocaust education at both the middle school and high school levels.

Central High School, for example, began offering a Holocaust literature class about 10 years ago.

That was about when Omaha Westside High School began offering an elective that examines the Holocaust and genocide and includes discussion of a Holocaust survivors memoir.

Walter said there was a flurry of new Holocaust books for teens published in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The increase possibly was prompted by the need for other ways to teach about the Holocaust as the survivor count declines, she said.

The rise in the number and variety of books may have helped current college students become more interested in the topic, she said.

She said the books are important, but for students the most powerful way to learn about the Holocaust has been listening to survivors.

Walter, a former teacher, said that when survivors told their stories, the classroom became hushed as the words grabbed students.

Students always had good questions, such as whether the experience shook the survivors faith, how they got to the United States and if they ever saw Hitler.

Fried, the Omaha survivor, said it was common for students to hug him after he spoke, often with tears filling their eyes.

That was the greatest reward, he said. Seeing kids understand.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com
Mom. Mommy. Mother.

There really is no greater joy  or responsibility  than that of motherhood.

Were excited to host our Most Deserving Mom-To-Be contest once again in conjunction with Baby Love, Omaha's Only Baby Fair, which is April 3 at the Baxter Arena, 2425 S. 67th St.

We had a total of 34 wonderful nominations for deserving mothers. Nominations came from moms-to-be, dads-to-be, parents, in-laws, siblings and friends.

This year was, without a doubt, the hardest to choose the top three moms-to-be. Many of your nominations brought my fellow co-workers and me to tears. I wish we could have each and every one of you be momaha.com's most deserving mom-to-be. You all truly deserve that title.

But alas, we can pick only three. Below are the final three extremely devoted moms. Now its up to you  Momaha.com readers  to decide who will be named the Most Deserving Mom-To-Be at Baby Love, Omaha's Only Baby Fair. Winners must be at the 2 p.m. presentation on April 3.

Read the submissions and vote below.

Votes will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. on March 28.

I encourage you to share this post. Happy voting!

****

AMBER WILKINS

Nominated by mom, Bernita Zimmer

I would like to nominate my daughter, Amber Wilkins. She has tried since 2012 to conceive. Each month, she would get her hopes up, only to have them be dashed.

In 2015, she and her husband found out theyd conceived after she had an intrauterine insemination. They were both so excited and happy. Unfortunately, during an ultrasound at six weeks, they discovered the pregnancy was ectopic. An emergency surgery was needed to take both the fetus and the Fallopian tube. Even after the loss, Amber got right back up and moved towards her goals of being a mother. Even though she now had a lesser chance of conceiving due to the loss of a Fallopian tube, they decided to attempt another IUI before the end of the year.

Once again, they were able to conceive. They waited another six weeks to make sure it wasnt ectopic. During this time, Amber gave herself shots daily to keep her progesterone and estrogen levels correct. It was a very long six weeks for everyone, but the day finally came when we learned the pregnancy was viable. Amber continued to be at high risk until her third month, but baby had a strong heart beat and things progressed as scheduled.

She is now four months and one week pregnant, and continues to celebrate each moment of her pregnancy. They take nothing for granted and know they were given a very special gift. Each week that passes brings her and her husband a little closer to the dream they have waited for. They will soon find out if it is a little boy or girl, but they both know it doesnt matter  as long as baby is healthy. I feel she is already a very special mother.

_____

AMANDA EATON

Nominated by husband, Zachary Eaton

I would like to nominate my wife, Amanda Eaton, for the best mother contest. My wife and I have been married for six years. We had been trying to have a baby for a while now, but it did not come easy for us  and with me being in the military and being gone a lot made things even harder.

When we were just four weeks pregnant last fall, I found out I had to leave for a military assignment. Amanda supported me and, though she was alone here in Nebraska for the whole first trimester of her pregnancy, she was a champ and dealt with the tiredness and sickness on her own and with a smile.

She had a health scare with the baby while I was gone, and had to spend time in the hospital by herself. She had to go to appointments alone, but always sent me pictures of our growing girl. It was awful to be apart, but this experience showed me how strong a wife and mother she is. Amanda was working full time and in school full time throughout this entire period also. I know it was hard for her to keep up with everything, but she did. She graduated in December from Clarkson College in Omaha when she was five months pregnant with our baby girl and she did so first in her class with a 4.0 GPA.

Our baby girl is due this May, and I know my wife is an amazing mother already because she has put our baby first throughout her entire pregnancy. I know she will be an amazing role model for our little girl.

_____

LINDSAY SCHELLHARDT

Nominated by husband, Mike Schellhardt

My wife, Lindsay Schellhardt, is the most deserving mom-to-be, even though she is not pregnant herself. My wife and I chose adoption and our baby boy will be born in Florida around April 25.

Our road to parenthood has been a long and winding one. We married in 2002 and started to try for children soon after, with no success. Lindsay underwent many expensive and invasive medical tests, surgeries and other procedures, and we jointly met with reproductive specialists. Lindsay has been pregnant twice throughout this journey. Both pregnancies, however, ended in miscarriages. Even though there is no good medical reason why, we accepted that biological children are not meant to be for us.

Looking back at this journey, we now realize what was in front of us the whole time, though we failed to see it. Adoption is and always was our intended path. As a result, Lindsay diligently met with resources and completed seemingly endless mountains of paperwork to get our adoption journey underway and to keep it moving forward. Her efforts were rewarded when we were selected by a birth mother in December, right before Christmas. What an amazing gift!

This journey has been extremely challenging for us both, but we are so close to meeting our son, which makes every obstacle so worthwhile to have endured. This child will be so loved and cherished by us and our entire family  and this prize would help to take some items off of Lindsay's to-do list as we anxiously await our son's arrival!

___

Can't vote on your mobile device? Click here.
Some ConAgra Foods workers facing a layoff wont have to go far to pass out their resumes.

In what the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce said is an unusual arrangement, ConAgra has invited companies looking to hire information technology workers into its offices Tuesday for an on-site job fair.

The chamber aims to have at least 30 employers participate. Those companies would have access to about 170 information technology employees who have been notified their jobs are being eliminated.

The cuts are part of ConAgras larger efficiency effort, announced in October. The firm is laying off 1,000 office-based workers in Omaha as it restructures its business and relocates its headquarters to Chicago.

Some employees are well into a job search or may already have secured new positions, but others were in shock after the layoff announcements, said Chris Carlson, regional manager for Aureus Group, a staffing firm specializing in information systems and information technology jobs.

Other people take a little bit longer to go through a cycle of change, Carlson said. Tuesday may be the first time theyre showing their resume, or maybe they dont even have one.

Aureus will participate in the Tuesday job fair, which is open only to ConAgra employees. Carlson said the firm can connect workers with either full-time work or a temporary position.

Theres a scarcity of information technology and information systems workers in Omaha, Carlson said. But that doesnt mean every worker will easily pick up a comparable job to what he or she had at ConAgra.

Some of a workers skills may be out-of-date, or may be pertinent mainly to a Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods company. Carlson said Aureus can help an employee think through the options.

If youve been doing one thing for one company for this long, in technology, things change really quickly, she said. Especially if a worker does not want to leave Omaha, sometimes you have to take a couple steps back to go forward.

She said employees who present themselves professionally and are willing to be open-minded will have the most success.

Arlin Halstead, human resources director at IT security firm Solutionary, said he is trying to be open-minded as well. He hopes to fill six to 10 of his 30 open positions with departing ConAgra workers, including software developers and mid-level managers.

He said hes trying to look beyond job titles to see what types of additional aptitudes or skills do they have as it relates to critical thinking or problem solving?

Halstead said he also is willing to wait until after May 27 for ConAgra employees, a date some employees must work through in order to qualify for severance benefits. ConAgra employees have a good reputation for being skilled, with the added benefit they dont need to be sold on living in Omaha, Halstead said.

ConAgra spokesman Chris Kircher said the company wanted to help employees find new, local job opportunities.

We believe this is the right thing to do and provides an opportunity to not only benefit these employees and their families, but also the entire community, he said. ConAgra declined to allow The World-Herald to attend the event.

The event will include a session of speed interviews, as well as the opportunity for private interviews, and a traditional job fair with booths where employers can pass out information, said Sarah Moylan, the chambers senior director for talent.

Ahead of the job fair, the chamber organized a series of job search workshops at ConAgra offices, with help on writing resumes, interviewing and creating or updating LinkedIn profiles. The services are paid for by the chamber and its Prosper Omaha economic development fundraising effort.

The event fits in with the chambers larger effort to keep laid-off ConAgra workers in Omaha. Since October, Moylan said, more than 600 job seekers, about three-fourths of whom are from ConAgra, have partipated in the chambers We Keep Talent initiative, which has included networking sessions and job search assistance.

The effort will continue this spring, and the chamber will evaluate the program this summer to see if it should continue past the point of ConAgras corporate move.

Allowing employees to participate during work hours shows, really, goodwill on the part of ConAgra to do right, and do everything they can to help these employees, Moylan said.

She said the job fair also shows that the wider Omaha business community wants to help.

This wouldnt necessarily happen anywhere, she said.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com

* * * * *

More ConAgra coverage
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP)  A developer is hoping to build the largest solar field in Iowa just northeast of Fort Dodge.

The Messenger reports that the Holliday Creek solar project would produce about 100 megawatts when completed. That's enough to power about 30,000 average homes.

EDF Renewable Energy is currently talking with local landowners about the project, according to Webster County Supervisor Keith Dencklau. The company hopes to sign a 37-year lease for 1,000- to 1,200-acres of land east of the Fort Dodge Regional Airport, south of Badger and west of Vincent.

Dencklau said the company has offered $800 per acre, which would increase 2.5 percent each year.

Leanne Russell Fate, a project developer for the company, said the area was targeted due to the availability of transmission capacity, community interest and suitability of the land.

"While the project does not yet have an offtake arrangement, our customers have expressed an interest in solar in the Midwest and we will continue those conversations as development continues," Fate said.

There's still a lot to consider, Dencklau said, including the impact the solar panels would have on the soil.

The company is also putting together a good-neighbor agreement to ensure that the company gets along with those who live in proximity to the solar project.

The company previously built a large wind turbine farm in southern Webster County, Dencklau said. MidAmerican Energy now owns the farm.

EDF Renewable Energy hopes to have the project running sometime between 2018 and 2020.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Airline-miles junkies typically have one goal for their large balances: swilling Champagne in first class while jetting across an ocean for free. Only rookies burn miles on such things as rental cars, theater tickets and magazine subscriptions.

Delta Air Lines, the worlds second-largest carrier, wants to end that mindset and get people to treat their miles as a form of currency. Sure, fliers can use points to make those business- and first-class tickets more affordable. But this is the beginning of the end for the era of the free ride.

We want people to be able to use those miles not to fly for free but to control your experience, says Glen Hauenstein, Deltas incoming president and architect of the airlines revenue plans.

To do this, Delta plans to adjust the pricing of seats at the front of the plane so more are sold. While Delta now sells just 57 percent of its first- and business-class cabins, the company said in December that it will boost the figure to 70 percent by 2018.

Its a zero-sum game. There are only so many first-class seats on any given flight, said Tim Winship, a mileage expert at Smarter Travel, a TripAdvisor publication. And every seat that gets sold is a seat that is not available for an elite upgrade.

This evolution is the latest step by Delta to pull its business model away from the boom-and-bust economic cycles that have pummeled airlines for decades. Consistent profits are key, and Delta is turning to the front of the plane for some consistency.

Still, Delta risks further alienating members of its SkyMiles frequent-flier program, many of whom were displeased after the company switched to a dynamic pricing system, which means there are regular changes in how many points one needs to land an award seat. That followed several Delta devaluations in what points can net travelers.

Similar steps by American Airlines and United Continental are likely, given that Deltas aggressive efforts to boost revenue have been the industrys most innovative and imitated.

Spokesmen for American and United declined to discuss premium-cabin sales.

Historically, the domestic first-class cabin was a loss-leader, Deltas Hauenstein said. Most of the industrys premium seats went unsold on domestic flights and were assigned at the gate, and there was no real compensation to the airline. He said the traditional airline upgrade system amounts to winning a prize and leaves many customers displeased.

We were really making nobody happy except the person who won the lottery at the gate, Hauenstein said. He said the changes have improved customer satisfaction scores among elite SkyMiles members.

Delta already has experimented with narrowing the gap between the price of first-class and economy tickets. Over time, the aim is for that gap to be just enticing enough to get more travelers to take the plunge to a better cabin.

The loyalty program changes give big spenders many more miles than they used to earn  as many as 75,000 per ticket at Delta  while those flying on less-expensive tickets earn fewer miles. That means top-spending customers are likely to see their mileage balances grow faster than in the past.

The roots of this plan lie in the airline industrys goal of greater segmentation of its traveler base: rewarding high-value customers with greater perks while offering less to those who want the cheapest tickets.

At the three large U.S. network airlines, this has resulted in the emergence of the premium economy cabin: somewhere between economy and business class, with greater legroom, better food and complimentary alcoholic drinks.

Delta wants to sell half of its premium economy seats, called Comfort Plus, by 2018, a sharp rise from the current 36 percent. That also will mean fewer complimentary upgrades to that section of the plane while presenting a new upgrade option for travelers who wont make it into first class or business class.

While selling more premium seats, Delta says it will add additional seats to its fleet by 2018: 1,700 in first class and 6,500 in Comfort Plus.

To be sure, the complimentary upgrade to the front of the plane isnt likely to vanish entirely on the Big Three U.S. network carriers. Top spenders, celebrities and certain others are almost always destined for first class, free of charge.
The U.S. bankruptcies of Spanish energy giant Abengoa SA have left Nebraska strewn with stiffed grain sellers, jammed-up business partners and out-of-luck taxing authorities who are all out big time because of financial troubles far from the rural Midwest.

All told, 11 Nebraska companies and governments and firms with large-scale operations in Nebraska that are among the largest creditors are owed almost $20 million by Abengoa, which operated ethanol plants in Ravenna and York that are now seeking bankruptcy protection as their Spanish parent company teeters on the brink of insolvency.

The list of the largest creditors includes Omaha-grain seller Gavilon and BNSF Railway, along with York and Buffalo Counties, home to the bankrupt Abengoa ethanol plants in York and Ravenna, respectively.

We are very concerned, said Andy Hoffmeister, deputy attorney for Buffalo County, population 48,000, which is listed in bankruptcy court documents as being owed $909,000.

Hoffmeister said the countys end amounts to a little more than half of the $909,000, with the rest related to lenders involved in the tax improvement district that includes the Abengoa plant.

The plant, shuttered for several months, employed about 60 people in good-paying jobs, said Hoffmeister, who handles child-support collections for the county in addition to legal matters related to public revenue.

And we have noticed  believe me, we have noticed, Hoffmeister said of delinquent child support since the plant shut down.

Buffalo County is far from alone in being stiffed in Nebraska by Abengoa. The almost $20 million is detailed in the bankruptcy filings of Abengoas U.S. division in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis and includes money owed in Nebraska to trade vendors such as BNSF, to county treasurers for taxes, and to farmer cooperatives for corn the company turned into ethanol.

The groups owed the most money, according to the schedule of the 50 largest unsecured creditors filed by Abengoa Bioenergy U.S. Holding as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings, are the grain sellers.

Tops on the list is Gavilon, a unit of Japans Marubeni, owed $3 million when its claims against both the Ravenna and York plants are added.

The Lincoln branch of CHS Inc., a Minnesota-based grain seller and franchiser of Cenex gas stations, is owed $5 million, according to the filing.

Meanwhile, the Spanish parent company Abengoa SA is contemplating what would be the largest bankruptcy in that nations history. The operator of ethanol and solar installations worldwide and an engineering and industrial construction business owes lenders about $10 billion, and is having trouble paying.

Developments can move fast in a U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the kind in which a debtor seeks to continue operating as it reorganizes it debts. Late last week Abengoa got court approval to use about $8 million of the $41 million in bankruptcy loans it has secured from emergency lenders.

The company said in response to inquiries by The World-Herald that it was pleased to receive bankruptcy court permission to tap emergency financing and in order to stabilize the involved companies and allow them to operate pending further hearings on plans to restart one or both of Abengoas Nebraska ethanol plants.

James Powers  the Omaha-based McGrath North attorney for Nebraska grain sellers Gavilon, Ohio-based grain seller the Andersons, and Farmers Cooperative of Ravenna  said as much as $2 million of that may be headed to the Ravenna plant, to pay for salaries and other expenses needed to get it running again and to pay some taxes and licensing fees.

We would have far preferred that all of the funds generated by the lien on Ravennas assets go to just that location, but at least we were assured some are headed there, Powers said of the amount allocated to the Ravenna plant and its claims.

Powers also said it was the Nebraska creditors that started the entire process, filing an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the Ravenna plant last month; that liquidation action was converted by Abengoa last week into a Chapter 11 reorganization and amalgamated with the Missouri bankruptcies.

Powers said his group of creditors  two national grain sellers and a small co-op  represent a novel combination that came together to assert their rights as creditors. While Gavilon is owed about $3 million, the Andersons is out $1.4 million in Nebraska, and Farmers Cooperative of Ravenna is due $362,000 when its Ravenna and York claims are combined.

It is a unique group, Powers said, united by the concern that the value of the Ravenna assets would be taken out of Nebraska. Powers also represents ag co-ops in Dorchester and York.

Other creditors connected to Nebraska that provided goods or services to Abengoa and what they say they are owed:

 York County, population 14,000: $270,448. County Attorney Candace Dick said she is aware that some money is being released to Abengoa for taxes and fees, but doesnt know how much, if any, is slated for her county.

We are keeping an eye on it, Dick said.

 Novozymes, the Denmark- based company that operates a plant in Blair making enzymes used in ethanol production: $719,000. The company declined to comment on pending litigation.

 Farmers Cooperative of Dorchester: $1 million. The co-op had sales of $833 million in 2013, the last year for which figures are available on its website.

 Central Vally Ag Cooperative: $1.4 million. Telephone attempts to reach officials with the co-op, which had $1 billion in sales last year, were unsuccessful.

 Omaha-based Encore Energy Services: $1.8 million. The company declined to comment, citing the pending nature of the litigation.

 BNSF Railway: $2.4 million. The nations largest railroad by ton-miles is owned by Omahas Berkshire Hathaway. A spokeswoman had no comment on the matter. Berkshire Hathaway also owns this newspaper.

As for the prospect of the plants running again and generating something  either ongoing cash flow or proceeds in a sale  they appear good, said Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

I have personally heard from four entities about interest in acquiring one of the plants, and I suspect the past practice of refiners acquiring what may be undervalued assets will pique interest, Sneller said. From a community perspective the plants are important sources of employment that generate demand for goods and services.

Of course, ethanol remains a big business in Nebraska, although a somewhat subdued one at the moment. The state is the second-largest producer, behind Iowa, with 25 plants, the idled Abengoa ones included. Nebraska is also the third-largest U.S. producer of the main feedstock for the motor fuel, corn.

The entire ethanol industry is in a slow mode, however, with an oversupply of oil, gasoline, ethanol itself and other energy commodities depressing prices and leading to production cutbacks.

Kelly Brunkhorst, executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board, said farmers havent been complaining about lack of payment for their grain, as with Abengoa. They are more worried, she said, about low demand and low corn prices hovering near $3.50 a bushel, about half of what they were in the summer of 2012.

That doesnt mean that there is not concern, Brunkhorst said. But I believe in todays economic downturn in the agricultural economy, their concern also is that the plants are closed and not grinding corn at a time when we have a large supply of it.

Contact the writer: 402-444-3197, russell.hubbard@owh.com
DES MOINES (AP)  The state agency that regulates wild and exotic animals in Iowa is misinterpreting a nearly decade-old law that imposes tough rules for keeping such animals, according to advocacy groups involved in a legal challenge.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa and the Washington-based Born Free USA filed documents in February to the Iowa Court of Appeals that contend the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship limits its own authority in overseeing some facilities that exhibit wildlife in the state.

This is about, at its heart, ensuring that commonsense laws passed for the sake of animal welfare and public safety need to be followed and enforced, said Kate Dylewsky, of Born Free USA.

The state agriculture department said in court documents that it is following the 2007 state law and doesnt have the authority to change its oversight. A district court judge sided with the agency in January. Department spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef declined to comment pending the litigation before the Court of Appeals.

The law bans people in Iowa from keeping wild and exotic animals as pets, though previous owners were grandfathered in with new registration requirements. It included such animals be microchipped, liability insurance be maintained for each of them and an inventory be provided to state officials.

The advocacy groups argue that the department is misinterpreting exemption language in the law when considering some wildlife owners who secure licenses to exhibit through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The groups say those entities, which include roadside zoos, circumvent registration rules by completing a brief form to state officials and paying an annual permit fee of $175.

The state agriculture department says language in the law allows that separate registration process for USDA-licensed entities and it fulfills their exemption requirements.

Currently 15 entities in Iowa have a USDA license to exhibit a wildlife animal, according to the state agriculture department. Six others follow the state registration rules.

Jessica Blome, an attorney with California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund, helps represent the advocacy organizations. She helped challenge alleged safety violations at a roadside zoo in eastern Iowa in 2014 involving endangered species like tigers and lemurs.

The facility, Cricket Hollow Zoo, was licensed by the USDA and later ordered to transfer those animals. The zoo owners have maintained they did nothing wrong.

Blome said the USDA doesnt require microchipping or insurance liability coverage for exhibited animals, including those at Cricket Hollow Zoo.

Iowa decided it wanted to fill those gaps, she said of the law. It doesnt want to have to deal with animal escapes without having any information about the animals that were in the facilities. It doesnt want to have to deal with animal escapes or human incidents without knowing that theres some money there that could cover the cost of that incident.

The Office of the Inspector General for the USDA released an audit in 2010 that reviewed licensing for animal exhibitors. The report, the most recent, acknowledged that state governments have separate animal welfare legislation that may have stricter regulations. Those should be followed, it read. It noted that the Animal Welfare Act, which governs the licensing process, does not supersede state and local authorities or restrict them in any way when their laws are more stringent.

Tanya Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the USDA encourages states and municipalities to develop animal welfare regulations.

Espinosa didnt elaborate on whether Iowa officials should do things differently.

Its not our job to say whether or not the state is right or wrong in interpreting the states law, she said.

Jacob Larson, an assistant attorney general for the Iowa Attorney Generals Office representing the state agriculture department, said the USDA comments are not part of the legal challenge. He emphasized that the Iowa Legislature has issued clear instructions, and the agency is following them.

The appeals court is expected to make a ruling this year. In the meantime, Blome said theres an ineffective system in Iowa. She believes that if insurance liability had been maintained at Cricket Hollow Zoo for each animal, cases of safety concerns and injuries could have been minimalized or prevented.

The public certainly thinks the law is in place, she said. So the public thinks its protected, and thats the real problem.
A reflection and resource guide on how to spend 14 days touring Southern Africa.

Ive gotten so many questions about my recent travels to Southern Africa that I figured I would share my itinerary. If you havent been following my enthusiastic posts on Instagram and Facebook, Liebling and I spent two weeks exploring South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, and upon reflection I can honestly say it was one of the most EPIC trips I have ever taken.

Why? Well, for one, I was visually, culturally, and intellectually stimulated on this trip in a way I never have been on my travels before. Most of the time I go to regions that are either physically stunning (like Bolivia and Chile), steeped in history (like Egypt), or challenge me culturally and intellectually, because the way of life and predominant ways of thinking are so different from what Im used to (like China and India). Rarely am I engaged on all these levels simultaneously.

But this trip was a different story.

I was dazzled and humbled by the sights. I learned about animal behaviour, the resilience of the human spirit, and the history of hate. I tasted both adventure and local cuisine. I bore witness to injustice and was reminded of my privilege.

Freedom fighters. #Madiba #RobbenIsland #NeverForget A photo posted by @oneikatraveller on Feb 28, 2016 at 3:20am PST

I hiked up a mountain, jumped off a bridge, and held on for dear life as I perched on the edge of a precipice, swirling waters roaring below me. I saw my face reflected in the people around me. I laughed, cried, and was taken by surprise. I was filled with marvel at the majesty of nature and the breadth of the human experience.

There were so many layers to this journey and Im hoping to share more in future posts. I really want to document this trip in particular because I feel like my core readership (Americans and Canadians) treat travel to Africa like an unruly stepchild: unworthy of attention or simply not worth the hassle.

So it is with this in mind that I share my itinerary. Here we go

Johannesburg, South Africa (2 days)

Joburg was a natural way to begin our exploration as OR Tambo Airport serves as the first point of entry into South Africa for most international flights.

+What we saw/did: Visits to Constitution Hill, Apartheid Museum (an absolute MUST), Soweto and Mandela House (Nelson Mandelas residence from 1946 to 1962). Strolls through Maboneng (funky neighbourhood that is home to black creatives) and Melrose Arch (swanky gated community with lots of cafes and restaurants with patios).

+Accommodation: Protea Fire & Ice Melrose Arch. This Hollywood-themed hotel was clean and modern, if a bit loud due to a number of events being held in the conference rooms and common areas. However, it was a steal we paid $100 USD/night for a king room (not including breakfast).

+Food: The Grillhouse (steak house located in the residential neighbourhood of Sandton). Im not a beef eater, but the restaurant came highly recommended and Liebling throughly enjoyed his filet.

Kruger National Park, South Africa (2 days)

A visit to South Africa isnt complete without going on at least one safari. After Johannesburg, we decided to head to Kruger, the best known of all game parks in the country.

+What we saw/did: This stage of the journey was all about the animals. On our very first game drive we saw the Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo), and on our three subsequent drives we spotted a healthy variety of other creatures.

I made the video below chronicling the experience. It was INTENSE!

+Accommodation: Elephant Plains Lodge. Technically located in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve (a private game reserve that borders on Kruger National Park) this was a great place to lay our heads. We paid $360 USD/night for our villa, 2 daily game drives, and all meals (not including beverages), which I thought was expensive until I realized that a) the price was all-inclusive and b) it was one of the cheapest lodges in the area.

+Food: All meals were provided by the lodge and I ate until I couldnt eat any more. Suffice to say, it was tasty.

Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, South Africa (1 day)

Before flying to Zambia, we stopped at this nature reserve that is part of the Drakensberg mountain range. Its located about 3 hours outside of Johannesburg.

+What we saw/did: Gods Window (popular vantage point), Bourkes Luck Potholes (natural rock formations and pools), The Three Rondavels (another popular vantage point consisting of three round peaks said to resemble traditional African huts).

+Accommodation: Premier Hotel OR Tambo, found next to the airport in Johannesburg. Since we were flying out the next morning to Zambia, it made sense to stay here. It wasnt fancy, but our room was massive, modern, and great value for $85 USD.

Livingstone, Zambia and Kasane, Botswana (4 days)

This is where the adventurous, hair-raising aspect of the trip ramped up.

+What we saw/did: Swam on the edge of Victoria Falls(!), jumped from Victoria Fall Bridge (!!!), then crossed into Botswana to complete a 2-day, 1-night safari in Chobe National Park (which is known widely for its huge elephant population). We also got to learn more about Zambian history after visiting the Livingstone Museum.

+Accommodation: Green Tree Lodge (Livingstone). Fairly basic and expensive at $90 USD/night, but the owner, Andrew is lovely.

Jollyboys Backpackers (Livingstone). This lodge and camp, run by fellow Canucks Kim and John, is a hub of activity and a great place to meet other travellers. Jollyboys is also a tour operator they organized our Victoria Falls excursions as well as our safari with Kalahari Tours. Our double room with ensuite bathroom was simple but spotless and an absolute steal at $65 USD/night.

Cape Town, South Africa (5 days)

Stunning Cape Town was the perfect coda to our African adventure.

+What we saw/did: Table Mountain hike, visits to the Robben Island Prison Museum (a heart-wrenching must), Bo Kaap (multicultural area known for its brightly coloured houses), V&A Waterfront, Stellenbosch (renowned wine region), Cape of Good Hope/ Cape Point, Boulders Beach and Bettys Bay (where you can see African penguins). Scenic drives through Chapmans Peak, Hout Bay, Camps Bay, and Hermanus.





+Accommodation: Radisson Blu Le Vendome. This hotel was recently acquired by the Radisson brand and is in the process of being completely renovated. Older but spotless, it was the best deal on accommodation we got on the whole trip. It was only $50 USD/night for a huge room!

+Food: We dined at Nelsons Eye, NV-80, and Hussar. These all are top rated steakhouses dotted around the city. Again, I dont eat beef but my dinner companions all vouched for the quality of the food.

Biesmallah. Located in historic Bo Kaap, this restaurant specializes in Cape Malay cuisine. The Cape Malays are an ethnic group in South Africa who are mostly descended from enslaved Indonesians brought to Africa by Dutch colonizers. The food, at least to me, is a mash up of Southeast Asian and Indian flavours. Great taste and hearty portions!

Miscellaneous tips

+ Go now South Africa is cheaper than its ever been. The South African rand is struggling, which means things are infinitely cheaper if you come with U.S. dollars.

+ Rent a car. We rented a vehicle in Cape Town and Johannesburg and it was the best idea ever. It was convenient and saved us loads of time. Public transport, from what we saw, is not the best.

Bo Kaap is one of Cape Towns most photographed neighborhoods. Ill give you exactly one guess as to why this is the case #NotATrickQuestion #OrMaybeItIs #ThePressureIsOn A photo posted by @oneikatraveller on Feb 10, 2016 at 10:36am PST

+ Check visa requirements carefully. We had every intention of seeing the Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls until we realized Uni-visa, the joint visa that allows tourists to enter both Zambia and Zimbabwe for the low cost of $50 USD, had been suspended until future notice. Instead, we paid $80 USD for a multiple entry visa to Zambia and decided not to enter Zimbabwe as planned; at $75 USD for a single entry visa it just didnt make sense for us.

+Book flights on low-cost carriers to get you around the region. No-frills airlines like Safair, Mango, and Kulula are an inexpensive way to get around if youre short on time.

+Make sure you have at least two empty pages in your passport! South African border authorities require all travellers entering the country to have at least two free pages in their travel documents, though its unclear as to why. A gentleman on our flight back to Johannesburg was nearly refused boarding, though after a fair amount of fuss was allow to get on (could be because he is a South African national). At any rate, the hassle isnt worth it. Make sure you dont run afoul of this rule!

One word: lush. Still so many pictures and stories to share from my Africa trip. Working on putting together a video of the highlights as well. Stay tuned! Is there anything in particular that youd like to know about the trip so I include the info in a future blog post? A photo posted by @oneikatraveller on Feb 21, 2016 at 1:26am PST

+A note on safety. While heard alarming things about safety in Cape Town and Johannesburg (from both tourists and locals), Im happy to report that no point during the trip did we ever feel as though we were in danger. With that said, we were always careful luck may very well have been on our side. Exercise caution and keep a level head.

Thats it for my first post on our time in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia! I hope it was helpful and sparked a bit of wanderlust within you! I have more photos and pictures to share, so be sure to check back for updates.

Have you ever been to this region? Does this sort of trip interest you?
Kanhaiya Kumar isn't the first JNU student leader to have rocked India's politics

Bengaluru

oi-Shubham

Bengaluru, March 7: Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU Students' Union president created a storm in the country by arousing a strong voice against forces after he was arrested on charges of sedition on February 12.

The convenient truth the likes of Kanhaiya will not read" title="Will Kanhaiya Kumar be Arvind Kejriwal 2.0? Ideally, he shouldn't

The convenient truth the likes of Kanhaiya will not read" />Will Kanhaiya Kumar be Arvind Kejriwal 2.0? Ideally, he shouldn't

The convenient truth the likes of Kanhaiya will not read

But those who think Kanhaiya is a phenomenon India had never witnessed in the past, they are not right. According to a Quint article, 19 years ago, there was a similar leader called Chandrasekhar Prasad, also from Bihar, who had ignited an unprecedented protest across the nation. He was gunned down in broad daylight in Bihar's Siwan town by three associates of the then RJD MP Shahabuddin.

It was March 31, 1997. The young leader's murder saw an entire student population resorting to protests, the article said.

The young leader paid the price of actively campaigning against the criminalisation of politics in Bihar, which was then ruled by Lalu Prasad.

Prasad or Chandu as he was popularly known as, came to Delhi in 1990 for an MPhil degree and almost single-handedly helped build the AISA (All India Students' Association), the student wing of the CPI(ML), after he came to JNU. He became the vice-president of the university's student union in 1993 and also its president for two successive terms.

Like in case of Kanhaiya, Prasad, too, had seen a huge backing from his fellow students as they braved an aggressive state response to his murder.

Oneindia News
Pranab Mukherjee, Narendra Modi address Conference of Women Legislators

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first Conference of Women Legislators on the theme 'The Role of Women Legislators in Nation Building' on the 5th of March. President Mukherjee on the occasion said that the Constitution of India provides for equal rights for men and women.

He further added that it is enshrined in the Constitution that there shall be no discrimination, between men and women, in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.

He further added that underlining the need for upliftment and empowerment of women the Constitution was amended in 1993. The Seventy Third Amendment to the Constitution inserted new Articles from 243A to 243O.

President on reservation of seats for women:

The amendments provided that not less than one third of total number of seats in a panchayat or municipalities shall be reserved for women. The amendment also provided at least one-third Chairpersons of the panchayats or municipalities shall be reserved for women.

With the implementation of affirmative action through the reservation of 33% of the Panchayati Raj Institutions seats for women, there is a sharp rise in women's representation. In fact, today women constitute more than 40% of the elected representatives in Panchayats.

In some States, the representation of women in Panchayats is more than 50%. The consistent increase in representation of women in the local bodies bodes well for further empowerment of women in Indian society. Mr. Mukherjee questioned as to how women can be empowered without representation.

President compliments PM on Beti Bachao Beti Padhao:

President Mukherjee complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the initiative 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' and his firm commitment towards the true empowerment of women.

He said that the United Nations has declared the theme of International Women's Day of 2016 as - "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for Gender Equality". The observance of International Women's Day on 8th March will reflect the collective will of the nations to accelerate 2030 agenda.

The global community has to rededicate themselves to gender equality and women empowerment. The organisation of the 'National Conference of Women Legislators' is a step in the right direction to carry forward the agenda of United Nations of sustainable development through gender equality. He wished the Conference all success.

PM's valedictory session address at the National Conference of Women Legislators:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the importance of women led development in his valedictory address at the National Conference of Women in the central Hall of Parliament on the 6th of March. The Prime Minister said we must think beyond "women development," and move towards "women-led development."

Congratulating the Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, for her leadership and vision in the organisation of this Conference, the Prime Minister said that in addition to the structured component of such events, experiences shared informally among delegates are also extremely enriching.

The Prime Minister said multi-tasking, which is considered to be a very important element of modern-day management, comes naturally to women.

PM to women legislators:

He urged the women legislators to engage with their constituents using technology. He described his own experience in this regard, and spoke of the enriching thoughts and views he has been receiving through the MyGov platform and Narendra Modi App.

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 13:07 [IST]
MCOCA and UAPA: How the application of both are important in terror cases

Why cases against alleged Lashkar man, Abdul Karim Tunda are falling like 9 pins

Feature

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

How strange is this? Abdul Karim Tunda was part of an Indian dossier to Pakistan and his name figured as the 20 most wanted terrorists. When he was arrested and taken by the Delhi police there were some 33 odd cases slapped against him.

The Delhi police went ahead and slapped charges under the explosive substances act against him. Prior to this there were charges under TADA too slapped against him.

He was termed a lot of things- Lashkar-e-Taiba's encyclopaedia, the best bomb maker, the one who could prepare 50 bombs in no time etc.

Now coming back to the point. If the police claimed that they had a very strong against him then why did it fall like nine pins? On Saturday Tunda was discharged from the last of the four cases against him filed by the Delhi police on the ground that the investigators had failed to bring on record any evidence.

An embarrassing case for the police

Tunda who is wanted in 33 different terror related cases was arrested in August 2013. Charges under TADA for cases which had occurred between 1994 and 1998 had been slapped against him. The Delhi Police had also charged him under the Explosives Substances Act (ESA).

The problem for the Delhi Police was the manner in which the explosives were recovered. The police had claimed to have recovered a large cache of explosives which they were never able to substantiate and this led to the discharge.

The Delhi Police had been repeatedly asked by the court in the past about the slapping of TADA charges against Tunda. In a hearing that took place in 2014 the court had disapproved the slapping of TADA charges.

The Delhi Police had claimed that they had recovered 150 kilograms of explosives on January 17 1994 and had even arrested five persons in this regard. It was during the investigation that the name of Tunda had cropped up which led them to filing charges under the TADA, a provision that existed at that time.

Were the investigators over-enthusiastic?

It has been seen in several cases that the police are extremely over-enthusiastic when it comes to probing terror cases. Many believe that in terror cases a conviction could be sought on public perception.

When the court heard the Tunda case last year it had completely disapproved the manner in which the Delhi Police had probed the matter. There is no proper investigation the court had held. The court had even directed the prosecutor to file his written submissions.

Last year the court had also held that it would not prolong the proceedings anymore. Charges under stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) may not be framed against Tunda.

However, there is a prima facie case under the Explosive Substance Act against Tunda, the court had held.

Several officers have seen to be taking a short cut route to substantiate their claims before the court. They rely very heavily on either narco analysis or confessional statements which never stand the test of judicial scrutiny.

Even in the case against Tunda the prosecution had relied heavily on the confessional statements and claimed that there was a major conspiracy to strike terror at the instructions of Tunda.

However several judgments have clearly stated that a confessional statement can never be considered as solid evidence as most of the time they are extracted or given under duress.

The police argument

Spare a thought for the police It may not be entirely right to blame the police in such cases. These cases are extremely difficult to crack.

Ensuring the conviction of a foot soldier is very easy when compared to that of a master mind. People like Tunda have been away from India for over two decades now. Such persons are never in the spot of action when an incident occurs.

They never communicate over phone which leaves the police with very little material. The communications are very often direct with the conspirators and in several cases we have seen that the mastermind is not even directly in touch with the foot solider.

In such cases it is very difficult to bring forward direct evidence and satisfy the court. There is a lot of reliance on circumstantial evidence which is very difficult to substantiate.

An officer says that the task is no doubt herculean and there are stringent provisions under the law which are required to tackle such cases. However the problem is that in many cases stringent provisions such as TADA or POTA are misused which has led to them scrapped.

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 10:24 [IST]
The reason why Pakistan shared intelligence with India

Feature

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Over the past several weeks there has been speculation among jihadis that India and Pakistan have been sharing intelligence.

Some social media sites run by jihadi elements in Pakistan have been speaking about how India and Pakistan are sharing intelligence which is specifically targeted at the ISIS and the al-Qaeda in the sub-continent.

The NSA of Pakistan Naseer Januja recently warned his counterpart in India, Ajit Doval about the possibility of some fidayeens entering India with an aim of targeting Gujarat in particular.This has led to enhanced vigil in Gujarat.

(Delhi on high alert: 10 Pak militants may have entered into national capital)

The vigil in Delhi too has been stepped up, although reports of the terrorists entering into the national capital remains largely unsubstantiated.

Target al-Qaeda:

The intelligence that has been shared with India is credible and it warns of a 26/11 styled attack. Pakistan has been under immense pressure since the Pathankot attack.

Moreover, Pakistan too wants to nip in the bud outfits such as the al-Qaeda in the sub-continent and also the ISIS. Both India and Pakistan are aware of the dangers these groups pose.

The intelligence relating to Gujarat had been issued by the Indian agencies four months back. There has been considerable activity along the Gujarat coast.

Several fishing boats found abandoned had raised concerns along this coast. Although no pertinent danger was noted, these incidents were not taken lightly and the vigil was stepped up.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the al-Qaeda in particular has been attempting to set up ground in India and the rest of the sub-continent. Although there is no noticeable danger from this outfit, both India and Pakistan want to nip it in the bud.

In addition to this Pakistan which shared intelligence also wants to make efforts to improve the bi-lateral ties. Following the stop over by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India at Pakistan he has been hailed by many.

However, this was followed up by the Pathankot attack which threw a spanner in the ties. Pakistan has informed Doval that it is serious about improving ties.

Doval during his meet with Januja maintained that the ties could be improved with enhanced intelligence sharing and also shutting down of terror seminaries in Pakistan.

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 9:20 [IST]
Terror alert poster taken down after Pak seminary identifies operatives as its students

5 major cities on terror radar: Intelligence Bureau issues alert

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Mar 7: The Intelligence Bureau has sounded a terror alert for five cities which include, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

The alert sounded by the intelligence bureau directs the police of these cities to stay on high alert.

An Intelligence Bureau official informed OneIndia that there are inputs to suggest that some groups may try and attack these cities and the information is concrete in nature.

(Delhi Police steps up vigil on Maha Shivrati)

There is already a high alert in Gujarat after intelligence inputs suggested that ten terrorists from Pakistan had slipped in. The alert is being issued in the event of the Mahashivratri celebrations that are on in the country today.

Terrorist groups may try and target crowded areas in these cities, the Intelligence Bureau also warns.

Earlier during the day, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called for a security meeting The Home Minister has called for a meeting with top security officials to assess the situation.

The home minister wants to take stock of the situation and also discuss the preparedness of the forces in the wake of this very actionable intelligence being shared from Pakistan.

The home minister would be briefed about the measures taken by the security forces in the wake of this threat.

Following the alert the national security guards arrived in Gujarat to assess the situation. Security was also heightened following inputs that suggested that attacks may target the Maha Shivaratri celebrations.

Raids and combing operations were carried out. Security at all important locations in Gujarat was stepped up.

Security was also stepped up in New Delhi after reports suggested that some of the terrorists could have slipped into the national capital.

OneIndia News
Seventh Pay Commission: Revealed! Why armed forces are unhappy with Defence Ministry

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, March 7: At a time when Central government employees are waiting for the implementation of Seventh pay commission, a new revelation has come to light. According to reports, there is deep distrust between government and armed forces over the pay parity issue.

It is being said that three services had expressed dissatisfaction over some of the recommendations of the Pay commission and had requested Commission to make required changes. Later pay commission approached Defence Ministry with their demands.

7th Pay Commission: Good news for employees! Modi Govt likely to restore allowances

Now under RTI query, it has been revealed that the Defence Ministry negated army officers pay parity with civilian counterparts in IAS, IPS and other allied services.

A n Army officer was quoted by ET as saying, "We thought it was the pay commission that was selling us short, but this RTI actually revealed it was the Defence Ministry officials".

Ministry also gave reasons why their demands were not approved. "The basis of this demand i.e. merger of rank pay in basic pay was examined in a detailed matter by the Pranab Mukherjee committee report and the same was not accepted hence the case is not supported", officer further said.

7th Pay Commission: Good news for govt employees! Panel may double minimum basic pay

Ministry also not accepted Army men's argument that civilian bureaucrat mustn't be paid equal sum of amount in comparison to their defence counterparts. Defence Ministry said that both are different thing as their service conditions and the nature of job is quite different.

What are the grievances of armed forces?

Army Officers say that if the Pay Commission is implemented in the present form, it will position them much below their civilian counterparts in terms of salaries, facilities and status.

One of the main grudge that the armed forces have is with regard to risk-hardship matrix. The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, which has the highest degree of both risk and hardship, gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

7th Pay Commission decoded: All you need to know about salary increment; past pay commissions

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 per cent of his salary as "hardship allowance" when posted anywhere outside the comfort zone.

Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in northeast will draw much more as "hardship allowance", compared to the Rs 31,500 per month drawn by military officers in Siachen.

OneIndia News
Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

Amit Shah wants to see BJP as key force in south

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Rajamahendravaram (Andhra Pradesh), March 7: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that he wants the party to emerge as a key force in the electoral battle in south India.

CVoter poll: AIADMK likely to win 116 seats, DMK 101, BJP 0 in TN

Addressing a public meeting in Rajamahendravaram, as Rajahmundry is now called, he said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should spread to all regions of the country.

"Modiji has given slogan of Congress-free country. If we have to free the country from Congress, we have to ensure that be it north, south, west and everywhere region, the BJP flag should fly high and 'vande mataram' slogan is sung," he said.

In Andhra Pradesh, where BJP is a partner in Telugu Desam Party-led government, this was the first public meeting of BJP after state's bifurcation.

He asked BJP workers to take the party to every village and booth in the state and strengthen the organisation. "Those who say that BJP is a party of the north should know that the party unit in Andhra Pradesh is the strongest in the country," he said.

He claimed that the BJP which started with 11 only members, is today the largest party in the world with 11 crore strong membership.

The BJP chief said that though there are NDA governments at both the centre and in the state, their political rivals are making a false propaganda that the BJP-led government at the Centre is not extending necessary support to Andhra Pradesh.

During the last one-and-half years, Modi government has given schemes worth Rs.1.40 lakh crore to Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Stating that Polavaram project is the lifeline of the state, the BJP leader said it was Modi government which is making it a reality by merging seven 'mandals' (of Telangana) with Andhra Pradesh.

He said the state was selected under the project to ensure 24x7 electricity in every village. Listing out the initiatives, he said national highway works worth Rs. 65,000 crore were sanctioned for the state.

Shah said Kakinada and Visakhapatnam were selected under smart cities project while the central government also released Rs.1,500 crore as initial assistance for development of new state capital Amaravati.

He said an industrial park at a cost of Rs.22,000 crore will come up in the state. HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam will be built at a cost of Rs.25,000.

He said it would take seven days for him to read the entire list of works sanctioned for the state during last one-and-half years.

Shah challenged Congress party to explain to people what it did for Andhra Pradesh during last 60 years. He alleged that the Congress insulted the state and this forced N. T. Rama Rao to launch the TDP for self-respect of Telugus.

Interestingly, NTR's daughter and former central minister D. Purandareswari was translating Shah's speech in Telugu.

She quit Congress party to join BJP on the eve of 2014 elections.

IANS
Bhumata Brigade to breach bar on entry at Trimbakeshwar temple

India

oi-PTI

Pune, Mar 7: Keeping up the campaign against gender bias at places of worship, around 150 women under the banner of Bhumata Brigade on Monday left for the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik district in Maharashtra seeking to break the bar on female devotees at the inner sanctum of the Lord Shiva shrine.

The outfit led by Trupti Desai had on January 26 made a high-voltage attempt to breach a similar ban at the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahamednagar district but vowed to carry on with its campaign for gender justice.

Banning women in temples is unfair, says Vidya Balan

Choosing the occasion of Maha Shivratri to resume their campaign, the outfit urged the authorities not to block them as they had done during the earlier march. The ancient temple in Trimbak town, located 30 km from Nashik, houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.

The shrine has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the flow of lakhs of devotees on account of the festival of Maha Shivratri.

Desai, president of Bhumata Brigade, who left Pune with nearly 150-175 activists as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the "garbhagriha" (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple, urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.

"Since Chief Minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today and will be allowed to enter the 'garbhagriha'," Desai told PTI.

"Also, since a high alert has been announced, Nashik Police had requested us not to come in buses. Hence we are going by small vehicles. We have even reduced our women members and there are only 150-175 women, who will try to enter the sanctum in a peaceful manner," Desai said.

Women said they had the support of CM Devendra Fadnavis on the issue

She also expects police to lead them to the sanctum under complete "bandobast" in order to avoid a law and order situation. "On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Women's Day and on the day of Maha Shivratri," said Desai, who left for Nashik this morning.

Nashik Rural Police tightened security around the temple in the pilgrimage town to avoid a face-off similar to what happened at Supa village on January 26, when the women activists were proceeding towards Shingnapur.

"We have deployed extra police force and also put barricades to restrict activists of Bhumata Brigade with a view to maintain law and order of this small town," Deputy SP, Praveen Munde said.

Meanwhile, right-wing organisations including Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together and decided to stop the activists before they reach the temple.

PTI
After the 'Jihad' comment, Patil now claims \"I never said it\"

Congress delegation calls on J&K Governor

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Mar 7: A Congress delegation, led by state unit chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir, called on Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra here today to discuss various issues including implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

"Important issues which the delegation brought to Governor's notice included enhancement in the quantity of rations under NFSA for the poor segments of the population and early regularisation of daily wagers, need-based seasonal and casual workers and other categories of temporary workers," a Raj Bahawan spokesman said.

He said the Congress delegation also discussed the issue of hike in salary of special police officers (SPOs), payment of enhanced relief to the 2014 flood victims, compensation to persons whose properties got damaged in the 2014 flood, relief to the farmers and horticulturists who suffered losses on account of the dry spell and unrest in the border areas.

The other issues discussed included early sanction of one time package for refugees of various categories as per the recommendations, adequate security cover to prominent Congress leaders in the state, public concerns about field firing and artillery range in some notified areas of Akhnoor tehsil.

"Welcoming the announcement of elections to panchayats and urban local bodies, the delegation reiterated Congress party's commitment to strengthening panchayati raj system in the state," the spokesman said. The Governor assured the delegation that their concerns will be given due attention, he said.

PTI
Woman gets 50 stitches on head, hand, leg after pet Pit bull attacks her

Shocking accident caught on cam: Speedy car hits bike, kills one on the spot

Caught on camera: Cop 'accidentally' fires at at mobile shop employee in Amritsar

Deity assembly begins in Himachal for Mahashivratri

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Mandi, March 7: Deities from hundreds of village temples started assembling in this historical town of Himachal for the week-long Mahashivratri festival that began on Monday, organisers said.

"A total of 216 deities have been invited for Mahashivratri this year. Principal deity Dev Kamrunag reached here on Sunday," the festival organiser additional district magistrate Vivek Chandel told IANS.

Terrorist attack: Alert issued in Mumbai, Maharashtra

The arrival of the deities in beautifully decorated palanquins amid sounds of trumpets and drums has begun and the maximum would reach by Tuesday, when the festival would be traditionally inaugurated by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Chandel said last time 185 deities participated in the festival. "This time too we are expecting a congregation of more than 180 deities."

The festivities will conclude on March 14.

Like the week-long Kullu Dussehra festivities, Mandi's Mahashivratri also sees a congregation of the divine and the temporal.

The Mahashivratri celebrations in Mandi date back to 1526 when this town was founded during the rule of Ajbar Sen. He "invited" all local deities to mark the founding of the new town. Governor Acharya Devvrat will be chief guest at the closing ceremony.

During the first day of the festival on Tuesday, Lord Madho Rai, considered an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and the chief deity, will lead the procession.

Thousands offer prayers on Maha Shivratri in Punjab, Haryana

The assembled deities follow him in beautifully decorated palanquins, as per protocol, and assemble at the Bhutnath temple here. Three such processions, locally called "Jaleb", would be taken out on the opening, middle (March 11) and concluding days of the festival.

Mandi, located on the Chandigarh-Manali national highway-21, is dotted with more than 80 temples built in typical hill architecture.

The prominent temples are those of Bhutnath, Triloki Nath, Jagannath, Tarna Devi and Jalpa Devi. The rulers of Mandi state were devotees of Lord Shiva.

Legend has it that ruler Sen (1499-1534) saw in his dreams a cow offering milk to a Lord Shiva idol. His dream became reality because, according to the legend, he actually once saw a cow make a milk offering to an idol.

That was when the ruler constructed a temple in 1526 - the Bhutnath temple - dedicated to Lord Shiva. The foundation of Mandi town was laid at the same time, and Sen later shifted his capital here.

The administration has since been inviting deities to the Shivratri festivities here, ever since the rule of princely states came to an end. The administration also offers an honorarium to the "kardars" (attendants of deities) for participating in the festival.

Every year, the festival attracts scores of tourists. Many researchers studying local gods and goddesses also arrive at this time.

During the festivity, the organisers would hold a "bajantri" (drummers) competition in which over 3,000 artistes are likely to participate.

IANS
Fire on board INS Viraat claims one during historic outing

India

oi-Oneindia

By Our Defence Bureau

Bengaluru, March 07: India's soon-to-be-retired aircraft carrier INS Viraat had a bad day at sea on Sunday following a minor fire that claimed the life of a sailor.

Navy spokesperson informed defence correspondents around mid-night that INS Viraat was on a routine deployment to Goa when the incident took place.

The cause of the fire is suspected to have triggered from a steam leak at the ship's boiler room.

The deceased sailor has been identified as Ashu Singh, who was a Chief Engineering Mechanic on board the ship.

"While the incident was quickly brought under control, three other sailors who were present at the scene and combating the fire sustained injuries due to the smoke. Ashu Singh was shifted to a naval hospital in Goa, but he suffered a cardiac arrest and succumbed to his injury," the spokesperson said.

The injured are out of danger and the ship is expected to sail back to Mumbai soon. Interestingly, the Navy officials said that the fire broke on a historic day when a Sea Harrier flew from INS Viraat's for the last time before the ship getting decommissioned.

Navy suspects that some insulating material in the boiler room might have caught fire from the heat following the steam leak.

The spokesperson said that all families on board the ship were disembarked at Goa.

"The fire was controlled immediately by the crew using on board fire-fighting equipment. Due to the thick smoke generated during the incident, a few sailors have inhaled smoke," the spokesperson said.

The ship was in the process of being shut down, including the boilers.

Indian Navy said that it was an emotional 'Family Day at Sea' for the Viraat family on Sunday.

"It was an emotional moment for CO INAS 300 (White Tigers) Squadron, pilots, men and families. The Harrier Squadron took off from the deck of the Mother for the last time," a Navy official said in his tweet.

Navy says a formal investigation is on to track the exact cause of the fire.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 8:23 [IST]
Following intel alert from Pak, Rajnath Singh calls for urgent security meet

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Mar 7: Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called for a security meeting today following the intercept that ten terrorists had entered into the country. Pakistan had shared with India intelligence stating that ten terrorists may have slipped into India with an intention of striking at Gujarat.

The Home Minister has called for a meeting with top security officials to assess the situation. The home minister wants to take stock of the situation and also discuss the preparedness of the forces in the wake of this very actionable intelligence being shared from Pakistan.

The Home Minister would be briefed about the measures taken by the security forces in the wake of this threat. Following the alert the national security guards arrived in Gujarat to assess the situation.

New Delhi on terror alert: Security beefed up at crowded places

Security was also heightened following inputs that suggested that attacks may target the Maha Shivaratri celebrations.

Raids and combing operations were carried out. Security at all important locations in Gujarat was stepped up. Security was also stepped up in New Delhi after reports suggested that some of the terrorists could have slipped into the national capital.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 11:04 [IST]
JNU row: High powered committee recommendations by March 11

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Mar 7: The high powered committee set up by the JNU to probe into the February 9th event will come out with its recommendations on March 11th. The committee set up by the vice chancellor of the university was informed that there was no permission for the event relating to Afzal Guru.

While it was made clear that there shall be no permission granted for the event, the committee was told that Kanhaiya Kumar had objected to the cancellation. The event was held at the Sabaramati Dhaba despite permission being cancelled.

Deposing before the committee the registrar of the JNU Bhupinder Zutshi said that he came to know about such an event being organised when they were discussing the route for the new bus acquired by the JNU specifically for differently abled students.

JNU row: University should be 'cleansed' and renamed, says Swamy

During that meeting, it was brought to his notice about the February 9th event. A pamphlet relating to the event was shown to him in which it was written that a cultural event was being organised regarding the judicial killing of Afzal Guru.

When the JNU refused to grant permission for the event, Kumar had objected to the same over a phone call made to the registrar.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 10:03 [IST]
Kerala: LDF likely to rope in Kanhaiya Kumar as star campaigner

India

oi-Shreyas

Kerala, Mar 7: The compelling fluency coupled with sensible political rhetorics displayed by JNU Students Union President, Kanhaiya Kumar in his speech has dispensed invigorated morale among left parties across the country.

The state of Kerala is now bracing up for assembly election that is scheduled to be held on May 16th. With Kanhaiya's speech on a day he was released from Tihar Jail, the LDF (Left Democratic Front) is now eying to rope in Kanhaiya Kumar for the election campaign discourse.

However, the OneIndia has learnt from reliable sources Kanhaiya Kumar is visiting God's own country on March 13 to attend a program organised by All India Students Federation (AISF). The state of Kerala which is currently run by Congress lead UDF (United Democratic Front) is marred with a major scam allegedly involving Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, which is also seen as major tool for the LDF to ride on during election campaign.

With new leader of staunch left association being born in India, the morale of the comrades of LDF has doubled says a political observer from Kerala. Though there is no conclusive decision taken yet on calling Kanhaiya to campaign for Kerala assembly elections, the party is seriously deliberating on the same.

The sources in the LDF say that the speech of Kumar has created a strong positive ripples among cadre and mood is up among the party members. The LDF leaders are elated to the birth of new leader and are hoping for the revival of communist parties across India.

Besides, sources said that the plans in the drawing room of LDF is in the offing, to tie up Kanhaiya Kumar as a star campaigner ahead of assembly polls. If all goes well Kumar will be seen in Kerala campaigning for LDF to push the party to the mantle of Kerala.

The sources also pointed out General Secretary of CPI (M) Sitaram Yechury's mention, in which he said Kanhaiya would be campaigning for left parties in the coming days. At this juncture, the LDF with full enthusiasm wants Kumar to hit the political rallies ahead of elections.

OneIndia News
Consider paid if broken: Gujarat to not fine for traffic violation till Oct 27

Keshubhai praises Hardik, says he has brought Patels together

India

oi-PTI

Ahmedabad, Mar 7: Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel today praised jailed Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel, saying he has "brought the community together".

"When I was coming, people shouted 'Jai Sardar (an invocation to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel). I also shouted 'Jai Sardar'. We are all marching ahead on the call of 'Jai Sardar'. This community (Patidar) has today come together because of that boy," he said without taking the name of the 22-year-old Hardik.

The 87-year-old politician, an important leader of Patels who still enjoys clout in the State, was speaking at an event organised by the Patidar community near the temple town of Somnath, around 400km from here.

Keshubhai, once a rival of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, quit BJP in 2012 and floated Gujarat Parivartan Party to contest the Assembly elections that year. However, he resigned from the fledgling outfit after it won just two Assembly seats in a 182-member House.

The veteran politician, who himself won from Visavadar in Junagadh district, later resigned as MLA due to ill health.

Though the two-time BJP Chief Minister had met Hardik at least once during the height of the quota agitation last year, this is possibly the first time he has showered praise on the young community leader from a public forum.

Before his arrest, Hardik had come calling on Keshubhai before meeting Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in September last year.

Hardik, lodged in Surat's Lajpore Jail, faces charges of "sedition" and "waging war against the government" in cases filed in Ahmedabad and Surat.

An order on his bail plea in Ahmedabad is likely to be pronounced by a court tomorrow. Hardik has been leading the agitation for quota under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.

PTI
10.45 pm: We will try to enter the temple again. More than CM's support, the CM should have taken some action: Trupti Desai.

10.44 pm: This is an insult to women, are these "acche dinn"? We were just peacefully protesting, says Trupti Desai.

10.43 pm: Trupti Desai has been released, she was detained earlier today on their way to Trimbakeshwar temple.

10.42 pm: Two jawans injured during firing practice at ITBP firing range in Shivpuri (MP).

10.41 pm: Sarda energy AGM Shree Kumar shot dead by Naxalites in Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh).

9.49 pm: Kanpur: Dr. Hina Zaheer appointed as 'qazi' in Uttar Pradesh.

9.29 pm: Police arrest Adarsh Sharma who hd put up posters offering reward of Rs 11lakh to one who shoots Kanhaiya Kumar dead.

9.28 pm: 2-member delegation from Pakistan leave HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala after reviewing security arrangements.

9.09 pm: All courts in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to remain closed tomorrow as a mark of respect for Justice NK Sanghi.

8.44 pm: CPI-M releases first list of candidates for WB Assembly Elections. 116 out of 294 candidatures announced.

8.43 pm: Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini applies for parole again for three days (8,9,10) to attend post funeral rituals of her father. The matter will be heard tomorrow at 10:30 am in Madras HC.

8.42 pm: Sitting Judge of Haryana HC Justice NK Sanghi passes away on his way to Tirupati Balaji temple (Andhra Pradesh).

8.07 pm: SP MLA Jagram Paswan's brother Annu Paswan arrested by Gonda police for killing a man in a road rage incident in Balrampur(UP).

7.25 pm: Passenger detained at IGI Airport handed over to Delhi Police. Case has been registered.

7.12 pm: MHA calls a review meeting to discuss security for India-Pakistan WT20 match at HPCA stadium in Dharamsala.

6.50 pm: 2-member delegation from Pakistan reaches HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala to review security arrangements

6.30 pm: Delhi Police arrest Adarsh Sharma who had put up posters offering reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who shoots Kanhaiya Kumar dead.

6.00 pm: Locals opposing Bhumata Brigade's entry in Trimbakeshwar temple celebrate aftr police detain Bhumata Brigade members

5.40 pm: Bhumata Brigade members who were on their way to Trimbakeshwar temple, detained in Nandur Shingote (Maharashtra)

5.30 pm: Condemn this action by Police. We've been detained for no reason, we were heading to Trimbakeshwar temple in a peaceful manner, says Trupti Desai, Activist in Nandur Shingote (Maharashtra).

5.20 pm: Kelambakkam (Chennai): Students of Hindustan College protesting in college campus against fee hike.

4.45 pm: Strategist Prashant Kishor to meet Punjab Congress leaders on March 12 to discuss campaign strategy.

4.30 pm: Vijay Mallya ED case - Court says Vijay Mallya cant withdraw money till the case is disposed off.

4.25 pm: President Pranab Mukherjee to not attend Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival.

4.20 pm: Vijay Mallya ED case - Court proceedings begins in Bengaluru Court.

4.17 pm: Locals oppose entry of a Bhumata Brigade supporter in Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik (Maharashtra).

4.15 pm: General entry at Kolkata Airport banned for three days after receiving a threat mail.

4.10 pm: Smriti Irani ji's convoy had rammed into vehicles which were piled up due to the accident, says Manoj Chopra, Eyewitness

4.00 pm: Delhi Police questioning Adarsh Sharma who had put up posters offering reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who shoots Kanhaiya Kumar dead.

3.17 pm: Congress President Sonia Gandhi reaches Swaraj Bhavan in Allahabad.

2.40 pm: Fire break out in a godown in Beliaghata, Kolkata (WB), 10 fire tenders at the spot.

2.14 pm: ED files criminal complaint against Mallya, IDBI bank and others under money laundering act.

2.04 pm: 6 policemen killed after terrorists attacked district court in Charsadda district of KPK province.

1.48 pm: 4-5 people believed to be trapped after a landslide near Shiv Temple in Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh).

1:41 pm: Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Protest against attack on a church in Khamardih area of the city yesterday.

1:30 pm: Everyday Modi's party makes personal attacks on me. I don't care but please don't attack the poor, says Rahul Gandhi.

1:22 pm: Two member Pakistan delegation still at Attari Border due to incorrect documents,they are not cleared from immigration yet on WT20.

1:10 pm: My sister literally pleaded with folded hands to Smriti Irani for help,but she did not stop, says Abhishek,son of victim.

1:00 pm: 39 Maoist supporters, including 7 members of the armed militia and 12 village committee members, surrender before Malkangiri SP in Odisha.

12:48 pm: Bandh that was separating sewage water from flowing into the lake broke about 2 years back: V Purushottam (President,Ulsoor Welfare Society).

12:40 pm:Thousands of dead fish washed ashore on Ulsoor Lake due to rising water pollution levels in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru: Thousands of dead fish washed ashore on Ulsoor Lake due to rising water pollution levels pic.twitter.com/HbSFL0o74q  ANI (@ANI_news) March 7, 2016

12:30 pm: Congress workers protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi over proposed EPF tax.

12:25 pm: Terror alert: After metros, security also intensified in other cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhopal, Panji, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

12:10 pm: A man was killed and two others were injured in a shooting incident at an industrial site in Sydney, police said.

12:00 pm: DMDK delegation to meet BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar,Piyush Goyal, Pon Radhakrishnan and Muralidhar Rao in Delhi later today.

11:50 am: Two member team from Pakistan arrived in India,will go to Dharamsala to review security arrangements.

11:40 am: Mailed Modiji,reply came after 6 months tht mail is forwarded to Aviation Ministry,they replied in 2 months saying its pvt matter. My one year salary is pending, like me there are about 1500-2000 ex-Kingfisher Airline Employees: Sanjay Dey.

11:35 am: We didn't get salaries, were assured that an investor would invest in KFA but no one came-Sanjay Dey,Ex-KFA employee.

11:25 am: Police has taken necessary action, guilty will not be spared, says Kiren Rijiju,MoS Home, on attack on a church in Raipur.

11:20 am: 7 people arrested by Police in connection with attack on a church in Khamardih area of Raipur (Chhattisgarh).

11:15 am: Sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik greets nation on occasion of Mahashivratri & congratulates Team India on Asia Cup win.

Sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik greets nation on occasion of Mahashivratri & congratulates Team India on Asia Cup win pic.twitter.com/y9CrabpGuC  ANI (@ANI_news) March 7, 2016

11:08 am: Two Indian sailors Mahesh Kumar Rajagopal & Deepu Lathika Mohan die due to fire in a vessel Al Sadaa (Yemen), tweets EAM Sushma Swaraj.

10:55 am: 7 arrested for vandalising church in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

10:50 am: Sheena murder case: Mikhail killed Sheena; I was only shielding him, Indrani told Peter in jail.

10:30 am: Muzaffarnagar riots probe finds no lapse by UP govt, blames police for the same.

10:20 am: Team India arrives in Kolkata after winning #AsiaCupT20 in Bangladesh.

Team India arrives in Kolkata after winning #AsiaCupT20 in Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/h9TElvtcmz  ANI (@ANI_news) March 7, 2016

10:00 am: Security tightened in Vadodara after high level security alert issued in Gujarat.

9:50 am: Home Minister Rajnath Singh to chair a high level meet on internal security shortly. IB and RAW officials to attend: ANI.

9:28 am: Congress to protest over tax on EPF at Jantar Mantar today.

9:10 am: A girl jumps from second floor of a building to escape rape in Liluah (Howrah district, West Bengal). The girl has been admitted to hospital.

8:54 am: Nation celebrates Maha Shivratri with fervour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets devotees.

8:33 am: Kulgam (J&K) Encounter: Security forces carry out search operations in the area. One terrorist was killed on Sunday.

8:24 am: 12 persons killed when a gas outburst occurred at a coal mine in northeast China's Jilin Province.

8:15 am: Delhi on high alert as security agencies suspect terrorists have sneaked in the national capital.

8:02 am: Devotees offer prayers at Har Ki Pauri ghat, Haridwar on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

OneIndia News
Dhanteras 2022: How much gold can you buy from Dubai

President Mukherjee to give Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Fest a miss

India

oi-Sandra

New Delhi, Mar 7: President Pranab Mukherjee will not be attending The Art of Living's mega event 'World Culture Festival (WCF) 2016'. The President has expressed his inability to attend the event.

Mukherjee, had earlier agreed to attend the opening of the festival alongwith Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday said that he will not be present for the same.

Celebrating Humanity: World Culture Festival 2016

WCF was in news recently after it was found by the NGT that the Art of Living Foundation had damaged the Yamuna floodplains while preparing for the event.

Environment activists have said that the event will cause serious damage to Yamuna's ecosystem.

However Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has said that they will not harm the Yamuna river and said that nobody associated with the event will stay there.

The Art of Living Foundation has said that there won't be any permanent damage to the river and that they had secured permission to hold the event. The foundation has claimed that they have used eco-friendly materials to build a temporary stage.

The three-day event will begin on March 11 and is being held on the 35th anniversary of the Art of Living foundation, is expected to be attended by nearly 35 lakh people.. Nearly 35 lakh people are expected to attend the event.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 17:19 [IST]
Rajnath Singh to launch website enabling citizens to contribute to welfare fund for martyrs' families

Rajnath Singh reviews security situation

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, March 7: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday, March 7 reviewed the overall security situation in the country in the wake of inputs that 10 terrorists from Pakistan may have sneaked into India for attacks.

The high-level meeting, attended by top security officials, including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, the minister took stock of the situation and reviewed steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks.

"It was a routine meeting where the minister discusses and takes stock of security situation in the country," a ministry official said.

The officials briefed the home minister about the measures taken to beef up security at strategic locations.

The meeting comes in the wake of information from Pakistan that 10 terrorists may have slipped into India to strike during Mahashivratri festivities at famous temples in Gujarat.

Security was beefed up across Gujarat and in other parts of the country after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval got a call from his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua about the 10 terrorists from two Pakistan-based outfits having sneaked into India.

--Indo-Asia News Service

sk/tsb/vt
Telecom firms urge TRAI to defer call drop compliance deadline

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, March 7: Telecom service providers have requested the sector regulator not to enforce its order on call drops compensation from Monday, as the matter will be heard by the apex court on March 10.

In a joint letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) said: "Please note that the Supreme Court has directed the matters to be listed on March 10, 2016 for final disposal.

"In view of the above and since the aforesaid matters are sub-judice before the Court, we request you to keep your letter dated March 2, 2016 in abeyance," it added.

The TRAI had given time till March 7 to the telecom service providers to submit a compliance report regarding compensating customers for call drops.

The Supreme Court on March 4 refused to pass any interim order on compensations for call drop as it will hold a hearing on March 10 on a plea by the associations of telecom operators challenging the regulator's decision.

The COAI and the AUSPI had earlier challenged the TRAI's October 16, 2015 decision making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers from January 1, 2016.

IANS
Thousands bid tearful farewell to Purno A Sangma

India

oi-PTI

Tura (Meghalaya), Mar 7: Thousands today bade tearful farewell to former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma as his remains were laid to rest at his hometown Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills.

Speaking at the state funeral function at P M Stadium here before his mortal remains were laid to rest, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma hailed Purno A Sangma as a great political personality, who was able to link Meghalaya, north- eastern region and the country with the rest of the world.

"The country, Northeast and Meghalaya will always remember his contribution," the Chief Minister said while describing him as a man of the masses. As Sangma's mortal remains were taken from his residence to the stadium for the state funeral attended by thousands, messages from the President of India, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, Governor SC Jamir, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh were read out on the occasion.

Member of Lok Sabha from Shillong, Vincent Pala who represented the Northeast MP Forum said Purno A Sangma was the first tribal to become the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and he would be remembered as a man who could run the Parliament with a smile.

India condoles death of P A Sangma

The Leader of Opposition of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister, Donkupar Roy expressed appreciation how Sangma had asked him to take over the reins as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

Before the departed leader's mortal remains were taken to the stadium for the state function, a short prayer service was held at his residence at Wakbakgre, where all the family members and friends including Bishop Andrew R Marak of the Catholic Tura Diocese and faithfuls took part.

Later, the mortal remains of P A Sangma were laid to rest at the Catholic cemetery located near Bishop's House in Tura.

PTI
UP: Teenaged fruit vendor asks for Rs 15 for sold guavas; SP man slits his throat

With a twist: The internet cant stop reacting to Maggi noodles with Raspberry ice-cream

Tripura tea vendor mother takes Class 10 exam with daughter

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Agartala, March 7: Twenty years is a long time to carry through the dream of passing at least the Class 10 examination, especially when life is a struggle just to make two ends meet.

Not for Smriti Banik, 39, though.

This mother of two daughters does private tuitions and runs a tea stall to supplement her husband's meagre income as a vegetable seller. That's in addition to the household work.

She still has had the desire and the energy to prepare for this year's Madhyamik (Class 10th) examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education, which started on March 3.

Smriti is now sitting for the board exams along with her teenaged daughter Sagarika. Both are enrolled as examinees at Office Tilla Higher Secondary School in Bishalgarh, 30 km from here.

"When I was three years old, my father died. We were four sisters. My mother had to struggle through poverty to run our family," Smriti said.

She said she had to discontinue her Class 10 studies when she got married in 1996 at the age of 19.

"Since then, I have always wanted to sit for the Madhyamik, but poverty came in the way."

Her husband Jiban Banik is a small vegetable trader, and barely earns enough.

"I tutor small children and run a tea stall," Smriti said with undisguised simplicity.

Thankfully, her husband, elder daughter Sagarika and even neighbours have been encouraging and helpful. They all helped her make up her mind to take this year's Madhyamik examination.

For many weeks before the examination, Smriti had to take at least 2-3 hours off her household chores and other work every day to study.

She and Sagarika would study together, sometimes through the night.

"Even though the syllabus has changed since I stopped my study 20 years ago, I have managed to prepare myself with the help of my daughter," she said.

Smriti said she would like to study beyond Class 10.

Becoming a college graduate -- even a post-graduate -- is her larger ambition.

Over 47000 students, including 23,464 girls, are sitting for this year's Madhyamik examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education.

Board president Mihir Deb said every year some elderly men and women, retired government employees and even jail inmates take the secondary and higher secondary examinations.

"These elderly men and women, retired government employees and jail inmates are not sitting for such examinations for getting government jobs but to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams," Deb said.

Tripura's literacy rate increased to 96.82 percent last year from 87.75 percent recorded in the 2011 Census, he noted.

IANS
Video of group dancing and twerking to 'Kala Chasma' at Haridwar temple goes viral, netizens demand action

Unprecedented security cover in Gujarat; CM reviews situation

India

oi-PTI

Ahmedabad, Mar 7: After the IB terror alert for Gujarat, an unprecedented security cover was today thrown over the state on 'Maha Shivratri' with NSG teams deployed in the state and police undertaking massive combing operations amidst robust security at major temples and all vital installations.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today held a high- level security meeting to review the situation. Despite reports that terrorists might strike in Delhi or other places, Gujarat Police has decided to not to let its guard down.

Following the IB inputs a about possible terror attack in the state, Gujarat DGP PC Thakur has ordered massive security and search operations to identify any threats.

Of the four teams of National Security Guard (NSG) that dispatched by the Centre on Saturday night, one has been sent to secure the famous Somnath temple, which attracts a large number of people during Maha Shivratri.

The remaining three are stationed here. The Chief Minister today reviewed the overall security arrangements and preparedness of state police at a meeting with key officials, including the DGP.

Thakur told mediapersons that the Chief Minister was apprised of how the state police is co-ordinating with national agencies to thwart any terror activity.

"We informed the CM about the steps taken by state police to thwart any terror strike in Gujarat. We also told her about the co-operation we are getting from para-military forces and central agencies in our efforts," said Thakur.

Commenting on reports that inputs about possible infiltration of terrorists in Gujarat was shared by Pakistan, Thakur said, without naming Pakistan, "The source of the inputs is truly beyond our imagination. And when such inputs are coming from there, we have to take it very seriously."

The terror input was shared by the Centre with 10 other states.

PTI
"Dalai Lama, followers inciting self-immolations by Tibetans"

International

oi-PTI

Beijing, Mar 7: The twin immolations by Tibetan youth last week, including one in India, protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet were "instigated" by the Dalai Lama and his followers, a media report here said today.

"Over 100 self-immolation attempts by Tibetans in China since then, most of which killed young monks, were proved to have been masterminded and instigated by the so-called 'spiritual leader' and his followers. Their stereotype is to incite self-immolations, make an issue of them and solicit international support through media and political figures," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"Self-immolation is only conducted by a slim number of extremists who are used by separatists. Any attempt to split the country is not only doomed to fail, it is also not the desire of the majority of Tibetan people," it said.

A 16-year-old Tibetan student Dorjee Tsering set himself ablaze in Dehradun last week and died later. Around the same time, 18-year-old young Tibetan monk Kalsang Wangdu also immolated himself and died in Sichuan province.

"Both cases were soon spread by Tibetan separatist groups, and picked up by Western media. It's common to see self-immolation cases hyped in March as part of the agenda by Tibetan separatists," the article said marking the first time official media reported such incidents.

Overseas Tibetan groups say nearly 130 Tibetans committed self-immolations in recent years calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and to protest against Chinese rule in Tibet.

"Facts have revealed that the Dalai Lama, misperceived as a peace-loving monk in the West, planned the Lhasa riot on March 14, 2008 that killed 18 innocent people," Global Times articles said referring to revolts by Tibetan monks.

The twin immolations also coincided with the commencement of China's annual parliament season that kicked off last week. The National People's Congress (NPC) and advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meet annually for a fortnight to clear legislative business.

PTI
Search for missing MH370 to end in two weeks

Authorities with better understanding of where MH370 is, says Australia

Depressed pilot of Flight MH370 may have 'crashed plane' in murder-suicide

'Debris found in Reunion Island could be from MH370'

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kuala Lumpur, March 7: The aircraft debris found in French overseas territory of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean could be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, according to the drifting calculation, a Malaysian official said on Monday.

The media reported that an object measuring about 40 by 20 centimetres was found by the seashore last week, Xinhua reported.

The debris could be from the missing MH370 flight, as calculations of the drift of all debris expect that they would be around that area, said Ab Aziz Kaprawi, Malaysia's deputy transport minister.

"That is to say, any debris found within that area is tentatively, possibly... would be from MH370. And it would be verified later on," he said.

A wing part identified as flaperon was found on the island last year, the first debris confirmed to be from the missing flight.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said last week that another piece found in Mozambique, which lies at the same corner of the Indian Ocean, may be from a Boeing 777, the same model as MH370.

Maldives debris not from MH370

Both Malaysian and Australian authorities, which coordinate search in the South Indian Ocean, have sent team to verify the debris.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals.

The malaysian officials has said that search for the missing flight will continue even after two years the MH370 disappeared.

IANS
UP man posts wifes obscene pics on FB to get more followers

OMG! Facebook to be world's biggest virtual graveyard by 2098?

International

oi-PTI

London, Mar 7: Facebook is likely to become the world's biggest virtual graveyard by the year 2098, as the number of accounts of the deceased will outnumber the living on the social networking site, an expert has claimed.

At present, when a user passes away, Facebook transforms their page into a 'memorialised' version. The account of a dead person can be deleted only if someone with the password logs in and closes it down.

However, few people have another person's login information, so the account tends to remain active even after death.

According to Hachem Sadikki, a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts in US, the social network will become the world's biggest virtual graveyard by 2098.

His calculations are based on the assumption that Facebook will continue to not delete dead users automatically and that the site's growth will soon begin to slow.

According to the online legacy planning company Digital Beyond, 970,000 Facebook users will die this year.

Facebook's Latin American boss arrested in Brazil

In 2010 it was 385,968 and in 2012 it was 580,000, the 'Metro' reported. Facebook's refusal to delete dead users automatically and the plateauing membership of the site means that the living will be outnumbered sooner than thought.

The site has tried to get around the problem by asking users to appoint a 'Legacy Contact', a sort of online executor of their will, before they die.

PTI
For migrant workers it is extended festival vacation but loss for many businessmen

Migrant labour from Bihar shot dead in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists

Migrant crisis: If Europe shuts the door where can they go?

International

oi-Jagriti

Washington, Mar 7: To tackle the widespread flow of migrants to Europe, European Union heads of government held a meeting with Prime Minister of Turkey on Monday.

The meeting discussed ways to restrict the number of migrants arriving in Europe.

According to the International Organization for Migration, around 134,900 migrants took the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe so far this year in search of a better life.

More than 400 have died making the dangerous journey to Europe.

An EU-Turkey joint action plan was framed late last year to increase funding and humanitarian aid for migrants in Turkey and help dismantle human smuggling networks. The decision was taken as many migrants landing in Europe pass through Turkey.

Migrant crisis: EU seeks to close Balkan route at summit

A record 1.2 million people registered for asylum in the European Union in 2015 -- more than double the number from the previous year, reported CNN citing the EU's statistics agency Eurostat.

"Of those, Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis accounted for more than half of the first-time applicants," it added.

Around 10,000 people were seen awaited the Greek border with Macedonia, while only a few Syrians and Iraqis were allowed by authorities to cross the border. That may turn Greece a mass refugee camp.

The meeting on Monday in Brussels, Belgium, could result in the borders opening. But the reality is that the past six months have seen more barriers built than removed.

European leaders approach towards migrant crisis have been criticised by some human rights groups, including Amnesty International.

Hollande, Merkel express 'same will' to address migration crisis

"EU efforts to address the refugee crisis have focused on ensuring that refugees and asylum-seekers remain in Turkey, instead of sharing the responsibility for their protection and assistance," the organization said in statement last week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described the migration crisis as "the greatest challenge facing Europe today.

Greece, Italy and Hungary in EU have faced disproportionate burden of migrant crisis. It has also raised tension among EU countries.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, March 7, 2016, 17:29 [IST]
The persecution of Hindus in Pakistan continues with a Hindu girl forcibly converted and married

'India won't listen to anyone': Anurag Thakur gives strong reply to PCB

Pakistan off the FATFs grey List: What this means

Pakistani PM to visit Saudi Arabia to witness military exercise

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Mar 7: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia this week to witness a major military exercise by troops of several Muslim countries to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terror groups.

"The Prime Minister will undertake a visit to Saudi Arabia on March 9-11," the Foreign Office said, citing the invitation extended by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

It said a large number of other Heads of State and Government have been invited to witness the ongoing military exercise 'North Thunder' and its closing ceremony.

Troops from 21 countries, including Pakistan, are participating in the exercise, in the northern region of Saudi Arabia.

"The main goal of the exercise is to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terrorist groups," the statement said. Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with Saudi Arabia and both countries enjoy multi-faceted cooperation, including in the fields of defence and counter-terrorism.

Pakistan holds the Saudi Arabia has affirmed that "we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with our Saudi brethren against any threat to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Saudi Arabia," the Foreign Office statement said.

It said Pakistan has consistently supported all regional and international efforts to combat militancy, extremism and terrorism and, to this end, has extended its full support and cooperation to the international community.

Pakistan earlier had reservation on joining the 34-member coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism but later agreed to join the coalition.

Pakistan, however, said it will not deploy troops in foreign countries in combat role but share intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism.

PTI
At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats

Sergei Lavrov, John Kerry hail progress in Syrian ceasefire

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Moscow, Mar 7: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry on Sunday praised the "real progress" in ensuring a cessation of hostilities in Syria.

"The two sides expressed an overall positive assessment of real progress in achieving a truce on Syrian soil, which is generally respected and has already led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov and Kerry, on a phone call, stressed the need to prevent delay of intra-Syrian talks under the UN auspices, as well as to provide humanitarian aid to blocked areas in Syria, reports Xinhua.

"It is essential to ensure from the very beginning the participation (in the intra-Syrian negotiations), along with the delegation of the Syrian government, of a wide spectrum of all opposition forces, including Syrian Kurds," the ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.

(Pakistan hails Russia-US agreement on Syria)

The top diplomats confirmed that joint efforts would be paid by both countries' representatives in Geneva to ensure smooth work of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) task forces on humanitarian and ceasefire issues.

Lavrov and Kerry discussed a schedule of political contacts for the nearest future.

They also agreed to continue cooperate with all involved parties in order to find the ways to settle Yemeni conflict through political dialogue.

The Russia-US-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities. The truce has so far been largely adhered to despite sporadic violations.

Currently, a UN-mediated intra-Syrian talk was scheduled for March 9 in Geneva as a fresh diplomatic effort to politically settle the Syria crisis.

IANS
Sydney iconic New Year's fireworks to go ahead despite wildfires

Sydney - Gunman who shot three kills himself

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Canberra, March 7: A gunman who killed one person and injured two others at a Sydney industrial unit shot himself after a six-hour siege, police said.

The police surrounded the site after a man was killed and two others seriously injured in a shooting incident around 10.45 a.m. (local time).

"Three factory people were also at the site who were later rescued after the gunman was found dead around 5.00 p.m. (local time)," Australian ABC quoted Detective Inspector Mark Brett as saying.

"It is believed that the person died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Brett said.

Officers were yet to determine the motive of the shooter.

One man was earlier arrested at the scene for hindering the police, he said. "Two men with wounds were transferred to Liverpool Hospital."

Police said one of the men had emergency surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body.

Police said they did not believe the shooting was terrorism-related.

Witnesses from nearby businesses said they heard five gunshots ring out, and one person said police "told us not to go near windows".

A man who works in the building complex where the shooting took place said he heard a loud bang, which he later realised was a gunshot.

IANS
Tunisia: At least 10 dead in clashes near Libyan border

International

oi-PTI

Tunis, Mar 7: At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between Tunisian police and unidentified gunmen near the Libyan border, authorities said, amid increasing concern that violent extremism in Libya could destabilize the region.

The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn Monday in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press.

Army units averted an attack on the town's military barracks, and killed at least 10 assailants, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula. One wounded attacker was arrested, he told the AP.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three corpses had been brought to the hospital, including that of a 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities are hunting several attackers who are at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group.

Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following the February 19 US raid on an Islamic State group camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

AP
West Bengal polls 2016: Left releases 1st list of 116 candidates

Kolkata

oi-Shubham

Kolkata, March 7: Left Front chairman Biman Bose on Monday (March 7) announced names of 116 Left candidates for the seven-phase Assembly election in West Bengal between April 4 and May 5.

Earlier, Tv reports said 108 names were finalised.

Former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee not to contest Bengal polls

The party has taken a balanced approach in this election by choosing new faces besides some experienced ones.

Bose said the Left has decided to field 68 new faces this time, besides 16 women and 25 minority candidates.

The Left's announcement came three days after Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee announced names of candidates for all 294 seats in the Assembly.

Understanding with Congress, not alliance, stresses Left chairman Biman Bose

Bose also said the Left has entered into a front with parties that also aim to beat Mamata Banerjee this year. "We are working with Congress with a common aim to defeat the TMC. We will take care of the fact that the anti-TMC votes do not get divided," he said.

He said the Left is in an understanding with the Congress. "Do not mix it up with an alliance." he said.

He also said that the Left will not share stage with the Congress ahead of this election.

Oneindia News
From social responsibility, can't suddenly shift to Thatcher-like reforms, Jaitley says in interview

New Delhi

oi-Shubham

New Delhi, Feb 29: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said in an exclusive interview to Anandabazaar.com that to carry out an economic reform in India, one has to keep in mind the huge rural society that the country has.

Follow Union Budget 2016-17

What industry captains expect from Union Budget 2016

Replying to a question on whether the Narendra Modi government would finally bring in a big ticket reform, Jaitley told veteran journalist Jayanta Ghoshal that a welfare state can't ignore its social responsibility. It can not be expected that we suddenly shift gears to Margaret Thatcher-like reforms from a stand of social responsibility. According to him, there is no conflict between social projects and economic reforms.

"We need to eradicate poverty and also reforms in productivity. We also need heavy industry and production," he said.

To a question that the government has failed to pass any bill and also withdrew the land bill, Jaitley conceded to the fact that his government has failed to pass a number of bills because of the NDA's numerical weakness in the Rajya Sabha. He said the the Centre has decided to pass on the issue of land aqcuisition to th states since there is no consensus on the matter.

Jaitley also said India is doing good despite the fact that the economic situation is not healthy across the world. He asked everyone not to be cynical in judging India's economic growth for the speed of growth for the country could be slow at times.

When Ghoshal asked whether he has become softer now compared to his aggressive stand on economic reforms earlier, Jaitley said he never had plans to be a hardliner on economic issues.

The Union finance minister said he is satisfied with his government's functioning, adding, however, that he would be happier if the Goods and Services Tax Bill is passed.

Oneindia News
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With No Legislation, Illinois Online Lottery Sales Set to Expire This Month

Published March 7, 2016 by Elana K

The House Finance Committee in Illinois failed to approve legislation extending their online lottery sales program, which expires this month. This means that lottery players in Illinois will no longer be able to purchase them online.

It looks like this will be the last month that the Illinois Lottery is able to sell online lottery tickets. The state had first legalized the online selling of lottery tickets in March 2012, becoming the first US state lottery to do so. But the legalization had a time limit: three years. Now, on March 25, the pilot program will expire, and state legislators have not yet taken any action to extend it.

The House Finance Committee in Illinois was supposed to have a hearing about it last week, but it was canceled. And now, the legislative season is ending and will only begin again in April - which means that there will definitely be some break in the online selling of lottery tickets.

This could have been avoided if the bill introduced last year by Republican state Rep. Ed Sullivan had been approved - his bill tried to turn the pilot program into a permanent one, but did not receive approval before the courts adjourned for the year.

Since the launch of online lottery sales in Illinois, revenue has totaled approximately $68 million, with 24% going to state education and construction projects. With the halt of online lottery sales, there will surely be a decrease in funds for these institutions, if not a complete stop.

Benefits of Online Lotteries and Online Casinos

The selling of online lottery tickets, much like the regulation of online gambling, has faced some heavy opposition from most of the states. Georgia and Michigan (and formerly Illinois) are the only states that actually allow the purchasing of online lottery tickets; all other states require players to purchase them at a retailer. As for online gambling, it is allowed in only three states: Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.

Just as Illinois used a portion of its online sales towards important state functions, the revenue from online gambling can also be used to support schools, construction, and other crucial projects. But it seems to be a long process before politicians realize the benefits that can be gained from utilizing online lotteries and casinos.
A young couple have been arrested in Iran over a romantic proposal in a shopping mall, which authorities say offended Islam.

A video of the romantic public proposal went viral and the couple at the centre of the video were arrested for offending Islamic principles with.

The proposal took place in a central Iran shopping mall in the city of Arak. The footage shows the man proposing as he and his girlfriend stood inside a heart shape made by arranging red petals on the floor. They were surrounded by red and white balloons as the man proposed and the woman accepted.

A crowd of onlookers cheered and applauded after the surprised woman accepted the proposal. The man then slipped a ring on her finger and they shared a hug.

Shortly after the video went viral, Islamic Republic News Agency journalist Sobhan Hassanvand tweeted the video, writing that both were arrested for a marriage proposal in contravention of Islamic principles.

The public proposal had drawn the reaction from authorities because it was based on decadent Western culture, according to Hassanvands post. He added that the pair were later released on bail.

Public displays of affection are prohibited in Irans strict Islamic laws, which also forbid gender mixing in public places. Relationships between Western and Muslim people in Iran are also forbidden.

Watch the video below.

? Man publicly proposes to woman at shopping mall in Arak, central #Iran

Both arrested for marriage proposal in contradiction to islamic rituals based on decadent Western culture, then released on bail pic.twitter.com/eKdlNX9Bte  Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) March 8, 2019

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In the week ending 04 March, 2016, it was reported that one third of investors are carrying out manager searches for new alternative investment mandates. Research among consultants in the last quarter of 2015 indicates an increased demand for private equity and infrastructure.

On the legal scene; Argentina and the bond holdouts have reached an agreement on the country's debt; Judge Deborah Batts has sentenced Samir Barai to two years of supervised release for insider trading; hedge funds case against Porsche SE got a boost from a German judge; and the four hedge funds that reached a deal with Argentina have filed an appeal that may complicate a final resolution of the 15-year legal battle.

On the M&A scene, 50 South Capital Advisors has acquired Aurora Investment Management; and Gottex Fund has sold its multi-asset investment business, Frontier Investment, back to its founder.

About 80% of new hedge fund launches in 2015 were equity-oriented, ......................

To view our full article Click here
Opalesque Industry Update - Aquila Capital has announced the appointment of industry expert Manfred Schraepler as Managing Director and Business Unit Head, Financial Assets and Liquid Private Markets. In the newly created role, Mr. Schraepler will be responsible for the strategic direction and further growth of Aquila Capitals financial asset business. Manfred Schraepler joins Aquila Capital from Bank of America Merrill Lynchs Fund Solutions Group, having previously worked in a senior capacity at a number of firms, including as Director of Marketing at IKOS CIF Limited and Head of Structured Funds at Deutsche Bank AG, London. Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and Co-Founder of Aquila Capital, said: I am delighted to welcome Manfred to Aquila Capital. He is a highly respected industry expert with a wealth of experience and strong track record in alternative investment management. I am confident that Manfreds proven expertise both in the development and expansion of fund management businesses and in the distribution of alternative investment strategies will play an instrumental role in Aquila Capitals long-term growth strategy.


Boris Vallejo - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

(Image by cykocurt) Details DMCA



Why have our politics become so dysfunctional? The answer is really not so hard to find.

Our founders knew the nation would always have its divisions.--of interests, values, opinions. The hope in framing the Constitution was that we'd nonetheless find ways to move the nation forward by negotiating compromises.

The question "How can we fight to increase our power?" would always be there, they understood, but the question "How can we cooperate to serve the good of the nation?" was supposed to have greater weight.

But in our times the spirit of conflict has overpowered the spirit of cooperation. And it is clear that it was on one side of the battle lines this view of politics as a kind of war gained ascendancy.

Since the early 90s, I have been in regular contact with both conservatives and liberals. As Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich embarked on their campaigns to foster hostility toward "librels," one could hear growing hostility from people on the right toward those on the other side.

This antagonism from the right escalated for a very long time, as I can testify, before it began to be reciprocated by many liberals. It is, indeed, only in the past several years that the anger that liberals have been receiving from conservatives for nearly a generation has begun to be returned.

The practice of politics as war was strengthened still further during the presidency of George W. Bush. The year 2002 was pivotal in the choice of strife over cooperation.

In the wake of 9/11, the Democrats -- in accordance with the American custom in wartime -- set aside differences and rallied round the president. But then President Bush (and his strategist Karl Rove) chose to break apart that national unity in order to gain an electoral advantage. They deliberately put into the bill creating the Department of Homeland Security a "poison pill" -- putting in an irrelevant piece, which they knew Democrats could not support, that undermined labor -- to trap the Democrats into voting against that form of the bill.

The idea for that department had come from the Democrats (and been resisted for months by the president), but now their "no" votes could be used to defeat them in the coming elections for being "soft on terrorism." In order to gain the Republicans another Senate seat, they even smeared an American patriot like Senator Max Cleland of Georgia -- who'd left three of his limbs in Vietnam -- as someone aligned with Osama bin Ladin.

Politics as combat took new form when Barack Obama became president, and the Republicans decided to make it their priority to make him fail. Such a decision was unprecedented in American history--let alone at a time of national crisis, when the economy was teetering on the edge of an abyss, and when therefore the president's failure could mean suffering for millions of Americans.

Because of the across-the-board obstructionism the Republicans chose, we've lately seen the least productive Congresses of our history. Can anyone name an issue that the Republicans have approached in the spirit of "What can we accomplish, despite our differences, that will create a better America?"

As soon as a vacancy opened on the Supreme Court, the Republicans in the Senate made an unprecedented declaration of non-cooperation. Never before in American history has a Senate refused categorically to consider any nominee they might receive from the president in office when a vacancy opened up on the highest court. "Advise and consent" has been perverted into the all-out strife of "no consent no matter what."

Meanwhile, in the race for the Republican nomination for president, an apparently unstoppable frontrunner -- of a nature likewise unprecedented -- has arisen.

Never have we seen a candidate in the presidential arena so eager to pick even unnecessary fights -- not only with his presidential rivals, but also with Fox News and Megyn Kelly, Mexicans and Muslims, journalists. With this bellicosity, Donald Trump has captured passions in the Republican base to become the Party's dominant leader. Trump is a leader suitable for a party that for a generation has taught its followers to see politics as a form of combat.

Politics as cooperation requires both sides. Politics as war can be imposed upon the whole system by the choice of any one side.

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This is the stuff Hollywood is made of. And that was exactly the logic behind the elaborate production.

The public prosecutors of the two-year-old Car Wash investigation maintain there are "elements of proof" implicating Lula in receiving funds -- at least 1.1 million euros -- from the dodgy kickback scheme involving major Brazilian construction companies connected to Petrobras. Lula might -- and the operative word is "might" -- have personally profited from it mostly in the form of a ranch (which he does not own), a relatively modest seaside apartment, speaking fees in the global lecture circuit, and donations to his charity.

Lula is the ultimate political animal -- on a Bill Clinton level. He had already telegraphed he was waiting for such a gambit, as the Car Wash machine had already arrested dozens of people suspected of embezzling contracts between their companies and Petrobras -- to the tune of over $2 billion -- to pay for politicians of the Workers' Party (PT), of which Lula was leader.



Lula's name surfaced via the proverbial rascal turned informer, eager to strike a plea bargain. The working hypothesis -- there is no smoking gun -- is that Lula, when he led Brazil between 2003 and 2010, personally benefited from the corruption scheme with Petrobras at the center, obtaining favors for himself, the PT and the government. Meanwhile, inefficient President Dilma Rousseff is herself under attack engineered via a plea bargain by the former government leader in the Senate.

Lula was questioned in connection to money laundering, corruption and suspected dissimulation of assets. The Hollywood blitz was cleared by federal judge Sergio Moro -- who always insists he's been inspired by the Italian judge Antonio di Pietro and the notorious 1990s Mani Pulite ("Clean Hands") investigation.

And here, inevitably, the plot thickens.

Round up the usual media suspects

Moro and the Car Wash prosecutors justified the Hollywood blitz insisting Lula refused to be interrogated. Lula and the PT vehemently insist otherwise.

And yet Car Wash investigators had consistently leaked to mainstream media words to the effect, "We can't just bite Lula. When we get to him, we will swallow him." This would imply, at a minimum, a politicization of justice, the Federal Police and the Public Ministry. And would also imply that the Hollywood blitz may have been supported by a smoking gun. As perception is reality in the frenetic non-stop news cycle, the "news" -- instantly global -- was that Lula was arrested because he's corrupt.

Yet it gets curiouser and curiouser when we learn that judge Moro wrote an article in an obscure magazine way back in 2004 (in Portuguese only, titled Considerations about Mani Pulite, CEJ magazine, issue number 26, July/September 2004), where he clearly extols "authoritarian subversion of juridical order to reach specific targets ... and using the media to intoxicate the political atmosphere.



All of this serving a very specific agenda, of course. In Italy, right-wingers saw the whole Mani Pulite saga as a nasty judicial over-reach; the left, on the other hand, was ecstatic. The Italian Communist Party (PCI) emerged with clean hands. In Brazil, the target is the left -- while the right, at least for the moment, seems to be composed of hymn-singing angels.

The pampered, cocaine-snorting loser candidate of the 2014 Brazilian presidential election, Aecio Neves, for instance, was singled out for corruption by three different accusers -- and it all went nowhere, without further investigation. Same with another dodgy scheme involving former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso -- the notoriously vainglorious former developmentalist turned neoliberal enforcer.

What Car Wash has already forcefully imprinted across Brazil is the perception that corruption only pays when the accused is a progressive nationalist. As for Washington consensus vassals, they are always angels -- mercifully immune from prosecution.

That's happening because Moro and his team are masterfully playing to the hilt Moro's self-described use of the media to intoxicate the political atmosphere -- with public opinion serially manipulated even before someone is formally charged with any crime. And yet Moro and his prosecutors' sources are largely farcical, artful dodgers cum serial liars. Why trust their word? Because there are no smoking guns, something even Moro admits.

And that leads us towards the nasty scenario of a made in Brazil media-judicial-police complex possibly hijacking one of the healthiest democracies in the world. And that is supported by a stark fact: the right-wing Brazilian opposition's entire "project" boils down to ruining the economy of the 7th largest global economic power to justify the destruction of Lula as a presidential candidate in 2018.

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http://kexxel.com/images/eventlist/brochures/mkt16_bk_event.pdf

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Dubbed as the social marketing guru, Lon Safko is en route to making an appearance in Bangkok this 16th and 17th May to facilitate the Innovative Marketing Masterclass.The workshop will prioritize to enlighten the participants in regards to the Fusion Marketing concept as the end product of the combination of traditional marketing, digital marketing and social media marketing into one tool. In addition, the participants will be guided by Lon Safko to assess and take their own tools, campaigns, objectives and strategies into the practice of fusion marketing.In regards to marketing, Lon is very knowledgeable as he has already written nine innovative marketing books. His bestselling Social Media Bible has transformed businesses strategists to be more social-media friendly in order to take advantage of this new media. Also, Lon is a professional blogger for FastCompany, an ambassador for SCORE and one of the member of the USA Today CEO Advisory Board.For further info, please refer to the link below:By the end of this course, you will able to:Understand all of the available tools and knowing which ones to use the most effectivelyUnderstand terms such as the fundamental shift in power, link love, Google Juice &What the SEO advantages are to blogging?Use QR codes and mobile marketing, segmenting, and day parting to achieve a 35%email conversion rateExplore in-game advertising, virtual worlds, and video marketingLearn about Fusion Marketing as next generation of marketing that brings together traditional marketing, digital marketing tools and social media into one toolUnderstand Fusion Marketing as new concept of Interconnecting that it has been accepted by the United States Patent & Trademark Office as Patent PendingLook at all of your tools, campaigns, objectives, and conversion strategies first in two dimensions, then taking your entire marketing strategies into the world of three-dimensions using Fusion MarketingWho should attend:Marketing ProfessionalsMarketing ConsultantsBusiness OwnersSocial Media SpecialistsSEO SpecialistsSales ProfessionalsFor more information, kindly go to our website atKindly acknowledge that there is a special 3+1 package available for this course! If a company decides to register three delegates, they will be entitled to register a fourth delegate for FREE! We highly encourage you to take advantage of this special offer for your own benefit as an investment to your company.If you have more than 16 delegates and would be keen to conduct an In House Training in your own company for this topic or any other topic of interest for that matter, just give us a buzz or forward your enquires to iht@kexxel.com and we will definitely strive to present the best for you! Book now and save up to 50% on the whole cost of the event!Contact:Eliza YeoProject Manager International EventsKexxel GroupT: +603 2282 1688Fax: +603 2283 5088E: eliza.yeo@kexxel.comKexxel Group is a leading business intelligence company providing top level business learning & strategic networking platforms to Fortune 1000 & Blue chip companies in Asia, Africa & Middle East Region, through International Business Conferences, Hospitality Management, Corporate Trainings, In House Trainings & International Exhibitions.We strive to provide our clients with strategic insights that are imperative for them to not only sustain a competitive advantage, but also to emerge as successful global leaders in the corporate world.We envision ourselves in being forward thinking leaders in inspiring creativity & ingenuity in our clients through our innovative products & services.With more than a total of 13 years experience in the event management industry, we constantly pride our-self to expand aggressively in all business verticals.Kexxel Group,Menara UOA Bangsar
Smart Railways Market Is Expected To Be Valued At US$ 159.6 Bn by the End of 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/smart-railways-market

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According to a new market report published by Future Market Insights, titled Smart Railways Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025, the global smart railways market was valued at US$ 17.6 Bn in 2014 and is expected to register a CAGR of 22.3% from 2015 to 2025. Growth of the smart railways market is primarily driven by increasing government support in railways. Furthermore, growing urbanisation & population worldwide and increasing safety and security concerns among travellers are the key growth drivers for the smart railways market.Smart railway includes smart railway systems that are instrumented and interconnected. It comprises devices & components, solutions and services that help the rail companies to collect new information needed to monitor all railway related operations more closely and accurately.The global smart railways market is segmented on the basis of offering type and region. On the basis of offering type, the market is segmented into devices & components, services and solutions. Each of this segment is further divided into different sub-segments. Among these segments, solutions is the most dominant segment in the market currently. The growth of this segment is driven by introduction of metro and high speed rail projects, smart cities, and smart transportation across the globe. For example, In November 2014, China government awarded a contract to the newly formed joint venture between Nanjing Puzhen Co. Ltd and Bombardier Inc. for developing and manufacturing monorail and Automated People Mover (APM) in China only. Detailed analysis of each segment and sub-segment is provided in the report to understand the market accurately.Browse the full "Smart Railways Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025" market research report atThis report also covers trends driving each market segment and offers analysis and insights on the potential of the smart railways market across key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa. Furthermore, the market is sub-segmented on the basis of the major countries in each region in order to provide a better regional analysis of the global smart railways market. Western Europe was the largest market for smart railways in 2014, wherein it was valued at US$ 5.1 Bn. The market in the region is expected to be driven by the rise in government rules and regulations mandating the installation of the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and other security solutions in every metro and high speed rail.The APEJ market was valued at US$ 3.4 Bn in 2014 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 27.5% during the forecast period. The market in APEJ is expected to be driven by the increasing rail spending on the up gradation of the overall rail infrastructure in the region. Besides, market activities in China and ASEAN region are expected to be strong in order to be able to meet the growing needs of the high capacity infrastructure and increasing urbanisation in these regions, which is another factor driving growth of the smart railways market in APEJ.Request Free Report Sample@Key players identified in the global smart railways market include Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ABB Group, Indra Sistemas, S.A., Bombardier Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., Alstom S.A., Siemens AG, IBM Corporation, General Electric Co., Alcatel-Lucent S.A. and Ansaldo STS. Key players in the market are following merger, acquisition, new product launch, expansion and partnership trends in order to remain competitive in the market. A competitive dashboard is included in the report to provide detailed information about the key market players.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:
Smart Factory Market is Expected to be Valued at US$ 215.0 Bn by the end of 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/smart-factory-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-446

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According to a the latest market report published by Future Market Insights titled, Smart Factory Market - Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025, the market was valued at US$ 51.9 Bn in 2014 and is expected to register a CAGR of 13.3% from 2015 to 2025. Growth of the smart factory market is primarily driven by rising focus on advanced manufacturing techniques. Furthermore, developments in information and communications technology (ICT), increased focus on energy consumption, rising prices and stringent environmental regulations are expected to be key factors driving growth of the smart factory market over the forecast period.A smart factory is an advanced and automated manufacturing facility that facilitates rapid, efficient and safer means and approaches to production and manufacturing of various products and equipment. In an era of digital manufacturing, the gap between the physical and digital world is fading swiftly and being replaced with an entirely new way the manufacturing sector functions.The global smart factory market is segmented on the basis of market structure, component, manufacturing vertical and region. Market structure includes to collect, to connect, to analyse and to control. A detailed analysis of each segment is presented in the report to deliver an accurate view of the market.Browse the full "Smart Factory Market - Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025" market research report atOn the basis of manufacturing vertical, the smart factory market is segmented into automotive & transportation, food & beverages, electrical & electronics, aerospace & defence, oil & gas, garment & textile, chemical and others (healthcare & pharmaceutical). Among these, the automotive & transportation segment dominated the global smart factory market in terms of revenue contribution in 2014. Growth of this segment is primarily driven by increasing investments by leading automobile manufacturers. In September 2015 for example, German luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz announced an investment of US$ 1.3 Bn to expand and upgrade its SUV manufacturing unit in Alabama, U.S. This expansion would add 300 new jobs and support end-to-end digitalization of the production process as a part of the companys smart factory initiative. Thus, high demand from key verticals is a primary factor driving the growth of smart factories, globally.This report also covers trends driving growth of each market segment and offers analysis and insights about market potential across key regions namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East & Africa. Furthermore, the market is sub-segmented on the basis of major countries in each region in order to provide a regional analysis of the overall market. Asia Pacific was the largest revenue contributor to the global smart factory market, accounting for US$ 20.4 Bn in 2014. This is mainly attributed to increasing investment in manufacturing plants in the region. In April 2015 for example, the South Korean government along with Samsung Electronics announced an investment of US$ 12.6 Mn to promote the smart factory concept in the country. Smart factory market in Europe accounted for US$ 14.7 Bn in 2014 and is expected to register a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period. Growth of the market in this region is expected to be driven by increasing government support for development of innovative production technologies in countries such as Germany and the U.K. Also, increasing spending by key players is expected to further drive growth of the market in Europe.Request Free Report Sample@Key players in the global smart factory market include ABB Group, Rockwell Automation, Inc., General Electric Co., Siemens AG, Oracle Corporation, IBM Corporation, SAP SE, PTC Inc., Accenture PLC and Atos SE. These players focus on mergers and acquisitions, new product launches, expansions and partnerships in order to remain competitive in the market. A competitive dashboard has also been included in the report to provide detailed information about key players in the market.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:
Hot Melt Adhesives Market Expected to be Valued at US$ 8.9 Bn by 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/hot-melt-adhesives-market

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According to the latest market report published by Future Market Insights (FMI) titled Hot Melt Adhesives Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025, the hot melt adhesives market is expected to be valued at US$ 5.4 Bn in 2015 and expand at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2015 to 2025, accounting for US$ 8.9 Bn by 2025.A hot melt adhesive is a thermoplastic glue that is thermally melted on application and attains adhesion strength upon cooling. Hot melt adhesives consist of one or more polymers as well as additives such as stabilizers, pigments and resins, which are carefully blended to exhibit different characteristics from base polymers. Hot melt adhesives are named after polymer bases. Various types of hot melt adhesives include ethylene vinyl acetate, polyolefin, polyamide, styrenic block copolymers, polyester, etc. Hot melt adhesives are used in several industries including packaging, non-woven, automotive, product assembly, textiles, tapes and labels, woodworking, paper bonding, electronics and many more.Hot melt adhesives are 100% solid thermoplastic materials without any volatile organic compounds, which makes them safe for use in production, transportation, application and storage. They are also environment friendly and safe for use by humans. Properties such as higher setting speeds and heat resistance and easy disposal gives hot melt adhesives a competitive advantage over water and solvent based adhesives, and is a major factor driving market growth. The setting speed of hot melt adhesives range between 5 and 30 seconds, enabling speedier production lines as compared to conventional adhesives. In addition, technological advancements in polymer bases are expected to further drive this market. Development of hydrophilic and polyamide hot melt adhesives is also gaining attention in developed countries, thereby driving growth of the hot melt adhesives market.Browse the full "Hot Melt Adhesives Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" market research report atOn the basis of polymer base, the hot melt adhesives market has been segmented into ethylene vinyl acetate, polyolefin, polyamide, styrenic block copolymers and others. The ethylene vinyl acetate segment is anticipated to account for a major share in the hot melt adhesives market by 2025. The polyolefin segment accounts for the highest market share across the globe and is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 6.4% in terms of value, during the forecast period (2015-2025). The styrenic block copolymers and ethylene vinyl acetate based hot melt adhesives are anticipated to grow at a steady rate during the forecast period.On the basis of application, the hot melt adhesives market is segmented into packaging, automotive, construction, healthcare products and others. Others include textile, electronics, paper bonding and footwear. The packaging segment is expected to dominate the market with over 35% share in the global market. Consumption of hot melt adhesives in healthcare products is expected to increase rapidly in the near future. Application in healthcare products is expected to witness a CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period. Increasing awareness pertaining to hygiene coupled with technological advancements in polymer bases, especially for hygiene, is expected to boost demand for hot melt adhesives during the forecast period.The report provides detailed information about various trends driving each segment and offers insights and analysis about market trends in specific regions. The report also includes an overview of the parent market and key regulations regarding the application of these adhesives. On the basis of region, the market is segmented into seven regions. North America is expected to dominate the market with over 30% share by the end of 2015. In terms of value, Asia Pacific is anticipated to demonstrate the highest CAGR of over 9% during the forecast period.Request Free Report Sample@Further, the report presents market opportunities, future outlook, trends, BPS analysis, market attractiveness analysis and competitive landscape of the key players in the hot melt adhesives market. Key players have been profiled to include a company overview, financials, operating segment share, product and service offerings, business strategies, SWOT analysis and key developments.Key players in the global hot melt adhesives market include Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, H. B. Fuller, Sika AG, Arkema Group, Ashland Inc., The 3M Company, Jowat AG, Sipol S.p.A., Palmetto Adhesives Company and Sealock Ltd.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:
TEFAF Coverage  Providing Unrivalled Insight into Europes Biggest Art Fair

Art Market Magagzine- TEFAF

http://artmarketmag.com

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Art Market Magazine continues its exponential growth into one of the leading fine and contemporary arts publications. With each passing issue there is even more amazing content, more guest contributors and more extensive coverage of the international art world.A Brand New Issue of Art Market MagazineIssue 17 of Art Market Magazine proves to be no different, as it provides some of the most comprehensive and insightful coverage of The European Fine Art Fair you likely to find. Beyond this you find the usual fantastic and high quality content found throughout the magazine, with new contributors adding their thoughts and feelings regarding their favorite artists, works and much more.Returning contributors also offer some extensive coverage of the art world, including blogs, interviews, and profiles of artist both established and emerging, along with in-depth coverage of all the biggest art news in the world, auction results and more.Articles and Interviews for TEFARThe European Fine Art fair is one of the biggest annual art and antique fairs not only in Europe, but the entire world. Held in Maastricht, Netherlands, tens of thousands of art aficionados, dealers, and artists will converge upon the fair during its ten day run that begins 11th March.Some of the most exquisite pieces of art and antiques will be on full display, including paintings, sculptures, antiquities, and works on paper. These exhibits span time periods that collectively cover thousands of years of art, with billions of dollars worth of pieces on display at the fair.Art Market Magazine provides a selection of insightful articles and interviews regarding the TEFAR, with fantastic coverage provided by the talented Miguel Bermudez. For those looking to get the preview coverage of the fair, look no further than the latest issue of Art Market magazine.More Amazing Coverage of the International Art SceneArt Market Magazines latest issue is filled with its usual helping of top quality art coverage. Here you can find and all-encompassing art magazine that aims to bring art lovers and artists from throughout the globe together.Art blogs featuring both regular and new contributors covers various aspects of art, from a psychological perspective on contemporary art to opinion pieces from established artists such as Denis Taylor.Profiles of the great and influence artists of our time can also be found, along with profiles that give a look behind the art of some of the most talented and emerging talents currently plying their trade.There is also comprehensive coverage of all the current art news from around the world. The best and must-see exhibits from across the world can be found in Art Market Magazine, including London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and, Tel Aviv. News surrounding the results of all of the latest big auctions from all over the world can also be found, keeping art fans up to date on all of the latest sales.Available on Digital Newsstands Now!Art Magazine is available on digital newsstands such Pocketmags and Magzter. We are also available to buy from Google Play and the App Store which provides a great opportunity for International Art Market Magazine to find an even great audience who love art and culture.Visit the Art Market WebsiteArt Market Magazine isnt the only location for all of the best coverage of fine and contemporary arts.New Content that Grows Each DayAs the official website to partner the already popular Art Market Magazine, the website has a rich catalogue of content, covering all things art. Fine arts, contemporary arts, though-pieces, coverage of exhibitions, profiles and interviews with artists both established and emerging are just a few examples of all of the high quality content found on the websites.With over two years of articles and interviews gathered over the course of Art Market Magazines publication, there are hundreds of amazing articles waiting to be discovered. Artwork produced by some of the most influential artists from around the globe can be found here, not to mention the work of many aspiring and emerging talents.Amongst the content found here, Art Market is proud to announce 5 regular contributors to the website. Each one of these comes from their own field within the arts, providing extensive and varied coverage and opinions on the website.This is only the beginning; the content found here at Art Market will only continue to grow.New Contributors Wanted!We have always been on the lookout for talented contributors with a passion for art. There are no prerequisites to become a contributor; we want to hear the thoughts and opinions from all walks of life. Art is universal; it effects and influences everyone differently. You can be an artist yourself or just love to write about it -we want as many perspectives as possible!The future is very bright for International Ark Market. We are looking forward to every step we take and hope the many people can join us along the way!Art Market Magazine- Bringing you inside the global art world with more access and insight to the people, places and events that shape our industry. With deeper focus on auctions, art fairs and exhibitions from all over the world, interviews with the new emerging artists and coverage of the most updated and neat fashion&art collaborations. New style, New content, New International Art Magazine. Enjoy!Available for subscriptions and single issue on the App Store Newsstand, Google Play App, Magzter.com, Pocketmags.com and in a Kindle version on amazon.com Available in a Print version in USA by Magcloud.com Visit Art Market Magazine Official Web Site:Like us on Facebook:Art Market MagazineDizengoff 256Tel Aviv 52503Israel
Glucose Biosensor Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2022: Grand View Research, Inc.

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/glucose-biosensors-market

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Global Glucose Biosensor Market is expected to reach USD 31.0 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. The global Glucose Biosensor Market is anticipated to witness lucrative growth during the period of 2015 to 2022.Some key factors attributing to the growth of this market include the increasing incidence of diabetes across the globe, development of technologically advanced products, growing demand for minimally and non-invasive products, patient awareness levels, and the need for early diabetes detection. However, presence of other alternatives for management of the diabetes, such as laboratory methods is expected to restrict market growth.Browse full research report on Global Glucose Biosensor Market:The glucose biosensors industry by end-use is segmented on the basis of its use in hospitals, homecare diagnostics, and others including research institutes, diagnostics, and clinical laboratories. The homecare diagnostics Glucose Biosensor Market is projected to flourish over the forecast period. Ease-of-use, quick results, and low costs of the tests are some aspects supporting market growth. On the other hand, the hospital-based Glucose Biosensor Market is projected to grow at a significant CAGR of 10.3% during the period 2015 to 2022.Read detailed report or request for free sample of this research report:Further key findings from the study suggest: North America led the market, in terms of value, with a share of about 37% in 2015. High disease burden and the subsequent need to curb associated healthcare expenditure in the U.S., has resulted in this country account for a large revenue share of the North American market in 2014. According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), around 22.3 million people in the U.S. were estimated to be diagnosed with diabetes in the year 2013. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness lucrative growth during the forecast period. This market is projected to grow rapidly during the period 2015 to 2022. China and India are expected to spearhead market growth in this region. The homecare diagnostics Glucose Biosensor Market was the largest in 2014. The segment is anticipated to grow at a rapid CAGR during the forecast period. As of 2015, the market was led by North America owing to the region's highest disease burden and homecare diagnostics adoption rates. The Glucose Biosensor Market comprises several local as well as global players. Some major players of this industry include Roche, Bayer and LifeScan, Inc..Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research:Grand View Research has segmented the global Glucose Biosensor Market on the basis of end-user application and region:Glucose Biosensors End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) Hospitals Homecare Diagnostics OthersBiosensors Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germany Asia Pacifico Chinao India Latin Americao Brazilo Mexico MEAo South Africao Saudi ArabiaGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, IncPhone: 1-415-349-0058Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519email: sales@grandviewresearch.comWeb: grandviewresearch.comRead Our Blogs  legalworkshop.org, ni2014.org
NB3711: New Railway Router for Data-Intensive Communication

www.netmodule.com

www.netmodule.com;

www.lorenzoni.de;

Berne/Niederwangen, 3 March 2016 - With the NB3711Railway Router, NetModule presents a new router especially designed for communication functions in railway traffic. As its well-established predecessor NB3710, the NB3711 provides 5 robust M12 connectors and is certified according to railway standard EN50155 TX (-40 C to + 70 C) and fire safety standard CEN TS 45545. Thanks to latest technologies and a lot of computing power, the router enables a powerful train-to-wayside communication by combining up to 4 LTE modules. The wide selection of communication interfaces allows seamless integration with the on-board electronics.For passenger information and ticketing systems the device integrates an IBIS interface to establish a direct connection to the digital operational control system. Multiple LTE and WiFi connections enable the quicky exchange of real-time data, anytime. Thanks to its unique port-based or tagged VLAN feature, the NB3711 can separate different application networks, thus avoiding interferences and guaranteeing dedicated communication paths.New interfaces such as CAN, GSM-R and RS-485 offer along with the standard interfaces RS-232, Ethernet and digital I/Os various possibilities for controlling the board equipment, for remote maintenance and condition monitoring.With multiple LTE modules, the router can establish simultaneous connections, even to various network providers, thus bringing the Internet directly and reliably into the train. By means of WiFi access points based on the latest standard IEEE 802.11ac with a throughput of up to 450 Mbps, also the passengers can surf the Internet.All routers of NetModule are based on a modular design. This allows an individual solution for every application. For example, an additionally integrated active GPS module enables precise localization of the vehicle, anytime. Also, if required, the routers can be equipped with an audio interface or VoIP to GSM gateway.About NetModule AG ():NetModule is a technology company applying communication & Internet technologies to Embedded System solutions for the segments Automation, Tele/Datacom and Life Science. The offering comprises hardware & software products as well as extensive professional engineering services and consulting.Founded in 1998 NetModule is a Swiss based company with headquarter in Berne (Niederwangen) and offices in Zurich (Winterthur), Basel, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. From these locations, NetModule serves the central European market (D, A, I and Eastern Europe). A subsidiary in Hong Kong supports sourcing activities in Far East and serves as a stepping stone for the commercialization of our products and services China.Customers are i.a. Siemens, Philips, ABB, Alstom, Bombardier, MAN, ZF, DB, OBB, SBB, Vodafone und Swisscom,as well as a multitude of SMEs.NetModule AG, Meriedweg 11, CH- 3172 Niederwangen; phl: +41 31 985 2510;sales@netmodule.comMedia contact:Agentur Lorenzoni GmbH, Public Relations, Phone: +49 8122 55917-0,Beate Lorenzoni-Felber, beate@lorenzoni.de
Rutronik Becomes Europe-Wide Intel Distributor

www.rutronik.com

www.rutronik.com

Ispringen (Germany), February 23, 2016  As of now, Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH is an Embedded Distributor for Intel in the EMEA region. The distribution agreement covers the entire Intel product range, excluding the former Altera products.Rutronik and Intel officially sealed their distribution agreement at the Embedded World event, making Rutronik an Embedded Distributor for Intel throughout the entire EMEA region. Rutronik as such primarily addresses the industrial market. The distributor is incorporating Intel's entire product range in its portfolio, excluding at present the former Altera products, which are still being distributed via the existing channels. With the Quark, Atom and Core processors, mainboards, solid state drives, and software and security solutions from Intel, Rutronik is able to offer consistent and scalable solutions for its customers' data processing chains.As a leading company in the semiconductor segment, Intel is a visionary in many ways. We very much look forward to our partnership  especially given that our strategy that we are pursuing with Rutronik SMART and Rutronik EMBEDDED, is in line with Intel's focus on the Internet of Things. This provides us with a superb foundation for our partnership, explained Andreas Mangler, Director Strategic Marketing & Communications at Rutronik.About Rutronik (Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH is third largest distributor in Europe (Europartners Distribution Report 2014) and the number eleven worldwide (Global Purchasing, May 2015). The broadline distributor offers semiconductors, passive and electromechanical components in addition to boards, storage, displays & wireless products. The company's primary target markets are the automotive, medical, industrial, home appliance, energy and lighting industries. The company bundles all products and services for specific embedded applications from the product areas of boards, storage, displays, wireless and peripherals under RUTRONIK EMBEDDED. RUTRONIK SMART brings together sensors, wireless components, micro-controllers, power management and safety solutions for devices within the Internet of Things (IoT). Expert technical support for product development and design-in, individual logistics and supply chain management solutions as well as comprehensive services complete its customer-oriented, forward-looking range of services. The company, established by Helmut Rudel in Ispringen/Germany in 1973, employs more than 1,400 staff worldwide and achieved Group sales of EUR820 million in the 2015 fiscal year.Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH, Industriestrasse 2, 75228 Ispringen, Germany; Phone +49 (0) 7231/801-0;, rutronik@rutronik.comMedia contact:Agentur Lorenzoni GmbH, Public Relations, Christine Schulze,tel: +49 8122 55917-14; e-mail: christine@lorenzoni.de
Personal Care Packaging Market To 2022- Industry Trends, Forecast: Grand View Research, Inc.

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http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/personal-care-and-cosmetics

The global personal care packaging market is expected to reach USD 37.25 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising consumption of cosmetic and beauty products along with advancements in packaging technology is expected to drive the global over the next seven years. In addition, changing lifestyle along with rapid urbanization is expected to stimulate industry growth. Growing demand for flexible packaging owing to its lightweight property as well as high durability in China, India and Brazil is expected to propel growth over the forecast period.Rigid plastics accounted for over 35.0% of the global revenue and are expected to witness significant gains over the next seven years as they are non-corrosive, light, and cheap. Increasing demand for rigid plastics in hair care and skin care applications owing to its superior properties of high impact strength, high stiffness, and high barrier properties will drive industry.Browse to access In-depth research report on Global Personal Care Packaging Market with detailed charts and figures:Further key findings from the report suggest: Fragrances are expected to witness growth at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2015 to 2022 on account of its growing demand in perfumes, deodorants, soaps, body washes and moisturizers. Large manufacturing base of perfume industry coupled with growing domestic demand in U.S., Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, China, Mexico, France and UK is expected to drive market growth. Rising disposable income coupled with increasing penetration of players such as P&G and RB through new product launches in China and India is expected to promote fragrances industry growth, thereby, . North America accounted for 23.4% of the global market share and is expected to grow in light of robust manufacturing of cosmetic manufactures such as Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble in the U.S. In addition, demand for paper and bio-based flexible packaging will rise on account of raw material availability along with strict government regulations on metal cans and glass packaging. Latin America personal care product market was valued at USD 1.29 billion and is expected to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period as a result of increasing expenditure on beauty products and cosmetics in Brazil. In addition, effective marketing strategies by companies including advertising campaigns, rising disposable income levels along with high demand for perfumes will spur packaging sector. Pouches will witness significant rise over the next seven years on account of ease of use and superior properties including chemical resistance and high barrier ability. Growing demand for stand-up pouches, owing to their lightweight property, excellent barrier properties, ease of decoration, and flexibility of size. The segment is anticipated to generate revenues exceeding USD 1.60 billion by 2022. Personal care packaging market is fragmented in nature with major key participants including Amcor, Mondi plc, Bemis Company, Sonoco and Ardagh Group accounting for over 30% of the global share in 2014. Introduction of bioplastic packaging for cosmetics in order to reduce pollution is expected to spur industry. In addition, advancements in glass packaging to reduce glass bottles weight by 50%, thereby reducing energy required to produce and transport them will promote growth.Request for free sample of this research report:Grand View Research has segmented the global personal care packaging market on the basis of product, packaging type, application, and region:Global Personal Care Packaging Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Flexible Rigid plastics Paper Metal GlassGlobal Personal Care Packaging Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Bottles Jars Cans Cartons Tubes Pouches OthersGlobal Personal Care Packaging Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Skin care Hair care Bath & shower Fragrances OthersGlobal Personal Care Packaging Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) North Americao U.S. Europeo Germany Asia Pacifico Chinao India Latin Americao Brazil MEABrowse more reports of this category by Grand View Research:Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, IncPhone: 1-415-349-0058Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519email: sales@grandviewresearch.comWeb: grandviewresearch.com
PromptCloud revolutionizing the data acquisition industry for Indian E-commerce

www.promptcloud.com

Indian E-commerce data is just a Click away!PromptCloud, a leading web crawling and data extraction service provider, has announced the launch of its first official free service by the name of Predefined Ecommerce feeds on their Dashboard application. This service is offered as a part of their Requirement Gathering Dashboard application and is easily accessible via the PromptCloud website as well. Under E-commerce feeds option, PromptCloud is providing free fresh feeds from a predefined number of categories from leading Indian e-Commerce sites.E-commerce in the Indian market has been growing with leaps and bounds and has established itself as a major business destination. With the recent emphasis on capturing and analyzing Big Data to extract meaningful business insights, an immediate spike in E-commerce data feeds has been predominantly visible. Catering to this demand, PromptCloud has emerged as a leading pioneer in the web data crawling and extraction industry. The launch of E-commerce feeds is another step closer to accomplishing the companys dream of providing data for intelligence and making Big data simple.In continuation with this ideology, the launch of E-commerce feeds for the Indian markets will help more businesses get a first-hand experience of using data to generate strategic insights before expanding their data repositories. The users are free to select individual or multiple data feeds from a set of predefined feeds to get corresponding fresh data sets every week. Some of the key features of this service are as follows:Multiple options to choose from: Users can choose from sites such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal or Paytm. They can choose single or multiple categories like Mobile phones, Mens trousers, Womens watches or Best seller books, from one or more websites to create a set of customized feeds that would match their requirement set to get a hands-on experience of handling data.Customizable output formats: Since this service can help businesses get comfortable with using data to fuel their intelligence gathering efforts, provisions have been made to select the best output format that could help transfer the data directly into their repositories without any technical glitches. The users have an option to choose from among multiple out formats such as CSV, XML, JSON or LDJSON for easy data acquisition.Fresh data sets every week: To keep the flow of data coming smoothly, the frequency of crawls has been automatically set to every week. Thus everyone can enjoy fresh data sets as they are delivered in their APIs / account each week, without fail.Our target is to make data accessible and overcome the initial resistance a lot of people face while transitioning from the traditional intelligence gathering methods to a more versatile and a fast paced data acquisition platform. We hope the E-commerce feeds will help people overcome their tech-inertia so we are able to provide data to each and every business and contribute to their imminent success.  said Arpan Jha, Head of Products and Strategy, PromptCloud.PromptCloud, a pioneer in Data as a Service, makes big data look small through its cloud based Data as a Service platform and offers services ranging from Web Crawling to Social Media Crawling. PromptClouds Data as a Service platform uses cloud computing and machine learning techniques to provide an end-to-end data delivery solution with easy-to-use Data API access. To learn more, visit. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.PromptClud Technologies, Second Floor, 118/1, 80 Feet Road, Indira Nagar, Bangalore-560075, India
Market Report - High Performance Alloys Market Size, Company Share To 2020: Grand View Research, Inc.

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http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/automotive-and-aerospace-interior-materials

Global high performance alloys market is expected to reach USD 9.26 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Aerospace application dominated the high performance alloys market accounting for over 55% of global demand in 2013. Growing demand for light weight alloys in aerospace industry coupled with increasing low cost carriers resulting in higher demand for new aircrafts is expected to augment market growth.North America was the largest regional market accounting for over 40% of global high performance alloys market demand in 2013. Increasing R&D investment aimed at use of novel high performance materials in aerospace industry is expected to help the region maintain dominance over the forecast period. In addition, favorable government initiatives including The National Space Policy for promoting investment in aerospace industry is expected to augment market demand. Asia Pacific is expected to witness above average growth rates over the next six years owing to the growing aviation industry coupled with increasing demand for high durability metals in gas turbines and electrical & electronics.Browse full research report on Global High Performance Alloys Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: Global high performance alloys market demand was 1150.0 kilo tons in 2013 and is expected to exceed 1400.0 kilo tons by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 3.0% from 2014 to 2020. Non-ferrous alloys were the largest product segment accounting for over 50% of global market in 2013. Non-ferrous metal alloys are expected to witness significant demand owing to the extensive use of nickel and titanium alloys in automotive and aviation industry. Superalloys demand is expected to witness growth at a CAGR of over 3.0% from 2014 to 2020 owing to increasing application in gas turbines and oil & gas industries. High performance alloys demand in gas turbine and electrical & electronics is expected to witness highest growth at a CAGR of over 3.5% from 2014 to 2020. Key participants have patented technologies coupled with expertise in the field of high performance alloys resulting in market dominance. High performance alloys market is moderately consolidated with the top four companies accounting for less than 50% of the market in 2013. Key companies in the market include VSMPO, Carpenter Technology Corporation and RTI International Metals. Other companies operating in this market include Aperam, Outokumpu and Haynes International.Read detailed report or request for sample of this research report:For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the high performance alloys market on the basis of product, application and region:Global High Performance Alloys Market Product Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons, Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2020) Non-ferrous Platinum Refractory SuperalloysGlobal High Performance Alloys Market Application Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons, 2012 - 2020) Aerospace Automotive Industrial Gas Turbines Industrial Oil & gas Electronics OthersGlobal High Performance Alloys Market Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons, 2012 - 2020) North America Europe Asia Pacific RoWBrowse more reports of this category by Grand View Research:Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, IncWeb: grandviewresearch.comRead our blogs - dniamericas.org, terrapass.org, divog.org
Global Electric Hair Curlers Market 2016 Industry Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021

Electric Hair Curlers Market

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Global Electric Hair Curlers Market 2016The report titled Global Electric Hair Curlers Market 2016 is compiled to provide a comprehensive overview of the global Electric Hair Curlers market. It studies the different factors driving or inhibiting the market growth for the forecast period between 2016 and 2021. The report analyzes the factors which the market can capitalize on to sustain growth and competitiveness in the near future.In a lucid chapter wise format interspersed with statistics and graphical representation the publication explains the present market dynamics and the different factors likely to impact the Electric Hair Curlers market over the forecast period. The research draws attention to accurate historical data and how the market has progressed in the past few years to attain the present demography. Leading players operating in the market is profiled extensively by the report. The shares of key competitors are evaluated respectively to examine the competitive landscape and measure the overall size of the global Electric Hair Curlers market.To present a detailed study on the market, the report gauges the impact of the demand and supply forces prevalent in the market, and examines how the same is likely to affect the future course of action of the leading market players. To begin with, the report defines the market and enumerates the market classification with regards to product types, applications, supply-chain network, end-use industries, and key geographic region to provide a basic overview of the Electric Hair Curlers market.Plans, development policies, and initiatives adopted by the government and regulatory bodies of the key geographic regions are studied in detail to measure its overall impact in the market. Other information which the report states include export & import consumption, cost and pricing structure, revenue generated by the market over the forecast period, and gross margin. For a detailed competitive analysis the report profiles the prominent market players. The development status of the market is also studies in detail by the report.Get FREE SAMPLE copy of Report @Table of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Electric Hair Curlers1.1.1 Definition of Electric Hair Curlers1.1.2 Specifications of Electric Hair Curlers1.2 Classification of Electric Hair Curlers1.2.1 Type One1.2.2 Type Two1.2.3 Type Three1.3 Applications of Electric Hair Curlers1.3.1 Application One1.3.2 Application Two1.3.3 Application Three1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Electric Hair Curlers1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Electric Hair Curlers1.5.1 Industry Overview of Electric Hair Curlers1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Electric Hair Curlers1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers1.7 Industry News Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers2.7 Global Price, Cost and Gross of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20153 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Key Manufacturers in 20143.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Key Electric Hair Curlers Manufacturers in 20143.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Electric Hair Curlers Key Manufacturers in 20143.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Electric Hair Curlers Key Manufacturers in 2014Read Report in PDF Format at :4 Production Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions, Type, and Applications4.1 Global Production of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions 2010-20154.2 Global Production of Electric Hair Curlers by Type 2010-20154.3 Global Production of Electric Hair Curlers by Applications 2010-20154.4 Price Analysis of Global Electric Hair Curlers Key Manufacturers in 20154.5 US Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20154.6 EU Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20154.7 Japan Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20154.8 China Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20155 Consumption Volume and Consumption Value Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions5.1 Global Consumption Volume of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions 2010-20155.2 Global Consumption Value of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions 2010-20155.3 Global Consumption Price Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers by Regions 2010-20156 Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers Production, Supply, Sales and Market Status 2010-20156.1 Capacity and Production of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20156.2 Production Market Share Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20156.3 Sales Overview of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20156.4 Supply, Sales and Gap of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20156.5 Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20156.6 Cost, Price, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Hair Curlers 2010-20157 Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers Industry Key Manufacturers7.1 Company One7.1.1 Company Profile7.1.2 Product Picture and Specification7.1.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross, and Revenue7.1.4 Contact Information7.2 Company Two7.2.1 Company Profile7.2.2 Product Picture and Specification7.2.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross, and Revenue7.2.4 Contact Information7.3 Company Three7.3.1 Company Profile7.3.2 Product Picture and Specification7.3.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross, and Revenue7.3.4 Contact Information7.4 Company Four7.4.1 Company Profile7.4.2 Product Picture and Specification7.4.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross, and Revenue7.4.4 Contact Information8 Price and Gross Margin Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers8.1 Analysis of Price, Supply and Consumption8.1.1 Price Analysis8.1.2 Supply Analysis8.2 Gross Margin Analysis8.3 Price Comparison by Regions8.4 Price Analysis of Different Electric Hair Curlers Product Types8.5 Market Share Analysis of Different Electric Hair Curlers Price Levels8.6 Gross Margin Analysis of Different Electric Hair Curlers Applications9 Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers9.1 Marketing Channels Status of Electric Hair Curlers9.2 Traders or Distributors of Electric Hair Curlers with Contact Information9.3 Ex-work Price, Channel Price and End Buyer Price Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers9.4 Regional Import, Export and Trade Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers10 Development Trend of Electric Hair Curlers Industry 2016-202110.1 Capacity and Production Overview of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202110.2 Production Market Share Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202110.3 Sales Overview of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202110.4 Supply, Sales, and Gap of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202110.5 Import, Export and Consumption of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202110.6 Cost, Price, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Hair Curlers 2016-202111 Industry Chain Suppliers with Contact Information of Electric Hair Curlers11.1 Major Raw Materials Suppliers with Contact Information of Electric Hair Curlers Industry11.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers of Electric Hair Curlers with Contact Information11.3 Major Suppliers of Electric Hair Curlers with Contact Information11.4 Key Consumers of Electric Hair Curlers with Contact Information11.5 Supply Chain Relationship Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers12 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers12.1 New Project SWOT Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers12.2 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Electric Hair Curlers13 Conclusion of the Global Electric Hair Curlers Industry 2015 Market Research ReportBrowse Full Report with Complete TOC @QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Web: qyresearchgroup.comEmail: sales@qyresearchgroup.com
Integrity Research Group announce Senior VP of Marketing & Sales

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Integrity Research Group today announced the promotion of Joseph Hartwell to Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales to meet the needs of the companys growing portfolio and client needs.Mr Hartwell will lead all strategic marketing initiatives with an eye on further fuelling the companys expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Simultaneously, Joseph will oversee initiatives and be a fundamental driver to innovation in other international markets.In addition to 20 years of extensive experience, Joseph brings invaluable out-of-the-box thinking to our firm, said Andrew Ford, Senior Portfolio Manager at Integrity Research Group. He consistently brings new opportunities to the table and the kind of goal-driven strategy that delivers meaningful results to our clients.Mr Hartwell previously served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Integrity for four years. During his tenure, he successfully led worldwide contracting, partnership relations, global sales and marketing strategies and resources, as well as managed brand strategies and corporate policies for Integrity Research Group.Joseph continues to bring his strong leadership philosophy to the team, leading with passion, hard work and recognizing his teams successes along the way, added James Heywood, Portfolio Manager at Integrity. We look forward to seeing this firm continue to thrive with his direction.Integrity also announced two additional strategic promotions, with Sarah Yeung being promoted and appointed as the new Director of Human Resources, and Karl Brennan being promoted from Client Advisor to Portfolio Manager.Integrity Research Group is an independent financial advisory firm based in Tokyo, Japan who advise their global private and institutional client base on various ethical and transparent investment opportunities. For more information, please visit, email info@integrityresearchgroup.com or call +813 4579 5609.Integrity Research Group is an independent asset management firm based in Tokyo, Japan who assist their global client base with sound ethical financial advice.Integrity Research Group, 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo 106-0032 Japaninfo@integrityresearchgroup.com+813 4579 5609Press Contact - Richard Green
Ent Devices Market : Analysis Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts 2015-2022|Brisk Insights

http://www.briskinsights.com/category/medical-devices-industry

http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-ent-devices-market-is-expected-to-reach-1-50-billion-by-2022-brisk-insights/

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According to a recently published report, Global Ent Devices Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 6.8% during 2015-2022 and it is estimated to be $1.50 billion by 2022. The global ENT devices market is segmented on the basis of devices, end user applications and geography. The report on global ENT devices market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report With ToC : briskinsights.com/report/ent-devices-market-forecast-2015-2022The global ENT devices market is expected to grow exponentially due to its wide application in number of regions such as home use, hospitals, ambulatory settings, ENT clinics etc. The increasing demand for ENT devices in various sectors is the reason for its tremendous growth. It is providing devices in almost all the sectors of the industry such as hearing devices market, hearing implants, diagnostic devices, nasal splints, voice prosthetics, surgical devices etc.Some of the other reasons for the growth of the market are increasing trend of customized implants, increase in the incidence of sinusitis. Increasing population base of geriatric people also is leading to the growth of the field. As per the action of hearing loss information more than 10 million people in UK suffer from hearing loss and in this 6.4 million belong to the age group of 65 and above. There is an increase in the number of ageing population day by day and this is also leading to the growth of the marketAt the same time government is supporting the field to enhance healthcare services. ENT devices market in healthcare provides customized products such as hearing implant. Products are being manufactured depending on the patients requirement. The new technologies are safe and effective and would bolster lifestyle of the patients. ENT devices are also used for commercial purposes.Although, there are many drivers of the field but still there exists certain restraints which are proving to be hurdle for the market growth some of them are prevalence of social stigmas, high cost of procedure and instruments and lack of proper reimbursements policy.Presently, North America and Europe holds the largest market share of the field i.e. more than 60% of the market total. Followed by Asia pacific,Some of the major market players listed in the report are Stryker Corporation, Acclarent Inc. (A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), Sonova Holding AG, AventaMed, Hoya Corporation etc.Request For Sample : briskinsights.com/sample-request/9Click Here For Same Category Reports :Our Blog :Contact Us :Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQPhone : +448081890034 (UK)Email : sales@briskinsights.comWebsite :About Us :Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Working in a highly dynamic and multi-dimensional business makes decision making complex. Effective business decisions are a result of the synthesis of market information. Our Research and data analysis is an efficient and cost-effective way of providing robust market analysis and can yield highly valuable intelligence relating to consumers, competitors and markets.Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQ
Global Metabolomics Technologies Market Size And Segment Forecasts 2022 - By Brisk Insights

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http://www.briskinsights.com/report/metabolomics-technologies-market-forecast-2015-2022

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http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-fingerprint-access-control-systems-market-is-expected-to-reach-9-15-billion-by-2022-brisk-insights/

Global Metabolomics Technologies Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of XX% during 2015-2022 and it estimated to be $XX billion by 2022. The Global Metabolomics Technologies Market is segmented on the basis of application, technique, indication and geography. The report on Global Metabolomics Technologies Market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report With TOC:The Global Metabolomics Technologies Market is expected to grow exponentially due to huge investment from governments and rise in personalized medicine market reported by, Occams Business research. With the growing biotechnology and pharmaceutical market global metabolomics technologies market is to grow significantly in the next few years.Global Metabolomics Technologies Market is expected to contribute highest in North America followed by Europe. Rise in adoption of Global Metabolomics Technologies Market applications such as Biomarker discovery, Drug discovery and development, Toxicology testing, Nutrigenomics and so on are major drivers for the Global Metabolomics Technologies Market. Agilent technologies, Thermo fisher scientific, Biocrates Life Sciences AG, Bruker Corporation, Danaher Corporation, Human Metabolomics Technologies, inc, Leco Corporation, Metabolon, inc, Shimadzu Corporation, Waters corporation, Avacta group PLC, Merc & Co. inc, Avid radiopharmaceuticals Inc, Banyan biomarkers, Diagenic ASA, Exonhit therapeutics, Genenews ltd, Glycominds ltd, Great lakes neurotechnologies, Innogenetics biological, innovative neurotechnologies inc are the key market players. Mergers and acquisition, partnerships are the key winning strategy of the market.Request For Sample:1. Global metabolomics technologies market by application 2012- 20221.1. Global Biomarker Discovery market 2012-2022 ( $ BILLION)1.2. Global Drug Discovery/Drug Assessment market 2012-2022 ( $ BILLION)1.3. Global Toxicology Testing market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)1.4. Global Nutrigenomics Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)1.5. Global Others Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2. Global metabolomics technologies market by technique 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.1. Global Separation Techniques Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.1.1. Global Gas Chromatography Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.1.2. Global Capillary Electrophoresis Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.1.3. Global High Performance Liquid Chromatography Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.1.4. Global Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.2. Global Detection Technique Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.2.1. Global Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.2.2. Global Mass Spectrometry (MS) Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.2.3. Global Surface Based Mass Analysis Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)2.3. Global Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3. Global metabolomics technologies market by indication 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3.1. Global Oncology Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3.2. Global Cardiology Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3.3. Global Toxicology testing Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3.4. Global Nutrigenomics Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)3.5. Global others Market 2012-2022 ( $ billion)4. Global metabolomics technologies market regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)4.1. North America4.2. Europe4.3. Asia Pacific4.4. Middle East & Africa4.5. Central & South AmericaLatest Report:Global Fingerprint Access Control Systems Market is expected to reach $9.15 billion by 2022:5. Competitive Landscape5.1. AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES5.2. THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC5.3. BIOCRATES LIFE SCIENCES AG5.4. BRUKER CORPORATION5.5. DANAHER CORPORATION5.6. HUMAN METABOLOMICS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.5.7. LECO CORPORATION5.8. METABOLON, INC.5.9. SHIMADZU CORPORATION5.10. WATERS CORPORATION5.11. APPLIED NEUROSOLUTIONS INC5.12. AVACTA GROUP PLC5.13. MERC & CO. IN5.14. AVID RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS INC5.15. BANYAN BIOMARKERS5.16. DIAGENIC ASA5.17. EXONHIT THERAPEUTICS5.18. GENENEWS LTD5.19. GLYCOMINDS LTD5.20. GREAT LAKES NEUROTECHNOLOGIESWebsite: briskinsights.com/Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQPhone : +448081890034 (UK)
Spectacular smack-downs and Wild Wizardry are on the menu for the 11th Annual Imagine Gala

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www.i-sci.org

www.MUSEUMofHISTORY.org

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 atand 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.About the Imaginarium Science CenterThe 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, visitAbout the SWFL Museum of HistoryThe 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, visitTwo great museums come together!The Imaginarium Science Center and the SWFL Museum of History have been under joint leadership for nearly a decade, but are now planning a new museum experience. Get a sneak peek as to where that path may lead at this joint fundraising event. It is sure to make history and blaze new trails into the future!CONRIC PR6216 Whiskey Creek DrSuite BFt Myers, FL 33919
New Elesa catalogue brings together industrial handles for special applications

Industrial handles for special applications catalogue from Elesa UK

www.elesa.co.uk

www.twitter.com/ElesaUK

www.youtube.com/elesauk

Elesas new catalogue brings together a lot of very full information about their special application handles, so providing a single source reference for many high quality items with typical stylish design.Well known as a market leading standard component supplier, Elesa have an extensive range detailed in their new catalogue  this includes many designs of bridge handles, tubular handles, luggage handles, flush handles, inset handles, locking handles and interlock handles with either inbuilt safety or indicator micro-switch, for personnel and machine protection.A specialist range of white clean handles is described for use in applications such as electronic assembly areas and laboratories.A hard copy of Elesas catalogue Handles for Special Applications may be obtained free of charge by calling them on 01526 322670 or emailing sales@elesa.co.uk.Further information regarding Elesa products may be found at:or follow them on twitter: also seeElesa (UK) Ltd is a branch office of the Elesa Spa group, international manufacturer of plastic and metal standard machine parts for the mechanical engineering industry for over 65 years.Elesa products express a quality of design and ergonomic research with recognition of its brands as guarantees of quality and reliability. Continuous attention to clients needs and a rapid service have made Elesa a reference point for designers and builders. More than 27,000 product codes, 150 patents and 31 international design awards produced with systems certified to ISO 9001 and ISO1400 are supported by localised stock and technical support.Elesa Standards cover industrial components including, handwheels, handles, levers, knobs, spring and indexing plungers, levelling feet, locks and latches and hydraulic tank accessories in engineering grade plastics, aluminium, steel and stainless steel. Also a range of light to heavy duty industrial castors, vibration damping elements, conveyor components, rod ends, fork joints and magnets.Industrial machinery and equipment are well served with the Elesa anti-vibration mounts, ball lock pins, ball transfer units, filler breathers, grip knobs, latch clamps and metal hinges, in addition to oil level indicators, plastic hinges, pneumatic clamps, stainless steel hinges, toggle clamps, tubular handles and wing knobs.Elesa (UK) Ltd26 Moorlands EstateMetheringhamLincolnshireLN4 3HXTel: 01526 322670email: sales@elesa.co.ukelesa.co.ukPress contact: Nigel Pritchett
Exploring Spain

WHAT: On Saturday, March 12th, 2016 from 1:00PM to 5:00PM, The Wine ConneXtion, located in North Andover, MA, will show guests, sip-by-sip and bottle-by-bottle, that Spanish wines deserve a place on their shelves and in their glasses during its complimentary tasting Exploring Spain.Grapes are currently the third biggest crop in Spain and because of its primarily dry climate, Spain is right behind France and Italy in its wine production quantities. Spains new approach of producing lower yields and higher quality grapes has paid off and the proof is in the glass! These wines, which are naturally free from pesticides and sulfites will sweep guests off their feet as they discover that Spanish wines are comparable to French and Italian wines.At this special tasting the experts at The Wine ConneXtion will leads guests on a tour of Spains wine regions and unique varietals like Tempranillo, Garnacha & Monastrell and fall in love them the way they love Cabernet, Chardonnay and Merlot. After tasting all that Spanish vines have to offer, guests will wonder why they havent journeyed to this ever expanding section of the store before.Exploring Spain is part of The Wine ConneXtions weekly Saturday tasting series and reflects its willingness to educate customers and offer specialized prices in a fuss-free environment.WHERE: The Wine ConneXtion, 117 Main Street in North Andover, MAWHEN: Saturday, March 12th, 2016 from 1:00PM to 5:00PMCOST: Tasting is complimentary; Must be 21+About The Wine ConneXtion:The Wine ConneXtion offers customers a unique and innovative wine-purchasing experience at the First & Main Marketplace in North Andover, Massachusetts. The store offers "eXcellent wines at eXceptional prices" by providing the best wines in their categories with a no-fuss environment. With features like the Tasting Station, encouraging customers to taste and learn about the distinguishing features of wine before buying, the store marries innovative store design and technology with a long tradition of knowledge and experience. The result is their ability to select an assortment of quality wines at great prices and pass those savings onto their mainstream consumers and wine enthusiasts all over Massachusetts and beyond. In 2015 The Wine ConneXtion launched The BackRoom at The Wine ConneXtion, expanding its retail offerings to include even higher-end, exclusive wines and spirits including bourbon, whiskey, Scotch, vodka, rum and more. Located appropriately in the rear of The Wine ConneXtion, The BackRoom is an extension of the stores welcoming yet meticulously organized atmosphere, and is staffed at all times with an expert that can answer all things fine wine and spirits. The Wine ConneXtion is located at 117 Main Street, North Andover, MA 01845 and hours of operation are Monday - Thursday: 10am - 7pm, Friday: 10am  8pm, Saturday: 9am - 7pm and Sunday: 11am - 5pm. To reach The Wine ConneXtion directly please call (toll-free) 877-469-5025.###46 Waltham St, Suite 301Boston, MA 02118
Ellams Improves Security with Matrixs Integrated Access Control Solution for their Manufacturing Plant based in Nairobi, Kenya

www.MatrixSecuSol.com

http://www.MatrixComSec.com

Ellams, a leading manufacturer and supplier of telephone scratch cards based in Nairobi, Kenya, required a fool proof security solution, integrated with access control and video surveillance for their manufacturing units. Matrix provided Ellams with an Integrated Access Control Solution with Card based Entry and Exit Readers.About Ellams:Established in the year 1977, Ellams primarily started off as a Security Documents Printer and Business Forms Manufacturer. In the year 2001, Ellams started off with the new venture of developing Telephone Scratch Cards for local telecom and cellular operators. Ellams has two manufacturing units based in Nairobi that supply secure pre-paid scratch cards to Central, Western, Eastern, and Northern Africa. Security being crucial for Ellams with respect to its manufacturing unit, the company was on a look out for a vendor who could meet the below mentioned requirements.Challenges: Dual Verification of Credentials at Main Entrance Allow Entry or Exit to a User in an Employee Zone if a Guard is Present in his Cabin Guard does not Leave while Employees are Present in an Employee Zone Keep a Check on Employees Movements  if they Enter after Gaining Access or not, etc. Access Control in Each Department Pre-defined Number of Users Allowed in a Department When a User Enters an Area, the event is Recorded till he/she Leaves Generate Alarm on Violation of Access RulesSolution Offered: Web based Access Control Solution with Card Based Entry and Exit Readers Integration with Beam Detector for Checking User Availability in an Area after Entering the Premises Man-trap Feature to Open One Gate at a Time Employees allowed access only if Guard is Present Occupancy Control to Ensure Defined Number of People are Allowed in the Respective Zone Camera is on in Presence of Employees in a Respective Zone and turns off in their Absence Instant Alarm Notification to take Immediate Action upon Violation of Access RulesBenefits: Improves Security with Integrated Solution Real-time Alarm Notification helps take Immediate Action upon Violation of Access Rules Ensures the Guard Continuously Monitors Entry and Exit of EmployeesProducts: COSEC DOOR CAP - RF Card based Premium Door Controller COSEC PATH RDCE  EM Proximity Card based Reader COSEC PANEL LITE- Site Controller for Multiple Door Controllers COSEC CENTRA GE- Application Software for 100 Users, Expandable Up to 500 Users COSEC GE ACM- Access Control Module for COSEC CENTRA GEContact: MATRIX COMSEC394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara+91 93744 74302More@MatrixComSec.comAbout MatrixEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. An innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization; Matrix is committed to keep pace with the revolutions in the telecom and security industries. With more than 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like Video Surveillance solutions, Access Control, Time-Attendance, IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, Terminals, Convergence solution, VoIP Gateways and GSM Gateways. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to the international standards. Having global foot-prints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa through an extensive network of more than 500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix has won many international awards for its innovative products.To find out and learn more about the well-engineered products and solutions offered by Matrix, for optimizing your business processes, visit the company website,Matrix COmsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010+91 0265 2630555
A10 Networks Announces Worldwide Availability of Thunder Convergent Firewall and New ACOS 4.1 Software Release

Lee Chen, CEO of A10 Networks

https://www.a10networks.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 6th March, 2016  A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN), a leader in application networking and security, today announced the worldwide availability of Thunder Convergent Firewall (CFW), a standalone security product built on A10s ACOS Harmony platform. Thunder CFW is the first converged security solution for service providers, cloud providers and large enterprises that includes: A high-performance Gi/SGi firewall with integrated distributed denial of service (DDoS) and Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) to protect mobile carriers LTE infrastructure from increased security risk posed by advent of Internet of things (IoT) and 5G data services. The Thunder CFW Gi/SGi firewall delivers up to 220 Gbps throughput, up to 268 million concurrent connections and up to 5 million connections per second in a one rack-unit appliance. A high-performance data center firewall (DCFW) with integrated DDoS protection and Server Load Balancing (SLB) to protect data center applications and infrastructure from network, Web application and multi-vector DDoS threats. The Thunder CFW data center firewall delivers up to 220 Gbps throughput, up to 268 million concurrent connections and up to 6.9 million connections per second in a one rack-unit appliance. A high-performance Secure Web Gateway with integrated explicit proxy, URL filtering and SSL Insight. Ability to classify more than 13 billion URLs into 83 categories to provide outstanding scale and accuracy. Plus, superior decryption capabilities allow for a highly efficient solution with single pass SSL decryption and SSL inspection for multiple devices. A high-performance IPSec site-to-site VPN. Provides data privacy when traffic is transported between data centers. High-performance encryption enables organizations to scale for a hybrid cloud scenario. With the ability to encrypt over 100 Gbps of traffic, Thunder CFW unifies IPsec, firewall and load balancing in a highly efficient one rack-unit form factor. aGalaxy Centralized Management System support for Thunder CFW. aGalaxy provides device management, configuration, reporting and troubleshooting for Thunder CFW.We are seeing early interest from our large installed base of customers for the Thunder Convergent Firewall. We believe Thunder CFW will prevent and contain some of the most demanding cyber security threats our customers face now and in the future. Today, Im pleased to announce its global availability, said Lee Chen, CEO of A10 Networks.Additional InformationaGalaxy Centralized Management System support for Thunder CFW will be available in Q2 2016.About A10 NetworksA10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN) is a leader in application networking and security, providing a range of high-performance application networking solutions that help organizations ensure that their data center applications and networks remain highly available, accelerated and secure. Founded in 2004, A10 Networks is based in San Jose, Calif., and serves customers globally with offices worldwide. For more information, visit:and @A10Networks.TrademarksThe A10 logo, A10 Networks, A10 Thunder, Thunder, Thunder TPS, and SSL Insight are trademarks or registered trademarks of A10 Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.Media ContactColin SaldanhaProcre8Villa 41, 81D Street, Uptown Mirdiff, PO BOX 78835, Dubai, UAE+971 50 6400 762colin@procre8.biz
SoftTek Solutions can help you create a Compelling ONLINE PRESENCE

SoftTek Solutions is a US-based IT company. It was established in 2010 at Tucson, Arizona, USA by Mrs. Nidhi Goel. The core theory on which the company was established is to provide their clients with Contextually Relevant and Emotionally Positive Experiences. SoftTek Solutions indulges in providing high end quality service with the prime focus on Customer Satisfaction.A Satisfied Customer is the BEST Business Strategy of all said Napoleon Hill. And, SoftTek Solutions endeavors to deliver to your satisfaction - to help you grow your business. This is because for us, a Satisfied Customer is the BEST Business strategy of all.Patience, Persistence and Perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success, says Napoleon Hill. The company boasts of providing various services such as Digital Marketing, Web & App Development, CRM Service and many more. The main objective is to target the correct audience, do extensive research and come up with truly outstanding and innovative solution which ultimately benefits the client.Trying is a touchstone of accomplishment and SoftTek Solutions optimizes this ideology. If we believe in whom we are, our greatest dreams are possible.Innovation distinguishes between a leader and follower, said Steve Jobs. Whether you are looking to bring in a new website, visitors, grow online sales, get phones ringing or keep customers coming back for more  Come to SoftTek SolutionsYour business gets found by people precisely when they are searching for the things that you offer.SoftTek Solutions is a cacophony of bright colors with a sole purpose of filling your business with positive energy. The core of the company is to provide a mix of interrelated services to highlight you and your business.We take pride in providing a mix of Digital-Social Media Marketing, Web & App Development services along with CRM Consulting for you and your business.2269 W. Painted Sunset Circle, Tucson, Arizona 85745, USA
Trig Social Media announces acquisition of social-commerce.co

www.social-commerce.co

Trig social media AB is delighted to announce acquisition of 50.5% ofand its holding company Fusion Finance with an option to acquire the remaining 49.5% toward the end of the year.The transaction will be completed with 9 million Trig Social Media shares to be issued shortly. The price for the remaining 49.5% is performance based.Social-commerce is a gamified gig economy platform with an affiliate component that is about to launch within the next two weeks. What makes it unique is the mix of freebies, products and services connected with a social element. The expectation is that this platform should start generating revenue within two to four months after going live.This acquisition is an exciting opportunity for both our product users and for shareholders. It creates a unique strategic opportunity of utilising our existing social media expertise and connecting it to social commerce.This acquisition also marks the first major change based on our new operational strategy aiming to make the company cashflow neutral within the next twelve months. More changes are on the way and shortly will be communicated shortly. As a part of this, the board is also looking at redefining operational structure including outsourcing and licensing out some of the existing products on a revenue share basis in order to reduce running costs and speed up marketing.Trig Social Media (Publ.) is a global social media platform provider who has designed a range of social user-engagement product applications such as Trig.com, Trig Money, Momentik by Trig. The global growth of the companys product applications is being developed directly with users as well as via country Franchisees, and affiliates.Trig Social Media ABVikdalsgrand 10a13127 Nacka StrandSwedencontact person: Peter Kristofferssonphone: +46 40 6060284e-mail: info@trig.comwebsite: tsm.trig.comISIN(s): SE0006027546 (Aktie)
LAP rfid label for rfid tagging system (gyrfidstore)

PAPER LABEL

RFID Label and NFC Stickers is designed for various applications especially the asset tracking and NFC payment.The strength of RFID label compared with other tags is the thinner thickness, various size, flexible and cost efficient. It can be sealed inside of goods or stick on the device surface with adhesive layer. The label is also optional with anti-metal layer to mount and working on metal surface. GYRFID has the ability to produce the paper label and PVC label in mass production.Features:Model number: LAPMaterial: Aluminum Antenna with Paper or PVC StockSize options: 8654, 80x50, 5517, 5050, 45x45, 4025, 38x25, 3535, 25x25, 3015, 18x18, 12x20mm, dia45/ 40/ 35/ 30/ 27/ 25/ 18mmThickness: Antenna position 0.35mm IC position 0.55mmNote: Optional with Anti-metal or 3M adhesive or magnet on fidgetsPersonalization Support: Offset Printing with CMYK or Pantone colors Silk-screen printing logo Thermal transfer printing Serial Number or UID Barcode printing and QR code printing, Photo printing Hologram UV printing Chip encodingApplication: NFC payments Promotions and advertisements Logistic management Parcel tracking Library Management Inventory ControlIC options: 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
Automotive Wiring Harness Market to Witness Robust Growth and Account for US$ 91.53 Bn by the end of 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-automotive-wiring-harness-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-37

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Future Market Insights (FMI) recently announced the release of its report titled Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025. According to the report, the global automotive wiring harness market was valued at US$ 36.82 Bn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach US$ 91.53 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 8.7% throughout the forecast period.Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global automobile industry registered an annual growth rate of over 5.5% from 2010 to 2015, and is estimated to be valued at US$ 5.1 trillion by end of 2015. Consistent growth in the parent industry is expected to fuel demand for automotive wiring harness in the near future.Currently, increasing fuel costs and stringent government regulations regarding CO2 emissions are boosting demand for electric vehicles in regions such as North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.Governments across various geographies have mandated use of certain electronic safety features such as Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and other features in both passenger and commercial vehicles. Furthermore, rise in demand for high-end electronics and safety features in vehicles, particularly passenger cars, along with cost reduction and enhanced reliability is leading to increase in global demand for automotive wiring harnesses.Automotive Wiring Harness Market TrendsUse of automotive Ethernet by automotive OEMs represents a new trend in the external as well as internal electronics devices connectivity in an automobile. These automotive Ethernets minimise the use of complex wiring harness structures to a great extent and, thereby, may act as a restraint for growth of the global automotive wiring harness market in the coming years.Rise in technological developments is expected to create favourable growth opportunities in the market in the near future. Growing demand for connectivity and car digitisation, which not only helps establish connectivity within the integral parts of a vehicle but also enables communication with other vehicles through improved and intelligent roadway infrastructure, is an emerging trend in the market.Browse the full "Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" market research report atAutomotive Wiring Harness Market SegmentationRegion-wise, APEJ (Asia Pacific Excluding Japan) dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014, accounting for 38.3% value share of the overall market. Furthermore, APEJ is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period and is expected to maintain its revenue share dominance till 2025 end. Rise in automotive production and sustained economic growth are some of the factors driving the APEJ automotive wiring harness market currently.North America and Western Europe are expected to register high Y-o-Y growth during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand for e-vehicles and e-bikes in these regions. Growth of the connected car market has resulted in rise in demand for multiple electronic devices in vehicles in North America and Western Europe.Japan is currently witnessing moderate growth in demand for e-bikes, and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. The Japan automotive wiring harness market is expected to register a sluggish CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period, due to the matured automotive industry in the country.On the basis of vehicle type, the passenger vehicles segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles segments are expected to register significant CAGR between 2015 and 2025, in view of the stringent government regulations and growing fuel prices globally.On the basis of application type, the chassis & safety segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, accounting for 40.8% share of the overall market. This segment is expected to lose its market share to the HVAC segment, which is projected to expand at a significant CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period. Furthermore, HVAC manufacturers are designing new eco-friendly devices in order to follow the environment standards along with introducing new innovating designs.Request Free Report Sample@Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Key CompaniesKey market players covered in the report include YAZAKI Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG), Delphi Automotive PLC, Fujikura Ltd., Sumitomo electric Industries, Ltd., Lear Corporation, LEONI AG, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and PKC Group PLC.Most players in the market are engaged in various activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, increasing investments in technological and product developments, geographical expansion and brand building via strong marketing strategies, in order to sustain their position in the competitive market.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:
Automated Suturing Devices Market Forecasted to be Worth US$ 471 Mn by 2015-End

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/automated-suturing-devices-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-579

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Future Market Insights (FMI), in its latest report titled, Automated Suturing Devices Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 20152025, forecasts the global automated suturing devices market revenue to expand at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period (20152025). Global automated suturing devices market is estimated to account for US$ 471.0 Mn by the end of 2015, mainly driven by rising number of minimally invasive surgical procedures.Use of automated suturing devices in minimal invasive surgeries, open surgical procedures and major trauma cases that require surgery is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. Preference for automated suturing devices over conventional suturing devices during laparoscopic surgeries is a key reason for growth. Further, the device is also preferred by procurement teams at hospitals as it labelled under green products, resulting in considerably less impact on the environment as compared to plastic single-use disposable suturing devices.Rise in geriatric population is a macro factor thats driving demand for automated suturing devices.High cost along with negative perception about certain automated suturing devices due tosome FDA-approved devices facing criticism regarding performance can impede the growth of the market.The report analyses the global automated suturing devices market in terms of market value (US$ Mn) and market volume (units) by product type, region, end-user and application. The report also offers information regarding market dynamics, regulatory compliances, competitive landscape, current trends, market estimations and forecast.Browse the full "Automated Suturing Devices Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025" market research report atRegion-wise, North America is expected to account for maximum volume share in the global market by 2015and this is expected to double over the forecast period. Western Europe is the second-most lucrative market for automated suturing devices companies. The market revenue in this region is projected to witness a healthy CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period.Among product types, disposable automated suturing devices segment is expected to dominate the global automated suturing devices market,followed by the reusable automated suturing devices segment. Increasing prevalence of obesity is expected to boost overall demand for disposable automated suturing devices at a comparatively higher pace.On the basis of application, automated suturing devices market is segmented into minimally invasive surgeries, open surgeries and trauma cases. Minimally invasive surgeries segment is expected to dominate the overall automated suturing devices market by the end of forecast period. The segment revenue is projected to register fastest growth rate over the forecast period. Open surgeries is projected to be the second fastest growing segment in terms of revenue. Increasing adoption of automated suturing devices among surgeons is fuelling growth of the minimally invasive surgeries segment.Download Sample Report@On the basis of end user, global automated suturing devices market has been segmented into hospitals, clinics and ambulatory surgical centers. Hospitals segment is expected to register fastest CAGR in terms of revenue over the forecast period.Key players profiled in FMIs market study include Medtronic Plc., Inc., Apollo Endosurgery, LSI Solutions, Inc., Boston Scientific, C. R. Bard, SuturTek Inc. and EndoEvolution, LLC.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:
Wearable Technology Market Share, Analysis, Trends To 2022 by Grand View Research, Inc.

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wearable-technology-market

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wearable-technology-market/request

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/emerging-and-next-generation-technologies

The global wearable technology market is anticipated to reach USD 196.5 billion by 2022, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Research and development investment by large number of industry player is expected to fuel growth over the forecast period.Increasing disposable income worldwide is expected to fuel industry growth over the forecast period. Technological advancement, price, quality, and battery life influence the buying decision of the end-users. The emergence of 3D printing solution and crowd funding is expected to positively impact the wearable technology market.Increasing smartphone penetration worldwide is expected to propel industry growth over the forecast period, owing to increasing wearable device compatibility. Advancement in semiconductor electronics is expected to favor more efficient and effective products, thereby fuel revenue growth over the next seven years.Various health and economic benefits are expected to contribute to overall industry development. For instance, advertisement agencies can bring down research cost through the use of eye-wear, which can allow enhanced data collection of customers feedbacks. Low battery life and high cost of some of the devices may hinder the industry growth over the forecast period. Data privacy concern may also adversely affect the industry demand.Browse full research report on Global Wearable Technology Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: The global industry is innovation driven and continuously evolving. The products available in the market include wrist-wear, neck-wear, body-wear, eye-wear and foot-wear. Companies such as Nike, Garmin, GOQii are offering wrist-wear for fitness and sport and healthcare application. Applications include healthcare, fitness and wellness, infotainment, enterprise and industrial, and defense. Increasing concern about fitness and health among urban population is anticipated to drive demand over the forecast period. Advancement in virtual reality technology is expected to favor the infotainment segment over the next seven years. Government initiative to enhance their defense capability and provide soldiers with advanced technology is anticipated to drive investment in this sector. North America wearable technology market is estimated to be the key regional segment and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 32% over the next seven years. Increasing in awareness about the benefit of this technology will drive demand in Asia Pacific over the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to be key component manufacturing hub over the forecast period owing to availability of cheap resources. The region was valued over USD 3 billion in 2014, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 36% from 2015 to 2022. Companies operating in the industry include Apple Inc., Adidas AG, Garmin, Fitbit, Nike, Inc., Google Inc., Jawbone, Sony Corp, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Xiaomi. In March 2014, Google Inc. launched Android operating system for wearable technology. CuteCircuit Technologies is a company that designs and develops wearable garments for both men and women.Read detailed report or request for sample of this research report:Grand View Research has segmented the wearable technology market on the basis of product, application and region:Wearable Technology Product Outlook (USD Billion, 2012  2022) Wrist-wear Eye-wear Foot-wear Neck-wear Body-wear OthersWearable Technology Application Outlook (USD Billion, 2012  2022) Fitness and sports Healthcare Infotainment Defense Enterprise and industrialWearable Technology Regional Outlook (USD Billion, 2012  2022) North America Europe Asia Pacific RoWBrowse more reports of this category by Grand View Research:Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, IncWeb: grandviewresearch.comRead our blogs - dniamericas.org, terrapass.org, legalworkshop.org
Global Cardiometabolic Disease Market Growth, Trends, Clinical Trials 2015: Acute Market Reports

http://www.acutemarketreports.com/report/cardiometabolic-disease-global-clinical-trials-review-h2-2015

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SummaryGlobalData's clinical trial report, Cardiometabolic Disease Global Clinical Trials Review, H2, 2015" provides an overview of Cardiometabolic Disease clinical trials scenario. This report provides top line data relating to the clinical trials on Cardiometabolic Disease. Report includes an overview of trial numbers and their average enrollment in top countries conducted across the globe. The report offers coverage of disease clinical trials by region, country (G7 & E7), phase, trial status, end points status and sponsor type. Report also provides prominent drugs for in-progress trials (based on number of ongoing trials). GlobalData Clinical Trial Reports are generated using GlobalDatas proprietary database - Pharma eTrack Clinical trials database. Clinical trials are collated from 80+ different clinical trial registries, conferences, journals, news etc across the globe. Clinical trials database undergoes periodic update by dynamic process.The report enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.Browse full report with TOC @*Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease.Scope- The report provides a snapshot of the global clinical trials landscape- Report provides top level data related to the clinical trials by Region, Country (G7 & E7), Trial Status, Trial Phase, Sponsor Type and End point status- The report reviews top companies involved and enlists all trials (Trial title, Phase, and Status) pertaining to the company- The report provides all the unaccomplished trials (Terminated, Suspended and Withdrawn) with reason for unaccomplishment- The Report provides enrollment trends for the past five years- Report provides latest news for the past three monthsView all reports of this category @ acutemarketreports.com/category/pharmaceutical-market*Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease.Reasons to buy- Assists in formulating key business strategies with regards to investment- Helps in identifying prominent locations for conducting clinical trials which saves time and cost- Provides top level analysis of Global Clinical Trials Market which helps in identifying key business opportunities- Supports understanding of trials count and enrollment trends by country in global therapeutics market- Aids in interpreting the success rates of clinical trials by providing a comparative scenario of completed and uncompleted (terminated, suspended or withdrawn) trials- Facilitates clinical trial assessment of the indication on a global, regional and country level*Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease.Blog URL:About Acute Market ReportsAcute Market Reports is the most sufficient collection of market intelligence services online. Acute Market Reports provide online reports from over 100 best publishers and upgrade Acute Market Reports collection regularly to offer direct online access to the worlds most comprehensive and recent database with expert perceptions on worldwide industries, products, establishments and trends. Acute Market Reports database consists of 200,000+ market research reports with detailed & minute market research.Contact:Chris PaulOffice No 01, 1st Floor,Aditi Mall, Baner, Pune,MH, 411045 IndiaPhone (India): +91 7755981103Toll Free (US/Canada): +1-855-455-8662Email: sales@acutemarketreports.comFor More Information, VisitAcute Market Reports is the most sufficient collection of market intelligence services online. Acute Market Reports provide online reports from over 100 best publishers and upgrade Acute Market Reports collection regularly to offer direct online access to the worlds most comprehensive and recent database with expert perceptions on worldwide industries, products, establishments and trends. Acute Market Reports database consists of 200,000+ market research reports with detailed & minute market research.Office No 01, 1st Floor,Aditi Mall, Baner, Pune,MH, 411045 India
Ugandan Journalist wins International Humanitarian Ambassador Award

Grace Nakajje

The International Women Achievers Award (IWAA) has recognized GWI CEO, Grace Nakajje with an international Humanitarian Ambassador Award. IWAA presented this special award in the category of Humanitarian Ambassador to Nakajje for her innovation and paramount role in promoting health of less privileged women and girls in Uganda.The International Women Achievers Awards (IWAA) is held during the week of the International Womens Day. It was established in 2009 with a purpose to empower young women, so that they too can reach their goals. The IWAA brings together women from across the globe and recognizes their accomplishments. The Awards Night was Saturday March 5th, 2016 (Red Carpet) at Jamaican Canadian Association, in Toronto, Canada.The ceremony underscored the paramount roles played by women in society while appreciating their attitudes, initiatives, will-power and perseverance. These honourees are women who have distinguished themselves as prominent citizens in various fields of endeavour.The theme for 2016 IWAA awards was GLOBAL AWARENESS TO POSITIVE BODY IMAGE.Nakajje holds a Bachelors Degree of Journalism and Mass Communication from Ndejje University and a Diploma in Journalism from UMCAT. She has worked with various media outlets in Uganda including the New Vision Newspaper, and UBC TV.In 2011, Nakajje emerged the best Africa Communicator and won a seat at the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) Annual meeting in New Mexico, USA. She wrote stories about global health with focus on the fight against Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.Nakajje is founder of Grace Works Initiative, a not for profit organisation promoting healthcare for the underprivileged women, children and their families in Uganda. The organisation is currently building a state of art health facility in Bukomolo village, Kibuku District in Eastern Uganda. The facility is bridging the maternal delay gaps of access to healthcare and is to open soon. Nakajje also Authors a book Voice in the Jungle that brings to light the depth of Africas cultural crisis of Female Genital Mutilation, child marriages, and girl education.Nakajje is an alumnus of the International Leadership Institute that equips and mobilizes leaders of leaders to reach their own nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is now accomplishing her Master of Science degree in Public Health, at the International Health Science University, Uganda.Grace Works Initiative (GWI) is a registered not-for profit Organisation in Uganda, established in 2013. GWI promotes healthcare to the under privileged communities focusing mainly on the women, children and their families.Grace Works InitiativePlot 227 Lutembe Road, Bweyogere, KampalaTel: 0414665993Press contact: +256784643184
Kodak Alaris acquires IDS Capturing Systems in Germany to deliver advanced document processing solutions to EMEA markets

Erwin Schwarzl, Managing Director Europe, Africa, Middle Eastern Region Kodak Alaris Information Management

www.kodakalaris.com/go/IMnews

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DUBAI, UAE, 7th March, 2016 As part of its continued focus to better serve customers and to increase market share in high-speed production scanning, Kodak Alaris has acquired the Integrated Document Solutions  Capturing Systems Germany division (IDS-CSG) of Swiss Post Solutions (SPS). The acquisition, effective the 11th of January, marks an important step for Kodak Alaris as it rolls out a wider solutions strategy and significantly increases its capacity to sell ibml scanners to the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets.The move will see SPS employees join the Kodak Alaris Information Management division. Existing SPS customers will be added to Kodak Alaris base of Input Management Solutions customers. These solutions include highly automated processes for digitisation, capture and electronic allocation of paper documents.Kodak Alaris breadth of knowledge will grow with this acquisition through the onboarding of highly skilled managers, consultants, and engineers with expertise across the scanner arena. The deal also includes service contracts worth several million per year for Kodak Alaris.This acquisition is a great example of our commitment to further expand and invest in the EAMER region says Erwin Schwarzl, Managing Director Europe, Africa, Middle Eastern Region Kodak Alaris Information Management. Capture solutions are increasingly important and now we have an excellent new opportunity to work with partners to deliver solutions for the most demanding information management projects.About the Information Management Division of Kodak AlarisKodak Alaris is a new company driven by the simple belief that we can always find a better way. Our Information Management division helps organizations capture content from digital and paper sources, extract insights, and deliver the right information to the right place at the right time for better business outcomes. Our portfolio includes award-winning document scanners, a global service and support team, and software and solutions that capture and intelligently manage information. For small offices and large-scale organizations, we provide new ways to automate processes, improve customer interactions and make smarter business decisions.To learn more, please visit. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/kodakdi and twitter.com/KodakDI_Eastern and visit our blog atThe Kodak trademark and trade dress are used under license from Eastman Kodak Company.Colin SaldanhaProcre8Villa 41, 81D Street, Uptown Mirdiff, PO BOX 78835, Dubai, UAEMobile: +97150 6400762Email: colin@procre8.biz
Southern Makers

Southern Makers is a yearly two day event that celebrates the creativity in Alabama. The event of this year will be held on 30th April and 1st May, between 12pm to 5pm at the Union Station Trainshed.The main purpose of Southern Makers is to bring together highly curated and handpicked top talent such as artists, breweries, chefs, designers, and craftsmen to one central place which makes it easy for adventurers for getting a sampling of Alabamas best. It is rich with history in meals, textiles, literature, farming, art and design. Southern Makers will explore the contemporary Alabama-based meals and design with panel discussions, tastings, workshops, demonstrations, maker conversations and a market featuring goods from these southern artisans and chefs.For more information, please email us on info@southernmakers.com.Visit website for more information: southernmakers.com/About Montgomery:Montgomery is the capital of United States of Alabama. It is the county seat of Montgomery County. Montgomery is the second largest city in Alabama. It is that place that there is no one who miss to visit. Montgomery is also known for its historical places to visit such as Civil Rights Memorial and Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church.Southern Makers is a yearly two day event that celebrates the creativity in Alabama. The event of this year will be held on 30th April and 1st May, between 12pm to 5pm at the Union Station Trainshed.Copyright 2016Montgomery Area Chamber of CommerceConvention & Visitor Bureau300 Water Street . Montgomery, Alabama 36104334.261.1100 or 1.800.240.9452Visitor Center: 334.262.0013tourism@montgomerychamber.com
Global Adhesive Equipment Market to 2022  Market Outlook, Competitive analysis, Industry Trends: Brisk Insights

BRISK INSIGHTS

http://www.briskinsights.com/report/adhesive-equipment-market

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Adhesive Equipment Market Analysis by Substrate, By Application, By Product, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022Briskinsights.com has announced the addition of Adhesive Equipment Market Analysis by Substrate, By Application, By Product, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022Market Research Report to their Database.According to a recent published report, the Global Adhesive Equipment Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 4.23% during 2015-2022 and it is estimated to be $63.12 billion by 2022. The global adhesive equipment market is segmented on the basis of product, application and geography. The report on Global adhesive equipment market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Read Full Report with TOC @The global adhesive equipment market is growing at good pace and factors responsible for driving the market are expansion of the end user industries such as transportation, construction and consumer application. Also it can be seen that there is a shift in preference towards hot-melt adhesives. Also there is an increase in investment in research and development by various industries leading to the development of better products. Demand of low carbon emitting and lightweight vehicles have also led to growth of market.View All Reports of This Category @Some of the restraints faced by the market are effect of recession on the end user industries, time consuming and stringent regulatory policies are also hindering the growth of the market.Some of the major players of the market are 3M Company, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Sika AG, Franklin International, RPM International Inc., Royal Adhesives & Sealants, LLC etc.Scope of the report:1. Global adhesive equipment market by application 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.1. Global adhesive equipment market by paper & packaging 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.2. Global adhesive equipment market by building & construction 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.3. Global adhesive equipment market by woodworking 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.4. Global adhesive equipment market by transportation 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.5. Global adhesive equipment market by consumer adhesives 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.6. Global adhesive equipment market by leather & footwear 2012-2022 ($ billion)Download a Sample Request Here @2. Global adhesive equipment market by product outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.1. Global adhesive equipment market by industrial hot melt 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.2. Global adhesive equipment market by adhesive controllers 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.3. Global adhesive equipment market by cold glue applicators 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.4. Global adhesive equipment market by pneumatic adhesive applicators 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.5. Global adhesive equipment market by adhesive pumping systems 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.6. Global adhesive equipment market by adhesive application guns 2012-2022 ($ billion)3. Global adhesive equipment market regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.1. North America3.2. Europe3.3. Asia Pacific3.4. Middle East & Africa3.5. Central & South America3.6. Central & South America4. Competitive Landscape4.1. 3M Company4.2. Adhesive & Equipment, Inc.4.3. Adhesive Dispensing Limited4.4. Avery Dennison Corporation4.5. Bostik SA4.6. DAP Products4.7. Dymax Corporation4.8. Glue Machinery Corporation4.9. Gluefast Company4.10. Graco Inc.4.11. H.B. Fuller4.12. Henkel4.13. Henline Adhesive Equipment Corporation4.14. Illinois Tool Works Corporation4.15. ITW Dynatec4.16. Nordson Corporation4.17. Robatech4.18. Royal Adhesives & Sealants, LLC4.19. Sika AG4.20. Valco MeltonRead Latest Report with TOC @ pdfdevices.com/global-tartaric-acid-market-is-expected-to-reach-450-million-by-2022-brisk-insightsBrisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies. Our team of 200 analysts provides enterprises with strategic insights. Brisk Insights works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions.Contact Person: Jennifer SmithPhone: +448081890034Address: Office 1094 109 Vernon House Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DQ UKWeb: briskinsights.com
Good Growth Opportunities in Global Cyber Security Market Till 2020, Finds New Research Report

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-57

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-cyber-security-market

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Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Cyber Security Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Cyber security is related to information technology security, which focuses on protecting networks, computers programs and data from unauthorized access. Defense and military, government, financial institutions and corporation etc. collect and store confidential information on computers and transfer that data across networks. In order to protect this data and information from cyber attack cyber security becomes necessary. Increasing threats such computer intrusion (hacking), virus deployment and denial of services are increasing the demand for cyber security solutions and services. The governments of various countries such as U.S., Canada, Germany and China etc. are increasing their investment in cyber security due to expansion in computer interconnectivity and dramatic in computing power of government network.The cyber security market report contains the global scenario of this market discussing detailed overview and market figures. The research report analyses the industry growth rate, industry capacity, and industry structure. The report analyses the historical data and forecasts the cyber security market size along with key factors driving and restraining the market growth.Request Free Report Sample@ futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-57The Cyber security market can be segmented into four major types into security, services, solutions and applications. The Cyber security market is segmented on the basis of types of security which includes six major categories namely network security, application security, endpoint security, cloud security, content security and wireless security. The services segment includes consulting services, risk assessment services, designing and integration services and training services. On the basis of solutions, ten major categories namely risk and compliance management, identity and access management, data loss protection, firewall, IDS, Unified threat management, encryption, antimalware and antivirus, web filtering and others (security and vulnerability management, DDOS mitigation and disaster recovery). The cyber security market can be segmented on the basis of applications into six categories namely defense and military, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), public utilities, healthcare, telecom and IT and others (retail and manufacturing). The market can also be segmented geographically into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (Latin America, Middle East and Africa).The cyber security market across the globe is a multi billion market and is expected to show a substantial growth in CAGR, from 2013 to 2019. There is a significant increase in the cyber security market because cyber security solutions increase cyber speed and offers number of options to save data.Visit For TOC@The key drivers of this market include Government regulation on data privacy, increasing cyber threats and increasing number of data centers, which are the biggest revenue generators for Cyber Security Market. The key restraints to this market are lack of awareness and availability of pirated security software.Some of the key players in the Cyber Security Market are IBM International, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cisco, Lockheed Martin, McAfee, CA Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Trend Micro, Symantec and SOPHOS among others.Cyber security market offers various benefits such as improved security of cyberspaces, increased cyber-defense and faster response time to national crisis. These benefits of cyber security market automatically increase value of service to the end-users.Full Report Analysis@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:
Global Interactive Whiteboard Market Set for Rapid Growth And Trend, by 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-649

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/interactive-whiteboard-market

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Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Interactive Whiteboard Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.Interactive White board (IWB) is an interactive institutional tool, which projects stored images in a computer via digital projector. It also allows user to control screen activities with the help of stylus, pen or with his own finger. It is usually mounted to a wall or floor stand. IWBs are widely used in education sector, as it makes teaching activity more interesting and interactive. IWB offers various benefits such as, real time learning needs, efficient interaction between users, enables easy integration of materials, graphs and images into presentation and improves learning as well as teaching.Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Market: Drivers and RestraintsIWBs are becoming popular globally. Factors which are driving the growth of global IWB market are increasing government funding for education sector, growing importance of e-learning & virtual learning and increasing technological adoption among various sectors. On the other hand high implementation cost, lack of awareness and emerging tablet market are major restraining factors for the market growth.Request Free Report Sample@ futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-649Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Market: SegmentationGlobal IWB market is segmented on the basis of technology and application. By technology, the global IWB market can be segmented into electromagnetic whiteboard, laser scanner whiteboard, infrared optical whiteboard and others. Electromagnetic whiteboards engages magnetic sensing devices, which detects the signals generated by magnetic pens. Laser scanner whiteboards engages infrared laser scanners, which detects the movement of pen on board surface. Infrared optical whiteboard uses infrared optical technology, which helps to track the movement of stylus or finger on the screen.By application, the global IWB market can be segmented into education sector, government sector and corporate sector. Out of all this application sectors, global IWB market is primarily dominated by education sector. It is mainly because of growing adoption of advanced technology into education sector and increasing government spending on education sector. Apart from Education sector, application of IWBs are also increasing in corporate as well as government sector. Though currently corporate usage rate is low, it is expected to be a lucrative application segment for IWBs. Different file types, PPTs, PDFs and HTML images can be created on IWBs, which are widely used by corporates in presentation and seminars. Vendors of IWBs are focusing more developing IWB solutions, which are suitable for corporates. Businesses are considering IWBs as a cost effective technology as it helps them to interact easily with their colleagues, customers and suppliers. These all factors expected to boost the market share of corporate sector into IWB market.Visit For TOC@Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Market: Region wise OutlookBy region the global IWB market can be sub segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), Japan as a separate region and Middle East and Africa. Out of all this region, North America and Europe leading the market in terms of high usage rate of IWBs. It is because of high technological adoption in countries like US and UK, high education and consumer awareness and significant amount of spending by their government on education sector for implementation of new technologies such as IWBs. However China and India market are supposed to grow rapidly during forecasted period because of gradual increase in government spending on education sector and development of education sector. However price will play important role in this price sensitive market.Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Market: Key PlayersKey vendors into IWB market are BenQ Corp., Promethean World plc., Hitachi Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Smart Technologies Inc., Sharp Corp, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Ltd., Qomo HiteVision LLC, Fuzhou Return star Technology Co. Ltd, PolyVision Corp, Panasonic Corp. and Others.Full Report Analysis@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:
Global Metrology Software Market 2020 Shares, Trend and Growth Report

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-226

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Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Metrology Software Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Metrology is a field of science which involves study of all practical and theoretical aspects of measurements. With the rising sophistication and growing demand for metrology services from different industries, automation has become key criteria to achieve desired levels of efficiency and accuracy. Thus, software solutions used for achieving automation have become critical to ensure metrology devices/equipment perform with utmost efficacy. These metrology software solutions affect the ways through which users interact with measurement systems required in a manufacturing processes. It includes monitoring, controlling, displaying and reporting every part of the measuring process. It also includes understanding and analysis of measurements, surface defect analysis and performance review solutions. Metrology software is recognized for its high accuracy, design flexibility and hardware independent features allowing software support for multiple hardware combinations. Additionally, its capability to integrate several functions within a single unit helps to minimize the size and space requirements of the measuring equipment.Metrology software is useful in a number of applications that include evaluation and measurement of positional and structure tolerances. Since past three decades, industries have been shifting towards computer aided measurement systems for improvement in quality of the products. Moreover, through accurate measurements, it is possible to reduce the wastage of resources such as fuel, energy and time in manufacturing of a product. Core industries such as automotive, electrical, pharmaceutical, and aviation find extensive use of metrology software. Electrical industry relies on the metrology software for accurate measurement of the electrical components due to growing concerns regarding safety and reliability of these components. In pharmaceutical industry, due to stringent government regulations, metrology software finds use to ensure accuracy in proportion of chemical compounds.Request Free Report Sample@With emerging trend of precise engineering in instrumentation, the shift towards development of advanced metrology software witnessed a massive boost. This led to the improvement of ground breaking solutions in metrology, delivering accurate results. The next generation metrology software solutions are highly perceptive, fully featured, easy to use and customizable. As the manufacturing industry moves towards complete automation, healthy demand for metrology software is expected in near future. Growing industries such as automobile and aviation that heavily depend upon measurement systems are expected to be major drivers of metrology software market. In addition, international standardization of metrology, which decides upon common issues such as how often each quantity should be measured and what instrument technology be used to measure the same, is another driver for metrology software. Other factors driving growth opportunities of metrology solutions include the increasing application of software in the manufacturing of various parts and products in industries such as biomedical, textile, heavy equipment, shipbuilding, electronics, renewable energy, defense, telecommunications, consumer goods and satellite among others.Geographically, North America and Europe are pioneers in adoption of metrology software solutions due to extensive growth in automobile industry. Asia-Pacific region, however, is expected to show high growth rate in metrology market due to increasing industries in this region. . Furthermore, the aerospace companies in North America and Europe are expanding their manufacturing units in Asia-Pacific region owing to rising demand and low cost of operation in this region. This is expected to maintain high growth rate of metrology software in near future.Visit For TOC@Some of the leading vendors of the metrology software include AICON 3D Systems GmbH, 3D Systems Corporation, Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology, ., Hexagon Metrology Inc., Image Metrology A/S, New River Kinematics Inc., Innovative Metrology Solutions, Konica Minolta Sensing Inc., Kotem Technologies Inc., Metrologic Group SA, Micro-Vu Corporation, Nikon Metrology Inc., Optical Gaging Products, Renishaw Plc, , Rudolph Technologies Inc., Verisurf Software Inc. 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:
Two Component Adhesive Market Projected to Reach 6.23 Billion USD by 2020

Two Component Adhesive Market, 2K Adhesive Market, 2 part Adhesive Market, Two Part Adhesive Market

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/two-component-adhesive-market-237868650.html

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=237868650

http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical

The report "Two Component Adhesive Market by Resin Type (Polyurethane, Epoxy, MMA, Silicone, and Others), by Application (Automotive, Construction, Electronics, Aerospace, and Others) and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW - Global Forecast to 2020", The two component adhesive market size is estimated to grow from USD 4.55 Billion in 2015 to USD 6.23 Billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 6.5%.Browse 105 market data Tables and 44 Figures spread through 141 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Two Component Adhesive Market - Global Forecast to 2020"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.The market is driven by rising use of adhesives in vehicles for weight reduction. As the automotive industry uses lightweight materials such as plastics, composites, aluminium, and other lightweight materials which ultimately demand better adhesive material for bonding. So, it is a prime factor for the growth of two component adhesives, globally. Among all regions considered, Asia-Pacific and RoW are estimated to witness high growth in the next five years. Also, the demand in these regions is reinforced by the emerging markets, namely, China, Brazil, and India.Automotive the largest application of the two component adhesive marketTwo component adhesives are used in various applications such as automotive, construction, electronics, aerospace, and others. These are also the main applications considered in the report. In 2015, the automotive application segment is estimated to account for the largest market share among all the applications, in terms of volume. It is estimated to witness the highest CAGR between 2015 and 2020 among all the applications considered, followed by construction, electronics, and aerospace.Request for Sample PDF:Rising demand from Asia-Pacific is the major driver for two component adhesive marketIn 2015, Asia-Pacific is estimated to account for the largest market share, in terms of volume, and is projected to register the highest CAGR between 2015 and 2020. The high demand in Asia-Pacific is the major driver for the two component adhesives market. The demand for adhesives is high in China due to increased production of vehicles in the last 23 years. It is also the largest consumer of two component adhesives, globally. Other emerging economies such as India, Malaysia, Thailand, and other Asian countries are expected to witness high demand of two component adhesives.The scope of the report covers detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the two component adhesives market such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. A detailed analysis of the key industry players has been done to provide insights into their business overview, products & services, key strategies, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, collaborations, and recent developments associated with the market.About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets is worlds No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.M&Ms flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.Contact:Mr. RohanMarkets and MarketsUNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZMagarpatta city, HadapsarPune, Maharashtra 411013, India.Tel: +1-888-600-6441Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.comVisit MarketsandMarkets Blog @MarketsandMarkets is worlds No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals.Markets and MarketsUNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZMagarpatta city, HadapsarPune, Maharashtra 411013, India.
INCOTELOGY GmbH to present the latest basalt fiber product developments for automotive industry at JEC World

www.incotelogy.de

Pulheim, 7. March 2016  The INCOTELOGY GmbH - Basalt Fiber Technology and Products Team will exhibit at JEC World Composite Show and Conference March 8-10 at Paris Nord Villepinte in Paris, France.INCOTELOGYs presence at JEC Show 2016 focuses this year on high quality high-performance basalt fiber textiles, non-woven, basalt fiber rovings, basalt filament yarns, geo-textiles and basalt microfibers.Especially our newest developments such as fabrics with functional coating and laminating, basalt yarns with RFL-dip, core and conductive yarns but also high quality non-woven without adhesive and basalt microfiber are of the particular interest for automotive applications, explains Georg Kirchgessner, Founder & CEO at INCOTELOGY GmbH.Good impact properties, outstanding vibration and shock absorption, electrical non-conductivity, sustainability and easy recyclability are the most important attributes of basalt fiber products, which contribute to properties enhancement by the engineering of functional materials and system in the automotive industry.The continues annual increase in demand for basalt fibers shows that the basalt fibers have already found their niche in the market and implies growing market share of basalt fibers in the composites market worldwide in the next years, summarizes Georg KirchgessnerINCOTELOGY GmbH is a leading provider of innovative high performance basalt fiber products and semi-finished materials. Together with the latest innovative product developments such as basalt microfibers and hybrid fabrics as well as with the broad portfolio of the standard products INCOTELOGY follows the new trends and challenges in the composite market in search of new lightweight and sustainable materials. Collaborating with renowned German and European research institutes and universities INCOTELOGY continuously develops new basalt fiber products in order to meet customer needs.Further information:info@incotelogy.deINCOTELOGY GmbH - Basalt Fiber Technology & ProductsMr. Georg KirchgessnerSachsstr. 18, 50259 Pulheim, Germanyphone: +49 2234 9882370fax: +49 2234 9882372e-mail: info@incotelogy.de
New Full-Page Takeover offers massive branding and performance options

Full Page Takeover

Mobile video advertising industry leaders, AdSpruce, have developed a brand new mobile ad spot which provides the advertiser with guaranteed viewability and engagement whilst at the same time adhering to what the consumer wants by giving them the opportunity to skip or close the ad instantly.The Full-Page Takeover is a high-visibility ad spot which allows advertisers to use the whole of the user's primary mobile phone screen to convey a personal, attractive and effective brand message. With the option to add multiple interactive elements and video, this high-performance ad spot ensures a lightweight and engaging ad message.Full-Page Takeover combines providing the advertiser with high-impact and full-visibility advertising whilst also delivering to the user a high-quality video rich media experience. The consumer experience is enhanced through the option to interact or close the advert, which has been found to be a key factor to the consumer when accepting mobile advertising.AdSpruce CEO Ian Mullins said: Our new Full-Page Takeover ad spot caters for everyone: the advertiser, the publisher and, of course, the user. Advertisers can tap into a whole range of options to give their ad massive impact whilst publishers have the chance to monetise any user interaction with their site. Our rich media ad technology has the potential to revolutionise the mobile web ad space by providing new inventory and creatives that combine video with extra branding and performance options.AdSpruce provides brands and agencies with a media-rich advertising solution for brands wanting to reach audiences across mobile platforms. The AdSpruce platform comprises a range of proprietary technologies and a cloud-based video ad server infrastructure, which optimizes video delivery for any device worldwide and supports a range of 3rd-party tracking including VAST and ad formats such as pre-roll, video banners, outstream, in-page and HTML5 interactive ads.About AdSpruceAdSpruce is a mobile video Ad tech company which specialises in providing mobile web advertising solutions for advertisers and publishers.AdSpruce enables publishers to maximise revenue from their mobile websites by providing an industry-first mobile web Ad Development Kit (ADK) that integrates video advertising across video inventory. The AdSpruce mobile web ADK provides the first solution for trackable pre-roll advertising on feature phones and a variety of ad spots on smartphones and tablets. Approximately 65% of all mobile video is consumed on the mobile web (Nielsen, 2013), and AdSpruces ad units are available on HTML5 as well as other internet-enabled phones. Using the AdSpruce ADK, publishers can monetise more of the mobile traffic and enhance their revenue.Founded in 2011, AdSpruce has delivered millions of video adverts for some of the worlds biggest brands including Microsoft, IBM, Disney, Coca Cola, Vodafone, BBC and BMW.AdSpruce6 Dylan Thomas Center,Somerset Place,Swansea,UKSA1 1RRemail address: marketing@adspruce.comTelephone number: 020 72052254
Corrosion Inhibitor Market Analysis by Application, By Functionality, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022

BRISK INSIGHTS

http://www.briskinsights.com/sample-request/33

http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-cast-polymers-market-is-expected-to-grow-at-the-cagr-of-7-during-2015-2022-brisk-insights/

http://www.briskinsights.com

Briskinsights.com has announced the addition of Corrosion Inhibitor Market Analysis by Application, By Functionality, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022 " Market Research Report to their Database.According to a recently published report, the Global Corrosion Inhibitor Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 5% during 2015-2022 and it estimated to be $9.2 billion by 2022. The global corrosion inhibitor market is segmented on the basis of industry applications and geography. The report on Global corrosion inhibitor market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Read Full Report with TOC @ briskinsights.com/report/corrosion-inhibitor-marketThe global corrosion inhibitor market is expected to grow exponentially due to huge adoption of its applications such as power generation, oil and gas refinery, pulp and paper, metal and mining, chemical processing, desalination plant and so on. The increasing demand for global corrosion inhibitor market products such as non toxic corrosion inhibitors are major driver for the market.View All Reports of This Category @ briskinsights.com/category/chemical-and-material-industryGlobal corrosion inhibitor market is expected to contribute highest in North America followed by Europe. The global rise in adoption of corrosion inhibitor products are expected to create huge scope in emerging economies. The launch of new products is expected to boost the market significantly in the next few years. Ashland Inc, Arkema, Air products and chemical, Akzo Nobel NV, Anticorrosion Protective systems LLC, BASF SE are the leading companies in the global corrosion inhibitor market. Product launches, expansion and partnerships are the key winning strategy of the market.Scope of the Report:1. Global corrosion inhibitor market by application 2012- 20221.1. Power Generation market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.2. Oil & Gas Refinery market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.3. Pulp & Paper market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.4. Metal & Mining market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.5. Chemical Processing market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.6. Desalination Plant market 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.7. Other Applications market 2012-2022 ($ billion)2. Global corrosion inhibitor market by functionality 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.1. Passivating Inhibitors market 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.2. Cathodic Inhibitors market 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.3. Oxygen Scavengers market 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.4. Precipitation Inhibitors market 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.5. Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors market 2012-2022 ($ billion)Download a Sample Request Here @3. Global corrosion inhibitor market regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.1. North America3.2. Europe3.3. Asia Pacific3.4. Middle East & Africa3.5. Central & South America4. Competitive Landscape4.1. ASHLAND INC4.2. ARKEMA4.3. AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICAL4.4. AKZO NOBEL NV4.5. ANTICORROSION PROTECTIVE SYSTEMS LLC4.6. BASF SE4.7. CHAMPION TECHNOLOGIES INC4.8. CHEMTREAT INC4.9. CYTEC INDUSTRIES INC4.10. CORTEC CORPORATION4.11. DOW CHEMICAL4.12. GE WATER AND PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES,4.13. HALOX INC4.14. HENKEL AG& CO4.15. INSITUFORM TECHNOLOGIES INC.Read Latest Report with TOC @Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies. Our team of 200 analysts provides enterprises with strategic insights. Brisk Insights works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions.Contact Person: Jennifer SmithPhone: +448081890034Address: Office 1094 109 Vernon House Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DQ UKWeb:
Global Ceramic Tiles Market to 2022 - Global Industry analysis,Growth and Forecast - Brisk Insights

BRISK INSIGHTS

http://www.briskinsights.com/report/ceramic-tiles-market

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http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-fermentation-chemicals-market-is-expected-to-reach-66-billion-by-2022-brisk-insights/

Ceramic Tiles Market Analysis by Application (Residential replacement, Commercial & New residential), By Product (Floor tiles & Wall tiles), Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022Briskinsights.com has announced the addition of Ceramic Tiles Market Analysis by Application (Residential replacement, Commercial & New residential), By Product (Floor tiles & Wall tiles), Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022 " Market Research Report to their Database.According to a recent published report, the Global Ceramic Tiles Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 9% during 2015-2022 and it estimated to be $125 billion by 2022. The global ceramic tiles market is segmented on the basis of product, industry applications and geography. The report on global ceramic tiles market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Read Full Report with TOC @Ceramic tile is a mixture of clay sand and other natural products. They are manufactured unit particular shape and size with the help of molding and heating. Ceramic tiles are available in various designs for indoors and outdoors. Ceramic tiles market is increasing due to increase in global construction activity and increase in demand for new residential buildings. APAC dominate the market of ceramic tiles.India is highest potential market of ceramic tiles as their vitrified tiles market constitutes more than half of the total tiles market. As advance technology in designing and manufacturing is improved therefore market of ceramic as a decorative product is increasing. Also the new segment such as 3D tiles, designer tiles and germ free tiles introduction has increased the market potential of ceramic tiles market globally.View All Reports of This Category @Ceramic tiles are generally used in restaurants, suburban, offices, kitchen walls and bathroom walls areas. The primary driver of ceramic tiles market is the construction industry. However, price fluctuation is the major restraint of the ceramic tiles market. The price of ceramic tiles varies in each individual region. Other driver of ceramic tiles market are environmental regulations, advancement of technology,R&D initiatives in developing new products in economic range also influence various regions. Developing countries such as India, Brazil, China and Indonesia are the potential markets of ceramic tiles.The major players profiled in the report RAK Ceramics, Atlas Concorde, Florida Tile, Crossville Inc, Saloni Ceramica, Kajaria Ceramics, Gruppo Ceramiche Ricchetti, Porcelanosa Grupo, China Ceramics Co., Ltd, Mohawk Industries.Download a Sample Request Here @ briskinsights.com/sample-request/36Scope of the report:1. Global ceramic tiles market by application 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.1. Residential replacement1.2. Commercial1.3. New residential1.4. Others2. Global ceramic tiles market by product segment 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.1. Floor2.2. Wall tiles2.3. Other tiles3. Global ceramic tiles market regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.1. North America3.2. Europe3.3. Asia Pacific3.4. Middle East & Africa3.5. Central & South America4. Competitive Landscape4.1. RAK Ceramics4.2. Atlas Concorde4.3. Florida Tile4.4. Crossville Inc4.5. Saloni Ceramica4.6. Kajaria Ceramics4.7. Gruppo Ceramiche Ricchetti4.8. Porcelanosa Grupo4.9. China Ceramics Co., Ltd4.10. Mohawk Industries4.11. American Olean4.12. Daltile4.13. Johnson Tiles4.14. Stonepeak ceramic4.15. Somany tiles4.16. Marazzi USA4.17. Ceratec tiles4.18. Marca Corona4.19. Hamilton Parker Company4.20. Virginia TileRead Latest Report with TOC @Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies. Our team of 200 analysts provides enterprises with strategic insights. Brisk Insights works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions.Contact Person: Jennifer SmithPhone: +448081890034Address: Office 1094 109 Vernon House Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DQ UKWeb: briskinsights.com
Automotive Sensors Market by Product, By Application, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022

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http://www.briskinsights.com/category/automotive-industry

http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-synthetic-paper-devices-market-is-expected-to-grow-at-the-cagr-of-8-during-2015-2022-brisk-insights/

Automotive Sensors Market by Product, By Application, Industry Size, Growth, Share and Forecast To 2022According to a recently published report, the Global Automotive Sensors Market expected to grow at the CAGR of 9.1% during 2015-2022 and it estimated to be $36.25 billion by 2022. The global automotive sensors market is segmented on the basis of product, industry applications and geography. The report on Global Automotive Sensors Market Forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report with TOC @ briskinsights.com/report/automotive-sensors-marketThe global automotive sensors market is expected to grow exponentially due to various factors such as increasing demand of vehicles especially motor cars around the world. The increasing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles with growing consumer demand for fuel-efficiency and comfort, in addition to factors such as strengthening government rules for vehicle safety is driving the market for automotive sensors worldwide. The shift towards self-driving cars could significantly boost the automotive sensor market as more intelligent data processing devices are required to make autonomous decisions which leads to development of automotive sensors market. Due to advancement in automobile technology, vehicles are increasingly being equipped with numerous sensing devices that provide information on different parameters ensuring comfort, safety, and security.Request For Sample @The automotive sensors are one of the fastest growing sectors in automotive industry with growth rate in near double digit; especially in OEM (original equipment manufacturing). Europe (European Union) is presently the leading market of automobile sensors, due to the exponential growth in the logistics industry, with increasing information about safety, and setup of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in European Union. These factors are fueling the demand for HEVs which is also boosting demand of automotive sensors in this region. Companies based in Europe and US (For example: Bosch, Emerson Electric) have spent significant revenue on R&D for new development of new products for automobiles makers.The leading players with significant hold over the Global Automotive sensors market include players such as: Bosch, Denso Corporation, Sensata, Freescale Semiconductor, Agilent Technologies, Ford Corporation, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Emerson Electric, General Electric, AMETEK Inc Honeywell, Analog Devices, and Delphi Automotive. The Bosch and Denso Corporation currently dominates the overall Automotive sensor market with share of over 24% in 2015.Scope of the report:Global automotive sensors market by types 20152022 ($ billion)1. Pressure Sensor2. Temperature Sensor3. Gas Sensor4. Motion Sensor5. MEMS Sensor6. NOX sensors7. Speed Sensors8. Inertial Sensors9. Magnetic10. OthersClick Here For Same Category Reports @Global automotive sensors market by application 2015-2022 ($ billion)1. Powertrain market2. Body Electronics Others3. Vehicle Security system4. Safety and Controls5. Telematics6. Chassis7. OtherGlobal automotive sensors market regional outlook 2015-2022 ($ billion)1. North America2. Europe3. Asia-Pacific4. Middle East & Africa5. Central & South AmericaCompetitive Landscape1. Bosch,2. Denso Corporation,3. Sensata,4. Freescale Semiconductor,5. Agilent Technologies,6. Ford Corporation,7. General Electric,8. AMETEK Inc Honeywell,9. Analog Devices,10. Delphi Automotive11. Ashcroft Holdings12. Autoliv Inc.13. Banner Engineering14. Cherry Corporation15. Miranda Technologies, Inc.16. Eaton Corporation17. Emerson18. Goodrich Corporation19. Johnson Controls20. HoneywellBlog:Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Working in a highly dynamic and multi-dimensional business makes decision making complex. Effective business decisions are a result of the synthesis of market information. Our Research and data analysis is an efficient and cost-effective way of providing robust market analysis and can yield highly valuable intelligence relating to consumers, competitors and markets.Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQPhone: +448081890034 (UK)Website: briskinsights.com
Master Equipment Appraisers now has 5 Master Certified Machinery & Equipment Appraisers

http://masterequipmentappraisers.com

http://masterequipmentappraisers.com

Master Equipment Appraisers, a reputable appraisal service provider unveiled that they now have 5 of the 23 master certified machinery and equipment appraisers in the US. Having such industry-best appraisers, the company offers the best appraisals one could ever get in the area.Master Equipment Appraisers is a leading firm offering marketing and consulting services such as business buy/sell brokerage, commercial real estate appraisal, business valuation and equipment appraisal services. They have assisted over 1000 businesses and appraised more than 1,000,000 pieces of equipment. All their certified equipment appraisers have a wide experience in a range of practice areas oriented toward the needs of businesses, business people, property owners, lenders, and attorneys."We provide you with exactly the right type of appraisal, the knowledge and guidance through the process," said a spokesperson. "We focus on your needs as a client and strive to allow you to utilize our knowledge about the appraisal industry to prepare the absolute best appraisal or assessment," he added. The company provides appraisal services on commercial and industrial real estate, business opportunities, and machinery/equipment on a worldwide scale.The company provides certified equipment appraisal service for machinery and equipment. Their appraisal reports are compliant with the standards of USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice), furnishing substantiated, irrefutable and defensible information one can rely upon. Some of them include scope of work, economic conditions, overall equipment condition, methods of evaluations, photographs, extend of data research and much more."No one knows what is to come with all the changes and updates of today's rollercoaster market. That is why we offer you a solid guarantee. If you find significantly different prices for the same equipment, please show us the tangible proof and we will reappraise that piece of equipment at no charge based on the new information," said the spokesperson.The firm's certified business valuation service is found ideal for business planning or implementation strategies, while their business consultation services help a business owner make decisions or move forward on projects. The company promises to offer free re-appraisals, if their reports are rendered incorrect."We were in a very tight time crunch and your appraiser came through for us on a very short notice. He took extra time to explain his findings and was very easy to deal with. A great appraiser," said an elated client.About Company:Master Equipment Appraisers is a leading appraisal firm offering equipment, machinery and business valuations. Their expert team of appraisers offers the best appraisals in the US. VisitContact Name: Todd HarrisonAddress:2014 W 13th NWichitaKansasUSA - 66203Phone: 1-316-681-1527###Master Equipment Appraisers is a leading appraisal firm offering equipment, machinery and business valuations. Their expert team of appraisers offers the best appraisals in the US. Visit2014 W 13th N, Wichita, Kansas, United States, 66203
News from Wittgenstein's world of ideas

www.wittgensteinsource.org

http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/english

http://fwf.ac.at/en

In a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the analysis of hitherto unpublished lecture notes from a student and friend of Wittgenstein's has resulted in an important publication providing new insights into central issues of the philosophers' work.The pieces are slowly coming together to form a picture.  Decades after the death of one of the 20th century's most influential philosophers, scientists are still discovering hitherto unpublished manuscripts from Ludwig Wittgenstein's milieu. During his life, the philosopher who was born in Vienna (1889) published a single work that made him famous: the "Tractatus logico-philosophicus". Many of his other texts existed only as manuscripts and were published only after his death in 1951. The Wittgenstein Archives in Bergen (Norway) is currently working on an open-access edition of his philosophical manuscripts, known as "Wittgenstein's Nachlass":Hitherto unpublished lecture notesVolker Munz from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Klagenfurt (Carinthia) has taken a new approach to the work of the thinker who spent most of his life in Cambridge. Thanks to contacts Munz established to the administrators of Wittgenstein's estate during his study years in Wales in the late 1980s, more than 2,000 typescripts from a student and close friend of Wittgenstein's came into his possession. The notes were taken by Yorick Smythies during lectures given by Wittgenstein in Cambridge between 1938 and 1941. With support from the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Volker Munz and his assistant Bernhard Ritter have been carefully editing these notes of varying format and quality over the last ten years. They added introductions and references to Wittgenstein's published writings and put dates against the notes. "Dating was one of the greatest challenges, since most of the material lacked any direct indication as to time", explains Munz, who nevertheless succeeded in ascertaining with a high degree of probability the year and even the term in which each set of notes was taken.New insights in central issues"What is special about this project is the fact that no other student notes are extant from that period, except the lectures on aesthetics and on the foundations of mathematics. Hence they open additional insight into what Wittgenstein was working on during those years", emphasises Munz. Unlike Wittgenstein, Smythies gave titles to all lectures. They concern central issues such as knowledge, belief, similarity or freedom of the will. The notes also mention discussions of authors, a rare occurrence in Wittgenstein's work otherwise. Apart from Bertrand Russell, George E. Moore and William James, the philosopher discusses the theorems of Kurt Godel, W. E. Johnson and the question whether there is "an infinite number of shades of colour", as well as David Hume's notion of 'belief'. The lectures also highlight the important role pictures and metaphors played in Wittgenstein's thinking. Moreover the notes contain new instances of the famous metaphor of the fly and the fly bottle and about 70 drawings by Wittgenstein which Smythies copied from the blackboard. "Many examples and issues touched upon in these notes were discussed only in a much more cryptic way in Wittgenstein's published works. This material now opens up new connections, and some trains of thought appear more stringent", project director Munz underlines the significance of the lecture notes.International Wittgenstein researchLudwig Wittgenstein's lectures and students' notes are of growing importance for research, as is a scholarly investigation of the generation that came after Wittgenstein. According to Munz, the international scientific community engages in frequent exchanges in this respect. Documents and works by and about Wittgenstein are preserved in different international archives  mostly places where the philosopher spent some of his time. In addition to the library of Trinity College in Cambridge, well known archival sources are the Brenner-Archiv in Innsbruck, which has recently been able to acquire the originals of several letters from Moritz Schlick to Wittgenstein, as well as the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen in Norway. Some documents can also be found in Kirchberg am Wechsel (Lower Austria).A research focus in Austria"Until the 1970s, Wittgenstein was of little significance in Austria", Munz notes. It was only thanks to the philosopher Rudolf Haller that Wittgenstein became a figure of renown there. Haller was a co-founder of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society in 1976, the year that also saw the first of what was to become an annual Wittgenstein Symposium in Kirchberg. Still today, this event is a fixture for Wittgenstein scholars, attracting several hundred participants from all over the world. 2009 marked the beginning of a Wittgenstein Summer School in Kirchberg under the scientific direction of Volker Munz, which has aroused strong interest.Publication and further projectsThe publication of Yorick Smythies' lecture notes is going to be an important contribution to the appreciation of Wittgenstein in general and will spark further exploration of the seminal body of work by this philosopher. The volume on the FWF research project will be published this year by Wiley-Blackwell under the title "The Whewell's Court Lectures, Cambridge 1938  1941". For Munz, this does not mean he considers his investigations of the topic as being finished. In talking about further projects, the researcher from the University of Klagenfurt relates that Smythies himself propounded a philosophy of his own which is still completely unknown and untypical of the Wittgenstein tradition. In addition, there are volumes of poems and a great number of notebooks by the Wittgenstein student which still await the researcher's attention.FWF Austrian Science FundThe Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's central funding organization for basic research.The purpose of the FWF is to support the ongoing development of Austrian science and basic research at a high international level. In this way, the FWF makes a significant contribution to cultural development, to the advancement of our knowledge-based society, and thus to the creation of value and wealth in Austria.Scientific Contact:Ass. Prof. Dr. Volker A. MunzAlpen-Adria-UniversityUniversitaetsstrasse 6567A-9020 Klagenfurt am Woerthersee, AustriaTel.: +43 / 463 2700 - 2117E volker.munz@aau.ac.atAustrian Science Fund FWF:Marc SeumenichtHaus der ForschungSensengasse 11090 Vienna, AustriaT +43 / 1 / 505 67 40 - 8111E marc.seumenicht@fwf.ac.atDistribution:PR&D  Public Relations for Research & EducationMariannengasse 81090 Vienna, AustriaT +43 / 1 / 505 70 44E contact@prd.atW prd.at/en
Global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety Industry 2016 Competitive Market Analysis, Research, Forecasts & Future Developments

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The global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market is witnessing a paradigm shift in consumer demand. This research study is an attempt to understand the changes and the impact of this changes on the Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market across the world. The study delivers a comprehensive analysis of the worldwide Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market, acting as a source of valuable information for active market participants across the value chain and assisting them in capitalizing the opportunities as well as developing crucial business strategies.The report also helps the companies operating in the global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market to understand the prevalent market trends and shaping their businesses accordingly.The research study analyzes the current as well as historical performance of the worldwide Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market and makes future projections on the basis of this analysis. It evaluates this market from the perspective of the prevalent market chain, the data related to import and export, and the sales dynamics of the Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market across the world.To Get Sample Copy of ReportThe research report covers each and every aspect of the global market for Wireless Broadband in Public Safety, starting from the definition of the market, and progressing to its segments, classified on the basis of various criteria. The regional segmentation has also been discussed at length in this market report.In this report, the worldwide Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market has been studied on the basis of an assessment of the production chain, production capacity, and the revenue garnered by each of the major players operating in the global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market. The market for Wireless Broadband in Public Safety across the world has also been examined on the basis of products available in the market, their pricing, production volume, and the revenue generated.Various analytical tools such as market feasibility, investment returns, and market attractiveness analysis have been used in this research to present a comprehensive market study on of the global Wireless Broadband in Public Safety market during the period from 2016 to 2020.Browse Complete Report with TOCQYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Body Fat Measurement Market Size, Share And Outlook Forecast to 2022 - Brisk Insights

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http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-kaolin-market-is-expected-to-reach-6-billion-by-2022-brisk-insights/

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According to a recently published report, the Global Body Fat Measurement Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 9% during 2015-2022 and it estimated to be $700.3 million by 2022. The global Body Fat Measurement market is segmented on the basis of type and geography. The report on global Body Fat Measurement market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report With TOC: briskinsights.com/report/global-body-fat-measurement-market-forecast-2015-2022The body fat measurement have different methods for body composition analysis globally. Body fat measurement is also known as impedance meters which are used for accurate assessment of body fat. It also identifies health risk because of high or low amounts of body fat. The device also helps in assessing effectiveness of nutrition and exercise in particular age. Common fitness test in health clubs and gyms are considered as body fat measurement. The devices used for body fat measurement are designed to measure the flow at different depths. According to the age and gender the body aft percentage varies.North America, Europe, APAC and ROW are the major regions estimated for body fat measurement market. North America is the largest market for the body fat measurement market. It is expected that due to technological innovation in healthcare in North America it will dominate the body fat measurement global market over the forecasted period. Due to large population of obese in North America the market growth of body fat measurement is high in the region. Techniques used to body fat measurement are:Bioimpedance Analyzers, Calipers, Hydrostatic Weighing, Air Displacement Plethysmography, DEXA and others.Click Here For Same Category Reports:The key players in the global Body Fat Measurement market include Beurer GmbH, Omron Global  Healthcare Business, Jawon Medical Co. Ltd., Tanita Corporation, GE Healthcare, Inbody Co. Ltd., LAccessorio Nucleare S.r.l. (lcan), Hologic Inc., The Diagnostic Medical Systems (DMS) Group, COSMED S.r.l., AccuFitness LLC., Exertec And so on. Innovation is the key strategy adopted in the Body Fat Measurement market.Scope of the report1. Global body fat measurement market by type 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.1. Bioimpedance Analyzers1.2. Calipers1.3. Hydrostatic Weighing1.4. Air Displacement Plethysmography1.5. DEXA1.6. Other techniques2. Global body fat measurement industry, regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.1. North America2.2. Europe2.3. Asia Pacific2.4. Middle East & Africa2.5. Central & South AmericaLatest Report:Global Kaolin Market is expected to reach $6 billion by 2022 -3. Competitive Landscape3.1. Beurer GmbH3.2. Omron Global  Healthcare Business3.3. Jawon Medical Co. Ltd.3.4. Tanita Corporation3.5. GE Healthcare3.6. Inbody Co. Ltd.3.7. LAccessorio Nucleare S.r.l. (lcan)3.8. Hologic Inc.3.9. The Diagnostic Medical Systems (DMS) Group.3.10. COSMED S.r.l.3.11. AccuFitness LLC.3.12. Exertech3.13. Diagnostic Medical Systems Group3.14. FitnessWave3.15. Mobile Body Analysis3.16. Medical expo.3.17. WSJ3.18. Body Fat USA3.19. Body Composition Analysis3.20. Anschutz wellnessWebsite:Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Working in a highly dynamic and multi-dimensional business makes decision making complex. Effective business decisions are a result of the synthesis of marketJennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQPhone: +448081890034 (UK)
ECG Equipment Market Growth Is Estimated to be $6.12 billion by 2022 - Brisk Insights

Brisk Insights

http://www.briskinsights.com/category/medical-devices-industry

http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-ophthalmic-drugs-market-is-expected-to-grow-at-the-cagr-of-7-during-2015-2022-brisk-insights/

http://www.briskinsights.com/

Global ECG Equipment Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 6.1% during 2015-2022 and it is estimated to be $6.12 billion by 2022. The global ECG equipment market is segmented on the basis of product, Lead type end user application and geography. The report on global ECG equipment market forecast, 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report With TOC: briskinsights.com/report/ecg-equipment-marketThere are many factors driving the global ECG equipment market such as increase in the number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases. In the recent times, cardiovascular diseases have become more common due to the change in the life style. Also the increase in geriatric population is boosting the ECG equipment market. As per WHO in 2012, 17.5 million people died of cardiovascular diseases which accounts 31% of the total global death. This has increased the importance of these devices and crisp monitoring of the patients has become a need. Due to these factors even various government are also supporting the industry.There are certain factors which acts as the restraint for the market some of them are unstable economic circumstances and market saturation. Also the unstable reimbursement policies hinder the growth of the industry.Click Here For Same Category Reports:Scope of the Report1. Global ECG equipment market by end user application 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.1. Global ECG equipment market by hospitals 2012-2022 ($ billion)1.2. Global ECG equipment market by Home/Ambulatory care 2012-2022 ($ billion)2. Global ECG equipment market by product 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.1. Global ECG equipment market by Resting ECG Systems 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.2. Global ECG equipment market by Stress ECG Systems 2012-2022 ($ billion)2.3. Global ECG equipment market by Holter Monitors 2012-2022 ($ billion)3. Global ECG equipment market by lead type 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.1. Global ECG equipment market by Single-lead type ECG devices 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.2. Global ECG equipment market by 3-6 lead type ECG devices 2012-2022 ($ billion)3.3. Global ECG equipment market by 12-lead type ECG devices 2012-2022 ($ billion)4. Global ECG equipment regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)4.1. North America4.2. Europe4.3. Asia Pacific4.4. Middle East & Africa4.5. Central & South America4.6. Central & South AmericaLatest Report:Global Ophthalmic Drugs Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 7% during 2015-2022:5. Competitive Landscape5.1. Advanced technocracy5.2. Atico medical pvt. Ltd.5.3. Bionet5.4. Brentwood midmark5.5. Burdick5.6. Cardioline5.7. Cardionet5.8. Compumed Inc.5.9. Dr. Lee5.10. Edutek instrumentation5.11. GE Healthcare5.12. Johnson & Johnson5.13. Mindray Medical International Limited5.14. Mortara Instrument5.15. Nexus Lifecare pvt. Ltd.5.16. Nihon Kohden Corporation5.17. Royal Philips Healthcare5.18. Schiller AG5.19. Spacelabs Healthcare5.20. Welch AllynWebsite:Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQPhone : +448081890034 (UK)
Time is Running Out to Trade In Your dataTaker!

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www.dataloggerinc.com

Trade your Series 1 DT8x Range logger for a New Series 3!CHESTERLAND, OHMarch 7, 2016Time is running out to trade in your older dataTaker datalogger for a new Series 3 model! If you have an older Series 1 DT8x range or DT5/DT6xx model, you can gain substantial savings and trade in for a new dataTaker Series 3! These intelligent loggers boast a variety of logging and communications features, enabling them to fit nearly any application. This offer ends March 31st so contact CAS DataLoggers today at (800) 956-4437 and save!Offer Guidelines, Terms and Conditions:o Trade-in your Series 1 DT8x range and DT5/DT6xx models for a Series 3 model.o One trade-in logger for each Series 3 ordered.o The trade-in unit serial number must be included on the purchase order sent toThermo Fisher Scientific.o All Series 3 units are offered in this promotion.Promotion ends 31st March, 2016!Applicable Serial #s:dataTaker DT80 models:All dataloggers with serial numbers before #085050.dataTaker DT85:All dataloggers with serial numbers before #085376.Series 3Intelligent Universal Loggers:Trade-in to a new dataTaker Series 3 logger by taking advantage of this offer to upgrade to the latest in data logging technology! Series 3 are robust dataloggers with an extensive array of features ideal across a wide variety of applications. Configuring and Monitoring are made easy using the built-in dEX software.Features: Enhanced built-in Web Interface Large-Volume Data Storage Analog channel expansion Automatic Data Transfer over FTP or Email Remote Monitoring Modbus for sensors and SCADA connection SDI-12 sensor network Integrated Modem ** Modem models only, designated by the M in the model number (Eg. DT80M).Series 3 Models:Flexible Universal Input Loggers: DT80 Series 3 Data Logger DT85 Series 3 Data Logger DT82I Series 3 Data LoggerEnvironmental Monitoring: DT82E Series 3 Data Logger DT82EM Series 3 Data LoggerGeotechnical Measurement: DT80G Series 3 Data Logger DT85G Series 3 GeoLogger DT85GM Series 3 Data LoggerBuilt-In Cellular Modems: DT80M Series 3 Data Logger DT85M Series 3 Data Logger DT85GM Series 3 Data Logger DT82EM Series 3 Data LoggerThe Data Logger Experts:CAS Data Loggers is a distributor of data loggers, paperless recorders and data acquisition equipment. As dataTakers Master Distributor in North America, we know these products and have supplied systems to callers in every industry. We have been in business for over 20 years, and actively involved in selling data loggers and real-time systems since 2001.Our staff has over 100 years of total experience with different types of data acquisition and test and measurement equipment. We also provide technical support on all of our productsa real rarity among distributors.For further information on the new dataTaker Series 3 Loggers, or to find the ideal solution for your application-specific needs, contact a CAS Data Logger Applications Specialist at (800) 956-4437 or visit our website atContact Information:CAS DataLoggers, Inc.8437 Mayfield Rd.Chesterland, Ohio 44026(440) 729-2570(800) 956-4437sales@dataloggerinc.com
Charter School.jpg

(Michael Lloyd / The Oregonian / 2013)

Oregon's charter school movement is on life support, ranking worst among 18 states where at least 2 percent of students attend charter schools, a report by a pro-charter school group says.

One of the biggest problems: Oregon's nearly 30,000 charter school students made less progress in reading and much less in math than students in traditional public schools from 2008 to 2011, the report found.

Oregon's 100-plus charter schools also serve a more heavily white and much more heavily middle-class population than other public schools, it said. Charter schools by their nature strive to reach students poorly served by traditional schools, so charter schools ideally should serve more minority and low-income students than regular public schools, the study's authors said.

The study, by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, recommends that Oregon policymakers do more to encourage school boards to close poor-performing charters. Over several years, an average of just 2 percent of charter schools closed per year, the study said.

Results suggest more charters should have closed, the report said. From 2008 to 2011, the average charter school student in Oregon made 22 days less progress in reading and 50 days less progress in math than the average student in a regular public school.

The report also said recommended that the state look into why charters are serving so few low-income and minority students.

Kaaren Heikes, long a champion of charter schools in Oregon and a founder and board member of Portland charter Kairos PDX, said she agrees with the report's authors that Oregon should do more to put poor-performing charter schools out of business.

"We don't want charters just for charters," she said. "We want good ones."

But Heikes questioned the accuracy of some statistics in the report. More than 10 percent of charter schools are online schools that don't serve lunch, so they don't check students' eligibility for free- and reduced-price lunches - the factor the report's authors used to determine how many low-income students a charter school enrolls.

She conceded that the state's decision not to cover transportation costs for charter schools, even though the state picks up most of the tab to bus students to and from regular public schools, makes it harder for charters to attract low-income students.

Some of Oregon's charter schools came into existence expressly to do a better job of serving students of color, Heikes said. Those include SEI Academy, Siletz Valley Early College Academy, Four Rivers Charter School, Nixya'awii Community School and her school, Kairos PDX.

But in a state in which 63 percent of public school students are white, many charter schools are more than 80 percent white. They include Bethany Charter School (94 percent white), Child's Way Charter (93 percent), Muddy Creek Charter School (91 percent), Woodland Charter (91 percent), Dallas Community Charter (90 percent), Alliance Charter Academy (90 percent), Powell Butte Community Charter (90 percent) and Logos Public Charter (89 percent).

The report said Indiana is the state with the healthiest charter school movement. The state, where about 10 percent more charters open every year, has a far higher share of low-income students in charter schools than regular ones, and its charters tend to be in cities or in rural areas, not the suburbs. Indiana's charter school students showed a month more growth in reading, on average, than other public school students, and 37 percent of charters ranked in the top two tiers of school performance.

A previous study by the charter school alliance, done two years ago, also found that Indiana had what it said were the best laws governing charter schools. Indiana's law does not cap charter school growth; allows many types of institutions, not just school boards, to authorize charter schools; and provides plenty of both freedom to operate and accountability for results, that study said.

-- Betsy Hammond
Sadik Esener.jpg

Sadik Esener, 59, was chosen to lead the early detection cancer research center at Oregon Health & Science University.

(Studio McDermott/Oregon Health & Science University)

After scouring the country and even searching abroad, Oregon Health & Science University has found a scientist to lead its billion-dollar cancer research center.

Sadik Esener is not an oncologist, biologist or epidemiologist. Rather, he's a nanoengineer who spent the first part of his career studying the use of optics to solve computer communication problems.

"We think people will be a bit surprised (by the choice) and that's OK," said Dr. Brian Druker, director of the Knight Cancer Institute. "This sends a powerful message that we've looked outside our own ranks because we think things have to be done differently."

The center will focus on detecting cancers early, when they're most treatable, and differentiating between lethal and nonlethal tumors. Though other academic medical institutions are focused on early detection, OHSU's center will be the largest of its kind, thanks to a $500 million challenge grant from Nike's co-founder Phil Knight.

Esener, 59, is eager to lead the initiative.

"I believe the time is right to do this," he said. "There is a convergence of technology and knowledge that is coming together that provides us with an opportunity to be able to address this really important problem."

Born in Turkey and raised in France, Esener has spent the past three decades at the University of California, San Diego, where he is professor of nanoengineering and electrical and computer engineering. He holds 18 patents and has launched more than 10 startups, including companies focused on the improved treatment and detection of cancer.

He's been interested in cancer-related technologies for more than two decades, he said. His work on small sensing devices, or biochips, led to DNA fingerprinting and detection of certain changes in the blood, signaling the development of cancer. That invention was spun off into a company, as was his technology to analyze cancer cells with laser light.

One of his latest inventions involves nano-sized bullets that are fired into the body to disarm cancer cells or penetrate tumors with cancer-killing drugs, marking an improvement over traditional chemotherapy that floods the body with toxic chemicals.

Esener's ability to move technology from the lab to the marketplace is a major asset, Druker said.

"We're really good at the research," Druker said about OHSU. "But if we're going to put this into the commercial sphere, we need somebody who knows how to do that and he's demonstrated that he does."

Esener knows firsthand how ineffective modern medicine can be in treating aggressive cancers.

His wife struggled with colorectal cancer for four years, and his mother battled pancreatic cancer for more than two. They both died in 2012 within six weeks of each other.

"I witnessed the suffering that this disease causes people," Esener said. "That's something that I don't think I can forget."

Losing two beloved family members to cancer is a powerful motivator to find new treatments, detect it earlier and even work on prevention, he said.

His first task at OHSU will involve hiring 20 to 30 senior scientists and building what Druker hopes will be a world-class team. They will come from many disciplines but will need to be cohesive.

Esener is confident in his team-building skills.

"This is one area that I think I can help with," he said. "I have done that many times."

Esener established and led the cancer nanotechnology center at the UCSD. A professor of medicine at the university, Dr. Dennis Carson, praised Esener as a leader who was not only innovative but also generous with his time when needed by junior scientists.

"We interviewed very highly accomplished people, but what really stood out was the more we got to know him the better we liked him," Druker said. "That's important in ensuring he's the right fit."

Esener has two children. His daughter, 22, is finishing her master's in nanomedicine and his son, 18, is a freshman in electrical and computer engineering.

He will earn $350,000 a year as part of an endowment from the family of Richard Wendt, the late co-founder of Jeld-Wen, the Oregon-born door and window maker.

-- Lynne Terry
1debate.JPG

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.

(The Associated Press)

By Ruth Marcus

WASHINGTON -- Children, gather round and let me tell you about a time before candidates vouched for the size of their, um, endowments on national television.

Was it really so long ago -- OK, actually, it was -- that a sunglasses-wearing Bill Clinton was criticized for going on "The Arsenio Hall Show" to play his saxophone? Clinton coarsened the discourse, we were told. How tame that seems in retrospect. How dignified.

I blame Clinton, actually, not for the Hall performance, but for a fateful moment during his presidency, at a 1994 MTV town hall, when a young woman asked, "Mr. President, the world is dying to know: Is it boxers or briefs?"

Clinton stared in open-mouthed disbelief, looked down, put hand to forehead -- then answered, "Usually briefs. I can't believe she did that." I happened to be at the event, and I couldn't believe he responded with anything other than an admonition that surely this questioner had been taught better.

But Clinton's willingness to show some leg seems positively Victorian in contrast to today's discourse.

Thanks, largely but not entirely, to one Donald J. Trump.

Recently, Trump feigned outrage at the notion that former Mexican President Vicente Fox would use "a filthy, disgusting word" about Trump's proposed border wall.

Really? In New Hampshire, as Trump was excoriating Ted Cruz for shying away from endorsing waterboarding, a supporter shouted out a feline profanity to describe the Texas senator.

Trump knew he wasn't supposed to repeat it. He couldn't help himself. "She said -- I never expect to hear that from you again!" he said, in mock anger. "She said he's a p----! That's terrible. Terrible. Terrible."

Then Marco Rubio decided to join Trump in his gutter. Rubio's problem wasn't doing too little too late, it was saying too much too late. He suggested that Trump had wet his pants during a debate. He mocked Trump's spray tan.

Worst, most astonishingly, he insinuated that Trump was lacking beneath the briefs. "You know what they say about men with small hands?" Rubio said, smirking. "You can't trust them."

Which brings us to Thursday, March 3, which will go down as the most embarrassing day in the history of American presidential politics. At least let's hope this is as bad as it gets.

Trump began by summoning an unwelcome picture of Mitt Romney, his party's nominee four years ago. "He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt drop to your knees,' he would have dropped to his knees," Trump said, pointing to the floor.

This is, as Fox News host Megyn Kelly educated us oh-so-many GOP debates ago, a favorite Trump image. "You dropped to your knees?" Trump had once asked a contestant on "The Celebrity Apprentice," laughing lasciviously. "It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees."

At Thursday night's Fox News debate, Trump could not leave Rubio's "small hands" slander unrebutted. Did Trump plan it? Could he simply not restrain himself from answering the assault on his manhood? It's hard to tell which would be worse.

"He hit my hands," Trump said, unprovoked, minutes into the melee, holding up his digits for viewing. "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."

No, fact-checkers! No! What's next, an affidavit from the wives?

"OK, moving on," said moderator Bret Baier. If only. As I write this column, a headline on CNN.com reads, "Donald Trump defends size of his penis."

This might be funny -- these poor guys and their anxieties -- if the stakes weren't so high. Gender solidarity impels me to suggest a solution for this juvenilia: a debate stage populated by women. That would take care of the playground insults, the shouting, the constant interrupting and talking-over.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, you have got to do better than this," moderator Chris Wallace said at one point, breaking up the schoolyard fight between the candidates who referred to each other as "little Marco" and "big Donald."

Roman emperors once placated the masses with bread and circuses. Today, no bread is required. Politics is all circus, all the time.

Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Officials will announce Tuesday whether state troopers were justified in fatally shooting Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a leader of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation.

Finicum, 54, was killed as police tried to arrest key figures in the refuge takeover. His death on Jan. 26 spurred claims that police acted without provocation, with some labeling his death a murder. The FBI has said Finicum was shot after he tried to elude police and reached for a gun.

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office investigated the shooting, recently turning over results to Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris. He was asked to oversee the investigation by Tim Colahan, Harney County district attorney, to provide an independent assessment. The shooting occurred in Harney County.

A news conference is scheduled Tuesday in Bend to release the results of the investigation. The sheriff's office hasn't released the time and place publicly, asking media to send an email to the office to attend.

The announcement is expected to provide more details about what happened in the operation conducted jointly by the FBI and the Oregon State Police.

The FBI already has issued one statement and an aerial video without audio of the confrontation. It shows officers approaching Finicum and his collapse in the snow. Finicum was carrying a loaded 9mm handgun, the FBI said.

Two witnesses involved in the police stop contested some points in the FBI description of what happened. Finicum's family has said his death wasn't justified. Finicum ranched and cared for foster children on his ranch outside Colorado City, Arizona.

His widow, Jeanette, has scheduled her own news conference in St. George, Utah, for Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting occurred as a Jeep and truck carrying occupation leaders drove north on U.S. 395 to a community meeting in John Day. About 20 miles outside Burns, police stopped the Jeep carrying Ammon E. Bundy, 40, of Emmett, Idaho. Bundy was the main leader of protesters who seized the wildlife refuge headquarters three weeks earlier. Also in the Jeep were Bundy's bodyguard, Brian D. Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada; and the driver, Mark C. McConnell , 37, of Buckeye, Arizona.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicum talks to media during a press conference Jan. 12, 2016. Thomas Boyd/Staff

Police also stopped the pickup driven by Finicum and carrying Ryan C. Bundy, 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada; Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Montana; Shawna J. Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah; and Victoria Sharp, 18, of Lakeside, Montana. Ryan Bundy is Ammon Bundy's older brother.

The three in the Jeep surrendered to police as did Ryan Payne. The FBI video showed that Finicum then sped away from the traffic stop, crashing into a snow bank after encountering a police roadblock. The FBI later said he was shot by state troopers when he reached into his jacket for the handgun.

The Bundy brothers, Payne, Cavalier and Cox all were arrested on a federal conspiracy charge. McConnell and Sharp were released without charges. Sharp has since appeared regularly at rallies and other events in honor of Finicum and has spoken out against federal authorities. McConnell returned to Arizona and has continued to participate in a self-described patriot group, according to a recent Facebook post.

McConnell, Sharp and Cox all have recorded their own accounts of the traffic stop, which have been widely shared on social media. Cox also detailed the events of that afternoon in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Initial claims by witnesses that Finicum was shot while he was surrendering with his hands up spurred virulent reaction in social media posts. Sharp has said Finicum was shot repeatedly and that more than 100 rounds were fired into the truck where she and the others were cowering. FBI officials have said officers fired flash-bang devices and sponge projectiles with pepper spray capsules at the truck.

Law enforcement officials have yet to release autopsy findings on Finicum's death. His family said it commissioned a subsequent private autopsy but hasn't released the results.

-- Les Zaitz
Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, pumps his fist as he arrives for at a rally at the Macomb Community College, Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Warren, Mich.

(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

WASHINGTON -- Bernie Sanders won the Democratic presidential caucuses Sunday in Maine, beating rival Hillary Clinton for his eighth win in the nomination process.



Prior to the contest in Maine, Clinton had at least 1,123 delegates to Sanders' 484, including superdelegates -- members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.



It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.



Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won in Maine's Republican caucuses on Saturday. On Sunday, Marco Rubio won the Republican presidential primary in Puerto Rico, his second nominating contest victory in the 2016 race for president.

With 25 Maine delegates at stake, Sanders is assured of winning at least 14 while Clinton stands to gain at least six.



He can now lay claim to winning eight of the 19 states that voted in primaries or caucuses to date, having prevailed in Maine, Kansas and Nebraska over the weekend.



But Sanders is making little headway in delegates after Clinton's large margin of victory in Louisiana on Saturday.



For the weekend, out of 134 delegates at stake, Sanders will win at least 66 and Clinton at least 63. Five delegates remain to be allocated in Maine.
FLINT, MI -- The Democratic presidential candidates will debate in Flint on Sunday night, squaring off against the backdrop of a city bedeviled by persistent water woes.

Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have visited Flint over the past few months as the Flint water crisis continues.

The debate, hosted by CNN, is scheduled for 8 p.m. at The Whiting. It will air on CNN and online at cnn.com.

Follow along below as MLive and The Flint Journal's team of reporters provide updates. For more #DemDebate coverage, click here.
Portland mayoral candidate Jules Bailey on Monday picked up another endorsement from a notable labor group: Portland cops.

The Portland Police Association announced that it is endorsing Bailey because he shares the union's vision to have the necessary staffing and resources to proactively do police work.

"We support Jules Bailey's vision of leadership, accountability, and direction for our City and our Police Bureau," the union said in a statement.

Bailey, a Multnomah County Commissioner, has positioned himself for police support. He wants to keep the city's mounted patrol and, most notably, has said he wants to hire more cops.

On his website, Bailey lists as a priority: "Increase police staffing to emphasize robust community policing, cut response times, and increase the number of calls to which officers are able to respond."

Bailey last month scored another key endorsement from the teachers' union, the Portland Association of Teachers.

Bailey and the other mayoral frontrunner, Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler, each shared endorsements from the firefighters' union and AFSCME Local 189.

Wheeler, meanwhile, has secured endorsement from several trade unions -- endorsements that came before Bailey jumped into the race.

In Portland's 2012 mayoral race, the police union initially endorsed, but later rescinded, support for Jefferson Smith. The union gave $10,000 to Smith's campaign.

The police union's endorsement of Bailey may not provide such a windfall. Bailey has limited contributions to $250 per individual or group, although the union could support Bailey by spending money independent from Bailey's campaign.

Bailey's political consultant, Stacey Dycus, has connections to police work. She worked on efforts to save the mounted patrol and, more recently, with the union on last year's billboard reading: "Having enough police matters."

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch
Portland is quickly becoming a destination for luxury cat lodging. And on Thursday, the city's cat owners will have one more way to spoil their pets: Pounce Play and Stay is opening a "deluxe cat hotel" in Northeast Portland.

According to the company's website, all stays at the hotel include "a rotating schedule of play time, brushing, and snuggles." The hotel will also offer its feline clients custom-built mini-condos, where they can enjoy toys, heated beds, custom scratching structures and music and videos created specifically for cats.

In addition, the hotel uses Feliway diffusers, which mimic cat pheromones and help calm cats.

Extra kitty amenities include name-brand cat food, nail trims, flea treatment and glucose monitoring.

Overnight stays are $30, and a day at the hotel will cost $20. The business is located at 2808 NE Martin Luther King Blvd.

The company will join a host of similar Portland businesses, including the (adorably named) Meowhaus hotel and spa, Cats in the City, Mittens Motel Boarding, Kitty Cat Condos and more.

Owner Lisa Hernandez said she and business partner and longtime Portland dog-walker Ginger Matyas saw a need for a hotel with a holistic approach to feline lodging.

"We're not just going to give them a toy to play with," Hernandez said. "We're really focusing on all their physiological and emotional needs."

Eventually, the owners hope to expand the business to include daycare and hikes for dogs.

-- Anna Marum

amarum@oregonian.com

503-294-5911

@annamarum
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Less than four months after a merger was announced between The Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co., media outlets are reporting that chemical giant BASF officials are now considering a bid for Delaware-based DuPont.

Headlines from Bloomberg, Reuters and CNBC, among others, have been met with little comment from Dow and DuPont company officials. A source told Bloomberg.com no formal approach has been made to DuPont and asked to not be identified in the story.

Spokespeople for BASF, DuPont and Dow said the companies do not comment on rumors or speculation.

BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is said to be the worlds third largest producer of agricultural products and reported net sales of about $81 million in 2014.

Dow and DuPonts filings of Form S4 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the first week of March detail what could happen if BASF extends a bid for DuPont.

That possibility was considered by the DuPont Board of Directors prior to the merger agreement, and included in the SEC filing:

 DuPonts right, subject to certain conditions, to respond to and negotiate with respect to certain alternative proposals from third parties made prior to the time DuPont stockholders adopt the merger agreement.

 The agreement prohibits both Dow and DuPont from soliciting or engaging in discussions regarding alternative transactions during the pendency of the mergers, subject to limited exceptions.

The SEC filing also notes both boards assessed the possibility that DowDuPont might not achieve its projected financial results and that both companies would be obligated to pay a $1.9 billion termination fee to the other if either board changes its recommendation about the merger.

A time line within the filings cites a presentation Aug. 26, 2015 by representatives of Evercore and Goldman Sachs on three possible transactions DuPont could pursue: an acquisition of Company 1, described as a large publicly-traded company in the agricultural sciences industry; a combination of DuPonts agricultural sciences business with Company 1, or the merger of equals transaction with Dow.

It was during that meeting the DuPont board expressed interest in continuing discussions of a merger with Dow as well as the potential alternatives with Company 1.

DuPont management later considered a possible cash/stock business combination with a different company, called Company 2 in the filings, but officials determined the transactions with Company 1 and 2 were likely not actionable.

The potential transaction with Dow appeared to have more potential value creation and better likelihood for positive market reaction than the other reasonably available alternatives, the filings state.

Months after the meeting, Dow and DuPont executive officials announced on Dec. 11 the merger of equals into DowDuPont with an estimated worth of $130 billion.

That morning, DuPont CEO Edward Breen received a letter from the chairman of Company 2 that proposed preliminary discussions of a possible transaction. There were no additional details on the letter provided in the SEC filing.

An estimated time line puts the merger completion in the second half of 2016, with spin-offs of three independent businesses as soon as possible, according to Dow-published highlights of Form S4. The highlights state Dow will be considered the acquiring entity in the merger.
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High school students said they benefited from mock interviews during an event at Davenport Universitys Midland campus.

I learned a lot about what employers are looking for in interviewing employees, said Shauna Nanavati, a junior at H.H. Dow High School, after participating in Ready, Set, Get Hired! on Thursday.

Nanavati, who hopes to enter a pre-med program, said she got some advice on applying to colleges.

Ready, Set, Get Hired! is planned and implemented by the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce, the Midland County Educational Service Agency and the countys public school districts. The chamber recruits volunteers from area businesses and other institutions to interview a total of about 360 students.

Dow and Midland High School students attended the event Thursday, and Bullock Creek High School students were scheduled to attend Friday. Coleman and Meridian students were initially scheduled to come on Wednesday but, because school was canceled due to snow, the program will visit each school.

The primary purpose of the annual event is to give students experience with interviewing. Theyve never had to go up to a professional and shake their hand and look them in the eye, said Kristen Sanborn, career development facilitator for the MCESA. She said the program is geared toward students in the Career and Technical Education track but others attend as well.

While most of the students who participate are juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophomores fill in if space is available.

I think its interesting to see those younger students, Sanborn said, noting that some will come back in their junior or senior years. Its neat to see how much theyve grown and see how much theyve improved.

Interviewers said they were impressed with the students they met.

I was very impressed with the extent of his preparation, Denny Henson, president of Map-N-Tour, said of a student he interviewed. He was very articulate and knowledgeable  It was good to be able to share some feedback and ideas for what he may want to consider looking into.

Ive been very pleased with how positive theyve been  they have a good attitude, said Mike Storey of Dow Corning Corp. I certainly expected them to be a lot more nervous.

The interviewers fill out feedback forms that make their way back to the students.

A Midland High School senior, who was attending Ready, Set, Get Hired! for the second time, said he had a good experience on Thursday.

I love that theyre able to tell me the best way to come into a place to get a job, said David May, who is in the Greater Michigan Construction Academy program for heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) and appreciates the hands-on nature of GMCA.

Ready, Set, Get Hired! also included a session in which students could ask any questions they wanted about college life, and a team-building session, Sanborn said.

A Dow High sophomore appreciated the personal connections she made with her interviewers.

All the people were really easy to talk to, said Stephanie Kuchek, who would like to pursue a career in the medical field. They werent as intimidating as I expected.

Jacob Lapham, a Dow High sophomore who is thinking about being a physical therapist, called his time at the event a really good experience.

I felt like this really helped me get prepared for the real world, he said.

Midland High junior Matthew Olenczuk did three interviews, and learned the best things to put on your resume and how to present yourself.

Although Olenczuk said he isnt exactly sure what path he wants to pursue, I love music  I play guitar and sing a little.
For 25 years, people have bundled up and hit the streets of communities across the region for Walk for Warmth, which raises money for those in need of heating bill assistance during the cold winter months.

In Midland, more than 200 people walked on Saturday morning to raise money for the Emergency Utility Assistance Program operated by Mid Michigan Community Action Agency.
Voters are going to the polls this year with economic worries uppermost in their minds. Although the headline unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9 percent, the labor force participation rate remains near historic lows, indicating that many people who might work are not doing so. Discouraged workers have given up looking for work, and middle-class jobs with benefits are scarce. One issue ties these troubles together  manufacturing.

Americas factories are struggling. In spite of economic growth, U.S. manufacturing is in a recession. The sector has now contracted for four straight months, with exports lower due to a weak global economy and a strong dollar. But competition from illegally subsidized foreign producers is the main culprit.

Federal data shows the United States has lost roughly 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, including roughly 300,000 jobs in Michigan alone. The loss of so many skilled, high-paying jobs has profoundly hurt Americas middle class, with formerly well-paid workers forced into unemployment, early retirement or lower-paying service jobs.

No wonder voters are angry. To restore the viability of domestic manufacturing, voters need to choose candidates who will tackle the big problem facing the nations factories, namely, bad U.S. trade policies.

When Americans are asked why U.S factories are moving overseas, they usually think cheap labor. But labor is only a small part of the picture. What really hurts Americas factories is the massive subsidies that foreign governments provide to their industrial sectors. China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and some EU countries deliberately intervene in currency markets to weaken their currencies, making their goods artificially cheap against American-made products. Thats why the annual U.S. trade deficit with China has exploded over the past 15 years, jumping from $83 billion in 2000 to $366 billion in 2015.

Thats a lot of lost jobs, and both the Bush and Obama administrations failed to take action. Voters should be asking, Who will stop this hemorrhaging of our manufacturing base?

In 2013, bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress urged President Obama to include strong, enforceable currency measures in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Congress did so again in 2015 when they passed negotiating objectives for the TPP. Inexplicably, the Obama administration ignored Congress, and there are no penalties for currency manipulation in the TPP. That means the deal, if passed, will allow even more artificially cheap goods to enter the U.S. market, further weakening domestic industry.

Americas manufacturers are beset by a host of other unfair trade practices. China massively subsidizes its energy sectors, and props up key industries like autos, steel, glass, paper, rubber and electronics. These subsidies are actionable under world trade law, and could be countered if only a U.S. president enforced existing trade agreements.

Most countries have cohesive industrial strategies to grow their manufacturing sectors  but not the United States. Thats why Germany, and not America, enjoys a trade surplus with China and the world, successfully exporting its products while restraining imports.

A strong manufacturing base is critical to Americas economic future. Manufacturing jobs pay better than service jobs, and provide better benefits. They support related jobs throughout the economy. And manufacturing undertakes 70 percent of private sector R&D, spawning future industries.

Voters must help rebuild manufacturing. Step one is to identify candidates who support action against currency manipulation and subsidies by China, Japan and others, as well as candidates who reject outsourcing deals such as the TPP. When voters listen closely to candidates on trade issues, theyll quickly find out who wants a robust future for Americas factories, jobs and middle class.

Kevin L. Kearns is president of the U.S. Business & Industry Council (USBIC), a national business organization advocating for domestic U.S. manufacturers since 1933.
MANILA, Philippines (NNS) -- U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin hosted bilateral staff talks with officials from the Philippine Navy, aboard 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) during a scheduled port visit, March 5.

The staff talks focused on growing and strengthening ties between the two nations, as participants discussed topics ranging from medical training, and legal practices to network security, logistics, and disaster relief coordination.

"[This visit] really represents the strong relationship between our two countries, the Philippines and the United States, which is growing stronger," said Aucoin at a reception aboard Blue Ridge, following the staff talks. "We are looking for opportunities on ways that we can strengthen this relationship and strengthen the peace and stability of this region."

The U.S. 7th Fleet conducts forward-deployed naval operations in support of U.S. national interests in the Indo-Asia Pacific area of operations. As the U.S. Navy's largest numbered fleet, 7th Fleet interacts with 35 other maritime nations to build maritime partnerships that foster maritime security, promote stability and prevent conflict.
GWANGYANG, Republic of Korea Four Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships offloaded hundreds of pieces of U.S. Marine Corps equipment, containerized supplies and personnel in support of exercises Freedom Banner 2016 (FB16) and Ssany Yong 2016 (SY16), Feb. 24-March 4.

Freedom Banner 2016, a Navy and Marine Corps deployment and offload/backload exercise that is nestled within SY16, brought multiple commands together to offload Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) ships USNS GYSGT Fred W. Stockham (T-AK 3017), USNS PFC Dewayne T. Williams (T-AK 3009), and Dry Cargo/Ammunition Ship USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2); while High-Speed Vessel MV Westpac Express (HSV 4676) delivered hundreds of service members from various locations in the Pacific region to Korea to participate in the exercises, which is scheduled to conclude March 20.

Ssang Yong 2016 is the largest multilateral amphibious exercise to date. It is a biennial exercise conducted by integrated Marine Expeditionary Brigade/Navy Expeditionary Strike Group, forward-deployed forces with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy and Marine Corps designed to strengthen interoperability and working relationships across a wide range of military operations ranging from disaster relief to complex expeditionary operations.

U.S. Marines will deploy cargo offloaded from the MSC ships to the field for their participation in SY16 exercise, which includes more than 19,000 joint and combined forces. The exercise takes place at various training areas primarily throughout southern and southeastern ROK.

At the port here, approximately 320 Marines were on hand to receive and offload the cargo from the Williams in an expedient manner.

When you work through these processes, and youre working with a group that you havent worked with before, these exercises are great because you learn to speak each others languages, said 1st Lt. Melissa K. Cooling, assistant operations officer, 3rd Maintenance Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force. Its all about process improvement. I dont speak Navy and [Navy personnel] doesnt speak Marine Corps but when we get to meet like this, and we get to work that out and interface, we set ourselves up so we have successful relationships in the future.

In addition to offload activities three additional MSC ships will be conducting seabasing operations as part of SY16.

The Expeditionary Transfer Dock USNS Montford Point (T-ESD 1) is scheduled to conduct a skin-to-skin maneuver in which she connects side-by-side with USNS Stockham and acts as a floating pier for a simulated offload where the Stockham will discharge equipment onto the Montford Point through a connecting ramp, and the equipment will then be loaded into landing craft air cushions (LCAC) for transfer to shore, further enhancing Marine Corps and naval integration.

The Montford Point is categorized as an expeditionary floating pier-at-sea; the ship is tasked to the Marine Corps to provide a pier-at-sea to move and transfer from Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-on/Roll-off ships to LCACs to provide seabasing capabilities for the Navy and the Marine Corps.

Offshore Petroleum Distribution System USNS Vadm K.R. Wheeler (T-AG 5001) and USNS Fast Tempo will also exercise their capabilities by delivering her eight-mile pipe from ship to shore in a simulated event in which she delivers water to Marines on the ground. The Wheeler can also transfer fuel from a tanker to depots ashore from up to eight miles off the coast.

FB16 and SY16 provide the Montford Point, Wheeler, Stockham, Williams and Sacagawea, all assigned to Pacific-based Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadron Three (MPSRON-3), with valuable training. The squadrons mission is to quickly deliver military cargo and supplies in response to a military contingency or to provide humanitarian assistance.

The Montford Point, Wheeler, Stockham and Williams are crewed by about 30-plus mariners apiece working for private companies under contract to MSC. The Sacagawea is carrying about 120 civilian mariners and currently the headquarters element of MPSRON-3 for the exercise.

Having these MPSRON ships prepositioned in this region enables U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces to maintain a presence in the Pacific, which allows the Navy and Marine Corps team to sustain operations far from our own shores, said Navy Capt. Robert A. Rochford, commodore, MPSRON-3. Our presence here supports regional security and stability and provides us with opportunities to work with other countries while maintaining a high level of readiness to respond to crises.

MSC reservists also played an important role. Members from Expeditionary Port Unit 113 from Fort Worth, Texas, deployed in support of the exercises.

The EPU is here to prepare the way for the ship before its arrival, said Lt. Cmdr. Paul D. Slotsema, strategic sealift officer, EPU 113.

The EPUs role is to ensure the proper contacts are made at the port, to direct the ship in where to go, and query as to what the ship is going to need when she arrives, according to Slotsema, a reserve-component officer from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The reserve-component Sailors manned a mobile sealift operations command center (MSOC), a portable communications facility designed to operate and manage port operations, even if port infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. EPU's can quickly deploy to a contingency operation and manage the arrival and departures of cargo ships in port.

All units will return to their home base at the conclusion of the exercises.

MSC operates approximately 115 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

MPSRON 3, operating in the western Pacific, maintains tactical control of the 12 ships carrying afloat prepositioned U.S. military cargo for the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Air Force. The squadrons mission is to enable force from the sea by providing swift and effective transportation of vital equipment and supplies for designated operations.
Starbucks pledged to support breastfeeding mothers using its 800 UK branches, to help promote a more "parent-friendly" environment. The coffee giant teamed up with the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) for a campaign that aims to influence other businesses in helping those who are baby feeding whether by breast, by bottle or by high chair. Baristas will also be trained in how best to accommodate parents.

Starbucks branches would soon become a more family-friendly environment and will promote a "warm welcome to families, a place to feed, with no judgment." Starbucks crews are also committed to be of assistance of every parent by means of finding seats and carrying equipments.

Sarah McMullen, NCT head of research and quality, said that many of their members are being convicted and getting unwanted attention by feeding their child wether by breast, by bottle, or by high chair. McMullen said that it is important to reassure the parents that they have the support of the staff and they won't be judged.

Sarah also said that they know this will be a big challenge for other establishments to understand and assist with the needs of the parents with very young children. Rhys Iley, vice president of Starbucks operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that they recognize parents out on their own for the first time will appreciate some support.

Starbucks signs charter to support breastfeeding mums <3 https://t.co/o1l1h9qqTJ pic.twitter.com/tMjWO04t1G  HuffPostUKParents (@HuffPoUKParents) March 3, 2016

Iley said that their collaboration with NCT and its members builds on their existing customer service principles. As Starbucks works hand in hand with NCT for the campaign, the company claims that it had already refreshed their training, in addition to improving store facilities.

He also added that if there is anything that they can do to improve their service and the experience of the people, especially the parents, they should let him know about it. According to Guardian UK, breastfeeding rates at 12 months were the lowest in the world.
Flint Michigan's authority ignorored health warnings and residents' complaints about their water's foul odor for months. Now, they are battling with lead contaminated water from the Flint River.

Flint was a former manufacturing hub that caused lead contamination to Flint River. The water from the river corroded the pipes, and now, the Flint's tap water has been contaminated with lead for more than a year, as reported by Raw Story.

It will take years before these corroded pipes get replaced that will make Flint's tap water safe for human consumption. The authorities, together with the National Guard soldiers and volunteers are now distributing huge quantities of bottled water.

180, 000 water filters have been given away, however, most residents do not trust the filter from the authorities who had falsely assured them that the water is safe to drink until citizen activists wronged them. Lead poisoning has been diagnosed to many Flint residents and more than 8,000 children were allegedly exposed to lead. They feared that it may harm the children's brain development.

Aaron Stinson, a Flint resident is trying to stay healthy. He exercises regularly and drinks lots of water. He is now one of many Flint residents who got a positive result after a test for lead exposure.

The normal lead in blood for adults is 10 micrograms per deciliter. Stinson has twice as much as the normal level, he is 27 years old.

A news form CNN said that there is no medicine to treat lead poisoning. However, Stinson's doctor advised him to consume protein, drink orange juice and do not consume tap water.

"I'm angry, I'm upset," Stinson said. "I could end up dying with this toxin put in my body, it could hurt my organs, it could take my memory. It is a scary thing."

The corrosion of the water pipes started in April 2014 when the state-appointed manager decided to stop buying water from Detroit and began drawing water from Flint River, as part of cost-cutting, according to an article from ABC posted in January 2016.


A Richmond Hill hospital acknowledged a mistake that led to the death of a newborn baby about two years ago. The Mackenzie Health reportedly was not able to see an important blood test of the child that led to his death.

A Toronto Star exclusive reported that Rebecca and Patrick Bonnell believed the death of their newborn son, Kieran, could have prevented if the hospital knew he had E. coli in the first place.

"How could staff at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill miss the E. coli diagnosis?" Rebecca said noting that doctors were not able to check a blood test revealing that her 8-day old son was positive for E. coli.

"It was like someone shot me in the chest," she told Toronto Star. "I couldn't believe it. ... It was so painful finding out he could have lived."

The result prompted the parents to file a $900,000 suit noting that an important test on their kid was missed by medical doctors. If they were aware of it early on, Kieran could still be alive, his mother believes.

It was noted that the hospital already recognized a mistake and wrote an apology to the Bonnells. Mackenzie Health spokesperson Melina Cormier said the medical facility maintains an open communication with the parents in relation to what happened.

"When an incident occurs, the hospital analyzes the incident and a plan is developed with systemic steps to avoid or reduce the risk of further incidents," she added. This plan is also shared with the patient and/or family."

In an emotional interview, Patrick said it was a very difficult moment to let their son go. "We never want anybody to go through that ever," he said as he tried to fight back tears from falling.

Rebecca added that they decided to speak up because they do not want more families to experience the same. "Our goal is to make sure this does not happen again to any other baby," she claimed.
Once again, reports about Kate Middleton being pregnant is making rounds online since March 4, but this time, it comes with her husband pressuring her to produce their third child. The reason behind such demand by Prince William, according to many publications, was because of the Prince and Princess of Sweden recently giving birth to a baby boy.

In an article published by Celeb Dirty Laundry, they said that ever since Prince Daniel and Princess Victoria welcomed their new son, the Duke of Cambridge couldn't help but pressure his wife to get pregnant with their third child. Based on that report, it is looking like Prince William would want to add more royal babies under his name.

The word on the street was that it all started when the royal courts of Sweden announced a press conference as ordered by Prince Daniel to let the world know of their country's new prince, Oscar. The child's name was then revealed by King Carl during their cabinet meeting.

Kate Middleton Pregnant: Are Prince William & The Duchess Expecting Third Baby? - Hollywood Life - https://t.co/1XrMUY9UY9  CHUCK SANDDOWN (@ChuckSanddown) January 18, 2016

All these news about this new prince seems to have won the attention of the press that all eyes are now on the royal family of Sweden. Which is why the media couldn't help but notice that Prince William is under a lot of pressure in trying to regain attention towards their own royal family.

The Bitbag also got a hold of this issue and based on their report, it would appear that the palace is still concealing the news that Middleton is indeed pregnant for about two or three months now. There are even details saying she is carrying twins.

Kate Middleton Third Baby: Duchess Of Cambridge Pregnant With Twin Girls?... https://t.co/t1SSMkBh8J pic.twitter.com/wyS1H96gc0  Prince Harry fans (@Kensingnews24) February 21, 2016

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are currently not saying anything about it to the press since it is given that they are so busy with work. The first week of March alone has already left the couple with so many works ahead that it was even announced on the Kensington Royal's official Twitter account.
Robert Downey Jr. has recently spoken about the possible upcoming Marvel movie and his participation in "Iron Man 4."

It was speculated that by the time "Iron Man 4" will be released by Marvel Studios in 2019 or 2020, Robert Downey Jr. would no longer be young enough for the role of Iron Man. In 2020, the actor will turn 50 and, of course, he would not be as agile as in the past. The age factor would prevent him to perform the stunts in "Iron Man 4".

Downey admitted that he is indeed getting old for his superhero role and said that he is thinking of giving up the Iron Man suit. Christian Today reports that the actor feels that the clock is ticking down and he does not want to embarrass the screen with his future participation as Iron Man.

The actor's statements seem to prove the fact that Marvel Studios is prepared to recast Tony Stark character. Previous reports suggested that the role could be taken by Ty Simpkins, who played Harley Keener in "Iron Man 3," per Master Herald. The actor would have the proper age by 2020 to star as the new Iron Man, according to critics.

Speculations suggest that Tony Stark, played by Downey Jr., will appoint Harley as his successor in "Iron Man 4." Other speculations, however, claim that Tony Stark's successor could actually be Rhodes, played by Don Cheadle. Rhodes is the alter ego of the Iron Patriot.

Another possibility is that Downey's contract with Marvel Studios may have ended by the time when "Iron Man 4" goes into production. In this case, Downey might pass his role to another actor since the rumors say that the actor is tired of playing the role of Tony Stark and Iron Man.

From all these speculations and rumors, the most credible are those that claim that Robert Downey Jr. will agree to keep the role of Tony Stark in "Iron Man 4" but will appoint a successor in the role of the superhero Iron Man.
"Tomb Raider" star Angelina Jolie is getting a special surprise London treat care of Brad Pitt and their children Maddox, Knox and Vivienne. Fans wonder, however, if the love triangle among Pitt, Mike Tyson and Robin Givens is one other thing that would surprise Angelina Jolie.

According to Daily Mail, Pitt, Maddox, Knox and Vivienne were seen in a plate painting workshop in London. Angelina Jolie is the honored recipient of the kids' creation from the workshop.

Brad Pitt is staying in London for a short period to film his zombie apocalypse sequel "World War Z 2." Angelina Jolie, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne are ferrying between Los Angeles and London to spend time with Brad Pitt while he is working. Angelina Jolie is simultaneously working on the Netflix film "First They Killed My Father," where 14-year-old Maddox is assisting her.

Despite numerous divorce reports surfacing about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the A-list couple maintains a united front along with their children. As far as the London outing goes, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne could have been like any other ordinary family.

In other news, TMZ says that Mike Tyson opened up about what he thinks of Brad Pitt on "The Real." According to Mike Tyson, Brad Pitt is a pretty okay guy. However, back in the '80s, Mike Tyson and Brad Pitt shared a history of sorts. Whether or not Angelina Jolie knows of this, Mike Tyson once caught Brad Pitt being snuck into his house by his then wife Robin Givens.

Mike Tyson and Robin Givens had been estranged by then and were about to go through with their divorce proceedings. Mike Tyson thought to pay Robin Givens one last visit before the lawyers came into the scene. He thought that Robin Givens and Brad Pitt may have had intimate plans on that day, although Mike Tyson said that he did not think they actually went through with it.

To this day, Mike Tyson says that he has never held a grudge against Brad Pitt over the incident. In fact, is all praises for Brad Pitt.
Scott Kelly, a West Orange astronaut, returned to earth after a year of staying in outer space for his 340-day mission. Mayor Rob Parisi said they plan to "roll out the red carpet" to honor Kelly.

"We remember Scott as an incredibly hardworking and dedicated person," said Parisi. "We're not surprised he's made history becoming the first American astronaut to complete a full year in space and we're extremely proud of him."

Kelly serves as an inspiration for local school children. He returned to the country on Wednesday and received national and local praises, as reported by Tap Into Clark.

President Obama tweeted his wishes to Kelly after his mission in space.

Welcome back to Earth, @StationCDRKelly! Your year in space is vital to the future of American space travel. Hope gravity isn't a drag!  President Obama (@POTUS) March 2, 2016

"l look forward to working with the Chamber of Commerce, the Pleasant Valley Civic Association and the community on a Pleasant Valley Way parade to honor Commander Kelly," said Susan McCartney, a West Orange Councilwoman.

Kelly is going back home to his two daughters; his girlfriend who works as public affairs officer at NASA, Johnson Space Center; his twin brother Captain Mark Kelly, a United States Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut and Mark's wife, Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Scott had a hectic schedule doing experiments, spaceship maintenance and spacewalks during his stay in space. His year-long stay is a record-breaking mission and aimed to give an important data to know how to keep astronauts healthy during long space travel.

"The only big surprise was how long a year is," Scott said Friday, three days after returning to Earth from the longest stint anyone has ever spent on the International Space Station. "It seemed like I'd lived there forever," according to USA Today.

Scott is the U.S record-holder for the "longest cumulative time in space" and "longest single stay in orbit of any American astronaut." These feats were only endured by some Russian and Soviet cosmonaut.

Scott does not want to be sent back to space again, especially now that there are other astronauts waiting to fly. However, he wants to return someday probably with a company which is developing an out of space tour.


The president of the United States will share his love for Charles Schulzs Peanuts comics in the foreword of Fantagraphics penultimate volume ofThe Complete Peanuts hardcovers, The New York Times reports.

The 25th book in the series, which has featured Peanuts strips from the comics 50-year run, is scheduled for a May release and covers strips from Jan. 1, 1999 to Feb. 13, 2000, when the final strip was published. It was also the day after the series iconic creator passed away from colon cancer.

The last year of the comic strip will run in Vol. 25, along with reprints of Lil Folks, Schulzs weekly comic that ran between 1947 and 1950.

Like millions of Americans, I grew up with Peanuts. But I never outgrew it, President Barack Obama writes in several excerpted lines from his foreword to the series final volume. For decades, Peanuts was our own daily security blanket. Thats what makes Peanuts an American treasure.

Fantagraphics began publishing The Complete Peanuts hardcovers back in 2004, after a concerted effort by the companys president and co-founder Gary Groth to get the comics creator in on the idea of an official Peanuts collection.

Previously Peanuts had been collected only in sporadic volumes: thematically or randomly, Groth told The New York Times.

During an interview between Groth and Schulz for trade magazine The Comics Journal, Groth broached the idea with Schulz, stating, Maybe someone could publish a uniform series  and maybe that someone could be me.

After some initial resistance, Schulz finally agreed. Work on the comics collection didnt begin until several years after the creators death, and the writers widow Jeannie Schulz is credited for being a major player in cutting through the extensive red tape to get the series on shelves. CNNs Jake Tapper, who was responsible for writing the foreword for Vol. 22, connected Groth and with The White House, and the rest is history.

Obama was inevitably at the top of the list, Groth told The New York Times when explaining why President Obama was chosen as the final voice for the collections second to last volume. It was a great day when we got the word that he agreed to do it.

Previous foreword writers include Whoopi Goldberg, Patton Oswalt, Alec Baldwin, Garrison Keillor, Jonathan Franzen, Diana Krall, John Waters and Billie Jean King.

In October, Fantagraphics will release the final installment in the hardcover series that will feature Schulzs stories and drawings that expand beyond readers favorite newspaper strips.
I was a cheese innocent til I turned nine.

Id read about it in stories like Heidi and I ate paneer, Indias sole contribution to cheese making.

But the closest thing to Western fromage Id tasted was processed, tinned cheese, the only kind you could get in India till the late 1980s. It mimicked an English industrial product from the World War era  thick, yellow, tangy, hardly subtle.

With nothing to compare it to, we liked it well enough. It was the filling in tomato-cheese sandwiches and my Lieutenant Colonel grandfather munched it with his chota peg (small shot of rum) every evening.

But my life changed forever when my family moved to Canada in 1977. There, thanks to a round of Edam, I fell into endless love with the real thing.

At school in London, Ontario, I made friends with Anouk, whose hair reminded me of Pippi Longstockings. Her parents, Rudolf and Thera Bikkers, had migrated from Holland. Anouks father was an artist and lithographer; her mom assisted her husband with his work.

One day, my friend invited me to eat my lunch at her house. When I walked in, I was enchanted by rooms that belonged in a Dutch painting. On the walls were Rudolphs colorful abstracts. The sounds of classical cello music washed over us. The delicate autumn light and spare northern European aesthetic in the dining room reminded me of the softness in Johannes Vermeers The Girl with the Wine Glass. I caught my breath and my romantic young soul quivered.

At the far end, under two windows, was a harvest table flanked by wooden benches. On it was exhibited a culinary still life. I stared, captivated. There were sliced breads  pumpernickel, rye, other golden or dark, grainy loaves. Ripe red tomatoes, crisp apples and gleaming pears beckoned. A dish of rich brown Schokoladenstreusel (chocolate sprinkles) tempted me.

And there were the cheeses, whose names I was yet to discover. Meltingly soft Brie, delicately veined Roquefort, Swiss, strewn with holes. What was that ball with the red waxy skin?

This was what lunch should look like, I thought. With eyes as big as saucers, I shyly unpacked my Kraft cheese sandwiches. Having only been in London a month, my parents were grocery store novices. Used to shopping at bazaars in India where you selected your own fruits and vegetables after looking, sniffing and pressing, Western supermarkets were a mystery. Mom couldnt judge the readiness of tomatoes wrapped in cellophane or the quality of frozen chicken. She bought standard white bread from Loblaws and Kraft processed cheese because the brand was familiar.

Anouk and her brother looked at my food, then at each other, a glint in their eyes. Thera set a plate in front of me, saying hospitably, Bunny, please help yourself. I was thrilled. So was Anouk.

She jumped up and asked excitedly, much to her mothers chagrin, Could we have your sandwiches then?

Obviously, she and Tibor didnt get white bread or processed cheese often. I stretched across the table, gladly handing off my packet to them. While they reveled in the spongy bread and unnaturally orange slices, I feasted on their lunch.

Thera sliced into the red ball  Edam  and I put it on rye. I took little nibbles to make the gentle nuttiness last. I didnt know it was named after a Dutch city or that it appeared in the name of a 1911 film, How Edam Cheese is Made. I only knew it was saying a sweet hello to my palate. I responded by falling in love.

I reached for the pungent Brie, spreading it on my bread and blinking at its full tartness. I dont understand you yet, I thought. Finally, I tried the easy Swiss whose holes intrigued me. I ate them, imagining I was devouring air.

Cheese became a huge part of our lives. Mom learned the Canadian tradition of serving it with hot apple pie; it was Dads favorite snack. As my cheese-loving Canadian boyfriend says, Apple pie without the cheese is like a hug without the squeeze.

Anouks vegan now. Ive become fickle, having love affairs with Camembert, Gruyere, Comte, Epoisses, Bucheron  cheeses for different ages. But when I see a round of Edam, I have to take a bite. Its flavor transports me back to London and that magical day of discovery.

Main photo by Andrea Goh CC BY and Skanska Matupplevelser CC BY

Kaumudi Marathe is a writer turned chef. In 2007, she opened a catering company and cooking school in Los Angeles to shatter the myth that all Indian food is curry. Her food memoir, We are the Hero, is out this September. You can follow her on Instagram or on Twitter.
Tom McCarthys Spotlight took home Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but the acclaimed film didnt just win over the Academy. In fact, Spotlight has gotten some recent praise from an unlikely sourcethe Vatican.

McCarthys film recounts the 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and the newspapers uncovering of long-time systematic cover-ups and corruption. In response to the Oscar results, LOsservatore Romano, a Vatican newspaper, praised the film and the people involved. The Catholic publication said Tom McCarthys film has the courage to denounce cases which must be condemned without any hesitation. And it does so in detail, on the basis of a documentation substantially serious and credible.

One of the newspapers editorials disputes the notion that Spotlight conveys any Anti-Catholic sentiment. The piece claims that the film instead exposes the atrocities committed by some in the church and draws attention to the issue of sex abuse.

Editor and author of the article, Lucetta Scaraffias only qualm with the Oscar-winning film is that it failed to show Pope Benedict XVIs efforts in stopping pedophelia within the church, but acknowledges that one film cannot tell all.

In February, Spotlight was featured at a Vatican panel on clergy sex abuse, and many within the church hope that the film will help to enact some positive change and restore the faith.

Spotlight won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Its lead actors, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, were also nominated for their roles as Globe journalists.
According to a new Korean report, Apple Pay competitor Samsung Pay reportedly had a net loss of $16.8 million (20.167 billion KRW) in its first year on the market. Analysts view this as being close to a 'failing grade' if viewed on its business performance alone.

Thus far, the report noted that "Samsung Pay has helped differentiate Galaxy Smartphones from other Android Smartphones and has secured growth that is continuous. Since starting the Samsung Pay service in August of last year, there has been a total of $500 million in accumulated payments and 5 million accumulated members until February. This indicates that Samsung Pay had contributed in selling at least 5 million Galaxy smartphones in South Korea and the U.S."

Technically that's a farfetched conclusion. It's just a new service that 5 million Galaxy owners took advantage of rather than a net gain of 5 million new Galaxy phone buyers who exclusively purchased a Samsung phone due to that service alone

The report further noted that "Currently Samsung Pay Corporation is not creating profits from any business models. Samsung electronics formally announced that it has no plans in imposing any commission on using Samsung Pay."

However, in exchange for its free service, Samsung is reportedly securing and analyzing data on consumers' behavior through Samsung Pay to better understand trends on purchases of every kind. The 'Big Data' will assist them with future marketing campaigns and R&D. Whether they're giving their customers an option to opt out of this kind of data sharing is unknown at this time.

Although Apple may ask for your permission, they too collect similar data on how services are used, like Apple Pay. Apple notes, in context with software and services including iCloud and Apple Pay that "We believe in telling you up front exactly what's going to happen to your personal information and asking for your permission before you share it with us."

Apple's CEO stated the following last June: "Im speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information. Theyre gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think thats wrong. And its not the kind of company that Apple wants to be. We dont think you should ever have to trade it for a service you think is free but actually comes at a very high cost."

In the new season of Netflix's political series called 'House of Cards' there's a key theme of the story-line that touches on the incredible collection of data of citizens by private companies and political parties. The theme silently makes the case for Apple's stance on encryption very loudly.





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Salaam Alaikum and howdy all. Today is Jumuah, the day of the congregational prayer. All over the world, Muslim men, and many Muslim women as well, will be preparing for the prayer, or have already gone depending on what part of the world they are in. Pretty breathtaking when you think about, everyone turning to face Makkah in this way.

I finished some paperwork and was thinking about this as I browsed my Facebook newsfeed. So much crazy bad news out there. The US presidential election madness is sending thousands of Americans to Google to inquire How do I emigrate to Canada?, and Can I volunteer for the Mars mission?, or Can I volunteer Donald Drumpf for the Mars mission?. Its enough to send you into a spiral of depression so deep that you cant find your way out with a flashlight and a quart of Ben & Jerrys.

Thats why Im here to remind you that it will all work out in the end. Muslims, come a little closer. Let me tell you a secret: much of humankind stinks. Even a lot of the Muslim humans. Prophet Muhammad, may Allahs peace and blessings be upon him, once opined People are like a hundred camels amongst which you hardly find one fit to ride.. (al Bukhari and others). He was talking about people in general and not excepting Muslims from that condemnation.

Remember this when you see the hordes of racist, inbred, low information supporters at a Drumpf rally. Remember this when you hear a bunch of Muslim men saying its perfectly fine to smack their women around to keep them in line. Remember this when you are frustrated because you cannot get your coworker to understand that it is totally not okay to toss a bacon bit from her salad onto your desk and run away giggling.

Remember that it is not our task to save this world. Allah created this world as a place of striving and testing. Think of it like the Titanic. We are passengers on a ship whose fate is to sink. It is not our job to try and keep it afloat, but rather to man the lifeboats and scoop up as many people as possible to save them from being lost to the depths. To carry this rather weak analogy further, there are people who will literally swim away from you and prefer to drown, and there are those who will try to pull you out of your lifeboat so you can go down with them. There are Bad People out there. Dont let them make you lose focus on your mission.

Your first mission is to save yourself from the fire. Another analogy: If there is an emergency on a plane, the oxygen masks drop down from the ceiling. If you are a parent traveling with a child, you are instructed to put your own mask on first before you put on the childs. Why? Because if you pass out you are no good to anyone. So securing the state of your own soul is your first and most important responsibility.

You do this by learning your Islam from authentic sources, striving to live as a Muslim and doing your best to avoid major sins and repenting promptly from any mistakes that you make. You work on your manners and make sure you are not bothering, annoying, or oppressing anyone else. Then you work on your family, your close circles, and then on out in concentric rings like a rock of righteousness thrown into a pond of purpose. Oh, wow, that was an awful simile, wasnt it? Sorry about that, I got carried away. But you know what I mean. Taking care of yourself is part of doing your job.

You will have a hard time. Before you even get to the part about sharing Islam with non-Muslims, you will have to wade through a crowd of Muslims who do not know their deen. You think an Islamophobic redneck with a No Imagrants! sign protesting outside of the Islamic center is stubborn? Try to tell an ignorant Muslim guy that Islam does not allow him to smack his wife or take her paycheck because he doesnt want to work because he is busy with dawah.

Its hard, its frustrating, but thats okay. Its, as the Cambpells soup commercial says, real real life. You know what you do? You carry on. You live your life, you learn, you teach, you share, and since you dont know which one of these people will wake up and heed the message you are trying to teach, you keep doing it even in the face of resistance. The woman who makes fun of your hijab may finally get the message and see the beauty in it. The most virulent racist may have an epiphany and be guided to a better way. The parent who could never understand why you converted may find peace with it.

Just dont give up and dont despair. Allah guides whom He will. He has control over everything. So while He keeps sustaining the universe, you do your job for the relatively brief time you are here. Teach children. Plant trees. Help domestic violence victims. Start coat drives. Help someone learn how to budget without credit cards. Volunteer at a hospice.

Dont worry if you dont see results with other people. Dont worry if you feel hopelessly outnumbered. In this world, those who strive to please Allah are a minority; the open secret is, this world is not our world. It is our prison:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, The world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the unbeliever. Sahih Muslim 2956

Keep striving and live the best, happiest, most satisfying life that you can while striving to please Allah and prepare for the next world. Try to drag as many people to Jannah with you, but recognize that their fate is with Allah and your job is only to convey the message. Its their job to listen and act on it, and you cant force anyone to do that.
Before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube made their entry in the media market, the PatnaDaily had already registered its presence in...
Patna: Riding on the coattail of the new-found celebrity status of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar who is now being compared to Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose by the likes of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shatrughan Sinha, students at Patna University chanted slogans like 'freedom or death' and 'death to fascism' during the annual senate meet on Saturday.

Dozens of students, like each year during the annual PU senate meet, protested outside the meeting venue on Ashok Rajpath accusing Vice Chancellor Y. C. Simhadri of abandoning the interest of the students.

Acting like the original freedom fighters struggling for the independence of the nation against British tyranny, the protestors raised slogans peppered with terms like 'Azaadi', 'Freedom', 'Inqalab', 'Fascism', 'Treason', and 'Traitors' to slam the university for promoting 'Brahmanism' in the campus.

As expected, soon rival student groups surfaced and an all out clash broke out between the two. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists, chanting slogans like those who were supporting Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union, were the enemy of the nation and should be imprisoned or sent to an enemy nation like Pakistan.

Police resorted to mild lathi charge to break up the fight that further enraged the students who threatened to observe a 'black band' day to protest the 'police brutality'.

Amidst all the brouhaha, the senate somehow managed to pass a budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 to the tune of 297.31 crore.
Patna: Plastic pipes worth several lakh of rupees were gutted in a fire near the television tower under Agam Kuan police station in Patna on Sunday.

According to the police report, the pipes were stored in an open field with the purpose of underground drinking water network expansion. At around 5:00 pm, people noticed smoke bellowing out of the storage area and called the fire department.

It took more than an hour for three fire trucks to get the fire under control but in the process, nearly all the pipes had been destroyed in the raging flame.

Fire official Shyam Bihari said that though the cause of the fire remained under investigation, it appeared some people were trying to burn a pile of trash nearby and the fire just got out of hand.
Patna: Dozens of people representing various groups claiming to be representing the legacy of veteran socialist leader Loknayak Jaya Prakash Narayan sat on a day-long dharna to protest the government's decision to hand over the Jaya Prabha Hospital in Kankarbagh to the Medanta Hospital Group.

Though the decision to hand over the hospital and transfer the land ownership to the Medanta Hospital Group was taken in 2014, it was only today that those claiming to be the product of the '70s mass movement took cognizance of the move to give the hospital in private hands for better upkeep and development.

Protesting outside the hospital on Sunday, the JP disciples said the move was an insult to the Loknayak and his wife and the facility must be protected from 'capitalist vultures' who were only guided by profit and not with the desire to help poor who could not afford good health care like the rich people.

Bihar legislators and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Harendra Pratap and Arun Kumar Sinha were among many of the protestors.
"We're not used to seeing growth in our check business," said Deluxe's Tracey Engelhardt, who reports a 6% to 7% increase in revenue for check orders from businesses and consumers in each of the last three quarters, driven by various factors originating from the pandemic.
Iran warns cautious European banks

03/07/16

Source: Press TV

Several Iranian officials have warned European banks that they might miss out on opportunities provided by the lifting of sanctions if they continue to dawdle on returning to the country.



European banks have been slow in re-establishing trade ties with Iran.



Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi said European banks are overcautious in forging renewed connections with Iran, warning that they "will fall behind under the new situation."

"Any conservatism by European banks will mean the loss of opportunities and conservatism is the biggest enemy in plundering opportunities," president of Iran's foreign investment organization Mohammad Khazaei said.

The lifting of sanctions in January has triggered a wave of interest in trade with Iran among world governments and corporations and some of them have already clinched agreements in the upwards of $50 billion.

European banks, however, have adopted a wait-and-see approach, fearing they could face US legal action if they move to reestablish links with Iran.

Washington has agreed to lift "secondary sanctions" related to Iran's nuclear program but its "primary sanctions" linked to terrorism and human rights accusations still remain in place.

The opaque nature of what is legal or illegal in trade with Iran has made Western banks play safe and wait for others to take the initiative.

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Hamid Tehranfar said, "There is still 'Iranophobia' in the banking sector that we're trying to overcome."

Takhtravanchi described excessive caution exercised by European banks as "a main challenge," assuring that they didn't have to worry about anything.

"They are worried but there is nothing to be worried about because there is no impediment to trade cooperation with Iran within the framework of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)," he said, referring to the nuclear accord.

"Some worries held by international banks are groundless or the European banks' little knowledge about the annulment of sanctions has caused it," Takhtravanchi added.

Tehranfar said, "We have asked the International Monetary Fund to review our regulations so other countries' banks feel reassured."

Iranian and European companies signed several multi-billion-dollar trade agreements when President Hassan Rouhani visited Italy and France in January to rebuild relations.

"Both Iran and Europe are interested in economic cooperation and there is no obstacle in this regard. For instance, the debt problem with insurance companies has either been resolved or is being resolved," Takhtravanchi said.

Khazaei said cooperation between Iran and Europe is a "win-win game" even though the Islamic Republic is being pulled to an "economy of resistance" because of the collapse of crude oil.

"The policy of resistance economy does not mean shutting our doors and all state officials support foreign investment and investors. This is one of the objectives of the state and the policy of the economy of resistance," he added.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif said Iran's market is ripe for cooperation between Iranian and European banks.

"Transparency is the prerequisite of international transactions. Iran has taken primary steps to make the financial information of Iranian banks as transparent as possible."
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Two weeks ahead of a scheduled court date, Apple continues to publicly battle the FBI's request to unlock one of its iPhones. Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi on Sunday penned an opinion piece(Opens in a new window) for the Washington Post, which suggests that compliance will set mobile security back at least three years.

The U.S. Justice Department, he said, believes security on iOS 7 was "good enough," so Apple should roll back to the security level of that operating system.

"But the security of iOS 7, while cutting-edge at the time, has since been breached by hackers," Federighi wrote. "What's worse, some of their methods have been productized and are now available for sale to attackers who are less skilled by often more malicious."

Apple decided to encrypt its mobile operating system by default beginning with iOS 8, meaning device-level data is inaccessible even to Cupertino, so the company cannot turn over things like phone passcodes and iMessage chats to the feds.

But following a December terrorist attack in California, the government is itching to access an iPhone 5c issued to one of the shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, by his employer, the San Bernardino Health Department.

The FBI wants Apple to create a new mobile operating system, which could disable a feature that wipes the gadget after 10 incorrect password guesses"intentionally creating a vulnerability that would let the government force its way into an iPhone," Federighi said.

"Once created, this softwarewhich law enforcement has conceded it wants to apply to many iPhoneswould become a weakness that hackers and criminals could use to wreak havoc on the privacy and personal safety of us all," he added.

The tech titan is even willing to take its fight against the FBI over iPhone backdoors all the way to the Supreme Court, where it would have the support of numerous industry heavyweights.

Oral arguments are set for March 22 in federal court.
In recent weeks, the digital security discussion has been focused on a certain fruit-flavored company's public battle with a three-letter agency. But Kaspersky Principal Security Analyst Vicente Diaz is considering the far larger, and far more complicated, fights that nations might carry on in the digital world.

You Don't Need Stuxnet

In his presentation at RSA, Diaz made a distinction between three kinds of attacks. The first were exotic attacks, developed and deployed at great expense by nation states. Think Stuxnet, the complex malware allegedly developed by the U.S. and Israel to physically disable Iranian nuclear enrichment machinery.

The second were so-called "middle-class" attacks, which are assembled by knowledgeable teams of hackers. The third category encompassed all other attacks, usually carried out by individuals with little to no technical knowledge, who purchase malicious payloads and delivery mechanisms from the digital black market.



The problem with complicated nation-state campaigns like Stuxnet is that they make attribution easier. When it comes to determining who is capable of developing and deploying such an attack, "the list of countries is very short," said Diaz.

In the future, Diaz predicted that nation states will move away from exotic attacks and focus on middle-class attacks that are as simple and stealth as possible.

"Now you don't need to develop Stuxnet-like malware just to attack," said Diaz. "Ukraine was attacked by BlackEnergy, which is not in the same league as Stuxnet."

The key is obtaining the physical and digital infrastructure, like the cable that connects the global Internet. "It's good for cyber espionage but also good for attacking an adversary," said Diaz. "You can use it in an offensive way, or you can use it to get information from the people who are using this infrastructure." As an example, Diaz said that if you control the Internet infrastructure, you can simply snatch passing data rather than having to target specific devices.



This approach sounds similar to the one used by the NSA in its massive data collection operations exposed by Edward Snowden, which used the position of the United States Internet infrastructure to intercept data traveling around the world.

The Fight for Digital Territory

Diaz believes that the importance of Internet infrastructure will spark conflict between nations. "Control over physical infrastructure is where the next big battles will happen," he said. He pointed to efforts made by Brazil to construct its own trans-Atlantic Internet connection and efforts within Europe to foster the development of Internet business and infrastructure within national borders.

Conflicts over control of the Internet could take many forms, and need not be offensive. Instead, countries might form alliances to create spheres of influence over the Internet. For example, Diaz pointed to a diplomatic agreement between the U.S. and China, where the two countries agreed not engage in cyber attacks for financial gain.

Diaz said this agreement was an example of one such alliance, and hinted that it would have wide-ranging consequences. "Obviously these alleged attacks will probably move to some other country because they still need to get this data," he said.

Digital resources are already playing a role in warfare and politics. This week saw confirmation from the Department of Defense that the U.S. was bringing cyber capabilities to bear against ISIS. Also speaking at the RSA conference, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter declined to go into specifics about these operations, but said they were focused on disrupting ISIS's command and communications capabilities.

What Diaz is describing is more like the groundwork for larger operations. It's also a shift in how diplomacy, as well as warfare, will be carried out since the fiber traveling through a stretch of land (or ocean) may be as a valuable as the land, its people, or its resources to a nation state developing its cyber capabilities.

But perhaps the most important point is Diaz's prediction that attacks will simplify, rather than increase, in complexity. If Diaz is correct, then the kind of cyber attack that worries NSA Director Rogers might be indistinguishable from the everyday work of a hacker and nearly impossible to spot.

If you're concerned about security and surveillance, consider getting one of the best VPN services to protect your Web browsing.
Google Project Loon could be headed to India.

As reported by The Economic Times(Opens in a new window), Google is currently in talks with local telecom companies like BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited), which may help pilot the program in the region.

"We can't do a Loon pilot without partnering with a local telco," Google India chief Rajan Anandan told the Times, since those telcos handle the provisioning. "We are talking to a number of them [and] the government has been very supportive."

The high-altitude Project Loon balloons beam Internet services to underserved areas below. It recently launched above the Asian island nation of Sri Lanka, and and is ready to kick off real-world testing in places like Indonesia this year.

Google did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

Project Loon started with a pilot program in Canterbury, New Zealand, with 30 balloons in the air and 50 testers on the ground. By November 2014, the project logged about 3 million kilometers of flight, and expanded to include 20 balloon launches per day. Just shy of its two-year anniversary in April, Google announced that Project Loon was almost ready for lift-off around the world.

Project Loon is just one way Google is looking to expand Internet coverage around the globe. In 2014, it bought satellite maker Skybox for $500 million to help improve its maps, as well as Internet access and disaster relief. Earlier that year, Google also purchased Titan Aerospace, a company that builds solar-powered, near-orbital drones that can fly for about five years nonstop.
Raymond Samuel Tomlinson, who is credited with inventing email and putting the now ubiquitous @ sign in addresses, has died at the age of 74.

Tomlinson, who helped in the evolution of single-computer email into electronic mail that could send communications across network connections to other hosts, used the sign in the address to connect the user name with the destination address and provide a way to distinguish local mail from network mail.

I chose to append an at sign and the host name to the users (login) name. I am frequently asked why I chose the at sign, but the at sign just makes sense, he wrote in a post about the first network email. The purpose of the at sign (in English) was to indicate a unit price (for example, 10 items @ $1.95). I used the at sign to indicate that the user was at some other host rather than being local.

By doing this, he could have saved the sign from extinction, as some were considering removing it from the keyboard, he wrote.

In an interview to Computerworld in 2007, Tomlinson said that of all the available punctuation marks available on the keyboard only the At sign conveyed a sense of place. He could have used the On or Of signs for the purpose, but there are no such characters, he added.

Born in Amsterdam, New York in 1941, Tomlinson studied at MIT after attending college at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1963, according to his Internet Hall of Fame biography. In 1967, he joined research and development company Bolt Beranek and Newman, which is now Raytheon BBN Technologies.

By 1971, Tomlinson developed ARPANETs first application for network email by combining the local inter-user mail program SNDMSG he was working on and an experimental file transfer program called CPYNET, allowing messages to be sent to users on other computers.

Tomlinson told Computerworld he wanted to build the first email system that would allow messages to be sent from a person on one computer over a network to someone who was using an entirely different computer.

The death of Tomlinson has been mourned by a number of Internet notables including Vinton G. Cerf, Googles chief Internet evangelist, who described the death of Tomlinson as very sad news. Googles Gmail also tipped its hat to Tomlinson, thanking him for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders agreed that Michigans Republican governor should leave office over the Flint water crisis, but clashed over their stances on corporate bailouts and trade deals, with Clinton saying the American auto industry would have collapsed if Sanders had succeeded in blocking its rescue.

Clinton said in a CNN presidential debate that Michigans two senators supported the rescue plan in January, 2009, and I went with them, and I went with Barack Obama, and you did not, and if everyone had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it.

Their sparring about taxpayer bailouts after the 2008 financial collapse grew so heated that at one point that Sanders waved his hand and raised his voice at Clinton, insisting, Excuse me, Im talking.

If youre gonna talk, tell the whole story, Clinton shot back.

Sanders, meanwhile, defended his vote last year with Republicans to oppose Export-Import Bank re-authorization, saying that the other name the bank is known by is the Bank of Boeing because the airplane manufacturer gets 40 percent of the money and 75 percent overall goes to large, profitable corporations. I dont want to break the bad news: Democrats are not always right, Sanders said of Democrats support of the bank.

Clinton said she supported the bank because were in a race for exports and China, Germany, everybody else supports their businesses and that the bank had helped hundreds of small businesses in Michigan.

The Democrats also sparred over trade agreements, with Sanders, a Vermont senator, saying Clinton has supported deals that sent jobs overseas and hurt the middle class. Clinton recently said she opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated by President Barack Obama. Im very glad Secretary Clinton has found religion but its a little too late. Senator Clinton has supported virtually every one of these trade agreements written by corporate America, Sanders said.

The disagreements came after Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, said that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, should resign or face a recall vote for his failure to protect the citizens of Flint, Michigan, from contaminated water.

I know the state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund, Clinton said at the open of the debate, being held in Flint. It is raining lead in Flint and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money thats required.

In his opening statement, Sanders reiterated his call for Snyder to resign  prompting an Amen to that from Clinton. Clinton went further, saying voters should rise up and push Snyder out of office if necessary. Clinton had not before tonight called for Snyders removal.

Both candidates said more must done to rid lead from water systems nationwide. We will commit to a priority to change the water systems, and we will commit to in five years remove lead everywhere, Clinton said. I will do everything I can. Water, soil and paint  were gonna get rid of it.

Asked if he would fire the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency if that person had failed to protect Flint, Sanders said, President Sanders would fire anybody who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately.

Flints water remains undrinkable. The city has been under a state of emergency after high levels of lead and copper were discovered following a switch in its water supply in 2014 to the polluted Flint River from treated Lake Huron water. The city has struggled since the 1980s with poverty and crime after the closure of large automotive plants. Clinton has called on Congress to provide $200 million for a fix. In his own visit late last month, Sanders took part in a community forum on the water crisis.

The debate, a late addition the Democratic National Committees sanctioned list, comes two days ahead of Michigans presidential primary election. It also comes at a critical time for Sanders campaign, as Clinton pulls away from him in the delegate contest for the nomination. While Sanders has prevailed in several smaller states with mostly white electorates, Clinton has won in larger states and ones with significant minority populations. Clinton was leading Sanders by 20 points in Michigan in an average of five polls tracked by the Real Clear Politics.

Just a few minutes after the debate started, the Associated Press declared that Sanders had won the Maine Democratic caucuses, gaining his eighth win over Clinton in 19 nominating contests. With 25 Maine delegates at stake, Sanders is assured of winning at least 14 while Clinton stands to gain at least six.

It wont make much of a dent in Clintons lead. Prior to the contest in Maine, Clinton had at least 1,123 delegates to Sanders 484, including superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
UPDATE: Widespread rain, mountain snow; click here for Mondays weather coverage

Bursts of rain, strong winds, chilly temperatures in the valleys and heavy snow in the mountains should serve as a reminder today that winter isnt over.

The storm system, the second in as many days, was expected to drop into Southern California from the north and bring precipitation starting around sunrise, according to the National Weather Service.

Highs in the Inland valleys should be in the 50s, and wind gusts could hit 25 mph.

The rain could be heavy at times, but the strong winds should keep things moving, limiting rainfall totals, forecasters say. Between one-third and one inch of rain could fall west of the mountains, while lower-elevation mountain slopes could get an inch of rain.

The snow line will drop throughout the day, from 5,000-5,500 feet during to day to about 4,500 feet Monday night. Above that line, the mountains could get 4-8 inches of snow  and up to 10 inches on the highest peaks, according to the forecast.

A winter storm warning will in effect from 8 a.m. today through 3 a.m. Tuesday for the mountains of San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. It says heavy snow will be accompanied by strong winds, with gusts up to 45 mph, resulting in blowing snow and reduced visibility at times.

Conditions could make roads hazardous and will likely require tire chains. People who have to drive were encouraged to bring food, water, a flashlight and other supplies to stay safe.

But theres some good news for skiers and snowboarders: The snow will replenish the runs at local mountain resorts. Mountain High in Wrightwood, forced to close temporarily last weekend, plans to reopen Tuesday.

On Sunday, the first wave of storms made for a rainy morning  with a few scattered showers persisting later  and a windy afternoon and evening.

The rain was heaviest in the San Bernardino Mountains, with Lytle Creek and Cable Canyon recording more than 2 inches, according to National Weather Service gauges.

Elsewhere in San Bernardino County, Glen Helen Regional Park recorded 1.49 inches, Cal State San Bernardino got 0.71 inches and Ontario airport received 0.64.

In Riverside County, Snow Creek north of Idyllwild got 0.63 inches, Beaumont received 0.49 inches, 0.39 inches fell on Temecula, the Riverside airport measured 0.16 inches and the Hemet airport got 0.12 inches.

Wind gusts of about 60 mph hit the San Gorgonio Pass, while part of Gene Autry Trail in Palm Springs had to be closed because of blowing sand.

Mondays precipitation should clear out by nighttime, and conditions should stay dry and warm up through Thursday.

A chance of rain returns for Friday afternoon through Saturday, according to the Weather Service.
Nancy Reagan made several trips to the Inland Empire over the years, and the story of her first appearance with her husband, Ronald Reagan, is still recounted to visitors to the iconic Mission Inn in Riverside.

The couple, who met in 1951 when Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, wed on March 4, 1952. The wedding was held at The Little Brown Church in Studio City, with Ronald Reagans good friend and fellow actor, William Holden, the best man, according to the Dear Old Hollywood blog. Holdens wife, Ardis, was the matron of honor and the only other guest.



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Obituary: Former first lady was know for her forceful, stylish ways

Tributes, condolences shared after former first ladys death

Photos: Nancy Reagan in Inland Southern California

That night the wedding party went to Holdens home in Toluca Lake for dinner and a small reception. From there, the Reagans retired to the Mission Inn in Riverside.

In her 1980 autobiography, Nancy, Reagan wrote: The manager had placed a beautiful bouquet of roses in the bridal suite. The next morning before we left, we delivered them to an elderly woman across the hall we had learned was quite ill. It somehow seemed fitting to share our happiness.

The Reagans left the next morning for Phoenix, where they met up with Nancys parents, the blog says.

Steve Spiller, executive director of the Mission Inn Foundation, said Sunday, March 6, that little else is known about the Reagans stay. If any photos were taken of the couple, they were lost to history. Nor has the Foundation been able to pin down the room in which the Reagans slept, Spiller said.

Nancy, sometimes with her husband before his death, later made occasional trips to the Inland Empire.

They visited friend William A. Wilsons ranch on the Santa Rosa Plateau near Temecula in the mid-1960s and a few years later purchased 771 acres in the area, supposedly for a retirement ranch. But the Reagans sold the property several years later and established their ranch in Santa Barbara.

In the 1980s, during Ronald Reagans two terms as president, the Reagans celebrated every New Years holiday with the Annenbergs at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage.

Nancy Reagan was among the former first ladies to attend a tribute to former first lady Betty Ford in Indian Wells in 2003.

In 2004, Reagan wrote a letter to the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, giving officials her blessing to name an elementary school after her husband. In 2006, at March Air Reserve Base, Reagan dedicated a C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane as The Spirit of Ronald Reagan. And in 2011, Reagan attended a memorial service for Betty Ford in Palm Desert.

TRIBUTES TO REAGAN

Many Inland lawmakers reflected on Reagans life Sunday.

Nancy Reagan will be deeply missed by Americans and people around the world because of her compassion, warmth and devotion to causes greater than her own, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, said in a statement. Nancy, along with the love of her life, President Reagan, forged one of the iconic American first-couples that continue to inspire us today.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said in a statement: To meet Nancy Reagan was to witness her quiet dignity and personal resolve. To know her was to marvel at her tireless dedication and boundless love for her husband. There was no bigger champion of the man nor any fiercer protector of his memory than Nancy Reagan. For that alone, we owe her an incalculable debt of gratitude.

Others took to Twitter to express their sadness and condolences.

Sad to learn of the passing of Nancy Reagan. She was a tremendous First Lady and a great American. My sympathy to the Reagan family, Rep. Paul Cook, R-Apple Valley, wrote.

May #NancyReagan, the first lady of both California and the United States, rest in peace, tweeted Rep. Ed Royce, R-Brea.

Today we remember Nancy Reagans enduring passion for our country. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Reagan family during this time, state Assemblyman Chad Mayes, R-Hemet, tweeted.

Though sad to learn of her passing, Im enjoying pics people R posting who had the good fortune of meeting the First Lady #RIPNancyReagan, tweeted state Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Murrieta.

RIP Former First Lady Nancy Reagan #champion of #JustSayNo drug awareness campaign, said Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario.

My thoughts & prayers are with the Reagan family as they & our nation mourn the loss of former First Lady & American icon Nancy Reagan, wrote state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside.

State senator Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said on Facebook: Mrs. Reagan played a vital role in establishing a legacy of principle and duty that still resonates today.

Contact the writer: brokos@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9569
UPDATE (Tuesday, March 8): Wounded pastor with Inland ties regains consciousness; shooter still at large

Pastor Tim Remington, originally from Riverside, put his arm around GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz and delivered a rousing invocation at a Saturday campaign rally in Coeur dAlene, Idaho.

Now Remington is on the receiving end of prayers after being shot in the skull and back after his Sunday sermon.

Early Monday morning, authorities identified a suspect in the shooting: a 30-year-old former Marine named Kyle Andrew Odom. As authorities launched a manhunt for Odom, questions remained over a possible motive, particularly whether the shooting was in any way related to Remingtons appearance with Cruz.

Odom should be considered to be armed and dangerous, CoeurdAlene police said in a statement posted to Facebook.

According to his website, Remington, 55, was born in Riverside and moved to Coeur dAlene in 1968.

After graduating from Coeur dAlene High School in the late 70s, he moved back to California where met and married his wife, Cindy.

In 1984, the site says, he became a pastor in Loma Linda. The couple also ran a coffee house called the Supreme Bean Coffee House for years and offered ministry in the streets of San Bernardino County, helping people addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Remington often went to the Santa Ana River bed and invited the homeless for coffee, said Billie Griffin, a pastor at Faith Chapel in Mentone, who remembers Remington from that time.

He had a real heart for the down and outers, he said.

Griffin was senior pastor at the Cornerstone Assembly of God Church in Loma Linda where Remington was a youth pastor. Remington also was active in the Royal Rangers scouting program for boys run by the Assembly of God church.

Tim was just a great young man  quite active and full of life, Griffin said.

John Padula, a fellow pastor at Altar Church in Coeur dAlene, said Remington was in the San Bernardino area between 1984 and 1989, supporting himself by working in drywall.

Padula said hes known Remington for seven years and through the churchs recovery program overcame an addiction to methamphetamine.

His life is all about Jesus, Padula said. Hes the most selfless man and the most caring and compassionate man I met.

Remingtons current ministry includes victim offender mediation and working with substance abusers. Some members of Remingtons Altar Church speculated that the shooting might have stemmed from the pastors efforts to help drug addicts.

Remingtons supporters, meanwhile, called his survival a miracle.

One of the bullets TRIED to enter the brain but stopped at the skull, Roger Crigger, a family friend wrote on Facebook. Emergency room [technicians] and [doctors] are calling this a miracle, Im saying, by todays worldly standards it IS a miracle.

The shooting came on the heels of a rare campaign rally in the city of 46,000, tucked into the northwestern corner of Idaho about 75 miles from the Canadian border.

This weekend should have been an uplifting moment for Remington. Instead, it turned hellish.

The pastor and the presidential candidate locked arms and prayed, eyes closed, before Cruz delivered a fiery speech denouncing radical Islam and Donald Trump to around 3,000 supporters, according to the Spokesman-Review. A day later, Remington was walking to his car after delivering a Sunday sermon when he was ambushed.

The gunman had attended Remingtons sermon before ambushing him.

Its unclear how many times, exactly, Remington was shot. Some reports said it could have been as many as six times, although Crigger only mentioned three.

In addition to the bullet to the pastors skull, Crigger said one of the bullets busted his hip, one fractured his shoulder pretty bad, but he is and will continue to be ALIVE AND SERVING GOD!

Padula said the pastor had been shot in the lung, head, hip and shoulder but would survive.

The pastor is sedated but doing well, he said.

The church has been getting calls of support from across the nation, Padula said.

Our community is coming together, he said.

Little information was immediately available about the suspected shooter, Odom, of Coeur dAlene.

A photo from his Facebook page shows a blond man with glasses wearing a dress shirt and tie. The page says that Odom served as a corporal in the Marine Corps and studied biochemistry at the University of Idaho.

The Cruz campaign issued a statement offering prayers for Remington.

Our prayers are with Pastor Tim, his family, and the doctors who are supervising his care, Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the campaign, told NBC News. We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice.
Republicans hoping to halt Donald Trumps march to their partys presidential nomination emerged from the weekends voting contests newly emboldened by Trumps uneven electoral performance and by some nascent signs that he may be peaking with voters.

Outside groups are moving to deploy more than $10 million in new attack ads across Florida and millions more in Illinois, casting Trump as a liberal, a huckster and a draft dodger. Trumps reed-thin organization appears to be catching up with him, suggesting he could be at a disadvantage if he is forced into a protracted slog for delegates.

And vote tallies Saturday made clear that Trump has had at least some trouble building upon his intensely loyal following, leaving him increasingly dependent upon landslides in early voting.

In Louisiana, where Trump amassed a lead of more than 20 percentage points among those who cast votes before Saturday, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas effectively tied him among voters who cast their ballots Saturday.

Trump has to worry about the consistent late-voter rejection of his candidacy, said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate.

Trumps losses to Cruz in Kansas and Maine on Saturday, coupled with closer-than-expected victories in Louisiana and Kentucky, have heightened the prospects for a two-man race, though many Republican leaders eye Cruz warily.

As his rivals have despaired over the races vulgar turn, Trump struck a subdued tone, by his standards, as returns came in late Saturday night. He aborted his first attempt to take the stage and left the room after asking reporters if the race in Kentucky had been called.

When he finally did speak, some of his usual bombast was missing, even as he insisted that it was time for Sen. Marco Rubio to quit the race and that Cruz cannot win more moderate northeastern or coastal states.

Donald Trump was uncharacteristically low energy, Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in 2012, said in an interview Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press, taunting Trump with the insult Trump had employed against Jeb Bush. Yet despite the renewed optimism of his opponents, the path to deny Trump the nomination remains narrow and arduous.

Cruzs emergence as the most credible alternative to Trump has proved both a boost and a complication for those seeking to derail the New Yorker. Cruz has tried to undercut calls for a contested convention to deny Trump the nomination, which Cruz says would yield a manifest revolt among voters. But Cruz has done little so far to threaten Trumps lead in the delegate race.

Much of Cruzs late-breaking support Saturday seemed to come at the expense of Rubio, not Trump. And the Cruz campaigns message of ideological purity and religious faith is a less natural fit for many of the delegate-rich Midwestern and coastal states that remain on the map.

Saturday proved that Trump can be contained and even beaten, said Scott Jennings, a longtime Republican strategist, who looked ahead to this summers Republican convention in Cleveland. The question is whether the field is going to allow for it moving forward. The most likely scenarios remain that Trump gets enough before Cleveland, or nobody does. The latter moved a little closer to realistic Saturday.

Rubios path is much less certain, despite his lopsided victory in Puerto Rico on Sunday. Even his supporters said the results Saturday seriously undercut the premise of his bid: that he is the only candidate who can unify the Republican Party and defeat Trump.

Look, Im supportive of Marco; Im very hopeful, said Mel Martinez, the former senator from Florida, who had supported Bush. But its a great concern that time has kind of caught up with this whole thing.

The Stop Trump forces are beginning to pour money into television ads, with a particular focus on the big states voting March 15. Four different groups have reserved at least $10 million in airtime in Florida so far, according to trackers of media spending. That number is expected to grow, but television stations in Florida are already awash in such ads.

Two from the American Future Fund, which has spent $2 million in Florida and Illinois, show decorated veterans assailing Trump as a poseur on military matters. Michael Waltz, a retired Special Forces colonel, blisteringly calls Trump a draft dodger and, effectively, a coward. Donald Trump hasnt served this country a day in his life, he says. Dont let Trump fool you.

And a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, Tom Hanton, bluntly questions Trumps toughness: Trump would not have survived the POW experience. He would have been probably the first one to fold.

Separately, Club for Growth Action, an arm of the anti-tax group that was first to run ads in Iowa against Trump, has placed $2 million in commercials attacking him in Illinois on top of $1 million in Florida.

A third group, Our Principles PAC, which was created to defeat Trump, has reserved $3.5 million in Illinois and Florida and is also sending direct mail to voters homes in Florida. A group supporting Rubio, Conservative Solutions, is spending several million dollars in Florida as well.

The deluge of negative messages from a patchwork of groups  highlighting claims by angry customers of Trumps defunct educational company and his history of shape-shifting positions  already appears to have hurt Trumps cause.

In conversations with some of his allies, who insisted on anonymity to relay those private talks, Trump campaign aides have expressed concern about the money being spent against him on television. The Trump campaign has no pollster, so it is governed by public polling and what the candidate himself observes while watching cable news.

This off-the-cuff approach, and a string of self-inflicted wounds  refusing to clearly and immediately reject the support of the white supremacist David Duke, boasting about his sexual endowment on the debate stage and withdrawing from the Conservative Political Action Committees conference over the weekend  have fueled days of unfavorable coverage of Trumps candidacy.

Trump has total disdain for the professional political class, said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist. He thinks theyre all about making money. Pollsters are hacks. Organization doesnt matter. Their idea of a political organization is taking phone calls from some elected officials who wanted to endorse and making it work in the schedule. And thatll catch up with you eventually.

Still, members of the Republican establishment have been left to grapple with what was once unthinkable: rallying around Cruz, a senator who built his reputation bashing them.

Some hope with Ted, no hope with Donald, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Meet the Press, summarizing the partys dim view of its remaining options. Neither, he suggested, would be likely to expand the Republican tent: Were in a demographic death spiral.

Less than two weeks ago, Graham joked about murdering Cruz on the Senate floor.

And yet, Graham said, he received a phone call from Cruz after Super Tuesday  part of efforts by the Cruz campaign to reach out, discreetly, to donors and party officials who might be interested in rallying around him.

With Rubio faltering badly across the board Saturday, Cruz is moving to compete aggressively in Florida. He has also weighed the merits of a significant push in Ohio, the home state of Gov. John Kasich.

Both states are winner-take-all, and the Cruz campaign insists it would only dedicate substantial resources if it thought it could win outright. But the effort is risky: It could boost Trump, if Cruz diminishes his non-Trump rivals without a victory.

The Cruz campaign says it can reach the requisite delegate threshold of 1,237 without winning Florida or Ohio, thanks to its superior organization in later-voting states, many of which are closed to non-Republicans.

But several party strategists have disputed this math, even if the contests March 15 force some of Cruzs competitors from the race.

A moment of reckoning for Rubio will come Tuesday in Michigan, a state that has concentrations of the kinds of voters he performs well with: professional, younger, highly educated and upper-income. But a poll released Sunday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal showed Rubio trailing Cruz and Trump. Trump received 41 percent, followed by Cruz at 22 percent, Rubio at 17 percent and Kasich at 13 percent.

Despite this, some Michigan Republicans say Kasich may emerge as the states establishment choice. And in a race that has often felt like a reality television show, Kasich secured an apt endorsement Sunday: that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will replace Trump as the host of The Celebrity Apprentice.
The Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District is seeking nominations for the annual Veterans Memorial Wall ceremony in May.

U.S. military veterans who were honorably discharged, resided within the park districts boundaries, substantially contributed to he community and are deceased will be considered for induction onto the wall.

The deadline for nominations is April 8. The Memorial Wall ceremony is set for Saturday, May 21 at 10 a.m.

Information: 951-361-2090.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9647 or sstokley@pressenterprise.com
The Raiders is a youth marketing agency, always on a mish to empower people to build relationships with youthful audiences. An opp has come up for a Mid-Weight Graphic Design Legend (yes  you get legend in your title), to join the tenacious mix of creative and strategic sorts in their brilliant Brissie pad. To be the right fit for The Raiders youll need to have some solid marketing and advertising experience up ya sleeve (5+ years). Youll need to be a confident, go-getter individual, as youll be responsible for concept, development and final production of projects. Youll also need to be into the collab vibes as youll be working with designers and account managers to produce phenom products for clients. If youre keen to get into kick-ass projects, engage eyeballs and you know your Creative Cloud from your Comic-Sans, then get applying HERE.



Employment Office take a non-traditional approach to recruitment. They deliver innovative advertising and marketing strategies for clients to ensure they find the most ace of employees. Well, now theyre after a stellar Sales & Account Coordinator (BRIS) to join their own corporate clique. To be an ideal fit for the EO kids, youll need to be pretty passionate about providing the ultimate recruitment experience/solution/all-the-things. Youll need to be suave when conversing with clientz over the phone. And youll need to be confident about generating your own leads, cold-calling, and followin up with potential clientz to capture and conquer dem sales. If youre keen on your career development, a killer culture, and of course recruitment, then geeet it HERE.

RMIT University Student Union (RUSU) is a fast paced, student driven organisation that host events, free lunches & brekkys (yas!), Pop Up Pubs, and volunteer opps and campaigns. RUSU are on the search for a RUSU Publications & Communications Officer (MELB) a.k.a. an individual who can deliver the Graphic Designer/Communicator combo to ensure RUSU provide the voice for the people/RMIT students. To be perf for this role, youll need to have a brain that knows how to dabble into both the righty and lefty side of thinking, youll need to have a profesh portfolio, and youll need to be able to conjure up more than one coherent sentence. If dis sounds real good, then get applying HERE.

Urban Walkabout provides the travellers and locals of Australia with pocket-sized bundles of urban info with a carefully curated selection of fashion, design and foodie destinations! With a discerning eye for all things creative and innovative in Ozs great cities, Urban Walkabout is for the inquisitive urban explorer. An awesome opportunity has come up for a Producer (PER) to contribute to the excellence that is Urban Walkabout. To be ideal for this role, youll need to be in the know of whats happening in Perth from food, to art and design and even nightlife. Youll need to be comfy with both digital platforms and print publications, as youll be involved in the day-today production, client liaison, creation of digi content as well as advertising coordination. If you have a experience being a witty wordsmith, and consider yourself a culture connoisseur of Perth, then go get em. Apply HERE.



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Whoever coined the phrase fake it til you make it was an actual genius.

We all know this acting-like-an-adult thang can be bullshit, and, lets be honest, were all winging it half the time.

As for those put-together people you see hustling around the CBD looking like they damn-well own the place? Yeah, theyre winging it too. But YOU CAN BE THAT PERSON, and were gonna show you how. Strap yourself in for total domination, kids.

BE TECHY

Technology is no longer just for the smart chaps, you guys. Cause our phones have become our lives, its a phenom time to grab that nerd stereotype by the balls and to your advantage.

Have your virtual calendar on point, so that when your friends or coworkers ask if youre free for drinks on Friday you can chuck the ol Let me check my schedule like the BOSS youre pretending to be.

Those Bluetooth headsets you see those 9-5ers reppin on the commute home are also an investment worth making. Youll look superior compared to the minions around you warming up their right cheek with phone radiation.

Them portable phone chargers will make you look youre always on the go too, cause power points and sitting still? AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT.

UP YOUR GROOM GAME



Literally no ones going to believe that youve got your shit together if you look like a hot mess every day. Brush your hair. Tuck in your shirt. Iron your clothes. Groom yoself.

Extra points if you wear a power suit and prescription glasses (fake or legit  we dont mind) to really amp up the brainy factor. This wont just make you look like you have your shit together, it can actually make you get your shit together too.

A study called Enclothed Cognition in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology showcased how attire can systematically influence your behaviour. Participants wearing lab coats, which as ymay know is associated with attentiveness and carefulness, showed increased selective attention. What are specs and suits associated it with, kids? Purchase accordingly.

RUSH ROUND IN ACTIVEWEAR

Time to face it  wearing activewear makes you look like youve got your shit sorted out. If youve got the time/energy/motivation to squeeze in a gym sesh instead of asking, Whos Jim and why are we going to his place?, youre automatically winning at life.

While its good to get on the treadmill (cause health and fitness and all that), no ones actually going to know if you rocked up for that spin class you claimed to be at. Unless busybody across the desk smashes you with 21 questions about what time you went, who you saw etc  in that case youll look like an absolute douche.

If youd rather not deck yoself out in Lorna Jane and ooze all those ~move, nourish, believe ~ vibes, wearing trainers with your work attire will have you looking head honcho. If youre the kind of person that legit has to exercise on the way to work cause youre so time poor, youre also the kind of person that people want to know  which is kinda irrelevant cause you aint got no time to be socialising.

MOVE LIKE YOURE FKN IMPORTANT



Walking super fkn fast around people is a total mindscrew, cause theyre instantly tricked into thinking youve got 1,000 places to be today even though youre probs rushing home for a standard mid-week Netflix binge.

Same thing can be said for just faking youre busy at work in general, even when you aint. Stand hunched over your desk like youve gotta answer that email all quick-like before taking a whiz and always say crap like gimme two secs when someone needs yo in-demand attention. Youll probs make people feel anxious AF but sall g.

GET YOUR COFFEE / LUNCH TO GO

The best hustlers in life need constant pick-me-ups throughout the day, but erry Tom, Dick and Harry floats about town with a coffee cup  you could even say its *gasp* MAINSTREAM.

Besides, your busy status means youve got no time to wait in line (for coff-ay or otherwise). Let alone tell the barista your name, which theyll probably spell wrong on the cup anyway, and then theres an estimated 85% chance theyll mess up your order too. Gears grinded. WAY TO FKN START YOUR DAY, amirite?

Grab something handheld so you can eat while youre en route to your thousands of commitments. Sushi, a wrap, even muffins and focaccias  just steer well clear of anything with cutlery. Silverware is for people with time, not YOU and yo busy self.

Go forth, life-winners.
In todays episode of your worst nightmare come to life, a 43-year-old woman in the Chinese city of Xian has been found dead in the elevator of her apartment building, after being trapped in it for over month.

Markings on the inside of the elevator showed where the victim had made desperate attempts to escape.

The scene was inhumane, one resident, Xiaolin told reporters. We think she starved to death in there.

Another resident known as Wang told media: The paramedics told us that when they found the body, her hand had already begun to deform.

The apartment building where the woman was found.





According to local media, maintenance workers improperly deactivated the elevator to repair a fault sometime in late January. They shouted down the elevator shaft to check if anyone was trapped inside, but failed to physically open the doors.

Its thought that the Chinese lunar new year caused a delay in workmen returning to fix the elevator, and residents simply assumed she was away during that time. It is unclear, however, how the womans family and friends failed to report her disappearance.

Police are now investigating the death as an involuntary manslaughter.

Source: Shanghaiist.

Photo: Sina.
ATLANTA (AP) -- An Atlanta fire spokesman says a fire has killed six people at a boarding house.

Atlanta Fire Rescue spokesman Cortez Stafford said that four men and two women perished in the Monday morning blaze on the Georgia city's northwest side.

Stafford said fire crews were called to the house about 5 a.m. Monday but were unable to reach most of the building because of the extent to which the flames had spread.

Stafford said that when fire crews arrived, the fire was going through the roof and the home had "collapsed in on itself."

He said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, quoting Stafford, wrote:

The home's owner housed several residents on the property, but the fire spokesman isn't sure if it was officially a boarding home. He said the home appears to have lacked a back exit, which may have contributed to there being multiple victims.
Ray_Tomlinson.jpg

Raymond Tomlinson, inventor of modern email, died Saturday, March 5, 2015. He's pictured in a 2004 file photo.

(Andreu Vea via Wikimedia Commons)

Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and selector of the "@" symbol, has died. He was 74.



Raytheon Co., his employer, on Sunday confirmed his death; the details were not immediately available.



Email existed in a limited capacity before Tomlinson in that electronic messages could be shared amid multiple people within a limited framework. But until his invention in 1971 of the first network person-to-person email, there was no way to send something to a specific person at a specific address.



Here are five things to know about Tomlinson's invention:

1. The first email was sent on the ARPANET system. The computer network created for the U.S. government is considered a precursor to the Internet. Tomlinson also contributed to its development.



At the time, few people had personal computers. The popularity of personal email wouldn't take off until years later but has become an integral part of modern life.



"It wasn't an assignment at all, he was just fooling around; he was looking for something to do with ARPANET," Raytheon spokeswoman Joyce Kuzman said of his creation of network email.



Tomlinson once said in a company interview that he created email "mostly because it seemed like a neat idea." The first email was sent between two machines that were side-by-side, according to that interview.



2. He used email to announce it. Tomlinson said the test messages were "entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them." But when he was satisfied that the program seemed to work, he announced it via his own invention by sending a message to co-workers explaining how to use it.



3. Why Tomlinson chose the "@" symbol. It connects the username with the destination address and it has now become a cultural icon.



Kuzman said Tomlinson was looking at the keyboard and needed something that would not otherwise be part of the address and that seemed to be a logical solution.



"It is a symbol that probably would have gone away if not for email," she said.



MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design added the symbol into its collection in 2010, with credits to Tomlinson.



4. Tomlinson was cool away from computers, too. Tomlinson held electrical engineering degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tomlinson was an inductee to the Internet Hall of Fame and recipient of numerous awards and accolades but was described as humble and modest.



"People just loved to work with him," Kuzman said. "He was so patient and generous with his time ... He was just a really nice, down-to-earth, good guy."



Tomlinson was hired by Bolt Beranek and Newman, known as BBN, in 1967. It was later acquired by Raytheon Co., where he still worked at the time of his death, as a principal scientist.



5. Tomlinson didn't live only for email. Born in Amsterdam, New York, he lived in recent years in Lincoln, Massachusetts where he raised miniature sheep. Attempts to contact his family were unsuccessful.



While more general email protocols were later developed and adopted, Tomlinson's contributions were never forgotten.



"He was pretty philosophical about it all," Kuzman said. "And was surprisingly not addicted to email."
Catherine McDermott

Catherine McDermott, a first-year student at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, has already spent time in the homes of chronically-ill people.

(David Wenner/PennLive)

DERRY TOWNSHIP--Many medical school students don't know the difference between Medicare, which is for seniors, and Medicaid, which is for the poor.

It doesn't hold them back in medical school. But after they become doctors, not knowing the basics of the health care system can prevent them from understanding why their patients can't do or get the things needed to be healthy.

That shouldn't be the case anymore for students at Penn State College of Medicine, one of the first of 32 medical schools around the country which are revamping their curriculums to give medical students a better understanding of the overall health care system. Without the shakeup, new generations of doctors could be severely limited in their ability to make sure their patients get what they need. And doctors might even get shut out of the process of re-shaping the system in a way that puts patients and medicine first.

Penn State-Hershey this week is hosting an annual meeting of the consortium, an initiative of the American Medical Association.

The effort, begun within the last two years, was driven by the fact that the basic medical school curriculum hadn't changed in about 100 years.

The AMA's Dr. Susan Skochelak said "what [doctors] haven't been good at is often what patients care the most about." That includes things like finding their way through the health care system, understanding what their health care providers are telling them, and overcoming financial and other barriers that might prevent them from taking medications and otherwise following their doctor's orders.

Catherine McDermott is a first-year medical student at Penn State College of Medicine. Shortly after classes began, the Chicago native was sent to a local family medical practice, and given the role of health care "navigator" for three patients.

Her role involved becoming familiar with the patients' ailments, talking to them on the phone and visiting them at home. In the case of one who claimed to be taking prescribed medications, but whose blood work suggested otherwise, a home visit by McDermott revealed the patient's neurological condition prevented the patient from opening childproof bottles, resulting in missed doses. Contacting the pharmacist provided a remedy.

Another patient who had a high sodium level told of regularly dining on spaghetti with red sauce, which didn't seem like a problem. But McDermott in her navigator role discovered the patient was eating canned spaghetti that was very high in sodium.

Leaders of the effort say doctors need such glimpses into the real lives of patients in order to fully grasp their illnesses and fully serve them.

Each of Penn State-Hershey's 150 first-year students is taking the navigator class. McDermott, 25, says they regularly share insights into the lives of real patients. McDermott, who is considering becoming a pediatrician or a rheumatologist, says she realizes that, as a practicing physician, she won't be able to serve as a navigator. But she believes the experience will help her spot barriers faced by her patients much sooner.

The curriculum changes vary at the 32 schools participating in the effort, which the AMA hopes will eventually impact all medical schools. They involve a range of areas, such as patient safety, the quality of medical care, and using the vast amount of cloud-based information, which is reducing the need for medical students to memorize information.

It also comes in an era of health care reform and other powerful and fast changes that could otherwise leave doctors out of the change process, thereby minimizing their role in keeping the system focused on patients and the best medical practices.

Without a solid understanding of the health care system, doctors can't fully function as "change agents," said Dr. Jed Gonzalo, the associate dean of health systems education at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine.

When Penn State-Hershey's first-year students began last fall, Gonzalo told them they are now part of the health care system, and they have "a responsibility to help improve the system" -- something that previous generations didn't hear during medical school.
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Aaron Stein, 36, apparently needed money for his honeymoon. So when a $9,000 investment tanked, the increasingly desperate groom devised a plan to turn a sex toy into a makeshift fake bomb in order to rob at western Pennsylvania bank.

(screen shot/WPXI)

Aaron Stein, 36, apparently needed money for his honeymoon. So when a $9,000 investment tanked, the increasingly desperate groom devised a plan to turn a sex toy into a makeshift fake bomb in order to rob at western Pennsylvania bank.

Stein pleaded guilty late last week to robbing a bank with a fake bomb made out of phone wires, duct tape and a sex toy, TribLive.com in Pittsburgh reports.

"This was completely out of character for Mr. Stein," his attorney, Bruce Carsia, told the news website, saying his client acted out of desperation. "He just panicked."

Stein, of Elliott, Pa., used his sex-toy-fashioned fake bomb to rob the PNC Bank on June 15 in Crafton. He wore an Iron Man mask to hide his identity, TribLive adds.

When police caught up to him, Stein told them the bomb was a fake, but authorities called out the bomb squad anyway to detonate the device. Interstate 376 and Interstate 79 were shut down for nearly three hours, TribLive.com reports.

Despite his arrest and being jailed for 18 days before being released on bond, Stein had his belated wedding, according to the website.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on his guilty pleas to charges of robbery, aggravated assault, making bomb threats, making a fake bomb and four counts of reckless endangerment on May 31.

Until then, however, his bond has been revoked in light of his guilty plea.
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Parishioners enter Our Mother of Sorrows in Johnstown on Sunday, just days after the state Attorney General released a report detailing decades of sexual abuse of children by priests in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese. A message from the bishop about the scandal was read at Our Mother of Sorrows and other churches across the diocese Sunday. Photo by David Hurt, of The Tribune-Democrat.

By David Hurst

The Tribune-Democrat

Standing inside Our Mother of Sorrows' stained glass doors before Sunday mass, Rick Messina had no trouble finding words to describe his reaction to new details released last week regarding decades of years-old child abuse by local Roman Catholic clergy.

The parishioner called it a striking reminder that "horrible and disgusting" things happened for far too long in churches like his. As hard as it was to hear, it was also a necessary reminder, he said.

"It's sad that things that happened so many years ago are taking away from the beautiful things that are happening in this church," Messina said. "But it's happening right now because it needs to. This has to be out in the open so we can learn from it and people can heal."

He was among parishioners Sunday who said the both decades-long and decades-old scandal has hung over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and its parishes for too long - but has done so because it was hushed rather than healed.

"There needs to be healing," Messina said. "The victims and their families need to heal - and we as a Catholic community need to learn from this and move forward."

The state attorney general's office released a scathing report last week detailing decades of abuse by more than 35 Catholic clergymen and acts by prior bishops and others to cover it up. Our Mother of Sorrows is just one of dozens of churches served by priests who were accused of abusing children as far back as the 1950s, and in nearly every case no one was criminally charged.

Current Diocese Bishop Mark Bartchak issued a letter that was read to church-goers across the region Sunday, urging them to be strong as the church works to pass through "the darkness" of decades of sin.

"There is a lot more hard work to be done in identifying and responding to the misery of our diocese at this time, including the wounds of all of our brothers and sisters," Bartchak wrote.

The Rev. Mark Begley stood in front of packed pews at Our Mother of Sorrows and called for "a radical transformation" on Sunday.

At an 11 a.m. Mass, he reminded church-goers that "we are much bigger than these scars," even though now is a time to expose them for all to see. He pointed to scripture from the Gospel of John, reminding parishioners of the story of a sinner who was born blind but was enabled to see by Jesus - a miracle brushed off by Pharisees who were more concerned about their religious rules and Sabbath regulations.

"These were men who went to church and said their prayers, too. Sometimes there are religious people who miss Jesus Christ when he's right before their eyes - even you and I," he said. "Isn't it great that you and I don't worship bishops or priests. Isn't it great that we don't worship institutions? We worship Jesus Christ."

Begley described the scandal as a "tragedy" in his sermon, and he said he wished there were words to "heal these wounds once and for all."

But, he said, passionate, positive church ministry in the community is making a difference one life at a time. And he urged parishioners to "stay in the fight" to see diocese-wide reform.

Now is an opportunity for the church to find ways to minister and support abuse victims like it never has before, he said. It's also a time to look at the system governing churches and start a dialogue about changes that might be long overdue.

"Now, as Paul wrote, there is a light cast on the darkness, and now we can face reality and move forward as we heal," Begley said.

Parishioner Brian Mangus of Westmont agreed."He said what needed to be said," Mangus added, standing outside Our Mother of Sorrow after the morning service had ended. "We have to learn from what happened so this kind of thing doesn't happen again."
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Witnesses say that gunfire erupted Sunday evening inside a Church's Chicken restaurant in North Philadelphia over an argument between a diner and an employee about cleaning tables.

(screen shot/6ABC)

Witnesses say that gunfire erupted Sunday evening inside a Church's Chicken restaurant in North Philadelphia over an argument between a diner and an employee about cleaning tables.

Apparently, the restaurant worker was cleaning tables near where the diner was eating, and the customer asked him to stop. That's when things escalated, according to 6ABC in Philadelphia.

Eventually, the employee's 19-year-old brother became involved. He also works at the restaurant, and witnesses say he tried to defuse the situation.

Apparently, it didn't work.

The diner allegedly pulled a gun and fired three shots, hitting the brother who attempted to calm things down at least once in the chest.

6ABC says the shooter got away, calmly exiting the restaurant immediately after the shooting, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

The gunman is described as a black male with a grey beard, wearing a black trench coat, and black pants. He may be in a 2008 Kia.

The victim was hospitalized, but his condition could not be immediately determined.

Check out 6ABC's video on the story here.
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Harrisburg police on Monday released new details about a shooting last week that injured a 28-year-old Middletown woman.

(Christine Vendel, PennLive.com)

HARRISBURG- Harrisburg police have determined a woman shot in the leg last week during a reported robbery was actually shot during an argument over a drug deal.

The 28-year-old Middletown woman drove herself to the hospital after the 12:45 p.m. shooting Wednesday March 2, police said.

She initially told police she was shot by a robber while sitting in her car. She later changed the story to say she had encountered a stranger at 13th and Market streets and agreed to give him a ride to a job interview downtown. But once the man got into her car, he demanded money and then shot her because she didn't have any, according to her evolving story.

But her story soon fell apart, police said, when investigators compared her version of events to those captured on a city camera posted near 13th and Market.

Once the woman was released from the hospital, detectives interviewed her and she admitted she drove to Mount Pleasant Alley near 13th and Market to buy cocaine that afternoon, said police Capt. Gabriel Olivera.

The woman's usual drug dealer was not available so she was trying to buy from another man she did not know, Olivera said. Once the man got into her car, they argued for unknown reasons, Olivera said. The man then reportedly shot her in the right leg and fled.

Despite her injury, the woman drove herself to the hospital.

Detectives are looking for the gunman, who was described as a black man, 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a "peach fuzz" or "pubescent" mustache, wearing a red hoodie.

No charges had been filed against the woman, but the investigation was continuing, Olivera said.
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Douglas Kohen

(submitted)

A Downingtown man who was out on bail on sexual abuse charges is accused of firing six shots Sunday into the home of a child he is charged with abusing.

Douglas Kohen, 63, of Downingtown, is charged with attempted murder, witness intimidation and related charges.

Around 3:10 a.m. Sunday, Downingtown police charge Kohen fired six rounds from a .357-caliber handgun through the window of the home, in which the victim, another child and an adult were present.

"This defendant shot directly through a window, just missing a child. We are not going to permit witness intimidation in Chester County, especially where children are involved. It was only by dumb luck and God's grace that this defendant did not kill a child," said Tom Hogan, Chester County district attorney.

One of the children was on a couch next to the window, said the DA. The bullets went through the window, through the back wall of the trailer and into another residence containing two adults and three children, but no one was hit.

Kohen's preliminary hearing on the child abuse charges was scheduled for March 9. Police said Kohen was staying in a trailer next to the home where the child victim was staying.

Kohen fled in his car and was apprehended in West Goshen Township, where he had flipped his car. Kohen had 36 more rounds of live ammo in his car.

Chief Howard Holland of Downingtown police said they apprehended Kohen "within hours of the attack" after putting "flash" information out about Kohen and his vehicle.

Kohen had been arrested Jan. 7 on charges of corruption of minors, indecent assault and related offenses regarding a child under age 10. He was released after posting 10 percent of the $25,000 bail. He is now in Chester County prison on $1 million bail.
Two Littlestown firefighters burned in a gas explosion Friday will soon be heading home from the hospital, said their fire chief.

"They are expected to return home today or tomorrow," said Chief Chris Morgret of Alpha Fire Company.

Raymond Boyd and Jay Ingle received burns on their ears and hands when the house in the 300 block of Lexington Way exploded at 10:37 a.m. Friday.

Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore listed them in good condition Monday. Morgret said they will be off-duty as they heal from the injuries, which include burns on both hands for Boyd and on one hand for Ingle. Ingle had one glove off and Boyd had both of his off when the explosion occurred, Morgret said.

They also had thermal burns on their ears, which were covered by protective hoods, which Morgret said offer a thin layer of protection.

Two other firefighters who were with them in the basement had only minor injuries, Morgret said.

Morgret said they may never be able to say with certainty what sparked the explosion. They were in full turnout gear, with air packs, and their monitors were indicating there were high gas levels.

Columbia Gas spokesman Russ Bedell said gas to the home was turned off outside before the explosion. Columbia Gas believes this was an isolated incident, he said.

There was another call to the utility for an odor of natural gas in the neighborhood March 5, Bedell said. The utility surveyed the area for leaks and performed safety checks in the neighborhood March 5 and 6, and the system was found to be operating safely, he said.

The firefighters were in the basement of the home on Lexington Way March 4 to make sure no one was unconscious or incapacitated down there, Morgret said. They had entered the garage of the home through a window. When they saw a car in the garage they thought someone might be in the house.

One of the firefighters who had minor injuries had turned off power to the furnace, which was running, Morgret said. "We're not sure if their actions caused it or the furnace caused it," he said.

"It's kind of a bad situation. We want to kill any possible ignition source," Morgret said, but unfortunately while doing that there is the potential for an explosion.

A post-event assessment was done over the weekend, Morgret said. "We did everything appropriately. With exception of gloves, they were fully geared up, and honestly that's what saved them," Morgret said.

The two firefighters who were most seriously burned were closest to the basement stairs than the other two, Morgret said. In an explosion, forces follow the path of least resistance, and pressure and fire went up the stairs.

"If they had not taken the steps they took and were coming up steps and something would have ignited the gases, they would not have been here to talk to us," Morgret said.

Asked if electricity could have been turned off outside the house before the firefighters went in, Morgret said it usually takes Met-Ed two hours to respond.

"That's been a problem for us for years," Morgret said. "The fatal fire the night before we had lives wires inhibiting firefighting," he said, and it took Met-Ed three hours to arrive.

The Littlestown area has seen three fires involving deaths in the last two weeks.

The man found dead in the Germany Township March 3 died of a gunshot wound, Coroner Patricia Felix said Monday. Cause of the fire is still under investigation by the state police fire marshal, Morgret said.

Unattended cooking sparked the Feb. 20 fire in Littlestown that claimed the life of Walter Thrift, 55.

And no determination has been made yet on the cause of the Feb. 26 fire that claimed the life of Jean Walter, 90, in Cumberland Township.

Customers who have concerns about gas service may contact Columbia Gas at 1-888-460-4332.

If anyone smells natural gas, which has an odor similar to rotten eggs, the utility recommends these steps:

Leave the area quickly

Warn others to stay away from the area.

From a safe place, call 911 and Columbia Gas at 1-888-460-4332.

Remain in a safe place until we can send someone to check on the source of the odor.

If someone smells natural gas, they should not light a match or candle, and they should not operate anything that could cause a spark, including cell phones, lights, appliances, flashlights, power tools, etc. Don't open the windows and doors in an attempt to ventilate.

UPDATE: Additional information was added from Columbia Gas.
Investigators with the FBI, Lancaster and Dauphin counties recently stopped a 27-year-old Los Angeles man from a planned meeting to have sex with a 14-year-old Lancaster County girl.

Stephen Chang faces federal and local charges of intent to commit sexual contact with a minor and sexual contact with a minor, according to news releases from the state U.S. Attorney's office and the Lancaster County District attorney. Chang was arrested on March 5 at Harrisburg International Airport before he could meet with the teen, officials said.

The U.S. Attorney said Chang began communicating with the girl in August 2014 when she was 13. He asked the girl to send him sexually explicit images and met with her on two occasions, on Dec. 12, 2014, and Oct. 1, 2015, officials said.

Facebook messages between Chang and the girl triggered a report with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline and police were notified of their plans on Jan. 29, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab found probable cause that Chang flew to Pennsylvania to have sex with the girl and ordered that he be detained, pending a hearing March 10.

Chang is facing three counts of travel with intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct. Lancaster County detectives will file additional charges for indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and corruption of minors for the prior incidents.

Chang faces up to 30 years in prison for each federal offense and a $250,000 fine.

Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the FBI at 717-232-8686.
Marcellus Shale drilling rig

This gas-drilling rig, located in Susquehanna County, is one of many erected across Pennsylvania during the height of the Marcellus Shale boom. Now with a glut of gas driving down prices and rigs shutting down, tourism tax dollars counties had enjoyed during the boom are dropping.

(File photo)

WILLIAM SPORT -- The cutback in drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania is affecting tourist promotion funding.

Occupancy rates of hotels and motels in that region have dropped from what they were during the drilling boom several years ago.

Reduced occupancy translates into less money from the 3 percent hotel tax, the proceeds of which are earmarked for tourism. Lycoming and Bradford counties are examples that.

In 2013 when there was a lot of drilling activity, the two counties together collected more than $1.4 million from the hotel tax. Last year, combined they collected $1.092 million.

"It should have been clear to anyone who really cared to think about it that there were a finite number of wells to be drilled," said Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences at Penn State.

"Once those wells were drilled the demand for hotel rooms would fall and with it tax revenue. Reasonable tax collectors should not have been surprised.

"What actually happened was that the price of gas sagged before all the wells were drilled because supply outstripped demand.

"The stream of high tax revenue, which was never going to last, just ended a little sooner than anticipated by most planners."

The collapse of the price of natural gas shortened the window for those who built motels too fully recover their investment, Engelder said.

The Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce speculated the period when hotel and motel rooms would be filled every night would be relatively short so the increased tax revenue was not used to fund new ongoing programs, Executive Vice President Jason Fink said.

That decision did not affect annual grants the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau has awarded annually since 2000 to organization, some for ongoing programs.

Tuesday it awarded grants totaling $101,568 to organizations including the World of Little League Museum, Billtown Blues Association, Muncy Historical Society, Repasz Band, Williamsport Symphony Orchestra and the Lycoming County Historical Society's Thomas Taber Museum

The Visitors Bureau sets aside $25,000 toward the cost of the annual Grand Slam Parade in conjunction with the Little League World Series in August but the subsidy has never been used in full due to sponsor contributions, Fink said.

The primary impact of less tax revenue has been a reduction in out-of-market promotional advertising, he said.

In Bradford County, 30 percent of the hotel tax is used for grants to non-profits to help promote activities, Treasurer Becky Clark explained. The reduction in revenue means less is available for grants, she said.

Fink is not optimistic the hotel tax revenue will return to the level it was several years ago. At least 30 percent of natural gas-related companies are gone, he said.

Even if the price of natural gas increases enough to make it feasible to resume wide-scale drilling, local people are now trained so there is less need to import workers who might need temporary lodging, he said.
HARRISBURG- Additional criminal charges are expected this week in the Artur Samarin case, Harrisburg police said Monday declining to elaborate.

Artur Samarin is the 23-year-old Ukrainian national who had been attending Harrisburg High School as 18-year-old "Asher Potts."

Police arrested Samarin last month and he remains in Dauphin County prison with a $240,000 bond stemming from 10 criminal charges related to his switched identity. Three of the charges allege he was part of a conspiracy, but so far, no other conspirators have been charged.

That could change this week.

Samarin told police a local couple helped him obtain a Pennsylvania driver's license and enroll in the Harrisburg School District as their adopted son. Samarin used their last name for his new identity.

Court records allege Samarin used falsified documents to obtain legitimate documents to establish a new identity after his work and travel visas expired in 2013.

Police on Monday would not say whether the new charges expected this week would be against one of Samarin's "adopted" parents. But Corky Goldstein, an attorney representing Michael and Stephayne Potts, said last week that the couple is prepared to face the consequences for their actions in helping Samarin.

"They wanted to do the right thing for him, whether they were right or wrong," Goldstein said last week. "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."

Goldstein on Friday reached out to District Attorney Ed Marsico to inquire about any possible charges against his clients. On Monday, Goldstein said he had not heard back from Marsico.

Marsico on Monday would only say that the investigation was ongoing.

Goldstein previously has said his clients only recently learned of Samarin's real age. He said "troubling" behavior exhibited by Samarin late last year prompted them to part ways with Samarin and seek help from the FBI.

"He was upset and somewhat unhinged," Goldstein said of Samarin. The Pottses "didn't know what exactly caused him to feel that way, but they got scared."

The couple was living in a hotel at the time, after being evicted from a Harrisburg rental home, Goldstein said. The Pottses and Samarin had a "confrontation," at the hotel about the things that had them concerned and "that's when they went to the FBI," Goldstein said.

Samarin moved out of the hotel and eventually lived with parents of some friends from school. The mother of his friends has said she would allow Samarin to move back into her home while he awaits trial if he can get his bond lowered.

Samarin's attorneys could not be reached Monday, but his attorney Adam Klein has previously said Goldstein's portrayal of the Pottses as victims was "utter nonsense. These are bad people. The truth will come out soon enough."
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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.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved CSL Behrings Idelvion, paving the way for patients with Haemophilia B to access treatment with the first and only factor IX therapy that offers up to 14-day dosing to protect against or reduce bleeds.

Haemophilia B is a rare inherited disorder that prevents blood from clotting normally, leaving patients at risk of potentially serious bleeding. Idelvion is used to replace Factor IX, a naturally occurring clotting factor that is missing or defective in people with the condition.

The drug has been cleared for use in both children and adults with haemophilia B for routine prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes; on-demand control and prevention of bleeding episodes; and the perioperative management of bleeding.

The approval of this long-acting recombinant factor IX therapy for haemophilia B is vital, as physicians need more options to help their patients effectively and safely manage their bleeding disorder, said Elena Santagostino, Professor in the Medical School of Clinical and Experimental Haematology at the University of Milan/IRCCS Maggiore Hospital, and lead investigator of the PROLONG-9FP clinical development programme.

Idelvion provides patients with greater freedom from frequent infusions which is an important attribute for patients who require a prophylactic regimen but dont want treatment to disrupt their active lives, she noted.

The company said it is expecting to launch the drug in the US later this month (March).

Idelvion is currently approved in Canada. The European Medicines Agencys Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recently endorsed its marketing authorisation in the European Union, while the drug is also under review in Australia, Switzerland and Japan.
The scene outside the Subway where an officer shot a suspect holding two female employees at knifepoint. (Photo: KTLA screen shot)

A man accused of attempting to rob an Anaheim, CA, Subway and holding two female employees at knifepoint was recovering after being shot by an officer on Sunday, according to local police.

A woman called 911 around 2 p.m., but because she was whispering the dispatcher was only able to understand her location  a Subway restaurant in the 1100 block of West Lincoln Avenue, Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Daron Wyatt told KTLA TV.

Once at the location, the officers realized the Subways doors were locked, and after looking through the windows, they saw a man leading two female employees at knifepoint to the back of the restaurant.

As the events were unfolding, something occurred inside the business that made the officers feel that they needed to force entry to rescue the victims, Wyatt said.

One officer then shot the man, who was described by Wyatt as being a 33-year-old transient.
Officer Scot Fitzergald of the South Jacksonville Police Department was killed Tuesday in a patrol car accident. (Photo: South Jacksonville PD)

A central Illinois police officer is dead after a car crash Friday night in Morgan County.

State police say Scot Fitzergald of the South Jacksonville Police Department was heading to a medical call when it happened.

This is the first time the South Jacksonville PD has ever lost an officer in the line of duty, Fox Illinois reports.

Illinois State Police say officer Fitzgerald and an ambulance were responding to a medical call on Route 267.

The officer couldn't find the person who made that medical call, so he made a u-turn in his patrol car.

That's when the ambulance hit the driver side of Officer Fitzgerald's car.
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Bernie Sanders unloaded on Republicans for spending trillions of dollars on the war in Iraq, but claiming that there is no money for the people of Flint.

Sanders said:

How does it happen in the wealthiest country in the history of the world? What are our priorities when among others Republicans today are fighting for hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest people. How did we have so much money available to go to war in Iraq and spend trillions of dollars, but somehow not have enough money, not just for Flint? The Secretary is right. There are communities all over this country. It is infrastructure. It is education. Detriots public school system is collapsing. Anderson, the bottom line is what my campaign is is changing our national priorities. We need a government that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors.

The Democratic debate in Flint is living up to expectations. Clinton and Sanders are unloading on Republicans and discussing the needs of Flint. Sanders pointed out the difference between the two candidates on trade agreements. Sen. Sanders brought up a great point. Republicans are arguing about the funding for aid to the people of Flint, but there was a bottomless supply of money for the war in Iraq.

Republicans spent trillions of dollars on the Iraqi people, but when it comes to helping people who were poisoned by one of their own, Republicans are dragging their feet on aid to Flint.

The point that Bernie Sanders made needs to be hammered home by every Democrat nationwide until Republicans vote for a proper bill to aid Flint.
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Bernie Sanders senior strategist floated his candidate as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton if she wins the Democratic nomination.

Audio:

After Politicos Glenn Thrush said that Clinton advocates suggested that Sanders is their key to turning out young voters in November, senior Sanders strategist Tad Devine said, Maybe theyre going to put him on the ticket then. I dont know what that means.

When asked if Sanders would consider being Clintons running made. Devine said, Im sure  of course, anyone would  but I dont think theres any plan for that, certainly no ones talking about anything like that. He wouldnt ever think about a decision like that unless it was done in the right and proper way.

Last year, the Sanders campaign laughed off any talk of being Clintons running mate by suggesting that they would consider her to be Sen. Sanders VP, but from a practical point of view, a Clinton/Sanders ticket makes sense.

Bernie Sanders does well with new voters, younger voters, Independents, and white male Democrats. If Clinton and Sanders teamed up, they would have every segment of the Democratic Party behind them, and they would have a built-in appeal to younger voters that will be lacking in the Republican ticket if Trump is the GOP nominee.

Will Clinton and Sanders really share the Democratic ticket in 2016? It is doubtful. Former Sec. of State Clinton will likely look for a younger and perhaps more geographically balanced running mate. The idea of a Clinton/Sanders ticket is fun to think about, but political reality makes it unlikely.

The one lesson weve learned in 2016 is that anything is possible, and easiest way for Hillary Clinton to capture younger voters in 2016 would be to add Bernie Sanders to the ticket.
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A lot can  and has been  said about the Republican Partys choice of Mitt Romney as the establishments last line of defense against Donald Trump. Not only is Mitt Romney another clueless rich white guy, but he once sought Trumps endorsement during his own failed election in 2012.

Paul Krugman calls Romney vs. Trump a collision of fallacies but it was a lot worse than that.

As Krugman has observed, when Romney accepted Trumps endorsement then, he praised him as someone with an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works.'

Krugman goes on to make the point that at the time, Mr. Romney was saying almost exactly the same things Mr. Trump is saying now about China, about Obama, about trade wars. The same things he is criticizing Trump for, now that nobody in the establishment wants anything to do with Trump.

Thats okay. We have already seen how the GOP wants to present Hillary Clinton as one of them to liberals on social media, while in the mainstream media denouncing her as a socialist like Bernie Sanders.

And he lost spectacularly, making you wonder just how qualified he was to denounce Trump. This is a guy, after all, whose own opinions were all over the place.

I have observed before that Republican contests are competing lies. None of them are talking about the real world or actual problems, but about things the Fox Reality Bubble wants Americans to think are real problems. They are arguing about an America that hasnt existed since 2008, when the last Republican president left office having nuked the country with a dirty bomb of stupidity.

Paul Krugmans column Monday is in this vein. When Fallacies Collide describes perfectly what is happening in the GOP sideshow, where, as he puts it, the debate between the two men was about competing versions of nonsense.

America cannot gain when the men fighting for the top job are arguing over points of nonsense. The way it is supposed to work is that they argue about actual real things, things that have some passing resemblance to the reality we inhabit.

The Republican Party has long since lost contact with our fact-based world and less and less does their reality bubble come into contact with facts. In their world, the God-free Constitution is based on the Ten Commandments and Trickle-Down Economics  like austerity measures  actually work.

Paul Krugman goes at the nuts and bolts of Republican economic fantasies, which are as confused and fact-free as their fantasies about how families work and the health of families with single-sex parents.

Its not that the Republicans do not ever debate amid all the name calling and childish antics, but when they do, its junk economics, its fake history, invented science, and manufactured scandals.

The repeated appeals to Benghazi became to sound like Saturday Night Lives old updates about how Francisco Franco is still dead  and are about as meaningful.

And its even worse: You cant update something that wasnt news in the first place. At least Franco wasnt the invention of fevered minds in the bowels of Fox News, or the head of somebody like Paul Ryan, whose only real quality is the ability to lie with sincerity.

The Republican Party is a mess and the cognitive fallout of the Bush presidency has not and cannot save them. Without reality, no after-action report is going to be able to analyze, let alone identify what went wrong.

In 2008, the GOP headed off in one direction while the country went another. That a sizable number of Republicans followed their wayward party is a shame. It certainly does not help now that the GOPs own creation, the child of that cognitive fallout, has now turned on his creators, leaving his creators to attack him for the same nonsense it has so long espoused.

Krugman facetiously calls this a good news/bad news situation, but using that metaphor, here is what really has happened:

President Obama once used the metaphor of the Republicans driving the car that is the U.S. into a ditch, and  quite sensibly  not letting them have the keys back.

The Republicans drove the car into the ditch. President Obama took away their keys and got it out of the ditch (Wall Street stable, auto industry restored, 5+ years of positive employment figures, deficit going down, etc).

The Republicans, however, are insisting that the car is still in the ditch and that not only did they not do it, but it was driven there by Obama, who wasnt even president yet.

What value can there be  and every Republican platform is based on this  on any argument over a non-existence set of circumstances?

The answer is none.

There is literally no good news to be found. Not when what is happening is that  to appeal to the photo above  both Romney and Trump, as the GOP candidates have done in every debate, backed their metaphorical garbage trucks up, and unloaded their contents on the Republican landfill of ideas.

Try as you might, you cant make it sound as though something positive has taken place.
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A push is underway to change the way Minnesota picks presidential candidates.

Farmington GOP Rep. Pat Garofalo said he will introduce a bill that scraps the state's precinct caucus system in favor of a presidential primary. The move comes after historic turnout at the state's precinct caucuses earlier this month. A total of 114,000 Republicans voted in the precinct caucuses, shattering the previous record of 63,000. An estimated 206,000 Democrats participated in the caucuses, the second highest turnout in state history.

Garofalo talked about why he wanted to make the switch on TPT's Almanac on Friday. He said while party volunteers did their best managing the vote, precinct caucuses simply aren't designed to handle that kind of massive turnout.

"At some point, we simply lack the facilities in many communities to allow everybody to vote at the same time," he said.

The idea is getting some high profile support. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said he backs switching to a presidential primary, as does Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin. In a statement, Martin said long lines, a shortage of ballots and a short window to vote "made for a very confusing and dispiriting experience." He said thousands of people reportedly gave up on voting while thousands of others couldn't make it to caucus night due to illness, accessibility issues or work conflicts.

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"That is no way to welcome people to our party or to ensure that their right to participate is guaranteed," he said.

Martin said he supports a hybrid system. He'd like a presidential primary run by the state. At the same time, he'd like to keep the precinct caucus system and continue to use it as a way to elect party leaders, delegates to convention and debate resolutions.

So what do local lawmakers think about the idea of switching to a presidential primary?

Byron Republican Rep. Duane Quam said he's open to the idea, as long as the precinct caucus system remained for completing other party business.

"A lot of things happen in the caucus activity, and we have caucuses when we don't have presidential elections. You get people coming together; you talk about issues," Quam said.

Rochester DFL Rep. Tina Liebling said she's also open to the idea of switching to a presidential primary system. However, she said she wants lawmakers to really study the idea and not make any sudden decisions based on what happened earlier this month.

"There are definitely issues, but I want to hear a lot more, and I'd really like to have us get a little further away from it before we make radical changes," Liebling said.

Walz introduces 'Fairness for Veterans Act'

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First District Rep. Tim Walz has introduced a bill aimed at making sure veterans struggling with mental health issues get the help they need.

Walz introduced the Fairness for Veterans Act last week with Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman. The bill seeks to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries (TBI) who have been improperly discharged for minor misconduct instead of receiving a medical discharge or being allowed to say in the military for treatment and rehabilitation. The measure creates a presumption in favor of combat veterans in the post-discharge appeals process. If a veteran has been diagnosed with PTSD or TBI as a result of his deployment, the military's Discharge Review Board must consider this diagnosis.

"After fighting for our country overseas, our warriors shouldn't be discharged from the military without proper diagnosis or left without the care they need to reintegrate into the lives they once knew. We must act to ensure these brave men and women, suffering from invisible wounds, have the care and benefits they have earned," Walz said in a statement.

The Mankato Democrat served 24 years in the Army National Guard.
Yes, at the GEC voting center at the Westin.

Yes, at one of the satellite voting centers open on Saturdays.

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Harvard Law School has been roiled this academic year by allegations of racismallegations that the schools Dean, Martha Minow, has stipulated to be true, saying that racism is a serious problem at the law school. She doesnt mean it, of course. Otherwise, someone might ask why she has failed to do something about the problem since becoming dean in 2009.

Protesters at the law school have focused on the schools crest, which borrows from a bookplate that was used by one Isaac Royall, a slaveholder who donated (or whose son donated) land that provided early funding for the school:

This is one of those controversies that can be taken seriously only in academia. The law school crest denounced as racist has been used only since 1936, and then inconsistently. The sheaves of wheat, which come from the Royall bookplate, have no apparent connection to the law, to Massachusetts or to Harvard.

In response to student protests against the crest, Dean Minow appointed a committee to study the issue. That committee has now recommended, on a 10-2 vote, that the crest be retired. The committees report, which goes on at considerable length, can be read here.

Dean Minow has endorsed the committees recommendation in a letter to the Harvard Corporation that is reproduced by Ann Althouse:

Each year since I became dean, I welcome entering JD students to campus with discussion of the portrait of Isaac Royall, Jr., whose gift of land helped support the first professorship of law at Harvard. I observe that the money came from the work of individuals enslaved on his familys plantation in Antigua, and that while Harvard University at that time acted legally in accepting the gift, it is crucial that we never confine ourselves to solely what is currently lawful, for the great evil of slavery happened within the confines of the law. That is why HLS does not simply teach what the law is, but engages in critiques of the law, constant reminders to test what we do in service to our aspirations for virtue and justice.

In other words, we do what we can to exert constant leftward pressure, since our aspirations for virtue and justice never involve free enterprise, constitutional government, the rule of law or respect for property rights.

It is easy to laugh at the Harvard Law School crest controversy, and similar upheavals at countless other universities, as insignificant squabbles that could occur only in academia. But there is, of as you might expect, something more substantial going on. These episodes of institutional self-flagellation are products of the affirmative action regime which now has been in place for decades. Institutions like Harvard Law School engage in race discrimination with respect to admissions. The inevitable result is that successful performance is not randomly distributed among their students.

This fact, understandably, makes administrators, professors and students uncomfortable. That discomfort is eased by the pretense that the long shadow of slavery still falls across institutions as august and seemingly liberal as Harvard Law School. Thus, the Royall crest committee wrote in its report:

The Committee was unanimous in recognizing that modern institutions must acknowledge their past associations with slavery, not to assign guilt, but to understand the pervasiveness of the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact on the world in which we live.

They have to believe in that continuing impact, no matter how little Isaac Royall and his bookplate have to do with the 21st century law school, because to do otherwise would require admitting that the law school engages in rank race discrimination, not only in admissions but in its endless pandering to favored victim groups.

Similarly, the Daily Mail quotes three left-wing law students, writing in the Harvard Crimson:

The murder, torture, and exploitation of the slave trade should not be sanitized because it created racial inequality in the present. The continuing oppression of black lives in the United States is a direct result of the brutal history of the slave trade, and something that we have continuously failed to address.

So racial preferences can be doled out for another generation. That is what really is at stake in these academic controversies over racism.
In this obituary, the Washington Post celebrates Delmer Berg, the last known living U.S. volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. The Posts Emily Langer informs us that Berg served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. This unit was named in honor of the 16th president, she adds helpfully.

The Communist Partys appropriation of the Great Emancipators name was one of the most cynical public relations stunts ever. Other than Adolph Hitler, its difficult to imagine anyone less like Lincoln than Joseph Stalin, the butcher and enslaver the American Communist Party served. It was no honor to our 16th president to have a communist brigade named after him, and Im pretty sure no honor was intended.

American socialists had more decency. They called their fighting unit the Eugene Debs Brigade.

In Spain, the Communist-run brigades fought against Francos nationalists who were, as Langer says, backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. But they also fought, with greater success, against anyone who opposed Moscows line, especially Trotskyites.

George Orwell recorded this sorry story in Homage to Catalonia. The experience made him an anti-Stalinist until the day he died.

The commitment of Lincoln Brigade members to anti-Fascism is dubious. Not long after they returned to the U.S., Stalin and Hitler made common cause. At that point, many members of the Brigade supported the American Communist Partys demand that the United States to stay out of World War II. Whether Berg was among them, I do not know.

In her obituary of Berg, Langer describes him as a communist and lifelong defender of progressive causes, including civil right and organized labor. But was it possible to have been both a tool of Stalin and a lifelong defender of progressive causes? Is it progressive to murder kulaks, starve peasants, maintain a gulag, and try to spread these practices to the U.S. and the world at-large?

It seems to me that the Post would want to be agnostic at best about the compatibility of communism and progressivism.

It also seems to me that it could have written a fitting, lively obituary to Berg without romanticizing the Lincoln Brigade and American communism.
The latest installment of How the GOP Race Turns features two worthwhile articles, both of which suggest some level of optimism that Donald Trump can be stopped. Jay Cost of the Weekly Standard presents the current delegate count  which shows Trump having collected 43 percent of the delegates awarded so far via caucuses and primaries  but points out that a 103 delegates will be going to Cleveland uncommitted.

Taking these delegates into account reduces Trumps percentage to 39 percent. Ted Cruz follows with 30 percent. Marco Rubio is at 15 percent.

By this reckoning, Trump needs to win 59 percent of the remaining delegates to obtain a majority, not an easy task. Cost concludes that the best way to make sure Trump doesnt get this share is for all of Trumps remaining competitors to stay in the race.

Consultant Red Janhcke, writing in the New York Sun, believes theres is a path through which Ted Cruz could win a majority of the delegates. This is one of three possible outcomes he perceives, the others being an outright Trump victory and a scenario in which no candidate has enough delegates going to into the convention.

Jahncke thinks Trump is in real trouble, but perhaps overstates his case:

Super Saturday, when Senator Cruz won 15 more delegates than Donald Trump, marks the beginning of the end of Trumpmania. Mr. Cruz won Kansas and Maine by big double-digit margins, while Mr. Trump nosed out Cruz in Louisiana and Kentucky only by margins of but 3% and 4%. During the day, a new ARG poll in Michigan showed Governor Kasich rocketing past Mr. Trump into first place [but note that every other recent Michigan poll has Trump way ahead and the RCP average puts his share at equal to the combined share of Kasich and Cruz], boding well for the Mr. Kasich in Tuesdays contest in the Wolverine state and at week later at Ohio. Mr. Cruzs performance on Saturday will enhance his prospects in the two states. Most ominous for Mr. Trump was Louisiana. The first results announced were absentee ballots cast days and weeks before primary day, which showed Mr. Trump in a commanding double-digit lead. As the days live voting results began coming in, the spread narrowed. The dichotomy suggested that Mr. Trumps popularity declined into primary day itself.

The focus now is on Ohio and Florida because they are delegate-rich and home to two of the remaining four contenders. But Jahncke says we should also keep an eye on Missouri and Illinois, whose primaries are the some day.

Missouri may be Cruz country  he has won in nearby Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Trump led the field in the Show Me state at the turn of the year, but so much has happened since then that this polling can perhaps be largely disregarded. Illinois seems much more problematic for the Texas Senator.

Even if Cruz cant win a majority of delegates headed into the convention, I think its very important that he have more than Trump. That way, if Cruz gets the nomination, he can persuasively say that he won it fair and square. If he (or Rubio or Kasich) wins the nomination having come to Cleveland with fewer delegates than Trump, the recriminations and resentments will plague the GOP in the general election.

In any event, Jahncke is of the view that Trump clearly has stalled and, as I have suggested elsewhere, recent evidence supports that view up to a point. A Trump win tomorrow in Mississippi wont dispel this sense. However, a decisive win in Michigan (which seems quite possible) might.

The results in states like Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, and Ohio will tell us the extent to which Trump has been injured by the barrage of attacks against him so far and those that no doubt will be launched in the next debate. Thus, as Jahncke says, the next nine days will reveal an awful lot about whats in store this summer in Cleveland.
Kendall R. Roehl, MD, FACS

PR-Inside.com: 2016-03-07 10:38:02

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26 Professional Park Dr, Webster, TX 77598, United StatesPlastic Surgeon(713) 609-9335Patrick Hsu(713) 633-4411

Webster, TX (March 1, 2016)  Dr. Kendall Roehl, renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon from Texas, is the newest addition to the Memorial Plastic Surgery Groups roster of board-certified doctors. She has taken the helm at the plastic surgery clinics first-ever branch in Clear Lake which opens on March 1, 2016.As the clinics founder, Dr. Patrick Hsu said in a statement, Memorial Plastic Surgery is proud and excited to announce the recruitment of Dr. Roehl into the practice. [She] has been an esteemed colleague and friend for over 10 years and her addition will add tremendous expertise and experience to our diverse group. Dr. Melissa A. Crosby, distinguished plastic surgeon and partner at MPS, added, [Dr. Roehls] reputation as an outstanding surgeon and compassionate physician will no doubt lead to her success at Memorial Plastic Surgery [in Clear Lake].The MPS Groups newest member completed her residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and later her fellowship in Microsurgery at the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Since 2010, Dr. Roehl has been certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons and has established herself as one of the leading reconstructive micro-surgeons in Texas.Of her newest designation, Dr. Roehl said, I could not be more excited to join Memorial Plastic Surgery and two people who I love and respect. With our combined efforts, we can make a significant impact on breast reconstruction in the city of Houston and its surrounding areas. With similar goals and vision, we will launch our group onto great things for the future. The clinics newest branch, where Dr. Roehl leads, is located in Webster, TX and welcomes patients from Clear Lake and the greater Houston area which includes the surrounding communities of Pasadena, Pearland, League City, Galveston, and Friendswood.Similar to its Houston counterpart, the Clear Lake office offers a wide range of plastic surgery procedures such as breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck, mommy makeover, and facelift. As a womens health advocate, Dr. Roehl specializes in advanced breast reconstruction surgeries including but not limited to: DIEP flaps, latissimus flap, and reconstruction after nipple-sparing mastectomy.In line with the grand opening, MPS Clear Lake has launched its own stand-alone website specifically designed to cater to local patients interested in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The new site is responsive and viewable across different media platforms such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.For more information about Memorial Plastic Surgery Clear Lake, visit www.memorialclearlake.com About Memorial Plastic Surgery - HoustonFounded in 2013, Memorial Plastic Surgery is the practice of board-certified plastic surgeons Dr. Patrick Hsu and Dr. Melissa A. Crosby based in Houston, Texas. They cater to patients with cosmetic and reconstructive surgery needs with a special focus on the face, breast, and body. Some of the more popular cosmetic procedures performed at the clinic include breast augmentation, tummy tucks, liposuction, mommy makeovers, and breast reconstruction. With fellowships from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Hsu and Dr. Crosby also serve breast cancer patients needing reconstructive surgery.For more information, visit www.memorialplasticsurgery.com . Follow Memorial Plastic Surgery on Facebook and @HoustonSurgeons on Twitter.
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As part of his #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira campaign, Ben Murray-Bruce is asking holiday lovers in Nigeria to look within the country for some fun spots instead of travelling abroad.

Mr. Murray-Bruce, who represents Bayelsa East Senatorial District in the Nigerian senate, took to Twitter on Sunday to market Tarkwa Bay as a choice destination for fun holiday.

Tarkwa Bay is an artificial beach in Lagos.

Me at Takwa Bay, Murray- Bruce tweeted. Nigeria has fun holiday locations. We dont need to always holiday abroad.

The tweet was accompanied with some photos.

In one of the photos, Murray-Bruce is seen relaxing alone inside a watercraft, drinking coconut water. He wore a grey-colour T-shirt, with a blue jean trouser.

Another photo showed the senator on the back of a jet ski, enjoying a ride in the water.
The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has urged the Nigerian government to use the opportunity presented by low oil prices to diversify the economy.

Mr. Dangote spoke Tuesday at the 11th edition of the Nigeria Summit hosted by The Economist magazine in Lagos.

Diversification of the economy should be given priority, if we do not do it now, maybe we never will, said Mr. Dangote, Africas richest man.

Mr. Dangote urged local businesses to source raw materials locally so they would depend less on foreign exchange.

People sometimes underestimate the economy of Nigeria by simply looking at the FX situation, he said. It is not so.

Mr. Dangote said local businesses can succeed under harsh conditions depending on the business model, noting that his local investments in cement, rice, and sugar have been a success due to his business model.

Lower oil prices does not spell doom. In 1998, oil price fell to $9. There are opportunities in every crisis situation. Once oil gets back to $80, we forgot about diversifying the economy. Now is the time to diversify the economy.

The Group Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, said policy reversals by government could pose a problem for entrepreneurs.

Every business that has a strong base must have a niche for itself, said Mr. Wigwe.

I think its a great time to kick-start your ideas. It cant get worse. It can only get better.

Earlier, the Minister of Industry,Trade, and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said the government was putting a lot of efforts to improve mining activities.

The government cant do everything but policies can be put in place to make things work, Mr. Enelamah said.

We should make the commitment to do the right thing as a government and as a people.
Nigeria will join the Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Muslim countries against terrorism, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

Mr. Buhari stated this in an interview with Aljazeera Television.

We are part of it because we have got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claims that they are Islamic, the Nigerian president said in reference to Boko Haram, the group whose activities has caused the death of about 20,000 people since 2009.

Mr. Buharis decision to push Nigeria into the coalition announced by Saudi Arabia last December appears to have been taken after a meeting with Saudi King, Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz.

Many Nigerians have condemned the alliance. Analysts described the coalition as Saudi Arabias way of challenging Irans growing influence in global Islamic affairs.

See here for major reactions to the move.

In this poll, we want to hear from you. What do you think of President Buharis decision?
The trial of a leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, took a dramatic turn Monday, when counsel in the case told Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court that their lives were under threat.

The prosecuting team also accused Mr. Kanus lawyers and family members of constituting threats to its witnesses.

Mr. Kanu and two others  Benjamin Maudubugwu and David Nwawuisi  were brought before the court for alleged treason, for maintaining unlawful society, among other charges.

At the commencement of hearing on Monday, prosecution counsel, Mohammed Diri, informed the court that Mr. Kanus lawyer had altercation with members of the State Security Service while trying to enter the courtroom, Monday morning.

Reading from a short note he claimed was written by a staff of the SSS, Mr. Diri said the defence counsel and members of Mr. Kanus family were constituting threats to the lives of witnesses.

He asked the court to adjourn the matter till such a time when the witnesses would be granted the needed protection to help them confidently testify in court.

But the lead counsel to Mr. Kanu, Chux Muoma, asked the court to grant permission to Ifeayin Ejiofor, the counsel who had altercation with the SSS, to explain what happened.

When Mr. Ejiofor was given permission to speak, he accused SSS operatives of trying to kill him.

According to Mr. Ejiofor, he had gone to intervene in a dispute between members of Mr. Kanus family and staff of the SSS.

He said at the scene of the disagreement, he was told that the SSS staff were blocking Mr. Kanus family members from entering the court.

Mr. Ejiofor said the SSS operatives at the scene insisted that they would only allow three additional family members of Mr. Kanu to join those already in the court premises.

He said when he (Mr. Ejiofor) tried to explain to them that there was an order of court permitting members of the public to witness the proceedings, Mr. Ejiofor said a staff of the SSS threatened to kill him.

He therefore prayed the court to take note of the threat.

My lord I will like you to take note of this threat to my life, because I dont know what will happen tomorrow, Mr. Ejiofor said.

The trial judge, Mr. Tsoho, who noted that events had taken a different turn from what was expected, added that if the parties to the matter felt threatened, the case might as well be handed over to the celestial order to resolve.

He asked the parties to decide whether or not they wanted the trial to continue.

The matter was thereafter stepped down for a 30-minute break to enable parties determine the way forward for the matter.

The court had adjourned the matter on February 19, for today March 7.
The deputy governor of Yobe state, Abubakar Ali, was on Monday involved in an auto accident along the Kaduna- Kano expressway.

A witness, Sunusi Abdul, told PREMIUM TIMES that the incident occurred in Daka-Tsalle town, along the expressway.

The SUV he was travelling in had a head-on collision with a Toyota Avensis vehicle, Mr. Abdul said. Fortunately, the deputy governors vehicle did not somersault, but the Toyota car was badly damaged and some of its occupants injured.

Mr. Abdul, who said the accident occurred around 9:30 am, added that he also narrowly missed hitting Mr. Alis car.

He said the deputy governors convoy later continued its trip to Kano.

The accident happened a day after the Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, his wife and son died in a crash along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway.

Efforts to speak with the Yobe deputy governor was unsuccessful. He did not answer or return calls.

A source at the Government House in Damaturu however told PREMIUM TIMES that the accident occurred as Mr. Ali travelled to Kano for a condolence visit to the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who lost his mother on Friday.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is yet to comment on the accident.


The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, on Monday released an interim report on the auto crash that killed the Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi and his wife and son.

Mr. Oyeyemi attributed the accident to a busted tyre which resulted in the loss of control and somersaulting of the ministers official car.

Giving details of what happened, Mr. Oyeyemi said the crash occurred at kilometer 67 Kaduna-Abuja road, after Doka village.

The crash occurred at about 1500hrs and involved two vehicles: one Toyota Lexus LX570 car and a backup car, he said.

Three lives were lost in the incident. While the minister and his son died instantly, the wife later died at the Doka Hospital near Kaduna.

The corps marshal further disclosed that as soon as the crash occurred, the FRSC rescue teams were mobilised from the ambulance point and unit command at Doka and Kateri respectively, to the scene where they carried out the rescue activities.

Saying Mondays report of the incident was preliminary, Mr. Oyeyemi said he had ordered full investigation into the causes of the crash to determine what led to the ghastly crash in order to prevent future occurrence.

The FRSC boss commiserated with President Muhamadu Buhari, members of the Federal Executive Council and the family of the deceased persons over the tragedy.

The death of the minister in the crash was a tragic incident that again challenged the road safety agency to step up its campaigns against accidents, Mr. Oyeyemi said.

The FRSC boss said he was personally touched and would work with relevant stakeholders to develop appropriate strategies that could address future occurrences.

Mr. Oyeyemi said the FRSC remained determined to work with the executive and members of the National Assembly as well as other relevant bodies to work out appropriate modalities for ensuring crash-free roads.

He said training and retraining of government drivers was part of the immediate measures being taken by the FRSC to avert convoy crashes in the country.

He noted that when FRSC trained the drivers of the governors convoys, the benefits in terms of improved driving culture became immediately noticeable, saying the corps would be working with members of the Federal Executive Council to train and re-train convoy drivers.

We are working with the minister of works, power and housing to install traffic signs at some strategic points along the highways.

We are equally committed to working with the National Assembly to step up advocacy and enforcement strategies to curtail issues of speed violation and promotion of use of seatbelt, Mr. Oyeyemi said.
Representatives of the Swiss government are expected in Nigeria on Tuesday to discuss with their Nigerian counterparts the repatriation of another tranche of huge public funds stolen by late Head of State, Sani Abacha.

The delegation will be led by the Swiss Minister for Foreign Affairs, Didier Burkhalter, who is expected to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, over the repatriation of the $321million confiscated from the family of late former head of state, Sani Abacha.

An official of the Swiss Embassy in Nigeria, Pascal Holliger, confirmed the visit exclusively to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

Yes, our foreign Minister is on his way to Nigeria on Tuesday, Mr Holliger said. He is coming on a working visit to Nigeria. During the visit, he would open the Consular Generals office in Lagos and meet with the Vice President of Nigeria and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss the issue of the repatriation of the second tranche of the Abacha loot, he said.

But some Swiss and Nigerian civil society groups, who got wind of the impending visit, dispatched a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding that his government give assurance that the $321million that would be returned to Nigeria by the Swiss government would be put to good use.

Copies of the petition titled Restitution of Abacha funds: Swiss and Nigerian NGOs demand guarantees, was sent to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and her foreign affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and minister justice, Abubakar Malami.

A copy of the petition obtained by PREMIUM TIMES was also sent to the World Bank Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, and the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs Office for International Public Law (DDIP) in Berne, Switzerland.

Signed by representatives of eight civil society groups, the petitioners expressed concerns that the fund could disappear just like the repatriated funds by the government of Liechtenstein in 2014 if government did not take steps to guarantee transparency and accountability.

Swiss and Nigerian NGOs demand that the authorities of these two countries, together with the World Bank, take all measures necessary to guarantee that these funds be returned in a manner that is transparent and benefits the general population of the country, the people that were initially cheated out of their money, the petition said.

The groups said their fears followed the confidential agreement reached between the Nigerian government and the Abacha family in 2014, in which the Nigerian government agreed not to prosecute any member of the family in lieu of the returned loot.

The controversial agreement reportedly received the backing of Genevas public prosecutor, resulting in the withdrawal of all criminal charges against Mohammed, the eldest son of the late dictator, allegedly implicated in a case of laundering his fathers loot.

There are fears in civil society, in both Switzerland and Nigeria, that this money could be embezzled once again, Executive Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, David Ugolor, told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr. Ugolor said the petition was sent to the Nigerian and Swiss governments, as well as the World Bank, to demand a guarantee that these funds would actually be used to finance projects that would improve the living conditions of the Nigerian people.

It is imperative that they be allocated through a transparent process that involves both Swiss and Nigerian NGOs, Mr. Ugolor said. The transfers must also be performed in installments and upon the condition that the sums returned in previous installments were used as supposed, he said.

Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Mr. Ugolor said the $235million returned by the Liechtenstein government vanished without trace after government said the money was used to acquire arms to fight the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

Other signatories to the petition included Olivier Longchamp, Berne Declaration (Switzerland); Martin Hilti, Finances and Tax programs coordinator, Transparency International (Switzerland); Adetokunbo Mumuni, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (Nigeria); Mark Herkenrath, Alliance Sud (Switzerland); Debo Adeniran, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) (Nigeria); Godwin Uyi Ojo, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (Nigeria), and Blair Glencorse, Accountability Lab (UK).
Tragedy struck Sunday in Nigeria with the countrys Minister of Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi dying in a road crash while returning to Abuja from a private family visit to Kaduna.

The ministers wife and son also died in the accident that occurred along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway, throwing Nigeria into intense mourning.

Below are wreckages of the car conveying Mr. Ocholis family at the time of the crash.

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, said the vehicle somersaulted after a burst tyre.

See Photos below:
A non governmental organization known as the Convention on Business Integrity and the Integrity Organization will on Thursday hold a symposium intended to spark debate on how to effectively fund and sustain anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria.

The event will hold at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, at 10:30am.

A statement by the organizations on Monday said President Muhammadu Buharis position on corruption had so far been clear that it is so often seen in his body language.

Many perceive this administrations fight against corruption to be more of the same witch-hunt tactics used by previous administrations to settle political scores. For others, the corruption fight is urgently needed but currently personal, and embodied in President Buhari, the statement said.

It also said for the fight against corruption to be effective and far reaching, there needs to be concrete ways of funding, driving and sustaining anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria that complements the presidents body language.

There needs to be more support from leaders of the business community, all arms of government, civil society and the general public, the symposium organisers said.

Extensive deliberations on finding an effective Nigerian response to this global problem are now needed. As a former EFCC Chairman once noted, if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill us.

The special guest of honour at the event is Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, while Itse Sagay, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who also currently serve as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, will chair the symposium.

The statement added that other notable speakers would include organisations and individuals involved in anti- corruption work.

It is anticipated the event will have in attendance representatives/decision makers/stakeholders in key organizations involved in or affected by anti-corruption work in Nigeria including donor agencies, international and local financial institutions, anti-corruption agencies, media houses (local & international), civil society, local philanthropic foundations, the private sector and the National Assembly.

We hope that this programme, in addition to sensitizing and proffering viable solutions to the issue, will also stimulate reflection and discourse by all stakeholders on the rationale for funding and sustaining anti-corruption work in Nigeria, organisers said.
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday granted an order seeking the protection of witnesses during the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Earlier in February, the court refused the federal governments application to mask its witnesses in Mr. Kanus trial

But Justice John Tsoho gave the new ruling after hearing the arguments of both counsel for and against governments application to produce witnesses protected by a screen.

Mr. Kanu and two others, Benjamin Maudubugwu and David Nwawuisi, are standing trial for treason, maintaining an unlawful society, among other charges.

The lead defence counsel, Chuks Muoma, who recounted the various stages of the case since it started in October 2015, accused the prosecution of unwittingly prolonging the matter.

He said the prosecution had on three occasions disobeyed the order of court and re-arrested Mr. Kanu after he was granted bail by various courts.

Mr. Muoma also said the prosecution had a right to appeal if it was dissatisfied with any ruling or proceedings of the court.

He said further that his clients had for too long remained in detention, without substantive trial, arguing that the prayer of the prosecution to adjourn the matter till witnesses are protected was a ploy to further detain the clients.

Mr. Muoma said the law provides for the prosecution to invite the defendant to court for arraignment.

He said the section states that when the case is called, the defendant appears voluntarily after court sermons or is brought to court by a court warrant.

But in the event where the complainant fails to appear and make its matters known in court, the case could be struck out.

Mr. Kanus lead counsel therefore asked the court to give an order for the prosecution to proceed with the matter or strike out the case.

He also prayed the court to discharge his clients after striking out the case and issue a restriction order, preventing any further arrest of the three defendants by the SSS or any other agency for related offences.

But in his response, prosecution counsel, Mohammed Diri, who is also the Deputy Director of Prosecution in the Office of the Attorney General, said the law cited by the defence counsel talks basically about the absence of the complainant, stressing that the complainants in this case were fully present in court.

Mr. Diri then stated that his request bordered on a variation of the court order made on February 19 for the presentation of witnesses in such manner, as to accommodate a section for the protection of the said witnesses.

But Mr. Muoma objected, stressing that an application for such a variation should have been made in a written document within 14 days after the order was made requesting the appearance of witnesses in court, not as a verbal request before the court.

Mr. Diri however prayed the court to grant a short adjournment to allow him prepare a written request for a variation of the court order.

In his ruling, Mr. Tsoho noted that Section 351 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act mentioned must be considered in relation to the complainant in this matter.

For the provision to apply, it must first be ascertained who the complainant is, said the judge.

Mr. Tsoho said the matter before him is between the three defendants and the federal government  represented by Mr. Diri.

He therefore ruled that the said provision does not apply in the quest to dismiss the matter as tabled before him.

Mr. Tsoho further ruled that the request made by Mr. Diri does not vary much with the Order Three of the courts ruling on February 19.

The judge, who noted that the court had previously ruled against the masking of witnesses, however gave an order (Order 3), which allowed for the presentation of witnesses protected from identification by the general public.

He said the screened witnesses would be visible to the defendants and the counsel.

In the light of this, the court is disposed to granting the application sought by the learned DPP, the judge ruled.

The case was adjourned till March 9 for presentation of the masked witnesses.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel said they would contest the decision of the court.
The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, on Monday appealed to Nigerians to report to the police whenever they are in distress, promising prompt action to their complaints.

Mr. Arase who spoke against the backdrop of the poor handling of Ese Orurus abduction case, urged the people not to judge the police based on the matter.

The IGP, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES through the Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said the officers who received report of Miss Orurus abduction and failed to act were already being investigated.

He argued that the case of the abducted minor would not have degenerated to a public outcry if the officers who got the report acted promptly within the ambit of the law.

The officers who mismanaged the case when it was reported both in Bayelsa and Kano are facing administrative investigation, the IGP said.

The IGP insisted that the case of the abducted minor came to his attention on Friday, February 26, adding that he immediately swung into action and ensured the girl was not only freed but her abductor was taken in.

We admit that the case was not properly handled by the police when it was reported as far back as August last year and that was why it degenerated to the situation we found last week.

But as soon as we got to know about it at the headquarters, it didnt take long for the whole issue to be resolved and the culprit arrested. Now investigation is on with a view to prosecuting the suspect.

Mr. Arase, therefore, advised Nigerians to report whenever they are in distress, promising that the Police would take prompt action to address such situation.

When people do not report to the police when they are distressed, the police will not know and cannot help in such situations, he said.

Where the police at the first point of report do not take immediate action, he advised that a report should be lodged at the division and or state command.

However, when the divisional and state commands do not take appropriate action and on time, he advised that a petition be written to his office.

Instead of resorting to newspapers and the social media to report cases, Nigerians should avail themselves of the services of the police. We are ready to serve the people, the IGP explained.

Nobody is above the law and we are ever ready and willing to do everything within our powers to keep Nigerians safe and also safeguard the rights of the people.

Miss Oruru was abducted from her Bayelsa home about eight months ago, and her parents, after trailing her to Kano battled for months to have her back. They did not succeed.

Her case however caught the attention of the Nigerian authorities and citizens after the PUNCH newspaper did a detailed story on the matter.
A pensioner, Rose Arabameh Julius, has donated her entire monthly pension of N10,000 to support the Buhari administrations war against corruption, the presidency has said.

According to a statement by the presidency, Mrs. Julius, who retired as a cleaner from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, also promised to contribute N1,000 every month towards the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons.

She said that she was making the donation because she was convinced that President Muhammadu Buhari is a tested man of integrity who can be trusted to restore the lost glory of Nigeria and drastically curb corruption in the country, the statement, made available to PREMIUM TIMES in Abuja, said.

The pensioner also commended the Presidents efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency and rehabilitate internally displaced persons, the statement said.

Receiving the donation on behalf of President Buhari, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, thanked Mrs. Julius for her faith in the Buhari administration.

We have a pact with Nigerians to change things for the better and we are on the right track. President Buhari and his team are working tirelessly to revamp the economy, combat terrorism and curb corruption, Mr. Adesina was quoted as saying.
The Chief of South African National Defence Force, General Zakaria Shoke has re-affirmed his countrys willingness to work with the Nigerian Armed Forces to the benefit of the two countries, the Nigeria defence headquarters has said.

A statement by the spokesperson for the defence headquarters, Rabe Abubakar, quoted General Shoke as making that commitment when he visited the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin in his office in Abuja.

The statement by Mr. Abubakar, a Brigadier General, said, The Chief of South African National Defence Force promised to support Nigeria in its quest to end Boko Haram in the country.

General Shoke further maintained his Armed Forces commitment to the development of the Nigerian military in the area of capacity building, exchange programme and logistics support, among others.

He said Nigeria is very important to South Africa, hence the need to working together for the benefit of both countries, especially now when Nigeria is fighting Boko Haram.

While responding, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olonisakin thanked the South African Chief of National Defence Force for the visit and solicited for more cooperation in defence related matters. This, he said would go a long way in strengthening the two countries bilateral cooperation.

General Olonisakin also requested for training of more Special Forces and other equipment that could be used in the operations against Boko Haram which has been substantially decimated and degraded. He said the war against terror is closing up and would soon end.

The occasion also witnessed briefing from the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces who stated the need for logistics and training support to further terminate the war against Boko Haram soon.
Six members of the House of Representatives representing Ekiti State have condemned last Fridays invasion of the State House of Assembly by the State Security Service, describing the action as a desecration of the hallowed chamber of the state legislature.

In a joint statement in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, the members: Kehinde Agboola (Ekiti North I), Thaddeus Aina (Ekiti North II), Ayo Oladimeji (Ekiti Central I), Olamide Oni (Ekiti Central II), Segun Adekola (Ekiti South I), and Akin Awodumila (Ekiti South II), all of the Peoples Democratic Party, said the SSS veered off its constitutional roles of protecting Nigerians against domestic threats and intelligence gathering.

The lawmakers alleged that the SSS was investigating academic qualifications of some members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and political appointees.

We dont understand the relationship between the internal security of Nigeria that the DSS is to protect and academic qualifications of political appointees, the statement said.

They accused the SSS of usurping the duties of the police, military, and other security agencies.

We condemn in strong terms, the last Friday invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly complex and we call on other lovers of democracy in the country to rise against this emerging tyranny which is threatening to jeopardize democratic governance in the country, the statement said.

Most importantly, we wish to state expressly that the DSS under President Buhari is becoming an instrument of political oppression, such that the agency has abandoned its constitutional responsibilities in pursuit of matters that should be handled by the police and other security agencies.

For instance, what is the business of the DSS with election funding? Is the DSS now INEC, EFCC or ICPC? Is the DSS the police that it is now arresting people for mere political disagreements?

The lawmakers said the state should not be subjected to the destabilizing force of the federal government.

We also wish to express our solidarity with the State House of Assembly and the 26 PDP members, the federal lawmakers said.

They should know that they are not alone in this battle to sustain democracy in Ekiti State, we are with them.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said he will have to reconsider the presence of operatives of the State Security Service at the Government House and other establishments in the state following the alleged invasion of the state House of Assembly on Friday.

He said the SSS under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari was now operating outside its constitutional mandate.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Mr. Fayose said he and the people of the state would not be intimidated by one million armed men of the SSS.

The government of Ekiti State may have to reconsider the usefulness of men of the DSS in the government house and other institutions of the State government, Mr. Fayose said.

He said the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was pursuing a clandestine agenda of truncating democracy in Ekiti State and other Peoples Democratic Party-controlled states like Rivers and Bayelsa.

If Buhari likes, let him relocate all DSS men in Nigeria with the entire ammunition in their armoury to Ekiti, the will of Ekiti people can never be broken, he said.

They will only try, and like they have always done, they will fail because dictatorship has never triumphed over the people.

Even Buharis dictatorship between 1984 and 1985 ended one day and Nigerians will also outlive his present dictatorship.

The governor said the SSS under Lawal Daura had abandoned its core mandate of providing intelligence for the protection of the internal security of Nigeria as provided in the Security Agencies Act Cap. N74 LFN, 2004.

Instead of assisting the police, military and other security agencies with classified matters, we now have a DSS that is running after perceived opponents of the president, arresting goat and fowl thieves as well as husbands who assaulted their wives, he said.

If the DSS was alive to its responsibilities, we wont be having Boko Haram insurgents killing Nigerians, all these kidnappings and Fulani herdsmen killings, raping and destroying farmlands in the South-West, South-East and North-Central zones in the country would have been nipped in the bud.

Mr. Fayose also noted that the same way President Buhari used the National Security Organisation (NSO), headed by Ambassador Mohammed Lawal Rafindadi from Katsina State, is the same way the President is using the SSS, headed by another of his kinsman, Lawal Daura to harass, oppress and intimidate Nigerians.

It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari and his APC and those keeping silent now because of politics may also end up in the belly of this roaring lion that is threatening to consume our democracy, he warned.

Therefore, Nigerians and the international community should take special notice of the use of the DSS and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to muscle opposition.

As for me, I wish to say once again that I am not among those Nigerians that are afraid of harassment by any agency of the federal government.

I make bold to state that in the overall interest of democracy and well-being of Nigerians, I will continue to speak my mind on issues bordering on governance in Nigeria. I will not be intimidated.
An All Progressives Congress senator, Dino Melaye, has divulged his last discussion with the late Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, who died with his wife and son on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway while returning to Abuja from Kaduna.

I spoke with him this morning and we agreed that we were going to have a chat when he comes back from Kaduna, Mr. Melaye told journalists in Abuja, on Sunday.

We have lost somebody, we have lost a great Nigerian, we have lost an intellectual and lawyer. We have lost a great Kogite. I am shocked.

We discussed issues that relate to the socio-economic development of our state. We discussed issues relating to the political development of Kogi State. It is unfortunate that we have lost a great son and Nigerian.

The senator said Mr. Ocholis death created a big vacuum in Nigeria.

His death is a major setback for Nigeria because the intellectual sagacity and contribution of Ocholi cannot be quantified. It is painful. When we spoke, we discussed issues that relate to the development of Kogi State.
The mother of a member of Kano State House of Assembly representing Duguwa Constituency, Salisu Riruwai, has been kidnapped by gunmen.

Kano State Police Commissioner, Muhammad Katsina, confirmed the abduction, saying Hafsat Abubakar was kidnapped on Sunday in her Riruwai village home in Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State.

He said the mission of the kidnappers was to abduct the legislator, but the old woman was picked in his absence.

The police commissioner confirmed arrest of four suspects.

The legislator, Salisu Riruwai, said the kidnappers, after abducting his mother, attempted to kidnap some expatriates working on a quarry in the village.

Mr. Muhammad said he suspected cattle rustlers were responsible for the abduction.
The desire for good governance in Nigeria has received a boost with a royal fathers blessing in the form of a N250m endowment of a professorial chair at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

Announcing this at a press conference at Ijebu Ode, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Sikiru Adetona, explained that he wanted to see Nigeria take giant strides in the area of good governance stemming from quality education, research, mentorship and community engagement.

Education has a pivotal role to play in the quality of governance. So I decided to lend my little support in this area, being a royal father. So I make this move with high hopes that it will help the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye start a production-line of leaders who will be molded for good governance, Oba Adetona said.

While thanking the Awujale for the kind gesture, the Vice Chancellor of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Saburi Adesanya, said the endowment was in sync with the Institutions philosophy of seeking to give useful learning to its students who will be encouraged to cultivate a worldview that facilitates not only the continuous pursuit of academic and moral excellence but also developing competence in reducing the societys disease.

The Awujale said the university earned his respect because of how it had impacted on the public since it came into existence in 1982, hence, his willingness to support the university to do more.

I have followed with keen interest the impact the university has been making since inception in 1982 and strongly feel that this endowment will help them achieve more to the benefit of mankind, he said.

On his interest in western education as custodian of culture, Oba Adetona said that was a move with the times.

Time was when governance, as it is known today, resided with royal fathers and traditional institutions, the monarch said. With the times we are in, people still expect us as royal fathers to exert some form of influence on the political class, whereas there is no provision in the constitution empowering us to exercise direct control over them. So I reckon that the best way to make this influence effective is through constructive institutional engagement, mentorship and research. These are areas I am convinced this endowment can be very impactful.

With this initiative, Oba Adetona said he hoped to lure the best brains from across the world to the university to fertilise the university community, with a view to achieving a level of cross-fertilisation that would impact positively on the larger community.

I am confident that the university will make the most of this opportunity and attract the best brains in good governance, corporate and political leadership to fertilise the students, staff and indeed the entire university community with a view to raising and unleashing good governance champions on the Nigerian community, he said.

Oba Adetona said he was optimistic that Nigeria would benefit from the initiative and enjoined other well-meaning people to lend their support to such good causes.

The vice chancellor pledged that the university would strive to live up to the desires of the founding fathers now reinforced by the Awujales support.

The university shall be rooted in its community and act, at all times, as a beacon and symbol of the spirit of the community, Prof Adesanya said. Therefore, we will strive to fulfill the expectations of the Awujale with efforts to cultivate a distinct tradition and character that reflect those values that would give our host and national communities distinctive identity in quality leadership.

The inaugural lecture for the endowment is billed for Thursday, March 10, 2016, at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Prof Akin Mabogunje would analyse the Issues and Challenges of Governance in Nigeria at the lecture, while an elite panel of discussants, including former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II would further dissect the topic.
A suspected member of Boko Haram, who allegedly fled Maiduguri, has been arrested in Ogun State.

The 22-year old suspect, identified as Muktar Umar, was paraded on Monday by the Ogun State Police Command after his arrest in Kara area of Ifo Local Government Area of the state.

The state commissioner of police, Abdulmajid Ali, said Mr. Umar fled the insurgents base, following the heat being experienced by them in the hands of the joint military task force.

He said the suspect thereafter sneaked out of Maiduguri to Isheri area of Lagos State as his first contact.

The police chief said the suspect later relocated to Kara community along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where the police arrested him.

The commissioner also said the suspect was apprehended after a tip-off.

Fielding questions from journalists, the suspected terrorist denied membership of Boko Haram sect, saying it was his friend, identified as Mustapha, that was declared wanted by the police for terrorism.

He said he was wrongly declared wanted by the authorities alongside his friend.

Mr. Umar said he decided to relocate to Kara community three years ago on the advice of his father.

Meanwhile, the command also paraded five suspects in connection with kidnapping, as well as a canoe used in ferrying victims.
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.




LONDON, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominent banking and finance partner Ian Frost has joined Vinson & Elkins in London, strengthening the firm's global Finance Practice.

Frost was previously a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. His arrival comes on the heels of private equity partner Paul Dunbar, who joined V&E in February from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

"Ian has spent his career immersed in handling the needs of London's most prominent banking and finance clients, and he brings a wealth of knowledge to the table," said Erec Winandy, co-head of the firm's Finance Practice. "His multi-national experience is a perfect fit for V&E's growing Finance Practice and we couldn't be happier that he's joined our team."

Frost has a broad range of experience across the banking products with a focus on leveraged and distressed lending as well as corporate treasury transactions, bank/bond financings and restructurings. His clients, for whom he has handled an array of financings, have included leading private equity firms, international banks and companies such as BC Partners, Deutsche Bank and Permira.

"The opportunity that this move to V&E presents was too good to pass up," Frost said. "The firm's culture of collaboration across practices and offices throughout the world is particularly exciting, and I am thrilled to be a part of it."

Frost received his law degree from Oxford University and is admitted to practice in England and Wales. He has extensive experience in cross-border transactions and spent seven years working in Frankfurt.

"Since opening in London in 1971, the city has been a key market for V&E and we are extremely focused on continuing to build our presence there," said Alex Msimang, managing partner of V&E's London office. "Ian is exactly the type of partner we look for at the firm and we know he will be an excellent fit."

The firm's London office recently relocated to new offices on 8 February 2016 at 20 Fenchurch Street, widely known as the "Walkie Talkie" building because of its distinctive shape.

In January, V&E added partner Trevor Wommack to the Finance Practice in Houston. Wommack focuses his practice on syndicated lending in the energy sector.

V&E's Finance Practice consists of more than 50 attorneys. The group is active in a diverse array of financing transactions, and is particularly strong in the energy sector, where it represents arrangers, mezzanine investors and other alternative lenders, financial sponsors and corporate borrowers throughout the energy chain, including upstream oil and gas, midstream, refining, oilfield services, power generation and distribution and renewables.

Vinson & Elkins RLLP is an international law firm with approximately 650 lawyers across 15 offices worldwide. For more information, please contact Richard Giles at +44.20.7065.6053 or Melissa Anderson at +1.713.758.2030.

Related Links

http://www.velaw.com



SOURCE Vinson & Elkins
EMERITUS will make top-tier business education accessible and affordable to working professionals globally.

SINGAPORE, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In collaboration with three of the world's leading business schools, EMERITUS Institute of Management launched today with a mission to bring quality, top-tier business education to emerging leaders throughout the world. The founding academic institutions include MIT Sloan Executive Education, Columbia Business School Executive Education and Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth College. Each founding academic institution plays a unique and pivotal role in establishing the academic rigor of the Institute.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/340932LOGO

EMERITUS offers management programs to a student base of accomplished mid-level managers at organizations across the globe with a special focus on high growth markets in Asia, Middle East & Africa, India & China. Programs are delivered via EMERITUS' "Globally Connected Classroom." Faculty lectures comprise one-third of the learning and are delivered online. Action learning and peer-to-peer learning make up two-thirds of the learning and are implemented through small groups of four to six students. EMERITUS takes a cohort based approach to teaching and places strong emphasis on experiential learning through simulations, role plays and projects.

"Using technology and curriculum innovation, EMERITUS opens doors for tens of thousands of working professionals who want to pursue a high-quality education while continuing to work, offering them access to an affordable business education," says Ashwin Damera, Executive Director and Member of the Academic Board of EMERITUS. "I benefitted tremendously from my top-tier MBA. The team at EMERITUS has been educated by the top business schools in the world. We want to provide access to a much larger global audience and give them the skills needed to be the business leaders of tomorrow."

"Our collaboration with EMERITUS Institute of Management expands considerably on MIT Sloan Executive Education's digital capabilities and provides access to our faculty's lectures and learning materials for the next generation of managers in parts of the world where a top-tier management education might not otherwise be reachable or affordable," said Peter Hirst, Associate Dean of Executive Education at MIT Sloan School of Management.

Breaking down barriers for the global professionals of tomorrow

EMERITUS provides:

Accessibility: EMERITUS.org uses technology to make top-tier business education accessible to a global audience, without students having to leave their full-time jobs.

EMERITUS.org uses technology to make top-tier business education accessible to a global audience, without students having to leave their full-time jobs. Affordability: One-year programs cost US$4,000 , and shorter duration, 6-8 week certificate programs are US$500-$750 .

One-year programs cost , and shorter duration, 6-8 week certificate programs are . An innovative curriculum: In addition to core subjects like finance, marketing, strategy and leadership, students are also taught topics that assume greater importance in today's business environment, including cross-cultural negotiation, design thinking, digital business, building social networks and virtual collaboration.

To learn more about the EMERITUS Institute of Management, please visit emeritus.org.

About EMERITUS Institute of Management (www.emeritus.org)

EMERITUS Institute of Management offers management education programs in collaboration with three top-ranked business schools: MIT Sloan Executive Education, Columbia Business School Executive Education and Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth College. Using technology and curriculum innovation, EMERITUS opens the door for working professionals across the globe who cannot enroll in full-time business programs, offering them access to a top-tier and affordable education that will give them the skills needed to be the business leaders of tomorrow.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Rand

RF|Binder

(212) 994-7648

Lindsay.Rand@rfbinder.com

Related Links

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SOURCE EMERITUS Institute of Management
DUBLIN, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xdw5t8/dairy_processing) has announced the addition of the "Dairy Processing Equipment Market - Global Forecast to 2020" report to their offering.

The global dairy processing equipment market is projected to reach $10.90 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2015 to 2020.

The growth of this market is attributed to the increasing demand for consumption of dairy products and technological advancements in dairy processing equipment. The major drivers are the rising global consumer demand for dairy products, increasing dairy production, changing needs, taste & preferences among consumers, and growing demand for healthier and palatable dairy products.

The emergence of high income urban population group has changed the pattern of milk use. They show the preference for processed milk and milk products over ordinary raw milk because ordinary raw milk is relatively much more perishable and susceptible to disease and processed milk and milk products are convenient to handle and have higher value and facilitate large scale use.

The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market for dairy processing equipment in the world. India is the largest producer of milk in the world. Hence, the market for pasteurizers and homogenizers has been consistently rising in the Indian dairy processing equipment market.

Target Audience:

Raw material and manufacturing equipment suppliers

Dairy farms

Agriculture institutes

R&D institutes

Technology providers

Wholesalers

Dealers

Dairy products manufacturers/suppliers

Retailers

Companies Profiled:

A&B Process Systems

Alfa Laval Corporate Ab

Feldmeir Equipment, Inc

GEA Group

IMA Group

Idmc Limited

SPX Corporation

Scherjon Equipment Holland B.V.

Tetra Laval International S.A.

The Krones Group

Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Industry Trends

7 Market, By Type

8 Market, By Application

9 Market, By Region

10 Competitive Landscape

11 Company Profiles

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xdw5t8/dairy_processing

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5l2qwz/hernia_mesh) has announced the addition of the "Hernia Mesh Devices Market - Global Forecast to 2020" report to their offering.

The global hernia mesh devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.0% from 2015 to 2020 to reach a market size of USD 3.73 Billion by 2020.

According to information available from hospital morbidity database (HMDB), HCUP, and others, it is estimated that around 10.9 million hernia repair surgeries were performed globally in 2014, and this number is projected to reach -12 million by 2020, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 1.8% from 2015 to 2020.

This report studies inguinal, umbilical, hiatal, femoral, incisional, and other types of hernia. Inguinal hernia is the most common type and constituted 55.8% of the total number of hernia surgeries in 2014, followed by incisional/ventral hernia repair surgeries at 17.2%. Femoral hernia occurs very rarely and accounted for just 1.5% of the total hernia repair surgeries in 2014.

Obesity, excessive physical activity, and age are the main factors responsible for the occurrence of hernia. Of the 10.9 million hernia surgeries globally in 2014, majority of surgeries were performed in APAC, followed by Europe and Americas. However, since the price of mesh constitutes the major portion of the surgery cost, majority of the patient pool from underdeveloped and developing countries either don't take treatment or choose suture over mesh.

Due to this, in terms of total hernia repair surgeries performed using mesh, the Americas accounted for majority of surgeries. However, due to its huge patient pool, APAC contributed largest share in terms of volume of the total hernia surgeries, followed by Europe and the Americas, in 2014.

The Americas led the market in terms of volume or consumption of hernia mesh implants, followed by Europe and APAC. In terms of revenue, America holds the largest share, followed by Europe and APAC in 2014. The scenario is not expected to change much, although APAC is expected to grab some share from Europe and America due to betterment of healthcare infrastructure and increasing awareness about hernia repair surgeries in this region.

Companies Mentioned:

Atrium

B. Braun Melsungen Ag

C.R. Bard Inc.

Ethicon, Inc.

Lifecell Corporation

Medtronic

W.L. Gore & Associates

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5l2qwz/hernia_mesh

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

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press@researchandmarkets.com

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Recognition Signifies the Influence that a Wearable Device and Internet of Things-Driven Initiative has on the Life Insurance Market in Australia

ATLANTA, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of announcing the successful rollout of the Australian-based MLC On Track wellness program, Big Cloud Analytics Inc. (BCA), a leading provider of predictive analytics technology to the insurance industry, today announces that it is the joint recipient of the IDC Financial Insights Innovation (FII) Award. BCA shares the award with MLC, the wealth management division of the National Australia Bank Group. They are being recognized for their work in developing the MLC On Track Program, a wellness initiative powered by BCA's COVALENCE Health Analytics Platform.

The IDC FII Awards recognize financial institutions in Asia/Pacific that display technological innovations to achieve business objectives. MLC On Track, which is introducing the program to thousands of customers in 2016, won for the Big Data & Analytics category. The FIIA provides a clear indication of how the Asia/Pacific financial services industry leverages technology as a driver of innovation and competitive differentiation.

"The immediate success of MLC On Track and subsequent recognition from IDC further proves that applying real-time predictive analytics to data from wearable devices is changing the way that insurers underwrite and engage customers," says J. Patrick Bewley, CEO, Big Cloud Analytics. "With IDC projecting IoT spending to reach $1.7 trillion in 2020, the revolutionary MLC On Track Program and similar disruptive use cases are poised for dramatic growth."

The MLC On Track wellness initiative leverages COVALENCE's analytics platform to capture, organize and score Internet of Things (IoT) data generated by the Intel Basis Peak fitness and sleep trackers and other data sources. This powerful data is presented to participants via personalized dashboards with actionable trends and scores, triggered messaging, content and programs. As a result, MLC is able to encourage and reinforce improved health behaviors for program participants.

"In a very short time with BCA's COVALENCE platform, we've been able to analyse over 102 million heart beats from Australians. We're learning more and more about our customers every day," says Fiona Guscott, chief underwriter at MLC.

In the MLC On Track program, customers will be provided with wellness scores, calculated by COVALENCE, based on several factors including step count, hours of activity, sleep duration and average resting heart rate. All of this data is captured by Intel Basis Peak fitness and sleep trackers.

When customers meet their wellness target within 160 days, the customer will receive a five percent discount on premiums. Customers have two opportunities to do this, and so can receive up to 10 percent off premiums for the life of their policy.

COVALENCE Health Analytics Platform: The Engine that Drives MLC On Track

COVALENCE, BCA's proprietary health analytics platform, drives the analytics piece of MLC On Track by ingesting millions of data points from users in real-time and then arranging it in user-friendly dashboards designed for both MLC and individual program participants. The unique analytics presented in the dashboards are based on the large amount of contextual data generated by wearable device users. Ultimately, this reveals a deeper understanding of the population. For the user, it can also signal early warning signs of wellness challenges, detect biometric changes and predict bio-age, gender and Body Mass Index (BMI).

BCA's COVALENCE Health Analytics Platform is based on science from BCA co-founder Dr. V. Kumar PhD, the most published engagement data scientist in the world, based on his more than 25 years of customer engagement math and science. He also received medial guidance from population health expert Dr. Gaurov Dayal. For more information on the platform, click here.

About Big Cloud Analytics

Big Cloud Analytics leads the market in real-time predictive analytics technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). Recognized in 2015 by Intel as a Health Innovation Award Finalist and by CIO Review as one of the Top 100 most promising companies in Big Data globally, the Company provides disruptive insurance solutions through its proprietary COVALENCETM Analytics Platform. Big Cloud serves Life and Health Insurance as well as Hospitals and Clinical Research.

For more information, visit www.bigcloudanalytics.com.

Big Cloud Analytics and COVALENCE are trademarks of Big Cloud Analytics, Inc.

Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Basis, Basis Peak and their logos are trademarks of Basis Science, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

About MLC

As National Australia Bank's wealth management division, MLC is committed to providing investment, superannuation, insurance and financial advice to corporate, institutional and retail customers. Our wealth management expertise, coupled with the strength of being within the NAB Group, enables us to provide holistic financial solutions for customers. For over 125 years MLC has been helping our customers create the best possible future.

About The Financial Insights Innovation Awards (FIIA)

Each year, IDC Financial Insights invites banks across Asia/Pacific to nominate initiatives that they believe warrant special recognition in the area of innovation. The FIIA recognizes the successes of these institutions in displaying innovation to achieve business objectives. The FIIA provides a clear indication of how the Asia/Pacific financial services industry leverages technology as a driver of innovation and competitive differentiation.

MEDIA CONTACT

Melissa Hudson

Trevelino/Keller

(404) 214-0722 x102

mhudson@trevelinokeller.com

Related Links

http://www.bigcloudanalytics.com



SOURCE Big Cloud Analytics, Inc.
BALLERUP, Denmark, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Data presented in a Late Breaking Science session at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) in Washington, D.C. demonstrate that calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate 50 micrograms/g / 0,5 mg/g) foam formulation is a stable supersaturated solution of the active ingredients, compared to calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate 50 micrograms/g / 0,5 mg/g ointment in which the active ingredients are suspended.[1] The data presented at AAD showed that no calcipotriol or betamethasone dipropionate crystals were identified in the foam spray following application and for up to 18 hours. However, crystals were present immediately upon application of the ointment formulation. These data may provide a potential explanation for the improved clinical efficacy observed in clinical trials.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130221/595427 )

"We are extremely pleased with the results of this preclinical study, which continue to build our base of evidence to support the efficacy for our product and illustrate why this treatment can make a difference to people living with psoriasis vulgaris," said Gitte Aabo, President and CEO of LEO Pharma. "The data presented at AAD highlight the supersaturation of the product and provide further of evidence of how the product can help patients living with psoriasis vulgaris."

The calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate foam has shown increased skin penetration[2] and improved clinical efficacy[3],[4] compared to the calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate ointment. In a Phase II head-to-head clinical trial conducted in 376 subjects with plaque psoriasis, 54.6% of patients using once-daily calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate 50 micrograms/g / 0,5 mg/g) foam achieved treatment success as determined by Investigator's Global Assessment at Week 4 compared to 43% of patients using the calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate 50 micrograms/g / 0,5 mg/g ointment treatment (p=0.025).[4]

"Supersaturation is important for a topical treatment from a dermatological perspective, as it has been shown to improve how effectively a medicine can penetrate the skin," said Dr. Richard Warren, Senior Lecturer and study author. "The results of this study provide a potential explanation that, at least in part, may help us understand why the foam formulation of calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate was more effective than the ointment in skin penetration and clinical efficacy."

About Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease, which is frequently accompanied by multiple physical and/or psychological comorbidities, such as metabolic syndrome and psoriatic arthritis.[5]

Psoriasis is estimated to affect about 2-4% of the population in western countries.[6] 80% of patients are affected by psoriasis vulgaris - the most common type of psoriasis.[7]

Topical treatments are first-line therapies for the majority of patients suffering from psoriasis.[7]

About LEO Pharma A/S

LEO Pharma helps people achieve health skin. By offering care solutions to patients in more than 100 countries globally, LEO Pharma supports people in managing their skin conditions.

Founded in 1908 and owned by the LEO Foundation, the healthcare company has devoted decades of research and development to delivering products and solutions to people with skin conditions.

LEO Pharma is headquartered in Denmark and employs around 5,000 people worldwide.

For more information about LEO Pharma, visit http://www.leo-pharma.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/leopharmagloba l

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/leohealthyskin

Visit us at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/leo-pharma



References

Warren R, et al. Supersaturation of calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate - facilitating the improved clinical efficacy of the fixed combination spray foam LEO90100 (calcipotriene 0.005% (Cal) plus betamethasone dipropionate 0.064% (BD)) as compared to other formulations of Cal/BD (abstract) Hollesen Basse L; ESDR 2014; Copenhagen, Denmark ; Poster 192 Leonardi et al; J Drugs Derm 2015;14;12; 1468-82 Koo et all; Superior Efficacy of calciotriene and betamethasone dipropionate aerosol foam versus ointment in patients with psoriasis vulagaris - a randomized phase II study. J Dermatol Treat 2016; 2; 120-127 Taraska V, et al. Fixed combination aerosol foam calcipotriene 0.005% (Cal) plus betamethasone dipropionate 0.064% (BD) exhibits no impact on the HPA axis and calcium homeostasis in patients with extensive psoriasis vulgaris: a multicenter, single-arm, Phase II, 4-week MUSE study. Presented at the Skin Disease Education Foundation's 15th Annual Las Vegas Dermatology Seminar & the 11th Annual SDEF Psoriasis Forum, October 30-November 1, 2014 Parisi R, et al. Global Epidemiology of Psoriasis: A Systematic Review of Incidence and Prevalence. The Society for Investigative Dermatology. J Invest Dermatol 2013;133(2):377-85 Reich K, et al. Efficacy of a fixed combination of with calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate topical gel in adult patients with mild to moderate psoriasis: blinded interim analysis of a phase IV, multicentre, randomized, controlled, prospective study. Journal of European Academy of Dermatology Venereology 2014: October (epub ahead of print) DOI: 10.1111/jdv.12774

Global Media Contacts

James Freeman

Global Communications

LEO Pharma A/S

James.Freeman@leo-pharma.com

Tel: +45-31-66-36-37



SOURCE LEO Pharma A/S
DUBLIN, March 7. 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5hq7zq/_state_of) has announced the addition of the " State of Automotive CybersecurityKey Trends, Solutions, OEM Activities, and Vendor Profiles" report to their offering.

Government and consumers are concerned about cyber security in cars, as researchers were able to hack into various OEM models in 2015. This research service identifies key areas that offer scope for technology innovation and discusses cybersecurity initiatives for the automotive industry.

In 2015, cybersecurity, secure data transfers, and data privacy were key challenges for consumers and government authorities. The study discusses OEM initiatives, Tier-1 supplier activities, key trends, specialist security company roles, and future business models for automotive cybersecurity.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive SummaryKey Findings and Changes from 2014

2. Research Scope, Objectives, Background, and Methodology

3. Review of Threats and Overall Security Posture

4. Overview of Cybersecurity Ecosystem

5. OEM Partnerships and Cybersecurity Activities

6. Vendor Profiles

7. Automotive Cybersecurity Recap and Conclusions

Companies Mentioned:

Argus Cybersecurity

Automotive Cybersecurity Ecosystem Participants

Cohda Wireless

Harman 5+1 Layer Security Framework

Security Innovation V2X Solutions

TowerSec

Renesas Electronics Corporation

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5hq7zq/_state_of

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

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SOURCE Research and Markets
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Since opening its doors in November 2015, Green Leaf Boutique Hotel has quickly become the number one choice for tourists who are looking to give back during their holidays.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160306/340846

Projects funded through the revenues of the hotel include:

Supporting a local orphanage

Education programs for a community with over 3000 families

Development & donation of a unique water purification product using an all natural, renewable resource; Seeds from the Moringa tree

With tourism numbers doubling in the past three years, Siem Reap was recently announced as the #2 destination in the world by TripAdvisor. With Angkor Wat as the #1 destination according to Lonely Planet.

"This is a very unique concept we have here. Instead of taking advantage of the massive influx of tourism and profiting from it, we decided to use the revenues from the hotel and do something good. Spreading the Canadian generosity. We strongly promote sustainable tourism, eco-tours, yoga and health retreats. Basically tourism with a cause. You will feel good about your stay knowing that the money you spend here is helping the community." - Says Amir Azimi, Co-founder.

Guests staying at the hotel will also have the chance to take part in several volunteer projects. Recently guests participated in building a shower facility and replacing all of the mattresses and bedding at a local orphanage. (videos of the projects are available below). Another aspect that makes the hotel stand out, is the fact that 80% of the staff grew up at the orphanage that the hotel is now supporting.

"Over the next few months, we are looking at completely taking over management of the orphanage so that we can do major upgrades, provide completely free education and constant medical care for the kids and build a new school on the grounds to provide different education programs for free to the over 3000 families in the community. Everything from health and sanitation, business skills and trades to Moringa education." Says Amir Azimi.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

The co-founders, and operators of Green Leaf Boutique Hotel have over 12 years of experience in humanitarian work, with close to 30 humanitarian deployments worldwide to natural disasters and conflict zones.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Video of the hotel and recent projects at the orphanage can be viewed at: http://thegreenleafboutique.com/videos/index.html

A press kit can be viewed at: http://online.fliphtml5.com/fraf/qfvc/

More high res photos can be downloaded at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qqv4hq4rvyg1d1i/AAD2vdfIP25WElth5_lDTxYsa?dl=0

Members of the media are able to book a press stay at the hotel

To arrange an interview please contact: [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Green Leaf Boutique Hotel
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation for Drug-Free Africa was out in force March 4 when Gauteng Premier Mr. David Makhura led a march against drugs in Eldorado Park, a Johannesburg suburb where drug abuse and drug-related crime have devastated the community. The march was the launch of the Premier's Anti-Substance Abuse Movement and delivered the messagedrugs and substance abuse has no place in our communities.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/340955

Foundation for a Drug-Free Africa Backs Gauteng Premier's #Drugs Must Fall Movement

More than 5,000 joined Mr. Makhura in the march, filling the streets of Eldorado Park in a united stand against drugs.

In his speech today, Mr. Makhura said, "We cannot lose the war against drugs. We cannot allow our youth to be destroyed. I hereby make a special call to religious leaders to take a lead in the fight against social ills such as substance abuse."

Answering that challenge was South African Men of the Year runner-up Maurithus Meiring, Director of Public Affairs of the Church of Scientology Pretoria and Drug-Free World Africa Coordinator. "Mr. Makhura has set a stellar example for all to follow," said Meiring. "We are committed to making Eldorado Park a drug-free community."

Over the past two years, Meiring and his volunteers have distributed some 500,000 Drug-Free World booklets, conducted more than 700 drug education lectures and events and built a network of 34 drug education teams in South Africa. They also reach more than 100,000 people with their drug prevention message each month through social media.

The Church of Scientology provides drug education materials and workshops free of charge to educators, mentors and community leaders for their use in drug education. Anyone wishing to arrange a workshop should contact Mr. Meiring at the Church of Scientology of Pretoria.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Foundation for a Drug-Free Africa
NEW YORK, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Most people (including physicians and alcoholics) are unaware of the FDA-approved medications to fight alcoholism, despite the fact that the US government calls them the 'standard of care for the treatment of alcoholism.'[1]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340348

Instead of medical treatment, the vast majority of doctors send treatment-seeking alcoholics to Alcoholics Anonymous-based 12-step programs which result in a dismal failure rate estimated at 90 percent.[2]

A new book is tackling this treatment problem head on.

'A Prescription for Alcoholics  Medications for Alcoholism' by author Linda Burlison is the first book ever published about FDA-approved medications for alcoholism.

The 550-page book is an extensive look at drugs like naltrexone, acamprosate, baclofen, topiramate, gabapentin, nalmefene and others.

Dr. Nora Volkow, the Director of the US National Institute on Drugs, and Dr. George Koob, Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse are spearheading a new understanding of alcoholism as a complex brain disease, and the medication that can treat it.[3]

Drs. Volkow and Koob are just two of thousands of researchers whose clinical research into medication for alcoholism forms the body of evidence the book cites.

Written in plain English, the book highlights hundreds of studies conducted over many decades into medication that can reduce cravings, help manage alcohol consumption and help troubled drinkers abstain from drinking completely.

A Prescription for Alcoholics  Medications for Alcoholism is available exclusively from Amazon in Kindle and paperback. The first chapter can be read for free through Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature.

The book provides answers to important questions about safety, liver toxicity, side effects, dosage and more.

Most importantly it provides easy-to-read information which can be brought to a doctor's office to help a patient and their physician make an informed decision about treatment choices together.

Burlison began researching for a friend who was fighting a battle with alcoholism. "I started to come across literally hundreds of studies in the world's top medical and scientific journals showing their effectiveness. However, when we asked doctors about them, they had never heard of them. I realized there was a major disconnect between the medical research and what doctors were prescribing," says Burlison.

"Because North American pharmaceutical companies are not marketing them, and 12-step programs like AA don't talk about them, even though research proves these drugs are very effective, nobody knows about them."

"It's a tragedy with massive proportions. I know people who have lost daughters, wives, husbands, friends to this disease, and never knew medication was a real treatment option," says Burlison.

In the United States it is estimated that 18 million Americans suffer from alcoholism, and the World Health Organization has called it the "number one killer."[4]

"Most of the medications, like acamprosate, naltrexone, baclofen, topiramate, gabapentin and several others are generic, and three of those can only be prescribed off-label for alcoholism. These factors mean no pharmaceutical rep will even mention them to a doctor."

"12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous look down on the use of medication. AA is an 80-year old religion-based program which strictly follows a structure developed in the thirties. They will not talk about medical options at meetings."[5]

"And 12-Step programs only support complete abstinence  whereas some of these medications help drinkers reduce and manage their drinking, and don't require complete abstinence."

"There is an enormous gap in our system. There are thousands of top scientists working in this area right now, but there is a gap between their research findings and what the public knows about evidence-based medical care for alcoholics. This book bridges the gap. It provides a picture of the medications that exist, points you to the research behind them as well as additional resources, and gives you what you need to have an informed conversation with your doctor," says Burlison.

Burlison likens the 'learning curve' for medications that can help dependent drinkers to the emergence of antidepressants in the late '80s.

"For example, before drugs like Prozac became available, there was less understanding of depression as an actual illness. But as it and other medications in its class were prescribed and we saw results, treatment with medication became more accepted. As a result, society developed a greater understanding of depression as a complex medical condition needing treatment."

"Today, we are at a similar place with alcoholism. When doctors and dependent drinkers start to learn about these medications and start to see their effectiveness, we'll also gain a better societal understanding that alcoholism is, in fact, another complex brain disease, not a character weakness or something that can only be resolved for everyone in a church basement."

Book Details:

Title: A Prescription for Alcoholics  Medications for Alcoholism

Author: Linda Burlison

Paperback Published: March 2016

ISBN: 978-0997107609

Retail Price: $0.99 (digital); $18.99 (paperback)

(digital); (paperback) Publisher: Stonecutter Books (StonecutterBooks.com)

Contact: [email protected]

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Alcoholics-Medications-Alcoholism/dp/099710760X

Additional Sources of Information about Medication for Alcoholism

US Government Reports:

"Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap Between Science and Medicine - Report", National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse from http://www.casacolumbia.org/addiction-research/reports/addiction-medicine

"Medications for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder  A Brief Guide", Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration

Popular Press:

"Drugs for Alcoholism Don't Have to Lead to Sobriety FDA Says", Bloomberg News, February 2015

"AA Saved My Life, But Now I've Lost my Faith", The Guardian, November 2015 at http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/29/alcoholics-anonymous-saved-my-life-but-i-lost-my-faith

at http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/29/alcoholics-anonymous-saved-my-life-but-i-lost-my-faith "Does Rehab Work", Scientific American, Jul 2011

Scientific Research:

Research from leading medical journals can be found at http://www.aprescriptionforalcoholics.com/resources/research-and-journal-articles/

Leading Scientific Authorities Researching in this Area:

Dr. Nora Volkow , the Director of the US National Institute on Drugs

, the Director of the US National Institute on Drugs Dr. George Koob , Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse

, Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse Dr. Barbara Mason , Director, Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology and Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research

, Director, Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology and Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research Dr. Carolina L Haass-Koffler, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University

Dr. Lorenzo Leggio , M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., Chief of Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology, NIAAA/NIDA

, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., Chief of Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology, NIAAA/NIDA Dr. Markus Heilig , M.D., Ph.D., Former Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Studies (LCS), and Clinical Director of NIAAA's Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research

Visit http://www.aprescriptionforalcoholics.com/press-kit/ for downloadable digital assets, quotes from topic experts, statistics about alcoholism, book synopsis, and more.

Press Release References:

1. Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap Between Science & Practice - CASAColumbia

2. Dodes L. The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry [Internet]. Book.

3. Volkow ND, Koob G. Brain disease model of addiction: why is it so controversial? The Lancet Psychiatry, Elsevier; 2015 Aug 8

4. Glaser G. The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous, The Atlantic. 2015

5. Kraft S. WHO Study: Alcohol Is International Number One Killer, AIDS Second MedicalNewsToday.com. 2011

email [email protected]

Serious press inquiries will receive an immediate reply.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Linda Burlison
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New Delhi, March 2 : The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is expected to deliver on Thursday its verdict on the plea filed against spiritual guru Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival.

Sources in NGT, privy to the development, told IANS on Wednesday that it is the only case lined up for hearing before the special bench of the tribunal on Thursday.

The Art of Living, headed by spiritual guru Ravi Shankar, is organising world cultural festival in the national capital between March 11 and 13 that is expected to be attended by at least 35 lakh people from 155 countries.

One of the petitioners told IANS that Sanjay Parikh, counsel for the petitioners, told NGT that Delhi Development Authority (DDA) should also be fined in the case as the permission granted by the central government's agency to Art of Living, the organising body of the event, is illegal.

"All the three committees formed on the issue in their reports have insisted that environment laws have been violated by the event organisers. Even the DDA in its order passed on December 15, 2015 has violated the norms. So the quantum of punishment for them should be the same as that of organisers of Art of Living," co-petitioner and environmental activist Ritwick Dutta told IANS on Wednesday.

Parikh is representing the activists before the NGT bench while Art of Living is being represented by counsel Rajeev Bansal.

Meanwhile, Art of Living explained to the tribunal on Wednesday that they are not doing any permanent construction on the Yamuna flood-plain which may pose a threat to flora or fauna.
Ghaziabad, March 2 : A man shot dead his wife on Wednesday morning after she stopped him from drinking at their house in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

Sandeep, hailing from Chhapra in Bihar, had a heated exchange with his wife Rupa (23) when she saw him getting ready to drink liquor along with his brother-in-law Vikas in the morning in Agraula locality in Tronica City.

After a brief scuffle, Sandeep allegedly whipped out a countrymade pistol and shot Rupa in the abdomen. As she collapsed, Sandeep and Vikas rushed her to a local hospital where doctors declared her brought dead. The couple was married about eight months ago.

Police later arrested Sandeep and detained Vikas for questioning.

"A case has been registered against Sandeep and efforts are on to recover the pistol," said Shailesh Yadav, incharge of Tronica police station.
Kolkata, March 3 : Over-speeding by commercial vehicles plays a major role in accidental deaths in West Bengal but the state has made no effort to ensure availability and installation of speed governors (speed-limiting device) in commercial vehicles as mandated by the Supreme Court, a central government official said on Thursday.

"Because of improper implementation and lack of enforcement, the desired results for installation of speed governors could not be obtained and achieved, as the state lacked in their intent in the implementation of the speed governor regime and kept on giving relaxation with regard to installation of speed governors," said Kamaljit Soi, member, National Road Safety Council under the road transport and highways ministry told the media here.

Speed governor monitors the speed of a vehicle and controls the vehicle speed within the preset limit.

The installation, for commercial vehicles, was delayed citing non-availability of speed governors in the market with regard to that segment of the motor vehicle, Soi said.

"No effort has, however, been made the state to ensure availability of speed governors to achieve the intent and directions of the Supreme Court as mandated vide its order in PIL No. WPC no 793/2015," he noted.

Soi held a meeting with Bengal's Transport Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Wednesday to expedite the matter to ensure the devices are fitted on or before April 1.

"They should at least start the process now," Soi added.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) told the National Green Tribunal on Thursday that stopping the Art of Living Foundation's World Culture Festival to be held here this month will not serve any purpose.

No permanent construction has taken place at the site; stage, ramps, pontoon bridges and other structures are temporary, made of mud without using any concrete, DDA's counsel Rajeev Bansal told the tribunal.

He said the structures will be removed upon the conclusion of the event, and so stopping the festival at this juncture will not serve any purpose.

The festival, organised by spiritual guru Ravi Shankar's the Art of Living Foundation, is scheduled to be held from March 11 to 13 on a site that is thought to be a part of the environmentally sensitive flood plains of the Yamuna river.

The NGT has given DDA four days to furnish the details of the event. The next hearing of the case has been fixed for March 7.

Environmental activist Manoj Mishra, who filed the plea against the holding of the festival, has insisted that the event should not only be stopped but the tribunal should also impose a fine on the organisers.

"The small water bodies that existed earlier have been filled up, all natural vegetation has also been removed while most of the trees too have been brought down. The preparations for the event have had a severe impact on the environment. Therefore, the event should not only be stopped, in fact Art of Living must be fined and same quantum of punishment should also be imposed on DDA," Mishra told reporters.

The Art of Living Foundation said in a statement that the festival is likely to be attended over three days by more than 35 lakh people from 155 countries.

According to some estimates, about 35,000 people are expected to gather at the temporarily constructed site on the Yamuna flood plains.
Brasilia, March 4 : Brazilian scientists have detected traces of the Zika virus in the common mosquito Culex which means it can potentially transmit the disease, the media reported on Friday.

Tests were conducted on more than 200 Culex mosquitoes. However, the results are still being verified, and there is no evidence to suggest that Culex could contaminate human beings, Xinhua news agency reported.

Until now, it was believed that the only Zika vector is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue and chikungunya.

The discovery was made by the Rio de Janeiro-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and announced on Wednesday in a seminar on Zika.

Fiocruz researchers are now hunting for Culex specimens in areas affected by Zika to determine the extent of Culex carrying the virus in the wild. This study will last for six to eight months before a conclusion is reached.

In Brazilian cities, the Culex is 20 times more common than the Aedes aegypti, say researchers. This kind of mosquito, which can be found worldwide, lays eggs in dirty water, as opposed to the Aedes aegypti, which reproduces in clean water.

The proliferation of the Culex in urban areas is spurred by poor sanitation, a serious issue for poor areas in the country.
New York, March 5 : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for empowerment of women as "agents of change" in a message to mark the upcoming International Women's Day on March 8, the media reported on Saturday.

In poor parts of the world, women still face the risk of dying in the process of giving birth and girls are attacked even today, Xinhua news agency reported citing Ban's statement.

"We can only address these problems by empowering women as agents of change," he said.

"When I arrived at the UN, there were no women leading our peace missions in the field. Now, nearly a quarter of all UN missions are headed by women, far from enough but still a vast improvement," he added.

Ban also said that he has signed nearly 150 letters of appointment to women in positions of assistant secretary-general or under-secretary-general.

While he remained outraged by the denial of rights to women, Ban said he takes heart from the people who act on the knowledge that "women's empowerment leads to society's advancement".

UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuk, also called on the international community to "Step it up for gender equality" in her message to mark the day.

This year's celebration of International Women's Day is the first in the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development said Mlambo Ngcuk.

The new agenda's Sustainable Development Goals include a specific goal to achieve gender equality, she added.

"To arrive at the future we want, we cannot leave anyone behind. We have to start with those who are the least regarded. These are largely women and girls, although in poor and troubled areas, they can also include boys and men," she said.

Moreover, women and girls are at the frontline of the outbreaks of new epidemics, such as Zika virus disease or the impact of climate change, and at the same time are the bulwark to protect their families, work for peace, and ensure sustainable economic growth and social change, she said.

The 2016 theme for International Women's Day is "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality".
Beijing, March 7 : Chinese finance minister said on Monday that business tax in all industries will be replaced by value-added tax (VAT) before May, a concrete step in deepening fiscal and taxation reform.

"The progress in the VAT reform last year was slower than having planned, efforts would be made to meet the May 1 deadline this year," Lou Jiwei, minister of finance, said at a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress annual session.

Starting May 1, the replacement of business tax with VAT will be extended to construction, real estate, finance and consumer services, to ensure that the tax burdens on all industries are reduced, Premier Li Keqiang said in a government work report to the national legislature.

Business tax refers to a levy on the gross revenue of a business while VAT refers to a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production.

A pilot scheme on business tax-to-VAT was tested in 2012.

From 2012 to the first half of 2015, the measure has resulted in tax savings of over $75 billion, accounting for 0.2 percent of GDP in the period, according to a report of China International Capital Corp. Ltd., a joint venture investment bank.

Lou also said his ministry is working with relevant agencies on property taxation and proposals on individual income tax reform.

However, Lou advised people not to hold their expectation too high as the reform will be in "a complicated process".
Washington, March 7 : Senator Bernie Sanders scored a win over the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the Maine Democratic caucus where 30 delegates are at stake.

With 86 percent of the vote counted, the senator from the neighbouring state of Vermont won 64 percent of the vote, compared with 36 percent for the former first lady, Efe news agency reported.

This is the eighth victory for Sanders in the primaries to elect the Democratic candidate for the presidential elections in November, while Clinton leads with twelve victories.

According to the unofficial tally by the media, Clinton arrived at the Maine primary having won already 1,121 delegates, compared with 481 won by Bernie Sanders, while 2,383 are required to achieve the Democratic Party nomination.

Clinton's count includes 458 super delegates, who may vote for any candidate, while Sanders' count includes only 22 super delegates.
Islamabad, March 7 : At least eight people were killed and 14 injured on Monday in a suicide attack in the premises of a court in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

The attacker was intercepted by police stationed in the premises as he attempted to enter the court, Dawn online quoted district police officer Sohail Khalid as saying.

The police fired at the attacker who detonated explosives, Khalid said.

Security and emergency teams reached the site and cordoned off the area, the officer added.

The casualties were transferred to nearby hospital.
Ahmedabad, March 7 : The Pakistan Marine Security Agency (PMSA) has captured at least three Indian boats with 18 fishermen on board in the Arabian Sea off the Jakhau coast in Kutch district of Gujarat.

The boats were captured on Sunday night from near the International Maritime Boundary Line, National Fish Workers Forum Secretary Manish Lodhari told IANS on Monday.

He said, "There might be in all five boats, but we are still waiting for the confirmation from Pakistan."

Since October last year, the PMSA has captured around 63 Indian fishing boats with more than 572 fishermen off the Gujarat coast, Lodhari said.

Investigations have also been launched into the recovery of five abandoned fishing boats near the Sir Creek on Kutch coast during the last three months, including one by a Border Security Force patrol on Friday.

The boat found on Friday is 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. Some ration, water jugs, fishing nets, crabs, diesel and mattresses were found on board.
New Delhi, March 7 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday met top officials to discuss important security matters.

The meeting, termed as "routine" by a home ministry official, assumes importance as it was held in the backdrop of Pakistan sharing information with India that 10 terrorists may have slipped into India to carry out terror strikes in Gujarat during Mahashivratri festivities.

"It was a routine meeting where the minister discusses and takes stock of security situation in the country," the official told IANS.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up across Gujarat and in other parts of the country after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval got a call from his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua that 10 terrorists from two Pakistan-based outfits have entered Gujarat.
Mumbai, March 7 : Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who turned 61 on Monday, felt blessed with the wishes of his mother and fans.

Anupam's mother wished him by applying a tilak on his forehead, and by tying a sacred red threat on his wrist.

The actor even shared a childhood image of himself in his mother's arms, and tweeted: "When a mother wishes her son 'WohorWod Mubarak' (Happy Birthday in Kashmiri), 'years' have nothing to do with it."

Over the years, Anupam has performed stage plays and has worked in the TV and film industry. Earlier this year, the government even recognised his contribution to art with a Padma Bhushan.

On his birthday, the versatile talent, who has remained in the news for his uninhibited comments on socio-political issues, also received messages from his colleagues from the film industry.

Here are some of the messages he received on Twitter:

Manoj Bajpayee: Happy birthday Anupam Kher

Anil Kapoor: When Shimla met Chembur, a great friendship began! Happy Birthday Anupam Kher My partner in style.

Preity Zinta: Anupam Kher, Happy birthday to my all time favourite friend and fellow Shimlaite! Please continue to inspire and amuse us always.

Riteish Deshmukh: Happy Birthday Sir Anupam Kher, one of the most versatile actors I have worked with. Have a blessed one.

Abhishek Bachchan: Here's wishing a very happy birthday to my favourite teacher Anupam Kher big love maharazzi.

Ashoke Pandit: Wishing Anupam Kher a very Happy Birthday. You have always inspired us in so many ways. Loads of love and happiness.

Chetan Bhagat: Anupamp Kher happy birthday!
Kolkata, March 7 : The Tea Board of India began a five-day mock testing session on Monday as a prelude to introducing an electronic system across all the auction centres in the country, sources said.

"Our association was informed about the mock testing for introduction of the pan India auction system. The mock testing session has started today (Monday). The decision for pan India e-auction was taken by the central government and it is being introduced through the Tea Board," Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) chairman Tapan Roychowdhury told IANS.

In a notice to stakeholders, the Board said, "The mock testing in regard to Pan India Auction System is scheduled to be held from 7th March to 11th March, 2016. The installer for the new module (Pan India module) will be available from the NSE.IT engineers stationed at different auction centres."

There are seven auction centres in India- Kolkata, Guwahati, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Kochi, Coonoor and Coimbatore.

The Board also sought feedback or suggestions from the stakeholders after the completion of mock sessions on a daily basis.

Chowdhury said that "switching to a pan India system is a good intention. Auction was conceptualised with the objective of fair price discovery of tea. Rules were framed for it. All the stakeholders had given their opinions to streamlining the rules so that there would be no problem to run the system. Some of our opinions were incorporated but some were not taken."

According to a Tea Board report, the electronic auction system would increase both participation of buyers and offerings of different varieties of teas in larger volumes.

"Pan India Auction system will enable the buyers registered with a single auction centre to participate in the auction process of other centres as well," it said.

A total of 532.67 million kg of tea was sold through e-auction centres in 2014-15.

Chowdhury said, "Currently e-auction is centre-specific. A buyer who wants to participate in an auction at a centre has to register himself with that particular centre. A registered buyer at the Kolkata auction centre will be allowed to participate at the Siliguri auctions only if he is registered with that centre."

He, however, added, "Pan India auction should coincide with Goods & Service Tax (GST). The idea of pan India auction will be a non-starter unless a uniform tax rate is levied across states."
Chennai, March 7 : Tata Motors Ltd. along with Bharat Forge Ltd. and the US-based General Dynamics Land Systems will develop the future infantry combat vehicle (FICV) for the Indian armed forces, the company said on Monday.

In a statement Tata Motors said an agreement has been signed with Bharat Forge and General Dynamics for this purpose.

The FICV will replace the Indian Army's fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP-II) series armed vehicles, that are in operation since 1980.

According to the statement, Tata Motors will bring its design, development and integration of mobility platform strengths to the table while Bharat Forge will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths.

On its part General Dynamics will bring its expertise and system of systems integration.

According to the statement, FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle for infantry soldiers and will be compact, tracked and amphibious.

The vehicle will not weigh more than 18-20 tons and will be air-portable.

The firing range of the anti-tank missile will be beyond four kilometres and with capability to carry a three-member crew and eight combat-kitted infantrymen.
New Delhi, March 7 : Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of muzzling the voice of the poor, tribals and the underprivileged.

"Tribals from Bastar and other areas of Chhattisgarh came to see me. They told me they are being oppressed and their voice muzzled by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government," Gandhi told reporters after meeting a delegation of tribals and Congress legislators from Bastar area of Chhattisgarh at his residence.

"You suppressed Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad; here, our students and (JNU student leader) Kanhaiya Kumar is being threatened. Wherever the poor, Dalits, farmers, small-time traders are asking for their rights, the National Democratic Alliance government is crushing their voice," the Congress leader added.

"These poor people are the real strength of the country. They are, in fact, driving it. If anyone breaks law, action must be taken against him, but threatening the poor and repressing their voice will not do any good to anyone," the Congress vice president said.

"Modi ji made a personal attack on me in parliament. Everyday, his partymen also make personal attacks on me. I don't care but please don't attack the poor and the underprivileged," he added.
Seoul, March 7 : South Korea and the US on Monday began their largest annual war games as North Korea's top leader Kim Jong-un warned of a nuclear strike against the US following a nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said.

The largest war exercises so far staged on the Korean peninsula came after North Korea tested its first hydrogen bomb on January 6 and followed up with the launch of a long-range rocket on February 7, which is seen as a test of ballistic missile technology.

The exercises, code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, are scheduled to run till the end of April, Xinhua news agency reported.

The CFC said the UN Command, the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting South Korea during and after the 1950-53 Korean War, had informed the North Korean Army through the truce village of Panmunjom about the dates of the exercises and their non-provocative nature.

Joint amphibious landing manoeuvres, called Ssang Yong exercise, will also be the largest in scale since it was launched in 2012.

South Korea and the US have increased the deployment of surveillance assets against possible provocations from North Korea, which has denounced the war games as a dress rehearsal for a northward invasion.

In face of the US-South Korea war games, Kim had ordered nuclear warheads to be placed on standby for use at any time.

Kim said the enemies were planning to carry out the "beheading operation" that targets the North Korean leadership and its system.

He made the remarks when he guided the test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher, boosting concerns over the already heightened tensions on the peninsula.
Lucknow, March 7 : On Sunday, as the results of the legislative council elections through local bodies were being announced, there was a mad scamper by the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) to bill its winning 23 of the 28 council seats as "acceptance of its development agenda".

In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), licking its wounds over the woeful defeat at the hustings, was terming it the result of the "use of money, power and muscle" by the ruling party.

The two parties that stand at the extreme ends of the political spectrum seem to have sadly read the message wrong.

First, the ruling party's gloating over an indirect election did not behove it since the victory was marred by allegations of intimidation, allurements and arm-twisting.

That apart, only last month the SP was put through an embarrasing situation when it lost two of its seats in the bypolls to the state assembly. This, despite the fact that the SP had fielded family members of its late legislators to cash in on sympathy and sentiments. The voters gave it an emphatic thumbs down. The ruling party won the lone Bikapur assembly seat by a narrow margin.

So, why is there jubiliation in the ruling camp now?

Party insiders say that the ruling dispensation was clinging to every straw that came its way, as many realised that they were facing a strong anti-incumbency move, despite some development work initiated by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

On the eve of the counting for the legislative council polls, three persons were killed in broad daylight in the state capital, pointing to a soaring crime graph and poor law and order situation. That could be the nemesis of the Akhilesh regime in future polls.

The only consolation for the SP is it now has a majority in the upper house of the Uttar Pradesh legislature which will help it push through important legislations for the remainder one year of its term.

At the other end of the spectrum is the BJP, which harbours big dreams of romping back to power in the state after being pushed into political oblivion for more than a decade.

Its hopes of riding on the Modi wave, which gave the party a stunning 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014, seems to have met with serious roadblocks over the past two years. While insiders admit that the party was not "in perfect shape" for the 2017 state assembly polls, publicly it's putting up a brave face despite the rout in the council elections.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, BJP's state spokesman, said the party would prepare itself better for the 2017 polls.

BJP leaders admit that the defeat in the council polls "would certainly have a negative psychological impact" on the cadres. "A loss is a loss and we have to admit that this defeat will have its share of impact on our fortunes," a senior leader told IANS, not wishing to be named.

The BJP has a lot of explaining to do in terms of why it could not find candidates for the 11 seats where it has party MPs. The party will have to also explain why its four candidates crossed over to the ruling Samajwadi Party at the last minute and why it embraced defectors from other parties. Its inability to get enough votes to open an account in the upper house polls will cast a deep shadow on its 2017 assembly polls efforts.

"Such polls generally go the ruling party way. Even during the Mayawati regime, BSP had won maximum number of seats and its now the turn of the SP," said a BJP leader.

He, however, failed to explain why the party chose to contest these polls if it was sure of the drubbing, thus giving a psychological edge to the ruling regime.

The BSP and independents won two seats each and the Congress won from Rae Bareli, where the Lok Sabha seat is held by its president Sonia Gandhi.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
New Delhi/Mumbai, March 7 : The Enforcement Director (ED) on Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, official sources said.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

The businessman and the top executives of what was once Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) had extended to the KFA which the airline failed to repay.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands.

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay last week in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the law, officials said. The flamboyant businessman recently announced his plans to spend more time in England.

He has denied all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled a "wilful defaulter" by lenders. He has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders to settle the debt.

Last month, Mallya agreed to quit as chairman of United Spirits Ltd. in return for a settlement by the British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo.
Amritsar, March 7 : Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Monday presented the coveted President's Standard to 18 Cavalry of the Indian Army at an impressive ceremony here.

General Dalbir Singh is also the Honorary Colonel of the regiment and his father Risaldar Major Ramphal Singh (retd) had served with distinction during the India-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971 as part of this regiment.

The regiment was raised on January 31, 1842.

The 18 Cavalry is a frontline regiment of the Indian Armoured Corps which has participated in a large number of operations undertaken since its raising.

"In the course of discharging its onerous duties, both in operations and in peace, the hard work done and sacrifices made by the valiant soldiers of this Regiment have been duly recognised by the 29 battle and theatre honours received by the Regiment, second highest in the Armoured Corps," an official statement said.

A "Special Day Cover" was also released to mark the day.
Indore, March 7 : Unable to pay back borrowed money, a man in Indore opted to sell off his wife for one lakh rupees and posted the offer along with her photograph on Facebook.

The couple, who married four years ago, have a three-year-old daughter.

Aerodrum police station in-charge Balbeer Singh told reporters on Monday that on the complaint of the woman they have registered a case against her husband Dileep, from Khargone district, under Indian Penal Code Section 509 for disrespecting a woman.

The woman said her husband had a habit of borrowing money. It was due to this habit that they moved to Indore from Sanawad in Khargone district but he started borrowing money in this city as well. She then forced him out of the house when he did not mend his ways.

It was after this that he put up the offer on the social networking site.
Gurgaon, March 7 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday promised entrepreneurs and potential investors in the state all out support by the government in their ventures and assured ease of doing business.

He also hinted at some major economic policy reforms to give a leg-up to industrialisation and economy in Haryana.

"I promise that you will never find my government hesitating or wanting, in going the extra mile to support your ventures. Our enterprises promotion policy, 2015, is just a beginning," Khattar said while delivering the keynote address on the opening day of the two-day 'Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit' here.

"We have planned some major economic policy reforms in the coming days," he said.

When the summit was conceived five months ago, a target of attracting an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore in Haryana was set, as per the enterprise promotion policy announced on August 11, last year.

"I am told by the state chief secretary that the commitments so far have already exceeded this target by 200 percent," he added.

Khattar said his government planned to amend the Factories Act as well as the Payment of Wages Act to facilitate certain categories of businesses and remove anachronistic conditions.

Listing key initiatives taken by his government to make things easy for investors, he said Haryana had already ended the uncertainty over future enhancements in the cost of industrial plots, launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic change of land use in 75 development blocks in the state, done away with the CLU requirement in 31 blocks, and set up three-tier grievance redressal system for both existing and new investors.

With only 1.34 percent of India's geographical area and only 2.09 percent of its population, Haryana contributes 3.51 percent to India's gross domestic product and 4.2 percent to its exports, the chief minister said.

He thanked representatives from China, Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, UK, and Ontario province of Canada for participating in the summit.

"We intend to pass in the coming assembly session the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Bill, 2016," he said and sought entrepreneurs' comments and suggestions for its improvement.
New Delhi, March 7 : Indian Navy chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan on Monday began a visit to Britain to consolidate existing Maritime Cooperation initiative as well as explore new avenues, an official statement said on Monday.

The visit, which will conclude on March 10, also aims on taking forward the vision statement, prepared during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Britain visit in November last year, which among other things, says the two countries want to to work "more closely together" to respond to the threats of terrorism and extremism, cyber-attacks, nuclear proliferation, and violent conflict.

Admiral Dhowan during his visit will hold discussions with the British defence secretary, the First Sea Lord, chief of defence staff, and the other senior officers of the Royal Navy.

"India and United Kingdom have several commonalities, which serve as the foundation for closer cooperation and multi-faceted interactions. Both countries are vibrant, secular and multi-cultural democracies," said the navy statement.

The Indian Navy has had traditional links with the Royal Navy which have come a long way since institutionalisation of various defence fora for enhancing bilateral relationship between the two countries.

With constitution of the Indo-UK Defence Consultative Group (DCG) and the Military Sub Group (MSG) in 1995, a two-tier system of cooperation was established to progress various areas of defence cooperation.

In September 2004, the two countries inked a pact to embark upon a strategic partnership in which defence cooperation figure prominently. Establishment of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks' forum, officially referred to as Executive Steering Group (ESG) is the main mechanism of enhancing cooperation between the two navies.

Indian Navy and Royal Navy are partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS); a Maritime Cooperation construct conceptualised and pioneered by the Indian Navy in 2008. Conduct of the Exercise 'KONKAN 15' from September 5 to 11 of Plymouth was the continuation of a long standing series of exercise between the two navies. The two navies also interact on a host of issues like training, doctrinal concepts, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) among others.
Ranchi, March 7 : A Maoist guerrilla was killed on Monday in a gun battle with security forces in Jharkhand's Palamau district, police said.

The encounter took place in a jungle area under Paki police station of Palamau district which is about 160 km from here, said a police official.

The guerrilla belonging to the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was killed.

Three rifles, live cartridges and some incriminating documents that he had on his person were seized by the police, the official said.

Seven Maoist groups are active in Jharkhand, two of which, PLFI and CPI-Maoist, have been banned by the state government.

As many as 18 of the 24 districts of the state are affected by Maoist violence.
Mumbai/New Delhi/Bengaluru, March 7 : In a double blow to beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai lodged a money laundering case and the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying him $75 million till a case against him was disposed off.

The tribunal barred Diageo plc from paying Rs.5.04 billion ($75 million) as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd. last month, till the pending case against the liquor baron before it is decided.

"The presiding officer of DRT (R. Benkanahalli) ordered temporary attachment of the severance package amount and directed Diageo not to pay it till our case is finally heard and disposed of," counsel for State Bank of India told media persons in Bengaluru.

Reading out the one-page order, Benkanahalli said Mallya shall not temporarily draw the $75 million mentioned in the interlocutory application till the case's disposal.

"Diageo plc and United Spirits Ltd shall not disburse the amount ($75 million) to Mallya or his nominees or agents till the disposal of the bank's original application. Amount as sought by the applicant banks stands attached," the order said.

The tribunal also directed all defendants to furnish details of the agreement on or before next date of hearing (March 28), when it will hear the bank's three other applications, seeking his arrest, impounding of his passport and seizure of his assets.

It also ordered issuing notice of the bank's application to Diageo office in London through registered post.

In another major stumbling block for Mallya, the ED on Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, officials said.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

Mallya and the top executives of the erstwhile KFA have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by the SBI had extended to the airline which it failed to repay.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands, which is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the ED under the PMLA, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

Last week, CBI Director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials concerned.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the Indian laws, officials said.

The flamboyant businessman, who recently announced his plans to spend more time with his family in Britain, as refuted all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled as a "wilful defaulter" by some of the lender banks.

Mallya has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders and the agencies to settle the debt.

Perceived as the 'King of Good Times', last month Mallya quit as USL chairman, the liquor company founded by his family, and sold its majority stakeholding to Diageo in return for a $75 million settlement package.

Mallya had shot into news last week when some former KFA employees wrote an open letter, blaming him for the grounding of the airline and damaging the country's reputation in the aviation industry.

"We are still not able to understand what you meant when you said I don't have money to pay your salaries while the spree continues, let it be Caribbean Premier League or luxurious yacht," said the letter.

Once reputed as the most glamorous and luxurious private airline in the country, KFA feel into bad days and was grounded in October 2012 after a huge financial mess including default of bank loans, dues to oil companies, airports and even staff salaries.
New Delhi, March 7 : Delhi Police has claimed to have arrested a key member of an extortion gang that took about Rs.82 lakh from businessmen in the national capital and Haryana in separate cases.

Arvind Kadyan, 28, one of the members of the gang active here for more than three years, was arrested on Sunday from Najafgarh in western Delhi.

The gang had recently extorted Rs.40 lakh from property dealer Mahender Yadav who belongs to Nangloi in Delhi.

Mahender was "honey-trapped" by a female member of the gang, who made contact with him in December last year on the pretext of selling him her flat, the police said.

"Mahender was abducted at gun point by other three members of the gang when he accompanied the woman to her flat. They held him captive and forced him to call his family members to tell them to arrange Rs.50 lakh urgently for him to strike a property deal," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav said.

"Mahender's family could only manage Rs.40 lakh. The gang collected the money from Mahender's family. Before his release, they made a video showing him in compromising positions with the woman. Mahender was told that the video would go viral if he informed the police," the officer said.

However, Mahender did report the matter to the police. The police then started its investigation leading to the arrest of Arvind Kadyan.

Kadyan told police that he along with his associates Sandeep, Akash, Rinku and Suman, the female member, had executed the extortion plan.

He also told the police that the gang had been involved in other such cases.

"They had extorted over Rs.42 lakh from three different businessmen of Haryana by using the same modus operandi," the officer said.

Kadyan said the gang included one Ramesh Tiwari and Ajay and used a minor girl as well, the officer added.
Kolkata, March 7 : Automobile giants Tata Motors has signed a strategic agreement with Bharat Forge Limited and US' General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) for the Indian defence ministry's Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme, a statement said on Monday.

The Indian auto major will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge Limited as a partner, while General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its much proven expertise in combat vehicle platforms.

The automobile company will play on its strengths related to design, development and integration of mobility platforms, it said in a statement.

Pune-based Indian multinational Bharat Forge, part of Kalyani Group - a $2.5 billion conglomerate - will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths.

The US company's proven expertise, as SOSI (a system of systems integrator) in various integrational programmes, will be leveraged by the consortium.

To be developed under the 'Make Category', the FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle, for infantry men to keep pace with new advancements in weaponry system.
Moscow, March 7 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed over the phone the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt, the Kremlin said on Monday.

"The two sides stressed the importance of creating all necessary conditions for the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt and tourist exchanges," the Kremlin said in a statement.

On October 31, 2015, a Russia-bound Airbus A321 crashed shortly after taking off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, mostly Russians.

The Russian Federal Security Service announced later that the plane was brought down by a bomb, and Putin then ordered the suspension of all of the country's flights to Egypt following the tragedy.

In late February, Sisi said terrorists were behind the crash with the aim to ruin Egyptian ties with other states.

The crash also led some other states, including Britain, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals over security concerns.

Egypt is one of Russians' main tourist destinations, and the incident dealt a heavy blow to the country's already battered tourism sector. The Egyptian authorities have been taking a series of measures to boost the tourism industry.
Gurgaon, March 7 : Japan has committed about 30 billion dollars in investments and aid for development in Haryana where as many as 305 Japanese companies are operating -- the highest in the country, Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu said on Monday.

Gujarat comes at number two with a total of 203 Japanese companies operating.

"Our auto sector and other investments have been inspired by the untiring efforts of and support by the Haryana government," Hiramatsu said in his address at the two-day 'Happening Haryana Global Investor Summit' here.

He said Japan had committed about 30 billion dollars in investments and aid for development. Jhajjar has been identified for setting up a Japanese integrated industrial township.

Keita Muramatsu, president and CEO of Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India, said: "Since last year, we have witnessed unprecedented improvement in the ease of doing business in Haryana due to the state's new industrial policy. The progress made in Manesar bears testimony to it."
Bhubaneswar, March 7 : A former Congress MLA and three others were on Monday sent to jail after their bail petitions were rejected by a local court in Odisha's Ganjam district.

The police presented former MLA Ramesh Jena, his father Arakhita Jena, Bapi Panda and Jackey Patra in the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate's court here after arresting them for alleged criminal activities.

The former legislator and Jackey were held on Sunday night while Jena's father was arrested on Monday morning, police said.

"I am innocent. I am not involved in any criminal case," Jena told reporters as he was being presented in the court.

The former Congress MLA from Sanakhemundi was arrested in connection with the bombing of a local corporator's house in Berhampur.

Three arrested persons were sent to Berhampur circle jail in Ganjam district after their bail petitions were rejected. The court reserved its verdict on the bail plea of the MLA's father.

The Congress leader has been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) and 212 (harbouring offender) of the Indian Penal Code and 25 of the Arms Act.

Meanwhile, Director General of Police K.B. Singh said Jena was involved in manufacturing 'fake' gutka, milk powder and tender-fixing. However, the MLA said it was a case of political conspiracy.

Conducting a raid at the MLA's house, the police allegedly seized two revolvers and five bullets, besides Rs.10 lakh and documents pertaining to five bank accounts with deposit amounting to over Rs.1 crore.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Congress has decided to protest the arrest of its leader.
New Delhi, March 7 : The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with posters that announced a reward of Rs.11 lakh to anyone who shot dead JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Adarsh Sharma, who claims to be president of the so-called Purvanchal Sena, was arrested on charges of defacement of public property, abetment to offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery, Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal told IANS.

The officer said Sharma pasted these posters on the intervening night of March 4-5.

Police said the posters, carrying Sharma's name and mobile number, were found pasted near the Press Club of India, the Youth Congress office and at some bus stops and metro stations in central New Delhi.

"The posters announced Rs.11 lakh reward for those shooting Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar dead," the officer said.

Sharma, from Lakhisarai in Bihar and currently residing in Begumpur in west Delhi, was arrested hours after he was detained earlier in the day, said the officer.

The police registered a case of defacement of public property and added other sections later.

Kanhaiya was arrested by the Delhi Police on February 12 on charge of sedition for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at a cultural event organised on the campus on February 9 to commemorate the third anniversary of the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Kumar was granted conditional six-month interim bail by the Delhi High Court on March 2.
Mumbai/New Delhi/Bengaluru, March 7 : In a double blow to beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai lodged a money laundering case and the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Bengaluru barred British liquor giant Diageo from paying him anything till a case against him was disposed off.

The tribunal barred Diageo plc from paying Rs.5.04 billion ($75 million) as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd. last month, till the pending case against the liquor baron before it is decided.

"The presiding officer of DRT (R. Benkanahalli) ordered temporary attachment of the severance package amount and directed Diageo not to pay it till our case is finally heard and disposed of," counsel for State Bank of India (SBI) told media persons in Bengaluru.

Reading out the one-page order, Benkanahalli said Mallya shall not temporarily draw the $75 million mentioned in the interlocutory application till the case's disposal.

"Diageo plc and United Spirits Ltd shall not disburse the amount ($75 million) to Mallya or his nominees or agents till the disposal of the bank's original application (OA). Amount as sought by the applicant banks stands attached," the order said.

The tribunal also directed all defendants to furnish details of the agreement on or before the next date of hearing (March 28), when it will hear the bank's three other interlocutory applications, seeking his arrest, impounding of his passport and seizure of his assets.

It also ordered issuing notice on the bank's application to Diageo office in London through registered post.

A consortium of 17 state-run and private banks led by SBI filed the application on February 26, a day after Diageo signed the deal with Mallya for resigning as chairman and not competing with it in the spirits business worldwide for the next five years for $40 million this year and the balance ($35 million) over the next four years.

According to the SBI counsel, Mallya's now defunct Kingfisher Airline owes the consortium a whopping Rs.10,000 crore, including compound interest over the remaining combined loans of Rs.7,800 crore borrowed between 2004-12 before it was grounded and shut down subsequently.

In another major blow for Mallya, the ED on Monday registered a money-laundering case against him.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in (October) 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

Mallya and the top executives of the erstwhile KFA have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that the bank consortium had extended to the airline but was not repaid.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands, which is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the ED under the PMLA, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the Indian laws, officials said.

The flamboyant businessman, who recently announced his plans to spend more time with his family in Britain, has refuted all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled as a "wilful defaulter" by some of the lender banks.

Mallya has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders and the agencies to settle the debt.

Though the consortium of lenders moved the tribunal in 2013 for recovery of their outstanding loans, Mallya's dramatic announcement that he would move to London forced the banks to lay first claim on the deal amount and rush to the tribunal for early hearing of its case.

Perceived as the 'King of Good Times', Mallya was recently in the news when some former airlineemployees wrote an open letter, blaming him for the grounding of the airline and damaging the country's reputation in the aviation industry.

Once reputed as the most glamorous and luxurious private airline in the country, KFA fell into bad days and was grounded in October 2012 after a huge financial mess, including default of bank loans, dues to oil companies, airports and even staff salaries.
Thiruvananthapuram, March 7 : The Mother Superior, of the old age home in Aden, which was attacked last week, has been flown out to Abu Dhabi, said Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Chandy told IANS that Sister Sally, who hails from Kerala, has been flown out from the troubled place and from there, she is proceeding to Jordan, where the congregation to which she belongs has establishments.

He said that this came through with the full support of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who directed Indian Embassy officials in Djibouti to help Sister Sally, who headed the old age home run by the Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

"I did speak to her (Sally) yesterday (on Sunday) and after I got information from Delhi that her safe transportation to Abu Dhabi has been arranged, I tried to speak to her a few times, but I could not get the call. I presume that she is on the flight," said Chandy.

While the nun has been rescued, there is still no word about priest Tom Kuzhuvennal who was taken away by these unidentified gunmen. He hails from the state's Kottayam district.

Gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group on Friday attacked the home, killing four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, including one from India.

The Indian nun has been identified as Sister M. Anseleme, 57, from Jharkhand. Of the other three nuns, two were from Rwanda and another from Kenya.
Ahmedabad, March 7 : Gujarat State Assembly Speaker Ganpat Vasava on Monday announced that a senior woman legislator would conduct the day's proceedings on the International Women's day.

Vasava said that senior legislator Neema Acharya, who is on the panel of presiding officers, would handle the day's session while women legislators would be given priority during the Question Hour and Assembly discussions on Tuesday.

According to an official release, this initiative by the speaker has found praise from across the party lines.

Neema Acharya, who represents Anjar constituency in Kutch district, is from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
New Delhi : Naples, 7 March (IANS/AKI) Gunmen shot dead Giovanni Sarno, the brother of Naples mafia informant Carmine Sarno overnight as he slept in an apartment in the city centre, police said.

Sarno's niece identified his body at the apartment in Naples' Sanita district after an unnamed man rang on his relations' intercom at at around 4 a.m. to tell of the murder.

Police have opened a probe into the slaying of 54-year-old Sarno, who was separated from his wife and was known to drink heavily, according to neighbours.

Sarno's brother-in-law was previously murdered after the brothers decided to turn state's evidence against the Naples mafia and testified at the trials of several alleged Camorra clan members.

Prime suspects in Sarno and his brother-in-law's murders are the Contini, Casalesi, Barra and Acerra clans, against whom the Sarnos gave evidence, Naples daily Il Mattino reported.
Residential sales in Scotland increased by 4% in 2015, well below the 11% recorded in the previous year, a new analysis report points out.

Tougher mortgage lending conditions during the first half of 2015 impacted the recovery of Scotlands housing market, according to the report from real estate services firm Savills.

However, the market adjusted during the second half of 2015 due to a recovery in mortgage lending for house purchases across Scotland, which increased by 9% from 59,500 in 2014 to 64,800 in 2015.

On a Local Authority level, East Renfrewshire witnessed the strongest annual growth in the number of transactions during 2015 at 13% which the report says was boosted by the good schools effect.

Other star performers include Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian, where annual transactional growth in 2015 was higher than Scotland as a whole.

Considering 2015 as a whole, prime sales, transactions at 400,000 and above, outperformed the overall market, with an 8% annual increase and much of this activity took place prior to the introduction of LBTT which brought higher rates of taxation to the prime market.

Furthermore, the number of transactions at 1 million and above reached its highest level since 2008. Prime markets in suburban and commuter areas across Scotlands Central Belt performed strongly during 2015, with growth spreading out from core urban hotspots.

This upturn in demand is driving an improving development land market. Sentiment for development land in Scotlands cities remains positive, said Faisal Choudhry, director of Savills Scottish Research.

With strong annual growth in the Savills Residential Development Land Index, particularly for greenfield land around Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling. The overall Savills index for greenfield land in Scotland increased year on year by 9.6% during December 2015 compared with December 2014.

Choudhry explained that the development market has been further supported by Government incentives, such as the Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee and new build schemes, which made up 8% of all residential activity in Scotland between October 2013 and September 2015. The recently announced extension of Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme to 2019 is expected to further support Scotlands new home sales.

The overall Savills index for urban land in Scotland increased year on year by 20.4% during December 2015 compared with December 2014.The increase in values, particularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow, reflects a rise in demand from housebuilders and developers, due to an improved economy, stronger markets and increased viability, Choudhry pointed out.

However, he also pointed out that the fall in sentiment within the Aberdeen development land market, due to the continued low oil price and uncertainty over the future of the industry, has impacted negatively on the overall Scottish development land index.
John A. Spertus, M.D., M.P.H. What is really needed is a way to show-for an individual stroke patient-whether administering tPA gives them the likelihood for a positive outcome.

During a stroke, time saved equals brain cells saved, so every second counts when it comes to receiving treatment. The clot-busting medication tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has proven to be one of the most effective treatments for ischemic stroke. However, tPA is not administered to those having a stroke as often or as quickly as it could be, due to the real concern that despite its ability to reverse stroke, tPA given to the wrong patient could cause dangerous bleeding.

Some emergency room doctors feel the benefits of tPA far outweigh the risks. Others feel the risks far outweigh the benefits, said John A. Spertus, M.D., M.P.H., director of Saint Lukes Mid America Heart Institutes Cardiovascular Outcomes Research program. What is really needed is a way to showfor an individual patientwhether administering tPA gives them the likelihood for a positive outcome.

To provide a risk/benefit analysis quickly for Emergency Department physicians, Saint Lukes, Tufts University, and UCLA, through the American Heart Associations Outcomes Research Center Initiative, collaborated to develop a tool based on data/evidence-based research that estimates within moments a specific patients most likely 90-day outcome with and without tPA administration.

Rapid Evaluation for Stroke Outcomes using Lytics in Vascular Event, or RESOLVE, is a revolutionary tool that uses an individual patients data to generate a risk/benefit analysis report detailing the most likely outcome of receiving tPA. The report provides emergency room physicians with hard, true evidence and fact-based data, enabling the physician, the patient, and their family to make the most well-informed and expedited decision. Research involved in developing RESOLVE looked at data from more than 2,100 patients from five randomized clinical trials, verified in a sixth trial.

RESOLVE supports and accelerates medical decision-making by reviewing six patient-specific clinical variables:



Last time known well

Age

Systolic BP

Diabetes

Current glucose

Stroke severity (level of consciousness, gaze, weakest limb)

0 graded = normal

1 graded = mild impairment

2 graded = severe impairment

If administered within three hours, and up to 4.5 hours in certain eligible patients, tPA may improve patients chances of recovering from stroke. A good outcome means functional independence at 90 days (a modified Rankin of 0-2). A bad outcome means severe disability or death at 90 days (a modified Rankin of 5-6). The earlier tPA is properly administered, the more brain cells may be saved, and the more likely a patient will have a better outcome after treatment.

The Comprehensive Stroke Program at Saint Lukes Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute began using the RESOLVE tool in November 2015. Saint Lukes envisions this tool will be most useful to physicians at Emergency Departments that treat a limited number of stroke patients, enabling them to bring the patient and family into an expedited decision-making process and make decisions that will result in better patient outcomes. Currently, referring physicians may access a consulting neurologist and the RESOLVE tool by contacting Doctors One Call at Saint Lukes Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute.

This is evidence-based medicine that provides a roadmap for each individual patient, and should be very helpful in making the right decisions, said Karin E. Olds, M.D., stroke program director at Saint Lukes Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute. Our challenge is creating demand for this kind of tool. When physicians are ready for such tools to help with stroke care, RESOLVE is a perfect solution for them.

Saint Lukes receives stroke patients from more than 80 hospitals in the Kansas City, Mo. region. When a patients originating hospital accurately diagnoses and begins stroke treatment prior to transfer, long-term outcomes improve dramatically.

Signs and symptoms of a stroke include:



Sudden weakness on one side of the body

Sudden numbness on one side of the body

Sudden loss of vision  especially in one eye

Sudden difficulty speaking or understanding

Sudden severe headache

Saint Lukes Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute (SLMBNI) is a comprehensive center for neuroscience research, education, and evidence-based medicine that combines faculty in neurology, neurosurgery, interventional neuroradiology, neurootology, psychiatry, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Together SLMBNI faculty provides patient-centered leading-edge care to thousands of patients from all over the country each year. As a member of Saint Lukes Health System, SLMBNI is a global leader in utilizing both drug and mechanical interventions to reverse the permanent and debilitating effects of ischemic stroke. Its legacy of innovation began in 1993 when doctors performed one of the worlds first intra-arterial stroke reversal procedures. Since then, Saint Lukes specialists have continued to pioneer new stroke treatments and reverse strokes in thousands of patients through its network of stroke centers. Located in Kansas City, Mo., SLMBNI brings together a team of highly specialized neuroscientists to provide comprehensive treatment for the most complex neurological diseases, including stroke, epilepsy, brain tumors, Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases, multiple sclerosis, headaches and facial pain, as well as aneurysms and intracerebral hemorrhages. The Institutes multispecialty team provides the latest in minimally invasive spinal surgical techniques for the treatment of acute and chronic back pain. SLMBNI strives to be a national leader in neurological treatment and care by advancing clinical research and evidence-based clinical practice.

Saint Lukes Health System consists of 10 area hospitals and several primary and specialty care practices, and provides a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services. Founded as a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, our mission includes a commitment to the highest levels of excellence in health care and the advancement of medical research and education. The health system is an aligned organization in which the physicians and hospitals assume responsibility for enhancing the physical, mental, and spiritual health of people in the metropolitan Kansas City area and the surrounding region.
Jude Bedell endows $1,000,000 to Support Georgetown University Campus Ministry Georgetowns Jesuits and the Catholic Campus Ministry program had a positive influence on me. I encourage other Georgetown alumni, particularly women, to step forward and support these important programs at the university.

As a life-long money manager, Judith Bedell understands how important funding is. She has recently gifted $1 million to her alma mater Georgetown University to support a cause near to her heart, Catholic Campus Ministry. This gift highlights her philanthropic spirit as well as her love for her church. Charitable gifting is something that Jude has worked on with many like-minded clients on over her 40-year career.

Bedell says that her experience as a Georgetown student inspired her to make this gift. After working for 25 years on the Alumni Admission Committee, Jude felt called to use her position and assets to help the people, institutions and causes she believes in. As an investment counselor and philanthropist, Jude is in a unique position to lead her clients through the donation process.

Jude is the Founding Partner of Bedell Investment Counselling in Walnut Creek, California, celebrating its 40th year in business. The investment philosophy she built the company around understands the importance of giving back, and provides support, wisdom and guidance to their clients at every stage of their retirement plan.

When fully funded, the endowed fund will be dedicated to a Catholic Chaplains position. In the interim, it will support ongoing undergraduate programs in Catholic Campus Ministry. The universitys Catholic chaplaincy serves thousands of students, faculty, and staff, inviting them to grow in their relationship with God and build community. We are grateful to Jude Costello Bedell for her long-standing dedication to Georgetown, which seeks to integrate learning, faith, and service, said Fr. Kevin OBrien, S.J., vice president for Mission & Ministry at Georgetown.

For more information on this story please follow the Georgetown University link - http://giving.georgetown.edu/why-give/1m-endowed-fund-support-catholic-campus-ministry

ABOUT BEDELL FRAZIER INVESTMENT COUNSELLING

For 40 years, Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling has provided the highest level of Wealth Management to its clients. Offering Investment Management, Financial Planning and Smart Money Solutions, BFIC specializes in services for every stage of an investors financial plan. Started in 1975 by entrepreneur Judith Bedell, BFIC makes sure your money works as hard as you do.

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling

200 Pringle Avenue, Suite 555 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Primary: (925) 932-0344 Secondary: 1-800- 783-0344

Website: http://www.bedellinvest.com
Frederick G. Weniger, M.D., F.A.C.S. Our goal is always to exceed our patients expectations, and so this award is great to see. I love to hear that we continue to make our patients happy!

Dr. Weniger has been practicing medicine in the Bluffton area for quite some time now and its clear that his patients love him. After a month-long contest presented by Bluffton Today, his patients, along with other community members, made it evident by voting him Best Cosmetic Surgeon for the eighth year in a row.

I am honored to win this award from our community again. I owe a ton of thanks to all of the ladies in the office who are incredible teammates and share in our vision of setting the benchmark for quality" says Dr. Weniger.

While his credentials certainly qualify him for this honor, it is Dr. Wenigers other attributes that have earned him the votes of the community. A board certified plastic surgeon and member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Weniger has become particularly well-known for listening attentively to his patients, as well as for his patience and thoughtful consideration of their needs. He is renowned for encouraging patients to take their time and return for further information before making a final decision.

As a devoted father and dedicated member of the community, Dr. Weniger is also known by patients to be an everyday guy, something that helps them to feel a more personal connection with the doctor. This makes building trust and confidence easy, and patients often feel that Dr. Weniger is as excited by their great results as they are.

Weniger Plastic Surgery, a state-of-the-art facility, is located in Bluffton, South Carolina. Part of the campus includes a luxurious spa, "Lux-A Medical Spa", which offers treatments of all kinds provided by a dedicated staff who are committed to making their patients their top priority. The convenient location enables Dr. Weniger to make himself available to the people of Hilton Head and the surrounding area, including Savannah, GA.

This prestigious honor is not awarded by just anyone; its awarded by the people of the community, making it a particularly special and meaningful achievement. So the next time you see Dr. Weniger, whether it be on the street or in his office, smile and say "Hi" to truly one of the best that Bluffton has to offer.

Weniger Plastic Surgery

350 Fording Island Road Suite 200

Bluffton, South Carolina 29910

843-757-0123

http://www.wenigerplasticsurgery.com/
Tambra Lynn McAfee, a devoted writer and author, has completed her new book Poetic Heart: a heartening and spiritual book of poems.

Tambra L McAfee was born in Houston Texas, Tambra Lynn Heatherly the 5th of June 1963. She would be the middle child of three, an older brother, Joseph and a younger brother Michael.

In junior high she went to Fairhaven Christian academy where she would meet her future husband, Matthew McAfee. Matthew went into the Air Force when Tami (which is the name she would always go by) went into high school. For her senior Year Tami went to Portage High School. After Graduation she worked in porter hospital in Valparaiso Indiana. Before Tami graduated from high school Matthew had taken a job working offshore on a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

When Matthew was laid off from his job offshore and going back into the Air Force Matthew and Tami decided to get married. They were stationed in New Jersey where they had their first son Adam. After a year they were heading to the Philippines for three years from 1983 to 1986, it was at this time that Tami wrote all her poems and she also had another son named Bryan. Matthew got a special duty assignment at Keesler AFB Mississippi. A couple of years after arriving in Mississippi Tami went to be with the Lord from complications of pneumonia.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Tambra Lynn McAfees moving book helps the reader out of their darkest times and reminds them to always trust in the Lord.

This is a book for all times, when you feel happy and want to praise the Lord, when you feel sad and need some comfort. It is a culmination of poems that will lift your spirits, speak to your broken heart, and give you hope in times of despair. This book will make a great gift to all those who love the Lord, said author Tambra Lynn McAfee.

Readers who wish to experience this inspiring work can purchase Poetic Heart at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Corporations and government entities now have the tools to make important and complex decisions, said Jack Kloeber, president of SDP, an association of professional practitioners.

The Society of Decision Professionals (SDP) today announced that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has been awarded the Raiffa-Howard Award for Organizational Decision Quality.

Pfizer was selected for application of Decision Quality principles to guide the management of its worldwide research and development portfolio. Pfizer utilizes state of the art decision tools, processes, and professional facilitation to inform the development of medicines from end to end across six different therapeutic areas. Efficient management of the portfolio has resulted in significant value for Pfizer, its customers and, most importantly, the patients who use its medicines.

Decision analysis is the discipline incorporating decision theory, methodology, and professional practice guiding decision-making under uncertainty. While elements of decision analysis have existed for hundreds of years, it was the work of Professor Howard Raiffa of Harvard University and Professor Ronald Howard of Stanford University beginning in 1964 that brought it into mainstream use by giving us a logical and systematic set of principles to enhance our clarity of thought and enable us to act with confidence in the face of uncertainty. Corporations and government entities now have the tools to make important and complex decisions, said Jack Kloeber, president of SDP, an association of professional practitioners.

Larry Neal, vice-president said, We are delighted to honor Pfizer with the Raiffa-Howard Award for their long time and successful application of Decision Quality. We are particularly excited to see the application of Decision Quality, utilized by this world class organization, to guide the development of potential new medicines that aim to improve the health and well-being of humankind.

The Award will be presented at a special celebratory networking event on April 7, 2016. The Award ceremony is an adjacent event to the Societys annual conference, the Decision Analysis Affinity Group (DAAG), featuring sessions on the practice of decision analysis April 6  8 at the Banff Park Lodge in Banff, Calgary, Canada.

About

The Discipline of Decision Analysis: Decision analysis emerged as a distinct academic field in 1964, building on developments in statistical decision theory and game theory by Raiffa and dynamic probabilistic systems by Howard. In that year, Raiffa began teaching the first university course in decision analysis within the Economics Department at Harvard and began preparing material for his 1968 book, Decision Analysis. Also in 1964, but independently, Howard conducted the first professional application of the field he called decision analysis, which he described in his 1966 paper, Decision Analysis: Applied Decision Theory. Since then, major corporations have adopted decision analysis to improve multibillion dollar capital decisions.

The Society of Decision Professionals (SDP) supports decision professionals to become the trusted advisors of choice for decision makers facing important and complex decisions. The Society fosters collaboration, continual learning, and networking amongst its members and other professional societies and organizations so that as a growing community we can bring clarity and insight to decision-makers.

For more information, visit http://www.decisionprofessionals.com
Aspen has one of the most internationally driven real estate markets in the US

Aspen Links With London

New Aspen luxury real estate brokerage, Palladium Properties, has announced the opening of a London Office.

Aspen has one of the most internationally driven real estate markets in the US, explains Krista Klees, founding principal of Palladium Properties. We knew from the beginning an international reach would be vitally important to our clients and the growth of the company. Many of our competitor colleagues boast global coverage but often this includes an online presence only. We wanted something more.

Now we have an established London-based team looking after our market reach and influence outside the US. London is arguably the leading global hub of finance, banking, law, insurance, culture and time.

Strategically Located

The office, situated in Londons West End, is just yards away from Oxford Street and the hedge fund haven that is Mayfair, which is also home to the US embassy. Headed by Nick Churton and Annette Reeve, the team excels in international real estate marketing born of almost 50 years in the industry.

Online coverage is so important today, remarks Klees. But nothing quite matches having forces on the ground. We could wait for buyers to reach us. Instead we are reaching out to them globally and exposing our listings to the worldwide market. We will be encouraging our clients to visit our London office to get to know our team there if they are nearby on business or vacation.

Aspen Experts

For over twenty-five years Klees acted as the management backbone of Aspen real estate institution, Joshua & Co. The ethos established by Klees and her dedicated team over so many years  and so enjoyed and admired by clients  lives on now at Palladium Properties. Once again a local firm with local values provides a welcome environment for the growing number of talented and committed brokers that are heading to the firms sophisticated offices on East Hyman Avenue. They know we will help them develop professionally while providing reliable and attentive Aspen-angled training, technology and marketing support, adds Klees. Our London office is just another way we will help brokers and clients achieve the very best real estate results.

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About Palladium Properties:

Established in 2015 as Aspens newest, most distinctive realty firm, Palladium Properties specializes in real estate sales, luxury home rentals, property management, and concierge services. By linking Rocky Mountain values through a global alliance with the exclusive Mayfair International Realty network, Palladium provides superior connections to overseas markets. With decades of combined success, the Palladium team is adept at introducing a world of real estate potential while safeguarding their clients best interest. Channeling immense love for Aspen, hand-selected top agents are committed to nurturing relationships, sharing local knowledge and cultivating passion for whats possible within this vibrant community. In pursuit of a fresh perspective of Aspens real estate market, the Palladium teams mission is to handle everything, expertly.

For a guided journey of Aspens real estate prospects, visit the office of Palladium Properties located at 620 East Hyman Avenue in downtown Aspen, CO. For more information, go to http://www.palladiumaspen.com.

About Mayfair International Realty:

Established in 2005 and based in London's West End, Mayfair International Realty provides a select and invitation-only group of leading independent real estate brokers across the globe with superior access to overseas markets. The UK capital enjoys a unique position as a global hub for finance, culture, art, online and print press  and real estate. No other city offers quite the same level of influence. No other independent group has quite the same means and dedication.

The firms that enjoy Mayfair International Realty membership and status are the creme de la creme of luxury real estate and link together in a global network of worldwide range, influence and fine reputation.
San Diego Fertility Center is proud to announce the launch of its redesigned website, http://www.sdfertility.com. Key features of the site include a more attractive design, improved navigation and a more engaging user experience for patients across all devices. The new site highlights the practices stunning new clinic location, its team of award-winning physicians, and provides a number of upgrades in response to the practices dramatic recent growth.

San Diego Fertility Center has consistently been recognized as one of the top fertility clinics worldwide for treatments including IVF, preimplantation genetics, egg donation, surrogacy, egg freezing and LGBT family building. In recent years, the practice has enjoyed a marked increase in international patients from Europe, Australia and Asia. The new website is one of many recent initiatives to better meet the needs of a rapidly-expanding patient base.

The site launch is a central component to our overall marketing strategy, and helps us more effectively to meet the needs of our patients says CEO Lisa Van Dolah. It allows patients to interact more easily with our practice, and provides information to help empower individuals and couples from around the world to learn more about their fertility treatment options.

The new SDFertility.com was designed to connect with fertility patients in meaningful and powerful ways. Visitors are welcomed with touching video showing a babys first steps, encouraging prospective patients to take the first steps in their fertility journey. A variety of intuitive and easy ways to connect to the practice are provided throughout the website.

We designed the site with the goal of making it more compelling and more accessible to a larger patient-base. We hope that even more families will experience the world-class fertility care offered by San Diego Fertility Center. added Dov Radzik, CEO of IV Interactive, the healthcare marketing agency responsible for the launch.

The launch has been extraordinarily successful to date. Preliminary data shows that more people are visiting the site, engaging with the content more deeply, and contacting San Diego Fertility Center to take their own first steps to starting a family.

About San Diego Fertility Center

Located in Southern California, San Diego Fertility Center is an internationally recognized fertility treatment center. The SDFC fertility specialists are named among the top fertility doctors by a variety of publications, and are leaders in IVF (in vitro fertilization), egg donation, egg freezing, ICSI, male infertility and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis).

For more information about San Diego Fertility Center visit: http://www.sdfertility.com.
"Having previously worked as an attorney on behalf of the NCDOT for many years, we understand what might persuade the NCDOT to pay more, said NC Eminent Domain Attorney Jason Campbell.

Property and business owners whose property is needed to build the multi-lane Winston-Salem Northern Beltway will soon begin receiving offers from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), according to former NCDOT attorneys.

Attorneys Stan Abrams and Jason Campbell now work for the NC Eminent Domain Law Firm representing property owners. As former NCDOT lawyers, they saw time and again that property owners often seemed compelled to accept low-ball offers for their land because they were simply unaware of their rights under NC eminent domain law.

Thats one reason Abrams and Campbell travel the state giving these free educational seminars.

The Winston-Salem Northern Beltway seminar will be held Thursday, March 10th at the Winston-Salem Marriot. The NCDOT has already earmarked more than $13 million for right of way purchases, and the agency has contacted some of the more than 70 property and business owners whose land may be taken.

Former NCDOT Lawyers Now Represent Property Owners

Abrams said, The NCDOT functions just like any other buyer. Understandably, they want to get the best price they can for their dollar. What many folks dont realize is that they dont have to take that first offer from the NCDOT. It may be negotiable  just like any property sale. However, negotiating with the NCDOT is more involved than negotiating with a private buyer.

Campbell adds, "Having previously worked as an attorney on behalf of the NCDOT for many years, we understand what might persuade the NCDOT to pay more. The purpose of this seminar is to share those ways with property owners to help them potentially get a better offer.

For that reason, Abrams and Campbell strongly encourage property and business owners impacted by the new bypass to attend their seminar.

Seminar Clarifies Rights of Property and Business Owners

The seminars purpose is to help educate property and business owners about their rights under North Carolinas eminent domain process, and show them how they may be able to best protect these rights and their financial interests.

This seminar offers some really valuable information, such as an often-overlooked approach that allows property owners to potentially collect funds from the governments first offer so theyll have some money to use, while negotiating for more, Abrams said.

The seminar will also cover:



Unique ways the NCDOT calculates offers

Fair market value  what it means in your situation

How to determine if the governments appraisal is truly just

How to know if the offer for your property is fair

A question-and-answer session for individual situations/concerns

Property Areas the Beltway Will Impact

The 34-mile beltway will be built in several stages. The entire project begins at U.S. 158, southwest of Winston-Salem, and ends at I-74/U.S. 311, southeast of the city.

Construction has begun on the eastern portion, which begins a bit north of U.S. 158 at Reidsville Road and ends just south of Old Walkertown Road.

Seminar Date, Time, Location

Date: Thursday, March 10th

Time: 79 pm

Place: Winston-Salem Marriott

425 N. Cherry Street

Winston-Salem, NC 27101

For more information about the seminar, contact the NC Eminent Domain Law Firm at 1-877-393-4990.

ABOUT THE NC EMINENT DOMAIN LAW FIRM:

A division of the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, the NC Eminent Domain Law Firm is dedicated solely to representing property owners throughout North Carolina, who may be impacted by eminent domain law. The NC Eminent Domain Law Firm is led by attorneys Stan Abrams and Jason Campbell, both of whom previously worked as Assistant Attorney Generals for the North Carolina Department of Justice in the Transportation Section, where they litigated condemnation cases for the NCDOT. They have over 20 years of combined experience working exclusively on eminent domain cases. The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin has the legal resources of 38 attorneys and is based in Durham, North Carolina, with offices throughout the state to serve its clients.

Contact Information:

Stan Abrams

1-877-393-4990

NC Eminent Domain Law Firm

280 South Mangum Street, Suite 400

Durham, North Carolina 27701
Onboard Systems International, Inc., a leading provider of innovative helicopter cargo hook equipment, today announced that its non-rotating cargo hook kits for the Bell 204, 205, 212 & 412 aircraft have received certification from Transport Canada. Onboard received FAA certification for these cargo hook kits in December 2015; EASA certification for Europe is still pending.

Were pleased to be able to respond to the requests for certification from our Canadian customers who want to install Onboards non-rotating cargo hook kits on their Bell 204, 205, 212 and 412 aircraft, said Karsten Lemmon, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Onboard Systems. These new cargo hook systems are designed specifically for operators whose external load missions require non-rotating loads, such as back burning, fertilizer spreading, and firefighting, to name a few. Between the simplified design, reduced total part count, and extended service intervals, we are confident that our non-rotating cargo hook kits will be well-received by external load operators of these Bell aircraft.

Onboards non-rotating cargo hook systems are designed to reduce ongoing maintenance expenses and lifetime cost of ownership as compared to previous designs. The cargo hook kits feature stainless steel tension straps instead of the cables used on other non-rotating cargo systems. The straps are easier to inspect than cables, which tend to fail in fatigue from the inside out under torsion. The stainless steel straps share the load equally, regardless of the amount of twist in the suspension system, increasing load safety and product longevity. In addition, the manual and electrical release cables are routed within a rugged conduit for maximum protection, and the low-friction bumper ring results in less twisting as the bumper contacts the airframe, reducing torque inputs to the hardpoint.

The non-rotating cargo hook kits come with the extended Time Between Overhaul (TBO) requirement of six years or 1,500 hours. The non-rotating cargo hook kits can be configured with a variety of options and upgrades, including Onboards new Surefire cargo hook release technology. The Surefire circuit requires a purposeful, half-second press against the button to guard against an inadvertent release caused by accidental contact during flight. In addition to the Surefire option, there are also kit options for an integrated Onboard Weighing System, which allows pilots to instantly know the weight of the cargo on the hook, reducing the risk of overload airframe stress and helps the pilot make more informed aircraft loading decisions. An optional NVG backlighting system for the cockpit indicator is available as well.

About Onboard Systems

Onboard Systems International, Inc. designs and manufactures a complete line of innovative helicopter cargo hook equipment under its TALON brand, including belly hooks, cargo hook suspension systems, Onboard Weighing Systems and remote hooks. Its low-weight, high quality products provide helicopter operators with increased cost efficiencies and safety through customer-driven designs, responsive service and support, and low ongoing maintenance costs. Onboard Systems maintains a rigorous quality management system (QMS) designed to meet or exceed the strict requirements of AS9100 Revision C, ISO 9001:2008, helicopter airframe manufacturers, and the FAA. Founded in 1975, Onboard Systems is a privately held US corporation located in Vancouver, Washington.
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Hip Chick Farms (hipchickfarms.com), which makes gourmet, farm to freezer chicken products that provide time-crunched families delicious, simple and easy meal solutions, is pleased to announce they have been awarded national certification by the Astra Womens Business Alliance, a regional certifying partner of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Hip Chick Farms was founded by Serafina Palandech and her wife Chef Jennifer Johnson, formerly chef under the legendary organic food pioneer Alice Waters and Executive Chef for the famed Getty family in San Francisco. They are carried by major distributors like Whole Foods and Sprouts, and in 2015, FORTUNE and Food & Wine Magazine named the founders two of the Most Innovative Women in Food.

Astra Womens Business Alliance, as the WBENC certifying partner organization, is proud to welcome Hip Chick Farms, Inc into the WBENC National Certification Program, said Diane McClelland, Astra Womens Business Alliance, President/CEO. This will give them opportunities to grow their company plus create strategic alliances with over 12,000 other WBENC Certified WBEs.

Hip Chick Farms is thrilled to have achieved Women-Owned Certification from WBENC and to be partnered with this important group. Diversity and transparency is at the core of Hip Chick Farms business model. We are changing the face of agriculture and the poultry industry, said Serafina Palandech, President and Co-Founder of Hip Chick Farms.

About Hip Chick Farms

Hip Chick Farms [hipchickfarms.com] brings healthy great-tasting poultry products to time challenged families seeking convenient real food based on trusted ingredients. Hip Chick Farms products are organic, non-GMO, natural, wholesome real food from start to finish. They use free-range, air-chilled chicken that is humanely raised by farmers they know and trust, and all of their products are third party Step 3 rated from Global Animal Partnership. They use no preservatives, fillers, additives to create the best tasting products made from impeccable ingredients transparently sourced, bringing Farm to Freezer delicious food from their family to yours.

About WBENC

Womens Business Enterprise National Council is highly recognized by about 1,000 of US large corporations, Fortune 500 companies and other agencies that accept WBENCs certification as an integral part of their supplier diversity programs. WBENC also is a resource as a SBA WOSB third party certifier for US women owned businesses.
"I am thrilled to be part of the Tecta America team." said Steve Pellegrini, General Manager, Tecta America Houston.

Tecta America, the nations premier commercial roofing contractor, is proud to announce a new addition has been made to their team of employees. During the month of February, Tecta America welcomed a new General Manager to the company.

Tecta America welcomes Steve Pellegrini as the General Manager of Tecta America Houston, located in Houston, TX. Steve has over 37 years in the roofing industry and spent 12 of them as a roofer, foreman and a superintendent. For the last 25 years he has had the roles of estimator, project manager and senior level management.

"I am thrilled to be part of the Tecta America team. My entire career has been spent working, learning and growing in the Commercial/Industrial Roofing Industry and I look forward to continuing that tradition by providing professional roofing expertise to the Tecta America team as well as our current and future customers in the Houston area, said Steve Pellegrini, General Manager, Tecta America Houston.

Tecta America is in business for the long term with the financial strength, deep bonding capacity and broad insurance coverage that only the industry leader can provide.

About Tecta

Tecta America is the nations premier commercial roofing contractor with operations located from coast to coast. Our unyielding commitment to quality, expertise and professionalism is what makes us the industry leader. Installation, repair, emergency damage response, sustainability options and morewe offer the responsiveness of a local roofing contractor backed by the resources and stability you need from a commercial roofing solution. For more information, visit our website at http://www.tectaamerica.com

Company Contact:

Robin Hollerich

507-508-6939

rhollerich(at)tectaamerica(dot)com
Drone-Tek app is a precise way to fly without human control, or human error. "...I wanted to create an app that will keep a drone operator worry free and get his or her job done effectively..."

Wolf-Tek released their app Drone-Tek to the Google Play store on March 3, 2016 as a flight operating system that will work with all Inspire and Phantom drone models. Drone-Tek gives drone operators the ability to take a hands-free approach and autopilot their drones with precision. Using GIS and mapping, drone users can download the app, turn on the drone, the remote control, and connect it to their mobile device.

After connecting to the device, users will draw out lines and point features as a flight path and pin point at which points they want to take specific pictures, or video the entire flight path. Drone-Tek will land and take off the drone for users without having to use the controls, and will fly precisely to the flight path without any human error. These flight paths can also be saved, to fly later or fly over and over again.

The app has an orbit feature where it will fly repeatedly over an entire area to capture on video. Drones can also be set in app to take a flight path that follows the device and controls are moving. Drone-Tek can set the altitude, the speed, and camera direction of the drone before you decide to fly.

If users want to have the drone follow them while walking a building site, or while driving in a car over a large agriculture field Drone-Tek will set that flight path for the drone, Lead Innovator Kyle Taylor said.

Taylor said he recommends that if you use the follow feature with a drone be sure you have a clear fly area when you are walking or driving void of trees or obstacles. The app will also have a built in weather monitor so users can decide if it is safe to fly their drones, or how much time they have to fly before a storm.

Drone-Tek requires that all of the firmware be updated on the Inspire and Phantom models to work correctly. The app will be available on Google Play for a one-time purchase of $19.99.

CEO of Wolf-Tek Michael Golden said he wanted to create Drone-Tek for people that use drones that require specific flight plans and precise video documentation of an area.

Whether you use drones for surveying, in GIS, agriculture, or engineering, I wanted to create an app that will keep a drone operator worry free and get his or her job done effectively and I feel Drone-Tek achieves this goal, Golden said.

Golden and Wolf-Tek plan on releasing an IOS version of this app soon, while also working on connecting to other drone models and adding new features for the app in the following months.
We are immensely proud of our past, and equally as excited about the future.

Skytech, Inc., a General Aviation company specializing in Aircraft Sales, Maintenance, Aircraft Management and Fixed Based Operations is celebrating 40 years of business in 2016. What started as an Aircraft Parts company in 1976 at the Martin State Airport in Baltimore, Maryland, has grown to Full-Service FBO locations in Westminster, Maryland (Baltimore/Washington metro area) and Rock Hill, South Carolina (Charlotte metro area). Skytech is an authorized dealer and service center for the Pilatus PC-12, Pilatus PC-24 Super Versatile Jet and the entire Piper product line including the new M600.

We are immensely proud of our past, and equally as excited about the future. To not only survive four decades in Business Aviation, but continuously grow, you have to be able to adapt to changing demands and provide the highest level of service to your customers. We pride ourselves on just that. And with new services and products on the horizon, that trend looks to continue as we start into our fifth decade! John Foster  President, Skytech, Inc.

Steady growth has positioned Skytech as a multi-faceted, General Aviation transportation solution. This growth trend will continue in 2016 with the introduction of an FAA Part 135 Charter Certificate. Currently in the final stages of certification, the addition of a Charter Certificate will allow Skytech to further support a growing customer base as well as expand into a brand new one. Stay tuned for more information.

For a detailed look at Skytechs history and a complete list of services, visit http://www.skytechinc.com.
Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions "Sisu is happy to give Dr. John Warner the IT tools and means to remain an independent healthcare provider, dedicated to the health of its community." --Scott Lee, CEO of Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions

Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions has signed a contract with Dr. John Warner Hospital in Clinton, Illinois, to implement MEDITECH's Medical and Practice Management (MPM) solution.

Sisu will integrate the new MPM with the hospital's current MEDITECH Acute Care System. This integration will allow staff to share medical records and orders between the hospital and its clinic to provide continuity of care across Dr. John Warner Hospital's patient services.

Dr. John Warner Hospital is a certified critical access hospital with 25 beds and more than 150 employees, making it one of the major employers in DeWitt County.

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with a hospital that supports its community so strongly," said Scott Lee, CEO of Sisu. "By integrating its medical records between its hospital and clinic, Dr. John Warner Hospital will be able to provide the highest level of care to its patients in the community."

Sisu began working with Dr. John Warner Hospital in 2013 to implement MEDITECH's EHR in the hospital's acute care setting and provide both hosting and support services. This new contract reflects an expansion of this ongoing partnership to add the ambulatory component to the hospital's systems. Sisu will work with Dr. John Warner Hospital to implement, host and support MEDITECHs ambulatory solution.

"Dr. John Warner Hospital has been dedicated to providing quality healthcare to the community since its founding in 1911," said CEO of Dr. John Warner, Paul Skowron. "We're pleased to expand our partnership with an organization like Sisu who understands the IT support that rural health organizations like Dr. John Warner Hospital need to continue to thrive."

"So many of the rural health organizations we talk to want to maintain their own autonomy," added Lee. "We're happy to give Dr. John Warner the IT tools and means to remain an independent healthcare provider, dedicated to the health of its community."

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Sisu Healthcare IT Solutions offers IT services and solutions for the healthcare provider segment with a focus on community and rural healthcare organizations, including critical access hospitals. Sisu delivers the insight, understanding and resources required to provide sustainable IT cost structures and critical access to informationthe lifeblood of operational efficiency and clinical decision-making. Sisu's value is rooted in a long history of helping rural healthcare providers stay independent and remain operational amidst the challenges of skill acquisition, low patient volumes, seasonal populations and increasing IT complexity. Founded in 1998, Sisu has been ranked on Inc.'s 5,000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States and is a recognized leader in rural healthcare IT consulting. Discover more at http://www.sisusolutions.com
AAB Smart Tools, a dynamic new force in the HVAC industry has hired Keith Ledford as their National Sales Manager. Keith has been in the construction and HVAC industry for over 30 years in including roles as a Residential Sales Manager, Territory Manager, Field Service Representative, and Pipefitter Refrigeration Mechanic. Keith has a strong love for tools and all things construction related. Prior to joining AAB, Keith was a General Manager for Carrier Enterprise in Florida.

About AAB Smart Tools | AAB Smart Tools (AAB) designs and manufactures smartphone tools that simplify and improve the analysis of HVAC systems. With headquarters in Orlando, Florida, the companys focus is to manufacture HVAC industry specific smart tools that are accurate, affordable, and easy to use. By providing tools with easy-to-follow onscreen guidance and ergonomic designs, AAB Smart Tools has made the application and understanding of building sciences practical for all levels of HVAC professionals. For more information, please visit http://www.AABsmart.com or contact info(at)AABsmart.com.
Hyatt Regency Denver Executive Chef Paul French

Greg Leonard, general manager of Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center, announces the appointment of Paul French as Executive Chef.

After graduating from The Culinary Institute and honing his skills in establishments throughout New England, Paul French joined Hyatt as Sous Chef at Hyatt Regency Miami in 2003. He has held culinary positions at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, Hyatt Regency Atlanta and, in 2011, transferred to Hyatt Regency Austin as Executive Chef.

In his new position as Executive Chef of the 1,100 room Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center, French will oversee a staff of more than 40 culinary professionals and banquets where as many as 2,500 people can be served simultaneously in over 60,600 square feet of newly refresh meeting and event space. Additionally, he is responsible for menus and all food preparation in the hotels Altitude Restaurant, Peaks Lounge, Perks Coffee and More as well as in-room dining.

Executive Chef French replaces Manfred Steuerwald who was promoted to Director of Operations at Grand Hyatt Denver.

About Hyatt Regency Denver

With 1,100 newly redesigned accommodations, Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center is one of the regions largest hotels. Standing 36-stories high, sleek and contemporary in design, it is adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center and just one block from the 16th Street Mall pedestrian promenade. The recently completed guest room refresh features a decor that captures the essence of being where the mountains meet the plains. With special emphasis on state-of-the-art technology, each accommodation now provides the convenience of LCD Smart 46 inch televisions and complimentary high-speed Internet along with comfortable work stations. A 6,700 square foot fitness center has windows overlooking the 14th Street Theater District and includes Spa Universaire, an indoor lap-pool and outdoor sun deck and whirlpool. In addition to Altitude Restaurant, Hyatt Regency Denver provides two lounges: Strata Bar located in the lobby and the 27th floor Peaks Lounge, windowed on three sides, captures sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains. Peaks Lounge is also available for meetings during the day. The hotel has a total of over 60,600 square feet of newly renovated meeting and event space.

Reservations for Hyatt Regency Denver may be made by calling toll-free (800) 233-1234 or by visiting the hotels website at DenverRegency.Hyatt.com.
Lisa Vento Nielsen from The Next Step - First Book in the College and Career Readiness Series. This book is the perfect gift for the 8th grader to college-aged person in your life and is also the best thing a parent could read as they help their child(ren) prepare for college. Past News Releases RSS

The Next Step, founded by Lisa Vento Nielsen, is a local Staten Island company focusing on college and career readiness. The Next Step specializes in helping people take their next steps in career or education with informative workshops, seminars and more on College and Career Readiness topics.

The Next Step is excited to announce the first book in the series on Career and College Readiness called The Book on College Readiness: The Profs Guide to Surviving High School and Kicking Butt in College. This book focuses on real-life lessons and insights from Ms. Vento Nielsen, an educator in higher education since 2003, on how to identify who you are and how to be ready for college.

The book is based off of her College and Career Readiness Seminars offered at local Staten Island high schools. As an educator for the last 13 years as well as an executive and an entrepreneur, Ms. Vento Nielsen has real-world and actionable advice for any student preparing for college (or their parents). In teaching at the university level since 2003 and having been a college student and student worker since 1994, I have insight and knowledge into how to be ready for college and how to prepare either as an 8th grade graduate or as a Senior in high school (or beyond) for being successful in college. This book is for anyone thinking about going to college or for the parents of the student considering college, says Ms. Vento Nielsen.

The book includes lessons and homework assignments for the student to help them identify who they are, who they want to become and , always keeping in mind the power of the reboot button for anyone as they start this process of what should be a lifetime of constant learning., as per Ms. Vento Nielsen. Also included are lessons on writing the perfect Application Essays and how to manage the letter of recommendation process.

The next book in the series will focus on graduating with a job offer and how to succeed in business for the young professional. This book joins Ms. Vento Nielsens other published work The Profs Guide to Entrepreneur-ING Using Entrepreneurial Skills to Launch Your Own Business or be the Boss of Your Career. Find out more about the books at the Amazon author page for Ms. Vento Nielsen.

The Next Step has a blog updated 5 days a week with original content that is viewed and shared by approximately 1600 people per week. This book, while inspired by blog posts, contains all original content. Ms. Vento Nielsen is available for local speaking engagements on topics from the blog or her books. Read more lessons on career management, education and more here.

In addition to the published books and the upcoming installments to both book series (Entrepreneur-ING and College and Career Readiness), Ms. Vento Nielsen also offers various product packages for career and education from the do-it-yourself kits on Resume and LinkedIn development to the most popular Complete Branding Product, which includes the personalized career path plan, Resume(s), Cover Letter(s), LinkedIn powerhouse editing and personalized instructional guide on how to use LinkedIn to get to the next step of your career all for $300. Find out more on the The Next Step page.

The Next Step is locally owned business founded by Lisa Vento Nielsen, MBA, PMP. Ms. Vento Nielsen is a local Staten Island woman who attended St Johns University Staten Island and Rome, Italy campus for her BS in Marketing and MBA in International Finance, respectively. She is an educator, executive and entrepreneur who has been helping people identify and execute on their next steps in education and career for the past 15 years. You can find out more by visiting http://www.thenextstep1234.com or calling 347-733-9211. Follow The Next Step for daily blog posts on education, careers and more on Instagram and Twitter @thenext_step123.
FinTech Sandbox, a nonprofit that helps FinTech startups access data and build great products, today announced a series of celebrations marking its one-year anniversary. The biannual FinTech Sandbox Demo Day will be held on March 24, 2016 at Fidelity Investments headquarters. Sandbox sponsors, data partners, residents, investors, members of the media, industry analysts, academics and FinTech professionals will convene in Boston for this unique occasion.

FinTech Sandbox is honored to have Ernst & Young LLP, MassMutual Ventures, S&P Global Market Intelligence and Xignite sponsor this event, and grateful to Fidelity Investments for volunteering to host Demo Day. Demo Day will showcase the latest FinTech innovations from eight Sandbox residents, including:



Cognism - a web-based productivity suite for financial professionals that dissects financial research and news into unique, actionable knowledge blocks.

EverSafe - a financial safety net for seniors and their families that securely monitors financial accounts and credit reports around the clock.

ForwardLane - an online cognitive computing platform for wealth management.

Kyper - a cloud-based Data as a Service platform, providing instant access to the highest quality machine readable market data, financial data, and more.

Nutonian - a modeling application for deriving answers from data using sophisticated evolutionary algorithms.

Open Invest - an investment management platform where strategies are developed transparently and with community input. A member of Y Combinator in 2015.

Trigger Finance - a trading platform that makes it easy to execute advanced investment ideas by reducing every complex order to an IF THIS THEN THAT statement, called a "Trigger." A 2015 winner of a Cornell Tech Startup Award.

Volos - a sophisticated tools for structuring and analyzing exotic derivative trades.

Past Demo Day participants will provide updates on their progress after the main presentation. Currently, FinTech Sandbox has accepted thirty-nine startups from London, Boston, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and has received nearly two hundred applications from FinTech entrepreneurs worldwide. The Sandbox provides FinTech startups with access to critical financial data from more than twenty-five data partners and continues to expand and enrich its financial data offerings.

FinTech Sandbox is becoming the place where entrepreneurs can come for all things related to financial data, said Jean Donnelly, executive director of FinTech Sandbox. Demo Day is an opportunity to showcase how FinTech startups leverage our financial data to build emerging technologies that are not currently utilized in financial services.

FinTech Sandbox will recognize special contributions to our program made by both residents and advocates with an Awards Reception on March 23rd. The Sandbox has also organized a panel discussion on March 25th that will explore the challenges and opportunities facing FinTech entrepreneurs and featuring the perspectives of both VCs and founders who secured funding. The discussion is open to the FinTech ecosystem and members of the media, and will be moderated by FinTech Sandbox Advisory Board Member Bruce Wallace, digital officer at Silicon Valley Bank. For more details on the full range of FinTech Sandbox events, please visit: http://fintechsandbox.org/demo-day.

About FinTech Sandbox

FinTech Sandbox is a Boston-based nonprofit founded to promote financial technology innovation globally by providing free access to critical data and resources to FinTech entrepreneurs and startups. Sponsors include Fidelity Investments, F-Prime Capital, Thomson Reuters, Silicon Valley Bank, Amazon Web Services, Intel, SIX Financial Information, Goodwin Procter and .406 Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.fintechsandbox.org.

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Interested parties get practical information on the subject "Analytical CRM" at the presentation of prisma informatik on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 10.30 am at CeBIT in the BARC Forum "Business Intelligence in hall 5. External business intelligence analytics tools such as QlikView and Qlik Sense from Qlik (http://www.qlik.com/), a leader in visual analytics, can be optimally used as decision-making tools for future transactions by linking to various source systems such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV and CRM. Linking different data sources and exchanging information between them makes it easier to systematically process and analyse the data collected in operative systems. This data could be, e.g. customer responses, sales figures, transactions or other data from various application areas of the ERP and CRM systems.

Customer behaviour patterns, business potentials or market conditions taken from Dynamics NAV and CRM and analysed by using the BI tool (http://www.prisma-informatik.com/qlik/) can, for example, serve as an ideal basis for making decisions on future actions, each being conveniently embedded into the user interface of the other system. The linked CRM system in this case, with its connection to the respective analytical tool and the ERP software, serves as an analytical CRM. These can guarantee the optimization and control of further operational CRM processes and even influence the future strategic alignment of the company. The required deep integration of the individual systems can be achieved quickly and affordably using the NAVdiscovery Toolbox developed by prisma informatik.

More about Analytical CRM and a practical example are given in a presentation by prisma informatik Managing Director Claudius Malue on Tuesday at CeBIT, at the BARC Forum Business Intelligence and at booth B36 in hall 5.

About prisma informatik GmbH

prisma informatik GmbH was founded in October 2006. The company is an expert in ERP-solutions for small and medium-sized companies based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, especially for wholesale, automotive and manufacturing. As a certified Microsoft Gold Partner, prisma informatik offers years of experience in order to perform your company processes in an integrated and efficient manner. Furthermore prisma informatik is a specialist in Business Intelligence focused on Qlik. As a Qlik Solution Provider prisma informatik have in-depth knowledge of the QlikView and Qlik Sense developers environment.

The customers of prisma informatik are national and international companies.
Study shows that very few physicians and dentists have adopted digital strategies. "We had a feeling we should be doing more on social media, but it never occurred to us that it was actually hurting us by not taking part."

Foxtail Marketing, a digital agency that works with dentists and physicians across the country, released a study that examines the effects of the Affordable Care Act and the new landscape for physicians and dentists.

Their study found that some clinics that had no online presence and weren't taking part in a physicians network, saw drops of up to 30% in patient numbers over a 2 year period.

By surveying over 500 doctors and dentists, they discovered that social media was largely being ignored by professionals over the age of 45, but that the younger generation of doctors and dentists were more involved on social media and aware of the impact that SEO played on their visibility.

With the changes in healthcare due to the Affordable Care Act, many smaller clinics were forced to join larger entities in fear that they would miss out on referrals and that the competition these larger groups would provide would be too much. Because of this, many clinics had to embrace the idea of marketing themselves just like any other business. Instead of just waiting for patients to walk in the door, they now had to be proactive to stave off the larger groups.

Dentists have likewise seen a massive impact on their bottom line due to digital activities. With the rise of ratings sites like Yelp and HealthGrades, they were noticing that not managing their digital presence was causing them to lose patients to higher ranked practices. This kicked off an arms race that led to the formation of several affiliate groups that marketed for dentists and then sold the patient leads to them.

With all of these changes, the study highlighted that physicians and dentists that took control of their digital marketing and actively worked on it saw "significant increases" in their patient numbers. They also noticed that referrals spiked by being active on social media and engaging with their patients through email.

While the idea that social media and SEO are important to small businesses isn't a new theory, it is interesting to note how much it is now impacting both the dental and medical industries. And it does appear, based on this study, that the younger generation of physicians and dentists have already jumped out to a lead when it comes to their digital presence.

About Foxtail Marketing:

Foxtail Marketing is a full service digital agency that is one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. They have offices in Utah,NYC, and Los Angeles. They specialize in digital marketing campaigns for doctors and dentists.
Radwell International, Inc. Radwell International prides itself on its family atmosphere, clean and safe work environment and financially rewarding careers"

Radwell International Inc. Moves Headquarters to Willingboro, NJ

Radwell International, the New Jersey based global leader in industrial supply surplus, new product, and repair is moving its world headquarters to 1 Millennium Drive in Willingboro, Burlington County. The company is pleased to announce they have purchased the 311k sq. ft. Medco Facility, previously owned by Express Scripts. All New Jersey operations will be consolidated into this Willingboro facility bringing back the sense of community and family atmosphere that Radwell continually strives for. At full capacity, Radwell International expects to employ 1000 people. This facility will house over 200 state of the art electrical and electronic repair stations, a full CNC metal working shop, a servo motor repair center, a calibration lab, as well as sales, accounting, management, and purchasing departments. With new changes brings new improvements such as the goods to man approach that Radwell is adapting. They will now have a robotic automated inventory management system and a robotic shipping and order processing center. In total, the automated conveyor system at Radwell International will total 2 miles!

In terms of amenities at this new facility, Radwell will provide a free health and wellness center complete with a full free gym. Throughout the spacious building will be free arcade games, a pool table, ping pong, shuffle board and cornhole boards. The cafeteria will be the employees home away from the Jersey Shore featuring picnic tables and benches, swinging hammocks, rocking chairs, AstroTurf, tropical fish, and some of the many arcade and recreational games. Most importantly, the new facility will include a full restaurant with healthy options and hot meals at very friendly prices.

When asked about Radwell International, CEO Brian Radwell states Radwell International prides itself on its family atmosphere, clean and safe work environment and financially rewarding careers. We have grown since our start in 1979 from just a few people to approximately 1000 dedicated and industry best people. We have facilities in Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Texas, in the United States as well as International facilities in Canada, England, and Germany. We are consistently growing and creating new opportunities and growth for all of Radwell's Family Members.

Radwell International is very grateful for the people that have played a vital role in reaching and surpassing the companys goals. The company offers many thanks to the town of Lumberton, its tremendous people, the Town Council, and the Fire, Police, and Municipality Departments for its years of support. Radwell will always be an advocate for Lumberton and looks forward to continuing support in future endeavors. Looking forward, Radwell is eager to join the Township of Willingboro and work to establish an upstanding reputation as well as bring revenue and job opportunities to the community. The company looks forward to building at rewarding relationship with the Town Council, Fire, Police, and Municipality Departments. Radwell International supports community outreach both financially and through R.O.C.K., Radwell Operation Caring and Kindness, the Radwells volunteer organization.

Radwell has already begun its move to Willingboro and expects to be completed by August 2016.

Contacts

CEO

Brian Radwell, (800)332-4336

brianradwell(at)radwell.com
Technology leader and innovator, Enlogic Systems, announces several groundbreaking products at the AFCOM Data Center World Conference March 15th through 18th at the Mandalay Bay Conference Center in Las Vegas. The products will continue to shape the industry with revolutionary concepts, complete Enlogics solution portfolio, raise the innovation bar, and strengthen Enlogics leadership position in the market.

The Industrys First Easy-to-Deploy Smart Rack

The Enlogic Smart Rack manages all power, environmental, security access through a SINGLE communication network. The Enlogic Smart Rack design minimizes installation time and connectivity challenges for clean, simple-to-deploy rack management simplifying rack management. The ultimate convenience of plug-and-play: Add servers or equipment in the Enlogic Smart Rack and connect and go!

Enlogic Smart Rack Benefits:



Integrated solution  Easy selection, configuration and installation of PDUs, environmental monitoring security controls with pre-engineered compatibility

Simplified connectivity  A single cable with connector integrated in the rack frame from the PDU controller in front of the rack manages multiple environmental sensors, and HID security system power and data communications

Enhanced security  Door access control by HID security cards allows remote access control and security management for high security installations

Environmental monitoring  Rack level monitoring with flexibility and ease of management through software/web interface

Enlogic Wireless Intelligent PDU (iPDU)

The Enlogic wireless metered iPDU contains a built-in antenna module that provides access to critical energy and environmental data without the need of cabling, and automatically joins the wireless network and makes data instantly available eliminating costly network drops and software integration. Using a proprietary wireless protocol design only to carry power data, the wireless network is securely segregated from any other networks.

This wireless solution works especially well with colocation customers, when the landlord wants to access PDU energy and environmental data but physical network access is not allowed by tenants. The Enlogic wireless metered iPDU is also an option of customers for whom physical network cabling is too expensive.

In January 2016, CIS Global announced the acquisition of Enlogic Systems, strengthening its position as a leading provider of data center power and environmental management solutions. CIS has integrated Enlogic operations in US, Europe, Asia, and Australia under the CIS Global operation. CIS will continue to offer Enlogic branded products through partner and distribution channels, and extend its intelligent technology into OEM solutions.

Gerald Birin, CIS CEO stated, CIS is now positioned to further strengthen our engineering and business development capabilities for faster response times and offer best-in-class technology to our combined customer base.

The addition of the Enlogic team into CIS creates stronger market know-how and a larger product engineering team dedicated to providing the best data center power management solutions available, said Preston Miller, VP of Business Development.

About Enlogic (http://www.enlogic.com)

Enlogic is the global technology brand of CIS Global focused on advanced solutions for real world power, environmental and security management problems in data center and IT environments. Originally founded in 2011, Enlogic quickly became widely regarded as a leading provider of data center solutions; recently winning the 2015 Data Center Power Product of the Year.

About CIS Global (http://www.cisww.com)

CIS Global is the leading manufacturer of linear motion products and electro-mechanically integrated solutions for a wide variety of applications in computer data center and consumer appliance industries. With over 40 years of experience in servicing customers globally, and more than 15 years of experience in low-cost overseas manufacturing, CIS differentiates itself with its flexible approach in adapting to ever changing business climates of its customers. CIS offers turn-key solutions with complete design engineering and in-house manufacturing for customized and joint-development solutions with the backing of a global support network. CIS Corporate Headquarters are located in Tucson, Arizona.

Call us for more information CIS (520) 617-5556 or Enlogic (636) 821-5225.
"A master's degree has a tremendous influence upon a person's earnings. We want to help students find the right program so they can achieve success in graduate school and their chosen careers."

An article listing the "10 Most Affordable Online History Master's Degrees 2016" is now available on BestMastersDegrees.com.

From among the schools offering history master's degrees through distance education (all or the vast majority of classes must meet online), the top 10 most affordable online history master's degree programs were selected and ranked according to the most recent graduate tuition cost as listed by the National Center for Education Statistics' College Navigator database.

"The Best Master's Degrees is dedicated to helping students find the most affordable online history master's degree programs," said Marianna Chara, editor. "A master's degree has a tremendous influence upon a person's earnings. We want to help students find the right program so they can achieve success in both graduate school and in their chosen careers."

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of jobs in the United States typically requiring a master's degree is expected to grow 22 percent by the year 2020. This places it first among all educational levels. The article about most affordable online history master's degrees is available for free on the website's library of helpful information: http://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/top/affordable-online-history-masters-degrees

Following is the list of "10 Most Affordable Online History Master's Degrees 2015" according to The Best Master's Degrees:

1. American Public University, Charles Town, WV

2. Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS

3. University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE

4. Adams State University, Alamosa, CO

5. Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX

6. Wayland Baptist University, Plainville, TX

7. Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN

8. National University, San Diego, CA

9. Southwestern Assemblies of God University, Waxahachie, TX

10. Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS

BestMastersDegrees.com is an online resource helping prospective graduate students make informed decisions about pursuing a master's degree. The Best Master's Degrees provides rankings and profiles on a wide variety of master's degree programs and answers the most frequently asked questions about master's degrees.

For information contact:

Marianna Chara, Editor

609-961-1680

marianna@bestmastersdegrees.com
Appodeal Wins Advertising and Monetization Category at White Nights Being selected as the best in advertising and monetization is a great honor to the entire Appodeal company and highlights our commitment to maximizing revenue for app developers and publishers.- Anna Baidachnaya, Head of Appodeal Europe

Each year over 4000 game industry professionals, developers, and enthusiasts gather together at the White Nights Mobile and Social Games Conference. This international game development and marketing conference takes place three times annually. It begins in February in Helsinki, continues in June in St. Petersburg and culminates in October in Moscow.

Organized by established St. Petersburg-based casual game developer, Nevosoft, the White Nights conference features developer exhibitions, the Indie Game Cup competition, and the famous Game Industry Awards ceremony.

Pavel Ryaykkonen, Nevosoft co-founder and COO, opened this years conference with a keynote speech, which analyzed the gaming industrys present state and whats to come.

The White Nights Game Industry Awards ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of professionals in the mobile gaming industry through an open voting process. Winners were selected through two rounds of voting, the first taking place January 11 to 15 and the second from January 18 to 22 of this year.

The awards ceremony includes five categories: advertising and monetization, analytics platform, localization service, sound in games, and platform partner relations. Programmatic ad mediation solution, Appodeal, won in the category of advertising and monetization for their professional achievements. The announcement was made at the official White Nights conference party in Helsinki on February 11, 2016.

Anna Baidachnaya, Head of Appodeals European branch, said, Being selected as the best in advertising and monetization is a great honor to the entire Appodeal company and highlights our commitment to maximizing revenue for app developers and publishers.

Theres another conference on the horizon in St. Petersburg. The 10th White Night conference will take place on June 28 - 29, 2016. Up to 1,500 visitors are expected to attend. This conference allows talented teams to mix, mingle and present their best projects in order to connect with partners, investors, publishers, and platforms.

About Appodeal:

Appodeal is one of the most promising and rapidly growing ad-tech startups in San-Francisco with representatives in Russia and Spain. Designed for publishers by publishers, Appodeal increases revenue through an established marketplace where ad networks compete against each other in real-time for every ad impression.
Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Andrew Boyd and Gary Brown have joined the firms London office as partners in its Corporate practice. Mr. Boyd and Mr. Brown come to Morrison & Foerster from Latham & Watkins. They bring to the firm strong expertise in cross-border M&A transactions.

The arrival of Mr. Boyd and Mr. Brown highlights Morrison & Foersters ongoing focus to further broadening its European capabilities. Their arrival strengthens the London offices Corporate practice following the appointment of Graeme Sloan as London Corporate head and global M&A co-chair, and the arrival of Corporate partner Vlad Maly in recent months.

Our recruitment of Andrew and Gary is another signal of our intention to expand our global M&A offering and grow our Corporate practice in London. We are also actively recruiting associates in London to further build out the team, said Paul Friedman, Morrison & Foersters managing partner for Europe. We are also committed to continuing our strategic expansion of key practices in Europe following other lateral hires over the last year such as Peter Declercq and Sonya Van de Graaff becoming partners in our Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group in London, and Lokke Moerel and Alex van der Wolk joining our Privacy and Data Security Group in Berlin.

Graeme Sloan, London Corporate head and global M&A co-chair, who was recently named by American Lawyer as one of the top 25 splashiest lateral hires in 2015, added: Having previously worked with Andrew and Gary, I am delighted that we are able to invest in their tried-and-tested talent and increase the bench-strength of our corporate capabilities in London. Andrew and Gary have both led high-profile transactions and managed large international teams. Their cross-border expertise will be invaluable in providing sophisticated support to the firms global clients, especially those looking for a global English law M&A platform.

Mr. Boyds practice focuses on advising European and U.S. strategic clients on cross-border M&A mandates, including in distressed situations, and on complex carve-out transactions, often in heavily regulated sectors.

Morrison & Foerster advises some of the worlds most high-profile corporates on their most complex and cutting-edge transactions, said Mr. Boyd. I am excited about the opportunity to support the growth of the firms English law M&A platform.

Mr. Browns practice focuses primarily on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity buyouts, and joint ventures. He has experience working for a broad range of clients, including on transactions in the pharmaceutical, technology, manufacturing, and consumer goods industries. Mr. Brown has particular expertise advising alternative asset managers on the M&A aspects of direct lending, including the acquisition and disposal of loan portfolios, and the structuring of lending joint ventures. He was the lead lawyer advising Ares Management on its 3 billion lending joint venture with GE Capital, a deal which was shortlisted for the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards in 2014.

Morrison & Foersters global M&A platform is extremely appealing to me, as is the opportunity to add my experience to the firms extensive financial institutions expertise, said Mr. Brown. I am very excited about this new challenge and the current momentum the firm is enjoying in Europe.

ABOUT MOFO

We are Morrison & Foerster  a global firm of exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in North America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Bankruptcy and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger.
Our Mission Support Grant program benefits nonprofits in the San Diego and Imperial Counties that serve the underservedthe poor, working poor, homeless, and children and focus on health and wellness, Nancy Sasaki said.

For the seventh consecutive year, Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has awarded Mission Support Grants to nonprofit organizations committed to advancing health and wellness in San Diego and Imperial Counties. AHF Executive Director Nancy Sasaki and AHF Program Officer Michele Silverthorn announced the recipients to the public Monday, March 7, 2016.

Through the Mission Support Grant (MSG) program, AHF aims to catalyze real, sustainable change by funding organizations that advance health and wellness for those in need. The 2016 Mission Support Grant amounts range from $25,000 to $100,000 per recipient, totaling $1 million.

Grants are awarded to nonprofits in San Diego and Imperial Counties who serve the following populations: People Under 250% of poverty, Uninsured and underinsured, children and homeless individuals and families.

Our Mission Support Grants program provides core operating support to recipients, said AHF Board Chair Elizabeth Dreicer. This means these 19 organizations can leverage the funding as they see fit, allowing them to apply the grant in a way that best facilitates the advancement of health and wellness in the community.

The 2016 recipients in San Diego County are: CHIP (Community Health Improvement Partners), Dreams for Change, ElderHelp, Just in Time for Foster Youth, Multicultural Health Foundation, Neighborhood House, PATH (People Assisting The Homeless), Planned Parenthood, Reality Changers, San Diego County Medical Society Foundation, San Diego Rescue Mission, Somali Family Service, U C San Diegos Student-Run Free Clinic, and Voices for Children.

In Imperial County, the 2016 Mission Support Grant recipients are: Cancer Resource Center of the Desert, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Imperial County, Imperial County Food Bank, Imperial Valley Homeless Task Force, and Neighborhood House of Calexico.

The recipients were selected February 26, 2016, after a detailed application and selection process that began in fall 2015.

Our Mission Support Grant program benefits nonprofits in the San Diego and Imperial Counties that serve the underservedthe poor, working poor, homeless, and children and focus on health and wellness, Sasaki said. Were honored to support these 19 grantees as they continue to impact these vulnerable populations in beneficial, innovative ways.

The Mission Support Grant program is one of Alliance Healthcare Foundations three funding programs. In 2015, AHF awarded $3,309,431 through the Mission Support Grants, the Innovation Initiative Award, and Responsive Grants, an increase from 2014s $2,989,899 and 2013s $2,330,396.

To learn more about Alliance Healthcare Foundations Mission Support Grant program, visit http://AllianceHF.org/grants/mission-support/.

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About Alliance Healthcare Foundation

Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a San Diego-based nonprofit which works with nonprofit, government and community agencies to advance health and wellness throughout the San Diego and Imperial Counties. AHF works to serve the most vulnerable  the poor, working poor, children and homeless by providing grants, advocacy and education to support its region.

To learn more about AHF, visit: AHF on Facebook, AHF on LinkedIn, AHF on Google+, AHF on YouTube, AHF on Twitter.

To learn more about AHFs grantees, visit their Grantee Page.
Our commitment to innovation  is what sets us apart in the industry, and we strive to continue to provide best-in-class service to our customers around the world.

SearchBlox, a leading provider of enterprise search, sentiment and text analytics solutions, recently announced that it has been named to KMWorlds annual list of 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management. This list has evolved over the years to showcase prominent leaders in technology innovation, and is compiled by industry experts, analysts and theorists.

Being named to our list of 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management is a prestigious designation because it represents the best in innovation, creativity and functionality, says KMWorld Editor Sandra Haimila. The 100 companies offer solutions designed to help customers find what they need whenever and wherever they need it  and what they need is the ability to access, analyze and share crucial knowledge, she added.

We are proud to have been honored by KMWorld this year as part of the prestigious 100 Companies That Matter list, says Timo Selvaraj, SearchBlox Co-Founder and VP Product Management. Our commitment to innovation and helping businesses solve their most complex search, sentiment analysis and text analysis needs is what sets us apart in the industry, and we strive to continue to provide best-in-class service to our customers around the world.

In 2015, SearchBlox was awarded the designation of KMWorlds Trend-Setting Product, and is considered a marketplace leader for search technologies. Based in Richmond, Virginia, SearchBlox is proud to serve more than 350 customers in 30 countries.

About SearchBlox

SearchBlox is a leading provider of enterprise search solutions based on Apache Lucene. More than 350 customers in 30 countries use SearchBlox to power their websites, intranets and custom searches. Since 2003, SearchBlox has been providing businesses with simple, affordable solutions for their data management needs including web-based administration and integrated crawlers to index enterprise and web content.

SearchBlox Software, Inc., is privately held and is based in Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Whataburger Whataburgers launch into Snapchat will allow us to entertain fans, showcase the Whataburger lifestyle and, of course, highlight our delicious food, said Pam Cox, Whataburgers Vice President of Corporate Communications.

Starting today, Whataburger fans can snap for burgers as the company launches its channel on the popular photo and video messaging app, Snapchat.

To celebrate the launch, Whataburger is asking fans to follow them on Snapchat to find out how they can win the prize burger lovers only dream about  a free Whataburger each week for 10 years. While the company has given away Whataburger for a Year in the past, this will be the first time Whataburger offers Whataburger for a Decade to one lucky fan.

Whataburgers launch into Snapchat will allow us to entertain fans, showcase the Whataburger lifestyle and, of course, highlight our delicious food, said Pam Cox, Whataburgers Vice President of Corporate Communications. Weve seen how popular Snapchat is among our Millennial customers, and think this social platform gives us a great chance to interact with more fans in fun, new ways.

Whataburger fans can find the company on Snapchat by searching for WhataburgerLife. Heres what social media fans had to say about wanting Whataburger to join the popular app (content provided directly from Whataburgers Twitter page):



@Whataburger you should make a Snapchat to show people your awesome food!!  Marco R.

If only bae had a Snapchat @Whataburger.  Joey S.

@Whataburger yall need a Snapchat so I can have you on my story.  Michy C.

Whataburger created a strong social media presence by staying on top of the latest trends and pop culture, and recently claimed the No. 1 spot on Nations Restaurant News Social 200 list for highest social engagement. The company has nearly 2 million fans on Facebook, more than 500,000 followers on Twitter and more than 135,000 on Instagram.

About Whataburger:

Whataburger has focused on its fresh, made-to-order burgers and friendly customer service since 1950 when Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger as a small roadside burger stand in Corpus Christi, Texas. Dobson gave his restaurant a name he hoped to hear customers say every time they took a bite of his made-to-order burgers: What a burger! Within the first week, people lined up around the block for his 25 cent, 100 percent beef burgers served on five-inch buns. Today, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 790 locations in 10 states with sales of more than $1 billion annually. Visit http://www.whataburger.com for more information.

Check out the company on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and follow them on their most recently launched channel, Snapchat, @WhataburgerLife.
Receiving this prestigious award from Fisher is a proud accomplishment for Brady and a true testament to our efforts to align strategies and build value through successful marketing and sales plans.

Brady (NYSE:BRC), a global leader in industrial and safety printing systems and solutions, today announced it received the 2015 Outstanding Partnership Award in the Lab Essentials category from Fisher Scientific. The award was presented to Brady during the Fisher Scientific National Sales meeting in Dallas, Texas, in February.

Receiving this prestigious award from Fisher is a proud accomplishment for Brady and a true testament to our efforts to align strategies and build value through successful marketing and sales plans, says Jamie Moore, channel specialist for Brady. Together with Fisher, we have established a mutually beneficial business partnership and we look forward to continuing to build on this success.

This annual Fisher Scientific award recognizes the supplier that best exemplifies outstanding overall performance in the category, including long term relationship and Preferred Supplier status, adding SKUs, marketing and sales support, and overall growth.

To learn more about Bradys offerings in the lab market, visit BradyID.com/lab

For More Information

For Bradys complete product offering, visit BradyID.com.

About Brady Corporation:

Brady Corporation is an international manufacturer and marketer of complete solutions that identify and protect people, products and places. Bradys products help customers increase safety, security, productivity and performance and include high-performance labels, signs, safety devices, printing systems and software. Founded in 1914, the Company has a diverse customer base in electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing, electrical, construction, medical, aerospace and a variety of other industries. Brady is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and as of August 1, 2015, employed approximately 6,400 people in its worldwide businesses. Bradys fiscal 2015 sales were approximately $1.17 billion. Brady stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BRC. More information is available on the Internet at http://www.bradycorp.com.

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Tracey Webb These firms have procedures in place that fully meet the standards of the ALTA Best Practices framework

Frazier & Deeter, one of the nations largest CPA firms, announced today that seven Georgia law firms have completed testing and earned certification under the American Land Title Association's (ALTA) Best Practices certification program administered by Frazier & Deeter.

The following firms have all achieved certification by demonstrating compliance with the seven pillars of ALTAs Best Practices:



These firms have procedures in place that fully meet the standards of the ALTA Best Practices framework, said Tracey Webb, leader of Frazier & Deeters ALTA compliance practice. By seeking certification via a third party CPA firm, these firms have submitted their procedures for a thorough review and proven they have the internal practices in place to protect consumers and lenders throughout the real estate settlement process.

Frazier & Deeters ALTA certification practice is led by Tracey Webb. Webb is a CPA who joined Frazier & Deeter in 2015 after 27 years with Stewart Title, where she served in a variety of leadership roles. Webb is a frequent speaker at title industry events regarding ALTA Best Practice Compliance.

In April of 2012, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) issued a very extensive, detailed framework of Title and Settlement Services Best Practices. The Best Practices were developed to help the industry as a whole respond to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB)s expectation that lenders would oversee and ensure compliance for the actions of their settlement service providers. Settlement service providers include title companies and law firms who perform real estate closing transactions.

The intent of ALTAs Best Practices framework is to highlight policies and procedures the industry exercises to protect lenders and consumers, while ensuring a positive and compliant real estate settlement experience. The ALTA Best Practices gave structure to a somewhat nebulous situation set forth by the CFPB.

The best practices incorporate the following areas of settlement service providers daily operations:



licensing,

escrow trust accounting,

information security,

settlement procedures,

title policy and premium,

insurance and

consumer complaints.

Each of the law firms mentioned above underwent extensive testing to show their compliance with the seven areas. The testing performed is based upon the ALTA Assessment Procedures which have been approved for testing by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in their Technical Questions and Answers communication Section 9540 issued in April 2015. The testing performed by Frazier & Deeter included reviewing the law firms written procedures for these seven areas and testing closing files, bank accounts and related documents to ensure compliance with the written procedures. The testing is in a Pass/Fail structure, meaning all items must Pass in order for the law firm to receive their certification.

About Frazier & Deeter

Frazier & Deeter is a nationally recognized CPA and advisory firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm provides tailored services across a wide range of tax, audit, accounting and advisory needs to achieve each client's unique financial goals. Frazier & Deeter serves clients across the nation from offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Alpharetta, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee and Tampa, Florida.

Frazier & Deeter has been named one of the top Accounting Firms to Work For, the 57th largest CPA firm and one of the Fastest Growing CPA firms among the top 100 firms in the U.S. by Accounting Today magazine. Frazier & Deeter has also been named a Best of the Best CPA firm by Inside Public Accounting and a best firm for Women Leadership Equity by Project MOVE.
The NLN takes pride in standards that meet the needs of faculty and students for access to the highest quality instruction and most effective nursing workforce preparation NLN CEO Dr. Beverly Malone

Capping a meticulous process, the National League for Nursings Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation(NLN CNEA) has voted to issue comprehensive new Standards of Accreditation for nursing programs across the academic spectrum. These standards, crafted from evidence-based best practices, set a high benchmark for nursing programs around the globe.

To be accredited by the NLN CNEA means a program has met five specific standards, each one measured by a broad nexus of quality indicators spelled out by interpretative guidelines included in the document. Initially released in draft form in 2014, the Standards of Accreditation were refined and finalized following a period of public review and commentary.

The NLN CNEA has the authority to accredit nursing programs that offer LPN/LVN; diploma; associate; bachelor; masters and postmasters certificates; and clinical doctorate degrees. The five standards will be applied equally to all types of nursing programs:



Standard I. Culture of Excellence: Program Outcomes

Standard II. Program Integrity: Mission, Governance, and Resources

Standard III. Culture of Excellence and Caring: Faculty

Standard IV. Culture of Excellence and Caring: Students

Standard V. Culture of Learning and Diversity: Curriculum and Evaluation Processes

Noting the significance of the vote by the Board of Commissioners, NLN CNEA executive director, Judith A. Halstead, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, remarked: This represents an important step in achieving the mission of the NLN CNEA to promote excellence and integrity in nursing education globally through an accreditation process that respects the diversity of program mission, curricula, students, and faculty; emphasizes a culture of continuous quality improvement; and influences the preparation of a caring and competent nursing workforce.

Joan Darden, PhD, RN, ANEF, chair of the 15-member Board of Commissioners that provides leadership and direction to the NLN CNEA and oversees all accreditation decisions, added: With this historic action, the NLN CNEA has alerted schools of nursing it is ready to begin reviewing applications for pre-accreditation candidacy. I commend the board of commissioners and everyone who contributed to this process to empower the NLN CNEA.

Added NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN: On behalf of the League, I congratulate the NLN CNEA on the culmination of their efforts. We take pride in a set of standards designed to meet the needs of faculty and students for access to the highest quality instruction and most effective nursing workforce preparation, reflective of the core values of the National League for Nursing: caring, integrity, diversity, and excellence.

For more information about NLN CNEA, please contact executive director Dr. Judith Halstead: 202-909-2487;

The NLN CNEA accredits nursing programs across the academic spectrum including PN/VN, diploma, associate, bachelor, master's, and clinical doctorate degree programs, and will pursue recognition by the US Department of Education as a designated Category 2, non-Title IV purpose, accrediting body.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers professional development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 40,000 individual and 1,200 institutional members. NLN members represent nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education, and health care organizations and agencies.
S.E.A.L. Mobile Trailers feature up to six cameras that transmit to a SentryVMS management solution from IPVideo Corporation S.E.A.L. was particularly impressed with SentryVMS's stability and system features.

IPVideo Corporation, manufacturer of IP-based video surveillance and command center solutions, today announced that S.E.A.L. Security Solutions of Houston, Texas, has selected SentryVMS as the video management platform to support its redesigned fleet of mobile security and surveillance trailers. The companys mobile security camera trailers feature up to 6 high resolution PTZ cameras on a telescoping mount that transmit video via cellular 4G back to S.E.A.L.s central command and live monitoring center. S.E.A.L. Security offers mobile security trailers in electric and solar self-contained systems.

S.E.A.Ls mobile camera systems provide a convenient and rapidly deployable solution for remote security and surveillance at construction sites, residential areas, businesses, parking lots, outdoor events, and other locations where there is need for temporary 24/7 security. Rhedonda Cox, S.E.A.L Securitys Director of Surveillance and Business Development conveys that all camera systems also come standard with armed emergency response by S.E.A.L. Security officers, a unique feature in the surveillance industry. The cameras on each security trailer, licensed with SentryVMS software, are controlled from S.E.A.L.s command /monitoring center and can be easily and securely accessed remotely as well via the SentryVMS web interface or mobile app.

S.E.A.L. Security added mobile surveillance capabilities 5 years ago to complement its tactical security patrol & K-9 services both domestically and abroad. The decision to standardize on SentryVMS for its fleet of mobile security camera systems was made after careful trial and evaluation of potential solutions. S.E.A.L.s Chief Information Officer, Benjamin Hatfield, explains that the company was particularly impressed with SentryVMSs stability and system features. Its ability to respond to on-site motion alerts and support high resolution video without dropping frames was particularly important, after the company recently tested and observed poor results with a less robust VMS solution.

Steve Rice, IPVideos Director of Business Development, says We are very excited and honored to be chosen by S.E.A.L. Security as a strategic partner as they expand their reach in the mobile security and surveillance market. The flexibility of our SentryVMS solution is an excellent choice for a wide range of non-traditional applications, and S.E.A.L.s choice to work with us helps to verify this. For more information about SentryVMS, visit http://www.ipvideocorp.com or visit IPVideo booth 19116 at the upcoming ISC West Exhibition in Las Vegas, April 6-8. S.E.A.L. Security can be contacted at 713-979-2388 and online at http://www.SEALSecurity.com, appointments can also be scheduled to meet with them at the IPVideo booth at ISC West.

About IPVideo Corporation: An industry pioneer since its introduction of one of the first network-based surveillance recording solutions in 1996, IPVideo Corporation is now at the forefront of developing unique, innovative solutions that harness the power of IP video technology. Today, the Companys systems are trusted by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and municipalities, utilities, healthcare facilities, school districts and leading universities to mitigate risk while protecting people and property. A commitment to an open-standards philosophy and delivering best-in-class performance and value underlies all offeringsfrom physical security solutions that bridge to the Internet of Things, to purpose-built HD audio/video recording solutions for education, law enforcement, healthcare, and beyond. The companys worldwide client base is served by a network of certified distributors, dealers and system integrators, who benefit from ongoing corporate support and training. IPVideo Corporation is headquartered in Bay Shore, NY. For more information, visit http://www.ipvideocorp.com.

About S.E.A.L. Security: S.E.A.L. Security Solutions, LLC is the premier provider of integrated security services on the Texas Gulf Coast, offering armed, K9-equipped, patrol services and both fixed and mobile camera surveillance solutions. SEAL employs over 200 private security officers, including over 100 US Armed Forces veterans, and over 70 trained dogs. SEALs rapidly growing patrol footprint covers more than 25% of the entire Houston metro area. Customers include city management districts, utility districts, homeowners associations, commercial property owners, construction companies, multifamily housing operators, and a wide variety of other clients, who benefit from SEALs proactive approach to crime deterrence. SEALs state-of-the-art camera platforms include both line-powered and solar models, and offer the added benefit of armed response to alerts and alarms by SEALs officer force. SEAL has a history operating in complex and dangerous environments, including a long history or supplying anti-piracy services to ship owners whos vessels ply dangerous waters, like the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. SEAL has proven over the years that it is up to any security challenge its customers night face. SEAL is licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety: P.S.B. License # 15942
LoanCare, a ServiceLink company, a leading national provider of full service subservicing and interim subservicing to the mortgage industry, today announced that David Schaede has joined the LoanCare sales team as National Sales Executive.

In his previous role, Schaede was the business development lead for PHHs subservicing offering. As the director of business development, he was responsible for sourcing new partnership opportunities.

Prior to PHH, Schaede was with GMAC/ResCap and worked for ABN AMRO Mortgage Group (eventually becoming CitiMortgage) in their Financial Institutions channel as the regional business development leader for the western United States. Schaede was also the vice president of business development and client relations for Select Portfolio Servicing (Credit Suisse First Boston) where he managed relationships with investment banks and credit rating agencies.

Before joining Select Portfolio Servicing, Schaede worked in several business units at GE Capital Mortgage Corp. throughout an 11-year time period. These areas included GEs e-Business Solutions, Compliance Underwriting-Outsourcing Services and Mortgage Insurance. Clients included Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and numerous national and regional financial institutions.

Schaede began his career with the Resolution Trust Corporation and participated in the marketing and securitization of performing/non-performing mortgage notes and real estate assets. He graduated in 1989 from the University of Iowa with a degree in economics and attended General Electrics John F. Welch Leadership Development Center in Crotonville, NY, where he was certified in Six Sigma methodology.

About LoanCare, a ServiceLink company

LoanCare, a ServiceLink company, is a leading national provider of full service subservicing and interim subservicing to the mortgage industry and has offered its expertise and best practices in providing servicing solutions for others since 1991. At the present time, LoanCare subservices approximately 600,000 loans in 50 states, totaling $112 billion in loan balances. LoanCare has a seasoned loan servicing team with senior managers averaging over 28 years experience in the mortgage and financial services industry. For more information about LoanCare, please visit http://www.loancareservicing.com.
McIlveen has received numerous recognitions and awards over the last few years, including being recognized as Super Lawyers 2015 Rising Star in North Carolina and being awarded Avvo.coms Clients Choice Award in the Divorce Category.

Angela White McIlveen of the McIlveen Family Law Firm was recently honored as a Super Lawyers North Carolina Rising Star for 2016. This is the second consecutive year that Super Lawyers magazine has recognized McIlveen for her continued excellence and outstanding achievements in the field of law.

Super Lawyers, owned by Thomson Reuters, is a system that rates exceptional lawyers in over 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of both peer recognition and professional achievement.

The rigorous annual selection process is composed of a series of steps: peer nominations, peer evaluations, independent research and final selection. An individual must be 40 years in age or younger to qualify for the Rising Stars list, or have been in practice for 10 years or less. Although up to five percent of lawyers in one state may be chosen as Super Lawyers, no more than 2.5 percent are named Rising Stars.

The Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists are a credible, diverse and comprehensive listing of outstanding attorneys to be used as a trusted resource for referring attorneys and for individuals and businesses in search of legal representation. Attorneys who have passed the Super Lawyers selection process meet ethical standards, have attained high peer recognition, and have established some degree of accomplishment in their field.

Angela McIlveen earned her Juris Doctor degree from Case Law School. She has since focused on litigation-related issues, aggressively and passionately advocating for her clients rights and best interests.

McIlveen has received numerous recognitions and awards over the last few years, including being recognized as Super Lawyers 2015 Rising Star in North Carolina and being awarded Avvo.coms Clients Choice Award in the Divorce Category. The American Society of Legal Advocates also named McIlveen as a Top 40 Under 40 Family Law Attorney in North Carolina for 2015 and the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys awarded McIlveen with the "10 Best" award for Client Satisfaction in North Carolina.

She is the author of The North Carolina Divorce Guidebook, a member of the National Women Trial Lawyers. She is also a member of the Gaston County Bar Association, a board member of the North Carolina Bar Association Law Practice Management Section and an attorney member of the Family Law Section.

Founded by Angela and Sean McIlveen, the McIlveen Family Law Firm is a reputable law firm solely focused on North Carolina family law. They are fully committed to helping families resolve issues related to divorce, child custody, child support, alimony, prenuptial agreements, domestic violence, grandparent rights, adoption and more.

For more information about the McIlveen Family Law Firm including career opportunities call (704) 865-9011.
Enterworks, a leading provider of master data management (MDM) and product information management (PIM) solutions, will join Demandware to present a webinar titled, Managing Content in our Democratized World of Retail.

As the retail industry has shifted to embrace the new terms of engagement dictated by consumers, retailers have been forced to extend and enrich their brand experience across physical and digital touchpoints. In order to be successful in this new era of commerce, retailers must unify data assets and content across channels.

The webinar, being held on Wednesday, March 9th at 12:00 p.m.  1:00 p.m. CT., will offer key insights on how leading retailers, such as Fender, are:



Enriching content throughout the product lifecycle

Syndicating data across marketing and transactional channels

Targeting content and offers based on customer context and building out content and commerce networks for global expansion of community interactions.

Speakers include Rob Garf, Vice President of Industry Strategy and Insights, Demandware; Rick Chavie, CEO, EnterWorks and Eric Gilboe, Product Data Coordinator and Data Architect, Fender.

Retailers today face more challenges than ever before in terms of consistent product content across channels, said Chavie. Our webinar is designed to discuss best practices for keeping product consistent and maximizing profits, while minimizing time spent by brands and retailers distributing and managing information.

For more information visit the webinar registration page.

About EnterWorks

EnterWorks, a leading provider of product information management (PIM) and master data management (MDM) software solutions, gives companies a single view of content so they can present a consistent and accurate view of products and brands across channels. Retailers, manufacturers and distributors use the EnterWorks Enable content management platform to integrate data from internal and supplier sources; manage the information within the enterprise and across supply and demand chains; and syndicate and publish content to multiple physical and digital channels. Customers in industries such as consumer goods, hospitality, QSR, medical, technology, office products, equipment, fashion and services have used EnterWorks Enable to offer a more personalized omni-channel customer experience, improve operational efficiency and increase revenue.
SmartForce Agency Management System Adventos is grateful to sponsor this community-policing learning event!

An international non-profit that helps senior law enforcement officials provide training, education, experience, and information, the FBI National Academy Associates has been protecting the public safety for more than 80 years.

During the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Meeting, Texas law enforcement officials will be receive a briefing from Rowlett Chief of Police, Mike Brodnax on the EF4 tornado that struck their community on December 26, 2015. The path through Rowlett was  mile wide and four miles long. Over 6000 homes and businesses were left without power.

Adventos looks forward to the opportunity to support the North Texas Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates led by Assistant Chief Mike Young from the North Richland Hills Police Department. Vice President of Marketing at Adventos, Brian McGrew, will be attending the event to represent Adventos. Speaking of the event, Brian McGrew, said that "Everyone at Adventos is grateful for the opportunity to sponsor this regional meeting so that key learning's on community-policing during a natural disaster can be passed onto other agencies to prepare for and elevate public safety in Texas."

Interested parties can learn more about the SmartForce Agency Management System and how it improves community-policing and intelligence collaboration as well as other police processes at http://www.adventos.com/demo.html. After watching the demonstration video, interested law enforcement officials are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for themselves. Go to http://www.adventos.com/demo.html to view the video and request a free trial today.
Our reach as a company and the online streaming technology capabilities continue to expand, says Nicholas Roselius, director of operations.

This year brings innovative changes to Orlandos leading online video company, Stream Monkey. In addition to adding new services, Stream Monkey is launching its new brand, including a new website, March 7th, and has relocated its headquarters to Orlandos downtown business district.

Our reach as a company and the online streaming technology capabilities continue to expand, says Nicholas Roselius, director of operations. Known for reliable event streaming across multiple platforms, Stream Monkey got its start and grew its reputation by developing streaming technology solutions in specific industry sectors.

As its clients needs grew, Stream Monkeys solutions expanded and it has now incorporated a new suite of services to allow clients to explore their space, says Roselius.

Exploring the unknown (space) is what we encourage our clients to do, he adds.

Stream Monkeys newest capabilities include live event streaming, On Demand offerings and integrations. Clients can look forward to a one stop shop for their events with Stream Monkey with the advent of page design, social content support and integration and in-player advertising services. Rooted in religious service streaming, Stream Monkey is now working directly with corporate event planners to expand their reach via Internet streaming. The new website will allow visitors to sign up for a 14-day trial service free of charge.

About Stream Monkey

Stream Monkey, founded in 2011, is an online video company focused on simplifying the way users share, connect and engage with their audience. Headquartered in downtown Orlando, Stream Monkey offers clients and their users the most technologically advanced streaming services. Deeply rooted in developing streaming technology firsts in the field, they hosted the first 4K Live Streamed Event from Austin, Texass SXSW 2015 event. They were also responsible for the release of the first Apple TV application designed for live and On Demand streaming. Stream Monkey offers a full suite of services to support live events, including page design, integrations, social media content and in-player ad support capabilities. For more information visit http://www.streammonkey.com. Follow on Twitter @StreamMonkey and on Facebook.com/StreamMonkey.
Representatives with House Buyers of America announced today that the company is celebrating 15 years in business.

Our company was launched in January 2001, and its exciting to look back and celebrate 15 successful years in business, said Nick Ron, CEO of House Buyers of America, Inc. We have an exciting success story, weve experienced fast growth, we navigated successfully through the downturn, and weve built a name of integrity and trust in the process. House Buyers has expanded from just one county at its inception to over 30 counties spread over 2 states and Washington, DC. We grew to $50 million our first three years in business and were looking to grow much bigger than that over the next 3 years.

House Buyers of America, which won the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2004, buys houses As Is  in any condition, ugly or pretty.

Theres no need to do extensive renovations, staging, and clean your house every day for potential buyers, Ron stressed, before adding, We have hundreds of crew members that help us renovate all of our houses quickly and cost effectively. We renovate houses typically at about 50 percent of the cost of a typical homeowner because we buy in bulk. Renovating hundreds of houses gives us purchasing power that a typical homeowner doesnt have. The savings are passed on to homeowners in the form of a higher purchase price when we make an offer.

House Buyers of America, according to Ron, has purchased more than 1,350 houses, and went on to describe the company as being professional with a great reputation.

People come to us because they trust us and they know we have adequate capital. In short, we do what we say were going to do. We have a fully staffed office with professionally trained real estate experts who assist homeowners in selling their homes quickly and hassle-free. Many of our competitors are small, mom and pop type companies that havent been around very long, Ron pointed out. Many run their businesses part-time out of their own house and dont have the capital to close. They may buy 2 or 3 homes a year whereas we have bought as many as 300 houses in one year. When it comes to selling your biggest asset, homeowners want to go with a reputable company they can trust.

The company spokesman noted that 2015 was one of Houses Buyers of Americas best years and 2016 is on track to be another record-breaking year. As one of the largest home buying companies in the United States, House Buyers of America does not charge any real estate commissions or fees, which in turn, saves customers the typical six percent real estate commissions they otherwise would pay their agent to list their property.

We offer all cash, Ron said. There are no finance contingencies, its all cash. We have a significant amount of capital and resources readily available to buy houses anytime. We buy houses fast, so theres no more waiting around for months for an offer, you can get an offer within 10 minutes over the phone.

For more information, please visit housebuyersofamerica.com/about_house_buyers_of_america/ and housebuyersofamerica.com/we-buy-houses/

About House Buyers of America

House Buyers of America is a residential real estate investment company headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia. By using House Buyers, home owners no longer have to pay real estate commissions, deal with real estate agents, or fix-up their properties. The Company offers a guaranteed, fast and hassle-free sale to people who want to sell their houses without paying a 6% Real Estate commission. House Buyers of America buys each property As-Is. House Buyers renovates the house if necessary, so sellers do not need to waste their time or money readying their property for sale.

Contact Details:

House Buyers of America, Inc.

14420 Albemarle Point Place, Suite 150

Chantilly, VA 20151

Phone: 1-855-659-3289

Source: House Buyers of America, Inc.

###
CEO Sophia Parker with SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and fellow WOSB of the Year honorees Women are phenomenal entrepreneurs who want to make a lasting economic impact through our work. It takes a sisterhood to make the world a better place.

DSFederal, Inc. was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Wednesday as one of the top Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) of the Year, commending the firms economic contribution to the Rockville community and for inspiring the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation. The event, held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., honored DSFederal and four other WOSBs, including TribalTech LLC, Elocen Group, Government Business Solutions, and Edifice Solutions.

At the event, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet announced that the federal government had surpassed its five percent Woman-Owned Small Business contracting goal for the first time since it was established by Congress in 1994. Out of $90.7 billion in contract awards to small businesses in FY15, the federal government dedicated $17.8 billion to woman-owned firms, adding more than half a million jobs to the economy, Contreras-Sweet said.

More and more, women-owned small businesses are at the heart of our nation's greatest technological advances, moving the world forward in cybersecurity, clean energy, human capital, and many other industries, she wrote in a Huffington Post blog. Small businesses are some of the most agile, pioneering, and cost-effective partners for the federal government.

The award comes less than a year after SBA honored CEO Sophia Parker as Marylands 2015 Small Business Person of the Year, recognizing DSFederal for its substantial growth, commitment to innovation, and philanthropic efforts. Just last week, DSFederal was named a Top Minority-Owned Business by the Washington Business Journal.

The federal government has paved the way for creating opportunities for women in business, Parker said in a statement. Women are phenomenal entrepreneurs who want to make a lasting economic impact through our work. It takes a sisterhood to make the world a better place.

About DSFederal: DSFederal is a consulting firm specializing in IT services, data analytics, and training for government agencies. Clients include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation, Defense, and Agriculture, among others. Projects range from developing mobile apps for fire services professionals to customizing software and processes that manage billions of dollars for HHS agencies. http://www.dsfederal.com
Digitaltrends.com, the popular site for news, information and reviews on personal technology, posted its strongest year ever in 2015 across several key digital publishing measurements. The site, which is owned and operated by Digital Trends  a Portland, Oregon-based digital publisher specializing in consumer tech  saw huge double-digit year-over-year growth in unique visitors, pageviews and total visits over 2014.

For the period from January 1through December 31, 2015, Digitaltrends.com:



Drew over 222MM unique visitors, representing a gain of nearly 40% (39.4%) over 2014 full-year visitors.

Pageviews for the site soared to nearly 700MM for the year, a gain of 61.9% over the prior year.

Total visits climbed to nearly 290MM (289.6) for 2015, a 43% increase over 2014.

Digital Trends strategy of combining premium attention-grabbing content with a magazine-quality experience for our users is really paying off, explains Ian Bell, CEO of Digital Trends. In growing numbers, consumers increasingly rely on Digital Trends to keep them up-to-date in the ever-changing tech landscape and help them to make informed decisions when making investments in personal tech.

Digital Trends is a leading consumer technology publisher that aims to demystify technology, helping people navigate an increasingly digital world. Digital Trends easy-to-understand product reviews, entertaining news and videos serve more than 25 million unique visitors each month and four million mobile users. Digital Trends reaches 90 million tech influencers through the Digital Trends Media Network, and its syndicate partners include Yahoo!, FOX News and more than 200 broadcast news stations. Digital Trends is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and has offices in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago. For more information, visit http://www.digitaltrends.com.

For more information on Digital Trends, contact: Paul Ward at PWard(at)digitaltrends(dot)com or at (917) 593-6066.
DrugDev's goal is to promote standardization, industry-wide collaboration, and a beautiful technology experience so pharma can do more clinical trials.

DrugDev will demonstrate innovative clinical operations technologies aimed at promoting standardization, industry-wide collaboration, and a beautiful technology experience at the Clinical Innovations Congress in London, 9-10 March:

How One (Golden) Number Can Transform Clinical Trials, 9 March, 4:30pm - DrugDevs Associate Director Bryan Dobson will discuss the impact of the DrugDev Golden Number  a unique identifier used to match and master Investigator and site information  on speeding site activation. With the DrugDev Golden Number, individual pharma companies and CROs easily match and master data, and share data across collaborations like the Investigator Databank and TransCelerate. Join this session for an update on the Golden Number and how pharma is using it to improve the efficiency of clinical trials.

The DrugDev Site Activation Module, 9 March, 5:10 pm - At the Congress Tech Showcase Kirsty Kwiatkowski, Director, SiteStart will demonstrate DrugDevs new SaaS-based Site Activation Module, which will drastically reduce clinical trial startup time and ease the administrative burden on sites. The Site Activation Module is a cloud-based technology that is driven by a customizable workflow optimization engine that simplifies e-feasibility, contract and budget negotiations, and the collection and maintenance of essential site regulatory documents. Productivity and collaboration are increased with global transparency, real time dashboards, metrics, reporting and more to reduce startup time by at least 20%.

About the Presenters

Bryan Dobson, Associate Director, DrugDev  Bryan has direct line management of Research Associates at DrugDev, and is responsible for data management and curation of the DrugDev Golden Number. Prior to DrugDev Bryan was a Research Scientist in the Defence Technology Agency of the New Zealand Defence Force.

Kirsty Kwiatkowski, Director, SiteStart  Kirsty oversees SiteStart activities and the DrugDev Investigator Network. Kirsty is passionate about clinical research and the evolution of the clinical trials process and has many years of clinical and regulatory operations experience. Previously Kirsty managed clinical trials and teams of clinical trialists at Vernalis, Johnson & Johnson and Pharm-Olam, where she worked across all phases of clinical research and several therapeutic areas.

Read what top pharmaceutical industry publications say about the DrugDev Site Activation Module:

http://bit.ly/CINonSiteActivationModule

http://bit.ly/ACT-SiteActivationModule

About DrugDev

DrugDev, which has offices in London, UK; King of Prussia, PA; and Boston, MA, is an innovative technology company which provides cloud-based solutions to help sponsors, CROs and investigators do more clinical trials together. DrugDevs unified platform optimizes site selection and activation, investigator payments and clinical operations efficiency. DrugDev also serves as the trusted third-party host of the revolutionary Investigator Databank collaboration and the TransCelerate Investigator Registry. Learn why 9 of the top 10 sponsors and 4 of the top 5 CROs trust on DrugDev technology to do more trials at drugdev.com.
iOLab is a new handheld device for the Physics Lab. Some effective learning goes on when your hands are tactilely doing something and youre seeing it happen, as opposed to just hearing or reading about it," said Dr. Selen.

Today at SXSWedu, Macmillan Learning announced the launch of iOLab, a first-of-its-kind handheld tool for college Physics courses that allows students to gather real-time data dynamically. Fully integrated with the Microsoft Office products, it enables universities to immediately solve the budgetary and space challenges of campus labs.

Invented by Mats Selen and Tim Stelzer, from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, iOLab is a handheld data-gathering device that allows Physics educators to increase student participation and engagement in class as students are able to see the results of any activity graphed with data in real time. The device communicates wirelessly to its software. Sophisticated built-in sensors give students the ability to measure force, acceleration, velocity, displacement, magnetic field, rotation, light, sound, temperature, pressure and voltages in any field-based or classroom situation.

This is a quantum leap forward for student engagement in the classroom, said Macmillan Learning CEO Ken Michaels. The flexibility of this system makes it easy to design or implement virtually any experiment educators want to teach. Classrooms today are struggling with constraints of space and budget, said CEO Ken Michaels. iOLab offers a practical solution coupled with more authentic active learning.

Theres nothing like having your hands on something while your brain is thinking about it, said Dr. Selen. Some effective learning goes on when your hands are tactilely doing something and youre seeing it happen, as opposed to just hearing or reading about it.

This kind of technology completely revolutionizes the teaching of Physics, said Macmillan Learning Managing Director Susan Winslow. It was born from a vision to provide a more authentic and meaningful learning experience. Students can actually work with physics concepts in action anywhere, in lab, in class or at home. It encourages experimentation, asking new kinds of questions, learning to work with data and can motivate students to really explore their own world.

Macmillan Learning recently worked with Microsoft to develop the iOLab APP that allows students to easily import data from the cloud into excel. Any user with access to Office 365 can leverage the power of Excel to analyze the information they have captured, and share their data with their instructor, fellow students, or anyone else they choose. The APP is now available in the Microsoft store.

The power of the device coupled with the app makes an already dynamic course much more manageable for students, said Ms. Winslow.

Drs. Selen and Stelzer also developed the revolutionary course technologies iClicker and FlipIt (formerly smartPhysics) in partnership with Macmillan Learning.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

About iOLab:

http://www.macmillanhighered.com/catalog/preview/iolab

iOLab is re-imagining the idea of a Physics Lab. This revolutionary hardware software system from the authors/inventors of FlipItPhysics (smartPhysics) and iClicker, Mats Selen and Tim Stelzer, provides students with an accessible hand held data-gathering device. Wireless communication between the iOLab and the software enables a student to see the results of an experiment in real-time. They gain hands-on experience and watch their data graphed as they measure the world around them. No longer confined to the physical environment of the lab or large-scale equipment set up, a student can bring the iOLab to their dorm room, a coffee shop, anywhere they can use a laptop and iOLab! This flexibility makes it possible for instructors to design and implement virtually any experiment they want to assign their students or demonstrate in lecture. iOLab sparks the imagination and re-energizes the teaching experience; but most importantly it facilitates authentic learning of physics concepts for students!

ABOUT iOLab creators:

1. Mats Selen earned B.Sc.('82) and M.Sc.('83) degrees in physics at the University of Guelph, and M.A.('85) and Ph.D.('89) degrees in particle physics at Princeton University. After a four year post-doc at Cornell he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois Department of Physics in 1993, where he is now the Associate Head of Undergraduate Programs. After 25 years of studying elementary particles he is shifting his research focus to understanding and improving the way students learn physics. With Illinois colleagues he developed the iclicker classroom response system, the smartPhysics learning framework, and most recently IOLabs.

Mats Selen was one of four national winners of the 2015 U.S. Professor of the Year Award. Conducted by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the award recognized Selen as a national leader in physics education research for his innovative teaching and technological invention. Tim Stelzer is Tim Stelzer is an associate professor of physics, and distinguished teacher-scholar at the University of Illinois. He received a B.S in physics from St. Johns University in 1988 and a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993. His particle physics research has focused on physics at hadron colliders such as the Tevatron at Fermi National Accelerator Laborarory and the LHC in Geneva Switzerland. Several of his papers are among the top cited in high energy physics.

Tim worked on the award winning transformation of the introductory physics courses at the University of Illinois and is a founding member of their Physics Education Research group. His education research has focused on making appropriate use of technology to improve student learning. He is a co-inventor of the iclicker personal response system and is coauthor of the "smartPhysics" learning system. Tim is a regular on the Universitys "Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked Excellent by Their Students," and received the 2013 Excellence in Education Award from the American Physical Society .

About Macmillan Learning

Macmillan Learning improves lives through learning. Our legacy of excellence in education continues to inform our approach to developing world-class content with pioneering, interactive tools. Through deep partnership with the worlds best researchers, educators, administrators, and developers, we facilitate teaching and learning opportunities that spark student engagement and improve outcomes. We provide educators with tailored solutions designed to inspire curiosity and measure progress. Our commitment to teaching and discovery upholds our mission to improve lives through learning. To learn more, please visit http://www.macmillanlearning.com or see us on Facebook, Twitter, or join our Macmillan Community.
YouVeeShield What people dont understand, is that it only takes 10 gel polish services before your skin is compromised, said Founder & CEO Renee Albera. Each gel manicure is equivalent to being in the sun for approximately 21 to 40 minutes.

YouVeeShield has created the first disposable skin protector for hands and feet to block 99.9% of the UV light emitted from UV/LED nail lamps during the curing of gel polish. Unlike most protective gloves found in nail salons to protect the skin, YouVeeShield protectors have FDA approved ingredients that are effective in blocking the rays, protecting skin from unnecessary exposure including premature aging, wrinkles and sunspots.

What people dont understand, is that it only takes 10 gel polish services before your skin is compromised, said Founder & CEO Renee Albera. Each gel manicure is equivalent to being in the sun for a pproximately 21 to 40 minutes. Imagine doing that twice a month, for years on end, with no UV protection. The Skin Cancer Foundation is also on board.

In 2015, they changed their website to reflect that the LED lamps are not safe. After further research, they now state correctly that all nail lamps used to cure gel polishes emit UV radiation.

As an early adopter, Albera got her first gel manicure in 2010, when the technology first appeared in U.S. nail salons and loved it. It was long lasting (up to two weeks) and dried instantly. However, she gradually started noticing sunspots on the top of her hands. It was disheartening, but more so, it was scary. She did not want to discontinue one of her new favorite beauty regimes and knew she wasnt the only one. Gel manicures were on the rise. In fact in 2014, 85% of customers were asking for gel manicures or pedicures. Renee recognized how this was going to become a larger problem with generations of women (and men) now being exposed to UV radiation without their knowledge.

In 2014, Renee began researching and talking to doctors and influencers to see what could be done. She quickly realized one of the biggest problems was the lack of shared knowledge and knowledge being withheld, especially within the nail salons.

People are not informed. UV and LED nail lamps are classified as moderate risk, but that is actually incredibly high, stated Albera. Moderate risk or risk two lamps are the highest risk group of lighting systems allowed to be used by the general public in unsupervised conditions. Thats scary stuff.

Renee worked closely with engineers to develop early prototypes of YouVeeShield. The heat resistant gloves (made of a thermal plastic elastomer) block the skin from the UV radiation emitted from the nail lamps, combating sunspots and wrinkles. The shields are infused with FDA approved titanium dioxide, to block out 99.9% of the UV light emitted from the lamps. After further market testing, the shields were validated as the only skin protectant able to block 99.96% of UV Light emitted from the UV and LED Lamps and were released for sale.

Availability

YouVeeShield is launching an Indiegogo campaign on March 7, 2016 to expand the business development, marketing and distribution of the product. Consumers and salons who purchase YouVeeShield through the campaign are eligible to receive discounted pricing and the possibility to win a LED OPI Nail Lamp (valued at $500.00 along with samples of YVS). Product is also available on at http://www.youveeshield.com, Amazon and eBay.

My goal is to provide generations of skin protection during the gel manicures and pedicures they love, allowing them to maintain their beauty routines safely and confidently, said Albera. Ultimately, gel manicures and pedicures are beauty services. Why be exposed to something that is harmful to your skin during a service that is enhancing your beauty?

About YouVeeShield

YouVeeShield creates disposable skin protectors for hands and feet that block 99.9% of dangerous UV light from nail lamps, protecting hands from premature aging, wrinkles and sunspots during gel-polish nail services. The .003 inch shield is made from a thermoplastic elastomer that contains titanium dioxide, an inert and safe FDA-approved additive, giving the shield it's white color and UV blocking capabilities. YouVeeShield is the only product proven to block 99.9% of the UV light .The company was founded in 2014 by Renee Albera and is located in Menlo Park, CA. Made in the USA, the Shields are distributed exclusively by YouVeeShield, LLC.

Indiegogo: http://igg.me/at/youvee

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American Institutes for Research (AIR) experts will participate in the 2016 annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), being held March 6-10 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.

AIR experts will address a multitude of topics, including education and the Ebola crisis in Liberia, reading issues in South India, the use of free online data tools, international assessments and the parents role in education across the globe.

This years theme is Six Decades of Comparative and International Education: Taking Stock and Looking Forward.

Presentations include:

Sunday, March 6

Workshop: Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA): Enhancing Tools for the Next Decade (Part 2)

11:45 a.m.  2:45 p.m.

Junior Ballroom C

AIR Presenter: Pooja Nakamura

Workshop: Determining if International and National Assessments Measure the Same Content: A Case Study in the United States

11:45 a.m.  2:45 p.m.

Finback

AIR Presenters: Kim Gattis, Teresa Neidorf & Maria Stephens

Workshop: Comparative International Education Research Made Easier: How to Use Several Free Online Data Tools

3:00 p.m.  6:00 p.m.

Junior Ballroom C

AIR Presenters: Sharlyn Ferguson & David Miller

Monday, March 7

Paper Session: Re-Engaging Girls in Education in a Post-Ebola Setting: A Qualitative Assessment of GOAL Plus Interventions in Liberia

9:45 a.m.  11:15 a.m.

Junior Ballroom C

AIR Presenters: Ashley Doria, Hannah Ring, and Mariela Goett

Paper Session: Process for Conducting a Systematic Review of the Early Grade Reading Evidence in the LAC Region

11:30 a.m.  1:00 p.m.

Orca

AIR Presenters: Thomas de Hoop, Evgeny Klochikhin, Rebecca Stone & Josefina Vijil

Panel: Measuring Changes in Gender Norms Through Formal and Non-Formal Education Approaches to Peacebuilding in Sub Saharan Africa

1:15 p.m.  2:45 p.m.

Pavilion Ballroom C

AIR Presenters: Marjorie Chinen & Andi Coombes

Paper Session: One-Year Impact Results: Longitudinal Evaluation of the Plantwise-Kenya Training Program

3:00 p.m.  4:30 p.m.

Room 654

AIR Presenter: Nisha Rai

Tuesday, March 8

Poster session: Does Mathematics Literacy Indicate Strong Problem Solving Skills? Results from PISA 2012

3:00 p.m.  4:30 p.m.

Grand Ballroom Foyer

AIR Presenter: Lydia Malley

Wednesday, March 9

Paper Session: Threshold Effects in Multilingual Reading in South India

9:45 a.m.  11:15 a.m.

Port Hardy

AIR Presenter: Pooja Nakamura

Panel: Learning from Early Grade Reading Assessment in the Kyrgyz Republic

3:00 p.m.  4:30 p.m.

Orca

AIR Presenters: Todd Drummond, Jerome Mindes, Pooja Nakamura & Amy Todd

Paper Session: Effective Decentralization of Education Management: Lessons Learned in the Use of Standardized Management Tools and Metrics to Improve Zambian Schools

4:45  6:15 p.m.

Cracked Ice Lounge

AIR Presenter: Mohammed Elmeski

Thursday, March 10

Paper Session: An Average Is Just an Average: What About Countries' Low- and High-Performing Students?

11:30 a.m.  1:00 p.m.

Orca

AIR Presenter: David Miller & Varsha Radhakrishnan

Paper Session: Examining Gender Differences in the Mathematical Literacy of 15-Year-Olds and the Numeracy Skills of the Age Cohorts as Adults

3:00 p.m.  4:30 p.m.

Grand Ballroom A

AIR Presenters: Alka Arora and Emily Pawlowski

Paper Session: How Much Experience Do Principals Have? An International Perspective on the Years of Experience of Principals Using TALIS 2013 Data

4:45 p.m.  6:15 p.m.

Vancouver

AIR Presenter: Yemurai Tsokodayi

Paper Session: Education and the Formation of Skills - Do Parents Matter? An International Analysis using PIAAC Data 4:45 p.m.  6:15 p.m.

Room 554

AIR Presenters: John Meakin & Dan Sherman

To view the full conference program for the CIES program, go to http://cies2016.org/program/.

About AIR

Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity. For more information, visit http://www.air.org.
The AREDS supplement was beneficial for most patients, but almost 15% did worse with treatment than with placebo. --Carl Awh, MD

The Macular Degeneration Association, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing blindness, today issued an urgent warning to patients suffering from a form of the disease known as intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration. MDA leaders and ophthalmologists are advising patients to talk with their doctors about a proven and commonly prescribed vitamin supplement containing zinc, an ingredient that might actually be harmful in some cases. They are recommending a simple, personalized genetic test that could potentially indicate the difference between slowing or accelerating the progression of vision loss.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over 55 in the US.

The MDA cites mixed reviews on the supplement, which is known medically as the AREDS formulation and goes by many brand names. In studies published in the journal Ophthalmology, genetic test results suggested that AREDS could help about 35 percent of patients, while accelerating vision loss for 13 percent. (Ophthalmology, November, 2013 http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(13)00679-9/abstract) A non-zinc formula is available for the latter group.

AREDS supplements have been shown to benefit the average patient with moderate macular degeneration, but our research suggests that this average benefit is the result of significantly different individual responses, says Carl Awh, MD, a retina specialist from Nashville, Tenn. The AREDS supplement was beneficial for most patients, but almost 15% did worse with treatment than with placebo. This adverse outcome appears to be due to the high-dose zinc component of the AREDS formulation. More research is indicated but, in the meantime, I perform genetic testing to select the optimal nutritional supplement for each patient.

What were recommending is an abundance of caution and an informed dialogue between patients and their doctors, says MDA founder and chairman Lawrence Hoffheimer, a retired healthcare attorney and federal prosecutor whose mother suffered from the disease. This supplement can be very helpful to some patients, but if theres a likely possibility that zinc can accelerate vision loss, and a simple genetic test can determine if a patient may be at risk, it makes sense to consider the test.

As reported recently in Ophthalmology Times, the American Academy of Ophthalmology is not recommending routine genetic testing and still considers the test to be under evaluation. (Ophthalmology Times, February, 2016 http://ophthalmologytimes.modernmedicine.com/ophthalmologytimes/news/aaos-preferred-practice-patterns-amd)

However, a review of the National Eye Institutes data by Dr. Rafal Kustra of the University of Toronto, which was independently reviewed by Dr. Bernard Rosner, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard Medical Schools T.H. Chan School of Public Health, suggested that zinc can be harmful in patients with the suspect genetic profile. I agree with the report by Dr. Rafal Kustra, Dr. Rosner says. There definitely is an interaction. His review suggests that all of the AREDS genetic data as published demonstrates a detrimental effect in at least 13 percent of patients with macular degeneration.

Nobody wants to accelerate blindness, says Hoffheimer. But I encourage everyone to examine the financial incentives. The makers of these supplements have made millions and could be exposed to legal risks in cases where zinc is proven harmful. Doctors at the National Eye Institute have earned nearly $2 million by legally transferring this technology to the private sector. Conflict of interest are everywhere and we just dont want patients to get hurt.

Hoffheimer acknowledges that there is only one provider of the personalized genetic test, which costs about $500.00, is accepted by many insurers, and requires a prescription from an ophthalmologist or optometrist for the cheek swab and processing. The test was developed by a Canadian company, ArcticDx, which processes samples in its lab in Grand Rapids, MI.

We are not supporting ArcticDx specifically. However, they are currently the only provider for this particular test, says Hoffheimer.

Age-related macular degeneration is expected to affect almost 20 million people by 2020. Because overall life expectancy continues to increase, age-related macular degeneration has become a major public health problem. AMD affects a persons ability to see details and images straight ahead. More than 85 percent of patients with AMD have the dry form, for which there is no cure and no treatment other than the AREDS supplement.

The Macular Degeneration Association is a 501(c)(3) organization providing the latest research information and advocacy for patients with all visual diseases, including AMD, diabetic macular edema, glaucoma and cataracts. MDA does not provide medical advice and encourages patients to talk with their doctors about their individual needs. To learn more about MDA, visit http://www.macularhope.org or call (941) 960-8112.

Physicians, patients and insurers can learn more about the personalized genetic test to determine if AREDS supplements with zinc may be helpful or if a non-zinc formula should be considered by visiting the ArcticDx website, http://www.macularisk.com.

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During World War II, The Libman Company joined the effort with wartime production, producing more than 2,500 brooms a day for the War Department from 1942-1945. "We are proud to continue Libmans heritage and at the same time continue the American tradition of providing opportunities and quality products." --Andrew Libman

This year marks a milestone for The Libman Company as it celebrates its 120th Anniversary as an American manufacturer of household and commercial cleaning products. The company is kicking off the celebration with customers at its booth at the 2016 International Housewares Show with a special birthday cake and cupcakes.

This is an exciting time for us, said Andrew Libman, President. We believe Libman is the embodiment of the American dream. Hard-working immigrants, like my great-grandfather and countless others persevered and truly shaped our country into what it is today. We are proud to continue Libmans heritage and at the same time continue the American tradition of providing opportunities and quality products, Libman added. Andrew is joined by his siblings Aaron and Rachel as proud leaders of The Libman Company, along with other owners Jared, Ilana, and Rebecca Libman.

The Libman Company started in 1896 with one mission: to make the finest, most durable wire-wound corn brooms. The family left Lithuania for the United States in the 1890s. They landed in Chicago and started life in the New World by peddling sundries from a pushcart, selling everything from brooms to clothes-pins. The old-fashioned corn broom was always a top seller. Seeing a need and an opportunity, the company opened a corn broom factory on Kinzie Street in Chicago, the commercial heart of the Midwestern broom corn market.

Clarence, Ben, and Sam Libman joined their father, William, in the broom-making business, adding a new generation of ideas and energy. In 1932, the Libman moved operations out of the big city and into Tuscola, Ill., a town in the heart of broom corn country. Located 180 miles south of Chicago, Tuscola and the surrounding towns produced much of the 374,000 acres of broom corn harvested each year in the United States. Being close to the crop allowed The Libman Company to keep an eye on the harvest, streamline operations and increase production.

Today, Libmans 1.1 million square foot facility still located in Central Illinois with the fourth generation of Libmans who have come on board. They are as committed as their predecessors to providing high-quality, American-made cleaning products including mops, brushes, cleaning tools, and of course, brooms.

The Housewares Show birthday cake is only the beginning of the year-long celebration. Andrew Libman said that throughout 2016, the company will commemorate Libmans 120th year in business in various ways. The company will produce special packaging with an anniversary logo on its top-selling Wonder Mop and Precision Angle Broom products. Libman will offer a fall retail program with in-store displays that communicate Libmans special anniversary and offer savings on Libman products.

A special online promotion aimed at consumers will be communicated on Libmans website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest channels and will offer 120 consumers a chance to win $120 worth of Libman cleaning products. Additionally, a Libman vehicle will travel to store openings and other events to hand out coupons and Libman swag.

About The Libman Company

The Libman Company is a family-owned company that has been making quality cleaning tools since 1896. The company manufactures products from brooms and mops to more specialized tools for kitchen and bathroom cleaning and industrial uses. Libman proudly manufactures most of their products in the United States, including the companys well-known Wonder Mop. For more information about the Libman Company, please visit http://www.libman.com.
Small school districts that may not have the resources to assess students digital literacy skills now have a powerful tool for putting them on the path for success in the 21st century classroom as the result of a new collaboration between the Small School Districts Association (SSDA) and Learning.com. The Portland-based education technology company is partnering with SSDA to provide free access to its TechLiteracy Skills Inventory for the more than 20,000 fifth graders the associations members serve.

With the ubiquitousness of technology today, it is easy to take for granted that students are prepared to meet the challenges of our increasingly digital society, said Debra Pearson, executive director, SSDA, which advocates for the special needs of small school districts throughout California. However, having the skills necessary to use technology for learning is critical. The TechLiteracy Skills Inventory helps to identify and fill a crucial gap for students to help them succeed in the classroom and beyond.

The mission of the Small School Districts Association is to provide proactive assistance to small school district governing boards and superintendents through legislative advocacy, collaboration, professional development and support services. As a digital content provider, Learning.com is focused on developing partnerships with school districts across the country. The company offers K-12 solutions to help students, teachers and schools excel in a digital world and give districts the opportunity to equip their students with the technology and 21st century skills needed for success in online assessments, college and the workforce.

Learning.coms TechLiteracy Skills Inventory helps educators ensure that all students have the technology skills to successfully complete online tests, such as the Smarter Balanced assessment taken by California students. The TechLiteracy Skills Inventory helps teachers gain a deep understanding of students technology skills by providing accurate and detailed student-level reports. Teachers can use these reports to pinpoint technology skills that students are struggling with and identify teaching strategies that will help improve those skills.

Reports coming out of the recent transition to online testing have revealed that even though todays students are digital natives, they are scoring higher on traditional pencil and paper tests, said Learning.com CEO Keith Oelrich. We are partnering with SSDA to ensure not only that California students have the digital skills to be successful on the Smarter Balanced assessments, but are also prepared for college, the workforce and life.

Learning.com will be at the SSDA 33rd Annual Spring Conference at the McClellan Conference Center in McClellan, California from March 9-11. Attendees can stop by Booth 723 for more information about the TechLiteracy Skills Inventory and Learning.coms other digital literacy solutions.

About the Small School Districts Association (SSDA)

Established in 1983 by four school district superintendents in Monterey, California, the SSDA encourages businesses to support the work of small school districts. SSDA Associate Members include over 120 businesses in such fields as architecture, legal services, construction management, curriculum and assessment, financial services, HVAC, school buses, office equipment, and consultants.

About Learning.com

Founded in 1999, Portland, Ore.-based Learning.coms digital content tools help districts build and share custom digital curriculum helping them meet their instructional goals, facilitate personalized learning, and address budget challenges. Through implementation services and professional development, Learning.com serves educators as they integrate technology and digital content into instruction.
William D. Briendel, co-chair of the Broker-Dealer Securities Litigation Practice at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will participate in this years Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Compliance and Legal Society (C&L) Annual Seminar held Sunday, March 13, to Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Orlando. The 2016 conference offers an interactive program with more than 65 dynamic panels and sessions that focus on the current regulatory and legal developments impacting the securities industry.

Specifically, Briendel will be speaking on the panel Arbitration: Practical Considerations. This timely discussion will cover topics including motion practice: prehearing; experts; explained decisions; expungement; arbitrator selection and recusal issues; and actions against non-FINRA members. The panel will take place Wednesday, March 16, at 10:20 AM.

Recognized by The Legal 500 United States in Securities & Shareholder Litigation, Briendel is a litigator who represents broker-dealers and their employees in virtually all aspects of their business. He is experienced in arbitrations and mediations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which combined the arbitration and enforcement functions of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and in regulatory and enforcement proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA, and other regulatory and self-regulatory organizations. Briendel also conducts internal investigations for his broker-dealer clients. He has a wide-ranging experience in a broad range of commercial litigation matters as well.

Greenberg Traurig has one of the broadest and deepest securities litigation practices in the country. The firm has been lead defense counsel in hundreds of securities class actions, derivative lawsuits, and SEC investigations and enforcement actions. These include some of the largest and most complex regulatory actions ever filed and one of the most highly publicized securities fraud cases in recent times. The firm has one of the most experienced and largest teams in the United States representing both market leading broker-dealers and Directors and Officers to final award or judgment in thousands of securities arbitrations and trials throughout the country. The team has tried some of the largest arbitration cases to verdict, including numerous matters involving more than $100 million. The attorneys regularly handle matters before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Dispute Resolution, SEC, American Arbitration Association, National Futures Association, and state and federal courts across the country.

Greenberg Traurig is also a sponsor of the conference.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1,900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Our partnership with Avalara will enable our Chempax users to easily manage and remain up-to-date on increasingly complicated tax regulations

Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of tax compliance automation for business, today announced Datacor, Inc., a leading developer and provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for process manufacturers and chemical distributors, has joined Avalaras community of certified solution partners. Avalaras solution partners are software publishers that integrate Avalaras software as a service (SaaS) offering for compliance management directly into their own applications.

As a result of this partnership, customers who use Datacors ERP solution Chempax, can now benefit from Avalara, which automatically calculates sales tax for every invoice line item, in real-time. Avalara helps reduce the tedious work and complexity of calculating taxes for millions of products and services across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and dozens of other international jurisdictions, giving customers more time to focus on driving their own business success. In addition, Chempax customers can add Avalaras tax return preparation, filing, and remittance services.

Were always focused on helping our clients manage their businesses more efficiently, said Sean ODonnell, president of Datacor. Our partnership with Avalara will enable our Chempax users to easily manage and remain up-to-date on increasingly complicated tax regulations.

Pascal Van Dooren, Chief Revenue Officer at Avalara said, We recognize the value Datacor brings to its clients, and are pleased to augment their offerings with our tax compliance solution. Today, it just doesnt make sense to manually manage sales and VAT taxes, so Avalaras Compliance Cloud platform provides a fast, easy, and cost-effective way for Chempax users to do so.

For more than a decade, Avalara has pioneered innovations in tax compliance for businesses of all sizes. Today, Avalara integrates with hundreds of ERP systems, accounting packages, ecommerce shopping carts, Point of Sale systems, and mobile payment platforms.

About Avalara

Avalara helps businesses of all sizes achieve compliance with sales and use, excise, communications, VAT other transactional tax requirements by delivering comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions that are fast, accurate, and easy to use. Avalaras Compliance CloudTM platform is designed to effectively manage complicated and burdensome tax compliance obligations imposed by state, local, and other taxing authorities in the United States and internationally.

Avalara offers hundreds of pre-built connectors into leading accounting, ERP, ecommerce and other business applications. The company processes millions of tax transactions for customers and free users every day, files hundreds of thousands of transactional tax returns per year, and manages millions of exemption certificates and other compliance related documents.

A privately held company, Avalara s venture capital investors include Sageview Capital, Battery Ventures, Warburg Pincus, Technology Crossover Ventures, Arthur Ventures, and other institutional and individual investors. Avalara employs more than 1,000 people at its headquarters in Seattle, WA and in offices across the U.S. and in London, England and Pune, India. More information at: http://www.avalara.com

About Datacor, Inc.

Datacor, Inc. is recognized for practical software that enhances operations for more than 700 process manufacturers and chemical distributors. Datacor delivers fully integrated ERP and CRM solutions complete with installation, on-site training and continued support. Backed by over 30 years of experience in the chemical and process industries, Datacor creates advanced technology to solve industry challenges, raise productivity and drive profitability. Chempax serves more than 10,000 users world-wide on a daily basis. More information about Datacor is available at http://www.datacor.com.

Datacor, Chempax and eChempax are registered trademarks of Datacor, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or service marks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
gen-E CEO Marc Hayden gen-E has transitioned from telling network management professionals how their networks were performing to telling executives how their entire business is performing. Its an exciting time to be part of gen-E and I look forward to leading the team.

gen-E announced today that Mr. Marc Hayden, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for the service assurance and advanced analytics software company, will succeed Philip Jones as Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2016. Mr. Jones will return to his role as Managing Director of Lotus Innovations  the private equity fund that acquired gen-E in 2014. In this role, Jones will provide advice and counsel to the CEO and gen-E leadership on Company and business strategies and organization decisions.

Mr. Jones said, We thank Marc for taking the helm as CEO to continue to drive gen-Es transformation from services to software. As one of our top performing portfolio companies, gen-E has successfully transitioned from providing professional and managed services to adding advanced analytics software to its product line-up. Its 95% customer contract renewals in 2015, and forecasted double-digit revenue growth, positions gen-E well for growth.

Jones expressed confidence in Marc Hayden. Marc is a proven leader who can build organizations and drive results. He has a track record of success with our global customers and major technology partners. He also brings unsurpassed experience within the telecom and networking industry to his role. We are confident that Marc will lead gen-E to execute the strategic plan for its next phase of growth.

Mr. Hayden joined gen-E in 2015. He has helped expand and build a world class sales team, operationalized product development and product management, and implemented best practices, policies and procedures across multiple areas of the company. Hayden has led global sales and marketing, and traveled extensively across North America and Europe visiting customers, partners, and representing gen-E in industry standards associations including TMForum. Most recently, Mr. Hayden served as Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. Under Marc, the company has achieved double-digit year-over-year revenue growth, and renewed contracts with 95% of its major telecom and enterprise accounts. He has worked closely with Mr. Jones on the Companys strategy to build gen-Es brand and expand its business.

I am honored to serve as gen-Es CEO, said Mr. Hayden. I believe in the strength of our team, in serving the needs of our customers, and in furthering our corporate transformation. gen-E has transitioned from telling network management professionals how their networks were performing to telling executives how their entire business is performing. Its an exciting time to be part of gen-E and I look forward to leading the team to drive growth and value.

ABOUT GEN-E

gen-E is a leading advanced analytics and service assurance software and professional services company for service providers and companies with large, complex networks. We enable our clients to dramatically reduce costs, improve efficiency and deliver higher quality service by providing greater visibility, control and automation of their operational systems.

gen-E offers software and systems solutions to better manage a broad spectrum of service industry infrastructures, to provide a singular view into the health and performance of a customers entire IT and business infrastructure, integrating and consolidating tools and events across business, data center and network operations.

As an IBM Premier Partner, gen-E has deep industry knowledge and extensive experience servicing regional and Fortune 500 companies across the North America and EMEA.

gen-E is a part of the Lotus Innovations fund portfolio of enterprise technology companies focused on provided Enterprise IT Professional services and products as Saas-based solutions to a wide range of industries worldwide.

ABOUT LOTUS INNOVATIONS

The Lotus Innovations Fund, located in Irvine, California, is a private equity fund focused on transforming Enterprise IT Professional Services companies into SaaS-based companies. By operationalizing a repeatable process with Lotus Innovations proprietary methodology and embedded management, the fund creates a new paradigm that accelerates growth and valuations.
UNCF and Fund II Foundation announced the launch of a major scholarship program benefiting African American students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The Fund II Foundation UNCF STEM Scholars Program is a $48 million initiative aimed at addressing diversity gaps that exist in the STEM fields by creating a pipeline that will prepare African American students for careers in technology and innovation.

For years, the alarm bells have been ringing about the nations need for a more robust STEM education and career pipeline for people of color, said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF. African Americans are woefully underrepresented in the STEM workforce, and yet, are one of the largest consumers within the STEM economy. We are proud to partner with Fund II Foundation to break that cycle and give high-performing, highly motivated African American students a chance to become the next generation of STEM-industry creators through entrepreneurship and venture creation.

The launch was announced March 3 at UNCF's 2016 A Mind Is Gala at the Grand Hyatt New York. [View gala photos https://goo.gl/KXfOZp . More than 900 guests attended the 72nd anniversary event, which raised more than $1.1 million and honored former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein with the Presidents Award; the Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network president, with the Shirley Chisholm Award for Community Service; and Fund II Foundation and its president, Robert F. Smith, with UNCFs highest honorthe Frederick D. Patterson Award.

For years, UNCF and Smith have been focused on diversity and inclusion efforts, respectively, and in particular with Silicon Valley. This partnership represents the first joint venture where they bring their reputation and expertise together to solve one of Americas greatest economic challenges.

Throughout my career I have become increasingly concerned by the lack of diversity across the engineering and tech disciplines, said Smith, CEO of Vista Equity Partners and president of Fund II Foundation. Engineers by definition solve problems. Fund II Foundations direct goal is to work with UNCF to create more opportunities for African Americans to enter the tech workforce so that they can help lead us into the fourth industrial revolution.

Over the next five years, the Fund II Foundation UNCF STEM Scholars Program will conduct a nationwide search to identify 500 of the most highly motivated and academically talented African American high school students who are committed to pursuing STEM majors in college and pursuing careers in STEM industries. In addition to scholarships, the program will support students through mentoring and access to internships that will help prepare them for careers in the tech workforce. The program also will expose students to the principles of startup tech entrepreneurship and offer them a unique opportunity to pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures upon graduation. Scholars will receive $2,500 per academic year as freshmen and sophomores, $5,000 a year as juniors and seniors, an additional $5,000 for students whose academic programs require a fifth year, and a $5,000 stipend based on a STEM-related project/internship of the students interest. The first cohort of scholars will be announced in late April 2016.

Today, African Americans make up less than five percent of the science and engineering workforce, and UNCF believes the problem starts with the STEM pipeline. African Americans make up almost 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet earn approximately 8.5 percent of the STEM degrees and represent less than one percent of the workforce at funded tech startup companies.

There are too many African American students not prepared for careers in STEM industriesnot because of a lack of desire or ability, but due to a lack of adequate academic preparation and access to STEM internship opportunities, said Dr. Chad Womack, UNCFs national STEM director and executive director of the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative. The goal of our program is to remove those barriers and usher in a new generation of African American STEM scholars who will not only meet the demands of an increasingly competitive tech economy but will become leading innovators and tech entrepreneurs. We encourage all major tech companies to step up and join our efforts by creating internship opportunities that will bring this vision into reality.

In addition to the STEM program, Robert F. Smith and his brother Allan Smith in partnership with UNCF, will award a total of $600,000 in scholarships to African American high school seniors in Washington, DC, and Denver, CO, in the name of the Smiths mother. The UNCF Sylvia M. Young Smith Scholarship Program will award six merit-based scholarships valued at $100,000 each ($25,000 annually renewable) to students attending accredited four-year historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs). Robert and Allan Smith are graduates of East High School in Denver, while Sylvia M. Young Smith served as principal of George Washington High School in Denver and graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School in Washington, DC. One male and one female student from each of these three high schools will be selected to receive an award. Scholarship applications opened March 4.

UNCF commends Robert and Allan Smith, who have contributed their personal philanthropy to providing educational opportunities for deserving African American students, said Dr. Lomax. The Smiths commitment to African American STEM education and to HBCUs is a true investment in better futures and a call to action for others to join this cause.

About Fund II Foundation

Fund II Foundation is a charitable foundation, at the heart of which is a deep commitment to advance social change, create opportunity, respect and protect the environment, and preserve our culture. Fund II Foundation is focused on improving lives and opportunities for African-American and other vulnerable populations. Fund II Foundation makes grants to 501(c)(3) public charities in five areas: 1) preservation of the African-American experience; 2) safeguarding human dignity by giving a voice to the voiceless and promoting human rights; 3) improving environmental conservation and providing outdoor education that enables people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy the numerous benefits of the great outdoors; 4) facilitating music education, particularly in primary and secondary schools, to nourish both the mind and the soul; and 5) sustaining the uniquely American values of entrepreneurship, empowerment, innovation and security. For more information on Fund II Foundation, visit http://www.fund2foundation.org.

About UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nations largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community, and the nation, UNCF supports students education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 20 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF annually awards $100 million in scholarships and administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at more 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Learn more at UNCF.org, or for continuous news and updates, follow UNCF on Twitter, @UNCF.
The combination of low aerobic capacity and low muscle strength at age 18 is associated with a three times greater risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes in adulthood, according to new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai published online today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The study also found that poor physical fitness was a long-term risk factor even among individuals with a normal Body Mass Index (BMI).

Researchers from Mount Sinai and Lund University in Sweden examined fitness and health records from more than 1.5 million male military conscripts in Sweden from 1969 to 1997. As a result of Swedens national healthcare system, researchers were able to track the cohorts data over several decades (to a maximum age of 62 years) and obtain follow-up information to see if and when the conscripts were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Most studies of physical fitness have examined aerobic but not muscular fitness, and have focused on adults but lacked data at younger ages with sufficient follow-up to examine the long-term risk of Type 2 Diabetes.

This is the first study to examine early-life physical fitness in relation to the long-term risk for Type 2 Diabetes in adulthood, independent of BMI, family history or socioeconomic factors said Casey Crump, MD, PhD, Vice Chair for Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Senior Faculty, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and lead author of the study. Our findings suggest that prevention should start early in life and should include both aerobic and muscular conditioning. We hope our research will help inform more effective lifestyle interventions among children and youth to promote better population health in the U.S. and other countries.

Diabetes, the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, is a metabolic disease that results in high blood sugar levels because the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function. Type 2 Diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and affects more than 300 million people worldwide. It has more than doubled in prevalence over the past 30 years, along with increasing rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyle.

This research has enormous implications for the work we have been doing in our department, promoting adequate physical education programs in schools and the need for safe play spaces for children and teens in our communities, said Neil Calman, MD, Professor and Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health, Mount Sinai Health System. Addressing these problems has now been proven to be of critical importance in preventing adult diabetes.

Our research group is also studying the effects of aerobic fitness, muscular strength and BMI on other health outcomes, including ischemic heart disease and cancer, said Dr. Crump. We need more longitudinal measurements of physical fitness over individuals life course to determine age windows of greatest susceptibility to its effects on Type 2 Diabetes.

The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient servicesfrom community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 6,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked as one of the nations top 10 hospitals in Geriatrics, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, and Gastroenterology, and is in the top 25 in five other specialties in the 2015-2016 Best Hospitals issue of U.S. News & World Report. Mount Sinais Kravis Childrens Hospital also is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel is ranked regionally.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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PocketWizard Plus IV Transceiver is now available in the U.S. Serious photographers understand the benefits of controlling the light at the time of exposure, both in-studio and on location, said Karen Marshall, CEO of LPA Design, the U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of PocketWizard products.

LPA Design, manufacturers of PocketWizard Photo Products, the world leader in reliable wireless control of cameras, flash lighting and light meters, announces that the new PocketWizard Plus IV Transceivers first announced last fall, are now shipping to retailers in the United States.

PocketWizard now offers the best of both worlds in one easy-to-use, reliable wireless trigger. The Plus IV Auto-Sensing Transceiver provides photographers with the benefit of on-camera TTL flash combined with remote manual flash. When used as a transmitter, the top shoe provides on camera TTL compatibility with most Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Fuji and Olympus cameras and flashes. When used as a receiver, the top shoe pairs with virtually any speedlight for easy mounting and manual power adjustment of a remote flash. Built on the reliability and simplicity of the PocketWizard PLUS legacy line of products and loaded with numerous features and functionality, the Plus IV Transceiver is the go to radio when a fast set-up is required.

Serious photographers understand the benefits of controlling the light at the time of exposure, both in-studio and on location, said Karen Marshall, CEO of LPA Design, the U.S.-based manufacturer and distributor of PocketWizard products. Im delighted that PocketWizard engineers have been able to add TTL passthrough, for use with on-camera flash, and a metal foot and applied it to our time-tested technology, offering our users even greater versatility.

The Plus IV includes performance enhancing features such as Long Range and Repeater Modes to help photographers tackle the most challenging shooting environments, opening the door for never-attempted image ideas. All features, channels and zones can be easily set using the soft-touch keypad and are clearly displayed on the backlit LCD display.

The new Plus IV looks like a Plus III on its side, with the most requested features added in. However, the Plus IV is not a replacement for the Plus III, rather theyve been designed to complement each other. For example, an ideal set-up might be a Plus IV for on-camera flash in TTL mode, another Plus IV with a speedlight mounted in manual mode and two Plus IIIs connected to studio lights. The Quad-Zone feature in both the Plus IV and the Plus III allows photographers to easily turn their remote flashes on or off directly from the camera, and either create different looks or work in different areas.

The versatile new PocketWizard Plus IV is compatible with all other PocketWizard radios and virtually every popular flash and professional digital SLR camera system. The standard ISO compatible hot shoe can accommodate almost any speedlight for simple manual triggering, including newer Sony models. It also communicates with all PocketWizard-enabled photo gear including select Profoto, Dynalite, Norman and Photogenic flash systems and Sekonic light meters.

The new PocketWizard Plus IV Transceiver is now available at Retailers in the United States at an MSRP of $153.00.

About Karen L. Marshall

Karen L. Marshall is the CEO of LPA Design, the parent company of PocketWizard brand wireless flash triggers. She joined LPA in December 2015 to lead the company in its next chapters of innovation and success in meeting the needs of photographers around the globe. She has spent her career operating at the intersection of technology, telecommunications and media.

About PocketWizard

Incorporating robust radio technology, PocketWizard radio triggers exceed the demands of the professional and serious amateur photographer with durability, ease of use, advanced capabilities and legendary reliability. PocketWizard products, including the PLUS IV, PLUS III, PLUSX, MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 are made by and distributed throughout the USA by LPA Design, based in South Burlington, Vermont and sold by distributors around the world.

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Grand Opening Ft. Belvoir We are proud of our Military Installation and although its taken quite some time to have the opportunity to build a new branch for our members on Ft. Belvoir, I am honored to say that we have succeeded," stated Patricia Kimmel, CEO/President.

Belvoir Federal Credit Union hosted a Grand Opening celebration event for their newly built branch on Fort Belvoir Military Installation in Fort Belvoir, VA.

The modern branch features state-of-the art teller stations that have a virtual teller along with a pod area where members can conduct business with a member service representative. Additionally, the branchs design offers an open concept with a refreshment cafe, elevated ceilings allowing for natural light to cascade into the branch, and a welcoming greeter station that has a kiosk for members to utilize.

Deputy Garrison Commander Stephen W. Brooks cut the ribbon along with Belvoir Federals CEO/President Patricia Kimmel. Also in attendance: Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Anthony Demangone, Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer of Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Rich Meade, members of Belvoir Federals Board of Directors and staff, Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for the Garrison Joe Richard, Director of Resrouce Management for the Garrison Mike Bidelman, Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Scott Guillory, Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Lenz, CSM Richard Carullo, Battalion Deputy Public Works CSM Chris Landgraff, Director of Fort Belvoir Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (DFMWR) Berry Patrick and his team, the Fort Belvoir Fire Station, and the Fort Belvoir Chapel. The ribbon cutting ceremony began with a prayer by Chaplain Kurt Spond.

We are proud of our Military Installation and although its taken quite some time to have the opportunity to build a new branch for our members on Ft. Belvoir, I am honored to say that we have succeeded. Our branch offers members efficiency, modern technology, and the same great, personalized member service, stated Patricia Kimmel.

The event featured coffee and donuts in the morning, followed by hotdogs, chips, and drinks for lunch, and branded cakes for the ribbon cutting ceremony in the afternoon. The branch is located at 9651 Gunston Road, Building 1152 Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060.

About Belvoir Federal Credit Union

Belvoir Federal is a member-owned, full-service financial institution that provides the foundation for the financial success of our Members. Belvoir Federal, a not-for-profit organization, has served the Fort Belvoir and U.S. Armed Forces community since 1946 and named 2014, 2015, and 2016 Best Places to Work in Virginia. For more information about Belvoir Federal, please visit http://www.BelvoirCreditUnion.org.

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2016 Military Friendly Supplier Diversity Program NaVOBA s efforts to identify the best corporations working with veteran-owned businesses has grown dramatically, said NaVOBA President Chris Hale. Were honored to recognize these companies for the exceptional job they do." Past News Releases RSS Victory Media Hires Outgoing Master...

Suzie Schwartz Promoted to...

2017 Military Friendly...

The National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) announced today that it has officially launched its annual survey to find the best U.S. corporations committed to working with veteran-owned businesses. The 2016 Military Friendly Supplier Diversity Programs list honors those large corporations that most successfully engage the nations 3 million veteran-owned businesses (VOBs) as suppliers. Last years list of the Top 25 Military Friendly Supplier Diversity Programs included:

AECOM, AIG, Alcatel-Lucent, American Airlines, Anthem, Inc., AT&T Services, Inc., BAE Systems, Bank of America, Comcast NBCUniversal, ConAgra Foods, CSC, Cummins Inc., Duke Energy, DynCorp International, Ford Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Inc., PNC, Procter & Gamble, Rockwell Collins, and The Hartford.

NaVOBA s efforts to identify the best corporations working with veteran-owned businesses has grown dramatically, said NaVOBA President Chris Hale. Were honored to recognize these companies for the exceptional job they do in working with Americas vetrepreneurs.

The survey will close on April 1. The companies that earn the distinction for the 2016 Military Friendly Supplier Diversity Programs list will be featured in the cover story in the July/August issue of Vetrepreneur, NaVOBAs national print and digital magazine.

To learn more about the 2016 Military Friendly Supplier Diversity Programs Survey visit http://www.navoba.com/MFSDP2016.

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About the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA):

NaVOBA unites the nations 3 million businesses owned by military veterans by providing a single voice to advocate for important issues. For more information visit us on the web at http://www.navoba.com, or follow us on Facebook and on Twitter @NaVOBA.

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact:

Barbara Pflughaupt, BP Media Relations, LLC, at 212-707-8181
Dr. Christopher Zoumalan and Dr. Jason Roostaeian When we wrote this article, our goal was to provide a publication that would provide plastic surgeons from around the world the latest knowledge about eyelid aging changes..."

Internationally recognized plastic surgeons, Christopher Zoumalan MD and Jason Roostaeian MD, have just released their latest article on Blepharoplasty surgery in the recent publication of a major international plastic surgery journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Dr. Zoumalan and Dr. Roostaeian, together have authored their article Simplifying Blepharoplasty, which describes the most up to date techniques in cosmetic eyelid surgery, a surgery which is also referred to as a blepharoplasty.

Dr. Zoumalan states that when we wrote this article, our goal was to provide a publication that would provide plastic surgeons from around the world the latest knowledge about eyelid aging changes and how to best evaluate and treat patients that seek elective cosmetic eyelid surgery. Dr Roostaeian also stressed that we wanted to make this a very comprehensive article on blepharoplasty that would help better educate surgeons about the aging process and how to best achieve natural looking results with cosmetic eyelid surgery.

Both authors emphasize that although there are various types of eyelid surgery techniques, their scientific article discusses various techniques while suggesting an algorithm that can help surgeons provide a safe and effective technique based on a patients individual clinical findings. Dr. Zoumalan, a private practice Oculoplastic Surgeon in Beverly Hills and also a Clinical Professor at the renowned Keck School of Medicine of USC, further states that our publication is very unique such that we have designed a treatment algorithm to help novice surgeons and guide them toward a safe and effective surgical plan. Dr Roostaeian, a teaching faculty member at the prestigious David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, emphasizes that one of the goals of our algorithm was to provide surgeons in training with a framework for appropriate treatment of the aging eyelid.

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About Christopher Zoumalan MD FACS

Having performed thousands of cosmetic eyelid surgeries and with nearly 10 years of experience as an Oculoplastic surgeon, Dr. Zoumalan is an expert authority in cosmetic eyelid surgery and provides his work to patients both within the Southern California community (Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley, Orange County, Ventura County, and San Diego) but also at a national and international level. He is sought after for his highly advanced surgical techniques which allow the patients to heal rapidly, look refreshed all the while still looking like themselves. Dr. Zoumalan has authored over 55 publications in major medical journals, plastic surgery textbooks, and is regarded as an expert within the field of Oculoplastic surgery and cosmetic eyelid surgery.

Dr. Zoumalan has trademarked his surgical approach and refers to it as the Natural Looking BlepharoplastyTM. For more information about his before and after galleries for his Natural Looking BlepharoplastyTM results, please visit his webpage at http://www.DrChristopherZoumalan.com

The office staff comprises of professional patient coordinators and certified medical assistants who work tirelessly to provide patients with the best experience.

Contact:

Email: askus(at)bheyelids.com

Christopher Isaac Zoumalan, MD FACS

9401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1105

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Tel: 310 278 4000

Fax: 310 594 5958

http://www.drchristopherzoumalan.com

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About Jason Roostaiean, MD

A board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Roostaeian is uniquely double fellowship trained in both advanced aesthetic surgery and microsurgery in addition to his formal plastic surgery training. He remains at the forefront and cutting edge of plastic surgery as a teaching faculty member of the prestigious UCLA plastic surgery training program. Having authored more than 50 publications in major medical journals and numerous chapters in plastic surgery textbooks, he is considered an expert within the field.

With offices and operating privileges at both UCLA (ranked the third best hospital in the United States by US News) and Beverly Hills, Dr. Roostaeian is able provide an unparalleled level of safety and service to his patients for all their cosmetic needs. Patients from Southern California and around the world have sought his expertise and commitment to providing natural looking results.

His team comprises of a dedicated patient coordinator, a nurse practitioner, and registered nurses who are all dedicated to providing the best medical care possible.

Contact:

Email: contact(at)drjasonplasticsurgery.com

Jason Roostaeian, MD

200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 465

Los Angeles, CA 90095

Tel: 310 825 8827

Fax: 310 206 4190

http://www.drjasonplasticsurgery.com
Institute of Dance Artistry We are offering dance intensives for all age groups plus a camp for young dancers. Past News Releases RSS Institute of Dance Artistry Holds...

IDA recently added three new dance programs to its roster for the summer. The summer dance intensives will excite and enrich dancers with a variety of styles, fantastic choreography, and performance opportunities, said Jamie Lipskin, an instructor and director of IDA. We are offering dance intensives for all age groups plus a camp for young dancers.

Summer Series programs include Mini-Intensive, for first through sixth-graders, where students take morning classes in styles including ballet, jazz, hip-hop, Broadway and lyrical. In the afternoon, dancers will learn pieces to be performed in a two-night black box theater performance. IDAs Ballet Intensive will be open to fourth-grade to college students and is the perfect program for dancers looking to improve their technique. Students take daily classes in ballet technique and pointe/pre-pointe.

The IDA Summer Series will also include For the Love of Dance, designed for ages four to seven. This upbeat program is ideal for budding dancers, who will learn ballet, hip-hop and Broadway in a fun, supportive environment while developing a love of dance.

For passionate dancers who love to perform, we are also offering our Dance Performance Intensive for the the fourth consecutive year, said Lipskin. This is a one-week program where students take daily technique classes in styles including ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, jumps/turns and Broadway. Dancers are cast in professionally choreographed pieces from duets and trios to large group numbers and rehearse for a two-night black box theater performance.

For more information about IDAs Summer Series, including dates, times and registration, visit http://instituteofdanceartistry.com/ida-summer-dance-programs/.

About Institute of Dance Artistry

Institute of Dance Artistry believes in giving back to the community through dance and does so throughout the year with performances and fundraisers to support many charities. Students of IDA are given the tools to develop strong dance technique, artistic ability, self-confidence, and passion for the art of dance by qualified teachers. Institute of Dance Artistry locations are at 400 Commerce Drive, Fort Washington, PA, and 625 W. Ridge Pike, Bldg. C, Conshohocken, PA. For more information, please call (215) 628-0600.

About the NALA

The NALA offers local business owners new online advertising & small business marketing tools, great business benefits, education and money-saving programs, as well as a charity program. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Moore & Scarry takes home Platinum & Gold for award-winning creative in automotive advertising. We have always set the bar with innovative ideas and will continue to do so in the future.

Moore & Scarry Advertising, the nation's largest tier three automotive advertising agency, was recently honored with two international 2016 AVA Digital Awards for outstanding creative. With approximately 2,500 entries from the US and around the world, the AVA Awards honors those whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

The award winning agency submitted two original concepts for consideration. The Monster Family campaign featured Frankensteins Monsters family in search of a new car. This campaign earned the agency the coveted Platinum award in the Commercial/Ad Campaign category.

The other campaign, titled Mr. Blond, Weve Been Expecting You featured a British action movie-type character that faces off with a villain, saving customers from high car prices. This campaign won Gold in the Commercials/Car Dealers category.

Tom Kerr, partner at Moore & Scarry, commented, We are very proud to receive this award because it is a direct reflection of our team's creativity, hard work, and dedication. It's campaigns like these that set us apart from our competitors. We have always set the bar with innovative ideas and will continue to do so in the future."

About AVA Digital Awards

AVA Digital Awards is an international competition that recognizes excellence by creative professionals responsible for the planning, concept, direction, design and production of digital communication. Work ranges from digital engagement campaigns to audio and video production, website development, social media interaction and mobile marketing.

About Moore & Scarry Advertising

Moore & Scarry Advertising is the nations third largest automotive advertising agency. Innovation, bright minds and a lot of hard work have made Moore & Scarry Advertising one of the fastest-growing automotive advertising agencies in the nation.

The award-winning agency represents over 250 automobile dealers, including the vast majority of domestic and international manufacturers, and dealerships of all types and sizes, including numerous Automotive News Top 125 Dealer Groups. The agency has offices in Fort Myers, Florida and Denver, Colorado.
Our post acute system is going to go through dramatic change, and you can emerge as a top-tier player in five years. We intend to help you get there.

Lincoln Healthcare Leadership announced the complete 2016 education program today for the inaugural Post Acute Link Conference taking place this June 8-10 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago. This robust educational program contains 26 sessions and serves all four major post acute sectors  SNF, Senior Living, Home Health, and Hospice - with an overall theme of moving into value based care.

Our post acute system is going to go through dramatic change, and you can emerge as a top-tier player in five years. We intend to help you get there. said David Ellis, Managing Director of Post Acute Link and President of Lincoln Healthcare Leadership. One of the things I hear often from CEOs attending our other 100 conferences is David, this is great learning. I only wish I was able to bring my entire senior management team. Post Acute Link fills this need and has been designed for the whole senior team.

The sessions have been designed for senior management in all functional disciplines, and the content covers these topic categories:

New Payment Models

Future Trends

Operations

Policy

IT/Data/Technology

Leadership/Staffing

To register or learn more visit http://www.postacutelink.com.

About Lincoln Healthcare Leadership

Lincoln Healthcare Leadership is an education and networking company serving leading providers in four sectors: hospitals, home health/hospice, long term care and senior living. Our mission is to inspire excellence in leadership, strategy and innovation, and to be a catalyst for aggressive change as providers move from a fee-for-service reimbursement system into a value-based system.

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Activity Report With Quiver you are really in control of your files, track who has access and revoke at anytime, anywhere.

Quiver, an Amsterdam-based startup and a digital information security specialist, has developed a smartphone application where users can safely share digital files. With Quiver users can securely share photos, videos, and documents stored on their mobile device on their own terms.

Security and maintaining control of files is an enormous problem in the digital world. It is impossible to know what happens with files once someone clicks send. Without thinking twice, people share important documents, such as a copy of their passport, via email or another online service. But, how can they be sure that these files will not fall into the hands of the wrong people? And how do they ensure that shared files are returned without being misused or copied?

Quiver has the answers to these questions. By thinking outside of the box when it comes to security and making user friendliness a top priority, Quiver allows the retracting of documents even if they have already been downloaded. With Quiver, the file owner decides who, where, when, and how documents can be accessed.

How does it work?

Quiver is free to use and works similar to cloud storage services such as Dropbox. Its unique in offering unlimited free storage and sharing through mobile numbers. After downloading the app (iOS and Android) and creating an account, files can be securely shared with others.

With every file shared through Quiver, several levels of security can be attached such as:

-Geolocation: The file is only accessible at a chosen location, such as home or work.

-Time: The file is only available for a certain period of time such as a couple of seconds, two hours, or several days.

-Copy/Edit/Print: With this feature unwanted edits, copying or printing of documents can be prevented.

-Screenshots: Select this option and screenshots will become impossible on iOS, Android, or desktop computers.

-Forwarding: Prevent files from being forwarded to others without the file owner's consent.

-Revoke: Whenever needed, a file can be retracted and everyone in possession of this file can no longer view it, even if it was already downloaded.

-Trace: Receive real-time information on files usage: who opened, forwarded, screenshot, or downloaded it, etc.)

Almost every day there are news reports of leaked data and identity fraud. At Quiver, we encourage digital sharing and online collaboration and strive to make this possible for all of our users. But, this must be done in a safe and user-friendly manner. We want to provide companies and individuals with a safer alternative to Dropbox. Our ambition is to surpass Dropbox as the number one file-sharing app. The Quiver team is convinced this will become a reality with our cutting-edge technology. With Quiver, you are always in complete control of all your files, everywhere.

Django Lor, CEO, and founder of Quiver.

About Quiver

Quiver is an Amsterdam based startup with offices in Lisbon and Palo Alto, California, which provides a secure way to easily share documents, photos, and videos. Recently proclaimed by Dell as one of the top 50 most influential startups in the world, the app ensures you complete control of your digital files. The sender decides who, where, and when a file can be opened, edited, downloaded or printed, while keeping user-friendliness as a top priority. Quiver provides an extra security layer, which makes sure that documents are handled according to your rules. This makes Quiver, a safer alternative for services such as Dropbox or Box.

More information for the press:

Quiver

Laura Nuhaan

T: +31 (0)20 520 6989

E: laura(at)quiver(dot)net

W : http://www.quiver.net
Sbarro 60th Anniversary Very few brands hold the privilege of celebrating 60 years in business.

This year marks the 60th anniversary for international pizza chain Sbarro, which serves its signature XL NY style pizza by the slice and other Italian favorites to customers around the world. To kick off its 60th anniversary celebration, Sbarro unveiled a special anniversary logo and announced the limited time return of a customer favorite, X-Treme Pepperoni.

Since the brands inception in 1956, Sbarro has been committed to the timeless tradition of hands-on pizza making and a fearless pursuit of fresh flavor, bringing the best of its Italian roots to the heart of New York and beyond. The company now boasts more than 800 eateries in 33 countries.

Very few brands hold the privilege of celebrating 60 years in business, said David Karam, CEO of Sbarro. We are honored to continue to grow the Sbarro brand, reaching new audiences all over the world.

In honor of the anniversary, Sbarro will bring back its popular bold X-Treme Pepperoni flavor for a limited time. This fresh take on a classic favorite features double the pepperoni and cheese, with Rosa Grande pepperoni and pepper jack cheese layered between 100 percent whole-milk mozzarella and baked to perfection on dough made in-house daily. New this year, the popular pizza flavor will also be extended to Sbarros signature stromboli.

The X-Treme Pepperoni will be available at select Sbarro eateries from March 9 until June 7.

About Sbarro

Since it first opened its doors as an Italian Salumeria in 1956, Sbarro has brought New York style pizza and other Italian favorites like pasta and stromboli to guests at more than 800 eateries across 33 countries. An award-winning franchise organization, the brand is best known for selling their original XL New York style pizza by the slice featuring dough that is made in-house daily, freshly chopped vegetables and 100% whole milk mozzarella cheese. Sbarro is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information or to find the nearest location, visit http://www.sbarro.com. You can also find Sbarro at http://www.facebook.com/sbarro, @Sbarro on Twitter and @SbarroOfficial on Instagram.
Matt Silver's industry experience in the downtown Chicago and North Shore markets, along with his attention to every detail in the negotiation, affords clients near or far the assurance that their interests are front and center.

Chicago-based Urban Real Estate (Urban) has named veteran Chicago real estate broker Matt Silver, president-elect of the Chicago Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.), as the firms newest partner.

Mr. Silver has been with Urban Real Estate since June 2011. In this time, he has served as the brokerages director of professional development in which he has spearheaded offerings to brokers in the areas of continuing education, and best practice forums, as well as worked with his own clients as senior broker. Silver began his career in the commercial real estate sector in 1998 before making the transition to focus on residential transactions. His industry experience in the downtown Chicago and North Shore markets, along with his attention to every detail in the negotiation, affords clients near or far the assurance that their interests are front and center. This fall, Mr. Silver will ascend to president of C.A.R., will continue to focus on the importance of education for brokers and consumers, alike, and advocate for the industry and homeowners locally and across the country.

Matt Farrell, managing partner at Urban Real Estate, welcomes the firms newest partner and says Matt Silver encompasses every tenet a brokerage could hope for. Not only is his knowledge of our clients needs inherent in all he does, but his veteran experience and professionalism are qualities which will only help guide Urban to the next level in Chicago and beyond.

It is a true honor to join the leadership of Urban as a partner, Matt Silver says. Urban Real Estate has, and continues to, lead our industry in its efforts to provide impeccable service to our brokers, which in turn provides the best client experience. Working with our team, I know we will continue to raise the bar in Chicago real estate.

Senior partner Michael Emery adds, "Chicago has some tremendous brokers, and it has long been our mission at Urban to cultivate those relationships, and see some of Chicagos best become involved with our trajectory of service and achievement. Mr. Silver is a welcomed voice of experience whose contributions will serve our firm well and strengthen our mutual investment in Urbans ongoing success."

Urban Real Estate is a full-service brokerage focused on integrating the most cutting-edge technology with the best of real estate to better serve its clients and agents. Broker areas of expertise include serving the downtown Chicago, north shore and western suburbs in residential sales and leasing. Urban brokers also focus on investment sales and portfolio management, luxury sales, distressed/short sales and working with international clients.
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At its conference on Friday, March 4, the Supreme Court declined to take up Apples appeal in its e-book price-fixing case, effectively ending one of the publishing industry's most closely-watched legal battles.

The Supreme Court's denial of certiorari means that Judge Denise Cotes 2013 decision finding Apple liable is now considered final, triggering $400 million in refunds to e-book consumers under the terms of a 2014 settlement with 33 states and a consumer class. In addition, Apple will pay some $50 million in fees and attorney costs.

Apple attorneys had argued that Judge Cote erred in finding Apple liable for a per se case of price-fixing in 2013, claiming that Apples role as a vertical player required that it be judged under the more expansive rule of reason framework. The Supreme Court, however, rejected that argument without comment, leaving in place a 2-1 affirmation by the Second Circuit.

While there was no immediate timetable for when consumers might expect refunds, they should come fairly quickly. The Apple settlement is basically using the same apparatus that was used to distribute $166 million in settlement funds from publishers in 2014. In one crucial distinction from the publishers' settlements, however, refunds under Apples settlement can be spent on any product or service offered by the retailer; the publisher settlement funds could only be spent on books.

The Supreme Courts denial ends one of the most contentious legal dramas in modern publishing history, dating back to the launch of the iPad in January, 2010. Concerned that Amazons $9.99 Kindle prices for newly released e-books was devaluing books in consumers minds (but individually ill-equipped to move Amazon off that price point) five major publishers simultaneously negotiated a hasty deal with Apple that would change the e-book business from wholesale to agency pricing.

The move enabled publishers to collectively retake a measure of control over consumer e-book priceswhich they immediately raised. And for Apple, the deal meant that titles in their new iBooks store could not be undercut by Amazon.

But the deal drew scrutiny almost immediately, and investigations by individual states and eventually the U.S. Department of Justice followed. In August of 2011, a class action suit was filed by Seattle-based firm Hagens Berman. And in April, 2012, the DoJ sued Apple and the five agency publishers for antitrust violations.

Three of the publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster) settled charges immediately, while Macmillan and Penguin settled just before trial. In all, the publishers paid $166 million in refunds to consumers, and submitted to two years of sanctions, which mostly expired at the end of 2014.

Apple, however, proceeded to trial. In 2013, after a three-week bench trial, Judge Denise Cote quickly found Apple liable for facilitating and encouraging the Publisher Defendants collective, illegal restraint of trade. In October of 2015, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2-1 margin, affirmed Cote's ruling.

Apple contends that its conduct was justified by Amazons monopolistic share of the e-book market, and that its entry was on balance pro-competitive. However, antitrust experts told PW from the beginning that Apple's appeal was a long shot.

Writing for the Second Circuit majority, Judge Debra Ann Livingston declared Cotes 2013 ruling to be amply supported and well reasoned.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Departments Antitrust Division, pointed out that with the $166 million previously paid by the publishers, Apples payment will mean that $566 million will be repaid to e-book purchasers.

"Apples liability for knowingly conspiring with book publishers to raise the prices of e-books is settled once and for all," he added.

Reaction

In a statement, Attorney Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman (which represents the consumer class) said they were "incredibly pleased" with the Supreme Court's denial, and said his firm will now work to bring the settlement funds to consumers "through a quick process." Berman said he hopes to have refunds to consumers by fall.

But that time frame, he added, is subject to one minor wrinkle: there is still a lone objector to the settlement. While that objection was rejected by Judge Cote, and the Second Circuit, the objector has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. In its eight-page page ruling last month, the Second Circuit said the objector's challenge was devoid of merit. In court filings, the objector, John Bradley, was described as a serial objector with no real stake in the settlement.

Also in a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said they are "ready to distribute the court-mandated settlement funds to Kindle customers as soon as were instructed to move forward."

We will continue to update as reactions come in.
HGTV Rehabbers Crash TarcherPerigee

The stars of HGTVs Flip or Flop, Tarek and Christina El Moussa, sold a book called Flip Your Life to Marian Lizzi at TarcherPerigee in a six-figure deal. Lizzi took North American rights to the book, at auction, from agent Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth and lawyer Roger Behle at Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis. The book, the PRH imprint said, will feature stories and hard-won insights from the couples work as house flippers, touching on how they reinvented themselves professionally after the housing market crashed. It will also delve into Tareks diagnosis of, and recovery from, cancer. The book is set for spring 2017, timed to coincide with the premiere of the seventh season of the couples show.

Soho Ties Down von Ziegesar, Gagnon

Daniel Ehrenhaft at Soho Teen closed a doubleheader last week. In the first deal, he took world rights to Gossip Girlauthor Cecily von Ziegesars YA novel Dark Horses. Eric Brown at the law firm Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo brokered the sale on behalf of von Ziegesar who, Ehrenhaft said, pitched the book as a cross between Black Beauty and The Breakfast Club. The novel follows the relationship that develops between an unruly teenage girl and a failed racehorse, after the two meet at an equine therapy camp. Rights People has been handling foreign sales for the book on behalf of Soho, and has sold the novel in a number of territories, including France and Germany. Dark Horses is slated for a September release.

In the second deal, Ehrenhaft nabbed world English rights to a YA noir by Michelle Gagnon called Unearthly Things. A retelling of Jane Eyre with what Ehrenhaft described as a supernatural twist, the book is set in the world of San Franciscos debutante society and follows an orphaned teenager beginning a new life with a mysterious adoptive family. Gagnon was represented by Stephanie Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary, and the book is scheduled for April 2017.

Raasch Brings New YA to Balzer + Bray

Sara Raasch (Snow like Ashes series) sold world English rights to a currently untitled YA fantasy duology to Kristin Daly at Balzer + Bray. Mackenzie Brady Watson at New Leaf Literary represented Raasch and said the epic series is inspired by the Spanish Inquisition and the golden age of piracy. She explained that it follows three characters: a woman seeking justice, a tortured pirate looking for redemption, and an ambitious prince out for power.

Greenwillow Preempts Pic Book Series

Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow Books preempted world rights, in a two-book deal, to a picture book series called Luna and the Scientific Method! by Kimberly Derting and Shelli Johannes-Wells. The first book is set for fall 2017. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary represented Derting, and Lara Perkins, also at Andrea Brown, represented Johannes-Wells. Rennert said the series is about a science-loving, question-asking girl who discovers that scientific inquiry... can lead to a lot of fun and adventure. Derting (the Body Finder series) and Johannes-Wells (who uses the pseudonym S.R. Johannes and is the author of the Nature of Grace series) will be writing the series together; an illustrator for the books has yet to be chosen.
First romance-only bookstore opens; BAM continues to grow its used bookstores; and Amazon adds to its campus pickup locations.

Openings

The Ripped Bodice Opens in LA: After raising more than $91,000 on Kickstarter, sisters Bea and Leah Koch held the grand opening for their romance-only bookstore over the weekend. The store is divided into subgenres, including YA and New Adult.

Amazon Picks Up New Location in Akron: Amazon Campus continues to expand with its second staffed pickup location in Ohio. This summer it will open Amazon@Akron, a 1,980 sq. ft. location near the University of Akron campus. It also has one near the campus of the University of Cincinnati.

2nd & Charles Debuts in Buford: Books-A-Millions used bookstore line added its 5th store in Georgia, 27th overall. A grand opening will be held on March 12 with costumed characters and a Nintendo tournament.

Robert Harper Books Opens in Riverdale Park, Md.:The used bookstore opened last week across from the Riverdale Marc station. Owner Robert Harper, a self-described retired computer guy, began a GoFundMe campaign a few weeks ago to add a coffeeshop.

Other News

Happy Anniversary to Glen Moody: Moody, who owns I Love Books in Kingsport, Tenn., and recently turned 65, is celebrating another important date, his 50th year in bookselling.

Obituary: Judy Sarick (1939-2016): Long-time Canadian childrens bookseller, Judy Sarick, who was known as a force in childrens literature, died during surgery for a brain aneurysm. She was 76. In 1974, Sarick and her husband founded The Childrens Bookstore in Toronto. They closed the store and sold the educational unit to Pegasus in 2000.

Closings

Torontos Open Air Books and Maps Closes: The 40-year-old travel bookstore will close at the end of March, because the owner of the building wants the space back. It doesnt lose money but, on the other hand, it doesnt generate a viable income, founder and owner Jeff Axler told The Globe and Mail, who has no plans to reopen elsewhere.
After opening its first physical bookstore last year in Seattle, Amazon is opening a second bricks and mortar outpost in San Diego, Calif. The San Diego Union Tribune reported that the new store will open this summer.

The San Diego location, like the Seattle one, is called Amazon Books, and is located in an upscale mall near a college campus. Whereas the Seattle store is near the University of Washington, the San Diego location, in the Westfield UTC Mall, is close to the San Diego campus of the University of California.

The new store is opening on the heels of rumors that Amazon was planning a major investment in bricks and mortar bookstores. In February, the CEO of a mall operator called General Growth Strategies mentioned that the retail giant was planning to open 300-400 bookstores.

Although the CEO, Sandy Mathrani, quickly backpedaled, and Amazon declined to comment, the remark fueled widespread speculation about the tech giant's plans. Talk about Amazon's investment in physical retailing was further stoked by the discovery that, following Mathrani's comment, the e-tailer posted a number of job openings for booksellers in the San Diego area.

The newest iteration of Amazon Books, according to the Tribune, will be located at 4545 La Jolla Village Drive. It will be neighbors, in the outdoor shopping mall where its taking up residence, with a Tesla store and Apple store. Amazon spokesperson Sarah Gelman told the paper to "stay tuned" for more details about the outlet.
Twenty-two graduates participate in a commencement ceremony on Feb. 27 in Tanzania, Africa. The graduates earned Master of Science in Technology Leadership and Innovation degrees in the event, the first Purdue commencement in Africa. (Photo/Purdue Polytechnic Institute)

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Nothing was unusual when graduate students stepped up to receive their Purdue University degrees on Feb. 27, with everything from the black tassels and diplomas to the university banner at the commencement.

The location, however, was not West Lafayette, Indiana. Instead, the ceremony was more than 8,000 miles away at the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy in Tanzania, Africa.

In the first Purdue commencement staged in Africa, 22 students received their Master of Science in Technology Leadership and Innovation in Moshi, Tanzania. The degree, with a concentration in biotechnology innovation and regulatory science (BIRS), is offered through the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and its Center for Professional Studies.

Steve Byrn, Purdues Charles B. Jordan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and co-director of the educational program, said the students - who hail mainly from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - are leaders in the African regulatory industry.

These people, collectively, are critical to solving the issue of providing quality medicines in Africa, Byrn said. They wont be able to change everything, but without them, we have no chance.

Graduate Abigail Ekeigwe gives the response from the class at the end of the first Purdue University commencement ceremony on Feb. 27 in Tanzania, Africa. She and other graduates plan to fly to West Lafayette to attend the on-campus commencement ceremony at Purdue in May. (Photo/Purdue Polytechnic Institute)

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Byrn traveled to east Africa in 2007 after learning of the need from Sister Zita Ekeocha.

She described the program as the fulfillment of a dream after her search for help led her to Purdue University.

During my search, I discovered that tertiary institutions had no curriculum to teach these courses in Africa, she said. Hence, the design of the the program with national drug regulators, pharmacy industries and academics all in the same class taking the courses.

To my greatest amazement, the seed of the idea has metamorphosed to this masters BIRS, Ekeocha said.

Since 2007, Byrn has taught students each spring break at the pharmacy school. The program was initiated as a certification course under the coordination of professors at Purdue and Howard universities and gradually evolved to the degree course students graduated from in February.

President Mitch Daniels and Purdue Polytechnic Dean Gary Bertoline were unable to attend the ceremony, but each wrote a letter to the graduates, both of which were read aloud at the ceremony. Each graduate also received copies of the letters.

A few of the graduates, mostly from Nigeria, plan to attend the Purdue commencement in May.

Abigail Adimabua Ekeigwe was among the graduates. As chief regulatory officer in the Central Drug Control Laboratory of Nigerias National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, she has worked in the regulatory field for 16 years.

I had gone through a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree program and even a masters program but was not exposed to the wealth of knowledge I got from this program, she said. I have not only acquired knowledge, but also have acquired practical wisdom on how to implement the knowledge.

Kari Clase, program co-director and an associate professor of technology leadership and innovation, noted at least half of the students are women. She said there is more to the program than just providing a classroom for the students

They are going to impact East Africa as they develop and implement quality management systems to provide better health to their continent, she said. Their work will help ensure that quality medicine is available in Africa, which is not always the case now.

The program emphasizes a blend of hands-on learning and current technology in its teaching. Partners, including Merck Foundation, provided funding and coordinated a scientist-in-kind program to help teach courses.

Byrn and Clase both attended the ceremony and took the opportunity to teach first-year students who will graduate in 2017. Geanie Umberger, a clinical professor of technology leadership and innovation and associate dean for engagement in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, also attended the commencement on Daniels behalf.

Muhammad Lukwago, regional inspector of drugs/lead GMP inspector for the National Drug Authority in Uganda, said the leadership aspect of the program was inspiring.

I have been awakened to very many realities about leadership and how to be a change agent, he said. I strongly believe that I will use my skills and create a positive influence in my organization that will facilitate positive change and transform medicines regulation in Uganda.

Change is sought for more than just the medicinal situation in Africa. The long-term plans are for the program to become a collaboration and be turned over to leaders there. Clase said work could then begin on a Ph.D. program that would follow the same model.

Ekeigwe likes Purdues long-term plan, saying knowledge is power.

It is time for Africans to rise up and produce quality medicines for Africans and to achieve self-sufficiency doing so, she said. Africans have to be empowered with knowledge and skills that will help them achieve this.

Writer: Brian L. Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu

Sources: Steve Byrn, 765-714-2808, sbyrn@purdue.edu

Kari Clase, 765-494-4649, klclase@purdue.edu

Related Web sites:

Purdue Polytechnic Institute Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/techpurdue/albums/72157665429677301
Should the courts order Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation unlock an iPhone seized from a murderous terrorist or a dangerous criminal? For law enforcement officials across the country, this is a question of public safety, even of life and death. But according to a federal magistrate in Brooklyn, the real issue in such cases is how much power an 18th century law grants the federal government to force innocent parties to do its bidding. He was right about that, even though his ruling in a little-watched fight between Apple and the FBI could make it harder for investigators to uncover the clues that criminals and terrorists might hide in their encrypted devices.

The case before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein is far less exotic than the more celebrated one in Riverside, Calif., where Apple is resisting a court order to help the FBI decrypt an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

The Brooklyn case involves an iPhone 5s that the Drug Enforcement Agency seized from a suspected drug dealer, Jun Feng. Although Feng has pleaded guilty, the feds contend that they could learn more about his suppliers and customers by searching the phone. Rather than trying to break into the locked phone through brute computer force, the Justice Department wants Apple to circumvent the passcode, as it has done roughly 70 times before.

Why magistrate balked

But the magistrate balked, troubled by the way the Justice Department was trying to use the All Writs Act -- a law that dates back to the very first Congress in 1789. The point of the statute is to give federal courts the power to carry out the orders they issue in situations where Congress hasnt explicitly provided (or denied) that authority. For example, the All Writs Act has been used to compel phone companies to help law enforcement agents monitor the phone lines a court has authorized for surveillance.

Despite the statutes broad reach, Orenstein ruled that All Writs couldnt be used to force Apple to unlock a phone it had no connection to other than having built and sold it. On multiple occasions in the last two decades, Orenstein wrote, Congress has considered whether to require communications and technology companies to help federal agents gather evidence. And although lawmakers imposed such a duty on phone companies in a 1994 wiretap statute, they exempted companies that provide information services such as those Apple provides. To allow courts to create obligations after Congress has refused to do so, Orenstein ruled, would be a violation of the Constitutions separation of judicial and legislative powers.

That argument relies to some degree on ones reading of the 1994 act, which was adopted a decade before iPhones and other popular smartphones hit the market, and two decades before iPhones started automatically encrypting the data stored on them.

How to find balance

Another plausible conclusion is that Congress didnt contemplate in 1994 the effect that devices with automatic encryption would have on law enforcement, and since then lawmakers have found the issue too difficult to resolve. Either way, though, its clear that this issue involves a major question of public policy: how to balance the publics interest in stopping crime and preventing terrorism against its need to protect sensitive data against cybercriminals and foreign hackers. Thats just the sort of question that Congress, not the courts, is supposed to answer.

Back in Riverside, the FBI is seeking to use All Writs to go one consequential step further. Its trying to compel Apple to create a product -- a new version of its iPhone operating system -- that removes the security features that make its passcodes so hard to hack. Thats directly contrary to Apples commercial interests, in addition to being a potential threat to millions of innocent iPhone owners who have stored sensitive personal information on their devices.

If All Writs can be used to do that, its not clear what it cannot do. For example, Orenstein wondered, could a court force a pharmaceutical company whose executives object to capital punishment to supply lethal injection drugs? The governments ability to enforce the law and protect the public is vital, but so too is the publics ability to limit the power it grants the government through the legislative process. Orensteins ruling makes that point emphatically.
Reagan died at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday. She was 94.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says in a Sunday statement that Reagan will be remembered for her "unwavering support" of the country and as a "pillar of strength" to her husband.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says in a statement that Reagan led a "full and fruitful life." He says he recalls meeting with her at the White House in 1986 and being "deeply impressed" by her determination with anti-drug efforts.

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider says Reagan represented "the best of America."
A former East Moline man reported missing by his family Friday was found dead near his home in Wisconsin.

The body of Samuel M. Knobloch, 26, of Janesville, Wisc., was found in his car Saturday night in rural Rock County, Wisc., according to Janesville police.

The Rock County Sheriff's Office investigated the death. An autopsy was performed Sunday and no foul play is suspected, according to a police department news release.

Mr. Knobloch graduated from United Township High School in East Moline, where his parents reside. He moved to Janesville, Wisc. about two years ago and was set to get married in August, according to family members.

He was reported missing Friday after his fiance arrived home from work around 3:30 p.m. to find him gone, family said. Janesville police sent officers to do a welfare check at Mr. Knobloch's home around 6 p.m. that night and learned he had been acting unusually, according to the news release.

Family said Mr. Knobloch's phone had been turned off and that he wasn't responding to social media messages.

A visitation will be held 3-7 p.m .Thursday at the Van Hoe Funeral Home Ltd., East Moline, where a rosary will be recited at 2:00 pm. Further arrangements are pending at the funeral home.
ALEDO  Who will be the next state's attorney in Mercer County likely will be decided in the Democratic primary election March 15, since the Republicans have no candidate on the ballot.

Seeking the Democratic nomination to replace retiring States Attorney Greg McHugh, who has held the office since 2000, are Meeghan N. Lee and Michael Wassell.

Ms. Lee, of Aledo, has been an assistant to Mr. McHugh for eight years. Mr. Wassell has been a partner at VanderGinst Law, P.C. in Moline since 1988 and served as Henry County assistant states attorney from 1986 to 1988.

Mr. McHugh has endorsed Ms. Lee as his replacement. He said, Im not sure most voters know Meeghan Lee moved down here 10 years ago and bought a home. I dont understand why people outside of Mercer County are running for states attorney when Ms. Lees experienced and a resident.

The states attorney in Mercer County earns about $133,000, according to Mr. McHugh.

Following are the candidates' responses to questions posed by The Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus.

What are some cases you have tried that have directly prepared you for the position of state's attorney?

Lee: I have worked on thousands of cases over the past 8 years. I have handled everything from seat-belt violations to murder. Mr. McHugh has afforded me the opportunity to handle every type of case our county files. My daily experiences have taught me that no two cases are alike. The diversity and small-office atmosphere provided to me in Mercer County have prepared me to take the position of state's attorney.

Wassell: I have tried over 1,000 cases with over 100 of them being jury trials as a prosecutor in Winnebago and Henry counties and as an attorney in private practice. With over 30 years of being a trial attorney, I have tried cases from traffic violations to murder cases and from personal injury cases to complex product liability cases. I know how to try all type of cases and have experience doing so in over 40 different counties.

With the abundance of methamphetamine-related cases in Mercer County, how do you plan to handle these moving forward?

Lee: I will continue to handle the meth cases the same way we always have. The office of the state's attorney takes these crimes very seriously, and with the help of law enforcement, this office will continue to vigorously prosecute violators on a case by case basis.

Wassell: Using my experiences as a police officer and as a prosecutor, I will create a positive team with our law enforcement officers, and then I will prosecute those cases from a position of strength. A prosecutor must not be afraid to take a case to trial. I negotiated cases as an assistant states attorney; however, it was from a position of strength because the defense attorneys knew that I would try the case. Thats why my nickname was maximum Mike; defense attorneys realized that I would make sure criminals that were a danger to society would go to prison.

Please describe the qualifications and experience that make you the best candidate to be the state's attorney.

Lee: I believe I am the best candidate because I am a member of this community, I have worked for the state's attorney's office for over 8 years and am intimately involved in all cases pending before the court. I am a homeowner and involved in the local community. Growing up in my parents' law firm helped to develop my people skills with all types of individuals. I am the most qualified for this position due to my experience over the past 8 years, my relationship with law enforcement and working and living in this community, my community.

WasselI: I was a Marine Corps sergeant and then a police officer for seven years before becoming an attorney. I was the chief drunk driver prosecutor in Winnebago County for one year and then an assistant states attorney in Henry County for three years. During that time I tried hundreds of cases. I have experienced the best and the worst of our judicial system. With this experience and knowledge, I will make sure Mercer County has the best prosecution in every case. I am licensed to practice law in Illinois, the federal district courts in Illinois and Iowa and the United States Supreme Court.

Please explain what you believe are the most significant issues in this race, why you are running for this position and what differentiates you from the other candidate.

Lee: What differentiates me from my opponent in this race is the fact that I have successfully handled the duties of the office for the last eight years. I chose to make Mercer County my home when I became assistant state's attorney. I have the legal experience along with an excellent rapport with law enforcement officers. I am respected, knowledgeable, dependable and vested in the community. My record of prosecution stands for itself. Finally, since I have never even met my opponent, that tells me that he has spent little or no time in Mercer County over the last eight years. I find it hard to believe that my opponent would ask the residents of Mercer County to elect someone who would only move to their community if elected.

Wassell: The recent publicized case involving manufacturing methamphetamine in Mercer County is just one example of what is wrong and why an experienced and professional attorney is needed to be Mercer Countys next states attorney. Im a proven, skilled and experienced trial attorney for over 30 years and, before that, was a police officer for seven years. I will combine those experiences and make a tough, fair and professional states attorney office. The states attorney should be an experienced and proven trial attorney who is not afraid to try cases, should be fair and professional and have the integrity to do the right thing in each case; that is what I will bring to Mercer County.
Altar Church pastor Tim Remington, who has counseled drug addicts and jail inmates in this city about 30 miles east of Spokane, Washington, was shot as many as six times Sunday, including in the head and lung, officials said.

Outreach pastor John Padula spoke with Remington's doctors and told The Spokesman-Review that the 55-year-old is "absolutely fine." Remington prayed Saturday with the Texas senator in Coeur d'Alene, but officials do not know what prompted the shooting.

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department said it is looking for local resident Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, a former Marine who should be considered armed and dangerous.

The suspect was inside the church during morning services, said Padula, who viewed footage from a security camera that captured the shooting.

The man "kind of wandered around," then went outside and waited in his car for about 10 minutes before Remington left the church around 2 p.m. Sunday, Padula said.

Remington opened his car door, and the shooter walked up behind him "and just started shooting him in the back," he said.

Two men at the church quickly ran to their pastor's aid. Remington was shot in the lung, head, hip and shoulder, Padula said.

Remington has been threatened several times by drug addicts he tried to help through his faith-based recovery program, Padula said.

He has spent years building a faith-based recovery program for drug addicts and alcoholics, and he has counseled jail inmates, the newspaper reported.
Press release submitted by Janet Gaudet

Riverdale High School recognized for National Commitment to Global Learning

Port Byron, IL, 03/06/2016  Riverdale High School has been selected as a 2016 Top Global

Learning School by AFS-USA, a leader in intercultural learning and student exchange, and The

National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), an international honor society dedicated to

highlighting the accomplishments of high-achieving students. The annual award honors schools

that excel in facilitating global competency development among their student body, and in

preparing their students to engage in an increasingly interconnected world.

Riverdale was one of just 76 schools nationwide selected to receive this award based on their

demonstrated commitment to incorporating global learning into their curriculum. Their initiatives

include hosting international exchange students, encouraging their own students to study abroad

and participate in public diplomacy initiatives, and bringing global issues into their classroom

discussions. To view the complete Top School list, visit: http://www.afsusa.org/studyabroad/scholarships/top-schools.

An impressive display case within Riverdale High School features gifts from former exchange

students and serves as a reminder of how one small school can make a huge impact on the world

by opening doors and minds. In addition to the schools commitment to global learning, the area

community has provided volunteers and host families for many students, including most recently:

Sofia of Costa Rica (Lugo family), Oskar of Sweden (Eggers), Niklas of Germany (Alguires),

Leandro of Argentina (Alguires); Heike of Austria (Sample), Stefano of Italy (Bradshaws) and

Kat of Thailand (Gaudets). In addition, Riverdale student, Walter Eggers, spent last summer

studying in Spain.

The Top Global Learning School award includes the opportunity for Riverdale High School

students to apply for a $1,000 scholarship for any 2016 AFS study abroad program. To enter the

competition, students must answer the question: What does it mean to be a global citizen? The

deadline for submissions is April 1, 2016. More details can be found at:

AFS-USA, a non-profit organization, has been a leader in international student exchange for more

than 65 years. Its mission is to enhance the global competency of U.S. citizens through providing

intercultural learning experiences for individuals, families, communities and schools through a

volunteer partnership. Each year, AFS-USA awards more than $3 million in scholarships and

financial aid to U.S. students, and it maintains a network of more than 4,000 U.S. volunteers who

support educators, students and their families nationwide.

About the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS): nshss.org

Formed in 2002 by James W. Lewis and Claes Nobel, senior member of the family that

established the Nobel Prizes, NSHSS recognizes academic excellence at the high school level and

helps to advance the goals and aspirations of high- achieving millennials through unique learning

experiences, scholarships, internships, international study and peer networks. NSHSS connects

outstanding young scholars with the resources they need to develop their strengths and pursue

their passions from high school to college to career. Currently, there are more than 1,000,000

lifetime members in 160 countries.
The March 15 Illinois primary election will serve as a desperate last stand by the GOP establishment to slow the Trump bandwagon, which appears headed to the partys nomination.

Just a few short months ago, Republican operatives would have given Donald Duck as much chance as Donald Trump, a one-time Manhattan liberal, of winning the GOP nomination.

What has happened?

Trump decisively won all Southern states except Ted Cruzs Texas. His juggernaut now can be slowed only by wins for Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio in their home states of Ohio and Florida on March 15 (where both trail Trump in recent polls), combined with something less than Trump domination in Illinois.

Little has been written of the Illinois primary thus far for the understandable reason that the media focus has been on the rollout of primaries up to this point. A Feb.24 We Ask America poll did find Trump leading both Rubio and Cruz in Illinois by nearly 2-1 margins, with Kasich trailing in single digits.

Illinois offers two concurrent contests for the presidential candidates. At the top of the ballot is the beauty contest preferential vote. Whoever wins a plurality here picks up 10 delegates.

Down the ballot is the more important contest for three delegates in each of the states 18 congressional districts. Voters will find names of people they have never heard of running for delegate, followed by the names of their preferred presidential candidates in parentheses.

To win, delegate candidates must garner more votes than anyone else, so if delegate candidates who prefer Trump best the others with, say, 33 percent of the vote, the Trump delegates win.

Barring dramatic changes in voter attitudes in the next few days, it looks as if Trump might run the table March 15 across Ohio, Florida, Illinois and Missouri, which would make Trumps nomination almost unstoppable.

In an incisive piece in the Feb. 27 Wall Street Journal, former Reagan speechwriter and now columnist Peggy Noonan decried a protected class that has become insulated in their gated communities, insensitive to the struggles of the unwashed and unprotected outside.

Immigration THE issue

Noonan sees immigration as the issue. The unprotected have suffered from low-wage job competition while the protected benefit from having more low-wage workers available.

Maybe even worse, the protected, coming from both parties, are insensitive to the vulnerability and anxiety that immigration imposes on the unprotected.

I would add the issue of the corporate out-migration of jobs to other shores. This might make all the sense in the world to business leaders seeking to compete globally, but it appears callous, indeed cruel to those whose job futures are bleak.

The 2016 election realities also hammer additional nails into the coffins of political party organizations.

Flawed though they surely have been, party organizations have served the useful purposes throughout our history of recruiting and supporting candidates who generally were safe, that is, who would return favor to their party and not rock the boat unnecessarily on the social and economic fronts.

Labor model is dead

Today, the old labor model, in which precinct captains and local party leaders would carry the campaigns for their candidates, has been pushed aside by a capital model.

The latter relies on big money to recruit candidates and conduct their campaigns from centralized offices, relying on television and digital media in place of people.

I am talking about shifts, not absolutes. There are still people rallying to campaign work, though mostly to candidates rather than to party organizations, and money always has been important, though much less so in the past than today.

A pedestrian illustration. In my three contested campaigns for the state legislature, I remember never spending more than $4,000 ($26,000 in todays dollars). I had to raise the money myself and run my own campaigns, with the help of local party folks.

This year in Illinois, there are state legislative candidates who already have received more than $1 million for their contested campaigns!

The candidate is but a pawn in this game, with the money contributed and then spent centrally by big-money political elites or by remnants of old political machines.

Tumultuous, troubling times in American politics.
He has one of the most recognisable voices on the ABC in Sydney and across NSW and after 40 years, John Logan has retired.

The veteran ABC radio newsreader joined the ABC in 1973 as an announcer in Rockhampton in Queensland. In 2013 he celebrated his 40 th year with ABC and while not one for the spotlight he did share some advice that he has never forgotten from the late ABC presenter James Dibble.

When you are reading the news you do not just read it like willy-nilly,Dibble told him. You are reading it to one person. You are reading their bulletin.

ABC NSW news editor Shane McLeod advised ABC staff that John has always been a low-profile type of person and so with his retirement didnt want to make a big fuss about his decision to step away from the microphone. John has been on leave for the last 12 months.

You can view a special on John Logan from ABC News Back Story on Vimeo.

John was also featured in Radio Todays Top 40 Metro Radio Newsreaders of All Time in November last year.
Dr Rudiger Brandt, vice-president sales mainline with Siemens, says a pre-project for Shift2Rail for ETCS Level 3 will be completed this year with a view to it being accepted as one of the main projects within the IP2 element of Shift2Rail.

Brandt claims that specifications for Level 3 have not been detailed or agreed yet. But this assertion was challenged by Mr Pio Guido from the European Railway Agency, who said Level 3 was defined in the original specifications for ETCS. "Level 3, moving or fixed virtual block, is a reality in operation in metros and in specialised freight lines, mostly in "integrated" railways, where ETCS is not a requirement," Guido told IRJ. "Level 3 remains elusive on the main lines in Europe with mixed traffic and multiple actors, which is exactly the target domain for ETCS."

Referring to the visit to the Trafikverket-Bombardier demonstration of ETCS Regional in Sweden by delegates attending the 2012 UIC ERTMS world conference, Brandt said that this was not Level 3 as important elements were missing, with train integrity being done by the driver for example. "There have been more than 70 change requests for this system and not all of them have been completed, so there is a lot of work still to be done."

Brandt acknowledged that there is increasing demand for Level 3 to address capacity constraints and because of high expectations for infrastructure savings. It is will be a basis for higher levels of train automation in the future to bridge the gap between CBTC and ETCS. Level 3 will facilitate the introduction of moving block, automatic train operation, autonomous driving, automatic train regulation, IP radio, and satellite positioning.

Brandt envisages two major design variants for Level 3: as an overlay for Level 3 equipped trains on lines with ETCS Levels 1 and 2 to provide high capacity and availability and a pure Level 3 application on a line to reduce infrastructure costs, as Level 3 will require less trackside equipment, with simplified interlocking functions, and better track utilisation.

But Brandt recognises there needs to be a consensus on operating rules which he believes will be a key for success, while interoperability will become an even bigger challenge. "The challenges are on the operational side rather than on the technical side," Brandt told IRJ. "ERA has advised the industry and railways in Europe to work out a common set of operational scenarios first in order to derive and hand in the required change requests. Change requests on interfaces and functions will follow after these rules are set." Brandt says the big lesson from developing ETCS is that if you do it the other way round, interoperability is difficult to achieve. "That is the reason why it took several baselines before an interoperable specification was reached," Brandt explains.

"I see no real technical barriers to the introduction of Level 3 as devices and systems for train integrity are in use outside the EU, and Shift2Rail can bring additional effective solutions," Guido says. "Level 3 is a priority for ERA, and we have started meeting interested railways to define how best we can work together to enable railways exploit this opportunity with ETCS. The railway sector and ERA consider Level 3 as one of the game changers to ensure a more competitive and efficient railway system."

This story was updated on March 14.
CP, City of Vancouver agree to sale of Arbutus Corridor Written by Carolina Worrell , Senior Editor









Canadian Pacific and the City of Vancouver on March 7, 2016 jointly announced that they have agreed to terms for the sale by CP of the Arbutus Corridor to the City for $55 million.

For many years now, CP has been involved in conversations with the City about the future of the Arbutus corridor, said Keith Creel, CPs President and Chief Operating Officer. We are pleased that todays landmark agreement allows the City to create a transportation corridor and greenway while providing a fair return to CP and our shareholders.

The agreement also allows CP to share in future proceeds on the eventual development and/or sale of certain parcels of the corridor.

CP has been an important part of Vancouver for 130 years, and while balancing the needs of industry against the desires of municipalities is not always easy, todays agreement demonstrates that by working productively together we can accomplish great things to the benefit of all, added Creel.
Kinkisharyo Internationals new P3010 light rail vehicles (LRVs) rolled into their first revenue service on March 5, 2016 as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) opened its $1 billion Gold Line Extension now serving Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte/City of Hope, Irwindale, Azusa and APU/Citrus College.

The cars were built under a contract that was given the notice to proceed in August 2012, meaning that the vehicles went from concept to revenue service in an unprecedented 43 months. Despite the speed of design and production, LACMTA officials have called the LRVs among the highest quality they have ever received.

This is a very proud moment for our company, said Teiji Tani, President of Kinkisharyo International. We have worked extremely hard to deliver LACMTAs LRVs on-time and with the highest possible quality. The people of Los Angeles County will enjoy reliable operation of these great cars for many years to come.

The on-time and high-quality delivery of these rail vehicles are an outstanding example of a true partnership between LACMTA and Kinkisharyo, said Phillip Washington, CEO of LACMTA. We appreciated the extraordinary lengths to which Kinkisharyo has gone to ensure the success of this opening.

The new LRVs are some of the most advanced in the United States, Kinkisharyo says. They are capable of operating on all six of LACMTAs light rail lines. In addition to the Gold Line, they will be put into revenue service when the final phase of the Expo Line opens on May 20, 2016.

In addition, the cars are fully Buy America-compliant. They are manufactured with components from the United States and Japan and assembled by American workers at a new plant in Palmdale, Calif.. Since the beginning of the contract, Kinkisharyo has trained and employed over 200 American workers, and is in full compliance with the United States Employment Plan it filed as part of its contract bid.

All told, Kinkisharyo has delivered 21 cars to LACMTA for use on the Gold Line Extension and for integration testing on its other lines. Kinkisharyo and LACMTA have contracted for a total of 235 cars to be delivered over the life of the contract.

Additionally, just one day after the grand opening of the extension project, a big-rig crashed into the Gold Line and resulted in the suspension of service between Aracdia and Allen. Power was restored on March 7 at 3:30 a.m. PST so regular service is now operating, a LACMTA spokeswoman says.
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Strategy, policy, and operational decisions emerge from judgments made by human beings. Accurately simulating the complexity of this human decisionmaking is a challenge for many analytic techniques. Games, however, are simple models that incorporate human beings as their key variable.

At the most basic level, games are events that allow participantsbound by a set of rulesto make decisions and work through their potential consequences without affecting the real world. Games can be used to explore competitive situationssuch as warfareor cooperative situations where key stakeholders hold different preferences.

Gaming methods have deep roots at RAND, dating back to the 1940s when social scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and others pioneered the use of political-military crisis games to study nuclear deterrence.

On this legacy, the Center for Gaming supports a wide range of games to explore the sometimes unpredictable drivers behind human decisionmaking and to tap into human ingenuity, helping policymakers make better decisions and develop innovative solutions.

Games can serve many purposes. They can be used at the outset of the analytic process to better define poorly understood problems and identify hypotheses to test. They can also be used to evaluate and test different concepts or ideas. Finally, games can help assess whether research findings derived from other methods can survive contact with human decisionmakers.

The Center for Gaming brings together skilled game designers with RANDs multidisciplinary staffincluding economists, operations researchers, cyber experts, political scientists, climate scientists, engineers, educators, and beyondso that our games combine both innovative design and deep subject matter expertise.
The number of paid subscriptions to Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services in the Asia Pacific region exceeded those of satellite TV in 2015, according to Digital TV Research.





In 2015, 69.4 million people subscribed to IPTV services in the 22 Asia Pacific countries surveyed, compared to the 68.4 million taking satellite TV services. The IPTV subscriber base in the region is forecast to hit 123.5 million by 2021, with China contributing nearly two-thirds of this total (78.4 million).Last year 96.1 million homes in the Asia Pacific received digital terrestrial television (with 1.3 million of these paying for their DTT service), though 107 million more are to be added to this figure by 2021, according to the new report.The number of Asias analogue terrestrial TV homes  which reached 164.2 million in 2015  will fall by 158 million by 2021. Digital cable subscribers, which currently number 301 million, will rise to 413.9 million in the same time frame  with 72 million switching from analogue cable. Subscription-based satellite TV platforms in the region will add another 30 million customers, while their free-to-air rivals will add ten million viewers.In all, the Asia Pacific region will add 314 million digital TV homes between 2015 and 2021, with digital pay-TV penetration climbing from 21.2% in 2010 to 44.9% in 2015, and then on to 68.3% in 2012.Digital pay-TV subscribers will nearly quadruple from 164 million in 2010 to 639 million by 2021, said Simon Murray, principal analyst, Digital TV Research China will provide 329 million pay TV households by 2021, with India supplying a further 178 million. However, legitimate pay TV penetration will be lowest in Thailand (30.2%), Australia (31.7%) and Indonesia (32.6%).In total, pay-TV penetration in the Asia Pacific will rise from 61.1% in 2015 to 69.2% in 2021, adding 127 million subscribers to take the total to 647 million, the report predicts.Pay-TV revenues in the Asia Pacific region are forecast to reach US$40 billion in 2021, up from $24.34 billion in 2010 and $31.94 billion in 2015, in spite of the slowdown of economic growth and devaluation of many currencies against the US dollar.Over the next five years to 2012, pay-TV revenues will more than double in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Pakistan. Concurrently, they are expected to fall in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.
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.
"Vote for the crook, not the fascist!" So urged the French newspaper Liberation on the morning of April 23, 2002. The paper's editors had woken up to a reality that few thought possible. Following the first round of the presidential election, the incumbent president, Jacques Chirac -- long suspected of campaign finance shenanigans -- would meet Jean-Marie Le Pen -- the foul-mouthed leader of the anti-Semitic and authoritarian National Front -- in the second and decisive round of voting two weeks later.

The Republic seemed, suddenly and unexpectedly, in danger.

In the wake of yet another round of U.S. presidential primary elections, Americans might be having this sense of deja vu all over again. Donald Trump, whom Jean-Marie Le Pen recently endorsed, is closing in on the Republican nomination. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton collects Democratic delegates as quickly as she collected speaking honoraria from banks and brokerage houses. Chances are that just as Chirac trounced Le Pen, so too will Clinton defeat Trump.

But this may not be the happy ending we imagine it to be.

In 2002, the word "decline" was on most everyone's lips in France. The country's flailing economy had deepened the so-called fractures sociales, or social fissures knifing across social classes. At the same time, the forces of globalization and immigration seemed to be erasing the nation's borders and undermining the sense of national identity. In essence, France seemed to be dividing between what the sociologist Christophe Guilluy calls the "metropole" and "periphery." The former, home to professional classes benefitting from great technological and commercial changes, have become the electoral bases for the major parties on the right and left. Those unable to find employment in this world, however, gravitate toward the peripheral zones, mostly ignored by the mainstream parties. Both conservatives and socialists have failed to measure, Guilluy argues, "the ideological and cultural abyss that now separates them from these modest social classes."

The abyss was measured to Jean-Marie Le Pen's outsized dimensions. When not dismissing the Holocaust as "a detail of history" or reminiscing about the collaborationist Vichy regime, Le Pen was blaming Muslims as the source of France's economic and social ills. In his speeches, immigration morphed into an invasion, while Islam boiled down to terrorism. Though hauled several times into court for inciting racial hatred, Le Pen nevertheless persisted, warning France that when the Muslim population grows from 5 million to 25 million, "they will be calling the shots while we will walk past them with our heads bowed."

In the second round of elections, more than four-fifths of the French cast their votes for Chirac -- or, rather, against Le Pen and his toxic values. But it is important to recall, as we try to make sense of the Trump phenomenon, that the massive rejection of Le Pen was the best thing that ever happened to the Front National. The party was largely Le Pen's personal vehicle, one that veered between vaudeville and violence, and whose function was to keep his personal brand in the public's eye. Lacking a national organization and local affiliates, Le Pen was no more prepared to run a national campaign than he was to run the country. No one better understood this than his daughter and current leader, Marine Le Pen, who has transformed what was once a motley collection of anti-Semites and neo-Nazi thugs, Catholic traditionalists and royalists, into a party that has redefined the country's political landscape. Thanks to the younger Le Pen, France has become a three-party system.

It is a system, however, now infected by the FN's persistent xenophobic and authoritarian strain. Just as establishment Republicans like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have sought to match Trump's anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim harangues, French Republicains like Nicolas Sarkozy have repeatedly targeted "Arabs" as a national threat. Just last year, one of Sarkozy's allies, Nadine Morano, declared that France was a "country of the white race," adding that she did not feel like "seeing France becoming Muslim." Much like Trump's initial refusal to disavow David Duke's support, Sarkozy waited three days before condemning Morano's words and evicting her from the party.

More telling, perhaps, is the political evolution of the FN's rank and file. They are no longer, as they were in 2002 -- and as Trump's supporters are in 2016 -- voting their anger at a system that has ignored them. As political scientists like Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg argue, the typical FN voter no longer votes against the mainstream parties or imagined enemies. Instead, they now vote for the FN's platform of economic protectionism and reinforcement of national borders and "zero immigration." They are, more broadly, voting to give the FN a greater role and voice in the system. These voters increasingly know what they do want as much as what they don't want.

But the traditional parties still have not fully grasped this truth. They still see the FN as the lightning rod for those fed up with the system, and not as a mature political party that has both the ideas and the means for transforming the system. Not surprisingly, they also tend to be dismissive of the concerns, both cultural and economic, of the workers and small business owners filling the ranks of the FN. The French political class sees these "peripheral" men and women as clinging bitterly to their baguettes and berets.
Property details:

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Price: $ 9,800 Seller State of Residence: California Property Address: Gendreau Rd. State/Province: Maine City: Grand Isle Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Mixed Zip/Postal Code: 04746 Location: 935**, Lancaster, California

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Locals of Boca Raton luxury homes are looking forward to two high-profile restaurants setting roots near the heart of Boca Raton. New York staple Junior's Restaurant and Italian favorite Louie Bossi plan to have locations in Boca Raton and residents cannot wait to have these two famous food joints in town.

Louie Bossi is slated to open in the Hyatt Place, Sun Sentinel reported. This Boca Raton luxury restaurant will be the first of its kind in downtown area, and is scheduled to start taking reservations in late October. The restaurant located at 120 E. Palmetto Park Road on the corner of Federal Highway will have approximately 8,000 square feet and an additional 2,000 square feet for outdoor patio seating.

Bossi is a member of the West Palm Beach's Big Time Restaurant Group. Specializing in Italian cuisine, Chef Bossi is one of the most well-known chefs in the company. He insists that all of its 8 different breads, pastas, gelatos, cookies, and pastries be made fresh daily, much to the delight of the locals in the neighboring Boca Raton luxury communities surrounding the area. The chef will be preparing all brunch, lunch, dinner, and dessert. A bar and a bocce ball court are also in the works.

Junior's Restaurant will soon be taking over the location where Ruby Tuesday's once was, The Real Deal reported. The Palm Beach Post said that the restaurant is planned to have 270 seats that will offer both indoor and outdoor service. They will also have a full-service bakery and bar.

Most Boca Raton luxury homes are owned by ex-New Yorkers, so Junior's Restaurant of New York is expected to be a welcome addition. Junior's is known for its steak burgers, sandwiches, barbecue, and soups.

Junior's Restaurant and Hyatt Place may invite more businesses and residents to the east side of Federal Highway in Boca Raton.
A month into her spring semester in Italy, Rita Ebhaleme, junior at the University of Georgia, ate enough pasta in a week to last her a lifetime, learned about the local wine industry and explored the city of Verona.
Terri Bruce, left, a transgender man who opposes a bill before South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard that would limit transgender student bathroom use, walks toward the South Dakota state Capitol in Pierre, S.D., Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. Opponents of the bill say they delivered more than 80,000 signatures to Daugaard pushing him to veto the bill. (AP Photo/James Nord)

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By JONATHAN DREW and GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  As bathrooms become battlegrounds in the national debate over anti-discrimination laws, a city council's decision to protect the restroom choices of transgender people in Charlotte, North Carolina, was cheered Tuesday by rights advocates as a courageous move. But it may not stand for very long.

Gov. Pat McCrory told The Associated Press that the bathroom provision denies privacy rights for people who expect to share restrooms or locker rooms only with people born with the same anatomy.

"It's an extreme regulation that changes the basic norms of society," the Republican governor said, adding that he would like the state legislature to pre-empt any local governments from enforcing such ordinances. "I don't want to have 100 different rules" across the state, he said.

As sweeping changes take hold across America in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage last year, advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have sought to build on that momentum by securing broad protections against discrimination in cities and states nationwide.

Most of the 20 largest U.S. cities now enforce state laws or local ordinances that include allowances for people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with, said Cathryn Oakley, an attorney with the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign who helped generate support for Charlotte's ordinance.

And as conservatives push back, they are increasingly finding that concerns about bathroom encounters resonate more with voters than other aspects of such laws. In Jacksonville, Florida, a council member withdrew a measure similar to Charlotte's last week after encountering just such pressure.

"We're currently tracking 192 bills, the vast majority of which are anti-LGBT with major themes being trans bathrooms and rfras (religious freedom restoration acts) focused on marriage," Mark Daniel Snyder, spokesman for the Equality Federation, a gay rights group, said in an email.

Charlotte's ordinance is broader than just bathrooms, prohibiting hotels for example from refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple, City Attorney Robert Hagemann stressed.

"The restroom issue has gotten an awful lot of attention," Hagemann said. "The primary aspect of what the council did is to prohibit discrimination in public accommodation. That's not just restrooms."

A turning point was Houston, whose city council approved an ordinance similar to Charlotte's. After a campaign that invoked concerns about bathroom safety last year, voters overwhelmingly overturned the ordinance in a referendum.

"The opposition has really run with this inflammatory, discriminatory messaging, and unfortunately they have found some traction," Oakley said.

Transgender advocates, meanwhile, have worried openly that conservatives are using the bathroom issue to drive a wedge between them and other members of the LGBT movement.

"It's absolutely not fair. What they're trying to do is roll back some of the progress that the LGBT community as a whole has made over the last several years by targeting some of the most vulnerable  and unfortunately least understood members of our community," said Demoya Gordon, a Lambda Legal staff attorney who works on its Transgender Rights Project.

Charlotte's vote drew an overflow crowd on both sides Monday night. While supporters carried signs broadly asserting "equal rights," opponents urged the council to "Vote No on the Bathroom Bill."

The ordinance was approved by a vote of 7-to-4, adding "sexual orientation," ''gender identity" and "marital status" as attributes protected from discrimination when it comes to public accommodations in restaurants, retail stores and other businesses.

The ordinance legalizes the ability of transgender people to use bathrooms based on the gender they identify with, even if it's different from their anatomy at birth. The local law doesn't define gender identity, but federal workplace guidelines suggest that transgender people should be able to choose either the men's room or the women's room, depending on which feels most appropriate or safest to them.

Violations could be treated as misdemeanors, punishable by fines of $500 or 30 days in jail, although the council staff noted that nobody has ever faced such punishment under other aspects of the city's existing anti-discrimination ordinance.

The ordinance does not address accommodations in public schools, another flashpoint in the national debate. In South Dakota on Tuesday, transgender activists were trying to persuade the governor to veto a bill requiring students statewide to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth.

North Carolina's cities and counties are creations of the state, and the General Assembly can override local ordinances. Republican lawmakers have passed several laws recently to rein in city councils  particularly those led by Democrats  who they believe overstepped their authority.

House Speaker Tim Moore said Tuesday that he and other Republicans will be "exploring legislative intervention to correct this radical course" once the legislature convenes again in late April.

If Charlotte's bathroom protections are overturned, Gordon said it would send a message that transgender people can't do "one of the most essential things that people do every day ... except under really dangerous and harassing conditions."

___

Contributors include Tom Foreman, Jr., in Charlotte, N.C., and Lisa Leff in San Francisco.
Nathan Solis/Record Searchlight

Bert Lunford of Anderson enjoyed a brief pause between the winter storms Sunday at Anderson River Park as he fished for bass.

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A pair of winter storms passed through the North State over the weekend, bringing high gusts of wind and a moderate amount of rain. Most of the Sacramento Valley was under wind advisory warning over the weekend, and Redding was lashed with wind gusts as high as 51 mph Saturday, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

A little less than one inch of rain fell on Saturday in Redding, and about half an inch of rain was expected to fall Sunday afternoon into the Monday morning. About 3 inches of rain is expected to fall over the higher mountain elevations.

Snow levels will drop to around the 4,000 ft. elevation Monday, making for dangerous travel conditions over mountain pass areas. As much as 2 feet of snow is expected to fall, and 3 feet at higher elevations. Heavy snowfall will have passed overnight.

Snow was reportedly falling in parts of Shngletown on Sunday night.

More rain is likely Monday, with a pause overnight as temperatures drop down to 37, according to Meteorologist Travis Wilson.

Were not going to be seeing as much rainfall, and winds will not be as strong, somewhere around 40 mph, but it will be colder, Wilson said.

Active weather patterns will bring in another storm sometime Tuesday, with more showers for the rest of the week.

Other parts of the state experienced severe weather warnings, with flooding in low lying areas in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.

Flights into San Francisco International Airport were delayed by more than two hours, and dozens more short flights were cancelled, the AP said.

In the Sierras, the Sugar Bowl ski resort near Donner Summit reported 7 inches of new snow at the summit overnight into Saturday morning.

Over a seven-day total the North State could approach 20 inches of rain, according to the AP.

One residential structure had some flooding in Shingletown and a few power lines were knocked to the ground in the cities of Anderson and Shasta Lake, according to Cheryl Buliavac from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Pacific Gas and Electric issued a statement on the winter storms, stating on Sunday morning approximately 12,100 customers experienced power outages from the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley and the Sierra region. More than 199,000 customers experienced some interruptions to their electricity over the weekend.

Around the same time last year temperatures in Redding were in the low 80s and no precipitation was recorded for the first 10 days of the month, according to the National Weather Service.

For this year, though, the Redding area has had 24 inches of rain in the last five months, and 14 inches since Jan. 1.
Late spring hung full in May 1782 when the Continental Army's 4th Massachusetts Regiment met the enemy in a Tory ambush. A 21-year-old soldier took two musket balls to the thigh. Creeping off alone, the soldier probed deep into the open wound, digging out one of the large lead balls. The other, she couldn't find.

For six months Deborah Samson continued to conceal her identity, until she was felled by fever, likely caused by the remaining musket ball. When the camp doctor discovered that the young soldier being treated for fever was indeed a woman, he informed George Washington, who ordered an honorable discharge.

Deborah Samson would go on to receive military back pay and a soldier's pension until her death in 1827. She wasn't alone; there were many women masquerading as men who fought during the Revolutionary War and later the Civil War. Mostly, their names and their stories have been buried by the inattention of time and historians, so few bothered to record women's roles in history.

Nearly 200 years would pass between Deborah's encounter with that Tory musket and the first women's studies course at an American university. By 1969, Baby Boomers, underwritten by the then-new federal student aid program, were rushing college campuses in unprecedented numbers. For the first time, the country's daughters as well as its sons were going to college.

Between 1960 and 1970, the percentage of female college students climbed 10 points, up from 37 percent at the start of the decade. Today, more than half of college students are women. Yet it's estimated that at the current rate of change it will take another 70 years for women to reach parity with men when it comes to leadership roles and compensation.

Women's History Month and International Women's Day on Tuesday are good enough reason to take a look at America's women - where we've come from, where we are and how we managed to get this far.

My first encounter with female trouble came in the late 1960s. I was desperately trying to dump a mandatory home economics class for an elective in journalism. I knew I was going to be a journalist, just as I knew that I had no talent for homemaking. I can still see the school principal leaning back in his chair, his fingers making little steeples, as he patiently explained to me that while I might think that I was going to be a journalist, taking such a class was negligible compared to the necessity of home ec. I stared. "You are a girl," he declared with a nod of finality, as if that decided anything.

As it turned I would go on to make a lot of mortgage and car payments off a keyboard, but I still can't cook, despite taking that home economics class. Go figure.

Although my generation wasn't the architect of second-wave feminism, we were its engine. The simple truth is, most of us believed what we'd been fed throughout childhood and adolescence: American children could be whatever we wanted to be. Except that we couldn't.

That's why Bill Clinton went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, but Hillary could not. Women weren't accepted into that elite group until 1977. Today, 45 percent of America's Rhodes Scholars are women.

Since 1988, women have outnumbered men on college campuses, earning at least a third of all law degrees since 1980, comprising a third of all medical students by 1990, and outnumbering men in earning business degrees since 2002. Yet there are only 22 women CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies, despite the fact that women comprise more than half the workforce.

Economics and changing societal expectations will continue to redefine the roles of women and men in the fabric of American life, as they always have. As more women crack the glass walls that once kept them on the political sidelines, they are becoming powerful forces in politics, shaping public policy in subtle - and sometimes not-so-subtle ways.

I don't know what prompted Deborah Samson to hang up her skirts to surreptitiously join the Revolution, nobody does. As she walked toward her regiment, disguised as a young boy, she couldn't have possibly conceived that she was becoming a thread in the tapestry of women's history. Nor could she have envisioned that one day 200 years hence, a woman probably not all that different from herself would become a general without having to hide who she is. And isn't that something.

Nisa Donnelly can be reached at Nisa.Donnelly@gmx.com.
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WASHINGTON - If you're drinking coffee, better put it down.

Right now, odds are about 50-50 that Donald Trump will be the next president.

Only a small percentage of America's 323 million-person population has voted for the crude, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist bully with no serious ideas for bringing people together.

But because Reince Priebus, a Republican apparatchik who's been party chairman for six years, pushed through rule changes governing the early stages of the GOP primaries, Republicans are clueless about how to stop Trump from hijacking their party.

And with Trump polling ahead of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in upcoming states with winner-takes-all delegates, his supporters will not let the party use tricks to deny him the nomination.

Even evangelicals voting for Trump don't care that he is trying to buy the presidency using money from licensing his name, founding a scam university and real estate deals, or that his businesses had four bankruptcies, or that he's had three wives or that he has a record of changing his mind on social issues vital to them.

They don't care that he has no plans for the nation. Everyone knows a wall will not be built along the entire border with Mexico, which would never pay for it. Everyone knows it is unconstitutional to prevent people from entering the United States out of religious bigotry. (The president takes an oath to defend the Constitution.)

Trump shouts he will "negotiate deals that will make your head spin" and bomb people, so they think he's tough. He ridicules anyone who disagrees with him, so they think he's entertaining. He's never had elected office, so they think he's not a politician. He expresses complete disdain for the press, unless he needs media access, so they cheer him.

Hillary Clinton's campaign briefly was excited at the prospect of running against a bombastic shoot-from-the-hip cartoon figure such as Trump. Not now.

It's challenging to debate someone who refuses to accept rules, disparages people's looks, disabilities and vulnerabilities, rants but refuses to answer questions, praises dictators, never gets specific and thrives on fighting dirty.

Clinton's supporters are split. Half think she should learn from the also-ran Republican candidates who failed to see Trump as a threat and held back from telling voters what he's really done and what he's really like. Their message is: Get tough, Hillary. Take the dude on. On the other hand, some see how pathetic Rubio looks getting down in the mud with Trump and want her to stay above the fray.

Trump will use every weapon he can against Clinton, such as his off-the-wall idea that she will be indicted and prevented from running. Not going to happen, and he knows it. But Clinton has been on the national scene for a quarter of a century and has a railroad car full of baggage. It will be nasty.

In a battle of slogans - "make America great again" versus "make America whole again," well, Hillary's just isn't euphonious. Most Americans believe their country is the greatest in the world, but they are worried about the acrimonious public discourse, their own finances and their children's futures. Trump's slogan is catchier.

Trump will soon tack to the middle, aiming to seem more centrist - reasonable - to appeal to independents, moderate Republicans and disaffected Democrats. Republicans desperate to take control of the White House will give him hundreds of millions of dollars. Like the reprehensible Chris Christie, they'll ignore the venomous things they've felt and said about Trump and hail him as their standard-bearer. We could easily have a 49-51 election, either way.

We have had coarse, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist bullies in the White House before and survived. But it was painful. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. In the modern world, the consequences could be dangerously, uh, huge.

If your coffee is cold, you might want to pour a somewhat stronger drink.

Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
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Should the courts order Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation unlock an iPhone seized from a murderous terrorist or a dangerous criminal? For law enforcement officials across the country, this is a question of public safety, even of life and death. But according to a federal magistrate in Brooklyn, the real issue in such cases is how much power an 18th century law grants the federal government to force innocent parties to do its bidding. He was right about that, even though his ruling in a little-watched fight between Apple and the FBI could make it harder for investigators to uncover the clues that criminals and terrorists might hide in their encrypted devices.

The case before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein is far less exotic than the more celebrated one in Riverside, where Apple is resisting a court order to help the FBI decrypt an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The Brooklyn case involves an iPhone 5s that the Drug Enforcement Agency seized from a suspected drug dealer, Jun Feng. Although Feng has pleaded guilty, the feds contend that they could learn more about his suppliers and customers by searching the phone. Rather than trying to break into the locked phone through brute computer force, the Justice Department wants Apple to circumvent the passcode, as it has done roughly 70 times before.

But the magistrate balked, troubled by the way the Justice Department was trying to use the All Writs Act - a law that dates back to the very first Congress in 1789. The point of the statute is to give federal courts the power to carry out the orders they issue in situations where Congress hasn't explicitly provided that authority.

Despite the statute's broad reach, Orenstein ruled that All Writs couldn't be used to force Apple to unlock a phone it had no connection to other than having built and sold it. On multiple occasions in the last two decades, Orenstein wrote, Congress has considered whether to require communications and technology companies to help federal agents gather evidence. And although lawmakers imposed such a duty on phone companies in a 1994 wiretap statute, they exempted companies that provide information services such as those Apple provides. To allow courts to create obligations after Congress has refused to do so, Orenstein ruled, would be a violation of the Constitution's separation of judicial and legislative powers.

That argument relies to some degree on one's reading of the 1994 act, which was adopted a decade before iPhones and other popular smartphones hit the market, and two decades before iPhones started automatically encrypting the data stored on them. Another plausible conclusion is that Congress didn't contemplate in 1994 the effect that devices with automatic encryption would have on law enforcement, and since then lawmakers have found the issue too difficult to resolve. Either way, though, it's clear that this issue involves a major question of public policy: how to balance the public's interest in stopping crime and preventing terrorism against its need to protect sensitive data against cybercriminals and foreign hackers. That's just the sort of question that Congress, not the courts, is supposed to answer.

Back in Riverside, the FBI is seeking to use All Writs to go one consequential step further. It's trying to compel Apple to create a product that removes the security features that make its passcodes so hard to hack. That's directly contrary to Apple's commercial interests, in addition to being a potential threat to millions of innocent iPhone owners who have stored sensitive personal information on their devices.

If All Writs can be used to do that, it's not clear what it cannot do. The government's ability to enforce the law and protect the public is vital, but so too is the public's ability to limit the power it grants the government through the legislative process.

The Los Angeles Times
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%.

'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'

IMAGE: Indian and Chinese soldiers during explosives training, part of the India-China military exercises in Kunming, China, October 2015. Photograph: Kind courtesy The Indian Army

China likes to coin new catchphrases.

Lately, Beijing speaks of the 'new normal.'

It is an economic term referring to the acceptable slowdown of its trade and industry; the coming year's GDP (gross domestic product) growth is estimated to be between 6.5 percent and 7 percent.

The fact that these figures are 'normal' show 'the government's higher tolerance for slower growth compared with the breakneck expansion China's economy has seen over the past three decades,' writes The South China Morning Post.

One of the consequences of the 'new normal' is the unexpected cut in the defence budget.

Quoting Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress, on March 3, Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, announced that China would raise its defence budget by 7 percent to 8 percent in 2016-2017 (it was later confirmed that the increase will be 7.6%).

It will be the smallest military budget increase percentage-wise in several years.

The Global Times admitted that the news came as a surprise 'as some media previously predicted that the defence budget would increase by as high as 20 percent.' It is what the usually well-informed The South China Morning Post had expected.

A couple of weeks earlier, Reuters had even reported from 'a source with ties to senior officers' that a 30 percent increase in military spending for the coming year would be a possibility; this figure was apparently mooted in military circles.

Reuters had added that the actual rise was unlikely to be that dramatic: 'The party has got to show the troop cuts don't mean the military is being ignored or shunted aside,' the source told the agency.

Well, if 7.6% increase reflects the true budget, it is definitively a let-down.

The justification for the consequent increase, which did not happen, was that the Communist Party wanted to tackle the unhappiness in the People's Liberation Aarmy ranks after the sweeping reforms and the renewed tension over the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits, with a new president taking charge in Taiwan soon.

Fu Ying had stated that the 2016 figure was in line 'with China's national defence needs and fiscal revenue.' The Global Times admitted that the Chinese economy expanded 'at the slowest in a quarter century, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activity.'

Interestingly, a military 'expert' told the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece that it was normal 'as the nation gradually completed the construction of its basic military infrastructure, which used to require the majority of the budget,' less funds were now required. Difficult to believe this argument!

One can cite the reshuffle of the Theater Commands, the setting up of a PLA Rocket Force and a Strategic Support Force or the 15 new departments, offices and commissions, which will directly work under the Central Military Commission, all this requires funds.

These in-depth reforms, without mentioning the retrenchment of 300,000 defence personnel and a large number of sophisticated new military drills, is not free.

The Hong Kong Commercial Daily mentions the military personnel's pay rise which started in 2015, 'to close the gap between Chinese military staff and their Western counterparts.'

'China used to have a limited military budget,' the newspaper added, 'which also led to poor treatment -- this is one of the reasons that gave rise to corruption within the military.'

It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget. It does not appear very 'normal'. Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!

But many other things are not 'normal' in the Middle Kingdom.

The The South China Morning Post described the 'overriding' atmosphere at the opening ceremony of China's political consultative body: In a word, it was tense. Not surprising, given the annual pow-wow of the governing class has arrived at such a strained time for the nation.

In a notice given barely a few hours before the opening of the Two Sessions Show in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the use of selfie sticks was banned for the first time for reporters, who were deeply displeased.

Politburo members seated on the rostrum appeared to be stiff throughout the opening of the meeting, The South China Morning Post added. 'Even whispering was rare. Chinese President Xi Jinping barely talked to anyone on the rostrum, until Wang Qishan, the party's anti-graft chief, ran up to him after the ceremony.' What Wang, also a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, told Xi will never be known.

Something else is not 'normal' in China; it the stiffening of the Communist Party's propaganda and discipline. On February 25, Xinhua announced that members of the Communist Party have been asked to 'absorb' Xi Jinping's views by learning from an article written a long time ago by Mao Zedong.

All were requested to do their homework, study and implement the ideas put forward in The Work Method of Party Committees, published in March 1949, hardly six months before the Communists took over the Middle Kingdom.

A Guardian article, titled: 'Love the party, protect the party: How Xi Jinping is bringing China's 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.'

The China Daily affirmed that 'it is necessary for the media to restore people's trust in the Party... The nation's media outlets are essential to political stability.'; Read 'stability of the Party.'

A few days later, Ren Zhiqiang, a property tycoon, one of the richest men in China and a long-time 'outstanding party member' dared to question Xi Jinping's 'absolute loyalty to the Party.' Ren's microblogging accounts were swiftly blocked.

Ren, a Communist Party official announced, would be 'dealt with seriously' for his critical postings: 'Any remark that does not accord with the party's lines, principles and policies, whether it is on the Internet or other media platforms, is not allowed under party discipline,' the official stated. Ren has (or had) 26 million microblog followers.

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.

Regarding the defence budget, do we need to worry too much for China? Its 7.6 percent increase corresponds to $146 billion. India's defence allocation is only $40 billion. It will take India some time to catch up.
IMAGE: The Peshawar school attack on December 16, 2014 was a turning point in the battle against Islamic radicals in Pakistan. Photograph: Khuram Parvez/Reuters

If the bulk of the Pakistani population and the all-powerful army are now against radical elements, there is indeed hope that Pakistan's India policy will be more realistic and less ideology driven, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).

On December 16, 2014, terrorists attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar and killed over 132 school children. Many believe this traumatic event changed Pakistan and the terrorists who earlier had public sympathy -- if not outright support -- became enemy number one even overshadowing India, the perennial enemy.

The Pakistan army launched a major anti-terror operation and the Pakistan government and army promised that action will be taken against 'all' terrorists. However, almost two years after the event, there was very little evidence in the public domain of Pakistan acting against terror organisations like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammed which target India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a 'surprise' stopover in Pakistan in December to see his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Many sceptics dubbed it a mere photo-op. Critics of the government's policy on the outreach to Pakistan found justification for their scepticism when on January 2, 2016, six heavily armed infiltrators from Pakistan attacked the Indian Air force airfield at Pathankot, close to the India-Pakistan border.

Unlike the Mumbai attack on 26/11, this time round, Pakistan did not the deny possible involvement of its nationals in this attack and promised to take action. Of late unconfirmed reports have emerged that Jaish leader Masood Azhar is indeed under detention.

Given the need for Pakistan to be circumspect (as there is a large constituency of radicals who support him) one can understand the low key posture. The jury is still out on the steps Pakistan takes against the JeM.

Given all these facts and the deep historical roots of anti-Indianism in Pakistan, the logical question is so what has changed now?

The answer is the hanging on February 29 of the murderer of then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. As an indicator of Pakistan's seriousness in cracking down on Islamic radicals, this indeed is a watershed moment.

I feel bold to make this statement despite the fact that at his funeral lakhs of people gathered in Rawalpindi. He was given martyr status and eulogised by the religious parties.

One always knew that Pakistan's religious parties had the power to muster large crowds, so this does not necessarily prove that the hanged murderer had overwhelming popular support. Given the huge population, gathering crowds in excess of lakhs is not such a great feat in the subcontinent. More significant was the fact that the Pakistan electronic and print media gave the funeral very little coverage and prominence. This was obviously done at the government's behest.

Given the political equations in Pakistan, the decision to hang the murderer must have been taken by the civilian government with the army's full backing. This shows the Pakistan army is committed to dealing with radicalism with an iron hand.

This is indeed a change from the earlier stance when anyone who targeted the so-called 'blasphemers' was handled with kid gloves. The murderer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, Omar Saeed Sheikh, is yet to be punished even after 14 years.

The two biggest takeaways from this episode are the army's commitment and the civilian government's resolve. For a very long time elected governments were wary of taking action as the bulk of the population, including the middle class, was thought to be sympathetic to extremist views. It seems the Peshawar massacre has changed the narrative for the majority in Pakistan. The fear psychosis in Pakistan was evident when in the wake of a rumour, all schools were shut down recently in Pakistani Punjab, its political heart.

If the bulk of the Pakistani population and the all-powerful army are now against radical elements, there is indeed hope that Pakistan's India policy will be more realistic and less ideology driven.

As a Pakistan watcher for the last 30 years, I have noticed a trend where the Pakistani middle class and professionals are returning to the 'Jinnah vision' that meant for Pakistan to be a Muslim majority state and not an Islamic state. Declining oil prices and closing the money tap to radical madarassas will in time reduce the influence of the Muslim radical clergy.

There is a Russian proverb that says the appearance of one swallow does not mean that spring has arrived. There is also an Indian proverb which says that to test if the rice is cooked or not, it is enough to taste just one grain! I feel the recent events in Pakistan are closer to the Indian proverb. It would be sad if we missed the importance of the signals emanating from our neighbour.

Just when Pakistan is de-radicalising itself, vigilante groups taking cue from faith have begun to assert themselves in India. Under the beef ban issue (not just cow slaughter), fringe elements have begun to use the hastily promulgated laws to target minorities.

The effect of this has been to give a tool to anti-social elements to target anyone with possession of beef. This is not very different from the way blasphemy laws are being misused in Pakistan. One only hopes the judiciary will intervene and stop this madness.

The media (a large part of it) is adding fuel to fire by selectively highlighting only the violence against minorities while ignoring the other side. This cultivates a tale of victimhood unrelated to the reality.

As elections to India's largest (and most backward) state approach, political parties will be tempted to play one community against the other.

Fringe radical groups have always existed in India, but what is new is that due to social media and the Internet, they have acquired a power and influence much beyond local areas. The media has the effect to magnify a local issue into a national one.

One hopes that the politicians will not fish in troubled waters. It is time for some statesmanship.

Else the positive change in the environment in Pakistan will be lost and the billion plus population of the Indian subcontinent will lose out.

Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) is a military historian.
'Tagore repeatedly denounced the "My country, right or wrong" attitude.'

'We often use the phrase "unity in diversity" like a cliche and often make diversity secondary, giving precedence to unity.'

'You do not have to shout from the rooftops that we are very tolerant.'

IMAGE: Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists protest against the alleged 'anti-national sloganeering' at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters

Following the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Association President Kanhaiya Kumar on the charge of sedition, JNU Professor Ranabir Chakravarti asserted (external link) that 'If Tagore was alive, he would have been in jail.'

Professor Chakravarti, image, below, made this statement during a series of lectures that JNU has organised for students to debate the issue of nationalism.

A professor of economic history of early India and Indian Ocean maritime history at JNU, Profssor Chakravarti spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about nationalism and what Gurudev Tagore said on the subject.

What would Rabindranath Tagore have said if he saw the JNU row?

Had he been witness to these events, he would have been circumspect about the very narrow definition of nationalism. He would also have decried any kind of shrill calls against the government.

He would have asked those armed with differing standpoints to come before him and would have heard their voices. That would have been the most critical difference in Tagore's approach vis-a-vis this regime.

He would have listened to diverse voices and positions before arriving at a decision of his own.

During the civil disobedience movement there was a large base of close followers, teachers and students at Visva Bharati University who felt inclined to join the movement and urged Tagore to join Gandhi.

Tagore himself was not in favour of Visva Bharati joining a political movement on such a large scale. So he arranged for a debate that he presided over. All persons spoke of different views.

At the end of the debate a vote call indicated that most of the teachers and students wished to join the civil disobedience movement led by Gandhi.

Tagore got up and said something to this effect: 'I am very happy that today Visva Bharati has come of age. It can formulate its own stand as shown by a very large number of students and the teachers who do not agree with my position.'

This was Tagore.

Your speech at JNU said that Tagore was against the 'cult of nationalism.' Can you explain that?

That is best explained by a little pamphlet he wrote. He gave two lectures: First in Japan in 1916 and a second in the US in 1917 on the subject.

The essence of his political understanding of the nation was, there is always ambivalence. He was aware of what is called a nation. He was aware of the political aspect of the nation.

What the nation can stand for if political freedom is achieved by the nation, particularly in the Indian context, by removing British rule.

He wrote a proof of the concept of nation, if it could embrace the tremendous diversity, of ethnic groups, of religious beliefs, of cultural practices, of language, of regional tradition, and of differing ways of life.

If all these could be brought under an overall umbrella identity of a nation, Tagore would have had no qualms about it.

Today we are making nationalism into an almost divine article of faith. How did Tagore deal with such attitudes?

One has to go by Tagore's book Religion of Man which was published in 1933.

He was always giving greater emphasis on his faith in human beings and, by extension, in humanity.

For Tagore, human beings were far more important than the concept of a nation.

Tagore repeatedly denounced the "My country, right or wrong" attitude.

He was a great proponent of internationalism.

The years between 1900 and 1940 saw the world permeated with shallow nationalism combined with high militarism. Tagore was against such a conception of the nation.

Isn't this an overly philosophical and impractical view of the world?

This is a false charge. He was not speaking, but practising it. In 1921, Visva Bharati was actually dedicated to the nation.

He was repeatedly stating from 1908 that present day education under the colonial regime was only generating some job-holders.

They are clerks, darogas, doctors or professionals, but this is no education because the mind is almost enslaved to certain values and the mere mechanical reproduction of some schoolbook text.

If education means freedom of mind, reasoning, adaptability to different viewpoints, creativity, nothing of this was there.

Now, with Visva Bharati, what does he do? He brings in agriculture as a subject.

He sets up an agriculture wing in Visva Bharati and sends his son and son-in-law to the US to learn better technologies in agriculture.

He wanted that to be put into practice by actual villagers.

For the first time he brings in what is a rural banking system and a credit network, along with the first cooperative movement of India.

Tagore's education policy was not merely high-flying philosophy for armchair intellectuals. He was a practical realist.

Those who do not subscribe to the Bharat Mata image are being deemed traitors these days. How does this reconcile with Tagore's views?

I do not believe in the image of Bharat Mata at all. Bharat Mata is an understanding of the nation that comes from a Devi, a goddess.

It appeals to particular sections of the Indian community, particularly the Hindu upper caste groups.

It may have its appeal to them. But take, for example, someone who is not a worshipper of a Devi, how will they relate to this image?

While it is a religious figure indicative of a particular sectarian approach, will it appeal to all Indians cutting across religious, linguistic and cultural diversities?

Someone may say that it is only a symbol.

However, in India, a country with remarkable diversity, this tendency towards homogenisation is a real threat. Homogenisation is dangerous and is infectious.

We often use the phrase 'unity in diversity' like a cliche and often make diversity secondary, giving precedence to unity.

What is being targeted in the name of unity and is perceived and vigorously clamped down upon, is uniformity.

Uniformity and unity are not the same concepts at all. It is like an orchestra where all the instruments are being played, but with a combined note and tune, but each instrument has a contribution and each instrument is very distinct.

In an orchestra you can very well differentiate that. That is the question.

Tagore had said 'unity through diversity', not 'unity in diversity.' The moment you say 'unity in diversity,' it is a static position.

When you say 'unity through diversity,' as he did, it is a process, it is changing. The concept of unity will be dynamic.

That is at the very heart of Tagore's understanding of human society.

Where did the concept of Bharat Mata originate?

I think the late 19th and early 20th century, and became particularly popular after Bankim Chandra's national song Vande Mataram.

It is a salutation to the mother and motherland. An iconic figure was actually painted by Abanindranath Tagore (Rabindranath Tagore's nephew), which became very popular.

It is a very famous painting, but Tagore was not always happy at Abanindranath clinging to the idea of national iconography in the form of a goddess.

Tagore was repeatedly talking of cutting off national boundaries and he was going beyond the boundary and espousing the cause of internationalism.

Can you shed some light on Tagore's views on Anandmath and Vande Mataram?

Tagore was very respectful to the creation of Vande Mataram.

He himself sang that song. He composed music for the lyrics.

But Tagore himself said the song in its entirety cannot be considered applicable to the sentiments of different cultural groups in this country.

It is particularly very appealing to the Hindu society, but India is not merely a land for a particular community.

Therefore, he chose a particular stanza of Vande Mataram to be sung.

Which is that stanza?

He chose the first stanza of Vande Matram, which was actually taken by the Constituent Assembly to be India's national song.

Jana Gana Mana was taken up as the national anthem by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India. This was approved by the Constituent Assembly.

In his book on nationalism, Tagore writes about India's spirit of tolerance. Why is there so much intolerance in Indian society today?

If Indian society has always been tolerant, then there is no need to showcase it. It will come into your daily life and daily practices.

You do not have to shout from the rooftops that we are very tolerant. Toleration means first of all that you shed the fear of the different.

When we say tolerant, we think that the status quo is the norm and we are also accepting that anything outside that space is against the norm.

This actually generates a fundamental and deep-seated fear of something different from what I perceive as the norm.

Tagore was questioning that. The basic point here is the fear of the different, and that is against cosmopolitanism.

The understanding of internationalism is based on the recognition of cosmopolitanism, not a single strand, not a homogenised position of any culture.
BJP-supported students union, aided by a friendly government, is aggressively settling historical scores with Leftist students organisations, reports Archis Mohan.

IMAGE: Activists from the ABVP carry out a march against "anti-national sloganeering" raised at the JNU campus. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Kanhaiya Kumar, the recently bailed Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president, returned to a heros welcome to his alma mater on Thursday. In a speech that was televised live and enthralled many, Kumar said to his fellow students that there wouldnt be any witch-hunt of supporters of the rival Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) on campus. One hunts only those who are worthy of being hunted, Kumar said sarcastically.



Kumar had spent nearly a fortnight in police and judicial custody -- mostly thanks to yet another example of ABVPs new-found aggression on university campuses across the country. It was the ABVP members in JNU who had alerted a Bharatiya Janata Party MP of the anti-national slogans raised at an event on the campus on February 9, which started a chain of events that led to him being jailed. Kumar, 28, must have seethed inside but that was the only statement in a nearly hour-long speech which betrayed his anger.



But, this anger burns on either side. In the case of ABVP, even its former activists, several of whom are ministers in the BJP-led government at the Centre, continue to nurse reverses that the students union has suffered at the hands of the Leftist students unions.

People have forgotten how our leader, P Muralidhar Rao (currently a BJP general secretary), was nearly killed by Naxals, a minister, who was with ABVP in the mid-1980s, retorted when asked if the government could have handled the JNU issue better. Rao was a student leader at the OsmaniaUniversity in Hyderabad and claims to have weaned away a large number of youth from the violent politics of leftwing extremism in Telangana. He was attacked in 1986, but after the situation became difficult for Rao thereafter in Andhra Pradesh, the ABVP sent him to Rajasthan.

Former ABVP activists, particularly some of the old-timers who are now associated with its parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, cite many instances of their workers being killed or beaten up by Leftist rivals in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. In the past one year, ABVP has sought to settle scores themselves with anyone it believes to have insulted the Hindu religion or spoken against the Narendra Modi government. Wherever it couldnt, the students union has approached the government at the Centre for help.



From Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah, many leaders started their political careers with the ABVP. Then, several ministers have as their assistants people, who, until a few years ago, were with ABVP. A sympathetic ear of the ruling party at the Centre and in several states has helped ABVP not only add to its number of workers, but also push the RSS-BJP brand of cultural nationalism in universities and colleges across the country.



But, there have been mishaps along the way; the starkest being the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a 26-year-old Dalit student of Hyderabad Central University. It has been difficult for the Narendra Modi-led government to counter Opposition allegations on the role of its ministers in having driven Vemula to suicide on January 17. About a month after Vemulas suicide, the government flexed its muscles to arrest slogan-shouting students of JNU.



In their minds, the BJP leaders and ministers in the government -- something they do share with journalists in off-the-record conversations -- are trying to settle historical scores by supporting ABVP in taking on outfits like the Students Federation of India and All India Students Federation, and gradually weeding out from university campuses those who disagree with the Sangh Parivars ideology.



For ABVP, some universities more than others -- both Hyderabad Central University and JNU -- have proved difficult in establishing its sway. A former JNU student, currently serving as a mid-level bureaucrat with the Uttarakhand government, says the primary reason for this is ABVPs inability to address the issue of caste and its linear understanding of Indias diversity.



The bureaucrat recounts an incident from 1998. The university was then mulling increasing of reservations in admissions, which would have increased to above 90 per cent if the proposal were to be accepted by the students. The SFI and AISF supported the proposal, but ABVP and freethinkers were opposed to it, and so were a majority of the students. A students meeting was organised to discuss the issue.



The Left students unions found themselves isolated. ABVP was sensing victory and the possibility of finding more supporters among the students. Just then, a member of the Left unions went up on stage to deliver a speech on how Lord Rama would ill-treat his wife and children, and how he was anti-Dalit, the bureaucrat, then an ABVP sympathiser, reminisces. His ABVP friends forgot all about the issue at hand, and with it the opportunity to find new supporters, to get into what ended into a heated exchange betraying their deep-seated upper caste biases.



This inability to negotiate the issue of caste, particularly reaching out to the Dalits, has remained a stumbling block for ABVP in universities that have had a tradition of lower castes asserting themselves. In the aftermath of Kumars arrest in JNU, three ABVP members quit the outfit, complaining as much about its Manuwadi or Brahminical ideology. All three hailed from other backward classes/Dalit families.



This lack of empathy towards Dalits made BJP leaders tie themselves in knots in the aftermath of Vemulas suicide. Their questioning Vemulas Dalit identity and trying to doubt his mental balance not just left many of their own Dalit MPs and leaders livid, but it also laid waste nearly two years of efforts by Prime Minister Modi to appropriate the legacy of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar. While the PM has continued to publicly support his ministers who intervened in the Vemula issue, Modi is said to be extremely upset at the turn of events.



After the JNU row, the Sangh Parivar has tried to take the debate towards the binary of nationalism and anti-nationalism, while the Opposition is not letting it forget its Achilles heel -- the suicide of Vemula and the role of its ministers in that. While the PM continues to reach out to Dalits, the rest of the BJP leadership continues to paint a picture of how these Dalit students are standing with the enemies of India -- Islamists, Christian missionaries and communists -- all of whom need to be severely dealt with.



ABVPs aggressive campus politics, seen for the first time when some associated with it allegedly beat to death H S Sabharwal, a professor at Madhav College in Ujjain in 2006, is likely to continue. Campus violence by those alleged to be with the students union has been frequent in BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the past few years. Since 2014, its campaigns against beef eating, or anything it considers anti-Hindu and anti-national, have been frequent in colleges and universities of India.



For the present, ABVP is likely to keep the pot simmering on the issue of nationalism. It is the fight for occupying the mind space of Indias next generation and ABVP, with the support of a friendly government at the Centre and the simplicity of its message, is ahead of its rivals.

Tracking the ABVPs tumultuous journey

-- RSS, after it was banned in the wake of Mahatma Gandhis assassination, set up several outfits, including ABVP in 1948

-- Officially, it was founded on July 9, 1949 (Jan Sangh, the earlier avatar of the BJP, was founded two years later in 1951)

-- Launched Bharatiyakaran campaign in 1949 for countrys name to be exclusively Bharat and national anthem Vande Mataram

-- In 1966, Giriraj Kishore appointed first full-time worker

-- In 1969-70, it organised conferences on Marxist-infested states West Bengal and Kerala

-- In 1973, it took part in the Gujarat Navanirman Movement

-- During the Emergency, ABVP claimed 650 workers were arrested under the draconian MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act)

-- In 2003, ABVP claimed to have 1.1 million members

-- By 2013, the numbers had increased to 2.2 million

-- In 2014, it claimed to have made a quantum jump to 3.2 million workers

-- It is active in 9,800 universities and colleges across India

-- In 1990-91, ABVP won one of four seats on the JNU Students Union panel

-- Won three of four seats on JNUSU panel in 1996

-- In 2000, Sandeep Mahapatra elected JNUSU president - the first and only instance yet

-- ABVP has campaigned for organising Durga Puja festivities on campus

-- Current ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh, J P Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prakash Javadekar and BJP president Amit Shah started as ABVP leaders

-- RSS appoints a national organising secretary to look after ABVP affairs. Current RSS number two Dattatreya Hosabale has handled the responsibility, and currently its with Sunil Ambekar
President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of the controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning this Friday.

The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances, an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Monday.

Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release enzymes into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgment is expected on Tuesday.

The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.

This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information, the petition said.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.

Meanwhile, the decision to call in the Indian Army to build a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna was also criticised.

The development came even as there was criticism from some quarters, including the social media, about using army to build the floating bridge for such an event.

Lakhs of people are expected to turn up. There is a question of law and order and also fears of stampede. Permission has been granted by concerned authorities to host the event. If a permission has been given, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is run smoothly, highly placed defence sources said.

They said the organisers had approached the defence ministry seeking six such bridges but the army was asked to erect only one. A second bridge has been erected by the public works department.

The Delhi Police has now given a report saying that there are fears of stampede and hence the army might build another bridge, the sources said, adding that a minister from the Delhi government has also written to the ministry highlighting the need for such bridges.

The sources said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the defence secretary to look into the issue. During his interaction with the army, the force wondered whether their personnel should be used to help a private event.

The minister was of the view that since permission has been granted, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything was fine. The army, which has the expertise, was asked to step in keeping the larger good of people in mind, the sources said.

They added that the army has been used during Kumbh Mela and even the Commonwealth Games.
Following intelligence of suspect Lashkar-e-Tayiba infiltration through the Gujarat-Pakistan border, a multi-city terror alert has been issued to ensure no untoward incident happens and terror attacks are averted.

Tier two cities such as Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panji have also been alerted about possible attacks.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed the internal security situation in the country in the wake of inputs that 10 suspected LeT and JeM terrorists have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat.

At a high-level meeting, attended by top security officials including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma, Singh took stock of the situation and the steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks.

The Home minister was briefed that four national Security Guard teams have taken position in different locations in Gujarat and would rush to any place if there is any emergency, official sources said.

Singh also reviewed the steps taken to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats, they said.

However, so far there is no clue about the suspected terrorists, who were believed to have entered Gujarat, which could be their prime target. An alert has already been sounded in Gujarat and other major metropolitan centres by central security agencies following reports that the 10 terrorists have entered the western state to carry out attacks against high-value targets.

A similar alert has also been sent to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. In view of the January 2 terror attack in Pathankot airbase, security agencies were not taking any chances and all possible steps are being taken to prevent any possible terror attacks, sources said.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about a group of fidayeen from the LeT and Jaish-e Muhammed cadres on a mission to a major terror strike in the state.

Image: A security personnel stands guard near the building of the Home ministry in New Delhi. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
In a replay of their high-voltage march to Shani Shingnapur temple, women activists on Monday headed to the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in a bid to break the ban on entry of female devotees into its sanctum sanctorum but were stopped and detained by police at a village about 80 kilometre away from the shrine. They were let off later in the evening.

Bhumata Brigade chief Trupti Desai being detained with supporters at village Nandurshingote, about 50 kms from Nashik on Monday. She was proceeding to pilgrimage town of Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district to enter the Garbagrih of Shiva Temple. Photograph: PTI Photo

The activists under the banner of Bhumata Brigade who numbered between 150 and 175 and led by its chief Trupti Desai were stopped at Nandurshingote village by rural police from proceeding to Trimbak town in Maharashtras Nashik district where pilgrims had gathered in large numbers on the occasion of Mahashivratri festival.

They were detained under various sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, a senior police officer said.

Located 30 km from Nashik town and 160 km from Pune, Trimbak town has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the huge flow of devotees.

Desai had left Pune earlier in the day trooping nearly 150-175 activists in vehicles as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) of the ancient temple which houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.

Before setting out, she made a plea to Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.

Since the chief minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today and will be allowed to enter the garbhagriha, Desai, who chose the occasion of Mahashivratri to resume their campaign, said.

On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Womens Day and on the day of Mahashivratri, said Desai before setting out to Nashik.

Desai and her activists were stopped from proceeding to Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednanagar district on January 26 when police detained them at a village 70 km away from the shrine.

Nashik Rural Police had tightened security around the temple to avoid a face-off with deployment of additional forces and barricades putting up barricades.

Opposing the campaign, certain local outfits like Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together threatening to stop the activists if they sought to breach the prohibited area.

As per tradition followed since past many years, women are not allowed in temples garbha-grih for worship while men are allowed for an hour between 6 am to 7 am in the morning, but wearing sovala (a silk dhoti) for offering pooja to Lord Shiva.

Desai had stirred a national debate on gender bias at various temples across the country with her attempt to enter the inner platform (chauthara) at the Shingnapur temple where women are traditionally not allowed to worship.

The rights groups march on Republic Day, joined by over 400 women, was stalled by police stopping the marchers at Supa village, 70 km away from the shrine.

A mediation effort by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also failed to end the deadlock on the issue with Desai refusing to accept the Tirupati model of darshan that would keep both men and women away from the inner sanctum which houses a rock idol of Lord Shani.

According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

Women, however, can have darshan from outside the core area.

He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6 and 7 am on all days.

As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Meanwhile, temple premises witnessed a flutter earlier in the day as a sadhvi sought to enter the area where women are banned.

Sadhvi Harisiddha Giri of Juna Akhada was stopped from entering the inner sanctum of the temple there by local women and members of the Devasthan trust, a police official said. The sadhvi then sat on a fast outside demanding that women be allowed to enter the place.

I am representing all women of the country (requesting) to allow us entry into the temples garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum), but as per tradition women are not allowed to enter it, she said.
The Delhi government has decided to file criminal cases against three television news channels on the basis of a magisterial probe which concluded they aired allegedly doctored videos of a controversial event at the Jawaharlal Nehru University involving its students union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Sources said the governments legal team has been ordered to initiate action against the three channels whose names were not mentioned in the report by the New Delhi District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar.

Delhi government has directed its legal team to file a criminal case against three new channels which aired doctored videos on JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, said a senior government official.

He said a lower court will be approached under Section 200 of CrPC under which a magistrate takes cognisance of an offence on receiving a complaint.

Earlier on Monday, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United leader K C Tyagi met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and demanded action against the TV channels which allegedly ran doctored videos on the JNU row.

The magisterial probe, ordered by the Delhi government, had found that out of seven videos sent to a Hydrabad-based forensic lab, three were doctored, including one clipping of a news channel.

As per report of the Hyderabad-based lab, two videos were manipulated where voices of persons not present in the clippings were added.

In the manipulated clips, videos have been edited and voices have been added, the lab report had stated.

The governments probe did not find any evidence of JNU leader Kumar raising anti-India slogans at the controversial event in the university. Kanhaiya was charged with sedition following allegations that anti-national slogans were raised at the event to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Kashmiri separatist leader Maqbool Bhat.

Kumar was released on bail last week, while two other JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the sedition case.

According to the probe report, anti-national slogans were chanted on the campus and JNU administration has already identified a few faces who were clearly heard raising them. The probe panel said their whereabouts must be found and their role investigated.
The Punjab government has refused to pay a bill of Rs 6.35 crore to the Center for deployment of paramilitary forces during and after the terror attack at Pathankot air force base.

In a communication to the Center, the state government has said that the deployment of these units was in "national interest" and "expenditure thereon should not be billed to the state government", officials said in Chandigarh.

National Democratic Alliance constituents, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are in power in Punjab.

Whenever Central paramilitary forces are provided to any state, their expenses are borne by the Central government but it is adjusted against the state's budget later on, a Home ministry official said in Delhi.

The MHA had billed the state government for the deployment of paramilitary forces in Pathankot and nearby areas between January 2 to 27 during and after the terrorist attack at the air force base in the region.

The attack had probably originated in Pakistan and it threatened national security, the state government said in response. The Congress, meanwhile, dubbed as "travesty" the Centre's move to bill Punjab, making a strong pitch for waiver of all militancy related dues of the state.

"Travesty to bill Punjab for #anti-terror operations ALL Militancy related dues of Punjab need waiver Punjab's fault Pakistan is its neighbor," party spokesman Manish Tewari said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

The state, which has a debt of Rs 1.17 lakh crore as of September 2015, was charged by the Centre for 20 companies of paramilitary for a period of 25 days. Deployment of each company costs Rs 1,77,143 per day, according to the ministry of home affairs letter, officials said.

Punjab has also been instructed to bear the transport charges. Of the 20 companies, 11 belonged to the Central Reserve Police Force 1and nine to the Border Security Force.

The Punjab government also pointed to the Centre that six of those 20 companies were used only to monitor escape points for terrorists and not for law and order management, officials added.

On the issue of expenses occurred on operation to neutralize the terrorists at Pathankot, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had said the defence of Indian territory falls under the Union government and the Centre should bear the expenses.

Seven security personnel and at least four terrorists were killed during the nearly 80-hour operation after the ultras sneaked into Punjab from Pakistan and attacked the air base on January 2.

IMAGE: Security personnel inside the Pathankot airbase after the end of the military operation against the terrorists on January 6, 2016. Photograph: PTI
People across India and Nepal on Monday celebrated Mahashivratri with devotion and religious fervour. Mahashivratri, celebrated annually in reverence of Lord Shiva, is also believed to be a celebration of the wedding of Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is also believed that on this day Shiva saved the universe by consuming the poison which emerged from the samudra manthana (churning of the ocean).

Here are some glimpses of the celebrations.

IMAGE: Devotees take part in Ganga aarti on the eve of Mahashivratri at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar on Sunday. Photograph: PTI photo



IMAGE: Devotees offer prayers at the Shiva temple in Guwahati, Assam.

IMAGE: A sadhu, with a snake wrapped on his neck sits at the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

IMAGE: A Kashmiri Pandit family offer prayer at migrant camp Muthi in Jammu on Sunday. Photograph: PTI photo

IMAGE: Devotees offer prayers at the Shiva temple in Guwahati, Assam.

IMAGE: A sadhu, poses for a picture along with devotees during the Shivaratri festival at the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

IMAGE: Devotees pour milk over a Shiva Lingam (a symbol of Lord Shiva) at the Shiva temple in Guwahati, Assam.

IMAGE: Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik prepared Lord Shiva's sand sculpture at Puri beach in Odisha. Photograph: Sudarsan Pattnaik/Twitter

IMAGE: A sadhu smokes marijuana in a chillum on the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
Delhi Police on Monday arrested Adarsh Sharma, the man who claims to be president of Purvanchal Sena which had announced through posters a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who shoots Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Sharma has been arrested under charges of defacement of public property, abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery, a senior police official said, adding investigation is underway and more charges can be added in the case.

Earlier in the day, Delhi police had detained Sharma for questioning at a police station in New Delhi district.

On Saturday, posters announcing Rs 11 lakh reward for shooting dead Kumar were seen stuck on a wall near Press Club of India and bus stops and metro stations in New Delhi district.

The poster said whosoever shoots JNUSU president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena.

The posters carried the mobile number and name of Sharma.

On the same day, the police registered a case of defacement of property and questioned one person, who was allegedly involved in sticking the posters on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The other sections were added later in the FIR.
A man who announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who shoots down Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, has only Rs 150 in his bank account and owes rent for several months.

The Purvanchal Sena president, Adarsh Sharma, went into hiding soon after a case under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act was registered against him at the Parliament Street police station.

The case was registered on Sunday after the Delhi police found the posters in which Sharma promised any man who would shoot Kanhaiya Rs 11 lakh.

Police officials said that the poster also carried his mobile number, which was unreachable at present.

He did not have any regular source of income and for livelihood. He mostly depended on money borrowed from his friends. He would often take money (Rs 100 to Rs 500) from people on the pretext of getting their work done at the local police station or civic agencies offices using his influence, an officer was quoted by one of the national dailies.

Sharma, who hails from Begusarai in Bihar, has stopped all communication with his family members, relatives and friends, the report added.

The police are reportedly sending a team to Sharmas hometown to apprehend him for interrogation in the case.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha leader Kuldeep Varshnay had on Friday announced Rs 5 lakh prize money for cutting off the tongue of Kanhaiya. Taking note of Varshnays remark, the Badaun unit of the Morcha on Saturday expelled him from primary membership of the party for six years.

Image: Kanhaiya Kumar addresses students at JNU after being granted bail on Thursday. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his match in Kanhaiya Kumar, noted writer Nayantara Sahgal has said as she praised the JNUSU president for his speech at JNU after his release from jail and his subsequent "rational" interviews to the media.

"Kanhaiya Kumar has electrified India with not only his speech in which much passion prevailed, but also in the interviews that he has given to the media where much rationality, much common sense, much quiet measured talk and a command of facts prevailed," she said on Monday.

"We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for taking us out of that molasses of depression which many of us had fallen into for a while. Mr Modi has met his match in Kanhaiya Kumar," she said at the launch of Rajmohan Gandhi's latest book Understanding the Founding Fathers in New Delhi

According to Sahgal, Gandhi's book is essentially a response to the criticism meted out at the founding fathers of India by two men -- Swami Sachidanand of Gujarat and Perry Anderson, an American Marxist scholar.

The author writes in a "defensive" mode explaining that India is not what Anderson says and that Indians do not value the things that the Swami does.

Sahgal, niece of Jawaharlal Nehru, said it was imperative for the countrymen to be offensive, particularly in the current scenario, when "facts of our recent history are being totally falsified and education and culture are really in a battleground by our ruling government".

"In this day and age where everything that we value, the whole meaning of India and what India stands for is under dangerous attack, we need to be on the offensive. Every one of us needs to stand up and be counted and speak out... We never need to explain ourselves to any one," she said.

Contradicting Gandhi, who writes in the book about the existence of a "temporary cement" of a common enemy holding India together during difficult times, she asserted it was instead a "permanent cultural cement" that bound the country, and that it was the latter that prevented the country from collapsing under the attack of Hindutva forces.

"What does not fall apart and has not fallen apart for centuries is a permanent cultural cement. It has been ineradicable through centuries. That is basically what holds us together and which the advocates of Hindutva are now trying to destroy," she said, adding being a Hindu, born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh, she considered herself a "Muslim by culture".

Sahgal accused the BJP government of trying to "appropriate" Ambedkar and wondered if it actually believes in his radical views on caste.

"The present government is trying to make an icon of him. I don't know if the government has read what Ambedkar writes in his book Annihilation of Caste and I quote him, 'If you wish to bring about a breach in the system, you have to apply dynamites to the vedas and the shastras. You must destroy religion of the shrutis and the smritis'," she said.

Referring to the ongoing debate over nationalism, historian and politician Sugato Bose, who was also present at the book launch, cited Mahatma Gandhi's strong disapproval of the discrimination against any religion or community.

"When Mahatma Gandhi was in Nuakhali in search of peace, as a sanatani Hindu, he said I am a Muslim and a Christian at the same time...He said in Bihar, 'Is it nationalism to crush the 14 per cent of the Muslims in Bihar?' And the same question can be asked in a Gandhian way about Muslims in India today," Bose said.

The TMC leader also pointed out that the book was a powerful rebuttal of Anderson's charge that Gandhi was a "Hindu revivalist".

"It shows that if you go through the entire collective works of Mahatma Gandhi, there is not one word of deep seated prejudice against any other religious faith and community. Gandhi's evocation of Ram Raj was completely different from the meanings that have been given to that phrase in today's politics," he said.
Honduras: Investigate Environmental Activist's Killing

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 March 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Honduras: Investigate Environmental Activist's Killing, 4 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dc29ce129e.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.

Honduras should ensure that its investigation into the killing of the indigenous leader and environmental-rights activist Berta Caceres is exhaustive and unbiased, Human Rights Watch said today.

In the early hours of March 3, 2016, gunmen broke into Caceres's home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, and shot her dead, media accounts said. The killers escaped without being identified. Caceres's family and colleagues have said they believe that she was murdered because of her work on behalf of indigenous and environmental rights.

"A thorough and impartial investigation is absolutely critical to ensure that those responsible for Caceres's death are brought to justice," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Caceres, a member of the Lenca indigenous group, cofounded the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and led a campaign against the construction of the Agua Zarca Dam on the Gualcarque River. The Chinese state-owned company Sinohydro, the world's largest dam builder, pulled out of the construction in 2013, publicly citing "ongoing community resistance and outrage."

Several COPINH members have been attacked and killed during protests, but no one responsible for the attacks has been brought to justice. Caceres herself had received multiple death threats, media accounts said. In 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asked the Honduran government to adopt measures to guarantee her safety, but the threats continued.

At a news conference last week, Caceres said that four community leaders opposed to the dam had been killed since 2013 and that several others had received threats. On February 20, security forces detained more than 100 people who participated in a COPINH protest near the Agua Zarca Dam site, the New York Times reported.

Caceres was awarded the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for South and Central America, which honors grassroots leaders for efforts to protect the natural environment. Upon receiving the prize, she said, "they follow me. They threaten to kill me, to kidnap me. They threaten my family. This is what we face."

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Turkey: Zaman newspaper taken over as government steamrolls press freedom

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 4 March 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Turkey: Zaman newspaper taken over as government steamrolls press freedom, 4 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dc2a601219.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.

Today's government takeover of Zaman newspaper is the latest deeply troubling episode in the Turkish authorities' ongoing onslaught on dissenting media, Amnesty International said today.



According to the state news agency Anadolu, at the request of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, a court appointed trustees to take over the newspaper's management.



"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.

"A free and independent media, together with the rule of law and independent judiciary, are the cornerstones of internationally guaranteed freedoms which are the right of everyone in Turkey."

Just last week, the TV channel IMCTV was taken off air, silencing the only national news channel reporting a counter view of the situation in south-eastern Turkey, where round-the-clock curfews were imposed as armed clashes devastated entire towns.

Last October, court-appointed administrators took over media outlets within the Koza Ipek group. President Erdogan has even refused to recognize a Constitutional Court ruling releasing the prominent Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dundar and Erdem Gul. The two had been had been imprisoned since November 2015, awaiting trial on charges of assisting a terrorist organization, espionage and revealing confidential documents.

Last week Amnesty International documented a disturbing pattern of attacks on freedom of the press in Turkey in its Annual Report on the State of World's Human Rights.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Civilians bear brunt of Yemen's unrest, UN human rights office warns

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 March 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Civilians bear brunt of Yemen's unrest, UN human rights office warns, 4 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dd428b40c.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.

4 March 2016 - The number of civilians killed in Yemen continues to rise, almost doubling between January and February, the United Nations human rights office today announced.

During February, a total of at least 168 civilians were killed and 193 injured, around two-thirds of them by Coalition airstrikes, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva.

This casualty number is the highest since September, he added.

Airstrikes account for the greatest number of casualties, with 99 people affected in the capital, Sana'a, in February, out of 246 people killed or wounded throughout the country during the month.

In the worst single incident, at least 39 civilians were killed and another 33 injured on 27 February, during an airstrike on the Khaleq market in Sana'a's north-eastern district of Nahem. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is among the UN officials who have called for a prompt and impartial investigation.

South of Sana'a, fighting and indiscriminate shelling by members of the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and allied army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh resulted in 49 civilian casualties in February, including children, according to figures provided by Mr. Colville. The incidents took place mostly in Taizz, Ibb and Al Jawf.

Civilian infrastructure also continues to be damaged or destroyed. Mr. Colville said that both parties have targeted protected civilian sites, along with places such as a cement factory, homes, shops and ambulance and police cars.

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, Mr. Colville said. The target appears to have been a military unit loyal to the Houthis.

The UN human rights official also highlighted the dangers posed to journalists, with at least two incidents occurring in February in areas controlled by the Houthis or the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis.

During today's press conference, Mr. Colville referred to a 31 January statement by the Spokesman of the Coalition Forces concerning the establishment of a multi-national team formed by the Command of the Coalition Forces to evaluate the military targeting mechanisms and incidents taking place in civilian areas.

He urged any investigation to be done in accordance with international standards, including independence and impartiality.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, is expected to present an oral update on the situation in Yemen to the Human Rights Council during its current session, which opened in Geneva this past Monday.
UN joins partners in pledging support for President-elect of Central African Republic

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 March 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN joins partners in pledging support for President-elect of Central African Republic, 4 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dd42ae40b.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.

4 March 2016 - The United Nations today, in a joint statement with other multilateral organizations, welcomed the final results of the second round of the presidential elections in the Central African Republic (CAR) announced earlier this week, congratulating President-elect Faustin-Archange Touadera.

On 1 March, the Transitional Constitutional Court announced the outcome of the run-off between two former prime ministers, Mr. Touadera and Anicet-Georges Dologuele. About 62 per cent of voters chose Mr. Touadera, according to media reports.

The UN, the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the European Union (EU) and the International Organization of La Francophonie expressed their support for the determination of the President-elect to further the efforts to promote dialogue and national reconciliation.

They also paid tribute to Mr. Dologuele and the Central African people, who have demonstrated their commitment to efforts to find durable solutions in support of peace, reconciliation, and economic and social development in their country.

Welcoming the essential role played by the Transitional Authority in support of a return to peace, the organizations reiterated their commitment to continue efforts to support the completion of the transition, including through the holding of the second round of legislative elections.

The international community will continue to lend its support to the efforts of the new Central African Republic authorities through a responsible partnership, they said.

The country plunged into a crisis in early 2013 when Francois Bozize, President at that time, was ousted by mainly Muslim Seleka fighters. Christian anti-Balaka militias responded by attacking the Muslim minority.

The UN has played a major role in seeking to restore peace in the country, with military and police units from the 11,000-strong UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country (MINUSCA) joining soldiers from the French Sangaris force and local security teams at polling stations to ensure a peaceful vote on 30 December 2015.
'We must not allow protectors to become predators'  UN field support chief

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 March 2016 Related Document(s) Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse Cite as UN News Service, 'We must not allow protectors to become predators'  UN field support chief, 4 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dd42d940b.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.

4 March 2016 - With 99 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse uncovered by the United Nations in 2015 - 69 of these in countries where peacekeeping operations are deployed - the Organization is today presenting its latest report on special measures to protect people from these crimes.

Last December, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged to urgently review recommendations made by an independent panel which found that the UN did not act with the "speed, care or sensitivity required," when it uncovered information about crimes committed against children by soldiers - not under UN command - sent to the Central African Republic (CAR) to protect civilians.

Meanwhile, new allegations of sexual abuse have continued to emerge against UN peacekeepers in the country, with the UN Mission there, known by its French acronym MINUSCA, recently reporting seven new possible victims in the town of Bambari.

"It is greatly distressing when protectors, in rare instances, turn predators," the UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Atul Khare, told the UN News Centre in an interview.

Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare, talks about the Organization's latest report on special measures to protect people from sexual exploitation and abuse. Credit: UN News Centre

Mr. Khare, who today is presenting the newest set of measures for protection from sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as giving an update on the implementation of 45 measures introduced last year, noted that 22 of the cases in 2015 took place in CAR, while 16 were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and nine in Haiti.

The countries which received the most allegations in 2015 are reportedly the DRC, Morocco, South Africa, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

"We are fully committed to addressing the deplorable situation in MINUSCA," he told reporters at a press briefing in New York. "The heart-breaking events that have come to light in the Central African Republic are a stark reminder that we must redouble our efforts to curb this scourge and that we depend on a strong partnership with Member States to do so."

Improving assistance to victims

The Under-Secretary-General told the News Centre that first, the Organization and its partners must adopt a victim-centred approach, with urgent psychological, medical, and legal assistance provided to them, particularly when the victims are very young children.

"In this regard, the Secretary-General is proposing the creation of a trust fund. It would be funded voluntarily, but also from the salaries withheld from those who face significant allegations which have been substantiated," Mr. Khare explained, noting that some $50,000 has been withheld so far.

That anyone serving under the UN flag should prey on the vulnerable is an abomination

USG Atul Khare

Other proposals address the strengthening of the UN's entire system of response and coordination, creating "safe spaces" for victims to lodge complaints against peacekeepers. These would exist in more locations, closer to the communities affected, and with the support of non-governmental organizations.

"We will spare no effort in making it possible for victims to come forward and for their allegations to receive serious consideration," the UN official insisted.

Enhanced transparency

A second set of recommendations deals with measures to enhance the UN's transparency, such as an online database featuring all the information about the cases which will be available at the UN's Conduct and Discipline website. It will contain details outlining the nature of the allegations, the number of victims per allegation, and the number of perpetrators per allegation.

"It will also identify the countries from which such perpetrators came, and it will update on the action taken, either by the UN or by the countries concerned, as regards investigation into these cases - whether they have been completed, what disciplinary measures were taken, and what criminal jurisdiction measures were undertaken by the countries to provide adequate, appropriate and exemplary punishment," Mr. Khare said.

He added that the UN is appealing to Member States to ensure that sanctions are commensurate with the seriousness of the offense and that criminal accountability follows. "In some instances, we have seen punishments that do not appear to be commensurate with the seriousness of the offenses committed," he noted.

Stronger disciplinary measures

The presence of UN-led immediate response teams will also be strengthened, so that as soon as a complaint is received, evidence can be quickly collected and preserved for national investigators. As the UN does not have criminal jurisdiction, these investigators are expected to be appointed by the perpetrator's country within a 10-day time limit of the alleged crime, and to have completed their investigations within six months.

We are fully committed to addressing the deplorable situation

USG Atul Khare

"In cases where a particularly egregious offense has taken place, say for the rape of a child, then we will request that this period be shortened by half - appointing an investigator within five days, and completing the investigation within three months," the senior official underlined.

The Secretary-General has also requested that Member States obtain DNA samples from uniformed personnel who have been accused. Furthermore, if a country fails to investigate, Mr. Ban has proposed that its peacekeepers no longer be deployed to work under the UN flag. In addition, a very strong vetting mechanism has already been established, by which the Organization can verify the criminal past of prospective peacekeepers.

"Disciplinary measures have been strengthened since last year," the Under-Secretary-General stressed, pointing out that not only will perpetrators be repatriated, but commanders are also at risk of being sent home "for not being strong enough in their command and control."

Preventative measures

Prevention is also a key element to the new report presented today. This includes pre-deployment training, mandatory online courses, and additional measures such as the enforcement of non-fraternization policies.

Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Atul Khare, presents and briefs the press on the Secretary-General's report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

"That anyone serving under the UN flag should prey on the vulnerable is an abomination," Mr. Khare stated. "We will not let up in our response to ensure that our prevention measures are robust, and that where incidents occur, victims receive support and allegations are vigorously investigated so that, ultimately, justice is served."

Asked whether deploying more women could further limit the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, Mr. Khare said he does believe that a greater participation of female peacekeepers would help, not only in the fight against this particular issue, but also to improve the overall quality of peacekeeping and the way in which the UN achieves its mandates worldwide.

"I'm ashamed to call myself a peacekeeper on some of these days when I see cases like this," the Under-Secretary-General told reporters, referring to the pregnancy of a 13-year old girl.

"What we need to do is not detract from the good work which is done by hundreds of thousands of peacekeepers. We need to find these culprits who bring a bad name to peacekeeping, who actually create problems within the country in which they find themselves, and most importantly who destroy young innocent lives. And we need to punish them in a certain manner that nobody else in the future will ever think of doing that," he underscored.
Kyrgyzstan: Impunity for officials, mob and torturers ignoring law

Publisher Forum 18 Author Mushfig Bayram Publication Date 3 March 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Kyrgyzstan: Impunity for officials, mob and torturers ignoring law, 3 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56dd4fb14.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.

On 15 February Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Jehovah's Witnesses against refusal to register communities in Osh, Naryn, Jalal-Abad, and Batken, Forum 18 News Service has learned. And on 24 February the Supreme Court sent two Jehovah's Witnesses, Nadezhda Sergienko and Oksana Koriakina, for a new trial "in total disregard of the overwhelming and unchallenged evidence of my clients' innocence", their lawyer Shane Brady told Forum 18. Elsewhere, a court rejected an appeal by the registered Elchilik Zhiyini Church against Kemin Kenesh's halting of their activity despite a decision by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. "Our decision must be followed", Akylbek Akhmatov of the Constitutional Chamber told Forum 18. He added that "the lawyers of the Kemin Church should refer to our decision in court". The Church has not been able to meet since August 2015 and was threatened with violence at a Kenesh (council) meeting. Police have refused to take action against people they witnessed threatening violence. In another case, the authorities have refused to bring officials who tortured Jehovah's Witnesses in Osh to justice.
What you need to know about Powerball and the $580 million jackpot
Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Kay Ledbetter Too much rain or too little can affect drylot dairies that offer shade for the cows but also open corral areas.

SHARE Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Kay Ledbetter Dairies recycle water they collect.

By Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

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 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 year's 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."

Dana Porter, AgriLife Extension agricultural engineering water management specialist in Lubbock, told the attendants 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 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.

John Nielsen-Gammon's message to the dairy producers was one of "what's 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. "We've 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."

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 Nino s, 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.
Sterling County rancher Frank Price testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry in Washington, D.C., last week on behalf of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and in support of voluntary conservation.

Price is co-owner and operator of the Frank and Sims Price Ranch and recipient of the 2014 NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award. A member of NCBA and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, he told the committee that given the diversity of rangelands across the country, the voluntary conservation programs were the key to achieving meaningful results.

"A one size fits all approach that accompanies a top-down regulation does not work," Price said. "It's the voluntary part of the conservation practices that really make them work for ranchers.

"We've had success using some of these conservation programs, but just because a system works for us does not mean it's right for everybody. If these programs were to become mandatory, the rules and regulations that follow would make it harder for farmers and ranchers to use unique conservation practices to ensure their individual operations thrive," he said.

Price stresses that voluntary conservation efforts have allowed him and his son to achieve their top goals: ensuring the ranch remains profitable and that they leave the land in better condition for future generations.

While drought and wildfire decimated their ranch in 2011 and 2012, conservation and grazing management allowed them to improve their rangelands through these difficult times. One of the programs that helped them achieve their goals is the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.

"When wildfire came through our ranch in 2011, we had to rebuild miles of fencing," Price said. "EQIP helped us do it through a cost-share. One of the reasons EQIP has become popular among ranchers is because it is a working-lands program. Conservation programs that keep land in production and do not limit its use are the best for both the ranchers and conserving our resources."

While drought is a constant problem in West Texas, innovative practices and voluntary conservation programs have allowed the Prices to improve their ranch and make their grasslands resilient. For Price, the success of conservation and the ranch economy are not at odds in ensuring we can sustain our country's natural resources and our way of life for generations.

"I believe that economic activity and conservation go hand in hand," Price said. "We are always looking for new, innovative conservation programs that will have tangible benefits for the environment and help improve our ranching lands. USDA's conservation programs have been a great asset to cattle producers, and it is important that these programs continue to be implemented in the same practical, producer-friendly and voluntary manner for years to come."

The Price ranch was established in 1876 by Frank's great-grandfather, William Foster. He went to Fort Worth with plans to buy the parcel he was leasing. "They wouldn't split up the land, so he purchased the whole block and then visited his neighbors and offered them an opportunity to buy their part," Frank Price said.

"All of the neighbors said they could go further west and lease land for a nickel an acre, so why would they want to pay 75 cents an acre to own land?" he said.

Foster continued to acquire land holdings until at one time he owned more than 58,000 acres. Oil was discovered in 1921 on his Mitchell Country ranch, which set a foundation for future generations in the ranching business.

I knew Frank's father, Foster Sims Price, and rode over the ranch with him in the 1970s photographing his registered Hereford bulls consigned to sales. He cared for the land and established a conservation program that Frank and his son, Sims, have continued to enhance.

In 2008 I rode in the shotgun seat with Frank as we toured the Bob's Creek Ranch where he headquarters. At a high point, one could see for hundreds of miles.

The name Bob's Creek comes from the open range days when a stallion without a tail ran his mares on the creek. The old ranchers called the stallion Bob.
Alongside the stethoscope, thermometer, and bandages in Dr. Tom Hutton's black bag are a lifetime of great stories about the relationship between a doctor and a patient.

Hutton, a retired neurologist and professor at the Texas Tech School of Medicine, lives on his ranch near Fredericksburg. On Monday, he shared stories from his black bag at the first installment of the 2016 Texas Author Series at the Abilene Public Library.

Hutton cited passages from his book, "Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist's Bedside Tales." Like so many other things, the black bag is pretty much history, Hutton said, with few younger doctors carrying one. Instead, they rely on technology in the palm of their hand.

Hutton was introduced by Carl Trusler, a retired Abilene physician who was a classmate of Hutton at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Both men graduated in 1972. Like Hutton, Trusler lamented the trend of relying more on technology and less on a hands-on diagnosis.

"There's more to caring for a patient," Trusler said, "than ordering another test."

Hutton's stories proved he agreed. Hutton said the stories in his book show that the doctor-patient relationship is a two-way street. It's not only the patient who gains valuable, even lifesaving, information from the doctor.

"It points out to me," Hutton said, "how much I learned from my patients."

Hutton's talk, like his book, was filled with both poignant and humorous stories. He told of an elderly patient with Parkinson's disease. The man no longer could farm or do much of anything. Answering questions, the patient said he had trouble shuffling cards.

Hutton was curious about the statement, but went on with his questions, including asking the man if he had seen any animals that weren't there. If so, the doctor would think the patient was suffering hallucinations and needed his medicine adjusted.

"Well, doc," the man said, "I see some dogs."

Then he told of three imaginary dogs coming to his house every day to play cards. That was something Hutton needed to know, and he realized the man wouldn't have told him without the conversations they had had.

"It brought home to me," Hutton said, "the importance of establishing a rapport with patients."

Before retiring, Hutton took several cruises with Parkinson's patients, serving both as their onboard physician and educator. One woman was in such bad shape that everyone was concerned. During the cruise, she died, and Hutton had to call the family. He got the woman's daughter on the line and, in his best professional manner, informed her of the death.

"Well, we thought she would," the daughter said in her best matter-of-fact voice.

Shocked, Hutton listened as the daughter said her mother had lived a life filled with adventure - sky diving and riding a burro to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She would not let the fact that she was nearing the end of her life keep her from taking a cruise.

"How wonderful," Hutton said, "that she took ownership of that disease and refused to give in."

In a question-and-answer session following the talk, a woman asked if medical school students today are learning the importance of touch and engaging in conversation with patients. Hutton said that regrettably they are not.

"So," he said, "you need to teach them."
Whether or not you are a native Texan, you likely have an idea what people are talking about when they mention the Alamo, either as a part of the famous John Wayne movie, or as a pivotal event in the foundation of our state.

But what you may not remember is that it was March 6, 1836, when the Alamo fell to Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna with the loss of all defenders. During March, which is Texas History Month, you might want to let your Abilene Public Library refresh, or enhance, your knowledge of this historical event, without which Texas might not exist.

Journalist and author Stephen Harrigan, whose own novel "The Gates of the Alamo" is considered one of the best accounts, combining both facts and imaginative reconstruction, has said in one newspaper article on books about the Alamo that he favors Walter Lord's "A Time to Stand."

Lord, who also wrote one of the most famous books about the Titanic, "A Night to Remember," wrote what one reviewer called "an excellent combination of popular writing with careful scholarship." Although the book was published in 1961, Harrigan was quoted as saying "it's still the best and most readable narrative about the Alamo" at that time.

In the same 2011 San Antonio Express-News article, two historians favored Stephen Hardin's "Texas Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution" for its account of the battle of the Alamo.

Virginia Van Cleave, Alamo Committee chairwoman of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, said Hardin's book "gives a very accurate picture ... and makes the events almost come to life."

Texas State University history professor J.F. de la Teja said, "He dispels myths, provides a respectful explanation of the Mexican side, and covers the participation of Tejanos."

One of the most recent entries into the Alamo list is "The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo - and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation," by James Donovan. Reviewers have called it well-researched and well-written. Lon Tinkle's "13 Days to Glory" tells the Alamo saga in 13 chapters, and is considered one of A.C. Greene's "50 Plus Best Books on Texas."

Your library has many books on the famous players of the Alamo, including Crockett, Barrett, Travis and Bowie; and on some of the perhaps lesser-known participants: Juan Seguin, Gregorio Esparza, Susannah and Almaron Dickinson, James Bonham, and a host of others.

There is even a title that attempts to prove, using letters and reports of Mexican officers written immediately after the skirmish, that almost everything we know about the fight at the Alamo is a myth. (To no one's surprise, "Exodus From the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth" by Philip Thomas Tucker, is not one of our more popular Texas history titles.)

These titles barely scratch the surface of what is available to read about an epochal event that has fired the imaginations of historians and lay people alike since almost before the smoke cleared.

So, whatever your historical point of view, or whether you consider yourself knowledgeable or clueless about the Alamo, your Abilene Public Library can give you food for thought during this Texas History Month.
Abilene police said a two-vehicle crash at about 7:19 a.m. in the 700 block of North Judge Ely Boulevard was possibly due to road rage.

According to Rick Tomlin, Abilene Police Department spokesperson, there were no citations issued because both drivers gave conflicting reports.

Tomlin added the two drivers were the only two people involved and they were not transported to the hospital.

According to the accident report, both vehicles were headed southbound on North Judge Ely Boulevard. The driver of a Suburban in the right lane reportedly said the driver of a SUV in the left lane was upset at him.

The Suburban reportedly quickly switched lanes and clipped the other vehicle, causing the wreck. The SUV rolled, hitting and damaging a utility pole before it came to rest at the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Police said AEP was contacted but there were no reports of any power outages due to the accident.
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Completion of a major nuclear power project in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong will now be delayed until next year, sparking safety concerns from local residents who cite a lack of transparency by officials.



Plant operator China Nuclear General (CNG) announced in January that its French-designed Taishan nuclear power plant won't come into commercial operation until next year at the earliest.



"The time for Taishan Unit 1 and Taishan Unit 2 to commence commercial operation was adjusted to the first half of 2017 and the second half of 2017, respectively," CNG said in a Jan. 6 announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.



Taishan Unit 1 is still in the commissioning phase, while Taishan Unit 2 was only 78 percent completed by the end of 2015, it said.



Meanwhile, the delays at the U.S.$7.7 billion plant, which lies just 80 kilometers west of Macau, are causing further concern and uncertainty for local residents.



A resident of Xintou village near Chixi township, on the outskirts of Guangdong's Taishan city, said the plant lies just two kilometers from his home.



Construction work is still continuing on the site, and local residents have been informed by local officials that the start date has been postponed until 2017, the resident, who gave only a surname, Xu, said.



"They didn't say anything about [the reason]," Xu said. "Of course we are worried, because it's very close to where we live."



Xu said no arrangements have been made to relocate residents from villages close to the site.



"Of course we are against it because it will cause pollution," Xu said. "We are worried about the effects of radiation ... especially on children, who have many decades of life ahead of them."



A second Chixi resident surnamed Yao said local people had no choice but to accept the plant on their doorsteps.



"They've built it, anyway, whether we supported it or not," Yao said. "I'm not worried about stuff like that ... it should be pretty safe, right?"



Calls to the Taishan nuclear power plant and to CNG rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.



Structural concerns



Last April, tests in France found that excessive carbon in the steel that formed the EPR reactors top and bottom could lead to unexpected cracks that could later spread, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper reported at the time.



The plants two advanced 1.75GW pressurized water reactors are the largest single-piece electric generators in the world, and have a strong safety reputation, it said.



But France's nuclear safety authority, the ASN, raised concerns over the EPR reactors destined for the Taishan plant, saying the reactors hadn't been subjected to the most rigorous form of testing.



It said some mechanical properties can be measured only by destructive tests, which had not been carried out on the Taishan reactors.



It said problems that could lead to cracks in the reactor vessel can be detected only by destroying an identical reactor vessel during testing.



Manufacturer Areva said it would continue tests and make recommendations for compensatory measures if needed, ASN said.



The Taishan plant will run two third-generation pressurized water reactors known as EPRs, and recently completed a round of initial start-up tests at the end of January, according to CNG.



The completion of the test, which checks the initial start-up of fluid systems and support systems, was hailed as the first to be completed on an EPR.



The testing followed an on-site safety inspection by China's National Nuclear Safety Administration in late December.



Risk to Hong Kong



Developments in Taishan are also being closely watched in densely populated neighboring Hong Kong.



Ray Yeung, communications officer at Greenpeace in Hong Kong, said the addition of yet another nuclear power plant in Guangdong further raises the risk of an accident in the densely populated Pearl River Delta.



"Hong Kong is very close to Guangdong, and we have a large number of nuclear power plants in our immediate vicinity, which causes a lot of concern for people," Yeung said.



"If a nuclear accident did occur, we would be strongly affected, and [the addition of the Taishan plant] just raises the risk of that happening," he said.



Yeung said concerns are further being fueled by a lack of explanation from the Chinese government about the reasons for the delay.



"There is a lack of transparency in mainland China," he said.



Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
A group of Chinese asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia in a private yacht lands in southern Thailand after their vessel took on too much water, Mar. 1, 2016.

Authorities in Thailand are holding a group of Chinese asylum-seekers, including a small child, after they tried to reach Australia in a private yacht for fear of being sent back to China.

The detentions came after a yacht bought by Li Xiaolong and a group of fellow refugeesall of whom have been recognized as genuine by the United Nationsgot into difficulties in southern Thailand on March 1 after taking on water from massive waves at sea, a member of the group told RFA on Monday.

Li, his wife Gu Qiao, their smallest child Li Yisheng and a refugee named Song Zhiyu are currently in police custody, fellow refugee Zhang Wei told RFA.

"Li Xiaolong's son, who isn't a year old, has been forcibly taken away by police and put in an orphanage," he said.

"I and Li Xiaolong boarded the boat with seven other people," Zhang said. "We were planning to leave Thailand, but when we had gone about 200 kilometers [124 miles] out to sea, we ran into huge waves caused by the [undersea] earthquake."

"The boat ran aground somewhere in [southern] Thailand," he said.

The family's relatives visited the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok on Monday in a last-ditch bid to halt the family's deportation to China.

"We went today ... to tell them what is going on and see if there was any action they could take to help us," Zhang said.

"But there is no new information they could give us, and they told us to go back on Thursday," he said.

Disastrous for him

Chinese refugees in Thailand say the ruling Chinese Communist Party launched a drive late last year to repatriate all Chinese nationals in Thailand, many of whom seek asylum and resettlement in other countries after being jailed or otherwise targeted by the authorities as prisoners of conscience.

Li's brother said he had tried to make inquiries with the Thai police, but it appears that the process is being kept under wraps.

"I asked the Thai police, via some friends, but they said they didn't know anything because it was all being kept secret; they are deliberately not telling anyone," he said.

"If my brother really does get repatriated, it will be disastrous for him, he said. We are all very scared; we are terrified for them."

In an interview before his detention, Li told RFA that most Chinese activists are now effectively on the run, constantly on the move in a bid to evade arrest and deportation on illegal immigration charges.

In November, Chinese asylum-seekers Jiang Yefei and Dong Guangping, who had fled persecution in their home country, were handed back to the Chinese authorities in a move that drew strong criticism from the United Nations.

They are now under criminal detention in China for "organizing illegal border crossings and illegally crossing the border."

Jiang's wife Chu Ling, Dong's wife Gu Shuhua and daughter Dong Xuerui were later flown to Canada from Bangkok for resettlement as political refugees. They fear Jiang and Dong are now at risk of torture and other violations of their rights.

Three other Chinese nationals were repatriated at the same time, but their identities remain unconfirmed.

And in December, Chinese asylum-seeker Wang Junli, who had been in the country for more than a year, and who also held a UNHCR letter of protection, was arrested by Thai police and repatriated.

Illegal immigration charges

Zhang, who remains free because he holds a valid Thai visa, said the Li family and Song Zhiyu are being held on similar charges of "illegal immigration."

Chinese national Xing Jian, currently in the process of applying for asylum in Bangkok, said Li had continued his political activism while in Thailand, setting up the Southeast Asia branch of the banned opposition China Democracy Party (CDP).

Dozens of CDP members have been handed lengthy jail terms for subversion since the party was banned in 1998.

"He's in an immigration detention center on the Thai coast right now," Xing said of Li. "There is a very strong likelihood that he'll be repatriated because he set up the Southeast Asia division of the CDP."

Li, a founding member of the CDP from the southwestern province of Guangxi, escaped China with his family in 2014, before being classified a genuine refugee by UNHCR.

He was also vocal in the campaign to prevent the repatriation of Dong Guangping and Jiang Yefei.

Some of the Uyghurs being held at an immigration detention center in southern Thailand, March 14, 2014. RFA Uyghur refugees beaten

In a related development, Thai officials on Monday denied beating six Uyghurs refugees from northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region, who have been detained in capital Bangkok for at least two years after they were found in a human smuggling camp in southern Thailand.

Thai police reportedly beat the six detainees inside one facility after they had an argument with officials there who watched an erotic film in their presence as well as the presence of other detainees of different nationalities on Feb. 29, according to a statement issued Saturday by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Munich, Germany-based organization of exiled Uyghur groups.

The claimed content on the [WUCs] website was false, immigration police commander Lt. Gen. Natthorn Phrosunthorn told RFA. The Uyghur [detainees] didnt even cause a problem for police at all.

One of the Uyghurs sustained serious head injuries, while a second suffered from less severe head injuries, and the remainder was beaten on their torsos, WUC said.

The group also said Thai authorities did not allow the men access to medical treatment.

If there is no evidence, they [WUC] cannot make a blank accusation, said Major General Werachon Sukhontapatipak, a spokesman for the Thai government, said. In this case, we can confirm that it was not true because in the past, besides arresting them [the Uyghurs] for illegal entry, we focused on providing them with humanitarian assistance.

The six Uyghurs are part of a larger group that has been held in various facilities around Bangkok for more than two years for illegally entering the country while fleeing persecution in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region.

Thai authorities released more than 170 Uyghurs last year, allowing them to resettle in Turkey, but forcibly returned about 100 to China. The rest remain in limbo in indefinite detention in Thailand.

We realize the sensitivity [about how to treat the Uyghurs], and therefore we have provided them with humanitarian aid, Werachon Sukhontapatipak said. We know they were under pressure to have escaped [China] because of their livelihoods and safety, but some of them voluntarily got involved in human trafficking.

'Under indefinite detention'

Chalida Tajaroensuk, executive director of the Peoples Empowerment Foundation, a Bangkok-based nongovernmental organization that has provided legal assistance to Uyghur refugees, said the leftover Uyghurs have been deemed illegal migrants and have been awaiting repatriation to China or a third country.

They are under indefinite detention, literally, but its better than being sent back to the country of origin, she told RFA.

The WUC has called for the release of the remaining Uyghurs being held in Thai detention centers.

It is now the obligation of the Thai government to ensure that the remaining group of Uyghur refugees is freed from detention in a timely manner and that they are provided adequate care, the WUCs statement said.

Chinas Xinjiang region, which is home to millions of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, has seen an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012, and which China has blamed on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.

Uyghur exiles and rights groups, however, have criticized Chinese authorities heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, and forcing many to flee overseas, often through Southeast Asia.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Roseanne Gerin.
Myanmars pro-democracy National League for Democracy (NLD) party said Monday that an announcement on social media about its nominees for the countrys two vice-presidential posts was a hoax.



A letter bearing an NLD seal was posted on social media on Sunday, saying the party had selected Htin Kyaw from the lower house of parliament and Khun Tun Oo, an ethnic Shan politician from the upper house and chairman of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), as its nominees for vice president, one of whom would be voted in as president.



The statement was posted after the members of the NLDs central executive committee met at party chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyis home in the capital Naypyidaw.



Were not saying that this statement is illegal, but its a hoax, said Nyan Win, a member of the NLD committee, told RFAs Myanmar Service. Were not saying action should be taken against the people who did it, but we have said it is a crime.



The NLD posted its response Facebook page, saying the publishing of the fake letter was akin to committing a crime.



We dont want to talk about the details, Nyan Win said. If we did, people would think we [the NLD] are angry.



The NLDs central executive committee said it would submit the names of candidates for vice president on Thursday.



On that day, the upper and lower houses of parliament along with appointed military deputies will nominate three candidates for the countrys top leadership. Parliament will cast votes for the nominations with the winner becoming president and the two runners-up vice presidents.



The transfer of political power ceremony is scheduled for March 30.



So far, the NLD, which swept general elections in November, has not revealed the names of those it will put forward for the posts.



Aung San Suu Kyi, who is barred from becoming president under the current constitution which prohibits anyone with close foreign relatives from assuming the nations top office, has vowed to govern from a position above the president.



Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Vietnamese rice farmers are facing tough times this year as drought continues to punish the countrys rice bowl bringing salt levels in the Mekong delta to record levels.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is already reporting that more than 200,000 metric tons of rice have been damaged, resulting in a loss of over 1 trillion VND ($44.64 million U.S.) to the region. Its a number that is likely to grow as the ministry expects salinity in the delta to reach its highest level in a century.

According to the ministry, saltwater intrusion appeared two months earlier than previous years due to serious river water shortages that are caused, at least in part, by dry conditions that began in 2013. If the drought persists until June, it could put some 500,000 hectares of rice crops at risk.

Not only is the drought harming rice farmers, but Hanoi blames the dry weather for a fresh water shortage affecting some 575,000 people throughout the region.

The source of water this year is lower than before, this leads to deeper salinization compared to previous years, Duong Van Ni, an expert of Can Tho University told RFA. This is partly due to the weather conditions.

El Nino effect

Both 2013 and 2014 were drier than usual, while 2015 saw the complete lack of the normal flood as an El Nino began to grip the Pacific, he said. The drought and more upstream agricultural development in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are pushing saline levels up, he explained.

Because of El Nino effects this year, the water is very salty, rice farmer Ben Tre told RFA. Normally it is not salty after Tet, but this year the water was salty since the tenth month of the lunar year last year.

Salinity in the Vam Co, Tien and Hau Rivers and other rivers in the delta is now higher than traditional levels. Meanwhile, saltwater has intruded upstream 50 to 60 kilometers into the mainland, and even 93 kilometers in the Vam Co Rivers neighborhood, about 15 to 20 kilometers deeper than previous years, according to local media reports.

The problem has caught Hanois attention as Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a Feb. 17 meeting at Can Tho where he pledged VND 2.3 billion (U.S.$ 103,132) in government aid for farmers in the region.

The government has organized a meeting with relevant ministries and leaders of all 12 Mekong Delta provinces on Monday to discuss solutions, according to TuoiTreNews.

River stress

The Mekong River delta has been under stress for quite some time as many countries in Asia see the river 2,700-mile-long river as a road to industrialization. Countries that have a claim on the Mekong have built dozens of dams along the river.

China and Laos see the river as a way slake the regions thirst for electricity as well as for agriculture and flood control. By 2020 Beijing wants to produce 282 gigawatts of hydroelectric power, and Laos wants electricity to become its major source of revenue by 2025.

Daming the river changes its water flow and is expected to have impact on agricultural production downstream, and particularly in countries like Vietnam that lie near the Mekongs mouth. Dams block sediment that normally flows into the delta, causing it to shrink.

Add in the effects of climate change which is causing sea levels to rise,and the Mekong gets hit with an environmental double-whammy.

While the government is taking action to ease the burden for rice farmers and others living on the delta, Duong Van Ni said it could be too little too late.

Irrigation projects have been carried out. Dykes to prevent salinization have been built in some place, and in others farmers have even changed their crops, he explained. However, most of the measures are just for the short term and do not address the issue for a longer term. I think what they need to do is to provide people with capacity to deal with risks.

Reported by Gia Minh for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Afghanistan's Supreme Court has confirmed a 20-year prison sentence against a man who falsely accused a woman of burning the Koran, which provoked an angry mob to beat the woman to death near a Muslim shrine in Kabul.

The court also confirmed prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years against 12 others involved in the brutal mob killing of Farkhunda Malikzada, a 27-year-old student of Islamic law, in March 2015.

The Supreme Court rulings -- the final stage of the appeals process in the Afghan courts -- were confirmed on March 7 by Basir Azizi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's attorney general.

A 60-year-old amulet seller at the shrine, Zainuddin, fabricated the story about the burning of the Koran after Malikzada criticized his peddling as un-Islamic.

Zainuddin and three others were initially sentenced to death in the case by a trial court after video showed them involved in killing Malikzada.

But the sentences against Zainuddin and two others were reduced to 20 years on appeal and the death penalty against the fourth was reduced to 10 years because he was a minor.

Sentences of 16 years for nine other men were also confirmed by the Afghan Supreme Court on March 7, while the court upheld the 10-year sentence against the minor.

Video of Malikzada's brutal murder circulated on social media and shocked people across Afghanistan.

Police later confirmed there was no evidence to support the Koran-burning allegation.

The killing prompted unprecedented protests across Afghanistan.

Malikzada's reputation since the killing also underwent a transformation -- from a pariah to a martyr -- when it became known that she was a student of Islamic law and a devout Muslim who was defending Islam when she was wrongly accused.

Her death also sparked a civil-society movement to limit the power of clerics, strengthen the rule of law, and improve women's rights.

Some rights advocates said that without video footage of Malikzada's killing, the case would have gone unnoticed and unprosecuted.

However, some public and religious figures said the killing would have been justified if Malikzada had in fact damaged a copy of the Muslim holy book.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, The New York Times, and BBC
Turkey and Azerbaijan have launched joint air force exercises, media in Azerbaijan have reported.

According to reports, Azerbaijan's Air Force servicemen arrived in the central Turkish city of Konya on March 7 to take part in the drills.

The maneuvers are expected to last from March 7 to March 25.

Three MiG-29 fighter jets, three Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft and three Il-76 military transport aircraft from Azerbaijan's Armed Forces will be involved into the annual planned exercises, the reports say.

In 2015, the armed forces of the two neighboring countries held both land and air force exercises.

Based on reporting by apa.az and aznews.az


"Under The Black Flag" provides news, opinion, and analysis about the impact of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria, Iraq, and beyond. It focuses not only on the fight against terrorist groups in the Middle East, but also on the implications for the region and the world.


We soon may be able to add yet another name to the list of Vladimir Putin's liberal enablers.

Speculation is rampant that longtime human rights activist Ella Pamfilova will replace Vladimir Churov as head of the Russian electoral commission.

Putin named the widely respected Pamfilova, who is currently the Kremlin's human rights ombudsman, as a member of the commission last week.

Russian media reports called her potential appointment as chair part of a rebranding to give the commission legitimacy in advance of September's State Duma elections.

In this sense, her role would be analogous to that once played by Aleksei Kudrin during his tenure as Russia's finance minister, when he provided a respectable public face for a deeply corrupt regime.

But while the Kremlin's motives are comprehensible, Pamfilova's are not.

Her name has been floated in the wake of a concerted crackdown on civil society.

The Justice Ministry has sought to close down the independent election monitoring group Golos.

And the Tatarstan Supreme Court has shut down the human rights group Agora.

With the economy in a tailspin, the Kremlin is clearly nervous about this year's elections.

In this environment, nobody expects them to be anything close to free and fair.

And this can only make one wonder why Pamfilova would agree to be the part of the charade to lend them legitimacy.

Keep telling me what you think on the Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
Jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says he has been officially informed by investigators that a new probe has been launched against him.

Navalny tweeted on October 20 that the probe was launched on charges of propagating terrorism, public calls for extremist activities, the financing of an extremist organization, and the rehabilitation of Nazism.

"[My] lawyers calculated that I may stay for up to 30 more years here [if convicted]," Navalny's tweet said, adding that the charges stemmed from the activities of his self-exiled associates' Popular Politics YouTube channel, which has criticized the Kremlin over Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.



Navalny has denounced the invasion, and earlier this month his organization said it would reopen its offices to fight against the Kremlin's mobilization.



"I am a genius of the underworld. Professor Moriarty is no match for me," he said sarcastically in a series of posts on Twitter, comparing himself to the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.



"You all thought I had been isolated in prison for two years, but it turns out I was actively committing crimes," said Navalny, 46, who is able to post on Twitter through his lawyers and allies.

Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said Popular Politics was launched by Navalny's allies after he had already been in prison for a year.



"Well, what can I say to you now? Subscribe to Popular Politics," said the last in the series of tweets.



There was no immediate official confirmation of the new case from the Investigative Committee.

The new charges against Navalny came on the same day that a court in Moscow ordered TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova detained for just under two months, Russian state-run media reported. Ovsyannikova's lawyer said she and her daughter recently fled the country, so the court said the detention would begin upon her return.



It wasn't clear if she had any plans to return to Russia. Her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, said on October 17 that his client "had to leave Russia and is under the protection of a European state at the moment."



Ovsyannikova gained international recognition on March 14 when she burst onto the set of Channel One's Vremya news program holding a poster reading: "Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you" in Russian. She also shouted: "Stop the war. No to war."



Ukraine-born Ovsyannikova was a producer with Channel One at the time of her protest. She was later detained and fined 30,000 rubles ($490) by a court for calling for illegal protests.

Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and other groups associated with the outspoken Kremlin critic, as well as his political movement, were declared "extremist organizations" by Russian authorities in June 2021 and disbanded.



Several of Navalny's associates have already been charged with the same offense.



Navalny was arrested in January last year upon his arrival to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for a poison attack with what European labs defined as a Soviet-style nerve agent.



He was then handed a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole because of his convalescence abroad. The original conviction is widely regarded as a trumped-up, politically motivated case.



In March he was handed a nine-year prison term on charges of contempt and embezzlement through fraud that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
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Turkey and the European Union have agreed to the outlines of a possible deal on returning thousands of migrants to Turkey, while the tentative plan is being criticized by the UN and rights groups.

After a day of talks in Brussels on March 7, European leaders described a last-minute proposal offered by Turkey to take back one illegal migrant from Greece for every refugee taken in by the EU as the beginning of what they hoped would be a final agreement next week.

"The truth is that Turkey came to the summit with attractive proposals, and I believe that surprised many," said Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and EU President Donald Tusk described Turkey's proposal as a "breakthrough," though they said more work was needed to refine the plan.

Tusk, who is charged with negotiating details of the agreement with Turkey in the next week, declared that "the days of irregular migration to Europe are over."

Besides proposing a one-for-one "swap" of migrants aimed at dramatically reducing the flow of thousands of migrants through the so-called Balkan route to Europe, Turkey also demanded a doubling of 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid from the EU to care for Syrian refugees, as well as faster EU membership talks and quicker visa-free travel for its citizens.

European leaders agreed to provide more aid, although they did not specify how much. And they said Turkish citizens would get visa-free access to the EU by the end of June, provided Ankara meets some strict conditions, including changing its visa policy toward Islamic countries and introducing harder-to-fake biometric passports.

However, the UN's refugee agency said that the collective expulsion of foreigners is prohibited under international law.

The director of the UNHCR's Europe bureau, Vincent Cochetel, said he was "tired of hearing about irregular migrants," noting 91 percent of those arriving in Greece are from war-torn countries like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Amnesty International also strongly criticized the possible deal. "EU and Turkish leaders have today sunk to a new low, effectively horse-trading away the rights and dignity of some of the world's most vulnerable people," the head of Amnesty's office in Brussels, Iverna McGowan, said in a statement.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called his swap proposal "game-changing" and said it would discourage illegal migration to Europe, save lives, and hurt the people-smuggling business.

"We made a bold decision through accepting all irregular illegal migrants going from Turkey to Greece, irrespective of their origins," Davutoglu said.

"We will be accepting them based on the assumption that for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled by Europe," he said.

"To stop refugees arriving in Greece, we have to cooperate with Turkey," said French President Francois Hollande, adding that "the summit has created hope that the refugee question can be dealt with."

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after talks in Brussels with Davutoglu on March 7 that NATO ships had begun to monitor the territorial waters of both Greece and Turkey as part of its mission to halt human trafficking in the Aegean Sea.

Stoltenberg said Britain and France will send ships to the Aegean Sea as part of the NATO mission.

He also said NATO had decided to intensify monitoring and intelligence operations along the Syrian-Turkish border.

WATCH: Aerial views of the Greek-Macedonian frontier show a migrant camp sprawling across the fields next to a rail line that crosses the border. At least 12,000 people are now stuck there, after Macedonia reduced the flow of people into its territory to a trickle. (Reuters)

The summit in Brussels was the latest diplomatic push to establish control as Europe faces its biggest inflow of migrants since World War II, with the strains threatening to divide EU members and reverse decades of work to establish the border-free Schengen zone.

Davutoglu said ahead of the summit that he hoped it would "not just focus on irregular migration but also on the Turkish accession process to the EU."

He also said he hoped for a "turning point" at the summit, adding that Turkey was indispensable for the EU, just as Europe was for Turkey.

A purported draft of an agreement was said to call temporarily for the speedy readmission to Turkey of "all irregular migrants" crossing into the Greek islands and more Turkish staff to help achieve that goal.

It also called for increased cooperation by Turkey with the EU and UN refugee agency to resettle Syrians on a burden-sharing basis through a formula of "for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU member states."

Efforts to prevent Aegean Sea crossings are hampered by Turkey's long coastline, which offers many possibilities for clandestine human-smuggling operations

The Balkan route from Turkey through Greece and Macedonia to Serbia and further north in Europe has become the main route for migrants to Europe since last year, with 880,000 people using it in 2015 alone.

The numbers have increased this year, with almost 132,000 crossing from Turkey to Greece in the first two months of this year, nearly as many as in the entire first half of 2015.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, and dpa
TBILISI -- Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli has opened the first prayer house for Muslims serving in Georgia's armed forces.

Khidasheli said at the March 6 ceremony at the 3rd Infantry Brigade headquarters in the western city of Kutaisi that Georgia is a country where freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution.

Two more Islamic prayer houses for military personnel are expected to start functioning soon, she said.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Georgia's population. But many have complained about roadblocks and even open hostility to efforts to build mosques or open Islamic schools in Georgia.

In 2014, a pig's head was nailed to the door of a building that was expected to house an Islamic school in the city of Kobuleti in the Ajara region.

Local Muslims called the incident "an act of desecration."


TBILISI -- A Georgian court has sentenced four men on Islamic extremism charges.

The Tbilisi City Court on March 7 found Aiuf Borchashvili guilty of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group and sentenced him to 14 years in jail.

Giorgi Khutunishvili and Davit Pirisebiya, who had been recruited by Borschashvili to join IS, were found guilty of being members of a terrorist organization and sentenced to 11 and 10 years, respectively.



The fourth defendant, Giorgi Kuprava, received a suspended one-year sentence after he agreed on a guilty plea deal with investigators.

All four were arrested in 2015.

Georgian officials have said that dozens of Georgian nationals have joined IS militants in Syria and Iraq.



One of them, Tarkhan Batirashvili, also known as Umar al-Shishani, is a battlefield commander in northern Syria.


For several weeks, representatives of two of the five parties in Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition have engaged in an acrimonious public dispute, fueling speculation that the coalition could collapse ahead of the parliamentary elections due in October 2016.

That scenario now appears somewhat less likely following the intervention of Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who since his appointment in late December has consistently reached out to opponents with the aim of achieving "the maximum depolarization and unification of society [and] consolidation around our common political objectives."

The current dispute is between the Republican Party, arguably the most unequivocally pro-Western coalition member, and the Union of Industrialists, whose leader, brewery magnate Gogi Topadze, is notorious for his anti-Western public statements tinged with nostalgia for the Soviet era and what the Republicans consider unacceptable veneration of Josef Stalin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In early February, Topadze accused Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, a leading Republican Party member, of manipulating the outcome of a recent by-election to secure a win for GD. He also accused two lawmakers from the 10-member Republican Party faction (the second-largest within GD) who spoke out in Khidasheli's support of having collaborated with the KGB in the Soviet era.

The Prosecutor-General's Office has launched an investigation to determine whether voting by servicemen at a local military base could have changed the outcome of the Sagarejo by-election in October 2015.

Khidasheli in turn construed Topadze's statements as part of a broader campaign by pro-Russian forces out to derail Georgia's pro-Western foreign policy. She further claimed that GD's founder, the reclusive billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, told her he regarded the Republican Party as the foremost member of the coalition.

Kvirikashvili first cautioned Topadze on February 19, condemning his criticism of Khidasheli as "totally unacceptable" and "casting a shadow not only on the party but on the government as a whole."

Then on March 3, Kvirikashvili issued a sternly worded statement saying the standoff had taken on "a completely unacceptable form" and that "it is irrelevant who started it and why." He said Khidasheli should bear in mind that she is first and foremost a government minister, and only second a member of a political party, and that it was of paramount importance that the army should not be drawn into politics.

Apropos of Topadze, Kvirikashvili said without naming him that radicalism, pseudo-traditions, and "Stalinist sentiments emanating from the bowels of the Soviet Union" are alien and unacceptable to the state Georgia aspires to become. He reiterated the coalition's commitment to Eurointegration and affirmed GD's readiness to cooperate with all political forces that are prepared to set aside narrow party considerations and work together to make that shared vision a reality.

He went on to warn "our political partners" that unless they desist from public feuding, he will implement whatever changes may be necessary to ensure the stable functioning of the government.

Kvirikashvili met later the same day at their request with leading members of the Republican Party, including Khidasheli and her husband, parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili, to "discuss the situation." Usupashvili told journalists after that 90-minute meeting, which he described as "businesslike and amicable," that the two parties will "very soon" finalize an agreement on continuing "strategic, not just short-term" cooperation in the run-up to the October parliamentary elections and beyond.

Asked about the implications of that planned agreement for the coalition as a whole, Usupashvili responded that "there was no talk of dissolving the coalition," but also that "everything needs renewal, including the coalition."

At a cabinet session the following day (March 4), Kvirikashvili similarly said "certain agreements will have to be reached" in the run-up to the elections, and that if GD remains a multiparty coalition, any bilateral agreement reached between the Republicans and the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party -- the senior coalition member -- should also be confirmed in a multilateral format by the other three parties.

He went on to stress, first, that GDDG will itself undergo a "significant renewal," and second, that "if we participate in the elections in a coalition format, the team will unite over very clear goals, which are based on our best values and traditions and of course on consensus over Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic future."

That latter condition raises the question of whether Topadze's Industrialists will be invited, or would agree, to become part of the GD electoral bloc. Some analysts have already suggested that the Industrialists might quit GD and contest the election jointly with the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, whose candidate lost to GD's candidate in the Sagarejo by-election.

On the other hand, as commentator Korneli Kakachia was quoted as pointing out, it would reflect badly on GD's image if one of its members were to pull out of the coalition at this juncture -- and for that reason, it is probable that Kvirikashvili, who is expected to be elected GDDG chairman at a party congress in the next couple of months, will do all in his power to keep the coalition intact. That may prove difficult if, as commentator Zaal Anjaparidze suggests, there are other conflicts within the coalition that have not yet become public knowledge.

Kvirikashvili has not yet met with Topadze, who characterized the prime minister's March 3 statement as "very good...he knows very well who is right and who's wrong."

A second leading Industrialist, Zurab Tqemaladze, similarly expressed approval of every word Kvirikashvili said.
The head of the UN's nuclear agency has suggested that Iran's initial compliance with a nuclear deal is only a first step, saying Tehran must continue to honor its commitments in the years ahead.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano made the remark at the opening of the organization's 35-nation board meeting in Vienna on March 7.

The IAEA is monitoring Iran's compliance with a nuclear deal with six world powers implemented in December. In its first report last month, it noted that Iran was in  or quickly got into  line with its obligations.

But, with the agreement extending to more than a decade, Amano says Iran "has to implement its commitments ... for many years to come."

Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programs in return for sanctions relief under the deal.

As a result of sanctions relief in January, Iran has already boosted oil output.

Iranian Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia was quoted on March 7 as saying Iran's sales of crude oil will reach 2 million barrels a day "soon."

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters


Iran has set new restrictions on concerts held at universities, as hard-liners dig in their heels after election gains for moderates who might seek to ease some of the Islamic republic's harshest limits on cultural life.

The regulations, issued by the state council for the Islamization of universities and educational centers, declares that "holding concerts and independent musical programs is not a priority for universities and is not allowed."

But it adds that only "fine and valuable Iranian music" that "strengthens national identity" and is in line with "Islamic norms" can be played while emphasizing that promoting music is not part of universities' mission.

The regulations also say that music played at university concerts should encourage commitment to "moral, social, political, and revolutionary responsibilities."

It also says that music should not create "excitement that is out of the norm" or provoke "lust."

Lyrics that encourage "promiscuity," "despair and hopelessness," "superficiality," and "neglect human dignity" should be avoided, according to the regulations as published by the news site Khabaronline.ir.

The new restrictions come several months after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei strongly criticized university concerts and mixed student camps as very wrong.

In a July 2015 meeting with a group of students, Khamenei quoted approvingly a student as saying that "university is not a place for concerts."

"Sending students to mixed camps and holding concerts in universities to, in our minds, create joy in the student environment, is among the most wrong deeds," Khamenei was quoted as saying by domestic media.

In September, the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Khamenei's representative at universities, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadian, as saying that "universities have been told that they don't have the right to hold concerts."

Several concerts have reportedly been canceled at universities in recent months, including a music festival that was due to be held at Tehran's Sharif University in February.

Music came under a crackdown following the 1979 revolution, but restrictions have since been relaxed.

In past months, hard-liners who deem cultural policies advocated by President Hassan Rohani too liberal have disrupted or canceled a number of concerts.

Rohani's moderate and pragmatic allies saw gains in last month's national elections to parliament and the body that oversees the supreme leader, who holds ultimate power in politics and religion under Iran's constitution.

Since a landmark nuclear deal was struck last year with world powers, Supreme Leader Khamenei and hard-liners have repeatedly warned against allowing Western culture or values to creep into Iranian society.
Babak Zanjani, one of Iran's richest men, once attributed his business success to God and luck. But his fortunes began to turn when the presidency changed hands in 2013. And with the death sentence he was given for corruption this week, his luck appears to have run out entirely.

Zanjani was arrested in December 2013, just weeks after Hassan Rohani -- who vowed during his campaign to crack down on endemic corruption -- was sworn in as president.

Under Rohani's predecessor, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Zanjani was somewhat of a hero. As Iran suffered from crippling international sanctions imposed over its controversial nuclear program, the tycoon was seen as using his business savvy and contacts to find customers for Iranian oil abroad, skirting the sanctions and bringing much-needed cash into the country. For his efforts, he was blacklisted by both the European Union and the United States.

Rohani and a handful of lawmakers, however, singled out Zanjani as a shocking example of corruption, alleging the businessman withheld much of the money he received from oil sales. When his case went to trial, prosecutors said Zanjani had misappropriated at least $2.7 billion that rightfully belonged to the state.

On March 6, a judiciary spokesman announced the culmination of the rare, months-long, public trial: the 41-year-old Zanjani had been found guilty of being a corruptor on Earth -- defined in the Iranian Penal Code as an individual who contributes to the deviation of society -- and had been sentenced to death. In addition, Zanjani was ordered to pay back the money he was found to have embezzled, plus one-quarter of that amount.

The total cost to Zanjani: his life and about $3.4 billion.

Many Corruptors

Conservative media outlets in Iran reacted to the ruling by simply reporting the judiciary's sentence. But more moderate publications went big with the story -- publishing large photos of Zanjani and calling for others tied to him and the Ahmadinejad government to be brought to trial.

Many Iranians don't believe Zanjani, who has an estimated worth of about $13 billion, could have acted alone.

Tehran-based lawyer Nemat Ahmadi tells RFE/RL's Radio Farda that it would be impossible to do business on such a grand scale without help. "You can't go to oil authorities and tell them, 'I'm a businessman, give me access to oil to do business,'" he says.

Ahmad Alawi, a Swedish-based Iranian economist and university professor, says that Zanjani wasn't the only one involved in the Iranian government's dubious business dealings during the sanctions era.

Alawi says that the government turned to Zanjani and other businesspeople and companies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other places for help to evade Western sanctions on oil sales.

Tens of billions of dollars were at stake -- with oil prices enjoying record highs.

"Even small and not-quite-so reliable oil companies" were approached by the Iranian government to take part in selling Iranian oil because the government needed hard currency, Alawi says. "It wasn't an ordinary time for Iran, and the authorities would prefer to use such people to transfer the money from oil revenues to Iran."

Zanjani, whom the European Union named "a key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil-related money," was one such individual.

End Of The Rope

He has admitted selling millions of barrels of Iranian oil on behalf the government after 2010, through a network of companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia.

Zanjani denies any wrongdoing, however. In a letter sent from prison to Iranian lawmakers, Zanjani said he was proud to have helped the country sell oil when its economy was suffering.

The billionaire -- whose Sorinet Group reportedly includes some 65 companies operating in Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Tajikistan -- argued that the sanctions made it impossible for him to transfer oil revenue back to the state.

Zanjani, who is unmarried, comes from humble beginnings.

The son of a railway worker, he has said he got his first business experience working as a driver for the head of the Central Bank. Later, he moved to Turkey, where started to build his fortune. He has been involved in a wide range of businesses -- including cosmetics, hospitality, transportation, construction, and banking.

He claims to have paid a heavy price for his success. Prior to his arrest he said he had incurred large debts, and after spending more than two years in prison he is seemingly down to his last.

Zanjani does have the right to appeal his sentence. Should that process not go his way he will likely join Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, put to death in 2014, among Iranian billionaires recently executed for corruption.

Written by Farangis Najibullah, with interviews by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
DUSHANBE -- Tajik officials say one of the country's border guards and a suspected terrorist have been killed in an ongoing security operation along the border with Afghanistan.

Muhammad Ulughojaev, a spokesman for the Tajik border-guard service, told RFE/RL on March 7 that the operation was launched on March 5 after nine armed militants crossed into Tajikistan from Afghanistan.

Ulughojaev confirmed that a border guard had been killed in the course of the operation, but dismissed reports of additional casualties among Tajik personnel.

One member of the "armed group of terrorists," whom Ulughojaev identified as Faskhiddin Valadi Kurbon, was killed and two other members of the group were arrested.

Tajik security forces and border guards were continuing to search for the remaining members of the group, according to Ulughojaev.The search is reportedly focused on islets in the Panj River, which defines a large segment of the Tajik-Afghan border.

The Tajik National Security Committee had earlier said that the armed group was led by an Afghan national named Mirafzal Arbob Sherafzal.

Afghan officials say that the nine were members of the Taliban, which controls parts of the Imam-Sahib district of Afghanistan's Konduz Province bordering Tajikistan.

Imam-Sahib Governor Amanuddin Kuraishi told RFE/RL on March 6 that the part of the Tajik-Afghan border where the intrusion reportedly took place is fully controlled by Taliban.

Kuraishi alleged that Mirafzal Arbob Sherafzal, the man initially named as the leader of the group, used to be involved in the trafficking of illegal goods and is currently an active member of the Taliban.


Ukrainian journalist Maria Varfolomeyeva spent 419 days in Russia-backed separatists' captivity in eastern Ukraine, where the 30-year-old woman was accused of spying.

On March 3, the separatists exchanged her for two people -- a Russian citizen who was fighting for the separatists and whom Ukraine had sentenced to 11 years in prison, and Luhansk local Oksana Lytovchenko, whom Ukraine accused of helping the separatists.

Three days after Varfolomeyeva's release, Ukrainian news portal Levy Bereg spoke to the journalist in her hospital room in Kyiv about her detention and captivity, which began more than a year ago.

Members of the Russia-backed separatist group that calls itself the "Luhansk People's Republic" detained her outside of a residential building, which another journalist asked Varfolomeyeva to photograph. Thinking there was no danger, Varfolomeyeva said she took photos of the house and tried to confirm its address with the people who emerged from the building.

"They looked at me completely stunned.... 'Come with us,' they said.... They were wearing civilian clothes, but inside there were people with assault rifles.... Turns out it was pretty much [the Luhansk separatists'] general staff headquarters," Varfolomeyeva said in the interview.

Yuriy Aseyev, the journalist who purportedly asked her to take photos, claimed Varfolomeyeva knew well what the assignment was and the dangers it entailed. Aseyev allegedly told her not to risk her life for this.

"I watched the video of Maria's interrogation released by [the separatists] and understood that she did exactly the opposite [from what I had told her]," Aseyev said in an interview with Ukraine's Fakty newspaper.

Varfolomeyeva claimed that Aseyev was lying. "He came to the exchange [of prisoners], but I couldn't look him in the eye," she said. "I still can't understand how one could have done so."

'I've Been In All The Cellars'

After detaining and questioning Varfolomeyeva, the separatists found a photo of the woman wearing the radical organization Right Sector's kerchief and showing off a business card in the Right Sector's signature red and black colors. Besides looking through her social networks, the separatists also searched her house and took everything, she said, "even a tent."

Varfolomeyeva said that at first they assured her that she would soon be let go. Later, however, the separatists' so-called interior minister said on TV that they had detained a dangerous criminal -- in reference to Varfolomeyeva.

"It was like a zoo that doesn't have an elephant because it can't afford one, but there is a pony with fake ears and trunk. The unsophisticated public will eat it up," the journalist said. "'Look, she has the Right Sector symbols. It means she isn't just a member, but a coordinator.'"

During 419 days of captivity, the Luhansk separatists reportedly moved Varfolomeyeva frequently from one building to another, from one cellar to the next. "All the basements in [separatist-controlled parts of Luhansk] are mine, I've been everywhere," she said.

At the beginning of her captivity, Varfolomeyeva was often interrogated, she said. Separatists wanted her to give up passwords and safe houses. "I didn't know anything at all. I told them, 'I could make them up, if you want, I could confess to murdering Kennedy,'" she said.

The separatists used psychological pressure, but Varfolomeyeva didn't mention any physical torture. "They would put a gun to my head, to my knee, these huge men, and would start shouting that they will cripple me. They didn't shoot. But the threats with the gun were very realistic," she said.

In time, however, she said, their attitudes toward her changed significantly. "When one exchange fell through, then the other, they told me: 'Don't worry, everything will be alright. Hang on.' They couldn't find the right words, but they tried, surprisingly," she said.

'Phoning Obama'

The separatists would tell Varfolomeyeva that she had "resort conditions" in her captivity. "As if, when you don't get beaten up, that's a resort," she said.

Many of her cellmates, however, weren't so lucky.

Fighters from the group's security arm claimed not to beat people up, Varfolomeyeva said. "But those who left for interrogations would come back with broken ribs, hematomas. The halls were just 'very slippery; people fell,'" she said she was told.

The separatists tortured some captives by attaching generators to their ears, Varfolomeyeva said. "They call it 'phoning [U.S. President Barack] Obama.'"

While in captivity, Varfolomeyeva tried to keep herself busy, including by studying French, Italian, and German, and read books that her father sent her. She was not allowed to go outside except to be moved.

"If I calculate how much time I spent outside in a year -- it would be about 24 hours," she said.

Varfolomeyeva is reportedly recovering in the capital, Kyiv. In the Bereg interview, she said she was unsure about what to do next.

But the same day the conversation was published, Varfolomeyeva was said to have been offered a job at one of the biggest Ukrainian TV channels, 1+1. The anchor of the evening news made the announcement on air.

"We are proud to call our colleague a person who wasn't broken by militants' cellars, who betrayed neither her principles nor her country in the ordeal."
More than 200 political leaders and other prominent individuals have signed an open letter to the European Union and United States urging them to take emergency measures to demand Russia release Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko.

Svetlana Alexievich, the Nobel Prize Winner in Literature from Belarus, is among the signatories of the letter, which accuses Russian authorities of making a "mockery of civil rights, international law, and their own Constitution."

Savchenko says she was seized in eastern Ukraine in June 2014, while fighting with a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists, and taken to Russia illegally.She is now on trial, accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.

Savchenko declared a hunger strike, refusing even liquids, on March 3 after the judge adjourned the trial for a week without allowing her to give her final statement.

Prosecutors have asked for Savchenko to be found guilty and sentenced to 23 years in prison. A verdict is expected later this week.

After receiving the letter, an EU spokeswoman described Savchenko's hunger strike as "very worrisome," and said that "Russia bears responsibility for the health, well-being, and observance of human rights of all persons it detains."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a Facebook posting that Savchenko was visited in her southern Russian detention center by Ukraine's consul-general on March 7.

Ukraine's Hromadske Radio website afterward posted a hand-written note that was signed by Savchenko and dated March 7.

"Whether dead or alive, I have already won," said the message. "I will leave jail on my own terms, showing the entire world that Russia may be forced into submission if you remain as fearless and unyielding as me."

Savchenko's supporters fear that her refusal to drink may irreparably damage her health or even kill her.

One of Savchenko's Russian attorneys said his client is suffering from "an accelerated heart beat, swelling legs, and jumps in temperature."

"She is still forbidding Russian doctors from performing any tests or medical procedures," lawyer Nikolai Polozov wrote on Facebook.

With reporting by AFP
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Dozens of young protesters occupied the lobby and front stairs of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on Monday morning in a demonstration opposing coal ash disposal plans that ended with 17 of them charged with trespassing.

Richmond police closed Main Street in front of DEQ headquarters Monday afternoon as they instructed protesters to leave by 1 p.m., hours after the protest started. The 17 who refused to exit the building were charged with trespassing and released.

Were here to protect their free speech rights, but we also have to protect public safety, Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley said.

Trespassing, a misdemeanor, can carry punishment of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

New federal regulations require utilities around the country to close their coal-ash ponds, which have been used for decades to store the potentially toxic waste generated by burning coal. The ash can contain numerous heavy metals such as arsenic and potentially cancer-causing toxins.

Dominion Virginia Power has 11 coal-ash ponds at four sites across the state that it must close after receiving state permits both for disposing of the water and for storing the remaining dried ash.

Protesters say the first pair of DEQ permits granted to Dominion  for wastewater discharge from the ponds at Bremo and Possum Point power stations  are too lenient and would cause irreparable harm to the James and Potomac rivers.

Monday morning, protesters with a group known as the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition called for DEQ Director David Paylor to face them or resign. Among the many chants the students repeated over a bullhorn were Dump the DEQ and DEQ we see through you.

Were here for answers, said Aaron Tabb, a 21-year-old sociology major at Virginia Commonwealth University. We believe if (Paylor) cant make himself available for comment, he should resign.

Another protester, Drew Gallagher, said the group wants answers related to 33.7 million gallons of water that were released from the Possum Point plant into Quantico Creek last year. Dominion Virginia Power has said that water was from storm runoff it was permitted to release, not from coal ash storage.

As far as DEQ has been able to determine, that was in accordance with their permit at the time. DEQ was not aware of it immediately, but we dont have any information there was concern with the permit itself, DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden said. As weve been saying for a while now, the permits that were recently issued and the permit that existed last year are designed to protect the environment and peoples health and thats what they do. DEQ is very confident the permits will do that as Dominion moves ahead with water removal from its coal ash ponds.

The water from those ponds will be treated then tested inside a large tank to make sure it meets the states water quality standards before it is released into the rivers. Both of those permits, approved in a room of nearly 100 opponents of the plans, are being appealed by environmental groups.

More than 200 coal ash protesters gathered at the Capitol last month before marching downtown past Dominion and DEQ headquarters. Some protesters said Monday the public should expect more protests as a coalition of environmental groups works to bring attention to what they view as the shortcomings in the states coal ash disposal plans.

The groups said they will argue that the trespassing charges from Mondays protest, as well as those from the February protest, should be dropped because those charged were defending everyones right to clean water.

A Dominion spokesman on Monday said the company remains committed to keeping the James and other rivers in Virginia clean.
A group of homeless alcoholic Virginians has sued the state over laws that make it illegal for them to drink or possess alcohol, regardless of whether theyre intoxicated.

More than 1,220 people have been labeled habitual drunkards by courts in the past nine years, according to the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center, which filed a class-action suit last week on behalf of homeless people.

They collectively have been arrested and jailed thousands of times for possessing alcohol, smelling of booze or being found near empty beer cans and bottles, according to the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke.

Three of the six plaintiffs named in the suit as representatives of the class are from Richmond. The two defendants, Michael N. Herring of Richmond and Donald Caldwell of Roanoke, are commonwealths attorneys representing themselves and their counterparts across the state.

The homeless plaintiffs claim they are harassed under habitual drunkard laws, which subject them to more severe punishment than public intoxication charges. Those typically result in a fine and no jail time.

The plaintiffs also say they are denied due process because they do not have the right to an attorney and do not have to be present when courts deem them habitual drunkards.

The Legal Aid Justice Center says the laws criminalize an illness  alcohol addiction  simply because their homeless clients have nowhere to drink privately.

This is a civil rights violation, plain and simple, Mary Frances Charlton, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, said in a news release.

The laws create a crime where none exists, and place criminal sanctions on individuals who are guilty of nothing more than being homeless and addicted to alcohol  ultimately placing even more obstacles between them and the help that they severely need, Charlton said.

Caldwell said he does not believe the laws constitute cruel and unusual punishment, because the people deemed habitual drunkards typically have been found to be drunk in public numerous times in a calendar year.

The laws are meant to keep drunken people off the streets. The criminal justice system long has been in charge of addressing the problem, but perhaps a better system can be developed, Caldwell said.

Bryan Manning, a plaintiff in the case who has been jailed more than 30 times under the statute, said in a news release from the justice center that he has spent the majority of the past five years in the Roanoke City Jail because of his status as a habitual drunkard.

Im tired of being harassed by the police because Ive been labeled a habitual drunkard,  Manning said. Since I dont have a home, every time I go to jail I lose what little possessions I have.

The frequent incarcerations have had a negative impact on Mannings mental health problems, he said, adding that my psychiatric medications and treatment stop when I get locked up.
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Kroger is taking a small step toward healthier children by giving them free fruit in stores in several markets in its Mid-Atlantic Division.

A total of 23 stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys, Tri-Cities and the Bluefield area now have free fresh fruit for small children. Children younger than 12 may select one healthy fruit to eat courtesy of Kroger, said Allison McGee, spokeswoman for the Mid-Atlantic Division.

Participating Kroger stores include the Daleville location at 72 Kingston Drive and the Bonsack location at 3970 Valley Gateway Blvd.

As a parent of two small children, I know what its like to hear kids yelling for candy or cupcakes when I go shopping, McGee said. Kroger is taking a healthy approach to ward off kids from reaching for candy in the checkout lanes.

Kroger is offering bananas, apples and a citrus fruit, currently clementines. We have select fresh fruit and the citrus item will change, said David Villanueva, produce manager for the mid-Atlantic. The child size display is located next to the berries in the produce section, he said.

Kroger is testing the free fruit in the 23 stores and in the Raleigh-Durham market, Villaneuva said. If this proves successful, we will expand into the other stores in Mid-Atlantic. Villaneuva said Kroger is the first grocer to offer free fruit to children in Southwestern Virginia.

Introducing fruits and vegetables at an early age is a great way to encourage healthy eating into adulthood, said Susan Terry, natural foods manager. Keeping a small offering of fruit in front of children at meals or snack times is a great way to encourage them to try it. Parents should not be discouraged if their children dont immediately take to a new offering, Terry said. It can take up to 10 times before a child decides they are going to give it a try.

Terry said the presentation of the fruit also makes a difference for children. Many children are going to like the fact they can reach it and pick their own fruit from the baskets in our display.

We hope this fruit offering will encourage parents to let their children try a variety of fruit and take the opportunity to talk to their children about the importance of healthy eating at an early age, Terry said.

Krogers Mid-Atlantic Division operates 120 stores in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and adjoining parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

Submitted by John Lambert
Please congratulate Chase Ketron of Lord Botetourt High School when you see him.

Chase recently auditioned for one of three All Virginia ensembles (Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and Orchestra). He received the fifth highest score on flute in the state (regardless of school size) and was chosen as Third Chair Flute in the Symphonic Band.

Based on available records, there have only been a few students at LB to make the ensembles. In the past 25 years, there have only been two other students to earn this honor: Melissa Bowles in 2003 and Thomas Graham in 2012 (currently student teaching at Cave Spring).

To earn an audition for an All Virginia ensemble, a student must be in one of the top few chairs in the district. At the district event, students are given a new prepared piece to work on for several weeks.

At his audition, Chase had to be able to perform a chromatic scale across the range of the instrument, all major scales (multiple octaves), perform the prepared selection and perform a new selection while only having 30 seconds to study it. The auditions are extremely challenging, and students prepare for years for the opportunity.

On April 7-9, Chase will rehearse and perform with the All Virginia Symphonic Band under the direction of Colonel Colburn, former director of "The President's Own" Marine Corp Band and current director of the Butler University band.

Submitted by Chris Caldwell
RICHMOND  As the General Assembly lumbers toward adoption of a new two-year budget, a related set of negotiations is about to begin over a bond package that could exceed $2 billion.

But no one knows quite what to expect in the final package, not even Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who made a $2.4 billion splash last fall with a bond proposal that promised huge capital investments in state parks, juvenile justice, and research and development for new industries.

Its probably the biggest mystery of the budget, McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said Friday.

The same House and Senate budget leaders who are directing conference committee negotiations on the budget also are running talks to reconcile the bills approved by both chambers to determine what capital projects will be funded by new bond issues and under what terms.

The capital projects will be part of the budget conference process, said House Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, who will be negotiating with Senate Finance Co-Chairmen Thomas Norment, R-James City, and Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, along with three other conferees on the bond spending measures.

Originally, the bond package was part of the budget McAuliffe proposed in December, as well as the competing spending plans the House and Senate were preparing early in the 60-day legislative session.

When the chambers adopted their budgets last month, bond spending was no longer included in them but in separate legislation.

And instead of the $2.4 billion proposed by the governor, the package ranged from more than $1.6 billion in the House  not including building maintenance and equipment reserves  to $1.8 billion in the Senate.

Jones said the initial decision for the conferees will be how much were comfortable in borrowing, and then well go from there.

Out of $140 million McAuliffe proposed to develop new state parks in Albemarle and Stafford counties, as well as repairs and renovations at Virginias 36 existing parks, the House spending plan includes zero new dollars and the Senate plan about $45 million, none for the two proposed new parks.

Both chambers endorsed a budget plan to transform the Department of Juvenile Justice by reinvesting projected operating savings, but neither included money to build either of the two slimmed-down juvenile correctional centers the governor proposed to replace the states last two juvenile prisons at a cost of up to $90.5 million.

They authorized the state to begin planning a new facility in Chesapeake in conjunction with a new juvenile detention facility there but left out money for construction.

McAuliffe voiced his displeasure over the omissions in a detailed letter to conferees late February.

He was also dismayed that the Senate had removed more than $100 million to build a new facility to house civilly committed sexually violent predators and used transportation funds to displace $135 million of the $350 million proposed in bonds to expand Norfolk International Terminal at the Port of Virginia.

I ask that you provide sufficient funding for our parks system, the necessary amount of debt funding for Norfolk International Terminal, and funding for the new sexually violent predator facility, the governor said in a list of budget concerns he submitted to legislators Wednesday.

I also ask you to fund the construction of the first new juvenile correctional center, as the locality where the first center is to be constructed [Chesapeake] is ready to move forward with this project, he said.

Perhaps the most politically ticklish of the governors concerns is the House plan to use the governance structure of the pending Virginia Growth and Opportunity Act, or GO Virginia, to oversee the disbursement of $50 million to $100 million in debt financing, based on the competing bond packages, to build research facilities for new technologies to drive economic development.

The governance structure, as proposed by the House, would give veto power to representatives of the House and Senate on the GO Virginia board.

The proposed governance structures contain multiple reviews which could slow down progress in releasing the authorized funds, McAuliffe said. Also, this is essentially an executive function, and it needs to remain so.

Caught up in the net of political wrangling are major new capital projects sought by Virginia Commonwealth University and other local educational institutions.

Both chambers bond proposals include construction funding for VCU to erect a new building for the School of Allied Health Professions on the universitys medical campus. VCU seeks authorization of up to $76 million in state bond proceeds for the project, which it estimates will cost $86 million.

The House package includes money to plan, but not build, a School of Engineering research facility and a new STEM laboratory. The Senate proposes construction money for the engineering school but nothing for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics lab.

We are encouraged that VCUs top capital priorities have been acknowledged in either or both the House and Senate capital outlay bills, spokeswoman Pamela DiSalvo Lepley said Friday. The General Assembly has recognized that these projects will drive regional economic development by producing high-demand STEM professionals and by moving translational research to the marketplace.

Revenue bonds for higher education would finance renovation of Sanger Hall on the medical campus and the Raleigh Building on the Monroe Park campus.

VCU also is the lead partner in a consortium to build the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems in Prince George County, which is part of the House bond package.

Other proposed bond projects of interest to the Richmond region include renovation of Bird Hall and expansion of the Nichols Center at John Tyler Community College in Chester; replacement of air-handling equipment at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and expansion of the Central Forensic Laboratory and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

One of the biggest questions for the conference committee to resolve is whether the final package will include bond funding for projects at state parks, including the development of new parks at Biscuit Run in Albemarle and Widewater in Stafford. The governors bond package includes $42.5 million for Biscuit Run near Charlottesville and $36.5 million for Widewater along Aquia Creek.

What parks will give you the greatest amount of usage and tourism? asked House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, an advocate for Biscuit Run. Shouldnt we accelerate those parks to the top of the list?

The Virginia League of Conservation Voters hopes the final bond package includes more for state parks, including land acquisition. We would like to see our parks expanded, said Lee Francis, spokesman for the league. Our park system is obviously tied to tourism, which is one of our biggest industries.

Francis also hopes that, on the budget side of the negotiations, the House prevails with its package of $19.5 million each year for conservation of scenic land, farmland and battlefields, compared with $10 million each year in the Senate budget. I dont think weve seen that level of funding in the budget for land conservation ever, frankly, he said.

Jones said the omission of money for parks in the bond package reflects the Houses approach to the negotiations more than a position on the projects McAuliffe wants to fund.

We dont want to be subtracting from our bond bill, he said. We didnt include any money for parks because we knew that would be an item for conference.

As the legislature moves toward scheduled adjournment on Saturday, Jones said, Im extremely pleased with the progress weve made in conference.
RICHMOND  An effort by doctors, tea party groups, conservative lawmakers and others to loosen government oversight of new or expanded health care facilities has failed.

The Virginia Senate effectively killed legislation Monday aimed at reforming the states decades-old certificate of public need law, which requires medical providers to prove to the state board of health that proposed new facilities, expansions or major equipment purchases are necessary in a geographic area.

Opponents of the current systems say it is noncompetitive and results in higher health care prices.

Hospitals argue they dont operate in a free-market system and need laws to remain economically viable.

Electric chair gets OK amid drug shortage

The Virginia Senate has approved a bill that would allow the state to execute condemned inmates in the electric chair when it cant find lethal injection drugs.

The bill passed the GOP-controlled Senate with a 22-17 vote Monday after a passionate debate. The Republican-dominated House has already approved the bill.

Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions, but currently gives inmates the choice of lethal injection or the electric chair. If they dont choose, they receive the injection.

Like many states, Virginia has struggled to obtain lethal injection drugs in recent years because drug companies have protested their use in executions.

The bill faces a final vote in the House before going to Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe because of a minor amendment approved Monday.

 Associated Press

Compensation bill for cyclists passes House

Legislation making it easier for cyclists to get compensation for crashes caused by car doors cleared the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday on a 70-25 vote.

Senate Bill 117, which establishes a $50 fine for drivers who open a vehicle door when it is not reasonably safe to do so, now heads to Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The legislation is intended to help cyclists file insurance claims after dooring collisions. The Senate passed the bill last month.

 Richmond Times-Dispatch
A 20-year-old man who was involved in a two-vehicle crash after a chase in Bristol, Virginia, on Friday night faces a pending felony charge of eluding police and another Class 1 misdemeanor charge of reckless driving, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

Police said Austin J.L. Rush, of Bristol, Tennessee, was fleeing from a Washington County sheriffs deputy Friday when he collided with a BMW off Exit 7 on Interstate 81. The crash, which occurred about 8:20 p.m., sent five people, including Rush, to the hospital with injuries considered not life-threatening.

Sgt. Jason Shepherd of the Washington County Sheriffs Office said Rush is still in the hospital and is expected to be booked Monday. Shepherd said a deputy tried to pull Rush over after seeing a 2004 Ford Escort traveling on the wrong side of the road with a chain hanging out of the trunk.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Saturday that the Ford was being pursued by deputies when it exited the northbound lanes of the interstate onto Old Airport Road. The Ford swerved around a state police vehicle and then struck a BMW, which was at the intersection headed east.

A female passenger, who was not named but was traveling with Rush, was taken to the hospital with injuries that were described as not life-threatening. Two additional passengers in the Ford were not hurt.

Ashley Dyson, 34, of Bristol, Virginia, was in the BMW. Dyson and two passengers were treated at Bristol Regional Medical Center for injuries that were also considered not life-threatening.
Camping Quelle region privilegier pour des campings calmes ? Combien coute en moyenne une location de mobil home pour une semaine dans le Sud ? Quel camping conseillez-vous a Argeles ? Quels pays sont les mieux equipes en campings ? Connaissez-vous des campings avec plage privee ? Dans quelles zones le camping sauvage est il autorise ? La communaute repond a vos questions. 378

Camping-car Comment laver au mieux son camping-car? Quel camping-car pour voyager a deux ? Quelle assurance pour voyager a letranger avec un camping-car ? Quels accessoires sont indispensables pour voyager en camping-car ? Est-il possible de trouver des bouteilles gaz dans toute lEurope ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 5864

Croisieres 1383

Expatriation

Envie de partir Est-il facile de sinstaller au Portugal ? Quel pays anglophone choisir pour apprendre langlais ? Quel pays pour un travail de fille au pair ? La communaute repond a vos questions !Envie de partir vivre a letranger , en expatriation, en Erasmus, au pair ou en volontariat international ? La redaction vous donne toutes les formules et astuces de financement. 672

Le Guide du Routard Est-il possible davoir des reductions grace au guide du routard ? Est-il necessaire davoir le guide de lannee en cours ? Comment trouver les derniers guides ? Existe-t-il une version en ligne des guides ? Quelles sont les prochaines destinations choisies par le guide du Routard ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 420

Moto Quels documents sont necessaires pour louer un scooter ou une moto en Thailande ? Quelle agence choisir pour faire un road trip en moto aux Etats Unis ? Est-il facile dacheter une moto en Australie ? Connaissez-vous un bon garage au Vietnam ? Quel permis est necessaire pour louer une moto en Espagne ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 239

Routard.com Comment supprimer mes messages ? Comment creer un carnet de voyage sur le site ? Comment participer aux differents concours ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 45

Ou et quand partir ?



Ou partir en ete a moindre cout ? Ou faire un road trip ou un citytrip ? Quelles sont les destinations les plus festives ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! Ou et quand partir en vacances pour trouver du soleil ? La redaction de routard.com vous indique les meilleures destinations pour chaque mois. 1255

Photo Quels sont les meilleurs blogs de voyage ? Routard.com a-t-il un concours photo ? Quel appareil photo conseillez-vous pour un safari ? Quelle camera choisir pour immortaliser une plongee ? Quels sont les plus beaux comptes Instagram de voyage ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 189

Plongee



Tous les conseils pratiques de la redaction pour la Quels sont les plus beaux spots de plongee au monde ? Quelles palmes utiliser pour une plongee dans les Caraibes ? Ou faire un bapteme de plongee ?Tous les conseils pratiques de la redaction pour la plongee sous -marine , et notre selection des plus beaux spots de plongee et de surf dans le monde. 145

Reveillons

, pour Noel et/ou pour le Nouvel An ? Lumiere sur les plus beaux marches de Noel en France et en Europe, et cap sur les reveillons les plus fous de la planete. Ou faire le reveillon a letranger a moindre cout ? Quel restaurant choisir a Barcelone ? Quelle est lambiance a Budapest pour le reveillon ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! Ou partir en decembre , pour Noel et/ou pour le Nouvel An ? Lumiere sur les plus beaux marches de Noel en France et en Europe, et cap sur les reveillons les plus fous de la planete. 219

Ski

et aux sports dhiver ? On vous donne nos idees de destinations sports dhiver, et nos conseils pratiques pour les amateurs de glisse. Tout schuss ! Quelles sont les stations les plus enneigees ? Ou faire du ski a moindre cout ? Quelle station de ski familiale dans les Alpes ? Ou faire du ski de fond ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! Ou partir au ski et aux sports dhiver ? On vous donne nos idees de destinations sports dhiver, et nos conseils pratiques pour les amateurs de glisse. Tout schuss ! 265

Tour du monde

Retrouvez aussi les Existe-t-il un circuit a privilegier pour un tour du monde ? Existe-t-il un visa multi-destinations ? Conseillez-vous un tour du monde en camping car ? La communaute repond a vos questions !Retrouvez aussi les conseils et infos pratiques de la redaction : bons plans billets tour du monde, et idees de voyages inoubliables. 889

Trek

Tout savoir sur la Quels sont les meilleurs spots de treks du monde ? Quelles agences specialisees pour faire des treks a letranger ? La communaute repond a vos questions !Tout savoir sur la randonnee en France et les plus beaux treks du monde : conseils pratiques, materiel et accessoires, et idees de circuits. En route ! 568

Velo

La redaction a teste pour vous Quel equipement choisir pour son velo ? Comment transporter son velo par avion ? La communaute repond a vos questions !La redaction a teste pour vous les plus belles pistes cyclables, veloroutes, randos a velo et itineraires cyclotouristiques en France et en Europe. Tous en selle ! 449

Voile Comment sorganiser pour faire un tour du monde en voilier ? Y a-t-il un club de voile a La Reunion ? Ou louer un catamaran en Grece ? Quels sont vos conseils pour acheter un voilier ? Est-il possible de faire une excursion en voilier en Polynesie ? Quels sont les meilleurs spots de voile en Amerique du Sud ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 112

Voyager avec son animal Comment voyager en avion avec son animal de compagnie ? Faut-il payer un supplement lorsquon voyage en avion avec son chien ? Est-ce prudent de voyager avec son animal a letranger ? Quels sont les hotels autorisant les animaux ? Comment faire du backpacking avec son chat ? Est-il possible demmener son chien en Thailande ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 108

Voyage de noces



Faites le plein d Quelle destination choisir pour un voyage de noces ? Y a-t-il des agences de voyage specialisees ? Quels sont les plus beaux hotels du monde ? La communaute repond a vos questions !Faites le plein d idees de destinations romantiques ou roucouler a deux, en lune de miel ou en week-end en amoureux. 108

Voyage en famille

Vous partez en Quelles compagnies aeriennes ont les tarifs les plus avantageux pour les enfants ? Voyager en Asie avec des enfants en bas age ? La communaute repond a vos questions !Vous partez en vacances en famille ? La redaction vous donne des idees de voyages en famille, et des conseils pratiques pour voyager avec les enfants. 875

Voyage en solo Comment trouver des compagnons de voyage ? Quelle assurance de voyage conseillez-vous pour voyager seul ? Est-il prudent de faire un road trip seul en Amerique du Sud ? Avez-vous des astuces pour un voyage en total itinerance ? Quel itineraire conseillez-vous pour un voyage seul en Europe ? Est-il prudent quune femme voyage seule en Asie du Sud-Est ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 607

France Vous preparez un voyage en France ? La communaute Routard repond a vos questions. 9

Albanie Un road-trip en Albanie ? Navette centre-ville - aeroport de Tirana ? Circuler en bus ou voiture ? Les plus belles plages de la rivieira albanaise ? Rejoindre la Grece depuis lAlbanie ? Changer euros contre leks ? Comment visiter le Teth ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 488

Allemagne Quel est le plus beau marche de Noel ? Que faire a Munich et Francfort en un week-end ? Visite des chateaux de Baviere : ou loger ? Ou trouver un logement pratique et pas cher pour Oktoberfest ? LAllemagne a velo, ou et comment ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 654

Andorre 87

Angleterre 865

Armenie Ou faire de la randonnee en Armenie ? Location de voiture ? Hebergement ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 234

Autriche Quelle station de ski dans le Tyrol ? Quel itineraire choisir pour du camping-car ? Quels conseils pour de la randonnee en Autriche ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 441

Belgique Combien coute le parking de laeroport de Charleroi ? Quels sont les meilleurs restaurants et bars de Belgique ? Que visiter a Bruges ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 702

Bielorussie Comment se loger en Bielorussie ? Quel itineraire emprunter de Vilnius a Minsk ? Ou obtenir des renseignements sur le visa ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 71

Bulgarie Que visiter a Sofia ? Comment aller aux Sept lacs du Rila ? Ou trouver des aires de camping-car en Bulgarie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 435

Chypre Quel est le meilleur itineraire pour voyager du Nord au Sud de Chypre ? Quelles sont les plus belles plages de Chypre ? Les lieux incontournables a visiter ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 310

Croatie Visiter lile de Brac ou lile de Korcula ? Quelle agence de location de voiture choisir ? Ou loger dans Dubrovnik ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2776

Danemark Le meilleur circuit dans Copenhague ? Quel budget pour un road trip au Danemark ? Quel ferry pour aller aux iles Feroe ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 281

Ecosse Est-il possible de faire du bivouac sur lile de Skye ? Que visiter a Edimbourg ? Faut-il partir avec un passeport en Ecosse ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2308

Espagne Quelle destination choisir en Espagne ? Les bonnes adresses de Barcelone ? Les plus beaux parcs de Madrid ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1808

Estonie Quelle est la meilleure periode pour aller en Estonie ? Comment aller dHelsinki a Tallinn ? Les meilleures compagnies pour une croisiere ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 68

Finlande Trouver une bonne station de ski ? Le meilleur spot pour voir les aurores boreales ? Quels vetements porter en Finlande ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 568

Georgie Quelles activites faire a Tbilisi ? Le meilleur passage frontiere Russie-Georgie ? Ou se loger en Georgie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 252

Grece Quel ferry prendre pour aller sur lile de Santorin ? Quelles iles des Cyclades choisir ? Ou se baigner a Athenes ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 9571

Hongrie Quel est le cout de la vie a Budapest ? Ou obtenir des billets pour un tour du lac Balaton en train ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 157

Irlande Quelle agence de voiture choisir ? Faut-il un visa pour entrer en Irlande ? Que voir a Dublin en une journee ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2558

Islande Quand partir en Islande ? Ou voir des baleines ? Se baigner au Blue Lagoon ? Dans quel sens faire le tour de lile ? Quand voir des aurores boreales ? Quelle voiture louer ? 2893

Italie Quelle agence choisir pour visiter Milan ? Quel itineraire dans la region des Pouilles ? Ou loger dans les Cinque Terre ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 4147

Lettonie Que voir a Riga ? Les meilleures plages de la Baltique ? Un road trip a travers la Lettonie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 111

Lituanie Quels sont les specialites de Lituanie ? Trajet Klaipedia - Vilnius en bus ? Quel itineraire dans les pays baltes ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 100

Luxembourg Travailler au Luxembourg ? Les meilleures adresses de restos et dhebergements ? Un weekend a Luxembourg-Ville ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 68

Macedoine Comment organiser un voyage en Macedoine ? Quel avion prendre ? Que faire a Skopje ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 41

Malte Ou loger a Gozo ? Est-ce interessant de faire un sejour linguistique a Malte ? Ou se procurer un plan de transports ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 726

Montenegro 377

Norvege Quelle periode pour voir des aurores boreales ? Changer ses euros en couronnes norvegiennes avant de partir ? Que voir a Bergen ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2337

Pays-Bas Comment aller aux Pays-Bas ? Faire une randonnee a velo en Hollande? Visiter Amsterdam ou Rotterdam ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 310

Pays de Galles Transport pour Cardiff ? Quelques jours dans le Sud du Pays de Galles ? Randonnee dans Snowdonia et Pembrokeshire ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 58

Pologne Comment aller en Pologne ? Quelles activites a Varsovie ? Quel transport de Cracovie a Auschwitz ? Visiter les mines de sel ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 850

Portugal Visiter le Douro ou lAlgarve ? Trouver une location ou un camping au Portugal ? Ou faire du canyoning, du surf ? Les peages electroniques ? Quoi voir a Porto ? Quelle location de voiture ? 2419

Republique tcheque Que faire en Republique tcheque ? Trouver un logement a Prague ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 144

Roumanie Louer une voiture en Roumanie ? Quels sites pour un logement sur Bucarest ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 665

Russie Itineraire pour aller a Saint-Petersbourg ? Billet de train pour Moscou ? Vetements dhiver en Russie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1304

Serbie 109

Slovaquie Les incontournables de Bratislava ? Trajet France-Slovaquie ? Quelles activites faire ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 89

Slovenie Ou observer les ours en Slovenie ? Comment acceder au parc national du Triglav ? Randonnee ou road trip? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 326

Suede Est-il possible de faire du camping sauvage en Suede ? Faut-il changer ses euros en France ou sur place ? Que voir a Goteborg ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 398

Suisse Vivre en Suisse ? Quels cantons choisir ? Trouver un logement et sinstaller ? Que faire au Lac Leman ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 727

Turquie Quel visa pour la Turquie ? Visiter la Cappadoce ? Quel circuit suivre ? Quelle est la monnaie utilisee ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1674

Ukraine Visiter Kiev ou Odessa ? Visa pour voyager en Ukraine ? Quel itineraire en Ukraine ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 500

Afghanistan 11

Azerbaidjan 24

Bangladesh Est-il possible de voyager au Bangladesh avec des enfants ? Existe-t-il un train de nuit pour faire Katmandu-Dhaka ? Fau-il un guide pour visiter le pays ? La Communaute repond a vos questions 37

Bhoutan Comment organiser son voyage au Bhoutan, quelle compagnie aerienne pour y aller, quelle est la meilleure periode pour visiter le Bhoutan, pour quel budget ? 35

Birmanie Faire son e-visa pour la Birmanie, choisir son agence de voyage, organiser ses activites sur le lac Inle, a Bagan, au Rocher dOr, changer sa monnaie 2663

Brunei Organiser son sejour au Brunei, combien de temps y rester, comment sy rendre par voie terrestre 13

Cambodge Une, deux ou trois semaines au Cambodge ? Posez vos questions sur votre itineraire et vos trajets au Cambodge, les meilleurs periodes pour visiter Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, les temples dAngkor, les plages de sable blanc ou encore les iles ! 3169

Chine Acheter ses billets de train en Chine, aller a la Grande Muraille, quel itineraire au Yunnan, visiter Xian, trouver un bon restaurant a Pekin 2300

Coree du Sud Comment sexpatrier en Coree du Sud ? Quel budget prevoir pour un voyage de 1 mois ? Faut-il louer une voiture pour visiter lile de Jeju ? La Communaute repond a vos questions 890

Inde Quelle agence choisir pour visiter le Rajasthan ? La foire de Pushkar est-elle interessante ? Quel climat au mois daout ? Quelles sont les etapes necessaires pour obtenir un visa en Inde ? La Communaute repond a vos questions. 6453

Indonesie Ou loger a Gili Air ? Que faire a Flores ? Est-il possible de visiter 3 iles en 15 jours en Indonesie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions. 2912

Japon Est-il interessant dacheter le JR Pass pour se deplacer dans le pays ? Quel itineraire pour 15 jours au Japon ? Que visiter a Osaka ? Existe-t-il un un moyen de voyager en shinkansen pour faire Tokyo, Kyoto et Mont Fuji ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 4500

Kazakhstan 44

Kirghizistan 152

Laos Quel climat au Laos ? Faut-il payer en Bath ou US dollars ? Combien coute le visa on arrival ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1570

Malaisie Ou aller pour un premier voyage en Malaisie ? Les iles Perhentian valent-elles le detour ? Que faire a Kuala Lumpur ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2297

Maldives Ou sejourner aux Maldives ? Quel spot choisir pour faire du snorkelling ? Que faire a Male ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1273

Mongolie Ou acheter un velo en Mongolie ? Faut-il un visa pour voyager en Mongolie ? Quelle agence de voyage choisir ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 469

Nepal Quel equipement prendre pour faire le tour de lAnnapurna ? Quelle agence de trek choisir ? Que visiter a Katmandou ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1693

Ouzbekistan Obtenir soin visa pour lOuzbekistan, faire la Route de la Soie, choisir une agence locale pour voyager en Ouzbekistan, visiter Samarcande, Boukhara et Khiva 448

Pakistan 31

Philippines Quel transport privilegier entre Manille et Palawan ? Que faire a Cebu Island ? Quel itineraire choisir pour 15 jours de voyage aux Philippines ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2037

Singapour Quand visiter lUniversal Studio Singapore ? Ou trouver un logement pas cher dans la ville ? Prix du transfert entre laeroport de Singapour-Changi et le centre-ville ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 353

Sri Lanka Obtenir lETA pour le Sri Lanka ? Comment trouver un chauffeur-guide ? Quel itineraire ? Ou voir des elephants ? Quelles sont les plus belles plages ? Voyager en famille au Sri Lanka ? 4580

Tadjikistan 36

Taiwan Comment assister au festival des lumieres a Taipei ? Quelle plage privilegier a Taiwan ? Quelle agence de location de voiture choisir ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 190

Thailande Quelles sont les plus belles plages de Thailande ? Ou trouver un hotel les pieds dans leau ? Un visa est-il necessaire ? Quel trek a Chiang Mai ? Quel budget ? 14786

Tibet Quel budget prevoir pour un voyage au Tibet ? Est-il obligatoire de voyager avec un guide ou une agence ? Quelles sont les formalites pour rentrer au Tibet ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 114

Turkmenistan 10

Vietnam Vietnam nord ou sud ? Quand visiter la Baie dAlong ? Louer une moto ? Quel trek a Sapa ? Partir seule au Vietnam ? Quoi visiter a Hanoi ? 6908

Antigua-et-Barbuda Quelles formalites pour visiter Antigua ? Quelles activites et excursions sont recommandees ? Presence dalgues sargasses ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 4

Argentine Quel budget prevoir pour 1 mois en Argentine ? Faut-il privilegier les voyages en bus ou en avion ? Est-il possible de reserver a lavance un hotel a Salta ? Comment sorganiser pour sexpatrier en Argentine ? Quelle agence pour visiter la Patagonie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions. 2100

Bahamas Comment se deplacer entre les iles ? Comment rejoindre Miami depuis les Bahamas ? Voyage de noces : ou sejourner ? Les plus belles plages des Bahamas ? Ou se loger a Nassau ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 156

Barbade Comment circuler a la Barbade ? Quel budget prevoir ? Comment rejoindre les Antilles depuis la Barbade ? Ou faire de lapnee ? Ou se loger ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 22

Belize Combien de temps rester au Belize ? Autotour ou chauffeur-guide ? Les meilleurs spots pour faire du surf, de la plongee ou du snorkeling ? Quel itineraire et excursions prevoir ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 200

Bolivie Quel itineraire pour 1 mois en Bolivie ? Existe-t-il un bus direct pour faire Uyuni-Copacabana ? Quelle agence choisir pour louer un 4x4 ? Quelles iles du Lac Titicaca privilegier ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 978

Bresil Comment se rendre a Ilha Grande depuis Rio de Janeiro ? Quel guide pour faire un trek a Lencois Maranhenses ? Est-il possible de voyager seul(e) ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 3023

Canada Quelles sont les formalites pour entrer sur le territoire canadien ? Comment organiser la visite des chutes Victoria ? Que voir a Vancouver ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2770

Chili Quelle agence pour visiter le Chili ? Quel transport pour aller de laeroport de Santiago a Valparaiso ? Quels sont les prix pour les campings a Pan de Azucar ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1362

Colombie Des infos sur le carnaval de Baranquilla ? Preparer un trek en Amazonie ? Se deplacer entre Cartagena, Cali, Medellin et Bogota ? Bus ou taxi en Colombie ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 1741

Costa Rica La cote caraibe ou la cote pacifique au Costa Rica ? Faut-il louer un 4x4 ? Comment visiter le Costa Rica hors des sentiers battus ? Ou voir des aras et des tortues ? Quel budget ? 2095

Cuba Reserver une casa particular a La Havane ? Rapporter des cigares de Cuba ? Faut-il prendre un guide ? Comment obtenir la carte touristique ? Quel cayo visiter ? 6037

Dominique Ou faire de la randonnee, trek et plongee en Dominique ? Se deplacer sans voiture de location ? Ou est la plus belle plage de lile ? Quelle formalite pour entrer ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 113

Equateur Faut-il prendre de la malarone pour visiter lAmazonie ? Quelle est la meilleure periode pour visiter lEquateur ? Quand voir les baleines a Puerto Lopez ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 845

Etats-Unis Quelles formalites pour entrer sur le territoire des Etats-Unis ? Ou aller pour feter Thanksgiving ? Quelle voiture louer pour faire un road trip ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 5396

Grenade Visiter les Grenadines ? Quelle croisiere choisir ? Algues sargasses a Grenade ? Activites faire en famille ? Le meilleur spot de plongee ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 20

Guadeloupe Aller sur les iles des Saintes ou sur lile de Marie-Galante ? Ou loger pour visiter la Guadeloupe ? Y a-t-il des sargasses en Guadeloupe ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 3985

Guatemala Des questions securite au Guatemala ? Shuttle aeroport et bus : ou et comment reserver ? Ou retirer de largent ? Organiser un trek dans la jungle ? Besoin dun guide pour lac Atitlan, volcan San Pedro et de Fuego ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 594

Guyana Quel visa pour Guyana ? Quels sont les risques niveau securite ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2

Guyane 407

Haiti Quelle agence locale choisir a Haiti ? Bus ou voiture de location ? Faire sa demande de visa ? Loger a Port-au-Prince ? Expatriation : que prevoir ? Des questions securite ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 74

Honduras Loger a Roatan et Utila ? Quoi visiter a Tegucigalpa ? Combien de temps pour visiter le Honduras ? Ou faire de la plongee ou du surf ? Quel transport pour traverser le pays ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 49

Iles Vierges Quelle croisiere choisir pour les Iles Vierges ? Ou louer un catamaran? Quelles sont les liaisons avec Saint Barth ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 6

Jamaique Trouver un guide local francophone en Jamaique ? Navette aeroport vers les grandes villes ? Combien de jours pour visiter Ocho Rios, Kingston et Montego Bay ? Monnaie locale ou dollars ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 245

Martinique Quelle agence choisir pour louer une voiture en Martinique ? Quel temps fait-il en septembre ? Ou loger a Sainte-Luce ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2554

Mexique Quel itineraire dans le Yucatan ? Louer une voiture ou prendre les transports en commun pour visiter le Mexique ? Quen est-il de la securite au Mexique ? Ou loger a Cancun ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 4083

Nicaragua Des questions securite ? Ou voir des tortues ? Liaisons Nicaragua  Costa Rica ? Masaya ou Granada ? Corn Islands : passage oblige ? San Juan del Sura ou Leon ? Ou surfer ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 370

Panama Que voir sur les iles San Blas ? Possibilite de sexpatrier au Panama ? Que visiter dans la province de Bocas del Toro ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 477

Paraguay Combien de temps pour tout visiter au Paraguay ? Que voir et ou sortir a Asuncion ? Expatriation : comment sorganiser ? Comment se rendre a Iguazu ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 47

Perou Que visiter a Arequipa ? Comment sorganiser pour visiter le Machu Picchu ? Ou loger a Lima ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 3412

Porto Rico Ou sortir et prendre des cours de salsa a Porto Rico ? Quelles sont les activites a faire a San Juan ? Foret tropicale : El Yunque ou Toro Negro ? Ou faire son shopping ? Ou se loger pas cher ? Sy installer ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 51

Republique Dominicaine Quelles sont les plus belles plages a Punta Cana ? Quel budget prevoir pour 1 semaine a Bayahibe ? Quel tarif pour un voyage entre laeroport Santo Domingo et Puerto Plata ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 2384

Saint-Barthelemy Comment sexpatrier a Saint-Barthelemy ? Possibilite de partir avec un bebe ? Quelles formalites pour aller a Saint-Barthelemy ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 54

Sainte-Lucie Ou loger a Sainte-Lucie ? Faire une randonnee avec un guide francophone ? Changer ses euros en dollars sur place ou en France ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 70

Saint-Martin Ou faire de la plongee a Saint-Martin ? Quelle agence choisir pour louer une voiture ? Excursion sur lile de Saba ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 175

Saint-Vincent-et-les-Grenadines Quelle agence choisir pour faire une croisiere en catamaran dans les iles Grenadines ? Quel budget pour 2 semaines ? Ou manger a Kingston ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 98

Salvador Taxe de sortie a laeroport de Salvador ? Ou se loger pas cher ? Ou changer ses euros ? Itineraire pour un road trip ? Se deplacer en bus ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 12

Surinam Ou et quand faire sa demande de visa ? Que faire et voir a Paramaribo ? Faire un raid en kayak ? Rejoindre Guyana, Cuaracao ou le Mexique depuis le Surinam ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 9

Trinite-et-Tobago Des conseils pour preparer le carnaval ? Trouver un logement pas cher a Trinite-et-Tobago ? Location de voiture ou scooter ? Rejoindre le Venezuela depuis Port of Spain ? Des questions securite ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 27

Uruguay Sexpatrier et travailler en Uruguay ? Ou changer et retirer de largent ? Combien de temps rester a Montevideo ? Organiser un road trip en bus ? Quelles sont les villes incontournables ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 72

Venezuela Taux de change officiel ou officieux ? Quelle est la situation actuelle du Venezuela niveau securite ? Que voir a Merida ou Margarita ? Avec quelle agence partir ? La Communaute repond a vos questions ! 224

Afrique du Sud Est-il possible de conduire avec un permis international en Afrique du Sud ? Quel est le prix du billet dentree au Parc Kruger ? Est il possible de faire un safari self drive ? Quels sont les incontournables a Johannesburg ou au Cap ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 5292

Algerie Quel est le niveau de securite a Djanet et Sahara ? Que voir a Tlemcen et a Alger ? Ou changer des euros ? Quelle agence pour visite du desert algerien ? 696

Benin 341

Botswana Quel itineraire privilegier ? Ou et quand reserver un safari pour le Botswana ? Auto tour ou guide ? Ou dormir dans le parc Moremi ? A quelle periode partir ? Quels vaccins prevoir ? 262

Burkina Faso Quel est le niveau de securite au Burkina Faso? Faire du tourisme humanitaire ? A la recherche dun chauffeur-guide ? Quel vaccin et visa prevoir ? Quelle compagnie aerienne choisir ? Ou se loger ? 276

Cameroun 284

Cap-Vert Quelles iles visiter au Cap-Vert ? Ou trouver un bon guide ? Quelle est la meilleure saison ? Les meilleures randonnees de Santo Antao ? Quels spots de plongee ? 1335

Congo 70

Djibouti 37

Ethiopie Comment trouver une bonne agence locale en Ethiopie ? Comment trouver un guide pour un trek dans les montagnes de Lalibela ? Quelles visites interessantes a Addis Abeba ? Quel logement choisir a Bahar Dar ? Comment voir les hyenes dHarar ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 457

Gabon Quel visa pour le Gabon ? Ou et comment obtenir le e-visa touristique ? Vivre et travailler a Libreville ? Comment se rendre au Parc National de Loango ? Quels sont les incontournables et quelle ville choisir ? 117

Gambie Le visa est-il gratuit pour les courts sejours ? Quel guide choisir pour la Gambie ? Peut-on voyager en toute securite en Gambie ? Acheter une voiture en Gambie ? Dans quelles villes sejourner ? 32

Ghana Quel visa et quel vaccin pour le Ghana ? Quel est le cout de la vie ? Ou loger a Accra ? Quels sont les bons plans a voir et a faire ? Ou retirer et changer de largent ? Des idees de circuits ? 60

Guinee Quel est le cout de la vie a Conakry ? Ou changer de largent ? Quel est le niveau de securite ? A la recherche dun guide ? 121

Ile Maurice, Rodrigues Quelle est la plus belle plage pour faire du snorkeling ? Quelles sont les excursions a faire ? Comment trouver un taxi a lile Maurice ? Quelle est la randonnee incontournable ? Le meilleur logement est il les maisons dhotes a Rodrigues ? Quelle cote choisir ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2720

Kenya Quelle agence choisir pour un safari au Kenya ? Ou peut-on observer des lycaons ? Comment trouver un super guide ? A-t-on besoin dun visa ? Que visiter a Nairobi ou Mombasa ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 985

Lesotho Quel itineraire choisir ? Ou faire du trek et de la randonnee ? Quel guide choisir pour le Lesotho ? Quel est letat des routes ? Quel climat prevoir ? 39

Liberia 7

Libye 8

Madagascar Est-il dangereux daller a Madagascar actuellement ? Quel moyen de transport utiliser ? Comment trouver un bon chauffeur guide a Antananarivo ? Ou faire une mission humanitaire ? Quel itineraire est conseille ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2663

Mali Quel est le niveau de securite ? Quel visa et quelles formalites pour aller au Mali ? Ou se loger a Bamako ? Sinstaller au Mali ? Traverser le pays en voiture ? Comment voyager en securite ? 129

Maroc Comment trouver un guide pour faire un trek dans lAtlas ? Quel itineraire est conseille pour visiter les villes imperiales du Maroc ? Comment visiter Fes ? A quel climat sattendre a Agadir en hiver ? Est-il possible de louer un 4X4 pour aller dans le desert ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 4935

Mauritanie Quel visa pour la Mauritanie et quel prix ? Quel est le niveau de securite ? Quel itineraire pour traverser le pays depuis le Maroc ou le Senegal ? 227

Mayotte Est-il facile de sexpatrier a Mayotte ? Comment trouver un bon guide de randonnee ? Quel est le cout de la vie a Mayotte ? Est-il necessaire de faire un traitement antipaludeen ? Quelles sont les plus belles plages ? Ou se loger, gites ou maison dhote ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 236

Mozambique Quel est le meilleur spot pour faire du surf a Maputo ? Est-il possible de rejoindre le parc Kruger en voiture ? Ou plonger au Mozambique pour voir des requins ? Bilene - Inhambane ou Vilanculo ? Quel est le cout du visa ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 132

Namibie Est-il necessaire de passer par une agence pour un voyage en Namibie ? Comment acceder aux Victoria Falls ? Quels sont les temps de trajet ? Est-il preferable de louer une voiture ? Quelles sont les taxes dentree dans le Parc Etosha ? Quel itineraire pour acceder au desert du Namib ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 3655

Niger Quel est le niveau de securite ? Quel visa pour le Niger ? Quel budget prevoir pour un voyage au Niger ? Ou se loger a Niamey ? Quelle compagnie aerienne choisir ? 16

Nigeria 14

Ouganda A la recherche dun guide en Ouganda ? Quel tour operateur pour faire un trek safari ? Ou louer un 4x4 ? Ou observer des gorilles ? Quels vaccins sont recommandes ? 125

Reunion Quelles sont les randonnees incontournables a La Reunion ? Quel est le bon plan pour louer une voiture ? Quel gite choisir ? Lascension du Piton de la Fournaise est-elle exigeante ? Quels spots pour la plongee ? Ou faire du canyoning ? Comment trouver un bon guide pour aller au Piton des neiges ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2491

Rwanda Des idees ditineraires ? Ou observer les gorilles ? Ou faire sa demande de visa ? Besoin dinfos pratiques pour votre voyage au Rwanda ? Comment se rendre au parc des volcans ? Conseils pour visiter le Nyungwe ? 95

Sao Tome et Principe Quelles sont les excursions a faire a Sao Tome et Principe ? Quelles sont les plus belles plages ? Est-il possible de louer une voiture sur les iles ? Est-il preferable dopter pour un chauffeur ou un guide ? Y a-t-il des vaccins obligatoires ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 129

Senegal Quel est le meilleur moyen de se rendre en Casamance ? Quel transport utiliser depuis laeroport de Dakar ? Trouver un bon guide ? Comment trouver un logement pas cher au Senegal ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2082

Seychelles Est-il possible de trouver un hebergement chez lhabitant aux Seychelles ? Quelle est la meilleure periode pour partir ? Quel hotel choisir pour un voyage de noces ? Quelle croisiere choisir ? Quel est le meilleur club de plongee ? Quelles sont les plus belles plages ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1324

Swaziland Ou dormir dans la reserve du Hlane ? Quelles sont les visites incontournables ? Quels parcs visiter ? Peut-on traverser le Swaziland sur une journee ? Quel est letat des routes ? Par quels postes frontieres passer ? 68

Tanzanie Comment trouver un bon chauffeur guide en Tanzanie ? Quelles sont les agences conseillees pour un safari ? Est-il possible de faire un safari en bivouac ? Quel itineraire est conseille pour acceder au Kilimandjaro ? Comment aller a Zanzibar depuis la Tanzanie ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1518

Tchad Quel est le niveau de securite au Tchad ? Circuit et trek en toute securite ? Quel visa pour le Tchad ? Que faire et ou se loger a Ndjamena ? Comment rejoindre le Soudan depuis le Tchad ? 14

Togo Ou obtenir un visa pour le Togo ? Que faire a Lome ? Comment se deplacer au Togo ? Ou se loger ? Quelle association pour faire du tourisme humanitaire / solidaire ? Location de voiture ou chauffeur-guide ? 293

Tunisie Quel est le meilleur moyen de transport pour un transfert de laeroport de Tunis a Hammamet ? Comment trouver un guide a Djerba ? Quelle temperature fait-il en Tunisie en hiver ? La carte didentite est elle suffisante pour aller en Tunisie ? Que visiter a Monastir ou a Sousse ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1809

Zambie Quels parcs visiter en Zambie ? Voir les chutes Victoria cote Zambie ? Quelles formalites pour passage frontiere Zambie  Zimbabwe ? Ou changer des devises ? 47

Zimbabwe Est-il possible de visiter le parc Hwange en louant une voiture ? Quel moyen de transport utiliser entre lAfrique du Sud et le Zimbabwe ? Quelle est la meilleure periode pour visiter les Victoria Falls ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 83

Egypte Quelle agence propose une excursion Hurghada - Louxor ? Comment trouver un guide pour une visite du Caire ? Est-il possible de reserver une croisiere sur le Nil a la derniere minute ? Combien coute une excursion pour les pyramides depuis Le Caire ? Quel horaire est le plus propice pour visiter les temples dAbu Simbel ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2772

Emirats arabes unis Est-il aise de sexpatrier a Dubai ? Le Dubai city pass est-il rentable ? Dans quel quartier loger ? Quelle monnaie est acceptee ? Est-il necessaire de reserver ses billets pour le Louvre Abu Dhabi ? Ou louer une voiture ? Quels sont les horaires pour visiter la tour Burj Khalifa ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 252

Iran Quels sont les delais pour obtenir un visa touristique pour lIran ? Quelles tenues sont appropriees pour des touristes en Iran ? Quels sont les bons plans hebergements pour Shiraz ? Quelles sont les possibilites de transferts a laeroport de Teheran ? Quel est le meilleur quartier pour lachat de turquoise a Kashan ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1110

Israel, Palestine Comment circuler dans Jerusalem ? Ou loger a Tel Aviv ? Y a-t-il des bus entre Nazareth et Jenine ? Y a-t-il des transports en commun efficaces en Israel ? Quelles sont les difficultes pour aller en Palestine ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 922

Jordanie Quel chauffeur choisir en Jordanie ? Quel itineraire est optimal pour une semaine en Jordanie ? Est-il necessaire de prendre un guide pour visiter Petra ? Quelle agence choisir pour une excursion a Wadi Rum ? Quels sont les incontournables a Amman ? Y a-t-il des problemes de securite en Jordanie ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1108

Liban Le visa pour le Liban est-il gratuit ? Combien de jours sont necessaires pour visiter Beyrouth ? Quelles langues sont parlees au Liban ? Ou loger a Tripoli ? Est-il facile de sexpatrier au Liban ? Quelles sont les plus belles randonnees ? Quel est le climat en Hiver ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! La communaute repond a vos questions ! 173

Oman Quel visa est necessaire pour aller au sultanat dOman ? Est-il facile de louer un 4x4 a Oman ? Ou faire de la plongee ? Quel moyen de transport utiliser pour un transfert depuis laeroport de Mascate ? Comment trouver un guide francophone ? Quelle agence choisir pour une excursion dans le desert de Wahiba ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 675

Qatar Quel transfert choisir depuis laeroport de Doha ? Est-il facile de sexpatrier au Qatar administrativement ? Laeroport de Doha est-il agreable pour une longue escale ? Quel est le souk le plus traditionnel du Qatar ? Etes-vous satisfait de la compagnie Qatar Airways ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 101

Syrie 21

Yemen 19

Australie Quel est le meilleur moyen de transport pour faire un roadtrip en Australie ? Comment optimiser mon itineraire sur la cote ouest ? Quel hebergement a Sydney ? Est-il facile dacheter une voiture en Australie ? Le visa est-il payant ? Combien de jours pour visiter Melbourne ? Comment aller en Tasmanie ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 2066

Iles Fidji Quel est le meilleur spot de plongee aux Fidji ? Quel sont les transports pour aller aux Fidji depuis la Nouvelle-Caledonie ? Quel vol choisir pour aller aux Fidji ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 29

Nouvelle-Caledonie Est-il facile de sexpatrier en Nouvelle-Caledonie ? Quelle compagnie aerienne choisir ? Quel transfert a laeroport de Tontouta ? Quel budget prevoir pour un sejour de 3 semaines ? Suffit-il dune journee pour visiter lile des Pins en bateau ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! La communaute repond a vos questions ! 475

Nouvelle-Zelande Quelles sont les plus belles randonnees en Nouvelle-Zelande ? Le permis international est-il indispensable ? Quelle agence locale utiliser ? Quand reserver ses billets pour voir un match des All Blacks ? Quels sont les incontournables a Christchurch et Auckland ? La communaute repond a vos questions ! 1080
Cabinet office is set to release preliminary Japan leading economic indicator data for January at 12:00 am ET Monday. The leading index is expected to show a score of 101.6, down from 102.1 in December.

Ahead of the data, the yen held steady against its major rivals.

As of 11:55 pm ET in the Asian deals, the yen was trading at 125.00 against the euro, 161.63 against the pound, 114.41 the Swiss franc and 113.75 against the U.S. dollar.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Forex News
Triumph Bancorp, Inc. (TBK) Monday said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire ColoEast Bankshares, Inc., parent of Colorado East Bank & Trust, headquartered in Lamar, Colorado in a deal worth $70 million in cash. As per the agreement, the payment by Triumph Bancorp for the common stock of ColoEast Bankshares, Inc. Consideration could be reduced to $69 million should ColoEast Bankshares, Inc. not achieve certain targets.

According to Aaron Graft, CEO Triumph Bancorp, the acquisition is expected to provide immediate and long-term benefits to both the organizations. ColoEast Bankshares, Inc. is a community banking subsidiary, Colorado East Bank & Trust, with 18 branches.

The merger has been unanimously approved by the Boards it is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Canadia-based precious metals producer Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSO.TO,SSRI) Monday said it has agreed to acquire Claude Resources Inc. (CRJ.TO)(CLGRF.OB).

The common shares of Claude Resources will be exchanged on the basis of 0.185 of a Silver Standard common share and C$0.0001 in cash per Claude Resources share, representing total consideration of C$1.65 per share of Claude Resources based on the value of Silver Standard's common shares as of the close of on March 4. This implies an equity valuation of C$337 million for Claude Resources.

The consideration represents a premium of approximately 25 percent based on the 20-day volume weighted average prices of Silver Standard and Claude Resources and 30 percent to Claude Resources' closing price of C$1.27 per common share on March 4.

The transaction will create a high-quality intermediate precious metals producer with assets in the Americas. Upon completion of the Transaction, existing Silver Standard and Claude Resources shareholders will own around 68 percent and 32 percent of the combined company, respectively.

In 2016, the combined company is expected to produce approximately 390,000 gold equivalent ounces at cash costs of approximately $735 per equivalent ounce of gold sold.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the transaction will be carried out by way of a court approved plan of arrangement and will require the approval of at least 66 2/3 percent of the votes cast by the shareholders of Claude Resources at a special meeting.

One Claude Resources Director will be appointed to the Board of Directors of Silver Standard on completion of the deal.

Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. is acting as financial advisor and Lawson Lundell LLP is acting as legal counsel to Silver Standard and its Board of Directors.

National Bank Financial Inc. is acting as financial advisor and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP is acting as legal counsel to Claude Resources and its Board of Directors.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Gold futures were flat Monday morning, holding strong recent gains ahead of what is expected to be a quiet week in most major .

The precious metal has been in demand for the past few months amid uncertainty about the US presidential election and the of the global .

A rally in US stocks has failed to dent gold's safe haven appeal.

Gold for April was up $2 at $1272 an ounce, having touched a 13-month high.

Of note today, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer speaks

at the NABE conference at 12:30 pm ET.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Independent oil and natural gas producer W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI) "has a strong liquidity position and continues to deliver solid operational results," said Tracy Krohn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The company continues to reduce costs and claims that its exploration success for nearly three years has been 100%.

For fiscal 2015, the company now expects Oil and NGLs production to be 8.9 MMBbls - 9.9 MMBbls versus its prior guidance range of 9.3 MMBbls - 10.3 MMBbls. Natural gas production is now expected to be in the range of 44.0 billion cubic feet or Bcf - 48.6 Bcf versus previous estimate of 44.5 - 49.2 Bcf. Fiscal 2015 total production is seen at 98.1 - 108.4 Bcfe compared to the previously communicated guidance range of 100.0 - 110.2 Bcfe. Combined total production is currently projected to range between 16.3 - 18.1 MMBoe.

Lease operating expense is now expected to be in the range of $187 million - $207 million versus prior outlook range of $219 million - $242 million.

Lower full-year production guidance is due primarily to the sale of the company's Yellow Rose field, while the lower guidance for operating expenses is due to reduced activity, lower cost of goods and services and the sale of Yellow Rose.

Fourth-quarter total production is expected to be in the range of 24.4 Bcfe - 26.9 Bcfe. Rio Grande Loop project is expected to boost the company's 2015 production rates significantly.

The company is set to release its fourth-quarter results after the bell on Tuesday, March 8, with analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimating a loss of $0.83 per share on revenue of $122.53 million. Analysts' estimate typically exclude certain special items.

In the previous quarter, the company reported a net loss of $477.6 million or $6.29 per share, compared to a profit of $0.7 million or $0.01 per share during the same period in 2014.

Excluding special items, the company's net loss was $62.1 million or $0.82 per share compared to a loss of $5.3 million or $0.07 per share last year.

Operating results for the third quarter of 2015, excluding special items, were down primarily due to a $108.3 million decrease in revenues driven by a 46.6% decline in realized prices, partially offset by a $26.7 million decrease in LOE and a $31.3 million decrease in DD&A.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2015 were $126.2 million compared to $234.5 million in the third quarter of 2014. Revenues decreased due to the steep decline in commodity prices.

For the third quarter of 2015, oil production was 2.0 million barrels, up 12.2% over the third quarter of 2014. NGL production was 389,000 barrels, down 23.1% from the third quarter of 2014. Natural gas production was 11.6 Bcf for the third quarter of 2015, down 4.5% from the third quarter of 2014. Combined total production was 4.3 million Boe in the third quarter of 2015, flat with the third quarter of 2014.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
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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 ...
By SA Commercial Prop News - Tinashe Remwa

Limpopo province receives double dose capital investments of R2 billion in a week's time, a new cement plant in Northam, namely Mamba Cement and a regional Thavhani Mall in Thohoyandou.



Good news for Limpopo as the province received double dose capital investments of R2 billion in a week's time, a new cement plant in Northam, namely Mamba Cement and a regional Thavhani Mall in Thohoyandou.

The social and economic influence of these investments will have a substantial impact on Limpopo and its stakeholders, boosting the province economy with retained retail spend and employment opportunities.

Mamba Cement

Banking group Nedbank Capital and the Bank of China in Johannesburg on Tuesday announced the raising of R1.1 billion debt capital to fund Mamba Cement, a new China entrant on the South African cement industry.

According to Nedbank Capital, this is one of the first pure limited recourse project finance deals funded by Chinese entities on the African continent. In other words, the majority of funding comes from banks rather than shareholders.



One of Chinas largest cement manufacturers, the Jidong Development Group, holds a 51% stake in Mamba. Together with the China-Africa Development Fund and significant BEE player, Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Limited (WIPHOLD), it provided the equity required for the project.

Nedbank Capitals infrastructure, energy and telecommunications head Mike Peo said the construction had already started and the project was expected to be completed within 18-24 months.

When completed, the Mamba Cement project will result in a brand new cement plant with a capacity of more than one million tonnes per annum located at an established limestone deposit near Northam in Limpopo Province. Once operational, Mamba Cement will produce and sell cement into the blended cements, readymix and construction industries across South Africa.

Mambas inland plant will compete with Sephakus inland plants in Mpumalanga and North West. Competition within the local cement market is segmented by geography, given the costs of logistics.

Mr Zhikun Qiu, Chief Executive Officer at Bank of China says the deal held particular appeal given the significant economic development potential it holds for southern Africa as a whole.

Thavhani Mall

Meanwhile yesterday, a consortium of property developers featuring prominent player Flanagan & Gerard Property Investments and Thavhani Property Investment, are set to deliver a new R900m shopping centre in Thohoyandou, Limpopos Vhembe District Municipality.

An announcement released yesterday said construction of the new Thohoyandou shopping centre, named Thavhani Mall, will begin in June and set to open in April 2016.

This development is the brainchild of local businessman Khosi Ramovha TJ of Thavhani Property Investments who first had the vision for the mall eight years ago.

The last 30 to 40 years SA Commercial Prop News noticed South African retail market shifted from traditional high street retail to large shopping centres in cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.



Since 1994 there has been a steady increase in retail supply in the former regulated townships, with the latest retail development trend focusing on smaller towns and rural areas.

The mall is estimated to create between 1,500 to 2,000 sustainable jobs after it opens and Thohoyandou to retain around R200 million in retail spend, which is currently being spent outside the town.

The 55,000sqm development is set on a 76ha site at the intersection of the R524 road to Makhado and the new road which links Giyani to Sibasa and surrounding rural areas.

Patrick Flanagan of Flanagan & Gerard said the Malls tenant mix will be led by two supermarket anchors, three fashion anchors and at least two major banks.



He adds: It will introduce several new retailers to Thohoyandou and include a variety of fashion, accessories, furniture, electronics, health and beauty and much more. It will also include a lively food court with restaurants, which will become an exciting meeting place in the mall.

The developers also said Thavhani Mall will incorporate a taxi rank and ample on-level parking.

The Vhembe District Municipality and the Thulamela Local Municipality have outperformed in average economic growth in recent years. The nearly 400,000 residents in this primary trade area comprise almost 90,000 households. They span the full living standards measure spectrum, but are predominantly in the lower LSMs.
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the
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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?
Levittown, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/07/2016 -- Heating and cooling systems are one of the most ignored aspects of a property since they are stored out of sight. They often only gain attention when they have malfunctioned, requiring costly repair by a professional HVAC technician. All heating and cooling systems should be serviced twice a year to keep them in top condition. Ivey Air, the premier HVAC company of the Bensalem, PA area, is now offering service maintenance agreements for heating and air conditioning units of residential and commercial properties. Their affordable maintenance agreements are performed on a routine basis so that their customers do not have to worry about when their unit should be serviced.



A neglected HVAC unit becomes prone to rusting, dust, and dirt that can cause components to deteriorate. To prevent breakdowns and repairs, the system is thoroughly inspected and cleaned by the technicians of Ivey Air. By locking in a maintenance agreement, property owners reap the benefits of eliminating surprise repairs, avoiding breakdowns, extending the life of the unit, and saving money on energy or fuel bills. Multiple maintenance agreement packages are available from which to choose, which allow homeowners and commercial business to manage the expense according to their budget.



Ivey Air operates with trained service technicians who approach every preventative maintenance service with respect to the property and commitment to providing superb customer service. If an issue is detected during the maintenance service, the property owner will be informed of the problem and what the best option is for fixing it. With their quality preventative maintenance agreements, Ivey Air strives to achieve guaranteed satisfaction for their cooling and heating services in Bucks County, PA. To inquire about their maintenance agreements, call 215-695-4170.



About Ivey Air

Ivey Air is a Levittown, Pennsylvania-based heating, cooling and ventilation service, repair and installation business servicing both residential and commercial property owners in and around the Levittown, PA area. They provide improvement services for indoor air quality, including air duct and ventilation cleaning and air filtration systems.



For more information, please visit http://www.iveyair.com.
Trondheim, Norway -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/07/2016 -- Golden Way Media announced their new online presence analysis and audit.



This agency offers real time analytics, in-page analytics, market analysis, content auditing, competitor auditing, customer auditing, and influencer analysis. Golden Way Media company also create "personas", which is an effective way to understand the needs of businesses' users while prioritizing the features and functionality of their personalized strategy for success. Some of the useful features within Golden Way Media's analytics program include: custom filters, automated tasks, event tracking, funnel visualization, assisted conversions, visitor flow, reverse goal paths, plus many more services dependent on what a company requires.



"We work closely with our clients when establishing goals and objectives for their online activity. Our team of experts uses a wide range of industry-tested tools, resources and techniques for an accurate analysis of your business, customers and competition. At the end of our analysis and audit, we submit a comprehensive report on our findings, which includes clear and informed recommendations about the next steps to take." Says Maria Johnsen,CEO and founder.



A thorough audit identifies and rectifies any potential obstacles to the performance of a website and helps build the foundation for a business's wider, digital marketing efforts. The complete analysis provides comprehensive design recommendations, content marketing strategies and a plan that guarantees the support of any business needs and objectives. It also allows setting and defining appropriate aims and goals which play an important role in a company's personalized marketing campaigns.



About Golden Way Media

Golden Way Media's team of specialists consistently delivers outstanding results combining creative ideas with our vast experience. They can help you build a sustainable, meaningful relationship with your clients by engaging them with your brand using social media.



They work in areas as diverse as search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing and digital marketing.



Golden Way Media's vision is to change the way businesses speak, listen and share online. Agency started by search engine and hyperpolyglot web enthusiast Maria Johnsen in Trondheim, Norway. The company's multilingual search engine optimization quickly rose to the Top in the world! Golden Way Media created multilingual SEO as a new search engine optimization trend and received many projects worldwide. In October 2011, the company established multilingual social media marketing in Europe, North America and Asia.



In February 2012 Golden Way Media's social media optimization services used by some of the top companies in the UK, USA, Eastern Europe, South Korea, China, Germany, France and Canada. The company served in favor of various political campaigns in Germany, USA, Canada, France, Italy and Greece.



In 2014 Golden way Media launched their mobile marketing campaigns in South Africa, Europe and North America.



In 2016, Golden Way Media experts promote multilingual campaigns in various niches in Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Malaysia.



Media Contact:

Address: Trondheim Norway

Phone: +47(0) 90612731

Email: sales@golden-way-media.com

Url: http://www.golden-way-media.com/company-online-presence-analysis-and-audit/
Quito, Ecuador -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/07/2016 -- Opuntia Hotels, a premier and sustainably-focused hotel collection located throughout the Galapagos Islands, is proud to introduce Volcano Hotel, Casita de la Playa and Golden Bay Hotel & Spa. These three new premium and comfort class properties are an addition to their already stellar Opuntia Hotels collection. Staying true to the Opuntia mission and hotel landscape, the properties showcase an array of luxury and modern-rustic decor that elicit the unique beauty of the natural Galapagos Islands surroundings.



Located on Isabela Island, Volcano Hotel is a ten room reconceptualized boutique hotel adjacent to the beach. Nearly every room on-property boasts oceanfront views. The comfort class property was rebuilt and refitted in December 2015, undergoing a floor-to-ceiling renovation, opening its doors to travelers in January 2016. The modern three-story property offers ocean accessibility and close proximity to the center of town in Puerto Villamil. Rates at Volcano Hotel start at $145 per night based on double occupancy.



Newly opened Casita de la Playa, also located on Islabela Island, offers ocean view room accommodations alongside a relaxing beachfront lounge. Previously a beach house repurposed into a twelve room comfort class boutique hotel, Casita de la Playa offers guests the experience of privilege and privacy amoung the Galapagos Islands. With a grand opening in March 2016, rates at Casita de la Playa start at $165 per night based on double occupancy.



Tucked into a beautiful bay on San Cristobal Island Golden Bay Hotel & Spa, a 21-room, ocean front property, offers world-class comfort and service. This premium class property showcases a luxurious modern design that also adheres to the environmental demands of the Galapagos Islands. Guests are invited to enjoy gourmet meals from the on-property restaurant, relaxing services from the spa, a dip in the infinity pool, or the beautiful surroundings while lounging on a panoramic terrace.



The property also offers a supervised children's playroom if mom and dad want to have some time alone. Rates at Golden Bay Hotel & Spa start at $273 per night based on double occupancy.



In addition to these hotel offerings, guests are also able to couple their stay with a multitude of wildlife excursions throughout the Galapagos Islands through Opuntia eco-journeys.



Opuntia Hotels is part of Neotropic Expeditions, a team of travel experts that arrange every detail of personalized journeys, from hiking and kayaking, to biking, swimming, snorkeling, wildlife encounters and beach exploration.



For more information on hotels, expeditions and tours offered, please visit http://www.opuntiahotels.com



Media Contact:

Audra Clemons Media Services

Audra Clemons-Abreu

audraclemonspr@gmail.com

http://www.audraclemons.com

831-252-6101
A new single-dose vaccine against Rift Valley fever has shown promising results in livestock, paving the way for human trials later this year, researchers say.

Rift Valley fever  a mosquito-borne viral disease present in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula  mostly affects animals, but can also infect humans. At the moment, no vaccines are available for humans and those widely used in livestock have major safety concerns, scientists write in a paper published last month (5 February) in Scientific Reports.

A large section of the genetic material in the chimpanzee adenovirus ChAd was deleted to prevent the virus from being able to reproduce in human or animals after vaccination. George Warimwe, University of Oxfords Jenner Institute, United Kingdom

In trials carried out in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, they tested an experimental vaccine that could one day be used to treat both humans and livestock. It uses parts of a chimpanzee virus with a record of safe use in human and livestock vaccinations.

The vaccine also incorporates a gene for a Rift Valley fever virus protein, which is recognised by the animal or human immune system, causing antibodies to be produced against the Rift Valley fever virus, explains lead author George Warimwe, an immunologist at the University of Oxfords Jenner Institute in the United Kingdom.

The researchers found that the vaccine is safe for humans and animals, and eliminated the Rift Valley fever virus from the blood.

A large section of the genetic material in the chimpanzee adenovirus ChAd was deleted to prevent the virus from being able to reproduce in human or animals after vaccination, and the immune system rapidly clears the virus, says Warimwe, who tested the vaccine in sheep, goats and cattle in Kenya.

In Saudi Arabia, the research team also tested the vaccine on camels, which can transmit the virus to other animals without showing symptoms, and the results were positive with no side effects, says coauthor Ayman El-Behiry, a microbiologist at Qassim University there.

Ahmed El-Sanousi, a virologist at Cairo Universitys faculty of veterinary medicine in Egypt, praises the new vaccine for its low cost, ease of preparation and high safety.

The new technique can be used in an average laboratory, unlike [other vaccines] that need a highly equipped lab, he says, adding that a similar approach could be used to develop vaccines against other infectious diseases such as malaria , tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The next step will be human clinical trials later this year, Warimwe says. The team will also test the vaccine in livestock field trials in East Africa and seek licensing for veterinary use. Results from both trials are expected by the end of 2017, Warimwe adds.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) said that on 28 December 2012 an inspector found that the vessel Chennan managed by China Navigation had operated using non-compliant heavy fuel oil within 24 miles of the coast on 12 occasions on four voyages between 5 August and 28 December 2012. The offences were committed while enroute and departing the Port of Los Angeles.

Ships using heavy diesel fuels are a significant contributor to Californias air quality problems, even in communities located far from our coast, said CARB enforcement division Chief Todd Sax. Thats why we check vessels nearly every day to ensure that they are compliant with our strict clean air laws. When we identify a violation, we educate the fleet owner and crew on how to comply with our requirements, and we assess penalties as a deterrent to future noncompliance.

It noted that China Navigation took prompt actions once notified of the violations and in addition to paying a fine, the company agreed to comply with all fuel switchover requirements and to keep accurate records going forward.
The trial phase includes the locks, valves, electricity and control checks.

We are going through an intense phase of both technical and functioning trials. More than 2,000 technical trials are conducted at both the Atlantic and Pacific sectors, where we are already operating several systems from the main control tower, informed Jose Pelaez, project manager for GUPC.

GUPC consortium comprises Sacyr of Spain, Salini - Impregilo of Italy, Jan De Nul of Belgium and Constructora Urbana, SA (CUSA) of Panama.

The machinery building located at the expansion waterway, are almost finished, leaving smalls details to be completed, and mainly the integration of all electric and hydraulic-mechanical component, with the control building.

Moreover, the technical trials will spread over two months nonstop, before we move to the navigation trial, expected to begin at the end of May. Currently, this new waterway has achieved almost all major requirements demanded by the customer as they are, the time stipulated for opening and closing the gates, the times to fill the locks, seals capabilities and the water saving basins, said GUPC in a statement.

The fleet of tugs of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has 46 units to assist the transit of ships and four to attend dredging operations. The transit fleet, has 37 tugboats in the active fleet, of which 23 operate regularly supporting the transit of ships through the Panama Canal. To this fleet it will provide scheduled maintenance or planned, as well as those corrective maintenance or repairs for damage that may occur during operation.

Additionally, nine tugs are kept in the reserve fleet, and anticipating the next start of operations of the third set of locks, this situation is used to maintain and do remedial work required so that the fleet is available. The ACP has invested since 2000 to date some $372.8m for the acquisition of new tugs for replacement and addition of equipment to the fleet.

According to the ACP the expansion programme is 96% complete.
Owned by China's Golden Soar Development, the vessel is currently being held in Subic Bay with a cargo of palm kernels and 21 North Korean crew members on board.

Philippines coast guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told the press: "We will probably keep it in Subic pending our request for guidance on its disposition."

According to his statement, the ship's 21 North Korean crew members "Are remaining there."

"They have provisions of their own," said Balilo. "They won't try to escape."

This is in compliance with the UN Security Council resolution that calls for sanctions, said Charles Jose, a spokesperson for the Philippine foreign ministry. The most important thing is to impound the vessel so it cannot engage in economic activity that could benefit North Korea.

The news comes in spite of a statement last week by coast guard commander Raul Belesario, who told the Associated Press that no suspicious materials were found on board.

With the introduction of tough new United Nations sanctions banning exports of coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium and rare earth minerals from the DPRK, as well as imports of aviation and rocket fuel. The firm was blacklisted following its implication in a 2013 weapon smuggling operation, which involved Russian MiG fighters and missile parts.
A routine best-practice audit instigated in May 2015 found that test results of four-stroke marine engines built at the companys factory in Trieste, Italy, were being deliberately fabricated in as many as 2% of cases, thanks to testing staff taking shortcuts in the words of chairman Mikhael Lilius.

Based on our current analysis, the deviations have been caused by a limited number of personnel, who have clearly acted against work instructions and our code of conduct by influencing the test results, said the company in a statement.

The company stressed that only four-stroke engines were affected, with an average deviation of 1% of fuel consumption. There is no relation to emissions tests, confirmed Lilius. The company said a couple of hundred engines were impacted.

Despite the deviations, affected engines fulfilled all regulatory and classification requirements, as well as sea trial requirements. Wartsila's record-breaking 31 engine, unveiled just after the audit begain, was not affected by the findings.

We have changed our processes and how we audit them going forward, said Lilius, despite the company saying audits were annual the discrepancies took place across several years.

While Wartsila does have incentive schemes for its employees, the company maintained these had no bearing on the fraudulent test results.

"What is happening inside the group is not acceptable and we are taking appropriate action," Lilus said.

We realise that this is a reputational issue and we will do everything to restore confidence to our stakeholders. We have started to reach out to all of our customers, explaining what has happened and what the consequences are.

"Wartsila requires all its employees to act in accordance with internal guidelines as well as laws and regulations. We deeply apologise for any loss in trust caused by this violation to our policies and corporate values, and we will immediately start reaching out to our customers", said president and ceo of Wartsila Jaakko Eskola.
Press Release

March 7, 2016 Give direct to LGUs their share of mining taxes - Sen. Marcos

Bongbong calls for close gov't monitoring of compliance of mining firms with environmental laws Local government units (LGUs) should be given directly their share of mining taxes. This was the position aired by vice presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. as he reiterated his support to the clamor of LGUs for direct remittance of their share in the taxes for exploration and utilization of mineral resources in their localities. "We have been pushing for that for a long time but the national government steadfastly opposed this move," said Marcos. Marcos noted that according to the current practice, the share of LGU in national wealth taxes has to be remitted first to the national government and will remain in government coffers for three years before it is finally given to the concerned LGU. "We have conducted a hearing on this and mining companies agree to our position that they should directly remit to the LGU their share of the taxes instead of having to remit it first to the national government. I believe that this is what should be done," Marcos said. Despite this, Marcos said the national government continues to oppose such proposal. "Everybody agrees, except the Palace," said Marcos. Marcos has filed Senate Bill No. 133 mandating automatic appropriation and release to the concerned local government unit (LGU) of their 40 percent share in national wealth taxes as part of his advocacy to promote the welfare of LGUs in the country. Marcos also called for close monitoring of practices of mining companies, particularly their compliance to regulations safeguarding the environment. Reports earlier said that according to estimate of experts the Philippines has the fifth richest mineral in the world. On a per hectare bases, the country ranks 3rd in gold, 4th in copper, 5th in nickel and 6th in chromite. With such mineral wealth mining can become a key driver to economic growth of the country, according to economists. Marcos agrees but stressed that mining practices should be tempered with proper regulation and close monitoring. "If mining companies do not comply with environmentally-friendly mining practices, they can cause massive damage to the environment and destroy the source of livelihood of many of our citizens," Marcos warned. The senator pointed out that there are existing technologies that mining companies can be required to adopt to prevent disasters that could not only damage the environment but also pose danger to the lives of the residents in mining areas. "But it is important that the government is always there, closely monitoring the operation of mining companies to ensure they are not cutting corners and that all the environmental safeguards provided for in the laws are faithfully complied with," Marcos stressed.
Press Release

March 7, 2016 POE CHAMPIONED BILLS FOR POOR - SPOKESMAN Partido Galing at Puso Spokesman Mayor Rex Gatchalian underscored that leading presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe has authored and co-authored significant laws that would benefit the poor, refuting unfounded claims by women members of a group calling themselves the Kapatiran ng Makabayang Kababaihan. "It's sad and alarming that as the elections draw nearer and nearer, Senator Poe's critics continue to spew more and more lies and half-truths against her. On top of this, they have also resorted to creating fictitious organizations to serve as venom bearers. Their acts of desperation started with attacking Senator Poe's personal life - her citizenship and residency, now they have descended on what seems to be phase 2 of their attack script - questioning her performance in the Senate. There is absolutely no truth that Senator Poe did not perform her sworn duties. The Senate records stand as a witness to her accomplishments in the chamber. These records will bear her out and speak the truth that she has championed bills that provide solutions to every Filipino's daily woes. She has also decisively led investigations of key issues facing our country. Senator Poe will not be distracted by these low-handed attacks. She will continue to focus her campaign efforts on her advocacy, Gobyernong may Puso," Gatchalian said. Poe has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments at the Senate. She has two laws under her belt, Republic Act 10639, otherwise known as the "Free Mobile Texts During Disasters Act"; and Republic Act 10640 which streamlines the "Three-Witness Rule" of the Dangerous Drugs Act governing the seizure and custody of drugs. She also co-authored six bills that became laws: R.A. 10635 (MARINA Act), R.A. 10644 (GO Negosyo Act), R.A. 10645 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act), R.A. 10653 (Income Tax Exemption of 13th Month Pay), R.A. 10654 (Amending the Fisheries Code) and R.A. 10659 (Sugarcane Industry Development Act). Poe has authored/co-authored a total of 231 measures to date, addressing such issues as protection of the environment, human rights, children's welfare, gender sensitivity and non-discrimination, health workers' concerns, sound economy, business competitiveness, livelihood and employment. She spearheaded the passage of the Freedom of Information bill in the Senate, which seeks to improve transparency and accountability in government by allowing Filipinos greater access to government records and transactions. When Congress resumes its session in May, the Filipino people can expect the Third Reading approval and eventual signing of the landmark law The New Anti-Carnapping Act of the Philippines, which addresses the increasing incidence of carnapping in the country, and the Closed-Caption System bill (Senate Bill No. 2239) which mandates TV networks to incorporate closed-captioning systems for the hearing impaired. Two of her bills are likewise in the advanced stages of legislation: the Film Tourism Act (SB 2271) which aims to promote the Philippines as a prime shooting destination for foreign films, and the Bill Strengthening Drug Rehabilitation (SB 2843), which allows drug rehabilitation as one of the options in the PhilHealth coverage that may be availed of by a member. Among Poe's other notable measures are the "Sustansiya sa Batang Pilipino" Act (SB 79) which seeks to eradicate child malnutrition by establishing a national school-feeding program in all public schools; Corporate Farming Act (SB 2089) which seeks to improve agricultural productivity by providing incentives to farmers and cooperatives; and the "Tulong sa Kabataan sa Agrikultura" Act (SB 1282) which aims to encourage young people to go into farming by providing scholarships grants in agri-fisheries and related courses. With the support of colleagues, Poe championed the initiative in the 2015 Budget Law for an institutionalized free lunch feeding program for public school kids nationwide to address malnutrition and produce able Filipinos, as contained in her Sustansya para sa Batang Pilipino bill. About two million children in public schools will benefit from the government's P3.2-billion feeding program this school year, marking the first time the initiative will be carried out extensively - to include all nutritionally "severely wasted" and "wasted" pupils nationwide. Poe has also filed Senate Bill 2755, which seeks to provide Filipino children full protection and support, especially from day one in the womb until they reach the age of two. Under the measure, mothers and children will be protected from malnutrition through a comprehensive health care program for pregnant and lactating women as well as the health and nutrition of children from conception to 1,000 days. It was in the hearings on the issues of the MRT malfunctions and the Mamasapano incident that Poe showed her leadership qualities, presiding the hearings with objectivity and depth. She recently led an investigation into the nefarious activities of alleged drug lords in Iloilo City vis-a-vis the brazen attempt to curtail media freedom of Aksyon Radyo Iloilo.
Press Release

March 7, 2016 POE TO HARNESS PH'S TREMENDOUS TOURISM POTENTIAL SAMBOAN, CEBU - As the campaign season enters its fifth week, top presidential contender Grace Poe is even more convinced that tourism can be a great driver of economic growth in the country. Speaking to media in Samboan, a small town in Cebu known for its waterfalls and natural beauty, Poe said it was important for candidates to see and experience the country if the government wants to effectively promote tourism. Travel and tourism contributed P1.44 trillion or 11.2 percent of the Philippines' Gross Domestic Product in 2014, and this is forecast to increase to P2.58 trillion in 2025, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported. The sector also directly created 1.26 million jobs or 3.3 percent of total employment in the Philippines in 2014, according to the WTTC. Counting the jobs indirectly supported by tourism, the industry would account for 4.3 million jobs or 11.1 percent of total employment in the country. "Tourism is one sector we need to harness and improve so we can have more jobs for our countrymen," said Poe, who along with her running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero, and local officials, went to Samboan's Aguinid Falls. "Pag tinanong ako kung ano ang pwedeng gawin sa lugar nito, I can speak with authority and convincingly about the beauty of our country," she said in a press conference. The senator, who is pushing for infrastructure development to boost tourism and business investments in rural areas, said it would help the local government units, especially in remote islands, if candidates on the campaign trail can promote the beauty of the places they visit. Since the official campaign period began on February 9, Poe has been to Abra, Benguet, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Zamboanga Sibugay, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Iloilo, Bukidnon and Gensan, among others. Poe's visit to Samboan, and later to Bantayan Island, also in Cebu, is her second campaign sortie in the province. Her first visit was in Toledo and Camotes Island-another place that has been noted by international travel magazines for its authentic island vibe-for meetings with supporters. "We want to cover as many places and meet as many people. I like visiting different sights in the provinces," Poe said. The annual World's Best islands List by a renowned travel magazine consistently includes Palawan, Cebu and Boracay, generating buzz among international travelers. Last year, the Department of Tourism said there were 5.36 million visitors to the country, 10 percent higher than 2014 figures.
Press Release

March 7, 2016 POE GETS INPUT ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION FROM COASTAL LGUS SAMBOAN, CEBU - Buoyed by her lead standing in recent surveys, presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe is making the rounds in the country's coastal towns in the Visayas to help local governments find ways to be more resilient during disasters. Poe and running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero, visited Bantayan island and Samboan in Cebu to meet with local government officials and get their input on how to reduce their vulnerability to disasters and achieve national resilience. "The focus of our visit to these areas is to figure out a good government initiative for the NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council). We are trying to put up a separate department for risk reduction so we need to be able to have input from the local governments when it comes to national resilience," Poe said in a press conference in Samboan. Should she win the presidency, Poe said her administration will create a department-level and independent Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority that will not only prepare for calamities but also build and sustain disaster-resilient and adaptive communities across the country. The head of the agency will have a cabinet rank. Poe said she wants to get on the ground and see for herself what needs to be done. "Ang importante dito sa pagpunta namin ay pakikipag-usap sa kababayan, sa mga fisherfolk communities," she said. Poe, who remains the top choice in pre-election presidential surveys, said she wants to run a campaign that will not only allow her to share her platform but also help her get valuable insights from the people. "Mas lalong tumitindi ang aming layunin at mas nagkakaroon kami ng inspirasyon na umikot sa ating bansa hindi lamang para makita ang mga kababayan kundi pakinggan din sila kung ano'ng nais nilang idagdag sa aming plataporma at ialay din sa kanila ang plataporma namin," she said. Accompanied by local officials and media, Poe and Escudero also toured the famous Aguinid waterfalls in Samboan before heading to Bantayan island, another famous beach destination in Cebu.
Press Release

March 7, 2016 MIRIAM EYES IMPROVED 4Ps Presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago on Monday pledged to improve the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) if elected in May with the hope of lifting more Filipinos out of poverty. Santiago, who authored a bill that seeks to institutionalize the 4Ps as early as 2009, said she will plug leakages in the flagship poverty alleviation program that has spanned two administrations and reduce the cost of running it. "We need to invest in our people. Only by investing in people can we truly make growth inclusive. Only if the young are educated and healthy can they benefit from growing economic prosperity," the senator said. Santiago proposes to match the 4Ps with a grant-for work program. This means that if either the mother or father in a beneficiary family works, the family will get higher stipends. "There is more pride in working than in getting dole-outs," she said. In Senate Bill No. 2858 filed in July 2015, Santiago also sought to expand the reach of the 4Ps to include children aged 15 to 18 years old in order to ensure that the current beneficiaries will finish high school. To reduce the administrative cost of running the 4Ps, Santiago said she will involve local government units, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) still supervising the program's implementation. "LGUs should be involved so that they will also get credit for the 4Ps. DSWD has no monopoly of righteousness. Besides, social welfare is a devolved function. Local authorities should be given a chance to prove their worth," she said. Despite accolades, the government's conditional cash transfer program has been hugely controversial, because of allegations of corruption and lack of absorptive capacity of the implementing agencies, primarily the DSWD. Santiago said that her administration will create an inter-agency council that will oversee and implement the program. "We should also put in place mechanisms to penalize those who use the program for personal or political gain," she added.
PEORIA, Ariz.  Sonny Gray is such a positive force in the As clubhouse, hes now got imitators.

No. 5 starter Chris Bassitt was tipping his pitches last year, and tried all sorts of things to fix it. Finally, he drew inspiration from Oaklands ace.

I was watching Sonny and I thought, I might as well try something else. The very last start in Seattle, I tried it and I liked it and everyone was like, Youre not tipping anymore, so I was like, All right, lets run with it, Bassitt said Sunday after pitching two scoreless innings in his first spring start, a 6-5 Oakland win over the Padres.

Bassitt used to face the plate during his setup. Now, like Gray, hes oriented more toward first base and working almost out of the stretch.

It makes my delivery a lot smoother, and I feel a lot more under control, Bassitt said.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander first tried it in his final start of last season, at Seattle, and thought it felt comfortable.

Then he worked out with Gray and David Price in Nashville during the winter and took full advantage of being able to study Gray.

You can ask Sonny a million questions. Hes an unbelievable guy, hes so smart, Bassitt said. Sonny is so good. Pretty much everything he says is somehow right. You just laugh at it.

Bassitt looked sharp Sunday, particularly in pitching out of a one-out, men-at-second-and-third situation in the first, getting consecutive grounders and remaining unscored upon. His second and final inning, he got two more grounders and a strikeout.

The whole groundball thing, thats always been my MO, he said. When you see those, it means what Im throwing is working.

This spring is much more relaxed for Bassitt, who has been pretty firmly notched into the rotation. Last year at this time, he was new to the organization, part of the Jeff Samardzija deal with the White Sox. He had a dreadful Cactus League season, going 1-2 with an 8.78 ERA and was sent down to work on throwing inside more effectively.

Bassitt described this spring as a 180. Last spring was so hectic. Self-induced, but it was going a million miles an hour, trying to make a good impression. ... I was trying to throw 200 miles an hour and make everything perfect.

I learned a valuable lesson  dont try to overdo everything. Last year everything was so sped up for me; this year everything is the opposite.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @susanslusser
Quanex Building Products on Monday reported a net loss of $7.2 million for the first quarter.

The Houston-based maker of window and door components such as frames and insulation said the loss, which equates to 21 cents per share, is greater than the $3.1 million loss in net income, or 9 cents per share, it reported in the first quarter last year.

However, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, a commonly used measure of company operations, was $10.8 million, up from $2.3 million a year ago.

"Despite the fact that the first quarter of each year is typically challenging for our industry, we are off to a strong start in 2016 and at this time we are confident the full year 2016 guidance we previously provided is achievable," CEO Bill Griffiths said in a statement. "Our continued focus on operational excellence is the primary reason for the margin improvements during the quarter, most notably in our vinyl profiles business in North America."

Vinyl profiles are plastic sheets used to make window and door frames.

Quanex increased its sales by 58 percent from a year ago with the addition of some recent acquisitions. In November, the company bought Woodcraft Industries, moving into wood doors and cabinetry production. That deal was expected to bring $240 million in annual revenue. And in June Quanex said it bought HL Plastics, a U.K. company, to expand in Europe.
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Bola Bamiduro is bringing Texas to Bridgeport.

The Danbury resident said theres a lack of good barbecue in the area, and her new restaurant, Connecticut BBQ, at 1450 Barnum Ave., is looking to fill that void.

There isnt anything like it around, Bamiduro said. Knowing the demographics in the area, we thought people would appreciate the food and the healthy portions we offer.

Connecticut BBQ opened earlier this year at the former site of Zekes Bar and Grill, a short walk from Bridgeport Hospital. The reception has already been positive.

People have been very responsive, she said. People like the barbecue concept, the appetizers, the ambience. Were trying to have a friendly establishment and looking to build a repeat customer base.

She said customers split about 50-50 between people who walk from the neighborhood and those who drive in from farther out. The restaurants parking lot has space for 150 cars.

This is Bamiduros first venture owning a restaurant, but she said her husband, Paul, has extensive experience in the industry, including owning restaurants.

Were a classic barbecue place, and we make everything on premises, Paul Bamiduro said. From collard greens to corn bread, we make it right here, and thats what makes us different.

He said the classic Texas-style barbecue restaurant gives local residents an alternative to driving long distances for dinner. You dont have to drive all the way to Milford or down to Nowalk, he said.

The establishment has a full bar with 100 seats and a dining room with 70 to 80 more seats. There are seven employees.

Bola Bamiduro said there are plans for a second Connecticut BBQ, possibly in New Haven or Waterbury. But Bridgeport made sense for their first venture.

I know the city is up and coming, and I hear a lot of good things about the citys future, she said. Its about the demand, the costs, the need, all those things.

In 2011, Dickeys Barbecue Pit, the biggest barbecue fast food chain in the country, opened in Bridgeports North End, but it has since closed. A handful of other restaurants serve barbecue in the city and surrounding towns, but Bamiduro said theres a clear need for her establishment.

Its a challenge being in a new space just to let people know youre there, but weve been working to develop a consistent business, she said, adding that warmer weather will have a big impact.

Were striking the right mix as we go into the change of seasons, she said. Were getting into the time of year where people want to go someplace to hang out for a while.

Connecticut BBQ is open Tuesday through Friday from 2 p.m. to midnight, and Saturday and Sunday noon to midnight. Call 203-612-8250 for information.

hbailey@ctpost.com; 203-330-6233; @hughsbailey
With origins in aircraft engines dating back to 1913, Bayerische Motorenwerke officially formed in 1916. You know the brand now as BMW.

BMW is celebrating its first 100 years today, with the unveiling of an autonomous concept car in Munich.
A federal magistrate is recommending that prosecutors seeking to convict Pacific Gas and Electric Co. of obstructing the investigation into the San Bruno pipeline disaster be given confidential emails between the company and its lawyers, which the government believes will show that the attorneys were involved in the alleged obstruction, The Chronicle has learned.

The magistrates recommendation has not been made public, but on Friday PG&E filed sealed court motions to support an objection to her findings. The challenge means the judge overseeing the criminal trial against PG&E must settle the issue of whether the contested emails will be given to federal prosecutors.

If U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson goes along with the recommendation from Magistrate Maria-Elena James, PG&Es trial on the obstruction charge and 12 counts of violating pipeline safety laws may well be delayed months beyond its scheduled March 22 opening in San Francisco.

Hendersons ruling could come as soon as Monday, when he is scheduled to consider several motions in a case that stems from the federal investigation into the September 2010 gas-pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in San Bruno.

No current or former PG&E employees are charged with crimes, but the company itself faces as much as $500 million in fines if convicted.

Crucial to case

The dispute over the emails began last year, when federal prosecutors identified seven communications between PG&E executives and the companys criminal attorneys, from the law firm Latham and Watkins, that concerned a document at the heart of the obstruction case.

That document was a letter PG&E sent to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board in April 2011, seven months after the explosion. The investigators were looking into PG&E practices that might have caused the blast, and one area they were focusing on was the companys avoidance of costly pipeline inspections that the federal government requires after gas-pressure surges.

Such inspections are intended to ensure that pressure spikes havent damaged critical pipeline parts such as welds, like the one that failed and contributed to the San Bruno blast. Before the explosion, PG&E never conducted the costly inspections, opting for a less-expensive method that could not detect a bad weld.

Internal document

In March 2011, The Chronicle reported that PG&E had decided it would test for weld problems on its older lines only if pressure on the pipes had spiked to a level 10 percent above the standard defined under federal rules, according to an internal company document instructing operators how to manage the gas-transmission system.

A month later, PG&E executives said the policy document was only a draft and indicated that it had never been in effect. We have no indication that it was ever approved, PG&E gas official William Hayes said of the policy in an April 6, 2011, letter to National Transportation Safety Board investigators.

The indictment of PG&E says that denial was an obstruction of justice. It says investigators turned up records that showed PG&E repeatedly used the policy to avoid testing lines like the one that exploded in San Bruno.

Court documents show that prosecutors sought the emails and other documents to verify their theory that Latham and Watkins lawyers suggestions went into the drafting of Hayes letter  and amounted to part of the alleged obstruction of the San Bruno investigation.

To support their case, prosecutors cited Hayes testimony before the federal grand jury that indicted PG&E. Hayes testified that although he signed the letter, he did not write it. He said he had gotten the letter to sign from attorneys, but that he did not remember their names.

Attorney-client talks

Last year, PG&E said it was resisting turning over 140 pages of documents to prosecutors, apparently including the emails. It maintained that the documents were confidential communications between the attorneys and their client. Prosecutors later pressed for disclosure of the seven emails, arguing that the privilege does not extend to attorneys fraudulent or deceptive conduct.

James recommendation to Judge Henderson remains under seal, but sources with knowledge of her findings told The Chronicle that she said some of the seven emails should be turned over to the U.S. attorneys office.

If Henderson agrees, PG&E is likely to appeal. If the company ultimately has to turn over the emails, it will almost certainly have to find new attorneys to defend it, something that could delay the trial for months.

Prosecutors have argued that it would be a conflict of interest for attorneys involved in the preparation of the letter at the heart of the obstruction charge to defend the company against that very charge. They also said they needed to see the communications if the company invoked an advice of counsel defense, essentially blaming the letter on attorneys.

If the records show that an attorney wrote the misleading letter to the NTSB regarding PG&Es policies or directed someone else to do so, and PG&E is relying on that advice in an effort to negate its corrupt intent, there is a potential conflict this court will need to address, prosecutors said in a motion filed in October.

The company has since told Henderson it will not use that defense, that as a result, prosecutors are not entitled to see the emails. A spokesman for PG&E did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Pretty common

Rory Little, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco who has been both a criminal defense lawyer and prosecutor, said government efforts to force companies to disclose communications with lawyers are not unusual.

This is pretty common in white-collar corporate criminal investigations, for attorney communications to come under scrutiny, Little said. But its not that common for a magistrate judge to agree with prosecutors that the documents need to be examined.

Even if Henderson orders the emails turned over on the grounds they may be part of the obstruction case, the chances that the lawyers could actually be charged with obstruction are remote, Little said. Usually, prosecutors dont go any further, he said.

Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jvanderbeken
REVENGE OF THE NERDS:

Who or what can stop Donald Trump from being the Republican party nominee for President? His momentum is like a grease fire and his opponents keep throwing water on it, making the flames larger. Befuddled and out of options, anti-Trump forces are slowly coming to the realization that the only people who can save them are the nerds who care about the fine print in the convention rules book. Bureaucracy is a blob that can smother even the fires of Trump, proving once again that the geek shall inherit the Earth.

Question: Doesn't the person who wins the most votes get the nomination?

No. Now this is a fact that the anti-Trump crowd might actually find appalling and comforting at the same time. One can't help but question a system that prizes voters wishes after watching the Republican frontrunner for the Presidency assure America that is "no problem" with his penis size during a debate. For better or worse, there are two ways to stop a Trump nomination despite his popularity.

SCENARIO ONE:

Trump wins the most states but does not get a majority of delegates needed to clinch the nomination. This is the "brokered convention" or "open convention" that you often hear about. This is what Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio are publicly acknowledging is their path to winning the nomination. Here's how it works: at the convention all those delegates who have arrived with marching orders will vote the way they must per the primary voting results. For example, all 50 of the South Carolina delegates have to vote for Donald Trump. After that first round, because no one has a majority, there will be no winner. And that's where things get interesting.

After that one fruitless round of voting, about a thousand delegates are unbound and free to start voting however they want. (After two rounds with no winner voting, another 500 delegates are unbound.) Remember that only 1237 delegates are needed to win. This mass of unbound delegates can then anoint a nominee. That nominee could be Marco Rubio. It could be Paul Ryan. It could be Lady GaGa. The nominee need not have been on the ballot in any primary or caucus.

Question: Who is the "broker" at a brokered convention?

It is a misnomer to call the chaos after the Great Unbinding a "brokered convention" because there is no natural broker. (I'll bet some readers never thought they'd see the day when they would wish for an operator like Lyndon Johnson.) A broker could, however, emerge between now and the convention. For example, in a close race, if Kasich wins Ohio and its 66 delegates he could be the de facto broker because his small block could swing the election. (In Ohio, the delegates are picked by the candidates so, while unbound, they are likely to remain loyal to his direction.)

Question: Don't the candidates get to pick the delegates in all the states?

In some states (including California and Ohio) the Republican presidential candidates themselves get to pick or approve delegates, but those loyalists number less than 600. The rest are not. About 200 delegates are party officials or picked by party officials. The other 1700 or so delegates are elected at local or state conventions. Forty-four states elect some or all delegates at conventions.

Question: Who are these convention electeds?

Often they are party officers, people who volunteer for the party and people who donate money to the party (Broadly speaking, Trump's despised "establishment"). But a fired up group like Trump supporters can win delegate seats, too. In 2012, Mitt Romney's campaign team ran ragged trying to prevent motivated Ron Paul supporters from hoovering up delegate seats.

Question: Do the delegates picked at conventions have to like the candidate they are bound to vote for?

No. Delegates are not elected at conventions to "match" the candidate they will be voting for. Conventions are popularity contests. For example, in 2012, Mitt Romney won the Massachusetts primary but then 16 Ron Paul supporters got themselves elected to be delegates. This is just an example of how a person can be a fan of one candidate (say Marco Rubio) and get elected in a state convention to be a delegate even though she'll have to vote for someone else (like Donald Trump).

To recap: an open convention means that many delegates can vote for whomever they want, and

it need not be the person they were sent to elect.

Question: When are the Republican conventions?

They begin in March and the the last wrap up in June. Louisiana holds the first state convention on March 12 and Georgia, Idaho and Oregon wrap up on June 4. In California, the winning candidates choose the delegates who will represent them at the convention, so delegates are not elected at the state convention on April 29 through May 1 in Burlingame.

SCENARIO TWO:

Trump arrives at the convention having won a majority of the delegates.

Before we get into this, I want to be clear that what I am describing is a NUCLEAR OPTION. It could destroy the party and literally result in riots in the streets of Cleveland. It is not probable, only possible.

With that caveat, the way to stop a Trump with a majority of delegates would be to change the rules of the convention before it begins. Each convention must adopt the rules that will govern it. In 2012, for example, the convention adopted Rule 40(b), which stated the following, "Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight (8) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination." This 8 state requirement effectively meant that Ron Paul could not be a nominee, despite the fact that he had won 185 delegates.

In fact, check out this video from the convention when the rules of the convention were presented for approval by the delegates.

As you can see, the Chairman of the convention has the discretion to ignore large swaths of opposition votes from the floor. As for the "8 state rule" - it can, and probably will, change. Rule 40(b) was temporary and a new set of rules will have to be adopted for 2016. (In any event Trump already has the majority of delegates from 5 states and will easily get three more, so right now the rule is no barrier for Trump.)

QUESTION: Who gets to be chairman of the Republican Convention in 2016?

In 2016, the chairman could well be the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. The chairman also nominates the parliamentarian (the "rules guru" who gets to decide which motions to change or challenge the rules get heard and which do not) which may wind up being the most important position at the event.

QUESTION: What kind of rule could the convention adopt to prevent a Trump candidacy?

Assuming a majority of delegates are not truly loyal to Trump - meaning that Rubio and Cruz have managed to get their supporters elected delegates in states that have elected Trump - meaning party officials could team up with disloyal delegates to vote to unbind themselves and all delegates. Depending on how the primary elections go, they could vote, as with Ron Paul, to impose some floor that Trump cannot reach. It may seem hard to imagine now, but if Trump loses all elections in June the rules could require that the candidate win a majority of the delegates in a primary within 45 days of the convention. As in 2012, the GOP can be very creative when it wants to exclude a particular candidate.

This Scenario Two move to amend the rules would explode the party and is an option of last

resort. It also depends on Rubio and Cruz - two candidates who can't win their own elections - to get their supporters elected as delegates. But if we have learned anything in this election, it's that anything is possible.
ROTTERDAM  Town police arrested a Coxsackie Correctional Facility corrections officer who they said repeatedly attacked a female acquaintance's vehicle.

John R. Carmichael, 34, damaged the vehicle on six occasions since December, police said.

Investigators identified Carmichael as a suspect early on, Lt. Michael Brown said.

Police set up cameras and stationed police outside the victim's door. At 2:30 a.m. Monday, police saw Carmichael enter the victim's driveway and damage the vehicle with a box cutter.

Police confronted Carmichael, who ran away, leading police on a 1-mile chase through backyards in the direction of his home for 6 to 7 minutes before they took him down, Brown said.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Carmichael was suspended without pay. He has been a corrections officer for since July 2014 and earned about $49,000 a year.

State Police and the DOCCS Office of Special Investigations assisted in the investigation.

Brown said Carmichael damaged the vehicle at least once between the time police identified him as the suspect and the time he was caught.

He is charged with five counts of felony criminal mischief as well as misdemeanor criminal mischief and resisting arrest.

The vehicle sustained about $7,000 worth of damage, police said.

Carmichael was arraigned in Rotterdam Town Court and sent to the Schenectady County Jail, from which he was later released.
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SHELTON  The citys former assistant finance director who pleaded guilty two years ago to stealing nearly $1 million in taxpayer money has been released from prison.

Sharon Scanlon, 51, left York Correctional Institution in Niantic on Jan. 16, the Valley Independent Sentinel reports, after city officials did not object to Scanlon being granted parole. She served about two years, nearly half, of her 54-month sentence.
ATLANTA  A fierce fire roared through a boarding house in Atlanta early Monday, collapsing the building and killing six people, authorities said.

The victims included four men and two women, Atlanta Fire Rescue spokesman Cortez Stafford said. Their names were not immediately available. Stafford said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.

Fire crews were called to the house on the citys northwest side about 5 a.m. Monday. When they arrived, the blaze had already spread through the roof and throughout the building, making it impossible for firefighters to reach some areas of the home, Stafford said.

We got on scene and did the best job we could to try to get inside  there was just too much fire, he told reporters at the scene. He said the single-level structure with a basement had collapsed in on itself.

Fire crews raced to the rear of the home to try to get in but discovered there was no exit there, Stafford told WXIA-TV. Five of the victims were found in the rear of the home and one was found in a front bedroom, he said.

There were two space heaters in the home, which always ran because it was cold in the house, said Jannett Ragland, who said she was at the home in the early-morning hours before the fire. One space heater was in the front of the house, and one was in the back, she said.

The owner of the home allowed people to stay there when they needed to, said Kimberly Wise, a neighbor.

Hours after the fire, the acrid smell of smoke still hung in the air. The roof over about half of the gray house was completely caved-in.
FLINT, Mich.  Ratcheting up the rancor, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tangled aggressively in a Democratic presidential debate Sunday night over trade, Wall Street influence and more, with Clinton accusing him of turning his back on the auto industry and Sanders countering that Clintons friends on Wall Street had destroyed this economy.

It was a marked change in tone for the two Democrats, signaling Sanders increasingly difficult effort to slow the partys front-runner. Both candidates frequently interrupted one another and accused each other of misrepresenting their records.

Lets have some facts instead of some rhetoric for a change, Clinton snapped at one point.

Let me tell my story, you tell yours, Sanders shot back at another. Your story is voting for every disastrous trade amendment and voting for corporate America.

Their disagreements were clear, but still the debates tone was nothing like that of the Republican debate in Detroit just three days earlier, a four-way faceoff that was marked by a steady stream of personal attacks, insults and even sexual innuendo. The Democrats faceoff, in comparison, was a more civil if heated affair.

Sanders chimed in, We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health, and when you watch these Republican debates you know why. Both laughed at that.

Each made a case for being the best candidate to defeat GOP front-runner Donald Trump in a November matchup.

Clinton said shes gotten more votes than Trump in the primaries, and predicted that his bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well on the American people.

Sanders declared: I would love to run against Donald Trump, adding that polls show Sanders vs. Trump does a lot better than Clinton vs. Trump.

Sanders, who argued with considerably more edge than in past debates, pounced early when Clinton spoke about a need to keep jobs from shifting overseas.

I am very glad that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue, he said, then went on to criticize her past support for trade deals that he maintained had disastrous consequences.

In her most pointed thrust, Clinton said Sanders voted against a 2009 bailout of carmakers: If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking 4 million jobs with it.

The debate started on a more conciliatory note, with Clinton joining Sanders in calling for Michigans Republican governor to resign over his handling of the Flint water crisis.

An emotional Sanders said he felt literally shattered by the toxic tap water in Flint and renewed his call for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign. Clinton, who had not previously made that call, added emphatically: Amen to that.

In the race for the Democratic nomination, Clinton has at least 1,130 delegates to Sanders 499, including superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

Just as the debate got underway, Sanders received the welcome news that he had won the Democratic caucuses in Maine, not far from his home state of Vermont. That gives him victories in eight states to 11 wins for Clinton.
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WASHINGTON  Republican leaders in Washington have spent years casting Tea Party allies and hard-liners in Congress as merely a restive minority, a fringe element to be tolerated.

Now, with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz rising to the top of the 2016 GOP presidential primary, those GOP leaders are confronting the possibility that they may be the outliers.

One by one, Washingtons favored candidates have dropped out of the White House race. Those who are left  Marco Rubio and John Kasich  face long odds and sudden-death primaries in their home states next week. In private conversations and public newspaper editorials, talk of a historic splintering of the GOP centers on the prospect of the establishment, not the insurgents, dissolving or breaking away.

Something important is ending. It is hard to believe what replaces it will be better, Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, wrote in a Wall Street Journal column.

Republicans have long grappled with a divide between party leaders and grass-roots supporters. Recent presidential elections papered over the fissures rather than resolved them, with Republicans sending centrist candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney into the general election even as the GOP electorate became more conservative.

Leaders expected the 2016 election to follow the same pattern. Money flowed toward former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents, who seemed to embody the spirit of inclusiveness GOP leaders called for after Romneys staggering lack of success with minority voters in 2012.

But Trump has maintained his grip on the GOP field, with Cruz emerging as his strongest competitor. As establishment favorites like Bush have dropped out, Trumps and Cruzs share of the vote has increased. In a diverse array of states, from Maine to Georgia to Nevada, theyve carried more than 60 percent.

Its a weird election year, said Trent Lott, the former Mississippi senator who is backing Kasich. Depending on how this election turns out, the party may be different.

To some Republicans, that would be welcome.

For the party to fix itself, you need to destroy the establishment lane, said Michael Needham, head of Heritage Action, a conservative group that has pushed for ideological purity among GOP elected officials. The party that well see 10 years from now is going to share a lot of Trumps willingness to speak truth to power, to not be cowed by political correctness.
The Best of the 42nd Northwest Filmmakers Festival Tour, returns to the Billings Public Library for a 2 p.m. screening on Saturday, March 12, in the community room at the Billings Public Library.

This years selections represent a cross-section of film styles, from documentary to animation and narrative short subjects. Highlights include For Jean-Pierre Melville by Portlands Ira Flowers, the story of an assassin caught in a time crunch told in the French New Wave style, and To See More Light, an animated film that casts an intense and imaginative eye on the natural world.

Other films in this years tour represent the work of artists from British Columbia and Washington.

The Northwest Filmmakers Festival is entering its 43rd year at the NW Film Center in Portland, Ore., which is part of the Portland Art Museum and one of the largest and highest-regarded film arts organizations in the country.

The festival receives more than 400 submissions each year from filmmakers living in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The centers website is www.nwfilm.org/festivals/nwfest/.
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WASHINGTON  In a victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the principle that people who adopt a child in one state have a right to have the adoption honored in another state.

The justices in a unanimous opinion rebuked the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to honor a lesbians adoption of three children in Georgia once her partner moved with them to Alabama.

Citing the Constitutions Full Faith and Credit Clause, the high court said states have a duty to honor legal agreements made in other states, and there is no exception for gay adoptions.

As the court noted, two women denoted only as V.L. and E.L. were in a relationship from 1995 until 2011. With the help of assisted reproductive technology, E.L. gave birth to a child in 2002 and to twins in 2004. V.L. formally adopted the children, and the two women raised them as parents.

But in 2011, the two women ended their relationship, and E.L., who moved to Alabama, denied the other womans right to visit the children.

When their dispute moved into court, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled the original adoption in Georgia was invalid and need not be honored.

Lawyers for V.L. appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing state judges should not be allowed to ignore legal adoptions from other states.

Without bothering to hear arguments, the Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Alabama high court.

The Alabama high court ruling comports neither with Georgia law nor common sense, the Supreme Court said Monday. It follows that the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit.

I am overjoyed that the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Alabama court decision, the adoptive mother, V.L., said in a statement issued by her attorney. I have been my childrens mother in every way for their whole lives. I thought that adopting them meant that we would be able to be together always. When the Alabama court said my adoption was invalid and I wasnt their mother, I didnt think I could go on. The Supreme Court has done whats right for my family.

National Center for Lesbian Rights Family Law Director Cathy Sakimura, one of several attorneys who represented V.L., called the courts decision a victory for thousands of families.

The Supreme Courts reversal of Alabamas unprecedented decision to void an adoption from another state is a victory not only for our client but for thousands of adopted families, she said. No adoptive parent or child should have to face the uncertainty and loss of being separated years after their adoption just because another states court disagrees with the law that was applied in their adoption.

The case illustrated legal challenges facing gay and lesbian parents even after the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June that effectively legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jay LaPrete/AP

WASHINGTON  Republican leaders grappled Sunday with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trumps march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz  the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not more.

The Texas senator split contests with Trump in Saturdays voting, bolstering his argument that only he can defeat the real estate mogul. Trump and Cruz are now significantly outpacing Marco Rubio in the delegate count, further shrinking the Florida senators already narrow path to the nomination.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has scheduled a bowhunter education class for April 4-9 at the Billings Rod and Gun Club.

Anyone who hunts during an archery-only season in Montana is required to either complete a FWP bowhunter education class or show proof that they have hunted with a bow and arrows in the past. They also must purchase a bow-and-arrow license in addition to the hunting licenses and tags for each species.

Registration for the April class is online only  students must navigate to the FWP website at http://fwp.mt.gov and follow the links to education, hunter education programs and find a class or field course. After completing their registration, students are required to pick up class materials at the Billings FWP office  2300 Lake Elmo Drive in Billings Heights  or any other FWP regional office in Montana. Before the first day of class, students must read and understand the entire manual and complete all chapter quizzes. Those who have not completed the pre-class work will not be allowed to participate in the class.

Students must be at least 11 years old on the first day of class. Those born after Jan. 1, 1985, also must complete a hunter education class before registering for the bowhunter class. The class is free, but limited to the first 50 students who register.

The April class will run from 6-9 p.m. on April 4 through April 8 and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 9. Additional weeklong and weekend classes and field days for online students will be scheduled for later in 2016.

Students are not required to bring archery equipment to class.
Tom Wilber began an improbable journey by asking one question: What happened to Bernie Rupinski?

The radar intercept officer in the backseat of his father's F-4 jet had never been found after the plane was likely hit by hostile MiG aircraft missiles over Vietnam in 1968. Wilber's father's ejection seat and parachute had fired at the last second, and he survived, even though as a prisoner of war for nearly five years in North Vietnam.

But what about Bernie? What had happened to him?

The military and Rupinski's family assumed that he had died with the crash. However his family never knew about his death, if he was buried or what had happened.

Wilber later became a naval officer, but it wasn't until he became a casualty assistance calls officer  in charge of informing families of casualties  that he began to think more about Rupinski.

In 2010, he started researching the crash, with the support of his father. He checked databases, records, reached out through official channels. Wilber didn't find much at first. After promising his family no more than three trips to Vietnam, Wilber traveled to the country in 2014 to search for clues.

At first, all he had were some maps, a bike and a few contacts he'd made. But it was a chance meeting in a coffee shop where an off-duty police officer there struck up a conversation. The officer was a history buff and knew much about "The American War." He also remembered stories of when a U.S. plane was shot down near there.

Wilber returned to Vietnam again, collected those stories and was able to discover that after his fathers jet had been shot down, it burned for a couple of days. After the flames finally extinguished, a lone teenager found some human remains. He took those and buried them, two days after the crash.

"Knowing brings peace," Wilber said.

From that one very personal experience, Wilber began researching other stories. He set up a nonprofit foundation, Servicemember Recovery Foundation, Inc. And as he continued, he discovered more databases, made more connections. The remains and what happened to nearly 600 servicemen in Vietnam are still unclear.

Wilber will speak at 3 p.m., and again at 7 p.m., in Billings Thursday at Rocky Mountain College's Fortin Center about his efforts.

One of those includes his mission to find more information on Lt. Alan Ashall, a Billings native who was shot down in Vietnam, Aug. 29, 1968.

Ashall served in the same air wing on the USS America as Rupinski, who was shot down two-and-a-half months earlier.

"We were able to poll aviators who deployed in 1968 and gather detailed photos of themselves in the flight suits to confirm the types of flight suits worn by Carrier Air Wing 6 flyers during that particular deployment," Wilber said. "These photos will help the material identification lab to determine if some recently excavated flight suit remnants can be linked to a recently identified crash site that may be where Alan Ashall went down."

As Wilber has traveled to Vietnam, he said the people have been interested in his work, almost universally willing to help.

"There are 93 million people in Vietnam; two-thirds of them are under 35 years old and none of them remember or know much about 'The American War,'" he said.
One of the benefits of living in Montana is access to beautiful and spectacular scenery on Montanas public lands. An outstanding example is the area around the Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Anyone who has floated the upper Missouri River or driven through the monument and the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge understands the importance of preserving these public lands for future generations.

Regrettably, the discussion concerning public lands has been hijacked by the calamity at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It highlights the extremists point of view that the highest and best use of the land is only for a few. Meanwhile, the hard work of compromise among hunters, anglers, ranchers, hikers and others is ignored. The efforts of those who work out of mutual respect and through the Democratic process is largely ignored while a vocal and, in some cases, criminal few gain the headlines.

Currently the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to draft a Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Lewistown Field Office. This public process is an opportunity for Central Montanans to collaborate for better management and conservation of the uniquely valuable wildlife and wildlands along the Missouri and the Musselshell. That's why I encourage The Gazette's readership to reach out to the BLM today (blm_mt_lewistown_rmp@blm.gov) and tell them we should protect these public lands for all Montanans.

Roger Otstot

Billings
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Large excavators are set to raze a cliffside apartment complex in Pacifica this week before Mother Nature and gravity send the building tumbling over the 80-foot ledge into the ocean.

The 20-unit coastal complex at 320 Esplanade Ave. is the second of three structures to be demolished along the imperiled edge where, in recent months, El Nino storms have sped up the cliffs erosion.

We need to demolish it now, Pacifica City Manager Lorie Tinfow said Sunday. Deteriorating conditions on the adjacent bluffs present a clear danger, and demolishing this structure is the only way to prevent it from crumbling to the beach below.

Pacifica city officials will fence off the apartments and begin removing hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead Monday before the excavators come in and demolition work begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Meticulous procedure

Workers will take the building down very carefully to avoid vibration to the cliffside, Pacifica Public Works Director Van Ocampo said.

The red-tagged building was built in the 1960s but has been empty since 2010, when several storms chewed into the delicate sandstone bluffs and pushed the cliff ledge dangerously close to the neighborhood.

The cliffs stayed relatively stable over the past four years, during which time few storms made landfall and the state was locked in a drought. But this years succession of strong winter storms peeled away additional hunks of the cliff and prompted the city to declare a state of emergency.

A strong storm slammed the Bay Area on Saturday night, ripping part of the roof off the abandoned building as waves continued their relentless punishment on the beach below.

Theres nothing you can do about it. These things are going to end up in the ocean, said 69-year-old Harry Rosingana, who drove to Pacifica from Santa Cruz on Sunday morning to get a look at the doomed buildings, now a tourist attraction.

Im just glad Im not the owner, he said. Its just an act of nature. Theres no doubt about it.

Last month, workers leveled the units at 330 Esplanade Ave. to the immediate south of this weeks project. That 12-unit structure was demolished by the buildings owner, Farshid Samsami of Burlingame, who worked with the city to complete the job.

The buildings at 320 and 310, though, have been a source of frustration for the city. The owner, Millard Tong, failed to shore up the cliffside, Tinfow said, and has long neglected to take responsibility for the buildings.

Criminal complaint

Last year, the city of Pacifica filed a criminal misdemeanor complaint against Tong, who pleaded no contest and received three years probation, officials said. Tong has since filed for bankruptcy protection.

Tinfow said she hopes to recover the estimated $200,000 it will cost to demolish the building, and said she hopes Tong will be able to pay when it comes time to take down the units at 310 Esplanade.

Tong did not immediately return phone calls Sunday.

The units at 310 Esplanade were the last of the three buildings to be inhabited. But this winter, when chunks of land near the building fell into the ocean and a balcony collapsed on Jan. 25, the city decided it was time for residents to get out.
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For the second time in a year, a Beaumont man sentenced to 75 years in prison for the 2014 death of a Vidor teenager is trying to overturn his murder conviction, basing his appeal on the trial court's decision not to include a lesser charge for the jury to consider.

An Orange County jury in August 2014 found Kelvin Lee Roy, 34, guilty of intentionally causing the Feb. 7, 2014, collision that killed 16-year-old Alexandria "Lexy" Bertrand.

Roy appealed his murder conviction in April of last year, citing insufficient evidence and the court's decision not to include the lesser charge of intoxication manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The Ninth Court of Appeals upheld Roy's murder conviction in August, issuing a judgment that said evidence presented at trial proved "Roy's intent to cause serious bodily injury (to his girlfriend) and intent to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life, thereby causing Alexandria's death."

Roy's former girlfriend, Taralynn Brown, told jurors that Roy intentionally crashed his white Mercury Sable into the back of a stopped Honda minivan carrying Bertrand in an attempt to kill himself and her.

Because that intent was transferred to another person, Bertrand, Roy was eligible for the murder charge.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week granted Roy a discretionary review to determine whether a jury should have been instructed to consider the lesser charge of intoxication manslaughter.

Roy's blood alcohol level after the crash tested below the .08 legal limit, but he tested positive for marijuana, PCP and alcohol.

Roy's trial attorney, Malachi Daws, asked that intoxication manslaughter be put in the charge to jurors, but the judge did not include the option when reading the jurors their sentencing instructions, according to his appeal.

Roy testified to knowing the risks of mixing alcohol, drugs and driving but decided to do it anyway. He said he passed out from the drugs and was unaware of what was happening at the time of the crash.

"The testimony alone could have convinced a juror that (Roy) consciously disregarded the risk created by his conduct," Roy's attorney, Dustin Galmor, wrote in his client's appeal.

The criminal appeals court stated in a 1998 opinion that a lesser included offense should be given if any evidence raises the issue, even if the evidence is weak or contradicted by other evidence, Galmor wrote.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
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A South Texas woman who was told she couldnt bury her husbands ashes in their South Texas hometown because he was Hispanic will be allowed to bury him there after all, but now shes not sure she wants to.

Donna Barrera, who was married to Pedro Barrera for more than 40 years, said she has hired an attorney and will fight to make sure people of all races and ethnicities are allowed a final resting place at the San Domingo Cemetery in Normanna, just north of Beeville on Texas 181.

Normanna has a population of 65, according to the U.S. Census. Of those 65, 11 are Hispanic or Latino and two are black.

The trouble started when Mrs. Barrera ran into Jimmy Bradford, the owner of the San Domingo Cemetery Association, at the post office. She said she asked him how she could get a plot for her husbands ashes at San Domingo. Bradford told her the board would not allow it, she said.

While Bradford was not available Friday, he told KIII-TV that cemetery policy was whites only.

He wasn't supposed to be buried there, because he's a Mexican, or of Spanish descent, or whatever you want to say. That's what I told her and that's what we've been doing, Bradford told KIII-TV.

For her part, Mrs. Barrera said she was stunned.

It hurt me very bad. Im in mourning as it is, so thats put more mourning on me, she said Friday.

Bee County Constable Cliff Bagwell said Friday that Bradford would now allow Pedro Barreras ashes to be buried in the cemetery.

Bagwell said Bradford had checked the cemeterys policy and said it did not specify that people of Hispanic descent could not be buried at San Domingo, where many of the headstones are more than 100 years old.

It just says citizens, may be buried there, Bagwell said. He doesnt believe there are any people of Hispanic descent buried at the cemetery.

Back then, its the way it was. Whether its good or bad, thats the way it was, the constable said.

Al Kauffman, a professor of law at St. Marys University, said prohibiting a persons burial based on his or her race is illegal based on 1948s Shelley v. Kraemer, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that courts could not enforce racial covenants on real estate.

(The court) said that even when people want to limit the buyers on their property, that that violates the Constitution because, in fact, the state is indirectly involved in the system of property, Kauffman said.

gkaul@express-news.net
DARBY  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 at 6 p.m. in the high school library to talk about a plan to host UM Professor Samir Bitar on Wednesday.

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.
LANDER, Wyo.  Buy local. It's a slogan usually reserved for selling food or crafts. But for more than three decades, 1 million natural gas customers in Idaho, Utah and southwestern Wyoming have been doing just that.

The arrangement is a hallmark of Questar Corp., a Salt Lake City-based gas utility. Roughly 65 percent of the gas it supplies is drilled and pumped by its subsidiary, Wexpro, in the high desert of western Wyoming and northern Utah. And by many accounts, the deal has been a successful one for both consumers and the company. When Questar went to renew the arrangement in 2012, it was approved by state regulators.

Two recent developments could alter the equation, however. Dominion Resources Inc., a Richmond, Va.-based utility, has proposed buying Questar for $4.4 billion, prompting questions of whether it would continue to operate Wexpro. The acquisition still has to be approved by state regulators.

And now a second Cowboy State utility, Black Hills Corp., wants its own gas-supply program. Regulators have long looked favorably on Questar's arrangement with Wexpro, but some are raising questions over whether Black Hills' proposal will provide the same benefit to its consumers. The South Dakota-based utility, which recently completed the acquisition of rival SourceGas, now serves 65 percent of Wyoming natural gas consumers.

Industry experts have a term for utilities that own a regulated gas supply. They call it cost-of-service gas.

Most natural gas exploration and production companies sell on the spot market  where trades are made daily  or through long-term contracts. Cost-of-service companies like Wexpro are different. They are regulated, in Wexpro's case by officials in Wyoming and Utah. And the bargain essentially comes down to this: If it is cheaper to drill gas and provide it to Questar, Wexpro drills. If it's cheaper for Questar to buy gas elsewhere, Questar buys gas elsewhere.

The utility gets a guaranteed return on investment, up to 20 percent on drilling costs and 8 percent on the cost of acquiring properties. Consumers get a steady supply of cheap gas. If Wexpro makes too much money, Questar is required to send it back to customers.

One of the big questions financial analysts had when Dominion executives announced the Questar acquisition last month was what they were going to do with Wexpro. It's not an immaterial question for Wyomingites, either. More than 140 people worked for Wexpro as of the end of 2015.

Dominion Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Farrell responded: "We're not going to be going off into the (exploration and production) business. We'll maintain  it's our view the Wexpro business needs to be maintained for the benefit of the customers of Questar."

But that's only half the story. The Black Hills Corp. proposal for a similar arrangement may not offer the same benefit to ratepayers, said Bryce Freeman, administrator of the Office of Consumer Advocate.

Questar's agreement requires the company to buy gas when it's cheaper to do so. Black Hills' proposal is more akin to an accelerated drilling strategy, he said, one that would secure a locked-in rate of return for the Rapid City-based utility's currently unregulated oil and gas subsidiary, Black Hills Exploration and Production.

Put differently, Black Hills Exploration and Production is now subject to a natural gas market experiencing its lowest prices in 17 years. The utility would rather get a regulated rate of return. At least, that is how Freeman sees it.

"They have labeled this thing a hedging program," he said. "But a true hedging program would be to leave the gas in the ground until it's more expensive to buy it on the market."

Black Hills, naturally, sees things differently. Their argument boils down to this: Natural gas prices are low, which means the company can now lock in future reserves for cheap.

Estimates submitted by the company to state regulators predict natural gas prices will rise from $3.54 per million British Thermal Unit this year to as much as $10.43 in 2035. By comparison, natural gas futures were trading at $1.69 on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.

"Black Hills continues to support its proposed program to provide long-term stability for natural gas costs for its customers," Sharon Fain, a spokeswoman for the utility, wrote in an email.

Black Hills' 2015 financial filing provides further details. It notes the company is assessing its operations in Colorado's Piceance Basin, which accounts for 50 percent of its oil and gas reserves, for inclusion in a cost-of-service program. Roughly 25 percent of the utility's reserves are based in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
Young guys and old fossils seem to converge in a unique and special way in Glenrock, Wyo.

It was outside Glenrock, about 25 miles east of Casper, that Sean Smith found the skull of a triceratops in 1994 when he was only 19. His discovery led to the skulls excavation and the eventual creation of the Paleon Museum to house the fossil. The find put the community of 2,600, situated on the southern bank of the North Platte River, on the paleontological map.

Wyoming dinosaur tracksite a chance discovery Every time Cliff Manuel talks about the amazing dinosaur fossils that have been unearthed ne

It was at a summer Paleon Museum dig years later that a 13-year-old Scott Persons visited and became more fully convinced  despite laboring under the hot Wyoming sun  that he would pursue paleontology as a lifetime profession.

"Before Glenrock, for me paleontology was dinosaurs in books and their skeletons in display halls and behind glass cases, Persons said in a University of Alberta press release. This was the first time I got my hands dirty in the field and in a fossil preparation laboratory."

It was also during that visit that Smith showed Persons the dinosaur tracks.

"Sean led me out to a sandstone slope and started brushing away at an indented spot, Persons recalled. At first, it looked like a prehistoric pothole. But soon I could see the imprints of three big toes each with sharp claw tips. It was so cool my jaw dropped. Then, Sean pointed up slope, and there were two more!"

Now a graduate student at the University of Alberta, Persons helped Smith to formally measure and describe three dinosaur tracks embedded in nearby sandstone. Together, the duo authored a research paper on the rare footprints that has now been published in the peer-reviewed journal Cretaceous Research.

Its one of our first published items, so its a pretty big deal for us, said Smith, who is now the director of paleontology at the museum.

The first three-toed track was noticed in the sandstone bed of a ravine in 2000. By digging under dirt and grass nearby, two more tracks from the same dinosaur were revealed in a left, right, left stride. By measuring the size of the tracks and distance between them Persons verified that they were made by a large theropod, like a tyrannosaur, about 66 million years ago.

Tyrannosaur tracks are extremely rare, but what makes this site particularly cool is we have a left, right, left series, so we can measure stride lengths, Persons said.

The distance between the tracks showed the meat-eating dinosaur was moving at a speed of about 2.5 to 5 mph  a slow trot.

"The tracks are just a bit too small to belong to a full-grown T. rex," Persons said in the press release. "But they could very well be the tracks of an adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex, or they could belong to the closely-related smaller tyrannosaur Nanotyrannus. We really can't say which."

Outdoors just for kids: Walking in the footsteps of dinosaurs I always used to try to walk through muddy areas in the spring so that, when it got cold at 

Other tracks dot the same stone  what was likely an ancient, sandy shore  including some type of ceratops  a family that includes the well-known triceratops  and a hadrosaur, the duck-billed dinosaurs commonly found in Montana fossil remains.

One of the cool aspects about this is it deals with who walked in the same place at the same time, Smith said.

The museum would like to excavate the tracksite to protect it from erosive weather, but its location in the ravine means the work would have to be done by hand, which isnt practical for dealing with such a large slab. So for now, plaster casts of the tracks have been made and are on display at the museum.

Describing the theropod tracks fit in well with Persons' doctoral thesis examining how dinosaurs walked and ran. As part of that research, he has also traveled to a central China tracksites that included impressions left by raptors. Persons hopes the published paper will help put the little museum that helped inspire him on the publics radar.

"The tracks are still in the field," he said. "If you go to Glenrock today, visit the Paleon Museum, and are up for a little hike, you can see the prints just like I did."
It was William Bennett, education secretary in the Reagan years and the Republican Partys premier moralist, who embedded a phrase in the American consciousness when he bemoaned the fact that our elites presided over an unprecedented coarsening of our culture.

Well, to borrow another famous phrase, it is Bennetts party and two of its presidential candidates in particular, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, who are merrily defining down our politics, our discourse and the American presidency. The 2016 Republican primary campaign is now on track to be the crudest, most vulgar and most thoroughly disgusting contest in our nations history.

A policy wonk who has spent nearly two decades in politics was watching Thursdays GOP debate with his two teenage daughters and was horrified when one turned to him and asked: Is this what you do? The dad, who didnt want to be named because he didnt want to embarrass his daughters, said their acquaintances had higher standards than the debaters: They would be humiliated if their friends talked to them that way.

Call me old-fashioned or even a prig, but I have a rather elevated view of what politics can be and what it can achieve. For decades, I have repaired for inspiration and comfort to the political philosopher Michael Sandels description of politics at its best. When politics goes well, he wrote, we can know a good in common that we cannot know alone.

In the GOP right now, its not going well.

You can place a lot of the responsibility for all this on Trump and, yes, the media. As I was writing this, MSNBC (for which Ive worked over the years) and CNN were simultaneously broadcasting live the same Trump speech. Welcome to Trump State Television.

We might let the blame settle there, except that Marco Rubio got frustrated. The man the partys leaders keep saying is the real challenger to Trump decided that to beat Trump, he had to join him.

Thus began his own rants that reached a low point when he declared of Trump during a rally last month in Virginia: I dont understand why his hands are the size of someone whos 5-2. Have you seen his hands? Theyre like this. Here, Rubio held his thumb and fingers closely together to depict something very small indeed. He added: And you know what they say about men with small hands.

My naivete extends to the fact that I did not know that small hands are often equated to diminutive endowments elsewhere. But Trump, obviously more worldly than I, went all defensive at the debate, held out his arms and declared: Look at those hands, are they small hands? And he referred to my hands  if theyre small, something else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee.

Now we know.

We expect Trump to be loutish. Worse is Rubios refusal to take responsibility for the course he has chosen. Rubio went for the-devil-made-me-do-it defense. But lets be honest too about all this, he explained. The media has given these personal attacks that Donald Trump has made an incredible amount of coverage.

Yes, lets be honest: Hes right about the media, but since when is it credible, responsible or, for that matter, conservative to blame someone else for what comes out of your own mouth?

By comparison, John Kasich and Ted Cruz are looking almost as issue-oriented and responsible as, well, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But the whole Republican race is now a moral and electoral wreck.

For decades, conservatives have done a great business assailing liberals for promoting cultural decay. Sorry, guys, but in this campaign, you have kicked away the franchise.

 2016Washington Post

Writers Group

Email: ejdionne@washpost.com Twitter: @EJDionne
AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden began a Mideast tour Monday vowing that the United States and its allies would destroy and squeeze the heart of the Islamic State group, while thanking both American airmen and Emirati troops.

Biden spoke before hundreds of airmen as jets roared down the runway at Al-Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi, a main launching point for operations in Syria and Iraq targeting the Islamic State group.

The Emirates is one of the most important U.S. military and political allies in the Persian Gulf. It is also a major commercial hub that includes the business-friendly port city of Dubai.

Flanked by an F-22 Raptor and an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, Biden applauded Emirati authorities for their stepped up and expanded role in the anti-Islamic State campaign.

You capture the images that provide us with intelligence we need to target the enemy to protect our forces, Biden said, as unarmed drones sat and taxied on the runway outside near radar planes and refueling aircraft.

You control the skies of Iraq and Syria. As a matter of fact, you all control the skies in the whole damn world, Biden added to cheers from the gathered airmen.

The seven-state Emirates federation is one of the largest oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It hosts regional offices for numerous American companies in industries including aerospace, energy, technology and hospitality. Dubai state-owned airline Emirates is the largest operator of Chicago-based Boeing Co.s 777 wide-body jet.

Bidens remarks, however, did not touch on the worries of Emiratis and Saudi Arabia over regional Shiite power Iran. Tensions between allied Sunni Arab countries and the Islamic Republic have been high since January, when Saudi officials executed a Shiite cleric and protesters later overran two of the kingdoms diplomatic posts in Iran.

Saudi Arabia and the Emirates also are involved in a war in Yemen against Shiite rebels there who have received Iranian support, raising fears of a regional war. This has drawn some support away from the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State militants.

Late Monday, Biden met with Abu Dhabis crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is scheduled to meet with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is the federations vice president and prime minister, on the trip as well.

Despite the regional challenges, Biden struck an upbeat tone, applauding the U.S. troops sacrifices while pledging to destroy the Islamic State group, which he dismissed as criminals and cowards.

We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they cant continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world, Biden said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

The Emirates is the first stop on a regional tour that will also take in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. The trip will include talks on U.S. economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said.

Biden is not expected to offer any new initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he travels to Israel and the West Bank. The White House has said it does not believe either side has the political will for reviving the peace process as the last year of President Obamas administration winds down.
TUNIS, Tunisia  Clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers left at least 53 people dead Monday near Tunisias border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fears that violence from Libya could destabilize the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn Monday and fighting continued past nightfall. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defense ministers traveled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said on Wtaniya television that the attack was an Islamic State attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border. No group claimed immediate responsibility, but two Islamic State-affiliated websites said the militants were engaged in the fighting.

This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.

At dawn Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, said Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah. A night curfew was ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The attack and ensuing fighting left 35 attackers, seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisias security forces dead, according to the joint government statement. A 12-year-old girl was among those killed.

Corpses lay in the street and gunmen hid in homes as darkness fell, gunfire sporadically ringing out, according to resident and local journalist Raoudha Bouttar.

Another witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions from the attackers, said the gunmen claimed to be creating a caliphate and liberating the town.

Tunisian forces have repeatedly clashed with extremists on the borders of Libya and Algeria in recent years, but Mondays fighting was unusually bloody. Tunisia has been as a model of relative stability for the region since an uprising five years ago ushered in democracy and inspired Arab Spring protests against dictatorships across the region.

An uprising in neighboring Libya led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Moammar Khadafy in 2011, but since then the country has fallen into chaos, allowing the Islamic State group to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognized body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia is especially worried about the Islamic State presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in attacks in Tunisia last year. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.
BEIJING  Twelve Chinese families with relatives aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 filed a lawsuit in a Beijing court on Monday, one day before the deadline for pursuing litigation against the carrier.

The families of 32 other passengers, mostly Chinese, filed a separate lawsuit in Malaysia, their lawyer said Monday.

The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people  including 153 Chinese citizens  on board while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. Under international agreements, families have a two-year window to sue after an air accident.

Speaking outside a transportation court in Beijing, the lawyer for the 12 families, Zhang Qihuai, said they are seeking a range of damages but the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is to find out the cause of the accident and those who are responsible.

Several relatives said they hope to use the case to obtain more information from the airline, which they said has not been forthcoming.

If we lose this opportunity, it might become even more difficult to obtain answers, said Zou Jingsheng, a professor whose 27-year old son, Ling Annan, was studying in Malaysia and was on the flight. We will find out the truth through legal means, and well look into the responsibilities that Malaysia Airlines failed to fulfill.

The lawsuit also named Boeing and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce among the defendants. The court will decide if and where to hear the case. Malaysia Airlines did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

In Kuala Lumpur, lawyer Ganesan Nethi said he filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of the families of 32 passengers on Thursday. He said most were Chinese, along with an American and a few Indians.

Ganesan said he was appointed by Podhurst Orseck, a Miami law firm specializing in aviation litigation, on behalf of the families. The lawsuit named the airline, the Malaysian government and its air force and civil aviation department, he said.

After two years, the fate of the Boeing 777 remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. The Australian-led search effort is to continue until June, having already spent more than $130 million looking through a vast area of the Indian Ocean nearly 4 miles deep.

Investigators believe the plane flew far off course and ran out of fuel in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. One confirmed piece of wreckage has been recovered, a part of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island last year.
JAKARTA, Indonesia  Indonesias antigraft commission on Monday said government agencies have agreed on a plan to combat corruption in the forestry industry that costs the state billions of dollars in lost revenue and is behind fires that pollute Southeast Asia.

The attempt to address a long-standing crisis in the management and conservation of Indonesias prized tropical forests comes after a study by the anticorruption commission estimated that the commercial value of undeclared logging was $60.7 billion to $81.4 billion between 2003 and 2014. The study released in October estimated the governments loss of revenue from royalties at up to $9 billion over the same period.

Dian Patria, head of corruption prevention for natural resources at the Corruption Eradication Commission, said top officials from other ministries and agencies have given their backing to the plan.

Protecting extensive tropical forests that are among the largest in the world is a key issue for Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Unreported timber production deprives the Indonesian government of revenue it could use to improve infrastructure and services for its still largely poor population of more than 250 million.

Annual burning of forests and peatland in Sumatra and Kalimantan to clear land for palm oil plantations and other agriculture is a regular bane for Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand and parts of Indonesia. The fires produce a smoky haze that is a health hazard, often forcing people indoors and shutting down schools and airports.

Monica Tanuhandaru, the executive director of Kemitraan, which lobbies for clean government and business, said the plan is significant but will require continual support from President Joko Jokowi Widodo to be fully implemented.

The plan developed by the anticorruption commission, along with Indonesias Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Finance, Supreme Audit Agency, and financial regulatory agencies, leans heavily on technology to build an accurate picture of where illegal deforestation and conversion of peatland into farmland is occurring.

The anticorruption commission hopes use of Landsat satellites, drones and laser-based mapping will identify land-clearing on a close to real-time basis. That will provide the information for prosecuting companies that log more than they declare.

According to the report released in October, official statistics on timber production capture less than a quarter of what is cut down.

The plan also requires the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to disclose more information about its monitoring. For the first time, it would issue quarterly reports on where deforestation and peatland conversion has occurred.
WASHINGTON  A major U.S. air strike in Somalia has killed more than 150 fighters belonging to al-Shabab, the al Qaeda-affiliated group that has carried out lethal bombings and attacks across the Horn of Africa, the Pentagon said Monday.

The Saturday night air attack appears to be the deadliest the U.S. has conducted in North Africa in several years. U.S. military and intelligence agencies also are focused on threats from Islamic State in Libya, Boko Haram in Nigeria and other extremist groups.

Multiple U.S. warplanes and drones bombed al-Shababs Raso training camp after weeks of aerial surveillance detected a large gathering of fighters, officials said. The site is about 120 miles north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Officials said it appeared the training was ending and the operational phase of a major attack was about to begin. Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, said the air attack targeted militants who were scheduled to depart the camp and who posed an imminent threat to U.S. and allied African Union forces in Somalia.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, another Pentagon spokesman, said the camp was destroyed. He said analysts estimated up to 200 fighters and trainers had gathered at the site. No civilians were known to be among the casualties, he said.

Al-Shabab rebels have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Somalia, as well as the ports that provided revenue to the group. However, the militants have launched regular attacks, including mass shootings and suicide bombings, and still control many rural areas.

Al-Shabab first took control of Mogadishu in 2006 after its fighters ousted local warlords. The Sunni Muslim group quickly enforced strict Islamic law. Troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia, a rotating force of about 22,000 troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Djibouti, retook Mogadishu in 2011 and drove the militants from many towns in the south.

The Obama administration said Monday that it will disclose how many people have been killed by U.S. drones and counterterrorism strikes since 2009, lifting one element of secrecy shrouding the controversial counterterrorism program.

The report, to be made in the coming weeks, wont cover major fighting zones like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, but will focus on strikes against extremist targets in other regions such as North Africa.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
High Tech High is one example of how to teach in the 21st century (Courtesy of "Most Likely to Succeed")

The American education system dates to an era of factory and assembly-line jobs, acclimating kids to a life of carefully outlined tasks and regimented schedules preferred by the industry leaders in power at the turn of the 20th century. But facing a rapidly increasing machine intelligence, and the growing ability for technology to take over tasks once designated to human hands, whether that kind of education is still the right fit for kids today has come up for debate.

The film Most Likely to Succeed, which screens Tuesday evening at the Center for Contemporary Arts, followed by a discussion with producer Ted Dintersmith and Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd, presents a scathing critique of that model and issues a call to action to educators to update their models.

"We are still working with a 125-year-old school model that was specifically designed to crush creativity and innovation out of kids," Dintersmith tells SFR. "It wasn't an accident. It was a core design principle, because Henry Ford did not want creative people on the assembly line."

But instead of having the courage and vision to reimagine schools as industry moved from manufacturing to innovation, the designated solution, "somewhat bafflingly," Dintersmith says, has simply been to test more frequently. If the world has radically changed from when this generation's parents went to school, why are we teaching these students the same way?

"We all think the way we went to school is the way they should go to school, and the reality is in every important respect, the world is different," he says. "The very skills our students need are getting crushed out of them, and the things they're being rewarded for are the things machines can do better."

That means filling in blanks and bubbles instead of creating and stretching their education to its limits, a "death march of the textbook," as one source in the film calls it, that fails to inspire students to succeed or engage them in ways that make their education meaningful and lasting. Along the way, he adds, instructors are suffering through a witch hunt for bad teachers that drives the good ones away.

For evidence that this system is failing, Dintersmith points to the 50 million chronically underemployed Americans.

Most Likely to Succeed spends a lot of time with students at High Tech High in San Diego, where high school students follow a Socratic model for discussion and project-based learning that puts their skills to the test. The depth to which kids explore a topiccreating a play about one subject they're studying, for examplemeans there's a loss in breadth, but the film argues kids don't retain content they see in exams anyway. And despite this loss in breadth, these kids do just fine on the state's standardized tests and in getting into college. That's not the only way that schools should be run, Dintersmith saysjust as charter schools like High Tech High aren't the only way of approaching this kind of educational reformbut it offers one idea for how to radically change the education system to provide what the 21st-century workforce needs.

The movie was offered standard distribution contracts through some of the film festivals at which it screened, but Dintersmith says he wanted it to be hosted by area schools and organizations, surrounded with talkbacks and discussions, rather than screened in theaters. Some places he's taken the film (for example, in meeting with lawmakers) have been more receptive than others.

"A state like New Mexico is small enough, agile enoughwhat do you have to lose?" he asks. "When you're 10 years old in school, you can't be a self-advocate. You're counting on adults to make the right decisions for your future. Those kids are in situations that aren't going to help them in their futures, that actually are going to damage their prospects, and not only can we do much better than that, we have to."

Most Likely to Succeed screening

and discussion with director Ted Dintersmith and SFPS Superintendent Joel Boyd

6 pm Tuesday, March 8

Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, 982-1338

Free, advanced tickets recommended

Santa Fe Reporter
Here is some stuff in the news today...RIP former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who died at age 94 over the weekend. My condolences to her family, friends, and admirers.Do you want to see US gymnast Gabrielle Douglas' amazing floor routine at the American Cup? Well, here it is ! She is terrific and that routine is outstanding! Yayayayay![Content Note: War; terrorism; death] "Tunisia's government said Monday that 45 people have been killed after extremists attacked a town near the border with Libya. The Interior and Defense ministries said in a statement that the Tunisian government has closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack. ...The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told the Associated Press. ...The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane, and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors. The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya."[CN: Terrorism] Relatedly: "The UK is facing the threat of 'enormous and spectacular attacks' by Islamic State as the extremist group attempts to wage war on western lifestyles, the national head of counter-terrorism has warned . The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, Mark Rowley, said in a briefing to journalists on the UK terror threat that while in recent years Isis had urged would-be jihadis to attack the police and military, its mission had since widened. ...Rowley said Isis was encouraging supporters who had received military training in Syria to enter northern Europe to stage attacks."[CN: Refugee crisis] Meanwhile: "European Union leaders are holding a crucial summit with Turkey on ways of dealing with Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War Two. The EU is pressing Turkey, through which many migrants transit, to take some back in return for $3.3bn in aid. ...Turkey is currently sheltering more than 2.5 million refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria. The EU wants it to take back thousands of migrants who do not qualify for asylum. In return Turkey is seeking full access for its citizens across the EU's visa-free zone and accelerated talks on EU membership."[CN: War on agency] In domestic news: "The Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law that would have left Louisiana with only one doctor to perform abortions in the state. The law at issue, Act 620, was signed by former Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) in June 2014. It mandates doctors who provide abortion care must obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital. The law was scheduled to begin on September 1, 2014" but the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) sued in August 2014 to keep the doors open. Finally, after more back-and-forth legal wrangling: "CRR sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that because of the Fifth Circuit's ruling, all but two doctors in the state have been forced to stop providing abortions and have been turning away women with scheduled appointments. ...In a brief order, the Court nullified the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that permitted the law to go into effect, providing a last-minute reprieve for patients in Louisiana seeking abortion care." A huge relief, but goddammit this fight for basic reproductive healthcare. FUCK.[CN: Homophobia] In other SCOTUS news : "The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Alabama court order that had prohibited a lesbian from having contact with the three children she adopted and helped raise in neighboring Georgia while in a long-term relationship with their biological mother. The ruling, without published dissent, reinforces gay rights less than a year after the court legalized same-sex marriage across the country. The justices didn't hear arguments in the case, instead summarily reversing the Alabama Supreme Court."[CN: Animal endangerment] This is very good news, but only so long as the population is protected: "An international team of researchers has discovered 8,000 Sumatran orangutans which were as yet uncounted. The huge number of this critically endangered species of large apes was found living in mountains, as well as in areas west of Lake Toba. With this discovery, the population of the Sumatran orangutan is now estimated at about 14,600. ...'It was very exciting to find out that there are more Sumatran orangutans than we thought, but this does not mean that we can be complacent,' says Serge Wich of Liverpool John Moores University. 'Numerous development projects are planned in the area thatif they are not stoppedcould sharply reduce the number of orangutans over the coming years.'"Why hello there! "In the ocean near Hawaii, more than 2 1/2 miles underwater, scientists have discovered a small, delicate-looking and ghostlike little octopodpossibly a new species. The animal was discovered by Deep Discoverer, a remotely operated vehicle, or ROVpicture a small, unmanned submarine equipped with cameras and a robotic armthat was working to collect geological samples. Michael Vecchione, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, described the Feb. 27 discovery on the NOAA website: 'As the ROV was traversing a flat area of rock interspersed with sediment at 4,290 meters, it came across a remarkable little octopod sitting on a flat rock dusted with a light coat of sediment. The appearance of this animal was unlike any published records and was the deepest observation ever for this type of cephalopod.'"And finally! " Dog from Australia Makes Adorable Real Estate Agent ." Awwwww lol!
So to answer your question, I would say, and I think it's similar to what the secretary said, when you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor. You don't know what it's like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car.



And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear. We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system.

Clinton: I voted to save the auto industry; he voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry!



Sanders: Whoooooooa.



Clinton: I think that is a pretty big difference.



Sanders: Well, I [chuckles] If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy



Clinton: You know



Sanders: Excuse me, I'm talking. [applause]



Anderson Cooper [offscreen]: Let him [inaudible]



Clinton: If you're gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders.



Sanders: Well, let me tell my story; you tell yours.



Clinton: I will.

[Content Note: Racism; misogyny; disablism.]Over the weekend, the Democrats held primary contests in Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Maine. Hillary Clinton won Louisiana; Bernie Sanders won Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine.The Republicans held primary contests in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Puerto Rico. Ted Cruz won Kansas and Maine; Donald Trump won Kentucky and Louisiana; Marco Rubio won Puerto Rico.Next on the schedule: The Republicans hold contests in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi tomorrow. The Democrats hold contests in Michigan and Mississippi tomorrow.So, after the latest round, nothing has changed substantially. Clinton is still leading the Democratic nomination, and Trump is still leading the Republican nomination.* * *Last night, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met in Flint, Michigan, for another debate.has a complete transcript . I live-tweeted the debate and have Storified those tweets One of the major topics of the debate was the water crisis in Flint, Michiganand because the crisis is largely a result of environmental racism (which neither of the candidates successfully identified), systemic racism was another major topic. They were asked, among other questions, given their policy histories and their white privilege, "why should black people trust you to get it right this time?"It's kind of a bullshit question, because it treats trust like an on-off switch, when trust is something that has to be earned every day. But neither of them gave a particularly great answer.This was an opportunity for Clinton to give a full-throated repudiation of the language she's used , and the associated policies, which engendered mistrust, and she did not do that. What I think she should have done is acknowledged that history, apologized for it, and turned the question on its head with something like, "I don't think the question is whether black people should trust me, but whether I earn their trust. And that is something I will have to do every day, during this primary, during the general election, and during my presidency."Sanders also failed on the topic of race, on several occasions, but perhaps none more so than on the question of "what racial blind spots do you have?" He first told a story about a black man being unable to get a cab, and then a story about a Black Lives Matter activist telling him he doesn't understand the terror in black communities, and then he said:There are a lot of problems there, starting with the implication that all black people are poor and live in ghettos, and that no white people know what it's like to be pooreven though, as Propane Jane noted , "the majority of Americans receiving government assistance are White," and erasing them serves to uphold racist narratives about who is poor in this country.And, of course, there are a lot of white people who know what it's like "to be hassled when you walk down the street," like women, like trans people, like LGB people, like fat people, like people with visible disabilities. Even if he meant "hassled by cops," lots of those people get hassled by cops, too. And it's important not to engage in erasure of those identities for a lot of reasons, not least of which because black peopleA black trans woman, for example, may notbe harassed on the street because she's black.Sanders also had a bad night on the subject of mental health, twice referring to mass shooters as "lunatics"even though most mass shooters are not, in fact, mentally illand making this reprehensible joke: "You know, we are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in that."The Republican candidates are not mentally ill . They areAnd this "joke," such as it was, suggests that white supremacy, patriarchy, heterocentrism, warmongering, nationalism, etc. are the result of mental illness, when they are absolutely not. Naturally, it also harms all of us with mental illness by catching us in the rhetorical buckshot.Finally, this was the perhaps the most talked-about moment after the debate last night:When I saw that exchange, with Sanders using a tone that suggested he was reprimanding a naughty child, my heart started pounding in my chest. It was only the first of several times he used that tone with Clinton, and I was furious watching it. tweeted : "Even if you've been a First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and presidential candidate, you're still Just a Woman when a man is speaking."Naturally, my mentions are a shitshow as a result. Because Clinton is a bitch. Because Sanders said "excuse me," which is obviously polite. Because Clinton isn't even a woman. Because it's demeaning to women to suggest she can't take it. Etc.Of course she can take it. The point is that* * *I don't think the debate was a homerun for either candidate. Clinton's biggest failure was another missed opportunity to be more fully accountable for her '90s record. It's apparent that she's tired of relitigating the '90s, but part of the reason these questions keep coming up is because she hasn't provided responses that feel like sufficient accountability.Sanders' biggest failures were his tunnel vision and temperament. He is a one-issue candidate, and he gets visibly annoyed when people disagree with him, especially on the subject of that one issue being the solution to all problems. But Sanders is himself a case study in the bankruptcy of the idea that economic equality solves oppression. Wealth doesn't magically make you not racist or misogynist or ableist. Clearly.I'll say once again: The more I see of Bernie Sanders, the less I like him.
Five other countries have informally expressed interest in joining the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement once it has been ratified by the original 12 signatories, according to chief negotiator David Walker.

To date TPP is confined to New Zealand, Australia, the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, and Brunei. Walker said Korea, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Thailand were studying details of the recently-hammered out deal, which was more than seven years in the making, to see if they wanted to take that informal interest further, but at the moment they cant join because the agreement doesnt exist.

When asked how many he thought would take it further, Walker reverted to no comment.

The 12 signatories have two years to ratify the deal which requires six to do so in order for it to proceed, including the US and Japan.

Around 200 people turned up in Auckland today for the first of 16 government roadshows and hui outlining details of the TPP, with fewer than a dozen protesters waving placards outside the venue, including one that said Kiwis strike back. Four people dressed as clowns had evaded the tight security to access the venue and were eventually ousted after trying to disrupt the speakers by laughly loudly and letting off balloons.

In response to a question from an Auckland pharmaceuticals and toiletries exporter which is trying to establish new markets in Indonesia and Korea, Walker said TPP was a living agreement in two ways. The provisions could continue to evolve as economies grow and the partners wanted to do new things together, and it was also possible for new members to be added, he said.

Adding new members came under discussion during the signing ceremony of the agreement in Auckland last month on the need for a formal process to add others over the next few years.

Theres been interest from the start in encouraging more and more of the major trading partners in the Asia Pacific region, and Indonesia and Korea are included in that, Walker said. But right now all 12 countries are focused on getting the agreement ratified in their domestic markets.

The existing agreement, which is New Zealands largest ever trade deal, already covers 36 percent of the worlds gross domestic product and 40 percent of New Zealands exports.

Late last year US president Barack Obama urged more Southeast Asian nations to join the deal, saying those that are highly dependent on trade may stand to lose if they dont. Similarly, Prime Minister John Key said last November that Apec no longer needed to look at developing a region-wide free trade agreement covering all 21 members when others could simply join the TPP instead.

However, China's president Xi Jinping has been pushing for movement on a potential Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) deal. A strategy study on issues relating to FTAAP is due by the end of the year.

At todays roadshow Auckland mayoral hopeful Penny Bright questioned how TPP could be in New Zealands best interests given it doesnt include our second biggest trading partner, China, and Obama had been quoted as saying "if we dont write the rules, then China will write the rules in the region.

Walker said the benefits  including an estimated additional $2.7 billion to New Zealands GDP each year from 2030  were outlined in an extensive government report on the details of the deal. Expected costs are estimated to be between $75 million to $80 million, mainly from extending copyright protection from 50 to 70 years.

He said it had been made clear throughout the lengthy TPP negotiations that it was not an anti-China process.

China has followed the progress of TPP during the course of the negotiations and we have talked to them about that, he said."China is studying it now with particular interest."

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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BEIJING: China on Sunday said its foreign reserves, the world's largest, declined by about half a trillion dollars last year which largely went to its citizens and companies.

"China's foreign reserves declined by about half a trillion US dollars in 2015," central bank deputy governor Yi Gang said on Sunday.

"Mainly, the reserves went to Chinese citizens and companies," he told the media here replying to the public concerns over the dip in the reserves.

Banks increased their stack of greenbacks by around $100 billion and corporate debts denominated in US dollar dropped by around 100 billion, Yi said.

Corporate and individual outbound payments in foreign currencies surpassed inbound payments by USD 240 billion last year, Yi said.

Major outbound payments include tourism, education and consumption expenditures.

Plus, the US dollar appreciated against other currencies last year, Yi was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.

"By and large, the majority of foreign reserve losses can be explained by the gains made by citizens and companies," Yi said.

China has the world's largest foreign exchanges amounting to about USD 3.23 trillion over half of which were invested in US bonds.

Yi was replying to a question about China's foreign reserves twice at a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, of which he is a member.

China's foreign reserves are diversified, he said, reflecting China's trade, investment and payment structures.

Moreover, China follows the standards set by the International Monetary Fund when calculating foreign reserves, Yi said, stressing that assets that lack in liquidity were not included.

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday greeted the nation on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri which is being celebrated with devotion and religious fervour.

"Maha Shivratri greetings to everyone," Prime Minister Modi said on twitter.

Devotees in large numbers are reaching Shiva temples since early morning.

A large number of people are expected to offer jalabhishek' of holy water and special prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

In Ayodhya, devotees thronged Nageshwarnath temple to offer their prayers after taking holy dip in Saryu River. In Allahabad people in large numbers took holy dip at the confluence of Ganga and Yamunaat sangam and offering holy waters to various Shiva temples.

Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the 6th night of the dark Phalgun (February or March) every year. It is believed that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati on this day.

Shivratri fast is considered to be the most important fast for the devotees of Lord Shiva.

Shiva Purana states that if a devotee observes Shivaratri Vrata with sincerity, pure devotion and love he is blessed with the divine grace of Lord Shiva.

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Move Beyond Women Development to Women-led Development: ModiEN
NEW DELHI: Laying stress on moving towards women-led development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged elected representatives to use technology to be more effective in their role and suggested creating a e-platform of women MPs. Addressing the National Conference of Women Legislators, he said the country must think beyond women development and move towards women-led development and asked woman lawmakers to interact with panchayat and municipal representatives in their area as a step towards their empowerment.

He however did not mention the womens reservation bill to which President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari had referred in their speeches on Saturday. The two-day conference, which concluded on Sunday, was attended by women members of parliament and state legislatures and legilative councils, union ministers and present and former chief ministers. In her speech at the valedictory session held in the central hall of parliament, former president Pratibha Devisingh Patil said children should be imparted values to respect women. She also stressed that women legislators should scrutinise provisions of gender budgeting.

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NEW DELHI: The government is likely to gain votes that it requires to get the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha this year, according to a report by American investment banker Morgan Stanley.



"The government could gain the votes it needs in 2016 to pass a Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill," Morgan Stanley said in a research note.



"The key to the bill's passage is a reduction in the number of upper house (Rajya Sabha) members opposing the bill. That number currently stands at 91 and it needs to fall to 82 for the bill to clear. We forecast that to happen by July 2016," the report noted.



"Once the bill clears Parliament, getting the bill passed by more than half of the states should not prove challenging, as the BJP and its allies are currently in power in 12 of 29 states, and a few beyond the 12 are supportive of the bill," it added.



The GST Bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, is stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lacks a majority.



Morgan Stanley said the GST Bill will have significant implications on the stock market, while six of the 10 key sectors would benefit from its implementation.



Sectors like consumption, logistics, house building materials, and industrial manufacturing are likely to experience a positive impact with GST.



However, if tobacco products and oil and gas are included in the GST, these could see a negative impact, while the remaining sectors would likely see a neutral impact, the report added.



Earlier this week, union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the GST may get passed.



"GST is stuck in the Rajya Sabha, but we are very hopeful that the bankruptcy law will be passed. Even for GST, the numbers (seats) are going to change...so, we are hopeful of GST as well," he said at an event here organised by the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

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MATHURA: Work is on to meet the governments target of electrifying every village in the country a year before the 2018 deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Power Minister Peeyush Goyal said here.

The minister asserted that there is no dearth of power and coal in the country.

"No power plant in the country has to temporarily shut down for dearth of coal which shows that there is no shortage. We can now supply any amount of power to any state on demand," he said.

The minister was addressing a meeting of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha last evening.

Referring to the Narenda Modi governments pledge to electrify all villages by 2018. he said, "We have decided to fulfill it at least a year ahead of the deadline."

Goyal said, "So far 38 per cent of the work has been done as 6,114 villages have been electrified."

Batting for increased use of LED, he said, "It is being made available to common man at Rs 74 against its earlier market price of Rs 450 since transparency has been maintained in bidding etc.

"Our target is to ensure LED in every house of the country by 2019 by pressing sale of 77 crore bulbs.

It would also save 2.5 crore units of power," he asserted.

The minister spoke on welfare schemes initiated by Modi government and asked activists of BJYM to make the rural people aware about them.

Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar alleged that various projects, including those related to defence, were held up during UPA regime due to delay in green nod.

"Road construction in the border areas was held up owing to environmental clearance. I have not only given green signal to this scheme but have told services chiefs that now environmental clearance would not be required for defence schemes," Javedkar said.

The minister attacked the Congress, saying a new challenge to maintain healthy tradition of parliamentary system has now come up due to the conduct of opposition pary which is "creating hurdles as it sees no scope to come back to power".

"Since Congress looted the country for 60 years, it has to remain in exile at least for 14 years," he said.

Union Minister for small enterprise Kalaraj Mishra advised activists not to be deterred by criticism.

"Take a lesson from Prime Minister Modi, who is working hard to overcome poverty and unemployment without bothering about criticism," he added.

"The day is not for off when India would become maha shakti? (super power). Even the US President has said that Modi is a man of action," he said.

Union HRD Minister Smrati Irani claimed that the facility to defence personnel for getting higher education through Indira Gandhi National Open University was withdrawn by Congress Government.

"Now we have cleared the facility and degrees to 45 Air Force and 3.73 lakh Army personnel were awarded," she said.

She also spoke of providing free NCERT books up to class 12 in Hindi, Engilish and Urdu languages through eebsite. PTI CORR RT

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MUMBAI: In a first for a corporate entity, Tech Mahindra is all set to create a startup garage for its in-house entrepreneurs.

Within our set-up, we have a number of companies that is working already. But we are about to launch a garage soon Ours will be the first corporate garage for the startups, TechM chief strategy officer and head of the growth factories initiative Jagdish Mitra told PTI recently.

At present, as many as 15 businesses have emerged from among the over 1.05 lakh TechM employees and they work as part of the growth factories set-up, Mitra said. He said all the businesses which are getting incubated will be physically housed together in the garage and doing so will give them independence to operate. Mentoring the businesses will also be easier if they are housed together, he adds.

All these startups need a very different business environment. They cannot run in this kind of an environment. They need independence to hire, to run the business, and to set it up, he says.

When asked about the location of the garage and if it will be in Pune, which has the largest operations for the company, he declined to comment and also hinted that there can be multiple locations for housing the garages.He, however, declined to answer further queries saying the company will soon be announcing the initiative On investments, he said the money will be spent on infrastructure and in the movement of people into the garage, but declined to share a number.

It is more about ensuring that the environment exists. We invest in nurturing that environment, he adds.

Mitra says the company runs a programme called Iris to encourage business ideas. After that, they are funded according to their need and milestones are set for the progress of the businesses

We offer them a certain fund, they run for a certain period, and by proving themselves with the milestone, they get the next level of funding or they can go out and seek funds, he says, adding the budding entrepreneurs cease to be TechM employees when the growth factory picks them up.

The proposed garage will house both existing companies as well as help incubate new startups, Mitra says.

It can be noted that a slew of corporates have various levels of engagement with the startup world. Some like Reliance Industries do competitions to select businesses/ideas and then support them with a mentoring programme run jointly with Microsoft, while many have dedicated funds for tapping potentially disruptive ideas.

TechM, the countrys fifth-largest software exporter, has created a USD 150-million fund for engagement with startups, which invests both in the in-house startups, and in companies outside those which have been promoted by its employees. There are three such external startups which it has backed till now, he says.

Mitra explains within the company, each of the five verticals has been asked to look for potentially disruptive business outside and look for opportunities to partner or invest.

This ensures that at any given point of time, the company has conversations going with at least 8-10 startups which have the potential to disrupt.

We dont want to be caught unawares and be disrupted by a provider who can actually do the same stuff in a different manner, leveraging the global connectivity, he said, adding that the engagement with the startups started around two years ago.

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To avoid a time-consuming federal permit process, a proposed state-funded pipeline from the Missouri River to eastern North Dakota to provide water will be utilizing a series of horizontal collector wells.

Discussion Monday among members of the interim Water Topics Overview Committee in the Roughrider Room of the state Capitol centered on the proposed Red River Valley Water Supply Project. An estimated cost for the project has previously been put at between $800 million and $1.1 billion.

Our project is very large, very complex. This is a huge project, said Ken Vein, chairman of the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District Board of Directors.

A study was recently completed that concluded by drilling a series of horizontal collector wells near the Missouri River above the high water mark would allow the state to bypass the federal permitting process, according to Vein.

The wells would be located near Washburn.

Nine to 14 horizontal collector wells would be required, said Vein, adding that the number of wells depends on how much water demand there is.

From there, a 66-inch to 84-inch pipeline would travel east, discharging the groundwater into Baldhill Creek above Baldhill Dam into Lake Ashtabula. From there, it would make its way down the Sheyenne River to communities in the Red River Valley.

Vein said the plan is to have the final design completed and the route decided by the end of June 2017, with phased construction occurring from 2018 to 2024.

The estimated cost for the preliminary design of the project is $16 million. The state provided more than $12.3 million for the 2015-17 biennium for planning; Vein said the planning will be scaled back or the remaining cost will be filled locally.

Vein said the current cost-share for planning with the State Water Commission was 90 percent by the state and the rest locally.

Rep. Roscoe Streyle, R-Minot, questioned the 90-10 split.

Thats not reasonable for the whole project, Streyle said. I dont see how the state could pick up the tab at 90 percent.

Garrison Diversion Conservancy District manager Duane DeKrey said the group has anticipated the cost-share would be negotiated during the next legislative session.

A pipeline was said to be the best way to address the growing water needs in the Red River Valley, according to an environmental impact statement released in 2007 by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. That was after approximately eight years of study. The project has been under consideration for more than a decade.

A final decision from the federal Interior Department on the project was never issued. In fall 2012, state officials began to move toward an alternative pipeline route without federal funding.
WASHINGTON: Ahead of the crucial March 15 Super Tuesday nominating contests, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat BernieSanders notched a victory each in Puerto Rico and Maine respectively to keep the US presidential race competitive.

For Florida Senator Rubio his second victory on Sunday in the Republican race, that has been dominated by real estate Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, provides him a rationale to stay in the race.

Establishment favourite Rubio, who has been endorsed by South Carolina's Indian-American governor Nikki Haley and Louisiana's former Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal, is now counting on winning his home state Florida on Super Tuesday.

But Trump who has won 12 of the first 19 contests is leading Rubio by double digits in the 99-delegate, winner-take-all primary in Florida on March 15.

Cruz too has gained some momentum with six wins including two on Saturday, while Ohio Governor John Kasich, whose state also holds a winner-take-all primary on March 15, is still seeking his first win.

On the Democratic side Sanders' victory in Maine caucuses was his third of the weekend after winning Kansas and Nebraska, though Clinton won in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, during a Democratic debate on Sunday on CNN in Flint, Michigan, Clinton and Bernie Sanders angrily clashed over auto industry bailouts, guns and ties to Wall Street.

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Source: IANS


WASHINGTON: Indian-American Sri Srinivasan, who enjoys a substantial support among Republicans, is among the three candidates being vetted by US President Barack Obama as potential nominees for a rare vacancy at the Supreme Court.

"President Obama is vetting Merrick B Garland and Sri Srinivasan, federal appellate judges who have enjoyed substantial support from Republicans in the past, as potential nominees for a Supreme Court vacancy that has set off a brutal election-year fight," The New York Times reported today.

According to a person knowledgeable about the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has been cloaked in secrecy, Judge Garland, 63, and Judge Srinivasan, 49, are undergoing background checks by the FBI, it said.

The White House has not given any indication in this regard. The report, however, said that the White House was also vetting Ketanji Brown Jackson, 45, a federal trial judge.

Following the death of Antonin Scalia, the first Italian American judge of the Supreme Court, early this month, there is a rare vacancy in the countrys top court.

Padmanabhan Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan, is currently the US Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ? which many call as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

He is not only considered a favorite of Obama, who called him a trailblazer, but also his nomination was confirmed by a record 97-0 votes, which is a no mean achievement given the bitter political divide in the American Senate.

Srinivasan was sworn-in as judge of the second-most powerful court of the US on September 26, 2013, making him the first Indian-American to be on the bench of the US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day OConnor has called Srinivasan "fair, faultless and fabulous."

Srinivasan began his legal career by serving as a law clerk from 1995 to 1996. He then spent a year as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General before clerking for Justice OConnor during the Supreme Courts 1997-98 term.

He was an associate at the law firm of OMelveny & Myers LLP in Washington, DC, from 1998 until 2002.

In 2002, he returned to the Solicitor Generals Office as an Assistant to the Solicitor General, representing the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court.

He received the Attorney Generals Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003, and the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005.

Srinivasan received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of Stanford Law Review.

He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which he received along with his JD in 1995.

Srinivasans mother is from Chennai and father was from Tirunelveli. His parents came to the US in the 1960s, returned to India, and then returned in 1971 to Kansas. PTI LKJ ABH

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- "Experience the crazy" serves as the mantra for "Crazy Taco and Tequila Bar," opening officially (fingers crossed!) for lunch and dinner on Tuesday, March 9, in Elm Park. Owner Adam Lener and staff ran "practice nights" of his Tex-Mex-themed, sit down restaurant this past weekend.

So, how did it go?

As promised, we experienced "the crazy" at the preview, something that happens when "friends and family" descend like locusts on a virgin staff for free food on a Saturday night. "Loco" is what you get with a simultaneous seating of 40 or so guests and service by employees completely unfamiliar with the menu in tandem with beefy Margaritas (albeit those inconsistently mixed) and generous pours of wine.

I loved it.

Crazy Taco is a winner for Staten Island offering massive meals, lots of leftovers, (did I mention the big drinks?) and a pleasant environment.

Atmosphere melds South of the Border concepts through the eyes of a New Yorker. With reclaimed wood on the walls, a gas pipe foot rest at the bar and tea lights punctuating nooks and crannies throughout two dining rooms, it offers a downtown feel that's a hipster kind of romantic.

The restaurant is fun for its overall vibe -- there is a photo booth into which my kids dropped over two week's worth of allowance. Crazy Taco also is slightly frivolous with copper-speckled, waterfall sinks in the restrooms and lacquered wood tables brightened by plates in primary colors plus red napkin roll-ups. (The loud rap music has to go.)

Appetizers sounded appealing all priced under $15.95. Although hand-breaded, fried Jalapeno Rellenos -- six seeded and smashed jalapenos filled with queso fresco -- didn't ooze cheese or have much flavor. Our "Garlic and Lime Infused Wings" were tasty but flabby and un-crisped while another table at a later seating said they received them, shall we say, extra crispy.

Quesadillas at Crazy Taco can come in versions of vegetable, Classic Cheese, Mole-infused chicken, "Negro Modera Braised Short Ribs" and Garlic-Lime Infused Shrimp. We chose the "cheese" -- delicious and thick -- but it was co-mingled with the added surprise of caramelized onions. Yummy "Crazy Tacos" with three mini crisp shells fitted with battered mahi mahi, avocado and pineapple -- have a soft-shell counterpart (not ordered) which promised three soft corn tortillas topped with pico di gallo and salsa verde.

Other items on the menu include five salads all presented in fried flour tortilla bowls. We had the "Classic Taco Salad" which was, well, classic.

There are tacos for sale by the piece from $3.75 (chicken) to $5.25 (chile-infused skirt steak) plus fajitas ranging from $18.95 to $23.95, all with housemade guac, copious beans, sour cream and other accoutrements.

On entrees, double-cut pork chop stuffed with chorizo is $22.95 and it's $25.95 for the Ahi Tuna Steak over rice pilaf with veggies. And a meal like Grilled Skirt Steak -- plated at a perfect medium temp, juicy, tender, properly seasoned and charred -- was presented at $24.95 accompanied by Spanish rice, fresh carrots with broccoli and black beans.

All dishes proved nice in appearance with copious food although prices seem steep for the neighborhood and for the borough. But this is where price points should be on Staten Island and a guy's entitled to make a buck. You really can't sell a steak for $20 and make money. (Bless you, Adam -- stick to your guns.)

Lener, by the way, is the co-owner of wildly successful Portobello Cafe in Great Kills. He's no doubt going to make a thunderous success out of family-friendly Crazy Taco and Tequila Bar.

Crazy Taco -- she's going to be good for Staten Island. A familiar Mexican food format that hails not from a drive-through and has a "tequila library" to boot -- now, that's progress on the The Rock's restaurant landscape.

-- The Crazy Taco & Tequila Bar is located at 238 Morningstar Rd., Elm Park; 718-720-TACO.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A vandal who, authorities said, scrawled anti-Semitic and anti-government graffiti on the walls of several New Dorp businesses during a weeklong spree , has pleaded guilty to criminal mischief.

Vincent Rodriguez, 27, of New Dorp Beach, was busted on Feb. 23, 2015, and accused of defacing buildings and flag murals between Feb. 12 and 19.

According to authorities, Rodriguez mostly targeted banks. He struck at four Chase branches, one Santander bank and one BCB bank, police allege.

He also hit at least two flag murals painted by local artist Scott LoBaido, at one point calling out LoBaido by name, authorities allege.

LoBaido painted the murals on the facades of the ShopRite at 2424 Hylan Blvd. and at the Something Sweet Homemade ice cream shop at 314 New Dorp Lane.

Rodriguez defaced both on the same day, authorities allege.

Police also charged Rodriguez with marking a Verizon electrical box located near the corner of Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane with the tags "INC 15" and "Revolution." That incident occurred sometime between Feb. 12 and Feb. 18, 2015, according to a criminal complaint.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty Wednesday in Criminal Court to a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief and to disorderly conduct, a violation.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Rodriguez, a veteran, must participate in an intensive Veterans Affairs' mental health treatment program, said prosecutors.

He must follow that program with a minimum of six months' aftercare with the V.A., prosecutors said.

Rodriguez has also agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of restitution.

If Rodriguez complies with the conditions, the misdemeanor conviction will be vacated, said prosecutors.

His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Borough elected officials have announced a "milestone agreement" to tackle -- once and for all -- the turkey population that has plagued Ocean Breeze and nearby Dongan Hills residential blocks for years.

The agreement -- between Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH), the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- will permit the capture and relocation of toms and hens that congregate on SIUH grounds.

Previous DEC and USDA capture operations have been carried out on state land adjacent to the hospital campus: The grounds of South Beach Psychiatric Center.

These efforts met with only partial success because visitors fed the turkeys on the nearby SIUH campus.

"The turkeys' overwhelming presence on the hospital grounds poses considerable safety risks to our patients and visitors," said SIUH executive director Donna Proske. "Our concerns stem from aggressive birds near our facility entrances, traffic stoppage from large flocks interfering with ambulances and patient drop-offs, and unsanitary eliminations on the sidewalks."

'HUGE STEP FORWARD'

"This could be a huge step forward in our efforts to end the long-standing issues posed by these wild turkeys," said Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island).

"Going onto SIUH property gives us a real chance to bring down the turkey population before a new generation of turkeys is born, and ultimately reduce the turkey population in Staten Island. It has been a long and arduous process, and I want to thank our friends at SIUH for being responsive to our request to join us in what amounts to a collective effort to improve the health and well-being of our community," Matteo added.

Borough President James Oddo welcomed the agreement, which provides for removal of the turkeys to an upstate animal sanctuary in Greene County.

"Thank you to our friends from SIUH for their willingness to work with us to remove the turkeys on their property to a more suitable sanctuary upstate," he said. "This will make the capture and removal efforts even more effective, and hopefully help solve the problem. An unchecked wild turkey population, while a novelty when it started, does negatively affect the quality of life for residents of these affected areas. This is an ideal solution for residents of the areas, as well as the turkeys who will live in a more suitable and pastoral location."

Added Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn): "The turkey removal operation in Ocean Breeze has been a very welcome development for the residents who've been forced to deal with this problem for too long. We need to stay consistent in our efforts to finally get this resolved and I'm thankful that Staten Island University Hospital is, as always, a willing partner for the community."

"This quality-of-life nuisance looks to be nearing a humane conclusion," said Congressman Daniel Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn). "When government bureaucracy is responsive to community needs, we can achieve productive results."

DEC regional director Venetia Lannon thanked the USDA and SIUH for their participation. "Through this partnership, the birds will be transported to the same sanctuary in Greene County, N.Y., that we have used in the past," she said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island was out in full force for the 52nd annual St. Patrick's Parade Sunday, painting Forest Avenue a sea of green.

By some estimates, approximately 50,000 people turnout to watch the more than 100 floats, bands and organization march down the West Brighton thoroughfare.

Perhaps the strong turn out was a result of this year's sunny weather -- last year it was snowing -- or perhaps it's just because Staten Islanders love this celebration.

"I get to spend time with my family, see my friends and celebrate my heritage," said 9-year-old Frankie Carroll after the parade.

Carroll was covered head-to-toe in green, with a shamrock temporary tattoo on her cheek. Her grandmother, Kathy Lenon, said it felt like just yesterday that Frankie was at the parade in a stroller. Like many families who turn out for the parade, theirs is a decades-old tradition.

A favorite among attendees -- Carroll included -- was the Mummers All Star band. The group from Philadelphia dresses in colorful and wacky suits and plays folk music. Others said they enjoyed cover band The Cause and Effects, this year's favorite among SILive readers. The band played on the back of a truck.

This year's parade started almost an hour late due to a suspicious package along the parade route at Hoyt Avenue. But by 1 p.m., the scene was deemed safe. Runners charged down Forest Avenue for the 1-mile race and Parade Marshall Brian Nutley of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 4, stepped off for the one-hour parade.

Though the suspicious package scare was unfortunate, the delay may have been a blessing in disguise for those on "Irish Time," laughed Aid to the Grand Marshall Tom Conway of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 3.

"Those of us on 'Irish Time' are usually about half-an-hour-late, give or take, so it gave everyone a chance to arrive to the parade and see all of it, when they might have missed it if it had started on time," Conway said. "So that might have been the reason we saw more people out here this year."

Of course many took the opportunity to celebrate accordingly, drinking green beer or Irish spirits from the sidewalk or at the bars along Forest Avenue. One reveler referred to the phenomenon as "Kegs and eggs" for how early the party gets started. (See the video to the right to find out when Staten Islanders began partying)

"No matter what it's just amazing to see the community come together like this," Conway said. "It's a great sign of pride here, and makes me so proud to be from Staten Island."
nws Borelli

Councilman Joe Borelli presents his proposal Monday to charge non-New York City residents to park in Staten Island's park-and-ride lots. Assembly candidate Ron Castorina Jr. joined him at the Huguenot lot. (Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro)

A long line of cars parked along Drumgoole Road East on Monday morning because the two park-and-ride lots are full. (Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Jersey residents who park on Staten Island to take the cheap and convenient way to public transit will have to pay if a new proposal passes in the City Council.

That's because Staten Island commuters have a hard time finding parking at South Shore park-and-ride lots, and it's partly because of the New Jersey residents, something Councilman Joe Borelli wants to put an end to.

Standing in one of the two jam-packed lots of the Huguenot park-and-ride on the corner of Huguenot Avenue and Drumgoole Road East Monday morning, Borelli (R-South Shore) explained his proposal that would charge non-New York City residents $400 a year for a parking permit in any of the park-and-ride lots owned and operated by the city Department of Transportation.

A fee would likely deter many from parking there, and for those undeterred, the fee would cover the cost of implementing the parking permit system, the councilman said.

"As you may have noticed, there are a lot of New Jersey plates that have come and occupied a lot of our spaces," he said. "Is that inherently wrong? No, we want to think we can welcome people from Jersey. However, we do want to have parity with what's being done in New Jersey."

There, non-state residents are either prohibited from parking in their lots or are charged much higher fees than those charged to residents.

New Jersey residents know it is cheaper to park in free Staten Island lots than to park in their own expensive lots and take New Jersey transit, but New Jersey residents aren't entitled to free parking when doing so pushes out New York City taxpayers who paid for the lots, Borelli argues.

During a recent count of the vehicles parked in the Huguenot lot, Borelli's office noted 293 total vehicles parked, 88 of which were out-of-state vehicles, making those vehicles 30 percent of the total parked.

During a similar count in the Eltingville park-and-ride lot, out-of-state drivers made up 7.8 percent -- 28 out of 360.

At the Outerbridge lot, only 10 vehicles were parked there, five of which were out-of-state plates.

While there are park-and-ride locations at Staten Island Railway stops for Prince's Bay, Annadale and Dongan Hills, those locations aren't as popular with New Jersey drivers.

Whether visiting a New Jersey beach or MetLife Stadium, Borelli notes visitors have to pay for parking and "we want a simple system where there's parity here in New York."

Many Long Island Rail Road parking lots in Nassau County don't allow parking for non-residents.

One of many New Jersey plates in a long line of vehicles parked along Drumgoole Road East on Monday morning because the two park-and-ride lots are full. (Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro)

On Monday, a long line of cars parked along Drumgoole Road East on the northeast approach to the Korean War Veterans Parkway. The two park-and-ride lots could not contain the cars, many of which were from New Jersey.

While building new lots is an option, it's a costly one, Borelli pointed out, and land may not be available.

"Why should the taxpayers have to continue to go into their pocket to invest in new park-and-rides, when there are enough spots here?" Borelli said.

Under his proposal, New York City residents would have to fill out a form and get a free parking pass.

"Doing this once would prevent you from having to go through the frustration on a cold day of not finding a parking spot," he added.

The overcrowding has long been an issue for residents, as Terry Papineau commuted for more than 30 years and often contacts Borelli regarding overcrowding in the Huguenot lot.

She spoke Monday about having to park down the street and walk to the bus or railway stop.

"It's just ridiculous for residents to give up their spots to New Jersey people," she said.

Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island) is co-sponsoring the bill, which is still being drafted, and said in a statement, "I love our New Jersey neighbors and welcome them to our borough, but Staten Island taxpayers should not be subsidizing free parking and public transportation for them -- especially when our borough has so few and such inadequate transportation options already. It is more than fair that out-of-state drivers pay for the convenience of our park-and-rides, as all New York City residents do."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's still 11 days until St. Patrick's Day, but one wouldn't know that by walking down Forest Avenue on Staten Island on Sunday.

As people dressed in green gathered to watch the parade, the Island's elected officials started off their morning getting in the Irish spirit at the annual breakfast gathering at Jody's Club Forest before heading out to march.

It was the second year the event was named for deceased former Councilman Jerome "Jay" O'Donovan, a beloved public official of whom many recalled fond memories.

The bar had been expanded last fall, opening up the normally crowded space to a much more appropriate venue for the popular event, which draws attention from citywide elected officials, like Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer, both of whom attended.

Present were Borough President James Oddo, state Sen. Andrew Lanza, state Sen. Diane Savino, D.A. Michael McMahon, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, Assemblyman Matthew Titone, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Councilman Steven Matteo and Councilman Joe Borelli, as were judges and union representatives, all gathered to enjoy a Guinness, some bagels and a laugh.

"This breakfast was started many years ago by a gentleman who is one of our elected officials here on Staten Island, somebody who we all admired," Cusick said, shouting to the crowd while standing atop a chair. "He was all of our friends, I think everyone was a friend of Jay O'Donovan and ... we named the breakfast last year the Jay O'Donovan St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in his honor. Is started with him and he's always with us."

Speaking briefly, James noted the "humble beginnings" many Irish folks had coming to the country, working hard and exhibiting tenacity.

"I also know that America, this country, would not be what it is today because it was built based on the blood, sweet and tears of the Irish community," she said. "And so today, we salute that ... today we honor that and today, I am not Letitia James, I am Letitia Jameson!"

Taking his turn standing on the chair, McMahon too noted what the Irish have contributed to the country.

"We celebrate today the great Irish heritage and contribution across the world and in particular to the United States of America," he said, noting that 2016 is the 100-year anniversary of Easter Rising, which set Ireland on the path to independence.

"It was a long, hard-fought battle and what we learn from the Irish history and being Irish is, there are always challenges, but we persevere, we persevere because of our faith and we persevere because of our optimism, just as we know that the winter is about to end, we hope, and the sun is going to shine out there," McMahon said.

Before turning the floor over to Judge Michael Brennan to lead an off-key but rousing rendition of the Irish National Anthem, followed by a less flat version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," McMahon ended with an Irish blessing.

"May those who love us, continue to love us, and may those who don't, may God turn their hearts, and if he can't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limps."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Tech-savvy mass transit riders spent the day Saturday explaining their plans for how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) can improve and transform Staten Island's transit system.

The first Staten Island Bus Hackathon, organized by New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation, the Transit Center, and the MTA, drew more than 150 coding and planning enthusiasts to lower Manhattan to present their proposals for transit improvement.

"For many Staten Islanders, the daily commute continues to go from bad to torturous," said Borough President James Oddo. "With Saturday's Hackathon, data analysts, transit planners, and others -- some Staten Island residents and some not -- got a chance to look at the data and take a crack at generating new and creative proposals to improve the quality of our bus service."

Oddo attended the event and gave opening remarks.

@LMHQ_NYC - Staten Island Borough president James Oddo speaking about the challenges and hopes for public transit. pic.twitter.com/KC6HiPXM78  Lee Kim (@leekimnyc) March 5, 2016

Fifteen proposals for reforming Staten Island bus service were submitted and presented, with a panel of transportation experts singling out the top three for distinction.

The top proposal, by Sri Kanajan, titled "How to Optimize Express Bus Routes in Staten Island," merged real data with cartob maps and found that most express bus riders get off in a key spots in Manhattan during the morning commute, while they get off continuously at all stops on the return trip to Staten Island.

Using the data, Kanajan recommended that morning bus runs to Manhattan might be made more efficient by reducing the number of stops made in Manhattan.

Other proposals suggested creating additional express bus routes to serve neighborhoods on the North and West Shores.

Darryl Irick, senior vice president, Department of Buses, and president of the MTA Bus Company, said the proposals offered at the hackathon are an opportunity for "New York City Transit to further use innovation and technology to provide our customers with better service."
Nancy Reagan Guy Molinari.jpg

Soon-to-be first lady Nancy Reagan reads a fortune-cookie message, to the amusement of Guy Molinari, in the former Wah Ting restaurant on Hylan Boulevard in Dongan Hills in March 1980. (Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As the country mourns a beloved former first lady, Guy Molinari recalls a slightly unsure wife of a presidential candidate approaching a room full of women on Staten Island in March 1980.

When Ronald Reagan was running for president, Molinari, then a state assemblyman running for Congress, got a call from Reagan's campaign, asking for him to put together an event for his wife, Nancy Reagan, Molinari said.

First Lady Nancy Reagan died of congestive heart failure on Sunday at age 94 in her Los Angeles home.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday afternoon ordered all New York City flags to fly at half staff effective immediately in honor of Reagan, who was born in the city.

Molinari, 88, is writing a book about his political career, and while he doesn't recall exactly where he was when he first met Ronald Reagan, he remembers clearly when he first met Nancy Reagan.

He got a call to set up a meet-and-greet for Nancy Reagan "to talk about the campaign and whatnot," Molinari said.



"They were a little antsy about what she was going to say," because it was early on in the campaign and she wasn't as polished as she later became, he recalled.

He put the event together in one day -- "I started calling friends and we just made a whole bunch of phone calls. They all wanted to come meet her."

The event took place at the former Wah Ting restaurant on Hylan Boulevard in Dongan Hills. A photo of Reagan and Molinari shows Reagan reading a fortune cookie message as Molinari listens in.

Molinari said "a couple hundred people" attended to hear the future first lady speak briefly about her husband and his campaign.

"She didn't talk a lot," Molinari recalled. "She was kind of unsure of herself at that point in terms of the campaign."

But the crowd of women were welcoming.

"They were very friendly and impressed by her," he said. You could see her relationship with her husband "was very special ... they were very close. It's hard to talk about one of them without talking about the other."

Molinari had some private conversations with Nancy Reagan after that event, discussing the campaign.

"It was a nice event, it was a light event. I tried to make it easy for her, I think I did," he said. "These are Staten Islanders, friendly people. We had a very pleasant day with her."
BIRTHS

CHI St. Alexius Health

Son, Joann Foster and Jess Porras, McLaughlin, S.D., 7:51 a.m., March 2.

Son, Justin and Kayla Brown, Center, 11:21 a.m., March 2.

Son, Christopher and Emy Fettig, Tappen, 4:49 p.m., March 2.

Daughter, Michelle and Matt Ukestad, Bismarck, 11:43 a.m., March 3.

Sanford Health

Daughter, Kelli and Andrew Nelson, Bismarck, 6:20 a.m., March 2.

Son, Devan and Chad Moore, Mandan, 8:49 a.m., March 3.

IMPOUNDED ANIMALS

If you are missing a pet or are interested in adopting a pet, go to : http://bismarcknd.gov/index.aspx?nid=382. For more information, call 701-223-1212 or 701-222-6734.

SEX OFFENDER LOCATION INFORMATION

For information about the locations of sex offenders in the community, visit www.sexoffender.nd.gov. The website contains databases of sex offenders and offenders against children, as well as an email notification system in which the public can be notified every time an offender in the area changes his or her information.

CRIME STOPPERS

Call Bismarck Area Crime Stoppers at 701-224-TIPS (701-224-8477) to report information about any crime in Bismarck, Mandan, Burleigh County or Morton County. Information can be given anonymously and you may be eligible for cash rewards if the information leads to an arrest.

COURT POLICY

Nubs of the news information comes from district and municipal courts in Burleigh and Morton counties. In nubs of the news, the Tribune publishes all felony sentences; and misdemeanor sentences with fines of $500 or more and/or a jail term, including suspended sentences.

COURTS

(Cases closed from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31)

Burleigh County

Judge David Reich

Possession of drug paraphernalia: Darrell W. Whitelightning, 31, 305 N. 23rd St., six months suspended for one year, 20 hours community service.

Driving under suspension: Thomas A. Carrymoccasin, 39, 103 E. Bismarck Expressway No. 22, $250, six months suspended for one year.

Theft of property: Chantelle R. Dubois, 24, Dakota Womens Correctional Rehabilitation Center, New England, 30 days, restitution.

Reckless driving: Stephanie A. Hildebrand, 41, 604 First St. N.W. No. 3, Mandan, 10 days suspended for one year.

Judge Sonna Anderson

Criminal trespass: Cheyenne L. Whiteman, 28, no address listed, 30 days, also preventing arrest or discharge of other duties: 30 days.

Ingesting a controlled substance: Katherine R. Grubb, 19, 3120 E. Rosser Ave. No. 7, 30 days suspended for one year.

Driving under the influence: Rachel G. Leno, 24, 2219 E. Boulevard Ave., $500, 10 days suspended for 360 days, 20 hours community service.

Driving under suspension (alcohol related): Marvin Lopez, 36, Wichita, Kan., four days.

Judge James Hill

Criminal trespass: Lucas L. Whiteman, 30, homeless, 20 days.

Driving under the influence: Christopher D. Ashley, 39, 1714 E. Rosser Ave., $750 and 10 days, eight days suspended for one year, or 20 hours community service in lieu of jail time.

Judge Cynthia Feland

Driving under suspension: Melissa L. Horacek, 37, Goodrich, 10 days, eight days suspended for 360 days, restitution.

Ingesting a controlled substance: Tyler L. Kastrow, 19, 3912 Chandler Lane, 30 days suspended for one year.

Reckless driving: Heather M. Korwin Heller, 34, Williston, $500, 10 days suspended for one year.

Judge Gail Hagerty

Possession of drug paraphernalia: Thomas L. Kelly, 36, no address listed, 30 days suspended for 360 days.

Driving under suspension: Fenton Little Dog Jr., 30, 1007 Portland Drive No. 9, 10 days suspended for 360 days.

Driving under the influence: Coulee B. Luger, 24, Mandaree, $500, 10 days suspended for one year.
Page Content

On March 4th, 2016, His Excellency the Governor of Sint Maarten, drs. E.B. Holiday, hosted his Annual Consular Corps Reception in honor of the Consuls accredited to work on Sint Maarten. The theme of the reception and the Governors welcome address was: Partnerships through Friendships and Dialogue. In his address Governor Holiday emphasized that strong relations anchored in friendship and dialogue is the bedrock of effective partnerships and cooperation. He therefore noted that it is our joint obligation to continue to move forward as agents for partnerships between our countries, communicating and stimulating friendship and dialogue for mutually beneficial cooperation. And in embracing our obligation he noted that our countries need each other in our interdependent world and invited the consuls and all present to continue to work towards the strengthening of partnership by fostering stronger friendships and dialogue in the areas of education, health care, tourism, trade, banking and the combating of crime for the safety, security, health, development and prosperity of our peoples. Present were the General and/or Honorary Consuls of Canada, France, Germany, India, Sweden, Venezuela, United Kingdom and the United States. Also present were Ministers Silveria Jacobs, Minister E. Kirindogo, Minister E. Lee, MP G. Pantophlet and several representatives from business and other social institutions.





Attached is the full text of the Governors welcome address as well as a photo of the Consuls with Governer and Mrs. Holiday. Governor Holiday and Mrs. Holiday are flanked on the right by M. Gutierrez de Almeida (venezuela), R. Voges (Sweden), P. DeCelles (Canada), H. Kanga (USA) and on he left by A. Pietersz-Powell (UK), K. Frielink (Germany) and D. Rawatani (India).
Page Content

Over the course of three days, February 22nd to February 25th of this year, St. Maarten underwent another Bi-annual Country Assessment. Two facilities were assessed, namely, the A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities and Chevron Bulk Station. The facilities were found to be in satisfactory compliance and no major non-conformities were found. There were some recommendations made, which the local ISPS Committee will be working diligently to implement in order to correct the non-conformities and increase the level of compliance.

International Port Security Liaison Officers (IPSLO) Steven J. Boyle, David Otani and Chaning D. Burgess, along with Mario Biabiany in his capacity as the St. Maarten RSO (Recognized Security Organization) and Claudius Carty of Shipping & Maritime Affairs/ISPS Committee, visited the aforementioned facilities and conducted said assessments.

The IPSLOs, in U.S. Coast Guard Activities, engage with over 150 partner nations, territories and countries worldwide. The U.S. Coast Guards International Port Security (IPS) Program was established in 2003 to reinforce implementation of the ISPS Code as part of the U.S. Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA). Through the assessment of ISPS Code implementation and other anti-terrorism security measures in foreign ports and through bilateral discussions to share and align port security practices, the Coast Guard IPS Program seeks to reduce risks to ports and ships, and to the entire maritime transport system.

As an internationally accepted blueprint for maritime security measures, the ISPS Code serves as a sound foundation from which countries can build their own domestic maritime security system. Through its IPS Program, the U.S. Coast Guard is committed to assisting those nations that have not fully implemented the ISPS Code. They are also committed to furthering their engagement and security dialogue with their maritime trading partners that are moving beyond the ISPS Code through advancements in their maritime operational capabilities, maritime situational awareness, and maritime governance.

These efforts require international cooperation between the maritime industry and all flag and port states. By exchanging port security-related information and sharing best practices, we can better protect the international maritime transport system through the application of adequate and proportionate security measures. Ultimately, vessels arriving in the United States from foreign ports with adequate security measures are less likely to be targeted for port state control actions. This reduces potential delays and facilitates safe and secure maritime trade.

In the Photo L-R : Chaning D. Burgess, Louis Halley, Miguel de Weever, David Otani, Steven J . Boyle, Claudius Carty.




The decision to delay a vote on a 1-cent sales tax for Bismarck was a wise move.

Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary has been pushing for a second sales tax to help pay for $228 million in road projects. Seminary argues the city is in danger of falling behind on projects and if they arent done in an orderly manner the cost will continue to rise. He originally wanted to put the issue on the June primary election ballot, but he shifted gears after a recent town hall meeting.

The meeting was well attended and there was a good degree of opposition to the sales tax and questions about some of the proposed road projects. Seminarys proposal is opposed by two city commissioners, Steve Marquardt and Parrell Grossman. Commissioner Nancy Guy supports the vote and commissioner Josh Askvig says he wants more feedback before making a decision.

Seminary says he wants to delay the vote until the November general election so the commission can collect more information from the public. The mayor indicated he wanted a public forum before the city commission and other community groups are planning informational sessions.

Providing the public with more information, pro and con, is never a bad idea. This in a sense isnt a yes-or-no proposition. The ballot measure has to be crafted by the commission and it doesnt have to include everything the mayor has suggested. The number of projects can be narrowed, the amount of the tax can be changed and the project priorities can be altered. Also, Seminary doesnt want an end date on the sales tax. He might need to compromise on that to get it passed. When all that is decided, the yes-or-no vote can be held.

Some might argue Seminary decided to wait because he didnt think he could win in the primary. Theres nothing wrong with that. Conventional wisdom is that fewer people vote in the primary and issues with strong core support do well in primaries. Public discussions on the sales tax seemed to trend toward a no vote.

If the commission decides to hold a vote in November the presidential election could draw more voters to the polls. The primary, however, could have the attraction of the governors race between Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Doug Burgum. Burgum has announced he will run in the primary and Stenehjem is favored to get the convention nomination.

The Tribune believes if the commission decides to hold a vote the best time is November. when its likely the most people will vote. If leading up to the decision by the commission on whether to hold a vote it appears the measure will fail, the commission should wait.

The process needs to be transparent, the public needs to be heard and the commission needs to follow their advice.
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The Super Tuesday primaries may be a turning point for America  and quite possibly a turn for the worse. After seven long years of domestic disasters and increasing international dangers, the next president of the United States will need extraordinary wisdom, maturity, depth of knowledge and personal character to rescue America.

Instead, if the polls are an indication, what we may get is someone with the opposite of all these things, a glib egomaniac with a checkered record in business and no track record at all in government  Donald Trump.

If so, the downward trajectory of America over the past seven years may well continue on into the future, to the point of no return.

Democrat Susan Estrich says that it is fun watching Trump. She may be able to enjoy the spectacle because Trump is Hillary Clintons best chance of winning the general election in November. Even if the FBIs investigation leads them to recommend an indictment, the Obama administration is not likely to indict Hillary.

No doubt The Donald is entertaining, and he has ridden a wave of Republican voter anger against the Republican establishment, which has repeatedly betrayed them, especially on illegal immigration.

But these political problems are a sideshow, in a world where Iran is guaranteed to get nuclear weapons and North Korea, which already has them, is developing long-range missiles that can reach American cities. Iran is also developing long-range missiles.

Then there are the international terrorist organizations from the Middle East  many sponsored by Iran  whose agents have had easy access to the United States across our open border with Mexico.

We will need the cooperation of nations around the world to keep us informed of these terrorist organizations activities, and to help disrupt the international money flows to terrorists.

Those nations know that helping the United States makes them targets of terrorism. So they have to weigh how much they can rely on America, before they risk their own national survival by cooperating with us against the terrorists.

Is Donald Trump someone who would inspire such confidence among leaders of other countries? Already Trumps irresponsible rhetoric has caused a backlash in Mexico and there has also been an attempt in Britain to ban him from setting foot on British soil.

We need all the allies we can get, from countries around the world, including Muslim allies in the Middle East. The last thing we can afford, at this crucial juncture in history is a president who alienates allies we have to have in a war against international terrorists.

On the campaign trail, Trumps theatrical talents, including his bluster and bombast, may be enough to conceal his shallow understanding of very deep problems. But that will not cut it in the White House, where you cannot clown or con your way out of problems, and where the stakes are matters of life and death.

Trumps acting like a bull in a china shop may appeal to some voters but, in the world as it is, he may well cost us our last chance to recover from the great dangers into which the Obama administration has gotten this nation.

We already have an ego-driven, know-it-all president who will not listen to military or intelligence agency experts. Do we need to tempt fate by having two in a row?

Despite Trumps string of primary vote victories, he has not yet gotten a majority of the Republican votes anywhere. But although most Republican votes are being cast against him, the scattering of that vote among so many other candidates leaves Trump with a good chance to get the nomination.

Everyone understands that the best chance for stopping Trump is for that fractured majority vote to consolidate behind one candidate opposed to him. But who will step aside for the good of the country?

When we think of American military heroes who have fallen on enemy hand grenades to save those around them, at the cost of their own lives, is it really too much to ask candidates  especially those who present themselves as patriots  to give up their one political chance in a zillion this year for the sake of the country?

Voters have a responsibility too. They might well ask themselves: Do I plan to use my vote to vent my emotions or to try to help save this country?
It was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little over a week, and it appeared to be part of a campaign by IS to stage attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.
BOWMAN  Change always seems to yield opportunity. For Bowman, this could be a big opportunity.

Bowman County is moving ahead with turning the old Bowman Municipal Airport into an industrial park, which will then fall into city hands. The airport officially moved from the west side of town to the east in May.

If it pans out to the visions of the community leaders behind it, the project will invite more business into the community and serve to boost its overall commerce.

The person heading the industrial parks development is Teran Doerr, the executive director of the Bowman County Development Corp.

Were excited about this project, Doerr said. Its a huge asset for our community.

She said it would join the new Southwest Healthcare Services hospital under construction in the city as a sign of the communitys growth and development.

Doerr said the idea came about as a result of the site already being surrounded by industrial activity. She also said the corporation wanted to develop it correctly as it serves as a sort of gateway to the community.

She also said the site has a lot of assets, including access to U.S. Highway 12 and the nearby railroad.

Doerr and Lyn James, the mayor of Bowman, said the total area of the site has altered in measurement over the time of its consideration, mainly due to some wetlands that are on the site. It is more than 200 acres, they said.

Doerr said the development corporation board approved of bringing it before the Bowman County Commission in late 2014, and the commissioners agreed to allow a feasibility study be done to the site. County Commissioner Rick Braaten said he and the rest of the commission initially saw the proposal as a viable possibility.

At the time we thought it was a pretty good idea, and I guess we still do, Braaten said.

Doerr said the county hired local firm Brosz Engineering and Williston-based Gilmore Planning for the study, where they assessed the lands value and potential economic impact on the community.

The study also coincided with the availability of state surge funding, part of which the city allowed to be used toward the project.

Once we had come to a conclusion, both commissions did decide to let the development corporation move forward on the project, and both contributed greatly to it, Doerr said.

Braaten mentioned the wetlands on the property as being a potential asset, as the North Dakota Department of Transportation is looking at purchasing them.

It could be a pretty good return for the county in that way, he said.

Braaten said the county more or less donated the land to the development corporation, though he said it still technically needed to be released from the FAA by seeding grass in the space where the old runway was torn out before proceeding with the necessary paperwork.

Eventually, the property will be annexed by the city, but the development corporation will manage it and sell off the parcels to buyers.

Were open to anything that could be potentially oil- or ag-related, Doerr said of those expected to buy buy the lots, though she added that they were looking at any opportunity with the goal of diversifying the local economy.

Doerr said light industry would be ideal, which wouldnt have a negative impact on the neighboring residents.

It was with this in mind that the county commissioners requested a 300-foot buffer zone be drawn out, where trees could be planted to give the residential and industrial zones some more separation.

You want to do planned development and make sure that it looks nice and that it appeals to the people looking at our community, Doerr said.

If the transition from the FAA to the development corporation goes smoothly, Doerr said they could see the basic infrastructure of the industrial park being laid this summer.

There have been people that expressed both support and criticism of the project, Doerr said, but she added that it was an educational process in why the community leaders had chosen this route and how it will be funded.

James said the industrial park would add to the tax base, which would only grow as the lots are sold and developed. There would also come jobs and families, and overall more commerce would enter the community.

Its a forward-thinking project, no doubt, James said.

Doerr emphasized that this would be a long-term investment for the community and that the industrial park wouldnt fill up quickly.

James and Doerr said that, with the current downturn in the oil and agriculture industries, now is the time to take advantage of the less-hectic atmosphere and the contractors and resources available.

James said there have been businesses in the past that have expressed interest in Bowman, but the city didnt have anything to offer them like they would with this.

Doerr said there have been other communities that were caught off guard by the oil boom and also missed business opportunities due to lack of preparedness.

Now, she said, its Bowmans time to prepare for when things pick up again.

If youre not ready, youre passed by, Doerr said.
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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f020e380)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0896118)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f020e380)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0896118)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f00986d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0896118)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0896118)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880d7e8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f08f0a10)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f08f0a10)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
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context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f09ff030)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f053e9d8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f09ff030)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f053e9d8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f03c8e40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f053e9d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f053e9d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880dd40)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03123b8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03123b8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
GRAND FORKS  Proposed legislation to establish a single nationwide GMO labeling law has drawn attention, mainly for how it would affect food companies and consumers.

But businesses and the economy in general would benefit from national standards on the labeling of food containing genetically engineered ingredients, a North Dakota business official says.

The entire economy is affected, says Bruce Gjovig, chairman of the Bioscience Association of North Dakota, which supports the biotechnology and bioscience industries in the state. We really need to make sure we have national labeling rather than a patchwork of 50 states.

He talked with Agweek shortly after the Senate Ag Committee on March 1 approved legislation calling for national standards. The U.S. House of Representatives already has passed the legislation, which still needs approval of the full Senate.

Vermont will institute the first state GMO labeling law in July, but their law could be delayed with the impending legislation. Supporters of national legislation worry that other states will follow suit, forcing food companies to comply with multiple labeling requirements.

Individual state standards would make it (labeling) cost-prohibitive for small companies, Gjovig says.

He stresses decades of research has shown GMOs are just as healthy and safe as any other food.

He also emphasizes supporters of national GMO standards dont oppose organic food.

Mixed reaction

The Senate Ag Committee action drew widespread reaction from both supporters and opponents of the legislation.

The March 1 approval was a key step forward to preventing a crazy quilt patchwork of state GMO labeling laws and the increased consumer food prices that would result, says Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

The organization represents nearly 3,000 farmer cooperatives across the country.

This bill injects common sense, uniformity and transparency to the debate over this issue, he says. At the same time, the bill would also create a program to better communicate with the public about GMOs.

The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food also applauds Senate Ag Committee approval.

We couldnt be happier with todays vote and have full confidence that the full Senate will soon pass this legislation. We see no major road bumps that will slow the momentum at our backs, says Claire Parker, a Coalition spokeswoman.

More than 650 farm, producer, manufacturer and retail groups supported Senate Ag Committee approval of the bill, according to information from the Coalition.

But the legislation also draws strong criticism from opponents, who have dubbed it the DARK Act, or Deny Americans the Right to Know.

The version of the DARK Act that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee today would rob Americans of their right to know whats in their food, says Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group. Nine out of 10 Americans want the same rights as consumers in Russia, China and more than 60 other nations that require mandatory GMO labeling.

Bipartisan support

The Senate Ag Committee voted 14-6 in favor of the bill. All of the Republicans and three of the nine Democrats on the committee gave their support. The Democratic supporters included North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Heitkamp says she continues to have concerns that the bill will guarantee consumers access to the information they want about their food. She will continue to work to strengthen the bill by pressing for more robust disclosure of biotech ingredients, without stigmatizing biotechnology.
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System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0793cc0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f05cbd50)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0793cc0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f05cbd50)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f07910b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f05cbd50)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f05cbd50)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880cd70)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f07aabb8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f07aabb8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe58200)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612efbcb7b8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe58200)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612efbcb7b8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe81e20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612efbcb7b8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612efbcb7b8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880dd40)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612ebc22f50)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612ebc22f50)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0116fd8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f023c138)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0116fd8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f023c138)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0237020)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f023c138)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f023c138)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880cdb8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f026f040)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f026f040)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f06da418)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02e1450)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f06da418)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02e1450)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0881350)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02e1450)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f02e1450)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880d758)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f087f200)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f087f200)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0314ec0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0311b70)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0314ec0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0311b70)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0318100)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0311b70)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f0311b70)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880d9e0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f021f218)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f021f218)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02d4be0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f082f590)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f02d4be0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f082f590)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f082f1a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f082f590)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f082f590)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e880da88)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0223858)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0223858)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
FARGO  Rolling Green Farm originally was planned for rural Grant County in northeast South Dakota, but later emerged as the proposed Rolling Green Family Farms in rural Cass County after local officials in South Dakota refused to grant the factory swine farm a permit.

The same group that is behind the planned swine farm near Buffalo, failed to win approval for a similar operation near Milbank, S.D., where the Grant County Planning and Zoning Board in February 2015 denied the swine farm a permit because it was located too close to a private well.

After the proposed farm in South Dakota was rejected, backers on Dec. 10, 2015, formed Rolling Green Family Farms, a North Dakota limited liability partnership whose investors are from Minnesota and Iowa.

Days later, on Dec. 28, the North Dakota Department of Health issued a public notice of its intent to grant a permit, concluding that the proposed 9,000-hog farm met water quality standards. Health officials will conduct a hearing on the permit on March 17 in Buffalo.

Under a North Dakota law passed in the 2000s, townships or counties cannot impose more stringent requirements for large livestock factory farms than state law, so local officials near Buffalo have less regulatory authority than their counterparts in South Dakota, said Sarah Vogel, a former North Dakota agriculture commissioner and critic of factory farms.

North Dakota farm groups and agriculture officials have been trying to attract large livestock operations to give the states livestock industry, which lags significantly behind neighboring states, a boost.

Other states, including Minnesota and Iowa, have been taking a tougher regulatory stance in dealing with what are called CAFOs, concentrated animal feeding operations, she said.

Theyve really cracked down in Minnesota and Iowa on these hog CAFOs, Vogel said. Its much more difficult to get these approved, because people have found out the detrimental effects.

Grant County officials turned down the Rolling Green Farm after it was determined that a private well was located within the setback length. But neighboring landowners protested at a zoning meeting, citing worries about odors and health effects from fumes given off by hog manure, which is spread in neighboring fields as fertilizer, as well as diminished property values, according to minutes of the Feb. 9, 2015, meeting.

Similar worries have been expressed by residents in and near Buffalo, who have cited the experiences of large hog farm neighbors in other states, including South Dakota and Minnesota.

Lane Magnuson, planning director for Grand Forks County, said most townships in the county rely on the county for planning and zoning services.

A major hog farm that was established in Grand Forks County in the late 1990s sparked fierce opposition, but nonetheless was granted a permit. The county has a zoning ordinance for livestock operations that complies with state standards, Magnuson said. It allows the county to impose restrictions, including enforcement that could result in revoking a permit if problems arent corrected.

Large livestock operations are very aware of zoning requirements, and tend to locate in areas with the fewest restrictions, Magnuson said.

I think they take the path of least resistance, he said.

In Cass County, zoning authority rests with the townships. Howes Township, where the Rolling Green Family Farms is proposed, does not have an ordinance regulating livestock operations, said Hali Durand, Cass County planner. Local ordinances have little leeway to deviate from state standards, but can impose slightly greater setback requirements, she said.

Townships can have a greater say over CAFOs if they adopt ordinances and register them with the state. By doing so, they must be notified when an application for a permit is filed. It also provides township officials with a bigger voice in permit hearings, Durand said.

They would be forewarned and they would have a lot more voice to speak at hearings, she said. It allows the townships to become more involved in these proposals.

Manure-spreading methods have become more advanced, and must conform to restrictions that help to reduce odors, Durand said.

I really dont expect a lot of complaints coming from this facility or other facilities in the future, she said. I just think its the fear of the unknown and it is such a shock.
They are here for a photo to celebrate International Women's Day.

It is 7am and Australia's six most senior female politicians are assembled in the cabinet room at Parliament House.

As Fairfax Media photographer Andrew Meares directs the cabinet ministers into position, asking them to shift back a bit, Minister for Women Michaelia Cash, makes the quip to laughter from her colleagues.

When the Liberal government came into power in 2013, Australia had only one female cabinet minister - there are now six. Credit:Andrew Meares

On Tuesday Senator Cash - who is also Minister for Employment - will address the National Press Club to mark International Women's Day. She will call on the government, employers and the community to "take a good hard look at practices that hinder women's workforce participation and change them".

In her speech, Senator Cash will announce the Coalition will raise the target for women holding federal government board positions from 40 per cent to 50 per cent.

For individual boards, the minimum target will be 40 per cent.
An image of 17-year-old Olivia Inglis riding through the clouds has become the defining online tribute to the teenager, who was fatally crushed by her horse during an equestrian competition on Sunday.

The death of the eldest daughter of the well-known Inglis thoroughbred dynasty has also acted as a tragic reminder of the dangers of the sport. Hundreds of online tributes posted to Facebook expressed shock and pain in the hours after the teenager was killed when her horse Coriolanus tripped and fell during a jump at the Scone Horse Trials in the Upper Hunter region.

Her mother Charlotte and father Arthur Inglis witnessed the death of their daughter when Olivia's horse fell at a fence about one third of the way through the cross-country course.

As the local equestrian community grapples with the loss of one of its bright young talents, Olivia is remembered as a compassionate, beautiful girl with an "infectious love of life".
Drivers will find their e-tags beeping on the M4 motorway this week  and though they won't be paying to use the road just yet, they soon will be.

A toll testing trial will start on the widened motorway between Parramatta and Homebush on Tuesday morning and the state government has told motorists to "ignore the beep".

The widened M4 will connect with the new M4 East Tunnel.

But from the middle of next year, the beep will be less easy to dismiss when motorists are expected to pay up to $4.21 to use the 7.5-kilometre section of road.

The toll has been introduced to pay for the upgrade and widening of the M4 to four lanes in each direction from Church Street to Homebush Bay as part of the first stage of WestConnex.
On Saturday, pastor Tim Remington put his arm around Ted Cruz and delivered a rousing invocation at a campaign rally in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Now Mr Remington is on the receiving end of prayers after being shot in the head and back after his Sunday sermon.

Early on Monday morning, authorities identified a suspect in the shooting: a 30-year-old local man and former Marine named Kyle Andrew Odom. As authorities launched a manhunt for Odom, questions remained over a possible motive, particularly whether the shooting was in any way related to Mr Remington's appearance with Mr Cruz roughly 24 hours earlier.

"Odom should be considered to be armed and dangerous," Coeur d'Alene police said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Washington: The United States has carried out an air strike in Somalia, killing more than 150 fighters with the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group al-Shabaab, following US intelligence on preparations for a large-scale militant attack, the Pentagon said on Monday. The White House has also said it plans to disclose more details about its drone attack program.

The weekend strike using both piloted aircraft and unmanned drones targeted al-Shabaab's "Raso" training camp, a facility about 200 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu, the Pentagon said.

The US military said it had been monitoring the camp for several weeks before the strike and had gathered intelligence, including about an imminent threat posed by those in the camp.
Canberra's heavy metal kid Callum McPhie has made it to the grand final of Australia's Got Talent, the top-rating talent show, it was revealed on Monday night.

And judge Kelly Osbourne has hinted a meeting between Callum and her dad, heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne, is on the cards.

Callum McPhie's plans should he win the $250,000 first prize is a new cat for his family.

When another judge, Sophie Monk, told Callum on Sunday night she hoped he would "meet Kelly's dad one day", Kelly Osbourne replied: "I'm sure that will happen very soon".

Black Sabbath, with front man Ozzy, is touring Australia next month and there has already been some Twitter conversations about getting Ozzy and Callum together.
The scandal engulfing the Commonwealth Bank's insurance arm CommInsure could lead to a class action being brought on behalf of customers who believe they have had their claims unfairly rejected.

Law firm Watson Law Group is investigating a class action against CommInsure brought by its customers following revelations by Fairfax Media and Four Corners the insurer had acted unethically towards its customers in processing life insurance claims.

The class action will open to anyone who has had a life insurance, total permanent disability insurance, income protection insurance or trauma insurance claim rejected.

The Brisbane-based law firm has been involved in preparing a class action against failed financial advice outfit Sherwin Financial.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she doesn't believe "anyone trusts Clive Palmer at the moment" as the deadline to save one of north Queensland's biggest employers looms.

Administrators FTI Consulting told the government it had until Monday to respond to its request for a $10 million cash injection to keep Queensland Nickel in operation. Previously, it had said it had enough money to keep the refinery going until April 30.

The federal government will fast-track employee entitlements for sacked nickel workers. Credit:Bloomberg

Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the government had responded late last week, with the offer to consider giving its guarantee to the loan, but only if the state had full access to Queensland Nickel's books, that the money was secured, and that Mr Palmer, the sole shareholder, exited the business completely.

On Monday, Mr Pitt said the government was still to hear from the administrators.
The future may see a swell of water moving west to east as groundwater wells near Washburn could be tapped to deliver water to Fargo and cities up and down the Red River Valley.

The valley is in the unlikely position of fighting floods much of the time while worrying about a long-term drought some of the time.

Both are potentially devastating but, in the words of Garrison Diversion Conservancy District manager Duane DeKrey, You can fight a flood, but you cant fight a drought except to get ready for one.

His agency is assisting the Lake Agassiz Water Association, a consortium of 13 valley counties and communities in a quest to expand available water in the event of a prolonged drought or if the regions population and industrial growth demands it.

After an initial plan to transport Missouri River water through the McClusky Canal system failed to get federal endorsement, another plan for a Red River Valley Water Supply Project has surfaced. This one avoids federal water jurisdiction by moving only state-regulated water from a series of eight wells near the Missouri River at Washburn, moving it through a 66-inch to 84-inch pipeline about 125 miles east. From there, the groundwater would be discharged into Baldhill Creek above Baldhill Dam into Lake Ashtabula on down the Sheyenne River to the valley.

DeKrey said it could cost $1 billion, but the financial details wouldnt be clear until the project is bid out. In the meantime, his agency is assisting with engineering know-how and expects to have a final design prepared by the end of 2017. Bidding and phased construction could occur between 2018 and 2024. The pipeline could move 78 million gallons of water a day  a thimble of water compared to the quantity available in the Missouri River system, DeKrey said.

The association and the Garrison district are working with $17 million in state funds, though no construction money has been identified. The project is on the Legislatures intent to fund list with a recommendation for $150 million for the next five bienniums through revenue generated by the Resources Trust Fund.

If you talk to some politicians, this is important moving forward. At some point, weve got to go, DeKrey said.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney, chairman of the Lake Agassiz Water Association, has identified the project as a top priority. Besides an alternate water source, Mahoney said the future of the valleys industrial growth depends on ample water.

Thats what we learned when CHS Inc. backed off (plans to build a urea fertilizer plant near Jamestown). Without more water here, more industrial growth on the east side of the state could be a problem, Mahoney said. Out here, our glass is half full with floods, half empty with potential drought. What do we do?

He said as chairman hes encouraged the valley counties to set goals and create a build plan so the Legislature has something with which to work. The association is conducting a survey to get a firm handle on water needs up and down the valley and beyond. Mahoney said he wants to build a coalition as far out as Jamestown.

We want to work with everybody and survey their needs as well as ours. We want to be polite about it and make it fair, he said.
Women in the cocoa supply chains of the world's biggest chocolate makers are struggling every day with less pay, lack of land and tools, and exclusion from decision-making roles, an advocacy group says.

A year since concluding Mars' action plan to tackle gender inequality "fell short", Nestle's revised plan was "more solid", and Mondelez' plan was "moving in the right direction", Oxfam says they can do a whole lot more.

"A cocoa farmer in Ivory Coast earns 50 a day, compared to a cocoa manufacturer making $390 million a year in profit. Women get paid far less," spokeswoman Kelly Dent says.

"Twelve of the lowest-paying stages in cocoa production are reserved for women. The companies have good analysis, but we need them to implement strong action plans."
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said he had spoken to former executives of Townsville's troubled Queensland Nickel plant who believe they can turn the nickel plant around.

The plant is the single largest private-sector employer in Townsville.

Falling nickel prices have pressured the plant, owned by wealthy businessman Clive Palmer, forcing it to shave more than 300 jobs and have administrators appointed.

The Queensland Nickel plant is now considered to be at risk of closing completely, placing the remaining 500 jobs at risk.
On Saturday night, among the glitter, feathers and characters, we walked with our kids and some of their friends  young teenagers amazed by the conviction and happiness on show. One of them said to me: "All civil rights marches should be this fun!"

There was so much joy. The hopeful faces in the crowd, cheering and laughing at different signs and floats. Voices imploring Bill to stick up for them against the meanness in Parliament. There was a lot to take in, but we were very proud the kids were included. They understood the principle. It was worth the early start, the homework on the plane and the usual squabbles in the car.

It was my first time marching in Mardi Gras, but the hope, the optimism, the sense of communal resolve forged in battles won, was familiar and uplifting.

I grew up in a family and extended community that fought hard for civil rights  for simple advocacy around disability access, equal opportunity at work, freedom from race and sex discrimination and access to educational opportunities. From principles as important as access to childcare, to practical changes, such as seatbelts in cars and pool fences.
It's an unfortunate fact that there are very few successful, secular democracies among Muslim-majority nations. Sadly, two of this rare breed are now in the process of failing.

If Malaysia and Turkey continue sliding towards authoritarianism, it will put democracies in the Islamic world on the list of endangered species. And they are sliding. In the past 10 days, the governments in both countries shut down media outlets that dared report unflattering facts about their leaders.

And when peaceful protesters marched on the weekend to object to the shutdown of Turkey's biggest opposition newspaper, Zaman, the police turned water cannon and tear gas on them.

In Malaysia it was the country's most popular news website, The Malaysian Insider or TMI, that was blocked by the government. The next day Prime Minister Najib Razak tried to justify the blatant censorship by writing that it was "unhealthy journalism" to have news portals that were "constructing their own version of 'reality'".
The World Economic Forum estimated last year that at the current slow rate of progress, it will take until 2133 to close the global gender gap across health, education, economic opportunity and politics.

We clearly need to take greater measures to close the gap. And, fittingly, the theme of this years International Womens Day, celebrated today, is: Pledge for Parity.

Evidence shows science benefits from having researchers from both genders and a wide range of backgrounds. Credit:Peter Braig

Its a call to action that the scientific community should heed.

Championing change
The only other option is for Abbott to leave Parliament before the election, and to stay out of the campaign.

If Abbott cannot or will not stop the destabilisation, it could be a bad result for the Coalition and more importantly very bad for Australia if Labor were able to return to the government benches.

The first thing Abbott has to do is to shut down his handful of supporters in the Parliament and the Turnbull haters in the media. And, by the way, it wouldn't do any harm for Turnbull to try talking to Hadley, Jones and Bolt, just to even up the conversation.

The next election is just around the corner. Abbott is not about to win back the leadership. The only issue now is who wins the next election. And one big issue is whether the Coalition can erase Labor's claim that the Coalition lacks unity.

They were the years of near isolation for Howard. But they were also the years of reflection, patience and, most importantly, wisdom that allowed him to realise that his only way to return was to adopt a broad church approach and wait to be drafted by his colleagues.

What I don't understand is why some people who were exasperated by Abbott's paid parental leave and its new tax, his support for changes to the Constitution, his captain's picks and many other shocking decisions now want him back, with Credlin and all.

The side issues are not helping, mainly because much of what is being said is wrong. The most trivial points are being used. At the Howard anniversary dinner last week, it was said that when Tony Abbott's name was mentioned the guests went "nuts" with support. I was there. It's not true. Yes, a group of perhaps two tables were very vocal but it's wrong to suggest that this reflected the mood of the dinner.

More serious is how some have used national security as a political means to advance Tony Abbott. The claim that Turnbull had delayed the development of the 12 new subs was comprehensively debunked by the highly regarded and experienced Dennis Richardson, the head of the Defence Department. Abbott's claim of being "flabbergasted" was just plain wrong and only exposed either his lack of knowledge or, more likely, his unwarranted mischief.

The second attack was an attempt to put down new Defence Minister Marise Payne over her level of experience for the role and an inadequate ministerial team. Of course, that can be said of any new Defence Minister. The issue is not new faces, but how long defence ministers are allowed to stay in the role. The real story was Abbott's decision to dump defence Minister David Johnston. He had been promoted to shadow defence spokesman by both Turnbull and Abbott, but in government, Abbott dumped Johnston after only about 15 months. Longevity is an issue and any fair comments would start with Abbott's behaviour, not Turnbull or his new minister. 

In the aftermath of the leadership change, Tony Abbott started his new life as a backbencher by saying he'd not be sniping at Malcolm Turnbull. That didn't last long.
Fifty-eight years ago, John F. Kennedy, a rising-star senator from Massachusetts who was already leading the pack for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, stood in white tie and tails before the Washington establishment at the annual Gridiron Dinner and drew a piece of paper from his pocket. "I just received the following wire from my generous daddy," he said. "'Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.'"

The crowd guffawed. The gag became a legendary example of something that is rare this election cycle: the self-deprecating joke.

To his detractors, Kennedy was a callow vessel for the ambitions of his wealthy and powerful father. So why would he tell a joke that copped to what so many thought to be his greatest liability? The Journal of Political Marketing isn't usually the first place you should go looking for a good laugh. But an experiment published there in 2015 does provide part of the answer: People like it when politicians make jokes at their own expense.

Researchers from East Carolina University had test subjects view a clip of David Letterman's Top 10 list of "Ways the Country Would Be Different if Chris Christie Were President". The 2011 segment contained what the researchers called "other-disparaging" humour; those outside of academia call it "fat jokes". Among the items on Letterman's list were "New state: Fatasschusetts"; "Instead of Iraq, we'd invade IHOP"; "Scandal when president is caught in Oval Office with Betty Crocker and Sara Lee". After hearing the cracks at Christie's expense, test subjects liked him less and said they were less likely to vote for him.
LG's OLED EF950T is the ultimate movie night television for revealing the fine details in the shadows. The default settings look great even in a brightly-lit room with the sun streaming in the windows, but OLED still looks its best after dark. When the sun goes down you'll want to dive into the advanced options to really make this screen sing. Watching Gravity on Blu-ray in the dark, this television should convince you that you're really looking down at our gorgeous blue planet from orbit. You certainly don't experience that on the default settings, but if you wouldn't bother changing them then you have to question whether this television is overkill for your lounge room  you'll get better bang for your buck from LED. It takes some fine tuning before LG's flagship OLED does a movie like Gravity justice. If you want to feel like you're riding shotgun on the Space Shuttle when watching LG's Ultra HD OLED, start by switching to Cinema mode and bumping up the sharpness to compensate for the softer picture. Next drop the OLED backlight considerably  OLED screens don't actually have a backlight but this setting acts a bit like extra brightness controls. Now switch on Wide Colour Gamut mode, bump up the colour, opt for a cooler colour temperature and experiment with the Gamma settings.

The black abyss Once you tweak the advanced settings to taste, LG's top-shelf OLED really sings. At this point the picture comes to life, the earth appearing as a brilliant blue jewel in a sea of infinite black space speckled with stars. You can still pick out every detail in the highlights and shadows, while OLED's perfect blacks blend seamlessly into the darkened room. Apart from the shape it's the same OLED screen as last year, with the same video processing such as 6-step upscaling to improve sub-4K content and TruMotion motion interpolation to smooth out the action on the screen. HDR makes it easier to see vigilantes lurking in the shadows, with Netflix offering Daredevil in HDR on Match 18.

TruMotion is still this television's Achilles' Heel, LG says nothing has changed but it seems to have been been tweaked for the better. The horrific distortions I saw last year in the opening credits of The Fifth Element using the default TruMotion settings have all but gone. That said, TruMotion is still too aggressive on the default Smooth setting  causing the picture to regularly jump and tear. Switching from Smooth to Clear should suffice in most situations, you probably won't need to go to the extreme of using advanced User mode to completely kill the de-jutter  which solves some problems but creates others. With this sorted I still say that LG's OLED upscaling falls a tad short of the phenomenal upscaling on its Ultra HD LED televisions. High Dynamic Range Apart from the flat screen, the big change with LG's new Ultra HD OLEDs is the inclusion of HDMI 2.0a video ports, supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR) content from external players like the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc players which we should see mid-year (although HDR is an optional part of the standard). There's also an HDR firmware upgrade for last year's Ultra HD OLED televisions from LL but it only applies to online content like Netflix, not the HDMI port. Unfortunately last year's Full HD OLED models miss out on this update.

Just to confuse things, some manufacturers are referring to HDR as "Ultra HD Premium", which clouds the issue because Ultra HD refers to screen resolution  the number of dots in the picture. HDR has nothing to do with resolution, it actually refers to contrast  the amount of detail in the highlights and shadows. To me HDR contrast is a bigger deal than Ultra HD resolution, especially if you're eyeing off the smaller 55-inch model. HDR enhances the picture regardless of the resolution, which is important because Netflix's adaptive streaming means it can add the extra detail of HDR to the picture even if your broadband connection doesn't quite handle the demands of Ultra HD streaming. HDR content needs to be shot in HDR, it's not applied by the television like upscaling. Australia's first HDR content arrives next week with Netflix's release of Daredevil Season 2 on March 18. It's the perfect content to showcase HDR thanks to the vigilante's love of lurking in the shadows. The first season of Marco Polo will also be upgraded to HDR, I got a sneak peak at Marco Polo in Ultra HD HDR at CES a few years ago and it's absolutely stunning. Unfortunately only a handful of Smart TVs like this LG support Ultra HD and HDR, you can't take advantage of it when watching Netflix via a set-top box. Peer into the shadows

For now I could only test LG's new flat EF950T with HDR samples on a USB stick but the results were amazing  with incredible detail in the highlights and shadows even with bright light sources like windows, bulbs and candles in the shot. If you've ever tried to take a photo of someone with a bright light behind them you know the challenges involved. The most impressive scene is a woman in a white dress standing under a bright spotlight in a dark room. Her dress is all but glowing yet the highlights don't blow out, you can still see every stitch. Meanwhile the fine details in the shadows behind her remain clear even as the spotlight grows brighter. Your average television would weep at the thought of trying to handle such an image. Photographs obviously can't do it justice, as you can see below the best I could do is take two photos of the television using HDR mode on my iPhone  the top photo catching the highlights of the image and the bottom photo revealing the detail in the shadows. Watching the television in the dark I could see more detail on the screen than what you can see in both of these photos combined  while the blacks remained pitch black. Switch back to normal Ultra HD content and it's underwhelming, regardless of how sharp the picture looks. So what's the verdict?
Unshakeable spirituality: Olivier Messiaen around 1975. Credit:Erich Auerbach About 15 years ago he hit on the idea of pairing Canyons with a multimedia presentation to "complete" the experience for listeners. The commission went to eminent American photographer Deborah O'Grady, who spent two years capturing the extraordinary landscape. Transcendent: Moonrise over Zion National Park. Credit:Deborah O'Grady "She has a unique ability to look at desert landscapes  particularly of the south-west of the United States  with an eye that is unlike anyone else's," Robertson says. "A little bit in certain ways like Ansel Adams did with the Sierras in the mountains, but at the same time in her own way that is more up to date."

Only a few of the people Robertson has performed the work for have even seen a picture of the desert vistas Messiaen describes, making the experience less than complete. "You feel that a huge element of what is informing the piece is missing," says Robertson. "It would be like playing La Mer to a whole group of landlocked people who had never seen the ocean or a large body of water." As well as having a deep personal connection with Messiaen, whom he first met in 1984, Robertson also has a close bond with the desert regions of Utah, stretching back to his own childhood. "Much of my father's side of the family comes from the Utah area," he says. "As a child I went through these canyons all the time on vacation. My grandfather was a mineral geologist. "You'd walk around these places with him and he would just make the rocks sing. For me in a funny way, to come back and meet Messiaen as a relatively mature adult and having him also make the rocks sing in another way was also incredible."

For Messiaen, music and colour were inextricably linked. "When I hear a score or read it, hearing it in my mind, I visualise corresponding colours which turn, shift and combine, just as the sounds turn, shift and combine simultaneously," he told an interviewer in 1986, although ti remains moot whether he was a true synaesthete. Canyons is shot through with the startling colours of the Utah landscape, which is one of the reasons Robertson feels projecting O'Grady's images is entirely appropriate  as well as being liberating for the musicians. "What happens for me as a performer is that there are certain parts of the piece that I actually have the feeling with the images that I can perform the music the way Messiaen wants it for the very first time," he says. "To have this visual accompaniment  it's actually allowing the piece to be what it is whether you know the canyons or not."

As well as asking a lot from its audience, Canyons also demands an almost shocking level of virtuosity from the musicians, particularly the wind players. Nowhere is this more evident than in the sixth movement. Titled Appel Interstellaire (Interstellar Call), it is scored for solo horn and calls for an exotic range of extended techniques. Principal horn Robert Johnson will be the soloist on this occasion. "It's just very different," he says. "From a technical point of view it has got everything that opens and shuts as well as very electronic  for want of a better word  half-valve-down, wiggle-around, slide-up-and-down sounds. And what he meant by that is not specifically clear. It's up to you to make what you will of it." The Appel, which is intended as unanswered dialogue between God and man, also includes two bird calls  a reflection of Messiaen's passion for ornithology.
MUSICAL

VIOLET 

Blue Saint Productions

Chapel Off Chapel, until March 20

In 1964, a young woman gets on a bus in North Carolina to take the long trip to Tulsa to find a television evangelist who can heal her scarred face. People rarely hide their shock at Violet's appearance, but she talks to strangers and when she meets two soldiers, she doesn't mean to offend one by saying she wants a new face but wouldn't want his coloured skin.

A scene from Violet at Chapel Off Chapel.

Violet  book and lyrics by Brian Crawley and music by Jeanine Tesori (who wrote the current Broadway hit Fun Home)  opened off-Broadway in 1997 and on Broadway in 2014. This production, which is by new company Blue Saint Productions, opened at Hayes Theatre in Sydney last year.

Its metaphoric self-discovery journey leaves little room for surprises  and isn't helped by a straight, road-to-nowhere framed painting  but Sam Dodemaide's powerful performance as Violet ensures that even the most expected moments feel real. Without make-up, she captures the pain caused by her scars, while finding the hope that overcomes her anger and despair. Luisa Scrofani supports beautifully and adds the dimension of young Violet, who survived the axe accident.
For her three decades as a leader in Aboriginal cultural development, arts management and theatre making in Sydney and regional NSW, Lily Shearer has been awarded one of the eight Australia Council Awards for outstanding achievement in the arts.

"It makes me feel valued. Because the work I do makes a difference," says Shearer, a founding member of Moogahlin Performing Arts, the renowned Indigenous arts company resident at Carriageworks.

Lily Shearer wants to share stories and culture from the oldest continuing living culture on the planet. Credit:Wolter Peeters

"We help people reclaim their cultural arts practice and instil pride and integrity to those who participate, young and old. We are all great storytellers and if I can help someone realise that, I feel like my job is done."

Shearer is among a stellar list of 2016 awardees: David Malouf (literature), Brett Dean (music), Richard Bell (visual arts), Lucy Guerin (dance), Yaron Lifschitz (theatre), Kelli McCluskey (emerging and experimental arts) and Nathan Stoneham (community arts and cultural development). Each award is worth $25,000.
Lord Grantham's beloved labrador Isis. Who: James' son, Mary's intended fiance and the next in line to inherit the estate. When: April 15, 1912 How: The sinking of the Titanic Tragedy factor: Also low. If Patrick had lived, Matthew Crawley never would have been in line to inherit Downton or fallen in love with Mary. Sorry, Patrick. (And, unlike Lady Edith, we're going to assume that guy who showed up in Season 2 with the scarred face claiming to be Patrick was an impostor, because, come on.)

Kemal Pamuk Who: A dashing Turkish diplomat and friend of Evelyn Napier When: Spring 1913 How: A heart attack ... while in bed with Lady Mary Tragedy factor: Moderate. He and Mary shared serious chemistry, and the fallout from his death would have a ripple effect on the plot for several seasons.

Pharaoh Who: Lord Grantham's first beloved Labrador retriever When: Sometime between 1914 and 1916 How: Unknown Tragedy factor: Negligible. No one even noticed.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Who: OK, so he wasn't a character on the show, exactly, but he was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his death triggered World War I and certainly affected everyone on Downton Abbey When: June 28, 1914 How: Shot by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Tragedy factor: Vast. A whole lot of people died during the war. (See below.)

Archibald "Archie" Philpotts Who: Mrs. Patmore's nephew When: Circa 1917 How: Shot for cowardice after deserting his post in the war Tragedy factor: Minor. We never meet Archie and learn his fate only many years after it's happened. But Mrs. Patmore sure was upset about it.

William Mason Who: Sweet-natured second footman at Downton Abbey When: July 26, 1918 How: Lung injuries sustained on the front lines in France after shielding Matthew from enemy fire Tragedy factor: High. Knowing that he faced certain death, William proposed to Daisy, Downton's scullery maid and the object of his long-unrequited affection, so she could receive his pension. Daisy accepted even though she wasn't in love, and the two exchanged vows a few hours before he died peacefully in his sleep. Sorry, gotta go, these onions I'm chopping are making me tear up.

Lavinia Swire Who: Matthew's impossibly selfless but super-boring fiancee When: April 1919 How: Spanish flu Tragedy factor: Lower than it should be, given the dramatic circumstances: Days before her wedding, Lavinia walks in on Mary and Matthew midmakeout. Awkward! She then comes down with the flu and quickly succumbs, but not before telling Matthew that he and Mary truly belong together. Would have been much sadder if the saintly Lavinia had been a fully realized human rather than a plot device invented to keep Mary and Matthew apart.

Vera Bates Who: Evil first wife of Downton's valet, John Bates When: November 1918 How: In an elaborate plot to frame her estranged husband for murder, Vera committed suicide by consuming a homemade pie baked with rat poison (as you do). Tragedy factor: Moderate. Vera was a genuinely terrible person and all, but her death triggered years of legal woes for the chronically unlucky Bates and his second wife, Anna - and frustration for viewers.

Maj. Charles Bryant Who: Posh soldier who convalesced at Downton Abbey and impregnated housemaid Ethel When: Late 1918 How: Killed in battle shortly before the armistice Tragedy factor: Moderate. Bryant was a cad, but after he died Ethel turned to prostitution to support her son.

Reggie Swire Who: A wealthy London solicitor and father of Lavinia, Matthew's doomed fiancee When: Late December 1919 How: Unspecified illness Tragedy factor: So low as to be almost negative. In one of "Downton Abbey's" most ludicrous subplots, Swire bequeathed his fortune to Matthew, the guy who broke his daughter's heart while she was dying of the flu. But hey, his money saved the family from ruin. Win-win.

Lady Sybil Branson, nee Crawley Who: Kind-hearted, politically active youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham and wife of Thomas Branson, former chauffeur at Downton Abbey When: Mid-1920 How: Complications from childbirth Tragedy factor: Extreme. We're talking Steel Magnolias levels of sad, so heartbreaking that it made the usually cold and cunning Thomas weep like a baby. The tragedy was compounded by the sense that it might have been avoidable: Dr. Clarkson correctly diagnosed her pre-eclampsia but was ignored by Lord Grantham and the fancy London doctor he'd hired (though it was later revealed that nothing could have saved her).

Matthew Crawley Who: Lady Mary's first husband and the heir to Downton Abbey (duh!) When: September 1921 How: Car accident Tragedy factor: So off-the-charts heartbreaking, bordering on sadistic, that some of us still haven't recovered. Matthew managed to survive the war and miraculously recover from a spinal cord injury, only to be killed in a car accident on his way home from the hospital just hours after meeting his newborn son, George, for the first time. Did we mention that the episode aired on Christmas Day in Great Britain?

Alex Green Who: Lord Gillingham's valet When: August 1922 How: Pushed into traffic in Piccadilly Circus - but not by Anna Tragedy factor: Low. The guy who brutally raped Anna got what was coming to him, even if - sigh - his death created yet another round of legal worries for the Bateses.

Michael Gregson Who: Editor of the society magazine the Sketch and Lady Edith's boyfriend/baby-daddy When: November 1923 How: Killed by a gang of Nazi thugs during the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, where he'd gone to establish German citizenship so he could divorce his insane wife and marry Edith (long story, OK?). Tragedy factor: High. Gregson died before Edith could tell him she was pregnant. She gave birth in secret and gave her daughter, Marigold, up for adoption - only to change her mind and bring her to Downton.

Isis Who: Lord Grantham's second beloved Labrador retriever When: Mid-1924 How: Cancer Tragedy factor: Medium-high. Grantham seriously loved that dog, despite the unfortunate modern connotations of her name.

Charlie Rogers Who: Henry Talbot's racing buddy When: July 1925 How: Car crash during race at Brooklands Tragedy factor: Minimal. The only reason the character existed was to die and make Mary freak out about Henry. Mission accomplished.

Peter Pelham, the 6th Marquess of Hexham Who: Bertie's "delicate," "lyrical" cousin and the owner of Brancaster Castle When: August 1925 How: Malaria, contracted while in Tangiers Tragedy factor: Minimal. Bertie was sad, but with one mosquito bite, he went from a modest estate agent to a super rich aristocrat. To quote Lord Grantham, "Golly gumdrops, what a turn-up!"
Veteran ABC radio newsreader John Logan, whose instantly recognisable tones have been the voice of the news for NSW listeners for the past 20 years, has retired.

Logan had been with the ABC for more the 40 years, joining the corporation in 1973 as an announcer in Rockhampton.

Newsman ... the ABC's John Logan is retiring after 40 years. Credit:ABC

During a varied career, he reported from Darwin for several months in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, sleeping on the floor of the studio there.

"I've enjoyed everything," the Northern Ireland-born Logan said in an interview two years ago to mark his 40th anniversary. "Probably I would not have stayed if I hadn't. There's always something new happening."
Yes, indeed. There he went - adding to his feminist credentials for good measure: "I think it's awful for people to feel simply because of their gender they are a second-class citizen, so if you hold those views, I'm happy for whatever tag you want to put on me."

A showman if nothing else, Jones jumped right in - shaking himself, popping his eyes for effect, reaching out to Freedman on his left and Penny Wong seated to his right, and declaring: "I hope so. I certainly believe in gender equality, I can tell you."

This was the template Jones had set on this program when he entered the ABC lion's den twice last year - confounding the Q&A audience with his tendency to present as both more than he's cracked up to be and sometimes, effortlessly, less.

The unpredictability is the thing - one minute casting himself as a diehard Tony Abbott loyalist or defender of George Pell, the next ripping shreds off the government for approving the flogging off of prize assets to the Chinese.

His views on the welfare of indigenous children - and whether he'd called for another "stolen generation" - drew heat. Expat entertainer Josh Zepps told him: "I think it's extremely callous to belittle the suffering of people whose families were torn apart."

Jones responded. "To inject a little personal element since it has become a little personal, I will stack my commitment to indigenous Australians in terms of cash and kind against anybody else. I've seen these people and I've sought very significantly to alleviate the suffering in a real way not just talking about it but actually doing something about it."

With Jones, you can never be completely sure where he - or you - are going to land. The cringe factor is ever present - did he really say "these people"? Yes, he did. Did he really compare George Pell to Lindy Chamberlain? Yes, he did. But then, that's also a reminder of the most admirable Alan - his campaign on the Chamberlains' behalf was among his finest hours.
While a map released by the ACT government indicates about 87 hectares of nature reserve along the river will be preserved, he fears the ACT's population could see a similar decline if development continues along the Murrumbidgee's riparian corridor. The species was listed as vulnerable in the territory and pockets of the Murrumbidgee were the only places where it was possible to see breeding individuals in the ACT, Dr Fulton said. Land west of the Tuggeranong town centre the ACT government plans to develop into a new suburb. "The research we've just completed has found they're very sensitive to habitat loss because they're very choosy about where they want to live in a stream," Dr Fulton said. "They like areas that have deep pools full of boulders and a relatively moderate flow but the key thing is they really like streambank vegetation which overhangs the stream and keeps it cool.

The distinctive Murray crayfish is listed as vulnerable to extinction in the ACT. "That suggests if you have any clearing of that vegetation corridor on either side of the stream you could effectively be wiping out whole sections of streams habitable for these Murray crayfish." Murray crays can live up to 25 years and only reach maturity between eight and 10 years of age. They play a vital role in aquatic ecosystems, where they clean up dead and decaying matter and provide food for many other species. Senior lecturer with the Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution at La Trobe University's Wodonga campus Dr Susan Lawler describes them as the "unicorns of the river".

"The Murray crayfish are stunning creatures  if you take someone not familiar with them out in a boat and pull in a net with a few large animals in them, you will create a memorable moment," she said. "They are difficult to catch and even harder to hold  their spines will make you bleed and only the initiated would even dare reach toward one if they were in defensive mode. When threatened, they raise their spiny claws and wave them about. Quite intimidating." But despite their fierce nature, she said Murray crays were in decline and "nobody really knows what is driving that process". "We know almost nothing about their young, where they live and what they eat, so we cannot study recruitment in this species," she said. Dr Fulton said the loss of the Murray crayfish was particularly sad, given they were considered an icon of the Murray-Darling system and the Murrumbidgee.

"A lot of nature signs around the Cotter reserve have a drawing of a Murray crayfish on them. The irony is those Murray crayfish aren't in a large part of those areas anymore," he said. He said the crayfish were not a "road block to be removed". "They're on the edge. They've been in decline for 10 years and what concerns me is the government may do a survey and say they're very rare in this area and therefore it's not really going to be a threat," he said. "Even just a few reproductive individuals are extremely valuable. They can really lead to the future of the population in a given area. We really need to consider this crayfish as one of the key reasons to keep riparian corridors intact along the Murrumbidgee." If the suburb gets the green light, development would likely begin in 2018.
"Do not let others define you." "Don't fall into the trap of making excuses." "Listen more, talk less."

This is what Australia's most senior female politicians would say if they chance to talk to their 21-year-old selves.

To mark International Women's Day on Tuesday, Fairfax Media asked the female members of federal cabinet to reflect on the advice they would give their younger selves*.
But as her columns in The Australian became increasingly critical, she says she transformed into the "she-devil" of the Abbott government. Niki Savva with current speaker Tony Smith and other former advisers to prime minister John Howard in 2001. "Even those of us who thought we were insiders learnt something reading her column," says one of the key players in the Turnbull coup. "A few times I remember reading it and thinking, Holy shit, I didn't know that." Tony Abbott and former chief-of-staff Peta Credlin asked Savva's former editor to sack her. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The MP notes that after running The Age and Herald Sun Canberra bureaus, she worked for Peter Costello and John Howard: "She knows what makes the Liberal Party tick; she knew what would get under the skin of a Liberal Party MP better than anyone else in the gallery." Credlin and Abbott loathed her columns so much they told The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, to sack her. Mitchell refused, saying no prime minister or chief of staff had ever demanded such a thing. Alarm bells about the Abbott operation started ringing for Savva when they were still in opposition, after Liberal staffers told her his office was "constipated" because nothing could get past Credlin. Still in touch with many fellow operatives from the Howard years, Savva became a magnet for those with unflattering tales about Abbott and Credlin. Someone even sent her photos of the pair holidaying in France.

"The more I wrote, the more people would come to me with information," she says. "Day-to-day journalists have to maintain contacts and that means they ignore things that sometimes they shouldn't. "I have nothing to lose. I don't have a long career ahead of me I'm trying to preserve." Controversially, Savva didn't approach Abbott or Credlin to comment for her book - despite detailing rumours of an affair between them. She also didn't speak to staffers with a more flattering view of the pair. This has made it easy for critics to argue she wrote her account with a pre-determined agenda. "My view was: why should I peddle their lies?" Savva says.

"I knew from bitter experience that you could not trust their version of events." Veteran journalist and former colleague Laurie Oakes, who describes Savva as "gutsy", says it would have been "pointless" to ask them to participate. "I would check things with Abbott's office and be misled," he says. "One press officer even boasted openly about fooling members of the press gallery." Although she has only met Credlin a handful of times, there's no doubt Savva's dislike of her is deep and personal. "She had carried on like this for years - bullying people, abusing people - but no one could say anything because they didn't want to lose their jobs.
NSW and Victoria have lashed out at Social Services Minister Christian Porter's plan to give the federal government greater control over the National Disability Insurance Scheme's board.

All state and territory disability ministers last week reportedly opposed Mr Porter's proposal to change the NDIS Act to allow him to give directions, make appointments and rules "in consultation with the states but without the need for agreement".

Disability ministers oppose Porter's proposal: Minister for Social Services Christian Porter. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Victorian Disability Minister Martin Foley said on Monday that draft legislation shown to ministers hours before their meeting would give the federal minister greater influence over the price of disability services offered under the scheme, which is being rolled out across Australia from July 1.

Mr Foley feared this was an attempt to contain the federal government's overall contribution to the scheme, shifting greater costs onto the states. "If they can reduce the cost of the scheme and therefore reduce services for people with a disability...it might make the budget look good but abrogate the promise made to the people in 2013," he said.
Details about a proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage - including the timing of such a vote - have not yet been approved by cabinet, Treasurer Scott Morrison says.

He also dismissed as "conjecture" an undertaking given on Sunday by Attorney-General George Brandis that the plebiscite would be held by the end of this year.

It came as Senator Brandis played down the differences between his position and that of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, insisting they were both on the same page. And Mr Turnbull dodged several opportunities to answer questions on the issue during public appearances on Monday.

"We've got a policy position of having a plebiscite after the election," Mr Morrison said in a radio interview on Monday.
If we are to fully harness the potential of our human capital and ensure as Australians we really are the best we can be, we need to unlock one hundred per cent of our workforce.

Australian women are some of the most highly educated in the world. Yet our female workforce participation rate for 15-64 year olds (as reported by the OECD) is 70.5 per cent, compared with men at 82.2 per cent.

While female full-time employment in Australia has been rising, our participation rate continues to lag behind New Zealand, Britain and Canada.
Waleed Aly is officially "The Most Important Man On TV" according to Men's Style Australia.

The academic and co-host of The Project appears on the cover of the new issue of the magazine and editor Michael Pickering makes no apologies for the bold, broad statement.

"I had to fight for those cover lines. I've wanted to feature him for quite some time, he's this big brained man who thinks before he speaks. There is a reason everything he says goes viral online," Pickering said.
The NSW Department of Education has abandoned a property deal for an overcrowded Sydney school, which parents say is so short on space that children are banned from running in the playground.

It is the second property deal that the department has walked away from in just 12 months.

A letter sent to parents at Homebush West Public School on Monday confirmed that the department has pulled out of four-year negotiations to buy land adjacent to the school from the Anglican church.

In June, NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli backed out of an $82 million deal to build a new school in Ultimo, citing price and contamination concerns amid a public falling out with the land's owners, the City of Sydney Council.
Maurice Blackburn is representing more than 60 current and former 7-Eleven employees pro-bono to help them recoup the money they are owed. We have spoken to hundreds more who are considering the brave move to lodge a claim.

Without fail every 7-Eleven employee we have spoken to has said they didn't know how much they should be paid, they weren't sure of how many hours they were supposed to work and their conditions were never spelt out. Those that realised they were underpaid were petrified to speak up because of threats of deportation or even threats of violence. They only come forward now because of the guarantee of anonymity and because others have now spoken up.

Unfortunately 7-Eleven is only the tip of the iceberg. Reports are now surfacing of underpayments across the fast food sector including in Dominos, Subway and other franchises. Some of our clients have also reported systematic underpayment at petrol outlets, and indeed petrol outlets have been the subject of prosecution for underpayments in recent history.

The exploitation of workers is not limited to fast food, convenience stores and petrol outlets; it has also been exposed by Four Corners to be systematic and chronic across the fresh food industry including farm workers like the mushroom pickers. It is hardly surprising that farmers are struggling to find workers to perform seasonal work with the reports of systematic underpayment, exploitation and even sexual harassment of foreign students and others who perform this seasonal work.

Even Mike Smith, the new chairman of 7-Eleven, has admitted at a senate inquiry that small businesses will pay the wages that they can negotiate with employees, not what is actually lawful. It is as if the world of industrial law and industrial instruments such as awards are becoming a fantasy world, in which many businesses across a number of industries in Australia do not have any intention to enter.
Public servants at the Immigration Department and Border Force have overwhelmingly rejected the latest pay offer from the government.

A ballot of more than 11,000 departmental employees has returned an 81 per cent no vote to the wage offer of 2 per cent a year, the second time Immigration staff have rejected a proposal in the current protracted round of bargaining.

The official uniform worn on a Border Force vessel.

The result means that strikes will almost certainly hit the nation's international airports during the busy Easter period at the end of March.
A royal commission was told parents confronted Davies after their 14-year-old daughter revealed he urged her to masturbate and described a dream in which he had sex with her.

Sydney dance teacher Grant Davies wept when he was confronted with allegations he had abused a teenage student, saying: "I've done something terrible."

The mother, given the pseudonym BZR, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about a meeting in February 2007 where she and her husband questioned Davies about the claim.

BZR said Davies became upset and called his wife, telling her: "I've done something terrible. I've really made a mistake. I'm so sorry. I may need to get help."

In evidence, BZR's husband, given the pseudonym BZQ, recalled Davies weeping as he admitted to the abuse.

"Grant started to cry and started to apologise," BZQ said. "He said, 'I am sorry'."

The commission heard the dance instructor, who last year pleaded guilty to multiple child sex offences, asked BZR and BZQ whether they were going to tell anyone about his interactions with their daughter, given the pseudonym BZP.
The former head of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union was embroiled in the ICAC's inquiry into a coal licence given to a company he chaired, Doyles Creek Mining, by former state Labor mining minister Ian Macdonald.

In the first criminal prosecution arising from the ICAC's landmark coal inquiries, Mr Maitland was found guilty in December of intentionally giving misleading evidence to the watchdog during public hearings in May 2013.

Former union boss John Maitland has escaped jail time for misleading the Independent Commission Against Corruption, with a court ordering him to enter into a two-year good behaviour bond and pay a $3000 fine.

The Crown had urged Local Court Magistrate Janet Wahlquist to impose a custodial sentence on Mr Maitland for misleading the commission. The maximum penalty the court could have imposed was two years in prison, a $5500 fine, or both.

But Ms Wahlquist said a bond and a fine was the appropriate penalty in the circumstances, noting that Mr Maitland had a heart condition and a major depressive disorder and had made a "substantial contribution to the community" as a union leader.

One of the consequences of appearing before the ICAC was that Mr Maitland had started "drinking to excess, and that has not been good for his health either", Ms Wahlquist said.

Mr Maitland's barrister, Philip Massey, said the 70-year-old took a "pharmacy of medication" every day to treat his "various conditions". His cardiologist was concerned that a prison sentence might exacerbate his heart condition, Mr Massey said.

He said Mr Maitland and his wife earned a combined income of $30,000 a year working on their son's farm.
A siege at a south-west Sydney industrial estate, which began with the fatal shooting of one man and the wounding of two others, has come to an end with three hostages released unharmed but the gunman deceased.

Shortly after 5pm, armed tactical response police stormed the building, emerging a short time after with three hostages who it's understood had been in the premises of a signage business for many hours.

The drama had begun at 10.45am on Monday, with shots being fired at Inline National Signage on the corner of Heald and Stennett roads in Ingleburn.
Penalties of just $5000 could be issued to coal seam gas companies who explore or mine without permission instead of a potential $1.1 million fine under changes introduced by the Baird government.

As energy minister Anthony Roberts unveiled plans to clamp down on anti-coal seam gas protesters, the government has ushered in smaller alternative penalties to court prosecution for a range of offences.

For example, mining without authority - currently a $1.1 million fine plus $110,000 per day for a company if successfully prosecuted in court - can now be punished with a $5000 penalty notice.

Prospecting without authority - currently a $550,000 fine and $55,000 per day under a prosecution - may now be dealt with via a $5000 penalty notice.
A man and a woman have been charged in connection with a six-hour siege in Sydney's south-west on Monday, in which two men were shot dead and two others were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.

A 52-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were each charged with concealing a serious indictable offence, while the man was also charged with discharging a firearm in a public place, police said on Tuesday morning.

Police will allege in court that the man had fired a gun earlier on Monday morning, before the six-hour siege took place at the Inline National Signage business on Heald Road in Ingleburn.
An application by NSW prosecutors for a further detention order against a mentally ill Sydney woman, who is already in custody on terrorism-related charges, is an attempt by prosecutors to "have their cake and eat it too", her lawyer has told the NSW Supreme Court.

The lawyer for Alo-Bridget Namoa also told reporters that her client's treatment was "inhumane" and "not in the interests of justice" after the 18-year-old appeared in court on Monday to face a detention application over her refusal to answer questions from the NSW Crime Commission.

The family of Alo-Bridget Namoa with lawyer Sophie Toomey, left, outside Central Local Court in Sydney last month. Credit:Janie Barrett

"The hysteria around the word terrorism has created a situation where she is in a very, very dire situation and incarcerated in awful and inhumane circumstances," the lawyer, Sophie Toomey, said outside court.

Earlier, the young woman was led into the jail's audio visual room wearing handcuffs and a Guantanamo Bay-style orange jumpsuit.
The Queensland Government department which allowed thousands of coal miners' chest X-rays to sit in a locked shipping container without being checked for behaved "disgracefully", according to CFMEU state secretary Stephen Smyth.

A Senate Health committee is investigating the re-emergence of coal miners' pneumenicosis, or black lung disease.

Pneumoconiosis has re-emerged in coal miners for the first time in 30 years. Credit:Michele Mossop

There are now six cases of black lung disease in Queensland, which has re-emerged for the first time in 30 years.

Officers from the Department of Natural Resources Health Surveillance Unit - responsible for the unread X-rays - are yet to provide evidence to the Senate Health committee meeting in Brisbane on Monday.
A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to at least four years behind bars for killing a man with a single punch on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Jesse James Patrick punched 53-year-old Bruce Steensen once in the back of the head as he was walking on Mooloolaba Esplanade on February 22, 2014, causing him to fall to the ground and fatally fracture his skull on the concrete.

Patrick pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday and was sentenced to eight years jail with no parole eligibility date set.

The court heard the New Zealander was on parole at the time for a similar offence and punched Mr Steensen because he wanted to finish a scuffle between them that had happened only moments earlier.
A Redlands City councillor caught with personal sex tapes and pornographic images on his ratepayer-funded laptop has defended storing the content the device, saying he is guilty only of being "red-blooded".

Division 2 councillor Craig Ogilvie, who is seeking re-election at the local government polls on March 19, also said he had not done anything wrong and the public revelation of the material on his computer was akin to being "slut-shamed".

Speaking with 612 ABC Brisbane breakfast host Spencer Howson on Monday morning, Mr Ogilvie admitted to storing personal sex tapes and pornographic material on his council-supplied devices, but refuted allegations he had also stored covert pictures taken of women in bikinis on the municipality's beaches.

"I think I'm guilty if anything of being red-blooded, and maybe more red-blooded than some, I don't know, I don't think so but certainly not guilty of any improper or illegal behaviour," he said.
"I do have confidence, I do express my confidence in the Premier and the Treasurer and certainly, I would not anticipate this having a drastic impact on the government's legislative agenda. "I would hope that the majority of legislation the government will put forward over the remainder of the term will be legislation that I can support. Where that conflicts with my labour [movement] values and the interest of my city and my electorate I know reserve my right to do otherwise." Mr Pyne told Fairfax Media his decision to leave the party was not one he had made lightly but, after months of deliberation, he believed was the only one he could make to ensure he best served his electorate and was able to "sleep well at night". "This decision has been a long time coming. I decided that I can't serve two masters, I want to represent the entire Cairns community and I don't feel I can do that if I am being muzzled or controlled by party machinery being run out of Brisbane," he said.

"It has been a frustrating 12 months for me. No one can say I haven't tried to make it work. It may prove fatal to me politically. Independent Cairns MP Rob Pyne "I have tried to make it work. There have been some outcomes, but nevertheless, I think there has been a lack of recognition in the government of the extent to which we are suffering in the regions. "You know, we are closer to Port Moresby than we are to Brisbane [up] here, and it certainly feels that way when you hear government ministers who are so out of touch with the problems we are facing in areas like Cairns and much of regional Queensland." Mr Pyne said he understood his decision, which he made official in a letter sent to Queensland's State Secretary Evan Moorhead, would come as a surprise to many. But he said given his experience with the party over the past year he did not believe he could continue as a Labor MP.

Since October, Mr Pyne has pushed for an inquiry into local government in Queensland and how complaints against it are handled. He said there were "other areas where I haven't been happy with the government's performance" which, along with water reform and the Adani coal mine, had led him to his decision to quit. "One of those is reforms around transparency and accountability," he said. "We know what has been done in other jurisdictions; we know what has been called for here in Queensland. "When I see people like Tony Fitzgerald say they are not prepared to support either of the major parties that is a concern for me and when I see practices that are illegal in other states happening in Queensland that is a concern for me as well. "I think we can lift the bar in terms of transparency and accountability. I am happy to hear the Attorney-General making some noises in that direction, but the Labor Party in Queensland needs to do more. [Such as not accepting donations from property developers]

"There are other things that happen that really need to be looked at, not only in local government but state government as well. "In the local government level, or with the CCC generally, the fact that less than 2 per cent of complaints are investigated by the CCC, the fact that 98 per cent of complaints are referred back to the perpetrator to investigate should be of concern to us all." Mr Pyne had considered leaving Labor when he quit the Left faction in January. After talks with Ms Palaszczuk and an accelerated works program announcement in Cairns, Mr Pyne stayed. But he said not enough had changed. "I was hopeful the party could reform itself, where individual members could be given greater latitude to represent their constituencies and be vocal on behalf of the areas they represent  especially those of us in regional Queensland, who have particularly difficult economic climates we are confronting and in some areas aging infrastructure in need of replacement," he said. "And you know, I am not prepared to say that everything is fine, that we are getting the job outcomes we need, and I need to argue in the Parliament for this city, where we have double digit unemployment and youth unemployment of over 20 per cent, and we are badly in need of state funding for important infrastructure, like our local schools."

Mr Pyne said he also believed that with his fellow cross-benchers, north Queensland would get a better deal with the government as it negotiated to pass legislation. "Far north Queensland has been the victim of historic neglect over recent years," he said. "It doesn't matter whether it has been schools in the Cairns electorate, or hospital in Atherton, we need to work together to get better outcomes for far north Queensland, because I believe this region has been neglected for too long." After months of deliberations, Mr Pyne said his decision to become an independent sat well with him. "That feels just fine to me," he said.

"It may prove fatal to me politically, but I tell you what, I'll be putting my hand up for the people of Cairns and be a very powerful advocate for my city, and hopefully achieve a number of more significant wins in terms of service and infrastructure for the remainder of this term and then I can sleep well at night knowing I have done the best to represent the area I was elected to represent. "I really do believe that not serving two masters and being able to dedicate myself completely to serving the people of Cairns and the people of far north Queensland as well is how I can best serve the remainder of my term in the 55th Parliament." Mr Pyne is the second Labor MP to move to the crossbench since last year's state election, with Cook MP Billy Gordon resigning from the party before he could be pushed after failing to disclose matters from his past. His departure leaves Labor in an awkward position, but it is unlikely to send the state back to the polls. Under convention, Ms Palaszczuk must govern for 18 months unless the LNP can show it has the numbers on the floor of Parliament.
American theoretical physicist and string theorist Brian Greene says it is time for scientific information to be taken down from its "ivory tower" conversations and shared with the wider public.

The 53-year-old said he hoped the World Science Festival, which he founded in 2008 with Tracy Day and will be held in Brisbane this year, would help create the "bridge" needed between the scientific community and the public.

"The cutting edge research is framed in a language that, unless you have technical training, it is impenetrable so it is completely up to the scientific community to provide a bridge from the arcane language of forefront science to the more familiar language of the everyday person who needs to have a way in," he said.

"It is vital that science as a community ensures that the public knows what we are doing because in many countries it is tax dollars that fund the research, but regardless of the funding, every single individual on the planet relies on scientific insight.
Square's palm-sized reader lets Australian businesses accept credit cards using smartphones and tablets, but they must wait for "tap-and-go" contactless payments like Apple Pay.

Launching in Australia on Tuesday, the $19 Square Reader fits into the headphone jack of an Apple or Android device. It allows businesses to accept card payments on the move  taking a small cut of the transaction amount but not charging any other fees.

The Square Reader. Credit:Square

The card reader supports the Australian "chip-and-PIN" standard, along with traditional mag-stripe transactions, but Square is holding off on launching its NFC-enabled contactless card reader in Australia. Square's NFC payment terminal, available to US customers for $US49 ($66), supports "tap-and-go" contactless payments such as Visa's payWave, Mastercard's PayPass, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

Apple Pay launched in Australia in November last year for American Express card holders, but it is not supported by the Square Reader.
It all started with a letter.

After the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, Nail Aykan wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and thanked him on behalf of Muslim communities for his measured response.

Malcolm Turnbull visits the Islamic Museum of Australia in Melbourne. Credit:Justin McManus

"Thank you for your words of leadership. We welcome your fresh tone and positive narrative in regards the threats of terrorism," Mr Aykan, the executive director of the Islamic Council of Victoria, wrote.

"The feedback we have from members of our community [says] it has been very reassuring and a much needed boost to confidence in our national leadership."
A high-speed pursuit through Perth's inner suburbs that saw an allegedly stolen black BMW avoid police stingers came to a dramatic end in Floreat on Monday morning.

The chase came as WA reeled from a horror long weekend on the roads, with 11 deaths before midday Monday.

A dramatic car chase involving a black BMW came to an end in Floreat after a collision. Credit:Channel Nine News

The BMW collided with another car at the corner of Hay Street and Selby Street around 9.30am, when a man was arrested.

The drama began just after 8am when motorists reported a man driving erratically along the Kwinana Freeway and Manning Road in Como.
If the venue normally costs 2,000 to hire  well then simply charge 3,000  and give the crooked philanthropist back 500  and you'r...
The tree that the car ploughed into at Jennapullin was snapped in two. Credit:Nine News "Impaired driving, speed, alcohol, inattention and not wearing seatbelts are significant factors. "A poor decision or lack of concentration for a moment can lead to extremely tragic situation." That tragic situation was summed up by a Facebook post from Maria Luisa Hall, whose son Joseph William Hall was one of three men killed in a crash in Bruce Rock on Saturday. Mr Hall's cousin Corbin Manners and a friend also died when their utility left the road on Johnston Street and hit a car.

"When my brother died and you heard me crying,you offered me tissue and said,'are you alright mum?'" Mr Hall's mother posted. "Now when I cried for you you're not here anymore to ask and [be] worried about me. The post included a photo taken of Mr Hall playing guitar, apparently from the night before the crash. Joseph Hall in a photo his mother said was taken the night before his death. On Sunday, WA's Road Safety Commissioner said he was horrified by "the worst weekend" he could remember, after a triple-fatality in Two Rocks on Sunday night and another death on Monday morning night took the long weekend road toll to 11.

Road Safety Commissioner Kim Papalia said WA had endured "72 hours of mayhem" as the long weekend of carnage saw the state's road toll stand at more than double the same time last year. "Ten people have been taken from their families on this long weekend," he said before news of the 11th broke. "In some 37 years in the public sector, I can't recall a weekend that has been so bad with so many deaths." WA's road toll now stands at 41, with 30 of those deaths in regional WA. At the same time last year the road toll was 20. The most recent fatality occurred around 8am on Monday at Mindarabin, 400 kilometres south-east of Perth.

Police reported it appeared to be a single vehicle collision with a tree on Chester Pass Road near the intersection with Louis Lookout Road. the Mindarabin accident followed a horror crash that occurred on the crest of a hill on Two Rocks Road at 9pm Sunday, Police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall said a beige Hyundai Sonata sedan travelling south on Two Rocks Road, Yanchep, overtook a silver Holden Rodeo utility also travelling south. "The Hyundai then collided head-on with a pink Mitsubishi Mirage travelling north," she said. The driver and a passenger in the Hyundai and the driver of the Mitsubishi were killed in the crash.

The driver of the Hyundai was a 24-year-old man from Nollamara. The front passenger killed was a 30-year-old man also of Nollamara. The other passengers were a 25-year-old man of Nollamara and two women; one a 25-year-old and the other a 23-year-old, both of unknown addresses. The injured passengers were taken to Royal Perth Hospital where they are reported to be in a serious but stable condition. The driver of the Mitsubishi was a 47-year-old woman of Two Rocks. Her 17-year-old male passenger from Two Rocks was taken to the Joondalup Health Campus and he was listed on Monday as being in a stable condition. The two occupants of the Holden Rodeo were uninjured.

Major Crash investigators were at the scene of crash early on Monday morning and were asking any witnesses to come forward. They should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestopperswa.com.au. A 20-year-old woman died in hospital after a car rolled near Corrigin on Sunday. The 19-year-old driver survived. Both women were tourists from Germany. Police said their car travelled onto the gravel verge, before returning to the road, rolling a number of times and coming to rest in shrubs. Also on Sunday, a 23-year-old Mosman Park man died when his Mazda hatchback left the road on Northam-Pithara Road and hit a tree.
Turkey's largest newspaper, fiercely critical of the government last week before it was seized by state administrators, has returned to news-stands, publishing flattering stories on President Tayyip Erdogan.

The last edition before police raided the offices of Zaman about midnight on Friday boldly declared Turkey's "Constitution suspended".

Riot police officers walk by the headquarters of Zaman newspaper in Istanbul after it was shut down. Credit:AP

But on Sunday, with state-controlled editors at the helm, the front page news was dominated by Mr Erdogan's visit to a bridge being built across Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait.
Beijing: For two years, Wen Wancheng has borne the weight of the search for answers quite literally on his shoulders. Misshapen and irreversibly sweat-stained from constant wear, his white T-shirt is emblazoned with a poignant reminder of his 34-year-old son: "Pray for the safe return of MH370".

"You have to have a symbol for the search," Mr Wen told Fairfax Media. "When people see me wearing this, they know I'm looking for my child."

Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight, which took off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing but disappeared with 239 people aboard, including 153 Chinese nationals and six Australians.
Brussels: EU leaders will make another attempt to stem a migration surge that is testing their unity and principles, with hopes high that neighbouring Turkey will shoulder more of the burden.

Nearly 140,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Europe's shores since the beginning of the year, following more than a million arrivals in 2015.

A refugee pleads with other men to calm down as a train attempts to pass at the Greek-Macedonia border in Idomeni, Greece. Credit:Getty Images

Almost half of them are fleeing war-ravaged Syria, according to the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR.

The surge has created tensions in the European Union and put at risk its most notable achievements, such as the Schengen free-travel zone and the concept of solidarity between member states.
But the frontlines of the civil war that since 2011 has killed a quarter of a million people and displaced half of Syria's population were only about 50 kilometres away. Syrian soldiers guard a tent in Maarzaf, Syria, where local leaders and elders signed a declaration pledging to abide by a ceasefire. Credit:AP As our group approached those lines, half-finished construction projects gave way to houses damaged by fighting. Many had walls riddled by shrapnel, a missing balcony or a roof blown off. In some places, cardboard replaced missing walls, and clothes hung out to dry across empty sections  signs of life amid the devastation. Troops at checkpoints appeared increasingly tense as we got closer to the fighting, their look purposeful and their fingers on triggers. A Russian Su-24 bomber flies over the Mediterranean Sea at Latakia, Syria, last week. Credit:AP

Our bus was escorted across central Hama province by soldiers in a pick-up truck with a heavy machine gun mounted on top. At an intersection outside Hama, we transferred to armoured trucks of the Russian military  a clear indication of the danger ahead. Reporters clumsily climbed up the ladders, and we continued under Russian army escort. A woman passes banners with a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, and a killed Syrian officer on a road near Latakia. Credit:AP We were greeted in the village of Maarzaf, about 15 kilometres west of Hama, by scores of heavily armed men from the private militia of Sheikh Ahmad Mubarak, an influential leader in the province. We saw him sign a deal pledging to respect the ceasefire that began on February 27. Some of his troops were in their early teens and they looked proud of their weapons and fatigues.

Children reach out for sweets distributed by a Russian soldier in Maarzaf, Syria. Credit:AP When a Russian truck unloaded humanitarian aid, the sheikh's troops mixed with the residents reaching for lollies and one half-seriously loaded his rifle to fend off some particularly pushy boys. But there was more curiosity than danger. A female press officer from the Russian Defence Ministry instantly became the focus of attention, with Syrian men elbowing each other to get a photo taken with her. A visit to mountain villages near the border with Turkey was more harrowing. Most of the homes in Ghunaymiyah, recently seized by the Syrian army from militants, were empty shells, their windows and doors missing and walls riddled by shrapnel. Residents who returned to inspect the damage reacted with shock.

A few knelt to pray at a Christian church, its walls half-ruined and the floor covered with rubble and broken glass. The devastation seemed incongruous with the blossoming trees and bright blue sky. Kinsibba, which sits on a steep hill overlooking a strategic road leading to Idlib and Aleppo, Syria's one-time commercial capital has been the focus of a recent government offensive backed by intense Russian air strikes. An indifferent-looking Syrian general said the ceasefire was largely holding, despite some shelling by militants of the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, which is excluded from the ceasefire. The Russian officers weren't so calm, and they nervously urged reporters not to stand at the edge of a cliff overlooking the hills controlled by the militants. Reporters paid little attention, snapping pictures of the idyllic landscape and later moving down a street to chat with residents. Suddenly, an explosion and a puff of grey smoke rose from the mountain slope about 200 metres below. At first, I didn't understand what had happened, but a Russian officer next to me immediately yelled: "All down! We are under fire!"

As I tried to hide behind a low concrete barrier on the street, I saw another puff of smoke from a nearby explosion and reached for my camera. That's when another blast forced me to get down. More shells fell, and I realised the next one might land on us. A Russian armoured personnel carrier was rushed forward to shield us from shrapnel. Under its cover, we ran up the steep hill and around a corner to where our armoured trucks were parked  the immediate peril had eased. On another day, a Russian military plane flew us to the capital, Damascus, where we saw entire neighbourhoods wiped out by fighting. Just a few kilometres away, however, other neighbourhoods bore no sign of damage, with streets filled with traffic and busy shops.
US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has drawn jeers - and applause - after urging Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to not interrupt him during a recent Democratic debate.

"Excuse me, I'm talking," Senator Sanders snapped during a tense disagreement about the US government bailout of Wall Street in the dark days of the 2008 financial crisis.

Mrs Clinton, the former secretary of state, who was a US senator in 2008, claimed to have voted to "save the auto industry".
Cruz has signalled a new determination in Florida  announcing that he has opened 10 new offices there. And while Trump will jet from one centre to the next in his private aircraft, Rubio is threatening to drive around the state in his pick-up, asking for votes.

A woman marks her vote during Puerto Rico's Republican primary in San Juan, on Sunday. Puerto Rico residents cannot participate in US general presidential elections but can do so in primaries. It sends 20 delegates to the Republican convention. Credit:AP

Cruz won impressively ahead of Trump in Kansas and Maine and he came within five points of him in Louisiana and Kentucky. Cruz had already beaten Trump in four states  compared with what was Rubio's lonely, single primaries win in Minnesota, now joined by his Sunday victory in Puerto Rico.

Rubio seems to be flaming out after a flaky show in the Super Tuesday contests and an off-the walls performance in last Thursday's nationally televised candidate's debate, in which Rubio took a calculated risk in being more like Trump in going after Trump, more juvenile and puerile, especially in sparking an unseemly contest about the size of their penises. . As one observer put it, Rubio can't find a balance between serious and silly.

It can be argued that Rubio has come as far as he did, only because a desperate GOP establishment was looking for someone who wasn't the wildcard Trump and wasn't the uber-conservative Cruz to run for president. And if the new millions being talked about for his campaign, by a desperate new establishment-backed, not-Trump drive, were to put Rubio back in the race, his campaign would have to become required reading for scholars on the power of money in American politics.

The Florida senator's supporters were shocked by his debate meltdown in the first week of February, when robot-like, and with an almost blank stare, he repeated the same line four times in quick succession.

In truth, this was the same amateur performer who when he was given the honour of giving the Republican response to Obama's 2013 State of the Union address, became something of laughingstock because he dried up - requiring him to awkwardly lean out of the camera frame, for a bottle of water from which he took a gulp as the nation watched.

The Rubio mix also includes a curious, unexplained sense of entitlement, with the candidate insisting that he has a right to go on to Cleveland in July, to fight for the nomination on the floor of the Republican convention.
Rome: He has been appointed by the Italian Prime Minister to restore the vast Royal Palace of Caserta to its rightful place as the country's Versailles, but museum director Mauro Felicori has drawn the ire of unions for working too hard.

Mr Felicori was tasked five months ago by Matteo Renzi with reviving the fortunes of the World Heritage-listed 1200-room palace of the Bourbon kings, situated 35 kilometres north of Naples, which had fallen into decay amid neglect and mismanagement.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has told unions the tide has turned in the workplace. Credit:Alessia Pierdomenico

Now, he is at the centre of a battle with three Italian labour unions, which have complained that the director often stays working late into the evening without informing other staff.

"Such behaviour puts the whole structure at risk," the unions said in a letter to the Culture Minister, who is Mr Felicori's boss, sent in late February.
Being pro business doesnt necessarily mean pro free markets. Reality TV star and wannabe Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump reminds us of this. Writing for The Stream, Actons Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, argues that not only does Trump seem to be a mercantilist, but, if implemented, this medieval economic system would weaken the United States.

What exactly is mercantilism? This system was popular between the 1500s and 1700s and was particularly good to government officials and their allies in the business world. Gregg explains:

At the core of mercantilism were two things. The first was cozy relationships between certain business leaders and the government. The second was the extensive use of tariffs, quotas and even bans on certain imports to protect domestic manufacturers. Mercantilists wanted to limit competition (particularly from foreigners) rather than embrace competition as a discipline that helped companies and countries discover and develop what they did best in terms of low-costs and high-returns relative to everyone else. Much of Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations amounts to a shattering critique of what he called the mercantile system. Smith observed that, contrary to mercantilist doctrine, free trade encourages people to specialize in what they are good at, or what economists call comparative advantage. This promotes economic growth and lowers prices over time, something that directly benefits lower-income people.

Smith didnt think the collusion between rich government officials and established merchants was particularly good for nations as a whole. It especially hurt regular people who lacked political connections, consumers who were forced to pay high prices for goods, and the employees who stayed in increasingly less competitive industries. Mercantilism ceased being the norm, partially because Smiths critique was so effective, but also because the system was incredibly expensive. It encouraged businesses to become complacent, sluggish, and slow to adapt to technological change. Despite western society moving on from mercantilism, Gregg describes the close similarities between this bygone system and Trumps plans:

Trump, for instance, has talked about imposing tariffs ranging from 25 to 35 percent on imports until China (which in Trumps lexicon seems to function as a catch-all phrase for all foreign competition) plays ball. That would most likely provoke a trade war with China. Unfortunately, a trade war would make both China and the United States poorer. But even before such a trade war, the costs of such tariffs would be passed onto ordinary Americans. They would find themselves paying far more for all kinds of things, and not just for retail items imported from abroad. Its easy to forget, for instance, that your average American car built in Michigan or Kentucky consists of materials from all over the world. Likewise, Trumps vocal defense of broad interpretations of eminent domain comes straight out of a mercantilist playbook. The primary purpose of eminent domain is to allow governments to undertake certain indispensable functions (building roads, bridges, etc.) by expropriating private property for public use, while generously compensating private owners. But the Supreme Courts ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) allowed governments to permit specific businesses to take over even perfectly nice, non-blighted private property so they could build, say, strip-malls or limousine parking-lots, as Trump sought to do back in the mid-1990s. It is hard to imagine a more mercantilist tactic.

This anti-competitive system will not fix any problems supposedly caused by the free market. As Gregg puts it, [i]t may enrich the Donald and his well-connected friends, but it wont make America great again.

Read Trump is a mercantilist, and mercantilism will weaken America in its entirety at The Stream.
PHILIPSBURG:--- It is unacceptable that we just cant get anything right since obtaining the status of country within the Dutch Kingdom on October 10, 2010. Over and over we have to repeat the shame that the established parties (UP, NA, DP, US) are putting this country through. At this moment each one of them are blaming the other. But at the end of the day all of them are to be blamed equally including the independents.

During the debate of the 2016 budget the Finance Minister made a presentation outlining what the benefits are for the parliament of St. Maarten to support it. Weve had members of parliament stating in advance that they would not support the 2016 budget before even having the chance to review it. That was a clear indication that this member of the parliament was not thinking about the future of St. Maarten but was willing to vote along party line even if it meant throwing the country many years backwards. It would be very interesting to see what she would do if the other opposition members come to their senses and support the 2016 budget.

But now an even bigger obstacle is the fact that one of the members supporting the coalition government has been detained and no one at this moment knows what will be the outcome of this arrest. Jump high jump low at the end of the day it is the people once again who will be suffering because of this uncertainty regarding the 2016 budget.

According to media reports the opposition of seven is planning to sign in to provide the necessary quorum for the meeting to continue. But at the same time some sort of meeting took place with the leaders of the government and the opposition. Unfortunately, the only conclusion that came out of that meeting is who is lying and who is telling the truth. It seems as if our leaders have adopted a page out of the book of the Republicans in the U.S.A. Nobody seems to know what the truth is anymore. Interestingly enough, there were two other members namely, Mr. Richard Gibson Sr. and Dr. Lloyd Richardson supposedly in the vehicle. They must have some type of recollection as to what actually transpired during that meeting. Or will we have to wait and read about it sometime in the future when they decide to write their memoires about their tenure in government.

Nevertheless, the people of St. Maarten arent taking it anymore and they are mad as hell. They are sick and tired of this back and forward between the established political parties in government who promised them a bed of roses during the last election in 2014. But each time they seem to come up short for the people but plentiful for themselves, the elected representatives. The people of St. Maarten hopefully have come to realize that it is not about them. It is about the elected officials running the daily affairs of the government to be able to plunder the coffers of the government and those of the government owned companies.

The OSPP feels that time after time the people of St. Maarten have had the opportunity to elect people who will look after their wellbeing all the time. It is time that our people become conscious of the fact that the established parties (UP, NA, DP, US) are taking them for a ride. It is only left for them to say, we can do what we want with the people and they will continue voting for us. In other words we can walk all over the people for the most part of the term and they must support us at the end of the day anyhow.

The OSPP is calling on all citizens of this country to contact your representatives in parliament by phone or emails and demand that they show up to work to debate the 2016 budget in the next four days. Demand that they vote on the 2016 budget and that you will not accept them abstaining from voting. Demand from them that you are not paying them to walk out of the meeting. Demand from them that you expect them to submit proposals during the debate that would improve your quality of life by lowering the cost of living, increasing the minimum wage and pension, establishing a general pension plan, constructing low income affordable houses, reducing the crime and to submit new ideas to generate more revenue for the coffers of the government of St. Maarten. Anything short of that you will punish them during the next election on September 26, 2016. Let them know that you are mad as hell and you are not taking it anymore.
CAYMAN ISLANDS:--- Health City Cayman Islands, a world class hospital in the north western Caribbean, has opened an office in Canada to support Canadian medical practitioners who want to move their patients off long waiting lists for non-emergency procedures and improve their quality of life.

According to the group "We Are Your Ontario Doctors", more than 113,000 Ontarians are on waitlists for hip replacements, knee replacements, cataract operations and hysterectomies, with an average wait time of 194 days before receiving their procedure. These wait times only track from the time surgeons decide to operate to the operation itself; the period to see the surgeon can range between an additional three and 12 months, according to the group.

The first order of business for Health City's new Hamilton, Ontario location will be to facilitate treatment options for patients in Ontario and Quebec.

"While we are known for our expertise in cardiac surgery, we also have outstanding surgeons in high need areas such as orthopaedic and bariatric procedures," said Dr. Chandy Abraham, CEO and Head of Medical Services at Health City Cayman Islands. "We have the capacity, the skills and the facilities to treat patients from Canada and around the globe," he added.

"In a perfect world we would be able to meet the demands of Canadians needing surgery here in Canada in a timely manner," said Canada-based anaesthesiologist Dr. Cynthia Horner. "Given our current climate, this is becoming more difficult and Canadians are choosing to look for other options. For those patients who choose to travel abroad for health services, Health City Cayman Islands is a great option. The facilities are modern and comfortable with state-of the-art-technology and equipment. The physicians at Health City are committed to providing the highest quality of care and have built a program specifically for Canadians," she added.

"I believe in providing options that can improve quality-of-life for Canadians, and am really excited to be part of the process," said Dr. Sanjeev Goel, a family physician in Brampton, Ontario.

Since opening its doors in 2014, Health City Cayman Islands has treated thousands of patients, including several hundred North Americans. In addition to noting the therapeutic benefits of visiting a beautiful Caribbean island

nation in the British Commonwealth, patient testimonials rate Health City highly in terms of its skilled healthcare professionals, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability.

Members of Health City Cayman Islands' medical teams have performed several thousand surgeries in their careers and Health City's commitment to excellence in medical practices, administration and patient care has been recognized by Joint Commission International, the international "gold standard" in healthcare excellence.

Founded by Indian philanthropist Dr. Devi Shetty, the personal physician of the late Mother Teresa, and U.S.-based Ascension, the world's largest Catholic health system, the Caribbean hospital is also known for providing specialist care to children living in poverty at no cost to the patients.

Health City's Canadian office will field general inquiries about Health City Cayman Islands; support patients' journeys to and from the Cayman Islands; coordinate consultations with Health City Cayman Islands' physicians and patient care teams; connect with Canadian healthcare providers to ensure continuity of care; and secure travel arrangements as well as translation services where necessary.
Tely Launches Tely Touch and Announces Partnership With Videxio

REDWOOD CITY, CA  (Marketwired)  03/07/16  announced today the launch of Tely Touch, which takes ease-of-use and user interaction benefits to the next level by adding touch interfaces to the video endpoint. With Tely Touch, initiating your virtual meeting room and controlling your collaboration experience is right at your fingertips. Tely is also expanding its portfolio of cloud video solutions and networks partners to include .

With Tely touch, weve designed an easy to use and intuitive touch interface for seamless interaction, says Todd Abbott, president and chief executive officer of Tely. Users can initiate video collaboration easily with one touch dialing, simply share and control their experience, allowing them to get the most out of their meetings.

Tely Touch key features:

Initiate video collaboration with one touch dialing from the integrated calendar, which is accessible on the home screen

Instant access to virtual meeting rooms via directory

Easily share content, adjust camera views, change layouts and more

Use the tablet camera to display an in room whiteboard or objects such as product prototypes, needed for collaboration

The Tely Touch application will be available on Google Play in April. The Tely Touch application requires a tablet for Android which is paired with a Tely 200 video collaboration endpoint. *

In addition to Tely Touch, Tely continues to expand its portfolio of cloud video solutions and networks partners to now include Videxio. With an endpoint subscription from Videxio, any Tely 200 user will get their own video address, connect securely from behind the corporate firewall and have access to Videxios global QoS video network.

The Tely 200, paired with the Videxio service, is ideally positioned to capture the explosive growth in the Huddle Room market, says Karl Hantho, president, Videxio Americas. With a fully automated activation workflow, Tely endpoints can be deployed and provisioned in a simple, highly scalable manner. The intuitive user interface and streamlined experience, coupled with remote management via Tely Portal will make it easy for customers to deploy our cloud-based video service deeper into the enterprise.

We are excited to add Videxio as a partner, further expanding our ability to bring the best possible video collaboration experience for users in more huddle spaces, continues Abbott.

Tely is now supporting both SIP and H.323 protocols, which will enable customers to maximize the return on current investment and support new deployments.

To hear more from Abbott on video collaboration, stop by his March 9 presentation at this weeks Enterprise Connect, . You can schedule a meeting with Tely at the show or stop by Booth #843.

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Tely is dedicated to bringing simple high-definition video collaboration to more huddle spaces. Our cloud-optimized endpoints enable creative teams to easily share content and interact more effectively with each other, and with their customers, partners, suppliers through visual collaboration. Founded in 2010, Tely is a private company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Visit or connect with us on , , and to learn more.

Videxio is a video service provider. Through our reseller partners, we make it easy for organizations of any size to use professional video communications. The unique architecture and operation of Videxios cloud-based service allows individual users and businesses to be fully operational in minutes. Videxio has head office locations in Oslo, Norway, and Reston VA USA and sales offices across the world. To learn more, visit .

*Android is a trademark and Google Play is a brand of Google Inc.

Tely PR

Elena Arney

415-361-0001
Sidense Exhibiting at TSMC 2016 North American Technology Symposiums

OTTAWA, ON and SAN JOSE, CA  (Marketwired)  03/07/16 

Sidense will be exhibiting at the North American TSMC Technology Symposiums (San Jose, CA, Austin, TX and Boston, MA). Stop by the Sidense booth to find out how low-cost, secure and reliable 1T-OTP non-volatile memory (NVM) IP, available from 180nm to 20nm including HV and BCD process nodes, can be a key component in your Smart Connected designs.

Tuesday, March 15, 8:30AM  5:45PM

San Jose McEnery Convention Center

150 West San Carlos Street

San Jose, CA 95113

Booth 201

Tuesday, March 22, 8:30AM  5:30PM

Marriott Burlington Boston

One Burlington Mall Road

Burlington, MA, 01803

Thursday, April 16, 8:30AM-5:30PM

Four Seasons

98 San Jacinto Boulevard

Austin, TX 78701

For more information or to schedule a meeting with Sidense please contact:

Jim Lipman (, 925-606-1370) for San Jose and Tom Shield (, 425-442-7376) for Boston or Austin.

Sidense Corp. provides very dense, highly reliable and secure non-volatile one-time programmable (OTP) Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes. The Company, with over 120 patents granted or pending, licenses OTP memory IP based on its innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse bit cell, which does not require extra masks or process steps to manufacture. Sidense 1T-OTP macros provide a better field-programmable, reliable and cost-effective solution than flash, mask ROM, eFuse and other embedded and off-chip NVM technologies for many code storage, encryption key, analog trimming and device configuration uses.

Over 150 companies, including many of the top fabless semiconductor manufacturers and IDMs, have adopted Sidense 1T-OTP as their NVM solution for more than 500 designs. Customers are realizing outstanding savings in solution cost and power consumption along with better security and reliability for applications ranging from mobile and consumer devices to high-temperature, high-reliability automotive and industrial electronics. The IP is offered at and supported by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Sidense is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with sales offices worldwide. For more information, please visit .

The 22nd annual TSMC Technology Symposium provides first-hand updates on TSMCs advanced and specialty technologies, advanced backend capabilities and future development plans.

Jim Lipman

925-606-1370
Real-time information turns Enterprise Architecture Tool into Application Intelligence Platform

Bonn, 7 March 2016. LeanIX, provider of the innovative Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) tool leanIX as Software as a Service (SaaS) is proud to announce the release of version 3.0. With this release, leanIX brings the Architecture and Operations domains closer together than ever.

The new Metrics feature is a truly groundbreaking innovation in the Enterprise Architecture (EA) arena. It gives leanIX users the ability to connect to real-time data, thus enabling them to monitor things like activities, user behavior or availability in relation to the IT architecture that they manage in leanIX. LeanIX will provide out-of-the-box integrations with applications that provide relevant data but users can also connect their own data sources using open source SDKs provided by LeanIX.

The combination of operational data and enterprise architecture in leanIX is unparalleled in the tool market, LeanIX Founders Jorg G. Beyer and Andre Christ are convinced, We are raising the bar again in the EA tool market.

Companies of all sizes strive to release new IT applications faster and more frequently to gain competitive advantages. LeanIX provides a platform, where they can store and analyze technical and business metrics directly in context of their IT architecture. This allows them to gather real-time feedback and iterate faster, e.g. understand response times in relation to processed transactions or active users. Traditional Enterprise Architecture repositories do not foster such a market-oriented, iterative way to develop new products, as they mostly rely on static data.

LeanIX will be offering Metrics to all customers automatically for free with a limited number of data points.

Other new functionalities that will be in the new release include a vastly improved Quality Seal for Fact Sheets, automatic notifications on application lifecycle changes and an overhauled Interface Map that visualizes interfaces between applications in an improved way.

Metrics and the other new features will be available automatically in leanIX from 14 March 2016. LeanIX will be showcasing the Metrics functionality from 14 to 18 March at this years CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. Interested parties can also learn more about Metrics in a LeanIX webinar on 22 March 2016.
Verismic Software Hires New Product Manager

ALISO VIEJO, CA  (Marketwired)  03/07/16  , a global innovator of cloud-based IT management technology and green solutions, is expanding its pool of talent with the announcement of recent hire, Diane Rogers, as its new product manager.

With over 20 years of marketing and technology leadership at notable industry names: Borland International and Macromedia (now Adobe), Rogers brings extensive technical knowledge and management savvy to an organization extending its global footprint in cloud management technology services.

What attracted me to Verismic is its position in the high growth IT solutions market, combined with a brilliant and unique product architecture, says Rogers. Seldom do you get the opportunity to join an innovative startup that also has more than 25 years of industry experience.

In her position as product manager, Rogers will act as a liaison between Verismics engineering and sales departments, and the firms clientele.

My number one priority is ensuring Cloud Management Suite meets the customers needs, and exceeds their expectations, she says.

Rogers has a proven record of delivering outstanding performance in product releases including: Flash, Dreamweaver, dBase, C++, Shockwave, and Freehand. Additionally, her team lead role in the establishment of Shockwave.com, the online gaming hub, demonstrates that her skillset is a perfect fit for Verismic, which prides itself on furnishing its customers with premier technology offerings.

We could not be more excited to have Diane join our exceptional team, says Verismic president and CEO Ashley Leonard. When you look at the quality organizations she was involved with, and the innovative systems she has managed and launched, there is no doubt we have added a superior asset to our dynamic brand.

Rogers wealth of experience incorporates strong ties to Silicon Valley, and she has worked with industry legends: Apples late visionary, Steve Jobs, C# architect Anders Hejlsberg, and technology entrepreneur Phillipe Kahn. Her impressive resume includes a position as vice president of product management and marketing at Macromedia. She has also tested her own entrepreneurial energy underscoring an attribute of creativity and passion that Verismic desires. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelors degree in law and legal studies, Rogers is looking forward to her opportunity at Verismic.

It was a privilege to work on projects with some of the luminaries in our business, says Rogers. Now, I look forward to translating what Ive taken from each of these positions to phenomenal success at Verismic.

: Verismic Software, Inc. is a global industry leader providing cloud-based IT management technology and green solutions focused on enabling greater efficiency, cost-savings and security control for users, all while engaging in endpoint management. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Verismic is a growing and dynamic organization with offices in four countries and 12 partners in nine countries. Over the past two years, Verismic has worked with more than 150 companies ranging from 30 to 35,000 endpoints delivering a variety of solutions for organizations of all sizes as well as managed service providers (MSPs). Verismics software portfolio includes the first-of-its-kind agentless, (CMS); ; and . For more information, visit .

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Leslie Licano

Beyond Fifteen Communications, Inc.

949.733.8679
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What the story about?

Last week the Senate passed, and President Obama signed into law, a bill that would block imports made with convict labor, forced labor, or indentured labor.

The new law is enforceable under Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping multinational trade pact affecting 40 percent of the worlds economy.

What constitutes forced labor?

According to 19 U.S. Code  1307, Forced labor refers to all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily, including forced or indentured child labor.

Why werent such goods already banned?



Among the provisions in the Tariff Act of 1930 (also known as the SmootHawley Tariff), was a ban on the importation of goods made from forced labor. However, that law included an extraordinary exception  the consumptive demand exception. Under this clause if there was a demand for a good and it was not created in the U.S., then the product could be imported even if it was made with forced labor. The only goods that were excluded were those that were also made in the U.S.

Why did it take so long to close this loophole?

No one seems to have a good answer for why it 86 years to remove the immoral exception, though some legislators have expressed concerns about it before. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced legislation in 2007 that would have closed the loophole. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) tried to change the exception in 2013, but it was never included in a final trade bill. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) introduced a bill last year that would take it out, but it never got through committee.

What was different this time?

Last year the Associated Press conducted an 18-month investigation on slavery and other abusive practices of the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. Their lengthy expose revealing how American consumers were unwittingly buying fish caught by Asian slaves raised the awareness of the problem and made it difficult for legislators to ignore.

Will the change have any affect?

In the past, the provision was rarely enforced. In the 85 years history of the law, Customs and Border Protection have only used it 39 times to seize shipments where forced labor is suspected and block further imports, notes the AP. In 11 cases, the orders detaining shipments were later revoked.

But increased awareness by both consumers and the governmental about modern slavery may lead to the act being enforced more vigilantly.
What you need to know about Powerball and the $580 million jackpot

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Yellowstone National Park is famous worldwide for its vast forests, abundance of wildlife  including a wide variety of North American megafauna, and its natural landmarks like Old Faithful Geyser. The Park, which spans over 3,400 square miles, was established by Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, making it the first national park ever established. In addition to over 350 species of animals, over 1,000 plant species call the park home. [1]

The first actual flora of the park was published in 1886 by a man named Frank Tweedy. [2] Tweedy was a topographical engineer born in New York City in 1854. Between 1884-85, Tweedy was in Yellowstone mapping the topography of the park for a project with the U.S. Geological Survey. During his time in Yellowstone, Tweedy also collected plant specimens, ultimately spending two full summers botanizing. This work resulted in 600 species being added to his personal herbarium, which is now housed at Yale, and the production of his self-published Flora of the Yellowstone National Park in 1886.

The Flora was a remarkably accurate [2, pg. 31] work and is one of freelance field botanist Hollis Marriotts favorite publications in BHL.

Hollis Marriott (as Mrs. Celia Alice Nelson) and Ali Suku (as student assistant Leslie Goodding) demonstrate plant collecting methods of 1899. That year, Professor Aven Nelson, his family and two student assistants spent 14 weeks botanizing in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Bonnie Heidel, Wyoming Natural Diversity Database. Rocky Mountain Herbarium Open House, October 2015.

Hollis has worked as a field botanist for forty years, specializing in conservation and public lands projects, mainly in Wyoming and South Dakota. Having the benefit of being mostly retired, she now devotes much of her time to nature writing and photography. Topics include natural history, especially botany and geology, and the history of natural history  specifically exploration of the American West. She blogs at In the Company of Plants and Rocks and writes articles for regional publications.

As a valuable source of early literature on plants and botanists, BHL has become a very important asset for Hollis research. While she was initially introduced to BHL through our blog, searches for early literature on plants and botanists of the American West led her to our online portal of over 48 million pages. It has now become her go-to resource for information about early naturalists and their work.

I was really happy to find BHL! emphasizes Hollis. Now when Im looking for information by and about early naturalists, its the first place I go. The best thing about BHL is quick, easy access to so much useful information. Documents that were difficult to access or unavailable just a few years ago are now just a search and a click away. What makes BHL stand out for me is all the early literature, especially first-person accounts of early botanical work. Theres something special about reading descriptions, conclusions, opinions and stories written by the pioneering botanists themselves.

Much of Hollis recent work has benefited from the wealth of information available through BHL. Shes used BHL to access publications and correspondence by the great naturalist Thomas Nuttall; early studies of narrowleaf, Plains and lanceleaf cottonwoods; and a description of the rare Laramie columbine (Aquilegia laramiensis) by Wyomings pioneering botanist, Aven Nelson. Related to Nelson, Hollis adds, I just finished a paper for Yellowstone Science about Aven Nelsons botanical expedition to Yellowstone National Park in 1899. Almost all information about the substantial botanical work in the Park prior to Nelsons project came from BHL.

Field crew for Aven Nelsons 1899 Yellowstone expedition. Left to right: Helen and Neva Nelson, Leslie Goodding (student assistant) and (Mrs.) Celia Alice Nelson. Note plant presses and stacks of blotter paper in the wagon, and two vascula (metal collecting containers) by the wagon wheel. Photo by Aven Nelson. Aven Nelson Collection, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Currently, Hollis is using sources in BHL to inform research for several blog posts and an article about early botanist Edwin James. Her most recent historical botany post, James and Jamesiaa man and his shrub, is about James and his eponymous genus Jamesia (cliffbush), which he discovered during the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1820. The list of Sources at the end of the post shows just how valuable BHL is for this kind of research. Hollis is also using BHL to support research on another history of botany project about Frank Tweedy, the author of the notable Yellowstone Flora described earlier.

Jamesia americana, named after discoverer Edwin James. Curtiss Botanical Magazine. v. 101 (1875). http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/435989. Digitized for BHL by the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library.

Hollis use of BHL is erratic, depending on the needs of her current project. When accessing content on BHL, she will usually read the titles online, copying selected text using the OCR option. For larger excerpts, she downloads custom PDFs with the OCR option.

Hollis is quick to add that her use of BHL isnt just limited to work-related needs:

I also use BHL for fun  for example browsing in response to a BHL blog post (Im a regular reader), or just looking for things of interest or ideas for blog posts.

As early field notes are so important to Hollis work, shes eager to see more digitized for the BHL collection. Its a wish that will soon be fulfilled, thanks to our recently-funded Biodiversity Heritage Library Field Notes Project, which will support work to digitize archival field notes in participating institution collections.

Historic literature is a vital source of information about the natural world and the efforts of early naturalists to explore, catalog, and describe the great diversity of life on our planet. Were proud that BHL, by providing free and open access to library and archival collections around the world, can help researchers like Hollis share the incredible stories that these materials hold.

BHLs existence depends on the support of its patrons. Help us keep this free resource alive with a tax-deductible donation.

References

[1] Park Facts. National Park Service. December 22, 2015. Retrieved 2016-3-3.

[2] Park Botanist Jennifer Whipple and Yellowstones Herbarium. Yellowstone Science. 12.4 (2004): 25-34. Accessed Online.
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.
This is defamation, pure and simple. It is the Palestinian Authority, not the Israeli government that has given the green light for its people to kill. They have done this by falsely accusing the Israeli government of having designs on the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In response to this incitement (which will be addressed in more detail below), many young Palestinians have attacked Israeli soldiers and civilians with knives.

In the course of these attacks, which have killed more than two dozen Israelis (including one mother who died in front of her children), Palestinian attackers are sometimes shot to death. Israel is not giving its citizens or soldiers to kill anyone, most especially women and children. It is the PA that is doing this and as a result, the people it is supposed to protect are getting killed.

Amira also added that he and the audience were in the cradle of religions and civilizations and it was in this context that many prophets spoke about the values of coexistence and forgiveness. And today in Palestine we continue to speak about these values despite the historical injustice we are going through for the last 68 years of occupation and aggression.?

While Israel is continuing to commit crimes, Amira said, the Palestinians are giving a historic example of coexistence and the rejection of violence and hatred.? He continued:

We have created a national non-violent resistance [a] national peaceful resistance in our fight and in our struggle to achieve freedom and achieve peace and change the current circumstances and establish our Palestinian state.

This is an outrageous thing for Amira to say in light of the horrific stabbing attacks mentioned above. They are not the actions that can be characterized as non-violent? and peaceful resistance. They are acts of murder.

Its also an outrageous thing to say in light of the hateful polemics that the PA has been leveling at Israeli Jews since it was established in the mid-1990s and which have intensified during the stabbing attacks that began last fall. The Palestinian Authority is not presiding over a peaceful resistance movement. It is inciting young people to kill Israeli Jews going about their lives.

Amiras boss, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has praised Palestinians who have murdered Israelis in cold blood. In September 2015, Abbas declared, The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours, and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem." He also stated "We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing. Every Martyr (Shahid) will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah."

This is not the language of coexistence. This is the language of religious incitement coming out of the mouth of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

And here was Hanna Amira from the PA claiming that the Palestinians have applied the principles of coexistence handed down by the prophets.

We are used to politicians offering up a self-serving and distorted view of reality, but this was over the top. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the events of the past few months know full well that the Palestinian leaders and the people they have incited to attack Jews. (PA President Mahmoud Abbas is not the only Palestinian leader who has spoken like this. There have been numerous others.)

Amiras speech, given to an audience of Christians from throughout the world, was disgraceful.

But what was even more disgraceful was how he conveyed this message to the approximately 300 international attendees at the conference.

You see, Amira does not speak English and he needed to have someone translate his speech for him.

Who did the translation? A pastor, a Christian pastor!

The pastor in question is Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, who is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. In addition to serving as the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, Rev. Dr. Isaac also serves as academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College.

Despite his training and his credentials, Rev. Dr. Isaac allowed himself to be used as a mouthpiece for some pretty dishonest propaganda.

And to make matters worse, he did it at a conference dedicated to confronting religious extremism, a conference that he organized. By repeating Amiras speech word for word, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac helped obscure the problem of religious extremism that the conference was intended to confront.

The scene, captured in the photo above at the top of this entry, is a key to understanding the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. Suppose Rev. Dr. Isaac had, in the middle of Amiras presentation, refused to translate any more of the text for the audience, telling both Amira and the audience, I cant go on. This is just too much. Im sorry.?

Suppose he did that. Hed be in a lot of trouble. He would have embarrassed an official from the PA in front of an audience of 300 foreigners (and a number of Palestinian security officials who were also in attendance). So Rev. Dr. Isaac continued on like a soldier, translating Amiras speech, as propagandistic as it was, until the very end.

Its hard for the school's supporters to admit, but the Bethlehem Bible College serves as a propaganda arm of the Palestinian Authority. Today, on the first night of the 2016 Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, that reality was on display for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear.
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 Hamas Cooperates with ISIS-Sinai | Main | Where's the Coverage? Jordan Forces Kill Likely Palestinian Terrorists; American Media are Silent 

March 07, 2016

USA Today Imprisons Facts, Conceals Truths



(Note: The letter below was sent to USA Today staff)

"USA Todays Palestinian children as young as 11 join attacks on Israel? (Feb. 25, 2016), by Asma Jawabreh and Jacob Wirtshafter, features omissions, minimizes anti-Jewish violence and relies on a questionable source without offering a counterbalancing view.

Not disclosing that most Palestinian Arab attackers incarcerated by Israel have been held for terrorist plots or attempts targeting Jews, the report uncritically quotes a human-rights? lawyer who complains that incarcerated Israeli minors have rehabilitation options whereas Palestinian minors have almost none.? This misleading comparison omits that all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs, have equal access and rights under the law. But Palestinian Arabs are not Israeli citizens; in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) their daily activities fall under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Why that authority chooses not to invest in rehabilitation measures, but in anti-Jewish violence by giving honors and money to terrorists and their familieswhile using state media to condone their actsis a question USA Today should ask of the PA, not Israel.

The newspaper minimizes continuing Palestinian attacks against Israelis using cinder blocks, knives, meat cleaver, vehicles and guns, among other items, that have claimed 28 lives and wounded many more since September 2015, as merely a spate of stabbings and other assaults.? Further, it claims without substantiation that the violence is over Israels continued occupation of the West Bank.?

In fact, since 1993 when the PA was established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, given limited self-rule and a chance for statehood in exchange for promises of peace with Israel, Palestinian attacks have only increased. Since the PAs creation and refusal of peace and statehood, it has persisted in ceaseless demonization and dehumanization of Israel and Jewsencouraging terror.

Contravening established journalistic practice, the report uncritically quotes only Israels critics and defamers. Not a single Israeli official is provided space to counter claims from questionable sources like Gerard Horton of Military Court Watch (MCW). NGO-Monitor, a non-profit watchdog group, has noted that MCW traffics in testimonies that are anonymous, unverifiable, and lack credibility.?

USA Today tried to tackle an important story. Unfortunately, this one-sided effort fell far short.

Sincerely,

Sean Durns

Media Assistant

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America"









Posted by SD at March 7, 2016 09:32 AM

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A model of the Orion III space plane from "2001: A Space Odyssey," made by professional prop-maker Stephen Dymszo, with contributions from Space.com's Infographics Artist Karl Tate. Background image is from the film.

The futuristic space plane Orion III from the science fiction movie epic "2001: A Space Odyssey" has landed in Space.com's offices.

Our resident infographic master Karl Tate is what we'll call a megafan when it comes to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." So we weren't surprised when an extremely detailed model of the Orion III space plane appeared in his office. But we were impressed to learn that it might be the most accurate model of its kind in existence.

You can see photos of the model here and a clip of the film that includes the ship's exterior here. This was an entirely fan-made item; there are no officially licensed models of the ship available for purchase (or of any of the other ships from the movie, for that matter). The attention to detail is impressive, especially considering that the actual model used in the film was destroyed, so there was very little information to go on when re-creating it. [Stanley Kubrick's Iconic '2001: A Space Odyssey' Sci-Fi Film Explained]

In the film, the Orion III spaceship carries passengers from Earth to a handful of nearby destinations, including the Space Station V.

The ship is where Kubrick executed one of his many tricks to create the illusion of weightlessness: the floating pen was achieved by sticking the pen to a pane of glass (larger than the camera frame) and moving the glass in such a way as to make it look like the pen was floating in the air.

However, the interior scenes of Orion III were shot on a set; the exterior shots of the spaceplane were created using a photograph of the 4-foot-long (1.2 meters) model.

The Orion III model that appears in Tate's office started with this resin model that is available for purchase. The resin molds were made from a wood model carved by aerospace engineer Adam K. Johnson, who is also the author of "2001: The Lost Science (opens in new tab)," about the scientific infrastructure of the movie created by the filmmakers.

But customers who order the resin model won't get the same ship that Tate owns. That model was given a makeover by professional prop-maker Stephen Dymszo (who also made one for himself). Using various source materials, including some high-resolution images of the original model and blueprints for the cockpit interior, Dymszo said he added 286 additional parts to each model, and spent roughly 280 hours on each of them.

Some of the additional details include two probes that extend off the very back of the ship. Tate, a graphic designer, created blueprints for the probes, and the pair had them made out of stainless steel from a machine stop. The model also has stainless steel reinforcements to make it more durable, Dymszo said. Most of the additions were plastic strips and sheets for the exterior. Tate also made the Pan American logos, and created the designs for some of the other surface details.

Kubrick used extremely harsh lighting for the space shots (to mimic direct sunlight), which tended to wash out any details on the model, so the original creators used a colorful, patchwork paint job to give the ship more contrast. In the finished film, however, the ship looks almost uniformly gray. Dymszo's paint job is meant to look like the model itself; Tate said he is fully aware that the pastel colors might draw comparisons to Easter eggs.

Dymszo said this model might be the most accurate re-creation of the original model in existence, even though Tate pointed out that there are some obvious differences in the overall shape of the two ships. The Museum of Science Fiction, set to open in Washington, D.C., has a 6-foot (1.8 m) model of Orion III that might be shaped more accurately, but it is also 2 feet (0.6 m) longer than the actual movie model. The museum's version is also painted entirely in shades of grey, instead of the colorful patchwork of colors that Dymszo used.

"I've been making models and miniatures since I was actually very young," Dymszo told Space.com. "And most people sort of grow out of [model making] when they're ten, twelve years old, and they move on to other things. I never stopped. Literally. So I've built thousands and thousands of models."

"But back in the 90's I realized you could actually make money building models," he said. "So I started doing it professionally and it's been going on ever since. We've done work for Sony studios; I made 45 weapons for the movie 'Blade II'; helped MGM with a [James] Bond commercial one time. So I've been doing all kinds of crazy projects like that since about 1995."

Photographs of the original model of the Orion III space plane used in "2001: A Space Odyssey." (Image credit: MGM)

Unless you're lucky enough to have Dymszo as a friend, you probably won't be able to get your hands on one of these anytime soon (although you might be able to find one of these Orion III models made by Aurora). In fact, licensed merchandise from "2001" was very limited until recently. In 2014, Taschen books released a four-volume book (opens in new tab) that, according to the company's website, is "the most exhaustive publication ever devoted" to the film. There is also a single-volume version (opens in new tab) of the book. Then, earlier this year, Go Hero began selling two extremely detailed licensed collector figures from the movie: astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole. Perhaps fans of this space-movie epic will start to see licensed merchandise become available.

Editor's Note: The Orion spaceplane did not travel directly to the moon, as this article previously stated.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter grabbed this ultraviolet image of Mars' moon Phobos from within 186 miles (300 kilometers). The orange is mid-ultraviolet sunlight reflected off the moon's surface, and the blue is far ultraviolet light from the extended upper atmosphere of Mars.

This eerie portrait of Mars' moon Phobos in ultraviolet light was snapped by the NASA orbiter MAVEN as their orbits crossed paths.

Phobos is the nearer and stranger of Mars' two moons  in the 1950s and 1960s, some scientists thought that its unusual orbit, spiraling inward, suggested that it might be a hollow, artificial body. The little moon has long, shallow grooves along its sides, likely caused by the pull of Mars, and it moves about 6.6 feet (2 meters) closer to the Red Planet every hundred years, NASA officials have said.

In fact, Phobos is the closest moon to its planet in the solar system, circling Mars at just 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) above its surface. It's so close that it orbits within the sphere of Mars' thin atmosphere  the blue pixels that form the new portrait's background are the ultraviolet light scattered from hydrogen gas in Mars' extended upper atmosphere. The orange comes from longer ultraviolet wavelengths of sunlight reflected from the moon's surface.

NASA's MAVEN (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission snapped the shot with its Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph in December 2015 as its orbit crossed paths with Phobos', and researchers are hoping MAVEN's measurements will help determine what the moon is made of, where it came from and whether it has organic molecules on its surface. (A previous measurement, by the Mars Express spacecraft, found evidence of such organic molecules.)

MAVEN was able to observe Mars' moon Phobos up close when their orbits crossed in December 2015. (Image credit: CU/LASP and NASA)

"The images will allow MAVEN scientists to better assess the composition of this enigmatic object, whose origin is unknown," NASA officials said in a statement.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
It what could soon be called "Cloudgate," "leaked" emails appear to discuss structures in Pluto's already hazy atmosphere as clouds, based on a March 4 article in New Scientist (opens in new tab).

The picture above shows sections of an image attached to an email sent by Southwest Research Institute scientist John Spencer, in which he noted particularly bright areas in Plutos atmosphere within a New Horizons image.

ANALYSIS: Pluto's Weirdly Young Surface Doesn't Make Sense

"In the first image an extremely bright low altitude limb haze above south-east Sputnik on the left, and a discrete fuzzy cloud seen against the sunlit surface above Krun Macula (I think) on the right," Spencer wrote.

While it was quickly determined after New Horizons' July 2015 flyby that Pluto is enveloped in a complex atmosphere comprising layers of blue-tinted haze, individual clouds couldnt be resolved. That may have changed as high-resolution data continues to arrive on Earth from the still-moving spacecraft, now 1.9 AU  or approximately 180 million miles  past Pluto.

Unlike clouds on Earth, Plutonian clouds wouldn't be composed of water  they would likely be made of particles of nitrogen ice along with methane and other compounds.

ANALYSIS: Pluto: A World of Blue Skies and Red Ice

Clouds are different from haze in that haze is a very diffuse and widespread suspension of particles while clouds are more concentrated and regional, and usually much less long-lived.

If this is true this would be the first time actual clouds have been identified on Pluto, although no official confirmation or findings have yet been announced or published by either the New Horizons team or NASA.

Read more on New Scientist. (opens in new tab)

Originally published on Discovery News.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly smiles after returning to Earth to end a 340-day mission to the International Space Station, ending his nearly yearlong mission. He and two Russian crewmates landed in a remote part of Kazakhstan on March 2, 2016 (Kazakh time).

His skin feels on fire, his body is weak and he can't shoot hoops, but Scott Kelly said even after a year in space, he'd still like to go back  but he doubts it will be with NASA.

The veteran astronaut now has spent 520 days in space across four missions, having just finished nearly a year on the International Space Station. Kelly told reporters today (March 4) that it's time to let somebody less experienced from NASA fly in space, but added that he's still holding out hope to fly on a commercial spacecraft.

"Even my brother, who has been retired for a bunch of years, he hasn't given up the idea that he's going to fly in space again," said Kelly, referring to his twin, veteran shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly. (Mark Kelly works with World View, a commercial space venture to fly passengers on high-altitude balloons.) [Home! Year-in-Space Astronaut Scott Kelly's Earth Return in Photos]

"We have so many talented people in our [astronaut] office," Scott Kelly said. "There's no reason to fly me again. Fly somebody else who hasn't had as much opportunity to do it. But I don't think I would ever say I am absolutely, 100 percent done."

Kelly made his remarks on NASA TV today as part of a televised press conference in Houston. He landed successfully in Kazakhstan on March 1 after spending 340 continuous days in space, far surpassing the record of any other American. Sharing Kelly's yearlong mission on the station was Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. Their journey was the longest orbital mission since the days of the Mir space station, in the 1990s.

Burning skin

Like all astronauts returning from space, Kelly is undergoing a recovery period. He described muscle aches and tiredness as his body re-adjusts to Earth gravity. Also, he said that his skin has not been used to touching anything for months, leading to the sensation of burning when he sits for long periods, for example.

Psychologically, Kelly said he feels fine, although he hasn't adjusted yet to the looser schedule of his time on Earth. On the space station, astronauts are scheduled almost down to the minute with things to do and tasks to accomplish.

"I think there will be a point here soon where I'll start maybe feeling that kind of culture shock, or whatever else you would want to call that, having so little on the space station and so few choices about what you are doing every day," Kelly said.

The astronaut added that the time in space felt long, but he focused on milestones such as when the next crew would arrive, or what science experiment would take place next. He said he could have remained longer "with a good reason" such as his return flight being delayed, adding that this ability to stay longer bodes well for people heading to Mars for a couple of years.

He also paid tribute to NASA's selection process, saying that the agency does a good job of finding people who are able to live happily in a confined space for months at a time. [The Human Body in Space: 6 Weird Facts]

Family support

Kelly said he was surprised by the attention paid to his mission, which some say generated more interest in the space station program than has been present for many years.

His social media posts, Kelly added, were not done by him alone. Kelly's long-time partner, Amiko Kauderer, is on NASA's social media team and helped Kelly craft the posts. Kauderer was in the audience today listening as Kelly spoke to reporters.

"It made the experience for both of us, I think, more rewarding," Kelly said. "Rather than our conversations being on a daily basis  what did I do today, I went to the store, I went to the gym, I went to work  we could work on this as a project together."

Kelly said he didn't quite feel homesick in space, but that as family events and crises happen, astronauts get the sensation that they want to be at home to support their loved ones. This was particularly true during Kelly's last, 159-day mission to the ISS, when his sister-in-law, then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot during an event and seriously injured. (Giffords has since made a partial recovery.)

The astronaut added that one of his next goals will be to visit an area of the Himalayas that he saw from space, which included lakes and appeared "very remote and very beautiful." The first step, he quipped, will be finding out what country it's in and how possible it is to get there.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
An artist's impression of what Mars might have looked like 4 billion years ago, according to a new study.

The farthest galaxy, a mistaken announcement, and an American space hero comes home  it's Space.com's top stories of the week.

The farthest galaxy

A galaxy named GN-z11 turns out to be the farthest galaxy ever measured, thanks to Hubble Space Telescope. [Full story: Farthest Galaxy Yet Smashes Cosmic Distance Record]

Track satellites from the comfort of home

Space.com has partnered with N2YO.com to provide an online satellite tracker you can use to view overhead visitors in the night sky. [Full story: Introducing Space.com's New Satellite Tracker from N2YO]

Portrait of Mars as a young planet

New research suggests that that falling rain or snow helped carve valley networks on the red planet. [Full story: Mars' Ancient Face-Lift: Water Carved Planet's Features, Not Massive Volcano]

Not so fast, my friend

Researchers who announced the discovery of the source of a Fast Radio Burst (FRB) may have been mistaken. [Full story: Not So Fast: Discovery of Radio Burst Source May Be Flawed]

You're in the transit zone

Aliens hunting for habitable planets could use the same method we use to search for them. [Full story: Hunt for Intelligent Aliens Should Focus on 'Transit Zone']

Sabre dance

The US Air Force could borrow ideas from the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) developed by an British company. [Full story: US Military Set to Unveil Concepts Based on Skylon Space Plane Tech]

Eyes on the Moon Prize

The private race to the moon with $30 million in prize money is set to come to the small screen under the auspices of executive producer J.J. Abrams and Oscar-nominated director Orlando von Einsiedel. [Full story: 'Moon Shot': JJ Abrams' Web Series About Private Moon Race Coming Soon (Video)]

Where's the space rock?

A 100-foot-wide (30 meters) asteroid will zip by Earth on March 8, but details are hazy. [Full story: Uncertainty Surrounds Asteroid Near-Earth Flyby Next Week]

Take an extra day

The American hero who spent almost a year in space coincidentally arrived back on Earth on the rare date of Feb. 29. [Full story: Space Station Command Change Is One Giant Leap (Day) for Space History]

How many times must a man circle the earth?

Count up the 5,440 orbits astronaut Scott Kelly and other achievements he accomplished during his nearly one-year mission in space. [Full story: By the Numbers: Astronaut Scott Kelly's Year-in-Space Mission]
NASAs T-38 jet, tail no. 913, is seen in chase of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mated with the orbiter Enterprise in 1977. The same jet is going on display with the prototype shuttle at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

Almost 40 years after it gave chase to the space shuttle Enterprise, a NASA jet is about to catch up with the prototype winged orbiter at a museum in New York City.

The two-seat, supersonic T-38 Talon jet, tail number 913, is set to land on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted aircraft carrier berthed on the west side of Manhattan, in early April. Enterprise has been on display at the Intrepid since 2012.

"This is the perfect airplane to enhance Enterprise's story," said Eric Boehm, the curator of aviation at the Intrepid, in an exclusive interview with collectSPACE.com. [Photos: NASA's Amazing T-38 Supersonic Jet Planes]

The no. 913 T-38 was one of several such jets that flew as the chase planes for NASA's 1977 Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program. Carried piggyback and released from atop a modified Boeing 747 jet, the Enterprise proved that the space shuttle orbiter could safely land as a glider.

"It was an amazing test program that had to happen before the other orbiters flew in space," said Boehm.

After the ALT program, T-38 913 (N913NA) was used as a training jet, flown by astronauts to gain experience working in a high-pressure environment and to keep up their flight proficiency. Built by Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) in 1965 and delivered to NASA in 1969, T-38 913 flew for 38 years in support of the space program.

Landing 913

Boehm knew that he wanted a T-38 from the ALT program since Enterprise arrived at the Intrepid and took its place in its Space Shuttle Pavilion.

"We have always had space exhibits here with the Intrepid having recovered Mercury and Gemini missions. But with Enterprise here, now we have this whole new tangent," he said.

Hearing that NASA was surplusing part of the fleet, Boehm watched the listings of the General Services Administration (GSA) until he spotted a plane that matched his criteria.

"I had four tail numbers I could for sure say were there for the 1977 ALT program and I just started stalking them," he said. "If I recall, there were five states' historic preservation offices that were vying for this plane. I thought we were a shoo-in given the tie to Enterprise and it turned out that we were, because we got it."

Boehm recruited Whisler Aviation, a company specializing in the disassembly and transportation of aircraft, to pick up T-38 913 from NASA's depot in El Paso, Texas and deliver it the Intrepid in New York City. But first, it needed a paint job.

Going retro

"It is very important to us to tell the Enterprise's story with this airplane," Boehm explained. "So we're backdating the paint scheme to its 1977 livery."

Although NASA's T-38 jets have always been mostly white with two-tone blue stripes running down the sides, their tail markings have changed over the past four decades. When it was retired, 913's vertical stabilizer displayed the current livery featuring a basic version of NASA's vector logo. But at the time it accompanied Enterprise in flight, its tail was different.

"It had a raw yellow band with black cheat lines on either side of the yellow and 'NASA' in black italicized," described Boehm. "For the most part, it had a similar paint scheme [to the modern livery], it just didn't have the NASA swoop."

Fortunately for Boehm, Whisler Aviation also had a paint shop that could do the job at its fixed-based operation in Seward, Nebraska. But the Intrepid did not have the funds to underwrite the livery-change.

Enter Charles de Gunzburg, the former co-chairman and a current trustee at the Intrepid, with his wife Nathalie.

"We were able to afford to move this airplane from Texas to New York, but I really wanted that paint job and Charles stepped right up," Boehm said. "Charles has been a great friend of this museum. An aviation enthusiast, Charles has donated for our education programs, he's donated for our aircraft programs and with this airplane."

"We owe Charles a great debt of gratitude for helping us acquire this airplane," Boehm said. [Retired Astronaut Clayton Anderson Describes His First, Wild T-38 Ride]

NASAs T-38 jet, tail no. 913, is seen in chase of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mated with the orbiter Enterprise in 1977. The same jet is going on display with the prototype shuttle at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. (Image credit: Story Musgrave via collectSPACE.com

On approach

T-38 913 is scheduled to arrive at the Intrepid by way of a Whisler Aviation truck from Nebraska in early April.

"It is not an oversize load, so it will come over the George Washington Bridge," Boehm said. "We will reassemble the aircraft and it will be here for a day and a half to two days before its lifted by crane onto the flight deck."

No longer flightworthy  NASA removed the engines and most of the cockpit instruments to be used as spares for its active T-38 fleet  the Intrepid will need to fabricate some replacement panels and a landing gear door to complete 913's display. The museum will also prepare the jet for its outdoor exhibit.

"Since we are an outdoor museum hanging out over a salt-water environment, we do some further sealing and protect the cockpit by putting a coating on the canopy," explained Boehm. "It makes it look like a big model airplane, but it is more important to keep UV [light] out of the cockpit and the coating can be pulled off quite easily if needed.

"We will also spray the inside with a preservative to inhibit any corrosion," he said.

The Intrepid is planning to celebrate 913's "landing" with a member event and activities for its student visitors (date to be announced). Invitations are also being sent to some of the NASA astronauts who flew the jet, including Karol "Bo" Bobko, who was prime chase pilot for the ALT program.

Although its exact placement is still to be determined, T-38 913 will be displayed near the Space Shuttle Pavilion that houses Enterprise.

"It is going to be a jewel on the flight deck," Boehm said.

See more of Story Musgraves photos of T-38 913 as reprinted from his book, "The NASA Northrop T-38: Photograhic Art From An Astronaut Pilot" at collectSPACE.com.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Veteran space photographer Ben Cooper captured this spectacular aerial view of the 2013 total solar eclipse from an eclipse-chasing airplane during the rare hybrid solar eclipse of Nov. 3, 2013. The photo was taken from 43,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean aboard a 12-person Falcon 900B jet chartered from Bermuda.

The sun will disappear completely behind the shadow of the moon in Southeast Asia tomorrow (March 8) in a total solar eclipse.

If you can't make it there in person, you can watch live via Slooh or NASA, in collaboration with Exploratorium and the National Science Foundation  and there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions, learn about the eclipse and share photos as the moment arrives.

The online Slooh Community Observatory will host a live webcast between 6 and 9 p.m. EST (2300 and 0200 GMT) to watch the eclipse from Indonesia and "several other locations" along the eclipse path, which can be joined at Slooh.com; the period of totality (total eclipse) will begin at 7:37 p.m. EST (0037 GMT). The webcast will also visible at Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

Throughout the days before Slooh's broadcast, astronomer Paul Cox will share details of his journey in Indonesia. The broadcast will be hosted by Cox and will include commentators such as solar expert Lucie Green and Slooh astronomer Bob Berman. Twitter viewers can ask questions using the hashtag #SloohEclipse. [Video: The Path of 2016's Only Total Solar Eclipse]

You should never look directly at the sun, but there are ways to safely observe an eclipse. See how to safely observe a solar eclipse with this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor)

Before the eclipse happens, Slooh is asking fans to show how they safely plan to view the eclipse. Social media users can use the hashtag #ShadeUp on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Slooh is also asking its followers to post pictures of the eclipse on Twitter (tagging @Slooh) or Facebook.

NASA Television will start coverage of the eclipse at 8 p.m. EST (2500 GMT) on March 8, including a live view from the Federated States of Micronesia in collaboration with Exploratorium and the National Science Foundation. The broadcast will run at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

As the broadcast takes place, users of Twitter, Google+ and Facebook can ask questions using the hashtag #eclipse2016. There is also an official Twitter account for the eclipse (@NASASunEarth) and Flickr group, available at https://www.flickr.com/groups/eclipse2016/.

On March 9, 2016, a total solar eclipse will be visible to skywatchers across Indonesia and parts of southeast Asia. This NASA graphic depicts the 100-mile-wide path of totality (in dark red) for the event, which will occur late on March 8 Eastern Time. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/E. Wright)

Before the eclipse, at 2 p.m. Monday, solar scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama will host a Facebook Q&A at https://www.facebook.com/nasamarshallcenter.

On Tuesday at 1 p.m., solar scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will participate in an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit. The link will be made available on NASA Goddard's Twitter feed, @NASAGoddard.

Editor's note: If you safely capture an amazing photo of the March 8/9 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.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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March 07, 2016

Where's the Coverage? Jordan Forces Kill Likely Palestinian Terrorists; American Media are Silent





International wire services and American news media have failed to report an incident involving the killing of several terrorists in a Palestinian camp in Jordan by Jordanian forces. Such an event almost surely would have been reported if it had involved Israeli forces in the West Bank or Israel proper. Notice the penchant for headlines like Palestinian shot dead? referring to a Palestinian killed by Israeli authorities after murderously assaulting Jews. It suggests a double standard, by which Palestinian terrorists "victimized" by Israel make news, those killed by non-Israeli forces in similar circumstances do not.

According to a March 2 (9:08 a.m.) Al-Jazeera America news hour report, Jordanian security forces killed seven men while targeting fighters in the city of Irbid [in Jordan]. They were hold up inside a Palestinian refugee camp in the heart of the city These were described as outlaws by Jordanian officials indicating, because it didn't say that they were a different nationality, that they are in fact Jordanian.? In other words, they were most likely Jordanian Palestinians since more than half of the Jordanian population are of Palestinian Arab lineage (including Jordans Queen Rania) and they were hiding in a Palestinian camp.

Al-Jazeera Web site reports (March 2), Security forces kill seven men in northern city of Irbid in series of raids that also left a police officer dead.?

The Jordan Times Web site reports (March 3), Security and civil defence apparatuses on Thursday carried out operations in Irbid to cleanse the area in which Tuesday's anti-terror raid took place, according to an official Irbid governor noted that bodies of three out of the seven outlaws were identified as Jordanians, while the rest were unrecognisable.?

It's hard to imagine the wire services and other major Western news media not at least mentioning, if not headlining, an Israeli operation targeting and killing seven Palestinian terrorists in hiding. Did an especially busy news day account for omission of the Jordanian story, or was something else at work?

Posted by MK at March 7, 2016 02:12 PM

Well for yout information the outlaws where announced Jordanians, true they where hiding in a palestinian refugees camp since couple of months. Autopsy confirmed three were jordanians out of seven, there others were unrecogniseable who they are because their bodies were burned after hitting them with RBJ's. Even if they were from palestinian origion and that is not the case the problem is that they are Salafi Jihadi believers.

Posted by: Musa at March 8, 2016 12:14 AM

It would seem that, as far as American media is concerned, if an event in the Middle East does not involve Jews, it's not News!

Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2016 09:07 AM

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03/28/2016 (10:01PM - 11:00PM) (Monday) : SOMEONE IS OUT TO KILL THE TEAMAfter a painting featuring one of Jane's tattoos is heisted from a gallery, the team discovers Jane (Jaimie Alexander) is the real target. In order to protect her team, Jane goes AWOL. Also starring Sullivan Stapleton, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson and Ukweli Roach. Guest starring Jordana Spiro, Francois Arnaud and Tom Lipinski.03/29/2016 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Tuesday) : NURSE LOCKWOOD MAKES A STAND AND GETS ARRESTED - Nurse Lockwood (Marlyne Barrett) gets arrested for refusing to violate hospital policy and draw blood from a suspected DUI patient without his consent. Dr. Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) discusses with his lawyer the severity of the pending lawsuit against him. Elsewhere, Dr. Manning (Torrey DeVitto) and Sharon Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) deal with a single mother and her 6-month old, but when the baby's injuries come into question, concerns are raised. Meanwhile, Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt), who is dealing with some personal issues, and Sarah Reese (Rachel DiPillo) attend to a patient that was hit by a car, but suspicions abound when they dig deeper. Yaya DaCosta, Brian Tee and Colin Donnell also star. Jason Beghe and David Eigenberg guest star.03/29/2016 (10:00PM - 11:00PM) (Tuesday) : SEVERIDE AND CRUZ DISCOVER A BABY'S BODY THAT MAY BE LINKED TO AN UNSOLVED CASE - While responding to a potential carbon monoxide leak inside a home, Lt. Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Cruz (Joe Minoso) uncover the remains of a child inside the chimney. Subsequent information leads Severide to believe that the discovery may be linked to a case he had worked on years ago. Meanwhile, with election day nearing, Casey (Jesse Spencer) braces for the worst in his run for Alderman, prompting Dawson (Monica Raymund) to enlist the firehouse team to lend a hand to the cause. Complicating his chances, Alderman Becks (guest star Armand Schultz) continues to bad mouth Casey to the press, but an incident in the field might prove beneficial. Eamonn Walker, Kara Killmer, David Eigenberg, Yuri Sardarov, Christian Stolte, and Steven R. McQueen star. Nick Gehlfuss, Marina Squerciati, Miranda Rae Mayo and Holly Robinson Peete also guest star.03/30/2016 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : Detective Carisi (Peter Scanavino) lives undercover at a homeless shelter to determine if one of its sex offender residents is the suspect in a string of neighborhood rapes. Also starring Mariska Hargitay, Ice T and Kelli Giddish. Guest starring Michael Rapaport, Scott Grimes and Kevin Tighe. Directed by Mariska Hargitay.03/31/2016 (10:01PM - 11:00PM) (Thursday) : SEASON FINALE: HARLEE MAKES A DESPERATE DEAL WITH STAHL TO TRY TO SAVE HER CREW.Unable to provide Donnie (guest star Michael Esper) and Linklater (Stephen Lang) to the FBI, Harlee (Jennifer Lopez) makes a deal with Stahl (Warren Kole) to exchange her own immunity for that of her crew. Harlee comes face to face with Miguel (guest star Antonio Jaramillo) who reveals his darkest side as he demands to be a part of Cristina's (Sarah Jeffery) life. Also starring Ray Liotta, Drea de Matteo, Dayo Okeniyi, Vincent Laresca and Hampton Fluker. Guest starring Gino Anthony Pesi, Michael Esper, Leslie Silva and Antonio Jaramillo04/01/2016 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Friday) : A DEADLY BEAUTY REGIMENT TARGETS THE YOUNG CITIZENS OF PORTLAND - PATRICK FABIAN GUEST STARS - When Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) come across a beautiful young woman who seems to have aged 70 years overnight and died, they suspect Wesen involvement. The investigation leads to a local doctor and Rosalee (Bree Turner) is enlisted to help find the truth. Meanwhile, Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) takes bold steps to learn more about Capt. Renard's (Sasha Roiz) nefarious dealings. Silas Weir Mitchell, Reggie Lee, Bree Turner and Claire Coffee also star.04/03/2016 (09:30PM - 10:00PM) (Sunday) : The family goes to the movies for Bob (Stacy Keach) and Alice's (Carlease Burke) anniversary, but the night goes awry when Mike (Patrick Warburton) and Martina (Carrie Preston) find a positive pregnancy test. Miranda Cosgrove and Mia Serafino also star.
Machinery dealer Hamilton Tractors will celebrate a sales landmark with an Open Day in April at its Carnwath premises in Lanarkshire.

Jan and David Walkinshaw have supplied 100 tractors since taking on the Landini and McCormick franchises.

Most of the tractors have been bought by farmers and agricultural contractors but the milestone machine  a 143hp McCormick X6.460L  is operated by civil engineering firm Ward Plant Group and is currently working on the A9 upgrade near Aviemore.

Hamilton Tractors has proved to be a good choice for our dealership in the area, says Bob Bain, area sales manager for Scotland at distributor AgriArgo UK. David Walkinshaw is an enthusiastic salesman and he is backed by parts and service people who know how to look after his customers.

The Hamilton Tractors business was bought by Jan and David Walkinshaw towards the end of 2008, selling just farm machinery at first before being awarded the McCormick franchise for Lanarkshire and Midlothian. Two years later, AgriArgo added the Landini range to his portfolio across a wider territory.

In most parts of the country we have quite separate dealers for our Landini and McCormick product lines, points out Bob Bain. But because of his proven track record with the McCormick franchise, we concluded that David and his team at Hamilton Tractors was well placed to also supply and support the Landini products.
Locals looking for muffins, cupcakes, or really any pastries don't have to travel to far in Connecticut. And the pickings are even easier in one Fairfield County city.

FindtheHome recently looked at which cities in every state had the most bakeries per 10,000 residents. Using information from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and consumer data from Dun & Bradstreet, the website was able to estimate where the highest number of bakeries were in each state.
Romance novels might not get a lot of respect from the literary community, but without this genre the book publishing industry would be in dire straits.

It seems safe to say that hugely popular romance writers, such as Nora Roberts and Mary Bly (aka Eloisa James), make it possible for publishers to keep putting out loss leaders in other genres.

The new feature-length documentary, Love Between the Covers, written and directed by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, takes us into the world of romance fiction, both from the authors point of view and from the perspective of the millions of readers  mostly women  who cant get enough love stories with guaranteed happy endings.

Hearsts Movie & A Martini meet-up group co-sponsored the Connecticut premiere of the movie at the Palace Theatre in Danbury on Valentines Day. The film includes profiles of Roberts and Bly and also has interview footage with Kristan Higgins, who lives in Durham. About 60 people attended the screening.

Terri-Lynne DeFino, vice president of the Southern Connecticut and Lower New York chapter of the Romance Writers of America, spoke before the film, pointing out that the group meets the third Saturday of every month at the Danbury Library.

We have published authors, unpublished authors, people who have been tradtionally published and writers who have published independently. Writing tends to be solitary, but all writers need a tribe. Thats what we are, she said.

The movie points out that romance outsells mystery, science fiction and fantasy combined. One of the reasons why romance readers are so valued by publishers  who court them at the packed fan conventions seen in the film  is that they tend to be voracious consumers of the genre, polishing off several books a week, and subscribing to book clubs run by Harlequin and other romance houses.

Love Between the Covers shows how the romance community was an early adopter of e-readers because few bookstores were able to keep up with the volume of new and old titles that fans are looking for.

The audience at the Palace was a mix of romance fans and our meet-up group regulars. Everyone seemed to enjoy the documentary, and non-romance readers were amazed by the popularity of these books:

Carol Spiegel, Newtown: Who knew it was a billion-dollar business?

Jan Gerlach, Danbury: So many of my favorite writers are in the movie  Nora Roberts, Beverly Jenkins. I used to read a book a day, now Im down to four a week (laughter). But I have branched out to other genres  now Im into mysteries. You do get tired of everything starting to seem the same. Years ago I would buy all the books from Harlequin and I would swap with friends.

Ed Flanagan, New Canaan: I thought it was very good. I guess romance novels are related to the vampire and zombie books that are so popular  books that readers get hooked on.

Peter Raye, Ridgefield: I thought it was very entertaining. Ive never read books like that, but my wife is hooked. A really interesting documentary.

Margaret Mitchell, Fairfield: It was surprisingly well done. I didnt know what to expect. I liked that it showed what drives the women to write the books  an escape, but also a way out of their own boredom. (The fan conventions) reminded me of the Sex and the City cult. Women getting dressed up like the characters to go to the movies. 50 Shades of Gray is the same sort of thing, with three big books.

Next Movie & A Martini meetings: Joe Meyers at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 14, for a screening of Janis at the Palace Theater, 165 Main St., Danbury, and Thursday, March 17, at 6:45 p.m. (film TBA), at the Avon Theatre, 272 Bedford St., Stamford. Visit facebook.com/martinimovie. Email jmeyers@hearstmediact.com
STAMFORD  After about four months of searching, the Board of Education is close to naming a new superintendent.

Sources close to the search told The Advocate interviews of candidates have been ongoing, and indicated the board is close to a decision.

Board members contacted Monday, however, would not comment on specifics of the search. The board declined to comment on the number of candidates who have applied, the amount of people still being considered, or where exactly the board was in the search process.

The board continues an exhaustive search process, said Geoff Alswanger, board president. We are trying to do it cautiously and expeditiously.

Board member Michael Altamuras assessment was more optimistic.

Theres a little more work to do, but were almost there, he said, while declining to discuss specifics.

The board has held about a dozen closed-door meetings about the selection for interim Superintendent James Connellys successor.

Connelly took over in January for embattled former Superintendent Winifred Hamilton, who retired amid criticism of her handling of teacher sexual misconduct.

A report issued late last year by Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the firm contracted to guide the districts search, said Stamford needs an empathetic healer to lead the school system.

Of the 686 residents, elected officials and schools staff members who responded to the firms call for input, 59 percent said the districts climate was their primary concern.

The districts next superintendent will need to provide evidence of the practice of openness, honesty and integrity that has perceptively been lost in Stamford, the firm wrote in its December report.

Board Vice President Gerald Bosak also declined to comment on the progress of the boards search. He did, however, say the board was unified in its goal.

My impression is that the board is of one mind on the direction of the new superintendent, he said.

ESimko-Bednarski@scni.com; 203-964-2215; stamfordadvocate.com/news
High-end lodgings have flaunted wellness programs for years -- health food on speed dial at the Trump Chicago, say, and power naps stimulated by wave technology at Miami Edition. But for those of us who pay our own bills, Id like to see health not so much an afterthought, says Jayne McAllister, author of Mile High & Healthy. Were in luck: Budget-friendly hotels are catching up.

Location: Norwalk, Conn.; Rockville, Md.; two in New York. Seattle, Miami and Omaha are coming soon.

Rates: Starting at $199

Health boost: Its the first major hotel brand built around wellness. Each room has a fitness zone -- with cork flooring and exercise equipment -- for in-room workouts, and the beds are covered in breathable eucalyptus linens. Order room service: The menu is a kale-fest.

Biz extras: Free wi-fi, ample electrical outlets and ergonomic room desks.

Guilty pleasure: Cocktails and parfaits at the lobby restaurant.

MGM Grands Stay Well Rooms

Location: Las Vegas

Rates: Starting at $185

Health boost: The 14th floor of the MGM Grand features extra soundproofing, purified and humidified air, filtered tap water, blue lighting (said to counter jet lag), an alarm clock that simulates dawn with nature sounds and increasing light and a vitamin-C-infused shower that filters out chlorine.

Biz extras: The Stay Well Lounge offers a similarly freshened meeting space on the floor.

Guilty pleasure: The casino below, plus 29 restaurants and bars.

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

Location: 63 locations across the U.S.

Rates: Starting at $237

Health boost: Varies per location. Seattles Alexis Hotel has a new CrossFit gym with a rock-climbing wall, monkey bars and more. Hotel Vintage Portland in Oregon holds weekly pickup games with its bellman, a former semi-pro player. At the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Mass., kayaks come comp.

Biz extras: Need a workout buddy in D.C.? Call the GM! The Monacos manager bikes with guests; the Carlyles prefers running.

Guilty pleasure: Complimentary wine hour daily.

Westin Hotels & Resorts

Location: More than 250 locations globally.

Rates: Starting at $179

Health boost: Its new Sleep Well Menu provides herbal tea, plus snacks with vitamins and minerals said to aid rest and recovery. Coming in June: lavender sleep balm, to be applied to pulse points for calming aromatherapy.

Biz extras: No room in your roll-aboard for sneakers or workout clothing? Rent New Balance gear for $5 (and keep the socks).

Guilty pleasure: Follow the bacon aroma to the breakfast buffet.

Related:

Can Your Hotel Make You Healthier?

The Four Seasons Amman Prides Itself On Genuine Hospitality

The Big Climb. What Led To The Success Of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group?



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
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The average citizen shops online at Amazon. But folks in the military and government first-responders (such as police and firefighters) have a deeply discounted online marketplace just for them: Its called GovX, and it carries nearly 100,000 products from about 500 brands, including Ray-Ban, Garmin, prAna, Woolrich and 5.11 Tactical, at discounts of 25 to 40 percent.

Its a good deal for shoppers, but how did GovX make this niche, low-price site sound like a good deal to investors? Last summer, it announced it closed a Series B round of preferred stock financing that brought its total investments to $11.5 million.
HARTFORD  The Schaghticoke Indian tribe  with financial help from Las Vegas mogul MGM Resorts  is challenging the states plan to build a new casino in the Hartford region.

Schaghticoke Chief Richard Velky on Monday filed suit in U.S. District Court in Hartford to overturn a state law passed last year allowing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indian tribes to jointly build a third casino off of their federally recognized reservations.

Both tribes agreed to build the small-scale gaming facility along Interstate 91 to buffer competition from a mega casino MGM is building in nearby Springfield, Mass. Sites now under discussion are in Windsor Locks, East Hartford and Hartford.

Velky said the law authorizing the joint casino is unconstitutional because it excluded other parties, such as his Kent-based tribe, from bidding for the valuable facility. MGM last year filed a similar lawsuit against the state, indicating the company is interested in also bidding.

Without any competitive bidding or gaming study, Connecticut shut out the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and awarded to one pair of native American tribes the exclusive ability to develop a highly valuable commercial enterprise, Velky said.

Alan Feldman, an MGM vice president, said the casino giant is helping finance the Schaghticokes lawsuit because they have similar interests. He declined to say how much MGM is contributing to the suit.

We have a mutual interest, Feldman said. We both feel the [law] is unconstitutional.

Andrew Doba, a spokesman for MMCT Venture, the company formed by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes to build the casino, said MGM funding of the Schaghticoke lawsuit raises concerns.

After weeks of not returning phone calls from reporters, Chief Velky finally revealed that his operation is being bankrolled by MGM, Doba said. This startling revelation should raise a red flag for anyone who is concerned about MGM's plan to steal jobs from Connecticut residents.

Rejected

Velky said the tribe in January submitted an application to the state for permission to bid on a casino under the law passed by the General Assembly, but the petition was rejected.

The state has a long history of discriminating against the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, Velky said.

Recently, the state fought our federal recognition, supposedly because they didnt want another casino in Connecticut, Velky said. Now Connecticut wants to open a new casino, but only if the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation doesnt get an opportunity to submit a proposal to operate it. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation seeks equal treatment.

The Schaghticokes have been repeatedly denied federal recognition, which carries permission to build a casino on reservation land. The tribe owns a state recognized 400-acre reservation in rural Kent.

Neither Velky nor Feldman would say how much MGM is contributing to the Schaghticoke lawsuit, which is expected to be costly. They are paying some and we are paying some, Velky said.

We were approached by MGM about the right to operate a casino, Velky added. We asked MGM to help us financially.

Both Feldman and Velky said no deals have been struck with the Schaghticokes over operating or partnering in a casino if their lawsuits prevail and the state is forced to open the process to bidders.

Its premature to discuss that today, Velky noted.

Feldman also denied that MGMs decision to finance the Schaghticoke legal action is designed to delay the Connecticut casino and allow MGMs Springfield resort to open before the state is able to siphon customers.

MGM has said the new casino should be built in southwestern Connecticut because the location would earn the operator and the state more revenue. Although Bridgeport is considered a prime location, Feldman said there have been no discussions with city officials.

Devon Puglia, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, and Jacyln Falkowski, a spokeswoman for Attorney General George Jepsen, declined comment on the lawsuit.

Open process

Velky acknowledged the lawsuit seeks to force an open bidding process in which anyone could seek the right to build the planned casino.

Once they moved the casino off the reservation, it became a commercial operation that we have a right to apply for, Velky said.

The Pequots and Mohegans could withhold the 25 percent of their slot revenue collected by the state if a casino is built outside of a federally recognized reservation. But by agreeing to jointly build the casino, and allowing it to be placed on non-reservation land, both tribes avoided the conflict and pledged to continue paying the state slot money.

The Pequots and Mohegans have watched gaming revenue drop dramatically as competition in New York State, Massachusetts and Rhode Island lured gamblers away.

The tribes fear the MGM Springfield casino will further erode revenue and cost Connecticut thousands of jobs.
Mississippi-Burning Death

Panola County District Attorney John Champion, center, addresses the media concerning the case of Jessica Chambers, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, in Batesville, Miss. Champion announced that Quinton Verdell Tellis has been charged with capital murder in the death of Chambers, who was found along a road, badly burned, in December 2014. Panola County sheriff Dennis Darby is seen on left.

(Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

PANOLA, Mississippi -- A Mississippi prosecutor says it could be late this year before the 27-year-old man accused of burning a 19-year-old woman to death is returned from Louisiana to face a capital murder charge.

Quinton Verdell is charged in the death of Jessica Chambers, whose burning body was found outside her car, which also had been set ablaze, in Courtland on Dec. 6, 2014. Both she and Tellis are from Courtland, in Panola County, and attended South Panola High School.

"I don't expect to see him here before the end of the year," District 17 District Attorney John Champion told The Commercial Appeal.

Tellis is being held in Monroe, Louisiana, on charges of using a 34-year-old woman's debit cards after she was stabbed to death, and of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute it. He has not been charged in the death of Meing-Chen Hsaio, but police identified him in November as a suspect.

Champion said he believes Tellis is scheduled for trial May 9 on the two charges against him in Louisiana.

"Assuming it goes to trial then, I believe it could be 60 to 90 days before sentencing," he said. "After that, we'd have to redo our paperwork that goes through the governor's office to get him back."

Authorities have not discussed a motive or the relationship between Tellis and Chambers, except to say they knew one another and were introduced by friends.

Authorities believe Tellis acted alone.
K afoodle is a business built on one, horrific moment: the seconds that Kim Antoniou watched her husband being resuscitated on the floor of a restaurant in Mykonos, Greece, would form the nucleus for the food app she now runs with long-time friend Tarryn Gorre.

Angered by the treatment received by her husband  who has a severe nut allergy  from a callous waiter wielding a suspect salad back in 2014, Antoniou made it her mission to educate busy restaurant staff in food allergens and to help diners make informed decisions.

I thought hed died. The waiter hadnt checked with the chef, she says. When legislation demanding chefs list allergens and nutritional information was introduced in 2014, I thought this is going to be a nightmare for the industry and a great opportunity for diners  I wanted them to be able to search a live feed for allergy-friendly food.

As such, the entrepreneurs hope their endeavours can be semi-philanthropic, by helping allergy sufferers eat out more readily.

Kafoodles app has two functions  one allows chefs to manage the ingredients, cost and make-up of their menus (for a fee), the other gives consumers free information on which establishments they can eat at safely.

KAFOODLE Founded: August 2014 Staff: 10 Turnover: 1.5 million (2016 forecast) Business idol: Tarryn Gorre: [Chef] Angela Hartnett for how well recognised she is in the maledominated restaurant industry.

The businesss consumer market initially looks small. Just 2% of the population has an allergy that can lead to anaphylactic shock and death  although judging by my wifes frequent struggles to get waiters to take her nut allergy seriously, they could quickly become loyal fans.

More encouragingly, the duo have identified 21 million people across the UK who have some kind of intolerance, while in the US it is claimed half the population lives undiagnosed with some form of allergy.

Whats more, being able to look up the nutritional benefits of where to eat has appealed to users.

We allow people to search whats nut and dairy-free but also whats 500 calories with under 10 grams of sugar, says Gorre.

You might know that you can get a 350-calorie salad at Pret but theres an independent cafe round the corner they might prefer.

The South African, who readily admits to indulging in the odd deep-fried Mars Bar, stresses: The idea is about awareness and giving you options, we are not health Nazis. The whole tone of the app is what you can eat.

But Gorre does feel trends are heading in their favour: Even two years ago, it was very trendy to be hungover on the couch with a pizza and a bottle of coke. Now its cooler to go to Spitalfields and order an organic kale smoothie on your bike at 10am on a Saturday.

The duo, who run the business alongside chief executive Jackie Grech, harbour complementary skills. Antoniou has built a career working on tech for construction companies (I can tell you anything you like about holes in the road! she proffers) while Gorres career either side of the Equator has been in the restaurant trade.

She swapped a job at Nobu in Cape Town Harbour for Quaglinos owner D+D London, and worked with the likes of Jamie Oliver, Tom Aikins and hospitality giant Hakkasan.

"Its an incredible feeling when someone tells you I can now eat in places I thought would kill me."

Now ensconced in the world of independents, she and Antoniou hope to break chefs technophobia and get them to sign up.

Its not the most tech-savvy as an industry; chefs are very busy people, says Antoniou.

Theres also a significant hurdle  getting businesses to adhere to the regulations that form the lifeblood of Kafoodle. The tech start-up is talking to the Food Standards Agency over a study into the adoption of allergy guidance rules, and Gorre explains: The chicken and kebab shops are not complying, the restaurants and hospitality firms are.

After founding the business with their own money  and that of a silent third partner  the pair will this month hit the investment trail, attempting to raise 1 million to spend on marketing, as well as extensions of the app and expansion to the health-conscious US.

The pair readily admit that getting businesses on board and their message out there is hard work, but Antoniou reveals the secret to its continued appeal: Its an incredible feeling when someone tells you I can now eat in places I thought would kill me. Youve changed my life.

To read more news about London-based entrepreneurs and to get their top tips on how to make a business a success, join the Evening Standard's small business community, Business Connections.


I f this were 1996 instead of 2016, if the greatest crisis facing Europe was the Bosnian war, if the United States were the only superpower and if Britain still had an army of 250,000  and a foreign policy to match  then I might say, yes: If you are willing to pay the economic price, then do it. Vote Leave.

But this is 2016, not 1996. The West, as we used to call it, no longer dominates the international political system. Western ideas  which are all British ones  about democracy, rule of law and competitive, free-market economics are in retreat around the world. American prestige and influence are waning everywhere, and after this years presidential election they will certainly shrink further.

America itself may also be changing. Donald Trump, the Republican Party presidential front-runner, advocates torture, mass deportation and religious discrimination. He cares nothing for Nato, the Special Relationship, or security guarantees. Of Europe, he has written that their conflicts are not worth American lives. Pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually. But even if Trump loses, the rise of isolationism in the US cannot be discounted  he clearly has a constituency  and the possibility that the US military presence in Europe will weaken cannot be ignored.

Not that Nato even matters as much as it once did in any case, for the greatest challenges to Western democracies right now are not strictly military. On the eastern borders of the Continent, a revanchist Russia seeks to undo the liberal order and undermine Nato by exporting corruption, buying politicians, funding radical parties and manipulating social media.

To the south, an explosion of fanaticism, violence and poverty has transformed Europes hinterland. Across the Continent and beyond, populist advocates of protectionism, xenophobia and authoritarianism are growing loud and powerful.

If you imagine these to be problems that only afflict people living in faraway countries of which you know little, then think again. Muslim extremism is already here: fanaticism cant be stopped by a barbed wire fence, as Iain Duncan Smith imagines, or even by the choppy waters of the Channel. The murderers of soldier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks in 2013 didnt cross any EU borders to get here; the terrorists who blew up Tube trains in 2005 were all British too.

As for the powerful, influential advocates of crony capitalism, theyre all here already too. Have a stroll around central London, feel the presence of Russian, Kazakh, Chinese and Arab money and think about how much of it is being spent on lawyers and lobbyists who want to mould the laws and customs of this country in their favour, the better to evade British taxes and to launder illegal money.

'Outside Europe, we will have fewer allies to help us fight terrorism, fewer friends to help us resist the power of the new oligarchies'

Nato, even if it stays together, will not protect us from these financial, political and ideological threats, let alone from the hybrid wars of the future. Nor will the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations security council, or any other international institution you care to name. The only international institution explicitly committed both to democratic government and to rule-based markets in Europe is the European Union. Its an institution that we have helped shape, and although we dont always realise it, it promotes our view of the world, advocates competition and campaigns for the removal of barriers to trade.

Its also an institution within which we have allies, and can create coalitions. Inside Europe, for example, we were able to impose meaningful sanctions on Russias most corrupt oligarchs, putting them in place and keeping them in place thanks to a EU process. Inside Europe, we already share experience in counter-terrorism and information about terrorists with other Europeans who are fighting the same things as us. Inside Europe, we already have recourse if our people or products are subjected to discrimination.

Outside Europe, we will be on our own. We will have fewer allies to help us fight terrorism, fewer friends to help us resist the power of the new oligarchies. We will have fewer partners who share our vision of rules-based free trade. The US  even if it isnt run by a President Trump  is right now negotiating a free trade deal with the EU, and has no interest in turning around and doing a separate one with us. The Chinese might do a deal  they like negotiating with weaker partners  but I hope no one here expects a country which steals intellectual property and commercial information to hold up some British notion of rule of law or fair play in trade.

Finally, by leaving the EU we will not isolate ourselves from the wave of protectionism and xenophobia on the Continent. Brexit is more likely to strengthen them. Marine Le Pen in France wants the EU to fall apart and for Nato to be dismantled. So do radical parties in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, central Europe and even Germany.

It is a grave mistake to imagine that these continental eurosceptics are our allies. All of them want to put an end to the Europe of markets, trade and rule of law. All of them want to destroy the EU because they believe free trade is a bulwark against the authoritarianism they want to build.

If Britain leaves, it will help them make their case. If they succeed, the result will be a Europe from which Britain is excluded, and within which British views and values will be diminished. The result could be a world which is less democratic, less law-abiding and less free. Britain will not be richer, happier or more powerful as a result.

Anne Applebaum is an editor of InFacts, a journalistic enterprise making the fact-based case for Britain to stay in the EU, and a columnist for the Washington Post.
B ritain is to deploy Royal Navy vessels as part of a Nato attempt to monitor the routes taken by people-traffickers carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece. It is plainly desirable that this traffic should stop: about 2,000 people arrive daily in Greece from Turkey and this weekend 25 people died when their boat sank on this crossing. But the effectiveness of the exercise depends on the willingness of Turkish coastguards to act on the information Nato provides; so far the record of the Turkish authorities has been patchy.

The effort to get Turkey to co-operate in stemming the flow of migrants to Greece and the rest of Europe by retaining more of them in its own territory is the main focus of todays EU meeting on the migrant crisis. More than 1.3 million people entered the EU last year, about a million of them coming to Germany. Fewer than half were from Syria. And so far the traffic this year is greater than this time last year. This cannot be sustained. Yet the response of EU leaders, for instance in declaring that the migrant route through the Balkans will close, is simply an acknowledgment of what is already happening.

If Turkey does retain more of the migrants who arrive there  and Europe is prepared to pay the Turks handsomely  the EU will have to agree to take more refugees legally. Yet the obvious problem is that many EU states are reluctant to take the arrivals. The other is that the migrants themselves are making for just a few states  those such as Germany where they hope to work and those such as Sweden where their families can join them.

Britain is not part of the Schengen free-movement zone and is largely exempt from the crisis. Yet inside or outside the EU, our neighbours problems are ours too. The Royal Navy contribution to the Nato exercise is a small example of what we could do to help deal with the criminals responsible for trafficking people. The attempt to address the flow of desperate people at source should be our main concern. The trouble is that a Europe overwhelmed by the numbers arriving is not best placed to deal with the root causes of why refugees are coming.

Female map of London

The Womens Equality Party is urging women to use social media to report the locations of sexual assaults and harassment. It is to create a live map of where women are unsafe and to display it at an interactive billboard in central London to show the true scale of the problem. In this way, it hopes to identify the sheer size of the issue, from rape to flashing, and give women confidence to report cases when they happen.

The map will be a dispiriting reminder of the extent to which womens freedom of movement in the capital is being curtailed by the possibility of harassment. And this is unacceptable. But if it also serves to remind us that domestic violence, rape and intimidation are genuine problems, then it will serve a useful purpose. Raising awareness of the issue is one way to address it.

Animal farms

Children benefit hugely from contact with nature. Zac Goldsmiths proposal to open a hundred pocket farms around schools in the capital would enable youngsters to grow their own vegetables and care for small animals such as chickens  which would help them understand better how the food they eat is produced. The scheme will be part-funded by businesses with an interest in nutrition. Supermarkets would be ideal sponsors  whats not to like about being associated with happy animals, organic vegetables and children getting their hands dirty?
S he lived unknown, and few could know/ When Lucy ceased to be;/ But she is in her grave, and, oh,/ The difference to me!

Thats Wordsworth failing Year Two English, then  at least according to the latest decree from education ministers to teachers. Sentences ending in exclamation marks are only to be marked correct, from now on, if those sentences begin with the words How or What  as in How ignorant education ministers are! or What absurd advice!

I cant say for sure where this notion will have originated  possibly in a shallow reading, or more likely a dim remembering, of Fowlers Modern English Usage. The revised edition, now heading for its 20th birthday, begins its discussion of customary uses of the exclamation mark with sentences beginning How or What, but then goes on to add wishes, alarm calls, commands, calls for attention and all-purpose shouting. It further adds the caution that poetical and other literary uses are very much more numerous (Hwaet!  sorry, Beowulf poet, back of the class with Wordsworth).

OK, cheap shots. Anglo-Saxon punctuation was different, and Wordsworth couldnt punctuate for toffee. But you dont need to fillet the canon to see how silly this advice is. Consider: Help! My trousers are on fire! Unless you punctuate it that way you struggle to convey much urgency. There are millions of sentences not beginning How or What where ending in an exclamation mark is either correct or mandatory.

So this amateurish advice is, from a linguistic point of view, flat wrong. The motive in giving it is, supposedly, to stem the proliferation of exclamation marks on social media and in text messaging: the implied fear being that children who write OMG!!! on Facebook will grow into adults who spatter their CVs with emoticons and business memos with zany punctuation.

This seems to me to underestimate the human capacity for code-switching (we all use different registers of language in different circumstances), and to overestimate the influence of school-taught English on the argots of the internet. But we can argue about that. Theres no question that in Standard English the exclamation mark is best used sparingly. F Scott Fitzgerald said its like laughing at your own joke  though, obviously, thats a judgment about style rather than correctness and doesnt apply to all uses.

Where I think this takes on a larger importance than a quibble about a bush-league punctuation mark is what it implies about how these decisions are taken and defended. When pressed on this, the Department for Education issued a statement that (after some waffle about high-quality education in English) declared: A sentence that takes the form of an exclamation starts with What or How and uses the syntax of an exclamation. That, as discussed, just aint so.

Just because the man from Whitehall faintly remembers something from his own schooldays does not mean hes entitled to spend our money telling professionals nationwide to teach it to our children. If you want to teach Standard English  which I hope we can all agree is worth doing  you cant do it effectively if you dont understand, or dont care, what Standard English actually is.

And, if caught in an ignorant error, simply repeating the error in a press statement wont nearly cut it. Do your homework!

The Left just cant agree on anything

Following the Walk In her Shoes march yesterday in solidarity with women and girls worldwide who endure inequality and injustice, its announced that the TUC and the City of London Corporation are launching a campaign to erect a statue of Sylvia Pankhurst on Clerkenwell Green in Islington.

Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn, though unable to join the march, has indicated his support for a statue of Mary Wollstonecraft to go up on Newington Green. It would be nice to see both these important figures commemorated  but before then I fear were looking at another split in the Labour Party.

CEOs sabotage the free market

In the latest instalment of News That Will Surprise Nobody, an investigation by the London School of Economics has concluded that levels of pay for chief executives is absurdly high, and that the likely damage to the UK economy of restraint is, er, none at all. The investigation found almost universal agreement among the notorious socialists at head-hunting firms that thered be no harm at all in establishing arbitrary, and much lower norms, for compensation.

The defence thats always mounted of soaring executive salaries is that its necessary, in a free market, to attract the best people. This fails in two ways. The first is that  as these same headhunters admit  huge salaries often bring in mediocre people. The second, and the subtler one, is well expressed by the reports author, Max Steuer: I am a great defender of capitalism and the market, he says, and what worries me about all this is that it threatens to erode the market.

That is to say: wanting executive pay restraint is not a form of rancorous, envy-fuelled anti-capitalism. Rather, its the opposite. As long as masters of the universe play Buggins turn with directorships and sit on each others remuneration committees, they are not submitting to the free market but undermining it. Shareholders should recognise that and take an interest.

The Tories and the fatal iceberg

Scientists have calculated that the iceberg that sank the Titanic  pretty big even by the time it was introduced to Kate Winslet  would have originally weighed 75 million tons when it calved off a Greenland glacier and was made of snow that fell 100,000 years ago.

Theres something rather moving, I think, in the realisation that the iceberg  usually regarded as a bit-part player in the story, any old iceberg from central castings plot-device department  had a longer, a more interesting and a more romantic history than the ship it sent to the bottom.

We should maybe think more of the battlements, and less of Tosca; or, if you like, more of Europe and less of the Conservative and Unionist Party.
With Kim Kardashian back home in LA, Kanye West decided last nights Givenchy show in Paris was the perfect opportunity to to spend some quality with his mother in law Kris Jenner.

Turning up to the presentation some forty minutes late, the unlikely double act sat front row alongside Bradley Cooper and Dutch supermodel Lara Stone as Givenchys creative director Riccardo Tisci unveiled his latest collection.

The spectacle, which saw models clad in python skin shirt dresses and deco print skater skirts march through a maze crafted from plywood, was far from your average Mothering Sunday activity. But Jenner, who shares an affection for Tiscis work with her daughter Kim, seemed thrilled at the prospect and posed for pictures with her son-in-law before the show got underway.

There was much for her to delight in on the catwalk too with a Givenchy collection in which Tisci offered up clothes for a woman who demands to stand out from the crowd.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Citing Egypt as the beginning of everything, even pasta, Italian Tisci said he had been obsessed with deco prints when creating the collection and accordingly, unveiled Tutankamon motifs and oversized brass trims.

Harking back to the idea of the Egypt as the origin of supreme luxury, the designer also showcased blouson sleeve dresses with structured collars and bomber jackets trimmed with shimmering gold trims.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Tisci, who has dressed more than a few rock stars in his time, said he had been listening to a lot of psychedelic music whilst creating this collection. That manifested through garish Seventies prints showcased alongside leopard print overcoats and leather overcoats inset with vibrant shades.

The result was loud, intentionally so, but it wasnt without its muted inclusions.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

As Tisci understands well, it is his ability to deliver clothes which are typical of the Givenchy aesthetic that keeps his customers returning for more. Accordingly, there were plenty of those in this collection with military overcoats trimmed with red braiding among the high points. A neat bomber jacket also looked set to delight fans.

Keen to go after the customers for whom money is no object - see Kim Kardashian - the Italian also took the opportunity to experiment with skins with python overcoats and butter soft leather shorts a recurring theme.

It was also heavy on fur with clipped mink and rabbit repurposed with a leopard print motif.

Tiscis Givenchy may no longer the boiling hot brand it once was but it continues to delight its die hard following who are won over by its ability to deliver sex appeal with a decidedly dark edge.
M assive Attack have been confirmed as headliners at this years British Summer Time Hyde Park festival, joining Florence And The Machine, Mumford and Sons and Take That.

The Bristol-born trip-hop group will play on July 1 when they will be joined by recent collaborators Young Fathers.

Patti Smith is lined up to support the show, along with Ghostpoet, TV On The Radio and Warpaint.

The British Summer Time series of gigs now features Massive Attack on Friday July 1, Florence And The Machine playing with Kendrick Lamar on July 2, Mumford and Sons on July 8 and Take That on July 9.

Music in London 2016: The years biggest gigs 1 /13 Music in London 2016: The years biggest gigs The Libertines The O2 30 January 2016 Pete, Carl and co have been out and about a fair bit since the release of their first album in 11 years, Anthems For Doomed Youth. But catching them live is still a special experience, whatever state they turn up in on the night. The Libertines tickets JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty Images Foals Wembley 16 February 2016 This Oxford-formed band are growing their fanbase by the day thanks to a style that combines indie with touches of punk and funk. This gig  part of their very first UK tour  will be the bands biggest to date, and comes with the added bonus of Everything Everything supporting. Foals tickets Warner Bros Adele The O2 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22 March and 4, 5 April 2016 She needs no introduction, and judging by the chaos that ensued when tickets for this tour were released, she needs no help selling seats either. She will play eight dates at the O2 as part of her tour, which also takes in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin as well as cities across Europe. Adele tickets Kevin Winter/Getty Images Wolf Alice The Forum 26, 28 March 2016 Playing in Kentish Town is something of a homecoming for this north London band who have won a Mercury Prize nomination for their debut album My Love Is Cool. Wolf Alice tickets Jenn Five Muse The O2 3, 11, 12, 14, 15 April 2016 Muse know how to pack both energy and immense theatrics into a show, and this run of five nights at the O2 will be no different. The set-up will be quite something in itself  the band will perform in the round, on a stage shaped like a double-headed arrow and we hear the set will also feature a whole swarm of drones. Muse tickets AC/DC Olympic Stadium 4 June 2016 As if a rare UK stadium gig from AC/DC wasnt exciting enough, this will be the first one at Stratfords stadium once it completes being reconfigured after the 2012 games. The gig is part of the Back In Black performers Rock or Bust World Tour and is followed by a date in Manchester on June 9. AC/DC tickets Coldplay Wembley 15, 16, 18, 19 June 2016 Coldplay are rolling into town in June with four nights at a packed Wembley Stadium to mark new album A Head Full of Dreams. Expect Chris Martin and co to put on a characteristically impressive, energetic and atmospheric show. Coldplay tickets Rihanna Wembley 24 June 2016 Rihanna will pack out Wembley as part of a tour to mark her eighth album Anti, with saucy on-stage antics a given. Less certain is whether or not shell be on time  she was 45mins late for a gig in Twickenham in 2013. The Weeknd will be among the singers support. Rihanna tickets Justin Bieber The O2 11, 12, 14, 15 October and 28, 29 November 2016 Love him or loathe him, Bieber is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet right now, and hes laying on a suitably epic-sized world tour to match. Six nights at the O2 are backed up by three each in Birmingham and Glasgow and one in Sheffield. Justin Bieber tickets Kevin Winter/Getty The Cure Wembley 2, 3 December 2016 The iconic English rock band, led by enigmatic frontman Robert Smith, will play Wembley as part of their first European tour since 2008. theyll be supported by The Twilight Sad. The Cure tickets Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Supporters for Florence And The Machine and Kendrick Lamar will include Jamie xx and Blood Orange, while Mumford And Sons will be preceded by Mystery Jets, Wolf Alice and Alabama Shakes. More acts are yet to be announced.

Tickets for the Massive Attack gig will go on general sale on Friday (March 11) at 9am and are available here.

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S he was one of the worlds greatest ballerinas  so it was fitting that a West End gala tribute to Maya Plisetskaya was hailed by a former protege as one of the great London ballet nights.

Stars from the Bolshoi, Mariinsky and Royal Ballets, among others, gathered at the London Coliseum to perform Ave Maya, in memory of the Russian dancer, who died aged 89 last May.

The show  the biggest celebration of Plisetskayas life outside Russia  featured her favourite roles and works created for her, such as Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonsos Carmen Suite.

Matthew Golding, the principal of the Royal Ballet, performed an extract from Swan Lake with Russian Liudmila Konovalova. He said: To give a show for Maya and dedicate the career she gave for the stage and off the stage was something special. All the people here are good people from top companies.

Icon: Maya Plisetskaya

Ms Konovalova, the prima ballerina of the Vienna State Ballet whose career was launched in Russia after she won a competition organised by Plisetskaya, said: The last time I danced as the Black Swan she told me, Dont think about anything, just dance for you and for her  and tonight I did the same thing. I was dancing for her. It was a magical and emotional night. I think one of the great London ballet nights. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were among those watching last nights show, which was accompanied by the English National Ballet Philharmonic.

Ave Mayas artistic director Andris Liepa, a close friend of Plisetskaya, said: The energy was special and I know Maya was watching like the great artist she was and supporting us.

I felt from backstage, the audience received our energy and gave it back with love for her and love for ballet. You see how people danced, it was not just the full force, it was an over-emotion and the audience loved it. Because when we talk about Maya it is something super, not just good but super.

Londoner Xander Parish, the first British dancer to join the illustrious Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg, said: It was a great honour to come back and dance here as a Brit. It was a great crowd. She was such a great ballerina.

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A s was recently reported, there is a chef shortage in the UK. The demand for skilled chefs is rising to such a degree, that by the year 2020, it is anticipated that this country will be 11,000 chefs short.

It's a difficult problem. Because when compared to, say, staff shortages across the NHS, a few less chefs means just a few less restaurants. Britain won't starve. So why should we care?

With this in mind, I took myself off to Le Cordon Bleu  the home of classical culinary training  to experience a day in the kitchens. I wanted to find out what the use of training was. It may seem obvious, but in an age where food bloggers sell best-selling cookbooks and become successful restaurateurs, is there actually any point in classically training?

Le Cordon Bleu offers rigorous and comprehensive programmes in classic French techniques. Why is French cooking in particular so highly revered? As Chef Anthony Boyd  my teacher for the day  revealed, it's because the French were the first to document their methods of cooking. Therefore they have the monopoly and generally, 'classical training' implies knowledge of their methods.

Amateur cooks in training

One of the dishes I knew we were going to make was 'Salade d'Asperges, Oeuf Poche, Vinaigrette a l'Estragon', or rather, 'Poached Eggs on Asparagus with a Salad Dressing'. I was initially disappointed by this as I've only been poaching eggs and making dressings my whole life (self-taught). But on second inspection, it was actually the perfect test: would 'classical training' improve this dish?

Turns out, yes. Yes it did very much. There is an art to poaching an egg I'd never realised. There's no hectic whirlpool - it's a gentle process. How to poach an egg the classical way, is to decant it first into a dish  this so that when you pour it into your pan of simmering (not boiling) water, it's in a swift motion so the yolk doesn't flop in first and remains encased in its whites. The water (with a dash of vinegar) need only be stirred briefly to obtain the required circular motion. 3 minutes 15 seconds later, perfect eggs; as in, the best eggs I've eaten for a long time.

That was one of many things I learnt that day. Another was how to make vinaigrette. I thought I knew already, but somehow, the one I made that day was better than any I've made before. Maybe it was the vinegar to oil ratio, or the sharp aniseed hit of tarragon we were encouraged to add. Whatever it was, it was so good I almost drank it.

Le Cordon Bleu hopes to inspire a new generation of chefs / Courtesy of Le Cordon Bleu London

I also learnt how to butcher a chicken. Indeed that was my first task at 8:30am. I turned it into fricassee  formerly that dish rustled up at Christmas to finish off the turkey, but there, a masterpiece. A leg resting next to succulent breast, dressed in a rich sauce made from chicken wings, cream and mirepoix (or chopped up onions, carrots, leeks and celery). The depth of flavour was beyond compare (though I say so myself).

A few days later I took a tour around the school to see it properly at work. Le Cordon Bleu, as one would imagine, is an impressive operation. Made-up of a series of kitchens  from cuisine to patisserie  there are students dressing crab in one and others making cardamom buns in another. There are demo rooms, a library, function rooms and a cafe. The coffee is quite exceptional.

A typical teaching demo

Founded in 1895 in Paris, Le Cordon Bleu ('The Blue Ribbon') was originally designed as a school where French journalist Marthe Distel could offer subscribers to her culinary magazine, 'Le Cuisiniere Le Cordon Bleu', lessons with professional chefs. It gained popularity quickly, and in 1931, former pupils Rosemary Hume and Dione Lucas decided to open a London location. In fact, it was Rosemary and her students who came up with a dish to serve on Coronation Day in 1953  'Poulet Reine Elizabeth' or 'Coronation Chicken' as it became known. Since then, the London school has trained the likes of cake designer Peggy Porschen, food writer Tessa Ward and 'Great British Bake Off' winner John Whaite (post-Bake Off, to be clear).

So, what is the point of classical training? Well, from this amateur's perspective, it not only teaches you how to cook, but how to cook better. We should care that chefs trained this way are in decline. Because once such skills are lost, they're lost forever. And eating out would be the poorer for it.

Do you have to be 'classically trained' to be a chef? No, you don't. But if you want to produce damn good food, it's a good place to start.
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.
I f you think Claire Underwood from House of Cards is cool and calculating, you should meet her mother.

For three series, Claire has appeared to be a singular creature, rarely mentioning where she comes from. This mystery adds to her appeal  how did she become so icy? But now she is reunited with an old ally, her mum Elizabeth Hale, played by Ellen Burstyn (just in time for Mothers Day yesterday). The actress has form in playing dark roles  she won an Oscar for The Exorcist.

In bringing in the older generation, House of Cards is following other shows that know the power of keeping mum. The parents provide perspective and lols in Girls  Marnies mum tells her she looks like a Starbucks cup at her wedding, and Hannahs dad coming-out was a highlight of the last series. They add a layer of plotting and opposition to their children, as well as giving us context  Hannahs dad shows us where her narcissistic side comes from, and to truly understand Marnie, look at her mother  she makes her daughter look zen.

Carrie Fisher shines in Catastrophe as Rob Delaneys hostile mother, in The Affair Deirdre OConnell and Kathleen Chalfant steal the show as Alison and Helens parents respectively  giving both women a much needed talking-to, even if they do involve hippy yoga retreats. Stockard Channing keeps Alicia Florrick on her toes in The Good Wife.

Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

We meet Elizabeth Hale, the proto-Claire Underwood, in an elegant Texas house. Her hair is power blow-dried into an orderly helmet and she wears pastel colours, in marked contrast to her daughters steely power dresses. Claire hasnt seen her mother since her fathers funeral and the air is tight with unspoken tension. Mother/daughter relations are never easy  Hale advises Underwood not to wear ivory to the State of the Union address. Underwood ignores her. They argue about money, Underwood keeps her smoking a secret and drops her guard for a moment, crying when she discovers her mother has cancer. Instead of discussing their differences they spy on each other. Underwood catches her mother killing a mouse with no hint of squeamishness  weve seen this behaviour from Claires husband Frank too.

There is one thing that unites them, other than genes. It turns out Hale isnt keen on Frank. At this point it becomes clear where Claire learned how to mastermind an underhand plot. Hale wants to raise funds for Franks political rival, Heather Dunbar, to bring him down and leave a post vacant for her daughter. With her mother on side, Underwood is stronger than ever.

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter
A drug dealer has been jailed for life for stabbing to death a much-loved son and brother when he intervened to protect his friend.

Osman Musa Mohamed, 20, from Woolwich, was today sentenced at the Old Bailey to a minimum prison term of 22 years for the murder of Ahmed Ahmed in Plumstead on August 10, 2015.

The victim was knifed a number of times in the leg outside the block of flats where he lived. Police believe he was set upon at Turton House on Barnfield Road as he stepped in to prevent a group of men from attacking a friend.

His sister saw the masked mob approaching but ducked out of sight before the killers struck, the court heard. Today in a statement, Ahmeds family said they were heartbroken and traumatised.

Stabbed to death: Ahmed Ahmed

He had his whole life ahead of him, relatives said. We loved him so much, the pain will never go away and we will never be the same again."

Ahmeds partner added: "I was Ahmed's girlfriend and we were planning our future together. Two days before he was killed Ahmed proposed to me.

I later found out I was pregnant with Ahmed's child but then suffered a miscarriage. I am now living alone in the flat we chose together. This has changed my life forever.

Stabbing: Forensics officers at the scene of the attack outside a block of flats / Ben Morgan/Evening Standard

Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Reeves, of the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "Ahmed was set upon just metres from his front door by a group of men who had clearly gone there to commit violence.

"It only took a few seconds to inflict the injuries that resulted in Ahmed's death. In that brief moment, they robbed a family of a much-loved son and brother.

One of Ahmed's sisters found him lying in the doorway, something she will have to live with for the rest of her life."

She added: "The defendant was involved in drug dealing, and the group had gone to the flats to attack another man. It appears that Ahmed died as he tried to prevent this from happening.

Search: Police are keen to speak to Ismail Saleban, who is thought to have left the country / Metropolitan Police

Officers continue to investigate the killing and have appealed specifically for information regarding the whereabouts of Ismail Saleban, 22, who they fear may have left the country for Denmark.

Five other men were acquitted of involvement in Mr Ahmeds murder.

Hussein Roble, 18 (25.05.97) from Woolwich, and a 20-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons were cleared.

Sazzad Khan, 20, of no fixed address, was acquitted of murder but sentenced to six months in prison on February 17 for breach of an ASBO.

The case against Khalid Hashi and Hamza Dodi, 24, (12.10.91), both from Woolwich, was discontinued on 22 February.
A Muslim convert charged with plotting a spate of terror strikes across London has insisted he is no cheerleader for IS.

Four men from west London were allegedly planning to kill soldiers, police officers and civilians in drive-by shootings in the capital.

They are on trial for conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorist acts. Some of them are also charged with firearms offences.

Nyall Hamlett, 25, was the alleged middle man between Nathan Cuffy, 26, and the other defendants Suhaib Majeed, 21, and Tarik Hassane, 22.

He has admitted passing on a gun and ammunition to Majeed.

Giving evidence in his Old Bailey trial, he said he had "no idea" what the others were planning to do with the gun.

When questioned about a stash of "grotesque" extremist photographs found on his phone, he claimed they were from people he followed on Twitter.

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC quizzed the father of three about why he used an image of a fighter carrying an IS flag as his phone background.

"Instead of having cute pictures of your three children on your lock screen on your phone you have an image of an IS fighter, why?" he asked.

Hamlett replied: "I didn't mean no harm by it, I didn't think I would be arrested for terrorism and what not."

He added: "I understand it's stupid to do it but I didn't do it because I'm an IS cheerleader."

Hamlett insisted he did not know his childhood friend Cuffy was storing guns at his flat.

"He has held drugs for people, stolen iPhones. I didn't know he had guns at his house," he said.

Cuffy told the jury the stash of firearms at his house were being stored for someone else but refused to name the person they allegedly belonged to.

The trial continues.
A robber forced an injured woman to the ground before stealing her handbag and the crutch she walked with in east London.

The suspect attacked his victim in an alleyway near to Montague Street, Whitechapel after asking her for directions to an off licence at around 3.30am on January 24.

The woman, aged in her 30s, had offered to walk with the man towards the shop but when they turned into the alleyway he pushed her to the ground and snatched her crutch and her handbag.

Police have released CCTV footage of the suspect walking into a petrol station on Whitechapel Road prior to talking to the victim.

Police want to speak to this man in connection with a robbery in Whitechapel / Metropolitan Police

He is described as an Asian man with short black hair, of medium build, and aged 30-40 years old.

The suspect wore light coloured trousers, a dark jacket and pointed shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 204959 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
T he Met Police has faced criticism over a misjudged tweet after a toddler was found without its parents in east London.

The official Twitter account for the Mets Hackney division was accused of adopting an inappropriate tone in an appeal to find the childs mum and dad.

The force announced just after 10am on Monday that the toddler had been found alone by tweeting: Have you lost a two/three year old child? If you have, great news! We've found one!

Get in touch via 101. Quote CAD1809/16 #ResponseB.

Fortunately the parents of the child  who was described as Polish with blue eyes and green wellies  had been found by 10.45am.

But the appeal prompted a flurry of critical responses, with many surprised by the tone.

One tweeter, Alison M, wrote: "Ummm, slightly misjudged tone maybe?!"

Jon Warner said: "Lmao, budget cuts so tight they've had to cut down on the tact."

Another user, @fkaTricks, added: "Delete this. Re-evaluate. Re-write."

Hackney police did not respond on Twitter and Scotland Yard declined to comment when contacted by the Standard.
A nother senior Met police officer is being investigated for alleged misconduct, it emerged today.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mark Simmons is the third senior officer in the force to face an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He is accused of burying claims made against one of his commanders and doing nothing about them.

An IPCC spokeswoman said: The investigation is in its early stages and no officer has been served a notice of investigation at this stage.

The case relates to an allegation that Commander Christine Jones, who oversees the Mets operations in north-west London, blocked a male colleagues promotion.

Commander Jones is accused of writing misleading references, allegedly misrepresenting other peoples views in relation to a promotion application.

In the case of Mr Simmons, the Independent Police Complaints Commission will also scrutinise whether the Mets Directorate of Professional Standards failed to act properly over an initial complaint about the alleged incident.

Two civilians in the Met are also facing allegations of misconduct relating to the claims.

Last month it emerged that Assistant Commissioner Pat Gallan was facing a formal inquiry over claims she bullied a colleague.

Meanwhile, Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is facing further criticism over the cost of his 65,000 company Range Rover.

A Freedom of Information request showed it cost the equivalent of nearly four patrol cars and cost 25,000 more than the next most expensive vehicle in the Mets fleet.

Sir Bernard has insisted his car is not a luxury and his old Range Rover kept breaking down.
B ig Ben and other parliamentary buildings must not be besmirched by commercial images projected onto them, a senior MP said today.

Sir Paul Beresford, the Tory chairman of the Commons administration committee, spoke out after several images were beamed onto the Palace of Westminster without proper consent.

Everybody knows Big Ben and we dont want it besmirched with graffiti, even if its light-placed graffiti, he told the Standard. Please respect the building, its importance and the fact that its internationally loved.

Last month, the PG Tips monkey was projected unauthorised onto Big Ben  officially named the Elizabeth Tower  to mark the Year of the Monkey.

On Remembrance Sunday, campaigners beamed a swastika onto Parliament to protest against a visit by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

In January last year, a before and after image of Geordie Shores Charlotte Crosby was beamed onto Parliament to promote her weight-loss DVD.

The founders of craft beer makers BrewDog beamed an image of themselves naked onto Parliament in 2012, parodying the projection of a 24-metre high image of Gail Porter onto the Palace to promote FHM in 1999.

The Commons authorities said commercial projections onto the Grade I listed buildings diluted the impact of images which Parliament allows for moments of national significance.

TODO: define component type apester

These include the falling poppies which lit up Big Ben in 2014, marking 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War.

Last year, images of poppies were accompanied by the names of battles in which British and Commonwealth soldiers fought in 1915.

To legally project onto the Houses of Parliament, advertising agencies and other people need permission from both the Commons Speaker and Westminster City Council planners. If they fail to get this, they risk prosecution.

A council spokesman said: The Elizabeth Tower is within a Unesco world heritage site and the City Council has a duty to ensure its special character is not compromised. We will always ensure that if anyone acts outside of our policy then we will take the appropriate action.
C helsea FC and former manager Jose Mourinho appear to be set for a full-scale public employment tribunal over ex-team doctor Eva Carneiros dismissal.

Lawyers for the separate parties today failed to reach a settlement in the dispute, which comes after Dr Carneiro was criticised by Mourinho and dropped from first-team duties.

She had gone on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard during a draw with Swansea on the opening day of the Premier League season last August.

Dr Carneiro is suing Chelsea for constructive dismissal and has a separate personal legal action against Mourinho, who left the club in December, for alleged victimisation and discrimination.

After Monday's private hearing at the London South Employment Tribunal, Dr Carneiro's barrister Mary O'Rourke QC refused to be drawn on whether a deal had been reached, saying: "Mediation proceedings are confidential."

Dr Carneiro refused to speak to the media as she left the employment tribunal building in Croydon accompanied by her husband, polar explorer Jason De Carteret, but shook her head briefly when asked if a resolution had been reached.

Eva Carneiro arrives at employment tribunal

Lawyers for the three parties are believed to have failed to reach a financial deal during a private hearing that lasted around six-and-a-half hours, meaning the case is now likely to go to a full employment tribunal, expected to be held in June.

That would be held in public and could see Mourinho, Dr Carneiro and representatives from Chelsea called to appear as witnesses.

Statements and documents such as emails and text messages would also be likely to be made public.

Dr Carneiro, 42, was dropped as Chelsea's first-team doctor last year after then-manager Mourinho angrily berated her and physio Jon Fearn after they went on to the pitch at Stamford Bridge to treat the injured Hazard during the second half, as the Blues struggled to a 2-2 draw.

Their action meant that Chelsea were temporarily down to nine men, and afterwards Mourinho called Dr Carneiro and Mr Fearn "impulsive and naive".
A former refugee is helping homeless people get their lives back on track by giving them laptops.

Social entrepreneur Peter Paduh says the gift of a computer changed his life after he arrived in London as a child refugee from war-torn Bosnia.

Now he is trying to make a difference to the capitals homeless by handing them refurbished laptop computers to help them get online.

The pioneering scheme aims to offer homeless people better access to the job market, so they can find and apply for jobs online, as well as other services like web learning tools.

Connected: Laptop users show off their new computers

It was launched in Camden Town and 10 people have already received their machines  although Mr Paduh hopes that figure will eventually rise to at least 1,000.

He said: I know how much difference it can make. I was 15 when I came to London as a refugee from Bosnia.

I was living in a childrens home and when I left to move to a foster family, they gave me a laptop as a leaving present. Thats where I got the idea from.

It helped me to do what I wanted to do. I was able to use the computer to write business plans and letters  it opens up a world of possibilities.

Grateful: Peter Paduh (far left) looks on as another man picks up a laptop

The project was launched by Mr Paduhs social enterprise Socialbox.biz  which helps charities save money on IT  in partnership with London homelessness charity Thames Reach.

The 37-year-old, who is chairman of King's Cross-based Socialbox.biz, said the people receiving laptops are already getting help from the charity and his project offers them an extra boost.

As well as job-hunting, some people are using the computers to help them connect with relatives.

He said more than half of Londons roughly 7,000 homeless people have no access to the internet, and he wants to help as many as possible.

The Laptops For Homeless Initiative, as it is known, has already signed up a number of businesses to help out by providing laptops which are no longer needed at their offices.

Im not solving the homeless problem, Mr Paduh added.

This is for people who are already getting their lives back on track.

They have got somewhere to stay and a recycled suit to wear at job interviews. Now they have a recycled computer so they can learn more skills online and apply for more jobs.

This is a boost to help them stay on that track and keep going.

One homeless person who received a computer, but preferred to remain anonymous, said: Ive struggled over the years to interact and integrate through technology.

When projects like this are available for people like me, its a big thing. I can only contact my family online through email right now so this will help me rebuild those bridges. I really appreciate that.

Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive of Thames Reach, said: These computers will give the homeless and marginalised people who receive them the opportunity to communicate with friends and relatives, develop new interests and improve access to advice to improve their skills and employment prospects.

For more information, visit www.socialbox.biz
A Tesco customer has told of the shocking moment she almost ate a live bee stowed inside her punnet of supermarket raspberries.

Lucy Allen, 30, was snacking on the fruits bought at a Tesco Express in Tulse Hill, south London, as she decorated a dessert at her friends house.

But after picking one of the sweet and plump raspberries to put in her mouth, she spotted the hairy legs of a bee poking out from inside the summer fruit.

Ms Allen told the Standard: When I went to make the dessert, I ate a couple. I was putting them onto a chocolate mousse.

Bee in rasberries from Tescos

I picked one up, but then I saw the back end of an insect inside it. I was very close to eating it.

It gave me a shock.

We poked it with the end of a pen and it started moving.

Ms Allen and her friend Jennie Bellfield managed to trap the creature in a jar over concerns it could be carrying bacteria and disease because the raspberries had been imported from Morocco.

Shocked: Lucy Allen with her friend Jennie Bellfield, who made the discovery / Lucy Allen

She added: You just dont know about these things. If you think about when you come through customs on a flight, you are not allowed to bring any fruit and this is why.

I certainly wouldnt have liked to have been stung by it.

Fears: Ms Allen moved the bee into a tupperware container / Lucy Allen

Ms Allen, who lives in Peckham, complained to Tesco customer services over the phone and on Twitter but felt they were unhelpful.

I was a bit surprised at their lack of interest. They just didnt seem as concerned as I am, she said.

They asked me to package up the specimen and take it back to store, a real inconvenience to be honest. I dont live close to the store and as they are a huge organisation with a huge fleet of delivery vans Id have thought the least they could do is collect it.

A Tesco spokesman said: We have extremely high standards for the products we put on our shelves and work hard to inspect our fruit carefully.

Due to the time of year, this product has been sourced from outside the UK so it is not immediately clear how this may have happened.

We have asked Ms Allen to return the raspberries so we can investigate with our supplier.
He'll tell you he's "a pretty average guy."

Don't fall for it.

There's little "average" about a guy who can nurture a happy marriage, raise a new daughter, work a full-time job at an EMS company, moonlight as a firefighter and then meet the endless demands of life.

And, quite frankly, the average man does not say things like this: "My biggest hobby is spending time with my family."

Those are the words of an above-average man.

Douglas Tawney, 31, is decidedly above average. He lives with his wife and daughter in Casnovia, Michigan, an impossibly tiny village dropped like an islet into the vast farm fields of northwest Kent County.

As Tawney describes the place: "We call it Kazz. We have a bar. And a post office."

For all that a place like Kazz lacks in excitement and bustle - it oozes Midwestern averageness - a guy like Tawney can make up for it with sheer industriousness.

"I'm a very busy gentleman," Tawney said. "Between work and the fire department - and then obviously I have a 13-month-old daughter, and my wife as well - we're a busy family."

In meeting the obligations of parenthood, husbandhood and work, however, Tawney has on occasion been known to shrug off his own medical concerns as long as possible.

Fever? Wait it out. Skin rash? It'll clear up. Muscle ache? Muscle through it.

"I'm one of those individuals, unfortunately, who waits until the last second," he said.

That's what he did this past year when he developed a skin condition. He let it go as long as he could, and when he finally tried to arrange a visit to a primary care physician, the scheduler told him there wasn't a slot that suited his schedule.

Unless, the scheduler said, he was interested in "this other possibility."

MedNow.

"Sure, whatever gets me in," he remembers telling her.

Next thing he knew, he was at work in Grand Rapids, holding up his cell phone so he could have a quick little video chat with a doctor at a nearby Spectrum Health office.

"It's awesome," Tawney said. "My needs were addressed immediately and it was so convenient. I mentioned to them that they should promote it a lot more. I hadn't even heard of it before."

MedNow is an umbrella term for a triad of services that let patients use technology to quickly and remotely connect with Spectrum Health's doctors, said Tracey Burke, director of MedNow.

The services - On-Deman Care, Specialty Care and Remote Monitoring - are revolutionizing the way patients like Tawney, and many others, approach medical care.

On-Demand Care

On-Demand Care, the service Tawney used, lets patients with less serious conditions connect to a medical provider via remote video or email, right from their home or workplace.

A video visit costs $45, while an email visit - you connect to a doctor via email and the doctor sends back medical advice - is $25. In most cases, the wait time for On-Demand Care is less than 30 minutes. The service is offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Tawney said he called in by phone and was connected to a coordinator, who took down his particulars - insurance, identity and such - before connecting him to a doctor.

He then used his cell phone camera to connect live to the doctor.

"It was like a web interface where I could see, she could see me," he said. "All on my cell phone. It worked well. She was set back enough from the camera that I could see her, and she was able to talk to me and walk me through the process."

It played out just like a normal doctor's visit, he said. The doctor could see his skin condition - it was a relatively minor issue - and prescribed him medication.

"It wasn't very long, but long enough that my issues were addressed," he said. "Really easy to use. I'd think that even people who aren't so technology-literate would be able to do this as well."

Tawney said he has encountered elderly residents who can scarcely leave their homes in the dead of a West Michigan winter.

"As firefighters, we'd see that all the time," he said. "You have individuals who just can't get out of the house, whether it's mobility issues or they're bed-bound or whatever the case may be.

"This is a great program for them, where they can be seen (by a doctor) even if they can't make it to the office," he said. "Even the trip from the doorstep to the car can be dangerous for some of these individuals. If they can instead do something about it in the comfort of their home, it's going to benefit them and help them avoid injury."

Burke said that On-Demand visits are only for patients whose ailments are not life-threatening. The visits are not recorded, although pertinent details are still documented as they would be with an in-person visit.

"If it's a low-acuity visit...they can be treated from the comfort of their own home," Burke said. "We don't make the patient go anywhere to get their care - we go to them."

For patients with more serious needs, Spectrum Health offers other high-tech solutions that can still help save time.

Specialty Care

Speciality Care allows certain patients to visit their nearest Spectrum Health regional hospital or clinic, where staff can help them connect through video to a specialist in Grand Rapids.

The cost of a Speciality Care visit is the same as an in-person visit.

The intent is to help patients avoid long drives to a specialist, cutting down on time and travel expenses.

Burke's example: An oncology patient who lives in Reed City would historically have to drive to the Spectrum Health Cancer Center in Grand Rapids for a follow-up appointment with an oncologist, even after they've completed treatment.

That's an hour drive.

"How often do you have to take time off to meet with a doctor and they say, 'Oh, you great, thanks for coming,'" Burke said. "And you're going, 'Oh my gosh, I just took time off work and navigated your hospital system, drove an hour, paid for parking and spent time in the waiting room...and now you're telling me I'm good to go, thanks for coming?'"

But, indeed, patients in the far-flung reaches of Michigan have been forced to travel a great distance for short followups.

"As clinicians, we're embarrassed that we're making you do all that," Burke said. "We're now saying to that patient, 'You can go to the (Spectrum Health) Susan P. Wheatlake Cancer Center in Reed City, and we'll have your visit virtually, via video...with your pulmonary oncologist in Grand Rapids."

Remote Monitoring

Spectrum Health can also deploy an array of devices to a chronically ill patient's homes, allowing the hospital system to monitor the patient's vital signs remotely.

"We try and keep them healthier in their home," Burke said. "We have an air traffic control room, if you will."

"We know how much they weigh every day, we know what their blood pressure is, we know what their temperature is," she added. "We can see if a patient has gained three pounds - a congestive heart failure - and we can call them and say, 'Hey, what's going on Sue? Are you feeling OK?'"

Here again, it helps patients avoid costly trips to a doctor's office.

"We catch them before they have to come into the hospital," Burke said.

With all three components of MedNow, Spectrum Health uses a secure system to connect patients with providers," Burke said.

"This truly is changing the way we deliver care," Burke said. "The reality is, it's about opening up access, lowering the cost of care and making it more convenient for our patients."

To arrange a video visit, call 1.844.322.7374 or go to MyHealth to sign in or register. Learn more about On-Demand visits and Speciality Care visits. Also, talk to your primary care provider to see if MedNow services are an option for you.
A tree surgeon today told how he feared he would die after slashing his neck with a chainsaw in an horrific accident.

Carl Moulton, 41, was in a harness, 15ft up a tree when the power tool sliced into his neck as he slipped on a wet branch.

The dad-of-four had been trimming a 60ft shrub at a primary school in Hammersmith when the accident happened.

Carl Moulton / Facebook

He told the Standard: I just slipped. Judging from the cuts and how it landed, it hit my arm and then rammed into my neck.

My first thought was, Im not going to see my kids grow older. Im a dead man, Im a dead man.

But then I got some composure and realised I could still breathe and I could still talk.

Carl Moulton / Carl Moulton / Facebook

I was lucky I didnt hit any major arteries.

He lowered himself to the ground and his workmates bandaged him up and called an ambulance.

Mr Moulton, from Notting Hill, added. I was waiting to feel faint but it didnt come. Once the ambulance and the air ambulance arrived, I felt so relieved.

I ended up going to hospital by road, I thought, Whats a man got to do to get a helicopter ride around here?

Mr Moulton spent three days at St Marys Hospital in Paddington receiving treatment for a six inch gash on his arm and a three inch neck wound after the accident on February 16.

He said: I burst into tears when I saw my kids again. How the hell did I survive it? I just dont know.
A n aide to Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan resigned today after the Evening Standard found pictures of him brandishing a gun and claiming he could be a hired hitman.

Shueb Salar posted a video online of himself with a rifle and bragged about spending a weekend shooting stuff with real guns, knives, crossbows and bow and arrows.

He added the joke comments #ImASecretHitman and #ShoutMeIfYouWantMeToTakeCareOfSomeone and #IllMakeItLookLikeAnAccident.

Mr Salar also added emoticons showing a knife, a pistol and a thumbs up.

A picture of Shueb Salar posing with what appeared to be a rifle, which was posted on social media

He was suspended from his post as House of Commons-based parliamentary assistant to Mr Khan yesterday after it was revealed he posted offensive tweets that referred to hoes and f***ing faggots.

Another image from a series of social media posts about weapons from Mr Salar

The new revelation comes days after the House of Commons staged a special debate over concerns about a surge of teenage gang shootings and stabbings in London.

One rifle Mr Salar posed with was styled like an automatic military assault weapon with a magazine and telescopic sight, although it appeared to be an airgun which anyone can buy without a licence.

The comments posted alongside video of him loading and firing guns

The images were taken in the autumn at a shooting range and posted on his Instagram page with the comments about being a hitman.

A video clip showed him loading the rifle before taking aim and firing at an unseen target.

Shueb Salar posed with guns and joked about being a "hitman"

Mr Salars Instagram page carried the message: Ill follow you back if youre not ugly.

Among his tweets, Mr Salar revealed he had thought the savage murder of soldier Lee Rigby was faked.

TODO: define component type apester

He posted on May 23, 2013 - a day after the killing of the off-duty soldier by two Islamic extremists - a link to a YouTube video and the comment: I had a feeling the Woolwich killing was probably fake.

The revelations could not come at a worse time for Mr Khan, who has spent three years preparing his campaign to become Mayor of London in the City Hall elections on May 5.

Commons Leader Chris Grayling said that Mr Salars trivialising [of] violence raised questions about Mr Khan for employing him.

The real issue here is about Sadiq Khans lack of judgement, said Conservative minister Mr Grayling. If he really is surrounding himself with someone so unfit to be playing a role in public life then you have to ask whether he himself is fit to be Mayor of London. Trivialising violence can never be justified.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: Sadiq acted immediately to suspend Shueb Salar as soon as he was made aware of these serious issues over the weekend. Shueb Salar has now resigned from his role as a junior member of Sadiqs parliamentary staff.

The spokesman said the shooting weekend was innocently bought by Mr Salar and a group of friends from the discount offers site Groupon.

But there was astonishment in political circles that Mr Salars earlier tasteless postings were not spotted during ordinary vetting when he began working for Mr Khan 18 months ago, and that he continued to post controversial material while working at the Commons.

Among tweets revealed at the weekend were offensive remarks about rape, murder and gay people.

One of his tweets reads: Had the funniest tube journey ever! Some rowdy chavs were cussing these 2 gay guys for kissing LOL maybe they deserved it.

Another tweet revealed by the Mail on Sunday said: What a f***ing faggot LOL. Another stated: F*** all you hoes. Hoe is a slang term for a promiscuous woman.

Mr Salar posted a copy of a text message that read: Yo think Im gonna do sexual offences its way easier. Mr Salar captioned this: LOOL #rapist in the making. LOOL usually stands for laughing outrageously out loud.

Anther message read: Bitch please, dont be proud if every guy wants you. Cheap items have many buyers.

On his online profile, Mr Salar describes his duties for Mr Khan as assisting in the drafting of speeches, reports, press releases, briefings, parliamentary questions, letters and email correspondence.

He added: I represent him at events/ meetings and occasionally deal with constituency casework.

A law graduate of the University of Bedfordshire, he started work for Mr Khan in November 2014.

Mr Salar refused to discuss the messages shared from his social media accounts or respond to the decision to suspend him from Mr Khans campaign.

At the 400,000 semi-detached home in Mitcham, owned by his family he said simply no comment - before closing the door.
Z ac Goldsmith has pledged to bring the countryside into the city by setting up 100 pocket farms in primary schools during his first year in office.

The Tory mayoral candidate said he would fund green spaces for children to grow their own food, raise chickens or learn about the great outdoors.

He would establish a programme of twinning primary schools in the city with rural farms to help children spend more time in the country.

One in 10 London children have never been to the countryside despite studies suggesting that contact with nature supports mental and physical health. Mr Goldsmith announced his plans on a visit to Grey Court School in Richmond, which has its own farm, cooking club and community allotment, with Environment Secretary Liz Truss.

He said by 2020 he would make sure all London schools met the Governments school food standards and the majority purchased sustainable healthy products. London has higher rates of childhood obesity than any other part of the UK.

Mr Goldsmith said: Making our children aware of the environment around them and where their food comes from is vital to their future wellbeing.
F our former home secretaries today warned that Brexit from the European Union would make Londoners less safe and the capital more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The Labour heavyweights claimed there was no doubt among security experts that international co-operation through the EU helped protect London.

Jack Straw, Charles Clarke, Jacqui Smith and Alan Johnson  who between them set UK security policy for almost a decade  said leaving would pose a serious risk.

They highlighted the EUs role in sharing information across member states, implementing tougher controls at airports and enforcing the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

Their high-level intervention followed warnings from Boris Johnson that staying in the EU would make it harder to identify terrorists and keep the bloc safe.

Mr Johnson claimed that EU rules were prejudicial to British counter-terrorist surveillance and the ability to deport terrorists.

The senior Labour politicians, however, raised the case of Hussain Osman, who had fled to Italy after taking part in the failed terrorist attack on London in July 2005.

He was extradited from Rome in less than two months due to the EAW, found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

In a statement, the former home secretaries said: There is no doubt amongst security experts that international co-operation through the European Union contributes to Londoners safety.

"The EU helps keep Londoners safe by sharing information across member states, implementing tougher controls at airport security and through the European Arrest Warrant.

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More than 7,000 suspected criminals have been deported to Europe as a result of the warrant while more than 1,000 who fled to the Continent have been returned to face justice.

The Labour politicians singled out Tory mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, who shares Mr Johnsons Brexit stance. Electing a Mayor who wants to leave Europe would pose a serious risk to Londoners safety and security, they claimed.

"Zac Goldsmiths decision to campaign for Britain to leave the EU could make Londoners less safe and leave the capital more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

It came after the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, John Longworth, resigned having been suspended for claiming Britains long-term prospects could be brighter outside the EU.

The business group said he had accepted that his support for Brexit was likely to create confusion and had breached its official position of neutrality on the referendum.

Its North-East chief James Ramsbotham said he was not aware of any political pressure for Mr Longworth to go. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon dismissed as a conspiracy theory claims Downing Street was behind Mr Longworths initial suspension.
B ritain is facing the threat of more spectacular attacks from Islamic State terrorists, Britains head of counter terrorism warned today.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said Islamic State was broadening its plans for bigger and more ambitious atrocities against Western targets including the UK.

He cited the recent Paris firearms attack and the two recent bomb attacks on passenger jets - one which destroyed a Russian airliner shortly after taking off from the Sharm El Sheikh resort in Egypt.

He said in recent years police encountered small terror groups plotting to kill members of the police and security forces.

Mr Rowley said: We are now seeing a broadening of that threat and groups trying to mount bigger attacks.

Belgian security forces during an operation in Molenbeek in the aftermath of the Paris attacks / EPA

He said there was a threat of experienced and military trained terrorists with experience in fighting in Syria, similar to those behind the Paris massacres.

He added: Terrorists groups are always about impact. Terrorists groups have always wanted to do a grander and more spectacular attack because they have more impact.

"Now you see terror groups with big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks not just the type that we have seen foiled to date."

He said as Islamic State has built its terror networks then more ambitious attacks are the natural next step.

Islamic State is planning attacks in Britain, it was warned / Reuters

Figures show there were 339 terror arrests in England and Wales last year, the highest number on record.

Figures showed around 14 per cent of people arrested last year were female and 13 per cent were 20 and under.

Nearly 80 per cent were UK nationals.

Mr Rowley said the increase in the number of children and families involved was worrying.

He said 50 young people and 20 families were subject to court proceedings last year as a result of counter terrorist information.

Mr Rowley said police were constantly changing tactics to deal with the changing terror threat - including recruiting more firearms officers across the UK.
A n earthquake shook houses as it hit parts of the south-east this weekend.

The quake, which had a magnitude of 2.3, hit Oxfordshire at about 11pm last night, the British Geological Survey said.

The small quake was centred in the Thame area, prompting people nearby to post about feeling their homes being rocked by its force.

Emily Smith said on Twitter: "Magnitude 2.3 earthquake in Bucks last night, that explains the house shaking then."

Anna Edwards tweeted: "Earthquake or explosion? Something moved n S Oxon. Felt in Chinnor & Thame."

A caller to BBC Radio Oxford said: "The whole place shook - it was more than a wind and rattled the windows."

And seismologist Glen Ford told the corporation: "The fact it was noticed makes it a bit special.

"It was a very small earthquake, but in UK terms it was significant as it was actually felt by the general public - 90 per cent of earthquakes go completely unnoticed."
O nline card company Moonpig has apologised after customers complained Mothers Day cards and flowers were not delivered.

The company was bombarded with complaints about gifts that were damaged, late or failed to arrive.

Among the complaints posted on social media were photos of flowers with wilted leaves and snapped stems and a smashed vase.

One customer claimed their mother took delivery of a flower box to find it was empty.

The company spent Mother's Day answering the stream of complaints on Twitter and Facebook before reportedly attributing the problems to "an issue" with a supplier.

Twitter reactions to disappointing Mother's Day gifts from Moonpig

Michael Blair wrote to Moonpig on Twitter: "OMG ! Flowers just arrived for Mum - broken, ripped, dead, disgusting! And no card til Monday either!"

Becky Peters, from Newport, South Wales, tweeted: "@MoonpigUK two years in a row you have disappointed me, you've lost a customer. Don't advertise your cards to be delivered on Mother's Day if they're not going to arrive."

Helen Palmer tweeted a photo of a sorry-looking bouquet and a damaged vase along with the comment "#unhappy Mother's Day".

Jakeyjelly tweeted: "@MoonpigUK ordered my Mother's Day flowers and got the card but no flowers in sight absolute disgrace!" alongside a photo of an empty box.

In adverts ahead of Mother's Day the firm said it would take orders for gifts until 2pm on Friday and flower orders up to 4pm on Saturday.

Flowers and plants were supposed to arrive between 8am and 9pm over the Mother's Day weekend, the company said.

A spokesman for Moonpig told the BBC: "We can confirm that an issue with one of our suppliers has delayed the delivery of flowers to some of our customers this weekend.

"We know how important Mother's Day is and we have apologised to and compensated all customers who have experienced a delay.

"We've been working hard to put things right and by the end of Mother's Day almost all orders have been delivered. We hope our customers accept our sincere apologies."
P lans to premiere more shows on BBC iPlayer before they air on traditional TV channels are being explored by the corporation, a senior figure has said.

Charlotte Moore, the corporation's controller of TV channels and iPlayer, described the online catch-up service as having an "increasingly important part to play" in the organisation's future.

She said: "I want to grow iPlayer in the future and will explore more premieres and how we reach new audiences."

Ms Moore, the brains behind the commissioning of the Great British Bake Off, also hit back at criticism from Culture Secretary John Whittingdale that BBC One had become less distinctive.

Addressing a host of television figures including broadcaster Andrew Marr, comedian David Mitchell and scientist Professor Brian Cox in London's Hyde Park, Ms Moore said: "I don't recognise - and more importantly neither does the public recognise - what the Secretary of State said about BBC One.

"I'm not sure how much more distinctive the last few weeks could have been - with new shows like The Night Manager, our mental health season, David Attenborough's Giant Dinosaur, Dickensian, War and Peace - not to mention the return of Happy Valley."

Ms Moore used her appearance to unveil a number of new programmes that will be screened by the BBC in the coming months.

They include a new six-part BBC One series called Wanderlust, an exploration of marriage and monogamy by award-winning playwright Nick Payne, and Our Loved Boy, a 90-minute drama about the death of London schoolboy Damilola Taylor.

Additional reporting by PA
A rooftop town centre car park has not been used for more than five years as it can only be accessed on foot.

The mystery car park in Farnborough, Hampshire, has been left deserted despite drivers in the town alleging that the area is plagued by parking shortages.

The rooftop parking spaces, above a gym complex in Queensmead, were originally part of a redevelopment scheme to link the car park to another, but the work has not yet been finished.

An image of the car park, which is complete with painted bays and direction arrows, has been widely shared on social media.

Disgruntled residents told Get Hampshire the car-free car park was a symbol of the badly managed redevelopment of their town centre.

The rooftop car park is above The Gym in Queensmead, Farnborough / Google Maps

Gareth Thomas, 25, told the newspaper: The issue for me is they havent finished the building work, putting a car park there and no one can get to it.

It is more than a decade since they started this work and my view is that if this car park was finished, it wouldnt sit there unused on a building where people cant get to it.

Its a symbol of how badly managed the redevelopment has been, from my perspective.

A spokesman for Rushmoor Borough Council confirmed that the only way to access the car park is by stairs or a lift.

In a statement, the council said: The bridge link to this car park will be built as part of a future phase of the development. In the interim, the residents parking is being provided by the developer in the Kingsmead multistorey car park.
T he gang suspects waited in the cells below as former vigilante leader Omodele Morufu sat alongside a Nigerian police chief speaking frankly about how he and his friends used to administer justice.

Before community policing we were doing it illegally, he said. We beat them. Sometimes we put a tyre on their neck, next fire, because we dont want those people in our community. That is what we were doing.

Mr Morufu, who now heads a volunteer police service in Lagos, also revealed that harsh punishments were not reserved solely for serious crimes and that, until recently, even breaking an unofficial curfew would result in a beating. Nobody was allowed out from midnight until 5am. If you pass on any street and we see you, we used to beat you, he added, before explaining how recent training and collaboration with local police had led to a new, more restrained, approach.

Now after my training we know what we are supposed to do and what is illegal. When we catch people we arrest them and call the police. We tell the community that we shouldnt beat people. People in my area used to support what we did before. But what we do now, they like it, they love it, better than before.

The new co-operation between police and Mr Morufus former vigilante group  one of many operating across Lagos to maintain security in the absence of sufficient officers for the 25 million residents  began as part of a Justice For All programme run by the British Council in Nigeria.

In the Lagos police station where the gang suspects are held, Ifeanyi Owo, the divisional officer, explains how Mr Morufus vigilantes helped secure the detention of the gang members.

He said the suspects were young boys from a local cultist gang, known as Awawa Boys, who had attacked a girl and that the first had been detained by Mr Morufu and his team. The others had been arrested later. He added that all had an identification mark on their eyes which showed them to be part of a gang which had been carrying out criminal rampages in the area.

The volunteer policing scheme began after the vigilantes were warned that summary justice involved crimes. It also includes reciprocal reforms to persuade residents that policing standards had improved.

These include allowing lay visitors to attend police stations to check on how suspects are treated. Monthly community accountability forums are also held at which police and local people can raise concerns. Other parts of the Justice For All programme, which has cost around 50 million since it started in 2011, are seeking to tackle corruption and raise standards in the courts and penal system. A sexual assault referral centre has also been set up in Lagos, the first in Nigeria to provide specialist help for victims of rape or other forms of abuse. It has assisted 1,200 victims, mostly juveniles, since it opened in 2013, using medical staff and counsellors to provide evidence for prosecutions and rehabilitative support.

Slogans stating I say no to rape, stand up and take action against rape and break the silence on rape are displayed inside to convey the message that sex crimes should be reported and to counter the common belief in Nigeria that victims are to blame. The centres founder, Itoro Eze-Anaba, says that attitudes are changing as a result, but warns that sexual abuse remains rife as she describes the fate suffered by some of the victims attending the clinic.

The worst case for me was a girl who was given by her father to her uncle to sleep with. The uncle was paying money every time. Then when he went away the father was sleeping with the girl too. Between them she had seven abortions. When she said what had happened she was taken to church by the family. They thought there was a spiritual attack, that it was her fault.

We told her that it wasnt her fault and helped her with money so that she could pay for her exams. She told us she would make us proud of her, that she was going to get her life together again, and she passed her exams. I never forget that story.

Ms Eze-Anaba said that the number of victims coming to the clinic had doubled since it started to around 50 a month and included two girls who had become pregnant after being raped and another victim so badly ruptured that surgery was required. Around 30 of the victims were boys, while the youngest was only four months old.

As well as providing specialist medical services, the clinic also offers confidential help that avoids the need for victims to go to hospitals where they might have to repeat details of their ordeal publicly several times to receive treatment.

Funding uncertainty means that the clinics future is not clear. But Ms Eze-Anaba says that she is determined to keep it open.

In some of our cases, it kills me to hear what has happened. We have to continue.
A n Italian pilot threatened to crash his passenger jet with 200 passengers on board if his wife left him.

Police managed to stop the unnamed pilot from taking controls of the flight just minutes before take-off.

His wife had alerted authorities after he sent her a text message threatening to commit suicide and kill everyone on board the long-haul flight from Rome.

The man, in his 40s, was stopped by police at Fiumicino airport minutes before the plane was due to set off for Japan.

Another pilot took his place and passengers were not told about the incident, which happened in January last year but has been kept secret until now, The Times reported.

It happened two months before German pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed his Germanwings plane in the Alps, killing 149 people.

The Italian pilot sent the text message after his wife announced she was leaving him, and referred to the flight he was due to take that night.

The pilot had previously been reported to police by his wife for mistreatment.

He remains suspended and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, according to local reports.
T om Hiddleston has said that being asked to play James Bond would be an extraordinary opportunity.

The British star, who is currently starring in The Night Manager on BBC one, has added more fuel to the 007 rumours by admitting that he would be keen to play the role.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: Time magazine ran a poll and there were, like, 100 actors on the list, including Angelina Jolie. But, yes, its nice to be included in the 100.

Im a huge fan of the series. We all went to see Spectre when we were shooting Skull Island in Hawaii. I simply love the theme tune, the tropes and the mythology. I love the whole thing.

Spectre Filming 1 /5 Spectre Filming Keeping it cool Daniel Craig looking calm as James Bond in front of a wrecked building (Picture: Clasos/GC Images) On the run A man - who apears to be a Bond villain - made a run for it following the explosion (Picture: REUTERS/Henry Romero) Making a move Craig maintained Bond's suave look as he escaped from the collapsing building (Picture: REUTERS/Henry Romero) Lights, camera, action! Camera crews swarmed the explosive scene (Picture: REUTERS/Henry Romero)

He added: If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity.

Hiddleston is already 10/1 to play the role, according to a number of bookmakers, and has become a firm fan favourite.

TODO: define component type apester

The Avengers actor has stiff competition from the likes of Damien Lewis and Idris Elba, who are still out in front, while other contenders include Henry Cavill and John Boyega.

Daniel Craig is yet to announce that he is stepping down from the role, but is rumoured to have thrown in the towel.

While producers seem keen to keep him on for one more film, he recently admitted that hed rather slash his wrists than play the famous spy again.
W ith less than two months to go until the arrival of Game of Thrones Season 6, theres still one huge question thats hanging over the shows return.

The last episode of the show ended with Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, betrayed by his men and stabbed repeatedly, apparently to death.

Or was he? The final show saw the character bleeding out in the icy wastes of the North, but gave no confirmation over whether he would somehow survive.

With the most recent book in George RR Martins epic fantasy series also leaving off at a similar point, nobody knows if Jon Snow will make it.

After repeated denials, Kit Harington has now admitted that he has indeed filmed some scenes for Season 6  except, hes been dead in them.

Speaking to Time Out, the actor said: I filmed some scenes of me being dead  [jokily] its some of my best work.

He claimed that he doesnt have a clue what happens in the series.

I know how long Im a corpse for, but I cant tell you that! he said.

Game of Thrones: Season 6 1 /26 Game of Thrones: Season 6 Theon Greyjoy and Sansa Stark The pair find themselves on the run from Ramsay Bolton in Season 6 HBO Bran Stark and the Three-Eyed Raven Bran is back after being absent for Season 5 - but how is he standing up? HBO Arya Stark Maisie Williams' character went blind at the end of Season 5 King Tommen and Jaime Lannister The king and his father mourn the death of Myrcella Tyrion Lannister and Varys The pair remain in Meereen after Daenerys fled on the back of her dragons Roose and Ramsay Bolton The Boltons look set to continue their power-grab in the North Ramsay Bolton Iwan Rheon returns as possibly the most villainous character in the show's history Samwell Tarly and Gilly How much longer will Samwell survive after the death of Jon Snow? Yara Greyjoy Theon's sister returns - will she finally have some kind words for her brother after everything he's been through? Jaime Lannister Jaime transports Mrycella's body Cersei Lannister Expect a flashback to Cersei's imprisonment at the hand of the High Sparrow Missandei Jaime and Cersei Lannister HBO Sansa Stark Brienne of Tarth Melisandre Bran Stark Daenerys Targaryen Balon Greyjoy Tyrion Lannister HBO

Does that mean therell be a time when Jon Snow is no longer a corpse? Will he be dead for several episodes or will he somehow come back in the first one? Or are we reading too much into this and Snow really is gone for good?

Itll be a long two month wait to find out.
T he Voice UK is denying fix claims after Paloma Faith revealed that a moment in Saturday nights show was pre-arranged.

The latest episode saw contestants Kevin Simm and Faith Nelson face off in the battle rounds, with Faith chosen to continue in the competition.

However, Ricky Wilson saved former Liberty X singer Kevin Simm from leaving the competition by stealing him.

Speaking to The Mirror, Faith said that she had previously agreed with Wilson for him to steal Simm.

Losing Kevin was the hardest battle round decision. I wasnt sleeping because of it. So Ricky and I agreed beforehand that he would take Kevin, she said. I sent Kevin an email afterwards to tell him I thought he could win the whole competition and to explain that I knew hed be saved.

She added: Kevins one of only two acts this series to get four of us turning, whereas only two of us had turned for Faith.

But I was really sure about her. So I had to make sure they both stayed. It would have been 100 per cent ridiculous to get rid of someone that talented.

The Voice 2016 1 /14 The Voice 2016 The Voice 2016 Will.i.am is back to find talent for the fifth series Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Paloma Faith is one of the newest additions to the show Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Boy George has replaced Tom Jones on the BBC show Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 This year's judges Will.i.am, Paloma Faith, Ricky Wilson and Boy George Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Will.i.am, Ricky Wilson, Paloma Faith and Boy George pose for promotional shots Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Top to Bottom, Left To Right Boy George, Will.i.am, Ricky Wilson, Paloma Faith Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Ricky Wilson slicks back his hair Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Paloma Faith glams up as she joins the show Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Ricky Wilson gears up for the fifth series Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Will.i.am jumps for joy ahead of the new series Ray Burmiston/BBC The Voice 2016 Boy George has already caused a stir on set Ray Burmiston/BBC

Speaking to the Evening Standard, a spokesperson for the show said that there is "no truth in this fix' claim".

They added: "The conversation between Ricky and Paloma before that battle record was her asking him to steal Kevin if she didn't choose him. He did not agree or disagree."
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Argentinian auto production declines 25.1 percent in February

Monday, 07 March 2016 20:47:03 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo



Argentinian auto production in February declined 25.1 percent, year-on-year, to 34,174 units, the nations automotive industry association, Adefa, said. In the month-on-month analysis, cars output rose 92.2 percent.



Domestic sales in the second month of the year rose 19.3 percent, year-on-year, and 5.3 percent, month-on-month, to 52,593 units.



Auto exports in the month of February declined 41.5 percent, year-on-year, to 14,178 units, but surged 264.7 percent in the month-on-month comparison.



As for the accumulated period of January and February, auto output and domestic sales reached 51.959 and 102,528 units, 27.1 percent down, year-on-year, but 31.1 percent up in the same period, respectively. As for cars exports, the two-month period analysis showed a 43.3 percent decline, year-on-year, with exports totaling 18,066 units.





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Monday, 07 March 2016 17:00:29 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has evaluated the US applying a preliminary antidumping (AD) duty to cold rolled coil ( CRC ) steel from China of up to 265.79 percent in response to the uncontrolled rise of dumped products from the country, stating that this is in contrast to the provisional 13-16 percent antidumping tariff applied to cold rolled coil products by the EU in February of this year, which are insufficient to remedy or deter dumping from China





EUROFER director general Axel Eggert commented that the US vigorously reestablishes a level playing field for its domestic steel industry against massive Chinese dumping with antidumping duty of 265.79 percent. Meanwhile, the EU again proves its inability to defend its strategic sectors, with tariffs as low as 13 percent for identical products, added Mr Eggert. He also pointed out that such low antidumping duty levels do not sufficiently capture the injury suffered by the European steel industry, making the continued application of the lesser duty rule unnecessarily damaging. Mr. Eggert said that continued member state opposition to the lifting of the lesser duty rule shows that many EU governments are neglecting the impact of this rule.
Monday, 07 March 2016 15:25:53 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has announced that it has launched an antidumping (AD) investigation on galvanized steel products imported into Vietnam from China and South Korea





The investigation was launched upon the application lodged by domestic producers JSC China Steel Sumikin Vietnam (CSVC), Ltd Ton Phuong Nam Joint Stock Company and Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company Ton Dong. The investigation covers the period from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.





The products in question currently fall under the Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7210.41.11, 7210.41.12, 7210.41.19, 7210.49.11, 7210.49.12, 7210.49.13, 7210.49.19, 7210.50.00, 7210.61.11, 7210.61.12, 7210.61.19, 7210.69.11, 7210.69.12, 7210.69.19, 7210.90.10, 7210.90.90, 7212.30.10, 7212.30.20, 7212.30.91, 7212.30.99, 7212.50.11, 7212.50.12, 7212.50.19, 7212.50.21, 7212.50.22, 7212.50.29, 7212.50.91, 7212.50.92, 7212.50.99, 7212.60.10, 7212.60.20, 7212.60.90, 7225.92.90, 7225.99.90, 7226.99.11, 7226.99.19, 7226.99.91 and 7226.99.99.
Monday, 07 March 2016 15:26:29 (GMT+3) | Brescia

During the last week, the Italian merchant bar market gave some positive signals after a long quiet period. Italian producers are now expected to announce a price increase since the base* price in the local market is still at 40-45/mt ($44-50/mt), unchanged from two weeks ago.

Market sources say that the increases seen in raw material prices are the main reason of the upward trend and without an improvement in demand the good news will be short-lived.

*In the Italian market, price extras can vary in the range of 410-610/mt ($451-671/mt) for domestic sales and in the range of 410-620/mt ($451-682/mt) for foreign markets, depending on dimension and product.

1 = $1.10
Updated at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday

NEW DELHI  The Bangladesh central bank says it is working to recover some $100 million allegedly stolen by Chinese hackers from an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Authorities have given few details about how the money disappeared. But Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith says authorities are considering suing the U.S. bank over the money's apparent transfer to accounts in the Philippines.

Muhith said the U.S. bank has "no way to avoid their responsibility."

In a statement Wednesday, the New York Fed said it had not detected any hacking attempts, and there is "no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised."

"The payment instructions in question were fully authenticated ... in accordance with standard authentication protocols," the statement said.

The New York Fed said it has been working with the central bank of Bangladesh since the incident occurred "and will continue to provide assistance as appropriate."

The Bangladesh Bank said it managed to recover some of the funds, but gave no details. It has also tracked down those still missing and is working with the anti-money laundering agency in the Philippines, which has been ordered by a court in the country to freeze the accounts while the issue is being investigated. Bangladesh also is working with World Bank cyber and forensic experts, the bank said in a statement.

The country's leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper reported Wednesday that at least 30 transfer requests were made Feb. 5 using the Bangladesh Bank's SWIFT code, out of which five succeeded in effecting transfers.

Economist Mamun Rashid, who previously headed Citibank NA in Bangladesh, said he was sure the country would be able to recover the full amount.

"Bangladesh is a client of the Federal Reserve Bank. They must take the responsibility for this incident," he said. "But we have to see whether we have lodged our complaint properly."

Since hacking has been a threat for years, he said clients should not suffer if depositing with large banks. "A client's right must be protected."

__________

Our earlier story, from Bloomberg, posted at 2:32 p.m. Tuesday

The Federal Reserve is responsible for at least $100 million stolen from Bangladesh's account, according to Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.

Bangladesh plans a legal fight to retrieve the missing funds, Muhith told reporters in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday. Bangladesh's central bank said Monday that funds had been stolen from an account by hackers, and that it had traced some of the missing money to the Philippines, where it was working with local authorities.

"We kept money with the Federal Reserve Bank and irregularities must be with the people who handle the funds there," Muhith said. "It can't be that they don't have any responsibility."

A clear picture of the alleged misappropriation of funds has yet to emerge, in a case that appears to span the globe from Bangladesh to the United States to the Philippines, an East Asian country with few economic ties to the South Asian nation.

A Federal Reserve Bank of New York spokeswoman said on Monday there was no sign its systems had been hacked after Bangladesh Bank reported the missing funds.

There is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised, the spokeswoman said.

The instructions to make the payments from the account of Bangladesh's central bank followed standard protocols and were authenticated by the SWIFT message system used by financial institutions, the Fed spokeswoman said Tuesday. The Fed has been working with and assisting Bangladesh since the incident, she said.

__________

Our earlier report, from Reuters, posted at 1:43 p.m. Monday

DHAKA  Bangladesh's central bank said on Monday its U.S. account had been hacked and that money had been stolen from it, a claim that its U.S. counterpart, the Federal Reserve, denied.

Bangladesh Bank said it had traced some of the money to the Philippines and that it was working with anti-money laundering authorities there. Some of the funds were recovered, it said.

The central bank did not say how much money had been stolen and a spokesman declined to comment.

The New York Federal Reserve, where Bangladesh has an account along with other foreign central banks, later on Monday denied that its systems were breached.

"To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," a New York Fed spokeswoman said in response to queries about the Bangladesh claim.

The U.S. central bank's New York branch did not say whether funds had been drained from the account, or whether it was investigating the claim by its overseas counterpart.

Bangladesh's central bank has around $28 billion in foreign currency reserves.

Some 250 central banks, governments, and other institutions have foreign accounts at the New York Fed, which is near the center of the global financial system. The accounts hold mostly U.S. Treasuries and agency debt.

Fed computers have been hacked in the past.

There were legal charges in 2014 against a British citizen for breaching its servers and publicly posting information from internal network users.

In a broader breach of the U.S. government, details came to light last year about a massive computer hack that put the personal data of some 22 million Americans at risk.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York.
GERMANTOWN, N.Y.  Dennis Nesel converts barley to malt the way it was done hundreds of years ago, spreading the water-soaked grain on his malt house floor and turning it with a shovel as it germinates to release the sugar needed for fermentation.

"This is old-school heritage malting," says Nesel, whose "micro malt house" uses barley from a nearby farm and returns some of it as malt to the farm's craft brewing operation, which turns out small batches of beer sold at farmer's markets and local pubs.

Nesel's Hudson Valley Malt, 100 miles north of New York City, is one of dozens of small malting businesses that have sprung up around the country over the past few years to serve a growing thirst for locally crafted beer and whiskey that reflect a region's climate and soils.

"Wine people call it terroir," Nesel said. "We call it flavor of the field."

According to the U.S. Brewers Association, the number of small-scale craft malting companies in the U.S. has grown from fewer than five in 2010 to 36 today, with about 50 more in the works. That goes along with a rise in craft breweries over the same period, from 1,754 to 3,418.

New York feeds that trend with a 2012 state law that requires farm breweries to use set proportions of state-grown ingredients. About a dozen small malt houses have opened in the state in the past three years to serve some 200 breweries, according to the New York State Brewers Association.

But even without state incentive programs, regional malt houses using locally grown barley have sprung up in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Colorado and Oregon.

"It was hard at first to find farmers willing to grow malting barley," said Andrea Stanley, whose Valley Malt in Hadley, Massachusetts, was the first craft malt house in the Northeast in 2010. "That has really turned around, with brewers wanting to buy local grain and creating a nice demand."

Proximity Malt, a craft beer-focused startup founded a year ago by former employees of Malteurop, a global malt supplier, is planning malt houses in southern Colorado and Delaware that will produce 50,000 tons of malt a year from locally grown grain.

A development that could spur New York farmers to grow barley on a grander scale is the plan by oil giant Sunoco to open a large-scale malt house later this year in a former Miller Brewing Co. plant in central New York where it already has a corn ethanol plant. The $9.1 million facility will handle 100,000 bushels of malting barley annually to serve mostly craft brewers.

While farmers in the Northeast have long grown barley as a cover crop and for animal feed, the moist climate makes it hard to produce grain of the high quality needed for malting. Wet weather can make the grain germinate before it's even harvested, and fusarium fungus can make it toxic. Barley must be tested for the fusarium toxin before it's used for beer-making.

Cornell University has been doing field trials to find barley varieties best suited to New York, and the new Center for Craft Food and Beverage at Hartwick College in Oneonta is providing farmers technical support, education and quality testing.

Ted Hawley, who began production at New York Craft Malt on his fourth-generation family farm in Batavia in 2014, does his malting in stainless steel vessels that he made himself. He said four farmers in his area of western New York were unsuccessful in their attempts to grow malting barley. For those who succeed, the reward is up to $7 a bushel for quality malting barley versus $3 for animal feed.

About 2,000 acres of malting barley was grown in New York last year, up from 500 acres in 2012, according to the state Farm Bureau. That's expected to increase considerably to meet the growing demand of the craft brewing industry.

Ken Migliorelli, who owns the fruit and vegetable farm where From The Ground brewery is located, said his well-draining sandy soil is ideal for growing malting barley. He's supplying about a dozen breweries now and plans to expand from 100 acres of barley to 500.

"I was growing barley as a cover crop in my vegetables before," Migliorelli said. "Now, I'm getting some revenue from it."

Jakob Cerill, who started From The Ground brewery about a year ago on the farm that provides Nesel's barley, said using grain from nearby fields and having it malted in Nesel's converted horse barn three miles away imparts a special freshness to his beer.

"There's a great flavor," he said. "It's sort of like eating a cookie from your oven versus one from the grocery store."
ST. LOUIS  Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigans office is considering legal action against the states natural resources agency for what prosecutors call a failure to follow the terms of a court-brokered plan to toughen oversight of coal mines.

The tougher regulations were part of broader reforms touted with much fanfare two years ago by the administration of former Gov. Pat Quinn. They followed criticisms by environmentalists who alleged the state Department of Natural Resources was too cozy with mining companies and other businesses it regulates.

The rules included a requirement that regulators provide earlier notification of new mine applications and that mine permit applicants be available to answer questions at public hearings. But two years later, the new rules have not been enacted, and the resources agency now wants to package the new rules with other pending changes that some environmental groups say actually weaken public participation.

It is frustrating that the new rules are not yet in place, said Ann Spillane, Madigans chief of staff. It is past time for the department to stop delaying the implementation of new rules and to fully comply with the court order by allowing meaningful public participation.

The threat of renewed legal action comes as the coal industry is battling economic and political challenges that threaten many jobs in central and southern Illinois. The DNR is now overseen by the administration of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a former venture capitalist who defeated Quinn, a Democrat, in 2014 after the new regulations had been announced.

The state has 15 pending requests for new mines, permit revisions or renewals that could be affected by the new requirements, government records show.

The reforms adopted by the DNR in 2014 settled a lawsuit by Madigan, a Democrat, over the agencys 2007 approval of a surface mine near the central Illinois town of Banner amid resident complaints about potential threats to their water supply. IDNR eventually rejected the permit, but Illinois prosecutors continued to press their case against the agency, resulting in a March 2014 consent agreement in Sangamon County Circuit Court.

The head of the DNR at the time called the reforms the most recent steps to further restore the integrity of this agency and allow for more public participation as we work towards becoming a national model for transparency.

Since then, the Illinois Coal Association has petitioned the DNR to revise the so-called Banner rules to better address industry concerns  including a change that would only allow state hearing officers, not citizens, to question mine applicants at public hearings.

Coal association president Phil Gonet says the Banner rule did not take the industrys concerns into account, arguing that the settlement was politically motivated during Quinns re-election bid. The incumbent governor earned the endorsement of environmentalists during his campaign after the reforms were announced.

The agreed order was developed without any input from the staff at IDNR that actually work on coal mine permits, Gonet said. We believe these regulations go far beyond whats required (under federal law).

IDNR spokesman Chris Young said that efficiency is behind the pace of the agencys rule-making efforts, not any industry-led effort to obstruct them.

Young said the agency sought guidance on the rules from the federal Office of Surface Mining, which responded in February 2015 that it found nothing of concern. IDNR also sought additional input from the coal industry, environmentalists and other interested parties on not only the Banner rules but three other sets of administrative changes.

He said that both the federal government and the Legislatures Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which still must approve the final revisions, would prefer the changes be considered together as one package. But Vicki Thomas, the legislative committees executive director, said that none of us have had that conversation with the natural resources department.

Young did not respond to an AP request to interview officials in IDNRs land reclamation division, which oversees coal mines, or agency director Wayne Rosenthal, a farmer and former Republican legislator appointed by Rauner to lead the agency in January 2015.

A Rauner spokeswoman on Sunday said the natural resources agency is working diligently on the rules as it awaits a final review from the federal government.

The consent agreement did not stipulate a deadline to adopt the changes. But Sierra Club activist Joyce Blumenshine accused the state agency of holding these rules hostage.

Former assistant attorney general Thomas Davis, who led the Banner rule negotiations before his 2014 retirement, attributed the agencys foot-dragging to what he called its dissatisfaction with both the prolonged legal fight and the terms of the settlement.

My perception is the department wasnt real happy to have to do this in the first place, he said.
Updated at 2:16 p.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged Rhode Island's economic development agency and Wells Fargo with defrauding investors in the state's disastrous $75 million deal with 38 Studios, the failed video game company started by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

The civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Providence, accuses the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. and Wells Fargo Securities of making materially misleading statements when they sold the bonds used to fund the deal.

Schilling moved his company from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 2010, after the agency agreed to give it a $75 million loan guarantee. The deal was financed through bonds offered to investors. Less than two years later, 38 Studios ran out of money and closed its doors, filing for bankruptcy.

Schilling is not accused of wrongdoing in the SEC action, but he and others, including Wells Fargo, are being sued by the economic development agency in state court. That case has so far netted nearly $17 million in settlements. Schilling has blamed state officials for failing to support his business venture.

A spokesman for Wells Fargo disputed the SEC's allegations and said the company will respond in court.

Also named in the SEC complaint are former agency officials Keith Stokes and Michael Saul, and Peter Cannava, a Wells Fargo banker on the transaction. Stokes and Saul agreed to settle the SEC charges without admitting or denying the allegations and must each pay a $25,000 penalty.

The SEC complaint says the officials knew that 38 Studios needed at least $75 million to bring its game, code-named "Project Copernicus," to completion. But under the deal with the state, the company would receive only $50 million of proceeds from the bond offering. Despite that, the bond offering documents failed to disclose the funding gap, the complaint alleges.

"38 Studios' funding gap was known at the time the Bond Placement Memo was sent to investors. It was not speculative. It was an existing risk that should have been disclosed to potential investors in the offering," the complaint says.

Wells Fargo also had a "dual role" in the offering, the SEC alleged, representing both the state agency and 38 Studios, a potential conflict of interest it didn't disclose to investors.

Cannava's lawyer, Brian Kelly, disputed the SEC's contention that Cannava was the lead banker on the matter and said he would fight the action vigorously.

"The SEC is trying to scapegoat a mid-level banker instead of focusing on the mistakes of Rhode Island politicians," he said.

Stokes' lawyer, Scott Morvillo, said the settlement represents what his client hopes is the final chapter in the matter.

Other representatives for those named in the action didn't immediately comment.

In a separate but related action Monday, the SEC announced it settled charges with the bond offering's financial adviser, First Southwest Company, which agreed to pay $192,400 and didn't admit or deny wrongdoing. First Southwest is among those being sued in the state court lawsuit. The company's spokeswoman, Patti Doyle, characterized the SEC case as a "very minor administrative matter" and said it shouldn't affect the state lawsuit.

Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo said she wasn't sure how the SEC action would affect the state lawsuit.

"It's obviously disappointing," Raimondo said. "I was opposed to this deal from the very beginning and every day since. We need to get to the bottom of it and this is part of that process. But beyond that, we've got to move on."

The deal was struck under former Gov. Donald Carcieri, a Republican.

Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said it was disturbing that the economic development agency "failed to protect the best interests of the state's taxpayers in this transaction."

A state lawmaker who has led oversight hearings into the 38 Studios deal said she was pleased to hear about the charges.

"It can only make us stronger as a state," said Democratic Rep. Karen MacBeth.

In the future, she said, "people that may consider doing something like this may think twice."

Associated Press writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected bids by three companies to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign tax credits denied by the Internal Revenue Service as the tax agency tries to curb corporate abuse of such credits.

The high court left in place lower court rulings in favor of the U.S. government in cases involving American International Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and BB&T Corp.

Foreign tax credits are intended to avoid having companies that conduct business abroad face double taxation. U.S. companies, which are taxed on their worldwide income, are permitted to claim a credit for taxes paid to foreign governments.

The IRS has called foreign tax credit abuse among its top compliance concerns for big companies. The concern centers on whether certain transactions made by companies had an actual legitimate business purpose or were orchestrated simply to reap improper tax credits.

Insurer AIG had sought $48.2 million in credits for 1997, following several cross-border transactions in which it borrowed $1.6 billion and reinvested it at higher rates, ostensibly to make a profit, according to court papers.

In a September 2015 ruling in the AIG and New York Mellon cases, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said AIG's calculation of $168.8 million of pre-tax profit over the life of the transactions did not take into account various taxes paid and tax credits claimed. The appeals court also said a reasonable fact-finder could conclude that the transactions accomplished little.

Meanwhile, court papers showed that Bank of New York Mellon had sought $200 million of credits for 2001 and 2002 tied to a Barclays Plc product known as STARS, or "structured trust advantaged repackaged securities," in which it obtained a low-rate $1.5 billion loan whose proceeds it reinvested at higher rates.

BB&T unit Salem Financial Inc was seeking a credit for $500 million it paid in taxes to Britain. In a May 2015 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the cross-border transaction that led to the tax liability lacked "economic substance."
Officials with the nonprofit Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Twitter Inc. on Monday for increasing efforts to thwart Islamic State's use of its platform for recruitment and propaganda.

The center's Digital Terrorism and Hate Project gave Twitter a grade of "B" in a report card of social networking companies' efforts to fight online activity by militant groups such as IS.

"We think they are definitely heading in the right direction," the project's director, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of Monday's release of the report card at a press conference in New York.

He said the review was based on steps that Twitter has already taken and information that center staff learned in face-to-face meetings with company representatives.

Islamic State has long relied on Twitter to recruit and radicalize new adherents. The Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization, has been one of toughest critics of the Twitter's strategy for combating those efforts.

Some vocal Twitter critics have tempered their views since December, when the site revised its community policing policies, clearly stating that it banned "hateful conduct" that promotes violence against specific groups and would delete offending accounts.

Researchers with George Washington University's Program on Extremism last month reported that Islamic State's English-language reach on Twitter stalled last year amid a stepped-up crackdown by the company against the extremist group's army of digital proselytizers.

The center gave Twitter grade of "C" in a report card last year, which covered efforts to fight terrorism along with hate speech. This year it gave two grades, awarding Twitter a "D" on hate speech, saying the company needed to do more to censor the accounts of groups that promote hate.

A Twitter spokesman declined comment, but pointed to a statement on the company's blog posted Feb. 5 on combating violent extremism.

"We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behavior, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service," Twitter said in the blog.

Among other major Internet firms included in this year's survey, Facebook Inc got an "A-" for terrorism and a "B-" for hate. Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube got a "B-" for terrorism and a "D" for hate.
United Continental Holdings President and CEO Oscar Munoz, who has been recuperating from a heart transplant since January, will return to work full time on March 14, the airline announced Sunday.

The Chicago-based airline also announced on Monday that it has named three independent directors to its board  including two with deep airline experience.

Munoz, 57, suffered a heart attack on Oct. 15, just six weeks into the job. On Jan. 6, he underwent a heart transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Upon his release from the hospital, Chicago-based United said Munoz was expected to return from medical leave at the end of the first quarter, or early in the second quarter.

I am thrilled to return full time to a job and the employees I love, Munoz said in a news release. Since September when I became CEO, our team has been focused on our employees, improving the operation and the customer experience, and the results are starting to show.

He added, Our progress isn't just limited to the operation. Financially, we have been performing well. United's 2015 earnings were one of the best in the company's history, and we made significant progress shrinking the margin gap with our closest competitors, strengthening our balance sheet and returning significant cash to shareholders. United spent $1.2 billion repurchasing shares in 2015 and plans to spend $1.5 billion on share repurchases in the first quarter of 2016. We have a lot of positive momentum, but this is just the beginning. There is significant work under way and we see substantial upside yet to come.

Munoz returns to an airline that continues to be bogged down by labor troubles.

In mid-February, United Airlines mechanics overwhelmingly voted to reject the companys contract offer and authorized a strike. More than 93 percent of the ballots cast  more than 7,800 members of the Teamsters voted  opposed the contract United put in front of them in October, one that would cover 9,000 mechanics in the bargaining unit.

In a statement after the defeat, Munoz said he would personally meet with each of our labor leaders to make sure we reach an agreement that will work for our technicians.

On Friday, Munoz invited union leaders to meet with him in Chicago on March 14.

Separately, the airlines remains in federal mediation with its flight attendants union to negotiate a contract for some 24,000 flight attendants at United and Continental, which merged in 2010.

United pilots overwhelmingly approved a two-year contract extension in January and the airline last month reached a tentative deal with its dispatchers.

In a news release, Henry Meyer III, chairman of Uniteds board, also thanked interim CEO Brett Hart, a United vice president and general counsel, for his superb leadership as acting CEO.

Separately, United Continental, which was targeted by group of activist investors recently, announced Monday that it has added three independent directors to its board and said certain current directors will step down.

The three new directors are: James Kennedy, 62, former chief executive of investment firm T. Rowe Price; Robert Milton, 55, former CEO of Air Canada and a former US Airways director; and James Whitehurst, 48, the CEO of information technology company Red Hat and the former chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines.

United didnt specify which directors would leave the board.

Outside directors are considered desirable in corporate governance circles because they can bring in a fresh perspective and challenge thinking inside a company.

United said the three new directors will be nominated by the board for re-election at its 2016 annual shareholder meeting. The board expects to appoint a fourth new independent director soon, who will also be nominated for re-election at the upcoming meeting. Meanwhile, certain current directors will step down from the board at or in advance of the meeting.

For some time, the board has been evaluating potential director candidates with help from a search firm and with the benefit of shareholder input, Meyer said.

In late January, Altimeter Capital Management and PAR Investment Partners, both of Boston, disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that theyve taken stakes in United.

Altimeter said it had accumulated 11.5 million United shares, or 3.1 percent of the stock.

It said it has had discussions with United management, members of its board of directors, other United stockholders, and others regarding the companys business, management, capital structure and allocation, corporate governance, board composition, strategic alternatives and direction, and strategies to enhance shareholder value.

PARs SEC filing stated a similar purpose.

PAR said it owned nearly 9 million United shares, or about 2.4 percent of its stock.
UPDATED with details from city attorney on law disqualifying felons from being a candidate for public office

SILEX  The Lincoln County sheriffs office on Friday arrested the president of the Silex Board of Aldermen for failing to register as a sex offender.

David Wayne Heimburger, 49, was supposed to register in Missouri every 90 days because of a felony sex conviction in Florida, said Lincoln County sheriffs Lt. Andy Binder. Heimburger was convicted of fondling a 10-year-old girl in Pinellas County, Fla., in 1987, police say.

He moved to Missouri and first registered here on March 1, 2004, Binder said. The law requires that he register every 90 days, Binder said.

Heimburger missed a Feb. 29 deadline for registering, and came to the sheriffs office a day late, according to a probable cause statement filed in court.

Police had sent Heimburger a reminder letter about his Feb. 29 deadline. Heimburger told Detective Sean Flynn at the sheriffs office that he didnt remember getting the letter and wouldnt have understood it anyway because he has a learning disability, court records say.

He also accused police of persecuting him for something he never should have been convicted of, the records say.

Heimburger had met the previous deadline, in December, but wrote on the form that he was disabled. He had previously listed unemployed. Police checked with the Silex city clerk, who verified that he is a city employee and gets paid for his work.

He was charged with one count of failing to register as a sex offender. His bail was set at $25,000, cash only. Failing to register is a felony, punishable in Missouri by up to four years in prison.

Heimburger could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Bob Zeh, the newly appointed mayor, was angry when he heard the news. He told the Post-Dispatch on Monday that had no idea about Heimburgers past. Zeh has lived in Silex about two years and never held public office until he was sworn in recently as mayor. Zeh took over the mayoral post after the death on Nov. 27 of then-Mayor David Rice in a vehicle crash.

Zeh said Heimburger has been an alderman for a few years, although he wasnt sure how long. Heimburger is up for re-election on April 5. Zeh said the residents hes been hearing from since Heimburgers arrest were shocked, as well, that he was a sex offender.

It was not common knowledge, as far as I know, Zeh said.

Silex City Attorney Jeff Robertson said felons are disqualified from being a candidate for public office in Missouri. In addition, every candidate must sign a declaration before seeking office that he or she meets the qualifications.

Robertson said the board could try to impeach Heimburger. However, since the April municipal election is just days away, it might be a waste of time and money to try that, he said.

Robertson noted that Heimburger is seeking re-election. "Should he get re-elected, it could become a problem then," Robertson said in an email.

Zeh said he wants to make sure a felon never holds public office in Silex again.

Im in office now and there will be changes made and changes coming, Zeh said. No one will have to wonder or worry if a city official has felonies or a criminal background. I want people to know the people leading the city are good citizens.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The city attorney says felons are disqualified from being a candidate for public office in Missouri. The status of the law was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
Since wresting away a previously Democratic Metro East congressional seat almost 20 years ago, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., has been virtually untouchable by Democrats. He won his 2014 re-election with 75 percent of the vote. No Democrat has bothered to file for his seat this year.

But in what has become a familiar story in Republican enclaves around the country, Shimkus now faces an in-party challenge from his right. Kyle McCarter, a tough-talking state legislator with Tea Party backing, is fighting Shimkus for the GOP nomination in next weeks Illinois primary.

McCarter, 53, of Lebanon, says that Shimkus  a longtime anti-abortion, anti-tax, NRA-backed incumbent who is widely considered one of Illinois most conservative congressmen  is too liberal. Several conservative organizations agree, and have backed McCarter.

The congressman has betrayed us in a lot of ways, McCarter said last week. He cited Shimkus support for last years $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. The bipartisan compromise measure averted a government shutdown, but enraged the most conservative members of Congress because it didnt cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.

After 20 years, [Shimkus] has become part of the problem in Washington, said McCarter. He is a liberal Republican and his record shows it  Those are not the values of the people of this district.

Shimkus, 58, of Collinsville, pointed to his support from a slew of top national conservative organizations regarding abortion, guns and taxes. Ive only voted against Obamacare like 45,000 times, he joked.

Shimkus expressed amusement that his conservatism could be questioned  and he suggested that the very definition of the word seems to be under debate now. Its a battle of semantics: How conservative is conservative? he asked.

Theres weird stuff in the air, he added.

The 15th Congressional District covers most of Madison County and spreads out to encompass the whole southeastern portion of Illinois, from the Champaign-Urbana area down to Metropolis at the southern end of the state.

The GOP primary is March 15. With no one running for the Democratic nomination, the Shimkus-McCarter contest will effectively decide the seat.

Not a rabble-rouser

Shimkus, a former Madison County treasurer, was swept into Congress in 1996 as part of a conservative wave that broke the Democratic Partys long hold on Southern Illinois and turned the region largely Republican. His stances since then have generally checked all the boxes on traditional conservative issues.

I dont think you could have a much more conservative record, said John Jackson, a political scientist at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. But he isnt by disposition a rabble-rouser. Stylistically, he tends to be calm and soft-spoken.

That kind of nonconfrontational conservatism, Jackson said, doesnt always cut it with todays more activist Republicans, to whom conservatism is often as much an attitude as a list of policy positions.

Talking tough is the key, Jackson said. It seems to turn on style and mannerism and how loud you are.

In written announcements of their McCarter endorsements, some conservative groups have complained that Shimkus has joined in compromises that Republican congressional leaders have made with the Obama Administration on things like funding Planned Parenthood and raising the federal debt ceiling, rather than standing with the most conservative blocs opposing those compromises.

The powerful conservative group Club for Growths endorsement of McCarter has garnered national attention, because Shimkus is one of only a handful of sitting Republicans the group has targeted with significant money. While Kyle McCarter would bring a fresh breath of fiscal conservatism to Washington, his opponent, John Shimkus, is the epitome of whats wrong with Congress, the group said in a statement.

Phyllis Schlaflys Eagle Forum chided Shimkus for voting to keep money flowing to President Obamas priorities by supporting budgetary compromises. Family-PAC accused Shimkus of a total surrender to Harry Reid and President Obama on domestic spending.

Shimkus endorsers  including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Right to Life Committee, the NRA and the Illinois Farm Bureau  have stressed his record in Congress. John is a proven leader, stated the Farm Bureau endorsement, which lauds what it calls an incredible track record on issues like trade, crop insurance and EPA overregulation.

As is usually the case with incumbents, Shimkus enjoys a major campaign funding advantage over McCarter. FEC records show McCarter has raised about $141,000 in the most recent reporting period, against some $1.3 million that Shimkus has raised.

But McCarter has been aided by third-party expenditures, including more than $280,000 in television ad buys and other spending by The Club for Growth.

TERM LIMITS, CAMPAIGN FUNDS

Both candidates are navigating nonideological issues as well.

Shimkus has come under criticism during the campaign  as he has in the past several re-election campaigns  for breaking a pledge he made during his first campaign not to serve more than 12 years. January 2017 will mark his 20th year in office.

McCarter slammed Shimkus on the issue last week, vowing to introduce term-limit legislation in Congress and to serve no more than 10 years there himself whether it passes or not.

He broke his promise, said McCarter. Twenty years is enough.

Shimkus last week said (as he has before) that President George W. Bush talked him into remaining in Congress, and that the voters have voiced their agreement by continuing to return him there. We have term limits; theyre called elections, Shimkus said. The voters will be able to decide.

McCarter, meanwhile, is currently the subject of a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission that he violated federal election law by using his Illinois campaign funds to pay for a consultant to his congressional campaign.

According to records, McCarters Illinois campaign fund, which isnt allowed to be used in federal elections, paid about $33,000 in 2015 to a suburban Chicago political consulting company, during the run-up to his October announcement that he would run for Congress. McCarter has said that the payments werent for his congressional campaign, but were related to his state Senate seat  even though that seat isnt up for re-election until 2018.

OTHER AREA DISTRICTS

The 15th district is one of three that encompass the Metro East and together span most of the southern half of Illinois, all with Republican incumbents.

In the 13th Congressional District, which takes in the northern Metro East and runs northeast to the Champaign and Bloomington areas, Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville is being challenged by Carrollton pharmacist Ethan Vandersand.

Vandersand  who recently told an interviewer he was called by God to run  has about $17,500 in campaign funds on hand, against Davis $962,000, and apparently hasnt netted any significant endorsements. Mark Wickland of Decatur is unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

In the 12th Congressional District, which encompasses St. Clair County and runs south to the southern tip of the state, Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro has no opponent in the GOP primary. Charles Baricevic, a Belleville attorney, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

This post has been corrected to add Mark Wickland as the Democratic candidate for the 13th Congressional District.
ST. LOUIS  The citys urban environment is the best place to house the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agencys proposed $1.75 billion intelligence campus, Missouri officials declared on Monday.

Young workers will be vital to the spy agencys high-tech mission, officials repeatedly said at a news conference, arguing the city is the best spot in the region for that workforce. To sweeten the pot, St. Louis said it will offer a 99-acre swath of land north of downtown to the agency for no cost, matching an offer by St. Clair County officials made more than a year ago.

The site is ready, the funding is in place, our partners are united, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said while flanked by state and local officials.

St. Louis, led by Mayor Francis Slay, had planned on selling the land to the government for around $14 million. The city has mortgaged two city buildings to free up $13 million to buy and assemble properties to showcase to the spy agency.

But on Monday, officials announced that to match St. Clair Countys land offer, the state has stepped in with additional tax credit help.

So far, Missouri has committed $131 million to the project: $95 million in tax increment financing, a portion of which would include diverting state income tax payments of NGA employees; and $36 million in Brownfield Tax Credits  an amount higher than originally expected. The city, meanwhile, has committed $1.5 million a year over the next 30 years.

The city commitment includes diverting half of the 1 percent earnings tax paid by NGA workers. Currently, NGA workers pay more than $2 million in income tax to the city, and officials expect employment and payroll to grow over time.

Mondays announcement came three days after Illinois officials held a similar event touting their site near Scott Air Force Base. The states top leaders said that site is best for cost, security and ease of development. The St. Clair site, about 182 acres, is open farmland adjacent to the air base, one of the regions largest employers.

St. Louis officials, grappling to keep the agency within its urban borders, have put together a complicated real estate plan involving the use of eminent domain to amass a large enough property suited for Defense Department specifications. The NGA has been situated for decades at a site just south of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

But not everyone on the Missouri side of the river agrees that the St. Louis site is best. On Monday, a few members of a group stood outside Slays office protesting the use of eminent domain to claim the necessary land. And two men who live near the north St. Louis location, Gustavo Rendon and Larry Chapman, are fasting in protest of the proposed development.

U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay said the city location is its best asset.

The best and the brightest want to live near other centers of talent and creative energy like Cortex, Washington Avenue and our great research universities, Clay said. Because people who are working on the hardest problems of today and the biggest challenges that America will face in the future want to hang out together.

Clay took a swipe at St. Clair County, joking: You just cant do that in a cornfield thats next to a strip mall and an Air Force base.

NGA handles computer mapping support for defense agencies. The agency, which has significantly grown since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, played a pivotal role in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, as well as doing major work during wars and natural disasters.

In fact, most of the elected officials, including Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., discussed millennial workers, the generation born between the 1980s and 2000s, noting their preference of living in urban environments.

Blunt said the new construction will house at least two generations of workers. He added that location is important to recruiting the best talent.

The NGAs generational decision will move 3,000 jobs and millions in investments to one of four locations in the St. Louis region. NGA will replace its current western headquarters in south St. Louis sometime next decade.

Technically, four area sites are vying for the construction: one in the city, two in St. Louis County and the other near Scott. But the city location and the site near Scott are widely perceived as the favorites. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger has endorsed the city location.

NGA Director Robert Cardillo, who visited St. Louis and Scott on Friday, will make the ultimate decision on relocation. A preferred location is expected to be announced on April 1.

The increased offer from Missouri comes after the Post-Dispatch reported the 2017 Department of Defense budget request lists an appropriation that appears to single out the 182-acre Scott Air Force Base site based on size and cost. NGA officials say the budget item is simply a placeholder.
Last year, after testifying before Missouri legislators about her daughters alleged sexual abuse by another child, Becky Wekenborgs Facebook page began to ping with messages from strangers asking for help.

She knew then, well before the bill expanding the scope of the Childrens Division was passed into law, that the state might be tackling something bigger than policymakers projected.

Until people started contacting me, I didnt realize that there was such a big problem, she said. I was just amazed at all these people who reached out to me who wanted advice and knew my name because of what my daughter had been through.

In August, the new state law went into effect mandating that the Childrens Division perform family assessments when it receives child abuse hotline calls alleging inappropriate sexual behavior perpetrated by children on other children.

Prior to that, the state was only mandated to investigate allegations of child abuse involving people who have care, custody or control of a child. That ruled out state intervention in most complaints against minors and essentially excluded all children under 14.

Child advocates lauded the change.

But even they failed to predict the extent of demand for the new services.

State officials had initially expected to respond to about 600 cases a year and had budgeted for five state caseworkers. The reality has been a bit darker.

In the first few months, the Childrens Division was inundated with calls from parents or caregivers with concerns. The initial rush of calls subsided, but yet, statistics provided by the agency show the state is still receiving about 325 calls a month  more than six times the number that had been anticipated, based on the prior two years of hotline calls. The majority of the calls require state intervention.

A spokesman with the Missouri Department of Social Services said despite the high number of calls, a state caseworker responded to every hotline call that was deemed of concern. Officials said experienced caseworkers were pulled in from other assignments to meet the demand.

Wekenborg brought the issue to state lawmakers last year after alleging her young daughter was just 4 when she was abused by a 7-year-old during overnight visits with her father in a court-mandated joint custody decision. The judge refused to change the custody agreement and dismissed the allegation as childs play  even though her pediatrician repeatedly testified the child had been sexually abused.

Unless you get a sympathetic family court judge that knows these things and understands there is a difference between sexual abuse, and that these kids are perpetrating and not playing doctor, you arent really getting anywhere in the court system, Wekenborg said.

Child advocates like Emily van Schenkhof, of the nonprofit Missouri Kids First, said the new law is a logical way to intervene early with children who exhibit problem sexual behaviors while further protecting other children from abuse.

Under the law children and families who get the assessment from the Childrens Division are not required to get state recommended services such as therapy. But those who do typically find the children quickly overcome problem behaviors.

State Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-South St. Louis County, an original proponent of the law and chairwoman of the appropriations committee that handles the Department of Social Services, lobbied for a $915,000 line item for 15 more caseworkers to handle the new demand.

That was cut in half last week and is not expected to be restored. The new funding, if it survives the budget process, would pay for 7.5 more caseworkers and give the department a total of 12.5 caseworkers to handle calls for the entire state.

Those familiar with the issue said the state will make do, even though the number of caseworkers falls short of the demand. Despite the shortfall, van Schenkhof said its clear the law was needed and will make a difference for children.

Its gone as well as it possibly could given how much we underestimated how many calls we would be getting and how much we are seeing, she said. We knew it was a problem, but we couldnt define the scope of the problem. But we knew this was something we had to do something about and not just ignore.
FERGUSON  The U.S. Department of Justice has assured city officials that they can still resolve a costly lawsuit by approving a proposal to overhaul its police and court practices, according to a letter obtained by the Post-Dispatch.

The Justice Department also suggested that the price of reform isnt nearly as expensive as has been portrayed.

The clarifications couldnt have come at a more critical time: The Ferguson City Council is expected to vote within days on an agreement with the Justice Department after effectively rejecting it less than a month ago.

We are fully prepared to litigate this matter, wrote Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division in a letter dated Friday. Should the city wish to avoid the litigation process we submit that the alternative is to sign the agreement...

The letter rebuts the notion that a provision requiring Ferguson to offer police competitive salaries means that officers and other employees must receive 25 percent pay increases, as a prominent city official had previously asserted.

We have always been clear that the salary provision neither requires any specific salary increase nor prohibits increases from being implemented over a reasonable time period, Gupta wrote.

As the Post-Dispatch reported last week, the council is expected to vote on the agreement on Tuesday  weeks after a new appointment to the council created a shift in favor of accepting a consent decree, but before a municipal election in April.

Ferguson Councilman Wesley Bell said Guptas letter clearly indicates that the Justice Department has no intention of bankrupting the city. The document, he said, should ease the fears of those opposed mostly for financial reasons to the agreement, called a consent decree.

Its time for everyone to rally behind this decree and move the city forward, Bell said.

Bell confirmed that the agreement would likely be added to the councils agenda for a meeting on Tuesday for a first reading.

I will be supporting it, he said. No was never an option for me.

Concerns about agreement

Last month, the council voted to accept the decree, but only with certain conditions, one of which would have effectively diluted its power.

The city sought to eliminate the so-called poison pill clause that made the decree apply to any other agency providing policing in Ferguson. The revision allowed Ferguson to circumvent most of the decree by disbanding its police department.

The Justice Department sued the city the next day.

But at that same meeting, council members also appointed Laverne Mitchom, a retired educator, to fill a council seat vacated when Brian Fletcher, a former mayor died of a heart attack in January.

Fletcher had founded the I love Ferguson campaign and never passed up a chance to extol the citys virtues.

Mitchom, on the other hand, had participated in the protests following Michael Browns death in August 2014, an event that sparked the Justice Department investigation into the citys police and court practices.

The Justice Department investigation produced a 105-page report alleging patterns of illegal stops, searches, and arrests  driven partly by racial bias.

City leaders encouraged the abuses, which violated the Constitutions First, Fourth and 14th Amendments, in the interest of raising revenue, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said.

In the aftermath of the report, the Justice Department and Ferguson spent 26 weeks negotiating a 131-page consent decree  one of the most comprehensive such agreements ever produced.

The city released it to the public in late January, holding hearings for its residents over a two-week period.

At those meetings, some residents expressed concerns that the expense of enacting the lengthy list of reforms would lead to the citys dissolution  fears that were only heightened by a presentation from Fergusons finance director, Jeffrey Blume.

Of the decrees more than 450 provisions, one requires Ferguson to develop a plan to offer police salaries that are among the most competitive with comparable agencies in St. Louis County.

Blume said the city had interpreted the provision to mean that Ferguson had to give 25 percent raises not only to police officers but all employees  raising the cost of abiding by the decree to $3.7 million in the first year.

But a Post-Dispatch analysis found that to arrive at that number, city officials appeared to have accelerated deadlines in the agreement, used inappropriate salary data and ignored the context of the most-competitive phrase.

Letter stresses collaboration

Guptas letter is unequivocal that the federal government will not accept the modifications the city unilaterally made to the agreement last month. But it also reveals an expectation that both parties will work collaboratively and that the city may have some latitude in carrying out the reforms.

That sentiment was mostly absent in the City Councils previous deliberations about approving the decree.

 as we made clear during our negotiations, Gupta wrote, the precise contours of implementation  would be developed over time in close coordination and consultation with City officials, the Department of Justice, the independent monitor and the court.

Gupta also suggests that her department has a significant stake in Fergusons financial health.

The Department of Justice has a strong interest in ensuring the sustainability of the reforms in our consent decrees and we understand that sustainability often, as a practical matter, requires attention to the financial condition of the local jurisdiction during the implementation stage, Gupta wrote.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III did not immediately return a voice message on Sunday. But he has repeatedly pointed to the numbers provided by Blume as evidence that the cost of abiding by the decree would be more expensive than fighting the federal government in court.

In an exchange with National Public Radios Ari Shapiro last month, Knowles went even further, saying he had seen no evidence that the citys practices had violated the Constitution.

I have not been presented with a case from the Department of Justice nor have we been able to identify specific instances in which this has occurred, Knowles said.
For the GOP to be a political party of today, and not of a past where the poor, middle-class and people of color were safely marginalized, it must unite behind Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Republican voters in Missouri and Illinois have an opportunity on March 15 to turn around the GOP ship before its too late to stop front-runner Donald Trump. Rubio is the best option to halt the partys takeover by an extremist fringe.

The 44-year-old junior senator is the only remaining candidate for the Republican nomination for president who has maintained an inclusive campaign theme aimed at energizing his party around helping the poor and middle class.

Rubio is a traditional conservative. He tells crowds he does not want big government to be used as a tool of crony capitalism. Of course, he also trumpets the predictable themes of opposition to same-sex marriage, Obamacare and raising the minimum wage. He adamantly opposes restoring relations with Cuba, the country his parents are from, even though many Republican leaders now say its time for a new approach.

Spanish-language media sometimes describe this son of a bartender and a maid as a joven viejo  young fogey. His personal story is compelling. He is a genuine candidate with something to offer Republican voters turned off by Trumps blowhard, strongman appeal to the partys fringe.

Rubio does not prey on voters anger, pessimism or fear. He deserves credit and support for championing workers, families and small businesses. Although he occasionally waffles, Rubio favors a fix for the nations broken immigration system.

He reasonably says the GOP can work with blue-collar unions on many issues, provided employers arent driven out of business in the process.

Rubio calls himself a child of the Reagan Revolution, and that mantle, along with his message of limited government and cutting the nations nearly $19 trillion debt, has helped him win the backing of conservative, establishment Republicans.

Its not too late for Republicans to reverse Trumps Super Tuesday momentum and opt for a Republican leader with vision and ideas that embrace more members of their party, rather than fewer.

Rubio has made missteps. Hes recently been criticized for rolling in the mud and taking childish swipes at Trump. A flawed debate performance before the New Hampshire primary led to concern that he lacks presidential gravitas.

He has massaged a family narrative to present his parents as exiles from Fidel Castros Cuba; in fact, the family left the country as emigres more than 2 years before Castro took power. He also had trouble with commingling personal and professional finances, and friendships with two scandal-tainted Florida state representatives.

These concerns should not be serious enough to discourage voters. If Republican primary voters want to halt their partys rapid self-destruction, Marco Rubio should be the choice.
About a year ago, the state of Indiana was threatened with an economic boycott after a small-town pizza parlor said it would refuse to cater a gay wedding. The states Legislature had just passed a bill that allowed discrimination if people had sincere religious objections to gay marriage.

Now the Missouri Legislature is inviting the same kind of backlash. Senate Bill 916 and Senate Joint Resolution 39 are overly broad, unnecessary, hateful and probably unconstitutional. The measures follow a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

Both pieces of legislation would make it clear that religiously affiliated groups, and not just churches, are exempt from certain provisions of the Missouri Human Rights Act. SJR 39 extends the religious exemption to individuals with a sincere religious belief against providing goods or services of expressional or artistic creation to celebrations of same-sex weddings.

If passed, the Senate bill would be subject to veto. The joint resolution, however, would not be subject to veto and could put the matter before voters.

In Indiana, threats of boycotts caused Gov. Mike Pence to walk back parts of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to make it clear that individual discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity was not permitted.

Should either SB 916 or SJR 39 become law, Missouri could experience the same kind of backlash as Indiana. Expect cancellations of conventions in St. Louis and Kansas City. Businesses worried about protecting their reputations would put expansion plans on hold in Missouri. Lawsuits would ring down like thunder.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, is the sponsor of SB 916. He has said its intended to deal with problems created by a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that narrowly defined what a religious organization is. But the bills language refers not just to organizations, but to a persons free exercise of religion.

Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, sponsor of SJR 39, is forthrightly aiming at those who provide services for weddings. This is not a major problem in most places, but why should anyone be allowed to impose religious beliefs on anyone else in a purely secular business transaction?

The fundamental problem is that Missouris Human Rights Act still does not forbid discrimination against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual. You cant be fired for your race, color or creed. But you can be fired for your sexual orientation.

For the 10th year in a row, the Missouri Non-discrimination Act has been introduced in the Legislature. In the form of SB 653, it actually passed out of a Senate committee last month, but its further chances arent good. The Legislature is too busy pandering to those who still believe some forms of discrimination are OK.
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.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
By the end of 2016 the U.S. Navy will disband one of its ten carrier air groups. This will mean the remaining nine carrier air groups will spend more time at sea and away from their home bases. The military term for this is less dwell time (with family and largely ashore). This is bad for morale but if the carriers spend less time at sea they will be less prepared for war.

A carrier air wing has about 2,500 personnel and 60-65 aircraft and helicopters. The elimination of a carrier air group is the result of the 2011 decision to disband one of its ten Carrier Strike Groups (SCGs), leaving only nine of them for the eleven aircraft carriers in service. This was a money saving measure because nuclear powered aircraft (CVN) carriers spend twenty percent of their time out-of-service having maintenance done. Thus only 8-9 CSGs are needed at any one time for carriers that can go to sea.

The SCG is actually a complex organization. There is the CVN and its crew, and the CAW (Carrier Air Wing), which includes all the aircraft, pilots and support personnel. The CAWs do not stay with the same CVN, but move around. When a CVN goes in for maintenance, its CAW will move ashore and then to another carrier (usually one coming out of dry dock). Also part of a SCG are the escort ships (usually a destroyer squadron of 2-4 destroyers, cruisers or frigates) and one or two SSNs (nuclear attack subs). There are also one or two supply ships carrying spare parts and maintenance personnel for all ships, as well as fuel for the escort ships.

Until 1998 the U.S. had twelve carriers, but new ones are not being built quickly enough to replace the older ones that must retire (because of old age). By 2007 there were only eleven carriers and soon there will only be nine CVNs, and there will be cost cutting pressure to disband another SCG.

The most expensive down time for CVNs are those shipyard trips that involve refueling the nuclear reactors. Those operations can take nine months and include lots of repairs and upgrades all over the ship. There is a lot of maintenance involved with CVNs, enough to keep these carriers unavailable for over 20 percent of their career. Over its fifty years of service, each Nimitz class carrier has 17 planned trips back to the shipyard. There are twelve Planned Incremental Availability (or PIA) operations in which new gear is installed, worn or damaged stuff is replaced and any heavy duty work needed, is completed. Duration of a PIA varies with the amount of work to be done, but it can take several months, or a year or more.

Even more lengthily are the four Dry-docking Planned Incremental Availabilities (DPIA) operations, which are more extensive PIAs that include putting the ship into dry dock. These efforts can last a year or two. The one Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) is like the DPIA, except the ship is partially dismantled so that the spent nuclear fuel can be replaced. This takes a little longer than your usual DPIA, and often costs over half a billion dollars.
While the Russian armed forces have declined by about 80 percent since the Cold War the government is currently running a propaganda campaign (mainly via mass media and the Internet) portraying Russia as capable of posing a major military threat to the West. That is more fiction than fact and perusing Russian language print media and Internet discussions provides lots of details. Russian military personnel and any Russians who care to pay attention know that Russia is much worse off versus its Cold War adversaries (mainly NATO) now than in 1991 (when the Soviet Union collapsed). The problem Russia does not like to talk about is that while Russian forces shrank 80 percent during the 1990s those of its adversaries declined by less than half. Worse NATO nations replaced or upgraded much of their older and obsolete equipment after 1991. At this point NATO has four times as many troops as Russia. Until 1991 Russia had more troops than NATO. Worse still is the fact that NATO nations account for nearly 60 percent of all military spending on the planet, about ten times what Russia spends. That underlines the major Russian military weakness; the inability to replace aging weapons after 1991. Russia was in the midst of trying to remedy that when the price of oil (the main source of for the government budget) dropped by over 70 percent. Then came the economic sanctions in response to Russian attacks on Ukraine and threats to do likewise to other East European nations. Until 1991 Russia was a very real conventional military threat to its neighbors (especially the NATO nations of Europe). That is no longer the case although Russia is a threat to new NATO members in East Europe, but only if they want to risk defeat because of the mutual defense clause of the NATO treaty. The one Cold War era threat Russia retains is a diminished but still potent nuclear weapons capability. This, however, is still a doomsday solution for Russia if used. Retaliation would be devastating, but as a threat nuclear war is still as badass as it gets. At this point it is all Russia really has left, all else is theater and illusion.

The most likely targets for another Russian invasion are three small nations (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) on the south coast of the Baltic Sea between Russia and Poland. In the 18th century the Baltic States were forcibly incorporated into the expanding Russian empire. They became independent after World War I (1914-18) but were taken over again in 1940. It wasn't until 1991 that the Baltic States regained their independence and they are determined to keep things that way. Meanwhile Russian backed forces in Ukraine are maintaining their positions and generally observing a ceasefire by not making major moves. This is largely because economic problems in Russia and the need to divert most military attention to the situation in Syria. Russia believes time is on its side in Ukraine because Ukraine is suffering more economic and political problems than Russia. Corruption has been a major problem in Ukraine since 1991 (and before). Even the obvious Russian military threat has not persuaded a lot of powerful Ukrainians to shut down a lot of their profitable corrupt practices. As a result of that, the war and economic sanctions by Russia, the Ukrainian GDP shrank 10 percent in 2015. Worse, if action is not taken on corruption a lot of Western economic aid will be cut or never arrive.

Opportunities In Syria

The UN and most of the West are eager for peace in Syria but for most Moslem nations Syria is a main battleground in the current Shia (led by Iran) and Sunni (led by Saudi Arabia) civil war as well as a joint effort to destroy ISIL, which threatens everyone. The West is not willing to use enough force to make a difference and the pro-government forces, now including Russian warplanes and ground troops, are better armed and more determined than the rebels. The UN is caught in the middle and goes along with whatever seems least offensive. Meanwhile those rebels that are willing to negotiate are insisting that the Assad government has to go and Russia has been quietly trying to work out something along those lines. Another issue the rebels are angry about was the UN agreeing to keep the Syrian Kurds out of the peace talks. This was something Turkey insisted on. There were other problems, like the tensions between Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran which have also helped cripple UN efforts obtain a meaningful Syria peace deal. The growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran has made cooperation over brokering a Syria peace deal less likely. Russian efforts to mediate are also compromised because of tensions with Iran and the Saudis. What keeps the peace talks going is the fact that the war in Syria has been going on for five years so far, left over 300,000 dead and created ten times as many refugees and provided an opportunity for ISIL and other Islamic terrorist groups to grow. It is in everyone elses interest that the war end. That will require some more agreement on the terms and Russia has taken the lead in trying to make a deal. Russia, which is reverting back to an authoritarian form of government (all Russia had ever known until the 1990s) does not have to worry about domestic opposition to whatever peace deal Russia can arrange in Syria. Success at this would be a major accomplishment for Russia and many nations (especially in the West and the Moslem world) would be indebted. This is seen as an effective way to get Arab oil producers to reduce their output (and let prices rise) as well as getting Western economic sanctions lifted. Russia needs both of those things to happen by the end of the decade because that is about how long the government can cope with the economic damage done by the low oil prices and sanctions. Eventually the economic problems will lead to a major recession, massive unemployment and too much unrest.

Since October 2015 Russia has become a major player in Syria. While Iran still supplies a lot of manpower (mostly via foreign Shia it has recruited) Russia has the modern military gear and troops who can use it. Russia also has a veto at the UN and an eagerness to achieve some kind of victory in Syria. To achieve that Russia is concentrating most of its considerable firepower on rebel groups that are hurting the Assad government forces the most. By American count only about ten percent of Russian air strikes have been against ISIL and those targets were usually hit to protect Assad forces. Russia justifies (to the UN and the world in general) its military presence in Syria because it is part of the effort to destroy the ISIL threat. While Russia does not hide its support for the Assad government (which the UN and most of the world accuse of war crimes and wants gone) it insists that its presence in Syria is not primarily to keep the Assads in power. Yet thousands of Russian troops are working with the Assad forces. The Russian troops are mostly based in Assad controlled territory and the majority of rebels, who are not ISIL or the local al Qaeda franchise al Nusra, are the main targets of Russian firepower. A growing pile of evidence (mainly from social media activity by Russian troops in Syria) confirms that Russian ground troops, mainly special operations and some technical experts, are involved with the ground combat alongside Syrian troops. Russia denies this but has good reason to do it anyway. This gives Russia a chance to put its post-Cold War military to the test. What the Russians are preparing for is the possibility of clashes between Russian and NATO forces in Eastern Europe. Both NATO and Russia are not sure how their respective post-Cold War forces would do against each other. Most East European nations are preparing for the worst and paying close attention to whatever Russia does in Ukraine and Syria.

Meanwhile Russian support has enabled Assad forces to push most rebels away from Aleppo and cut them off from Turkey (a primary source if reinforcements and supplies). This is a major defeat for the rebels and if the government regains control of Aleppo (or what is left of what used to be the second largest city in the country) Russia will be in a better position to sell its proposal for a UN approved partition of Syria and a de-facto pardon for the Assads (and hassle free exile) so the war against ISIL and al Qaeda can continue. Forgiving the Assads will be a hard sell but the Russians are feeling heroic at the moment and the Assads will take whatever salvation they can get.

Russia further complicates the Syrian situation by getting involved with increasingly strident disagreements with Turkey. The Turks are angry at Russia for flying its aircraft too close to the Turkish border and for bombing Turkish backed rebels. A particular sore point has been Russian attacks on Syrian Turkmen rebels. As these people are fellow Turks, Turkey has long felt obliged to help them. Now Russia and Turkey are threatening to go to war with each other over this. NATO is debating whether or not this would trigger the mutual-self-defense clause of the NATO treaty. Russia is threatening to use nukes if Turkey gets too aggressive.

March 5, 2016: In eastern Ukraine (Donbas, along the Black Sea coast) Ukrainian troops have been under attack near Mariupol by pro-Russian rebels who have opened fire numerous times in the last week and made several attempts to advance into the city. This resulted in some of the worst fighting so far this year. In one incident at least 30 rebels were killed before the attackers pulled back. The fierce Ukrainian resistance to attacks on Mariupol has been going on for nearly a year. The rebels appear to be bringing in more troops and weapons in preparation for another effort to take Mariupol. This is in violation of the truce and is nothing new as far as the Russians and rebels are concerned. Pro-Russian forces have been threatening the port city of Mariupol since early 2014.

March 4, 2016: Ukraine accuses Russian backed rebels in the east (Donbas) of violating the cease fire and attacking Ukrainian forces about 40 times a day so far in 2016. These attacks were mainly harassment but did kill twelve Ukrainian troops and wounded over 150 so far this year. The current ceasefire went into effect in September 2015 and over 400 Ukrainian troops have died since then. Ukraine believes that Russian trainers, officers and officials in Donbas have put together a rebel force of at least 40,000 armed men and continue to support it with supplies and new equipment. Many, perhaps a third, of these rebels are not even Ukrainian but rather Russian troops or civilian volunteers from Russia. This force is equipped with over 1,200 armored vehicles, most of them supplied by Russia, as well as 450 artillery (guns and howitzers) and 190 MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) including some of the latest models. These rebels have killed over 2,600 Ukrainian troops since February 2014 and wounded over 9,000.

March 3, 2016: In France diplomats from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met and agreed to a prisoner exchange with the Donbas rebels by April 30th and local elections in Donbas by June 30th. Russia wants rigged elections that will enable Russia to annex Donbas like it did Crimea in 2014.

March 2, 2016: The United States extended its economic sanctions against Russia for another year. American allies are expected to do the same.

February 28, 2016: NATO has officially agreed to supply personnel help train and expand Ukrainian special operations forces. This is sorely needed because when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 Ukraine inherited about 6,000 special operations troops. During the 1990s this force shrank to about 3,000. A common reason for Ukrainian special operations troops leaving was that many were Russian or pro-Russian and Russia made more of an effort recruit special operations troops who had ended up in the armed forces of one of the new 14 nations created from the wreckage of the old Russian Empire. When a Ukrainian popular revolt in 2014 put an anti-Russian government in power even more Ukrainian special operations troops left, or were discharged, because they were suspected of being more loyal to Russia. Since then Ukraine has been rebuilding its special operations forces using troops who are loyal to Ukraine. Thus the need for NATO help.

February 27, 2016: In Syria a ceasefire began and so far it has worked, sort of. While Syrian government, Russian and some rebel forces observed the truce there is still a lot of fighting because most of the rebels are not part of the ceasefire. This is mainly because ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and al Nusra (nearly as large as ISIL but affiliated with al Qaeda) have not agreed to stop fighting. This was the second attempt at a ceasefire in February. That first effort failed for the same reasons the new effort is only partially successful. The new ceasefire was still working in many areas as of March 6th. This is useful because it allows food and other aid to reach several hundred thousand civilians trapped by the fighting.

February 26, 2016: Ukraine reports that Donbas rebels are using the new Grad-K MLRS. This is a modernized version of the decades old BM-21 122mm MLRS. This new MLRS first appeared in 2011 and Russian troops began receiving it in 2012. There are no export customers yet and Ukraine never had it. Yet there are photos of the new MLRS operating inside Donbas.

February 25, 2016: The Russian government revealed that in late January it had ordered a halt to a program that was to expand and modernize the airborne forces. This confirms rumors that the government has quietly halted military rebuilding and expansion efforts, especially for the special operations troops (which includes airborne units as well as the more traditional commandos). This is all because of the continuing economic crises.

February 22, 2016: Turkey is accusing Russia of using a new spy place (a recently arrived Tu-214R) to monitor Turkey, not Islamic terrorists in Syria. Russia only has two Tu-214Rs and these entered service in 2015. Russia is testing a lot of their new military gear in Syria.

February 20, 2016: Iranian officials came to Russia to discuss a multi-billion dollar deal to buy Russian Su-30 jet fighters, Yak-130 jet trainers and Mi-17 helicopters. Such sales are still forbidden without explicit permission from the UN. At the same time it was confirmed that Iran is still discussing details of the S-300 anti-aircraft systems sale. This was thought to be a done deal. In December Russian announced that deliveries would be made via the Caspian Sea. Some supporting equipment has already been flown in or came by sea as non-military equipment. Apparently the key S-300 components (missiles and fire control systems) have not been delivered.

February 16, 2016: Belarus, Russias western neighbor and only ally in East Europe, is ordering at least a dozen new Su-30SM fighter-bombers from Russia to replace 37 elderly (1980s vintage) MiG-29 fighters. Belarus tried upgrading the MiG-29s in 2004 but the 13 aircraft that were refurbished demonstrated that it was not worth the effort. Meanwhile in 2013 Belarus decided to retire its Su-27 fighters. It wanted sell them, but there were no buyers. Belarus did not have the cash to refurbish the Su-27s and was not sure that would work any better than it did on the MiG-29s. These Su-27s entered service in the 1980s and not built to fly more than 3,000 hours. This is low for modern jet fighters but typical of Russian combat aircraft. The Belarus Su-27s were worn out.
Federal security forces have experienced a sharp increase in violent attacks in western Jalisco state by gunmen belonging to the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG). The situation in Jalisco is now similar to that in Michoacan state before the large-scale army intervention. Municipal and state police forces in the area have also been targeted. Since February 24, five police officers have been murdered by cartel gunmen. The cartel gunmen killed three municipal policemen in the town of Tlaquepaque (near the state capital, Guadalajara). On March 1 gunmen tried to assassinate the mayor of Ahualulco (west of Guadalajara). He was traveling in armored vehicle and survived the attack. Back in 2010 the CJNG was a faction within the Sinaloa cartel. Federal authorities now say it is now a separate and powerful criminal cartel.

March 5, 2016: In a rural area of Puebla State police discovered ten barrels filled with acid and human remains. They also found nine sacks with human remains. Initial analysis said that the barrels and sacks contained the remains of at least three people. The victims may have been killed on March 1 when a criminal gang raided a cockfight in the nearby town of Cuautlancingo.

March 3, 2016: It has been awhile since anyone thought of Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) as merely a street gang. However, U.S. security officials have begun describing MS-13 as a highly-organized criminal operation that cooperates with Mexican drug cartels. For example, there is evidence that MS-13 helps Mexican cartels distribute drugs in the US. El Salvadorians living in Los Angeles, California area formed the original MS-13 street gang in the early 1980s. In the last decade a new leadership cadre emerged. The organization now has branches in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. These countries serve as transit points for smuggling South American cocaine through Mexico and into the U.S. The new leaders built on these existing operations, using money acquired from criminal activities to capitalize businesses in Central America and in the United States. The MS-13 businesses launder money for MS-13 (and perhaps other criminal organizations.) Security officials in the U.S. and Honduras believe some of these businesses have also created legitimate business operations, after running extortion schemes to drive out truly legal businesses. No wonder the Honduran government regards MS-13 as an internal threat. (Austin Bay)

March 2, 2016: In Mexico the government continues to deny requests to release autopsy reports of the 42 cartel gunmen killed by security forces in Michoacan state on May 22, 2015. Government critics that the 42 to 1 (42 cartel, 1 security officer) death rate suggests the battle was really an extra-judicial killing. The government continues to insist that there was no evidence to indicate federal police conducted summary executions.

Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquin Guzman said he wants to be extradited to the U.S. but with conditions. He is willing to plead guilty to criminal charge in a U.S. court is the United States promises him a short sentence in a medium security prison.

March 1, 2016: Two splinter factions of the Los Zetas cartel are fighting for control of the city of Ciudad Victoria (Tamaulipas state, on Texas border). The Vieja Escuela faction (Old School, also known as Grupo Bravo) is fighting with another faction named Cartel Del Noreste (CDN). Since the beginning of 2016 there have been several gun battles in the city and at least one confirmed execution murder.

February 28, 2016: Security forces in Mexico City rescued 87 women who had been forced into prostitution. Citizen complaints led to police raid on four illegal bars in the capital citys Iztapalapa neighborhood. Police arrested eight people suspected of running the prostitution ring. The suspects will likely face kidnapping charges.

February 25, 2016: Mexican media reported that for several years Joaquin Guzmans two sons have been running day to day Sinaloa cartel operations. The reports suggest that arresting Guzman will not significantly interrupt cartel operations. Guzman escaped from prison in July 2015 but was re-arrested in January 2016.

February 23, 2016: In January 71 people were murdered in the city of Tijuana (Baja California state) because of cartel-related violence. Authorities said this is the highest number of murders since 2010. Yet 2015 was a deadly year in Tijuana, with 670 murders. The Jalisco New Generation cartel is trying to take control of some of the narcotics smuggling routes that pass through Tijuana.

February 22, 2016: A former American Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrator has claimed that security forces in Mexico and the U.S. made use of actor Sean Penns visit to Mexico to interview drug lord Joaquin Guzman. Penn visited Mexico in October 2015 and interviewed Guzman. During Penns trip, law enforcement intelligence followed social media communications and direct communications made by some of Guzmans subordinates.

February 21, 2016: The navy has now ordered a total of ten Tenochtitlan-class patrol ships. The ships can easily handle missions up to 250 kilometers off-shore. The ships displace 250 tons, are 43 meters (140 feet) long and have a crew of 18. Their max speed is 52 kilometers an hour. Tenochtitlans have a range of 3,600 kilometers when cruising at a speed of 18 to 20 kilometers an hour. They can remain at sea for about two weeks. The ships can conduct a variety of US Coast Guard-like missions, to include sea patrol and surveillance, maritime security, maritime interdiction and search and rescue. Each ship is are armed with two 12.7mm machine guns and carries a 7.5 meter (24 foot) rigid inflatable boat (RIB).

February 19, 2016: Drug cartels are increasingly deploying their own UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Security forces on both sides of the border have spotted cartel drones watching the border and, well, looking for U.S. and Mexican security forces. The UAVs are also being used to smuggle narcotics. In April 2015 U.S. police found a crashed UAV carrying 12.7 kg (28 pounds) of heroin. The UAV crashed near Calexico, California.
The military government is increasingly hostile to any form of criticism. That can be seen by the growing number (nearly a hundred so far) of known (via speeches, Internet posts or published remarks) critics who have been arrested and held, often without being charged. The generals are increasingly criticized for these police state tactics but the most common criticism is about the refusal to name a date when elections and democracy will resume. Best estimate now is late 2017, maybe. There is growing foreign pressure from neighbors (except China) and the West. Worse since September 2015 the pro-democracy populists (the red shirts) have largely ceased demonstrations. The populists did so to demonstrate that there was no violent opposition to justify continued military rule. The red shirts are waiting for the military government to allow elections which is what Thai military governments all eventually do. The May 2014 coup came after months of political protests in the capital and those tensions remain but the army is definitely in control. Despite that the economy is not doing as well as people expect and the military government is blamed. In the past this sort of thing played a large role in persuading the generals to allow elections again and that seems to be happening again.

The Smugglers Are Suffering

There is growing evidence that some people smuggling continues via land routes into Malaysia. Although the security forces now monitor known smuggling routes (trails or dirt roads crossing the border in forested but thinly populated areas) there are so many of these routes that there are always some that smugglers can still get small groups of people across on. Despite this, there is now a lot less people smuggling and in large part because the numerous Thai smuggling gangs got the message in 2015; anything but people is tolerable and the pressure will ease off once the people smuggling stops. The gangs apparently decided to do what was best for business.

All this began in early 2015 when the security forces carried out a major crackdown on gangsters smuggling Burmese Moslems (and others) through Thailand to Malaysia. In the course 2015 some 2,300 illegal migrants were arrested (and many more turned back) in Thailand along with over a hundred of the smugglers. This forced the smugglers to seek another route. By early 2016 it appeared that the people smugglers had largely shut down the people smuggling operation because far fewer people were disappearing from refugee camps in Burma.

What triggered all this crackdown was the deaths, and bad publicity associated with the illegal migration of Rohingya Moslems from Burma and Bangladesh via Thailand. As of early 2015 thousands of Rohingya had gone missing after getting on boats to be taken south. People smugglers used boats and trucks to move these people south, often overland through Thailand or via Thai coastal waters. The Thai crackdown halted a very lucrative criminal enterprise for smugglers large fees to take people to Malaysia, Thailand, India or more distant points (like Indonesia). This had become big business and by late 2014 it was believed that up to 10,000 people a month were leaving with 75 percent coming from Burma. Security forces in Burma and Thailand were accused of working with the smugglers, usually in the form of taking bribes to allow the smuggler boats and trucks to pass without interference. Security forces were accused of sinking some boats because the smugglers refused to leave or pay. Others pointed out that smugglers tend to use poorly maintained boats, which are often overloaded and this leads to boats sinking, especially in bad weather or being stranded when engines fail.

A growing number of Rohingya who survived the trip reported that some smuggler gangs would use Thai transit camps to try and extort more cash from the families of some refugees and would torture or kill some refugees while doing this. Some of the bodies found in these camps showed signs of torture and other abuse. Most of the deaths were from disease or exhaustion. Because of international pressure the Thai government also cracked down on corrupt security personnel taking bribes from or otherwise cooperating with the smugglers. Over 200,000 Rohingya are believed to have fled Burma by sea since the anti-Moslem violence began there in 2012. At least 25,000 are believed to have gone south in the first three months of 2015 and that level of activity continued until May when the Thai crackdown took effect. Suddenly a lot fewer (soon over 80 percent fewer) Rohingya refugees were showing up at in Malaysia or Indonesia. All the countries surrounding the Bay of Bengal were now watching for boats engaged in people smuggling and that pretty much ruled out using large vessels anymore. At that point smugglers could only move a few people at a time on smaller vessels that could avoid or pass inspection. The drove the price of using people smugglers way up, to the point where most Rohingya could not afford it.

Peace Talks Sputter Forward

In the south the terms for the resumption of formal peace negotiations are still being worked out in Malaysia with Malaysian government help. A major point of contention is which southern political groups will be recognized as negotiators. Meanwhile the government monitors the mood down south and reports that the Moslem majority there is generally repelled by the actions of major Islamic terror groups like al Qaeda and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Very few, if any, Thai Moslems have joined ISIL although a few Malaysians Moslems have. Meanwhile the violence down south continues to decline. Islamic terrorist bombings were down 49 percent in 2015 compared to 2014. The 2015 bombing activity was 65 percent less than 2007, the peak year for violence in the Moslem south. The violence has been going on since 2004 and most Moslems in the south are fed up but there are still a few hard core violent separatists who keep at it. This is believed partly responsible for the recent increase in separatist violence down south.

March 4, 2016: In the south (Narathiwat province) Islamic terrorists used a roadside bomb to attack local defense volunteers escorting teachers to school. Two of the eight volunteers were wounded and the others opened fire on the Islamic terrorists who set off the bomb but did not hit any of them.

March 3, 2016: In the south (Yala province) Islamic terrorists killed a Buddhist civilian and in a separate incident killed an off-duty Moslem soldier.

March 2, 2016: In the south (Yala province) Islamic terrorists, in three separate incidents, killed two Moslem civilians and badly wounded a soldier.

February 27, 2016: In the south (Pattani province) Islamic terrorists stole a car, placed a bomb inside and then parked it near a police station. The bomb had a timer and when it went off wounding six policemen and a civilian.

February 17, 2016: Task Force (TF) 152 of the Chinese Navy reached Thailand and spent five days visiting and showing off the destroyer, frigate and replenishment ship that comprise task force. The sailors and 64 commandos assigned to the task force also got some shore leave. TF 152 has been on a world tour for nearly a year. First it spent four months with the international anti-piracy patrol off Somalia then proceeded around the world making stops in Africa, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and the Americas (including the United States). TF 152 visited Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Cambodia before returning to China.

February 14, 2016: In the south (Narathiwat province) armed men stopped a truck and killed one of the three men in the vehicle because he could not speak Malay (that is, he was not a southern Moslem). The other two men were left unharmed.

February 12, 2016: In the south (Pattani province) there were eight Islamic terrorist attacks; four small bombs went off in various places, a garage and a school were set on fire, a pro-government Moslem shot dead and a police checkpoint fired on. The only casualty was the murdered Moslem man. At the same time in nearby Yala province a remote controlled bomb killed two soldiers and wounded five others. This unusual amount of Islamic terrorist violence comes after a year of relative peace in the south. This was partly the result of Islamic terrorist leaders ordering their followers to only carry out attacks in response to any government actions that warrant it. In that case the retaliation should be as widespread as possible but also avoid harming any civilians. It is unclear what government action, if any, prompted this surge in violence.

February 10, 2016: In the south (Pattani province) troops, acting on a tip found and raided an Islamic terrorist camp. They encountered five armed men who briefly fired at them and then fled. Troops seized bomb making materials and documents that led to the arrest of a local man.

February 6, 2016: In the south (Yala province) a village leader accused of cooperating with Islamic terrorists was found shot dead. Locals believed he was murdered by a pro-government gunman.
A worker handles the nozzle of a fuel dispenser at a gas station, which belongs to Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, in Caracas, February 12, 2016. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Jonathan Leff

(Reuters) - Major OPEC producers are privately starting to talk about a new oil price equilibrium of $50 a barrel, adding to signs that the market's long, deep rout is officially over, says one of the industry's leading prognosticators.

Gary Ross, the founder, executive chairman and chief oil soothsayer at New York-based consultancy PIRA, told clients 2-1/2 weeks ago that he reckoned the "lows are in" for crude, which was then about $30 a barrel. U.S. futures have rallied since then to close at nearly $36 on Friday, with a handful of analysts also cautiously calling a bottom.

In an interview with Reuters, Ross said oil should recover to $50 a barrel by the end of the year, potentially aided by eventual supply cuts from leading producers among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"They want $50 oil, this is going to become the new anchor for global oil prices," said Ross, one of the industry's most respected forecasters for his bold price predictions and decades-long history of consulting with OPEC members.

"While it may not be an official target price, youll hear them saying it. Theyre trying to give the market an anchor."

If Saudi Arabia and other powerful Gulf OPEC members begin invoking $50 as "fair price for producers and consumers" - a once-favored phrase that has been absent for several years - it may could signal the end of an unusual and extended period in which the group abandoned efforts to manage the market.

After years of signaling satisfaction with prices hovering at around $100 a barrel, top exporter Saudi Arabia in late 2014 led OPEC in its most dramatic policy shift in decades. No longer would the world's top oil exporter, or its OPEC allies, agree to cut their own production to support such high prices, which they feared would erode their share of the world market.

Instead, they would keep pumping and allow prices to fall. While they did not anticipate the longest and deepest oil price rout since the mid-1980s, the effort has at last begun to curb the rise of rival higher-cost producers such as U.S. shale drillers, another sign that prices may have found a bottom.

In his note to clients, Ross also pointed to the recent agreement between major OPEC members and leading non-OPEC producer Russia to "freeze" production at January levels as a factor boosting market sentiment after a brutal period when the only safe trade seemed to be sell.

The pact will do little to curb immediate oversupply, especially with Iran exports still swelling after the end of sanctions. Still, working together on "verbal intervention" was a positive start that "could lead to eventual cuts" after a period in which Saudi Arabia and Russia made little effort toward any kind of cooperation, he said.

"Russian production is going down anyway, why not agree to a freeze and then cuts?" Ross told Reuters.

The $50 figure was in line with analysts' consensus for 2017 U.S. prices, according to the last Reuters poll, although much higher than the $38 a barrel median for this year.

Ross, whose forecasts are not normally made public, was among the few analysts to anticipate OPEC's decision to let prices fall in 2014.

While he was wrong-footed in the first part of last year, when crude's rebound to around $60 a barrel proved temporary, he joined others such as Goldman Sachs in taking a much more bearish view in more recent months, predicting in December that U.S. crude would drop below $30 a barrel in February.

Ever since the market detached from the $100 a barrel figure that anchored it from 2010 to 2014, analysts, traders and executives have struggled to pinpoint where it might ultimately settle, agreeing only that it would be a period of extraordinary volatility in the absence of any overt OPEC guidance.

Officials from less influential members such as Venezuela or Angola have occasionally referenced specific prices, generally in the vicinity of $70 to $80, but the bigger Gulf producers have largely avoided any public mention of a new reference point, leaving the market adrift.

(Reporting by Jonathan Leff; Editing by David Gregorio)
Signage for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. covers the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange November 11, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Paul Carsten

(Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (NYSE: BABA) arm, Ant Financial Services Group, is seeking a valuation of nearly $60 billion in its current round of funding, a person familiar with the matter said.

Ant Financial, which operates the "Alipay" online payment platform, is in talks to raise funds from existing and new investors, which could include CCB International, the person said on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Ant Financial planned to raise up to 20 billion yuan ($3.07 billion), pegging its valuation at nearly $50 billion.

Ant Financial declined comment on the Journal's story.

The company was not available to comment on the $60 billion valuation outside regular business hours.

The latest round of funding is expected to be completed by mid-April, the Journal reported.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten in Beijing and Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)
Pepco Holdings (NYSE: POM) disclosed in an SEC filing today relating to the company's merger with Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC):

As previously disclosed, on April 29, 2014, Pepco Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (Pepco Holdings), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger with Exelon Corporation, a Pennsylvania corporation (Exelon), and Purple Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation and an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon (Merger Sub), which was amended and restated on July 18, 2014 (the Merger Agreement), providing for the merger of Merger Sub with and into Pepco Holdings (the Merger), with Pepco Holdings surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon.

On March 7, 2016, Pepco Holdings, Exelon and Merger Sub entered into a Letter Agreement (the Letter Agreement), pursuant to which Pepco Holdings and Exelon acknowledged that either party may terminate the Merger Agreement at any time and Pepco Holdings agreed that it would not declare or pay any dividend on its common stock covering the period after December 10, 2015 and prior to the termination of the Merger Agreement in consideration for Exelons agreement to (i) file with the District of Columbia Public Service Commission (DCPSC) a request for other relief (as described in Item 8.01 below), and (ii) pursue closing of the Merger if the DCPSC grants the request for other relief and approves the Merger on the terms provided in such filing, without modification. Pursuant to the Letter Agreement, if Pepco Holdings violates the terms of the Letter Agreement, Exelon shall have the right to terminate the Merger Agreement, and Pepco Holdings would not be entitled to (a) retain the $180 million reverse termination fee prepaid by Exelon through the purchase of an aggregate of 18,000 shares of Pepco Holdings preferred stock and (b) reimbursement otherwise required under the Merger Agreement for up to $40 million for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Pepco Holdings.

The foregoing summary of the Letter Agreement does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the Letter Agreement attached as Exhibit 2 and incorporated herein by reference.

Item 8.01. Other Events.

As previously disclosed, on February 26, 2016, the DCPSC issued an order rejecting the Nonunanimous Full Settlement Agreement and Stipulation (the DC Settlement Agreement) among Pepco Holdings, Potomac Electric Power Company, Exelon, and certain of their respective affiliates (the Joint Applicants) and the District of Columbia Government, the Office of the Peoples Counsel and other parties filed with the DCPSC on October 6, 2015, and directing the parties to the DC Settlement (the Settling Parties) to review a revised DC Settlement Agreement (the DCPSC Revised Settlement Agreement) included in the DCPSCs order and to notify the DCPSC of their acceptance of the DCPSC Revised Settlement Agreement by March 11, 2016. The terms of such order also provided that if the Settling Parties choose, they may request relief from the DCPSC other than as provided in the DCPSC order and the non-Settling Parties to the DCPSC proceeding will have seven (7) business days to file comments in response to the Settling Parties filing.

On March 7, 2016, the Joint Applicants filed a Joint Applicants Request for Other Relief with the DCPSC requesting approval of the Merger through either (i) the adoption of the DCPSC Revised Settlement Agreement as a resolution on the merits, (ii) the adoption of the DC Settlement Agreement as originally executed by the Settling Parties, or (iii) the adoption of modifications to the DCPSC Revised Settlement Agreement as set forth therein and in Attachment A to the Letter Agreement.

Pursuant to the DCPSCs February 26, 2016 order, the other parties to the DCPSC proceeding regarding the Merger will have seven (7) business days from the date of the Joint Applicants filing to file comments or request other relief from the DCPSC. In such filing, the Joint Applicants requested expedited review and consideration of the Joint Applicants Request for Other Relief by April 7, 2016, without reopening the record in the proceeding or holding additional hearings.

A copy of the Joint Applicants Request for Other Relief has been made available on Pepco Holdings Web site (http://www.pepcoholdings.com). Investors may access copies of this information (among other documents and information) through the Regulatory Filings hyperlink on the Investor Relations page of this Web site.

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Pepco Holdings utility subsidiaries were prohibited from filing any new rate cases without Exelons consent. As a result, none of Pepco Holdings utility subsidiaries have filed any new distribution base rate cases since entering into the Merger Agreement in April 2014. On March 7, 2016, Exelon agreed to waive this prohibition on rate case filings and consented to Pepco Holdings utility subsidiaries filing new rate cases with the Delaware Public Service Commission, the Maryland Public Service Commission and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE: UEC) announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with institutional investors to purchase an aggregate of up to 12,364,705 units of the Company (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.85 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $10,510,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit is comprised of one share of common stock of the Company and half of one share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"), with each whole Warrant being exercisable at a price of $1.20 to purchase one share of common stock of the Company for a three year period from the date of issuance. The closing of the Offering is expected to take place on or about March 10, 2016, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Amir Adnani, President and CEO, stated: "With this capital raise, UEC is in a strong financial position to advance our portfolio of uranium projects with ongoing exploration and production permitting at the Burke Hollow ISR project in South Texas, permitting for baseline studies at the Anderson project in Arizona and exploration/permitting at our ISR projects in Paraguay. We continue to maintain pre-production readiness at the fully permitted Goliad ISR project and are production-ready at our Palangana ISR mine, and Hobson processing plant. We remain uniquely positioned to capitalize on the anticipated strengthening of the uranium market."

The Company is offering and selling the Units pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement dated March 6, 2016. The Company anticipates that the net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general corporate and working capital purposes.

In connection with the Offering, Dundee Securities Ltd. and Rodman & Renshaw a unit of H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC acted as the co-lead placement agents. Haywood Securities Inc. acted as financial advisor.

The Units are being offered by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement to the Company's effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-193104) previously filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). A prospectus supplement relating to the Offering will be filed by the Company with the SEC. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the Offering may be obtained from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov, by sending an email request to Rodman & Renshaw a unit of H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC at [email protected], by calling Dundee Securities Ltd. at 416 849 7887 or by contacting the Company at Suite 800N, 500 North Shoreline Boulevard, Corpus Christi, Texas 78401.
By Foo Yun Chee

News Corp's (NASDAQ: NWSA) chief executive will meet the EU antitrust chief this week, the company said on Monday, with the focus expected to be on the EU's investigation into whether Internet search engine Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) abused its dominance.

CEO Robert Thomson will meet European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Thursday for the third time, a News Corp spokesman said, without providing details. European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso confirmed the meeting.

The European Commission opened a case against Google in late 2010, but has yet to decide whether to penalize the company.

News Corp, controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the owner of the Wall Street Journal and publisher HarperCollins, is one of more than a dozen companies that have urged the European Commission to act against Google.

Google's practice of aggregating content on its home page and exploiting its dominance in online advertising undermines the business model of content providers such as News Corp, Thomson told the previous EU antitrust head two years ago.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai met Vestager last month but did not go into the substance of the EU charges laid against the company in April last year.

Google has said the accusations do not have any economic, legal or factual basis.
A man walks past the Raytheon exhibition during the Australian International Airshow in Melbourne March 2, 2011 REUTERS/Mick Tsikas

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Raytheon Co must defend against a $1 billion whistleblower lawsuit accusing the defense contractor of fraudulently overbilling the U.S. government under a contract to develop a weather sensor for a costly environmental satellite system, an appeals court ruled on Monday. By a 3-0 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said an engineer, Steven Mateski, could pursue claims that Raytheon violated the federal False Claims Act for at least a decade starting in 2002.

The court said Mateski's claims went beyond publicly disclosed problems in developing the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, which suffered from delays and cost overruns, including problems outlined in a U.S. Government Accountability Office report from November 2005.

"If his allegations prove to be true, Mateski will undoubtedly have been one of those whistle-blowing insiders with genuinely valuable information, rather than an opportunistic plaintiff who has no significant information to contribute," Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for the appeals court.

A spokesman for Raytheon had no immediate comment on the decision. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Allan Graf, a lawyer for Mateski, said his client was grateful for the decision.

Mateski's allegation was that Raytheon, his employer from 1997 to 2006, mismanaged its subcontract to develop the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor for the NPOESS, on which Northrop Grumman Corp held the main contract.

Friedland said it would be unfair to the government and whistleblowers to impose a "public disclosure bar" against False Claims Act lawsuits such as Mateski's that identified "specific instances of fraud," where public documents such as the GAO report merely described "problems" or even "generalized fraud."

Monday's decision overturned U.S. District Judge Otis Wright's February 2013 dismissal of the lawsuit, and returned the case to his Los Angeles courtroom.

False Claims Act cases let whistleblowers pursue claims on behalf of the government and share in recoveries. The United States in 2012 decided not to help Mateski pursue his case.

The case is U.S. ex rel Mateski v. Raytheon Co, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 13-55341.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby and Grant McCool)
United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) announced that its Board of Directors has appointed three new highly qualified independent directors to the Board: James A.C. Kennedy, Robert A. Milton and James M. Whitehurst, effective immediately.

Henry L. Meyer III, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, said, "We are always looking at ways to enhance corporate governance at United. For some time, the Board has been evaluating potential director candidates with the assistance of a leading search firm and with the benefit of shareholder input. We are very pleased to announce the appointment of three new independent directors to the Board today and expect to announce a fourth in the near term."

Meyer added, "We believe these accomplished executives, who have deep airline or other relevant experience, will provide invaluable perspective as we build on our strong momentum by continuously working to improve operations. We remain focused on investing in our products and services to earn the trust of our customers and employees and to create long-term value for our shareholders."

Oscar Munoz, who plans to resume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer on March 14, 2016, noted, "I am excited that three world-class, independent directors are joining the Board and believe they will help achieve our goal of generating superior value for shareholders. I look forward to working together with the Board and the management team to accelerate the positive momentum of our operational turnaround while continuing to innovate and elevate our employee and customer experience."

United's three new directors will be nominated by the Board for re-election at the 2016 Annual Meeting. The Board expects to appoint a fourth new independent director in the near term, who would also be nominated for re-election at the 2016 Annual Meeting. In connection with the appointment of the new directors, certain current directors will step down from the Board at or in advance of the 2016 Annual Meeting.

James Kennedy, 62, is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., a global investment management organization which provides mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management. During his tenure, T. Rowe more than doubled its assets under management, which increased from $335 billion at the end of 2006 to $763 billion as of December 31, 2015. Prior to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2006, Mr. Kennedy served in roles of increasing responsibility at T. Rowe since 1978, including VP & Director of the Equity Research Division beginning in 1997. He has been a director of T. Rowe since 1987. Prior to joining T. Rowe, Mr. Kennedy participated in the Financial Management training Program at General Electric. He graduated from Princeton University with a BA degree and Stanford University with an MBA. He is a recipient of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Excellence in Leadership Award.

Robert Milton, 55, was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., and was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada. Having joined Air Canada in 1992 in a consulting capacity, Mr. Milton moved from the role of Senior Director of Scheduling to Vice President, Scheduling and Product Management, Senior Vice President, Marketing and In-Flight Service and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Milton became President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada in 1999. He is currently the lead director of Air Lease Corporation, a director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. Mr. Milton was a past director of US Airways, Inc., and was also a past Chairman of the Board of Governors of IATA (The International Air Transport Association). Mr. Milton graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Industrial Management.

James Whitehurst, 48, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat, Inc., a leading provider of open source enterprise IT products and services. Since joining Red Hat in January 2008, he has more than tripled the company's revenue from $523 million to $1.8 billion, while more than tripling the company's stock price. Under his leadership, Red Hat was named to Forbes' list of "The World's Most Innovative Companies" in 2015, 2014, and 2012; added to Standard and Poor's 500 stock index in 2009; and named one of the best places to work by Glassdoor in 2014. Prior to Red Hat, Mr. Whitehurst spent six years at Delta Air Lines, Inc., where he managed airline operations and drove significant international expansion as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Whitehurst helped put the company back on firm footing as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2007. Before Delta, he held several corporate development leadership roles at The Boston Consulting Group, with clients across a wide range of industries. Mr. Whitehurst currently serves on the Board of DigitalGlobe, Inc. In June 2015, Whitehurst published a book with Harvard Business Review Press entitled "The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance" showing how open principles of management, based on transparency, participation, and community, can help organizations navigate and succeed in a fast-paced connected era. He is a graduate of Rice University with a BA in Computer Science and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

United has been focused on improving its operations and customer and employee experience. Over the past several months, United has experienced significant improvements in on-time arrivals and completion factor. United's 2015 earnings were one of the best in the Company's history, and United made progress shrinking the margin gap with its closest competitors, strengthening its balance sheet, and returning substantial cash to shareholders.

United has also been upgrading its customer experience with free snacks and premium coffee, providing improved WiFi onboard, and modernizing its United Clubs and airport lounges. These and other enhancements are delivering continued improvement in United's customer satisfaction, employee pride, and financial performance.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- APMEX, Inc. announced today they are awarding an exclusive trip to the world-renowned Royal Canadian Mint to one lucky winner. The trip, valued near $2,000 USD, will include round-trip airfare and four nights' accommodations for the winner and one guest.

As part of the sweepstakes, the winner and guest will receive a VIP tour of the Royal Canadian Mint. Private behind-the-scenes access to coin production, lunch with mint executives and a gift of one numismatic coin are included, as is the unique photo opportunity to hold a 400 oz Gold bar, currently valued at more than $503,000.

In addition to the royal treatment at the mint, the winner will receive two tickets to the National Gallery of Canada and a full-day pass for two to the largest spa in North America, Le Nordik Spa. Located on the edge of Gatineau Park, Le Nordik Spa is an oasis of rejuvenating luxury in an epically beautiful environment.

"Past guests of the Royal Canadian Mint have described the tour as 'mind-blowing' and raved about the beauty of Ottawa," APMEX Vice President of Merchandising Andrew Martineau said. "With its expansive outdoors and diverse culture, Ottawa serves as the picturesque host to a trip that merges the beauty of Canada with an iconic mint."

Beginning March 7, 2016 and running through April 4, 2016, the purchase of any eligible Royal Canadian Mint product will be an automatic entry into the Ultimate Canadian Getaway Sweepstakes. However, no purchase is necessary and an online entry form can be found in the official contest rules. Full details of the contest are also listed in the official rules. The winner will be selected the week of April 11, 2016. The trip is to be taken before November 15, 2016.

The contest is open to U.S. residents, age 21 years or older at time of entry. Visit APMEX to find the full contest rules and more details about the Ultimate Canadian Getaway Sweepstakes.

About APMEX, Inc.

For more than 15 years, APMEX has been one of the nation's largest Precious Metals e-retailers. Boasting over $6.5 billion in transactions, APMEX was recently ranked the #1 Specialty E-Retailer and #46 out of 500 e-retailers by Internet Retailer Magazine. APMEX has the largest selection of bullion and numismatic items provided by a retailer, boasting more than 10,000 products. Product offerings include all U.S. Mint bullion such as Gold, Silver and Platinum American Eagle coins. APMEX also sells products from leading mints around the world including The Royal Mint, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint and many others. APMEX is a member of the American Numismatic Association, the International Precious Metals Institute and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. For additional information, visit www.APMEX.com or call (800) 375-9006.

Source: APMEX, Inc.
SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intensifying its focus on North America, the No. 1 Chinese international real estate website for overseas buyers, Juwai.com, has appointed Matthew Moore as its first President of the Americas.

Matthew has been an American Internet leader for 22 years. He has led the sales and trade-marketing organizations at Move Inc., most recently as advisor and investor in real estate startups, including Retsly, RealScout and gofirstfive.

At Move Inc., Mr. Moore served as EVP of Sales and Marketing, with responsibilities for Realtor.com, Top Producer, Rentals and Consumer Media. He was instrumental in the sales development of marquee companies Netscape Communications and WebMD.

At Juwai.com, Mr. Moore will run the North American team responsible for sales, marketing and industry relations,

We think its ideal that Matthew is based in LA, said Charles Pittar, CEO of Juwai.com. Los Angeles is the single most-searched city in North America by Chinese property buyers, just as California is the most-searched state and the US is the most-searched country in the world.

China is the number-one investor in US property markets today, and its investment will continue to increase over the next decade. Matthews role is to help real estate professionals make the most of this growing opportunity.

Chinese invested only about $7 billion in US real estate five years ago. That surged to $28.6 billion last year and will likely be more this year.

Mr. Moore said, Our aim is to create strategic partnerships with national brands, regional and local brokers, developers, new home builders, commercial real estate professionals, MLSs and Associations.

We will directly serve agents and agent teams from the US. We are excitedly looking forward to rolling out a number of new online and offline programs for these groups.

About Juwai.com

Juwai.com is the No. 1 Chinese international property portal, with 2.6 million visitors from 403 cities in China and 165 countries. Juwai.com showcases 2.5 million listings from 89 countries. The company is headquartered in Shanghai, with an additional office in Hong Kong. On Baidu, Chinas dominant search engine, Juwai.com ranks higher than Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia. More: http://list.juwai.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160307005472/en/

Juwai.com

Dave Platter, Sydney, Australia, +61 432 814 888

[email protected]

Source: Juwai.com
Sudan's President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir waves to his supporters during a National Dialogue campaign event in Khartoum February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir arrived in Indonesia on Sunday, defying an international warrant for his arrest, to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit, the Sudanese state news agency said.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010, accusing him of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in the western Darfur region.

Members of the ICC are obliged to act on arrest warrants. Indonesia is not a member.

Last year, Bashir canceled a trip to Indonesia for a summit at the last minute. His plan to attend an Asia-African leaders conference in Jakarta in April sparked protests among rights groups who wanted the president to be arrested.

Bashir, who has ruled Sudan since a 1989 Islamist and army-backed coup, rejects the ICC's authority. But he had not traveled outside the Middle East or Africa since 2011, until he visited China in September to attend celebrations commemorating the end of World War Two. China is also not a member of the ICC.

In June, Bashir was forced to flee South Africa after a court ruled he should be banned from leaving pending the outcome of a hearing on his possible arrest.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by larry King)
Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez gestures during the inauguration of a military facility in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, June 3, 2015. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' governing party on Sunday proposed the sitting president as their candidate for 2017 elections, a decision likely to stir fresh debate over re-election, a contentious issue at the heart of a coup just six years ago.

Though President Juan Hernandez, of the conservative National Party, has not yet confirmed whether he will run again, and any decision would have to be ratified in a party vote, he has the backing of the party leadership and, as yet, no credible opponent.

Last April, the country's Supreme Court struck down a law that banned presidents from seeking a second term. Opposition leaders have said they would challenge that ruling.

Since taking office in 2014, Hernandez' ramped-up military offense against drug traffickers and gangs has driven down the homicide rate. Allegations of abuses by soldiers, however, have also risen since the military was first deployed under his predecessor in 2012.

The fight over presidential re-election led to a bitter political stand-off which ended in a coup against former President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

Honduras is set to hold a general election in late 2017.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Writing by Christine Murray; Editing by Sandra Maler)
A general view of the "Colombo Port City" construction site (R), backed by Chinese investment, is seen in Colombo, Sri Lanka January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will receive a loan of $1.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost foreign exchange reserves and avert a balance of payments problem, a government minister said on Monday.

Sri Lanka's finances are under scrutiny after ratings agency Fitch last week downgraded its sovereign rating by a notch, to "B+", spurred by a ballooning fiscal deficit, rising foreign debt and sluggish growth prospects.

The government was originally looking for a loan of $2 billion from the global lender, said junior finance minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena.

"But now we will get about $1.5 billion in a number of disbursements," Abeywardena told Reuters. "This is to boost foreign exchange reserves."

The loan conditions, such as revising taxes to increase the government revenue, have yet to be finalised, however, he added.

Talks with the IMF are due to begin this month, but could drag on, as both sides have to agree on the conditions tied to the assistance programme.

"We continue to believe that negotiations will be slowed by the governments unwillingness to accept unpopular IMF conditionalities," Sasha Riser-Kositsky, Eurasia Group's South Asia analyst, said in a note.

There would be no flexibility on reducing the fiscal deficit, said a source at the global lender who has knowledge of Sri Lanka's loan discussions, but who declined to be identified in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media.

Sri Lanka's reserves have fallen by a third, to $6.3 billion by January, from their October 2014 peak, mainly because of outflows of $1.3 billion in government bonds since January 2015.

Last week, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said an IMF programme by which the government commits itself to taking steps to fix its finances would help lure back investors.

"What we are trying to do is to get minimum cover from the IMF," he said. "It is important for investor confidence."

The IMF gave Sri Lanka a $2.6-billion bailout package in 2009, when it faced a balance-of-payments crisis soon after the end of a 26-year war.

The IMF has long urged the government to cut the fiscal deficit, estimated to have shot up to 7.2 percent of GDP last year, as well as add tax payers and spruce up the tax system.

Central bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran told Reuters last week an IMF loan could help drive down the cost of borrowing for the government to between 6 percent and 7 percent from 8.5 percent, as investors would interpret it as a vote of confidence in the $79-billion economy.

The island nation's total outstanding debt rose 12 percent to 8.27 trillion rupees in the first nine months of 2015, while foreign debt increased around 5 percent to 3.27 trillion.

The government has promised farmers tax cuts and subsidies, to help consolidate its position since taking office last year.

($1=144.2600 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)
By Olivia Oran and Greg Roumeliotis

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC), in a bid to boost its dealmaking franchise, is hunting for a new head of mergers and acquisitions, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank's existing head of mergers, John Laughlin, has moved to a vice chairman role, a spokeswoman said.

Wells is looking for a senior dealmaker who can help the bank win roles on high-profile transactions in which it has not historically been a part, the sources said.

Wells, based in San Francisco, has its East Coast headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is where Laughlin has been based and where many of its bankers sit - rather than in New York, the hub of Wall Street banking.

"John Laughlin's appointment to vice chairman recognizes the key role he played in leading a fivefold increase in our M&A business," said Rob Engel, head of investment banking and capital markets at Wells Fargo.

Wells has seen its stock price and return on equity rewarded for focusing on wealth management and Main Street lending, and this latest move reflects a desire to build out its investment banking franchise.

Although the bank is consistently ranked as one of the top lenders to corporate America, it has lagged in traditional investment banking areas like financial advisory and capital markets.

The bank posted about $2 billion in U.S. investment banking fees in 2015, according to Thomson Reuters data, ranking it eighth among peers. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) generated fees nearly double that of Wells.

Wells captured a 4.7 percent share of U.S investment banking fees, and has climbed less than 1 percent since 2008, when it acquired Wachovia to build up its banking business. The bank did not crack the Top 20 for advising on announced U.S. mergers and acquisitions last year.

Rival bank executives are convinced Wells may soon make further inroads into investment banking.

"Wells Fargo is very actively, very aggressively, and very successfully building its U.S. investment bank," JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg in March. Dimon said that for Wells to remain competitive, it will need to expand overseas, which may require buying another bank.

Wells, however, has tended to downplay its investment banking ambitions, describing it as one more way to serve corporate customers.

The more modest view has won favor with investors, who have rewarded Wells with a higher price-to-book value than banks such as JPMorgan. Wells trades at 1.48 times book value, compared with JPMorgan's 1.03 times book.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13G

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 2)

LAREDO PETROLEUM, INC.

(Name of Issuer)

COMMON STOCK

(Title of Class of Securities)

516806106

(CUSIP Number)

December 31, 2015

(Date of Event Which Requires Filing of this Statement)

Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed:

 Rule 13d-1(b)

x Rule 13d-1(c)

 Rule 13d-1(d)

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be filed for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Act) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 2 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Master Fund, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 (See Item 4) 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (see Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 (See Item 4) 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 3 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Global, LLC 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* OO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 4 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Global Investments, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 5 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Institutional Fund, LLC 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* OO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 6 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Institutional Fund, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 7 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Institutional Fund II, LLC 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* OO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 8 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Institutional Fund II, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 9 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Global Japan Unit Trust 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 236,401 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 236,401 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 236,401 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.11% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* OO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 10 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Enhanced Master Fund, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 537,624 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 537,624 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 537,624 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.25% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 11 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Enhanced Fund, L.P. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 537,624 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 537,624 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 537,624 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.25% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* OO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 12 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Atlas Enhanced Fund, Ltd. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Cayman NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 537,624 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 537,624 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 537,624 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.25% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 13 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Lyxor/Balyasny Atlas Enhanced Fund Limited 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Jersey NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 33,246 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None (See Item 4) 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 33,246 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None (See Item 4) 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 33,246 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.02% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* CO

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 14 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Balyasny Asset Management L.P. 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Delaware NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 807,271 (See Item 4) 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 807,271 (See Item 4) 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 807,271 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.38% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* IA

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

CUSIP No. 516806106 Page 15 of 30 Pages

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (Entities Only) Dmitry Balyasny 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION United States NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 5 SOLE VOTING POWER 807,271 (See Item 4) 6 SHARED VOTING POWER None 7 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 807,271 (See Item 4) 8 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER None 9 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 807,271 (See Item 4) 10 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*  Not Applicable 11 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (9) 0.38% 12 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON* IN

*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT.

Item 1 (a) Name of Issuer :

LAREDO PETROLEUM, INC. (the Company)

(b) Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices :

15 W. Sixth Street, Suite 900

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74119

United States

Item 2 (a)  (c) This statement is filed on behalf of the following:

(1) Atlas Master Fund, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AMF), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies.

(2) Atlas Global, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company (AG), with its principal business office at 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, Chicago, IL 60602. AG owns 14.40% of the equity interests in AMF.

(3) Atlas Global Investments, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AGI), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. AGI owns 21.61% of the equity interests in AMF.

(4) Atlas Institutional Fund, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company (AIF LLC), with its principal business office at 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, Chicago, IL 60602. AIF LLC owns 5.40% of the equity interests in AMF.

(5) Atlas Institutional Fund, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AIF LTD), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. AIF, LTD owns 15.62% of the equity interests in AMF.

(6) Atlas Institutional Fund II, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company (AIF2 LLC), with its principal business office at 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, and Chicago, IL 60602. AIF2 LLC owns 8.57% of the equity interests in AMF.

(7) Atlas Institutional Fund II, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AIF2 LTD), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. AIF2 LTD owns 18.91% of the equity interests in AMF.

Page 16 of 30 Pages

(8) Atlas Global Japan Unit Trust is a Cayman exempted unit trust (AGJ), with its principal business office at c/o CIBC Bank and Trust Company (Cayman) Limited, CIBC Financial Centre, 11 Dr. Roys Drive-3rd Floor, P.O. Box 694, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. AGJ owns 7.46% of the equity interests in AMF.

(9) Atlas Enhanced Master Fund, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AEMF), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies.

(10) Atlas Enhanced Fund, L.P. is a Delaware limited partnership (AEF LP), with its principal business office at 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, Chicago, IL 60602. AEF LP owns 31.12% of the equity interests in AEMF.

(11) Atlas Enhanced Fund, Ltd. is a Cayman corporation (AEF LTD), with its principal business office at c/o Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. AEF LTD owns 68.24% of the equity interests in AEMF.

(12) Lyxor/Balyasny Atlas Enhanced Fund Limited is a Jersey limited corporation (LYXOR), with its registered office at 18 Esplanade, St. Helier, Jersey JE4 8RT, Channel Islands.

(13) Balyasny Asset Management L.P. is a Delaware limited partnership (BAM), with its principal business office at 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, and Chicago, IL 60602. BAM is the investment manager to each of AMF, AG, AGI, AIF LLC, AIF LTD, AIF2 LLC, AIF2 LTD, AGJ, AEMF, AEF LP, AEF LTD, and LYXOR.

(14) Dmitry Balyasny, a United States citizen whose business address is 181 West Madison, Suite 3600, Chicago, IL 60602. Dmitry Balyasny is the sole managing member of the general partner of BAM.

(d) Title of Class of Securities :

Common Stock

(e) CUSIP Number : 516806106

Page 17 of 30 Pages

Item 3 If this statement is filed pursuant to Rule 13d-1(b), or 13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a:

Not Applicable

Item 4 Ownership:

AMF

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

236,401

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AG

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 14.40% of the equity interest in AMF, AG may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

Page 18 of 30 Pages

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AGI

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 21.61% of the equity interest in AMF, AGI may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

Page 19 of 30 Pages

(ii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AIF LLC

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 5.40% of the equity interest in AMF, AIF LLC may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

Page 20 of 30 Pages

AIF LTD

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 15.62% of the equity interest in AMF, AIF LTD may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AIF2 LLC

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 8.57% of the equity interest in AMF, AIF2 LLC may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

Page 21 of 30 Pages

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AIF2 LTD

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 18.91% of the equity interest in AMF, AIF2 LTD may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

Page 22 of 30 Pages

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AGJ

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 7.46% of the equity interest in AMF, AGJ may be deemed to beneficially own the 236,401 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.11%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

236,401

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

236,401

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AEMF

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

537,624

(b) Percent of Class :

0.25%

Page 23 of 30 Pages

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

537,624

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

537,624

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AEF LP

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 31.12% of the equity interest in AEMF, AEF LP may be deemed to beneficially own the 537,624 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AEMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.25%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

537,624

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

537,624

Page 24 of 30 Pages

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

AEF LTD

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its ownership of 68.24% of the equity interest in AEMF, AEF LTD may be deemed to beneficially own the 537,624 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AEMF.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.25%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

537,624

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

537,624

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

LYXOR

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

33,246

(b) Percent of Class :

0.02%

Page 25 of 30 Pages

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

33,246

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

33,246

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

BAM

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of its position as investment manager to each of AMF, AG, AGI, AIF LLC, AIF LTD, AIF2 LLC, AIF2 LTD, AGJ, AEMF, AEF LP, AEF LTD, and LYXOR, BAM may be deemed to beneficially own the 807,271 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by AMF, AG, AGI, AIF LLC, AIF LTD, AIF2 LLC, AIF2 LTD, AGJ, AEMF, AEF LP, AEF LTD, and LYXOR.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.38%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

807,271

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

Page 26 of 30 Pages

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

807,271

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

Dmitry Balyasny

(a) Amount Beneficially Owned :

By virtue of his position as the sole managing member of the general partner of BAM, Mr. Balyasny may be deemed to beneficially own the 807,271 Shares of the Companys Common Stock beneficially owned by BAM.

(b) Percent of Class :

0.38%

(c) Number of Shares as to which person has :

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct vote:

807,271

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct vote:

None

(iii) Sole power to dispose or direct disposition of:

807,271

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct disposition of:

None

Item 5 Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class :

Applicable

Page 27 of 30 Pages

Item 6 Ownership of More than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person:

Not Applicable

Item 7 Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on by the Parent Holding Company:

Not Applicable

Item 8 Identification and Classification of Members of the Group:

Not Applicable

Item 9 Notice of Dissolution of Group :

Not Applicable

Item 10 Certification :

By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect.

Page 28 of 30 Pages

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Date: March 7, 2016

ATLAS MASTER FUND, LTD. ATLAS GLOBAL, LLC By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory

ATLAS GLOBAL INVESTMENTS, LTD. ATLAS INSTITUTIONAL FUND, LLC By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory

ATLAS INSTITUTIONAL FUND, LTD. ATLAS INSTITUTIONAL FUND II, LLC By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory

ATLAS INSTITUTIONAL FUND II, LTD. ATLAS GLOBAL JAPAN UNIT TRUST By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Representative

Page 29 of 30 Pages

ATLAS ENHANCED MASTER FUND, LTD. ATLAS ENHANCED FUND, L.P. By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory

ATLAS ENHANCED FUND, LTD. LYXOR/BALYASNY ATLAS ENHANCED FUND LIMITED By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Representative

BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT L.P. DMITRY BALYASNY By: /s/ Scott Schroeder By: /s/ Scott Schroeder Scott Schroeder Authorized Signatory Scott Schroeder Authorized Representative

Page 30 of 30 Pages
The mother of an Auckland teen missing for more than five days is relieved she has been found.

An Auckland City police spokeswoman said 15-year-old Sativa Lane was found in Green Bay on Monday.

Sativa's mum Elisha Lane said she's "so happy she's OK and not hurt."

Glad to get her daughter back safe and sound, Lane said she would be taking Sativa out for a treat.

"We'll do whatever she wants to do, knowing her she'll want to buy some new shoes."

Lane had been unable to sleep since her daughter went uncharacteristically out of contact but a "tremendous" amount of support from family, friends and total strangers helped.

"It was overwhelming, even friends from my childhood I haven't spoken to for years, they amount of support they showed, they're still good people.

"All their messages of help and support, I don't even know how to thank them."

Sativa's grandmother proved crucial to getting Sativa home, after receiving an anonymous tip giving an address Sativa could be found at.

The family gave the tip to police who searched a Green Bay address and found the teenager, Lane said.

Lane hadn't "gotten the full story yet" as to why Sativa went missing.

Sativa, a Vanguard Military School student, was last seen around 7.15am, Wednesday at Auckland Central's Britomart station.

Her family had thought she was boarding a bus to her Albany school.

Lane said she was concerned that her daughter had not been in touch with any of her friends and had not updated any of the social media accounts she frequently uses.

An Auckland police spokeswoman said a police investigation into the missing person incident is continuing.
Forests have been felled to make way for dairy farms at Wairakei Estate near Taupo, but plans for further conversions have been abandoned.

Environmental and financial pressures have forced Landcorp and Wairakei Estates owners to abandon contentious forest to dairy conversions.

The amount of capital invested in the project is expected to be approximately $25-35 million lower than originally planned, Landcorp said.

Recently New Zealand's largest farmer forecast an $8-9m loss for the 2015-16 year, largely because of lower dairy prices.

Freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy welcomed the move as a significant win for the environment.

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"As a member of Landcorp's environmental reference group, I've challenged Landcorp on its dairy programme at Wairakei. It is pleasing to see them proactively changing tack on the development to significantly reduce its environmental footprint," Joy said.

Wairakei Estate near Taupo currently comprises 13 dairy farms with 17,000 cows over 6400 hectares.

It had been planned to run 43,000 cows on 39 farms by 2021 but Landcorp chief executive Steven Carden said in a statement this would be scaled back, without saying exactly how many cows the property would carry.

He later told Fairfax Media there had been a long held view that something needed to be done about the conversions.

"What we were struggling with was getting the right combination of people around the table to nut out how to solve the problem," Carden said.

He said the decision would not entail job losses. While there had been plans to employ more people with the extra farms, these would no longer be required.

"We're also developing labour-intensive new businesses like the sheep operation which will offset many of those anticipated non-jobs."

He said Landcorp's scientific modelling, "done in conjunction with external environmental and farm systems experts", indicated the new land-use programme and smaller dairy footprint will result in a significant reduction in the level of nitrogen leached.

Last year Carden said the contracts that Landcorp had signed with Wairakei Estates in 2004 had been to convert the area to a "pastoral use, and that could include cropping, forestry, sheep milk, bull beef, or horticulture".

Ross Green, one of the owners of the estate, welcomed Landcorp's new plans for Wairakei Estate.

"From the outset, Wairakei Pasture has wanted the estate to be a showcase for environmental protection, economic development and future-focused farming. This proposed land use has our support and we look forward to continuing to work with Landcorp to ensure the development is an exceptional exemplar for the agricultural industry," Green said.

The decision follows a meeting with the environmental reference group last week.

The group consists of Carden and other Landcorp staff, Guy Salmon, Dr Alison Dewes, Mike Joy, Dr Tanira Kingi, Dave Maslen and Angus Robson.

The Green Party presented a petition to Parliament last year with more than 8000 signatures calling on Landcorp to abandon its plans to convert the land.

"We congratulate Landcorp for listening, and the next step is for the Government to listen to those who want our rivers protected. Stop pushing for more cows over the environment, and commit to swimmable rivers, rather than merely water that you can dip your toe in," Green MP Catherine Delahunty said.

Carden said Landcorp's strategy was to sell to wealthy consumers using its new Pamu brand. The new direction included developing new products such as sheep milk.

A new land-use model that Landcorp had developed indicated its programme and smaller dairy footprint would result in a significant reduction in the level of nitrogen leached.

Carden said dairy support operations such as rearing young stock and winter grazing would be self-sufficient and be run largely within the confines of the estate rather than at other farms.

Landcorp plans to invest in covered stand-off areas on the estate to aid the wintering of cows to protect animals and pasture and ensure the option of delivering year-round milk for its customers.

"This will also protect against over-grazing in the summer, improve the survivability of pastures, provide shade for cows and ensure we can capture more nutrients at key times of the year and stop it leaching into the waterways," Carden said.

Federated Farmers said it was pleased to see Landcorp taking a proactive approach to reducing nutrient pressure in the Waikato catchment and reducing the amount of water it used.
Just over 1000 electric cars are registered in New Zealand.

Importing a gas guzzler could get costly if a suggestion to encourage electric vehicle use catches on.

A "feebate" would involve either fees or rebates for light vehicles, depending on the level of their greenhouse gas emissions.

It's one of the measures suggested in a University of Waikato research report by Barry Barton and Peter Schuette, which looks at how to get more Kiwis into electric cars.

FAIRFAX NZ People could bring gas guzzlers in under a feebate system, says law professor Barry Barton, but they would have to pay more.

In August 2015, one Kiwi car in 4500 was an electric vehicle (EV).

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* Fast charger for electric cars lands in Hamilton

The Government is looking at what it could do to encourage the uptake of the vehicles, but won't say when an announcement will be made.

BBG UND PARTNER/SUPPLIED Dr Peter Schuette, a German lawyer and law lecturer, co-wrote the research report on electric vehicles with the University of Waikato's Professor Barry Barton.

A feebate, applied the first time a vehicle was registered in New Zealand, would send a signal to importers, University of Waikato law professor Barry Barton said.

"People will still be able to bring in gas guzzlers if they want," Barton said.

"It will be more expensive and you may make less on the transaction. Whereas if you reorient yourself into bringing in more of the fuel-efficient cars you're actually going to be able to put them into the saleyards cheaper."

Buyers who wanted a "great big four-by-four monster" would have to pay more.

New Zealand and Australia are already "out of sync with the rest of the world" by not having fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, Barton said.

A feebate could be "revenue-neutral", the report said.

But electric vehicles haven't yet become a popular choice for the average buyer, the report said.

The upfront price of buying an electric vehicle put many people off, but a New Zealand government was unlikely to agree to a subsidy, Barton said.

Currently just over 1000 electric vehicles are registered in New Zealand.

The Government is "finalising a package of measures" to support the use of electric vehicles, a statement from the Ministry of Transport said, adding an announcement would be made "in due course".

But the report warns we can't expect electric vehicles to solve everything.

"If you're looking to reduce congestion on Auckland's Southern Motorway, then this is not the way to do it," Barton said.

As the report details, EVs still need roading infrastructure, won't make for faster travel times, and could also compete with public transport for public funding and policy attention.

"With energy, there's no free lunch," Barton said.

"You're dealing with the fundamental forces of nature."

Report co-author Peter Schuette is a lawyer in Germany and a law lecturer at Bremen University.

Where we're at with electric cars

* 773: number of light electric vehicles in New Zealand as at August 2015

* 90: percentage of light vehicles in New Zealand parked at home overnight and could charge

* 14: average years of age of a light vehicle in New Zealand in 2014

Source: Electric Vehicle Policy: New Zealand in a Comparative Context
The house in Putaruru where a baby drowned in the bath tub.

Volunteer firefighters desperately tried to save a baby who drowned in the bath of a South Waikato home.

The Putaruru crew were the first to reach the home on Galway Crescent on Monday night.

They started CPR on little Elliott Nicholas Allen Whitehead until St John paramedics arrived and took control, Putaruru fire chief Nathan Bennetto said.

But the 10 month old died at the scene.

Bennetto said the incident left his crew visibly upset.

"They were on the quiet side when they got back. Many of them have their own children - it takes its toll on them, especially when children are involved."

Bay of Plenty Senior Sergeant Mike Membery confirmed the child died of a suspected drowning in the bathtub at the house.

Emergency tape was draped across the driveway entrance to the home in the quiet residential street on Tuesday morning.

A people mover remained parked in the driveway and the outside lights were on.

Neighbours said the family of five had lived in the home for the last 12 months or so.

The young couple had three sons aged under five. The youngest was the 10 month old.

"They seem like a nice couple, quite quiet," said one neighbour, who asked not to be named.

"The kids are good - they love daddy - they will run out saying, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.

"He loves his boys and they love him."

Emergency services arrived at the house about 7.45pm and remained into the night.

A hearse was seen leaving the property around midnight.

"It's such a shame about the wee baby - very sad."

They said the parents left the house not long after the hearse and haven't been seen since.

Residents said security staff were outside the home all night.

Police are conducting a scene examination and a post-mortem is under way.

"This is a tragic event for the family," Senior Sergeant Karl Konlechner said.

Drowning is the leading cause of child deaths in New Zealand, according to Plunket.

Children can drown in 4cm of water and in less than two minutes.

"Stay with your child when they are near water, as your child doesn't understand how dangerous water is. Ensure your home is water safe," Plunket says on its website.

"Children love to play with water, but as they reach over baths, buckets or containers, they can lose their balance and fall in.

"Even if they can swim, you should always stay with them near water. Children who drown have usually been playing alone or without an adult watching them."

How to help you keep your child safe in the bath:
Salient says it won't apologise again to chancellor Sir Neville Jordan for its "parody" article.

Victoria University's chancellor has been accused of a heavy-handed reaction to a "spoof" article in a student magazine.

The spat between Salient magazine and Sir Neville Jordan has blown up after publication of a parody interview with Jordan last month, in which he supposedly talked about his favourite Kardashian and the perils of shaking sweaty hands at graduation ceremonies.

Jordan reportedly raised the article at a recent University Council meeting, in which he is said to have called it disgusting and a travesty.

MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Victoria University of Wellington's chancellor and student magazine have started the academic year with a spat over a "spoof" article.

Salient co-editors Emma Hurley and Jayne Mulligan said the article was one in a series of satirical "interviews" with people such as Richie McCaw and Leonardo DiCaprio, and accused Jordan of a "shocking reaction".

READ MORE:

* Salient magazine breeds ruling elite

* Knighthood for Neville Jordan in New Year Honours

The short Q & A-style article included questions asking about what the best and worst parts of his job were. To both, the answer was "shaking sweaty hands at graduation ceremonies".

Made-up comments also included the chancellor referencing his "favourite Kardashian/Jenner child".

Hurley and Mulligan said the magazine apologised, under pressure, after the piece was published, but claimed Jordan then wanted a broader "unreserved" and full-page apology, which they refused.

"The fact that we were asked to write two different apologies was particularly problematic to us," Mulligan said on Monday.

The editors said the apology came after discussions with the university's communications team, and with student union VUWSA.

Neither Jordan nor the university would confirm or deny his apology requests, nor his reported comments to the University Council.

Jordan said only: "The matter has been dealt with satisfactorily. It is now historical and I have nothing further to add."

But Hurley said it was unclear how to resolve the situation, because the chancellor was "not directly communicating" with the editors.

VUWSA president Jonathan Gee said Jordan "raised some concerns" with him.

"I clarified to him that Salient is editorially independent," Gee said. "My personal view is that the situation could have been better dealt with, perhaps through a restorative justice model."

He said a division of VUWSA was responsible for publications, and some "risks" of potentially defamatory content were discussed before publication, but no censorship took place.

Jordan, a philanthropist and businessman, was awarded a knighthood in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to business, science and the community.

The Defamation Act 1992 does not explicitly protect authors of satire from being sued. But former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig dropped a lawsuit against satirical site The Civilian in 2013, after the site apologised for attributing quotes about "big gay rainbows" and Noah's flood to him.
Michael Fairclough was the tanker driver involved in a crash which killed three people.

The aftermath of the fiery crash that claimed the lives of three people could have been too much for truck driver Michael Fairclough to cope with, his brother says.

Fairclough, who had worked as a Fonterra milk tanker driver for six years, was driving through Patea on February 25 when he was involved in a crash that left Chantelle Giles, John Bayne and Cherylene Bayne dead.

Brother Richard spoke about the crash this week and said it could have been too much for Michael.

supplied Trucks and motorbikes were Michael Fairclough's passion.

"He was a very sensitive guy. He was sitting in a cab and there's a car burning in front of him.

"The reality is it's a horrible scenario, a big tragedy and the scenario on the Monday [the day Michael's death] just made it so much worse."

After the crash, Michael was taken to Hawera Hospital with moderate injuries.

Chantelle Giles, John Bayne and his sister Cherylene Bayne, also known as Cherry, were killed in the collision in Patea.

READ MORE:

* Friends mourn truck driver who died in horror crash in Patea

* Patea crash tanker driver found dead

* Three dead after crash between milk tanker and car

The following Monday, the father-of-one was found dead in his home in Stratford by Richard. His death is being treated as a suspected suicide.

The scene after the crash.

The bike-lover's funeral took place on Friday, the hearse followed by 50 motorbikes as it made its way from Stratford to New Plymouth.

Michael was an experienced driver who had worked overseas for a number of years before coming back to New Zealand

Richard said Michael was born in Kaponga and their parents had moved to New Zealand from England on a skilled workers scheme.

When Michael was about eight, they moved to Stratford, where their father worked on the railways for 30 years.

Michael attended Avon Primary School, then Stratford High School before heading off to see the world.

"He was a bit off a wanderer there for a while, he'd done a bit of travelling," Richard said.

"He had the old itchy feet scenario."

Michael travelled to England, America and Australia, "mainly truck driving, a professional truck driver," Richard said.

"I think it was about two years he was driving trucks over in the States, up and down there."

Michael had spent six years working for Fonterra, and before that worked for Uhlenberg Haulage.

"He had a couple of other little marketing jobs in his time but mainly truck driving. That was his passion - that and bikes."

That interest began as a teenager, when Michael rode a Yamaha trail-bike.

He drifted away from bikes as he got older, but "in the last 10 or 12 years he was right back in it again", Richard said.

The bikers at his funeral were people he met on his travels around the country, Richard said.

Michael returned to New Zealand after a few years travelling and was "most probably looking for love".

He met his partner, Chrissy, and they settled down in Stratford, where Michael's family were able to see another side of him.

"We saw some more attributes out of him. We got to see more of the father, family, husband side that we hadn't really seen before."

Michael had one daughter, Nicole, from an earlier marriage but taken in children from other relationships he had.

"As you get older and get into relationships they have children and you take them under your wing and he's done that well," Richard said.

"They also had kids so he had grandchildren that really looked up to him."

HELPLINES

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 - Provides 24 hour telephone counselling

Youthline: 0800 376 633 or free text 234 - Provides 24 hour telephone and text counselling services for young people

Samaritans: 0800 726 666 - Provides 24 hour telephone counselling.

Tautoko: 0508 828 865 - provides support, information and resources to people at risk of suicide, and their family, whanau and friends.

Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (noon to 11pm)

Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (4pm - 6pm weekdays)

The Lowdown: thelowdown.co.nz - website for young people ages 12 to 19.

National Depression Initiative - depression.org.nz (for adults), 0800 111 757 - 24 hour service

If it is an emergency or you feel you or someone you know is at risk, please call 111

For information about suicide prevention, see http://www.spinz.org.nz.
Up to 1500 people crammed into the surprise Six60 concert in Dunedin.

Dunedin party-goers pelted crowds with bottles and ignored police advice to get off balconies, despite dozens of people being injured in a balcony collapse just moments before.

Revellers continued to party and returned to balconies after being ordered off by police at a Six60 gig on Friday night, a witness said.

About 20 people were thought to be on a balcony when it collapsed and fell three metres during the surprise gig.

Time to call last drinks for scarfies? Share your stories, photos and videos. Contribute

Eighteen people were injured, including a 19-year-old student flown to Christchurch Hospital with serious spinal injuries.

University of Otago student Rebekah Brennan, 20, was listening to the band when the balcony collapsed behind her.

READ MORE:

* Singer warned people to get off balcony

* Carnage at Six60 gig

* Balcony collapse: Concerns raised about stability before Dunedin Six60 gig

* Balcony collapses at Six60 gig, injuring 18 people

* Government orders investigation

stuff.co.nz We asked Stuff Snapchat followers whether students were at fault in Dunedin balcony collapse.

"I heard a bit of a crack and groaning and looked back but couldn't see behind me."

She had seen people "jumping and partying" on the balconies before the incident.

Many people did not realise how bad the incident was, and continued to party, she said.

RILEY BAKER/SUPPLIED Police and bystanders rush to help after the balcony collapsed

One girl became angry when she was told to get off a neighbouring balcony after the collapse and threw a glass bottle into the crowd.

"At one flat the girls got mouthy, and one threw a drink at the crowd.

"The crowd chanted for them to get off. Eventually they got off then two songs later they were back there."

Brennan said the band only resumed playing after stopping and asking if everyone was alright under instruction from the police.

Hamish McNeilly Emergency services make their way through the crowd after a balcony collapsed in Dunedin on Friday night.

The gig was "pretty insane", Brennan said.

"It was so packed, that area is obviously not big enough for that many people."

The most dangerous part of the event was trying to leave, as about 1500 people were trying to "push their way out through one driveway", she said.

Hamish McNeilly Emergency services at the scene of a balcony collapse near a Six60 concert in Dunedin on Friday night.

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said the balcony collapse put the reputation of the city and the University of Otago at serious risk.

The council would take a lead in addressing the issues highlighted by the balcony collapse, he said.

Housing Minister Nick Smith said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment had been asked to investigate and report back to the Government on the cause of the collapse.

Prime Minister John Key told TVNZ the main focus of the inquiry would be determining accountability for the collapse and what lessons could be taken from it for future events.

"In the end, two people had serious injuries, it's not impossible you'd have deaths in a situation like that, so there'd be a lot of parents who want to see who's accountable here."



The University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne welcomed the investigation.

"We are also seeking as much information as we can to learn more about what contributed to this unfortunate accident, which seriously injured two young people, including one of our University students," she said.

She was "devastated" by the incident, "in particular that one of our students and her family are having to go through this.

"We join with the Government in attempting to learn as much about what led to this as we possibly can."
Our differences are all cultural not biological By Lal Wickrematunga A review of Ernest Macintyres The Un importance of being earnest about Aryan and Dravidian, staged in Sydney View(s): View(s):

The Sydney Kolam Maduwa, staged The Lost Culavamsa or the Un importance of being earnest about Aryan and Dravidian (a derivation from Oscar Wildes The Importance of being Earnest) at the Lighthouse Theatre, Macquarie Park, Sydney, Australia on February 20. The play was written and co-directed by the irrepressible Ernest Macintyre with fellow co-director Adam Raffel leading from the front.

The opening act set the stage for a scintillating performance with Danton Walgampaya (Sidat de Silva) and James Keethaponcalan (Adrian Manickam) firm friends, laying the foundation to a complex plot that unravelled with intrinsic twists and turns as the play wound its way to a happy ending albeit with a powerful message  We see here two blood brothers, one Aryan, the other Dravidian. (Pause) Ernest Keethaponcalan, found in a mulla as neither Aryan nor Dravidian, evolved by adoption, through language and culture into a Dravidian. His brother evolved in the same way into an Aryan. Our ethnicities reveal social attributes, not biological differences.

Lady Muriel Panabokke, Dantons Aunt played by Sunil de Silva portraying the character of an upper crust lady from Colombo 7, yet dreaming of living between a mix of the last vestiges of the British Raj and the landed gentry of the capital, held the play through to the end. The social interactions between the Aryans and the Dravidians were brought to the fore, discussed and disseminated in a wily manner before concluding that all different beings are culturally evolved to be such, not biologically. This was presented through the emotion of love which hath no caste, creed nor race.

Gwendolyn Panabokke, daughter of Lady Panabokke was played by Ayesha Earey in great earnest. Pamela Mendavitharna, the governess of the infant Ernest (who was lost with the Mulla he was carried in, at the Wellawatte Railway Station, now named James Keethaponcalan after being adopted by a Dravidian family) was played by Devika de Fonseka with grace and style.

Daya Gonsalkorale, a veteran, portrayed an old unmarried Christian priest who falls in love with Pamela to an appreciative audience whilst Priyanga de Fonseka and Adam Raffel did honour to the manservant roles though in the limelight fleetingly.

The beautiful Sadhana Weerawardena, playing Sridevi Kadirgamanathan was a breath of first time acting fresh air and would have a great future on stage if she wishes to. Her languid style enthralled and teased the audience.

Adrian Manickam (James from KKS, who became Ernest in Colombo) was fluent in his display and was a good adjunct to his friend, Danton the other Ernest. Young Sidat in the role of Danton showed his class as a natural. His presence on stage was a joy to behold. He belongs there.

What can one say of Sunil de Silvas performance as Lady Panabokke? It was sheer panache.

Take a bow Sunil. It was an evening to be remembered. Bravo to the cast and crew.

( The reviewer is Consul General for Sri Lanka in Australia)
This mission was closely followed by a dispatch to Putaruru to assist a teenager suffering respiratory distress. The patient was flown to Waikato Hospital.

The day did not ease for the team, as once again the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called to Te Anga, near Marakopa to assist and transport to Waikato woman who had fallen from a road bike, sustaining serious injuries, says a rescue helicopter spokesperson.

Another motorcyclist was transported to Waikato hospital after parting company with his motorcycle while navigating a bend in the road in Glenmurray.

Today, the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter was dispatched twice, firstly to a farm south of Te Awamutu to retrieve a farmer who had gone over the side of a steep bank while riding his farm bike.

It was necessary to utilise the NZCT Rescue Winch to rescue the man due to the inaccessibility of his position. He had sustained serious injuries and was flown to Waikato Hospital.

The helicopter was then called to Tokoroa for an emergency inter hospital transfer. The patient was transported to Waikato Hospital.
He was fully fledged Black Power, he was violent, beat on his missus and had serious alcohol and drugs issues.

And no he couldnt talk to SunLive right now because he was babysitting  minding the grand-daughter. The paradox is not lost.
The animal rights group SAFE is welcoming the Ministry of Primary Industries advertising campaign encouraging people to report mistreatment of livestock.

We welcome calls for the public to report cruelty. Too much currently goes unreported and some people are reluctant to dob in their neighbours, but it is simply something that needs to be done,says Mandy Carter Head of campaigns for Save Animals From Exploitation speaking to SunLive.
The alternative flag stolen from the flagpole on Takitimu Drive on Sunday will not be returning after the city council received legal advice on Monday.

The city council sought advice from its lawyers after being challenged about the legality of flying the alternative flag from flagpole on the roundabout at Takitimu Drive.

The legal opinion is that the resource consent, when properly interpreted, is limited to the flying of the New Zealand national flag only, says council communications manager Aimee Driscoll.

The consent does not authorise the Council to fly any other, including the alternative flag, says Aimee.

The Flag Consideration Project requested that government buildings fly both referendum flags where possible. The Councils decision to fly the alternative flag at Elizabeth Street/Takitimu Drive came in response to a separate request from MP Todd Muller to fly both flags from the city flagpole on alternating days.

The decision vindicates Mount Maunganui resident Rob Patersons ongoing opposition to the council decision to fly the alternative flag from the Takitimu flagpole. The resource consent for the flagpole was for only the New Zealand flag to be flown.

They couldnt do anything else, says Rob today. I dont think they could really read it any other way.

Its not a question of how he feels about the alternative flag says Rob. If he was asked to pick one it would probably be the blue fern rather than the black fern

Its a question of you are not allowed to fly anything else there.

When the council went to the government to obtain permission to fly both flags from the same pole they didnt raise the issue about the flagpole having a resource consent, says Rob.

The Elizabeth Street/Takitimu Drive flagpole rigging and security lock were both damaged on the weekend. The New Zealand national flag will be put back up and remain there once the flagpole is back in full working order.

Mayor Stuart Crosby says the councillors asked for an external legal opinion because of the opposition raised about flying the alternative flag from the Takitimu Drive flagpole.

The custom made 3m by 6m alternative flag will be returned to its owner, Bay Venues Ltd chairman Peter Farmer, says Stuart.

The alternative flag continues to fly beside the New Zealand flag at Baycourt.
Police are turning to the public to help them locate a man they want to speak with in relation to a theft in the Eastern Bay.

Whakatane Police would like to identify this male who visited the Ohope 4 Square on March 6, says Senior Sergeant Yvonne Parker.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said teachers are often scapegoated to explain low-student achievement when policymakers refuse to properly fund K-12 educationand she doesnt appear to see unions as the driving force behind keeping less-than-stellar teachers at low-performing schools.

And shed like to create an education SWAT team at the U.S. Department of Education to help intervene in

struggling schools, including Detroits, as well as steer federal money to repairing and modernizing schools, and find a new role for the feds in improving the teacher pipeline, she said at Sundays Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, in response to a question about fixing urban education from a parent who is part of a group suing the academically and financially struggling Detroit public schools for better conditions.

For his part, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Clintons rival for the Democratic nomination, said hed make K-12 education a top funding priority by taxing Wall Street investors to provide more money for public schools. He also reiterated his calls for dramatically cutting down the cost of college, and added that hed like to invest in childcare.

Right now, Sanders said, you have childcare workers making McDonalds wages.

Teachers Do So Much Good

Clintons remarks on unions came in response to a direct question from CNNs Anderson Cooper who moderated the debatehe asked her point blank if she thinks unions protect bad teachers.

Clinton told him shes proud to have the endorsement of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

Ive had a very good relationship with both unions, with their leadership and weve had really candid conversations, she said. We are going to have to take a look what do we need in the 21st century to really involve families to help kids who have more problems than just academic problems. A lot of what has happened ... and honestly it really pains me ... a lot of people have been scapegoating teachers because they dont want to put the money into the school systems that deserve the support that comes from the government doing its job.

Cooper pressed her, asking if that means Clinton doesnt think unions arent to blame for keeping bad teachers on the job.

Heres her responsenote the lack of a definitive yes or no:

I have told my friends at both unions, we got to take a look at this because it one of the most common criticisms, she said.. We need to eliminate that criticism. Teachers do so much good. They are often working under the most difficult circumstances so anything that could be changed I want them to look at and I want to be a good partners and make sure that whatever I can do as president I will do to support the teachers.

Both unions came out strong and early for Clinton , even though a number of membersincluding the Badass Teachers Associationwanted more consideration of Sanders. Meanwhile, some in the education redesign communityincluding Democrats for Education Reformhave been troubled by some of Clintons comments about charter schools on the campaign trail. And some Democrats worry that she may be too cozy with NEA and AFT, and wont be willing to challenge them the way President Barack Obama has.

Education Policy Proposals

Clinton also called for resurrecting a program from the 1990s that provided federal suppor t for school modernization. Clinton also said she wanted to create a sort of education SWAT team at the U.S. Department of Education where we have qualified people, teachers, principals, maybe folks who are retired, maybe folks who are active but all of whom are willing to come and help.

Clinton said that, as president she would use every legal means at my disposal to help Detroit regain control of its public schools. And once that happened she would send this SWAT team to the Motor City to help get teachers in the classroom to be able to find spaces while schools are being repaired.

It was unclear from her remarks whether this SWAT team would just work with schools in Detroit, or if they would be dispatched to other struggling school systems.

Clinton also said shed like to find ways that the federal government can support teachers, in part because theres a teacher shortage bubbling up in some of the nations toughest-to-work-in districts, including Detroit.

Sanders also called for greater resources for struggling schools.

Somehow we can not come up with the money to make sure that Detroit has good and qualified teachers, somehow we can not make sure that there are summer programs for your children and after school programs for children, he said. We have got to change our national priorities.

Republican candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich was also asked about Detroits public schools during Thursdays GOP debatehe called for a top-to-bottom overhaul similar to what happened in Cleveland.

The Detroit debate may have been the number one K-12 bonanza of the Democratic race so far. And there were plenty of smaller edu-moments, including discussion of gun control, and the impact of the water crisis in Flint on student learning.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Crash_Erie_Blvd.JPG

A car with four people in it struck this tree along Erie Boulevard East in Syracuse in the early morning of Monday, March 7, 2016. Three people died and one person was seriously injured, according to Syracuse police.

(Patrick Lohmann | plohmann@syrac)

SYRACUSE, NY -- Three people were killed in an early-morning crash Monday along Erie Boulevard East in Syracuse, according to Syracuse police.

Syracuse police announced midday that two people - the driver and a front-seat passenger - were pronounced dead at the scene and a female passenger died at a local hospital. A fourth person, a female passenger, is in serous condition, police said.

A tan sedan was removed from the crash scene with serious damage visible to the front end and the passenger side of the car.

Police and firefighters were dispatched at 2:32 a.m. to the 2400 block of Erie Boulevard East, police said.

Police arrived to find a woman conscious and three other people "unresponsive," police said. The conscious woman and an unresponsive female passenger were rushed to Upstate University Hospital, police said. The unresponsive passenger later died at the hospital, police said.

The driver and the front passenger were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. They had to be extracted from the vehicle by the Syracuse Fire Department, police said.

The police department's traffic unit is continuing the investigation.

Police have not identified the three people killed because they are working to notify their families.

Two ruts in the median lead from the east-bound lane to a tree with a deep gash in its side. Shattered glass could be seen surrounding the tree.

The speed limit along that stretch of Erie Boulevard is 40 mph.

Dexter Washer, a Salvation Army employee, showed up for work nearby around 6:30 this morning to see a number of police vehicles surrounding a mangled vehicle wrapped around a tree in the median, he said.

He said he saw a stretcher being loaded into some sort of vehicle and then turned away, and the vehicle was being prepared to be loaded onto a flatbed truck. The degree of damage left him unable discern what direction the vehicle was headed when it crashed.

"It makes you wonder how fast that (driver) had to be going," Washer said. "I felt sorry for the police officers."

Police had released little information about the crash until shortly after noon Monday. It was initially described as a "serious injury crash" and the boulevard was completely closed for a time Monday morning.

Police ask that anyone who witnessed the crash or might have additional information call (315) 442-5130.
SYRACUSE, NY -- When Guilio Santangelo enters the annual March Meatball Madness competition on Sunday, he will be putting a three-year winning streak on the line, and a record of winning in 6 of the contest's 11 years.

He'll also be showcasing a a culinary treat that has been in his family for three generations.

"I remember getting off the school bus and you could smell it from 15 houses away -- grandma was making meatballs," said Santangelo, whose family opened Santangelo's Restaurant at 673 Old Liverpool Road in 1986.

Santangelo's is one of a dozen restaurants and vendors competing in this year's March Meatball Madness, an annual benefit for Elmcrest Children's Center. It is billed as determining who has "the best meatballs in town."

This year's event is noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 13 in the International Pavilion at the state Fairgrounds. Guests can taste (and judge) the competing meatballs, sample wines and cheese, dine on a buffet prepared by Dominick's Restaurant, and listen to music by Mickey Venditti Good Times Band. (Details below).

Santangelo's began its meatball winning streak in 2013, after the closing of another multiple winner, Aunt Josie's on North Salina Street. Last year, Vince's Gourmet Imports took second place in the judges' voting, and The Palace Theater took third. Vince's Gourmet won the People's Choice Award.

So what makes Santangelo's meatballs so good?

Santangelo, whose grandparents came from the same region of southern Italy before meeting in America, is understandably reluctant to give away all the family and restaurant secrets.

He did provide a listing of ingredients: Apart from ground beef, the meatballs include fresh garlic and onions, pepper, basil and eggs -- and day-old Italian bread.

While many people use bread crumbs in their meatballs, Santangelo strongly recommends coarse chunks of day old bread. "It's all about the texture," he said. "You want it to look homemade." That goes for the big, identifiable chunks of basil, too.

He also prefers to roll his meatballs by hand without making them perfectly round. "They look store-bought if they're too round," he said.

Clearly, looks are as important as taste to Santangelo.

Santangelo's menu, overseen by Guilio and his brother-in-law and fellow chef, Michael DeSalis, features both traditional Italian and Italian-American items and some modern touches. Many of the dishes are named for members of Santangelo's big Italian family, like Stuffed Veal Raymo (with prosciutto, spinach and artichoke hearts), named for his brother, and the Amanada-Rin Orange Salad (with fruits and nuts), named for his sister.

Santangelo himself likes to work behind the scenes, in the kitchen.

"I like being in the center of the line," he said, referring to his kitchen station. "I want to be certain of everything that goes out the (kitchen) door."

All the food, like the famous meatballs, have to be made with "passion," he said. "You have to be passionate about the food, or it won't be any good."

THE DETAILS

What: March Meatball Madness, a benefit for Elmcrest Children's Center in Syracuse.

Where: International Pavilion, NYS Fairgrounds

When: Noon to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 13

How it works: Guests can taste the competing meatballs, plus sample wines and cheeses, and dine at the buffet catered by Dominick's Restaurant in Syracuse. Best meatballs prize awarded by judges, with a separate People's Choice award. There is also a silent auction and activities for kids..

Music: Mickey Venditti and the Good Times Band

The meatball competitors: Ascioti's, Avicolli's, Basil Leaf, Canale's, Limp Lizard, Luigi's, The Market Diner, Nick & Angelo's (formerly Carnegie's), The Palace Theater, Santangelo's Restaurant, Twin Trees Too,Vince's Gourmet Imports.

Tickets: Advance: Adults $13; Children: (6-12) $8, under six are free -- availbale at all Tops Friendly Markets. At the door: Adults $15, Children (6-12) $10, under six are free . Family Pass: Two Adults, Two Children; Advance $40; $45 at the door.

For more information: Contact Janen Bartell at 315-446-6250 ext. 334 or go to www.elmcrest.org

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.
2016-03-07-Hua-Davis_2.JPG

Hua Davis, 61, died on MacNaughton Mountain. Her body was found March 5, 2016.

(Hua Davis Facebook page)

MacNaughton Mountain, NY - An avid 61-year-old hiker died on the western slopes of MacNaughton Mountain in the Adirondacks Saturday and the forest rangers sent to find her had to be rescued from the back country.

The hiker who died was Hua Davis, of Wilmington, Delaware, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Davis was a Saranac Lake Ultra 6er, which means she had climbed all six Saranac Lake peaks in one day, a feat she accomplished on Aug. 11, Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau told the Press Republican.

New York State Forest Rangers and State Police began searching for her Saturday when she did not return to her hiking party the night before, Acting DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said Monday in a news release. They found her car at the Adirondack Loj and began an extensive search of MacNaughton Mountain, which has a summit of 3,983 feet. The search and recovery spanned 16 hours.

After searching most of the day through the snow, rescuers found Davis' body on the western slopes of the mountain. Rescuers then worked with a state police helicopter to take her body to the Lake Placid Airport.

Rescuers had completed the mission and were hiking out of the difficult back country terrain when a forest ranger carrying a 50-pound pack fell through the ice of a brook and was submerged chest deep in water, Seggos said.

Fellow rangers quickly pulled their colleague from the water, changed his clothes and stabilized his core temperature.

With temperatures in the lower 20s, and their colleague facing the potential of frostbite and hypothermia, the rangers requested an emergency extraction.

Using night vision goggles, state police and rangers performed a nighttime rescue operation.

All of the rangers were then taken to the Lake Placid Airport. The ranger who had fallen through the ice was determine to be in stable condition and after warming up was sent back into service.

Delaware Online said Davis was licensed in the state of Delaware as an adult nurse practitioner, massage therapist, registered nurse and advanced practice registered nurse.

DC UL Backpacking, a meet up group that specializes in high-mileage, lightweight, overnight backpacking adventures throughout the Mid-Atlantic, posted a note about Davis' death on Facebook.

"All of us at DC UL Backpacking are deeply saddened to hear that Hua Davis passed away this weekend. She is an inspiration to many of us and an integral part of our group. She reminded us that this world is so beautiful. Our hearts go out to her family and friends."
Ithaca, NY -- Cornell University announced today that its president Elizabeth Garrett died Sunday night after a battle with colon cancer.

The announcement was made on the university's website by Robert S. Harrison, chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

The university will mark Garrett's passing with a moment of silence followed by chimes at 4 p.m.

"I invite you to mark this moment either by yourself or with colleagues and friends. Plans will soon be made for a memorial gathering on the Ithaca campus in the near future. We will share details as soon as they are available," Harrison said.

Today we mourn the loss of our president, colleague and friend, Elizabeth Garrett https://t.co/3O8MteuCWN pic.twitter.com/MXqkeSBUce  Cornell University (@Cornell) March 7, 2016

Garrett, 52, was inaugurated as the university's 13th president on Sept. 18, 2015.

She announced her colon cancer diagnosis on Feb. 8.

At the time, Garrett said she was beginning an aggressive treatment program under the care of a team of doctors at Weill Cornell Medicine.

"I am optimistic that with the support of my family, friends and the Cornell community, I will be able to resume a fuller schedule soon and manage this illness. Advances in research and clinical care in cancer offer great hope to patients like me, and Cornell and Weill Cornell lead in advancing science in this arena. I am truly grateful to all the wonderful friends and colleagues who are helping me out through this difficult process," Garrett said at the time.

She reduced her travel schedule and senior university leaders began handling many of her commitments. University Provost Michael Kotlikoff was named acting president of the research university with 21,850 students located in Ithaca

The university offered its condolences to Garrett's husband, Prof. Andrei Marmor, and the rest of the Marmor and Garrett families.

"Beth was simply a remarkable human being -- a vibrant and passionate leader who devoted her life to the pursuit of knowledge and public service and had a profound, positive impact on the many lives that she touched," Harrison said in a statement on the university's website.

"In this regard, she was the quintessential Cornellian. From the moment I met her during the presidential search, it was clear to me that she had the intellect, energy and vision not only to lead Cornell, but to be one of the greatest presidents in our 150-year history. While Beth's tenure as president has tragically been cut short, her efforts over the last eight months have set the university on a path toward continued excellence. She will leave a lasting legacy on our beloved institution and will be terribly missed," he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also offered his condolences, calling her passing a great loss for the state.

"Throughout her accomplished career, and especially as president of Cornell University, Elizabeth was a visionary leader who was wholeheartedly committed to furthering the education and growth of those around her. She devoted her life to creating a better future for everyone, and she understood that in order to accomplish that, part of her responsibility as a leader was to boldly challenge the status quo. As the first woman to lead Cornell University as its president, she lived that promise herself," the governor said in a statement.

Ithaca College President Tom Rochon offered his condolences as well.

"Beth's passing is a shocking loss for Cornell and for higher education leadership as a whole. To meet her is to be immediately impressed with her energy, her positive outlook and compelling personality, and her keen intelligence that slices right to the heart of important issues," Rochon said in a statement.
Donald Trumps thoughts about education policy are mostly a black box. We know he doesnt like the Common Core State Standards . And he thinks American students produce lousy test scores . But the real estate developer hasnt weighed in with a comprehensive plan for public schools, or talked in much detail about education, since becoming a contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

So when education policy mavens and advocates contemplate a Donald Trump administration and its impact on K-12 , what do they see? In many cases, theyre confused or uncertain about what a Trump-led U.S. Department of Education would do, or not do, if it even survives. But in some cases they have clear concerns, or other thoughts about how he might significantly alter whats been happening with federal education policy.

(The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment about his education policy platform.)

Below, you can read some of their answers to questions that touch on the federal governments broader role in public schools.

On Trumps general outlook on education policy and the U.S. Department of Education:

Chad Aldeman, Bellwether Education Partners: [On Trumps recent praise of local school boards ] I found that pretty interesting. There arent that many national politicians who are going to go on the record praising school boards.

Carmel Martin, Center for American Progress: The philosophy that guides Donald Trump is opportunism. That makes him very unpredictable. ... He basically has no plan. He hasnt really laid out anything of substance in the education space.

Michael Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute: Theres good reason to think that neither he nor any other president would do much on K-12 education, at least in his first term.

Luis Torres, League of United Latin American Citizens: He may make it harder for the department to exercise its authority to conduct oversight. So thats a worry for us.

On whether Trump would try to follow through on his anti-common-core pledge and introduce a bill in Congress to ban the standards:

Aldeman: It would be heavily ironic if there were a big federal government push to get rid of common core. .... My hunch is that he would just not advocate for it. Hes obviously on record not supporting it. That might be enough for him to check that box.

Kim Anderson, National Education Association: In part, Mr. Trumps assertion with respect to common core is a little misplaced, because the Common Core State Standards did not originate with the federal government. It reflects a lack of understanding of where those standards came from.

Rick Hess, American Enterprise Institute: Im not sure he knows what the federal role is, or could be. I think a lot of it would end up depending on who he appointed in the administration, and what they were inclined to do. Frankly, at this point theres not a lot that Washington can do to take on the common core, beyond the bully pulpit, and try to harass the states that are using the common core. [Hess also writes a blog for edweek.org]

Andy Smarick, Bellwether: Is it really his view that the federal government should tell [states] that they shouldnt use common core? That is a big-government-empowering posture.

On how a Trump administration would impact the transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act

Janel George, NAACP-Legal Defense Fund: [Speaking generally of the shift to ESSA regardless of who is elected president] To be honest, when were looking at January 2017, were looking pretty far down the line. There is so much that will take place to implement the law in the interim, we know that the 2016-17 school year will really be a transition year. ... For effective implementation, there has to be clarity provided to states and districts soon.

Petrilli: I think youre going to see the Obama administration race to get any kind of regulation done that they can, in order to provide clarity.

Smarick: Im pretty confident that he doesnt know what ESSA is. ... It depends on who he decides to hire in the White House and who his secretary would be. If he decided to pick [former Indiana Gov.] Mitch Daniels or [former Florida Gov.] Jeb Bush as education secretary, that would tell us a lot. If he decided to pick [former Louisiana Gov.] Bobby Jindal as education secretary, that would tell us a lot.

Image: Screen capture from a Donald Trump campaign video about education, posted on Facebook Feb. 27, 2016

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
The Los Angeles Unified School Districts new superintendent pledged to collaborate more with charter schools during a town hall event earlier this week, according to the Los Angeles Times .

LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King told an audience of around 700 parents from both district and charter schools that she plans to hold a conference for the two sectors to share ideas, a proposal that resonated with several of the parents there.

Los Angeles Unified officials signed onto a collaboration compact with charter leaders in 2010 as part of an initiative sponsored by the Gates Foundation . The Center on Reinventing Public Education, which the Gates Foundation funds to study the compacts, reports that progress on that front has been halting . (disclosure: The Gates Foundation helps support Education Weeks coverage of college and career-ready standards)

And a plan by the Broad Foundation to massively expand the presence of charters has further stoked mistrust among district leadership and its supporters.

In many ways, L.A. echoes nationwide tensions between the two sectors. But even though district and charter schools are often cast as foes, there are pockets of collaboration across the country.

Ive reported on some cities experimenting with district-charter collaborations and what they look like. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and these particular partnerships havent been without their bumps or critics, but I think theyre worth taking a second to highlight.

Denver

In Denver, district and local charter schools have been working together to tackle one of the most persistent issues for the charter sector: special education.

Serving students with special needs has been an ongoing challenge for the charter sector as charter schools continue to lag behind their district school counterparts nationally in the number of special education students served .

Over the last five years, Denver district officials have been opening special centers for students with significant disabilities inside high-performing charters across the city, as I explain in this story from November .

The district pays for everything from staff to administration to transportation, with the help of fees collected from both charter and regular schools across the district. The district is involved in the rev-up and rollout of the center programs, but then takes a back seat.

Denver Public Schools goal was three-fold: to make sure students with disabilities had equal access to high-quality charters, to place center programs in areas where there was a need for a specific type of center, and to develop new ways to serve special education students.

The district and charter schools have also come together to create a single application and enrollment system for all the citys public schools.

Indianapolis

Under a new law, Indianapolis Public Schools can either contract with an outside operator, including a charter-management organization, to take over the operations of a failing school, or let a charter school operate out of an empty or under-used district school building.

Although the so-called innovation-network schools get charter-like autonomy principals control matters such as the curriculum, and theyre free from union contractsthey still fall under the districts umbrella. The schools are accountable to the Indianapolis school board, which can shut them down if theyre not meeting the terms of their contracts.

The district also provides crucial services that charters often struggle with, such as free transportation, finding and managing facilities, and providing special education. In exchange, the district counts enrollment numbers and student-test scores from the innovation-network schools as part of its overall data picture. I detail the initiative in a profile of IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee who is being recognized as a 2016 Education Week Leader to Learn From .

In addition, a former teacher and school board member is working on plans to create a single application and enrollment system for charter and district schools in the city.

St. Louis

Here, the city school district entered into a partnership with KIPP, the largest charter school network in the country. The district provides KIPP with rent-free access to its unused buildings, while KIPP opens up its well-regarded leadership-development program to the districts administrators.

Also part of the agreement in St. Louis: KIPPs state test scores will be counted toward the districts overall achievement, as I wrote about in this story from 2014 .

But the path to sharing anything from ideas to buildings between the two sectors often isnt easy. For example, charter leaders and district officials in Boston have been working together, along with the citys Catholic schools, on various initiatives since 2011, but a recent effort to create a common-enrollment system has faced pushback from parents . A similar drive in Oakland, Calif. has also met opposition.

Related stories:
Fort Pierce police arrested a man early Sunday after he allegedly drove into a fence while trying to elude officers.

Alfredo Juarez, 18, who lives in the 1200 block of Ormond Avenue, was charged with carrying a concealed firearm, operating a vehicle without a valid license, resisting an officer without violence and fleeing and attempting to elude, records show. He was being held Monday at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $12,375 in bond.

According to an arrest affidavit:

Police were dispatched to a bar in the 100 block of South Ocean at about 1:10 a.m. due to a disturbance.

Before they arrived, one officer saw a man pass him westbound on the Seaway bridge in a Mustang. He matched a description provided by a security guard at the bar and broadcast by dispatchers.

The officer turned on his lights and siren and Juarez accelerated and began driving erratically. The officer turned off his lights and siren and followed the Mustang at a safe speed until Juarez lost control on 18th Street and hit the fence.

As the officer pulled up behind the Mustang, Juarez backed up, ramming the patrol car, and then again drove into the fence. When the officer ordered him out of the car, Juarez tried to reach under the seat, where an unloaded handgun was later found. He resisted being handcuffed, as well.

The car's tag belonged to a dead man and had never been registered to the Mustang.
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By Will Greenlee of TCPalm

PORT ST. LUCIE - St. Lucie County sheriff's officials arrested a doctor on 30 felony charges after accusations he used the professional information of a retired doctor to write or call in prescriptions, according to records obtained Monday.

Douglas Howard Kahn, 48, of Greenacres in Palm Beach County, was arrested Friday on 30 felony counts of criminal use of personal identification information after an investigation that began in November and included the execution of a search warrant at Kahn's Port St. Lucie office.

Kahn is a podiatric physician who began practicing in 1998, according to a practitioner profile accessed through the state Department of Health. His primary practice office is listed in the 1600 block of Southeast Hillmoor Drive in Port St. Lucie.

Retired Dr. Aaron Shevlin contacted sheriff's investigators after noticing "suspicious activity" from Kahn. Shevlin said Kahn bought his practice nearly five years earlier.

The retired doctor said one of his former patients who is a patient of Kahn contacted him. The patient said Kahn's phone was disconnected and asked whether Shevlin knew how she could reach Kahn. The patient also said the prescriptions she was getting from Kahn contained the retired doctor's professional information.

Shevlin told sheriff's investigators he hadn't written a prescription in about three years.

He said he didn't give Kahn permission to use his information, such as his special Drug Enforcement Administration numbers, which are "identifying marks" for each doctor in the continental United States, records state.

Shevlin said he knew Kahn kept seeing at least some of his patients after the practice was sold.

Sheriff's officials ultimately searched Kahn's office, and found prescription pads with Shevlin's information on them. Kahn eventually showed up and said he's responsible for all the scheduling and billing.

Kahn also said he used Shevlin's professional information to write prescriptions because he didn't renew his own DEA number.

"That's your livelihood, it's what you depend on, and what wound up happening is he let it expire and he didn't renew it," Detective Ryan Register said Monday. "Why did he allow it to lapse, why did he use (the retired doctor's) information to pass it on to patients? That's a huge question mark."

Investigators found Shevlin's DEA number was used "multiple times" during the past two years to write and fill prescriptions.

Seven people were prescribed "medications/narcotics" since February 2014 totaling 47 "illegal prescriptions written or called in by Dr. Kahn," records state.

Investigators decided to charge Kahn with violations relating to just two of the patients.

Kahn was released Friday from the St. Lucie County jail on $150,000 bail, according to information provided by a jail official.
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By Laurie K. Blandford of TCPalm

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - A 28-year-old Vero Beach man died in a Sunday night crash in the southern part of the county, according to Florida Highway Patrol officials.

Stephen Stradley was driving a 2012 Kia Rio southbound on 66th Avenue north of Oslo Road just after 8 p.m. Sunday when he failed to stop at a stop sign, according to officials. At the same time, 17-year-old James McCoy of Vero Beach was driving a 2003 Saturn LS200 westbound on Oslo Road and hit the left side of Stradley's vehicle.

The impact caused Stradley's vehicle to overturn, according to officials. Stradley was ejected into a canal, and he died at the scene. He wasn't wearing a seat belt, according to officials. McCoy was wearing a seat belt and wasn't injured.

The cause of the crash remained Monday under investigation.
A brush fire burned 136 acres in west Martin County March 6, 2016.

By Will Greenlee of TCPalm

MARTIN COUNTY - Firefighters Monday have a 136-acre brush fire in west Martin County contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.

Firefighters went to the fire off Southwest Fox Brown Road at 10 p.m. Sunday, and had the 136-acre fire contained at 3:21 a.m., according to the Florida Forest Service.

Southwest Fox Brown Road is west of Southwest Allapattah Road in rural Martin County. The incident is under investigation.

Melissa Yunas, Florida Forest Service spokeswoman, said challenges included thick vegetation and wet areas, making it difficult to ensure heavy equipment did not get stuck.

Yunas also said high winds caused erratic fire behavior.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 often applies during legislative sessions in Florida. Take the current idea - please - of turning two appointed state positions, education commissioner and secretary of state, into elected posts in the Florida Cabinet.

Constitutional amendments to make the change have been introduced in the Senate and House. Both positions were rightly banished from the Cabinet 13 years ago, after state voters ratified a constitutional amendment in 1998 to eliminate them.

Asking voters to turn around and add back two posts to the Cabinet could create two new political power bases in state leadership while diluting authority and accountability from the governor, the state's chief executive. This prospect might strike critics of Gov. Rick Scott as a peachy idea. But Scott won't hold the job forever. Term limits will force him out in less than three years.

Currently the education commissioner is hired by the state Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor. The idea of reviving an elected, Cabinet-level commissioner is seductive to at least two factions in the ongoing, healthy debate over how best to run public schools in Florida.

Teachers unions, parent activists and their allies who don't like the state's education accountability system, with its school grades and high-stakes testing, figure an elected commissioner would be more likely to heed popular opposition to such measures. They're probably right.

Yet for all its flaws, accountability has spurred improvements in Florida's public-school performance. The state's high school graduation rate hit a 12-year peak last year, and has climbed 18.5 percentage points in the past decade. Minority students have narrowed their achievement gap with white students. While more adjustments to accountability are needed - we support more flexibility in testing, for one - it would be a mistake to abandon it completely.

Conservative opponents of Common Core education standards - tweaked and rebranded as Florida Standards - reckon an elected commissioner might yield to pressure to scrap them. Also true, but also unwise.

Common Core standards originated with the states, not the federal government, despite critics' claims to the contrary. They raise the bar for schools and help states measure their progress against each other as well as the international competition.

Making the education commissioner an elected post would attract politicians to the job rather than education professionals. Consider that the last commissioner was Charlie Crist, elected on the heels of a failed U.S. Senate campaign, and before successful bids for attorney general and governor.

Making the secretary of state, now appointed by the governor, into an elected post also would turn that job back into a magnet for politicians seeking a steppingstone to higher office. The last elected official to hold that position was Katherine Harris - not quite a model for an apolitical elections administrator.

The arguments made by supporters of an elected secretary of state - it would make the job more accountable to voters and somehow balance out the Cabinet - are weak by comparison.

If Florida lawmakers think there's a shortage of partisan political distractions in the state's leadership, they should endorse these two constitutional amendments. If not, they would do well to let stand the voters' verdict from 1998.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott talks to the media after touring part of the St. Lucie River, near Stuart in Aug. 20, 2013, to access the environmental impact of water being released from Lake Okeechobee. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

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By Carl Hiaasen

As a devastating deluge of polluted water darkens two coasts of Florida and threatens their tourist economies, Gov. Rick Scott is once again a flaky phantom.

Billions of gallons spiked with agricultural waste is being pumped daily from Lake Okeechobee toward the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, browning the blue coastal waters, choking sea grass beds and crippling small businesses that depend on a healthy marine ecology.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the discharges are necessary because the water in Lake Okeechobee is too high and the old Herbert Hoover Dike is too weak. Gov. Scott says it's all President Obama's fault for not rebuilding the dike, which is absurd.

Follow our Lake Okeechobee discharge meter for daily updates.

Scott, who aspires to be a U.S. senator, either has no clue how the appropriations process works, or he'll simply say any brainless thing to duck responsibility.

A brief civics lesson for Florida's dim and furtive governor: The president cannot write a check for major capital projects. Congress is in charge of funding, and Congress happens to be controlled by the Republicans.

Being a Republican himself, Scott should fly straight to Washington and persuade his colleagues to rebuild the lake dike and fund a flow-way to the Everglades for the excess water.

Why hasn't that happened? One reason is that Scott has even less clout with Congress than he does in Tallahassee.

Currently, the state Legislature is gutting or discarding basically all of the governor's major budget proposals, including a goofball request for a $250 million honey pot to lure private companies to the state.

Scott is the emptiest of suits. He'll pop up whenever a new business opens, count the jobs and take credit for them. In times of crisis, though, he's a spectral presence.

Privately, the governor is busy muscling special interests to bankroll his Senate run in 2018. Some of his biggest donors are the worst polluters of Lake O and the Everglades, so you can understand why he's been hard to find lately.

Scott's pals in Big Sugar have been back-pumping dirty water from their cane fields into the lake, which through Friday was being emptied into the St. Lucie River at a rate exceeding 2 billion gallons a day. The Army Corps said it would soon drop the daily flow to 1.2 billion gallons.

So far this year, more than 72 billion gallons have been expelled toward the Treasure Coast, ruining the salinity of the St. Lucie Estuary, chasing sea life from the Indian River Lagoon and creating a foul brown plume miles into the Atlantic.

The visual is repelling tourists who might otherwise be interested in fishing, swimming or paddle-boarding. This is also happening along the Gulf Coast, where Lake O discharges gush from the Caloosahatchee River.

Under pressure from exasperated business owners and officials, Scott last week declared a state of emergency for St. Lucie, Martin and Lee counties, citing "extensive environmental harm" and "severe economic losses."

The governor used the opportunity to bash Obama, calling out the president six times in a five-paragraph news release from his feeble Department of Environmental Protection.

Never once did Scott mention the Republican leaders of Congress, who have the power but not the enthusiasm to allocate the $800 million needed to repair the Lake O dike. If they put that item in a budget, Obama would sign it in a heartbeat.

The same is true for Everglades restoration. Showing zero sense of urgency, Congress continues to lag far behind on its commitment to share the costs 50-50 with the state.

Every year when it rains hard, an algae-spawning tide from Lake O is flushed toward the coastal bays and beaches. No president yet has stepped in to stop corporate farms from using the lake as their toilet, or stop the Army Corps from opening the pump valves.

If Obama tried that, Big Sugar (and Scott) would scream bloody murder.

As for the governor's "state of emergency," it's barely just a piece of paper. The agencies in charge are officially in "observation mode." I'm not kidding.

Treasure Coast Newspapers reported that the head of the state Division of Emergency Management was attending a conference in New Orleans last week. What better place than Bourbon Street from which to ponder Florida's coastal pollution crisis?

Scott himself would benefit from spending time at the marinas or waterfront motels in Stuart, meeting the working people whose dreams are drowning in a flood of silt.

But this governor prefers upbeat media opportunities where he can talk about new jobs - not dying jobs. He'd much rather cut a ribbon at a gas station than hear from a boat captain who can no longer find any fish.

Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: The Miami Herald, 3511 N.W. 91 Avenue, Doral, Fla. 33172; email: chiaasen@miamiherald.com.
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Our sleep is our prayer.

Neuroscientists have stumbled on to the fact that something important happens in brains while we sleep.

Specialists have found that there is a change in the pressure of the fluids in our brains when we sleep. This pressure change allows the fluids to shift from the outside of our brain to the inside and back again, cleaning out toxins in the process.

What happens, Jeffrey Iliff, a brain scientist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland says, is "the fluid that's normally on the outside of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid - it's a clean, clear fluid - it actually begins to recirculate back into and through the brain along the outsides of blood vessels."

This process, via what's known as the glymphatic system, allows the brain to clear out toxins, including the toxins that form Alzheimer's plaques, Iliff says.

As I listened to this report, two pieces of Torah text, which is part of Reading of Sh'ma, kept resonating in my mind.

In Deuteronomy 6, after the declaration of Sh'ma (Hear O Israel...), there is the statement that we should "love God with all of your heart, your soul and your might. ...Recite them (the words of covenant) when you lie down and when you rise up."

In Jewish liturgy and ritual, this text is attached to another quote from Numbers 15: "Remember to do the commandments for I, your God, brought you out the land of Egypt."

These two quotations connect a sense of time and action. The sages of Judaism, saw the text about loving God when we lie down and rise up, not as instruction of action (lying down or standing up) but as a mark of time.

One says these words and does these acts of memory at the time when one lies down to sleep and then again at the time when you wake up in the morning.

The action we do at those times is from the quote in Numbers.

The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which has the same root as the word, Tzuris -- pinched, stuck, challenge, frustration.

When we think of God getting our ancestors out of Egypt, the place, we also think of their release from spiritual and emotional bondage as well.

This action is not just in the past. As we say these words at these times, we are not just remembering the Exodus from Egypt from the Numbers text, or the renewal of the covenant with the generation of Israelites who were about to cross the Jordan into the land of their ancestors from the Deuteronomy text.

When we say these words at these times, we are trying to draw the thought, feeling and energy of our ancestors' experiences of release into our own lives.

God brought them out of Egypt/tsuris. In our time, we seek to have our connection to God do the same for us and our "Egypt"/tsuris, situations where we are stuck or frustrated.

Finding a reflection of ancient wisdom from Jewish tradition in modern science is awesome and incredible.

Both the time and act of the Reading of Sh'ma, and the discovery of these scientists direct me in the same way.

I am called by religion and science to release the tension/tsuris at the time that I lie down to sleep, so I will be refreshed at the time I rise up.

I don't know which is the chicken or the egg. Here, science is reinforcing religious practice to cleanse my spirit, and religious practice, in turn, guides me into behaviors that help me care for my body.

Either starting place brings me into the same process.

Better yet, I can draw on one piece of wisdom or insight to strengthen and support me as I move to other discipline.

As we all go into these cycles of day into night and night into day, whether it is our religious traditions or doctor's advice, may we all have success freeing ourselves, mind body and spirit.

Rabbi Michael Birnholz has served Temple Beth Shalom in Vero Beach since 2002. One of his goals is bringing Jewish values and wisdom to the wider community.
Amazon last week announced that it had reversed a previous decision to drop support for local encryption on version 5 of its Fire tablet operating system.

The disclosure came one day after the company joined 14 others to support Apple in itsfight against the FBI, which wants the company to create a tool or code to unlock an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino, California, terrorists.

In the fall when we released Fire OS 5, we removed some enterprise features that we found customers were not using. All Fire tablets communication with Amazons cloud meet our high standards for privacy and security, including appropriate use of encryption, Amazon spokesperson Robin Handaly told LinuxInsider Friday afternoon.

Several hours later, she notified LinuxInsider without explanation that Amazon would continue to provide encryption support for the Fire tablet. We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring.

Sordid Saga

Amazon dropped encryption from its Kindle Fire devices with the launch of its latest operating system, Fire OS 5.

While data transferred from the Fire devices to the Amazon cloud would continue to be encrypted, users with the current Fire OS 5 version no longer have the ability to encrypt data locally on their devices.

Users of existing devices can continue with the encryption support by delaying the software upgrade. Once users upgrade to version 5 of the Fire OS, they lose encryption on their data.

A planned OS upgrade this spring will return the encryption feature to the Fire tablets.

Smoke and Fire

Amazon joined 14 other companies last week in a joint court filing that supports Apples fight against the FBI. Other companies involved include Box, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Slack, Snapchat and Yahoo.

Amazon declined to explain why it removed encryption from its own device before opposing the FBIs decryption demands against Apple. It remained silent on its reasoning after reversing itself.

I think Amazon has missed the mark and made an error in judgment by removing full device encryption, said Elliott Abraham, senior security consultant atAdapture.

Devices like the Amazon Fire, Amazon Kindle and even the little-used Amazon Fire Phone had the ability to store more than just e-books and books from Amazon. These devices are fully functioning smart devices and have been used for email and other services, he told LinuxInsider.

Puzzling Predicament

Amazons decision to remove encryption is a bit of a head-scratcher, said Jason L Bauman, SEO associate atTrinity Insight-Philadelphia. There really are no benefits for anyone.

The only reason I can think of that is not related to the current encryption debate is that it does tax computing resources, particularly on older devices, so by removing it they can have less powerful and cheaper hardware, he told LinuxInsider prior to Amazons reversal.

Amazon might have been hedging its posture within the industry related to the FBI vs. Apple issue, Bauman suggested.

While Amazon might support Apples position in the debate, they do not have the same level of customer goodwill and deep pockets Apple has to fight the FBI on it, he said.

Self-Protection Angle

Amazon might have wanted to absolve itself from any liability associated with a widespread breach of the native encryption on its Fire tablets, said Alex Pezold, CEO ofTokenEx. Any breach of personal information from someone breaking Amazons encryption could be a liability.

Considering what is going on in the industry, the Apple vs. FBI rumblings have certainly fueled the fire for Amazon to remove encryption from their devices, he told LinuxInsider before Amazon reversed its decision to remove the encryption feature.

Amazons Fire tablets target children. Plus, the tablet can run banking apps, noted Bauman. Those functions need to be secure.

Shifting Consumer Awareness

Ultimately, Amazon may have decided to move quickly against a negative consumer reaction over the loss of encryption. The consumer does not benefit from Amazons decision to remove encryption as a core component of the Fire device line, said Pezold.

They are actually more at risk because they are not focused on securing their own data on these devices, he said.

Consumer attitudes toward encryption are dubbed the Snowden effect, noted Adaptures Abraham.

The thought of Big Brother listening in, reading in or otherwise snooping on private matters is of concern to many. We are now witnessing a debate that will only increase in intensity as we try to balance our Fourth Amendment rights with that of ultimate security, he said.

Not Everyone Cares

Growing awareness over the need for better online security may not be a priority for all mobile device users, however, as Mark Aselstine, founder ofUncorked Ventures, discovered when he launched a new version of his website and waited for an SSL certificate.

During the two-day wait for the application to be approved, he discussed the process with nearly a dozen friends. Only two  a professor of digital media at UC Berkeley and a friend who works with e-commerce clients for a mobile processor  had any clue what he was talking about, he told LinuxInsider. I took that to mean that the general public does not know the first thing about encryption.
Google last week announced it would contribute US$1 million to theUN Childrens Fund to support the global fight against the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

A team of Google engineers has volunteered to work with UNICEF to analyze data in an effort to figure out the viral infections path. It also will match employee donations with the goal of giving an extra $500,000 to UNICEF and thePan American Health Organization.

The company took the actions following recent Zika virus outbreaks that caused a 3,000 percent increase in global search interest since November.

Last month, theWorld Health Organization declared a public health emergency.

Coordinated Effort

The possible correlation with Zika, microcephaly and other birth defects is alarming, Google said. Four out of five people with the virus dont show any symptoms, and the primary transmitter, the Aedes mosquito, is widespread and challenging to eliminate.

UNICEF is working with Google engineers and data scientists to create an open source information platform to help UNICEF and partners on the ground target Zika response efforts, according to Chris Fabian, colead of UNICEFs innovation unit.

This open source platform will be able to process information like mobility patterns and weather data to build risk maps. We plan to prototype this tool in the Zika response but expand it for use globally, he told TechNewsWorld.

Open Source Platform

The plan calls for Google software engineers John Li and Zora Tung, along with UNICEF research scientist Manuel Garcia Herranz and UX designer Tanya Bhandari, to work on the open source data platform. It will process data from different sources, such as weather and travel patterns, to visualize potential outbreaks.

Ultimately, the goal of the platform is to identify the risk of Zika transmission for different regions and help UNICEF, governments and nongovernmental organizations decide how and where to focus their time and resources. If successful, it can be applied to other outbreaks.

Financial contributions and donations are always beneficial, but it is hard to say whether or not tracking the virus itself will have significant contributions, said Sarah Lisovich, content strategist atCIA Medical.

Putting Analytics to Work

The symptoms are similar to those of other common healthcare conditions, she told TechNewsWorld.

Google is a leader in terms of research tools and putting forth tools to help understand the outbreak and bring more awareness and comprehension, Lisovich added.

Analytics has been used to track mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus for years, according to Jamie Powers, health industry consultant atSAS Institute. In addition to understanding and learning from past events, analytics can quickly create new knowledge from billions of data points and multiple disparate data sets to provide the best input for predictive analytics.

Text mining and social media analysis to track specific disease symptoms  syndromic surveillance  can also help detect the earliest stages of infectious-disease outbreaks, whether it is measles, H1N1, Ebola  or Zika, he told TechNewsWorld.

Respected Efforts

Googles contribution to the epidemiology of the Zika virus is a critical initial step for public health. It is significant not only for tracking the spread of the virus but for providing the public with information on it, said David Eling, director of business development atProSci.

Empowering people with knowledge of where Zika is prevalent, how it is transmitted, and methods of minimizing risk is a critical job, he told TechNewsWorld.

The more we know about the Zika virus, the more ways we will have to combat it, Eling said. I have confidence that with this support and our growing knowledge that we will develop both a vaccine as well as a therapeutic against Zika.
Apple has changed the date for the launch event for its 4-inch iPhone and new iPad Air from March 15 to March 21, according to news reports.

If the rumor is correct, Apple will be holding the event the day before it appears in a federal court in California to contest a controversial court order. Apple has filed a motion to vacate the order requiring it to comply with the U.S. Justice Departments request for assistance in accessing data on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

The timing seems to be a miscalculation on Apples part, said John Carroll, a mass communications professor at Boston University.

Theyre stepping on their own story because the focus on the following days new coverage is going to be all about the FBI, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Worse yet, the whole event could backfire on Apple in a bad way.

If their product rollout gets any kind of coverage, its possible it will be covered as an attempted smokescreen to divert attention away from the FBI issue, Carroll added.

Trial Balloon

On the other hand, the date change could be a calculated move by a company known for its marketing acumen.

Its possible the rumor is a trial balloon from Apple to see what kind of reaction it gets, Carroll said. If the reaction is skeptical enough or critical enough, thats their signal to pull back.

Although just a rumor, the March 21 date makes sense, noted Patrick Moorhead, founder and principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.

Apple has reasons to refresh their lineup to be more competitive in emerging regions and to help turnaround declining iPad sales, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Grief Over Shipping

If Apple did indeed change the date of the event, maybe its because they want the announcement to be made closer to when the products are going to ship, suggested Bob ODonnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

They caught a fair amount of grief for the big gap between the time of the announcement and shipping of the Apple watch, he told the E-Commerce Times. That was an unusually long gap, so maybe theyre trying to make a statement about being able to deliver products immediately after an event.

Theres also the possibility that everything rumored to be announced at the event wont be announced there, remarked Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

We have seen before when products are incremental, Apple will just put out a press release about them, she told the E-Commerce Times. It could be we will not see everything, and some will just come out in a press release at a different date.

Maturing Market

Apple is expected to schedule an event to unveil an iPhone with a 4-inch display and upgraded components, as well as a new iPad Air that will have features similar to the iPad Pro.

If you look around and see the other devices doing well, its not tablets  Its two-in-ones, ODonnell said. This new iPad looks like it will be another form of two-in-one because you can use a keyboard and pencil with it.

If the rumors prove true, Apple appears to be adjusting its product line to meet the demands of a maturing market.

Overall, theyre filling out their options in terms of screen sizes to address a wide range of interests, ODonnell said. Thats how the world works now. As you get a more mature market, you need to have a few different buckets into which people can find a product that best meets their needs.

As for the event being overshadowed by Apples tussle with the FBI, from the consumer perspective, it doesnt matter, Milanesi observed. What consumers think about when a new product is out is the new product.
Acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr. told a gathering of English-language-learner educators that the nations new federal K-12 law could help broaden the definition of a well-rounded education to include biliteracy.

In a three-minute video address to the National Association of Bilingual Educations annual conference in Chicago, King touted the potential benefits of the Every Student Succeeds Act for English-learners and all students.

Under ESSA, states have the opportunity to broaden the definition of educational excellence to ensure that it is well-rounded and incorporates biliteracy and multiliteracy, King said. States have the opportunity to invest in ensuring that all new teachers are ready to work in the diverse settings that characterize our schools, and to see the fact a child that speaks a language other than English at home as an asset rather than as a deficit.

King also highlighted that the new federal law requires districts and states to report additional data on ELLs with disabilities and long-term English-learners, those students who dont reach a sufficient level of English proficiency to be reclassified as fluent within a set period of time.

In the message, King also called for help in establishing a diverse teaching corps for the nations increasingly diverse student population.

Districts across the country have struggled to find bilingual teachers , especially in communities where English is not the first language for many students. Increases in the percentage of English-language learners in the nations K-12 schools and demand for dual-language programs for their English-speaking peers have exacerbated the problem. The National Association for Bilingual Education and its executive director, Santiago Wood, has advocated for a federal response to the problem.

I ask for your partnership in working to ensure a diverse teacher pipeline including more bilingual teachers, particularly bilingual teachers in content areas like high school math and science, King told the NABE crowd.

Its also an issue hell address in the coming week. On Tuesday, King will join American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Teach For America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard at Howard University in Washington for a panel discussion on methods to improve recruitment and retain educators of color.

King recorded his NABE address in English and Spanish. He could not attend the conference in person because he was in Germany, attending an international teaching summit.

Photo: Acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr. testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Feb. 25 during his confirmation hearing as the Secretary of Education. Susan Walsh/AP
It seems that ransomware is becoming an increasingly popular way to extort money. Last month, a Hollywood hospital handed over $17,000 to attackers after its systems were locked down for ten days following an initial infection by malicious malware. But even as more cyberattackers begin favoring ransomware, there's never been a reported case of a fully functional version appearing on the Mac. Until now.

Researchers found the 'KeRanger' malware in the newly updated BitTorrent client app Transmission last week. Anyone who downloaded version 2.90 from the website, rather than updating via the app itself, may have infected their systems.

KeRanger, like all ransomeware, will encrypt users' files and only hand over the unlock key once a certain amount of money has been paid. In this case, KeRanger demands 1 bitcoin, which is equal to around $404.

Anyone who has installed an infected version of Transmission won't notice any problems at first. But after three days, KeRanger will connect to servers via Tor and start encrypting more than 300 types of files. What's even worse is that this malware will attempt to encrypt Time Machine backup files, removing the option for users to restore a clean backup.

Versions of Transmission containing KeRanger weren't flagged by Apple's Gatekeeper security utility because the installer was signed with a legitimate certificate issued by Apple. The Cupertino company has since revoked the certificate and updated its XProtect antivirus engine.

It's still unclear precisely how the infected versions were uploaded to Transmission's website, but Paulo Alto Networks theorizes that the open source project's "official site was compromised, and the files replaced by re-compiled malicious versions."

Researchers say that this is the first fully functioning ransomware to appear on the Mac. Kaspersky Labs discovered the FileCoder ransomware for OS X in 2015, but it was incomplete at the time of its detection.

The Transmission Project has released a new version of its software and is urging users to "immediately upgrade" and run version 2.92 as it is said to actively remove KeRanger from infected Macs.

Image credit: mama_mia / Shutterstock
Capcom said late last month that it was well aware of the fact that rage-quitters were running rampant in Street Fighter V and that severe punishments would be doled out in the near future. The day of reckoning is now upon us as Capcom is making good on its promise.

In a recent blog post, Capcom said it has been working with its server team to put together a process to indentify players that have an extremely high connection rate. An unusually high connection rate signifies users are dropping out of online multiplayer games when the match isn't going their way and a loss is looming. If the match isn't completed, they won't be awarded a loss and their record remains squeaky clean.

The developer said it has since automated the process which only targets the worst offenders. Gamers that have only had a few instances of dropouts shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Capcom said it penalized roughly 30 players last week by docking their League Points which it said was a warning. Moving forward, the team said it will be making a sweep each week and offending accounts will have their League Points reset entirely. This is only a temporary solution but at the very least, maybe it'll make rage-quitters think twice before disconnecting from a match they're losing.

Capcom said it doesn't yet have an ETA on a permanent solution but will let everyone know as soon as it is in place.
Nintendo announced a major partnership with Universal Parks & Resorts last year in which the two would develop and open Nintendo-themed areas within Universal's theme parks. Now, we're hearing more details on the endeavor which will see Universal Studios Japan open a "Nintendo Land" attraction in the coming years.

According to a Japanese news report (via Theme Park Insider), Universal is planning to spend roughly $350 million on the project. Given the budget, the attraction will likely be similar in scope to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area complete with custom next-generation ride systems as well as new food and merchandise shops.

The attraction will reportedly be situated just inside the park's front entrance on the left near the Hollywood Land area and may feature a heavy Mario theme. The goal is to open the Nintendo attraction within Universal Studios Japan by 2020, just in time for the Summer Olympics scheduled to take place in nearby Tokyo.

The publication said Universal hasn't yet confirmed anything in the report and that industry insiders have already shot down some of the specifics. As such, one should take the rumors with a healthy dose of salt until Universal goes public with further plans.

Nintendo has traditionally been reluctant to license its popular IP to third parties but that approach appears to be slowly changing. Last year, for example, Nintendo revealed that it would be partnering with Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA to develop a series of smartphone games. The company later said it wanted to have five mobile titles on the market by early 2017.
In addition to the typical maternity leave during pregnancy, a company in the United Kingdom is offering its female employees a new policy that allows them to take time off work during their red days.

Bristol-based management firm Coexist, which has a mostly female workforce, is implementing the period policy for the first time in the country.

One of the company's directors, Bex Baxter, proposed the period policy as she has seen women bent over in pain at work because of menstrual cramps. The period policy allows an employee who is on her period to take a paid excuse leave.

Most women usually think they are not allowed to go home because of the pain, Baxter said, and they often feel guilty and ashamed, therefore refusing to acknowledge it. That is where it all started.

"If someone is in pain  no matter what kind  they are encouraged to go home," said Baxter. "But, for us, we wanted a policy in place which recognizes and allows women to take time for their body's natural cycle without putting this under the label of illness."

Baxter believes that reversing the policy actually increases productivity, especially because a productive work cycle is in sync with the cycle of the body.

The Coexist director said she arrived to the decision of introducing the policy upon finding results from a new study which showed that 17 percent of women missed school, work and other obligations during their periods due to stigma. Her decision was then embraced by her co-workers.

Nike is the only global company with a period policy for its female employees in the United States. Japan has had menstrual-leave policies for more than 70 years, according to CBS News.

Baxter hopes other companies will follow suit to give women more flexibility and to "create a happier and healthier working environment."

"This is not about employees taking more time off but working more flexibly and efficiently around their menstrual cycle and encouraging a work-life balance," said Baxter.

Severe pain during menstruation is an issue for women, but only one in 10 women suffers from dysmenorrhea.

Studies showed that 90 percent of women experience period-related pain. Nearly 20 percent describe their pain as moderate, while only 2 percent say that it is severe.

There are two types of dysmenorrhea: primary dysmenorrhea occurs during the first red day and can cause vomiting, nausea and paleness. Secondary dysmenorrhea begins up to seven days before the period starts and will reach intensity for the first few red days and gradually reduce in intensity.

Gynecology consultant Dr. Ahmed Ismail said a common cause of dysmenorrhea is endometriosis, the appearance of endometrial tissue outside a woman's uterus which results to pelvic pain.

However, dependence on painkillers to alleviate dysmenorrhea is an issue.

"The women won't be able to tolerate any pain in the body without taking an extremely strong pain relief medication," said Ismail.

Other women also suffer from heavy periods called menorrhagia, where women lose huge amounts of blood during consecutive periods. According to the NHS, this condition can affect a woman physically, socially and emotionally, as well as disrupt everyday activities.

Ismail said it is important to take into account that a patient's painful period symptoms can differ in intensity.

"The pain levels are not static or continuous and, therefore, the woman's experience will differ from month to month," he added.

Photo : Mariela De Marchi Moyano | Flickr

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Given a snack of peanuts or peanut butter, Mexican American middle school children at high risk of being overweight or obese experienced a drop in their Body Mass Index (BMI), researchers have found. The snacks were provided as part of a nutrition intervention carried out in charter schools in the Houston area.

Researchers from the Texas Women's University, Baylor College of Medicine and the Health and Human Performance Department at the University of Houston conducted a 12-week study involving 257 adolescents, all of whom are part of the larger longitudinal study about a school-based intervention program to address obesity.

According to Craig Johnston, one of the authors of the study, fighting obesity requires creative solutions that help people manage their hunger, appetite and weight by providing food choices that are socially acceptable.

"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.

Snacking is more prevalent in adolescents so school age is a great time to introduce healthy eating habits. This will provide school children with the foundations they need to not only stay healthy as children but eventually as adults as well.

A lot of children are skipping their meals in school for various reasons so they make up for that by snacking when they get home. Unfortunately, getting home around 4 p.m. means their parents are not usually around to supervise what they are eating.

For the study, about half of the participants were given a snack of either peanuts or peanut butter three or four times in a week, while the rest got the same snack less than once a week. The children got their snacks after school as they were boarding school buses to go home.

Aside from nutrition education, the participants were also guided through a physical activity program.

After the initial 12-week intervention period, another 12 weeks were spent by the participants to maintain the snacking habit they were following.

When the researchers took BMI measurements after the study period, they saw that the participants who got the peanut or peanut butter snacks showed a decrease in overall BMI. They concluded that peanuts or peanut butter are healthy alternatives that schools and after-school programs can consider to help fight obesity in children.

The study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, was published in the Journal of Applied Research on Children.

Photo: Robin McNicoll | Flickr

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BlackBerry is working on making its BBM messaging app "more convenient and fun," and is currently exploring alternatives to pull it off.

The move comes after WhatsApp's announcement that it's ending support for BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Phone 7.1 and old Android versions. With WhatsApp soon out of the picture, BlackBerry is trying to find new ways of keeping its users engaged.

It's worth pointing out, however, that WhatsApp will be dropping support for the aforementioned platforms, including BB10 and BBOS, at the end of this year. This means that BlackBerry users still have some time left to enjoy WhatsApp before it's gone. By then, BlackBerry should be able to come up with a more engaging BBM to make up for the lost WhatsApp support, but it remains to be seen whether it will pull it off.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular cross-messaging platforms in the world, with more than 1 billion users and counting. On the other hand, it is not really making money. This may have something to do with its latest decision to drop support for some platforms.

Considering the wide popularity of WhatsApp, it's understandable why BlackBerry is now striving to find alternatives. Losing such a big platform deals a heavy blow, especially since BlackBerry was already struggling and bleeding customers.

The Canadian company recently reiterated its commitment to BBM and BlackBerry 10 OS amid increasing concerns that it was moving to Android altogether and ditching BB10, and now it's trying to reassure its customers that losing WhatsApp will not leave them out in the cold.

BBM already received several updates in 2015 and BlackBerry will continue upgrading the platform to improve the experience. More "key security updates" are set to roll out later this year, and the company also promised to make BBM more fun. The company also confirmed that its latest BlackBerry Priv handset, which runs on Android, will continue to support WhatsApp.

1/2 @WhatsApp on #BB10 & BBOS til end of 2016. We are working on other options.  BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) March 3, 2016

No additional details are available at this point regarding the alternatives BlackBerry is exploring with WhatsApp out of the picture, but we'll keep you up to date as soon as we learn more.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The United States is mourning the passing of former first lady Nancy Reagan  the better half and a fierce protector of former President Ronald Reagan  who died on Sunday at age 94.

A spokesperson for the Reagan presidential library said the former actress died at her home in Los Angeles due to congestive heart failure.

Nancy Reagan had been by her husband's side during his Republican presidency which lasted from 1981 to 1989. At that time, she became one of the most influential first ladies in the history of the country.

The former first lady was also by her husband's side through an assassination attempt and his struggle with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, a neurodegenerative disorder that destroys memory and other cognitive abilities. Ten years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Ronald Reagan died at the age of 93.

Ronald affectionately called Nancy "Mommy," while she called him "Ronnie."

"I am saddened by the passing of my step mother Nancy Reagan. She is once again with the man she loved," Reagan Legacy Foundation President Michael Reagan tweeted. "Nancy is where she has always wanted to be with her Ronnie. Now she is at peace."

From Washington To Hollywood

Tributes from across the country poured in for the Reagan family's loss.

In a joint statement, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama expressed admiration for Nancy Reagan, saying that she had redefined the role of the first lady. They mentioned her role as the voice and advocate on behalf of millions of families who go through the devastating reality of Alzheimer's.

"We were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice," the Obamas wrote.

Former President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush said they took comfort in knowing that Nancy would be reunited again with her beloved. Bush was the vice president during Reagan's term.

Presidential candidates also expressed their sympathies.

"Nancy Reagan's dedication to our country was matched only by that of her husband," said Ohio Governor and Republican candidate John Kasich. "Theirs was one of our nation's great love stories and a model of shared devotion to our country. America is stronger and better for their service."

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders said Nancy Reagan was an exemplary first lady.

"Even after her time in the White House, she was an outspoken advocate for stem-cell research to find a cure for Alzheimer's," said Sanders. "Nancy Reagan had a good heart, and she will be dearly missed."

Celebrities such as Elizabeth Banks and Arnold Schwarzenegger said Nancy Reagan was their hero.

"I sat near #NancyReagan once and felt like a teenager seeing one of my idols. She was a BOSS," said Banks.

Nancy Reagan was a diminutive lady but publicly soft-spoken. She was a woman of strong will and high-tone tastes. Aside from being Ronald Reagan's wife, she was his political partner and adviser, a true example that behind every successful man, there stands a woman.

She will be buried next to her husband at the Reagan Presidential library in California.

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Arizona is in the midst of a struggle between light and dark. The state is home to a flourishing billboard industry which brightens up a vast network of freeways, but it is also a haven for astronomers who embrace the region's wide stretches of dark, desert sky and mountain peaks to gaze at the stars.

The friction between these two industries is intensified as state lawmakers proposed a new bill that would expand the area in Arizona where electronic billboards are plastered along interstates and highways.

Dark-sky advocates, however, argue that the bill would be detrimental to the state's astronomy industry.

Glaring electronic billboards are prohibited in most of Arizona, except in Interstate 8 and 10 in Phoenix and the rest of the city, because of a compromise between advertisers and astronomers in 2012. The compromise was designed to prevent light pollution near observatories.

If lawmakers proceed with the new bill, it would lift the ban in parts of La Paz County and in most of Mohave County.

Timothy La Sota, spokesperson for Lamar Advertising who lobbies for the bill, said it is a matter of fairness for cities, and that if the state wants to generate revenues, cities should have the same ability as others when it comes to the electronic billboards.

"Other cities and towns in Arizona [which] do that are in a similar situation -- they're not anywhere near an observatory," said La Sota.

Lowell Observatory Director Jeffrey Hall acknowledges that the area is far from major observatories, but the new bill backtracks on the 2012 compromise and could have long-term effects.

"The signal [this] sends is that Arizona is willing to  bit by bit  chip away at the dark-sky protection that keeps the astronomy industry viable," said Hall.

Aside from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona contains Kitt Peak National Observatory and Mount Graham National Observatory.

Hall and other astronomers take advantage of Arizona's dark night sky for research, stargazing, GPS monitoring and national defense purposes. He said the astronomy industry was worth $1.3 billion in capital investments in 2008 and spends $250 million yearly.

Under the 2012 compromise, the dark-sky corridor is protected from electronic signs, streetlights and other sources of excessive artificial light, which are often perpetrators of light pollution.

Hall and his colleagues are concerned that light from the billboard signs could affect the sensitive technologies they use to detect celestial bodies.

Still, La Sota said advocates have nothing to worry about.

"People aren't going to put these billboards out on an untraveled country road. It doesn't make any commercial sense," added La Sota.

The House of Representatives has already passed the bill on a 32-26 vote last March 3, and it has now moved to Senate.

Photo: Michael Heiland | Flickr

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In most parts of the country, the concept of school choice is closely aligned with charter schools. But what do parents do in the eight states where charter schools arent allowed?

A group of parents in Nebraska is mobilizing to get more options for their children within the Omaha public school system. But they mainly have their sights on getting the Nebraska legislature to approve a charter-school law.

Parent Clarice Jackson, founder of Our Children Our Schools , said other states have had charter school laws for up to 25 years old, but its not something that Nebraska has tapped into.

We know its not a silver bullet. It could be the right education choice for their child, Jackson said. Im perplexed why anyone in the state would be opposed to an option that could be beneficial for a child.

The kickoff meeting for Our Children Our Schools was held Feb. 25, as reported by KETV Omaha . About 30 people attended the first event, but the groups Facebook page is growing, with more than 500 people. A core group has had discussions for about a year and a half, and some rallied for school choice at the Nebraska Capitol in January .

The group plans to start a political action committee to raise money for candidates who support charter schools.

This isnt the first time Jackson has pushed for school change. Her late daughter struggled with dyslexia as a child, prompting Jackson to start the Voice Advocacy Center , a special education and dyslexia screening and tutoring center.

She said Nebraska schools have allowed parents to transfer outside of their neighborhood schools under open enrollment and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (now being phased out as the Every Student Succeeds Act phases in). But many parents are unaware of those options or are unwilling to send their children across town to school.

Jackson was unhappy with her sons school, so he began getting up at 6:30 a.m. to take the bus to another middle school starting in 5th grade.

Were not anti public school. Were anti-failing school, Jackson said. We want to help schools.

In addition to charter schools, Jackson said she hopes her group serves as a forum for parents to talk about similar problems across different schools and get heard by administrators.

Especially for African-American families who are in schools that are perpetually failing, that option for high-performing charter schools should have been on the table a long time ago, said Jackson, who is African-American.

She added: I can see if charters just came out last year and the state says it doesnt know much about them to be jumping on bandwagon. But they have been around for 25-plus years. We can look at what models work.

Eight states do not have charter school laws. That number includes Washington where the states high court nixed the law in September.

Nebraskas push for charter schools has been tough. Gov. Pete Ricketts supports charter schools, even signing a proclamation as part of National School Choice Week in January .

But Omaha school board members and some lawmakers have had concerns over previous legislation attempts, as have as the Nebraska school board and teachers union members . Last year, a Nebraska charter bill was heard, but it died in a legislative committee .

So far this year, a school-choice bill , which would establish state tax credits for donors who create scholarships for low-income students to go to private schools, was brought back after failing last year. But the bill has yet to gain traction.

Alabama is the most recent state to sign a charter school law. Also, Kentucky lawmakers are now considering a bill to begin charter schools .

Related story: States That Prohibit Charters Likely to Decline

Contact Sarah Tully at stully@epe.org .

Follow @ParentAndPublic for the latest news on schools and parental involvement.

Dont miss another K-12 Parents and the Public post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced on Sunday, March 6 that he no longer needs treatment for melanoma.

The said disease is a type of skin cancer, which in Carter's case, has spread to his brain and liver.

Carter's Joy

Carter announced the big development on his condition at one of his Sunday school classes at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.

It has been a routine for the 91-year-old Democrat to give a short update about his recent activities, including his condition, before he begins his regular classes. During his latest announcement, he specified that he underwent an MRI scan, which he had to endure for more than two hours.

He then narrates how his doctors deemed that he no longer needs any more treatment. "So I'm not going to have any more treatment," he says.

Carter then smiled and the audience cheered.

Doctors' Call

Despite doctors' call that Carter won't need to receive the novel immunotherapy drug that triggers the immune system to attack cancer cells, they will still continue to observe his condition, says Carter's spokeswoman Deanna Congileo.

If, however, Carter's cancer returns, he will return to Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University to resume treatment.

Carter's Disease Timeline

Carter was first diagnosed to have a liver melanoma in August 2015. Further scans revealed that he had four more tumors in the brain.

He started radiation and immunotherapy from then until February of this year. He also underwent a surgical procedure wherein doctors removed a part of his liver, where lesions of melanoma were noted.

In December 2015, Carter announced that he was cancer-free but persisted with his treatment of Merck & Co's Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

Cleveland Clinic's Taussig Cancer Institute's director Dr. Marc Ernstoff, who was not involved in Carter's care, said that approximately 30 percent of patients treated with Keytruda has notable reductions in the size of cancer. However, only about five percent successfully recovers entirely.

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Raymond "Ray" Tomlinson, a computer legend and the inventor of email, has died at 74 years old due to a suspected heart attack on Saturday morning.

Very sad news: Ray Tomlinson has passed away. https://t.co/Ghi8B2m3IX  vinton g cerf (@vgcerf) March 5, 2016

Back in 1971, the Internet Hall of Famer Tomlinson created a system enabling users to send out a message from one network to another, which we know today as email.

He sent the first email when he was working as an engineer with a company in Boston called Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN)  a firm which developed ARPANET, deemed as the early version of the Internet. Tomlinson also made the idea of using the "@" symbol in denoting users and the host.

"Tomlinson's email program brought about a complete revolution, fundamentally changing the way people communicate, including the way businesses ... operate and the way millions of people shop, bank and keep in touch with friends and family, whether they are across town or across oceans," says his official biography page on the Internet Hall of Fame.

The American computer legend had undoubtedly gained a slew of awards because of his contributions in the development of email, and the Internet as a whole.

Among these awards include the George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award, which he received in 2000 from the American Computer Museum. In 2009, Tomlinson was given the Prince of Asturias Award Laureate for Technical and Scientific Research. He even got the fourth rank on the top 150 innovators list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he earned an S.M. in electrical engineering way back 1965.

Tomlinson was born in 1941 in Amsterdam, New York. He likewise received a degree in Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1963.

In an interview with The Verge in 2012, Tomlinson recounted the moment he invented email, he said that he was in search for problems [ARPANET] could solve. On deciding to use the "@" symbol in designating a user from the host, he said that "It's the only preposition on the keyboard."

In another interview with NPR, he said that his first email were only strings of characters or some phrases lifted from the Gettysburg Address.

"The first email is completely forgettable," said Tomlinson. "And, therefore, forgotten."

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Ice Age cave lions lived approximately 12,000 years ago. Now, scientists are hoping to clone the species back to life using new DNA methods.

In August last year, the frozen, unspoilt remains of two lion cubs were discovered in the remote area of Sakha Republic in northwest Russia. The cubs were named Dina and Uyan and their remains are believed to be the closest remaining samples of the big cat species.

The lion cubs were submerged in permafrost, enabling their samples to become well preserved. The species were last documented in the Pleistocene times.

Now, a team of scientists from South Korea and Russia are looking for living tissues in the cubs' remains that can be used to clone the cave lions or Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss) species back to life.

The scientists are from the North East Russia University's Joint Foundation of Molecular Paleontology. In the joint venture, one of the lion cub fossils will be used for cloning while the other will be displayed in a museum.

The cave lions were once abundant in Canada, Alaska, British Isles and Eastern Russian during the middle to late Pleistocene period. The name 'cave lions' was coined because most of the species remains were found in caves.

Experts believed they hardly lived in caves, despite the moniker, and they are smaller compared to other herbivore hunters. The cave lions were believed to enjoy fewer shares of predators.

The species became extinct approximately 10,000 years ago due to the reduction of cave bears and deer populations, one theory said. The lion cubs were discovered in Yakutsk, Yakutia. Resident Yakov Androsov spotted the remains from the cracks in the frozen Uyandina River.

Dr. Albert Protopopov, the Yakutian Academy of Sciences' mammoth fauna studies department head said the cub fossils' entire body parts were found intact, including soft tissue, ears, fur and whiskers. Protopopov said the discovery is truly a sensational one.

"Comparing with the modern lion cubs, we think that these two were very small, maybe a week or two old. The eyes were not quite open, they have baby teeth and not all had appeared," added Protopopov.

An autopsy is scheduled late this year. Hwang Woo-suk, a cloning expert from South Korean took samples from one of the lion cub fossil for the initial research on the proposed cloning study.

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The Sony hack of 2014 revealed an interesting crossover between the hit comedy, "21 Jump Street," and the science fiction comedy, "Men in Black," (M.I.B) was up for consideration. What is more interesting is that Sony seems to believe in the pull the two comedic blockbusters have because it has apparently moved forward with its plan to make the film beginning, of course, with convincing the perfect director on board for the project: James Bobin.

Sony is reportedly speaking with Bobin about the possibility of taking over the crossover project from Phil Lord and Chris Miller- both of whom are currently attached to a "Star Wars" spin-off at Disney.

While there is no official announcement from the studio yet, there are rumors that things are being prepared for the film, which seems to mean discussions with Bobin may end on a positive note and production may begin in June if all goes well.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are both attached to the project as producers and actors and they will reprise their roles as Jenko and Schmidt; however, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will not be reprising their roles as Agents Jay and Kay so, fans of the original "Men in Black" series, you have been warned.

It really would not be the same "M.I.B." fans know without the two A-list actors, but then again, no one else has seen the script so just how much of a crossover the planned film will be is still a mystery. We would not even discount the possibility of Jenko and Schmidt imagining themselves to be the formidable M.I.B. agents.

Rodney Rothman is reportedly finished writing the script for the crossover and studio executives have accepted it. Perhaps Sony will release an official announcement about the project soon so we will all have to stay tuned.

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United Continental announced on Sunday that its President and CEO Oscar Munoz is set to make his much-awaited return to the airline company on Monday, Mar. 14, following a lengthy absence because of illness.

The 57-year-old executive has made significant strides in his recovery after suffering a heart attack in October and undergoing heart surgery in January. United said that Munoz has already taken part in major decision-making for the airline company and has even met up with several shareholders and employees while he was recuperating.

He has also made a conference call with market analysts from Wall Street two weeks following the surgical procedure.

"I am thrilled to return full-time to a job and the employees I love," Munoz said.

Munoz pointed out that since assuming leadership of United in September, his team has been focused on helping out the company's employees improve its operation and the overall experience for its customers.

He said that the results of their efforts are beginning to show as evident in the airlines' emergence as one of the best in the industry when it comes to on-time arrivals and completion factors over the past few months.

The United CEO thanked the airlines' 85,000 employees around the world for helping it become one of the best and for taking care of its customers.

Munoz's scheduled return coincides with the company's meeting with labor union members. The summit was supposed to be held in October 2015 but was postponed after Munoz's heart attack. Brett Hart, United's general counsel, took over as acting CEO while Munoz recovered from illness.

Before being named the chief executive of United, Munoz was already serving as a member of the airlines' board of directors. He took over the reins of the company after former CEO Jeff Smisek and other executives resigned because of allegations of illegal dealings with officials from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ).

Munoz promised United's shareholders and employees that he will make efforts to improve customer and labor relations in the company.

Henry L. Meyer III, a senior member of the United's board of directors, said that they remain confident in the strength and potential of the airlines. They are also pleased that Munoz will resume his roles as president and CEO of United on a full-time basis.

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After 100 years of producing what it calls the "ultimate driving machine," BMW is now geared toward building the "most intelligent" car. A big part of this plan requires the company to overhaul its workforce

The German automaker is centering its attention on developing its very own self-driving electric car to rival the likes of the Google Car by Alphabet, which is presently beefing up its autonomous vehicle.

"For me, it is a core competence to have the most intelligent car," Klaus Froehlich told Reuters at the Geneva Auto Show. He adds that overhauling the labor force will include hiring enough computer programmers until they make up half of the R&D team in the next five years.

This means BMW need a manpower equivalent to another 15,000 through 20,000 "from partnerships with suppliers and elsewhere" because he said German schools are not producing viable candidates for the company to hire all its needed tech engineers.

The company also sees its future rivals in Uber and car-price comparison website TrueCar, which the board member described as "new intermediaries." He went on to say that the company's task is to preserve its business model "without surrendering to an Internet player."

"Otherwise, we will end up as the Foxconn for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them," he said.

Froehlich said that in the future, aside from the putting its electric vehicles on the market, the company will also sell electric drivetrains to manufacturers that cannot afford to come up with a plug-in hybrid.

While the aim is for BMW to build its very own in-house expertise in the next five to six years, there is a big chance the company is going to deal with new outside suppliers, too. One area the automaker will need partners is in cloud computing.

Recently, BMW has finally made its 2016 BMW M2 available for purchase in a few markets. Despite the car's entry-level status, experts everywhere consider it "magnificent," "perfect" and "amazing."

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Sen. Chuck Schumer D-N.Y., has urged phone carriers to provide robocall blocking technology to their landline and mobile phone customers.

The senator is also eyeing the Federal Trade Commission to exert pressure on making carriers offer this technology, saying that he is considering crafting a law to force them to.

For Schumer, who held a press conference at his Manhattan offices last Sunday, the unwanted calls have gone from annoying to criminal.

The Game of Phones with robocalls has gone on far too long, the senator said, adding that phone companies should provide the technology, whether its credit card firms, mortgage companies, or scammers in question.

According to the FTC, 3.57 million complaints were made against Do Not Call violations in 2015. It was up from 3.2 million the year before.

Robocalls have also become increasingly involved in bomb threats to U.S. schools, even resulting in evacuations and lockdowns last January. None of the calls turned out to be credible.

Last Friday alone, seven schools in Northern Virginia received bomb threats through robocalls, none of which were found by police investigations to be true.

Schumer warned that robocall criminals cost consumers an annual $350 million, with one recent tax scam through the medium threatening individuals in Long Island, New York, that they owe the IRS money.

He highlighted available ways to fight robocalls, including one from a firm called Nomorobo that won an FTC competition for robocall-combating technology. The senator also cited Time Warner Cable as the only company at present that has provided its customers access to the technology.

The robocall problem  now a national epidemic  needs to be eliminated, challenged Schumer in his presscon.

Consumers Union programs director Chuck Bell, who joined the senator last Sunday, echoed the need for phone carriers to act on robocalls and give their customers the relief they are due. It is fairly easy, he added, to launch the technology that works much like todays email anti-spam function and filters.

Photo: Daniel Oines | Flickr

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As one of the central figures in NASA's year-long space mission, American astronaut Scott Kelly suddenly found himself somewhat of a global celebrity as many people from all over the world tuned in to find out his exploits in space.

Much like a reality show, fans of space travel eagerly awaited his updates through NASA and even on his own social media accounts on the various tasks he needed to do for the space agency such as trying out the new Microsoft HoloLens, playing water droplet ping pong and even snapping a few shots of breathtaking images from space.

Kelly has also hosted an ask-me-anything session on Reddit while on board the International Space Station (ISS) so that he can engage with his fans back on Earth.

Now that he's back, it seems natural that people would also like to find out what the veteran spaceman has been up to after spending a year in space. NASA held a press conference on Friday to let Kelly recount his experiences during his long-term stay on the ISS.

After safely landing in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Kelly and his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Kornienko, immediately underwent several medical tests to determine the status of their health.

While the year-long mission was not the first time Kelly had traveled to the orbital satellite, he said that the effects the journey had on his body were much more pronounced this time around than in his previous missions.

He said that the fatigue and muscle soreness that he has experienced after returning to Earth last week is much more significant compared to the last time he went to space.

The NASA astronaut added that his skin has become much more sensitive to touch likely as a result of not having physical contact for the duration of the mission. He said that whenever an object presses against his skin, he feels a "burning sensation."

Kelly underwent a few more tests after he got back to Houston, but as soon as they were finished, he went to a swimming pool and happily took a plunge in the water.

"Man, that feels good," Kelly said.

Another thing Kelly noticed was different when he came back was his adjustment to the gravity on Earth. He said that he tried to shoot some hoops but had a hard time making them.

"Throwing things, you tend to underestimate the effects of gravity," Kelly said.

As far as his first meal back on Earth was, Kelly said that he enjoyed a banana.

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Long-term stress can lead to memory loss, a new study has found. Researchers also discovered that the immune system has a crucial role to play in cognitive damage.

Researchers from the Ohio State University conducted a mice study that could eventually lead to new treatments for long-term, repetitive mental attacks. These types of mental assaults can affect soldiers, victims of bullying, those who report to difficult bosses and more.

Ohio State's neuroscience associate professor Jonathan Godbout referred to type of mental attacks as chronic stress, adding that it is not the kind associated with meeting a new person or speaking in public. Godbout's research is the first to analyze the relationship between chronic stress and short-term memory.

In the mice study, the chronic stress was induced in the form of repetitive visits from bigger and more aggressive mice intruders. Before the "stressful" period started, the mice managed to master finding the escape hole in a maze.

The mice that were continually exposed to the bigger mice intruders had a difficult time finding the same escape hole. Godbout said that the stressed mice were not able to recall the escape route while the mice in the control group managed to remember the information.

Apart from the maze test, the research team found evidence of immune system-activated brain inflammation, which was a response to the chronic stress. The analysis of the stressed mice's brains revealed the presence of macrophages, a type of immune cell.

The researchers found that the brain inflammation and the changes in the immune system caused the short-term memory loss. Chronic stress' effect on the memory and the confirmed immune-activated brain inflammation are considered important discoveries in the field.

"It's possible we could identify targets that we can treat pharmacologically or behaviorally," explained Godbout. The findings were published The Journal of Neuroscience.

John Sheridan, the associate director of Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research in Ohio State, said that there could be methods to halt the brain inflammation. The stressed mice in the study displayed depressed-liked behaviors and social avoidance.

When the team gave the stressed mice a chemical that stops inflammation, the depressive symptoms and brain-cell problems did not fade. However, the immune cells called macrophages and memory loss problems went away.

"Stress releases immune cells from the bone marrow and those cells can traffic to brain areas associated with neuronal activation in response to stress," added Sheridan.

Photo: Global Panorama | Flickr

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In grade school, we learned about the great physicists and chemists who helped shape the world one theory at a time. From Galileo Galilei to Albert Einstein, the list goes on and on. One particular scientist we got to know was Madame Marie Curie.

Curie, along with her husband Pierre, became the pioneers of radioactivity in the 1900s. The couple discovered elements such as Radium and Polonium, and received the Nobel Prize in Physics, which they shared with Henri Becquerel.

Because of the Curies' contributions to science, a chemical element discovered in 1944 was named after them.

The rare radioactive silvery metal is known as Curium. Scientists believe that the elusive element does not occur in nature and must be made in a nuclear reactor by capturing neutrons from plutonium and americium isotopes.

Yet a team of cosmochemists from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology found evidence of curium in a meteorite, indicating that the rare element was present during the formation of our solar system. This astonishing discovery could end the almost four-decade-old debate regarding the element's possible presence in the early solar system.

The research team, which is comprised of Francois Tissot, Nicolas Dauphas, and Lawrence Grossman, discovered the evidence of curium within an unusual ceramic piece they call "Curious Marie" that was taken from a carbon-rich meteorite.

The rare element was incorporated into the piece when it condensed from the gaseous cloud that formed the sun during the early formation of the solar system, scientists said.

Dauphas, who is a professor at UChicago's Geophysical Sciences department, said finding evidence of the presence of curium in the early solar system is exciting for scientists because they can use chronometers to date the relative ages of planets and meteorites.

The longest-lived curium isotope Cm-247 decays over time into U-235, a uranium isotope. A rock or mineral which had formed early in the solar system would have incorporated more Cm-247 compared to a similar rock or mineral that formed much later.

If scientists were able to analyze these theoretical minerals, they would see that the older mineral would contain more U-235 as the decay of Cm-247.

"The idea is simple enough, yet, for nearly 35 years, scientists have argued about the presence of Cm-247 in the early solar system," said Tissot, who is also a professor at UChicago.

Additionally, their models estimate that if curium were indeed present in the early solar system, its abundance was low.

The team's findings are featured in the journal Science Advances.

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Guest post from Philip Kovacs, a former high school English teacher, a former tenured professor, and currently VP of Education at Appleton.

This is a strange time for teachers indeed.

A few years ago in my home state of Alabama, a state senator suggested that raising teacher pay would violate biblical principle . Fast forward to today--and Democrats and Republicans have found something they can at least temporarily agree on.

The second cost of living raise for teachers in eight years isnt much to celebrate, but I will count it as a win.

Googling the news for teacher pay raise results in just over 400,000 hits. Admittedly, not all of the results are positive. On February 18th lawmakers in South Dakota failed to raise teacher pay by 1 vote. But that state is an outlier, as dozens of others are set to increase the starting pay for teachers in an effort to thwart a growing national teacher shortage.

As a former teacher, a scholar who has researched teacher happiness, and now a member of a team addressing the teacher shortage head-on, I can say with some authority that raising teacher pay is a good start, but for many teachers the money isnt the issue.

Poor working conditions, lack of autonomy, and twenty years of failed, high stakes reforms are weightier reasons for teacher flight.

Teacher flight is only part of the problem. There arent enough individuals making the decision to commit themselves to educating our nations children. It should come as no surprise that after decades of teacher bashing, fewer and fewer college students are entering the profession.

There is, however, a silver lining to the perpetually dark cloud that has been hovering over teaching. In December, when Congress reauthorized No Child Left Behind, they made significant changes to Title II funding, including a new focus on teacher recruitment and retention, two areas that are Human Resource functions.

The shift away from a myopic focus on curriculum, professional development, and testing (its still there, just not as glaring) and towards finding and keeping great teachers is the most hopeful and perhaps the strangest outcome of the legislation.

Why strange?

Strange, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary:

1. Different from what is usual, normal, or expected

2. Not known, heard, or seen before

3. Not entirely comfortable or well

Number 3 is the outlier here, as anyone familiar with federal educational policy knows that a focus on finding and keeping teachers is unusual (definitions 1 and 2), at least over the past four decades.

What makes me not entirely comfortable about the Title II provisions for teacher recruitment and retention is that those provisions will be as ineffective as the last reauthorization of ESSA (formerly known as NCLB) unless contextualized in a larger educational ecosystem.

Said differently, if districts, states, and the country dont make sweeping changes to public schools and the cities housing them, recruiting more teachers is going to be a waste of time and money and trying to retain those teachers will be a fools errand.

At a macro level, the country must address the economic devastation in cities like Detroit and Chicago, parts of which have become war zones. Fixing teacher recruitment and retention in such areas cannot be done without fixing the cities.

While one might want to imagine that there are cadres of bright young graduates eager to go into such areas, even TFA is having a hard time recruiting, and its corps members arent exactly known for retention.

At the micro level, school districts are going to have to change the way they treat teachers if they want to attract and retain the best ones. While pay increases are a good start, changing the antiquated salary schedules must take place immediately, as time spent on the job doesnt mean you are improving at it year after year. And districts cant do this without state support.

Great teachers should be rewarded for being great teachers, and they can be identified as such without an over-reliance on test scores. Digital portfolios offer a more robust picture of what goes on in teachers classrooms than any standardized test. Districts should embrace and use such technology immediately.

While financial incentives may work for some, increased autonomy and the ability to pursue customized professional development are equally important to others, and retaining great teachers will require both.

It also strikes me as strange that we treat teachers like they dont deserve or require the same types of breaks that other professionals receive. Many teachers are required to perform lunch duty and forgo planning periods. We dont require doctors to eat with their patients or lawyers to make sure their clients get safely into their cars. Schools should rely on para-professionals to cover non-teaching duties, freeing teachers to do what they spend significant time training to do, teach.

What may be the strangest outcome of the teacher shortage and ESSA is that, for the first time in our countrys history, we are going to have to treat teachers the same way we treat any other resource. In this case, it is a human resource.

Teachers are becoming rare. That which is rare has value. Schools that want the best teachers are going to have to treat those teachers as valuable resources, resources who are essential for the future of our communities and countries.

It seems strange to have to point this out.
Google wants to keep the remote areas of India Wi-Fi-connected through its Project Loon initiative.

The company is currently in talks with a number of telecommunications operators in the area to gain service provisions for the pilot program of the project. Launching Project Loon in India will only become possible through partnering with a local telco, said Google.

Rajan Anandan, the managing director of Google for India and Southeast Asia, said that while Project Loon actually works, it is at a simplistic level and can be described as a sky-based infrastructure. He added that since the actual provisioning of the service will depend wholly on a local telco, Google still needs to discuss Project Loon with a number of telcos in the area.

Google first started testing the Wi-Fi-beaming high-altitude balloons in June 2013, when it launched 30 balloons from New Zealand's South Island. The goal is to establish "a ring of uninterrupted connectivity at latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere." This way, pilot testers from these latitudes would be able to remain connected through the Wi-Fi-powered balloons.

Apart from India, Google also has plans to launch Project Loon in Indonesia sometime in 2016. The announcement came from Google co-founder and now CEO of Alphabet Larry Page at the Global Forum 2015 in San Francisco, where he had a 20-minute appearance.

According to Page, without a doubt, Project Loon is a life-changing Internet service. He also made mention of how cellphones have changed everyone's life.

Anandan, in an exclusive interview with Economic Times, also hinted on the possibility of setting up an office in India for the company's early-stage investment fund Google Ventures. The executive declined to provide more details on the matter or a definite time frame.

In 2015, the company established an office in India for Google Capital.

"Google Capital is here (in India)," said Anandan in the interview. "Google Ventures is only a matter of time ... India actually has 50 Series-A investors, we only have five Series-D investors. So, there is a gap in late-stage investing and we decided to close that gap."

Google Capital, according to Anandan, would allow the company to accelerate its investment pace in India. Since it is on an early stage, the company believes that focusing first on mentoring instead of ventures would be a better and wiser move.

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Tom Hiddleston has been keeping himself busy with a BBC Drama series, "The Night Manager," based on the novel by John Le Carre. Hiddleston has been getting rave reviews for the series and many have been calling his portrayal of Jonathan Pine, an undercover operative, an audition for his bid to become the next Bond. James Bond.

The British actor, who has gained Hollywood superstar fame for playing Loki in "Thor" and "The Avengers" movies, has been one of the front runners to take over the role of 007 ever since Daniel Craig made it clear that he would rather slash his wrists than play the world greatest spy again. Other potential Bonds in various lists also include Idris Elba and Angelina Jolie.

Hiddleston told The Sunday Times, that playing 007 would be an extraordinary opportunity and he would grab the chance to play him if he could.

"I simply love the theme tune, the tropes and the mythology. I love the whole thing. If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity," he revealed in the interview.

He also acknowledged in the past that his "Night Manager" character bears many similarities to Bond.

"There are similarities insofar as Pine and Bond are granted a license above and beyond the law to do bad things for the greater good. Bond has a 00 license to kill. I don't know if Pine is a 00 just yet..." he said.

Hiddleston also shared that he is aware that the role of James Bond would require much more of him physically as an actor than any previous roles he has taken, and this is not something that he would take lightly. As production for his current film is underway, he is proving that he is not one to shy away from any heavy lifting and fitness training that would be required of him.

For his role as a SAS tracker in "Kong: Skull Island" Hiddleston joked that he is probably not in the best physical shape to be a SAS operative for real, however he is working on it.

Reportedly, with a smile on his face, he shared the excruciating training regimen he put himself through with ex-military men and SAS in order to prepare himself for "Kong."

And as far as his "The Night Manager" co-star, Tom Hollander, is concerned, Hiddleston is already "James Bond-like," revealing that he came to the rescue by peeing on him when he was stung by a nasty jellyfish while filming.

Truly the man is on a mission to become the next James Bond.

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When Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat announced that he planned on leaving the series after the next season, rumors started running rampant that his leaving would also signal the departure of the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

Some of those rumors went so far as to suggest that the BBC planned on forcing Capaldi out of the role, but according to the actor, the opposite is true: the network has actually asked him to stay on with new showrunner Chris Chibnall.

"I've been asked to stay on, but it's such a long time before I have to make that decision," Capaldi said to the Radio Times. "Steven's been absolutely wonderful, so I love working with him. Chris is fantastic, and I think he's a hugely talented guy. I don't know where the show's gonna go then. I don't know. I have to make up my mind, and I haven't yet."

If the BBC wanted to oust the 12th Doctor to make way for the 13th, it's likely they wouldn't ask the 12th to stay on, right? Capaldi staying on with the new showrunner, though, is a decision that is now in the actor's hands. And as he said, he has at least a year or two left to make that decision.

After Moffat's initial announcement, fans learned that this year won't see any new episodes of Doctor Who, except for a Christmas special. The next full season of the show won't air until 2017. If Capaldi does make an exit then, that gives him several years to decide. But that also means that Capaldi is still the Doctor until then.

Recently, the show lost a companion when Jenna-Louise Coleman decided to leave the series. That means that there's still one role on the series yet to cast for the new season, a decision Moffat will likely get to make.

Chibnall will take the reins as showrunner after the 2017 season. In the U.S., Chibnall is known mostly as the writer for crime drama Broadchurch, which stars the 10th Doctor, David Tennant. That series recently got picked up for a third season. Chibnall also served as head writer for the first two seasons of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood and wrote the Doctor Who episode "42."

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Students could soon get kicked out of school for sexting.Assembly Bill 2536 would give schools the right to expel or suspend students for sending nude or sexually explicit photos and images electronically with the purpose or effect of humiliating or harassing a pupil.The law would apply to students who sext in that manner when at school or school-sanctioned events or on the way to or from school or school events. The bill addresses photographs and visual recordings sent to the targets of the bullying or to other students or school personnel.Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, introduced the bill Feb. 19, following at least 20 other states with anti-sexting laws.This bill is more specific than existing cyberbullying revenge porn and child pornography laws already on the books in California.It gives school districts a way to discipline students who have directed their sexting at classmates or teachers but whose actions don't reach a legal threshold for criminality, Chau said.The bill would give administrators the option to expel or suspend students if they're found sexting, Chau said.The most common form of online sexual harassment is receiving unwelcome sexual comments, jokes or pictures or having someone post them about or of you, according to a 2011 survey of middle and high school students from the American Association of University Women.A number of school districts, Los Angeles Unified included, have dealt with the problem by launching aggressive anti-sexting education campaigns, discouraging the practice from the get-go rather than punishing it.The new bill would also require schools to include discussion of sexting in sexual health classes, teaching about its legal ramifications and potential connections to cyberbullying.Catherine Hill, vice president for research at the association, said she would prefer an approach to sexting that allows the students to address their actions while remaining on campus and receiving counseling.Robert Lotter, chief executive of My Mobile Watchdog, a company that allows parents to monitor children's technology, had a similar concern about the bill.Expelling a child isn't solving the problem, because the child can continue the activity from home, he said.Free speech advocates have been skeptical of efforts to address cyberbullying.The California bill concerns Sameer Hinduja, a criminal justice professor at Florida Atlantic University and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, which keeps track of states with sexting laws.His qualms stem in part from the law's assumption that administrators can determine the intended purpose of the material students send. The bill, he said, seems to assume that identifying intent is easy. And it's totally not in these types of situations.I would be afraid that we're starting to infringe on civil liberties.
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 moviea 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.
Geo-Tracking: Should Phone Location Info Require a Warrant?

It's the American way to expect privacy. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that no warrant shall issue without a detailed description of the person, place, or thing to be searched and probable cause. We expect law enforcement to follow rules that balance our right to privacy with the police's need for information to track down criminals.

But the balance shifts constantly as new technologies are created. Now privacy is threatened electronically, and while the FBI fights Apple over phone encryption, lawmakers are debating warrantless geo-tracking. It sounds fancy but basically the question is whether police should need a warrant to get location info from cell phone towers. Let's explore this.

Warrantless What?

Your phone has a GPS and you can be tracked when you carry it. Also you leave an electronic trail at all the cell towers you pass. Police need a warrant to track a car in real time. Should that also be required for historical location information?

Richard Downing, deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, testified at a hearing at the House Oversight Committee about just this last week, according to National Public Radio. He said geo-tracking gives investigators invaluable information. It has been used to quickly find suspects or victims and to build cases against criminals.

Still, the utility is not the problem. Privacy is. "I find myself in a very difficult spot," North Carolina Republican Congressman Mark Meadows said at the hearing. "And I don't know on many occasions that I've ever gone against law enforcement. And yet this fundamental question that we're here today addressing is ... very troubling, because the expectation of privacy foundationally is what all Americans presume that they should enjoy."

Why Privacy Matters

Congressman Meadows is expressing a concern we should all consider carefully. Just because having easy access to geographic location makes law enforcement easier doesn't mean it's good for society. What harms come with the good? What freedoms do we relinquish when we become prisoners to convenient technology like smart phones? And what comes next, when we're all attached to all kinds of gadgets?

Accused?

If you've been accused of crime -- or someone you know has been -- speak to a lawyer today. Don't delay. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case. Get help.

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"That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalisation, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh (IS) are resonating with some individuals," he added.
Are Nanny Websites Like Care.com Liable for Nanny Crimes?

Hidden nanny cameras were invented to capture parent nightmares on film, and they work. Last month, a babysitter in California, 20 years old, was caught suffocating a baby, 13 months, who would not stop crying as she tried to put him to bed.

The babysitter has since been charged with felony child abuse and ordered to stay away from children, according to KRON 4 local news in Livermore. She got her gig on Care.com. Is the website liable to parents?

Caught on Camera

The baby in the criminal case out of California is referred to as "Doe," and the description of what happened to him is disconcerting. The police report describes what officers saw on film.

The hidden nanny camera in the baby boy's room allegedly shows the babysitter, Moriah Gonzales, trying to put the boy down for a nap. "Moriah then placed her hands closer to Doe's face and the sounds went from clear and audible to a muffled cry," states the police report.

It 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."

Can Care Be Sued?

Care.com is, in its own words," the world's largest online destination for care." The company connects caregivers and people in need of services of all kinds. Whether pet-sitting, house-sitting, or babysitting, it can find someone to watch what you care about while you cannot. But it is quite clear about the fact that it takes no responsibility for the actions of the people it connects through the site.

On its website, Care writes, "We connect families with great caregivers and caring companies to help you be there for the ones you love. " But, it also has a disclaimer disavowing any responsibility for the connections made on the site, writing, "Care.com does not employ, recommend or endorse any care provider or care seeker nor is it responsible for the conduct of any care provider or care seeker."

So That's It?

Just because Care disclaims responsibility for the connections made does not mean that it will escape blame. Parents can technically still sue Care.com and claim that it was negligent in some aspect of its service. But whether the claim will succeed is another question.

Injured?

If your child has been injured in the care of another, speak to a lawyer. Many attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your claim.

Related Resources:
What the Supreme Court's Stand on Louisiana Abortion Law Means Nationally

Late last week the Supreme Court blocked enforcement of a Louisiana law that requires abortion clinic doctors to have admitting privileges in nearby hospitals. The High Court's move was hailed as a victory for reproductive rights activists and a sign of the likely outcome for a similar law challenged in Texas. Let's look at why the matters to women, and men, nationally.

Creating Obstacles

Although abortion is legal in Louisiana, that state makes it very difficult for clinics to operate, for doctors to staff them, and for women to exercise their right not to have a child. The law in Louisiana, while ostensibly about ensuring that doctors can admit patients to local hospitals, is, according to reproductive rights activists, an effort to block access to abortions.

By barring enforcement of the law, which was upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation's highest court signaled that creating legal barriers to access to abortions is not a legitimate means of stopping the controversial practice. The word in the media was that this was the work of three fierce lady justices.

With three women on the bench, some believe the Supreme Court will no longer support laws that allow states to practically bar abortions and make them virtually impossible to obtain. It seems likely that the court will soon announce a similar decision on a Texas law that was argued before it last week.

Why This Matters

Abortion, while about a woman's right to choose what to do with her body, is also everybody's business. The story matters to all, not just women, as it takes two to tango, and men are certainly impacted by the choices women make about carrying a baby. Ultimately, these laws impact us all as a society.

State laws about admitting privileges of clinic doctors become major national issues because of how these laws play out in people's lives. They endanger women who live in states with very few clinics and that place strict limits on abortion access, women who then take risks with consequences for everyone.

For example, a woman in Tennessee is being charged with attempted first-degree murder for a failed wire hangar abortion. Whatever you think of abortion, it seems reasonable to say that everyone is losing in this case -- the severely handicapped child, the mother who faces prison, and the state that will pay the costs of mom's prosecution and perhaps a lifetime of institutionalization for both.

Need Help?

If you need help navigating the thicket of state abortion laws and a counselor, talk to a lawyer. Get guidance.

Related Resources:
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
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Do not consider WebMD Blogs as medical advice. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of something you have read on WebMD. You should always speak with your doctor before you start, stop, or change any prescribed part of your care plan or treatment. WebMD understands that reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified health care provider. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or dial 911 immediately.
TS, Maharashtra to sign historic irrigation pact

Hyderabad, March 7 (INN): The officials of Irrigation Departments of Telangana and Maharashtra will sign the historic pact on the construction of five barrages on Godavari, Pranahita and Penganga at an event to be held in Mumbai on Tuesday. The agreement will be signed in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his Maharashtra counterpart Devender Fadnavis.



KCR reached Mumbai on Monday along with a big delegation which comprises of Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao, Housing Minister A. Indira Karan Reddy, Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna, State Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Niranjan Reddy, Advisors Vidyasagar Rao (Irrigation) and Dharamapuri Srinivas (Inter-State Relations) and other senior officials. The Chief Minister will be staying at Maharashtra Raj Bhavan tonight.



On Tuesday morning, KCR will meet Fadnavis at Siyadari Guest House and both will witness the signing of agreement.









News Posted: 7 March, 2016








Kaleshwaram Project will be completed in two years: Harish Rao

Hyderabad, March 7 (INN): Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao said that the agreement with Maharashtra Government on construction of five barrages would turn the North Telangana into a green zone.



Speaking to media persons before leaving for Mumbai on Monday, Harish Rao said that the Kaleshwaram project would be constructed on Godavari River and it would be completed within two years. He said that the State Government would allocate Rs. 25,000 crore every year to complete all pending irrigation projects in the State. He said loans were also being arranged from different agencies for these projects.



Meanwhile, Commercial Taxes Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said a warm reception would be accorded to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on his return from Mumbai on Tuesday. He said it was due to KCR's efforts that a 60-year-old inter-State dispute was resolved. He said that the Chief Minister would be brought in a special 'ratham' from the Begumpet Airport.









News Posted: 7 March, 2016








Govt has no moral right to celebrate Women's Day: Roja

Hyderabad, March 7 (INN): YSR Congress Party MLA Roja on Monday said that the TDP Government had no moral right to celebrate the International Women's Day as its leaders were involved in atrocities against women.



Speaking to media persons here, Roja demanded the removal of minister Ravela Kishore Babu from the AP Cabinet for his son's alleged assault on a woman in Banjara Hills. "We are seeing some atrocity or the other on women by the government itself and the ruling party leaders at various levels. The minister's son attempted to assault on a woman in full public view in Hyderabad. Minor girl Indumati was burnt alive in Eluru. Hundreds of women were forced into sex racket by TDP leaders in call money scam. Rishiteshwari was forced to commit suicide. A woman MRO was thrashed by an MLA in full public view. What is your moral right to conduct women's day celebrations?" she questioned.



Roja demanded an apology from actor, Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna for his alleged derogatory remarks against women. She also accused Nara Lokesh of indulging in vulgar activities in clubs.









News Posted: 7 March, 2016








PG Medical Entrance test results declared

Hyderabad, March 7 (INN): The results for PG Medical Entrance Test for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were declared in NTR Health University in Vijayawada on Monday.



Speaking after releasing the results, AP Health Minister K. Srinivas Rao informed that the first rank was secured by H. Venkat Ramana, second rank by Samanth and third by A. Sarala. He said that the results were declared in a record time of eight days.



Of 13,252 registered candidates, a total of 8,658 qualified for 2,533 seats. They include 1,873 seats are under Convener Quota and 660 seats in Management Quota. He said elaborate arrangements were being made for admissions into these courses.









News Posted: 7 March, 2016








Over 50 autos gutted in fire at Viqarabad Bus Depot

Hyderabad, March 7 (INN): More than 50 auto-rickshaws were gutted in a major fire at Viqarabad Bus Depot on Monday.



The auto-rickshaws, which were seized by the Regional Transport Authority for different violations, were parked in the bus depot premises. According to sources, fire first broke out in a field adjacent to the bus depot and soon spread to the bus depot. More than 50 auto-rickshaws were completely burnt before a fire attender reached the spot. The losses are estimated to be of around Rs. 30 lakh.



Transport Minister Mahender Reddy has ordered a probe into the fire incident.









News Posted: 7 March, 2016








Liberal Politics from the Heart of Bluegrass Country
Although it always seems to be about time travel

The latest Spanish sci-fi show is La 1s El ministerio del tiempo (The Ministry of Time). I dont speak Spanish, but as far as I can tell, its about a Spanish government ministry that tries to stop other countries from changing history to benefit themselves at the expense of Spain.

The show focuses on the ministrys newest patrol  Army of Flanders soldier Alonso de Entrerrios, 19th century student Amelia Folch and 21st century Samur paramedic Julian Martinez  who as well as avoiding the temptation to kill Hitler, et al, before the Second World War starts, frequently have to stop artistic works from being stolen/destroyed/never created, with everything from Don Quixote to Guernica needing to be rescued.

Currently airing its second season, it looks a lot of fun and won last years Ondas Award for Best Spanish TV series. Perhaps most interestingly for TV nerds like me, theres an episode in which Michelle Jenner plays Queen Isabel I of Spain, who was the first to establish the Ministry back in 1491  Jenner, of course, played Isabel in soapy biopic Isabel, which aired over here on Sky Arts. Nice crossover work, guys.

[via]
In 2004 Russia's president Putin visited

Ukraine and attended a ceremony of the

liberation of Kiev from the Nazis. At the

airport the immigration officer asked him:

"Name?". "Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin".

"Address?" "Kremlin, Moscow, Russia".

"Occupation?" "No, this time just visiting".
Confusion reigns over the Andrews government's stance on the anti-homophobia program Safe Schools, which they promised to implement in every Victorian state high school.

It comes as some Victorian schools reveal they are reluctant to sign up to the initiative, which has come under attack from conservative MPs.

The Andrews government has backed away from a plan to make Safe Schools mandatory

While a spokesman for Education Minister James Merlino repeatedly told The Age it was no longer mandatory for state high schools to sign up to the program, the government issued a correction to its own advice on Monday evening, saying that it was still compulsory for all state schools to sign up for Safe Schools by the end of 2018.
The Melbourne teenager who stabbed two officers before being shot dead told police five days before his death that they would "pay" for counter-terrorism arrests, an inquest has heard.

The inquest into the death of Numan Haider, 18, who attacked a Victorian police officer and an AFP officer with a knife outside the Endeavour Hills police station on September 23, 2014, began in the Coroners Court on Monday.

Numan Haider was being investigated by ASIO after applying to have his passport renewed.

Coroner John Olle was told counter-terrorism police were watching Haider over concerns he had become radicalised, posed a risk to politicians, was attending the controversial Al-Furqan Islamic Centre and wanted to renew his passport to travel to Afghanistan.

But Haider's brother and father separately told the court they never heard the teen express any political views and had no idea he had become radicalised. A family statement read to the court before they gave evidence said family members believed Haider had been manipulated after falling in with "the wrong crowd".
Homeless support services have used the release of a new British movie about an elderly woman who lived in a van to point out the injustice of people living in their cars today, in our own city.

The film The Lady in the Van, starring Dame Maggie Smith, tells the true story of Mary Shepherd, who for 15 years in the 1970s and 80s parked first in an inner London street, then a driveway.

Stan Hawrylak, 67, has been living in his car for the last year after becoming homeless. Credit:Jason South

Pensioner Stan Hawrylak, 67, has slept in his Holden sedan in Melbourne's western suburbs for the past year after being unable to find affordable accommodation.

He would love to have a van like in the movie: "There'd be more room to stretch my legs."
A plan for a large mosque in a green wedge zone is attracting angry opposition in Melbourne's south-east, with police investigating an alleged incident of arson that saw signs outside the proposed development set alight.

The Saarban Islamic Trust has applied to build a mosque for 470 people on a vacant rural property on Belgrave-Hallam Road in Narre Warren and has future plans for an Islamic school with specialist farm program for 1000 students and staff.

A 470-person mosque proposed by Saarban Islamic Trust to be built at 365-367 Belgrave-Hallam Road in Narre Warren.

Stage one of the $4.5 million project would see a relocatable prayer building constructed with car parking, followed by a permanent mosque with "typical Islamic dome style roof" and 25-metre minaret.

Casey council has received more than 100 objections to the development, with residents arguing the "ugly" mosque would spoil the "beautiful" neighbourhood.
"One day I will ... discuss the environment with Pope Francis." This was one of the responses from the 337 women and girls interviewed by a Google camera crew to celebrate International Women's Day.

To mark the day Google has redesigned its iconic logo to commemorate "the Doodle-worthy women of the future", asking hundreds of women from 13 countries to complete the sentence: "One day I will ..."

Google doodle honours International Women's Day.

Responses were varied  from swimming with pigs in the Bahamas to giving a voice to those who have no voice. Jane Goodall shared her hope to one day discuss the environment with Pope Francis. Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and activist Muzoon Almellehan continue to work toward a future where every girl can go to school.

Girls as young as three to grandmothers were interviewed from cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Cairo, Berlin, Jakarta and Tokyo for the doodle video.
Seoul: South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a UN Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Anti-war protesters during a rally opposing the joint military exercises. Credit:AP

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of its nuclear and rocket programs, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong-un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.
Flint, Michigan: Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders sharply criticised party front runner Hillary Clinton in a debate in Michigan on Sunday for backing trade deals blamed for costing the state thousands of jobs.

Mrs Clinton fired back at Senator Sanders in a surprisingly testy debate, arguing that his opposition to the 2009 auto bailout could have left the industry in ruins and cost millions of Michigan jobs.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton argues a point as Senator Bernie Sanders reacts during a primary debate at the University of Michigan in Flint. Credit:AP

"If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking 4 million jobs with it," Mrs Clinton, the former secretary of state, said of Senator Sanders.

The US senator from Vermont noted Mrs Clinton's support for a variety of free-trade deals that, he said, killed American jobs, starting with the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiated by her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
Australia's competition watchdog will announce on Thursday whether Coles can buy Canberra-based Supabarn's nine supermarkets in the ACT and Sydney, including the recently opened one at Casey.

Supabarn announced it was selling most of its stores in June last year for family reasons, sparking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's inquiry, and concerns it would lessen competition in the $88 billion grocery market.

Supabarn's store at the Canberra Centre is one of five which will be acquired by Coles. Credit:Graham Tidy

Founded in 1991 by Eric Koundouris, who arrived in Australia when he was 12, Supabarn began with one store in Civic and grew to a chain of nine in Canberra and Sydney.

For years it aimed to become Australia's third biggest player in the fierce grocery market, and complained it was being thwarted by Coles and Woolworths, which could out-bid competitors for sites.
The ACT government will apply for an extension to keep its controversial container village beside the lake at West Basin for another two years, despite a rocky start.

Traders say things are looking a little brighter, but they're still negotiating about how much rent they will be asked to pay for the past six months since the government took control.

The ACT government's two-year works approval for Westside Acton Park expires in September. Credit:Rohan Thomson

With no rent paid for months, the traders have recently signed rent agreements, at a rate of about $385 a week for a big container and $275 for a small container. The question now is how much will be backdated.

The ACT government's two-year works approval expires in September and a spokesman for Chief Minister Andrew Barr confirmed this week a new application would be lodged by April.
It's International Women's Day today and there's a bunch of stuff on in the capital to celebrate.

Nelly Thomas will present the 2016 Pamela Denoon Lecture at the ANU's Manning Clark theatre at 6.30pm.

A book on the extraordinary career of legendary female pilot Lores Bonney will be launched at the National Library of Australia at 6pm.

The UN Women National Committee Australia will host Australia's largest International Women's Day celebration at the National Convention Centre in Canberra today. For more, see here.

Enlighten festival has a number of events on this week - it runs until Saturday March 12.

The Night Noodle Markets is on every evening this week until March 13.

The 27th Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is back at Palace Electric Cinemas with 48 flicks from March 3-29.

The Australian War Memorial's Voices from the Front exhibition continues, telling the stories from the First World War through the letters and diaries of those who served. More details here.

See 2015's best political cartoons at the Behind the Lines exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

Touch or click through for more David Pope

Today: Mostly sunny. Light winds. Min 15, max 33.

Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. Light winds. Min 13, max 34.

Thursday: Partly cloudy. Slight (20%) chance of a shower in the afternoon and evening. The chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening. Light winds. Min 17, max 32.
Seagate has emailed its employees and ex-employees to warn them that someone in the company sent their W2 tax data to a criminal who pulled off a successful phishing fraud.

The person was duped by what appeared to be an email from the company's CEO; the scam was pulled off a week after a highly publicized set of warnings about W2 phishing.

Fraudsters who acquire W2s can apply for tax-refunds in their victims' names.

As is common in identity theft cases, Seagate has offered its employees gift certificates for a credit monitoring service.

Credit monitoring services do nothing to prevent or detect tax-refund frauds.



As I noted in last month's warning about W-2 phishing, fraudsters who perpetrate tax refund fraud prize W-2 information because it contains virtually all of the data one would need to fraudulently file someone's taxes and request a large refund in their name. Indeed, scam artists involved in refund fraud stole W-2 information on more than 330,000 people last year directly from the Web site of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Scammers last year also massively phished online payroll management account credentials used by corporate HR professionals.

Seagate Phish Exposes All Employee W-2's [Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security]
It's not everyday someone swaps helping humans in a capital city to helping great apes in a Borneo rainforest.

But volunteering for The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation was a dream that Relationships Australia worker, Penny Coulter, had held for 20 years.

Penny Coulter is off to fulfil her dream of volunteering with The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

"I've had a long-held passion and fascination for all primates," she said.

"I remember when I was about 15 and was watching documentaries on the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and the work that they were doing, and something captured me. It's a path I've been on ever since."
There is never a good time to be the subject of a hard-hitting Fairfax Media/Four Corners investigation.

The Commonwealth Bank boss, Ian Narev, will know that from two years ago, the last time the bank was the subject of a hard-hitting Fairfax Media/Four Corners investigation.

The first appearance related to fraud, forgery and a management cover-up at its wealth business. This time the bank is taking a hit from its life insurance shop, CommInsure, with its former chief medical officer among those accusing the company of unscrupulous behaviour.

So it was with exquisite timing that the Association of Financial Planners (AFP) held its big award night for the life insurance industry on Friday at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Tertiary education workers in Australia loom as the biggest winners from the Victorian government's decision to order water from the Wonthaggi desalination plant.

Workers in the education sector, through their industry superannuation fund Unisuper, rank as the largest shareholders in the company that is contracted to finance, operate and maintain the Victorian desalination plant; Aquasure.

CO2 plant at the Victorian Desalination Plant, Wonthaggi. Credit:Acquasure

Unisuper owns about 26 per cent of Aquasure, and is followed by French utility Suez Environnement (21 per cent), Korean bank Kookmin (about 14 per cent) and Japanese trading house Itochu (about 13 per cent).

Most of those shareholders have been invested in Aquasure since its establishment, but others like London fund manager InfraRed Capital Partners have been buying stakes in recent years.
Top publicly listed companies that employ more women on their boards make more money, a new study shows, boosting the case for regulations that require big business to set policies to increase gender diversity.

The La Trobe Business School study, which coincides with International Women's Day, examined about 300 of Australia's top 500 listed companies between 2005 and 2011.

Twelve per cent of the ASX 200 companies still do not have a woman on their board. Credit:Rocco Fazzari

Called Board Diversity and Financial Performance in the Top 500 Australian Firms, its findings, which have been published previously in the Australian Accounting Review, represent further evidence of the positive impact increased board diversity is having on Australian companies' financial performance.
Mandatory sentencing laws have been a topic of debate in Western Australia. Credit:File/iStock Yes, someone who came to court armed with good character references from friends and colleagues, has ended up being sent to jail because the law is the law and no one is above it. Let's face it, most of us could all get similar references if needed. Ms Staskos said she wanted people to be more aware about how easy it is your life can change. Credit:Andrew Meares People of good character don't normally go around biting and punching people. Even if they are having a bad hair day, it is a matter of controlling yourself before it gets to this stage.

We should never lose sight of the fact that Senior Constable Kelly Robinson is the victim here, NOT Ms Staskos. Amnesty International says the state government's mandatory sentencing laws are a harsh and punitive approach. WA Police Union President George Tilbury says the judiciary has shown increasing reluctance to sentence people who assault police officers to imprisonment. "This shows the unwillingness and unsupportive actions of magistrates who would rather let someone get away with assaulting police officers than send them to prison," Mr Tilbury said. The WA Police Union has pushed for many years for mandatory sentencing to be introduced as it sees the safety of officers as the number one priority.

"Mandatory sentencing takes away any doubt that assaulting police officers is a serious offence and will not be tolerated under any circumstances," he said. The fact the 27-year-old former dental nurse had to be restrained by three officers shows the intensity of the incident. Originally, when the case went to trial, Staskos was convicted but then appealed to the Supreme Court. The WA Police Union had to lobby the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal, and finally got what it sees as the correct result after three long years - an automatic term of imprisonment. Unfortunately, outside the court we saw the now-predictable outrage from Staskos's supporters who hurled abuse at the WA Police Union president. Not classy at all.

What would their reaction have been if the female police officer had bitten and punched Staskos instead? To her credit, at least the 27-year-old had the decency in the end to illustrate precisely why mandatory sentencing for assaulting a public officer will discourage other offenders. "I want people to be more aware about how easy it is for your life to change. With this law, do the right thing and if you get told by an officer to move along, move along," Ms Staskos told Channel Nine. "I wasn't raised like that. I was raised in a good home with my parents. I wished that night never happened. I wish I never went out that night," she said. I bet Senior Constable Kelly Robinson wishes that too.

So, even an offender agrees mandatory sentencing is a good deterrent. Ms Staskos has now warned people to think twice about how they behave. Her mandatory six-month jail term has sent a strong message to the community and shown quite clearly that no one is above the law. Hopefully Ms Staskos, despite now having a criminal record, will do her time and then move back into the community having learned a hard life lesson. The opponents to mandatory sentencing are quick to always point out that no matter how strict our laws become they do not address the underlying reasons which cause people to commit crimes, such as poverty, unemployment, alcohol or drug abuse or childhood stresses. However, if we are going to keep trotting out these excuses, we may as well all pack up our bats and balls and go home.

There would not be a person in the community who does not have a friend or family member who could fall into one or all of the above categories during their lifetime. Yet they don't all resort to crime, especially violence against police. Condoning unlawful behaviour sends a very mixed message. People need to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility for their own actions and behaviour. Some parts of the legal fraternity and judiciary are opposed to mandatory sentencing because it does not take into account any mitigating factors for the offender. However, it is not rocket science. If people choose to act in a certain way that is against the law then they deserve to face the consequences of their actions? Yes, it is harsh. But, how harsh has it been for the police officer who has also been dragged through the courts for three years when all she was doing was her job?

With an increasing prevalence of violence due to drug and alcohol fuelled behaviour, mandatory sentencing will ensure that more people respect the police and think twice about assaulting a police officer because there could be life-changing consequences. I always wonder that if those opposed to the whole concept of mandatory sentences became the victim of crime, would they change their tune or would they still come up with a mountain of excuses? Mandatory sentencing laws for various offences are nothing new. They already exist in other states. In Western Australia, tough new legislation passed six months ago in relation to home burglaries and home invasions. Amnesty International Australia immediately jumped on the band wagon saying young people's lives will be irrevocably changed for the worse.

Sorry, but if offenders, the majority of whom are NOT first time offenders, have not worked it out by now then that is their problem. How many chances can you give? The legislation sets a minimum jail term of 75 percent of the maximum sentence for an adult offender who commits a serious physical or sexual assault during a home burglary. An offender who breaks into a house and rapes someone will face a minimum of 15 years jail. An offender who breaks into a house and physically assaults someone causing serious harm will face a minimum of seven years, six months jail. An offender who breaks into a house and indecently assaults someone will fact a minimum of five years and three months jail.

Offenders can no longer have all their offences bundled together as one strike. Put simply, if someone commits three burglaries on three days, then that is three strikes and they go to jail. Are these really the sort of people our community wants roaming our streets? Or is it better to simply get them locked away in the interim so at least the community is protected. Amnesty International claims the state government has taken "the backward step of entrenching a harsh and punitive approach". Well, if someone is committing their third crime, they evidently haven't learned from their first two and sadly, yes, the book needs to be thrown at them.

Opponents are forever trotting out figures and claiming the millions spent on people in jail would be better spent on other things. But sometimes, enough is enough and you have to call a spade a spade. Perhaps they should add up the costs of criminal behaviour on the rest of us. Why should law-abiding citizens be made to pay with loss of possessions, injury and sometimes even death? Loading There are some bad eggs out there and the sooner they are off the streets the better. Instead of working out their next move on the streets, they can work it out sitting in a jail cell.
Last week, US politician Mitt Romney did the unthinkable. Having won the Republican nomination four years ago, he announced his opposition to this year's leading contender, Donald Trump. "He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president," Romney concluded after reeling off Trump's policy weaknesses, "and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill."

Romney's speech has been roundly criticised as an example of precisely what's wrong with the Republican Party. An establishment figure, his opposition to Trump will only intensify the attachment of Trump loyalists.

If the speech were calculated to stop Trump, it has been an abysmal failure. But Romney isn't fighting to save the election. He's fighting to save the party. And he's doing so by offering a vision of a different Republican Party, one he hopes can emerge in the aftermath of Trump.

And he has failed there, too.
To quote from m'introduction, "According to their detractors, Rudd was an arrogant bully, Gillard a disloyal Judas, John Howard a fuddy-duddy, Paul Keating a brawler, Bob Hawke a boozed-up union stooge, Malcolm Fraser a manipulative snake and Gough Whitlam an irresponsible idealist. However, one has to go all the way back to Billy McMahon to find a prime minister who was so widely considered by the electorate to be an actual fool."

The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott , like this column, danced merrily through the dire state of Australian politics. However, there was a point made in said book that bears revisiting in the light of the current slew of revelations.

Far be it for V from the S to toot our own toot-instrument - perish the very thought! - but back in October last year a book came out that was the first in what has proved to be a surprisingly fertile genre of non-fiction: the What The Actual Hell Was Going On With Tony Abbott-ography.

That's been backed up in journalist and former Liberal staffer Nikki Savva's new book The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government, extracts and quotes from which are on every single media organisation's radar today. And the bit that's being quoted most is, unsurprisingly, the most prurient.

According to Savva, right-wing Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells warned Abbott that "Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff. That's the perception, and you need to deal with it."

And that's legitimate not because of the possibility of a relationship, but because the PM did nothing to counter this perception. That showed staggeringly poor judgement - which was at least consistent with the rest of Abbott's storied tenure, as our beloved Sir Prince Philip can attest.

Still, Savva has done the party a massive favour: by painting the former PM as weak-willed, timid and either unable or unwilling to even advocate on behalf of his own wife, she's removed any remotely-plausible threat to Turnbull's leadership. Who else can the socially conservative Liberals rally behind? Cory Bernardi? Kevin Andrews? Eric Abetz? It's not exactly a deep bench of high-powered talent.

The party will have to support Turnbull, because there's no alternative. And Abbott et al will have the choice of either sitting impotently in the backbenches or slinking into retirement with their political tails between their legs (and a six-figure pension from a grateful nation, of course).
Imagine you're a gung-ho young artist, fresh out of art school. You're looking to get your work seen, maybe get picked up by a commercial gallery and hopefully, someday soon, see something you've made in the halls of one of our major state-run museums.

If you're a man, you're statistically more likely to hit one of these measures of success. Too bad if you're a woman.

Winner of the 2014 Archibald Prize, Fiona Lowry with her subject, Penelope Seidler, at the NSW Art Gallery in Sydney. Credit:Janie Barrett

A new report from Melbourne artist and researcher Elvis Richardson has calculated the number of men and women involved across the whole spectrum of visual art  from artist-run-initiatives where many women cut their teeth as artists and directors, to mid-sized regional galleries, state-run institutions and major national art prizes.

Richardson's research, paid for by Western Australia's Cruthers Art Foundation which specialises in promoting and collecting women's art, shows that although women far outstrip the number of male art graduates at university, they are less likely to see their names on acquisition lists at major galleries.
New York: An underwater research craft has spotted a "ghostlike" octopus that appears to belong to a previously unknown species.

The discovery on the ocean floor near Hawaii highlights how little is known about the deep sea, a United States zoologist said on Saturday.

The milky white creature, nicknamed "Casper the Friendly Ghost" by Twitter users, was caught on cameras mounted on the craft as it explored the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 4290 metres last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

Describing the animal as an incirrate octopod, one of two main groupings of octopods, NOAA said it was the first time an incirrate was spotted so deep in the ocean.
Peta Credlin has unequivocally denied she was having an affair with former prime minister Tony Abbott, rejecting the rumours as "completely false" and "utterly untrue."

Ms Credlin, who served as Mr Abbott's chief of staff, has penned an opinion piece for News Corp, to address the controversial new book by political commentator and former Howard government staffer Niki Savva which reveals the dysfunction of the former prime minister's office.

Road to Ruin does not allege an affair between Ms Credlin and the former prime minster. But it does quote one unnamed Liberal who says they witnessed Ms Credlin feeding Mr Abbott food from her fork in public at a restaurant and resting her head on his shoulder. And it cites an anonymous minister who says he saw Mr Abbott slap Ms Credlin on the bottom not knowing he was watching the scene.
"I got a call from my manager saying, 'You can't wear those kind of tops on TV when you're talking about such prominent issues. They show a little bit too much", and I said, 'Why can't I show my tits and have an opinion?'" she said while filming the Women in Conversation discussion series for David Jones .

Jesinta Campbell was once advised on how to dress when she planned on tackling weighty issues during her TV appearances.

Campbell, along with 18 other high profile women including head of the Greater Sydney Commission Lucy Turnbull and Today's Lisa Wilkinson, appears in the retailer's content series released online on Tuesday to mark International Women's Day.

"Why can't I show my tits and have an opinion?" Jesinta Campbell asks during the Women in Conversation series for David Jones.

Each of the four Women in Conversation webisodes feature round table discussions with the cast canvassing issues such as gender equality, relationships, motherhood and mental health.

Campbell, who is a regular guest on Nine's Today show, has become an outspoken commentator on topics such as men's mental health and racism but came under fire last year when she weighed into the debate about Indonesia's death penalty ahead of the execution of the Bali nine's Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

The 24-year-old model told Today that, although the situation was sad, she believed "these are the consequences" for Australians breaking Indonesian law when abroad.
For students who have overcome a lifetime of disadvantage and barriers to their education, their big first day at university too often contains another surprise  the financial and social challenges they faced at home and at school will continue at university.

Reading Kate Nancarrow's feature on university access programs in The Age last week reminded me of a recent conversation I had with a brilliant tertiary graduate from one of Victoria's highly disadvantaged communities. This student, supported by The Smith Family, worked very hard and overcame many obstacles to gain a place at university. But once she was there, campus was a culture shock.

Gateway to privilege: disadvantaged students discover a whole new world when they arrive at university and it can be disconcerting and uncomfortable. Credit:Steven Siewert

This young woman discovered that disadvantage can go on for students like her once the course begins. Sitting next to her in lectures were students who had seen generations of their family attend university. These students had an instant network of academic support, role models, and mentors, from day one.

With the new academic year underway for thousands of students across Victoria, those from disadvantaged backgrounds are still very much under-represented on campus, and they are less likely to seek out  or aren't aware of  support available to them.
Confidential health department files warn of a growing public health risk from the boom in fake pills being peddled by organised crime gangs cashing in on the illegal medicine black market.

A Fairfax Media investigation can reveal that police have uncovered links between bikie gangs and fake erectile drug suppliers.

The unregistered Zhong Hua Niu Bian tablets, a fake erectile pill which contained the antibiotic chloramphenicol. Credit:TGA

But while the market is booming, regulators are talking about cutting back on the numbers of senior front-line investigators hunting out the trade.

With relatively light penalties for conviction compared to illicit drug dealing, organised crime groups are moving in on the counterfeit medicine business, providing supplements, including illegal peptides, to bodybuilders, unregistered weight loss supplements and fake sexual dysfunction pills.
A 17-year-old boy has suffered a fractured eye socket during a brawl involving up to 50 Ultimate Fighting Championship fans outside a pub in Hurstville, in Sydney's south.

A verbal altercation is understood to have broken out between two groups of patrons who were watching the bout between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor on television at the Ritz Hotel in Forest Road.

The patrons spilled out on to the street where the row quickly escalated into a brawl about 5pm on Sunday.

Another 17-year-old boy suffered bruising to his forehead in the fight.
Likened as the "Barbara Streisand" of cats, Gold Coast feline Didga has captured thousands of hearts thanks to her unique skills on the skateboard.

The one-year-old rescue tabby has a loyal Youtube following, her videos are watched millions of times from fans across the world, all eager to see her amazing ability to ride a skateboard and perform numerous tricks, such as jumping onto a moving board and "dropping in" at skate parks.

Didga is one cool cat. Credit:Catmantoo/Facebook

Her human dad, animal behaviourist and dog trainer Robert Dollwet, grew up in America training animals from a young age and bought Didga from a shelter to try his hand at training a cat after realising he couldn't keep dogs at his Gold Coast home

"I knew I couldn't really get a dog so I thought a cat could be a bit under the radar," he said.
"MacDonagh should have been calling him every second day, checking up seeing how things were going to address his grievances and concerns, but it is obvious that wasn't the case, she has done nothing in terms of talking to the caucus to see how they are going. "She knew there was a problem, she knew, everyone knew, this was in the public arena - he said things in parliament, he was saying things outside of the parliament and that office, under Angela, did nothing. "It's the job of the chief of staff to address back bencher concerns, to make sure that is all running smoothly, but this situation says volumes about the dysfunction in that office. Because they didn't know. "They didn't know, in a hung parliament, how close they were to losing another MP. Even though he had all but written it in the sky for them. "It's a f**king joke."

Others believed "inexperience and bravado" got in the way. "He's been mis-managed from the beginning," another source said. "They should have been talking to him. Listened when he started raising concerns with local government, because he's not all wrong there. But instead, they acted like they had a majority, that one disgruntled MP wouldn't matter, which is just what Newman did. "Tough talk doesn't work when you're holding on to power by a whisper and a prayer. It didn't work for Newman either, but at least he had a majority. "We're now in a position where if someone else who feels slighted, someone like Jo-Ann Miller, who also hasn't been treated the best, feels having their revenge, well, they can bring the whole house of cards crashing down.

"And they could have stopped it. We didn't have to be in this position. This train wreck could have been stopped at several points along the way." MP Rob Pyne's resignation letter: in full Mr Pyne's move to the crossbench, where he joins fellow former Labor MP Billy Gordon, who quit the party ahead of his sacking for "dishonesty" in March last year, brings the LNP's numbers on par with the government, creating a situation some within the government believe has made it too "untenable" to continue. "I think we will have to go down the election path, I don't think we will have a choice," one source said. "It's just going to be too difficult. Negotiating legislation...it's going to be a nightmare. We are better rolling the dice and seeing what happens at the polls. But she [the Premier] won't do it. We'll all be thinking it, but she won't do it."

Ms Palaszczuk's office responded to the news with a tweet, hours after it had broken, simply saying "Business as usual for the Govt. Nothing will take my focus off creating jobs for Qlders". The LNP was quicker off the mark, with Lawrence Springborg releasing a statement saying Mr Pyne's decision "shows the utter depth of internal frustration with the 'frozen at the wheel' Palaszczuk Government". "The Labor Government still holds power in Queensland but it shows our great state is stifled on a daily basis by an ineffective government led by Annastacia Palaszczuk," Mr Springborg said. "If anything, the decision by Rob Pyne shows the ineffective Palaszczuk Labor Government has become even more unstable.

"...Mr Pyne has acted on what the rest of Queensland has seen for the past year, a Labor Government with no plan and no idea what it's doing." Mr Springborg faces losing two members of his own team to Canberra, with both Jeff Seeney and John McVeigh seeking pre-selection for federal seats. "We should just use that as the trigger," one Labor source said. "They have 42. We have 42. We didn't have to be here, but here we are. So we should just rip off the band-aid and let the people decide."

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Ms Palaszczuk defended her office's dealings with Mr Pyne. "I have had a very good, constructive working relationship with Rob Pyne," she said. "My office has had a very good working relationship with Rob Pyne, as has the caucus members. "Obviously I am disappointed with Rob's decision and I'm quite sure there's going to be a lot of members in the Cairns community that are also disappointed with his decision to leave the Labor party."
Senator Doug Cameron in Brisbane. Credit:Tony Moore Queensland 's Department of Natural Resources and Mines director-general James Purtill agreed coal mines continued to operate above national coal dust standard levels until 2015. "There is a suggestion to me that your department has been captured by the mining industry," Senator Cameron said. "What steps have been taken to avoid 'regulatory capture'?" he asked of Mr Purtill. "Regulatory capture" is a management term where an organisation set up to perform a "public service", slowly reflects the commercial aims of an industry it is set up to scrutinise.

Mr Purtill said the state government had appointed Monash University Professor Malcom Sim "at arms length" from the department to run an independent inquiry into coal dust. "So we get an objective view 'warts and all' of what is required to make sure that we have a robust coal miners health scheme," Mr Purtill said. Senator Cameron consistently argued Professor Sim's inquiry did not deal with controlling coal dust levels, only health issues linked to coal dust. Mr Vella and Mr Oswell both supported an expansion of Professor Sim's review, but that was rejected by the Queensland Resources Council and the Queensland Government. Mr Purtill said he believed "nominated medical advisors" - appointed to provide and examine X-rays and medical assessments for coal miners - were paid for by mining companies in some cases.

Senator Cameron again asked "How do the nominated medical advisors avoid regulatory capture?" Queensland is the only state that uses a "self-regulating system" of "nominated health advisors". Mr Purtill said 'he would be very worried" if a nominated medical officer "gilded the lily"on a medical assessment. Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche refused to identify "as a trend" information from a 2015 Queensland Mines Inspectorate report showing coal dust levels increasing in eight of 10 Queensland coal mines until 2015. "That's your interpretation," Mr Roche told Queensland senator Jan McLucas.

Outside the inquiry Mr Roche said he hoped the Senate Inquiry came up with some new insights into coal miner's pneumoconiosis. He defended Queensland's self-regulatory approach to monitoring coal dust levels. "We are advised that there are no mines that are not compliant with coal dust levels in Queensland today," Mr Roche said. He rejected that this was only after mining companies had been publicly admonished. "There was no doubt that the Inspectorate was able to report too many mines who were not compliant until 2014," he said.

"However the other important bit of information that was revealed today was that the dust levels that were reported were not those to which individual workers were exposed." Professor Malcolm Simm from Monash University, who is completing a review of the way medical records from coal miners is collected, said there had been a "backlog of 15,000 sets" of medical information since 2008 which was being reduced. Professor Sim said medical data was inadequate because a large number of "nominated medical advisors" were general practitioners, not radiologists. During Monday's evidence Dr Richard Slaughter from the Royal College of Radiologists, said a list of 35 radiologists had offered to work through the backlog of x-rays. Professor Sim, via a teleconference link from Melbourne, said "nominated medical advisors" were GPs and lived on the Gold Coast or around Brisbane and rarely close to coal mines.

"I just don't think that GPs, especially ones far from mine sites, have the experience or the training to be able to interpret that data." Professor Sim, who only began his investigation into black lung disease in Queensland in January said he had already identified several areas as "very questionable". He said Queensland once had 10 medical inspectors around mines, which grew to 30 to 40 "nominated medical advisors" linked to mine sites. "Now there is around 240 nominated medical advisors in Queensland and most of them are well away from mine sites," he said. Professor Sim questioned whether they had led to a reduction in quality of medical information for coal miners.
The son of Victorian victims-of-crime advocate Noel McNamara has pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death but should have his sentence suspended, his defence barrister says.

A visibly distressed Anthony Noel McNamara, 47, broke down in the County Court on Monday as he recorded his guilty plea for culpable driving and negligent driving causing injury over the deadly two-car collision.

Noel McNamara is a campaigner for victims of crime. Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones

Mr McNamara's passenger, Shane Matthew Vincent, was killed in the crash, which happened at the intersection of Cranbourne Road and Deane Street in Frankston in April 2011. Two people travelling in the other car, Tara Leigh Sanders and Jonathan Bruce Nicholls, suffered serious injuries.

The court heard that Mr McNamara suffered life-threatening injuries, including a brain injury, and was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he recorded a blood alcohol reading of .159 per cent two hours after the crash.
A man who was readying illegal drugs for sale on the streets impeded firefighters from entering his apartment when a fire alarm exposed a $1.5 million operation, a court has heard.

Yau Fat Chan was on Monday jailed for 10 years after police discovered 14.7 kilograms of methylamphetamine in the Melbourne apartment he was staying in on April 15 last year, after the alarm sounded.

Chan was part of a drug syndicate and employed to crystallise the drug so it could be sold, the County Court heard, but his work was detected when a burner ignited some paper and the fire alarm and sprinkler system were activated.

Judge Damian Murphy said that when MFB firefighters attended Chan tried to block their passage into the apartment, but they gained entry and discovered the drugs and manufacturing equipment and alerted police.

One of Chan's three adult children lives in Melbourne, but Judge Murphy said the 60-year-old had come to Australia from Hong Kong about three weeks before his arrest, specifically to work for the syndicate, after an associate offered him the chance to address his financial problems.
Monash University has confirmed it intends to abandon its Berwick campus at the end of 2018, due to "consistently low" enrolments.

Students have been left "shattered" by the proposal, and the union believes some will be relocated to the university's Clayton campus.

A new two-tiered fee system is being considered. Credit:Josh Robenstone

Staff and students were told on Monday that the university planned to stop teaching at the 20-year-old campus in Melbourne's outer east.
He looks a bit like a teacher  the grey hair is cropped neatly, he wears a clipped beard and he peers through a pair of black-rimmed spectacles  but looks as lost as if he'd been sent to the wrong school on the wrong planet.

It is worse than that. The man described is the father of a dangerous boy he appears barely to have known in the last months of that boy's life.

The son, according to evidence produced for Coroner John Ollie, was being monitored by authorities who believed that he had become radicalised  suspicions later proved right when he attacked two policemen with a knife before being shot dead.
The daughter Safina Stewart, 35, is Doseena's eldest daughter. She is a teacher and painter, but believes her most important role right now is being a mother to her son and two daughters. "The role is one of great self-sacrifice, and one where resilience and patience has to be a solid characteristic," she says, "at least if we want to raise secure, strong, stable and creative young kids." Her biggest challenge is to raise a pair of indigenous girls to thrive in an urban culture while retaining their traditional identity. "I want them to have a connection to their culture and ancestry  but also to be arrowheads in modern society, bringing justice, hope and love back to places where there's hopelessness and devastation and pain."

Safina has legitimate worries for her girls. The wage gap. The sexualisation of young women. Domestic violence. "I'm wary and I'm watchful for them," she says. "I think the fear is valid, but it shouldn't stop us from having a go. It should be the ingredient for our passion. It's about protection and preparation  doing all we can to watch out for them as fragile, unique and beautiful spirits, but also preparing them to have broad and wide eyes, and to advocate for others. I see my girls as leaders." Doseena Fergie's granddaughter Arieta Fergie. Credit:Eddie Jim The granddaughter Arieta Fergie was born seven years ago, delivered by her "Garma", Doseena Fergie. "I was having a bit of trouble trying to get out, but then I shot out," she said. "They didn't want me to fall splat on the ground, so Garma caught me." Arieta is in grade two at Wonthaggi Primary School, and loves music and art. She plays the piano, but loves all instruments. She draws and paints, and experiments with textiles. "I love sewing. I'm trying to sew a doll, but it's not really working. I've quilted. I've sewed my own jumper with some help from my mum."
Mr Murad told reporters in Kuala Lumpur the MILF was seeking talks with IS-allied militants to dissuade them from attacks.

Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, speaks at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. Credit:AP

Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the extremist Middle East-headquartered group was tapping into frustration among Muslim groups at the failure of the Philippine Congress to pass an autonomy bill for Mindanao.

Kuala Lumpur: The head of the Philippines' largest rebel Muslim organisation has warned that Islamic State has moved to establish a stronghold in the country's violence-racked southern islands.

"There have been some efforts of penetration [by IS] but they have not succeeded in establishing a stronghold in Mindanao," said Mr Murad, who is a facilitator in long-running peace talks.

"But now after the non-passage of the [bill], we are quite concerned that they can capitalise on this because the [frustration] of the people in the area is now very strong."

South-east Asian leaders and experts have been warning for months that IS could gain a territorial foothold or least establish a satellite presence in the region, creating far-reaching security implications for regional nations.

The southern Philippines has in the past served as a training ground for terrorists, including from the al-Qaeda offshoot Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for a string of terrorist strikes across the region a decade ago, including the Bali nightclub bombings.

Late last year four radical Islamic groups in the southern Philippines reportedly pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and merged to create a potent force.
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.
Life As We Might Have Known It: What If Ethanol Was Our Primary Engine Fuel







By Marc J. Rauch

Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher

THE AUTO CHANNEL

Originally published March 7, 2016

Listen to this story

Listen to "Life As We Might Have Known It" on Spreaker.







A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to engage in an exchange of emails regarding ethanol and energy with Robert L. Bradley, Jr. Rob is the author of several books, including "Energy - The Master Resource," "Capitalism at Work: Business, Government and Energy," and "Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies." Rob is also CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.

Our exchange began with his comments that government should not decide which fuel is the winner; that fossil fuels dominance over alternative fuels was due to consumer choice; and that society owes a great thanks to fossil fuels for giving us such a high quality of living.







In my response to these comments, I agreed that the government should not dictate which fuels win, but added that our government very definitely determined who the winner was. "The government did this," I wrote, "by placing burdensome taxes on alcohol right after the founding of the United States. The burdensome taxes became onerous in 1862. Alcohol was priced out of the market by the government. When the taxes were finally lifted for a short period after 1907, alcohol began to compete with gasoline, and virtually all objective scientists agreed it was a better fuel than gasoline." I then added that government interference culminated with the national prohibition of alcohol, which ended the competition.

I also wrote, "Consumers never had the opportunity to vote on which fuel they wanted; there was never a national referendum. And in the years since the repeal of prohibition the public has never been told the truth about petroleum oil fuels, nor has the public been given the opportunity to vote to discontinue petroleum oil subsidies." Ethanol was never given a fair chance.

On the point regarding thanking fossil fuels for our high quality of living, I wrote that any thanks owed was owed to the machines (and their inventors); alternative fuels were used and could continue to be used. The internal combustion engine wasn't invented because there was excess gasoline and diesel fuel lying around, but that gasoline and diesel fuel was developed because there was a glut of virtually tax-free cheap petroleum oil.

This response seemed to have caught Rob off guard. He replied, "I am very interested in the gasohol (ethanol) argument and taxation that you refer to... I have not studied it as much as you have. I need to."

Frankly, Rob's forthright reply caught me off guard; but it was a welcome change to the stonewalling or silence that I usually get in response to these points.

We continued our exchanges, and after providing Rob with answers to his questions, he wrote "Okay, I am finally getting educated. This is something I did not sufficiently understand when I wrote my treatise, Oil, Gas, and Government: The U.S. Experience (1996). I have written notes in my treatise and will remember this going forward."

Rob then kindly asked if I would present my thesis, in less than 1,000 words, in a more formal manner that he would post on his MasterResource.org website. The following is my position (in 1,163 words):

LIFE AS WE MIGHT HAVE KNOWN IT: What If Ethanol Was Our Primary Engine Fuel

Events of the American Civil War set in stone social and economic conditions that have been with us ever since, and they are certain to be with us long into the foreseeable future.

Perhaps the least considered of the events were the Revenue Acts of 1861 and 1862, which were passed by the U.S. Congress to fund the Union's military efforts. Ramifications of these bills included the first Federal income tax statute and the levying of excise taxes (often referred to as "sin taxes") on tobacco and ethyl alcohol (ethanol). Alcohol's tax rose to more than $2 per gallon, regardless of whether the alcohol was intended for consumption or industrial purposes. In today's money, that's purchasing power equivalent to about $120. In 1860, rent for 4 rooms was $4.45/month; land was selling for $3 to $5 an acre; and a laborers wage was 90 cents a day.

In 1872, some of the taxes were repealed - income tax, for example. The alcohol tax remained in place for decades until finally removed by the 1906 Free Alcohol Act.

The high tax on alcohol priced alcohol out of consideration for use as lamp and kitchen stove fuel, colloquially referred to as "burning fluid" or sometimes "camphene." The alcohol-turpentine fuel had come into wide spread use earlier in the 1800's as whale oil became too expensive and hard to come by.

The beneficiary of alcohol's forced decline in popularity was the nascent petroleum oil industry and their principal product, kerosene. Up until the imposition of the tax, alcohol burning fluid and kerosene were similarly priced. After the tax was levied, alcohol burning fluid cost as much as 10 times more than kerosene. Kerosene had also been taxed to help the war effort: a paltry 10 cents.

The earliest efforts at building stationary and mobile internal combustion engines used alcohol fuels: Samuel Morey in 1826; Nicholas Otto in1860; Henry Ford's Quadricycle in 1896. Other builders of horseless carriages, such as Charles Duryea, used the new fuel "gasoline" because of it's dramatically lower price. However, early automobile racers all used alcohol or alcohol blends for more power.

In countries that didn't have domestic petroleum resources and onerous alcohol taxes, alcohol fuels became the preferred engine fuel. In 1899 Germany, the price of gasoline and alcohol fuel were both equivalent to approximately 27 cents. Tests conducted in Germany and France showed that alcohol optimized engines were at least as efficient as gasoline optimized engines.

The first decade of the 20th century saw significant improvements in internal combustion engines for the new fangled automobile, as well as powered aviation. Higher compression engines were required for better performance and heavier vehicles. But higher compression engines revealed a gasoline problem: Gasoline in high compression engines caused engine knock - abnormal detonation that was so severe it could shake the engine apart. There were two solutions to this problem: The first was ethanol. The second was to add ethanol to gasoline. Either solution came with its own problem: Cost - the tax-bloated price of ethanol made it unattractive and threatened efforts to portray the automobile as a device that could be afforded by the masses.

There was another problem, a problem for the petroleum industry: they couldn't control ethanol production and supply - ethanol can be produced by anyone, anywhere, and from a variety of raw materials. But still, the oil industry was in the cat-bird seat, they had price on their side...until President Teddy Roosevelt.

The history of Teddy Roosevelt's campaign against corporate monopolies is well known. Less well known were the Congressional Ways and Means Committee Hearings held in 1906, during his administration. These hearings resulted in the Free Alcohol Act that removed the exorbitant tax on alcohol production. By removing the tax, ethanol fuel became less expensive than gasoline for the first time. This meant that the top scientists and engine builders of the day could work towards better performing vehicles that relied on low cost ethanol and ethanol blends. Henry Ford's Model T was the most famous of new vehicles that could now be powered by gasoline or ethanol (the Model T had two simple adjustments located on the dashboard and steering wheel column).

The ethanol fuel industry would now get it's time in the sun, except for three obstacles: The first was the petroleum industry's head start. Three decades of kerosene dominance gave the oil industry an overwhelming financial war chest to be used for marketing and political tutelage.

The second obstacle was the First World War. Although the war ignited the need for mechanical innovation, the innovations were primarily used for military purposes. Had the war not occurred, higher compression engines in consumer automobiles would have been introduced, and these engines would have required greater quantities of anti-knock ethanol.

The third obstacle was National Prohibition. With the war out of the way, and the public ready to roar into the Roaring 20's, ethanol was eliminated from the scene; and nothing can kill competition like a law banning one of the two competitors.

In the early 1920's, ethanol still had its supporters in the top industry scientists of the day, including those at General Motors, the world's largest automobile manufacturer. Ethanol was the only solution to engine knock. However, after the GM scientists invented leaded gasoline (tetraethyl-lead), and combined their patents with Standard Oil and Dupont Chemical, the world's two largest companies in their respective industries, the prospect of billions of dollars in profits from leaded gasoline put aside any consideration of ethanol-gasoline blends in America.

 SEE ALSO: The Rise and Fall of General Motors and the Subjugation of the Industrialized World

In countries that did not have Prohibition, such as Great Britain, ethanol did compete successfully for many years. In fact, Standard Oil (and its derivative companies) marketed ethanol and ethanol-gasoline blends in those countries, advertising them as superior to leaded or unleaded gasoline. "The Forbidden Fuel" (written by Bernton, Kovarik & Sklar) points out how the ethanol-gasoline blends were labeled as "the most perfect motor fuel the world has ever known," and providing "extra power, extra economy and extra efficiency." A Standard Oil promotional pamphlet advises that with 10 gallons of their ethanol-gasoline blend in a fuel tank it is possible to pour almost a pint of water into the tank "without the slightest trouble - in fact in some circumstances with better running."

The end of Prohibition in America did mean that ethanol could once again compete with petroleum oil fuels, but what had been a significant head start for the petroleum industry prior to the Free Alcohol Act was now an insurmountable advantage. It would require industry acknowledgement that tetraethyl-lead, and then MTBE, was deadly; economic devastation caused by foreign oil dominance; and considerable environmental damage to finally compel government action that (still only) cautiously encourages ethanol use.

In conclusion, I reiterate that the U.S. government did choose the winner in the energy fuel war, and that its continued interference has made it impossible for a free engine fuel market to exist.

But what if the government didn't tax alcohol in 1862? What if alcohol was allowed to compete freely during the second half of the 19th century and all through the 20th century without Prohibition (or without Prohibition affecting ethanol production for fuel)? What might have happened?

We may not have engaged in so many wars; we may not have lost tens of thousands of servicemen in the wars; we may not have had to spend trillions of dollars to engage in the wars. We might not have needed to pour money into the Middle East oil countries to secure their oil as we wouldn't have needed it. Instead of making terrorist regimes rich, which allowed them to fund terrorist actions they might all have remained sleepy backwater countries.

If ethanol fuel was allowed to prosper our farmers might have required less aid. Our skies may never have become smog filled; we may have had fewer catastrophic oil spills and disasters. If we didn't have National Prohibition perhaps organized crime wouldn't have become so organized.

PRINTED RESOURCES

- Bernton, Kovarik & Sklar- David Blume- Goettemoeller & Goettemoeller- William J. Hale- Korin & Luft- Tom McCarthy- Luft & Korin- Evans & Khan- Edwin Black- James J. Flink- Edwin Black- Robert Schmer- Blackmore & Thomas- CFDC & Growth Energy- Holm-Seto-Travaglini- US Dept. of Agriculture (Shapori-Duffield-Wang)- Daniel Yergin- Daniel Yergin

VIDEOS

ONLINE RESOURCES

- Josh & Rebecca Tickell- Roberts & Wagener

Gasoline and Alcohol Tests on Internal Combustion Engines - Robert M. Strong 1909

http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0392/report.pdf

Motor Fuels From Farm Products - Jacobs & Newtin 1938

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=bagoAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA11

Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the Fuel of the Future - Wm. Kovarik 1998

http://www.environmentalhistory.org/billkovarik/about-bk/research/henry-ford-charles-kettering-and-the-fuel-of-the-future/

The Ethyl Controversy - Wm. Kovarik 1993

https://billkovarik.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Ethyl3.pdf

Ethanol versus Gasoline - The Contestation and Closure... - Michael S. Carolan

http://sss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/39/3/421

THE MODEL T FORD CAR - Victor Wilfred Page

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Model_T_Ford_Car_Its_Construction_Op.html?id=70mJeb_q19EC
More than 5,000 staff now set to sue Morrisons

MORRISONS is now defending itself against a group claim by more than 5,000 employees over a massive breach of data security, thought to be the biggest in British corporate history.

The Yorkshire retailer has formally denied any liability for the leak by a disgruntled former employee in 2014, which led to nearly 100,000 staff details being released on the internet.

Andrew Skelton handled internal audits and had the authority to access the data. He released it after being caught distributing controlled controlled drugs and using the companys mailroom to ship parcels to private eBay customers.

He posted the details of 99,998 staff, including bank, salary and National Insurance details to newspapers and data sharing websites.

Skelton was jailed in July for eight years following a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Now, the number of employees pursuing a claim for damages has grown to more than 5,000.

While Morrisons says it denies any liability for the leak and does not accept that staff have suffered any losses as a result, lawyers acting for the employees said they will vigorously contest the grocers stance.

A Morrisons spokesperson said: We have always made clear that we are not accepting liability for the actions of a rogue individual.

We are not aware of anybody suffering any financial loss as a result of this breach.

The deadine for any employee wishing to make a claim is April 8.

A hearing to determine when a trial would take place is scheduled for mid-May.
Chamber chief steps down over Brexit controversy

THE director general of the British Chambers of Commerce has resigned after publicly revealing his views on the upcoming EU referendum.

BCC president Nora Senior said that Mr Longworths public support for a Brexit was likely to cause confusion and that the BCC was a non-partisan organisation.

Mr Longworth was suspended last week after declaring that the UKs long-term prospects could be brighter out of the European Union.

His comments were made at the BCC annual conference last Thursday, after which the organisation was forced to reiterate its neutral stance.

BCC president Ms Senior said: [The BCCS] neutrality in the referendum debate reflects the real divisions that exist in business communities across the UK.

John Longworth and the BCC Board recognise that Johns personal view on the referendum is likely to create confusion regarding the BCCs neutral stance going forward.

All representatives of the BCC have the right to personal and political views on the key issues of the day. However, they are not expected to articulate these views while acting in their professional capacity, as their views could be misconstrued as representing the position of the organisation as a whole.

She insisted that no other politician or interest group influenced the BCC board over Mr Longworths suspension.

With effect from 6 March, Mr Longworth will step down, after nearly five years in the role. Adam Marshall will take his place as director-general in the interim until a permanent replacement is appointed.

The BCC leads a network of 52 chambers across the country.
For months, John Oliver avoided skewering Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It was, it seems, beneath him. Then last week, after Trump emerged as the outright GOP frontrunner with a massive Super Tuesdaywinning seven statesthe saucy Brit unleashed a 20-minute segment deconstructing the Trump mythos, from his dubious wealth to his claim that he didnt know who ex-Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke is.

Oliver continued his onslaught on Sunday nights edition of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, weighing in on the dick-measuring contest that was Thursday nights Republican debate in Detroit.

We begin with the U.S. election, or the Clowntown Fuck-The-World Shitshow 2016, said Oliver. This was a particularly big week for the Republican Party, with Donald Trump winning seven states on Super Tuesday and two more last night. And while yesterdays wins were a little narrower, it does appear that Republican voters, for the time being, decided not to #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain.In fact, he added, Trumps opponents spent the week seeming increasingly desperate.Oliver then threw to a clip of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio mocking the size of Trumps hands, implying that meant he had a tiny orange penislike that of an Oompa Loompa.

Not surprisingly, Trump hit back hard at his critics with his tiny, hamster-sized fists during Thursdays debate, said Oliver.Yes, Trump, as is his wont, took it upon himself to protest the claim. Look at those hands, are they small hands? he said during the debate, raising his tiny little fingers for all to see. And, he referred to my handsif theyre small, something else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee.Thats right, Oliver remarked, Donald Trump just talked about his dick during a presidential debate! A dick which I presume looks like a Cheeto with the cheese dust rubbed off. But Im glad he brought it up, mainly because I now have an excuse to play you something that we didnt have time to include last weekspecifically, an audiobook excerpt from his ex-wife Ivanas For Love Alone, a barely fictionalized account of their marriage, as read by Morgan Fairchild.

In 1992, a year after her divorce from Trumpthe two had three children together, but the real estate heir carried on a years-long affair with Marla Maples, reportedly sleeping with her while his family was at church servicesIvana released For Love Alone, an outrageous romantic novel about a Czech woman, Katrinka Graham, who marries a filthy rich American entrepreneur in the 80s. Its said to be a thinly veiled critique of Ivanas marriage to The Donald.In a moment, they were on the floor, on top of the mink coat, Katrinkas legs gripping his waist, as he moved deeper and deeper into her, read Fairchild, narrating the book on tape. As Adam pulled away from her, his cock fell for a moment into the valley between her legs, leaving a smear of semen on the dark silk. He smiled with satisfaction. Now you have to keep the coat, he said.

Translation: The Trump stand-in, Adam, came all over one of her expensive coats. That is horrible, joked a cackling Oliver, although whatever you think about that, you cant say jizzing all over your girlfriends clothes is not presidential, OK? You cant say that.
One of the most brutal moments in The Walking Deads Not Tomorrow Yetan episode in which our heroes shoot or stab people to death in their sleep and casually punch a severed head in the noseis bloodless. Its a breakup scene between Abraham and Rosita, in which Rosita walks in to find Abraham packing his bags and demands to know why. Abrahama straight-talking ex-military sergeant who we know to be a good guyanswers plainly but cruelly: When I first met you, I thought you were the last woman on Earth. Youre not. He flees. She crumples into tears.

Abraham and Rosita were never as compelling a couple as, say, Maggie and Glenn or even Rick and Lori. (How little weve gotten to know Rosita, even two seasons after her pig-tailed, gun-slinging entrance, likely has something to do with that.) But even still, Abrahams breakup line from hell came seemingly out of left field: last week, the sergeant went all googly-eyed at the notion of baby-making and settling down, epiphanies prompted by Maggies first ultrasound. This week, he may or may not want a brood of little red-headed Army men running around barking words like dingleberry, but Rosita is out of the picture. Why? Great question! The episode doesnt bother answering.

The breakup does check off one more box in the series of events leading up to the showdown with Negan, however. In the comics (requisite spoiler alert here for those who have not read or dont want to know what may or may not happen in the episodes ahead), Abraham is killed by a Savior in the middle of a conversation with Eugene about Rosita. Abraham expresses regret at the way he did her wrong, right before Dwighta character weve already met on the show, who stole Daryls motorcycle and crossbow back in Always Accountablefires an arrow straight through his head. The motorcycle was seen again at the end of Not Tomorrow Yet, as one Savior tried and failed to stage a getaway. The crossbow, unluckily for Abraham, will probably make a comeback soon, too.

Elsewhere in the episode, characters like Carol, Morgan and Tara grappled with guilt once again though, as usual, Carol is carrying a heavier burden than most. We learn that shes keeping count of the lives shes taken, including Wolves and Termites, stretching all the way back to Lizzie, her unhinged adopted daughter, and that first pair of murders that got her kicked out of the prison-farm. Judging by the beets-and-acorn cookie she leaves at Sams grave, she also understands the weight of her responsibility in telling a scared, traumatized little boy to essentially shut up and get over the death of his abusive father. Hooray for hindsight.

While shes still not opening up to anyone about any of this, Carol has settled on a male companion worth sharing moonlit porchside kisses with andits not Daryl. Sorry, guys. (Let the gay Daryl theories rage on!) Instead, its Tobin, a mild-mannered Alexandrian who used to work as the communitys head of construction until he ceded the post to Abraham. In their porchside conversation, Tobin pinpoints what makes Carol often seem so invincible: her maternal instincts. He isnt much of a fighterhe resigned from his post out of guilt over abandoning Francine, one of his crewmembers, in the middle of an attackbut I like to imagine he was once an action movie buff and sees the same strength in Carol that he did in Aliens Ellen Ripley and Terminators Sarah Connor. You can do things that just terrify me, he says. [Because] youre a mom.

But who knows what brought Carol and Tobin together? The first time they spoke was back in Season 5s Forget, when he offered to teach her to shoot a guna proposition so laughable, even as Carol hunted for cookie ingredients in a cardigan, that it made him seem sort of silly. Watching him abandon Francine (who survived to punch him in the face, thanks to Abraham), and whine to Deanna about exiling Rick during the community-wide meeting in Conquer also didnt do him any favors. But he did stand up to Carter, another member of the construction crew who tried to hatch a plan to kill Rick in First Time Again. Carter may have even shot and killed Eugene, who was caught eavesdropping, if not for Tobin and Rick. So we know the man has a conscience. And he clearly recognizes a smoking-hot badass when he sees one. Hes got that going for him.

Elsewhere in Alexandria, Morgan, who by now has fully transformed into this shows Skyler White, continues to say perfectly sane things like, Hey, maybe we should talk to these Savior people instead of rushing in half-cocked with a risky-as-hell plan to kill them all? and be universally reviled for it. Father Gabriel, meanwhile, is looking cooler than he has any right to these days with a rifle slung over a freshly pressed suit and viewers seething hatred temporarily diverted by Morgan. Lo and behold, he actually kills a baddie when he needs toand literally makes the man say his prayers, another undeniably badass move.

Significantly, Glenn also murders a fellow human being for the first time ever in this episodeand not only once, but twice to spare Heath the same trauma. Stephen Yeun conveys Glenns pain with a sympathetic blend of horror and disgust, both at himself and the bloody, mangled messes in front of him. (Ominously, he also finds polaroids of people whose heads have been beaten to bloody pulps stuck to a wall inside a Saviors roomlikely the work of Lucille, Negans beloved barbed bat.) The episode's climactic raid scene was chaotic and claustrophobic, but through Glenns eyes, it was also morally reprehensible.

The groups victims may have been Saviorsmurderous, sadistic, evil brutes. But they were also helpless at the time of their deaths, sleeping peacefully when Ricks group quietly shoved knives into their brains. Necessary as the murders seemed at the time, they lent the scene an air of moral ambiguity (amplified by director Greg Nicoteros decision to keep the camera on the murderers faces, rather than the gore) that made Maggie and Carols ultimate capture sting even worse. Ricks plan was terrible, and it was all for naught. And Carol is not invincible after all. As thrilling as it can be to watch these characters pull off miraculous victories (as they did against the zombie horde in Alexandria in No Way Out), the events ahead are infinitely more interesting knowing that, yes, they are still fallible after all.

There are now four hours left in The Walking Deads sixth season, which makes at least three hours (likely, given the shows love of drawing things out) until Negan finally makes his violent onscreen debut. The battle to take over the Saviors satellite compound may have been an exercise in futilitybless Michonne fror asking Which one of them was Negan?but with Carol and Maggie now captured, were getting closer to venturing into the Sanctuary, the fortified factory the Saviors call home. Lets just hope the characters we love make it out alive.
On the morning of Sunday, March 6, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, spokesman for Irans judiciary, announced that the billionaire Babak Zanjani and two of his business associates, British-Iranian Mahdi Shams and Iranian Hamid Fallah Heravi, had been sentenced to death.

For the last few years, the Zanjani scandal has stood out as one of the most significant cases emerging from international sanctions against Iran and the economic environment they produced. With the blessing of the Iranian government, Zanjani and his associates repeatedly bypassed sanctions, selling Iranian oil abroad and pouring the proceeds back into the Iranian economy. But they also made huge profits for themselves, allegedly shortchanging the government to the tune of around $2.2 billion.

When the case against Zanjani and his associates came to court, the billionaire repeatedly claimed that he and his associates had cooperated with Irans security and economic institutions to help reach solutions to some of the most severe problems sanctions had created.

He also transferred the assets he held in Iran to the National Iranian Oil Company, but ministry officials claim that their value fell considerably short of his debt, arguing that the majority of his assets are actually held in companies he and his team had set up outside of Iran, including in Turkey, Tajikistan, and Malaysia.

The court found Zanjani, Shams, and Heravi guilty of corruption on earth. According to Article 286 of Irans penal code, the punishment for anyone found guilty of causing severe disruption or insecurity to the public order of the statewhether by damaging the economy, or participating in prostitution or corruptionshould face the death penalty.

In the first trial of the case, which concluded on Oct. 3, 2015, Tehrans assistant district attorney cited various charges against Zanjani, including disrupting the economic order of Iran, extensive swindling of the Iranian National Oil Company, money laundering and spreading lies. Thus, the district attorney recommended that Zanjani be condemned as a corruptor on earth.

The presiding judge in the case was the infamous Revolutionary Court judge Abolghasem Salavati, who has an international reputation for widespread and consistent violation of human rights.

In 2011, the European Union placed Salavati on its sanctions list in connection with these violations. As he has been so prominent in the public eye, it is likely that the Iranian judiciary appointed him to the Zanjani case as a way of repairing the judges image, giving him the opportunity to demonstrate his strong resolve and ability to take firm action in one of the countrys most significant corruption cases.

There are 209 files connected to the Zanjani case, the most important of which was money laundering. According to the files, Zanjani laundered almost 2 billion ($2.2 billion), an amount he owes to the Iranian National Oil Company, and which he refuses to pay.

The Zanjani scandal has been big news in Iran, particularly since his arrest in late December 2013. And there has been much debate and discussion across social media in response to the verdict.

On IranWires Facebook page, one person pointed out that there were two sides to the scandal, and that it was ridiculous to punish only the people responsible for selling goods illegally. A just system would ensure that both the buyer and the seller faced punishment. He also attacked Irans judicial system: Laws about corruption on earth and fighting God are made-up laws. They are the laws of the jungle, he wrote, adding that these charges belonged to the time of Khalkhali  referring to Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, known as the hanging judge responsible for large numbers of executions in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution.

There was widespread condemnation of the sentence, with dozens of people insisting that it was not the role of judiciary to decide whether a person lives or dies.

Ahmadinejads Solutions Team

A number of high-ranking government officials and security personnel were also named in connection with the case, including four cabinet ministers under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The four apparently gave Zanjani permission to engage in commercial dealings that bypassed sanctions.

Zanjani was extremely influential during the presidency of Ahmadinejad, so much so that, on June 27, 2012, three cabinet ministers working for the Oil, Economy and Industry and Mines and Commerce ministries authorized Zanjani to pursue his financial dealings, making it possible for him to expand his business activities with the support of government institutions.

According to the March 6 indictment read out in court, the Presidents Special Headquarters for Finding Solutions, which was headed up by the three ministers, was responsible for authorizing Zanjanis dealings.

The body was purportedly set up to deal with economic difficulties resulting from international sanctions, but in reality it became a conduit for corruption. The courts indictment stated that the First Islamic Investment Bank, based in Malaysia and owned by Zanjani, was granted permission to deposit proceeds from oil in the accounts controlled by the defendants.

What about the Revolutionary Guards?

The Zanjani case also implicated figures from two of Irans most important security agencies, the Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Unit of the Revolutionary Court. Among those named, the most prominent were Mohammad Yazdi, the Intelligence Ministrys Deputy for Economic Affairs under Ahmadinejad, and Hossein Taeb, head of the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Unit. Throughout the period when the corrupt dealings were taking place, the two agencies were thought to have been at loggerheads.

During his defense, British-Iranian dual citizen Mehdi Shams outlined his dealings with the Revolutionary Courts Intelligence Unit. It was Shams who introduced Babak Zanjani to the Oil Ministry, thereby laying the groundwork for him to pursue deals in the oil sector. Shams was active in Dubai and Istanbul.

In 2012 and 2013, when first the European Union and then the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Babak Zanjani, Mehdi Shams took his place, running his deals outside Iran and continuing operations to evade sanctions.

Hamid Fallah Heravi, the third defendant in the case, had direct links with the Iranian Intelligence and Defense Ministries.

Babak Zanjani worked closely with the two Revolutionary Guards-affiliated organizations, which oversee a range of important activities across Irans economy, including dam construction, petroleum, petrochemicals, marine structures, shipbuilding, and tunnels.

Zanjani also cooperated with the Revolutionary Guards by importing pharmaceuticals and meat products and working with Ansar Bank, which is also affiliated with the Guards. He bought the airline Qeshm Air from the Revolutionary Guards.

So far, senior officials from Revolutionary Guards organizations have not responded to the courts decision. Guards-affiliated media have tried to portray Zanjani as a hero who helped Iran during the dark and difficult days of international sanctions.

Although the fact that Zanjani and his associates have been sentenced to death may have come as a surprise to the Guards, the organizations that directly benefitted from the scandal may be afforded some protection from the decision, as further names will probably not be forthcoming.

As Amir Abbas Soltani, head of the parliamentary committee in charge of pursuing the case of Zanjani has said, Babak Zanjani is just a shop windowthe real culprits have yet to be identified, and they will now be breathing sighs of relief.

This sentiment has been echoed by members of the public.

They should let him talk before executing him, wrote one person on Facebook. Do they think that the people are asleep? How can a young man bypass the government and Europe and easily make so much money in the face of heavy sanctions? I believe that people must support Zanjani so he is freed and can announce the names of all who were involved.

Another wrote that Zanjani was a burnt-out pawn who was being sacrificed so that the names of government grandees, the house of the supreme leader, ministers of oil and and senior commanders will not be revealed.

Another commented: Death sentence? What has he done that others have not? If they arrest the drunkards then whole town must be arrested.

Rouhanis administration will not necessarily welcome the Zanjani verdict: It had hoped to recoup the $2.2 billion in oil money, but this now seems unlikely to happen. Irans judiciary, on the other hand, will be able to claim the courts decision as a victory, proof to the world that it handles corruption cases with authority, determination and diligence.

This story originally was published by IranWire.
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 25, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper delivered a grim assessment of the threat posed not only by ISISs core in Iraq and Syria, but by its emerging branches in other countries. Indeed, ISIS is throwing off malignant spores, and if left unchecked, they will grow and propagate the death, destruction, and despair that define the areas under ISIS control.

As we continue to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, we must recognize that the threat is also changing as it is spreading. In North Africa, and particularly Libya, where the danger is most acute, our counter-ISIS strategy must combine the coordinated use of military power, strong diplomacy to end the political infighting, capacity building, and efforts to sow division between local ISIS affiliates and their terrorist sponsors.

It is imperative that the United States, along with our allies, must continue to conduct military operations in Libya to deny ISIS a sanctuary where it can organize and train recruits, derive resources from taxation or oil, establish expeditionary bases or provinces, and threaten the fragile governments of neighboring countries. Last week, the U.S. military conducted a successful airstrike in Libya targeting an ISIS training camp and a senior facilitator, Noureddine Chouchane, a Tunisian national who is suspected in the March 18, 2015, deadly attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis, and who facilitated the movement of potential ISIS-affiliated foreign fighters from Tunisia to Libya and beyond.

The removal of Chouchane and the camp will disrupt ISISs ability to recruit new members, establish bases in Libya, and plan attacks against us and our interests in the region. But the United States and its allies must go further to deprive ISIS of this alternate safe haven with a more robust tempo of operations, and a broader military campaign to roll back ISISs territorial gains.

As we have seen in Iraq and Syria, once ISIS becomes firmly established, the challenge of uprooting it becomes exponentially more difficult. This must not be allowed to happen in Libya, and military operations should go hand in hand with the diplomatic efforts, rather than allowing the former to be deferred until there is success with the latter.

Even as the coalition intensifies its military efforts to check ISIS growth, we must strengthen diplomatic efforts to insist upon a unity government in Libya and bring together the fractious militias. For far too long, the rival political factions in Libya have fiddled while the country burned, and the international community must use stronger coercive means to compel them to form a representative national government.

But diplomatic efforts must not stop there; we also need to do more to support neighboring Tunisiathe one tenuous example of a democratic country emerging from the Arab springand to counter ISISs overall extremist message in North Africa. While Libya is the most pressing front in the broadening fight against ISIS, without a concerted diplomatic campaign to counter violent extremism in the entire region, we are at risk of a never-ending game of military whack-a-mole.

It is also essential that we build the capacity and professionalism of the defense, intelligence, and police services in Libya, Tunisia, and the countries of the Sahel so that they can better defend themselves against ISIS, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and other Islamist extremist groups. The security services in these countries are stretched thin, and often lack the capacity to track foreign fighters returning home from Syria and Iraq.

They must also be imbued with a professional ethos, not one of expediency or vengeance. The United States must not build up a security infrastructure in a country to fight one threat, only to sow the seeds of a future conflict.

Finally, we must tailor our approach to counter local ISIS affiliates, which differ significantly from ISISs core, and exploit those differences to sow discord. ISIS expansion makes it vulnerable to overextension and local affiliates have different agendas, even as they swear allegiance to the core. As ISIS continues to lose ground and resources in its so-called caliphate, its allure becomes less compelling and remunerative, and the ISIS offshoots will become increasingly less subservient. We must use our intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to split these groups and other violent militias from their opportunistic alliance with the terrorist flagship.

Whether out of desperation or from strategic vision, ISIS is evolving by enlarging. Accordingly, we must expand our strategy to go after the ISIS affiliates, using all of the tools of military force, strong diplomatic engagement, capacity building, and a strategy that dividesrather than unitesour enemies.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) serves as the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Around nine years ago, U Gambira was condemned by the courts of Myanmars former junta to more than six decades in jail for offenses associated with free speech and protest activity. This extreme sentence, while lawful, was in truth a punishment for having led the most important protest movement in a generation.

The pro-democracy demonstrations, dubbed the Saffron Revolution in the West, were a rare moment of hope in the dark days of Myanmars military dictatorship; one that would soon be crushed with extreme brutality.

As the face of this act of rebellion, Gambira would be singled out for particular cruelty once he was in the hands of the stateover the next four years he would be moved from prison to prison, enduring an assortment of tortures at various locations across the country. By his own account, he was most damaged by the months in which he was chained to the floor in solitary confinement and the routine beatings which caused him to suffer from fits.

Not long after Gambiras arrest, partly in response to its spiking unpopularity, the regime decided it would at last bestow democracy on its captive population, but on its own terms. Within months it finalized its drafting of a long-promised constitution, the provisions of which allowed for a clipped version of civilian rule to be established. However, the document also reserved enormous powers for the armed forces: among them, the right to control the states most important ministriesincluding those that govern the police.

The charter was approved in a rigged referendum in 2008 and followed by a fraudulent general election in 2010 which propelled Thein Sein, a former general, into the presidency.

Shortly afterward, the new leader would begin to release political prisoners in highly publicized general amnesties, a decision that won him plaudits and the lifting of international sanctions. In one such move in 2012, Gambira was pardoned.

Later that year, he would be given a front-row seat at a speech by President Obama, hosted by Yangon University; the former monks presence at the event was intended to be a symbol of how far the country had come. Not long after Obamas departure, however, Gambira was arrested yet again.

At the present time, as Myanmar awaits the inauguration of a new president, Gambira sits in a cell once more. This time, his plight barely noticed by the global press, he has come to symbolize how little some things have changed in the worlds newest democracy.

The authorities have accused the former monk of entering the country from Thailand illegally, an allegation that even police representatives have admitted they have seen no evidence for. The relevant law, an emergency edict dating from 1947, carries with it a maximum sentence of five years; Amnesty International has called the charges contrived, arbitrary and politically motivated. (PDF)

Gambira has never fully recovered from the trauma of his torture. While he is sustained by his Buddhist faith, his mental state is nonetheless extremely fragile; his partner, Marie Siochana, told me recently that he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. A trauma specialist who treated him in Thailand has expressed the view that his imprisonment will have retraumatized Gambira and he will have already experienced unbearable amounts of psychological suffering since being arrested.

Rights groups believe Gambira has been targeted because of his past. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told The Daily Beast that he sees the former monks arrest as politically motivated payback for the years of his activism against the past military governments of [Myanmar].

Im sure the authorities know that Gambira has a mental disability from his years of detention in Burma for which he was treated while in Thailand, and now that they have him again in their clutches, they are making him suffer, he added.

Gambira has been repeatedly denied bail; he is due to be sentenced this week.

If he is condemned to another jail term, his name will be added to a long list of prisoners of conscience unjustly sentenced by the courts. Campaigners have documented hundreds of such cases, many of them added to the list after amnesties had temporarily reduced their numbers. Among those incarcerated are human-rights activists, anti-land confiscation campaigners, journalists, and students, some of whom have reportedly been tortured.

Their arrests have taken place against a backdrop of even more serious rights abuses: since the advent of reform, reporters have been murdered with impunity, millions of Muslims disenfranchised, with others subjected to crimes against humanity in Rakhine state on the west coast of the country (PDF). In addition to this, the military have allegedly committed war crimes against ethnic rebels and civilians alike in the northeast.

With such abuses taking place one would expect the West, having been such a fierce critic of the former regime, to do something meaningful to halt them. Not so. While statements of concern are frequently issued from diplomats and embassies, meaningful pressure has been in short supply.

Such complacency has been consequential, Laura Haigh, Amnesty Internationals Myanmar researcher, told me last week. There has been a marked increase in repression over the past years as international pressure on human rights has subsided, she observed.

Western laxity may endanger further reform. The issue of political prisoners is a case in point: While the victorious opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has pledged to make their release a priority, it will be largely powerless to stop the accumulation of fresh detainees.

With a raft of unamended junta-era laws still in place, enforced by a judiciary known for its corruption and links to the military, one should expect more political prisoners in the NLD era. In the event that the party attempts to change repressive laws favored by the security forces, they would likely be locked in a struggle that could destabilize the country; the military retain ultimate leverage over Parliament given that they dominate the National Defense and Security Council, which can suspend democracy in times of national emergency.

This is where Western, particularly American, pressure can play a key role: Unlike the European Union, the U.S. still maintains some sanctions against parts of the old guard; threats to the financial interests of retired and serving generals will be taken very seriously. The military will act only if feels it is in own interests; diplomatic statements mean very little to them.

But Washington has largely opted not to bolster rights. This approach seems to be rooted in its desire to maintain good relations with both the deep state and civilian government of strategically important, China-bordering Myanmar (PDF). With the country a key prize in the U.S. continuing struggle for influence in Southeast Asia, Washington evidently does not feel that challenging the brazen activities of the military, and the agencies it governs, is a priority.

Yet if there is to be more reform the army has to be pressured, not appeased. At the present time, interested parties have a unique opportunity to signal their intent to stand up for human rights at this critical juncture in Myanmars history. A stronger stance, though likely to elicit a firm response from Myanmars hardline military men, would set the tone for a new relationship.

While Myanmar has undergone remarkable change, people like Gambira should not be abandoned in the name of pragmatism. Human rights matter most in those circumstances where they are hardest to defend.
Students at Western Washington University have reached a turning point in their campuss hxstory. (For one thing, theyre now spelling it with an Xmore on that later.) Activists are demanding the creation of a new college dedicated to social justice activism, a student committee to police offensive speech, and culturally segregated living arrangements at the school, which is in Bellingham, up in the very northwest corner of the state.

Students have the right to push for robust changes to campus conditions, of course. But if administrators care about free speech at all, they will ignore these calls to create an almost cartoonishly autocratic liberal thought police on campus.

WWUs student-activist communitythe frightening-sounding Assembly for Power and Liberationmade their demands public last week. The document begins by noting that the activists crashed a Feb. 12 Board of Trustees meeting in order to demand accountability for the violence enacted on this campus, and were subsequently surprised that none of the trustees accepted an invitation to come to an assembly meeting to take accountability. Pro-tip, students: If you ruin other peoples meetings, dont be surprised when they skip out on yours.

The most substantial of the activists demands is a call for a new college that would essentially train students to become social justice warriors (a term often applied derogatorily by critics of leftism that nevertheless seems appropriate here). WWU must meet the needs of this new College of Power and Liberation by immediately hiring 10 faculty memberssubject to the approval of student-activists. Finding the money to do all this is solely the responsibility of WWUs administration, whose accountability to students should be expressed through their fervent advocacy for students needs at both the local and state levels, according to the activists, who want an extra $50,000 to throw a kick-off party for the new college. Another $45,000 will go toward paying students to do de-colonial work on campus, whatever that means.

Activists have also demanded the creation of an Office for Social Transformation, which would employ 15 studentsyoung Robespierres in trainingfor the purposes of monitoring racist, anti-black, transphobic, cissexist, misogynistic, ableist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and otherwise oppressive behavior on campus. (Anti-Semitism, one notes, is curiously omitted.) These students will be granted terrifying powers to discipline faculty members who commit microaggressions. Professorseven tenured professorscan and will be placed under investigation if they are accused of maintaining insufficiently safe spaces within their classrooms.

These measures are hailed as progressive by the activistsbecause what could be more progressive than committees of liberal extremists conducting thoughtcrime investigations?

The third serious demand is for the creation of new residence halls geared around specific cultural identities. Students claim the goal is for people from different backgrounds to live together and make new connections. But if this were true, no new dorm arrangements would be necessarydifferent people living together is what happens at college by default. Reading between the lines, it sounds like student-activists actually want the opposite: They want to create residential safe spaces built around certain exclusive group identities.

The result of such arrangements would be a form of de facto cultural segregation that one might expect students would oppose if they were actual progressives. In any case, these communities will be policed by residential advisors tasked with the specific goal of creating social justice activism programs. As with the proposal for oppression studies in the dorms at American University, it seems like the idea is to turn the campus into a zone of liberal ideological conformity from which there is no escape.

Keep in mind that WWU is already an extremely liberal campus with a number of social justice-oriented activities: it has a department of Education and Social Justice, a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, a Queer Resource Center, a Social Issues Resource Center, and an Ethnic Student Center.

And theres nothing wrong with that. These programs undoubtedly have much to offer, and contribute to the rich intellectual culture of the university. But there must come a point at which adding more and more far-left instructional options actually detracts from the campuss intellectual diversity. Besides, the student-activists dont want to just add more optionsthey want to push them on everybody.

At the heart of this effort lies a bizarrely totalitarian ideology: Student-activists think they have all the answerseverything is settled, and people who dissent are not merely wrong, but actually guilty of something approaching a crime. If they persist in this wrongness, they are perpetuating violence, activists will claim.

The list of demands ends with a lengthy denunciation of WWUs marginalization of hxstorically oppressed students. The misspelling is intentional: hxstory, I presume, was judged to be more PC than history, which is gendered, triggering, and perhaps violent. Its easy for me to laugh at these clumsy attempts to make language obey the dictates of political correctnessbut I laugh from a position of relative safety, since I am not a WWU professor.

On the other hand, if a member of campus were to insist on the proper spelling of the word, would he or she (or xe) have to answer to the Committee for Social Transformation?
When police officer Charles A. Williams reported to work in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on the afternoon of March 8, 1966, and was assigned to a patrol car instead of his usual beat, he had no sense of foreboding.

I was a walking cop at the time, he said. But when somebody calls in sick, they fill you in. It was just a quirk of fate that I was working in a car that day. Not only in a car, but that particular car. Car 12.

About an hour and a half into Williamss shift, as he and Officer Peter Melchione cruised the quiet streets of the city, they were dispatched to the firehouse on Prince Street, in Elizabeths affluent Westminster neighborhood, to look into a report of a young girl who had been punched in the stomach.

Car 12 was the first to arrive on the scene. Williams and Melchione found Wendy Sue Wolin, just 7 years old, quietly bleeding to death on a desk in the fire chiefs office. A man punched me, she had told the chief before she went into shock. It wasnt until they opened her coat that they realized shed been stabbed.

An ambulance was called, but Wendy was going downhill so quickly that the police decided not to wait.

Pete picks up the little girl, said Williams, and they put her in the car. Headquarters notified the hospital that we were on our way with someone in bad shape. And when we got there, the doctor came over and opened the door of the police car and he saw Pete, blood all over. And this part I will never forget. The doctor looked at me, and he put his head down. He knew. She wasnt dead at that time, but he knew. And I was justit was just the hardest thing.

A team of six doctors at Elizabeth General Hospital did everything they could to save Wendys life, but the single blow she had sustained was so savage that it punctured her right lung and her liver, nicking two of her ribs. She was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m., less than an hour after the attack. An autopsy listed the cause of death as shock and hemorrhage.

The brutal, senseless killing shook Elizabeth to its core, and led to the biggest manhunt in the history of the state of New Jersey. More than 1,500 people were questioned by police and prosecutors. Trains and buses were boarded and searched. A special phone line was installed to deal with the thousands of tips that poured in from eyewitnesses and concerned citizens. Wanted posters blanketed the city and copies were sent to every police department in the nation.

There were so many people brought in for questioning, said retired Detective Lt. John McGuire of the Elizabeth Police Department. If you looked like a mope on the street, you were brought in, because we tried to do everything. It was like a parade going up to the third floor of police headquarters.

They must have rousted every bum out of every rooming house in town. They even went so far as to stop ships from going out of Port Elizabeth, to make sure that the guy who did this wasnt among those crews over there, said Edward Johnson, former Deputy Chief of Detectives at the Union County Prosecutors Office. There was literally no stone left unturned in that case.

But Wendys killer has never been found. Today, 50 years later, the investigation remains open, although the chances of solving the case grow smaller every day.

I was almost 9 when Wendy was murdered, and like most people who lived in Elizabeth at that time, I remember that immediately afterward, everything seemed to change in my hometown.

It was the day the music died, said Michael Lapolla, former first assistant prosecutor of Union County, who was a 10-year-old living in Elizabeths Peterstown neighborhood when Wendy was killed. Before that, nothing bad ever happened. Like, the worst thing you ever heard that happened was somebodys bicycle got stolen. So at the time this murder occurred, an entire city of 120,000 people freaked out.

This was the cataclysmic event of our lifetime, said Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, who was 11 in 1966 and living in North Elizabeth. At school, there were prayers saidwe prayed for this young girl. But its what happened days and days and weeks and months and years after that: innocence was suspended.

Oh, it definitely changed Elizabeth, said Charlie Williams. Yes it did. It was always a quiet community. Who would ever suspect that something like this would happen in Elizabeth at that time? Now, like I say, its a shooting gallery downtown, with all the drug dealers.

Of course, there were plenty of factors that played a role in turning Elizabeth from the respectable, multi-class city I remember, with its leafy streets and historical buildings, into the blighted landscape of dollar stores and chain-link fences that much of it is today. But to those of us who grew up there in the 1950s and 1960s, Wendys death marked the point when things started to go south.

Then as now, Elizabeth was the fourth-largest city in New Jersey. It was founded in 1664 as a place of prosperous farms and flourishing businesses. Princeton University was established there in 1746. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr resided there.

But the city was rapidly industrialized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and its character changed completely. Immigrants, at first mainly from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Eastern Europe, flocked straight from Ellis Island to get jobs in the factories that had begun springing up along the waterfront. The number of people living in Elizabeth increased tenfold between 1850 and 1900, as ethnic groups clustered together, forming tightly knit neighborhoods. By 1930, the citys population had more than doubled again, reaching about the same level it was when Wendy and I were children.

Over the years, said Jessica James, 11 years old when Wendy died, and then living only a few blocks away from the murder, Elizabeth may have lost its prominence, but it remained a way station for various ethnic groups and nationalities on their way to settling in the U.S. And the neighborhoods that formed around these groups created the intimacy of a small town.

Everybody was from a neighborhood that had a name, said Michael Lapolla, or a church, or a synagogueeverybody was from somewhere. It was very middle class, ethnic. There was no crime.

Of course, there was crime in Elizabeth: organized crime in the form of the DeCavalcante Family, later fictionalized in The Sopranos, with its opening titles that featured a drive through Elizabeth. But no serious investigator ever believed that the Mafia had anything to do with Wendy Wolins murder. It was far too random an act.

***

On the cold, sunny afternoon of March 8, 1966, Wendy was waiting obediently next to the driveway of her apartment house while her mother fetched the car from the parking lot behind the building. They had planned to go shopping before picking up Wendys older sister, Jodi, from Hebrew School, and Wendy was clutching her little change purse, which contained one 1959 quartermore than enough, in those days, to buy a Hershey bar and a bottle of Coke, or a greeting card along with the stamp to mail it.

Shortly after 4 p.m., a tall, burly, middle-aged man, neatly dressed in a gray fedora, green corduroy coat, and dark trousers walked rapidly away from the center of Elizabeth and toward Wendys neighborhood. Minutes earlier, with no provocation, he had hauled off and punched seventh-grade Catholic schoolgirl Diane DeNicola in the eye, knocking her onto the sidewalk of a busy shopping street full of shocked eyewitnesses. Without so much as breaking stride, the man continued into a nearby five-and-ten.

Joseph Cusmano, 50, had been waiting for a bus on Broad Street when he heard Dianes scream. He and another bystander chased the attacker into Woolworths, but, as he said later, by the time he got there, the man was nowhere in sight. He had a good start.

At around 4:15, about half a mile from where he had struck Diane, the man in the fedora approached Alisa Pasternak and her mother, Gina, to ask directions to a restaurant. I looked at his face, said Mrs. Pasternak in a statement to the police, and it was pale and lifeless. The man put his hand on Alisas shoulder. I said to Alisa, Walk, dont talk, and I pushed her ahead. We continued walking and I heard his footsteps behind us, but I didnt look back.

The man, gray-faced and mumbling, went on to spook some high school girls on that street and then to accost 18-year-old Clare Moran, asking her how to get to the center of town.

Moments later, the girls watched uncomprehendingly as he attacked Wendy.

I saw the man move his hand like he was hitting something, 14-year-old Lynn Norman later told police, but I didnt see what it was. Then I saw the man run down Prince Street.

It was all over in an instant, before anybody seemed to grasp what was happening. Without stopping or saying a word, the man approached Wendy, pulled his arm back and thrust his fist ferociously into her abdomen. She doubled over in pain and shock as the mannot even pausing to glance at herhurried away, unobtrusively dropping a sheathed hunting knife into the gutter as he fled the scene. In the ensuing chaos, just before police sealed off the area, a delivery truck would park on top of the knife, and it would lie undiscovered under the wheel of the truck until the following day.

Clare Moran ran into fire headquarters for help. Fire Director Edward F. Deignan, 59, immediately called the police to report the attack, which he did not at first think was life-threatening. Wendy was polite and coherent, providing her name and address when he asked for them.

The child appeared to be in no pain. There was no indication at all of any physical discomfort, he said in a statement to police. I immediately asked the young girl who entered my office, who punched the child?

Life-threatening or not, it was still a brutal attack on a little girl and Chief Deignan was determined to catch the man who did it. After telephoning police headquarters, he ran outside where a cop was writing a parking ticket, and sent him after the man in the fedora, who had disappeared down Prince Street. The policeman pursued him on his motorcycle. But by then the man had vanished.

Leon Yurkus, 42, an Elizabeth bus driver, later reported that a man matching the description of the killer pounded on the doors of the out-of-service bus that he was driving down Prince Street around 4:20 that afternoon. I could see there was something wrong with this man. He appeared like he was on Cloud 9. After providing a detailed description, he said, There is no doubt I would know this man if I saw him again.

He never saw him again.

A $3,500 reward was posted by the Elizabeth City Council in the Daily Journal. The newly elected mayor, Thomas G. Dunn, made personal appeals for information on television and radio, as well as in a printed flyer which was distributed nationally. Police Director Gustave Brugger announced that any Elizabeth policeman who apprehended the killer would be automatically promoted to detective.

We had everybodyevery detective, every uniformed man. Everybody wanted to do something for no other special reason than it was a girl, 7 years old, said John McGuire, who was then a detective sergeant actively involved in the investigation. But everybody was coming in with nothing.

It was incredible, recalled Charlie Williams. Cops stayed on the job. They didnt go home for three or four days. Everybody felt so badly for what this poor girl went through. And they didnt carequitting time? No no no no no. They stayed out for days.

Actors from New York were brought in for a lineup in a local hotel, where they were dressed and made up to try and match eyewitness descriptions of the perpetrator. But as Police Chief Michael D. Roy stood on the sidelines watching, one of the witnesses remarked that he looked more like the killer than the actors did. Chief Roy gamely donned a fedora and green corduroy coat and took his place in the lineup. A photograph of him dressed as the suspect was circulated, and for years after that, people would see him on the street and think he was Wendys murderer.

Local art teacher Lee Gaskins drew a compelling sketch of the killer which appeared on wanted posters all over the city. Michael Lapolla told me that his mother kept the poster taped to her refrigerator for years. My own grandmother had a copy of it in her kitchen drawer.

The police may have been unsuccessful, said Eddie Johnson, who was put in charge of the case when the Prosecutors Office reactivated it in 1995, but it wasnt for lack of trying.

Gradually, though, the leads and tips slowed to a trickle, and Wendys name dropped out of the headlines, reappearing on anniversaries of her death to remind us all that another year had passed, and her killer was still at large.

For people in Elizabeth, Wendys murder became an event almost like the Kennedy assassination: Everybody remembered where they were when they heard the news that shattered their sense of safety. And, as with the Kennedy assassination, it didnt take long for conspiracy theories to spring up. One involved the son of a local undertaker who had ties to the mayor. Another suggested a connection with an unsolved double murder that had taken place in Highland Park, New Jersey, in 1965. There was talk about a performer from a visiting circus, and someone who worked as a merchant seaman. But nothing panned out.

And then, nearly 30 years after the murder, a woman went to see Mary Rabadeau, then Elizabeth police director. Rabadeau had been a senior at Sacred Heart High School when Wendy was killed, and she remembered the case well.

The woman told Rabadeau that shed attended a wake in Elizabeth, where she saw a man who had molested her when she was a child. She said that she had repressed the memory for years, and now realized that he looked like the man in the Wendy Wolin wanted poster. Rabadeau duly called the prosecutors office, where Johnson was then a lieutenant of detectives.

Johnson left a note on the door of the mans apartment, inviting him to come in and answer some questions in connection with an investigation. The man appeared willingly.

His resemblance to the wanted poster was uncanny, according to Michael Lapolla.

Johnson asked the man if he remembered the Wendy Wolin casehe didand then said, Well, lets really test your memory. Going back to this time, what kind of clothes would you have worn? And then he tells me, I wore a gray fedora and a green corduroy jacket. And its like, youve gotta be kidding me.

At the time of the murder, the man was living in Woodbridge, New Jersey, about 10 miles away, but he was originally from Elizabeth. He had a history of mental problems. He had never been married, didnt own a house or a car. According to Lapolla, on the day Wendy died he had called in sick to his factory job.

Eddie Johnson and Detective Albert Mendes of the Elizabeth Police Department visited the mans brother, who provided them with a photograph of the man from the 1960s, all the while vehemently defending him. They created a six-person photo lineup and showed it to five of the 1966 eyewitnesses. Three of the five women picked the man out of the lineup, one even bursting into tears and exclaiming, those eyes! Ill never forget those eyes! The other two women were less sure.

They were emphatic identifications in a good lineup, said Johnson. But eyewitness identification thats 30 years old, no matter how adamant the witnesses were, was not enough to charge the man. We needed a confession.

Then someone in the prosecutors office leaked the story to the newspapers.

It not only made the front page, said Johnson, but you had all kinds of legal experts repeating again and again, Without a confession, youll never be able to prove this case. Now, if youre the killer, its like, I dont care if you take me into a room and hang me up by my thumbs, Ill never confess.

Johnson brought in Detective Sergeant Edward Fitzgerald, who had taught interrogation techniques at the Police Academy, to see if he might still be able to coax the man to admit to the murder.

During the course of the interrogation, he broke down, said Fitzgerald, He absolutely broke down. But at the end of the day, he said, I didnt do it. For whatever reasonmaybe he wasnt guilty, or maybe he was just strong-mindedhe didnt confess.

Eventually, the man engaged a lawyer and passed two polygraph tests, and the investigation came to an end. Michael Lapolla and the detectives often saw the man on his way to the library, which is near the prosecutors office. He always smiled and said hello.

He was beyond smug, Lapolla told me. He was like, I know you know, and I know theres nothing you can do about it.

The man died in 1998 at the age of 76, naked and alone in subsidized senior housing in Elizabeth. His body was not discovered until neighbors complained about the smell coming from his apartment. There is no record of a death notice or funeral, online or in any newspaper. His name has never been released publically and he remains a person of interest.

I think we may have had the answer, said Eddie Johnson, but Ill never know. And quite frankly, I wasnt convinced. If you yourself arent 100 percent convinced of your case, you knowthats somebodys life youre playing with.

Wendys murder has haunted me since I was a little girl. I started interviewing people about it in 2011, secretly hoping that I would find a clue that had escaped all the professionals who had been on the case since 1966. I didnt.

What I did find was that I wasnt the only person from Elizabeth who still cared about the story, and who clung to the probably irrational hope that it might one day be solved, even if by now, the murderer is almost certainly dead.

If youre not from here, its kind of hard to get your arms around how, after all these years, people care, said Michael Lapolla.

A few years ago, former Elizabeth resident Rick Norton, with the blessing of Capt. James Todd Mooney of the Elizabeth Police Department, started a Facebook page devoted to the murder (Who Killed Wendy Sue Wolin?) where members could post messages as well as theories about the crime. Mooney encouraged people to contact him directly if they had any information about the murder.

He continues to get phone calls and emails, and the Facebook page buzzes with messages of support and encouragement, as well as many versions of long-standing conspiracy theories that have been kicking around Elizabeth for years. Mooney looks into them anywaybecause you never knowand every once in a while, hell announce that hes close to naming the killer. But so far, certainty and proof have eluded him.

Mooney himself was the same age as Wendy, and he remembers walking to his grandparents house in the Westminster section of Elizabeth, stepping over the bloodstains on the pavement where Wendy was stabbed. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to solve this, he told me.

Recently, John McGuire, now 86, convinced the Prosecutors Office to have the physical evidence tested for DNA. But Wendys clothing had not been properly storednobody anticipated DNA testing back in 1966and the murder weapon had disappeared from the evidence room. Results, unsurprisingly, were inconclusive.

I asked Eddie Johnson if he could think of anything that would allow the killers identity to be revealed. Somebody could come in and say, Ive known about this for a long time, this guy told me he did it, he said. And youre on your way.

Thats what Jodi Wolin, Wendys sister, is hoping for. Theres somebody out there who knows, she said, and Im inclined to agree. I mean, how can it be that this burly stranger appeared out of nowhere in his gray fedora and green corduroy coat to terrorize our city for one afternoon, before vanishing into thin air? Somebody, somewhere must know who he was.

Elizabeths mayor, Chris Bollwage, has plans to dedicate a memorial to Wendy later this year, probably somewhere in her old neighborhood, which is undergoing vibrant renewal after years of decline. Jodi Wolin will fly in from her home in Florida, and hundreds of current and former residents of Elizabeth promise to attend. And maybe, though the case remains unsolved, some healing will at last take place.
FLINT, Mich. - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders clashed fiercely Sunday over jobs, trade and Wall Street while agreeing that much more must be done to address a two-year-old water-contamination crisis that has paralyzed this majority-black city.

The session included the sharpest exchange yet between the two presidential candidates over their economic plans and records. It included a heated argument over the auto industry bailout, which is of keen interest in Michigan, where both Democrats and Republicans will hold presidential primaries Tuesday.

Clinton emphasized the "hard choices" that lawmakers and President Obama made in 2009, facing the prospect of a collapse in the auto industry, and she noted that Sanders voted against a bailout measure.

Sanders said he voted against forcing "hardworking" Americans to bail out "the crooks of Wall Street."

"If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed," Clinton said.

Sanders angrily hushed Clinton as she sought to interject, telling her, "Excuse me, I'm talking" - and prompting gasps from the audience.

"If you're going to talk, tell the whole story," Clinton replied.

"You'll get your turn," he snapped.

The debate, which aired on CNN, was added to the Democrats' schedule after Sanders emerged as a stronger-than-expected challenger. Flint was chosen as the site to highlight the water crisis, which has become a focus of liberal anger.

The episode began two years ago, when state overseers who had taken over the city switched its water supply to the Flint River without treating the water to avoid corrosion of lead pipes. The pipes leached into the water supply, and although residents began complaining immediately, the problems did not fully come to light until January amid revelations that state officials had spent much of 2014 and 2015 dismissing those complaints.

Both Clinton and Sanders have said that the crisis would never have happened in a richer, whiter city. The debate featured heartbreaking and harrowing stories about children who stopped growing, lost their hair or were intellectually stunted by poisoned water.

Sanders used his opening statement to repeat his call for the state's Republican governor to resign over what he called a "dereliction of duty," before shifting to his core message about economic inequality.

For the first time, Clinton agreed that Gov. Rick Snyder should "resign or be recalled." Previously, she had said her approach was to try to solve the problem and that assigning blame could wait.

"The state should also be sending money immediately to help this city. I know the state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund for emergencies," Clinton said. "It's raining lead in Flint."

Sunday's debate opened with a moment of silence in honor of former first lady Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday at 94. The session was the first Democratic debate since the Super Tuesday contests, when Clinton emerged with a lead of nearly 200 pledged delegates over Sanders.

She slightly expanded her delegate lead after a win in Louisiana on Saturday, while Sanders claimed victories in Nebraska and Kansas. The debate had only been underway for a few minutes Sunday when Sanders's victory in the Maine caucuses was announced.

Sanders's successes and his vow to remain in the race through the Democratic convention lent a new tension to the debate. Gone were the magnanimous and polite gestures each had offered the other in previous debates.

"Let's have some facts instead of some rhetoric for a change," Clinton said testily.

"Let me tell my story, you tell yours," Sanders said at another point. "Your story is voting for every disastrous trade amendment and voting for corporate America."

Sanders mocked Clinton's defense of the Export-Import Bank as helpful to small businesses. He would shutter the institution he called the "Bank of Boeing" for its efforts on behalf of the aircraft maker as it competes with Airbus Industries.

Sanders's opposition to the Ex-Im Bank put him at odds with the Democratic caucus in Congress - a fact that he embraced.

"I don't want to break the bad news," Sanders said sarcastically. "Democrats are not always right. Democrats have often supported corporate welfare. Democrats have supported disastrous trade agreements."

Both candidates have campaigned hard in Michigan. Tuesday's vote here will serve as a test of Clinton's institutional support from unions and of Sanders's appeal with the working class.

It could also set the stage for a contentious fall election. Clinton has already begun shifting her focus on the campaign trail to a potential general election matchup against the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, although neither he nor the rest of the Republican field got much mention Sunday.

"Donald Trump's bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well with the American people," Clinton said.

Labeling Sanders a communist "was one of the nice things he said about me," Sanders joked.

Michigan is a swing state that both Republicans and Democrats see as a potential victory in November. Trump is favored to win here Tuesday, and his tough-guy message on international trade has found an audience here.

Over several days of campaigning here, Sanders has focused squarely on jobs and trade, accusing Clinton of backing international trade deals that stripped Michigan of good-paying jobs.

He also stressed his long opposition to trade pacts such as the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership with Pacific Rim nations. Clinton had backed the TPP deal, a signature initiative of President Obama, when she was secretary of state. She announced last year that she opposes it, which Sanders allies call an election-season conversion that she could reverse if elected.

"I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue," Sanders said to moderator Anderson Cooper. "But it's a little bit too late."

The Sanders campaign thinks that the primary map becomes more favorable to him as the race shifts out of the South, but his window to overtake Clinton is narrowing.

But with momentum from other primaries that featured large numbers of African American voters, Clinton holds a comfortable lead in Michigan. She has focused her campaign here on black voters, who were about a quarter of the primary electorate in 2008, and on the Flint crisis.

A Detroit Free Press-WXYZ poll released late Saturday shows her leading Sanders 56 percent to 31 percent, a gap that "suggests it may be too late for him to battle back to a victory here despite a strong effort in recent days," the newspaper wrote.

The poll had her in a statistical tie with Sanders on the question of trustworthiness and up three points on the question of who would be the "more progressive president." Only 17 percent of those polled felt Sanders had the best chance of winning in November.

At a news conference before the debate, Sanders acknowledged that he trails Clinton in Michigan, in part because he has continued to struggle to reach African American voters, who represented about 23 percent of the Democratic primary electorate in 2008.

During the debate, he fumbled a question about what "racial blind spots" he has by suggesting that only black people live in ghettos.

"When you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto, you don't know what it's like to be poor, you don't know what it's like to be hassled when you walk down the street or when you get dragged out of a car," he said.

For her part, Clinton misstated her own position on gun control, a central issue in her campaign.

"I think we have to try everything that works to try to limit the number of people and the kinds of people who are given access to firearms," she said.

That goes further than her official position that loopholes in existing gun-control laws should be narrowed and that people on the federal terrorist no-fly list should be prevented from buying guns.

Despite predicting a continued strong challenge from Sanders, Clinton's advisers hope that by April, her delegate advantage will make it virtually impossible for Sanders to claim the nomination.

The catastrophic failure represented by the Flint water crisis set the tone for the feisty debate, with both candidates expressing outrage and promising action.

"President Sanders would fire anybody who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately," Sanders said.

Sanders also demanded a rebate for Flint residents who paid their water bills throughout the crisis, something that has already been done. Snyder has obtained a $30 million appropriation to pay Flint water bills and give residents money back.

"You are paying three times more than poisoned water than I pay in Burlington, Vermont, for clean water," Sanders said.

Clinton pledged to "get rid of lead everywhere" within five years if she is elected.
Lead poisoning cases also increased in Cincinnati and other cities in the 1950s and 60's. Experts identified a key source: peeling and flaking lead-based paint. The victims were mainly from poor, minority families in deteriorating inner-city neighborhoods.

One obvious solution would have been to find better housing - and indeed, during this period millions of Americans were moving from cities to suburbs. But discriminatory government policies effectively excluded minority families from buying homes in suburban neighborhoods, leaving them trapped in cities, where a vicious cycle of deterioration and disinvestment exacerbated lead hazards.

Racially-segregated developments and mortgages

Suburbanization and home ownership in America exploded after World War II. Many urban scholars identify federal housing and highway policies as the most important drivers of 20th-century suburbanization.

One key agency, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), was created during the Great Depression to make homeownership more feasible by offering federal insurance for home mortgages. FHA loans favored new suburban housing, especially from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Agency guidelines, such as those for minimum lot size, excluded many inner-city homes, such as Baltimore's classic row houses. Other FHA guidelines and suggestions for neighborhoods - such as minimum setbacks and street widths - favored new suburban developments.

FHA appraisal standards warned against "older properties" and "adverse influences" on home value, including smoke, odor and traffic congestion. Until the late 1940s the agency considered "inharmonious" racial groups a housing finance risk.

After the Supreme Court declared racial covenants legally unenforceable in 1948, the FHA moderated its policies. But for the next decade it made little effort to curb housing discrimination, with some of its major administrators continuing to defend racial segregation.

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of FHA loans went to single-family, new homes in the suburbs. According to the US Commission on Civil Rights, less than two percent of FHA loans issued from 1947 through 1959 went to African-Americans.

Federal transportation policy also spurred and shaped post-war suburbanization. In 1956 Congress enacted the Interstate Highway Act, which was designed to ease traffic congestion. The act authorized billions of dollars to complete about 42,000 miles of highways, half of which were to go through cities.

The proliferation of interstates and automobiles made downtowns increasingly obsolete and furthered movement to the suburbs. According to one estimate, each highway built through a city reduced the city's population by 18%.

And suburban automobile commuting contributed directly to urban lead poisoning. Inner city residents absorbed the bulk of lead gas pollution from commuters who converged on cities daily. Lead gas exhaust contaminated soil in city neighborhoods.

White flight and urban blight

As black populations in cities increased, African Americans began moving into formerly all-white neighborhoods. 'White flight' followed: panicked white homeowners moved away. Often the cycle was inflamed by 'blockbusters' - people who used the threat of integration to get white homeowners to sell for low prices.

Real estate speculators who acquired these cheap properties sold some of them (at inflated prices) to minority buyers. Many used highly exploitative contracts. Black homeowners had to make high interest payments, leaving them with little money for maintenance.

Conditions were even worse for black renters. Slumlords often neglected maintenance and tax payments on their properties. Even when city health codes targeted lead paint, as in New York and Baltimore, landlords milking properties for profit often failed to comply.

Disinvestment in inner city housing became a self-perpetuating cycle. A 1975 study for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that landlords who had low-income renters and few financing options scrimped on maintenance, furthering housing decline. Eventually landlords abandoned their rentals, which led to further neighborhood disinvestment.

Cleaning up urban lead - a 17 to 211-fold return on investment



Cleaning up lead contamination is expensive. One recent study estimates that it would cost US$1.2 billion to $11 billion to eliminate lead risks in one million high-risk homes (old buildings occupied by low-income families with children). But it also calculated that every dollar spent on lead paint clean-up would generate from $17 to $221 in benefits from earnings, tax revenue and reduced health and education costs.

Government agencies and nonprofits have poured money into lead research, screening, and hazard reduction programs, but more is needed. The largest source, HUD's Lead Hazards Control Program, has received $110 million annually from 2014 to 2016, only enough to fund lead abatement in about 8,800 homes yearly.

Moreover, in the past few years, the Congress has sought to cut HUD's budget even further, by a half in 2013 and by a third just in the past year. Fortunately, those proposals were not successful, but even without them, lead hazard reduction funding is woefully inadequate.

Can we find other sources? Since government housing policies have contributed to lead poisoning, perhaps we should tap them to fund cleanup. For example, the home mortgage interest tax deduction subsidizes new homes in the suburbs, and is particularly beneficial to more affluent homeowners.

Reforming the mortgage interest deduction, which costs the federal government $70 billion annually, could generate funding to remediate older rental houses. Some of this money could also be used to expand programs run by federal agencies, local governments and nonprofits that fund multiple improvements in low-income housing, including mold abatement and energy efficiency upgrades.

Time to right a deep historic wrong

Another strategy would be to create a mechanism modeled on Property Assessed Clean Energy programs for lead paint removal. PACE programs allows state and local governments or other authorities to fund the upfront costs of energy efficiency upgrades, then attach the costs to the property. Owners pay the costs back over time through assessments which are added to their property tax bills.

The United States has heavily subsidized suburban home ownership for more than 80 years. This policy helped many Americans, but hurt others, including families still trapped in homes where they are at risk of lead poisoning.

Today, as many observers hail a US urban renaissance, the persistence of lead poisoning highlights a continuing need for more investment in housing and health in our inner cities.

Leif Fredrickson is a Ph.D. student and Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
'All we can do is hold our hearts'

Nasrat Adamo, the Dam's former Chief Engineer told the paper that only 24-hour maintenance with constant grouting of the bedrock kept the Dam stable: "We used to have 300 people working 24 hours in three shifts but very few of these workers have come back. There are perhaps 30 people there now."

"The machines for grouting have been looted. There is no cement supply. They can do nothing. It is going from bad to worse, and it is urgent. All we can do is hold our hearts."

Added to the increasing instability of the foundations due to lack of constant maintenance, adds Adamo, "the bottom outlets are jammed" - this as the snows melt further north bringing a further deluge of liquid tonnage.

As Nadir al-Ansari another engineer with the Dam at the time of construction put it: " ... the Dam is not as before. The caverns underneath have increased. I don't think the Dam will withstand that pressure."

Moreover: "If the Dam fails, the water will arrive in Mosul in four hours. It will arrive in Baghdad in 45 hours. Some people say there could be half a million people killed, some say a million. I imagine it will be more in the absence of a good evacuation plan."

The Iraqi government's farcical 'evacuation plan' is to simply advise everybody the entire length of the Tigris river, from Mosul to Baghdad (355.45 km) to abandon their homes, farms, businesses and move six kilometres away, just like that. How? To where?

Saddam's protective Badush dam a victim of the Iraq sanctions



The solution to the pressure on the Dam is to build a second one downstream as a further barrier, gigantic 'filter', in case of the catastrophic collapse.

Ironically it was under the indubitably monstrous Saddam Hussein that a second dam 20 km downstream at Badush was speedily started in 1988 as 'environmental insurance' just two years after the problems with the first Dam came to light.

But with the implementation of the US-UK driven UN embargo in August 1990, and Iraq relying on imports for roughly 70% of everything, the building materials were no longer available and the work on the Badush Dam ceased. It has lain about 40% completed ever since.

The Mosul Dam was taken over by Daesh on 7th August 2014, adding to fears of a catastrophe, it was looted, but regained by the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces on August 19th. In 'assistance' the US-led coalition made nine airstrikes in the vicinity of the Dam. What further damage, fissures to the fragile, endangered foundations have been created from the massive vibrations of such brainless recklessness is not known.

The bombing was in spite of a September 2006 report by the US Army Corps of Engineers warning: "In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world."

On 30th October 2007 another report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said that the Mosul Dam's foundations could give way at any moment. Is there no intelligence, communication, joined up thinking amongst the US' lethally armed forces?

In spite of all, no US puppet Iraqi government since the fall of Saddam Hussein nearly exactly 13 years ago, has done anything meaningful and apparently, in spite of billions of dollars going missing, have had no money to address a danger of such enormity. Those struggling to maintain the Mosul Dam were at one point reportedly not paid for months.

Action at last?

Finally after repeated warnings from experts and now $200 million from the World Bank, in December the government signed a contract with an Italian company, the Trevi Group, to address the massive technical problems, erosion and cavities under this vast structure with it's current holocaustal potential. Italy has also agreed to send over 400 troops to protect the site.

The government is remarkably sanguine, with Mehdi Rasheed of Iraq's Water Ministry quoted by The Economist as saying: "Downstream we can do many things." (What exactly?) However: "In the current situation that is not possible for the people in Mosul city." The population of Mosul was around two and a half million, now with ISIS there and the current disaster the exact number is unknown - and clearly uncared about by the Baghdad regime.

In April, in Rome, an international Conference is to be held to ponder on ways to avert this impending catastrophe. By then it might already have happened. As Nasrat Adamo, the Dam's former Chief engineer told the Guardian: "Nobody knows when it will fail, it could be a year from now. It could be tomorrow."

All US citizens must leave if the dam gives way - but how?

The US is taking the threat seriously enough to have warned, on 29th February, that all American citizens should leave the country should the dam be breached.

How precisely the approximately 15,000 Baghdad US Embassy staff, a reported 16,000 mercenaries, plus other various spooks, special services, would make it from where ever they were to Baghdad airport before the deluge - and whether in the face of it flights would anyway risk coming in - seems not to have been addressed. Perhaps they could be helicoptered off the Embassy roof as in Vietnam.

Incidentally the US Baghdad Embassy, the largest in the world, has swallowed up 104 acres of Baghdad and is nearly as large as Vatican City. It is situated beside the Tigris. Before it was built (completed in 2009) Embassy staff squatted in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Those believing in natural justice might be pondering on Saddam's revenge.

It's high time for America's latest proxies in Baghdad to get going and the Italians to get on 'planes - pronto, before a great swathe of 'The Cradle of Civilization' makes the unthinkable tragedy of the New Orleans' floods of 2005 look like a paddling pool.

Felicity Arbuthnot is a freelance journalist.

Also on The Ecologist: 'The battle for Mosul Dam: a new age of water wars beckons'.
To anyone passing by, the students of Freda Nichols first period art class at Benjamin Franklin Middle School were having fun learning how to make origami, the ancient art of Japanese paper folding, from Japan Outreach Coordinator Taiki Sawabe.

But to Brenda Muse, director of curriculum and instruction for Franklin County schools, the students are learning lessons in diversity.

We are getting more diversity now in Franklin County, Muse said. The more we know about other cultures, the more tolerant we can be and the more we can understand each other.

The Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) was designed by the Japan Foundation and The Laurasian Institution to offer students the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of Japan. To accomplish this, Japanese individuals are sent to the United States as volunteer coordinators of community outreach programs about Japan.

Sawabe, who is hosted by Ferrum College, has been teaching Japanese culture to five elementary schools across Franklin County, as well as the middle school and the high school, since September of last year. Muse expects Sawabe to be in every Franklin County school next year, the last of his two year commitment to the project.

He teaches the students origami, as well as Japanese dance routines, Japanese language and characters, calligraphy, sushi making, the art of the tea ceremony and general knowledge of the Japanese culture. He even brings in props, such as Japanese clothing, to help deepen the experience.

According to Sawabe, the students already know a little bit about Japanese culture.

The younger kids know Pokemon and Hello Kitty, he said. The older kids think of technology and martial arts.

Like Muse, Sawabes goal for the students is also much broader.

I want them to look outside of the county and know there are many things out there, he said. I hope this is a precious experience for them to start thinking of what is going on outside of their borders.

After teaching a middle school art class last week, Sawabe pointed out that in Japan the learning of origami starts in preschool.

It is a crucial part of Japanese education, he said.

At the end of the hour long program, each student had made an advanced origami project of a crane, an important cultural symbol of Japan, and a cat.

The class ended with smiling students saying arigatou, thank you in Japanese, and looking forward to next months class on calligraphy.

The class today lasted an hour. The memories will last far longer, Muse said. The children will remember this for years to come.
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BRUSSELS (AP) -- Turkey on Monday demanded an additional 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders appealed to Ankara to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe.

Turkey -- a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria -- is an indispensable EU partner in trying to dissuade people fleeing conflict or poverty from taking to makeshift boats and making the short but often-dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea.

"To avoid that refugees arrive in Greece we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande said as he arrived for the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by The Associated Press, the leaders said they will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection."

But Turkish leaders upped the ante on Monday, demanding the additional funds by 2018, on top of 3 billion euros the EU had already pledged to help Syrian refugees in the country, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said. Turkey also made requests to ease visa rules by June instead of the end of the year.

Turkey also wants to be able to send Syrian refugees to the 28-nation EU as they take people back who have made the crossing into Greece. The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea. NATO ships are also set to help patrol the sea between Greece and Turkey, easing the load on Turkey's military-run coast guard.

Turkey says this summit is as much about its thwarted EU membership ambitions as Europe's inability to manage the refugee emergency. The membership talks have dragged on for a decade and Ankara is looking for improved negotiating conditions.

"Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations."

A planned news conference with Davutoglu was canceled after the Turks made new demands. They are expected to be discussed over a dinner, which was added to the summit program.

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of failing to deliver on the refugee fund and criticized the Europeans for refusing to take in more refugees.

"We are not sending them. They are going (to Greece) by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths," Erdogan said, in an address to women trade-unionists.

North of Greece, Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans, allowing just a trickle of people through. The move -- backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary -- has ratcheted up pressure from the other side as Greek authorities don't have enough shelter for those who are stranded.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

An estimated 13,000-14,000 people waited at Greece's border with Macedonia on Monday hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

"Whatever it takes. We will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed," said Lasgeen Hassan, who, with the rest of his Kurdish Syrian family, wants to reunite with relatives in Germany.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, conceded that Turkey will need extra help if more migrants are sent back.

"We will need to bring relief to Turkey, and that means you have to be willing to take people in from Turkey" who are the most likely to qualify for asylum, he said.

Human rights group Amnesty International hit out at the leaders for using Turkey as a buffer to stop migrants, calling the move "a dangerous and deliberate ploy to shirk their responsibilities to people fleeing war and persecution."

"Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency," said the group's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, Gauri van Gulik.

Ankara did little to allay concern about its rights record before the summit, when police on Friday stormed the headquarters of the Zaman opposition newspaper to enforce a court decision to place it and its sister outlets under the management of trustees. The step sparked two days of protests which police dispersed using tear gas and water cannons.

"Cooperation with Turkey does not mean that we have to accept anything," Hollande said. "The press must be free everywhere, including in Turkey."

Inside EU headquarters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lobbied her partners to ensure that no mention was made of officially closing the Balkan migrant route in the final summit statement. But she faced strong opposition from Austria and several Eastern European nations.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Feymann said: "I'm all for having clearer language, for us all to say: 'We will close all routes, the Balkan route as well.' The traffickers should be given no chance."

But Merkel insisted that the answer lies not in "closing something, but about finding a sustainable solution together with Turkey."

In Athens, police patrolled a central city square to prevent migrants setting up camp after the site was cleared over the weekend.

Hundreds of people, mostly from Afghanistan, had been sleeping rough at Victoria Square after Austria and Balkans countries further north imposed border restrictions and closures.

About 34,000 migrants are currently stranded in Greece. According to the United Nations refugee agency, 2,480 people arrived on Sunday.

___

Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, and Elena Becatoros on the Greek-Macedonia, border contributed to this report.
As evidence grows that state Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington, has been almost completely incapacitated by a brain injury suffered two years ago, there is increasing clamor that he should resign. Maynard long has been avoiding public engagements, the Democratic Senate caucus is keeping him hidden except when he has to appear in the Senate chamber, where he does not speak, and he seems to need help in voting.

While a recent statement issued in Maynard's name announced that he will not seek re-election this November, the objective seems to be to keep him in office through the end of his term in January so that, with 10 years of legislative service behind him, he can qualify for lifetime medical insurance coverage in the state employee pension system.

There's no public interest in keeping Maynard in office, but it's a hardship case and complaints about it are starting to seem excessive.

For whether Maynard stays to the end of his term or resigns will make little difference. State government will remain catastrophically insolvent and the Senate will maintain its Democratic majority, even if a special election were to replace Maynard with a Republican.

Maynard's constituents deserve from others no more consideration than they gave themselves when they re-elected him two Novembers ago, four months after the accident that caused his injury. His constituents knew the likelihood that his service would be impaired, and they may have returned him to office in part precisely because they knew he needed the job and the insurance and felt sorry for him. Who wouldn't?

The Senate Democratic caucus staff probably can respond adequately to Maynard's constituent mail and calls, and the people of his Senate district can always turn to their state representatives.

As for Maynard's needing help in voting in the Senate, he isn't the first state legislator to take instruction from his party's leaders or the special interests most legislators are happy to serve. He is not even the only legislator in office now who needs to be told how to vote and who wouldn't think of thinking for himself.

So let Maynard stick around through the end of his term as a monument signifying that the country needs better medical insurance for everyone a lot more than it needs things the federal government insists on providing anyway, like wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, and things state government insists on providing, like college educations for kids who never mastered high school.

Besides, as state government's financial catastrophe worsens by the hour, what is Connecticut getting lately from legislators who don't have the excuse of a brain injury?

This week a legislative committee approved a bill to increase workers compensation benefits for police officers and firefighters, as if state government isn't finding it a challenge just to meet payroll and the governor already hasn't had to reduce state grants to municipalities.

A similarly oblivious legislator has just proposed exempting Social Security income from taxation and giving free fishing licenses to the elderly. How are those ideas to be financed? He didn't say.

This week a legislative committee held a hearing on a bill to make it a felony to equip an aerial drone with a weapon, as if someone determined to commit murder or mayhem with a drone would be deterred by the prospect of one more felony charge.

And the state Democratic Party's great hope, state Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Branford, a likely candidate to succeed U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and maybe even a U.S. Senate candidate someday, has launched a war on excessive product packaging.

In a sublime age such pursuits by state legislators might be plausible. But now that Connecticut's house is burning down, their trivia constitutes dereliction of duty.

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut.
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STAMFORD  Students at K.T. Murphy Elementary School got to experience the diversity of the cultures in their community, as 19 different countries where represented at the Multicultural Fair on Saturday.

"In today's current state of the world, its good to show the children the positivity that comes from all the different cultures," said Frank Rodriguez, principal at K. T. Murphy School. "The fair is also a way of getting the parents engaged in our school community."

The fair featured tables and displays from 19 different countries, ranging from Chile to Palestine to Korea. The tables featured famous foods from the countries, facts about the culture and pictures of famous landmarks and items.

The tables and displays were set up and ran by the parents of the students at the school. Many, if not all the parents had some relation to the countries they were presenting to the children.

"We've been having the fair for six years now and its something everyone looks forward to," said Loraine Masone, event coordinator and mother to a K.T. Murphy School student. "Ever since my daughter started here in kindergarten, I have been organizing the event. She is graduating this year so hopefully I can pass the torch to someone else and keep the tradition alive."

The fair is a small fundraiser that benefits the school.

"The (ticket) cost is just so we can cover the costs of the event." said Masone. "We keep the ticket cost low for the families. We just want to use the fair to help spread awareness of the different countries and cultures."

Barbara Curra, a second grade teacher at K. T. Murphy, was running the table for Italy with her mother.

"We are offering bruschetta and pizzella, which is an Italian cookie," said Curra. "My mother is Italian and I bring her every year."

Shannon King, parent of first-grader Aaliyah King, set up a table for Nigeria. King found out he was Nigerian after submitting a DNA sample to an ancestry company.

"We are offering a Nigerian food called 'chin chin,' which is a fried dough snack," said King. "Its like potato chips where you snack on them at anytime, like when your watching TV or after school."

Mariela Gonzalez and her husband Ralph Yoakum were in charge of the Dominican Republic table. They were sharing locrio de pollo, which is a rice and chicken dish, and flan. They had a green and silver costume on display as well as historical and cultural facts.

"The costume is used to celebrate Dominican Republic's Independance Day," said Yoakum. "Its very much like a 'Carnaval' type parade and celebration."

Parent Camilla Lyons was running the table for England, whose parents are English. She was offering blueberry scones with strawberry jam.

"On our display board we have pictures of Adele, Queen Elizabeth, the Bronte sisters (and many more) all of which are from England," said Lyons.

The K. T. Murphy Elementary School is located at 19 Horton St., Stamford and has students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. This was its first year having a pre-kindergarten class.

"We have about 550 students which come from a very diverse background," said Rodrigeuz. "Many are Indian and Guatemalan, but we are a neighborhood school with a wide range of cultures."

The school was founded in 1900 as the Cove School and is one of the oldest schools in Stamford.
In the early 1980s I was a mediocre graduate student at the feet of the legendary British philosopher and historian Isaiah Berlin. The University of Oxford used a tutorial system, which meant I met with Berlin once a week to discuss my assigned readings and my paper on them. Berlin was tutoring me on European nationalism.

One week I was assigned readings about the rise of National Socialism in Germany, primarily Hannah Arendts famous book, The Origins of Totalitarianism. I duly prepared my pompous and sophomoric essay and came to Berlins chambers to discuss.

My essay was poppycock, Berlin said. But then, so was Arendts book. For the next hour, Berlin lectured me about how all the sociological, political and psychological theories that tried to explain Nazism were futile. The idea that such things as Nazism and the Holocaust could ever be truly explained simply expresses a wish that such things can be explained. They cant. Still, we humans have to try. That is how we make sense of history and the times we live in.

But the far more important response to atrocities was simpler, according to Berlin; it is to truly understand that the unexplainable can and does happen in all societies and nations; that future events we know to be impossible and ridiculous can and do come to pass, even in our own day; that when dark and dangerous politics emerge in a democracy, they need to be taken seriously early, which requires the imagination and guts to let go of the shackles of your own perspectives  even when convinced they are rational, empirical and obvious; its wiser to risk being an alarmist than to wait until its time for autopsies and explanations.

Which brings me to Donald Trump.

I thought I had learned Berlins lesson. Obviously, I was wrong. Obviously, about 99 percent of the universe of people who are supposed to know a thing or two about politics, history and elections were wrong. Senators, governors, mayors, columnists, bloggers, historians, political scientists, beat reporters, data journalists, talking heads, pollsters, political consultants: We were all wrong about Trumpism. And we were wrong in an era of information abundance, big data, the wisdom of the crowd and media omnipresence.

Even now with Trump on the cusp of the Republican nomination, far too many think it is impossible for him to be elected president and that it is alarmist, naive and unsophisticated to see it otherwise. We have explained Trumpism adequately already; it isnt brain surgery. We understand the angry white voter, the alienation of status lost, the total disgust with a corrupt political system and Trumps authoritarian and rebellious allure. To understand is to capture and make safe.

Except it isnt. Only action can do that.

You dont have to believe that Trump is personally evil or a would-be dictator to recognize that he is dangerous, unpredictable and morally repugnant  a serious danger at a serious moment.

The Republican world was fatefully late to realize Trump could win. Incredibly, there still isnt a critical mass of individuals and organizations that have the courage and confidence to wage full-blown warfare against him. Few Republican leaders are willing to address Trump in moral and ethical terms, even now.

This is not alarmist: Relying on Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party to stop the rise of Donald Trump is wishful and naive.

It will take a village.

Clintons organization and the Democratic constellation will not be caught napping as the Republicans were. To this day, Trump has still not defended himself against the standard, modern political attack our two parties have perfected. Allegedly, Trump is impervious to ordinary political weapons, but we dont actually know that.

Democrats will do everything in their power to vanquish Trump. But their power is limited.

Their power is limited by the limitations of their candidate. Her strengths and weaknesses are an open book; her capacity to command the national mood through leadership, showmanship, virtue or strategic brilliance is limited.

And it is true that no one has yet found a credible, authentic voice that cuts through Trumpism.

Almost by definition, such voices cant be politicians, authorities or establishment. Those are the people that have absolutely no credibility with Trumps most devout followers. Indeed, they (we) dont have much credibility with any voters these days.

So it is going to take a great chorus and not any one superstar to shut Trump up. It will have to include voices from outside the rightly tainted political-media bubble.

It will take new satirists to take over from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

It will take celebrities who live in Trumpland to get through to people who believe in celebrities.

It will take generals, admirals, soldiers, veterans and statesmen to make people realize how scary it would be to have Trumps tiny finger on the button.

It will take Republicans of all stripes to ditch party loyalty this cycle and denounce Trump, morally, publicly and repetitively.

It will take voices that move young people and minorities to vote.

In the end, it will take voters who show up and vote. If historical patterns of voting behavior hold in 2016, Trump will lose in an epic landslide. That is a gigantic if. Complacency this year equals recklessness.

We have explained Trumpism well enough.

Now it is simply time to defeat Trump. It will take a village to do it.
During my time in the U.S. Senate, Ive had the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. Recently, I visited with 20-year-old Skylar Simmonds of Millard, Nebraska. Unlike many people her age, Skylar was not visiting the Capitol on a school trip or as a stop on her must see list. Instead, she made her way to the Senate as a representative for an organization very dear to her. For the past five years, Skylar has been an active athlete in Special Olympics Nebraska (SONE).

Because of her involvement with this organization, Skylar has learned to push herself, overcome challenges, and succeed. A dedicated athlete with several medals to show for it, Skylar competes in SONEs swimming and track competitions. The Omaha native is a graduate of SONEs Athlete Leadership Program, where she developed important skills to help the next generation of Special Olympians succeed and grow.

Every year, I have the privilege of meeting other Special Olympians like Skylar. Connie Kresha of Columbus, Nebraska, visited my office in February of 2015. She discussed the importance of education to the future of SONEs athletes. In 2014, I spoke with Jason Gieschen of Ogallala. Jason was abused by his biological parents as an infant. Thanks to the love and care of his adoptive parents, he was able to grow and find strength through the Special Olympics. Jason came to shed light on how SONE changed his life and empowered him to help others in difficult circumstances.

Meeting with these Nebraskans serves as a fresh reminder that we should take our challenges one step at a time. They are an inspiration and show the power of hard work and dedication.

Organizations like SONE personify the deep and caring nature of the individuals in our communities. Nebraskas Special Olympics story started over 40 years ago, with 250 athletes and a vision of fostering sportsmanship and inclusion for young people with disabilities. Today, this organization has grown to include over 5,000 athletes. SONE is now active in over 110 communities in our state, with thousands of participants from Omaha to the Panhandle.

Those involved with SONE operate under a basic principle: provide opportunities to those who face difficulties, help them realize their potential, live a healthy lifestyle, and experience the joys of friendship. I am inspired by these athletes. They are tackling lifes challenges and leading by example in their communities. No matter the athlete, no matter the conversation, each one of our Special Olympians is an important ambassador of The Good Life to people all over the world.

The Special Olympics oath says, If I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. I see bravery in Skylar, Connie, Jason, and all of our SONE athletes. They strengthen our world through their kind spirits, resilient attitudes, and strong determination. I look forward to meeting many more athletes and volunteers of this remarkable organization for years to come.
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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Linkedin Elena Becatoros (The Jakarta Post) Idomeni  Mon, March 7, 2016

At least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece on Sunday, while Macedonian authorities imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the Greek border.



The Turkish coast guard launched a search-and-rescue mission for other migrants believed to be missing from the accident, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported, and rescued 15 off the Aegean Sea resort of Didim, it added.



The dead included three children, according to private Dogan news agency.



Meanwhile, Greek police officials said Macedonian authorities are only allowing those from cities they consider to be affected by war to cross the Idomeni border crossing from Greece. That means people from cities such as Aleppo in Syria, for example, can enter, but those from the Syrian capital of Damascus or the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are being stopped.



The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on the record.



A U.N. refugee agency official in Macedonia confirmed the new restrictions, and criticized the decision.



"This is not all right," said Ljubinka Brasnarska, UNHCR senior external relations assistant in Macedonia, told the AP. "Everybody from Syria who came needs international protection. This decision could be taken only by other competent international bodies, not by border authorities," she said, adding she couldn't explain the latest move.



Macedonian police said the checks and profiling of refugees wanting to cross "are carried out by mixed teams of police officers from all countries of the (Balkan) route."



"Iraq and Syria are considered unsafe countries, but if one of the countries on the route introduces new restrictions (we) will be forced to consider the possibility to (apply) them also on the Macedonian-Greek border, including the ban on the entry of migrants from certain areas," police said in a statement.



Police said there were more than 1,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, currently stuck on the Macedonian-Serbian border.



"We do not know for what reason they have not been granted to transit through Serbia," it said.

Summit

The developments come a day before a summit between the European Union and Turkey to discuss the crisis, which has seen more than 1 million people reach Europe last year.



Nearly all refugees and other migrants who enter the EU have been doing so by taking small inflatable dinghies from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands. With thousands of kilometers of coastline, Greece says it cannot staunch the flow unless Turkey stops the boats from leaving its shores.



Athens has also criticized Europe for not sticking to agreements to take in refugees in a relocation scheme that never really got off the ground.



"While Idomeni is closed for refugees and the flows from the islands, from the Turkish shores to the islands, remain, it must be perfectly clear that the immediate start of a reliable process of relocation of refugees from our country to other countries of the European Union is a matter of complete urgency," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Sunday during a speech to his party.



"And this is exactly what we will seek in the summit on Monday. Not just the wording that this is urgent, but that it will begin immediately and with a large number," Tsipras said.



While thousands arrive in Greece's main port of Piraeus from the islands, about 13,000-14,000 people remain stranded in Idomeni, with more arriving each day. The refugee camp has overflowed, with thousands pitching tents among the railway tracks and in adjacent fields.



The rate at which refugees are being allowed to cross had already been reduced to a trickle, with sometimes only a few dozen, or even nobody, being allowed to cross. Greek police said 240 people crossed between 6 a.m. Saturday and the same time Sunday morning.



The camp is beginning to take on a form of semi-permanence, with people realizing they will be spending at the very least several days in the fields. As morning broke, women swept the earth outside their tents with makeshift brooms made of twigs and leaves. Men stomped on branches pulled off trees nearby to use as firewood for small campfires to boil tea and cook.



Firewood is one of the main materials in short supply, and a large truck delivery Sunday night was quickly mobbed by hundreds of people in a mad scramble. Men and boys clambered up the sides of the truck, chucking logs to those below, while others climbed over each other to get into the back of the truck, hauling out as much as they could carry.



Throughout Sunday morning, dozens of local Greeks arrived in cars packed with clothes and food donations to distribute to the refugees. Many were mobbed as they arrived at the first tents, with men, women and children scrambling to receive whatever handouts they could.



The sheer numbers have overwhelmed Greek authorities. Massive queues of hundreds of people form from early in the morning, with people waiting for hours for a lunch-time sandwich.



While Greek officials have tried to discourage more people from arriving, and no longer allow buses to drive to the Idomeni border, hundreds continue to arrive each day, walking more than 15 kilometers (10 miles) from a nearby gas station where the United Nations refugee agency has set up large tents.



"We have been here five days, or six. Who remembers the days anymore," said Narjes al Shalaby, 27, from Damascus in Syria, travelling with her mother and two daughters, 5-year-old Maria and 10-year-old Bara'a. Her husband and third daughter are already in Germany.



"All we do here is sleep, wake up, sleep. We get hungry, we wait in the queue for two hours for a sandwich, we come back, we sleep some more," said Narjes, who worries about her daughters.



"She's grown up sooner that she should have," she says of Maria, who is sleeping in the back of the family's small tent. "She's aged." (ags)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

As of Sunday, buses from Jakarta's satellite cities operated by the Integrated Bus Network (APTB) are prohibited from entering the capital city because of licensing problems.

Hundreds of passengers were left confused on Monday, unaware that they needed to switch to PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta) buses to continue their journeys into the capital.

'I'm confused. I'm used to only taking one bus. Now I have to change to a Transjakarta bus,' said Sari, who has for a long time commuted via APTB bus from Bekasi to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta. In the wake of the ban, Sari now has to change bus several times to reach her place of work.

Meanwhile, APTB staff were similarly confused, accusing the operator of failing to issue a clear explanation.

'I heard that the buses would be under the control of Transjakarta, but we do not know when. For the moment, we've just been instructed to keep operating buses,' said Victor, a conductor on an APTB bus plying the Ciawi-Tanah Abang route on Monday, as reported by kompas.com.

Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said the APTB operator had for a long time violated regulations by operating buses in the capital city without paying taxes to the Jakarta city administration.

Therefore, he added, his administration had ordered that as of Sunday, all APTB buses must stop at bus stops on the borders between Jakarta and its neighboring cities and go no further. The governor meanwhile called on the APTB operator to join Transjakarta.

"If they don't want to join us, we will take over their routes. We will increase the number of buses. Dare they compete with [the city administration]?" Ahok asked, adding that, in such a case, passengers from Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor to Jakarta would pay flat fares of only Rp 3,500 (27 US cents); in comparison, the fare for an APTB bus ride from, for example, Bekasi to Tanah Abang was Rp 9,000.

If the operator continues to send buses into Jakarta, the vehicles will be impounded, Ahok warned. The city, he added, was currently waiting for 400 buses from the Transportation Ministry to replace the APTB buses, in a bid to ensure all bus users receive proper and equal service. (bbn)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

After launching its services in Kediri, East Java in early February, internet service provider Biznet held a music festival on Saturday with performances from Den Basito and Andra and The Backbone.



Dubbed Biznet Festival Kediri 2016, the event was held at Lapangan Brimob Kediri and featured a local band competition, festival booths and games with attractive prizes, in addition to music performances. Those who registered for Biznet services during the festival were given various promotional offers. Biznet president director Adi Kusma said Kediri was one of East Java's primary cities for Biznet in terms of network expansion.



"Kediri is not only the third-biggest city in East Java but it also has huge potential to become one of Java's most developed cities," said Adi in a press release on Saturday.



Biznet officially launched business and retail services in Kediri on Feb. 10. For the business sector, the company provides Biznet Metronet, which targets small and medium enterprises with a package option starting from 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and priced at Rp 700,000 (US$53) per month.



As for retail services, including housing and apartment consumers, the company is offering Biznet Home Internet with packages starting from 10 Mbps and priced at Rp 200,000 per month.



Established more than 15 years ago, the company's fiber-optic infrastructure currently covers over 15,000 kilometers in more than 70 cities in Java, Bali, Batam and Sumatra. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Guatemala City  Mon, March 7, 2016

An explosion ripped through a passenger bus on the outskirts of the Guatemalan capital Sunday, killing one person and seriously wounding 17 more, authorities said.

Firefighters' spokesman Mario Utum confirmed that one person died and said emergency workers have tended to victims with second- and third-degree burns.

Interior Minister Francisco Rivas said the blast is being investigated as an attack and the incident appears similar to a 2010 gang assault on a bus that left nine dead, but there was no immediate indication of possible suspects or motive.

Bus companies and taxi drivers are often extorted by gangs in Guatemala and risk being attacked if they don't pay up. Rivas said the owners of the bus had not reported receiving threats, however.

The vehicle was carrying dozens of people between San Jose Pinula and Palencia, just to the east of Guatemala City, at the time of the explosion.

Photographs distributed by emergency agencies showed people with burns covering nearly their entire bodies and the bus with a gaping hole at the back end. (ags)
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura, Papua  Mon, March 7, 2016

Graft convict Labora Sitorus was flown to Jakarta from Dominique Edward Osok Airport in Sorong, West Papua, on Monday.

Having been sentenced to15 years for illegal logging and money laundering in 2014, the former Raja Ampat Police officer will serve his sentence at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

As earlier reported, Labora became a fugitive from the West Papua Police and the Law and Human Rights Ministry after he fled from his home on Jl.Tampa Garam, Sorong, West Papua, on Friday. Labora escaped as security authorities were about to transfer him to the Cipinang prison from the Class II-B Sorong Penitentiary, where he was serving his sentence.

A joint security team comprising 623 military and police personnel were deployed for Labora's transfer on Friday. However, the convicted cop managed to escape shortly before the security forces arrived at his home, which also functioned as a wood-processing factory owned by his timber company, PT Rotua, on Jl.Tampa Garam.

Labora hid for three days until earlier on Monday, he came on an ojek (motorcycle taxi) to the police to surrender. 'He went himself on an ojek and he surrendered,' Sorong Penitentiary warden Maliki Hasan said.

Labora underwent questioning where he confessed that after he escaped on Friday he hid in two different places, one of which was in Boweser village, Sorong, to avoid arrest.

Labora was taken to court in 2014 after the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) detected his suspicious bank account worth Rp 1.5 trillion (US$114.81 million), which led to his 15-year sentence and fines of Rp 5 billion. (afr/ebf)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Jakarta deputy governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat has emphasized his commitment not to leave the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in next year's gubernatorial election.

"My appointment as deputy governor was based on the party's recommendation. If the governor wanted to partner with me, he should have followed the party's mechanism," Djarot told journalists on Monday.

However, he respected Ahok's decision to nominate Financial and Asset Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono as his running mate in the 2017 gubernatorial election.

He believed that political parties were still needed to push the democratization in the country amid public criticism of the poor performance of politicians.

Djarot praised his party as the "perfect medium for me to express my idealism and ideas.'

"I have been in the PDI-P for a long time. Now I am not merely an ordinary member, but a member of party's central executive board," Djarot said.

He said that actually PDI-P had expressed its intention to support Ahok and himself in next year's election. He said Ahok and Heru had decided to run as independent candidates as demanded by Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), a group of volunteers who had collected the photocopies of voters' identity cards (IDs) required for the pair to run as independent tickers.

"It's the wish of Teman Ahok, not Teman Djarot," he said.

Ahok said previously he had picked Heru as his running mate after he was advised by Teman Ahok that the PDI-P had not shown a clear response to Ahok's proposal to pair with Djarot. (bbn)
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Linkedin Maram Mazen (The Jakarta Post) Cairo  Mon, March 7, 2016

Egypt said Sunday that members of the Muslim Brotherhood trained in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the bombing that killed the country's chief prosecutor in Cairo last year.

Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar said 14 people have been detained in connection to the killing of 65-year-old Hisham Barakat last June, the first assassination of a senior Egyptian official in 25 years.

"Hamas trained, prepared, and oversaw the implementation" of the attack, he said in an address broadcast by state and private media, which also aired confessions by some of the alleged perpetrators.

There will be "measures taken" against the group without harming Palestinian civilians, he said, without elaborating.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the "baseless" accusations. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and other Western countries, but says it confines its attacks to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

There have been no credible claims of responsibility for the bombing that killed Barakat outside his Cairo home on June 29. The Brotherhood, which is now outlawed as a terrorist group, denied any involvement.

Abdel-Ghaffar said a total of 48 people have been arrested from a wider Brotherhood "cell" for planning other attacks, including the 14 suspected of involvement in the killing of Barakat.

Authorities also secured "a number of vehicles that have been prepared for detonation, carrying huge amounts of explosives," he said.

He said Hamas had trained Egyptian Brotherhood members in military and guerrilla warfare tactics before sending them back to Egypt with the help of Bedouin smugglers in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks mainly targeting security forces since the 2013 military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood. The government has blamed most of the violence on the Brotherhood -- including attacks claimed by more extreme groups.

Barakat had led the prosecution of Brotherhood members, including Morsi, who was Egypt's first freely elected president but faced mass protests after a divisive year in power.

Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood, and enjoyed warm relations with Cairo during Morsi's brief presidency. The current Egyptian government says insurgents have used tunnels between Hamas-ruled Gaza and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to smuggle in arms.

The interior minister said Yahia Moussa, a health ministry spokesman under Morsi, planned Barakat's assassination from Turkey, where he and other Brotherhood leaders took refuge following Morsi's ouster.

He said the government will use all legal methods to extradite fugitive Brotherhood members. "We are wondering about those countries that allow terror elements to organize and plan attacks in other countries," he added, referring to Turkey.

The wider Brotherhood group of 48 had already carried out attacks, and were planning more targeting officials and embassies of allied nations, Abdel-Ghaffar said.

The government responded to Barakat's assassination by pushing through a wide-ranging anti-terrorism law that broadened the definition of terrorism, gave police greater powers of arrest, and tightened restrictions on free speech. Egypt has jailed thousands of people, mainly Islamists, since Morsi's overthrow. (ags)
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Linkedin Francisco Szekely & Victoria Kemanian (The Jakarta Post)  Mon, March 7, 2016

Maximizing sustainable business opportunities.



As explored in the first article of this series, businesses in emerging markets have made quick strides in the field of sustainability by rapidly adopting mainstream practices and even pushing the envelope in this important area. In our study of emerging market firms, we have identified five common areas of focus that explain this move.



An uncompromising focus on local issues



For emerging market champions, the local context defines to a large extent the sustainability agenda, which is then shaped around industry sustainability issues as well. Behind this thinking there is a view that if a company can improve its operating environment and local market, then its chances of thriving in it are higher. Take the case of Gruma in Mexico, an international corn flour and tortilla producer. The company has always been committed to improving the conditions of Mexican society, and that thinking continues to guide its strategy and its daily operations. Its program, 'Sowing a Seed for the Future,' recognizes the importance of its employees' children getting good schooling, so it offers scholarships and support for their higher studies. Another company-led initiative, called 'Zero Extreme Poverty in Central America,' aimed at helping all employees who, despite receiving salaries above the legal minimum, were unable to cover the basic needs of their children because of the size of their families.



Demonstrating the value of sustainability



Emerging market firms seek to understand the competitive advantages that can result from effective sustainability strategies. As discussed, most emerging market firms cannot afford to divert resources from their main business activities to focus on areas not generating returns. Therefore, they have a vested interest in identifying the benefits ' tangible and non-tangible ' that sustainability activities will bring over time. But they are also aware of the need to be patient and that transformational ideas require a generous timeline to allow for experimentation, testing and adjustments. Brazilian petrochemical firm Braskem provides a great example in this area. It has filed over 852 patents, 263 of them in the last three years, but without immediately bringing all of these projects to market. At the end of 2014, its innovation pipeline contained 261 projects, conducted at its 23 laboratories and seven pilot plants, which were in testing and improving phases.



Adopting governance best practices



In a field in which a large number of standards and governance instruments already exist, we have seen how emerging market firms often come up with more adequate and easier to quantify indicators. Their approach is to focus mostly on best practices. The international standards give a baseline to compare and understand their sustainability performance, allowing more realistic targets, timelines and roadmaps to be adopted. We observed in the companies we researched that their moves into sustainability activities were accompanied by the establishment of measurement systems, indicators, and in many cases, a reporting system ' even if at first just internal. In the case of Bimbo, the Mexican bakery giant, reporting allowed them to create a model to benchmark performance and provide further transparency. This systematic approach has enabled them also to further engage their teams with the corporate sustainability agenda.



Thinking of stakeholders as key partners in initiatives



Emerging market firms prioritize developing solid and lasting relationships with a broad range of shareholders, benefiting from their expertise and reach. This has been fundamental in accelerating the learning curve for companies. It is particularly relevant in regions where local connections are essential for purposes of cultural or geographic reach. The Elion Resources Group from China has spent the past 27 years battling desertification in the Kubuqi Desert, turning over 6,000 square km of the desert into productive land for the cultivation of medicinal plants. The initiative is expanding into 23 countries in the Silk Road Belt through partnerships with international environmental and UN organizations. The goal is to plant 1.3 billion trees in this area over 10 years.



Rooting sustainability within the organization



While many global companies struggle to embed sustainability at all levels of the organization, emerging market firms have succeeded in driving sustainability from within as much as from the top. One reason is the pressing local context and the awareness it builds within individuals in a company. Another is the way in which companies engage employees individually by communicating their activities and providing opportunities for engagement. Natura, a Brazilian manufacturer and marketer of beauty products, engages its employees and sales consultants in its social and economic development goals by providing a platform ' Movimiento Natura ' through which they can present social impact projects that may be selected for funding by Natura.



Conclusion



The experiences of companies from emerging markets challenge the mainstream model of corporate sustainability, which is proving insufficient to ensure sustainable development. Companies from all markets need to adopt a more systemic approach to corporate sustainability. Those from the developed world must think about the potential opportunities to be created by viewing their businesses through a sustainability lens.

(Francisco Szekely & Victoria Kemanian)

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Szekely is adjunct professor of Leadership and Sustainability at IMD and Kemanian is director of Latitude, a Lausanne-based consulting firm.
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Binjai, North Sumatra  Mon, March 7, 2016

The recent discovery of a bomb in Binjai, North Sumatra, has sent a signal to people in and around Medan to stay alert as the city may become the target of an act of terror in the future.



Terrorism expert Al Chaidar said that the homemade bomb found by a local could have links with the Islamic state (IS) movement in Indonesia that planned to attack Medan in April.



'There are five major cities in Indonesia that IS targeted for April, and Medan is one of them. So I think the bomb and guns found yesterday were not targeted at President Widodo,' he told The Jakarta Post.



Chaidar said intelligence officers predicted that Medan would become an IS target, and that they had detected meetings conducted by IS-linked groups involving former convicted terrorist Wandoyo, alias Salman, in Medan.



But as of today, he added, the police had failed to arrest Wandoyo and his group because of Wandoyo's shrewdness.



'Wandoyo was thought by intelligence officers to have arrived at Kualanamu Airport on Feb. 14,' he said.



Wandoyo was released in 2015 after serving five years in prison for the ownership of firearms.



A black suitcase containing explosive material, assembled guns, magazines for SS1 and FNX 45 weapons, bullets and cable reels, was found on Saturday. The suitcase was found by a local resident named Desra Yuda near the final trash disposal site (TPA) in East Binjai. The location is quite far from the location where President Joko Widodo made his visit to Binjai a few days before.



A squad from Gegana put the bomb, which was covered by brown tape, into a bomb bag and exploded it at the TPA.



The guns, SS1 and FN45 magazines, bullets and other documents have been secured by the police for further examination.



National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) head Saud Usmad refused to comment when asked about the bomb and its possible connection with IS.



Meanwhile, Binjai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hakim Solihin said that the police could not confirm if the bomb had any link to any potential act of terror.



'We're not there yet, everything is still under investigation,' he said.



However, Binjai Deputy Mayor Timbas Tarigan believed that the homemade bomb and the guns found inside the luggage belonged to a trained group intent on executing an attack.



He said that the possibility of a terror attack had been considered by police and army officers when they gathered for a meeting to discuss security measures for Jokowi's visit last week.



But he could not tell which group would launch the attack.



'Whoever owned the bomb, guns and ammunition must not be regular people. I believe they must be trained people who want to tear this nation apart,' Timbas said.



The last terror attack in Medan happened in 2010 when suspected terrorists robbed a Medan branch of the CIMB Niaga bank in which a gang of 16 men killed a security guard, injured two security members, and later fled with Rp 370 million.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Mon, March 7, 2016

The Transportation Ministry has warned Lion Group against monopolizing services at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport after its subsidiary, PT Angkasa Transportindo Selaras (ATS), won managing rights over the airport, a former air force base that shares its airstrip and flight slots with commercial planes.



The ministry's airport director, Agus Santoso, said all airport business entities (BUBU) that managed a civilian airport must provide proportional services to all its partners.



"No monopoly, not in slot [shares] either. They must be fair," he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Saturday, adding that ATS had yet to receive a BUBU certificate from the ministry despite a Supreme Court decision that granted Lion Group rights to manage the airport.



As stipulated in a 2015 ministerial regulation on airport business operations, ATS, which is owned by Rusdi Kirana, a National Awakening Party (PKB) politician who supported President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo during his presidential campaign, must submit an application to obtain a BUBU certificate.



ATS secured the managing rights of the airport after the court rejected a judicial review request submitted by state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II (AP II) over a dispute surrounding operations of the airport.



Lion Group president director Edward Sirait said in a press statement that the group did not intend to fully take over management of the airport from AP II. The group will only become an investor in the airport's development.



"Lion Air Group will cooperate with other airport business entities such as Angkasa Pura II. We have no intention to take over everything," he said, adding that the company has allocated investment to develop the airport. (ags)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

As many as 500 personnel consisting of contract workers from North Jakarta's Sanitary Agency and Parks and the Cemetery Agency joined hands on Sunday to clean up a recently cleared area under the Sedyatmo toll road overpass in Pluit, Penjaringan, North Jakarta.



The city administration evicted hundreds of people living in almost 400 makeshift shelters under the overpass just a day after it cleared the infamous red-light district Kalijodo that used to lie between West and North Jakarta, on Feb. 29.



The municipality also provided 50 trucks to carry off the debris of the demolished buildings.



'The sooner we clean up the area, the sooner we can construct a park under the Sedyatmo toll road,' said North Jakarta deputy mayor Wahyu Haryadi as quoted by beritajakarta.com.
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

PT Grand Indonesia (GI), the privately-run operator of the state-owned Hotel Indonesia complex, has denied any wrongdoing in its decision to build two expensive high rises on the prime real estate and maintained that they generated revenue for the state.



GI lawyer Juniver Girsang said on Sunday that the construction of the two buildings was permitted in the operating contract. The two buildings are an example of the 'other buildings' as stipulated in the contract.



Juniver said the operation of the two buildings did not violate any law and benefitted PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (HIN), the state-owned company that controls the complex.



'HIN gains commercial benefit from these two buildings as it won't lose the payment of a larger amount of compensation,' Juniver said in a statement.



The build, operate and transfer contract between PT Cipta Karya Bumi Indah (CKBI), the parent company of GI, and HIN obliges the private firm to return the asset to the state-owned enterprise at the end of the contract period in 2055.



The Attorney General's Office (AGO) recently launched an investigation into the allegedly dubious contract signed between GI and HIN that may have caused state losses of Rp 1.3 trillion (US$96.25 million).



Under the contract, GI is allowed to build only four buildings in the complex. However, GI decided to build two more buildings, the Bank BCA Tower and the Kempinski Residences apartment complex.



A recent Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report pointed out the absence of compensation paid to HIN from the operation of the Bank BCA Tower and the Kempinski Residences apartment complex.



'A final report shows that there were two additional buildings, an office building and an apartment building, that were completed by March 11, 2009. Details [about the buildings] were not written into the original agreement and the total compensation for HIN has not yet been calculated,' BPK report reads.



BPK has revealed that potential state losses from this and other forms of alleged misconduct, including a low initial compensation rate, the use of an asset certificate for debt collateral and a dubious contract extension process between HIN and CKBI, could reach up to Rp 1.29 trillion (US$98.48 million).



The 56-floor BCA Tower serves as PT Bank Central Asia's headquarters and is listed as a premium office space, boasting the city's fifth-highest rent price at Rp 550,000 per square meter and a service charge of Rp 106,000 per square meter every month. HIN's office is also located on the 39th floor of the tower.



The Kempinski Residences remains one of the most luxurious apartment buildings in the country and is pegged at Rp 5 billion per unit, according to Leads Property Indonesia CEO Hendra Hartono.



Juniver said GI spent lavishly on the complex, some Rp 5.5 trillion, more than the minimum required investment of Rp 1.2 trillion stated in the 2010 contract.



CKBI and GI have also succeeded in bringing in more income for HIN from Hotel Kempinski ' a reconstituted Hotel Indonesia, Juniver claimed.



'In 2004, when the contract was first signed, Hotel Indonesia was an old hotel, not fully renovated and not so competitive. From 1997 to 2002, it could only contribute Rp 2 billion to HIN. Since the contract [with us], HIN gets Rp 10.3 billion a year,' he said.



The House of Representatives has stood by GI in the conflict.



'According to the contract, there has been no legal violation, but it is very shaky and in the long term it can only benefit the private company. The best solution is to amend the contract and renegotiate,' said House Commission VI chairman Achmad Hafisz Tohir of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Indonesia has defended its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a war crimes suspect, into the country for a summit of Muslim nations.



The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 because of suspected involvement in crimes against humanity, specific war crimes and genocide. The charges stem from reported atrocities in the conflict in Darfur.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia is not an ICC member state and has no legal mechanism or obligation to arrest al-Bashir.



The US Embassy in Jakarta said it was "concerned" by al-Bashir's travel to Indonesia for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Like Indonesia, the US is not a party to the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC. (+)
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Linkedin Anggi Lubis and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Indonesia's diplomatic move to bring Palestine back into the international spotlight has been praised by Islamic nations as an important step in ending Israel's hostile policies against the Palestinians. It is hoped that Indonesia's diplomatic work can pave the way to renewed peace talks.



Convened under the theme of 'United for a Just Solution', the summit is a response to the urgent situation in Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem).



Ongoing conflict in Syria and Yemen and the radicalism and growing threat of the Islamic State (IS) movement have diverted international attention away from Palestine. This lack of attention has created a dire situation for the Palestinians.



During a two-day summit that kicked off on Sunday, 56 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are exploring strategies to counter Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The summit also aims to advance a peace process and resolve the situation in Al-Quds Al-Sharif.



Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, had agreed to host the summit because it wanted to put Palestine back on the international radar and remind people that the conflict between Palestine and Israel remained unresolved.



'The Palestine-Israel conflict is complicated. However, Indonesia won't be silent in seeking to resolve the problems. When Palestinian President [Mahmoud] Abbas offered Indonesia the chance to hold the OIC summit, Indonesia agreed,' she said.



During his presidential election campaign, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo made support for Palestine a priority of his foreign policy as well as opening an honorary consulate in Ramallah, which is scheduled to be operational later in March.



Foreign ministers attending the summit expressed on Sunday their gratitude for Indonesia's swift response in addressing issues in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.



Egypt's Prime Minister Sharif Ismail expressed his intention to maintain cooperation with Indonesia to bring the result of the summit to the UN and other international forums.



Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined the need for cooperative measures among OIC members to tackle the issue of Palestinian rights.



'The Palestinian people aspire to a state based on the 1967 borders. There are difficulties in this process and Palestinian rights are uncertain. So this summit is supported by Egypt and we hope that this

conference will be successful,' Soukry said.



Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani said his country was eager to support its Palestinian brothers and sisters. Afghanistan 'a country marred by almost permanent warfare ' hoped the event would make people aware of the challenges faced by Palestinians.



Tajikistan Foreign Minister Aslov Sirodjidin Muhridinovich also applauded Indonesia's role in hosting the summit. 'We congratulate Indonesia for a very excellent summit,' he said.



Gambian Foreign Minister Neneh Macdouall-Gaye said Gambia would always support Indonesia.



'We recognize the important role Indonesia plays, especially in the OIC and in the matter of Palestine, and we're here today to support the OIC and the Indonesian government in this very important meeting,' Macdouall-Gaye said.



The summit is expected to conclude with a resolution reaffirming the positions of the OIC members on the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.



A Jakarta Declaration will codify the commitments of the leaders of the OIC to pursue concrete steps to support Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has reiterated the country's support for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



Speaking in his remarks during the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit's opening ceremony, the President referred to a statement conveyed by the late president Sukarno in 1962, in which he said: 'As long as the independence of the Palestinians has not been handed over to the Palestinians, Indonesia will stand against the Israeli occupation'.



'We, the people of Indonesia, will consistently uphold that promise,' said Jokowi, who chairs the summit, which will end on Monday.



To realize Indonesia's commitment, President Jokowi on Monday officially appointed an honorary consul for Palestine, ahead of the opening of the Indonesian consulate in Ramallah.



In his opening remarks, the President announced that Indonesia had appointed Maha Abou Susheh as the Indonesian honorary consul for Palestine. In the near future, he added, Indonesia would inaugurate the Indonesian Honorary Consulate in Ramallah, Palestine.



The OIC Summit is set to produce two documents, a resolution and a Jakarta Declaration, which contains an agreed set of principles and concrete steps OIC member countries will take to achieve peace and reconciliation in Palestine.



Jokowi said Indonesia continued to stand together with its OIC fellow members in the pursuit of a resolution on the issue of Palestine.



The President brought to the attention of the summit participants the struggle experienced by the Palestinian people, particularly his concerns related to policies deemed biased and illegal, as well as Israeli's collective sanctions that continued to create hardships for Palestinians.



Citing examples, Jokowi said the access of Muslims to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was very limited and that the humanitarian condition of Palestinians continued to worsen.



Jokowi said the international community's tolerance of the continued illegal occupation by Israel had reached its limit. He called on unity among members of the international community, especially OIC members.



The President said that the existence of the OIC was aimed at supporting the struggle of Palestinians. He further said that Monday's summit, themed "United for a Just Solution", emphasized the importance for all OIC members to be part of the solution and not the problem.



"If the OIC cannot become part of the solution for Palestine, then the existence of the OIC becomes irrelevant," Jokowi said.



Jokowi also conveyed in his speech the Islamic world's call for support from the UN. (ebf)(+)
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Linkedin Dian Arthen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Child-friendly search engines like Kiddle are arguably a big help in preventing kids from stumbling upon adult materials on the internet.

Registered in 2014, the website is powered by Google search engine yet is not connected to the tech giant.

How does it work? When a kid types something into the search bar at kiddle.co, the first to three results that appear are safe websites written specifically for children, which were handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors. The next four to seven results are those that have content written in simple language, also handpicked by the editors. Meanwhile, the next eight onwards are sites filtered by Google safe search.

Kiddle states on the website that it filters sites with explicit or deceptive concent. However, its judgment on what is good or bad is rather questionable. For example, famous lingerie brand Victoria's Secret is banned from its website but not the movie Fifty Shades of Grey, and the word "suicide" is allowed but "sex education" is blocked. There have been news reports that, in the past, Kiddle used to ban terms such as LGBT and menstruation. But parents are supposedly able to request blocking of any keywords and sites they deem inappropriate.

It is not clear who owns Kiddle; the search engine only states 'powered by editors and Google safe search'. But in terms of privacy, it claims that it does not collect personal information and clears its log every 24 hours. (kes)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

LGBT rights organization Arus Pelangi questioned on Sunday the government's plan to ban websites containing education and information about the minority group.



Calling the community a threat to the country's security, identity and culture, the House of Representatives has recommended a ban on websites containing LGBT-related issues be included in the upcoming national cyber security bill.



Arus Pelangi said that there was no ongoing propaganda from LGBT people that the government and the public should be concerned about.



The websites that are often deemed to be campaigning for the minority group actually contain educational and empowerment materials for LGBT people who are often repressed by this society, according to an official of the organization.



'Some LGBT people share their story in a blog and several websites become a place for them to discuss various issues. Those are informative for the public and are certainly not propaganda,' said Arus Pelangi chairperson Yuli Rustinawati.



She added that the websites emphasize that LGBT people have equal rights as citizens and they inform the public about the existence of the sexual orientations, but never try to campaign or persuade people to become homosexuals or transgenders.



Arus Pelangi provides legal aid to victims of violence and discrimination sparked by intolerance of different sexual orientations, gender identities or gender expressions.



The group also calls for the public to strengthen camaraderie with their fellow citizens and protect minority groups of any kind, including those of religions and races.



'Using the majority's opinion to beat us, the minority, is not right and we never ask people to agree with us. Differences should not lead to hatred, provocation and violence,' Yuli said.



The spiralling intolerance of LGBT people and issues was started with a controversy surrounding SGRC-UI, a study group established by University of Indonesia students that focuses on counseling and discussions on gender and sexuality.



Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir initially called on LGBT-related activities to not be allowed on campuses.



Although he retracted his statement later, saying that he only did not want to permit the public display of affection between homosexual persons, other high-ranking government officials continued to spread hostility toward the minority group.



The government later reprimanded the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and demanded the UN body stop funding LGBT-related programs, while the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict banning the community in the country.



Recently, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) issued circulars to broadcasters saying they must not air any programs containing LGBT content to protect children and teenagers from the indecent behavior.



Yuli said such a negative light on LGBT people would worsen prejudice toward the minority group.



The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders removed homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973, but Rustinawati said that many LGBT people were brought to psychologists and declared to be ill.



'It is actually much better if we can learn together about the varieties of sexual orientations and gender identities,' she added.



The ministry has invited Arus Pelangi to discuss matters related to the bill and said that four websites are suspected of promoting LGBT issues.



While reminding people to keep their sexuality orientations private, several government officials said they still respect and are committed to protecting the rights of LGBT as citizens.



Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the government respected citizens' rights to diverse sexual expressions.



'Whoever they are, wherever they work, he or she continues to be an Indonesian citizen. They have the right to be protected as well,' said Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.



Din Syamsuddin from Muhammadiyah also said that people should not express hatred toward the LGBT group. (wnd)

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Linkedin Gerry Shih (The Jakarta Post) Beijing  Mon, March 7, 2016

Twelve Chinese families with relatives aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 filed a lawsuit in a Beijing court on Monday, one day before the deadline for pursuing litigation against the carrier.

The families of 32 other passengers, mostly Chinese, filed a separate lawsuit in Malaysia, their lawyer said Monday.

The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people ' including 153 Chinese citizens ' on board while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Under international agreements, families have a two-year window to sue following an air accident.

Speaking outside a transportation court in Beijing, the lawyer for the 12 families, Zhang Qihuai, said they are seeking a range of damages but the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is "to find out the cause of the accident and those who are responsible."

Several relatives said they hope to use the case to obtain more information from the airline, which they said has not been forthcoming.

"If we lose this opportunity, it might become even more difficult" to obtain answers, said Zou Jingsheng, a professor whose 27-year old son, Ling Annan, was studying in Malaysia and was on the flight. "We will find out the truth through legal means, and we'll look into the responsibilities that Malaysia Airlines failed to fulfill."

The lawsuit also named Boeing and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce among the defendants. The court will decide if and where to hear the case. Malaysia Airlines did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment about the case.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, lawyer Ganesan Nethi said he filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of the families of 32 passengers last Thursday. He said most were Chinese, along with an American and a few Indians.

Ganesan said he was appointed by Podhurst Orseck, a Miami law firm specializing in aviation litigation, on behalf of the families. The lawsuit named the airline, the Malaysian government and its air force and civil aviation department, he said.

After two years, the fate of the Boeing 777 remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. The Australian-led search effort is to continue until June, having already spent more than US$130 million looking through a vast area of the Indian Ocean nearly 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) deep.

Investigators believe the plane flew far off course and ran out of fuel in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. One confirmed piece of wreckage has been recovered, a part of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island last year, and two other possible pieces have been found in the past week.

Victims' kin in China, Malaysia and Britain have urged authorities to continue to search until the plane is found.
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Mon, March 7, 2016

The government is aiming to establish a management body by the end of this year to manage and collect funds for a planned endowment to support all energy sectors.



Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said claimed that a government regulation to legitimize the management body for the energy security fund was being prepared and would be ready within the next three months.



'We continue to prepare a government regulation so that the management body will have a stronger legal basis. It is urgent that we have a body to manage this energy security fund,' he said on Saturday following a two-day meeting in Bandung, West Java, on new and renewable energy.



The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry previously stated that the energy security fund was expected to push the development of new and renewable energy sources, which are sorely needed given that Indonesia currently imports around 800,000 barrels of fuel a day.



According to the ministry, the state needed Rp 1,600 trillion (US$123 billion) in order to realize the government's goal of achieving an energy portfolio comprising 23 percent of renewable energy by 2025. The goal includes a plan to build solar stations generating 5,000 megawatts of energy within the next five years.



The plan for the energy security fund follows President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's request for oil funding to support energy security in the future. With immediate moves considered necessary to ensure energy supply, President Jokowi's administration has been encouraging the development of refineries and storage facilities to achieve energy security.



Sudirman explained that a part of the security fund was expected to be included in an upcoming proposal for the revised 2016 state budget, a plan confirmed by Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.



Due to the limitations of the state budget, however, the energy security fund is expected to receive contributions from several other sources, such as funds from the use of fossil fuels and fees from businesses and international donors. Sudirman emphasized that the funds would not come from the public through the sale of fossil fuels, as previously planned.



The collection of security funds is supported by the 2007 Energy Law and a similar plan was first conceived following an overhaul in energy subsidies in late 2014 in order to reduce the burden on the state budget.



Several other countries have already established their own version of an energy security fund. Norway has a $17 billion fund that seeks to improve energy efficiency and increase the country's capacity for new and renewable energy. Meanwhile, Timor Leste has a security fund of $16.9 billion for managing crude oil.



Anindy Wati, the Finance Ministry's director of non-tax state revenues (PNBP), said that there would not be any special funds allocated for the energy security fund because there were no posts left in the state budget. Instead, several existing energy budgets may be moved around to accommodate the energy security fund.



'There are no more state budget posts left. However, it is entirely possible that [some budgets] will be moved around,' she said.



The Finance Ministry has also asked for energy subsidies to be more efficient and it is currently working together with the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation to record all the poor families that have a right to subsidies.



'We may be able to save, for example, Rp 30 trillion from such efforts, which then can be switched to the energy security fund,' Anindy said.

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

The Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI) said on Sunday that the country had at least seven laws that should be amended for failing to accommodate gender equality.



KPI secretary-general Dian Kartikasari said the problematic legislation included the laws on marriage, migrant worker protection, fishermen, gender equality, sexual violence, domestic workers and social welfare.



She cited as an example that in the Marriage Law, the minimum legal age of marriage for females is 16, while it is 19 for males. Many young women who marry during their teens are unable to finish high school as a result.



Moreover, the law stipulates that girls under 16 can marry with permission from their parents.



'Sometimes parents marry off their child at 13 or 14,' Dian said as quoted by kompas.com.



There were 293,220 cases of violence against women reported to the commission in 2014, up from 279,688 in 2013 and 216,156 in 2012. Of those figures, around 25 percent were cases of sexual violence.



Dian said the law on fishermen lacked recognition for female fishers who took care of their families while also working at sea.
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Linkedin Djemi Amnifu (The Jakarta Post) Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara  Mon, March 7, 2016

The University of Nusa Cendana (Undana) in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, is set to open a study program on tenun ikat (handwoven fabric), starting from the 2016 academic year. The program is relatively new for Indonesia and will be offered by the university's School of Science and Technology as a three-year diploma.

'Because this is a vocational study program, there will be a combination of science and [practical] skills offered in the program. Maybe the transfer of skills will be the larger portion of the program. This year we have started enrolling new students,' Undana's assistant rector for academics, David Pandie, told thejakartapost.com in Kupang last week.

David said Undana would cooperate with tenun ikat workshops in Kupang to enable students to practice their skills. It is also expected that Undana students will conduct special research on the development of locally made handwoven textiles in the future.

Once legalized by the Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry, David said, Undana would introduce the study program to the public, with local administrations as a focal point, to ensure younger generations became interested in learning about traditional textiles.

David said Undana was set to sign a memorandum of understanding with 23 regencies and municipalities across East Nusa Tenggara, through which the enrolment of students could be specifically targeted, unlike other programs.

He said the diversity of woven textiles in East Nusa Tenggara illustrated the geographical differences in the province. 'Such a diverse collection of East Nusa Tenggara's traditional woven textiles can become the province's identity and this study program could become a competitive advantage for Undana,' said David.

The East Nusa Tenggara administration's head of trade and industry, Bruno Kupok, said the study program on woven textiles was the result of cooperation between the provincial administration, the Industry Ministry and Undana.

He added that the province's woven textiles were rich in both motifs and patterns, so they needed to be preserved and improved, particularly in terms of quality.

'Concerning this reality, we decided to build a university study program that specially focuses on our woven fabric. We want to make sure our cultural heritage will not disappear and we can work to improve the quality of our woven fabric products so they can compete with other products,' said Bruno.

He said it was expected that through the program, problems affecting the production of handmade textiles could be resolved through science and technology. To realize the transfer of skills, Undana has recruited lecturers including woven textile practitioners and fabric experts from the Bandung Textile Technology Polytechnic and the Industry Ministry.

'The presence of this study program will not affect philosophical values contained in our locally made handwoven textiles. What we want to do is improve the quality of woven textiles from East Nusa Tenggara, for example related to the thickness and coloring process of the textiles, which can affect their quality. These problems can be resolved with technology,' said Bruno.

He said students of the new diploma would be recruited based on cooperation between the provincial, regency and municipal administrations. 'We hope those students can pursue their study with financial support from their local administration and after completing their study, they can return to their respective hometowns,' said Bruno. (ebf)
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

The Islamic world has called on Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries and the international community to ban products made in or produced by Israel to put more pressure on Israeli to end its occupation of Palestinian territories.

The call is part of a united statement condemning the Israeli occupation in Palestine, issued by the Islamic world at the 5th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Extraordinary Summit on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif in Jakarta on Monday.

"Today, the leaders of the Islamic world present an agreement and a set of concrete actions for Palestine," President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said at the conclusion of the two-day OIC summit.

"OIC member countries condemn Israel's actions. We call to end the illegal colonial settlement and support the independence of Palestine on the basis of a two-state solution," he said.

All members reiterated their commitment to protecting Al-Quds Al-Sharif including in the form of financial support, Jokowi added.

Six-hundred-and-five delegates from 55 countries and two international organizations, namely the United Nations and the European Union, produced two official documents presenting a unified voice to be adapted by its member states in support of Palestine.

Jokowi said the documents also included support from all OIC member countries for a call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the organizing of an international peace conference to end the Israeli occupation.

President Jokowi further said the consensus among OIC heads of state was stipulated in both documents.

The first document, called "The Resolution", contains 32 points defining a commitment based on an agreed set of principles of the OIC in supporting Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

The second document, "The Jakarta Declaration", contains 23 points on the concrete steps for realizing the goals outlined in The Resolution.

Jokowi said the summit was a collective effort to bring the issue of Palestine back on to the world's radar and along with it the importance of reconciliation within Palestine itself, which was divided between two factions, Hamas and Fatah.

He said that despite having declared its independence in 1988, Palestine remained under Israeli's occupation and had not yet become a UN member country.

The situation has become more alarming due to growing tensions, especially in Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem), which both Israel and Palestine claim as their capital city.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said isolating Al-Quds Al-Sharif from its resolution would take away the essence of the nation.

"Al-Quds is the beating heart of Palestine," Abbas said.

Abbas conveyed heartfelt gratitude to Indonesia and the secretary-general of the OIC for their efforts in organizing the summit.

Abbas called on the UN Security Council to increase efforts to solve the Palestine issue. He also urged the international community to mobilize all necessary support for the building of Palestine.

OIC secretary-general Iyaad Ameed Madani said the results of the OIC summit had shown the concern of the international community and inspired all parties to push for progress in Palestine.

"It's not just a communique, but an action-orientated communique," Madani said about the two documents.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the set of documents was a political statement that was morally binding, however, there would be no sanctions imposed on member countries that did not implement them. (ebf)
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Leaders of the Islamic world have brought the issue of Palestine back to the center of global attention with their attendance at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Extraordinary Summit in Jakarta.

They have also come to a unified stance on the solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict under the Jakarta Declaration to be announced at the end of the summit.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for an immediate resolution on the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, an issue which he said was of concern to the entire Muslim ummah (community), including in its impact beyond Palestinian territory, such as its impact on terrorism.

"The just solution for the Palestinian cause will cancel all pretext for the terrorist waves [...] These threats are looming high and near over all the countries of our ummah. We need to go on to build our societies and realize welfare for our people and defend our causes," Abbas said at the summit on Monday.

The President expressed optimism about the meeting, which follows up France's initiative to hold an international peace conference this year that would address the Palestine crisis.

Abbas hopes the OIC Extraordinary Summit can come up with an effective solution that gathers multilateral support and is in accordance with international law.

The Palestinian president further said that his people would not accept any provisional or partial solutions as have been proposed by Israel. Any temporary or partial solution would hold no meaning and would not solve the problem, he added.

Meanwhile, OIC summit chair, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, said he was confident the summit would be a major milestone in enhancing solidarity among OIC member countries and supporting the Palestinian cause.

Shoukry warned against all actions perpetrated by Israel in the framework of its expansion in the West Bank. He expressed deep concern over aggression and assaults at the holy city of Al-Quds. He said Israel's occupation remained the major obstruction to progress toward peace and the achievement of a two-state solution.

"Egypt supports Palestine in establishing their state on the boundaries of 1967 with Al-Quds as its capital," Shoukry said.

Despite the complexities of the issues in the Middle East, the cause of Palestine remains at the center of the attention of the Arab and Islamic worlds, he added. The reconciliation of Palestine is the key for peace and security in the region, Shoukry said. (ebf)
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Linkedin Anggi Lubis and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Expressing unwavering support for Palestine, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said that Indonesia would continue to participate and fully support the Palestinian struggle for independence.



Speaking on the sidelines of an extraordinary summit on Palestine, he said he expected the summit would result in concrete actions and serve as a framework for future conferences.



Indonesia ' the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world ' was chosen as the host for an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday and Monday to garner support from Islamic countries so as to draw international attention to the Palestinian issue and open opportunities to revive the peace process.



For Indonesia, supporting Palestine is an integral part of its constitutional mandate to abolish colonialism and contribute to the establishment of world order based on freedom, lasting peace and social justice.



During his election campaign, Jokowi made support for Palestinians a priority for his foreign policy, promising that Indonesia would appoint an honorary consul to Ramallah later this month.



The summit is being held at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after violence escalated in the occupied territories when Israel restricted Muslim access to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam.



Jokowi told reporters after a meeting with Abbas that his Palestinian counterpart had expressed gratitude for Indonesia's solidarity and consistency in easing tension in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.



'I have told [Abbas] that Indonesia will always maintain its commitment to give full support for Palestine's independence,' Jokowi said.



During the meeting Abbas updated Jokowi on the situation regarding settlements, refugees and zones that were currently occupied by Israel.



'We also support Palestine's initiative, breakthrough, to hold the upcoming International Conference of Peace,' he added, before engaging in a separate bilateral meeting with Jordan's Prince El Hassan bin Talal.



There are over 500 delegates from 49 countries in the two-day summit, which is also being attended by three observers, four Middle East Quartet members and the permanent members of the UN Security Council.



The summit is expected to encourage the international community to put forward a resolution to the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem), given the increasingly worrying situation.



Ongoing conflict in Syria and Yemen and the radicalism and growing threat of the Islamic State movement have diverted international attention away from Palestine.



In her remarks opening the ministerial meeting, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that serious waves of violence in Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif were still occurring. 'The excessive and indiscriminate use of force by Israeli forces is continuing,' she said. 'And arbitrary arrests of Palestinian civilians, including children, are rampant.'



Retno added that Israel continues its illegal settlement, demolishing Palestinian properties and expropriating their lands in the process.



Meanwhile, delegates have reached a consensus on the outcome documents that are slated for adoption on Monday.



Indonesia has made assurances that the outcome documents would reflect the solidarity of the OIC member states for the plight of Palestine without impinging on the sovereignty of the relevant countries.



The Foreign Ministry's director general of multilateral affairs, Hasan Kleib, insisted that the OIC Summit outcome documents would not stop any member of the organization from either attempting or not attempting to provide tangible support for the Palestinian people and their nation.



'The declaration document does not aim to suppress anyone; it is for the unity of [OIC member states] to fight for the struggles of the Palestinian people,' Hasan said in a press briefing after the ministerial meeting.



Hasan, who also chaired the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) to deliberate on the documents, said that no political sanctions would be taken as part of the steps in the Jakarta Declaration, insisting instead that it was 'an affirmation of the shared opinion toward the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel'.



According to Hasan, both documents will be presented for peer review by delegates of five countries from the UN Security Council, as well as by the states involved in the Quartet Meeting framework. He said Monday's forum would provide an opportunity for a general debate between OIC member states and members of the Quartet.



'The OIC members will be able to convey their opinions, while at the same time, they will be able to hear about the future of the peace process and matters pertaining to the UN Security Council,' he said.



The documents consist of the Resolution on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, which outlines the principles agreed upon by the summit's 605 delegates, as well as the so-called Jakarta Declaration, which places these principles within a framework of concrete steps to be carried out by the OIC member states 'as a just solution'.

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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Political maneuvering to put a stumbling block in front of incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama's reelection bid has intensified with former law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra leading the pack.



Yusril, a well-known legal scholar, has made efforts to stymie Ahok's rise by pointing out the incumbent's drawbacks as an independent candidate in the 2017 gubernatorial election.



The founder of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) claimed that the ID cards collected as a requirement for Ahok's bid to run as independent candidate could be deemed invalid, as they were pooled only for Ahok and not together with a deputy governor candidate.



'Even if there are 3 million ID cards, it will not be valid as long as there is no deputy governor candidate [on the ticket],' Yusril said, adding that there were some regulations that could render all the support for Ahok null.



Supporters of Ahok, known as Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), started to collect ID cards last year in order for him to participate in the gubernatorial elections next year as an independent candidate.



All residents who submit their ID cards must also fill in a form to state their support for Ahok. However, the support is only for Ahok, as he does not yet have a deputy governor candidate to join him in the race.



As of Sunday, Teman Ahok had collected 770,867 of the targeted 1 million ID cards. Independent gubernatorial candidates in Jakarta must collect roughly 532,000 ID cards, about 6.5 percent of the city's population.



Despite Yusril's claim, however, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) said that Ahok would not face serious problems in the event he decided to go it alone.



Ahok, a former Gerindra Party politician, left the party in 2014.



Jakarta KPUD head Sumarno acknowledged that support for independent candidates must be expressed not only for governor hopefuls, but also for deputy governor candidates.



'However, the support for the deputy governor candidate can be collected later from those submitting the ID cards and forms,' Sumarno said.



He said the support for Ahok would remain valid if all residents who voluntarily submitted their ID cards did not object to whichever candidate Ahok chooses as his deputy.



However, Sumarno said, if the supporters rejected Ahok's choice of deputy, they could withdraw their support.



'They can just withdraw their ID cards and forms, or they can revoke their support during verification by the KPUD and their ID cards and forms that state their support for Ahok will automatically become inapplicable,' Sumarno said.



He said that the registration and verification by the KPUD for independent candidates would start in July, followed by an official announcement of candidates in October.



The campaigns of candidates will kick off in November, while the election is slated to take place on Feb. 15.



Both Ahok and Yusril are natives of Manggar, East Belitung regency, where Ahok served as regent in 2005 and 2006.



Yusril's older brother Yuslih Ihza Mahendra defeated Ahok's younger brother, incumbent regent Basuri Tjahaja Purnama, in last year's election.



Yusril, a professor of law and a notable lawyer, has an impressive legal track record. In 2010, he successfully challenged the Attorney General's Office (AGO). After being named a suspect in a graft case involving a government website, Yusril questioned Hendarman Supandji's legality as then attorney general. As a result, then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dismissed Hendarman after the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of Yusril, who had requested a judicial review of the law on the AGO, which failed to explain the term of office of an attorney general.

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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji, Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, and Ganug Nugroho (The Jakarta Post) Sigi, Mentawai, and Surakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

A series of festivities to welcome the total solar eclipse on March 9 have begun in a number of regions, ready to fascinate hundreds of foreign and local tourists visiting areas to experience that rare phenomenon directly.



In Central Sulawesi, four regencies, including Sigi, have prepared various festivals that also aim to promote the uniqueness of their art and cultural richness, such as a lesung (mortar) punching competition.



Governor Longki Djanggola said that around 3,000 foreign visitors would come to Central Sulawesi to closely observe the rare phenomenon, most of whom were scientists and solar eclipse hunters.



'So they are not regular tourists,' Longki said.



Daud Sango, a resident, said that the location where the festival in Sigi was held offered a complete tourism package. Rafting, viewing the captive maleo birds and enjoying hot springs are options available to tourists.



Apart from Total Solar Eclipse Festival in Sigi, the World Art Ritual Festival, held on Matantimali Mountain in the Marawola subdistrict from March 7 to 9, will also be held with participants coming from Makassar, Aceh, the United States, Canada and Australia.



In addition, a number of contemporary and traditional art events will be held in a foreigner village in Ngatabaru Village in Sigi. Foreigners who wish to participate in the village must pay US$300, while locals are charged with Rp 1.5 million.



Astronomers have predicted that Indonesia is the only country in the world from which the solar eclipse would be visible. Dozens of cities across 11 Indonesian provinces, including those in West Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Bangka-Belitung, East Kalimantan and North Maluku, have been identified as areas that will experience the short-lived yet breathtaking occurrence.



In West Sumatra, at least 30 foreign tourists arrived on Sunday on the Mentawai Islands to observe the solar eclipse.



The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that recently struck the island did not deter them, as all were enthusiastic about seeing it.



Swiss citizen Carlos Munoz said that he had intentionally planned to visit Mentawai to observe the eclipse, but would also be surfing.



'This is my third visit to the islands, but this one is special because this one coincides with the solar eclipse,' said Munoz, who also went to France in 1996 and Turkey in 2006 to watch total solar eclipses.



As the solar eclipse will fall on the same day as the Hindu Day of Silence, known locally as Nyepi, Parisada Hindu Dharma Bali head, I Gusti Ngurah Sudana, said that they would let Muslim residents in Bali hold an eclipse prayer.



'After a meeting with several relevant parties, we will give permission to anyone who wants to perform an eclipse prayer during Nyepi. They can go to the nearest mosque, but they're not allowed to use vehicles or loud speakers during the prayer,' he told kompas.com.



Meanwhile in Sukoharjo, the Modern Boarding School of Islam Assalaam will provide 2,300 pairs of glasses for those who want to observe the eclipse from the school's observatory.
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Users of prepaid cards issued by state-owned banks will be able to start using the products to pay fees at a number of toll-road gates by mid-March, as the lenders prepare to launch a newly integrated system.



Until now, only Bank Mandiri has been providing an electronic payment option for tolls to its prepaid card users under a long-term contract with state-owned toll-road operator Jasa Marga since 2009.



Last year, Mandiri and three other state-run lenders ' Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) ' signed an agreement to utilize the service together under a new integrated IT system able to read prepaid cards or electronic money (e-money) issued by any of the four banks.



With the deal, the four banks expect users of their prepaid cards to enjoy the same services.



BNI consumer banking director Anggoro Eko Cahyo said the four state banks were currently finalizing technical details for the new system, which is expected to be installed at around 280 toll gates in Jakarta and surrounding areas by June.



'The total target is 1,100 toll gates in [Greater Jakarta] this year, but we hope that we can complete most of the installation before June or the Idul Fitri Islamic holiday,' he said in Jakarta over the weekend.



The four state banks were also planning to expand the system outside Jakarta, such as toll gates in Surabaya (East Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Medan (North Sumatra), said Tambok P. Setyawati, BNI's senior executive vice president for digital banking.



With the new function for toll-road payments, Tambok said BNI expected the number of its prepaid cards, called BNI Tapcash, to jump to at least 1 million this year, from 300,000 issued last year.



She added that the bank expected the transaction volume for BNI Tapcash to reach Rp 100 billion (US$7.68 million) this year, from only Rp 15 billion in 2015, which was mainly payments for TransJakarta buses and Jakarta Commuter Line railways.



BRI executive vice president for e-banking Dicky Rozano said previously that the new integrated payment system for toll roads would help the bank increase the number of BRIZZI cards, its prepaid card product, by around 25 percent to 33 percent this year, from 4.2 million users last year.



Meanwhile, BTN retail funding and distribution director Sis Apik Wijayanto said that the bank, which launched its first prepaid card last year, was ready to use the new product in the toll-road e-payment system as it had a co-branding partnership with Mandiri and used the latter's IT platform.



The agreement signed last year, witnessed by State-Owned Enterprise Minister Rini Soemarno, was initially prompted by Bank Indonesia (BI) in a revised regulation on e-money, which bans 'exclusivity' in the public services sector, such as toll roads and parking, in a bid to promote fewer cash transactions and increase efficiency.



Regarding the integration, Mandiri senior executive vice president for transaction banking Rico Usthavia Frans said earlier that the bank remained optimistic on adding an additional 2 million prepaid cards this year, increasing by 30 percent from 6.6 million last year.

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Damascus  Mon, March 7, 2016

A rocket and mortar barrage struck a government-controlled neighborhood in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing 13 civilians and wounding 40, the government and an opposition group said.



State-run news agency SANA said the attack by "terrorists" occurred in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, which has been subjected to insurgent shelling for days despite a shaky U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire that took effect Feb. 27.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition group that monitors the conflict, said more than 70 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Sheikh Maqsoud and reported nine civilians killed, including four children, and 30 wounded.



The Observatory said the shells were fired by insurgents, including the al-Qaida branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. That group and its rival, the Islamic State group, are excluded from the cease-fire.



The cease-fire has brought a sharp drop in violence to much of Syria and has largely held despite sporadic violations and mutual accusations of breaches. The U.S. and Russia are now looking to convince the two sides to return to U.N.-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva next week.



In a telephone conversation Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave "an overall positive assessment of the progress toward securing the cease-fire in Syria, which is being generally observed and already has led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.



Although much less aid than anticipated has gone into besieged areas since the cease-fire started, the diplomats noted "significant improvement" in humanitarian access.



They stressed the need to avoid delaying the start of the Geneva negotiations. (ags)
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Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 7, 2016

Telecommunications company PT Telkomsel has decided to dip its toes into the internet of things field through the launch of the T-Bike mobile app, which enables users to monitor and control several functions of their motorcycles through their smartphones.



In order to make its presence more visible in the digital world, the company has begun to enter the digital service territory by offering a piece of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology in the form of a device that can be attached to a motorcycle, which can then be controlled by the T-Bike mobile app.



Currently, it is only able to be used on Honda brand motorcycles, but more brands including Yamaha could get involved as soon as April.



Telkomsel general manager of M2M product development Alfian Manulang explained that the idea for the app arose from the numerous cases of motorcycle theft and the frequency of motorcycle accidents in Indonesia. With the T-Bike app, he said, users were able to track the location of their vehicles at all times, as well as monitor and assess the road conditions when they are driving.



Another feature, Alfian explained, is the ability for businesses to monitor the state of their fleets and their operations. Telkomsel has partnered with a number of restaurant chains including McDonald's, Bakmi GM and Carl's Jr. to make their delivery motorcycles T-Bike-compatible to help them ensure greater control over their vehicles.



'The focus of the app from the beginning was to assist businesses that operate a fleet of motorcycles for their operations, mostly food delivery services, or even businesses that have only begun their operations. So through this app, we are aiming for a more intensified hold on our corporate market,' he said on Thursday.



Meanwhile, Telkomsel's vice president for M2M business, Jaka Susanta, added that the T-Bike application was one step for Telkomsel to inch into the online transportation business and emphasized that it was not above collaborating with similar companies that provide that service.



'Regarding collaborations, we just held talks with a company that provides online transportation services, but I can't disclose the results yet. But this app is very suitable to be used by companies that have large fleet numbers, especially if they are personally owned, because the motorcycle is a valuable business and personal asset to secure,' he elaborated.



Technically speaking, the T-Bike service is currently only able to be used within the Greater Jakarta area.



Jaka added that the company would continually update the features of the T-Bike device, with the hope that it would eventually be able to monitor such stats as fuel efficiency and navigation, as well as make it more convenient for biking communities and touring practices.



T-Bike is part of the company's efforts to perfect its T-Drive roadmap. T-Drive was previously an onboard GPS-powered device operating through Telkomsel's Driving Analytics system that is able to assess a four-wheeled vehicle's real-time engine data as well as analyze the driving conditions.



The roadmap serves as Telkomsel's primary instrument to secure the automotive market.

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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Mon, March 7, 2016

A total solar eclipse set to occur on Wednesday has helped promote tourism in Central Sulawesi. A number of areas in the province where the eclipse will be visible are holding festivals to attract tourists.



At least four regencies in Central Sulawesi are holding art and culture festivals to welcome foreign and domestic tourists visiting to observe the March 9 total solar eclipse.



A number of cultural events, such as traditional dance and music performances, as well as a traditional culinary exhibition, are being held in Banggai, Parigi Moutong, Poso and Sigi regencies.



'It is hoped that this event can become a great and historical moment to promote the uniqueness of Sigi to the world,' Sigi administration's head of culture and tourism, Dewi Cahyawati Abdullah, told thejakartapost.com on Monday.



Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said the total solar eclipse had become a free tourism promotion event for the province.



Longki said Sigi was one of seven regencies in Central Sulawesi where the total solar eclipse could be observed and that all parties should take advantage of the event to promote tourism in the province.



The governor further reminded that all Central Sulawesi residents should help welcome foreign guests and make them feel at home. 'We should show that we are friendly people. We should show the world that Sigi has incredible nature and is a beautiful place from where they can observe the total solar eclipse,' said Longki.



The governor said Vice President Jusuf Kalla was scheduled to observe the eclipse in Kotapulu village, Dolo district, Sigi regency, around 15 kilometers south of Palu, the province's capital.



'In the village, the Vice President will witness the eclipse with a telescope prepared by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG],' he said.



From Kotapulu, Kalla is scheduled to open the Gate Ball International Tournament and inaugurate a total solar eclipse monument at the Nusantara Pavilion in Palu.



The total solar eclipse can be seen in six provinces, namely Bangka Belitung, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, North Maluku and South Sumatra. The eclipse will be visible in several cities in the provinces, including Balikpapan, Bangka, Belitung, Halmahera, Luwuk, Palangkaraya, Palembang, Palu, Poso, Sampit, Ternate and Tidore. (afr/ebf)(+)
You might have noticed those fancy maps in certain locations throughout Chinatown. Now the city is bringing its Wayfinding signs to the Lower East Side. Heres the message we received from the Department of Transportation:

This summer New York City Department of Transportation will install pedestrian wayfinding signs on the Lower East Side! Pedestrian wayfinding signs have maps to help pedestrians with orientation and navigation. We would love your input on where to site the signs and what content we should include on the signs. Please join the WalkNYC Pedestrian Wayfinding Program on Thursday, March 31st from 6-8pm for a pedestrian wayfinding community open house at the Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street, New York City. The open house will have an open program so stop by at any time between 6 and 8pm. The venue is wheelchair accessible and Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese language interpreters will be provided. As you can imagine, an area like the Lower East Side, with so many visitors and such an unpredictable street grid could really benefit from pedestrian wayfinding signage. Residents and visitors like wayfinding in their neighborhoods because sometimes even longtime locals dont realize how close they are to neighborhood amenities such as transit, parks and waterways.

You can find out more about Walk NYC here.
Breaking free of the shackles of halls and moving into a house is one of the most important rites of passage for uni students.

No matter how exciting, though, the process is also likely to be a little bit stressful. No matter how exciting, though, the process is also likely to be a little bit stressful.

Like Friends, though, were here for you. Here are a few (20, in fact) things to bear in mind/make sure you do if youre renting a house for the first time...

1. Ask the question: flat or house?

What kind of property you need (or more likely, can afford) might be clear  if youre in Central London you can probably wave goodbye to dreaming about that cream column-fronted townhouse, for example.

If the issue of flat/house isnt quite as clear-cut, you might have a few more decisions to make. Start here: how much can I pay on rent? How many people will I be living with? Do the maths and see what kind of property your collected budget stretches to  this will be your starting point.

2. Investigate locations...

From there, youll need to investigate the locations that your budget will allow you to live comfortably in. If youre in a city, its a no-brainer that youll get more for your money the further out you live  so, would you (and your future housemates) rather live centrally in box rooms, or further from university but with more comfortable living conditions? Both have their pros and cons, so work out whats best for you.

The surrounding area is likely to determine your comfort over the course of the year too, so dont underestimate the importance of it.

3. ...and then prepare to compromise on them

You might not be able to live in your number one destination  sorry to break it to you. Look a couple of bus/tube stops further away, though, and its likely that youll find your options widened. Youll still be on the doorstep of your preferred location (hopefully) but you wont be bankrupting yourself to live there.

4. Know your budget

For everything, and work out how much of that you can afford to drop on rent. You might need to get the calculator out for this one.

5. Consider travel costs

A biggie. If travel is going to cost you a metaphorical limb, it might be worth living closer to lectures  even if that means your rent works out more expensive. Weigh up the likely costs for each scenario. Your calculator is getting some action today, isnt it?

6. Pick your housemates

Youve probably already done this, but before you start looking for somewhere to rent properly ask yourself some further questions: is everyone reliable? Is anyone likely to disappear on placement part way through the year?

The answers might not change your decisions, but its useful to be aware that you might need to replace a housemate part way through the tenancy before the removal van turns up to remove their possessions.

7. Use a reputable agent

Dodgy landlords are known to pray on students (especially in cities where rental properties are much sought after) so make sure you a) use a legitimate estate agent and b) do your research thoroughly before committing to anything.



For example, all agents that advertise through Rightmove have to adhere to industry standards, so you can trust they are reputable!



8. See multiple properties

Its easy to get carried away if the first property you see fits all your specifications, but remember that the next one you see might tick all the boxes too  including ones that youd never even thought of. Unexpected Jacuzzi bath? HELLO!

9. Ask about bills

Bigger houses = bigger bills. Ask the landlord/estate agent how much utilities are likely to cost in a month, take their answer with a pinch of salt, and if possible get the current tenants to confirm how much they pay.

Some properties will come with bills inclusive of rent, which can save you a lot of hassle  but check whats covered because you might end up paying extra for the privilege of not having to deal with npower yourself (note: its probably worth it.)

10. Stick to your guns

If a double room/proximity to a bus stop/a safe location is a deal-breaker for you, dont let your arm be twisted by either friends or landlords. Some things are important enough not to be up for discussion.

11. Make sure tenancy dates line up

Three months of double rent whilst tenancies overlap is not a situation you want to find yourself in.

12. Weigh up all the options

At this stage, assess where you are  have you seen an amazing property that makes you want to shell out more on rent? How important is having a shop just across the road? Do you really need a third bathroom? Specifications can easily change once youve investigated whats on offer.

13. Check any other expenses

Building maintenance costs? Out of control estate agent fees? Um, bye.

14. Question any oddities/broken fixtures

That window thats cracked and filled in with polyfiller? News flash: whatever the estate agent says, thats not getting sorted out before move in day - and once youve signed a contract you might be stuck with it for longer than you bargained for. Dont waste your time on houses that are falling apart.

15. Visit the area (again)

Have a wander around, find the local shops/pub/bus stop, do your commute into uni  see whether the area seems liveable, and get a feel for whether youd be happy living there for a full year.

16. Negotiate on room size vs. rent

The poor soul with the box room should not pay the same as their housemate with the balcony and ensuite. In no situation. Even if straws have been drawn. Not ever. Verbotten.

17. Check everyone is happy

Check your mate with the aforementioned box room isnt going to have a hissy fit over cupboard space and set up camp in a tent in the living room on moving in day.

18. Get a contract

Its amazing how many renters end up sub-letting/living unofficially in other peoples spare rooms. You have zero security in this situation, so avoid it.

Also, once youve got your contract  for the love of god read it before you send it back.

19. Get to know your future housemates

It can make life a whole lot easier, if you havent met/arent already good friends with your future housemates, to get to know them at least a little bit before you mutually sign on the dotted line. Dinner or a night out is all it really takes.

20. Move in!

You dont need us to advise you on the culmination of the previous 19 points. Its time to move into your first house as a non-fresher! Its going to be an experience and a half, so we hope youre ready for it. Good luck!

Visit the student pages on Rightmove here.
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Banyan Tree Phuket welcomes two new Executive Sous Chefs

Banyan Tree Phuket (BTP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Pittaya Suppanarm and Kreaton Cutajar as the propertys new Thai and Western Executive Sous Chefs, respectively



By The Phuket News

Monday 7 March 2016, 11:00AM

Mr Suppanarm joins the BTP team from his previous role as Executive Sous Chef at JW Marriott Khao Lak, having worked there for three years. Prior to that, he was also based at The Luang Say Residence in Luang Prabang, Laos for two years.

Chef Pittaya or Moung as his Thai nickname, comes with a tremendous amount of experience in Thai and Western cuisine. He completed his Bachelors Degree at one of the islands top universities - Rajabhat Phuket University. While at JW Marriott Khao Lak, he was also sent as part of an opening taskforce team for several Marriott locations including Koh Samui and Macau.

When asked about his favourite dish, Chef Moung stated that it is the authentic Kob Thod Samorn Prai or local frog dish fried with herbs. The next on his list of well-loved Thai delicacies is Gaeng Som Pla Kapong Nor Maiyellow-curry seabass with pickled bamboo shoot and his favourite Western dish is linguine vongole in sweet clams and white wine sauce.

Chef Moung will be leading the team at Saffron, (Contemporary Thai cuisine) and The Watercourt (Mediterranean Seafood) and assisting his Executive chef in other culinary matters.

Coming to Thailand from the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mr. Cutajar has had more than 17 years of culinary experience.

Originally from Malta, he spent five years working at the 5-star Sea Bank Hotel in his home country, before moving on to London to work for two Michelin-starred restaurants, including stints with celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Demetre.

After stints at the Wild Honey, The Savoy and Aitkens in London, Chef Kreaton acquired all the skills and techniques that a Western fine dining chef requires.

He then decided to leave Europe to take on a role as Chef de Cuisine at the award-winning, signature restaurant - 55&5th, The Grill at St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

When asked about his favorite cuisine, Chef Kreaton admitted to having a penchant for Italian food, saying that he loves anything that involves fresh ingredients, specifically freshly-made pasta.

Given the resorts long-standing reputation as a leader in premium hospitality and culinary excellence, Chef Kreaton is a perfect complement to the resorts food and beverage team.

He will be assisting and leading the team at the French Vietnamese restaurant Tre and all the other Western cuisine efforts.

Both Chef Moung and Chef Kreaton round out the best of East and West and will be a marvelous addition to Executive Chef Alfonsos culinary talent pool at Banyan Tree Phuket.
Police to act on resort crime

The rape and assault of French tourists on Koh Kut, Trat, late last month has prompted police to devise stricter measures against increasing crime on island resorts.

crimeviolencetourism

By Bangkok Post

Monday 7 March 2016, 09:14AM

Police have arrested the five Cambodians believed responsible for last months horrific assault and rape of four French tourists at Koh Kut, seen here re-enacting the crime, but now are concerned with taking steps to provide better security at such remote spots. (Post Today photo)

The case, in which two females were raped and two males injured by five members of a Cambodian fishing crew, is a major concern for police, following the Koh Tao tragedy in which two British tourists were murdered in 2014.

The latest incident prompted deputy national police chief Pol Gen Wut Liptapanlop to call a meeting with police in 18 tourist provinces to find better ways of preventing such crimes. They agreed on a move to provide additional information to foreigners, increasing police patrols and adding more warning signs.

Tourists must be alerted to the potential threats and possible dangers that can occur in tourist areas, Pol Gen Wut said.

An increase in the number of police alone cannot solve the problem, he said.

Pol Gen Wut said a warning sign posted near the resort might have helped, as it could have warned the tourists against walking to the quiet area, located one kilometre away, where they were attacked. He added the route taken by the victims is one rarely used by tourists.

Trat police chief Pol Maj Gen Nopparat Rintapon described the area, which is located behind the resort, as desolate and dark.

The victims walked into this area on Feb 27 on their way to dinner, when they came across their attackers, who are believed to have swum to Koh Kut from their fishing vessel which was anchored at Ao Phrao.

Investigators suspect the fishermen wanted to take a break on the island and buy some liquor.

According to the investigation, the victims tried in vain to escape from the attackers, who were armed with knives and sticks.

Two male tourists, Thomas Buriron, 30, and Edbri Ronain Rene, 29, were injured and the two women, one aged 57 and the other 28, were raped and seriously assaulted, according to the investigation.

One of the male victims managed to escape and asked resort staff for help, Pol Maj Gen Nopparat said.

The staff, together with villagers, quickly went to the area prompting the suspects, some without clothes, to flee, according to the investigation.

While the four victims were taken to Koh Kut hospital, police began their search for the attackers. Their operation led to the rapid arrest of the three suspects, who were hiding in a nearby forest, less than two hours after their alleged assault.

With the help of officers from the Royal Thai Marine Corps, the authorities arrested another two suspects on the same day, as they were about to escape to Cambodias south-western province of Koh Kong.

The five suspects are identified as Yim, 25, Pai, 22 , Goen, 25, and Tee and Boad Mar, both of whom are 20. All worked on the Chok Kamolwan fishing boat.

The investigation into the case has yet to wrap up. Besides adding warning signs, authorities will strictly enforce Section 38 of the Immigration Act, demanding hotel and apartment operators provide information on their guests to police for security purposes.

Information on foreign fishing crews is also needed to help increase safety measures, he said.

At present, fishing boats are not allowed to anchor near tourist areas, Tourist Police deputy chief Pol Col Rungrot Sayanprasoet said, citing a law that prohibits foreign fishermen from going ashore.

Properly enforcing these measures, together with police patrols, would provide enhanced protection for tourists.

Patrols also need to be strengthened while officers may require assistance from civilian lookouts.

Were always training both Thai and foreign volunteers, hoping they can help police look out for any irregularities,Pol Col Rungrot said.

Read original story here.
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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.
There was a subdued little ceremony in Kuwait on Saturday.

A parade its called, formally.

Nothing to cheer about here, though, no flag-waving and the like. Indeed, I suspect a flush of mortification creeping up the neck of Canadian service personnel who were present.

The Canadian Armed Forces officially marked the transition of this countrys Air Task Force-Iraq  Operation IMPACT  on the weekend, with Lieut.-Gen. Michael Hood, commander, presiding. Canadians can be proud of the members of the Operation IMPACT Fighter Detachment, who through their professionalism and dedication, assured that the fighter contribution to the mission was expertly delivered, Hood said, in a statement released out of Ottawa. Our personnel have delivered first-rate fighter operations on behalf of Canada in flying and leading complex missions, and by maintaining and supporting our fighters in action. As this mission completes its transition, I am confident that the men and women of Air Task Force Iraq will continue to expertly deliver air power to this operation, affording them the reach and agility it requires.

Reach and agility which will be required to retake Mosul, third-largest city in Iraq, a massive assault planned for later this year  and a tall military challenge for the Western coalition assisting Iraqi and Kurdish efforts in their pushback of sweeping Daesh (a/k/a ISIS, a/k/a Islamic State) gains over the last two years. The coalition and their allies on the ground reclaimed Ramadi in December, a demoralizing defeat for Daesh, which has lost some 40 per cent of territory it controlled in Iraq just a year ago. Planning strategies are well in the works for Mosul. It will doubtless be bloody; beyond that, nothing is certain, as Daesh will resist furiously  Mosul is one of three self-professed capitals of their declared Islamic Caliphate. Resistance strategy is already well underway, with a spike in suicide bombings around the capital and other major cities  scores killed Sunday in an attack at a Baghdad checkpoint, 70 killed in a bombing at a market in Sadr City last week  forcing national security forces to spread their limited resources even more thinly across Iraq.

Canadian fighter jets, the F-18s, will have no presence in the critical Mosul undertaking. Their combat sorties concluded Feb. 15, three days before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally announced the end of Canadas air-war participation  and two days after a major national poll revealed a majority of Canadians still supported the mission. But Trudeau cleaved to his campaign promise, what he presented as a recalibration of this countrys military commitment against the dark aspirations of Daesh; a new focus, said Trudeau, but which Id describe as an endeavour devoid of either focus or clarity.

For all his verbiage in Parliament, Trudeau still hasnt provided a coherent rationale for the departure of Canadas jets while, for example, the Dutch have recently sent a half-dozen F-16s to the region, as their airstrike contribution. In lieu of an explanation that has any justifiable traction, Trudeau offered sunny-sounding platitudes, vacuous blather along the lines of: Our new policy in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region reflects what Canada is all about.

What Canada is all about profoundly isnt this and only a failing grade student of military history would profess otherwise. Just as only an oratorical conjuror would simultaneously take the kinetic out of the air engagement  no jets, no bombing  replace it with a tripling of special forces on the ground (ahem, trainers), call that switcheroo a boost to meaningful support of local anti-ISIS combat troops, and then pretend that Canadians arent actually part of the ground fight when they clearly are exactly that, have taken fire and have fired back. Thats a whole lot of logical contortion to rationalize a sophomoric campaign vow viewed dimly even by Liberal party elders. And all of it to delete B-O-M-B-I-N-G (shhh) from the Canadian zeitgeist, despite the fact those airstrikes made possible whatever gains have been realized against Islamic militants in the ground space.

(A recent U.S.-brokered agreement between the Iraqi government and Kurdish leaders will allow for the staging of national troops at a Kurdish military base in Makhmour, about 110 km southeast of Mosul, in preparation for the anticipated assault.)

The CF-18s concentrated their strikes around Mosul, Sinjar and Ramadi  the latter two retaken but Mosul still the prize, not only for what it means to Iraq and the Kurds but equally for what it symbolizes to Daesh ambitions. Mosul, occupied by Daesh since a June 2014 shock offensive; a city of (once, not now) two and a half million residents; with the half-dozen oil fields which are extensively financing the militants operations and fighters salaries; where the giant Mosul Dam is on the brink of structural collapse, imperiling the lives of 1.5 million Iraqis who live along the Tigris downriver.

Canadas Hornets conducted 1,378 sorties between Oct. 30, 2014, and February 15 of this year, from the skies over Iraq and Syria, resulting in 251 airstrikes (246 in Iraq, 5 in Syria). They hit 267 ISIL fighting positions, 102 ISIL vehicles and other equipment, 30 IED factories and storage facilities. And they did it with no civilian casualties.

Two Canadian reconnaissance aircraft and an air-to-air refueler will be left in place. They apparently pass the Justin noncombat sniff-test.

The last of those Hornet strikes, Feb. 14: Two CF-18s, using precision guided munitions, successfully routed a Daesh fighting position in the Fallujah vicinity.

But well have no more of that, by golly. Canadian pilots have set their course for home.

Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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The migrant camp that squats five minutes away from central Calais near the trucks, trains and ferries headed across the Channel is a catastrophe. Its a disgrace for Britain and France, a misery for the inhabitants and a testament to the failure of the EU and many other countries to talk out a strategy for the migrant disaster they knew was coming.

In this short space, its difficult to summarize the horror of it. The camp grew from small shoots (the original Sangatte camp opened in 1999 and closed in 2001-2) into shantytowns said to hold more than 6,000 people overall. There were 39,000 attempts to cross the Channel illegally in 2014-15 alone, more than double the number prevented the previous year, and each year it gets worse.

But all agree that the Jungle, as it was initially called by its inhabitants, is an appalling place with constant rain, flooding, filthy unusable toilets, 200-person lineups for showers, constant fires, garbage everywhere and one meal a day. The lucky ones have tentlike shelters, some have nothing. Photographs, even of the Shakespeare playlets put on by hapless British volunteers, show the migrants are mostly young males. Women and children stay hidden.

So why are they there? There are refugees and migrants from many troubled nations like Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan. They want, like all of us, to survive, even prosper.

And here the true puzzle begins: why wont they claim asylum in France, which is relatively safe? They dream of Britain, unreasonably so.

Each night the migrants cut through fences and try to hide on transport trucks or board trains to get to Britain. Many are run over, drowned, electrocuted, or crushed to death. In Britain, they believe they can claim asylum, get benefits, work illegally or join their families. France is a tougher, less-welcoming country with an identity card system.

I am mystified by the stasis. Instead of Britain and France coming to a humane practical agreement, politicians are fighting political mini-wars to please easily triggered angry voters. PM David Camerons Conservatives detest migrants  he won election partly on this issue  and fear that letting a few in would draw millions more. But even if you win asylum in Britain, you cant bring in family from the Jungle until you reach a certain income. Its an impasse.

One struggles to understand the French strategy. Theyve offered heated shipping containers and free moves to other transit camps in France, quite reasonably asking for identification in exchange. But their policing is inept and security inadequate. Why?

The French blame visiting British anarchists for stirring up trouble, which they have. On Monday, gangs of masked migrants attacked trucks and drivers with metal bars and rocks as the French police were mysteriously elsewhere. One driver was badly injured in a terrifying nighttime attack caught on video.

Was this bad policing accidental or strategic? The Brexit notion  taking Britain out of the EU  has angered Europe, especially the French who have threatened an economic catastrophe along with letting migrants onto British soil to create a British Jungle. It would be unprincipled, but then everything about the Jungle is just that.

So French and British politicians use Calais to frighten voters and score points, the migrants persist in impossible dreams, children are born and more migrants are on the way.

The British and French need an intervention, but then they always have.

First, unaccompanied children need to be plucked from the camp and welcomed to either country. To abandon them would be unconscionable. The existence of the Jungle is inappropriate for a civilized nation; it must be razed and, like it or not, its people placed in Britain, France or elsewhere.

And after that, security in Calais has to be redesigned and rebuilt so that this never happens again.

The Jungle at Calais is the best case-study to date of political intransigence, petulance, parsimony and blindness. Britain and France may not want these people. But they are there, and they will stay there, as they would have in the nations they fled if Western nations had not, among other things, celebrated the Arab Spring that wasnt.

These people are the wreckage of the Wests pointless wars and cruel economic sanctions. Level the place and offer compassion and humanity. As for the weeping, hungry, ill children of the Jungle, I cant forgive anyone for that.

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With hindsight, the womens movement set the bar too low.

The trailblazing feminists of the 1960s and 70s changed the law, the labour force, the legislatures, the rules of the workplace and public attitudes. They won maternity leave, made it normal for women to seek political office, go to university and college and compete for managerial and executive jobs. They fought to get sexual equality entrenched in the constitution and enshrined in every human rights code in the land. They moved into the armed forces, police departments and skilled trades. They got shelters for abused women and rape crisis centres. They pushed child care to the top of the political agenda (although they have yet to achieve universal access to affordable preschool care.) They changed the way families operate. They gave the economy its biggest boost since the Second World War.

But there was one thing they didnt foresee: the importance of leavepaternity leave.

Without it women would always carry a disproportionate share of the child-care load. Mothers would always be expected to interrupt their careers, forgo their chances of promotion and somehow maintain a work-life balance.

It fell to the daughters and granddaughters of yesteryears bold feminists to move the agenda beyond single-gender solutions.

Today about half the worlds industrialized nations have paid leave for fathers. Their entitlements range from one day in Italy to one year in Japan. Nine advanced countries  including Canada  offer no paternity leave (although fathers can take advantage of parental leave here). A single nation  the United States  has neither maternity nor paternity leave.

In anticipation of International Womens Day (Mar. 8), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released an eye-opening report entitled Parental Leave: Where are the Fathers?

The Paris-based think-tank compared paternity benefits in all 34 of its member countries. It came to four principal conclusions.

Mens uptake of parental leave is low. What typically happens is that women use the additional entitlement to extend their maternity leave. But new mothers have to be careful, the OECD warns. Taking more than a year off will damage their future earnings prospects.

Fathers are more likely to take time off if a portion of parental leave is earmarked exclusively for them. A period of two to three months is ideal to set in place a more equitable sharing of family responsibilities.

Men who do take time off work to help care for their newborn children stay more involved in their lives as they grow up. The children do better physically, mentally and emotionally. Both parents report greater life satisfaction.

There are limits to what social policy can achieve. Gender norms, cultural traditions and wage gap between men and women can be such powerful deterrents that men wont use either paternity or parental leave. The countries which are most resistant to change are Japan, the U.S., Australia, France and Poland.

The OECD hopes the idea of paternal leave will gain legitimacy as more countries implement father-specific policies. This would ease objections from employers and traditionalists and foster more flexible work arrangements for parents.

That may well be true in Europe. It is much less probable in North America and Asia.

In Canada, only Quebec designates a portion of its parental leave (5 weeks) for new fathers.

In the rest of the country, new and adoptive mothers are entitled to a maximum of 17 weeks of paid maternity leave and either parent can take 35 weeks of parental leave.

The take-up rate by fathers is 80 per cent in Quebec compared to 20 per cent nationally.

But Ottawa shows no inclination to follow Quebecs lead. Perhaps the reason is that Conservatives, who governed the country until last November, were uninterested in social policy. Perhaps it is because young women believe the battle for equality has been won. Perhaps it is because Canadians outside Quebec tend to use the United States, not Europe, as their standard of comparison. By that measure, Canada looks enlightened.

If the OECDs report gets Canadians thinking about International Womens Day in a new way or gives the splintered feminist movement a new focus, March 8  which usually slips by with a few pro forma observances  might be worth celebrating this year.

Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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NEW YORK (Real Money) -- Jim Cramer shares his views every day on RealMoney.Click here for a real-time look at his insights and musings.

Apple's Revenue Streams Are Still Flowing

Posted at 2:09 p.m. EST on Friday, March 4, 2016

What happened to all of those Apple (AAPL) bears? Where are the people who urged you to trade out of it so you wouldn't be hurt by the next quarter? Where are the ones who were ferociously warning you about the gulf, the chasm, the Mariana Trench between here and the next iPhone iteration and how there was no other revenue coming in? Did they disappear? Go to work for Samsung? LG? (Apple is part of TheStreet's Action Alerts PLUSportfolio.)

Once again, I want to remind people that just because a stock sells at a price to earnings ratio of 9, that does not necessarily mean the earnings are about to fall off the cliff. It might mean people are just wrong about other income streams, like the burgeoning service stream that still does not appear in anyone's numbers or the increased number of retail outlets that are going to produce upside that no one is thinking about.

It is simply ridiculous that people don't understand Apple has an ecosystem and it is supported by many different income streams. It is inconceivable that people would write off the watch just because the first time out of the gate it wasn't that good. It is preposterous to think that a huge number of people won't want to gravitate to the iPhone 7, given that the CEOs of both T-Mobile (TMUS) and Verizon (VZ) -- the latter, Lowell McAdam, being close enough to the situation to know more than any of these channel-checking analysts.

To me, this might be the one "cyclical" that really hasn't had the run yet in a crowded trade where so much junk has been taken up.

Still worth a look, especially as you know the company just raised enough money to buy along with you.

At the time of publication, Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, was long AAPL.

People Have Forgotten Why They Sold Tech Stocks

Posted at 6:32 a.m. EST on Wednesday, March 2, 2016

High growth does trade together. It's a fact, and the trigger is usually one or two stocks back to back, surprising to the upside or downside.

If you go back to the first week of February, you will find one of the worst tech selloffs I can ever recall, the one-two punch of Tableau Software (DATA) and LinkedIn (LNKD) . If you remember, at the time both companies painted a picture of a softening economy, although Tableau pretty much told you that it would all be in stride -- talk about being too calm -- while LinkedIn did sound a real economic alarm.

Now, Tableau Software had a pretty dramatic deceleration of orders and we still can't figure, one month later, whether it was orders lost to others or if there is just some execution issues. But the idea that somehow the cloud has slowed for them is truly not the case, because it is an analytics company that happens to be involved with cloud-based companies, it is not a cloud company.

LinkedIn is a cloud-based company with analytics, worldwide, social, reach, and cognitive qualities all on a mobile device if you want it, with a huge and faithful following.

Those two knocked the stuffing out of every company in tech, whether it be FANG-Action Alerts PLUS holding Facebook (FB) , Growth Seeker name Amazon.com (AMZN) , Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet (GOOGL) -- or salefsorce.com (CRM) , Workday (WDAY) , Red Hat (RHT) and Adobe (ADBE) , four actual cloud-based companies.

This was a real humpty-dumpty situation, and there was no way that you could put all of these companies' stocks back together again without concrete proof that the cloud and cognitive data and mobile and social -- all of a piece -- weren't dead.

In fact, most of the tech followers I know took it to mean "we are going into a recession, and it's even affecting the fastest growing companies."

Now, fast forward to last week. Salesforce.com was slated to come in with a weaker quarter. Why? Because of Linked in and Tableau Software, that's why. The rumors persisted that there was something very wrong going on and that business just had to be weak. Again, total extrapolation.

Then, when the company reported, it was a monster. But, again, people figured, OK, Benioff got it right. Nevertheless, he had to be the outlier. There was no way anybody else could do those kinds of numbers.

Well, that proved to be wrong; Workday delivered fabulous numbers. Truly great. And that one-two punch ignited the group.

It's funny, I know that you would think what would Workday and Salesforce.com have to do with Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google or Adobe or Skyworks (SWKS) or Apple (AAPL) , for that matter.

The answer is that they are all treated as if they are the same by this market. All of these stocks were crushed by the LinkedIn-Tableau Software battering. Now they are all being lifted by Workday and salesforce.com, as people recognize that the slowing economy isn'ttaking down tech, it just took down LinkedIn and Tableau Software.

It's almost as if people have forgotten why they sold them to begin with. And why not? There was no reason to do so in the first place.

At the time of publication, Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, was long FB, GOOGL and AAPL.


NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Facebook (FB) shares are under pressure, down 2.09% to $106.12 on Monday, as German antitrust regulators will handle the probe into the social networking giant. The company will not likely face a separate investigation from EU officials, according to Reuters.

Last week, the Bundeskartellamt,Germany's Federal Cartel Office, said it has opened an investigation into the social network's terms of service.

Following the announcement of the probe, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, "They [German antitrust regulators] are well suited to do it. And since they both do it with the German and European perspective, then basically they do it in a way which is beneficial to all," hinting that Facebook probably will not have to deal a separate scrutiny from the EU.

Nonetheless, the German cartel office is working with the European Commission and other competition authorities to look into whether Facebook "abused its possibly dominant position in the market for social networks," and whether its conditions of use violate German data protection provisions.

(Facebook is held in Jim Cramer's charitable trust Action Alerts PLUS. See all of his holding with a free trial).

Separately, TheStreet Ratings currently has a "Buy" rating on the stock with a letter grade of A-.

This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate.

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' author.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: FB

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) are jumping by 12.4% to $2.90 on heavy trading volume Monday afternoon, after the company's experimental antiviral drug showed promising results in mice infected by the Zika virus in a preclinical study.

BioCryst tested two doses of the BX443 drug, a placebo and antiviral ribavirin, on survival in immune-deficient mice infected with the virus.

Seven out of eight mice that received the standard dose survived, while no mice that received the placebo or ribavirin were alive after 28 days, according to a company statement.

Zika, which is transmitted through mosquito bites, can cause fever, rash and joint pain and has been linked to severe birth defects.

"BCX4430 is a broad spectrum antiviral that is being tested in a Phase 1 clinical safety and pharmacology study in healthy subjects. BCX4430 has demonstrated survival benefits in nonclinical studies against a variety of serious pathogens, including Ebola, Marburg, and Yellow Fever viruses," the Durham, NC-based company said in a statement.

The results will be presented at a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting scheduled for March 7 through 9 in Geneva, Switzerland.

About 4.11 million of the company's shares changed hands by this afternoon compared to its average volume of 1.89 million shares per day.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a "Sell" rating with a score of D- on the stock.

This is driven by some concerns, which should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks covered.

The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, disappointing return on equity, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share.

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: BCRX

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BP (BP) shares are jumping 1.19% to $31.52 Monday afternoon as oil prices surged on renewed hopes that OPEC producers would come to an agreement about production levels.

Earlier today, the United Arab Emirates' energy minister Suhail bin Mohammedal-Mazrouei said that current oil prices are forcing exporters to halt output.

"It doesn't make any sense for anyone to increase the production with the current prices," he stated, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Last month, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed to freeze output at January levels to bost prices. Since then, oil prices have steadily gone up.

Additionally, futures were getting a lift on new data from intelligence firm Genscape earlier today, showing that stockpiles increased by 670,714 barrels to total 68.8 million during the week ended March 4.

These results are better than the report from the previous week, showing that supplies rose by more than 1 million barrels in the week ended February 26.

Crude oil (WTI) is higher 5.48% to $37.89 pre barrel and Brent crude is spiking 5.09% to $40.69 per barrel.

Based in London, BP operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide. It operates in three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Rosneft.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings currently has a "Hold" rating on the stock with a letter grade of C.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, growth in earnings per share and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and weak operating cash flow.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: BP

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Tents of refugees and migrants stand next to a refugee camp at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. At a summit in Brussels European Union leaders on Monday sought to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. Train tracks run from Greece, bottom into Macedonia, with the border fence running left to right. (AP Photo/Eldar Emric)
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A number of New Jersey police commanders visiting Israel dropped in to a Nahariya police station. The three police commanders explained they never put on tefilin in their lives and they never had a bar mitzvah. The decision was made to address the situation immediately and they put on tefilin and a bar mitzvah was organized for them.

The Nahariya station commander, Chief Superintendent Yossi Sharvit decided he can do something to correct the situation and he gave them his tefilin to put on in the stations shul. The officers described the ceremony as unique experience, adding it helped strengthen the connection between Israel Police, the Nahariya station and Jewish heritage.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

This years Government Funding for Educational Materials ends in two weeks. The NYSSL and NYSTL funding if not used does not roll over into the coming year. Its lost money lost funding and a lost opportunity to provide the students of our Day Schools, Yeshivas and Institutions of Higher Learning, with BOE FUNDED quality educational materials.

In many cases the materials funded are very costly and beyond the reach of the Institution. These funded items, schools want and need  students and faculty benefit from.

Principals and School Administrators realize the importance of this opportunity. In fact Torah Umesorah is sending out emails to ensure schools are aware of this funding and encourage them to take advantage before this years funding ends. To speak directly with your Yeshiva BOE Rep Call 845-364-7301

Make sure your school is not left out  you can help by clicking hereand sending the email with your Schools contact info to help speed the process.

Whats at stake There are over 100 Jewish educational software applications that were approved for funding by the BOE. They range from ArtScroll Alef Bais softwarewhich helps children master the Alef Bais, to applications which teach Kriahfor the Reading challenged.

There are programs that help students build their Hebrewand Gemaravocabulary. There are special applications for teaching Jewish History in fact, Rabbi Weins Jewish History Seriesis funded. Rabbi Weins History Lecture Archive costs around $1000 and the BOE funds it 100%.

I dont have to say this, but Rabbi Weins contribution to the understanding of Jewish History from a Torah perspective is legendary, and its an essential resource for teachers. Most Schools would like this in their School Library  now its 100% funded  but schools need to ask  and TESis here to help you.

Not to mention the many toolsthat help Teachers prepare class materials, handouts and tests. There is even an application that will automatically add Nikudto a document and even spell check in Yiddish. These tools save many hours of laborious typing There is also SmartBell every school needs this Security Management Tool. All these plus more are funded for the Schools that ask for it  but you have to do it before this years funding ends, which is March 23, 2016  dont wait for the last day.

This year is the first year Bar Ilan Universitys famous Judaic Librarywith their amazing Search Technology is approved for funding  as well as Otzar HaHochma Mega Librarywith 64,000 Seforim. Imagine having all that in your School Library  any Sefer your teachers or students need, theyll have.

Special Message to Parents: If you have a child that could benefit from any of these educational tools click here and tell me the age of the child and what Subject they need to master or enrich. Our School Software Counselors will get back to you and recommend the software most appropriate for your child.

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The chareidi community of Pisgat Zeev has been less than pleased with the recent opening of the Kashtan Deli, a treif store in the northern Jerusalem community. As such, the residents have decided to do whatever they can to get it to close, even if that means paying the owner to pack up and leave.

The chareidi community approached the owner, offering NIS 1,000 monthly to change the place to a kosher store. They also offered NIS 80,000 to close down the store. The last offer was rejected, prompting the offer of NIS 1,000 monthly to make the store kosher.

They also spoke of dividing the store with a separate entrance, with one side offering kosher products. The last offer however does not appear to enjoy the backing of the entire tzibur for they feel it is too confusing and may lead to some shoppers buying a product with the belief it is kosher when it is not.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Dr. Chaggai Ben-Artzi, Mrs. Sara Netanyahus brother, has openly criticized his brother-in-laws policies over recent years. This time, Dr. Ben-Artzi calls for annexing Yehuda and Shomron, calling on voters to abandon the Likud party if this step is not implemented. Ben-Artzi calls on Likud voters to shift to the Bayit Leumi party in the next elections if Likud continues on its present track.

Ben-Artzi calls for declaring all areas with a C categorization to be annexed into the State of Israel. In addition, he is calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to officially announce he is abandoning the so-called two-state solution, which calls for the establishment of the State of Palestine alongside Israel.

The Bayit Yehudi party has openly called for annexing areas C and it remains opposed to the two-state solution.

NOTE: Under the 1993 Oslo Agreements, there are three designations for areas in Yehuda and Shomron.

 Areas A are under total exclusive PA (Palestinian Authority) control but Israeli security forces maintain a right to enter if and when necessary.

 Areas B are under PA civil control but Israeli security control.

 Areas C are under exclusive Israel control.

The latter includes area where yishuvim and cities are present in Yehuda and Shomron including Maale Adumim, Ariel, Efrat and Gush Etzion yishuvim.

Ben-Artzi backs the plan that was presented by Bayit Yehudi leader Minister Naftali Bennett, to permit total PA full autonomous control over areas A and B while areas C, which are home to 50,000 Arabs, would become an integral portion of Israel as was done with the Golan Heights. Ben-Artzi made his remarks while visiting the Women in Greens 33-hour vigil near the Prime Ministers Residence.

Ben-Artzi calls on Bennet to become more active in promoting and advancing his plan and in light of Likud refusal, to begin developing a larger stronger nationalist camp.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
MK (Bayit Yehudi) Betzalel Smotrich, a member of Uri Ariels Tekuma faction, is calling for the annexation of Yehuda and Shomron. In an interview in the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, Israels largest daily, the right-wing MK states Israel should annex Yehuda and Shomron and pay the approximately 50,000 Arab residents of those areas to leave. Smotrichs plan is bolder than the vision of party leader Minister Naftali Bennett, who calls on annexing areas with a C designation under Oslo. Smotrich calls for annexing all areas, A, B and C.

NOTE: Under the 1993 Oslo Agreements, there are three designations for areas in Yehuda and Shomron.

 Areas A are under total exclusive PA (Palestinian Authority) control but Israeli security forces maintain a right to enter if and when necessary.

 Areas B are under PA civil control but Israeli security control.

 Areas C are under exclusive Israel control.

Opponents of his plan feel that for one thing it is unrealistic. In addition, they explain it would create a new unwanted demographic, with an Arab majority.

Smotrich suggest paying Arab residents $100,000 to leave, his solution to the demographic concerns of opponents to such a plan. However, a PA (Palestinian Authority) resident would not be compelled to leave. S/he would be permitted to remain as a permanent resident as Israel did following the June 1967 war for Arab residents of Jerusalem. A second option offered by Smotrich is permitting the Arab residents remaining to live under autonomous rule with the understanding the land remains under Israeli sovereignty.

Opponents insist such a plan would be attacked by the international community but Smotrich feels this is not the case. He feels his plan offers the best option since today and it is just and ethical. He also views the world as primarily religious and therefore it will understand.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Beginning Wednesday 29 Adar-I, the Ministry of Tourism will open the Israel exhibition stand at ITB in Berlin, the worlds largest travel trade show. Around 11,000 representatives from 180 countries are expected to participate in the 5-day show, and it will host around 180,000 visitors including representatives of the tourism industry worldwide, journalists, and others. Around 180 Israelis will travel to Berlin to participate in the show.

The Israeli exhibition stand is spread over 690 square meters, and representatives of the Israeli tourism industry will be in attendance, including hoteliers, travel agents, airline representatives, and tourism organizations. This year the Israel stand has been upgraded, and will present the world of Israeli tourism in an innovative, inviting fashion using state of the art technologies, visual means, and plenty of interaction  both on social networks and by offering various activities for visitors.

Every year, the Israeli stand is considered an attraction, and this year street theater actors will also join in, and there will be a photography booth and a caricaturist to provide personal souvenirs from Israel. Likewise, for the first time an Israeli drag queen will attend, in cooperation with Tel Aviv Global Administration, that will promote to the LGBT community in Germany the Gay Pride Parade that will take place in June in Tel Aviv RL.

Every year the Ministry of Tourism surprises with a unique attraction, and this year it will be humus beer that will be produced from chickpea flour especially for the show. The unique beer that links Israeli and German cultures, will be served at the professional tourism meeting to be held by the Israel Government Tourist Office during the conference. Invitees include 150 leading figures in the German tourism industry.

Germany is considered one of the worlds primary markets, with a highly developed culture of traveling abroad (over 80 million trips annually). Likewise, 40% of German tourists who visited Israel returned for another visit.

The ITB trade show is considered the most important show in the field, and representatives attend from all over the world. The show occupies a total exhibition area of 160,000 square meters. Germany is the fourth largest source country for incoming tourism to Israel, with a total of 198,000 tourists annually, and has a growth potential in light of the new opportunities for increasing the number of flights and reducing ticket prices as a result of the Open Skies agreement (there are currently around 75 direct flights weekly on the Israel-Germany route).

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in the seventh Democratic presidential debate on Sunday night in Flint, Michigan. The citys well-publicized water problems framed a largely (although not entirely) polite conversation  a marked contrast to the battle royales on the Republican side of late.



Winners

 Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State came ready to fight on Sunday night. She kept her hit on Sanderss opposition to the auto bailout well hidden in the run-up to the debate in order to get maximum impact when she dropped it on his head. Ditto her attack on him being the long Democrat to vote against the Export-Import bank. She is still not great when it comes to answering questions she doesnt want to answer. Her Ill-release-my-Wall-Street-speeches-when-everyone-else-does answer to a question on her high-paid speaking gigs was, still, not very good. And, she remains overly cautious as a candidate; when pressed whether people at the Environmental Protection Agency should lose their jobs over what happened in Flint, Clinton was unwilling to say they should  a swing and a miss at a hanging curveball. Still, overall, this was a very solid showing by Clinton. On guns, on failing schools and on Flint, she was confident and effective.

 President Barack Obama: It seemed as though no matter what Clinton was asked about in the debate, her answer wound back to a defense of the current occupant of the White House. Clinton even used Obama as a shield against Sanders as he bashed her on accepting money from Wall Street. Why? Because Clinton knows that among Democratic base voters  particularly African Americans  Obama remains hugely popular and, therefore, aligning yourself with him is a stone-cold winner.

 The Export-Import Bank: A 10-minute discussion about an obscure bank almost no one has ever heard of? I take that as a win for Ex-Im. Also, the Export-Import Bank is now the second most famous bank in the world  right behind the Iron Bank of Braavos.

 CNN: I will admit I very skeptical when the Cable News Network said this debate would start at 8 pm Eastern time. But, good on you CNN! At 7:56 pm the candidates were being introduced! And there wasnt even that weird commercial break two seconds into the debate! I also liked the format CNN chose for this debate; lots and lots of good audience questions with (generally) effective follow ups by the moderators. (The Don Lemon repetition of the Avenue Q question was, um, less good. Ditto the who do you pray for question.)



Losers

 Bernie Sanders: The Vermont Senator had effectively walked a fine line in the previous six debates when it came to attacking Clinton without coming across as either bullying or condescending. He tripped and fell while trying to execute that delicate dance on Sunday night. Sanderss excuse me, Im talking rebuttal to Clinton hinted at the fact that he was losing his temper with her. His can I finish please retort ensured that his tone and his approach to someone trying to become the first female presidential nominee in either party would be the story of the night.

Put aside the fact that Sanders misstepped on tone, he also did nothing to change the underlying dynamics of the race. If you think Wall Street is the problem for much of what ails the country, you were for Sanders before this debate and certainly for him after it too. But, as we know from the first 40 percent or so of states that have voted, there arent enough of those people to make him the nominee. Sanders didnt knock Clinton off her game in any meaningful way, making the debate a loss for him. (Sidebar: His answer about white people not knowing what it is like to live in a ghetto or be poor would have been a massive gaffe if he was not as far behind in the delegate chase as he is.)

 Foreign policy: There were a total of zero minutes dedicated to questions beyond Americas borders in the debate. I get that with the Flint setting this was going to be a largely domestic policy-focused affair. But, NO foreign policy questions? A little odd.

 The 1990s: Look, it was an awkward time for all of us. Much of the debates middle section featured Sanders trying to hit Clinton for various things  the crime bill, welfare reform, NAFTA  that happened in the 1990s. Clinton effectively parried them, pointing out that the 2016 election will be about the future, not the past.

The Washington Post  Chris Cillizza
The White House is considering nearly a half-dozen relatively new federal judges for President Obamas nomination to the Supreme Court, focusing on jurists with scant discernible ideology and limited judicial records as part of a strategy to surmount fierce Republican opposition.

As Obama prepares for what probably will be his last opportunity to try to shape the high court after the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the president faces an unprecedented hurdle, with the Senates GOP majority vowing to ignore any nominee he proposes.

Based on interviews with legal experts and others, including some who have spoken in recent days with Obama administration officials involved in the vetting process, the president is leaning towards a sitting federal judge to fill the vacancy  and probably one the Senate confirmed with bipartisan support during his tenure. . These insiders, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations, noted that the administration is winnowing its list of candidates  but could add more.

The candidates under consideration include two judges who joined the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2013, Sri Srinivasan and Patricia A. Millett; Jane L. Kelly, an Iowan appointed that year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit; Paul J. Watford, a judge since 2012 on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; and a lower-court judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed in 2013 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Each candidate would offer a distinctive attribute for a president with a penchant for fostering diversity. Srinivasan would be the high courts first Asian American and first Hindu. Kelly would be the first with a public defenders background. Watford or Jackson would add a second African American to the court. And as with Obamas last nominee in 2010, Justice Elena Kagan, Millett would increase the number of women on the nine-member court.

None has carved out a distinct identity in their views on the role of law or their positions on any divisive legal question facing the nation and the courts, according to an examination of the judges public statements and writings, their mentors and their career paths.

In the current climate of acrid partisanship, White House officials regard the opaqueness of their views as a selling point, say those familiar with the administrations thinking.

White House officials have declined to discuss details of the presidents decision-making, other than to say that Obama intends to make a timely nomination. A White House spokeswoman, Brandi Hoffine, added: The list is not closed at this point, and the president continues to review materials on various potential nominees.

Another name being vetted by the White House is one with a longer judicial record: Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. He is a moderate who has served on the court for nearly two decades and was considered by Obama for a previous Supreme Court vacancy.

According to one person knowledgeable about the vetting process, the White House initially thought about Attorney General Loretta Lynch  who would satisfy the eagerness of some civil rights groups for an African American female nominee  but she is no longer under consideration.

Some watchers of previous Supreme Court confirmation fights have speculated that the president might prefer to select a recognized liberal who could excite Democratic voters in an election year.

But those familiar with the thinking of White House officials said that Obama is disinclined to name an outspoken progressive as a probable sacrificial lamb. Instead, they said, the White House believes it may be able to apply the greatest pressure onresistant Republican senators by choosing a highly qualfied federal judge regarded as moderate and non-ideological.

Even one of the moderate candidates, administration officials think, could significantly shift the balance of the court after Scalia, the outspoken anchor of the courts conservative wing for three decades.

The White Houses preference for a nominee with few ideological fingerprints stands in contrasts with this years presidential candidates, Republican and Democratic alike.

The Republican front-runner, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, has said he would appoint justices with conservative positions, asking potential nominees about their view on abortion and selecting ones who support gun-ownership rights and allowing business owners who oppose contraception on religious grounds not to offer such coverage to their employees. The leading Democrat, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, has said that she would favor nominees who support abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gay rights, voting rights and overturning Citizens United, the courts 2010 campaign finance decision.

But among the judges Obama is considering, none was asked about any of those issues during their Senate confirmation hearings for lower courts. Nor is there any other public record of their views.

During their confirmations over the past few years, the judges under consideration for the high court carefully avoided disclosing views on the role of the law or on specific legal issues.

Such reticence was on display on an uncharacteristically hot April afternoon of 2013, when Srinivasan sat alone at the witness table in a resplendent paneled hearing room, facing Senate Judiciary Committee members weighing his nomination to the D.C. Circuit.

One of the first questions was predictable: Briefly describe your judicial philosophy. I do not have an overarching, grand, unified judicial philosophy that I would bring with me to the bench if I were lucky enough to be confirmed, Srinivasan replied. In a written follow-up, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a new senator and an old friend of Srinivasans dating back to their law clerk days, took another stab at the question, asking which Supreme Court justice of the past half-century had a philosophy most akin to his own. Although a seasoned Supreme Court practitioner, Srinivasan replied that he could not answer. I do not have sufficient familiarity with the body of decisions of any particular justice of the Warren, Burger or Rehnquist Courts, he wrote. Srinivasan went on to a Senate vote of 97-0 in favor of his confirmation.

Most of the judges being considered by the White House have been on the bench for two to four years  not much time to have amassed records of opinions. In comparison, of the seven current justices with previous judicial experience, their average tenure on the bench when they were nominated to the Supreme Court was 11 years.

Brief as the tenures may be of those the White House is vetting, their judicial work doubtless will be scrutinized by the White House and its allies and by the administrations opponents for clues to their leanings. The judges have written relatively few opinions that have attracted much public attention, but several have received notice.

Last year, in a case involving whether the D.C. Department of Corrections had violated the disability rights of a deaf inmate, Jackson excoriated the District and ordered damages to be paid to the inmate, writing that the city had shown a willful blindness to the inmates need for accommodation and had made a half-hearted attempt . . . far short of what the law requires.

In a free-speech case, Srinivasan wrote an opinion last year that protesters outside the Supreme Court building were not entitled to stand closer than the sidewalk. In 2014, Watford voted with the majority in a 9th Circuit ruling striking down an Arizona law that had automatically denied bail to people charged with crimes if they were in the United States illegally.

Indistinct ideology has become a norm at judicial confirmation hearings of the past three decades after the unsuccessful nomination by President Ronald Reagan of Robert Bork, who was open about his conservative views. Since then, people who are outspoken on any discernible point on the spectrum of ideologies are out of the question, said Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard professor of constitutional law who was a mentor to Obama as a law student. And, Tribe said, appeals court judges, some of whom may hold ambitions for a promotion to the high court, tend to be considerably more careful than in the past in their opinions. In addition to ideological records so faint as to be almost imperceptible, several of the possible nominees have worked in Democratic and Republican administrations and for judges appointed by president of both parties.

Srinivasan was a law clerk to two Republican-appointed judges: J. Harvey Wilkinson on the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit  along with Cruz, a presidential candidate  and former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day OConnor. Srinivasan was an attorney in the Solicitor Generals office under President George W. Bush and Obama.

Kelly clerked for two appellate judges  a Democratic and a Republican appointee. Millett, on the D.C. Circuit, worked in the Solicitor Generals office under President Bill Clinton and Bush. And Watford, on the 9th Circuit, clerked for a Reagan appointee to that court and then for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Conservative veterans of Supreme Court nomination fights reject the idea that Obama is preparing to nominate someone without ideology. What Obama is trying to do is find someone he knows will be a very reliable liberal voice on the court. But hes going to present them as if they were moderate, said Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal group, which has hired a research firm to help excavate the records of potential nominees. She cited a plea deal that Kelly secured as a public defender for a child predator.

Other nominees were as reticent as Srinivasan during their confirmations. As part of her 2013 confirmation to the 8th Circuit, Kelly was asked on a Senate questionnaire to supply copies of more than 30 talks, mostly on mundane legal topics she said she had given since 1996. It is my general practice to speak from rough handwritten notes, which normally are not saved in my files, she wrote.

Several months later, another Democratic senator asked Millett at her confirmation hearing how her religious faith would shape her conduct as a judge. Replying that my religious faith is the biggest part of who I am, and I am proud of that, Millett praised the Constitution as a very precious system of justice and said, I would never betray that incredibly precious system by injecting personal beliefs into decision-making.

Srinivasan has been perhaps the most difficult to discern. He has represented former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling and was part of the legal team that worked on behalf of former vice president Al Gore in the disputed 2000 presidential election. In his Senate confirmation questionnaire, he listed just two published writings in the previous two decades. At his hearing, he was asked about one of them  an article he co-wrote criticizing Indianas voter-ID law.

The article, he replied, was in our capacity as lawyers representing a client.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Amy Goldstein, Jerry Markon, Sari Horwitz
The United States and South Korea started huge military exercises Monday, kicking off drills that will include rehearsing surgical strikes on North Koreas main nuclear and missile facilities and sending in special forces to carry out decapitation raids on the North Korean leadership.

The exercises always elicit an angry response from Pyongyang but Mondays statement was particularly ferocious, accusing the United States and South Korea of planning a beheading operation aimed at removing Kim Jong Uns regime. The North Korean army and people will take military counteraction for preemptive attack so that they may deal merciless deadly blows at the enemies, the Norths powerful National Defense Commission said in a statement.

The drills come amid a particularly tense time, with the international community  and the United States and South Korea especially  trying to punish Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. The U.N. sanctions passed last week are the toughest yet, and South Korean president Park Geun-hye is expected to unveil further, unilateral sanctions against the North on Tuesday.

About 17,000 American forces and 300,000 South Korean personnel  a third more from both militaries than last springs exercises  will take part in 11 days of computer-simulated training and eight weeks of field exercises, which will involve ground, air, naval and Special Operations services.

The exercises will revolve around a wartime plan adopted by South Korea and the United States last year, called OPLAN 5015. The plan has not been made public but, according to numerous reports in the South Korean media, includes a contingency for surgical strikes against North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile facilities, as well as having special forces practice decapitation raids to take out the North Korean leadership. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that Kim Jong Un would be among them.

The joint forces will also run through their new 4D operational plan, which details the allies pre-emptive military operations to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend against North Koreas nuclear and missile arsenal, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The focus of the exercises will be on hitting North Koreas key facilities precisely, a military official told the wire service.

Christopher Bush, a spokesman for United States Forces Korea, declined to comment on the reports. Alliance operational plans are classified and we arent authorized to discuss them for operations security reasons, he said.

USFK said in a statement that it had informed the Norths Korean Peoples Army  through the United Nations Command, which controls the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas  about the exercise dates and the non-provocative nature of this training.

But North Korea did not see it this way.

We have a military operation plan of our style to liberate south Korea and strike the U.S. mainland ratified by our dignified supreme headquarters, the Norths National Defense Commission said its statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It said it already had deployed offensive means to strike South Korea and also U.S. imperialist aggressor forces bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. mainland.

If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment, the commission said.

North Korea is particularly sensitive to suggestions of attacks on Kim  as the case of the 2014 Hollywood film The Interview showed  and it also has a habit of making threats on which it cannot follow through.

Last week, Kim 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.

Mondays threats were absolutely not credible, said Daniel Pinkston, a former Korean linguist with the United States Air Force who now teaches at Troy Universitys campus in Seoul.

They would trigger everything North Korea wants to avoid, which is their absolute destruction in retaliatory attacks, Pinkston said. Second, if you are going to launch an attack against a much stronger adversary, why would you telegraph that? Youd want the element of surprise.

Much of North Koreas rhetoric is for domestic consumption, as Kim tries to burnish his leadership credentials ahead of a much-anticipated Workers Party congress in May, the first in 36 years.

Kim, however, has shown himself willing to use the means available to him to express his anger. Last year, during a period of tensions with South Korea, he ordered his military onto a war footing, sending army units to the DMZ and submarines out of port.

South Korea and the United States will increase monitoring of North Korea during the exercises.

We will carry out these exercises while keeping tabs on signs of North Korean provocations, a South Korean official told reporters. If the North provokes us during this exercise, the U.S. and our troops will retaliate with an attack ten-fold stronger.

About 28,500 American troops are still on the Korean peninsula, the result of the security alliance formed during the Korean War.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Anna Fifield
The word from Petach Tikvahs Schneider Childrens Hospital is a significant improvement in the condition of four-month-old Daniel Chaim ben Liron, who has been taken out of intensive care and no longer viewed as being in life-threatening danger.

The parents, Edan and Liron, last week called on the tzibur to be mispallel for their son last week, as he was in critical condition in an intensive care unit with intracranial bleeding. The injuries sustained by the infant were traced to the 53-year-old woman who cared for him. She reportedly shook Daniel violently, resulting in the serious injuries. Police have learned this is not her first incident, hence the request to keep her behind bars without bail.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who is counting on this months Midwestern primaries to catch up in the race for delegates, told reporters on Monday that he would not necessarily need to build a delegate lead to win the Republican presidential nomination at the convention.

In order to be the nominee, you have to have a certain number of votes, Kasich said. Not like, a plurality. Youve got to have a certain number. You know, its like anything else in life, theres certain rules. You take a driving test, you dont pass the driving test, you dont get your license. Its not like, well, thats good enough for government. Youve got to win. You dont just say, Well, I have more than anybody else, therefore Im in. 

Kasich, who later declined a chance to criticize Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was debating him in absentia. After a Friday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and in a Sunday interview with CBS News John Dickerson, Cruz derided the idea of a brokered convention and said any nominee had to beat Donald Trump and win an outright delegate majority  the votes of at least 1,237 delegates heading to Kasichs own Cleveland.

Cruz, whose hopes of an early delegate lead were undercut by Trumps surprising strength in the South, was 937 short of a majority. Kasich, who would need to win 1,200 of the remaining 1,585 delegates to hit that mark, would not say that he even needed a plurality of delegates to compete for the nomination. He would count on a fair process to produce a nominee.

The delegates will be smart, and theyll figure it out, Kasich said. I was at a convention where Ronald Reagan challenged Gerald Ford. Ford won and the party was unified. But, you know, to say  I have more than you, therefore I should get it? Go out and earn it! Dont be whining about how its going to work. Go get what you need to be the legitimate winner!

The subtext, which would change after Tuesdays votes in Michigan, Mississippi and Idaho, is that several candidates may arrive in Cleveland, and the winner of a plurality of delegates might be unacceptable to the party establishment. Were Kasich to start winning March 15, he might be able to argue that the voters in the first primaries made an error that voters in later states corrected.

Im starting at least to have my voice heard without having to be insulting to anyone else, Kasich said.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  David Weigel
Less than a week before a strike deadline for the nations second-busiest commuter railroad, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heading for vacation with his wife.

Christie, the 53-year-old Republican who ended his run for president last month, will be celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, he told reporters in Newark. New Jersey Transit and 11 of its rail unions, meanwhile, were gathering at a Newark hotel to negotiate a labor agreement five years after the most recent one expired.

The unions have set a deadline of 12:01 a.m. on March 13 to strike if an accord isnt reached. New Jersey Transits contingency plans, which rely on extra bus service, can accommodate just four in 10 commuters who typically take trains. About 65,000 people will have to make alternative arrangements, the agency said, and can anticipate back-ups of as much as 25 miles on major roadways including the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 78.

Im never truly on vacation, Christie said Monday after visiting a charter school. Im away and Im hoping to have a little bit of time to relax but as long as Im carrying a phone with me, Im governor of New Jersey, as Ive been saying now for the last year.

His wife, Mary Pat Christie, a bond trader who left her job at Angelo Gordon & Co. to be more available to him and the couples four children as he campaigned, has made a great deal of sacrifices over the course of the last year or two with my absences,  he said. He didnt disclose where they are vacationing or for how long.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg  Elise Young
The battle for the London Stock Exchange has heated up as Chicagos exchange becomes the latest to try to gatecrash the deal.

Last week, Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, confirmed that it might make a bid for the LSE, under the nose of Frankfurts Deutsche Boerse, and now Chicago Mercantile Exchange is reported to be considering a bid for Deutsche Boerse if NYSE is successful in its takeover attempt.

Plans by the American exchanges threaten to scupper the controversial 20billion merger talks between the LSE and Deutsche Boerse.
Amid the historic surrounds of the officers' mess at RAF Cranwell, a clutch of people in civilian dress mix easily with their counterparts in light blue uniforms.

Here, luminaries from the legendary legless Battle of Britain fighter pilot Douglas Bader to the incoming Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Stuart Peach, would once have sat down to eat.

Cranwell is at the very heart of the Royal Air Force's heritage; home of the service's officer training college as well as a raft of other units turning raw volunteers into the airmen and women needed on the front lines of today's conflict zones.

Contract: : Serco provides seven King Air aircraft to the RAF's 45 Squadron and is contracted to provide 4,500 hours a year of training time

The civilians are private sector workers, many employed by FTSE 250 outsourcing giant Serco, the largest contractor on site. They provide everything from engineering support to graphic design and photography skills and even aptitude testing for potential RAF recruits.

Serco has endured a series of high-profile problems from overcharging for monitoring criminals to mismanaging an out-of-hours medical call centre.

The group has recently offloaded an Indian business processing centre and now wants to refocus on what chief executive Rupert Soames has called its 'sweet spots'  largely this means work for the Ministry of Defence.

One such example is the company's work with the RAF's 45 Squadron, which trains all the pilots and aircrew who will go on to fly multi-engine aircraft from the venerable C-130 Hercules and more modern A400m military transporters to the RC-135W Rivet Joint gathering intelligence in the Middle East.

Soon Boeing's new P-8 Poseidon will be added to this list, having been chosen by the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) to plug the maritime patrol gap left by the scrapping of the Nimrod in 2010.

Plan: Serco wants to refocus on what ceo Rupert Soames has called its 'sweet spots'

The RAF received a big boost from SDSR with a raft of new aircraft ordered. But now it must find, recruit and train the necessary crews to man these aeroplanes in combat.

And it is not just pilots but systems operators, the people who load vehicles and equipment on to transport planes and those who will search for enemy submarines on the P-8.

W ING Commander David Catlow, commanding officer of 45 Squadron, explains that his unit has one of the most complex jobs in the RAF's training group because it runs so many different courses: 'We offer world class training here and what the front line wants from us. Although we are a training unit, we have a strong operational ethos.'

The course includes some 80 hours of flying training and 45 to 55 hours of simulator time. Serco provides the seven King Air aircraft the squadron operates and is contracted to provide 4,500 hours a year of training time.

That is split into more than 3,000 separate flights or four waves of five aircraft each day.

Providing the aircraft is achieved through Serco's engineering and maintenance support work. Each flying hour requires an average of 2.3 to 2.5 hours of preparatory work on the ground.

To do this, Serco must provide sufficient engineers and the right mix of people with the right licences to cover all the potential maintenance requirements on any given day.

Although primarily covered by military regulations, the group is also fully compliant with civilian rules too.

Catlow explains that with outsourcing to companies such as Serco  known as the Whole Force concept at the MoD  he views the relationship as one of 'older brother versus sibling  they are going to be around whatever happens so you'd better get used to it'.

Sky monster: Serco works with the RAF's 45 Squadron, which trains all the pilots and aircrew who will go on to fly multi-engine aircraft such as the huge A400m military transporter

He says the RAF personnel have made it work thanks to communication and understanding. The contracts are, after all, not written by the people who work at the coalface, he notes.

'We are at the point where we understand what the limitations are, and having a regular flow of information means we have delivered what we are doing. It is about planning but also accepting that there will be some friction.

'I am very comfortable with our relationship with Serco and they do not hide behind a contract. They are not limiting at all and can go beyond it if possible, such as the number of available aircraft.'

Serco's contract manager at Cranwell, Becky Talbot Young, says it works thanks to the maturity of the relationship.

'Serco is a key part of the situation and we attend key meetings,' she says. Talbot Young admits there are occasional complaints but these are dealt with sensibly. 'There is no blame culture. We are providing a key service. If one of those things breaks the station cannot function.'

Defence engineering is facing a raft of changes as all flying training shifts to a new Military Flying Training System (MFTS) contract  estimated to be worth about 9billion in total  which is being overseen by Ascent, a consortium between Babcock and Lockheed Martin.

As MFTS takes over, Serco's work with 45 Squadron will eventually cease, probably in 2018.
Talks: If a merger of O2 and Three goes ahead it would create Britains biggest mobile operator

Britain's biggest mobile firms held private talks with European competition watchdogs yesterday over the potential 10.3billion merger of Three and O2.

The deal, which would see Threes owner CK Hutchison take over Telefonicas O2, is currently being scrutinised by competition regulators at the European Commission in Brussels.

While O2 and Three were called to justify their case, representatives from rival firms were also able to attempt to thwart the deal.

It is thought that senior staff from Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, BT and Virgin Media all attended the meeting, along with Xavier Niel, the billionaire owner of French telecoms firm Iliad, who is said to be considering entering the UK market.

If a merger of O2 and Three goes ahead it would create Britains biggest mobile operator and see the number of networks cut from four down to three.
Iron ore saw a boost, with prices surging by a fifth to $63.74 per dry metric ton

Commodities staged a rally yesterday as oil rose above $40-a-barrel and iron ore saw the biggest gains on record.

Brent crude, which has been hit by months of global over-production, rose as high as $40.22 per barrel as output showed increasing signs of slowing down.

US production has fallen for the sixth week running, as shale producers cut back on drilling, while Russias oil minister Alexander Novak said his country would this month progress talks with Opec rivals on a production cut.

It follows an agreement that Russia made in February with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela to freeze production levels so long as other countries join them.

United Arab Emirates energy minister Suhail Al Mazrouei welcomed the moves towards stability yesterday and said: Its logical for everyone to freeze their production. It doesnt make sense for anyone to increase production at the current prices.

Iron ore also saw a boost, with prices surging by a fifth to $63.74 per dry metric ton after China said it would be stocking up for the summer construction season.

And so far this year other commodities have seen increases, with the price of copper rising by 6.9 per cent and aluminium up 5.3 per cent.

Yesterdays rally brought to an end a 20-month rout in oil prices, which fell to a 13-year low of near $27 per barrel. Iron ore was at its lowest price ever in December, falling to $39.40 per ton.

Molybdenum, which is used in some alloy steels, was the sharpest falling commodity for 2015, with prices dropping by 49 per cent.
BHS has held two crunch talks with hundreds of suppliers to reassure them of the future of the business.

The department store has warned that dozens of its shops could be shut unless landlords slash the rents, and last week it said it was cutting 150 staff from its head office and 220 from shops.

Major suppliers attended the meetings with senior management in Daventry, West Midlands, yesterday. It is thought they feared that bills would go unpaid.

The High Street stalwart  which employs 10,000 staff at 164 shops  was sold by billionaire Sir Philip Green for 1 last year to a group of little-known entrepreneurs called Retail Acquisitions.

Jobs threat: BHS was controversially sold by billionaire Sir Philip Green for 1 last year to a group of little known entrepreneurs

It has embarked on a high-risk stand-off with landlords, warning that 40 stores may close unless rents are cut substantially.

The move to drive down the rental bill is part of proposals outlined in a controversial form of insolvency known as a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) aimed at restructuring the business.

The crisis talks with suppliers will go some way to appeasing the fears of those that hold major contracts with the department store.

A spokesman for Retail Acquisitions said the talks were not a crisis meeting but more about updating and reassuring suppliers about the CVA and outlining the future strategy.

He said it is about resetting the business, refocusing and then rebuilding BHS.

Last year suppliers had vital credit insurance withheld or slashed amid worries about BHSs new plans.

Credit insurance is vital for a retailer as it provides suppliers with protection in case it runs into financial difficulties and cannot pay its bills.

Separately, Beales, Britains oldest department store chain, is also proposing a CVA.

The chain, which comprises 29 department stores, was taken private last year by property group Panther Securities controlled by Ukip backer Andrew Perloff.

It is the landlord of 12 Beales stores and has agreed to support the CVA proposals along with buying group Associated Independent Stores, Beales largest supplier.

Beales chairman Stuart Lyons said: Most of Beales stores are profitable. A minority of stores lose money because leases agreed some years ago are no longer sustainable due to changes in the economy and local conditions. These legacy rents have been dragging the group down.
Mark Carney was last night warned not to take sides in the debate over Britains future in the European Union.

The central bank governor will tomorrow be quizzed by MPs over the economic and financial costs and benefits of the UKs EU membership.

Downing Street will be hoping the Bank will come out in favour of staying in the Brussels club  or at least outline the risks of leaving. But economists and Eurosceptics warned that appearing to take sides in the politically charged campaign would be a mistake for the central bank.

Question time: Mark Carney will be quizzed by MPs over the economic and financial costs and benefits of the UKs EU membership

I dont think the Bank should get into this topic at all, said Tony Yates, professor of economics at the University of Birmingham who worked for the Bank of England for 20 years. They should stay well out of it.

Prof Yates warned that commenting on such a matter of political controversy could undermine the central banks independence. The Bank has agreed to publish its analysis of the Prime Ministers deal with Brussels and, crucially, the extent to which the City of London is protected from oppressive regulation from the eurozone.

Mr Carney and one of his deputies, Sir Jon Cunliffe, will be quizzed by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. Its chairman, Andrew Tyrie, said: The Government  as they appear to have done with the Scottish referendum  will probably be encouraging the governor and the Bank to go as far as they can. The Bank will want to limit itself to analysis that has a direct bearing on its mandate.

'Limit to analysis': Treasury Select Committee's chairman, Andrew Tyrie

The Bank landed itself in hot water in October last year when it published a report entitled EU Membership And The Bank Of England that was seen by many to favour continued membership. At the time, Mr Carney declared the UK was a leading beneficiary of the EU in comments that delighted Downing Street.

The Governor also said Britain must secure safeguards to protect non-euro countries from new rules designed to save the crisis-torn single currency bloc.

Chancellor George Osborne described it as a very impressive speech. But it sparked outrage among critics who accused the governor of meddling in the debate over Britains future in Europe.

At the time, Lord Lawson, a former chancellor and a prominent campaigner to leave the EU, described it as regrettable and added: I have known many governors over the years and I cant think of any who would wade in, in a political way, on an issue such as this.

Prof Yates yesterday said the October report was a big step too far and urged the Bank to be cautious in the coming weeks. Once you get closer and closer to a political event you should say less and less, he said.
MBHULENI  An epileptic man, who was also a patient at the National Psychiatric Hospital on Friday afternoon threw himself into a raging fire inside his house and died half an hour later.



The man, Mandla Lukhele (47) of Mbhuleni, Matsapha owned flats around the area and is believed to have had received rent from some tenants when he decided to return to his house, which had been already engulfed by a huge blaze.

He was a smoker and we suspect, he was smoking inside and the fire broke out. He woke up and ran outside, as residents allege.



However, after a few minutes, he ran straight back into the house and got burnt while inside there as the fire was intense. We also could not enter the house as we feared for our lives, however, we could see him inside fighting the flames, with a 20 litre bucket, which was stuck on his body. It was a sad sight, especially because there was nothing we could do to get him out of the strong blaze, the deceaseds sister, Tfobhi Lukhele said.



She added that residents, who had first seen smoke coming out of the house, tried putting out the blaze, however, it was late. When the police and Fire and Emergency Services personnel arrived at the Lukhele homestead, Mandla was already unconscious.

He was eventually taken out of his house, with the bucket, which was almost completely burnt on his body and placed underneath a tree situated next to his house. His whole upper body was completely burnt and we suspect the plastic bucket played a huge role. While ferrying him to hospital, he is alleged to have died along the way. However, as family members, we realized that he was already dead, way before he was even taken to the hospital, the deceaseds sister Tfobhi said. Mandla is said to have been certified dead upon arrival at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital Emergency Room (ER) by medical doctors.



He was epileptic and each time, he suffered from fits, I would hear him scream and I would always go to his house and assist him with his medication. He was a nice person and always woke up early, before the rest of the family and swept the whole yard. However this week, we could tell he was not himself, as he always woke up late. On the day of the incident, he woke up late again, we were informed by residents that there was smoke coming out of his house, however, no one could manage to save his life, Tfobhi said.



Some residents are said to have attempted to shout his name, ordering him to come out of the house, however it was too late and they were unable to get inside.

We all suspect that the first time he tried escaping the blaze, he realised when he was outside that his rental collections were inside the burning house and decided to return to the house, only to find that the blaze was stronger, the deceaseds sister said.

Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed the incident and said the police were still conducting investigations on what led to the blaze, which led to the death of a man (47), from Mbhuleni, Matsapha.



In a similar incident, a woman alleged to be having a fight with the father of her child, a police officer last Thursday set her lovers flat on fire. The house is situated near the Mafutseni Police and Filling Station and the woman was arrested by the police and charged with an offence of arson.
MBABANE  Four children around the ages of five and six fought with all their might to try and pull off a 73-year-old neighbour off their friend as he allegedly raped her in front of them.



The survivor is also five years old.

The man is alleged to have interrupted the children while they were playing by grabbing one of them to his house.

Out of curiosity, the others are said to have followed the man and his young capture.



When they found him allegedly sexually assaulting her they sprang into action in an effort to save their playmate.

Their effort, however, was in vain as the man is alleged to have continued to rape the minor.



The incident happened at Sidvokodvo and the old man is reported to be staying alone in his homestead which is situated next to where the children were playing.

The elderly man of Ekutsimuleni under Chief Maloyi has been arrested and charged with rape, which according to the Crown, is accompanied by aggravating circumstances.

He has since filed an application for bail at the High Court, which is however, being vigorously opposed by the Crown which is represented by Senior Crown, Counsel Ncamisile Masuku from the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The name of the accused will not be mentioned to protect the identity of the minor.



During his court appearance on Friday the accused told High Court Judge Mumcy Dlamini that he was desirous to be admitted to bail as he was a sickly person.

He told the court that he was desirous to be admitted to bail as he wanted to get his medication, which was in a form of siwasho (herbal concoction).

Nkhosi yenkantolo sengitakufa, sicelo sami kutsi ngikhululwe mane ngiyofela ekhaya. Ngiyagula futsi lena langihlala khona angikhoni nekulala. Ngidzinga nesiwasho sami ngiyafa, said the frail looking man much to the shock of those in court.

Judge Dlamini informed him that his bail was being opposed by the Crown and for his request for siwasho he must either write a letter to the commissioner general of His Majestys Correctional Services or get a lawyer to move an application before court on his behalf.
MBABANE  The local miner who allegedly grabbed his wife by the hair and banged her head against the wall until she died has been arrested in South Africa.



Thokozani Mngomezulu, who works for Anglo Ashanti Tautonia Mine at Carletonville, is alleged to have killed his wife Nokulunga Ndwandwe on December, 4, 2015.

After the incident, he is reported to have evaded arrested as he left for South Africa on the very same day after the incident



Mngomezulu, of Somntongo, was arrested while at his workplace by the South African Police after the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) applied for his provisional arrest.

His arrest comes after a joint effort by the members of the Royal Swaziland Police, Interpol and the office of the DPP.



The accused is currently kept at Carletonville Prison in South Africa, pending his extradition to Swaziland.

He is said to have killed the wife after an altercation that ensued after he accused her of infidelity, because she did not answer some of his phone calls which he made while at his workplace.

It is alleged that he suspected that the reason Ndwandwe was not answering the phone was because she was in the company of other men. On the fateful day, Mngomezulu is reported to have earlier on called his wife to tell her he was coming back home , so she was supposed to board a bus to Nhlangano because there was a lot of stuff to carry home.



The 26-year-old woman did as told and indeed met her husband in town, where they did some shopping, including furniture for their house, before they proceeded home.

However, things turned nasty when they arrived home as the man started to ask questions about numerous unanswered calls which he made while at his workplace.

The couple was already in their bedroom, just after 5 pm, when the man demanded an explanation from his wife.



When the man was not satisfied with the responses he got, he became furious and picked an argument.

He is said to have accused his wife of infidelity as he suspected that the only explanation for his wifes behaviour was that she would be in the company of other men during the times when he made the calls.

The man reportedly used his belt, fists and kicks to assault the woman before he dragged her by her hair, smashed her head against the wall several times until she fell unconscious, bleeding profusely from the nostrils.

After realising that the woman was no longer responsive, the man is reported to have left the house.
The Nigerian prophet (L) escorted by the Head of Lukhozi in the Hhohho Region Mbazo Dlamini and officer Ntokozo Zwane as he left the Mbabane Magistrates Court with his bodyguard right.

MBABANE  Peter Boluwade Okwanlawon, the Nigerian pastor who administers the Glory of Latterain Ministries has appeared in court charged with three counts among which was a fraud charge.



His church is situated in Matsapha. In the first count, Okwanlawon was charged with the offence of contravening Section 14 (2) of the Immigration Act of 1982 in that upon or about March 2, 2016, at or near Nkoyoyo, not being a Swazi citizen and holder of a valid documents or permit to remain in the country, entered and remained in the country.



Accused



In the second count Okwanlawon is accused of contravening Section 31 as read with Section 34 of the Births, Marriages and Deaths registration Act of 1983 in that that upon or about December 15, 2014 at or near Manzini, he did wrongfully, unlawfully and intentionally furnished the Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Office in Manzini with false information that he was a Swazi national of Shiselweni under Chief Lusendvo and Indvuna Kopela knowing very well that the information was false.

He was also charged with the offence of fraud in that upon or about December 2014, with intent to defraud the First National Bank misrepresented to the bank that he was Peter Boluwade Vilakati on application of a new bank account. It is said that the pastor supported his application with a fraudulent national identity card (ID) number 7611256100667 and thus obtained the account.



The Crown applied that Okwanlawon be remanded to police custody for further investigations by until tomorrow. Crown Counsel Chris Sibandze applied that his bail application be opposed in respect to the first count.

Sibandze submitted that police were still collecting certain information from some officials regarding the obtaining of the alleged forged documents by Okwanlawon.

However, Sabelo Bhembe, who represented Okwanlawon in the matter, said the application by the Crown was an abuse of the Okwanlawons fundamental rights.



Submitted



Bhembe submitted that the information that the police were still to get from the officials could be obtained without his client being remanded in the police custody.

Okwanlawon was arrested on March 2, 2016 and made his appearance on March 3, where he was taken back to the police station without appearing before any magistrate, said Bhembe.

He said his client had decided to remain silent, which is his fundamental right. Bhembe said the police could not question him if he decided to remain silent.



This is not justice. Okwanlawon is charged with contravening the Immigration Act in that he remained in the country without the valid documents, which is not correct. He is a Swazi and he has a Swazi Identity card and birth certificate which we submitted before this honourable court, Bhembe said.
By Rory Lancman

The right to a speedy trial is expressly embodied in the U.S. Constitution, with the Sixth Amendment stating the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial. But no one familiar with our criminal court, where misdemeanors and petty offenses are heard, can honestly think that this right is being honored today.

Of the 127,000 cases that continued past arraignment in 2014, resolution takes an average of 140 days, far longer than the maximum 90 days that New Yorks speedy trial rule requires. And it took an average 571 days for defendants who wanted to take their case all the way to a jury trialup 36 percent since 2011.

These delays cost taxpayers millions of dollars, as many defendants sit on Rikers unable to make bail. Prosecutors, defense counsel, defendants and victims are forced to make repeated needless and unproductive court appearances, further stretching the thin resources of judges and court personnel. The strain of a court case, and the hassle of appearing in court over and over again, tires everyone out, leading to distorted outcomes as memories of victims, witnesses and defendants fade away. Defendants and victims stop hoping for justice and instead surrender to the system, accepting closure over truth.

The problem is particularly acute in Queens.

I chair the City Councils committee on Courts & Legal Services, and we recently held a hearing on the speedy trial crisis in our criminal court. We heard testimony from district attorneys, the defense bar and the mayors office. One thing is clear: Queens is getting the short end of the stick. Queens has only one part-time trial part, while Manhattan has several. In July 2015, the Queens DA began keeping track of what they call the parts not available statisticessentially, when prosecutors and defense counsel are ready to go to trial, but there are no court parts available. Shockingly, 64 percent of the cases where both parties were ready for trial had to be adjourned because there were no trial parts available.

This is partially because of how we allocate judges. Although there are 107 mayorally appointed criminal court judges, there are only 73 judges actually sitting in criminal court. Manhattan, with only 16 percent more misdemeanor cases than Queens, has 61 percent more judges sitting in criminal court (21 vs. 13). As a consequence, Manhattan has several judges available to hear misdemeanor trials, while Queens has only one. Last year, Queens was able to process only nine misdemeanor trials! Even when there are judges, shortages of court officers and courtrooms sometimes means a case cant proceed, leading to even further delays.

At the Courts & Legal Services hearing, it was clear that more judges and court officers are an important first step, but that there are several other issues to work on as well.

Recent collaborations among the mayor, the City Council, the police department, the courts, prosecutors and legal services providers have paved the way for improvements to our summons court and bail system, and to improving speedy trial conditions for more serious crimes in Supreme Court. Our Criminal Court, especially in Queens, deserves the same attention and its same fair share of resources.

Councilman Rory I. Lancman chairs the Committee on Courts & Legal Services and represents the 24th Council District.
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By Madina Toure

A 25-year-old Fresh Meadows man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for fatally shooting a nurse and wounding her son as they sat in a car parked outside the Pomonok Houses during the July 4th weekend in 2011, the Queens district attorney said.

The man, identified as Malik Wallace, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Sept. 11, 2015 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak, who sentenced Wallace to a determinate term of 23  years in prison and five years post-release supervision last Friday, DA Richard Brown said.

Wallace was charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to a complaint filed by the DA.

In another example of the senseless gun violence plaguing our country, the defendant and another individual fired into the parked car of the victimskilling the woman and injuring the 18-year-old young man, he said. Todays sentence is more than warranted.

Christina Coleman, 39, and Hassan Gil, 18, were both shot at about 5:45 p.m. July 2, 2011 while they sat in her 2006 light blue Volkswagen in front of her home at 155-26 Jewel Ave. in the Pomonok Houses, police said.

Right after the shooting, Gil reported the crime to officers at Police Serve Area 9 a few buildings away at 155-09 Jewel Ave., officials said.

Coleman and Gil were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens, where Coleman was declared dead upon arrival from a gunshot to the head, police said.

Later that day, Gil, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, was listed in stable condition, police added. Robinson was previously sentenced to 22 years on his guilty plea to assault, Brown added.

The attack was described by police as payback for an earlier shooting that morning at 67-18 Parsons Blvd. that wounded two suspected drug dealers.

Authorities believed that it was a case of mistaken identity as sources told the New York Post at the time that the shooters were aiming for Colemans 22-year-old son, Mark, who also lived in Pomonok.
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By Kevin Zimmerman

Just like the words eye, jam and mug can each be either a noun or a verb, scroll is the latest member of the word club that straddles both categories.

Until quite recently, scroll simply described a roll of paper wrapped around a wooden handle, used as some of the earliest booksthink Dead Sea Scrolls.

Today, people of a certain youngish age are probably unaware that the word could mean anything other than how a computer user fiddles with a mouse to move down a web page.

In her current exhibition, Scrolling Confluence at the Mid-Manhattan Library through May 26, Jackson Heights artist Carla Lobmier looks at both sides of the wordliterally.

Lobmier has created two-sided, 13-feet tall, watercolor and graphite works on vellum paper to hang in each of the six windows facing Fifth Avenue and East 40th Street in the librarys Corner Room space.

It is double-sided so it can be engaging outside and inside, Lobmier said. This way [viewers] can experience art unexpectedly.

In the panels, each of which can be examined as a distinct piece, Lobmier has created a history of books and art through the evolution of scrolls.

Each painting represents a different place and time that helped move art and language forward.

Its a history of scrolls through art history, Lobmier said. Which is then a history of art making or the progression of the creation of art.

Lobmier starts with India, where scrolls made their first appearance.

She also has an affinity for Indian art, so she figured that was the best place to begin. Other panels examine specific places (such as Egypt or Japan) or times (like the medieval era or Renaissance) that played a part in the history of scrolls, running up to the present world of technology.

The Indian panels interior side is dominated by a large figure dressed in traditional garb and jewelry. The scene is populated with lotus flowers and other vegetation. Vibrant reds, blues and greens fill the entire panel.

A man in a small sailboat gently floats across a body of water at the larger figures feet. Boats and water play prominent roles in the panels, because it is through trade and exploration that ideas were spread among cultures in past times, Lobmier said.

On the panels reversefacing the sidewalkan even larger figure looms, sitting in the lotus position meditating. Written behind and below the figure is a series of ones and zerosbinary codewhich spell out a message.

This provides a way for Lobmier to make connections between the past and present with her art.

The vellum paper has an element of transparency to it, so viewers can see what is on the side that faces away from them  in reverse. And because ones and zeros look exactly the same in either direction, binary code was the way to go, Lobmier said.

Im not remotely interested in computers, Lobmier said. But I got to the end and wondered what was I going to do with this?

Lobmier has used writing in some of her previous works, but this time wanted to employ it as a way to connect past and present.

Ones and zeros provide a space-saving method to relate a short-hand messageakin to the medias current fixation on the sound bite.

It really is a brief history of text and image coming together, Arezoo Moseni, senior librarian of the art collection, said.

But Lobmiers project also utilizes sound.

Musician Michael Gatonska composed a series of soundscapes to accompany the exhibition.

For the Japan panel, Gatonska focuses on the dominant image of a waterfall.

His piece conjures up gently cascading water with an occasion flourish of percussion.

On the You Tube site that houses his music, Gatonska writes that soundscapes are about letting sound expand our awareness. It provides another layer for the viewer to contemplate.

It is not distracting, Lobmier said. You can focus on them or not. You can drop in or out, and decide do you want to hear it or not.

One distraction Lobmier could not ignore was a nagging concern about how the pieces would translate in the site-specific gallery space. She believed the images looked strong in her Jackson Heights studio, but worried about how things she could not control, such as the sun, clouds and streetlights would affect the paintings.

But for Moseni, those influences help push the exhibition to a higher plane.

Here the lighting is in constant flux, and at nighttime they [panels] look entirely different. Moseni said. This is such a loaded exhibition and can be looked at on multiple levels.

On Saturday, March 19, at 2:30 p.m., Carla Lobmier joins Rika Burnham, head of education at the Frick Collection, for a conversation on Lobmiers exhibition.

If You Go

Scrolling Confluence

When: Through May 26

Where: Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 Fifth Ave.

Cost: Free

Contact: (212) 340-0871

Website: www.nypl.org, www.carla lobmi er.com
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By Madina Toure

Starbucks held a preview opening for its new store in Jamaica Monday, the first of at least 15 stores that will open throughout the United States to hire and train youth in diverse and urban communities. The store will officially open Tuesday at 6 a.m.

The store at 89-02 Sutphin Blvd. includes an onsite classroom space available to local nonprofit organizations to provide job training and skills building programs for young people in the area.

It is part of the chains goal of hiring 10,000 opportunity youth, 16- to 24-year-old individuals who are not in school and not employed.

I was born and raised in Jamaica and I feel connected to this place, said Alisha Wrencher, the store manager, who has worked for Starbucks for 18 years. I know how much this store can do to create a brighter future for our opportunity youth and am honored that Starbucks chose me to lead this new store.

Borough President Katz, who has launched the Jamaica Now Action Plan to revitalize Jamaica, praised the selection of the borough as the beta site.

We understand that this is a prototype for the rest of the nation, but just to be clear: it started in Queens, Katz said, her words met with applause from the crowd.

Starbucks has partnered with the Queens Connects Queens Community House and YMCAs Y Roads Centers, which will be utilizing a dedicated training space within the store specially created by the Starbucks design studio.

The Jamaica store is the first in a nationwide initiative Starbucks announced last year to deepen investments in at least 15 similar U.S. communities by 2018 by opening stores with the goal of creating new jobs and engaging local women and minority-owned and vendors and suppliers.

The Jamaica store has 17 employees ranging in age from 16 to 36 who hail from Brooklyn, parts of Queens and Jamaica in the Caribbean. The next location will be in the West Florissant neighborhood of Ferguson, Mo.

One of the things that weve learned over the time is that we cant do it alone, said Rodney Hines, director of community investments for Starbucks retail operations.
October Fun Calendar: Plenty to do this month in Beaver County
SHARE Mr. and Mrs. McSpadden Mr. and Mrs. McSpadden

Mr. and Mrs. David McSpadden

50th anniversary

Mr. and Mrs. David McSpadden celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 5 by hosting a dinner at McBride's Steak House for their wedding attendants.

Mr. McSpadden and Jean Naylor, both natives of Quanah, were married March 5, 1966, in their hometown.

Mr. McSpadden retired in 2001 from the Railroad Commission of Texas. Mrs. McSpadden worked in banking for more than 39 years before her retirement in 2010.

The couple are members of the Church of Christ.
SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Two of the 40 bloodhounds in the Allred Search Dog Program at the training facility. The dogs are friendly and enthusiastically greet visitors. The dogs are trained to identify specific scents to track individuals across any type of terrain in any kind of weather. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS As handler Wade Crenshaw, straps on his harness, Search and Rescue dog Porkchop knows he is going to work. The Bloodhound uses his ultrasensitive nose to track the scents of missing people, fleeing felons or lost children. The Allred Search Dog Program also works with local and area law enforcement as a community resource. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Wade Crenshaw demonstrates how an item of clothing is placed in an airtight bag with a piece of gauze, transferring the person's scent onto the gauze so tracking team dogs can use the scent without the evidence being compromised. The Search Dog Program at J.V Allred Unit employs four officers and 40 hound breed dogs.

By Judith McGinnis of the Times Record News

Barking dogs are the sound of rescue and justice to the Allred Search Dog Program.

Outside the barbed wire of James V. Allred Unit are nearly 40 hard working hound breeds like Redbone, Bluetick, Walkers and Bloodhounds. Daily training with skilled handlers focuses their natural abilities to scent and search for felons, escapees, the missing or lost.

"We have four staffers assigned, a sergeant and three correctional officers," said Warden Richard Wathen. "The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has internal training for the kennel staff, learning how to work with and care for the dogs."

Previous dog training experience can be beneficial but Wathen says skills can be passed from "one generation to another."

Sgt. David Taylor heads up the Allred team.

"Scent dogs are individuals, they have different 'tells'," said Taylor. "When one dog picks up a scent he may point up his tail. Another may stick his tail between his legs. We're working with them every day. The work and training show us how they react."

"That bay and bark is designed to let handlers know what's going on," Wathen said. "At the end of a track they're trained to make lots of noise to say 'we got 'em'."

Taylor described the two groups of scent seeking hounds; pack dogs and SARS - Search and Rescue Dogs.

Scent pack dogs work in teams of 8 under the supervision of field officers on horseback and four kennel staff members. They spread out to cover ground looking for the source of the "hottest track."

Search and Rescue Dogs, (at Allred it's three Bloodhounds) are scent specific. They're looking for an individual whose scent they've been exposed to from clothing, a hair brush, something personal. Wathen and handlers go with them.

"These dogs aren't attack trained. They're trained to 'tree'," Wathen said. "This is a community service for local law enforcement, a resource for them. We assist when called."

Months can pass between calls, time spent training the pack to follow scent in the field, on different terrains, through water, in urban areas and buildings.

Each canine has a name. In addition to training, dogs like Uno, Sheba, Bella, Stormy and SARS dog Porkchop get love, play time and attention. Kennels are cleaned daily and the pack's health is monitored closely.

There are 47 TDCJ units that have kennels or a combination of kennels. Twenty-three house scent-specific canines, five have cadaver dogs and eight units house cellphone/narcotic canines.

Behavior and accuracy is important so close watch is kept in the process of breeding new generations of the search dog program.

"We begin evaluating pups at 18 months old and it can take a while. Some are better trackers, some combination night dogs. Some dogs may not mesh well with the pack so they may be moved to a new location," said Taylor. "In Childress (the T.L. Roach Unit) a brother and sister kept fighting and had to be separated."

The tech world is becoming part of the canine search.

"We're adding GPS tracking on the dogs. Some times they can get far enough away it's hard to keep up with them on horseback through brush and around fences," Taylor pointed out.

The Allred search dogs were recently called out to find a missing 13-year-old Iowa Park girl with autism.

Hours later, unable to find her scent, he team learned why. Prone to panic attacks the teen had been hiding in a shed near her house. When she heard the search dogs barking she ran home.
New York

Verizon will pay a $1.35 million fine over its "supercookie" that the government said followed phone customers on the Internet without their permission. Verizon will also have to get an explicit "yes" from customers for some kinds of tracking.

The supercookies landed their name because they were hard, or near-impossible, to block. Verizon uses them to deliver targeted ads to cellphone customers. The company wants to expand its advertising and media business and bought AOL for its digital ad technology in 2015.

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it found that Verizon began using the supercookies with consumers in December 2012, but didn't disclose the program until October 2014. Verizon updated its privacy policy to disclose the trackers in March 2015 and gave people an option then to opt out.

The FCC settlement says consumers now must opt in to letting Verizon share data with a third party. But for data-collection and sharing within Verizon itself, the company can choose to have customers either opt in or automatically do it and give consumers the option to stop it, a less stringent requirement.

The New York company has already changed some practices critics considered most invasive. In an emailed statement, the company said the FCC settlement recognizes it had made adjustments to its ad programs that give consumers more choices.

Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog that had been critical of the supercookies, said the settlement was an "unqualified win" for consumers.
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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.
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.
TOWN OF AMSTERDAM - A 59-year-old man died when fire tore through his home early Sunday morning, deputies said.

Piotr Dolvak died in the 1 a.m. fire that consumed his home at 185 Waite Road.

Montomery County deputies firefighters battled freezing temperatures and a lack of nearby water to extinquish the flames inside one-story home.

Deputies said Dolvak was employed by Taylor Made, a company that makes products for boats, in Gloversville.

The cause of death is not yet know, deputies said, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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Washington

Democrats were debating Sunday night in Flint, Michigan, highlighting differences on economic policy.

The Democratic candidates were facing off just two days before Michigan's primary in a city that was already in tough shape long before residents learned their drinking water was tainted with lead.

Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator, claims that only she has a "credible strategy" for raising wages. In recent days, she has laid out a plan for a "clawback" of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, using the money to encourage investment in the United States.

Sanders wrote in Sunday's Detroit Free Press that his rival had supported "disastrous trade deals" such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalized trade relations with China that have resulted in thousands of job losses that devastated cities such as Detroit and Flint.

Sanders won Democratic contests on Saturday in Kansas and Nebraska, but Clinton's overwhelming victory in Louisiana enabled her to add to her commanding lead in delegates to the party's national nominating convention.

Also, Republican leaders on Sunday grappled with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trump's march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz  the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not sometimes more.

The Texas senator split contests with Trump in Saturday's voting, bolstering his argument that only he can defeat the real estate mogul. Trump and Cruz are now significantly outpacing Marco Rubio in the delegate count, further shrinking the Florida senator's already narrow path to the nomination.

If Rubio's slide continues, he would be the latest establishment candidate to fall victim to an angry, frustrated electorate that cares little about endorsements from party leaders or newspaper editorial boards. Rubio has rolled out both at warp speed in recent weeks, but his appeal with Republican voters is not keeping pace.

Rubio did pick up a victory Sunday in Puerto Rico's primary, his second win of the 2016 cycle. Democrats, meanwhile, held caucuses Sunday in Maine. Sanders won that contest, beating rival Hillary Clinton for his eighth win of the 19 contests already held in the nomination process.
Politics in the U.S. are more divisive than theyve ever been. But when taking a look at Donald Trumps most famous supporters, you see a bona fide field day for diversity.

His celebrity enthusiasts dont care about his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric or that he was criticized for his response to support from white supremacists. Trump seems to be a uniter.
Albany

First envisioned as a temporary home for 250 displaced charter school students, the Albany City School District's new West Hill Middle School may not be so temporary after all.

The school board agreed Thursday to keep the Elk Street school open at least another year as it decides how best to accommodate a burgeoning middle school population. But some board members expressed concerns that leaving things as is, even for one more year, could result in jam-packed classrooms that jeopardize students already at risk of falling behind.

"Are we going to wind up with classrooms with 30 or 38 kids in them jammed up like sardines?" asked board member Rose Brandon. "This is my hesitation. I'm concerned about too many kids in these buildings and overcrowded classrooms, because then the academics go right down the tube."

To avoid overcrowding this fall, the district says it will cap enrollment at Hackett and Myers middle schools to 650 students and 725 students, respectively. The schools are already at or near capacity, and if the caps are reached, the district will then start redistributing students to other schools.

West Hill will remain open and a planned phase-out of grades 6-8 at North Albany Academy has been put on hold to accommodate the potential influx.

The plan was one of two short-term options offered up by the grade reconfiguration committee, which formed last year to study long-term possibilities for the district's elementary and middle schools. The other option would have had West Hill students relocate to 50 N. Lark St., a bigger space that houses the district's Alternative Learning Center. But that would have triggered up to three building relocations across the district and at least one of the spaces would have needed renovations.

Maintaining the status quo isn't ideal, board members said Thursday, but it creates the fewest disruptions for students while the district comes up with a long-term facilities solution.

"Having been a part of the grade configuration process from the beginning, I want to point out this is the best option we have," said board member Ellen Roach. "But using West Hill Middle School was always a stop-gap solution and not really the best possibility for our kids."

The grade configuration committee was originally charged with deciding which grades the district should offer at the elementary, middle and high school levels, with hopes of implementing a uniform, districtwide plan by fall 2016.

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But in November 2015, just days after voters first rejected plans for a new high school, the district learned it had a looming middle school crisis. New enrollment projections showed the district's already crowded middle schools would need to absorb another 153 students in the fall and about 425 new students over the next decade.

The district had just opened West Hill Middle School as a short-term fix for suddenly having to accommodate several hundred former charter school students who were displaced when Brighter Choice middle schools closed their doors. The district leased the old Brighter Choice space on Elk Street, which eased the transition for many, but the classrooms were about half the size recommended by state education officials and soon became crowded when enrollment neared 300.

The grade configuration committee is urging the district to open a new, permanent middle school somewhere on the city's north side as a long-term solution to its middle school woes.

The north side was once home to Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, but the district closed the junior high school in 2009 following years of dwindling enrollment and charter school growth, forcing families on that side of the city to travel long distances to get to the district's other middle schools. Board members recently expressed regret that the building was sold and converted into apartments, as it would now be an ideal space for a permanent middle school.

bbump@timesunion.com  518-454-5387  @bethanybump
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Troy

A $449,000 state grant will allow the city to improve historic Powers Park and return it closer to its roots as an ornamental park.

The 2.5-acre park covers a square block and is considered by many to be the heart of Lansingburgh, serving as a gathering spot for concerts and other events.

The grant will be used to develop a plan for the park's redesign and to make improvements during the next two years, said Deputy Mayor Monica Kurzejeski.

"You would see a park that has a little more structure to it. You would see aesthetic improvement. You would have the ability to have more programs in it," Kurzejeski said.

The only plans the city has on hand for the park were developed in 2004 through the Lansingburgh Village Study Master Plan and copies of the original late 19th century ornamental park plan created by renowned landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann.

Many of the Weidenmann design elements have disappeared over more than a century. The wrought iron fence is complete on three sides, with the portion along Third Avenue missing. Picnic tables and trash cans dot the park.

The park was conceived by Deborah Powers as a memorial to her husband, William. Her sons deeded it to what was then the village of Lansingburgh in May 1891 when she died as a memorial to both of their parents.

Michael P. Barrett, a member of the Lansingburgh Historical Society board and executive director of Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway, said Deborah Ball Powers was a remarkable woman.

In 1829, Powers took over the family business of oilcloth manufacture when her husband died in an industrial accident, Barrett said.

"This is 19 years before a woman had the right to own property in her own name in New York state," Barrett said.

The business boomed with Powers amassing a fortune. Her sons, Albert and Nathaniel, joined her in the endeavor expanding and at one time owning Lansingburgh's only bank.

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Since the 1891 donation, the park has been important to the city's Lansingburgh neighborhood.

"To a very large degree, it's been the quasi-city center," Barrett said.

Kurzejeski said the city will take advantage of the park's importance as it upgrades the stage at the park's north end along 111th Street, improves sidewalks around the perimeter on 111th and 110th streets and Second and Third avenues, enhances lighting, and plants new trees and bushes to recall the park's original ornamental design.

One goal is to link the park via 111th Street to city-owned land on the Hudson River at the street's western end.

The city has worked to connect its neighborhoods from South Troy to Lansingburgh to riverfront recreational opportunities, Kurzejeski said.

kcrowe@timesunion.com  518-454-5084  @KennethCrowe
The other day while on a supermarket checkout line, I overheard two people talking about the vacancy on the Supreme Court and generally complaining about gridlock in Washington. One blamed the Republicans. The other the Democrats. They soon agreed that both political parties are equally to blame.

They're both wrong. Putting the blame on both parties is exactly the story the extreme right-wing is peddling to the public. So who's responsible for the gridlock? The billionaires who buy our Republican politicians.

Let's consider the roots of the current gridlock. It begins with Obama's victory in the 2008 election. As Jane Mayer documents in her best-selling book "Dark Money," following the 2008 election, the Koch brothers organized a meeting of their right-wing billionaire friends to develop a political strategy to reverse what they viewed as a political apocalypse. Their primary goal was to fund anti-government candidates willing to obstruct the Obama administration's policies. Or, as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., now the Senate Majority leader, put it, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Our government is based on a system of checks and balances that only works when politicians compromise. The failure to compromise is usually a two-way street, but current Republicans act on the premise that compromise is surrender. A recent Economist-sponsored poll shows that a majority of Republicans hold this position, while Democrats overwhelming support compromise, so even those who pass as moderate Republicans nowadays must pander to the tea party base.

This fact is so well documented that two unlikely political bedfellows, David Brooks, a conservative Republican, and Paul Krugman, a liberal Democrat, both had op-ed pieces on the same day in The New York Times blasting the Republican Party for capitulating to far-right-wing extremists who refuse to compromise. The last time the United States government experienced this much gridlock, it resulted in the Civil War.

Following the Koch brothers' summit, Republican willingness to compromise basically disappeared. With the help of right-wing millions, in 2010 the tea party congress was elected. This small cadre, acting as a unified block, had a chokehold on the rest of the party.

Within months they almost put the United States into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. House Speaker John Boehner, driven by the new anti- government extremists stated " ...we will not compromise on our principles."

Ironically, Boehner eventually was driven out of his leadership position for his perceived willingness to compromise. In short, he wasn't pure enough for the tea party. Neither was his chosen successor, Kevin McCarthy, who withdrew his name from consideration when opposed by these extremists, who now called themselves the Freedom Caucus.

I could cite dozens of examples since 2008. The playbook is always the same: the Republicans say to Obama, "Here's what we want. Take it or leave it." When the president doesn't give them everything they demand, they scream that Obama is the one refusing to compromise.

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Now here we are with a Supreme Court vacancy. The Senate, which is constitutionally bound to "advise and consent," refuses to even consider an appointment until after the 2016 elections  elections for which the Koch brothers are projected to spend almost $900 million.

Nine hundred million dollars is a lot of money, and it's sure to buy a lot more gridlock.

Bill Scheuerman of Scotia is professor emeritus of the Department of Political Science at SUNY Oswego, and president emeritus of National Labor College.
The village of Shinrone, Birr will this Sunday, March 6, honour the leaders of the 1916 Rising with a day of remembrance starting at 2pm in St. Mary's Church with an Ecumenical service led by Fr. Frank Meehan PP.

After the short service the assembled will move to Dr Patrick J. Doyle memorial cross, where the Proclamation will be read, a wreath will be laid in remembrance of all who lost their lives in the Rising and the Tricolour will be raised to full mast.

The Pipe Major will then lead down to the nearby Community Centre where an exhibition of 1916 era memorabilia will be on display, with some items not seen in public before. The Heritage Group is grateful for the loan of such items for this historic event.

A Ferbane native, Patrick Doyle was a fervent nationalist joining the IRB while still a student studying medicine at UCD. He fought with distinction at Marrowbone Lane under the command of Cmdt Con Colbert. He was captured and imprisoned in Frongoch, Wales, and released at Christmas 1916, going on the run in Offaly. He qualified as a doctor in 1918 and retained an interest in public life, becoming a member of Seanad Eireann from 1938-49. He was appointed GP for Moneygall / Shinrone district in 1920 - a position he held for 44 years.

The memorial erected in his memory in Shinrone was unveiled in 1966 by Eamon Bulfin, Derrinlough, Birr, the man who hoisted the flag over the GPO at the start of the Rising.

Shinrone is steeped in history and people connected with military life, from Obama's ancestors to Edward Hand, one of Washington's Irish general's and a signatory on the American Declaration of Independence, all and many more were born within the district of Shinrone.

For more information see Shinrone Heritage Group on Facebook.
[March 07, 2016] Digital Insight is First Solutions Provider to Introduce Android Fingerprint Authentication for Mobile Banking

Digital Insight, an NCR company, today introduced Android (News - Alert) Fingerprint ID to its award-winning Mobile Banking App. The new feature allows mobile banking users to use their fingerprints to authenticate their identities to log in on Android devices. For community banks and credit unions, the fingerprint authentication functionality will help reduce the costs associated with password resets, lockouts and call center inquiries, while giving end users a secure, fast and easy way to access their accounts via their smartphones and tablets. Android Fingerprint ID is one of a variety of biometrics-driven authentication features delivered through the Digital Insight platform, including Apple (News - Alert) Touch ID and EyeVerify's EyePrint ID. Digital Insight expects to make Android Fingerprint ID available to all of its mobile banking clients in May 2016. Android Fingerprint ID allows bank customers and credit union members to log into their mobile banking application without entering traditional login credentials. This new feature gives end users the convenience to access their finances in a more simple and secure way, replacing manual entry of a username and password. Android Fingerprint ID will be available on any device that runs the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and has a physical fingerprint sensor that supports the Android Fingerprint API. "Biometrics offer a compelling feature for mobile banking applications, driving benefits for the end user as well as the financial institution," said Dan Weis, senior product manager for Mobile Banking, Digital Insight. "We believe that consumers will want varying types of biometrics based on factors such as personal preference, their finger dexterity, their device preference, and even how they are dressed. Our introduction of Android Fingerprint Scan furthers our commitment to biometric authentication and continued top-of-the-line performance of the Digital Insight mobile banking app." Digital Insight's mobile banking apps enjoy an average, blended app rating of 4.6 stars on the Apple App Store and Google (News - Alert) Play1 and, according to a recent report, eight of the top 10-rated banking apps are powered by Digital Insight. "At Cambridge Savings Bank we are constantly looking for ways to enhance our digital offerings and being the first bank through Digital Insight to launch Android Fingerprint ID for our mobile banking app is a great example of that," said Dan Mercurio, Head of Consumer Banking, Cambridge Savings Bank. "By staying at the forefront of advancements in technology, we're able to provide our customers with the convenient and secure banking experience that they have come to expect." About Digital Insight Digital Insight, an NCR company, helps banks and credit unions achieve their goals and grow by offering innovative online and mobile banking solutions that make it easier for consumers and businesses to manage their money. Our proven banking innovations give financial institutions the flexibility and control to engage more, increase retention and cross-sell effectively. 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 sites: digitalinsight.com, ncr.com

Get more banking insights at Banking.com

Twitter (News - Alert): @Digital_Insight

LinkedIn (News - Alert): www.linkedin.com/company/digital-insight Android and Google Play are a registered trademark of Google, Inc.

Apple, App Store and Touch ID are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

EyeVerify and Eyeprint ID are registered trademarks of EyeVerify, LLC.







_____________________ 1 4.63 app rating based on a blended average of 238,946 user ratings across 559 Digital Insight clients' Mobile Banking Apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play, August 2015.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160307005368/en/

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[March 07, 2016] Hospital Corporation of America Named an Ethisphere Institute World's Most Ethical Company for Seventh Consecutive Year

Hospital Corporation of America (NYSE: HCA), a leading healthcare provider with 168 hospitals and 116 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and the United Kingdom, has been recognized as a 2016 World's Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This is the seventh consecutive year HCA has been honored, underscoring its consistent commitment to ethical business standards and practices. "Being named one of Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies is in part a reflection of our comprehensive Ethics and Compliance Program for our 230,000 employees," said Alan Yuspeh, HCA's senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer. "It is also recognition of our culture of integrity, our commitment to provide excellent care for our patients and our desire to be a good citizen in the many communities we serve." This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ethisphere and the World's Most Ethical Companies designation which recognizes organizations that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company. "Companies rely on Ethisphere to continually raise and measure the standards of corporate behavior. Those that demonstrate leadership in areas like citizenship, integrity and transparency ceate more value for their investors, communities, customers and employees, thus solidifying a sustainable business advantage," explained Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Congratulations to everyone at HCA for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."



The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.

The full list of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/. All references to "Company" and "HCA" as used throughout this release refer to HCA Holdings, Inc. and its affiliates. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160307005217/en/

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[March 07, 2016] Huawei Summit Establishes Industry Alliance to Accelerate Digital Operation Transformation

BARCELONA, Spain, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 21, Huawei hosted the Digital Operation Transformation Summit, together with TM Forum, the global industry association for digital business; and Light Reading, a multichannel news and information provider. The event occurred at the Fira Center, Crowne Plaza Barcelona; the Summit focused on advancing digital businesses and driving future opportunities for operators and enterprises through an industry alliance that promotes open innovation and collaboration. The rapid development of the digital world has significantly changed user behaviour, creating a new pattern of traffic consumption featuring five characteristics: real-time, on-demand, all-online, DIY, and social (ROADS). To deliver the ROADS user experience, operators and enterprises not only need to construct future-oriented infrastructure that ensures efficient operation and agile innovation, but should also focus on the creation of an open industry ecosystem where all players along the digital value chain collaborate and contribute. "There is no doubt digital disruption is redefining customer expectations. For operators and enterprises to succeed in this digital world and retain their competitiveness, digital cannot simply be an afterthought, it needs to become the center of their operations that creates new ways of serving customers," said William Xu, Executive Director of the Board and Chief Strategy Marketing Officer of Huawei. "This digital transformation demands fresh thinking and diverse perspectives. This Summit provided a unique opportunity for operators and enterprises to engage in helpful discussions with wide-ranging experts on the challenges, strategies and best practice digital solutions to transform and innovate, driving rich digital experiences for users and ultimately a better-connected future." Peter Sany, President and CEO of TM Forum, said, "The pace of change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate and future opportunities for operators and enterprises will depend on understanding the true value of transforming their operations in the digital age. The event provided the inspiration and knowledge for key players to continue to transform and take advantage of digital technology and strategies to deliver engaging customer experiences." "Today's digital leaders need to focus on the most exciting and challenging issues of our time, and center their thinking and strategies on user-focused digital innovation while fostering open collaboration. That's why a strategic platform like the Digital Operations Transformation Summit is valuable to the entire industry" said Stephen Saunders, CEO and Founder of Light Reading.



The Summit brought together leaders from telecommunication operators, enterprises, international bodies and research firms, to inform and inspire on opportunities within the evolving digital landscape. With informative presentations and debates among industry leaders, participants explored today's most pressing digital challenges and growth opportunities in building a digital operation system and the enabling ecosystem. Speakers and panelists at the Summit included:

John Donovan , Chief Technology Officer, AT&T

, Chief Technology Officer, AT&T Michael Doncun, President, Consumer, Telefonica

Matt Beal , Director, Innovation & Architecture, Vodafone

, Director, Innovation & Architecture, Vodafone Henrik Osthed, Managing Director, Accenture

Crawford Del Prete , Executive Vice President, IDC

, Executive Vice President, IDC James McQuivey , Vice President, Forrester Research

, Vice President, Forrester Research Caroline Chappell , Principle Analyst, Heavy Reading

, Principle Analyst, Heavy Reading Barry O'Reilly , Founder & CEO, Antennae; Founder, ExecCamp Roundtable discussions also hosted representatives from Verizon, Orange, Swisscom, MTN Group, Bharti Airtel, Indosat, China Mobile, Accenture, Deloitte, Gartner, Ovum, Amdocs, IBM and Microsoft. These stakeholders shared insights, strategies and experiences in an open and constructive manner around the most critical issues in the digital operation transformation, and agreed to work towards forming an industry alliance to foster innovation and drive digital businesses in the future. Over 30 C-suite executives from top-tier telecom operators around the world attended the event. Also announced at the event were results from a survey conducted for the Digital Operation Transformation Summit by Heavy Reading and TM Forum. Nearly 75% of respondents said network virtualization will accelerate the design process for new services, while only 20% felt virtualization would make service design more complex. The respondents, representing nearly 50 different CSPs worldwide, also said that the most important impact of digital operations is to create the right digital experience for users  meaning online, on-demand, and real-time access to network services. Huawei's backbone solution for carriers' digital operation transformation is Telco OS, a future-oriented solution and operation system. It provides a fast response to customer needs through the orchestration of business-enabling functions, infrastructure-enabling functions and a big data engine. It is not only a platform and software/hardware products, but also a strong enabling system which covers the entire lifecycle of telco resource, service and operations management, and delivers ROADS-style services to end users and businesses. Huawei has successfully helped global carriers benefit from the Telco OS solution and implemented a number of transformation projects for customers, including China Mobile, Orange, Maxis and China Unicom. About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to build a better connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei's 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/huawei

http://www.twitter.com/Huawei

http://www.facebook.com/Huawei

http://www.google.com/+Huawei

http://www.youtube.com/Huawei To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huawei-summit-establishes-industry-alliance-to-accelerate-digital-operation-transformation-300230756.html SOURCE Huawei

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[March 07, 2016] Salesforce Unveils Salesforce Tower New York, Dramatically Expanding Regional Headquarters

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today announced plans to significantly expand its presence in New York City with a new regional headquarters in midtown Manhattan at 3 Bryant Park, which will be known as Salesforce Tower New York. Salesforce, named one of Fortune's Best Places to Work for the past eight years, also plans to tap into the region's diverse talent pool and double its workforce in New York City, adding hundreds of new jobs. Salesforce will begin moving into Salesforce Tower New York by the end of 2016. Plans for the building include a new, state-of the-art lobby showcasing the latest technology innovations and a world-class executive briefing center where guests can experience interactive, hands-on demonstrations of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Salesforce is committed to supporting the New York region through its 1-1-1 integrated corporate philanthropy model, in which Salesforce's product, resources and employee time are dedicated to the communities where employees live and work. Employees in New York will volunteer more than 37,000 hours by the end of the year, supporting local schools, veterans and women in technology



Comments on the News "We are thrilled to be expanding our presence and deepening our commitment to New York City , home to some of the most dynamic, iconic companies in the world," said Keith Block , vice chairman, president and COO, Salesforce. "Salesforce Tower New York will provide our customers, our partners and our growing workforce with a world-class environment for innovation, collaboration and customer success."

, home to some of the most dynamic, iconic companies in the world," said , vice chairman, president and COO, Salesforce. "Salesforce Tower New York will provide our customers, our partners and our growing workforce with a world-class environment for innovation, collaboration and customer success." "As our thriving tech ecosystem continues to grow and develop, we're proud that Salesforce has chosen to invest in New York City , where they will bring hundreds of jobs and a commitment to supporting our community," said Mayor Bill de Blasio . Salesforce: Fastest-Growing Top 10 Software Company

Salesforce is the 6th largest enterprise software company and the fastest growing top 10 software company in the world today. Companies of every size and industry rely on the Salesforce Customer Success Platform to help them connect with their customers in a whole new way.

Over the last 17 years, Salesforce has expanded and redefined CRM, bringing social, mobile, data science and IoT technologies to its trusted cloud platform, enabling companies to grow sales faster, deliver customer service everywhere, create 1-to-1 customer journeys, engage with customers in interactive communities, deliver analytics for every business user and build modern mobile apps fast. Additional Information We're hiring! Visit www.salesforce.com/careers for a list of openings. #100BestCos

Follow @Salesforce on Twitter

Like Salesforce.com on Facebook: http://facebook.com/salesforce About Salesforce

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: http://www.salesforce.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/341179

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130612/SF30598LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salesforce-unveils-salesforce-tower-new-york-dramatically-expanding-regional-headquarters-300231892.html SOURCE Salesforce

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[March 07, 2016] StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. Announces Completion of Acquisition by Meiji Yasuda

StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. ("StanCorp") (NYSE: SFG) today announced the completion of the acquisition of StanCorp by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company, ("Meiji Yasuda") in accordance with the terms of the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger dated July 23, 2015, among StanCorp, Meiji Yasuda and MYL Investments (Delaware) Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meiji Yasuda. As a result of the merger, each outstanding share of common stock of StanCorp was converted into the right to receive $115.00 per share in cash, and StanCorp has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meiji Yasuda. StanCorp common stock has ceased trading and will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. For more information regarding payment of the merger consideration, visit StanCorp's investor relations website at www.stancorpfinancial.com. About StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries marketed as The Standard - Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services,StanCorp Mortgage Investors, StanCorp Investment Advisers, StanCorp Real Estate and StanCorp Equities - is a leading provider of financial products and services. StanCorp's subsidiaries offer group and individual disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, group dental and group vision insurance, absence management services, retirement plans products and services, individual annuities, and origination and servicing of fixed-rate commercial mortgage loans. For more information about StanCorp, visit its investor relations website at www.stancorpfinancial.com.



About Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company is headquartered in Tokyo, and is the oldest and third largest life insurance company in Japan. It provides a variety of group and individual life insurance products, bancassurance, and group annuity products in Japan. It also has insurance operations in the U.S., Poland, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. Additional information about Meiji Yasuda can be found at http://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/english/.

Disclosure Information in this news release includes certain statements related to future events. These statements are "forward-looking" statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results in future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. See StanCorp's 2015 Form10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a description of the types of risks and uncertainties that may affect actual results. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160307006492/en/

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[March 07, 2016] What should medical researchers study next? You can help decide

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If you wish scientists would figure out a solution for a medical problem you face, or find answers for a loved one who struggles with a health condition, here's your chance. The University of Michigan wants your ideas for what its medical researchers should study. You can also lend your voice to ideas suggested by other members of the public, and help them gain steam. And once a U-M researcher agrees to take up the idea and run with it, you can help make the research happen by donating online or volunteering to take part. U-M will even kick in funds for the hottest ideas. This week, U-M launched WellSpringboard.org as a crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platform for medical research at the U-M Health System. They're especially seeking ideas for studying how medical care affects patients now, and how to improve care. Every penny raised will go to U-M research. Ready  for YOUR ideas The site welcomes any idea, but is starting with a special focus on five areas: children's heart disease, children's cancer, sleep problems, diabetes in adults, and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's and colitis. "We know that the general public, and especially patients and their families, can be a great source of inspiration and support for our researchers," says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., MAPP, the U-M physician and health researcher who leads the team that helped WellSpringboard get off the ground. "This platform provides a new, exciting way to make that happen." Davis worked with a team at the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research, and the U-M Medical School, to develop the platform. The WellSpringboard idea received national awards from the federal Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in its concept stage. Now, with support from MICHR, WellSpringboard is fully developed and ready to go. Already, several patients have contributed videos and short statements calling for research on topcs they care about. On the website, people can vote for ideas they think should be a focus of research.



U-M researchers often get their study ideas from what they see when treating patients, since many are also doctors at the U-M Health System or work with doctors, Davis notes. But getting ideas  and donations of all sizes -- from patients, families and the general public may mean even greater insights into what patients really want researchers to solve. How WellSpringboard works  in 9 easy steps:

Ideas Wanted: Anyone can submit an idea to WellSpringboard, and post a brief video about why the research is needed and why people should vote for or donate to it. A video taken by a smartphone is fine. Support Ideas: Once it's up on the site's "Idea Well," each idea can gather votes from the public. Each idea that reaches a target number of votes will be eligible for extra research funding from U-M. Find a Research Connection: The WellSpringboard team will seek out U-M researchers who study topics related to submitted ideas, and ask if they'd be willing to study the topic. Researchers Step Up: Then, interested researchers can post their own video to go with the one from the public, to explain what they would do if they could get funding. These "matched" ideas and research projects will go on the crowdfunding part of WellSpringboard, and start attracting donations toward a fundraising goal. Crowdfunding: Anyone can donate to a matched idea and project, in any amount, via a secure online form. The site also makes it easy to spread the word through social networks about the chance to support exciting ideas. On the Clock: Each matched idea will have just 30 days to reach its fundraising goal. Bonus support will flow to an idea that reaches certain targets for public donations. Donations are tax-deductible and there are no fees or cuts for administrative costs. Achieving the Goal: If an idea matched with a project reaches its donation goal in time, then the U-M researcher will receive the money raised in order to carry out the project. Keeping the Public Informed: Researchers will post updates on the site about how the work is going. All Support Makes a Difference: Even if an idea doesn't get enough traction to meet its research funding goal, the dollars won't go to waste. Those donations will be used by WellSpringboard to help support other ideas suggested by the public, in the same disease categories. All WellSpringboard donations will be used for research, period. "We hope that the innovative combination of crowdsourcing research ideas, and crowdfunding the ones that researchers agree to study, will prove successful and be a model for other academic medical centers and research institutes," Davis says. He is a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and a member of the U-M School of Public Health, Ford School of Public Policy and Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Visit www.wellspringboard.org to submit an idea, vote for one, or donate. Check the site, or follow @WellSpringboard on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wellspringboard, to learn about projects seeking votes or donations. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/what-should-medical-researchers-study-next-you-can-help-decide-300231604.html SOURCE University of Michigan Health System

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[March 07, 2016] Spire Announces Global Launch of TalentSHIP 2.0 - Contextual Talent Search and Intelligence Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- - TalentSHIP 2.0 Integrates Internet, Internal and External Talent Pools, and Provides a Single Window for Intelligent Talent Analytics Enabling Insightful Decisions - Spire TalentSHIP has Been Globally Acclaimed as 'Best Technology for HR Analytics' due to its Game Changing Capability of 95% Accuracy in Analyzing Unstructured HR Big Data Contextual search and intelligence company, Spire Technologies has launched TalentSHIP 2.0, the advanced version of its enterprise talent product. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/10141632 ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160216/790763-a) The first version, which was launched in December 2013, has been successfully used by several large global enterprises and is acclaimed by the existing customers for its ability to provide instant insights for talent decisions and increase revenue per employee. It was also globally recognized as the 'Best Technology in HR Analytics' recently. TalentSHIP 2.0 is a complete modular suite of 5 talent transformation products, which complement all existing HR automation systems. It is cloud-hosted, infinitely scalable and easily accessible as an app on tablets, mobile phones, laptops and any new generation devices. Based on proprietary Spire Context Intelligence Platform (SCIP), TalentSHIP 2.0 is arguably the only such platform wherein talent data from 3 different sources - namely world wide web, internal and external talent data - can be viewed, compared and used to make decisions in a single window. Existing HR technologies deal with only oneof these sources at any given point.



Existing HR technologies are successful workflow automations but they offer minimal operational excellence analytics. This need gap is addressed by Spire TalentSHIP 2.0, which can be utilized across the entire human capital supply chain - namely talent social/CRM, talent acquisition, talent deployment and talent management. Saurabh Jain, Founder & CEO, Spire Technologies, said, "People are at the center of any business and their abilities are connected with business decisions, outcomes and goals. We recognize this fact and present TalentSHIP 2.0, which transforms business and people outcomes with contextual intelligence technology. It complements all existing HR systems and people who manage these systems. This collaboration is changing the understanding of just how much more global enterprises can achieve in the HR domain with real-time operational analytics."

TalentSHIP 2.0 - What's new? 1) Social engagement and recruiting - external talent SCM: Contextual search technology to locate, attract and engage candidates in a social ecosystem. It enables organizations to build, own and manage their own talent social ecosystem . 2) Internal talent SCM: Real-time scenario building and optimization of human capital deployment for maximizing revenues. Complements HCM products with contextual analytics for quantified organizational design . 3) Talent Planning: Visually analyzable talent dashboards for strategic and astounding profitable decisions enable chief executives to visualize and predict people-based decision outcomes all at a single click. Major benefits 1) Direct impact on profitability: Customers using TalentSHIP 2.0 have seen direct impact on their revenues and profits by linking talent compute to business outcomes. 2) Enables HR to be a strategic partner for board-level decisions: Shortest time to insights enabling smarter and faster talent decisions to position HR professionals as fact-based strategic partners for board level decisions. 3) Makes existing HR systems intelligent: TalentSHIP 2.0 makes any/all existing HR systems contextually intelligent. It can seamlessly integrate with them. 4) Agility and scalability: The core platform is extremely agile and highly scalable. It self-learns the ever changing context of organizations. TalentSHIP 2.0's critical success factors 1) Unstructured HR data comprehension: The Spire platform deciphers HR unstructured data and gives 'context' to data, quantifies and analyzes it. Thus reading HR data the way humans do. 2) Contextual data analysis of HR data: Spire uses proprietary context clouds for contextual analysis giving 95% accuracy in contextual search and 80% accuracy in demand-supply mapping. Thus, the Spire platform understands and interprets HR data like domain experts.

About Spire Technologies: Spire is a technology company that generates contextual meaning out of ANY content whether unstructured or structured. Spire's contextual search and intelligence platform is a proprietary technology that gives unprecedented data analytics, speed and accuracy with proven impact on business outcomes. This is because it has two unique capabilities. 1) Unstructured data comprehension 2) Contextual data analysis The Spire Contextual Intelligence Platform (SCIP) has proven results with 95% accuracy in contextual search and 80% accuracy in demand-supply mapping. Visit http://www.spiretechnologies.com. SOURCE Spire Technologies

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[March 07, 2016] Clarity adds support for Facebook Messenger in the Clarity Connect contact center, which is native to Skype for Business

CHICAGO, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarity, developer of Clarity Connect and a Microsoft partner with leading expertise in delivering Skype for Business contact center solutions, announced it has developed a new integration that enables businesses to seamlessly manage customer communications from Facebook Messenger via the Clarity Connect contact center, which is native to Skype for Business. "Businesses can now add Messenger as a new channel to connect with their customers and have confidence those messages are being intelligently routed, queued, and managed with one integrated agent experience for better customer care," said Jon Rauschenberger, CTO of Clarity. In developing the new integration, Clarity leveraged the Skype Developer Platform and Facebook's LiveChat SDK. The integration is cloud-based and allows Messenger to communicate with the Clarity Connect contact center. Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), a global leader specialized in managing business travel, meetings, and events, originally requested the feature in Clarity Connect and is currently testing it. "We're always looking for opportunities to leverage new technology and better serve our customers," said Mike Papamichael, interim CIO for CWT. "We already have a highly successful mobile app, CWT To Go, and we wanted to explore further innovation through additional channels. Messenger is increasingly becoming a preferred method of communication, an we're excited the integration will give our customers another way to quickly and conveniently contact us."



"We are pleased to see Clarity continue to leverage Skype for Business and the Skype Developer Platform to deliver innovative multi-channel solutions for our mutual customers," said Andy Bybee, Principal Program Manager for Skype at Microsoft. "When combined with the native ability of Skype for Business to connect with over 300 million active Skype users, the integration of additional social channels into Clarity Connect is a win/win for businesses and their customers." About Clarity

Clarity delivers premier products and solutions that leverage Lync and Skype for Business as a communication platform, which allows companies to significantly reduce costs and complexities within their IT environments. Clarity Connect is a robust contact center solution built exclusively and natively for Skype for Business. About CWT CWT is a global leader specialized in managing business travel and meetings and events. CWT serves companies, government institutions and non-governmental organizations of all sizes in more than 150 countries and territories. By combining both the expertise of its people and leading-edge technology, CWT helps clients derive the greatest value from their travel program in terms of savings, service, security and sustainability. The company is also committed to providing best-in-class service and assistance to travelers. In 2015, sales volume for wholly owned operations and joint ventures totaled US$24.2 billion. As part of its commitment to responsible business, CWT is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact Ten Principles. For more information about CWT, please visit our global website at www.carlsonwagonlit.com. Follow us on Twitter @CarlsonWagonlit. Contact

Craig Reishus

[email protected] | 312.863.3415

http://connect.claritycon.com/

http://connect.claritycon.com/hello/ To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clarity-adds-support-for-facebook-messenger-in-the-clarity-connect-contact-center-which-is-native-to-skype-for-business-300231445.html SOURCE Clarity

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[March 07, 2016] GENBAND and Polycom Successfully Complete Joint Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) Testing

ORLANDO, Fla., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GENBAND, a leading provider of real time communications solutions, today announced that its combined GENBAND Application Server solution and the Polycom VVX voice and video portfolio has successfully completed testing and is awaiting final certification by the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC). The combined solution, Local Session Controller, has completed testing for deployment in the United States Department of Defense (DoD) communications network. The GENBAND-Polycom solution provides military-grade resiliency with open SIP-based session control that can easily meet the needs of the largest deployments. The open SIP-based technology eliminates proprietary endpoints and applications, enabling choice for SIP or ASSIP endpoints that best meet an organization's unique needs. "The DoD has an immediate need to upgrade Nortel SL-100, CS 2100 and AS 5300 phone systems that are deployed on bases around the world today," said John McCready, GENBAND's Executive Vice President, Products and Corporate Development. "GENBAND solutions offer the carrier-class reliability required for installations that often support tens of thousands of users. We are pleased to team with Polycom to provide the DoD with an open solution that significantly reduces costs today and assures they won't be locked in later." Verbal communication is the cornerstone of connectivity for any organization, whether used to transact the everyday business of government or for critical collaboration events. These communication experiences must be seamless and allow end users to focus on the task at hand, without being distracted by the tools they are using. The Department of Defense further extends these fundamental needs by demanding reliable voice solutions with no down time. The Polycom VVX series business media phones deliver industry-leading reliability that meets the stringent requirements established for mission critical voice communications. Additionally, VVX phones offer the industry's best audio experience resulting from advancements such as Polycom HD Voice, next geneation echo cancellation and award winning Polycom Acoustic Fence background noise cancelling technology.



"Joint Interoperability Test Command certification, once achieved, is a significant milestone for Polycom and for our longstanding relationship with GENBAND," said Sean Berg, Vice President, Public Sector, Polycom. "Public sector organizations are in need of a standards-based replacement for legacy phone systems and dated communications infrastructure. We're offering a migration to a best-in-class voice and video desktop portfolio that delivers some of the most advanced and robust Unified Communications (UC) technology on the market." GENBAND's Application Server has the scale to enable agencies and departments to create their own secure private clouds, supporting one or thousands of sites with up to two million users. Most competing solutions require both regional deployments to overcome scale limitations and proprietary endpoints to deliver market-appropriate feature functionality. GENBAND is engaged in additional JITC testing for capabilities including WebRTC-based collaboration.

The Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) is the United States Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Certifier and only non-service level operational test center for Information Technology (IT) and National Security Systems (NSS). For more information on how GENBAND and Polycom are enabling organizations to use unified communications to be more collaborative, please visit www.polycom.com/solutions/solutions-by-business-uc-environment/solutions-for-genband.html. Key Takeaways: GENBAND's Application Server solution has teamed with Polycom's VVX voice and video portfolio to complete JITC testing (official certification is pending).

The newly combined solution provides carrier-grade session control capability that offers open IP-based technology, allowing the DoD to significantly reduce operational costs by using any SIP or ASSIP device on the market.

The new solution allows the DoD to deliver advanced voice and video capabilities on premises or via private cloud and seamlessly migrate from legacy communications infrastructure to scalable cloud-based IP technology with best-in-class desktop voice and video capabilities.

GENBAND's Application Server has the scale to enable agencies and departments to create their own secure private clouds, supporting one or thousands of sites with up to two million users. Most other solutions require regional deployments to overcome scale limitations and require proprietary endpoints to deliver market-appropriate feature functionality. About GENBAND

GENBAND, a 2015 CNBC Disruptor 50, is a global leader in real-time communications software solutions for service providers, enterprises, independent software vendors, systems integrators and developers in over 80 countries. Kandy, its award-winning, disruptive real-time communications software development platform, is built from the company's global telecommunications network and security technologies. The platform enables these companies to easily embed a full suite of voice, video, chat, screen-sharing and collaboration capabilities into their existing business, web and mobile applications. The company's Network Modernization, Unified Communications, Mobility and Embedded Communications solutions enable its customers to quickly capitalize on growing market segments and introduce differentiating products, applications and services. GENBAND's market-leading solutions, which are deployable in the network, on premise or through the cloud, help its customers connect people to each other and address the growing demands of today's consumers and businesses for real-time communications wherever they happen to be. To learn more visit genband.com. GENBAND, the GENBAND logo and icon are trademarks of GENBAND. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160121/324822LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genband-and-polycom-successfully-complete-joint-department-of-defense-joint-interoperability-test-command-jitc-testing-300231268.html SOURCE GENBAND

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[March 07, 2016]

Research and Markets - Apple Argue iPhone Backdoor Will Endanger the Lives of Millions

DUBLIN, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global mobile anti-malware market is expected to reach a value of USD 5.70 billion by 2020, according to an industry report available from Research and Markets. The report notes that a rise in malware attacks on smartphones is the main driver of this market. The market could see further growth if Apple Inc is forced to create a backdoor for the iPhone currently at the center of a legal battle between Apple and the US government. Apple's software chief today said that performing such a task will potentially threaten the safety of millions.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )





The iPhone in question belonged to a terrorist involved in a 2015 California shooting. Craig Federighi, chief designer of Apple's mobile operating software, said that creating a backdoor for just one iPhone would endanger the lives of millions. Federighi believes that once created, the backdoor software would be used by law enforcement anytime they wanted to access an iPhone involved in criminal activity. This, he argud, would result in a device weakness that could be exploited by hackers and criminals, putting the privacy and personal safety of millions of iPhone users at risk.









For further information on this topic, and a full list of all related documentation, please visit the IT Security section at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/rm/MMOP.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-07/apple-software-chief-warns-one-phone-break-in-can-wreak-havoc

About Research and Markets

Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.





Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
[March 07, 2016]

Verizon CFO to speak at Deutsche Bank Conference on March 8

NEW YORK, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fran Shammo, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), will speak at the Deutsche Bank 24th Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference in Florida on Tuesday, March 8. Access instructions will be available prior to the webcast at 7:45 a.m. ET on Verizon's Investor Relations Web site, www.verizon.com/about/investors/.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) employs a diverse workforce of 177,700 and generated nearly $132 billion in 2015 revenues. Verizon operates America's most reliable wireess network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide. Headquartered in New York, the company also provides communications and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide.







VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are available at Verizon's online News Center at www.verizon.com/news/. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.

Media contact:

Bob Varettoni

908.559.6388

[email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-cfo-to-speak-at-deutsche-bank-conference-on-march-8-300231508.html

SOURCE Verizon
[March 07, 2016] IGT Signs Four-Year Contract Extension with the Michigan Lottery to Continue Offering Lottery Products and Services through January 19, 2021

LONDON, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- International Game Technology PLC ("IGT") (NYSE: IGT) announced that its subsidiary, IGT Global Solutions Corporation, has signed a four-year contract extension with the Michigan Lottery to continue providing lottery technology and services through January 19, 2021. The Michigan Lottery has been a valued IGT customer since 1988. "IGT is committed to providing products and services for sustainable lottery growth," said Michael Chambrello, IGT CEO, North America Lottery. "To that end, we will continue to work closely with the Michigan Lottery to provide added convenience to its players and retailers through additional self-service lottery vending products and the use of evolving technology." Under the terms of the contract extension, IGT will provide the Lottery with additional self-service lottery vending machines, as well as upgrades to the Internal Control System hardware and relating operating system and application software that interfaces with the IGT-provided lottery central system. In addition, the Lottery will receive IGT's ES Anywhere (ESA) which provides secure, reliable, and high performance APIs (Application Programming Interface) to customer software, such as mobile apps and web browsers. The APIs are standardized across delivery channels, so that lotteries using ESA get maximum reusability and faster time to market when adding new channels. ESA will also allow for other increased functionality such as third-party integration and remote functions enabling lottery players to scan, check, and validate lottery tickets over the Internet and through mobile devices, as well as claim retail prizes over the Internet and through mobile devices. Over the term of the extension period, IGT will continue its ongoing services including the maintenance of the Michigan Lottery's central system, 11,000 Altura terminals, and communications network; field services; retailer training; marketing support, call center support services; and instant-ticket warehousing and distribution. IGT will continue to operate its in-state primary data center in Lansing, and maintain its backup data center in Austin, Texas. About IGT

IGT (NYSE:IGT) is the global leader in gaming. e enable players to experience their favorite games across all channels and regulated segments, from Gaming Machines and Lotteries to Interactive and Social Gaming. Leveraging a wealth of premium content, substantial investment in innovation, in-depth customer intelligence, operational expertise and leading-edge technology, our gaming solutions anticipate the demands of consumers wherever they decide to play. We have a well-established local presence and relationships with governments and regulators in more than 100 countries around the world, and create value by adhering to the highest standards of service, integrity, and responsibility. IGT has approximately 13,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.IGT.com.



About the Michigan Lottery

Since it was established in 1972, the Michigan Lottery has provided more than $19.6 billion to support public education in the state. That includes a record $795.5 million contributed in the 2015 fiscal year, which also saw the Michigan Lottery set records for sales ($2.8 billion), instant game sales ($1 billion), prizes to players ($1.7 billion) and commissions to its 11,000 retailers ($203.6 million). About 97 cents of every dollar spent on Michigan Lottery tickets is returned to the state in the form of contributions to the state School Aid Fund, prizes to players, and commissions to retailers.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning IGT and other matters. These statements may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, dividends, results of operations or financial condition, or otherwise, based on current beliefs of the management of IGT as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, such management. Forward-looking statements may be accompanied by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "could," "would," "should," "shall," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "guidance," "intend," "may," "will," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project" or the negative or other variations of them. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside IGT's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those predicted in the forward-looking statements and from past results, performance or achievements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to) risks that the businesses of International Game Technology and GTECH S.p.A. will not be integrated successfully, or that the combined companies will not realize estimated cost savings, synergies, growth or other anticipated benefits or that such benefits may take longer to realize than expected; risk that the Company will be unable to pay future dividends to shareholders or that the amount of such dividends may be less than anticipated; risks relating to unanticipated costs of integration of the two companies; reductions in customer spending; a slowdown in customer payments and changes in customer demand for products and services; unanticipated changes relating to competitive factors in the industries in which the company operates; ability to hire and retain key personnel; the potential impact of the consummation of the business combination on relationships with third parties, including customers, employees and competitors; ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers in the manner anticipated; reliance on and integration of information technology systems; changes in legislation or governmental regulations affecting the company; international, national or local economic, social or political conditions that could adversely affect the company or its customers; conditions in the credit markets; risks associated with assumptions the company makes in connection with its critical accounting estimates and legal proceedings; and the company's international operations, which are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and foreign exchange controls. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties that affect IGT's business, including those described in IGT's annual report on Form 20-F for the financial year ended December 31, 2014 and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov and on the investor relations section of IGT's website at www.IGT.com. Except as required under applicable law, IGT does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Nothing in this news release is intended, or is to be construed, as a profit forecast or to be interpreted to mean that earnings per IGT share for the current or any future financial years will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per IGT share, as applicable. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to IGT, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Contact:

Robert K. Vincent, Corporate Communications, toll free in U.S./Canada (844) IGT-7452; outside U.S./Canada (401) 392-7452

James Hurley, Investor Relations, (401) 392-7190

Simone Cantagallo, (+39) 06 51899030; for Italian media inquiries Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150406/196736LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/igt-signs-four-year-contract-extension-with-the-michigan-lottery-to-continue-offering-lottery-products-and-services-through-january-19-2021-300231307.html SOURCE IGT

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[March 07, 2016] Ally Assist? in Ally Mobile Banking App for iPhone Wins Gold Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

MIDVALE, Utah, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Bank, the direct banking subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., (NYSE: ALLY) was presented with two Gold and one Silver Stevie Awards in the tenth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service for its Ally Assist? virtual assistant technology in the Ally Mobile Banking app for iPhone. The bank received a Gold Award for Innovation in Customer Service - Financial Services Industries, which recognizes new ideas and developments within customer service that enabled organizations to meet the needs of their customers more effectively, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. It also received a Gold Award in the Business Intelligence Solution - New category, which recognizes new and new-version solutions for sales, contact center, and customer service operations. Ally received the Silver Award for Best Use of Technology - Bank, which recognizes companies for their use of technology that has directly improved customer service. Ally Assist was launched in May 2015 in the Ally Mobile Banking app for iPhone. Using automated intelligence and customer data profiles, Ally Assist analyzes a customer's accounts and transactions to generate useful information including smart reminders, potential issues, financial recommendations and much more. The service also acts as a virtual assistant in responding to specific customer requests, via speech or typed entries, to provide customers with timely responses and information based on their specific needs. As one of the first banks to offer customers this type of personalization and customization in a mobile app, Ally Bank is in the forefront of the growing demand across the industry for greater personalization. "Entries to the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service continue to grow every year, further validating the essential roles that business development, ustomer service, and sales play in business success," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. "The widespread support of this program made the 2016 competition that much more intense among finalists. The judges were deeply impressed by the winner's accomplishments and we congratulate all of the winners on their commitment to excellence and innovation."



Ally Bank was also recognized last week with a 2016 Blue Diamond Award for the recent redesign of its online banking platform. The Blue Diamond Awards, presented by It-oLogy, recognize exceptional technology, talent and innovation in the Greater Charlotte region. Approximately one-half of Ally Bank's retail deposit customers use online banking, and the new platform provides streamlined navigation, faster login, a consolidated snapshot of all accounts, and greater flexibility and control in introducing future enhancements. In addition, the online banking platforms across smartphones, tablets and computers are now consistent experiences, which is important as more and more customers choose to access their accounts across multiple devices.

"Innovation is at the foundation of Ally Bank, in terms of the service experience we provide to our customers and the products and features we provide them," said Diane Morais, chief executive officer and president of the Ally Bank subsidiary. "Our redesigned online banking platform and Ally Assist are illustrative of how we are delivering differentiated experiences to enhance the Ally Bank customer experience, and we are very honored to receive these recognitions." About Ally Bank

Ally Bank is a direct bank in the U.S. that offers a straightforward approach to banking with no minimum deposit required to open an account, no monthly maintenance fees and 24/7 live customer service. A subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., the Bank offers online savings, interest checking, money market accounts, certificates of deposit with terms ranging from three months to five years, and IRA Plans and products. Member FDIC. For more information, visit the Ally media site at http://media.ally.com or follow us on Twitter @ally. About The Stevie Awards

The Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. A seventh program, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, will debut in April 2016. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards. Contact:

Andrea Puchalsky

313-656-3798

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ally-assist-in-ally-mobile-banking-app-for-iphone-wins-gold-stevie-awards-for-sales--customer-service-300231574.html SOURCE Ally Financial

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[March 07, 2016] Scot Glover Joins Protiviti as a Managing Director in the Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Scot Glover has joined the San Francisco Bay Area office of Protiviti, a global consulting firm, as a managing director in its Internal Audit and Financial Advisory practice where he focuses on serving clients in the technology and life sciences industries. Glover helps his clients assess, understand and mitigate their business risks to drive key business improvements. Glover has more than 28 years of business experience, including risk advisory and internal audit, primarily within the technology and life sciences industries. Prior to joining Protiviti, Glover was a partner in the business advisory services at Grant Thornton LLP. In addition to his deep consulting experience, he also served as a controller and chief financial officer in private industry. Earlier in his career, he was a partner and practice leader in the risk advisory sevices practice at a Big Four firm.



Glover holds a bachelor of arts degree in organization behavior from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a certified public accountant. Glover is a member of the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and The Institute of Internal Auditors. He also serves as an advisory board member of a high-technology start-up.

About Protiviti Inc.

Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that helps companies solve problems in finance, technology, operations, governance, risk and internal audit, and has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms serve clients through a network of more than 70 locations in over 20 countries. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Ranked 57 on the 2016 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index. Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services. Editor's note: Photo available upon request. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090115/AQTH541LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scot-glover-joins-protiviti-as-a-managing-director-in-the-bay-area-300231372.html SOURCE Protiviti

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[March 07, 2016] Target Distributing Signs on as a Master Agent for Zultys to Sell the Cloud Services Solution

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Zultys, a leading provider of innovative unified communications solutions that empower businesses to collaborate effectively, announced today the formation of a strategic partnership with Target Distributing, as a master agent for Zultys' Agent Channel program. With this agreement, Target Distributing will be offering Zultys Cloud Services solution, an award-winning fully-hosted UCaaS solution, to its 15,000 customers through their network of sub agents. "Having had the pleasure of working with Target Distributing for many years selling our on premise solutions, we are extremely pleased to have their help in expanding the power of Zultys Cloud Services to more customers," said Neil Lichtman, CEO of Zultys. "Our customers look to us to help them augment their businesses, and being able to offer them Zultys' Cloud Services Solution for their customers is another key reason why our partnership with Zultys continues to grow and is so beneficial to all," said Michael Momsen, President and CEO of Target Distributing. "As Zultys' largest Global Distributor, we look forward to providing our customers another uique and comprehensive solution that will help grow our collective businesses in 2016 and beyond," said Michael Jordan, Vice PresidentSales at Target Distributing.



Zultys Cloud Services offers industry leading communication flexibility through powerful features like voice, IM, email, presence, find mefollow me, call recording, contact center, voicemail and multi-location networking. Zultys Cloud Services is designed to boost productivity, reduce complexity, ease administration, reduce costs and provide high availability. Cloud Services Solution has received the 2016 Customer Magazine Product of the Year Award, as well as being named 2016 Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award by TMC, a global, integrated media company. About Target Distributing:

Target Distributing is a national distributor of convergence technologies such as commercial telecommunications products, voice-over-IP solutions, datacom products, security systems, and professional audio/video products. In business since 1975, Target is committed to providing the broadest product selection, competitive pricing, high in-stock levels, rapid delivery, outstanding technical support and the most in-depth sales training in the industry. Target Distributing was founded in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 1975 to provide a wholesale source for the products interconnects, installers and value-added resellers need. As word spread about the depth of Target's product selection, quality of customer service and low wholesale pricing, the company began to grow by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the nation's largest converged-products distributors today. To learn more, visit www.targetd.com. About Zultys: Zultys is the global provider of a true all-in-one unified communications solution. Innovative, reliable and scalable, Zultys IP phone systems integrate voice, video, data and mobility  in a single premise based appliance or in the cloud to optimize collaboration for businesses of all sizes. Zultys delivers a powerful, feature-rich communications system that is easy-to-use, deploy and maintain. Zultys is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices around the world. To learn more, visit www.zultys.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140509/86287 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/target-distributing-signs-on-as-a-master-agent-for-zultys-to-sell-the-cloud-services-solution-300231292.html SOURCE Zultys

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[March 07, 2016] GoDaddy Wins For The Fifth Consecutive Year At 2016 Stevie Awards For Customer Service

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the world's largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, was presented with a Silver Stevie Award in the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service category at the tenth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service on Friday. Additionally, the company won three Bronze Stevie Awards for Customer Service Training Team of the Year, Sales Support Team of the Year - Computer Services and Award for Innovation in Customer Service - Computer Industries. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's top sales awards, business development awards, contact center awards and customer service awards. The Stevie Awards organizes several of the world's leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business AwardsSM and International Business AwardsSM. This is GoDaddy's fifth consecutive year of recognition by The Stevie Awards for Customer Service. Customer satisfaction is determined using Net Promoter Scores (NPS) which routinely ranks GoDaddy's global customer care interaction among the best in the world. The company was also recently recognized in FORTUNE magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For." GoDaddy serves approximately 14 million customers and is in 53 markets and 26 languages around the world. About 60 percent of GoDaddy employees are customer care specialists who provide technical assistance in English language on a 24/7/365 basis (other languages have local hours of operation) to new and existing customers located around the world. Operating as "business consultants," GoDaddy specialists work hand-in-hand with customers to solve problems and provide guidance at every stage of their small business journey. While most technology companies make it difficult  if not impossible  to talk to a live specialist on the phone, GoDaddy provides an easy to access number on its website and encourages customers to call anytime. "GoDaddy's 'secret sauce' is our personalized customer care," said Kevin Pigman, GoDaddy Senior Vice President of Global Customer Care. "It's an honor to be recognized for our customer care as we sharply focus on providing top-quality service and products to help smal businesses succeed around the world."



GoDaddy employs approximately 5,000 people and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz. U.S., with other facilities in Washington, Massachusetts, Iowa and California in the U.S. Globally, GoDaddy has locations in Asia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, The Netherlands and in the U.K. More than 60 members of several specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging earlier this month.

"Entries to the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service continue to grow every year, further recognizing the importance of sales and customer service in all aspects of business," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. "The widespread support of this program made the 2016 competition that much more intense between finalists. The judges were deeply impressed by the winner's accomplishments and we congratulate all of the winners on their commitment to excellence and innovation." More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year's competition, an increase of 11 percent over 2015. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 115 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 59 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Consulting Practice of the Year; more than 50 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Business Development Achievement of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. The awards were presented to honorees during a gala banquet on Friday, March 4 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. More than 500 executives from the U.S.A. and several other nations attended. Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the list of Stevie winners in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/sales. About GoDaddy GoDaddy's mission is to radically shift the global economy toward small businesses by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. With 14 million customers worldwide and 62 million domain names under management, GoDaddy gives small business owners the tools to name their idea, build a beautiful online presence, attract customers and manage their business. To learn more about the Company, visit www.GoDaddy.com. About The Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com. Sponsors of the 10th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships and ValueSelling Associates. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150330/195302LOGO Source: GoDaddy Inc. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/godaddy-wins-for-the-fifth-consecutive-year-at-2016-stevie-awards-for-customer-service-300231614.html SOURCE GoDaddy Inc.

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[March 07, 2016]

Ekahau to Focus Solely on Wi-Fi Network Design Tools, Divests RTLS Business to AiRISTA, Inc.

RESTON, Va., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ekahau, the global leader and pioneer in Wi-Fi network design tools, today revealed its strengthened focus on the Wi-Fi Network Design market. The entire Ekahau RTLS business has been sold to AiRISTA Flow, a US-based provider of turn-key real time location solutions.

For the past three years, Ekahau Wi-Fi Design tools has been operating as an independent business unit, developing its product offering with a highly customer centric approach. During this time, the Wi-Fi Design Tools business unit has grown rapidly and the flagship product, Ekahau Site Survey and 3D Planner, is today considered the industry standard tool for designing and maintaining wireless LANs.

"The singular focus on Wi-Fi Design tools will nable Ekahau to serve its rapidly growing customer base even better and faster," said Mika Hakala, Ekahau's COO. "This further boosts our ability to bring to market new, game changing software and hardware products. The transaction has no impact on the Ekahau Wi-Fi Design Tools organization. "







Ekahau headquarters will remain in Reston, VA while research, development and marketing remain in Helsinki, Finland.

About Ekahau Wi-Fi Design

Ekahau is the global leader in Wi-Fi network design tools, from WLAN network planning to site surveys and troubleshooting. Ekahau's Wi-Fi tools are used by the leading Wi-Fi infrastructure vendors, systems integrators and telecom operators as well as thousands of network administrators to minimize network deployment time and ensure sufficient wireless network performance and capacity.

Ekahau's flagship product, Ekahau Site Survey & 3D Planner, is the first ever enterprise-grade Wi-Fi site survey software and the undisputed industry standard tool for professional Wi-Fi design. Ekahau's product portfolio includes software tools for laptops, desktops and mobile devices, and hardware products for Wi-Fi measurement and spectrum analysis.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ekahau-to-focus-solely-on-wi-fi-network-design-tools-divests-rtls-business-to-airista-inc-300231596.html

SOURCE Ekahau
UPDATED 1 pm ET March 8 to add analysis of KeRanger code by Bitdefender.

Mac encrypting ransomware has been discovered packaged with a popular BitTorrent client, marking the first time any form of ransomware targeting Apple's OS X has appeared in the wild.

(Image credit: LittleEvilYor/Shutterstock)

Fortunately for Mac users, the risk of infection is small. You'd have to have installed version 2.90 of the Tranmission BitTorrent software this past Friday or Saturday. The infected installer file was replaced with a clean version, 2.92, on Sunday, and Apple has updated its XProtect antivirus software to block the ransomware Trojan.

However, this certainly won't be the last piece of Mac ransomware. It's yet another reminder that Mac users face the same types of threats as Windows PC users  albeit at a smaller scale  and need to take the same precautions.

MORE: Best Mac Antivirus Software

The ransomware was discovered this past Friday (March 4) by Santa Clara, California-based security firm Palo Alto Networks, which dubbed the malware "KeRanger" and alerted both Apple and the developers of Transmission right away.

"We believe KeRanger is the first fully functional ransomware seen on the OS X platform," Palo Alto Networks' Claud Xiao and Jin Chen wrote in a company blog posting yesterday (March 6).

Once installed on a Mac, KeRanger lies dormant, then after three days begins encrypting files in the "Users" directory and posts a notice demanding one bitcoin (about $400 at current exchange rates) to free the files.

Transmission is an open-source project to which anyone can contribute code. It appears criminals took advantage of this fact and "trojanized" the software by repackaging a legitimate Transmission installer disk image (.dmg) with an additional file called "General.rtf," which appeared to be a Rich Text Format file but was in fact an OS X executable file.

To get past the default settings of Gatekeeper, OS X's app-inspecting software, all applications must be "signed" with a digital certificate of authenticity issued by Apple to approved software developers. Transmission has its own certificate, but the KeRanger makers instead used one stolen from a Turkish software developer.

If you did download or update Transmission on Friday or Saturday, you'll need to update it to version 2.92, now available on the Tranmission site. Installing the new version will remove the infected one.

However, the executable ransomware may already be active in your system. To flush it out, Palo Alto Networks recommended taking the following steps:

1. Using either Terminal or Finder, check whether /Applications/Transmission.app/Contents/Resources/ General.rtf or /Volumes/Transmission/Transmission.app/Contents/Resources/ General.rtf exist. If any of these exist, the Transmission application is infected and we suggest deleting this version of Transmission.

If KeRanger has already begun encrypting your files and you're seeing a ransom note, don't pay. Instead, restore your system from Time Machine or another backup solution. (You did back up your Mac, didn't you?)

There is code inside KeRanger to encrypt Time Machine backups as well as file on the main hard disk, but the Palo Alto Networks researchers didn't think that function had yet been activated.

All Mac users should make sure their build of OS X is fully up to date, as Apple has pushed out updates that block KeRanger from running and revoked the stolen Turkish developer certificate.

Most Mac users should be running their Gatekeeper software at one of the two higher settings, allowing installation of software from the Mac App Store or from the Mac App store and "identified developers." (The latter setting is the default.) The KeRanger criminals got past that setting with the stolen certificate, but it will keep out most malware.

Ransomware began infecting Windows users en masse in 2010, but was mostly an annoyance until CryptoLocker appeared in late 2013. Instead of simply locking the screen, Cryptolocker encrypted user files before demanding a ransom, and users who hadn't backed up their systems had no choice but to pay up.

Since then, encrypting ransomware has run rampant across the world, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in cash for crooks and leaving many small businesses and local governments poorer. Last month, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid $17,000 to free health records locked up by a ransomware attack.

Encrypting ransomware appeared for Android in 2014, but until now, Macs had been immune. In the summer of 2013, a browser-based screen-locking ransomware affected Macs as well as PCs, but was fairly harmless. A form of encrypting ransomware for Macs was discovered a year later, but it was unfinished and non-functional.

UPDATE: Romanian antivirus firm Bitdefender analyzed KeRanger's code (opens in new tab) and found that KeRanger was a rewritten version of Linux Encoder, a strain of encrypting ransomware that has infected thousands of Web servers running Linux since December 2015.
It seems whenever a popular tour is announced, the scourge of scalping inevitably rears its ugly head to remind us all of why we cant have nice things. Violent Soho have now experienced this first hand and theyre not standing for it.

The band recently announced a massive tour in support of their eagerly anticipated new album, WACO, which will see them hitting up capital cities around the country with brothers-in-arms DZ Deathrays and Dune Rats.

Their Melbourne show managed to sell out in just 10 minutes, forcing the band to add another date and it was the same story in Brisbane. At the time of writing, all dates beside Adelaide and Perth have sold out, leading some fans to consider the secondary market.

Its come to our attention today that some selfish individuals out there are trying to scalp tickets to the WACO tour for upwards of $200 each, Violent Soho wrote on Facebook. We just wanted to address this publicly as a band and tell those people to kindly Fuck Off.

Indeed, a quick search of eBay yields results for tickets being sold well above their original sale price. In their fiery missive, the band urge fans not to buy scalped tickets and reveal theyre considering adding more shows to the tour.

We as a band always try to keep our ticket prices as cheap as possible and the WACO tour is no exception, the band continued. We were able to pull together what we think is an amazing lineup with our friends DZ Deathrays & DUNE RATS but still keep it affordable for you guys, the fans.

Its come to our attention today that some selfish individuals out there are trying to scalp tickets to the WACO tour Posted by Violent Soho on Thursday, March 3, 2016

So when these selfish pricks go online at 9am and buy tickets just to resell them later at an inflated price, preventing real fans from being able to get tickets, its not only extremely offensive to us it devalues everything we as a band are trying to do.

Please SHARE this with your friends and make sure none of you pay more than you should to see our band on this tour. Were currently looking into adding more shows and even if you miss out, we promise you will have another chance to see us play in the future.

Do not support these selfish motherfuckers. Love, Violent Soho, the band signed off. Violent Sohos WACO national tour with DZ Deathrays and Dune Rats is set to kick off this May. Check the Violent Soho website for more details.

WACO Tour Dates

New shows on sale Tuesday 8 Mar: 9am local time

10 May | The Tivoli

Brisbane, QLD | (18+) | NEW SHOW*

ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100

11 May | The Tivoli

Brisbane, QLD | (18+) | SOLD OUT

13 May | The Tivoli

Brisbane, QLD | (18+) | SOLD OUT

14 May | Forum Theatre

Melbourne, VIC | (18+) | SOLD OUT

15 May | Forum Theatre

Melbourne, VIC | (18+) | SOLD OUT

16 May | Forum Theatre

Melbourne, VIC | (18+) | NEW SHOW*

ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100

19 May | Thebarton Theatre

Adelaide, SA | (All Ages)

ticketmaster.com.au | 136 100

20 May | Metro City

Perth, WA | (18+)

oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545

26 May | Enmore Theatre

Sydney, NSW | (All Ages) | NEW SHOW*

ticketek.com.au | 132 849

27 May | Enmore Theatre

Sydney, NSW (All Ages) | SOLD OUT

ALSO PLAYING:

Sat 21 May | BASSINTHEGRASS | Darwin, NT
Weve gotten used to hearing about live music venues in NSW shutting their doors, but theres still reason to hope against hope. A once-popular Sydney band room is set to reopen and begin hosting bands again.

As The Music reports, the band room at the Paddington RSL, once a popular destination for bands and punters alike, having hosted the likes of INXS at one point, will be refurbished and reopen in the coming months.

The passion and drive behind it is to not only give Sydney another live music venue, but to also resurrect this room thats just been sitting dormant for a decade, LimeHQ Events CEO Lindsay Osborne told The Music.

The Paddo RSL, as its affectionately known, does currently host live music, but Osborne wants to see its dormant band room relive its glory days when it was one of the great venues of the 80s and 90s of Australian rock.

According to Osborne, the venue is pretty much untouched since it stopped hosting live events. Its like someone walked out the door and switched it off, he said. Everything is there.

Osbornes hoping to see doors opened by May and is looking to book established acts as well as up-and-comers. We want to cover all demographics and give them exactly what they want in an atmosphere that theyre going to love, he said.

According to the Australian Music Database, via the LimeHQ website, in the past the Paddo hosted performances from legendary Australian groups like The Go-Betweens, These Immortal Souls, and The Blackeyed Susans.

[include_post id=472684]

Were thrilled that we will see the bands back at Paddo RSL and are looking forward to running these events and restoring what is fast becoming a lost vibe to a range of old and new audiences, said Osborne in a press release.

The atmosphere and layout suits our brand of events perfectly. We are fully committed to presenting shows that compliment and show respect to both the artists and the audience alike.

When considering taking on the role as venue managers we looked seriously at what Paddo RSL and ourselves have to offer. We want it to be more than just another gig. We want to create a friendly atmosphere, within which will be an awesome performance.
ARE RACIST COMMENTS "HATE SPEECH" THAT REFLECTS REAL WORLD SUPREMACY OR JUST POWERLESS RANTING???









This morning we confront the topic of racism and power in theworld . . .A very thoughtful reader send us this link to consider . . .The premise of the study contents that online hate has a real world impact in terms of infant mortality rates and a few other indicators.On the other hand, for the most part we know know that online haters aren't doctors or denizens of any professional class. But that doesn't mean they're not dangerous. Remember thatOn the other hand, most dedicated haters are doing nothing but expressing a desire for attention, trying to be provocative or just wasting their time . . .So we put it to you . . .Now, the study documents the use of the N-word but what I find interesting and what we see every so often are posts that consider racial topics from an alternative perspective and don't blindly hate but seek to critically speak to current cultural logics. More often then not, those are the comments that cut to the core, they aren't cut & pasted and they get people out of their comfort zone.Further reading:More in a bit . . .
THE PRODUCE SHORTAGE CRISIS AT THE CITY MARKET SIGNALS CHANGING TIMES FOR ONE OF KANSAS CITY'S MOST BELOVED AND LONGSTANDING INSTITUTIONS!!!

Luxury Condo Life Is Pushing Out Low-Rent Farmers And Their Tiny Margins For Produce Sales

Streetcar Line Parking Peril Threatens To Drive City Market Produce Shoppers Someplace Else

It's Easier To Buy From Farmer's Markets In The Suburbs

KCMO Supply Chain Concerns Explained

City Market Management Ignores Traditional Produce Shoppers In Search Of Upscale Clientele

Our blog community uncovered an important Kansas City controversy this weekend and we're hearing increased discussion of ourregarding a produce shortage at the City Market.To wit . . .Accordingly, after our FIRST REPORT , here's more insight from our blog community on the implications of this tragic development . . .This controversy signals a bigger debate about gentrification and how Kansas City neighborhoods are changing and evolving amid the influx of new money. Ironically, buyers wanting the City Market good life are driving up rents in the area and costs trickled down seem to be pushing out the lower income local farmers.Like it or not, luxury shopping district rents can't be paid by Amish people selling strawberry jam and tomatoes.This free market fact of life isn't pleasant or easily addressed but it's part of the reason that the City Market is having trouble keeping their aisles filled.Parking rules for the streetcar are oppressive and have the potential to create financial calamity for anybody who does something so simple as parking their car at an odd angle. The price of a mistake is simply too high for City Market shoppers and in the long term the streetcar could kill even more business.A really insightful take from some of our suburban readers . . . Getting fresh produce is now easier in JoCo and on the outskirts of the Northland.is pretty sweet and there now are more alternatives for local shoppers than the journey downtown.Some of the more simple TKC readers just wanted to blame this Kansas City produce crisis on Winter but the reality is that the City Market hasbeen a place to shop for fresh produce every week of the year bringing in supplies from far and wide . . . Still, it's worth answering this concern from thosewho know that food isn't grown in the back of the grocery store.And here's the reality . . . The City Market seems to looking toward higher rents, trendy restaurants and boutiques in search of upscale shoppers while losing their focus on theThere's a lot to think about here and as we hope TKC readers consider all of this over a healthy breakfast . . . Here are. . .Developing . . .
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There must be something about being the worlds most powerful automaker that makes you just, you know, wanna spread some branding around like your showroom is a big slice of bread and your best-loved nameplates are just sweet, sweet chrome jelly. How else can you explain Toyotas attempt to expand the Prius into a three-car lineup, in the same way that General Motors gave us a veritable squadron of Cutlasses in the early 80s?



The original Prius, now in its fourth and most bizarre-looking iteration yet, is an unmitigated triumph that probably has more millionaire owners than the Bentley Flying Spur, but at the same time is often the car of choice for cost-conscious Midwestern families. The Prius V, on the other hand  well, lets just say that it isnt flying off showroom floors. The Prius C has been just as unpopular with buyers while also managing to become the subject of several negative reviews, including a one-out-of-five-star recap from Car and Driver.



This is the perfect car for the person who doesnt care about what, exactly, hes driving, quoth AutoWeek, but over the past year The Littlest Prius has become quite popular with a section of the American driving population that really cares about what they drive  because its how they are making a living.



Unlike the real Prius, the Prius c isnt a clean-sheet design. In fact, its just a reskin of the current Yaris with a low-power, 1.5-liter variant of the Toyota Synergy Drive powertrain. The overall vibe is less Toyota-of-the-future and more cheapest-car-they-had-in-stock.



Cheap is relative: the least expensive of the four Prius c trim levels starts at just under twenty grand. But when it comes to running costs, the littlest Prius puts up some stellar numbers. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, its the cheapest new car to own, period point blank. Some of thats fuel economy, and some of its the relatively low cost of consumables like brake pads and tires, both of which are relatively small and cheap thanks to the little Toyotas low weight.



The big part, however, is depreciation. CRs cheap sheet is chock-full of Toyotas, because very few cars this side of a Ferrari 458 Speciale hold their value like the average Toyota does. Its also generally true that Toyota buyers are not terribly odometer-conscious. T.C. Mits, LJK Setrights favorite name for the celebrated man in the street, figures that American cars are more or less trashed at 75,000 miles but 100,000 on a Toyota is just breaking in. This is particularly true for the second-generation Prius, which seems to be perfectly cheerful running to the half-million-mile mark and beyond.



In fact, the way I do the math, the more miles you drive, the better the Prius c looks as an economic proposition, even when compared to other Toyotas and the Prius that doesnt have any letters after the name. No wonder, then, that the much-maligned little Pri-Yar-us-is is finding a whole new fanbase: UberX drivers.



It was my experience with a Prius c-driving UberX serf that made me start thinking about whether or not the c was the best (meaning cheapest) possible choice for an Uber driver. But Im not alone. The various forums for Uber and Lyft non-employees are chock-full of Prius c discussion. After all, these guys can do the math just as well as I can, and they have additional incentive to do so since their bottom line depends on it.



After reading hundreds of posts on dozens of forums, Ive come to some conclusions. The first one is that, given a choice, almost all the Uber drivers who actually do the math and take their McContractJob seriously would choose the Prius c. This is particularly true in California, where traffic is always a factor and the ability of the Synergy Drive to sit idle in those situations means money in the bank. Some of the current Prius c drivers started out with a regular Prius but quickly realized that the real-world difference in fuel economy is greater than the EPA can detect in their testing.



The next conclusion? Uber wont let you drive a Prius c in New York, where its specifically listed as Not Accepted. The Yaris, too, is on the banned list. (Odd detail: Youre allowed to drive a Jetta for UberX, and youre allowed to have a Jetta GLI, but youre not allowed to have a just-plain GLI, and youre not allowed to have the Sportwagen.) On the West Coast, however, everythings just hunky-dory.



Last conclusion? Even though many Uberistas are fairly itching to acquire a Prius c of their own, some of their compatriots have been downrated out of the business by passengers (Pax, in Uber slang) who despise its cramped rear quarters and mail-slot luggage space. Its true that when I had the chance to try out the rear seat of the c for myself, I found it very difficult to fit both the aforementioned self and my trusty Waterfield bag behind the driver without introducing my knees to my teeth.



Speaking truthfully, after reading a bunch of posts by Uber drivers, I have to say that Id rather return to my days as the midnight dishwasher at Iaconos Pizza than rely on Uber for any sort of sustainable income. The numbers only truly work out if youre extremely fortunate and you have some capital to invest, and even then youre lucky to make eleven dollars an hour in the long run. You can be let go at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. Uber itself shares no responsibility with you  not for healthcare, not for insurance, not for exotic stuff like maternity leave or bereavement.



Its the kind of gig where you invest twenty thousand dollars in a new Prius c with the understanding that you could be stuck with a very expensive car payment and no corresponding income if you get three fat-asses in a row as pax and they downvote you. If you use an old car, you get downvoted and kicked out of the system. If you use a new car, youre always on the edge of your drivers seat hoping you have enough fares to justify your purchase.



Oh yeah, theres also the chance that you can be beaten violently then sued by your attacker. Dont expect Uber to lift a finger to help you when that happens, either. Its all too clear that the disruptive company sees its contractors as replaceable parts, basically autonomous vehicles driven by Mechanical Turks.



Id like to believe that theres an upside. That you could meet interesting people, spend your days outside in the California sun, and earn fast-food money without having to touch a mop. But what kind of a life is it when the most you can hope for is twenty-five grand a year and a Prius that isnt even the good Prius?
Mena Infrastructure Fund LP has announced the divestment of both its 30.33 per cent stake in Alexandria International Container Terminals (AICT) to Hutchison Port Holdings and its 38.1 per cent stake in United Power Company SAOG (Manah IPP) to Khaled Juffali Energy and Utilities (KJEU).



Mena Infrastructure Fund LP is a $300 million fund managed by Mena Infrastructure, a specialised infrastructure fund manager established by HSBC, Fajr Capital and Waha Capital. Mena Infrastructure is regarded as one of the most successful infrastructure investors in the Mena region and has received multiple industry accolades, including Infrastructure Investor magazines Middle East Infrastructure Investor of the Year.



Jeronimo Roura, CEO of Mena Infrastructure, said: Our successful exits from Alexandria International Container Terminals and United Power Company validate Mena Infrastructures investment strategy to partner with leading developers of essential private infrastructure in high growth markets. We are grateful to the management teams at both AICT and UPC for their continuous exceptional performance, and look forward to continue investing in the Mena regions potential.



Mena Infrastructure sold its stake in ACIT to Hutchison Port Holdings following a competitive sale process. AICT owns and operates two fully integrated container terminals at Alexandria and El Dekheila, with a capacity of approximately 680,000 TEUs. The Alexandria and El Dekheila port is considered one of the main commercial ports serving Egypt and Egypts main import-export hub on the Mediterranean, handling almost 60 per cent of Egypt's foreign trade.



Mena Infrastructure subsequently sold its 38.1 per cent stake in Manah IPP to KJEU, a Saudi Arabian power company which specializes in developing reliable power generation through conventional and renewable energy resources.



The Manah IPP is a 270 MW open-cycle natural gas fired power plant which is located near Nizwa in Oman on 200 acres of land, approximately 180 kilometres south-west of Muscat. The plant sells power to the Oman Power & Water Procurement Company, the single-buyer in the Oman electricity market.  TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain Ministry of Works and Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning has awarded the engineering consultancy services contract to Aecom for Phase Two of the Muharraq Ring Road and the fourth Manama-Muharraq causeway project.



A global provider of professional technical and management support services, Aecom clinched the deal after emerging as the lowest bidder with a value of BD4.91 million ($13 million), stated the ministry.



Headquartered in Los Angeles, US, Aecom caters to a broad range of markets including infrastructure, transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government.



The Muharraq Ring Road project will be implemented in three phases, with the first one devoted to marine dredging and levelling works, said the ministry in its statement.



The second phase will involve civil works and paving of roads, while the final phase will involve preparation of engineering designs for the bridge and sea intersection associated with a bridge north of Manama, it added.



The project is of strategic importance as it will ease the traffic linking the inner roads to the main roads, explained Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf, Minister of Works and Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning.



Once the Muharraq Ring Road project gets completed, the commuters will be able to smoothly move from Muharraq to Manama thus easing the pressure on each of the airport roads, stated Al Khalaf.



The new project will also serve the residential projects in the northern part of Muharraq and help boost a steady flow of traffic into the Bahrain International Airport and Prince Khalifa bin Salman Port, he added.



Al Khalaf said the first phase of the Muharraq Ring Road project, which starts from the entrance to Galali and Amwaj and ends at the Diyar Al Muharraq entrance, passing through the entrances to Samaheej and Dair villages, has been completed.



The work involved upgradation of an 8.4-km stretch of road from a single to a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction, with the possibility of adding a fourth lane in the future near the intersections of Galali and Samaheej.



On the fourth Manama-Muharraq causeway project work, the minister said the new bridge will link the residential communities in Muharraq to the major commercial areas in Manama including the Diplomatic Area, Bahrain Bay and Bahrain Financial Harbour thus facilitating the economic movement in the kingdom.-TradeArabia News Service
Moroccan property company Alliances Developpement said on Monday that its 2015 net profit would be significantly lower than its previous forecast of 226 million moroccan dirhams ($22.3 million).



That forecast was given last August when the company sold 1 billion dirhams ($102 million) in maiden bonds.



The company, in a statement, cited the economic slowdown and plans to reduce debt costs as reasons for the drop but did not give a new forecast.



In 2014 it reported a profit of close to 226 million dirhams.-Reuters
Japanese automaker Nissan has announced Petromin Corporation, a leading lubricants and automotive services company, as its new business partner in Saudi Arabia.



Petromin will join Alissa as the second strategic partner to Nissan as it continues its growth and expansion across the Kingdom, a statement said.



We announced in November 2013 that Nissan was going to renew its strong bond with the Kingdom, with a direct presence in the form of Nissan KSA, said Samir Cherfan, Nissan Middle Easts managing director.



We committed to strengthening the brands product line-up and to bring the best of this great company to Saudi Arabia by developing Nissans sales and service coverage and quality.



Nissan and Alissa have managed to renew the bond with the kingdom and to re-establish a strong sales and service network. We are achieving fast growth while achieving high standards in customer service. Sustainable growth and customer satisfaction excellence is the path for Nissan and its business partners, he added.



Christian Mardrus, Nissan senior vice president and chairman for Africa, Middle East and India said: The Kingdom has always been a key market for Nissan. Going forward, we remain committed to deliver our business objectives and are proud to enter a second chapter of Nissan expansion in the kingdom by announcing a new, second business partnership in Saudi Arabia, with Petromin.



Samir Nawar, CEO of Petromin said: We could not be more excited about working alongside Nissan to help achieve its stated goals. The addition of car showrooms and workshops to our vast network of service facilities, which comprehensively covers the entire country, is perfectly placed to provide Nissan owners with the kind of customer service they rightly expect and demand. We have been in this industry for nearly five decades and Nissans competitive edge will surely be sharpened with our involvement and drive.

Operating in Saudi Arabia for more than 40 years, Petromin has grown to become one of the regions leading automotive companies with a full range of automotive services including car dealerships, car servicing, fuel retailing and lubricants.



Petromins wealth of expertise in the customer service sector will perfectly complement Alissas eight decades of experience in Saudi Arabias automotive market, Cherfan continued.



We at Nissan are confident that a three-pronged approach, especially with the synergies that exist between us, will set the best possible course for Nissan to achieve those goals we set out in 2013. We will deliver the best of this great company to the Kingdom and we will achieve the number one position when it comes to excellence in customer service.  TradeArabia News Service
Oman's top port Salalah has signed trade agreements with key Iranian terminals in the latest efforts by the Gulf country to boost shipping ties with Tehran following the lifting of international sanctions.



Measures against Iran were lifted in January as part of a nuclear deal with world powers, ending years of isolation which saw the international shipping sector cut ties and disrupt supplies to import-dependent Iran.



The United Arab Emirates previously enjoyed greater shipping activity with Iran but ports in Oman are looking at expanding ties.



Salalah, located near the Gulf of Aden, said on Monday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran's biggest cargo port Bandar Abbas and with Chabahar port, which would "facilitate growth in shipping, trade and commerce" between the two countries.



"We also envisage the landlocked countries adjacent to Iran to use the existing multilateral agreements for transport corridors to access new markets," Port of Salalah Chief Executive David Gledhill said in a statement.



Oman's government owns a majority stake in Salalah, which is the country's main transshipment port, and handled 2.6 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of container trade last year as well as 12.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo. AP Moller Maersk unit APM Terminals has a 30.1 percent holding.



Officials with Sohar port, which is located further north in the Gulf of Oman and in which Oman's government holds a 50 percent stake, have told Reuters they were in talks with Iranian shipping lines and ports to boost trade amid tough shipping markets.



Oman could benefit from tensions between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran which saw Riyadh cut ties in January and others like the UAE downgrade relations. Annual UAE-Iran container trade pre-sanctions was estimated at 1.5 million TEUs.



While Oman has maintained warm ties with Tehran, it faces competition from across the Arabian Sea in the form of India.-Reuters
A court in Iran has sentenced to death Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani and two accomplices for embezzlement, the judiciary said, in a case widely watched due to the billionaire's prominent role in helping the government evade oil sanctions.



The Islamic court convicted the defendants of "spreading corruption on earth", a capital offence, and ordered them to repay funds embezzled from, among others, state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on live television.



The defendants can appeal against the ruling.



"The court of first instance ... sentenced the three defendants to death," Ejei said in a weekly news conference. The three were also ordered to pay a fine equivalent to one fourth of the sums they had laundered, he said.



By his own account, Zanjani for years arranged billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies stretching from Turkey to Malaysia and the UAE. Zanjani amassed a fortune of $10 billion - along with debts of a similar scale, the tycoon once told an Iranian magazine.



At the time of his arrest in December 2013, a judicial spokesman said "he received funds from certain bodies ... and received oil and other shipments and now has not returned the funds". Prosecutors accused him of owing the government more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry.



Iran emerged from years of economic isolation in January when world powers led by the United States and the European Union lifted crippling sanctions against Tehran in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions. - Reuters
The United Arab Emirates' energy minister said on Monday that current, low oil prices are forcing many producers to freeze output but that a correction in prices would take time.



Opec leader Saudi Arabia and non-Opec producer 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.



"I believe that the current oil prices are forcing everyone to freeze so I think it is happening as we speak. It doesn't make any sense for anyone to increase production at the current prices," Suhail bin Mohammed Al-Mazrouei told reporters.



"The majority of the world, 99.8 percent, maybe 99.9 percent, are not going to increase production. To the contrary many producing assets are losing now at the current oil prices... We are seeing a reduction and we will see a reduction in those fields," he said.



"This is all good news towards balancing the market. We just need to be patient. It's not happening in weeks or months. Correcting to a sustainable price will take time. I'm still optimistic that before the end of year we will see a correction."



Front-month Brent crude futures were trading at $39.10 per barrel at 0745 GMT on Monday, up 38 cents from their last settlement and around a third higher than their January low, when prices fell to levels not seen since 2003.



Yet the freeze 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.



Al-Mazrouei declined to comment on Iran's production plans. He also said he has not received an invitation yet for a meeting between OPEC and other leading oil producers about freezing oil output.



"I have not received an official invitation for an Opec and non-Opec meeting. If there is a unanimous decision among Opec we will in the UAE as always cooperate with any efforts to tackle this situation together," he said.



Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that a meeting between Opec and other leading oil producers about freezing oil output could take place between March 20 and April 1. Novak said that the meeting could take place in Russia, Vienna or Doha. - Reuters
Oman Air is set to participate once again at ITB Berlin, the worlds largest travel fair which will be held at Messe Berlin between March 9 and 13.



Stationed in Hall 22B (stand number 202), the carrier's stand will provide an ideal venue for showcasing Oman Airs award-winning products and services, establishing new partnerships and renewing existing relationships, and announcing latest developments.



Oman Airs participation in this years event follows a year in which the airline has increased the size of its fleet to 40 aircraft, grown its network to include 50 exciting destinations and introduced more frequencies on many of its key routes.



Paul Gregorowitsch, chief executive officer of Oman Air, anticipates a highly successful event. He said:ITB Berlin is the largest and arguably the most important travel fair in the global calendar. Oman Air has attended for many years and we have always found the event to be impressively organised and highly productive.



This year, as Oman Air continues its ambitious programme of fleet and network expansion, we look forward to meeting a wide range of important trade partners, industry experts and, of course, individual air travellers. We will be discussing the potential for new destinations, new products and services and new partnerships throughout our growing network.



And, vitally, we will be raising awareness of both Oman Airs internationally-acclaimed passenger experience and of Omans numerous attractions as a leisure and business destination."



Since Oman Airs participation in ITB Berlin 2015, the airline has introduced a range of new aircraft to its fleet including Boeing 737s and iconic Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The Dreamliners entered service in October and have been greeted with enthusiasm by customers. The fleet expansion programme will see the addition of more aircraft, including further Dreamliners, between now and 2020, by which time Oman Air will operate 70 airliners.



In addition, the last year has seen Oman Air launch brand-new services to Singapore, Dhaka and Goa  the airlines 11th destination in India. The frequency of services to many established destinations has also been increased, with all Indian destinations enjoying daily or double-daily services and return flights to Paris expanding to six per week. Oman Airs service to London Heathrow is due to increase from daily to double-daily in April of this year. - TradeArabia News Service
Salalah Rotana Resort, a leading five-star hotel in Oman, has welcomed seasoned sales expert Tamer Nemr as its new director of sales.



No stranger to Rotana Hotel Management Company, Nemr joins the team from Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan Hotel by Rotana Abu Dhabi where he held the position of director of business development for more than two years. Prior to that, he occupied the position of sales manager at Rotanas Abu Dhabi Area Sales office.



Commenting on the appointment, Hossam Kamal, Salalah Rotana Resorts general manager, said: I am very delighted to welcome Tamer Nemr to our team at Salalah Rotana Resort. Bringing his vast knowledge of the GCC hotel industry, aggressive salesmanship and experience, I am confident he will implement strategic decisions to ensure growth and positively impact the resorts performance.



Nemr said: It is a pleasure to further my career with Rotana at Salalah Rotana Resort in Oman. I look forward to working closely with the Sales team and top Management of the resort to strengthen the resorts reputation in its key source markets.



In his new role, Nemr will reinforce the resorts key source markets, drive revenue and better position the 5 star waterfront resort as a preferred destination.  TradeArabia News Service
The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is celebrating the 11th anniversary of its most famous restaurant which sits five metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean.

Having been unveiled in April 2005, Ithaa is the worlds first undersea restaurant.



Boasting unrivalled views of sharks, stingrays, turtles and stunning coral, the five-star eatery, which only seats 14, was built so that guests can enjoy the beauty of the ocean without getting their feet wet. Rated 'the most beautiful restaurant in the World by the New York Daily News in 2014, Ithaa - meaning 'mother of pearl' in the Maldivian language of Divehi  offers 180-degrees of panoramic views.



Using aquarium-inspired architecture, Ithaa was built to allow guests to enjoy the colour, clarity and beauty of the Indian Ocean from a whole new perspective, said Lyle Lewis, general manager. Since its opening weve welcomed over 150,000 guests, served over 1.2 million glasses of champagne and witnessed over 300 proposals, with over 350 weddings being hosted at the restaurant to date.



Were proud to remain within some of the top restaurant categories in the world and not just for the awe-inspiring design- our food is based on contemporary European cuisine from award winning chefs that you cant find anywhere else in the Maldives.



Dishes such as Maldivian lobster carpaccio with reef fish tartare and poached quail egg are available on the set seven-course dinner menu, whilst the four-course set lunch menu includes short loin of lamb, marinated white asparagus, tomato relish, smoked cherry mozzarella, lime and caramel jus.



Designed by Mike Murphy of M J Murphy in New Zealand, who specialises in aquarium technology, the structure, which has a cost of $5 million, qualifies as the world's largest aquarium tunnel and has never had water inside. Instead, it was built on dry land in Singapore before being transported on the back of an ocean-going barge, lowered into the water and weighed down with 85 tonnes of sand ballast.



The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is home to the largest selection of dining outlets in the country. A true gourmet's delight, the island boasts a choice of 12 restaurants and bars featuring unique and individual menus, including the newly opened Ufaa by Chinese celebrity chef Jereme Leung.



It was also the first resort to build an underground wine cellar; the first to invite world-class chefs and winemakers to its islands and the first to establish a cheese bar. Conrad Maldives continues to offer the largest wine list in the region with over 20,000 bottles of approximately 1,400 labels in The Wine Cellar, built two metres underground.



To commemorate its 11th anniversary, Ithaa Undersea Restaurant will host a grand celebrations on April 15. Guests will enjoy a specially designed seven course degustation matched with Grand Cru Burgundy from Domaine Vincent Giardin. The dinner will be priced at $395 per person



For more information about Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, visit www.conradhotels.com/maldives. - TradeArabia News Service
Omans Ministry of Tourism has announced its participation in this years 50th edition of ITB Berlin, a leading travel trade show, which will be held from March 9 in Germany.

The trade show will run for five days until March 13, where the sultanate will be represented by 36 organisations from the tourism sector, including a separate stall for the national carrier Oman Air.

Omans delegation will be headed by Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrazi, the Minister of Tourism, who will attend the official opening of the exhibition and participate in different activities, along with other international tourism ministers and government entities. He will also attend events with the international tourism organization, UNWTO.

The Ministry of Tourism and the different representations from the sultanate take part of the ITB Berlin show on a yearly basis, as it is considered the biggest trade show in the world. The show gives the opportunity to vendors of the sultanate to showcase the latest tourism developments, as well as learn from the different international developments around the world.

The first three days of ITB will focus on agreements and meetings between international delegations as well as the organizations participating in the trade show while the last two days will host the general public and visitors from around the world. Last year, the show received 175,000 visitors who were exposed to 10,096 participants and exhibitors representing 186 countries.  TradeArabia News Service
A1Travel has just released their analysis of their bestselling holidays so far in 2016, and, once again, Benidorm tops the list.



(TRAVPR.COM) SPAIN - March 7th, 2016 - Bookings for the popular Spanish resort have risen by 20% year on year. During the same period, demand for Greek or Turkish holidays has fallen. This is, in part, due to the refugee crisis. The Greek islands of Kos and Lesvos have been particularly badly affected.

Last year, the number of refugees stranded on these islands ran into the tens of thousands. Many towns and resorts were left struggling to cope with the influx. For example, in August, there were 23,000 people stuck in Mytilini, which is the capital city of Lesvos.

Understandably, many tourists took the decision to book somewhere else for their next holiday, a fact that has greatly benefited Benidorm. Increasingly, sun seekers are opting to stay in the popular Spanish resort rather than visit Turkey or Greece.

Unrest and terrorist incidents in other countries has also seen more holidaymakers returning to destinations that are closer to home. This is mostly because they are perceived as being safe places to visit.

The airing of season six of the popular TV series Benidorm has also helped to fuel demand for the Spanish resort. Several search engines and comparison sites reported that the use of the search term Benidorm soared when the first episode of the new season was shown. On one site, the number of searches carried out for Benidorm rose by over 100%. The impact the series has had is demonstrated by the fact that so many people are trying to book themselves into the Solana, which is the main hotel featured in the show.

In real life, the hotel is called the Sol Pelicanos, which has a sister hotel called the Ocas. Both hotels are now very popular with UK holidaymakers.

Demand shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, it is picking up, the first two months of 2016 have been particularly busy. Leon Shanahan head of marketing at A1travel, advises those who want to holiday in Benidorm to book early. He said:

"If holidaymakers are looking to book Benidorm for peak dates, in 2016, I urge them to book asap as we already have hotels that are fully booked for July and August and last minute deals for this period will be thin on the ground

However, there are still a few last minute Benidorm deals available for March. For example, A1Travel is offering holidaymakers the chance to spend 7 nights in three star self-catering accommodation, for as little as 145 per person. Flights to and from several UK airports are included in that price.

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AKELDAMA, FIELD OF BLOOD. A covert prophetic message buried in the Biblical account of Judass betrayal and the purchase of the field of blood by the Sanhedrin with the 30 pieces of silver reward that Judas rejected. The bonus message with this DVD looks at the state of the world finance, and other affairs that relate to the Biblical prophecies. Cost 10.AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH. As in the Days of Noah: From the Prophetic Witness/Two by Two 2009 conference in Chesterfield, come five prophetic studies examining the statements of the Lord Jesus in Luke 17 and Matthew 24 which compare conditions in the world before, and at the time of the Flood with those in evidence at the time of His return. The scriptures are used as a lens to examine conditions in today's world, from the rising levels of violence to the global subculture of alien abductees, and show how the parallels are to be found in the "days of Noah. and the days before the flood." Genesis chapters 5 & 6 are opened to show the invasion of planet Earth by fallen angels and their offspring, leading to investigation of current phenomena in the realm of E.T. and its biblical interpretation. Cost 15.HIDDEN SECRETS AND HIDDEN WARNINGS. Brian through this teaching exposition looks at, as the title says, the hidden secrets and the hidden warnings contained within the scriptures. Matthew Ch13 v 52 every scribe instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. Seeking to go into the treasure trove of Gods Word for Him to show us things new and old - Things that are just discovered, Things that have been known in the Word of God for decades and centuries. To appreciate that the Word of God is a revelation of Himself. Cost 10.AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MILLENNIUM. This comprehensive introduction to a topic which is not often addressed in churches, the Millennium, takes the subject head on. Understanding that it was God's intention for His Word to be taken literally (allowing for normal figures of speech etc) Brian gives an informative and refreshing insight into the Reign of Messiah Jesus on earth and the place of the believer within His kingdom. This teaching is designed to inspire and support believers in these dark "last days" and give them a hope, and an objective to which they can work, whilst they anticipate the great reward of the Sabbath rest of God's people. Cost 10.HEAVEN IS HIS THRONE, EARTH IS HIS FOOTSTOOL. An examination from Isaiah and Revelation of the Holy City of God and its inhabitation by the believers, its relevance to the Millennium and eternity. Brian also examines its details given in the Scriptures. This message is in two parts, and both included on this DVD, costing 10.
"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.

"He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb.

"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

"When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". - David Cameron.




Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 7

City-based girl, Deepika Bhatia will soon fly to Canada to showcase her nanotechnology project of purifying Buddha Nullah at Ludhiana during the annual convention of University of Alberta (Edmonton) in Canada.

The convention IC-Impacts-2016 will be held from May 28 to June 8 on the university campus. Deepika, a research scholar at Lovely University, was also appointed as junior research fellow (JRF) for the IC Impacts, a Government of India funded project.

Giving more information about her green project, Deepika said she had centered her research on textile dyeing industry in Ludhiana and a local drain Buddha Nullah, which flows through the city.

Deepika said, Buddha Nullah is the most polluted drain. It carries industrial toxins to Satluj river, which serves polluted water to a large population. Scientifically speaking my proposal is based on cheap sources from corn-cob in the form of column and modified nano-biochar particles for water purification. The water to be purified will be passed through these columns. It takes long hours before it becomes useful.

Deepika said she had already collected waste water and isolated potent dye degrading bacteria. Finally for examination, the group of bacteria was developed in the form of bio-filters for purification, under green technology processes.

The Indo-Canadian-Impact Summer Institute is an annual programme that updates Canadian and Indian graduates skills in research, innovation, commercialization and leadership. It helps in building healthy communities in Canada and India, besides creating long term, meaningful connections between students, researchers, and industry around the world. Only 50 students were selected throughout the world to attend this programme.

LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal congratulated Deepika and inspired her to prove her work as an asset to global society.
PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 7

The city police force today remained on their toes following a multi-city alert of possible terrorist strike on religious shrines sounded by the Centre while thousands of devotees thronged Shiva temples to pay obeisance on the occasion of Mahashivaratri. They offered prayers amid thick blanket of security cover.

The central intelligence agencies had strong inputs of infiltration of Pakistan-based terrorists into the India territory through the western border and their plans to strike at shrines during Shivaratri, celebrated all over the country with fervour and devotion.

The city police had made elaborate arrangements for providing foolproof security at various programmes organized by different religious organisations to mark the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri festival.

Police teams were deployed outside famous Shiva temples, besides other Hindu religious shrines. Quick response teams were also deputed outside several shrines thronged by thousands of devotees. Men and women police personnel remained present inside temples in civil dress.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said a list of different programmes being organised in the city was prepared and elaborate security arrangements were made accordingly. He said PCR teams, police force from police stations and the Police Lines were asked to patrol city roads in order to thwart any untoward incident.

Yesterday, police teams along with bomb disposal and dog squad were pressed into service to carry out checking in various crowded bazaars. Presence of good number of policemen was also witnessed in main chowks and bazars of the city.

People organised langars of different varieties of food, fruits and snacks laced with bhang, which is also offered during prayers of Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri. Lone queues were witnessed in Shiva temples since wee hours. Devotees were heard chanting Om Namah Shivaya and raising slogans of Har Har Mahadev. All temples in the city were decorated with lights and flowers.

Mahashivratri festival holds importance for women as it is believed that by worshipping Lord Shiva on this day would help them finding a good husband.

Amarnath Sewa Mandal baked a cake of 51,000 pound, which was offered to Lord Shiva and distributed among devotees on the occasion.
Rajat Banerji

National Head, Amway India talks to Sanjeev Sharma

The absence of a regulatory framework has affected the growth of the direct selling industry. Rajat Banerji, chairman, Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) and National Head-Corporate Affairs, Amway India, says the direct selling industry offers self-employment to over 40 lakh persons, a majority of whom are women and the industry was hoping for full or partial exemption in excise duty on commodities such as cosmetics, nutrition and skin care products in the Union Budget.

Q: What is the view of the direct selling industry on the Budget proposals?

A: In the Budget speech of 2015, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced amendments to the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. That did not take place and was a disappointment for the direct selling industry which offers self-employment to over 40 lakh persons, a majority of whom are women. In the Budget speech of 2016, the Finance Minister has promised tightening of laws with regard to collective investment schemes. At the IDSA, we believe the two are inter-linked as current financial frauds are often booked under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, and from our perspective, incorrectly applied to the direct selling industry from time to time. Mary Kay, an IDSA member company, had closed its India operations, after the MD of a leading direct selling company was arrested in Kerala in 2013.

Q: What more could have been done?

A: The direct selling industry was hoping for full or partial exemption in excise duty on commodities such as cosmetics, nutrition and skin care products. Direct selling FMCG industry has a visible imprint on the countrys social and economic lives. There are various areas that have been supported by the industry from health and human services, education to women empowerment.

We expected the Finance Minister to make a pitch for progressive tax reforms which can improve productivity of all the sectors which contribute to the FMCG direct selling industry. This will prepare India as a destination which apart from sustaining its own population in urban and rural India can also look towards becoming a source of consumer goods produce for other countries.

Q: What is the size of the direct selling industry?

A: According to the IDSA-PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Survey 2014-15, the gross sales for the industry stood at Rs 7,958.3 crore in FY14-15. The industry registered a growth of 6.5% as compared to 2.5% growth in 2013-14. In the light of various reforms announced by the government, we expect double-digit growth rate in the coming 3-5 years.

Q: What is the growth projection?

A: The size of the industry is estimated to reach up to Rs 23,654.3 crore by 2019-20 on account of conducive environment in the form of policy framework in our country. Our survey says the industry has the potential to enter double-digit growth, going ahead, on account of strong legislation, reviving investments in economy and expanding consumer base across all segments of the economy.

Q: How much employment is being created by the industry?

A: In the fiscal 2014-15, there were around 40 lakh direct sellers associated with the industry. Though the industry witnessed a decline in its workforce, we are hopeful to add more sales force in the coming years on the back of governments emphasis on Skill India. Due to the absence of regulatory framework, some unfortunate incidents happened in the country. These incidents affected the approach of direct sellers. Therefore, the number of direct sellers has come down from 43.83 lakh in 2013-14 to 39.29 lakh in 2014-15. However, we see a huge potential in the sector for employment and that also with dignity and higher income especially for our women.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 6

Slamming Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar over his post-bail speech, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today alleged that JNUSU president "did not raise" slogans on freedom from hunger or interference in university affairs during the February 9 event on campus.

The speech that he delivered after his release from Tihar Jail on Thursday was full of "rhetoric and sham", said the JNUSU joint secretary Saurabh Sharma.

"Azadi from hunger or interference was not the slogan raised ever on campus during February 9 event. It's a ploy to dilute it by de-contextualising its use and distract from the core issue so that the Left bastion remains secure after a short tremor," he said.

The right wing ABVP asked if Kanhaiya will "criticize and disassociate" from DSU's posters on campus which demand secession of Kashmir, Nagaland and Manipur.

"Nivedita Menon in her lecture has said that 'India is illegally occupying Kashmir' and 'India's imperialism and exploitation in Kashmir'. We demand that a resolution must be brought in JNUSU condemning such statements and demanding an apology from DSU and Menon. We promise to vote in favour of it," ABVP said in a statement.

On the other side, the Left-dominant JNUSU continued its call to students for joining the movement demanding the release of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.
Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, March 7

On the first day of the Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit, 38 MoUs involving an investment of Rs1.28 lakh crore were signed with several companies.

The Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were exchanged between representatives of companies and Sudhir Rajpal, Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

The agreements included an MoU of Rs45,365 crore with M3M for mixed use development, office and retail; Rs12,823 crore and Rs11,100 crore with Vatika Limited and IREO Private Limited, respectively, for infrastructure.

The Haryana Government was all praise and gratitude for China, Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, the UK, and the Ontario province of Canada for participating in the summit.

There was no major investment from oversees that could be termed as the star of the day.

Industry experts blamed it on the cancellation of Pravasi Divas, but an unperturbed Khattar told the foreign delegates, Your participation in the summit overwhelms me with emotion. It is an ample proof of your trust and confidence in our ability to walk the talk. I, therefore, welcome each one of you here on behalf of the hardworking people of Haryana, on behalf of my resolute government, and on my personal behalf.

CM at his religious best
Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, March 6

Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has demanded a CBI inquiry into the arson and violence which broke out during the Jat stir. He also sought stern action against administrative and police officials who failed to act.

Interacting with media persons after meeting residents of the violence-hit Chhawani Colony here today, Bishnoi said, The mob attack occurred due to negligence of the district officials, who failed to act on time. The state government should provide compensation and a government job to kin of the deceased.

Two residents were killed and 20 others suffered injuries in Chhawani Colony during the attack.

Bishnoi said the issue would be raised in the forthcoming budget session of the Assembly. He advocated reservation on the basis of economic status instead of caste.
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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 6

The election to the post of chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Fatehabad Zila Parishad (ZP) scheduled for today was put off, as members did not turn up for a meeting called for the purpose.

Fatehabad Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) JK Abhir waited for them for an hour. When not a single out of 18 ZP members turned up, he announced adjournment of the elections. The next date of the meeting will be intimated to the members soon, the ADC said.

Among the newly elected members, Anil Gorchhia, Kamla Rani, Surjit Odh, Jagdish Odh and Gita Rani are from the BJP.

Fatehabad being the home district of state BJP chief Subhash Barala, the ruling party toiled hard to muster support for its members.

However, nine other members  Mandeep Kaur Gill, Vijender Siwach, Ajay Mehta, Baljit Kaur, Sushila Sihag, Ram Dass Tibbi, Avtar Singh, Ram Chander and Bibo Indora  teamed against the BJP and declared that the ruling party could name any one of them as a candidate for the chairperson.

Later, Rajesh Kaswan and his wife, Sunita, joined them making their strength to 11  still one short of 12 needed to complete the quorum for the meeting.

Harvard University alumna Yukti Chaudhary and Satpal Sharma kept distance from BJP members as well as the group of 11 members.

Since none of the group was in a position to muster support for its candidates, none attended the meeting.

Ambala: The election of the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Ambala Zila Parishad (ZP) was postponed, as none of the newly elected members reached Additional Deputy Commissioner Monika Maliks office, where polls were to be held today.

There are 15 members in the House, out of which the BJP has six and the INLD 4. The Congress has two members, while the BSP has one. Two of the members are not affiliated to any party.

The ADC waited for the members till noon. When none of them turned up, she announced postponement of the election. No new date of the election was announced.

Yamunanagar: The election to the posts of Zila Parishad chairperson and vice- chairperson was postponed today, as no member attended the meeting scheduled for the purpose.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Shalin said the next date for the meeting would be announced after discussing the matter with Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia.

In Kaithal, no contest for top posts

Kaithal: The chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Kaithal Zila Parishad were elected unopposed today.

Sukhvinder Kaur of Andhli village was elected chairperson, while Munish Kumar of Kathwar village was made the vice-chairperson.

Yamunanagar MLA Ghanshyam Dass Arora and Guhla MLA Kulwant Bajigar told the media the chairperson, her deputy and all Zila Parishad members had expressed their faith in the BJP leadership.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 7

The project of installation of traffic lights in the city as well their maintenance has been frequently hampered due to many reasons.

Presently, only five lights  three on the NH1 that passes through the city and two in the interiors of the city  are working.

The irony is that out of the three lights on the NH1, one at the starting point at Amphala Chowk remains either defunct for most of the time or often blinks erratically creating confusion for commuters.

The other traffic light at the most important junction at Bikram Chowk, which is forcefully kept working by the agency concerned, many a times depends on green and red signal only with timer not working.

We often convey these problems to the Jammu Municipal Corporation which further forwards the complaint to the agency concerned for the rectification of the lights, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic, Mohan Lal.

He admitted that technical snags were often reported in the functioning of traffic lights. This is a continuous process and we keep a vigil on the system and report the fault immediately to the agency concerned for rectification, said Mohan Lal.

Traffic lights were installed and inaugurated at 10 different tri-junctions in the city in August 2012 to ensure smooth regulation and management of traffic. Omax Company was given the contract for installation of traffic signals in Jammu under the supervision of the Jammu Municipal Corporation at a cost of Rs 2.50 crore.

Sixty junctions of Jammu were estimated to be covered for installing traffic signals in two phases, out of which 30 lights at 10 different locations, including Satwari Chowk, Gangyal, Green Belt, Gole Market, Bikram Chowk, Jewel Panama Chowk and Narwal, were made operational in the first phase, besides other crossings of the city.

The second phase, however, never saw the light of the day.

While the first phase of installation of traffic lights, too, had run into rough weathers due to unplanned installations, the authorities at the helm of affairs let the system flop, said a JMC official.

He said the administration had failed to provide a systemised Electric Traffic Signal Lights (ETSL) in the city.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 6

Governor NN Vohra has extended greetings to people on Mahashivaratri, celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandits as Herath.In a message of felicitations, the Governor said the festival symbolised piety, devotion, brotherhood and harmony, which were the hallmarks of our glorious cultural ethos. The Governor prayed for peace, progress and prosperity in the state. National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and working president Omar Abdullah have also extended Mahashivaratri greetings to people.

Farooq hoped that the festival would be celebrated in the true spirit of the states composite culture and strengthen the bonds of amity and brotherhood between various communities. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the day embedded in it a rich cultural heritage. He hoped that the traditions of brotherhood and amity demonstrated by the people on this day through centuries would continue to inspire generations and help in building a harmonious society.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister of state Ghulam Nabi Azad has conveyed warm greetings to the people, particularly Kashmiri Pandits. Azad said such festivals represented the composite ethos and rich cultural heritage of our society. Diversity is the hallmark of our society and it is this attribute which earns us respect and reliability in the entire world, said Azad. Azad hoped that the occasion would mark a new beginning of peace, prosperity and progress and cement the bonds of amity and brotherhood in the country and the state.
Our Correspondent

Kupwara, March 7

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti hinted at forming the government with the BJP today, but wanted New Delhi to take steps for implementation of the Agenda of Alliance to reach out to people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba made it clear that Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds decision of going with the BJP for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir was final.

For me the decision taken by my father is final, Mehbooba said while addressing party workers in north Kashmirs Kupwara district. I will not do anything that will prove my father wrong. His decision is my decision, she said.

Mehbooba said the Agenda of Alliance was the creation of her father to form a government with the BJP, which was equally important for her.

I have no issues with the BJP. I am not asking anything from the BJP. The question is what the Centre wants to do for people of Jammu and Kashmir, she said.

She said Mufti formed a government with the BJP only to ensure that people of state benefited on the development front and peace was restored in the turbulent state.

The PDP president made it clear that she had no ambition of becoming the Chief Minister only for the sake of power.

I could have become the Chief Minister even during Mufti Sahebs time when doctors advised him not to hold public meetings due to his ill-health. But I chose not to as my father had the desire to serve people, Mehbooba said. She said her father had great trust on himself and was keen to see peace in Kashmir.

Mufti Saheb was keen to bring India and Pakistan closer for better bilateral relations. Restoration of peace and improvement of relations were always on top of his mind. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Pakistan in December, Mufti Saheb was on a hospital bed in Delhi. He told me that the two countries had no option but to talk to resolve issues, she said.

He made efforts for ceasefire on the border and convinced then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to initiate a dialogue with separatist leaders in Kashmir. When the PDP put up signboards mentioning the distance between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad during the term of the PDP-Congress government, some people laughed at us. Mufti Saheb was confident and made it a point that cross-LoC trade was put in place, she added.

She said young persons had been dying due to the ongoing violence when they should learn to live. Captain Tushar, 26-year-old son of a poor man from Udhampur, was killed in an encounter recently. A 16-year-old boy who was known as Newton and had scored 98 per cent marks was killed in a gunfight. The killing of youths needs to be stopped, she remarked.
New Delhi, March 7

A multi-city terror alert has been issued following inputs that 10 suspected LeT and JeM terrorists had sneaked into the National Capital after entering the country from Pakistan through the western state of Gujarat.

Security was tightened on Monday in multiple cities, including Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panaji.

Besides Delhi, where the alert was specifically issued yesterday, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Bangalore have also been alerted through security agencies.

According to intelligence sources, while the terror suspects have entered India through Gujarat, there was no information on their subsequent movement, which is why a multi-city, pan-India, alert was issued.

An unprecedented security cover was on Monday thrown over Gujarat on Maha Shivratri with NSG teams deployed in the state and the police undertaking massive combing operations amidst robust security at major temples and all vital installations.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel held a high-level security meeting to review the situation. Despite reports that terrorists might strike in Delhi or other places, Gujarat Police has decided to not to let its guard down.

Gujarat DGP PC Thakur has ordered massive security and search operations to identify any threats.

Of the four teams of National Security Guard (NSG) that dispatched by the Centre on Saturday night, one has been sent to secure the famous Somnath temple, which attracts a large number of people during Maha Shivratri. The remaining three are stationed in Ahmedabad.

The Chief Minister today reviewed the overall security arrangements and preparedness of state police at a meeting with key officials, including the DGP.

In New Delhi, security was stepped up at major temples today in view of the Maha Shivratri festival.

A meeting of the top brass of Delhi Police was held, following which all Deputy Commissioners were instructed to heighten vigil in their districts. Police presence and patrolling around temples which were teeming with devotees, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places like metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus, which witness very high footfall, has been stepped up, a senior official said.

Earlier today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the internal security situation in the country in the wake of inputs that 10 suspected LeT and JeM terrorists have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat.

At a high-level meeting, attended by top security officials, including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma, Singh took stock of the situation and the steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks.

The Home Minister was briefed that four NSG teams have taken position in different locations in Gujarat and would rush to any place if there is any emergency, official sources said.

Singh also reviewed the steps taken to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats, they said.

In view of the January 2 terror attack in Pathankot airbase, security agencies were not taking any chances and all possible steps are being taken to prevent any possible terror attacks, sources said.  Agencies
GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 6

The Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh Suhag, has assured to intervene in the matter related to "missing" rare Sikh manuscripts, books and artifacts seized by the Indian Army from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Bluestar in June 1984.

This was confirmed by SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh who interacted with the Army Chief during the latter's visit to the Golden Temple with his family today.

The rare documents, which even included some centuries-old manuscripts signed by some Sikh gurus and original texts of Sikh scholars of medieval periods, were kept in the Sikh reference library in the Golden Temple till June 7, 1984.

On June 7, during the Operation Bluestar the Army allegedly took away all documents from the library and around 25,000 books, which were subsequently passed on to the Indian security agencies.

While the government claimed that most of documents in the library were burnt after it caught fire during exchange of fire, the Sikh leadership since then has been claiming that manuscripts and books were taken away by the Indian security forces.

Harcharan Singh said, "We discussed with the Army chief about the missing rare manuscripts and books. He in turn assured to examine it thoroughly and will communicate us back about his findings. We are also appealing to the state government to take up the matter with the Defence Minister."

The Army Chief is in Amritsar to present the Standard to 18 Cavalry, a frontline Armoured Regiment of the Indian Army, currently operating along the western borders on behalf of the President.
Flint (Mich.), March 7

Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton clashed angrily over trade, the auto industry bailout and Wall Street in a Michigan debate on Sunday, with Sanders accusing Clinton of backing trade deals that robbed the state of jobs.

In a debate in Flint, Michigan, Sanders said Clinton supported disastrous trade policies that moved manufacturing jobs out of cities like Flint and Detroit and shifted them overseas.

But Clinton said Sanders opposition to the 2009 auto bailout, a crucial issue in a state that is home to the US auto industry, would have cost the state millions of jobs. The bailout, which Clinton supported, passed Congress and has been credited with helping save the US industry.

If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking 4 million jobs with it, Clinton, the former Secretary of State, said of Sanders.

The debate came as Sanders, a US Senator from Vermont, struggled to slow Clintons march to the nomination to face the Republican candidate in the November 8 General Election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Media organisations predicted that Sanders would win Sundays Maine caucus.

Sanders also questioned the sincerity of Clintons conversion to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal.

Clinton has discovered religion on this issue, but its a little too late, he said. Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America.

The two contenders cut each other off on several occasions, a rare occurrence in a race that has been much more polite than the raucous Republican presidential campaign.

Excuse me, Im talking, Sanders said to Clinton when she tried to interrupt. If youre going to talk, tell the whole story, Clinton responded.

Sanders repeated his charge that Clinton is too close to Wall Street and demanded again that she release the transcript of paid speeches she has given to Wall Street firms. Clinton said she would release them when all the candidates, including Republicans, also release transcripts of similar talks.

There aint nothing

Throwing up his hands, Sanders said: Ill release it. Here it is. There aint nothing! I dont give speeches to Wall Street!

Both candidates said they would beat Republican front-runner Donald Trump if they face the brash billionaire businessman in the November presidential election.

I think Donald Trumps bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people, Clinton said. We have to end the divisiveness.

The debate was held in Flint to highlight the citys water contamination crisis, and both candidates expressed outrage at Flints plight and demanded state and federal money begin to flow immediately to begin relief and rebuilding efforts.

Both candidates condemned local officials who they said abetted the crisis in Flint, and demanded the resignation of Republican Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan.

People should be held accountable, wherever that leads, Clinton said, adding an investigation should determine who in state and federal government was responsible. There has to be absolute accountability.

What is going on is a disgrace beyond belief, Sanders said, plugging his plan to spend $1 trillion to rebuild crumbling infrastructure across the United States.

The crisis in Flint, a predominantly black city of 1,00,000, was triggered when an emergency city manager installed by Snyder switched the citys water supply to the nearby Flint River from Lake Michigan to save money.

The change corroded Flints aging pipes and released lead and other toxins into the water supply, exposing thousands of residents including children to high lead levels that have sparked serious health problems.

Clinton leads in polls

Opinion polls show Clinton, 68, leading in Michigan and Mississippi, which vote on Tuesday. She also leads in polls in several big states that vote on March 15, including Ohio and Florida.

Sanders, 74, faces a tough challenge erasing Clintons lead of about 200 bound delegates who will choose the nominee at the July convention. Since the Democratic race awards delegates in each state proportionally, she will keep gathering delegates even in those states she loses.

The Democratic debate occurred one day after Sanders won nominating contests in Kansas and Nebraska, and Clinton won the bigger prize of Louisiana, a win that allowed her to slightly expand her delegate lead.

On the Republican side, Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas were angling on Sunday for a two-man race for the partys presidential nomination after splitting four state nominating contests at the weekend.

The wins for Trump, 69, and Cruz, 45, on Saturday were a setback for party leaders, who have largely opposed Trump and hinted they prefer Rubio, 44, who took third or fourth in Saturdays four Republican contests.

Cruz has been predicting a two-man race with Trump for several weeks.

On Sunday, Rubio was projected to win in Puerto Rico, his second victory to date in nominating contests across US states and territories. Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, the only other candidate remaining from a starting field of 17, has yet to win any state.

The Republican competition moves on Tuesday to Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, where Trump hopes to expand his lead in delegates ahead of a party convention in July.  Reuters
Seoul, March 7

North Korea threatened pre-emptive and indiscriminate nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States on Monday, as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises.

The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the Norths recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response.

Participation in the joint exercisesknown as Key Resolve and Foal Eaglehas been bumped up this year to involve 3,00,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets.

In a statement issued hours before the drills began, North Koreas powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an all-out military counter-offensive.

Describing the exercises as nuclear war drills aimed at undermining North Koreas sovereignty, the statement said the Supreme Command of the Korean Peoples Army was ready to launch a pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike in response.

The threat came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the countrys nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby, in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.

Pyongyang has issued similar, dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military 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.

The National Defence Commission said plans for what it called a pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice had been ratified by Kim Jong-Un.

The plans would come into operation in the event of even the slightest military action by the Norths enemies, it said.

The indiscriminate nuclear strike... will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea), said the statement carried by the Norths official KCNA news agency.  AFP
The man arrested by the FBI in last year's heist of nearly $5 million in gold from a tractor-trailer on I-95 in North Carolina allegedly spent a year planning the robbery, including planting a GPS tracker and a remote-controlled pepper spray device in the truck.

The scenario laid out by the FBI is a scheme being compared to Hollywood movies.

Adalberto Perez, 46, was arrested last week at his home in a Miami, Fla., suburb, almost a year after the robbery. A friend whose address was used for the GPS tracker shipment and who says Perez showed him some of the gold apparently went to the FBI with the information.

The routine shipment of gold bars was being transported by Miami-based Republic Metals to a processing plant in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, that serves jewelry makers in the Boston area.

Guards working for Transvalue Inc. of Miami pulled off the highway about 6:30 p.m. They told police they were surprised by three armed men driving a white van. The bandits reportedly ordered the guards to lie on the ground, tied their hands behind their backs and made them walk into the nearby woods. By the time the men were able to make it back out of the woods and flag down passing motorists, the thieves had made off 275 pounds of gold worth about $4.8 million.

As ABC News reports, Perez and accomplices who are still being sought allegedly kept track of the truck using the GPS device. Shortly after dusk they are said to have triggered a remote-controlled pepper spray device that had been rigged inside the cab, forcing the truck's guards/drivers to pull off to the side of the road. Originally it was thought that it may have been mechanical problems that caused the truck to pull over.

The FBI didn't say how Perez was able to gain access to the truck or if he had any relationship with the TransValue shipping company.
As of March 7, CSA "raw data" is once again publicly visible on FMCSA website, according to the agency. Image: FMCSA

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced on March 7 that it has restored to public view its absolute measures of the safety performance of motor carriers of property.

The agency said it has made the necessary modifications to its Safety Measurement System (SMS) website to make it compliant with the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the highway passed late last year.

The FAST Act requires that property carriers absolute measures be available to the public. Duane DeBruyne, FMCSA spokesperson, told HDT that those measures amount to the raw data produced by the agencys Carrier, Safety, Accountability program and so are not based on relative comparison to other motor carriers.

Because the highway bill prohibits the display of property carriers relative percentiles, FMCSA pulled that information from public display on December 4, 2015. Also that day, the agency removed the raw CSA data to allow time to revise its SMS website.

At this time, those modifications are complete and the SMS website is fully compliant with the FAST Act, FMCSA said on March 7.

The agency advised that any motor carrier without login credentials for the SMS website may click here for more information on how to obtain a PIN.

Separately, but also pursuant to the dictates of the FAST Act, FMCSA announced that it has commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, through its Committee on National Statistics and Transportation Research Board, to carry out a study "regarding high risk truck and bus companies."

The agency said the will "examine the accuracy with which the Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) safety measures... identify high risk carriers and predict or are correlated with future crash risk or other safety indicators for motor carriers."

Related: FMCSA Removes CSA Data from Public View
BRUSSELS  NATO announced Sunday that it was expanding its mission to help choke off the smuggling of migrants into Europe by deploying warships in Greek and Turkish waters, reinforcing its flotilla and deepening cooperation with the European Unions Frontex border agency.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the remarks in a phone interview with The Associated Press a day before a summit of EU and Turkish leaders in Brussels about the migration crisis.

We will do reconnaissance, we will do surveillance, we will collect information, and share this information in real time with the Turkish coast guard, the Greek coast guard and with Frontex, helping them with managing the migrant and refugee crisis, and also to cut the lines of the illegal trafficking and smugglers, Stoltenberg said.

The widened mission comes after defense ministers of the 28-nation alliance on Feb. 11 ordered the immediate deployment of the three vessels in NATOs Standing Maritime Group 2 to the Aegean Sea.

The waters between Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, are a key area where smugglers have been bringing tens of thousands of migrants into Europe, sparking what some have called the gravest crisis in the EUs history.

Now we are going further by actually doing two new things, Stoltenberg told the AP. We are going into Greek and Turkish territorial waters. We have agreed on arrangements for doing that.

In addition, we have agreed with Frontex on how to work with them, how to share information so what we will do will be more efficient, the NATO chief said.

NATO officials said the alliances Allied Maritime Command and Frontex exchanged letters Sunday on specifics of their tactical and operational cooperation.

Now NATO and Frontex will be able to exchange liaison officers and share information in real time, to enable Frontex, as well as Greece and Turkey, to take action in real time, NATO said in a statement.

Stoltenberg said additional NATO assets will also be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean. The German, Canadian and Turkish naval vessels deployed Feb. 11 have already been joined by a Greek unit, and Stoltenberg said France has announced it is sending a ship and that other allies are expected to follow suit.

He stressed that NATO ships and crews will not turn back the boats carrying migrants, many of whom are fleeing war or poverty in their Middle Eastern or African homelands.

What we will do is to support, assist, help the Turkish and the Greek authorities and the European Union, Stoltenberg said. He called the agreement reached for joint NATO-EU efforts in the field unprecedented.In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos hailed the common understanding with NATO formalized Sunday as an important contribution to international efforts to tackle smuggling and irregular migration in the Aegean Sea.

The International Office of Migration estimated Friday that 125,819 migrants had reached the Greek islands since Jan. 1, and that 321 others drowned in the Eastern Mediterranean while attempting to make the journey across the cold, often dangerous waters.

On Monday, Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet in Brussels with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
It is the golden rule of mutual fund picking: If youre a do-it-yourself investor, avoid load funds, which charge commissions of up to 5.75 percent every time you buy shares. But were going to break that rule, sort of.

Thats because many discount brokers let you buy load funds without paying a sales charge. The catch: Some load funds trade load-free only at certain brokerage firms. The three funds below are available through at least three major brokerage firms without a load or a transaction fee.

Diamond Hill Large Cap A: (symbol DHLAX; available at Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard). Lead manager Chuck Bath follows a classic value approach to stock picking, buying a stock when it trades well below his estimate of the firms worth. The fund holds stocks for four years, on average (more than twice the holding period of the typical large-company stock fund). Over the past five years, Diamond Hill outpaced its peer group by an average of 1.6 percentage points per year.

Oppenheimer International Growth A: (OIGAX; Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard). Longtime manager George Evans and co-manager Robert Dunphy look for attractively priced, high-quality foreign firms poised to benefit from broad trends, including aging populations in the developed world and growing wealth in emerging nations. They assemble a portfolio of 100 to 150 stocks and hang tight. Their average holding period is eight years, an aeon compared with the 18-month average holding period of diversified large-company foreign stock funds.

The fund has done well during rough market patches. In 2008, 2011 and 2015, when global markets struggled, International Growth ranked among the top 25 percent of its peer group (funds that focus on large, fast-growing foreign companies). But the funds long-term returns impress, too. Over the past 10 years, International Growth returned an annualized 6.1 percent.

Templeton Global Bond A: (TPINX; Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard). Manager Michael Hasenstab is a skilled bond picker. Although 2015 was a rough year for the fund, it returned 8.5 percent annualized over the past 15 years, putting it in the top 2 percent of all global bond funds. Hasenstab and co-manager Sonal Desai are contrarian investors who arent afraid to search for bargains in the proverbial rubbish bin. For example, they loaded up on Irish bonds and Hungarian debt in 2011 as other investors shunned them. The investment process requires some patience and, at times, some grit. But investors who stick with the fund will be rewarded. It yields 2.9 percent.
Drones are interfering with wildfire suppression efforts in the state, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Service.

Mostly, its hobby drones that are causing these issues, George Geissler, director of Oklahoma Forestry Services, said Friday in a telephone interview. We were trying to avoid it here in the state.

Right now, you have to register your drone with the FAA. Basically, what it amounts to is technology has gone forward. Everyone is looking for the uses of these drones, seeing how they are best utilized for a variety of different things.

Oklahoma Forestry Services is advising operators of drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems, to avoid flying near or over wildfires and putting fire suppression aircraft at risk.

Due to wildfire conditions, the Forestry Services currently has federal and Oklahoma Air National Guard aircraft, including single-engine air tankers, the CL-415 Super Scooper and helicopters, directly assigned to wildland fire suppression in the state. These aircraft fly low to the ground while dropping their loads of water and retardant, sometimes well below 200 feet.

With their low-cost, high-resolution cameras, they (drones) can do some fairly amazing stuff, Geissler said. But because the technology has advanced so far, the protocols for operating these things in various types of arenas, like over a wildfire, arent set. You reach the point where you have the potential of drone-aircraft interaction.

If you figure that a goose took down a jet, a 3- or 4-pound drone can do a lot of damage to a helicopter or rotary engine. Were trying to avoid a potential catastrophic situation.

Drones can fly as high as 400 feet, which allows for the possibility of a plane colliding with a drone and causing potentially heavy damage to the plane. Because of the that, fire suppression aircraft are diverted from fires if a drone is detected in the area.

In Oklahoma, drones have been detected at wildfires three times in the past five months. Dozens of times during the 2015 western U.S. fire seasons, tankers were prevented from working fires due to drones in the area.

Drone use is rapidly increasing as the technology becomes more widely available and less expensive.

Unmanned aerial systems have a wide variety of uses, many of which are only beginning to be explored, Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Technology Stephen McKeever said in a statement. Currently drone use during wildland fire suppression is not advisable due to potential conflict with helicopters and tankers activity fighting the fires. We must always consider the safety of our firefighters and the public first.

Drone use can even affect firefighter efforts at ground level, Geissler said.

If we have a drone in the area and we are needing a retardant drop in very urgent fashion, and we have to divert that aircraft, the firefighters on the ground can be put in a bad situation unnecessarily because the aircraft is diverted from the area they need them in, he said.
UPDATE: Fire crews from several jurisdictions still are battling an Osage County wildfire that has burned thousands of acres since Sunday.

By day's end Sunday, the fire burned an estimated 7,500 acres southwest of Bartlesville, officials said. That number saw a heavy increase overnight, as the fire continued its advancement through swaths of farmland and straddled the Washington County boundary line.

Reports suggest the number of affected acres could be over 10,000, though Washington County Emergency Management spokeswoman Melissa Lindgren did not have an exact number.

"As of right now, the fire is still burning in places," Lindgren said. "Overnight it was dark and there was limited access to a lot of the fires, so it really hampered the overnight efforts."

Seventeen departments, some from as far away as Wagoner County, have assisted in containing the wildfire. Some locals were evacuated Sunday, though they were later allowed to return home. No homes were believed to have been destroyed.

Wildfires in Okfuskee, Creek, Logan and other eastern counties also remained active Monday morning, Oklahoma Forestry Services Director George Geissler said.

"We're still looking at  what we know of  anywhere between 5-10,000 acres of actively burning fires that we're probably working on as of this morning," Geissler said.

The fire in Creek County, located south of Stroud, has burned about 900 acres in the past two days. It was 60 percent contained Monday morning, Geissler said. The Okfuskee County wildfire  north of Weleetka  has burned over 1,200 acres and is 10 percent contained.

This story originally appeared in Monday's edition of the Tulsa World.

Thousands of acres burned across northeastern Oklahoma on Sunday in a series of grass fires bolstered by high winds and copious amounts of dry grass for fuel, despite recent rains.

The Oklahoma Forestry Services sent crews or aircraft to large fires near Stroud, Bartlesville, Cleveland, Foyil, Weleetka and other locations, OFS director George Geissler said.

Brown, dry grass from the winter still abounds in those areas, creating fuel for fires even though showers and thunderstorms have hit parts of the state recently, Geissler said.

The ample fuel creates extreme fire danger when mixed with windy and dry conditions, Geissler said.

Among the largest fires of the day was a 7,500-acre blaze southwest of Bartlesville in Osage County, Osage County emergency manager Jerry Roberts said.

The Stroud blaze consumed about 890 acres, and the Weleetka fire burned about 1,000 acres, Geissler said.

Crews will likely fight those fires overnight and into Monday, Geissler said.

To battle those and smaller blazes, OFS dispatched a number of aircraft, ranging from Oklahoma National Guard helicopters to single-engine air tankers and a CL-415 SuperScooper, which carries about 1,600 gallons of water and can refill out of lakes, Geissler said.

The Osage County fire, located along a stretch of Oklahoma 123 southwest of Bartlesville, had burned about 7,500 acres in the rural area by Sunday evening, but Roberts predicted the number of affected acres could grow by several thousand overnight if winds gusts continue.

If the wind dont die down where we can catch up, well probably going to get up around 10,000 before its over with, Roberts said.

Crews from about 11 fire departments began fighting that fire about 11 a.m. Sunday, Roberts said.

Washington County Rural, Ochelata, Dewey, Copan and Bureau of Indian Affairs fire departments are among those who helped battle the blaze, Roberts said.

Although the fire burned in a relatively rural area, multiple structures had been threatened and several barns were destroyed, Roberts said.

About 6:30 p.m., that fire was traveling west toward the Bartlesville Osage Casino. Crews were stationed around houses and other structures to fight the approaching fire, Roberts said.

A Rogers County fire, located east of U.S. 169 and northeast of Oologah, burned a 2-mile stretch beginning about 1:30 p.m., according to an Oologah Talala Emergency Medical Services news release.

The blaze neared numerous houses in the areas, as well as a cattle herd and the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch, the release states. All were protected and only a shed was lost in the fire.

A blaze near Mannford destroyed several of the citys main power poles, shutting off power to the city. The city was still without electricity as of 7 p.m., Mannford Police officer Don Caffey said. The police department operated using a back-up generator.

Crews expected to restore the power in a few hours, Caffey said.

The fire also caused police to shut down a stretch of Oklahoma 51 for about a quarter mile Sunday afternoon as the fire approached the highway. Officers re-opened the road after a few hours.

In preparation for the days fires, much the same as they have done every week since mid-February, forestry crews set up task forces across the state, Geissler said.

Were hoping that the green-up will slow us down some, but weve been going pretty busy for three weeks, he said.

The green-up refers to brown, winter grass and other foliage regaining its green color and also some immunity to fires, Geissler said. The changing seasons prompt what Geissler calls the services fire season every year.

At this time of the year when everything is brown and the wind blows, all of that is available to burn whether the soils wet or not, he said.

The changing seasons have caused difficulties for fire crews, such as some trucks getting stuck in saturated soil while crews fight fires, Geissler said.

On Sunday, a red flag fire warning was in effect for Nowata, Craig, Ottawa, Rogers, Mayes, Wagoner, Osage, Washington, Pawnee, Tulsa, Creek, Okfuskee and Okmulgee counties until 7 p.m. because of high winds, low humidity and warm temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.

Winds blew about 20 to 30 mph in those areas, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Relative humidity was recorded near 25 percent, with temperatures in the 70s, according to the warning.

High winds are predicted throughout Monday as a slow-moving upper-level system moves through the area. That system could produce thunderstorms during the week and through Saturday, according to NWS forecasts.

Rainfall is possible in the Tulsa area Monday and Tuesday. Tulsa is predicted to receive just over 1.3 inches of rain.
Here's how U.S. and world political leaders are reacting to the death of former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan:

"Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House. She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice. Our former first lady redefined the role in her time here. Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives."

 President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama

"Laura and I are saddened by the loss of former first lady Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan was fiercely loyal to her beloved husband, and that devotion was matched only by her devotion to our country. Her influence on the White House was complete and lasting. During her time as first lady and since, she raised awareness about drug abuse and breast cancer. When we moved into the White House, we benefited from her work to make those historic rooms beautiful."

 George W. Bush, former U.S. president

"Nancy was an extraordinary woman: a gracious first lady, proud mother and devoted wife to President Reagan  her Ronnie. Her strength of character was legendary, particularly when tested by the attempted assassination of the president, and throughout his battle with Alzheimer's. She leaves a remarkable legacy of good."

 Bill Clinton, former president, and Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state

"Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family."

 Barbara Bush, former first lady

"I remember Nancy as a noble woman who supported President Reagan and stood by his side. She will be remembered as a great friend of the State of Israel."

 Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minster

"Ronald and Nancy Reagan served America with unique distinction. She was his indispensable partner in the White House, as she had been when he was Governor of California. As he was a great President, so she was a great First Lady. The Reagans were also great friends of Canada. Mila and I had many wonderful visits with them. I will always remember our wives together at Ottawa Airport, and President Reagan saying to me: 'You know, Brian, for a couple of Irishmen, we sure married up.' Theirs was a great love story, and we cherish their memory and our friendship.

 Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who delivered a eulogy at Ronald Reagan's funeral

"President Reagan has been reunited with his wife and partner but America and the Reagan family have lost a woman of grace and strength. I join people from around the country and the world in sending them our best thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. A woman of strength and wit, Nancy Reagan's dedication to our country was matched only by that of her husband. Theirs was one of our nation's great love stories and a model of shared devotion to our country. America is stronger and better for their service."

 Jimmy Carter, former U.S. president

"For Ronald Reagan, and in many respects for the country during his administration, she was our own Iron Lady. She was really the person behind President Reagan that gave him his strength and his security and his love. You know, she was everything to Ronald Reagan. I think our nation owes her a debt of gratitude because of the extraordinary support that she was able to give the president during his entire time in office."

 John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library

"We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Mrs. Nancy Reagan. She was a constant source of support and strength for our parents and our family, and we remain grateful to her and President Reagan for their decades of friendship."

 Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughters of former U.S. President Richard Nixon

"I was privileged to know Nancy and Ronald Reagan for more than 50 years and greatly valued their friendship. I am saddened by the news of Nancy's passing. She will be greatly missed, and I look forward to being reunited some day in the future in heaven. One of Nancy's most wonderful qualities was her steadfast and loyal support for her husband. She was an extraordinary first lady."

 The Rev. Billy Graham
While the Okmulgee police chief confirmed just after 10 p.m. Friday that the remains were those of four men, he could not confirm that they were the bodies of the four local men who had been missing since Sunday.
OKLAHOMA CITY  A former missionary was sentenced Monday to spend 40 years in federal prison for committing sex crimes against four children while volunteering at an African orphanage.

Matthew Lane Durham, who asserts he is not guilty, asked the Oklahoma City federal judge to show him mercy.

Durham, 21, of Edmond, told U.S. District Judge David Russell that God gave him a servants heart and he will continue to share Gods love.

In the end, it is the judgment of God that is central, not the judgment of man. I do not fear Gods judgment of me, he told the judge.

Russell told Durham that he believed the childrens testimony and was satisfied Durham lied.

These were heinous crimes committed on the most vulnerable victims, the judge said. He was their worst nightmare come true.

Prosecutors asked for a 120-year prison sentence, the maximum possible. Durhams defense attorneys asked for an eight-year prison sentence plus probation.

Durham plans to appeal.
The Tulsa Public Schools board on Monday approved a plan to offer immediate contract buyouts for qualified personnel in non-school-based positions.

The employee attrition plan will offer people the incentive of immediately ending their current contracts for the 2015-16 school year in return for payment equal to the remainder of their base salary for the year. The employees would also be paid for eligible accruals, such as unused vacation time.

The employees taking the buyout would sign an attrition release waiver agreement with a resignation date no later than April 15.

Talia Shaull, chief human capital officer for the district, said, We do not have a dollar figure we are trying to reach, but we are simply offering an incentive for employees who may already be thinking about leaving the district to make a decision sooner rather than later so we may factor non-school-based staffing needs in our planning for (fiscal year 2017) budgets.

Those qualified to accept the offer will include full-time personnel  or those working 25 hours or more per week  who have at least five years of continuous service with the district. Everyone from those in leadership positions to those in support positions, such as bus drivers, are eligible for the offer. All school-based positions are excluded from the program.

Shaull said a total of 577 employees are eligible.

According to the rationale listed as part of the agenda item: The district is considering a realignment and overall reduction of the number of administrative and leadership positions for the coming fiscal year and the reassignment of a number of current administrative and leadership personnel for the next school year. Offering an additional attrition incentive to selected personnel at this time may provide sufficient flexibility for the needed reassignment of existing personnel, as well as provide a financial benefit to the district for the 2016-2017 school year.

The rationale notes that though some of the employees who opt to take the buyout may need to be replaced immediately, it is expected that a significant portion of costs associated with this plan will be generated from those who will not be replaced for the 2016-2017 school year.

Shaull said the program will give the district the power to reject a request if officials deem the position critical and determine that they would not be able to otherwise fill it.

The last time the district offered a similar program was in 2010, Shaull said. At that time, about 70 people took buyouts offered from three different incentive programs.

This plan comes up at a time when TPS has received a cut of about $4 million from the state for the current fiscal year. The district is expecting additional cuts between $7 million and $20 million for the next fiscal year, and on Monday night, TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist said theyve recently heard the cut will likely be closer to the higher end of that estimate.

Gist said she is grateful for Gov. Mary Fallins proposal on Monday to tap into the states rainy day fund to provide some additional funding for schools.

But under any circumstances we are experiencing significant reductions for this year, and have already had to make some difficult decisions and will need to make more difficult decisions, Gist said.
It's Divali time so at TV6 over the next few days, we bring you some of the interesting aspe
Tonight on Australian Story, the controversial topic of voluntary euthanasia in My Conscience Tells Me profiling Melbourne doctor Rodney Syme.

Melbourne doctor Rodney Syme has been ordered to stop giving end of life advice and care to a terminally ill Melbourne man.

As Dr Syme tells Australian Story tonight, he promised to give 70-year-old Bernard Erica the illegal drug Nembutal to end his life.

But the Medical Board of Australia has held an urgent hearing over concerns that Dr Syme posed a serious risk to Mr Erica and ruled that he must not engage in end of life care.

Further, it is relevant that any action that results in the intentional death of a person may be a criminal offence, the board said.

The board found there were also serious risks, when Dr Syme was not consulting with the rest of the patients team of treating practitioners.

Bernard Erica, a former managing director of appliance company Rinnai, denies that the 80-year-old euthanasia doctor is in any way a risk to his well-being.

Rodney was certainly trying to help me and I dont think it is right, he says.

That man has gone out on a limb to help people who are in genuine pain and want to end their life peacefully and this has put him in a very difficult position.

Dr Syme is adamant he wont desert Bernard Erica, who has tongue and lung cancer.

I will continue to support him in every way that I can, Dr Syme says. Just how that pans out, remains to be seen.

Separate from its latest ruling, the Medical Board has also decided to conduct a wider investigation into Dr Symes professional conduct.

Dr Syme tells Australian Story that in the last 20 years he has given Nembutal or other medication to about 100 people with unbearable pain and suffering so they could end their life at a time of their choosing.

His concerns about end of life choices began in 1974 when he was unable to alleviate the traumatic and unbearable pain suffered by a cancer patient. It triggered what he calls his epiphany.

I could hear her screaming, as I entered the foyer of the hospital, he says, and there was nothing we could do to relieve her agony. That had the most profound effect on me.

For more than two decades Dr Syme has campaigned to legalise voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill.

He has been interviewed by police on several occasions but never charged. In Victoria, assisting a suicide carries a penalty of five years in prison.

Its an issue that polarises the medical community.

Melbourne physician Dr Karen Hitchcock, says she doesnt know what motivates Dr Syme.

I guess the thing that concerns me about this is, who is Rodney Syme to decide  is Rodney the one that decides now when peoples life is not worth living or is worth living, or does he triage people into suicide prevention or suicide enablement, she says.

Dr Hitchcock warns that legalising voluntary euthanasia would fundamentally turn upside down our roles as doctors.

I think physician-assisted dying that is providing a drug so that your patient can die is  its euthanasia, it is killing, she says.

Australian Story follows Dr Syme through his journey with Mr Erica, who has recently planned his own funeral and hosted his own living wake.

The reason I had the party  Rodney Syme said to me after I first met him that its important to say goodbye to your friends, Mr Erica says.

Dr Syme is appealing the Medical Boards ruling that he is not to give any end of life advice or care to people.

Monday, March 7 at 8pm on ABC.
The Australian Writers Guild has accused Screenrights of not properly paying screenwriters, launching a multi-million-dollar legal case in the Federal Court.

Screenrights, a Federal Government authority set up in 1990 to collect and distribute royalty money,

to producers, broadcasters, distributors, music, script and other copyright owners, maintains it pays the appropriate copyright holders.

Industry veteran, screenwriter Jan Sardi, said he didnt receive any money for the hit film Shine. He said writers were supposed to get a 22% and scriptwriters believed they are owed approximately $56 million.

Writer Tim Pye said, All I know is I have been writing successful Australian television drama for 30 years and Ive never received one cent from Screenrights.

And our fight is not with producers, its with Screenrights, because its not really who have they given that money to instead of writers  without a script theres no film, theres no television product, writers are at the absolute centre.

He suggested Screenrights collect royalty monies but wait for them to be claimed.

Essentially the Australian Writers Guild would like Attorney-General Brandis, to whom they are accountable, to step in and provide some fairness and transparency and accountability to the system they use to distribute their royalties, he said.

Screenrights has told the ABC it will defend the claims in the Federal Court.

The first court date is set for April 5.

Source: ABC
American Horror Story has done much to revive the horror brand of late.

While Supernatural shows staying power its with a teeny, action tone, you can pretty much count the recent outings on one hand: Psycho-inspired Bates Motel and David S. Goyers Constantine amongst them. Soon we will have an Exorcist spin-off.

Damien, which spins off from another cinema classic, The Omen (1976), arises next week on ELEVEN, suitably the home to the other lead shows.

Its not the first time a sequel has surfaced, notably Damien: Omen II (1978) and Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) with a young Sam Neill.

For this contemporary TV version, Bradley James (Merlin) assumes the title role, who at around 30 years of age is a bit of cheat if were to believe the photos of Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Spencer Stephens as his on-screen family. But I like that these are referenced, it suggests somebody has authorised this version.

Writer Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead, Hawthorne, Crash, Life, The Shield) and director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, The Four Feathers) serve up a rather serious sojourn into the occult and the mythology of the film. With names like these, youd expect a solid start and for the most part Damien delivers.

Damien has grown up to be a bit of a spunk in Bradley James. He is now a war photographer at work in Damascus, Syria, when we meet him. There in the midst of local trouble he has visions -again drawing upon Richard Donners film- via a strange old local woman. When she warns, Its all for you! our hero recalls it is the same phrase shouted to him as a child by a nurse who suicided moments later. Spooky.

Accompanied by colleague Kelly Baptise (Tiffany Hines) back in New York, he embarks on a path of discovery where all the signs will point to him being the next Anti-Christ. Unlike previous incarnations, this Damien is depicted as a good guy who cant understand why he has inherited any evil.

You expect me to believe theres really a god and really a devil and Im on the wrong side? he asks.

The rising body count suggests yes.

There are other nods to the original film too, with big black dogs tracking him from afar.

The series also throws in Barbara Hershey as Ann Rutledge, a mysterious maternal character who tells Damien she is in the protection business in the first episode. She knows far too much about his past. Duh.

There are a few grisly moments in the opening hour, which serves largely to marry the past with the present and sets up an ominous tone. UK-born Bradley James is very convincing in this US role, and wins audience empathy as a young man struggling to accept the dark forces he has inherited. Director Shekhar Kapur throws in all manner of religious chanting and choirs, yet it does lack a figure as commanding as Gregory Peck, however.

Its not particularly evident how weekly plots will sustain this as a series -will he be sent on photo assignments?- but aside from occasionally dragging, Damien is off to a pretty faithful start.

Damien premieres 9:30pm Monday on ELEVEN.

ELEVEN also screens Movie: The Omen 9:30pm Sunday.
SBS has renewed RocKwiz for a 14th season.

TV Tonight can reveal the series will be back for 7 episodes of RocKwiz Salutes The Legends, which pay tribute to the legends of seven geographical locations:

Europe (with a Eurovision leaning)

U.S.A.

U.K.

Ireland

Canada

New Zealand

Australia

Sources advise the series will be back on Saturdays in early May, kicking off with the Europe episode ahead of Eurovision weekend on SBS.

Julia Zemiro is currently appearing on Home Delivery Wednesday nights on ABC.
SBS managing director Michael Ebeid has talked down speculation of a merger with ABC telling the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Communications and Arts, that ABC appears to be the only ones focussed on the idea.

Nobody that I speak to in government is talking about it, nobody in Canberra is talking about it, the opposition certainly made it very clear theyre not interested in talking about it, he said.

We have said time and time again when this topic rears its head every year or two, SBS does provide a very unique service.

We have a very unique culture within the organisation; we do things at a fraction of the cost of the ABC, so economically, the idea of a merger just doesnt stack up in any way shape or form.

Ebeid also disputed the $40m savings outgoing ABC managing director Mark Scott referenced during his National Press Club address.

I would say that some of the figures that Mr Scott said at the National Press Club, as far as were concerned, are incorrect and the economics dont work, hesaid.

Im far more interested in hearing the views of the incoming managing director than the outgoing managing director on that topic.

Source: Fairfax
Down a long, winding road that leads far away from the flight line exists a world all its own at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada. Its a world behind fences, checkpoints and personnel and secures the most dangerous ordnances on base.

For approximately 60 Airmen of the 432nd Maintenance Squadrons munitions flight, this is where they work every day, supplying remotely piloted aircraft with the weapons needed to project conventional airpower.

Without ammo, Creech wouldnt be able to do its part in enabling global RPA strike operations, said Senior Master Sgt. Barry, 432nd MXS munitions flight chief. My unit is made up of some very strong and motivated Airmen, were a team. We get the job done, so that other Air Force Specialty Codes can have what they need to do their part.

Of course, these Airmen arent all about building bombs. The flight stays busy managing production, materials, systems, and surveillance of assets, as well preparing many different types of munitions used to support global contingency operations.

These assets are used by various commands such as Combat Arms Training and Maintenance, 799th Security Forces personnel, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal, and many others, aside from supplying training units for the MQ-1 and MQ-9 RPAs.

We dont just put bombs together, we supply [the RPA enterprise and sister] services on base with ammo, even ordnance disposal out at Nellis, said Master Sgt. Chris, 432nd MXS munitions flight production section chief. When other services participate in joint task exercises, we provide all the ammunition.

Ammo troops work hard to get the right materials into the right hands. With the wide scope of responsibilities, the work can be challenging, but the Airmen are up for any task thanks to exceptional leadership, training and camaraderie found within this unit.

Ammo supplies firepower not only to Creech, but to every contingency the United States has ever engaged.

The Big Picture

In conjunction with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance needs of joint combatant commanders, strike capabilities are also in avid demand. To continue saving the lives of military men and women serving downrange, these munitions supplying the weapons that enable these missions.

What the Airmen are doing affects the entire world, said 2nd Lt. Luke, officer in charge of the 432nd MXS munitions flight. We support a number of missions at home and provide manpower downrange. Without ammo, RPAs can do surveillance but they cant take on the enemy.

Inside the Munitions Flight

Bomb building is no easy task. There are seven functional areas within the unit which collectively oversee and account for $14 million in assets. This amount equals roughly 2 million munitions and about 70,000 pounds of explosive weight.

Each section within the 432nd munitions flight is responsible for production, operations, equipment maintenance, systems accountability, materials, stockpile surveillance, and additional support. The unit supplies a 24 hour, days a week munitions capability to the joint combatant commanders.

These sections maintain the trailers used to transfer munitions, keeping track of every missile and bomb, maintain inventories, inspect the facilities and munitions, store conventional warfare, and maintain security of the area.

At any given point in time, approximately 10-15 percent of Airmen are deployed from the flight in support of contingency operations downrange while still supporting home station operations.

Weve been down to as few as 35 Airmen before, working at home station, said Master Sgt. Mike, 432nd MXS munitions flight systems sections chief. Doing more with less is something that weve adapted to.

The flight recently prepared and shipped 60 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles in only a 24 hour time period, and significantly eased a critical shortage throughout the area of responsibility.

Training fit to fight Airmen

According to leadership, the amount of care put into training ammo troops is second to none. Before Airmen are ever allowed to touch a munition, they are put through a rigorous eight-week course in technical school at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Once out of tech school, Airmen hit the ground running at their first base.

We take Airmen fresh out of tech school, and we shape them into capable ammo troops so that by the time they leave to another base, they have everything they need to be successful in their careers and personal growth, Mike said.

After training at Sheppard, ammo Airmen must complete their career development courses (CDCs). This includes on the job training in tasks such as stockpile accountablity, quality control, planning, managing work orders and running the support sections inside the unit.

Each of our Airmen should to be a jack-of-all trades, said Master Sgt. Dan, 432nd MXS munitions flight accountability systems officer. Training in different sections helps them fit into the big picture, and thats the kind of ammo troop the Air Force needs.

As a testament of the outstanding training received by the flight, six Airmen recently scored above a 90 percent on their end of course exams placing them one step closer to achieving a 5-skill level in ammo, allowing them to become craftsmen in their jobs.

From there, Ammo troops can continue to progress in their career field and move up into bigger roles of responsibility.

Camaraderie within the unit

In addition to building munitions that provide the combatant commanders with RPAs multi-role capabilities, camaraderie sets Creech Ammo in a class of its own. Spending more than 40 hours a week working, training, performing PT together, eating meals and being geographically separated means intimacy only ammo troops will tell you.

Ammo is really just one big family, said Karen. Since were so far away from the rest of base, its like were in a different world. We respect each other and were there for each other. It doesnt really get much better than that.

Airmen from the production section work closely together during bomb builds to ensure that all parts are properly built before being moved to the flight line. Supervisor work side by side with their Airmen to provide guidance at a pace that is both consistent and fun, while also keeping safety at the forefront.

Its important for my Airmen to know that were here every step of the way, said Staff Sgt. Adam, 432nd MXS munitions flight crew chief. We can joke and have fun while were building bombs or missiles, while were still taking our job seriously and getting it done.

Its this combination of training, dedication, and esprit de corps within the unit that keeps the ammo flight going. Without them, the RPAs wouldnt have the ability to provide their wide range of mission sets.

The 432nd MXS ammo flight keeps the ground troops safe by enabling abilities such as close-air support, reconnaissance and precision engagement. By keeping them safe, enemies are eliminated from the battlefield, and Americans and coalition partners can return home to their families.
The Russia-backed military units in Donbas fired various weapons, including small arms, grenade launcher and 120-and 82-millimeter caliber mortars, on the Ukrainian army positions overnight.

The anti-terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters reports.

The enemy opened fire on our positions 38 times over the past twenty-four hours, reads a report.

Only in the area near Avdiivka, terrorists from 6 p.m. till midnight fired mortars 7 times on the Ukrainian positions.

The militants also attacked the Ukrainian positions near Pisky, Opytne and Luhanske.

The Russia-backed soldiers also used small arms to attack Mariynka and Shyrokyno.

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Citizens of Ukraine and Belarus can still travel freely between the two countries without needing a visa.

Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Dmitry Mironchik told Interfax-West.

Visa-free trips between Belarus and Ukraine under the current agreement are retained, Mironchik said.

"However, taking into account that the agreement hasnt envisaged such a document as ID-card for the Belarusian side, it has been offered that special consultations on this issue with the Ukrainian counterparts will be held, the Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman said.

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On Tuesday, March 8, a special meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission will be held in Brussels.

The Ukrainian party will be headed by Stepan Poltorak, Defense Minister, General of the Army of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reported from Brussels.

"According to preliminary agreements, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak will pay a working visit to the NATO headquarters. According to the agenda of the visit, he will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and will take part in a special meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission," Head of Mission of Ukraine to NATO Egor Bozhok said this in exclusive comments to Ukrinform.

The Ukrainian diplomat noted that according to the agenda of the meeting, the parties would discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine, as well as results and future prospects of reforming of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine.

Bozhok added that the Ukrainian defense minister would meet with media after the meeting.

ish
Masliana, the Pancake Week before Great Lent, begins today in Ukraine and will last till March 13.

Masliana was celebrated in Ukraine since the time of paganism, when the ancestors worshiped the sun. By tradition, the feast was celebrated during the spring equinox. But after the introduction of Christianity, all pagan customs were gradually uprooted, although the tradition of celebrating the Pancake week remained.

The main tradition of Masliana is cooking and eating pancakes. However, orthodox believers do not eat meat during the Pancake week, while fish, eggs, dairy products are permitted.

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John Longworth, director general of British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) announced his resignation on Sunday. Previously, he was suspended for publicly showing his support of Britain to exit European Union, breaking the neutrality commitment of British Chambers of Commerce on Brexit isue.

John Longworth in BCC annual conference on Thursday in London said that the EU is "incapable of meaningful reform" and United Kingdom has a "brighter economic future" outside the EU. The Daily Telegraph quoted his remark, "In the long run we have the capacity and capability to create a bright(er) economic future outside of the EU, just as we would have done had we had the opportunity to stay in a truly reformed EU."

Mr. Longworth also said, "With the reforms that we have received so far, the UK would be better off taking a decision to leave the European Union."

Although there is no clear indication, but John Longworth was assumed to be a Eurosceptic, which explained his personal view for supporting Brexit. However, as BCC is committed to be neutral on the issue, the group held an emergency board meeting on Friday discussing Mr Longworth's comments. Following the meeting, Mr. Longworth was temporarily suspended for breaching the neutrality commitment of the Chambers.

"Chambers up and down the country are at this time carefully listening to their members' views and ensuring that we properly represent our business community in this very important and complicated issue. I don't believe that John had a mandate from the 50 or so British accredited chambers of commerce that he is supposed to represent," said Phil Smith, managing director of Business West that represent the largest chamber in the BCC.

Following the suspension, John Longworth resigned from his position. British Chambers of Commerce President Nora Senior said in statement on Sunday, as quoted by Bloomberg, "John Longworth and the BCC Board recognize that John's personal view on the referendum is likely to create confusion regarding the BCC's neutral stance going forward." BCC also announced Mr. Longworth resignation, "In light of this, John has taken the decision to step down."

Many have suspected Downing Street took part in putting pressure on the British Chambers of Commerce to suspend and force John Longworth to resign. Daily Mail reported UK Independent Party MP Douglas Carswell tweeted, "Well done Downing Street. You got your man." He then added, "This is what Project Fear looks like. Nasty people in Number 10."

John Longworth become the first prominent business leaders who supported Brexit. However since British Chambers of Commerce has committed to neutrality on the issue, the group suspended him on his controversial remark. On Sunday, Mr Longworth resigned from his position as director general of the BCC.
The first reported OS X ransomware malware that has been widely deployed was detected last week. It was found in the BitTorrent client app Transmission. The malware encrypts affected user's hard drive and asks for payment to allow decryption to the disk so that users can access their data.

Palo Alto Networks, who first detected the ransomware, named it "KeRanger". They reported that attackers infected two installers of Transmission version 2.90 with KeRanger on March 4. Transmission is an open source project, available to download on its official website. How the infection occurred still can't be confirmed, but it's possible that Transmission's official website was compromised and the files were replaced by the modified malicious versions.

When a user download and install the infected app, KeRanger will wait for three days before connecting with some servers and begin encrypting files on the system. KeRanger was reported to specify 300 different extensions, including documents, images, audio and video, archives, source code, and email. After completing the encryption, the malware then demands that victims make a payment of one bitcoin (about $400) to be able to decrypt their files in order to access them. Even more, KeRanger seems to still be under active development as it's also attempting to encrypt Time Machine backup files, preventing victims from recovering their backup data.

The developers for Transmission has responded by removing the malicious version from the website, www.transmissionbt.com. Transmission official website advised users to immediately install the new update, version 2.92, as reported by Reuters. Transmission claimed that the new version will automatically remove the ransomware from infected Apple's Macs.

Apple has also responded to prevent further infections. The giant tech has revoked a digital certificate that enabled the rogue software to install on OS X devices. Apple used its Gatekeeper system to prevent new installations of the infected software.

According to The Verge, ransomware has hit headlines in recent months, whereas victims are demanded to pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove certain restrictions the malware has caused. In February, it's reported that one LA hospital had to pay $17,000 to regain control of its computer systems after being infected by a ransomware operated by an unknown group. However, the KeRanger case is the first that targeted OS X users and successfully deployed.

Apple's OS X was hit for the first time by a malware, specifically a ransomware that demands payment to give users their access back to the system. Both the infected app and Apple itself has responded to that threat and infected users are not advised to make the payment.
If you're in Australia and are looking for the cheapest oil price, don't do it the hard way. American app GasBuddy is happy to be of assistance as it takes its debut today in the Land Down Under. The app service is running in the US since 2004 and informs prices to consumers via crowdsourcing.

The app is free and accessible on Android and iOS where it has come together with apps like Acorn, a stock-trading platform in choosing Australia as its first release clearinghouse outside North America. The app service depends on crowdsourced data to deliver price points at gasoline stations around the country. GasBuddy subscribers are advised to validate or verify petrol prices on the app as they pass by service stations, gaining points and likely to win $100 worth of free fuel in the daily draw, according to Mashable.

The GasBuddy Australia country manager, Nic Moulis said that there are a lot of things to do to make the app intuitive for Australian mass. "There are hurdles around product type, the way prices are notified. We talk in litres, they talk in gallons," he said. "It was [about] making sure that user experience was right, day one."

The notion behind GasBuddy is plain but needs a decisive crowd of users to be effective. Using their apps, each GasBuddy users check prices for the various grades on diesel, unleaded and LPG fuel at petrol stations and reports them to the updated GasBuddy database. Others could confirm the prices after they had seen them or report updates of price change, based on the Gizmodo report.

In the US alone, every month GasBuddy receives 60 million price reports with a core of power users who submit more than a dozen of various prices every day. Even acquiescent user not submitting any prices have the benefit of GasBuddy's crowdsourcing finding the most inexpensive prices.

One of GasBuddy's largest forms of revenue is through their database. In the US, they signed agreement with huge car makers like Mercedes-Benz to provide data to the car's navigation system. This enables the driver to find petrol prices while driving without even touching the phone. This kind of feature will also be introduced in Australian operation seeking to sign deals with much higher car manufacturers, the Business Insider reports.

With the release of GasBuddy, Aussies will no longer have a hard time finding the nearest gas station with the lowest prices. Additionally, it could win them $100 voucher worth of free gas.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has again emerged as the top oil exporter to China. The latest data on January oil exports has revealed that Saudi Arabia has surpassed Russia which was China's top oil exporter for December 2015. Oil exporters are vying for major share in China market. Saudi's market share rose to 15.9 percent highest since June 2015.

Saudi Arabia has regained its top oil exporter status to China, after losing to Russia in December 2015,, according to a research report carried out by Barclays. China imported 6.3million barrels of crude oil per day in January. However, Chinese oil imports showed drop during January.

Recording fall in oil imports for the first time since May 2015, China oil imports eased by 305,000 barrels a day in January. Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia in oil exports to China until December 2015. It exported 796,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China in January 2016 and this is 341,000 barrels less than the exports in December, as reported by Yahoo Finance.



Saudi Arabia's oil exports to China during January almost remained at previous level - one million barrels per day in January from 1.1 million barrels per day in December. Russia's oil exports to China on the other hand, fell during January by 341,000 barrels per to 796,000 barrels a day giving leeway to Saudi Arabia to become the top oil exporter to the world's second largest economy.

Saudi Arabia and Russia are major competitors in oil exports to China. Saudi Arabia lost its top oil exporter status to Russia for six times during the past five years, according to RBC Capital Markets. Russia has accepted Chinese Yuan as denominated currency for oil exports which is another major reason for surge in exports to China. Exports from Saudi Arabia to China were up 120,000 barrels a day in five years. Countries such as South Sudan and Colombia have surpassed this growth rate, as reported by Business Insider.



Feifei Li, an analyst at Barclays, said "This slowdown could have to do with China's teapot refineries, which are small, private oil refineries in China that have been buying up crude oil with the intention of exporting the final product." After Russia suffering from drop in oil exports to China, Saudi's market share rose to 15.9 percent highest since June 2015.

Indicating highest growth rate in three years, Saudi's oil exports to China grew 36 percent in February 2016, according to ClipperData, a global tracker of crude shipments. Matthew Smith, Director (commodity research) at ClipperData, sees the surge in Saudi's oil exports as a political shot across the bow of Iran. With Iran joining the oil exports battle after the lifting of Western sanction, Saudi Arabia has turned keen on sustaining market share. Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco has made it clear that there wouldn't be production cuts just to make space for others, according to World Tribune.



Russia ESPO blend oil is mostly consumed by Chinese teapot refineries which have been given quotas on oil imports in 2015. But, owing to credit constraints, these teapot refineries were unable to import oil. Recently, two ESPO cargos were defaulted by Chinese teapot refineries owing lack of credit support.
The Monte Toledo, an oil tanker, loaded with one million barrels of Iranian crude oil, has landed in Europe on Sunday, in just 17 days. The tanker appears as the first to deliver Iranian crude into Europe since mid-2012 following sanction on oil exports centering row over its disputed nuclear program. The sanction has been lifted in January as part of a major deal ending a decade of sanctions.

A refinery, owned by Cia.Espanola de Petroleos, near Algeciras, a few miles away from Gibraltar, appears as the first recipient of Iranian crude oil in Europe. The Monte Toledo has pumped crude oil to shore through 21-inch floating hoses connected to a giant buoy and a 1.8-kilometer submarine pipeline. Soon after starting the pumping to shore, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has declared in Tehran that more oil exports will take place soon, reports Bloomberg.

Other tankers with Iranian oil are also heading towards different ports in Europe. 29 vessels have been loaded with crude oil from Iran during February. Of them, three are heeding towards Europe, according to a report published in Daily News.
Wolfgang Schauble, the German Finance Minister, has warned of poisonous aftermaths over probable British decision to leave the European Union (EU). The decision may be detrimental for the UK, European as well as global economies and continue for years.

The German finance minister has made the cautionary statement while advocating for Britain's continued membership in a reformed EU. His cautionary statement appears following reiteration of belief by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, wherein he criticizes the government over alleged efforts undermining a vote for Brexit, reports The Guardian.

Johnson has been reported to reassert his attack following resignation of a senior businessman from the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC). He however has cited that the businessman has been forced to resign for expressing a positive view of Britain outside the EU.
Chinese venture capital firm Pando Group poured $2 million in investment to Israeli vertical-focused financial technology hub, The Floor. The Tel Aviv-based fintech hub will create an academy for startups to learn about banking and regulations.

According to South China Morning Post, The Floor will act as a hub for fintech companies in Israel. The hub will provide a co-working space, a research and development center as well as offer potential partnership with banks. The Floor has already formed relationships with local and international banks, including HSBC, Banco Santander and RBS.

The Floor's 1,600 square metre space will be open for 25 fintech companies. The hub noted that they are not just an accelerator or incubator, but an opportunity for companies to work closely with banks and other innovative companies to learn and solve problems. The place will give companies access to venture capitalists as well as mentors from banks and other established firms.

The investment from Pando Group could connect Israel's technology and strong economy with the Asian markets. Both the hub and the firm plan to connect Israeli fintech companies with Asian banks, especially in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. They believe that having a Chinese partner as a major stakeholder will lead in the short term to joint ventures between Israeli and Chinese vendors as well as banks.

Geektime reported that The Floor already has three Asian banks as their institutional supporters, among others. As The Floor's Managing Parter Gil Devora stated, "The wants to create a complete yet diverse ecosystem of stakeholders such as fintech entrepreneurs, banks, insurance companies, service providers, regulators, investors and tech companies."

The hub also aims for coverage of global markets. The Floor is determined to help Israeli startups reach any market in the world. Devora also said that the hub has partnered with four of the largest international banks to ensure that goal is within reach, also secured investments from venture capital groups around the world and, in particular, Asia.

The Floor was created to support Israelis' strength in the fintech sector with 400 firms, as reported by Finance Magnates from an interview with Moises Cohen, one of the heads of the initiative. He also explained that the initiative wants to solve gaps in the current fintech ecosystem in Israel, whereas many of the firms are lacking exposure to international banks that could support them improve their business.

The $2 million investment secured by Israeli fintech hub The Floor from Chinese venture capital firm Pando Group will not only assist the hub with financial measures but also connect Israel companies with the Asian markets. Israel is growing its tech sectors with more than 400 firms.
Nigerian investment flow in the previous three years has declined as a result of economic slowdown in the country. The country's investment inflow declined to $11.68 billion, or N2.3 trillion, over the previous three-year period. There had been a vast decline in the country's portfolio and direct investments since 2013.

Net investment inflow was $21.32 billion, or N4.2 trillion, during 2013, PUNCH said quoting a data report by the National Bureau of Statistics. The data also showed that the investment inflow figure declined to N4.08tn in 2014 and to N1.89tn in 2015. Net investment inflow amounted to N10.18tn during the period from 2013 January to 2015 December.

According to the report, investment factors like portfolio investment, foreign direct investment and other related investments dropped vigorously in the previous three-year period. Investment inflow from foreign direct amounted to $1.28 billion in 2013. However, the foreign inflow increased to $2.27 billion in 2014 tailed by a drop in 2015 to $1.44 billion.

Investment in stocks, which contributed a huge portion to the net investment inflow, totalled $1.25 billion in 2013. Nigeria recorded stock investments of $2.26 billion and $1.44 billion in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Aminu Isah Kontagora, former military colonel, said that the nation's economy has been struggling since 2010. Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan abolished fuel subsidy as part of his economic reform strategy, which was protested by the opposition party. According to him, the Nigerian economy lacked lubrication and that the SURE-P agenda was aimed to lubricate the nation's economy. Poor domestic spending has halted the manufacturing sector that resulted in an economic slowdown across the country, as reported by DAILY TRUST.

Portfolio investment, which is built by investment tools such as capital market, stocks and bonds, amounted to $17.37 billion in 2013. However, the country's portfolio investment faced two successive years drop in 2014 and 2015 to $14.92 billion and $6.01 billion respectively.

Portfolio investments accounted for roughly 61.18% of the total imported capital during the last three-month period in 2015. While equity investments contributed 83.16% to the net imported investments. According to National Bureau of Statistics, these gloomy investment numbers attributed to Nigeria's current economic slowdown.

Nigerian Bulletin quoted Muhammadu Buhari, president of Nigeria, who blamed past governments for depending merely on revenues from crude oil. He added that it is in the hands of OPEC countries to save global markets from the ongoing crude slump. The oil producer is affected by the fall in global oil markets and Buhari held Nigeria responsible for its own economic downfall.

The oil producer is facing many challenges owing to the global oil fall. The government is implementing various economic strategies to uplift the country from this horrible economic situation. Investors lost their buoyancy in the economy after the elimination of Nigeria in 2014 from JPMorgan Bond Index.
Naguib Sawiris will finalize buyout of CI Capital Holding by the end of March. The acquisition will make the second largest investment bank in Egypt.

Naguib Sawiris is a son of Onsi Sawiris who founded the Egyptian conglomerate, Orascom. Naguib Sawiris was appointed to lead the Orascom Telecom Holding which was founded in the late 1990's as a spun-off from Orascom holding company.

Orascom Telecom began its business venture with Mobinil as the first mobile operator in Egyptian in 1998. Orange SA, French telecommunication acquired 94% of Mobinil in 2012, by purchasing Sawiris share in his investing arm, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT). Later in February 2015, Orange SA purchased 5% of OTMT remaining share in Mobinil, raising its share in Mobinil to 98% and renamed the company into Orange Egypt.

On February 25, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology nominated Beltone Financial Holding to purchase 100% of CI Capital, as Daily News Egypt reported OTMT planned to combine its newly acquired financial company Beltone Financial with CI Capital to create a regional financial conglomerate.

In a follow up move, last Sunday Sawiris said to complete the acquisition by the end of this month, as quoted by Bloomberg. The 924 million Egyptian-pound ($118 million) deal is soon to be executed after the share-purchased agreement was signed, and there is no regulatory objection.

Four months ago, OTMT acquire another bank, Belton Financial Holding SAE for 600 million pounds ($76 million). Sawiris plan to combine both banks, forming the second-largest investment bank in Egypt, controlling 25% of Egypt's brokerage business. Sawiris made the acqusition in the midst of Egyptian financial crisis.

"There's a major crisis in the economy," Sawiris said regarding his action. "If you believe that when things get really bad, that's when they start to get better, it's the right time to" invest, he said. "The end game is definitely to create the largest player in Egypt."

Referring to the nations's largest investment bank, EFG-Hermes, Sawiris said that his acquisition of CI Capital is, "purely a market opportunity because the investment, brokerage and asset management scene in Egypt was divided into one big player and lots of small and medium-sized fraction players."

Reuters reported that Beltone share climbed 9.9 %, after more than doubling in price over the past two weeks, while CI Bank, was up 2.6%. Meanwhile OTMT shares soared 5.3% on more than twice the stock's average volume in the last three months.

OTMT has become the most heavily traded stockin the market. The gain has marked down the company's loss to 15%, giving the OTMT a 3.1 billion pounds ($395 million) value.

Billionaire Naguib Sawiris and his investment arm Orascom Telecom Media and Technology will finalize acquisition of CI Capital Holding by the end of March. CI Capital will be combined with Beltone Financial Holding, to become the second-largest investment bank in Egypt with 25% control of brokerage business.
At a time when global economy looks uncertain, Islamic Finance offers sustainable solutions to sluggish economies. Islamic Finance is gaining momentum more particularly from financial crisis in 2008. The value of Islamic finance assets globally is expected to soar to $1.8 trillion by 2020.

The three-day global conference titled 'Efficiency and financial stability' is being held at Um Al-Qura University in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), during 6-8 March 2016. Ahmed Al Issa, Minister of Education, inaugurated the global conference on Islamic Finance. Fahad Al-Mubarak, Governor, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), and Mahmoud Mohieldin, Senior Vice-President of World Bank (WB), would address at the conference.

Arab News reports that there's an increasing acceptance of Islamic Finance among several countries. The practices of Islamic Finance instruments are catching up very fast as they're proven tools for communal and individual economies. Several countries have established Islamic Banks or Islamic Finance-focused branches within conventional banks.



Salih Al-Aqla, Dean Faculty of College of Economics and Islamic Finance and head of the Organizing Committee of the Conference, said the conference would explore a multiple economic issues. The Islamic Finance conference has attached special priority to Makkah in development of Islamic banking.

Islamic Finance instruments are much in practice cross the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Islamic finance assets globally are expected to be $1.8 trillion by 2020. The issuance of Sukuk (Islamic bonds) is increasing and spreading across the continents, as reported by Gulf News. About eight years ago, Islamic Finance was mostly confined to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Malaysia. United Kingdom (UK), Hong Kong, Luxembourg and South African nations are among those non-Muslim markets adopting Islamic finance.



Not only Islamic Finance is growing among several countries, but also is forecast to be an integral component of the mainstream global financial system. The outstanding Sukuk (Islamic bonds) was $23.9 billion about a decade ago and reached $277.1 billion by end of 2014 and was outstanding at $281.8 billion by end of October 2015. Malaysia's contribution to the growth Islamic Finance grew over 50 percent during the decade.

However, since 2012, the global economic slowdown has been affecting more particularly lower oil prices. As a result, the contribution of GCC and Malaysia to global Sukuk issuance is also slowed down. The development of innovative instruments of Islamic Finance is catering to varied requirements of banking and financial sectors, according to CPI Financial.



Islamic Finance has come a long way. Islamic banking has been through three key stages. In the first stage, Islamic banking witnessed fear of failure during the first half of 20th century. The second stage registered timid beginnings and gradual emergence of Islamic institutions. The third stage saw a major contribution of Islamic banks to national economy. Now, the fourth stage is in progress as it's paving way for revision and assessment.
Thomas Piquemal, chief financial officer for EDF, the French utility service provider, has been rumored on Sunday resigning over an internal disagreement on developing Hinkley Point project. The 18 billion project in Somerset, southwest England, may appear as the first new nuclear power plant of Britain in decades.

Piquemal is believed to resign centering short term feasibility of a plan for building 1,650-megawatt nuclear reactors. The Areva-designed European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) will put too much stress on EDF's already stressed balance sheets, has been rumored to be his point of disagreement, reports Yahoo News.

Piquemal has been unwilling to rush the project amid increasing voice of the company's union representatives over the proposed plant's price tag. EDF's board hasn't yet been informed formally informed on the resignation. However, the board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a report published in Reuters.
Rob Mundy, a former stock research expert, has launched Research Tree, an online investment research platform designed for private investors. This new company will provide access to quality research for investors to make a better investment decision. Until now institutional investors depended mainly on Equity Research, designed by commercial broking groups in the UK, for investment purposes.

Currently, Rob Mundy's Research Tree has joined the investment research service arena by pledging to offer real time reports on companies listed in UK stock exchange and global market reports. These reports are created and scrutinized by industrial experts from 20 well organised research suppliers. Research Tree presently envelops 85% of Fortune 100 firms, 65% of small cap firms in the UK and roughly 50% of companies in FTSE 250.

Customers can sub scrip to this new service on a monthly basis and avail unlimited research source for a cost equal to their mobile bill. According to Rob Mundy, Research Tree will act as a high informative platform for private investors. Rob Mundy said that the new company comes at a time when the government is advising people across the UK to have high personal control on their investment policies, as reported by CITY A.M.

The company has discovered nearly one and a half million of private investors in the UK market, out of which more than 820,000 are individuals with high net value. These investors have relied on limited sources for investment research until now. In addition, the European Union law, Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), is entering into a new version with the advent of MiFID ll, which is scheduled to come live in 2018. This innovation allows Research Tree to provide additional service platform that enables investors to capitalise and channelize their research.

According to THE SUNDAY TIMES, Rob Mundy has included nearly 17 brokers to Research Tree. The company's founder intends to charge GBP 40 per month for providing information on stock and notes of companies like Panmure Gordon, Liberum Capital and FinnCap. This launch arrives amid a harsh time for brokers, who are crashed by the volatility in stock market and less commission rate. In addition, new government regulations have reduced the fees structure paid by institutional investors for providing information on individual equity. These burdens have led many research providers to either shut their operations or trim jobs.

While the global market is suffering from several financial crisis, this entry of Research Tree into the research sector marks a significant move by Rob Mundy. With this new achievement, Rob Mundy aims to create a better source of information for online investors.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Christine Walker

By Jean Moore of the Ventura County Star

Hueneme school officials have stayed with the familiar in naming their new superintendent.

Christine Walker, now assistant superintendent of business services, was named superintendent of the Hueneme Elementary School District on Saturday on a 5-0 vote. She succeeds Jerry Dannenberg, who will retire June 30 after leading the district for 14 years.

The appointment was expected, and Walker has already been working with Dannenberg to transition into the job.

"We've had a transition plan," Dannenberg said. "She's been in on all the key decisions in the district. Now she'll be doing more and more of the tasks the superintendent would normally do."

Walker said Monday she is looking forward to carrying out a new district vision that the board also developed Saturday. That vision involves helping every student thrive, she said.

"How do we make sure we are inspiring and empowering every student in our district to succeed in whatever path they take?" she said.

Walker came to the Hueneme district in 2003 as an assistant principal at E.O. Green Junior High School. She was principal at Bard School before being named assistant superintendent of business.

Walker earned her bachelor's degree in political science and history from UC San Diego; master's degree in educational leadership and administration from San Diego State University; and doctorate in education at California Lutheran University.

Walker has three children and lives in Newbury Park. She has deep roots in the county, having graduated from Buena High School. Her father, John Walker, serves on the board for the Ventura Unified School District, and her mother was office manager at an elementary school.

"It's in my blood," she said.
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Newbury Park

Vietnam veteran to speak at forum

The documentary "Paying the Price for Peace" will be screened at 7 p.m. Sunday in a Community Forum at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 3327 Old Conejo Road.

Vietnam War veteran turned anti-war activist S. Brian Willson, who was nearly killed when he was struck by a Navy munitions train during a 1987 protest, will speak. For more information, call 498-9401.

Simi Valley

Santa Susana High will put on play

Santa Susana High School will present "The Hound of the Baskervilles" at 7 p.m. March 17-18 and 2 and 7 p.m. March 19 in the Black Box Theatre on campus, 3570 Cochran St.

Tickets cost $12 for general admission and $10 for senior citizens, children under age 12 and ASB students with ID.

To buy tickets, visit www.santasusana.org and look under "Quick Links" for "Upcoming Performances/Shows."

Ventura

Guild Gallery hosts new art exhibit

Ventura County Potters' Guild Gallery will present "March Mermaid Madness" through the month of March at 1567 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 105.

The exhibition features art by Hannah French, Ellen Williams, Genie Thomsen, Sandy Swanson and Raymond Harris.

There will be an artist demonstration from noon-3 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, call 644-6800.

Westlake Village

Workshop focuses on prostate cancer

Cancer Support Community Valley/Ventura/Santa Barbara will have a free workshop Prostate Cancer Networking Group with guest speakers Dr. Fabio Almeida and Dr. Gregg A. Dickerson from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. March 19 at 530 Hampshire Road.

For more information, visit www.CancerSupportVvsb.org or call 379-4777.
JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Kamlin Borgwardt, of Thousand Oaks, walks with her therapy dog, Angie as she and over 300 others participated in the 38th annual Conejo Valley CROP Hunger Walk that was held on Sunday at California Lutheran University.

SHARE JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Former organizer Sherrill Hyink (left) leads one of the groups during the 38th annual Conejo Valley CROP Hunger Walk that was held on Sunday at California Lutheran University. Over 300 attended this year's event. JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR California Lutheran University student volunteer Allyssa Moscotte (right) directs walkers during the 38th annual Conejo Valley CROP Hunger Walk that was held on Sunday at the university. JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Volunteer Kitty Soltow (right) takes with participates during registration for the 38th annual Conejo Valley CROP Hunger Walk that was held at California Lutheran University on Sunday. The paper bags that are in the foreground were used by the different organizations to collect their donations.

By Robyn Flans, Special to The Star

Even though the rain had disappeared by the morning, it seemed to impact the participation at the 38th annual CROP Hunger Walk at California Lutheran University on Sunday.

After addressing the walkers in the Lundring Events Center and concluding with a prayer thankful for the beautiful weather, Conejo Valley coordinator Mike Ambrose admitted he was disappointed the bleachers were only partially filled.

"They were full last year," Ambrose said.

Ambrose explained the walks, which began in 1969 in Bismarck, North Dakota, are to raise money for those who are hungry and disadvantaged around the world.

COMING UP

What: 33rd Annual Camarillo CROP Hunger Walk

When: Sunday, registration at 12:30 p.m., walk at 1:15 p.m.

Where: Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2304 Antonio Ave., Camarillo, with a 5K (3.1-mile) loop and 10K (6.2-mile) loop.

Cost: Free.

Information: www.crophungerwalk.org/camarilloca.

Also: A CROP Walk in Simi Valley is May 15 at Simi Valley United Methodist Church, 2394 Erringer Road. That 5K starts at 1 p.m.; for more information, call 581-3679.

"The motto has been 'We give them a hand up, not a hand out,'" he explained. "We focus on sustainable development. That means a lot of these people need a well so they don't have to walk to get water, because even if girls have education available to them, if they have to walk to get water, they have to go get water every day."

The money raised from the walk will go for wells, education in farming and food.

"Right now there is a huge refugee crisis in the world," Ambrose said. "If you go back to the origin of CROP - Christian Rural Overseas Program - in 1947, it was to assist refugees in Europe and Asia. There were so many displaced people due to World War II."

Ambrose said Church World Service which started CROP has allocated nearly two-thirds of its budget to refugee programs.

Twenty-five percent of funds raised from the walk will stay within the Conejo Valley.

"One out of every four dollars comes back here," Ambrose said.

Local organizations who try to provide to people in need locally were present: Lutheran Social Services Community Center, Meals on Wheels, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks and Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank.

Several volunteers from Cal Lutheran were registering the participants and then putting the donation envelopes into the paper bags that matched the organization or schools of their affiliation.

After registering, 13-year-old Alexander Diakoumopoulos, of Thousand Oaks, said he was waiting to meet up with a buddy from Los Cerritos Middle School to walk the entire six miles.

The other options were a four-mile shortcut or a 20-minute guided tour of the campus.

"It'll be fun, I brought snacks and we're going to hang out and walk," Diakoumopoulos said.

Kamlin Borgwardt, of Thousand Oaks, brought her golden retriever Angie to make the full walk alongside her father Ron Borgwardt. They belong to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

"Several of us from the church are walking," she said. "We've been doing this every year since 2012."

Thousand Oaks' Amy Wildman and her 12-year-old daughter Samantha Wildman were gearing up to take the long walk. Samantha said Los Cerritos Middle School was very active in teaching about the event.

Her mother is happy her daughter wants to help at such a young age.

"They taught us we are extremely fortunate to have what we have and there are some people in the world who aren't as fortunate as us," Samantha said. "I am happy to be here because I want to help those who aren't as fortunate."
SHARE JC Oberst

By Jc Oberst, Special to The Star

As a veteran, I feel fortunate to live in Ventura County with all the support this community provides to our military and our veterans.

Ventura County has a distinguished history of supporting our Armed Forces. My wife's father was one of many servicemen and women who deployed from Port Hueneme in World War II in support of the war in the Pacific.

Today Naval Base Ventura County supports 19,000 military and civilian employees. I have the pleasure of working with base personnel, government officials and our local government agencies. I feel our community does a wonderful job, and I believe people share in our passion to assist those in need. Thank you Ventura County for your support of our military and veteran community.

Speaking of the military community - Happy 74th birthday to the U.S. Naval Construction Force known as the Seabees. On March 5, 1942 Construction Battalion personnel were officially named Seabees by the Department of the Navy. Today, the Seabees are divided into two operational groups. The Pacific Fleet Naval Construction Force are under the control of Naval Construction Group 1 based here at Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme. Their mission is to support combatant commanders and war fighter construction requirements. Naval Construction Group 1 has administrative control over 13 subordinate units totaling about 7,000 personnel. The Seabee commands under it at Port Hueneme include Naval Construction Regiments 1 and 30, Naval Mobile Construction Battalions 3, 4, 5 and 22 and 25, and Underwater Construction Team 2. On behalf of Ventura County veterans, we wish the men and women in the Seabees a Happy Birthday and we are proud to have their home port in Ventura County.

If you would like to learn more about the Seabees you can visit the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum at 1001 Addor St., Building 100 in Port Hueneme. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, call 982-5165.

The city of Camarillo is a commemorative partner with the Department of Defense as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration program. The city will honor Vietnam War veterans who currently live in Camarillo or Somis or were from Camarillo when they entered the service. The first commemorative event will be held May 21 at Constitution Park in Camarillo.

The Camarillo city staff is trying to locate Camarillo-area veterans who served during the period from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975. On May 21, those who register will be presented with a special certificate of recognition and commemorative pin to honor their service. Pass the word on to the Camarillo Vietnam veterans you know. To register, ask the veteran to send their name, branch of service, rank, dates of military and Vietnam service, mailing address, telephone number and email address to Kathy Talley at ktalley@cityofcamarillo.org or call her at 388-5312.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides veterans and survivors burial benefits. At a national cemetery this includes the plot, opening and closing of the gravesite, a headstone or marker, honors ceremony and perpetual maintenance of the site. An easy way to remember this is the VA provides the burial services inside the gate at a national cemetery. The survivor is responsible for the costs for the funeral home and transportation of the remains to the national cemetery. The surviving spouse of a veteran receives the same no-cost burial services and is buried in the same plot. I recently had a call from a veteran's surviving spouse who received mail requesting money to reserve a burial plot at a national cemetery.

The VA does not reserve burial plots and does not charge for its service. If you have questions on your eligibility or the services provided by the VA's National Cemetery Administration call 800-535-1117 and select option No. 3.

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

March 12: St. Patrick Day's Parade, 10 a.m., Main St., Ventura. Celebrating 150 years of Ventura history. Watch for NBVC military units and veterans participating in this year's parade.

St. Patrick Day's Parade, 10 a.m., Main St., Ventura. Celebrating 150 years of Ventura history. Watch for NBVC military units and veterans participating in this year's parade. March 16: (third Wednesday of the month), 6:30 p.m., Rolling Thunder CA-1 monthly meeting, Elks Lodge, 158 N Conejo School Road, Thousand Oaks. Rolling Thunder's mission is to educate the public on American Prisoners of War left behind after wars and to help the families of service members who are missing, wounded or killed in action. Rolling Thunder is a nonprofit all volunteer organization. For more information, call Ronald at 497-1569.

(third Wednesday of the month), 6:30 p.m., Rolling Thunder CA-1 monthly meeting, Elks Lodge, 158 N Conejo School Road, Thousand Oaks. Rolling Thunder's mission is to educate the public on American Prisoners of War left behind after wars and to help the families of service members who are missing, wounded or killed in action. Rolling Thunder is a nonprofit all volunteer organization. For more information, call Ronald at 497-1569. March 25: National Medal of Honor Day. The Medal of Honor is our nation's highest military honor. It is awarded to U. S. military personnel for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty by the president of the United States. According to the Medal of Honor Society there are 78 living recipients. To learn more go to www.cmohs.org.

National Medal of Honor Day. The Medal of Honor is our nation's highest military honor. It is awarded to U. S. military personnel for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty by the president of the United States. According to the Medal of Honor Society there are 78 living recipients. To learn more go to www.cmohs.org. March 30: Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. Each year Gov. Jerry Brown issues a proclamation declaring March 30 Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day in California to recognize the final withdrawal date of all combat and combat-support troops from Vietnam. n May 21: 6:30 to 10 p.m., Save the Date, Casino Night fundraising event to support the Veterans Connection program operated by Gold Coast Veterans Foundation, 4001 Mission Oaks Blvd., Camarillo.

Need assistance navigating veteran services? Give JC Oberst a call at (805) 482-6550. To find more veterans events visit the GCVF.org online calendar under the events tab.
Nancy Reagan gives her remarks at the "A Nation Honors Nancy Reagan" program at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, Wednesday, May 11, 2005. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

By Zeke Barlow, Special to the Star

Nancy Reagan, the first lady who shepherded Ronald Reagan from the stage lights of Hollywood to the political world of Sacramento and the White House and, ultimately, through his battle with Alzheimer's, died Sunday. She was 94.

She died at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.

Though demure and small in stature, she had an enormous impact on her husband as Reagan juggled the Iran-Contra controversy, a lingering recession and negotiations with the Soviets. Her fierce protectiveness of Reagan that made her unpopular while he was president eventually endeared her to the nation as she served as the primary caretaker for Reagan as Alzheimer's consumed him.

She went from being perceived as a well-dressed socialite to a woman who dealt with a pain that millions of Americans endure every year.

After his death, she devoted her time to cementing his place in history, helping the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation in Simi Valley evolve from a monument to Reagan to a platform that launches rising Republican stars. She was always cast as a supporting actress in her Hollywood days, a role she carried for life.

"My job is being Mrs. Ronald Reagan," she once told the late 60 Minutes reporter and friend Mike Wallace. "It's not about my legacy."

In doing so, she not only defined his place in history, but hers.

"Nancy Reagan helped Ronald Reagan be a more effective president and more effective leader," said Lou Cannon, Reagan's biographer and Summerland resident. And, in his mind, her ability to make him a better president made her a great first lady.

"You are dealing with Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison and Eleanor Roosevelt and I think in the same breath you have to talk about Nancy Reagan."

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama offered their condolences to the Reagans' children and grandchildren. They said in a written statement that Nancy Reagan redefined the role of serving as first lady and they are fortunate to have benefitted from her "proud example."

The Obamas say in a written statement that in Mrs. Reagan's long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's.

They also noted her role as advocate of behalf of treatments that could improve and save lives.

The library will be closed until after the funeral, despite the scheduled opening of a new Vatican exhibit, said spokeswoman Melissa Giller. Details of the services and how the public can pay their respects are expected to be released Sunday.

Simi Valley police are asking motorists to avoid the Reagan Library for the next week because of potential congestion in the area.

Condolences poured in from around the world:

FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH:

"Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family."

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

"Laura and I are saddened by the loss of former first lady Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan was fiercely loyal to her beloved husband, and that devotion was matched only by her devotion to our country. Her influence on the White House was complete and lasting. During her time as first lady and since, she raised awareness about drug abuse and breast cancer. When we moved into the White House, we benefited from her work to make those historic rooms beautiful. Laura and I are grateful for the life of Nancy Reagan, and we send our condolences to the entire Reagan family."

FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER:

"President Reagan has been reunited with his wife and partner but America and the Reagan family have lost a woman of grace and strength. I join people from around the country and the world in sending them our best thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. A woman of strength and wit, Nancy Reagan's dedication to our country was matched only by that of her husband. Theirs was one of our nation's great love stories and a model of shared devotion to our country. America is stronger and better for their service."

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HILLARY CLINTON:

"Nancy was an extraordinary woman: a gracious first lady, proud mother and devoted wife to President Reagan - her Ronnie. Her strength of character was legendary, particularly when tested by the attempted assassination of the president, and throughout his battle with Alzheimer's. She leaves a remarkable legacy of good."

ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU

"I remember Nancy as a noble woman who supported President Reagan and stood by his side. She will be remembered as a great friend of the State of Israel."

FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER:

"Nancy Reagan was one of my heroes. She served as First Lady with unbelievable power, class and grace and left her mark on the world. She's with her Ronnie now, but those of us she left behind will miss her dearly."

FORMER CONGRESSMAN ELTON GALLEGLY:

"You knew of her presence and the roll that she played in the success of the library. Nancy Reagan above all was a real person that people truly loved."

SIMI VALLEY MAYOR BOB HUBER:

"Everyone should have a mate like Nancy Reagan. The world lost a real stateswoman, in my opinion. She did a lot of the things behind the scenes and on her own. She just was an outstanding human being and we were blessed to have her as the first lady of the United States."

CHAIR OF VENTURA COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY MIKE OSBORN:

"I think Nancy's passing marks a milestone with the party. We will miss her greatly."

LONGTIME REAGAN LIBRARY DOCENT MARGIE PRICE:

"I will remember her because she was so in love with her husband and tried everything to make him look good. She always dressed beautifully and tried to support the library after (the president) died."

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION, JOHN HEUBUSCH:

"We've lost an extraordinary asset and incredible human being in the last several hours. I think the U.S., the nation, and its people owe a debt of gratitude to a woman who stood by her husband and was a pillar of strength for him."
Former first lady Nancy Reagan kisses the casket of her husband former President Ronald Reagan prior to the removal of his remains from the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Friday, June 11, 2004. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

By Zeke Barlow, Special to The Star

The Reagans moved back to California to their new Bel Air home when his second term as president ended. He gave speeches around the country, Nancy Reagan continued work on her "Just Say No" program. In 1989, she published her memoirs, titled "My Turn," that let her answer so much of the criticism she endured in public life.

"I came to realize that while Ronald Reagan was an extremely popular president, some people didn't like his wife very much," she wrote. "Something about me, or the image people had of me, just seemed to rub them the wrong way."

The two worked on getting his library opened, a $57-million, 153,000-square-foot Spanish stucco style building that sits on a hill overlooking Simi Valley. It broke ground in 1988 and opened in 1991. The Reagans had a private residence at the library and he would visit it about once a month, shaking hands with visitors and touring the facility.

In 1994, Reagan penned a letter that would not only change his life, but Nancy's legacy.

The open letter to America said that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, which at the time was not a widely understood disease. While he said he would "begin the journey that will take me into the sunset of my life," he said, "I wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience."

But she didn't want to be shielded from it, instead taking the role of chief caretaker. She immersed herself in the job, making few public appearances and only occasionally taking visitors or going to lunch with friends at a nearby restaurant.

"It's very lonely," she told Cannon in 2000. "Not being able to share memories is an awful thing  there really isn't much you can do, and that's the frustrating part of it."

In 2001, she took the first of many political stances to help her husband and others with Alzheimer's by sending President George W. Bush a letter asking him to change his stance on stem-cell research.

In 2002, she received the Congressional Medal of Honor for her Just Say No program as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

By 2004, after Reagan had died, she made a more emphatic plea during a speech at the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

"Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she said. "Because of this, I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain."

Her undying support of her husband endeared her to many, including her most ardent critics.

"Nancy wasn't the role model many of us wanted or needed in the 1980s," wrote former White House correspondent Dannye Romine Powell. "But she more than made up from that in the 1990s and I think she understood something that many of us are yet to learn: that love and devotion are not just sappy, sentimental greeting card words. Sometimes, those words empty the bedpan. Sometimes they hang in there until death do us part."

On Reagan's last day, June 5, 2004, his family was by his side. He opened his eyes and looked one more time at Nancy before dying.

The state funeral in Washington, and then his burial in Simi Valley, was planned down to the minute in no small part because of Nancy Reagan. She oversaw every detail, from his horse riding boots being placed backward in the stirrups to the timing of the service to end as the sun sank to the sea. All week long, as thousands of well-wishers streamed by his flag-draped casket, she maintained her composure - until the last minute, as it was time to say goodbye.

She collapsed on his mahogany coffin, gently rubbing the flag while saying, "I love you," through tears.

With her husband gone, Nancy Reagan threw herself into the library and preserving his legacy. She made appearances the day his postage stamp was unveiled and she was there when President George W. Bush visited the library on multiple occasions.

After his death, Reagan's legacy within the Republican Party and in the nation as a whole grew. Being seen with his widow on your arm was almost like an endorsement from Reagan himself. Over the years, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney all spoke at the library and walked the former first lady down the aisle.

She presided over the two presidential debates at the library during the 2008 election cycle and said that she wanted those to lay the foundation for a tradition of holding the first and last Republican presidential debates at the library.

She oversaw the details of the renovation for his 100th birthday celebration in 2011 and was there on that day to lay a wreath on his gravestone.

At each ceremony she attended over the years, her already petite frame shrunk along with her stride. She rarely made any public comments. Still, staffers at the library said she remained sharp and engaged and very much herself.

The role of the library as a site for conservatives to deliver their messages continued through the current presidential cycle. The second Republican presidential debate for this election was held at the library in September 2015, but she was too frail to attend.

Nancy Reagan will be buried beside her husband at the Reagan Library on a hill that points toward the sun setting over the sea. Above the two, the words Ronald Reagan once spoke are carved into marble: "I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life."

For Nancy Reagan, that purpose was the man buried beside her.
By Zeke Barlow, Special to The Star

In 1957, after two miscarriages, Nancy Reagan became pregnant with Ron Reagan Jr.

Their circle of friends gradually expanded from the Hollywood types to include political power-brokers. Ronald Reagan, who had become a national figure because of his G.E. show, was campaigning for candidates and giving speeches against Communism.

A rousing speech he gave for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964 got him noticed so much that others started pushing Reagan to run for office, pushing him toward a run for California governor. He agreed. On the night he announced his candidacy, Nancy wore a red suit, a color that she would forever be associated with. She also established her lifelong legacy of protecting her husband at all costs.

Nancy's "political skills were better in terms of what was best for Ron, than even his own," Stu Spencer, Reagan's campaign manager, told a Vanity Fair reporter. "Her instincts were good. She knew what worked well with him. I've always said he'd never have made it without her."

But for all her acting experience, Nancy Reagan didn't like to give the stump speeches that are required of politicians' wives.

"When I was acting, I wasn't being myself - I was playing a role that had been crafted for me. But giving a speech is completely different," she wrote. Incumbent Pat Brown never thought Reagan had a chance, but Reagan beat him by more than 1 million votes.

Unlike the Hollywood press corps that treated its subjects with kid gloves and flattered them, the Sacramento reporters were vicious in their pursuit of a scoop and dissecting everything the Reagans did.

She hated living in the Governor's Mansion, an old, drafty house that had been declared a fire hazard that she described as "a depressing house." A few months later, she decided to move out of the house and into a Tudor that supporters paid for.

And then there was the issue of how she'd stare up at her husband when he made speeches with a thousand-mile gaze, unblinking with adoration. The press called it "The Stare." A 1968 Joan Didion essay painted her as a shallow dimwit more interested in socializing and fashion than politics and government.

The first unflattering nickname of many was bestowed upon her: "Queen Nancy."

Reagan knew if he came in the house and it smelled of bath salts, Nancy was upstairs, soaking in the tub, thinking of a witty response she should have given to a reporter.

He ran for and won another term in office, during which time he ran a budget surplus, reformed welfare and increased his popularity. She got private donors to pay for a newly constructed, $1.4 million Governor's Mansion. Both were glad to go back to Los Angeles in 1974 as private citizens. Nancy Reagan thought that her life as a first lady was over.
By Zeke Barlow, Special to The Star

Though he had launched an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, in 1980 he easily defeated Jimmy Carter and took the White House.

During the campaign and in the years that followed, Nancy Reagan earned her reputation as a protector of her husband at all costs.

During a campaign stop, when he was giving a speech for old and sick veterans, Reagan began to choke up, so she stepped in and finished it for him - and scolded the person who set up the stop there.

"In some ways, Nancy and I are like one human being: When one of us has a problem, it automatically becomes a problem for the other; an attack on one of us is an attack on both of us," Reagan wrote. "When one suffers, so does the other."

After four years of Carter wearing sweaters and turning down the thermostats, Nancy quickly set the tone for a regal, sophisticated White House that harkened back to the Kennedy days. The inauguration was the most expensive ever staged, costing more than $16 million. Elaborate social gatherings were the norm, where Nancy dressed in designer gowns. When it became known that, like socialites, many of her gowns were given to her or she borrowed them, her critics pounced.

And then came her "china policy."

During her first year, when she learned the White House china was a mismatch of collections because so much had been broken or taken by souvenir collectors over the years, she bought a new 4,732 piece set with a private donation of $209,508. It came at a time when the country was still reeling from a recession, and the day that the government announced ketchup was considered a vegetable in school lunches.

Soon after, Johnny Carson deadpanned that her favorite snack food was caviar and a host of bad nicknames followed: The Iron Butterfly, The Belle of Rodeo Drive, Fancy Nancy, the Cutout Doll.

But 1981 polls showed Americans equally admired and disliked her. A Newsweek poll said she had a 26 percent approval rating and of those who disapproved of her, most said she put too much emphasis on style and not enough on the problems of common Americans. But a Gallup poll put her as the most admired woman in America - up from the No. 10 spot the year before.

"Washington can be a tough town, and I didn't know how to handle it," she wrote. "I sometimes had the feeling that if it was raining outside, it was probably my fault."

She addressed the criticism head on in 1982, when she did a satirical song-and-dance number at the Gridiron Dinner for the press called "Second-hand Rose."

She burnished her image by launching the "Just Say No," campaign, extensively touring the country in an effort to combat the growing drug problem in the United States.

When Reagan's first term was nearing an end, she was against him running for a second term. After the 1981 assignation attempt on Reagan, she was worried for her safety and was ready to be done with politics and return to Los Angeles.
RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Jose Tlaxca (left), 9, of Carson, tentatively touches a California spiny lobster held by Aral Greene, a staff member with the REEF, the UC Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute's outreach program. The tank was one of the features at the Channel Islands National Park and the Museum of Ventura County's presentation of Tales of Island Life in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

SHARE RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Falconer Cynthia Maxwell holds Dutchess, a 17-year-old Finnish goshawk, during the Channel Islands National Park and the Museum of Ventura County's presentation of Tales of Island Life in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Tigran Nahabedian, 11, attended Tales of Island Life at the Museum of Ventura County dressed in his 52 Junior Ranger badges that he's earned over the last six years. The event, put on by the museum and the Channel Islands National Park, was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Cassidy McIntire, 8, of Newbury Park, digs for fossils during the Channel Islands National Park and the Museum of Ventura County's presentation of Tales of Island Life in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star

Preserving the National Park system, which maintains 410 sites around the country, is key to preserving and learning from our history, said Channel Islands National Park Service Superintendent Russell Galipeau.

Galipeau's presentation was part of the Tales of Island Life, a free daylong series of displays and lectures Sunday at The Museum of Ventura County.

During his lecture, Galipeau focused on the creation of the National Park Service, 100 years ago.

He said President Teddy Roosevelt was given the authority when Congress passed the American Antiquities Act of 1906 to protect national scientific and cultural sites by declaring them national monuments. This led to the creation of the Channel Islands National Monument comprising Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands, Galipeau said.

The Channel Islands National Park was designated in 1980 by another act of Congress.

The museum presentation, which featured local wildlife, a touch tank filled with local aquatic specimens, crafts and other information about the Channel Islands National Park, is one of a series of activities in Ventura, according to Yvonne Menard, park spokeswoman.

The events not only celebrate the National Park Service, which was created in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson, and its 100-year history, but also 36 years of the Channel Islands National Park and the 150th commemoration of the city of Ventura.

The Tales of Island Life lectures coincided with the museum's normal free first Sunday, according to Megan Gately, the museum's director of education.

"We started talking about collaborating and bringing to the community the celebration of the National Park Service. This was a good fit because it's the free first Sunday and it's the same day of the movie screening," Gately said.

In addition to the museum event, the three one-hour videos, "West of the West: Tales from California's Channel Islands," by three local filmmakers, were shown for free at the Ventura Century 10 Downtown theater. The theater had to add an extra showing at 9 a.m. to accommodate at least some of the people who wanted to see the movie, Menard said.

At the museum, one of the lecturers Sunday was among those whose story is featured in the "West of the West" film - Betsy Lester Roberti, 82.

Although Herbert Lester may have proclaimed himself the "King of San Miguel Island," during his time there from 1930 to 1942, his daughter Roberti was no princess.

"I didn't like being called a princess. I didn't identify with being a princess," said Roberti, who lived on the desolate, windy island  the farthest island of the Channel Islands National Park from the mainland  or the first nine years of her life.

Because she lived only with her parents Herbert and Elizabeth Lester and her sister Marianne, Roberti said she developed a keen appreciation for the natural rhythm of life.

"It was another world. I was very lucky to have my childhood there," said Roberti, who had to leave the island with her mother and sister after her father committed suicide.

Noemi Tellaz said she and husband Prisciliano Tellaz like to bring their two boys Emmanuel Tellaz, 5, and Alejandro Tellas, 4, from mass at the San Buenaventura Mission across the street to the museum to enjoy the first free Sundays throughout the year.

"We always like to come here and this time we are able to have experiences with sea life," Neomi Tellaz said. "The boys like to talk about what they learned on their way home, afterward."

Other upcoming events in collaboration with the Museum of Ventura County include the Recovery of Bald Eagles, May 1, and World Oceans Day on June 5.

For information about upcoming Channel Islands National Park events, go online to http://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/calendar.htm.

For information about upcoming events at the Museum of Ventura County, go online to http://venturamuseum.org.
KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Andy Hall, 48, of Simi Valley, an Army veteran under the Reagan administration, stands by his car with the American flag at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on Sunday morning responding to the news that Nancy Reagan died of congestive heart failure earlier in the day.

By Cheri Carlson and Michele Willer-Allred

Kim Less drove from Santa Clarita to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley Sunday, after hearing Nancy Reagan had died.

But the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum was closed because of her death, and Less and her family - and many others - were turned away. Instead, some left flowers or notes near a sign at the bottom of the hill that winds up toward the library.

"I just loved her, and I loved the president," Less said, stopping at the makeshift memorial.

Honoring the first lady

Officials said they will post information on the librarys closure, the funeral, and how the public can pay respects to Nancy Reagan as it becomes available at www.ReaganLibrary.com.

To send a condolence messages go to the library foundation website a http://www.reaganfoundation.org/nancy-memorial.aspx.

Those who had purchased tickets to see the Vatican exhibit can either get refunds or see the exhibit on another day, when the library reopens.

Simi Valley Police Department has asked motorists to avoid Madera Road near Presidential Drive, due to heavy traffic because of funeral and other burial preparations.

People stopped by throughout the day. Some dropped off bunches of flowers, a few with handwritten notes. Others came and took a photo, or just stopped for a minute or two.

"I adored Ronald Reagan. He seemed to love us, and she was so protective of him," Less said. "We couldn't be there to take care of him when he was getting older. But she was there for him."

She heard of Nancy Reagan's death on the radio. Later, at church, she had tears in her eyes as the congregation sang "Amazing Grace."

"I thought, you know, the long road is over and she's back with her husband now," Less said.

Nancy Reagan died early Sunday morning of congestive heart failure at her home in Bel Air. She was 94.

The library will remain closed to the public until after Nancy Reagan's funeral, officials said. A date has yet to be announced.

John Heubusch, executive director of Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said he recently spoke to the former first lady, who had remained an active board member with the Reagan Foundation until her death.

She had written to the archdiocese to ask for support for the Vatican exhibit, which had been set to open Sunday.

Her last appearance at the Reagan Library was in June, when she visited her husband's grave on the anniversary of his death.

"We've lost an extraordinary asset and incredible human being in the last several hours," Heubusch said Sunday morning. "I think the U.S., the nation, and its people owe a debt of gratitude to a woman who stood by her husband and was a pillar of strength for him."

Sunday was supposed to be the opening of one of the library's largest exhibits called "Vatican Splendors."

Some showed up early Sunday to see the historical and religious artifacts. Instead, they learned that Nancy Reagan had died.

"I'm deeply saddened. It's an end to an era," Carol Anderson, 62, of Moorpark, who placed flowers at the entrance of the library Sunday morning.

From the side of road, Andy Hall, 48, of Simi Valley, waved a large flag in remembrance of the former first lady.

An Army veteran, Hall said he paid his respects at the library when Ronald Reagan died, and wanted to do the same for Nancy Reagan.

"I just have a lot of respect for Ronald and Nancy Reagan," Hall said.

Later in the day, Heather McCullough stopped by, saying she came for her family. She grew up hearing her parents talk about the Reagans, she said.

"The Reagan years were the best years - that's what they always said," she said about her parents, who live in New Mexico.

"My dad wished he could have been here today," she said.

McCullough chose a mismatched bouquet of roses. Different colors and different types of roses seemed the best fit for a woman who she said was impossible to describe with just one word and wore many different hats.

Linda Kepler, of Simi Valley, said the same moment kept replaying in her mind all day, since she had heard Nancy Reagan died.

It wasn't the one time she had seen Nancy Reagan in person at a library event, said Kepler, who carefully placed two large bouquets against the library sign.

Instead, it was when Kepler had watched television coverage of Ronald Reagan's funeral.

"She was holding it together so well," Kepler said of the former first lady. But then, as Nancy Reagan stood next to her husband's coffin, she dropped her head and began crying.

Kepler remembered wishing for family members to rush to Nancy Reagan's side, which they did. "I just wanted somebody to be there for her," she said.

At the top of the hill Sunday, media from around the world gathered outside the library.

Melissa Giller, a Reagan Library spokeswoman, said funeral invitations likely would be sent on Monday.

"It's a really sad day," said Giller, who called Nancy Reagan "a guiding force of the Reagan Library for the past 15 years."

When Ronald Reagan died in 2004, funeral services were held both in Washington, D.C. and Simi Valley.

"Mrs. Reagan's service will only be here at the Reagan Library," Giller said. "This is where dignitaries and VIPs will need to come if they want to pay their respects."

Heubusch said there also will be an opportunity for the public to come pay their respects to Nancy Reagan, who will lie in repose in a closed casket in the lobby.

The funeral will most likely be Friday or Saturday, and large crowds are expected, Heubusch said.

"She'll be laid to rest next to the president, facing west," Heubusch said.
The ultimate classic rock all-star band, World Classic Rockers, will thrill audiences as they perform at the Cannery Casino & Hotel, the official MOPARS at the Strip after party location.

The performance will be held at The Club inside Cannery Casino & Hotel on Saturday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free with a MOPARS at the Strip wristband. Limited wristbands are available at the door. Tickets are $20 for non-wristband holders.

Featuring former members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Toto, Steppenwolf, Journey, Santana and Boston, the World Classic Rockers have toured the world performing unforgettable classic rock hits. The show will offer crowd-pleasing sets that include songs from their former bands such as Black Magic Woman, Sweet Home Alabama, More Than A Feeling, Rosana, Any Way You Want It and the classic rock anthem Born To Be Wild.

For more information, visit Cannery Casino & Hotel , www.cannerycasinos.com


Young drinkers are pictured on Bui Vien Street, Ho Chi Minh City. Tuoi Tre

Even though it is dubbed the backpackers area, Vietnamese drinkers are not hard to be seen at this busy street, even though it is as late as two in the morning, as a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporter observed on Saturday.

At 1:00 am, beer shops along the street were all filled with drinkers, and Bui Vien just became busier and more exciting with a mixture of sounds, from the cheering shouts as people tossed their beer, to the roars of motorbike racers.

At this backpackers area, young Vietnamese men and women were seen drinking and smoking a lot, and the period between midnight and 2:00 am is considered golden hours for beer sellers.

Hoang Mai, a server at a drinking shop on Bui Vien, said foreign guests only ordered a couple bottles of beer each, so it is Vietnamese customers that she serves the most in recent years.

They are young employed people in Saigon, who drink a lot, especially from 11:00 pm to 2:00 or 3:00 am the following day, she said.

Mai said it is not uncommon to see Vietnamese women fail to leave the store on their own as they are overdrunk.

In the meantime, male customers tend to cause fights even over small confliction, she added.

Nguyen Hoai Nam, introducing himself as a real drinker, said Bui Vienm is his must-go destination every weekend.

Nam will meet his friends from 10:00 pm, and they only leave four hours later.

We are all stressed from work and drinking that late does not affect our work or other relationships, he explained.

At our ages, gathering at a drinking party is the only way for get-together.

We will fall into silence after a few minutes chatting over a coffee table, but when it comes to drinking beer overnight, we can speak anything to kill stress.

For Mai Tuan, a 21-year-old student for a Ho Chi Minh Citys private university, drinking beer on Bui Vien should go with smoking shisha.

Tuan spoke to Tuoi Tre at 2:00 am, after finishing his routine drinking.

I never drink more than five bottles, but I love sitting there chatting through the night with friends, he said.

Tuan and his friends love to smoke shisha, which he said is a cheap service but can create a relaxing atmosphere for everyone.

Such a drinking and smoking habit is raising a few eyebrows in Vietnam, and is illustrative for a recent national report by United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam, which points out that the young Vietnamese are unfit, smoke a lot, and consume loads of alcohol.
But each market has specific characters requiring businesses to study them carefully to minimize risks. The issue also topped the agenda of the 2016 Trade Counselor Conference.

In recent years, Vietnams exports have quickly increased in terms of quantity, and diversity of types while the market has expanded.

But many firms are also facing risks attributable to either lack of market information or awareness of regulations, technical barriers, and tariffs.

Pham Hoang Lam, President and CEO of An Giang Province-based Hung Lam rice export, told participants at the 2016 Trade Counselor Conference his companys story of losing 2,000 tons of rice worth US$1 million in Ghanas market.

Lam said when exporting to the African market, Vietnamese businesses must study local partners very carefully but added that the exports will be much smoother if from the very beginning Vietnamese exporters receive the necessary assistance from trade counselors abroad.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has recently strengthened support for enterprises to look for and develop export markets and study business partners," he noted.

"In the past we only shipped products if our investigation, with the support of commercial affairs agencies showed that trading partners were reliable. In the future we hope trade counselors will accompany us more resolutely in expanding Africas potential market, Lam added.

Tran Thanh Duc, Deputy Chairman of Tien Giang Peoples Committee, the second biggest province in export revenue in the Mekong River Delta region, said, Currently Vietnam has a number of trade counselors in each country. I think the number of counselors should be based on the market. For instance, 10 trade counselors in the US is too few.

In reality, many Vietnamese enterprises only have general information about exports abroad including tariff cuts, removal of non-tariff barriers and subsidies, and most-favored nation (MFN) status. But they havent paid due attention to the specific regulations of host countries.

Nguyen Trung Dung, Trade Counselor and head of Vietnams trade office in Japan, said trade counselors should exert more effort to become a significant information channel to support the integration of enterprises.

Trade counselors will be more active in doing research, negotiating and trade promotion, Dung affirmed.

But several Vietnamese enterprises are still too dependent on the information provided by trade counselors, according to Dao Tran Nhan, Minister Counselor for Trade in the US.

He shared, We always try to clarify all queries of enterprises. But enterprises themselves should look for information and materials on the Internet. Whatever they dont understand or cant find, at that time they can ask the trade office. We hope you could understand we have loads of works so sometimes we cant feedback immediately.

Foreign trade markets are open but each has typical characteristics requiring Vietnamese firms to understand them carefully to minimize risks.
Mystical: A stalactite with the shape of the Golden Turtle God in Dong Doi.

By Moc Mien

Getting caught up in work and daily life does not give me a chance to visit these masterpieces of the Mother Nature, and a trip to any of these sites will cost a whole lot of time and money, surely. Hence, why don't I pack my backpack and visit some closer and more affordable places just to satiate my thirst for adventures?

This was my first thought before setting off to Dong Doi, in Ha Lang District, of Cao Bang Province. I actually underestimated this place before reaching there. All the impressions about the trip were imprinted in my mind, inspiring me more for the bigger adventures ahead.

Dong Doi is referred to by locals in the region as Ca Khao', which means a bat. It is 930 metres (m) in depth with an average height of around 60m to 80m, and is located in Lung Rum Village, of Dong Loan Commune, in Ha Lang area, Cao Bang Province. The cave is hidden under the forest foliage and rocky edges that are easy to totter up.

Standing in front of the cave, tourists can feast their eyes on the magnificent natural scenery. The sunlight slithers through the foliage and flocks of butterflies hover above the newly blooming wild flowers. Far away are the traditional stilt houses of the Tay and Nung people.

Dong Doi is situated inside the limestone mountain range, 700m away from the main road. It is relatively large with a depth around 1,000m, approximately 40m in height with the unique tectonic structure, colourful stalactite spreading throughout the cave. There are three chambers and two levels, separated from each other by the rock cliffs and holes.

It is like a whole new world isolated from the surroundings. Being here is playing hide-and-seek with reality.

Another world: The crystal clear water spring inside Dong Doi refreshes the bodies and minds of tourists. - Photosdulichcaobang.vn

Stepping into the first chamber, I was impressed by the traces of the water springs. In the rainy season, a stream of crystal clear water, about 0.5m deep and 2m wide flows along the cave. This chamber has the lowest ceiling, even only 4m at some spots. Huge rock slabs stacked on each other show off their beautiful colours. The stalactites here look like silver and golden falls. On the ground, they resemble giant pie crusts holding water inside.

Going deeper into the cave, the tourists will surely be surprised by the stalactite structure uniquely formed resembling the terraced fields full of shining bright rice plants, regionally called "the fairy's field". Besides, there are hundreds of stalactites hanging down softly resembling an attractive curtain. This second chamber is about 200m long, with a sandy ground. The cave sides adorned by the stalactites look like the classic Chinese landscape painting with mountains, rivers, and forest.

Nature's art: Stalactites that resemble little bamboo shoots are frequently seen in Dong Doi.

"The chamber is an extraordinary blend of the stalactite formation and deep water springs. The air inside the cave is cool and it is hauntingly quiet here." Johnny Han, an American tourist commented.

From the second chamber, I go 300m further into the cave to reach the third chamber, the core of the cave. There are two separate levels in this chamber. The first level is quite large, 10.000sq.m and 80m in height with the uniquely formed rocks that really add mystery to the place. To reach the second level, I have to climb along the rock cliff that is about 10m high. This level resembles a half moon with an average height around 60m. The terraced rock field is spread amidst the chamber's centre. The ceiling in the east is decorated with the stalactites hanging down, which accentuate the stalactites on the ground. The end of the second level is a collection of the shiny golden rocks that help stabilise the ceiling. It can be said that the spacious second floor really elevates the structural beauty of Dong Doi.

If you have a chance to visit Cao Bang for a few days, Dong Doi in Ha Lang is a site worth visiting besides other famous spots such as Ba Be Lake, Ban Gioc Waterfall, or Nguom Ngao Cave.

"It is like escaping from the real world to a cool, mysterious, sparkly yet quiet world," foreign tourist Anna Smith told me when saying goodbye to Dong Doi to return to the city.
A program to promote Japanese investments in central Da Nang city was held on March 6.

Vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Dang Viet Dung said the city boasts numerous advantages in investment attraction as it is located on the East-West economic corridor and has an abundant labor force, many industrial parks, a convenient transportation system, and a high-tech zone under construction.

We want to cooperate with Japanese businesses in support industries, information technology, and high-tech areas in addition to healthcare and building an international hospital and resorts. Da Nang city is committed to facilitating the operations of Japanese and Vietnamese businesses, Dung said.
Britain's Andy Murray returns against Japan's Kei Nishikori during the Davis Cup in Birmingham. (AFP/Justin Tallis)

BIRMINGHAM: Andy Murray defeated Kei Nishikori 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 in an epic clash as defending champions Britain downed Japan to reach the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Sunday (Mar 6).

Murray, the world number two, had seemed set for a comfortable afternoon against his sixth-ranked opponent by taking the first two sets against a player he had defeated five times in six previous encounters.

But Nishikori battled and was even a break to the good in the deciding set before Murray stormed back for victory in five minutes short of five hours.

Victory gave Britain an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie and a place in July's quarter-finals. Waiting there will be Novak Djokovic's Serbia or outsiders Kazakhstan.

"The crowd helped for sure. I was struggling a little at the end of the third and a little bit throughout the fourth," said Murray, who had been looking at the prospect of losing from two sets up for the first time in 11 years.

"There were long rallies, he was pushing me quite far off the baseline. I was trying to keep the points short but in the fifth I had to grit my teeth, fight hard and I managed to get the win.

"I was a little bit calmer in the fifth set. I was panicking a little bit at the end of the third when I was struggling physically, I didn't quite know what to do. In the fifth I went back to what I was doing in the first set. Positive energy, fight for every single point and that was enough today."

Murray hit 10 aces and 40 winners but suffered 97 unforced errors in the gruelling encounter. Fatigue looked to be taking over Murray's body and omens were not good when he dropped serve at the start of the fifth but he hit back with three games in a row.

Nishikori broke back before Murray withstood a barrage of pressure to hold and then created two match points at 5-2, both of which the Japanese star saved. But Nishikori's resistance finally ended at the fourth time of asking.

Murray, who won his singles opener on Friday and teamed up with brother Jamie to claim Saturday's doubles, was playing for the first time in five weeks after taking time off to be with wife Kim and baby daughter Sophia.

He said he was heading home immediately before flying to Indian Wells for the first Masters event of the year next week. The 28-year-old Scot said: "It's Kim's first Mother's Day. I'll try to get back for bath time and put her to sleep - the baby, not Kim."
The embassy had earlier announced on their official site the installation of an air quality monitor to measure PM2.5 particulates as an indication of the air quality at its building at 7 Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh District.

PM, or Particulate Matter, is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. PM2.5 particulates are fine particles with diameters that are 2.5 micrometers or less.

PM2.5 readings are converted into an Air Quality Index (AQI) value, which shows the level of pollution the monitored air suffers on a scale from 0 to 500, with 500 being the most polluted.

An AQI level of 388 was recorded at 9:00 am on March 1 in Hanoi, which means the air quality was hazardous and could lead to serious health effects on those living in it.

The alarming number sparked concerns among Hanoians, who were worried that pollution in the capital was getting as bad as that in Beijing.

Its not precise to say Hanoi is as badly polluted as Beijing, though the pollution level recorded in the Vietnamese capital has exceeded safety levels by 1-1.5 times, Hoang Duong Tung, deputy general director of the Vietnam Environment Administration, told Tuoi Tre on Friday.

Some people used the air quality reading recorded at the peak hour in Hanoi to compare with the average reading monitored in 24 hours in Beijing, which led to the misunderstanding, Tung explained.

The recorded PM2.5 concentration was also three times the safe level recommended by the National Technical Regulation on Ambient Air Quality, and seven times the World Health Organizations recommended level.

Tung said there could be various reasons, such as a big wind carrying large amounts of dirt, which could have caused the peak, and such factors were not consistent throughout the day.

The U.S. Embassy also noted that the data only provides an accurate measurement of the air quality in the part of Hanoi close to the diplomatic mission, and that citywide analysis cannot be done with input from a single monitor.

The AQI level recorded at the embassy over the course of March 1 and 2 fluctuated between 114 and 388, consistently staying above 150 during the day, a level categorized as unhealthy by AUI standards and that can cause detrimental health effects.

According to deputy general director Tung, the air quality in Hanoi is being monitored on a daily basis, with excessive PM and ozone concentrations named leading factors that are polluting the capitals atmosphere.

Pham Van Khanh, deputy director of Hanois Department of Natural Resources and Environment, asserted that air pollution in Hanoi has not seen much improvement, answering a question from Tuoi Treabout the solution to the contamination issue.

According to Khanh, a series of comprehensive methods which include emissions control, vehicle inspection, and congestion reduction must be applied in order to battle worsening pollution.

City officials are also increasing the coverage of trees to improve local air quality, Khanh said.
The central city's planning and investment department grants an investment license to the Self Wing Viet Nam company in business start-up education yesterday.- VNS Photo Cong Thanh

Viet Nam is the first country where the company has set up its personal education system in Ha Noi, HCM City and Da Nang.

As per the plan, the Self Wing International College will open in the central city next July to support an anticipated surge in Japanese investment into Viet Nam and Da Nang City in the coming years.

According to the city's investment promotion centre, Da Nang has drawn 390 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total capital of US$3.6 billion, of which nearly 100 projects, worth $390 million, are from Japan.

Last year, the city's investment promotion centre also launched its Japanese Desk Da Nang team, which will be available every Wednesday to help Japanese investors with information about administrative procedures, investment licences, priority policies and other adjustments.

The city plans to build a 134ha industrial park for medium and small-sized businesses from Japan.

FPT Software has sent 101 information technology (IT) trainees from Da Nang, Ha Noi and HCM City to participate in a nine-month training programme in Japan.

The training is being held as part of the 10,000-Bridge Software Engineer (BrSE) programme.
The list defines qualified fish establishments including 19 from China, 13 from Myanmar, seven from Thailand, and 23 from Vietnam.

The inspection program for Siluriformes fish took effect on March 1, 2016 and has a 18-month transitional period. By the end of the transitional period on September 1, 2017, the program will be fully applied.

During the 18-month transitional period, the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will re-inspect and conduct species and residue sampling on imported Siluriformes fish shipments at least quarterly at US import establishments on a random basis.

After the transitional period, foreign countries seeking to continue exporting such products to the US must submit adequate documentation showing the equivalence of their Siluriformes inspection system with that of the US.
On Saturday, the ministry jointly launched a campaign to raise peoples awareness of preventive methods against the epidemics in Binh Chanh District with the Ho Chi Minh City administration.

Speaking at the event, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien encouraged the people to participate in the eradication of mosquitoes and their larva by raising guppies, regularly cleaning water containers, sleeping in mosquito nets, and others.

The event also saw pepresentatives from Ho Chi Minh City along with 27 provinces and cities in southern, central Vietnam and the Central Highlands promise to fulfill their duties in the prevention of the diseases.

Zika is a disease caused by the Zika virus that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito of the Aedes species, with common symptoms being fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas, with WHO officials on Tuesday expressing concern that it could hit Africa and Asia as well, according to Reuters.

The Zika disease is considered dangerous as no vaccinations or specialized medicines has been introduced so far.

As the Aedes mosquitoes are also commonly responsible for the transfer of the Dengue virus in Vietnam, the execution of the preventive measures are significant and necessary in the effort to avoid the widespread of such epidemics in the country.
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For the first time, the wife of the US ambassador to Cambodia is herself a Cambodian.

Sotie Heidt, whose family name is Kenmano, fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s and resettled in the United States.

She lost both parents and other relatives to the Khmer Rouge, and she decided when she left the refugee camp on the border she would pursue higher education.

When my parents were alive, they always said that only the well-educated can get themselves out of difficulty, no matter what, Sotie told VOA Khmer in an interview.

At the start of her second year living in the US, she enrolled at Evergreen State College, in Washington. After graduating from Cornell University with a masters degree, she moved back to Cambodia, in 1997, where she met her husband, William Heidt, who was working at the embassy.

The couple returned to Cambodia late last year, when William began his mission as ambassador.

Sotie says she has never forgotten her homeland, and she plans to help young Cambodian women be successful. She hopes to help connect young women with successful female mentors, to give them opportunities to grow professionally.

Since I have been here, I have talked to younger female students on how to be successful in life, she said. However, I also have been impressed that there are many successful people. Not just oknha, who are called successful, but there are also many other successful business [women], or those who work in the ministries, who feel proud to work in those jobs.

There are too few channels to connect young women to older, successful women, a fact that Sotie hopes to remedy. She also hopes to help the elderly and young children, by connecting them to American philanthropists.

She will encourage young women to stay in school, to fight against a high school dropout rate of around 25 percent.

And she thinks it is time that Cambodia sheds its dark past and develop a vision going forward, she said.

I think its been a long time already, she said. Neither the internationals or Cambodians need to mention genocide whenever they talk about Cambodia, she said. Rather, she would like Cambodia to be known for its beauty, its tourism and its economic opportunities.
The U.S. government recently closed a loophole that was allowing goods tied to forced labor to be imported and sold to consumers. Many hope the new legislation will lead profits to dry up for businesses that depend on human trafficking, and in turn free more victims from slavery.

The legislation, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, closes an 85-year-old legal opening, which had exempted from anti-slavery rules imported goods that the United States could not produce itself.

This and other measures signaled recently by the United States are expected to strengthen the scrutiny on imported goods that may have been sourced from supply chains tainted by slavery, including from the Thai fishing industry, which employs many Cambodian migrant workers. But enforcement will be all important, given the vast profits thought to be derived from forced laborabout $150 billion a year, according to an estimate by the International Labor Organization.

Karen Stauss, director of programs at the organization Free the Slaves, said the new law sent a strong message that goods made by slaves are no longer welcome in the U.S. market. They [companies] must do more of their own due diligence processes to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking tied to such products that they wish to sell in the United States, she said.

The new measure could encourage Thai seafood companies, for example, to change their business behaviors, she said. The incentive for them is to change their behavior so that they can continue to sell their products in a market that no longer wants to tolerate the presence of slavery within items they are selling, said Stauss.

The repeal of the loophole has been a long time coming, says David Abramowitz, vice president for policy and government relations at the non-profit Humanity United and a former chief counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

It has been a major advocacy goal of a number of organizations and civil society in the United States. And if the U.S. government follows up on this bill, and implements well, it could really make the difference all around the world, he said in an interview with VOA Khmer.

The new law would allow the U.S. government additional diplomatic pressure to promote human dignity as a principal of doing business around the world, he said. This would also be promoted through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a new free trade scheme that includes three Southeast Asian countries, he said. There is a specific provision which requires all countries that join the TPP to discourage to the import of goods made of forced labor, said Abramowitz.

Annick Febrey, senior associate for the group Human Rights Firsts anti-trafficking campaign, said that stronger enforcement would likely follow the legal change. Our hope is that this new legislation, once it is enforced, will start to dry up some of the profit for the perpetrators who are trafficking people into the industry, such as fishing in Thailand, Febrey said.

Thailand is one of the worlds largest seafood suppliers, exporting in large quantities to the United States and the European Union. Investigations last year led to calls for the Thai government to crack down on forced labor. Hundreds of Cambodians, Burmese and Bangladeshi workers were rescued from Thai-registered boats and from an Indonesian island where some had fled from their abusive captains.

Chum Phally, advocacy and policy advisor to Winrock Internationals countering trafficking-in-persons program for Cambodia, praised the collective international intervention against slavery in supply chains. Going forward, he said, uniform monitoring and enforcement was needed.

International intervention is one of the effective measures to protect workers rights, especially those immigrant workers such as those trapped on Thai boats, he said. And I believe the U.S. legislation to close the loophole will continue to contribute to the fight against human trafficking and forced labor in developing countries.

But holding perpetrators accountable is a challenge given the nature of global supply chains, Febrey said. For those who benefit from forced labor, its a very low-risk crime. Last year, an estimated 23.9 million people were employed in unfree conditions, but only about 4,000 convictions were made in courts worldwide. So we need to make it more risky for the perpetrators, Febrey said, and that will begin to dry up the profit, in order to put that into the equation.
The Supreme Court on Friday announced a decision to continue to hold opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour.

The aging senator has been detained since August 2015 on incitement and fraud charges related to allegedly posting false information about the Cambodian border on Facebook.

Prime Minister Hun Sen directly called for the arrest of Hong Sok Hour, who is suffering from high blood pressure, stomach ailments and fever while in prison.

He did not attend his hearing on Monday. Hong Sok Hour is awaiting trial and wont be released, despite offering to post $5,000 in bail and to hand over both his Khmer and French passports.

Critics say he is being unjustly held in a political case between the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

Its not much of a surprise, said Am Sam Ath, technical coordinator for the rights group Licadho. This is already the culture and its a political issue.
Activists and journalists were turned away by Azerbaijani authorities Monday as they attempted to visit imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova on the eve of International Womens Day.



Ismayilova, an awardwinning investigative reporter who published findings on the vast assets belonging to the family of President Ilham Aliyev, is serving a 7-plus years prison term on charges of tax evasion and abuse of power. Ismayilova worked for two years as the Baku bureau chief for Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq.



Ismayilovas supporters gathered outside the prison building holding bouquets of flowers. They criticized the authorities decision to deny the visit.



The fact that we were not allowed to present our gifts to her or even meet with her shows how much the government fears Khadija, journalist Aynur Imranova told VOA. We will not allow her name to be forgotten.



The entourage negotiated for over an hour with the authorities, trying to at least pass on flowers to Ismayilova. But, citing prison procedures on visitation hours, the authorities refused to accommodate their requests, activists said.



Ismayilova was initially arrested and jailed on December 5, 2014, on libel charges that international human rights groups said were trumped up. She was accused of inciting a former colleague to attempt suicide, charges that were later withdrawn by her accuser. Subsequently, other charges were leveled against her including tax evasion, illegal business activity and abuse of power.



Ismayilova rejected all charges as politically motivated and false, and RFE/RL characterized them as having no basis in reality.



Ismayilovas mother, Elmira, told VOA that her daughters struggle for free speech should be highlighted on International Womens Day.



I congratulate our nation on the occasion of International Womens Day, especially those women who fight for their people and for free speech, she said. I also wish to congratulate women who fight for improved governance. I wish them to be steadfast and brave. My word to women is that they should not fear. I am proud that my Khadija is one such person.



Although she has been arrested, is not free, is not at home, I am proud of her. I call upon all women and my people to fight without fear for the freedom of our people, for the development of our country, Elmira Ismayilova said.



During her time in prison, Ismayilova has translated Iranian American writer Sahar Delijanis Children of the Jacaranda Tree into Azerbaijani. Writing the foreword to the translated edition of her book, Delijani praised Khadija for her courage.



This is a very special translation, not only because it is my mom's mother tongue, but particularly because it has been done by Khadija Ismayilova, a prominent Azeri journalist, now behind bars in Baku on political charges for more than a year, the author wrote. Delijani was born in the Evin Prison in 1983 where her mother was serving prison time for political activism in post-revolutionary Iran.



Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer married to actor George Clooney, has signed on to represent Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights.



Ismayilova last fall received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the National Press Clubs John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award.



She tells me to stay strong, her mother told VOA. Tell everyone outside to continue the good fight.
Climate change is threatening some of Africa's most important crops, including corn, beans and bananas, and scientists warn that the agriculture system there needs some adjustments, and fast.

The problem is, as climate change has a greater impact on the continent's crops, some areas currently growing staple crops won't be able to support them.

The study was done by the University of Leeds and was released in Nature Climate Change.

Staple crops at risk

The numbers are startling. A full 30 percent of African farmland currently growing corn and bananas won't support those crops by by the end of the century. And an even more troubling 60 percent of land being used to grow beans won't be able to support their growth any longer.

The study's lead author, Dr. Julian Ramirez-Villegas from the University of Leeds, says the study is important because it sets out a timeline for solving the problem.

"We know what needs to be done, and for the first time, we now have deadlines for taking action," he said.

What exactly needs to be done? Villegas says it could be as simple as changing the types of crops grown in any one particular place, or improving irrigation in the region. In some extreme cases, the land may not support agriculture any longer and will just have to lie fallow.

Planning now for the future

The key, according to co-auther Andy Challinor from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, is flexibility in response to climate change.

"Banana imports from sub-Saharan Africa to the U.K. have more than doubled since 2001, showing that his issue has implications well beyond Africa's border," he said. "The places in which crops are grown will need to alter as climate changes. The key is to plan for these changes."

Challinor says that even though the study looks ahead to the end of the century, these changes are happening now, and within the next decade Africa will lose some prime banana and maize growing crop land.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a five-day trip to the Middle East Monday, vowing that the United States would "squeeze the heart" out of Islamic State and destroy it.

Biden visited U.S. airmen stationed at the Al-Dhafra Air Base near the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, as drones taxied down the runway.

He dismissed Islamic State insurgents as "criminals and cowards." Biden, using an Arabic name for Islamic State, told the airmen, "We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world."

In an interview with the Abu Dhabi newspaper, The National, Biden pressed the U.S. case for a negotiated peace settlement to end the five-year civil war in Syria, ruling out a military solution. Peace talks are set to resume again later this week in Geneva as a truce has sharply curtailed fighting in recent days.

"A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild their country," Biden said. "To create a credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian system, a new constitution and free and fair elections."

Biden is scheduled to meet with Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is the federation's vice president and prime minister.

Biden also visited Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque on Monday, stopping to examine a wall in the ornate mosque bearing the 99 names of God written in Arabic.



Later, he toured a government-backed clean energy campus, where he sampled water purified at a desalinization plant, a crucial facility for the future of the Emirates, which experts are predicting could run out of groundwater in the next 15 years.

Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill, is also visiting Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will host talks with Biden on Wednesday. Ahead of their meeting, Netanyahu said the visit is evidence of the strong relations between Israel and the United States and that those who predicted the collapse of their ties have been proven wrong.

Biden will also meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, and on Thursday he will hold talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.
For the first time, the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia is herself a Cambodian.

Sotie Heidt, whose family name is Kenmano, fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s and resettled in the United States.

Sotie says she has never forgotten her homeland, where she plans to help young Cambodian women be successful. By connecting young women with accomplished female mentors, she hopes to give them opportunities to grow professionally.

"Since I have been here, I have talked to younger female students on how to be successful in life. However, I also have been impressed that there are many successful people. Not just oknha," she said, using a government-sanctioned title for elite professionals and philanthropists meant to confer honor and prestige. "There are also many other successful business [women], or those who work in the ministries, who feel proud to work in those jobs."

Saying there are too few channels to connect young women to older, successful women, Sotie hopes to create those connections.

She plans to encourage young women to stay in school and reduce Cambodia's high school dropout rate of around 25 percent, all part of an effort to help the country shed its dark past and develop a vision going forward.

"I think its been a long time already," she said. "Neither the internationals or Cambodians need to mention genocide whenever they talk about Cambodia," she said. Rather, she would like Cambodia to be known for its beauty, tourism and economic opportunities.

Pursuing education

Sotie lost both parents and other relatives to the communist regime, and when she left the refugee camp on the border, she decided she would pursue higher education.

"When my parents were alive, they always said that only the well-educated [who] can get themselves out of difficulty, no matter what," Heidt told VOA Khmer in an interview.

After one year in the U.S., she enrolled at Evergreen State College, in the northwest state of Washington, and later graduated from Cornell University with a masters degree. In 1997, she moved back to Cambodia, where she met her husband, William Heidt, an embassy employee.

The couple returned to Cambodia when William began his mission as ambassador in 2015.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Khmer Service.
The two Democratic candidates for the U.S. presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, said Sunday they would look forward to running against Donald Trump in the general election.

In Flint, Michigan, the two Democrats also sought to contrast their debates with those in the Republican race that have often featured personal attacks. Sanders said the Republicans are demonstrating why his administration would place a priority on investing in mental health.

Flint's 100,000 residents, most of them black and many of them impoverished, have been facing a toxic water crisis that federal, state and local officials have been grappling with for months.

Sanders opened the debate, broadcast on CNN, by saying he was "shattered" by the sight of families, including children, being "poisoned" by the toxic water in Flint. He called the situation a "disgrace," and said it points out the need to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure.

WATCH: Clinton, Sanders Face Off in Flint, Michigan

Clinton called on the federal and state governments to funnel more money into Flint to fix the water system. She said nothing is more important than the health and well-being of the people of Flint.

Both candidates called on the Republican governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, to resign. Snyder later tweeted, "In a few days, political candidates will be leaving Flint and Michigan. I am committed to the people of Flint."

The governor has apologized to Flint residents, who have been dealing with high levels of lead in their water supply for nearly two years.

Who's to blame for water crisis?



Snyder said state and federal environmental agencies failed to identify and solve the problem after it emerged in April 2014, and that he has replaced the state officials with people who understand the severity of the situation.

The water crisis emerged as Michigan state officials, managing the financially troubled city's affairs, tried to save money by switching the water supply in April 2014 from Lake Huron, via the Detroit water system, to the Flint River, which courses through Flint. The city switched back to the Detroit supply last October as the scope of the crisis became apparent.

Trade



On the economy, Sanders accused Clinton of supporting "disastrous trade agreements" such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalizing trade relations with China that he said have led to job losses.

Sanders spoke after Clinton discussed a number of ways to help manufacturing jobs. She said there needs to be both "carrots and sticks" so that manufacturers make investments in the U.S.



She also said the country needs a comprehensive plan for manufacturing and improving roads and bridges.

Mass US shootings



The two candidates were asked what they would do to address the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States.

Both called for expanding and improving background checks for those who purchase firearms. But they disagreed on whether gun manufacturers should be held accountable for mass shootings committed by people who use those firearms.

Clinton favors such accountability, while Sanders said Clinton's approach could amount to "ending gun manufacturing in America."



Michigan primary



The Democratic candidates faced off just two days before Michigan's primary, in a city that already was in tough shape long before residents learned their drinking water was tainted with lead.

With Clinton continuing to widen her considerable lead in the Democratic delegate count, Sanders sees upcoming Midwestern primaries as a crucial opportunity to slow her momentum by highlighting his trade policies. After Michigan's vote on Tuesday, the March 15 primaries include Ohio, Illinois and Missouri.

Sanders, interviewed Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," pledged to keep his campaign going to the Democratic convention this July even if Clinton already has clinched enough delegates to claim the nomination. Sanders did beat Clinton in Sunday's caucuses in Maine.



Clinton has at least 1,123 delegates to Sanders' 484, including super delegates - members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.
Ankara wants the European Union to double the aid it is is giving to Turkey to deal with the migrant crisis, the European Parliament's president said Monday.

As EU representatives discussed the crisis with their Turkish counterparts at a summit in Brussels and thousands of people remained stranded at the Greece-Macedonia border, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Turkey had asked for an additional $3.3 billion to help curb the flow of migrants to the continent.

Last November, the EU agreed to give Ankara $3.3 billion for help in dealing with the refugee crisis.

Reuters reports a draft EU-Turkey agreement on migration says Turkey will agree to take back temporarily "all irregular migrants" arriving in the Greek islands from Turkey. In return, the EU will lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens by end the June and speed up the process for Turkey joining the EU, the news agency reported.

Countries from Macedonia on north have shut their borders, preventing people mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq from traveling on toward Germany and Scandinavian nations.

The influx of nearly 1 million people arriving by sea in Greece since the beginning of 2015 has European leaders looking to persuade Turkey to both keep migrants from taking the dangerous route and also take back thousands who don't qualify for EU asylum.

Turkey is hosting more than 2.7 million refugees from Syria alone, and, like European nations and other Syrian neighbors, has struggled with the burden of providing services.

The EU has offered several incentives to get Turkish authorities to crack down on migrant movements. Some $3.3 billion will be made available for Syrian refugees. Turkey's long-coveted EU membership process is being sped up, as are moves to ease EU visa requirements.

NATO announced Sunday it is deploying ships to the Aegean Sea to help Greece and Turkey "tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks that are fueling this crisis."

Britain said it is sending several ships as part of the NATO force.

"We've got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement.

Those dangers were highlighted again Sunday with 25 migrants drowning while trying to reach Greece from Turkey. The Turkish coast guard managed to pull 15 others to safety.

The International Organization for Migration says more than 400 people have died this year trying to reach Europe by sea.
The leader of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party has accused the European Union of ignoring the deteriorating human rights situation in the country in a bid to secure a migrant deal with Ankara.

As the EU looks for cooperation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stem the growing number of migrants entering Greece from his country, potential human rights abuses are being overlooked, according to Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the People's Democratic Party in Turkey.

As Turkey seeks to join the EU, the EU is obliged to confront Turkey over its human rights record, Demirtas said. However, he added, European diplomats and political leaders have told him that the EU needs Erdogan, so they are failing to confront him on his record so as not to make him angry.

Demirtas declined to specify names, saying the comments occurred in what he called closed-door meetings.

Human rights groups

His allegations come as Turkish security forces continue a major crackdown against the PKK, the Kurdish rebel group, in towns and cities across Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Human rights groups say nearly 200 civilians, including children, have been killed by fighting that has forced tens of thousands from their homes  and many more to live under a 24-hour lockdown.

Andrew Gardner, an Amnesty International Turkey researcher, says there is a worrying international silence over the situation.

"The situation internationally has been very disappointing in terms of the international community really turning a blind eye to the serious abuses that have been going on in the southeast of Turkey," Gardner said.

Despite such concerns, Brussels has unfrozen Ankara's bid to join the European Union. The bid has been blocked, in part, because of human rights concerns. Turkey is demanding further progress in its membership bid in exchange for cooperation over the migrants.

Additional concerns

Concerns over human rights in Turkey deepened further Friday, with a court seizure of the country's best-selling Zaman newspaper. Zaman was one of the last mainstream papers critical of the government and the president.

The court has given no reason for its decision. French Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault says the seizure is unacceptable, and a pluralist media is a European standard.

Observers say that, while the move against Zaman may be embarrassing for Europe's leaders, it is unlikely to get in the way of its courting of Turkey's leaders. Last year, a world press freedom index by rights group Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 149th out of 180 countries.
By early afternoon, the Salvation Armys social grocery store is filling up. The mostly female clientele arrives with fistfuls of bags and trolleys, unwrapping scarves that had cut a bracing wind.

Volunteers have freshly stocked the shelves with gleaming rows of canned vegetables and pasta. A small refrigerated section carries yoghurt, milk and meat, just shy of their sell-by dates.

For the hundred or so families who shop here  paying only a small social contribution for their purchases  the Salvation Army store is a buffer against hunger.

I especially come here for the meat, said Zina Tigrine a single mother of two, who arrived with a friend. Its a precious help when youre really in need.

Until now the store, located just across the Paris city limits, has relied on voluntary donations from two city supermarkets. But under a new law, those donations are now mandatory.

Mandating food donations

Legislation passed last month makes France the worlds first country to ban supermarket waste and compel large retailers to donate unsold food  or face a $4,000 fine.

The situation is very simple, said Arash Derambarsh, a municipal councilor in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie, who launched a grassroots petition for parliament to adopt the law. On the one hand, we have supermarkets that throw away kilos of unsold food every day. On the other, faced with this absurdity, we have millions of poor people in France.

Derambarsh is no stranger to living on the edge. As a student, he struggled to make ends meet, spending half of his small income on rent.

I was hungry and ashamed of admitting it, he wrote in his book, Manifesto Against Waste. I wanted to turn it into a positive experience so others would not end up in this situation.

Last year, he began collecting food from his local supermarket with friends and volunteers and handing it out to the homeless. They launched a petition for the food waste law that took on legs.

Food waste in France

The new legislation fits into a broader rethink of consumption practices in France, where roughly seven million tons of food  about one fifth of the amount bought  is thrown away each year. While consumers are the biggest culprits, restaurants and stores account for about one-quarter of the refuse.

As of this year, restaurants are encouraged to offer les doggy bags to diners, a standard practice in the U.S. that remains a novelty here. Those generating large amounts of waste are legally obligated to recycle it.

The drive to cut consumption is echoed elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, until recently, France was considered to be a laggard. In Denmark, a new waste supermarket is drawing crowds who snap up surplus food at discount prices.

Derambarsh is now campaigning for the European Union to adopt a similar supermarket waste law, and appealing to the U.S. and other countries to follow suite.

This is a long road, but we are going to end up being more human, he said.

Reactions of charities

Yet the reaction among some charities and supermarkets in France points to the complexity of tackling food waste.

For some, the legislation amounts to a much-needed windfall.

It will allow us to feed more people and provide a more diversified food basket, says Louise Saint-Germain, president of a small NGO called Un Main Tendue Pour Demain (A Hand Stretched out For Tomorrow). Every day you have more people out of work. This helps them manage their budget and deal with daily life."

But others are worried it will lead to more donations than they can handle.

We simply dont have the technical and logistical ability to distribute more food to more people, said Aline Chassagnot, who manages the Salvation Army store. And were not the only ones.

More than a supermarket waste ban, the country needs to reconsider larger issues surrounding consumption and sharing, she said.

Yes, theres waste and there are enough poor people around, Chassagnot said. But really taking into account a persons needs and dignity might mean another way of thinking thats not so simple.

Supermarket practices

Meanwhile, many large supermarkets argue the law only endorses existing practices. At a vast and gleaming Carrefour supermarket in western Paris, Director Soed Toumi points to carts of food piled high in a refrigerated room, awaiting their daily pickup. For years, the store has been donating unsold food to four local charities.

We have a team thats dedicated to sorting the merchandise from Monday to Saturday, Toumi said. The associations then come to take it.

Nothing is wasted, she said. In the kitchen, chefs dip day-old croissants and pain au chocolat into syrup, then pour almond paste on them, turning them into new confections. Rotten raspberries are picked out of unsold tubs, with the good ones reused in tarts.

Were careful to buy in smaller quantities and were careful on how we manage the products on the shelves, Toumi said.

Food that is damaged or past its shelf life is transformed into biofuel, she adds, powering supermarket trucks.

Still other French stores reportedly doused unsold food with bleach, rendering them inedible.

At the Salvation Armys social market, shoppers welcomed the law.

There are so many needy people, said Elisabeth Bone, who lives on about $750 a month. All the more reason to share, instead of throwing food away.
When he left his village in Georgia, Beslan Mukhtarov seemed destined to be a doctor. He arrived in Turkey, and was admitted to a prestigious medical school in Istanbul.

But Mukhtarov's life took a radical turn. According to Turkish security officials, Mukhtarov crossed into Syria last November and joined Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida-aligned Islamist group fighting against government forces in the Syrian civil war.

Mukhtarov was killed in December in a Russian airstrike near the Syrian-Turkish border.

At 30, he became the 17th citizen of Georgia to die in Syria. His relatives in Karajala, an ethnic Azeri village in eastern Georgia, were stunned.

"I talked to [his] father," Mamed Suleimanov, a relative of Mukhtarov, told VOA's Georgian Service. "He told me: My son was studying in a Turkish university. Then I do not know what happened. He left for Syria, and now they say he's dead.'"

Mukhtarov is one of dozens of Georgian nationals who have left the Caucasus region to join the Islamic cause in Syria and become aligned with Syrian rebels or Islamic State fighters.

Increasingly radical views

The recruits are often driven by a conservative Muslim ideology, while fleeing poverty in Georgia.

"The decision to fight in Syria or Iraq is highly personal and no single factor conclusively determines participation," said Bennett Clifford, an analyst at the Tbilisi-based Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

"Reports are mainly based on the word of mouth," Clifford said. "Usually, it is impossible to determine whether the individual was fighting there until they are reported dead."

Mukhtarov came from an Azeri area where young men are turning increasingly radical, analysts say.

Ethnic Azeris, the largest Muslim group in Georgia, are traditionally Shi'ite Muslims. But more and more young people are adopting Salafism  an ultra-conservative strain of Sunni Islam.

The religious divide, largely hidden from public view, is playing out in neighborhoods and families. Some radicalized sons will not go to the mosques that their fathers have attended for years.

"In some villages, we control one mosque, the Salafis control the other one," Iasir Alyev, an ethnic Azeri who is the mufti of eastern Georgia, told VOA's Georgian Service.

Promises of paradise, money

Georgia's Muslim leaders blame Salafism's growing influence on young people on foreign-educated clerics, whose radical views of religion make young people increasingly vulnerable to IS recruitment.

"They've been told that if they die in Syria, they are going to paradise," Alyev said. "There is no such paradise."

"I know that recruiters promise them $15,000 as soon as they reach Syria, and people go thinking that they can send the money back to their families," he said. "But it is always a lie. They never get money."

Young people who leave Georgia for the Middle East often do not tell their relatives where they are going. Families dont find out until it is too late, Alyev said.

It took nearly two months for news of Mukhtarov's death to reach his home in Georgia.

Mukhtarov's story

Little is known as to how he ended up in a predominantly Turkmen territory in the Syrian province of Latakia. According to Turkish security officials, Mukhtarov crossed into Syria sometime in November 2015.

It is not clear whether Mukhtarov was an active combatant in Syria or was simply using his medical training to treat people wounded in the fighting there.

Mukhtarov was born and raised in Karajala, but left the eastern Georgian village for a better life in Turkey. According to Turkish media, he was admitted to Istanbul's Cerrahpasa School of Medicine after earning top scores on state exams in Turkey.

Media reports say he came under the radar of Turkish law enforcement after criticizing both Israel and Fethullah Gulen, a dissident Turkish imam who resides in the U.S.

Turkish authorities reportedly labeled Mukhtarov a "suspected terrorist." He was questioned by the Turkish police and eventually deported back to Georgia. He was banned from entering Turkey for four years, reports say.

Villagers in Georgia are reluctant to speak about Mukhtarov's activities during those four years back home.

But the future doctor had no success in building a sustainable future, they say, and he died less than a month after reaching the Syrian war front.
The morning mist has barely risen above Demoso market in Kayah State, yet Karenni villagers from the surrounding area have already started on the local rice wine. While traders prepare their stalls for the morning rush, a throng of men surround a line of yellow jerry cans which hold the sweet liquor.

Perhaps it is just the wine, but everyone at the bustling market is moving with a sense of optimism. In less than a month, Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) will take over the parliament and there are high expectations among the Karenni.

We are hopeful that the next government will be much, much better than what we have had until now we hope that every ethnic group in Myanmar will have more freedom. says Daw Nan as she weighs a bag of dried tea leaves on rusty scales.

Support for NLD

The NLD won a landslide victory in last years historic election. They won almost every seat in Kayah, a performance that was replicated in many of the ethnic states.

Observers did not expect Aung San Suu Kyi to do so well in these regions. After years of oppression at the hands of the Bamar majority, it was thought the small nationalist parties would be strong competition. This was only proven true in Shan and Rakhine State.

Perhaps as a sign of gratitude, Aung San Suu Kyi nominated three ethnic MPs for the speaker positions within Myanmar parliament. But the Karenni at Demoso market are hoping for more tangible changes at home.

Improvements sought

The only things we want to see are better education, better healthcare and true peace across the country. says Daw Mu Taw, an elderly woman from the Padaung tribe who is selling home-made honey in dis-used whiskey bottles.

For decades, armed ethnic groups fought against the military regime. The conflicts devastated the frontier regions; thousand of people fled the country, livelihoods were destroyed and basic services were neglected.

Like many other ethnic states, Kayah now ranks among the poorest in Myanmar. Over recent years, the government has made efforts to improve infrastructure, particularly roads, health facilities and schools but their efforts failed to impress the Karenni.

We might have a health center but we dont have any doctors that know how to cure people. says Khun Kheing Tune, Demosos only jewelery maker.

There are also complaints that the majority of Karenni do not have access to Kayahs new infrastructure projects; 75 percent of the population live in rural areas and nearly 90 percent of people work in agriculture.

We are hoping that the new government will look after the rural communities and encourage development in all areas. Under the current government we have only been allowed to work on the farms. We hope to open new businesses which will bring improvements to our area says village leader U Shwe Hlat.

Economic potential

There is certainly economic potential in Kayah. Cross border trade could be developed with Thailand and the area is rich in natural resources, particularly timber and minerals.

But there is a distinct lack of transparency in the management of those natural resources which are controlled by organizations affiliated with the old military regime. Kayah's landscape is scarred after years of intense deforestation and profits from the tin mines are not seen among the community.

Many have turned to the illegal manufacturing of drugs as an alternative to farming. Poppy cultivation in on the increase and amphetamines are also produced locally. Unsurprisingly, the proliferation of drug production has also led an increase in consumption.

Desire for more independence

The KNPP - Kayahs largest armed ethnic group  believes federalism is the only solution for the states socio-economic woes. They have long fought for control of the states natural resources and say they are best placed to respond to the needs of the Karenni.

If we had our own government, it would be easier for us to talk about and solve our own community problems and the region would develop quicker. Now the community and the government are separate and we cannot discuss our problems with those at the very top. says the KNPP secretary Ko Elia.

The KNPP are not the only party pushing for a federal system. In October 2015, eight armed ethnic groups signed a National Ceasefire Agreement which promised to establish a union based on the principles of democracy and federalism.

Those groups that did not sign the agreement, including the KNPP, have recently met in Chiang Mai to discuss how best to continue negotiations for federalism with the next government.

But while federalism may be on the agenda for the old war hands as they sit behind a negotiating table in a cool conference center, there certainly is little talk of it among the Karenni as they buy ingredients at the lively Demoso market. In fact, their motivation for voting NLD was not just based on their own needs - but of the whole country.

"I hope that they bring education, health and prosperity to the whole country, to every religion whether they be Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or Hindu we are one big family and we are all in the same boat says Daw Nan, as she sips her mug of warm rice wine.
In India, an attack on a church in a central Indian state has again turned the spotlight on concerns about religious intolerance under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

The attack comes days after the Indian government denied visas to a U.S. government body which wanted to study religious freedom in India, saying that the group has no standing to judge the situation in a country which guarantees freedom of religion.

Police in Chattisgarh state say they have arrested seven people in connection with the attack on Sunday, in which a mob of men stormed a church near the capital, Raipur, assaulted those in attendance and damaged furniture.

Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Nobody guilty will be spared, and strict action will be taken.

Religious attacks on rise?

The attack deepened concerns that religious hardliners have become emboldened since the BJP won a sweeping majority in 2014.

A series of attacks on churches last year had prompted assurances from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his government would not allow any religious group to incite hatred against others.

But a spokesman of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, Father Savari Muthu, said on Monday that there is  a big difference in the statements made by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister and the ground reality.

He pointed to what he says is a clear increase in the number of attacks on churches since May 2014. That is really disturbing, worrisome and the attackers get away easily, they have so much confidence in the present powers, he said.

Besides Christian groups, Muslim religious leaders have also complained of being targeted by hardline Hindu groups. Last September, a Muslim man living near New Delhi was lynched to death by a Hindu mob which suspected him of eating beef. Hindus, who make up 80 per cent of the population, consider the cow a holy animal.

The government says such incidents are isolated and action is taken against those involved in such attacks. Last week the foreign ministry, responding to concerns raised by a group of U.S.Congressmen about threats to religious minorities, said incidents of intolerance are aberrations.

No major attacks but still concern

Independent political analyst, Ajoy Bose, said it is true that there has not been any major religious violence since the BJP took power.

But he said there is a perception which is growing that there is a fair number of very small incidents, but still significant enough, to create a siege mentality among the Muslim and Christian minorities.

Bose adds that in a country with a history of strife between Hindus and Muslims, "there has not been major rioting so we cannot say that this is something which is very dangerous.

Separately, the government did not grant visas to a panel from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which had planned a visit to India to study religious freedom. In its 2015 report, the group said that since Modis 2014 win, religious minorities had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the BJP, as well as violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups.

In a statement explaining why the visas were not given, the Indian Embassy said there is no change in policy with respect to such visits. "We do not see the  standing of a foreign entity like USCIRF to pass its judgment and comment on the state of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights."

The statement said the Indian constitution "guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens including the right to freedom of religion."

It is not just the BJP government which has blocked the USCIRF from coming to India  the previous Congress-led government had also declined permission in 2009.

Political analyst Satish Misra at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi says They (Indian governments) dont like any group from abroad or outside commenting on India. That is once again acquiring a nationalist position and arousing nationalist sentiment, that look who are these people to comment on us?
U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered flags at the White House and all federal buildings to be lowered to half-staff "as a mark to respect the memory of" former first lady Nancy Reagan.

The steadfast partner of the 40th U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan died Sunday of congestive heart failure at the age of 94.

She will be buried beside her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Friday.

A White House statement issued Monday said Obama called for flags to remain at half-staff at federal government buildings, military posts, U.S. naval vessels and diplomatic missions until sunset on the day she is buried.

Obama said he and first lady Michelle Obama met Nancy Reagan once, after he took office in 2009, and that she could not have been more charming and gracious to the new White House occupants.

He said the former president "was lucky to have her, and I'm sure he would be the first to acknowledge that, so she will be missed."

Redefined role

On Sunday, the Obamas said in a joint statement that Nancy Reagan redefined the role of first lady during her tenure.

Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House. She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice, their statement said. We remain grateful for Nancy Reagans life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again.

WATCH: President Obama Talks About the Passing of Nancy Reagan

Many other touching tributes have been pouring in for the former first lady, renowned for her devotion to her husband, whom she called "Ronnie."

Former first lady Barbara Bush said in a statement, Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more.

Life with Ronald Reagan

Born Anne Frances Robbins, she was given the name Nancy by her mother. Having caught the acting bug from her mother, young Nancy pursued the profession in New York and Hollywood, where she met fellow actor Ronald Reagan.

The couple married in 1952.

The former Nancy Davis made 11 films in all, her last one coming in 1956: Hellcats of the Navy, co-starring her husband.

Ronald Reagan was governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Following a failed presidential bid in 1976, he subsequently won back-to-back elections in the 1980's.

In Photos: Nancy Reagan

'Just Say No' campaign



As first lady, Nancy Reagan spearheaded the "Just Say No" campaign against substance abuse, carving a space for herself in the national movement to combat recreational drugs.

A regular presence by her husband's side, Nancy Reagan also was sharply criticized for extravagant spending at the White House at a time of high unemployment in the United States.

By all accounts, the couple remained close until the former president died in 2004 after a decade of living with Alzheimer's disease.

They are survived by two children, Patti Davis and Ron Reagan.
Senegals President Macky Sall has come under attack ahead of the constitutional referendum set for March 20. The proposed changes would limit a president to two five-year terms. But Sall has stirred controversy as saying the limit would not apply to his current term, which runs until 2019.

Campaigning is on in Senegal to vote Yes or No to the new constitution March 20.

In the yes camp is the Minister of Youth and Employment Mame Mbaye Niang. He met residents in Thiaroye, a low-income suburb of the capital.

He says none of the proposed constitutional changes are to help the president. He says these changes are about strengthening democracy and the rule of law and improving quality of life. He says he just passed through a neighborhood where people were complaining they lost their land. This reform will address those problems, he says, so you need to vote yes.

The 15 proposed changes include giving more power to the National Assembly and local administrations while also expanding on existing laws about land inheritance and local communities control of natural resources.

But the proposal is meeting fierce resistance.

A new single by rap group Y En A Marre is calling on people to vote no in the referendum.

Y En A Marre played a leading role in demonstrations against ex-president Abdoulaye Wade in 2012 when he ran for a third term at 87 years old.

The group helped Macky Sall beat Wade but now is threatening more protests, this time against Sall.

The groups coordinator, Fadel Baro, says Macky Sall has failed to bring the big reform he promised and instead just wants to make small changes that have nothing to do with the lives of ordinary Senegalese. He says Macky Sall went back on his word and like all leaders who behave this way, he will pay a heavy price.

The key dispute here is over the shortening of the presidential mandate. Sall has repeatedly promised, even before he was elected, to reduce his term from seven to five years. But now that the provision is up for a vote, Sall says the new rule cannot legally apply to his current seven-year term.

That explanation has not played well with some of his supporters, who say Sall broke his word.

Human rights campaigner Aboubacry Mbodj says we are surprised that Sall changed his tune just a few weeks before the referendum. You know in Africa, he says, promises are very strong and sacred.

But Djibril Balde of the ruling coalition, Benno Bokk Yakaar, says Sall is still making history.

Balde says this is really quite extraordinary and rare in Africa for an elected president to campaign in favor of reducing his potential time in office.

Over the past two years, presidential term limits have become one of the burning issues on the continent. Efforts by leaders to extend their stays in office have led to unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, and the ouster of longtime Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore in 2014.
Police in central Somalia say at least six people including two African Union soldiers were injured Monday in an explosion at an airport in the city of Beledweyne.

In an interview with VOA Somali, Beledweyne police commander Colonel Ali Dhuh Abdi said an explosion occurred at the entrance of the airport, while security forces thwarted others.

A laptop packed with explosives exploded at the front gate of the airport, as the security officers were trying to inspect a car carrying the device, injuring four Somalis and two Djiboutian African Union peacekeepers, Abdi told VOA.

He said the security officials immediately discovered another bomb.

Following the explosion we immediately launched a security operation to ensure that all passengers at the airport were safe and fortunately we found a printer, which had a bomb implanted, Abdi said.

Abdi said police arrested 20 suspects in connection with todays explosion.

He said the explosion had the hallmarks of another incident last month when a blast occurred inside a Daallo airline flight bound for Djibouti. In that explosion, a passenger believed to be the bomber fell out the hole created by the blast and died.

Militant group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for that attack. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the Beledweyne explosion.

Weapons Found on Somalia-Bound Vessel

Meanwhile, an Australian Navy ship has seized a huge cache of weapons near Oman's coast from a fishing vessel bound for Somalia.

The Australian navy, which patrols waters around the Indian Ocean as part of an international maritime force, said it had seized nearly 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes from the fishing vessel.

"The weapons were seized under United Nations sanctions, which authorize interdiction on the high seas of illicit weapons destined for Somalia," the navy said Monday.

The navy said personnel from the HMAS Darwin had boarded the fishing vessel about 310 kilometers off the coast of Oman to verify which flag it was sailing under, and determined that it was stateless.

A Somali government security official were not ready to comment on the Australian Navy statement.

The United Nations has a decades-long arms embargo in place against Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991.
The main Syrian opposition group signaled Monday it intends to take part in renewed U.N.-led peace talks set to begin later this week.

Riad Nassan Agha, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee, said representatives plan to start arriving in Geneva on Friday.

He also said the HNC has noted a decline in reported violations of a cease-fire that has been in effect since February 27, as well as progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura originally intended to reconvene Syrian parties for peace talks late last month but pushed back the date as the United States and Russia led efforts to implement the cessation of hostilities.

Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone call Sunday that there should be no delay in starting the new round of negotiations.

A foreign ministry statement said the diplomats shared a "positive assessment" of the cease-fire and humanitarian access to besieged areas in Syria.

The goal of the peace talks is to bring about an agreement on a political transition to end Syria's five-year war with a new constitution and new elections.
A Taliban suicide bomber has blown himself up outside a local court compound in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 36 more.

Authorities say police personnel, women and children were among those killed and wounded in the attack Monday in the town of Shabqadar.

A local security official, Additional Assistant Commissioner Tariq Hassan, told reporters that police guards identified and intercepted the bomber, but when they tried to grab him he detonated the bomb.

"One of the police officials grabbed him and sustained serious injury from the fire shots of the suicide bomber but the policeman continued scuffling with him for up to 10 yards before becoming breathless. In the struggle, the suicide bomber was left fully confused and haggard to locate his target before blowing himself up," said Hassan.

The massive explosion, witnesses say, caused widespread damage and destroyed several vehicles at the judicial complex.

A spokesman for the militant group Jamatul Ahrar, a member of the Pakistani Taliban waging insurgency against the state, claimed responsibility for the bombing.



WATCH: VOA video footage from scene of blast

In a statement sent to reporters, the group said the attack was meant to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, a police bodyguard executed for killing the governor of Pakistans most populous province of Punjab over his call to reform the blasphemy law.

The group has vowed to carry out more attacks against the Pakistani judiciary and those linked to it.

Islamist parties in Pakistan have been agitating against the February 29 execution and have held country-wide protests to condemn the countrys judiciary as un-Islamic.

Qadri was part of the detail protecting governor Salman Taseer when he shot and killed him in 2011 in a busy market in the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistans blasphemy law mandates the death penalty for insulting Islam or the Prophet Mohammad.

The Pakistani Taliban has been waging a violent campaign to try to dislodge what it says is an un-Islamic military and governance system in the country. The extremist group has killed thousands of Pakistanis in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks in the decade long effort.

Military-led security operations have destroyed major hideouts and strongholds particularly in tribal areas near the Afghan border, preventing the militants from carrying out major attacks in recent years.
The Republican presidential race has entered a crucial phase as frontrunner Donald Trump edges closer to securing the partys nomination. Time is running out for Trumps rivals to slow down his momentum in a year when Republican voters seem to prefer a political outsider to any number of more established candidates.

Tuesdays contests in Michigan and Mississippi could be telling as far as anti-Trump efforts impacting the race. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll has Trump leading in Michigan with 41 percent, followed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz at 22 percent and Florida Senator Marco Rubio with 17 percent.

Trump may be leading but it appears he is leaving nothing to chance. No matter what is happening, no matter what you are doing. If you get laid off on Tuesday, I still want you voting. Ill get you a new job, dont worry about it, Trump told supporters at rally in Michigan, a state hit hard with job layoffs in recent years.

Bold promises

Trumps straight-talk appeal has resonated especially with older white working class voters like Shawn Dumais of New Hampshire. Hes wanting to make America great again and thats what we need.

Trumps bold promises prompt skepticism among critics but dont bother others including one South Carolina man who didnt want to give his name. He may not get to do half of it but the truth of the matter is, just him saying it and trying it suits me.

But Trump has attracted plenty of detractors as well, including protestors who see him as a bully, anti-immigrant and racially insensitive.

One of the keys to Trumps success is that he has tapped into deep voter frustration and anger. These people who are voting for him have been ignored, in their mind, by both major parties for 15 to 20 years and they see somebody who is finally saying, Im on your side, said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. And they are not necessarily hard-core Republicans, they are not Tea Party-ists, they are not far-right. If anything they are casual conservatives.

Wrath of the establishment

Trumps rise has sparked a backlash from the Republican establishment including the partys 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney: Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin and at the same time hes called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good.

The March 15th primaries now loom as perhaps the last chance for the Republican establishment to derail Trumps march to the nomination. Five states hold primaries that day including Rubios home state of Florida and Governor John Kasichs home state of Ohio.



Both states are winner-take-all in terms of delegate allocation and a Rubio victory in Florida would give him all of the states 99 delegates at stake. A Kasich victory in Ohio would yield him 66 delegates. Kasich is running close to Trump in Ohio, according to recent polls, but Rubio continues to trail Trump in Florida and hopes to benefit from a massive, well-funded ad campaign targeting Trump.

Any effort to derail Trump probably involves a Rubio victory in Florida and a Kasich win in Ohio, and the odds are not great, said John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. Donald Trump is the strong leader and the likely nominee of the Republican Party. There are efforts underway from outsiders and the candidates in the race of trying to stop him, but a lot of that looks a little too late.

Next few primaries crucial

Anti-Trump forces did take heart from the most recent contests over the weekend. Cruz defeated Trump in Kansas and Maine while Trump prevailed in Louisiana and Kentucky. Late-deciding voters in Louisiana turned what had been a big Trump lead into a narrow win. Establishment supporters hope its a sign of things to come.

Some Republicans fear the establishment-led effort to deny Trump the nomination could tear the party apart. Retired neuro-surgeon Ben Carson issued a warning as he suspended his presidential campaign. We cannot do what we have done in the past and that is become fractured and splintered and fight each other and find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

If Trump cannot secure outright the 1,237 delegates he needs to claim the nomination before the end of the primary and caucus voting in June, there could be a contested convention in July in Cleveland - and a very long, hot summer for the Republican Party.
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi says his country is at war with "barbarians," following an attack by suspected militants that left at least 53 people dead near the Libyan border.

Essebsi spoke Monday, hours after dozens of suspected extremists rampaged through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan, targeting police and army posts.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized, and whose goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," the president said from the capital, Tunis.

Television footage showed bodies littering a local roadway, along with bullet-riddled cars and discarded weaponry, as security forces regained control of the town after the dawn attack.

Authorities say at least 10 soldiers were killed in the fighting, along with 35 extremists and seven civilians.

The battle was the second such border clash in and near the town in the past week, and comes as Britain prepares to send military advisers to help secure the porous border region.

Last month, the Pentagon said U.S. warplanes struck a nearby Islamic State training camp inside the Libyan border, killing dozens of terrorist recruits and likely senior Islamic State militant Noureddine Chouchane.

Chouchane was linked to attacks last year on a museum in Tunis, and a beach resort outside the capital, which together killed at least 60 people, most of them foreign tourists.

Tunisia has battled Islamist militancy at home and across its border with Libya since a 2011 popular uprising ousted longtime President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and ignited the Arab Spring protests that have transformed the region.
The Pentagon says a U.S. airstrike in central Somalia has killed more than 150 Al-Shabab militants who were preparing for a large-scale attack.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters Monday that the weekend attack targeted an Al-Shabab training camp about 195 kilometers north of the capital, Mogadishu. He said both manned and unmanned aircraft were used in the strike.

Davis said the U.S. had learned the fighters were set to depart the camp, and "posed an imminent threat" to U.S. and African Union forces in Somalia.

"Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated" in the attack, said Davis.

Captain Davis says the United States watched the camp for several weeks and noticed the fighters were training for a large-scale attack.

"And they were nearing the completion of that training, and we took action to ensure that they could not put that training to use," he said.

The Somali army commander in the region, Colonel Mohamed Omar, gave a death toll of 69 militants killed and 42 wounded, citing reports by local residents. Omar added he expects the casualty total to rise.

Eyewitness accounts



Witnesses tell VOA's Somali Service that the airstrike hit Al-Shabab's Raso training camp between the villages of Dharyiow and El-Dibi in the central Hiran region. The witnesses say the aircraft made two passes over the camp, firing three missiles each time.

According to local villagers, Al-Shabab commanders were at the camp to oversee the graduation of hundreds of trainees when the airstrikes occurred. There was no immediate word on whether any top Al-Shabab leaders were among those killed.

Under surveillance



Somali military officials believe the recruits were being prepared for attacks in Hiran and in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region.

The U.S. has a small number of advisers in Somalia assisting the African Union force AMISOM, which is fighting Al-Shabab. The Islamist militant group has been fighting to overthrow the Somali government since 2007.
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned an Alabama ruling that refused to recognize an adoption by a lesbian mother in Georgia.

The justices on Monday unanimously reversed the Alabama Supreme Court verdict in the case between two women who ended their relationship after a Georgia court granted the non-birth mother full parental rights of their three children.

The couple, who lived in Alabama, never married. The birth mother tried to prevent her former partner from visiting the children and the Alabama Supreme Court refused to recognize the adoption the two women had agreed to in Georgia.

The U.S. Supreme Court wrote "a [U.S.] state may not disregard the judgment of a sister state because it disagrees with the reasoning underlying the judgment or deems it to be wrong on the merits." It said Alabama must give the Georgia court ruling "full faith and credit."

The case is part of a new round of challenges following last year's Supreme Court decision that gay couples have a right to marry.
The United States wants more sub-Saharan African students coming to study at its universities. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Analysis Marcus Jadotte is leading the first ever education trade mission to Africa this week.

University overcrowding, teacher strikes and a lack of access to cutting edge research opportunities can make it hard for even the most motivated of students to get ahead in Africa. But going overseas can be even harder.



Of the one million international students who studied at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2014 -2015 academic year, less than 34,000 came from Sub-Saharan Africa.



The U.S. government wants to change that.



They [African students] should consider studying in the U.S because of the innovative approach to education that we take in the United States, because international businesses are looking for the best qualified, best prepared prospective employees and we certainly believe that it enriches education back home in U.S.," Jadotte said.

He is traveling with representatives of 25 U.S. colleges and universities to recruit students and build partnerships with African universities.



Many of the universities who have traveled with us on this mission are including scholarships as a part of the conversation with students here as well," Jadotte explained.



His message attracted a long line of South African high school students.



Boneng Mofokeng says he is hoping to go to law school at Michigan State University.



I want to see the world and our countrys economy is not good. Maybe I can have a better life over there," he said.



From South Africa, the delegation heads to Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The government says treasury has released one million dollars to finance the distribution of grain as the food situation continues to deteriorate in Zimbabwe.

Public Service Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, told the state controlled Herald newspaper that by next week villagers would be feeling the impact of the funds.

This means that by next week things should start moving smoothly in the distribution of grain to our people who need of food assistance, she told the daily.

With a weekly demand of 30,000 tonnes of the staple maize, Zimbabwe is said to be having grain to only last four months.

Mupfumira said there was a shortage of transport as well as bags to send the maize to the people and the money is expected to address those problems.

Of the money, $600,000 is expected to be used for transport and other logistics while the remainder has been earmarked for sacks.

Studio 7 reached agronomist, Forbes Matonga who said though the money is not enough to cater for many people, it is a good start.

Its better than nothing, given that the government is struggling to have money for other things. So, if they are able at least to set aside a million dollars thats a good effort but it would definitely require other players to augment that, he said.

He said if the government indicates that "we need at least two million metric tonnes to feed the nation then it means it is quite significant.

So you will find that many people are saying we need to change our eating habits. It is not only maize that is food, said Matonga.
MDC-T and Zanu PF youth clash in Zimbabwes capital, Harare.

We will give you an update on the Mhondoro-Mubaira parliamentary by-election won by Zanu PFs George Gangarahwe at the weekend.

Zimbabwe says it will provide one million dollars to feed people facing hunger due to a devastating drought.

Zimbabwean women say they want easy access to affordable healthcare if gender parity has to be achieved by 2030.

Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

Today on LiveTalk our hosts of Gibbs Dube and Blessing Zulu will be talking with listeners and experts about political violence in Zimbabwe amid reports that MDC-T Zanu PF youth clashed in Harare yesterday.

Send us your numbers on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!!
A member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai remained hospitalized on Monday while several others were being treated after they were attacked Sunday by suspected Zanu PF supporters in Mbare high density suburb, Harare.

The MDC-T youth claim that they were attacked when they were trying to hold a consultative meeting.

Studio 7 was unable to get comment from the Zanu PF Youth League as its senior members were not responding to calls.

One of the injured youth, David Mazidiye, said he was left for dead after he was attacked by the suspected Zanu PF activists.

I was attacked by the Zanu PF youth who were wearing MDC-T ti-shirts who descended on the venue in Mbare. They beat me with knobkerries and other objects and left me unconscious. About 12 members of the MDC-T are still nursing injuries. One of them is reported to be in critical condition, said Mazidiye.

Political violence pitting suspected Zanu PF members and the opposition normally resurfaces in Zimbabwe in the run-up to elections. Zimbabwe is set to hold its next presidential, council and parliamentary polls in 2018.
President Robert Mugabes Zanu PF party has chalked another parliamentary by-election victory at a time the party is riddled by some internal strife, pitting groups fighting for the succession of the 92-year old Zimbabwean leader.

The win in Mhondoro Mubayira by-election follows similar victories in parliamentary by-election conducted after the party expelled some members claiming that they were aligned to a faction that wanted to topple President Mugabe before the partys last elective congress.

Godfrey Gangarahwe beat his rival, Rodwell Nyanganya, after getting 13,934 votes. Nyanganya only managed to get 1,056 votes in a by-election boycotted by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai, which is demanding the levelling of the electoral field ahead of the crucial 2018 national polls.

Gangarahwe told Mhondoro Mubayira villagers after his victory that local people voted for his party because it is catering for the needs of the electorate compared to the opposition, which is only interested in grabbing power from the ruling party.

Zanu PF has over the years been doing everything for its people everywhere even during times when people are facing hunger. It is not like opposition parties that abandon the people all the time. Here in Mhondoro in 2000 people voted for the MDC and that was the last time they saw their MP. There is nothing that the MP did for the people. People have corrected their mistakes by going back to Zanu PF. Up to now people are convinced that opposition parties cant do anything good for them.

The seat fell vacant after Zanu PF expelled former Member of Parliament, Sylvester Nguni, for allegedly sympathizing with former Vice President Joice Mujuru, who was said to have attempted to topple the president. Mrs. Mujuru has dismissed these allegations as false and misleading.

Gangarahwe said he will spearhead the creation of income-generating projects in the constituency in order to ensure that people are self-reliant.

Local villager James Musunami, who did not vote, said there was no reason to cast his ballot as most parties boycotted the by-election.

Nyanganya was not present when the results were announced. His party failed to deploy agents at 58 polling stations.

Zanu PF politburo members - Saviour Kasukuwere , Professor Jonathan Moyo and Senate President Edna Madzongwe - were Mhondoro Mubayira on Saturday giving support to their colleagues.
The family of missing journalist and political activist, Itai Dzamara, has petitioned the High Court seeking permission to stage a public march on Thursday in remembrance of the leader of Occupy Africa Unity Square, who was abducted by unknown assailants on March 9th last year.

Lawyer Sharon Hofisi of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who filed an urgent chamber application on behalf of the Dzamara family, said they were seeking an order to interdict the Zimbabwe Republic Police from interfering with the march.

High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri will hear the application Tuesday at 12 noon.

"We want the court to protect the right to demonstrate and petition in a peaceful manner," Hofisi said.

In February this year, the Dzamara family notified the ZRP of the planned religious march schedule and stated that they were exempted from giving notice to the police in terms of the provisions of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

But in their response, the police said the event would infringe on other peoples rights, adding that their letter did not comply with the provisions of POSA and hence they could not proceed with the march.

"They did not canvass well the reasons why they blocked the march. It was simply that they demanded some 12 requirements in terms of POSA, and our client tried to solicit an explanation as to what the police meant."

Hofisi said that they were confident justice will prevail in courts and allow the family to exercise its constitutional rights.
In 1979, Israel completed the final adjustments to its atomic bomb, in collaboration with the apartheid regime of South Africa. The Hebrew state has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has always avoided answering questions about its nuclear programme.

Every year since 1980, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a consensual resolution to make the Near East a region free from all nuclear weapon. This resolution was aimed at encouraging Israel to give up its bomb and to ensure that other states would not enter into an arms race.

Under the Shah, Iran also had a military nuclear programme, but it was pursued only marginally after the revolution of 1979, because of the war started by Iraq (1980-88). However, it was only after the end of war that ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini opposed weapons of mass destruction, and consequently prohibited the fabrication, possession and the use of atomic weapons.

Negotiations then began for the restitution of the 1,180 billion dollars of Iranian investment in the Eurodif complex for the enrichment of uranium at Tricastin. However, the question was never resolved. As a result, during the dissolution of Eurodif in 2010, the Islamic Republic of Iran still owned 10% of the capital. It is probable that it still holds a part of the company for uranium enrichment at Tricastin.

From 2003 to 2005, the negotiations relative to the nuclear litigation were presided for Iran by Sheikh Hassan Rohani, a religious leader close to Presidents Rafsandjani and Khatami. The Europeans demanded the introduction of a passage stipulating that Iran dismantle its system for the teaching of nuclear physics, so as to ensure that they would be unable to relaunch their military programme.

However, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  a partisan for the relaunching of the Khomeinist Revolution  came to power, he rejected the agreement negotiated by Sheikh Rohani and dismissed him. He restarted the teaching of nuclear physics, and launched a research programme which was aimed, in particular, at finding a way of producing electricity from atomic fusion and not nuclear fission, which is currently used by the United States, Russia, France, China and Japan.

Accusing President Ahmadinejad of preparing the Apocalypse to hasten the return of the Mahdi (sic), Israel launched an international Press campaign intended to isolate Iran. In reality, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not share the Jewish vision of an evil world which has to be destroyed and then rebuilt, but that of a progressive maturation of collective awareness until Parousia, the return of the Mahdi and the prophets. At the same time, Mossad busied itself with the assassination, one by one, of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists. From their side, the Western powers and the UN Security Council adopted ever more restrictive sanctions until they had completely isolated Iran at the economic and financial level.

In 2013, the Guide of the Revolution, ayatollah Ali Khameinei, agreed to a round of secret discussions with Washington, in Oman. Persuaded that he had to loosen the constraints which were suffocating his country, he considered a provisional ten-year agreement. After a preliminary agreement, Ahmadinejads candidacy for the Presidential election was not authorised, and Sheikh Hassan Rohani was elected. He restarted the negotiations that he had abandoned in 2005, and accepted the Western conditions, including the ban on enriching uranium at 20%, which put an end to the research on nuclear fusion.

In November 2013, Saudi Arabia organised a secret summit which brought together members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the friendly Muslim states [1]. In the presence of delegates from the UN General Secretariat, Israeli President Shimon Peres joined them by video-conference. The participants concluded that the danger was not the Israeli bomb, but the bomb that Iran might one day possess. The Saudis assured their interlocutors that they would take the necessary initiatives.

Military cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia is a new phenomenon, but the two countries have been working together since 2008, when Riyadh financed Israels punitive expedition in Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead [2].

The 5+1 agreement was not made public until mid-2015. During the negotiations, Saudi Arabia multiplied its declarations that it would launch an arms race if the international community did not manage to force Iran to dismantle its nuclear programme [3].

On the 6th February 2015, President Obama published his new National Security Strategy. He wrote - Long-term stability [in the Middle East and North Africa] requires more than the use and presence of US military forces. It demands partners who are capable of defending themselves by themselves. This is why we invest in the capacity of Israel, Jordan and our Gulf partners to discourage aggression, while maintaining our unwavering support for the security of Israel, including the continued improvement of its military capacities [4].

On the 25th March 2015, Saudi Arabia began its operation Decisive Tempest in Yemen, officially aimed at re-instating the Yemeni President, who had been overthrown by a popular revolution. In fact, the operation was the implementation of the secret agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia for the exploitation of the Rubal-Khali oil fields [5].

On the 26th March 2015, Adel Al-Jubeir, then the Saudi ambassador to the United States, refused to answer a question from CNN concerning the project for a Saudi atomic bomb.

On the 30th March 2015, a joint military Staff was set up by Israel in Somaliland, a non-recognised state. From the first day, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan participated under Israel command.

Two days later, on the 1st April 2015, during the Charm el-Cheick summit, the Arab League adopted the principle of a Joint Arab Force [6]. Officially, this was to implement the Arab Defence Treaty of 1950 to fight against terrorism. De facto, the League had validated the new Arab military alliance under Israeli command.

In May 2015, the Joint Arab Force, under Israeli command, used a tactical atomic bomb in Yemen. It may have been used in an attempt to penetrate an underground bunker.

On the 16th July 2015, intelligence specialist Duane Clarridge affirmed on Fox Business that Saudi Arabia had bought the atomic bomb from Pakistan.

On the 18th January 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry affirmed on CNN that atomic weaponry can not be bought and transferred. He warned Saudi Arabia that this would constitute a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

On the 15th February 2016, Saudi analyst Dahham Al-Anzi affirmed in Arabic on Russia Today that his country has been in possession of an atomic weapon for two years, in order to protect Arabs, and that the major powers know this.

The declarations of Saudi analyst Dahham Al-Anzi, on the 15th February 2016 on Russia Today  which were immediately translated and broadcast by the Israeli service Memri  raised a considerable echo in the Arab world. However, no international political leader, not even Saudi, made any comment. And Russia Today has erased them from its Internet site.

The declarations of Dahham Al-Anzi - an intellectual close to Prince Mohamed ben Salman  lead us to think that he was not speaking of a strategic atomic weapon (A-bomb or H-bomb), but a tactical bomb (N-bomb). Indeed, its difficult to imagine how Saudi Arabia could protect Arabs from the Syrian dictatorship by using a strategic nuclear bomb. Moreover, this corresponds to what has already been observed in Yemen. However, nothing is certain.

It is obviously unlikely that Saudi Arabia had built this kind of weapon itself, since it is absolutely bereft of scientific knowledge in the matter. On the other hand, it is possible that it bought the weapon from a state which has not signed the NPT, Israel or Pakistan. If we are to believe Duane Clarridge, it would have been Islamabad which sold its technology, but in this case, the weapon could not be a neutron bomb.

Since Saudi Arabia signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (TNP), it did not have the right acquire the weapon, whether it be a tactical or a strategic bomb. But it would be enough for King Salman to declare that he bought the bomb in his own name to avoid being concerned by the Treaty. We know that the state of Saudi Arabia is the Kings private property, and that his budget only represents a part of the royal coffers. This would mean that we have entered a phase of the privatisation of nuclear weapons - a scenario which until now had been unthinkable. This evolution must be taken most seriously.

Finally, everything leads us to believe that the Saudis acted within the framework of US policy, but that they overstepped themselves by violating the NPT. By doing so, they have laid the foundation for a nuclearised Near East in which Iran could no longer play the role that Sheikh Rohani had hoped to recover, that of regional police force for the benefit of his Anglo-Saxon friends.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Downton Abbey came to a close in the U.S. Sunday night, but for its stars the show has been over for a good seven months. Where does one go careerwise after starring in one of the most popular television series of the past decade? Quite a lot of places outside the constraints of a Yorkshire country estate, it appears  read on and see for yourselves. (Note: Weve only included actors whose characters appeared in every season. Sorry, Matthew and Sybil.)

Michelle Dockery (Mary Crawley)

Moving stateside, Dockery will be donning an American accent in TNTs upcoming drama series Good Behavior, where she plays a con artist recently released from prison with a country twang and a lot of demons who  gets caught up in a hit mans plan to murder someones wife. She recently wrapped production of an adaptation of the dramatic novel The Sense of an Ending and will soon be seen in a supporting role in Consider Yourself: The Lionel Bart Story, a biopic about the famous British composer and writer. Her fiance sadly died of cancer late last year.

Laura Carmichael (Edith Crawley)

Carmichael is currently starring alongside Uzo Aduba in the well-received The Maids, a contemporary stage adaptation of Jean Genets 1970s radical play, in Londons West End. She has a supporting role alongside David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike in the upcoming film A United Kingdom, about a scandalous interracial love affair between Prince Seretse Khama, the heir to the throne of Botswana, [who] has fallen in love and married a young, white English girl. Shell be returning to British television as a leading role in Marcella, a multi-layered noir thriller set in contemporary London. A fun side-note  shes reportedly dating downstairs servant Andy Parker (actor Michael Fox) in real life.

Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley)

Besides showing up on Galavant every now and then as a pirate king, hell be the leading man alongside Gillian Anderson in the historical drama Viceroys House, which chronicles the turbulent final days of British rule in India in 1947. He also appeared in a recent episode of the popular British miniseries The Hollow Crown as Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.

Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates)

Froggatt has a pretty packed 2016. Shell be back on television later this year in Masterpieces two-part miniseries Dark Angel, where shell play Victorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton. She also has three films on the horizon  the romantic drama A Storm in the Stars, an adaptation of the dramatic yet feel-good novel A Street Cat Named Bob, and the relationship-drama Starfish.

Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley)

She has yet to announce her future acting plans or actually watch Downton (shes living her best life, okay?). So in the meantime, go watch The Lady in the Van, which netted her a Golden Globe-nomination last year.

Brendan Coyle (John Bates)

Coyle has a busy year ahead. Hell be starring as Augustine Birrell in the Irish biopic drama The Rising: 1916 (about the infamous Easter Rising Rebellion); the original romantic drama Me Before You; and an adaptation of Carol Shieldss novel Unless, alongside Catherine Keener.

Allen Leech (Tom Branson)

Leech is playing a supporting role in the upcoming action-thriller Hunters Prayer, which revolves around a hired assassin who bonds with his intended female target and helps avenge the death of her family. Outside the acting realm, you can hear his voice in the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Elizabeth McGovern (Cora Crawley)

McGovern is starring alongside Uzo Aduba and Adam Brody in Showing Roots, an indie drama about two women who work in a local beauty parlor [who] see the towns balance turned upside down when the slavery miniseries Roots hits the airwaves and are inspired to integrate their community. Itll be out later this year. Shes also in a toe-tappingly fun indie-rock band called Sadie and the Hotheads.

Rob James-Collier (Thomas Barrow)

Downtons favorite rapscallion most recently played the lead in the family-friendly holiday film A Christmas Star. Surprise, surprise, he played the baddie.

Sophie McShera (Daisy Mason)

Shes happily singing and dancing on ABCs musical comedy Galavant, where she plays yet another servant. She also has a recurring role as a work-shy slacker on the British comedy series The Job Lot.

Jim Carter (Charles Carson)

Carter has been devoting his time to his charity, WandAid, which puts on theatrical events to raise funds for communities impacted by natural disaster, political crisis, and disadvantage. He also has a damn fine head of hair.

Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley)

You can see Wilton as the Queen of England this July in Steven Spielbergs The BFG and in Brief Encounters, a British television drama about Ann Summers, seller of sex toys and lingerie. In a perfect world, there will also be a Third Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in our future.

Phyllis Logan (Elsie Hughes)

Like Smith, Logan hasnt solidified her post-Downton plans just yet, but to get your Mrs. Hughes fix you can watch her in a Bones episode from about a year ago.

Lesley Nicol (Beryl Patmore)

Nichols currently lending her voice chops as the Fairy Godmother in the animated childrens series Goldie & Bear (its cute!). She also had a brief guest role on the CWs long-running Supernatural last year.

Kevin Doyle (Joseph Molesley)

Doyle joined the British crime drama Happy Valley for its second season, where hell be playing a complex and flawed detective. Itll be available to stream on Netflix later this month.

David Robb (Dr. Clarkson)

He most recently portrayed Thomas Boleyn in the Golden Globe-winning miniseries Wolf Hall, adapted from Hilary Mantels famed historical novels. His next film, Sacrifice, is a Shetland Islands-set murder-mystery and has wrapped production.

Samantha Bond (Rosamund Painswick)

Bond currently stars as one of the leads in another British period drama, Home Fires, which centers around rural Womens Institute members during World War II. A second season has been ordered.
Downton Abbey Part Nine Season 6 Episode 9 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * *  Previous Next  Previous Episode Next Episode  Matthew Goode as Henry, and Michelle Dockery as Mary. Photo: Nick Briggs/Carnival Films

With any luck, theyll be happy enough. Which is the English version of a happy ending.  The Dowager Countess

The last Downton Abbey of season six  and, also, my dear friends, the last Downton Abbey ever  provides more than the English version of a happy ending. Its an ending thats happy by any standard.

In keeping with the Downton tradition of making the Christmas episodes as celebratory as possible, this most final of finales is a supersized parade of new beginnings, fresh starts and, with one exception, pure joy. No matter how frustrated viewers may have felt in recent seasons  the show spent too much time on rapist-murder mysteries and whatever the hell Denker was doing  it was impossible to watch this last episode with anything other than a full heart and warm affection. This show will be deeply missed.

Did the finale have its flaws? Of course. This wouldnt be Downton Abbey without plotlines that feel a tad rushed, a certain degree of predictability, and dialogue that reflects the shows central themes with all the delicacy of a ball-peen hammer. On the rushed side of things: Poor Carsons Parkinsons Disease (or the palsy, as he called it) progresses awfully quickly, doesnt it? And Henry and Tom get their car shop up and running faster than you can say, Let me discuss it with our pig-man. (Did you honestly think Id write my last recap without working in that gem of a phrase? Please.)

Then, the most on-the-nose conversation of all time unfolds between Cora and Robert, when they basically announce that everyone in the family is happy (as if we couldnt see that for ourselves) and that everything in their lives will be super-hunky-dory-golly-gumdrops for the foreseeable future. I think the more adaptable we are, the more chance we have of getting through, Cora tells her husband. In an odd coincidence, thats also the exact opposite of Donald Trumps campaign strategy.

There arent many surprises in this finale, either. I predicted several of the things that actually wound up happening in this preview piece, and I swear on a stack of Septimus Spratts advice columns that I didnt watch the finale until after I made my guesses. Then again, forecasting Downton Abbey developments has never been rocket science (or any other kind of science, for that matter). Furthermore, Id say that most fans didnt necessarily want this finale to be unpredictable. We just wanted to see all our lords, ladies, butlers, and maids in happy and fulfilling places in their lives. Thats certainly what we got. Like Robert says, as though hes speaking for us: What more can we ask?

Lets just revel in how thoroughly Downton this episode is. It doubles down on its own Downton-ness, and then multiplies that figure by ten. It is Downton Abbey as told by Stefon. It has everything: upstairs bedrooms invaded by members of the working class (via Daisy, and via Annas unexpected labor); members of the downstairs staff being puzzled by modern conveniences (A hairdryer? Whaaaaat?); the Crawleys conversing with other rich, white people who are way more uptight than they are (nice to meet you, Mrs. Pelham); the diagnosis of not one, but two, potentially debilitating diseases; scheming behind other peoples backs, albeit for nice reasons (nice work arranging that dinner for Edith, Mary); cutting away from extremely dramatic conversations so we cant see them occur (we shall never know what Edith actually said to Mrs. Pelham); the longest, grand-dining-roomiest dining-room table in Downton Abbey history, courtesy of the Bertie/Edith engagement-announcement party; everyone on the staff being rude to Thomas, for old times sake; Carson saying sexist shit, also for old times sake (I still find it odd that a woman in her condition is still working as a ladys maid. Fine, Carson, then give her decent maternity leave); a lavish wedding; a life-altering haircut; oodles of gorgeous dresses and headbands; and, of course, the Dowager Countess dropping her final drops of knowledge on us. Dont be mysterious. Its the last resort of people with no secrets. So true, Granny. So true.

There were so many scenes and moments that I loved in this finale that I feel compelled to make a list. Lets jump right into it.

Pretty much everything that involves Edith

You knew there was no way Julian Fellowes would end the series with Edith thinking of herself as a spinster, to use her word. Even though it would have been gutsy and subversive for her to live alone and work in London while raising her daughter, the fact that Edith expresses a willingness to do just that tells us her feminist credibility card is in full working order. She deserves to be with Bertie, and happily, she gets to be.

I loved that the two people most responsible for helping the union along were Mary and Robert, who once showed Edith the least amount of respect. At this point, Robert is basically the president of the Lady Edith Crawley  pardon me, thats Edith Pelham, Marchioness of Hexham  Fan Club. I actually guffawed when he got mad at Cora for implying she might not make the trip to the Pelhams: This is your second child, whos hardly had a days happiness in the last ten years! An exaggeration, yes. But all those references to past events  the altar jilting, the time Edith nearly died in a house fire of her own making  were reminders that, well, Robert was only hyperbolizing a little bit.

More stuff I loved about Ediths story line: the way Bertie gets choked up when he tells Edith hed done a very bad job of living without her; Ediths unimpeachable honesty with her future mother-in-law, who probably would have been much less forgiving, but since they needed to get to the altar in under 90 minutes, whatever; and most of all, the way she finally gets the chance to glide down the stairs, looking as gauzy and beautiful and adored by her father as Mary did the day she married Matthew. It was perfect.

We have a son, John.

When Anna Bates said that line to her husband while cradling their newborn  yeah, I got teary. It was a significant moment, not only because these two finally have a family after years and years of seemingly endless suffering, but also because  as far as I can tell  a baby got delivered on Downton Abbey and it didnt result in anyones death. Think about it: Sybil delivers Sybbie, dies in childbirth. Mary delivers George, Matthew dies in a car accident. Edith has Marigold, and the missing Matthew Gregson is eventually found dead. Its as though Julian Fellowes takes the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away literally, like a one-for-one deal. But this time, it all goes smoothly. It is also notable that Anna had the child in all the comforts of Marys upstairs bedroom  the final symbolic proof that there is no divide between upstairs and down.

The exit and triumphant return of Thomas Barrow

On the one hand, it is ridiculous that Thomas was permitted to give notice. With Molesley clearly on his way out and Carsons health problems, it was obvious they were going to need Thomas before he even walked out the Downton door. But having him leave gives everyone the opportunity to issue heartfelt farewells  oh my God, who else basically died when Master George said, Good-bye, Mistew Bawwow?  and gives the audience the chance to rejoice when Thomas, who has officially transformed into Nice Thomas, gets to come back. Its too bad that the changing of guards happens because of Carsons illness. But it felt very right.

Isobel Crawley, savior of Lord Merton

It makes total sense that the only thing that would finally force Isobel to admit her feelings and marry Lord Merton is a medical emergency. Also, after watching the way Lord Merton is treated by his new daughter-in-law, I feel like I should have ranked Amelia higher on this list.

One last Patmore freak-out

This finale would not have felt complete if Patmore hadnt lost her grip over a massive amount of food that needed to be made. (In this case, for Ediths wedding.) And Daisys response when Patmore insists that there could be no mistakes was classic: I dont think people ever want mistakes, Mrs. Patmore. They just happen.

The unbearable hotness of Andy Parker

Who knew that Andy was hot? Daisy sure didnt until she goes to Mr. Masons and sprouts a thought bubble that says, Wow, Andy looks awfully rugged when hes got fewer clothes on and is hammering nails into things. Clearly, the idea of nails and being hammered stirs something within her, which is why she attempts to give herself a very ill-advised cut-and-blow-dry. Fortunately, Anna helps her achieve the second chic-est bob in Downton history  Mary is the chief owner of all bob bragging rights in perpetuity  and now shes well on her way to having her first real boyfriend. Cheers, Daisy.

How the Dowager Countess and Henry react to Spratts column

The way Dame Maggie Smith reads Spratts advice column and starts laughing while Denker just stands there, looking confused  well, it is just magical. And who can blame her for reveling in Spratts prose? After all, he is full of ideas when it comes to combining comfort and elegance. As for Henry, I didnt even know hed known Spratt well enough to understand how crazy it is for him to dispense advice in a womans magazine. But thats what I love about Henry Talbot. He just gets it.

The return of Shrimpy and Rose and Atticus

It is fitting for some of the regular characters to return, and nice to hear that Rose and Atticus have their own daughter. Although it seems kind of strange that they left the child back in America, during the holidays no less, just because their nanny insisted. I sincerely hope their nanny is not this woman.

Marys pregnancy (and insistence on not stealing Ediths thunder)

Im not sure if I imagined it, but it seemed Mary was even more gleeful about having a child with Henry than she was with Matthew. Even more satisfying was her insistence that they keep the news private so as not to steal Ediths thunder on her wedding day. I was never optimistic about a permanently good relationship between Mary and Edith  a more polite one, maybe, but not really good. But this episode changed my mind about that. Henry and Edith seem to genuinely enjoy each others company in a way she and Matthew did not, and I see him as a potential bridge between sisters.

Pretty soon, all the Crawley couples and their kids  by the way, Laura Edmunds caught the bouquet at the wedding, which means she and Tom will be married within a week  will soon spend their Friday nights hanging out at Talbot & Branson Motors, just throwing back brews and doing staged readings of Spratts columns.

Carson and Mrs. Hughes finally call each other by their first names

We can make a go of it, Charlie, and I definitely mean to try. Happy new year.

Happy new year, Elsie.

Yeah, that got to me. So did the singing of Auld Lang Syne, which made me wish, more so than any other Christmas episode, that we actually got to see this in December rather than the yuletideless first week of March.

But thats a quibble, and theres no need for those right now. Downton Abbey ends on a perfectly lovely note, and it gave us a final season that was as engaging as its ever been, especially in its final stretch of episodes.

The last words of the series were, of course, reserved for the woman who always gets the last word: the Dowager Countess.

Isobel: Were going forward into the future, not back into the past. The Dowager Countess: If only we had the choice.

For six seasons, Downton Abbey gave us the choice to go back into the past, and we happily chose to make the journey. In the afterglow of this finale, that decision seems well worth it to me.

On a more personal note, I just want to say what a joy its been to write about this show and discuss it with all of you. I will miss it very much.

And now, I suppose theres only one thing left to say.

Good-bye, Mistew Bawwow.
The results are in: No one in America thinks its a good idea for the president and vice-president to be related in any way! Did that news shock you? Yeah, Frank isnt surprised either. The next move from Team Frank is to co-opt Leann, even though Doug fears she cannot be controlled.

Lets pause a moment, though, for the scene of Frank and Meechum. Meechum talks in the awkward, dopey-sweet way you did back when you were a seventh-grader with a crush on a suuuuper-cute eighth-grader who you cant even believe is talking to you so you just start blurting out stuff like, Oh yeah, lockers, I keep a backpack in mine sometimes!

Frank asks Meechum what he thinks of a painting, which is such a high-pressure question to ask someone (reminds me of the Rothko-as-Rorschach test from Berts office back at Sterling Cooper). Meechum helpfully says, Its like the American flag. Aww! Frank says, No, its the rebel flag, sinking into oblivion. Meechums reply: The colors are nice. Im serious, I am not paraphrasing; all this grown man offers here is: The colors are nice. Frank reveals that he hates it so, naturally, Meechum decides to hate it, too. Frank takes it down because its not such a hot idea to have a Confederate flag on the walls after everything that happened in South Carolina, which (a) was it ever a good idea to have a Confederate flag hanging up in the White House, and (b) is phrased in such a way that I have to believe this is the series referencing the real-life shooting in Charleston.

Then  again, I am not joking, I am only transcribing, as I must  Frank takes a marker and traces Meechums hand onto the wall. In other words: He makes a hand turkey. There is a lot of giggling. Im so glad theres nothing pressing happening, in this America or any other, that this little lovefest can go down in the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Get a room, you two.

The Doug/Seth pissing contest is hilarious. Doug asks if Seth is saying he wants to resign, and his voice is so full of hope, like a thousand tiny doves are carrying his message across the table. And Seth is like, Why on earth would I stay in this vicious hellscape where we barely govern and everyone hates me? Doug replies with, Im choosing to believe you, but of course, I could change my mind at any time. I am loyal only to one, to Frank, my OTP, my true love, my soul mate, my master, for everything he says I do. My work is thankless but who needs to see, hear, or feel any demonstrable gratitude when you have Francis Underwood nearby, when the possibility exists that he will grace your unworthy shoulder with his golden palm, when he will take your trash hand in his mighty one and give it a shake that turns your garbage fingers into appendages of Valyrian steel.

Leann shows Claire the focus-group tapes, proving what every sentient being already knows  America is not asking for an Underwood-Underwood ticket  and recalls how her dad really liked Frank. But in this family, really liking someone still gives you the room to say to your daughter, the day she is about to marry him, Okay, but do you really want to spend forever with this shmuck? Claire wanted a life without doubt, and Frank is trying to make her doubt herself.

Claire has impeccable handwriting. She gives a note to Leann to hand-deliver to Frank and is interrupted only once, by the sound of her mother killing a lizard. Watch your step, Elizabeth says, as she breezes in and out of the room. Theres blood on the floor.

The note, which Leann successfully gets to Frank, is a very Underwood-style way of declaring that Claire is threatening to file for divorce. The language is that of a speech, not a letter; its what Claire would tell the public, not Frank. But Claire and Frank are all about performance, even when its just the two of them in a room. The threat of a divorce might feel more real to Frank when he can see how Claire would tell the world, rather than how it would feel if she wrote the letter just to him.

Frank gives another boring stump speech. Outside, the crowd is chanting Blunderwood, so Frank makes the ill-advised decision to go outside and engage with his haters. Because thats where you go to have a thoughtful, productive conversation with people who disagree with you. Im here to try to listen to you but maybe make this one at a time, Frank says, which is about as useful as telling a toddler, mid-tantrum, If you just use your words, Im sure we could come to a compromise.

Then HOLY GUNSHOTS, IT IS LUCAS! LUCAS, ZOES AVENGER, SHOT THE PRESIDENT.

R.I.P., Lucas, who died while failing to bring down the man he hated and feared. R.I.P., Meechum, who died while saving the man he loved and threesomed.

Best response to this goes to  who else?  Elizabeth Hale, who gives Claire her best blank stare and says, Do you expect me to console you? And also, Claire, I hope he dies. Damn, girl.

I had kind of forgotten about VP Donald, but hes that education guy whose wife died and is so mashed-potato soft and bland and weak that it wouldnt even take an Underwood to manipulate him. Well, now hes the acting president, and he inherits that very un-chill situation with Russia; Milken is two hours from landing in Estonia. Cathy, sensing an opening to prevent an international catastrophe, urges Donald to turn the plane around. Doug, who is like what Dobby would have been if hed taken a shining to Draco Malfoy instead of Harry Potter, is aghast that Cathy would point out that Frank could die  even though, obviously, our government has 8 billion protocols for what to do in the event that happens and its happened before  and he demands they move forward as planned. If Frank were to die, Doug would wear full Victorian mourning garb for the rest of his empty days. Donald, in a very reassuring move, freaks out and asks if he can just have, like, ten minutes to think this through, guys. Hes only the vice-president, second in line to the job, its not as if hes ever given any thought to what he would do if he had to ascend to the presidency.

Doug is so wounded by the fact that doctors wont let him in to see Frank. Claire, naturally, wants to know why security at the event wasnt better, and Doug is all, Maam, as far as threats go, weve been far more occupied with you lately. Which, I know the Underwoods are in a weird place right now, but that is very inappropriate.

Donald is so pathetic and panicky, I actually died of secondhand embarrassment while watching him, and I will complete the writing of this recap as a ghost. Theres so much I dont know! Its overwhelming! Ive never been a guts sort of guy! He asks Claire, desperately, for advice. She reminds him of a Frank-ism: If you dont like the way the table is set, then turn over the table. Not only is this terrible advice, but, to bring things back to the Sterling Cooper gang, it is a sad imitation of the Don Draper mantra, If you dont like whats being said, change the conversation, which is great advice, and catchier to boot.

Infused with the confidence one can only get via an approving, warm look from Claire Underwood, Donald swaggers into the cabinet meeting with a game plan: Land the plane in China! Its the last thing Petrov is expecting. Wait, is that a legitimate justification for doing something? Because Petrov isnt expecting it? I mean, Petrov probably isnt expecting a lot of things. I bet hed be totally taken aback by an Edible Arrangement from one Doug Stamper, for instance. But Im not sure thats a good reason to send him one.

Anyway, the worst part of this announcement is the fact that China is involved. China: Just the word gives me panicky flashbacks to what was the most boring, drawn-out, no-good, very-bad plot in all of House of Cards history. Maybe its just a little blip and we wont get the return of that bird-watching weirdo and the rest of it, but I have a bad feeling about this. It is a feeling in my gut, and it is crying out noooooooooo.
Photo: Nick Briggs/Carnival Film & Television Limited

In the series finale of Downton Abbey, Lady Edith was given the ultimate happy ending, finally completing the bumpy road to marrying the man of her dreams, running a successful magazine, and raising the illegitimate daughter she had with a now-deceased man. After all the put downs, neglect, and bad luck life had needlessly thrown at her, no one earned her happiness like our Edith. So much so that her story shouldnt end with her driving off to her honeymoon with her new husband. We wandered a few years down the road with Edith.

Edith Pelham, the Seventh Marchioness of Hexham, still remembers the first time she came to Brancaster Castle. The autos didnt seem so rickety back then, but she knew now that they were, with their open tops bumping along the road like a ball being pushed through the grass by a puppy with a short attention span. As the car passed through the first gate 39 years ago, she thought how grand it was that this would all be hers. Today, she looked out of the castle, standing on one of the walkways that connected two of the imposing structures, surveying not the house or the hills, but her home, as the wind pulled at her hair and her eyes watered in retaliation.

Even now, she still couldnt believe it was hers, after all of those hunts on the grounds, the grand dinners at the long table, and the cozy Christmas mornings with her kind husband, Bertie, and her three daughters. Everything was linked to her girls. Marigold, who doesnt remember the farm she lived in for her first year, or the nursery at Downton where she lived for her second, came with her. Then there was Violet, named after Ediths grandmother who died the same year she was born, two years after the wedding. And finally Daisy, two years younger than Violet.

Oh, the row she had with Bertie over her name. After Marigold and Violet, he insisted she also be named after a flower, but Edith thought it so crass. Bertie had an aunt named Daisy, his mothers sister, but the name always reminded her of a silly cook who worked at Downton and still lived there, but now as a wife of one of the estate farmers, another former serviceman named Andy. She would bring by puddings when Edith and her family would come to visit, always making a fuss over her namesake.

Those visits became increasingly less frequent, especially after Ediths father died of a heart attack, a few short years after his mother, leaving the house and all its lands to Marys son, George, who wasnt yet 12. Of course, Mary helped run the estate as she had always done, with Carson assisting where he could after his hands got shaky. As for Cora, instead of moving to the dower house, vacated by her late mother-in-law, she decided to return to Philadelphia to be closer to her own family. With all this, it was hardly where Edith felt she belonged. Still, something about Downton always dragged her back.

Edith could never really get over how much her daughters were like her and her sisters. Violet, the middle child, was always her favorite, and the others would chide her for giving the bookish girl so much attention. She was so timid, so afraid to make a mistake that she always hesitated, almost missing out on life. Now she had a store on Abingdon Road that she ran all by herself. Naturally her mother financed it, even though she struggled to understand the dresses it sold, with their short hemlines and solid blocks of color.

Daisy was just like Ediths sister Sibyl, running off to Paris just after the war. Edith never knew why London wasnt far enough, but maybe she needed to make her own way. Now she was in love with the continent, and the soldier she met in a hospital there, taking photographs for what would be her first exhibition.

Marigold was all Ediths, but nothing like her: independent, strong, and quick with a curt remark. It pained her how much she reminded her of Mary when they were younger, and Edith hoped that her admonitions had softened her daughter some. Now, she was living the life Edith could have had if she had given up on a conventional life. Marigold started work at the magazine when she was old enough, working her way up from the copy desk into the editorship after her aunt Laura, Toms wife, retired.

Just as Edith was beginning to get maudlin, an enormous new sedan pulled through the gate toward the entrance, rattling the gravel of the driveway. In contrast to its surroundings, it looked completely alien, like a camel sitting outside an igloo. Even after Henry died, his dealerships still gave Mary a new ridiculous car each year. Edith suspected her sister took perverse joy in arriving in them because she knew how they annoyed her so. After more than 70 years together, Edith still was unsure if her sister went out of her way to be so difficult or just couldnt help herself.

Edith looked down from her perch to the entrance and waved to Mary, who waved back. Ill be right down! she shouted, just barely enough for Mary to hear. The butler, Buckswald, had opened the door, and Mary entered as Edith made her way, hesitatingly, through the corridors and stairs. The castle was too much to manage, not just for the family, whose lives lay in cities near and far, but for her physically. She felt that if she could see inside her knees with some magic telescope, they would look like the facade of this building  pocked, chipped, scarred, and worn to the point where they were close to falling apart.

Are you nearly ready for this? Its going to be a long drive back to Downton, Mary said by way of greeting, impatient to get on with things.

Yes, Im quite sure I will. Ive just been upstairs saying my good-byes. Buckswald, will you please put my trunks in the car? The butler obliged, carrying the cases out to the drive, leaving the women in the dim light of the cloudy morning.

Is he all the staff you have left?

Quite. Ive been managing with just him and a cook for the better part of a year. I dismissed her after breakfast.

What is going to happen to the place?

Weve sold off most of the land to some developers. Theyre going to build houses and such, build up the town. The castle weve donated to the government. I believe they want to make it a museum of some sort.

Can you imagine? Mary asked, incredulous. People just parading around where we used to have tea. Youll have to pay 20 quid just like everyone else to get into your own drawing room.

It never felt like mine, really, Edith said, especially after Bertie died. Its the girls now. I kept a house and some land for them, so theyll always be connected to the place.

Well, the dower house will be plenty big for the both of us.

Are you sure? There were plenty of years when even the Abbey was too small.

Oh, Edith, Mary said, shrugging her off. Lets not go dredging up the past.

Buckswald stood by the car, holding the passengers side door ajar, as they made their way toward it and settled in. Mary turned the engine over and they rode smoothly out through the first gate, the structure passing shadows over the car as it moved.

Looking up at it, that huge hive full not just of those that lived there but everyone that cared for them and all their lives and ambitions, Edith was starting to get emotional. Its as if all the care that was put into the place, all the energy and focus of so many, had built up a sort of a halo, an intense aura she knew she couldnt drag out with her.

Thats when she held her gloved hand up to her nose and sniffled a little.

Dont go squishy on me now, Mary implored.

Edith knew not to. If theres anything life had taught her, it was that it only moves in one direction. It might seem to some facing the wrong direction, that the past was retreating, but it was something else entirely. They were all marching toward some invisible goal. She was returning home, but even that was its own sort of progress, a fulfillment of a future that always was.

As she controlled her tears and laid her hand on the bench seat beside her, she felt Marys hand rest slightly on top of hers as she turned her head and looked at Edith, giving her a half smile that she had never quite seen before, one that seemed to be including her rather than pushing her away. Thats when Edith knew she was going to the right place, as the air grew heavy with drizzle and a tiny stream of water streaked from right to left across the windshield.
Lupita Nyongo. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/2014 Getty Images

Lupita Nyongo made her Broadway debut this weekend with Eclipsed. Danai Guriras play, about a group of women held captive during Liberias second civil war, began its run Sunday at the Golden Theatre, where it remains till the middle of June. Before taking the stage, however, Nyongo shared a list of 12 facts she wanted her fans to know before coming to the show. We are the first play on Broadway to be written, directed and performed by ALL WOMEN, she wrote. I first played my character as an understudy in Drama School. I never went on, and I promised myself back then that I would play The Girl some day, somehow, somewhere and its mindblowing to get to do it on Broadway. The Oscar-winning actresss note also provides info about Liberias history, Eclipseds cast, and her super chill pre-performance ritual.

Read the full message, complete with Lupita Nyongo stationery, below:

Happy opening day to us! A few things to know before you see @eclipsedbway! https://t.co/szTipKirkU pic.twitter.com/uOk9VqGLK3  Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) March 6, 2016

1. This is my Broadway debut! Such a thrill. I cant believe it.

2. We are the first play on Broadway to be written, directed and performed by ALL WOMEN. Making history!

3. Liberia is a country on the West African coast that was founded by freed and free-born African-Americans, and was thus a colony of the United States!

4. The play takes place during the second Liberian Civil War when the Womens Peace Movement helped bring an end to the war in 2003 through nonviolence movements, including a sex strike.

5. Leymah Gbowee, one of the members of the initiative won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011!

6. I first played my character as an understudy in Drama School. I never went on, and I promised myself back then that I would play The Girl some day, somehow, somewhere and its mindblowing to get to do it on Broadway.

7. The Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after the United States. The flag contains one star. This is why Liberia is called Africas Lone Star state.

8. Liberia is Africas oldest republic. The capital city is Monrovia, named after American President James Monroe.

9. Being in the play is an emotionally intense experience for me, and it means a lot to me to see your bright faces afterwards at the stage door each night. Thank you!

10. Some of the countries represented in our cast and show are: Kenya, Liberia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Ghana, USA, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Philippines.

11. Before the curtain goes up, you can typically find me knitting backstage. It helps calm the nerves!

12. The play opens today, March 6th! AAAH!! Visit EclipsedBroadway.com to get tickets. See you there!

Last year, Nyongo played the Girl for the productions off-Broadway stint at the Public Theater. New Yorks Jesse Green wrote then that she brought a haunting innocence we may not have expected, and a vivid emotional legibility. Of her Broadway turn, Green said: Nyongo has managed to burrow further into her portrayal of the Girl, a feat that did not seem possible back in October. The intelligence and variety of her choices, the naturalism of her reactions to trauma, the fear constantly leaking through her bravado: All are deeper now. For more info on Eclipsed (and for those tickets!), head here.
The announcement came after iron ore surged 19 per cent overnight to $US63.74 a tonne - its highest level since June 15 last year - and a 24 per cent jump in the Fortescue share price to $3.08 on Monday. Fortescue shares opened higher on Tuesday before falling 9.4 per cent to $2.79. Fortescue Metals share price jumped 23.7 per cent on Monday to close at $3.08. Mr Power stressed that any asset sales to Vale would be in mines, not in Fortescue's railway or port. "We are not intending to sell part of the infrastructure assets - we did have a look at that a few years ago but we have taken that off the table and all that we have been considering have been in the mining assets," he said. Fortescue's founder, chairman and major shareholder Andrew Forrest has not spoken publicly since the deal was announced, but it is believed he does not plan to reduce his 33.32 per cent stake in the company if and when Vale starts buying the stock.

New iron ore product The aspect of the agreement that appears most likely to go ahead is the iron ore joint venture, would would see the companies sell a new iron ore product into China. The product would be a blend of Fortescue's Pilbara ore (which has lower iron grades and low impurity levels) and Vale's Brazilian ore, which has a higher iron grade and higher impurities. The companies hope the blended product would allow them to mine less attractive ores and blend them up to a marketable standard, and thereby operate more cheaply. Mr Power said he expected the blended product would attract a premium to the benchmark iron ore price, which is for ores with 62 per cent iron content.

Fortescue has historically sold its Pilbara product at 8 to 12 per cent below the benchmark price, because it has a slightly lower iron content. Mr Power said Fortescue was likely to supply 40 to 50 per cent of the blended product. Fortescue exported 165.4 million tonnes from Port Hedland during the 2015 financial year and expects to ship a similar amount in the year to June 30, so the new joint venture with Vale is expected to affect between 25 and 30 per cent of the miner's current production. Fortescue will continue to sell its remaining tonnes as it does now. Boon for investors

Shaw and Partners analyst Peter O'Connor said Fortescue shareholders would be "absolutely thrilled" by the announcement. "The balance of power in the iron ore market has shifted today with this bloc potentially emerging," Mr O'Connor said. "This is another positive development in the evolution of Fortescue and increases its credibility in the market's eyes as a sustainable, long-term, viable iron ore company. Not that I ever doubted that, but some people did. "This is an announcement done by a company [Fortescue] that has got control, it is not a company under pressure or under duress." Mr Wilkins said he also expected the market to react positively to the news.

"Long term, this could be viewed as the first step of a more disciplined approach to iron ore supply by aligning two of the big four [iron ore miners]. We expect the market to react positively to this news," he said. Regulatory implications Mr Power said he hoped the MoU would be formalised within three to six months, and Fortescue had already briefed Chinese regulators on the plan. "There is no reduction in competition from this, if anything it improves the competitiveness of supply to the Chinese steel industry," said Mr Power on Tuesday. But Mr Wilkins was not so sure that regulators would be sanguine about the deal; "there may be regulatory implications from China, in our view".

Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina also predicted that China would have competition concerns with the plan. "Anti-trust risk is exacerbated by the strategic importance of seaborne iron ore to the Chinese steel industry and economy," he said. The notion of Vale buying 15 per cent of Fortescue might also attract the attention of Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), particularly given the Brazilian government's sway over Vale. Originally a government-owned company, Vale was privatised in 1997 on the grounds that the government was given "golden shares" in Vale, which mean it can veto proposals. A spokeswoman for Treasurer Scott Morrison said transactions were examined on a case-by-case basis.

"The Treasurer does not comment on applications or potential applications to the Foreign Investment Review Board," she said. "The Treasurer will consider a wide range of issues in any decision making in any foreign investment application and will rely upon detailed advice that would be prepared by FIRB." Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said Fortescue and Vale had not contacted him about the proposal, but his agency would examine the proposal to ensure it did not breach competition rules. "We will look at it, but in saying that, we are not necessarily signalling any concerns," he said. 'Innovative'

The Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, has told a conference in Perth on Tuesday that he would not be opposed to Vale and Fortescue establishing the proposed partnership. "As I understand it they are going to blend their ores in China. To me that is innovative and just part of the market process in the iron ore industry so I am not concerned about it, I think it is probably good for FMG and good for exports," he said. "They will still pay full royalties on every piece of iron ore that is extracted from Western Australia." Vale has a long history of working in Australia, having owned coal mines on the nation's east coast and nickel exploration tenements in the Fraser Range region of WA. Vale is in the middle of a $US14.5 billion iron ore expansion project in the Carajas region of Brazil, which will push the company's iron ore exports beyond 400 million tonnes a year.

Mr Power said he did not believe the Fortescue deal would alter Vale's expansion plans. "I don't think anything in this would change those plans but certainly the ability to blend with our ores and meet that sector of the market is a very strong addition to their marketing for their Carajas ores," he said. Export caps Fortescue has recently vowed to cap its exports at about 165 million tonnes per year, and has been critical of large rivals, including Vale, for continuing to grow their exports amid weak iron ore prices. Mr Power said the agreement with Vale was not hypocritical and was not a sign that Fortescue would lift its exports.

"No change to our production guidance for this year, we haven't given guidance for FY17 and we will do that as we continue to observe how the market is shaking up, but right now I don't see any justification for any increased volumes into the market," he said. "Our criticism of the industry was the tactics and strategy of deliberate oversupply to try and drive competitors out of the market and that is what we railed against ... this is not any strategy to try and exert control over the market, it is rather trying to capture value that exists there by creating a blend that feeds a market segment and meets a market demand that we believe will suit our customers very nicely." Mr Power said he did not recall which company had made the first approach, but the non-binding deal had been under discussion for close to a year. "The talks have been ongoing for probably a year now and we have been in quite strong discussions since then exploring the outlines of this and we have now brought it to a stage when we can put it in an Mo U," he said. Share price surge

Asked if it was investigating the timing of Monday's share price surge and Tuesday's announcement, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was non-committal. "We do not comment on specifics but generally, ASIC makes inquiries into disclosure issues and trading consistent with our usual practices around company announcements which result in significant market movements. We also closely review all trading ahead of material announcements," said a spokeswoman for the regulator. Mr Power said Monday's sharp share price rise was a sign that short-sellers were forced to buy stock and close out positions rather than any leak of the Vale deal. "We did want to bring it to the market and make sure there was full transparency as soon as we could - I don't think there is any relationship to the share price, if you look at our share price move versus the rest of the market, it is pretty well in line," he said, in reference to iron ore juniors like BC Iron and Atlas Iron rising more than 30 per cent on Monday, and South African iron ore company Kumba rising 22 per cent. Major diversified miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose by closer to 6 per cent on Monday.
Dead fish and eels have been found washed up at a creek in Sydney's north-west, prompting an investigation by the Environment Protection Authority.

The decomposing specimens were spotted at at Devlins Creek, under the Cheltenham Causeway aqueduct.

Local resident and spokesman for the Save Beecroft Cheltenham Alliance Michael Bianchino said he saw fish and eels "embedded in sludge and oil", at the bottom of Sutherland Road, Cheltenham.

"My gut feeling is that it is a combination of dry conditions, oil sediment runoff and low water levels, meaning there is less oxygen in the water, so it stagnates and you get toxic build up."Mr Bianchino questioned whether it was "coincidental" that the dead species have appeared within three metres of the construction site for the Epping to Thornleigh Third Track (ETTT).
Australia will be well represented at this week's Paris Fashion Week shows with Kym Ellery set to showcase her second on schedule collection while several Aussies are set to be VIP guests sitting front row at some of the most sought-after fashion events in Europe.

Francesca Packer, James' 21-year-old niece, will attend the Louis Vuitton show as a guest of the fashion house and will be accompanied by her publicist, and avid fashion fan, Roxy Jacenko.

Francesca Packer Barham is becoming one of our best fashion curators, she'll be front row at the Louis Vuitton show in Paris this week.

While Jacenko wouldn't be drawn on the perks of the trip, being invited by a major fashion house to attend the international shows suggests they are both big-spending fans of the brand. Let's just say if Louis Vuitton had a Woolies-style Everyday Rewards program, both would already have the full deck of those Disney collector cards by now.
Tunis: Dozens of Islamist fighters have stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border, attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 53 people, including civilians, the government and residents say.

Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town on Monday. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.

Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack.

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone.
By Paul Schaumburg, Graves County Schools Mar. 07, 2016 | 07:22 AM | MAYFIELD, KY

The Graves County Schools Family Resource and Youth Services Centers have received a $2,500 donation from Americas Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund and directed by local farmer Ricky Wilson.

Wilson, along with Larry Wooley, Kenneth Wiggins and Kenny Wiggins raise money annually with a tractor and truck pull event sponsored by the Graves County Truck and Tractor Pullers group.When we started our truck and tractor pull nearly ten years ago, we all decided helping children here in our own home county was the perfect cause for our donations, Wilson said, I feel very honored to receive this Monsanto Fund grant and want to share it in a way that will really help kids.

The donation will help the FRYSC coordinators in removing barriers to learning for students in need in the Graves County Schools and their families.

"We certainly want to thank Ricky and his friends for designating us for this donation, said Jennifer Morris, family resource center director at Symsonia and Farmington elementary schools. Over the years through the summer event they have many created and lead to help children in need have a merry Christmas. Now, hes taking this opportunity to donate for our ongoing projects and services.

For six years, Americas Farmers Grow Communities has collaborated with farmers to donate over $22 million to more than 8,000 community organizations across rural America. Winning farmers direct donations to non-profits to help fight rural hunger, purchase life-saving fire and EMS equipment, support ag youth leadership programs, and buy much-needed classroom resources.

Americas Farmers Grow Communities partners with farmers to support local nonprofit causes that positively impact farming communities across rural America. Grow Communities is one program in the Americas Farmers community outreach effort, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. Other programs include Americas Farmers Grow Ag Leaders, which encourages rural youth to remain in agriculture and provides $1,500 college scholarships to high school and college students pursuing ag-related degrees and Americas Farmers Grow Rural Education, which works with farmers to nominate rural school districts to compete for $10,000 and $25,000 math and science grants. Visit www.AmericasFarmers.com to learn more.

The Monsanto Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the communities where farmers and Monsanto Company employees live and work. Visit the Monsanto Fund at www.monsantofund.org .
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Field and grass fires have been burning in Graves, McCracken, Calloway Counties
Emily Atack will star in the upcoming production of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Atack will replace Verity Rushworth, who was previously sharing the role with Pixie Lott, but has had to withdraw because she is expecting her first child.

Atack will play Holly Golightly on the show's UK tour, appearing at His Majesty's Aberdeen, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal Bath, Glasgow Theatre Royal, King's Theatre Edinburgh and Wycombe Swan.

Lott's performances include tour dates in in Leicester, Canterbury, Leeds, Birmingham and Plymouth as well as the West End run at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Atack has starred in the film remake of Dad's Army as well as E4's The Inbetweeners. She said of her new role, "I am so flattered and honoured to be playing Holly Golightly; to take such an iconic role as my stage debut is both incredibly exciting and challenging."

Director of the show Nikolai Foster said: "It's a thrilling prospect for all of us to be working with actors who are perfectly suited to the role and will encourage a new generation of theatregoers to share Capote's beautiful story. We cannot be sad to be losing Verity as it is for such a happy reason and we all wish her well with her pregnancy."

Breakfast at Tiffany's opens at the Leicester Curve and then tours the UK. It opens in the West End 30 June.
5. Luce - Southwark Playhouse

Mel Giedroyc in rehearsals for Luce

 Oliver King

Mel Giedroyc swaps the Great British Bake Off tent for Southwark Playhouse to star in this fast-paced comedy about homegrown terrorism.

11 March - 2 April 2016, Southwark Playhouse. More information and tickets here.

4. German Skerries - Orange Tree Theatre

George Evans in German Skerries

 Manuel Harlan

Barney Norris and Alice Hamilton's Up In Arms present the first revival of Robert Holman's (Breakfast of Eels) George Devine Award-winning play. Four lives intertwine in a popular Northumbrian birdwatching spot.

7 March - 2 April 2016, Orange Tree Theatre. More information and tickets here.

3. Look Back in Anger - Derby Theatre

Augustina Seymour and Jimmy Fairhurst in rehearsals for Look Back in Anger

 Robert Day

John Osborne's play returns home to Derby 60 years after it spawned the term 'angry young men'.

8 - 26 March 2016, Derby Theatre. More information and tickets here.

2. Tom: The Musical - Wales Millennium Centre

Younguns reading this may not realise that before Tom Jones was a judge on The Voice he had a glittering pop career spanning 50 years. This new musical charts his success from the working men's clubs to the recording studios and features classic songs including "It's Not Unusual", "Delilah" and "What's New Pussycat".

7 March - 12 March 2016, Wales Millennium Centre prior to UK tour. More information and tickets here.

1. Motown the Musical - Shaftesbury Theatre

Eddie Elliott, Simon Ray Harvey, Simeon Montague, Joshua Liburd and Brandon Lee Sears as The Temptations in Motown the Musical

 Alastair Muir

We're not going to lie, when Memphis closed we were all very sad, but this new musical about the record label founded by Berry Gordy and responsible for the success of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and more sounds like a promising replacement.

Expect favourite musical numbers including "My Girl", "Dancing In The Street" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine".

8 March 2016 - 18 February 2017, Shaftesbury Theatre. More information and tickets here.
The Nuffield Theatre has announced two new plays as part of its autumn season.

Fantastic Mr Fox is a new adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book by Sam Holcroft. It will run at the Nuffield between 22 November and 8 January.

Fantastic Mr Fox is a musical version of the book, which follows Mr Fox and his family who manage to outwit three idiotic farmers. The show runs in Dahl's centenary year and will be directed by Maria Aberg and designed by Tom Scutt.

The second world premiere is an as yet untitled play from Nick Dear. The play will be directed by Samuel Hodges, director of the Nuffield, and runs from 9 September. The drama looks at the mystery around Shakespeare's relationship with his patron the 3rd Earl of Southampton.

Dear, who was brought up in Southampton, wrote the adaptation of Frankenstein which ran at the National Theatre in 2011.

Hodges said: "I'm delighted to welcome Sam to the Nuffield with this fresh, witty adaptation of a much-loved family classic Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox... Nick's compelling new drama unpicks the mystery around Southampton's role in the life of our greatest writer. It's a thrill to get to tell a story which has never been staged before."
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dayna Spiring, former chief strategy officer with the Canadian Wheat Board, has been named the new CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg, succeeding Marina James.

Shell take over operations of the citys economic development agency attempting, among other things, to continue to align the EDWs focus with that of the administration of Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman one year into his term.

Spiring, 38, most recently led the team that orchestrated the privatization transaction at CWB that saw G3 Canada Ltd. acquire 50.1 per cent of the former federal Crown corporation.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dayna Spiring says she will enter her new job Monday with fresh eyes. She has vast experience dealing with elected officials from the mayors office to the Prime Ministers Office.

She had been with the CWB for 10 years. Prior to that, she practised law at Aikins MacAulay & Thorvaldson, where she focused on corporate commercial and securities law.

I love Winnipeg. Im a passionate Winnipegger, Spiring said. There are amazing things happening in Winnipeg. You see that in the museum, the outdoor hockey game at the stadium. Im coming into this with pretty fresh eyes. Ill spend lots of time listening and learning and trying to find those opportunities to make a difference.

EDW is the citys economic development agency that markets the city in every respect as well as through its Yes! Winnipeg initiative and its Tourism Winnipeg division.

It often takes the lead in developing community pitches to bid on bringing events here, such as major conventions and the Canada Summer Games that are to be held here in 2017.

Current successes at EDW include its instrumental role in Winnipeg being included for the second time in three years as one of the worlds top seven intelligent communities.

We were very fortunate to have attracted such strong interest in this position, and Im completely confident Dayna is the right person to chart EDWs future course, said Mike Scatliff, principal of Scatliff + Miller + Murray and co-chairman of EDWs board of directors.

Scatliff said it is a challenging position.

It requires lofty aspirations, he said. She reached for it and got it. There were a lot of people who could have been selected for this. She was the one we thought would be the ideal fit.

Spirings predecessor, James, held the position for six years. There is no specific term limit to Spirings tenure.

In addition to a new mayor, Spiring will also work with a new leader of the Yes! Winnipeg team, Vince Barletta, who took on that high-profile position after the awkward exit of founder and previous leader Bill Morrissey last year.

Yes! Winnipeg is partly funded by the private sector and is focused on attracting, retaining and growing businesses in the city.

Spiring, who is to officially start her new position Monday, said she does not have a particular agenda or any change in focus for the organization.

Everything I have heard is that Marina has done an excellent job there, Spiring said. I have very different experience and maybe a different style. I learned a lot as chief strategy officer of CWB. I am hoping I can use some of that experience and expertise to make a mark on Winnipeg.

Her work at CWB posed many unique challenges in its unusual structure as a former federal Crown corporation that was in the process of being privatized.

Spiring said the experience accorded her all sorts of opportunities to deal with elected officials from the mayors office right up to the Prime Ministers Office.

I think that experience is going to be valuable in the role I am taking on, she said.

Spirings husband is Charlie Spiring, the founder of the successful Winnipeg financial services company Wellington West Capital, which was sold to National Bank Financial in 2011.

He was the chairman of the original private-sector funding campaign for Yes! Winnipeg in 2010.

Charlie and I have both had great business careers here, she said. He is my personal board of directors.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO  The family of a Canadian teacher convicted of sexually abusing children in Indonesia says they are worried squalid prison conditions could threaten his health.

Neil Bantlemans family issued a statement on how the Ontario man has been faring since an Indonesian court overturned his acquittal last month.

Bantlemans wife Tracy says she can visit her husband for up to two hours every day and bring food and other basic supplies to him.

Corinne Bantleman, left, hands a self-drafted letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Omar Alghabra, parliamentary secretary on global affairs, along with her son Guy Bantleman, at Alghabra's Mississauga, Ont., office on March 4, 2016. Corinne Bantleman is the mother of Neil, the schoolteacher imprisoned in Indonesia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Janet Gallucci

She says Bantleman is showing great resilience but notes the conditions inside the prison are deplorable and she fears his health could easily deteriorate rapidly.

Bantleman and an Indonesian teaching assistant have maintained their innocence since they were accused of sexually abusing three children at a prestigious international school in the capital Jakarta.

Indonesias High Court overturned their convictions last August, but prosecutors appealed to the countrys supreme court which overruled the lower court last month and added an extra year to the pairs original 10 year prison sentences.

Bantlemans family is continuing to press the Canadian government to apply pressure on Indonesia, meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary for Global Affairs in Mississauga, Ont. last week.

Bantlemans brother Guy says Omar Alghabra assured him the government is working at the highest levels to ensure a resolution to the case.

Guy Bantleman says Neil Bantlemans mother gave a hand-written letter to Alghabra to deliver to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to find a way to bring her son home.

Bantleman says he is travelling to Ottawa later this week for more meetings with federal officials to discuss his brothers plight.

He also says his brothers lawyers are waiting for a written decision from the Supreme Court so they can prepare a judicial review of the case.

Canadas ambassador to Indonesia visited Bantleman in prison last Monday and told him the Canadian government is doing everything it can to bring him home.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

wfpvideo:113928200:wfpvideo

Brianna Jonnie, the 14-year-old indigenous teen whose appeal to police garnered national attention over the weekend, came away from a flurry of high level meetings Monday with her outlook slightly adjusted.

Indigenous people who are poor, marginalized and isolated from family and community are the ones who get lost, she said Monday. Resources, not race, seem to decide which case catches public attention, the teen said after meeting with Mayor Brian Bowman. She later also met with police and provincial officials.

Its definitely not about race, she said at one point. Its resources. I notice that there were people who werent getting the same attention, not from the police, but from the people, Brianna said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Brianna Jonnie, 14, is greeted by Mayor Brian Bowman at City Hall to talk about her concerns for young First Nations women.

She said she hopes that changes.

Lets say a person isnt involved in sports or school, isnt well known. Id like people to start talking right away (anyway) so everyone is involved and everyone is looking, she said.

The slew of meetings were all triggered by a moving letter Brianna wrote Winnipeg Police Chief Devon Clunis and other authorities, instructing them on what to do if she were to go missing: If I go missing and the WPS has not changed the behaviours I have brought to your attention, I beg of you, do not treat me as the indigenous person I am proud to be, the College Jeanne Sauve honour student wrote.

The Free Press made the letter public Saturday in a feature about the teen and her concerns.

She wrote if her body were to be found, she would want to be buried in a red dress, the symbol for justice adopted by families of the countrys more than 1,200 missing and murdered women.

Brianna also wrote that police and community members dont look as hard for missing indigenous people as they do for non-indigenous people and that the media do not cover their stories the same way either.

She said Monday she spent couple of days composing the letter, reading paragraphs aloud to her mother as a sounding board. But the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?

I thought I could actually do something with this. I was thinking that I was a voice for people who have no one else, she said. Some were the same age she is, Brianna noted.

The father of Cooper Nemeth, the 17-year-old boy found slain last month after going missing for a week, wrote a letter in response to Briannas.

He said the investigation of his sons disappearance was not subject to special treatment from police, and added other people joined him and his wife in their search because they asked for help.

Monday, in a rare press conference, the senior co-ordinating officer within the missing persons unit said race makes no difference in how cases are investigated.

The difference is urgency, said Det.-Sgt. Shaunna Neufeld.

We want you to know that we care. We hate seeing files that are unresolved but some are harder to get answers than others, Neufeld said.

Of the 5,500 reports on missing people last year, the police solved all but four of them. Monday was a typical day: there were 26 missing adults reported and 55 youth, including one, 15-year old Caucasian Kaitlyn Emily Parker, whose disappearance was publicized.

If there is an urgency, if we have concerns for someones safety, or their well-being, we get the media release out, Neufeld explained.

In a city where most missing youth are indigenous and most of them involve cases with kids in the child welfare system, Neufeld acknowledged police are aware of accusations against them.

But that doesnt mean theres any truth to it, Neufeld insisted.

Race is not an issue or a consideration. Today is an opportunity for some education on why we do what we do and we want you to know that we care. We hate seeing files unresolved, Neufeld said.

In fact, lately it seemed like the city was pulling together on missing persons cases, she said.

Neufeld said the work on the Cooper disappearance, by the Bear Clan, the indigenous volunteers who mount safety patrols in Winnipegs North End, stood out for her as a turning point for Winnipeg.

Coopers body was recovered days after his disappearance and one suspect faces homicide charges in connection with the death.

The Bear Clan turned out for the searches and, after speaking with family, held a honouring ceremony to help Cooper travel to the spirit world. More than 1,000 people attended.

One of the things I found the most amazing was going to the community (centre), the Gateway and seeing the Bear Clan and the young and the old, people from all the communities coming united together for a cause. Thats whats great about Winnipeg; people want to come together. They want to help, Neufeld said.

Brianna said Monday she knows no one who has ever gone missing. She has a single mother but a large extended family to lend her support. Her grandfather is Curtis Jonnie, the indigenous music pioneer known as Shingoose. He earned lasting high regard for his indigenous rights anthems.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 06/03/2016 (2421 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Greg Selingers spirits got a boost at his nomination meeting Sunday afternoon but whether his fortunes will improve remains to be seen.

The premier received a standing ovation from about 200 supporters at the Norwood Community Centre as he took the microphone after once again being declared the NDP candidate for St. Boniface.

We have a big fight on our hands but its a fight worth having, the premier said to uproarious applause. People count on us. Lets be ready to fight. Lets keep working at the doors, listening to people and forging a better Manitoba every day.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSPremier Greg Selinger during his NDP nomination meeting for the St. Boniface riding at the Norwood Community Centre Sunday afternoon.

Several supporters spoke before the nomination was official and told stories of Selingers commitment to the community, of always shovelling his sidewalk for his letter carrier and often being seen from afar walking across the Esplanade Riel in his purple winter coat.

Its a great turnout today, Selinger said. The room is fun of energy, dynamism, hope and a real desire to serve the people of Manitoba. It felt good to have everybody out.

Selinger said he was proud of the field of candidates the NDP has nominated and hes confident they will appeal to Manitobans because theres a mix of experience, new blood and people in between.

A little grey hair never hurt, he said. One of the things about being in government during uncertain times is you can learn to do things better and get new ideas.

He was quick to recite his governments commitment to health care and education and also its performance with the economy.

We have one of the (lowest) unemployment rates in the country and one of the best job-creation rates. Were investing in infrastructure and new business, he said.

Selinger took issue with Conservative Leader Brian Pallisters promise to lower the PST by one point before the infrastructure its funding to protect communities at risk from flooding is completed.

A community under water has no economy, he said. If you look around the world today, all of the experts agree now is the time to stimulate the economy.

Selinger said this election, unlike any over the past 25 years, has the potential to be a three-horse race. He said he expects there to be a wave of support for the Liberals thanks to Justin Trudeaus big win at the national level just a few months ago.

We have a big fight on our hands, but its a fight worth having Greg Selinger

Youre aways going to get a bump out of the federal elation but the real Trudeau story is you can start in third and still win the election. You should never get down or worry about the polls. You should keep working hard for the people of Manitoba and theyll recognize that at the end of the day, he said.

Manitobans go to the polls on April 19.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
SAUK RAPIDS, Minn.  Ida Sass efficiently guided her class of 10 students through exercise after exercise for almost 25 minutes. Stretches, wrist rolls, scissor kicks, repeat.

Sass rarely misses her class, which she leads twice a week. Her attendance record is even more impressive considering that in December, Sass celebrated her 100th birthday.

Sass would likely match no ones expectations of what a 100-year-old woman looks like. Nationwide, centenarians are growing in numbers but are still a relatively small group compared with the rest of the population.

Sass lives by herself at Good Shepherd Court Apartments in Sauk Rapids. She keeps a full book of appointments. With the exception of a relatively new pacemaker, Sass has never had surgery and is in good health.

There are three other 100-year-old residents in the Good Shepherd system, including one who will turn 107 this year, said Jodi Speicher, vice president of sales and marketing. Speicher, who calls Sass the Energizer Bunny, said Sass did 104 consecutive exercise sessions without being absent.

Speicher once asked her what the secret to her longevity is. Vitamins, Sass told her.

So I started taking vitamins right away, Speicher said. I want to be just like her.

A positive attitude

Sass credits her positive attitude for keeping her in good health. She remembers when her now-late husband was sick, and she cried in her car because she was overwhelmed.

I finally said, Lord, you take over. And a calm came over me. I said, Ill accept anything you will. Ive been that way ever since, she said.

Her exercise classes sometimes draw as many as 14 participants. Sass said she considered quitting leading them when she turned 100, but the people who come inspire her to keep going.

I want to go anyway. I can kick as high as they can, she said.

Her participants like her leading the class and say shes friendly.

Weve had a few subs, but nothing takes her place, said LaVern Reischl, 83.

Sass daughter Joanne Froelke, who lives in St. Augusta, noted that her mother has the 30 or so routines memorized; theres no cheat sheet.

Does she ever tell Sass to slow down? You dont tell my mother anything, Froelke said. If she has her mind made up, she will do it.

Sass son, Loren Sass of Beloit, Wisconsin, agrees.

She has that walker and we take her to the grocery store and by golly you better try to keep up with her, he said.

Living the Depression

Sass life story so far is wide ranging. She went from growing up near Arapahoe, Nebraska, to a fun-filled life in St. Louis to a pioneer lifestyle in Canada back to the States, and eventually to Good Shepherd.

With the help of her oldest son, Loren, she has her life story typed up, and it fits on almost three pages. But talk to Sass for even a minute and youll realize what a vivid memory she has.

She remembers people from years ago, Loren Sass said. Theres never an argument that we can win about what we had for Christmas dinner in 1982. She just cares about people. She has all her life.

Sass was born Dec. 31, 1915. Her first memory is from 1918 when she was 3, when she got vaccinated for the Spanish flu. She and her older brother heard the county nurse was coming and promptly hid under their parents bed to avoid a shot.

Then came the rough years, the Depression and the Dust Bowl. That black wall of dirt  I was in it. It was 12 noon and it was pitch black, Sass said. You had to clean the farmhouse three times a day to exist.

What does she remember about the Depression? Everything. I lived through it. Those were horrible years, she said. But then again, everybody was poor at that time.

Sass first job was taking care of four children for $3 a week while their mother was in the hospital. But soon brighter things beckoned: Her older brother had become a teacher in St. Louis and urged Sass to move there. She moved to St. Louis when she was 23.

I packed my suitcase and got on the train by myself, she said. Traveled all the way to St. Louis and didnt know a soul. I was brave.

A move to Minnesota

Sass loved the bustle of St. Louis and met the man she wanted to spend her life with: She married a Lutheran minister, the Rev. Frank Sass from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was tall, with golden blond hair and blue eyes, Sass said.

They left St. Louis for a town of 70 residents in Saskatchewan, and lived without electricity and running water for seven years. Sass did laundry using a washboard. She said she was happy, though.

I was so in love, I didnt care where I went, Sass said.

The Sasses lost their first child, a girl, just hours after the baby was born in 1945; Sass had birth complications. The family moved around Canada and eventually ended up having four children. Massive snowstorms around the time Loren arrived forced the Sasses to travel by train for 40 miles, and then have a farmer with a horse-drawn open sleigh take them home, according to her written history. Three more children, a girl and two sons, followed, with Sass giving birth to the last one at age 42.

The family eventually moved back to the States, first to Arcadia, Iowa, then Pine City, Minnesota. At age 50, Sass enrolled at the local vocational/technical college; her daughter graduated from high school the same spring she did. It gave you a lift to be able to go to school, she said. Was it difficult going back to school when she was older? A lot of us were older, she said. I was young at that time. Age 50  thats young.

Moves to Vergas and Perham later came for the Sasses. After years of health issues, Frank Sass died, and Ida Sass came to Good Shepherd in 2003.

Life of a servant

Sass says she loves living at Good Shepherd. She attends as many activities as she can; staying busy is important to her.

She received a computer for Christmas, and she uses email. Loren Sass is hooked up to her computer, too, so he can help her remotely if she gets confused. Shes not going to venture on the Internet, though.

Sass, who has nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, had five birthday parties to mark the 100-year milestone. That she would be so celebrated isnt a surprise to her loved ones.

Shes been a servant her whole life, very involved in helping others, Froelke said.
Imagine that everything you touch, any germ or even a trip to a public restroom could immediately result in a trip to the emergency room.

That's Sally Mogren's world.

In December 2006, Mogren was diagnosed with atypical autoimmune hepatitis, a liver disease that could have killed her within weeks, days or even hours. She has since learned to live with the disease, which requires extremely careful work. For example, she cant wear makeup or contacts, and must limit all interactions with germs.

Theres a lot of things you have to give up with this disease, but I refuse to give up helping people, she said. Im just so grateful to be alive.

So in looking for opportunities to volunteer, she chose the cleanest place in town: Winona Health.

Mogren has volunteered for three years in the community engagement department at Winona Health twice per week for a full 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift. A jack-of-all-trades with the ability to make anyone smile, Mogren uses skills from past jobs, such as the ability to retain confidentiality, be organized and provide customer service in her volunteer position. Mogren does whatever needs doing: unpack boxes, update bulletin boards or do data input, which she enjoys as a self-proclaimed computer geek.

For Mogren, the interaction with people and the work both come naturally.

Mogren taught kindergarten, first and second grade in the Winona area for more than 20 years, mostly in Winona Area Catholic Schools. After retiring, she was the Winona Public Librarys childrens librarian for three years. Then she served as Merchant Banks Director of First Impressions, during which she acted as bank historian and provided customer service.

Mogren, the oldest of 10 children, said her love for helping people started when she was 6 years old at her first "job." Originally from Shakopee, Minn., Mogrens parents owned a general store, where she acquired customer service skills at a young age.

Betsy Midthun, the vice president of community engagement at Winona Health, said she wishes Winona Health could clone Mogren.

She exudes customer service. She just knows how to talk to the customer and see what they need, said Midthun, adding that shes never seen Mogren emotional, even with flustered clients. Every single time she turns it around to a plus. She has that gift.

Winona Health volunteer manager Kris Walters said Mogren provides a friendly (and well-known) face in the office, answers fellow volunteers questions and finishes department projects.

Mogren said she volunteers at Winona Health simply to say thank-you for how well they took care of her when she was diagnosed. Mogren said she discovered her disease when she went to Winona Health for a routine checkup and found her liver enzyme count was 1,280. The normal range, she said, is 400 to 500. With her disease, she needs to get blood work done fairly often. Mogren said the Winona Health team made the process of managing her condition easier for her.

Having that suppressed immune system, its easy to sit around and feel sorry for yourself, Mogren said, but added, I think I have a lot of talents that would go to waste if I was at home all the time.

Mogren enjoys volunteering because she connects with the Winona community, including former students. Three students she taught as children now work at Winona Health.

Isnt that kind of cool to see your students? she said, adding that its gratifying to know them as youngsters, when you know theyre going to be great. She enjoys seeing how her students turned out in their adult life.

Mogren is fascinated by how people with different backgrounds and careers can use their skills to help people now. The skills she uses as a volunteer are tied to earlier careers, she said.

People can bring all those background experiences of their lives and make life nicer for people, she said.

She is caring and compassionate, Midthun said. She lives her values every day. She teaches people every day through her actions.
A presidential election in which the dominant figure is a blustery billionaire developer who never before sought public office can hardly be called normal.

Still, one traditional pattern of presidential politics  rejection of ideological extremes  is likely to be part of the outcome, even in this most untraditional year. In both parties, voters are choosing more centrist contenders over their more ideological rivals.

It might not always seem that way  Republican front-runner Donald Trump has spouted the campaigns most extreme rhetoric. However, his positions on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood are less doctrinaire than those of his two main rivals, even as he confounds some GOP conservatives by winning so many conservative votes.

Meanwhile, the most outspokenly conservative contender, Sen. Ted Cruz, has largely failed to expand the evangelical support he used to win Iowa caucuses into the broader backing needed to be nominated  just like Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum and 2012.

Despite winning his home state of Texas, along with Oklahoma and Alaska, and finishing second in four other states on Tuesday, he failed to score the Southern breakthrough he once counted upon. Cruz actually helped Trump by keeping Marco Rubio from doing better while remaining almost as unacceptable to party leaders as Trump. Now, its on to turf less favorable to Cruz in the North.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clintons overwhelming victories over Bernie Sanders in seven of the 11 states make clear that, barring a self-inflicted wound or some legal barrier, Democrats will reject the Pied Piper of Burlington and his effort to mobilize the young, the left and the disaffected with his message of free education, free health coverage and other governmental goodies.

In the past, rejection of extremes has enabled both parties to win presidential elections. Its why Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton succeeded where George McGovern and Walter Mondale failed, and why Richard Nixon won just four years after Barry Goldwater lost.

Cruz has cited Ronald Reagan as an example of how an avowedly conservative candidate can win. But Reagan brought to his presidential campaign a patina of pragmatism from eight years as Californias governor.

The philosophically flexible Trump is clearly a less-rigid conservative than Cruz. But the contrast between the tone of the Democratic and Republican campaigns might offset any potential benefit as we look toward the summer and fall.

The respectful way with which Clinton and Sanders have focused on issues differences should enable the former Secretary of State to preside over a united party at this Julys Democratic convention.

On the other hand, the way Trump has denigrated his rivals in highly personal terms, attacked such groups as Mexicans and Muslims and mishandled such matters as last weeks stumble over repudiating Ku Klux Klan support has created havoc within the GOP that will shadow his campaign, even as the partys nominee.

At a time when Republicans need to broaden their appeal, Trump could win even fewer votes from non-white Americans than the candidates who lost the past two elections to the nations first African-American president.

Trump has, though, shown a greater ability than some past Republicans to attract lower-income, less-educated white voters and many independents or Democrats who are suffering economically. Though white voters are a decreasing portion of the electorate, these voters could help him in some northern industrial states.

At Tuesday nights victory celebration, Trump and his new ally, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, sought to set a tone of GOP and national unity. The tone of the Republican campaign will make that a task to test all of the billionaire developers salesmanship skills.

Trump remains something of a philosophical mystery. His anti-immigration and anti-abortion rights stances fit the current GOP, but he has also called for health insurance for all, even as he proposes to scrap Obamacare. And he continues to praise Planned Parenthoods efforts to help womens health.

Both Cruz and Rubio would clearly pursue more rigidly conservative policies, just as Sanders is avowedly to the left of Clinton.

Once again, the American people seem to be heading for a choice between two more centrist courses  even though the rhetoric indicates otherwise.
Submit items for the Around Town calendar to bnr-news@capitalnewspapers.com. A complete listing is available at www.baraboonewsrepublic.com. Questions? Call 608-356-4808.

Today

The Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., will offer Coloring for Calm at 6:30 p.m. This event is for adults to color and enjoy fellowship. Coloring pages, colored pencils and markers will be provided.

Tuesday, March 8

A Home Health United-Hospice training session will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 915 12th St. in Baraboo. Volunteers are needed in both administrative and patient-interactive areas. For more information or to register for training, call 1-877-356-4514, email volunteers@hhuvns.org or visit www.homehealthunited.org.

Madison Area Technical College in Reedsburg will hold a veterans gathering for coffee and conversation from 9-11 a.m. at the campus, Room 153, 300 Alexander Ave. There will be a County Veteran Service Officer at the meeting for a benefits checklist.

The Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., will hold Writing Circle of Sauk City at 6:30 p.m. and every first Tuesday of the month. Meet other writers, share ideas and gain inspiration. For writers of all genres and skill levels. Call 643-8346 or visit www.saukcitylibrary.org for more information.

The Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St. in Prairie du Sac, will hold Teen Tuesday: Buttons & Bottle Caps at 6:30 p.m. Teens can use button makers and make bottle cap magnets. This event is especially for grades 6-12. For more information, call Meagan at 608-643-8318 or visit www.pdslibrary.org.

Wednesday, March 9

Merrimac Community Charter School will host a Kindergarten Roundup from 9-11 a.m. This event provides an opportunity for children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2016 to meet their teacher and experience what school will be like. Parents can learn more about kindergarten, ask questions about the school and find out how they can be involved in their childs education. For more information, call 608-493-2217 or visit saukprairieschools.org.

The Baraboo Area Senior Center will offer a free blood pressure screening 9-11 a.m. at the Baraboo Area Senior Center, Room 24, 124 Second St. A Home Health United nurse is available to check blood pressure. Call Diane Pillsbury at 356-8464 for more information.

The Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St. in Prairie du Sac, will hold an early release day at 2:15 p.m. to tell the story of The Last Snake in Ireland. Kids also can paint a snake and play green bingo. Event is appropriate for school-age kids. Children younger than 6 must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call Beth at 643-8318.

The First United Methodist Church will host a presentation by nurse Mercy Chikhosi Nyirongo, the country director of ZOE Ministry Malawi, beginning with a dinner at 5:30 p.m. at 615 Broadway St., Baraboo. Nyirongo will speak at 6:15 p.m. to all ages and hold 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. For more information, call 608-356-3991.

Thursday, March 10

The Gem City Quilters Club will meet at 6:30 p.m., in Room 18, of the Baraboo Civic Center, 124 Second St. Club member Barbara Fuller will be offering a presentation on Hawaiian quilts. All are welcome. For more information, call Barbara at 608-356-9137.

The Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St. in Prairie du Sac, will host the Mystery Book Club at 6:45 p.m. to discuss mysteries by Val McDermid. New members are always welcome. For more information, call June at 643-8318.

The Rock Springs Public Library will host local home cook Katie Schofield at 6 p.m. to demonstrate how to make homemade pizzas. There is limited space in the kitchen so reservations are needed. For more information and to reserve a spot, call Haley at the Rock Springs Library at 608-522-5050.

Friday, March 11

People Helping People will be hold a brat fry from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Walmart, 920 Highway 12, Baraboo. Hot dogs will also be sold. Proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit PHPs Adopt-A-Family Easter food drive, which provides a full Easter dinner to dozens of needy families in the Sauk County area.

St. Joseph Church will hold a Friday fish fry from 5-7:30 p.m. at the parish gym, 310 Second St., Baraboo. Cost is $11 for adults, $5 for kids 4-12 and free for kids three and younger. The menu includes all you can eat baked or batter fried cod, choice of potato, baked beans, cole slaw, apple sauce, homemade rolls and dessert. Optional cheese pizza is available for kids. Eat in or take out.

The Keg & Corks event sponsored by the Baraboo Rotary Club and Pierces Marketplace will take place from 6-9 p.m. at the Baraboo Arts Center, 323 Water St. More than 40 different wines and beers will be available for sampling along with hors douevres and desserts. Tickets are $30, which includes the price of admission and a commemorative glass. Tickets can be purchased at Corner Drug, The Baraboo National Bank or Pierces Marketplace. Proceeds from the event will benefit local non-profit groups and programs supported by the Baraboo Rotary Club.

Saturday, March 12

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Fay-Robinson Chapter will offer a free genealogy workshop from 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the Community Room of the Reedsburg Public Library, 370 Vine St. in Reedsburg. Volunteers from the group will be available to assist with research, documentation and proof of lineage. For more information, call Loretta Landerman at 608-644-1130 or email llegacy@charter.net.

The Sauk Prairie Evangelical Free Church, 1375 Lincoln Ave. in Prairie du Sac, will host a free parenting workshop Kids and Technology: Creating a Game Plan from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Lunch will be provided and limited childcare is available. This workshop, facilitated by Justin Bangert, a licensed Christian marriage and family therapist, will address the unintended effect the Internet, video games and social media can have on kids. For more information or to check availability, call 608-643-6064 or visit www.spefc.org.

People Helping People will be hold a brat fry from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Walmart, 920 Highway 12, Baraboo. Hot dogs will also be sold. Proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit PHPs Adopt-A-Family Easter food drive, which provides a full Easter dinner to dozens of needy families in the Sauk County area.

The Reedsburg Public Library, 370 Vine St. in Reedsburg, will hold All Things Fly Fishing at 1 and 2 p.m. in the Community Room. John Beth, Trout Unlimited and Badger Fly Fishers will present the history of sport fly-fishing, explanations and examples of the evolution of the fly rod and fly tying demonstrations. Adults and elementary age children are welcome to attend. There is no cost and registration not required. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Sunday, March 13

North Freedom Methodist Church will hold a Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner from 4-7 p.m. at 301 E. Walnut St., North Freedom. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger for all you can eat.
Which one of these statements is true? Donald Trump is a racist, bigot, misogynist, buffoon and con artist who should never be seriously considered as a candidate for president? Or: Donald Trump is a serious candidate for president who could defy the odds and actually be elected 45th president of the United States?

The answer, of course, is that theyre both true. And therein lies both the fascination and the danger in this years presidential election. Its true that weve never seen a more personally disgusting candidate for president. But its also true, as members of his own party learned too late, that those Democrats who belittle his political appeal are making a big political mistake.

We all heard cocky Democrats chortling out loud on Super Tuesday, as The Donald chalked up another string of primary victories, making a total of 10 so far: Oh, boy, we cant wait. Donald Trumps our dream opponent. Democrats will flock to the polls to vote against him. Hell be the best get-out-the-vote motivator Democrats could ever want.

Not so fast. Havent they noticed? Yes, come November Trump may inspire Democrats to turn out to vote, but hes already inspired Republicans to turn out to vote, millions of them for the first time. In Massachusetts, Virginia and Tennessee, Republican voters have turned out in record-breaking numbers. In Nevada, Trumps vote alone surpassed the entire voter turnout in the 2012 election.

Yet in those same states, Democrats have turned out to vote in far fewer numbers. In Nevada, for example, where caucuses in 2008 attracted 120,000 Democrats, only 80,000 bothered to show up this year. And in Virginia, Democratic turnout was down an average 30 percent. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders have turned voters on or out the way Donald Trump has.

Why? In part, because hes a reality TV star. For The Donalds voters, celebrity-worship trumps public policy. They dont care what he says or stands for. Indeed, as weve seen, theres nothing he could say that will turn his followers away. He could muse about dating his own daughter, brag about his extramarital affairs, belittle women as bimbos, denounce all Muslims as terrorists and declare war on all Latinos. He could even pretend to know nothing about the KKK and refuse to repudiate the support of David Duke. He is, as Mitt Romney describes him, a fraud, a con man and a flake. Yet Trumps fans will still vote for him  because hes famous.

But theres more to it, of course. Trumps appeal is also based on the fact that he  alone among Republican candidates  has tapped into the sense of alienation that millions of Americans feel toward the political establishment. People look at Washington and see a deck stacked against them and politicians getting paid a lot of money for doing nothing. Meanwhile, American jobs disappear to Mexico or Asia, wages are frozen where they were 20 years ago, everything from college to cabbage is more expensive, most of the newfound wealth they hear about goes to the people at the very top, and they have less money in their pocket to spend. Along comes a bombastic billionaire, apparently beholden to no one, who promises to upend the establishment and fight for them. Bingo. Political gold.

Among Democrats, Bernie Sanders speaks to the same frustration with politics as usual. The only difference is that he offers substantive ideas for change, while Trump offers them nothing. And, even though Sanders has inspired millions of young people to get involved in politics for the first time, he hasnt done so to the same degree as Donald Trump.

All of which adds up to: Democrats should be spending less time popping champagne corks at the prospect of running against Donald Trump, and more time figuring out how to beat him. As John Nichols warns in The Nation, Trumps combination of winning message and popular appeal could cause trouble in November, especially in industrial swing states where Trumps promise to protect jobs and change trade policies could resonate among blue-collar workers.

We may be dismayed that Donald Trump has been so successful in the primaries, and may actually be the GOP nominee.

But unless Democrats take him seriously and, unlike his Republican opponents, unmask and destroy him early, we may someday be dismayed to see him take the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States.
Break-in  Friday at 8:28 a.m., a 42-year-old woman told police that items were stolen from in her residence in the 300 block of DeClark Street.

Theft  Friday at 2:08 p.m., a 22-year-old woman reported that her debit card was stolen at Tower Lanes, 1660 N. Spring St.

Vandalism  Friday at 2:20 p.m., someone at Supercuts, 106 Frances Lane, told police there was a crack in the glass door and damage at the hinge.

Retail theft  Friday at 7:11 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was cited with retail theft while at Walmart Supercenter, 120 Frances Lane.

Suspicious  Friday at 8:03 p.m., a woman in the 800 block of South Lincoln Avenue reported that she woke up from a nap and window blinds were shut, the apartment door was open and she could smell cologne. She added that nothing was missing.

Accident  Friday at 8:38 p.m., there was a vehicle accident involving an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy near Beaver Dam High School, 500 Gould St.

Intoxicated person  Saturday at 2:41 a.m., a 60-year-old man was cited and arrested near the intersection of Knaup Drive and Spring Street for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Disorderly conduct  Saturday at 2:07 p.m., a mother was having an argument with her son in the 500 block of North Spring Street. They were separated for the night.

Accident  Saturday at 3:42 p.m., a woman and a man were involved in a vehicle accident near Walmart Supercenter, 120 Frances Lane. The woman was cited with operating without a license and a child safety seat violation.

Retail theft  Saturday at 3:45 p.m., someone at Walmart Supercenter, 120 Frances Lane, told police there was a retail theft in progress. The man fled on foot. The property was later recovered.

Intoxicated person  Saturday at 10:36 p.m., someone at Charlie Browns, 1019 N. Spring St., told police that a man was refusing to leave. The 54-year-old man was removed without incident.

Disorderly conduct  Sunday at 1:04 a.m., a woman and a man were taken into custody in the 200 block of Front Street.
Look only to your backyard to see the impact of regional college campuses, the responsibilities for which should rest in the hands of local campus leaders, Madison Area Technical Colleges president said on a recent visit to Portage.

Jack Daniels and MATCs board of trustees held their regular board meeting and a community reception Wednesday at MATC-Portage, one of four regional campuses Daniels said is taking on more authority to do what they need to do.

Its my perspective that we have regional centers, and they know best about what happens in those regions, said Daniels, whose efforts to boost regional control began upon his hiring in 2013. Daniels has 18 years experience as president in two-year and community colleges, having previously served as president of Los Angeles Community College District.

Prior to his tenure, Daniels said, most decisions for regional campuses were made in Madison. But regional campus leaders taking on administrative responsibilities, including budgeting, is beneficial to everyone involved because of their strong connection to area needs.

Other MATC regional campuses include Watertown, Reedsburg and Fort Atkinson.

MATC-Portage, Daniels said, is unique for its partnership with the Portage Business Enterprise Center, where students can participate in advanced manufacturing training, a promising development that speaks to the area.

Thats huge for this area because of the manufacturing (here). They gain base skills, Daniels said of workforce training at PBEC, provided for existing employees of businesses as well as high school students enrolled in middle-college programs.

The Portage campus is also strong for its Certified Nursing Assistant training program, important for a career path that very often results in a livable wage, Daniels said.

Students are family

MATC-Portage, established in 1978, serves about 560 students, said Linda Nellen, Portage campus manager. The campus has three full-time faculty members, with the rest serving part-time.

Surprises for residents and nonresidents alike, she said, most often are the result of the rather inconspicuous location of the campus on Collins Street.

I think there are people who dont even know where were at, Nellen said. Were kind of in a residential area.

Its close-knit. Our students are our family.

The campus is known for its smaller class sizes, convenient parking and more personal service, she said. MATC-Portage offers a number of business programs like business management, HR management and accounting, and the campus recently expanded its criminal justice program to include a second year so students dont have to travel to Madison to finish the program.

The biggest population of students comes from Portage, she said, but the campus population is diverse.

We get a lot of Westfield, Montello, Baraboo, but even as far south as Waunakee, Nellen said.

The Portage campus also offers programs to inmates of Columbia Correctional Institution and Oakhill Correction Institution.

No major expansions are planned for the Portage campus, Daniels said, but MATC is developing an analysis program that will give them a better idea of area needs.

Here to stay

Regional campuses face no threats, Daniels said. Obstacles in the form of sustainable funding occur for everyone, but community colleges have fared well in recent state budgets.

Currently, about 48 percent of MATC funds come from the state, while about 30 percent come from tuition and fees and about 22 percent from property taxes. Two years ago, before state efforts to reduce property taxes, funds from the state were only about 15 percent, Daniels said.

More money from the state, Daniels added, is directly related to MATCs high placement rates for graduates: About 92 percent of students who complete their degrees or certificates find employment.

Student debt

College affordability issues in the U.S. are looming, Daniels said, noting community college students will often end up with $9,000 in debt and face even more debt after they transfer to a four-year university.

MATC is developing a program called Madison Promise, which seeks to help individuals who have trouble paying tuition  a program that, using private donors, would fill the gap between financial aid and tuition costs, Daniels said.

Madison Promise could be implemented as soon as the fall of 2017.

Our average age is 27, and they have families, housing issues, and they need to pay for transportation  all of the basic necessities you need to sustain yourself, Daniels said of students financial struggles. So its difficult for them to get ahead when they have to pay tuition, too.

Progress in such areas, he added, along with ongoing efforts to increase regional control, has put MATC in a fairly good position for 2016 and beyond.

Its about innovation, the investment we make in students, Daniels said of the future. Im always excited about students being successful and meeting their goals.

I always say the best day of the year is graduation.
BARABOO  Jeff Nania thought he was going to a party to kick off the annual Aldo Leopold Weekend.

He was. But he didnt know hed be the guest of honor.

None of the approximately 60 people gathered Friday evening at the Aldo Leopold Center near Baraboo let it slip, during the conversations around the fireplace, that Nania was about to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Wisconsin Outdoor News for his work with outdoor education and resource conservation.

In fact, Nania arrived at the same moment as Dean Bortz, editor of Wisconsin Outdoor News, and introduced Bortz to Buddy Huffaker, executive director of the Leopold Center.

Huffaker didnt spoil the surprise, but he knew about the honor Nania was about to receive, and why.

A few minutes after their arrival, Bortz announced that he was presenting Nania with a plaque to honor his work  and Nania, standing amid the crowd, silently dropped his jaw in surprise.

Nania has a long list of contributions to natural resources conservation, according to Huffaker, including:

Spearheading the creation of Portages River Crossing Environmental Charter School, a hands-on environment-centered school for seventh- and eighth-graders, which operated in the Portage Community School District from 2002 through 2013. Nania was also the schools lead field guide. (River Crossing was discontinued in 2013 due to budget constraints.)

Offering outdoor education to people of all ages through the Leopold Center.

Serving as executive director of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, and in that capacity working to restore thousands of acres of wetlands  for which he won the 2007 National Wetlands Award for Conservation and Restoration.

Teaching farmers how to create habitat for wildlife on the land that they dont use for crop or livestock production.

They dont give this award all the time, Huffaker said of the Wisconsin Outdoor News. Its really reserved for people who have made an indelible mark in conservation.

The 12th Leopold Weekend, which began Friday, featured a variety of activities across the state designed to bring communities together to foster Aldo Leopolds land ethic.

In the foreword to A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold expressed his land ethic in this way: Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher standard of living is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.

Nania told a story about an epiphany he experienced that strengthened his passion for hands-on outdoor experience for young people.

Many years ago, he said, he was taking a group of urban children on an arboretum tour, in which the tour guide repeatedly admonished the curious youngsters to stay on the trail.

Nania said he didnt want kids to stay on the trail when theyre learning firsthand about the outdoors.

I wanted them to get wet and muddy and play in the flowers, he said.

Thats why hands-on outdoor experiences were the focus of the River Crossing experience.

It gave kids who may not have been conventional learners a chance to learn, a chance to be effective, Nania said. It was exactly what these kids were looking for.

Impact on students

Mike Kvalo of Portage said his son, Matthew, was in the first River Crossing class in the 2002-03 school year.

At a time in life that is often challenging for children  the middle school years, when many of them are either on the cusp or in the throes of puberty  teachers like Nania made a difference, he said.

Jeff made an impact on kids that is going to last a lifetime, Kvalo said.

One of those kids is Allison Foster of Portage, a River Crossing alumnus who is now a biology student at Ripon College.

She was at the Leopold Center to see Nania get his award largely because of her memories of being a River Crossing student from 2009 through 2011.

Take, for example, the winter field days, in which pupils would walk on the frozen surfaces of a marsh to look inside wood duck boxes, to find clutches of unhatched eggs or evidence of predator activity.

With Jeff, it was always an adventure, she said. And it was always a good day.
Frederick Kingsland

Frederick Fred Kingsland, 87, passed away Wednesday March 2, 2016, at the Veterans Home in King.

Fred was born Oct. 4, 1928, in Orchard Park, New York, to Frederick (Sr.) and Helen Kingsland. He was raised in the Buffalo, New York, area, leaving at the young age of 15 when he joined the Merchant Marine in support of World War II. After the war he spent some time with the U.S. Navy. After his Navy tour he worked in several shipyards becoming certified as a master welder.

In the early 1960s he joined the U. S. Coast Guard, rising through the ranks to become a damage controlman chief petty officer.

He then left the Coast Guard to work at the federal prison in Oxford, while his wife Mary ran the Coloma Liquor Store. While working at the prison Fred also joined the U.S. Army Reserve. When he finally retired from serving his country in the military services he did so at the rank of sargent first class.

His survivors include his loving wife of 61 years, Mary; and four children, Allen (Esmer) Kingsland of the Philippines, Michael Kingsland of Tulsa, Oklahoma, George (Rose) Kingsland of Pardeeville, and Maureen (Rick) Loster of St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Fred is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

A funerals service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Chapel at Olson Hall at the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King. The visiation will be from 12:30 p.m. until the time of the service Tuesday in the chapel.

Burial will be in the Central Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in King. The Maple Crest Funeral Home of Waupaca is assisting the family with arrangements.

The entire family would like to express their great appreciation to the staff at the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King for their outstanding care of their husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
The Department of Natural Resources is the one agency in Wisconsin tasked with protecting our air and water. So its alarming to learn that the DNR is on the verge of abdicating that responsibility in the name of making the state more business-friendly.

The DNR is closing in on a major reorganization that could send duties to other agencies and streamline regulatory work, including an experimental plan to allow some businesses to draft their own environmental permits, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Feb. 26.

Officials said the goal is to increase the DNRs efficiency. Its responsibilities range from management of hunting, fishing and state parks to regulating large-scale farms and keeping tabs on invasive species.

We cant nibble around the edges, Deputy Secretary Kurt Thiede said last month.We have to make strategic decisions about what we are going to continue to do, where we are going to focus and be brave enough to say we are going to give certain things up.

The Republican-led Legislature is no friend to the DNR. It has cut the agencys funding and advanced a series of measures to limit DNR powers in recent years.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, have grown more dissatisfied, pointing to the drop in enforcement activity, reductions in scientific staff and concerns that the DNR isnt doing enough on matters like groundwater protection, water pollution and oversight of large farms.

Thiede emphasized that environmental protections wont be weakened and the DNR would still have to approve permits. This isnt about changing the law, not following the law, he said.

Mr. Thiede, you dont have to change the law to satisfy certain constituencies. You can do that by becoming much less vigorous in enforcement. Or by signaling an appetite for deregulation by saying You tell us how much pollution is acceptable.

Is a business given the latitude to write its own environmental-permit language going to be more likely to relax pollution standards on itself, or less likely? We believe that wed hear from Corporation X that the existing standard for dumping waste into nearby streams and rivers is outdated.

Handing a fill-in-the-blank regulatory form over to a business surely will please that business, but its a disservice to everybody else.

DNR should be commended for their efforts to streamline the permitting process to get permits issued more quickly without changing environmental standards in any way, Lucas Vebber, director of environmental and energy policy for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the states largest business group, said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.

Except for the without changing environmental standards in any way part, we agree with the WMC spokesmans assessment of what the DNR is doing.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, a former homebuilder, recalled at one agency listening session how an employee told her that clean air and clean water, that those were our customers. And I said, Well, the last time I checked, they dont pay taxes and they dont sign our paychecks. 

Shes got us there. The air and the water do not pay taxes.

But taxpayers also need clean air and clean water. And they need the agency tasked with protection of our air and water to actually do its job.
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.




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Guests are asked to make a donation to local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, Shriners Hospital for Children, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, or another of their favorite local charities.

Celebrate IHOPs National Pancake Day on March 8 by visiting the restaurant for a free short stack of its buttermilk pancakes. Participating restaurants across the U.S. will be offering the deal from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. It should not be too difficult for pancake aficionados to find a deal, as there are over 1,600 IHOP restaurants around the world.

Pancakes with Purpose, the IHOP website announces. The restaurant has raised nearly $20 million for charity since it began the pancake national celebration in 2006. Tuesdays guests are asked to make a donation to local Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals, Shriners Hospital for Children, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, or another of their favorite local charities.

IHOP President Darren Rebelez said in a statement that Every pancake we give away has a purpose on National Pancake Day.

IHOP restaurants typically give away millions of free pancakes on National Pancake Day. According to the Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals website, 100 percent of the donations received go to local charities to provide critical care, life-saving procedures and vital equipment for sick and injured children.

Participation in Pancake Day has become international, as restaurants in Mexico, the Philippines and Canada are also participating to raise money for local charities.

IHOPs goal for the 2016 National Pancake Day event is to raise $3.5 million.
Brittany Pennington and Jonathan Howard

By: Chan Yuan

(Scroll down for video) A couple was arrested for exposing themselves in front of families who were ordering breakfast.

The couple of Kentucky, was charged of indecent exposure after police said that the two were caught having sex in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in broad daylight.

Brittany Pennington and Jonathan Howard, both 24, were arrested outside the Hardees restaurant in Harlan County.

Customers called police after seeing the couple having sex in their 1994 Ford Crown Victoria car.

The couples vehicle was parked next to the drive-thru line, and in full view of adults and children waiting to order their food.

The two who have four children, admitted to the lewd act, and said that it was a amistake.a

Pennington and Howard were both charged with indecent exposure, and were booked into the Harlan County Detention Center.
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
Wrexham Specialist School Wins International Award

This article is old - Published: Monday, Mar 7th, 2016

A specialist school in Wrexham has won a prestigious award in recognition of its international partnerships.

St. Christophers School, Wrexham has been awarded the British Councils prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom.

The International School Award is a badge of honour for schools that do outstanding work in international education, such as through links with partner schools overseas.

Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Councils work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens.

The award was presented at the Wales International School Award Ceremony at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 25th February 2016.

Director of British Council Wales, Jenny Scott, said: The International School Award encourages schools to make international links and promotes shared understanding between different cultures, particularly important in the modern world.

This is a great achievement for St. Christophers School and I know that it reflects a lot of hard work by the school staff.

St Christophers School has had many successful international school partnerships, a number of which are ongoing, including with the South African School, MC Kharbei School for the Deaf, and the Italian Business Studies School, ITC Ferdinando Galiani. Every class is involved in some sort of international project.

At the awards ceremony pupils took part in three workshops, trying their hand at Brazilian drumming, learning about Fairtrade and hearing from Antony Jinman about his adventures as a polar explorer.
Less than three weeks after announcing with considerable fanfare the withdrawal of Canadas CF-18 fighter jets from the Mideast war in Syria and Iraq, the Liberal government revealed February 25 that four of these aircraft will deploy directly to Romania for joint exercises with the NATO members air force.

One hundred Canadian military personnel will take part in the month-long training exercises from a Romanian air force base in Constanta. The deployment involves the Royal Canadian Air Forces 2 Wing, an air expeditionary force tasked with being ready for rapid deployment in Canada or anywhere around the world.

While not formally being conducted through NATO, exercise Resilient Resolve is nonetheless an important part of the alliances military build-up throughout Eastern Europe aimed at encircling and isolating Russia. Romania is one of the six Eastern European countries where NATO agreed to establish forward command bases in the wake of the Ukraine crisis in 2014bases due to become operational in the early part of this year.

Canadian CF-18s operated in the country for the first time during the summer of 2014, when six jets took part in exercises at Campia Turzii . The three-month-long exercise was the first overseas mission involving the newly-created 2 Wing . Making clear the offensive purpose of 2 Wing, Lt.-Col. Luc Girouard told Canwest foreign affairs correspondent Mathew Fisher at the time, We learned our lessons from Haiti, Aviano and Libya. We need to deploy quickly and we need people with experience to do it. That is our raison detre. It is a concept that has been developed over the years.

NATO, led above all by the United States, is preparing to expand its presence in the region. The Canadian deployment took place after last months announcement by the Pentagon that it is increasing its military budget for Europe four-fold. An additional three brigades are to be deployed, mainly in Eastern Europe, with the prospect that up to 1,000 soldiers could conduct exercises in Romania from 2017.

Later in February, a NATO defence ministers summit in Brussels announced the creation of a 40,000-strong rapid response force capable of being deployed on the alliances eastern flank.

In close collaboration with Washington, Canada has significantly increased its military presence in Eastern Europe. Around 200 Canadian soldiers are currently deployed in western Ukraine, training Ukrainian Army and National Guard units alongside US forces, and a further 250 are at a NATO facility in Poland. A Canada warship, the HMCS Fredericton, is part of the NATO intervention in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. Under the pretext of combatting smugglers and turning back refugees, this naval operation is creating the conditions for NATOs direct intervention into the Syrian war.

The fighter jet deployment once again makes clear that the Liberals anti-war stance in last years election campaign was a cynical fraud. The jets withdrawal from the bombing of Iraq and Syria was a tactical repositioning of Canadian forces, so as to enable the Trudeau government to otherwise expand Canadas participation in the US-led war in the Middle East, while also bolstering US-NATO pressure on Russia.

Furthermore, the retention of the fighter jets in active service in Europe could enable them to rapidly deploy elsewhere, such as in Libya. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and leading military personnel have stated that Canada is prepared to take part in a US-led intervention aimed at combatting terrorism in Libya which was thrown into chaos by the 2011 NATO air-war which, in league with Islamist forces, overthrew the Gaddafi regime.

Canadas Liberal government has made clear that it is no less determined than its Conservative predecessor to pursue an aggressive course towards Russia. In January, Foreign Minister Stephane Dion was criticized by the Conservative opposition in parliament when he announced Ottawa was reestablishing high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow. But in a one-day visit to Kiev at the start of February, he explicitly stated that any talks with the Kremlin would see Ottawa take a hard line. The Canadian government intends to speak clearly, bluntly and directly to Russia about its unacceptable actions in Ukraine, a statement from Dions department declared.

Ottawa has already loaned the pro-western regime in Kiev $400 million, provided non-lethal aid to its armed forces, and signed a free trade agreement which is awaiting implementation. In addition, volunteer organizations established by Ukrainian-Canadians with ties to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and through the UCC to the Canadian government have worked closely with ultra-nationalist groups in Ukraine to supply arms and military equipment to the front lines of the Ukrainian civil war.

The Trudeau government is also keen to step up pressure on Russia in the Arctic. The Canadian Press reported late last month that the Department of National Defence is shopping for drones and expects to have several options to choose from by April. A DND spokesman noted that a major task of the drones would be surveillance patrols of Canadas coast in the Arctic, where successive governments have sought to assert Canadian sovereignty against counter-claims from, among others, Russia. Ottawa also announced last month the expansion of its military base at Resolute Bay in Nunavut so that it can accommodate soldiers all year round, and conducted two weeks of Arctic exercises involving reservists. NORAD Commander Admiral Bill Gortney recently warned that Russias intervention in Syria had security implications for the Arctic region.

The RCAF is demanding that the drones eventually purchased be capable of using lethal force. In a review of the proposal to purchase drones from June 2013 and recently accessed by the Canadian Press under freedom of information, the RCAF said they want the remote-controlled aircraft to be capable of carrying and employing precision-guided munitions.

The Liberal government is preparing to conduct a defence review in which Russia will feature as one of its main opponents. A report from the influential Conference of Defence Associations aimed at influencing the parameters and outcome of this review urged the government to increase its participation in NATOs operation Reassurance in Eastern and Central Europe, including by considering joining the alliances AWACS air surveillance program. It also called for Canada to strengthen its deterrence activities towards Russia through participation in NATOs rapid reaction force in Eastern Europe and the stepping up of Canadas military engagement in the Arctic.

Romania is an important strategic ally in the US-led confrontation with Russia. As well as being Ukraines southern neighbour, it shares a border with Moldova, which the European Union is anxious to bring under its economic and strategic dominance. Russian peacekeeping troops are stationed in Moldovas eastern breakaway province of Transnistria, a region which could easily become the next flashpoint between Moscow and NATO. At its 2014 Wales summit, NATO adopted a policy aimed at assisting Moldova with capacity-building in its defence sector so as to modernize its armed forces and make them interoperable with NATO members. A recent analysis by the Stratfor website, which enjoys close ties to US intelligence, claimed that Moldova could become Putins next target and urged that measures be taken, including possibly of armed conflict, to stop Russia.

The Canadian governments press release announcing the CF-18 Romanian deployment stated that the exercises are aimed at strengthening mutual confidence in using common NATO procedures. In this regard, it could be merely a foretaste of what is to come. Romania is due in September to receive a delivery of a first batch of F-16 fighter jets refitted by the US contractor Lockheed Martin. Last month, its defence minister announced plans to purchase 12 additional F-16 fighters next year.

Romania will also reportedly push for the creation of a permanent Black Sea flotilla at NATOs upcoming summit in Warsaw later this year. NATO has previously sent warships into the Black Sea for exercises on an ad hoc basis. Under the Montreux Convention, ships from countries not bordering the Black Sea are only able to remain there for 21 days, meaning that a permanent rotating system would have to be created if Bucharests proposal were to be adopted.
The annual National Peoples Congress (NPC) opened in Beijing on Saturday amid growing signs of marked slowdown in the Chinese economy. The event, which runs for more than a week and is expected to rubberstamp the five-year plan for 2016-2020, is a test for President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, who were installed as the new leadership in late 2012.

Li opened the Congress with his annual work report focussed on the economy which grew by just 6.9 percent last year. He spoke of the extremely complicated and challenging international environment and warned that deep-seated domestic problems were becoming prominent and downward pressure on the economy was mounting. Compared to an average growth rate of 7.8 percent for the previous five years, Li foreshadowed an average rate of 6.5 percent over the next five-year plan.

In the aftermath of the 200809 global financial crisis, the Chinese government only maintained relatively high levels of economic growth through a massive stimulus package and a flood of cheap credit which fuelled a frenzy of speculation in property and shares. It had counted on a global recovery to revive Chinas export-fuelled growth, and now, amid stagnation in the international economy, confronts growing levels of debt, particularly at the local government level, and huge overcapacities in basic industry such as steel and coal.

The Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) only plan is to further open the Chinese economy for private investment, both foreign and domestic, in the hope that it will drive economic growth. Lis speech continued to make token references to socialism with Chinese characteristics but, as all of the nearly 3,000 delegates from the CCP bureaucracy, the military and private business understood, the slogan has simply been code for the policies of capitalism restoration over the past four decades.

The CCP in no way represents the interests of the working class or the rural poor but rather those of the tiny layer of ultra-rich billionaires spawned by capitalist restoration. At least 114 of the NPC delegates are on the Hurun list of Chinas richest people. According to Associated Press report, the 10 wealthiest delegates to the Congress are worth a staggering total of $184 billion.

Not only are business entrepreneurs present, but they are increasingly making their voice felt. Prior to last years NPC, the founder of the IT company Tencent, Pony Ma, who has an estimated fortune of $18.8 billion, wrote an open letter demanding a national strategy for advancing the digitalisation of the economy. In last years report, Premier Li announced the launch of an Internet Plus plan. Ma and other billionaires fund their own private think tanks and are increasingly influential in formulating government plans.

In his work plan, Li outlined a number of pro-market policies for 2016 that will benefit the wealthy elite at the expense of the working class, and widen the social gulf between rich and poor.

Li called for the elimination of overcapacity in steel, coal and other industries by strictly controlling any expansion of production capacity and shutting down outdated facilities. He said that the issue of zombie enterprisesthose kept afloat by state loanshad to be addressed proactively yet prudently through mergers, reorganisations, debt restructurings and bankruptcy liquidations.

Last Monday, employment minister Yin Weimin announced plans to destroy 1.8 million jobs in the steel and coal industries alone. Other estimates suggested that as many as 6 million could go across basic industries including cement, plate glass and aluminium. Such measures will hit the countrys industrial heartland the hardest such as the already economic depressed areas of the northeast where growth rates are negative.

Li pledged to press ahead with the restructuring, merger and corporatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). He promised, in particular, to more quickly relieve SOEs of their obligations to operate social programsthat is, abolish the remnants of the so-called iron rice bowl under which state corporations were responsible for the welfare of their employees. At the same time, Li declared that the government would energise the non-public sector ensuring equal treatment with SOEs on every level from financing and legal protections to land availability.

Li hyped up the prospects of technological innovation, promising every assistance to private entrepreneurs, while encouraging the so-called transition from an export-driven economy based on manufacturing, to one focussed domestic consumption and services. While expressing concern about the welfare of the population, his promises to expand health care and education in reality are aimed at encouraging private hospitals and educational institutions and open up new arenas for profiteering.

Lis report is replete with promises to further modernise the financial sector; tax policy through the expansion of the indirect value added tax; the legal system by guaranteeing private property rights; and monetary policy by improving the market-based mechanism for setting the RMB [renminbi or yuan] exchange rate.

International financial commentators have no disagreement in general terms with any of these measures, but remain sceptical as to whether the policies will be carried out.

The Financial Times, for instance, noted that many international economists believed that the projected growth rate for this yearbetween 6.5 to 7 percentwas too high. Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics warned: The growth targets are ambitious and efforts to meet them may detract from [pro-market] reform. The caveat that [trimming overcapacity] will be done proactively, yet prudently confirms our expectations that the efforts will be relatively timid.

The Chinese leadership is deeply fearful that mass layoffs in basic industry combined with falling growth rates will lead to a sharp rise in unemployment and spark widespread social unrest. Official statistics on strikes and workers protests are few and far between, but the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin recorded 2,774 disputes for 2015 from media reports and its own sources, double the figure for 2014.

The actual figure is far higher. Last November, employment minister Yin Weimin cited 11,007 incidents involving unpaid wagesthe most frequent cause of disputesin the first nine months of 2015, a 34 percent increase from a year earlier. A steep rise in layoffs and joblessness, which Li declared would be kept below 4.5 percent, could trigger a broader strike movement.

The Chinese regime is treading a fine line. As the global economic crisis deepens and plans to boost growth stall, the CCP, like capitalist governments around the world, will endeavour to impose even greater burdens on the working class.
Last Monday, the US State Department published the last batch of declassified emails from a private, unsecured server used by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state. This latest release draws to a close a year-long review by US intelligence agencies of 52,000 pages of Clinton emails, ostensibly motivated by concerns over possible leaks of classified material.

To date, more than 30,000 emails dating from Clintons four-year tenure as secretary of state have been released to the public. Clinton played a central role in the prosecution of aggressive wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Libya as well as the carrying out of drone assassinations and other illegal actions in a number of additional countries, including Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Yet in its extensive reporting of the email scandal, the American media has virtually ignored the actual content of these emails, which contain a wealth of information about the day-to-day functioning of the Clinton State Department.

A review of even a small sampling of the emails, which are available on the State Departments web site, reveals the reason why: the emails are a damning indictment of the criminal activities of not only Hillary Clinton herself, but the entire imperialist state apparatus, with the corporate-controlled media in tow. The emails could easily serve as evidence in future war crimes trials of Clinton and other top US officials.

One particularly revealing email from 2010, cited by the Intercept web site but not picked up by the national media, recounts the experiences of former ambassador Joseph Wilson (whose CIA agent wife Valerie Plame was outed by the Bush administration in retaliation for his criticisms of the war in Iraq) during a recent trip to Iraq in his capacity as an executive for a US engineering firm. The Obama administration, elected by exploiting mass anti-war sentiment, continued the US occupation of Iraq for three years during Obamas first term in office, when Clinton was secretary of state, prolonging a conflict that claimed more than 1 million lives. Since then, US troops have returned to Iraq, ostensibly to fight ISIS, as part of the US war for regime-change in neighboring Syria.

Wilsons email begins: My trip to Baghdad (September 6-11) has left me slack jawed. I have struggled to find the correct historical analogy to describe a vibrant, historically important Middle Eastern city being slowly bled to death. Berlin and Dresden in World War II were devastated, but they and their populations were not subjected to seven years of occupation.

Describing the rampant racism and sadism among US occupation troops, Wilson writes, Shirts with mushroom clouds [for sale at a gift shop on a US military base at the Baghdad airport] conveyed the Baghdad weather as 32,000 degrees and partly cloudy. Others referred to Arabs as camel jockeys and those were the least offensive The service people dont see themselves there to bring peace, light, joy or even democracy to Iraq. They are there to kill the camel jockeys.

Hundreds more emails deal with the US-led proxy war in Libya, in which Clinton played a leading role. As a recent series of articles in the New York Times confirmed, Clinton was the leading advocate in the White House for the clandestine arming of rebel militias comprised largely of Islamic fundamentalists, which comprised the main fighting force against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

One email from February 2011, written by a veteran diplomat before the launching of the US-NATO war that ended with the murder of Gaddafi, lays out proposals for the construction of a future post-Gaddafi political order in Libya. The memo recommends the use of the United Nations to lend political legitimacy to the imperialist carve-up of the country.

A UN hat for multinational/international assistance efforts could be effective, the author states bluntly. However, the extensive involvement of Italy, whose participation in the war marked a return to the scene of its bloody colonial occupation, should, the author recommends, be kept relatively low-profile. Another email chain discusses how to disburse the tens of billions of dollars of frozen Libyan assets stolen by the imperialist powers during the regime-change operation.

Many other emails concern the organization and coordination of the Obama administration's drone assassination program, which has killed thousands in Afghanistan and Pakistan alone. Twenty-two of the emails on Mrs. Clintons server have now been classified as top secret at the demand of the CIA because they discuss the program to hunt and kill terrorist suspects using drone strikes, as well as other intelligence operations and sources, the New York Times noted two weeks ago, prior to the latest release. The emails [also] contain direct and indirect references to secret programs, the newspaper added obliquely.

One such secret program was the bribing of high-ranking officials in the Afghan government by the CIA. [The US embassy in Afghanistan's] line has been and will be the standard approach--that we refrain from comment on stories discussing intelligence matters, one embassy official writes in a 2010 email, in response to an impending New York Times story revealing that Muhammad Zia Salehi, head of the Afghan National Security Council, was on the CIA payroll. Later reports by the Times revealed that former President Hamid Karzai for years received shopping bags full of cash from the CIA on a regular basis.

Dozens of emails document the collusion between the corporate-controlled media and the State Department in containing the fallout from the release of US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks. In one 2010 exchange, Washington Post writer Craig Whitlock reaches out to the State Department to request a mechanism to receive [the] State [Department's] input before running a series of articles based on cables revealing the existence of a secret US drone base in the Seychelles Islands, off the coast of Somalia.

The exchange demonstrates that the major newspapers, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, provided the State Department with advance printed copies of every cable about which they planned to write, along with drafts to the White House, to be redacted or censored at their discretion. In a conversation between Whitlocks State Department handlers, they note approvingly that the practice was extremely helpful in preparing our redaction requests, as well as anticipating what damage control wed need to do in diplomatic channels. Another email describes an editorial by the Washington Post calling for the prosecution of Wikileaks editor Julian Assange and Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning as helpful, adding, Well try and get pickup in [the] international media.

Clinton also received hundreds of emails via her private server from Sidney Blumenthal, a former advisor in the Bill Clinton administration, who served as the head of Hillarys 2008 presidential campaign. Blumenthal, then an employee of the Clinton Family Foundation, functioned as a de facto backchannel intelligence gatherer and advisor for Clinton, despite not officially being a member of her staff. It was Blumenthals 2015 testimony to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, the Republican-controlled body set up for the purpose of torpedoing the likely presidential run of Clinton, which revealed the existence of Clintons private email server.

Blumenthal sent Clinton a wide array of intelligence reports from foreign countries targeted by US imperialism. In one email, he passes on concerns that Islamist militias in Libya might retaliate against the assassination of Osama bin Laden, using weapons obtained from the United States. In another, he recounts the furtive dealings between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian military to smother the Egyptian revolution, writing that the two will continue to work together secretly in an effort to establish a stable government and create a secure environment throughout the country for investment.

In another email, Blumenthal advises Clinton on how to orchestrate the cover-up of the circumstances surrounding the assassination of bin Laden in a cross-border raid into Pakistan by US Special Forces. As a report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh later made clear, the official version of bin Ladens death was a collection of lies from start to finish.

Show [the pictures of bin Ladens body] to members of Congress in a special secure room, something like when members were permitted to view Abu Ghraib pictures, Blumenthal writes. Each of them will emerge speaking to the national and local press on what they have seen Having members of Congress testify to the reality of the photos will suppress any potential Deather movement, that the administration has either fabricated the event or suppressed some aspect of it.

What the ultimate outcome of the Clinton email scandal will be is not yet clear. An FBI criminal investigation into the emails is ongoing, with signs that the case might be headed to a grand jury. On Wednesday, a former employee of Clintons 2008 presidential campaign, Bryan Pagliano, who set up the private email server in Clintons home, was granted immunity by federal investigators as part of the investigation.
A document leaked last month revealed that the Australian government is preparing an extensive build-up of spying and anti-democratic measures aimed against immigrants from working class backgrounds. While few details were contained in the document, it sets out what can only be described as a police-state framework of mass surveillance.

Once again, the government is exploiting escalating scare campaigns globally and in Australia about terrorism to overturn fundamental legal and democratic rights. It is bringing forward a blueprint for continuous monitoring of immigrants and more severe citizenship tests to block access to the basic democratic rights of permanent residence and citizenship.

The document, obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Lateline program, reports a series of recommendations to the national security committee of cabinet following a meeting last November. The final plan is due to be unveiled by Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton in the first half of this year.

One key recommendation is to change the visa system in order to remove direct access to permanent residence and better align visa and citizenship decision-making with national security and community protection outcomes.

This proposal would further strip working class immigrants of the right to become citizens. Under the Australian Citizenship Act, people seeking citizenship must have lived in the country for four years and have had permanent residency for at least 12 months.

The government has already removed access to citizenship for any refugees who succeed in reaching Australia. They are granted only Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs), which deny them permanent residency, and also bar them from bringing their family members, even their spouses and children, to Australia.

The leaked recommendations indicate an expansion of this draconian regime to any refugees selected by the government from overseas or those granted humanitarian visas to enter Australia, and possibly to wider layers of immigrants.

The document also calls for an enforceable integration framework by revamping the Citizenship Test and Citizenship Pledge to strengthen accountability for commitments made at Citizenship conferral. These measures are designed to further restrict access to citizenship and justify new powers to revoke citizenships, thus stripping individuals of fundamental democratic rights of residence, voting and access to health, education and welfare services.

Following the still-unexplained 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, the Howard Liberal-National government, supported by the Labor Party, imposed a new citizenship test. It forced applicants to answer 30 written questions, all in English, on Australian values, history and society.

As well as requiring people to identify with values defined by the government, the test was designed to discriminate against non-English speaking migrants and poorer immigrants who could not afford thousands of dollars for English lessons.

The legislation gave the government enhanced powers to deny citizenship, and basic democratic rights that come with it, to anyone who was regarded as being not of good character or who received an adverse security assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the domestic spy agency. This gave governments and ASIO wide scope to bar citizenship to anyone regarded as a political threat to the ruling establishment.

These mechanisms were taken further when the Australian Citizenship (Allegiance to Australia) Act was introduced last December, again with bipartisan support. This legislation hands the government the power to strip citizenship from any dual citizen by ministerial decree on the basis of allegations of involvement in terrorism, fighting for a foreign force or other offences.

The leaked document proposes stricter security checks on the intake of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees that the government promised last September as millions of people fled the devastating wars instigated by the US and its allies, including Australia, in the Middle East. The governments commitment was only made reluctantly, amid an outpouring of public support for the refugees.

According to the document, the security checks must exceed those put in place by European countries to manage the irregular movement of people across continental Europe. The screening regime imposed by the government is already so severe that only 26 Syrian refugees had been settled in Australia by last month.

The document recommends that these additional screening criteria be applied to the entire Humanitarian Program, thus extending the assessments conducted by ASIO to every person seeking a humanitarian visa.

Going further, the document proposes a visa risk assessment tool that establishes an intelligence-led threat identification and risk profiling capability incorporating immigration as well as national security and criminality risk for visa applicants.

This would require enhanced access, use and protection of sensitive information to strengthen intelligence-led, risk-based decision making across the continuum, from pre-visa stage through to post-citizenship conferral. This proposal is tantamount to a monitoring system for all visa holders for their entire lives, even after they become citizens.

The pretext for this surveillance is the threat of terrorism and Australias potential exposure to the risks posed by extremism and radicalisation of migrants, including humanitarian entrants. The document cites last years terrorist attacks in Paris and social unrest in Cologneboth highly dubious events that have been seized upon by media outlets and governments around the world to ramp up police powers and anti-refugee xenophobia.

Likewise, the document invokes two equally doubtful events in Australiathe 2014 Sydney cafe siege and the police killing of Abdul Numan Haider, an Afghani teenager, in Melbourne, Victoriato justify placing all immigrant families under surveillance.

Without providing details, the document advocates measures that enhance social cohesion to reduce the risk of radicalisation. It refers to an extremist landscape in Australia that has been significantly influenced by our refugee intake and subsequent related migration from relatives and spouses (chain migration). In other government documents, references to radicalisation and extremism have gone far beyond terrorism to include left-wing, environmental and anti-capitalist activism.

In a particularly inflammatory and xenophobic section, the document states: The most prominent ethnic group amongst Australian Sunni extremists are the Lebanese. It asserts that the majority of these extremist cohorts were from the refugee intake during the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war as well as their extended families and Australia-born descendants.

As well as pointing to ethnic and religious profiling, the document calls for the tighter selection of immigrants on an economic basisthat is, on their capacity to be profitably exploited by employers and the corporate elite more generally.

In the name of social cohesion the document disparages family reunion immigration and claims better integration by Skill stream migrants who are better equipped with the three Es: English language proficiency, education and employment.

Once it was leaked, Immigration Minister Dutton denied seeing the cabinet document. Nevertheless, he confirmed its thrust. He insisted that the government would be tough in terms of the screening processes because this is a very serious time for our country, for Western democracies ... people will pretend to be refugees when theyre not.

Labor leader Bill Shorten said nothing about the content of the document, instead criticising the government as disturbingly leak-prone on national security. Labors shadow immigration minister Richard Marles echoed Shortens comments, while saying the document verges dangerously down the path of putting in place a discriminatory immigration policy.

In truth, the documents recommendations are completely in line with the regressive agenda pioneered by the Labor Party, which first introduced the mandatory detention of refugees in 1992 and reopened the offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island in 2012. Labor has also voted for the barrage of anti-terrorism and citizenship legislation, overturning basic democratic rights.
Last Thursday, a 36-year-old-man named Travis Boyd Bradley was shot and killed outside of Baltimore, Maryland by Harford County Sheriff deputies. Bradley is the fourth person to be killed by US police forces this month.

Bradley was suffering from PTSD and was a military veteran. According to his ex-wifes sister, Nicole Heider, Bradley had struggled with alcohol and the death of a good friend who died while deployed to Iraq. She told the Baltimore Sun, He has been deemed not deployable because of his PTSD.  He had been in programs before.

It seems that Bradley tried to take his own life by provoking the police. Police were alerted to Bradleys intention by his girlfriend, who warned them that he was suffering from PTSD and was possibly armed with a handgun.

Bradley fired two rounds of an assault rifle outside of his house, after police came and cordoned off the area. Later, according to police, Bradley came out of the house and presented himself in a threatening manner, gave indication he was armed. The police immediately shot and killed him; however, he was, in fact, not armed at this time.

Bradley has two children, both of whom now live with his ex-wife. The anniversary of the death of his good friend was this week; this may have played a role in his suicidal grief and despair. According to Heider, Bradley was on the phone with his ex-wife during the standoff, going on about his friend  telling her he just wanted to die.

Heider told the Sun, I just feel like our government has abandoned so many of their veterans. I think this is a result of that.

Police also killed a 39-year-old man on March 1 in Palm Bay, Florida. The man, Dimitri Corcino, had threatened a construction crew around 9:30 am because of the loud noises coming from a house renovation they were doing.

Later, as Corcino left his house, police shot him because he was holding a pistol in a threatening manner. The police chief, Mark Renkens, stated, At that point the officer felt he had no choice but to fire his weapon. The police also suggested he may have been intoxicated.

In Euless, Texas, police shot and killed a 22-year old methamphetamine addict last Tuesday. Jorge Gonzales was killed by police after having shot and killed an officer. Gonzaless family blamed the police for releasing him from jail, knowing that he was still a methamphetamine addict. Gonzaless 17-year-old sister, Jennifer, told the Dallas News, My brother didnt mean what he did, but that doesnt make it OK, because its not going to bring nobodys life back. My brother wasnt a bad person unless he was under the influence.

Also on Tuesday, police killed Mickey Sweatt, 37, after exchanging fire with him in Gautier, Mississippi. Police had been called to the scene on a domestic violence call.

Since the beginning of March these four people have been shot and killed by police in the United States. According to the Washington Post, 171 people have been shot dead this year. In 2015, 1,205 people were killed by police, according to killedbypolice.net.

In another development, on March 1 the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released a report describing when police officers fired their weapons in 2015. The report found that 37 percent of those shot at by police showed some kind of mental illness. This is an increase from 2014, when 19 percent of those shot showed signs of mental illness. Of the 38 people hit by LAPD gunfire in 2015, 22 were Hispanic, eight were African-American, five were white and two were Asian or Pacific Islander. The LAPD has shot 223 people between 2011 and 2015killing 97 of them.
Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the frontrunners for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations, suffered unexpected setbacks in state primaries and caucuses held Saturday and Sunday.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won three of the four Democratic contests, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio won three of the five Republican contests. Even in the two states Trump won, his vote was significantly below poll predictions, indicating that an anti-Trump campaign by Republican Party leaders was having some effect.

All three contests won by Sanders were caucuses where attendance broke previous records. He won in Kansas by 68 percent to 32 percent, in Nebraska by 57 percent to 43 percent and in Maine by a nearly two-to-one margin.

Clinton won the only primary, in Louisiana on Saturday, by a wide margin, 73 percent to 27 percent, thanks to her support among African-American voters, as has been the case throughout the early primary states. Turnout was heavy, with more people voting in the Democratic primary than in the Republican, in a state which Republican presidential candidates have carried in the past four elections.

On the Republican side, Cruz won two caucuses by wide margins, Kansas and Maine. The turnout in Kansas was over 73,000, more than triple the 20,000 who voted in a similar contest in 2008, and the Maine turnout showed a similar jump from 2012.

Trump won the Kentucky caucuses and the Louisiana primary narrowly, with Cruz finishing a close second. Press reports noted that Trump actually lost the Louisiana vote among those who went to the polls Saturday, but won the overall contest because of a huge lead among early voters, cast before last Thursdays Republican debate and the denunciation of Trump by the 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The result of the weekend voting may amount to no more than a pause for Clinton and Trump, who are still heavily favored in all seven primaries taking place over the next 10 days: Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday, March 8; and Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio on Tuesday, March 15.

The fascistic character of the Trump campaign is underscored by the candidates repeated calls for the use of torture methods such as waterboarding and much more in the so-called war on terrorism. Trump declared at the March 3 debate in Detroit that as president he would order the military to engage in torture, even after several retired officers said that soldiers should defy such orders as illegal.

On Friday, Trump abruptly reversed himself, saying that he would not order soldiers to do anything against the law. Within a few hours, however, he had reversed himself again, declaring that a President Trump would see to it that Congress changed the laws to permit waterboarding and other forms of torture. I would want to open up on those laws, he said. Were not playing on the same field. I didnt flip-flop at all. I abide by the laws, but I would also say that I would want to have those laws expanded.

The candidates penchant for authoritarianism was on display at several rallies over the weekend. At a rally in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, Trump demanded that his supporters raise their right hand and follow him in reciting a pledge that they would vote for him in the upcoming March 15 primary. The result was press photos of hundreds of people raising their right arms in a Fuhrer -style salute.

At another rally, on Friday in New Orleans, Trump looked out over the crowd and pointed at people making noise. When he spotted protesters from Black Lives Matter, he waved to police officers to drag them away, while leading the crowd in chanting USA! USA! to drown out their voices. Trump gloated, This is so cool, dont we love it? At the same time, he chastised the media for covering the protest. Such ejections, including violent assaults on protesters either by police or Trump partisans, have become a regular feature of his campaign.

Divisions within the Republican Party were underscored by the appearance of Mitt Romney on two Sunday interview programs, where he flatly declared that he would not vote for Trump if he were to become the Republican nominee. Romney reiterated the argument made in his speech Thursday that Republicans should support Kasich in the Ohio primary, Rubio in Florida and Cruz in states where he had the best chance of defeating Trump. The result of such tactical voting would be to deny any candidate the 1,237 delegates required for nomination, throwing the decision into the convention.

Romney spoke with particular warmth about Cruz in the wake of his victories in Kansas and Maine. But Cruzs policies differ from those of Trump only in minor details: he offers a Christian fundamentalist version of Trumps calls for military violence and all-out attacks on democratic rights of Muslim Americans and immigrants. It is Cruz who notoriously threatened to order saturation bombing in Iraq and Syria that would make the sand glow.

As the World Socialist Web Site has pointed out, the support for Trump among sections of lower-income white workers is in large measure the responsibility of the Democratic Party, the trade unions and the rest of what passes for the left in official US politics, who have nothing but disdain for the working class and are indifferent to the growth of mass unemployment and social misery.

The truth of this analysis is underscored by a feature report published Saturday in the New York Times under the headline, This Is Trump Country. It details the conditions of life in four areas that voted for Trump in the Republican primary on Super Tuesday by margins in some cases exceeding 60 percent.

These included Buchanan County in southwest Virginia, an Appalachian area devastated by mine closures and mass unemployment, with a median income of $22,213, less than half the national figure; Fall River, Massachusetts, an old industrial city with a median income of $29,014, less than half the statewide average; and Atkinson County, Georgia and Macon County, Tennessee, largely rural areas dominated by farming, lumber and small manufacturing, and equally impoverished.

Trump is able to get a hearing in these areas only because he exploits the anger felt by millions, while giving it a reactionary, militaristic and racist expression.

The success of the Trump campaign is not an indication of a more general swing to the right among working people in the United States. On the contrary, Trumps claim to have brought millions and millions of new voters to the Republican Party has been repeatedly debunked, most recently in a detailed analysis in the Washington Post Saturday, which demonstrated that there were far more new voters supporting the self-styled democratic socialist Bernie Sanders than the billionaire reactionary Trump.

The Sanders campaign, however, serves to contain this radicalization among working people and keep them trapped within the confines of the Democratic Party, with the Vermont senator seeking to deliver his supporters to Hillary Clinton if she prevails in the contest for the nomination.

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What political conclusions must be drawn from Trumps Super Tuesday?

[3 March 2016]
Last October, Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), told the partys conference that a UK vote to leave the European Union (EU) without a majority in Scotland it would create probably unstoppable momentum for a second Scottish independence referendum.

For months, Sturgeons public remarks mined a similar themethe difficulties of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron were Scotlands opportunity.

Yet now that Cameron has taken the decision to hold a referendum on British membership of the EU, Sturgeon has become far more circumspect. Asked on the likelihood of a second Scottish referendum following a Brexit vote, Sturgeon told the BBCs Andrew Marr, I think that would be the demand of people in Scotland. But she took pains to add, Let me say very clearly that I dont want this scenario to arise.

Sturgeon has subsequently proclaimed her intention to campaign for the whole of the UK to remain in the EU. What accounts for the shift in emphasis?

Certainly, there has been some horse trading. Three days after Camerons announcement of a referendum date, protracted negotiations, ongoing for nearly a year, for a new financial package for the Scottish government were hastily concluded. The deal agreed a mechanism to alter the grant allocated to the Scottish government by Westminster in line with new tax raising and welfare powers being devolved to Holyrood in the Scotland Bill currently going through the House of Lords. Satisfied responses from both London and Edinburgh suggests that the deal suits both parties, who now sing from the same pro EU hymn sheet.

More is at stake than this, however, a hint of which was given by former SNP leader and party grandee Gordon Wilson who led the SNP between 1979 and 1990. Wilson warned shortly after Camerons referendum announcement that the EU is no friend of Scottish independence because of potential secessionist perils in Belgium, Spain and Northern Italy.

He continued, The SNP Government should proceed with extreme caution before seeking another referendum based on Scotland acceding to the EU.

Wilsons comments cut across the generally pro-EU line of the SNP leadership.

The party has for decades promoted the slogan of independence in Europe as a means of ensuring a flow of global investment to counteract the vast economic disruption that would follow secession from the UK. But this perspective was greatly undermined during the 2014 referendum campaign, when leading EU figures such as then European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso repeatedly refused to endorse a transition for a newly independent Scotland into the EU.

Concerned over the impact of encouraging separatist movements such as in Catalonia, Spain, Barroso made clear that the last thing Berlin, Paris and other capitals wanted was some of the key EU member states being threatened with disintegration with Scotland, population 5 million, having set the process rolling.

The absurdity is striking. The SNP, and their legions of pseudo-left admirers, propose to leave the UK because, they claim, it is insufficiently responsive to the demands of the Scottish people and is dominated by London.

The pseudo-left even make the preposterous claim that an independent Scotland offers a platform for socialism and would represent a blow to imperialism. In pursuit of this, however, they propose to replace the bad UK with the good EUan imperialist power bloc that is a key instrument for imposing austerity in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and across the continent and an ally of the US-led NATO alliance. Then, when their perspective of leaving the UK is rejected by the EU itself, they take up the call for the UK, from which they want to break, to remain in the EU.

Sturgeon has come forward as the most craven booster of the political bona-fides of the EU. She recently wrote in the Guardian, Being part of the EU is also about solidarity, social protection and mutual support. Evan as tens of thousands of people camp in the open winter air around the militarised and impenetrable borders of Fortress Europe, Sturgeon continued, By working together within the EU, we can achieve far more and make a real difference to some of the worlds most vulnerable people.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) rushed to endorse the SNPs stance. Writing in the Scottish Socialist Voice, Hugh Cullen hailed the democratisation for the EU that is currently being fought for by our comrades in other European Left movements, which included Die Linke in Germany, Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain. Cullen continued excitedly, Our struggle [for independence and socialism!] is not impeded by the EU (at this time).

Underlying the gyrations of the SNP and its pseudo-left hangers-on is the hopelessly outmoded character of their perspective for the creation of an independent capitalist Scotland. In the 21st century, with tiny Scotland so utterly dependent on, and part of, the integrated British, European and world economy, the perspective of independence articulates nothing other than the desire of Scottish-based capitalist interests to secure a greater share of the exploitation of the working class by driving down wages, welfare costs and cutting taxes to create an investment platform for entry into the European market.

But over the last period, sections of business which, in conditions of boom prior to the crash of 2008, supported independence favour instead some form of negotiated settlement with the rest of the UK to allow them to set lower corporation taxes, etc.

The collapsing price of oil has destroyed much of the nationalists fiscal case. Where once SNP and pseudo-left economists calculated spending plans based on prices above $100 per barrel, high enough to sustain North Sea oil extraction for decades, Brent crude is currently selling at $33.91. North Sea oil production is collapsing and tens of thousands of jobs are threatened. The SNP and the large Aberdeen-based oil industry and trade unions have been reduced to begging London for tax breaks pending a price increase.

Equally damaging is the much-reduced weight of the Scottish-based financial sector. Edinburgh and Glasgow remain significant centres of global banking and parasitism, but the leading players of the once powerful sector have not recovered from the crash of 2008. RBS, briefly one of the worlds largest banks, with a market capitalisation close to the value of the entire Scottish GDP, became one of the most indebted.

The bank has now lost money every one of the last eight years. Total losses amount to 51 billion, 45 billion of which has been provided by British taxpayers. Close to 100,000 jobs have been lost. RBS remains 73 percent owned by the British government. RBS chair Sir Howard Davies considers a Brexit as unwelcome and the issue of Scottish independence parked. Another former Scottish champion, HBOS, lost at least 25 billion with another 10 billion contested in an ongoing court action querying the circumstances of its forced takeover by Lloyds in 2008. Both banks are deeply entrenched in the City of London.

In addition, some 60 percent of Scottish trade is with the UK and most of the rest is with the EU. Disruption of either due to a Brexit or Scottish independence would quickly pitch Scotland and all of the UK deeper into economic crisis.

For the working class no way out of this dangerous morass exists within the confines of Britain, let alone tiny Scotland. This is why the Socialist Equality Party called for a No vote in the 2014 referendum in order to oppose the nationalist division of the working class and opposed all attempt to dress this up as some means of opposing British imperialism. It highlights the significance of the SEPs call for an active boycott of the Brexit referendum, which rejects both the European Union as an instrument of the European banks and great powers, and the attempt to channel opposition to the EU behind a nationalist agenda for British sovereignty.

Rather, we insist that the great historically progressive task of uniting Europe can only be undertaken through the active mobilisation of the continents working class in a struggle against poverty, militarism and war and for the United Socialist States of Europe.
The attempt by Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez to form a coalition government with the right-wing Ciudadanos (Citizens) party has collapsed after two no confidence votes in congress last week.

Sanchezs appeals for all progressive left-wing forces of change to join the pact fell on deaf ears. A first attempt by former Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to form a government in January also failed.

On Wednesday 219 deputies, including 123 from the PP and 69 from the pseudo-left Podemos (We Can) party, voted against Sanchezs proposal. The PSOE and Ciudadanos only mustered 130 deputies, well below the 176 needed to get a majority in the 350-seat Congress. On Friday, the PSOE-Ciudadanos coalition again failed to form a government, receiving only 131 votes.

The PP opposed the pact, with Rajoy calling Sanchez a fictitious candidate who can only be described as a threat to the interest of Spaniards.

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias attacked Sanchez for his despicable speech and capitulation to the oligarchy. Though Podemos had sought to develop an alliance with the PSOE, it would have been harder for it to back Citizens, which it described as a rebranding of the PP.

Negotiations to form a new government will continue until May 3, after which Congress will be dissolved and new elections held on June 26. Until then Rajoy will remain as caretaker prime minister. Polls suggest voting intentions remain broadly the same.

Citizens aims to continue the PP governments policies, but with an anti-corruption gloss. The PSOE-Ciudadanos programme included measures supposedly to combat corruption, while keeping previous labour reforms and introducing new ones to do away with protections still enjoyed by older workers. There would be no further taxes on the rich, and a minimum wage increase of a meagre one percent. Article 135, which prioritizes repayment of the debt over other expenditure and signifies unending austerity, would remain enshrined in the Constitution.

The attempt to form a PSOE-Citizens government reflects the acute political crisis in Spain since the December 20 elections produced a hung parliament. The alternatives to a PSOE-Citizens government were a PSOE-PP grand coalition or a coalition of the PSOE, Podemos and various minor partiesthe Stalinist-led United Left (IU) and regional nationalist parties.

Both the PP and the PSOE ruled out a grand coalition, fearing that an unpopular government of Spains two traditional ruling parties would totally discredit the political establishment. The recent negotiations between the PSOE and Citizens was a forlorn attempt to operate a grand coalition between social-democratic and right-wing forces.

It echoed comments at a meeting of EU ambassadors to Spain in January by former PSOE Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, who called for a PP-Citizens coalition government that would take power thanks to a decision by the PSOE not to vote against it in parliament. Gonzalez dismissed a PSOE-Podemos alliance, saying it gives little confidence, has little future, and will not go far. He worried that Podemos would continue to make tactical criticisms of the PSOE, even if the two parties formed a government.

The proposed alliance between the PSOE and Citizens also exposes the Podemos party and its pretense of being different from the established ruling parties. Before the PSOE suddenly attempted to form a government with Citizens, it engaged in extensive discussions of a possible government with Podemos, which itself aggressively wooed the PSOE.

Claims that Spanish political life has been fundamentally transformed by the collapse of the old duopoly between the PSOE and PP, and the emergence of a so-called four-party system, are fraudulent. Spain has witnessed the rise of two new parties, Citizens and Podemos. They rail against institutional corruption and the caste, reflecting the views of upper middle class layers of entrepreneurs, professionals, and academics who are seeking a greater share of power within the existing state.

Nevertheless, all these parties share a common hostility to the working class and support the framework of war and austerity imposed by the EU. It is on this basis that the parties will continue their negotiations after the failure of the attempt to form a PSOE-Citizens government.

Rajoy has now said he is ready to start negotiations on a three-way alliance between the PP, the PSOE and Citizens, based on their opposition to Catalan independence and commitment to economic stability and the European Union.

Podemos Organisation Secretary, Sergio Pascual, said it was time to start rebuilding bridges with the PSOE.

Xavier Domenech, spokesperson of the Podemos alliance in Catalonia, Podem In Comu, said: There is still the possibility of forming a government of change for the people and government of the future: a national project. We appeal to the PSOE that wants that change. He repeated the call for a four-way coalition government between PSOE, Podemos, Valencian nationalists Compromis, and IU, whose total of 161 seats was closer to the 169 of Zapatero [who led a minority PSOE government in 2004-2008] than the 130 for those who received no yesterday.

Podemos published a 98-page document entitled Government for Change in February, whose rhetoric is even further to the right of its initial positions two years ago. Where once Podemos spoke of the need for a citizens audit to weed out unjust portions of the public debt, the aim now is to restructure the debt in agreement with the EU and reduce the deficit to the 3 percent demanded by the EU Stability Pact, albeit at a slower place.

In return for carrying out its pro-austerity, pro-capitalist programme, Podemos leaders are demanding their places in the corridor of power. Iglesias wants to become the new deputy prime minister, in charge of the state propaganda machine and the National Intelligence Centre (CNI). Podemos would also have ministries and sub-secretaries of state in proportion to the number of deputies it has in Congress, including a new Ministry of Plurinationality, which would oversee a referendum on independence in the region of Catalonia.

IU spokesperson Alberto Garzon also called on the PSOE to return to four-way negotiations, saying the IU is not throwing in the towel... We want to avoid early elections.

Aitor Esteban, spokesperson of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), whose support for a PSOE-Podemos- Compromis-IU government would be vital, declared his partys support for a left-wing government, as did Francesc Homs of the Catalan nationalist Democracy and Liberty party.

However, both nationalist leaders demanded something in return. Esteban said, Sooner or later formulas must be found that allow for Basque home rule. Homs declared, You want our support with the document but refuse the possibility of a Catalan or Basque referendum. Is it necessary to deny all possibility of such a thing when you so need our votes?
On Tuesday, the United Steelworkers (USW) forced through a contract for 2,200 locked-out workers at Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI). The contract, which will end the over six-month lockout of ATI workers in six states, gives in to all of ATIs major demands, and in some cases is actually worse than the contract ATI proposed at the beginning of the lockout.

The contract essentially transforms the ATI workforce into casual labor. Increased contracting and brutally arbitrary scheduling practices allow ATI to exploit workers on its terms. Workers and retirees face thousands of dollars in increased health care costs. The elimination of defined-benefit pensions for new hires creates a second tier of workers, which ATI and the USW plan to mobilize against current workers and retirees in future contracts.

The contract sets a precedent that will be exploited by employers across the country as they seek to offload the crisis of capitalism onto the backs of workers.

Even if no other information were available, one would not need to look beyond the USWs conduct during the ratification process to know that the contract is a miserable betrayal. The USW and ATI announced a tentative agreement February 22, more than a week after unemployment benefits had expired for ATI workers. The USW then waited until an informational meeting on Saturday, February 27, to release any information about the contents of the contract.

At that meeting, workers were presented with a self-serving summary, instead of a full contract. Although retirees are deeply affected by the contracts provisions, they were not invited to the meeting. In a highly unusual move, the USW invited steelworkers spouses to the meeting in a transparent attempt to generate additional pressure for a yes vote. ATI workers were given only three days to study the contract summary before voting on Tuesday, March 1.

If the USW truly believed that it had negotiated a good contract, there would have been no need to hide the full contract and employ these bullying tactics.

The actual contents of the contract summary confirm this assessment. Despite the USWs claims that the contract contains virtually none of the drastic concessions ATI sought to arbitrarily impose, in fact the contract summary released last Saturday is nothing more than a slightly edited version of ATIs August last, best, and final offer.

ATIs most egregious demands centered around increased health care costs for active and retired workers, increased use of outside contractors, brutal changes in scheduling rules, and the elimination of defined-benefit pensions and health benefits for new hires.

The contract introduces 10 percent health care cost-sharing for active employees, with a $6,000 per year out-of-pocket maximum for families. This is a major increase in health care payments for active ATI workers, although ATI demanded even higher payments in its August offer.

Unlike ATIs August offer, the final contract directly attacks retiree medical benefits. Non-Medicare-eligible retirees are now subject to the same 10 percent cost-sharing, along with an additional $45 per month in premiums, a new $600 deductible and a $3,600 annual out-of-pocket maximum. Those eligible for Medicare have an out-of-pocket maximum of $3,400 per year.

In 2012, retirees sued over similar attacks in the 2007 and 2011 contracts, but the suit was dismissed by a federal judge.

The contract also allows ATI to reduce its payments into the union-run Voluntary Employee Benefits Account (VEBA), which pays for retiree health benefits. While ATI will pay a fixed annual lump sum per retiree, the companys hourly contributions fall from $2.50 per hour worked by active workers in 2016, to $1.00 in 2020. Fifty cents per hour of these payments are taken directly out of the quarterly bonus workers formerly received.

Even if payments remained the same, union control of the VEBA gives USW executives an incentive to cut retiree benefits to boost the profitability of this investment vehicle. With retiree health care contingent on the hours worked by active workers, benefits will be dependent on whether or not ATI schedules enough hours to fund the VEBA.

The USW bizarrely claims that contractors are necessary to restart production because of attrition during the lockout. They insist upon this even as 420 workers from the idled Bagdad and Midland plants in western Pennsylvania require transfers. The Brackenridge, Vandergrift, and Louisville, Ohio mills were understaffed even before the lockout. Most importantly, workers report that roughly 200 workers retired during the lockout. Many did so prematurely for fear that they would lose benefits under the new contract if they did not retire before the deadline to do so under the old contract. By demoralizing and starving these workers, the USW helped ATI downsize by getting rid of its most experienced workers, using the resulting shortage of manpower to justify its support for increased contracting.

As in the August offer, contractors are allowed during so-called surge maintenance and repair work. Specialized maintenance work can be contracted out under some conditions. The contract states that the non-core work of janitorial, grounds-keeping, road maintenance services, and interior/exterior building construction/maintenance be contracted out as the number of current or incumbents performing such work is reduced by attrition... [emphasis added]. In the August offer, the be was only a may be, meaning that the current language means more contractors, not fewer.

In exchange, the USW has added toothless provisions that the company train some workers in all maintenance tasks so that the Company does not become completely dependent on contractors.

Scheduling language is based on the August offer. The key content remains unchanged. Management may require a work week consisting of non-consecutive workdays and/or workdays of more or less than 8 consecutive hours. In these cases, which can occur with as little as 48 hours notice, workers will not be paid overtime, but will instead be paid an ambiguous premium time wage.

ATI is given free rein in its scheduling practices unless [W]orkdays of greater than 12 consecutive hours, and work weeks in excess of 48 hours are regularly scheduled for 4 out of 6 weeks. Notably, this section does not limit non-consecutive workdays, which the August proposal did. Workers can be forced to work up to 16 hour days with no notice under emergency situations, agreed upon by ATI and the USW.

In addition, ATI can impose alternative work schedules of 10-12 hours per day. This requires the approval of 60 percent of the affected workforce, which ATI and the USW will extort as needed.

As in the August offer, new hires are denied defined-benefit pensions and retiree health benefits, in favor of a grossly inadequate 401(k) account. Workers will receive retirement account benefits of $2.65 per hour worked, and $0.50 per hour to cover retirement health costs. This creates a two-tiered benefit system. Many current ATI workers see this for what it is: an attempt to create divisions between new hires and themselves to push through even deeper benefit cuts in the future.

In exchange for these concessions, the contract includes insulting incentives. The signing bonus, identical to ATIs July offer, consists of $1,500 in March 2016, and $1,000 in 2019 and 2020. For workers looking to recover from six months on lockout, $1,500 is totally inadequate. Whats more, now that the USW has dropped its unfair labor practices suit against ATI, workers have no chance of receiving back pay to help recover.

The contract also includes a new profit-sharing agreement that aims to further tie workers living standards to company profits. A worker noted to the WSWS that when ATI introduced profit-sharing in a previous contract, workers received a check the first year, and never again, as ATI manipulated its books to conceal profits.

The USW is presenting this rotten contract as a victory. The contract summary begins with a hollow statement titled How ATIs Assault on Our Contract Imploded. To the extent that the USW does acknowledge concessions in the contract, it blames them on a flood of illegal imports. In other words, the USW blames Chinese steelworkers for the ATI lockout. The solution to wage cuts, the USW claims, is to fight for a major overhaul of US trade policy. In other words, if workers want jobs, they should line up behind the corporations and the Democrats for a trade war against China.
More than 2,000 locked-out Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) workers in six states voted Tuesday to ratify a deeply concessionary contract. The contract, agreed upon on February 22 by ATI and the United Steelworkers union (USW), will end the six-month lockout of ATI workers.

According to USW International President Leo Gerard, 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.

In fact, the opposite is true. The USW systematically isolated ATI workers and rammed through a contract that gives in to all of ATIs major demands. Whats more, the ATI ratification further isolates 13,500 steelworkers at ArcelorMittal, and 2,500 workers at Cliffs Natural Resources, all of whom have been without a contract since September.

The contract includes thousands of dollars in increased out-of-pocket health care costs for current and retired workers, an effective wage cut of $1.50/hour, large-scale expansion of outside contractors, and scheduling language that differs only slightly from what ATI demanded at the beginning of the lockout. The contract eliminates pensions and retiree health care for new hires, in favor of inadequate 401(k) plans. The USW claims that 420 workers from idled plants will be transferred to other facilities, but does not say when, or where in the country they will go. Workers still have not been told when they will return to work.

The 5-1 approval of the contract was not a vote in favor of this sellout contract. It was a vote of no confidence in the USW.

The ratification of this contract is the culmination of a monstrous betrayal of ATI workers, other steelworkers, and workers across the country by the USW. Throughout the six-and-a-half-month lockout, the USW worked tirelessly to isolate ATI workers in pursuit of three goals.

First and foremost, the USW sought to prevent the struggle at ATI from catalyzing a mass wages push by workers across the country. In doing so, the USW worked hand-in-hand with the rest of the AFL-CIO and the Obama administration. Second, the USW aimed to weaken and fatigue workers into accepting deep concessions in the name of ensuring ATIs competitiveness amid a deep crisis in the global steel industry. Third, the USW bargained for a share of the spoils looted from workers to finance its bureaucratic apparatus.

At the beginning of 2015, think tanks and leading media, political, and business leaders warned of the potential for a wages push as contracts covering millions of workers expired in 2015-2016. Fearing the implications of an upsurge in working-class militancy, the Obama administration has worked hand-in-hand with the AFL-CIO to suppress workers struggles.

The USW isolated and strangled the first major contract battle of 2015, the month-and-a-half oil workers strike, forcing workers to mobilize only a fraction of their strength in the industry. Simultaneously, the Obama administration threatened a Taft-Hartley injunction to force 20,000 West Coast dock workers to accept a five-year concessions contract that accelerated moves toward a casual labor workforce.

The ATI lockout, which began on August 14, coincided with contract battles covering hundreds of thousands of steel, auto, telecommunications and municipal workers. After contracts covering 140,000 workers at Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford expired in September, the United Auto Workers relied on threats, intimidation and outright ballot fraud to push through deep concessions.

Within the steel industry, the USW forced 30,000 workers at US Steel and ArcelorMittal to continue working after their contracts expired September 1, despite the lockout at ATI. Throughout this period, the USW allowed US Steel and ArcelorMittal to idle plants and lay off workers at will. The USW waited until auto negotiations were finished to push through a contract at US Steel on February 1 that freezes wages, eliminates pensions for new hires and accepts plant closures and layoffs. The contract settlement at US Steel further isolated ATI workers.

Throughout the negotiation process at ATI, the USW repeatedly offered millions of dollars in concessions. However, when ATI demanded blood in its last, best, and final offer, the USW recognized that workers would summarily reject it, and that any attempt to force the contract through would badly damage the USWs credibility. After the USW refused to bring the contract to a vote, ATI locked out its workforce, importing scabs from strikebreaking firm Strom Engineering.

From the beginning, the USW worked to isolate and demobilize ATI workers. The USW ordered workers to allow ATI to bring in scabs unimpeded, put their faith in the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and wait one day longer. As the months dragged on, workers continued to drain their savings, and ATI ended their health care coverage at the end of November. In the meantime, ATI remained intransigent, refusing to even discuss changes to its proposed contract.

Fearing that ATIs scorched-earth tactics could evoke a reaction that the USW would not be able to contain, the Obama administration intervened to pressure ATI and the USW to agree on a concessions contract.

The NLRB finding in January against ATI was a component of the Obama administrations effort to press ATI to return to the bargaining table, while giving the USW political cover to present a capitulation contract as a victory.

Under these circumstances, ATI and the USW waited until unemployment benefits expired to announce a tentative agreement on February 22. After more than six months on lockout, ATI workers were in a much weaker position to resist as the USW sought to ram through a contract that was very similar to the one they had opposed in August.

The following Saturday, only three days before the ratification vote, were workers finally given a summary of proposed changes to the contract. They still have not received a full version of the contract. Well aware that the USW would not fight for a better contract, ATI workers voted to ratify the deal, rather than face an indefinite isolated lockout with essentially no income.

In return for services rendered to ATI, the contract gives the USW substantial payoffs, in some cases directly extracted from ATI workers. Fifty cents per hour are diverted from workers quarterly bonuses into the USW-controlled Voluntary Employee Benefits Account (VEBA). Multi-million-dollar VEBA funds allow the USW to secure lucrative investment opportunities, and provide a direct incentive to slash retiree benefits.

While the USW enforces attacks on the living standards of workers in the US, it seeks to place the blame for these attacks on workers in other countries, asserting that the flood of illegal imports is at the root of the problems that are harming our industry. The day of the contract ratification, USW President Gerard hailed new anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled steel imported from Brazil, China, India, Korea, Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom. This ruling is the product of lawsuits launched by the USW itself. The ultimate logic of these trade war policies is war with China.

The USWs betrayal of ATI workers, like the other betrayals of 2015 and 2016, have not gone unnoticed by workers. The USW, like the UAW and the rest of the corporatist trade unions, have been exposed as instruments of management, a labor police force.

The task of class-conscious workers at ATI and elsewhere is to form rank-and-file committees to carry forward coming struggles, and support current ones. These committees must be independent of and in opposition to the official trade unions and both big-business political parties. We call on all workers who agree with this perspective to contact the World Socialist Web Site today.
25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago

25 years ago: Serbia on the verge of civil war

On March 9, 1991, tanks and armored cars dispersed a mass demonstration against the Stalinist regime of Slobodan Milosevic, as the political crisis in Yugoslavia came to the verge of civil war.

More than 70,000 people marched and chanted slogans against Milosevic, the president of Serbia, the largest of six constituent republics in Yugoslavia. They denounced press censorship and the manipulation of the previous Decembers Serbian election, which was won by Milosevics Socialist Partythe new name of the Stalinists in Serbia.

About 200 people, including Vuk Draskovic, leader of the bourgeois opposition party the Serbian Renewal Movement, were arrested after the clashes, which began after police moved in and tried to disperse a demonstration calling for the removal of the officials in charge of Belgrade Television.

The protesters threw rocks and bottles and charged the police repeatedly, taking control of the downtown streets and smashing windows until the tanks and more heavily armed police and soldiers moved in, firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. A policeman and a 17-year-old demonstrator were killed and 120 people were injured.

Tanks took up positions at the Parliament Building, Belgrade Television, the Post Office and other government installations. The deployment was ordered by Yugoslavias rotating eight-man collective presidency. Milosevic himself appeared on television to denounce chaos and madness and threaten forcible suppression of further protests.

After mass rallies continued on March 11, the Serbian parliament, controlled by Milosevic loyalists, began discussing a bill giving the government power to declare a state of emergency. Nineteen opposition legislators of the Serbian Renewal Movement began a hunger strike against the bill. Milosevic also revoked the national rights of the Albanian and Hungarian minorities within Serbia, established under Tito, and initiated a campaign of repression on the largely Albanian region of Kosovo, whose leaders sought to break away Serbia and Yugoslavia.

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50 years ago: Australia to triple forces in Vietnam War

On March 8, 1966, the Liberal government of Australian Prime Minister Harold E. Holt announced that it would triple its contingent of troops in Vietnam from 1,500 to 4,500. The increase would surpass the commitment made to the imperialist war in Korea and make the country the third-largest foreign military participant in the US-sponsored aggression against Vietnam. South Korea had the second-largest foreign contingent.

Holt declared, It is our judgment that this is the most militarily effective way in which we can assist the overall allied effort in Southeast Asia. He indicated that Australia could not leave the defense of imperialist interests in the region to the US and claimed that the war was against Communist aggression, not for territorial or colonial interests. The Australian Labor Party opposed the increase in troop strength solely on the grounds that it would mean sending conscripts into combat.

The US meanwhile launched the heaviest air strikes to date against North Vietnam. The Pentagon reported that the number of individual sorties was the highest since bombing of the north began in 1965. While not made public, the figure was reported at over 200 on a single day. Four planes were shot down by Soviet-made anti-aircraft missiles in the raids.

In the ground war, US Marines reported a major victory against Vietnamese liberation fighters on the central coast after attacking the alleged headquarters of a North Vietnamese regiment in the village of Sonchou. American and South Vietnamese puppet forces withdrew from the town after suffering heavy losses from determined counterattacks by the enemy. Military spokesmen conceded that the losses suffered by the marines were the highest so far for a single engagement in the war.

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75 years ago: Lend-Lease Act passes US Congress

On March 11, 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act moments after an overwhelming congressional majority passed the bill. Lend-Lease, more than any other event prior to the declaration of war, signaled US imperialisms intent to enter World War II against Nazi Germany.

The bill, as well as the congressional debate and reports in the capitalist press, was couched in defensive terms. Because of strong opposition to US involvement in the world war, the American people were told that by serving as the arsenal of democracy, that is, by providing military aid to Great Britain to fight Germany, American troops would not be required to fight and die in Europe.

But the real intention of Lend-Lease was to stave off an imminent British defeat at the hands of Hitler in order to provide American capitalism a period in which to build up its military strength and weaken anti-war opposition before entering World War II.

From a technical standpoint, Lend-Lease was necessary as a replacement to the cash and carry amendment to the neutrality laws. Cash and carry limited the United States to supplying military aid to Britain under the condition they paid in advance and transportation was not provided on American ships. By the end of 1940 Britain was bankrupt and unable to pay for arms. Lend-Lease avoided the balance of payments problem and allowed the United States to sustain Britains fighting capability.

Lend-Lease also concentrated virtual dictatorial powers in President Roosevelts hands to decide who should receive aid and how much. This freed Roosevelt to establish American capitalisms alliance with Britain and China, which was waging a struggle against Japanese imperialism, indicating in advance of any congressional declaration of war US imperialisms hostility to the military expansion of German and Japanese imperialism.

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100 years ago: American troops pursue Pancho Villa in Mexico

This week in March 1916, the US government sent troops into Mexico on a punitive expedition targeting the famous agrarian revolutionary Francisco Pancho Villa and his supporters. On March 9, Villa and 1,500 of his followers had carried out a surprise armed raid on an army camp in Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17 US soldiers.

The Wilson administration, along with the corporate press, had labelled the raid thoroughly unprovoked and an outrage, in a hypocritical bid to cover over the longstanding US interference in Mexican politics, including the ongoing occupation of the port city of Veracruz.

Major General Frederick Funston was placed in overall charge of the operation, while Brigadier General John J. Pershing was in command of the expeditionary force of 3,500 American soldiers. Both men were veterans of the brutal imperialist occupation of the Philippines, and had experience there in the violent suppression of opposition to colonial rule. Funston was given a free hand by the general staff in Washington to work out the problem of pursuing Villa into Mexican territory with whatever force he thought necessary.

Villa had attacked Columbus in retaliation for the Wilson administrations support for the Carranza government in Mexico, which was locked in a fierce battle with the countrys revolutionary peasant-based forces. In 1915, Wilson had allowed reinforcements for Carranzas army to pass through US territory, facilitating Villas defeat at Agua Prieta in November of that year.

In a letter to fellow revolutionary Emiliano Zapata after the defeat, Villa had promised, I shall not expend another shell on brother Mexicans, but will prepare and organize to attack the Americans on their own soil and let them know that Mexico is a land of the free and the tomb of thornless crowns and traitors.

The US army had made two previous incursions across the border, with the permission of the Mexican government, in 1884 and 1886 in pursuit of Apache Indian leaders. The pursuit of Geronimo in 1886 lasted more than two years, and at least two-thirds of the American army took part in it at one time or other.

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February marked two years since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the countrys capital, having been forcibly removed from power after several months of increasingly violent street protests backed by the US and its European allies. Despite having just signed a deal with opposition leaders brokered by European diplomats that was supposedly intended to resolve the crisis, Yanukovych was stripped of his powers by the parliament in Kiev. After days of heavy fighting with government security forces, Right Sector, a neo-fascist militia formed by leading political figures in the protests, which were centered in Kievs Maidan Square, had gained control of the city center. Right Sector declared that it would not accept any arrangement that allowed Yanukovych to remain in power.

The movement to bring down the elected Ukrainian government was touched off in November 2013 when Yanukovych refused at the last minute to sign an association agreement with the European Union. He feared that the structural adjustment program demanded by the EU would hammer the largely Russian-speaking eastern industrial regions of Ukraine where he and his Party of Regions had their traditional base of support. This would cause a social explosion directed against his corrupt and already unpopular regime. Yanukovych decided instead to join a customs union with Russia, which was offering loans, trade advantages and continued access to natural gas at below-market rates.

Opposition parties with ties to Washington and various wings of the European political establishment mobilized demonstrations in response. Speaking on behalf of a layer of the business elite and better-off segments of the population tired of being cut out of official politics, and hoping to profit from closer ties with the EU, the protests opposed Yanukovychs oligarchic rule on the basis of anti-Russian chauvinism and free-market policies.

Utilizing amorphous anti-corruption and anti-establishment slogans, the Maidan protests garnered a measure of support from broader layers of the population, particularly in its initial stages and at later points when the government attempted to suppress them. However, at their height, the Maidan demonstrations never attracted more than 300,000 people in a country of over 45 million. As a class, the countrys workers stayed away, organizing neither mass strikes nor labor actions in support.

The political character of the Maidan movement rapidly made itself clear. Representatives from Ukraines ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist parties took center stage alongside the countrys super-rich. Ukrainian boxer Vitali Klitschko, with an estimated net worth of $65 million, was one of the protests spokespeople. Far-right battalions emblazoned with Nazi-era insignia marched in demonstrations and served as Maidans shock troops.

Western diplomats made public appearances at Maidan rallies and were in constant communication with opposition leaders regarding how to secure their aims. A notorious leaked tape of a phone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt documented Washingtons direct role in determining the constitution of the post-coup government in Kiev. In November 2013, Nuland boasted that since 1991 the US had sunk $5 billion into Ukraine in an effort to promote civic engagement and democratic skills and aspirations.

Yanukovychs overthrow in 2014 was the culmination of long-standing efforts on the part of the US to install a pliant regime with close ties to Washington on the borders of Russia. The ultimate aim of this operation is to reduce Russia to neo-colonial status, including through its possible dismemberment, thereby enabling the US to establish its hegemony over the Eurasian continent.

In the 2004 Orange Revolution, American-backed Viktor Yushchenko was able to wrest power from Yanukovych in a contested election accompanied by street protests. But Yushchenko and his soon-to-be erstwhile ally Yulia Tymoshenko quickly lost the support of the population. Their corrupt free-market policies drove down workers living standards while enriching wealthy upper-middle class layers and the countrys oligarchs. In 2010, Yanukovych, who retained close ties to Moscow, won the presidential election.

The unwillingness of Yanukovych to reorient his government towards the US and the EU in 2014 was deemed unacceptable by Western imperialism. Germany, which at the beginning of 2014 announced that it was abandoning its pacifist pretensions and returning openly to the path of militarism and realpolitik, was, along with the US, determined to force Yanukovych from office. Fearing that he would suffer a similar fate to that of Muammar Gaddafi, who had been savagely murdered in a US-backed coup in 2011, Yanukovych fled the country. The right-wing forces behind Maidan were installed as Ukraines new government.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a leader of Tymoshenkos nationalist Fatherland Party, headed the new administration. Tymoshenko would soon call for a scorched earth policy against Russians and for killing those assholes who make up 17 percent of the Ukrainian population and whose language is spoken by much of the country, including ethnic Ukrainians.

Yatsenyuk handed six cabinet posts to the Svoboda Party, the neo-fascist organization founded in 1991 as the Social-National Party of Ukraine. Now embraced by the US and Germany as the leading force in the democratic Maidan movement, in 2012 the European Parliament had condemned Svoboda for its racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views. At that time it called on Ukraines parliament not to associate with, endorse, or form coalitions with Svoboda. The partys leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, has repeatedly declared his determination to crush the Russkie-Yid mafia that controls Ukraine.

Two years later, what has become of Ukraine? And what have been the broader European and international consequences of the February 2014 coup?

The Maidan operation in Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of war. Immediately following the event, opposition exploded in the countrys predominantly Russian-speaking southeast, with people demanding separation from Ukraine. Kiev responded with brute force. Crimeas overwhelmingly Russian population then voted to reunify with Russia and the peninsula was subsequently annexed by Moscow.

This evoked a hysterical campaign against the Kremlin, which was accused of military aggression in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It was charged with seeking to take over Eastern Europe and reestablish an empire on the territory of the former USSR. The New York Times published purported photographic evidence, handed to it by the US government, of masked Russian soldiers invading southeastern Ukraine, a story it was forced to retract as based on doctored photographs. When Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 crashed in Ukraine, the US and its allies blamed the Kremlin and Russian-backed separatists in Ukraines southeast for the planes destruction. No substantial evidence was ever produced to back this up, and the issue of responsibility for the downing of the plane remains unresolved to this day.

All of this was used to justify a massive US-NATO military buildup along Russias borders. NATO forces are deployed in the Baltic states, military exercises are being carried out in the Black Sea, Poland is being readied for war with its eastern neighbor, and the possible use of nuclear weapons is almost routinely spoken of in connection with deterring alleged Russian aggression.

In September 2014, on a visit to Estonia, US President Obama declared Washingtons unwavering, eternal, and unbreakable commitment to defend the Baltic states, which are ruled by right-wing nationalist regimes hostile to Moscow. In total disregard for the sentiments of the American people, the US government pledged to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia in the event of a clash between Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, and Moscow.

In an effort to destabilize the Putin government and provoke the disintegration of Russia, the US and Europe imposed economic sanctions on Moscow that have, coupled with currency speculation and a collapse in the price of oil, pushed the country into recession and dramatically eroded living standards.

As for Ukraine itself, in 2015 the countrys economy contracted by 10 percent. To meet the demands of the International Monetary Fund, Kiev has gutted spending on social programs, frozen wages, laid off public employees and sharply increased what it charges consumers for utilities. Last year the government hiked the cost of natural gas by 285 percent and water by over 70 percent. Pensions have been cut by 15 percent, which has amounted to 40 percent in real terms. Fifteen percent of teachers have been laid off. Still, the IMF refuses to release the third tranche of a $35 billion bailout, insisting that the government is not moving fast enough to reform the economy.

Under conditions where the average monthly wage is about 1,176 hryvnia ($50), by mid-2015, one-third of Ukraines population was living below the poverty line. Based on World Bank data, this is a nearly four-fold increase over 2013. As of last year, the youth unemployment rate stood at 23 percent, the highest since 1991, when Ukraine became an independent state as part of the dissolution of the USSR.

One-and-a-half million people have fled Ukraines Donbass region, where the government and far-right paramilitary battalions have sought to suppress a pro-Russian separatist movement. The flood of refugees has spawned a hunger crisis. The World Food Programme is in urgent need of $35 million to feed an expected 260,000 displaced people. The fighting in eastern Ukraine is costing an estimated $5 million a day and has resulted in upwards of 9,000 deaths.

The Ukrainian armed forces, which had been disintegrating under the weight of widespread desertions and mass opposition to conscription, is being propped up with the aid of American military advisers and infusions of cash from Washington. The Ukrainian military collaborates with marauding bands of neo-fascists, which the government is often unable to control. The regime in Kiev is itself investigating these militias for kidnappings, murder, armed assault and robbery.

The government, headed by the Chocolate King oligarch, President Petro Poroshenko, remains staffed by a combination of ardent right-wingers, ultra-nationalists, anti-communists and open Nazi sympathizers. Dmytro Yarosh, a Svoboda party member and leader of Right Sector, serves as a military adviser to the government. Far-right violence regularly erupts around the country. To mark the two-year anniversary of Maidan, mobs of Ukrainian nationalists burned and looted Russian banks in Kiev, Lviv and Mariupol last month. The American private intelligence think tank Stratfor writes of a proliferation of right-wing movements in the country.

The post-Yanukovych government is despised by the general population. Poroshenkos approval rating has fallen by 30 points since he assumed power in May of 2014, and now stands at just 17 percent, well below that of his predecessor. The only individual perhaps more hated than Poroshenko is Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, the IMFs hatchet man on the ground. He has the support of 8 percent of the population and only just narrowly survived a no-confidence vote last month in parliament.

The claim that Maidan would usher in a democratic renaissance in Ukraine lies in tatters. So does the argument that Yanukovychs violent ouster was a defensive response to a government slaughter of peaceful protesters. Evidence continues to emerge that the sniper massacre of February 20, 2014, in which demonstrators were allegedly killed by Yanukovychs security services (Berkut) in an unprovoked attack, was, in the words of scholar Ivan Katchanovski, a false flag operation, which was rationally planned and carried out with a goal of the overthrow of the government and seizure of power. Most recently, Ivan Bubenchik, a Maidan gunman, acknowledged that he targeted and killed two Berkut commanders before the security forces fired any shots into the crowd.

The events of the last two years have vindicated the position of the World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International. The WSWS tirelessly exposed the right-wing forces behind Maidan and pointed out the dangerous implications of the Kiev coup. It explained the origins of the event in the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the hands of the Stalinist Communist Party bureaucracy, the insatiable drive of US imperialism to establish hegemony over Eurasia, and the reactionary character of the Russian ruling elite, which seeks only to defend its own ill-gotten wealth at the expense of the working class.

We wrote on February 25, 2014, The recent events in Ukraine are a warning to the international working class. Under conditions in which workers lack both a perspective and a party to enable them to intervene independently in political events, the situation in Ukraine has developed in an extremely reactionary direction. What had been unthinkable in Europe since the fall of Hitlers Third Reich in 1945 has come to pass: while the US and Germany ruthlessly and recklessly destabilized the country, fascists became the decisive force on the ground.

To be continued

The author also recommends:

Leaked phone call on Ukraine lays bare Washingtons gangsterism

[10 February 2014]

Coup in Ukraine: A warning to the international working class

[25 February 2014]

New York Times attempts to whitewash its role in publishing faked Ukraine photos

[26 April 2014]
6 years, 7 months ago by Scott Hardy

Brian Hunter gets 18 mos. probation for computer tampering

A former Hancock County Assistant State's Attorney, accused of deleting files from a computer in early 2014, has plead Guilty to one count in a plea deal.

Brian Hunter entered that Guilty plea in Hancock County Circuit court Friday morning to one count of computer tampering. He was sentenced to 18 months probation, 40 hours of community service and fined nearly 12 hundred dollars.

Hunter had originally been charged with two counts of official misconduct and one count each of computer tampering and aggravated computer tampering. As part of the plea deal, he plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of computer tampering, in exchange for the other three felony counts being dropped.

Prosecutors said Hunter deleted the files, including official states attorneys documents and trial prep materials, after he learned the county board hadn't appointed him to succeed the late Jim Drozdz as Hancock County States Attorney.
6 years, 7 months ago by Scott Hardy

Wanted for 2015 shooting on Qcy's NW side

A Quincy man, wanted in connection with a late November shooting on the city's northwest side, has been caught in the Chicago area.

Quincy police said Monday that Nicholas Gavin, 23, was arrested last Wednesday at a home in Bollingbrook,IL, and returned to Quincy Saturday. He's accused of attempted 1st degree murder and Aggravated Battery in the November 28, 2015 shooting of Robert Phillips at Fourth and Chestnut at 4:37A.M. Phillips was later released from Blessing Hospital after the shooting.

Gavin had been wanted by Quincy police, since a warrant was issued in early January.

Gavin had his first court appearance Monday morning in Adams County Circuit Court. He's in the Adams County Jail on $1 million bond, and will be back in court March 21.
6 years, 7 months ago by Scott Hardy

Is granted request for change of venue

A former Hannibal man, who prosecutors say shot and killed his father with a crossbow, has pleaded Not Guilty.

Carl Goldberg, 30, entered that plea during his arraignment Monday in a Marion County courtroom. He also asked via video for a new judge, and change of venue. Both requests were granted by Judge Rachel Bringer Shepard.

Goldberg is charged with 2nd degree Murder and armed criminal action charges, in the death of his 84-year-old father, Carl Maxwell.

Goldberg allegedly told Hannibal police detectives that quote, he snapped, then shot Maxwell twice with a crossbow in February 2015, hitting him in the chest, and the head. Goldberg then allegedly put his fathers body in a freezer at a vacant house on Broadway, and left it there, until it was found in early October.

Goldberg is in the Marion County Jail on $1 million bond.
6 years, 7 months ago by Scott Hardy

State asked for delay

The trial of a Quincy man, facing two counts of first degree murder for allegedly beating a man to death, has been delayed a month.

The trial for 29 year old Derek McKenzie was moved back to April 11th, after a motion by prosecutors to delay the case was granted Friday, at a pre-trial hearing in Adams County Circuit Court.

McKenzie's accused of beating 48 year old Billy Graham to death with his fists and a C clamp last December 7th. Graham's body was found early that evening in his apartment above Izzey's Bar and Grill at 5th and Oak.

McKenzie's pleaded Not Guilty to the murder charges, and is in the Adams County Jail on 5 million dollars' bond.
6 years, 7 months ago by QPD

John Neill (88) of West Point, Il. for Failure t Yield - Right Turn. At 54th & Broadway on 3/5/16. PTC

Ashley L Watts (29) of Quincy for Improper Driving at 24th & Wismann Ln on 3/4/16. PTC

Irving Kenneth Ware (26) of Quincy for FTA Leaving the scene at 2300 N 12th on 3/5/16. Lodged.

Parker L Cunningham (19) of Quincy for Aggravated Assault at 1502 Penthouse Dr on 3/5/16. Lodged.

Todd Lugering reports 719 S 8th entered between 1400 on 2/29/ & 1000 on 3/1. Taken was 1 Lincoln 170sp-t welder, 1 black welding helmet, and welding accessories.

Joseph D Hanlin (51) 1914 Elmwood Dr. West Quincy, IL for operating uninsured vehicle at 12th and Harrison on 3-5-2016. NTA.

Rachel L Turner (32) 1533 S. 8th Quincy, IL for failure to yield from stop sign at 6th and York on 2-29-16. NTA

John P Putnam (34) 1069 Jessie Ln Church Hill, TN for operating an uninsured vehicle and possession of cannabis on 3-5-16 at 5th and College. NTA.

Jason L Phillips (39) 1215 1/2 Hampshire Quincy, IL for Criminal trespass to real property at Jed's Brewhouse 1007 N. 18th St on 3-6-16. Lodged.

Levi E Cook (22) 431 N. 28th Quincy, IL for manufacture or delivery of cannabis 10-30 grams at 6th and Payson on 3-5-16. Lodged.

Jena A. Chatfield, 22, Quincy for Speeding - PTC -
6 years, 7 months ago QPD

Kordell C Radcliffe (28) of Ford Heights, Il. for Cook County warrant for FTA Identity Theft.on 3/6/16. Lodged.

Michael P Christ (35) of Quincy for FTA Trespassing & FTA Cannabis/Paraphrenalia at 511 Grant Dr on 3/6/16. Lodged

Cheryl L Bartelt (54) of Peoria, Il. for Expired Registration at 8th & Maine on 3/5/16. PTC

John C Rives (51) of Quincy for Fighting at 2418 High St on 3/4/16. NTA

Michael J.P. Roberts (23) of Quincy for Expired Registration at 18th & Chestnut on 3/5/16. PTC

Danyel A Wardlow (27) of St Louis, Mo. For No Valid Registraton at 8th & Broadway on 3/6/16. PTC

Justin Gay reports his residence at 1247 vermont was forcibly entered on 3/3/16, between 2040 & 2055hrs. Electronics and footwear were stolen.

Kordell C Radcliffe (28) of Ford Heights, Il. on Cook County warrant for FTA Identity Theft on 3/6/16. Lodged

Michael P Christ (35) of Quincy for FTA Trespassing & FTA Cannabis/Paraphrenalia at 511 Grant Dr on 3/6/16. Lodged

Cheryl L Bartelt (54) of Peoria, Il. for Expired Registration at 8th & Maine on 3/5/16. PTC

John C Rives (51) of Quincy for Fighting at 2418 High St on 3/4/16. NTA

Michael J.P. Roberts (23) of Quincy for Expired Registration at 18th & Chestnut on 3/5/16. PTC

Danyel A Wardlow (27) of St Louis, Mo. For No Valid Registration at 8th & Broadway on 3/6/16. PTC

Justin Gay reports his residence at 1247 Vermont was forcibly entered on 3/3/16 between 2040 & 2055. Electronics and footwear were stolen.

Joseph D Hanlin (51) 1914 Elmwood Dr. West for operating uninsured vehicle at 12th and Harrison on 3-5-2016. NTA

Rachel L Turner (32) 1533 S. 8th for failure to yield from stop sign at 6th and York on 2-29-16. NTA

John P Putnam (34) Church Hill, TN for operating an uninsured vehicle/possession of cannabis on 3-5-16 at 5th and College. NTA

Jason L Phillips (39) 1215 1/2 Hampshire for Criminal trespass at Jed's Brewhouse 1007 N. 18th St on 3-6-16. Lodged

Levi E Cook (22) 431 N. 28th for manufacture or delivery of cannabis 10-30 grams at 6th and Payson on 3-5-16. Lodged

Jena A. Chatfield, 22, Quincy for Speeding. PTC
6 years, 7 months ago WTAD newsroom

A Quincy man who was burned Friday morning is in intensive care in a Springfield hospital. Kenny Pratt, 56, of the Neil Oil Company, was in the process of transferring fuel oil from a storage tank to a tanker truck when his clothes caught fire. An ADM spokesperson confirms that the fire happened Friday around 7:30 at an ADM barge loading facility on Front Street.

Firefighters say the fire was caused by a static electricity spark that ignited fumes from the fueling transfer. Pratt was taken to Blessing Hospital, and later to a Springfield hospital, with 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body.

Pratt is in a drug induced coma and underwent the first of many surgeries this past weekend.
MOULTRIE, GA (WTXL) - Police are investigating a shooting at a Community Center in Moultrie which left one woman dead.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, police were called to the Ryce Community Center at around 4:25 p.m. Sunday after receiving reports of a shooting. Investigators said they found 33-year-old Fatisha Clark shot in the abdomen.

Clark was transported to a nearby medical facility where she was pronounced dead, investigators said. They said she was at the community center with her family.

Investigators are still interviewing witnesses and processing evidence. Anyone with information is asked to call the Moultrie Police Department at 229-890-5449 or the GBI office in Thomasville at 229-225-4090.
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Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters.

Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month.
The United States has nearly finished setting up an air base in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria and is proceeding with the construction of a second base for dual military and civilian use, a Kurdish website said on Sunday.

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The Erbil-based news website BasNews, quoting a military source in the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), said most of the work on a runway in the oil town of Rmeilan in Hasaka was complete while a new air base southeast of Kobani, straddling the Turkish border, was being constructed.

The source in the US-backed alliance told the news portal scores of US experts and technicians were involved in the project.

Syrian Kurdish officials had recently said that the Rmeilan airstrip was being used by US military helicopters for logistics and deliveries.

Kurdish forces trying to recapture Sinjar (Photo: AFP)

The United States sent dozens of special operations troops to northern Syria last year to advise opposition forces in their fight against the militant group Islamic State. They have also dropped supply munitions to rebels in the province.

Last month, US advisors backed by coalition air strikes assisted Kurdish-led Syrian rebels in encircling and capturing the strategic Syrian town of Shadadi from Islamic State but were away from the frontlines, US officials said.

The Syrian Kurds have established control over wide areas of northern Syria since the country erupted into civil war in 2011, and their YPG militia has become a major partner in the US-led coalition against Islamic State.

US military ties with the Syrian Kurds have grown deeper despite the concerns of NATO ally Turkey, which views the Syrian Kurdish PYD party as a terrorist group because of its links to the PKK, which is waging an insurgency in Turkey.

The special US presidential envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, Brett McGurk, visited Kurdish-controlled northern Syria several weeks ago in what appeared to be the first declared trip to Syrian territory by an Obama administration official in three years.

McGurk said on Saturday in Baghdad that the coalition was stepping up pressure on Islamic State and that the militants were losing ground in both Syria and Iraq.
Amman - The United States has nearly finished setting up an air base in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria and was proceeding with the construction of a second base for dual military and civilian use, a Kurdish website said on Sunday.

The Erbil-based news website BasNews, quoting a military source in the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), said most of the work on a runway in the oil town of Rmeilan in Hasaka was complete while a new air base southeast of Kobani, straddling the Turkish border, was being constructed.

The source in the US-backed alliance that also includes Arab armed groups told the news portal scores of US experts and technicians were involved in the project.
Authorities will be taking steps on Monday to reinforce security at bus stops in the Gush Etzion region in Judea which have seen multiple knife and vehicular attacks in the recent wave of terror.

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The plan for surrounding bus stops with concrete barriers or metal poles has been in the offing for several years to prevent terrorists from ramming their cars into bystanders.

Yehudah Shaipra, spokesman for the Gush Etzion Regional Council, explained to Tazpit Press Service (TPS) that the authorities decided to secure the transport stations in 2014 shortly after three youths, Eyal Yifrah, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gilad Shaer, 16, were kidnapped by terrorists in the region and later murdered.

Car used in vehicular attack at Gush Etzion Junction (Photo: Israel Fire and Rescue Services)

Its an old plan. When the three boys were kidnapped in Gush Etzion two years ago, everybody asked where the cameras were at this junction. Even to this day, the army has not installed cameras at the junction at which the kidnapping took place, and it has been two years already, Shapira said.

He explained that following the kidnappings, the IDF decided to install cameras at junctions throughout Judea and Samaria, starting with the largest. Moreover, given the number of stabbing and car-ramming attacks that have struck the region, Shapira added that the army has been slow to deliver on its plans to protect bus stops with sufficiently protective and robust barriers.

There are already blocks at the stations, but they are small and are not really able to stop a vehicle travelling at a high speed. We have even seen during recent weeks that cars used in attacks that are travelling fast enough can simply smash (the blocks) down. So, hopefully, from tomorrow they will stronger and better suited, Shapira told TPS.

Asked why he believed that the plan had been so delayed, Shapira said that the armys pace of operations and different budgetary priorities were the main factors.

They have a budget, and then they want to use the money for things deemed more important like building a fence or destroying tunnels. So they allocate the money for those things, and, at the same time, the army works very slowly and takes so much time to make progress due to the bureaucracy involved, Shapira claimed.

Reinforcement of the bus stops will begin on Monday morning in the southern area of the region and will begin on Wednesday in the northern half.

The latest hit-and-run attack to have taken place in the region was on the morning of Friday, March 2 at the Gush Etzion Junction. The attack left one IDF soldier lightly wounded. The terrorist was shot dead by security forces.
Islamist fighters attacked army and police barracks in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday and 13 militants, five civilians and a soldier were killed in the clashes before troops regained control.

The Interior Ministry warned people to stay in their homes as gunfire erupted in the centre of the southern town during the early morning attack. Bodies of dead militants lay in the street near the army barracks, witnesses said.

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a local resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."

An army spokesman said soldiers had killed 13 militants and arrested six after they attacked military and police posts. Hospital sources said at least five civilians had died and one soldier.
Yael Weissman, widow of Sergeant First Class Tuvia Yanai Weissman, killed in a stabbing attack that took place inside a Rami Levy supermarket in Shaar Binyamin in the West Bank, published a post on Facebook accusing government authorities of declining her request to engrave the words fell in battle during a terror attack on her husbands gravestone.

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My beloved Yanai  who would have believed that just a little more than two weeks after the day you fell in heroic battle, during those seconds in which you stormed those terrorists with your hands empty, I would have to contend with systemic inflexibility at its finest. Instead of dealing with how and in what way to commemorate you, I have to deal with making sure the circumstances of your death are accurately stated. I dont have any complaints regarding our great people and the military, which is embracing us, who made sure to appreciate and honor your brave actions.

Tuvia Yanai Weissman. Stormed at the terrorists with empty hands.

She continued, So this is how it works  the writing on the gravestones of fallen IDF soldiers has several pre-selected wordings, theres the wording fell in battle, and theres also the wording fell in a terror attack. An investigation was held; according to its conclusions that were given to the soldier commemoration unit at the Defense Ministry it was decided that the writing on your gravestone would say fell in a terror attack. Yes, just a terror attack. Because thats what was determined, because thats what was investigated.

Mrs. Weissman is requesting that her husbands gravestone bare the writing fell in battle during a terror attack, since he stormed at the two knife-wielding terrorists inside the supermarket. The Defense Ministry has so far rejected her requests, apparently unwilling to acknowledge that Sergeant First Class Weissmans actions constitute taking part in a battle.

Yael Weissman's Facebook post.

The Ministry of Defense responded, saying, The Ministry of Defense shares the heavy grief of the Weissman family. The soldier commemoration unit works according to the regulations of gravestone writing, and determines the circumstances of death according to information it receives from different security bodies.
Immigrant Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin planned to unleash a bombshell during his Bar Ilan speech on Monday, which took place six years after Netanyahu delivered a consequential speech at Bar Illan, cheerfully adopting the two-state solution. According to Elkin, the two-state solution has officially died and the future government of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority, is on the verge of collapse. He postures that the PA will crumble with the retirement or death of President Mahmoud Abbas and that without the PA a state cannot be established.

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"My central claim is that the likelihood the PA will collapse is high. Assessments suggest that the possibility of collapse sits between 40-95%. Israel cannot ignore this development: It needs to prepare for itBut they say that all of this is happening because of there is no political process. That is incorrect. The PA is falling apart because of internal Palestinian political matters. Abu Mazen was Arafat's natural successor and he consolidated his authority after the presidential elections. There is no natural successor to Abu Mazen or a way to hold elections."

I asked Elkin if government ministers want to strengthen the PA or bring on its collapse. Elkin responded, "That is not the question. The PA will collapse in either circumstance. There is no reason to give it an artificial existence, but if you are insisting: OK, let's breathe life into it, but we need to think ahead about the day after collapse simultaneously."

Immigrant Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

I told him that the IDF will not be eager to return to Ramallah or Nablus to assume responsibility for schools, hospitals, and plumbing in refugee camps. On the contrary, the IDF will undertake efforts to prevent the Palestinian governing authority's collapse.

Elkin retorted, "The IDF is held hostage by a concept. It fails to accept the fact that this will happen."

I then asked what will happen. He said, "There will be an internal war in Fatah, Hamas will take control, or there will be anarchy. There also may be local leaders who will assume responsibility, which is not a bad option."

I reminded him that Ariel Sharon previously tried to work with village councils and it ended disastrously.

Nonetheless, he insisted, "If we can organize these arrangements, we will fail. But if someone approaches us, we need to speak with him and study him today."

There is a seed of truth in Elkin's analysis: Since Abu Mazen announced that he intends to retire, a battle of succession has taken place. Possible successors are vying for the crown and want to end cooperation with Israel. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat again proposed ending security cooperation yesterday. He believes that such a move is his entry card to the next stage.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas, US Secretary of State Kerry and Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat (Photo:EPA)

Elkin wishes West Bank cities will transform non-contiguous Palestinian Bantustans led by local leaders, who cannot challenge Israel internationally. That did not work in South Africa nor will it work here.

The government still has not held a discussion on the future of the PA. Netanyahu prefers to maintain his policies or lack thereof. On the one hand, he promised the US State Department that he will prevent the collapse of the PA and is confirming the transfer for 500 million NIS to the Israel Finance and Defense ministers. On the other hand, he is presenting the PA as Israel's most bitter enemy.

I asked Elkin and Ofer Akunis, another Likud minister, about their opinions of the decision to transfer money to the PA. They expressed strong opposition.

"The threats that the PA is on the precipice of collapse are false." Akunis told me. "The PA is tricking us." The data reveals a different reality. International aid to the PA has decreased annually. Until 2012, international aid reached 1.2 million dollars annually. Today it has decreased to 800 million dollars. The US has stopped contributing and Western European states are threatening to follow suit. Those states say when the possibility of an agreement becomes nonexistent; they will no longer provide funds.

It is the dilemma: When there is no political horizon, the PA becomes weak. When the PA becomes weak, it will threaten to crumble.When it threatens to crumble, there will be no security for Israel. The PA is not our sub-contractor; we are working for ourselves.
During a debate between Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Sunday, the former rebuffed accusations that he was not proud of being Jewish.

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When Sanders was asked if he was deliberately keeping his Jewish faith in the background on the campaign trail, said his father's family was wiped out in the Holocaust. He described going shopping with his mother as a boy in Brooklyn, New York, and seeing people with numbers on their arms from Nazi concentration camps.

"I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being," Sanders said.

Describing herself as a "praying person," Clinton said it was hard to imagine living under the pressure of the White House "without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith."

Near the end of a Michigan debate that featured sharp clashes over trade and the auto industry bailout, as well as a lengthy discussion of religion, Clinton and Sanders both said they could not wait to face the brash billionaire in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Sen. Sanders. being Jewish "is an essential part of who I am." (Photo: AP)



"I think Donald Trump's bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people," Clinton said. "We have to end the divisiveness, we have to unify the country."

Sanders said he would "love" to run against Trump and noted many opinion polls showed him faring better against him than Clinton did. He and Clinton urged voters to compare the substance of their debate with the Republican versions, which last week featured name-calling and Trump defending his penis size.

"We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money in mental health," Sanders said, then cracked a joke. "And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health."

Trump frequently says he will beat either Clinton or Sanders. "I am the one person that she does not want to run against," he said of Clinton on Saturday.

The debate in Flint, which is suffering a water contamination and public health crisis, came as Sanders has struggled to slow Clinton's march to the presidential nomination. Sanders picked up some good news on Sunday with a projected win in Maine's caucus.

Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state and first lady, has spoken on the campaign trail of the need for more love and kindness, a contrast to Trump's rhetoric about his plans to deport illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country.

Clinton and Sanders. (Photo: AP)

"I don't intend to get into the gutter with whoever they nominate, but instead to lift our sights," Clinton said in the debate.

Earlier, the two candidates exchanged angry jabs over trade, with Sanders accusing Clinton of backing "disastrous" trade policies that moved manufacturing jobs out of cities like Flint and Detroit and shifted them overseas.

But Clinton said Sanders' opposition to the 2009 auto bailout, a crucial issue in a state that is home to the US auto industry, would have cost millions of jobs. The bailout, which Clinton supported, passed Congress and has been credited with helping save the US industry.

Sanders, 74, a US senator from Vermont and democratic socialist, also questioned the sincerity of Clinton's conversion to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal.

The two contenders cut each other off on several occasions, a rare occurrence in a race that has been much more polite than the raucous Republican presidential campaign.

"Excuse me, I'm talking," Sanders said to Clinton when she tried to interrupt. "If you're going to talk, tell the whole story," Clinton responded.

Sanders pressed his charge that Clinton was too close to Wall Street and demanded again that she release the transcript of paid speeches she has given to Wall Street firms. Clinton said she would release them when all the candidates, including Republicans, also release transcripts of similar talks.

Republican candidates Rubio, Trump, and Cruz. (Photo: EPA)

Throwing up his hands, Sanders said: "I'll release it. Here it is. There ain't nothing! I dont give speeches to Wall Street!"

The debate was held in Flint to highlight the city's water contamination crisis, and both candidates expressed outrage at Flint's plight and demanded Republican Governor Rick Snyder's resignation.

The crisis in Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was triggered when an emergency city manager installed by Snyder switched the city's water supply to the nearby Flint River from Lake Michigan to save money.

The change corroded Flint's aging pipes and released lead and other toxins into the water supply, exposing thousands of residents including children to high lead levels that have sparked serious health problems.
Tommy Hasson, a 22-year-old Druze student who was beaten by a group of Jewish youths over a year ago for the sole reason of speaking Arabic, has not been recognized as a victim of hostilities, and his attackers have not been indicted.

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Adding insult to his injuries is a letter he received from Magen David Adom (MDA), ordering him to pay NIS 493 for the ambulance ride he received, or his bank account will be seized.

Hasson was attacked by ten kippah-wearing Jewish youths near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. He claims they attacked him after they heard him speaking Arabic. Hasson was hospitalized after the attack at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Karem, suffering bruises to the face and neck. The police arrested several suspects, while the Magistrate's Court determined that "this nationalistically-motivated offense is seven times as dangerous, particularly in recent months."

Tommy Hasson.

Hasson, who grew up in the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, is studying at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He spent part of his IDF service as a combatant, and part working at the President's Residence. President Reuven Rivlin, who knew Hasson, phoned his father after the attack, expressing his support. The president later published a post about the matter on his official Facebook page.

However, over a year later, and none of the suspects have been indicted. The Jerusalem Attorneys Office had trouble even locating the case file, even though Ynet made several inquiries about the matter.

In addition, MDA is demanding that Hasson pay for his ambulance ride, since he was not recognized as a hostilities victim by the National Insurance Institute (NII). Hasson said he was not aware that he had to send a request to the NII in order to receive such recognition. When asked, NII officials said they did not recognize Hassons status since law enforcement authorities did not report the incident to them. Only after Ynet contacted it did the NII contact Hasson and begin the process to recognize his status.

Too many months have passed for such a simple request. Wheres the equality? Where are my rights? I pay my dues to the state, (I am) an honest citizen. I served the state for three years in the IDF. On the day of the attack, civilians saw me being attacked and didnt protect me or offer me help. Its disappointing that my case isnt being treated equally, said Hasson.

Hasson, his father Ramzi, and President Rivlin. (Photo: Presidential Residence Spokeperson)

The NII responded by saying, This case, which occurred about a year ago, was not reported to the National Insurance Institute by security bodies or hospitals immediately after the incident, and thus we had no information regarding it. When speaking of a definitive hostilities event, all authorities involved report in real time, and NII workers immediately visit the victims and their families, taking care to grant them all of their rights.

It should be mentioned that the decision to define an incident as a hostilities incident, and the recognition of victims as hostilities victims, is entirely up to the Defense Ministry, and only those approved as hostilities victims will be entitled to payments and NII benefits. Up to now, Mr. Hasson did not contact the NII or ask to be recognized as a hostilities victim. Upon receiving your inquiry, we contacted Mr. Hasson and instructed him on how to file a request.

Hasson after being attacked.

MDA responded by saying, The services of Magen David Adom involve payments, and if a person is entitled to deductions they must contact the insurer themselves. In this case, we are dealing with a person who claims he was harmed in a nationalistically-motivated attack. The decision whether to recognize the patient as a hostilities victim is the NIIs, and so he should coordinate the debt relief with the NII. The MDA went beyond the letter of the law and, in an extraordinary step, froze Mr. Hassons debt proceedings for a whole year, so that he would be able to exercise his full rights with regards to the NII. Unfortunately, during that entire time, Mr. Hasson did not give MDA any documentation showing he was a hostilities victim even though he was asked by us to do so, and so MDA is now resuming collection actions.

The Ministry of Justice did not respond as of this writings publication.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit released on Sunday a quiz in English and Spanish on the website Playbuzz titled "How well do you know Hezbollah?" The quiz aims to bring the fight against the Lebanese terror group to a new frontline - the battle for the international public opinion.

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Over the weekend, a very thorough article in Foreign Policy magazine noted that in the next war in the north, Hezbollah won't stay in Lebanon - but invade Israeli territory, while government officials and the defense establishment define the Lebanese terrorist organization as one of the biggest threats to Israel. Now, the IDF wants to convey that message to the world.

Some of the questions - like who is the leader of the organization, who supports Hezbollah, and in what country did the organization carry out deadly bomb attacks against the Jewish community - seem relatively easy for Israelis. But they are intended for the international community, as part of the IDF's effort to demonstrate exactly how dangerous Hezbollah can be. Try to solve the 15 questions in the IDF's quiz and discover if you are "experts" regarding Hezbollah. The quiz is also available in Spanish.
Border Police officers arrested a Palestinian woman near Abu Dis on Monday after finding a knife in her possession.

The suspect, who raised the suspicion of the fighters at the Kiosk checkpoint, approached the troops with a backpack on her back.

The Border Policemen ordered her to stop and throw her bag to the ground. After searching it, the fighters found a knife inside.

During initial questioning on the scene, the suspect said she planned to commit an attack against security forces.
The wife of a criminal who testified against a crime boss was shot to death in her car in front of her three children on Sderot Yerushalayim Street in Be'er Sheva on Monday evening. Police said the shooting was likely criminal in nature.

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A witness told Ynet the children, who were unharmed, told him "an Arab shot her and ran away."

Large number of police forces arrived at the scene and were searching for the shooter and his weapon.

Neighbors who heard the gunfire called police and Magen David Adom paramedics, who evacuated the woman, around 30 years old, to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva in serious condition, suffering wounds to her upper body. She was declared dead at the hospital.

Scene of the shooting (Photo: Ilana Curiel)

Eight members of the woman's family arrived at the hospital, where they received the news she had passed away. They cried out in agony, pounded on doors, kicked objects and fell to the floor, while saying "it can't be," "Mom, mom," "say it's not true," "what have they done to us?"

One of the family members tried to calm another, telling her "Be strong now for the children."
At least 10 people who participated in the "wedding of hate," including the groom, are expected to face charges in the case, Ynet learned on Monday evening.

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Videos filmed at the Jerusalem wedding of Yakir and Ronny Ashbal in December show guests dancing while brandishing firearms and Molotov cocktails, and mocking the murder of Palestinian baby Ali Dawabshe - who was burned to death along with his parents in an arson attack at his home in Duma - by stabbing a photo of his with a knife and trying to set it on fire

Police's Judea and Samaria District's Nationalistic Crimes Unit conducted the investigation into the wedding. The investigative material has already been transferred to the State Attorney and returned to police for final additions.

Footage from the wedding

X

Among those who are expected to be indicted are also minors, who are facing charges of indictement and illegal possession of arms.

The groom, Yakir Ashbal, was interrogated shortly after images and videos from the wedding were released to the press. He was arrested and released several days later. Other youth and radical right wing activists were also arrested. All of them were released after a few days.

In addition, some of the wedding guests were hilltop youth who were breaking a court order barring them from meeting with other hilltop youth who were present.

Footage from the wedding led to outrage on both the left and right wing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "The shocking pictures that were broadcast this evening show the true face of a group that constitutes a danger to Israeli society and to the security of Israel. We are not prepared to accept people who deny the laws of the state and do not view themselves as subject to them. The pictures underscore how important a strong Shin Bet is to the security of us all."

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called the wedding guests: "Crazy, wretched people. You forgot what it means to be Jewish. You are disgracing the kippah, the talit and God. Those who dance at a wedding and celebrate the murder of a baby in his sleep are not Jews nor are they Israelis. They need to be locked behind bars, as soon as possible."

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, who represents some of the suspects and was at the wedding himself, said in response to the intention to press charges: "It turns out that the State Attorney has a lot of free time, and the waving of a photo gets precedence over cases of murder, rape and drugs. So be it, but I'd suggest the State Attorney started by filing indictment against guests at weddings in Umm al-Fahm and Arara, where in many of the weddings there are shootings and cursing the State of Israel and incitement to murder Jews."
Israeli Arab parties Balad and Hadash, who are part of the Joint Arab List, slammed Monday the decision of the Gulf Cooperation Council to label Hezbollah as a terrorist organization

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"Hezbollah fights against Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and this decision only serves the interests of Israel and the US," a Balad spokesperson said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Photo: AFP/ Al-Manar

Balad officials explained that they view the decision by the interior ministers of the GCC as dangerous because they are fueling the Sunni-Shia conflict, and, as they put it, adding fuel to the fire of this bloody conflict. Furthermore, the Balad officials claimed, the decision serves to widen the sectarian divisions in Lebanon, Syria, and the wider Arab world.

They also said that "the party doesn't believe that it is correct to tag Hezbollah - an organization which represents a large part of the Lebanese nation - as a terrorist organization, despite criticism over its participation in the fighting in Syria."

Hanin Zoabi, Ayman Odeh, and Jamal Zahalka (Photo: Noam Moskovitz)

The GCC officially decided to label Hezbollah as a terrorist organization last Wednesday.

"This is a militia. The incitement and terror which Hezbollah perpetrates in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq go against moral and human values," said GCC Secretary General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani

The gulf countries have warned in the past of their intentions to brand Hezbollah a terror organization, but the decision to do so now will give them more freedom of operation vis-a-vis Hezbollah, and they will be able to operate against them more aggressively than before.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by asking how they would respond when Hezbollah fires rockets at their communities.

Avigdor Liberman, Yisrael Beytenu Chairman, attacked Balad and Hadash's statement. "This is more than absurd, and only proves again that with every day that passes in which this group of terrorists continues to sit in the Knesset, it is a disgrace to Israeli democracy. It is now clear that the Joint Arab List not only represents the most extreme fringes of Israeli-Arab society, but also the most extreme fringes of Arab society in general."

Avigdor Liberman (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Liberman went on to say that "instead of (Prime Minister) Netanyahu dealing with the suspension bill, which has no real value, he should support the laws which Yisrael Beytenu put forth, thereby getting rid of these traitors, and making them sit in jail where they belong, as opposed to sitting in the Knesset."

Transportation Minister Yisral Katz (Likud) requested the Knesset Ethics Committee to examine Balad and Hadash's statement. "It is simply unbelievable that these members of the Israeli Knesset are sabotaging the interests of Israel. I call on Ayman Odeh and Jamal Zahalka to join Azmi Bishara in Qatar or Syria. Those are the places for these traitors," Katz said.

Chaiman of the Knesset House Committee, David Bitan (Likud), also attacked the condemnation. "There's nothing left to do but regret the fact that the High Court of Justice did not disqualify Balad from being able to stand in the elections," Bitan said, and added that he will consider asking the Attorney General to examine whether or not the statements support terror.
BEIRUT/GENEVA - A Syrian or Russian air strike reportedly killed a dozen people at a market in northwestern Syria on Monday, straining a cessation of hostilities agreement meant to pave the way for peace talks.

In a further upsurge in violence, al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamist insurgents not included in the US-Russian agreement attacked government forces in a neighboring province, a monitoring group said.

The death toll from the air strike on a market selling diesel in rebel-held Idlib province was likely to rise, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that it did not know whether the Syrian government or its Russian ally was responsible.

Riad Hijab, chairman of the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said "tens" of people had been killed in what he described as a massacre. There was no word from the Syrian government, which has said it is respecting the agreement.
US Vice President Joe Biden will land in Israel on Tuesday afternoon, six years after his last visit.

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Biden's main objective for the visit is working to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding between Israel and the United States, which will ensure Washington's continued security aid to Jerusalem for the next 10 years.

It is unlikely a final agreement will be reached on the Memorandum of Understanding, which is supposed to replace the previous one signed in 2007, but the vice president will work to advance the issue and to convince the prime minister to sign the Memorandum before President Barack Obama leaves office.

Biden and Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem in 2014 (Photo: GPO)

Biden will also work to advance negotiations between Israel and Turkey on the normalization of ties, which is an American interest as it would increase stability in the region and serve as a counter-balance to the Shi'ite terror axis of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. The Americans see the natural gas reserves discovered off the shores of Israel as a catalyst to form this counter-bloc, and Biden is expected to raise this issue with Netanyahu.

Biden's first stop in Israel will be at the Peres Center for Peace, where he will meet with former Israeli president Shimon Peres and learn of some of the projects the center is leading. Biden will then have dinner with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and on Wednesday he will meet with both Israel's current president, Reuven Rivlin, and with Netanyahu.

On Wednesday evening, the American vice president will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Biden's last official visit to Israel in 2010 (he arrived in Israel in January 2014 to attend former prime minister Ariel Sharon's funeral - IE) ended with a massive clash between Israel and the US after Jerusalem published tenders for the construction of 1,600 housing units beyond the Green Line, which was seen by the Americans as a slap in the face and an attempt to embarrass Biden.

Biden and Netanyahu at the funeral of former PM Sharon (Photo: Reuters)

Netanyahu apologized and claimed the publication of the tenders was done by government bureaucrats who did not coordinate it with the leadership. The process has been changed as a result of the incident, and decisions on construction in sensitive areas now must receive the approval of the Prime Minister's Office.

This time, both the American administration and the Israeli government went out of their way to ensure there are no settlement construction announcements that could embarrass Biden again.

Biden is considered the "good cop" of the Obama administration when it comes to Israel and, unlike Obama who does not have any particular sentiments towards Israel, Biden is considered someone who has warm sentiments towards Israel and, also unlike Obama, towards Netanyahu himself.

Netanyahu and Biden meet in Washington in 2011 (Photo: GPO)

However, Biden harshly criticized Netanyahu in the past, among other things for his attempt to appoint Ran Baratz, who called President Obama an "anti-Semite," as Israel's new public relations chief. Biden also boycotted Netanyahu's speech to Congress on the Iran nuclear deal , which further deteriorated the already strained relations between Israel and the US.

Netanyahu addressed Biden's visit at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying "This visit expresses the strong relations between Israel and our ally the US. There are those who have predicted the collapse of these relations  it is not so. The relationship is strong in all areas and also in face of the challenges that we are standing together against in our region; I will discuss this, of course, with the Vice President during his visit."

Biden will arrive in Israel with his family and grandchildren for a personal visit. He cleared half a day to spend time with his family, at the end of which they will have a family dinner. In May 2015, his son Beau Biden passed away after a long fight against brain cancer. This was the second tragedy Biden experienced, after his first wife and daughter died in a car accident in 1972.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to cancel a planned trip to Washington on March 20 to speak at the AIPAC Policy Conference, and will instead address the conference via satellite link. Sources close to the prime minister said there are two reasons for the cancelation of the visit: Primarily, the fact that the Memorandum of Understanding has not been finalized yet, and Biden was coming to Israel to discuss it, and secondly because Netanyahu did not want to get sucked into the primaries in the US.

The White House had offered two weeks ago to host Netanyahu for a meeting with Obama on March 18, before the president leaves for a historic visit to Cuba, but has learned through media reporters that the visit was off.

"We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, and we were surprised to first learn via media reports that the prime minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit," said Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

"Reports that we were not able to accommodate the prime minister's schedule are false," Price said in an emailed statement.
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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After a testing period in the suburbs of Sydneys northern beaches, followit has now gone live in Perth and Freemantle, with the platform allowing users to customise a feed of real estate opportunities that suits their criteria.

One of the things thats made social media so popular is the ability to follow, followit board member Michael Sheargold said.

If I had to go back and search every time I wanted some info on someone, I probably wouldnt do it that often, but the fact that I can follow you and the technology does it for me and delivers the info to my phone is perfect and followit makes that capability available for real estate, Sheargold said.

Just as they would when selecting people to follow on Facebook or Instagram, followit allows people to select the information they wish to see, with the app providing them with updates from the specific real estate agents suburbs, streets or properties of their choosing.

When an agent posts an update, heres a new listing or heres a price adjustment or this propertys just been sold or heres a new open time, it means investors get to see that info immediately, Sheargold said.

From an investor point of view its great because it allows you to set what you want. You can say I want to buy a house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms in a particular price range in a particular area. Youll see whats on the market now, but as soon as something new comes on youll get notified of that too.

The app also works in the same way for rental markets, allowing potential tenants to be notified of rental properties that fit their criteria in specific areas

Sheargold believes followit will be an enhancement to current methods used by people to track property markets, with the anonymity it provides to be a major selling point.

The agents cant see whos following them. So that means I can look for a property voyeur and I can keep track of whats happening in the market place without being bugged by an agent.

I can choose to be notified of new listings or recently sold properties and get a really good idea of whats happening in a particular area and then choose when I want to get in contact and take the next step.

Sheargold said followit is expected be operating live across all of Australia by the end of 2016.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on...
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About ZVTS

Even with the Biden Administration adults in charge and Democrats in control on Congress (barely), there remains an increasingly crumbling global economy imperiling the world, rising nationalism and deadly racism across Europe and Asia, a seemingly endless war against terror, a federal government nobody trusts or believes in, global climate change putting us on the brink of destruction and a Village media that barely does its job on even the best day.



Needless to say there's a lot of Stupid out there when we need solutions . Dangerous levels of Stupid.



Into the fray, dear Reader. Tray tables, crash helmets, arms inside blog at all times.
My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends. <BR><BR> When I went to college I read about globalisation, about the invasion of markets by foreign goods and of absolute wiping out of the local economy by organized production houses. But I could not understand these things till one day while crossing from near my school my eyes failed to spot that old ice cream walla whose presence had become such an inseparable part of the entire set up. It came as a rude shock to me that his place was now taken by three four colourful wheeled vans endorsing attractive logos and pictures of branded ice cream. <BR><BR> That changes are always for better or worse is like putting an emotion into plain black and white. I may have in my own personal way some attachment with the white stick ice cream or with the more expensive soapy, frothy softie of my school days but the accessibility, taste and variety that the present day ice cream industry is offering is no doubt incomparable. <BR><BR> Who would have thought barely a decade ago of eating ice creams made of real fresh fruits- a la Gelato Vittorio or a cool creamy liquid fried in hot boiling oil or what is called today the fried ice cream. <BR><BR> In India the ice cream industry took sometimes to catch the global cue because the country has an indigenous rich and well developed dessert market. What ice cream would stand in competition against Indian sweets? But no you cant say so just because you are born in the land of Kulfi. You will have the authority only when you taste Baked Alaska (an ice-cream sponge cake dish topped with meringue), Arctic roll (British dessert made of vanilla and flour), Adzuki (Japanese red bean ice cream) and Dondruma( a Turkish ice made of salep and mastic resin). <BR><BR> We Indians who generally go gaga over a handful of varieties that Baskin Robbins offers are unaware of the fact that the company actually makes 1000 flavours! What we get in India generally as branded ice cream is nothing but milk and corn flour seasoned with a few chemicals and packed in attractive cones, cups and cornettos. Our knowledge of Ice cream is so poor that we do not even know what cornetto is! Most of us think it is the name of an ice cream that Kwality offers. Update your dictionary- it is actually the registered name of an improved variety of waffle cone that does not become soggy and that was invented and patented by an Italian firm called Spica in 1960! <BR><BR> The world offers so much in shape of that delicate, cool, tender delight called ice cream that I being a lover of it feel choked with emotion at my own minisculeness and misfortune of not having tasted even a fraction of that tremendous, rich and inexhaustible treasure. What is thy life O mortal, my heart cries out, if thou hast not known the glories of the Australian Giant Sandwich Monster, the Manoco Bar, the Irish Scottish Sliders, the Argentine Helado, the Greek Kimaki and the Japanese Macha! <BR><BR> Sometimes I wonder whether there is an intricate connection between the survival of a race and its appetite for ice cream! Otherwise why would the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese and the Persians survive the ravages of time and the Glorious Harappan civilization fade into oblivion? And let us be pragmatic and not blame some harmless ecology or innocent river for their decline. The reason I am sure was hidden in their food habits-they having failed to secure the divine blessings of the Gods. Yes, thats precisely what the ancient Greeks called ice cream! Imagine what foodies they must have been that nearly 4000 years ago they got for themselves ice houses constructed at the banks of Euphrates and as early as 5th century BC they began its marketing by selling ice cones mixed with fruit and honey. A honey flavoured cornetto.! <BR><BR> Roman emperor Nero (62 AD) was fond of fruit ice cream and hence sent his servants to fetch ice from mountains! The Falooda that we eat today is actually a Persian dish Faloodeh made from starch and has its origin around 400BC. The Chinese who claim to be the pioneers in almost everything -be it the first currency notes, the first stint with silk or the first to flood the markets of neighbours with cheap plastic goods-were not far behind in making ice cream too. They are credited to have invented a device that made quick ice using salt peter (no, it was not imported from Bihar, China had enough of it). <BR><BR> The unfortunate Charles I whom the world knows as an autocrat, a despot, a tyrant, an enemy of democracy and parliament was also a lover of ice cream! It is said that he made his chef keep the formula a secret so that it remained a royal prerogative. <BR><BR> Our great Mughals, we should not forget were the die hard lovers of food and all that is rich and luxurious in the modern Indian cuisine has a Mughal origin. So they too loved ice cream and they too enjoyed it in royal feasts and ceremonies. When they could get choicest fruits from Farghana and Samarquand and the best wines from Persia, why couldnt they send relays of horsemen to bring ice from Hindukush for their aromatic fruit sherbets? <BR><BR> But were sending horsemen to run and fetch ice or storing ice in underground icehouses near rivers, the only way of making ice creams in those days? Sadly, yes. And thats why the common man remained deprived of and unknown to its delectable taste. But lets thank Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia who first got the patent for a small hand run ice cream freezer. Gradually with the coming of electricity there also came a revolution in ice cream making. Thereafter Giant corporates like Howard Johnson, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Gelato Vittorio, Ben and Jerrys, Haagen Dazs and Carvel changed the concept of ice cream in the world. Soft serves, Sundaes and super premiums began to be offered by shops next door. <BR><BR> Thanks to globalisation, the world has really become a small place to live in. Today I can access any ice cream from the world over in my local confectionary shop. but among the confused tastes of multitudinous flavours I some how always try to find that one singular taste of the white stick ice-cream which trickled through my fingers and ran into my nursery uniformspoiling it but leaving an imprint on my memory which has failed to faint in all these years.
New Delhi: The election bugle has been sounded for four states and a union territory and Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a daunting task after its two back-to-back humiliating defeats in Delhi and Bihar.

The party can fancy its chances in Assam only where Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is battling anti-incumbency after staying in power for 15 years. In the remaining states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and union territory of Puducherry, it has very negligible presence.

The BJP is desperate to expand its footprint in the remote northeastern part of the country after its astonishing performance in Assam in the last general elections where it bagged seven out of the 14 seats. This time, the BJP has stitched together a formidable alliance by netting its off-an-on ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a former ally of the Congress - Bodoland People`s Front - and dissident Congress leaders.

BJP`s state chief Sarbananda Sonowal, who has been declared the chief ministerial candidate, was a long time associate of AGP before he joined hands with the saffron party. It also embraced 10 Congress MLAs led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, an influential minister in the Gogoi cabinet, after their defections.

The BJP will be banking heavily on the experience of Sarma, who oversaw the last assembly elections and engineered the Congress` astounding victory when political pundits were writing the obituary of the grand old party in the state. The Congress triumphed in 79 of the 126 seats.

On the paper, the BJP looks set to upset the applecart of the Congress, which failed to strike a pre-poll alliance with Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

Their common vote bank - the Muslim vote - is likely to be split as both the parties derive maximum political strength from Muslim-dominated areas. The AIUDF doubled its strength from 9 to 18 in the last assembly elections contesting on 77 seats.The BJP has improved its vote share between the 2011 assembly election and 2014 general elections incredibly.

From 11.5 percent, the BJP`s vote share jumped more than three-fold to 36.5 percent in the last parliamentary elections. In contrast, the Congress` vote share fell down from 39.9 percent in 2011 to 29.9 percent in the general elections, a massive erosion of 10 percent in its vote share.

It remains to be seen whether the BJP will succeed in repeating or improving its 2014 performance because the saffron party was helped largely by a massive wave in favour of Modi then. Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra since then.

There has been dip in the popularity of Modi as he has struggled to implement any of his much flaunted promises. To make matters worse, the economy is not doing as well as one expected.

The BJP in Assam represents a rainbow party with members largely drawn from other parties. It has recruited Congress dissidents, members of the All Assam Students` Union (AASU), the student wing of the AGP and surrendered cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which waged an armed struggle against the state.

Even its face in the state, Sonowal, was president of AASU. It will be interesting to watch how this rag-tag bunch of politicians stays together as everybody will be demanding its pound of flesh.As of now, it is advantage BJP as it has tied up with AGP and Bodoland People`s Front (BPF).

All the three parties have a common cause as far as their opposition to the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is concerned.
Raipur: At least seven persons were arrested for vandalising a church, attacking worshippers during Sunday prayer in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

According to NDTV report, the men were traced through the three motorbikes they left at the venue after attacking the church on Sunday afternoon. They were arrested on Sunday night.

Around 25 men, allegedly belonging to Bajrang Dal outfit, launched an attack on the church on Sunday. "They shouted 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans and accused the church members (apparently priest) of converting people from different religions to Christians," one of the eye-witnesses told ANI.

The attackers not only roughed up men and women but also attacked the children present during Sunday prayer. According to another eye-witness, one of the men tore up the women's clothes and knocked a 2-year-old child on the floor.

Around 65 worshippers were present at the venue at that time. "The men soon fled away after learning the arrival of police at the place", Arjun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh's Christian Forum told reporters on Sunday.
New Delhi: Germany will partner with India to develop Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore as smart cities.

"Germany would contribute to India's smart city programme and will help develop the cities of Kochi(Kerala), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Coimbatore(Tamil Nadu) as smart cities," State Secretary in Germany's Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Gunther Adler, told reporters here.

The three cities are among the 20 cities which are to be developed as smart cities, announced by Urban Development Ministry in January this year.

Germany had earlier set up a six-member joint committee with India to identify the cities which it could develop as smart cities.

The committee had two representatives of Urban Development Ministry, one from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and three from Germany.

German Ambassador to India Martin Ney, addressing the press conference, said Germany is an ideal partner in India's mission to create smarter cities as the country is "very strong at smart planning for urban centres".

"We have developed the technologies to make life in cities easier. We have developed the processes to bring on board the stakeholders to make cities thrive and German companies have developed smart solutions to make smart cities," he said.

Germany had already been engaged in various fields related to smart cities-such as sustainable urban mobility, water and waste-water management, renewable energies and energy efficiency, the Ambassador said.

"We have been supporting important Indian initiatives such as 'Swachh Bharat', National Mission for Clean Ganga and Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation," he added.

Germany is India's second largest bilateral donor with a record commitment of 1.5 billion Euros (Rs 11,0000 crore) agreed last year, Ney said.

Meanwhile, India and the US have also agreed on formulating action plans for development of smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam.
New Delhi: As row over Afzal Guru event in JNU fails to die down, Union HRD Minister on Monday held a meeting with RSS and ABVP leaders in Delhi.

The meeting to discuss JNU row is being held in Delhi, CNN-IBN reported.

Earlier, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charges, was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court on Thursday on condition that he will cooperate in the ongoing investigation.

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.
New Delhi: The JNU Students Union on Monday alleged that varsity Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi made a "false" statement before a probe panel that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and other student leaders had a meeting with him (Zutshi) on the day of controversial Afzal Guru event.

Zutshi had claimed, deposing before the high-power enquiry committee constituted by Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, that Kanhaiya Kumar was against the authorities' decision to cancel permission of the February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The university issued a press statement today saying the, "Registrar had a meeting with three JNUSU representatives - Kanhaiya Kumar, Rama Naga and Saurabh Sharma (ABVP) on February 9 for discussion on route for newly acquired bus for physically challenged students of JNU".

Zutshi has made the same statement before the probe panel inquiring into an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The students union, however, claimed that Zutshi's statement was "false and no such meeting took place."

"We want to condemn the false statements made by JNU Registrar. I have checked with other JNUSU office-bearers. There was no such meeting of Zutshi with JNUSU President and General Secretary, on February 9 as described by him in his statements. The other office-bearers did not even meet one another, let alone meeting the Registrar together," JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora said in a statement.

Zutshi, is also under criticism from a section of students and teachers for allegedly mishandling the issue.

Meanwhile, the students union is holding a council meeting tonight to discuss the "onslaught on JNU and future course of action".

The meeting has been called by general secretary Rama Naga, who is among the six students whose role in the February 9 event is being probed.

"Fight for justice for Rohith Vemula and installation of portrait of poet Vidrohi in JNUSU office and Vidrohi Bhawan," are the two other agendas for the meeting.

However, Saurabh Sharma, joint secretary JNUSU and the only ABVP member in the union, said that Rama Naga has no authority to call a council meeting in the face of charges and discrepancies he is facing.

"The council meeting has been called by Rama Naga the general secretary of the JNUSU. Naga is facing sedition charges and has also been debarred from JNU in addition to facing proctorial enquiry. After the February 9 incident he was absconding and surfaced on the February 21 He has no authority to call a council meeting," he said.

Saurabh also said ABVP is demanding resignation of Kanhaiya, Naga and Shehla.

"We are also demanding that the president, vice president and general secretary should resign on moral ground because they maligned the JNU and participated in Anti national activities," Sharma said.
Bhopal: A 26-year-old trainee Merchant Navy officer from here has disappeared from his ship en-route to Mozambique under mysterious circumstances, his brother claimed on Monday and demanded a CBI probe.

"My brother Sandeep Yadav had last talked to us 12 days ago before he went missing on March 2. He is a trainee electrical officer of 'MT Jag Pushpa' ship of the Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited," Bhupendra Yadav told PTI.

Bhupendra said their father Nandram, a police head constable, received a call from the company's Mumbai office on March 3 about Sandeep having gone missing from the vessel, which had started from Vadinar in Gujarat, while it was sailing in Indian Ocean.

"I left for Mumbai on March 4 and after reaching the company's office at Ocean House, Worli, I spoke with the captain of the ship.

"The captain informed me that Sandeep's cabin mate Abhishek told him that Sandeep was having a headache and didn't turn up (for duty).

"When Abhishek reached the cabin, he found Sandeep sleeping. Next day (on March 2), when he woke up he didn't find my brother," Bhupendra said.

The captain searched for Sandeep, but could not find him, he added.

"I tried to lodge a complaint with Worli police but in vain," he said, adding that the company has assured him of an inquiry.

"However, we need a CBI probe into my brother going missing," Bhupendra said.

He claimed that he dialled 'Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Helpline' and raised the issue but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, local MP Alok Sanjar called upon Sandeep's family this evening and assured them of organising a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to trace him.

"I am taking the family of Sandeep to Delhi and will take up the issue with External Affairs Ministry. I will provide all possible help to the troubled family," Sanjar said.

03072002

NNNN
Tura/Meghalaya: Thousands today bade tearful farewell to former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma as his remains were laid to rest at his hometown Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills.

Speaking at the state funeral function at PM Stadium here before his mortal remains were laid to rest, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma hailed Purno A Sangma as a great political personality, who was able to link Meghalaya, north- eastern region and the country with the rest of the world.

"The country, Northeast and Meghalaya will always remember his contribution," the Chief Minister said while describing him as a man of the masses.

As Sangma's mortal remains were taken from his residence to the stadium for the state funeral attended by thousands, messages from the President of India, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, Governor SC Jamir, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh were read out on the occasion.

Member of Lok Sabha from Shillong, Vincent Pala who represented the Northeast MP Forum said Purno A Sangma was the first tribal to become the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and he would be remembered as a man who could run the Parliament with a smile.

The Leader of Opposition of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister, Donkupar Roy expressed appreciation how Sangma had asked him to take over the reins as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

Before the departed leader's mortal remains were taken to the stadium for the state function, a short prayer service was held at his residence at Wakbakgre, where all the family members and friends including Bishop Andrew R Marak of the Catholic Tura Diocese and faithfuls took part.

Later, the mortal remains of P A Sangma were laid to rest at the Catholic cemetery located near Bishop's House in Tura.
Chandigarh: A 'bill war' has begun between Centre and Punjab over Pathankot terror attack operations.

The bone of the contention is that Centre has sent a bill of Rs 6.35 crore to Punjab government asking it to pay the amount for the paramilitary forces deployed during the Pathankot terror attack in January.

The Union Home Ministry has asked Punjab to pay for deployment of 20 companies of paramilitary forces between January 2 and January 27 in Pathankot and nearby areas during anti-terror operations, according to a report in TOI.

The Home Ministry's letter states that the expenditure for each company is Rs 1,77,143 a day.

The letter also directed the Punjab government to bear transportation charges.

Punjab government has refused to pay the bill.

Noteworthy, Akali Dal (ruling party in Punjab) is a part of BJP-led NDA at the Centre.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee has opted out of the World Culture Festival to be held on the banks of River Yamuna in New Delhi. Media reports say that the President has expressed his inability to attend the event.

Organised by The Art of Living , a UN-accredited global NGO headed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, WCF aims to be the first such historic gathering to celebrate peaceful co-existence and unity in diversity as it brings together people from different cultures, nations, and faiths as a one-world family in a resounding message of peace.

The WCF, which is being hosted from March 11-13, will feature a diverse program of cultural performances, addresses by dignitaries, an interfaith meet and platforms for leadership discussions.

Through the presentation of traditional and country- specific dance, music, art and costumes from around the world, the festival aims to foster a deeper mutual understanding between people of different faiths, nationalities and backgrounds, an important concern of the Art of Living.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the event.

The WCF was hit by a controversy after a committee appointed by NGT recommended fining the Art of Living Foundation Rs 120 crore for damage to Yamuna floodplains while making preparations for the event.

The Delhi Development Authority has claimed that they were not informed of the scale of the event.

However the The Art of Living founder has said that the event will take place as planned on the venue.
New Delhi: Following intelligence of suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba infiltration through the Gujarat-Pakistan border, a multi-city terror alert has been issued to ensure no untoward incident happens and terror attacks are averted.

Tier two cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panji have also been alerted about possible attacks.

Besides Delhi where the alert was specifically issued yesterday, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Bangalore have also been alerted through security agencies.

According to the intelligence by Pakistan, while the terror suspects have entered India through Gujarat, there was no information on their subsequent movement which is why a multi city, pan India, alert was issued.

Gujarat went on alert due to information that 10 terrorists have crossed over from Pakistan into the border state.

The Centre had sent out a precautionary alert, calling for a heightened vigil, particularly in Delhi given that Parliament is in session.

Earlier today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on internal security in Delhi in the wake of the terror threat.

Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials were also present for the meeting besides senior Home Ministry officials.

Meanwhile, four National Security Guard teams have been deployed in Gujarat in which three teams have been sent to Ahmedabad and one in Somnath where devotees are gathering for Shivratri celebrations.

"We got the input yesterday after which all the police across Gujarat was alerted. There are continuous combing operations and several check posts have been set up. We are searching for suspects involved in different activities and every possible protective measure is being taken," Gujarat Director General of Police PC Thakur told the media here.

Appealing to the people of Gujarat that they should not panic, Thakur assured that the security forces are ready to counter the situation.

In Gujarat, this is a second major alert about a possible terror strike in the state, which shares land and sea border with Pakistan.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor (NSA) Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about a group of fidayeen from the Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammed cadres on a mission to a major terror strike in the state.
New Delhi: Activist Trupti Desai was detained again by police early Tuesday morning when she, alongwith other members of Bhumata Brigade , was marching towards the Trimbakeshwar Temple.

She was detained at a place called Nandur Shingote near Pune-Nashik border in Maharashtra.

"Is this what "achche din" meant? We condemn this action by Police. We've been detained for no reason, we were heading to Trimbakeshwar temple in a peaceful manner," said Desai after her arrest.

She also appealed Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to interfere in the matter and allow them to enter the Trimbakeshwar Temple.

"Where is the CM? We want him to intervene and allow us entry into Trimbakeshwar temple," added Desai.

However, later Desai was released.

After her release, she again reiterated, "This is an insult to women, are these acche din? We were just peacefully protesting," as per ANI.

Police had said at the time of detention that all the detained women would be released after following the legal process and had termed their action as an attempt to ensure law and order situation in the area.

"We have detained around 100 women considering law and order situation, they will be released after following due procedure," a senior police officer had said at that time, as per ANI.

After the agitation at Shani Shingnapur Temple, the Bhumata Brigade has now demanded women's entry into sanctum sanctorum of Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik.

Trupti Desai, who made headlines early this year over entry into Shani Shingnapur Temple, was leading the march to Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik, where women are prohibited traditionally.
New Delhi: A line was drawn between Attari and Wagah in 1947. Partition not just uprooted people from their homes and farms but also forced Sikhs and Hindus to abandon their places of worship in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In the following decades the population of Hindus and other minorities witnessed a steady decline and with that many famous temples were abandoned or were 'occupied' by others.

But two temples have been resuscitated in recent years. Unwavering faith of devotees and some help from the Pakistani government ensured that they are back to being 'temples'  a no mean feat in an increasingly Islamic Pakistan.

Chitti Gatti Shiva Linga Temple

Situated along the Karakoram Highway, around 10 kilometres from Mansehra, the temple at Chitti Gatti houses the largest Shiv Linga in Pakistan.

Said to be over 2000 years old, the temple was sealed in 1948 by locals, who also occupied the land surrounding the temple. It remained inaccessible to the minuscule Hindu population in the region till 1998 when Hindus reclaimed this important part of their faith and heritage.

The temple has been partially restored and attracts pilgrims from across Pakistan, especially on Maha Shivratri. The restoration was largely driven by Pakistani Hindus, who chipped in with money and labour.

Katas Raj Temple

The magnificent Katas Raj Shiv temple in Chakwal district of Punjab is one of the most important and sacred Hindu sites in Pakistan.

Katas Raj actually comprises seven temples  only three survive today - built around the circumference of a holy pond.

As per the legend associated with the temple, the pond was formed when Lord Shiva shed two tears at the demise of his beloved wife Sati. While one tear drop created the pond at Katas Raj, the other drop fell at Pushkar in Ajmer.

With the departure of the Hindus of north Punjab, Katas Raj turned into an abandoned ruin  its pond filled with garbage.

Hindus of the region finally woke up in 1982 to the need to restore its glory.

The Pakistani government also responded by allowing Indian pilgrims  albeit in small numbers  to visit the temple on Mahashivaratri.

This year the Pakistan government has granted visas to 125 Indian pilgrims to visit Katas Raj.
New Delhi: Lawyer Vikram Chauhan is in the eye of the storm. He is accused of attacks on journalists and JNU students in Delhi's Patiala House court complex. However, Chauhan claims that he became a 'victim' of media trial as he is a 'nationalist' and stood against the people who wanted to break India into pieces.

In an exclusive conversation with Zee News, the lawyer spoke on a number of issues ranging from Afzal Guru event in JNU to Patiala House assault episode, here are the excerpts:-

'I am getting threats for saying Vande Matram, Bharat Mata ki Jai'

Vikram Chauhan says that he has received calls and messages (online) threatening to kill him and harm his family after the Patiala House incident.

"I'm being targeted as I chanted slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki jai' and 'Vande Matram'; unfortunately, nowadays there are some people who organise event on terrorist Afzal Guru and raise slogans like 'Afzal hum sharminda hain, tere kaatil zinda hain'," Vikram Chauhan alleged.

Vikram Chauhan said that he has filed a complaint in Delhi's Tilak Marg police station in connection with threat calls.

'I'm a victim of media trial'

Vikram Chauhan alleges that some news channels are conducting his trial through media.

"Is asking anyone to say Bharat Mata ki jai or Vande Matram a hooliganism?"

"Some media channels are calling me 'gunda' (hooligan); if they want to take action against me, they must move court, how can they call me goon?" asks Vikram Chauhan saying that he respects judiciary.

"They can easily call me goon but they can't see people who insult the entire judiciary by calling Afzal Guru's hanging a judicial killing," Chauhan alleged slamming Umar Khalid.

"Some channels showed a Facebook picture of mine with Rajnath Singh; but they didn't show picture in which I'm with ex-Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit because they wanted to target me and BJP," Chauhan alleged.

"Two FIRs have already been filed against me," says Chauhan.

Patiala House brawl: '100-150 JNU students attacked me first'

According to Vikram Chauhan, what happened in Patiala House court was unfortunate and saddening as JNU students attacked him first.

"When lawyers asked some JNU students to vacate the court room, they asked us to show our ID cards, this resulted in a heated argument," Chauhan alleged.

"They (at least 100 JNU students and Kanhaiya supporters) attacked the lawyers first," Chauhan claimed.

'Rahul had time to visit JNU but not Malda'

"Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi easily got the time to visit JNU 'to do politics' but he never tried to visit Malda because of obvious reasons," says Chauhan.

'Thanks to BJP MP Maheish Girri for FIR'

Paying thanks to Maheish Girri for filing FIR against alleged anti-national activities in JNU, Chauhan says it was very timely action by the BJP as it 'averted' major anti-national activities on JNU campus.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday rubbished the Congress criticism of the government over the Naga accord and said that the grand old party`s version of the same on microblogging site Twitter was not right.

The Indian National Congress (INC) has on its Twitter handle posted a Press Information Bureau (PIB) report published on August 3, 2015, as saying `PM witnesses signing of historic peace accord between Government of India and Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)`.

In the same tweet, the Congress posted a written answer by Rijiju on March 1 in response to questions (a) & (b) in the Lok Sabha, which says, "Government of India has not signed any Naga Accord in recent years.

"Rijiju, however, in his defence said, "The page that they have seen had some old draft, which is not our official version. I have got our official version checked, and according to that we have done a framework agreement with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), which will work as a guiding principal in finding the final solution between India and Naga people."

And thus, the Congress Party`s tweet is not correct, he added.Rijiju further said that he has asked the concerned officials to provide the government`s official version to the media and remove the old website content."The official paper is that that we have sent to the Lok Sabha, in which we have divulged information about our framework agreement with NSCN," he said.
Peshawar: At least 14 people were killed and 26 others injured on Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded court in Pakistan's restive northwest, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer's Islamist assassin.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the district court's compound in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 14 people, including two policemen, were killed while 26 others were wounded in the attack, District Police Officer Sohail Khalid said.

The Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was carried out to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, killer of Taseer.

Qadri was hanged last Tuesday at a Rawalpindi jail after his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Security and emergency teams reached the blast site and sealed the area. A probe was immediately launched into the assault.

Shabqadar tehsil is close to Mohmand tribal region, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants were said to have carved out strongholds.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres west of Charsadda, where militants attacked a university on January 20 in an attack that left 21 people, mostly students, dead.

At the time of the explosion, the courts were crowded after a break over the weekend.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body.

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.

Qadri's execution triggered protests by thousands of Islamists who called it a "black day".

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.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: A suicide bomber blew himself up in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least eight people and injuring 21 in an attack the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of an Islamist assassin last week.

The bomber attacked as lawyers and litigants were arriving at a court complex during the morning rush hour in the town of Shabqadar.

"A suicide bomber blew up himself inside the court complex. So far eight people have been killed and 21 others are injured," Fayaz Khan, a senior police official in the area, told AFP.

The Pakistani Taliban`s Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it avenged the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri , feted as a hero by Islamists after he gunned down the liberal governor of Punjab in 2011 over a call to reform the country`s blasphemy law.

Qadri was hanged last Monday in what analysts described as a "key moment" in Pakistan`s long fight against militancy, saying it demonstrated the government`s resolve to uphold the rule of law rather than allow extremism to flourish.

His funeral brought up to 100,000 people on to the streets hailing him as a hero.

The Taliban also said Monday`s blast targeted the court complex as Pakistan`s judiciary are strengthening "un-Islamic laws", Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the group told AFP.

At least one woman was among the dead and two children were among the injured, police sources said.

Local TV channels showed footage of victims being rushed to hospitals soon after the blast.

Sohail Khalid, district police chief in Charsadda district where Shabqadar is located, said two of the dead were on-duty policemen who had tried to stop the bomber.

His account was confirmed by senior regional police official Saeed Wazir, who praised the "brave" effort from officers who "sacrificed their lives".

Local bar association president Shair Qadir said they had requested security after receiving threats of the attack, but no action was taken, calling it a "police failure".

Shabqadar is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven semi-autonomous regions bordering Afghanistan where militants from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had established bases in the past.

Islamabad launched a military offensive in the tribal areas in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan.

However, insurgents associated with Pakistan`s homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan occasionally carry out attacks from bases in Afghanistan.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Charsadda, where extremists attacked a university on January 20 in a rampage that left 21 dead.

la-ks/st/rb
Beijing: China today strongly opposed any invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory, and said that the Tibetan spiritual leader must give up his "secessionist" stance.

"We strongly oppose anyone who is in power (in Taiwan) to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island," Padma Choling, chairman of the standing committee of Tibet's regional People's Congress told media here on the sidelines of the parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).

"Everyone clearly knows what kind of person the Dalai Lama is," he said, replying to a question from a foreign reporter about the intention of some political figures in Taiwan to invite the Dalai Lama to the island.

"The Dalai Lama must give up his secessionist stance and stop all activities to split the motherland. Our attitude is consistent," Padma, also a deputy to the NPC said.

According to reports, Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen is considering inviting the highest-ranking figure in Tibetan Buddhism to visit in his capacity as a religious leader.

Choling's comments came in the backdrop of?President Xi Jinping warning against "Taiwan independence", saying that "national secession" should not be repeated.

"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form," Xi had told lawmakers last week.

"We will safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again," Xi said.

China regards Taiwan which broke away from the mainland in 1949 as part of it and insists on all other countries which have diplomatic relations with it to follow One China policy.

While China routinely opposes the Dalai Lama's visit to different countries, his proposed visit to Taiwan comes in the midst of present political tensions arising after the election of the new President, who defeated Eric Chu, candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT),? which advocated improvement of ties with Beijing.

"Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation," Xi had said.

China regards the 80-year-old head of Tibetan Buddhism, who fled to India in 1959, as a separatist.

Despite being in exile for about 57 years the Dalai Lama remains most revered Buddhist spiritual head in Tibet.
Colombo: Sri Lanka`s government has sacked a senior security official after guards chased away couples from a monument in Colombo for holding hands, a minister in the conservative Buddhist country said Monday.

The move came after a couple posted video of the guards on social media and is a marked change from the former government, under which police would routinely round up young lovers for kissing in public.

Deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva said he intervened after visiting the Independence Square monument on Sunday and finding security guards were driving away unmarried couples.

He said he spoke with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the sacking of the director in charge of security.

"What happened was their boss got fired," de Silva said.

"The guards will be sent somewhere else and hopefully warned not to repeat their arrogant behaviour."

The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the monument, built to mark independence from Britain in 1948.

Sri Lanka`s largely conservative Buddhist society looks down on public displays of affection even among married couples.

Police are also known to occasionally arrest so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in scorching sun along the Galle Face promenade in the capital.

But the latest move suggests official attitudes have softened since the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was defeated in January 2015.
Zee Media Bureau/ Sumit Channa

New Delhi: American astronaut Scott Kelly completed a year in space and returned to Earth along with his fellow astronauts recently. He handed over station command to NASA's Tim Kopra.

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, along with Tim Peake and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko have completed 83 days in space till now.

As all of us are aware that the American Scott Kelly took to twitter often and thrilled us with some amazing pics. It seems that Tim Peake is following the same path, as in a twitter post, he shared a video of his journey from Spain over France from Moscow and that too on a cloudy night.

Check out his full post below:
Kolkata: Amid speculation that the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are joining hands for the upcoming Assembly Elections in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Party on Monday slammed the grand old party for entering into a 'shameless alliance'.

TMC leader Derek O'Brien even drew parallels between a watermelon and the Congress' condition in West Bengal, saying: "The Congress party in Bengal is like a watermelon - they are green from outside and red inside. They have got this alliance with CPI(M), it is a shameless alliance. We all know they have always been together like the watermelons," Derek told ANI.

The two parties have been in touch with each other over a possible alliance in West Bengal though a formal announcement of a likely tie-up for the Assembly polls is only expected by next week.

Another Left party, CPI, has meanwhile ruled out any alliance between the Left and the Congress in West Bengal.

CPI national secretary Amarjeet Kaur yesterday said there would be "no" such tie-up in the state.

"As of now, we'll not have any alliance with Congress in West Bengal and there is no possibility of having direct alliance with Congress in future too," Kaur told reporters.

Kaur, however, said all those parties which wanted to uproot Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should take a call as which side they wanted to be.

Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Union Territory of Puducherry will be held between April 4 and May 16 spread over 43 days. Counting of votes will be held on May 19.
Baghdad: Three Iraqi fighters died Monday trying to defuse bombs left behind by the jihadists in Ramadi, as the toll taken by the huge mine-clearing effort there continued to rise.

The victims were three local tribal fighters killed by the explosion of improvised devices they were attempting to defuse, Anbar province governor Sohaib al-Rawi said.

He said the danger posed by unexploded bombs and booby-traps remained an obstacle to the return of Ramadi's residents.

The local government "understands the pressing need for IDPs (internally displaced persons) to return home, but we will not allow a chaotic return resulting in more casualties," he said on social media.

"We have lost more than 35 members of the security forces and sons of the tribes (tribal fighters) this year," Hamid al-Dulaimi told AFP.

"As of yesterday, we had a toll of 15 deaths in our ranks alone," said Omar Khamis al-Dulaimi, a senior leader in the tribal fighters working alongside federal forces.

Ramadi was declared liberated when Iraqi forces wrested the main government compound back from the Islamic State group late last year, but the city was completely retaken only last month.

Laying thousands of bombs and booby-trapping buildings was the backbone of IS's defence of the city last year.

Explosive ordnance disposal training has been a main focus for the US-led coalition.

"The destruction is enormous, people are still being killed by IEDs and mines that have been left by Daesh (IS)," the US envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurk, said on Saturday during a visit to Baghdad.

"We're very focused now on the counter-IED (improvised explosive device) mission," he said.

The officials in Anbar could not provide a figure for civilians killed by unexploded bombs in Ramadi over the past few weeks.

The city was virtually emptied of its population by the time the fighting culminated, and very few civilians have been able to return because of the lack of basic services and the risk of unexploded bombs.
Amman: At least nine civilians were killed and dozens were wounded on Sunday when mortars and rockets were fired by insurgents on a mainly Kurdish residential quarter in the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Kurdish YPG group and a monitor said on Sunday.

Spokesperson Redur Xelil, an official from the People`s Protection Unit (YPG), said the attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud quarter of the city killed nine civilians, including four children, two women and three men.

Earlier state run Ikhbariya television station said in a news flash 14 were dead and at least 40 injured when mortars were fired by what it described as "terrorists" in rebel-held parts of Aleppo hit Sheikh Maqsoud.

SANA state news agency said the damage to property was extensive.

The residential area has been a major frontline in Aleppo for weeks, with heavy clashes between the Syrian Kurdish YPG militias and rebels in control of large parts of the eastern portion of the divided city.

The YPG denies it is coordinating with the Syrian army.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in Syria, also said the attack was among the biggest by rebels in the area that also adjoins state run parts of Aleppo.

At least one hundred rockets were fired by al-Qaeda`s Syrian offshoot Nusra Front and hardline Islamist insurgent groups on residential areas in the quarter, the Observatory said.

Heavy fighting flared in Ashrafiyah and in the Sakan al Shabibi neighbourhoods where Kurdish fighters sought to advance in rebel-held areas with no signs that a truce agreed by international parties was holding in that area.

Kurdish YPG fighters have been trying to take advantage of the preoccupation of insurgents with fending off a Syrian ground offensive to disrupt traffic on the main highway that Sheikh Maqsoud overlooks used by passengers and rebels to get into the opposition held areas of the city.

The permanent closure of the main Castello highway by Kurdish sniper fire would cut supplies of food to hundreds of thousands of civilians and allow the Syrian army to fully encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo.

Rapid advances by the Syrian army and its Iranian backed allies in the northern Aleppo countryside early last month allowed them to cut vital supplies lines by the insurgents into Aleppo from Turkey. The YPG also made advances in that area in the wake of the progress by the government forces.
New Delhi: Pakistan's Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has reportedly called for widening of a probe into allegations that former general Pervez Musharraf and cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan could be 'agents' of Indias Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - a charge that not only seems implausable but also outrageous.

On Sunday, Rashid said, All those politicians who supported him (Musharraf) must be investigated.

Any probe into MQMs alleged ties with RAW should be expanded to include the likes of Musharraf because he had included the party in his government, Pakistan's leading daily Express Tribune on Monday quoted Rashid as saying.

The comments came days after former Karachi mayor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member Mustafa Kamal alleged that his party's boss Altaf Hussain had links with India's external spy agency.

Rashid added that the interior minister has constituted a committee on the statements of Karachi-based trader Sarfraz Merchant. If Mustafa Kamal has evidence or information, he should present it before the (probe) committee.

It may be noted that Pervez Musharraf, who this trader believes could be an Indian agent, was the architect of the Kargil War in 1999. And Imran Khan has been vociferous in his hard stand against India, especially on the issue of Kashmir. He is also seen close to the military and several Islamic hardliners.
London: Brussels is to propose centralising claims for asylum in the European Union as it struggles to address Europe`s biggest migration crisis since World War II, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The European Commission will make the proposal as part of a radical overhaul of its refugee policy to be announced at a summit of EU leaders on March 17, the newspaper reported, citing draft reform options.

"According to draft reform options seen by the Financial Times, responsibility for all asylum claims could be shifted to the European Asylum Support Office," a EU agency, it said.

Currently, asylum seekers must lodge claims in the first EU country they arrive in, a rule that has been undermined since German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided not to enforce it last year.

The report comes as ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Brussels to discuss the crisis, which has seen 1.2 million asylum seekers fleeing war in Syria and upheaval across the Middle East, Asia and Africa land in the EU last year.

The influx has threatened the bloc`s passport-free Schengen zone after several countries closed their borders.

Previous attempts to distribute refugees between EU member states stalled due to disagreements, and any plan to revive the idea could prove politically difficult in Britain where fierce campaigning is underway ahead of a June referendum on the country`s continued membership of the bloc.

Immigration and the ability to control its borders is a red hot issue in the debate.
Beijing: The twin immolations by Tibetan youth last week, including one in India, protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet were "instigated" by the Dalai Lama and his followers, a media report here said today.

"Over 100 self-immolation attempts by Tibetans in China since then, most of which killed young monks, were proved to have been masterminded and instigated by the so-called 'spiritual leader' and his followers. Their stereotype is to incite self-immolations, make an issue of them and solicit international support through media and political figures," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"Self-immolation is only conducted by a slim number of extremists who are used by separatists. Any attempt to split the country is not only doomed to fail, it is also not the desire of the majority of Tibetan people," it said.

A 16-year-old Tibetan student Dorjee Tsering set himself ablaze in Dehradun last week and died later.

Around the same time, 18-year-old young Tibetan monk Kalsang Wangdu also immolated himself and died in Sichuan province.

"Both cases were soon spread by Tibetan separatist groups, and picked up by Western media. It's common to see self-immolation cases hyped in March as part of the agenda by Tibetan separatists," the article said marking the first time official media reported such incidents.

Overseas Tibetan groups say nearly 130 Tibetans committed self-immolations in recent years calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and to protest against Chinese rule in Tibet.

"Facts have revealed that the Dalai Lama, misperceived as a peace-loving monk in the West, planned the Lhasa riot on March 14, 2008 that killed 18 innocent people," Global Times articles said?referring to revolts by Tibetan?monks.

The twin immolations also coincided with the commencement of China's annual parliament season that kicked off last week.

The National People's Congress (NPC) and advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meet annually for a fortnight to clear legislative business.
Washington: Claiming that she got more popular votes than Donald Trump, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has said her Republican rival's "bigotry, bullying and bluster" are not supported by Americans.

"The last time I checked as of last night, Donald Trump had received 3.6 million votes, which is a good number. There is only one candidate in either party who has more votes than him and that's me," Clinton said during a Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Michigan.

Clinton, 68, said she is "building a broad, diverse coalition" across the country, which will help her defeat 69-year-old Trump.

"I'm very excited by the support we're receiving. I have said, and I'll repeat here, I think that Donald Trump's bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people," she said.

The former secretary of state was responding to a question on Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner.

"I will look forward to engaging him because, I don't think we need to make America great again. America didn't stop being great, we have to make it whole again. We have to knock down the barriers, we have to end the divisiveness, we have to unify the country. And, if I'm fortunate enough to be the nominee that's exactly what I will do," Clinton said.

Clinton's party rival Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said he would love to run against real estate tycoon Trump who has so far dominated the Republican race.

"For a start, not all, but almost every poll has shown that Sanders versus Trump does a lot better than Clinton versus Trump," Sanders said.

"Right here in Michigan there was a poll done, I think yesterday, or today, had me beating Trump in Michigan by 22 points. Secretary Clinton beat him as well, but not by so much. And, that's true nationally, and in many other states," he said.

"The other reason I think we can beat Trump is that our campaign is generating an enormous amount of excitement. Just in the last two days we have won the caucuses in Maine, we won that tonight with a very large turnout," Sanders said.
Brussels: European Union leaders will on Monday back closing down the Balkans route used by most migrants to reach Europe, diplomats said, after at least 25 more people drowned trying to cross the Aegean Sea en route to Greece.

The declaration drafted by EU ambassadors Sunday will be announced at a summit in Brussels on Monday, set to also be attended by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The bloc`s 28 leaders will ask Davutoglu`s government to accept "large-scale" deportations of economic migrants from Greece, the main entry point to Europe, and do more to implement a November deal to slow the flow of people into the bloc.

Greece has seen non-EU Macedonia and EU countries on the western Balkans route virtually shut their borders in a domino effect, trapping Syrian and other asylum seekers desperate to head north to wealthy Germany and Scandinavia.

An EU diplomat told journalists that European leaders would declare Monday they will "close the Balkans route in the coming days," ending the "wave-through approach" to migrants that has caused chaos and tension in Europe.

Another diplomat confirmed that the language contained in an earlier draft declaration remained: "Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end".

The diplomat cautioned that delegations were still looking at the draft, as is always the case before a summit. Brussels on Friday unveiled a plan to restore by the end of the year the full functioning of Europe`s cherished passport-free Schengen zone after the series of border closures.

It was timed with calls for not only better cooperation from Turkey but also the creation of an EU coastguard force by the summer and help for Greece to strengthen its external border.

EU leaders are set to stand by Greece after having last week promised 700 million euros in emergency aid for the country and other states to help them manage the influx at their borders.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the "urgent" relocation of thousands of refugees to other member states.

The bloc adopted a scheme last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, but fewer than 700 people have actually been moved.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president and summit host, said in his invitation letter that success depended largely on securing Turkey`s agreement for the "large-scale" readmission from Greece of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees.

Syrians, who top the influx of people into Europe, are considered genuine refugees requiring admission under international law.

Davutoglu told reporters at Istanbul airport before leaving for Brussels that Turkey had taken "important steps" to fulfil its part of the stalled November deal.

He said there had been a drop in numbers, but "not a dramatic decline" because of the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Despite progress, the EU said too many people were still heading from Turkey to Greece, with nearly 2,000 arriving daily in February.

The Financial Times reported Sunday that Brussels had drafted a proposal to centralise the system for processing asylum applications, removing the current rule that requires asylum seekers to lodge their claim in the first EU country they arrive in.

The proposal is part of a radical overhaul of its refugee policy to be announced at a summit on March 17.Just ahead of the Brussels meeting at least 25 migrants, including ten children, died after their wooden boat capsized trying to reach Greece, the Turkish coastguard said. Fifteen people were rescued off the Turkish coastal town of Didim Sunday.

Turkey is the launch pad for most of the more than one million refugees and migrants who have come to the continent since early 2015.

Davutoglu said he would discuss with his EU counterparts efforts to start within weeks building schools and hospitals for refugees with the three billion euros ($3.3 billion) pledged by Europe under the November deal.

Outspoken Czech President Milos Zeman said the EU should not give Turkey the funds because it was "neither ready nor capable" of helping migrants. "It`s only wasted money," Zeman told TV Prima.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said meanwhile the alliance was broadening its new mission in the Aegean Sea to stop migrant smugglers while working more closely with the EU border agency Frontex.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Sunday that the Royal Navy was sending vessels to join ships from Canada, Germany, Greece and Turkey already deployed.

The International Organization for Migration said before Sunday`s deaths that a total of 418 people had died or gone missing already in 2016, most while attempting to reach Greece from Turkey aboard unseaworthy boats.
Brussels: Greece has cleared a crucial hurdle in its massive bailout programme as eurozone ministers promised to consider debt relief to Athens, which is already under pressure from the refugee crisis.

Bailout monitors from the EU and IMF will return to Greece as soon as today in an effort to complete a long-delayed review of the programme that could unlock rescue cash, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.

"I am very happy that mission chiefs are going to Athens as soon as tomorrow," Moscovici said yesterday after a meeting of the eurozone's 19 finance ministers in Brussels, taking place in parallel to an EU-Turkey summit on the refugee crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras secured Greece's third bailout, worth a staggering 84 billion euros (USD 95 billion), last July after six months of bruising negotiations that shook the EU and nearly saw Athens thrown out of the single currency.

Along with its debt crisis the Greek state is now overwhelmed by the arrival of around a million migrants in a year.

As refugees trek across Europe seeking new lives in Germany and elsewhere, the fresh crisis has increased the pressure on Athens' eurozone partners to soften their demands of Greek austerity.

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who last year was one of Greece's harshest critics, said eurozone ministers would now address debt relief, meeting a key demand of the Greek government that has been resisted by its pro-austerity partners.

The EU forecasts that Greece's debt will soar to 185 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016 - a level generally understood to be unsustainable.

"We have a longstanding promise that if the Greek government fulfils its commitments ... We will do what is necessary to make debt service manageable," said Dijsselbloem.

"Today... We made explicit that the discussion is on our table," the Dutch finance minister said.

The review of Greece's bailout has been delayed for months amid a rift between top EU and IMF officials over how strictly to hold the Greek government to the ambitious reform commitments made as part of its bailout.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said a "sensible solution" would be found, as he celebrated a clear victory in the handling of the country's bailout.

The IMF has "agreed to come back despite certain differences," said Tsakalotos after the talks.
Karachi: Hundreds of Hindu devotees in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Sunday thronged temples to celebrate the festival of Shivratri with flowers, coconut and rice.

The city's historic Shree Ratneshwar Mahadev temple in Clifton area lit up the night sky as devotees gathered to pay their tributes. The sound of drums and the traditional shankh reverbirated the air, Dawn reported on Monday.

Dressed in sarees and adorned with beautiful pieces of jewellery, scores of women on Sunday prayed for a happy married life.

Besides women, men fast too during Shivratri, because fasting is mandatory for all, temple priest Maharaj Ravi Ramesh said.

The sound of drums and shankh reverberated the air as devotees holding orange banners and decorated clay pots, carrying water from the Ganges approached the temple.

They have come here all the way from Chanesar Goth. We have been expecting them. We will bathe (the idol of) Shiva with the holy water, said the priest.
Baghdad: At least 51 people were killed and 70 injured in a suicide truck bomb attack on a security checkpoint in Iraq's central Babil province, a security source has said.

"Casualties from Sunday's suicide truck bomb attack in Hilla security checkpoint rose to 51 deaths and 70 injuries," Xinhua quoted the source as saying.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"A martyr's operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilla, killing and injuring dozens," said a statement on the website of Amaq news agency, which supports the IS.

A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the crowded al-Athar security checkpoint in Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, the source said.

The massive blast destroyed the checkpoint buildings and left dozens of vehicles badly damaged, while many civilian cars were set ablaze, the source said.

Most of the victims were civilians who were inside their cars while in a queue at the crowded checkpoint.

A provincial hospital official confirmed the number of casualties, saying 23 were members of the police and other security forces that were manning the checkpoint.

The suicide attack is the second deadliest this year after the February 28 attack that killed 78 people in Sadr city, a Shia district of Baghdad.

It appeared to be part of a campaign by the IS to stage attacks deep behind front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence in the past month, with suicide attacks claimed by the IS killing more than 170 people.

The IS has frequently targeted areas where large crowds gather, including checkpoints, markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
San Juan (US): Florida Senator Marco Rubio has won the Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, US television projections have said, in a White House race otherwise led by billionaire Donald Trump.

Rubio, 44, had a comfortable lead in the US commonwealth in the Caribbean, according to CNN and NBC News yesterday.

Residents of the island have US citizenship but cannot vote in the US presidential election if they are Puerto Rico residents. Still, they take part in the primary process.

Rubio had about three quarters of the votes, the projections showed, which should hand him the 23 party convention delegates in play.

His campaign was in need of some good news. The son of Cuban immigrants who grew up in Las Vegas and Florida has been struggling in the presidential race.

If confirmed, this would mark just the second outright win for Rubio, who also took Minnesota on Tuesday.

Trump has kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race, and called for Rubio to end his presidential bid.

Senator Ted Cruz has emerged as Trump's strongest challenger in weekend primaries with mixed outcomes.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, extended her frontrunner status in the Democratic contests, though Senator Bernie Sanders showed he is still in the race with a pair of victories.

Clinton and Sanders compete yesterday in Maine's nominating contest and face off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.
Mexico City: President Enrique Pena Nieto stepped up Mexico's criticism of Donald Trump's inflammatory comments about his country, saying his "strident rhetoric" recalls the rise of Hitler and Mussolini.

Pena Nieto urged Americans to vote with "caution" as he used newspaper interviews published today to slam the Republican front-runner's criticism of the Mexican government and migrants.

The Mexican leader condemned Trump's "strident tone," saying such comments seek "very simple solutions" to complicated problems, and he warned that they can hurt US-Mexican relations.

"There have been episodes in the history of humanity, unfortunately, where these expressions, this strident rhetoric, has only really led to ominous scenarios in the history of humanity," he told the daily Excelsior.

"That's how Mussolini and Hitler arrived. They took advantage of a context, maybe a problem, that humanity was experiencing at the time, after an economic crisis. And I think that what was proposed led to what we know from history, a global conflagration," the president said.

Pena Nieto's comments follow tough reactions from his predecessors, with former president Felipe Calderon also drawing a parallel with Hitler and Vicente Fox dropping the F-bomb against Trump's call for Mexico to pay for a border wall.

Trump, who leads the race for the Republican nomination, has railed against immigrants and especially immigration from Mexico, accusing the country of sending drug dealers and rapists to the United States.

As for the billionaire's vow to make Mexico pay for a border wall, Pena Nieto told Excelsior there was "no scenario" in which his government would foot the bill.

"I hope that the electorate there is really cautious" and that "in the end it results in a government with which -- as we have up to now -- we seek dialogue and we continue building bridges of understanding, within the framework of absolute mutual respect," he said.

In an interview with El Universal, Pena Nieto warned that Trump's statements "hurt a relationship that Mexico has sought with the United States of bridges, of dialogue, of rapprochement, of seeking solutions to shared problems."

He added: "It seems to me (such statements) come from an ignorance of Mexico."

The Mexican leader said, however, that he would seek a "constructive dialogue" with whoever is elected the next US president on November 8.
Tunis: Islamist fighters attacked army and police barracks in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday and 13 militants, five civilians and a soldier were killed in the clashes before troops regained control.

The Interior Ministry warned people to stay in their homes as gunfire erupted in the centre of the southern town during the early morning attack. Bodies of dead militants lay in the street near the army barracks, witnesses said.

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a local resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."

An army spokesman said soldiers had killed 13 militants and arrested six after they attacked military and police posts. Hospital sources said at least five civilians had died and one soldier.

Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, according to TAP state news agency.

Tunisia has built a trench along its border, worried about spillover from Libya where Islamic State militants have expanded their presence, and Western military advisers are training Tunisian border forces.

Islamist militants trained in Libya carried out several attacks on Tunisia last year, including on the Tunis Bardo museum and a Sousse beach hotel targeting foreign tourists.
Seoul: South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea`s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a UN Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The joint U.S. and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of "the non-provocative nature of this training" involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea`s Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

North Korea`s National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would "realise the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification", in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.

"The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers` hysterical nuclear war moves," the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North`s KCNA news agency.

The North, the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The threat on Monday was in line with the usual rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei noted that North Korea had already said it opposed the drills, adding that Beijing was "deeply concerned" about the exercises.

"China is linked to the Korean Peninsula. In terms of the peninsula`s security, China is deeply concerned and firmly opposed to any trouble-making behaviour on the peninsula`s doorstep. We urge all sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate tensions," he told a daily news briefing.

The latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea`s spy agency said it would hold an emergency cyber-security meeting on Tuesday to check readiness against any threat of cyber attack from the North, after detecting evidence of attempts by the North to hack into South Korean mobile phones.

South Korea has been on heightened cyber alert since the nuclear test and the rocket launch.

South Korea and the U.S. militaries began talks on Friday on the deployment of an advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in South Korea.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)


Yangon division: Aung San Suu Kyi`s pro-democracy party on Monday denounced as "fake" a widely circulated letter purporting to reveal its choice of proxy Myanmar president, as speculation over who will take the role reaches fever pitch.

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) have kept a tight lid on who they want to become the president of Myanmar`s first popularly elected government in decades, as they navigated the tense four-month political transition since November`s landmark elections.

But with just days to go before they are set to announce their preferences on Thursday, and with Suu Kyi still blocked from the role by the junta-era constitution, a letter purporting to reveal the selecting emerged on social media on Sunday.

"That statement was not released by the NLD and was just a fake one. We hereby announce that such kind of fabrication is like committing a crime," the NLD said on its official Facebook account on Monday.

The purported document, which was stamped with an official NLD logo, listed current presidential favourite Htin Kyaw and ethnic Shan MP Hkun Tun Oo as the party`s nominees for the roles of vice presidents -- one of whom would be selected as leader.

Suu Kyi, 70, has vowed to rule "above" whoever the next president is, meaning that the role would have to go to someone whose absolute loyalty was assured.

As conjecture has swung around almost all of Suu Kyi`s closest confidants, Htin Kyaw, a softly-spoken 69-year-old whose wife is a sitting NLD MP, has recently emerged as the favourite.

Currently helping to run Suu Kyi`s charitable foundation, he is an old school friend and one-time driver of the Nobel laureate whose family has been closely entwined with the NLD for decades.

In Myanmar`s complex political system, November elections decided the make-up of a new parliament that began sitting in February with a hefty NLD majority.

Parliament now picks the president from three candidates put forward by elected MPs in the upper house and lower house as well as the unelected soldiers who still make up a quarter of all seats in the legislature.

Despite her status as Myanmar`s preeminent democracy champion, Suu Kyi is excluded because of a clause in the charter that prohibits those with foreign close relations from high office. Her late husband and two sons are British.

Her party is mindful of the bitter disappointment that followed its 1990 landslide election win when the generals ignored the result and clung onto power for a further two decades.

Incumbent President Thein Sein, who stunned the international community with sweeping reforms after taking office in 2011, has pledged to respect the results of the elections, as has the still hugely powerful army chief.

But political tensions have begun to simmer as the country edges towards the handover to an NLD-selected president at the end of the month.
Beirut: Syria`s opposition on Monday agreed to attend a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks set for this week in Geneva after a landmark ceasefire led to a dramatic drop in fighting.

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad`s regime and non-jihadist rebels, brokered by Russia and the United States, has defied expectations and led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria`s nearly five-year civil war.

The United Nations is hoping it can now restart talks on a political transition that collapsed last month in Geneva.

The opposition, represented by the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, had held off on committing to the talks but on Monday said the 10-day-old "cessation of hostilities" was making a difference.

"After consultations, the High Negotiations Committee agreed to go to Geneva. The delegation is expected to arrive on Friday," Riad Naasan Agha, a spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"We have noticed a sharp decline in ceasefire violations in recent days and progress in the humanitarian file," particularly with regards to aid deliveries to besieged towns, Agha said.

The ceasefire agreed on February 27 is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria`s conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 and forced millions of people from their homes.Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but the two powers have made a concerted push for the ceasefire and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to extremists from the Islamic State group or the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Sunday had been the "calmest day" in Syria since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the average number of civilian deaths a day had fallen by 90 percent since the ceasefire came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said Monday that the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were continuing to carry out air strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

Russia launched an air campaign in September it says is targeting "terrorists" but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad`s forces.

A US-led coalition has also been carrying out air strikes since September 2014 against IS in both Syria and Iraq, where the jihadist group has seized control of significant territory.The UN Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said at the weekend that the Geneva peace talks would resume on Thursday, but many delegates are not expected to arrive until several days later.

A plan agreed by world powers last year calls for a ceasefire, the creation of a transitional body, the drafting of a new constitution and fresh elections.

The main sticking point in negotiations has been the fate of Assad, who the opposition insists must step down for any transition to work.

In a telephone call on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- the key architects of the ceasefire -- welcomed "the sharp decline in violence".

The Russian foreign ministry said the two warned against "any delay in starting the process" of negotiations.

At the start of a visit to the Middle East, US Vice President Joe Biden admitted that finding a political solution would be difficult but said there was no other choice.

"So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement," he told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.

"A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild their country."

bur-mm/mjg/kir
By Rod Nickel TORONTO (Reuters) - Cameco Corp is slowly expanding the world's biggest uranium mine, betting utilities that are currently well-supplied will need the radioactive metal in coming years, Chief Executive Officer Tim Gitzel said on Monday. Cameco's McArthur River mine in northern Saskatchewan is expected to produce 20 million pounds this year but is licensed for 25 million. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, company has not signed off on the full expansion but is spending C$30 million ($22.48 million) this year to gradually prepare, Gitzel said in an interview. "Those would be some of the best pounds on the planet," he said in Toronto during the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention. "We're doing it piecemeal, getting it ready, keeping it warm." Cameco aims to boost McArthur's production to 22 million pounds by 2018. Gitzel declined to say how much full expansion would cost. Spot prices of uranium, used to make fuel for nuclear power production, have been depressed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, which led to the shutdown of all reactors in that country and generated burdensome stockpiles globally. Cameco is also restraining its United States in situ uranium production, which involves removing ore by injecting a solution into wells while leaving the rock in place. It produces about 1.3 million pounds annually there and could crank out another 1 million if prices warrant, Gitzel said. The company also expects to fully ramp up production at its new Cigar Lake, Saskatchewan, mine in 2017. France's Areva SA holds minority interests in the McArthur River and Cigar Lake projects. Beyond expanding existing production sites, Cameco has plans for new mines in Canada and Australia that are currently on hold because prices are too low to justify their cost. Gitzel said Cameco is willing to team up with Chinese companies. CGN Mining Co Limited recently became the first company from China to invest in a Canadian uranium project. Canada allows foreign companies to invest in operating uranium mines but not to own majority stakes, although it has made rare exceptions. Gitzel said Cameco was open to Ottawa allowing foreign-run uranium mines as long as Canadian companies have similar ability to invest in those countries. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Toronto; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
By Terrence Edwards ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Mongolia has settled a dispute over an arbitration award that required it to pay more than $100 million last year to a Canadian miner for revoking a uranium mining license, just as it launches a push this week to attract new exploration interest. The miner - Khan Resources - said in a statement that the government agreed to pay it $70 million by May 15 and to withdraw efforts to annul the award in a French court. In exchange, Khan said it would stop pursuing court certification of its award in the United States, which may allow it to seize Mongolian commercial assets there. Mongolian Finance Minister Bolor Bayarbaatbar said in a statement released by Khan late on Sunday: "The Government of Mongolia and Khan Resources Inc. successfully reached an agreement that effectively resolves all outstanding issues in regards to the international arbitration awards. "The settlement demonstrates the government's ongoing commitment to improving the investment climate." Mongolian finance ministry officials could not be reached for comment on Khan's announcement. The agreement was seen helping investment in Mongolia. "I think it helps their foreign investment case for Canadians and any foreign investor," said Jim Dwyer, executive director of the Business Council of Mongolia. Mongolian Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg has been touting the minerals-rich country as "Open for Business" following sharp declines in foreign investment since 2012 and plummeting prices for its top exports of copper and coal. Investors turned cold on the country's once-booming mining sector partially because of public disputes with miners such as Rio Tinto and Khan. A Paris tribunal last March ordered Mongolia to pay Khan Resources damages for revoking Dornod uranium mining license in 2009. Mongolia refused to make the payment, and last week Khan said it would press Ottawa to suspend aid to the country if no settlement was reached for the $106 million, including interest, it was owed as of February. Saikhanbileg's Democratic Party may take heat for the decision to settle the dispute from opposition and resource nationalist campaigners ahead of parliamentary elections on June 29. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Toronto; Editing by Michael Perry/Jeremy Gaunt)
ted cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz is apparently uninterested in talking about Donald Trump's body.

In a pre-taped interview on "Face The Nation" that aired on Sunday, the Texas senator accused Republican presidential rivals Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio of "throwing mud" at each other and dragging the 2016 presidential race into the gutter.

"There's no doubt that there are aspects of this campaign that have gone into the gutter," Cruz said. "We saw moments with Marco Rubio and Donald Trump engaging in insults, engaging in off-color jokes, just getting nastier and nastier and nastier and throwing mud."

Cruz vowed to stay above the fray, saying that he did not have an opinion on the size of Trump's anatomy, which the former reality television star bragged about at Thursday night's Republican debate.

"I'm not going to play that game. I'm not going to engage in insults, I'm not going to throw the mud. I don't really have any views on the size of any parts of Donald Trump's anatomy, and I'm not interested in talking about that."

Despite his pledge to rise above the insults on the campaign trail, Cruz has occasionally had fun needling Trump over the past several months. In Sunday's interview, the senator touted the yoga mats that he's selling to mock Trump's supposed flexibility on his political positions.

"We're now selling yoga mats on our website, they're breathe yoga mats," Cruz told host John Dickerson, grinning. "If you find yourself boiling over with rage, just spend some time doing yoga and breathing and maybe it'll help you relax."

NOW WATCH: Sanders predicts he'll win the democratic nomination in one of the great 'political upsets in the history of the US'





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By Olivia Oran and Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co , in a bid to boost its dealmaking franchise, is hunting for a new head of mergers and acquisitions, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank's existing head of mergers, John Laughlin, has moved to a vice chairman role, a spokeswoman said. Wells is looking for a senior dealmaker who can help the bank win roles on high-profile transactions in which it has not historically been a part, the sources said. Wells, based in San Francisco, has its East Coast headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is where Laughlin has been based and where many of its bankers sit - rather than in New York, the hub of Wall Street banking. "John Laughlin's appointment to vice chairman recognizes the key role he played in leading a fivefold increase in our M&A business," said Rob Engel, head of investment banking and capital markets at Wells Fargo. Wells has seen its stock price and return on equity rewarded for focusing on wealth management and Main Street lending, and this latest move reflects a desire to build out its investment banking franchise. Although the bank is consistently ranked as one of the top lenders to corporate America, it has lagged in traditional investment banking areas like financial advisory and capital markets. The bank posted about $2 billion in U.S. investment banking fees in 2015, according to Thomson Reuters data, ranking it eighth among peers. JPMorgan Chase & Co , Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc generated fees nearly double that of Wells. Wells captured a 4.7 percent share of U.S investment banking fees, and has climbed less than 1 percent since 2008, when it acquired Wachovia to build up its banking business. The bank did not crack the Top 20 for advising on announced U.S. mergers and acquisitions last year. Rival bank executives are convinced Wells may soon make further inroads into investment banking. "Wells Fargo is very actively, very aggressively, and very successfully building its U.S. investment bank," JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg in March. Dimon said that for Wells to remain competitive, it will need to expand overseas, which may require buying another bank. Wells, however, has tended to downplay its investment banking ambitions, describing it as one more way to serve corporate customers. The more modest view has won favor with investors, who have rewarded Wells with a higher price-to-book value than banks such as JPMorgan. Wells trades at 1.48 times book value, compared with JPMorgan's 1.03 times book. (Reporting by Olivia Oran and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Relatives of servicemen who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan have said they are still seeking "answers and clarity" about why their loved ones died.

The crash in a remote valley in Kandahar Province on 26 April 2014 led to the loss of five British men, with a military inquiry last year suggesting "human factors" were to blame.

Now an inquest has opened in Oxford to examine the circumstances of the fatal crash, which involved a Lynx helicopter.

The flight crew - Captain Thomas Clarke, Warrant Officer Spencer Faulkner and Corporal James Walters of the Army Air Corps - died along with passengers Flight Lieutenant Rakesh Chauhan of the RAF and Lieutenant Corporal Oliver Thomas of the Intelligence Corps.

Last year, an MoD Inquiry ruled out enemy fire or technical problems with the aircraft and said there was evidence to suggest that the pilot may have descended rapidly to allow his colleagues to experience weightlessness.

Warrant Officer Spencer Faulkner was on his final tour of Afghanistan and had been due to retire.

Seconds before the moment of impact he was heard in the cockpit shouting: "Pull up, pull up, pull up."

His wife and mother of his two children Cally Faulkner said in a written statement: "As a family we became very used to Spencer being away on training and tours of duty.

"Even after completed tours he wouldn't be home for very long. I know the squadron were stretched.

"This would have been his last operation. He would have retired on his 40th birthday in December (2015) after 22 years.

"He was a true professional."

The Faulkner family solicitor Andrew Buckham told Sky News: "I think for all the family members, not only Cally, it is going to really be emotional and quite difficult.

"What they really want to have are as many answers as possible."

"It happened in Afghanistan (and) sometimes information coming out of there can be quite difficult.

Story continues

"Hopefully through the inquest they can get answers and clarity."

After the military inquiry, an MoD spokeswoman said steps have been taken "to ensure that the risk of re-occurrence is minimised as far as possible".

The inquest is expected to last between seven and 10 days.
By Dasha Afanasieva CESME, Turkey (Reuters) - As the European Union and Turkey focus on stemming the flow of Syrian refugees attempting perilous journeys across the Aegean sea to Greece, another migrant community whose numbers are also swelling says it is being overlooked. Largely denied the chance for legal resettlement in Europe and struggling to find work or support in Turkey, Afghans account for around a quarter of the migrants risking their lives in the small boats leaving Turkey's shore. Ahead of an emergency European Union summit with Turkey on Monday, the EU executive has announced the first payouts from a 3 billion euro ($3.3 billion) fund meant to help Turkey cope with an influx of more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees and encourage them to stay put. But while Afghans are unlikely to be prevented from using services such as medical centers and education facilities set up with European funds in Turkey, the fact they speak Pashto and Dari, rather than Arabic, risks excluding them from projects designed for Syrian refugees, aid workers warn. "The EU is not even discussing these issues and is exclusively focused on Syria," Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur for Turkey, told Reuters last month. "Even if the Syrian crisis would be solved tomorrow, there would still be a serious refugee crisis, with a large number of refugees in Turkey who don't have access to their rights." Afghan migrants in Turkey interviewed by Reuters said that over the past few years they had been denied interviews with U.N. refugee agency UNHCR that would formally determine their refugee status, a key step in the journey to being resettled. Polat Kizildag, program coordinator at ASAM, an organization which registers asylum seekers in Turkey, said they were generally told they were ineligible because Turkey was the third country on their journey and the expectation was that they apply for refugee status in their second, in many cases Iran. Human rights groups have said Iranian forces deport thousands of Afghans without giving them a chance to prove their asylum status and that they are pressured to leave the country. "We want to stay (in Turkey) but ... there is no support here. It's too expensive," said Najebullah, 45, a father of four originally from Kabul waiting in Cesme, on Turkey's Aegean coast, to make an illegal crossing to the Greek Island of Chios. "In Europe we will get work and they will help us," he said, echoing a commonly-held belief among the migrants flooding to Turkey's shore that once they arrive in Europe they will be more easily able to build a new life. Selin Unal, UNHCR spokeswoman in Turkey, said the most vulnerable, including Afghans, still received interviews, adding that close to 500 Afghans had been interviewed last year. She said the sheer numbers meant those most at risk were prioritized among UNHCR's active case load of some 254,000 non-Syrians. RESETTLEMENT WOES More than 63,000 Afghans came to Turkey last year, a sharp rise from 15,652 in 2014, according to ASAM, counting only those who registered. Some came directly from Afghanistan, others from Iran, where they had tried unsuccessfully to settle. Kirikkale, near Turkey's capital Ankara, is one of several satellite towns where registered Afghans are allowed to reside. Hakima Rezai, in her late thirties, said she was trying to get to Europe to be reunited with her four children, taken to Europe by sea by her brother-in-law almost a year ago. She said UNHCR - which declined to comment on individual cases - had told her they could not help. Rezai lives in a single room with a coal-burning stove and relies on the charity of neighbors. She does not receive the cash cards given to some Syrian refugees by international NGOs and their local partners to help meet basic living costs because there is no such scheme specifically set up for Afghans. "I cry every day," she said, showing the identity documents of her absent children. The exodus from Afghanistan has been prompted by an increasingly precarious security situation, with 11,000 civilians killed or injured in 2015, as well as widespread corruption undermining faith in the future and a war-ruined economy that cannot provide enough work for its population. Kabul and other Afghan cities have seen a spate of suicide bombings and other attacks as the Taliban has stepped up its insurgency following the withdrawal of international troops from most combat operations in 2014. The insurgents, driven from power by a U.S-led campaign in 2001, are seeking to reimpose hardline Islamist rule and are now in control or threatening around a third of the country. FALSE PERCEPTIONS According to the European Commission, 64,109 asylum requests were registered in Turkey in 2015, more than 11,000 of them from Afghan citizens, but only 459 were concluded, either by granting or rejecting refugee status. Some are still waiting in Turkey, but others are among the thousands to have crossed illegally to Europe. Under a law passed two years ago, Afghans and other refugees have access to healthcare in Turkey and Unal said the most vulnerable could also benefit from social security schemes. In January, Turkey also passed a new law to give refugees access to legal employment, a move praised by the European Union, although the program has not yet been rolled out. But many of the Afghan refugees, hampered in part by language difficulties, are unaware of their rights and rely on illegal labor such as fruit picking to survive. Birnur Esen, a psychologist who works for IMECE, an organization which collects and distributes clothes and other supplies to migrants rescued at sea, said convincing migrants to stay in Turkey meant improving their lives there and making them realize conditions in Europe would be just as difficult. That, she said, should be the focus of European efforts. "We are trying to change their mind," she said. "Europe must stand behind Turkey. It must say that if you stay in Turkey, we will improve your conditions." (Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Kabul, Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Janet McBride)
By Reese Ewing SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Senior judges in Brazil voiced concern on Saturday over the detention of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, even as they threw their support behind the sweeping corruption investigation that threatens to topple his embattled successor. Lula's three hours of questioning in police custody on Friday was the highest profile development in the two-year-old probe focused on state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). The detention of the 70-year-old Lula, Brazil's first working-class president and a hero to millions of his fellow citizens, shocked his supporters. His 2003-2010 government helped lift an estimated 40 million Brazilians out of poverty. Supporters and opponents of the former union leader clashed outside his home on the outskirts of Sao Paulo after Lula was detained by police early on Friday. Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello told CBN Radio on Saturday that "nothing justified the use of force" when police picked up Lula unannounced from his apartment. Even Justice Gilmar Mendes, who has publicly said there is strong evidence the ruling Workers' Party used graft proceeds to fund electoral campaigns, called Lula's interrogation in police custody a "delicate" situation in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. The federal judge who ordered Lula to be brought in for questioning, Sergio Moro, said in a statement on Saturday that steps were taken to protect Lula's image during the operation, and he expressed regret that it sparked violence. Speaking to his supporters at Workers' Party headquarters in Sao Paulo after being released on Friday, Lula said investigators were "disrespectful of democracy" and that he "deserved respect." Lula has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing either while in office or since. President Dilma Rousseff flew from Brasilia on Saturday morning to meet with Lula in his apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in a show of support for her predecessor and political mentor. She called his detention "unnecessary." But the public prosecutors in charge of conducting the probe shot back at critics' claims that Lula was handled poorly. They said police have detained 116 other suspects in the Operation Car Wash investigation in the past two years who were treated with similar care as was taken with the ex-president, and never has the public complained of the practice. Lula "is owned no more respect than any other Brazilian citizen, as he holds no power that puts him beyond the reach of the Car Wash investigation" according to the law, prosecutors said. Before Friday, some analysts had questioned whether the crackdown on graft could be at risk of fizzling out after the justice minister stepped down amid a barrage of criticism from the ruling Workers Party over the investigation. But Supreme Court justices were unambiguous in support for prosecutors pursuing their investigations into Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal. Justice Rosa Weber late on Friday rejected a request by Lula's lawyers to suspend investigations into real estate assets and the ex-president's institute, which police allege he and his family likely used to launder money stolen from Petrobras. Even Mello, who was critical of Lula's arrest, said the evidence uncovered by prosecutors was "very serious" and deserved further investigation. The pressure on Rousseff and Lula shows no sign of abating. Local media have reported on a spate of new plea bargains by senior politicians that could further ensnare the government. IstoE news magazine on Thursday published alleged testimony by Workers' Party Senator Delcidio Amaral claiming that Rousseff and Lula both directly benefited from corruption. He alleged Rousseff had tried to hamper the investigation. The president strongly denied the reported accusations on Friday. Epoca weekly magazine, meanwhile, on Saturday published testimony from ex-Congressman Pedro Correa, who also outlined graft at Petrobras stretching back to Lula's government. Ratcheting up political tensions, opposition lawmakers said on Friday they will block Congressional voting until the Supreme Court clears the way for the impeachment process against Rousseff. Congress is due to hear the proceedings against the president, on grounds that she broke budgetary guidelines to boost her 2014 re-election campaign, but is awaiting guidelines on how to proceed from the court first. (Additional reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Tom Brown and Leslie Adler)
By Reese Ewing SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Senior judges in Brazil voiced concern on Saturday over the detention of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, even as they threw their support behind the sweeping corruption investigation that threatens to topple his embattled successor. Lula's three hours of questioning in police custody on Friday was the highest profile development in the two-year-old probe focused on state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). The detention of 70-year-old Lula, Brazil's first working class president and a hero to millions of Brazilians, shocked many in the South American nation. His 2003-2010 government helped lift an estimated 40 million Brazilians out of poverty and raised the nation's international profile. Supporters and opponents of the former union leader clashed outside his home on the outskirts of Sao Paulo after he was detained by police early on Friday. There were also noisy protests outside the police offices where he was questioned. Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello told CBN Radio on Saturday that "nothing justified the use of force" when police picked up Lula unannounced from his apartment. Even Justice Gilmar Mendes, who has publicly said there is strong evidence the ruling Workers' Party used graft proceeds to fund electoral campaigns, called Lula's interrogation in police custody a "delicate" situation in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. The federal judge who ordered Lula to be brought in for questioning, Sergio Moro, said in a statement on Saturday that steps were taken to protect Lula's image during the operation, and he expressed regret that it sparked violence. Speaking to his supporters at Workers' Party headquarters in Sao Paulo after being released on Friday, Lula said that investigators were "disrespectful of democracy" and abusing their authority. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing either while in office or since. President Dilma Rousseff flew from Brasilia on Saturday morning to meet with Lula in his apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in a show of support for her predecessor and political mentor. Rousseff said on Friday it was "unnecessary" to take Lula into custody because he had already voluntarily answered investigators' questions. Before Friday, some analysts had questioned whether the crackdown on graft could be at risk of fizzling out after the justice minister stepped down amid a barrage of criticism from the ruling Workers Party over the investigation. But Supreme Court justices were unambiguous in support for prosecutors pursuing their investigations into Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal. Justice Rosa Weber late on Friday rejected a request by Lula's lawyers to suspend investigations into real estate assets and the ex-president's institute, which police allege he and his family likely used to launder money stolen from Petrobras. Even Justice Mello, who was critical of Lula's arrest, said the evidence uncovered by prosecutors was "very serious" and deserved further investigation. The pressure on Rousseff and Lula shows no sign of abating. Local media has reported on a spate of new plea bargains by senior politicians that could further ensnare the government. IstoE newsmagazine on Thursday published alleged testimony by Workers' Party Senator Delcidio Amaral claiming that Rousseff and Lula both directly benefited from corruption. He alleged Rousseff had tried to hamper the investigation. The president strongly denied the reported accusations on Friday. Epoca weekly magazine, meanwhile, published on Saturday testimony from ex-Congressman Pedro Correa, who also outlined graft at Petrobras stretching back to Lula's government. Ratcheting up political tensions, opposition lawmakers said on Friday they will block Congressional voting until the Supreme Court clears the way for the impeachment process against Rousseff. Congress is due to hear the proceedings against the president, on grounds that she broke budgetary guidelines to boost her 2014 re-election campaign, but is awaiting guidelines on how to proceed from the court first. (Additional reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Tom Brown)
By John Whitesides FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton sparred in a debate on Sunday over who had the best chance to beat Republican front-runner Donald Trump, and mocked the level of discourse in the Republican White House race. Near the end of a Michigan debate that featured sharp clashes over trade and the auto industry bailout, as well as a lengthy discussion of religion, Clinton and Sanders both said they could not wait to face the brash billionaire in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. "I think Donald Trump's bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people," Clinton said. "We have to end the divisiveness, we have to unify the country." Sanders said he would "love" to run against Trump and noted many opinion polls showed him faring better against him than Clinton did. He and Clinton urged voters to compare the substance of their debate with the Republican versions, which last week featured name-calling and Trump defending his penis size. "We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money in mental health," Sanders said, then cracked a joke. "And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health." Trump frequently says he will beat either Clinton or Sanders. "I am the one person that she does not want to run against," he said of Clinton on Saturday. The debate in Flint, which is suffering a water contamination and public health crisis, came as Sanders has struggled to slow Clinton's march to the presidential nomination. Sanders picked up some good news on Sunday with a projected win in Maine's caucus. Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state and first lady, has spoken on the campaign trail of the need for more love and kindness, a contrast to Trump's rhetoric about his plans to deport illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. "I don't intend to get into the gutter with whoever they nominate, but instead to lift our sights," Clinton said in the debate. Describing herself as a "praying person," she said it was hard to imagine living under the pressure of the White House "without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith." Sanders, asked if he was deliberately keeping his Jewish faith in the background on the campaign trail, said his father's family was wiped out in the Holocaust. He described going shopping with his mother as a boy in Brooklyn, New York, and seeing people with numbers on their arms from Nazi concentration camps. "I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being," Sanders said. 'DISASTROUS' TRADE POLICIES Earlier, the two candidates exchanged angry jabs over trade, with Sanders accusing Clinton of backing "disastrous" trade policies that moved manufacturing jobs out of cities like Flint and Detroit and shifted them overseas. But Clinton said Sanders' opposition to the 2009 auto bailout, a crucial issue in a state that is home to the U.S. auto industry, would have cost millions of jobs. The bailout, which Clinton supported, passed Congress and has been credited with helping save the U.S. industry. Sanders, 74 a U.S. senator from Vermont and democratic socialist, also questioned the sincerity of Clinton's conversion to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal. The two contenders cut each other off on several occasions, a rare occurrence in a race that has been much more polite than the raucous Republican presidential campaign. "Excuse me, I'm talking," Sanders said to Clinton when she tried to interrupt. "If you're going to talk, tell the whole story," Clinton responded. Sanders pressed his charge that Clinton was too close to Wall Street and demanded again that she release the transcript of paid speeches she has given to Wall Street firms. Clinton said she would release them when all the candidates, including Republicans, also release transcripts of similar talks. 'THERE AIN'T NOTHING!' Throwing up his hands, Sanders said: "I'll release it. Here it is. There ain't nothing! I dont give speeches to Wall Street!" The debate was held in Flint to highlight the city's water contamination crisis, and both candidates expressed outrage at Flint's plight and demanded Republican Governor Rick Snyder's resignation. The crisis in Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was triggered when an emergency city manager installed by Snyder switched the city's water supply to the nearby Flint River from Lake Michigan to save money. The change corroded Flint's aging pipes and released lead and other toxins into the water supply, exposing thousands of residents including children to high lead levels that have sparked serious health problems. (Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders will meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels as the bloc is looking to Ankara to help it curb the influx of refugees and migrants flowing into Europe. After meting Davutoglu, the EU leaders will themselves convene to discuss the migration crisis, possibly formalizing the closure of the Balkan route out of Greece and pledging help to Athens. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON "It's important that we help the continent of Europe to secure its external border. That's in our interest and that's why we're sending British ships to do just that. "This does underline the special status we have in this organization because of course we're not in the Schengen no-border zone. We keep our own strong borders so migrants that come to Europe aren't able to come to the UK and it's important that everyone understands that." "We have an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things. There's no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe. We'll have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. Again it underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have. I'll be in these discussions, able to make arguments, able to make sure we deal with this problem that is good for all of Europe. Even outside the EU, we would be affected by the migration crisis like this. But at the end of the day we maintain our borders and our own way of doing things because we have the best of both worlds. FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE "Cooperating with Turkey doesn't mean we should not be extremely vigilant about press freedom." GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL "We want the number of illegal refugees to decrease and not just for a few countries but for all countries, that means including Greece. That's why we need a sustainable solution which realizes the security of the external border which is a prerequisite for Schengen. For the maritime border that's only possible with Turkey. Finally we want to fight illegal migration and that's only possible together with Turkey." "I hope that in reaching these goals we will make a step forward today but that will require difficult negotiations so I think it will take a few hours until we will have a result." TURKISH PRIME MINISTER AHMET DAVUTOGLU "I am back in Brussels for the second EU-Turkey summit in three months. This summit itself shows how indispensable Turkey is for the EU and the EU for Turkey. We have many challenges in front of us. The only way to respond to these challenges is solidarity. At the end of the day our continent is our continent all together. We have to see the whole picture, not just irregular migration but the whole future of our continent is on the table where we need solidarity between us." "I am sure these challenges will be solved through our cooperation and Turkey is ready to work with the EU. Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well. Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU. It will be a success story and a turning point in our relations in a positive way." EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MARTIN SCHULZ "I had a very open exchange with the prime minister who disagreed with my view... I insisted that for the European Parliament, that for the EU freedom of media is a key element of our European identity... I took note of the explanation of the prime minister." "Freedom of the media ... is a non-negotiable element of our European identity." "We have a need for Turkey that goes beyond political controversies." GREEK PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS "I am looking forward to substantial progress in this meeting with Turkey... At the same time it's necessary to accelerate the relocation process... and to have a credible relocation process." DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE "(All of the talks with Turkey) are meant to take as big as possible a step today on the refugee issue. In particular, this is about the flows from Turkey to Europe. We also have to speak about the issue of Greece and the Western Balkans. How can we end this streaming through of people how can we close the Western Balkan route." "You are talking about pledges, I think it is more about coming to a joint approach and I'm moderately optimistic that we can take such steps today." On flying migrants from Turkey to Europe directly: "That's a Turkish wish for the longer term. They know that to make it possible we need to be in sight of a zero (no migrants coming to Europe illegally through Turkey). The Netherlands have always said that if we get close to zero the European Union should naturally be ready to... relieve Turkey and that means in that situation to take people from Turkey, in much lower numbers than come illegally now." (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop, Robert-Jan Bartunek, Gabriela Baczynska)
Proposals for a deal between Europe and Turkey on dealing with the migration crisis have hit their first obstacle, with a veto from Hungary.

Sky News understands the latest draft proposal says that Turkey will take back all migrants who arrive in Greece from a certain yet-to-be-determined date.

The second part of the deal would see the EU admitting genuine refugees on a one-for-one basis: every migrant Turkey takes back will mean that the EU will accept a refugee.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu earlier told the talks in Brussels: "With these new proposals we aim to rescue refugees, discourage those who misuse and exploit their situation and find a new era in Turkey-EU relations."

In exchange, Turkey would get 6bn (4.6bn) to help Syrian refugees staying in the country, faster visa-free travel for its citizens and renewed talks aimed at granting its membership of the 28-country bloc.

But on Monday evening, a Hungarian government spokesman said prime minister Viktor Orban had refused to support the deal.

The leaders are understood to be unable to agree on the proposals but are prepared to work on them over the coming days, according to an EU official quoted by Reuters news agency.

:: Stranded And Broke: A Modern Migrant's Story

Sky News Europe Correspondent Mark Stone said: "It appears that the Turkish prime minister, on behalf of his president, has come to Brussels today to drive a particularly hard bargain.

"In practice, it's hardly very achievable with the current number of arrivals. But it's a neat way of sending a message to migrants and refugees not to come."

Stone said Turkey wants to use the money to improve conditions for refugees remaining in the country.

"If it can get that money from the EU then the result of that will be to stem the flow, because these people will be happy to remain in Turkey, instead of coming to Europe.

"Turkey is asking for an awful lot and, for now at least, it's something the EU cannot agree on."

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Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would not be part of any of the migrant re-distribution plans.

The latest figures reveal that more than 125,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe so far this year. It is estimated around 2,000 are crossing into Greece each day.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Sky News: "It is certainly not enough to believe that closing borders will remedy a situation where an appalling war without law and, seemingly, without end inside Syria is driving millions of people from their homes.

"The only way for this to work is if safe and legal routes to refugee status are established in the Middle East and Turkey, in Lebanon and Jordan.

"If conditions there are tolerable for people, including being allowed to work and contribute to the local society and a proper relocation plan for those who are inside Europe because no one European country can bear the whole of the burden or the disproportionate part of the burden.

"The key now with the agreement with Turkey is to ensure that that orderly approach is established for the first time because, frankly, until it is so, Europe will be playing catch-up."
By Alastair Macdonald and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union hopes a summit with Turkey on Monday can start putting an end to the chaotic arrivals of migrants in Greece and halt their treks through the Balkans toward Germany, diplomats said on Sunday. The meeting in Brussels will set out a tougher position on taking in migrants who reach Greece and formalize the closing of borders against those heading north from there. The EU leaders are also likely to tell Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of their concern about human rights after the Turkish government seized control of a critical newspaper over the weekend. EU leaders will also reassure Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of help housing thousands now stranded in Greece who hoped to follow the million that found refuge in Germany last year, diplomats said after a meeting of EU envoys on Sunday before the summit. An EU endorsement of recent border closures by Macedonia, Austria and other countries on the route north from Greece will be accompanied by a renewed commitment to revive stalled plans to redistribute asylum claimants around the 28 EU nations. A draft EU agreement will declare that the "West Balkan route is closed", diplomats said, although they added the statement was likely to go through considerable redrafting. NATO said a new naval force in the Aegean secured approval for operating in Turkish and Greek waters. That will lend force to a new agreement by Turkey to take back migrants halted in its waters and those who reach Greek islands but fail to qualify for asylum in Europe. Meeting Davutoglu two days after his government seized control of Zaman, Turkey's top-selling newspaper, EU leaders are torn between anger at Ankara's action and fear of derailing Turkish willingness to stop migrants sailing for Greece. European Council President Donald Tusk, the former Polish premier who will chair Monday's talks with Davutoglu, had barely left a meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and declared cautious optimism on the migrant crisis when Istanbul police seized the newspaper. "It's a slap in the face," one senior EU official told Reuters after EU envoys met in Brussels on Sunday. "Erdogan wants obviously to show that he can do what he wants." Diplomats close to that preparatory meeting said EU leaders will raise the issue with Davutoglu. But some fear that desire to see Turkey restrain departing migrants and take back those who make it to Greece will mute European support for Erdogan's opponents. RISKING ALL ON TURKEY The leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament, former Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt, called the takeover of Zaman an "offense" to EU leaders who, he said, were being "naive" in risking all "on a single card - Turkey". That criticism was echoed by Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik. "Using Turkey as a safe third country is absurd," she said. " ... Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency." However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces regional elections next Sunday that will pass judgment on her decision to take in asylum seekers last year, is keen to see a three-month old deal with Ankara start working. She was meeting Davutoglu in Brussels late on Sunday. Germany has been pushing for resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees from the more than two million in Turkey, as well as large numbers from Jordan and Lebanon. But diplomats say that is unlikely to be discussed in detail until the EU sees flows from Turkey are falling. Over a weekend that saw at least another 18 people drown in the straits between Turkey and Greece, Turkish gendarmes mounted a raid on a beach opposite Lesbos. Reuters journalists saw them stop some 120 migrants from leaving and arrest at least two from a migrant-smuggling gang. However, some 30,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and 2,000 to 3,000 more arrive daily. Tsipras, struggling with an economy blighted by the euro zone debt crisis, has called for urgent help and insisted Greece will not become a "warehouse of souls". Diplomats and EU officials said they believe that clear signs Europe's external borders are being brought under control can ease resistance from some in the EU to a plan to relocate asylum seekers from Greece to other European countries - a scheme that has seen barely 300 people move from Greece over the past few months. Three months ago, EU leaders, fearful that border closures have put their Schengen passport-free zone in jeopardy, agreed to provide 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to help care for Syrian refugees in Turkey. They also promised to revive talks on Ankara's EU membership and speed up a plan to give Turkish travellers easier visa access to the European Union. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Larry King)
By Silvia Aloisi MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Matteo Renzi denied on Sunday suggestions by the U.S. ambassador in Rome that Italy could send up to 5,000 troops to Libya, saying conditions were not in place for military intervention in the former Italian colony. Renzi was speaking on a television talk show on the day two Italian hostages freed in Libya were flown back home. Two other captives held at the same time were allegedly killed by Islamic State militants. "As long as I am prime minister, Italy will not go to Libya for an invasion with 5,000 men," Renzi told Canale 5 television. He was responding to the U.S. ambassador to Italy, John Phillips, who told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Friday that Rome could send up to 5,000 troops. "We need to make Tripoli safe and ensure that ISIS is no longer free to strike," Phillips said. Rome is working with other Western powers and the United Nations to try to convince two rival Libyan governments to create a single, unity coalition and focus on the fight against Islamic State. In the meantime, the United States has launched air strikes on Islamic State outposts in the country and the French have conducted surveillance flights. U.S., French and British special forces are also in the country, officials and media have said. Italian officials have said Italy has sent some 40 secret service agents to Libya in recent weeks, with an additional 50 special forces operatives set to join them. Rome, however, is resisting pressure to allow aircraft and armed drones based on its territory to stage attacks on Islamic State militants in Libya. It is also trying to persuade its allies to limit action until a single government is in place and requests international help. "If there is a need to intervene, Italy will not back down. But this is not the situation today. The idea of sending 5,000 men is not on the table," Renzi said. The two freed hostages and their slain companions were employees of Italian construction company Bonatti. They were all seized last July near the western Libyan city of Sabratha. Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno arrived at Rome's military airport of Ciampino on Sunday. According to a spokesman for Libyan security forces in Sabratha, Sabri Kshada, the pair were released during a raid early on Friday. Fellow captives Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano were shot dead by Islamic State militants shortly before Libyan forces attacked on Wednesday, Kshada has said. However, Italian media said the two freed hostages had told Italian magistrates during a six-hour debriefing in Rome that they had been held by a criminal gang that was not directly linked to ISIS. Quoting unnamed sources, the reports said the pair told magistrates they were beaten and left without food for days by their captors, and had managed to escape unaided on Friday. The two men have not spoken in public about the circumstances of their release. Sabratha is one of several Libyan cities in which militants loyal to Islamic State have established a presence, taking advantage of the chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising five years ago. Before departing for Italy from Tripoli's Mitiga airport, Pollicardo and Calcagno briefly appeared beside Ali Abu Zakouk, the foreign minister of the self-declared government in Tripoli. "We need support and cooperation from the Italians to tackle the criminal organization of Islamic State in Libya," Zakouk said. (Reporting by Silvia Aloisi, additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; Editing by Andrew Bolton, Larry King)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - A modern-day Samson is performing feats of physical strength in Gaza. "Go Samson go!" yelled a crowd in the Palestinian enclave cheering on Mohammad Baraka as the 20-year-old with the Biblical nickname used a rope around his chest to pull a 15-tonne petrol tanker. Baraka, who prefers to be known as "The Incredible", perhaps because he lacks the original Samson's long hair, has been putting on displays in his hometown of Deir al-Balah for the past two years, earning a reputation as the strongest man in the Gaza Strip. "I was confident there was power inside me and I started to develop it," said the body-builder and hotel management student. Traffic came to a halt in Deir al-Balah during the weekend performance as motorists and children on their way to school stopped to watch Baraka tow the yellow fuel truck. As an encore, he dragged a water tanker by his teeth for about 50 meters (yards). Baraka also wowed his audience by lying on his back and having knives dropped on his bare stomach from a height of one meter (three feet). Some friends used hammers to shatter bricks placed on his chest. "At the beginning, some people believed in him, others had their doubts - but everyone was amazed," said his father, Kamal, a philosophy teacher. "Mohammad's power is hidden inside him, it has nothing to do with muscles and training." The Biblical Samson was an Israelite warrior who, the Old Testament says, toppled a Philistine temple in Gaza, killing himself and a crowd that had demanded their captured and blinded enemy be brought from prison to entertain them. (Editing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
A recent court decision is raising concerns  and potential conflicts  for Canadian military veterans and reservists who develop new technology and intellectual property after they've left the forces.

In February, a Federal Court of Appeal ruling determined that anyone whose name is on the Canadian Armed Forces' supplementary reserve list  even if he or she receives no pay or benefits  is considered a public servant.

"What it means for veterans who are on the supplementary reserve list is that their rights, with respect to things that they invent after they leave the military, are now in a bit of a state of flux," said Susan Beaubien, an intellectual property lawyer with Macera and Jarzyna in Ottawa.

It also means veterans and reservists working full time in the private sector must first seek permission from the federal government before applying for a patent for their inventions.

'It's a bit chilling'

"It's a bit chilling, because if you're in the private sector, a private sector employer is not really going to want to have to run to the government to ask for permission to file a patent application. It is a cautionary tale for others," said Beaubien.

Louis Brown, military veteran and president of NOR Environmental in North Bay, Ont., is at the centre of the case.

Brown retired from the forces in 1993 and went on to start his own company developing specialized shelters and filtration systems used in the event of a chemical or biological attack. In 1999, Brown patented his shelter technology in both Canada and the U.S.

Given his specialization in chemical defence, Brown said when he retired, he agreed to go on the supplementary reserve list. He was not paid, nor called into service, but his name remained on the list until 2009.

In the meantime, Brown said he introduced his technology to officials in the Public Works department. But in 2009, the federal government contracted a U.S. firm to supply a product similar to Brown's shelters. Claiming patent infringement, Brown took the government to court in 2012.

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Still a public servant

The government moved to dismiss the case using the Public Service Invention Act, stating it already owned the patent because, technically, Brown was still a public servant when he filed for his patent in 1999.

"It does not feel good when your government attacks you because you've shown them something they know is yours and they decide to take it from you," said Brown.

The Public Servants Invention Act has been around since 1954. Beaubien, who is Brown's lawyer, said she's not aware of any cases dealing with this issue since the law was created.

"It's a very unusual and perhaps somewhat obscure statute," she said.

Many defence manufacturers hire engineers and technologists who've acquired their skills while serving in the military. Brown said he's hearing from other veterans and private sector employers who are concerned about this ruling.

'A lose, lose, lose situation'

"I think it has a huge potential for a lose, lose, lose situation," said Christyn Cianfarani, president of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries which represents about a 1,000 companies in Canada's defence industry. She's been watching the case closely.

"It's going to be our veterans in theory that are going to lose," said Cianfarani. "The worry is some might already be in a catch-22 position where they have an employment contract signed with the corporation that has intellectual property clauses in it and they're now potentially compromised."

She said defence companies may be discouraged from hiring veterans or reservists, or vets may be discouraged from adding their names to the reserve list in the first place.

Cianfarani said her organization will be raising these issues with government officials and cabinet ministers, including the defence minister.

Hopes for clarity

Brown hopes the Liberal government is willing to discuss the matter and provide some clarity.

"Having your own government attack you doesn't feel very good, but I think veterans can expect better out of this new government and that's what we're hoping," said Brown.

He said his company is in limbo until the questions over his patent are resolved in federal court, so in the meantime he wants to warn other veterans who are on the supplementary reserve list.

"If you're on this list you must know that anything you develop  if you do not now go and talk to the military and ask if you give permission for you to get a patent or copyright  they can come back and they can take it from you."

The Department of National Defence said in a statement to CBC that right now, it is assessing the recent court ruling, and it will work with the Justice Department to determine the next steps.

To contact Julie Ireton: julie.ireton@cbc.ca or 613-288-6478
By Andrea Shalal SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday underscored the U.S. military's support for data security and strong encryption as he asked top U.S. technology sector entrepreneurs and innovators to play a larger role in national security. Carter, on his third trip to Silicon Valley since taking office a year ago, urged greater cooperation between private industry and the public sector on data security and warned that failing to do would allow China, Russia and others who do not favor a free Internet to set new global standards. The defense chief also waded into a controversy between the U.S. government and Apple Inc over the FBI's request to circumvent security features on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters. Carter did not address the case directly since it is under litigation, but he said the Pentagon as the largest user of encryption in the world viewed strong encryption as critical, and no one case should drive future policy considerations. "We shouldnt let the solutions to this larger issue of how to handle data security as a society be driven by any one particular case," Carter told reporters after a speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. "It would be unreasonable." He said the issue of protecting data was complex, involving many different kinds of data, including data in motion, data at rest, and data crossing borders, and a solution required interaction between private industry and the public sector. FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel on Tuesday that a final court ruling forcing Apple to give the FBI data from the iPhone 5c in the San Bernadino case would be potentially precedential in other cases. In his speech, Carter also warned against new legislation spurred solely by this case. "It is easy to see wrong ways to do this. One would be a law hastily written in anger or grief. Another would be to have the rules be written by Russia or China," he said. After his speech Carter and his chief arms buyer met with five small companies at an event styled on the television series "Shark Tank," where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors. Carter told reporters that he saw some interesting new technologies, including unmanned surface drones and ways to visualize big data, but he was particularly impressed with the "tremendous" people behind the ideas. "I hope we steal some of them," he said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alistair Bell)
By Tatiana Jancarikova BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday looked to have little chance of forming a government after his leftist Smer party lost its parliamentary majority, raising the possibility that a center-right grouping may eventually hold sway. President Andrej Kiska was set to ask Fico to form a government, a formality after Smer won most votes in Saturday's national election, but six of eight parliamentary parties said they would not work with him. "A complicated situation has emerged, there are several dividing lines between the elected parties," said Kiska, a non-partisan figure who has the right to appoint prime ministers. "Some of them cannot be overcome and it would not be right to try. Some of them will be very hard to overcome but it will be inevitable. Representatives of the parties will have to deal with it," he said. Kiska will ask Fico to seek to form a government after he returns from Monday's EU summit in Brussels. Slovakia takes on the European Union's rotating presidency in the second half of the year, giving it a central role in the migration crisis and, potentially, the task of coping with the turmoil if Britain votes to leave the EU in a June referendum. Fico had hoped an anti-immigration stance and popular measures such as a cut in the sales tax on food and free train rides for students and pensioners would secure him a third term. His Smer party won 28.3 percent of the vote, down from 44.4 percent in 2012, as voters responded to opposition campaigning against corruption and shortcomings in healthcare and education. Smer would have 49 seats in the 150-seat parliament. Libertarian party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Ordinary People, moderate nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Hid (Bridge) and Siet (Net) would have 76 seats and might also get the support from the new protest movement We Are Family, which won 11 seats. SaS, Ordinary People, and We Are Family - the three biggest center-right parties - have already said they would not work with Fico. We Are Family has said it will not join any government but it might support a right-wing administration. Siet and Most-Hid, centrists with links to the ethnic Hungarian minority, have also said they will not join a Fico coalition. SaS chief Richard Sulik, an economist, might be asked to form a government if Fico fails, but would also face obstacles. He campaigned on an anti-Fico platform, attacking his welfare benefits as populism but took the same line on immigration. Part of the anti-immigrant vote went to the far-right People's Party-Our Slovakia, a party none of the others will deal with as they see it as fascist. Most-Hid, as recently as Sunday, refused to work with SNS due to its nationalistic and anti-Hungarian record but said on Monday it would negotiate, along with SaS, on forming a right-wing government that included SNS. (Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Last week, CBC Radio's Morning Edition covered how Saskatchewan has some startling numbers when it comes to drinking and driving. For example, impaired driving is the biggest killer on Saskatchewan roads: 59 people died in 2014 in alcohol-related crashes, and according to Statistics Canada, we have the highest rate of impaired driving incidents of all the provinces.

Our neighbours to the south, specifically in South Dakota, have dealt with similar problems.

"South Dakota was terrible with our recidivism rate when it came to drunk driving," said Art Mabry from Pierre, South Dakota.

Mabry is the coordinator for the state's 24/7 Sobriety program.

He uses the past tense when speaking about their rate of repeat offenders, because that number has dropped thanks to a low-cost program that's getting a lot of attention.

The concept of the 24/7 Sobriety program is pretty simple. Instead of heading to jail after getting charged with impaired driving, the driver is required to go the sheriff's office twice a day and get breath tests. The tests are 12 hours apart.

"As long as there's no alcohol in their system, they are free to go on and maintain their jobs, stay with their families, maintain their freedom," said Mabry.

If the test shows that they do have alcohol in their system, also known as blowing hot, they immediately go to jail for usually between 12 to 24 hours.

After being released from jail, they are put back into the program.

12% drop in repeat DUI arrests

The program started as a small pilot project, but is now used in 90 per cent of the state because of its success rate.

An independent study by a public policy research group found that the 24/7 Sobriety program reduced repeat DUI arrests by 12 per cent.

Although the program was originally put in place to reduce repeat drunk drivers, it's also used for other alcohol offences.

The same study found arrests for domestic violence went down by 9 per cent because of the program.

Story continues

Mabry notes that it's a sobriety program, not an abstinence program, so someone could conceivably have a few drinks after doing their breath test. But in some situations, a judge may get the offender to wear an ankle bracelet that detects alcohol through sweat glands. The bracelet is also used for people who can't travel to the sheriff's office for the breath tests.

Mabry says a big draw is the program's cost, because it's completely funded by the offenders. Breath tests cost $1 each time and the bracelets are $6 per day.

Mabry estimates that nearly 30 states now have some version of the program, and he says just this week that he's been in talks with people from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware.

Back in Saskatchewan, SGI currently uses license suspensions, vehicle seizures, ignition interlock, and alcohol education courses to deal with impaired drivers, as well as jail time for certain situations.
By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - Two Italian civilians held hostage in Libya since last July were freed on Friday, just 48 hours after two fellow captives were allegedly executed by Islamic State militants in the north African state. The four were employees of Italian construction company Bonatti and were seized last year near the western Libyan city of Sabratha, near a compound owned by the energy group Eni. The families of Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno confirmed the pair had been released and photos posted on Facebook showed the bearded men calling home. "We are free and physically OK, but psychologically we are devastated," said a handwritten note written by Pollicardo and published online by the Sabratha Media Center. A spokesman for security forces in Sabratha, Sabri Kshada, said the two men were released during a raid early on Friday. "(They) were found alive during a raid by the local fighters against one of the hideouts of Islamic State in Sabratha," he said. There was no immediate confirmation of this. On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said the two other Bonatti workers, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, had probably died in a firefight on Wednesday. Their bodies have been taken to Tripoli for eventual repatriation. Libyan security forces attacked Islamic State militants in Sabratha on Wednesday and Kshada said two of the Italians were shot dead by the Islamists shortly beforehand. Italian officials believe the four Bonatti workers were taken by a criminal gang hoping to secure a ransom. Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Friday that part of a ransom had been handed over prior to Wednesday's attack. There was no immediate official confirmation of this. Sabratha is one of several Libyan cities in which militants loyal to Islamic State have established a presence, taking advantage of the chaos that has plagued Libya since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising five years ago. Libya is a former Italian colony, and Rome is working with other Western powers and the United Nations to try to convince two rival Libyan governments to create a single, unity coalition and focus their energy on the fight against Islamic State. Italian officials have said Italy sent some 40 secret service agents to Libya in recent weeks, with an additional 50 special forces operatives set to join them. U.S., French and British special forces are also present in the country, officials and media have said. Italy has said it is ready to send a much larger contingent there to help train local forces as soon as the U.N.-backed unity government is formed. In an interview with Corriere della Sera on Friday, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, John Phillips, said: "Italy could send up to 5,000 troops. We need to make Tripoli safe and ensure that ISIS is no longer free to strike." In background briefings, Italian officials have indicated that any such force would be much smaller. They also say they would only send troops if asked to by the Libyans and would not have a frontline combat role. (Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli in Rome and Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Steve Stecklow LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters. The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export licence before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the licence applications generally will be denied. The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE. "This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE. The company can appeal against the action. ZTE, based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, said in a statement on Sunday that it was aware of media reports on U.S. export restrictions. "ZTE is highly concerned about recent media reports relating to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation," the company said. "ZTE has been working with associated U.S. government departments on investigations since 2012 and maintains constant communication with associated departments and is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns." Trade in shares in ZTE, which also sells consumer electronic devices such as smartphones in the United States, was suspended on Monday in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The company did not offer an explanation. "We believe the restrictions, if implemented, will cause significant supply problems to ZTE," Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng wrote in a note, adding that ZTE has major trading relationships with several U.S. companies including Qualcomm, Microsoft and IBM. Telecoms equipment and terminal businesses combined account for 80 percent of ZTE's total revenue of 2015, Meng said. The company's revenue for last year was expected to rise 23.8 percent to a record high of 100.8 billion yuan ($15.47 billion), preliminary results showed. ALLEGED VIOLATIONS The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it. The U.S. companies, which included Microsoft Corp, IBM, Oracle Corp and Dell Inc, have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of the companies still do business with ZTE. Washington has long banned the sale of United States-made technology products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents - some of which had been marked by the company as "Top Secret" - outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents. The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had implemented that scheme. The ZTE statement did not provide comment relating to the documents. The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers." BUSINESS IMPACT What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's global business is not clear. One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S ... Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company are from U.S. suppliers." One of ZTE's websites also states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp, IBM and Honeywell International Inc, are "key strategic partners of ZTE". The terms of the partnerships are not described. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond immediately to requests comment. The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught. "The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities", the document states. In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws". It is not clear if the alleged scheme was implemented. 'TOP SECRET' Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president. The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders". It states that ZTE "has ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba", adding that "all of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen". The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States. "R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law." The document does not specify what law may have been violated. The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime", the document states. The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S.," and that such an eventuality could leave the company facing "the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products". ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets. Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian. (Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in HONG KONG; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Anne Marie Roantree and Alex Richardson)
By Steve Stecklow LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters. The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export licence before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the licence applications generally will be denied. The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE. "This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE. The company can appeal against the action. ZTE, based in Shenzhen, said in a statement on Sunday that it was aware of media reports on U.S. export restrictions. "ZTE is highly concerned about recent media reports relating to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation," the company said. "ZTE has been working with associated U.S. government departments on investigations since 2012 and maintains constant communication with associated departments and is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns." ALLEGED VIOLATIONS The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it. The U.S. companies, which included Microsoft Corp, IBM, Oracle Corp and Dell Inc, have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of the companies still do business with ZTE. Washington has long banned the sale of United States-made technology products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents -- some of which had been marked by the company as "Top Secret" -- outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents. The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had implemented that scheme. The ZTE statement did not provide comment relating to the documents. The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers." BUSINESS IMPACT What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's global business is not clear. One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S ... Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company are from U.S. suppliers." One of ZTE's websites also states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp, IBM and Honeywell International Inc, are "key strategic partners of ZTE". The terms of the partnerships are not described. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond immediately to requests comment. The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught. "The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities", the document states. In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws". It is not clear if the alleged scheme was implemented. 'TOP SECRET' Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president. The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders". It states that ZTE "has ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba", adding that "all of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen". The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States. "R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law." The document does not specify what law may have been violated. The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime," the document states. The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S.," and that such an eventuality could leave the company facing "the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products". ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets. Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian. (Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in HONG KONG; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Anne Marie Roantree and David Goodman)
ALGIERS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said he will try to restart negotiations between Western Sahara's Polisario independence movement and Morocco to resolve their conflict and allow Sahrawi refugees to return. The dispute over the arid region in the northwest corner of Africa has festered since Morocco took most of it over in 1975 following the withdrawal of former colonial power Spain. The Polisario Front, which says the territory belongs to ethnic Sahrawis, waged a guerrilla war until a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in 1991 that did not settle the dispute. The two sides have been deadlocked since. The U.N. chief plans this weekend to visit refugee camps in Algeria's Tindouf area where Polisario is based. Before leaving Mauritania on Thursday, the U.N. chief said he intended to "relaunch negotiations to resolve the conflict so that the Sahrawi refugees can return home to Western Sahara". "The patience of the Sahrawi people has now run out. The U.N. has lost its way on Western Sahara," Polisario leader Mohammed Abdelaziz said in a statement on Friday. "Ban's visit and his upcoming reports to the Security Council are the best opportunity in a long time to reset negotiations." Polisario, backed by Morocco's regional rival and neighbour Algeria and a number of other African states, wants to hold a referendum promised in the ceasefire deal on the region's fate. "We want to hear from the Secretary-General in order to achieve a solution this year," Abdelaziz said. "Allowing the stalemate to continue would have serious consequences not only for the people of Western Sahara, but also for the prospects for peace and security in a Maghreb region." Rabat wants Western Sahara, which is rich in phosphates and possibly offshore oil and gas, to be an autonomous part of Morocco and disagrees with Polisario over who should take part in the referendum. Ban said last year U.N. envoy Christopher Ross had intensified efforts to facilitate the entry of the parties into negotiations "without preconditions and in good faith". (Reporting by Patrick Markey; Additional reporting by Khalilou Diagana in Nouakchott; Editing by Andrew Roche)
RENO, Nev., March 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) is pleased to announce that its 2016 annual meeting of stockholders will be held on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. EDT at the offices of Chadbourne & Parke LLP, 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019-6022. Stockholders of record on the close of business on March 16, 2016 will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the meeting.



The Company will follow the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules that allow companies to furnish proxy materials to their stockholders using the Internet. These rules permit us to provide our stockholders with the information they need, while lowering the costs of delivery and reducing the environmental impact of our annual meeting. Accordingly, a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, including details of the annual meeting, how to access the proxy materials and how to vote at the meeting, will be mailed to stockholders of record as of the record date. Only stockholders of record at the close of business on the record date will be entitled to vote at the meeting.

About Ormat Technologies

With over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG), with the objective of becoming a leading global provider of renewable energy. The company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter - a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. With 72 U.S. patents, Ormats power solutions have been refined and perfected under the most grueling environmental conditions. Ormat has 450 employees in the United States and over 600 overseas. Ormats flexible, modular solutions for geothermal power and REG are ideal for the vast range of resource characteristics. The company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed to utilities and developers worldwide, totaling over 2,000 MW of gross capacity. Ormats current 697 MW generating portfolio is spread globally in the U.S., Guatemala and Kenya.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nano One Materials Corp. (Nano One) (TSX.V:NNO) is pleased to announce that it has been approved for a $2.08 million technology commercialization grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).



The proceeds will be non-dilutive and non-repayable and they will help fund the design, construction, optimization and demonstration of Nano Ones Demonstration Pilot Plant for the production of lithium ion battery cathode materials.

The pilot plant will be used to showcase Nano Ones patented technology and demonstrate cost, scalability and performance to third party strategic interests. The pilot plant is being designed to produce approximately ten (10) kilogram batches of various lithium ion cathode materials that are strategically important to electric vehicle, grid storage and consumer electronic batteries.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada is incredibly proud to support Nano One, 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. Nano Ones battery materials pilot plant 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.

Nano One CEO Dan Blondal says that SDTC is internationally recognized for their expertise in cleantech investment, and their rigorous due diligence and competitive selection process are strong endorsements of our project. SDTC is very supportive of their portfolio companies so we are honored to have earned their confidence and to be participating in Canadian economic growth and environmental stewardship.

This project will help Nano One further its traction within the lithium ion battery industry, adds Nano One Chairman Paul Matysek, and SDTCs support brings valuable funding and validation while providing the kind of leverage that investors and strategic interests are looking for.

The project will commence as Nano One and SDTC agree on project details and funds will be disbursed in installments, over a series of milestones, subject to an investment of matching funds from Nano One and other sources.

Nano One Materials Corp.

Dan Blondal, CEO

For information with respect to Nano One or the contents of this news release, please contact John Lando (President) at (604) 669-2701 or visit the website at www.nanoone.ca.

About Nano One

Nano One Materials Corp is developing novel, scalable and low-cost processing technology for the production of high performance battery materials used in electric vehicles, energy storage and consumer electronics. The patented technology can be configured for a wide range nanostructured materials and has the flexibility to shift with battery market trends and a diverse range other growth opportunities. The novel three-stage process uses equipment common to industry and is being engineered for high volume production and rapid commercialization. Nano Ones mission is to establish its patented technology as a leading platform for the global production of a new generation of nanostructured composite materials. For more information, please visit nanoone.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 sdtc.ca

Certain information contained herein may constitute forward-looking information under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the actual receipt of the grant monies, the execution of the Companys plans which are contingent on the receipt of such monies and the commercialization of the Companys technology and patents. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'believe', 'expect', 'anticipate', 'plan', 'intend', 'continue', 'estimate', 'may', 'will', 'should', 'ongoing', or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results will occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: the completion of final documentation with SDTC and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that is incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE
CHICAGO, March 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The White Law Group announces that it has filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration statement of claim against Morgan Stanley involving the firm's Cushing MLP High Income Exchange Traded Note.

The claim, filed by The White Law Group, was submitted to FINRA Dispute Resolution on behalf of two North Carolina investors alleging claims for violation of common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and negligent supervision.

The claim further alleges that Morgan Stanley unsuitably invested the clients in its proprietary Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income ETN investments and failed to adequately disclose the risks of the investment to its clients.

Before recommending an investment, a broker-dealer has a fiduciary duty to adequately disclose the risks involved in the investment and to perform the necessary due diligence to determine whether the investment is suitable for the investor in light of that investor's age, investment experience, net worth, income, and investment objectives.

The Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income Index ETN is an exchange-traded note issued by Morgan Stanley. The Notes aim to provide investors with a cash payment at the scheduled maturity or early repurchase and variable coupon payments each quarter, in each case based on the performance of the underlying index, the Cushing MLP High Income Index.

When asked about the claim, D. Daxton White, the firm's managing partner, stated, "We are concerned that Morgan Stanley may have improperly recommended the Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income ETN to a number of income seeking investors. In this low yield environment, investors are seeking income producing investments, but the question is whether the investors understand the risk associated with investments like this - which provide income...but at enormous risk. We are also concerned that firms like Morgan Stanley would put investors in high risk investments that the clients clearly do not understand."

Although currently trading at $6.07/share, the Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income ETN was trading for $19.27 as recently as October 2014 (a decline of more than 65% during that time period).

FINRA Dispute Resolution is an arbitration venue for investors with claims against their brokerage firm or financial professional. It provides investors with an opportunity to attempt to recoup their investment losses and is an alternative to filing such claims in court.

For more information on the claim filed by The White Law Group, please contact the firm's Chicago office at 312-238-9650.

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Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is fighting for her political life in Congress, the courts and streets this week, but her path to survival has got ever narrower, analysts said Monday.

Rousseff faces impeachment proceedings over alleged fiscal mismanagement, while the Supreme Electoral Court is considering possible campaign funding irregularities that could end up annulling her 2014 reelection.

Those threats had appeared to be receding in the last few weeks. Even Rousseff's dismal popularity ratings were creeping up.

But on Friday, what analyst Gabriel Petrus called "an atomic bomb" was thrown at her leftist Workers' Party with the brief detention of Rousseff's mentor and charismatic predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula, as he is universally known, is accused of taking bribes from companies involved in the gargantuan embezzlement and kickbacks scheme at state oil company Petrobras.

And the extraordinary scene of a powerful ex-president being taken away by police, backed up by officers in camouflage with rifles, brought all the simmering tensions to a boil.

Now, with the relative lull forgotten, both the opposition and pro-Rousseff camps are promising to take to the streets, while opposition parties in Congress are licking their lips over a revitalized impeachment push.

- Could get 'nasty' -

Petrus, at the Brasilia-based consultancy Barral M Jorge Associates, said both Lula and Rousseff have their backs up against the wall -- and if necessary will go down swinging.

"The Workers' Party will play a winner-take-all strategy -- everything or nothing," Petrus said. "I think both sides are preparing for that battle."

The Workers' Party will try to show its muscle with a series of demonstrations announced in big cities, on Tuesday, March 18 and March 31.

But analysts believe the turnout will be dwarfed by opposition rallies across the country this Sunday -- and that huge crowds could push hesitant congressional deputies over the edge in backing the push to impeach Rousseff.

Story continues

David Fleischer, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia, said that prosecutors are "closing the circle" around Lula, who denies having taken corrupt money and denounced the police operation against him on Friday as "a show."

"He's going to be in jail in a few weeks probably," Fleischer predicted.

But as the reaction to Friday's drama showed, Workers' Party loyalists increasingly see the legal assaults on Lula and Rousseff as an attack on the very core of the country's leftist movement. And that's getting them fired up.

"If Lula is arrested, for example, it could get quite nasty," Fleischer said.

- Rousseff going, going... -

The president of Latin America's biggest country is an ex-member of a leftist guerrilla group who endured torture under the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Even those survival skills may be insufficient now.

Analysts say Rousseff's fate may be decided not in the streets or even in the electoral court, but in prosecutorial and police offices where former friends and allies ensnared in the Petrobras scandal are negotiating plea bargains.

Unconfirmed reports that Workers' Party Senator Delcidio do Amaral is preparing to testify that Rousseff obstructed the Petrobras investigation have already caused a huge stir and could give powerful ammunition to the impeachment camp.

Other major figures arrested in the vast corruption scheme include construction tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht and political campaign guru Joao Santana.

"There's going to be a lot more plea bargaining, new information coming out," Fleischer said, "and Congress will restart the impeachment process, probably next week."

Rousseff struck out Monday against the leaking of supposedly impending plea bargains, saying this was part of a campaign. The leaks "are not true, but the damage caused by throwing mud has already occurred," she said.

- Powerless -

Already Rousseff cuts a forlorn figure, with Congress paralyzed and the economy in a tailspin. Every time Brazil's first female president makes a speech on television, crowds of opponents across the country lean out their windows to bang pots and yell.

"Rousseff barely occupies the formal post of president of the Republic," O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper said in an editorial Monday.

"In practice, she already exercises no power, except for what's provided for by protocol. There'll always be someone in the Planalto Palace to serve her coffee."

Fleischer's prognosis was brutal: "By the end of the year she'll be out."
Brussels (AFP) - Divided EU leaders argued Monday about a plan to declare the Balkans migrant route closed as they held a summit with Turkey's prime minister to urge Ankara to accept large-scale deportations of economic migrants.

At the last minute, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker insisted that a mention of the route closure be dropped from the proposed closing statement of the summit in Brussels, European sources told AFP.

The row underlined the deep divisions in the 28-nation European Union as it tries to harden its stance in the face of the worst refugee crisis to hit the continent since World War II.

More than one million refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015 -- mostly arriving in Greece from Turkey -- with nearly 4,000 dying while crossing the Mediterranean.

"On the issue of how we can decrease the number of refugees not just for some countries but for all countries including Greece, the issue cannot be that something is closed, but that we find a sustainable solution with Turkey," Merkel said as she arrived in Brussels.

The EU is putting the onus on Greece and Turkey, which is the launchpad for most migrants who cross the sea to the Greek islands and then travel up through the Balkan countries to reach wealthy Germany and Scandinavia.

Austria last month abruptly capped the number of asylum seekers it would accept, triggering a domino effect of border restrictions along the Balkans that has trapped tens of thousands of desperate migrants on the border between Greece and non-EU Macedonia.

- 'This route is now closed' -

Merkel -- who is facing pressure at home over her open-door policy towards refugees -- and Juncker had objected to the initial draft statement approved by EU ambassadors on Sunday, which said: "Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end. This route is now closed."

Story continues

The draft raised concerns that agile smugglers would circumvent EU barriers and take alternative routes, which those working on the migrant problem say could run through Bulgaria or Albania.

Brussels sees curbing the flow of migrants as part of a plan to restore by the end of the year the full functioning of Europe's cherished passport-free Schengen zone after the series of border closures.

It was timed with calls for better cooperation from Turkey -- currently home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees -- which signed a deal with the EU in November last year to curb the migrant flow.

Arriving at the summit, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country was ready to work "shoulder to shoulder" with Europe on migration, while also raising Ankara's long-stalled EU membership bid.

"Turkey is ready to work with EU. Turkey is ready to be member of EU as well," he said as he arrived in Brussels.

- 'Large-scale' deportations -

Davutoglu said Sunday he would discuss with his EU counterparts efforts to begin building schools and hospitals for refugees within weeks with the three billion euros ($3.3 billion) pledged by the bloc under the November deal.

EU president Donald Tusk said in his invitation letter for the summit that success depended largely on securing Turkey's agreement for the "large-scale" deportation from Greece of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees.

Syrians, who top the influx of 1.13 million people into Europe over the past 14 months, are considered genuine refugees requiring admission under international law.

Despite progress in implementing the November deal with Turkey, the EU said, too many people were still heading from Turkey to Greece, with nearly 2,000 arriving daily in February.

Summit co-host the Netherlands said the bloc would not only push Turkey to stop the flow to Europe of all non-Syrian migrants but also eventually war-hit Syrians themselves.

"It's very important for Turkey to first take back all non-Syrian refugees but that's not enough," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "In the end, we want zero also for the flow of Syrian refugees."

But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras -- who has said he will not allow his country to become a "warehouse of souls" -- renewed calls Monday for fellow EU members to honour a deal to relocate thousands of refugees.

"These agreements that we do not implement are not agreements at all. So now there is a difficult situation that we have to handle," he said.

The bloc adopted a scheme last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, but only 872 people have actually been moved, according to the latest EU figures.
Washington (AFP) - With Donald Trump steaming ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and Ted Cruz consolidating his second-place status, the party establishment is facing up to the real possibility of having to embrace what some consider the lesser of two evils.

That could mean backing Cruz -- the ultra-conservative Texas senator once reviled by fellow Republicans as a "wacko bird" eager to shut down the US government -- at the expense of Marco Rubio, the establishment hopeful who is lagging in third place and facing calls to give up.

Senator Lindsey Graham summed up the growing Republican dilemma in this most unpredictable of nomination contests on Sunday when he told NBC's Meet the Press that there was "some hope with Ted, no hope with Donald" in a general election.

"If Ted's the alternative to Trump, he's at least a Republican conservative," said Graham.

"If Donald Trump's the nominee, the Republican party will get killed, will get creamed, we'll deserve it," warned Graham, a hawkish Republican who shelved his presidential campaign in December after failing to gain traction.

Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul who has never held elected office, kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race for the White House on Sunday and Cruz emerged as his strongest challenger in weekend primaries.

It capped a stormy week in which panicked Republican grandees trained their big guns on Trump, who has galvanized disaffected voters with an anti-immigrant, anti-free trade campaign filled with insults, attacks on minorities and mockery of the political establishment.

Trump now has 384 delegates to 300 for Cruz and 151 for Rubio. John Kasich has 37 delegates.

What has been an at times ill-tempered and deeply personal contest could yet plunge into deeper acrimony: there is a chance that no candidate will rack up the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the Republican convention in July.

Story continues

That would mean a contested or "brokered" convention, a scenario that could turn chaotic, especially if establishment figures seek to prevent delegates from coalescing around Trump.

- 'Not the real deal' -

When a candidate emerges from the Republican primaries with a majority, convention delegates do little more than rubber-stamp the voters' choice. But when no candidate secures an outright majority, delegates have the final word on the choice of nominee.

In three-quarters of US states, the delegates who travel to the Republican convention to represent, say, Trump are picked among party activists without input from the candidate.

Delegates are told how to vote on the first nominating ballot. But after that, if voting goes to a second round and beyond, most are free to make their own choice -- and potentially reshuffle the deck.

That is how -- in a scenario party leaders still say is unlikely -- Trump could head to the convention with a lead in the delegate count and still lose the nomination.

The 2012 Republican White House nominee Mitt Romney let loose on Trump last week, branding him "a phony, a fraud," signaling what promises to be the opening salvo in a sustained party campaign against Trump.

Romney has yet to throw his weight behind any candidate, but should do so after March 15, the next major round of voting in the primary race.

Cruz, Kasich and Rubio were all "true Republicans," he told NBC on Sunday.

"They've demonstrated over time that they share conservative values. There's some differences on policy or on tactics to implement policy, but I'd be very proud having any one of them at the top of the ticket.

"Donald Trump on the other hand is someone who represents something entirely different. And in my view is not at all the real deal.

"This is a guy who pretends to be one thing and is something else entirely."

The next date on the electoral calendar is Tuesday, when Michigan and Mississippi have Democratic and Republican primaries.

Republican-only nominating contests also are being held that day in Idaho and Hawaii.

Trump has called for Rubio to end his presidential bid and dismissed the Romney-led attack on him.

"I would love to be able to take on Ted one on one," Trump said in Florida, minutes after winning in Kentucky on Saturday. "That will be easy."

Cruz also urged Rubio and Ohio Governor Kasich to drop out, arguing that the anti-Trump vote will be split as long as they remain in the race.

"If we're divided, Donald wins," he warned.
Ben Guerdane (Tunisia) (AFP) - Tunisian forces repelled a jihadist assault Monday on a town near the Libyan border, killing 36 assailants in what authorities said was a thwarted effort to establish an Islamic emirate.

Eleven members of the security forces and seven civilians were also killed in Ben Guerdane in what President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an "unprecedented" jihadist attack.

It prompted authorities to close the frontier and order a nighttime curfew.

Prime Minister Habib Essid, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group, said the operation's aim had been to create a "Daesh emirate" in Ben Guerdane, but the army and internal security forces had thwarted the attackers.

Essebsi, in an earlier statement broadcast on state television, said the assault was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and vowed to "exterminate these rats".

State Department spokesman John Kirby condemned the "cowardly attack" and offered fresh US help to Tunis, while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the attack "once more demonstrates the gravity of the threat faced by Tunisia".

Residents told AFP the assailants appeared to be natives of the region.

They stopped people, checked their IDs apparently to seek out members of the security forces, and announced their brief takeover of Ben Guerdane town as "liberators".

"I was about to open my shop, at 5:30 (am), when I heard gunshots coming from not far from here," said a grocer near the hospital, asking not to be identified.

When he went to see what was happening, he saw two jihadists drive off with an ambulance, an account confirmed by a medic.

Other jihadists pointed a gun at him, told him to kneel down and asked for his identity papers, which in Tunisia show your profession.

- 'Kill him' -

"I told him I didn't have my ID on me. His comrade said: 'Kill him.' But instead he shouted: 'We are Al-Imara al-Islamiya (the Islamic emirate). We've come to liberate you.'"

Story continues

The assailants, apparently working from a hit list, murdered an anti-terrorist brigade official at his home, friends said.

"They knew him! They knew him!" insisted the man's uncle, Mustapha Abdelkebir, a civil activist, amid tears of grief.

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to prevent the large number of its citizens who have joined IS in Libya from returning to carry out attacks at home.

Jihadists have taken advantage of a power vacuum in Libya since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, to set up bases in several areas, including Sabratha between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

The government in Tunis said an army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane were attacked in coordinated pre-dawn assaults.

The defence and interior ministries said at least 36 jihadists, six members of the National Guard, two policemen, a customs official and a soldier died in the fighting. Seven civilians were also killed.

Seven militants were captured, the defence ministry said.

A medic said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead.

An AFP correspondent reported that schools and offices were closed and troops were posted on rooftops as helicopters patrolled overhead.

Residents were urged to stay indoors even before the 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) nighttime curfew began.

- Jihadist presence growing -

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia, the correspondent said.

Authorities said ground and air patrols along the border would be reinforced.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Troops have been on alert in the area following reports of militants infiltrating since a US air strike on an IS training camp in Libya on February 18 killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

Deadly IS attacks on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre (125-mile) barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militant incursions.

- US air strike -

The American strike on the IS training camp outside Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the raid probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

According to a UN working group, more than 5,000 Tunisians have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups, many to Libya.

Western governments have been increasingly alarmed by the growing IS presence in Libya just 300 kilometres (185 miles) across the Mediterranean from Europe, and have made contingency plans for intensified military action.

Rival administrations jostling for power since mid-2014 in Libya are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to facilitate the fight against the jihadists.
Need Emergency Short-Term Accommodation in Singapore? Here are 3 Affordable Ways to Get It

If you were born and bred in Singapore, theres a good chance youve never ever had to think about looking for accommodation in your own country, save for the usual balloting for a flat before tying the knot.

But thanks to the increasing diversity of the mix of people on the island and a growing number of locals eschewing the usual graduate-work-marry-buy HDB path, theres been a rising demand for short-term accommodation.

Here are some situations where you might find yourself in need of a temporary home:

Youre finally renovating your home and need somewhere to crash while works are ongoing.

Youre a renter and need accommodation in between leases.

You got kicked out of your parents flat (doesnt sound nice but lets face it, it does happen here).

With more and more old folks renting out rooms in their property for extra income, once you leave your parents home you may no longer have access to your childhood bedroom.

Landblords in Singapore are officially allowed to rent out their properties for no less than 6 months a year, although many condo owners do it on the sly. Still, it makes it more difficult to find a place to stay for a short period. Here are some relatively affordable options for someone who needs a home for anything from a few days to a few months.

Housesitting

If the period you plan to stay away from home is flexible (such as when you need to renovate your home), you might be able to get a housesitting gig from someone in Singapore who needs their home, and often their pets, looked after while they globetrot.

Housesitting basically lets you enjoy free accommodation in exchange for looking after pets and making sure the house doesnt get burgled, the chances of which are admittedly quite low in Singapore anyway (but dont forget, low crime doesnt mean blah blah).

Just sign up on a website like Trusted Housesitters and start applying for assignments. Once youve been selected, you get to live at the owners home for the duration of the assignment. Most home owners on the site live in nice condos or houses, which means housesitters get to enjoy a dip in the pool or a workout at the gym if theyre available. Also a great option for those who live with their parents and want some privacy from time to time.

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Airbnb

Airbnb (or alternatives like PandaBed) isnt just for you when you go on holiday. In fact, this 2015 news report revealed that a significant number of Singaporeans are using the site to book accommodation for themselves within Singapore in order to escape their parents homes for a while.

If youd like to spend a birthday weekend away from home or want to live closer to your workplace during crunch-time so you wont have to waste 3 hours a day on public transport when youre already sleep deprived, Airbnb is a much cheaper alternative than booking yourself into a cheap hotel.

At the time of writing, there are bedrooms available for as little as 35 SGD a night, which is little more than what you would pay for a bunk in a hostel. There are also several people renting out rooms in their homes in the $700 a month range, which if youre familiar with the rental market, is pretty darn cheap for a last minute short-term request. If youre staying for a month or more, contact the seller privately and bargainit usually works, but be reasonable.

Ask a friend

Being too paiseh to ask for help is a big part of being Singaporean. After all, cant let anyone know you cant afford to put up at a five star hotel for a few week, what a loss of face thatd be!

But seriously, if you need a place to crash for a few days/weeks, bite the bullet and reach out to your personal network and you might be pleasantly surprised.

A best case scenario would be being allowed to crash a friends couch in exchange for doing the housework or your wonderful company. Even if that isnt feasible, its highly likely one of your friends will have a spare room they can rent to you at a reasonable price.

Sleepovers might have been something you did only as a kid, but letting a friend in need crash at your place is not as unheard of as you might think. Many Singaporeans wouldnt think twice about hosting a friend visiting from overseas.

If youre dont have too many local contacts, get a friend or colleague who does to make a Facebook post. People are often nicer than you think.

Have you ever had to get short-term accommodation in Singapore? Tell us what you did in the comments!

The post Need Emergency Short-Term Accommodation in Singapore? Here are 3 Affordable Ways to Get It appeared first on the MoneySmart blog.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on Washington and Brussels on Monday to step up pressure on Moscow to secure the release of a hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot from a Russian jail. The EU described reports of the hunger strike as "extremely worrisome" and called for the immediate release of 34-year-old Nadiya Savchenko. "Russia bears responsibility for the health, well-being and observance of the human rights of all persons it detains," an EU spokeswoman added. Three Nobel Prize laureates are among thousands of people who have signed a petition urging European leaders "to take emergency measures" to seek Savchenko's return home. The helicopter pilot is standing trial for alleged involvement in the 2014 death of two Russian journalists in war-scarred eastern Ukraine. She faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted in a trial that has drawn global attention and been attended by Western monitors concerned about Russia's allegedly deteriorating record on human rights. Savchenko denies the charges and has refused all food and drink since her hearing was adjourned on Thursday before she was given a chance to make a final statement. Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that "Ukraine has sent a letter to EU nations and the United States with the request to intensify their pressure on Russia aimed at securing our Nadiya's release." He added that Savchenko was also visited in her southern Russian detention centre on Monday by Ukraine's consul general. Ukraine's Hromadske Radio's website afterwards posted a hand-written note that was signed by Savchenko and dated Monday. "Whether dead or alive, I have already won," said the message. "I will leave jail on my own terms, showing the entire world that Russia may be forced into submission if you remain as fearless and unyielding as me." Savchenko's case is seen by many Ukrainians as a symbol of resistance against what Kiev's pro-Western leaders view as Russia's aggression in the eastern industrial heartland of the former Soviet state. - 'Mockery of civil rights' - Her fate has also sparked concern among Western governments and leading human rights groups. The Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich and two other Nobel Prize winners in literature -- Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and the Lithuanian-American Tomas Venclova -- told European leaders that Savchenko's life and the bloc's credibility were at stake. "Our ability to save her life will test the effectiveness of international diplomacy and our commitment to European values," said an open letter posted online Sunday and signed by more than 5,000 people. "The Russian authorities have made a mockery of civil rights, international law, and their own Constitution." US State Department spokesman John Kirby stressed on Thursday that Savchenko "needs to be released". Prosecutors argue that Savchenko helped Ukrainian forces locate and direct mortar fire at two Russian state television journalists in the separatist region of Lugansk. She counters that she was in the area of the attack incidentally and was kidnapped and smuggled into Russia. Savchenko's supporters especially fear that her refusal to drink may irreparably damage her health or even kill her before her next hearing on Wednesday. One of Savchenko's Russian attorneys said his client was already suffering from "an accelerated heart beat, swelling legs and jumps in temperature." "She is still forbidding Russian doctors from performing any tests or medical procedures," lawyer Nikolai Polozov wrote on Facebook. And her second attorney in the case said that while "her condition is more or less satisfactory, we are seeing the consequences of her hunger strike. "She believes that the sooner these hearings are over, the sooner she can return to Ukraine," lawyer Mark Feygin told AFP. "But that is not how these things work." The separatist war in Ukraine has claimed more than 9,100 lives since pro-Russian insurgents angered by the ousting of Ukraine's Moscow-backed leadership revolted against the Kiev authorities in April 2014. Russia rejects Ukrainian and Western charges of instigating and backing the unrest.
Investigators probing the MH370 mystery will release an annual statement, and Malaysia's parliament will observe a solemn moment of silence to mark two years since the plane's baffling disappearance.

The anniversary rolls around with relatives increasingly anxious over plans to end the challenging search for an Indian Ocean crash site and with Malaysia Airlines facing a slew of lawsuits over the disaster.

A team of international investigators set up nearly two years ago will issue an annual update of its findings at 3:00 pm in Kuala Lumpur (0700 GMT).

There has been no indication the statement would contain new insights into what actually happened on March 8, 2014, when the plane vanished during an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew.

The team includes investigators from the US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) and its counterparts from other countries.

It is required under international rules to release an annual statement regardless of whether new information has emerged.

Its first report, issued on the one-year anniversary, shed no new light on what remains one of aviation's greatest mysteries.

Analysts believe MH370 veered far off course to the remote southern Indian Ocean, where it went down.

Theories of what caused the disappearance include a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action. But nothing has emerged to support any single scenario.

An extensive two-year search led by Australia, which aims to locate debris on the seafloor and possibly retrieve the black boxes, has come up empty.

A wing fragment was found on an island thousands of kilometres from the search area last July and later confirmed to be from MH370, the first proof that the plane went down.

Two new pieces of debris found in the past week have raised anticipation ahead of the anniversary, but are yet to be confirmed as from MH370.

- Deadline for filing lawsuits -

Families have recently stepped up calls for the search to carry on and even be expanded after the designated search zone -- an area the size of North Korea -- has been fully scanned, which is expected around June.

Story continues

Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities plan to end the search -- projected to cost up to $130 million -- at that point if no compelling new leads pointing to an actual crash site emerge.

The second anniversary also is the deadline for filing lawsuits against the airline.

Families of scores of passengers have in recent days and weeks filed lawsuits in the United States, Malaysia, China, Australia and elsewhere, seeking damages over the disaster.

Some others have reached settlements for undisclosed amounts, according to attorneys.

Citing imprecise satellite data indicating the plane's movements, search authorities believe the plane veered off course and flew for hours to the remote southern Indian Ocean, where it went down.

But many relatives remain unconvinced that they are searching in the right place.

Many remain furious with the airline and Malaysian government, accusing them of letting the plane slip away through a bungled response, withholding information on what happened, and treating grieving relatives insensitively.

dma/eb
Want an excuse to visit Thailand for a business trip? We may have your alibi

Bart Medici is the Managing Partner Southeast Asia at Simpli5d Technologies and the Founder at Bangkok Entrepreneurs, who will be putting on the Thailand Startup Summit on March 30th.



On March 30th, 2016, Bangkok Entrepreneurs will held the Thailand Startup Summit 2016, a showcase of Thailands best startups.

Throughout the entire day and evening, 70+ speakers will come on stage for keynotes and panels. Most of them are Thailand-based startups, some of them are VCs investing in Thailand and a few are big names like Google, Line or Grab.

Here are 10 reasons why every Startup & Tech lover or Enthusiast should attend this summit:

Thailand has a vibrant Tech scene

Yes, I know, it sounds a bit funny for a country more famous for its elephants, beaches and temples (and the spicy food!) than for technology and VCs. But I promise you that there is more to Thailand than what you think. Did you know that 2C2P, Hotel Quickly, Ensogo and even Agoda were Thai startups?

A Forbes-annointed young-gun will be speaking

The youngest of Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in Technology list, Korawad Chearavanont (21), is Thai. He founded a startup a couple years ago and recently raised US$ 5.7 Million dollars! He will be on stage at Thailand Startup Summit 2016.

WhatsApp? No. This is LINE territory

Thailand is LINEs second-largest market after Japan. At TSS 2016 Ariya Banomyong, MD at LINE Thailand, will talk about the companys hegemony in Thailand and the its ambitions beyond the message app. The future includes eCommerce, games and more.

Also Read: Thailands Stylhunt snags close to US$500,000 in pre-Series A round

The Thai motorcycle taxi market is one of the busiest in SEA for startups

Grabbike and the new UberMoto are competing with Deliveree, Skootar, Sendit and a few others! Theyll all be at TSS 2016 to tell us why motorcycle transportation is still the future, not the past.

Story continues

aCommerce is Thailands most successful startup

Founded by a team of Thai Internet and finance veterans, aCommerce has raised more than US$18 million to date. Phensiri Sathianvongnusar, COO at aCommerce, will be on stage at TSS 2016 to tell us how aCommerce is doing better than any other Thai startups.

Amadeus Next

The startup accelerator program by Amadeus, the leading provider of IT solutions to the global tourism and travel industry, is looking for the next travel startup unicorn. At TSS 2016 they will tell us why travel is the best vertical business today.

Forbes again!

Trumph Silpsrikul, another of Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in Technology, will talk at TSS 2016.

Some big names are moving in

iflix, HappyFresh, Lalamove and Sephora digital (Luxola) are opening offices in Thailand. Find out how they plan to leverage from their regional presence to handle the local competition at TSS 2016.

And other success stories are reaching out

Thailand e-commerce startups like Moxi, PriceZa, Pomelo or Zilingo are planning their expansion to Southeast Asia. Will they be a threat or opportunity for startups outside of Thailand? Lets discuss it at TSS 2016.

And when your country is famous for spicy food, the competition heats up

Thailand is famous for good street food and very affordable restaurants that used to make eating at home a rarity.

But times are changing: Food delivery service companies are making a killing in Bangkok right now. From the standard delivery service by Foodpanda to the artisan food focus of Passion Delivery. Restaurant review websites like Wongnai and booking and deals websites like Eatigo are also finding success.

Who will win the food battle? Find out at TSS 2016!

Also Read: Thailands Rabbit Internet raises US$9.1M; will boost domestic operations

Plus, March is a great time to travel to Thailand! The weather is hot and dry, the beaches are quiet and the prices are still low.

The views expressed here are of the authors, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them.

Anybody (ok not just anybody, you have to be awesome) can contribute thought leadership content to e27. If you think you have what it takes, contribute here.

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

The post 10 Reasons why every startup, tech lover and enthusiast should attend Thailand Startup Summit 2016 in Bangkok. appeared first on e27.
A Dominican judge pushed back a preliminary hearing for Frenchman Christophe Naudin, who was extradited by Egypt over an alleged role in the escape of two pilots jailed in a drugs case dubbed "Air Cocaine." The postponement until Tuesday was granted so that Naudin can appear before the judge with both an attorney and a translator. His attorney failed to appear on Saturday. Naudin, a 53-year-old criminologist and aviation security expert who was arrested in Cairo on February 4, was sought by 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. 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. 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.
The second of five "missing" Hong Kong booksellers who was detained on the mainland returned to the city on Sunday, authorities said, in a case that has triggered fears of increasing Chinese interference in the semi-autonomous region. Cheung Chi Ping's return to Hong Kong comes a week after he appeared on Chinese television with four of his colleagues, where some admitted to smuggling illicit literature into the mainland. Cheung had been missing since October. "Hong Kong Police Force met with Cheung Chi Ping who has returned to Hong Kong from the mainland," the statement issued by Hong Kong's police said. During the meeting, Cheung requested to have his missing persons case closed and requested his case to be dropped. "He refused to disclose other details," the statement added. His return to Hong Kong follows fellow bookseller Lui Por's arrival in the city Friday. Chinese media said last week Cheung, Lui and colleague Lam Wing Kee would all be released on bail. However, authorities have not been able to confirm when Lam will return to Hong Kong. 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 last week 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 last week, admitting to smuggling illicit books into China in sombre, sometimes tearful interviews. The cases have 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.
This year Toong hopes to open a third space, and prove Vietnam is ready to embrace the co-working culture

Now THAT is a meeting table

Vietnamese Co-working space Toong, which is striving towards building itself into the countrys first chain-brand in the sector, announced today it has raised a seven digit USD funding round from undisclosed investors.

The unnamed backers have backgrounds in the investment, retail and services industries in Vietnam, the company said.

Toong opened its doors in August, and in December it was reported the co-working space had raised a US$300,000 round from angel investors.

The first outlet in the chain is located in the Hoan Kiem district in central Hanoi while the second branch is in the expatty Tay Ho district. Lihn Vu, Marketing Manager at Toong told e27 the company is planning on opening a third branch in Ho Chi Mihn City this year.

Also Read: Toong is Hanois latest co-working space for tech startups

The new fund will be good base for Toong to continue developing coworking space model deeply and sustainably in Vietnam. We will use part of the fund to reinforce facilities and services at our current outlets while the rest goes towards opening a new outlet in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, she said.

Toong 2 - 98 To Ngoc Van FINAL

A peek inside the Toong co-working space

Just as Toong is a young company, Co-working in Vietnam is, in general, a new phenomenon. Places like Hub.IT and Hatch! NEST (and Toong) are working to build up the scene and Vu cited overcoming the cultural mindset as a challenge.

Co-working space is a new model in Vietnam  Therefore, our biggest challenge is to educate the market about this new model, and to attract target customers to experience our space to learn its benefits in comparison to traditional offices, she said.

Also Read: Startup Spring: A busy time ahead for Vietnams startups

In January, Toong Co-founder and CEO Do Son Duong wrote a guest post for e27 discussing if it is still too early for co-working to succeed in Vietnam.

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If we apply this basic marketing mindset and follow the market, we will easily come to the conclusion that the co-working space model does not have potential in Vietnam. But I believe that a strong brand is one that leads the markets needs. If you want to be a leader, it is critical for you to be able to lead and inspire others, he wrote.

Toong certainly wants to be a market leader and is already one of the more high-profile co-working spaces in Vietnam  highlighted by the December visit of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who gave talk and expressed interest in the Vietnamese startup scene.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai takes a selfie with Anh-Minh Do at Toong

Google CEO Sundar Pichai takes a selfie with Anh-Minh Do at Toong

Moving forward, the company says the next steps are to establish a professional network and build a sustainable community across the country.

I look forward to a busy year for both two existing outlets, and the planning outlet in Ho Chi Minh City, said Vu.

Google Director of Product Management Mike Cassidy

Google Director of Product Management Mike Cassidy speaking at Toong

The post Attention, busy bees: Toong raises seven digit round to become Vietnams first chain-brand coworking space appeared first on e27.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - An Australian Navy ship has seized a huge cache of weapons near Oman's coast from a fishing vessel bound for Somalia, the navy said on Monday, exposing a possible violation of a U.N. Security Council arms embargo. The United Nations has a decades-long arms embargo in place against Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991. The Australian navy, which patrols waters around the Indian Ocean as part of an international maritime force, said it had seized nearly 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes from the fishing vessel. "The weapons were seized under United Nations sanctions, which authorise interdiction on the high seas of illicit weapons destined for Somalia," the navy said in a statement. In 2013, the U.N Security Council eased some of the embargo restrictions, allowing the Western-backed government in Mogadishu to buy light weapons to bolster its armed forces in the battle against Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, who are aligned with al Qaeda. One Western security source said the street value of the Australian Navy haul appeared to be more than $2 million. The Australian Navy did not indicate who was the intended recipient of the weapons, which were found hidden under fishing nets. As well as al Shabaab, some regional states in Somalia operate and equip their own militias without the approval of the central government. A Somali government spokesman could not immediately comment on the Australian Navy statement. The navy said personnel from HMAS Darwin had boarded the fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles (313 km) off the coast of Oman to verify which flag it was sailing under and they determined that it was stateless. HMAS Darwin is in the region as part of the Combined Task Force 150, responsible for counter-terrorism operations, curbing piracy and drug smuggling. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Gareth Jones)
Celebrated Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, considered to be the "pope" of the Baroque music revival, died Saturday aged 86, three months after announcing his retirement, his family announced. "Nikolaus Harnoncourt took his last breath peacefully surrounded by family," said the short announcement carried by the Austrian news agency APA. In December Harnoncourt had announced his retirement, citing health reasons, in a farewell letter to the audience of the Wiener Musikverein, home to the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. "My physical capacities mean that I have to cancel all my upcoming projects," he wrote in an open letter to disappointed fans with tickets to a concert by the baroque ensemble he founded, the Concentus Musicus Wien, the weekend of his 86th birthday at the start of December. "An era is over," the Musikverein's director Thomas Angyan told APA. "I didn't think so little time would pass between his retirement and his death. We must continue with the musical heritage which he left us." Count Nikolaus de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt was born in Berlin on December 6, 1929 to a granddaughter of a Habsburg Archduke and an Austrian count. Growing up in Graz, southern Austria, he was already a contrarian thinker. "Even when I was small, I always took the opposite point of view. I'm not someone who agrees," he said, suggesting that his rebellious intellect stemmed from being called up just two weeks before World War II ended. Harnoncourt showed a keen interest in the arts early on, and studied the cello at Vienna's Academy of Music, joining the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as cellist in 1952. But the authoritarianism of conductors enraged him. "I used to ask them the 'why' behind their instructions. But the only reply I ever got was 'Because I say so'," Harnoncourt complains. "Even the best musicians simply had to play. They were all part of an instrument called an 'orchestra', and the conductor was its player." His intensive research into historical instruments and period performance practice led him to set up his own ensemble, Concentus Musicus, in 1953 and it began giving concerts in 1957. Organised by the musicians themselves, with help from their wives and partners, they specialised in renaissance, baroque and early classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven or Haydn. In 1969, Harnoncourt quit the Vienna Symphony and the decision -- and the ensuing financial and professional insecurity that entailed (he and his wife had had four children by then) -- was one of the best he ever took, he says. In musically conservative Vienna, his insistent questioning raised hackles as it ran contrary to the norms of the established classical music scene. But over the years, Harnoncourt's ideas have gained wider currency, and now even the world's greatest modern-instrument orchestras like the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics use key elements of period practice, such as articulation, tempi, phrasing and the absence of vibrato. In 1971, Harnoncourt made his debut as opera conductor at Vienna's Theater an der Wien, with Monteverdi's "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria". He went on to complete a now legendary Monteverdi cycle with director Jean-Pierre Ponelle at Zurich's opera house before embarking on an equally important and groundbreaking cycle of Mozart operas at the same theatre. Not restricted exclusively to early music, Harnoncourt has recorded symphonic repertoire from classical to romantic and even 20th century music, including well-received discs of Dvorak and even Bartok. In 2008, he conducted Stravinsky's opera "The Rake's Progress" at the Theater an der Wien to great critical acclaim and in the summer of 2009, he was to take on George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" at the Styriarte festival in his hometown of Graz.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has made a big mistake by quitting Umno and forging cooperation with the opposition, Umno mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, said today. Columnist Awang Selamat, the pseudonym for the Malay-language newspaper collective editorial team, said Dr Mahathir appeared to have forgotten the history between him and leaders from the DAP and PKR, and that their recent cooperation would only raise a cloud of suspicion. Although everything is possible in politics, but in reality, it is not easy to erase a dark episode. Awang said Dr Mahathir was also the one who cemented DAPs bad image in the eyes of the Malays while DAP parliamentary leader, Lim Kit Siang, had insulted and defamed Dr Mahathir during their feuds. DAP is alive because they are anti-Dr Mahathir, who was labelled as despotic, leading a corrupt government and so on. As a matter of fact, DAP wants Dr Mahathir to be arrested and imprisoned if they come to power one day, said the columnist in the Malay dailys Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia. Awang also highlighted the dispute between Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, questioning whether the former prime minister would retract the statements and accusations hurled at his former deputy prime minister. Furthermore, Dr Mahathir has also forgotten the support he received from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the Umno saga which led to the formation of Semangat 46. Awang took the opportunity to praise the PAS leadership, especially its president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, for not falling into the DAPs trap. He added that Dr Mahathirs action could turn into an advantage for Barisan Nasional, saying that many youngsters were not too excited by the declaration. The people, including fence-sitters, are evaluating this latest development and (they) dont want anything that can harm the country, especially Muslims, Awang said. On Friday, Dr Mahathir launched the Citizens Declaration in his bid to remove Najib as the prime minister. The declaration, which was signed by 58 individuals, among others, calls for Najibs removal. The declaration also touched on some reforms to institutions, such as moves to restore integrity to undermined institutions, such as the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara and the Public Accounts Committee.  March 6, 2016.
(Corrects word "Sino-U.S." in paragraph 4) BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry expressed anger on Monday at the U.S. Commerce Department's plans to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment-maker ZTE Corp for allegedly violating U.S. export controls on Iran. The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE. "China is opposed to the U.S. citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese enterprises," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing. "We hope the U.S. stops this erroneous action and avoids damaging Sino-U.S. trade cooperation and bilateral relations," he said, without elaborating. China and Iran have close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties, and China was active in pushing both the United States and Iran to reach agreement on Iran's controversial nuclear programme. The U.S. restrictions will require ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export licence before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE, potentially complicating the Chinese firm's ability to acquire U.S. products. Trade in shares of ZTE, which also sells consumer devices such as smartphones in the United States, was suspended in Hong Kong and Shenzhen on Monday. ZTE said in a statement issued over the weekend that it was "high concerned" at media reports of the U.S. plan. The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following Reuters reports in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), as well as a unit of the consortium that controls it. The United States has long banned the sale of U.S.-made technology products to Iran, and the Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. As one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers, ZTE has operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It is also a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Besides ZTE, the export curbs will also apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, as well as ZTE Parsian, which is an Iranian company. (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Alex Richardson)
Visitors check out products at the ZTE stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Albert Gea (Reuters)

By Joel Schectman and Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. export restriction against China's ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> for alleged Iran sanctions violations is likely to disrupt the telecom manufacturer's sprawling global supply chain and could create substantial parts shortages, according to sanctions experts.

Under the measure announced by the Commerce Department on Monday, ZTE, which is a major global supplier of telecom-networking equipment, U.S. manufacturers will be banned from selling components to ZTE. In addition, foreign manufacturers will be prohibited from selling products containing a significant amount of U.S.-made parts to the Chinese company.

The Commerce Department, confirming the decision that was first reported by Reuters on Saturday, said ZTE planned to use a series of shell companies to illicitly reexport controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws." It said ZTE acted "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

While ZTE suppliers can apply for an export license to ship any American-made equipment or parts, the Commerce Department said such license applications generally will be denied.

The export restriction, which does not stop ZTE from selling handsets in the United States, is expected to have a global impact.

It is going to have a large ripple effect. Its very significant to many companies both in the U.S. and [outside the] U.S., said Doug Jacobson, an export attorney at law firm Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC, who said he has been fielding calls from clients who supply ZTE since Reuters broke news of the impending export restrictions.

For example, a Taiwanese chipmaker that uses American-made components to make processors for ZTE handsets would likely have to cut off those sales. If the Taiwanese supplier only procures components from outside the United States it can continue to sell to ZTE, experts said.

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I am telling all my clients today that anything (for ZTE)not already on board an airplane going to China, you cannot ship it starting tonight. They have to scrub and screen their customers lists  pending orders and future orders  to make sure that any transactions with ZTE are flagged and stopped.

ZTE, which has annual sales of more than $15 billion and is the only Chinese smartphone maker with a meaningful presence in the U.S. market, can appeal the decision.

EFFECT ON HANDSET PRODUCTION

ZTE is the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the United States behind Apple Inc <AAPL.O>, Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS> and LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS>. It sells handset devices to three of the four largest U.S. mobile carriers - AT&T <T.N>, T-Mobile US <TMUS.O> and Sprint Corp <S.N>.

Although ZTE is not being banned from selling handsets in the United States, the export restriction could disrupt handset production if ZTE sources American-made parts to manufacture its handsets, experts said.

AT&T declined to comment, and T-Mobile and Sprint did not respond to requests for comment.

A ZTE website states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Intel Corp <INTC.O>, IBM <IBM.N> and Honeywell International Inc <HON.N>, are "key strategic partners." The terms of the partnerships are not described.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Restrictions will not stop ZTE from buying components that do not contain American-made parts. But suppliers may choose to halt the sales of non-U.S. components that are still allowed, said Kay Georgi, an export attorney at law firm Arent Fox LLP.

"When you get placed on one of these lists nobody wants to do business with you at all," Georgi said. "They just write you off."

Trading in ZTE was halted in Hong Kong and Shenzhen pending the announcement before Asian markets closed. U.S.-listed shares of ZTE <ZTCOY.PK> <ZTCOY.PK> were up in a handful of trades in the over-the-counter market.

The United States has long banned the sale of U.S.-made technology products to Iran as part of its sanctions, even as China maintains close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties with the Tehran government. Last year, the United States and major world powers reached a deal with Iran to loosen economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.

"We hope this sends a strong message to ZTE, to China, and to other Chinese telecommunications companies who present serious national security risks not only by evading export controls, but by purposefully compromising supply chain security," said U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

(Reporting by Steve Stecklow in London, Susan Heavey in Washington, Yimou Lee in Hong Kong, Dan Burns and Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Grant McCool, Soyoung Kim and Leslie Adler)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will never allow the tragedy of Taiwan being "split" off from the rest of the country to happen again, state media on Sunday quoted President Xi Jinping as saying, offering a strong warning to the island against any moves towards independence. China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war. Beijing has repeatedly warned against any moves towards independence since January's landslide win by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections. Meeting with Shanghai delegates to the annual meeting of parliament, Xi made apparent reference to the Qing dynasty's loss of Taiwan to Japan in 1895, who then ruled the island as a colony until the end of World War Two. "We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form, safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of the nation being split to happen again," Xi said. "This is the common wish and firm will of all Chinese people. It is also our solemn commitment and our responsibility to history and the people," he added. Tsai has said she would maintain peace with China, and Chinese state-run media have also noted her pledges to maintain the "status quo" with China. Without making direct mention of Tsai, who assumes office in May, Xi said Beijing's policy towards Taiwan was clear and consistent and "will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation". "Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," he added. Many in China are deeply suspicious of Tsai. Speaking on Sunday at a meeting on sidelines of parliament, Lin Xianshun, a Chinese military officer who defected from Taiwan in 1989, said she was a "schemer" who wanted to have the benefits of good economic ties with China at the same time as coveting Taiwan's independence. The past eight years have been marked by calm between China and Taiwan, after the election of the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as president in 2008 and his subsequent re-election. Ma signed a series of key economic deals with Beijing and held a landmark meeting with Xi in November in neutral Singapore. But a controversial trade pact has languished in the island's parliament after protests in 2014 over trade dealings with Beijing. Xi said both sides should deepen economic and social integration, and enhance the "sense of a community of common destiny." (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Kim Coghill)
A Chinese woman died after being trapped in an elevator for a month because maintenance workers shut off the power supply after failing to properly check if anyone was inside, state media reported Sunday. Workers came to repair a malfunctioning elevator in the northern city of Xi'an on January 30, Beijing Youth Daily cited local authorities as saying. The crew found the elevator stuck between the 10th and 11th floors, shouted to ask if anyone was there, and cut the power, it said. The workers left for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday and did not return until March 1. The government said the investigation found the death was due to a grave error by the maintenance company for not opening the car before cutting the power, and not verifying after the power was off whether there was anyone inside. The deceased woman, 43, reportedly lived alone in building. China is prone to safety accidents as regulations and standards are often flouted and enforcement is lax, sometimes due to corruption. Police investigating the incident found no evidence of trauma and have ruled out homicide, Beijing Youth Daily said. Last July, a woman was killed after she plunged through flooring over an escalator in a Chinese department store. Security camera footage of the incident posted online showed a panel in the floor giving way as the woman stepped off the escalator. As she fell half-way through she pushed her son forward, and a nearby shop assistant dragged him to safety.
By Steve Quinn JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - Mushers and dog sled teams from around the world embark on the first leg of Alaska's grueling Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, starting a nearly 1,000-mile (1,609 km) journey through the state's unforgiving wilderness. Now in its 44th year, the race commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that delivered diphtheria serum by sled-dog relay to the western coastal community of Nome on the Bering Sea. This year's Iditarod features 85 mushers and teams each made up of 16 dogs. They will set off on staggered starts from the town of Willow, an hour's drive northwest of Anchorage, where a ceremonial start was staged on Saturday. The winner is likely to cross the finish line eight to 10 days later. The race, which covers 975 miles (1,569 km) this year, is the test of extreme endurance. It features desolate stretches of up to 85 miles between checkpoints and unpredictable wind gusts as the trail hits the Bering coast. Last year temperatures along the route plunged to 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero (-51 Celsius). Still, veteran musher Jeff King, 60, would not have it any other way. He has won four Iditarods, posted 19 top 10 finishes and 14 top five conclusions. Ive finished with pneumonia, Ive finished with the flu, I sprained an ankle and a knee to the point of where I didnt think I could go on, he said. But I finished. King last won the race in 2006. Since then, two-time defending champion Dallas Seavey has posted three victories in four years, including a record performance in 2014, when he clocked in at eight days, 13 hours, four minutes and 19 seconds. The challenge to the Iditarod, Seavey said, is not only doing 1,000 miles across terrain thats ever changing. Its the adjustment of the weather at a time when were always pushing to the limits. Aliy Zirkle, 46, remains a perennial contender, having posted four straight top five finishes, including three runner-up finishes. Each year, Zirkle says she looks forward to hitting that vast expanse en route to the Bering Sea coastline. When you get 500 miles from nowhere, you stop. You get off, look at your dogs and they are wagging their tails at you and you think I just made it from Anchorage to the Bering Sea  just me, she said. The winner will take home a cash prize of $50,400 and a new pickup truck. Other top finishers will share in a total cash purse of $750,000. Each team starts with 16 dogs, ranging from 3 to 8 years old, and is required to take a 24-hour rest, plus two separate eight-hour stops during the race. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)
The top leader of powerful Clan Usuga gang was killed in a police raid, authorities said Saturday, in another major blow to Colombia's most important gang. "Body blow to the Clan Usaga gang. Alias Lorenzo taken out in Uraba. Top gang leader and drug trafficker," President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter. Ruben Dario Avila, alias Lorenzo, was killed on Friday when police launched a raid on a ranch in Arboletes, Antioquia province, National Police Public Safety chief General Jorge Rodriguez told reporters. The alleged drug "capo" was wanted on multiple homicide and conspiracy charges, Rodriguez said. Last month two leaders of the gang were extradited to the US where they face drug trafficking charges in Florida, Colombian authorities said Wednesday. Arley Usuga Torres, the nephew of gang leader Dairo "Otoniel" Usuga, and Hector Mario Urdinola Arbelaez, who ran the gang's operations in the western Colombia's Valle del Cauca, were turned over to US narcotics officers. Authorities say Clan Usuga -- which emerged after the mass demobilization of right-wing paramilitaries a decade ago -- ships tons of cocaine from Colombia to Central America and the United States. The South American country is the leading producer of coca, the raw material from which cocaine is processed.
Divided EU leaders argued Monday about a plan to declare the Balkans migrant route closed as they held a summit with Turkey's prime minister to urge Ankara to accept large-scale deportations of economic migrants. At the last minute, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker insisted that a mention of the route closure be dropped from the proposed closing statement of the summit in Brussels, European sources told AFP. The row underlined the deep divisions in the 28-nation European Union as it tries to harden its stance in the face of the worst refugee crisis to hit the continent since World War II. More than one million refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015 -- mostly arriving in Greece from Turkey -- with nearly 4,000 dying while crossing the Mediterranean. "On the issue of how we can decrease the number of refugees not just for some countries but for all countries including Greece, the issue cannot be that something is closed, but that we find a sustainable solution with Turkey," Merkel said as she arrived in Brussels. The EU is putting the onus on Greece and Turkey, which is the launchpad for most migrants who cross the sea to the Greek islands and then travel up through the Balkan countries to reach wealthy Germany and Scandinavia. Austria last month abruptly capped the number of asylum seekers it would accept, triggering a domino effect of border restrictions along the Balkans that has trapped tens of thousands of desperate migrants on the border between Greece and non-EU Macedonia. - 'This route is now closed' - Merkel -- who is facing pressure at home over her open-door policy towards refugees -- and Juncker had objected to the initial draft statement approved by EU ambassadors on Sunday, which said: "Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end. This route is now closed." The draft raised concerns that agile smugglers would circumvent EU barriers and take alternative routes, which those working on the migrant problem say could run through Bulgaria or Albania. Brussels sees curbing the flow of migrants as part of a plan to restore by the end of the year the full functioning of Europe's cherished passport-free Schengen zone after the series of border closures. It was timed with calls for better cooperation from Turkey -- currently home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees -- which signed a deal with the EU in November last year to curb the migrant flow. Arriving at the summit, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country was ready to work "shoulder to shoulder" with Europe on migration, while also raising Ankara's long-stalled EU membership bid. "Turkey is ready to work with EU. Turkey is ready to be member of EU as well," he said as he arrived in Brussels. - 'Large-scale' deportations - Davutoglu said Sunday he would discuss with his EU counterparts efforts to begin building schools and hospitals for refugees within weeks with the three billion euros ($3.3 billion) pledged by the bloc under the November deal. EU president Donald Tusk said in his invitation letter for the summit that success depended largely on securing Turkey's agreement for the "large-scale" deportation from Greece of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees. Syrians, who top the influx of 1.13 million people into Europe over the past 14 months, are considered genuine refugees requiring admission under international law. Despite progress in implementing the November deal with Turkey, the EU said, too many people were still heading from Turkey to Greece, with nearly 2,000 arriving daily in February. Summit co-host the Netherlands said the bloc would not only push Turkey to stop the flow to Europe of all non-Syrian migrants but also eventually war-hit Syrians themselves. "It's very important for Turkey to first take back all non-Syrian refugees but that's not enough," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "In the end, we want zero also for the flow of Syrian refugees." But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras -- who has said he will not allow his country to become a "warehouse of souls" -- renewed calls Monday for fellow EU members to honour a deal to relocate thousands of refugees. "These agreements that we do not implement are not agreements at all. So now there is a difficult situation that we have to handle," he said. The bloc adopted a scheme last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, but only 872 people have actually been moved, according to the latest EU figures.
By Humeyra Pamuk and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey offered the European Union greater help on Monday to halt a wave of migrants into Europe in return for more money, faster membership talks and quicker visa-free travel for its citizens, but EU leaders said they needed more time to consider the plan. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the 28 EU leaders that Ankara was willing to take back all migrants who enter Europe from Turkey after a set date, as well as those intercepted in its territorial waters, diplomats said. More than a million asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond have flooded into Europe since the start of 2015, causing huge political and humanitarian strains. In exchange for stopping the influx, Davutoglu demanded a doubling of EU funding through 2018 to help Syrian refugees stay in Turkey and a commitment to take in one Syrian refugee directly from Turkey for each one returned from Greece's Aegean islands, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. He also sought to bring forward visa liberalisation for Turks to June from late this year and to open more negotiating chapters in Turkey's long-stalled EU accession process. An emergency EU-Turkey summit, originally due to last half a day, was extended to give Davutoglu a chance to present the new ideas that went beyond Ankara's commitments so far. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's chief of staff said on Twitter that good progress had been made in the difficult talks and "a breakthrough during this night is possible". However, another EU official said several leaders, taken by surprise by the initiative, were unable to agree to such far-reaching steps at such short notice, insisting on more time to consider them. "Several countries really like the idea but cannot accept a deal tonight because of the very short preparation time. They will welcome the higher ambition but they can't nail down all the points today," the official said. "There are some clarifications needed. We will work on it intensively in the coming days," he added. Desperate to end the influx of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others, the EU leaders sent the text back for redrafting. They were to meet Davutoglu again to discuss them over dinner, an EU official said. "Our aim is to go further with game-changing ideas," a spokesman for Davutoglu told Reuters, describing the Turkish proposals on a full halt to movement in return for direct resettlement as a plan to "end the tragedy in the Aegean". At a preparatory meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Davutoglu demanded more than the 3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. One source said Ankara was seeking 20 billion euros. Davutoglu said on arrival that the summit showed how indispensable Turkey was for Europe, and Europe for Turkey. "Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well. Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU," he said. Diplomats said Merkel and Rutte pressed hard for a deal on the Turkish plan but met resistance from central European states opposed to taking refugee quotas, as well as from Greece and Cyprus which have conditions for the Turkish accession talks. The EU official said leaders were willing to bring forward visa liberalisation to June provided Turkey met a string of requirements, including changing its visa policy towards Islamic states and introducing harder-to-fake biometric passports. Several leaders voiced concern that the offer of increased cooperation coincided with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to European values. The Turkish government seized best-selling opposition newspaper Zaman last Friday. EU sources said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was prepared to block any summit statement unless a reference to media freedom was included. USE FORCE? Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner highlighted the tough mood in central Europe when asked whether the EU should use force to close its frontiers to migrants. "If necessary, we must set such an example to show that a border is really a border. Naturally, we should be careful to use means that do not endanger lives," he said in an ATV interview. The EU leaders pledged to help Greece cope with a backlog of migrants stranded on its soil and sought assurances that Turkey, with NATO naval back-up in the Aegean, would stop people smugglers from putting migrants to sea. There were continued splits among EU leaders at the summit, with Merkel resisting pressure to endorse border closures by Austria and Greece's Balkan neighbours that have stranded over 30,000 migrants in Greece. The German leader, who faces a possible political backlash in three regional elections on Sunday against her welcome for the refugees, insisted on the emergency summit to show voters the EU is acting to resolve the crisis. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the bloc must speed up the process of relocating asylum seekers from Greece to other EU countries as promised last September. EU states have so far taken in only a few hundred of a promised 160,000 people and central European countries have rejected the whole principle. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had begun patrols in the Aegean to support efforts to locate migrant boats, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey to patrol in the waters of both NATO states. "NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," he told a joint news conference in Brussels with Davutoglu. "We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency, Frontex, and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, saying that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean. Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters. Near the Greek town of Idomeni on the border with Macedonia, where 13,000 migrants are stranded in a squalid tent camp meant for 1,500, a 13-year-old boy was electrocuted trying to climb onto a goods train on Monday. He was taken to hospital in critical condition. Husam, a 39-year-old decorator from Homs in Syria, told Reuters: "I want to beg the European leaders not to close the borders. Please let us pass. It is my only hope to provide security for my children. Please don't kill our only hope." British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sending a naval force to the Aegean to join German and Canadian warships in the NATO force assisting the Greek and Turkish navies. Though Britain is outside the Schengen zone of passport-free travel and Cameron stressed it would take no part in any common EU asylum policy, further migrant chaos could damage his efforts to win a June referendum and keep Britain in the EU. (Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Robert-Jan Bartunek, Renee Maltezou and Robin Emmott in Brussels and Kylie Maclellan in London; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Paul Taylor; Editing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher, Larry King)
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said the goverment backed energy giant EDF's plan to build a nuclear plant in the UK: "The state, as the holder of a comfortable majority of the shares, fully supports the management team."

The French government supports the management of energy giant EDF and the "very profitable" plan to build a next-generation nuclear plant in Britain, despite the resignation of the company's finance director, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said Monday. "The state, as the holder of a comfortable majority of the shares, fully supports the management team," Macron said. "We re-affirm our full support for the project" to build the plant at Hinkley Point in southwest England, which will be "very profitable over the next 30 years", he added.
The 500 Startups-accelerated Thailand-based startup doesnt just help connect employers to employees, it curates them

GetLinks public launch in Thailand drew about 4,000 attendees

Thailand-based tech recruitment platform GetLinks has raised a US$500,000 seed funding from CyberAgents and 500 Startups.

It will use funds to expand into the Vietnam and Singapore, which it deems the hottest tech job markets.

GetLinkss current list of employers in Thailand include Google, UBER, LINE, and Lazada.

Launched in 2015 by Co-founder & CEO Djoann Fal, the tech recruitment platform is not simply a job search site  it curates the quality of the jobseekers similar to a headhunting agency. Once a candidate signs up, he or she will be vetted, and only the outstanding ones will be selected for an interview.

Also Read: Busted: 3 myths on hiring freelance IT professionals in startups

The company monetises by taking a fee from the recruiters every time they make a successful hire.

Beyond its online platform, GetLinks also partners with offline tech events  including BKK Startup Job Fest, drink entrepreneurs and AngelHack  to outreach to potential tech talents and companies.

To facilitate its entry into the Vietnamese market, it is a co-organising the Saigon Tech Startup Fest, which is expected to host 3,000 attendees. It has also secured partnerships with other key tech players in Vietnams ecosystem, including Viet Youth Entrepreneurs, SHIELD, Startup.vn, and Young Entrepreneurs Saigon.

The Government of Ho Chi Minh City has even authorised GetLinks to hold a tech community event at Vietnams Independence Palace on March 12.

We had been searching for a business that could solve recruiting problems for tech companies for a long time before we met GetLinks team. As we usually work closely with our portfolios, we understand that recruiting is one of the biggest obstacles that startups have to faceI truly believe that GetLinks could disrupt the job market for tech company not only in SEA but also globally, said Dzung Nguyen, Head of Vietnam and Thailand, CyberAgent Ventures.

The post GetLinks bags US$500K seed; aims to disrupt tech recruiting in Vietnam, Singapore appeared first on e27.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the "urgent" relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country. He made the call on the eve of a crucial EU-Turkey migration summit in Brussels on Monday. "The immediate start of a reliable procedure to relocate refugees from our country to other EU states is an absolute emergency," Tsipras told leaders of his leftist Syriza party. "This is what we'll pursue on Monday," he added. Greece is at the heart of Europe's greatest migration crisis since World War II after a series of border restrictions on the migrant trail from Austria to Macedonia caused a bottleneck on its soil. EU leaders will push Turkey at a summit in Brussels on Monday to agree to "large-scale" deportations of economic migrants from Greece, which is bracing for a fresh surge of migrant and refugee arrivals by the end of March. The Greek government on Sunday said there were over 33,000 refugees and migrants in the country including over 6,000 on the islands facing Turkey. It added that over 17,000 extra places would be created in relocation camps over the coming week. Tsipras said the upheaval was due to "senseless interventions" and "contribution to imperialist conflict" by Western states -- an apparent reference to the 2003 Iraq war and its repercussions. And he attacked other EU states and fellow Balkan countries who had failed to apply EU decisions on how to manage the problem. "We are the only country to has applied decisions and responsibilities jointly undertaken by countries on the Balkan route in October," he said. "We will continue to give what little we have to...hunted and persecuted people who need it. But it is self-evident that a small country like Greece cannot shoulder all of Europe's burden in this crisis," Tsipras added. Macedonia further tightened its controls on Sunday, only allowing around 160 people through, a daily number that has gradually fallen during the week. On Sunday, a Doctors Without Borders source at the border said Skopje was only allowing access to Syrians and Iraqis from areas directly affected by conflict. For example, Damascus and Baghdad were considered safe areas, the source said. A Greek police source said the practice had begun earlier this week. Tsipras, who travels to Turkey for talks on Tuesday, said he would seek a re-evaluation of bilateral accords on the readmission of migrants not entitled to asylum. "It is necessary to immediately activate a new agreement to hasten and bolster the readmission procedure," the Greek premier said, whilst stressing that the road should also be opened for direct acceptance of refugees in Turkey by EU states.
By George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will press for solidarity with refugees and fair burden-sharing among European Union states at Monday's emergency EU summit with Turkey, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday, lashing out at border restrictions that led to logjams. Tsipras has accused Austria and Balkan countries of "ruining Europe" by slowing the flow of migrants and refugees heading north from Greece, where some 30,000 are now trapped, waiting for Macedonia to reopen its border so they can head to Germany. With more arriving in the mainland from Greek islands close to Turkish shores, the numbers could swell by 100,000 by the end of this month, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos projected on Saturday. "Europe is in a nervous crisis," Tsipras told his leftist Syriza party's central committee. "Will a Europe of fear and racism overtake a Europe of solidarity?" He said central European countries with serious demographic problems and low unemployment could benefit in the long term by taking in millions of refugees, but austerity policies have fed a far-right "monster" opposing the inflows. "Europe today is crushed amidst austerity and closed borders. It keeps its border open to austerity but closed for people fleeing war," Tsipras said. "Countries, with Austria in the front, want to impose the logic of fortress Europe." Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has urged Germany to set a clear limit on the number of asylum seekers it will accept to help stem a mass influx of refugees that is severely testing European cohesion in the midst of the worst refugee crisis in generations. Tsipras told his party "unilateral" actions to close borders to refugees were condemned by all European institutions. "We are not pointing the finger to any other peoples or countries of Europe. We are against those who succumb to xenophobia and racism," Tsipras said. "We will continue to save lives ... and defend the human face of Europe." Tsipras heads to the summit after clinching a minimum of consensus from the political opposition which has been critical of his handling of the refugee crisis. He said Athens would push for solidarity with refugees, reduced flows from Turkey, a fair sharing of burdens and tackling smugglers. He would demand sanctions for member countries which violate the bloc's decisions. "With the border closed to refugees and flows to the islands continuing, it is clear that relocation to other countries is urgent and must start immediately in high numbers. We will pursue this at the summit," Tsipras said. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Honduran indigenous activist Berta Caceres, an award-winning environmentalist, was shot and killed in her home, her family said, labeling her death an assassination. Caceres won the 2015 Goldman Prize, considered the world's top award for grassroots environmental activism, 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." Caceres, a 43-year-old mother of four who had received death threats for her activism, was shot dead in the early hours of Thursday at her home in the western town of La Esperanza, Flores told TV network Globo. In awarding her the prize, the Goldman organization commended her for carrying on her campaign despite the threats, writing: "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." President Juan Orlando Hernandez called the killing "a crime against Honduras" and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, while the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, condemned the crime as "horrific." As Caceres' body lay in a hall at a union headquarters in the Honduran capital late Thursday, supporters outside shouted, "Berta is alive, the fight goes on." Some 3,000 students blocked a road elsewhere in Tegucigalpa before police dispersed them with teargas. Honduras, which has seen an explosion of gang violence in recent years, has one of the highest murder rates in the world. 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 added. - 'Deficient' security - But the Center for Justice and International Law, a rights group, denied Caceres had turned down bodyguards and accused the government of providing her "deficient" security. 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. 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." 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. A diminutive woman with a round face, glowing eyes and bursts of curly black hair, she was active in a range of political and social causes. But 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." 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.
DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. journalist and three members of her camera crew were detained in Bahrain on Sunday, Reporters Without Borders said on Monday, urging Bahrain to release the four American citizens "rapidly and without harm." In a statement, the group described Anna Day and her three colleagues as experienced journalists, who had most recently worked on virtual reality documentaries in Egypt and Gaza. Bahraini police said earlier they had detained four foreign nationals. Bahrain's interior ministry said in a statement the four were "suspected of offences including entering Bahrain illegally having submitted false information to border staff, and participating in an unlawful gathering." The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that U.S. citizens had been arrested but declined further comment. A representative for Day's family rejected any suggestion that the four were involved in any illegal behaviour or non-journalistic activities. The Arabic-language Mira'at al-Bahrain (Bahrain Mirror) said the four were detained in Sitra, a Shi'ite village east of Manama, on Sunday while covering clashes between local demonstrators and security forces. The demonstration was meant to mark the fifth anniversary of widespread Arab Spring protests in 2011 mainly by Shi'ite Muslims demanding reforms and a bigger share in government. Those protests were put down violently by Bahrain security units with help from security forces from Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia. But the kingdom, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, continues to see bouts of unrest, especially in villages where Shi'ites are a majority. A friend of Day's, who asked not to be named because of her own work as an independent journalist in hostile areas, said that government accreditation for foreign correspondents in Bahrain can be difficult to get and can imply restrictions, so freelancers commonly work without it. "It is sad that the fifth anniversary of the 2011 protests has been marked by the arrest of yet more journalists in Bahrain, which has since become one of the worst jailers of journalists in the Arab world," said Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and north Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international advocacy group. The Committee called for the release of the four and noted that at least six other journalists are currently imprisoned in Bahrain in connection with their work. Day has reported in the Middle East, northern Africa, India, Brazil and Mexico and her work has been published by the New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera English, Huffington Post, CBS, Daily Beast and other media. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi in Dubai and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry and Dan Grebler)
North Korea threatened pre-emptive and "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States on Monday, as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises. The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response. Participation in the joint exercises -- known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- has been bumped up this year to involve 300,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets. In a statement issued hours before the drills began, North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an "all-out" military counter-offensive. Describing the exercises as "nuclear war drills" aimed at undermining North Korea's sovereignty, the statement said the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army was ready to launch a "pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike" in response. - Weapons on 'standby' - The threat came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby, in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council. Pyongyang has issued similar, dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military 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. The National Defence Commission said plans for what it called a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" had been ratified by Kim Jong-Un. The plans would come into operation in the event of "even the slightest military action" by the North's enemies, it said. "The indiscriminate nuclear strike... will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea)," said the statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency. Targets would include operational American bases on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere in Asia, as well as the US mainland. - 'Flames and ashes' - "If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the statement added. Despite a pair of successful long-range rocket launches, most experts believe North Korea is years away from developing a genuine inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the US mainland. In Seoul, the defence ministry cautioned the North against acting out its bellicose rhetoric. "If North Korea launches a provocation, our military will respond sternly and mercilessly," ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told reporters. Pyongyang has long condemned the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises, which stretch over nearly two months, as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature. The North's threat of a nuclear response appeared to have been prompted, in part, by South Korean media reports that this year's drills would role play surgical strikes against key North Korean nuclear and missile facilities. The scale of the exercises was ramped up following the North's fourth nuclear test on January 6 and February's rocket launch, which was seen as a disguised ballistic missile test. - Tough UN sanctions - A UN Security Council resolution adopted last week laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme. It breaks new ground by targeting specific sectors key to the North Korean economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems. The Philippines has already seized a North Korean cargo ship which was among 31 listed by the resolution as banned from international ports. Pyongyang has rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal. South Korea is set to unveil further unilateral sanctions against the North on Tuesday -- a move that is likely to draw further threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.
Supporters of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rallied outside the headquarters of leading broadcaster TV Globo on Sunday, as populist anger over a corruption probe continued to grow. Bearing the red flags of Lula's Workers' Party, the crowd that police estimated at more than 200 chanted, "To attack Lula is to attack me!" The charismatic leftist leader was briefly detained on Friday in Sao Paulo amid a widening investigation into alleged embezzlement and bribery at state oil giant Petrobras. He has dismissed corruption allegations as lies and called the legal case and media coverage a "show." Protester Simone Simoes, a retired teacher, criticised media coverage of the Petrobras investigation, saying it was as if "the charges are true and the evidence is secondary." Simoes said she was not a Workers' Party member but decried what she called "media and legal attacks" against the former president and his successor Dilma Rousseff. Angela Maria Mees, a 61-year-old saleswoman, said Brazilian media were trying to dismantle party policies to improve income distribution and social equality. "What shocks me is the level of selfishness among the elites," she said. "It's time to take action." The opposition blames Lula for the gargantuan corruption network uncovered at Petrobras, which was systematically plundered during much of his presidency, with bribes funneling into the pockets of high-ranking politicians, including from the Workers' Party. Lula has called on supporters to take to the streets, and says he may run for president again in 2018.
Christoph Mueller, who took over a Malaysia Airlines reeling from the twin disasters of flight MH370 and MH17, has been credited with rescuing the state-owned airline but questions now arise as to whether his strategy will survive the regions cut-throat competition. The chief executive officer, appointed in May 2015, has slashed unprofitable routes and sacked 6,000 workers as part of restructuring efforts, which were expected to help Malaysia Airlines Bhd return to the black in 2018. Analysts quoted by the Associated Press, however, said Muellers strategy was too focused on the short term. Shrinking its routes made the airline vulnerable to fierce competition from budget carriers, such as AirAsia, Lion Air, Tigerair, Scoot and Jetstar, serving more destinations at a cheaper price. They have taken the easy way out, Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation research firm Endau Analytics, was quoted as saying by AP. Cutting routes to the bare bones were the quickest way to eliminate cost, but long term, I dont think it presents an opportunity to really strengthen or overhaul the fundamental issues of the company, he added. MAS dropped the Paris and Amsterdam routes in January, a month after it sealed a 90-city code share deal with Emirates. The move allowed the carrier access to Europe without incurring monumental losses, Mueller said. Mohshin Aziz, an aviation analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Securities, credits Mueller, a German and the first foreigner to lead the airline, with making tough changes necessary for its future survival. Other moves include phasing out older Boeing 777s and fuel-guzzler Airbus A380s. MAS has ordered four A350s, Airbuss latest and most advanced airliner. But as the second anniversary of the disappearance of MH370 approaches tomorrow, travellers remain wary about the airlines safety track record. Traffic at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport main terminal, used by MAS and other full-service carriers, fell 9.2% last year, while traffic at klia2 rose 9.5%. The question that needs to be asked is does Malaysia need Malaysia Airlines now? asked Shukor. If Malaysia Airlines were to shut down tomorrow there wont be many people who would feel the absence, he told AP.  March 7, 2016.
Opposition members who signed the Citizens' Declaration to remove Datuk Seri Najib Razak from office never agreed to the person who would replace him as prime minister  a subject for another discussion, they say. PAS lawmaker Datuk Mahfuz Omar said no name was mentioned as to who would succeed Najib in the latest move, spearheaded by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. "It was agreed at our meeting with Dr Mahathir that the main focus is to remove Najib as prime minister. "Who succeeds him is another matter and subject to discussion. "We have agreed in principle on removing Najib and reforms in the institutions," Mahfuz told The Malaysian Insider when asked to respond to a statement by former Kedah menteri besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir that the opposition was ready to accept a new prime minister from Barisan Nasional (BN) to replace Najib. The Pokok Sena MP, however, said Mukhriz's statement was logical and factual since BN still held the majority of seats in Parliament. The Citizens Declaration and its signing by political foes and civil society leaders on Friday has stirred debate on the next course of action and whether institutional reforms will really take place. Dr Mahathir, blamed for eroding Malaysia's institutions during his 22-year tenure, has not acknowledged his role despite a call by civil society to do so, but some have also said that the immediate priority was for Najib's removal in order for Malaysia to move on. Senior DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok said it was obvious that Mukhriz was under pressure given that he was still with Umno. "He has to say this to avoid being sacked," she said. Mukhriz has not been aligned with Umno's top leadership, having been recently removed as Kedah menteri besar. He was also present at the press conference on the Citizens' Declaration. But Kok added that the opposition, such as DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, as well as prominent human rights activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, had been consistent in saying that more was needed than merely changing the prime minister. "But for the time being, in view of the mounting pressure to change the PM, all of us have come onboard to support Tun Dr Mahathir. "Let's not forget that the Citizens' Declaration also includes bringing institutional reforms," said Kok, who is Seputeh MP. The paragraph on reforms in the declaration which focused largely on Najibs alleged wrongdoings involving state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd mentioned restoring the integrity of institutions that have been undermined, such as the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Public Accounts Committee. Parti Amanah Negara vice-president Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa said Mukhriz was off the mark by saying the opposition would agree to the next prime minister coming from BN, as Najib represented a corrupt system and those who protected it. "(His statement is) inaccurate because there was no detailed discussion. "Najib represents a corrupt system and those who protect it. "Our concern is both the removal of Najib and democratic and institutional reforms. "Do you think Umno BN has the courage to do that?," Mujahid said. But DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago, who did not sign the declaration, said that while he agreed Najib must resign, the declaration only made a "passing reference" to reforms and was not clear on demands for an independent elections commission and judiciary, and a free media. "Will ousting Najib while keeping Umno and the institution intact really solve the rakyats increasing financial hardship and other pressing problems? "This declaration, therefore, is a rushed document that did not think through these pertinent issues," he said in a statement today.  March 6, 2016.
LIMA (Reuters) - Peru barred a presidential hopeful from next month's elections because of vote-buying allegations and moved towards disqualifying second-place candidate Julio Guzman, in a surprise move that could turn the electoral race on its head. Both candidates - wealthy former governor Cesar Acuna and centrist technocrat Guzman - can appeal the decisions before the National Jury of Elections. A final ruling would then be handed down between Tuesday and Wednesday, the board said. Guzman, seen tying frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in a likely June run-off, was kept in the race last week after he fulfilled a series of technical requirements related to his party's registration. But those technicalities were cited by the Special Jury of Elections, tasked with giving the green light to presidential tickets, in accepting a citizen's petition to declare his candidacy "inadmissible" on Friday, a widely unexpected move that again threatens to upend his bid. The possibility of throwing out two leading candidates weeks ahead of April 10 elections has raised questions about how free and fair the vote will be. The Special Jury of Elections said Acuna must be barred because he violated a law that prohibits candidates from giving money to voters while campaigning. A local TV channel had broadcast footage of Acuna promising 5,000 soles ($1,450) to a handicapped man for medical care and 10,000 soles to a crowd in a shantytown so they could build a levee. Acuna said the money was charity and argued that the law banning 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 run at least once before, including two ex-presidents and Fujimori, the daughter of jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori. Definitively barring either Guzman or Acuna could boost lesser-known candidates who have edged up in recent polls, including leftist lawmaker Veronika Mendoza. Fujimori could potentially pick up poor and rural votes from Acuna, though probably not enough to give her the 50 percent needed to win outright in the first round. Acuna had 6 percent of voter intent in an Ipsos poll last month, down from double-digit figures that had placed 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)
Prices of prime office development land in Singapore remained unchanged in the second half of last year but increased by 6 percent for the whole of 2015, according to a Knight Frank report.

The consultancy attributes the moderate growth to soft demand in the office rental market as a result of both domestic and external economic challenges coinciding with strong supply.

Among the recent commercial land transactions in Singapore is the sale of a 31,530 sq m mixed-use plot in Alexandra View to Tang Groups subsidiary Tang Skyline in November 2015. The property was sold for US265 million (S$366.5 million) or US$6,435 psm (S$8,900 psm) based on the developments gross floor area.

Meanwhile, the price growth for prime office development land in Asia slowed to 1.5 percent in 2015 from 3.6 percent in the previous year. Cumulatively, prices grew by 27.5 percent since mid-2012.

For both office and residential sites, total investment in the region surged by 65.3 on a six-month basis and 14.1 percent on annual terms.

The increase was led by China, which accounted for nearly 95 percent of the total Asian volume in the second half of the year. Other countries that saw phenomenal growth on a year-on-year basis include Vietnam (559.5 percent) and Thailand (272.3 percent) as private investment accelerated.

In addition, cross-border land investments soared by 55.3 percent year-on-year, with China buying nearly two-times more land than the rest of Asia in 2015.

Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories emailnikki@propertyguru.com.sg

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Slovakia's president said Monday he will ask leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who won weekend elections but lost his parliamentary majority, to try to form a coalition government. "I have decided, after the first round of talks, to entrust the chairman of the Smer party, which won the most votes in the elections, with the formation of a government and a majority coalition, which would back such a government," President Andrej Kiska announced. Results from Saturday's elections showed Fico's Smer-Social Democrats (Smer-SD) party had won 49 seats, down sharply from its comfortable 83-seat majority in the 150-member parliament. The liberal Freedom and Solidarity SaS came second with 21 seats, followed by the conservative OLANO-NOVA which took 19 seats. But two far-right nationalist groups made spectacular gains, giving them a potential role in determining the stability and lifespan of the future government. The Slovak National Party (SNS) made it back into parliament after a four-year absence with 15 seats, while LS-Nase Slovensko (Our Slovakia) led by Marian Kotleba secured 14 seats to enter the assembly for the first time. "We will have in parliament radical political extremism in uniforms," Kiska said Monday, in a reference to Our Slovakia, which is considered neo-Nazi by some analysts and whose members dress in navy blue military-style uniforms. The rise of the far right has spurred dismay among mainstream parties and political commentators, as well as soul-searching about the cause of their success. "We need to dramatically increase confidence in the country... We need a government and an opposition able to convince people that they do not have to take part in the election as a protest," Kiska said Monday. He added that he will begin talks with all chairmen of the eight political parties elected "except for Mr. Kotleba". Fico dubbed the outcome a "big mishmash" of parties and announced the start of exploratory talks with other mainstream parties about forming a coalition. But the SaS said it would reject any alliance with Fico, a populist who campaigned on a fiercely anti-refugee platform. Slovakia is gearing up to take the EU's rotating presidency from July -- a role that will put the health of its democracy in the world's spotlight.
Sri Lanka's government has sacked a senior security official after guards chased away couples from a monument in Colombo for holding hands, a minister in the conservative Buddhist country said Monday. The move came after a couple posted video of the guards on social media and is a marked change from the former government, under which police would routinely round up young lovers for kissing in public. Deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva said he intervened after visiting the Independence Square monument on Sunday and finding security guards were driving away unmarried couples. He said he spoke with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the sacking of the director in charge of security. "What happened was their boss got fired," de Silva said. "The guards will be sent somewhere else and hopefully warned not to repeat their arrogant behaviour." The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the monument, built to mark independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka's largely conservative Buddhist society looks down on public displays of affection even among married couples. Police are also known to occasionally arrest so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in scorching sun along the Galle Face promenade in the capital. But the latest move suggests official attitudes have softened since the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was defeated in January 2015.
This month, there will be an assortment of events across Vietnam to celebrate startups, entrepreneurship, and innovation

A recruiting event for Paymentwall in Hanoi in May 2015

Last year, we witnessed a series of records and firsts in Vietnam. The country saw 67 deals  more than double the number in 2014 (according to Topica Founder Institute), the funding for almost half of which came from overseas investors; the inaugural TechFest Vietnam (a multi-day platform to connect startups and investors in the region), the launch of the largest co-working space Dreamplex in Ho Chi Minh City; the launch of Coderschool, a free coding school (in Ho Chi Minh City); the launch of iSpace, a free co-working space (in Hanoi); and the launch of the first co-working space chain Toong (in Hanoi).

And 2016 has started strong as well: the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nhan Dan (The People), published an article on January 1 with the headline Startup Spring which covered startups, entrepreneurship, and reflected on improving institutional support to lower the risk of doing a startup in Vietnam.

There are currently two national frameworks that are being developed to incentivise startup creation in Vietnam  one is from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and another is from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). In either case, it will be important to focus on the internal and external development of startups, i.e., incentivise the creation of startups in Vietnam and also provide the international support (financial) to expose more Vietnamese teams to innovation hubs like  but not limited to  Silicon Valley.

Two potential options for Vietnamese startups in Silicon Valley are Parisoma and Runway, both of which offer soft-landing opportunities to foreign startups coming to the US, in order to progress in a structured and efficient environment during a multi-month period.

At Parisoma in San Franciscos SOMA district, there is a special programme called TarmacSF, which is ideally suited for these kinds of incoming startups since the support and services offered are comprehensive.

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Rachida El Hawzali, Project Manager at CALSO, which is partnered with Parisoma on the TarmacSF programme, stated: Tarmac SF is a 3-month programme that provides all the necessary resources - immigration, housing, co-working space, network, classes and events - so that entrepreneurs can focus on their startup development in the US. We welcome a wide range of individuals and projects such as tech entrepreneurs or and new business managers.

Currently, in the second edition of the programme, TarmacSF will provide two sponsorships to assist a woman and a social entrepreneur. For these select entrepreneurs, the programme will be 100 per cent free. The deadline to apply to these two sponsorships is March 25, 2016 and the winners will be announced the following month.

And at Runway, which shares a building in downtown San Francisco with Twitter, German and Portuguese entrepreneurs at the space receive support from the German Accelerator (backed by the German government) and Portuguese Ventures (a merger of three state-owned Portuguese enterprises), respectively.

For the German and Portuguese teams at Runway, the cost of the programme (US$700 per person per month) is covered by their sponsoring organisations  essentially providing a major advantage to those startups upon arrival in the US via access to a curated community, educational programming, and a collaborative workspace.

Also Read: Are Vietnamese startups ready to take the world by storm?

According to Katie Doherty, Manager of Partnerships and Business Development at Runway, We believe strongly that diversity is conducive to creativity and innovation. Moreover, at the core of what we do is our community; being surrounded by collaborative entrepreneurs is important for peer-to-peer learning, connections, and sustaining motivation  benefits that can be especially helpful to teams relocating from abroad.

These sponsorships and partnerships drastically reduce the barrier to gaining experience and exposure in Silicon Valley, but the remaining challenge for some foreign entrepreneurs may be the cost of housing (in programmes where it is not provided) where a single room can easily cost US$2,000 per month.

For comparison, the per capita GDP of Vietnam is approximately US$2,000. But with the support of both the public and private sectors, as well as local community support from the diaspora and other friendly parties, a creative solution will surely emerge to enable more Vietnamese entrepreneurs to venture into the heart of Silicon Valley.

Startup March Madness

The young crowd at the Google I/O conference in Hanoi last year

The young crowd at the Google I/O conference in Hanoi last year

This month, there will be an assortment of events across Vietnam to celebrate startups, entrepreneurship, and innovation. On March 7, Hanoi will be the first stop on an American Innovation Roadshow in Vietnam organised by the US Department of State in co-ordination with the US Embassy in Hanoi and the US Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

The US Delegation, led by Ambassador David Thorne, Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of State, will continue on to Ho Chi Minh City for events on March 8 and 9 before heading to the Philippines. The Innovation Roadshow is an opportunity for US business leaders to witness innovation firsthand in Vietnam, as well as to create and build relationships between the US and Vietnam across the entrepreneur and technology communities.

According to US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, As we continue to work with the Vietnamese government to foster sustainable economic growth, we are proud to be bringing a delegation of entrepreneurs, executives, and investors to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in March. In Hanoi, we will sponsor the 2016 Conference on Innovation in Hanoi, which will bring together global game changers in the Vietnam startup community with US corporate leaders in IT, finance, and manufacturing, in order to develop a Silicon Valley state of mind in Vietnam.

Among the representatives in the delegation, there will be personnel from IBM, GE, and Qualcomm. The course of multi-day events will feature a presentation on US innovation and advances in technology, as well as a demo fair and presentation showcasing the best tech talents in Vietnam.

Also Read: The Dreamplex vision: Connecting Vietnams startup community

The 2016 Conference on Innovation will focus entrepreneurs on the technologies and global best practices needed to drive growth and take advantage of market opportunities. The delegation will then travel to Ho Chi Minh City where they will engage in a series of events that will connect them with investors, entrepreneurs and community builders. I am proud to support the innovation ecosystem in Vietnam through these events, and I look forward to seeing a wide range of participants from the growing start-up community in Vietnam, stated Ambassador Osius via the US Embassy in Hanoi.

Recently, at the US-ASEAN Summit Press Conference at the Sunnylands Center in Rancho Mirage, California, on February 16, President Obama announced a new initiative called US-ASEAN Connect  a network of hubs across the region to better co-ordinate our economic engagement and connect more of our entrepreneurs, investors and businesses with each other.

President Obama, who will visit Vietnam this May and Lao PDR in September, also reaffirmed, according to The White House, that the US will continue to be a partner in ASEANs efforts to integrate economies and reduce barriers to trade and investment.

In fact, one of the major opening points during the press conference was about cooperation between the US and ASEAN members: First, we agreed to do more together to encourage the entrepreneurship and innovation that are at the heart of modern, competitive economies, stated President Obama as he began to dive into the heart of his address. During President Obamas visits to the region later this year, we may learn more about concrete plans to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in ASEAN, which in Vietnams case might include Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV), the nations first non-profit and private university.

Growing International Support

Now, more than ever before there is support for startups and entrepreneurship in Vietnam from a variety of sources, including foreign governments. Besides the Finland-Vietnam Innovation Partnership Program (IPP), there is also the Business Incubator Policy Project (BIPP) co-funded by the Governments of Vietnam and Belgium which launched last summer with a budget of 4.4 million (US$4.84 million).

Startup teams working in Vietnams capital of Hanoi

Startup teams working in Vietnams capital of Hanoi

Another programme, the SECO EP (Entrepreneurial Programme), will focus on increasing entrepreneurial activities, enabling innovative entrepreneurs to commence and scale their businesses, and supporting the enterprise ecosystem. The programme is financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by Swisscontact from 2015-2019 in Vietnam, among other countries. A special focus is given to both connecting the diaspora back into Vietnam as well as promoting the participation of women in entrepreneurial activities.

From a regional perspective, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will move forward with its Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) with funding from Australia Aid and a dedicated country team in Vietnam. Among its purposes is to incentivise business formalisation, help Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises to grow and integrate into global supply chains, and to empower women-led businesses.

Moreover, the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam is planning a new innovation initiative and the British Council annually supports social investment and social enterprise in Vietnam, most recently via the Business and Investment Readiness programme pilot 2015/16, which is ongoing through September.

New Challenges

The focus of several organisations and programmes such as HATCH! and IPP are two-fold for this year: the promotion, creation, and building of mentor networks and angel investor networks. For mentor networks, the challenge will be to find quality mentors to provide active (quality) mentoring where both parties benefit instead of accepting hourly-based consultants to deliver solutions.

Already, some international mentor networks are beginning to form, e.g., Startup Rising in San Francisco and Women of Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City. And when it comes to angel investing, the best angel investors are those entrepreneurs who have successfully exited from their previous ventures.

While Vietnam does have these kinds of entrepreneurs, many successful people as a result of Vietnams economy are micromanagers and some do not understand the risk involved in angel investingthere is no guaranteed return.

Another point of concern is the already high power distance between older and younger Vietnamese people; add in funding provided by older Vietnamese CEOs and company owners to young and inexperienced founders and the imbalance of power (and risk for accepting bad deals, e.g., US$20,000 in seed funding for 51 per cent of a company) is increased.

Thus, educating local angel investors on best investment practices is a necessary step toward seeing more successfully funded startups in the long-term. The other way to de-risk the investment process is to optimise the existing deal flow by implementing requirements for investors a la the accredited investor archetype. Thats where organisations like the Vietnam Angel Network come in; its stated purpose is to help the best upcoming seed-level startups to access a broader range of investors.

Also new to the playing field are international organisations which are looking to set up in Vietnam like Seedspace from Switzerland and NUMA from France. These are part co-working spaces and part seed funds which are looking to position themselves to be future pillars of the rapidly-growing market in Vietnam. One challenge is to spread the foreign interest across Vietnam smartly, if not evenly, so that the three distinct ecosystems of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang can develop in the healthiest ways possible by playing to their natural strengths.

In a larger sense, this year is the 30th anniversary of oi Moi (when Vietnam began to open up its economy) and it is surely to be exciting as Vietnams economy continues to modernise and is set to accelerate with an assortment of new trade deals on the horizon as a primary driver.

It will be an opportunity for Vietnamese entrepreneurs and companies to rise up to the challenge of international standards by making the capital and training investments, and education and long-term commitments necessary to create innovative company cultures and individual mindsets. Only then will Vietnamese enterprises be in a position to fully reap the benefits of a burgeoning and increasingly globally-connected economy after this Year of the Monkey and beyond.

The views expressed here are of the authors, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asias tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, please send us an email at sainul [at]e27[dot]co.

Image Credit: Andrew Rowan

The post Startup Spring: A busy time ahead for Vietnams startups appeared first on e27.
Turkish authorities have detained a Turkish boat owner and a suspected people smuggler over the latest sinking of a vessel carrying migrants in the Aegean Sea that left at least 25 dead, reports said on Monday. The migrants, who included 10 children, died on Sunday when the boat carrying them on a bid to reach EU member Greece from Turkey sank in the Aegean in the latest deadly disaster on the route. The tragedy happened a day before Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held talks in Brussels Monday with EU leaders to find a comprehensive solution to the migrant crisis. The owner of the boat, named as K.C., and the suspected people smuggler, Y.Y. were detained by police in the Didim district of the Aydin region of western Turkey, the Dogan news agency reported. Police are searching for three other suspects in connection with the tragedy including two Afghans, it added. Fifteen people were saved after the sinking of the boat while rescue efforts were still under way to find two more missing, the report said. Turkey is the main launch pad for most of the more than one million refugees and migrants who have crossed into Europe since early 2015, and is under pressure to curb the huge flow. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 125,819 people crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece so far this year to March 3 while 321 died on the way. Visiting Ankara last week ahead of the EU summit, EU President Donald Tusk said a priority was to "break the business model of smugglers" who analysts say have acted with near impunity until now.
A leading Turkish newspaper opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and seized by authorities warned of the "darkest days" in the history of the press Saturday in a defiant edition as police used rubber bullets to disperse a new protest. The late-night swoop against the Zaman newspaper raised fresh concerns over declining media freedoms in Turkey, a key European Union ally, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders. Zaman, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was on Friday placed under the control of a board of trustees after a court order which critics said was another attempt to silence opposition media. "The Constitution is suspended," the newspaper, which managed to print its latest issue despite the takeover, said on its front page in large font on a black background. "Yesterday (Friday) marked one of the darkest days in the history of Turkish press," it said. Turkish riot police on Saturday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a new protest by the newspaper's supporters outside its Istanbul headquarters. "Free press cannot be silenced," a group of demonstrators shouted. Police used large amounts of tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse around 500 people, an AFP photographer at the scene reported. Zaman, with an estimated circulation of 650,000, went to print earlier than usual on Friday evening before the police raid and the number of its pages was reduced to 16 from 24, one of its journalists said. - 'Legal process' - Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter on Saturday that the newspaper office had had all Internet connections cut. "We are not able to work anymore," she wrote. During Friday's raid, police first cleared protesters with tear gas and water cannon, then used bolt-cutters to open the gates before dozens of officers marched in to take over the building and formally place it under administration, media images showed. Once the building was cleared, court-appointed administrators were bussed inside the complex to begin their work, local media reported. The new administrators on Saturday fired Zaman's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici, press reports said. On an official visit to Iran, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied any government interference in the seizure of the newspaper. "They are certainly not political but legal processes," he said in remarks carried by Turkish television. "Turkey is a state governed by rule of law... It is out of the question for neither by me nor any of my colleague to interfere in this process," he said. But he cautioned: "We should not shut our eyes to ... a parallel structure within the state using the press and other tools" to promote its agenda. The raid prompted a worried response from the European Union, which urged Ankara to respect media freedom. "The EU has repeatedly stressed that Turkey, as (an EU) candidate country, needs to respect and promote high democratic standards and practices, including freedom of the media," the EU's diplomatic service said in a statement. - 'Veiled move'- The Russian foreign ministry called for a probe by the international community including the Council of Europe into the crackdown. "It is essential that Ankara respect European and international requirements concerning freedom of speech and freedom of press," a ministry spokeswoman said. Washington also urged Turkey to protect freedom of speech, saying the court order was "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." Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the court order "a veiled move by the president to eradicate opposition media and scrutiny of government policies." Ankara accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities. Local media said the court order was issued on the grounds that Zaman supported the activities of this "terror organisation". Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999 when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities. Despite living outside of Turkey, Gulen has built up huge influence in the country through allies in the police and judiciary, media and financial interests and a vast network of cramming schools. 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. The Zaman seizure is the latest incident to raise concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey under Erdogan's rule. The daily 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.
By Ayla Jean Yackley and Nick Tattersall ISTANBUL (Reuters) - There will be no bargaining over a new constitution for Turkey which could enhance the powers of the president and the government will seek to put the matter to a referendum, the prime minister said on Sunday. The ruling AKP party will have the support of all its 317 deputies for a new charter and will look for an additional 13 votes from the opposition that are needed to take the draft to a referendum, Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with broadcaster A Haber. A cross-party commission charged with drafting a new constitution collapsed last month after the main opposition pulled out over attempts by the AKP to change Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system. "All 317 AK Party lawmakers will do what's necessary. The constitution is not up for bargaining, it's a matter of principles," Davutoglu said. "We will find the 330 (votes) and take it to a referendum. Our people will have a constitution embraced by all, and the (current) charter will be consigned." Senior AKP officials told Reuters last week that the party was working on its own proposals despite the opposition's resistance, plans which could hand President Tayyip Erdogan powers to draft legislation directly and pick ministers. The AKP has broad support for overhauling the constitution, which dates back to the period after the 1980 military coup and has been repeatedly amended. But there are wide divergences over what a new charter should look like. Erdogan wants the charter to transform the presidency from largely ceremonial to an executive post with expansive powers. IMMUNITY Davutoglu said parliament will begin debate on revoking the parliamentary immunity for lawmakers from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has Kurdish roots, after budget talks conclude on Wednesday. The Justice Ministry last week submitted a request for the assembly to scrap the protection from prosecution of five HDP lawmakers, including the HDP's co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, after repeated calls by Erdogan. The ultra-right Nationalist Movement Party, parliament's fourth-biggest grouping with 40 seats, has signalled its support for stripping Demirtas and the others of their immunity. Demirtas, who faces some 60 dossiers for things he has said, told reporters at a briefing the AKP was using the issue to tap nationalist support during a time of clashes between security forces and Kurdish militants in Turkey's restive southeast. "The government has raised the issue of our immunity before, but this time they appear serious," he said. "They want to scapegoat us. We don't want this to happen because not only will it hurt our party but all of Turkish society and its democracy." Even if parliament lifts the lawmakers' immunity, the HDP will retain its 59 seats until any prosecution is complete, which could take years, Demirtas said. He also reiterated the HDP's opposition to an executive presidency, saying it would make the government more autocratic. Opposition parties want the new charter to focus on minority rights and democratic freedoms and fear an executive presidency would consolidate too much power in the hands of one man. But Davutoglu said the AKP would prioritise such rights. "Issues that are inarguable are human rights and freedoms, a liberal constitutional framework, accountability and representational ability," he said. (Editing by Stephen Powell)
The ZTE company logo is seen as a guest delivers a speech during the company's 15th anniversary celebration in Beijing April 18, 2013. REUTERS/Barry Huang (Reuters)

By Steve Stecklow

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> for allegedly violating U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the license applications generally will be denied.

The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship U.S.-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE.

"This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE.

A spokesman for ZTE, based in Shenzhen, China, could not be reached for immediate comment. The company can appeal the action.

The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known tech firms to Iran's largest telecom carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it.

The U.S. product makers - which included Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O>, IBM <IBM.N>, Oracle Corp <ORCL.N> and Dell Inc [DI.UL] - have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of these companies still do business with ZTE.

Washington has long banned the sale of U.S.-made tech products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran, a violation of U.S. sanctions.

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Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents  some marked by the company "Top Secret" - outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents.

The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had carried through with the alleged scheme.

The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers."

(For Reuters stories on ZTE, see http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-telecoms-idUSBRE82L0B820120322 and http://www.reuters.com/article/zte-iran-aryacell-idUSL3E8FA4MS20120410)

What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's current global business is not clear.

One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S." It also states: "Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company is from U.S. suppliers."

One of ZTE's websites also states that several major U.S. tech companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp <INTC.O>, IBM and Honeywell International Inc <HON.N>, are "key strategic partners of ZTE." The terms of the partnerships are not described.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond to requests for immediate comment.

The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught.

"The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities," the document states.

In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control, and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws." It is not clear if the alleged scheme was carried through.

Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president.

The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders".

It states that ZTE "has on-going projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria, and Cuba. All of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen."

The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States. "R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law." The document does not specify what law may have been violated.

The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime," the document states.

The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S. If on the Blacklist, our company may face the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products."

ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.

Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian.

(Reporting by Steve Stecklow; Editing by Alix Freedman and Tiffany Wu)
By Lisa Barrington BEIRUT (Reuters) - A total of 135 people were killed in the first week of a partial truce in Syria in areas covered by the deal, a monitoring group said on Saturday, highlighting its fragile nature just days before the United Nations attempts to reconvene peace talks. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said the talks, originally due to begin on Monday in Geneva, would get off to a staggered start later in the week, with delegates arriving from Wednesday onwards. The U.N. said the delay was due to "logistical and technical reasons and also for the ceasefire to better settle down". "I see us beginning on (Thursday) March 10 when we will launch the process," de Mistura said in an interview with pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat. A pro-Damascus Lebanese TV channel, al-Mayadeen, reported from its own sources that talks had been moved to March 13. Reuters could not independently verify this. The five-year Syrian civil war has killed more than a quarter of a million people and created a massive refugee crisis in Lebanon, Turkey and the European Union. The partial truce, drawn up by Washington and Moscow, came into force a week ago and has slowed the pace of the war, although it does not include Islamic State militants or the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. The opposition is dissatisfied with the implementation of the deal and has yet to say whether it will attend the new talks. Fighting continues in many parts of Syria, and the rebels say the government has kept up attacks on strategically important frontlines. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 135 people were killed in areas covered by the 'cessation of hostilities' agreement since it came into force on Feb. 27. In areas not covered by the truce, 552 people were killed, said the Britain-based group, which tracks the conflict via sources on the ground. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a phone conversation late on Friday, called for a prompt start to the peace negotiations, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The two sides called to start the negotiations as soon as possible...between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the opposition, during which the Syrians themselves should determine the future of their country," the ministry said. ASSAD'S DEPARTURE Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose country backs the rebels, said on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave at the beginning of a political transition, not at the end. "For us it is very clear it's at the beginning of the process, not at the end of the process, it's not going to be 18 months," Jubeir said during a visit to France. Assad, however, enjoys firm backing from Iran and Russia and his military position has strengthened, especially since Russia entered the war by launching waves of air strikes last September. The United States and other Western governments that previously called for the president's early departure have quietly backed away from that demand. De Mistura attempted to convene peace talks in January, but these failed before they had even started in earnest. The new talks will be conducted indirectly, not face-to-face, he told Al Hayat. The fall-off in violence has made aid deliveries easier in some areas of the country, but de Mistura said the Syrian government should be processing aid faster. "Lorries are waiting for 36 hours," he said. "And medical aid must be allowed." On Wednesday the World Health Organization said Syrian officials had rejected the delivery of medical supplies, including trauma and burn kits and antibiotics, in a convoy to the besieged town of Moadamiya two days earlier. Syrian opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said on Friday conditions for talks were "not favourable" and medical and food supplies were being blocked despite the truce. On Saturday, the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which is part of the main Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee, said it had named a new president. Anas Abda will replace Khaled Khoja as head of the group, the SNC said in a statement on its Twitter account. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Lidia Kelly in Moscow and Leigh Thomas in Paris; writing by Ros Russell; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes will travel to Miami next week to meet with leaders from the Cuban-American community to allay concerns about Obama's historic trip to Cuba later this month, a White House official told Reuters. "Miami has long been at the heart of the Cuban-American community, and this trip will provide an opportunity to continue the important dialogue about the president's efforts to normalise relations with Cuba," the official said. Rhodes, who helped negotiate the thaw in Washington's relations with the island nation, will meet with human rights advocates, religious leaders, and private sector representatives during his March 11 trip. Obama goes to Havana in mid-March in what will be the first visit by a U.S. president to the Caribbean nation since 1928. Republicans and some leaders in the Cuban-American community oppose the trip, believing it will give legitimacy to the island's Communist government. Rhodes will seek to allay those concerns and discuss what the president hopes to achieve by going to Havana, the official said. Obama plans to meet with dissidents as well as President Raul Castro during his stay in Cuba. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Sandra Maler)
By Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an offer to meet President Barack Obama at the White House later this month and cancelled his trip to Washington, the White House said on Monday, citing Israeli news reports. Netanyahu's decision to nix his U.S. visit marked the latest episode in a fraught relationship with Obama that has yet to recover from their deep differences over last year's U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran, Israel's arch-foe. The White House said the Israeli government had requested a Netanyahu meeting with Obama on either March 18 or 19 and that he was offered a March 18 encounter two weeks ago. "We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, and we were surprised to first learn via media reports that the Prime Minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit," Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in an emailed statement. Price denied Israeli news reports that "that we were not able to accommodate the prime minister's schedule." The White House has announced Obama's plans to be in Havana on March 21 and 22 for a historic visit aimed at moving closer toward normalized relations with Washington's former Cold War foe. There was no immediate word from Netanyahu's office about the cancellation, which also comes as the two countries are struggling to reach a new 10-year, multibillion-dollar defence aid agreement for Israel. Israel's Channel 10 TV, citing unnamed Israeli sources, said Netanyahu's decision to cancel the trip appeared to be motivated by reluctance to be perceived as interfering in the U.S. presidential election campaign, should any candidates seek to meet him in Washington. Netanyahu also saw little to show for such a trip, given that the new defence Memorandum of Understanding is "far from being agreed yet," Channel 10 said. Netanyahu had been expected to visit Washington this month not only to see Obama but to address the leading U.S. pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. The prime minister made a speech to the U.S. Congress last March criticizing the then-emerging Iran nuclear deal and was denied a meeting with Obama during that visit in what was widely regarded as a diplomatic snub. But the two leaders met at the White House in November and sought to mend ties. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on a five-day trip to the Middle East, is due to visit Israel later this week and hold talks with Netanyahu. (Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
By James Odato ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A New York judge on Monday dismissed a challenge to Canadian-born Ted Cruzs eligibility to run in the state's Republican presidential primary election next month, saying the challengers had missed a key deadline for filing. Two New York residents, Barry Korman, 81, of Manhattan and William Gallo, 85, of Manhasset, Long Island, on Feb. 19 filed the petition to block Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, from getting onto the April 19 ballot, saying his birth in the Canadian province of Alberta makes him ineligible to be president. State law requires that a petition challenging eligibility be filed within three days of when a candidate files to be placed on the ballot. Korman and Gallo filed their petition more than two weeks after Cruz filed his paperwork to get on the ballot, the judge said. Weinstein said at an earlier hearing that the case could cause "chaos" if it went ahead. The case was one of several similar challenges to Cruz's eligibility to run for the White House - including suits in Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Illinois suit was dismissed last week on a technicality. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly brought up questions about whether Cruz meets the constitutional requirement to be president. The Constitution says that to be president, a person must be a "natural-born citizen" of the United States. Cruz has argued that he is eligible to run because of his mother's U.S. citizenship, and many legal experts say it is unlikely any judge in the United States would block his presidential bid. Cruz's father is a Cuban immigrant. A lawyer for the objectors, Roger Bernstein, said "an appeal is likely." (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler)
Image: Screengrab of Zouk Singapore Facebook page

By Zul Othman

Zouk Singapore has denied asking a guest DJ to cut short his set on Saturday amid speculation that it allegedly did so to allow a son of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to take over the deck.

Egyptian guest DJ Fadi (Fila), one half of trance duo Aly & Fila who was scheduled to play at Zouk that night, has lambasted the clubbing institution for the alleged snub.

In response to Yahoo Singapores queries, Zouks head of marketing and events Sofie Chandra said pertaining to Aly & Filas gig at Zouk on Saturday night, Zouk would like to clarify that DJ Fadi (Fila) was not at any point of time asked to end his set prematurely before the contracted set end time of 330am.

In a viral video supposedly recorded during Fadis set, the DJ claimed that he was told to cut short his set to make way for the son of a prime minister.



A number of club goers claimed that Mohd Norashman, the 25-year-old son of Najib and his second wife Rosmah Mansor, was at the event. Zouk did not say if he was present at the club.



In the video, which was uploaded on Facebook on Sunday (March 6), Fadi did not mince his words and told the crowd,  it seems that Zouk here wants someone else to play. Not only because of that because apparently he is the son of a prime minister.

Thank you so much, enjoy my last track. Ill see you somewhere in the future. Not in Zouk anymore! Because I wont play for Zouk any f***ing more. Theyve insulted me, but I love you guys.

The video has since been viewed over 120,000 times as of Monday night.



The son that Fadi was believed to be referring to was Norashman, who has remained silent on the matter. Yahoo Singapore understands that he is a fan of trance music and has played at dance music events in Kuala Lumpur.

Zouks Chandra said, Zouk has constantly held our invited artists in esteem and respect their works. We understand that this incident has resulted in some discontent and disappointment but would like to give the assurance that Zouk will continue to value the importance and presence of all artists and our customers and their interests.



Story continues

Outraged fans of Aly & Fila



Fans of the DJ duo, who have been constantly voted as among the top 100 DJs by DJ Mag, have slammed Zouk. This was despite the club posting on Facebook on Sunday (6 March) to say that the incident was a misunderstanding and that it did not ask Fadi to end his set early in another statement on Monday.



The club wrote on Sunday With regards to last nights incident that happened at the end of Aly and Filas set, we would like to clarify that it was all over a misunderstanding.

We respect all our artists and make it a point to ensure that all artists are able to complete their sets without interference.

A Wenvi Hidayat said in response to Zouks latest post, You messed with the wrong DJ, Zouk. Fadi is very well respected in the industry and has a huge fan base around the world.



A Henry Soh commented, u said Fadi was not at any point of time asked to end his set but we all witnessed that wasnt true! We were all there!



The controversy came several months after an announcement that Zouk had been acquired by cruise and resorts company Genting Hong Kong. The club will leave its Jiak Kim Street premises and move into Clarke Quay by the third quarter of 2016.
Image: Screengrab of Zouk Singapore Facebook page

By Zul Othman

Zouk Singapore has denied asking a guest DJ to cut short his set on Saturday amid speculation that it allegedly did so to allow a son of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to take over the deck.

Egyptian guest DJ Fila, one half of trance duo Aly & Fila who was scheduled to play at the clubbing institution, has lambasted the clubbing institution for the alleged snub.

In response to Yahoo Singapores queries, Zouks head of marketing and events Sofie Chandra said pertaining to Aly & Filas gig at Zouk on Saturday night, Zouk would like to clarify that DJ Fadi (Fila) was not at any point of time asked to end his set prematurely before the contracted set end time of 330am.



In a viral video recorded during Filas set, the DJ claimed that he was told to cut his set short to make way for the son of a prime minister.



A number of club goers who attended the event said Mohd Norashman, one of Najibs sons, was at the event. Zouk did not say if the 25-year-old son of Najib and his second wife Rosmah Mansor was present at the club that night.

Ms Chandra added, Zouk has constantly held our invited artists in esteem and respect their works. We understand that this incident has resulted in some discontent and disappointment but would like to give the assurance that Zouk will continue to value the importance and presence of all artists and our customers and their interests.

In the video, which was uploaded to Facebook on Sunday (March 6), Fila  real name Fadi Wassef Naguib  did not mince his words during his set and told the crowd,  it seems that Zouk here wants someone else to play. Not only because of that because apparently he is the son of a prime minister.

Thank you so much, enjoy my last track. Ill see you somewhere in the future. Not in Zouk anymore! Because I wont play for Zouk any f***ing more. Theyve insulted me, but I love you guys.

The video has since been viewed over 97,000 times. The son that Fila is believed to be referring to is Norashman, who has remained silent on the matter.



Story continues

Yahoo Singapore understands that the 25-year-old is a fan of trance music and has been to known to play at dance music events in Kuala Lumpur.

Outraged fans of Aly & Fila



Fans of the DJ duo, who are constantly voted as among the top 100 DJs on DJ Mag, have slammed Zouk regarding the incident. This was despite the club posting on Facebook on Sunday (6 March) to say that the incident was a misunderstanding and that it did not ask Fila to end his set early in another statement on Monday.



The club wrote on Sunday With regards to last nights incident that happened at the end of Aly and Filas set, we would like to clarify that it was all over a misunderstanding.

We respect all our artists and make it a point to ensure that all artists are able to complete their sets without interference. We have reached out to their management and will be releasing an official statement shortly.

A Wenvi Hidayat commented in Zouks latest post, You messed with the wrong DJ, Zouk. Fadi is very well respected in the industry and has a huge fan base around the world.



A Henry Soh said, ..is this your truly explanations? Since u said Fadi was not at any point of time asked to end his set but we all witnessed that wasnt true! We were all there!



The controversy came after a recent announcement that the club has been acquired by cruise and resorts company Genting Hong Kong. The iconic Singaporean club will leave its Jiak Kim Street premises and move into Clarke Quay by the third quarter of 2016.
STEM

5,000 High School Students Compete in Rocket Contest

Nearly 5,000 high school students on 789 teams are competing in the 14th annual Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC). After contest representatives receive information on the rocket launches most teams are making this month, they will invite the 100 best to the TARC national finals May 14 near Washington, D.C.

This year's challenge to the teams is to design, engineer and build rockets that can carry a payload consisting of two eggs placed perpendicular to each other. To qualify, the teams must return the payloads to earth after the rockets carrying them fly to at least 850 feet in the air between 44 and 46 seconds.

Rockets that fly exactly to the requirements will receive perfect scores of zero. However, points are given as deductions from the perfect flight. For instance, points will be given if the eggs are cracked or broken, if the flight takes longer or shorter than the 44 to 46 seconds, etc.

The 100 best teams will compete with their rockets at the Great Meadow in The Plains, VA, about 45 minutes from Washington, D.C. They will compete for prizes and scholarships worth more than $100,000 and the national champion will travel to the Farnborough International Air Show near London to compete in the International Rocketry Challenge against teams from Europe and Asia.

Among the nearly 800 teams of high school students are 43 made up completely of girls and several that used 3D printers to fabricate their rockets. One team from Wisconsin sold 9,000 muffins to fund its school's rocketry program.

The TARC is jointly organized by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the National Association of Rocketry.

"We believe the skills students discover and build while participating in this program will propel them to pursue education and careers in STEM fields, specifically in the aerospace industry," said AIA President and CEO David F. Melcher.

Major TARC sponsors include the Raytheon Company, Lockheed Martin, Thales USA, Boeing and Elbit Systems of America.
Privacy

Multi-Year Initiative to Nail Down Student Privacy Issues in Education Software

Common Sense Media is working with districts to understand student privacy issues and develop safe practices for software use.

Working with 40 school districts, including some of the largest ones in the country, the education division of Common Sense Media has gone public with details about a long-term project to help schools better understand student data privacy issues and choose applications that commit to safe practices in their terms of service and privacy policies. The announcement was made during SXSWedu taking place this week in Austin, TX.

Common Sense Education's new Privacy Evaluation Initiative is a multi-year effort that will kick off with publication of an information security primer. The primer will explain how schools can perform their own information security reviews, set up testing scenarios for Web and mobile apps, and release the results of the testing "responsibly," said Bill Fitzgerald, director of the initiative for Common Sense. Fitzgerald said the draft of the text for the primer will first go to district partners and then be released in final form under a Creative Commons license on April 1 at graphite.org/privacy/security-primer.

Common Sense will also release a question set that builds off rubrics developed by the districts. Each question maps to a federal privacy statute such as FERPA or COPPA and other data-handling best practices and can then be used to evaluate the privacy policies of specific programs. That is expected to surface later this year.

That will eventually be followed by the release of an application programming interface that will allow teachers to look up a given app and read through a quick summary of its privacy profile. Those summaries are currently being built right now with the help of dozens of educators within districts that have teamed up with Common Sense on the work.

The API and privacy information will first be used in Common Sense's own education app Web site, Graphite, which offers reviews of thousands of education programs. But eventually, those data privacy assessments could show up on other sites that promote education technology too, said Fitzgerald.

"The expertise of our partner districts, and their day-to-day experience evaluating software and working with vendors, grounds this work in the realities faced by students and teachers using technology," he explained in a press release. "We are working together to create accessible and straightforward criteria that district leaders, teachers, students, parents and vendors can readily understand."

Among those district partners are Houston Independent School District and Fairfax County Public Schools, both of which approached Common Sense two years ago to get feedback on their own efforts related to the evaluation of the privacy practices of the ed tech vendors producing the programs their teachers were increasingly adopting in the classroom.

Now a larger consortium of districts has joined in on the work, and Common Sense is inviting additional schools to participate as well.

Each app is put through a rigorous review process specifically to evaluate its terms of service and privacy policies. The goals are twofold: to help teachers chose ed tech wisely; and to help vendors improve their own policies related to student data.

Fitzgerald said too few people take the time to read the policies for the apps they download, yet it's easily done. And if it isn't easy, perhaps it's an app that shouldn't be used by students. "This is the dirty secret about privacy: If you can read, you can do it. Privacy policies are written in English. If you have a middle school reading app, and it requires a post-graduate degree to understand the privacy terms, that's a problem. How can a middle schooler using that app expect to understand what they're reading?"

He said his hope is that the work of the initiative will encourage teachers to become more proactive in their tech-related decisions. "If you determine that tech is an essential component to what you're doing, read the terms."

The privacy initiative was undertaken with funding support from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has urged Germany to set a clear limit on the number of asylum seekers it will accept to help stem a mass influx of refugees that is severely testing European cohesion. The comments by the Social Democrat to the Kurier newspaper threaten to make even more complicated an emergency EU summit with Turkey on Monday on handling the worst refugee crisis in generations. Austria - the last stop before Germany, the top destination for migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond - has already come under fire from the European Commission and human rights groups for capping its own intake of refugees. "Germany too must give a number for the refugees it is prepared to take from the Syria and Turkey region. Germany must finally create clarity or else refugees will continue to head off in the direction of Germany," Faymann was quoted as saying. "If you take the Austrian guidelines, Germany could give its quota at around 400,000. As long as Germany does not say that, it is clear what will happen. The refugees will continue to believe that they will be waved through." Austria, a country of 8.5 million people, got 90,000 asylum requests last year and has curtailed the number this year while imposing daily limits on the numbers it processes. Faymann said Monday's summit was set to decide three things: improving cooperation with Turkey to fight human smugglers and return rejected asylum seekers, ending a policy of waving through refugees, and agreeing on a system for EU members to absorb asylum seekers with the help of the U.N. refugee agency. In a separate newspaper interview, Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said Austria did not want to take part in any quota system for distributing refugees among European countries because it had done enough on its own. "We are taking the lion's share and taking in 37,500 asylum seekers this year alone. Now the others are called upon. Why should Austria take refugees from Greece? That would send the wrong signal," Doskozil told the Oesterreich newspaper. Vienna has repeatedly called for a quota system, saying many countries that are net recipients of EU funding had to step up and do their share to resolve a difficult situation with thousands of people stranded on Greece's border with Macedonia. In Switzerland, the NZZ am Sonntag paper said Switzerland was set to take in 600 asylum seekers from Greece who had been registered by Greek authorities and had a good chance of being allowed to stay in the neutral Alpine country. Although Switzerland is not an EU member, the Swiss government agreed last year to take in 1,500 asylum seekers under an EU relocation programme. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Oleg Vukmanovic and Stephen Jewkes MILAN (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom is counting on its deep natural gas ties with Italy to revive plans aimed at bypassing Ukraine as a transit state for politically sensitive gas shipments to Europe. But whether the tactic works is another matter. Having tried and so far failed to bolster pipeline links with the continent through Bulgaria and Turkey, Gazprom is running out of options to secure its strategic entry point into southern Europe, and with it any chance of cutting Ukraine out of the picture this decade, industry and government sources say. Undeterred, last week it announced new plans with Italian utility Edison and Greece's DEPA to supply natural gas along the seabed of the Black Sea into Greece and Italy, from where it could be sold in Europe. The so-called Interconnector Turkey Greece Italy (ITGI) Poseidon pipeline scheme - stuck in limbo for years - was first conceived back in 2003 as a way of lessening reliance on Russia by bringing in central Asian gas. At one time it even had the backing of the European Union which aims to dilute Russia's one third share of Europe's gas market. But ITGI was shelved in 2012 after it lost out to rival project TAP on a major deal to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe. "My immediate reaction is that in light of political difficulties this project is unlikely to move forward at this time," Emily Stromquist, analyst at risk consultancy Eurasia Group said. Two Italian government sources dismissed the Gazprom-ITGI announcement as a Russian manoeuvre designed to force its assent, saying officials were not consulted beforehand. "The government was furious at the companies for the way this was handled, at being put in a situation which made it seem as if the government was behind the plans," one source said. Edison declined to comment for this story. How the 8 billion cubic metre a year capacity project plays out on the ground is still unclear. Stakes are high for Gazprom which needs a southern European link to fully avoid Ukrainian territory by the time pipeline transit agreements with the country expire on Dec. 31, 2019. FAILED ATTEMPTS Between 2006 and 2014, Russia halved to 62 billion cubic metres/year the amount of gas crossing Ukraine, but is unlikely to build any new export pipeline by 2020 to complete the process, a report by the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies (OIES) said this week. All previous attempts have ended in failure. Its long-planned South Stream pipeline was scrapped over a year ago after failed attempts to get around European Union anti-monopoly rules, known as the Third Energy Package. A slimmed down successor project, TurkStream, was shelved this year in retaliation for Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border. "Nobody is in a good position here," Jonathan Stern, chairman of the OIES told Reuters. "The Russians want to get their gas out of Ukraine and sell it to Europeans who will need to buy it, while the Ukrainians must realize they are not independent of Russian gas," he said. Tense ties with the European Commission amid various ongoing investigations into Gazprom's business practices won't endear them to ITGI, which anyway will face the same hurdles that sank South Stream. "Interconnection projects must contribute to the EU's diversification and energy security strategy, and ... in particular the third energy package rules," a European Commission spokesman said in an emailed statement. There are good reasons for Gazprom to choose Edison. The ITGI project has most of the authorisations in hand and Edison, like Depa, is a long-term buyer of Gazprom gas. The plan is for ITGI to link up with South Stream or TurkStream if built, along with east Mediterranean fields, enhancing its prospects, industry sources say. A Gazprom source said Turkey is a vital part of the chain to realise ITGI. "Now we are hearing Bulgaria wants to get back to South Stream again, maybe that's the way," he said. What's more, Italy, which imports around 90 percent of its energy needs, currently counts on Russia for over half its daily flows and needs more gas to pursue ambitions to become a south Europe gas hub. Cooperation with Italy won't be easy though. Reformist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi took a stand against Gazprom's controversial Nord Stream pipeline expansion plan, which aims to double flows into Germany, urging Europe to unite in opposition. (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow, Giancarlo Navach in Milan, Barbara Lewis in Brussels, Michael Kahn in Prague; editing by David Evans)
DIKILI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish authorities on Saturday detained at least two human traffickers after they shuttled some 120 Syrian refugees to the Aegean coast in a sign Turkey may be stepping up efforts to curb the flow of migrants to Europe. Gendarmes stopped the group, mostly made up of women and children, on a beach near a wooded area by the village of Bademli, located across from the Greek island of Lesbos, a Reuters witness said. The raid occurred on the eve of a summit in Brussels Monday at which Turkey and the EU will tackle the migrant crisis after more than a million people fleeing turmoil in the Middle East, Africa and Asia sought safety and prosperity in Europe in 2015. The influx has revealed political faultlines among European Union states and threatened the bloc's open-border policy. Europe wants candidate country Turkey to step up security along its coast and take back migrants caught at sea to help reduce the flow of refugees to the EU. In exchange it has pledged 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in funds to help Turkey with the 2.7 million Syrian refugees it hosts. President Tayyip Erdogan late on Friday accused the EU of dragging its feet on the funds four months. "You can pay up or not, we have not closed our door to refugees like Westerners have. We've kept it open," Erdogan said, adding he wants to build a city for refugees in northern Syria near the Turkish border with international money but has not received concrete support for the plan from other countries. On the coast, at least one trafficker escaped on foot, while officers towed away the half-dozen or so minibuses they had driven to the coast. The refugees, who included a pregnant women and newborns, were bussed back to the port city of Izmir. One Syrian who appeared to be in his 30s said he was forced to attempt the route because of a lack of opportunity in Turkey. "It's not bad here but there is no work. I have relatives in Germany and will go to be with them," he said, declining to give his name. Separately, news media reported that Turkey had shut its last open border gate with Syria to all traffic except for humanitarian aid convoys and Syrians wishing to leave. The report on CNN Turk did not give a reason for the decision to shut the Cilvegozu gate in Turkey's southern Hatay province, located across from Syria's Bab al-Hawa. (Reporting by Umit Bektas; writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Ros Russell)
By Steve Stecklow LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters. The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the license applications generally will be denied. The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE. "This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE. The company can appeal against the action. ZTE, based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, said in a statement on Sunday that it was aware of media reports on U.S. export restrictions. "ZTE is highly concerned about recent media reports relating to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation," the company said. "ZTE has been working with associated U.S. government departments on investigations since 2012 and maintains constant communication with associated departments and is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns." Trade in shares in ZTE, which also sells consumer electronic devices such as smartphones in the United States, was suspended on Monday in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The company did not offer an explanation. "We believe the restrictions, if implemented, will cause significant supply problems to ZTE," Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng wrote in a note, adding that ZTE has major trading relationships with several U.S. companies including Qualcomm , Microsoft and IBM . Telecoms equipment and terminal businesses combined account for 80 percent of ZTE's total revenue of 2015, Meng said. The company's revenue for last year was expected to rise 23.8 percent to a record high of 100.8 billion yuan ($15.47 billion), preliminary results showed. ALLEGED VIOLATIONS The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it. The U.S. companies, which included Microsoft Corp , IBM , Oracle Corp and Dell Inc [DI.UL], have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of the companies still do business with ZTE. Washington has long banned the sale of United States-made technology products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents - some of which had been marked by the company as "Top Secret" - outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents. The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had implemented that scheme. The ZTE statement did not provide comment relating to the documents. The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers." BUSINESS IMPACT What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's global business is not clear. One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S ... Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company are from U.S. suppliers." One of ZTE's websites also states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp , IBM and Honeywell International Inc , are "key strategic partners of ZTE". The terms of the partnerships are not described. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment. The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught. "The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities", the document states. In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws". It is not clear if the alleged scheme was implemented. 'TOP SECRET' Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president. The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders". It states that ZTE "has ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba", adding that "all of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen". The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States. "R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law." The document does not specify what law may have been violated. The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime", the document states. The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S.," and that such an eventuality could leave the company facing "the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products". ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets. Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian. (This story has been refiled to add dropped word "for" in 21st paragraph) (Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in HONG KONG; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Anne Marie Roantree and Alex Richardson)
By Adama Diarra TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council travelled to northern Mali on Saturday to push for implementation of a fragile peace deal aimed at ending a cycle of internal uprisings and allowing the government to combat the growing threat of Islamist militants. Tuareg rebels demanding autonomy for their northern homeland, the government and pro-Bamako militias signed the U.N.-backed accord last year, pledging to end decades of hostilities. Political analysts, however, say confidence has steadily eroded, slowing peace initiatives on the ground. The government and the Tuareg rebel alliance - Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) - have accused each other of stalling on implementation. "With the application of the peace agreement, the people will be able to feel the dividends of peace," Francois Delattre, France's ambassador to the United Nations, said during a trip to the northern towns of Timbuktu and Mopti. French forces intervened in 2013 to drive back Islamist fighters that hijacked the Tuareg uprising to seize Mali's desert north a year earlier, citing concern that the area could become a launching pad for attacks on targets in Europe. A U.N. peacekeeping mission was then deployed. But the militants have since reorganised and launched a wave of attacks against security forces, peacekeepers and civilian targets that has extended well beyond northern Mali and into neighbouring countries. Two high-profile attacks on luxury hotels in the Malian capital Bamako and Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, since late last year have exposed the growing capacity of groups like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Ending the cycle of Tuareg rebellions is seen as vital to allowing the Malian army and its international partners to take on Islamist groups. "You must have the effective presence of the state everywhere in Mali. We know Mali is a vast territory ... that's why you need the implementation of the peace deal," said Ismael Abraao Gaspar Martins, the U.N. ambassador from Angola, which holds the council's rotating presidency this month. The Security Council members met with local government officials as well as civil society and religious leaders in Mopti and Timbuktu. They are due to sit down with the representatives of the armed groups in the capital Bamako on Sunday. (Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Ralph Boulton)
By Joel Schectman and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. export restriction against China's ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> for alleged Iran sanctions violations is likely to disrupt the telecom manufacturer's sprawling global supply chain and could create substantial parts shortages, according to sanctions experts. Under the measure announced by the Commerce Department on Monday, ZTE, which is a major global supplier of telecom-networking equipment, U.S. manufacturers will be banned from selling components to ZTE. In addition, foreign manufacturers will be prohibited from selling products containing a significant amount of U.S.-made parts to the Chinese company. The Commerce Department, confirming the decision that was first reported by Reuters on Saturday, said ZTE planned to use a series of shell companies to illicitly reexport controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws." It said ZTE acted "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States." While ZTE suppliers can apply for an export license to ship any American-made equipment or parts, the Commerce Department said such license applications generally will be denied. The export restriction, which does not stop ZTE from selling handsets in the United States, is expected to have a global impact. It is going to have a large ripple effect. Its very significant to many companies both in the U.S. and [outside the] U.S., said Doug Jacobson, an export attorney at law firm Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC, who said he has been fielding calls from clients who supply ZTE since Reuters broke news of the impending export restrictions. For example, a Taiwanese chipmaker that uses American-made components to make processors for ZTE handsets would likely have to cut off those sales. If the Taiwanese supplier only procures components from outside the United States it can continue to sell to ZTE, experts said. I am telling all my clients today that anything (for ZTE)not already on board an airplane going to China, you cannot ship it starting tonight. They have to scrub and screen their customers lists  pending orders and future orders  to make sure that any transactions with ZTE are flagged and stopped. ZTE, which has annual sales of more than $15 billion and is the only Chinese smartphone maker with a meaningful presence in the U.S. market, can appeal the decision. ZTE is among the largest companies that the Commerce Department has hit with a near-total export ban, according to public records. In 2014, the department restricted exports to Russian energy companies Lukoil OAO and Gazprom OAO, but those restrictions only stopped American companies from supplying certain types of oil-production projects, such as Arctic offshore and deepwater drilling. EFFECT ON HANDSET PRODUCTION ZTE is the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States, with a 7 percent market share, behind Apple Inc , Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS> and LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS>, according to research firm IDC. It sells handset devices to three of the four largest U.S. mobile carriers - AT&T , T-Mobile US and Sprint Corp . Although ZTE is not being banned from selling handsets in the United States, the restriction could disrupt handset production if ZTE sources U.S.-made parts to manufacture its handsets, experts said. AT&T declined to comment, and T-Mobile and Sprint did not respond to requests for comment. A ZTE website states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft , Intel Corp , IBM and Honeywell International Inc , are "key strategic partners." The terms of the partnerships are not described. Intel and Qualcomm confirmed they were ZTE suppliers, but did not elaborate on specific products sold to the Chinese company or how sanctions would affect their businesses. Texas Instruments , which has also said it provides processors for the Chinese company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The impact of the new restrictions on these three companies was not immediately clear as most of them produce components both in the United States and overseas. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S. decision could even prompt suppliers to halt the sales of non-U.S. components that are still allowed, said Kay Georgi, an export attorney at law firm Arent Fox LLP. "When you get placed on one of these lists nobody wants to do business with you at all," Georgi said. "They just write you off." The United States has long banned the sale of U.S.-made technology products to Iran as part of its sanctions, even as China maintains close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties with the Tehran government. Last year, the United States and major world powers reached a deal with Iran to loosen economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. "We hope this sends a strong message to ZTE, to China, and to other Chinese telecommunications companies who present serious national security risks not only by evading export controls, but by purposefully compromising supply chain security," said U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. (Reporting by Steve Stecklow in London, Susan Heavey in Washington, Yimou Lee in Hong Kong, Dan Burns and Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Leslie Adler)
KKR has agreed to buy into seeds provider Advanta Enterprises in a deal which values the business at about $2.25bn.
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.
U.S. House representatives are in their home districts this week, and NAFCU is encouraging its members to reach out to them while theyre in town to discuss top credit union issues.

Because 2016 is an election year, lawmakers will be spending more time than usual in their home districts, giving credit unions more opportunities to directly advocate for key legislative and regulatory issues. In order to set up meetings with lawmakers during an in-district work period, NAFCU members can contact NAFCU Director of Political Affairs Dan OBrien at dobrien@nafcu.org.

Also this week, NAFCU is urging credit unions to help get more House members to sign a letter being circulated by Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, pressing CFPB to exempt credit unions and community banks from certain rulemakings. Credit unions can contact their members of Congress to ask them to sign the letter by Friday through NAFCUs Grassroots Action Center.
More than 266 legislators signed a letter calling for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to use its authority to protect credit unions as of Friday.

The letter, composed by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) and addressed to the CFPB, cited a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study that shows how increased regulatory burden for credit unions and other small institutions leads to reduced lending.

The GAO recently reviewed the impact of regulation on community lenders and found that credit unions and other small banks have reduced consumer lending products because of an increased compliance burden that may not have been intended for them, the representatives noted in their call for signers. With major rules already being implemented and new regulations on the horizon, our letter reminds the CFPB that Congress intentionally provided for regulatory flexibility to mitigate collateral damage on smaller financial institutions.

The letter, which closed Friday, also cites the Dodd-Frank Act section in which the CFPB has the authority to adapt regulations by allowing it to exempt any class of entity from its rulemakings and pointed out that the letter was sent to encourage continued access to financial products.
Talking Points:

- The European Central Bank meets on Thursday, and again, many are expecting some type of action out of the bank. EUR/USD is selling-off ahead of this rate decision, but the bigger question is whether the ECB will actually deliver an increase to QE at this meeting.

- The primary source of strength in global markets at the moment appears to be hope for Central Banks to do more. February 11th marks the lows in many equity indices, and this was the start of day two of Ms. Yellens Congressional Testimony. Markets construed that testimony very dovishly with rate expectations priced-out of the market for the remainder of the year. But will the Fed deliver? They meet next Tuesday and Wednesday, with the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

- If youre looking for trade ideas, the DailyFX Top Ideas for 2016 and quarterly forecasts can certainly provide a litany of setups. And if youre looking for intra-day trade ideas, our Speculative Sentiment Index can certainly provide a number of ideas. Click here for a full description.

The Euro Awaits Draghi, Thursday at 8:30 AM ET: This has become somewhat of a pattern; an upcoming ECB meeting is seeing traders price-in the expectation for even more action from the European Central Bank, with the hope being that this will finally be the move that helps the Euro-zone move away from the deflationary tendencies that have ravaged the continent in the post Financial-Collapse environment.

We had looked at the background going into this ECB decision in last Fridays article, Prepare to Usher in Another Wave of Central Bank Volatility, and with the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve meeting next week, traders and investors should brace for increasing volatility.

Created with Marketscope/Trading Station II; prepared by James Stanley

After fear permeated markets in August and September of last year, calm was restored as Central Banks offered a soothing message to investors: The Fed backed off of rate hikes with the hawkish hold in September, and followed that no-hike decision in September with multiple comments of support in October. Also in October, the European Central Bank pledged to re-examine QE, and even the Bank of Japan was largely thought that to go for another increase or extension to their program. It was this sense of Central Bank support that pulled the world back from the ledge in October and November, and this is what eventually led to an environment stable enough for the Fed to have hiked rates in December. This is the feedback loop that weve been discussing of late, in which the Fed appears to be responding to stock prices. When prices go down, the Fed displays a dovish stance. When prices go up, they get hawkish again, and that causes fear which brings prices back down

But December brought a far different tune: We saw the European Central Bank avoid increasing their QE program as many had hoped and instead just cut the deposit rate deeper into negative territory, and the Bank of Japan pulled back as well. This led to the initial signs of risk aversion in the last two weeks of 2015, and that led to an onslaught of risk-off to start 2016. And that theme of fear pretty much was the predominant theme across markets until the second week of February when Ms. Yellen spoke in front of Congress. In that testimony, she gave a less-evasive answer towards negative rates than she had the day prior, alluding to the fact that this may be a policy option for the Fed should global weakness persist. Since then, weve seen rate hike expectations get priced out of the market for the remainder of the year, highlighting a largely dovish take on the current stance of the Fed.

Created with Marketscope/Trading Station II; prepared by James Stanley

On the morning of day two of Ms. Yellens Congressional Testimony, stocks were sitting near lows while risk aversion was showing in pretty much every market on Earth. But as Ms. Yellen assuaged the fears of Congress, risk assets began showing signs of life as markets began to hope that the Fed would not continue hiking while much of the world sits in a precarious position. We had identified this dislocation towards the end of the year, noting that the combined pressures of a major and prolonged sell-off in commodities, combined with continuing pressure in China while the Fed looks to raise rates were likely going to be too much for the global economy to bear.

It didnt take long for those fears to hit. But now with stock prices moving higher again on the back of hopes for Central Banks to keep doing what theyve been doing (more loose monetary policy), can investors and traders actually depend on them to deliver this time, unlike what happened in December?

Or perhaps more worrying, are we getting to a stage where those same Central Bank tools are beginning to deliver diminishing marginal returns?

The Bank of International Settlements, or BIS, which is often considered the Central Bank for Central Banks, had some comments on this topic over this weekend. The BIS warned of a gathering storm in the global economy as Central Banks are running out of monetary-policy options. They alluded to the growing possibility of wide-spread negative rates as Central Banks search for any ways to stoke growth amid a threating backdrop of falling prices and slowing growth.

They essentially point out that, despite the numerous cannons and bazookas worth of liquidity that have been directed at global markets in the post-Financial Collapse world, growth still remains lackluster and asset prices remain elevated. Doing more of the same, which may not even be possible considering that many Central Banks are already carrying stretched balance sheets, may not bring more favorable results.

December seemed like it couldve been a turning point in the fact that Central Banks did not opt for the increased-liquidity policies that had become the norm. The ECB and BoJ avoided increasing their QE programs while the Fed hiked and warned markets of even more oncoming hikes. This pressure was too much for the global economy to bear, and Central Banks appeared to have pulled back from their designs of less loose policy.

The big question now is whether these Central Banks will follow-thru with these hopes for more loose policy, and whether or not markets will cheer these announcements in the same way that weve become accustomed to.

The ECB meets on Thursday and many are expecting an increase to the ECBs QE program. Since that February 11th low in stock prices, weve also been seeing EUR/USD move lower ahead of this March ECB meeting. Notice on the chart below how the most recent trend-line (in purple) has now come-in as new resistance. The price zone from 1.0940-1.0950 has a couple of different Fibonacci retracement levels, so traders can use this to plot a short approach. Let price action break below to prove that bears will be able to push price action through this support, and then look to get short on resistance in the same vicinity as old support.

Created with Marketscope/Trading Station II; prepared by James Stanley

The week after, we hear from the Bank of Japan and then the Fed. The big sticking point for next week will be how aggressively the Fed is looking to hike rates for the remainder of the year.

Should the Fed take on a hawkish-stance, similar to what they had taken in August/September of last year when they didnt hike but warned that hikes were coming; we can see risk aversion come right back into markets as it becomes even more obvious that the days of 2011s QE-driven asset price gains are further in the rear-view mirror.

Until then, investors can seek the safe harbor of Gold, and as we can see from the past couple of months, many are directing capital flows towards as we see increasing odds of even more fast and loose monetary policy from these major central banks.

For now, hope reigns supreme. The next week-and-a-half will tell us if that hope is unfounded.

--- Written by James Stanley, Analyst for DailyFX.com

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Contact and follow James on Twitter: @JStanleyFX
Farm leaders have been accused of scaremongering after warning that leaving the EU would be a risk too far for UK agriculture.

It comes after 42 industry leaders and prominent farmers wrote an open letter to The Times arguing the case for the UK to remain an EU member.

See also: Leaving EU too risky, warn farm leaders

The Farmers For In group is being led by former NFU president Peter Kendall, who said a UK exit from the EU would be a nightmare scenario, and one we must resist.

The letter was headlined Farmers back EU.

Some 42 signatories  all of them farmers  included former Defra minister Sir Jim Paice, former NFU Scotland president George Lyon and Farmers Union of Wales president Glyn Roberts.

The letter, which was published in The Times on Saturday (5 March), prompted a response from Hampshire farmer Charlie Flindt, published in the newspaper on Monday (7 March).

Mr Flindt said the letter suggested the signatories spoke for the whole industry. But it was not the case that all farmers wanted to stay in the EU.

There are many of us who dont, wrote Mr Flindt.

We dont believe the NFUs scare stories of a woefully subsidy-free existence after Brexit.

We resent the absurdity of EU rules and regulations which serve no purpose other than to provide employment for inspectors.

We resent having to tug our forelocks to EU agriculture commissioners who are free from any democratic mandate, but nevertheless are given the red-carpet treatment every time they visit

Charlie Flindt, Hampshire farmer

We resent having to tug our forelocks to EU agriculture commissioners who are free from any democratic mandate, but nevertheless are given the red-carpet treatment every time they visit.

We look in awe at the EUs inability to have a set of accounts signed off by auditors, and wonder how our bank managers would react if our farm accounts were kept to the same standards.

Mr Flindt added: Most of all, we stand astonished at the letter writers dire warnings of uncertainty for the industry if we leave the EU.

One certainty seems to have escaped their collective notice: being in the EU has done nothing to prevent the worst agricultural crisis in many decades enveloping UK agriculture.

Industry commentators have warned that lack of clarity over potential UK exit from the EU is causing confusion amongst farmers.

Last month, Defra secretary Liz Truss told the NFUs annual conference in Birmingham that leaving the EU would be a leap into the dark that would risk 11bn of UK food and farming exports.

But Defra minister George Eustice told the same conference that leaving the EU would result in an 18bn Brexit dividend that will allow the UK to continue supporting agriculture.

Paul Laird, a director at Buckinghamshire-based accountants The Fish Partnership, said lack of reliable information was affecting farmers abilities to plan for the long term.

Confusion at even the highest levels of government was damaging farmers confidence and denting growth, said Mr Laird.

Contradicting messages like these from government ministers creates confusion in the agricultural market and sows the seeds of fear over what might happen to the sector if the UK leaves the EU.

While it is unclear exactly what the outcome would be if the country did leave, what is obvious is that the lack of certainty over the future state of UK farming is having an effect on British farmers.

This uncertainty is killing off any prospect of long-term planning and is forcing many to reconsider investments they had planned to make, hampering any chance of growth within the next year.
During the week of February 17, 2016, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill called SB 1053 that is supported by Tenants Together, and other nonprofit organizations. SB 1053 is a bill that forbids landlords from discriminating against renters with Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (federal housing vouchers) solely based on their source of income.

Senate Bill 1053 Fights Against Section 8 DiscriminationBy Lynda Carson - March 6, 2016Oakland - According to the records of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in Oakland there are around 13,424 units in the Section 8 inventory. The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program assists low-income renters with their housing needs. The tenants pay 30% to 40% of the rent to the landlord, and the program pays the rest. The program payments are always made on time, and it is a wonderful program assisting the poor, elderly, disabled, women with children, veterans, and other low-income members of society.However, many section 8 tenants know the terrifying experience of waiting in line for years to receive a section 8 voucher (Housing Choice Voucher) and ending up losing it because they ran out of time before they could find a landlord willing to accept section 8 vouchers at their properties. The tenants may often find that landlords discriminate against section 8 renters, and they often find advertising on Craigs List that says No Section 8.Often landlords discriminate against section 8 tenants because many low-income African-American families with children use section 8 vouchers to assist in their housing needs, and other landlords discriminate against section 8 tenants because they may be so greedy, that they believe they can get more money from renters that are not in the section 8 program. Whatever the case may be, it is legal in California for landlords to discriminate against section 8 renters.During the week of February 17, 2016, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill called SB 1053 http://tinyurl.com/hr7x5sp that is supported by Tenants Together, and other nonprofit organizations. SB 1053 is a bill that forbids landlords from discriminating against renters with Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (federal housing vouchers) solely based on their source of income. In essence, if the bill becomes law in California, landlords would no longer be able to advertise that they dont take section 8, or reject tenants seeking housing solely based on their source of income (section 8 vouchers). The bill would still allow landlords to reject potential renters based on their criminal history, or if they have bad credit. However, if the bill becomes law and a landlord discriminates against a potential renter just because they have a section 8 voucher, they could be named in a discrimination complaint.SB 1053, a bill to end section 8 discrimination in California, is also supported by the Western Center on Law and Poverty, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, National Housing Law project, and Public Advocates. People who support SB 1053 as a way to stop section 8 discrimination can contact Carrie Martin of Senator Lenos office at 916/651-4011 or Carrie.martin [at] sen.ca.gov There are around 300,000 renters in California who receive Section 8 voucher rental assistance, and in Berkeley there are around 1,935 section 8 units. Richmond has around 1,851 section 8 units. San Francisco has around 9,238 section 8 units. Alameda has around 1,845 section 8 units, and Alameda County has around 6,312 section 8 units. Marin County has around 2,153 section 8 units, and Contra Costa County has around 6,887 section 8 housing units.Despite the good intentions of Senator Mark Leno and the groups supporting SB 1053 to stop landlords from discriminating against section 8 tenants that includes many low-income African-American households, on March 3, 2016, the California Apartment Association (CAA) came out swinging against SB 1053, the bill to stop discrimination against section 8 tenants http://tinyurl.com/jrvygmp . The CAA and its 13,000 members have generally been fighting back against any and all reasonable renter protections being proposed in California, including SB 1053, a bill to stop section 8 discrimination. Through the years the CAA has been dolling out millions of dollars to the Democrats and Republicans in California, in the effort to block any reasonable tenant friendly legislation they do not like http://tinyurl.com/qe36jqj Unfortunately for the poor, there is not enough public housing or so-called affordable housing in Oakland and Alameda County to meet the needs of its low-income renters. During 2013, in Alameda County there were only 19,711 affordable available housing units for extremely low-income (ELI) renters http://tinyurl.com/hspkew5 , but there were around 74,913 ELI households seeking adequate affordable housing units.According to the Urban Institute, they found that in 2013 only around 28% of ELI renters nationwide were able to find affordable housing units, being a significant drop from 37% in 2000, which is the result of increasing poverty and fewer affordable housing units http://tinyurl.com/jsgnth9 Additionally, in 2015, there was a shortage of 1.5 million affordable rental units in California, according to the California Housing Partnership Corporation http://tinyurl.com/hzfcara In another report on the housing crisis during 2015, a study from Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies reveals that during 2014, the median rent for newly built apartments was $1,372 per month, which was 47% higher than the existing rental units across the nation http://tinyurl.com/nookvec During 2015, in Oakland, it was reported that around 609 residents received a section 8 housing choice voucher, but that only around 115 people had managed to to find housing in Oakland with their vouchers http://tinyurl.com/qevhlj5 In February 2016, it was also reported that HUD raised the fair market rents for one and two bedroom housing units in Alameda County to help section 8 renters finding it very difficult to find housing with their section 8 housing choice vouchers http://tinyurl.com/h7xbolt Adding to the housing crisis, due to state budget cuts, disabled persons receiving disability payments through SSI/SSP have lost ground regarding their housing costs http://tinyurl.com/hjgkwdo , as well as persons receiving assistance through the CalWorks Program http://tinyurl.com/h3aua52 . Section 8 vouchers help assist renters in both of these programs, and SB 1053 the bill to stop section 8 discrimination, would help the low-income renters in CalWorks and the disabled persons receiving SSI disability payments.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 #5 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 $2,200, according to the latest report from Zumper.com http://tinyurl.com/z3wfpuz for February.During March 2016, it was also reported that HUD Secretary Julian Castro http://tinyurl.com/zrpjd52 went before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies http://tinyurl.com/zk7mohy , to defend his departments proposed increase for the 2017 HUD budget.The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also explains how section 8 vouchers can help address Californias housing needs http://tinyurl.com/h2456lm People who support SB 1053 as a way to stop section 8 discrimination can contact Carrie Martin of Senator Lenos office at 916/651-4011 or Carrie.martin [at] sen.ca.gov Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com >>>>>>>
Join us for Closing Night of the 2016 Green Film Fest, April 14-20.World Premiere. Seven grassroots activists from around the world head to Paris for the UN Climate Talks, in this new film from San Francisco filmmaker Mark Decena. Their moving and personal journeys as activists has led them to this point and they want world leaders to feel the pressure. A deal was signed, but the question still remains: can the COP21 agreement stop catastrophic climate change and if not, then is it up to us?Location: Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San FranciscoCosts:15$ for viewing of the film (14$ for students and seniors, 13$ for Green Film Festival members)25$ for Closing Night Premiere and Wrap Party (20$ for Green Film Festival members)More info at:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1101372196593622/ Phone: 415.552.5580Email: boxoffice [at] greenfilmfest.org Tickets: : http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=202524~da07699a-65fc-4b98-b5f5-7cf9edf67f14&epguid=5dbb5744-249c-4f0b-b20b-7d3e07d24618&
Professor to Discuss Economic Impact of the Arts

Diego Mendez-Carbajo

Feb. 25, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Diego Mendez-Carbajo, associate professor of economics at Illinois Wesleyan University, will speak on The Economic Impact of Art & Culture in Bloomington-Normal on March 10 at the McLean County Museum of History. His presentation will be offered through the "Lunch & Learn" Series, a collaboration between the McLean County Museum of History, the Collaborative Solutions Institute and Illinois Wesleyan.

Mendez-Carbajo will discuss the estimated local economic impact of the 16 largest arts and cultural organizations in Bloomington-Normal, including the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and the McLean County Museum of History.

Mendez-Carbajos research is in the area of applied economics. He has served as chairperson of the economics department at IWU and teaches courses on macroeconomics. He earned degrees from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Florida International University,

Mendez-Carbajos Lunch & Learn presentation will take place from 12:10-12:40 p.m. in the Governor Fifer Courtroom on the second floor of the museum. Attendees are encouraged to bring a lunch with them to the free event and join in the discussion.

By Lydia Hartlaub 16
Some interesting aspects to Matthew Hootons speech to the ACT Conference.

This speech is about the complex relationship, that I think most of us in this room have, with John Key  and how Act might manage it better to your advantage in the future. The relationship is complex because, on one hand, John Key has massively exceeded any reasonable expectations as Prime Minister. But, in another way of looking at things, hes also failed to live up to them.

John Key first came to prominence when he smashed Michael Cullen in the finance spokesmens debate in 2005, when he was broadly and largely loyally promoting Don Brashs economic policy. And it became pretty clear he would become the next leader of the National Party when he gave an insightful speech on Singapore to the Auckland National Party conference in 2006.

To those of us in our 40s, who are now grey-haired, our political awakening had happened with the liberating social and economic changes of the mid 1980s and early 1990s. But we had to accept that if John Key was positioning himself to be New Zealands Lee Kuan Yew he wasnt going to be the radical free-market liberal we might want.

But, if he were to be Lee Kuan Yew, he would be extremely ambitious for New Zealand. He would radically invest in infrastructure. Hed be an enemy of welfarism and sloth. Hed ensure New Zealand was open to the world and lightly regulated, at least in an economic if not a social sense. Hed be one of those driven, Asian-style, uniting yet transformational leaders. When it comes to the Lee Kuan Yew test, you can really only give him a C  maybe a C+ on a good day.

But, on the other hand, as you get grey haired, the importance of reigniting the excitement of radical reform declines a bit. And its replaced with the over-riding need to keep the absolute lunatics in an Andrew Little-Grant Robertson-Matt McCartern-Metiria Turei-James Shaw-Winston Peters-Te Ururoa Flavell-Marama Fox-Hone Harawira-Laila Harre coalition out of office.

These are people who are mainlining their international trade policy from Jane Kelsey. They have been running around promoting an economic model from Tufts University, which I had never heard of, that assumes that all labour and capital is perfectly immobile. Under this model, the people who lost their jobs in 1998 at the Mitsubishi Plant in Porirua, the Nissan plant at Wiri, the Honda plant in Nelson and the Toyota plant in Thames are apparently still going to work each day, carrying their lunchboxes, and they sit staring at the machinery with which to assemble cars, and then go home at the end of the day. And they have been doing this for 18 years now, because, you know, labour and capital are perfectly immobile. Under Labours Tufts University model, no worker ever gets a new job. No machinery is ever decommissioned or used for something else. No one ever innovates or responds to new circumstances in any way. And this is seriously the sort of economic assumption that Labour and the Greens have been using to say the TPP would be bad for New Zealand. So keeping those lunatics away from office is absolutely paramount.
Kentucky Oaks Top 10: Caseys Picks There have been quite a few changes in the Oaks landscape since I went over my top ten horses for the Kentucky Oaks. We all know there are some top fillies on both coasts but there are some on other continents, as well! Lets see how my top ten has changed!

Songbird (Medaglia dOro  Ivanavinalot, by West Acre) Songbird continues to demolish the California fillies with every race. She had a paid workout in the San Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita and will now head to the Santa Anita Oaks before heading to Kentucky. She is the obvious choice for the top Oaks contender.

Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss  Sheave, by Mineshaft) She is the best of the East. Her effortless win in the Davona Dale, she has proven that the extra 1/8th in the Gulfstream Park Oaks should not be a problem. She may be the only filly, at the moment, who will meet Songbird with an unblemished record. What an interesting race the Oaks should be.

Venus Valentine (Congrats  Valentine Fever, by Stormin Fever) After breaking her maiden in her debut, she struggled in a listed stakes and two optional claiming raced before she exploded through the rail at the Fair Grounds in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at odds of 74-1. Her spot is definitely not set in stone on this top ten, but her Rachel Alexandra race was highly impressive to me, especially as she defeated some good competition.

Polar River (Congrats  Bayou Tortuga, by Empire Maker) Polar River is undefeated over in Dubai. She recently won the UAE Oaks and is headed to the UAE Derby to face males. Polar River has done nothing wrong and looks like a real possibility to come back to the United States, where she was bred, to win the Kentucky Oaks.

Land Over Sea (Bellamy Road  Belle Walting, by Pulpit) This half sister to War Story has been running after Songbird in her last 5 starts, including three second place finished, a third place, and a 7th in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. Land Over Sea was a clear second in the San Ysabel Stakes, but still could not catch Songbird. If she goes to the Oaks, she could have a chance to defeat her rival if things go against my top two.

Lewis Bay (Bernardini  Summer Raven, by Summer Squall) Lewis Bay is bred on the same exact cross as the highly regarded Zulu. Lewis Bay has started four times and has never been worse than 2nd. She recently was not able to catch Cathryn Sophia in the Davona Dale (G2). Lewis Bay is a good, young filly and should continue to mature and move forward.

Mo dAmour (Uncle Mo  Neverthesame, by Scat Daddy) After breaking her maiden in her first start for King of Prussia Stable, Mo dAmour finished 7th and last in the Demoiselle Stakes (G2) behind Lewis Bay. She has a terrible start and we never a factor. If one can strike a line through that performance, she has never been out of the top three. She since then has finished 3rd in the Ruthless Stakes and then won an allowance and the Busher Stakes. Todd Pletcher seems to have a good filly with her and she has a lot of potential yet to reveal.

Carina Mia (Malibu Moon  Miss Simpatia (ARG), by Southern Halo) Carina Mia, since the beginning of the new year, has been working a hole in the wind down at Payson, preparing for her three-year-old debut. However, there has been some sickness outbreaks and Carina Mia is not getting any extra time to prepare for the upcoming Oaks. She needs to get into racing now if she stands a chance at making it to Louisville.

Flora Dora (First Dude  Aidan, by Dixieland Band) Flora Dora has a lot of upside to her, based on pedigree alone. She had a bit of a tough time in the stretch of the Busher Stakes, won by Mo dAmour. She has time to recover and regroup before Gazelle Stakes on April 9 or she could ship out to another track. Whatever she decides to do, she has a good shot to make the Kentucky Oaks with a good placing, or a win.

Nickname (Scat Daddy  Nina Fever, by Borrego) Nickname was 2nd last time out in the Martha Washington Stakes, behind Marquee Miss, who just barely missed this list. Since then, Nickname has put in three works, each getting quicker and quicker. Her latest work was a bullet and she should be running again very soon. If she does, and performs poorly, she is likely not to be on the next list.

Kentucky Oaks 2016 Prep Schedule & Results
Alarmingly, water contamination is increasing, causing harm to thousands and thousands of people and the environment. Environmental laws are in place to protect us and environmental law policy prohibits the dumping of toxic waste or other hazardous materials in our lakes, rivers, streams, and public land. But new chemicals used in fracking by natural gas companies, for example, can impede regulation and pollute drinking water. As a result, individuals and communities often seek help from an environmental law firm. Besides fracking and illegal dumping, other practices such as construction using toxic lead pipes and industries using underground storage tanks can cause water pollution.

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Despite the Clean Water Act (1972) and other environmental laws and regulations to reduce water pollution and safeguard US waterways, water contamination is a major concern. The Environmental News Service reported a decade ago that over 60 percent of industrial and municipal facilities discharged more pollution into waterways than federal law allowed between July 2003 and December 2004.Along with contaminants from industrial practices such as mining and underground storage tanks,- used as drinking water by more than half of the US population, and a major source for crop irrigation - is polluted through fertilizers, pesticides, untreated septic waste and more.can be polluted from contaminants used at various sites such as oil refineries, gas stations, dry cleaning stores, machine shops, railroad yards, farms, land fills, chemical plants/waste storage facilities, lumber yards, or incinerators. For instance, nitrate contamination often occurs in rural areas that rely heavily on well water. To compound the well water problem, toxic chemicals may have increased contamination by leaching into the ground water.There are numerous types of drinking water contaminants, however, these are the more prevalent types:Other types of Drinking Water Contamination include petroleum, gasoline, oil, MTBE, TCE, PCE, phenols, various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals.Drinking water can be contaminated by agricultural runoffs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, fecal matter, and bacteria. Exposure to water contaminated with bacteria or pesticide can be life-threatening, depending on the levels and duration of the exposure.A water study in 2012 found that run off polluted by nitrate from agriculture practices like fertilizers were endangering the water supply of 1 in 10 people living in the study area in rural California. Nitrate contamination is caused by over-application of fertilizer to crops and from huge amounts of manure generated by concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, where large numbers of poultry, swine, cattle or other animals are housed and raised in confined areas.Industrial sources can contaminate drinking water supplies through wastewater discharges and stormwater runoff. The chemicals used in industrial applications vary greatly, and new chemicals are constantly invented, particularly for fracking operations by the oil and gas industry.Water contamination research has proven that people exposed long-term to high levels of water contaminates like benzene, lead, nitrates, and a wide range of other chemicals have become ill due to that exposure. Some chemicals such as benzene, which is carcinogenic and linked to leukemia, are deadly.Drinking contaminated water can result in a number of serious health risks. For instance, if the water is contaminated with solvents, pesticides and other chemicals, the health effects can include damage to the liver, kidneys, and reproductive system, and many chemicals are carcinogenic.The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) lists some common but dangerous substances found in ground water and well water, including rocket fuel, lead, germs and disease-carrying parasites, arsenic, coliform, and other harmful contaminants.symptoms include shortness of breath and methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby syndrome,"a potentially fatal blood disorder. Other illnesses and conditions that have been linked to high levels of nitrates in drinking water include:The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies contaminants to regulate in drinking water. The EPA sets regulatory limits for the amounts of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems and these standards are required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Clean Water Act is the federal Act responsible for the quality of water and any matter relating to pollution.is typically the basis of water contamination liability, and is effective when the water pollution can be made with scientific certainty and traced to a particular party. One of the most important elements of all environmental claims based on state law is causation. For instance, a community trying to prove that their toxic well water has increased the likelihood that they will get cancer may have a difficult time proving a definite link between a defendant's actions and a health issue that developed years later.makes it easier than state law to file a contaminated water lawsuit against polluters. The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Superfund law set specific water standards and permit requirements and force polluters to clean up contamination or reimburse others for cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can go directly after companies that violate the law directly. The EPA can also assist in a private water pollution lawsuit by continuing the investigation with federal resources.The CWA allows anyone who is or may be affected by water contamination to bring a citizen suit in federal court. You can bring a lawsuit against an individual or corporation that is violating the law and request an order to stop further contaminating practices. You can also request civil penalties, court costs, and lawyers' fees.Because corporations typically don't want to settle in court - a settlement might set a precedent that would endanger their future business - an experienced water contamination law firm can help you and your community demand compensation and cleanup of contaminants. Fracking lawsuits claiming groundwater contamination have been filed nationwide, with a number in California . As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undertaken studies and analyses of the possible effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.People living near fracturing operations have filed water contamination lawsuits due to changes in their water quality following fracking of nearby gas wells. Oil and gas deposits are often found in the same spot as underground water supplies. Water contamination can occur underground through the injection of chemicals directly into water supplies during fracking. When the collected chemicals are stored deep underground, they may eventually reach the water supply. Or in the case of Porter Ranch, CA, the underground storage tank can leak. Surface contamination can occur through spilled or stored chemicals that are carried to water pathways through storm runoff. As well, due to mass quantities of water being used by the hydraulic fracturing process, water quality and availability, and sensitive ecosystems can be affected.Since one of 115 natural gas wells owned by SoCal Gas at Porter Ranch began leaking methane gas on October 23, there have been conflicting reports and rumors about a number of concerns, from public safety and health issues to environmental damage. Attorney Patricia Oliver has heard from concerned residents that underground methane leaks will affect the groundwater. Her law firm has asked for an investigation because of this concern.Lead contamination in Flint, MI has resulted in February 2016 in a criminal investigation involving the FBI, federal prosecutors, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General and the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division. The lead crisis in Flint is believed to affect as many as 8,000 children under the age of six, who were exposed to unsafe levels of lead as a result of a budget-cutting measure that involved switching the city' drinking water sources.Some 18 cities in Pennsylvania were found to have even higher lead levels than Flint, according to a 2014 study by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.Chicago residents in February 2016 filed a class-action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit court against the city, alleging that their drinking water has been contaminated with lead for years. The lawsuit refers to a 2013 EPA study that found elevated lead in homes' drinking water after city construction disrupted lead service lines and they failed to warn residents about the risk, as reported by the. Instead of replacing the city's lead pipes, officials opted to use chemicals to flush out the lead.Property owners in the Village of Roxana, Illinois filed a benzene water contamination lawsuit last in 2012 against Shell Oil Company, ConocoPhillips and WRB Refining LP, seeking to hold the former and current owners and operators of the Wood River Refinery responsible for releasing carcinogenic chemicals underneath portions of the village (Case No. 12-cv-336-GPM). The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois rejected Shell' immediate efforts to dismiss the case and in 2013 certified a class of property owners to pursue these claims. Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was inhabited by US service personnel and their families beginning in 1953. Various ailments and examples of ill health have been traced to nearby tanks that stored industrial solvents such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and benzene, suspected of leaking from the tanks into the camp water supply.The contamination was discovered in 1982, with Camp Lejeune given the designation of a Superfund site by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1989. However, it wasn't until 2012 - 30 years after the contamination was first discovered - when legislation was finally passed with a view to bringing benefits to an estimated 750,000 Americans who may have been exposed to the contamination.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported that the widespread use and storage of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) led to the release of these chemicals - specifically trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene, PCE - into the environment, including the groundwater. However, according to the(December 5, 2015), a veteran diagnosed with sarcoma attempted to obtain benefits but he was denied because he did not have a "malignancy."If you think your water is contaminated due to the negligence of another, you may want to seek legal help to file a water contamination lawsuit against the responsible parties to help with medical expenses and lost income. Call your doctor and drink bottled or distilled water until the issue has been investigated. It is important that you report suspected water contamination to your local Environmental Government agency. As well, it may be a good idea contact the EPA - you might be able to help others in a similar situation.If you or a loved one has suffered similar damages or injuries, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to a lawyer who may evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.

Jun-29-22
- A pastor was one of those arrested in connection with the abduction of three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu

- The kidnappers revealed how they abducted the school girls

- The kidnappers were apprehended by the police as part of the rescue mission

Suspected kidnappers arrested. In the far left is the core suspect, Emmanuel Arigidi

A pastor identified as Akanji Oluwaseun was one of the suspects arrested in connection with the abduction of three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu Lagos state, Today.ng reports.

Emmanuel Arigidi, 37; and James Henry, alias Segun Alabi Olatunde, were the suspects paraded before journalists on Sunday, March 6, by the Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, and Lagos state commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.

According to Nigerian Watch, Arigidi confirmed that he was a member of the robbers who attacked banks in Ikorodu, having been recruited by Clement Abanara, popularly known as Millions, who was their leader.

READ ALSO: Abducted Lagos schoolgirls rescued; kidnappers arrested

The rescue of the girls was facilitated by SIRT, after it took over the case on Friday, March 4.

A police source said following detailed instruction by the IGP, Solomon Arase, the SIRT operatives, with the aid of intelligence led policing, arrested Arigidi, a native of old Ese Village Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Revealing how they kidnapped the girls on that fateful Monday around 8pm, Arigidi said he was part of a 12-man-gang that abducted the girls.

He said one Felix, aka Tradition, was the member charged with the responsibility of negotiating for ransom with the distraught families of the victims.

After the girls were abducted, they kept them in Adamma Forest, across the river in Ikorodu area.

Arigidi said: We came through water with eight boats and 10 AK47 rifles for the kidnapping operation. We escaped with the girls in the same boats.''

Pastor Oluwaseun on his part said: Im just a trader at Adamo Street in Ikorodu. When policemen were calling me, I told them where they could find me. I told them to ask for Pastor when they get to my area but the next thing I knew was that they arrested me. Our church is not far from my shop.

According to Owoseni, Oluwaseun was a conspirator to the kidnappers. Oluwaseun was the person who sent recharge cards to the kidnappers, which they used in calling and negotiating for ransom.

Arigidi when speaking to journalists said: Three days ago, I was arrested by the police at Majidun area of Lagos, near the bridge.

I explained everything to them on how we arranged the operations. It was Lamienmu, who brought the kidnapping work to me through Felix and his gang Godfrey, Akpoki, Ekpokeme and Orwell. After strategizing at Majidun, we went to the school through Maya Village.

We stormed the school around 8pm and kidnapped three girls. When we got to where we were to hide the girls, my members and I quarreled.

We quarreled because I told them I didnt like the idea of kidnapping the girls. I changed my mind after the girls were kidnapped because security in Lagos is tight. I told them that police would arrest us, but they refused to listen."

Henry, 29, was arrested because one of the phone numbers used in tracking the suspects was registered with his picture and his name.

READ ALSO: The kidnappers did not rape or abuse Lagos schoolgirls

The three girls Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday, February 29 in the school.

BMJS is a co-educational secondary institution of the Lagos Anglican Diocese. The private missionary school was founded on October 18, 1996 by the late Most Reverend Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye. It was named after Late Reverend Thomas Babington Macaulay.

Source: Legit.ng
Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics.

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According to a Bratislava City Report by Jones Lang LaSalle, the small real GDP growth in Q3 by 0.9% on the quarter will be surpassed at 3.4% in 2015 and 3.2% in 2016 as forecasted.

Economy/Investment Market



Key facts

 Real GDP growth in Q3 grew by 0.9% on the quarter. GDP...

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REM, on behalf of the owners of The Shard, has let a further 9,017 sq ft of office space to Jellyfish, the digital marketing agency, which selected the vertical city for its new UK headquarters. It is the second letting to be confirmed this year, following 2015, which saw

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Opus North has sold its latest retail park at Armley in Leeds for 10.3 million (8 million). The Yorkshire-based property development and investment company is transforming the derelict four-acre site in Armley into a brand-new retail destination, with occupiers comprising Lidl, B&M Homestore and Farmfoods.

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The group of tenants of the Q22 office building in Warsaw has been joined by Puro Hotels. The head office of the hotel chain will be located on the 28th floor and it will occupy an area of app. 400 sqm. Q22 is currently app. 60% leased. Its tenants include

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Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) has reported domestic sales to the extent of 14,249 units in February 2017 while exports stood at 748 units during the same month. Domestic sales increased 9.4% from 13,020 units sold in February 2016 to 14,249 units in the past month.

2017 Honda City, priced from INR 8.50-13.56 lakhs, launched in India in February, has received overwhelming response with well over 10,000 bookings received to date.

The new City is available with an option of 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol and 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engines. The former develops 119 PS and 145 Nm of torque while the latter churns out 100 PS and 200 Nm of torque. The petrol motor can be specified with a 5-MT or a CVT while the oil burner is available only with a 6-speed MT.

Speaking about individual sales, of the overall sales, the Honda Brio registered sales of 521 units while 2,758 units of the Jazz and 3,924 units of Amaze were sold last month. The City, BR-V and CR-V also noted sales to the extent of 6,318 units, 703 units and 25 units respectively.

The company which produces its passenger cars from two facilities in Greater Noida and Tapukara in Rajasthan has a lineup that includes the Honda Brio, Honda Jazz, Honda Amaze, Honda Mobilio, Honda City, Honda BR-V and Honda CR-V. It is only the Honda Accord Hybrid that is brought in as a CBU from Thailand. Honda Cars also has strong network of sales and service of 332 facilities in 220 cities in India.

Later this month, Honda India will launch yet another car, in the form of WR-V. This is a new car built on the same platform as Jazz, but is going to be promoted as a compact SUV or crossover. It will rival the likes of Ford EcoSport and Maruti Vitara Brezza. More details about the Honda WR-V can be found here.
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OIST team proposes a novel ocean-current turbine design.

Fossil fuels propelled the Industrial Revolution and subsequent technological advances. However, our future cannot be based on them, if only because they are a finite resource; and we are very close to exhausting them.

Solar and wind power is often seen as the main locomotive of the energy revolution. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that solar panels and wind turbines alone cannot provide all the energy we need, especially considering that energy consumption around the world is steadily growing. Due to day-night cycles and seasonal weather patterns, solar and wind power is inherently intermittent. Moreover, utility-scale power farms will require vast tracts of land.

Ocean currents are another source of power, comparable to fossil fuels in terms of consistency and reliability, and at the same time, clean and renewable.

In the journal, Renewable Energy, the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) proposed a design for a submerged marine turbine to harness the energy of the Kuroshio Current, flowing along the Japanese coast. This design is especially suitable for regions regularly devastated by storms and typhoons, such as Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The turbine operates in the middle layer of the current, 100 m below the surface, where the waters flow calmly and steadily, even during strong storms.

"Our design is simple, reliable, and power-efficient," says Dr Katsutoshi Shirasawa, a staff scientist in the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit. The turbine comprises a float, a counterweight, a nacelle to house electricity-generating components, and three blades. Minimising the number of components is essential for easy maintenance, low cost, and a low failure rate.

The OIST design is a hybrid of a kite and a wind turbine: an ocean-current turbine is anchored to seabed with a line and floats in the current while water rotates its three blades. Ocean currents are rather slow, averaging 1-1.5 m/s. However, water is over 800 times as dense as air, and even a slow current contains energy comparable to a strong wind. Additionally, currents do not stop or change direction.

The OIST team, led by Prof. Tsumoru Shintake, head of the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit, built a prototype turbine and conducted various experiments to test its design and configuration. Results confirmed the robustness and stability of the turbine construction. The achieved efficiency is comparable to that of commercial wind turbines.

The design can easily be scaled up or down, depending on local conditions and needs. Dr. Shirasawa and his colleagues aspire to build an energy farm featuring 300 turbines 80 m in diameter. The expected output is about 1 GW -- the equivalent of one nuclear reactor, capable of powering over 400,000 homes. This project will be an important step toward development of green energy.
Researchers from the University of Alicante have developed a technique that not only eliminates the bad smells caused by the build-up of sediments on coastal shores, but also harnesses their potential as a rich habitat for flora and fauna species.

One of the big complaints of beach-goers at certain points along the Mediterranean coast is the presence of black and often strong-smelling muddy sediments on the more sheltered beaches. With little tidal action, organic matter accumulates in the shallows and ends up decomposing, turning into a black slush that does not get washed away.

Aware of the problem, researchers from the Universidad de Alicante (University of Alicante,UA) have developed a technique -currently being patented- to eliminate the bad odours, and improve the colour and slushy appearance of these sediments, for use on beaches and in ports, where these sediments accumulate.

A proof of concept grant from the UA's Vice-Rectorate for Research, Development and Innovation, and collaborations with local business Route Pont S.L. and Denia Town Council, mean that field testing has already begun along a stretch of this region's coastline.

"Results in the lab have been very good and we are now implementing our technique on a larger scale. We want it to be viable, economically and otherwise, for use on beaches where the first few metres are home to these anoxic sediments. In reality they are few and far between along the Spanish coast, but their negative impact is significant," explains Cesar Bordehore, member of the UA's Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies (IMEM) and professor at its department of Ecology.

Working alongside Maria del Mar Cerdan and Antonio Sanchez from the UA's department ofAgro- and Biochemistry, he adds: "Treating this organic matter [] will also increase the ecological potential of the sediments to host fauna and flora populations."

The use of this technique in the port setting offers other economic and environmental advantages, enabling the recovery and return of these sediments to the beach, rather than disposal at sea.

It can also potentially be used in similar, non-coastal contexts where organic matter builds up, such as rivers or estuaries.
Bay of Plenty Police are looking into the death of a 10-month-old who died unexpectedly overnight.

Police were called to a home in Putaruru at about 8pm. Ambulance staff were in attendance but were not able to revive the baby, says Senior Sergeant Karl Konlechner.

The scene will remain closed overnight while police conduct a scene examination.

Police will not speculate on the cause of death.

That will be a matter for the Coroner to decide after an investigation.

No further details regarding the deceased or family are available at this time.

This is a tragic event for the family. They have specifically requested that they are not contacted by the media and that their privacy is respected, says Karl.
UPDATE: Caesar Millan, the self-professed "dog whisperer" is under investigation for possible animal cruelty.

Can Cesar Millan get Simon, the pig-killing dog, under control? That's the tease to a February 26 episode of "Cesar 911," a show featuring famed dog trainer Cesar Millan and the supposedly wayward dogs he aims to set straight. The short answer? No.

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The long, painful answer? No, he really, really can't and it took a bloodbath to prove it. A clip posted to YouTube last week shows a dog named Simon being dropped off at Millan's Dog Psychology Center (DPC) in California. Simon has already killed two pet pigs. Millan thinks he can curb the dog's penchant for harming them - by letting him hang around more pigs. "I'm going to use the fact that this is a new environment for Sandy to my advantage," Millan tells the audience. "And tackle his deadly problem." "If I can give him a positive memory with them, it will be a great foundation that will translate into better behavior with all animals," he says.

For their part, the pigs are just chilling in the sun, bathing blissfully, unaware of the so-called pig-slayer in their midst.

"Now, let's take the leash off," says Millan. Simon lunges at one of pigs, biting off a chunk of ear.

Millan dives and rolls on the ground trying to tackle the frenzied dog. Another crew member snatches a pig by his leg, trying to drag him from the mouth of madness. The air is filled with squeals of terror. Again and again, Simon charges at the pigs biting and tearing at the cowering animals. The owner is in tears. Pigs are bleeding and wounded. Millan? "I got it. I got it."
<p><em>Mary Ann Everett</em><span></span></p>

If there was one thing Jess Sidlowe wanted before her dog Gunner succumbed to the cancer that was ravaging his body, it would be for him to live long enough to meet her newborn baby boy, whom she and her husband Ed would name Wyatt. Gunner, a 10-and-a-half-year-old rescued ex-racing greyhound, had become an important part of the Sidlowe family eight years ago along with Ruby, their other rescued dog. After returning home to South Carolina from a weekend in Pennsylvania in May 2015, they picked up their dogs from doggy daycare and noticed Gunner was limping badly on one of his back legs.

A healthy Gunner goes for a walk. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

At first, Sidlowe attributed Gunner's pain to a pulled muscle from getting more exercise at daycare than he was used to at home, but when she and her husband Ed noticed Gunner was not getting better, they were off to the veterinarian. A round of pain meds did not work. An X-ray showed what the vet believed to be a cancerous tumor. It can be treatable Cancer in dogs is very common, with older dogs most susceptible. In dogs 10 years and older, it is the leading cause of death. Typical cancers found in dogs include malignant lymphoma, mammary gland tumors, bone cancer and others, many of which are curable if caught early. Dr. Steven Thomasson, of Cochise Animal Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, told The Dodo vets are seeing more cancer than in previous years. "Two factors," he said. "One is that pets are living longer so older pets are more likely to get cancer, and also because we are better at recognizing and diagnosing it."

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The Sidlowes were devastated the day they found out Gunner had cancer. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

But, some of the cancers found in dogs are quite treatable. "People need to really listen to what their vet is saying about what can and can't be done," Thomasson said. "When they hear cancer, it is not automatically a death sentence, but it is a serious problem." Sidlowe was referred to oncologist Dr. Kerry Rissetto of Charleston Veterinary Referral Center in South Carolina. Within 48 hours, the Sidlowes and Rissetto were discussing amputating Gunner's leg for what appeared to be osteosarcoma, a very common bone tumor mainly found in large dogs. A biopsy would confirm the cancer before the amputation. "We felt that [amputation] was the only thing that was going to, if nothing else, reduce the amount of suffering," Sidlowe said. "Greyhounds' back legs are very muscular. The vet pointed out that his back right leg had atrophied so much it was flabby. It happened so quickly."

Sidlowe and Gunner drove to the vet for a pre-op appointment. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

The biopsy entailed pulling out a little bit of the bone to determine cellular behavior and the type of cancer. Following the amputation, the limb would be sent to Colorado State University for more tests. A tough decision Gunner had issues in the past with his left back leg, which suffered a break during his racing days. There was calcification around the bone and that leg often became stiff. "What was unfortunate about this was the cancer was in the strong leg," Sidlowe said. Despite these concerns, the Sidlowes felt confident in their decision. "We knew we wouldn't have much more time with him," Sidlowe said. "He seemed his normal self and his spirit wasn't broken. We wanted the best for him and to extend his life as long as possible." They researched their options and determined that amputation would still allow Gunner a good quality of life.

Gunner was pretty sore and out of it the first day back home. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

Although the out-of-pocket cost for the amputation was $6,000 and they were also preparing for their firstborn son to arrive, "we knew in our hearts we would do anything for Gunner," Sidlowe said.

Sidlowe ensured Gunner received lots of love post-op. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

"I felt very guilty for putting him through that. I was so sick to my stomach the whole way home," Sidlowe said, regarding the moment when she and a friend picked up Gunner after his surgery. However, with each day of recovery, his swelling went down, the bruising lessened and his incision healed well. A turn for the worse Fast forward a couple weeks, and Gunner was getting around better on three legs. "He had a normal hop and step that reminded me of a kangaroo," Sidlowe said. Then the news. It was bad. The cancer was actually histiocytic sarcoma. The tumors are pretty rare and aggressive and the prognosis is usually poor. After doing their own research on options, they decided it was best to keep Gunner comfortable for whatever time he had left. The vet would monitor him, and Gunner would enjoy his remaining days.

Sidlowe with Gunner after his surgery | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

"If he could make it to meet little Wyatt, I'd be happy," Sidlowe said. Sidlowe gave birth on July 21, just months after Gunner's diagnosis. Upon her arrival back home, Gunner was coughing and limping. It was not the cancer; instead he had contracted pneumonia. He received treatment and slowly improved with medication. However, he continued to lose weight. "He would really just lay in bed," Sidlowe said, except when they took him out to go to the bathroom.

Gunner meets Wyatt. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

Letting go Two weeks later on a Friday, Sidlowe heard the crying. She thought Gunner had to relieve himself. But he could barely stand up. When she went to lift him up, the dog yelped loudly. "I could see it in his eyes he was still there, but you could just tell it wasn't good," she said. Although they had a vet appointment on Monday, she made the call that day. "There was no way he could get through the weekend without seeing the vet." Sidlowe's husband Ed met her at the vet. He had to carry Gunner inside. There were two options: Medicate and see if it helped with the pain. Or put Gunner to sleep.

Gunner was loved in his final days. | Ed and Jess Sidlowe

"I kind of knew even before I scheduled the appointment," Sidlowe said. "I wanted him to go with some dignity left. It's a really hard judgment call to make." They decided to put Gunner to sleep. They were by his side the whole time. "If we had to do it over, we would have moved forward the same way," she said. "It wasn't fair to him to have him suffer. He was such a good dog." Saving Pixie Mary Ann Everett, the founder and director of Surrendered Souls Rescue in Tempe, Arizona, also knows what it's like to deal with cancer in dogs. Everett mainly takes in sick and injured dogs from the pound. "Every dog I pull has a medical deadline," she said, which means the animal needs medical attention fast. If a rescue does not step up, the animal is scheduled to be put down. Before she even got Pixie, an American pit bull terrier and French bulldog mix, about five months ago out of Maricopa County Animal Care & Control, Everett reached out for donation pledges to save her and raised $1,500. Within three hours she had enough money to cover Pixie's entire treatment for a transmissible venereal tumor (TVT), which is a form of cancer transmitted sexually from one dog to another. The disease typically occurs in stray, non-neutered dogs. The tumors rarely spread and the prognosis is typically very good. "For the most part, TVT cancer is curable if you catch it early," Everett said. Pixie was brought to veterinary oncologist Dr. A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Hershey of Integrative Veterinary Oncology in Phoenix, Arizona, the day after her rescue and her TVT treatment started almost immediately, lasting a total of three months with no side effects. Within a week, the tumor shrank. "Pixie is a little go-getter and the cutest little thing," Everett said of the 40-pound dog. "She is in complete remission. The tumor is gone."

Pixie survived her cancer treatments. | Mary Ann Everett

Hershey will continue to see Pixie in two months, six months and again in one year. If, after that, there is no recurrence, she will have been cured, according to Everett. The good news is that Pixie has been adopted. "I can't save them all, but for the ones I do save, I make them a promise I will do everything in my power to make them better," she said. Education is the best information Sidlowe recommends, if you find yourself in her shoes, asking other pet owners who have been through similar situations and educating yourself. "[Euthanasia is] not a decision to take lightly, but you have to balance what's right in your head and what's right in your heart," she said. "Sometimes you have to do the best thing for the dog, even if it's not the best thing for you." Sidlowe got her wish and her son was able to meet her beloved dog.

Jess and Gunner on the beach | Ed and Jess Sidlowe
He haunted a Miami street corner for days, a scared, skittish dog certain that the owner who dumped him would return.

It took neighbors days to convince him otherwise, and gradually coax him from a makeshift cardboard box to a truck to an animal hospital and, finally, to a rescue organization.

And many days more to prove to him that his owner wasn't worth the trouble.

The Dodo first reported on the dog neighbors called Joey in January. His misplaced faith in an errant owner broke hearts the world over - but most immediately, in the neighborhood where he held the saddest vigil, waiting for a ride that never came.

"We go out there every day," resident Julian Rovito told The Dodo in January. "We're feeding him. We're trying to get him to trust us. The next step is to get him a crate. Put him in there and take him to my vet."
<p>Second Chance Rescue NYC</p>

When a dog is finally rescued, we all assume that the end is in sight. The dog was saved, and will now be adopted by a loving family and will never have to suffer again. But sometimes, the end of that journey is farther than we think.

Second Chance Rescue NYC

In 2013, Rihanna was taken to the Manhattan Animal Care Center (ACC) as a stray. The condition that the terrified pit bull was in was absolutely horrific. At only 2 years old, she was listed as geriatric before they had a better estimate of her age. Staff assumed that she had been used as a bait dog for dog fighting. All of her teeth were broken off or filed flat, and her face was badly swollen. She was underweight, bruised and beaten - but somehow, still standing.

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Second Chance Rescue NYC

Because of her condition, Rihanna was slated to be put down - but not before someone noticed her. Over 5,800 people shared Rihanna's post on Facebook in hopes of saving her life. Second Chance Rescue NYC heard about her plight, and knew they had to help. Rihanna was pulled from the ACC by Second Chance Rescue and placed into foster care, where she began her wait for her forever home. That was nearly three years ago. Today, Rihanna is still waiting.

Theresa Zavada

Rihanna is a sweetheart who just wants to be loved, and no one can understand why she hasn't found her happily ever after yet. Despite her rough history she is never anything but gentle, and greets everyone she meets with a hand lick and an open heart.

Theresa Zavada

From October 2013 to October 2014, Rihanna lived with Theresa Zavada, who has fostered many dogs for Second Chance Rescue. During her time with Zavada, Rihanna was able to overcome some of her fear of other dogs, likely caused by her suspected history with dog fighting. "I have placed all the dogs that she came to me with," Zavada told The Dodo. "Rihanna still waits. She is a beautiful dog, inside and out."

Theresa Zavada

Because of her past, Rihanna will need to be the only dog in her new home. She can live with older children, and would do best in a home with no cats. Her new family will receive support from Allied Dog Training, where Rihanna spent some time after leaving Zavada's care in 2014. She is currently being fostered by a trainer from Allied Dog Training.

Theresa Zavada
Rescuers knew it wasn't going to be easy, but they never gave up hope that she would be saved from drowning. A dog named Sadie, from Charleston, Utah, escaped the backyard of her owner's cousin last Monday. Her owner, Charelle Meriweather, told local news outlet Fox 13 that she believes someone let her dog out on purpose. However the escape happened, the following day, Meriweather's cousin called to say that the 10-year-old dog had been found - but out on the partially frozen waters of Deer Creek Reservoir. Meriweather's brother tried going out on the ice several times with a canoe to rescue Sadie, but she ran off every time he got close. "Watching [him] on the ice, I started tearing up because I was thinking either he's going to go through the ice and die or I'm going to lose my dog," Meriweather told Fox 13.By Thursday, state park officers in ice rescue suits and canoes also tried their luck at saving the elusive black dog, but to no avail. Sadie continued to squirm out of their reach for a fourth day, with danger looming ever closer.

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A dog named Sadie, from Charleston, Utah, escaped the backyard of her owner's cousin last Monday. Her owner, Charelle Meriweather, told local news outlet Fox 13 that she believes someone let her dog out on purpose. However the escape happened, the following day, Meriweather's cousin called to say that the 10-year-old dog had been found - but out on the partially frozen waters of Deer Creek Reservoir. Meriweather's brother tried going out on the ice several times with a canoe to rescue Sadie, but she ran off every time he got close. "Watching [him] on the ice, I started tearing up because I was thinking either he's going to go through the ice and die or I'm going to lose my dog," Meriweather told Fox 13.

It wasn't until Friday that the runaway dog was rescued in the most perfectly timed stunt possible ...

... with the help of this air boat and the Utah County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue team. Sadie, who had fallen into the ice and pawed desperately for a steady grip, was picked up by the collar with the force of one powerful pull by volunteer Toby Norton. She then quickly scrambled onto the airboat. Undoubtedly she was freezing, wet and hungry, but finally safe from drowning.

Sadie, who had fallen into the ice and pawed desperately for a steady grip, was picked up by the collar with the force of one powerful pull by volunteer Toby Norton. She then quickly scrambled onto the airboat. Undoubtedly she was freezing, wet and hungry, but finally safe from drowning.
This sea otter knew she had to get somewhere safe in the face of rough ocean waters during a storm ... so she could give birth.

On Saturday, a pregnant wild sea otter swam from the ocean into the Great Tide Pool area at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, where she chose to settle upon a rock, giving researchers and visitors alike a rare, front-row look at the birth of an endangered species.

Immediately after the baby otter was born, the mother wasted no time in grooming her pup. The Monterey Bay Aquarium explained that a mother licking her pup helps the baby stay warm and buoyant in the water. Grooming also helps gear up the young otter's blood circulation and other internal systems, showing just how vital it is for a pup to be near his or her mother after birth.

This bit of fabulous news comes shortly after the Monterey Bay Aquarium rescued an orphaned baby otter and gave the pup, unable to care for herself, a new home at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois.
Raymond Tomlinson, the inventor of modern email and selector of the "@" symbol. (Raytheon via the Internet Hall of Fame via AP)

Raymond Tomlinson was unconcerned with posterity when he typed a quick message to himself in 1971  something like QWERTYUIOP, the characters on the first line of his Teletype keyboard, he later recalled.

The message, whatever it said, zipped from one refrigerator-sized computer to another, traveling through the ether by way of the ARPANET, a government-funded precursor to the Internet.

A note to Mr. Tomlinsons colleagues soon followed, explaining that he had found a new way for the office to communicate and offering instructions for the @ sign  a rarely used accounting symbol then located on the P key  that made it all possible.

Mr. Tomlinson, who invented modern email and unleashed a communications revolution, making it just as easy for co-workers to communicate as for marketers to hawk their wares and faux Nigerian princes to ask for money, died March 5 at his home in Lincoln, Mass. He was 74.

The cause is not yet known, said his longtime companion, Karen Seo.

When Mr. Tomlinson joined the Cambridge, Mass.-based tech company Bolt Beranek and Newman, or BBN, in the late 1960s, computers were as large as they were expensive, used mainly through a process called time-sharing.

Dozens of users could work from the same computer at once, each operating from a different terminal  often a Teletype machine, which consisted of a keyboard and a built-in printer. Users working from the same computer could send messages to one another as early as 1965, but there was no way to communicate from one computer to the next.

That began to change with the advent of ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Created by BBN for the Defense Department shortly after Mr. Tomlinsons arrival at the company, the network was originally designed to allow universities and organizations across the country to pool their computing resources.

Mr. Tomlinson recognized a larger potential. The ARPANET was a solution looking for a problem, he wrote on a website he created to explain his invention.

After reading a proposal for sending and receiving messages on the network, he decided he could do something that was simpler  but much better, he told Wired magazine in 2012.

Like the best computer hackers, Mr. Tomlinson drew from the resources he had at hand: a messaging program called SNDMSG, short for send message, that was designed for users on a single computer, and a file-transfer program he had worked on called CPYNET.

Because messages would be sent to a number of computers, Mr. Tomlinson needed a way to connect a persons user name to their host name.

I looked at the keyboard, and I thought: What can I choose here that wont be confused with a username?  he explained to Wired. If every person had an @ sign in their name, it wouldnt work too well. But they didnt. They did use commas and slashes and brackets. Of the remaining three or four characters, the @ sign made the most sense. It denoted where the user was . . . at. Excuse my English.

With no flourish or fanfare, Mr. Tomlinson sent the first modern email, using the address tomlinson@bbn-tenexa. Suffixes for larger networks, such as .com and .edu, developed later  as did the term email, which was in use by the late 1970s.

The messaging system took off within the relatively small group of researchers, academics and Defense Department officials who regularly used ARPANET computers. It was a convenient way to talk with colleagues across the country, and  as soon became apparent  to avoid talking face-to-face with colleagues in the office.

David Walden, an engineering colleague of Mr. Tomlinsons in the 1970s, recalled a pivotal moment for the New York Times in 2001: I remember when I realized that I could apologize in writing for a problem and thus make the situation better, and the person I was working with couldnt see me and thus couldnt read my body language, that I didnt really feel contrite.

Thomas Haigh, an associate professor who studies computing history at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, said that the invention of email was inevitable once ARPANET was developed, but if Ray Tomlinson hadnt lived, its probably unlikely that the @ sign would still be around.

The sign is so ubiquitous that it was incorporated into the Museum of Modern Arts architecture and design collection in 2010.

Mr. Tomlinson was hesitant to claim full credit for inventing email. Any single development is stepping on the heels of the previous one and is so closely followed by the next that most advances are obscured, he once said. I think that few individuals will be remembered. I am curious to find out if I am wrong.

Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was born in Amsterdam, N.Y., on April 23, 1941. Encouraged by his father, a machine operator at General Electric, a young Mr. Tomlinson enjoyed taking apart small appliances to see how they worked.

He graduated in 1963 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and received a masters degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1965.

BBN was later acquired by Raytheon, where Mr. Tomlinson worked until his death. With his companion, Seo, he also raised miniature sheep.

A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Tomlinson was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fames inaugural class in 2012.

Im often asked, he said in his acceptance speech, did I know what I was doing? And the answer is, yes, I knew exactly what I was doing. I just had no notion whatsoever of the ultimate impact. What I was doing was providing a way for people to communicate with other people.


Gluten-free maccheroni dressed with olive oil, garlic and chili pepper at Masseria in Northeast Washington. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

Conventional wisdom says the silky, slippery charms of fresh Italian pastas are lost to those who need or choose to avoid gluten, because that very protein is what puts the give in doughs that are stretched and rolled and shaped to glorious effect. Once cooked, fresh pasta absorbs a sauce, while dried pasta provides a clingy surface for it. Theres nothing quite like it.

Luckily, great chefs love a challenge  and thats who you want on the front lines of gluten-free pasta R&D. They have the skill set, and they find the resources to make it happen. Even then, it can take months of trial and error. Or, in the case of Nicholas Stefanelli at Masseria, you can pull the lever after a couple of tries and strike it rich.

Ed Scarpone spent about half a year on the gluten-free fresh pasta recipe he developed at Cafe Boulud in New York. I did a lot of work with different flours, he says. We ended up using broad bean and chickpea flours, water, milk, eggs and a little bit of olive oil. A gram here and there could change things.

Now head chef at DBGB in CityCenterDC, Scarpone also kept in the mix guar and xanthan gums, both widely used components in the gluten-free universe: The former, a natural thickener, adds elasticity to the pasta dough, and the latter emulsifies the wet ingredients and adds body. Fettuccine and pappardelle worked best, he remembers. His gluten-free pasta dough would dry out quickly and could not withstand much manipulation, which meant that shaping and filling it was tricky business. A 10-minute rest for the dough (while vacuum-packed)helped it hold together during cooking, and the cut pasta could be held in the freezer.

He hasnt re-created a GF pasta program at DBGB  yet. Its tough, unless youre making it every day, Scarpone says. It takes finesse. The eggs you use might not be the same size or temperature. You can just throw a gluten-free flour blend together with eggs and such . . . you wont get a bad product, but I dont think it mimics good fresh pasta.



Chef Nicholas Stefanelli gathers his gluten-free pasta dough for rolling at Masseria in Northeast Washington. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[When it comes to pasta, fresh isnt always best.]

Stefanelli has enchanted diners with his gluten-free maccheroni since shortly after Masseria opened last August. During his previous five-year star turn at the helm of Bibiana downtown, he eventually used an Italian brand of GF pasta. And when it came to cooking it, angels needed to ride down on a unicorn to get it right, Stefanelli says dryly. Translation: Either under- or overcooked, the stuff would just crumble.

He admits that developing the product in-house at the new restaurant wasnt at the top of my list. A fan of dried pastas, I had explored other options and didnt find anything on the market that did it justice, he says.



Once its cut, Masserias gluten-free maccheroni at Masseria can be cooked right away or covered and refrigerated for a few days. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

Then, Masseria pastry chef Jemil Gadea decided to experiment with the Italian gluten-free flour blend he had on hand for crostati. The Caputo brand contains cornstarch, rice flour, potato starch, soy flour and xanthan gum. Gadea tinkered with minuscule amounts of an added super-strength tapioca starch called Ultra-Tex 3 (both it and the Caputo blend are available online) and got it right after only a few tries. The chefs used a lot of liquid egg yolks rather than whole eggs, for the grace of added, binding fat.

[Taste Test: 10 gluten-free dried pastas.]

On a recent afternoon, the restaurants gluten-free dough comes up a sunny, cornmeal yellow after several minutes turn in a heavy stand mixer. It doesnt need a rest and can be rolled in a pasta machine  a little thicker than spaghetti  then cut and cooked straight away. Stefanelli slices his maccheroni with surgical, even knife strokes, creating shorter lengths akin to the wheat maccheroni he serves with nduja, tomato and eggplant.

In the few minutes it takes the chef to cook and sauce a single portion, the remaining batch of gluten-free pasta dough on the cutting board becomes noticeably drier. At a visitors request, he pinches enough dough to roll a few garganelli against the grooved board he has pulled from a handsome wooden box of pasta tools.

See? You can do it. But there are little cracks or dry spots in each one, he says. The good thing about the gluten-free maccheroni is that it can take a little abuse in the pan. By abuse, he means tossing the freshly cooked noodles in Masserias lip-smacking XO sauce, then twirling them into the shape of a cannelloni, giving it the mummy-strips treatment on the plate.



You could try this at home: Chef Nicholas Stefanellis twirling technique involves long tweezers and a spoon. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: Gluten-Free Maccheroni.]

The visitors one bite in, and Stefanelli is chuffed by the reaction of yet another satisfied customer. It absorbs like regular fresh pasta, right? he affirms. And it has an al dente-ness, a bite that holds together. You wont find that in a lot of gluten-free pastas.

The good news is, Masserias gluten-free maccheroni can be re-created at home. Required: a kitchen scale, a stand mixer, the right ingredients and a steady hand. Some Stefanelli tips: The salted water doesnt need to be at a full, rolling boil, nor does the pot need to be bigger than a large saucepan.

Drop in one portion of the maccheroni at a time. Do not walk away. Once the noodles start to float, cook them for another 30 seconds or so. Strain them, and scoop directly into a pan of warm sauce: say, a simple tomato-basil or aglio e olio. Plate up the order and stick a feather in your cap.

Stefanelli will join Wednesdays Free Range chat at noon: live.washingtonpost.com.
Q: We have a walk-in shower, and over the years, the lime and calcium deposits have built up to the point where I cant get them off with the commercial products Ive tried. Is there a solution?

Fairfax Station

A: Judging from the pictures you sent, your shower doors appear to be framed in anodized aluminum, which can be colored many shades, including gold. Unfortunately, the mineral deposits appear to be mostly on the frames, the most problematic surface.

Cleaners that dissolve mineral spirits, such as vinegar, lemon juice and products such as CLR and Lime-A-Way, are all acids. To work, they need to be at the opposite end of the pH scale from mineral deposits, which are alkaline. But acids of all sorts eat into aluminum. Thats true even for anodized aluminum, which has been electrochemically treated to be more corrosion-resistant. So you cant use an acidic cleaner, or you will wind up with pitted metal.

Our product is fine on the glass but not on the frame, said Chloe Sanders, office manager for Jelmar, the company in Skokie, Ill., that makes CLR. CLR is often touted as a way to remove mineral deposits from shower heads, but that use is okay only if the heads are plastic or chrome, she said. We say not to use it if the showerhead is a different material.

Mineral deposits on a readers shower door. (Reader photo)

Probably the only thing you can do, short of replacing the doors, is to scrub or scrape off the deposits. Try a razor scraper or a soft scrubber. Get creative, suggests Scott Gilmour, owner of York Property (yorkproperty.com), a company based in Bethlehem, Pa., that removes mineral deposits and other crud from surfaces as big as skyscrapers. On anodized aluminum, his company always uses abrasives, never chemicals. Chemicals would burn it, he said.

I have a large set of Lenox Chinastone dishes that I received as a wedding gift in 1986  18 place settings and serving pieces for our large family. I have used the dishes daily and for entertaining, and I continue to enjoy the pattern. However, the finish on several plates and teacups has dulled to the point that I no longer feel comfortable using them for entertaining. Is there a glaze or wipe-on product that would bring back the luster?

Bethesda

Sherri Crisenbery, vice president for the Lenox brand, said she knows of no wipe-on replacement glaze. But she did suggest polishing with Bon Ami or using a cleaner made for glass cooktops. That may help, she said, but she added that she doubts it would do enough to make your pieces look new.

Crisenbery said that in 17 years with Lenox, she has never seen the extent of damage shown in the pictures you sent. It shouldnt have happened, she said. Dishwasher detergents in the 1980s were harsher than the ones sold today, so perhaps that, in combination with hard water from your taps, caused the problems, she said.

Lenox replaces pieces without charge if there is a manufacturing defect, such as a missing part of the design. It also offers a lifetime warranty against breakage, which results in the company paying half the cost of replacement pieces. Your pieces didnt have a defect and didnt break, so these policies dont apply. But we always try to work with the customer, Crisenbery said. She suggested calling to see whether the company would be willing to help pay to replace the pieces that look worst. Or you might just want to buy new dishware. After 30 years, she deserves a new set, Crisenbery said. We dont keep our cars for 30 years.

A reader's Lenox Chinastone dishes have been used daily, dulling over the years. The reader wants to bring back the china's luster. (Reader photo)

If you opt for replacements, be forewarned that you may not be able to get pieces that match exactly. Lenox used to have two factories in the United States that manufactured dinnerware. As price competition ate into the market for U.S.-made products, the company decided to close one of the factories. The one that made Chinastone (ivory china with aluminum oxide added) was older, so it closed, leaving only the factory that works with bone china. Lenox also sells dinnerware made of porcelain and stoneware, but those products are imported.

If you do want replacements, Crisenbery recommends shopping at Replacements (replacements.com). Lenox sells directly to Replacements and has even put discontinued styles back into production when the company reports brisk orders for styles no longer available. If an exact replacement isnt available, perhaps you can find something thats close enough. The website offers a free pattern identification service to people who fill out a form and attach one or more pictures.

Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com . Put How To in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a photo.
Whether you loved her or hated her, Nancy Reagan was an American queen.

In the democratic world of 20th-century politics, everyone politely pretended the first lady was merely a devoted wife, supporting her beloved Ronnie in anything he wanted to do. That was certainly true, but there have been plenty of first ladies who loved and supported their husbands.

No, she was much, much more: A woman who derived power from her husband but wielded it freely. A woman with expensive tastes and glamorous friends who saw no point in acting like the girl next door. A woman who knew what she wanted and, more often than not, got it.

Not many people would call her a modern feminist  she never did  but Nancy Reagan loved the life she lived and never apologized for her choices or her ambition. In first lady, she found the role of a lifetime and redefined the office for the women who came after her.

Her timing was impeccable. After the drab virtue of Pat Nixons Republican cloth coat, the down-to-earth modesty of Betty Ford and the proud populism of Rosalynn Carter, Americans were hungry for some excitement and glamour. Camelot and the easy grace of the Kennedys were still in the rearview mirror. Ron and Nancy Reagan arrived in Washington for a coronation, and gave the country the imperial presidency  at least in style  many had been craving.

Her famous Reagan red, a hot signature color, became her calling card. Make no mistake: Its not a hue for the faint of heart or someone unaccustomed to the spotlight. Long before she moved into the White House, she embraced the sophisticated style of a wealthy Republican woman  designer clothes, real jewels, furs  and never felt the need to change simply because her husband was president.

She had a tiny, slender frame that showcased her wardrobe to maximum effect: Body skimming knits, creamy wools, lavish ball gowns. Her penchant for the perfect outfit for every occasion  American women loved their stylish first lady  created the first real scandal of her tenure when she borrowed couture dresses, shoes and handbags from Galanos, Adolfo, Bill Blass and others but failed to return them. The American designers were, of course, thrilled to see their creations in every glossy fashion spread; the presidents advisers, not so much.

In 1982, she was chastised and warned that she was skirting ethics rules, and so she publicly promised to stop accepting the free clothes. With the unerring instinct of a true performer, she appeared at the annual Gridiron press dinner that year in rags and charmed reporters with a self-deprecating song-and-dance that turned the issue into a punch line. But she didnt stop, of course, and honestly never thought she had crossed a line. She didnt see it as a problem: Wasnt she helping promote American fashion, after all?

I wonder: What would have happened if I had stopped borrowing dresses and had started wearing only the clothes I could afford to buy? she wrote in her memoir My Turn. Instead of calling me extravagant, the press would have started referring to me as dowdy and frumpy. 

And there was no way in a thousand lifetimes that Nancy Reagan was going to let anyone call her frumpy. Not happening, no way, no how.

Inside the White House, when it came to style and decor, Nancys personal stamp was just as forceful. She got what she wanted.

That included $210,000 worth of red and white Lenox china, which came to be known as the Reagan China. The 4,370-piece porcelain service became a symbol of the eras excess, although no public funds were used to pay for it.

She brought that same grandeur to showing off her friends: bona fide Hollywood celebrities and wealthy power brokers. This was a woman, after all, who called Frank Sinatra an intimate friend. She delighted in gracious entertaining and glittering guest lists, and made an invitation to the White House a coveted and exclusive treat. Washington, accustomed to the low-key gatherings of previous administrations, clamored for a place at the table.

And she rewarded them with the likes of Liz Taylor and Clint Eastwood and Prince Charles and Princess Di, who had that famous dance with John Travolta because Nancy understood the magic of star power and creating moments.

Washington both respected and feared her. Her focus was laser-like, her discipline enormous. She was an implacable force for her husband and whatever she thought served him best. She reached out socially to the Ladies Who Lunch, less because she wanted their friendship and more because she wanted to create relationships with those in the city who could help her. She could be a loyal and thoughtful friend. Or a dangerous enemy.

There were of course, her charitable works  the daily bread of traditional first ladies. One can debate the efficacy of reducing drug addiction to Just Say No  a moralistic platitude that still enrages those dealing with the issue  but no one from either side of the aisle was unmoved by her courageous and outspoken campaign for Alzheimers victims and research.

Reams have been written about her marriage, that impenetrable fortress of two, and how it shaped their children, their politics, and every other aspect of their lives. Reams more will be written about her battles, her fears, her generosity.

At the end of the day, only one opinion mattered to her. She played to an audience of one: Ronnie, her king.

Jura Koncius contributed to this report.


President Ronald Reagan cuts in on a dance between Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan. (Mike Evans/AP)

The president and Mrs. Reagan eat off of TV tray  yes, theyre silver  in the presidents second-floor study. (Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library)

Although Nancy Reagan was known for her glittery James Galanos gowns and fancy Hollywood friends, she also did everything she could to make the private quarters of the White House a real California-casual haven for Ronald Reagan.

The former first lady, who died Sunday at age 94, kept the presidents candy jars stocked with jelly beans and had the staff prepare their dinner on TV trays in their red carpeted upstairs study. She brought in 20th-century overstuffed sofas.

With her decorator, Ted Graber of Beverly Hills, Nancy Reagan supervised the remodeling and redecoration of several dozen rooms in the family quarters. The rooms were filled with bouquets of fresh flowers and dozens of silver framed photos of friends and family.

[Nancy Reagan dies at 94; first lady was a defining figure of the 1980s]



President Ronald Reagan sits in the redecorated Oval Office on Feb. 11, 1987. (Ronald Reagan Library)

Reagan knew that making the White House your own was much more than just regilding 19th-century chairs. So after the 2008 election, she offered through a friend to speak to president-elect Barack Obamas interior designer Michael S. Smith.

Nancy Reagan discreetly offered to talk to me about her experience, and I was thrilled because I would not have access to those rooms until Inauguration Day, Smith says. She was extraordinarily helpful and told me how she had brought all their things from California to put up there to make the house incredibly cozy. She said you had to bring your own personal things and gave me her perspective on how to make the White House a home.



The terra cotta rug in the Reagan Oval Office by Stark Carpet of New York cost $49,625. It was paid for by an anonymous donor. It featured a four-foot presidential seal in brown, gold and green with radiating rays. (Ronald Reagan Library)

Reagan had a reputation of being formidable, and she had no problem quickly establishing and defining her style. Former head usher Gary Walters, who worked at the White House for 37 years, said in 2009 that Reagan and her decorator Graber made their move-in day the most organized of any hed seen. Some thought she was a hard person to work with, but that was not the case. She always knew what she wanted.



Reagans dramatic red china is still a favorite of first ladies. It was used in the July 2002 state dinner for Poland at the White House. (Ron Edmonds/AP)

That included $210,000 worth of red and white Lenox china. The 4,370 piece porcelain service eventually became a symbol of the eras excess. A controversy arose even though no public funds were used to pay for the china. It was paid for with private funds.

Reagan and Graber quickly got to work and spent nine months on the restoration of the private quarters, using around $800,000 in donated funds. New bathrooms were installed and antiques were dug out of White House storage and refurbished. The photos of the chintz-filled private quarters were featured in a lavish 18-page spread in Architectural Digest in December 1981. It provided a rare glimpse of the private life of a president.



Ronald Reagan dines in the White House West Sitting Hall, which serves as the presidents private living room. Note the RR needlepoint pillow on the sofa. Red was used throughout the private quarters by Ted Graber, the Reagans decorator, to reflect Nancy Reagans favorite color. (Ronald Reagan Library)

It was an intimate look at the White House that humanized the Reagans at the time, says Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest. Nancy Reagan certainly brought back the sense of glamour and authority and style to the White House.

Of course, not everyone was enamored with Reagan and Grabers West Coast taste. Longtime White House Curator Clement Conger once told The Washington Post that the Yellow Oval Room on the second floor used to be an extremely beautiful room, decorated by Jacqueline Kennedy with fine French antiques, which the Nixons augmented with even finer furnishings appropriate to the Federal era.

Mrs. Reagan and her decorator, Ted Graber, who knew nothing about American period houses, turned the Yellow Room and most of the second floor into California rooms,  Conger said. They replaced many antiques with 20th-century overstuffed sofas, which are not correct for the room, and, as everybody knows, are too low and hard to get out of.



President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan pose in the White House master bedroom. The hand-painted bird wallpaper was not a favorite of Bill and Hillary Clinton. (Ronald Reagan Library)

When presidents leave office, what they leave behind is not always beloved by the new residents. Clinton designer Kaki Hockersmith of Little Rock found a few Reagan-era Graber era touches in the private quarters that she dumped. She told me in 2001 that the Clintons had never liked the 18th-century-style hand painted Chinese bird wallpaper, that had been installed by Graber in the master bedroom.

It had lots of all kinds of birds flying and sweeping around, Hockersmith says. It was not a calming atmosphere.

The wallpaper was removed from the presidential bedroom and replaced.
Steam escapes from Exelon Corp.'s nuclear plant in Byron, Ill in 2011. Exelon and Pepco are making a final effort to salvage their proposed $6.8-billion merger. (Robert Ray/AP)

Exelon and Pepco filed papers Monday seeking a compromise with the D.C. Public Service Commission  a last-ditch attempt to save their proposed $6.8 billion merger, which the commission rejected last month.

Washingtons electricity provider and Exelon, a Chicago-based nuclear energy giant, did not offer the District any more money. Instead, in hopes of striking an agreement with both D.C. regulators and politicians, they suggested new ways to distribute $78 million the utility companies have offered the city in exchange for its support.

The commission, which stands as the last regulatory hurdle for the merger, recently said no to a plan negotiated by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser that would have used part of that $78 million to shield residents from rate increases through 2019.

The regulators offered a counterproposal that did not guarantee holding down rates. That plan was rejected by Bowser (D), the Districts attorney general and the Office of the Peoples Counsel, which advocates for ratepayers.

[D.C.. mayor rejects merger; $6.8 billion deal appears dead]

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 17: Opponents of the $6.8 billion pepco Exelon merger rally outside the city's John A Wilson building last year. (Aaron Davis/TWP)

In their filing, Exelon and Pepco said that if rate relief is the biggest concern, city regulators and politicians could direct a large majority of the $78 million to that cause  away from microgrid projects and other environmental efforts.

The companies filing appeared certain to delay, yet again, a final decision on the merger. Friday had been the deadline for parties to agree or propose an alternative. In all, nine separate parties have to approve a compromise.

This alternative proposal provides flexibility in determining a path forward for the merger, addressing the guidance the Commission provided in its order and the desire to protect District residents, including those most in need, from rate increases, Exelon chief executive Christopher Crane said in a news release that accompanied Mondays filing.

It maintains the full $78 million in benefits for the District and Pepco customers agreed to in the original settlement, he said.

Whether such a compromise is possible among D.C. politicians and regulators, however, remained entirely unclear.

Bowser, D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine and Peoples Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye all declined to comment on the companies joint proposal Monday, saying they were reviewing the details.

Environmentalists and other critics of the merger celebrated the fact that none of the D.C. officials who would have to approve the deal signed onto the latest compromise proposal. Opponents of the deal called on city regulators to reject any further changes to try to accommodate the merger.

[Peoples Counsel in spotlight with Pepco-Exelon merger]

The Public Service Commission shouldnt let Exelon rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic. It is time for D.C. to move on, said Ben Delman, a spokesman for the Community Power Network.

Bowser had originally directed tens of millions of dollars of the settlement offer to green energy projects, hoping to buffer criticism that the merger would expand the reach of a nuclear power giant and undercut city efforts to move toward greater dependence on sustainable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Bowser also wanted to put some of the money in a fund to subsidize utility payments for low-income residents. The commission rejected that proposal, saying there was no proof that Bowsers administration would use the money for that purpose and not raid it for other city spending, which happened last year.

Mattavous-Frye singled out the loss of money for low-income residents as the major reason that she withdrew her support for the merger last week. The inability to afford to pay their bills is a reality for many of our residents and cannot be trivialized and dismissed, the Peoples Counsel said in announcing her decision.

That issue of subsidies for the poor will also need to be resolved in connection with any effort to direct the majority of the money from the settlement to holding down rates. Doing so would hold down residential electric bills in the short term. But residents could then face multiple years worth of increases all at once after 2019.

The commission has indicated that residential rates will need to rise over that term anyway, to rebalance a situation in which large businesses and the federal government have come to subsidize D.C. residential rates.

The companies compromise proposal gives the commission leeway to spend as much as $45.6 million to protect commercial and residential customers from rate increases through 2019.

In its filing, the utilities are requesting that the commission limit public comment on the latest proposal to seven business days.

It also asks that the commission issue its ruling by April 7 at the latest.
At a busy, sprawling campus in Arlington, students are learning how to be car mechanics, physical therapists, emergency medical technicians, chefs, cybersecurity specialists and engineers  all while they are still in high school.

The Arlington Career Center hosts a variety of programs aimed at getting students ready for the workforce immediately after high school and giving them a head start for careers they might train for in college. But the courses are offered as electives, and students must ride buses from their home schools to take part in them.

Arlington Tech aims to change that. The proposed program would put career and technical education at the center of the schools curriculum, allowing students to take all of their classes  including core academic subjects such as English and history  at the Arlington Career Center. The program would integrate academic lessons through projects and would cater to students who want to pursue higher education as well as those with plans to start working immediately after high school graduation.

[Creatures are the teachers in an Arlington animal-science classroom]

Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy has proposed spending $750,000 to start the program next school year with 40 students who would start their freshman year there.

Jhonathan Ostrander, 18, signals to anchors during a television and multimedia production class at the Arlington Career Center. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post)

Its project-based learning, and the academics are anchored in career-technical education, said Margaret Chung, principal of the career center.

The program is designed to give students a taste of various career and technical education programs during their first year in high school  they would take classes in sustainable technology, engineering, auto collision repair and video production. By their junior year, Chung said, she hopes to have most students taking courses that confer college credit in high school.

Students also would take all their core academic courses at the school, including English and history, but Chung is urging teachers to collaborate and formulate lessons that reach across all disciplines.

The career center already specializes in project-based learning, with students receiving hands-on training to learn the skills theyll need for the workforce. Students work on totaled cars to learn about collision repair, learn about cybersecurity through simulated cyberattacks and work with 3-D printers to learn about engineering.

Chung said shes still battling the perception that her programs cater to the less academically inclined or to those uninterested in higher education. Some of the students will go on to engineering programs in college or will use the trades they learned to finance their college education. Others are able to get good-paying jobs straight out of high school. Arlington Tech is designed for college-bound students.

Its for students who are above and beyond and understand that the work is important, Chung said. Theyre not trying to follow a particular pattern. Theyre trying to find their own passion.

Cassidy Nolen, who will be the coordinator of Arlington Tech, said the schools program will try to encourage alternatives to traditional textbook instruction; he and Chung are hoping to focus on project-based learning, conveying lessons through experiments, projects and simulations. The method has become more popular in an era when some are concerned that school is too test-driven and is not effectively preparing students for the real world.

Jhonathan Ostrander, 18, mans a camera during a television and multimedia production class at the Arlington Career Center. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post)

Theres a disconnect between skill on paper and skill performance, Nolen said.

The program has special appeal for young people interested in hands-on learning. Tariq Thomas, an eighth-grader at Swanson Middle School, plans to be part of the programs first class. Hes obsessed with technology and, to his parents chagrin, taking things apart to see how they work. He once disassembled an old printer that left an ink stain on the familys carpet. He also fixed an iPod that Apple technicians said was beyond repair.

I just like building things, taking things apart and figuring out how things work, Tariq said.

Tariq, who aspires to study computers or engineering in college, said it was a tour of the Arlington Career Center  which has a television studio, an auto body repair shop and an engineering class with a 3-D printer  that really sold him. He was particularly impressed with the solar-powered cellphone chargers students had made themselves.

They have a lot of really cool equipment there, Tariq said. Theyve already done really cool stuff.

His father, Jordan Thomas, said he grappled with the old stereotype of vocational education and worried it would not prepare Tariq for college. But then he learned that it could actually give Tariq a leg up with dual-enrollment courses that would allow him to earn college credit. Thomas said he was hesitant at first but was won over by his sons excitement to attend the program.

Some kids, they dont know what they want to do. They dont have a sense of focus and passion, Thomas said. Tariq does, and for him this is a way to kind of begin going down that path.
Students east of the Anacostia River will be able to enroll in a dual-language school in their neighborhood for the first time, as Houston Elementary, a low-performing school in Ward 7, will become a Spanish-language-immersion school starting next school year.

Dual-language options are in high demand in the District, with the 13 traditional public and charter elementary schools offering such programs attracting long waiting lists each year. The addition of Houston to the roster of the citys dual-language programs is a victory for education advocates, who have long argued that students across socioeconomic levels do not have equal access to the programs benefits.

We look at these programs as a way to close the achievement gap, said Vanessa Bertelli, executive director of the D.C. Language Immersion Project, an advocacy group pushing to expand the citys language programs.

[Language-immersion programs are growing in D.C., but only west of the river]

During the 2016-2017 academic year, the 30 students in the pre-kindergarten class for 3-year-olds at Houston will spend half their academic time learning in Spanish, with the school incrementally expanding the program to a higher grade each year.

Houston will be one of the few dual-language programs in the city not located in neighborhoods with wealthy or Spanish-speaking populations.

About 75 percent of Houstons predominantly African American students are considered at risk  children who are homeless, in foster care, or qualify for food stamps  and just 20 percent of them are considered proficient in reading.

School officials think the broad benefits that foreign-language programs can have on students cognitive abilities will make the program a perfect fit for Houston.

There is something that happens in a brain of a child thats learning in two languages. They develop a greater awareness of how language works. They develop flexibility, said Katarina Brito, the bilingual program developer at D.C. Public Schools. Rather than think of remediation  how do we get kids to catch up  we recognize that acceleration and creativity are better ways.

Brito referenced a 2010 George Mason University study that found that math and reading test scores improved among students who participate in dual-language programs. Other studies indicate that the success of such programs hinges on how effective the bilingual teachers are in the classroom, and bilingual teachers can carry high salaries.

[Waiting-list numbers are up for District school]

Rembert Seaward, Houstons principal, said the school has a pre-kindergarten teacher for 3-year-olds who is bilingual and will teach the Spanish class next year.

Seaward said students will switch their language each day, taking classes in Spanish one day and classes in English the following day with a different teacher.

Different languages are already a part of America, Seaward said, adding that bilingualism will help students job prospects later in life. I believe if we give our kids the opportunity to learn a second language, its not a very heavy lift. We just need to give them the opportunity.

All students at Houston  which draws 68 percent of its students from the surrounding neighborhood in Northeast  will be required to participate in the dual-language program.

Tyler Elementary on Capitol Hill  currently the only dual-language school in the D.C. Public Schools system in a non-Spanish-speaking neighborhood  has both a dual-language Spanish track and a regular track, which integrates fine arts into the curriculum. There was a 233-person waiting list for Tylers Spanish program for the 2015-2016 school year, according to the system.

School officials say that Tylers academic performance has improved since the addition of the foreign-language immersion program more than 10 years ago. Forty-five percent of the schools students are proficient in reading, and 3 percent are considered advanced, according to standardized test assessments.

Bertelli, of the D.C. Language Immersion Project, said the program has attracted higher-income families to Tyler, resulting in different racial and socioeconomic demographics between the two tracks at the school. The D.C. school system declined to provide data showing the difference in test scores for Tyler students enrolled in the dual-language program and those who are not.

There is a perception that if a child doesnt have issues with reading or with their family homes, then that child will benefit more from a dual language, Bertelli said. We know that is not the case.

Seaward said he had to talk to parents and ensure they were on board with the changes ahead of bringing the Spanish program to Houston.

Parents are excited, theyre really excited, he said, adding that parents want their children to have every option available to them. Every parent wants their child to have an education. Its not either-or for parents, its both. I want a standard education and foreign language. 
In this file photo, Eugene Lang, New York businessman who founded the I Have a Dream Foundation in 1980 and Stewart Bainum, Sr., founder of Manor Care Inc., the sponsor of 67 college bound students at Kramer Junior High School in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 12, 1988. Bainum, a prominent Washington businessman and philanthropist, died in 2014 at age 94

[Obituary: Stewart W. Bainum Sr.]

The success of the program is difficult to measure. Just six of the 67 students from Southeast graduated from college within six years of receiving their high school diploma. But, as the documentary shows, success has complex definitions.

Antwan Green  one of the Dreamers featured in the film who lived in a homeless shelter as a teen and landed in jail for selling drugs  didnt make it to college, but his son already has a masters degree and is on his way to a PhD. Yates, who now lives in Ward 7s Hillcrest neighborhood, is on track to graduating from college in May with a nursing degree and her son lived in a dorm during his first year of college. Her once crack-addicted mother is now a drug abuse counselor. Another student, Tenille Warren, also is slated to graduate from college in May.



A Kramer Middle School classroom in 1991, as featured in Southeast 67, a documentary film on the 67 Washington, D.C. middle-schoolers who were offered a college scholarship if they finished high school. (Nancy Andrews/The Washington Post via Southeast 67)

People like Martece, who was offered a full ride to go to college and had a baby when she was 18 and didnt go  people like her can be caricatured. People like Antwan, who sold drugs and was in prison, can be caricatured, said Bumbaugh, who still keeps up with many of the Dreamers regularly. It is so rare for people outside of low-income black communities to get an authentic view into their lives, particularly in a way that treats them as fully formed human beings. And I think this film is able to do that.

The 71-minute documentary was initially part of an anniversary project and wasnt envisioned as a full documentary at first. Betsy Cox, the director and producer of Southeast 67, moved to D.C. after college and worked with an arts program that was involved with a Dreamer class in the city. She now works as a filmmaker, and Bainums family foundation contacted her a few years ago to film some of the Southeast students stories to commemorate their 20 years since high school graduation.

Cox started filming the testimonies, found them compelling, and decided there was enough material for a full-length film.

The documentary includes footage of Anacostia and the students during the 1980s and 1990s, which Cox tracked down from a British filmmaker who had shot hours of footage for a film on inequality that was never made. The rest of the film includes present-day interviews with the students, Bumbaugh, Phyllis Rumbarger  the second teacher in the program  and a brief interview with Bainum before his death in 2014.

I had such an affinity with the Dreamer program. I think it is rare to follow a group of students into adulthood, Cox said. It takes us years to process the impact of any specific thing that happened in our life.



Group photo of Kramer's "I Have A Dream" program with donor Stewart Bainum in 1988 at the Washington, D.C. school. (Southeast 67)
THE DISTRICT

Shooting victim is identied

D.C. police have identified Noel Rezene, 26, of Northwest Washington as the man fatally shot Friday near the emergency room area at United Medical Center and said an arrest has been made.

The incident began just before 3 p.m., when officers noticed a vehicle parked near the ER with its passenger-side window shattered, police said. Officers found a man and a woman in the vehicle who were shot multiple times.

About the same time, police were dispatched to the 3300 block of 23rd Street SE for a report of a shooting. They said they learned that the two victims at the hospital had been involved in the shooting on 23rd Street. The woman survived and was hospitalized.

On Saturday, police said they arrested Tavon Moore, 26, of Southeast and charged him with second-degree murder while armed .

 Dana Hedgpeth

MARYLAND

Labor union backs Ivey for Congress

One of the largest retail labor unions in suburban Washington on Monday endorsed former Prince Georges County states attorney Glenn F. Ivey in the race to succeed Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) in Marylands 4th Congressional District.

The Prince Georges-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which has 2,500 members in the district, said Ivey is the best-equipped candidate to help working- and middle-class families.

The union has endorsed Edwards over Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in the primary race for U.S. Senate. It endorsed state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery) in the contest to succeed Van Hollen in the House.

The primary is April 26.

 Arelis R. Hernandez

One dead, one injured in Landover stabbing

A 23-year-old woman was fatally stabbed Monday in Prince Georges County, and a man was arrested in connection with her death, county police said.

They said Santa Lizama of Landover was killed just before 3 a.m. in the 3100 block of 75th Avenue in Landover. Daniel Leonard Weste, 23, of Alice Avenue in Oxon Hill, was charged with murder, the police said.

They said the victim and the suspect were in a romantic relationship.

Another person was stabbed in the incident. She was taken to a hospital with wounds that were not life-threatening, police said.

 Victoria St. Martin and Martin Weil

VIRGINIA

Fourth arrest made in Manassas killing

A fourth person has been arrested in the killing of a man whose remains were found in mid-January in Manassas.

Police in Prince William County said Kevin Wilfredo Vasquez Henriquez, 21, of no fixed address was charged with murder in the killing of Oscar Rene Andrade, 29.

 Dana Hedgpeth

Student activists occupy state building

Environmental activists refused to leave the lobby of the state environmental regulatory agency for three hours Monday as part of a protest against Dominion Virginia Powers plans to release treated coal-ash water into waterways. Its the latest backlash to Dominions plans to get rid of coal-ash residue held in five ponds at the utilitys power plant at Possum Point in Dumfries in Northern Virginia.

Dozens of students from campuses across Virginia traveled to Richmond two days ahead of a discharge permit taking effect Wednesday. About 30 of them entered the lobby of the Department of Environmental Qualitys office, while others stood outside with banners accusing the utility of poisoning waters with the agencys help.

Three hours later, about half of the students inside the blocked-off building left. The others left holding court summonses on trespassing charges.
BLOOD DONATIONS

BLOOD DRIVES Thursday 3-7 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., Ashburn, 866-256-6372; March 14, 2-7:30 p.m., Village at Leesburg, 1603 Village Market Blvd., Suite 100, Leesburg, 800-733-2767.

INOVA BLOOD DONOR CENTER Mondays noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fridays 6 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. Dulles Town Center, 45745 Nokes Blvd., Sterling. 866-256-6372 or inova.org/donateblood.

FIRST AID

FIRST AID/ADULT, INFANT AND CHILD CPR/AED March 19, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Medical Office Building, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $85. Registration required.

HEARING

DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER Technical assistance through the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and presentations to businesses, civic groups and schools. Third Tuesdays 2-5 p.m., Workplace, 205 Keith St., Warrenton. Call for an appointment, 800-648-6324; TDD, 540-373-5890. Free.

FREE HEARING TESTS Age 18 and older. Mondays-Thursdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. 703-858-7620. Registration required.

HEARING LOSS, TINNITUS AND MENIERES SYNDROME SUPPORT For all ages, including parents of children with hearing loss. First Fridays 2 p.m., Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2906.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING Age 18 and older, second Tuesdays 10 a.m., Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400.

HEARING LOSS OUTREACH Free referrals. Fourth Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Loudoun County Workforce Center, 102 Heritage Way, Leesburg; third Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Free appointments: 703-430-2906 or nvrcloudoun@aol.com.

MENTAL HEALTH

COUNSELING FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE SURVIVORS Provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice. 703-771-9020.

CRISISLINK Suicide and crisis intervention. The organization provides community education, has a volunteer crisis response team and offers CareRing, a daily telephone outreach program for the elderly and disabled. 703-527-6016, volunteer@crisislink.org or crisislink.org.

PIEDMONT CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS Serves Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Support group, education classes and events for people living with mental illness, plus their family members. First Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, 500 Hospital Dr., Sycamore Room A, Warrenton. 571-426-8213.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS A support group, classes and programs for people living with mental illness and their family members. For information, go to naminorthernvirginia.org.

PREGNANCY, PARENTING

ADOPTIVE FAMILY PRESERVATION Adoptive families discuss common experiences; registration required. Third Tuesdays 12:30-2 p.m. Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd. Call 703-941-9008, Ext. 23, or email jmellerio@umfs.org.

BIRTHRIGHT OF LOUDOUN COUNTY Free pregnancy tests, baby clothing, transportation and support throughout pregnancy, 823 S. King St., Leesburg. 703-777-7272.

BOND BETWEEN US Nonprofit group offers support to birth parents when children have been placed for adoption. Fourth Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Call for location. 703-771-7844.

BREASTFEEDING MADE SIMPLE Monday 6-8:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $25. Register.

BREAST-FEEDING SUPPORT Mondays 9:30-10:30 a.m., Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588.

DAD SUPPORT New and expectant fathers share ideas. First Tuesdays 7 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. 703-858-6360.

FOR THE CHILDRENS SAKE A group for separating or divorcing parents to share advice. Four-hour session weekly. Information : 703-391-8599 or fitsfoundation.org.

LA LECHE LEAGUE Mother-to-mother support and breast-feeding information. 10 a.m. second Wednesdays in Warrenton, 540-351-6103. Third Fridays 10:15-11:45 a.m., call for location, 703-444-7386. Fourth Mondays 10 a.m. Healthworks of Northern Virginia, 163 Fort Evans Rd., Leesburg, 703-728-9282; Second Fridays 10:15 a.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., 703-431-3852; Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Panera Bread, 43670 Greenway Corp. Dr., Ashburn, email lllashburn@gmail.com. Third Fridays 10:15 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 46833 Harry F. Byrd. Hwy., Sterling, 540-338-4637.

LOUDOUN FATHERHOOD PROGRAM Fathers discuss the joys and challenges of being a parent. Meets every other Saturday for two hours for four months; sponsored by Northern Virginia Family Service. 571-748-2796. Free.

LOUDOUN NURTURING PARENTING PROGRAM Positive parenting techniques; children attend with parents. Registration required. Call 703-771-3973, Ext. 27, or email nurturingprogram@lcsj.org . Free.

MOTHERNET/HEALTHY FAMILIES LOUDOUN Program links first-time parents with medical, social and educational resources to give children a socially and physically healthy start in life. Family support workers meet with participants in homes. English-Spanish translation provided. 703-444-4477, Ext. 217, or inmed.org .

NEW MOTHERS SUPPORT Wednesdays 9:30-11:30 a.m. Inova Loudoun Medical Pavilion, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg, main entrance. Babies welcome. 703-858-6360.

YOUNG PARENT SERVICES Support for teenage parents. Loudoun County Department of Family Social Services, 52 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg. Call for times. 703-771-5375.

ONLINE CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION PROGRAM Inova Loudoun Hospitals Web-based program uses animation, videos and interactive activities to guide users through the basics of childbirth, breast-feeding and caring for newborns. 703-858-6360. thebirthinginn.org/classes.

PARENTING ALONE GROUP For parents of school-age children who have lost a spouse or partner to cancer. Second Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-698-2536 or email jennifer.eckert@inova.org .

PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH SUPPORT Childbirth Solutions Resource Center, 8393 W. Main St., Marshall. 571-344-0438.

SENIORS

AGING IN PLACE Learn about affordable and practical ways to ensusre that your home is ready for you as you age. March 15, 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-829-6405. Free.

EXERCISE EQUIPMENT Weights, treadmills, bikes and a cardio-glide. Instruction provided. Age 55 and older. Weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

EYE CARE LensCrafters staff members will clean glasses and make minor repairs. Second Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2397. Free.

FITNESS FOR PEOPLE 55 AND OLDER Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 1-1:45 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400. $36, 12-visit card.

INOVA LOUDOUN MOBILE VAN Blood pressure checks. Second and fourth Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling, 571-258-3280; first Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

LAUGHING YOGA FOR SENIORS I mprove flexibility and balance. Thursdays 9:30-10 :30 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

LOUDOUN ADULT DAY CENTERS For seniors with physical limitations or memory loss, a safe and social environment, therapeutic activities, individualized care and respite for caregivers. Limited transportation. Sliding-scale fees. Weekdays in Leesburg, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 703-771-5334; Purcellville, 571-258-3402; and Ashburn-Sterling, 571-258-3232.

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID BENEFITS COUNSELING Thursday 1-3 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. Free. Registration required.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Senior Center at Cascades. First and third Wednesdays 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Sign up in the Leesburg Senior Center lobby. Second and fourth Thursdays 11 a.m.-noon and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Carver Center. First and third Mondays, 12:30-5 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 703-737-8741. Free.

ZUMBA GOLD CLASS: For people 55 and older who are learning Zumba for the first time, or those who prefer a lower-impact version. The fitness program combines Latin and international music with dance.Thursdays 11 a.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. $12.

TAI CHI Stretching and strengthening movements. Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

ZUMBA GOLD CLASS Age 55 and older. Wear rubber-soled shoes and comfortable clothing; bring water and a towel. Tuesdays 11 a.m., Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m. Senior Center of Leesburg, 102 North St. NW, Leesburg. 703-737-8039. $24 per month.

SUPPORT GROUPS

AL-ANON SERVICE CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA A volunteer is available 24 hours with information for spouses, family members and friends of problem drinkers. 703-534-4357 or 877-339-8350. Mondays 8 p.m. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 125 W. Washington St., Middleburg, 540-554-2747; Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 877-339-8350; Fridays 8:30 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, 6507 Main St., The Plains, 800-344-2666; Tuesdays 12:15 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, Route 29 N., 540-347-7448; Tuesdays 7 p.m. and Saturdays 8:30 p.m. Warrenton Presbyterian Church, 91 Main St., 800-344-2666.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Various meeting times and locations in Loudoun County. 800-208-8649 or 703-876-6166. nvintergroup.org.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT For those who care for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Fourth Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m. The Villa at Suffield Meadows, 6735 Suffield Lane, Warrenton. 540-316-3800.

ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. Spring Arbor Assisted Living, 237 Fairview St. NW, Leesburg. 540-338-6520.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVERS SUPPORT For those caring for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Second Mondays 7-8:30 p.m. Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-430-9229. galileeumc.org.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT Emotional, educational and social support for family members and friends of people with the disease. Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. Call 703-771-5407 or email lesley.katz@loudoun.gov.

ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Wednesdays 4 p.m. Leesburg Adult Day Center, 16501 Meadowview Ct., Leesburg. 703-771-5334.

TALK ABOUT CURING AUTISM A nonprofit organization educating and supporting families affected by autism. tacanow.org.

AUTOIMMUNE SUPPORT Last Thursdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jackson Building, 209 Gibson St., Leesburg. Email autoimmunesupport@hotmail.com .

BEREAVED PARENT SUPPORT One-on-one counseling is available. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv.

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT For those experiencing loss because of the death of a loved one. Age 18 and older. Third Mondays 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-957-1800.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT Fourth Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Tower, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-0588.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those with new diagnoses or starting treatment. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those who have finished treatment, have had a recurrence or metastatic breast cancer. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Free.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT ASSISTANCE FUND Loudoun County residents who have received a diagnosis or have undergone treatment in the past 12 months are eligible to apply for financial assistance. Areas included are wigs, bras, puffs and prostheses, mammograms and medical bills, food and help with utilities, rent or mortgage, and transportation costs. The Pink Assistance Fund has been established by the Loudoun Breast Health Network. lbhn.org.

CANCER SUPPORT Oncology nurses, social workers and spiritual care providers offer education and support to patients, families and caregivers. Second Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2273.

CANCER SUPPORT Life with Cancer, for patients, family members and friends. Second Thursdays 7 p.m. Ashburn Presbyterian Church, Room 202, 20962 Ashburn Rd. 703-729-2012. ashburnpresbyterian.org.

CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. 703-771-5407. alz.org/nca.

CAREGIVER SUPPORT AND RESOURCE GROUP Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-noon (no meeting first Wednesdays), Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv.

CARING FOR AGING PARENTS Support group. Confidential. Fourth Wednesdays 7:30 p.m., Family Focus Counseling Service, 20-B John Marshall St., Warrenton. 540-349-4537.

CHADD PARENTS SUPPORT For parents of children with ADD/ADHD. Fourth Sundays 3 p.m. KinderCare, 44051 Ashburn Village Shopping Plaza. chadd.nova loudoun@gmail. com .

CHRONIC ILLNESS SUPPORT Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 a.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministries, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv.

COFFEE AND CONVERSATION: Support for those discouraged because of illness, bereavement, caregiving or a loved one in the military. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS For parents who have experienced the death of a child. First Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg. 540-882-9707.

CREATING AND CONNECTING Two-hour art therapy and relaxation workshop for cancer patients. Every other month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-858-8850.

DEPRESSION BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCE OF WESTERN LOUDOUN Saturdays 3 p.m. Purcellville Library, 220 E. Main St., Carruthers Room. Call 703-431-7160 or email kathy@dbsanca.org.

DROP-IN GRIEF SUPPORT For those coping with a death. Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. St. Davids Episcopal Church, 43600 Russell Branch Pkwy., Ashburn. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-597-1781.

GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER YOUTH AND PARENT SUPPORT A group in partnership with Metro DC PFLAG. Fourth Sundays 4-6 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 22135 Davis Dr., Sterling . 703-328-6518.

GRIEFSHARE Open to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one. Tue sdays from 7-8:30 p.m. Purcellville Baptist Church, 601 Yaxley Dr., Purcellville. Call 540-338-0918 or email caring@purbap.org. Workbook, $15.

GRIEFSHARE Nondenominational seminar and support group. Tuesdays 7:30-9 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free.

GRIEF SUPPORT Sponsored by Hospice Support of Fauquier County. Individual counseling available. First and third Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m. Hospice Support Office, 42 N. Fifth St., Warrenton. Registration required. Call 540-347-5922 or email hospicesupport@verizon.net.

GRIEF SUPPORT Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

HOSPICE SUPPORT Free medical-equipment loan facility for Fauquier County residents. Especially needed are donations of wheelchairs, bedside commodes, rolling walkers, electric hospital beds, shower benches and chairs, adult diapers, lift chairs, Ensure and hospital bed mattresses. 540-347-5922.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL BETTER For women undergoing or emerging from cancer treatment. Every other month, 6:45 to 9 p.m. ,Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-776-2820. Free.

LOUDOUN CHADD SUPPORT Led by Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Leesburg Town Hall, lower-level conference room, 25 W. Market St. 703-669-2445.

LOUDOUN INTERGROUP OF OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS Fellowship and support. For locations and times, call 571-420-2012. oa.org.

LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Fourth Sundays 2-4 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Conference Room A and B, Leesburg. Go to natcaplyme.org or email loudounlymeadvocates@gmail.com.

LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, 6398 Lee Hwy. Access Road, Warrenton. 540-347-7265 or email lymeinfauquier@gmail.com. Free.

MADD LOUDOUN VICTIM SUPPORT For those who have been affected by drunken driving. Third Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. 210 Wirt St., Leesburg. 540-338-6491.

MAN-TO-MAN CANCER SUPPORT Sponsored by Loudoun Cancer Care Center, for prostate cancer patients and their families. Second Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Call 703-858-8857 or email karen.archer@inova.org.

MENOPAUSE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 6:30-9 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (second floor, Patient Education Room). 703-858-8060.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-2826.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Last Sundays 2-4 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. 703-771-4256.

NAR-ANON FAMILY SUPPORT For those affected by loved ones with addiction. Meaningful Mondays, 7-8 p.m., Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-203-9792; Wisdom Wednesdays 7-8 p.m., St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct., Purcellville, 703-606-7125; Serenity Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. Leesburg Presbyterian Church, 207 W. Market St., Leesburg, 703-606-7125.

PARKINSON'S SUPPORT Open to anyone with Parkinson's disease, family members and caregivers. First Tuesdays 1:30-3 p.m. Call for Ashburn location. 571-442-8851.

POST-PARTUM SUPPORT Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Cornwall Campus, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. 703-909-9877. Email lamckeough@gmail.com. Registration required.

REACH TO RECOVERY Home visit program for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. Temporary prostheses, exercise instruction and encouragement. 703-938-5550.

SEXUAL ASSAULT AND INCEST SURVIVORS GROUP COUNSELING Services provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice and the Loudoun Abused Womens Shelter are free and confidential. 703-771-9020.

SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS EMPOWERMENT SUPPORT Sponsored by Sexual Assault Victims Volunteer Initiative. Child care available with 48-hours notice. Mondays; call for times and locations. 540-349-7720.

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT GROUP For cancer patients, family members and friends. Third Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8850.

STROKE SURVIVORS AND CAREGIVERS SUPPORT Second Wednesdays 11 a.m.-noon, Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second floor, Patient Education Room. 703-858-6667 or robyn.thomson@inova.org.

SUICIDE COUNSELING Third Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Leesburg Town Office, Conference Room 2, lower level, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg. 703-587-1618 or survivorsofsuicidelossleesburg@gmail.com.

WOMENS SUPPORT Sponsored by Services to Abused Families. Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Confidential location. 540-825-8876.

WIDOW AND WIDOWER SUPPORT Third Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

WOMENS CANCER SUPPORT Woman to Woman, first Wednesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Registration required. 703-858-8850.

MISCELLANEOUS

BRAIN TRAUMA SURVIVORS BROWN BAG LUNCH For survivors and caregivers, first Tuesdays, noon-1:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second-floor Patient Education Room. Call 703-737-3150 or email jberg@braininjurysvcs.org. Free.

CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENINGS For ages 2-5. Children may not be kindergarten-age-eligible. Sponsored by the Loudoun County public schools Child Find Center. 571-252 - 2180.

CHOLESTEROL SCREENINGS Weekdays 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Fauquier Health LIFE Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2640. Registration required. $35.

EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES Loudoun residents who are in need can receive a free three-day supply of groceries. Supplies are distributed Mondays through Saturdays by Loudoun Interfaith Relief. 703-777-5911. interfaithrelief.org.

FAUQUIER FREE WALK-IN MEDICAL CLINIC Patients must call Thursdays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. to register for the clinic, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Patients are also seen by appointment Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fauquier and Rappahannock residents only. Bring proof of address for the first visit. Patients cannot have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. Information: 540-347-0394 Tuesdays or Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

FAUQUIER HOSPITAL BISTRO SENIOR SUPPER CLUB Nutritious meals and fellowship for people 55 and older. Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro on the Hill, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $5.47.

GAMERS UNION FOR TEENS WITH ASPERGERS Youths 12 to 21 interact through gaming; their caregivers meet for networking. Second Tuesdays 6 p.m. Rust Library, 380 Old Waterford Rd., Leesburg. 703-777-0323. Free.

HEROES (Hometown Enabling Relationships, Opportunities and Empowerment through Support) is a program for military families. A trained volunteer provides support to military members and their families, from pre-deployment up to two years post-deployment. Assistance includes financial help, job placement, family care and mental health services. heroesca re.org or email caring@purbap.org .

INOVA LOUDOUN HOSPITAL MOBILE HEALTH SERVICES BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENINGS Monday 9-11:30 a.m. William Watters House, 22365 Enterprise St., Sterling; Tuesday 9 a.m.-noon Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling; Thursday 10 a.m.-noon Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville; March 17, 11 a.m.-noon Lovettsville Community Center, 57 E. Broad Way, Lovettsville; March 21, 9-11:30 a.m. William Watters House, 22365 Enterprise St., Sterling. Information: 703-858-8818 or inova.org/mobilehealth. Free.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA ONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN Call for help in resolving complaints related to long-term-care facilities. 703-324-5861.

MOTOR SKILL SCREENINGS Birth to 21 months. First Thursdays, Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. Call for an appointment. 703-858-7620. Free.

ROAD TO RECOVERY, for cancer patients who need rides to appointments. 410-781-6909. Email jen.burdette@cancer.org. Free.

SEVEN LOAVES FOOD PANTRY Individuals and families can receive a three-day supply of food, distributed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10 a.m.-noon. 540-687-3489 or sevenloavesmiddleburg.org.

STROKE AND TIA COMMUNITY LECTURE Wednesday 7 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton.

TREE OF LIFE FOOD PANTRY Serving western Loudoun County. Food is delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays. 703-554-3595.

 Compiled by Sandy Mauck

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Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar
Supporters of the 101-year-old Manassas water tower won a major victory last month when the city council unanimously rejected an appeal that would have led to its demolition.

Instead, the council voted Feb. 22 to uphold the Manassas Architectural Review Boards ruling protecting the water tower. The council also authorized Mayor Harry J. Hal Parish II (R) to send a letter to state and federal agencies supporting a local preservation groups efforts to have the structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The City of Manassas Water and Sewer Department had appealed the review boards ruling, urging demolition of the tower because it supplies little of the citys water and requires costly maintenance. Tony Dawood, the citys director of utilities, estimated that routine maintenance of the structure would cost about $100,000 over 15 to 20 years.

The council had voted in July to postpone a decision on the tower until the Virginia Department of Historic Resources State Review Board indicated whether it would be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Planner Allison Whitworth reported to the council that the state board had determined that the water tower did meet the criteria.

The Manassas City Council rejected an appeal that would have led to the demolition of the towns 101-year-old water tower. Despite the vote, the ultimate fate of the structure remains uncertain. (Jm Barnes/For The Washington Post)

Council member Jonathan L. Way (R) said that the preservation group had raised several thousand dollars, and that inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places would help them seek additional grants and donations.

Council member Ken D. Elston (D) reminded the other members about the priorities we say we have for the city  of place, community and a unique, authentic nature of the city. And it seems to me that the water tower does fall into each of those categories.

Despite the vote, the ultimate fate of the structure remains uncertain.

Whitworth said that a listing on the National Register would not prevent transfer or demolition of the structure if no federal funds are used on the project.

As part of the unanimous motion, the council referred the issue to its land use committee for further discussion.

I think its important that we sit down and have a measured discussion with regard to this issue and lay out all of the alternatives, and, without prejudging the final decision, come up with the right, best, appropriate decision for the community at large, council member Mark D. Wolfe (R) said.

Stephen Hersch, a fifth-generation Manassas resident who has been leading the preservation effort, expressed gratitude for the councils show of support.

Our whole group felt a great sense of happiness and relief, he said after the vote.

Hersch is president of the Manassas Historic Landmarks Preservation Corporation, a nonprofit group formed last year to raise funds to save the water tower.

At the request of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the group commissioned a survey of all the water storage facilities in Northern Virginia last fall, he said.

That revealed that the Manassas water tower, built in 1914, is the oldest working water storage facility of any kind in the region, Hersch said.

According to the survey, only three pre-World War II water towers with a hemispherical bottom are still standing in Northern Virginia, and the Manassas tower is the only one that is in excellent condition and not covered with antennas for cellphones, Hersch said.

There are communities building replica water towers in replica town centers, not just for use as cell towers, but just for the purpose of creating a sense of place, Hersch said. And here we have a real town center and a real water tower, and we need to start to think of it as a resource and not just as a liability.

On Feb. 26, the preservation group submitted a preliminary National Register nomination package to the state, accompanied by the letter of support from the city, Hersch said.

The National Park Service could decide on inclusion of the water tower on the National Register of Historic Places this summer, he said.
Virginia student environmental activists refused to leave the lobby of the state environmental regulatory agency for three hours Monday as part of a protest against Dominion Virginia Powers plans to release treated coal-ash water into waterways.

Its the latest backlash to Dominions plans to get rid of coal-ash residue held in five ponds at the utilitys power plant at Possum Point in Dumfries in Northern Virginia.

Dozens of students from campuses across Virginia, organized by a student environmental coalition, traveled to Richmond two days ahead of a discharge permit taking effect Wednesday.

About 30 students entered the lobby of the Department of Environmental Qualitys Richmond office Monday morning, while others stood outside with banners accusing the utility of poisoning waters with the agencys help.

Three hours later, about half of the students inside the blocked-off building left voluntarily. The others left holding court summonses on trespassing charges.

Prince William County and the state of Maryland are trying to block a permit issued by Virginia regulators in January to release about 215 million gallons of treated coal-ash water into Quantico Creek, a Potomac River tributary.
Glenn Ivey (right) speaking at the 4th Congressional District candidates forum held at Bowie State University. Ivey was endorsed on Monday by UFCW Local 400, one of the largest retail unions in the Washington region. On the left is fellow candidate and former Md. lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post)

One of the largest retail labor unions in suburban Washington on Monday endorsed former Prince George's County states attorney Glenn F. Ivey in the race to succeed Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) in Marylands 4th Congressional district.

The Prince Georges-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which has 2,500 members in the 4th, said Ivey is the best-equipped candidate to help working- and middle-class families.

In a time when Congress just isnt working for our families, we know Glenn Ivey is the champion we need to raise wages, create jobs and expand vital middle-class programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, said Mark Federici, President of UFCW Local 400, in a statement.

The union has endorsed Edwards over Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in the primary race for Senate. It endorsed state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery) in the contest to succeed Van Hollen in the House.

The primary is April 26.

In the 4th, Ivey has led the field in fundraising. An internal poll his campaign released earlier this year suggested that he is closing the gap in name recognition with primary rival and former Maryland lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown .

The other primary candidates are Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince Georges), military veterans Warren Christopher and Terence Strait and retired U.S. Marshal Matthew Fogg.

Pena-Melnyk, who is second in fundraising behind Ivey, announced support last week from labor unions representing bricklayers and painters in the metropolitan region.

Roxana Mejia, political action director for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades 51st District Council, said their 1,400-member strong organization will be supporting the delegate financially and with feet on the street.
Wine retailer David Trone, who is self-funding his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Marylands 8th District, earned at least $14 million in salary and income from partnerships and investments in 2015, according to a financial disclosure report filed with the House of Representatives.

The report sharpens the picture of deep wealth in the top tier of the primary race, in which nine Democrats are vying to succeed incumbent Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is running for the Senate. Trone has already spent several million of his own dollars for television and radio ads and direct mail in the district, which includes much of affluent Montgomery County.

Former news anchor and Marriott executive Kathleen Matthews and her husband, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews, reported assets of between $22.5 million and $61.3 million in 2014, the last full year before she became a candidate. Income from stocks and other investments was between $526,000 and $1.2 million. Kathleen Matthews earned $1.4 million in salary in 2014 as Marriotts chief of global communications and public affairs officer. Her disclosure statement does not include her husbands salary.

A third candidate in the field, state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin, reported that he and his wife, Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin, had assets of between $2.8 million and $6.8 million. Raskin, Matthews and other candidates submitted their disclosures before Trone, who had more time because he filed for candidacy just before the Feb. 3 deadline.

[High-earning candidates in wealthy Montgomery County]

Trone, co-owner of Total Wine & More, a national chain of 132 big-box liquor stores, earned just over $1 million in salary as president of Retail Services & Systems, the Bethesda-based parent company for 31 subsidiaries that operate stores in Delaware, Virginia and North and South Carolina.

The lions share of his reported earnings are in the form of partnership and other income from 70 retail stores for which he is listed as co-manager or president. Income from the holdings, along with dividends and interest from other investments, came to between $12.7 million and $26.4 million in 2015, according to a Washington Post analysis of his disclosure form.

The total value of assets  some of which are held by his wife, June Trone  are between $17 million and $68.5 million, according to the information filed. Federal financial disclosure rules allow assets and income to be reported within broad ranges.

Among Trones biggest sources of reported income was over $5 million in 2015 as president of Cherry Hill Wine & Spirits, which operates two stores in New Jersey. A store in Towson, Md., operated by TFWS, which lists Trone as president, also generates income in the over $5 million category.

Trone listed between $1 million and $5 million in partnership income from each of two companies: DRT Wine & Spirits, which operates a store in Bloomington, Minn., and Florida Fine Wine & Spirits, which operates 26 stores in that state. Trone serves as co-manager and president of both entities.

In all, Trone reported income from 11 companies that operated at least 70 Total Wine stores. But he reported no income from another 36 companies, listed in another section of the form, where he is a director, president or co-manager. It was not clear how many stores are operated by those firms.

[For candidates, tough questions from Leisure World Democrats]

Trone communications director Mary Werden said the campaign had no comment on the particulars of the report, which was filed late Friday, in advance of the legal deadline, which is 30 days prior to the April 26 primary.

Trone listed as his sole liability a personal loan of between $1 million and $5 million he received from TFWS in July 2002. The only information about the two homes listed  one in Potomac and the other on Lake Meade in East Berlin, Pa., was that each was in a qualified personal residence trust. Such trusts are generally used as estate planning instruments to limit tax liabilities.

The Potomac home is assessed at $2.4 million, according to City Data. The lake house is assessed at $1.4 million.

Trone is also listed as a trustee of the David and June Trone Family Foundation Trust, which reported $4 million in assets in 2013, according to the Guidestar, a database of financial information about nonprofit organizations. The Trones donated $15 million to the American Civil Liberties Union late last year to fund a center to study criminal justice reform.
Esther Siegel, who lives in Takoma Park, drove 60 miles into northern Frederick County this past weekend to put her question to the Democratic candidates for the 8th District congressional nomination.

More specifically, it was to the six candidates  out of a field of nine  who have never held elective office: David Anderson, Dan Bolling, Will Jawando, Kathleen Matthews, Joel Rubin and David Trone. Why, Siegel wanted to know, did these hopefuls think Congress was an entry-level position for people without legislative experience?

If youve decided that you want to be an elected public servant at this stage of your lives, why are you not running for County Council . . . or even state senator? she asked.

The candidates had plenty to say.

Anderson, a nonprofit executive who pursues state and federal funding for college scholarships and internships, said first-time officeholders comprise about half of Congress.

Theres nothing unusual about someone running for a House seat who had not served, he told an afternoon forum Saturday at Thurmont Regional Library. Quite frankly, many people think we have enough career politicians and millionaires on Capitol Hill.

[In wealthy Montgomery, some one-percenter Congressional candidates]

A study of the 114th Congress by the Congressional Research Service found that 223 of 435 members are either former state or territorial legislators. There is also a sprinkling of ex-mayors, lieutenant governors and at least one governor. On the Senate side, just eight of 100 members are new to office.

Bolling, a former biotech executive, said structural fixes to Congress are needed. He favors removing parties from the legislative process.

Jawando, a former aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), said Hill experience is more useful than prior legislative service because staff members do a lot of the work. (The Congressional Research Service study said 81 former aides are serving in the House.)

My goal is impact, and I think I have a nice set of skills, Jawando said.

Matthews, a former news anchor and Marriott executive, said theres no cookie-cutter resume that qualifies a person for Congress: We need broad experience. We need problem solvers. We need people who bring really diverse background.

She cited three women she admires who had no elective experience before running for the House or Senate: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and former senator and now presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Clinton was an activist first lady who participated in her husbands two presidential campaigns.)

[Md. 8th District candidates debate gerrymandering, money in politics]

Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state for House affairs, said his fights with Republicans as the State Departments liaison give him the right experience to do well on Capitol Hill. Moreover, he said, hes married to a Republican congressional aide, Nilmini Gunaratne Rubin, a senior adviser to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Every day I engage in diverse thinking and dialogue, Rubin said. Trust me. When I tell you there is Republican oversight, I know what I mean.

Trone, the self-funding wine retailer, strongly criticized professional politicians.

We cant let that half-percent that have chosen politics as their entire life rule America, he said. If all youve ever done is politics and all you care about is the next election and youre beholden to the special interests who are pulling America apart, thats not the America I want my kids to be growing up in.

By this point, Del. Kumar P. Barve, who has spent a quarter-century in the Maryland House of Delegates, had heard enough. Speaking for the other two office-holding candidates, Del. Ana Sol-Gutierrez and State Sen. Jamie B. Raskin, he reminded Trone that Maryland lawmakers have day jobs that are completely separate from politics. Barve works as chief financial officer for a Rockville environmental firm and said he could be earning a lot more if he werent in public office.

Listen, to denigrate me or someone else as being a career politician is to be ignorant of the kind of sacrifices I undertake, Barve said. I do it because I love public service and because I see the value in having one foot in each world.

Im in the private sector, as I have been my entire adult life, and Im a state legislator. And Im damn proud of it.

Siegel, who declined to say whom she supports in the Democratic primary, wasnt especially happy with the answers from those who havent held office.

She said the 8th District incumbent, Rep. Chris Van Hollen  who is giving up his seat to run for the U.S. Senate  was familiar to voters before he ran for Congress because of his four years in the House of Delegates and eight years in the state Senate.

We really know him. Theres a relationship, she said.
Attorneys for 8th Congressional District candidate David Trone say touch-screen machines should not be used since some candidate names do not fit on the screens first page. (Trone family photo)

Attorneys for congressional candidate David Trone are demanding that Maryland election officials overhaul the use of touch-screen machines that are to be used by disabled voters in the April primary  but are not programmed to display all candidates on a single screen.

The State Board of Elections voted last month to abandon these machines for general use in early voting because it is difficult to navigate long lists of candidates and could disadvantage those with last names at the end of the alphabet  including Trone, U.S. Senate candidate Chris Van Hollen (D) and GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Election officials are keeping the touch-screen machines available for voters with disabilities, including blind people, who cant easily use the alternative paper ballots that are being rolled out during early voting and the April 26 election.

[Maryland ditches voting machines that dont display all candidate names]

Trones campaign objected to elections officials continuing to sanction machines for disabled voters that it deemed unfit for general use.

Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine & More, appears as one of two names on the second page of a nine-person list for the Democratic nomination for the 8th Congressional District. Two of his key rivals in the race, state Sen. Jamie Raskin and former news anchor Kathleen Matthews, are on the first page.

His attorneys sent a letter Monday to the Board of Elections accusing the agency of violating a state law that requires large candidate lists to be divided into groups of equal size on ballots.

Election officials have said they did not have enough time to change the programming of the machines to display all of the candidates on one screen and secure the necessary federal approval before the primaries.

Any contention that it is too late to correct the glaring deficiencies with the (voting) machines rings false, attorneys Meryl Governski and Hampton Dellinger wrote in a letter to state elections officials.

The Trone campaign filed for a restraining order Friday to block Maryland from printing ballots, but abandoned that effort Monday. Instead, it is pushing for additional measures to limit the use of touch-screen machines and to clearly inform voters of the multiple pages of candidates.

State Board of Elections members approved additional restrictions on touch-screen machines Friday, but stood by the legality of how candidates appear on the screen.

We have a different view [of the law], and our attorneys are prepared to make that argument if we go to court, said Nikki Charlson, deputy elections administrator.

Trones attorneys said Van Hollen, fellow 8th District candidate Joel Rubin and Baltimore mayoral hopefuls Catherine Pugh and Carl Stokes have shared similar concerns about the machines.
Faced with the assignment of naming a new school, the Prince William County School Board did just that last week  but its members also decided to rename an existing school.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday to name the countys newest elementary school after Kyle R. Wilson, the only county firefighter to die in the line of duty, and to change the name of Godwin Middle School after philanthropist, veteran and retired educator George M. Hampton.

The move was a compromise introduced by board member Justin David Wilk (Potomac) after the panel failed, on successive 4-to-4 votes, to choose either Wilson or Hampton for the name of the elementary school, scheduled to open this fall.

Those two names emerged over the past few weeks as the communitys top choices, with supporters of each packing public meetings. But choosing from the alternatives made for a decision between honoring a lifetime of one kind of public service or a life cut short in carrying out another type of service.

So Wilk made his proposal.

Chris Wilson, left, and George M. Hampton at the Prince William County School Board meeting. An elementary school will be named after Wilsons late firefighter brother, Kyle. Godwin Middle School will be renamed for Hampton, a retired educator. (Jonathan Hunley/For The Washington Post)

He said it would ensure that a majority-minority middle school would not be named for a man he called a segregationist governor, Mills E. Godwin Jr. Instead, the school would honor Hampton, an African American educator whose children attended classes there.

The sound of applause filled the boards chamber at the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center as soon as Wilk spoke, and photographs of the board with the Hampton and Wilson families followed.

Its a very, very wise decision, board member Diane L. Raulston (Neabsco) said before the vote, because at this rate, nobody was going to win anything tonight.

The father of the first responder who lost his life in 2007 agreed.

I think thats . . . an awesome idea, Bob Wilson said of the compromise, which came less than a week after another line-of-duty death in Prince William. Three county police officers were shot Feb. 27, one fatally, in responding to a domestic dispute.

Like Bob Wilson, Hampton, a former college professor who holds a doctorate in education, was pleased with the arrangement.

I thought it was going to be black-and-white, the 87-year-old said outside Wednesdays meeting. It turned out to be gray.

A parent of two future Kyle R. Wilson Elementary students pointed out the importance of the schools location at Spriggs and Minnieville roads.

I feel that since he grew up so close to where the school is located, it is fitting that this school be named after him, Karen McKeown said in an email a day after the boards decision.

Although its ending was happy, Wednesdays board meeting saw tension.

As at a previous forum on the topic, tough talk about who was most worthy of a school name mixed with accolades about Kyle Wilson and Hampton. A few in the audience even laughed at board member William J. Deutsch (Coles) when he tried to make a point about community unity.

Some decried what they called a politicization of the naming process, as well. Hampton has donated more than $6,000 to Democratic candidates since 2000, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit group that tracks money in politics. He also contributed $200 to the campaign of Prince William School Board Vice Chairman Lillie G. Jessie (Occoquan) last year, VPAP reported. As a board candidate, Jessie ran as an independent but was endorsed by Democrats.

Jessie discounted the notion that Hamptons contribution swayed her, however. She said Thursday that she has been friends with him since the 1970s, and she noted that he was an unsuccessful candidate for school-naming twice before.

If he is buying influence, Jessie said, hes getting a poor return on investment.

Hampton also shrugged off concerns, saying he simply backs fellow Democrats.

Everybody donates, he said after Wednesdays vote.

Another financial matter, the cost of changing the name of Godwin in Dale City to Dr. George M. Hampton Middle School, quickly became a topic last week on a Facebook discussion group about county schools. Some commenters wondered whether the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Our school system has plenty of money to waste, obviously, one person wrote on the Our Schools PWC page.

An exact dollar figure for the switch was unavailable, county schools spokesman Phil Kavits said.

But Dave Cline, associate superintendent for finance and support services, said Wednesday that the cost to change just exterior features at the present-day Godwin could be $20,000.

Other school watchers debated whether Mills Godwin was being properly characterized by Wilk.

Godwin  who served as Virginias governor from 1966 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1978  had a history of opposing school integration, several people wrote on Our Schools PWC, but he also was later endorsed by the NAACP.
Neighborhood Watch training on Monday

Neighborhood Watch training by Prince William County polices Crime Prevention Unit will begin at 7 p.m. Monday at the Western District Police Station, 8900 Freedom Center Blvd., Manassas.

The free training is available to anyone interested in starting a program or those looking for additional training.

Topics will include crime reporting, emergency preparedness and watch patrol.

For information or to register, call 703-792-7270.

New Dominions Lint is named Principal of the Year

Michael Buddy Lint was recently named the Prince William County school systems Principal of the Year.

The recognition makes the principal of New Dominion Alternative Center a finalist in the The Washington Posts Principal of the Year recognition program.

The winner of that award will be announced next month.

Lint has been principal of New Dominion since 2010.

Delta Sigma Theta offers free finance workshop

The Prince William County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will host a free Financial Fortitude Workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 16 at the Realtor Association of Prince William, 4545 Daisy Reid Ave., Woodbridge.

The workshop aims to assist residents with various financial situations, including college preparation and retirement planning.

Franz Rodriquez, a financial planner with Wells Fargo, and John Mitchell, an insurance agent with Horace Mann Insurance, will share strategies on banking, credit, insurance coverage, student loan debt, debt forgiveness and retirement.

Go to pwcacdst.org or email pwcaceconomicdevelopment@

gmail.com.

SoberRide to be available for St. Patricks Day

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program will sponsor free cab rides on St. Patricks Day to curb drunken driving.

SoberRide will be in Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington counties, as well as the District, from 4 p.m. March 17 to 4 a.m. March 18.

Those needing the service can call 800-200-TAXI (8294) and get a free ride, up to what would be a $30 fare.

AT&T wireless customers can also dial #WRAP (9727).

Go to soberride.com for information.
Police investigating a fatal shooting Sunday in Southeast Washington said they found a gray minivan that had been stolen from a church and which detectives think was used in the attack.

The minivan is described as a gray Honda Odyssey with a Maryland handicapped license plate 241-69HT.

Acting D.C. police Capt. Anthony Haythe, who heads the homicide unit, said police found the vehicle Sunday night in the 1700 block of S Street SE, about a mile from the shooting scene in the 2800 block of Alabama Avenue SE. Haythe said the van had been stolen from Mount Ephraim Baptist Church in Largo in Prince Georges County.

[Woman killed, man wounded in Sunday afternoon shooting in Southeast D.C.]

The shooting occurred near a bus stop about 12:30 p.m. in the Woodland neighborhood. A female victim died at a hospital, and the male was taken to a hospital with wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening. She was identified as Ivy Tonett Smith, 39, of Northeast Washington.

Haythe said police were trying to identify the people who were in the Honda at the time of the shooting. He said it not yet clear whether the man and the woman knew each other, but said he thinks that at least one of the victims was targeted.

We dont believe this was a random act of violence, Haythe said.

The Rev. Joseph Gilmore Jr., pastor of Mount Ephraim, said the van typically is parked in a bus lot and church officials were unaware that the van was missing until D.C. police contacted him Sunday night.

Gilmore expressed condolences to the family of the woman who was killed and said, Im praying for the recovery of those who were injured in this horrific incident.
Police in Prince William County initially released this sketch of a man, who was believed to have been involved in a sexual assault in the Woodbridge area. (Courtesy of Prince William County police)

A 19-year-old woman gave authorities a false report, saying that she had been sexually assulted in Woodbridge, Prince William County police said Monday.

Authorities released a sketch of a man who they thought was involved in the assault Monday morning. But by Monday afternoon, police announced the incident  which the woman reported happened at 8 p.m. Sunday as she walked home from work  was untrue.

Detectives from the Special Victims Unit have determined that the information provided by the woman was false and that the incident did not occur, a police spokesman said in a statement.

In the initial report, the woman told investigators that she was near Bixby Road and Gideon Drive when a man had grabbed her and inappropriately touched her. Authorities reported that the woman had suffered minor injuries.
A bald eagle that was rescued in Potomac recovers from a fracture in the left shoulder. (Courtesy of Owl Moon Raptor Center)

An injured bald eagle was rescued last week in Montgomery County, but it was unclear Sunday whether she will be able to fly again.

Police received calls Thursday morning about an injured eagle in Potomac. County animal services officer Jennifer Gill went to the area of River Road and Riverwood Drive, where a resident told her that the eagle had made its way into nearby woods. Gill said she found it with an injury that kept it from flying.

The bird, a full-grown adult who was given the name Trust, was wrapped in towels and taken to the Owl Moon Raptor Center  a wildlife rehabilitation center that specializes in birds of prey  in Boyds.

An initial examination showed what appeared at first to be a soft-tissue injury. On Saturday, however, X-rays showed something more serious, according to Suzanne Shoemaker, the centers director.

She said physician Debbie Deans of the Bennett Creek Animal Hospital in Clarksburg found a fracture in the left shoulder, involving the coracoid, a paired bone in the wing that plays an important part in flight.

Suzanne Shoemaker, the founder of Owl Moon Raptor Center, holds Trust - an injured bald eagle. (Courtesy of Owl Moon Raptor Center)

The fracture was presumably caused by being struck by a vehicle, Shoemaker said.

She said Sunday that the segments of the fractured bone were displaced, casting doubt on whether it would knit in a way that would permit the eagle to fly once more.

We are not certain that our efforts will be successful, Shoemaker said over the weekend in a Facebook posting, but we will give her the best possible chance of recovery of flight.

The bird suffered other injuries, which Shoemaker said also jeopardized chances for full recovery. One hopeful sign, she said by telephone Sunday: She did eat a fish tonight.
Virginia lawmakers on Monday sent legislation to Gov. Terry McAuliffe that would create a new legal defense for juveniles with special needs who are charged with committing misdemeanor offenses in school.

Supporters say the bill is intended to more fairly apply the law to minors with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, among other diagnoses, and keep them out of the juvenile justice system.

Opponents, including the Virginia Association of Commonwealths Attorneys, say the bill would apply not just to students with intellectual disabilities, but to anyone with difficulties such as dyslexia, a speech impediment or blindness. They also note that the legislation would not shield such youths from the justice system entirely, although it could bolster their defense by allowing them to present evidence of their disability during a trial.

The bill comes on the heels of a Center for Public Integrity report that found that Virginia schools refer more students to law enforcement agencies than any other state. Nationally, it found that special-needs and African American students are disproportionately referred to police.

On Monday the bill passed the House with just one vote against it by Del. R. Lee Ware Jr. (R-Powhatan). Only Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) voted no when it cleared the Senate last week. A spokesman for the governor, Brian Coy, would not say whether McAuliffe (D) would veto, amend or sign the bill into law.

[Va. governor, GOP lawmakers seek common ground on juvenile justice]

The bill allows minors charged with misdemeanors to present at trial a special-needs education plan created to address a disability as evidence that they were of diminished capacity and should not be found guilty.

A kid with some kind of a disability may know that hes not supposed to throw the trash can across the room, but he just cant help himself, Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), the sponsor of the legislation, said in a floor speech.

He added that prosecutors oppose the bill but they created this problem themselves because they shouldnt ever have been prosecuting these kids.

Lori Digiosia, a deputy commonwealths attorney in Stafford who spoke in an interview on behalf of the Virginia Association of Commonwealths Attorneys, disagreed.

Virginias prosecutors  we do not want to see kids in criminal court on disorderly conduct charges when they have a disability and that disability is the root cause of that criminal behavior, she said.

She said that instead of waiting until trial to present the special-needs education plan, schools, school resource officers and juvenile court intake officers should be aware of the situation before the minor is charged with a crime. Currently, the juvenile court judge can use the plan during the sentencing phase of the case.

They are trying to address this problem at the wrong end of it, Digiosia said of the bill.

Juliet Hiznay, an Arlington-based special-education advocate and attorney who favors the legislation, said that entering the special-needs education plan during sentencing doesnt help.

People are seeing children being charged and placed on probation for long periods of time  house arrest, juvenile detention, Hiznay said. We need to do a better job of keeping these kids out of the juvenile justice system.

Prosecutors call the bill a wholesale change, but Hiznay said it is an incremental step in addressing problems revealed by the Center for Public Integrity report on juvenile justice.

Its a good idea, because children with disabilities are being charged under Virginia law for behavior that is directly related to their disability that they dont have any control over, and its not being recognized by prosecutors, she said.

Del. Richard Rip Sullivan (D-McLean) voted for the bill, but he said that he worried the special-needs education plans could be used for cases in which the disability played no role.

You have to be careful of the proverbial slippery slope, he said.
The electric chair at the Greensville Correction Center in Jarratt, Va. A proposal that would force inmates to die by electric chair if lethal injection drugs can't be found is before the General Assembly. (Virginia Department of Corrections via AP)

Virginia could use the electric chair to execute death-row inmates when lethal-injection drugs are not available, under a bill that passed the state Senate on Monday.

The proposal puts Virginia at the center of a national debate over how to carry out capital punishment at a time when lethal-injection drugs have become hard to obtain.

The legislation was approved by the House of Delegates in February, but it will have to return to that chamber because the Senate amended it. The Senate version requires the director of the Department of Corrections to make substantial efforts to obtain lethal-injection drugs before using the electric chair.

If the House accepts that change, the measure will go to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who has not stated a position on it. The bills sponsor in the House, Del. Jackson H. Miller (R-Mannassas), said late Monday that he will oppose the amendment. If the House does not accept the amended bill, it could wind up in a conference committee.

[Terry McAuliffe put in awkward spot on death penalty]

The electric chair is already an option in Virginia; condemned inmates are allowed to choose between it and lethal injection. The intent of the bill is to make the electric chair the default method of execution if the state is unable to obtain the lethal-injection drugs.

The bill is only the latest attempt in Richmond to wrangle with the drug shortage. On Monday, lawmakers delved so deeply into the details of several grisly killings that teenage Senate pages were led out of the chamber.

The debate did not fall neatly along partisan lines, with Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) among the most forceful advocates for finding a way to carry out the death penalty.

Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) detailed the crimes of Ricky Gray, whose scheduled March execution has been postponed as he appeals his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gray, 38, was convicted in 2006 of brutally killing a Richmond musician, his wife, and their 9- and 4-year-old daughters. Court documents say Gray also confessed to killing his wife and three members of another Richmond family

Youve got to earn your way into that electric chair or [onto] that gurney, Saslaw said,

If you kill seven people, he said, referring to members of the two families targeted, youre not a human being. You deserve whatever you get.

Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) conceded that Grays crimes were barbaric but said that did not justify having the state employ an outdated, barbaric execution method.

Obenshain noted that he had voted against similar bills in recent years because he had thought then that the state government could find a way to obtain the lethal-injection drugs. But he said he had become convinced that the drugs could not be had.

A frequent critic of the McAuliffe administration, Obenshain said Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran had gone to great lengths to try to obtain the drugs.

Its a perverse result, Obenshain said. Opponents of capital punishment are making it impossible for us to carry out executions in the most humane way possible.

[Lacking lethal-injection drugs, Virginia might turn to the electric chair]

Last year, McAuliffe supported a bill that would have allowed the state to order lethal-injection drugs from specialty pharmacies. That measure died amid controversy over provisions that would have shrouded the pharmacies in unprecedented secrecy to protect them from political pressure. A European export ban has stopped pharmaceutical firms from sending the drugs to the United States.

McAuliffes spokesman, Brian Coy, said the governor would review the bill if it reaches his desk.

McAuliffe supported capital punishment when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2009. Amid last years debate, Coy noted that McAuliffe is a Catholic but said he would not let his personal beliefs about capital punishment keep him from performing his duties as governor.

On Monday, Surovell sought to amend the bill to require the corrections director to publicly disclose what efforts had been made to obtain lethal-injection drugs, including which pharmaceutical companies had been contacted.

The effort failed. But the Senate passed an amendment proposed by Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico) that called for the director to make substantial efforts to obtain the drugs. That amendment does not require the director to disclose details of those efforts.

David Bruck, a law professor at Washington and Lee University and death penalty opponent, said courts are unlikely to approve executions where use of the electric chair is the only option.

He predicted that any execution invoking the statute would be delayed for months or even years of legal wrangling.and could easily land before the Supreme Court.

It is not going to cause anyone to be executed sooner, Bruck said.

There are seven people on death row in Virginia, according to the state Department of Corrections. The only scheduled execution is for Ivan Teleguz on April 13. Teleguz was convicted of taking part in a murder-for-hire plot in Harrisonburg that left a woman dead.

In 2014, Tennessee became the first state to allow use of the electric chair when no lethal-injection drugs are available. No one has been executed since the law passed and, last year, Tennessees Supreme Court delayed the remaining four executions in the state pending appeals.
The Great Barrier Reef, the worlds largest living ecosystem, is home to 400 types of coral. (David Doubilet/Getty Images/National Geographic Creative)

Parts of Australias Great Barrier Reef face permanent destruction if the latest El Nino does not ease this month, scientists said in Sydney last week.

The El Nino is a result of a warming of the ocean in the western Pacific  ideal conditions for coral bleaching, where coral expels living algae, causing it to calcify. Coral can survive only within a narrow band of ocean temperature.

The scientists said areas of the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage site, are experiencing the worst bleaching in 15 years.

Coral around Lizard Island off the tropical city of Cairns has seen the most widespread bleaching, with 80 percent of its coral bleached under unrelenting sunlight, said Anne Hoggett, director of the Lizard Island Research Station.

Bleaching is a clear signal that living corals are under physiological stress. If that stress is bad enough for long enough, the corals can die, said Russell Reichelt, chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

What happens now will be entirely dependent on local weather conditions, he said.

Scientists said the Great Barrier Reef needs a break in El Nino conditions within weeks if some coral areas are to survive. The Australian Bureau of Meteorologys most recent forecast calls for a continuation of El Nino conditions. This years El Nino has passed its peak, according to the World Meteorological Organization, but it has been one of the strongest on record.

Last year was the hottest on record, and 2016 could be even hotter, thanks to the El Nino weather pattern, the World Meteorological Organization said.

The Great Barrier Reef stretches about 1,200 miles along Australias northeast coast and is the worlds largest living ecosystem, with 400 types of coral and more than 1,500 species of fish. It brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism revenue.

UNESCOs World Heritage Committee last May stopped short of placing the reef on an in danger list, but the ruling raised long-term concerns about its future because of climate change.

[Here are the fish and the facts about the reef under siege]

While the El Nino is set to ease by the middle of 2016, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, the weather system  which brings hot, dry conditions to Australias east coast  is seen as foreshadowing the likely impact of future climate change.

Coral is the canary in the mine, Hoggett said.
The pregnant woman was in her 30s and, like a growing number of patients at Richard Newmans practice in downtown Washington, worried about a threat the obstetrician himself had learned about only recently: Zika.

In December, during her first trimester, she had taken a vacation trip to Central America. Weeks later, U.S. officials began warning pregnant women about traveling to regions where the virus was spreading rapidly. Shed gotten a mosquito bite, followed by a rash, fever and joint pain  all potential symptoms of infection.

Newman recommended that she see a specialist at Sibley Memorial Hospital and encouraged her to have her blood tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hed already done the same for more than a dozen anxious patients in 2016, and each time the results were negative.

This time, the test came back positive.

Well obviously have to watch you very closely, Newman told the woman, knowing hed never encountered a case with such risks in his long career.

Images from a New England Journal of Medicine report about a Slovenian woman who contracted a Zika infection and terminated her pregnancy because of microcephaly in the fetus show profound abnormalities in fetal brain tissue. (The New England Journal of Medicine 2016)

Across the country, obstetricians and specialists in high-risk pregnancies are fielding similar concerns and more because of Zika. Patients are alarmed given recent trips to the countries with growing outbreaks in the Caribbean and Latin America. They want reassurance that theyre not infected, that their babies will be safe from the potentially devastating birth defects associated with the virus. Some are even putting fertility treatments on hold.

[Of 9 U.S. pregnancies: 2 abortions, 2 miscarriages, 2 healthy babies ]

Theres only so much their doctors can tell them since so much about Zika remains unknown. The virus is spread primarily through mosquitoes  but sexual transmission is also possible and more common than once thought. Detecting an infection can be tricky because as many as 80 percent of people never show symptoms  but one of the most serious may be a rare paralysis.

Yet pregnant women face the most devastating consequences because of the danger Zika seems to pose to a developing fetus. Many physicians say that theyre struggling, often for the first time in their careers, to advise patients on what to do.

Two studies released Friday could further ratchet up the worries. Although scientists have yet to determine precisely how the virus is linked to microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and often have severe brain damage, a team of U.S. researchers has discovered how the virus selectively infects cells forming the brains outer layer. Once it does, the cells are more likely to die and less likely to make new brain cells.

And in Brazil, researchers tracking dozens of infected pregnant women found grave fetal complications and birth defects in nearly a third of cases.

[A Zika breakthrough: Scientists detail how virus can attack fetal brain]

At a recent workshop held by the National Academy of Sciences, a leading obstetrician described the kinds of questions she and other doctors have been getting: If a pregnant woman becomes infected, how likely are birth defects for her baby? How do the risks differ by trimester? How often should ultrasounds be performed to look for abnormalities?

A lot of these questions are unanswerable right now, Newman said. In most of the things I do, I have 35 years of experience. Ive seen it all. I know what to expect, and I can give really good advice. The scariest part for us is that nobody has had any experience with this.

In Florida, where the warm, humid climate is ideal for the mosquitoes that transmit the virus, anxiety among pregnant women has been palpable. The state already has declared a public health emergency in 11 counties because of Zika.

Because we are so far south, we seem to have more patients traveling to or from these countries than other places in the U.S., said Loraine Endres, who works at a Fort Myers practice that counsels high-risk pregnant women. Truthfully, this is one of the most difficult things we have had to deal with just because theres so much uncertainty.

One of her patients, Nina Burt, was 13 weeks pregnant when she visited family in Brazil over Thanksgiving. She got a mosquito bite while there but never saw a rash or any of the other minor telltale symptoms. After the CDC broadened its testing recommendations to include pregnant women without any signs of infection, Burt quickly responded. She wont know those test results for several more weeks.

So far, ultrasounds show that the baby is developing normally. The 38-year-old mother of two remains cautious but optimistic as her late-May due date approaches.

The unknown is kind of stressful, [but] its in Gods hands, Burts said.

Laura Riley, director of labor and delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital, is relying on the CDCs guidance and her own knowledge of congenital viruses. But she still finds herself unable to counsel women as she would like to do. About 50 patients in her practice may have been exposed during holiday travel. Five have shown symptoms of the virus.

[Why the alarming rise of Zika cases in Puerto Rico threatens rest of U.S.]

You can imagine, Im sitting in a small room with a couple that wants answers, Riley said. Even if a Zika test comes back negative, shes not sure at what point it is truly negative so that she can say with confidence that a patient is in the clear.

Pregnant women go to their doctors and hope their doctors can do a test and make it all better, Riley said. This is one of those situations where you just dont have enough information to do that.

The CDC is establishing a registry of pregnant women who may be at risk for Zika infections. Of nine pregnant Americans with confirmed infections, at least two recently chose to have abortions, two suffered miscarriages, and one gave birth to an infant with serious birth defects. Two others delivered healthy infants, and two are still pregnant.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center in the District, Jennifer Ballard has been following about a dozen patients potentially exposed to Zika during recent trips. Two contracted the virus and either gave birth or terminated the pregnancy, she said, declining to provide specifics. The rest are awaiting test results.

Its really hard to be in a place to reassure your patients when you dont have information to feel reassured yourself, Ballard acknowledged. We dont know if, just because we cant see microcephaly, that it doesnt mean theres not something else that could be a problem.

[Why the U.S. is vulnerable to the spread of Zika]

Ami Levy, 35, had vacationed in Argentina in late December. She and her husband spent time in Buenos Aires but also visited Iguazu Falls, a popular tourist spot that straddles the Brazilian border. There, she got a bug bite on her arm, followed by a rash, and her eyes became red. The symptoms soon subsided, and she didnt think much more about them.

No one was talking about Zika. It wasnt on my radar, she said. Only later, after she returned home to Washington and discovered she was pregnant, did she began to fret.

On Jan. 15, Levy flew to Puerto Rico for a long-planned trip with her sister and aunt. Her husband called a few hours later. The CDC had just issued an alert urging pregnant woman to consider postponing travel to 14 countries and territories  including Puerto Rico. The couple agreed she should catch the next possible flight home. She did, but not before finding multiple mosquito bites on her leg.

Concerned about the two possible exposures, Levy soon saw her doctor and sent a blood sample to the CDC. Two tense weeks passed. Finally, word arrived that she had tested negative.

I felt very lucky, said Levy, a psychotherapist. We could breathe a little bit and get excited about the baby, about our family.

The outcome was different for the expectant mother at Newmans practice.

Everything looked fine on the sonogram he had ordered when she was 16 weeks along. But the image a month later showed distinct abnormalities with very little brain development, Newman said. A fetal MRI confirmed severe brain atrophy, and analysis of the womans amniotic fluid detected the presence of Zika.

Newman told his patient that the results suggested her child, if carried to term, might not survive long and almost certainly would have no chance for a normal quality of life.

Last month, after the final tests results came in, the woman called and told him she planned to terminate the pregnancy.

I just listened and sympathized, he said. I can only imagine how hard this was for her. . . . It was one of the saddest moments of my medical career.
Douglas Gorenstein/NBCCelebrity lookalikes and drum-off competitors Chad Smith and Will Ferrell will reunite this April for a charity event. The Red Hot Benefit Comedy + Music Show & Quinceanera, hosted by Ferrell and Funny or Die, will be held April 29 in Los Angeles, and will feature a musical lineup curated by Smith that will include his own band, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"I have only one great regret in life and it's that I never actually celebrated my quinceanera," says Ferrell in a statement. A quinceanera is a Latin American celebration that traditionally celebrates a girl's 15th birthday.

"I'd like to think it was just a simple oversight by my mother, but there has been a void inside me for many years," the actor continues. "Growing up on the mean streets of Irvine, California, I have vivid memories of all my friends celebrating their quinceneara. Well, on April 29th at the Shrine Auditorium, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a bunch of other really talented comedians and musicians by my side, we are going to right that wrong, and everyone is invited."

Back in 2014, Smith and Ferrell, spurred by their striking resemblance to one another, appeared together on The Tonight Show and competed in a drum-off, which raised nearly half a million dollars for charity.

"We had so much fun with Will on the drum off and ultimately getting the entire band together to participate on The Tonight Show," says Smith. "So much goodwill came out of one silly joke. We've been trying to find another way to get together and do some more good for our respective causes and I think we have found it. I'm going to check with my own mother, because I don't recall any family photos of my own quinceanera either."

The Red Hot Benefit Comedy + Music Show & Quinceanera will raise money for Cancer for College and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
california

Evacuations after severe weather strikes

A woman died in Northern California after being trapped in a car that became submerged in floodwaters on a section of highway that was closed amid heavy rain, authorities said Sunday.

The casualty was reported after a storm that rolled across California on Saturday led to the evacuations and rescues in some low-lying areas, where thousands of people lost power after powerful winds toppled trees and power lines.

Chia Xiong, 51, of Marysville, was underwater for about 15 minutes Saturday night because it took divers some time to find the vehicle, which plunged into six to eight feet of water, according to fire officials and the California Highway Patrol.

The driver, who was able to get out of the car, was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, CHP Officer Jodie Beck said.

Officers who were at a road blockade saw Neng Yang, 55, of Sacramento go around the closure on State Route 70 in Olivehurst, about 35 miles north of Sacramento, and enter the floodwaters, Beck said.

Firefighters rescued four people stranded along the Los Angeles River in the Encino area, while in Santa Cruz County people living along Soquel Creek and the Upper San Lorenzo River were evacuated because of rising water.

A second winter storm reached the northernmost part of the state Sunday and was expected to spread across California overnight, indicating that March will not be as parched as it was last month. Forecasters warned of strong winds, heavy snow in the mountains and dangerous breaking waves along the coast.

California is not the only place experiencing severe weather. Conditions are especially ripe for tornadoes in the Southeast and Great Plains. Specifically, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, southern Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina and parts of Virginia.

Starting Monday and continuing into the rest of the week, ample moisture will be pulled in from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a slow-moving cold front, leading to days of rain for a large swath of the central and southern United States, stretching from the central Gulf Coast up through to the Ohio Valley.

The greatest threat for the heaviest accumulations of rain is in northeast Texas into Arkansas and Louisiana and other parts of the lower or middle Mississippi River Valley.

 Associated Press

Kentucky

Boy says accused man tried to abduct him

A south-central Kentucky man charged in the killing of a 7-year-old girl was identified by a West Virginia boy as someone who allegedly tried to lure him into a vehicle a month before the girls death, according to a Kentucky State Police affidavit.

The Bowling Green Daily News reported that Detective Wesley Medley filed the affidavit for a search warrant last month in the case of Timothy Madden of Scottsville.

Madden is charged in the death of Gabriella Doolin, who disappeared Nov. 14 while attending a game to cheer on her brother. She was found dead less than half an hour later in a creek. Madden has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. Prosecutors have a March 31 deadline to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

The affidavit said a boy watching a TV account of Maddens arrest told his father that the suspect was the man who allegedly asked him and another boy to get into his vehicle Oct. 9 at a gas station in Mason, W.Va. The boys ran to a high school, and a relative reported the incident.

 Associated Press

Police shoot suspected serial attacker: Authorities say a man suspected of slashing a woman in the face, fatally stabbing a store owner and setting a homeless man on fire has been shot and wounded by police in New York City. The attacks began about 11:30 a.m. Sunday in Queens when a 39-year-old woman was slashed in the face. Police say three hours later, a 55-year-old store owner was stabbed to death, and a 61-year-old homeless man was set afire and critically injured. Police say when two officers caught up to the suspect Sunday night, he had a knife and accelerant. Police say the officers ordered him to drop the knife, but he sprayed the unknown chemical onto them. They fired their weapons, wounding him. Both officers suffered burns and are in stable condition.

Search for missing girl: Investigators looking for the body of a missing 17-year-old girl near Houston are being helped by a man who is connected to that death and to a University of North Texas student who has been missing since 1997. The Galveston Daily News reported that the Texas Rangers-led team searching in rural Houston for the body of Jessica Cain, who disappeared in 1997, also recently searched a field in Brazoria County for the remains of the college student, Kelli Ann Cox, 20, who also disappeared in 1997. William Reece, who was convicted in a 1997 Houston-area kidnapping, is connected to Cains and Coxs deaths, but no charges have been filed. In September he was charged in Oklahoma in the 1997 abduction and killing of a 19-year-old woman.

Demolition halted on historic home: Demolition work at a historic New Jersey mansion once owned by tobacco heiress and socialite Doris Duke has again been put on hold. Crews started tearing down the Hillsborough Township mansion Saturday, a day after a judge rejected a community groups bid to stop the work. The work was expected to continue Sunday, but an appellate judge late Saturday granted an emergency motion filed by the group. The judge ordered a stop to all demolition work until the matter is resolved.

 From news services
MIGRANTS

25 drown off Turkey as Macedonia curbs entry

At least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece on Sunday, while Macedonian authorities imposed restrictions on refugees attempting to cross the border.

The Turkish coast guard launched a search-and-rescue mission and retrieved 15 migrants off the Aegean Sea resort of Didim, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The dead included three children, according to the private Dogan news agency.

Meanwhile, Greek police officials said Macedonian authorities are allowing only those migrants from cities they consider to be affected by war to pass through the Idomeni border crossing from Greece. That means that people from cities such as Aleppo in Syria can enter, but those from the Syrian or Iraqi capitals are being stopped.

A U.N. refugee agency official in Macedonia criticized the restrictions.

This is not all right, Ljubinka Brasnarska said. Everybody from Syria who came needs international protection. This decision could be taken only by other competent international bodies, not by border authorities.

The developments come a day before a summit between the European Union and Turkey to discuss the crisis, which has led to more than 1 million migrants reaching Europe last year.

 Associated Press

EGYPT

Brotherhood, Hamas blamed in 2015 killing

Egypt said Sunday that members of the Muslim Brotherhood trained in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the bombing that killed the countrys chief prosecutor last year.

Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar said 14 people have been detained in the June killing of 65-year-old Hisham Barakat, the first assassination of a senior Egyptian official in 25 years.

Hamas trained, prepared and oversaw the implementation of the attack, Abdel-Ghaffar said in an address broadcast by state and private media, which also aired confessions by some of the alleged perpetrators.

There will be measures taken against the group without harming Palestinian civilians, he said, without elaborating.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the accusations were baseless. The United States and other Western countries consider Hamas a terrorist group. But Hamas says it confines its attacks to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Abdel-Ghaffar said 48 people have been arrested from a wider Brotherhood cell plotting other attacks, including the 14 suspected in Barakats killing.

He said Hamas had trained Egyptian Brotherhood members in military and guerrilla warfare tactics before sending them back to Egypt with the help of Bedouin smugglers in the Sinai Peninsula.

Barakat had led the prosecution of Brotherhood members. Hamas is the groups Palestinian branch.

 Associated Press

IRAN

Oil tycoon sentenced to death in graft case

An Iranian court has sentenced a well-known tycoon to death for corruption linked to oil sales during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a judiciary spokesman said Sunday.

Babak Zanjani and two associates were sentenced to death for money laundering, among other charges, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said in remarks broadcast on state TV.

The verdict, after a nearly five-month trial, can be appealed.

A news website run by the judiciary identified the two associates as British-Iranian businessman Mahdi Shams and Hamid Fallah Heravi, a retired businessman.

Zanjani was arrested in 2013 in a crackdown on alleged corruption during Ahmadinejads rule. Irans Oil Ministry says he owes more than $2.25 billion for oil sales he made on behalf of Ahmadinejads government.

Zanjani is one of Irans wealthiest businessmen, with a fortune estimated at $14 billion. He was arrested shortly after the election of President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran has executed other wealthy individuals found guilty of similar charges.

 Associated Press

Insurgent shelling in Aleppo kills 13: A rocket-and-mortar barrage struck a government-controlled neighborhood in Syrias northern city of Aleppo, killing 13 civilians and wounding 40, the government and an opposition group said. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the attack occurred in a mostly Kurdish neighborhood that has faced insurgent shelling for days despite a cease-fire that took effect late last month.

Gunmen kill 12 in Honduran pool hall: Authorities said assailants with AK-47 assault rifles burst into a pool hall in the Honduran capital and opened fire, killing at least 12 people and wounding three. Police Commissioner Ivan Mejia said the gunmen are thought to be gang members. They were wearing police uniforms and bulletproof vests when they burst into the hall, police said. Honduras, which is plagued by gang and cartel violence, has among the worlds highest homicide rates.

American tests positive for Zika virus after Philippine trip: An American woman who visited the Philippines in January has tested positive for the Zika virus in the United States, the countrys top health official said. Philippine Health Secretary Janette Garin said her department was coordinating with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get more information about the woman. A Philippine Health Department spokesman said the woman was not diagnosed as infected until she returned from her trip.

 From news services
CHINA

MH370 families sue day before deadline

Twelve Chinese families with relatives aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 filed a lawsuit in Beijing on Monday, one day before the deadline for pursuing litigation against the carrier.

The families of 32 other passengers, mostly Chinese, filed a separate lawsuit in Malaysia, their attorney said Monday.

The plane disappeared March 8, 2014, with 239 people  including 153 Chinese citizens  aboard while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. Under international accords, families have two years to sue after an air accident.

Speaking in Beijing, the attorney for the 12 families, Zhang Qihuai, said that they are seeking damages but that the ultimate goal is to find out the cause of the accident and those who are responsible.

The lawsuit also named Boeing and jet-engine maker Rolls-Royce among the defendants.

In Kuala Lumpur, Ganesan Nethi said he filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of 32 passengers last Thursday.

After two years, the fate of the Boeing 777 remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. One confirmed piece of wreckage has been recovered, a part of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island last year, and two other possible pieces have been found in the past week.

 Associated Press

VENEZUELA

28 wildcat miners feared killed by gang

Officials in Venezuela said Monday that they are investigating the alleged killing of 28 miners in the southeastern jungle state of Bolivar.

Families said the wildcat miners were killed Friday by members of a gang seeking to control a disputed gold claim.

We will conduct an objective, independent and impartial investigation, Venezuelan ombudsman Tarek William Saab said Monday, echoing a promise by the public prosecutors office.

State Gov. Francisco Rangel, an ally of the socialist government, denied that any massacre had taken place, saying police had investigated reports of a shootout but found no bodies.

He accused opposition politicians of trying to discredit the governments campaign to root out illegal mining.

Families and people who said they witnessed the alleged attack accused law enforcement agents of participating in the killings. Protesters on Monday continued to block the main road linking the region to the border with Brazil.

The controversy comes days after the government announced a plan to exploit mineral-rich areas in the region.

 Associated Press

12 reported killed in Syria: Warplanes bombed a fuel depot in an opposition-held town in northern Syria, killing at least 12 people, monitoring groups said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bodies found in the wreckage in Idlib province were burned beyond recognition. The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition network, put the toll at 15 dead. Violence has eased in Syria since a partial cease-fire went into effect late last month, but attacks continue.

Suicide bomber kills 11 in Pakistan: A suicide bomber struck at the entrance to a court in northwest Pakistan, killing 11 people, police said. The blast in the town of Shabqadar also wounded 15 people. Three police officers were among the dead. A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban asserted responsibility, saying in a statement that the judiciary was targeted because it delivers verdicts against divine laws.

Spains king gives parties more time to form government: King Felipe VI gave Spanish political parties more time to negotiate a way out of a stubborn political stalemate on who should form a new government. Parties now have two months to come up with a government or face another election. The Dec. 20 election produced a badly fragmented parliament, with no party winning a majority.

Dead fish wash up on banks of Indian lake: Thousands of dead fish washed up on the banks of a polluted lake in Indias southern technology hub of Bangalore. Sewage has been flowing into Ulsoor Lake, depleting its oxygen, said V. Purushottam, president of a residents group. He said authorities ignored pleas to repair a barrier that was supposed to keep out sewage.

U.S. pilots remains recovered from Cameroon: The employer of an American anti-poaching pilot who died in a plane crash in Cameroon in 2014 said his remains have been recovered and delivered to a morgue. African Parks, a Johannesburg-based group, said arrangements were being made for the repatriation of Bill Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick disappeared June 22, 2014, while flying to a job in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in Congo Republic. African Parks manages the remote wildlife area.

 From news services
TWO MONTHS after he disappeared from the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier resurfaced in a state television broadcast last week. In what surely was a scripted and coerced performance, he tearfully apologized for an offense that would be regarded as trivial in almost any other country: Mr. Warmbier said he committed the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the hotel where he and his group had lodged.

Its impossible to know what the 21-year-old honors student really may have done, if anything. The statement he was obliged to make contained patently ridiculous details, such as that he was following instructions from a Methodist church near his home outside Cincinnati, a University of Virginia student society and the U.S. government. Whats clear is that Mr. Warmbier has become the latest American hostage taken by the North Korean regime, which has a habit of using captured U.S. citizens to fabricate propaganda and compel high-level visits to its otherwise isolated capital.

Mr. Warmbier, who said he made the mistake of his life, did so at a particularly unfortunate moment. Four days after his arrest, the regime of Kim Jong Un presided over the countrys fourth nuclear test; a month later, it launched what it said was a satellite into orbit, breaking another United Nations ban on advancing its development of intercontinental missiles. The U.N. Security Council responded with a new round of sanctions last week, and relations between North Korea and its neighbors South Korea and China  not to mention the United States  plunged to a low point.

It wont be surprising if the Kim regime now attempts to use Mr. Warmbier as leverage, particularly in light of past successes in extracting symbolic concessions from Washington. In the past half-dozen years alone, the regime has won visits from former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper in exchange for the release of Americans charged with offenses such as leaving a Bible in a nightclub restroom and entering the country illegally.

Mr. Warmbier does not deserve to be so used. A junior at U-Va. majoring in economics, he is an outstanding student who was awarded a scholarship for academic excellence and serves on the schools student council. He traveled to North Korea with a group organized by a China-based tour company, Young Pioneer. The company advertises North Korea as one of the safest places in the world to visit  a claim belied by this patently unjust detention.

Mr. Warmbiers parents, who have not been able to speak to him, issued a statement after the television broadcast saying they hoped his apology would prompt the government to consider his youth and make an important humanitarian gesture by allowing him to return to his loved ones. Mr. Kim could help to ease tensions with Washington by quickly and unconditionally complying.
REPS. DONNA EDWARDS and Chris Van Hollen, rivals for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maryland, are astute, accomplished lawmakers. Both are liberals; both have represented the Washington suburbs for multiple terms in the House; both have been allies to President Obama. Each has received our endorsement in the past, and each is qualified to serve in the Senate.

That said, the two offer Maryland voters a stark choice, and not only a stylistic one, between the courtly, understated Mr. Van Hollen and the forthright, unwavering Ms. Edwards. The main difference is that Mr. Van Hollen  pragmatic, detail-oriented, agile  could be a real force for accomplishment. By contrast, Ms. Edwards, whose many attributes do not include a gift for team play, would reinforce Congresss tendency toward stalemate along partisan lines.

If relieving the dysfunction in Congress is important  and it is  then Mr. Van Hollen, a gifted legislator, is the better candidate, and the one who could contribute meaningfully to breaking Washingtons legislative logjam.

The ideological distinctions between Mr. Van Hollen and Ms. Edwards are minuscule. Both have embraced core Democratic values. Both regard government as a force for social progress and equality. Both are pro-labor. Both worry about climate change.

But Mr. Van Hollen has consistently earned a seat at the table where consensus might be forged. Elected to the House in 2002, he ascended rapidly through the Democratic leadership ranks and became the partys senior member of the Budget Committee. He is the author of elegant legislation to combat climate change that might, if sanity ever returns, stand a chance of passage: a carbon tax bill that would send all revenue back to taxpayers (pleasing Republicans) in a highly progressive way (pleasing Democrats).

As a key lieutenant to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, he has been at the center of negotiations on budget reform and deficit reduction. That role allowed him to help fend off Republican threats to shut down the government. It also brought some political hazards, as when Mr. Van Hollen suggested, in 2012, that a combination of new revenue and slower growth of entitlement programs was the right way to go for a bipartisan budget deal. That statement was arithmetical common sense to tackle the nations long-term deficit and debt. Yet it was attacked as heresy by Democrats to whom compromise is unthinkable  including Ms. Edwards. That makes her part of the problem in Washington.

Elected in 2008, Ms. Edwards has brought a valuable perspective to Congress. As an African American single mother and a local activist who had tussled with big developers, she played up her outsider status while insisting she also could work the system to achieve gains on health care, green building standards and NASA budgets. No one doubts her policy chops in her areas of interest.

Yet Ms. Edwards has alienated officials, including from her base in Prince Georges County, who might have been natural allies. Even some admirers criticize her for aloofness from the details of local problem-solving and for running an office notorious for inattention to constituent services and teamwork.

The flip side of Mr. Van Hollens ascension into leadership has been a reluctance to stake out strong stands independent of his party. To make a lasting mark in the Senate, he will have to do that at times. Undeniably, though, Mr. Van Hollen has the potential to be a very good senator. On that basis we endorse him in the April 26 primary.
Regarding the March 3 news article U.N. adopts harsh new sanctions on N. Korea:

The U.N. Security Councils tougher resolution will not change North Koreas behavior regarding nuclear weapons. Sanctions are predicated upon the assumption that either North Korea will give up nukes or, if economic conditions are bad enough, its regime will collapse.

A political system, however, does not collapse for economic reasons. It collapses when the system experiences an unmanageable degree of crisis over its legitimacy. The North Korean regimes legitimacy is not founded on economic performance but on ideological grounds.

North Korea is very poor and has been isolated from the international community for many years. You do not need to take International Relations 101 to understand that states are forced to constantly worry about their survival and security under the anarchical structure of international politics. When viewed this way, it is quite natural that North Korea would pursue nuclear weapons.

North Korea will not stop pursuing nuclear weapons unless the United States guarantees it would not try to overthrow the regime by force. It is time to conduct serious bilateral talks with North Korea; the United States should not outsource its foreign policy to other countries  in particular, to China.

Jun Kwon, New Hartford, N.Y.
Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post.

To all those who oppose Donald Trump: Stay the course.

From Thursday to Sunday, Trump performed his most impressive run of pirouettes to date. On Thursday, at the Republican debate in Detroit, war crimes were in, as they have been since November. On Friday, in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, they were out. On Sunday, in a Face the Nation interview, they were back in, except they wouldnt be war crimes anymore because Trump intends to change the law to make, at a minimum, waterboarding legal.

Since November, Trump has repeatedly argued for bringing waterboarding and more than that back. Since December, Trump has repeatedly declared that the fight against terrorism requires killing the families, including children, of terrorists.

Both actions are against international and domestic law, and soldiers can be found guilty of war crimes if they obey an unlawful order.

Donald Trump drew swift condemnation after images of supporters raising their right arms and swearing to vote for him emerged on March 5. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Since December, people have been telling Trump that he has proposed war crimes, and last month, former CIA director Michael Hayden said the military would not carry out such orders.

At Thursdays debate, when Trump was asked whether he still maintains his commitment to targeting the families of terrorists, he insisted that he did. He was asked what he would do if the military refused to carry out similarly illegal orders to torture. He said: 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.

Then, in a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, he retracted, or seemed to do so, saying, 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.

On the same Friday, at a rally in Michigan, however, he said: Waterboarding is absolutely fine, but we should go much further.

And on CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday, he said this: Now, I will always abide by the law, but I would like to have the law expanded. . . . Right now, basically, waterboarding is essentially not allowed, as I understand it. . . . I would certainly like it to be, at a minimum, at a minimum to allow that.

If you had happened to read the Wall Street Journal report but missed the televised debate or Sunday interview, you might have been inclined to breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, thank goodness. Torture is out. War crimes are out, you might have thought.

But you would have been wrong to let down your guard.

Trump speaks out of both sides of his mouth so frequently that it is unreasonable to credit what may at first appear to be morning-after disavowals.

His first thoughts reveal his instincts. His second thoughts may go a different direction, but, dont worry, there will be third and fourth thoughts, and they point right back to the first thought.

Trumps first thoughts tell you all you need to know.

His instincts are to violate freedom of association and freedom of religion, as he revealed when he refused to rule out the registration of Muslim Americans.

His instincts are to violate freedom of the press, as he revealed when he called to open up libel laws to restrict the capacity of the media to say negative things about him.

His instinct is to call for the killing of innocents.

He praises the leaders of China who massacred their own citizens in Tiananmen Square.

He said that a protester should have been roughed up and that it was better in the old days when protesters would have been carried out on a stretcher. This is to condone unlawful violence, something that the leader of a democratic republic should simply never do. Not even once. Not even on the campaign trail. Its far worse than the comments about his body parts and is, in my view, disqualifying.

All these unacceptable remarks are just versions of Trumps fundamental failure to respect the law as the guardian of peoples rights.

We all know how he has doubled down on and then folded on many of these positions. He disavowed the registration of Muslims. He made sure to wink at David Duke before finally fully disavowing him. To avoid having to release the transcript of his off-the-record conversation with the New York Times, he now claims to respect the media. At his rallies, announcers now instruct audience members not to touch or harm the protester but to draw the attention of security officers.

He has, however, not yet disavowed his praise of the perpetrators of the Tiananmen Square massacre nor his decision to distribute a Mussolini quotation. And although it seemed that he was going to disavow torture, he instead proposes to legalize it. Would anyone be surprised if he did the same with the proposal to target terrorists families?

These acrobatic leaps should not be interpreted as meaning that Trump has learned something, that civics lessons in legal structure, constitutionalism and war crimes are sinking in. People have been schooling him in these lessons since December. He has to have known all along that what he has been proposing is unlawful.

Nor should the turn-and-turn-about routine be interpreted as an example of worthy flexibility, of coming to believe that a new position is better than the first one.

Instead, we should interpret the acrobatics as shifts in Trumps negotiating position. Instead of negotiating with the lower-income, high-school-educated whites who have made up his base so far, he is preparing to negotiate with the rest of us, the ones who have been pressing the constitutional issues. Hes giving us back lawfulness, or so he means to make it seem, like a hostage-taker whose kindness we should now appreciate.

And this leads us to see the core of his instinct. In his self-praise of his deal-making abilities, he makes it clear that he believes that you should start any negotiation from an extreme position and move from there.

What is the extreme position with which he began this campaign? Trump has told his base that he is willing to put the very Constitution on the table on their behalf. This has quite reasonably provoked considerable fear and anxiety among the rest of us. On Friday, he appeared to take the Constitution and lawfulness off the table and, presumably, we were all supposed to feel relieved.

But a negotiators first position is credible only if he is willing to act on it. This means we have to understand Trump as willing, in principle, to act on the threats he has made to lawfulness and to the Constitution  as he has just declared he is for waterboarding. This already turns our Constitution into something dependent on his arbitrary will. If its still safe, we are given to understand, its only because he hasnt yet decided to act on his threats to it.

One reason constitutional government is such an extremely valuable possession is because it lessens the uncertainty of the social world. The point of having a constitution is to get rid of arbitrary power.

In the American Revolution, the colonists sought to overthrow a king who had, as Thomas Paine put it, a thirst for arbitrary power. Trump deserves to be on historys list of individuals with such a thirst.

The way this Trump campaign feels is what arbitrary power feels like. This is what a Trump presidency would feel like, too.

To all those who oppose Trump: Stay the course. Dont let his acrobatics fool you. We should all recognize the techniques of a habitual abuser when we see them.
The March 3 PowerPost excerpt, Panel clashes over fetal-tissue research [The Fed Page], about House hearings on the use of fetal tissue in biomedical research, included comments from Kathleen M. Schmainda of the Medical College of Wisconsin that dismissed the research value of fetal tissue. Ms. Schmaindas comments do not reflect the position of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Every advance in modern medicine is a result of biomedical research. The Medical College of Wisconsin supports safeguards for the oversight and approval of proposed research that would use fetal tissue. However, we stand firmly against legislative actions at either the state or federal level that would limit the development of future biomedical innovations by criminalizing research.

There is no doubt about the potential lifesaving value of fetal tissue in advancing medical progress. On behalf of the patients we serve and generations to come, we need to ensure that promising lines of medical research can continue.

John R. Raymond Sr., Milwaukee

The writer is president and chief executive of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
If Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton really are our choices in the presidential election this fall, well witness an ugly debate about the great wall of Mexico, emails, Trump University and, here and there, maybe trade or torture. But we also could hear a lot about a small North African country of 6 million people, Libya  and we should.

Trump will point to Libya as prime evidence of Clintons incompetence. Hell claim she pushed for U.S. intervention in the 2011 revolution against dictator Moammar Gaddafi and the result was a disaster: chaos, civil war, a new base for the Islamic State and the slaying of a U.S. ambassador. Gaddafi, Trump now says, should have been left in place. Clinton might well respond that NATOs air operation prevented genocide on a Syrian scale  and that Trump strongly supported the operation at the time.

Unlike a lot of what may pass for campaign debate, this would be an argument worth having. Libya is not only a story of U.S. failure but also a problem that the next president will have a chance to get right  whether he or she likes it or not. As the Pentagon brass have been warning with rising alarm, the Islamic State is methodically building a base in the country. It could become the new Islamic State headquarters if Iraq and Syria are overrun, and it could serve as an easy launching pad for attacks on Western capitals. Another U.S. plunge into Libya is a matter of when and how  not if.

Fortunately, news organizations have done some thorough reporting of what went wrong the first time. The New York Times published a recent series , and another account appeared in The Post last year. Poring over them, whats striking is the degree to which President Obama, who ran against the war in Iraq, nevertheless repeated most of George W. Bushs Iraq mistakes in Libya.

First was the failure to do any planning for the day after the dictators fall, a lapse that later prompted a rare admission of error from Obama himself. He said the United States and its NATO allies underestimated the need to come in full force after the war  just like Bush did in Baghdad.

Then there was the overreliance on smooth, English-speaking, exiled politicians who assured Washington that they could take over Libya and quickly build a new order. Clinton, according to the Times, was charmed by Mahmoud Jibril, the U.S.-educated head of an opposition council; like Iraqs Ahmed Chalabi, who wooed the Bushes, Jibril proved to have far less influence in his native country than he did in Washington.

Last but not least was the U.S. decision to focus on political benchmarks while ignoring the mounting security problems. While militias looted weapons from Gaddafis stockpiles and forced interim authorities to put their gunmen on official payrolls, American diplomats worked on plans for quick elections. It was the same mistake you made in Iraq, French ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud told the Times.

Of course, Obama did not deploy hundreds of thousands of troops, as Bush did. But that may explain the main difference between Iraq and Libya. In Iraq, jihadist forces were all but wiped out by the U.S. military, which also trained and equipped a substantial national army. Had Obama not prematurely withdrawn all U.S. forces, the Islamic State might never have gained a foothold.

Some in the Obama administration seem to have taken the Libya failure as a lesson in the futility of all U.S. ventures in the Middle East. We tried occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, goes the logic; we adopted a light footprint in Libya; we stayed out of Syria altogether. In every case the result was a disaster. Maybe the Middle East is just too hard.

That, of course, is the Trumpian view. If there is an alternative, it will come, oddly, from Clinton, whose push for the Libyan intervention was in keeping with a broader inclination to assert U.S. power more frequently and with more muscle than Obama has.

She argued for a greater U.S. commitment to Libyan security after Gaddafis downfall, and for military support of Syrian rebels, only to be overruled by the White House. She appears to understand that the serial U.S. failing in the Middle East was not that it tried but that it did not try hard enough. Washington failed to plan, minimized resources at crucial moments and pulled out too quickly.

Clintons answer to a congressional committee grilling her on Libya last year contains the seeds of a doctrine. America must lead in a dangerous world, she said. When America is absent . . . extremism takes root, aggressors seek to fill the vacuum and security everywhere is threatened. That would make a good answer when the campaign debate turns to Libya.

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It was William J. Bennett, education secretary in the Reagan years and the Republican Partys premier moralist, who embedded a phrase in the American consciousness when he bemoaned the fact that our elites presided over an unprecedented coarsening of our culture.

Well, to borrow another famous phrase, it is Bennetts party and two of its presidential candidates in particular, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, who are merrily defining our politics, our discourse and the American presidency down. The 2016 Republican primary campaign is now on track to be the crudest, most vulgar and most thoroughly disgusting in our nations history.

A policy wonk who has spent nearly two decades in politics was watching Thursdays GOP debate with his two teenage daughters and was horrified when one turned to him and asked: Is this what you do? The dad didnt want to be named because he didnt want to embarrass his daughters.

And Republican voters in Saturdays contests sent a signal they, too, were turned off. Both Trump and Rubio underperformed, particularly in Maines caucuses and among voters who cast ballots on primary day in Louisiana.

In the state thats home to Mardi Gras, Trumps unexpectedly narrow three-point margin over Ted Cruz was built by early voters immune from any debate revulsion.

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)

Call me old-fashioned or even a prig, but I have a rather elevated view of what politics can be and what it can achieve. For decades, in good political moments and bad, I have repaired for inspiration and comfort to the political philosopher Michael Sandels description of politics at its best. When politics goes well, he wrote, we can know a good in common that we cannot know alone.

In the GOP right now, its not going well.

You can place a lot of the responsibility for all this on Trump and, yes, the media. As I was writing this, MSNBC (for which Ive worked over the years) and CNN were simultaneously broadcasting live the same Trump speech. Welcome to Trump State Television. Broadcasters have reveled in the ratings to be gained from airing Trumps stream-of-consciousness (if politically effective) rants, and the coarser the better.

We might let the blame settle there, except that Rubio got frustrated. The man the partys leaders keep saying is the real challenger to Trump despite his early difficulties in winning actual contests decided that to beat Trump, he had to join him.

Thus began his own rants that reached a low point when he declared of Trump during a rally last month in Virginia: I dont understand why his hands are the size of someone whos 52. Have you seen his hands? Theyre like this. Here, Rubio held his thumb and fingers closely together to depict something very small indeed. He added: And you know what they say about men with small hands.

My naivete extends to the fact that I did not know that small hands are often equated to diminutive endowments elsewhere. But Trump, obviously more worldly than I, went all defensive at the debate, held out his arms and declared: Look at those hands, are they small hands? And he referred to my hands  if theyre small, something else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee.

Now we know.

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.

Then there was Trumps response earlier in the day to the attack on him by Mitt Romney. Trump had a point that Romney was happy to seek his endorsement in 2012 (and to ignore Trumps birtherism and his other racially and religiously tinged comments about President Obama). But here is how Trump put the matter: He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, Mitt, drop to your knees, and he wouldve dropped to his knees.

We expect Trump to be loutish. Worse is Rubios refusal to take responsibility for the course he has chosen. Explaining that he would truly prefer to be talking about issues, Rubio went for the-devil-made-me-do-it defense. But lets be honest too about all this, he explained. The media has given these personal attacks that Donald Trump has made an incredible amount of coverage.

Sure, hes right about the media, but courageous politicians dont blame someone else for what comes out of their own mouths.

By comparison, John Kasich and Cruz are looking almost as issue-oriented and responsible as, well, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But the whole Republican race is now a moral and electoral wreck, a state of affairs that one conservative after another mourned during and after Thursdays encounter.

Saturdays voters quietly joined the chorus of dismay and rewarded Cruz and, to a lesser degree, Kasich.

Scattered primary results are almost always over-read, and Cruzs Kansas victory was primarily a tribute to the influence of conservative evangelicals who delivered the state to Rick Santorum in 2012 and Mike Huckabee in 2008.

But the gap between early voters and the far more pro-Cruz primary day voters in Louisiana speaks to a shift in sentiments. And Kasich ran ahead of Rubio in Maine, which Cruz also won, and was behind in Kentucky by only two points, a surprisingly small deficit. Rubios attacks on Trump seem to have been a double-edged political sword: He wounded the front-runner but also hurt himself.

For decades, conservatives have done a great business assailing liberals for promoting cultural decay. Sorry, guys, but in this campaign, you have kicked away the franchise.

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So it has come to this: The front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, at a campaign rally Saturday in Orlando, leading supporters in what looked very much like a fascist salute.

Can I have a pledge? A swearing? Trump asked, raising his right hand and directing his followers to do the same. He then led them in pledging allegiance  not to the flag but to Trump, for which they stand and for whom they vowed to vote.

Trump supporters raised their arms en masse  unfortunately evoking the sort of scene associated with grainy newsreels from Italy and Germany.

[Donald Trumps supporters swear their allegiance in Orlando]

Among those not engaging in such ominous imagery were the demonstrators, who, by my colleague Jenna Johnsons account, interrupted Trumps event more than a dozen times. The candidate watched a supporter grab and attempt to tackle protesters, at least one of them black, near the stage. You know, we have a divided country, folks, Trump said. We have a terrible president who happens to be African American.

Several comedians, world leaders and political activists have compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler recently. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Loaded imagery, violence against dissenters and a racial attack on the president: Its all in a days work for Trump.

In the preceding days, he had asserted (and later retracted) his confidence that as president the military would obey his orders to do illegal things: torture detainees and target noncombatant kin of terrorists for death. He said House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican, would pay a big price for defying him, and he said Sen. John McCain, who criticized Trump, needs to be very careful. Trump explained his initial hesitance to disavow support from the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists by saying such groups could have included the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies  prompting the head of the Anti-Defamation League to call his words obscene.

And some still deny Il Duce Donalds autocratic tendencies?

Abe Foxman, a Holocaust survivor and the retired longtime head of the ADL, said that Trump leading thousands in what looks like the Heil Hitler salute is about as offensive, obnoxious and disgusting as anything I thought I would ever witness in the United States. He told the Times of Israel that Trump is smart enough to know what he was doing.

Ive perhaps never agreed with Glenn Beck before, but the right-wing radio personality was right to hold up a Nazi ballot on ABCs This Week on Sunday morning. We should look at Adolf Hitler in 1929, said Beck, who usually saves his Nazi analogies for liberals. Beck added, Donald Trump is a dangerous man with the things that he has been saying.

The Germans, too, find him dangerous  and they should know. Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, last month called Trump the worlds most dangerous man and leader of a hate-filled authoritarian movement who inflames tensions against ethnic minorities . . . while ignoring democratic conventions.

I wish I could enjoy Trump, who at last weeks debate defended the size of his penis. But this isnt a conventional debate between Democrats and Republicans or insiders and outsiders. Trump is on the wrong side of a struggle between decency and bigotry, between democracy and something else.

Yet, incredibly, the other candidates in the race  Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich  all said theyd support Trump if he wins the nomination. The morning after Trumps salute, the morally neutral Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee chairman, told CBSs John Dickerson that his role is to basically be 100 percent behind the eventual nominee.

A braver man, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), sent a letter Friday to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asking whether he would heed orders to torture detainees or to target noncombatant relatives of terrorists. Trump, who in reply said Graham should respect me and bragged that he destroyed Grahams presidential candidacy, has retreated slightly, saying hed change laws to allow things such as waterboarding. Without that, he said, were weak.

Trump lately shows his strength by talking about his wish to punch protesters in the face or by asking them, Are you from Mexico?

As some Republican officeholders and donors belatedly try to unify the anti-Trump movement, more are seeing Trumps words and deeds foreshadowing darker things. On Monday, Jane Eisner, editor of the Jewish media outlet Forward, quoted Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt: Some people didnt approve of Hitlers anti-Semitism, but they went along with it because he was going to make Germany great again.

And comedian Louis C.K., who says he would like to see a conservative president, wrote to his fans about Trump this weekend, saying that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the s--- coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all.

Where does Trumps flirtation with fascism end? Nobody knows.

But dont say you didnt see it coming.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Sensing an opportunity for an upset victory, Marco Rubio spent most of Friday in Kansas, where he picked up a series of high-profile endorsements that he hoped could help thrust him into contention.

Instead, he finished a disappointing third in the Saturday caucus in Kansas, repeating the same pattern as in some Super Tuesday states earlier last week: a big last-minute push, notable endorsements and a thud of a finish.

Those doing the endorsing, along with many other supporters, bemoaned the results, as well as the campaign that produced them.

I felt I had a dog in the fight, and it hurt me personally when I thought we were going to win, said Republican Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, another state where Rubio came in behind Cruz and Trump. The thing is, when Rubio was there, the enthusiasm was so great, better than the others. He had a great reception. If everything had been equal in terms of appearances and organization, he would have won Oklahoma.

Party leaders, donors and other supporters of Rubio portray a political operation that continues to come up short in its message, in its attention to the fundamentals of campaigning and in its use of a promising politician. The failures have all but doomed Rubios chances of securing the GOP nomination, leaving him far behind Trump and Cruz in both delegates and states won.

Many Rubio backers say they still believe Trump would be a political disaster but are worried that the freshman senator is not doing enough to make an effective case against the billionaire. Even with a strong win Sunday in Puerto Rico, Rubio has lost 18 of 20 nominating contests so far, and he faces grim odds in many of the states to come.

All of Rubios hopes now ride on his ability to win his home states 99 delegates. But even if he prevails in Floridas winner-take-all contest, it will be difficult for him to secure enough delegates before the party convention in July, meaning he would have to try to win the nomination in an unpredictable floor fight.

They have no infrastructure, said Scott Reed, who is unaffiliated with any campaign but serves as the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. His campaign hasnt been able to keep up with his candidacy. . . . They dont have the operation in the states to help him get over the top. He should be a finalist going all the way to California, and hes not.

[Rubio: This is going to be a protracted deal]

One prominent Rubio supporter, who is an elected official and spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly, said Sunday that he now doubts that Rubio can win and is privately preparing to support Cruz should the race narrow. He said Rubios recent decision to go hard in attacking Trump does not seem to have helped him.

Cruz seems to be the only one benefiting from Marcos hits on Trump. Marco hits Trump and doesnt go up in the polls, the supporter said. It wasnt easy to watch television on Saturday night. Nothing is happening. A lot of us, we love him, but we think we might have to end up with Cruz.

One major Rubio donor was more dour, referring to Rubios dismal 2-for-20 record: Thats not good.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks to supporters at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va. on Feb. 28. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

The donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about strategy, said that despite his best efforts to reap fresh financial support for Rubio, people are holding off. Theyre not inclined to Trump or Cruz and are desperately seeking another alternative. But Rubio needs to show strength for that interest in him to be sustained.

In recent days, Rubio has described the GOP race as a protracted deal because the contest remains crowded with Trump, Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

This map only gets better for us as we move forward in some of the other states, Rubio said while campaigning in Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Rubio is scheduled to campaign Monday along the Interstate 4 corridor, which stretches from Tampa east to Orlando and is packed with swing voters. He is also expected to focus on his native South Florida  packed with a high percentage of Republicans who, like the senator, are of Cuban descent.

The race has tightened in Florida, according to recent polls, but Rubio still trails Trump. With just $5.1 million in his campaign account at the beginning of February, Rubio is relying on super PACs to air millions of dollars in attack ads against the front-runner. One of the states most revered Republicans, Jeb Bush, has so far declined to endorse him.

[Can Marco Rubio save his campaign, and his career, in Florida?]

There is disagreement among Rubios supporters over whether his decision to aggressively attack Trump  belittling his character, his appearance and even his manhood  has worked. Rubios advisers felt he had to mock Trump to gain national exposure amid the round-the-clock attention given to the front-runner. But others fret that the attacks have damaged Rubios image as a young, optimistic party leader.

We would be more than happy to check the insults at the door and focus on policy and focus on each candidates vision for the future of the country, but if the price we have to pay to get the media to cover the substance of our campaign is to mix it up a little bit, then were not opposed to doing that, said Todd Harris, a senior Rubio adviser.

John Mac Stipanovich, a Tallahassee-based lobbyist who supports the senator, agreed with Harris: The new Marco is much different, much feistier and in some peoples opinion much less dignified than the old Marco. But the old Marco was certainly going to lose. The new Marco may not win, but he has a much better chance than being so passive.

But Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), whose early support provided a crucial boost in South Carolina, said he supports focusing attacks on Trumps many policy positions rather than on personal insults.

I think its important to stay on topic and stay on the policy contrasts and differences, Scott said last week.

Anthony Gioia, a top GOP fundraiser in Buffalo who served as ambassador to Malta during George W. Bushs administration, said he is hopeful that Rubios more aggressive focus on Trumps business history will alter the dynamics of the race.

I just dont think the substantive criticisms of Trump have really come out as much as they should, he said, adding later: I understand the role the president plays in the world. You cant be a showman.

Another concern among supporters centers on Rubios outreach to everyday voters and to big-name supporters.

As more than two dozen senior GOP Senate aides looked on Thursday afternoon at a private lunch presentation about the 2016 presidential race, conservative scholar Henry Olsen turned to Rubios chief of staff, Alberto Martinez, and offered a candid assessment of the senators campaign pitch.

Olsen said that while he appreciates Rubios sweeping call for building a 21st-century economy, he worries that speaking in such broad terms in a year of populist unrest may be a political mistake.

Later, Olsen gently suggested that Rubio might be better served by fine-tuning his message with a more visceral appeal to working-class Americans who feel left behind and say hes got their backs.

Martinez listened politely, and the conversation moved on.

The lunch, which was recounted to The Washington Post by three people present, was held at the Capitol. The regular sessions are deemed strictly off the record and allow Senate GOP chiefs of staff to hear from guest speakers about the political scene. The Rubio campaign and Olsen declined to comment.

[Marco Rubio is probably already losing Florida]

According to senior congressional Republican aides, Rubios camp has told prospective endorsers that building momentum in the final week of that particular states primary or caucus was central to its strategy. The best illustration of this plan came in South Carolina, where Rubio had a strong performance in a debate just days ahead of the primary, held several well-received rallies and, finally, won the endorsement of the popular governor, Nikki Haley (R).

It brought him a better-than-expected finish, about 1,000 votes ahead of Cruz for second place.

Rubio made calls that night to senators in key states with primaries in the coming weeks, according to senior Senate aides familiar with the candidates calls. He secured the instant endorsement of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), whose support of Jeb Bush was freed up by the former Florida governors withdrawal after South Carolina. In Nevada, Rubio edged Cruz for second place.

The senators team thought it could keep replicating that effort  an impressive debate performance, packed rallies and a late endorsement from a popular figure. In the days leading up to Super Tuesday, according to a senior Senate aide, Rubio told prospective endorsers two key data points: that even after Trumps expected delegate haul through March 15, the businessman would still be only about one-third of the way to securing the nomination and that Rubio would be clearly in second place, well ahead of Cruz in the delegate race.

That argument secured the backing of Sen. Lamar Alexander and Gov. Bill Haslam, two major figures in Tennessees Republican establishment just days before their states March 1 race. Also on board was Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a powerful former state legislative leader whose state also will hold a primary on March 15.

But Rubios game plan ran into reality  the #MarcoMentum strategy, as its been dubbed on social media, was covering up massive deficiencies inside the states that were voting. Rubio had little to no infrastructure inside those key states, and each effort began when he was so far behind that momentum meant very little. He ended up a distant third behind Cruz, whose campaign has run a more effective, traditional effort to find supporters and then get them to the polls.

In pitches to fellow Republican senators, Rubios team highlighted its repeated support among late deciders, voters who make up their minds in the final week. But that meant little if the overwhelming majority of voters made up their minds earlier than that.

In Virginia, for example, Rubio won among late deciders, winning 39 percent of those making up their mind in the past week, twice as much support as Trump picked up that week, according to exit polls. But that bloc represented just 35 percent of the electorate  Trump won 42 percent of voters who decided before the last week of the campaign, enough to win.

Overall, Rubio finished third in eight of the 11 states last Tuesday, sometimes well behind Trump and Cruz, and won only in Minnesota. Cruz won three states and had five second-place finishes. Rubio placed third in Tennessee, despite Alexanders and Haslams support. It was the same in Oklahoma, where he had won the endorsement of former senator Tom Coburn and held large rallies in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

The pattern repeated Saturday in Kansas, where he had won support from Gov. Sam Brownback, former senator Robert J. Dole, Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Mike Pompeo  uniting the states often-feuding establishment and conservative wings.

Pompeo spoke on Rubios behalf at a caucus site Saturday in Wichita, where both Trump and Cruz appeared in person. Rubio was at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering of conservatives in suburban Maryland.

Goodness knows how much of a difference it would have made if Rubio had campaigned earlier and harder in the state, Pompeo said. I do think had Senator Rubio had a chance to get his message out in a way that he wasnt able to, he would have done better and would have competed much more closely.

Meanwhile, Rubio supporters are angry and bitter about the continued presence of Kasich, whom they view as more of a stubborn spoiler than a legitimate contender for the presidential nomination.

On conference calls with donors and other supporters last week, Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan suggested that Kasich was effectively helping the Trump cause by pulling votes away from Rubio, according to those on the calls. Sullivan and other participants discussed ways to convince friends of Kasich to directly urge him to drop out, according to a participant on one of the calls.

But Kasich has rejected the overtures, and his campaign believes that states voting after March 15 in the Mid-Atlantic and West will be more favorable to him than Cruz or Rubio.

Looking ahead to Florida, Rubios team sees tightening polls and believes that a full week of campaigning in the state  plus another strong debate performance on Thursday night  should close the gap.

North Carolina retail executive Art Pope, a major Republican fundraiser supporting Rubio, said he has not seen any faltering among donors, adding that he believes there is a long-term path for him to prevail.

Winning Florida is important, but it is not the beginning or end of the campaign, any more than Iowa was, Pope said, adding: If he wins Florida, its wonderful. If he loses Florida, the fight continues on to the convention.

Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger, Philip Rucker and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
What you need to know about the Supreme Courts decision to overturn an Alabama Supreme Court ruling to not recognize a lesbian mothers adoption. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

What you need to know about the Supreme Courts decision to overturn an Alabama Supreme Court ruling to not recognize a lesbian mothers adoption. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The Supreme Court on Monday overturned an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said the state should not recognize a lesbian mothers adoption of three children in neighboring Georgia.

The justices reversed the state courts decision without scheduling the case for oral arguments and full briefing. The high court said the Alabama court had ignored long-standing precedent that state courts must recognize legitimate rulings by courts in other states.

The case represents the kinds of legal issues that are arising in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in June that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

In a second unsigned opinion, the court overturned the death sentence of a man who had been on Louisianas death row since a conviction in 1998.

In the Alabama case, the justices already had granted a stay request from one of the mothers, identified in court papers as V.L., so that she could visit the children.

[Supreme Court asked to hear lesbian mothers adoption case]

In a statement provided by her attorneys, V.L. said she was overjoyed by the courts decision.

I have been my childrens mother in every way for their whole lives, V.L. said. I thought that adopting them meant that we would be able to be together always. When the Alabama court said my adoption was invalid and I wasnt their mother, I didnt think I could go on. The Supreme Court has done whats right for my family.

The Alabama high court said Georgia courts violated their own state laws in granting the adoptions of the children V.L. shared with her former partner, and thus she did not deserve custody or even visitation with the children.

V.L. adopted the children whom her longtime partner, identified in court papers as E.L., delivered after becoming pregnant from a donor. The couple later broke up in Alabama, where they lived.

The Georgia judgment appears on its face to have been issued by a court with jurisdiction, and there is no established Georgia law to the contrary, the Supreme Court wrote in the opinion, to which there were no recorded dissents.

It follows that the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit.

Lawyers for V.L. had argued that the Alabama decision violated the Constitutions full faith and credit clause, which requires that states respect court judgments, including adoption orders, issued by courts in other states.

Gay rights groups have said legal same-sex marriage will not solve myriad problems for gay parents, particularly those who were raising children together before the legalization of same-sex unions and then split up.

The Supreme Courts reversal of Alabamas unprecedented decision to void an adoption from another state is a victory not only for our client but for thousands of adopted families, said Cathy Sakimura, family law director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who is representing V.L.

No adoptive parent or child should have to face the uncertainty and loss of being separated years after their adoption just because another states court disagrees with the law that was applied in their adoption.

The case is V.L. v. E.L.

In the Louisiana case, the court decided it did not need further briefing to reverse the murder conviction of Michael Wearry, who was found guilty in the 1998 death of a 16-year-old delivering pizza in a rural area near Baton Rouge.

There was no physical evidence tying Wearry to the murder, and the courts opinion said that the states case, built upon the testimony of others, was a house of cards.

The court said prosecutors should have turned over evidence that cast doubt on the credibility of those witnesses, one of whom carried a grudge against Wearry, and said the state did not disclose medical records that would have raised further questions about the incriminating testimony.

Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision.

Alito wrote that there was no question that prosecutors should have turned over the evidence, but whether the information was sufficient to warrant reversing petitioners conviction is another matter.

Alito said if his colleagues had questions, they should have accepted the case for full briefing and a hearing.

The courts opinion said the lapses were so glaring that that was not needed.

Any further delay, the opinion said, would mean forcing Wearry to endure yet more time on Louisianas death row in service of a conviction that is constitutionally flawed.

The case is Wearry v. Cain.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in Flint, Mich. on March 6. Here are the key moments. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in Flint, Mich. on March 6. Here are the key moments. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed fiercely Sunday over jobs, trade and Wall Street while agreeing that much more must be done to address a two-year-old water-contamination crisis that has paralyzed this majority-black city.

The session included the sharpest exchange yet between the Democratic presidential candidates over their economic plans and records. It included a heated argument over the auto industry bailout, which is of keen interest in Michigan, where both Democrats and Republicans will hold presidential primaries Tuesday.

Clinton emphasized the hard choices that lawmakers and President Obama made in 2009, facing the prospect of a collapse in the auto industry, and she noted that Sanders, a senator from Vermont, voted against a bailout measure.

Sanders said he voted against forcing hard-working Americans to bail out the crooks of Wall Street.

If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, Clinton said.

Sanders angrily hushed Clinton as she sought to interject. Excuse me, Im talking, he said, drawing gasps from the audience.

If youre going to talk, tell the whole story, Clinton replied.

Youll get your turn, he snapped.

The debate, which aired on CNN, was added to the Democrats schedule after Sanders emerged as a stronger-than-expected challenger. Flint was chosen as the site to highlight the water crisis, which has become a focus of liberal anger.

The episode began two years ago, when state overseers who had taken over the city switched its water supply to the Flint River without treating the water to avoid corrosion of lead pipes. Lead leached into the water supply, and although residents began complaining immediately, the problems did not fully come to light until January, amid revelations that state officials had spent much of 2014 and 2015 dismissing those complaints.

Both Clinton and Sanders have said that the crisis would never have happened in a richer, whiter city. The debate featured heartbreaking and harrowing stories about children who stopped growing, lost their hair or were intellectually stunted by poisoned water.

Sanders used his opening statement to repeat his call for the states Republican governor to resign over what he called a dereliction of duty, before shifting to his core message about economic inequality.

1 of 21 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Clinton and Sanders clash during debate in Flint, Mich. View Photos Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded pointed words in the Democratic presidential debate at the University of Michigan at Flint on Sunday. Caption Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded pointed words in the Democratic presidential debate at the University of Michigan at Flint on Sunday. March 6, 2016 Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) stand stage before the crowd at the seventh Democratic presidential debate at the University of Michigan at Flint. Charlie Neibergall/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

For the first time, Clinton agreed that Gov. Rick Snyder should resign or be recalled. Previously, she had said that her approach was to try to solve the problem and that assigning blame could wait.

The state should also be sending money immediately to help this city. I know the state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund for emergencies, Clinton said. Its raining lead in Flint.

Sundays debate opened with a moment of silence in honor of former first lady Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday at 94. The session was the first Democratic debate since the Super Tuesday contests, when Clinton emerged with a lead of nearly 200 pledged delegates over Sanders.

She slightly expanded her delegate lead after a win in Louisiana on Saturday, while Sanders claimed victories in Nebraska and Kansas. The debate had been underway for only a few minutes Sunday when Sanderss victory in the Maine caucuses was announced.

Sanderss successes and his vow to remain in the race through the Democratic convention lent a new tension to the debate. Gone were the magnanimous and polite gestures each had offered the other in previous debates.

Lets have some facts instead of some rhetoric for a change, Clinton said testily.

Let me tell my story, you tell yours, Sanders said at another point. Your story is voting for every disastrous trade amendment and voting for corporate America.

Sanders mocked Clintons defense of the Export-Import Bank as helpful to small businesses. He would shutter the institution he called the Bank of Boeing for its efforts on behalf of the aircraft maker as it competes with rival Airbus.

Sanderss opposition to the Ex-Im Bank put him at odds with the Democratic caucus in Congress  a fact that he embraced.

I dont want to break the bad news, Sanders said sarcastically. Democrats are not always right. Democrats have often supported corporate welfare. Democrats have supported disastrous trade agreements.

Both candidates have campaigned hard in Michigan. Tuesdays vote here will serve as a test of Clintons institutional support from unions and of Sanderss appeal with the working class.

It could also set the stage for a contentious fall election. Clinton has already begun shifting her focus on the campaign trail to a potential general-election matchup against the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, although neither he nor the rest of the Republican field got much mention Sunday.

Donald Trumps bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well with the American people, Clinton said.

Labeling Sanders a communist was one of the nice things he said about me, Sanders joked.

Michigan is a swing state that both Republicans and Democrats see as a potential victory in November. Trump is favored to win here Tuesday, and his tough-guy message on international trade has found an audience here.

Over several days of campaigning here, Sanders has focused squarely on jobs and trade, accusing Clinton of backing international trade deals that stripped Michigan of good-paying jobs.

He also stressed his long opposition to trade pacts such as the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership with Pacific Rim nations. Clinton had backed the TPP deal, a signature initiative of President Obama, when she was secretary of state. She announced last year that she opposes it, which Sanders allies call an election-season conversion that she could reverse if elected.

I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue, Sanders said to moderator Anderson Cooper. But its a little bit too late.

The Sanders campaign thinks that the primary map becomes more favorable to him as the race shifts out of the South, but his window to overtake Clinton is narrowing.

But with momentum from other primaries that featured large numbers of African American voters, Clinton holds a comfortable lead in Michigan. She has focused her campaign here on black voters, who were about a quarter of the primary electorate in 2008, and on the Flint crisis.

A Detroit Free Press-WXYZ poll released late Saturday shows her leading Sanders by 56 percent to 31 percent, a gap that suggests it may be too late for him to battle back to a victory here despite a strong effort in recent days, the newspaper wrote.

The poll had her in a statistical tie with Sanders on the question of trustworthiness and up three points on the question of who would be the more progressive president. Only 17 percent of those polled felt Sanders had the best chance of winning in November.

At a news conference before the debate, Sanders acknowledged that he trails Clinton in Michigan, in part because he has continued to struggle to reach African American voters, who represented about 23 percent of the Democratic primary electorate in 2008.

During the debate, he fumbled a question about what racial blind spots he has by suggesting that only black people live in ghettos.

When youre white, you dont know what its like to be living in a ghetto, you dont know what its like to be poor, you dont know what its like to be hassled when you walk down the street or when you get dragged out of a car, he said.

For her part, Clinton misstated her own position on gun control, a central issue in her campaign.

I think we have to try everything that works to try to limit the number of people and the kinds of people who are given access to firearms, she said.

That goes further than her official position that loopholes in existing gun-control laws should be narrowed and that people on the federal terrorist no-fly list should be prevented from buying guns.

Despite predicting a continued strong challenge from Sanders, Clintons advisers hope that by April, her delegate advantage will make it virtually impossible for Sanders to claim the nomination.

The catastrophic failure represented by the Flint water crisis set the tone for the feisty debate, with both candidates expressing outrage and promising action.

President Sanders would fire anybody who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately, Sanders said.

Sanders also demanded a rebate for Flint residents who paid their water bills throughout the crisis, something that has already been done. Snyder has obtained a $30 million appropriation to pay Flint water bills and give residents money back.

You are paying three times more than poisoned water than I pay in Burlington, Vermont, for clean water, Sanders said.

Clinton pledged to get rid of lead everywhere within five years if she is elected.

Elahe Izadi in Washington and Steve Friess in Flint contributed to this report.
The White House is considering nearly half a dozen relatively new federal judges for President Obamas nomination to the Supreme Court, focusing on jurists with scant discernible ideology and limited judicial records as part of a strategy to surmount fierce Republican opposition.

As Obama prepares for what probably will be his last opportunity to try to shape the high court, after the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the president faces an unprecedented hurdle. The Senates GOP majority has vowed to ignore any nominee he proposes.

[Republicans: No hearing, no vote]

Based on interviews with legal experts and others, including some who have spoken in recent days with Obama administration officials involved in the vetting process, the president is leaning toward a sitting federal judge to fill the vacancy  and probably one the Senate confirmed with bipartisan support during his tenure. These insiders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, noted that the administration is winnowing its list of candidates  but that it could add more.

The candidates under consideration include two judges who joined the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2013, Sri Srinivasan and Patricia A. Millett; Jane L. Kelly, an Iowan appointed that year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit; Paul J. Watford, a judge since 2012 on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; and a lower-court judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed in 2013 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Each would offer a distinctive attribute for a president with a penchant for fostering diversity. Srinivasan would be the high courts first Asian American and first Hindu. Kelly would be the first with a public defenders background. Watford or Jackson would add a second African American to the court. And as with Obamas last nominee, Justice Elena Kagan in 2010, Millett would increase the number of women on the nine-member court.

None has carved out a distinct identity in their views on the role of law or their positions on any divisive legal question facing the nation and the courts, according to an examination of the judges public statements and writings, their mentors, and their career paths.

[Obama vows to move ahead with nomination]

In the current climate of acrid partisanship, White House officials regard the opaqueness of their views as a selling point, according to those familiar with the administrations thinking.

White House officials have declined to discuss details of the presidents decision-making, other than to say that Obama intends to make a timely nomination. A White House spokeswoman, Brandi Hoffine, added, The list is not closed at this point, and the president continues to review materials on various potential nominees.

Another name being vetted by the White House is one with a longer judicial record: Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. He is a moderate who has served on the court for nearly two decades and was considered by Obama for a previous Supreme Court vacancy.

According to one person knowledgeable about the vetting process, the White House initially thought about Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch  who would satisfy the eagerness of some civil rights groups for an African American female nominee  but she is no longer under consideration.

Four cases that could re-shape the country will be heard when the Supreme Court meets this term without Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia consistently expressed conservative views when reviewing court cases. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Some watchers of previous Supreme Court confirmation fights have speculated that the president might prefer to select a recognized liberal who could excite Democratic voters in an election year.

But those familiar with the thinking of White House officials said Obama is disinclined to name an outspoken progressive as a probable sacrificial lamb. Instead, they said, the White House thinks it may be able to apply the greatest pressure on resistant Republican senators by choosing a highly qualified federal judge regarded as moderate and non-ideological.

Even one of the moderate candidates, administration officials think, could significantly shift the balance of the court after Scalia, the outspoken anchor of the courts conservative wing for three decades.

The White Houses preference for a nominee with few ideological fingerprints stands in contrast to statements from this years presidential candidates, Republican and Democratic alike.

[Long battle ahead for Scalia seat]

The Republican front-runner, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, has said he would appoint justices with conservative positions, asking potential nominees about their views on abortion and selecting those who support gun-ownership rights and the right of business owners who oppose contraception on religious grounds to not offer such coverage to their employees. The leading Democrat, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, has said she would favor nominees who support abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gay rights, voting rights and overturning Citizens United, the courts 2010 campaign finance decision.



But among the judges Obama is considering, none was asked about any of those issues during their Senate confirmation hearings for lower courts. Nor is there any other public record of their views.

No philosophy on display

During their confirmations over the past few years, the judges under consideration for the high court carefully avoided disclosing their views on the role of law or on specific legal issues.

Such reticence was on display on an uncharacteristically hot April afternoon in 2013, when Srinivasan sat alone at the witness table in a resplendent hearing room, facing Senate Judiciary Committee members weighing his nomination to the D.C. Circuit.

One of the first questions was predictable: Briefly describe your judicial philosophy. I do not have an overarching, grand, unified judicial philosophy that I would bring with me to the bench if I were lucky enough to be confirmed, Srinivasan replied.



In a written follow-up, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a new senator and an old friend of Srinivasans dating to their days as law clerks, took another stab at the question, asking which Supreme Court justice of the past half-century had a philosophy most akin to Srinivasans own.

Although a seasoned Supreme Court practitioner, Srinivasan replied that he could not answer. I do not have sufficient familiarity with the body of decisions of any particular justice of the Warren, Burger or Rehnquist Courts, he wrote.



Srinivasan went on to a Senate vote of 97-0 in favor of his confirmation.

Most of the judges being considered by the White House have been on the bench for two to four years  not much time to have amassed records of opinions. In comparison, seven of the eight current justices had previous judicial experience, with an average tenure of 11 years on the bench when they were nominated to the Supreme Court.

The tenures of those the White House is vetting may be brief, but their judicial work undoubtedly will be scrutinized by the White House and its allies and by the administrations opponents for clues to their leanings. The judges have written relatively few opinions that have attracted much public attention, but several have received notice.

Last year, in a case involving whether the D.C. Department of Corrections had violated the disability rights of a deaf inmate, Jackson excoriated the District and ordered damages to be paid to the inmate, writing that the city had shown a willful blindness to the inmates need for accommodation and had made a half-hearted attempt . . . far short of what the law requires.

In a free-speech case, Srinivasan wrote an opinion last year that protesters outside the Supreme Court building were not entitled to stand closer than the sidewalk. In 2014, Watford voted with the majority in a 9th Circuit ruling striking down an Arizona law that automatically denied bail to people charged with crimes if they were in the United States illegally.

Indistinct ideology has become the norm at judicial confirmation hearings in the past three decades after the unsuccessful nomination by President Ronald Reagan of Robert Bork, who was open about his conservative views. Since then, people who are outspoken on any discernible point on the spectrum of ideologies are out of the question, said Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard professor of constitutional law who was a mentor to Obama when the president was a law student. And, Tribe said, appeals-court judges, some of whom may hold ambitions for a promotion to the high court, tend to be considerably more careful than in the past in their opinions.

[How Supreme Court nominations became so contentious]

Bipartisan careers

In addition to having ideological records so faint as to be almost imperceptible, several of the possible nominees have worked in Democratic and Republican administrations and for judges appointed by presidents of both parties.

Srinivasan was a law clerk to two Republican-appointed judges: J. Harvie Wilkinson on the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit  alongside Cruz, a presidential candidate  and former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day OConnor. He was a lawyer in the solicitor generals office under President George W. Bush and Obama.

Kelly clerked for an appellate judge and a U.S. district court judge  a Democratic and a Republican appointee. Millett, on the D.C. Circuit, worked in the solicitor generals office under Presidents Bill Clinton and Bush. And Watford, on the 9th Circuit, clerked for a Reagan appointee to that court and then for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Conservative veterans of Supreme Court nomination fights reject the idea that Obama is preparing to nominate someone without ideology. What Obama is trying to do is find someone he knows will be a very reliable liberal voice on the court. But hes going to present them as if they were moderate, said Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal group, which has hired a research firm to help excavate the records of potential nominees. She cited a plea deal that Kelly secured as a public defender for a child predator.

Other nominees were as reticent as Srinivasan during their confirmations. As part of her 2013 confirmation to the 8th Circuit, Kelly was asked on a Senate questionnaire to supply copies of more than 30 talks, mostly on mundane legal topics, she said she had given since 1996. It is my general practice to speak from rough handwritten notes, which normally are not saved in my files, she wrote.

Several months later, a Democratic senator asked Millett at her confirmation hearing how her religious faith would shape her conduct as a judge. Replying that my religious faith is the biggest part of who I am, and I am proud of that, Millett praised the Constitution as a very precious system of justice and said, I would never betray that incredibly precious system by injecting personal beliefs into decision-making.

Srinivasan has been perhaps the most difficult to discern. He has represented former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling and was part of the legal team that worked on behalf of Vice President Al Gore in the disputed 2000 presidential election. On his Senate confirmation questionnaire, he listed just two published writings in the previous two decades. At his hearing, he was asked about one of them  an article he co-wrote criticizing Indianas voter-identification law.

The article, he replied, was in our capacity as lawyers representing a client.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday, is pictured with her husband, President Ronald Reagan, at a gala in Washington on Feb. 3, 1994. (Mike Theiler/Reuters)

Nancy Reagans unwavering devotion to her husband, President Ronald Reagan, was among her most well-known qualities.

But she was more than a partner, a spouse and a steadfast caregiver to her husband after he was afflicted by Alzheimers disease. In the aftermath of her death on Sunday, friends and former colleagues spoke of a legacy that is all her own: one of grace, kindness and loyalty to those she loved. They said she made her husband better and, with that, she made the country better.

[Obituary: Nancy Reagan was a defining figure of the 1980s]

William J. Bennett, who served as secretary of education under Reagan, spent much of Sunday afternoon fielding calls from reporters after news broke of Nancy Reagans death at 94 from congestive heart failure. But he said there was someone in his house who could better describe her as a friend. Then, he handed the phone to his wife, Elayne.

Elayne Bennett was one of the Cabinet Wives  the spouses of top-ranking members of the Reagan administration. She said that she was 36 years old at the time and was the youngest wife of the group. She felt that she had to be on her toes in the presence of the first lady, but soon, that anxiousness faded.

1 of 10 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Communism and crutches: The unsual story of how Nancy and Ronald Reagan met View Photos Their lifetime of devotion started with an unusual incident amidst the fever of communism paranoia in the 50s and 60s. Caption Their lifetime of devotion started with an incident amid the fever of communism paranoia in the 40s and 50s. Even before she stepped into the White House, Nancy Reagans devotion to Ronald Reagan was legendary. She was widely known for the gaze, the adoring way that she looked at him. Heres a look at how their story began. MIKE SARGENT/AFP/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue.

She was very much in control and, of course, beautiful, Elayne Bennett said. I was in awe of her. She was so lovely to me. She put me at ease. She went out of her way to be kind.

In 1986, Bennett said she attended a luncheon held at the residence of Barbara Bush. She remembers it being a cold and dreary day, and she was seated next to Nancy Reagan.

I was just very surprised and delighted, she said. But also I remember a bit thinking, Oh gosh, what will I talk about? 

But Nancy Reagan was adept at friendly small talk, and Bennett remembers pleasantly chatting about the warm Washington springtime and soon-to-be blossoming cherry trees.

Nancy Reagan often encouraged the wives to take on their own platforms and to use their access for the greater good, Bennett said. Bennett started her own foundation, the Best Friends Foundation, and credits Nancy Reagans real zeal for youth education.

Other friends recalled Nancy Reagans ability to share candid feedback with her husband during his presidency.

Robert Higdon started working for the Reagans in 1985 and led fundraising efforts for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation.

Nancy Reagan died Sunday, March 6 in Los Angeles. She was 94. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

Higdon said Nancy Reagan was the only person who could approach the president without toning down a message. She lunched around town, listened to friends and foes and conveyed their opinions to Reagan with honesty, he said.

Weve all heard the story described as a love affair, Higdon said. She very much looked after her husband. When one is in a political office, youre isolated to some degree. Everything is filtered. One of her best abilities as a partner was to not filter things.

Ken Duberstein, a former chief of staff for Ronald Reagan, remembers Nancy Reagan as someone who truly believed that the art of governing required compromise and relied upon relationship building.

She had other perspectives that she gathered around town and on the phone. She was a listener. She would share those judgments with him, he said. She was focused on making her husband the best he could be.

As a member of the library board, Higdon said he typically stayed at Nancy Reagans home whenever he traveled to California for business trips. His most recent visit was last spring.

Up until the day she died, she was engaged and laughing and busy with friends, he said. She had a very full life, but she missed him terribly. I had never seen anything like that in my life.

He paused and added: Shes with him.

Washington Post publisher and chief executive Frederick J. Ryan Jr. echoed those sentiments. Ryan, who serves as the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said that the former first ladys contributions to Reagans presidency may never be fully understood or appreciated.

The Ronald and Nancy Reagan relationship was a great American love story, he said. Although hes been gone for over 10 years, it never did get easier for her, I know that. Now, shes where she wanted to be since the day that she lost him.

[Obituary: Ronald Reagan: 40th president reshaped American politics]

Reagan historian Craig Shirley said that Nancy Reagans post-White House years, particularly those spent as a caregiver for her ailing husband, revealed her true strength.

Her greatest role may have been when he was afflicted, he said, noting her efforts to raise funds for Alzheimers and stem-cell research. She was almost giving a part of her life to him in order to will him back.

Shirley said that she did so with grace and with motivation and with a thoroughness, all driven by a greater cause.

Their marriage is really a marriage for the ages, Shirley said. It rivals the devotion of the Washingtons and the Adamses.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
Turkey said Monday that it would do more than the European Union has asked of it to curb the flow of migrants across the Aegean Sea, but only in return for billions of dollars in aid and a new hearing on Turkish membership in the 28-nation group.

The proposal, which came at the beginning of a bargaining session in Brussels, caught E.U. negotiators by surprise, and what had been planned as a one-day session was prolonged.

The E.U. had hoped to pressure the government in Ankara into accepting a plan under which non-Syrian migrants who had reached Europe would be sent back to Turkey. The Turks clearly saw this as an opportunity to exert some leverage in response.

The E.U. plan comes amid a worrisome backdrop: Thousands of desperate refugees and others are stranded in makeshift camps in Greece because Macedonia has barricaded its border, and the human tide into Europe is likely to grow as the weather warms.

But Turkey  the main pathway for asylum seekers, economic migrants and others in the past year  has set a high bar for agreeing to the plan.

At stake is billions of dollars in aid and revived talks over Turkeys decades-long push to join the E.U., where opponents of Turkish membership have cited many potential obstacles including crackdowns on free expression and dissent.

The deal, originally proposed in November, reflects an increasing desire across Europe to curb the flow that brought more than 1 million migrants to the continent last year  even if it means resettling them in a place many view as unsafe for asylum.

According to Human Rights Watch, Turkey does not provide adequate protection for refugees and has frequently sent asylum seekers back to Syria. Although it has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, Turkey is the only country in the world that recognizes refugee status only for citizens of certain countries. Among those in the current migration, only Syrians can claim such status.

[As the route to Europe closes, migrants journey through grief]

In what seemed like a test for European leaders, the Turkish government on Friday seized control of Zaman, the countrys largest newspaper. Although the E.U. considers media freedoms a fundamental right, European leaders may look the other way if Ankara agrees to help on migrants.

In Brussels on Monday, French President Francois Hollande insisted that Europes reliance on Turkeys participation did not mean that the E.U. condoned restrictions on the news media. Cooperating with Turkey doesnt mean we should not be extremely vigilant about press freedom, Hollande said. And I am.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu surprised delegates in Brussels with Turkeys expanded proposal. In addition to taking back non-Syrian migrants denied asylum in Europe, Turkey also promised to take migrants intercepted in its territorial waters. And it pledged to crack down harder on smuggling groups.

In return, diplomats said, it requested far more aid money, expedited visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in Europe, and accelerated deliberations on its accession to the bloc.

We are not here just to talk about the migrants, Osman Sert, Davutoglus spokesman, said Monday. Turkeys accession to the E.U. is an issue for us here.

E.U. diplomats seemed willing to compromise on existing visa restrictions, provided that Turkey change its visa policies for Islamic states and introduce biometric passports.

By Monday afternoon, Turkey and the E.U. had tentatively agreed to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in addition to the 3 billion euros Europe had initially promised in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey. But discussions continued late into the night.

Speaking from Turkey on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complained that although four months have passed since the E.U. promised aid, no money has been received.

My prime minister is currently in Brussels, Erdogan said. I hope he will return with the money.

[Europes harsh new message for migrants: Do not come]

More than 1 million migrants reached Europe by sea last year, and about 2,000 people are arriving in Greece from Turkey every day. On Sunday, local media reported, at least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast attempting to reach Greece.

Still grappling with a staggering debt crisis, Greece has neither the resources nor the infrastructure to shelter the constant stream of migrants.

National differences on migrant policies were clear throughout the deliberations in Brussels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, was firm in her opposition to permanent border controls; Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann argued the opposite. It has been too easy for many to simply wave through the refugees, he said. The more clearly we argue against this, the better.

[Humanitarian groups accuse French authorities of brutality against migrants]

European leaders worry that E.U. criticism of Turkish policies might jeopardize the deal, but refugee advocacy groups, such as the U.N. Refugee Agency and Amnesty International, have criticized Turkish actions toward migrants.

Nothing in Turkish law prohibits officials from placing those who have fled other conflict zones  such as Iraq and Afghanistan  in detention camps or even from deporting them altogether.

Read more:

Most of the refugees stuck in Greece are now women and children

Spring could bring a fresh surge of refugees. But Europe isnt ready for them.

Turkey cracks down on foreign fighters
A South Korean amphibious assault vehicle, left, moves to a landing ship as a South Korean submarine, center, is seen from the southeastern port of Pohang on March 7. (AFP via Getty Images)

The United States and South Korea kicked off major military exercises on Monday, including rehearsals of surgical strikes on North Koreas main nuclear and missile facilities and decapitation raids by special forces targeting the Norths leadership.

The drills always elicit an angry response from Pyongyang, but Mondays statement was particularly ferocious, accusing the United States and South Korea of planning a beheading operation aimed at removing Kim Jong Uns regime. The North Korean army and people will take military counteraction for preemptive attack so that they may deal merciless deadly blows at the enemies, the Norths powerful National Defense Commission said in a statement.

[U.N. adopts sweeping new sanctions on North Korea]

The exercises come at a particularly tense time, with the international community  especially the United States and South Korea  looking to punish Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. The United Nations last week imposed its toughest sanctions yet on the North, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye is expected to unveil further, unilateral sanctions on Tuesday.

About 17,000 American forces and 300,000 South Korean personnel  a one-third increase from last springs drills  will take part in 11 days of computer-simulated training and eight weeks of field exercises, which will involve ground, air, naval and special operations services.

The exercises will revolve around a wartime plan, OPLAN 5015, adopted by South Korea and the United States last year. The plan has not been made public but, according to reports in the South Korean media, includes a contingency for surgical strikes against the Norths nuclear weapons and missile facilities, as well as decapitation raids to take out North Koreas leaders. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that Kim Jong Un would be among them.

[Punishing North Korea: A rundown on current sanctions]

The joint forces will also run through their new 4D operational plan, which details the allies preemptive military operations to detect, disrupt, destroy and defend against North Koreas nuclear and missile arsenal, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The focus of the exercises will be on hitting North Koreas key facilities precisely, a military official told the wire service.

Christopher Bush, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea, declined to comment on the reports. Alliance operational plans are classified, and we arent authorized to discuss them for operations security reasons, he said.

USFK said in a statement that it had informed the Norths Korean Peoples Army  through the U.N. Command, which controls the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas  about the exercise dates and the non-provocative nature of this training.

But North Korea apparently did not see it this way.

[The strange ways North Korea makes detainees confess on camera]

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.

We have a military operation plan of our style to liberate south Korea and strike the U.S. mainland ratified by our dignified supreme headquarters, the Norths National Defense Commission said in its statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It said it had deployed offensive means to strike South Korea and U.S. imperialist aggressor forces bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. mainland.

If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment, the commission said.

North Korea is particularly sensitive to suggestions of attacks on Kim  as the furor surrounding the 2014 Hollywood film The Interview showed  and it has a habit of making threats on which it cannot follow through.

Last week, Kim 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 imposed on Pyongyang.

[When it comes to punishing North Korea, its Groundhog Day]

The threats issued Monday were absolutely not credible, said Daniel Pinkston, a former Korean linguist with the U.S. Air Force who teaches at Troy Universitys campus in Seoul.

They would trigger everything North Korea wants to avoid, which is their absolute destruction in retaliatory attacks, Pinkston said. Second, if you are going to launch an attack against a much stronger adversary, why would you telegraph that? Youd want the element of surprise.

Much of North Koreas rhetoric is for domestic consumption, as Kim tries to burnish his leadership credentials ahead of a much-anticipated Workers Party congress in May, the first in 36 years.

Kim, however, has shown himself willing to use the means available to him to express his anger. Last year, during a period of increased tensions with South Korea, he ordered his military onto a war footing, sending army units to the demilitarized zone and submarines out of port.

South Korea and the United States said they will increase monitoring of North Korea during the exercises.

We will carry out these exercises while keeping tabs on signs of North Korean provocations, a South Korean official told reporters. If the North provokes us during this exercise, the U.S. and our troops will retaliate with an attack ten-fold stronger.

About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea, the result of an security alliance formed during the Korean War.

Read more:

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Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
The Dome of the Rock mosque is situated in the al-Aqsa mosque compound, sacred for both Muslims and Jews, in Jerusalem's Old City, on Feb. 11. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

 Saying he wants to save Jewish lives, the leader of the Israeli opposition is proposing to divide Jerusalem with more high walls and checkpoints, effectively banishing 200,000 Palestinian residents from the city.

The proposal by Isaac Herzog, formally adopted last month by the Labor Party, imagines building miles of new concrete barriers and smart fences to separate 28 Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from Jewish neighborhoods and Jewish settlements in the city.

Even a discussion of carving up Jerusalem can stir apocalyptic warnings  illustrating the explosive potential of floating plans to change a status quo in an ancient city to which three of the worlds major religions lay claim.

Yet Herzog, who describes his plan as were here and theyre there, says the walls must be built inside the city to stop Palestinians from killing Israeli Jews in knife, gun and car attacks.

[Martyrs? Desperate? Crazy? Palestinians struggle to define Palestinians who attack Israelis.]

Isaac Herzog, co-leader of the Israeli Zionist Union party and the Labor Party's leader, speaks during a news conference at the Jerusalem Press Club on Feb. 10. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

The plan would transform vast stretches of Jerusalem from a demographically divided but physically contiguous metropolis into an archipelago of sectarian cantons served by roads and tunnels designed for either Israelis or Palestinians.

If the Herzog plan were to be implemented, Israel would reduce the Muslim population of Jerusalem from more than a third of the city to about 10 percent.

They will put us behind a wall and say that 200,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem need a special permit to visit al-Aqsa mosque? That is a religious war, said Aziz Oubid, co-owner of an auto parts store in the Palestinian neighborhood of Issawiya just a few miles from the Old City.

They cant be that crazy, he said.

Palestinians complain that the Herzog plan is impractical, radical and racist  that it amounts to the collective punishment of hundreds of thousands of Arabs for the actions of a few dozen assailants and would separate lifelong residents of Jerusalem, both Muslim and Christian, from their jobs, schools, hospitals and holy places.

We are more than suspicious. Even talking like this increases the frustration, increases the anger, said Darwish Darwish, the traditional leader, known as mukhtar, of the Issawiya neighborhood.

Darwish agreed that if the Palestinians someday were given their own state, his village would probably end up on the Palestinian side of a new border  and he said he supports that. What he doesnt support is being pushed out of Jerusalem before he has a state.

Herzog is telling Palestinians of East Jerusalem that we dont give a damn about them, said Daniel Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, a group that tracks development in the city.

The threat to Jewish Jerusalem isnt the Palestinians, Seidemann said. Its the occupation.

[Israelis are calling attacks a new kind of Palestinian terrorism]

Herzogs plan would face many obstacles, not the least of which is that the Labor Party leader would have to be in the government, which he failed to achieve in the last election.

Herzog says his plan is part of a broader effort to preserve the viability of a two-state solution, whereby Palestinians might be awarded their own country in the future. He said a lack of Palestinian leadership and the ongoing violence mean that peace talks must wait.

Herzog said the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that were taken over from Jordan after the 1967 war were never intended to remain part of Israel.

Theyre Palestinians, theyre not Israelis, he said, describing East Jerusalem as a no mans land.

Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem are immediately recognizable. In Issawiya, for example, there are flags flying for Palestinian political factions and the walls are covered with graffiti celebrating Palestinian martyrs  assailants who were shot and killed while attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Palestinians here hold Jerusalem residency cards, which allow them to work anywhere in Israel; they pay taxes and receive Israeli social security benefits and medical care.

But were not Israelis, said Montaz Alian, a shopkeeper. He complained that just last month, Israeli soldiers pounded on his door at 3 a.m. and demanded to know how many people lived in the house.

The proposal to divide the city stands in stark contrast to almost 50 years of assertions by Israelis that Jerusalem must not be carved up again  that it should stand as a solemn promise as the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish people.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said anyone who thinks it possible to divide Jerusalem is suffering from delusions. He said the infrastructure, transport and economy are too intertwined to make dividing the city possible.

Yet many Israelis say Barkats united Jerusalem is a myth, though they are divided over whether the Palestinians in East Jerusalem should be pushed into the West Bank to areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, as Herzog advocates.

In a poll released Sunday, more than 60 percent of Israelis described Jerusalem as a divided city rather than a unified capital, according to the Israel Democracy Institute.

Herzog, a veteran lawmaker who lost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the last election, told The Washington Post that the 28 Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem include villages that most Israelis have never heard of.

The new wave of terror exposed the growth of a young Palestinian generation that has nothing to do with Israel, he said. They are brainwashed by the Palestinian Authority and its teachers, and what shocked many Israelis is a situation where young Palestinians from those villages come over and stab Israelis with no reason and no justification, and there should be no mercy on terror.

Herzog charged that Palestinian youths have their fun in the afternoon killing Jews.

Twenty-nine Israelis, along with an American and three others, have been killed by Palestinian attackers in the past five months. About 116 Palestinians have been shot dead during attacks and an additional 52 have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

About a third of the Palestinian attackers have come from East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Israels domestic security service has arrested more than 1,900 Palestinians from East Jerusalem during the current wave of violence; Israeli forces erected checkpoints into neighborhoods such as Issawiya and also blocked Palestinians from praying at the al-Aqsa mosque.

Herzog said, To cool off, you need to separate, and that means putting up a barrier.

Sufian Taha contributed to this report.

Read more:

Israel to launch one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Tunisian special forces are seen during clashes Monday with militants in Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border. (Fathi Nasri/AFP/Getty Images)

Gunmen apparently crossing from Libya attacked a Tunisian border garrison on Monday, officials said, raising worries about Islamic State fighters and other militants gaining greater footholds in North Africa. More than 50 people, including 35 of the attackers, were left dead in the clashes.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but militants thought to be linked to the Islamic State carried out two major attacks last year in Tunisia targeting the countrys important tourism industry.

Tunisias president, Beji Caid Essebsi, called Mondays strike an unprecedented attack, planned and organized.

The majority of Tunisians are now in a state of war against barbarism, he said from the capital, Tunis.

The assault followed skirmishes in the region last week between Tunisian forces and well-armed militiamen also thought to be based in Libya, where the Islamic State has expanded its presence amid political chaos that has divided the country into two rival zones.

Tunisian forces have been on elevated alert for possible cross-border incursions since a U.S. airstrike Feb. 19 targeting a suspected Islamic State training camp outside the Libyan town of Sabratha, near the Tunisian frontier.

[U.S. strikes back from air in Libya]

Tunisias government tallied at least 53 deaths: 35 attackers, 11 members of Tunisias security forces and seven civilians, including a 12-year-old girl.

Tunisian officials closed border crossings hours after the predawn attack on the compound in Ben Guerdane, used by police and soldiers. In Paris, Frances Foreign Ministry identified the gunmen as coming from Libyan territory.

In an interview with Tunisian radio station Shems FM, a resident of Ben Guerdane said that moments before the attack, an unfamiliar voice took over the local mosques call to prayer. The call to prayer was not a normal one today. There was a different voice and then the shooting began, the unidentified resident said.

The Islamic State is among a host of armed factions in Libya, but its attempts to expand its hold have drawn increasing alarm from the West and neighbors such as Tunisia. Last month, President Obama urged greater efforts to keep the Islamic State from digging in across Libya.

In the U.S. airstrike, a key target was a Tunisian militant, Noureddine Chouchane, who helped train fighters for last years attacks in Tunisia, according to Western officials and others. U.S. officials said at the time that Chouchane was probably killed in the air raids.

Islamic State fighters are estimated to number between 2,000 and 5,000 in several cells across Libya. Some of those are believed to be Libyans who left other militant groups, while others are foreigners, including many Tunisians.

In March 2015, gunmen killed 22 people at the National Bardo Museum, a popular destination for visitors in Tunis. Three months later, an attack on a beach resort in Sousse left 38 people dead, many of them British nationals.

Murphy reported from Washington. Sudarsan Raghavan in Cairo contributed to this report.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center, Interior Minister Efkan Ala, left, and Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, right, pray at the site of a bombing in Ankara in February. (Umit Bektas/AP)

The plea for help came from Sweden: Two young Muslim males had left Stockholm for Syria and would soon be terrorists-in-training unless authorities in Turkey could intercept them.

Turkish security caught the men arriving at an airport in Istanbul with one-way tickets and camouflage gear, officials said. The two were sent back to Sweden and the trouble averted  until eight days later, when the same duo turned up at a Turkish seaport, this time arriving by ferry from the Greek island of Kos.

The back-to-back deportations of those would-be militants last year were in some ways a sign of substantial progress in the cooperation between Western governments and Turkey in sharing intelligence and stemming the flow of foreign fighters to Syria.

But the sequence and hundreds of similar cases have also fueled rising levels of frustration in Turkey, which has been accused of enabling the migration of fighters into Syria even while being called upon to block militants on behalf of other governments unwilling or unable to do the job themselves.

Senior security officials in Turkey described the dynamic with a mix of resignation and resentment, saying that the burden of sharing a long border with Syria has been compounded by other countries eagerness to export their Islamist radicals and reluctance to accept refugees.

Syria is in flames, Efkan Ala, Turkeys interior minister, said in an interview. And while dozens of countries have contributed to the conflagration, he said, they dont even want the smoke.

The issues of migrants and foreign fighters will be at the center of a summit in Brussels on Monday between the European Union and Turkey.

[Turkeys increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers]

Alas irritation, which was echoed by officials across Turkeys security agencies and the Foreign Ministry, reflects the level of friction and fatigue in an effort to constrict the flow of foreign fighters that is only beginning to make headway more than four years after Syrias civil war began.

Over the past year, Turkey has launched a broad crackdown on militants streaming across its territory. It has deployed undercover surveillance teams at major airports and transit hubs, built new barriers across porous sections of the countrys border with Syria, and given its spy service expanded powers to monitor communications between new arrivals in Turkey and suspected Islamic State facilitators waiting to greet them in Syria.

Turkey has also deepened cooperation with the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies. CIA Director John Brennan has made repeated trips to Ankara, including in January, for meetings on counterterrorism operations. The CIA and its Turkish counterpart, known as MIT, operate a secret coordination center close to the Syrian border.

The CIA-MIT partnership extends beyond work against foreign fighters, according to officials who said the agency flies drones over Syria from the Incirlik air base. CIA officials declined to comment.





U.S. officials said the measures by Turkey have helped reduce the flow of recruits to the Islamic State by as much as one-third, a drop that officials also attribute to the terrorist groups loss of territory and momentum in Iraq and Syria amid a barrage of coalition airstrikes and offensives by Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground.

[The Middle Easts alphabet soup of Kurds, explained]

Obama administration officials said Turkeys new determination in the effort against foreign fighters can be traced to the countrys belated recognition of the danger posed by hard-line Islamist groups including the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Although Turkey is not suspected of supporting the Islamic State, they had a hear no evil, see no evil approach to the conflict, said a senior administration official who has been directly involved in counterterrorism talks with Turkey.

They restrained themselves from going after these rat lines to avoid getting into the crosshairs of ISIL, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. That bargain expired once bombs started going off in southern Turkey and Istanbul.

Over the past year, Turkey has endured a series of attacks attributed to the Islamic State, including a suicide bombing in October in the capital city, Ankara, that killed 102 people, and another suicide attack three months later at a historic square in Istanbul that left 10 tourists dead.

U.S. officials frequently describe Turkey as too preoccupied with its decades-long battle with the Kurdish separatist group PKK to devote adequate attention to the Islamic State. But when asked to rank the terrorist threats facing his country, Ala responded with a single word: Daesh, an acronym widely used in the region to refer to the Islamic State.

He quickly qualified his answer, saying that the Islamic State and the PKK are almost at the same level. But he and others bristled at the suggestion that they were ever blind to the dangers of the Islamic State and noted that they declared it a terrorist group in 2013.

Instead, Ala and other security officials said the effort to sever the Islamic States recruiting pipeline began to gain traction only when countries outside the region, especially in Europe, were finally jolted by their own fears into giving up names and data on departing militants that for years they had withheld.

We started finding people because they started giving phone numbers, said a senior Turkish security official directly involved in managing the countrys counterterrorism coordination with Europe and the United States. Europe started providing that data, the official said, only after the January 2015 terrorist assault on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Proof of that expanded cooperation, officials said, can be found in the proliferation since of names on Turkeys terrorism watch list.

The country created the database in 2011 with just 280 entries and by 2014 had nearly 5,000. But over the past year that number has surged to 37,000 on a tidal wave of data turned over by 126 countries.

The list includes names of alleged militants suspected of planning to travel to Syria as well as thousands who have already entered the country and may even have been killed. Officials said that only 123 names in the database correspond to citizens of the United States.

Turkish officials said that while building the database they were frequently dismayed by gaps between the number of foreign fighters nations acknowledged in public and the number of names they had sent to Ankara.

When the U.K. was talking about 300 foreign fighters, on my list we had only 25 names, the security official said. Western governments routinely cited privacy restrictions that they said prevented them from turning over data on their own citizens.

The threat of attacks in Europe has prompted nations there to loosen some of those laws and adopt new measures that enable them to detain suspected militants or at least seize their travel documents. But substantial gaps remain.

When asked about the Swedish fighters intercepted by Turkey, officials in Stockholm said they are powerless.



It is not illegal to travel from Sweden to other countries, even to Iraq and Syria, said Fredrik Milder, a press officer with Swedish security. It is not illegal to join ISIS. We have different laws, so I dont understand what our Turkish colleagues expect.

Turkish officials described some of the requests from Europe as preposterous. At one point, officials said, Turkey stopped a convoy of three cars carrying French families seeking to join the Islamic State. Rather than retrieve them, officials said, France asked Turkey to assign drivers who would function as chaperones and chauffeurs, reversing the trip in the same three cars.

Confronting such policies, Turkeys role has come to resemble a paddle on a pinball machine, batting suspected militants away from its borders only to watch more come tumbling toward them across the maps of Europe and the Middle East.

Turkey has deported nearly 3,200 people suspected of foreign-fighter-related activities since the war in Syria began, officials said. Another 3,000 are in returnee centers awaiting deportation rulings. But those numbers represent only a small fraction of the estimated 35,000 fighters who have traveled to Syria during that period, including 6,600 from Western countries  the vast majority of whom have passed through Turkey.

Beyond screening travelers at airports, bus depots and other points of entry against its burgeoning watch list, Turkey has also ramped up its surveillance and espionage capabilities, in some cases with assistance from the United States.

The nations spy chief, Hakan Fidan, secured expanded government authority to carry out NSA-like eavesdropping operations last year  in part by printing copies of U.S. laws to show Turkish courts how U.S. surveillance authorities exceeded his own, officials said.

Fidan also set up a secret unit in MIT known as Daesh Logistics, with the task of rooting out the terrorist groups facilitation networks after mapping those webs through a massive effort to monitor cellphones.

When a phone moves to a border town, 95 percent that person is going to Daesh, a high-ranking Turkish security official said. Islamic State operatives have since reduced the use of phones to evade such scrutiny, officials said, forcing MIT teams to adopt new tactics.

Turkish officials said that the United States was initially reluctant to provide analytic software and other tools to MIT, urging the government to turn over its raw call data and let U.S. spy agencies do the work instead.

Turkish officials said they rejected the request, and that while MIT and Turkish police now take advantage of training and analytic software provided by the United States, the country has not received U.S. surveillance equipment.

Turkeys record during the crackdown on foreign fighters has been marred by abuses and mistakes. The government has detained journalists and other civilians accused of being fighters seeking to cross the Syria border.

More recently, top officials, including Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, publicly misidentified the suspected bomber in an attack on military personnel that killed 30 people in Ankara last month.

Officials initially identified the bomber as a Syrian fighter affiliated with a Kurdish militia, but they subsequently admitted that he was a Turkish citizen who had entered Syria and then duped authorities by posing as a Syrian refugee when he re-entered Turkey in 2014.

The error was only corrected when the bombers father, in southeastern Turkey, saw news photos and came to the morgue to identify his son.

Turkish officials believe they recently caught a revealing mistake by their U.S. intelligence counterparts. The two countries have feuded over U.S. and European backing of Kurdish forces in Syria that Turkey sees as subsidiaries of the PKK, the Kurdish group deemed a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

The United States has refused to extend that label to the groups in Syria, even though Turkish officials pointed to an entry on the website of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center describing one of the U.S.-backed factions as the PKKs Syrian affiliate. The entry, from a 2014 guidebook, was quickly removed after its existence was noted in Turkish media reports.

Asked why it was taken down, a U.S. intelligence official said, We update our page periodically to reflect the most accurate assessment of groups and terrorist profiles.

Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
Slovakia was haunted by ghosts of its past Sunday as far-right militants who have donned Nazi-style uniforms won seats in parliament for the first time.

The Peoples Party-Our Slovakia group, led by Marian Kotleba, who is a regional governor and has organized marches against the Roma minority, took 8 percent of the vote, nearly three times what polls had predicted.

As the European Union faces its worst refugee crisis since World War II from war-torn Syria and beyond, support for far-right politicians in central Europe has been on the rise.

Analysts say the Slovakian far right capitalized on the anti-

immigration rhetoric from members of most mainstream parties, including Prime Minister Robert Fico, who won the election but may find it hard to form a new government.

Kotlebas success comes as a shock to many.

Kotleba ran openly fascist candidates on his slate, said Igor Matovic, chairman of Ordinary People, the third-strongest party.

Members of Kotlebas former Slovak brotherhood party, dressed in black uniforms reminiscent of the Nazi-era Hlinka guard, first appeared at rallies commemorating the 1939-1945 Slovak State led by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, who allowed tens of thousands of Slovak Jews to be deported to Nazi death camps. The party was disbanded in 2006.

Kotleba has since founded a new party, changed his uniform for a blazer and replaced war rallies with anti-Roma, anti-

immigration and anti-corruption rhetoric.

Today, his party rejects any links with Nazi ideology and focuses on criticism of the European Union and NATO.

[]

We are not fascists nor neo-Nazis, although we might appear extremist compared to other lukewarm parties, said one of its newly elected lawmakers, Milan Uhrik.

Opinion surveys show that Kotlebas party was the most popular among first-time voters, winning 23 percent support among them.

His criticism of same-sex partnerships courts social conservatives, while his frequent visits to poor regions far from the glitzy capital, Bratislava, win local votes.

The former high school teacher has been charged several times with disseminating racist propaganda but has been acquitted or had the charges dismissed.

Kotleba won a surprising landslide victory two years ago and became governor of the Banska Bystrica region in central Slovakia.

With 14 lawmakers in a 150-seat parliament, the Peoples Party will not have much say in national politics  other parties say they will not cooperate with it  but it will gain much more visibility on the national stage.
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the attack in an online statement circulated by supporters.

It was the third massive bombing in and around Baghdad in a little more than a week, and it appeared to be part of a campaign by the Islamic State to stage attacks deep behind front lines to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces.

Crowds gathered at the scene, picking through rubble and twisted car parts in search of survivors. Smoke rose from smoldering cars that had been lined up at the main checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of Hilla, which lies 60 miles south of Baghdad.

The blast has completely destroyed the checkpoint and its buildings, Falah al-Khafaji, a senior security official in Hilla, said as he stood at the edge of the blast site. More than 100 cars have been damaged.

The Islamic State has carried out scores of suicide bombings against security forces and the countrys Shiite majority. Hilla is in Iraqs mainly Shiite south, far from the front lines of the governments war against the militant group.

Among the dead were 39 civilians, while the rest were members of the security forces. The attacker struck shortly after noon, when the checkpoint was crowded with dozens of cars, a police officer said. He added that up to 65 people were wounded.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to the news media.

Iraq has experienced a spike in violence in the past month, with suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State killing more than 170 people. The attacks follow a string of advances by Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, including in the western city of Ramadi, which was declared fully liberated from militants by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition officials last month.

Attacks such as the Sunday bombing force the government and the militias to look back and reallocate resources and reassess, said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, referring to the mainly Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces.

The Islamic State still controls large swaths of Iraq and neighboring Syria and has declared an Islamic caliphate in the territory it holds. The extremist group controls the key Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as the city of Fallujah, about 45 miles west of Baghdad.

At least 670 Iraqis were killed last month in the violence, of whom about two-thirds were civilians, according to the United Nations.
There will be no bargaining over a new constitution for Turkey that could enhance the powers of the president, the prime minister said Sunday, adding that the government will seek to put the matter to a referendum.

The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, will have the support of all 317 deputies for a new charter and will look for an additional 13 votes from the opposition that are needed to take the draft to a referendum, Ahmet Davutoglu told the broadcasting organization A Haber.

A cross-party commission charged with drafting a new constitution collapsed last month after the main opposition bloc pulled out over attempts by the AK Party to change Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

All 317 AK Party lawmakers will do whats necessary. The constitution is not up for bargaining. Its a matter of principles, Davutoglu said. We will find the 330 [votes] and take it to a referendum. Our people will have a constitution embraced by all, and the [current] charter will be consigned.

Senior AK Party officials said last week that the party was working on its proposals despite the oppositions resistance, plans that could hand President Recep Tayyip Erdogan powers to draft legislation directly and pick ministers.

The AK Party has broad support for overhauling the constitution, which dates to the period after the 1980 military coup and has been amended repeatedly. But there are wide divergences over what a new charter should look like.

Erdogan wants the charter to transform the presidency from a largely ceremonial post to an executive one with expansive powers.

Davutoglu said parliament will begin debate on revoking the parliamentary immunity for lawmakers from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), which has Kurdish roots, after budget talks conclude Wednesday.

The Justice Ministry last week submitted a request for the assembly to scrap the protection from the prosecution of five HDP lawmakers, including the partys co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, after repeated calls for such a move by Erdogan.

The ultra-right Nationalist Movement Party, parliaments fourth-biggest grouping with 40 seats, has signaled its support for stripping Demirtas and the others of their immunity.

Demirtas told reporters that the AK Party was using the issue to tap nationalist support amid clashes between security forces and Kurdish militants in Turkeys restive southeast.

The government has raised the issue of our immunity before, but this time they appear serious, he said. They want to scapegoat us. We dont want this to happen, because not only will it hurt our party but all of Turkish society and its democracy.

Even if parliament lifts the lawmakers immunity, the HDP will retain its 59 seats until any prosecution is complete, which could take years, Demirtas said.

He also reiterated the HDPs opposition to an executive presidency, saying it would make the government more autocratic.

Opposition parties want the new charter to focus on minority rights and democratic freedoms and fear that an executive presidency would consolidate too much power in the hands of one man.
A woman looks at an electronic billboard displaying the Hang Seng Index numbers in Hong Kong in February. Trading in shares in Chinese telecoms giant ZTE were suspended Monday. (Jerome Favre/EPA)

The United States will place export restrictions on Chinese telecom giant ZTE for allegedly selling U.S. technology to Iranprompting an angry response from the Chinese government and causing trading in the companys shares to be suspended in Hong Kong on Monday.

The move, due to take effect Tuesday, is likely to further strain relations between Washington and Beijing in the information technology sphere and could cause China to retaliate against U.S. companies, experts said.

The Commerce Department began investigating ZTE in 2012 after Reuters reported that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars in hardware and software from leading U.S. tech firms to Irans largest telecom carrier, the Telecommunication Company of Iran, and an associated firm.

Now, ZTEs suppliers  anywhere in the world  will need to apply for an export license before selling U.S. equipment or parts to Chinas largest telecom equipment company. If they dont, they could face punishment.

The U.S. Commerce Department said ZTE planned to use a series of shell companies to illicitly reexport controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws. It said ZTE acted contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

Chinas Foreign Ministry protested.

The Chinese side is firmly opposed to the United States using domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese companies, ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Monday at a news conference. The Chinese side urges the U.S. side to call off the wrong action lest it should jeopardize economic cooperation and relationship between China and the United States.

Samm Sacks, senior Asia analyst at the Eurasia Group, said the decision was a blow to Beijings ambitions to make Chinese companies global leaders in next-

generation IT, putting a red flag on the company at a time when it is the fourth-largest provider of smartphones to the U.S. market and expanding in Europe.

In 2012, ZTE responded to the initial Reuters report by announcing that it would curtail its business with Iran, not seek new customers and limit business with existing customers.

The company issued a statement late Sunday saying it was highly concerned about the latest reports, insisting that it had been cooperating with the U.S. investigation since 2012 and that it is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns.

[U.S. firm alleges Chinas government colluded with ZTE]

Sacks said the move signaled that the Obama administration was not willing to back down over long-standing concerns about the issue, even at the expense of friction in the relationship with China.

Beijing is unlikely to retaliate immediately, she said, with officials focused on ensuring a smooth visit by President Xi Jinping for the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

But in the medium term, it is likely to counter by tightening market access or regulatory control over U.S. companies in China.

It has been a tough couple of years for American IT companies in China. They have faced significant government mistrust in the aftermath of Edward Snowdens revelations about a massive U.S. cyberespionage program, and there was anger here after the U.S. government accused China of commercial cyberespionage.
Hans Falladas novel Every Man Dies Alone (published posthumously in 1947), about a Berlin working class couple who issue a call for resistance to the Second World War and to Hitler via the medium of handwritten postcards, has been adapted several times for film and television (in both East and West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s).

Falladas novel gained renewed attention following its translation into English in 2009. The great success of the bookthe translation was a surprise UK bestseller in 2010, selling hundreds of thousands of copiesreflects a strong interest in the era of fascism and a craving for truth about history.

The authors aim was not to reconstruct the real case of Otto and Elise Hampel, from Berlins Wedding district, who were executed in 1943 by the Nazis. Rather he used their remarkable story as the framework of a social portrait of the German capital under Hitler, drawing the picture of many characters from different milieus. Each has his or her own point of view and attitude towards Nazism.

The real-life Hampels have become in the book and film the fictional Otto (Brendan Gleeson) and Anna (Emma Thompson) Quangel. Other characters often come from the petty bourgeoisie, including those who have experienced social decline and deliberately placed themselves at the service of the Nazis.

For example, there is the ruined bar manager Persicke (Uwe Preuss), who got back on his feet thanks to the Nazi Party. Two of his sons are now in the SS [the murderous Nazi paramilitary organization]. His youngest, Baldur (Sammy Scheuritzel), is a candidate for a Napola [National Political Institute of Education], an elite school for young fascist leaders. The son of Eva Kluge (Katrin Pollitt), the post office employee, is also with the SS. When she learns, however, that he has been involved in killing Jewish children at the front, she breaks off all contact. He is no longer her son.

Frau Kluge has long ago kicked out her husband, Enno (Lars Rudolph). He is unable to hold down a job and gambles away his wifes money on the horses. He doesnt want anything to do with politics. But he knows a Jewish doctor who, out of fear, writes sick notes for anyone who asks for one. Massive speedup has been implemented in the factories. Those who give the impression they are not devoting all their energy to ultimate victory (Endsieg), quickly find themselves clapped in a concentration camp.

The unemployed petty criminal Emil Barkhausen (Rainer Egger), who ruthlessly extorts people and is not afraid of betraying them to the Gestapo, is aware of the causes of the anxiety: Most people today are afraid, basically everyone, because theyre all up to something forbidden, one way or another, and are worried that someone will get wind of it. After Otto Quangel learns of his sons death and expresses his grief to Barkhausen, the latter immediately tries to extort him, using the threat of the camps.

Falladas nuanced picture of daily life in the Third Reich shows the falsity of the thesis of Daniel Goldhagen and his supporters, holding that all Germans uniformly supported Hitler and the extermination of the Jews. The latest remake of Alone in Berlin (directed by Swiss actor Vincent Perez) also rejects a collective guilt thesis. I wanted to present this fear which was omnipresent. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife, the director said.

Gestapo inspector Escherich (Daniel Bruhl) takes his time finding out who is behind the amateurishly written postcards with their anti-Hitler slogans. He is convinced the postcards will not be passed on. Everyone will report them to the policeout of fear, rather than loyalty to the Fuhrer. The guillotine stands out symbolically toward the end of the film (the Hampels were beheaded). The following scene shows a tenement building with countless empty windows.

In the novel, this fear has a pre-history. Almost every adult in the Weimar Republic period (1919-33) had contact with people who were later regarded as enemies of the people under the Nazi regime. The German Communist Party (KPD) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) were parties with millions of members and sympathisers: workers, artisans, intellectuals, journalists and artists, including many Jews. Jews could be found in all social circles. Virtually every adult was vulnerable to official persecution at some point in the Nazi period, if one only dug deep enough into his or her past.

The scene in Falladas book between the prominent film actor and his lawyer is telling. The actor is thankful that he can continue performing under Hitler despite the fact his previous directors were often Jewish. He had also acted in pacifist films. The lawyer is an old school friend. When the movie star finds one of the Quangels postcards in the hallway and shows it to the lawyer, distrust suddenly arises. Each fears the other has laid a trap. They give the postcards to a Nazi functionary and their anger is now directed against those who wrote the anti-Hitler messages.

This concrete social mechanism of terror and the realism and sophistication of the novel in general are missing from the film. It focuses entirely on the couple, the Quangels, well performed by Gleeson and Thompson. The environment recedes into the background, is sterile and resembles a stage set. Many important episodes in the novel are missing. Characters have been deleted or smoothed over. The KPD underground resistance, in the environs of which Fallada locates some of his characters, has been carefully removed from the film.

Persickes telling history is presented in a positively false light. His glorification of the Fuhrer in the book is accompanied by a profound social contempt for all those weaker than he is. The figure of Baldur also jars in the film. Perez turns the fanatical Hitler Youth leader into a fairly harmless young person in a youth organisation uniform, who is embarrassed when the elderly, Jewish Frau Rosenthal (Monique Chaumette) reminds him that as a child he always liked to eat her cakes.

The character of Escherich is interesting. One can imagine him as a criminologist during the Weimar Republic. Fallada leaves no doubt that his social indifference, his hunters nature was decisive for his Nazi career. Emotionless and with perseverance, he chases his game, the unknown postcard writer.

In Perezs film version, the cynical Gestapo officer, feared on all sides, is turned into a victim of violence. Only out of fear of his brutal superiors does he act violently. Before he takes desperate action, he throws the Quangels postcards out the open window of his office. Do the postcards fluttering outside, an image with which the film closes (the scene does not exist in the novel), indicate a twinge of conscience on Escherichs part?

Each previous adaptation of the Fallada novel inevitably reflected a certain Zeitgeist [spirit of the time]. In the 1975 West German film (directed by Alfred Vohrer), Anna was the stronger character and the initiator of the postcards protest, in the spirit of the womens movement of the day. The detailed five-hour, three-part television miniseries made in 1970 in East Germany (Hans-Joachim Kasprzik) made concessions to the Stalinist state censor. Otto Quangel was depicted as politically immature because he did not join the political opposition of the Stalinist Communist Party but instead acted as an apolitical loner.

The new Franco-German production appears at a time when far-right movements such as the National Front in France and Pegida and Alternative for Germany are on the rise and state violence increasingly dominates everyday life. Undoubtedly, the film is a concerned response. Todays youth should know the history of the Quangels, argues leading actor Daniel Bruhl. At the same time, we are witnessing today an enormous intensification of social inequality.

Among the most notable scenes in Alone in Berlin is one pointing to economic inequality in the Nazi state: Anna Quangel, a member of the Nazi Womens Association, visits a wealthy peoples comrade (Katarina Schuttler) in her luxury apartment and asks her, as she would anyone else, to comply with the general obligation to work. The women is indignant at the arrogance. Her husband, a senior Nazi official, ensures that Anna is dismissed from the Womens Association.

It may sound surprising when Bruhl explains that the film is innovative in featuring no die-hard Nazis. In fact, even in Falladas novel there are no figures corresponding to the usual Nazi stereotypes advocating an irrational Master Race and exhibiting the individual, sadistic lust to torture people.

What distinguishes the Nazi youth Baldur Persicke and the other petty-bourgeois characters, whom one could well imagine participating in todays Pegida or the National Front, is the social attitude aptly and ironically described by Leon Trotsky in his brilliant essay What is National Socialism?, written shortly after the Nazi takeover in 1933: What must be done in order to improve things? First of all, throttle those who are underneath.

One can sense new social questions and emphases being explored in the film. Perhaps there were many more who thought like the Quangels. But ultimately, unfortunately, Perez effort to remodel Falladas realistic and multifaceted novel into a pacifist appeal for individual moral courage fails to convince.
Both the March 3 Franco-British summit in Amiens and the meeting between French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on March 4 in Paris lay bare deep tensions rising between the major European imperialist powers.

The 34th Franco-British meeting between Hollande and Prime Minister David Cameron, together with their foreign and defense ministers, had broad symbolism and consequences. It was linked to the commemoration of the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest offensives against Germany during World War I, and stressed Franco-British sacrifice.

There was stunning absence of any representative of the German government in the ceremonies, and of any allusion in official statements to German losses, which at a half-million men was on the same level as the Franco-British forces. At a press conference at the Amiens museum, Hollande said, I want to stress that the British Commonwealth paid a heavy price, a heavy sacrifice, to defend our country and to preserve liberty. Again, I want to salute the memory of the fallen.

The summit mainly centered on reinforcing military ties between France and Britain. Officials from the two countries stressed above all the importance of military cooperation and decided on a series of measures in this area.

The common declaration stated, France and Great Britain are the main guarantors of security in Europe and the main investors in European defense. Our strategic defense partnership is essential to allow us to attain our common objectives across the world.

An associated declaration on security and defense containing specific measures on military cooperation reaffirms the importance of the 2010 Lancaster House treaty between France and Britain, which it called an unprecedented ambition. It adds, bilateral defense relations, already rich, have been intensified.  We are determined on this issue to push for a new stage of these relations in 2016.

These measures include the accelerated development of common weapons systems, including a 2 billion-pound program to develop a military drone. Another project is the development of a joint expeditionary force of 7,000 men that will carry out its first operations next month in Great Britain.

We have attained an unprecedented level of inter-operability. France and Britain can from now on consider planning and carrying out a first deployment with rapid reaction forces of both countries, the statement declared. It also stressed the independent and common role of the two countries' nuclear forces. It stated, France and Britain reaffirm the unique and essential role that nuclear deterrence continues to play in their respective defense strategies.

On the nuclear issue, the two countries announced the upcoming construction of two nuclear reactors at Hinckley Point on the west coast of Britain.

The Franco-British rapprochement occurs amid a surge in tensions between Paris and Berlin. These emerged openly at last month's Munich Security Conference, where French Prime Minister Manuel Valls publicly attacked Merkel's refugee policy.

Since the 2011 NATO war in Libya, which Germany refused to join, Berlin's foreign and military policy has shifted radically. In early 2014, its leaders proclaimed an aggressive foreign policy and the end of military restraint. Since then, they have launched a return to great-power geopolitics and a policy of rearmament, triggering broad fears among Germany's European rivals. Germany plays an increasingly active role in numerous conflicts, including in Africa and in Syria, and an increasingly important role inside NATO.

Leaders of French and British imperialism are terrified and feel the need for a common alliance. This is what the regional newspaper Courrier Picard expressed in its article after the Amiens summit, in an article titled The Entente cordiale resurrected in the Somme, referring to the World War I-era Franco-British alliance against Germany.

The fundamental rivalry between French and British imperialism remains. When Cameron proposed a referendum on Brexit and demanded concessions for Britain to stay in the European Union (EU), he provoked overtly hostile reactions in Paris. Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius accused him of wanting Europe a la carte. Before the summit, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron provocatively declared that if Britain left the EU, he would roll out the red carpet in Paris to financial firms now based in London but who need access to the common European market.

The March 4 meeting between Merkel and Hollande in Paris revealed the fraught state of relations between the two governments. Merkel went to Paris to try to obtain French support for her refugee policy: a hermetic sealing of the EU's external borders, the detaining of refugees by Turkey and a permanent quota system to distribute refugees among EU countries.

Hollande limited himself to repeating that France had previously agreed to greet 30,000 refugees in France, echoing Valls' comments at Munich. He only proposed to contribute one warship to the German-led NATO operation to monitor and turn back refugees in the Aegean Sea.

After the meeting, the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote, German hopes that Hollande would be favorable to Merkel's long-term plan to take refugees from Turkey, however, were in vain, while Wirtschaftnachrichten declared, Chancellor Merkel has had to swallow a serious defeat on her refugee policy.

Numerous commentators forecast that relations between the two countries are lastingly damaged by rising tensions between Paris and Berlin. Zeit online wrote, Before the refugee summit, nothing can hide the fact that deep disagreements exist. After the Munich conference, the German government had declared, in an attempt to maintain a semblance of normality in Franco-German relations, Valls is not the person who speaks to Merkel.

Le Monde reacted to the failure of the summit by writing, But where is France? Why is it not stepping up to the plate, to make the voice heard of Germany's leading political partner, as the refugee crisis turns into a nightmare threatening Europe's very existence?

It is now clear that the enormous political and economic crisis of capitalism is creating enormous tensions between the European imperialist states that place again on the order of the day military conflicts between them, including in Europe itself. While Germany reacts to insoluble contradictions that already twice in the 20th century led it to try to conquer Europe to become a world power, France and Britain are again tending to ally themselves against their economically dominant and increasingly militarily powerful rival.
For the first time, Hillary Clinton called for the resignation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder during the Democratic debate Sunday night.

The governor should resign or be recalled, Clinton said, staking out a bolder claim on the issue.

Clinton has made the Flint lead crisis a centerpiece of her campaign, and has repeatedly criticized the Republican governor for his role in the disaster. Sen. Bernie Sanders has not emphasized Flint as much as his rival, but hes been calling for Snyders resignation since January. Clinton had stopped short of calling for his resignation.

SLIDESHOW  Water crisis in Flint, Mich. >>>

Sanders made the call for Snyders resignation again at the debate, before Clinton was asked about Flint.

One of the points that I have made is that I believe the governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible, Sanders said. He should resign.

Clinton said amen to Sanders comments, and then added her own call for Snyders removal, accusing him of allowing Flint residents to be poisoned in order to save money. Before the debate, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN that it wouldnt make a difference in the day-to-day lives of Flint residents for Snyder to step down, and that Clinton was focused on helping them.

The governor responded to both Clinton and Sanders on Twitter. This was never about money. This was a failure of government at all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy, Snyder wrote.

(Cover tile photo: Jim Young/Reuters)
FLINT, Mich.  One of the more heated moments at the CNN-MLive.com debate here Sunday came after moderator Anderson Cooper turned the floor over to Gene Kopf, whose 14-year-old daughter, Abigail, was critically injured in an Uber drivers shooting spree on Feb. 20, which left six dead in Kalamazoo, Mich.



Kopf asked what Democratic presidential primary candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would do to crack down on mass shootings, adding that he didnt want to hear anything about tougher laws for mental health or criminal backgrounds, because that doesnt work. Kopf noted that Jason Dalton, the man who was charged with the shooting that nearly killed his daughter, had no mental health issues recorded, and had a clear background.

Clinton began by saying, We have to try everything that works to try to limit the numbers of people and the kinds of people who are given access to firearms, and she agreed with Kopf that not every killer will have the same profile.

But, she continued, I also believe, so strongly, Gene, that giving immunity to gunmakers and sellers was a terrible mistake. Clinton was referring to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which protects gun manufacturers and sellers from being held liable when their products are used to commit crimes.

Sanders, Clinton pointed out, voted in favor of that bill when it passed in 2005.

No other industry in America has absolute immunity  and they sell products all the time that cause harm, Clinton said. You talk about corporate greed? The gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much money as they can make.

Her comment drew sustained applause.

SLIDESHOW  Deadly shooting in Kalamazoo, Michigan >>>

Cooper piggybacked on Clintons reference to the gun immunity law, noting that the families of Sandy Hook victims announced that they are going to sue Remington, who made the AR-15, which was used in the Newtown massacre, but that the law Sanders supported was likely to prevent them from doing so.

Story continues

Tonight, what do you say to those families? Cooper asked Sanders.

Well, this is what I say, if I understand it  and correct me if Im wrong. If you go to a gun store and you legally purchase a gun, and then, three days later, if you go out and start killing people, is the point of this lawsuit to hold the gun-shop owner or the manufacturer of that gun liable?

Simply put, Sanders argued, illegal gun sales are one thing, but he doesnt believe that manufacturers should be held responsible for a crime committed with a product that someone purchased legally.

I think what you do is you hold those people who have used the gun accountable. You try to make guns as safe as possible, Sanders said.

The sort of liability regulation that Clinton supports would be too onerous and potentially threaten gun manufacturing, said the senator from Vermont. Sanders campaign has made the decline in manufacturing jobs in the United States a major area of focus, and he and Clinton have clashed repeatedly on the gun issue over the course of the campaign.

What youre really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America, said Sanders. I dont agree with that.

(Cover tile photo: Jim Young/Reuters)
DHAKA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bangladesh's central bank said on Monday its account at the U.S. Federal Reserve had been hacked and money was stolen, but that some of the funds were traced to the Philippines and recovered. The New York Fed, which manages the account, denied that its systems were breached but did not say whether funds had been drained from the account, citing confidentiality. Bangladesh Bank said it was working with anti-money laundering authorities in the Philippines. It did not say how much money had been stolen and a spokesman declined to comment. Bangladesh's central bank has around $28 billion in foreign currency reserves. "To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," a New York Fed spokeswoman said. She declined to comment on whether the U.S. central bank's New York branch was investigating the claim by its overseas counterpart. Some 250 central banks, governments, and other institutions have foreign accounts at the New York Fed, which is near the centre of the global financial system. The accounts hold mostly U.S. Treasuries and agency debt, and requests for funds arrive and are authenticated by a so-called SWIFT network that connects banks. Fed computers have been hacked in the past including charges in 2014 against a British citizen for breaching central bank servers and publicly posting information from internal users. (Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York; Editing by Gareth Jones, Bernadette Baum and Diane Craft)
Tasos Katopodis/Getty ImagesLady Gaga and Taylor Kinney's relationship turned cold on Sunday...but for a good cause.

The engaged couple, along with others, jumped into Lake Michigan in Chicago as part of the Polar Plunge, an annual event that raises awareness and funds for the Special Olympics.

Gaga has posted a few photos from the event on Instagram. She captioned one of them, "We love the city of Chicago and the Polar Plunge for The Special Olympics. These men and women are brave and powerful. Me and Taylor love getting cold in your honor every year."

The couple took part in the Polar Plunge last year as well.

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From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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Entertainment / Music

by DJ-Sticha

Music is a powerful means of connecting people. It bridges linguistic and cultural divides, and is a vehicle for identity and expression like no other. Collectively, the music ecosystem generates rich social, cultural and economic benefits. Kodwa today Ngibhala this article ngidabukile ngaphakathi ngoba abantu bakithi asisapotani, ngeke ngishay' inja ngifihl' umphini nawe ulapho wazi kahle ukuthi awusapoti abanye ufuna kunguwe. How many CDs have you bought for the past 2 years from a local artist?, do you attend amashows wabo?, if you don't uthi bona baze kanjani kwawakho? nihlula noma umuntu ephisana ngomculo mahala, the fact ukuthi kubhalwe Khuxman, Skaiva, Tsholotsho King, Zinja ziyamluma or Sticha, uvel' uthi "ah laba bayabheda" ufuna anything ebhalwe Drake, Heavy K or Dj bani bani from South Africa. It's like namaRadio Djs wasezweni ezw' ubuhlungu when playing umculo wabantu bakubo, ngicela ukuzwa ngawe ke, ucabang' ukuthi inkinga isukaphi ngoba the only way of dealing with inkinga is admitting ukuthi sinenkinga. Angisayiphathi ke eyeGovernment, ama artist aphiwa izigodo as awards like really?, these people(Musicians) spend a lot of money producing, recording, mixing, mastering and marketing to perfect their songs qede benz' ama campaign for those awards only to win is'godo esibazwe ngumuntu nje eLupane? no centnyana nje even R5 Cell C for amadata bundles?. I think ama artists kwamele abambane kumanje and do something ngalento kusase early ngoba if sithula they'll think simnandi engami umtwan' ongakhaliy' ufel' embelekweni.I just needed to let some steam off, now back to indaba-ndaba, How cities benefit from helping the music industry growCollectively, the music ecosystem generates rich social, cultural and economic benefits. A recent report, The Mastering of a Music City, by the global music industry body, IFPI, and its affiliate Music Canada, seeks to inspire cities around the world to cultivate a vibrant music economy within their community and become true Music Cities.The report provides a comprehensive framework of strategies and best practices to help cities  local authorities, businesses, community groups and the creative sector  tap into the power of music. It is a road-map for municipalities of all sizes to reach their Music City goals, offering useful insights about how to build a stronger and more lively music community.Once exclusively associated with Nashville, Tennessee (USA), the term "Music City" now describes communities that have - or are encouraging - the development of a vibrant music economy. Music Cities can deliver significant economic and employment paybacks beyond their long-acknowledged cultural and social benefits.The report draws on the experiences of 22 cities on all continents and 40 in-depth interviews as well as two focus groups to identify the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing a Music City strategy. Among the interviewees were music association leaders, music entrepreneurs including publishers, promoters and artists, municipal employees, and experts in tourism investment and economic development.The study identifies five essential components of a successful Music City:the presence of artists and musicians;a thriving music scene;available spaces and places for music;a receptive and engaged audience;and record labels and other music-related businesses.Music Cities also benefit from multi-level government support for music, including a broader city infrastructure conducive to the sector's development and the availability of effective music education programs. (Ngibhala ngamazwe ale ngaphesheya kwezilwandle ngoba la ekhaya angiboni lutho, angifuni kubhala amanga, kungcono ngibhale into engiyaziyo).Music drives economic valueA vibrant music economy drives value for cities in several important ways. It fuels job creation, economic growth, tourism development and artistic growth, and strengthens a city's brand. A strong music community also attracts highly skilled young workers in all sectors for whom quality of life is a priority. This in turn attracts business investment.While it may be impossible to manufacture the secret something that causes artists and musicians to gather in a city, it is possible to create an environment that enables musicians to do what they do best: make music. Access to training and education programs, mentoring, music hubs or incubators as well as affordable housing can help attract and retain musicians, many of whom are on limited incomes.Earning a living as an artist has never been easy. "It has never been easier to distribute a creative work. At the same time, it's never been harder to get paid for it,". Professional development services for musicians not only help artists develop the skills they need to run their business and careers, they also make a municipality more music-friendly while helping artists and musicians monetize their work and build their businesses.I wish nginganaba ngibelesele amabenefits of supporting amalocal musicians kodwa kungaze kushon' ilanga. Nginombuzo nje kuma artist wakithi, how many of you are making a living out of umculo nje kuphela?, can you really survive and prosper uphile this life esiyibona kuma music videos and instagram or you selling amafans some dreams?, well iqiniso laziwa nguwe kodwa nginxusa wonk' umuntu ophatha umculo as i business ukuthi asukume alwele amalungelo wakhe kuqedwe i favoritism,marginalization and payola(bribing music compilers kumaradio stations to get airplay).Maybe this article is senseless kuwe ngoba wen' usika la enone khona for now, wait till you meet ithambo sibone ukuthi kuzoba mnandi yini. Akuqedwe leyo mentality yokuthi "if it doesn't affect me, it's not my problem". Am sure kusazovela amaheadlines emaphepheni sekufe a legendary musician ebhalwe "After 45 years emculweni, ubani bani dies a pauper", qhubekani nidlal' oSteve Wonder as if aniboni indlala izokwand' ukwedlul' amahlabathi aseNsuza.My latest work featuring Smallz(download and share) Dj-Sticha feat Smallz moneymaker-WayisunduzaMasabelane ngolwazi, masikhulisan' emculweniFacebook: DJ-Sticha MixkingTwitter:@DeejaySticha
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

THE Kitwe High Court has sentenced a 40-year-old man to death by hanging for murdering his friend.This is in a case in which Gift Sinkamba of Bulangililo township was facing one count of murder.Zambia Daily Mail reported that particulars of the offence are that on December 13, 2014, Sinkamba murdered Jonas Phiri.Delivering judgment, Justice Isaac Kamwendo said the prosecution had managed to prove the offence of murder against Sinkamba beyond reasonable doubt.He said there was overwhelming evidence against the accused and that he found him guilty as charged and convicted him accordingly."I sentence you to death by hanging until you are pronounced dead by a medical practitioner, and if you are not happy with what I have done, you can appeal to the Supreme Court within 14 days," Justice Kamwendo said.During trial, Paul Sinkamba testified that on the fateful day, around 16:00 hours, his older brother, the deceased, was at home when the convict came.The court heard that the two started arguing but they went out to drink beer together. However, later in the evening, Paul learnt that his brother had been killed and that the matter was reported to the police.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

Tshwane Metro Police chief Steve Ngobeni has been accused by one of his subordinates of bonking his wife and destroying his marriage.Sowetan Sunday World reported that this comes after metro police official Nicholas Mahlangu was suspended early this year after he was convicted of armed robbery.But Mahlangu, a member of the presidential unit, claims there's more to his suspension than meets the eye.He claimed that he was suspended because he was a stumbling block to his boss.Mahlangu also accused his boss of double standards, saying Ngobeni was arrested for speeding, a case which left him with a criminal record."The chief of police has a romantic relationship with my wife and it has been going on for a while. People were talking, but I didn't suspect anything because I didn't have proof," he said.Ngobeni denied Mahlangu's accusations that he was sleeping with his wife. "It's not true. That man is not normal and I think what triggered this is because I suspended him," he said.He said it was not the first time that Mahlangu accused him of having an affair with his wife."In September last year he also accused one of my directors of sleeping with his wife and then called the director and apologised after he was asked to produce evidence to prove his allegations."After that he then changed his mind and started accusing me of sleeping with his wife."He said Mahlangu's suspension had nothing to do with his criminal record but with the alleged use of his official gun at an armed robbery in Limpopo."I have 100 members with criminal records and none of them has been fired. Mahlangu did not disclose the reasons why he went to Modimolle with his official firearm."We assess individual cases and there is no general rule that fits everyone. I did not create the problem, my case cannot be compared with the others."Mahlangu's wife, Joyce Mogale, who is also a metro cop, said her husband was not in his right state of mind. "You should not take him seriously, he is not well in his mind. How can I sleep with my boss? It doesn't make sense."She said Mahlangu was a violent and abusive man who forced her out of their house in Pretoria North."Psychologists said he is obsessed with me and I want nothing to do with him. He packed my bags and kicked me out of the house in June 2014 and threatened to kill me if I didn't leave."Mogale said her estranged husband was using Ngobeni as a scapegoat for his own mistakes."He is twisting things. My boss does not even know where I stay. He [Mahlangu] is the one who was seeing other women. I found him several times at our house with women. He is not a victim here. I have never cheated on him," she said.But Mahlangu was adamant that his wife was unfaithful and slept with Ngobeni behind his back. He said he started being suspicious when his boss started enquiring about his work shifts and where he was posted."He used to call people to find out where I'm posted when I was still working for the freeway unit. After that he would go to my house. Luckily I had tenants at the house and they told me that there's a man who comes to the house every time I work night shift and he looked like my boss."Mahlangu said when he confronted his wife, she packed her bags and left for 11 months."When she came back, she was sleeping in a different room. Sometimes she will even speak to the chief in my presence and that's when I fought with her. A day later, I arrived at the office and I was given a letter of intention to suspend me," he said.He said he smashed her cellphone "out of anger" after discovering SMS exchanges between her and Ngobeni."I assaulted her and broke some things and she ran to the police and opened a case of assault against me," he said.He said when the case was withdrawn he arrived home and found police who told him his wife said she cannot live with him anymore. "I was escorted like a criminal out of a house that I helped to buy. It's a joint bonded house, but I was kicked out."
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

A WOMAN'S failure to prepare bathing water for her husband prompted him to walk out, the Matero Local Court heard.Zambia Daily Mail reported that Anna Bwalya, 29 of Chipata township sued her husband Mathews Mukalakasa, 42 of the same township for marriage reconciliation after he deserted home claiming Bwalya was not a caring wife.The court heard that the couple got married in 2008 and has two children. Bwalya and Mukalakasa has however been on separation for seven months and bride price was not paid.The couple appeared before senior court magistrate Lewis Mumba sitting with Pauline Newa.Bwalya explained that besides sleeping out, her husband would also find reasons to send her packing whenever they had a misunderstanding."I love my husband but he does not have regard for me. He freely speaks to his girlfriends on the phone without caring that I am present," she said.She told the court that things became worse when Mukalakasa started abusing her physically for returning home late from selling vegetables at the market.But Mukalakasa told the court that his wife is short tempered and is in the habit of monitoring his movements."The problem with my wife is that she likes trailing me and inquiring from friends how I behave when I go drinking," he said.Passing judgment, court dismissed claim for marriage reconciliation because the two cannot get along.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

A WOMAN was ready to kill her husband so she could enjoy an affair with her boyfriend, the Matero Local Court heard.The court heard that the 17 years Susan Phiri spent with her husband did not count but all she wanted was to be with her lover at whatever cost.When Simon Phiri, 42, discovered what was going on behind his back, he sued for compensation for adultery before senior court magistrates Lewis Mumba and Pauline Newa.Zambia Daily Mail reported that Simon of Chipata township told the court that Daniel Phiri, 26, of Kabanana township has been having an affair with his wife, Susan Phiri, 34.With suspicion at the back of his mind, Simon, a businessman pretended he was going away on a business trip on February 24."I returned minutes later and walked in on Susan on the phone and asking if that person had gone for an HIV test. She even volunteered to accompany the person she was talking to, to the clinic to have an HIV test," he said.When Simon got hold of Susan's phone, he found intimate messages between her and Daniel."In one of the messages, Susan told Daniel that she loved him so much that she did not want to lose him and that she was ready to even kill me just to be with him," Simon said.Pretending to be Susan, Simon told the court that he sent a text message to Daniel."Susan saved Daniel as Onga. Since he thought it was Susan communicating with him, he agreed that we meet in Chipata township. I then took him to the police station where I was advised to sue Daniel for adultery," he said.However, Daniel denied ever having an affair with Susan but admitted writing the text messages to her because he wanted Susan to help his wife get a market stall.But Susan admitted to having an affair with Daniel.The court found Daniel guilty of committing adultery and ordered him and Susan to pay Simon K10, 000 as compensation.
News / Education

by Staff Reporter

The Collin Nyabadza Children's Voice Charitable Trust (CNCVCT) continues to impact the lives of school children in rural Zimbabwe. On Thursday 3rd March, 2016 the fledgling organization donated books, clothing and tools at Tjewondo Primary & Secondary Schools.The educational supplies were kindly donated to the organization by a UK based charity, Christian African Relief Trust (CART) who recently shipped a 40ft container loaded with educational supplies that also included classroom furniture.Representing the CNCVCT were the organisation's Projects Advisor Mr. Ronald Mabuza Ncube who also happens to be a former student at the primary school, and Board Advisor Mr.E.N. Nyathi who is a former principal at the same school and is now retired. Speaking to the children after handing over the supplies Mr. Nyathi urged them to continue working hard for a better future. He also urged them to take very good care of the equipment which is often very expensive and difficult to get. He also urged the teachers to equip the children with some practical skills using the tools donated.Mr. Ncube was however shocked at the not so pleasant conditions prevailing at the secondary school which was established with the help of Mr. Nyathi and Mr. Collin Nyabadza so as to save the children graduating from the primary school the burden of walking 25km every day to attend the nearest second school. For instance there is one classroom block whose roof needs urgent repairs after it was damaged by a heavy storm. He however informed the children and staff that his organization would do everything possible to help improve conditions at the school and others in the district as this was the only way better qualified teachers could be attracted and retained.Some of the equipment will be handed over to schools in Bubi and Tsholotsho Districts where the organization works in too. All board members were assigned districts which they manage and supervise. They have therefore since collected their allocation of the supplies received from CART and are just waiting for the appropriate time to handover the equipment to their assigned districts.The Collin Nyabadza Children's Voice Charitable Trust is also currently engaged in other projects which will see them impacting the school lives of more children. For instance, they are constructing a 1x2 classroom block at Seshawe Primary School in Bubi District, with the help of a UK based charity the Juniper Trust, to replace the sub-standard structure the children are using at the moment which could actually collapse anytime.
News / Local

by Thandeka Moyo

A MAN has been arrested for impersonating a police officer and allegedly raping two women at Centenary Park in Bulawayo.Ekem Ncube, 39, from Mahatshula suburb, allegedly raped the two, one of them a Form Three pupil, within three days last month.Ncube is feeing a total of six counts of rape, robbery and impersonating a police officer and his trial will commence on March 19 at the regional courtProsecuting, Tinashe Dzipe alleged that on February 6 at around 7PM, a Form Three pupil was at Centenary Park with two friends when Ncube approached them and introduced himself as a police officer."He showed the teenagers one photo on his cellphone of him dressed in police uniform and told them they were under arrest for loitering in the park Ncube purported to escort them to BulawayoCentral Police Station but they never reached there," said Dzipe."While on the way, he dismissed the girl's friends and took her deep into a bushy area around the park where he threatened to stab the girL"He then ordered her to remove all her clothes and lie on the ground."Ncube allegedly raped the girl once and took her laptop, a pair of headphones and two phones and went away.The girl reported the matter to the police.After two days, Ncube allegedly followed a woman who was walking from the park until she boarded a kombi."Ncube boarded the same kombi and threatened to arrest her for indecent exposure in the park saying she was doing 'things' in public He then led the woman out of the kombi claiming she had to go to the Bulawayo City Council offices to explain her case," Dzipe said.When they reached a bushy area behind the Amphitheatre, Ncube allegedly threatened to kill the woman and raped her before robbing her of a tablet. He was arrested on February 15.
News / National

by Felex Share

leader of newly-formed Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) Dr Joice Mujuru came under fire yesterday for denigrating President Mugabe, with political analysts saying her utterances were tantamount to attacking the electorate that resoundingly voted him into office in the 2013 harmonised elections.In an interview published by The Standard yesterday, Dr Mujuru who launched her political outfit on Tuesday, said President Mugabe was "a living spirit" and she had no time to "destabilise" him in that form.The analysts said Dr Mujuru's entry into opposition politics was a clear sign that she was a pawn of foreign interests seeking to perpetuate Western hegemony on the country's economy.Dr Mujuru was sacked from Zanu-PF and Government at the end of 2015 for corruption and plotting to topple President Mugabe. Apart from undermining the country's sovereignty, her vision as ZPF president seeks to reverse all economic empowerment programmes being pursued by Zanu-PF.She has pledged that Zimbabwe would rejoin the Commonwealth, reverse the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme and relook at the land reform. This, analysts said, vindicated revelations by whistleblower website Wikileaks that the former Vice President had always "puttered" with the country's detractors."The people resoundingly spoke in their millions; voted for President Mugabe in 2013, gave him a five-year mandate and it is this which Mujuru is attacking," said political analyst Mr Gabriel Chaibva."Real spirits are in the Mujuru cabal because President Mugabe is an icon recognised, a world defender of African values and principles. "It is public record that when Mai Mujuru was still in Zanu-PF, she dabbled with the foreigners and the WikiLeaks told us about that all."She is simply a bidder of the imperialistic efforts to undo Zanu-PF." According to the Wikileaks cables, Dr Mujuru met United States diplomats on different occasions where they discussed plans to topple President Mugabe.She also asked for funding in the event they succeeded. Dr Mujuru met former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Charles Ray, secretly at one of her properties on December 16, 2009 and told him that "Zanu-PF old guard" was giving way to young blood that included her.Mr Chaibva added: "Her words are intended to deceive and are calculated to please and placate the imperialist's efforts." Another political analyst Professor Charity Manyeruke, said Dr Mujuru needed to do a "reality check" and stop insulting the masses."There is no need to insult the very Zimbabweans from which she will need support," she said."Yes, she might be bitter but insults will not take her anywhere. You do not vie for power using that route but programmes and policies."Mr Goodwine Mureriwa said Dr Mujuru's vision was also about reversing the Look East Policy, which was benefiting the country."She is doing all this to please the West," he said. "She wants to be seen as a moderate, a neo-liberal and it is not surprising, because that is the mission that Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T leader) was also given but failed."Mr Mureriwa went on: "I would not be surprised that she already has massive funding from the West, just like Mavambo, to subvert and weaken Zanu-PF's prospects of winning elections."As somebody who has always been egocentric in terms of accumulation of material wealth, she realises for her to get funding she has to speak their language."Political analyst Mr Simukai Tinhu, said instead of appealing to the electorate, Dr Mujuru's pledges were alluring to the West."By rejoining the Commonwealth, she is appealing for British support and by extension the international support," he said."Repudiating the indigenisation policy indicates neo-liberal policy but equally appeal to the same group which has been opposed to the basic tenets of this policy."Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth in 2003 in protest against its treatment by key members of the club, especially Britain and Australia, over the land reform programme.Since the pull-out of Zimbabwe, the Commonwealth has lost relevance and in 2013 Gambia also pulled out of the grouping.Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri said while Dr Mujuru was trying to be moderate, a few African countries, if any, had benefited from negotiations with Western capitalistic States.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE ruling Zanu-PF party in Mashonaland Central province has dared former Vice President Joice Mujuru who has formed her own party, Zimbabwe People First, to come and test her popularity in her former home.Politicians and ordinary people in the province said Mujuru had done little to develop her home area and was only lucky to be previously elected because of her association with Zanu-PF.Now that she has formed her own party, the province is ready to show its displeasure with her past misleadership."It surprises us that she wants to lead the country yet she failed to develop a small place like Mt Darwin West," said Barnwell Seremwe who succeeded Mujuru in Mt Darwin West Constituency."For over 30 years she couldn't uplift the area even when she was Vice President and if you look here there are no clinics and roads in her name. She should have led by example but she failed and there are a number of examples to point to her failure."The projects she initiated failed for example Dotito Irrigation Scheme where she gave two tractors but ended up taking one to her farm and the same happened at Chibuli irrigation scheme where she donated two tractors but later took one again. On the proceeds of the schemes she would sell but only give villagers a bottle of cooking oil in return."Worst of all she stopped the construction of Ndoda Road midway and diverted the equipment," he charged.Seremwe said Mujuru was a selfish individual and the province was long fed up with her."All the votes she got in this constituency were courtesy of the party not her power as an individual," he saidProvincial chairman Dickson Mafios said Mujuru abused the reverence that the people of Mashonaland Central showed her in abstaining from contesting her position in primary elections."We resolved not to let anyone contest her because she was a senior member of the party and we actually did the donkey work for her and she hopped from one constituency to another from Bindura to Muzarabani to Mt Darwin yet you can't point to a single success and where she started projects and they took off she would embezzle the money and claim that donors had pulled out,: she said.He said Mujuru had introduced the culture and legacy of factionalism in the province as she would impose her cronies."She wanted to destroy the party and her own party will never amount to anything as it is also composed of crooks who were chased from the ruling party who are now seeking political relevance," said Mafios.Women in die province are not giving Mujuru a chance, either.Several women interviewed by our Harare Bureau said the former Vice President did not use her position to uplift other women or to be sensitive to the needs of girls."She made a lot of promises but delivered little and the best she did was sinking a borehole at her homestead where we draw water and nothing else," said a woman from Tabex village where the Mujuru homestead is located.Veronica Mukombe, a war veteran and provincial political commissar in the ruling party's women's league, said Mujuru had failed the province because she was "fake" since the days of the liberation struggle."We're not afraid of her," said Mukombe."She can't do anything on her own as she is given to the easy life since the days of the war. In Mozambique she was at the rear and into making babies and she never downed that chopper as she claims. I was section commander and operated in Mutoko, Goronga, Sidewalk and Area C and I know what I'm talking about. All she did after she was made leader of the women's league at Chai Chai was stay at the rear while we went to the front and she brought four children from the war to show for it"Mujuru was expelled from the ruling party in 2014 for spearheading a plot to unconstitutionally unseat President Mugabe.A fortnight ago she registered her party, PF, with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and went on to hold her first press conference as leader of PF at Harare hotel last week.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The out spoken Zanu PF MP Sarah Mahoko has complained that when the MPs are on international air t5ravel they are crammed in the economic class where it like they are in a chicken bus and demanded that the legislators be treated like the executive who are booked in special classes.This was after another Zanu PF MP Oliver Mandipaka presented a report on the affauirs of the MPs."I would want to thank Mandipaka for his report which is very good. The report of Mandipaka has brought all the Members of Parliament together. They have become united because this is a good report. So, we want to thank you Hon. Mandipaka for this insight," Mahoko said. "It is very true Mr. Speaker that there are three arms of State which should be equal. As Hon. Members, when the Budget is being presented, it is us who will be applauding so that the budget would pass. This is where it all starts. You cannot say that if a herd boy takes all the cows in the kraal, then you start complaining. If we say we want to be equal, it does not work because when the budget was presented, we applauded in agreement."She said all the arms were represented and the budgets were allocated according to the three budgets and we applauded that it was a good budget."We ululated when we saw that the allocations were different but because Hon. Mandipaka has presented his report, the issue about diplomatic passports that we are talking about is the one that is important. When we go out on our airports, we are treated as servants. We are not seen as people," she said. "When we travel with you, you take your own route which is not congested. I will go and use the normal one where I will be pushed and shoveled. Some of us are really conscious about our presentation. We really want to look good and want to represent our country well, but it will not be seen because when you get to your destination, you will be dirty."She said some of them even fall down when they are shoveled and they get to their destination dirty, but there will be a line which is not congested."When we get into the plane, you go into the Economy Class. It is like you are in a chicken bus. I think you should plead on our behalf. We should have talked about this when we were doing our budget. However, a diplomatic passport does not need a budget, what it only needs is for you to look into it," she said. "The same way people have had faith in us is the reason why they have chosen us to represent them in Parliament. I think you should also be on our side, representing us. If you give us the diplomatic passports, it will not do any harm to us but rather help us when we go out representing our country, smartly dressed like I am, we will be confident as Zimbabweans."Mahoko said with the President, Robert Mugabe, who is also a Continental leader, they should have diplomatic passports."Wherever our President goes, he is very confident but his Parliamentarians are being seen shoveled. Our President is very educated and we love him but we should also be seen in the same vein with him," she said."I want to thank Mandipaka for this report. I think Members of Parliament; we should be wise during budget presentation and be critical on the budget."
News / National

by Nqobile Tshili

THE Registrar General's office will not relax conditions needed to acquire birth certificates for children born outside the country to curb the smuggling of children.This was said by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Obedingwa Mguni, during a National Assembly's Question and Answer session last week.Mguni said the government does not want to provide birth certificates to children who may not be Zimbabwean.The Deputy Minister said this after Zanu-PF's Pelandaba-Mpopoma MP, Joseph Tshuma, asked the government to revisit the requirements for one to obtain a birth certificate for children with parents outside the country.Mguni said: "We all know that a birth certificate is a very important document and should be distributed to genuine, bona fide citizens of Zimbabwe. When we look at birth certificates from South Africa, they also show where the child's parents come from If a child is born outside the country, he's given a birth certificate with initials ED."He said mothers are the ones who have the responsibility of acquiring birth certificates without hassles."If a mother goes to acquire a birth certificate, she has the power to acquire that birth certificate with no problem but if the father does the same, there is a problem because you may end up giving a birth certificate to a foreign child who then acquires the rights of that country^ Mguni said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

While the military and other security agents should be apolitical, according to the country's 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 Zimbabwe's 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 nation's 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. Mugabe's 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 RupangaBut Vivid Gwede, another independent political commentator, says with the succession fights intensifying in the ruling party, the military could think otherwise.Gwede said, "We don't 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 precedence's as and when the military has defied a directive from the commander in chief because that is tantamount to treasonA 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 MizhaAnalysts 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. Mugabe's 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.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Robert Mugabe has left Harare for India where he will join political leaders, former heads of state as well as religious leaders from across the globe at the World Culture Festival to be held in New Delhi.President Mugabe, who is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Presidential Spokesperson Mr George Charamba and senior government officials, will join heads of state, former political leaders as well as religious leaders, artists and peacemakers from over 155 countries who are expected to converge in New Delhi, india for the cultural festival.The global movement known as the World Cultural Festival was founded in 1981 by a philanthropist, Sri Ravi Shankar and this year's celebrations will showcase the art of living and commemorate 35 years of service to humanity, spirituality and human values.Sri Ravi Shankar has played a key role in mediating several conflict situations and extending support in times of need across the globe.President Mugabe is expected to take advantage of the visit and take up issues that were discussed with the Indian business community during the Africa India Summit held in last year.Mugabe is also expected to attend the Global Leadership Forum, which will be co-hosted by the World Forum of Ethics in Business and the Art of Living Foundation.Kingstons bookstores, a parastatal that falls under the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services is in negotiations for a possible partnership with the Indian book industry and President Mugabe's visit to the Asian nation is anticipated to bolster the deal.On his departure, President Mugabe was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Phelekhezela Mphoko, cabinet ministers, service chiefs and several government officials.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A special envoy of Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe, held talks with President Robert Mugabe at State House in Harare this Monday afternoon.The special envoy, Mr Masaharu Kohno, accompanied by Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Yoshi Hiraishi delivered a special message to President Mugabe, inviting him to the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) meeting to be held in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of August this year.TICAD conferences were introduced by the Japanese government to promote and foster cooperation between the two sides and this is the first time the summit is being held in Africa.The Japanese envoy also delivered a message on cooperation in the political arena, saying his country fully supports calls for the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).Japan belongs to the G4 together with Brazil, Germany and India, countries that support each other's bids on having a permanent seat on the UNSC.Their demand is based on the growth of their economic might in recent years.The G4 countries are elected for two terms on the UNSC as non-permanent members by countries of their region.Zimbabwe and Japan are cooperating partners in various areas of socio-economic development.
News / Press Release

by Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE PEOPLE FIRST.



PRESS STATEMENT



RE: State Media Attacks on Our Party and Leader Dr J.T.R. Mujuru

AS expected, the state media has launched a negative blitz on our party Zimbabwe People First, and our leader Dr J.T.R. Mujuru. However, we note with concern that all the material so far published by Herald, Sunday Mail, Chronicle and Sunday News on Zimbabwe People First and our leadership is pure fiction and fantasy.The alleged divisions or so-called side-lining of founders of the party only exists in the wishful thinking of the state media.ZPF is an all-inclusive party with members drawn from all generations. Mixing the young and old surely cannot be said to be side-lining anyone. We are simply harnessing our experiences and skills to strengthen the party. For the record, the younger generation in the party values the brave step taken by the founding elders of the party to say 'good bye' to Zanu-PF and lead the formation of Zimbabwe People First. Without their experience, leadership and guidance, the party would not have come this far. And we continue to need them.Today's story in the Herald and Chronicle on Zanu-PF structures in Mashonaland Central attacking Dr Mujuru, and Saturday's instalment by Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru, dramatises the regime's fear of Zimbabwe People First, even before we commence full-scale political activity. The thoughtless and negative publicity on our party from the state media is an undeniable admission by Zanu-PF of the effectiveness of Zimbabwe People First, and can only spur us forward.As for Manheru, we are not worried at all about his monologues because the poor chap confuses his personal mood with the national mood, and his personal anxieties with national anxieties. We all know what is happening to his preferred successor to his boss, and naturally Manheru must be down, moody and anxious, and he thinks everyone is down, moody and anxious like him. The people's mood is that of expectation of change in 2018, and ZPF is determined and confident to bring that change. No columnist can dampen that mood.In the meantime, ZPF continues to be seized with welcoming and integrating droves of new membership from all corners of Zimbabwe. We are humbled by the support from the people.Thank youBy Methuseli Moyo, member of Information and Publicity Committee, Zimbabwe People First.
Opinion / Columnist

Mai Mujuru and her ZPF are a confused lot; they are condemning Mugabe and Zanu PF one minute and the next minute they are boasting of what they learnt under the dictator."If you are in administration, it does not mean that you agree with whatever happens in there. As much as I was part of that administration, it was a learning curve. Mind you, I was there as a young person. I was being inducted when bad things were happening, but I saw that this is not good. Now I want to see good things happen in People First," Mai Mujuru said.Only someone as simple minded and naive as Mai Mujuru would say believe that Mugabe who have set out deliberately to do the wrong thing and, worse still, that "good things (WILL) happen in People First" because she said so!"Things should be done in an inclusive way, where people say let us rebuild and transform Zimbabwe. With new minds from MDC and all over, I don't think we can go wrong."Bull s***t! She spent 34 years as a senior member of an incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical regime that systematically denied millions of people their freedoms, rights, hopes and murdered over 30 000 for selfish political gain and she expect us to believe it was a useful "learning curve"! Madam, what exactly did you learn? How to loot, to rig elections, to murder political opponents and then how to deny these never happened!As recent as February 2014, Mai Mujuru continued to deny that there was no corruption, for example. She dismissed the stories of George Charamba, Cuthbert Dube and several others in Public Service Medical Aid Society, Council and parastatals who were being paid outrageous salaries and allowances while the respective institution was failing to provide even the most basic service. She said the stories were "lies and propaganda" being spread by those with a "regime change agenda"!Even now with the country's economy in total meltdown and his own party Zanu PF imploding and threatening to drag the nation into the abyss; Mugabe still continues to blame the country's problems on "the illegal sanctions imposed by the evil British imperialists and their Western Allies". After 34 years sitting at his feet, the simpleton Mai Mujuru has clearly learned something from Mugabe  how to lie, to rig elections, to loot, etc.Throughout her 34 years in Zanu PF she had nothing but praise for the party; it was only after she was booted out of the party that she has spoken about the party's failures. Mai Mujuru and all her former Zanu PF followers are a confused bunch; they are proud of their 34 years in Zanu PF as useful political experience and yet they do not want to be associated with the regime's pathetic record of economic failure and murderous oppression.What Mai Mujuru wants us to believe is that all the good apples in Zanu PF left with her and all the bad apples remained with Mugabe. Whilst she will not deny that she and ZPF friends have played their part in the economic mismanagement, the corruption, the vote rigging and even the political murders the process of their being booted out of Zanu PF has purified them completely; they are incapable of doing wrong! A very tall order indeed, only the politically naive would swallow that!In case Mai Mujuru and her ZPF friends have forgotten; for the last 16 years we, the ordinary people, have been seeking democratic change. The 2008 GPA was about implementing a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and deliver the democratic changes including free, fair and credible elections.There is no doubt that ZPF people know, they are naive but not that naive not to know this, that the only to stop the Zanu PF culture of political violence and vote rigging is by implementing the GPA reforms. ZPF members know Zanu PF members "won" their council, parliamentary or senatorial seats in 2013 thanks to MDC's failure to get even one democratic reform implemented.Still Mai Mujuru has not called for the implementation of the GPA reforms because she knows ZPF will stand to benefit from the status quo. She has called for an end to the violence because she knows that as long as Zanu PF has control of the state institutions, especially the security organs and judiciary, ZPF will be at a great disadvantage.Zimbabwe Peace Project has reported 208 cases of political violence in January 2016; 83% the cases were by Zanu PF operatives targeting ZPF supporters! Still Mai Mujuru and the other leaders have not reconsidered their position and demand the full implementation of GPA reforms before elections. They are hoping that the years as Zanu PF membership will give them the edge and stop Zanu PF rigging the next elections.The signs are we going to hold the next elections with no meaningful democratic reforms having been implemented again and thus have another blatantly rigged elections, a repeat of 2013, or worse a repeat of the 2008 i.e. rigged plus wanton violence. As for which of the two parties, ZPF or Zanu PF, "wins" it is a matter of indifference; what really matters is we would have failed once again to hold free and fair elections and whatever government we get it will be corrupt and incompetent.Zimbabwe is in a serious political and economic mess and the only way we are going to get out is by implemented the GPA reforms, a pre-requisite for free, fair and credible elections and competent democratic government. Trading in a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF re-gime for an equally corrupt and incompetent ZPF regime will not get us out of this mess!
Opinion / Columnist

Brian Sedze is the Chairman of Africa Innovation Hub and President of Free Enterprise Initiative. He is research fellow at UR.He can be contacted by email on brian.sedze@gmail.com

The Minister of Mines and Mining Development Honorable Walter Chidhakwa directives to Hwangwe Colliery Company (HCC) management shows a dismaying contempt of good corporate governance .The minister has given himself opaque authority to be a shareholder, the board and management ,all rolled into one. It is not the ministers' role and responsibility to direct strategy through an ultimatum nor is it his prerogative to order an arbitrary salary ceiling. His instructions are unlawful, ill informed, unreasonable and bad precedent.The minister's role in the governance matrix is limited to driving government policy. He should drive policy by causing the appointment of competent board members who shall be responsible for governing strategy and setting executive remunerations amongst other roles. He should not be both the shareholder and board of director of the SOE he superintends, that's if (HCC) is even a state owned enterprise. If things are not well at HCC the ball rests in the board's court. If the management is incompetent it is further the board's role to deal with that.Unlike in politics "one centre of power" is a sign of bad governance. Management should be accountable to board members and in turn the board members should report to the shareholder. The issuing of gang nailed directives to management by one shareholder creates governance chaos .You can imagine the chaos if Mittal Steel, Messina and other institutional investors of HCC are to issue their own directives to management outside the precincts of the board. A minister with no respect for good corporate governance illustrates to the world reasons why the world should not consider investing in Zimbabwe especially on a Private Public Partnership platform.Discord with other investors and unilateral actions by one shareholder increases the governance risk factor which results in company value destruction, premiums on capital, increase in country investment risk factor, increased investment flight and low Foreign Direct Investment. Governance discords also send negative messages to myriad stakeholders like suppliers, financiers and customers.The uncertainties caused by legally unsound instructions have a negative impact not only on the company but to the general investment climate. Investors will no longer be sure of what other instructions the minister will dream of. Investors require certainty and good corporate governance is a guarantees that.Government interference is the cause of myriad failures of State Owned Enterprises like Zisco, CSC, NRZ and many other firms. Politicians are not necessarily great directors as they at times set wrong precedents whilst playing to the gallery as a pretention of hard work. Hard work should be delegated to a stratum of the company in the form of the board. There should be separation of roles of the shareholder, the directors and management .The minister as a shareholder representative asserting authority through the board, at annual general meetings and extra ordinary general meetings.The simultaneous and sequential message of a minister who is the shareholder, the board, the board chairperson and most senior executive is that private public partnerships are toxic, that investing in government related enterprises is a high risk business and that equity participation in any public company with some level of government shareholding is an investment in the abyss, as the government will unilaterally impose its will and proffer instructions without restraint.The minister and to a large extend the cabinet have a rather unhealthy fixation with salary ceilings. We are often forgiven to believe most corporate challenges and failures have everything to do with huge salaries and nothing else. It's a Cuthbert Dube driven knee jerk reaction and is an ill informed decision.The responsibility to determine executive and management salaries should be reserved for the recommendation to the board by the remuneration committee .The remuneration committee decisions on remunerations are informed by the need for internal and external equity. Remuneration should be performance driven rather than based on a minister's arbitrary ceiling. Salaries should also be set to enable organizational entry and retention of skilled, competent and performing executives.When salaries are set at artificially low ceilings the undesired consequences are often nagging agency problems. The agency problems often manifest in rent seeking behavior, corruption and financial malfeasance by the executives.I believe minister's energy and intellect should rather be applied to causing the appointment of competent board members to represent its interests at HCC.He will further do Zimbabweans a favor by reforming the way these board members are appointed by empowering an independent board appointing firm or authority to make such appointments.History in his ministry has shown that the immediate past minister of mines had career board members and beneficiaries of his largesse who moved with the minister from one ministry to the other as SOE board members. These board members are also even appointed to the minister's private company boards. The board members become more loyal to the minister instead of the company and the nation. Without an independent board appointing firm or authority the companies continue being run by loyalty driven appointees without consideration of any merit.To get the best out of HCC, the company must have the majority of its board members being independent from loyalties to politicians and political machinations. Its chairperson must be independent including chairpersons of the critical committees. The board must be a balance of skills, knowledge and abilities. The boards must have a mandatory training to enable them to grasp directing as opposed to managing.
Opinion / Interviews

Ex-vice-president Joice Mujuru (JM) says Zimbabwe is lucky to have Mugabe alive at his age as someone who could give the country spiritual guidance.mujuruShe says however, in an exclusive interview with DW's Privilege Musvanhiri, that Mugabe should have groomed a successor long ago.DW: What inspired the formation of your political party Zimbabwe People First?JM: People First felt that people's aspirations were not being realised because of how the rule of law was being flattened.The revolution has now been forgotten, buried and freedom fighters are angry with that. Having one of their own being vice-president and being chucked out just like that and asking me whether I had actually committed the litany of accusations and getting the answer no, they felt betrayed.I told them I felt the same. I got the support of the masses who wanted us to create another party which will now involve ourselves, freedom fighters, to show them that we would not allow them to bury the struggle. So I was ready to take up the challenge.DW: Why name it Zimbabwe People First (ZPF). It rhymes with where you are coming from (Zanu-PF)?JM: One thing you should know is that whatever is being announced by ZPF has to do with the struggle. This shows we are reminding Zanu-PF: you have missed the boat, you have lost it all. You have also lost the freedom fighters. Hence, we have taken back what we fought for.DW: For more than 30 years you were part of Mugabe's government. What made you change sides?JM: Exactly what I have been telling you, that they have missed us. You know even if you say Zanu-PF is violent, the actual freedom fighters are not violent people. During the war, we used to teach people that fighters and masses are like fish and water. They are one and the same thing. You don't destabilise each other.So when you hear that freedom fighters are being asked to go and beat the masses, to me as a person, this is unthinkable. I do not understand why a freedom fighter would go and beat up a man and kill him.That is why I could see that there was a difference between the Zanu-PF I knew and the one that now existed.DW: Why should Zimbabweans believe in your party and vote you to be the next president?JM: This is not my party. It is the people's party. This party is now made up of former [members of the opposition party] MDC [Movement for Democratic Change], former Zanu-PF, those who have never joined any political party and the young people who have only voted two or three times.They have joined this party because we understand each other. I have been telling them that some of the things that are now happening in Zanu-PF are not the true Zanu-PF ideals and values. Our values are the people themselves and that is the core-value of this country. As People First, we value our people and we value peace.DW: Your party leadership is composed of people who were expelled like yourself from Zanu-PF and this has raised scepticism whether you are going to make any difference?JM: I am sure you are talking about the founding elders. As the name states, they are founding elders. They were the ones who supported us and said we should have an all-inclusive party. We cannot say we don't want them.They are our advisers and people who give encouragement to the young ones to come to the party. The young ones are leaders in the community because they can run and give impetus to the job that has to be done.We are encouraging more people to join us because we don't want to be just a few of us. We want them to tell us what it is that is missing and how Zimbabwe should move forward.DW: You were part of a system that you are now calling unjust. How do you answer for the role that you played in the years that you were part of it?JM: If you are in administration, it does not mean that you agree with whatever happens in there. As much as I was part of that administration, it was a learning curve. Mind you, I was there as a young person.I was being inducted when bad things were happening, but I saw that this is not good. Now I want to see good things happen in People First.Things should be done in an inclusive way, where people say let us rebuild and transform Zimbabwe. With new minds from MDC and all over, I don't think we can go wrong.DW: Critics say you are making a tactical error in adopting what may be called a soft stance on your former party and boss Mugabe. Why are you choosing to be soft?JM: We are not in a fighting mood as People First. We don't promote hate speech and we don't retaliate. Mind you, President Mugabe is not a young person. He is 92. Your grandfather of 92 would not even be looking after goats or making any serious family decisions.He would not be involved in anything. That is where the mistake is. To me, he is a spirit. That is why I don't agree and sometimes I wonder that people of this country almost believed that I wanted to kill him.In my culture, you don't raise a finger to a man or a woman who is your mother or your grandfather's age. It is spiritual, he is now a living spirit and we are lucky to have him alive.If you want to talk to your departed grandfather, you talk to them through him and you don't have to wrong him, because at his age he is just there to sit around and be respected as a living spirit. I don't want to destabilise a living spirit.DW: How confident are you that you will give President Mugabe tough competition come 2018? Is there a likelihood that you will join forces with opposition parties to ensure victory against Zanu-PF?JM: We're still forming our party and we should be given a chance. Being a democratic party, we should be given a chance to unite or communicate with like-minded parties. I can't forecast what is likely to happen but time will tell.DW: The greatest challenge Zimbabwe has had is leadership renewal. Mugabe is still in power at 92. What assurances are you giving to the people that you will not do the same?JM: We've already put measures in place in our draft constitution for two terms in office and that's enough. A good leader grooms, advises and hands over power to a successor. You can't say that this country will collapse if it's run by someone else. What if you die today, does that mean the whole country dies with you? That's why Zimbabwe is where it is today. Because he failed to groom a successor to take over.DW: It's common knowledge that political leadership, particularly that of Zanu-PF, is often not accountable to the electorate. How are you going to curb this culture?JM: In our constitution, we've made it clear that we will use a secret ballot and respect the people's choice and the regional balance.DW: The recent development of the government to close Chiadzwa diamonds mines resulted in chaos. What's your view on this move?JM: I am puzzled by the decision to close the mines, particularly with China on board. These issues need to be treated equally and we must be rational because we're living in a global village and these actions will deter global investors. We should be working towards attracting both local and international investors.DW: The country is experiencing a drought and the government was slow in seeking international humanitarian assistance. What do you think about the way government has handled the humanitarian situation?JM: If government were serious, they would have put in place measures to support people to make the most of our land since it is our greatest asset. If people were shown how to utilise their land, last year's harvest would be available for this year.Joice Mujuru served as vice- president under Mugabe from 2004 to 2014.She held several government posts since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. In April 2015, she was expelled from Zanu-PF for allegedly plotting against Mugabe.
LAS VEGAS, NVSurely each member of the 2016 presidential race is under exacting scrutiny, consistently questioned as to how hard they can thrust themselves into important issues, measured for how tall they can stand on the core values of the party. During the most recent Republican debate Donald Trump answered rival Marco Rubios mocking that The Donalds hands are smalland the implication of diminutive size of his other partswhen Trump assured Megan Kelly and her team that I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee. Following directly after Trumps claim, Larry Flynt issued an open letter to Trump offering a team of doctors ready today to conduct the examination required to confirm your boast, as well as adult toy and novelty maker Pipedream Products inviting the Republican front runner to have his penis molded free of charge.

Today, The Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas offered to display the Presidential hopefuls cast.

Mr. Trump has made political history on national television during a live debate claiming he is beyond adequate where the size of his manhood is concerned, essentially making himself Ground Zero of the Girther Movement. No candidate for President has ever made such a claim, but instead have used euphemistic, albeit vague statements to that fact in the past and in modern times through the use of power words such as 'aggressive,' 'bold,' 'strong' and any other words associated with maintaining the patriarchy, Dr. Victoria Hartmann, Executive Director of the EHM said.

The famous sex-positive Erotic Heritage Museum consistently honors Larry Flynt and Harry Mohneys ongoing efforts of exposing corrupt and duplicitous politicians. In the glare of The Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, a mere few steps from the museums entrance, the EHM invites Mr. Trump to display his own private tower. In addition to a regular rotation of exhibitions culled from around the world with artifacts dating back to 1500 BCE, Harry Moneys Erotic Heritage Museum also boasts a second floor gallery, performance space, The Worlds Largest Sex Bike and a sculpture of a penis entirely done in pennies.

Really, is there a better place to house Mr Trumps likeness?

In keeping with the offers made by Larry Flynt and Pipedream, should Mr. Trump be willing to back up his claim with verifiable evidence, the Erotic Heritage Museum is best suited to preserve such an important artifact. We stand ready to induct his penis into our museum. Dr. Victoria added.

For further press inquiry, email [email protected].
About Me Alan Ross Radio program Caffe Latte began on JOY 94.9 FM (in Melbourne, Australia) in Sept. 1997 through to July 2012. Caffe Latte is now back on JOY Sundays 11 am - 1 pm (Aust. Eastern Time) & can be heard online all over the world and as a podcast on various media platforms. Check back here for my Top 10 current tracks of the week; the latest countdowns; this month's new addition to the Gay & Lesbian Icons & Anthems Gallery; the earlier versions of hit songs, retro in the Time Capsule posts and more. Check out the Caffe` Latte` playlists available on spotify. Become a follower. All images used on this website are the copyright of the respective copyright holder and are used on this site for educational or informative purposes only. View my complete profile

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Senator Lamar Alexander today made the following statement about the passing of former first lady Nancy Reagan:

"Nancy Reagan stayed overnight with us at the governor's residenceHoney and I saw her often during the Reagan presidency. She was always thoughtful and elegant and devoted to her husband and to our country."

Senator Todd Gardenhire offered his reflections on the former first lady after working as a member of her advance team.

Senator Gardenhire first met President and Mrs. Reagan in 1976 while campaigning for them. He worked on the presidential advance team in 1983. In 1984, he went to work for the first ladys advance team for one week each month until President Reagans term of office expired in 1989.

First lady is a very accurate term to describe Nancy Reagan, Senator Gardenhire said. She was first in Ronald Reagans life and she put him first. And, she was also a lady at all times. The first lady you saw on television is exactly who Nancy Reagan was when the doors were shut and the media were out of the room. She was a genuinely wonderful woman who was gracious, kind and thoughtful.

She was also a woman of tremendous strength. This strength is not just reflected during the assassination attempt on her husband and through his long-term battle with Alzheimers, but the encouragement she have him every day to be the greatest leader of our time. I was blessed to have known her.

Senator David Perdue said, Bonnie and I join the nation in mourning the loss of First Lady Nancy Reagan and lifting the Reagan family up in prayer. Like her husband, Nancy Reagan saw the good in people and worked tirelessly to strengthen our communities and advance the American dream.

"She championed our veterans, especially our heroes returning home from Vietnam. Together, the Reagans changed our country and their legacy will forever inspire our nation.

Ryan Haynes, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, said, "Many gifted women have served our nation as First Lady but Nancy Reagan set a new standard during her time at the White House. She brought grace and charm to the role and used her position to make our nation a better place. Mrs. Reagan was, in many ways, the driving force behind President Reagan and many of his achievements. Her loss isn't just one for the Republican Party. It is a loss that will be felt by all of America."

Nancy Reagan was 94.


Police arrested Jason Allen Stevens, 25, for allegedly striking six off-duty police officers at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Around 1 a.m. on Sunday, an officer responded to a fight at Buffalo Wild Wings on Market Street. The six victims, who were all off-duty officers, stated Stevens was being disorderly by yelling profanities and assaulting two females who were not on the scene when police arrived.

The off-duty officers restrained Stevens, whose aggression only intensified. He struck the officers in their faces, and hit one female officer in the shin.

The defendant had cuts on his hands from his active resistance to the apprehension. The responding officer smelled alcohol on his breath.

According to the police report, the entire restaurant had to be cleared out due to the incident. In the patrol car, Stevens started to roll down the window and yell out.

He was taken to the Hamilton County Jail where he was charged with six counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct.
Lee University hosted 13 foreign language teachers from surrounding counties to participate in a one-day ACTFL-OPI Familiarization Workshop (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages-Oral Proficiency Interview).

Dr. James Wilkins, professor of French at Lee, led the workshop which highlighted the ACTFL proficiency speaking guidelines and the OPI, which is an assessment tool for oral proficiency in languages. The training also focused on the format of the OPI, asking good questions, and developing topics within a conversation. Additionally, the workshop examined the implications of the ACTFL-OPI for classroom teaching.

After attending a workshop to become a certified ACTFL-OPI tester, I can point to that workshop as the turning point in my career, said Dr. Wilkins. The focus on what learners can do with this language, rather than what they know about the language, redesigned my perspective. This is what the ACTFL-OPI is all about  assessing what a person can and cannot do with language, regardless of where, when, or how the language was acquired.

Public school teachers of French, Spanish, and German from Bradley, McMinn, and Polk counties attended the event. A few teachers from Hamilton County also attended the workshop.

Our department was so pleased to sponsor this ACTFL-OPI workshop for our area foreign language teachers, said Dr. Jean Eledge. It was a wonderful day not only of training, but also of networking among the areas language professionals.

The Department of Language and Literature has also offered workshops on OPI familiarization and Writing Proficiency to French, German, and Spanish professors at Lee. Language and Literature faculty Drs. Christopher Blake, Carmen Guerrero, and Alexander Steffanell have attended ACTFL-sponsored training workshops off campus.

Dr. Wilkins recently conducted a workshop in Costa Rica. He has also offered training for United States Peace Corps language instructors to enable them to assess volunteers through a language proficiency interview prior to being sent to their sites of service.

For more information about the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, visit http://www.actfl.org/. For more information about the Department of Language and Literature at Lee, visit https://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/arts-sciences/language-literature/.
Please, ladies and gentlemen, just fire Rick Smith and show him the door. He has been instrumental in nearly destroying the school system and harming the lives of the Lord only knows how many children.

Leaders emerge, you can not hire a person, declare him a leader and have that make him so. Get rid of him. Let him use his time and money to sue if he thinks he has been mistreated.

While you are at it, get a new school board attorney. The idea that the present attorney, described in the media as a friend of Rick, was allowed to negotiate a settlement with him is absurd.

Perhaps you should consider hiring a proven educator with the proper education, who has demonstrated competency and actually achieved some recognition in professional circles. Let that person lead the school system. Hire a business person to handle the business end of the system. Then, watch them both like hawks, and include a stupidity clause in the contracts. If they do stupid things, over and over, bounce them.

If you, as a board member, refuse to follow the will of the people, find something else to do aside from pretending to serve on the school board. Someone has to be in charge or the chaos will only worsen.

With regards to the rapes, all of this nonsense over Smith and the others has removed the focus from the teen-aged criminals of these horrific behaviors and they will probably skate with no punishment. Focus on them, hold them accountable. I guarantee you will be using our tax money to settle with the victims' families.

Dr. Rod Fowler

Hixson
A Chattanooga man was sentenced on Monday to serve 12 years and one month in federal prison in a drugs and weapons case.

Antoine Greenhill, 33, appeared before Federal Judge Sandy Mattice.

Prosecutor Meredith Edwards said Greenhill had nine prior robberies as well as assault convictions and qualified as a hardened career criminal.

Greenhill told the court that most of those convictions came when he was 19 and 20. He said he was the driver during the robberies.

"I have not been in trouble since until I got this charge," he said.

The government said in October 2014, Soddy Daisy Police began working with a confidential informant who had carried out numerous burglaries. He advised that he had obtained guns during the break-ins and that he would sometimes trade them to "D" for crack cocaine. "D" was identified as Greenhill.

The informant was strapped up with a small camera and listening device for a meeting with Greenhill where a guns for drugs transaction was discussed at Greenhill's apartment on Highway 58. The informant traded a stolen Glock handgun for crack.

A second meeting was arranged between the informant and Greenhill, and Greenhill was taken into custody on that occasion.

A search of his apartment turned up a Lorcin handgun with five rounds in it, a small amount of crack cocaine and some digital scales.


Melissa Blevins, Chattanooga Area Food Bank (CAFB) director of operations, will lead a best practices session on Monday at the 2016 Feeding America Fresh Produce Summit in Tampa, Fl. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank has been recognized as a national leader for its success in securing and distributing fresh produce throughout its service area.

During a session entitled Best Practices Addressing Barriers: Whats Working? Ms. Blevins will present insights on growing produce programs to representatives of Feeding Americas 200 food banks nationwide.



Melissas collaborative approach to working with Chattanooga Area Food Bank agency partners has enabled CAFB to rapidly distribute significantly more food throughout our region said Christa Mannarino, CAFB interim president. By way of Melissas operations leadership, we have not only become more efficient, weve provided those in our community who are most in need with access to healthy food.

In her role as director of operations, Ms. Blevins has overseen dramatic growth in CAFBs food procurement and food distribution. In just three years, CAFB increased its overall food distribution by 54% throughout the Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia region. This year, CAFB expects to distribute approximately 14.8 million pounds of foodthe equivalent of 12.3 million mealsto children, families and seniors struggling with hunger. Fresh produce has played a critical role in CAFBs food distribution growth. During the past three years, CAFB increased its fresh produce procurement from one million to 3.2 million pounds of food per year.

The increase in fresh produce has had a significant impact on the way the CAFB operations team handles and distributes food. In partnership with the CAFB senior leadership team, the CAFB Board of Directors, a volunteer operations committee and CAFB agency partners, Ms. Blevins has overseen a major operational transition to just-in-time deliveries. By way of her presentation to Feeding America food bank operations representatives, Ms. Blevins will educate operations leaders on how best to collaborate with partner food pantries, soup kitchens, churches and community groups to deliver and distribute fresh produce.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed a trial courts dismissal of a professional negligence lawsuit against a law firm, concluding that the claim was timely filed under Tennessees savings statute.In 2010, Circle C Construction, LLC, hired the Louisville, Ky. law firm of Furman, Nilsen and Lomond, PLLC, to defend it in federal court. In a case brought by the United States under the False Claims Act, the federal court found Circle C liable for $1.6 million. Circle C appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.Circle C also informed the law firm, as well as the specific attorneys that had worked on its case, that it planned to sue them for professional negligence.The firm and its attorneys entered into an agreement with Circle C. Under the agreement, the deadline to file a lawsuit against the firm would be extended until 120 days after the Sixth Circuit issued a decision on the appeal of the federal case. Circle C sued its former law firm and lawyers for professional negligence in September 2011 and voluntarily dismissed the suit on April 16, 2012. On October 1, 2012, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision, and Circle C refiled its professional negligence lawsuit on April 8, 2013. The defendant-attorneys claimed that Circle Cs case was filed too late, and they moved to dismiss the lawsuit. Circle C argued that it refiled the lawsuit under the savings statute, which provides an additional one-year period to refile claims that are voluntarily dismissed. The trial court granted summary judgment and dismissed the case. The Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. Circle C appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee, the Supreme Court held that the savings statute applies to the claim because the lawsuit was filed within the extended deadline set by the parties agreement, was voluntarily dismissed, and was refiled within one year under the savings statute. The Court found that nothing in the parties tolling agreement precluded the application of the savings statute. Circle C complied with the parties agreement, and thus it could refile under the savings statute. The Court noted that if parties wish to foreclose application of the savings statute, they could do so by including explicit language in a tolling agreement to that effect. However, the Court found that the parties did not do that here.Justice Holly Kirby, in an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed with the Court that parties wishing to avoid the savings statute must make their intent clear in their agreement. However, Justice Kirby found that the parties agreement here created a contractual time limitation, and the savings statute did not apply to save Circle Cs claim.To read the majority opinion in Circle C Construction, LLC v. D. Sean Nilsen et al., authored by Chief Justice Lee, and the separate opinion of Justice Kirby, visit the opinions section of TNCourts.gov
Cleveland Is Stocking Up On Riot Gear Ahead Of The Republican National Convention

By aaroncynic in News on Mar 7, 2016 3:40PM



Police clad in riot gear in front of the Hilton on Michigan Avenue during the NATO summit protests in 2012. Photo by Scott Olsen/Getty Images. published by Cleveland.com show the city is looking for a laundry list of crowd control equipment, including full body riot suits, riot gear wearable for police on bicycles and 26-inch collapsable batons, along with thousands of interlocking steel barricades.

The request for bids comes after the city received a $50 million federal security grant thats become common for cities hosting large political events. Chicago was awarded a similar grant of $55 million in 2012 ahead of the NATO summit that took place in May 2012, and Philadelphia, which will play host to the Democratic National Convention, was awarded $50 million. Events like these are considered National Special Security Events, making them eligible for federal funding.

In addition, the City of Cleveland has also sought to flesh out its police equipment with hundreds of bicycles, 15 motorcycles, and two trailers for horses.
Students Petition To Cancel Trump's Chicago Campaign Stop At UIC

By Mae Rice in News on Mar 7, 2016 5:36PM

Donald Trump is slated to hold a rally in UIC Pavilion on Friday, four days before the Illinois primaryand despite vociferous calls for the rallys cancellation, the University of Illinois at Chicago stands firm on its decision to rent the arena to Trump.

More than 40,000 people have signed a MoveOn petition to cancel the event. The petitions background section reads, in part:



UIC is home to working students, immigrant, and students of color to have access to higher education and graduate. The platform Donald Trump would announce at the UIC Pavilion is a direct attack on much of the UIC student body - from mass deportation to a ban on muslims to a refusal to denounce the KKK, not to mention regular insults to women.

This past Saturday, however, UIC Chancellor Michael D. Amiridis released a statement reiterating that, though the university is not endorsing, sponsoring or supporting any candidate for political office, UIC plans to move forward with the venue rental.

Amiridis writes:



UICs core values of freedom, equality and social justice for all, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability status or sexual orientation, are deeply rooted in our diverse community and not endangered by the presence of any political candidate on campus. We encourage public and civic engagement by all members of our University and we endorse the idea that the answer to speech that one does not like or finds offensive is more speech and not censorship.



Even though UIC plans to move forward with the rally, Trumps opponents will make themselves heard. Almost 8,000 people plan to peacefully protest the rally outside the UIC Pavilion starting at 3 p.m., according to Facebook

Protesters will then attend the rally, which starts at 6 p.m., and stage a walkout, it seems, though their plans are subject to change.

The protest Facebook event cites many of the same grievances with Trump that the MoveOn petition does, along with assorted others.

Trump has advocated for war crimes such as but not limited to torture-interrogation, mass murder as a warning, the intentional murder of entire civilian families, and the in-discriminatory bombing of countries in the Middle East, one bullet point in the event description notes.

Friday's Trump rally is free, though tickets are required; for context, here's our report from a Donald Trump rally back in November.
Politician Says He Was Staple-Gunned In The Head By Opponent's Supporters [Graphic Photo]

By Mae Rice in News on Mar 7, 2016 4:12PM

A politician running for an Illinois house seat alleges his opponent's supporters attacked him outside of his office Sunday night, punching him and shooting him in the forehead with a staple gun when he asked them to stop hanging his opponent's posters on the premises.

Robert Zwolinski, 30a Democrat running in the 4th House District against incumbent Cynthia SotoTweeted the following photo Sunday night, after the incident:

Politics is a contact sport. Apparently that's literally the case. pic.twitter.com/wIlFIP366W  Robert Zwolinski (@BobZ_Chicago4th) March 7, 2016

One of Zwolinski's alleged attackers, a 26-year-old man, filed a counter-report with police Sunday night, alleging that Zwolinski attacked him. The unnamed man told police that Zwolinski threw him to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the mouth; he was treated at St. Marys Hospital after the incident.

Zwolinski told Chicagoist his version of events: He was driving back to his Noble Square campaign office at the intersection of Ashland and Fry with his girlfriend, he said, when he saw two strangersa man and a womanstapling Cynthia Soto posters up. (The women was somewhere between 24 and 26 years old, according to Zwolinski's police report.)

Zwolinski said he got out of the car while his girlfriend waited inside, and asked the two to stop hanging the posters. They responded, he said, by attacking him. The man punched him the chest, Zwolinski said, and the woman, who was screeching like a velociraptor, hit Zwolinski in the head with a beer bottle, kicked him while he was on the ground, then shot him in the head with the staple gun they had been using to hang their posters.

Nothing knocked me out, Zwolinski added. I was conscious the entire time.

After the staple gun attack, according to Zwolinski, his assailants realized theyd gone too far, and a passing driver started wailing on the horn.

According to Zwolinskis police report, the offenders then fled the scene, heading North on Ashland in a black Chevy Equinox.

Zwolinski said his staple wound required six stitches, and that his assailants cracked his nose. As of Monday morning, he told Chicagoist he felt alright, just sore, like I won against Mike Tyson.

He added that his female assailant was more vicious than the male one.

She grabbed on my groin! I have scratch marks on my butt [from her]! he said. Im almost 100 percent sure she attacked first.

The police investigation is ongoing, and no one is currently in custody.


Obama Endorses Juliana Stratton In Contentious Illinois House Race

By Mae Rice in News on Mar 7, 2016 7:07PM



First-time democratic Illinois House candidate Juliana Stratton (photo via Facebook

As Illinois' March 15 primary approaches, the Illinois House race is heating up in a big way. Not only did it erupt in literal violence Sunday night; on Monday, President Barack Obama released two ads backing first-time democratic candidate Juliana Stratton in her 5th district race against incumbent Ken Dunkin, funded by Bruce Rauner and his allies.

In the following video, Obama explains in voiceover, Juliana Stratton has spent her career serving our community, improving the juvenile justice system, and protecting public safety.

Obama recorded this TV spot, as well as a radio one, last week, according to the Sun-Times.

A White House source told the Sun-Times that though Obama rarely gets involved in legislative races, he wanted to dispel any rumors that he supported Dunkin, and come out publicly in favor of Stratton, one of his allies in the fight against gun violence.

The 5th district also encompasses large swathes of Chicagos South Side, where Obama worked for years.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, sees the endorsement differently, thoughless as an endorsement of Stratton specifically, and more as a condemnation of the state budget stalemate.

Where we now are literally holding back poor kids who are accomplishing great things in education and not funding it correctly, so the fact that we now have kids leaving college because of their state government doesnt have the right budget priorities, thats what the endorsement is, Emanuel said, according to CBS.

Whatever the reasoning behind it, Obamas endorsement comes at a tense moment in the race between Stratton and Dunkin, as Dunkin was accused of voter fraud at a Sunday press conference held by Secretary of State Jesse White and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd).

The two men accused Dunkin of buying early votes; Dowell claimed to have video footage showing Dunkins campaign trading votes for crisp fifty dollar bills, according to the Sun-Times.

The states attorneys office is now investigating, the Sun-Times reportsthough Dunkins campaign denies the allegations.

Dowells baseless accusations are consistent with the desperate tactics previously used by the (House Speaker Michael) Madigan-led Stratton campaign, a spokesperson for Dunkins campaign said in an email statement. While Rep. Dunkin is working on issues such as abolishing red-light cameras, his opponent is still up to the same dirty tricks that have defined her campaign.


The popular Chinese animation TV series Calabash Brothers (Hulu Xiongdi) is set to become a live-action film, announced Shanghai Film Group Corporation and Edko Films at a joint press conference in Shanghai on February 29.

The calabash brothers. [File photo]

Known as "Huluwa" among its many Chinese fans, the original 13-episode series was first broadcast in 1986 and follows the adventures of seven boys with super powers fighting two demonic spirits.

The animation is part of the collective memory of many fans who were born in the 1970s and 80s and they are both excited and anxious at the news.

"No matter how terrible the movie's gonna be, I'm definitely going to watch it," said Banbi Typhoon on the Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo. Another, Duoduo, worried whether "the director could find seven identical brothers for filming."

At the press conference, Bill Kong, president of Hong Kong-based Edko Films, promised that the remake had been decided upon after careful deliberation.

He added that they have opted for live-action rather than high-tech CG animation as part of their efforts to respect the roots of the classic animation.

A calabash is a light-green vine fruit, also known as opo squash or long melon. In the series, seven different-colored calabashes fall from their stems and magically transform into the brothers.

So far, the animation series has been translated into seven languages.
Great expectations of economic reforms is likely to fuel a rally in the domestic securities market in the coming weeks. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Market-people think any fresh policies aimed at stabilizing economic growth could fuel a rally in Chinese equities that could last till April-end and, perhaps, even beyond.

The two sessions of China's top lawmakers and political advisors, which started last week in Beijing and will end on March 16, are expected to debate key government reform plans before approving them.

Clarity will likely emerge only next week, which could spark the expected rally.

So, in the run-up, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.8 percent last week, paring its overall loss this year to 18.7 percent.

China's stock markets have been undulating, and at times yo-yoing, ever since the summer rout of June 2015. Investors' frayed nerves were calmed only recently by a stabilizing renminbi, an accommodative monetary policy aimed at supporting a recovery in the housing market and Beijing's improved communication.

Premier Li Keqiang delivered the Government Work Report on Saturday in front of the delegates of the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress. He reiterated Beijing's commitment to continued structural reform, and emphasized trimming of industrial overcapacity and lightening tax burdens on companies as the current environment is challenging.

Li said that tax cuts this year would be more than 500 billion yuan ($76.6 billionwhich would benefit companies and individuals. To offset the impact on overall figures, the government has budgeted a 560-billion-yuan increase in fiscal deficit to 2.18 trillion yuan or an unprecedented 3 percent of GDP.

"... China will face more and tougher problems and challenges in its development this year, so we must be fully prepared to fight a difficult battle," Li said in his speech.

Some investors found relief that Li's report did not mention the launch of the registration-based initial public offering system. There have been fears that the new system could pressure the market with a huge supply of new shares.

Liu Shiyu, the newly-appointed chief of the securities regulator, said on the sidelines of the NPC session that in order to restore investors' confidence and better protect their interests, the regulator will strictly enforce the law and step up oversight of the stock market.

Wendy Liu, chief China strategist at Nomura Securities, said, "Details on supply-side reforms will strengthen investor confidence that Beijing is taking action on economic reforms."

The goal of stable growth is expected to receive priority. Lawmakers will likely adopt the final version of the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which will serve as the blueprint of China's social and economic development in the coming five years.

Liu said in a research note an interim rally, particularly in oversold stocks of industry leaders with strong track records and undemanding valuations, could last through April. "Beyond April, one issue to watch out for is if China's growth may surprise on the downside, with the credit cycle unfolding and supply-side reforms kicking in."

It is still too early to assess whether it may help usher in more policy accommodation in the second half of this year, Liu said.

Analysts with Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp echoed Liu's view, saying the A-share market will see a "relief rally" this month after the substantial correction since the beginning of this year.

Sectors like coal, steel, commodities and building materials, which will benefit from supply-side reforms, will likely outperform the general market while technology, media and telecommunications will experience correction after the recent strong rebound, CICC said in a report.

Lirong Xu, chief investment officer, Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management Co, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that China's stocks will rebound as much as 20 percent in the short term as economic growth picks up and volatility in the yuan decreases.

Fitch Ratings maintained the stable outlook for China's sovereign rating as it is looking at the NPC meeting for more information on the authorities' strategy for addressing the structural issues.
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Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Sunday called on Taliban to renounce violence and join the country's peace process.

Addressing the joint session of parliament here on Sunday, the Afghan president said bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan would benefit all sides including Taliban.

"We are determined to achieve peace, lasting peace in our country and would spare no efforts to achieve the noble objective," Ghani said.

"I am calling on Taliban to give up fighting and let us resolve our differences on negotiating table," the Afghan president said in his speech.

Describing al-Qaida, IS and other extremist groups as the reason for the ongoing militancy in the country, Ghani said Taliban should prove they are Afghans and have no relations with terrorist groups.

The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), including Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, met on Feb. 23 for its fourth session, announcing direct talks between Taliban and Afghan government might take place in the first week of March.

Taliban however rejected the offer in a statement on Saturday, terming the peace efforts as meaningless and the armed outfit's leadership has yet to decide on peace talks with the government.

The Afghan president warned that his country's security and defense forces would continue to fight all those opposing the peace efforts.
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The U.S. policy has been the main drive behind the chaos and the conflict that have torn Syria apart over the past five years, a Syrian expert said in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday.

Since the very beginning, the U.S. rhetoric has been biased in favor of a magnified insurgency in Syria, by quickly demonizing the administration of President Bashar al-Assad, and accusing him of being illegitimate, Osama Danura, a Syrian political researcher holding a PhD in political science, told Xinhua.

U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly urged Assad to leave power since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, though he had trouble finding a substitute for the embattled leader.

Such statements were seen to encourage the insurgency and inflame the situation, by pushing rebel groups to further destabilize Syria, Danura said.

"Such a stance by the U.S. reflects the imperialism of the U.S. administration, by giving itself the right to determine the legitimacy of the Syrian government without paying a heed to the real aspirations of the Syrian people," Danura added.

On the other hand, the United States, through its regional allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have played a role in the creation of the ultra-radical groups in Syria, the political researcher said.

The United States has long been openly supporting what it called "moderate rebels" in Syria, though reports found that aid aimed at these groups often landed in the hands of radical groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS), who dominated the battlefield through superior military power.

Danura added that the United States has a record of using the radical groups to act at its bidding, citing the U.S role in the creation of al-Qaida.

The analyst said the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the root cause for the chaos that has swept the region, and the power vacuum that came in the wake of Saddam Hussein's downfall was the reason behind the emergence of the IS.

"The United States has repeated such a policy in Syria, and it's not an exaggeration to say that the IS has been created under the eyes of the United States, when old cadres of the Hussein government and al-Qaida members mixed in Iraqi prisons," he said, in reference to the officers of the old Iraqi army that now filled the ranks of the IS after the United States dissolved the Iraqi army.

While the security of Israel has always been a top priority in U.S. Middle East policies, Danura said, Washington has another more secretive agenda, which is to turn Syria into a training ground for terrorist groups and later direct them to adversaries such as Russia and China.

A lot of countries in Central Asia could be threatened, he warned.

"The United States uses such groups to fight its battles, because the U.S. army can no longer be involved into oversees battles, due to the high expenses of such wars and the risk factor on U.S. soldiers," Danura concluded.
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Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan [File photo]

Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan passed away at the age of 94 on Sunday morning in her Los Angeles home, according to her office.

A statement issued by her office said the former first lady died of congestive heart failure, and she would be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California next to her husband, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who died in June, 2004.

"Prior to the funeral service, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pay their respects at the library," said the statement.

The White House, in a statement in the wake of Nancy's death, praised her on Sunday for her role in advancing Alzheimer's research.

"Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives," said the statement.

After her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, Mrs. Reagan became an advocate for Alzheimer's research.

Born in New York City, Nancy Reagan came to fame in the 1940s and 1950s during her acting career in Hollywood. She and Ronald Reagan were married in 1952.

During Reagan's presidency from 1981 to 1989, the former first lady was well-known for her clout with her husband and for bringing a lavish lifestyle to the White House in a time of recession, making her one of the most influential and controversial first ladies in U.S. history.

During her White House years, Mrs. Reagan's most famous initiative was a major anti-drug campaign known as "Just say no."
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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday warned it would launch preemptive nuclear strikes on the United States and South Korea as their joint military exercises are set to kick off Monday.

Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 26, 2015 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un speaks during the 5th Meeting of Training Officers of the Korean People's Army (KPA) taking place in Pyongyang, DPRK. [Photo/Xinhua]

The DPRK's National Defense Commission said in a statement published by the state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that the army and people of the DPRK "will make military counter-action for preemptive attack" and "launch an all-out offensive" to cope with joint military drills conducted by South Korean and U.S. troops.

The DPRK's military counter-action will be "more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike" to cope with the enemies' "most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK," the statement stressed.

Preemptive nuclear strike "is to be made in the order specified by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army in its crucial statement," it added.

The Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) has threatened in its crucial statement that the first attack target will be South Korea's presidential office Chongwadae and the second target be the White House and the U.S. mainland.

The situation is getting more serious as the war exercises include the "beheading operation" that aims to remove the DPRK's leadership, said the statement.

The KPA and the people will turn out in the general offensive to "fully demonstrate the tremendous military muscle with nuclear force as pivot," it said.

On Sunday, the DPRK Foreign Ministry in a statement denounced the United States and South Korea for mulling kicking off joint military drills code-named "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle," saying the drills were "dangerous war rehearsals" with aggressive nature.

The country's top leader Kim Jong Un said Friday when he guided a test-firing of large-caliber multiple rocket launcher that the military should be prepared to fire the deployed nuclear warheads at any time and the DPRK will continue to develop its nuclear arsenal, which he said is the only way to defend the state sovereignty.

Meanwhile, annual military drills jointly staged by South Korea and the United States kick off Monday and will run through April 30. The exercises this year are reported to be carried out on the largest-ever scale, mobilizing the highest-tech weapons.
Department of Defense(NEW YORK) -- This Week Co-Anchor and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, Martha Raddatz, went on board the USS Harry S. Truman, the Navys 9th nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, currently located in the Persian Gulf.

Her visit to the massive carrier, which entered the Gulf in December, gave ABC News an exclusive close-up look at the ship that plays such a key role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The USS Truman has launched over 5,000 aircraft sorties, totaling nearly 13,000 flight hours.

There are more than 70 aircraft that operate off the carrier with the majority being F-18 fighter jets.

The ship's deployment began on November 16 and is expected to last seven months.

The crew of approximately 5,000 sailors has already traveled nearly 25,000 nautical miles.

Coming in at 1,096 feet, the USS Truman is as long as the Empire State Building is tall. The area of the flight deck alone is 4.5 acres.

The ship weighs 95,000 tons. When operating at top speed, it can exceed 30 knots, or a little over 34 miles per hour.

The USS Truman was commissioned in 1998 and had its maiden deployment on November 28, 2000.

It's home port is Norfolk, Virginia, approximately 200 miles south of Washington, D.C.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The middle and high school teachers who make up the Chippewa Falls world language department share a passion for languages and for collaboration.

Seven of the eight members of the teaching team also have one more thing in common that contributes to their success as language educators  they all are graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

The most experienced of the Blugold teachers graduated nearly 20 years ago, while the newest member of the Chippewa Falls team earned her degree just a few months ago in December 2015.

UW-Eau Claire has a very strong and growing languages program so our graduates are finding many opportunities to teach in schools across Wisconsin and beyond, says Dr. Carter Smith, chair of the universitys languages department. Still, its impressive to see so many Blugolds teaching in one school districts languages department.

The Chippewa Falls languages team has experienced great success in recent years thanks to the teachers commitment to collaboration and their strong language curriculum.

While the teachers are in different buildings, teach different languages and teach varying levels of their language, they still function as a team.

Learning to work as part of a team is one of the skills that employers in all fields, including education, tell us they value in their employees, Smith says. Our languages faculty do a great job of helping students develop these kinds of skills so its rewarding to see our graduates collaborate in this way once theyre working in the real world.

At the high school level in Chippewa Falls, Kris Kolinski teaches Spanish and chairs the world language department, while Angie Oplinger (Blugold, 1999) and Lisa Zondlo (Blugold, 2014) teach Spanish. Emily Lamusga (Blugold, 2015) teaches both Spanish and French, and Michele Nuttelman (Blugold, 2006) teaches French while also serving as curriculum assistant.

In Chippewa Falls middle school, Rachel Arendt (Blugold, 2008) teaches Spanish and also chairs the world language department, while Katy Wolner (Blugold, 2012) teaches Spanish and Brianna Hemauer (Blugold, 2011) teaches French.

While the teachers are succeeding because of their collaborative and innovative approach to educating their students, they also are quick to give credit to the faculty and staff who guided them during their years at UW-Eau Claire.

There are so many educators who have influenced my teaching over the years and I definitely carry their ideas, their passion and their drive every single day when teaching my own students, Hemauer says of the influence the UW-Eau Claire languages faculty has had on her career.

Oplinger says she clearly remembers learning about varied reading strategies and thematic units while in the teacher education program.

Now, over 15 years later, these are still a major focus of curriculum development and lesson planning, Oplinger says. I feel like the foreign language education program at UWEC provided an excellent foundation for my teaching.

The Chippewa Falls team has had so much success that teachers and administrators from several surrounding school districts have visited the schools to observe the language classes to see firsthand the strategies that are working so well there.

In fall 2015 the Chippewa Falls team presented two sessions at the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers Conference.

Kolinski and Oplinger presented a session called Comprehensibility + Compelling Texts = Engaged Readers. They shared strategies and samples of texts in which they are able to stay in the target language and peak the students interest in Levels 2-5.

Nuttelman, Hemauer, Arendt and Wolner presented Comprehensible Input: Maximizing Target Language in Levels 1 and 2.

The second session was nominated as Best of Wisconsin, which means the teachers will present it again at the 2017 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

It is such an honor to be recognized by the WAFLT executive board as the Best of Wisconsin for 2016, Hemauer sys. This is a huge accomplishment for our department and our district as we have all worked very hard over the past few years to create curriculum in which we truly believe.

UW-Eau Claires department of languages offers a variety of majors, minors, certificates and courses in 11 different languages taught by faculty from nine countries.

While many students who graduate with degrees in languages go into teaching, many others put their language skills to use in all sorts of professional fields.

In a world where roughly 5.4 billion people do not speak English, studying an additional language creates many possibilities, Smith says. Studying a second language will increase students ability to communicate with people from diverse cultures, which will create more personal and professional opportunities for them.

This is a huge accomplishment for our department and our district as we have all worked very hard over the past few years to create curriculum in which we truly believe. Brianna Hemauer, French teacher, Chippewa Falls Middle School
When Isabella Cater was in third grade, she learned that her father, Leroy, had been diagnosed with Huntingtons disease. The inherited neurodegenerative brain disorder would eventually take his life on Dec. 12, 2013.

For three or four years before receiving the devastating news, the family noticed that Leroy would sometimes make jerking, abnormal movements.

Thats just the beginning, Isabella explained. Then it takes your motor skills, and you cant speak as clearly anymore. At the end, I couldnt really have a conversation with him anymore, and he couldnt communicate or do much for himself.

Her mother, Becky Cater, is a special education teacher at Elk Mound Middle School. Becky remembers how Isabella and her older sister, Sidney, reacted when the family received the news of Leroys diagnosis on the Friday before Memorial Day in 2006.

They both knew something wasnt quite right when we got the phone call ... one of the worst ways you can find out that your husband has this disease, Becky said. Were a very open family, so we told the girls right away that he had Huntingtons disease.

As his condition deteriorated, the Cater women cared for Leroy so he could remain at home.

A lot of it was just processing the changes that were happening with him, Isabella said of the challenges they faced. It was like he wasnt my dad anymore. It got worse in the last few years before he passed away.

Shining service

In his nomination of Isabella for the Chippewa Valley Newspapers 2016 Extra Effort award, Elk Mound guidance counselor Hugh Goodrich wrote: As the illness took hold of her father, Isabella continued to care for her familys needs while shining in her service to school and community. ... She comes from a loving and supportive family, with parents who instilled the values of compassion and service to others.

In addition to being a varsity letter winner on the Elk Mound High School volleyball team, Isabella is a member of the National Honor Society and has competed on the Science Olympiad team. For the past three years, she has been on the student council and is serving her senior year as co-president.

Outside of school, Isabella is deeply committed to helping others through her work with St. Johns Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, including six missions trips throughout the country, teaching vacation Bible school, and volunteering in the church nursery.

The opportunity to meet people from different cultures and walks of life has had a powerful influence on Isabella: Its always so cool to see other peoples pathways.

On one mission trip, she was part of a team that was painting a house and repairing a porch in Rochester, N.Y., on the day one of its residents was leaving for hospice.

She was getting loaded up into the ambulance and she looked at the house and said, This is what I wanted to leave my family with  thank you so much, Isabella recalled. Genuine things like that make the trips all worth it.

Living with Huntingtons

According to the Society for Neuroscience, while relatively rare, Huntingtons disease is considered one of the most common hereditary brain disorders, affecting around 30,000 Americans and placing more than 200,000 at risk for inheriting the disease from an affected parent.

Within just a few years, three of Leroys six siblings were diagnosed. Like his family members, both Isabella and her sister have a 50-50 chance of developing Huntingtons. She cant be tested, however, until she turns 18.

I dont know if I even will just yet, Isabella said. Its kind of a life-changing discovery, so I want to get through college before I find out.

Her mother notes that faith has been an important factor for her and her girls as they helped Leroy battle the deadly disease.

Its something for us to rely on and use, Becky said. We tried to keep their lives as normal as possible. We did the weekend stuff like every family does, and we increased our family vacations, making sure we did as much as we could until he couldnt.

As time passed, Leroys ability to process information took longer, but Becky said her daughters were remarkably patient.

They would just wait until he was ready, she said.

Isabella and Becky noted that Leroy, like most of the people they know with the disease, spent a lot of time sitting at home in front of the television, but not as a result of depression. Leroy, it seems, especially enjoyed watching old Westerns.

The Caters found that the involuntary movements that characterize Huntingtons disease created an odd sort of rhythm in their lives.

When you have movements, youre thumping the floor constantly, Becky explained, The girls had their bedrooms in the basement, and they put up with it. They never complained ... they just endured all of that and did a really good job helping with all the chores.

Since his death more than two years ago, things at home feel different.

We kind of call it our quiet time, because were not used to it, said Becky, while Isabella nodded emphatically in agreement.

Memories, lessons

With Leroys diagnosis coming at such a young age for Isabella, Becky said, She never really got to know him as the same person that I got to know. ... But you know, what you have is what you get.

And according to Isabella, what she got was a caring father with a great sense of humor: That was something that he kept until the end. He would always crack a good joke, even though sometimes it was hard to understand.

Along with the laughs came enormously valuable life lessons.

He taught me how to go out of my way to help others and be there for people, Isabella said. And how important it is to live each moment and to be really relaxed ... but still have your morals.

She views her youth through the lens of an experience that, while difficult at times, is one that has made her the person she is today  the one who, come fall, will join her sister Sidney, who is a biology med student at UW-La Crosse. Isabella plans to major in biology with an eye toward possibly enrolling in the universitys physician assistant program.

Along with the furnishings for her dorm room, shell be packing a trunk filled with a wisdom not yet gleaned by many of her peers  like not sweating the small stuff such as doing poorly on a test.

Some people get so worked up about that ... its not the end of the world, Isabella said. I sometimes feel like they dont understand that what theyre given is so special.
In 2014, the village of Sussex in southeast Wisconsin made a dismaying discovery. The radioactive element radium, a contaminant that occurs naturally in bedrock throughout the region, had seeped into two of its seven water wells.

It was not exactly a surprise. Radium has long been a problem in drinking water for dozens of Wisconsin communities from Green Bay to the Illinois border.

The city of Waukesha has proposed replacing its radium-tainted groundwater with Lake Michigan water. If approved, the controversial plan would mark the first test of a provision in a 2008 international compact that allows Great Lakes water diversions only when a county  such as Waukesha County  straddles the basin that feeds water into the Great Lakes.

Another factor fueling Wisconsins radium problem is the lack of regulation of high-capacity wells, which can lead to depletion of groundwater.

As communities such as Sussex drill wells deeper into a diminishing aquifer to meet growing water demands, they are pulling up more radium contamination and creating a public health challenge.

It is certainly a concern for everyone in southeast Wisconsin that more radium will turn up, said Melissa Weiss, assistant administrator for Sussex.

About 25 Wisconsin water systems have exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys maximum contaminant level over the previous two years, which means radium levels remained over the limit of 5 picocuries per liter for more than a year. Some other communities, such as Madison, have seen spikes in individual wells above 5 pCi/L but are not in violation because the levels were elevated for less than a year.

Because of high radium levels in deep groundwater, communities surrounding Green Bay over the past decade have begun receiving water from Manitowoc, which draws most of its drinking water from Lake Michigan.

The extent of radium contamination in private wells is considered minimal because most are not drilled into deep geologic formations. There is no requirement to test for radium in private wells.

In addition, We dont know the radium concentration in private wells because the test is expensive (about $200), so hardly anybody tests for it, said John Luczaj, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay professor of geoscience who has studied radium in Wisconsins water.

The city of Waukesha has been struggling with radium contamination in its water for more than two decades. The request to tap into Lake Michigan, which has been endorsed by the state Department of Natural Resources, is opposed by many environmentalists. Waukesha has proposed replacing the full amount of its withdrawal to Lake Michigan with treated wastewater piped through the Root River.

Critics fear the request by Waukesha, which lies just outside the Great Lakes basin that drains into Lake Michigan, could open the door for additional requests to tap into the Great Lakes. The size of Waukeshas water service area, which stretches beyond the city limits, also has been a criticized by opponents who fear the water will be used to fuel sprawl.

The proposal must be ratified by governors from all eight Great Lakes states. If the request is approved, Waukesha will spend an estimated $206 million to solve its radium problem.

Health risks of radium

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, radium is a known carcinogen at high levels, causing bone, breast and liver cancer. But there is little research evaluating low-dose, long-term exposure in drinking water.

Small amounts of radium can accumulate in the human skeleton over time, damaging bones and tissues, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A person who drinks two liters of water containing 5 pCi/L of radium every day for 70 years has a 1 in 10,000 risk for developing fatal cancer, according to the geological survey. Other harms of drinking radium-tainted water include anemia, cataracts and fractured teeth, according to the CDC.

The EPA began regulating radium in water in 1977. The rule is based largely on studies of occupational health risk such as the radium girls of the 1920s who ingested deadly amounts of radium as they licked their brushes while painting glow-in-the-dark watch faces. By 1927, more than 50 women had died.

The relationship between the amount of radium that you are exposed to and the amount of time necessary to produce these effects is not known, the CDC cautions. Although there is some uncertainty ... the greater the total amount of your exposure to radium, the more likely you are to develop one of these diseases.

Given that uncertainty, some have argued that the current regulations are too strict.

But that question was decided 12 years ago in a nationally watched lawsuit in which Waukesha and Sussex tried but failed to block updates to radium rules in 2000. The communities charged, among other things, that the EPA used flawed science in determining the dangers of radium.

Geology, pumping tied to radium

A naturally occurring element, radium is found throughout the environment. Overpumping of the sandstone aquifer where radium resides is largely to blame for the high radium levels, experts say.

Water moves through that aquifer slower than it does in other areas that also contain sandstone aquifers, according to Timothy Grundl, UW-Milwaukee professor of geosciences. This can cause bigger problems because the water has more time to pick up contaminants.

Growing populations and increased demand for water have caused the aquifer to become one of the most depleted in the country, according to Ezra Meyer, a water resource specialist at the Madison-based environmental group, Clean Wisconsin.

Although groundwater levels have rebounded some in the last decade, communities have had to drill deeper wells to tap into an aquifer that researchers say has dropped by nearly 500 feet since the late 1800s. In the process, communities run into more radium because contamination tends to increase the deeper the well is drilled, said Steve Elmore, the state DNRs public water supply section chief.

Overpumping of the aquifer also can alter the waters natural flow.

Water that used to flow to Lake Michigan is now flowing west, said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Daniel Feinstein. Part of the reason we are seeing high levels of radium is that the flow field was energized by overpumping.

There are a variety of ways radium levels can be brought into compliance, at varying costs. Municipalities can use expensive methods such as water treatment or diluting water from deep wells with water from shallower ones; Waukesha is using both strategies. Homeowners with private wells also can use water softeners to remove radium.

Waukesha is counting on diversion of Lake Michigan water, saying it is the only reasonable alternative to provide safe drinking water for its residents.

Depending on how much funding the federal government kicks in, average water bills would rise from $27 a month to between $50 and $90 a month, said Daniel Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility. Even if Waukesha gets federal funding for up to 25 percent of the cost, he said, We expect that water bills will at least double and potentially triple.
MADISON (AP)  A utility-backed bill to cut funding for Wisconsins energy-efficiency program is short-sighted and would hurt customers in the long run, the programs supporters contend.

Wisconsins electric utilities back the bill, which would cut funding for the Focus on Energy program by $7 million at a time when electricity costs in Wisconsin have risen above the national average.

Utilities and state regulators say the proposed cut would return money to ratepayers. The bill passed the state Assembly last month and is scheduled to be considered by the Senate on March 15.

But the programs supporters cite its savings, pointing out that the program has delivered $3 of savings to customers for every $1 spent.

Its very short-sighted to vote on a bill thats going to reduce Focus on Energys program budget by $7.2 million, said Theresa Lehman, director of sustainable services at Miron Construction. Our clients use that money every year.

Lehman said at a time when capital spending budgets are tight, the program offers incentives that help customers cut their costs by allowing them to afford the upfront expenses of switching to more efficient LED lighting.

St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton is saving $30,000 a year by upgrading the lighting in its corridors, Lehman said. Another client, Lake Mills Elementary School, received $100,000 in incentives from the program and is now saving $85,000 every year on its energy costs, she said.

Supporters of the cut, including Wisconsin utilities and manufacturing groups, say it fixes a problem that effectively charges some utilities twice for the program.

Investor-owned utilities are paying into the program based on a percentage of sales, and then municipal utilities  which buy power from investor-owned utilities  are paying into the program separately, at a rate of $8 per meter. Currently, the program is funded based on 1.2 percent of investor-owned utilities total sales.

The proposed change would collect program funding by retail rather than total utility electric sales, so investor utilities arent paying for both their customers and municipal customers contributions to Focus on Energy.

Our concern is the formula and getting rid of the double charge, We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said. Total funding for the program would increase over time as utility power sales rise, he said.

Madison-based Alliant Energy and Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group, parent of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, are backing the bill. All three of the utilities estimate they would see savings of about $2 million a year.

PSC spokeswoman Elise Nelson contends the change is about equity and fairness and would put $7 million back in ratepayers pockets.

Its very short-sighted to vote on a bill thats going to reduce Focus on Energys program budget by $7.2 million. Our clients use that money every year. Theresa Lehman, director of sustainable services at Miron Construction
Ashley Suarez has nothing against the Madison School District.

Shes a product of the district herself, from kindergarten through East High School, and her children enjoyed attending Emerson Elementary School last year, she said. Yet when she learned her children might be able to get free tuition at a private school through an expansion of the states voucher program, she didnt hesitate.

The small classrooms were really important to me, as was the religious instruction, said Suarez, 28. She and her husband both work at a retail store and attend an evangelical church.

The three Suarez children now attend Lighthouse Christian School in Madison, the first and so far only voucher school in Dane County. The school will receive about $16,700 in state aid for the Suarez siblings this school year, most of which otherwise would have stayed with public schools.

For Lighthouse, participation in the program has thrust a barely known school into the spotlight and opened up the potential for the kind of growth it has long desired. For local public school advocates, the schools participation, while small at just 10 voucher students, is ominous.

The school itself isnt our enemy  we wish it no harm, said Ed Hughes, president of the Madison School Board. But from a longer-range perspective, I think voucher advocates see this as the camels nose under the tent. The expectation is that there will be consistent efforts to expand the program in the years to come, and that poses a real threat to public education.

Student pledge

The eight kindergarten students at Lighthouse began a recent morning sitting crossed-legged on a large oval rug.

I pledge to be like Jesus, they recited in unison. I will love others, and be kind, caring and honest. I will be respectful and use kind words. I will help those in need. I will serve God in all I say and do.

The student pledge, written by teachers and students at the school, is recited every morning in every classroom, said the Rev. Tia Sierra, the schools principal and kindergarten teacher. Its message mirrors the schools approach to religion, she said.

Its in our hearts to share our faith, but the faith I want them to learn about is Jesus, she said. Im less concerned about doctrine or Bible stories than having them love each other.

The school, 5202 Regent St., serves 42 students in grades 4K through fifth, up from 35 last year. It opened nine years ago and is housed inside Lighthouse Church, a modest one-story building at the corner of Regent Street and Whitney Way in a residential neighborhood.

Tuition is about $2,300 a year, considerably less than most area private schools. The actual cost to educate each student is higher, but many of the infrastructure costs are borne by the church, Sierra said. (As with all voucher schools, Lighthouse will be audited. Any state aid it does not spend on educating its voucher students must be returned to taxpayers.)

Sierra and her husband, the Rev. Marcio Sierra Jr., are co-pastors of Lighthouse Church, which opened in 1987 as an offshoot of a similar evangelical church in Baraboo. It is a non-denominational church affiliated with Global Awakening, a national network of charismatic congregations.

Initially, the congregation was almost entirely white, said Dr. Sharon Lantis, a retired UW-Madison physician and a founding member of the church. In the early 1990s, the church embarked on a full-out effort to attract native Spanish speakers, spurred on by a former pastor who felt called to minister to those outside the mainstream, Lantis said. Church members went through the phone book, knocking on doors and personally inviting families with Latino surnames.

Today, the congregation of 200 is about 70 percent Latino, and every service is bilingual. The schools student body is similarly diverse. Its minority enrollment of 90 percent is higher than any public elementary school in Madison. Sixty percent qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.

All students receive two to three hours of Spanish instruction daily and 90 minutes of Chinese instruction weekly.

The church attempted to start a school a couple of times in the past, but this iteration, opened in 2004, is the only one that has lasted. Lantis credits Tia Sierra. Its her vision.

Former atheist

The high-school version of Tia Sierra would not recognize herself today. She was an atheist back then, and not a particularly easygoing one.

She was actually very against God, said Marcio Sierra, 35, who was born in Honduras and met his future wife when they were both students at Madison West High School. She had all these books about witchcraft. She was angry at me for having church commitments.

Tia Sierra, 36, who is white, grew up in Madison and attended Blessed Sacrament Catholic School through eighth grade. At that point, she declared herself an atheist and insisted on going to a public high school because, she said, a nun told students the only way for a Christian to get to heaven was to be Catholic and attend weekly Mass.

Ive always been truth-based, and that didnt sound like the truth, she said. Then, at age 20, she did a 180, she said, returning to Christianity during a particularly difficult time when her parents were divorcing.

Suddenly, she surpassed me in her faith, Marcio Sierra said. She went full-blown. She wanted to tell everyone about Jesus.

Both earned bachelors degrees from UW-Madison while becoming increasingly immersed in activities at Lighthouse Church. Eventually, their faith led them to lead the church.

Neither attended a traditional seminary, but both said theyve completed considerable independent study and coursework in ministry. The elders of Lighthouse Church ordained them.

Tia Sierra earned a teaching certificate at Edgewood College and said she has applied for a state teaching license and is awaiting word. Of the four other full-time teachers, two have earned teaching certificates and two are working toward certification, Sierra said. None is state-licensed, which is not required of private school teachers.

Ten vouchers

The 10 voucher students at Lighthouse come from five families, and five of the children already were attending the school last year, Sierra said. This aspect of the voucher program galls voucher opponents. Public money should not be paying the tuition of students whose parents already demonstrated the ability to afford private school, they say.

I get the other side, Sierra said. But I do feel it is unfair for parents who are taxpayers to pay those taxes and also have to pay tuition on top of that. I see my tax bill. I know Im paying in enough that I should get to choose where my children attend school.

Parents already have choices  thats not the issue, counters Hughes, the school board president.

The issue is whether the state should be subsidizing a private school, he said.We all pay our property taxes for the full range of services the state provides. If I dont like a state campground, I cant ask taxpayers to pay for me to stay at Jellystone Park.

So far, the voucher program has had a minimal financial impact on the Madison School District. The three Suarez children appear to be the only voucher students at Lighthouse who otherwise would be attending public schools.

Sokhim Chhum, 36, a native Cambodian who works in a warehouse, said his wife would be homeschooling their son, a kindergartner, if vouchers werent available. Homnaka Akpandja, 42, a single mother and native West African who takes care of people who are developmentally disabled, said her 4K daughter would otherwise be attending another area religious school that had offered her a deep tuition discount.

Sierra said she and her husband prayed for years for an expansion of the voucher program. She would like to see more families able to choose a religious education, and she would like to see enrollment continue to grow at her school. In both cases, the voucher program is helping, she said.
Recognized Christian Apologist and Radio Host Asks, 'Does Anyone Remember Hillary Clinton's Seances and Contact with Eleanor Roosevelt?'

Contact: Eric Barger, 214-289-5244, New.Age.or.Not@gmail.com

SPANAWAY, Wash., Mar. 7, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Author and speaker, Eric Barger presents compelling information to challenge Christian and conservative voters concerning the spiritual life and influences of Hillary Clinton. Barger states, "It's one thing to elect a secularist whose policies we agree with most. It's quite another to support an admitted practicing occultist for the highest office in the land. Communing with 'the dead' is a dangerous spiritual activity with ominous consequences before God. Biblical Christians have a right, even a responsibility, to expose how serious the ideas embraced by Mrs. Clinton actually are."

Barger, who co-hosts "Understanding The Times" radio (heard on 820 stations each weekend), questions how biblical Christians can support a candidate with a 20+ year history of operating in at least one of what he refers to as 'The Nine Forbidden Practices of the Occult.' Quoting from his book, "Entertaining Spirits Unaware: The End-Time Occult Invasion," Barger told a crowd in Orange, Texas last weekend that "God reserves the strongest condemnatory language in the entire Bible for the activities listed in Deuteronomy 18: 9-12. Necromancy, or attempting to contact any entity in the spirit realm except God, is referred to as an 'abomination' by God Himself. That's true regardless of whether someone is Democrat, Republican, Independent - or Martian!"

Eric Barger documents that since the early 1990's Hillary Clinton has claimed to have regular contact with deceased former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and deceased Indian Prime Minister Mahatma Gandhi. He says, "In reality, Hillary Clinton is not communicating with Roosevelt and Gandhi. According to the Bible they are eternally unavailable for comment. She's actually hearing from demonic beings merely feigning the famous dead. That's not at all comforting considering Mrs. Clinton could soon control America's nuclear trigger."

For more, Barger's new 68 minute DVD, "New Age or Not: What Difference Does it Make?" carefully documents the spiritual life and influences of Hillary Clinton.

Eric Barger is available for media interviews and presentations. Contact him at: Take A Stand! Ministries - Phone: (214) 289-5244 Email: New.Age.or.Not@gmail.com Website: www.ericbarger.com
iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) -- After he was suspended for believing the U.K. would be better off outside the European Union, the head of the British Chambers of Commerce has resigned.

John Longworth, who announced his "Brexit" support on Thursday at the BCC annual conference, said Britain's long-term prospects could be "brighter" outside of the EU, according to BBC.

BCC president Nora Senior said the BCC officially holds a neutral position on the referendum, and Longworth's position was "likely to create confusion."

"In light of this, John has taken the decision to step down as director general and his resignation has been accepted by the board with effect from 6 March 2016," Senior said according to BBC.

British Prime Minister David Cameron reached a deal with the EU in Februrary, which he said gave the U.K. "special status" and was enough for him to support remaining in the union.

British voters will vote "yes" or "no" to determine whether or not the U.K. will stay in the EU in a referendum in June.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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.
Early this month, East Butler Agriculture Instructor, Shane Hennessy spent four days in Washington D.C. at the Association for Career and Technical Educations National Policy Seminar.

At this seminar, Hennessy learned about three key pieces of legislation that will affect agriculture education, business education, and family and consumer sciences. One of the three bills was the Carl Perkins Act Reauthorization. This bill provides funding to schools for career and technical education.

The money is used to provide new and innovative learning for students.

The second bill was the Higher Education Act, which is designed to make college more affordable for students who are seeking a degree in a skilled/technical career field, such as welding. The last was the Every Student Succeeds Act, which is replacing No Child Left Behind, and is more efficient at critiquing schools in terms of student achievement and opportunity.

He also was instructed on how to lobby on behalf of career and technical educators whilst visiting Capital Hill. Some interesting information he learned was that only 5 percent of all funding provided from the federal level actually makes it to a classroom.

The reauthorization of the Perkins Act is designed to cut the red tape and get more of the funding where it should be, Hennessy stated.

Hennessy, along with Katie Frenzen the ag in structor at Amherst High School, and Murleen Bellinger, executive director of ACTEN, went to Capital Hill on March 1 to meet with 3 congressmen from Nebraska about the legislation. They met with Representative Jeff Fortenberry, Representative Adrian Smith, and Senator Deb Fischer.

It was a great opportunity to showcase the great opportunities career and technical educators across the state are providing to students and to vouch for the need for federal funding for schools everywhere.

Recently Illinois Governor proposed a budget with $0 for agriculture education. Their state is very similar to Nebraska in that 1 of 3 jobs are directly tied to agriculture. With state budgets tightening everywhere across the country, the need for federal funds in education is paramount. We have a skills gap that needs filled and filling this gap is reliant on providing students with the newest technologies and opportunities, said Hennessy.

I am glad I got to go show the congressmen what I do on a day to day basis and show off the opportunities I am providing at East Butler, but we need more. My students are learning life long skills that will benefit them, whether they choose an agriculture career or not. I want to provide them with the newest and most innovative learning opportunities for the six years I get to influence them, Hennessy said.

For more information on the legislation , visit www.careertech.org/perkins .
Dont miss your opportunity to obtain free tickets to Emmy Award-winning actor LeVar Burton, who will headline this years Nebraska Science Festival on April 22.

Burton  the former Star Trek actor and Reading Rainbow producer  will present Technology & Storytelling: Making a Difference in the Digital Age at Joslyn Museums Witherspoon Concert Hall in Omaha. His 7:30 p.m. presentation is free to the public (but requires a reserved ticket) and is suitable for all ages.

Tickets for the general admission seating to Burtons presentation will be released at noon on March 22 on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available online at Eventbrite (www.EventBrite.com).

Users will need to create a login and password, and then search for LeVar Burton NE SciFest Keynote Presentation. Once there, you may reserve up to four free tickets. Tickets are not available at the door. Although the presentation is free, tickets are required for admittance on April 22 when doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The fourth annual Nebraska Science Festival  presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center and scheduled for April 15-23  will feature an array of science- and technology-related activities in communities across the state. Check nescifest.com for more information.

Tickets for past keynote speakers, "Animal Planet" host and leading conservationist Jeff Corwin, extreme storm chaser Reed Timmer and America's favorite stand-up scientist Bill Nye, went quickly.

Burton launched his acting career while still a student at the University of Southern California. Cast in the groundbreaking role of Kunta Kinte in the landmark television series Roots, at 19 he found himself on the cover of Time Magazine.

A seemingly impossible act to follow, Burton managed to do so in dramatic fashion, achieving further global acclaim as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in the iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and feature films.

But it has been his role as host and executive producer of the beloved PBS childrens series Reading Rainbow, of which he is most proud. Airing from 1983 to 2009, Reading Rainbow was one of the longest-running childrens television shows in history, and one of the most acclaimed, earning more than 200 awards including multiple Emmys and a Peabody.

Always committed to improving childrens education through innovative uses of storytelling, in 2012 Burton launched RRKidz, a digital educational publishing company, co-founded with business partner Mark Wolfe. Together, they hold the global rights to the Reading Rainbow brand through a partnership with series creator, WNED/Buffalo. Reading Rainbow was reimagined to combine todays forms of media and technology with the goal of inspiring a new generation of children to love reading. The all-new Reading Rainbow is a digital reading service filled with more than 500 childrens fiction and nonfiction books, newly produced video field trips and new content added every week.

Presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Nebraska Science Festival is a collaboration of organizations and individuals interested in the advancement of science literacy. In addition to UNMC, other sponsors, to date, include Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, Nebraska Medicine, Metro Credit Union, West Corporation and media sponsors KETV and the Omaha World-Herald.

In addition to NeSciFest.com, you will find SciFest updates and information on Twitter (@NESciFest) and Facebook (NE SciFest).




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.
History is a set of lies agreed upon. The Dude
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.
Via the Brazilian MOH blog: Zika e tema de workshop internacional em Pernambuco.[Zika is theme of international workshop in Pernambuco] Edited excerpt from the Google translation:

With over 600 present and 4,424 accesses via webcast in 26 countries besides Brazil, the Workshop A, B, C, D, E Zika virus, sponsored by Fiocruz Pernambuco, was closed on Thursday in the auditorium of the institution in Recife. The event brought together for two days Brazilian and foreign researchers who exchanged information on clinical, epidemiological, diagnostic and biological Zika virus, and vectors and other arboviruses.

On Wednesday (1/3), the first day of the workshop, presentations and discussions involved issues related to clinical aspects of the disease and cases of Zika-related microcephaly and epidemiological studies that are being conducted. Carlos Brito, one of the first professionals to understand the emergence of Zika in Pernambuco, a doctor and member of the Ministry of the Technical Committee, spoke of complications related to the virus, such as Guillain Barre syndrome.

In her presentation, medical Adriana Melo of the Elipidio Almeida Institute of Public Health, Campina Grande (PB), warned of the need to look at other issues related to Zika virus and not only microcephaly. The medical expert reported recording cases of babies with ventriculomegaly, which increases the thickness of the ventricles, thus reducing the amount of nerve tissue in the brain. Adriana also said she diagnosed fetuses with muscle and joint contracture
Via Arab News: MERS red alert in Qassim; 3 dead. The complete report, which contains no mention of the nosocomial outbreak in Buraidah's King Fahd Hospital:

The Ministry of Health has warned people in Qassim to be careful of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, which struck five people in Buraidah and one each in Najran, Jeddah and Riyadh during the past four days.

Since Thursday, there have been eight cases, including three deaths, two in Buraidah and one in Najran.

A 67-year-old Saudi woman and a 60-year-old Saudi man from Buraidah died, while another 60-year-old man also died in Najran.

Since June 2012, the Kingdom has reported 1,318 MERS cases which included 745 recoveries, 559 deaths and 14 under treatment cases.

Pursuant to the sudden rise in MERS cases, the ministry has set up a central command and control center in Buraidah to monitor the movement of the disease and to take the necessary preventive measures.

He said this center would coordinate among hospitals in the transfer of patients to facilities convenient to them. The ministry has adopted high levels of preventive measures to fight against the virus.

The ministry has pledged its utmost commitment to combat the virus in all parts of the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, at a workshop held in Riyadh, Nasser Al-Dossari, acting director general of health affairs in Riyadh, said that people should be vigilant of the MERS virus and symptoms should be immediately reported to a doctor for necessary action.
Via Exame.com: Zika revela ciencia forte no Brasil e falta de recursos. [Zika reveals strong science in Brazil but lack of resources] Edited excerpt from the Google translation:

The unique character of the Zika epidemic - which has spread very quickly across the country, raising the suspicion of being responsible for the increase in cases of microcephaly and other neurological problems - may have at least one positive result: opened opportunity for Brazilian science stand out by its quick answer to a health emergency.

Probably for the first time in facing a biomedical problem, the national scientific community was very responsive to articulate, to form local partnerships and link to foreign institutions, and to redirect efforts from laboratories to a new cause.

But this rapid mobilization, warn leaders of some of the major research groups, has not yet been followed by supporting funds from the federal government, which may soon be an obstacle for the advancement of studies.

"Since we observed the increase in cases of microcephaly, in October, and from the moment that the Ministry of Health declared a national health emergency on 11 November, the science was reorganized so that they soon began to show very significant evidence. They caused, for example, the government to change its monitoring stance and streamline a campaign against the Aedes aegypti," says Rodrigo Stabeli, research vice president of Fiocruz research and reference laboratories.

"We see scientists sharing data and materials, which shows that Brazilian science is able to respond to what may be one of the biggest health problems in the country," he says.
See all our Week 9 Iowa high school football photos

All of our images from Friday night's Iowa high school football games, Week 9 of the 2022 season.
If youre in the New York City area in two weeks, you wont want to miss an important lecture by astrophysicist David Helfand. A professor at Columbia University and brilliant writer, Helfand will discuss Climate Change: What We Know and What We Dont Know as part of the One Day University live talks. The event will take place March 21, 2016, from 7 to 9 p.m. and will be hosted by Claudia Dreifus of The New York Times. The venue is the New York Institute of Technology at 1871 Broadway.



Helfand is a distinguished professor, speaker, and author who has vigorously and cleanly defended science against pseudoscience. His book, A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age, is just out. It is an important book to read for anyone interested in scientific thinking.



You can see more about the talk and register here.





Follow Dave Eicher on Twitter, and please check out his Author Page on Facebook.




      :   ,       ;       
Country

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but NOBODY vetted Barack Obama after Barack Obama politicized his own mother's cancer

for his own political gain during the 2008 democratic race, and then again in the presidential debates.

Did Barack Obama tend to his own mother in any personal way

during her last couple of years of life, when she was dying of cancer in Hawaii?





If I am wrong, or can be proven wrong about my concern, then I will stand corrected.

But until then, the timeline I have been able to put together shows that Barack Obama

chose to finish writing his book instead of being with his mother.

With apologizes to the filmmaker for politicizing his film,Or, did Barack Obama CHOOSE to fly over Hawaii, where his mother was dying of cancer,so he could go to Bali to finish writing his book about his sperm donor father?
Mega Damming of the Life giving waters of Ethiopia. This process is menacing the existence of the inhabitants of the region by drying the sources and lakes. The main reason advertised for damming is for production of Electricity and exporting energy. This could be done by small human level dams.The underlying reason is to the irrigation for the great land grabbing for cash crop exportation for financial speculators. Moreover, such mega projects leads to undue water crisis.
Next on the To-Do List: Ikigai Many moons ago, I worked as a career counselor, first for a college and then for a nonprofit in a...

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 Adrian Cable - Creative Commons Licence

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So, I'm home, I've had some sleep, and damn, it was good! I hadn't slept properly for at least a week (probably months), and my brain, not entirely convinced it was exhausted, had to give it one last hurrah at bedtime. I snuggled under the duvet, light off, Kindle in hand - I managed to read about four lines before I somehow fumbled my Kindle onto the bedside table and zzzz.Seven hours later...It's a glorious spring morning in North-West England. Blue sky, leaf buds, a crisp frost glistening in the pale yet radiant sun.My mission for today: to keep my thoughts clutter-free.See, I've been having some problems with that. Since Christmas, I've been writing on various instalments of, alongside my other work of teaching social science, editing and publishing. There's nothing new there; I operate in a state of constant mental activity, bordering on hypomanic, and I'm happy that way. If I ever watch TV or movies, they need to have some intellectual substance (and be well written/produced/directed/enacted) to fully hold my attention.In my normal mode of operation, I can write several different stories in parallel, grade essays for two different undergraduate courses, and work on at least half a dozen publishing projects without ever dropping the mental ball. Like a spider's web (visual similes are my thing), I can see all the threads, both as separate strands with distinct end points, and the intricate connections between.If you've met Josh - the main(ish) character from theseries, you may already have noted that he and I share a few traits in this respect.Josh does it all to a greater extreme, of course. To avoid spoilers for anyone new to reading the series, I'll just say that for the most part, Josh's thoughts are highly organised, governed by logic and mediated by intelligence, but there are times when they're a scrambled mess. He can't separate the intellectual from the emotional; he struggles to reach the end of one thought process without veering off into another. It is overwhelming, impossible.That's what I've been experiencing, I realised, this morning, after a week away from my normal environment, followed by a good night's sleep.It was something of a revelation, which seems daft to say. I knew at Christmas I'd burnt out, and I took some steps to address it. However, the world keeps spinning regardless of our cries of 'Stop! I want to get off!'I owe huge thanks to Hans Hirschi and my mother-in-law, for hitting the pause button on my behalf.Confession time: I love being at home, and given the choice I'd probably never go anywhere, or so I thought until this past week. That's not the confession, by the way. Anyone who knows me is aware of my hermit-like ways. What I'm now prepared to admit is that going away for a while can be (and has been on this occasion) precisely what I need in order to reboot my brain.Bless Hans - I was so far behind with work that I was still editing his upcoming release,, while I was his guest in Gothenburg last week, and he kept saying, "I didn't invite you here to work." But the thing is, even though I was working, it was without the rest of the mental noise, the constant interference of other thoughts, reminders of things I must not forget, fretful realisations that I would have to forego sleep, or writing, or some other necessity, like visiting family, in order to hit deadlines.So yes, I did work while I was in Gothenburg, but not all the time. In fact, last Wednesday, Hans and I spent at least as much time chatting as we did working, and it was jolly good fun! We really do interact in a continued state of 'agree to disagree', because we're both strong-minded and hold firm opinions on a lot of social/political points. We do actually agree on quite a few things, but there's little conversation to be had once Person A says 'I think such-and-such' and Person B says 'I agree absolutely'.Hans is fluent in I-have-no-idea-how-many languages, and I am constantly in awe of his linguistic abilities. Listening to him switch between Swedish, English and Alemannic(?) (his son does it, too) was both fascinating and humbling. I'm something of a dunce when it comes to learning other languages, although I love (obsess, study) accents and dialects, and even when conversations around me are in a language or dialect I don't understand, I am enthralled by the sounds and rhythms. I'm intrigued by their origins, their development, and I love incorporating dialect into my writing, although there's a skill to doing it well and not losing readers with too many contractions and dropped letters.English language and culture is perhaps the only real bone of contention I have with Hans, and I'm pretty sure much of the time he only harps on because he knows it winds me up. Hans doesn't seem to think much of England, which I can understand up to a point. It's difficult for us English folk to hold on to any sense of pride and love for our country without being branded a nationalist, blind to the violent imperial history of 'Great Britain'. It's why many of us choose to identify as 'English' rather than 'British', although, historically, we don't do much better in that regard ( consider the demise of 'Kernow', for instance ).Last year, when, he had this to say:It's a lovely, albeit back-handed, compliment, and his views are shared by many. English food is bland and greasy; the English climate is wet and rainy; English conversation consists of talking about the weather (therefore rain?)... I'll come back to this in a moment.Anyway, I had a great time in Sweden, not least because it was a much-needed break. Hans makes delicious fondue (I was not the only one delighted by this welcoming family dinner), he's intelligent company, and he's an incredible tour guide. Visiting Sweden had been on my list of things to do since my adolescence, when the Lerum School of Music came to Southport on the first leg of an exchange trip that sadly didn't get as far as the second leg.Indeed, my fascination with Sweden is what led to the inclusion of a Swedish character in(Kris Johansson), which ultimately is why Hans and I connected in the first place. My trip to Sweden (which included a flying visit to Lerum) was enriching, therapeutic, educational - plus I made a friend in Albin the cat! I also gave silent thanks many times over that the Swedes are bloody brilliant at speaking English, or there would have been no coffee at Goteborg airport for me!From Sweden to home briefly, and then to Norfolk, for my mother-in-law's eightieth birthday. I was once again immersed in the culture I love and know. This is the home county of Taking Him On (mentioned above - part of my other series -). Norfolk is the northern county on the East Anglian peninsula (the bump on the right side of England), and it's fairly flat terrain, with lots of farmland.We stayed in- an inn with a history extending back almost as far as Henry VIII, and with floors and staircases that offer excellent insight into what it's like to live with vertigo! I got up in the night to use the bathroom and wondered if I'd been drunker than I'd thought, but no. There was easily a ten-degree incline in the floor of our room. The Swan Inn is a stunning building, with thick oak beams and ancient gable ends cutting through (modern) walls. The staff are friendly, the breakfast was awesome, the company - my in-laws - was out of this world.Real ale, a traditional English roast beef dinner, and it did rain, typically, when I'm trying to make an entirely different point, but still... On the way home, I pondered over the potential utility of old windmills with their derelict sails, and revelled in the changes in light, the weather and the fauna, as we ventured further north-west, back home to West Lancashire. I do love England, I'm not ashamed to say. It is a beautiful country with a rich history, so many different cultures, dialects, regional food and drink - how can anyone claim English food is bland when we invented Marmite? ;)In conclusion, I'm glad to be home. There really is no place like it. But I'm also glad I went away for a few days. My thoughts had become like the spider's web we accidentally walk through, unanchored and dishevelled. Now I'm ready to spin anew.
At present, the company have 12 per cent women employees contributing to the vision of Canon India.

New Delhi: Canon India plans to increase the number of women employees to 20 per cent of its headcount by 2018. Currently, women account for about 12 per cent of Canon India's headcount of about 1,000 people.

"Canon in India is making dedicated efforts to boost women employees, nurture them and help them grow within the system," the Japanese tech giant said in a statement.

Canon has offices and warehouses in 14 cities across the country and has over 1,000 employees. "At present, we have 12 per cent women employees contributing to the vision of Canon India.

But we surely want to take this number to at least 20 per cent over the next two years," Canon India President and CEO Kazutada Kobayashi said. The company is undertaking a number of initiatives to keep women employees engaged and evolve through various company activities, he added.
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India will share FDI-related information with country's intelligence agencies -- IB and RAW -- to check black money from entering the country. The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes.

The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat -- under whose administrative control Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) functions -- expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.

Emphasising on the need to keep a track of such companies' source of funding, the Cabinet Secretariat suggested that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) under the Finance Ministry should maintain a database of such entities and investments, a move which was later rejected, they said.

During the meeting of "Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus", representatives of Intelligence Bureau felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that RBI should share with IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI, which actually enters the country, the sources said. The moves assumes significance as the government expects rise in FDI inflow to the country owing to its attempts to liberalise trade and promote ease of doing business.

The FDI comes either through automatic route (which gets recorded by RBI) or through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)--an inter-ministerial body under the Department of Economic Affairs, which is responsible for processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for government approval.

"Even after FIPB has approved a FDI proposal, concerned government agencies will not know whether the investment has actually come into India. The only organisation which will know when the investment actually comes into the country is RBI. "Hence, it was felt that they should form a database on it and share details with both IB and RAW," said a senior official in the Cabinet Secretariat, requesting anonymity.

The RBI has also been asked to consider displaying this information on its website, he said. Foreigners who bring FDI may also get long-term visa or residency permit as the option is being explored by the government to make travel easy for businessmen as part of its 'Make In India' campaign, the official said.

In 2016-17 budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced 100 per cent FDI through government approval route in the marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India. FDI flows into India nearly doubled in 2015 to USD 59 billion, according to a report of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Foreign Direct Investment is important for the country as it needs around USD 1 trillion worth investments between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the 12th Five Year Plan period, to fund infrastructure growth covering sectors such as ports, airports and highways.
Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor seem to be moving on after their much-speculated break-up. The two had moved in together into a flat at Mumbais plush Carter Road and lived there for a year, until recently.

After the break-up however, Ranbir has moved into a new house a few lanes away. He has chosen to not move in with his parents, as was the case before. As for Kat, she is still scouting for a suitable location and doesnt want to go back to her old pad at Waterfield Road.

Says a source close to the actress, She could have gone back to her old house but the address is known to all and she wants to stay away from any media attention at the moment. She is trying to find a house somewhere in the same vicinity, but not in the same building. She has some time off now, before she goes overseas for a few weeks to shoot another film. She wants to use this time to finalise her house because she wants to move out of the current house at the earliest.

On a different note, Ranbir and Kat will start shooting the last schedule of Jagga Jasoos soon.
She towers over others with her irrepressible zest for life. Kriti Sanon is literally on cloud nine after Heropanti and Dilwale. Coming from a non-filmi background, she couldnt have asked for more as she set foot in the tinsel world and got instant recognition.

Kriti is now preparing for her next film and spills the beans about her project, I will be starting shooting for Raabta by the end of March. Im playing the lead role opposite Sushant Singh Rajput and the film is directed by Dinesh Vijan of Badlapur fame. Its a beautiful script and I fell in love with it, the moment I heard it. Its about dreams and destiny and Im preparing hard for it. Im learning swimming, horse riding, doing workshops and reading, she shares.
The Tamil film industry has always been warm and welcoming towards actors from Malayalam film industry. Nayanthara, Asin, and Bhavana for example have made their own mark in the Tamil film industry. Malayali girl Sshivada Nair, who debuted in Tamil in 2014 with Nedunchalai, has become one of the sought-after actresses in Tamil now. She currently has three films in her kitty  Zero with Ashwin Kakumanu, Vallavanukku Vallavan with Bobby Simha and Kattam with Nivas. She talks to us about her journey so far.

Im super-excited, and have a lot of expectation from Zero. It is a fantasy horror film and will be a new experience for the audience. Its an amazing script and I also love the way my character is established, starts the actress.

Sshivada says that she is quite selective about films. I am happy with my work. But I am in no hurry to sign many projects. I believe in quality over quantity, and I am very passionate about films. I will always be related to this industry in one way or the other, says the talented woman.

Though at an age where actresses stop acting after marriage, Sshivada comes as a breath of fresh air  she has signed more films after her marriage, thanks to her husbands support. I should thank my husband and my family for this. They know my affection towards cinema, the actress muses.

So, what are her main criteria while selecting a project? First comes the script, and secondly how my character is portrayed in the film. Even if its a small screen space, I am willing to do it, provided my character has scope to perform. Also, the team and the director are also very important. I dont want to be typecast, says the actress.

Speaking about acting with National-Award winner Bobby Simha, Sshivada says, I was tensed on the first day of the shoot. But eventually we got along like a house on fire! Bobby is a great actor and has no airs at all. The team is very energetic and dedicated.

Though her mother tongue is Malayalam, Sshivada managed to dub for her first film. She says, I was born in Trichy and studied in Chennai till class five before moving to Kerala. So, Im comfortable speaking Tamil. I am glad that I am able to dub for myself, she sums up.
A suit has been filed against Rajinikanths film Linga on the charge that its storyline had been stolen from another script writer.

Madurai: A court here has issued summons to filmstar Rajinikanth and others asking them to appear before it on Tuesday in connection with a suit filed against his film "Linga" on the charge that its storyline had been stolen from another script writer.

The Additional District Munsiff Court Judge also summoned K R Ravirathinam (plaintiff), film producer Rockline Venkatesh, B Ponkumar, Director K S Ravikumar and the General Secretary of South Indian Film Writers Association directing them to appear tomorrow.

The Judge said the Madras High Court had last month directed him to complete the trial in the case within April 30 next and hence asked them to appear before his court tomorrow.

Passing orders on a petition by the film producer seeking transfer of the case to another court on grounds on prolonged delay in the trial, Justice V M Velumani of the high court had directed the Munsiff court to conclude the case within April 30.

The matter pertains to an allegation by plaintiff Ravi Rathinam of Madurai that his script was stolen by the makers of 'Lingaa'.

He had moved the high court which in December, 2014 ordered the producer to deposit a sum of Rs 5 crore by demand draft and another Rs 5 crore by way of bank guarantee before releasing the movie.

The producer complied with the court order as he needed to release the movie immediately and appealed against it in the Supreme Court, which on March 20, 2015, directed him to furnish only Rs one crore as bank guarantee and also ordered the trial court to dispose the suit within six months.
Their camaraderie started from the mimicry days of Kalabhavan. Actor-director Salim Kumar remembers Kalabhavan Mani as a tower of strength among friends, a bankable companion who imbued him with confidence every time. He never buckled under pressure or slipped into a state of mental depression even when illness was eating into his health. The only thing that pained him the most was neglect from the Malayalam film industry.

 He was saddened as his efforts went unrecognised in Malayalam cinema. When a known actor in the industry called him over phone and mocked at him saying that the Kerala State Film Award for best actor was for him for the movie Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njanum, which was accompanied by loud laughter. Mani was well aware of who played to sideline him. His was a talent none could subjugate or restrict, says Salim Kumar. Compartment was the last movie they worked together.

Mani celebrated everything good in his life and of his place. He was a village man in every sense and was at the forefront of every celebration in Chalakudy. Ours was a bonding since the days of penury. When I got national award, he welcomed me to his place to an accoutrement of three elephants. He spoke in high-pitch and kept the volume on top while listening to songs. So loud a person, he therefore kept no secrets in life, he recollects.
Physicians who are exhausted from working 24 hour shifts with frequent sleep interruptions often have difficulty being cordial during patient interactions. (Photo: AFP)

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.
People who work with transgender and gender variant youth have been noticing the overlap with ASDs for the last several years. (Photo: Pixabay)

Autism spectrum disorders and gender identity issues often occur together in children, according to new research that supports previous findings.

Children with an autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were seven times more likely than other children to report gender variance on a questionnaire, researchers at one U.S. medical center found.

"Like many research ideas, this is one that was born from clinical experience," said lead researcher Dr. Aron Janssen, director of NYU Langone Medical Center's Gender and Sexuality Service in New York City.

People who work with transgender and gender variant youth have been noticing the overlap with ASDs for the last several years, he told Reuters Health.

Gender variance describes variability between the sex a person is assigned at birth and their experienced or expressed gender, Janssen and colleagues write in the journal Transgender Health.

ASDs can affect behavior as well as social and communication skills. Studies in Europe and North America have found higher rates of ASDs among gender variant youths, and vice versa.

For the new study, the researchers examined the Child Behavior Checklist of 492 children, ages six to 18, diagnosed with ASDs between 2011 and 2015 - including 409 who were assigned male at birth, and 83 who were assigned female.

The children's answer to one question on the checklist about gender identity was then compared to the answers of 1,605 other children. Overall, 5.1 percent of children with ASDs said they wished to be the opposite sex, compared to 0.7 percent of the other children.

In a 2014 study that used a similar design, 5.4 percent of children with ASDs said they wished to be the opposite sex on the same questionnaire.

"Its quite striking that through a very similar procedure he had almost the same numbers," said John Strang, the lead researcher of the 2014 paper from the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

In both studies, children with ASDs were about seven times more likely to report gender variance, compared to other children. Likewise, a 2010 Dutch study found children at a gender clinic were about seven times more likely to meet the criteria to be diagnosed with ASDs.

No study answers why gender identity issues and ASDs often occur together, but there are several possible explanations.

Strang told Reuters Health people with ASDs may be less aware of social expectations to conform to their sex assigned at birth. As a result they may be less likely to hide their gender variance.

It could also be that people who are gender variant are more socially isolated and demonstrate traits similar to those of ASDs, Janssen said.

"When you have two conditions that are both on a spectrum and you see there is an overlap, I think it gets even more complex and more interesting," he said.

Janssen said identifying an overlap between ASDs and gender variance is just a first step. "At the end of the day its about how we help people, whether or not theyre on the spectrum, lead happy fulfilling lives," he said.

Strang said people with ASDs and gender variance need a lot of support. "We just concluded a two-year project bringing together specialists who either published in this are or working with this co-occurrence to produce a set of guidelines," he said. "Hopefully those will be out soon."
Women now have a voice: Swati Lakra, IPS

Swati Lakra, IPS Addl CP (Crimes and SIT), has launched initiatives such as SHE teams, through which women can get in touch with police over Whatsapp, email, Twitter and the Hawk Eye App.

On being a woman, she says, Today, India offers several opportunities to women, where they do have a voice. However, India is still a male-dominated society, where women are often seen as subordinate and inferior to men.

Talking about the burning issue, the cop says, Im glad that womens security has become a burning issue. Hopefully violence against women will not be brushed aside. As a police woman I see this as a positive trend which should help in alleviating the security issues faced by women. The stakeholders will have to take notice and work towards making the society a safer place for women.

Challenges remain the same as before: Neetu Kumari Prasad, IAS

Karimnagar Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad, IAS, who was one of the record five women collectors appointed by the Telangana state government says, Security is not a concern for women alone but affects everyone in the society. Being an administrator brings additional responsibility.

Social pressure basically acts upon us to fit in certain norms. I mean expectations of society to mould women to act in idealistic ways. It limits choices, which are otherwise available with men. Work place challenges are same as faced by men. The only difference is we have to prove ourselves doubly.

Break into an old boys network: Pavani Reddy, managing partner

Hailing from Hyderabad, Pavani Reddy is the first Asian female Managing Partner at a London-based law firm. She believes, The legal environment has changed since I had started out in law. It may sound a bit of a cliche, but the best way to overcome any kind of discrimination is to work hard, persevere, know your profession inside and out, and most importantly, never give up.

Talking about challenges, she says, I havent encountered many challenges so far, just the usual ones which come with being in a predominantly male-dominated environment; namely people not always taking you seriously. People also automatically assume that just because you are a woman, you must not be at a senior level within the firm.

Freedom with conditions applied: Namita Banka, entrepreneur

Namita Banka, whose Bioloo uses bio-digester technology to dispose of human waste in a lowcost, and low-maintenance manner, says, Being a woman in India today, it feels like a freedom with conditions applied. I talk about our mental safety which even being safe sometime has to go through mental rape. I have over the years gone through this.

She says, Social pressures are not so much except I need to work harder and longer to proof myself and my worth. I have faced many challenges and it helps me win.
Woman who defied her family to marry the person of her choice was killed by her brothers. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: A woman who defied her family to marry the person of her choice was killed by her brothers in south Rajasthans Chota Aspur village. The woman, Ramakunwar alias Rama, was set on fire by her brother Lakshman Singh and other cousins eight years after she returned home with her 3-year-old child.

The police Saturday arrested her brother and six cousins for the alleged honour killing on a complaint filed by the deceaseds mother-in-law Kalawati. She had filed an FIR against 30 to 35 persons for the murder in which she alleged that Rama was set on fire by Lakshman Singh, Parveen Singh, Kalyan Singh, Ishwar Singh, Mahendra Singh, Bhupal Singh and Gajendra Singh. Her crime in their eyes was not just that she eloped with and married for love but that the boy belonged to a different caste.

When news reached her brothers of her return to the village, Lakshman came with around 30 people the very next day when Ms Kalawti, her youn-ger son and daughter-in-law, and Rama were sitting in the compound. They dragged Rama to a spot near the temple and set her on fire. They took the half burnt body to the cremation ground and conducted the funeral that very night. Extra police force has been deployed in the village.

Though the incident took place in a public place in the middle of the village, no villager came to her rescue. They were all silent witnesses to the crime and were not willing to speak against the accused even now.

Extra police force has been deployed in the village. This is not an isolated case of honour killing in Rajasthan. Only two months ago, a man in Sriganganagar district had killed his daughter for marrying outside the caste.
A case of a woman who allegedly snatched the gold chain of a man while he was walking alone in the city. (Representational Image)

BENGALURU: Incidents of women being robbed by bike-borne men are reported regularly in Bengaluru. But here is a case of a woman who allegedly snatched the gold chain of a man while he was walking alone in the city.

The woman, Asha alias Soundarya alias Kavitha (28), who has also been accused of robbery, impersonating as a public servant, cheating by impersonation, and illegally selling property, has been under judicial custody for more than a year.

She recently approached the Karnataka HC seeking bail. But the High Court dismissed her plea, while directing the lower court to complete her trial at the earliest.

She allegedly snatched the chain around 11.30 am on October 18, 2014 at the Uttaradi Math junction when the victim was walking from Gandhi Bazaar. She stopped him and asked him why he was smiling at her.

As he looked around puzzled, she threatened him and took away his gold chain worth Rs 40,000. She sped away on a scooter that did not have any registration number, the chargesheet states.

Before approaching the HC, she had also filed a similar plea for bail before the trial court which was dismissed. In the HC, the government advocate opposed her bail application, arguing that the petitioner is a habitual offender involved in many robbery cases and if she is let out on bail, she is likely to abscond and will not attend court regularly.

The investigation is complete and chargesheet is filed against the petitioner-accused. Petitions are liable to be dismissed without expressing any opinion at this stage, the court ordered with directions to the sessions judge to expedite the trial.
Guwahati: In what may be an encouraging input for security forces, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) is reeling under acute financial crunch, which is forcing them to suspend the payment of hostel fees and expenses for the children and family members of Ulfa cadres.

The Ulfa commanders, holed up in Myanmar, are not taking the calls of their family members, asking them for hostel fees for children lodged in various hostels in Assam and Nagaland, security sources said. Sources said a large number of family members of the cadres are living in Nagaland to carry out their childrens education. Though agencies dont have specific input on its fallout on education of children, sources did not rule out the chances of many children discontinuing their studies.

Pointing out that Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah was maintaining a low profile, security sources said the Ulfa central committee had been sending a fixed stipend for the family members of cadres but for the past few months it had been stopped. Informing that the forces have succeeded in choking the fund flow to the outfit to a large extent, sources said there have been desperate attempt to mobilise resources from various channels.
Hyderabad: A police complaint was lodged against noted Telugu actor and MLA N Balakrishna by a section of lawyers on Monday for allegedly passing 'vulgar' comments against women at a movie function, police said.

Balakrishna, a TDP MLA from Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh, is the brother-in-law of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

"We have received a complaint against Nandamuri Balakrishna alleging that he made some vulgar comments against women at an audio release function for a movie held three days ago. We are seeking legal opinion on the issue," Saroornagar police inspector S Lingaiah said.

Wading into the issue, YSR Congress MLA RK Roja on Monday demanded an apology from the CM and Balakrishna on the issue.

"While the top leadership itself has been pursuing anti-woman policies it percolates down the line resulting in the harassment of women at various levels and such government should apologise to the women community," Roja told reporters on the eve of International Women's Day.
Advisory says the MPs should also ensure receipt of political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs before proceeding abroad. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: While undertaking visits abroad organised by foreign organisations and individuals, MPs should ensure that "none of their activities" give an unintended impression that they are on an official visit on behalf of Parliament.

Also, before accepting hospitality, the members should satisfy themselves about the "credentials" of the organisation or institution extending the hospitality.

These are part of a fresh advisory issued to Parliamentarians by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

It says that to avoid any delay, members should send their applications for acceptance of foreign hospitality to the Ministry of Home Affairs at least two weeks before the proposed date of journey.

"Members should ensure that before proceeding abroad, the requisite permission of the Ministry of Home Affairs has been obtained; as mere sending of the application will not amount to grant of statutory permission," reads the advisory issued by Rajya Sabha Secretary General Sumsher Sheriff.

It says the MPs should also ensure receipt of political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs before proceeding abroad.

A similar advisory, based on a request made by the MHA, was also issued to members of the Lok Sabha recently.

"All invitations from any foreign source, namely, government of any country, foreign organisations are expected to be routed through the Ministry of External Affairs.

"However, even if any such invitation is received directly, members are advised to bring it to the notice of the Ministry of External Affairs and necessary political clearance of that Ministry should also be obtained for the purpose," it reads.

The applicant has to submit a scanned copy of the invite from the host country or organisation and the administrative clearance from the ministry or government department concerned. Similar system is in place for judges, MLAs and government servants.
In a goodwill gesture, Pakistan released 87 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly violating its territorial waters and would free 86 others later this month. (Photo: AFP)

Vadodara: Gujarat Fisheries Minister Babubhai Bokhiria on Monday said the state government is yet to get any official confirmation on the release of 87 Indian fishermen from a jail in Pakistan.

In a goodwill gesture, Pakistan yesterday released 87 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly violating its territorial waters and would free 86 others later this month.

The fishermen, who had been languishing in prison for the last two-and-half years, were released from Landhi Jail in Karachi and will be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border.

However, Bokhiria said, "It is surprising to hear such news through media, because our government has not received any official communication from the Centre or Indian High Commissioner's office located in Islamabad in this regard."

"Unless we get official communication from the concerned authorities in this regard, how can we comment on it," he said on phone.

"After learning from media reports about the release of 87 Indian fishermen from Pakistan, I asked Gujarat Fisheries Commissioner to find out if any such message was received, to which he (fisheries commissioner) replied that till 1130 hrs today, no such message was received," he said.

As per usual practice, whenever fishermen from Pakistani jails are released, the communication is sent to the state fisheries department in advance so that it can dispatch its team of officials to Wagah border for taking custody of the released fishermen after proper verification and identification, Bokhiria said.

Earlier in Pakistan, Faisal Edhi, who heads a private charity organisation, the Edhi Foundation, arranged the train journey for the fishermen yesterday and gave them gifts and some cash.

Jail superintendent of Landhi Jail Shakir Shah had told PTI that 86 more Indian fishermen would be released on March 20. He said a total of around 536 Indian fishermen were in jail, serving varying terms for violation of Pakistani territorial waters.

Fishermen are frequently arrested along with their boats by both India and Pakistan as the maritime border in the Arabian Sea is poorly defined, and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location.

In the past, the two nations have released each other's fishermen as goodwill gestures.

Although in December, India and Pakistan had agreed to revive the dialogue process when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad for a summit, 66 Indian fishermen were arrested by Pakistan the same month.

In January, another 45 Indian fishermen were arrested for allegedly violating Pakistan's territorial waters.
Kanhaiya was released from Tihar Jail last week after the Delhi High Court granted him bail. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: JNU students union president, Kanhaiya Kumar will lead the movement demanding release of two other varsity students who are still in judicial custody in a sedition case.

"Though I have got bail in the case despite both the government and police trying their best to delay it as far as they can but our fight is not over yet. Umar and Anirban are yet to be released. I will now lead the ongoing student movement," Kanhaiya told PTI.

Kanhaiya was released from Tihar Jail last week after the Delhi High Court granted him bail.

"Though our primary focus is to get them released but one thing I am sure of is that if I adopt this ideology of raising our voice these trips to prison will become a frequent thing," he added.

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.

While Kanhaiya spent 18 days in jail, two other students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are also in judicial custody in a sedition case over the event. The JNU Students Union led by Kanhaiya has called a council meeting tonight to discuss the "onslaught on JNU" and finalise their future course of action.

In Kanhaiya's absence, JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora had led the student agitation.

The JNUSU president was arrested in connection with the February 9 event. Five other students, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rama Naga, Anant Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar had gone in hiding since then but resurfaced on the campus 10 days later.

While Umar and Anirban surrendered before the police, the remaining three refused to do so but maintained that they are open to questioning by police as and when needed.
Kozhikode: Kerala High Court judge Justice B. Kemal Pasha on Sunday lashed out at the shortcomings of Muslim Personal Law saying it was highly discriminatory. The judge said while elaborating on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act that the Law let the men marry four times and easily divorce the wives through extra-judicial divorce and questioned why the the same law is not applicable to women.

Justice Pashas comments came a day after the Supreme Court accepted a writ petition filed by V. P. Zuhra, president of NISA, a progressive Muslim womens forum, seeking its intervention into discriminating Muslim women according to Sharia law.

In the petition, Ms Zuhra had maintained that the Sharia law was against the Constitution and it was un-Islamic. Justice Pasha said it was not a codified law and it had many shortcomings including inequality in the areas of marriage, divorce and succession.



The women are not even getting the privileges said in the Quran. They are subjected to change by the precedent. The inheritance law is another example. A man can not write a will of his own regarding his properties. He has the right to write only about one-third of his properties, that too with the consent of his relatives. Even if a man wants his entire assets to be handed over to his wife and children, that is not possible, he said.

He stressed that it was time for a change and exhorted womens organisations to come up against this discrimination. The judge attended the programme of Punarjani Charitable Trust in the morning and reiterated his words in a debate organised by NISA at Nalanda Auditorium in the afternoon.
New Delhi: Delhi police on Monday arrested Poorvanchal Sena chief Adarsh Sharma, who had put up posters across Central Delhi offering Rs 11 lakh as cash prize to anybody who shoots dead JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar.

A case under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act had been registered against Sharma for putting up the posters.

According to reports, the police during the course of its investigation into the case had found out that Sharma has only 150 Rs in his bank account. Investigating officers spoke to his friends and landlord who said that Sharma had no regular source of income and has not even paid his rent for several months.

Read: Posters in Delhi offer Rs 11 lakh for killing Kanhaiya Kumar

Whoever shoots JNUSU president and traitor Kanhaiya Kumar will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh from the Poorvanchal Sena, read the posters in Hindi and were signed by Adrash Sharma along with his contact details.

Sharma had claimed that he put up 1500 such posters in the city and expressed shock at Kanhaiyas speech. The Poorvanchal Sena chief said that Kanhaiya had attacked our motherland in his speech and that it was unacceptable.
New Delhi: Linking the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar issues with rights of the marginalised, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of "crushing" the weak and the poor who demand their rights.

He also said Union ministers and BJP leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him but they should not "crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak."

"Tribals from Bastar met me today. They said they are facing atrocities in Chhattisgarh's Bastar and that they are being threatened and crushed.

"Country will not benefit by beating and threatening people. You pressurised Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, here you are pressurising Kanhaiya and our students," the Congress Vice President told reporters here.

He alleged that wherever the poor is seeking rights, "be it farmer, dalit, tribal or small trader --small traders came to me -- wherever a weak person is raising voice, NDA government, Modi government is trying to crush it."

These people are the strength of India and no one will benefit by crushing them, he said.

"If you have to take action, do it. Those who break law, take action. But by crushing, threatening and beating the poor won't help the country," Rahul said.

In an apparent reference to Modi's remarks in the Lok Sabha that "some people age but do not mature", Rahul said the PM and his Cabinet colleagues are free to attack him. "Modi attacked me personally. His party colleagues are attacking me personally on a daily basis," he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently took a dig at the Congress Vice-President over his Lok Sabha speech and said "the more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know? when will he know".

"As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity," Jaitley had said in a Facebook post reacting to Gandhi's remarks that Prime Minister Modi does not consult his senior ministers on policy issues.

"Do as much personal attacks as you want. But don't crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak. Hit me as much you want. Attack me as much you want. Speak for as long as you want to, but don't hit the poor people of the country," Rahul stressed.
The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances, an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of the controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning here this Friday.

"The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances," an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

Read: Sri Sri's event: 'Army making bridge in view of people's security, safety'

While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release 'enzymes' into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgement is expected tomorrow.

The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.

"This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information," the petition said.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.
The assailants damaged the chairs, musical instruments, fans and other articles. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

Raipur: Seven people were arrested on Monday for vandalising church and assaulting worshippers in Khamardih area of Chhattisgarh's Raipur city on Sunday.

A group of unidentified youths on Sunday attacked a church here, vandalising the premises of the place of worship and assaulting worshippers, including women, the Raipur police said.

The masked assailants even pushed an infant to the ground while allegedly thrashing the worshippers.

Around 20 youths entered the church when the mass prayer was underway and attacked the worshippers. They damaged the chairs, musical instruments, fans and other articles, Raipur district additional superintendent of police (ASP) Neeraj Chandrakar told this newspaper.

Encroachment of land to build the church seems to be motive behind the attack, he added.

We have detained three people in connection with the incident. Interrogation of the detainees was on. Besides, three motorcycles purportedly used by the assailants have been seized. Investigation is in progress, Mr Chandrakar said.

A case has been registered under Sections 452 (house trespass after preparation to hurt), 295 (attacking a place of worship and hurting religious sentiments) and 147 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code, he added.

Chhattisgarh Christian Forum president Arun Pannanal said a group of 15-20 youths with saffron bands on their foreheads raided the church while chanting Jai Shri Ram.

They damaged the furniture and tore womens clothes. They even did not spare an infant who was pushed to the ground by them, Mr Pannanal informed.

The attackers were heard alleging that religious conversion was taking place in the church, he said.

The assailants fled when the police reached the spot.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the police has taken necessary action and added that the guilty would not be spared.

"We are in touch with the district administration, who has informed that necessary action would be taken and the guilty would be punished," Rijiju said.
Chennai: The recent letter sent by the Tamil Nadu government to the Central government, seeking its views on its decision to release the seven life convicts involved in Rajiv Gandhis assassination, will not help the convicts as of now since the same subject matter is pending before the Supreme Court. Instead, the state government can exercise its sovereign power under Article 161 of the Constitution and release them immediately, said Nalinis lawyer.

When the earlier proposal of the Government of Tamil Nadu, for exercise of power under section 432 CrPC is still pending before a 3-judges bench of the Supreme Court, how can the government address another identical letter to the Central government seeking its views? Why should the government choose to exercise its power of remission only under section 432 CrPC with the concurrence of the central government, and why should it not exercise its sovereign power under Article 161 of the Constitution and release all the seven life convicts immediately? The latest letter of the state government is only pretence unless Article 161 of the Constitution is immediately invoked, said M Radhakrishnan, counsel for Nalini.

It appears that these seven life convicts are treated unreasonably in the matter of their premature release only because one of the victims was the former Prime Minister. Our criminal jurisprudence treats every one equal. Status of a person is of no consequence. Therefore, all persons convicted under section 302 read with 120-B IPC should be treated alike  no matter who the victim was. Even now they can be released, Mr Radhakrishnan added.

The Tamil Nadu government framed a scheme of premature release of life convicts dated November 10, 1994 for the purpose of release of life convicts who had completed 20 years of actual imprisonment on humanitarian grounds under Article 161 of the Constitution. Nalini had sent a representation to the state government on February 22, 2014 requesting it to consider her for premature release under this Scheme. As her representation was pending with the government, she filed a petition in the Madras high court and is still pending.

Radhakrishnan said the Constitution Bench has in its judgment categorically held As has been stated by this court in Maru Ram (case) by the Constitution Bench, that the Constitutional power of remission provided under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution will always remain untouched, in as much as, though the statutory power of remission etc., as compared to Constitution power under Articles 72 and 161 looks similar, they are not the same. Therefore, we confine ourselves to the implication of statutory power of remission etc., provided under the criminal procedure code.. Thus, the Constitution Bench judgment will not in any way affect the sovereign power of the state government under Article 161 of the Constitution. The Tamil Nadu government was at liberty to release the life convicts under Article 161 of the Constitution under the existing schemes of premature release, he added.
New Delhi: In the wake of high alert across India following intelligence inputs of terrorists having sneaked into the country from Pakistan, a multi-city terror alert has been issued to ensure no untoward incident occurs and terror attacks are averted.

Tier-two cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panaji have been alerted about possible attacks. Besides Delhi where the alert was specifically issued on Sunday, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Bengaluru have also been alerted through security agencies.

According to the intelligence by Pakistan, while the terror suspects have entered India through Gujarat, there was no information on their subsequent movement which is why a multi city, pan India, alert was issued.

An advisory has been issued to enhance security at all strategic locations, sensitive industrial sites and religious places, including the Somnath Temple, after intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists entered Gujarat taking the sea route, they added.

The Centre had sent out a precautionary alert, calling for a heightened vigil, particularly in Delhi given that Parliament is in session.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on internal security in Delhi in the wake of terror threat. The Home Minister was briefed that four NSG teams have taken position in different locations in Gujarat and would rush to any place if there is any emergency, official sources said.

Singh also reviewed the steps taken to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in metro cities apprehending threats, they said.

However, so far there is no clue about the suspected terrorists, who were believed to have entered Gujarat, which could be their prime target.

Meanwhile, four National Security Guard teams have been deployed in Gujarat in which three teams have been sent to Ahmedabad and one in Somnath where devotees are gathering for Shivratri celebrations.

"We got the input yesterday after which all the police across Gujarat was alerted. There are continuous combing operations and several check posts have been set up. We are searching for suspects involved in different activities and every possible protective measure is being taken," Gujarat Director General of Police PC Thakur said.

In Gujarat, this is a second major alert about a possible terror strike in the state, which shares land and sea border with Pakistan.

Pakistan's National Security Advisor (NSA) Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about a group of fidayeen from the Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammed cadres on a mission to a major terror strike in the state.
Lucknow: Richa Singh, the first woman president of Allahabad University Students Union (AUSU) should have been celebrating Womens Day this year. Instead, she is apprehensive of her future on the campus.

Today, I can understand what Rohith Vemula went through and why he committed suicide. Suddenly I am being hounded by the university officials who have launched an inquiry against me regarding my admission as a Ph.D scholar. This is what I get for raising my voice against the ABVP, BJP and RSS, she said.

Richa had contested the students union election as an independent and was later supported by the ruling Samajwadi Party. When she won the elections, history was created because she became the first woman president in the history of the university.

However trouble began shortly after her election last year when she did not allow BJP MP Yogi Adityanath to address a meeting on the campus.

In January, this year, when Richa invited senior journalist Siddhartha Vardarajan for a lecture in the University, ABVP activists forced its cancellation on the grounds that the journalist was a controversial man with a communal mindset.

Later, the university set up an inquiry and Richa wrote to HRD Minister Smriti Irani saying that The V-C has constituted an inquiry committee into my admission, two years after my admission for Ph.D. She did not receive any response.
German would be taught for three periods per week in KVs (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: German language will be back in Kendriya Vidyalayas as an additional foreign language from the 2016-17 academic year, on April 1.

This comes six months after a agreement was reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to re-introduce German in KVs.

The KV Sangathan headquarters in New Delhi recently issued a circular stating that German would be taught for three periods every week Earlier, German was listed as a third language along with Sanskrit, for Classes 6 to 8, after Hindi and English as the first and second languages. German was made part of the KV school curriculum by then HRD minister Kapil Sibal in 2011-12.

Stating that a foreign language replacing an Indian language, like a student opting for German over Sanskrit, was a violation of the national policy on education and other rules, HRD minister Smriti Irani decided to drop German in October 2014. The decision was taken in the middle of the academic year, attracting criticism.

A few KV schools could not comply with this because students in Classes 9 and 10 had opted for German as second language, after studying it as a third language from Classes 6 to 8.

The same was communicated to the CBSE, that conducts exams from Class 9. Since the CBSE disallows change of option in the middle of the year, these KV schools were left with no option.

The focus is now on 16-odd KV schools in the state capital region. German is being taught to Class 10 students in KV-1 and KV-2 in Uppal, KV-Tirmulghery and KV-Picket.

Before the HRD ministrys decision, it was taught in a dozen-odd schools. Goethe Zentrum Institute, which promotes German in Hyderabad, will reach out to KV authorities in Hyderabad in the coming days.

Institute director Amita Desai said Goethe Zentrum was extending co-operation to KV schools when German was first introduced in 2011.

We provided them a list of qualified German teachers, who were then roped in to teach the language in KV schools. Now that it is being reintroduced, GZ will engage with the concerned officials to ensure more schools offer German language facility to students, she said.
New Delhi: The nation remained on high alert on Monday as security was at unprecedented levels amid intelligence warnings that 10 Lashkar and Jaish terrorists had entered India via Gujarat. As most of India celebrated Mahashivratri, home minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the internal security situation at a meeting attended by home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, IB director Dineshwar Sharma and other top officials.

While there is a multi-city alert, there is no clue on the terrorists and no indication about their targets. A similar alert has also been sent to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh, home ministry sources said.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend the mega cultural festival organised by the Art of Livings Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the Yamuna riverbed starting Friday, after it led to a massive controversy and environmental concerns were raised in several quarters. The Presidents decision follows many representations by people from different walks of life saying such environmental violations were destroying the riverbed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to attend the event. The National Green Tribunal will resume a crucial hearing on Tuesday on petitions seeking the cancellation of the three-day World Culture Festival. Adding to the controversy, the Army has been asked by the defence ministry to construct a pontoon bridge at the site of what is a privately-run event. Around 100 Army personnel, including engineers, are at work on constructing the bridge.

Amid criticism from some quarters about using the Army for a personal event, sources said the Army may need to build a second bridge at the site. A TV report said Army officers had made it clear that the organisers must accept liability for any accident at the site.

A source said that during defence minister Manohar Parrikars interaction with Army personnel, he was asked whether their personnel should be used to help a private event. The minister was of the view that since permission has been granted, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is fine.

NGT report biased, says sri sri Ravi Shankar

Asked for his ministrys views on the Art of Living issue, minister of state for environment Prakash Javadekar did not comment, saying the matter was sub judice.

While Mr Modi is due to inaugurate event on Friday, the President was scheduled to attend the valedictory function on Sunday. A bench headed by NGT chairman Swat-anter Kumar will hear the matter Tuesday. The DDA denied the suggestion that it had provided 3.5 hectares of land for a parking lot on the banks of the river and said it had only provided over 20 hectares for the recreational programme.

The NGT is also hearing a plea against the foundations plan to release enzymes into 17 drains joining Yamuna to clean the river. Critics cited environmental law violations and reports of farmers not getting adequate compensation from the organisers to seek cancellation of the event.

While the construction of the pontoon bridge by the Army is under way, the matter led to a row as the Army had last taken up such activity during the Commonwealth Games.

The three day event, World Cultural Festival, will be held from March 11 on the Yamuna flood plains to mark 35 years of the Art of Living and over 35 lakh people are expected to attend. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar defended holding of the event, saying he would have got red carpet welcome in any other nation for holding such an event. Comparing the importance of the festival to the Olympics, he also said the NGT report was biased.
Jawarharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar addresses media at the university campus along with other student leaders in New Delhi after he was granted bail.

Hyderabad: Many sedition cases booked since Independence have failed to withstand judicial scrutiny, except in Kedar Nath v State of Bihar where the Supreme Court upheld the charge, with certain caveats in 1962.

In one of the earliest cases, the Punjab-Haryana High Court in Tara Singh Gopi Chand v the State on November 28, 1950, struck down Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which defines sedition, holding it to be unconstitutional as it was contrary to the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a).

Eight years later, in Ram Nandan v State of UP, the Allahabad HC held that Section 124A imposed restrictions on the freedom of speech which was not in the interest of the general public and declared it ultra vires.

Ram Nandan, who was fighting for the cause of farmers and agricultural labour in UP, was charged with sedition for an inflammatory speech on May 29, 1954, accusing the Congress rule of not being able to address extreme poverty in the state and exhorting cultivators to form an army and overthrow the government if needed.

Read: Sloganeering is not sedition

He accused the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru of being a traitor for dividing the country. These decisions were overruled in 1962 by the Supreme Court in Kedar Nath, stating that any law which is enacted in the interest of public order may be saved from the voice of constitutional invalidity.

Case studies since independence on sedition

Kedar Nath was a member of Forward Communists Party of Bihar and was charged with sedition for accusing the Congress government of corruption, and targeting Vinobha Bhaves attempts to redistribute land, at a speech in Barauni in 1953. A five-judge bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice B.P. Sinha upheld Section 124A, stating that it is intra vires.

Justice Sinha, however, laid down certain caveats. He observed, Comments, however strongly worded, expressing disapprobation of the actions of the government, without exciting those feelings which generate the inclination to cause public disorder by acts of violence, would not be penal. In other words, disloyalty to the government established by law is not the same thing as commenting in strong terms upon the measures or acts of the government, or its agencies, so as to ameliorate the condition of the people...

Read: No arrest so far in sedition cases in Telangana

In Balwant Singh and Another v State of Punjab in 1995, the SC held that the casual raising of slogans once or twice by two individuals alone cannot be aimed at exciting or attempting to excite hatred or disaffection towards the government as established by law in India. The duo had raised anti-India slogans on October 31, 1984, the day Indira Gandhi was assassinated.

In Indra Das v State of Assam as recently as 2011, the top court ruled that the provisions of Section 124A have to be read in a manner so as to make them in conformity with the Fundamental Rights.

The word sedition has not been defined in the Constitution. Section 124A which is part of Chapter VI of the Indian Penal Code, deals with offences against the State.

It defines sedition as Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring in hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

Sedition was not a part of the original Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860 by the British government. It was introduced in 1870 to quell the freedom struggle and retain imperial power.

After sedition was introduced as a crime, British courts in India convicted Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant, and Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi after his prosecution in 1922 for sedition, said, Section 124 A is perhaps the prince among the political sections of Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of a citizen.
Hyderabad: Merely raising anti-establishment slogans would not attract the charge of sedition unless the spoken word or action is aimed at inciting a mob or crowd to resort to violence, legal experts said.

After the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, Justice Ajit Kumar Sinha, former judge of the Jharkhand HC, opined that the act of sedition was such that it could lead to disintegration of the country or destabilise an elected government.

He said, If its a simple protest, then he has been wrongly arrested. But, if the protest was with a view to break ing up the country, it would definitely be a crime.

Senior criminal lawyer at the HC Pappu Nageswara Rao said, Raising pro-Pakistan or pro-Afzal Guru slogans is only an act of hate speech and definitely does not attract the charge of sedition. 

He said Pakistan is not a declared enemy. Our countrys relations with Pakistan are not very cordial. If we shout America Zindabad or Russia Zindabad what offence does it attract? Are some citizens not shouting slogans in favour of men who actually took up arms against the government like in the case of Punjab terrorism or Assam and Naga insurgents and Maoists and terming them martyrs?

He said shouting such slogans doubtlessly causes pain and agony to a few citizens, but there was no law to control or curtail such behaviour.

He said,Unless a law is enacted curbing praise of a country declared as an enemy country, unless a law is enacted making it punishable to praise anyone who waged war against India, the victims of such acts will have to bear the brunt of it, if it is so.

Several eminent lawyers including Mr Raju Ramachandran, K.T.S. Tulsi and Vikas Singh of SC, after the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, have said that the police would have to prove that the JNUSU president made an attempt to incite a mob against the government.

A trial court had struck down a sedition case against writers Arundhati Roy, Varavara Rao, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shuddabrata Sengupta and others for their alleged anti-India speech at a seminar in 2010.

The court ruled that there must be an element of incitement to violence.

According to legal experts a case of sedition is made out when anyone gives a call to perform an action that is likely to obstruct or defy the government.
Hyderabad: The Telangana Advocates joint action committee on Monday approached the police against Tollywood actor and TD MLA N. Balakrishna over his remarks on women during a film function last week.

Advocate Ravi Kumar said in the complaint to the Saroornagar police that Balakrishnas comments were provocative and would encourage attacks on women. Being a celebrity, he was making provocative remarks instead of empowering women, the complaint said.

Balakrishna, during the audio launch of the Nara Rohith-starrer Savitri, on March 4 had said, I have always tried to do different roles. If I simply run behind the actresses, my fans will be disappointed. They like it when I either kiss the girl or make her pregnant.

Regarding his co-stars, he had said, I too act naughty with the actresses... I pinch them sometimes. Following an uproar, he apologised for his comments saying that they were not meant to hurt anybody and that he was narrating sequences from his previous movies.

I respect all women, says Balayya

Balakrishna said he treated every woman as a family member, and invoked his father, former chief minister and patriarch N.T. Rama Rao.

I have utmost respect towards women. The comments which I made were not to target anyone. Recollecting my previous movies, I made the comments. I extend my greetings to all women from the Telugu states and across the country on Womens Day, he said in an official release.

 We have forwarded the complaint for legal opinion. We will proceed based on that,, said Saroornagar police inspector S. Lingaiah.
The Royal couple will also go to Agra to see the iconic Taj Mahal. (Photo: Instagram)

Guwahati: Duke of Cambridge Prince William and his wife Princess Kate Middleton will pay a two-day visit to Assam starting from April 12.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the state's Chief Secretary to take all steps so that the Britain's popular Royal couple go back with fond memories of the state and its rhino habitat Kaziranga National Park (KNP), a government release stated on Monday.

The Chief Minister also wished that the state's historical connection with the British people through its oil and tea industry be showcased during the couple's visit to KNP.

Gogoi noted that it was former Viceroy of India Lord Curzon who had declared the area which the present Kaziranga National Park occupied as a reserved forest to protect its treasure of flora and fauna.

The royal couple had announced that they would be visiting Agra in India and will go see the iconic Taj Mahal.
Hyderabad: Consigning its founder Anji Reddys legacy to history, Dr Reddys Laboratories (DRL) appears to have changed its drug research policy even as it discarded the companys decades old branding in 2015.

At DRL, our innovation in the early days was very science focused. That led to people living in their own world. Scientists often went on without understanding the realities of competition or who they were innovating for. It has to be patient focused. The patient does not care how your pill is developed. Does it work? What does it do? We have now turned the model around, Mr G.V. Prasad, the CEO and co-chairman of the company, said in an interview to McKinsey.

That is one lesson in innovation. In my view, scientists do not necessarily make great business leaders. We need a certain kind of phenotype for business leaders, Mr Prasad explained.

This is the strong-ever disapproval of DRLs innovation policy under Anji Reddy in the early days. Under him, DRL had spent around Rs 100 crore for discovering a drug since 1993.

In one of his interviews, the DRL founder had said that drug discovery was his passion and added that nothing else gave him a kick other than this. In his interview to Deccan Chronicle in 2010, Anji Reddy had said that he was busier in drug discovery than his son Satish Reddy  the current chairman  was in managing the affairs of the company.

Mr Prasad also appears to have candidly admitted mistakes of the younger generation. Being entrepreneurs, we tend to take excessive risks on businesses. I think some restraint is required for highly entrepreneurial people like me. I have learned that we need to be careful about not seeing just the opportunity but also the downsides, he explained, apparently referring to DRLs Betapharms acquisition. DRL had acquired Germany-based Betapharm for $560 million. But due to regulatory changes, the company became white elephant for DRL.
PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss at the launch of his books in the city on Sunday. Executive Editor of Deccan Chronicle R. Bhagwan Singh (second from left) is also seen. (Photo: DC)

Chennai: The PMK has been ushering in "new politics" and "new hope" while focusing on social democracy, equality with justice and solidarity and yet his party is being seen as a caste outfit, PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss lamented.

I always follow the three Cs  creative, critical and constructive politics  and never express unwarranted criticism targeting anyone, yet those who don't appreciate our good work brand us as a caste based party, he said while speaking at the launch of his books - En Kadan Pani Seivathe and En Kural in the city on Sunday. Priced Rs 900, the books are mostly a compilation of his media statements and his reactions on various issues over the years.

Stating that he was "not a writer but a fighter for solidarity and social equality" the PMK senior said he firmly believed that liquor and corruption were the major enemies of society. Despite not being in power, his party brought out shadow budget for agriculture and even unveiled Vision 2020 in 2007 itself, as a fitting reply to those accusing the PMK of being casteist and sectarian, he said and added that his party got a raw deal from the media.

Claiming that his father and PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss is the most misunderstood person in Tamil Nadu Dr Anbumani, said Dr Ramadoss has a natural flair to ensure transformation and in the process offered remedies to various problems afflicting the society. It was under his guidance that legislation was brought against public smoking and use of gukta when I served as Union minister, he added.

Releasing the books, N. Ram, Kasturi & Sons Ltd, called Dr Ramadoss as "a man of ideas" who committed himself to bring about social justice and engineer positive change, while not himself desiring for position in government.

Receiving a copy of the book, R. Bhagwan Singh, Executive Editor, Deccan Chronicle, complimented Dr Ramadoss for being a consistent campaigner against social evils such as liquor consumption and corruption.

He belongs to the rare breed of politicians who fought for principles without being opportunistic or targeting rival politicians just for the sake of opposing them, he said.

Making a distinction between ideological politics and electoral politics, noted writer and journalist Malan said it is necessary to gain power to deliver on ideology for the good of the people. PMK president G.K. Mani and Tiruppur Krishnan, editor Amudha Surabhi, also spoke.
Vrindavan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is God's gift to India, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday.

He also attacked the Congress, saying the party of Mahatma Gandhi should be "embarrassed" at its vice president Rahul Gandhi's stand on the JNU row. In his address to a convention of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, BJP's youth wing, where leader after leader showered praise on Modi and attacked Congress, Chouhan said the Prime Minister had become the "most popular leader in the world" and was working to make India a strong and prosperous country. "He is a man of ideas and has the strong will to execute them. Wherever in the world he goes, people chant Modi! Modi! He is the God's divine gift to India. He will make India 'vishwa guru' by 2022," he said amid cheers from the audience.

Hitting out at the opposition party over the JNU row, he said, "Congress, the party of Mahatma Gandhi, should be embarrassed... Rahul Gandhi should be ashamed." It was, however, his state's development under him that was the focus of Chouhan's speech as he reeled out a number of welfare schemes he had launched for weaker sections and the poor. Attacking Congress, Chouhan said it had no right to talk about the poor as it "sucked their blood" when in power and claimed BJP was the most pro-poor party.

Speaking about the his government's successes, the third-term Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh said, the state has been clocking over 10 per cent growth for the last eight years and 20 per cent of agricultural growth for over four years. He said the money transfer scheme for newly-born baby girls had resulted in improved sex ratio. "I had decided that daughters should become a boon not curse for their families." Against the 50 per cent reservation for women, they were elected to 56 per cent of seats in local bodies, he said.

Maintaining that he believed in social justice through distributing wealth among those with "empty hands", he said if there is one party for the poor, it is BJP. Union ministers Sanjeev Balyan and Dharmendra Pradhan also spoke earlier in the day.

Balyan, among the younger names in the government and party's Jat face in Uttar Pradesh, said youth should be given more responsibilities in the UP Assembly poll scheduled for early next year as only they can take on the current state government of "thieves".
New Delhi: Talk of Priyanka Gandhi to be the Congress face in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections has begun in the party circles with insiders feeling that this could make the Congress relevant against the BSP, Samajwadi Party and the BJP.

Currently, we are placed in the fourth position and thus not seen even as a potential player. Prashant Kishor, the one-time strategist for Narendra Modi, cannot revive the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, viewed a section of the Congress.

While the Congress got two Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, it can play neither a caste (dalit, OBC or even upper castes) nor the religion (Hindu) card before these three rival parties.

What will Prashant Kishor do in Uttar Pradesh without a face or a caste support and the strong organisational structure. He delivered in the Bihar Assembly polls because Nitish Kumar was the chief minister and a face of the JD(U)-RJD combine whose Muslim-Yadav combination worked well with the developmental works of Nitish Kumar, they pointed out.

Knowing well that the Congress brand has not been working in Uttar Pradesh, a section of the party leaders is even suggesting that the Congress should ally with the Mayawati-led party.

But the real issue is why the Congress high command is not utilising the charisma of Priyanka Gandhi for the partys revival. If Rahul Gandhi is going to succeed mother Sonia Gandhi, then what would be the role of Priyanka? Will she continue to work behind the scene? they asked.

Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP, JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are changing the grammar of contemporary politics because of their issue-based and value-based politics, they feel.

If the BJP will go aggressively on the issue of nationalism which will work as hard Hindutva at the ground level in Uttar Pradesh, the BSPs priority is to retain its hold on dalit votes and thus attract minorities to defeat the BJP and the Samajwadi Party could face anti-incumbency in the coming elections. While the SP, BSP have chief ministerial candidates  Akhilesh Yadav (incumbent CM) and Ms Mayawati  the BJP could project a hardliner.
Bengaluru: With the ruling Congress party confident of wresting the Chairman and Deputy Chairman posts in the Legislative Council from the Opposition, party veterans in the Upper House are rushing to claim the prestigious posts.

The Congress will become the biggest party in the Upper House by June this year once the nomination of members is done.

This will give the party the numbers to secure these posts, now held by Mr D.H. Shankaramurthy of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Mr Marithibbe Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular).

The Congress will, however, need the help of Independents and rebel Janata Dal (Secular) members to win these posts.

Senior Congress members Veeranna Mattikatti, Motamma and Prathapchandra Shetty are the prominent contenders for the chairpersons post. Mr Mattikatti is the frontrunner and is already in touch with Independent members in the Council, said sources.

Of the five Independent members in the Council, three have already supported the ruling party. They are M.D. Laxminarayana, B.S. Suresh and Vivekrao Patil. The party is also hoping to get the support of Bharatiya Janata Party rebel, Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal.

The chances of Mr Mattikatti becoming the Council chairman are pretty high as he is unlikely to make it to the state Cabinet if a reshuffle or expansion is carried out. He also has the advantage of serving as Council chairman in the past.

A senior Congress member in the legislative Council told this newspaper that Mr Mattikatti has an edge as he is the seniormost member and has previous experience of handling the post.

Mr Prathapchandra Shetty told this newspaper that he will not lobbying for the chairmans post. If the party offers it to me, I will accept, I will not lobby for it. Since Mr Mattikatti is a senior member, he is the natural choice, he said.

The other contender, Ms Motamma, could pose a strong challenge to Mr Mattikatti after failing to make it to the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. When contacted, Ms Motamma said, It is left for the party to decide. I do want to become the chairperson but it is upto the party to consider my candidature.
It allows robots to change their color, and it also allows displays to change their shape

Washington: A health care robot that displays a patient's temperature and pulse and even reacts to a patient's mood may soon become a reality as a team of researchers has come up with electro-luminescent "skin" that stretches to more than six times its original size while still emitting light.

The discovery could lead to significant advances in health care, transportation, electronic communication and other areas.

Cornell University's Rob Shepherd said that this material can stretch with the body of a soft robot, noting that the material has two key properties: "It allows robots to change their color, and it also allows displays to change their shape."

This hyper-elastic light-emitting capacitor (HLEC) can endure more than twice the strain of previously tested stretchable displays. It consists of layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes sandwiching an insulating elastomer sheet. The elastomer changes luminance and capacitance (the ability to store an electrical charge) when stretched, rolled and otherwise deformed.

"We can take these pixels that change color and put them on these robots, and now we have the ability to change their color," Shepherd said. "Why is that important? For one thing, when robots become more and more a part of our lives, the ability for them to have emotional connection with us will be important. So to be able to change their color in response to mood or the tone of the room we believe is going to be important for human-robot interactions."

In addition to its ability to emit light under a strain of greater than 480 percent its original size, the group's HLEC was shown to be capable of being integrated into a soft robotic system. Three six-layer HLEC panels were bound together to form a crawling soft robot, with the top four layers making up the light-up skin and the bottom two the pneumatic actuators.

The chambers were alternately inflated and deflated, with the resulting curvature creating an undulating, "walking" motion.

The study appears online in the journal Science.

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Beijing: The Chinese government will launch a campaign to address the emerging practice of sharing and hosting pornography through cloud storage services. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publication said website administrators, police, as well as industrial and publication authorities will tighten supervision of cloud storage enterprises, and hold them accountable for the security of their services.

The office released details on six cases which involved individuals profiting from the sale of account names and passwords to cloud storage hosting pornography. In one case, a court in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, sentenced one Liu Hangjie to three years plus six months in prison for selling access to pornography hosted on a cloud storage site.

Liu was selling individual accounts that had access to over 10,000 pornographic video clips. Cloud storage services used by criminals include those run by Internet security firm, Qihoo 360, and online video website LeTV, the Xinhua report said.

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The hackers had sent this email to the Ambassador posing as Indian Defence Minister. (Representational image))

Mumbai: A recent report by an US-based security solutions firm has indicated that a breed of malware has incorporated the same code used Mars Rovers Exploration Robot to spy on an Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan.

According to the threat intelligence team of Palo Alto Networkswhich monitors cyber-traffic and potential attackspointed out that the attack was aimed at spying and retrieving sensitive documents, emails, audio clips, still pictures, and video footage.

Over the past few years, India has been a key nation in funding Afghanistans economic and infrastructure development, including power plants, transportation systems and even a new Parliament Complex for the Afghan Government.

Taking queues from these activities, it is likely that may be numerous groups and nations who are keen of spying on key individuals who officially represent India in Afghanistan.

Vicky Ray and Kaoru Hayashi, senior analysts from the firms Unit 42 team, explained that they managed to identify the attack carried out on Christmas Eve last year.

The duo, in a blog post, pointed out that the Kabul embassy was the object of a targeted attack in the form of an e-mail addressed personally to the Indian ambassador (at the time, Amar Sinha).

The e-mail was a spoof, cleverly crafted to look like a communication from Defence Minister, Manohar Parikkar, congratulating the ambassador for his ' commendable contribution' and lauding his 'individual dedication, knowledge and exemplary efforts for a ' project of the highest national interest'.

The e-mail sent by unknown attackers to the Indian Ambassador. (Source: PaloAlto Networks)

Opening the email revealed a 6MB word attachment and if the recipient opened this attachment, in a vulnerable version of Word, it would have breached the recipient computer's security and installed a downloader software in itwhat is called a 'Trojan', which is what its name saysa Trojan Horse with malicious software hidden inside.

In a telephonic conversation with IndiaTechOnline, Ray said that many antivirus programmes might failed to detect the malware as because it avoided sending out the "signature" that net security tools used to recognize malicious content. Like a terrorist disassembling a weapon and transporting it in pieces to avoid detection, the unknown authors, sent the malware in innocuous chunks, he added.

Once inside the computer, the Trojan downloader can download executable files with multiple plug-ins, many of them using standard Open Source tools.

However, each innocent looking executable file with multiple plug-ins search for files on any attached USB device or any removable drives; another to log key strokes, a third to steal files on the hard disk.

The last plug-in was designed to search for specific types of filesPDFs, Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, Excel spreadsheetsand copy them every 60 minutes.

Another thread of the malware executed backdoor commandssnapping photos using the computer's web cam, recording audio from audio port, taking screen grabs.

Ray and Hayashi found that nameless cyber criminals used tools like OpenCV and OpenAl. The former is a software library that has been used by security systems, driver-less cars, and even the Mars Rover exploration robot for transmitting images, and the later is a cross-platform audio API.

The unknown hackers used the same code for their spying venture. In a back-handed complement, the two analysts have dubbed the Kabul malware "Rover".

Even though the duo tracked the minutest of details, they still do not have any knowledge or leads regarding the hackers, or the country from where the attack was conducted.

Based on their monitoring studies they have created a "Rover Tag" to help customers of Palo Alto Networks' cyber security solutions, identify, and neutralize this specific threat.

(Source: IndiaTechOnline)

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Now, the first research to try and define current demand for Internet domain names suggests that the drying up of intuitive and familiar word combinations has seen domain registration drop far below the expected appetite, given the extent to which we now live online, with new entrepreneurs struggling to find their slice of virtual space.

New research suggests that a lack of remaining domain names with easy to remember  and consequently valuable  word combinations is restricting Internet growth with an untapped demand of as much as 25% of all current domains being held back.

Now, the first research to try and define current demand for Internet domain names suggests that the drying up of intuitive and familiar word combinations has seen domain registration drop far below the expected appetite, given the extent to which we now live online, with new entrepreneurs struggling to find their slice of virtual space.

In fact the study estimates that the lack of available high quality domains featuring popular names, locations and things could be stifling as much as a further 25% of the total current registered domains. With the total standing at around 294 million as of summer 2015, this could mean over 73m potential domains stymied due to an inability to register relevant word combinations likely to drive traffic for personal or professional purposes.

However, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has begun to roll out the option to issue brand new domains for almost any word, whether its dot-hotel, dot-books or dot-sex dubbed the not-coms  the research suggests there is substantial untapped demand that could fuel additional growth in the domain registrations.

Dr Thies Lindenthal from the University of Cambridge, who conducted the study, says that -- while the domain name market may be new  the economics is not. Cyberspace is no different from traditional cities, at least in economic terms. In a basic city model, you have a business district to which all residents commute, and property value is determined by proximity to that hub, said Lindenthal.

Its similar in cyberspace. The commute to and consequent value of virtual locations depend on linguistic attributes: familiarity, and importantly length. A virtual commute is about the ease with which a domain name is remembered and the time it takes to type.

The snappier and more recognisable a domain, the more it is going to be worth. What I find fascinating is that the observed transaction prices of domain names reveal a free market valuation of linguistic characteristics and language itself, he said.

From 2007 onwards, annual additions to the domain stock began to lag, while between 2006 and 2012 re-sale prices of domain names already registered rose 63%  indicating a demand for virtual locations outpacing the supply of available attractive names, with competition driving up prices.

Recently, ICANN began the release of 1,400 new top-level domains, the not-coms, to expand current extensions such as dot-com, dot-org etc, with the aim of expanding the domain supply.

Google were one of the first to use a 'not-com' to get around the domain name shortage.

Serious money is currently being invested in not-coms. With initial application fees around the $185k mark, Lindenthal says it could be as much as $2m before you have the necessary infrastructure to secure and manage your new top level domain, but, once owned, you are able to set prices for anyone who wants to acquire virtual real estate under that domain.

By 2013, as much as $350m had already been put down in application fees alone, and further billions must have been invested. Clearly, corporations and entrepreneurs have trust in the new domains being able to serve a previously unmet demand, and from this research it appears some of them may be right, said Lindenthal.

For the study, published today in the Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics, Lindenthal set out to get a rough idea of the demand for name registration not served by current top-level domains.

Looking at just dot-coms, he compared existing registrations with census data for popular family names in the US. You have to assume someone called Miller is as likely to register a domain with their name in it as someone called Smith, for example. So, roughly speaking, if there are twice as many Millers, you would expect to see twice as many domains with that name in it. Lindenthal found that the more prevalent the family name, the lower the number of domains featuring that name per head of population. Moreover, a one per cent increase in a surname pushes up domains featuring that name by only 0.74% suggesting a substantial gap between likely demand and current domain registration.

Lindenthal also explored domain registration featuring city names compared to size of the population, and found a similar gap between expected demand and current domains.

Using statistical modelling analysis, he concludes that based on the available data, an estimate for domain name demand not met by available word combinations is as much as 25% of all currently registered Internet domains.

The shorter the better holds true for emerging 'not-coms', says Lindenthal. Shorter names are more valuable and lead to greater registrations.

However, while the new not-com boom will open up huge new areas of the Internet, Lindenthal says that the overarching constraints will kick in again further down the line.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

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All of you are aware that the alleged Freedom 251 smartphone is available for an impossible price of just Rs 251. Though too good to be true, the company still stands to claim that they will be returning all the money they collected on booking day and will deliver every phone to the customers that have registered for a phone each. The company also claimed that they will be making Rs 31 profit per handset sold.

Well, as far as the reality on the said smartphones being manufactured and delivered to the customers is concerned, we have no clue. But what we gathered is they have already started making a good amount of money anyways. That too, by not even selling or shipping a single smartphone till date.

If you happen to head to the Freedom 251 website, you will be greeted by numerous advertisements from Google and Go2Cloud.org. Each time a visitor visits the website, the company makes money via advertisements flashed on the page. The money comes in via page views and click-through. This means, they make money even when you look at the advertisement, and will make even more money if you happen to click on any of them.

With millions of people who visited their website during booking and registrations, customers who already registered and paid for the cheap smartphones are curious to see if the website still exists and if there is any more information about the smartphone delivery or booking. Each time he visits the website, he is indirectly helping Ringing Bells make a good amount of money from the advertisements shown on the website.

Dont miss: FAKE IN INDIA: Top memes and jokes from the Freedom 251 scam

The money may not be a very huge amount, but the number of curious people heading back to the website for investigation and further information is helping the company make a substantial amount of money through ads.

On the social media front, they have managed to make a whopping 19,500 followers on Twitter (which has just 164 tweets till date), 21,230+ subscribers to their YouTube page (which has absolutely no videos there) and 250,880+ likes to their Facebook page (which is also promoting advertisements). This all was obtained within a few days of announcing the Rs 251 smartphone.

So whether the company sells its smartphones or not, their website is already making enough free money through advertisements. Thanks to you now, the company is getting richer by simply floating a non-existing smartphone.

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Hundreds of people, mostly from Afghanistan, had been sleeping rough at Victoria Square after Austria and Balkans countries further north imposed border restrictions and closures. (Photo: AP)

Brussels: European Union leaders on Monday pressed Turkey to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe as thousands of desperate people sat stranded in Greece.

Turkey - a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria - is an indispensable EU partner in trying to dissuade people fleeing conflict or poverty from taking to makeshift boats and making the short but often-dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea.

"To avoid that refugees arrive in Greece we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande said as he arrived for the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by The Associated Press, the leaders said they will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast-track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection."

Macedonia, on Greece's northern border, has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans, allowing just a trickle of people through. The move - backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary - has ratcheted up pressure on Greece from the other side as it simply doesn't have enough shelter for them.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

Before the summit, an estimated 13,000-14,000 people waited at Greece's border with Macedonia hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

"Whatever it takes. We will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed," said Lasgeen Hassan, who, with the rest of his Kurdish Syrian family, wants to reunite with relatives in Germany.

Greece's prime minister, arriving for early talks with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, urged his EU partners to put long-agreed and long-delayed migrant plans into action.

"Rules are for all, and everybody has to implement our common decisions," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters. "If there are agreements that are not implemented, there are no agreements at all."

EU leaders agreed in September to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy over two years. As of March 3, fewer than 700 people had been relocated to other European countries.

Davutoglu said he hopes the summit would mark a turning point in EU-Turkey ties. He said the meeting is as focused on Turkey's future EU membership as on the refugee emergency.

"Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations."

The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea. It has offered Turkey 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in refugee aid, fast-track EU membership and an easing of visa rules to win its support.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Turkey will need extra help if more migrants are sent back.

"We will need to bring relief to Turkey, and that means you have to be willing to take people in from Turkey" who are the most likely to qualify for asylum, he said.

Human rights group Amnesty International hit out at the leaders for using Turkey as a buffer to stop migrants, calling the move "a dangerous and deliberate ploy to shirk their responsibilities to people fleeing war and persecution."

"Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency," said the group's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, Gauri van Gulik.

Ankara did little to allay concern about its rights record before the summit, when police on Friday stormed the headquarters of the Zaman opposition newspaper to enforce a court decision to place it and its sister outlets under the management of trustees. The step sparked two days of protests which police dispersed using tear gas and water cannons.

"Cooperation with Turkey does not mean that we have to accept anything," Hollande said. "The press must be free everywhere, including in Turkey."

Inside EU headquarters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lobbied her partners to ensure that no mention was made of officially closing the Balkan migrant route in the final summit statement. But she faced strong opposition from Austria and several Eastern European nations.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Feymann said: "I'm all for having clearer language, for us all to say: 'We will close all routes, the Balkan route as well.' The traffickers should be given no chance."

But Merkel insisted that the answer lies not in "closing something, but about finding a sustainable solution together with Turkey." In Athens, police patrolled a central city square to prevent migrants setting up camp after the site was cleared over the weekend.

Hundreds of people, mostly from Afghanistan, had been sleeping rough at Victoria Square after Austria and Balkans countries further north imposed border restrictions and closures.

About 34,000 migrants are currently stranded in Greece. According to the United Nations refugee agency, 2,480 people arrived on Sunday.
Police managed to stop the pilot at Fiumicino airport in Rome from taking controls of the flight just minutes before take-off. (Representational Image)

Berlin: An Italian pilot flying a Japan-bound flight allegedly threatened to crash the plane with 200 passengers on board if his wife left him, according to a media report on Monday.

The unnamed pilot, in his 40s, sent a text to his wife saying he would kill himself along with the 200 passengers on his Rome-Japan flight after she apparently threatened to leave, The Times reported on the incident that occurred in January last year.

Police managed to stop the pilot at Fiumicino airport in Rome from taking controls of the flight just minutes before take-off. His wife had alerted authorities after he sent her a text message threatening to commit suicide and kill everyone on board the long-haul flight from Rome, the report said.

Another pilot took his place and passengers were not told about the incident that has been kept secret until now, the report said.

The Italian pilot sent the text message after his wife announced she was leaving him, and referred to the flight he was due to take that night.

The pilot had previously been reported to police by his wife for mistreatment. He remains suspended and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, according to reports.

This incident happened two months before German pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed his Germanwings A320 in the Alps, killing 149 people.
We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world, says Biden. (Photo: AP)

Al-Dhafra Air Base, UAE: US Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a Middle East tour on Monday, vowing that the United States and its allies would "squeeze the heart" and destroy the Islamic State group.

Biden spoke before several hundred US airmen as drones rolled the down the runway at the Al-Dhafra Air Base, a major desert outpost near the United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi.

The Emirates is one of the most important US military and political allies in the Persian Gulf. It is also a major commercial hub that includes the business-friendly port city of Dubai.

"We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world," Biden said, using an Arabic acronym for IS, a militant group he dismissed as "criminals and cowards."

The base hosts American and other aircraft taking part in operations against the IS group in Iraq and Syria, a point Biden noted as he rallied the assembled troops.

"You control the skies over Iraq and Syria and as a matter of fact, you control the skies over the whole damn world," Biden said, drawing cheers.

The Emirates is the first stop on a regional tour that will also take in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His wife, Jill, is accompanying him.

The trip will include talks on US economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said.

Earlier in the day, Biden visited Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, pausing outside to remove his black dress shoes in keeping with Islamic custom.

He examined a wall in the ornate mosque bearing the 99 names of God written in Arabic before stepping outside to wave at visiting tourists kept a short distance away.

Accompanying Biden on the mosque tour was its director-general, Yousif Abdallah Alobaidli, and Minister of State Reem al-Hashimi.

Biden later visited Masdar City, a government-backed clean energy campus on the capital's outskirts, taking a few moments to talk to Shefaa Mansour, a student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studying at the affiliated Masdar Institute.

He later looked at a model of a desalination plant, something crucial to the Emirates, which experts warn may run out of groundwater in the next 15 years.

Emirati Minister of State Sultan al-Jaber handed him a bottle of water made at the plant. The vice president looked at it, then smiled.

"Now make sure I'm still standing," he said. "Watch what happens when I take the first sip. I'm more energized." Biden then paused for a moment and added: "Do you need a partner? I'm out of a job soon."

The seven-state Emirates federation, which includes the Gulf commercial center of Dubai, is one of the largest oil producers in OPEC.
Nearly 692 miners managed to escape but 13 got trapped and 12 of whom later died. (Photo: Google Maps)

Beijing: At least 12 people have been killed when a gas outburst occurred at a coal mine in northeast China's Jilin Province, state media reported on Monday.

The accident took place in Baishan city's Songshu Mine yesterday when over 700 miners were underground. Nearly 692 miners managed to escape but 13 got trapped and 12 of whom later died. One person was injured who was rushed to a nearby hospital where his condition was said to be stable, rescuers said.

A total of 316 rescuers, aided with 46 medical workers, carried out the rescue operation which ended this morning, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Songshu Mine is owned by Tonghua Mining Industry Company Limited.
Peshawar: A suicide bomber killed 17 people and injured 23 in northwest Pakistan Monday, in an attack which the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of an Islamist assassin last week.

The bomber attacked as lawyers and litigants were arriving at a court complex during the morning rush hour in the town of Shabqadar.

Senior police official Fayaz Khan said 17 people had been killed and 23 wounded after the bomber blew himself up inside the complex, with the toll confirmed by a local administration official.

Sohail Khalid, district police chief in Charsadda district where Shabqadar is located, confirmed the suicide attack and said two of the dead were policemen.

"We are investigating the nature of the blast. According to initial reports, a suicide bomber entered the complex and a policeman on duty tried to stop him but he blew himself up," Khalid said.

The Pakistani Taliban's Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it avenged the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, feted as a hero by Islamists after he gunned down the liberal governor of Punjab in 2011 over a call to reform the country's blasphemy law.

Qadri was hanged last Monday, with his funeral bringing up to 100,000 people on to the streets. The Taliban also said Monday's blast targeted the court complex as Pakistan's judiciary are strengthening "un-Islamic laws", Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the group said.

Police official Khan said a woman was among the dead, and two children were among the injured. Local TV channels showed footage of victims being rushed to hospitals soon after the blast.

Shabqadar is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven semi-autonomous regions bordering Afghanistan where militants from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had established bases in the past.

Islamabad launched a military offensive in the tribal areas in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan.

However, insurgents associated with Pakistan's homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan occasionally carry out attacks from bases in Afghanistan. Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Charsadda, where extremists attacked a university on January 20 in a rampage that left 21 dead.
lol, not at all. Was that your answer to lying republicans? Maybe you have anger issues and are seeking someone to tell all of your pent up frustrations to. Were you breast or bottle fed, had a twin sibling, or maybe it was the monsters that hid in your closet waiting on you to fall asleep each night.
Here is one result of killing unions in America.1.Although everyone is familiar with the stories of underpaid workers who struggle to make a living throughout the country (many of which involve immigrants), the past several years have seen the story take an interesting turn. More and more underpaid workers, irrespective of legal status, are beginning to file lawsuits against their employers alleging breaches of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Between 2000 and 2006,ballooning from 1,854 to 4,389.If the lawsuits are found in favor of the plaintiffs, the underpaid workers hope to recoup thousands of dollars in back pay from employers who did not pay either minimum wage or overtime. The increase has been broad and far-reaching; the claims do not cover one specific field but encompass various industries and numerous types of workers. However, the common thread between them, as stated previously, is their immigrant status. Underpaid Worker Lawsuits Increase | Gcconsulting.com 2.According to survey results, 48 percent believe the economy is the main driver behind employee lawsuits, a 25 percent increase over 2013. More than 40 percent state that their organization has seen employee lawsuits or class actions last year involving discrimination and harassment the most, while 36 percent pointed to wrongful-termination claims or wage and hour lawsuits.3."There were no sick days, vacation days, health insurance benefits," she said in Spanish, using a translator. "Sometimes, I had to clock out and go back in to finish my 14 suites per shift."4.The job market is filled with people telling half-truths about themselves in an attempt to land their next job. Theyre telling white lies, omitting unflattering facts about their pasts and laying down some really big whoppers as well. In fact, Krolls Nashville-based Background Screening division finds a discrepancy on about 48 percent of all job applications it reviews.The idea that Unions have seen their time is ********. All of these problems could have been taken care of in a Union contract during negotiations. Instead the courts are clogged in non-union cases of corporate abuse, because they can, because they do. And they are increasing because a single worker is weak, unorganzed, and powerless against a corporation.Think about the power a corporation has against workers and taxpayers. You are being taxed to pay the wages and benefits of workers of corporations. YOU as a taxpayer are not receiving any of the profits, those go to nonproductive stockholders who offshore their profits to prevent them being used in the American economic system for business start-ups, educational loans, house loans, car loans etc., and why should they care? Obviously they don't.
Teacher, student

killed in crash

SALEM  Grief counselors will be on hand Monday at Silverton High School and Bethany Charter School to help students and faculty in the wake of a fatal car crash near Molalla.

The Statesman Journal reports that Douglas Bonham, a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Bethany, and Matthew Albrecht, a junior at Silverton High School, were killed in the single-vehicle crash.

The Clackamas County Sheriffs Office says deputies were called just after 7 p.m. on Friday to a crash involving a Honda Accord. Officials arrived at the scene and found both occupants of the vehicle dead.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. Officials dont believe alcohol was a factor.

Silver Falls School District Superintendent Andy Bellando says Bonham was a mentor to Albrecht for years. Bellando says he didnt know where they were headed on Friday night.

Woman shot during

altercation at pub

BEND  A 30-year-old man is suspected of bringing a gun to a pub about an hour north of Bend where shots were fired and a woman was struck by bullets.

The Bulletin reports bail was set at $60,000 for Eric Robert Foreman, who is facing several charges including third-degree assault and pointing a firearm at another person.

The Madras Police Department released a statement saying Foreman got into a fight and left the Madras Pub & Deli before returning early Saturday with a gun.

Police say people took Foreman to the ground after he showed the gun. A 38-year-old Madras woman was shot twice as people tried to disarm the suspect.

Her injuries were not life threatening and she was released from the hospital the same day.

Coast Guard rescues

3 surfers in danger

NORTH BEND  A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued three surfers in distress near Devils Punchbowl State Park.

Lincoln County 911 dispatchers received a call at 1:40 p.m. Saturday reporting that a surfer was in trouble.

Dolphin helicopter co-pilot Lt. Matthew Poore says two other surfers tried to reach that surfer but they exhausted themselves.

Poore says when the Coast Guard arrived, they picked up two surfers near the rocks and brought them to safety. They returned to find a third surfer who was unable to get himself away from the rock so they hoisted him out of the water.

Since January, the Coast Guard has responded to cases involving six people at Devils Punchbowl. Theyre warning that this years weather has been intense, especially at this location.

All three men were checked by local EMS and were released in good condition.
LEBANON  Sound Hearing Services moved to Lebanon in November, and owners Gary and Jody Ferguson said they are excited about the switch, partly because they are close to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and other medical offices.

This is nice. Its secure. Its friendly. Its a big improvement, Gary Ferguson said.

Were in this complex that keeps growing and growing, where people come and see their doctors, he added.

The new office also is disabled accessible, which can be quite important when your clientele tends to run a bit older.

Sound Hearing Services new space is at 625 N. Fifth St., inside a branch office of the Central Willamette Community Credit Union.

Gary Ferguson stressed that the business is mobile, as he does house calls for customers, including clients in the Albany area, so he wont be in office all the time. Customers wanting to stop by the office should make an appointment by calling 541-791-7997.

Sound Hearing Services was on Lyon Street in downtown Albany, but was forced to move to make way for the new Albany fire station that will soon be constructed.

Moving to Lebanon was advantageous for the Fergusons because they recently bought a house there, and they also attend Community Bible Church on Stoltz Hill Road.

And with all of the new development, it seemed like the move would be good for business, as well, Jody Ferguson said. This town is booming, she added.

Gary Ferguson said that his shop will continue to focus on customer service, and making sure clients get the hearing aids they need  and dont overspend on a pricey product that wont help them.

I just want to arm people with knowledge so they can make a good choice, he added. And sometimes that means customers should keep the hearing aids they currently have and make minor adjustments to them.

Those who purchase hearing aids from Sound Hearing Services get a service package that includes cleanings, unlimited follow-ups and adjustments.

Gary Ferguson has hearing issues himself, and said he often is the guinea pig for new technology.

I know what really good hearing aids sound like, he said.

Sound Hearing Services is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment.

For more information on Sound Hearing Services, or to make an appointment, call 541-791-7997, go to www.soundhearingservices.com or email gary@soundhearingservices.com.
We were believers from the start in the idea that Oregons Legislature should meet every year, and we were particularly enamored with the elegant compromise that eventually carried the day with the states voters.

Under the terms of the compromise that paved the way for annual sessions, the Legislature meets for 160 calendar days in odd-numbered years and then for shorter 35-day sessions in even-numbered years, such as the session that adjourned last week. These shorter sessions were billed mostly as gatherings to adjust the states budget and to tie up unexpected loose ends from the longer sessions.

The reason why Oregon voters didnt opt for lengthy sessions each year is pretty simple: We tend to agree with that famous quotation from Gideon J. Tucker, a newspaper editor and politician from New York, who wrote in 1866 that No mans life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session. (The quotation  and this is true of so many other notable quotes often is attributed to Mark Twain, as if Twain needs any additional polish on his resume.)

Voters also understood, however, that governing Oregon, a state of 4 million people, has become a matter of such complexity that it requires annual legislative oversight. Thats why the 2010 constitutional amendment clearing the way for annual sessions passed by a 2-to-1 margin.

However, the session that just wrapped up last week sorely tested our faith in the idea of annual sessions. One of the big problems with the shorter session is that 35 days is just not enough time for big policy measures to be adequately vetted  and for the public to have a meaningful chance to participate in legislative decisions. But this session saw at least two major policy measures pass  the increase in the states minimum wage and a bill that will make Oregon the first state to phase out coal from its energy supply. Its worth noting that both of those measures were initially hammered out in closed-door meetings to which the public was not invited. (To be fair, though, both measures were altered significantly during the course of the session.)

Regardless of what you think of those measures, you cannot argue that the public had any meaningful opportunity to weigh in; in fact, many legislators admitted that they didnt completely understand the coal bill.

The argument we heard from legislators about why they needed to attack those big measures in the short session  that the Legislature needed to act to pre-empt ballot measures on those issues  seemed increasingly thin as the session wore on. Minimum-wage foes, for example, thought they would be able to defeat a ballot measure, and it would have made for an interesting campaign.

But after a weekend of reflection, were not prepared to throw in the towel on annual sessions, and heres the primary reason why: Annual sessions allow the legislative branch a greater measure of oversight over the states executive branch. And at a time when at least two vital state departments  Human Services and Environmental Quality  are trying to answer serious questions about their performance in recent years, the need for that legislative oversight seems greater than ever.

None of which is to suggest that legislative leaders shouldnt do a better job at setting and enforcing boundaries during the short sessions. But entirely eliminating the shorter sessions would be a step backward, and one that Oregon residents likely would come to regret. (mm)




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By Ljubodrag Duci Simonovic, We would be incorrect to try and establish a direct relationship between Nazi ideology Heidegger's philosophy, particularly if we were to look for the basis of Heideggers thought in Nazi ideology. Heideggers philosophy and Nazi ideology are closely related in as much as they both come from the same source. They are branches on a tree growing from German expansionism.In the lecture delivered on 8 April 1936 in fascist Rome, and entitled Europe and the German Philosophy (Europa und die deutsche Philosophie), Heidegger clearly indicates the strategic political goals of German philosophy. Its primary task is to shield European people from the Asiatic by overcoming the rootlessness and disintegration of the European nations. Heidegger advocates a transformation of the historical survival of Europe, which cannot be achieved as a blind pushing forward into an indeterminate future, but only as a creative confrontation with the whole of history up to now. He ends his war-mongering speech with Heraclitus: War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free... It is easy to see who was supposed to be turned into slaves by the imminent war and who would be masters.Heidegger actually presented German philosophy with the task of removing from the history of European people all that can impede their integration into a Nazi new European order. It is a Gleichschaltung, a process meant to destroy the emancipatory heritage of European people and use them in the realization of Germany's most important strategic task: the annihilation of the Slavs and the invasion of their living space (Lebensraum). Heidegger's philosophy provided the philosophical grounds for the basic existential interests of German capitalism and became a strategic platform for German colonial expansion. Heidegger supported the idea of a Greater Germany, an idea that long predates Hitler. For Heidegger, the Nazi regime was but one of the historical forms through which this idea was to be realized. Even after the collapse of Nazi Germany, Heidegger remained faithful to the idea of a Greater Germany and, in that context, to the strategic goals of the Nazi regime.To express it in a more popular, contemporary jargon, Heidegger appears an expert on strategic issues. This is the main reason why Heidegger was adamant that his philosophy not have a political nature. His thought is not concerned with temporary political events, but with the increase of Being, which manifests itself in the development of the conquering abilities of the Germans as a master race. Heideggers philosophy appears to be in the essential sphere, however, for the essence of Being is not freedom and justice, but the existential interests of the German capitalism.If we tried to establish the political doctrine that rises from Heideggers fundamental ontology, we might conclude that it is fundamentally totalitarian. In Heideggers philosophy, all social spheres are alienated from man and are but the means for mans integration into the ruling order. Man does not create the world, he is in the world; he does not create history, he is in history; he does not create a language, he is in the language... Heidegger does not offer freedom to man; he offers him eternity in the shade of Being  provided he pledges unquestioning loyalty to the ruling order, which deprives him of everything that makes him human. Heidegger embalms man. Deprived of any humanness, man travels to eternity as a mummy.Heideggers philosophy represents the basis of a political strategy which seeks to build not only a totalitarian state, but also a totalitarian society. In that context, Heidegger sets out to create a new man, one deprived of all the properties that enable him to create a humane society. Instead of insisting on the development of a dialectical mind, enabling man to create a humane world, Heidegger insists on the experience of a tragic existence with a fatal character and, based on that, on a faith in Being, representing the idealized essence of the existing world.Is the abolishment of mans reasonable relation to his existence and the world and the shifting of the question of Being to the sphere of an instrumentalized mysticism the strongest bond connecting Heideggers philosophy to the Nazi ideology? Both doctrines try to bring themselves into favour with the mystic powers that rule the world. The darkness of nothingness becomes the source of the will to power. A mystical language penetrates the dark labyrinths of sub-consciousness and enables suppressed needs to be projected, by verbal manipulation, into illusions, which by means of a political indoctrination turn into spectres that will devour the world. Heidegger was among those who fed the demons growing in the murky depths of the German petty-bourgeois sub-consciousness.Guided by the ruling political logic, Heidegger strives to turn the misery experienced by man on a daily basis into the active power of the ruling order. His philosophy attempts to convert the existential anxiety of the Germans into the driving force of German expansionism. At the same time, he sees in the Germans the organic part of a folk community, whose active will is based on the myth of racial superiority and is institutionalized in the form of the ruling (Nazi) order. The ultimate goal of Heideggers philosophy is to turn German society, as a politically and culturally pluralistic community of emancipated citizens, into the German nation, which is united under one (totalitarian) political banner and which, based on a fanatical mythological consciousness, has the feeling of intrinsic superiority and as such is ready to fulfill its historical mission. The militant Greater German fanaticism, with its mythological foundation, becomes the basis of the collective consciousness.For Heidegger, Germanys future is on the capitalist horizon, the state being the supreme regulatory mechanism of all social life. Anti-liberalism and anti-communism are the cornerstones of his political doctrine, and his relation to Nazism is based on them. Heidegger seeks to limit the freedom of the market, which leads to economic instability and does away with political pluralism, which then leads to political instability. In that context, he seeks to confront the workers movement and the idea of socialism (communism) and to integrate workers into the ruling order as members of the German nation. Ultimately, Germanys economic and political stability were meant to ensure its successful colonial expansion. Heideggers political doctrine is close to that of Nazism, whose aims, according to Herbert Marcuse, were to organize monopolistic production, shatter the socialist opposition and restore imperial expansionism.In Heideggers philosophy, we can discern a political doctrine underlying the Catholic and fascist vision of the future. It is an industrial feudalism, which involves the abolishment of man as an emancipated citizen and thus as a political agent in the establishment of society as a political community; reduction of the state to an instrument of the most powerful capitalist groups in their attempt to establish social peace; the abolishment of trade unions and the degradation of workers to industrial serfs and the exaltation of capitalists to feudal masters; the abolishment of a class society by replacing it with a folk community; the establishment of a totalitarian political will embodied in a Leader and in the ruling order . Ein Volk  ein Fuhrer!  this is the political essence of Heideggers fundamental ontology. It is explicitly expressed in Heideggers view from 1933, that the Fuhrer alone is the present and future German reality and the law.Heideggers open support of the Nazi regime is not only the product of his careerism and cannot be separated from his philosophy, which abolishes the emancipatory legacy of bourgeois society and provides the theoretical grounds for German expansionism. We should remember here the very beginnings of Heideggers cooperation with the Nazis. The enthusiasm with which Heidegger, as a professor and rector, endorsed Hitler, supported Nazism and denounced his colleagues, are expressions of his endeavors to become the leading philosopher of Nazi Germany, while his philosophy was to be the generally accepted basis of the Nazi ideology. In Heideggers view, Hitler was the political leader of the Germans, but he reserved to himself the role of their spiritual leader.Heidegger belonged to the group of German intellectuals who tried to prove that the Germans predestination to be a Messianic people is based on German cultural heritage that makes them superior to other cultures. Long before Heidegger, the myth of the Germans as the nation of philosophers had been an integral rationale for German expansionism. In that context, Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto, Buonarroti were all claimed as Germans At the same time, German intellectuals appropriated the Ancient Greek spiritual heritage and used it to create the myth of German spiritual superiority. A typical example is the archaeological excavations in Ancient Olympia, started at the time of Bismarck and finished by Nazi archaeologists (Emil Kunze), with Hitlers personal donation in the amount of 300 000 Reichsmarks. The carrying of the Olympic Torch, during the organization of the Nazi Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, from the holy Olympia to the Nazi Berlin, has a special symbolic value and served to prove to the Nazis that they were the legitimate heirs of the cultural legacy of the Ancient Helada, the spiritual cradle of Western civilization.Heideggers vision of Germans as a metaphysical nation is a political idea par excellence. It is the basis of the political rationale for German expansionism. Philosophy becomes a support, a justification and philosophical foundation for the governing political project. Rather than using the Nazi regime in the realization of his ideas, Heidegger used his philosophy to provide philosophical legitimacy to the Nazis political and economic goals, and ultimately to Nazi practice.Heidegger is not original. In order to justify German expansionism, he refers to spiritual values, in the same manner that imperialist France and England referred to culture and civilization in their attempts to justify colonial expansion and the eradication of colored races. Indeed, Heideggers philosophy rejects the emancipatory heritage of German culture, particularly the heritage that opens a space for overcoming colonialism and racism. In view of the events on the contemporary global scene, Heideggers philosophy is not only a philosophical expression of an expansionist strategy for the Nazis new European order, but also for the expansionist strategy of the American new world order. Nothing new on the Western Front.Considering Heideggers authority in the intellectual circles of Nazi Germany, we can safely say that his philosophy created a significant intellectual space for the affirmation of the German ideology. Heideggers philosophy greatly contributed to the development of a theoretical foundation for the idea of the Germans as a master race. In the concrete political conditions in Nazi Germany, the claim that the Germans have a superior culture and mind relative to other nations, inevitably led to nationalism and racism, and it is what the transition from the leading nation to the master race is based on. The myth of the Germans as the nation of philosophers became one of the sources of their racist ideology. German racism was elevated to the throne of philosophy.Did the German cultural heritage not oblige Heidegger, as well as other German intellectuals, to oppose Nazism? Instead of being the basis for a criticism of the Nazi ideology and practice, German philosophy provided philosophical legitimacy to Nazi barbarism. Scumbags and snitches like Adolf Hitler and Josef Goebbels became the embodiments of the German philosophical spirit.It should be noted here that during the 20th century the torch of the German philosophical spirit was carried by Jews (Wilhelm Dilthey, Edmund Husserl, Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Ernest Bloch), a people who were almost eradicated as a lower race by the philosophical Germans in the concentration camps of the Third Reich.It is a sad truth that Adorno and Horkheimer allowed themselves to be used in post-war Germanys attempt to conceal the true nature of German democracy under the American boot. While they were giving lectures in German philosophy at West German universities to recent fanatical members of the Hitlerjugend, the Americans built an army of 40 000 SS members, still highly loyal to Hitler and led by one of the most notorious of Hitlers storm troopers, Reinhard Gehlen, a force meant to protect German democracy from communism under the American command.Heideggers relation to the German language illustrates the racist and totalitarian intention of his fundamentalism. The German language becomes a prayer language par excellence with which to appeal to the Being and establish a neighborhood with it, while Heideggers philosophy becomes the German Holy Scripture. With his fundamental ontology, Heidegger sought to deify the political project of the future he advocated, where the Germans, in the form of the Nazi movement, would take on the role of the Messianic Nation.In addition to being based on a cultural imperialism, Heideggers view that the Germans are the nation of philosophers and that his philosophy, as manifested in the German language, is the home of Being, also indicates that the Germans, as manifested in Heideggers philosophy, are the indisputable owners of the truth. This entitles them to be a chosen people with the duty of bringing humanity back to the right path. In other words, in spite of being thrown into a world ruled by nihilism, the Germans, as the nation of philosophers, uniquely possess such mental and spiritual qualities that both enable and entitle them to bring about a spiritual rebirth of humanity.Since the Germans, as the nation of philosophers, are the bearers of the supreme wisdom, a criticism of their (criminal) practices is possible only as their own (German) self-criticism. This is one of the reasons why Heidegger, who saw himself as the most authentic representative of the German philosophical spirit, indignantly rejected the very possibility of being questioned about the responsibility of the Germans for the Second World War and the atrocities committed.Friedrich Nietzsche charged the new nobility with the task of re-evaluating all values (Umwertung aller Werte) and returning humanity to the right track. Heidegger entrusted the same chore to the Germans, whose active power appears in the form of the Nazi movement. The Germans are predestined to be the master nation with an exclusive historical task to return humanity to the track abandoned in Ancient times. How can the crimes committed by the Germans  and never condemned by Heidegger  even compare to this Messianic task? Concentration camps and the eradication of entire nations  all this is nothing compared to the crucial task that Heidegger bestowed upon them. The nature of that task determined the nature of the political practice necessary for its realization. The principle that the ends justify the means obtained, with Heidegger's philosophy, a fundamental-ontological foundation.Rather than being an educator, Heidegger is a modern crusader, who sees the Germans as a master nation, the active power of which is manifested in the Nazi movement. Heidegger does not call on the Germans to turn to philosophy, but rather to do whatever it takes to assure the ruling position in the world. A return to the Being is not achieved by their enlightenment, but through the submission and eradication of other nations by means of science and technology. Guided by the governing principle of monopoly capitalism, Destroy the competition!, the Nazis, openly supported by Heidegger, a staunch critic of technicity, turned Germany into a death factory. What Heidegger has in mind when he refers to tradition is not German culture, but German militarism. Rather than being attained through philosophy and art, Being is attained with a drawn sword.With regard to Heideggers direct cooperation with the Nazis, the general public has an insight only into his censored biography, missing all the details indicating that Heideggers support of the Nazis was much stronger and more thorough than officially claimed. This is clearly seen in Heideggers Black Diary (Die Schwarzen Hefte) - parts of which appeared in German bookstores in 2014 - which contains Heidegger's notes and daily commentaries from the period 1931-1941. At the same time, there is a justified concern that some documents, hinting at Heidegger's cooperation with the Nazis, have been destroyed in attempts to save philosopher Heidegger from compromising details of his past. In any case, Dossier Heidegger is not closed. Only when true anti-fascists in Germany come to power, and the German citizens finally confront their fascist heritage, will the truth about Heidegger's past come to light.The conciliatory attitude of official West Germany to Heidegger in the post-war period reflects its attitude toward Nazism. Details surrounding the interview given by Heidegger to the journalist of Der Spiegel Rudolph Augstein, at the end of September 1966, indicate the extent to which Nazism was present in the post-war history of West Germany, which was an allied occupation zone where the Germans Nazi past was the most important warrant of their loyalty to the American occupier. It is the only long interview given by Heidegger in his philosophical and political career, and it lasted 100 minutes. The interview was held in Heidegger's mountain cabin at Todtnauberg. Heidegger agreed to give the interview under the condition that it be published after his death. Heidegger died on 26 May 1976, at the age of 86. Only three days later, Der Spiegel published the interview under the following titles Der Philosoph und das Dritte Reich (Philosopher and the Third Reich) and Nur noch ein Gott kann uns retten (Only a God Can Save Us). The interview was attended by Georg Wolff, former German SS soldier, in his capacity as editor of social sciences for Der Spiegel. During the Second World War he held the rank of SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer and participated in the executions of prisoners in Norway. He prepared the interview for publishing. Sapienti sat.It should be noted here that Heideggers attitude towards the Jews is the most important criterion in the West for determining the extent to which he was close to the Nazi movement. Heidegger is thus accused of not condemning the Nazi Germanys criminal policy towards the Jews. But what about the attitude of Nazi Germany and Heidegger to the Slavic peoples, who were also degraded to the status of a lower race? During the Second World War, the Nazis and the regular German army killed over 35 million Slavs. In Poland, the Germans killed over 6 million people. In the Soviet Union, they wiped out 70 000 villages, 1710 towns, 2766 churches and monasteries, 4000 libraries, 427 museums and 32 000 factories, and executed over 27 million Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians. In Serbia, German soldiers executed children, while in Croatia, Nazi Germany allowed the Ustasha to kill over 700 000 Serbs. Why does the West not criticize Heidegger for not condemning the numerous atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Slavs? To cover-up the German genocide carried out against the Slavs actually means to cover-up the essence of the Second World War.Just as the idea of American superiority serves to justify the imperialist policy of the USA in the contemporary world, Heideggers idea of the Germans as a superior nation served to justify the German thrust towards the East (Drang nach Osten)  i.e., the conquest of living space (Lebensraum) and the extermination of the Slavic peoples. Heidegger's philosophy is based on the totalizing principle of monopoly capitalism, Destroy the competition!, and on the expansionist nature of German capitalism, which regarded the conquest of living space as an indisputable existential imperative. This gives vitality to Heidegger's philosophy in contemporary Germany, where we are witnessing a dramatic biological demise of the Germans and the environment. It is the source of a totalitarian-integrative and expansionist political doctrine, which continues to live in the consciousness of the German petty bourgeoisie.Heidegger never condemned the Nazi regime and its crimes primarily because he did not want to jeopardize the political foundations of his philosophy. Heidegger saw his philosophy as the indisputable source of the German self-consciousness. In spite of the defeat of the Nazi regime, the Germans were to preserve their self-consciousness through Heideggers philosophy as a superior nation preordained for the leading role in the world. For Heidegger, the defeat of Nazi Germany was but one of the defeats experienced by the German people in their fight for a Greater Germany and not a lost war for the future. Hitlers defeat and the collapse of Nazism were not to call into question the strategic interests of German imperialism. We should not forget that Nietzsches idea of the eternal recurrence (Die Ewige Wiederkunft) is the alfa and omega of Heidegger's conception of the future.In his post-war correspondence with Marcuse, Heidegger tries to present the Germans as the victims of the Second World War. Indicatively, he does not make a distinction between the Nazi regime and the German people, particularly not between the ruling class of Junkers and capitalists, on the one hand, and German peasants and citizens on the other hand. This only goes to show the extent to which the Nazis managed to integrate the Germans into the Nazi regime and how much the Germans identified themselves with the Nazi regime.Heideggers refusal to condemn the Germans for starting the Second World War and for committing atrocities, and his belief that the real victims of the war were actually the Germans, give rise to a political climate in contemporary Germany similar to the climate of the period following the First World War. The Nazi regime resulted from the myth that Germany was the victim of the First World War. Revanchism was used as a psychological instrument for fanaticizing the Germans and inciting war-mongering hysteria. Heidegger laments the fate of the Germans who were expelled from the East and thus creates a political atmosphere that should give rise to a new call for the German people to return to the East.It should be pointed out here that the political instrumentalization of the idea of the Germans as a superior nation was based on the German defeat in the First World War; on the collapse of the German Empire; on the humiliation of the Versailles peace treaty; on Germanys political instability; on the economic crisis of capitalism and mass unemployment The need to conquer and exterminate the lower races came from the fear of survival created by capitalism and was a compensation for the misery experienced by ordinary Germans in their everyday life. The existential fear in contemporary capitalism that, with the growing destruction of the European nations and their ecosystems, turns into an existential panic, represents the spiritus movens of a revived fascist barbarism.Heideggers thought is a philosophical mask covering the racist ideology and Nazi practice. However, as it is multi-layered, it can appear in a pure philosophical form. That the mask itself acquired the form of a living image is the most important ideological quality of Heideggers philosophy. Heideggers followers therefore can easily deprive his philosophy of its political content. The Nazi ideology similarly had a magical philosophical veil interspersed with the expressions symbolizing the common human values: peace, happiness, well-being The same can be said for the American new world order, covered with the blood-stained veil of democracy. Over and over again, bourgeois philosophy appears as a humanist mask over the criminal capitalist practice. Instead of trying to demystify a philosophy that turned into an ideology, bourgeois philosophers are turning an ideology into a philosophy.To defend Heidegger against the charge of Nazism actually means to try to preserve the illusion of autonomy and thus of objectivity of philosophy  Heidegger being its most important representative in the XX century. Heidegger has become a mythological character defended against the charge of Nazism by his reputation as the last great philosopher. If Nazi Germany had won the war, Heideggers philosophy would have demonstrated its true potential and Heidegger his true character. The entire philosophical content of Heideggers thought, creating the illusion of a political unbiasedness, would have then slid into one blood-stained Nazi swamp. Drawing on Heideggers philosophy, the Germans, as a metaphysical nation, would have become the saviours of humanity and their Fuhrer would have obtained a divine aura. Heideggers philosophy would have become the Bible of the Third Reich.
Life in the Desert

I danced in the desert,

I swam by the shores,

I spent warm nights under starlit blankets of silver,

I made friends from far-away places

I ate and drank and savored it all

I loved and was loved

What more could anyone ask for?



(Desert Girl, Kuwait)


Im excited to see an increasing number of globally-inspired bakeries rising into the spotlight in the Bay Areas ever-growing pastry scene, opening peoples eyes to a world of sweet pastries beyond just American and French-inspired treats. Asian bakeries have always flown a bit under the radar, but several modern new chains are making Asian pastries more accessible to all audiences. One of these places, Paris Baguette, has opened several storefronts in the Bay Area , and recently I was invited into their shop for a tasting.

Disclosure: I was invited to visit Paris Baguette for a media tasting. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own.

Paris Baguette is a South Korean-based enterprise with outlets throughout South Korea, China, Singapore, and France. They expanded into the US several years ago, bringing a mix of traditional Asian bakery goods like milk bread and curry buns with French-inspired pastries like danishes and macarons. Like many modern Asian bakeries, they find a careful balance between the exotic and the familiar for both Western and Asian audiences. Asian flavors like matcha, mango, and red bean show up alongside French classics like chocolate croissants and apple danishes.

I visited Paris Baguettes Millbrae store, which is pleasantly airy and bright. One of Paris Baguettes big selling points is the warm and inviting atmosphere of their shops, which encourages customers to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee with their pastry. Above, a mix of the macarons and alfajores. Some of my favorite macaron flavors I tried include the salted caramel and the earl grey; the macarons are pleasantly chewy and not overly sweet. The alfajores feature buttery shortbread cookies sandwiching a dulce de leche filling; I especially liked the version that was rolled in hazelnuts.

One of the cutest little concepts I got to try at Paris Baguette was this one-bite pastry, composed of a base thats a cross between croissant and brioche, filled with cream and topped with fruit. On the whole, the pastries at Paris Baguette are on the lighter, less sweet side. Breads are softer, less chewy, fillings are often whipped cream based or tend to be airy rather than rich and dense, which definitely appeals to Asian sensibilities. I really like the change up from the American-style bakeries; its fantastic to have such a variety of choice here in the Bay Area.

Theres always a good selection of breakfast pastries at Paris Baguette, from traditional croissants to red bean buns. I go for their turnovers often; the mango and guava fillings give a unique spin to this classic pastry, and the crunchy sugar crust is perfection. If I pick some up in the afternoon they often dont make it to next morning!

Theres an admirable selection of cakes at Paris Baguette, from frosted layer cakes to mousse cakes, all charmingly decorated and also customizable for special occasions. As with the other pastries, the cakes tend towards the lighter side; the cake layers are generally chiffon or sponge-style, and the frostings are whipped cream based or light buttercream. The slice of chocolate buttercream cake I had was decadent without being overwhelming rich  a perfect little chocolate hit. Since Im a big mango lover, I also enjoyed their silky mango mousse cake; in general you cant go wrong with their mousse cakes.

I also really liked their eye-catching chiffon cakes, with towering layers of melt in your mouth chiffon cake generously covered in whipped cream. Very similar to angel food cake, and a delightfully ethereal experience. I love indulging in a slice of cake, and feeling like Ive still got room in my stomach for more!

Paris Baguette was also nice enough to arrange for me to take home one of their signature strawberry fresh cream cakes for Isabelles birthday. This actually turned out to be a wonderfully nostalgic experience, as it reminded me of the cakes my mom would get for my birthdays when I was small. They were always from a local Chinese bakery, and composed of featherlight layers of sponge cake filled with whipped cream and fruit, most often strawberries, my favorite fruit. As it turns out, strawberries are now Isabelles favorite fruit as well, and you can see how thrilled she was with her birthday cake.

Besides Millbrae, Paris Baguette has several other Bay Area locations, and is planning further expansions. Thanks to Paris Baguette for the invitation to their store, and for helping us celebrate Isabelles birthday! (By the way, there will be an upcoming post on her birthday party and dessert table; stay tuned!)

More on Asian style desserts:

Mango Mousse Cake

Mango Passionfruit Cake

Green Tea Cheesecake
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King Jr.

No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Nelson Mandela

We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist

James Baldwin

There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence.

Newton Lee

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Albert Einstein

You've got to be taughtTo hateAnd fearYou've got to be taughtFrom yearTo yearIts got toBe drummed in your dear little earYou've got toBe carefullyTaughtYou've got to be taughtTo beAfraidOf peopleWho's eyes are oddly madeAnd people who's skin is a different shade

South Pacific

Songwriters: Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rogers
http://donpolson.blogspot.com/ Bringing you the very best information, analysis and opinion from around the web. NOTE: For videos that don't start--go to article link to view.
We've mentioned that Republican obstructionism over the Supreme Court vacancy could hurt some of the Republican Senate incumbents, particularly Chuck Grassley in Iowa , who the DSCC had originally declared invulnerable. No one thinks he's invulnerable any longer and support is building for progressives Tom Fiegen and Rob Hogg, while the DSCC found themselves a Monsanto-backed corprate shill to get behind. PPP Senate results of surveys in four states bolsters the possibility that the GOP's bitter obstructionism against Obama is something they could pay for very dearly in November.





Tom Jensen from PPP suggests that all four states-- Arizona, Iowa, Missouri and North Carolina, none of which were looked at as possible wins by the vision-free DSCC-- ate becoming competitive because of "voter anger over their Republican senators unwillingness to consider a replacement for Antonin Scalia." That McCain, Blunt and Burr already had mediocre approval numbers exacerbates the problem these Republicans are now facing.

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.

First Arizona, where McCain is lucky enough to just have to deal with a weak challenge from an especially odious New Dem backbencher, Ann Kirkpatrick:









Second-- Iowa, where Grassley is far more vulnerable than Chuck Schumer and Jon Tester had decided. Hogg or Fiegen could beat him.













Third is Missouri, another state Schumer and Tester were ready to write off:









And last, here are the results from North Carolina, another state with a very weak Republican incumbent, Richard Burr, that Schumer and Tester were perfectly satisfied with ignoring, at least once they failed to persuade their favorite Blue Dog, Heath Shuler, to jump in.












Washington Post story about Yesterday, Maine's Democrats caucused and Bernie won another convincing victory over the establishment candidate whose campaign was bragging in the morning about how she had all the establishment endorsements. He beat her 64.3- 35.5% and took 15 delegates to her 7. On the Republican side Rubio won in Puerto Rico, while polling shows that Kasich is either winning in tomorrow's Michigan primary by 2 points -- or losing by 28 points (or losing by 24 points ). Predatory billionaires like Eli Broad and Alice Walton are big backers of two awful things: replacing public education with charter schools and putting Hillary Clinton into the White House instead of Bernie. Valerie Strausss'story about their activities in Louisiana needs to be read by teachers-- and voters-- in Michigan. Keep in mind when you read this, that "reform" means killing public education and killing teachers' unions, a dream of the billionaires who don't want their tax dollars to pay to educate other people's children.

For years now weve watched school board races around the country attract a lot of money from donors who dont actually live in the state where the elections are taking place. For example, in 2012, outsiders poured money into a New Orleans school board race; in 2013, millions of dollars were spent on school board races in Los Angeles, with much of the money coming from people who lived outside California; and in 2014, non-Minnesotans plowed cash into a school board race in that state.



Why? Its part of an effort by school reformers and their financial backers to elect like-minded public officials to help spur corporate school reform around the country.



And now we have the latest example: A California businessman and a pair of Arkansas billionaires are dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into races for the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in Louisiana in an effort to help keep its majority friendly to corporate school reform. The election is Oct. 24.



The billionaires are Eli Broad, the California-based housing and insurance magnate who is now leading an attempt to send half of Los Angeless public school students to charter schools, and Alice and Jim Walton, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, who have collectively poured a total of $650,000 into Baton Rouge business magnate Lane Grigsbys PAC, called Empower Louisiana. According to this post on Louisiana teacher Mercedes Schneiders Edublog , Jim and Alice Walton each donated $200,000 on Aug. 20, and Broad contributed $250,000 on Sept. 10. The post says:

The total on the above report is $763,710, which means that as of September 14, 2015, money from two billionaires from Arkansas and one billionaire from California constitutes the principal funding for Grigsbys efforts to preserve a BESE majority known for supporting charters and vouchers without equally supporting adequate oversight; supporting high-stakes testing without supporting timely, clear, comprehensive reporting of testing results, and for allying with a state superintendent known for hiding and manipulating data, refusing to honor public records requests, and refusing to consistently audit the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE).



Grigsby considers the above to be the desired course for Louisianas state board of education. According to the October 01, 2015, Advocate, he plans to spend his PACs predominately Walton and Broad money on 3 of the 11 BESE seats Alice Walton of Arkansas, incidentally, gave about $1.7 million in 2012 to support charter school initiative 1240 in Washington state, which was narrowly passed by voters (who had voted against opening charters three times earlier) but recently ruled unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Court. Broad is busy leading a proposal to raise $490 million to build 260 charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District to enroll about half of the districts students.



Its interesting to note how conservatives like to scream about local control of public education-- except when they want to take control themselves.

Anyone else notice something fishy about this page?





The teachers unions didn't ask their members to vote on an endorsement. The union heads just endorsed Hillary-- gave one of her SuperPACs $1,064,102-- and informed the membership (about the endorsement, if not the contribution). I don't know any teachers who are supporting Hillary, only teachers who are supporting Bernie, although I guess there must be some teachers in Louisiana who are Hillary backers. The story above is too late for Louisiana voters to consider. Eli Broad, one of Hillary's biggest supporters, is also a big Rick Snyder supporter so maybe people in Michigan will find it interesting... especially teachers. Hopefully they will connect the dots.









Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and I have differences of opinion on many issues. In no area are our differences stronger than trade policy.



In 1960, Detroit was the richest city in America and General Motors was our largest private employer paying union workers a living wage with affordable health care and a secure retirement.



Today, Wal-Mart is our largest private employer paying nonunion workers starvation wages with little or no benefits and selling products made in China.



Americas radical transformation from a GM economy to a Wal-Mart economy has decimated the middle class, turning Detroit into one of the poorest big cities in America and hollowing out communities across the country.



No city in America has suffered more than Flint. Long before Flints children were poisoned by contaminated drinking water, the city was poisoned by disastrous trade policies that allowed GM to eliminate more than 72,000 jobs and move several factories to Mexico.



Unfettered free trade turned this once-prosperous middle-class city, where residents could own a home, raise a family and retire with security, into a place where good jobs are scarce and extreme poverty is high. Today, a quarter of Flint residents have an annual income of less than $15,000 and 65% of the citys children live in poverty.



The decimation of Detroit, Flint and communities all over this country did not happen by accident. It is a direct result of disastrous trade deals that have allowed corporations to ship our jobs to low-wage countries.



...It is easy for candidates to say what they want on the campaign trail. But voters must look at their record, rather than their rhetoric.



Throughout my political career I have stood with workers and demanded that corporate America invest in this country. Secretary Clintons position has been very different.



Not only did she support the North American Free Trade Agreement and special trade status with China, she also supported disastrous trade deals with Vietnam, Colombia and Panama.



Enough is enough! As president, we will work together to fundamentally rewrite our trade policies to make sure American jobs are no longer our number one export.
Conservative commentary on politics, business, the news media and technology.
You could, if you were a miserable, grumpy, cynical, old sod like me, believe that Mutt and Jeff would actually run 'this septic Isle' rather better than the two posh boys, Dave 'n' George, who are currently in charge. If you are unable to see the many examples of their utter uselessness then, apart from going to Specsavers, you should take a long, hard look at the massive, and massively expensive, Hinkley Point nuclear power station. Well, actually, you can look as hard as you like because, despite years of haggling with our 'new best friends', er, France and China (yeeeeeees, quite!), there's absolutely nothing to see because nothing has started.

However, what has started and in fact is well on the way to being completed is the shut down of numerous coal-fired power stations as Mutt 'n' Jeff, ooooops, sorry, I mean Dave 'n' George put their faith, er, and your money, into wind and wave and Hinkley Point. So it's a bit embarrassing, well, it would be embarrassing if Dave 'n' George didn't have re-active armour instead of skin like the rest of us, to learn that the Finance Director, no less, of EDF, the French, state-owned company and chosen 'partner' in the Hinkley Point 'enterprise', has resigned saying that the deal doesn't work for his company. As Ross Clark puts it in The Coffee House this morning:

The finance director of EDF, the French energy giant, has quit over its plans to build George Osbornes new pet project : a new power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset. At first glance, this seems odd: isnt the whole problem that the Chancellor has pledged so much taxpayers money to this white elephant so the public will be royally ripped off to the benefit of French (and, recently, Chinese) investors? When its up and running, yes. But meanwhile someone has to build this, and there have already been delays and cost multiplications. Osborne has sold a third of the stake to the Chinese  not known for their prowess in civil nuclear energy. But the French still need to find the cash for the remaining two-thirds stake in this 18 billion project  and theyre struggling. No matter how much the Chancellor promises to rip off the taxpayer when its up and running.

If you are a British tax-payer, please do not read the rest of Mr. Clark's article without making it clear to your loved ones that this blog bears no responsibility if you suddenly decide to top yourself!
"Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your

mattress,/

And you shall sleep restful nights"
969225



POSITION SUMMARY



Responsibilities include supporting the Loss Prevention Department and Fulfillment or Distribution Center with the implementation of loss prevention related programs. These programs include but are not limited to, monitoring of employee and visitor foot traffic into and out of the assigned facility, monitoring of the employee parking lot for suspicious activity, operating the company switchboard when necessary, daily monitoring of CCTV, burglar and access control systems, interior and exterior perimeter checks, safety, shrink, and cargo loss mitigation functions within the overall warehouse environment, and other Loss Prevention duties, as needed.



WORK HOURS



Applicant must be available to work a flexible schedule in order to support operations



Occasional weekend shifts; variations to normal work schedules and overtime may be needed



PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES



Provide professional administrative support and display comprehension of loss prevention and environmental health/safety programs including but not limited to worker compensation and incident case files



Provide clerical and data processing support



Assist and support department audits, inspections and incident investigations as directed



Keep the LP Manager informed of all potential workplace security issues



Maintaining order and control of the front desk, lobby areas and switchboard



Prevent internal theft by conducting bag, container, beverage container and other personal item checks and use stationary and handheld metal detectors to screen associates and visitors exiting the facility



Monitor entrance and front lobby to ensure all visitors are authorized, logged in and escorted



Monitor entire property via CCTV system, fire and burglar alarm systems to respond to incidents as needed



Answer facility phones as required



Conduct daily check of the CCTV, Burglar and Access control systems to ensure they function appropriately



Monitor parking lot areas to report unauthorized visitors/vehicles or unlawful activity to leadership



Notify emergency personnel (police/fire) in the event of emergencies as appropriate



Perform multiple daily safety related walks around the interior and exterior warehouse perimeter, to include multi-level work areas, such as Break Pack and Quality Control modules.



Assist and support leadership team with safety, emergency crisis and evacuation drills and real events as needed



Perform other duties and provide other operational support as needed by the direction of the LP Manager



PHYSICAL DEMANDS



Physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.



Work requires moderate physical effort and use of motor skills requiring manual dexterity.



While performing duties of this job, employee will regularly stand, walk, stoop, kneel and crouch.



Employee is required to conduct auditing within the warehouse



Employee will lift, lower, push, and pull heavy objects up to 50 pounds regularly and up to 70 pounds occasionally.



Must be able to read and hear verbal instructions in person and /or through a headset.



WORK ENVIRONMENT



The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.



Work in a warehouse environment, MHE, conveyors, tractor trailers, which includes working throughout seasonal temperature variations



Use of proper safety procedures will eliminate any potential hazards



Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate



Qualifications



BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

High school degree or GED, or equivalent experience required.



Ability to work independently



Ability to interact and communicate in a constructive and professional manner



Possess strong written and verbal communication skills



Demonstrate competent general personal computing skills required



Ability to work well in a team environment and maintain strict company confidentiality



PREFERRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND EXPERIENCE



Loss Prevention, safety, and security experience



Customer service experience



Workers compensation claims management and safety program administration



LP certification and OSHA certification



EQUIPMENT & TOOLS UTILIZED



Proficiency with MS Windows and MS Office including Word, Excel and possibly Access



Daily use of handheld metal detectors



Aiphone-type video and audio door security and access unit



Facility badge access control system and software



Multi-line telephone switchboard with PA feature



Document and photo ID printers; copier; calculator; writing instruments; personal computer; cameras; and other office equipment and machines



Burglar and access control systems



CCTV systems



While performing duties of the job, the employee may operate warehouse equipment such as conveyors, hand trucks, manual pallet jacks, scissor lifts and, if certified, operate other motorized material handling equipment.



Staples is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.



(Cielo123)



Job



:



Loss Prevention



Location(s)



:



US-IN-Terre Haute



Schedule



:



Part-time



Employment Statement



Staples is an Equal Opportunity Employer who values the diversity of our people, products, and services.
Alba, who on her Facebook account says she is a primary school teacher in Valencia, took to Twitter last week to complain about the service she had received from the Spanish delivery company MRW. She posted a screenshot from a WhatsApp conversation with the messenger (above), who had used her personal information from her order to get in touch with her.

The texts, all sent from the delivery man, read:

I know you, but I dont know where from Im the guy who just dropped off the package

Am I supposed to read between the lines after you changed your profile picture to one with your boyfriend? Haha

Hey forget about it, Im just making things worse. Sorry to have bothered you

Good luck ;)

But listen is that your boyfriend?? Haha

Dont leave me hanging

After receiving the texts, she posted a message to MRW via Twitter saying: You should choose your workers more carefully because otherwise, this happens. Where is my privacy?

Her post was shared more than 2,800 times, and she has since set her account to private, meaning her tweets are no longer publicly visible.

Before that though, tweets of support were posted, as well as accounts from other women who claim to have been victims of the same kind of incident. Tweets criticizing Albas acts, especially those who considered that jobs were being put at risk, were also part of the responses. Alba decided to share these negative responses via her Twitter account.

This worker, if the story is true, is an idiot; but I would have liked to have known what would have happened if the delivery man looked like this

@cabronetti: @albatardellum @SenoritaPuri @MRW_clientes Thats what happens when you answer the door to collect a package in your underwear

@sizksaddaria: @albatardellum the same thing happened to me with a delivery man a year ago and I understand what youre going through. All the best!

Person 1: Hey

Person 1: Hey

Person 2: Hey? I dont have your number saved, who are you?

Person 1: I delivered a package to you two days ago and on top of that I give relaxing massages at home and I wanted to offer you my services if you were interested. If not, its ok. Sorry and all the best

For their part, MRW requested that the customer file a formal complaint, including all of her details. But Alba was indecisive, given that the messenger already knows where she lives. She wrote: I didnt put in a complaint because I was scared. The delivery company told Verne that there is an internal protocol that is being followed for this case. Although there was no formal complaint from the customer, action will still be taken toward the responsible parties if necessary.

@MRW_clientes: @albatardellum Hi, send us in a DM your information so that we can handle your complaint (name, address and/or telephone number and transaction number)

MRW reported that this is the first time they have been made aware of an incident like this happening within their company. One of their spokespersons, Enrique Garcia, told Verne that it is an out-of-the-ordinary situation, and that their legal advisers do not have a record of similar circumstances. We consider that this is not an issue related to the company but is instead a criminal matter, and if it is confirmed, it should be addressed directly with the police he concluded.

About Verne In past times, explorers, adventurers and writers scoured the Earth seeking out the wonders of the world. Today, we have the internet. VERNE: a thousand marvels a minute. Click here for more Verne stories in English, and here for the Spanish page.

Twitter pictures

@Rojobilbao: @albatardellum @MRW_clientes you should rethink your acts. He hit on her, without a doubt. Because of you, he might get fired

@sizksaddaria: @albatardellum the same thing happened to me with a delivery man a year ago and I understand what youre going through. All the best!

@MRW_clientes: @albatardellum Hi, send us in a DM your information so that we can handle your complaint (name, address and/or telephone number and transaction number)

@albatardellum: @MRW_clientes they have just gotten in contact with me to offer me protection, apologize and they are going to take measures. It worked.
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PSOE spokesperson Antonio Hernando. Jaime Villanueva (EL PAIS)

The Socialist Party (PSOE) has said that it will be very demanding when it comes to the continuation of its relationships with emerging anti-austerity group Podemos in local councils, after the latter party refused on two occasions last week to support the Socialists bid to form a government in Spains Congress.

After having been invited to create a government by King Felipe VI earlier this year, PSOE chief Pedro Sanchez presented his candidacy as prime minister in the lower house last week, but only garnered the support of his party, with 90 seats, and center-right group Ciudadanos, with 40 seats. With practically all other parties voting against him, he was left well short of the majority he needed in the first round of voting, and lacked the support to achieve a simple majority in the second round.

We are going to be very demanding when it comes to the management of councils where Podemos is backed by the PSOE High-placed Socialist source

Two more months of negotiations have now begun between the parties in the bid to form a government, with new elections likely in June if no agreement is reached. Spains politicians find themselves in this situation after inconclusive general elections held on December 20, at which the incumbent Popular Party (PP) won most seats but fell well short of a majority needed to form a government.

The PSOE will now put pressure on Podemos in municipalities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, A Coruna, Santiago, Ferrol and Cadiz, among other places, where it reached deals with the left-wing group after the May 2015 local elections. The two parties united in many cases in order to keep the PP from power, but now these deals are under threat given Podemoss failure to support the PSOE in Congress.

Antonio Hernando, the PSOE spokesperson, made clear the partys stance last Thursday, in the midst of the investiture debate. We gave them our support in exchange for nothing at all, without any red lines, he told reporters.

We are going to be very demanding when it comes to the management of councils where Podemos is backed by the PSOE, said high-placed Socialist sources. When asked if this was a threat or a warning, they replied that it was a warning but a very serious one.

The positions taken by Podemos in recent months, during which time it has been highly critical of the PSOE, have opened up a gulf between the two parties. With the clock running before new elections have to be called, the PSOE will be using all of the elements at its disposal to apply pressure.

English version by Simon Hunter.
Eduardo Donato serves some of his prized ham. PACO PUENTES (EL PAIS)

Coming in at a hefty 4,100 a leg and hailing from Huelva province in southwest Spain, Dehesa Maladua is already the worlds most expensive ham.

And now its reputation has been sealed after it was recently awarded the charcuterie worlds equivalent of an Oscar.

Held each February in Nuremberg, Biofach is Europes leading organic foods trade fair and this year declared this unique dry-cured ham from Spain its best product.

Donat produces just 80 hams a year, and says the secret of his success is patience, passion, and pleasure

The prize-winning ham comes from a rare breed of pig called the Manchado de Jabugo, which takes its name from the distinctive dark patches on the animals coats. Dehesa Maladuas founder, Eduardo Donato, helped rescue the breed from extinction a quarter of a century ago when he moved to the tiny community of Cortegana, in southwestern Spains Huelva province.

Donato, aged 67, produces just 80 hams a year, and says the secret of his success is patience, passion, and pleasure.

The Manchado de Jabugo breed has been kept alive over the years by a handful of dedicated farmers like Donato, but unlike him, most of them did not sell their produce, instead focusing on other types of pigs bearing the Huelva Denomination of Origin, of which there are now around 22,500.

Manchado de Jabugo hams unique taste comes from the fact that the pigs eat only natural ingredients. Donato allows them to forage for acorns, almonds and to root around in the rolling woodlands of Huelva, which is washed by Atlantic rains. Its excellence has already been established by Cordobas Nutritional Science and Food Technology Department, after it was subjected to a tasting by 10 experts, based on international norms. These measure the intensity of its color, which in the case of Manchado de Jabugo is dark and lustrous; its fat, which is white and soft; its aromatic intensity, which is deep with notes of toasted dried fruit and bread crust; and its overall flavor, which is a balance of sweet and salty.

Manchado de Jabugo ham not only tastes wonderful, but its good for you as well

The Manchado de Jabugo breed was hit by the swine fever epidemic of 1958, and then fell out of favor with farmers because it takes longer to reach maturity and is less fertile than other strains. A Manchado de Jabugo pig takes up to three years to reach maturity, while other varieties can be sold when they are as young as 14 months. It then takes another six years before the ham is fully cured. To further complicate matters, Manchado de Jabugo pigs sometimes fail to produce the dark pigmentation in their trotters that has become one of the distinguishing features of Iberian ham (pata negra).

Unsurprisingly, Donato looks after his pigs like few other farmers, sometimes sitting among them while they bathe and drink amid the fast-running streams of the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche UNESCO biosphere reserve. Aside from traditional veterinary treatments, Donatos animals are also treated by a homoeopathist, who cures cuts and grazes with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and ash from the holm oaks that populate the hills of Huelva. They are de-wormed and treated for parasites with a special recipe made from mint and sunflower seeds.

Donato came to the area in 1990 after selling the construction company he had founded in his native Tarragona, buying a farm in Maladua, an abandoned village around eight kilometers from the village of Cortegana.

He says he began learning all he could about sustainable pig breeding and ham curing, creating a company that he registered with the Spanish Ecovalia organic products certification, which carries out up to six checks each year on the animals that roam freely over Donatos 80 hectares of woodland.

The hams are now sold throughout Europe and as far afield as Hong Kong

Our commitment to protecting the environment means we can only produce a certain amount of ham, says Donato.

He runs a virtually one-man operation, aided only by his daughter Marta, who moved to the area six years ago, and a neighbor, who also helps out from time to time. His hams are now sold throughout Europe and as far afield as Hong Kong.

His customers are happy to pay top dollar, knowing they are acquiring a unique product as well as helping to save a rare breed. Whats more, Manchado de Jabugo ham not only tastes wonderful, but its good for you as well, being rich in protein, vitamins B1 and B6 and healthy minerals. High in unsaturated fatty acids, a 100 gram portion (which would cost around 50) provides around 185 calories.

Given the relative scarcity of top-quality Iberian ham such as Maladua, along with the high cost of producing it, its little wonder that some unscrupulous producers outside Spain have begun producing pata negra-style ham from animals that will have been factory fed and artificially fattened.
Continuing a trend in recent years in Spain of rising temperatures, the summer of 2016 will be hotter than normal and with lower rainfall than usual, according to long-term forecasts by the countrys State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

It will be a long, hot summer, said Aemet spokeswoman Ana Casals, adding that it was too soon to predict whether this year will match the sustained heatwave that hit Spain in 2015.

Following a dry winter, this years spring brought abundant rain: average precipitation throughout Spain was 34% higher than the usual between 1981 and 2010

Several Spanish cities have already seen temperatures close to 40 degrees centigrade this month.

The predicted summer high comes after what Aemet calls a largely cold spring, with average temperatures of 13.1 degrees centigrade, 0.5 degrees lower than usual. Casals said this spring was the 23rdcoldest spring since 1965, and the third-coldest this century, after 2004 and 2013.

Following a dry winter, this years spring brought abundant rain: average precipitation throughout Spain was 232 mm, 34% higher than the usual between 1981 and 2010. April saw 43% higher than usual rainfall for the month.

Roser Botey, Aemets head of climatology, said that the heavy rains had helped mitigate a dry start to the year, with rainfall for December 2015 some 40% lower than usual.

English version by Nick Lyne.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. MARCO BELLO (REUTERS)

More information Venezuela investiga la desaparicion de 28 mineros en el sur del pais

The Venezuelan Attorney General has decided to investigate whether a chilling rumor that swept the country over the weekend is true. Information from Tumeremo, in the southeastern state of Bolivar, suggests that 28 miners have been missing since Friday. There are fears that they may have been murdered by a group of criminals, led by an individual known as El Topo, who wanted to lay his hands on a valuable haul of gold that they had uncovered hours before.

The Public Ministry has assigned two prosecutors to investigate the facts behind a case that the government of President Nicolas Maduro is still yet to recognize.

The families of the 28 missing men began a protest on Saturday cutting off the main access roads to the city and a freeway

Tumeremo, which is around 10 hours drive from Caracas, is part of a huge Savannah, and is home to some of the most famous tepuyes  table-top mountains  to be found in the country. It is also a lawless area, victim of the progressive disappearance of the states arbitration over relations among citizens and an apparent complicity between local political powers and criminals.

According to reports received from the area and local newspapers, the families of the 28 missing men began a protest on Saturday cutting off the main access roads to the city and a freeway.

The stories related by the families of the missing miners, who have not been identified for fear of reprisals, have provided local press with indications that there is no political aspect to the incident, as had been suggested by the provincial governor, Francisco Rangel Gomez. Until now the authorities have not found the bodies in the areas were the families claim they were buried, nor has there been any evidence found of a massacre in the Atenas estate or in the Hoja de Lata area, explains Carlos Chancellor, the mayor of the Sifontes municipality, in a telephone conversation with EL PAIS.

The area is often home to armed conflicts in a bid to control the sites, but a mass disappearance such as this one has never been reported before

The extraction of gold is the main activity in the area, and attracts Brazilians, Guyanese and Venezuelans from all over the country. Most return to their families at the end of the day, something that has raised concerns among the families given that none of the missing men have not returned home since Friday.

Chancellor admitted that the mines are run by criminal groups, while opposition deputies in the region openly voiced their convictions that a mass murder may have taken place. One politician, Andres Velasquez, has compared the incident to the disappearance of 43 student teachers in Ayotzinapa, Mexico in September 2014.

The area is often home to armed conflicts in a bid to control the sites, but a mass disappearance such as this one has never been reported before. In the context of the current economic crisis in Venezuela the incident has particular significance. The industrial exploitation of the gold-bearing sites in Venezuela is the new obsession of President Maduro, in a bid to try to diversify the sources of income for the state.

English version by Simon Hunter.
Women in Armenia face a much greater risk of poverty (video)

There is not a single sphere in Armenia where men and women [in the same work place] are given equal pay, independent analyst Nvard Manasyan said at a press conference on Monday. Today, she presented the results of a new study on discrimination against women conducted in Armenia from 2015 to 2016 with the financial assistance of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In Armenia, the average salary of women is lower than that of men in all sectors, she said. The gap is 35.9% in Armenia, while it is 15.9% in the EU countries. In agriculture, women earn, on average, 83.8% of the male wage, in educational and health care sectors, it makes 81,3% and 75,1%, respectively, though the study shows that women are not less educated than men. In Armenia, 57% women and 38% of men receive higher education, said UN Population Fund Executive Representative Garik Hayrapetyan. He says the countrys annual GDP loss is US$50-60 million as a result of restriction of women's work. The specialist stresses that the country will face two major problems if it does not address the problem of gender inequality. The first is that the rate of funded pension will be very low, the second is the risk of poverty in adulthood, especially for single women. The UNFPA Armenia Country Office is going to submit the findings of the survey to the Armenian Government requesting the executive body to include these issues in its strategic plans for the next 5 years.
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

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ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
The network offers a range of mobile Internet services with speeds of up to 100Mbps covering the core parts of the following provinces: Bujumbura, Gitega, Ngozi, Rumonge Makamba and Muyinga.

Photo: Mai Le

Users wishing to take advantage of Lumitels LTE offer will need to buy a 4G-enabled Samsung, LG, iPhone or L9501 smartphone from Lumitel, which it says are available at an affordable price.

In January 2014, Viettel Global announced the establishment of a new cellular unit, Viettel Burundi, which was created after Viettel added another VND6.2 trillion (USD291.1 million) to finance capital for new projects.

Officially opening business in April 2015, legally registered as Viettel Burundi SA, the company is headquartered in Bujumbura.

Having over one million subscribers, Lumitel aims to become the largest telecom operator in Burundi, with 1,000 base stations covering 95% of the population. In addition, the newcomer seeks to deploy 5,000km of fibre-optic infrastructure, ahead of its planned entry into the countrys fixed line telecoms sector.

It is also a pioneer in providing innovative calling, data and SMS packages for customers, especially Social package for Facebook, unlimited WhatsApp package and student package.

The Vietnam Military-run Telecommunications Group, although has not provided 4G network in Vietnam, already offers it in Laos and Cambodia via Unitel and Metfone in 2015.

This year, it plans to active this service to other international markets such as Timor, Peru, and Haiti./.
Foreign tourists visit Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur capital (Source: VNA)

According to deputy head of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Azizan Noordin, over the past years, Malaysia has organized various activities to promote its tourism in Cambodia through roadshows and fairs, especially during ASEAN-related events like the Youth Cultural Exchange Festival.

Currently, there are 44 direct flights between Malaysia and Cambodia a week, thus helping encourage Cambodian tourists to fly to Malaysia.

The Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association has organised a business networking session for the Cambodian market, during which delegates from 20 top Cambodian travel agents and 20 others from Malaysia met and discussed new business deals.

Last year, 75,000 Cambodian tourists visited Malaysia, up 1.6 percent from the previous year./.
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
BEIJING, March 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese PresidentXi Jinpingjoins a group deliberation of deputies from Shanghai to the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Saturday warned against "Taiwan independence," saying that national secession should not be repeated.

"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form," said Xi when joining a group of lawmakers from Shanghai on the first day of the national legislature's annual session.

"We will safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again," Xi said.

"This is the common wish and firm will of all Chinese people. It is also our solemn commitment and our responsibility to history and the people," he said.

"Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation," Xi told the legislators.

Tsai Ing-wen, candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP), won Taiwan's leadership election in January. Tsai defeated Eric Chu, candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT), the party which has ruled Taiwan for the past eight years.

"Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," he said.

"We will adhere to the 1992 Consensus as a political foundation, and continuously advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties," said the president.

Only by accepting the 1992 Consensus and recognizing its core implications can the two sides have a common political foundation and maintain good interactions, Xi said.

The 1992 Consensus clearly defines the nature of cross-Strait ties, and is the basis for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties in the long run.

Xi said the results of the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties should be safeguarded by compatriots from both sides. Realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation also needs the concerted efforts of people across the Strait.

The Chinese mainland will further promote cross-Strait cooperation and exchanges in all fields, deepen economic and social integration, and enhance the sense of a community of common destiny, the president said.

Fan Yun, deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, and chairman of a Shanghai-based consulting firm, told Xinhua that in recent years Taiwanese companies have benefited from the rapid development of the Chinese mainland. As an entrepreneur, she believed that she has the commitment to tightening economic relations between the mainland and Taiwan.

Chen Weiwen, a national legislator and head of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League Guangdong Provincial Committee, said Xi's remarks reiterate the Chinese mainland's bottom line. It is also a stern warning against the Taiwan independence activists.

"The essence of the 1992 Consensus is recognizing the one-China principle and denying the rhetoric saying that each side of the Taiwan Strait is a country," Chen said.

"The president's remarks showed that the ultimate goal of peaceful development of cross-Strait ties is to achieve peaceful reunification of the two sides," Kong Lingzhi, an NPC deputy from Jilin Province, with Taiwan as his native place of origin.

The NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body, are now on their annual sessions, with legislators and political advisors discussing major state affairs.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
A hundred hub schools are scheduled to be open in Ukraine in 2016, and the government has allocated UAH 200 million for their establishment, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"This year, we plan to open 100 hub schools," Yatseniuk said in the "10 Minutes with Prime Minister" program on Sunday.

According to him, last year the government allocated UAH 100 million for the purchase of multimedia equipment for schools across Ukraine. "This year the government has allocated UAH 200 million, so that Ukraine should get such hub schools," Yatseniuk said.

In addition, it allocated UAH 500 million for the purchase of school buses that will bring children to these schools.

In particular, by September 1, 2016, 1,000 such buses are to be purchased, so the prime minister urged local authorities to announce a tender for the purchase of these buses without delay.

As reported, on March 2, the Education and Science Ministry of Ukraine held a presentation of the program for the establishment of hub schools in Ukraine, to which smaller schools in the territory of the community or region will be subordinated.

Yatseniuk called the formation of hub schools the task for 2016 and suggested that the government should approve principal guidelines for the state policy in this area and announce local tenders for the purchase of buses, which should take children to hub schools.

A hub school is a school that will be created for students from senior classes from several schools with a low number of students. Thus, students of junior classes will be able to study close to their homes, remaining at primary schools with a low number of students, while students of senior classes will be transferred to hub schools, which will have advanced equipment for physics, chemistry, biology, etc. and respective teaching staff. The government is to allocate UAH 600 million to buy school buses for the hub schools.
Companies that are members of the of Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association in Ukraine (IPMA) have presented the conditions of production of medicines at their plants in India to Ukrainian MPs  representatives of the Ukraine-India parliamentary committees for healthcare, preventing and combating corruption and the budget committee.

During the visit the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation visited in Gurgaon one of the research and development centers of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., production facilities of Dr.Reddy's, Optimus Generics Ltd., which is part of Organosyn Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. and produces officinal medicines for Organosyn Ltd. that operates in Ukraine, the production facilities of Aurobindom one of the largest companies that have a full pharmaceutical production cycle from active pharmaceutical ingredients to officinal medicines, and a plant of Lupin pharmaceutical company located in Goa, one of 15 plants of the corporation.

Mbiotech, Abryl, Eurolifecare, Alembic pharmaceutical companies and Cipla, which is represented by Progress Pharma in Ukraine, showed their readiness to present their production facilities to Ukrainian lawmakers.

Members of the parliamentary delegation agreed that Indian companies will provide humanitarian aid that among other things, will be sent to satisfy the needs of Ukrainian military servicemen located in some regions of Ukraine. The total cost of medicines provided will be over UAH 1.5 million.

Head of the Ukrainian delegation and co-chair of the Ukraine-India parliamentary group Andriy Hordeyev said that Indian medicines, the quality and efficiency of which is confirmed by international certificates, must have a good niche on the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market.

A member of the parliamentary committee for healthcare Kostiantyn Yarynych said that Indian companies showed the clear quality control system.

"Maybe, cooperation with the  association that unites largest Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers that are present in Ukraine and supply medicines all over the world would be useful in this process. Maybe, membership in IPMA could become a certain guarantee of quality and efficiency of medicines that enter the Ukrainian market and the Ukrainian market must be opened for these products," Yarynych said.

He expressed a desire that Ukrainian pharmaceutical plants showed the conditions of production at their plants.

"Wed like to visit plants of Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers to learn where they buy active pharmaceutical ingredients and in what conditions they make their products," he said.

Chair of the parliamentary subcommittee for the budget policy and improving the provision of the Budget Code of the budget committee Kostiantyn Ischeikin said that the provision the healthcare sector with high-quality medicines is a strategic task for Ukraine.

"Partnership with manufacturers that are highly assessed by global society and that are not indifferent to the work they do inspires to the further fruitful and long-term cooperation," he said.

IPMA President Dr. Ramanan Menon said that Indian pharmaceutical companies are ready to develop in Ukraine, invest in production and creation of jobs.

"Showing our production facilities we wanted to convey a message to Ukrainian parliamentarians that we will welcome the introduction of European standards in their country and the introduction of equal rules for all market players. In this case we will be ready for investment," he said.
A court in Tbilisi on Monday sentenced Pankissi Gorge resident Ayuf Borchashvili to 14 years of imprisonment for abetting Islamic State, a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

Other defendants in the case, Giorgi Khutunishvili and David Pirisebiya, also from Pankissi Gorge, have been sentenced to eleven and ten years, respectively. All three were arrested in June last year.

Yet another person accused in the case, David Kuprava, was released from custody after reaching a procedural agreement with investigators. It was he who confirmed that the detained men had arranged for Muslim Kushtanashvili, 17, and Razman Bagakashvili, 18, to be sent across Pankissi Gorge to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State.

At the final court sitting on Monday, Borchasvhili denied any guilt. He said the young men who travelled to Syria from Pankissi Gorge "joined the Islamic State army consciously and voluntarily."
Russian embassy in Kyiv pelted with eggs by protesters demanding Savchenko's release, says press secretary of diplomatic mission

Protesters, who demand the release of Ukrainian aviator and parliamentarian Nadia Savchenko from the Russian detention center, were throwing eggs at the Russian embassy building in Kyiv on Sunday, March 6, press secretary of the embassy Oleg Grishin said.

Nearly 100 people who gathered for the action were chanting "Shame on Russia" and "Freedom to Savchenko", he said.

The Russian embassy filed a protest note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry due to the last night's attack on cars of the diplomatic mission, the press secretary told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The embassy filed a protest note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, because the attack was perpetrated last night, several cars were broken, flayers and smoke barrels were hurled at the embassy," Grishin said.
Russian presidential human rights envoy Ella Pamfilova said in a phone conversation with Nadia Savchenko's sister that Nadia feels fine, Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer for Savchenko, said on Sunday.

"Nadia Savchenko now feels fine, she is under permanent visual observation, her arterial pressure is being measures," Polozov said on Twitter.

There is currently no need to force Savchenko eat and drink, Polozov said, adding that a group of Ukrainian doctors has been formed to examine Savchenko. He added, however, that the date when they will be given access to Savchenko is not known.

Savchenko has been held in Russian custody since July 2014 after being kidnapped by Russia-backed separatists and illegally taken across the Ukrainian border.

Russian investigators claim Savchenko was at the base of the Aidar battalion near the village of Metalist in the Slovianoserbsk district of Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine on June 17, 2014, where she was conducting secret surveillance and correcting artillery fire targeting a checkpoint of militants from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, as well as civilians sheltering there; among them were three journalists of Russia's VGTRK broadcaster. Two Russian reporters, namely Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, were killed in the attack.

Savchenko denies all charges.

She has been held in custody in Russia since July 2014. Savchenko went on hunger strike in the Donetsk City Court on December 17, 2015 until the end of her trial.

On March 4, Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feygin said his client went on a 'dry' hunger strike, which means she will also refuse water as well as food, despite remonstrations from her defense team.
Two Ukrainian military were killed in the anti-terrorist operation zone in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and the enemy opened fire on the Ukrainian military positions 37 times, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, presidential administration spokesman, said.

"Two our military were killed in action in the past 24 hours," he told a briefing in Kyiv on Sunday.

Motuzianyk said the enemy has breached the ceasefire regime in the Popasna region on Luhansk track five times, including using 82 mm mortars.

On the Donetsk track, the situation exacerbated south and east of Avdiyivka, where militants launched over sixty mines of various calibers on the positions of the Ukrainian military within 24 hours. Also in Avdiyivka, the enemy opened fire using 122 mm self-propelled artillery platforms Gvozdika, and militants used 82 mm mortars in Zaitseve twice.

"Additionally, attacks and military provocations by the occupants occurred on the other parts of the frontline, on the Svitlodar Arch, in Mayorsk, and in the area of the Donetsk Airport. All in all, the enemy carried out 37 attacks on the Donetsk track in the past 24 hours," Motuzianyk said.

On the Mariupol track, the enemy opened sniper fire on the Ukrainian checkpoint on the motorway connecting Donetsk and Zaporizhia in Maryinka. "To save the lives of the personnel of the ant-terrorist operation and civilians, the checkpoint is temporarily closed. In Starohnativka, the positions of the Ukrainian troops also came under fire from a sniper and combat infantry vehicles," Motuzianyk said.

Additionally, ceasefire breaches have been registered in the village of Shyrokyne east of Mariupol. A total of seven attacks on Ukrainian positions were registered on the Mariupol track, sources in Kyiv said.
Russia has given no permission yet for the Ukrainian military service member and parliamentarian, Nadia Savchenko, held at detention facility No. 3 in Novocherkassk in Russia's Rostov region, to be visited by a group of Ukrainian doctors, said Vitaliy Moskalenko, Ukrainian Consul General in Rostov-on-Don.

"The relevant request was sent to the Russian Foreign Ministry as early as March 5. However, there is still no response," Moskalenko told the Ukrainian censor.net news website.

On Monday, March 7, the consuls are going to visit the jail where Savchenko is being held, he said. "We have a firm intention and need to visit her at any cost!" Moskalenko said.

On March 3 the Donetsk city court in the Rostov region held another hearing in the Savchenko case during which she was expected to make a final statement. However, after the lawyers made their speeches, the judge unexpectedly declared the session closed, without giving the accused the final word. The court was adjourned until March 9 when the defendant will be given the final word, following which the judges will announce the sentencing date.

At the court hearings last Thursday Savchenko announced her intention to begin a "dry" hunger strike from the following Friday, unless she was given the last word. On Friday morning her lawyer Mikhail Feygin said his client had already announced a hunger strike, "has not drunk water the whole day and is going to continue the hunger strike until she is returned to Ukraine."

Savchenko's relatives and lawyers who maintain her Facebook page published photocopies of her final statement in which the defendant said she is not guilty, will not appeal against the Russian court verdict and will announce a dry hunger strike after its announcement.

She also said that she will resist any intervention by Russian doctors and will only accept it from Ukrainian or other foreign doctors.

Savchenko has been held in Russian custody since July 2014 after being kidnapped by Russia-backed separatists and illegally taken across the Ukrainian border.

Russian investigators claim Savchenko was at the base of the Aidar battalion near the village of Metalist in the Slovianoserbsk district of Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine on June 17, 2014, where she was conducting secret surveillance and correcting artillery fire targeting a checkpoint of militants from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, as well as civilians sheltering there; among them were three journalists of Russia's VGTRK broadcaster. Two Russian reporters, namely Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, were killed in the attack.

Savchenko denies all charges.
Poroshenko to pay official visit to Turkey on March 9-10

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will go on an official visit to Turkey on March 9-10, the Ukrainian president's press service reported on Monday.

During the visit the Ukrainian president will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu and Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Ismail Kahraman, the report said.

The fifth meeting of the High Level Strategic Council of Ukraine and Turkey will also take place. The president is also scheduled to meet with representatives of Turkish business circles, the press service added.
A galaxy far, far away has shattered the cosmic distance record set by astronomers.

Scientists pushed the Hubble Space Telescope to its limits to confirm that the galaxy is 13.4 billion light years away, the most distant and oldest object known in the universe.

The light we see from the galaxy began its long journey through space just 400 million years after the Big Bang gave birth to the universe.

The most distant and oldest object known in the universe: Galaxy GN-z11, shown in the inset, is seen as it was 13.4 billion years in the past, just 400 million years after the big bang, when the universe was only three percent of its current age.

Astronomers measured the distance to the galaxy, known as GN-z11, by splitting its light up into its component colours.

Because of the expansion of the universe, distant objects flying away from us have their light stretched to the red end of the spectrum - a phenomenon known as 'red shift'.

The larger an object's red shift, the further away it is.

Previously a galaxy called EGSY8p7 held the red shift record, a figure of 8.68. But GN-z11 has a red shift of 11.1, corresponding to just 400 million years after the universe began.

Dr Pascal Oesch, a member of the team from Yale University in the US, said: 'We've taken a major step back in time, beyond what we'd ever expected to be able to do with Hubble.

'We managed to look back in time to measure the distance to a galaxy when the universe was only 3% of its current age.'

The Big Bang is thought to have brought everything that now exists into being around 13.8 billion years ago.

GN-z11 is believed to be 25 times smaller than the Milky Way, but growing fast and spawning new stars 20 times faster than our galaxy.

The findings, reported in the Astrophysical Journal, raise many questions because according to current theories of cosmic evolution even a galaxy of this size should not have existed so long ago.

Co-author Dr Ivo Labbe, from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, said: 'The discovery of GN-z11 showed us that our knowledge about the early universe is still very restricted.

'How GN-z11 was created remains somewhat of a mystery for now.

'Probably we are seeing the first generations of stars forming around black holes.'

Coauthor Garth Illingworth, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, said the team pushed NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to its limits to get the spectroscopic data needed to determine the galaxy's 'redshift,' a measure of its distance from Earth.

The new Hubble observations take astronomers into a realm that was once thought to be only reachable with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

The previous record holder: Astronomers harnessing the combined power of Nasa's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have found the faintest object ever seen in the early universe. Called Tyna, it existed about 400 million years after the big bang, 13.8 billion years ago.

'It's remarkable that Hubble could do this,' Illingworth said.

'This new discovery shows that the Webb telescope will surely find many such young galaxies reaching back to when the first galaxies were forming.'

'We've taken a major step back in time, beyond what we'd ever expected to be able to do with Hubble,' said first author Pascal Oesch of Yale University.

'It takes so long for light from GN-z11 to reach our telescopes that we see the galaxy as it was when the universe was only 3 percent of its current age, he said.

This measurement provides strong evidence that some unusual and unexpectedly bright galaxies found earlier in Hubble images are really at extraordinary distances.

Previously, the team had estimated GN-z11's distance by photometric techniques, using filters to measure light at different wavelengths with Hubble and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE: THE NEW HUBBLE

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter (21ft) primary mirror.

The project is working to a 2018 launch date.

The JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide.

It will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.

Nasa describes the telescope as a 'powerful time machine with infrared vision that will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe'.

Now, for the first time for a galaxy at such an extreme distance, the team used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to precisely measure the distance to GN-z11 spectroscopically by splitting the light into its component colors.

Astronomers measure cosmic distances by determining the redshift of a galaxy.

Due to the expansion of the universe, every distant object appears to be receding from us because its light is stretched to longer, redder wavelengths as it travels through expanding space to reach our telescopes.

The greater the redshift, the farther the galaxy.

'Our spectroscopic observations reveal the galaxy to be even farther away than we had originally thought, right at the distance limit of what Hubble can observe,' said coauthor Gabriel Brammer of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

These findings provide a tantalizing preview of the observations that the James Webb Space Telescope will perform after it is launched into space in 2018.

The discovery also has important consequences for NASA's planned Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which will have the ability to find thousands of such bright, very distant galaxies.
BEIJING, March 5 -- President Xi Jinping on Saturday warned against "Taiwan independence," saying that national secession should not be repeated.

"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form," said Xi when joining a group of lawmakers from Shanghai on the first day of the national legislature's annual session.

"We will safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again," Xi said.

"This is the common wish and firm will of all Chinese people. It is also our solemn commitment and our responsibility to history and the people," he said.

"Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation," Xi told the legislators.

Tsai Ing-wen, candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won Taiwan's leadership election in January. Tsai defeated Eric Chu, candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT), the party which has ruled Taiwan for the past eight years.

"Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," he said.

"We will adhere to the 1992 Consensus as a political foundation, and continuously advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties," said the president.

Only by accepting the 1992 Consensus and recognizing its core implications can the two sides have a common political foundation and maintain good interactions, Xi said.

The 1992 Consensus clearly defines the nature of cross-Strait ties, and is the basis for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties in the long run.

Xi said the results of the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties should be safeguarded by compatriots from both sides. Realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation also needs the concerted efforts of people across the Strait.

The Chinese mainland will further promote cross-Strait cooperation and exchanges in all fields, deepen economic and social integration, and enhance the sense of a community of common destiny, the president said.

Fan Yun, deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, and chairman of a Shanghai-based consulting firm, told Xinhua that in recent years Taiwanese companies have benefited from the rapid development of the Chinese mainland. As an entrepreneur, she believed that she has the commitment to tightening economic relations between the mainland and Taiwan.

Chen Weiwen, a national legislator and head of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League Guangdong Provincial Committee, said Xi's remarks reiterate the Chinese mainland's bottom line. It is also a stern warning against the Taiwan independence activists.

"The essence of the 1992 Consensus is recognizing the one-China principle and denying the rhetoric saying that each side of the Taiwan Strait is a country," Chen said.

"The president's remarks showed that the ultimate goal of peaceful development of cross-Strait ties is to achieve peaceful reunification of the two sides," Kong Lingzhi, an NPC deputy from Jilin Province, with Taiwan as his native place of origin.

The NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body, are now on their annual sessions, with legislators and political advisors discussing major state affairs.
China will not abandon its ambitions for growth, although it will not pursue GDP single-mindedly, Premier Li Keqiang told lawmakers at the National People's Congress on Sunday.

Li joined a panel discussion of deputies from Shandong, one of the country's three most powerful and diverse provincial economies.

The province reported GDP of 6.3 trillion yuan ($966 billion) last year, nearly one-10th of national GDP. The other two key provincial-level powerhouses are Guangdong and Jiangsu.

The premier praised Shan-dong for setting its growth target this year at between 7.5 and 8 percent, one percentage point higher than the national target range.

He hailed Shandong for its "courage" in playing a more important role in leading economic growth among provinces in northern China. Some of these provinces, plagued by a lack of diversity and by overcapacity in uncompetitive manufacturing, are facing a tough task in catching up with the rest of the nation.

"It will be hard to keep enough jobs and protect people's livelihoods without adequate and reasonable economic growth," Li said.

With some provinces having a hard time in meeting the nation's average target growth range, Shandong should be playing a pioneering role.

It was the fourth time that Li, who is also an NPC deputy for Shandong, had sat down with representatives from the province's NPC delegation since 2013.

Ouyang Hui, an economic specialist at a research institute affiliated to the National Development and Reform Commission, said, "I think the central government considered (the issue) thoroughly when setting the national economic development target range at between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016.

"Some provinces in western and northern China will face ... comparatively heavy pressure in their economic transitions because they have depended on certain local resources for too long, such as coal mining and steel making.

"It may be hard for them to meet the nation's average growth target in the coming year," he said.

"As a result, provinces such as Shandong, which have been making faster progress, can share more of the nation's growth burden."

Shandong's growth target range for this year was set in January by the provincial people's congress, after it achieved year-on-year GDP growth of 8 percent last year, compared with national GDP growth of 6.9 percent.

Regions south of the Yellow River have experienced better momentum and performances in nurturing new industries, while regions north of the river are not doing so well in this respect.

Li said he hopes that Shandong can set a good example for other provinces in the north in nurturing new economic driving forces.
Two of China's major economic centers have been put under the spotlight at this year's session of the National People's Congress.

When it comes to the city of Shanghai, one of the major issues is the cost of housing.

Shanghai Municipal Committee chair Han Zheng says they're looking at ways of trying to deal with the situation.

"The real estate market in Shanghai is seeing a somewhat irrational and overly-greedy trend recently. This is starting to hurt the health of the property market. We're trying to keep a close watch on this phenomenon. Housing is a big part of people's lives, and as such, the government needs to keep tabs on it to ensure markets don't get out of control. That said, anyone who is found intentionally trying to manipulate the market will find themselves in the face of the law."

Meanwhile, economic cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has also been another hot topic in the annual sessions.

Guangdong governor Zhu Xiaodan says one of the areas they're hoping to capitalize on is young entrepreneurs.

"The Guangdong-Hong Kong Summer Internship Program is going to continue. It allows Hong Kong students to intern in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other major cities in the Pearl River Delta. It lets the students to familiarize themselves with the situation in Guangdong, especially in the field of entrepreneurship. We want to make the region a place these young people want to set up businesses in."

This year's CPPCC and NPC sessions will run through this week.
South Korean Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT-7), small amphibious landing craft, move position during US-South Korean joint military exercises at Pohang seashore, March 31, 2014. [Photo:Xinhua]

South Korea and the United States on Monday kicked off their largest-ever annual war games, weeks after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, Combined Forces Command (CFC) said in a statement.

The drills, code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, are scheduled to run by the end of next month. The Key Resolve command post exercise based on computer simulation will be carried out through March 18, with the Foal Eagle field training exercise lasting until April 30.

The United States will mobilize some 17,000 troops, more than double the number of previous years, and deploy a combat aviation brigade and an expeditionary Marine brigade. About 300,000 South Korean personnel will be involved, some 1.5 times more than its average deployment for the annual drills.

The CFC said that the United Nations Command, the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting South Korea during and after the Korean War, had informed the Korean People's Army of the DPRK through the truce village of Panmunjom about the exercise dates and their non-provocative nature.

The largest exercises ever staged on the Korean peninsula came after the DPRK tested what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and followed up with the launch of a long-range rocket, which outsiders see as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, on Feb. 7.

In an apparent warning to Pyongyang over its nuclear test and rocket launch, the U.S. forces would show off its firepower during the drills by deploying various strategic assets, such as a nuclear-powered John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its attendant fleet, a nuclear-capable submarine and aerial tankers to refuel fighter jets. The B-2 stealth bomber is also under consideration for deployment.

The CFC said the USS John C. Stennis Strike Group is scheduled to conduct a routine port visit to South Korea's southern port city of Busan from March 13. The group consists of Carrier Air Wing 9, Destroyer Squadron 21, guided-missile destroyers USS Stockdale, USS Chung-Hoon and USS William P. Lawrence and guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay as well as the aircraft carrier.

The Key Resolve command post exercise will simulate scenarios in computers to repel the DPRK's invasion like in the past, while applying the new Operation Plan 5015 for the first time to the spring drill.

The OPLAN 5015, which was formally approved by Seoul and Washington in June last year, allegedly encompasses scenarios for pre-emptive precision strikes against the DPRK's nuclear and missile facilities in a contingency with Pyongyang.

Joint amphibious landing maneuvers, called Ssangyong exercise, will also be the largest in scale since it was launched in 2012. It will involve some 3,000 South Korean Marine Corps troops and around 2,000 Navy sailors along with about 7,000 U.S. Marines personnel.

The Ssangyong exercise, which will run from Monday to next Friday, will reportedly strengthen interior operations, rather than landing maneuvers, to practice coming ashore and marching deep into the DPRK areas housing nuclear and missile facilities.

South Korea and the United States have increased the deployment of surveillance assets, including military satellites and reconnaissance aircrafts, against possible provocations from the DPRK which has denounced the war games as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

Taking of the U.S.-South Korea war games, top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un had ordered nuclear warheads to be placed always on standby for use at any time, according to Friday's report from the DPRK's KCNA news agency.

Kim said the enemies were planning to carry out the "beheading operation" that targets the DPRK leadership and its system. He made the remarks when he guided the test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher, boosting concerns over the already heightened tensions on the peninsula to be raised further.

On Thursday, the DPRK fired six short-range projectiles into eastern waters in an apparent show of anger over the adoption of new harsher UN Security Council resolutions, which Seoul described as the toughest and most effective non-military measures in seven decades of UN history.

In 2015, Pyongyang launched short-range missiles in a protest against the spring war games on the day when the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises kicked off.
Yi Gang, a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, answers questions during a press conference on the supply-side structural reform at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

BEIJING, March 6 -- China's significant foreign reserves reduction largely went to its citizens and companies, central bank deputy governor Yi Gang said at a press conference Sunday.

"China's foreign reserves declined by about half a trillion U.S. dollars in 2015," said Yi. "Mainly, the reserves went to Chinese citizens and companies."

Last year, deposits of U.S. dollars within China increased by tens of billions. Banks increased their stack of greenbacks by around 100 billion, and corporate debts denominated in U.S. dollar dropped by around 100 billion, said Yi.

Corporate and individual outbound payments in foreign currencies surpassed inbound payments by 240 billion U.S. dollars last year, Yi said.

Major outbound payments include tourism, education and consumption expenditures.

Plus, the U.S. dollar appreciated against other currencies last year, Yi added.

"By and large, the majority of foreign reserve losses can be explained by the gains made by citizens and companies," Yi said.

Yi was asked about China's foreign reserves twice at a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, of which he is a member.

China's foreign reserves are diversified, he said, reflecting China's trade, investment and payment structures.

Moreover, China follows the standards set by the International Monetary Fund when calculating foreign reserves, Yi said, stressing that assets that lack in liquidity were not included.
China's second aircraft carrier to be equipped with J-15, military expert says

China's carrier fighter J-15, nicknamed "Flying Shark," is China's first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet, with the capability to carry out various tasks. The rarely released photos show that "Liaoning" aircraft carrier conducts successful take-off and landing tests of its carrier-borne J-15 fighters. (Photo source: Xinhuanet)

China's domestically produced J-15 carrier-based fighter will be deployed on the country's second aircraft carrier, said military expert Yin Zhuo in a recent interview.

Similar to the countrys first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, China's second aircraft carrier will mainly load J-15 with supports from anti-submarine warfare helicopters, early warning helicopters and rescue helicopters, according to Yin in an interview with China National Radio.

Yin said in the interview that the gross tonnage of the second aircraft carrier might be larger than that of the 55,000-ton Liaoning, which was originally built in Ukraine before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Liaoning prototype is constrained by the Montreux Convention.

According to Yin, the second aircraft carrier will be newly designed, but its appearance will be based on the Russian Project 1143.5 Orel Class design for the sake of stability of fluid mechanics

Yin said the new aircraft carrier will also feature a new design that allows the vessel to carry more ammunition, aircraft and fuel, greatly improving its self-sufficiency and combat effectiveness at sea.

The construction of China's second aircraft carrier, the country's first to be independently designed, was announced by Ministry of Defense spokesperson Yang Yujun on Dec. 31, 2015.
Yukiya Amano (L, Front), Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Rotating chairman of the IAEA board of governors and Brazilian envoy to IAEA Laercio Antonio Vinhas (R, Front) attend the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, capital of Austria, on March 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Qian Yi)

VIENNA, March 7 -- The UN nuclear agency IAEA on Monday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to comply with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

"I strongly urge the DPRK to implement fully all relevant Agency and Security Council resolutions," the agency chief Yukiya Amano told a board meeting of the agency in Vienna.

Currently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has no nuclear inspector in the DPRK which makes it difficult for the IAEA to have a map of the country's nuclear plan.

The DPRK announced its forth nuclear test at the beginning of the year, leading to a new resolution of the UN Security Council.

The IAEA said it was ready to cooperate with sides to resume its nuclear verification activities in the DPRK once a political agreement was reached among states concerned.
Clockwise from top: Iris Chang (second from right) interviewed Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin (second from left) in 1995. Chang autographs a copy of The Rape ofNanking for a reader at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington in 1998. Ying-Ying Chang (center) and Shau-Jin Chang (left) attend the first national memorial service for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, on Dec 13 last year. Photos Provided to China Daily and by Liu Yu / Xinhua

A delegation from China's Huaian city has retraced the footsteps of Iris Chang, the late Chinese-American historian and author, to the Bay Area to collect memorabilia for a museum being constructed in her memory.

Chang was the author of The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, which chronicled the massacre and the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

When the book was published in 1997, it became a best-seller, introducing the Nanking Massacre (1937-1938) to many Western readers for the first time.

In 2004, Chang took her own life at age 36 in a losing battle with depression.

Young historian to be honored in China Her ancestral home, Huaian city, in Jiangsu province, decided to build a memorial hall in tribute to her contributions in preserving a key chapter in Chinese history.

The construction started early last year and the center is expected to be open to the public at the end of this year. Covering a floor space of 1,000 square meters, the memorial hall will display photos representing her life and studies, as well as videos featuring interviews with her.

All the materials were donated by Chang's parents and members of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, a non-profit grass-roots organization with dozens of chapters in North America.

"The Chinese Americans' spirit of assiduously seeking historical truth is worth remembering," said Zhou Xiang, director of the Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese of Huaian city. "When the memorial hall is open, all Chinese Americans are welcome to visit it and the city."

Huaian is a well-known city with a history more than 2,300 years old. It was home to many great scholars and men of letters in Chinese history. Zhou said he hoped the establishment of the memorial hall would help promote the city's image as a cultural and historical center.

Ying-Ying Chang, Iris Chang's mother, said her daughter had heard a lot about her ancestral home though she had never been there. The couple was invited to visit the city and the construction site last year. After they got back home, they began sorting out her photos and sent about 700 to 800 to the hall. Other memorabilia will be sent back with the visiting delegation.

In San Jose, where Iris Chang spent her final days and her parents now live, a new park was named after her to recognize her contributions to the local, national and global communities. The park is expected to open in 2017.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged more efforts to encourage officials to engage in innovation and reforms as he opened China's annual legislative sessions on Saturday. Analysts believed the move will greatly inspire their work enthusiasm amid economic downward pressure.

China will motivate innovators and reformers by improving the motivation system and giving more understand for those mistakes that arise from innovative ideas, Li claimed in the government report he delivered at the opening meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress.

The mechanism will inspire officials enthusiasm for work by offering them chances to correct mistakes that arise from innovation, according to him.

Lis reassurance comes when China is comprehensively deepening reforms, during which new roadblocks kept emerging. Wrong approaches will probably be taken since those officials have no precedents to refer when they addressing those problems.

Amid such backdrop, those innovators need more inclusiveness for their mistakes and chances to correct them. By adopting such a mechanism, a favorable environment for reform and innovation will be created.

Analysts added that Chinas civil servants are usually more conservative and less innovative than those in Western nations.

They believed that in todays China when it dedicates to comprehensively deepening reform, more understanding for mistakes has special significance.

As a keyword included in the government work report, the mechanism can greatly motivate officials inspiration for innovation amid the economic downward pressure.

However, analysts pointed out though innovative explorations are encouraged, actions that deliberately violate rules cannot be tolerated. Those who are found dereliction of duty or doing their jobs irresponsibly also need to be on alert.
A country's economy is defined in many ways, with GDP growth attracting the most attention. In the Report on the Work of the Government delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the Fourth Session of the 12th National People's Congress on Saturday, he mentioned that this year's GDP growth would be between 6.5 to 7 percent. Compared with the target of 7 percent set for last year, this represents a slight decline. This is an economic reality we need to face.

But we need to review the context of this 6.5 to 7 percent growth rate. It is a slowing-down after three decades of rapid development. The world's second largest economy of over $10 trillion is still growing, while the highest growth rate for the world's other top five economies is less than three percent, or even negative.

A slight decline in the growth rate is inevitable. But if this mid to high growth rate can be maintained for five years or longer, China will create another era that the nation can be proud of.

The key is whether the economic plan can be implemented, not trumpeted with bogus data. There exists a pessimistic outlook on the Chinese economy. Some say China cannot avoid a hard economic landing.

Any economic forecast must be objective and realistic, and all factors should be considered. China is still on the development path with plenty of room for improvement. The mid-and long-term development trajectory relies on political stability. As long as society doesn't fall into chaos, China's further development will continue. We are quite confident about that.

It is also important that reforms prevail, albeit with ups and downs during the process. Nonetheless, a society committed to reform and one bound by the old path are different. For China, reforms are not a slogan. Both the leadership and grass-roots are committed to pursue reforms. There are constant adjustments in China's economy, which is not stymied by systematic obstacles.

Specifically, programs are available to further economic growth. For instance, China's 13th Five-year Plan aspires to build new high-speed rail lines of over 10 thousand kilometers connecting more than 80 percent of China's big cities. The country's highways network will also be upgraded. These two infrastructure initiatives alone will produce a tremendous economic stimulus.

Growth opportunities are enormous, like the public clamor for enhancing medical services and the government's plan to expand investment in the field. A poverty-alleviation program will also produce abundant economic opportunities. And environmental protection will be part of the field's technological and equipment upgrade.

Three years after the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, Chinese society's understanding of development has evolved, embracing the reality and necessity of the "new normal." Gone are the days of impatience.

On hindsight, it is easy to see that what we are striving for today is different from years ago. We are building a society of a higher standard. We do face many problems, from risks in the financial sector to a sluggish real economy. But Chinese economy has more resources to solve these problems. For example, rising consumption is proof of confidence in China's economic future.
Chinese President Xi Jinping joins a group deliberation of deputies from Heilongjiang Province to the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

BEIJING, March 7 -- President Xi Jinping on Monday called for deeper reform to revitalize China's northeastern industrial base.

Joining lawmakers from Heilongjiang Province at the annual parliamentary session, Xi urged them to pursue "innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development."

He said that the local government and Party officials must abide by the law as they implement reform policies and that they should encourage the public to do likewise.

Capable, honest officials should be rewarded with promotions, the president suggested.
Chinas foreign reserve reduction went to citizens and companies

BEIJING, March 6 (Peoples Daily) Yi Gang , Chinas Central Bank Deputy Governor, said on Sunday that Chinas significant foreign reserves reduction largely went to its citizens and companies.

The official foreign reserves released by the Central Bank were mainly bought back by private companies, banks and families, Yi said.

Meanwhile, their outbound payments in foreign currencies surpassed inbound payments by 240 billion U.S. dollars last year. Major outbound payments include tourism, education and consumption expenditures, Yi added.

In addition, he explained that Chinas foreign reserves reduction last year could also be attributed to the U.S. dollars appreciation against other currencies.

Chinas foreign reserves declined by about half a trillion U.S. dollars in 2015.
Chen Zhenggao, Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development, gives an interview to media on Saturday before the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress kicked off at the Great Hall of People. (Photo: Shi Jiamin from Peoples Daily)

Chinas Premier Li Keqiang gave the remedy to Chinas housing market as he opened China's annual legislative sessions on Saturday, pledging more efforts to construct affordable housing projects and pursue a stable and healthy real estate market.

Chinese government will improve tax and credit policies that encourage rational housing consumption, focus on meeting rigid demand, and reduce housing inventory by adopting measures that apply to different cities, which was stressed in the government work report Premier Li delivered at the opening meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress.

Policies will focus on both housing rental and purchase, and some floating populations will be granted to public rental properties step by step, Li added.

Lis reassurance, coming when domestic and international observers are watching how China will stabilize its property market, reveals the importance China attaches to a healthy market, a barometer of the macroeconomic situation.

A series of favorable policies introduced by China since the second half of last year to reduce inventory boosted market confidence, but the rising transactions and prices in some first-tier cities after the Spring Festival this year triggered concerns.

China's central bank on March 1st cut the reserve-ratio requirement for banks by 0.5 percentage points. The market read the move as an implication of loose monetary policy.

Chen Zhenggao, Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development, noted that the authoritative body has been keeping a vigilant eye on the fluctuation of housing prices in four first-tier cities, and closely contacts with their local governments.

The four first-tier cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, are trying to cool the market by imposing measures such as strict sales restrictions and differential taxation policies, Chen said when attending the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress.

The supply of land and apartments, especially small and medium-sized ones, would be increased, while the authorities would crack down on irregularities in transactions, the housing minister stressed, adding that information on land supply will be timely released to the public.

The major task to the countrys property market is to destock, Zhu Guangyao, Chinas Vice Finance Minister, commented on the rise of home prices in first-tier cities, refuting those viewpoints claiming a property bubble will arise in China.

Given the complexity of Chinas economy, a holistic view must be adopted when analyzing the markets of first-, second- and third-tier cities, he stressed, adding that the market dynamics must be closely watched.

He also called for confidence in the market, saying that present trend proves that the demand is increasing, at least in first-tier cities.

The photo, posted online by netizens, was taken on people in queue in front of an estate trading center in Shanghai after Spring Festival. (Photo: Wechat account named Hello, Shanghai )
China was put under limelight after it voted in favor of new sanctions resolution against North Korea in the UN Security Council.

China agrees on the UNs decision because it conforms to the demands of international law, said Chinese military expert Yin Zhuo on the sidelines of the countrys annual two sessions, refuting western voices doubting Chinas sincerity.

Personally I do not think a war will be waged in near future, added Yin, also a member of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

After the UN Security Council voted to impose a broad array of sanctions against North Korea , the world has been tracking on stance of China, as neighbor of North Korea and permanent member of the Council.

Some Western media fanned Chinas responsibility on the peninsula nuclear issue as usual. The New York Times, for example, said that much depends, however, on whether China will enforce it.

But most Chinese people see such analysis as obfuscation, as the country is always responsible and constructive when dealing with international affairs. It also implements UN resolutions resolutely. We hope that the resolution can be fully and earnestly implemented, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei expressed Chinas position at a regular press conference last Thursday.

China has been playing an irreplaceable role on the North Korea nuclear issue. China has repeatedly stated that it opposes actions that violate the nuclear non-proliferation system and threaten regional peace and stability. At the same time, China stresses that bringing North Korea to the negotiating table is the right way out, and the sanctions are not ends in themselves.

The resolution issued by the UN Security Council aims to resume the negotiation, which should be viewed as a new start and stepping-stone of the political solution, last Saturday the commentary published on Peoples Daily under the pen name Zhong Sheng further explained Chinas viewpoint.

The article also pointed out that the North Korean nuclear issue is rooted in the serious distrust formed in the cold war times, and the only way to turn the situation around is to restart the Six-Party talk at an early date.

In addition, the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system by the US in South Korea has aroused more public concerns in the region.

"China opposes the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system on the Korean peninsula because such an action harms the strategic security interests of China and other countries of the region, goes against the goal of maintaining peace, security, and stability of the peninsula," said Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN Liu Jieyi.

It "will seriously undermine the effort of the international community to seek a political solution to the question of the Korean peninsula," he added.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers a government work report during the opening meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 5, 2016. (Photo: Li Ge from Peoples Daily)

This years government work report focuses on building China into a moderately prosperous society, new development ideas, Chinas sound economic fundamentals and encourages a stronger role of the Internet in economic transformation, two officials from the State Council concluded.

Huang Shouhong, deputy director of the State Council Research Office, and Xiang Dong, department chief of the State Council Research Office made the analysis after Premier Li Keqiang delivered the report at the opening meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress Saturday.

Focusing on building a moderately prosperous society

Xiang said that Chinese government attached great importance to the drafting of this years report. President Xi Jinping, for example, took time out to hold special meeting over it.

Premier Li repeatedly held seminars to solicit opinions over the reports guiding ideas and framework. Viewpoints of businessmen, scholars and non-CPC personages were all collected in the report, he added.

The draft focuses on the theme of building a moderately prosperous society. To better address the publics concerns, the report includes a specific section to illustrate the 13th Five-Year Plan, a roadmap for the nation's development from 2016 to 2020.

New development ideas, -innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development - were applied to every item listed in the report.

Revealing sound economic fundamentals

Huang, also one of the drafters of the report, praised Chinas economic growth in the past year, citing dazzling economic data and development impetus driven by optimized structure.

Last year, Chinas service sector contributed to over 50 percent of the GDP for the first time, he explained.

The Chinese government has sufficient innovative policies and measures to address the economys downward pressures that can be swiftly applied when needed, Huang commented.

In 2015, Chinas GDP grew by 6.9 percent and its GDP aggregate exceeded $10 trillion for the second consecutive year, Xiang noted, adding that in todays world, only China and the US have reached this magnitude.

In addition, 13.12 million new jobs were created in Chinese cities last year. Surveyed unemployment rates in 36 large- and medium-sized cities stayed at 5 percent, and many plants in eastern coastal cities are facing labor shortage, Xiang stressed, refuting claims that China will be hit by economic crisis.

The fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress kicks off on March 5 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo: Shi Jiaming from Peoples Daily)

Encouraging stronger role of Internet in economic transformation

Xiang also addressed the importance of supply-side structural reform, explaining that China is now the biggest exporter of 287 items, yet its people still make huge amounts of overseas purchases.

In a bid to implement the supply-side structural reform, one of the priorities of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the country needs to stimulate the market by further streamlining administration, delegating power, as well as cutting tax and fees, he added.

The department chief also noted that against such a backdrop, the Internet could serve as a springboard for Chinas economic transformation.

Right now, any industry that claims itself as independent of the Internet is bound to be sifted out, said the official, adding that these emerging driving forces represented by the Internet will spur continued development and upgrading.

Vowing for more monetary policies

Monetary policy is another highlight, in Xiangs opinion. More specific financial and taxation policies will be introduced this year, he said.

He also believes that Chinas deficit ratio still has leeway, stating that even at above 3 percent, it is relatively low compared to the rest of the world.

The government will do more to improve peoples livelihood, Xiang pointed out.

For example, more money will be granted to commercial insurance providers to help reduce the financial burdens of millions of cancer patients.

The maximum reimbursement allowance of the urban employees' basic medical insurance will be raised from 300,000 yuan ($46,110) to 400,000 yuan.
He Qiang, member of the CPPCC National Committee and professor of Central University of Finance and Economics, gives interview to reporter during the two sessions. (Photo: CNTV)

Deputies attending Chinas ongoing two sessions advised the country to tighten her grip on Internet finance.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for regulation of Internet finance, including Internet finance, accelerating the upgrading of a supervision system for modern finance, and providing complete coverage for financial risk supervision, in the government work report he delivered at Saturdays opening meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress.

Li Kemu, member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, noted Thursday that to promote the healthy development of Internet finance, technical supervision should be strengthened and risk prevention plans should be drafted.

The bottom line is to prevent systematic risks, stressed Li, also a former Vice President of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Gong Fuwen, the CPPCC delegate and Deputy Chief Procurator of Shaanxi Provincial Peoples Procuratorate, agreed on the great urgency of enhancing the regulation of Internet finance.

The central government can integrate the supervisory duties of relevant departments and appoint the central bank or China Banking Regulatory Commission as the sole supervision body of Internet finance, he suggested on Wednesday, adding that efficiency can be improved and costs lowered as a result.

Gong also advised the authorities to raise the regulatory threshold for providing Internet financial services, and to increase market transparency.

For P2P platforms without big data support, potential risks such as illegal fundraising, low liquidity, and illegal operations should all be cause for high alert, he pointed out.

The central bank can grant access to the platforms in its credit system to reduce credit risk. When the time is right, an information sharing platform can be established for further categorizing different types of information for different purposes, he added.

These deputies viewpoints follow on the rapid emergence of Chinas Internet financial industry in recent years.

Data showed that by 2015, over 2,595 P2P platforms were registered, accounting for a total of 982.3 billion Yuan (151 billion USD) in transactions. Third-party Internet payment accounted for more than 87 percent of online payment, significantly exceeding that of banks.

But lack of legislation and supervision, as well as internal industry discipline and risk management, are also testing the future of Internet finance. In 2015 alone, more than a third of these platforms were exposed for violations or even criminal activities.

He Qiang, member of the CPPCC National Committee and professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, also suggested tightened regulation on the industry.

He submitted a proposal on supervision of P2P platforms based on their classification. Many so-called P2P platforms raised funds illegally under the guise of providing Internet financial services, he explained, adding that the prospective founders of P2P platforms should go through some sort of approval process.
Chinese President Xi Jinpings remarks on adherence to China's basic economic system indicate that China will not change its stance of providing support to the non-public economy, said a commentary published by Peoples Daily.

Xi made the remarks at a panel discussion of political advisors from the China Democratic National Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce during the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

During his speech, Xi reaffirmed the importance of both public ownership as well as the non-public sector, explaining that these two significant components of China's socialist economic system should complement rather than contradict each other.

China must unswervingly strengthen and develop the public sector and also unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector, Xi said, urging the non-public sector to become even more successful.

Xis remarks laid out the dynamic guiding Chinas economic development  China will adhere to its basic economic system, with public ownership playing a dominant role and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side.

In addition, it is Chinas overarching policy to offer consistent support to both the public and non-public economy.

Such an overarching policy, and ongoing maintenance of Chinas basic economic system, should provide confidence in the non-public sector and the whole Chinese economy.

As Xi explained Chinas supportive stance for the non-public sector, the role the non-public economy plays in Chinas economic development has not changed, Chinas policies in encouraging, supporting and guiding the non-pubic economy has not changed, and Chinas commitment to creating a favorable environment for the non-public sector has not changed either.

Thanks to favorable policies launched by the country, Chinas non-public sector has grown rapidly since China began to reform and open up over 30 years ago.

Nowadays, the private economy accounts for over 60 percent of GDP, and creates more than 80 percent of jobs. Moreover, 65 percent of fixed asset investment and 67 percent of direct foreign investment come from the non-public sector.

Given its achievements, China has no reason to diminish its support for the sector.

In the recent years, China released a series of legislation to protect the legitimate interests and rights of all forms of economy. A higher priority was placed on equality in rights and opportunities for all market entities.

Since the 18th National Peoples Congress of the CPC, China also introduced numerous measures that grant the non-public sector more market access and ensure its equal growth opportunities. A series of policies encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the non-public sector were also launched.

Those non-public businesses are at present experiencing the best policy environment ever.

Local governments now need to put these policies into practice by formulating detailed measures suitable to their own conditions, thus allowing local private companies to truly benefit from such policies.
A seminar was held under the theme of 2016 China-Africa Cooperation Outlook at the University of Pretorias Gordon Institute of Business Science earlier this month. (Picture: Peoples Daily Online/Sissy Cheung)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its economic growth forecast for SA to 0.7% last month, while most countries in sub-Saharan Africa might see growth rates that are lower than those seen over the past decade.

Some blamed the unfavourable situation on the slowdown in Chinas economy.

Indeed, the growth pace of Chinas economy is gearing down. Yet around the globe, a growth rate of 6.9% on such an enormous base still rarely happened, said Rong Yansong, the Chinese Economic and Commercial Counsellor to SA, speaking at a seminar held in Johannesburg earlier this month.

China remains the largest engine for the global economy, with the contribution to the value add of the world economy accounting for more than a quarter, with Africa always having been one of main beneficiaries, he added.

Under the theme of 2016 China-Africa Cooperation Outlook, the seminar at the University of Pretorias Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) was organised by its newly established China-Africa Business Club.

As Rong pointed out, to sup- port a growth rate of close to 7%, China has been the main importer of commodities from the rest of the world. The volume of commodities imported by China from Africa has not declined; it is only the value that has dropped dramatically. This shows that the decline should be attributable to falling commodity prices instead of the weakening demand.

This also shows how the development of the African continent in the past decade has been so heavily reliant on primary products, Rong said.

There has been much misunderstanding, informed by far- fetched analysis and biased comments, on Chinas involvement in local development. As the worlds second largest economy has become such a hot topic, it is rarely understood or further studied before being judged recklessly. Therefore the China- Africa Business Club was founded to act as a platform for dialogue between business leaders from China and Africa.

Ken Chun, founding chair- person of the club, was the only student from Mainland China when he was studying for his MBA at GIBS.

Almost every single class I attended talked about China. But I was too shy to participate in class discussion then. Some classmates advised me to give my opinion on the Chinese rise to power. When I found that the mainstream local business com- munity still looked at Chinese investment quiet negatively, I realised that my role was important at GIBS.

Chun introduced the club as a vehicle to build a sound business relationship between Africa and China through the top business school in Africa. This will connect young professionals and entrepreneurs, helping the business sectors of both sides to understand each others cultural values and differences, as well as facilitating business investment and entrepreneurship between them.

The club is endorsed by the Dean of GIBS, Professor Nicola Kleyn. If we look at whats required to produce inclusive growth on the African continent, there is absolutely no doubt that Africa cant do this alone, said Prof Kleyn.

She encouraged her alumni to pursue life-long learning. The club is around communities that engage with common issues. Of course, government relationships are important, but at the end of the day its through the entrepreneurs and micro social relationships that we build stronger connections. And the club is where you can engage in relevant conversations.

China Hisenses Tony Shi, deputy GM of Hisense SA, was one of the speakers at the seminar. The electronic and home appliances manufacturer entered the South African market in 1996 and is currently distributing its products to more than 3,500 stores across SA. Besides expanding its presence in growing markets, Hisense remains committed to having a positive impact on these markets. Its manufacturing plant in Atlantis, Cape Town has created jobs for 700 locals, providing them with professional training and producing 1,700 televisions and 1,200 fridges daily.

Hisense is also working close- ly with the community through various campaigns from educational support to wildlife protection. We offer affordable products of high quality, world class customer services and, in the same breath, we are down to earth. We are a brand that cares for people and we care for South Africans, said Shi.

Though much has been done by the Chinese enterprises in SA, little has been publicised due to the humbleness so valued by its culture. Chun suggested at the seminar that they should get into marketing and engage with mainstream media to close the gap in misunderstanding.

He also advised Chinese executives and managers work- ing in SA to take MBA or executive programmes at GIBS in order to get involved with the local business people. You cant operate your business success- fully within just the small Chinese community and forget about the bigger environment out there in Africa, he said.

Sam Ng, sharing his personal experience of doing business as an immigrant Chinese in SA, has been in the country for more than 20 years. His trading com- pany FLT has become a success that trades in six other African countries and creates thousands of jobs in SA. He mentioned that many more small and medium- sized companies are willing to explore the African market, and they are backed by municipal governments with great passion and incentive policies.

Another valuable function that the club provides is facilitating entrepreneurship, particularly among young business elites between Africa and China. Chun himself has just started up his own business, specialising in enterprise IT management and internet business in Africa. He recently launched a mobile gaming project in SA, Nigeria and Kenya.

As he said: For those youth who are pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams between China and Africa, they are not alone, and they can find their peers at this club.

(The story was originally published on Business Day on February 29th, 2016.)
With traditional Chinese New Year kicking off earlier this month, the city of Johannesburg has seen a series of celebrations among its Chinese community and at various venues as well as the two Chinatowns.

The most widely anticipated and most talked about by all South Africans should be the street celebrations that took place in the First Chinatown.

These included lion and drag- on dances with Chinese drumming, martial arts performances such as kung-fu and Tai Chi, pop- up stalls selling snacks and gad- gets, open-air dining with authentic Chinese food, and a massive firework displays with music. The event started at 6pm and went on until late into the night and was bustling with people of all races.

Known as the original Chinatown of the city, it is located in the city centre on Commissioner Street which runs from the M31 to the M1, keeping a low profile in the inner city of Johannesburg. Africas tallest building, the Carl- ton Centre, is also situated on the same street in the southern end of the Newtown district. This one-way avenue has been a significant spot since the 1800s and has witnessed the rise and fall of the city throughout its history. It has been through a period of depression and degeneration within the inner city, due to the outburst of rampant crime in the 1900s and the relocation of the famous Johannesburg Stock Exchange and, later, big business to Sandton, which also accounts for the formation of the new Chinatown in Cyrildene, Bruma in the east of Johannesburg.

The origins of the First Chinatown can be traced back to the early 1900s, when Chinese immigrants began to arrive in numbers in search of fortune and settled in and around the area. They opposed the Asiatic Law Amendment Act of 1907 and rallied behind Mahatma Gandhis campaign to resist compulsory registration, facing both imprisonment and deportation.

The Passive Resistance Campaign united the Chinese and Indians against a common oppression in the early 1900s.

Dating back to 1904, more than 63,000 Chinese miners were contracted to work on the Witwatersrand mines. They contributed to the revival of the economy to restore the mines as the worlds largest single producer of gold. On their days off from the compounds, they were seen on these streets riding rickshaws and bicycles and visiting eating houses and gambling dens.

It is estimated that by 1904 there were 180 Chinese businesses in the Newtown area. Yet, only some stalwarts remain after the trend of relocation. However, the First Chinatown still holds tight to its tradition of the Chinese New Year celebration year in and year out. It is a time when most of the descendants of the original immigrants  now the second and third generation South African Chinese, who are spread out over the city  gather and celebrate its legacy.

The longest-surviving Chinese restaurant in the city, Swallows Inn, still remains on the same street. Nearby is the super- market of classic style Sui Hing Hong, where you can buy exotic commodities from fireworks and ceramics to rare ingredients.

The New Year celebrations, with the splendid fireworks lighting up the night sky and the faces all around, people of different races, ages and backgrounds all embracing the variety of culture, reminded everyone of the citys unique inclusiveness and diversity for all its inhabitants.

(The story was originally published on Business Day on February 29th, 2016.)
The Export Credit Insurance (ECI) is a common financial instrument that supports exporters in foreign trade and investment as well as overseas contracting projects.

The ECI reduces the payment risks associated with doing business internationally by giving the exporter assurance that payment will be made if the foreign buyer is unable to pay.

The ECI covers risks such as insolvency of the buyer, bankruptcy, or protracted defaults/slow payment, and certain political risks such as war, riots, sovereign default and exchange restrictions that could result in nonpayment.

The ECI provides exporters with receivables protection, risk management and financing support so that exporters can establish market share and compete vigorously in the global market at a reduced nonpayment risk level.

The China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), which began operations in 2001, is a state-funded policy-oriented insurance company with independent status, established for promoting Chinas foreign trade and economic cooperation..

Sinosures accumulated insured amount reached $2226.8bn between 2009 and 2015. Sinosure has maintained its number one ranking in terms of total insured amount among all the export credit agencies (ECAs) since 2010.

In this exclusive interview, Sinosures South African office shares its views on the outlook of SA-China economic ties and explains how to minimise exchange rate risks against the background of emerging market currency fluctuations.

Peoples Daily Online: Capacity co-operation and industrialisation is the direction set by the two presidents for the future economic and trade co-operation between SA and China. The Chinese government has pledged more investment in SA to further enhance the level of industrialisation. What is the role of Sinosure in SAs industrialisation and what are the sectors in focus?

Sinosure: Judging from what weve learnt and the level of economic development of SA, the bilateral co-operation will most likely take place in railway, locomotives, car, and related equipment exportation and maintenance, infrastructure construction such as power plants and ports, which are in accordance with SAs marine economy strategy and the industrial park economy strategy.

Surrounded by the sea on three sides, SA, at the intersection of two oceans, enjoys significant geographic advantages and rich marine resources. We believe there is broad space for co-operation on the development of a marine economy. For example, China has a world-class manufacturing and management capability in ocean shipping, shipbuilding, repair and renovation.

China not only has extensive experience in coastal oil and gas production, aquaculture, marine resources conservation and management, but also has a huge market demand for all the above, so we believe the opportunity for co-operation should present itself in this field.

In addition, through 30 years of practice, China has figured out a set of effective, if not unique, industrialisation methods, especially the Industrial Park economy and the Special Economic Zone development. For example, Shenzhen has grown from a small fishing village 30 years ago into the largest special economic zone and the fourth largest city in China. Shenzhen, also known as the Chinese Silicon Valley, has become the most important part in IT and hi-tech industries global layout. We believe an intensified bilateral co-operation could bring some assistance and reference to SAs industrialisation, economic capacity building and employment creation.

Specific initiatives that will be taken by Sinosure to support bilateral trade and economic cooperation. First of all, we have upgraded SAs ratings and optimised the underwriting conditions. This means we have realised universal coverage for Africa-bound exportation.

Second, Sinosure provides medium and long-term ECI in the South African currency, the rand, which further clears financing obstacles for Chinese enterprises.

Weve noticed that Chinese companies are negatively affected by the difficulties in financing in SAs home currency. To solve this problem, Sinosure recently introduced a pilot programme of direct insurance of receivables and loans in the rand. We believe that through continuous optimisation and adjustments of underwriting policy, Sinosure could provide more direct, stronger support and protection for Chinese exporters and financial institutions.

Third, Sinosure has reinforced its underwriting policies for foreign banks to better meet the diversified financing needs from the Chinese go global enterprises.

To make full use of credit insurances leveraging function and encourage more commercial funding into the development of Chinas foreign trade and economic co-operation, Sinosure will further strengthen its co-operation with foreign commercial banks which we believe will encourage commercial funding to provide more favourable and competitive service when they take part in the projects with Chinese presence.

The bilateral cooperation and the China-Africa co-operation will benefit from an increased opportunities and reduced costs.
Zhang Zhaomin, Director of FTA of Pingtan county in Fujian province and deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), told media in Beijing that the undersea tunnel project of Beijing-Taipei Expressway is technologically ready to proceed. The realization of the project depends on the decision of Taiwan.

According to Zhang, who was just transferred from the Fujian Provincial Transportation Department to Pingtan at the end of last year, the BeijingTaipei Expressway is planned as an extension line of the BeijingFuzhou Expressway. By now, most parts of the BeijingFuzhou Expressway are already open to traffic.

Zhang said that the segment of the expressway connecting to Taiwan is planned as an undersea tunnel. Experts tend to build a 126-kilometer-long tunnel from Pingtan to Taipei. Technical feasibility studies have been carried out on both sides over the past four years. Now experts have a good grasp of the seabed and its geological conditions.

Zhang said that Pingtan is the closest place to Taiwan on the mainland. Last year, high-speed ro-ro ships transported around 120,000 passengers across the strait. About 200,000 packages entered or exited Taiwan through Pingtan.

Last year, Pingtan launched the TaiwanPingtanEurope sea-rail combined transport project. This year, the county will continue to promote cross-strait direct flights and the combined transport project.
The competition for imported wine in the Chinese market is going to get fiercer. China recently signed agreements to start cutting tariffs on Australian and Chilean wines, which has had a direct impact on the growth of the imported wines in volume in 2015. As a result the increase has since reached 40% of total wine imports.

Wine is also the fastest growing export product from SA to China. In the first half of 2015, SA doubled its Chinese market share from 2% to 4% in volume, according to Chinese customs statistics. China is SAs sixth- largest export market for pack- aged wines by volume and the largest in Asia, accounting for about 8.99-million litres for the year ending September 2015.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille attended two big international food and wine shows in 2015 in Shanghai to explore trade, tourism and investment for Western Cape exporters. There were 3,314 primary wine producers in the province in 2014, the most in the country, according to her 2015 budget speech. She represented 38 agribusinesses that participated in the Food and Hotel China 2015 and ProWine China 2015 exhibitions.

Jan van Riebeeck, the first governor of the Cape, planted a vineyard in 1655 and, on February 2 1659 the first wine was made from Cape grapes. This led to the planting of vines on a larger scale at Roschheuvel, known today as Bishopscourt. Van Riebeeck encouraged farmers to plant vineyards although initially they were reluctant.

A survey published in the January 2015 SA Wine Industry Information & Systems (SAWIS) found that in terms of world wine production, SA ranks number seven in overall volume production of wine and produces 4.2% of the worlds wine (2014).

The study also concluded that of the R36.1bn gross domestic product (GDP) contributed by the wine industry to the regional economy, about R19.3bn eventually would remain in the Western Cape to the benefit of its communities.

Growth in contribution to the GDP has been at least 10% per annum since 2003.

According to SAWIS, exports of natural (ienonfortified) pack- aged wines for the 2015 calendar year reached 167.5-million litres, a decrease of 3.4% on the previous year. Red wine exports increased by 1.5% to account for 41.4% of all natural wines exported.

The opportunity in the wine industry has also caught Chinese investors attention.

Yangzhou-based Perfect China made the Asian countrys first investment in SAs wine industry in 2013, acquiring the Val de Vie estate in the Western Cape in a deal expected to boost exports of local wine to the Far East.

Perfect China, through its 51% shareholding in Perfect Wines of South Africa, pur- chased the 25-hectare wine farm between Paarl and Franschhoek that includes 21 hectares of vine- yards, a manor house and a wine cellar.

Perfect Wines of South Africa was established as a joint venture between Hein Koegelen- berg from Leopards Leap and La Motte and Perfect China in 2011.

The Chinese wine market is very important to our industry, and this first Chinese investment in the South African Winelands is a clear indication of their inter- est in our wines and can lead the way to a bright future for the export of SA wine to the East, said Koegelenberg, chairperson of Perfect Wines of South Africa, in 2013.

Koegelenberg took the advice of his Chinese partner, who told him to make the labels look French. So in 2011 LHuguenot was born, a South African brand for China only, according to The Economist.

The name LHuguenot is a tribute to the early French Protestant immigrants to SA. The Dutch in SA had almost no wine tradition and it was only after the French Huguenots settled at the Cape between 1680 and 1690 that the wine industry began to flourish. As religious refugees, the Huguenots had little money and made do with the bare essentials. They also had to adapt their established wine- making techniques to new conditions. But with time their culture and skills left a permanent impression on the wine industry and on life in the Cape.

More Chinese investors have shown interest in buying wineries and vineyards in SA. In 2015, a Chinese businessman bought a wine estate just 18km from Cape Town. The wine estate has manor, winery, vineyard and its own wine brands.

On the other hand, South African producers are also actively expanding in China. Dis- tell, a leading South African- based liquor company, is expanding its presence in the East with the acquisition of a 60% share in fast-growing liquor distribution company CJ Wines & Spirits in 2012. Privately owned, CJ is based in Zhongshan in the Pearl Valley Delta of Guan- dong Province and has operations in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China.

According to Distell Group MD, Jan Scannell, the plan is to capitalise on the strong market potential of South China and then address markets such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. He said that the priority for Dis- tell China was to focus on Bisquit and Amarula before considering other brands within the companys portfolio for distribution.

The recent expansion of Dis- tell into China creates an opportunity to accelerate the excellent progress achieved so far, and build on its existing presence into this lucrative market,  said Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on his visit to China in 2015.

(The story was originally published on Business Day on February 29th, 2016.)
Renovation of Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City will be completed in 2020. By then, tourists will be able to go inside the hall instead of observing it through the window, said Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum, who is also a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in an interview with Beijing Times.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation is a particularly significant building in the inner courtyard of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was built originally in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty. From the time of Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty, this palace became the emperors bedchamber. Three emperors died in the Hall. The building itself has a front and a rear hall, which served as the emperor's bedroom.

Shan said the Palace Museum is currently responsible for renovating 9,371 rooms. Renovating the ancient architecture is on the one hand to protect the health and longevity of the ancient buildings and on the other hand to expand open area of the Forbidden City to public.

"The rate of the open area in the Forbidden City has reached 76 percent this year, which will be increased to 85 percent by 2025, "Shan said.

According to Shan, among the 15 million tourists every year, 5 million will choose to visit the Hall of Mental Cultivation. But only 1,000 square meters, or 17 percent of the halls area, is open to the public. Visitors can only see the Hall of Mental Cultivation through the windows. After the renovation is finished in 2020, more than 60 percent of the Hall of Mental Cultivation will be open. Visitors can go inside the hall for visit by then. In addition, the imperial kitchen will also be restored.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

Trend:

Official exchange rate of manat, the Azerbaijani national currency, against the US dollar was set at 1.6228 manats for March 9, said the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) March 7.

The average rate of manat was set following the interbank transactions on the Azerbaijani currency market, said the CBA.

The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $49.7 million of the offered $50 million to 28 local banks through the auction held by CBA March 7.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:

Azerbaijan is NATO's major partner, Romania's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Daniel Cristian Ciobanu said March 7 in Baku.

He made remarks at the international conference "NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit - opportunities and expectations."

The event is supported by the Institute of Human Rights of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and the Embassy of Romania - NATO's coordinator in Azerbaijan.

This conference is another proof of the importance, which Romania attaches to its relations with Azerbaijan, as well as strengthening ties between NATO and Azerbaijan, said the ambassador.

Azerbaijan participates in NATO's programs on Afghanistan and plays an important role in Europe's energy security, according to Ciobanu.

Elmar Huseynov, senior advisor of foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, said that such events have particular importance for the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

After the launch of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, transportation capabilities of NATO in terms of projects related to Afghanistan will increase, said Huseynov.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

Trend:

The Legislature of the US State of Alaska adopted a proclamation (citation) highlighting the importance of the strategic partnership between the US and Azerbaijan, the Consulate General of Azerbaijan to Los Angeles told Trend March 7.

Passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Alaska Legislature, the proclamation was co-authored by the majority of the state legislators and signed by the Senate President Kevin Meyer and House Speaker Mike Chenault.

The proclamation, which has been sent by the Alaska Legislature to Azerbaijan's Consulate General in Los Angeles, noted that Azerbaijan "is one of the world's fastest developing and modernizing countries, is the largest economy of the region, and is our biggest trade partner in the South Caucasus".

"Like Alaska, Azerbaijan has vast oil and gas resources, contributing to the energy security of the US, Europe, and Israel, and is a critical element of the "Southern Gas Corridor" which will further diversify energy supply for our European allies," the document further read.

The proclamation applauds the Azerbaijan-US partnership "dealing with energy security, fighting international terrorism, illegal drugs, human trafficking, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction", and stressed that since 2001, Azerbaijan has provided a vital transportation route to supply the US and coalition troops based in Afghanistan.

"On behalf of the families of the 2,753 people killed in the terror attacks of 9/11, the Alaska State Legislature thanks the Republic of Azerbaijan for being one of the first countries to render comprehensive and unconditional assistance by opening its airspace and airports for use by coalition troops in Afghanistan, and for sending soldiers to stand with US troops there," the document said.

"Azerbaijan has a predominantly Muslim population and a constitutional tradition of peaceful coexistence and interfaith harmony between various religions, which has enabled it to maintain close strategic relationships with Israel, the US, and other free and independent allies," the proclamation said.

Thus far, this is the first official document passed by the Alaska State Legislature regarding Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:

Azerbaijan and Georgia plan to intensify the strategic partnership, said Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

He made the remarks at a briefing held after the meeting with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze in Baku March 7.

Mammadyarov noted that they discussed the prospects for developing and intensifying the strategic partnership, as well as the cooperation in energy and transportation sectors.

"Azerbaijan highly appreciates the cooperation with Georgia within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, the implementation of which will expand our cooperation in the transportation sector," said the Azerbaijani FM.

He also noted that the parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the border delimitation commission.

"We have invited Georgian experts to Baku to continue the talks in this area," said Mammadyarov.

Azerbaijan and Georgia will also expand the legal framework, said the minister, adding that over 10 documents on bilateral cooperation are under development.

In turn, Janelidze said the two countries are bound by close cooperation in energy sector, recalling that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Baku-Supsa project.

"Our cooperation also covers the transportation sector," said the Georgian minister. "Both countries will closely cooperate to develop the economic potential."

Saying that Georgia also supports cooperation in the customs area, Janelidze noted that it is necessary to develop the legal framework between the two countries.

"We will also continue to cooperate on international arena. Both countries support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other and I hope that this position will remain unchanged," said the minister.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement and is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2016.

The railway's peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo a year. At the initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa
Baku, Azerbaijan March 7

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

Azerbaijan participates in many programs of NATO and cooperates with the alliance more actively than other partners, head of the NATO Liaison Office, William Lahue, said March 7.

He made the remarks during the international conference "NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit - opportunities and expectations" in Baku.

Azerbaijan not only participates in a number of programs, but also always seeks new opportunities within NATO, said Lahue.

He added that NATO is working on a number of programs in which not only Azerbaijan, but also other countries of the region can also participate.

Partnership in the region can be assessed as strong and stable, said Lahue.

He noted that NATO also supports Georgia which seeks to join the alliance.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

Trend:

Georgia's president Giorgi Margvelashvili will pay a visit to Azerbaijan soon, said Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze in Baku.

He made remarks during the briefing after the meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $24.76 million in Jan. 2016, which is 1.8 times less than the same period of 2015, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Foreign Minister of Georgia Mikheil Janelidze March 7.

Janelidze conveyed the greetings of Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili to the head of state. Saying he was satisfied with his first official visit to Azerbaijan, Janelidze said the two countries` relevant bodies were actively continuing their joint work and projects.

President Aliyev said the relations between the foreign ministers of the two countries were regular, stressing the importance of cooperation between the foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The president said a number of issues were successfully solved between Azerbaijan and Georgia and the two countries were getting closer to each other, recalling his successful last year visit to Georgia. Noting that the bilateral cooperation actively continued, President Aliyev said there were good opportunities for developing the relations in political, economic, energy, humanitarian areas, as well as in a multilateral format.

The president expressed his confidence that Janelidze`s visit to Azerbaijan would create a good opportunity for reviewing the program of joint events to be held this year.

President Aliyev thanked for the greetings of the Georgian president and prime minister, and asked Janelidze to extend his greetings to the Georgian president and prime minister.
In relation with the International Women's day 8th of March, Azer Turk Bank holds special discount campaign for ladies ordering a payment card. All women customers applying for a card on the period until March 11th will be able to benefit from a 50% discount. Moreover, ladies applying for a payment card along with a spouse will get the second card for free. In order to benefit from this campaign, ladies should provide an ID card and marriage certificate to the Bank.

Azer Turk Bank congratulates all Azerbaijani women with the International Women's day, March 8th, wishes them strong health and long life!

Azer Turk Bank OJSC, which operates since 1995, by 75% is owned by the Government of Azerbaijan. More information about the Bank, its service network, products and services is available at www.azerturkbank.az, the Bank's corporate pages at social networks or at (012) 945 Call Center.
"Excelsior Hotel & Spa Baku" is the official partner of "Baku Fashion Week" held on May 13-15, 2016.

Local and foreign designers will demonstrate their new collections during the Fashion Week.

"Baku Fashion Week" is held twice a year in May and November. The ceremony will be broadcasted by local and foreign TV channels.

"Excelsior Hotel & Spa Baku" contributes to development of fashion industry in Azerbaijan.

Fashion show, interesting concerts, and successful events are held all year round. Fashion show is also included to special program devoted to the International Women's Day, 8th of March.

"Excelsior Hotel Baku" has been operating since August 2005. The hotel has 1 "Imperial Lux", "Royal Lux", 4 "Crown Lux", 45 "Heritage", 9 small "Duke" standard rooms, meeting and conference rooms, business center, restaurants and "Aura" wellness center.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

Trend:

The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $49.7 million to 28 local banks through the auction held by Azerbaijan's Central Bank (CBA) March 7, SOFAZ said March 7.

SOFAZ offered $50 million for sale through the auction.

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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of the Azerbaijani gas to Europe, has enjoyed strong political support from the EU as it is seen as allowing for diversification of supplies and routes, as it would deliver non-Russian gas to Europe, Katja Yafimava, Senior Research Fellow in Oxford Institute for Energy Studies's Natural Gas Research Programme told Trend by email.

Currently Russia is the core gas supplier to the EU.

However, Yafimava noted that the volumes contracted for Europe within this project are still relatively small - around 10 billion cubic meters from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field will have to reach Europe by 2020.

The analyst believes additional non-Azeri gas sources for the Southern Gas Corridor (i.e. Middle East or Central Asia) are possible in the 2030 timeframe but would face many political and commercial obstacles.

As for new Russian gas exports pipelines to Europe - e.g. Nord Stream 2, which will increase the capacity of an existing offshore pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia's coast to Germany, - there is no political support from the EU, Yafimava said.

On the contrary, she noted that there is quite a significant opposition to this project.

"It does not mean that it will not get built but it means that it might be delayed beyond 2020," Yafimava said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for EU. It envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

Edited by SI

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan March 7

Trend:

Kyiv and Tehran are discussing the possibility of supplying oil from Iran through Ukraine, as well as oil refining at Ukrainian enterprises, RIA Novosti quoted Ukraine's deputy Prime Minister Gennadiy Zubko as saying March 7.

"We are interested in diversification of oil products' supply to Ukraine. On the other hand, Iran shows interest in diversifying the export of its oil and oil products," said Zubko on '112 Ukraine' TV.

"Therefore, the possibility of refining Iranian oil in Ukraine, storing crude oil in the country and then diversification of supplies to the European Union is also on the agenda," he added.

The deputy prime minister noted that although the supply of Iranian oil to the EU is a strategic issue, both sides are interested in it.

Edited by SI
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 7



By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:



Turkmenistan and Qatar signed a number of intergovernmental memorandums of understanding on March 7, a source close to the negotiations told Trend.



The sides signed documents on cooperation in the spheres of transportation, finance, tourism, sports, culture and education.



The signing ceremony was held during the official visit of Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Ashgabat following his talks with Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

Edited by SI
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 7

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

Turkmenistan's Ahal province has started to receive natural gas transported via the recently commissioned East-West gas pipeline, said a message from Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry.

The pipeline's length is 733 kilometers, while its capacity is 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Shatlyk compressor station is underway.

The natural gas, transported via the East-West gas pipeline, will be considered as a source for the gasoline production enterprise that is now under construction and for the agricultural fertilizer plants, and will be delivered to gas turbine power plants in the Ahal province.

Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry has said that by uniting all large gas fields in one system, the East-West gas pipeline also creates conditions for exporting Turkmen fuel to world markets in any direction.

Earlier, it was reported that the export of energy resources to Europe is one of the priorities of Turkmenistan's energy strategy.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of its natural gas reserve volumes. Currently, the country exports gas to Chinese and Iranian markets. Russia suspended the purchase of Turkmen gas in 2016.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 3

By Demir Azizov- Trend:

The Uzbek National Holding Company (NHC) 'Uzbekneftegaz' has started construction of a booster compressor station at the oil and gas field 'Sharkiy Berdakh' (Kashkadarya region, south of Uzbekistan) worth $293.94 million, a representative of the holding told Trend.

The 'Uzbekneftegaz' NHC signed a contract for the supply of technological equipment, contract supervision, starting-up and adjustment at the booster compression station with the PJSC 'Sumy Machine-Building Science and Production Association' (Ukraine) in late 2015, according to the representative of the holding.

Supply of the equipment should be completed in spring of 2016, and the launch of the booster compressor station is planned for November 2016.

Commissioning of the booster compressor station with design capacity of 18 megawatts will make it possible to increase production at the field to two billion cubic meters of gas and 43,100 tons of condensate per year.

The project is financed through a loan of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan (FRDU) worth $57.87 million and own funds of the 'Uzbekneftegaz' NHC.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) needs $200 million to purchase offshore rigs, the company's managing director, Heidar Bahmani said.

Negotiations are underway with Iranian and foreign investors from Asia and Europe on the issue, Bahmani said, the oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported March 6.

The company owns 75 drilling rigs, he said, adding the number will reach 80 by next Iranian fiscal year (to start March 21).

The company plans to increase its offshore rigs with participation of domestic or foreign investors, via partnership or lease-purchase methods, Bahmani said.

The NIDC will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an Italian firm in the near future, he said, adding it was agreed that the Italian side makes investment in the projects which will be carried out by the Iranian company.

The NIDC also has conducted negotiations with Singaporean and Chinese companies for financing the offshore drilling projects and for drilling rigs, Bahmani said.

While responding to a question about the perspective of company's activities in the post-sanction period, Bahmani said that the NIDC plans to carry out drilling projects in Iraq and Persian Gulf states.

The official further said that the NIDC will prepare grounds for presence of private sector in drilling projects.

He further said that the Iranian drilling company has negotiated with the Chinese after they won a tender bid in Iraq, and the Iranian side has agreed to provide some of the equipment needed for the project.

"We are also in negotiations with some European firms operating in Iraqi projects in order to jointly work in the country's south and north."

Iran also is in talk with Kuwaiti firms for carrying out drilling projects in the Arab country, he added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 6

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Germany will resume providing guarantees for German exports to Iran in the near future, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, the Islamic Republic's deputy transport minister said.

He said that negotiations were held with officials of the Germany's economy ministry on the issue, Mehr news agency reported March 6.

It was agreed that Iran will pay its $560 million debts by June which will pave path to resuming Hermes cover, Fakhrieh Kashan said.

Hermes cover is a common way of referring to an export credit guarantee (ECG) by the German government. These guarantees are an important part of German foreign trade policy and protect German companies in the event of non-payment by foreign debtors. The export credit guarantees of the Federal Republic of Germany offer an array of insurance options which are mainly targeted at exports to developing countries and emerging markets.

Currently export companies in Germany trading with Iran, cannot be protected by state-Hermes coverage, due to the millions of dollars owed by Iranian companies.

According to Iran Custom Administration's statistics, Germany exported $1.43 billion worth of goods to Iran and imported $248 million from this country during 10 months of current Iranian fiscal year, which started on March 21, 2015.
Following the oil sale contract between Iran and France's Total, the two sides will ink a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) on South Azadegan oilfield within days.

Total S.A. of France remains as the first major company to sign a deal for daily purchase of 160,000 barrels of Iranian crude while the contract is permanent alleviating the need to be renewed every year, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Roknoddin Javadi said.

Accordingly, NIOC and France's Total will also seal a confidential disclosure agreement in the coming days in order to develop South Azadegan joint oilfield, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

Iran Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh confirmed the launch of talks between NIOC and Total on expansion of the joint field asserting "the confidentiality agreement will soon be inked with Total Company."

"On the basis of the nondisclosure agreement, specialized information of South Azadegan field will be placed at the disposal of the French company," he added.

Project Director of the Development Project of South Azadegan Seyed Mahmoud Marashi underlined "according to preliminary estimates, the expected volume of investment to develop the second phase of South Azadegan would be less than $5 billion."

"Besides Total, negotiations have been conducted with Hyundai Oilbank of South Korea as well as Marubeni Corporation of Japan.

In the current time, about 50,000 barrels of crude oil is being extracted from 30 joint oil fields while the development project of South Azadegan aims a total daily production of about 320,000 barrels.
Tehran, Iran, March 7

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iranian Zagros Airlines has reached preliminary agreements with a Brazilian company to import 20 airplanes.

"Our recent talks with Brazil's Embraer have led to positive results," Zagros Airlines CEO Hushang Seddiq said, Eranico news agency reported March 7.

Iran's aviation has gone decrepit under sanctions, with airplanes' age averaging 25 and many bitter accidents in the past few years.

"Zagros announced it is ready to buy 20 aircraft with 135 seats each. The Embraer representative then left for Brazil with a preliminary agreement in order to prepare the final steps," he added.

"Zagros offered paying 10 percent of the total price in cash," Seddiq said.

However, he pointed out that the physical carrying of the airplanes to Iran will require a green light by the United States, without any further explanations.

This comes despite the fact that the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany) have agreed to lift economic sanctions on Iran starting the implementation day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on January 16, 2016.

However, it seems that US companies are not willing to start business with Iran, whereas many European companies have already visited the country and reached preliminary agreements with Iranian counterparts, although European companies are said to yet fear a reversal of policy by the US and reinstatement of sanctions on Iran.
Iranian and British export finance funds signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate exports and trade exchanges between the two countries, according to Irna.



According to the MoU, the two countries will cooperate on insurance coverage and financing of the two countries' traders.



Iran has received extensive economic and financial sanctions relief as a result of meeting its obligations under the nuclear deal agreed on 14 July 2015, meaning the country is now able to trade more freely.



On January 16, Implementation Day was triggered following the verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency of Iran meeting its requirements as part of a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program. This has resulted in the termination of EU nuclear related financial and economic sanctions, and the suspension of US nuclear related secondary financial and economic sanctions.



As a result, UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK's export credit agency, has reintroduced cover to support UK companies seeking to compete for business in Iran.



Cover is now available on a case-by-case basis in Pounds Sterling and Euros. Within this, and in recognition of the UK's place as a global centre of excellence for financial and professional services, UKEF will make available a 50 million facility guaranteeing payments to UK professional advisory service providers advising the government of Iran.



This can cover advice on areas such as: accounting standards; capital market development; compliance with global regulatory requirements; accessing and reducing the cost of financing; and facilitating new trade. UKEF will also consider applications for direct lending to purchasers of British exports to Iran.



To improve UK-Iran trade, UKEF will work directly with the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7



By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:



Commander of Iran's Border Police Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei will arrive in Baku on March 8 at the official invitation of Azerbaijani State Border Service's (SBS) Chief, Border Troops Commander, Colonel general Elchin Guliyev.

In addition to bilateral meetings, the sides will have trilateral talks with Russian counterpart during the three-day official visit, Iranian Ambassador to Baku Mohsen Pak Ayeen told Trend March 7.



Finding solutions to common threats along the borders, joint fight against narcotics trafficking, organized crimes as well as protecting the security of borders will be discussed during the talks.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

A terror plot was foiled in Iran's south-western province of Khuzestan, Iranian state-run IRINN TV reported March 7 citing an intelligence source.

The source said that a terrorist group was eliminated following one-month of "complicated intelligence measures."

The group's members were killed in a skirmish in the Khuzestan province last night, according to the report.

The information released by Iranian officials suggests that Iran has in recent months neutralized several terror attacks, planed by extremist groups.

Iran's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Hossein Zolfaqari said last month that a terrorist plot in border town of Sumar in western Iran was revealed and neutralized.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi also said Feb. 28 that two terror attacks were foiled during the elections held on Feb. 26.

He said the terror teams were linked with "Takfiri terrorists" and had plans to commit terror attacks during the elections.

Iranian officials refer to the extremist Sunni armed groups, in particular in Syria and Iraq, as Takfiri.
Tehran, Iran, March 7

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iran has asked the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to support its efforts to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The request was made by Iran Trade Development Organization's Chief Valiollah Afkhami Rad during his meeting with UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Joakim Reiter, IRIB news agency reported March 7.

"We are ready to be actively present in the UNCTAD ministers meeting in Nairobi," he said, asking for the UN body to offer Iran technical service.

The Rouhani administration has been trying to pave a way for Iran's joining the WTO, the most well-known of which being the nuclear deal with world powers, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran.

Afkhami Rad said as sanctions are lifted, Iranian-made products will come at lower prices and will have a chance to compete in the world market.

According to the official, goods used to be produced by 5 to 6 percent higher than their normal cost under the sanctions.

The UN official for his part expressed hope that Iran can find its place in the world market, adding the UNCTAD is making efforts to transfer technology to Iran to help it join the world economy more easily.
Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic Vazil Hudak said that Bratislava is ready to cooperate with Tehran in nuclear, new and renewable energy, and waste management, IRNA reported.

Speaking in the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture here on Monday, he said that Slovakia can assist Iran to increase nuclear energy higher utility.

He also voiced his country's readiness to have cooperation with Iran in manufacturing of cars.

Hudak welcomed removal of sanctions against Iran and added that considerable opportunities for bilateral cooperation have emerged.

Chairman of the Tehran Chamber Masoud Khuwansari said that Iran needs 50 billion dollars of investment during the Sixth Development Plan (2016-2021) and invited Slovak companies to take action in this regard.

'Joint venture and long-term investment are preferred by the government and public sector,' he said and suggested banking ties between the two countries.
German naval sailors rescued 121 people from a smuggling boat, the German Federal Defense Forces, known as the Budeswehr, said Sunday, according to Sputnik.

The "Ludwigshafen am Rhein" corvette responded alongside Spain's "Numancia" frigate to a distress call early Sunday 20 miles northwest of Tripoli.

The 121 rescued people, seven women among them, have later been handed to the EU's Frontex external border agency.

Germany's multipurpose vessel is part of the European Union's mission targeting migrant smuggling networks in the Mediterranean.

Operation Sophia moved to phase two in October 2015, encompassing naval units boarding, searching, seizing and diverging vessels suspected of smuggling or trafficking people into Europe.

In a classified late January report leaked by WikiLeaks on Wednesday, Operation Sophia's commander, Italian Navy Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino, expressed readiness to move to Libyan territorial waters as part of "Phase 2B." Credendino said he was "extremely conscious" that phases 2B and 3 would encompass "a number of other missions providing support to the Libya authorities which will be sponsored by the International Community."

Bundeswehr said the German Navy had rescued 11,874 people from drowning in the southern and central Mediterranean since May 7, 2015.

The International Organization for Migration registered 418 deaths among migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy this year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Istanbul police are carrying out a security operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported March 7.

There are already detained ones within the framework of the operation, the number and identity of them are not disclosed.

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.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Ankara has requested visa-free travel for its citizens by the end of June and an additional 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to meet the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Anadolu Agency reported.

Diplomatic sources close to the Prime Ministry said Turkey also wanted EU member states to "share the burden'' based on a formula of "for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU member states".

Turkey is hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz told reporters at an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels on Monday that the parliament was prepared to discuss speeding up visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

"Visa liberalization is one of the requests of the Turkish side in the process of full and deepened cooperation," Schulz said. "We are prepared to discuss to speed up the procedure but in full respect of the parliamentarian rights of the European parliament."

The EU has already pledged 3 billion euros to meet the needs of Syrian refugees hosted in Turkey along with visa liberalization and the acceleration of the candidate country's accession process.

In exchange, the EU expected Turkey to crack down on human smugglers and stem the flow of refugees coming into Europe via its neighbor Greece.

Schulz said Turkey's request for additional 3 billion euros required the cooperation of the European parliament.

He said providing refugees in Turkey with an additional 3 billion euros depended on whether EU member states were "willing to put money on the table".

Turkey has said Monday's summit in Brussels should not only focus on irregular migration but also on Turkey's accession into the EU. Schulz said there had been an attempt to link the two issues together.

"One thing is [clear] for us as European parliamentarians [...] we have to separate accession negotiations between Turkey and EU and all questions related to opening the new chapters from the short term management of [the] refugee crisis," Schulz said.

"To avoid that refugees arrive in Greece, we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande told reporters in Brussels.

In exchange for the 3 billion euros that were allocated to it by the EU, Turkey must "make commitments in relation to the fight against smugglers" and conduct readmissions of "a number of migrants who left Turkey"to Europe, explained Hollande .

"The plan is simple to tell, hard to implement: it's external border security, cooperation with Turkey and solidarity with Greece, and that is what France will defend," summarized the French leader.
The challenges facing Europe in terms of the refugee crisis can be solved through cooperation among the 28 member states and Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said, Anadolu Agency reported.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday, Davutoglu said: ''We have many challenges in front of us. The only way to respond to these challenges is solidarity. At the end of the day our continent is all together.''

Davutoglu is set to meet with the 28 EU heads of government in Brussels on Monday to discuss ways to solve the worst refugee and migrant crisis facing the Europe since World War II.

The EU has pledged to provide 3 billion euros [$3.2 billion] in aid for refugees hosted in Turkey, visa liberalization for Turkish citizens and speeding up of the candidate country's EU accession process.

In exchange, the EU is expecting Turkey, which hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world, to stop migrants and refugees from entering Europe via its neighbor Greece.

''Turkey is ready to work with EU, and Turkey is ready to be member of the EU as well,'' Davutoglu said.

''Today I hope this summit, which will not focus only irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU, will be a success story and a turning point in our relations,'' he added.

Turkey presents 'new proposal' to EU in Brussels summit

Turkey has presented a new proposal to EU member states Monday during a summit aimed at solving the worst refugee crisis facing Europe since World War II, a Turkish official said Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity, Turkish officials said the EU-Turkey summit is not only focused on migration but also on Turkey's EU accession process.

''Turkey's existence here...[Turkey's] attendance to the summit is not directly linked to the migration issue,'' a Turkish official said.

''We are not here just to talk about the migrants. Turkey's EU accession is an issue for us here as well,'' he added.

The official said that Turkey and the EU want to find a common ground over the refugee crisis.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is in Brussels to meet with EU heads of state.

The EU has pledged to provide 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in aid for refugees hosted in Turkey, visa liberalization for Turkish citizens and speeding up of the candidate country's EU accession process.

In exchange, the EU is expecting Turkey, which hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world, to stop asylum seekers and refugees from entering Europe via its neighbor Greece.


OnePlus 3 is the successor of OnePlus 2 and comes with better performance, a premium design, hard-to-beat value, and Dash Charge technology. (Photo : YouTube/Good Bad)

OnePlus, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer established in 2013, is now planning to release their next flagship model - the OnePlus 3. After the success of the company's OnePlus One and OnePlus 2 launch, the Chinese tech company is now hungry to dominate the smartphone market again by delivering high-end phone yet affordable in consumers pockets.



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OnePlus 3 will be released by the end of second quarter of 2016, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei told during an exclusive interview with CNET Espanol. The statement by Pei was later backed up when OnePlus' CEO and co-founder Pete Lau confirmed at the recently held SURGE tech conference in India that OnePlus 3 will be released on Q2 2016. Based on their statements, many believe that the next smartphone killer will be released sometime in June.



It should be noted that the first gen OnePlus device was released in June 2014, while OnePlus 2 was revealed in July 2015 and was later released commercially in August 2015. If we will based it to OnePlus' tradition in releasing their devices, the next flagship smartphone may be announced within June - July and may make it to the market by August.



Meanwhile, the Guangdong-based smartphone manufacturer has not provided solid information about the smartphone's specifications; however, based on the leaked renders of OnePlus 3 via Mobile-dad, the third-gen OnePlus device resembles its predecessor - OnePlus 2.



Good thing is that OnePlus is working hard to improve their next flagship model, as OnePlus 3 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, instead of having Snapdragon 810. It can be noted that OnePlus 2 used Snapdragon 810, wherein a lot of users complaint about overheating issues. So, using Snapdragon 820 will definitely be a good start for not repeating the same mistake the company has done before, as the chipset has the same power of 810 but no overheating problems.



Speculations are also rife that OnePlus 3 will sport 5.5-inch screen display at 1920x1080 pixels, 13MP rear camera, 5MP selfie shooter, microSD support, CyanogenOS based on Android Marshmallow version and 3,500mAH removable battery. On the contrary, designer Hasan Kaymak revealed via Concept Phones that OnePlus 3 will come with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display and a 4,000mAH battery capacity. The upcoming device will reportedly intoduce two variants - one with 16GB onboard memory backed with 3GB RAM and the other with 64GB built-in memory coupled with 4GB RAM.



As for OnePlus 3 price, the debut price will be ranging from $350 - $400, although this has to be confirmed yet.



Watch OnePlus 3 concept trailer below:




For the people who have seen them perform, Suiyuan Old Boys show that life doesnt end once you go into retirement, and old age is not a hindrance to having fun. (Photo : Getty Images)

China's aging population may pose serious threats in different areas of Chinese life, particularly health care, the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey indicated, according to an article by China Daily. The survey, which was released over the weekend, was conducted by the National Survey Research Center at Renmin University.



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The survey gathered responses from around 11,000 Chinese seniors from 134 counties and districts.



According to the survey, chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and arthritis are the main causes of suffering for over 75 percent of the respondents. Another major concern for these senior citizens is deteriorating mental health, with 25 percent of the respondents expressing concern over their current lifestyle.



China's population is expected to get older between 2022 and 2040, the time period when China's baby-boom generation will become senior citizens. By the end of 2015, the country already has 222 million seniors, with over 4.4 million suffering from disabilities.



Although the lifespan for seniors is commendable, serious disabilities have led to citizens being treated or regarded as heavy burdens for their families and the general society.



The rapidly aging population, when mixed with labor shortage in the country, results in a serious demographic hurdle, said Zhai Zhenwu, a professor of sociology and population studies at Renmin University.



"The universal second-child policy introduced late last year will delay this trend but cannot reverse it," said Zhai in an interview with China Daily.



Still, the fact remains that although China's population is aging, it's not very old, according to Du Peng, lead researcher and professor of gerontology.



China can still manage the situation at present, but the country needs to prepare for when baby boomers will outnumber the young population, said Du. These members of society were born in the early 1960s, with the numbers peaking in 1963, the year when 29 million children were born.



"Long-term care insurance could be a major tool," said Du, when talking about policies and measures that can help the government deal with the aging population.



To stop the baby boom, the one-child policy was implemented by the government.


AirAsia and Air-X 'Big Sale' will let airline passengers travel for as low as Rs 1099 ($16.38); Where to book tickets online

AirAsia and Air-X have launched low-cost tickets to various domestic and international routes (Photo : YouTube/ AirAsia)

Low-cost carriers AirAsia and Air-X have launched low-cost tickets to various domestic and international routes which will start from Rs 1,099, applicable to tickets booked from March 7 to March 13 for travel starting from Oct. 1 to May 22, 2017.



Making the announcements on March 6, the airline carrier said that the promotion will aid in connecting travelers across 22 countries to more than 100 destinations. There are about three million promotional seats which will be offered for the "Big Sale," as the airline calls it.



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According to First Post, the carrier further said that promotional air fares will primarily target domestic destinations such as Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Kochi, Imphal, Guwahati, Goa and Delhi. These flights will be connected by the carrier's arm - AirAsia India.



Guests around the carrier's region are advised to take advantage of its Fly-Thru service so as to connect to many exciting destinations such as Sapporo, Auckland, Gold Coast, Tokyo, Sydney and more. Booking will be available on the airline's website, airasia.com and AirAsia's mobile app on Android and iPhone devices, News Straits Times reported.



Travelers scan now travel to Kula Lumpur from Kochi, Hyderabad or Chennai at a reduced cost of Rs 2,999 onwards. The connectivity of flights to these destinations will get realized by AirAsia Berhad. Tickets to Bangkok from Hyderabad and Chennai will be priced at Rs 3,999 and will be connected by Thai AirAsia.



Chief commercial officer of the AirAsia Group Siegtraund Teh said that the airline has as well added many new and undiscovered routes in the region and urged potential travelers to grab themselves a ticket in order to discover them. The airline is expected to fly around the Asian and Australian continents.



Here are the featured country routes that AirAsia is flying:



Flights to Australia

Flights to China

Flights to India

Flights to Singapore

Flights to the Philippines Flights to Hong Kong

Flights to Japan

Flights to Thailand

Flights to Cambodia

Flights to Malaysia Flights to Vietnam

Flights to Indonesia

Flights to Macao

Flights to Myanmar

Flights to Taiwan

Watch a clip on more about AirAsia's "Big Sale" here:






Perdue Foods recalls Applegate chicken nuggets for plastic materials contamination. (Photo : Facebook/Applegate Naturals)

Perdue Foods LLC, a family-owned company that produces and distributes high quality processed chicken, turkey and pork, just recalled a massive 4,500 pounds of chicken nuggets for health and sanitary reasons.



The food company received complaints that their brand chicken nuggets have bits of plastic mixed into the favorite ready-to-fry product. The affected nuggets were the batch manufactured by Perdue Foods for Applegate Farms, Fox61 reported.



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The U.S. Department of Agriculture also addressed the issue on Sunday, March 6, and subsequently announced the recall of sold chicken nuggets. The USDA Food Safety And Inspection unit further affirmed that the reason for the order to dispose the affected products was due to the discovery of plastics in it.



In a press release issued by the USDA, it formally informed the public that Perdue Foods LLC recalled the chicken products which they made for Applegate Farms brand, in their own accord. The notice included specific information about the recalled Applegate Naturals Chicken Nuggets.



It was stated that consumers who bought the product that was made on Sept. 28, 2015 and bearing the "Best Before Date" of Sept. 27, 2016 should get rid of the nuggets. Another thing to check in the box is the establishment no. of "P-2617."



These batch of products have been distributed in stores across New York, Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas, so buyers must be aware of the recall if they bought the product in the mentioned areas.



The USDA also disclosed that the recall notice was issued after "the problem was discovered when the establishment received consumer complaints of small, solid, clear plastic inside the Applegate Naturals Chicken Nuggets."



The good thing about this incident is the fact that no one has ever been reported to have suffered from adverse effects or injury for eating the chicken nuggets. But for extra precaution, Applegate posted guidelines and Q&A page for instant answers to queries regarding the recall of their nugget brand.



Meanwhile, this is the second time in two weeks that a food product has been recalled. Last week, some batch of raw milk blue cheese were pulled out from stores for Listeria contamination. And fortunately, there was no report of illness or bacteria infection as a result of consuming the dairy product.



Here is the report on the recall of Applegate chicken nuggets:






El-Sisi ordered EGP 50,000 to be paid to the family of the victim of Sundays attack, while Health Minister Rady granted them an additional EGP 250,000

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered late Sunday EGP 50,000 in "emergency relief" to be paid from North Sinai governorate's Support Fund to the family of a paramedic who was shot dead earlier in the day.

The paramedic, 38-year-old Reda El-Shahat Ibrahim, was transferring conscripts injured in an earlier explosion to the hospital in El-Shadaid when his ambulance was also attacked.

Health Minister Ahmed Emad El-Din Rady decided Sunday to grant the family of the victim additional compensation of EGP 250,000, state news agency MENA reported.

It is unclear whether the gunmen who targeted the ambulance were also behind the earlier bombing that injured the conscripts. No group has yet claimed responsibility for either attack.

The paramedic's funeral was held Sunday at his hometown in the Nile Delta's Sharqiya governorate.

Thousands of Egyptians attended the funeral, including the health minister, Sharqiya governor Khaled Said, North Sinai's governor, and head of the ambulance authority Ahmed El-Ansary, MENA reported.

The mourning crowd chanted slogans against terrorism such as There is no God but Allah, terrorism is the enemy of Allah and Down with the murderers, down with the enemies of religion.

The Egyptian army has been fighting an Islamist insurgency in parts of North Sinai for several years, resulting in the death of hundreds of militants and security forces.

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The Extraordinary Summit on Palestine is being held by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jakarta, Indonesia

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received on Sunday Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at his residence in Indonesia's capital Jakarta where the fifth Extraordinary Summit on Palestine by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is being held, state news agency MENA reported.

Abbas discussed with Shoukry the latest in the "constant Israeli violations on Palestinian territories," Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

In his speech at the Foreign ministers meeting on Sunday, Secretary-General of the OIC Iyad Ameen Madan "underscored the importance of utilising all available alternatives to resume peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis in accordance with a specified timeframe and agenda, and consistent with international guarantees."

Madan referred to two options to jump start talks: the French initiative to hold an international conference to resume peace talks, or the revival the Quartet on the Middle East that is comprised of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

The Palestinian Authority requested that the summit be held following the increase in Israeli violence in recent months and the restriction of access to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by Israel.

Over 500 delegates from the 49 OIC member states attended the event, in addition to four representatives from the Quartet on the Middle East, five UN Security Council representatives and three observer countries.

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Prominent reformist judge and former head of Egypt's Judges Club Zakaria Abdel-Aziz was forced into retirement by a disciplinary committee formed by the court of appeals on Monday for "storming" the State Security headquarters in March 2011.

On 5 March 2011, shortly after the downfall of the Mubarak regime, Abdel-Aziz was among several prominent figures who attempted to convince protesters who seized documents from the State Security headquarters in Cairo to hand them over to the army.

Reports that former State Security apparatus officers were shredding documents that could be used to expose violations of human rights during the Mubarak era sparked similar attempts by demonstrators to storm State Security headquarters in Alexandria and other cities between 4 and 6 March.

The reformist judge played a leading role in the reformist judicial independence movement in 2005-7 during Mubarak's rule.

Abdel-Aziz is also well-known for his support of the 25 January uprising that toppled the Mubarak regime.

The committee that decided to force Abdel-Aziz into retirement has not yet issued its reasons for doing so.

A video clip that circulated on social media at the time showed Abdel-Aziz at the headquarters urging groups of people to surrender the documents to army officers who had seized control of the building.

The committee previously sent a number of judges into retirement for political affiliations in the past two years, including prominent reformist judges.

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Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar said in Sunday's press conference that leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas were responsible for the assassination of top prosecutor Barakat

Egypt's supreme security prosecution ordered on Monday the detention of eight new defendants for 15 days pending investigations over the assassination of Egypt's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat in 2015, a judicial source told Ahram Online.

The prosection's decision comes one day after six suspects were detained on the same charges, bringing the total number of detainees to 14.

In June 2015, Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat died from injuries sustained in a Cairo bomb attack -- the first successful assassination attempt against a top state official since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

On Sunday, Egypt's Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar said in a press conference that Turkey's leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (a group now banned in Egypt) and the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas were responsible for the assassination of Barakat on 29 June 2015.

Abdel-Ghaffar said that the Turkey-based leaders of the Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, masterminded the assassination of Barakat, while Hamas "provided training for militants to execute it and also took part in planning it."

Following the press conference by the Egyptian minister, Hamas expressed dismay at the Egyptian interior minister's accusations, with spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri describing them as "untrue."

Abu Zuhri also called on Egyptian officials to "not involve Palestinian factions in internal domestic disagreements."

Egyptian officials have more than once linked Hamas to terror acts in Egypt, which spiked following the ouster of Morsi in 2013.

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Two policemen killed were and four other police personnel injured in an IED explosion in Al-Arish city

Two low-ranking policemen were killed while a police officer and four conscripts were injured after the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) west of Al-Arish city in North Sinai early on Monday, Ahram Arabic news website announced.

The IED exploded and hit an armored vehicle that was carrying the security personnel in west Al-Arish.

The explosion killed 35-year-old El-Siyad Azab and 33-year-old Mohamed Hamdy, who were both low ranking policemen.

The injured police personnel were transferred to hospital.

The attack comes 24 hours after an attack targeted an ambulance transferring injured conscripts to hospital after an earlier attack on Sunday.

Egypt's army has been fighting an Islamist insurgency in parts of North Sinai, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of militants, members of security forces and local residents.

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Egypt has strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted army and police posts in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerden near the Libyan border on Monday, killing at least 50 people.

Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid extended Egypt's deepest condolences to the Tunisian government and people.

Abu Zeid affirmed Egypt's solidarity with Tunisia in fighting terrorism, reiterating its call for all countries to work on concerted international efforts to defeat it.

Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed the Tunisian town near the Libyan border on Monday, attacking army and police posts in a raid that also included the killing of civilians, according to the Tunisian government.

Reuters reported earlier on Monday that Tunisian soldiers killed 33 militants and arrested six, the interior ministry said.

Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with ten soldiers.

Since its revolt that ousted ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia has struggled with Islamist militancy at home and over the border.

Militants trained in Libyan camps carried out two major attacks last year in Tunisia.

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Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday where they discussed bilateral relations, the presidency said in a statement.

"The two presidents discussed the Syrian issue and ways to support the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria, with President El-Sisi praising the roles of both Russia and the United States in reaching this agreement," the presidency said.

"They also discussed the war on terror, which [they agreed] should not be limited to Syria but extend to Libya and Yemen," the statement added.

The two leaders also discussed the possibility of cooperation in fields of power and industry, as well as reviving Russian tourism in Egypt, which received a major blow after the October crash of a Russian flight in Sinai that killed 224 people.

A few days after the incident, President Putin suspended all flights to Egypt until the cause of the crash could be determined.

At the time of the crash, for which the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility, Russia had 80,000 of its citizens in Red Sea resorts.

In November, the Egyptian government signed an agreement with Russia to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant at Dabaa in Marsa Matrouh governorate, which aims to generate 4,800 megawatts through four units.

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Independent Nasserist MP Kamal Ahmed will be banned from attending parliaments remaining sessions this year for hitting a fellow MP with his shoe

A special Egyptian parliamentary committee has recommended that independent Nasserist MP Kamal Ahmed be barred from attending parliaments remaining sessions this year for assaulting a fellow MP.

A report prepared by the committee said that Ahmed violated parliamentary ethics and rules when he hit his colleague Tawfik Okasha with his shoe during a plenary session on 28 February.

In a plenary session held on 28 February, Ahmed took all by surprise when he hit Okasha with his shoe in protest against the latter holding a dinner meeting with the Israeli ambassador in Egypt Haim Koren on 24 February.

The committee, formed by parliament on 28 February, was entrusted with questioning Ahmed and Okasha.

It recommended on 3 March that Okasha be banned from attending one legislative season  nine months  for meeting with the Israeli ambassador in Cairo without parliaments prior approval, though MPs later voted in favour of stripping Okasha of his parliamentary membership entirely.

Ahmed, who was questioned by the committee for two hours on Sunday, told reporters that he did not regret hitting Okasha with his shoe.

I told the committee that it was a great point of pride for me to take this action against a man who directed an insult to all Egyptians, and I am ready to do it again and again, Kamal said.

Ahmed told the committee that he was deeply angered by Okashas meeting with the Israeli ambassador and his tarnishing of the image of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

I decided to act unilaterally and on my own, said Ahmed. I saw that the best way to punish Okasha was to hit him with my shoe, and I believe that my reaction was highly regarded by the Egyptian public.

The committee said that although it fully understands Ahmeds angry reaction, it believes that he behaved improperly.

The punishment of Okasha should have been left to parliament, said the committee report, adding that for this reason, it recommends that Ahmed be banned from attending parliaments remaining plenary sessions  which will end in July or August.

A lot of MPs, however, told reporters that they will vote down the committees recommendation because they believe that Ahmed did nothing wrong when he hit Okasha with his shoe.

Kamal Ahmed is an old-time Nasserist MP representing El-Atarin district in Alexandria.

In 1977, Ahmed interrupted late president Anwar El-Sadat while he was delivering a speech in parliament, accusing Sadat of launching a media campaign against late president Nasser.

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The Al-Ahram Establishment held a memorial service on Monday for late United Nations secretary-general and Egyptian diplomat Boutrous Boutrous Ghaly.

Ghali died at 93 on 16 February in a Cairo hospital after being admitted with a broken pelvis.

By all accounts, Ghali was a distinguished and unique diplomat who devoutly served his country, which was the sentiment given by scores of people who gathered at the memorial service at Heikal's Hall in Al-Ahram's main building downtown.

During the service, a video was played showing scenes from the life of the departed.

A few days after his death, Egypt held a military funeral for Ghali and an Orthodox funeral mass was held and headed by Pope Tawdros II, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church.

Chairman of the board of Al-Ahram Establishment, Ahmed El-Sayed El-Naggar hailed Ghali as a highly-distinguished scholar and a mentor who truthfully taught his students the real values of academic and political research," adding that he was more than one of the worlds greatest diplomats.

He was a great and veteran academic who contributed in leading and establishing two of Al-Ahram's prestigious magazines; Al-Siyasa Al-Dawliya (International Politics) and Al-Ahram Al-Ektesady (Al-Ahram Economic review).

Dozens of Egyptian officials, politicians, writers and relatives of the deceased attended the memorial.

Former minister of trade and industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour represented the Gahli's family and thanked Al-Ahram for organising the event, adding that Ghali was a man of action and a courageous diplomat and a man of law."

Ghali served in the UNs top office from 1992 to 1996 as the first African and Arab secretary-general.

Ghali came from a family with a long diplomatic history. His grandfather, the late Boutrous Ghaly, occupied the positions of Egyptian finance minister, foreign affairs minister and finally prime minister from 1908 until his assassination in 1910.

Ghali followed in his grandfathers footsteps in his diplomatic career, serving as minister of state for foreign affairs from 1977 until 1991.

He was also a member of Egypt's parliament in 1987 and part of the secretariat of the National Democratic Party from 1980.

From 2003 to 2012, Ghali was the director of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights.

Aside from his political and diplomatic career, Ghali is known as a prominent writer with over six books, mostly on international politics and the peace process in the Middle East.

His book Egypt's Book to Jerusalem is considered one of the most important books detailing the Camp David talks between Egypt and Israel, with details previously unknown to the public.

Abdel-Nour also said that he was a highly-skilled negotiator who played a remarkably vital role in accomplishing the peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Amr Moussa, former Arab League secretary-general also attended the service, hailing Ghali as a "firm negotiator" who led Egyptian diplomacy at a difficult time.

Moussa said that "Egypt lost a unique and great nationalist man who was proud of being Egyptian."

Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid has also praised Ghali as the "the great man whom Egypt is proud of."

Abu Zeid added that the late veteran diplomat played a pivotal role in shaping Egyptian foreign policy, especially in "cementing ties with African and Latin American countries."

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Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 50 people, including civilians, the government and residents said.

Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.

Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack.

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."

It was not clear if the attackers crossed over the border, but it was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spillover from Libya, where Islamic State militants have gained ground.

Since its 2011 revolt to oust ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has struggled with Islamist militancy at home and over the border. Militants trained in militant camps in Libya carried out two attacks last year in Tunisia.

"This was an unprecedented, well-organised attack," President Beji Caid Essebsi told local radio. "But the people in the south can be confident the army and police will win against this barbarity across the border."

Soldiers killed 33 militants and arrested six, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with ten soldiers.

"If the army had not been ready, the terrorists would have been able to raise their flag over Ben Guerdan and gotten a symbolic victory," said Abd Elhamid Jelassi, vice president of the Islamist party Ennahda, part of the government coalition.

Regional Militant Islamists

More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with Islamic State and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago, Libya has slipped into chaos, with two rival governments and armed factions struggling for control. Islamic State has grown in the turmoil, taking over Sirte city and drawing foreign recruits.

Tunisian militant Islamists are taking a lead role in Islamic State camps in Libya, Tunisian security sources say.

Tunisian forces have been on alert for possible militant infiltrations since last month when a US air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Islamic State militants at a camp near the border in Libya's Sabratha.

Western military advisers are starting to train Tunisian border forces to help better protect the frontier with electronic surveillance and drones and authorities have built a trench and barrier to help stop militants crossing.

Islamist militant gunmen trained in Libyan Islamist militant camps carried out two of the three major attacks on Tunisia last year, including assaults on the Tunis Bardo museum and a Sousse beach hotel targeting foreign tourists.

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Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi denounced Monday's Islamist militants attacks on police and army posts near his country's border with Libya as "unprecedented" and coordinated assaults.

In statements broadcast on state television, Essebsi said the assault that killed 28 militants was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and vowed to "exterminate these rats".

The attacks in the border town of Ben Guerdane, where 10 members of the security forces and seven civilians also lost their lives, were "unprecedented" and coordinated", said the president.

"Maybe they were aimed at controlling this region" in order to proclaim a "new (Islamist militant) province", he said.

"The Tunisian people are at war with this barbarism and with these rats and we will exterminate them... definitively," said Essebsi.

Tunisian forces fought off Monday's assailants in the second day of clashes in the border area in less than a week.

Tunisia has seen an emergence of radical Islam since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocratic strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who suppressed opponents including Islamists.

In recent years a large number of Tunisians have joined the Islamic State group (IS) in Libya, where authorities say they have been trained to carry out attacks at home.

Last year IS -- which has set up an Islamic "caliphate" in parts of Syria and Iraq under its control and is also active in Egypt -- claimed three attacks in Tunisia, killing dozens of foreign tourists and presidential guards.

Tunisia has been battling the militants who have taken advantage of a power vacuum in Libya -- also rocked by a 2011 uprising -- to set up bases, including in the Sabratha area between Tripoli and the border with Tunisia.

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Syria's regime said Monday it had been invited to peace talks in Geneva from March 14 but the opposition said it was still considering whether to attend despite a major lull in fighting.

The United Nations is hoping to restart peace talks that collapsed last month, building on a ceasefire that has led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

A source close to the Syrian regime delegation told AFP it had been invited to a new round of talks starting from March 14 in the Swiss city.

The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes the talks can begin from Thursday but officials have indicated it could take several days of preparations for the negotiations to get off the ground.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime has already expressed its willingness to take part in talks but the opposition has sent mixed signals on whether it will attend this latest round.

The head of the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, on Monday refused to commit to the talks.

"The HNC will assess the situation in the coming days and we will take the appropriate decision," he told reporters.

Speaking in a conference call from Riyadh, Hijab said a small delegation from the HNC would travel to Geneva "in the next two days" to meet with the international task force monitoring the truce.

Hijab's statements appeared to be a step back from earlier comments by HNC spokesman Riad Naasan Agha, who said the opposition delegation would arrive on Friday to take part in talks.



The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but the two powers have made a concerted push for the truce and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Sunday had been the "calmest day" in Syria since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the average number of civilian deaths a day had fallen by 90 percent since the truce came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

Aid deliveries have also improved, with the UN delivering aid on Monday to a key rebel bastion east of Damascus, the third distribution since truce began on February 27.

World Food Programme spokesman Hussam al-Saleh told AFP that 22 trucks would distribute food, flour and medical supplies to the towns of Hammuriya, Jisreen, and Beit Sawa in Eastern Ghouta.

Residents have taken advantage of the continued drop in fighting to stage daily protests.

In Aleppo city, dozens of young men poured into the street carrying the three-starred, tricolour flag of Syria's uprising and banners reading: "The world's silence is louder than the barrel bombs of death."

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said Monday the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were continuing to carry out air strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

Russia launched an air campaign in September it says is targeting "terrorists" but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad's forces.

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The Pentagon on Monday denied reports it is building two airfields in northern Syria as part of the battle against the Islamic State group.

Syrian military and security officials have said the United States is expanding an airfield in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province, and new reports have surfaced of a base near the Kurdish city of Kobani.

"We are not building or operating any air bases in Syria," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.

Still, the United States has acknowledged it has sent about 50 special operations forces on the ground in northern Syria, helping train and equip local anti-IS fighters.

"That we have people there and that we have made deliveries there, and that they have to get there by some means should be no secret, but we are not going to comment on the means," Davis said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in January that the Rmeilan airstrip had been widened and was "nearly ready" for use by American planes.

The United States is supporting a Kurdish-Arab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces against the IS group in northern Syria, providing it with air cover as part of a broad coalition battling the militants.

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Related Former US First Lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle praised former first lady Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday at age 94, as a "proud example."

The Obamas said Reagan transformed the role of first lady during her 1981-1989 White House tenure, and later became an advocate for millions suffering from Alzheimer's disease like her husband, president Ronald Reagan, who died in 2004.

Extending condolences to her children and grandchildren, they said "we remain grateful for Nancy Reagan's life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again."

The Obamas said they were "fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice."

"Our former first lady redefined the role in her time here.

"Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives," they said in a statement.

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Bernie Sanders scored a decisive victory over rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race for president Sunday, easily beating her in the party caucuses in the northeastern state of Maine.

With almost all of the precincts reporting, Sanders beat Clinton with 64.3 percent of the vote compared to her 35.5 percent.

It was an expected win for the self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist candidate, who hails from nearby Vermont and enjoys strong backing in the region.

Clinton however remains far ahead in the total number of delegates needed to win the Democratic Party nomination.

"I thank the people of Maine for their strong support," the Sanders campaign said in a statement.

"With another double-digit victory, we have now won by wide margins in states from New England to the Rocky Mountains and from the Midwest to the Great Plains."

The Maine victory pushes Sanders's total wins to eight in 19 contests.

Clinton and Sanders late Sunday also faced off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan, just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.

They tackled the scandal surrounding the lead-contaminated water in the city, with Sanders railing against the "disgrace beyond belief."

Both Clinton and Sanders called for the state's Republican governor to resign.

On Saturday, Clinton won in Louisiana, the biggest prize of the weekend contests, but Sanders won in Kansas and Nebraska.

Clinton was favored in Louisiana thanks to overwhelming support from African American voters, while Sanders has done better in states with mostly white voters.

Sanders told CNN that his campaign was on the upswing.

"Just in the last two days, we have won the caucuses in Maine -- we won that tonight with a very large turnout -- we won Nebraska, we won Kansas, and Kansas was the biggest turnout in their caucus history," he said.

"I think we are exciting working class people, young people who are prepared to stand up and demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the few," he said.

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The United States has carried out an air strike in Somalia, killing more than 150 fighters with the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, following US intelligence on preparations for a large-scale militant attack, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The weekend strike using both manned and unmanned drone aircraft targeted al Shabaab's "Raso" training camp, a facility about 120 miles north of the capital Mogadishu, the Pentagon said.

The US military said it had been monitoring the camp for several weeks before the strike and had gathered intelligence, including about an imminent threat posed by those in the camp.

"We know they were going to be departing the camp and that they posed an imminent threat to US and to Amisom, African Union mission in Somalia forces, that are in Somalia," said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

Davis declined to disclose any specific information the United States might have about the group's intended target.

Al Shabaab could not be reached for comment.

Somalia's Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer said the Somali intelligence agency had provided information about the camp to the US in the runup to the attack.

"There has to be intelligence on the ground for this to happen. Our intelligence had helped," Omer told Reuters.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

The group, whose name means "The Youth," seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.

Al Shabaab was also behind deadly attacks in Kenya and Uganda, which both contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Omer said the US drone strike was a major blow to al Shabaab.

"It's a big victory for fighting terrorism," Omer said. "Instead of al Shabaab attacking civilians, it was a military target was hit and there was a high success rate."

Davis said as many as 200 fighters were believed to be training at the Raso camp at the time of the strike and expressed confidence there were no civilian casualties.

"Their removal will degrade al Shabaab's ability to meet the group's objectives in Somalia, which include recruiting new members, establishing bases and planning attacks on US and Amisom forces there," Davis said.

No US forces on the ground participated in the strike.

"It was an air operation," Davis said.

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Clayderman will be joined by the legendary Romanian flutist Zamfir

World renowned French pianist Richard Clayderman will hold a concert in Egypt at Cairo Festival City, with Romanian master of the pan-flute Gheorghe Zamfir as guest of honor.

According to the event's promotional material, the award winning orchestra Royal Camerata of Romania, which in 2009 received the High Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania, will accompany the piano virtuoso.

Clayderman, who was born Philippe Pages, has a career spanning 40 years of music.

After studying at the Conservatoire de Paris, his career kicked off in 1976, when record producers Olivier Toussaint and Paul de Senneville selected him to record a gentle piano ballad for de Sennevilles baby daughter.

Ballade Pour Adeline (Ballad for Adeline) went on to sell 22 million copies in 38 countries, earning Clayderman international acclaim.

He has since recorded over 1,300 melodies, and has established a signature style which combines his trademark originals with classics and pop standards. His record sales are over 150 million, with 267 gold and 70 platinum albums.

Zamfir, earned his title of Master of The Pan-Flute for playing an expanded version of the traditional Romanian pan flute with 22, 25, 28, and 30 pipes, rather than the classic 20 pipes, to increase its range.

He was appointed conductor of the Ciocirlia Orchestra in 1966, one of the most prestigious state ensembles of Romania, and three years later started his own small band.

After nearly 10 years of absence, Zamfir returned with a tour in Canada in 2006, acoompanied by the Traffic Strings quintet, and later in 2012 he performed at the opening ceremony of the 11th Conference of Parties to the Ramsar Convention at Bucharests parliament quarters.

He currently resides and teaches pan flute in Bucharest.

Programme:

Friday 11 March, 8pm

The Marquee, Cairo Festival City Mall, New Cairo

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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(Beijing)  Tibetan delegates to a meeting of China's top legislature have restarted a fashion that dates back to the era of Mao Zedong by wearing badges showing the faces of current and past leaders in what they say is a show of gratitude.

However, Internet users have reacted with unease, saying it appears to be a return to the cult of personality crafted by Mao and employed during the violent Culture Revolution (1966-76).

The National People's Congress (NPC) deputies from the Tibetan Autonomous Region in the far west of the country each wore two badges when they attended the opening session of the legislature's annual meeting on March 5.

One badge showed a smiling Xi Jinping, head of the Communist Party, talking to a Tibetan woman.

The other showed the busts of Xi and his four predecessors as top leaders of the party and country, Mao; Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who launched China's reform and opening; Jiang Zemin, who led the party from 1989 to 2002; and Hu Jintao, the party's leader from 2002 to 2012. The flag of China appears in the background of the second badge.

The delegates got the badges last year on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibetan government, said Gesang Zhuoga, an NPC deputy from a rural village in the region's capital, Lhasa. She said they decided to wear the round pins at this year's "lianghui," or "two sessions" of the NPC and the top government advisory body.

Gesang, who told state media she is the woman in the first badge, said the delegates wanted to wear the pins to show their gratitude to the party's top leaders for the changes made in Tibet, particularly in the past three years.

She said the region lifted 100,000 people out of poverty last year as a result of support from the central government.

"Posters similar to the two badges are now hanging in every office, home and public squares in Tibet," Gesang said.

However, many Internet users said the badges, which are similar to ones worn during the Cultural Revolution, were a reminder of a period that saw the country brought to the brink of collapse.

One person wrote on Sina Weibo, China's take on Twitter, that the nation has moved past reminders of the cult of personality. "As such, we should never allow the worship of an individual to become a fashion again," he wrote.

Another blogger worried the badges might become de rigueur again. "If they are not told to stop doing this, other delegates could follow suit next year," he wrote.

(Rewritten by Li Rongde)
About two years ago at a conference on big data, the chairman of the Shenzhen-based genome sequencing company BGI Genomics Co. Wang Jian argued that his company should be seen as a big data company and thus get the attention and valuation of most Internet companies.

His argument inspired me. I think that not only BGI but another company in Shenzhen, the drone maker DJI, should be treated as a big data firm.

China's Internet industry has been lackluster over the past two years. Few successful companies, with massive cash in hand, have continued investing in mergers and acquisitions targeting Web or mobile-based consumer service providers. Instead, expansions are mainly focused on the already mature Internet market.

Meanwhile, smaller firms have been busy delisting from the Nasdaq and seeking opportunities in the domestic stock market. Entrepreneurs eyeing the mobile Internet arena are either copying business models overseas or seeking new niches among existing market segments. Both are mainly looking at the downstream portion of the industry.

Innovation is barely seen. And big news that excites the market usually involves mergers among major companies in the same sector, activity the media interprets as the Internet industry thriving.

However, if we look beyond China, the Internet field is undergoing profound changes globally and breaking through long-established barriers. The industry needs to be redefined.

Traditional Internet companies, both Net and mobile-based, are still the main players in the sector, but their growth has peaked. Future expansion will be slow and none of these firms are likely to see a surge in market value.

A new frontier of the Internet industry is to collect and analyze data from platforms other than personal computers and smartphones. For instance, using genome sequencing technology to serve medical research, as BGI does. That company is mainly focusing on business-to-business services, but if it turns its attention to individual customers, like the U.S. personal genomics and biotechnology company 23andMe, it will be no different than any other Internet company with which we are familiar.

Another example is using drones for photography, transportation and security services, like DJI. The company targets both corporate and individual clients. If it develops projects similar to Google Earth or the Apple Store, it will also become a typical Internet company. Other new platforms for data collection include wearable equipment, manufacturing databases and platforms based on sensor technologies. All of them engage in collecting data from human activity and the world at large.

Another new frontier is creating new products, like 3-D printing and driverless cars. China lacks any company of note in this field.

These new fields share a similar business model because they all involve the process of digitization and data exchange based on the Internet to create new products and services. Over the past couple of decades, the Internet sector has focused on human activities, but it is now expanding far beyond that.

Google has announced a restructuring to put more resources into research of unmanned driving systems, biological sensors, artificial intelligence and more. Facebook has acquired Oculus VR, a leader in virtual reality technology. But in China, companies' interests have remained in the traditional Internet arenas, indicating a lack of long-term vision.

Xie Wen is a senior Internet industry analyst and former president of Yahoo China
Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a strong warning to Taiwan and its incoming, independence-leaning government.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, Xi told delegates at the annual meeting of China's parliament Sunday that Beijing would "resolutely contain Taiwan independence secessionist activities in any form," and would never allow the "historical tragedy" of a split to occur again.

China and Taiwan have been split since 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces fled the mainland after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communist army. Beijing considers self-ruled Taiwan a renegade province, and vows to bring the island back under its control -- by force, if necessary.

Located about 180 kilometers off China's southeastern coast, the island was under Japanese colonial rule until the end of World War II in 1945.
The UN refugee agency reports that the refugee situation in Greece is rapidly deteriorating, with about 30,000 people living under miserable conditions, but it's proposing a plan to help resolve the crisis.

The proposal from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees comes ahead of a European Union ministerial meeting with Turkey in Brussels next week.

The UNHCR says only a trickle of people are being allowed to cross into Macedonia, leaving thousands of refugees stranded on the Greek side of the border, amid mounting tensions and inadequate accommodations.

Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming says this situation could be largely resolved if European nations would implement a plan they agreed to last year for the fair and equitable relocation of refugees.

The EU had agreed to fairly distribute 160,000 refugees among its 28 members. Fleming says most of the countries are unwilling to face up to their responsibilities, as only 603 people have been relocated.

"It is not fair right now," she said. "It is not fair that Greece and Italy have to take on all of the people who are arriving and all that that entails. And it is not fair that Austria, Germany and Sweden, on behalf of all of Europe, have to take the burden of all the refugees who are arriving. That has to stop."
A Pakistani man has received a 13-year prison sentence for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, according to lawyers in the case.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was accused of publishing a post referring to the Prophet Muhammad.

An anti-terrorism court Thursday convicted Haider of three charges, including promoting sectarian hatred, Aleem Chatta, deputy public prosecutor for Punjab province, said in an interview with VOA's Urdu service.

Chatta said the case was registered against Haider, a Shi'ite Muslim, in January for posting what the prosecutor called material that was objectionable to Sunni Muslims.

The defendant was also fined 250,000 rupees ($2,500), Chatta said, adding that Haider denied the charges and had the right to appeal.

Haider's 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 hard-line Sunni sects, for hate speech in recent months.

Haider's case, however, is one of the few in which a Shi'ite Muslim has been jailed for such a crime.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court jailed another Shi'ite man for 13 years in November 2015 after he also posted what authorities 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.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said haze from Mongolia and northern China blew over into Seoul, parts of Gyeonggi Province and the western coast on Sunday morning. On Monday, the haze will cause fine-dust levels across the nation to reach 81~150/, which is considered bad.

Authorities issue advisories if the fine dust concentration exceeds 400/ for more than two hours. But the haze contains ultra-fine contaminants carried over from China's industrial regions of Beijing and Tianjin, prompting health officials here to urge strict hygiene routines.

The year's first dust haze blanketed Korea on Sunday and Monday, but pollutants were not concentrated enough to warrant an official advisory.

Ban Ki-sung at meteorological information provider Kweather said even before the haze blanketed the northeastern region of China, pollutants in the atmosphere drove up the fine-dust content to 400~600/.

He said the pollutants were carried over on easterly winds, while winds in the upper strata over the Korean Peninsula are weak, causing the haze to linger until Tuesday.

The haze from China is a regular occurrence, but in recent years the pollutant content has sharply increased.

The National Institute for Environmental Research analyzed 28 sandstorms from 2009 to 2011 and found that 46 percent contained pollutants because they blew through industrial regions in China. Toxic haze contains 1.8 to 3.3 times more carcinogenic particles than ordinary dust like lead, bismuth and cadmium, and highly toxic agents like selenium.

Korea will be affected this year about as much as in previous years with 5.4 days from March to May.

Dust haze can cause respiratory illnesses, eye infections and skin problems. Senior citizens or children, whose lungs are more vulnerable to infections, are advised to stay indoors.

People who wear contact lenses are also advised to switch to glasses to avoid scratching the cornea. Heavy metal particles can trigger skin problems, so health officials advise people to wash their faces and hands often.
South Korea and the U.S. on Friday officially launched a joint working group to discuss the deployment of Terminal High Attitude Area Defense batteries on the Korean Peninsula, the Defense Ministry here said.

The talks start almost a month after Seoul and Washington announced them in the wake of North Korea's rocket launch on Feb. 7.

The ministry in a statement said Seoul and Washington only plan to discuss "the possibility of deploying" the THAAD batteries. When asked if the word "possibility" meant that they could decide against it, a senior official said, "We need to find the right spot. We can't talk about the future with 100-percent certainty."

On Feb. 25, U.S. Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris said the start of discussions does not signify the matter is settled.

Shortly after the announcement of formal talks on Feb. 7, U.S. and South Korean military officials made comments that sounded like the deployment was certain, but they have since backpedaled in the face of opposition from China.

The U.S. realized in negotiations over North Korea sanctions that it can use the THAAD deployment not just as a deterrent against North Korean provocations but also as leverage in diplomatic maneuvering with China.

Park Won-gon at Handong Global University said, "The U.S. decided to compile a list of countries by August that could potentially conduct financial dealings with North Korea to isolate Pyongyang, and that date will mark the first major hurdle for the THAAD deployment. If China plays an active part in international sanctions against North Korea and the North shows signs of change, support for the deployment here could weaken."

Domestic opinion is already turning against the deployment. Ahead of the April general election, candidates in regions that have been mentioned as possible deployment sites have joined a chorus of opponents, saying their radar system emits harmful electromagnetic radiation.

Another hurdle could be the cost-sharing ratio between Seoul and Washington, and the current government here could decide to lump the next administration with the issue.

But the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a resolution urging the deployment of THAAD batteries in South Korea, which ups the pressure on both governments.


The terror group Islamic State or ISIS has threatened 20 Koreans on YouTube after hacking a Korean company's computer network to retrieve their data.

According to intelligence sources, the Caliphate Cyber Army, ISIS' hacking arm, accessed the computer systems of the CIA and FBI and over 20 government websites in Korea, the U.S. and U.K. to gather personal information on agents.

In the process it obtained the personal details of 11 Korean government workers and nine corporate PR staff and published them on YouTube, urging its followers to "kill them wherever you find them."

The video also includes a clip of the alleged mastermind of the Paris terror attacks beheading hostages.

It is unclear why the 20 should be on the target list except that ISIS considers Korea a "hostile country."

The government here does not seem unduly worried. "We notified the company that it was hacked and advised those whose identities were exposed to change their numbers and e-mail addresses," an official said.


Cultural activity Enlighten Canberra held in Australia

From:English.news.cn | 2016-03-07 09:51

CANBERRA, March 6, 2016 (Xinhua) -- National Science and Technology Centre is illuminated during "Enlighten Canberra" in Canberra, Australia, March 4, 2016. "Enlighten Canberra" is an annual cultural and creative activity held in March, during which major landmark buildings, including Parliament House, Old Parliament House, National Science and Technology Centre, National Library, will be lit up with colorful lights. (Xinhua/Justin Qian)
Site: twoofaces From: katie

Greetings,

Is a pleasure to contact you for urgent and important issue kindly contact me at katie-higgins18@outlook.com.







From: "Capt..Katie Higgins" <katie-higgins18@outlook.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 02:29:18 +0000 Subject: Marine Capt. Katie Higgins

Hi Dear,

Thanks for your kind response and i am very happy after reading your mail. I hope all is well with you and how are you enjoying your day? as i told you earlier in my previous letter on my name is Marine Capt. Katie Higgins, blue Angel, However, I really want to establish a true relationship with you and even to have a business partnership as well.

I am United State Marine officer currently in Central African Republic conflict, I am a loving, honest and caring we are being attacked everyday by insurgents bomb explosion, but during our rescue mission we came across a safe huge amount of money belongs to the supporters of ISIS across Middle East, Africa. For importation of ammunition, and it was agreed by my Marine officers present to share the money among us and which we did. My share is $5,560,000 (Five Million Five Hundred and Sixty Thousand united states Dollars) I am seeking your assurance and assistance to secure my share of the money,

If you can trusted, I will really want you to assure me that if this money gets to you in your country that you will not disappoint me, until when I will come to your country to collect the money from you. I would also want you to know that i have made a solid arrangements with a reliable security and delivery company and they have promised to corporate to deliver the funds through their diplomatic method to any of my choosing destination.

This delivery is going to be handle legally by the security company and there will not be any form of risk involve during the process and the money will be packaged safely in a military truck box case. and I have decide to compensate you with 30% of the total money once you received the money, while the rest balance shall be for my investment capital in your country. Meanwhile; I do not know how long we going to remain here.

Please do not discuss this matter to a third party, and if you are not interested to this business please kindly delete this letter from your email box I hope my explanation is very clear but should in case of any question, please feel free to ask via email only because we are not allow to make use of mobile phone, we only make use of radio message. I wait for your immediate reply.

Capt. Katie Higgins

From: "Capt..Katie Higgins" <katie-higgins18@outlook.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 03:25:29 +0000 Subject: SEND THIS INFORMATION

My dear friend,

I want to say thanks to you for making out time to write to me again, the content of your letter are well understood, i do not want you to see this business as some thing that will bring problem to you, but i want you to trust and believe me when i say that there is nothing to worry about in this deal.

Am a woman that does things in accordance to the directives of my spirit, i chose you to be my partner and also help me in receiving this cash box because my spirit has been bearing me witness that you are the rightful person for me and i know you will not disappoint me, if i eventually send out any thing to the my country it will be suspicious and i will be query for the action, so i chose you because i know you are the real person for this deal as foreigner who is not a my country citizen.

Please put away fear or doubt and make up your mind to help me in this matter, i promise you you will not regret been part of this matter, One more time i want to let you know that there is no complication on this matter, if you follow my instruction every thing will go smooth and well in the process of receiving the cash box, Please try and keep this matter between you and i,

i want to remind you once again that every arrangement towards this project is intact between both of us and on no account should you let the '' Security and delivery company'' to know the content of the box, remember that the consignment was registered as diplomatic package to the security company and that is what they believe to be in the box, so you should not let them know that the content of the box is money.

I will like you to send your contact information to me so that i can forward to the security company to enable them proceed to your country for the final delivery of the cash box to your door step. Send your below information to me urgently;

Your full names:........... Your address:.............. Post code:................. City:...................... Your Age................. Country:................... Telephone number:................ Profession:................

Once am through here with my official assignment i will come over to meet you one on one in your country and after that we shall decide on how to carry on with our life, but for now please i will appreciate us to be more focus on this issue of you receiving the cash box and safe keeping it on my behalf till i come over then i will.

From: "Capt..Katie Higgins" <katie-higgins18@outlook.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 08:25:42 +0000 Subject: CONTACT THE SECURITY SHIPPING COMPANYa

Thanks for your sent details and I can now proceed. nobody no what is inside accept you and i and there is nothing like black courted cover with the cleaning chemical what ever this is real money no custom will disturb because everything is legal.

My dearest, I am going to submit your sent details to the delivery company and i believe as they promised they will get to you as soon as possible to let you know about their further arrangements and the delivery date.

Like I told you earlier, they will tag the box as diplomatic package containing diplomatic materials and it will be deliver to you by any of their assigned delivery officer or agent to your country as I have already handed over the box to them through their accredited agent here in Central Africa, but they said that all packages departing from Africa must go through their African regional head office in Lome Togo before departing to any where of the world.

I really want us to conclude this business as soon as possible so that you can receive the package within 2 or 3 days after departure, so I want you to officially contact the security company through their contact information now for proper identification. Below is their contact details;

Company name: Diamond Express Cargo Delivery & Security Company Office / address: 322, avenue Nicolas Grunistzky Avepozo Lome, Togo. Maritime Phone: +22893020846 Fax: +22893020846 Email: delivering-diamond@outlook.com diamondexpress@yandex.com Operation manager: MR JEFF MORGAN

Though i have already forwarded your personal data to the company but I will advice you to contact them as well either through email or phone call, the secret code number of the box consignment is FS5045X please take note because the deliver officer will ask for the security code number of the package to confirmed you as the rightful person.

Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation, I hope to have smile with you soon as I am counting on your honesty, i might not be free to follow the activities of the security company, so I want you to stand on my behalf till the cash box is delivered to you Have a nice and better day ahead.

From: Diamond Express Delivery Company <delivering-diamond@outlook.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 17:01:00 +0000 Subject: Diamond Express Delivery Company

Attn; Address: Country: Phone: Occupation:

We wish to inform you that we the Security and delivery company, Republic of Togo branch which the headquarters all over Africa has received a shipment which bears your personal information as the final recipient of the consignment and the consignment was original sent by Capt. Katie Higgins

Capt. Katie Higgins have already settle for delivering and custom charge from Africa to your country but there is a little problem we are facing which may disturb our diplomat in your country we receive an alert from Finance Authority without clearance Documents we cannot allow to enter your country and this is very urgent our cargo Airline and diplomat is ready to take as soon as we get this documents and it will carry your name and country as receiver of this parcel.

Be aware that your deposited consignment box has been registered into our computer data manifesto, and currently waiting for clearance Documents from the Finance and dispatch, meanwhile, you are expected to send clearance fee of 1.500 pounds immediately to facilitate required clearance document without this documents we cannot allow to arrive in your country because we are going present the document at Airport

NOTE AND ALERT DIPLOMAT NAME TO DELIVER -------MR CLERK AIRPORT---------------- Airport COUNTRY------------- RECEIVER----------------

For fast receipt of the fees, send the money through western union money transfer, money gram to the name of our logistics and dispatch Agent in the information below for the services required;

Receiver's name===== UCHE Surname:============ ORJI City================ Lome Country============= Togo QUESTION==========WHO ANSWER============ME Amount============== 1.500 pounds

As soon as you send the money, kindly scan and send the payment receipt/slip to us via email attachment for documentary purpose. Here is your Tracking PIN, you are free to track the movement of your package online logging to our

Website: www.de-tg.net

then click on track package and then log in with the below information

Invoice: DE1130TG Tracking: 64343529 Website: www.de-tg.net

With the above information you will be monitoring the movement of your package to know when it arrive your country. Delivery will be made within 48 hours of confirmation and receipt of fees payment.

We promise to give our customers the best of our services. Should you have any question(s) please contact us on our telephone number +22893020846 for more directives/clarifications. please always reply to this email id : delivering-diamond@outlook.com

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation. We are waiting for your responds.

Operation manager. MR. JEFF MORGAN Diamond Express Cargo Delivery & Security Company Telephone: +22893020846 Email: delivering-diamond@outlook.com diamondexpress@yandex.com Website: www.de-tg.net

From: "Capt..Katie Higgins" <katie-higgins18@outlook.com> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 20:54:01 +0000 Subject: TOKEN OF APPRECIATION

My dear

Been quite long silence time! I thank you for the your efforts regarding helping, though you were not able to execute it to finish with me. I actually found a very good friend who help me out morally and financially. As a mark of appreciation for your time and efforts regarding the business I had with you.

Three hundred thousand United States Dollars ($300,000.00) to American Express Credit Card Centre so that they can package the total sum into their facility called Amex Card and send to you as your compensation for all your past effort to assist me to transfer those funds, to avoid bank charges and condition of services which will delay the money getting to you early enough, secondly as a military I am not allowed to transact or remit such huge sums of money from my account.

The American Express Credit Card Center Lome-Togo will contact and send to you, your named Amex Card containing the Three Hundred thousand United States Dollars, they will also send the four digits secret pin code with which you can be making withdrawals from Amex Card.

From the card you can withdraw a maximum of Thirty Thousand United States Dollars per a day and you can also transfer from the same Amex card to your local bank account a maximum of one fifty thousand United States Dollars per a day.

The card will be fully activated for withdrawals in any country of the world and in countries where United States Dollars are not used you will be paid in that country's local currency Dollar equivalent.

N.B: Always send a copy of all communication and transaction with the AMEX CREDIT CARD to me until you received the card.

Thanks

Capt..Katie Higgins If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more....
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Eldhose's lawyers maintain that he is a victim of political rivalry and that the whole complaint is a fabricated one.
#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...
There is no better feeling in the world - when everyone in your life is content, watching sports, and preferably holding the baby for a bit. Or, in Georgia's case, both babies.



The 31-year-old Irish model posted the below to her Instagram yesterday, captioned: "Boys night in #themancave #utv #avfc"



She also posted this pic of what greeted her on her first Mother's Day.

Georgia married Joe Penna back in May in Italy, and six months later they welcomed twin boys into their world. Taking to social media back in December, Georgia said: "Delighted with the arrival of twin boys, the most special, perfect little babies and we are so in love. They are NOT adopted... I wont be posting any photos of them on social media as Id like to keep them private. Were very, very happy - but will be even happier if the papers, which have been so good to me, respect our family's privacy at this very special time. Thanks, Georgia x"
Gunter Seufert (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik)

At the end of November last year, an emergency EU-Turkey Summit took place, mainly focusing on the implementation of the Joint Action Plan aimed at stepping up cooperation with Turkey. According to the action plan, Turkey should, among others, carry out a stricter control of its borders and implement the re-admission agreements with Greece and Bulgaria before June 2016. The European Union acknowledged that the Schengen countries would be, in return, willing to relax the visa regime for Turkish citizens. The Union also confirmed the provision of financial assistance for Turkey and both parties also agreed to intensify the organization of EU-Turkey Summits that should be held regularly twice a year. It remains to be seen if Turkey fulfills the points included in the Joint Action Plan. It is already obvious that, because of the refugee crisis, Turkey has to deal with many financial and political problems.

According to recent opinion polls, the attitude of the Turks towards refugees is getting increasingly negative. For example, 70 percent believe that the acceptance of migrants threatens state security. Moreover, the acceptance of refugees is in conflict with the deep-rooted paradigm whose aim is a culturally homogeneous society. For this reason, a special legislation (Iskan Kanunu) was adopted in 1934, which limited the granting of the Turkish citizenship to those individuals who do not proclaim their adherence to the Turkish culture. In 2006, the above-mentioned legislation was amended and it is valid until today. Although Turkey ratified some major international treaties on refugee law in the past, it is necessary for Ankara to reform certain internal laws and regulations. In October 2014, the legislation regarding the so-called temporary protection of refugees was adopted, guaranteeing, for example, the right of refugees to medical assistance.

In recent years, Turkey has been relatively open to accepting refugees not only for humanitarian but also for political reasons, since it hoped that this could have a significant impact on the newly formed Syria in the future. Davuto?lus government moreover argued that it was necessary to cancel the flight zone over Turkey because of the high number of Syrian immigrants. This step was meant to weaken the Syrian air force and while, on the contrary, it should have played into the hands of the Syrian rebels. The EU has long been motivated to cooperate with Turkey for several reasons. First and foremost, thanks to the Turkey-EU partnership, it could influence Turkish foreign and security policy. This could be very beneficial for the fight against terrorism, which nowadays seems to be a decisive argument for many experts.

(The study can be downloaded here:https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/comments/2016C01_srt.pdf)
Michael Emerson (Centre for European Policy Studies)

The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the European Union came to effect on 1 January 2016. At the same time, the DCFTA also newly applies on the entire territory of Moldova, including the separatist region of Transnistria. The last country with a finalized DCFTA is Georgia, which has been a member since 2014. The importance of a deep and comprehensive free trade area primarily lies in the facilitation of the progressive integration of these economies with the EU economy. The secondary aspect is the geopolitical reality of the post-Soviet space, which seeks to get rid of the Russian influence on the domestic policy and economy.

Following the conclusion of the DCFTA, Russia cancelled its free trade zone with Ukraine and also banned its agricultural imports. Russia also imposed charges on the Ukrainian exports to Kazakhstan and Belarus through the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union. Ukraine had, however, anticipated these steps. Kiev proactively prevents possible problems and systematically reduces its energy dependence on Russia. Energy imports to Ukraine are now provided predominantly by Western suppliers, such as the Norwegian company Statoil. The DCFTA is first and foremost an important step towards Ukraines further economic integration with the EU.

While the forecast economic growth in the EU for 2016 is around 2 percent, the Union is still a more attractive economic partner compared to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The consumer market of the EU and the associated states has about 650 million consumers while Russia and the CIS have approximately 300 million potential consumers. Europe is experiencing economic growth that is moreover supported, among others, by the giant Chinese investment project, the New Silk Road. It is safe to say that the EU is currently in a relatively good economic shape.

In contrast, the Russian economy is not experiencing the best of times. Low oil prices, Western sanctions and now also the freezing of all cooperation with Turkey will likely not lead to a significant rise of the Russian economy any time soon. Kremlin is paying a high price for its foreign military and geopolitical adventures. Its distance from the EU, Turkish and Ukrainian economies could lead to unintended consequences for Russia, both on the economic front and on its domestic political scene. In this context, the Ukrainian decision to finalize the DCFTA with the EU can be seen as a completely logical move  a step in the right direction.

(The study can be downloaded here: https://www.ceps.eu/system/files/No%2022%20Changes%20in%20map%20of%20Europe.pdf)
Testosterone

Oxytocin

Cortisol

Leptin

Thyroid Hormone

Every person in the world has one thing in common is the need for fat loss. Unfortunately, this is a common scenario for many people. Thats why its important to know what hormones or steroids are available that can help you reach your goal sooner and more efficiently. If you are interested in buying weight loss steroids, then a Great place to buy weight loss steroids at LAWeekly . Five essential hormones can help increase your metabolism and burn calories at a faster rate. They are all easy to use, just like any other hormone supplement would be.Testosterone is a natural hormone that is mainly produced in males. It is the best testosterone booster you can get when burning fat  even if you have a low testosterone level. You need some testosterone to make your muscles hard and your body feel healthier. The best thing about this hormone supplement is that its use does not require a prescription for any condition. More importantly, this drug has no side effects and should be used only by adults.This hormone regulates fertility. However, this is not the only reason why it is so popular. Oxytocin helps you increase your connection and trust with other people, which makes some people addicted. Sometimes, oxytocin is used instead of morphine because of its analgesic effect. Nowadays, oxytocin fat burners are very popular among women and men who want to get rid of extra calories. Oxytocin is beneficial to lose weight faster without any side effects.Cortisol reduces stress and increases blood pressure levels in the body. It also increases blood sugar levels, contributing to more energy during a workout session or sports activities. The best thing about cortisol is that it can increase your metabolism, making it the perfect hormone for people who dont have the time and energy to go to the gym to lose fat.This is a direct response to the leptin level in your body. If it becomes too low, your hunger will increase, and you will feel inclined to eat more food than needed. Leptin can help suppress that feeling and regulate your eating habits and diet plans for losing weight fast.T3 and T4 are the hormones that promote healthy metabolism, essential for burning more calories. The only drawback to these two hormones is that they require prescriptions like any other hormone supplement and from a specialist. So whenever you want to take thyroid hormone pills, you should always check with your doctor first if it is right for you or not. There is no point in risking your health just because you dont have enough money for prescription drugs.Eating less and working out more is not the only way to lose weight. You need to do it faster and easier if you want to see results in a short time. The five hormones listed above can help you burn calories faster than ever without any effort at all.
Katharine 'Kit' (Snell) Sigety '44: Food TV pioneer was a natural in front of the camera

Kit Sigety '44 was one of America's first television cooking show hosts.

First appearing in 1951 as "Sally Smart" on New York City's WOR-TV's "Sally Smart's Kitchen," she went on the air, live, five days a week, doing all the commercials herself. She then joined NBC's "Home" show serving as the show's food editor and appearing as Kit Kinne, "TV's Number One food authority." From 1953-56, she offered the American woman tips and demonstrations, hosting episodes with guests such as James Beard, Charles Laughton and Gertrude Lawrence.

By speaking to the camera as if it were a person and by imagining herself in the homes of her national audience, Kit drew the devotion of viewers for her friendly demeanor and her poise as she pioneered the art of cooking on live TV.

Kit's experiences led to the creation, with her husband, Charles Sigety, of Video Vittles, a company that specialized in preparing camera-ready food for television shows and commercials.

Kit Sigety recently chatted with Ezra Update writer Kate Klein and shared stories, memories and wisdom from the first decade of food TV.

What brought you to Cornell?

I wanted to go to Cornell from the time I was a little girl. My siblings and I used to spend all our summers in Ovid, New York, with my grandmother, who loved Cornell. My sisters, Cornelia '40, Julie '42, Mary '47, and I all graduated from Cornell.

What were your experiences like at Cornell?

I was a Tri-Delta, but I was not a very dedicated sorority girl since I was involved in a number of other activities. I was president of the freshman class, president of the women's self-government [organization] and president of Risley Hall.

I majored in institutional management, which I loved since it involved cooking. I knew how to cook when I went to Cornell -- my grandmother and my mother had taught me to cook. I also learned a number of other things about the hospitality and food service businesses. At the same time, I became comfortable in public speaking due to my involvement in campus politics. Obviously this would come in handy later.

How did you make the transition from Cornell to television?

I took a roundabout route. During World War II, I volunteered for the Red Cross and was sent to the European theater. I was stationed in Italy and worked in a Red Cross recreation program with the GIs. During my time in Italy, I did some broadcasting and emcee work as part of this program.

I came back to the states in 1946 after the war and moved to New York City with my sister, Julie. In 1947 I met my husband Charlie, who was in Yale Law School at the time and had already graduated from Harvard Business School. After we were married, we moved to New Haven.

I definitely wanted to work but I didn't want to do an ordinary job. So, I sold corsets and girdles door-to-door. I knew what my customers wanted and my confidence from Cornell and the Red Cross made me a successful saleswoman. I was told if I sold a hundred girdles, the company would make me district sales manager in New Haven. So I did sell my hundred. After becoming the district manager I recruited Yale law student wives to sell corsets door to door for me. We had a whole group going! It was great fun and taught me good salesmanship.

How did you get the job as Sally Smart on WOR-TV?

After graduating from law school, Charlie and I moved to New York City and I needed a job. I found a job listing for an assistant on a television food show. When I went for the interview, it turned out to be the job of Sally Smart on WOR-TV, not just the assistant's position.

I guess I was the type of woman they were looking for. I certainly wasn't shy about wanting to work and possibly working in front of the camera. The audition was a food demonstration. I'd never done a one before. The producers said, "That's all right. Just take this book on food demonstration techniques, and read it. Come back on Monday. You're going to do a half-hour live show." And that's just what I did.

I had to plan all of the meals I was going to cook on the show. I would study cookbooks like crazy and pick out things I thought could fit in. My goal was to help women, like the ones I had met selling girdles, to cook something different or faster or better. I just wanted help make their lives a bit easier.

It was really a one-woman production. I did have an assistant off camera who would hand me things. Everything was measured before we started, but we cooked live. I still would need to cook most recipes in advance so that I would have a finished product to show the audience. It was all done live -- no retakes, no do-overs.

How did you host a show and cook at the same time?

My mother had never seen any television, but when I told her what I was going to be doing she wrote me a letter and said, "You know, Kit, if I was going to have to do a television show, I would just talk to the camera exactly how you would talk to a single person instead of an audience. Pretend that you're in that person's home."

Did you ever get nervous?

I don't think so. It really wasn't too hard for me. It all came very naturally. I never really thought much about how many people were watching. As a matter of fact, I was always amazed when anybody said they would like my autograph.

My husband and I decided to start a family and I didn't want my work to stop me. In fact, I did a television show the day Birge (the oldest of my five children) was born. It's hard to believe, but I went right from the studio to the hospital to have my first baby.

I was doing a Dole pineapple commercial that day and Dole had brought all their salesmen from all over the country to meet me. I realized as I was going into this meeting that I was never going to be able to sit through it since I was in labor. So I said to the Dole people, "I'm sorry, I've made another appointment previously," and that was all the time I could give them. I went right off to the hospital and Birge was born that night.

What's your favorite story about cooking on TV?

I was asked to do a commercial for Wesson cooking oil. I put the oil in a Pyrex saucepan, so the viewers could see through the pot. I put the popcorn in and let it pop. While it was cooking and the corn was popping, the pan started to disintegrate. So with the camera rolling on live television the pot disintegrated and I was left holding only the handle! I went straight into a filmed Wesson commercial so they could clean it all up.

Do you still enjoy cooking?

Oh, I love it. I'm a great believer that you can open your refrigerator and see what you have in it and then create something. I hardly use a recipe anymore.

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MOSCOW -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry on Sunday,during a phone conversation, praised the "real progress" in ensuring a cessation of hostilities in Syria.

"The two sides expressed an overall positive assessment of real progress in achieving a truce on Syrian soil, which is generally respected and has already led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence," Russian Foreign Ministry said in an online statement.

Lavrov and Kerry stressed the need to prevent delay of intra-Syrian talks under UN auspices, as well as to provide humanitarian aid to blocked areas in Syria.

"It is essential to ensure from the very beginning the participation (in the intra-Syrian negotiations), along with the delegation of the Syrian government, of a wide spectrum of all opposition forces, including Syrian Kurds," the ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.

The top diplomats confirmed that joint efforts would be paid by both countries' representatives in Geneva to ensure smooth work of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) task forces on humanitarian and ceasefire issues.

Lavrov and Kerry discussed a schedule of political contacts for the nearest future.

They also agreed to continue cooperate with all involved parties in order to find the ways to settle Yemeni conflict through political dialogue.

The Russia-US-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities. The truce has so far been largely adhered to despite sporadic violations.
BEIJING -- China is highly concerned about keeping stability on the Korean Peninsula and firmly opposes any move that will stir up trouble on the peninsula, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Spokesman Hong Lei said that China is "highly concerned" about the start of joint military exercises between the United States and Republic of Korea (ROK) and the reaction from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The United States and ROK kicked off the annual exercises on Monday, bringing a record number of American troops and military assets into the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK has issued a warning of "all-out offensive" in response to the largest-ever joint ROK-US military exercises.

"The Korean Peninsula and China are linked by mountains and rivers and China is highly concerned about keeping stability on the peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

"China firmly opposes any move that will stir up trouble in the Korean Peninsula," Hong said.

He urged "restraint instead of provocative moves."

Korean Peninsula tensions were discussed during a China-Russia meeting on Northeast Asian security in Moscow last week.

According to Hong, the two sides expressed grave concern over the push by the United States and ROK for deploying anti-ballistic missile systems in the ROK, saying the move would intensify tensions, harm the strategic balance in the region and directly undermine the security of China and Russia.

China and Russia are both firmly against such move, said Hong.
Patrice Talon, a businessman who used to be an ally of the president, and helped finance his election campaigns. Talon says he split with the president because Yayi wanted to run for a third term.

Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, former president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), who placed third with 6.5% of votes cast in the first round of the 2011 presidential election

Pascal Irene Koukpaki, former prime minister (2011-2013).





http://africanelections.blogspot.com/ has some coverage. Here's a quote from an enthusiastic supporter of the frontrunner:

You saw the fever. Did you see wherever we go, people welcomed us, people are happy to have someone like Lionel Zinsou as president of the Republic of Benin. Lionel Zinsou for us is a man of development, Lionel Zinsou for us means development of the country, employment for the youth. That is why we support Lionel Zinsou. And we believe that in the first round, we will win, said Celine Houessinon, a campaigner for Lionel Zinsou.

After a week delay for distribution of voting cards, Benin voters began voting today for president. The voting has been calm - Benin has peacefully elected three new presidents (and two incumbents) since it democratized twenty-five years ago.Benin's electoral system is modeled on the French system - if no candidate wins a majority in the first round, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates. Since the country re-introduced multiparty presidential elections in 1991, four of five presidential elections have resulted in a run-off. The exception was 2011, when Yayi Boni won re-election in the first round with 53% of the vote.With no incumbent running and some 33 candidates competing, it seems like the first round will be followed by a runoff.The frontrunner is Lionel Zinsou , who is Yayi Boni's successor, current prime minister, and endorsed by Adrien Houngbedji, who has placed second or third in the past four presidential elections.Other prominent candidates include:An interesting aspect of Beninois presidential politics - although there are many parties in the country, and although presidential elections are for the most part free and fair, presidential candidates are often nonpartisan . When Nicephore Soglo won in 1991, he was not affiliated with a party (he was endorsed by an alliance of parties and joined Benin Rebirth (RB) after he was elected). Mathieu Kerekou and Yayi Boni were also not affiliated with a party (although they were endorsed by parties) when they were first elected in 1996 and 2006. Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (Forces Cauris pour un Benin Emergent - FCBE), which first contested legislative elections in 2007, was formed by supporters of the president. Among the candidates listed above, Zinsou is endorsed by FCBE (as well as Houngbedji's party), Koukpaki was a member of FCBE when he was prime minister under Yayi Boni; Tchane seems to be running as an independent (as he did in 2011), and Talon, who supported Yayi Boni in 2006 and 2011, seems to be running as an independent.
By Will Caiger-Smith

NEW YORK, March 7 (IFR) - America Movil tapped the euro market for 1.5bn (US$1.65bn) of senior unsecured funding on Monday, benefitting from strengthening investor sentiment about Latin America credits.

Investors placed around 2.7bn of orders for the Mexican telecoms company's two-tranche deal, allowing it to tighten pricing on both by 10bp from initial pricing thoughts.

"They're a frequent euro issuer but they haven't issued in a while," one banker close to the deal told IFR. "The coupon was attractive too."

America Movil (A2/A-/A) priced a 850m eight-year at 120bp over mid-swaps, while its 650m 12-year tranche priced at mid-swaps plus 150bp.

Citi, HSBC and Societe Generale were joint bookrunners.

IMPROVING TONE

Bankers are upbeat about the prospects for this week, with the rally in oil driving improved sentiment about towards the region.

Alongside deals currently being marketed from Colombia, the Province of Buenos Aires and FEMSA, two other issuers from Mexico and Argentina could announce dollar deals later this week, a banker told IFR.

"It's been more constructive over the last two days," said the banker. "Oil is up ... the strong rally is giving a boost to Latin American credits."

He said a more constructive view of Brazil was leading some Brazilian corporates to contemplate issuance.

The arrest of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last week in connection with the Petrobras corruption investigation has boosted Brazilian credit, said another banker.

"It was shocking but very positive," he said. "It's like a sweeping of the old guard." (Reporting by Will Caiger-Smith; Editing by Marc Carnegie)
DHAKA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bangladesh's central bank said on Monday its account at the U.S. Federal Reserve had been hacked and money was stolen, but that some of the funds were traced to the Philippines and recovered.

The New York Fed, which manages the account, denied that its systems were breached but did not say whether funds had been drained from the account, citing confidentiality.

Bangladesh Bank said it was working with anti-money laundering authorities in the Philippines. It did not say how much money had been stolen and a spokesman declined to comment.

Bangladesh's central bank has around $28 billion in foreign currency reserves.

"To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," a New York Fed spokeswoman said.

She declined to comment on whether the U.S. central bank's New York branch was investigating the claim by its overseas counterpart.

Some 250 central banks, governments, and other institutions have foreign accounts at the New York Fed, which is near the centre of the global financial system. The accounts hold mostly U.S. Treasuries and agency debt, and requests for funds arrive and are authenticated by a so-called SWIFT network that connects banks.

Fed computers have been hacked in the past including charges in 2014 against a British citizen for breaching central bank servers and publicly posting information from internal users.

(Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York; Editing by Gareth Jones, Bernadette Baum and Diane Craft)
Bernie Sanders.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made a quip about Republicans and mental health at the CNN primary debate on Sunday night.

During a response to a question about fund-raising, Hillary Clinton said she admired the Sanders campaign, and she took a shot at the Republican Party.

"We have our differences," she said of Sanders. "And we get into vigorous debate about issues. But compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week."

The crowd cheered loudly.

Sanders used his next question to go back and elaborate on Clinton's point.

"We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health," the Vermont senator said. "And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to address the mental health."

Clinton laughed, and Sanders continued his answer about the campaign-finance system.

NOW WATCH: Excuse me, Im talking: Watch Clinton and Sanders spar over Wall Street at the Democratic debate





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Pakistani security officials inspect the site of a suicide bombing in Shabqadar on March 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/Hasham Ahmad)

Peshawar (Pakistan) (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed 17 people and injured 31 in northwest Pakistan Monday, in an attack which the Taliban described as revenge for the hanging of an Islamist assassin last week.

The bomber, who police said was aged around 20 and had up to six kilograms (13 pounds) of explosives strapped to his chest, attacked as lawyers and litigants were arriving at a court complex during the morning rush hour in the town of Shabqadar.

Senior government official Tariq Hassan said the death toll rose to 17 late Monday as four more of those injured succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Officials earlier said that 13 people had been killed and 23 wounded after the bomber blew himself up inside the complex.

"Condition of four to five more injured was critical and doctors are struggling to save their lives," Hasan told AFP.

Fayaz Khan, a senior police official confirmed the new death toll and told AFP that most of the dead have been buried.

School teacher Murid Khan, who was in the complex for a land dispute hearing, said he was getting documents photocopied when he heard gunshots.

"I looked back and there was a huge explosion," he said, adding the blast threw him over the photocopier.

"I heard screams and saw black clouds of smoke, then I fell unconscious" after being hit by two pieces of shrapnel, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban's Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it avenged the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri -- feted as a hero by Islamists after he gunned down the liberal governor of Punjab in 2011 over a call to reform the country's blasphemy law.

Qadri was hanged on February 29 in what analysts described as a key moment in Pakistan's long fight against militancy, saying it demonstrated the government's resolve to uphold the rule of law rather than allow extremism to flourish.

His funeral brought up to 100,000 people on to the streets, hailing him as a hero.

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But Peshawar-based senior analyst and retired brigadier Saad Khan said using the name of Qadri was just a cover.

"The main purpose of militant groups is to spread terror and to give a message that they are still alive," he said.

"These groups need covers and using the name of Mumtaz Qadri is just an excuse."

- 'Un-Islamic laws' -

Monday's blast also targeted the court complex because Pakistan's judiciary was strengthening "un-Islamic laws", Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Taliban, told AFP.

Local TV channels showed footage of victims being rushed to hospitals soon after the blast.

Authorities said six women, two children and two policemen were among the dead. Senior regional police official Saeed Wazir praised the bravery of officers who "sacrificed their lives".

There were around 300 people in the complex at the time, another police official said.

Local bar association president Shair Qadir said they had requested security after receiving threats of an attack, but no action was taken in what he termed a police failure.

Shabqadar is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven semi-autonomous regions bordering Afghanistan where militants from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had established bases in the past.

Islamabad launched a military offensive in the tribal areas in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan.

However, insurgents associated with the Pakistani Taliban occasionally carry out attacks from bases inside Afghanistan.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Charsadda, where extremists attacked a university on January 20 in a rampage that left 21 dead.
Thomas Jefferson Law School

On Monday, lawyers for Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL), were in court to defend the school against allegations it manipulated post-graduation statistics.

That's noteworthy as it's the first case to go to trial accusing a law school of intentionally using inflated post-graduation employment figures and salaries in order to defraud applicants.

The case centers on Anna Alaburda, a 37-year-old graduate of TJSL. Her lawsuit claims she has sent her resume to more than 150 law firms, and only received one job offer, which "was less favorable than non-law related jobs that were available to her."

Alaburda's case against TJSL started in 2011, when she filed a proposed class action seeking to represent graduates who had allegedly been duped by the law school.

"Mark Twain once said, 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.' This case covers all three," stated a 2011 filing of the case.

However, in 2013, a California judge refused to give the suit class-action status, meaning she must pursue the complaint on her own behalf.

The school has been accused of reporting post-graduation employment figures that topped 90% in 2010 but neglecting to disclose that the figures included part-time work, such as pool cleaner and Victoria's Secret sales clerk, the Associated Press reported in December, citing a separate suit against TJSL and a lawyer for Alaburda.

Further, TJSL graduates have highest amounts of debt for law schools, based on a 2014 ranking by the US News & World Report, with an average of about $172,000, Above the Law reports. The top three schools on the list are:

Thomas Jefferson School of Law: $172,445 (91% of grads have debt) New York Law School: $166,622 (83% of grads have debt) Northwestern University: $163,065 (80% of grads have debt)

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

For its part, TJSL stands by the assertion that its graduates find successful employment after attending the school.

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"We have a strong track record of producing successful graduates, with 7,000 alumni working nationally and internationally," Thomas Guernsey, dean of TJSL, told Business Insider in a statement.

And not all students feel that TJSL ripped them off. Many are grateful that TJSL gave them the opportunity to attend law school when few others did.

"Thomas Jefferson gave me a chance where other law schools didn't," David Gibbs, a 2012 graduate, told Business Insider's Erin Fuchs.

TJSL was founded as the Western State University College of Law, a for-profit law school owned by Education Management Corporation (EDMC). TJSL became independent in 1995, and the school became a private, nonprofit law school accredited by the ABA in 2001.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Graduates of law schools filed more than a dozen proposed class-action lawsuits in 2011 and 2012 alone, according to The Wall Street Journal. These suits claimed the schools defrauded graduates into thinking employment prospects were rosier than they really were.

But judges have thrown out most of these suits, disagreeing with the premise that law students were defrauded.

In October, a Florida judge threw out a suit against Florida Coastal School of Law, saying that applicants to the school are "a sophisticated subset of education consumers, capable of sifting through data and weighing alternatives," The Journal reported.

However, in ruling the case must proceed, Judge Joel Pressman seemed to accept the argument that TJSL may have misled prospective students by allegedly including non-law jobs in its employment statistics.

"A reasonable consumer would not believe employment figures included any and all employment, which would render the figure meaningless in the context of a legal education," the judge wrote in his opinion, according to Above the Law. "A reasonable consumer expects the employment figure to include graduates who work in law-related jobs."

TJSL was not immediately available for comment.

NOW WATCH: Here are the most elite boarding schools in America





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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 7, 2016) - Canada Carbon Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CCB)(U7N1.F) announces that it has begun a Pre-Feasibility Study, as recommended by the Preliminary Economic Assessment prepared by Tetra Tech, on the portion of the Miller property that was the subject of the PEA and resource estimate ("Phase 1 of the Miller Project"). The Company has already completed a 47 hole, 3,405.5 metre in-fill drill program to provide additional assay data required to upgrade our inferred graphite and marble resources to measured or indicated resources. The core samples are currently at Actlabs, Ancaster for analysis. The new data from the additional drilling performed on the Miller marble zone will provide the Company with sufficient information to request a Quarry Lease for its marble.

Prior to production of marble, the Company must obtain authorization from the "Commission de la Protection du Territoire Agricole du Quebec" ("CPTAQ") and Certificates of Authorization from the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change ("MSDEFCC"). The CPTAQ is an organization that protects farm land. The Company has contracted a number of consultants to confirm the unsuitable nature of the Miller land for agriculture. The consultants are currently producing the necessary reports to request the authorisation from the CPTAQ and delivery of the authorization is expected by September 2016.

Environmental assessments, including hydrology, hydrogeology, and floral and faunal assessments for the Miller property, and hydrogeology and floral and faunal assessments for the Asbury property, are already well-advanced, and should be completed before the end of the summer of 2016. Applications will then be submitted to the MSDEFCC, to obtain Certificates of Authorisation to operate a marble quarry as part of Phase 1 of the Miller Project. Social impact studies and public consultations are needed for the Miller mine parts of the Project including the graphite purification thermal plant before applications to obtain the Certificates of Authorization are submitted.

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Canada Carbon has hired a land surveyor that is familiar with mining permits to perform a land survey of the lots and of our proposed mining permit limits. The survey is expected to be completed in March 2016.

Canada Carbon Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. R. Bruce Duncan stated, "We are pleased to be advancing the Miller Project on multiple stages concurrently. Environmental assessments were identified early on as the elements requiring the lengthiest timelines for completion, so those studies were initiated as soon as the Company's in-house modeling suggested that mineral extraction had a reasonable prospect for demonstrating positive economics. That decision has allowed the Company to accelerate the completion of all required reports for Certificates of Authorisation, minimizing the permitting timeline, to the extent possible."

Based on input from consultants regarding the permits and authorisations required for production, the estimated timelines required for such authorisations and the work completed to-date, the Company anticipates, subject to obtaining positive results from its pre-feasibility study, that it will begin the production of marble on or about February 2017 and the production of graphite on or about January 2018. The following chart provides a high level summary of the permitting and operational timelines for Phase I of the Miller Project. To view the chart, please click on this link, http://www.canadacarbon.com/images/schedule_graphite_marble_lg.jpg

The information provided in this press release is a simplified summary of the permitting process, intended to provide an overview of the timelines and progress milestones anticipated by the Company as it works towards obtaining the approvals required to develop Phase 1 of the Miller Project. Complete details will be provided in the Preliminary Economic Assessment, to be filed to the Company's SEDAR profile not later than April 18, 2016 (i.e. the date that is 45 days from the press release giving the economic summary of the Project).

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 may be required to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the reserve's development, production and economic forecasts on which a PEA is based will be realized.

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."

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, fell by $28.57 billion in February to $3.20 trillion, the lowest since December 2011, central bank data showed on Monday.

The decline was slightly less than the $30 billion decrease that economists polled by Reuters had expected, and compared with a drop of $99.5 billion in January.

China's reserves have now fallen four months in a row as the central bank dumps dollars to ease depreciation pressure on the yuan and prevent an increase in capital outflows.

China's gold reserves stood at $71.01 billion at the end of February, up from January's $63.57 billion, according to data published by the People's Bank of China on its website.

China's International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position was at $10.73 billion, up from $3.76 billion the previous month. It held $10.28 billion of IMF Special Drawing Rights at the end of last month, compared with $10.27 billion at the end of January.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 7, 2016) - China issued 192 million financial cards in first quarter of 2013 involving the net increase of over 66 million in Q1. The annual growth of overall industry is likely to be 200 million. In 2013, financial IC cards among new bank cards is expected to attain a penetration rate of over 30%. The expansion of financial IC card in china is initially policy driven. The people's bank of china issued the PBOCs opinions on March 15, 2011 which encouraged the transformation of national bank equipment to support financial IC cards.

Beijing Tianjin collaborative expansion should be the first to attain significant breakthroughs in transportation integration etc. Financial ID card is an important technical means to collaborate regional traffic integration development and financial information which played a positive role in growth of regional transport integration.

Browse Full Research Report with TOC on "China Financial IC Card Industry Chain Report, 2013-2016" at:

http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/china-financial-ic-card-industry

Nearly two million Taiwan taxi operators are likely install a POS terminal as Beijing Tianjin launched a pilot taxi IC cards are accepted. Iron bank card was launched directly through the self-service ticket machine travel card. In the next step, in order to achieve the goal of Beijing Tianjin Hebei integration with traffic construction, financial IC card application will also accelerate the Financial IC Card Market over the forecast period.

People's bank of China required AICBC, BOC, CMBC and ABC to issue financial cards prior the end of June 2011. Furthermore, national commercial banks must also issue financial IC cards from January 1, 2013. On addition, all the banks should have issued financial IC cards by 2015; it can generally issue the financial IC cards.

1. Macro-economic Environment in China, 2011-2013

1.1 China's GDP

1.2 Industrial Added Value

1.3 Fixed Investment

1.4 Consumption in Stable Growth

1.5 Import & Export

1.6 Price Level

1.7 Macroeconomic Forecast 2012-2013E

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2. Overview of Financial IC Card

2.1 Definition

2.2 Industry Policy

2.3 Global IC Card Promotion

2.4 Global and China Smart Card Development

2.4.1 Global Smart Card Development

2.4.2 China Smart Card Development

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About Radiant Insight

Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets.
This will take more than scotch tape to fix.

Chinas fragmented, chaotic hoverboard industry is trying to clean itself up.

More than 100 Chinese hoverboard sellers, assemblers, and component supplies have banded together to form a trade association called the Hoverboard Industry Alliance. After forming officially in January, the group just held its second conference on Thursday (Mar. 3).

The group intends to work with organizations that set standards for safety and patents in the US, China, and elsewhere, one manufacturer member told Quartz. For example, manufacturers preparing to ship their devices to the US can turn to the association for guidance on how to apply for a UL certification, which most US retailers require before they will sell any electronic devices. Or, a manufacturer looking to make hoverboards could ask the association how to obtain a patent license for the device in China. Hangzhou-based manufacturer CHIC owns the intellectual property rights to the hoverboard in China, and it often leases the patent out to other factories in the country.

The group also intends to communicate regularly with UL and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a branch of the US government in charge of consumer goods safety, to help create and enforce standards for the industry.

At last Thursdays meeting, the group discussed the process required to receive a UL 2722 certificationa standard created specifically for hoverboards. A representative from UL attended the meeting to explain the steps and meet with the organizations members. A representative of the CPSC is set to meet with the organization this week.

Chinese hoverboard sellers and manufacturers gather at an industry conference in Guangzhou. (JJ Chan/used with permission)

Chinas ultra-efficient, ultra-fragmented manufacturing sector helped drive the hoverboards popularity last year. After a set of viral videos with the device made the rounds on YouTube, hundreds of factories and sellers spent money making hoverboards and shipping them to the US and other countries. According to the Guangdong Testing Institute of Product Quality Supervision, a quality control organization that also works with the Hoverboard Industry Alliance, China has over 500 factories making hoverboards, about 300 of which are located in Shenzhen.

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But this speed and efficiency came at a cost. In a rush to meet orders, some manufacturers and suppliers made shoddy products. After a string of fires that were set by exploding hoverboards, e-commerce vendors removed the product from shelves, and the US government effectively banned their sale.

Chinese hoverboard sellers and manufacturers are now feeling the after effects of those measures. Sales have plummeted, and many have been left with large inventories in the United States that they cant get rid of. Industry players hope that by banding together they can retain better leverage with Amazon and other e-commerce sites, whom they feel have unfairly punished them.

The Hoverboard Industry Association has also begun collecting data about hoverboard sales. It estimates that in 2015 the industry exported more than 30 billion yuan (about $4.6 billion) worth.

But sales are unlikely to reach those heights this year. Making money on a newly popular gizmo was the easy part. Turning hundreds of manufacturers used to cut-throat competition into a reliable, organized supply chain will be harder.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:
By Rod Nickel

TORONTO, March 6 (Reuters) - China's CGN Mining Co Limited , the first direct Chinese investor in a Canadian uranium project, is interested in buying stakes in more Canadian companies, a company official said on Sunday.

CGN bought a nearly 20 percent stake for C$82.2 million ($61.63 million) in Fission Uranium Corp, Fission said in December.

"Of course we have interest but it depends on their price," said Jianhua Xing, deputy general manager of CGN Uranium Resources Co Ltd, when asked about companies such as NexGen Energy Ltd and Mines Denison, which have uranium development projects in northern Saskatchewan.

"We don't have a specific plan. We're not in a hurry," he said in an interview on Sunday in Toronto during the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention.

China is briskly building a fleet of new reactors that will operate on nuclear fuel.

There are limits, however, on foreign involvement in Canada's uranium industry.

Canada does not allow foreign companies to be majority investors in operating uranium mines, although it has made exceptions for France's Areva SA and Australia's Paladin Energy Ltd.

CGN has raised the issue of foreign investment with Canada's embassy in Beijing, but will accept Canada's position, CGN's Jianhua Xing said.

CGN, a uranium trader, is controlled by China Uranium Development Company Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation.

Uranium supplies are expected to run thin in coming years as Japanese reactors start up and China expands its nuclear power generation.

Kelowna, British Columbia-based Fission is developing the Triple R uranium deposit at Patterson Lake South in northern Saskatchewan. It and Mines Denison called off a C$483 million merger agreement in October due to opposition from Fission's shareholders.

($1 = 1.3338 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Toronto; Editing by Diane Craft)
By Chen Aizhu

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese agribusiness group New Hope will accelerate overseas acquisitions in a bid to become a top supplier of high-end meat to feed demand in the world's largest consumer, its chairman Liu Yonghao said on Saturday.

Liu has built New Hope from a small chicken farm into the country's top animal feed producer, with businesses extending to banking and property and annual sales topping 90 billion yuan ($13.83 billion). He started out in business with his brothers in 1982 with $120 in start-up capital from selling their bicycles and watches.

Just a few months after acquiring 20 percent of U.S. grains and energy merchant Lansing Trade Group LLC, New Hope is raising more funds for bigger expansions abroad, Liu told reporters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament meeting.

"We're accelerating and expanding our overseas acquisitions... launching new fund raising channels to make our sources of financing more diversified and expansions more orderly," said Liu, now 64. Started in 1997, New Hope's global footprint covers countries like Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

Liu said the investment in Lansing helps New Hope globalize feed procurement and cut costs. It also fulfills part of the group's broad strategy to become a major producer and distributor of high-end animal protein, such as beef, lamb, shrimp and milk, up the value chain from chickens and ducks.

The group last month launched a 3 billion yuan fund with the Zhejiang provincial government and the Harvest Fund to lead overseas agriculture acquisitions, Liu said.

New Hope is also raising $450 million through the Hosen Capital, which counts Singapore's Temasek and Japan's Mitsui as founding investors, as another pool to acquire overseas. Liu didn't specify future acquisition targets.

At home, New Hope is expanding pig farms, planning to spend 8.8 billion yuan over the next three to five years to grow 10 million hogs, Liu said.

Story continues

That would transform the company into primarily a hog producer rather than feed as the feed industry suffers from overcapacity.

Liu praised Beijing's recent move to adjust a long-standing corn stockpiling policy by cutting domestic prices.

China instituted a crop stockpiling policy to protect its rural population from fluctuating prices and prop up incomes but corn reserves are now at record highs.

"It's a positive change, by separating subsidizing farmers and subsidizing corn prices, thus letting the market to play a bigger role," Liu said.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
The political battle over the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., was fully joined Sunday night when Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Rodham Clinton sided with rival Sen. Bernie Sanders in demanding the resignation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican who has repeatedly apologized for the lead poisoning of the citys water system but refuses to step down.

Snyder claims he was unaware of the water problems in Flint until mid-January of 2016. But emails revealed that an aide to Snyder learned in May about that 10 people had died of legionnaires disease tied to Flints water supply. Whether Snyder knew then about the situation or not, he didnt make the outbreak public until last January.

Related: How the Flint Drinking Water Crisis Became a Political Punching Bag

"The governor should resign or be recalled, and we should support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that," Clinton said to thunderous applause at the start of the two-hour debate in Flint that was nationally televised by CNN. Clinton previously stopped well short of demanding the governors resignation, even while calling for accountability by city, state and federal officials.

The more Snyder protests his own ignorance, the more people residents say if he didnt know, he should have knownespecially since several state officials were asked to resign over the scandal. And theres no doubt Snyders administration alone is not to blame.

Even the two presidential rivals agreed there was plenty of blame to go around for the crisis  including the governors office, state environmental and public health officials, and regional and national Environmental Protection Agency leaders.

Clinton says that at the very least, the state should be sending money immediately to help the city mount a long-term program for replacing the old, corroded pipes that have been leaching lead into the drinking water. I know the state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund for emergencies, she said. Its raining lead in Flint, and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required.

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Related: Outraged Americans Want Immediate Action on Flint Water Crisis

Snyder, the second-term governor and former businessman who at one time was touted as a potential GOP presidential candidate, has made it clear he will not step down. He tweeted 25 times throughout the Democratic debate last night that he would remain in office and see Flint through its crisis.

Flints drinking water was first contaminated by lead in April 2014 after a state-appointed emergency manager ordered the city to switch its source of drinking water from Lake Huron to the heavily polluted Flint River to save money. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality admitted that it failed to add necessary corrosion control chemical to the water. Consequently, lead leached from the ancient pipes into the drinking water of many of the 100,000 residents.

The biggest victims are the estimated 8,000 children under the age of six who may have been exposed to lead in Flints water during the past two years before the scandalous mismanagement of the municipal water system was revealed. As a result, there were dangerous spikes in toxic lead levels in the blood of many children. Lead poisoning can lead to brain damage and serious developmental and emotional problems.

One of the biggest problems right now is that the city leaders and state and federal officials and lawmakers are pulling in different directions in trying to address the drinking water fiasco.

Related: Congress Fumbles Again on Funding for the Flint Water Crisis

In mid-February, Snyder announced that his Republican administration had signed an agreement with a Flint-based engineering firm to study the soundness of the city's water system and launch a pilot program to replace 30 lead services lines into Flint homes by the end of March.

At the same time, Flints new Democratic mayor, Karen Weaver, wants to accelerate the process and begin replacing pipe connections to homes. She has urged the governor to pressure the state Legislature to move swiftly to appropriate money to fund the first phase of her $55 million Fast Start lead pipe replacement plan. So far, little government money has made its way to Flint.

Joint funding from the state and federal government will be critical to the long-term success of the effort, but a Senate bipartisan spending package worth $100 million and designed to help address Flints water crisis is being held up by arch-conservative Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who insists that no federal aid is required at this time, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Lee is arguing that the spending measure  targeted to help Flint and other communities across the country with emergency drinking water problems  constitutes an unjustifiable federalizing of water infrastructure. He added in the statement that the Republican-controlled state has not directly asked Congress for emergency funding and it has its own surplus that could be used to replace the pipes.

Related: Flints Drinking Water Crisis Just Got More Toxic with Legionnaires Disease

The only thing Congress is contributing to the Flint recovery is political grandstanding, Lee said.

Michigans two Democratic senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, who helped negotiate the compromise legislation after previous failures, voiced surprise and anger that Lee has put a hold on the measure, even after lawmakers agreed to offset the cost of the bill.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Tuning in to Comcast in 2016: High Hopes for NBCUniversal

(Continued from Prior Part)

Comcasts participation in the FCC auction

Comcast (CMCSA) stated in its 4Q15 and 2015 earnings call that the company intends to participate in the FCCs (Federal Communications Commission) broadcast spectrum auction. Comcast also indicated that its participation in the auction will not likely change its planned buyback of $5 billion in shares in 2016.

Mike Cavanagh, Comcasts Senior EVP (Executive Vice President) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer), stated on the companys earnings call that Comcast would take a paddle in the auction, which means were going to evaluate, consider, and may purchase, but only if we think the price is right after we do our evaluation of whats available. Cavanagh added that as far as what we do in the buyback, if we dont buy, we will just wait to see howthatll be deep in the year, and if theres a change of view on what we think our capacity is, at that stage, well come back and update you then.

What is the FCCs broadcast spectrum auction?

This auction is set to be held on March 29, 2016, and will consist of two parts: a forward auction and a reverse auction. In the forward auction, mobile broadband providers will bid for flexible usage of wireless spectrum licenses. In the reverse auction, television broadcasters will give up their usage rights for the 600 Mhz spectrum.

Charter Communications (CHTR) indicated in its 4Q15 and 2015 earnings report that its participation in the FCCs broadcast spectrum auction was unlikely. The company also stated on its 4Q15 and 2015 earnings call that it has not yet seen the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) agreement regarding its acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Bright House Networks. As a result, regulatory requirements may make it difficult for the company to participate in the auction.

Comcast makes up 2.9% of the PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ). For investors interested in getting exposure to the television and radio sector, QQQ has 4.9% exposure to TV and radio and holds 0.63% in Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA).

Browse this series on Market Realist:
AMSTERDAM, March 7 (Reuters) - The Netherlands' government economic forecasting agency CPB said on Monday it expects the Dutch economy to grow at 1.8 percent in 2016, down from 2.1 percent in its previous estimate in December.

The agency said that the country's recovery from the 2008 financial crisis continues to be "gradual, not exceptional" but the Dutch economy will grow more quickly than the European average this year.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Thomas Escritt; Editing by Dominic Evans)
RTS97CL

The US labor market is still a force to be reckoned with.

On Friday, we learned the US economy created 242,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate held steady near a post-crisis low of 4.9%.

The US stock market, meanwhile, has been in rally mode over the last month with the Dow climbing back above 17,000 on Friday and the S&P 500 closing just .01 points below 2,000. It was just a few weeks ago that you couldn't turn anywhere in markets and hear much other than calls for recession and a reversal from the Federal Reserve.

The next few weeks will be busy for central bank announcements, and while markets expect more action from the European Central Bank this week and no action from the Fed in about 10 days, reports of the global economy's death appear, for now, to have been greatly exaggerated.

As for the US economy, this week will be a slow one on the data front after last week's chaotic schedule.

If you need a day off or just a chance to clear your head after a hectic start to the year, this week is your chance to take a breather.

Top Stories

The US labor market is alive and well. In February, the US economy added 242,000 jobs, the unemployment rate held at 4.9%, the labor force participation rate rose for a third straight month, and while wage growth disappointed, some economists pointed to calendar quirks skewing this number lower. Over the last few years, no area of the global economy has proven more robust than the US labor market. And while the beginning of this year saw numerous calls that the US and global economy was heading for  or was already in  recession, nothing out of the US labor market is sending that signal.



"In January and February we saw stocks sell off 10%, we saw VIX near 30, and we saw a significant widening of credit spreads," Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slk wrote in an email on Friday. "I heard many clients conclude that we were already in a recession. Now the data is in and the conclusion is that there are simply no signs of a slowdown or a recession. The labor market continues to be strong and we have seen the same with data for consumer spending and durable goods spending. The bottom line is that this recovery is moving steadily forward and it is broadening out to also include more and more low- and middle-income jobs. This is good news for consumer spending because the marginal propensity to consume is higher for low and middle income households." image006

Services slowed down in February. The week certainly ended on a good note for the US and global economy: nothing from the labor market in the US looks like recession. However earlier in the week we got data indicating a contraction of activity in the services sector in February, which accounts for about 85% of GDP. Manufacturing readings had been in decline for much of the last six months and the crash in oil prices and the strength of the US dollar weighed on industries exposed to trade and commodity prices. The argument the US economy would be fine, however, hinged on strength out of the services sector. In February, this argument took somewhat of a hit. " Business activity stagnated in February as malaise spread from the manufacturing sector to services," Markit's Chris Williamson said last week. "The Markit PMIs are signaling a stagnation of the economy in February, suggesting growth has deteriorated further since late last year."



Meanwhile, ISM's non-manufacturing index declined again in February but is still indicating expansion in the sector. Something to keep an eye on. Screen Shot 2016 03 06 at 1.32.08 PM

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Economic Calendar

Consumer Credit (Mon.): The latest report on US consumer credit balances will cross on Monday afternoon. Expectations are for the report to show credit balances expanded $16.5 billion January, less than the $21.3 billion expansion seen in December. This reading is watched by economists and the markets as a gauge on how US consumers are feeling about their own prospects and the economy as a whole, with the thinking being that consumers are more apt to take on debt if they're confident they can pay it back.

NFIB Small Business Optimism (Tues.): The National Federation of Small Business' latest reading on optimism will be released Tuesday morning, with expectations for the reading to hit 94.1, better than January's 93.9 reading. This reading has been tracked as indications that small businesses would increase pay has been seen as a leader indicator on wage growth across the economy. Screen Shot 2016 03 06 at 9.35.47 AM

Wholesale Inventories (Weds.): The January reading on inventories is expected to show a 0.2% decline in wholesale inventories in January, more than the 0.1% decline the prior month. Inventory data has been closely watched in recent months as an uptick in inventories has been seen as a potential sign of consumer and business spending slowing down.

Initial Jobless Claims (Thurs.): Initial claims for unemployment insurance should total 275,000 this week, down from last week's 278,000 reading and still showing broad strength in the US labor market. Last week's reading marked a full year since claims totaled more than 300,000, a level that is seen as an inflection point were the labor market to begin showing signs of weakness.

European Central Bank Announcement (Thurs.): The European Central Bank will make its latest policy announcement at 7:45 a.m. ET on Thursday with ECB president Mario Draghi following up with a press conference at 8:30 a.m. ET. Expectations are for the ECB to further cut its deposit rate into negative territory, likely to -0.4% from -0.3%. The ECB also expected to announce an expansion in the size and duration of its quantitative easing program, likely by announcing a 10 billion increase in its monthly purchases and by ending this program no sooner than September 2017. Both policies are aimed at kickstarting a flagging European economy and stoke inflation in the euro area, which has been declining in recent months after showing signs of life in 2015. screen shot 2016 03 04 at 10.31.09

Z.1 Flow of Funds (Thurs.): The latest flow of funds report from the Federal Reserve will be released Thursday morning, a report that tabulates the financial accounts in the US economy. Thursday's report will cover the fourth quarter of 2015. The highlights of this report include the net worth of US households and nonprofits as well as total debt outstanding in the government, household, and corporate sectors of the economy. In the third quarter, the net worth of US households fell by $1.2 trillion.

Import Prices (Fri.): The February reading on import prices should show a 0.8% decline from the prior month, less than the 1.1% decline seen to start the year. Over last year import prices should fall 6.6% in February. These readings reflect both a broad decline in commodity prices and the strength of the US dollar, both of which have pressured prices of imported goods.

Market Commentary

Don't forget about the central banks.

In a market landscape dominated for years by talk and action from the world's central banks, the last several months have seen, to some extent, a renewed focus on the price-action in markets.

But March will likely see the focus move back to the men and women behind the curtain.

Here's a preview of the busy month from Morgan Stanley's Elga Bartsch:

This coming week, the ECB will be kicking off the March round of the central bank meetings in the largest DM economies. These meetings will mark the 'spring edition' of DM monetary policy-making. The ECB Governing Council meeting on March 10 will be followed by a policy meeting of the Bank of Japan on March 15. The two-day FOMC meeting of the Federal Reserve will conclude on March 16. An MPC meeting at the Bank of England on March 17 completes the spring edition. However, apart from the ECB, we are not expecting any changes to the current monetary policy stance.

Buckle up.

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Buyers of electronic books can expect refunds totaling some $400 million soon, as Apple (AAPL) on Monday lost a bid to have the Supreme Court review a ruling that it conspired with book publishers to raise prices.



Apple made a deal two years ago that it would pay refunds of $400 million to consumers as part of a $450 million settlement if it ultimately lost the case, with the other $50 million covering legal fees. Those payments would come on top of $166 million paid back to consumers by major publishers that previously settled.

Most consumers will receive automatic credits in the accounts where they bought ebooks that can be applied to future purchases, the Justice Department said in a statement.



The original case charged that Apple conspired with major publishers in 2010 to force Amazon.com (AMZN) to cede control over ebook pricing so the publishers could raise prices on best-sellers and other popular titles higher than the $9.99 Amazon favored. Ebook prices immediately rose to $12.99 and $14.99 for best sellers at Amazon, Barnes & Noble (BKS), Apple's new iBooks Store and other outlets.

The publishers, Hachette Book Group, a unit of French media company Lagardere, New Corp's (NWSA) HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Macmillan and CBS's (CBS) Simon & Schuster all settled before trial. But Apple decided to fight the charges, losing its case at the district court level in 2013 and in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last June.

Apples liability for knowingly conspiring with book publishers to raise the prices of ebooks is settled once and for all, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said in a statement. And consumers will be made whole."

The Supreme Court disclosed without comment on Monday that it had voted not to hear Apple's appeal. Four justices must agree to hear an appeal, a high bar as the court has only eight members currently.

Apple shares lost 1% in morning trading on Monday. The shares have declined 20% over the past year.

Story continues

Prices for the most popular ebooks are currently well above the $9.99 level currently, despite the government's successful lawsuits. For example, Amazon is selling "All the Light We Cannot See," Anthony Doerr's best-selling novel, for $13.99 and journalist Eric Weiner's non-fiction ebook, "The Geography of Genius," is $12.99.

When the major publishers settled in 2012, Amazon regained control of most ebook prices via court order, but in subsequent negotiations, publishers recaptured the upper hand and raised prices again. That's led to a drop in ebook sales over the past few years. Big publishers revenue from ebook sales dropped 11% in the first 10 months of 2015 from the same period in 2014, according to a report from the Association of American Publishers.

The 2013 trial before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote offered a rare behind-the-scene glimpse into Apple's negotiating tactics. Apple was about to unveil the orginal iPad as it tried to entice major publishers to sign o for its new ebook store that would compete with Amazon. One part of Apple's offer was to help publishers find a way to raise prices.

Jobs, in an email to James Murdoch, son of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, made the terms fairly blunt. "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99," Jobs wrote.
CHARLOTTE, NC--(Marketwired - March 07, 2016) - Falcon Fastening Solutions, Inc., a cost-reduction specialist for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) using production components in high-volume, reports an average customer cost savings of 14.4 percent for 2015.

Falcon's services reduce waste from an OEM's supply chain via vendor managed inventory (VMI) programs. These VMI programs are tailored specifically for each facility's needs and goals associated with the management of their low-value, high-volume production parts.

"US manufacturers are great at making high-quality products, "explains Giovanni Cespedes, Vice President of Falcon Fastening Solutions. "We enable these manufacturers to do what they do best, with greater efficiency and more profit. Managing production inventory is our core competency."

Falcon released an infographic based upon documented cost savings for their customers in 2015. The infographic illustrates the hidden costs associated with procuring and managing production parts as well as the areas where Falcon's services were able to reduce cost within their customer base.

"The direct acquisition cost, or piece price, of the typical production component only accounts for 15 percent of the total cost of ownership (TCO)," explains Don Nowak, President and Owner of Falcon. "The other 85 percent of TCO is tied up in hidden costs like labor, freight, inventory-carrying costs, error-related costs, safety stock, and so on. We reduce our customer's costs in all of these areas including the piece price."

For 2015, Falcon reports an average customer savings of 2.5 percent on labor-related costs such as purchasing, receiving/stocking, accounting, inspection and quality control activities, etc. Freight savings were an additional 2.9 percent average savings. Error-related costs, such as down time, poor quality, expedites and item obsolescence accounted for another 3.5 percent of the average customer savings. Inventory carrying cost savings were the largest portion of savings at 4.4 percent and the piece price savings added another 1.1 percent to the average total cost savings for customers in 2015.

Story continues

In addition to these savings, Falcon carries a safety stock of 3 months of inventory on hand in their local warehouse and another 7.2 months of inventory on order for customers taking advantage of their Reliable Stock vendor managed inventory programs. Falcon also reports a quality rating of 99.9% and an on-time delivery rate of 99.3% for their customers in 2015.

Falcon is pleased to release this annual documented savings information for the second consecutive year. Customers taking advantage of Falcon's VMI programs receive individual cost savings reports on a quarterly basis at an account level. To learn more about Falcon's vendor managed inventory programs, please visit: http://falconfastening.com/reliable-stock-brochure-download/.

About Falcon Fastening Solutions, Inc.

Falcon Fastening Solutions, Inc. is a privately-owned industrial supplier of fasteners and other class C production components used in high-volume manufacturing assembly. Falcon specializes in customized supply chain solutions that support lean principles in manufacturing to reduce cost and improve efficiency for its customers.

Founded over 35 years ago, Falcon began as an industrial distributor to the thriving manufacturing facilities of the Carolinas. To meet the needs of its growing customer base, Falcon expanded the company's services with its vendor managed inventory (VMI) program. Today, the Reliable Stock VMI program brings customer results of zero production down time, and has allowed Falcon to shift from a product supplier to a true partner.

In recent years, Falcon added two customer-based branches in the Carolinas and acquired Kentucky-based C&M Solutions, now Falcon Fastening Solutions, Inc. of Louisville, KY. To learn more about Falcon Fastening Solutions, Inc., please visit http://falconfastening.com or call 1.800.438.0332.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/3/4/11G086090/Images/2015Savings-FalconFasteningSolutions-f3d25939dcec993a846613b166ba17c8.jpg


Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders attacked his presidential rival Hillary Clinton at the Sunday-night Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, for what he characterized as her coziness with Wall Street.

The fireworks started with an exchange over the auto industry, which has an outsize presence in the local economy.

"I voted to save the auto industry," Clinton said at the CNN-hosted event. "He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry."

Sanders, a Vermont senator, then accused Clinton of allowing her "friends" on Wall Street to destroy the US economy.

"Well, if you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy," Sanders began.

Clinton starting speaking, but Sanders interjected.

"Excuse me, I'm talking," he said.

"If you're going to talk, tell the whole story, Sen. Sanders," the former secretary of state shot back.

"Let me tell my story, you tell yours," Sanders said.

He continued:

Your story is of voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America. Did I vote against the Wall Street bailout when billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy? They went to Congress and they said, 'Oh please, we'll be good boys, bail us out.' You know what I said? I said, 'Let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street.'

Bernie Sanders.

Sanders touted his record of "standing up to corporate America" and voting against trade agreements that would "destroy the middle class."

He later called on Clinton to release the transcripts of her paid speeches at big Wall Street firms. Because Clinton was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per event, Sanders mused that she must have given "great" speeches to these companies.

"While we're on Wall Street, one of us has a super PAC," Sanders said. "One of us has raised $15 million from Wall Street for that super PAC. One of us has given speeches on Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Story continues

Clinton also called Sanders a "single issue" candidate.

Sanders, who has built his campaign around reining in Wall Street, replied by saying the "middle class" was his issue.

NOW WATCH: Excuse me, Im talking: Watch Clinton and Sanders spar over Wall Street at the Democratic debate





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BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - Germany will do all it can to support its European Union neighbours through the bloc's refugee crisis, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday.

"We were very generous and we will remain very generous," he said before meeting other euro zone finance ministers in Brussels.

The refugee crisis limits Germany's room for fiscal manoeuvre but will not force it into budget cuts, Schaeuble said, adding that the crisis was an issue that should be separated from Greece's reform programme.

"One really must separate the two issues from each other," he said.

(Reporting by Tom Korkemeier; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Caroline Copley)
Investing in Asia sans Japan? Try These Mutual Funds

(Continued from Prior Part)

Goldman Sachs Asia Equity Fund performance

In this article, well outline the performance of the Goldman Sachs Asia Equity Fund Class A (GSAGX). The fund is invested in the stocks of companies such as Alibaba Group Holding (BABA), Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH), Taro Pharmaceutical Industries (TARO), Ctrip.com International (CTRP), and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX).

From a purely net asset value return standpoint, GSAGX was among the top three funds in both the one-year period ended February 29, 2016, and in 2015. It stood third and first, respectively, in its peer group for the aforementioned periods. It was the only fund to post positive returns in 2015. For return comparison, weve chosen two ETFs: the iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF (AAXJ) and the WisdomTree Asia Pacific ex-Japan ETF (AXJL).

To evaluate benchmark-related metrics, weve chosen AAXJ as the benchmark for all funds in this review, as it tracks the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index.

Other metrics

GSAGXs standard deviation, or its volatility of returns, in the one-year period until February 29 was 18.7%. This was much higher than both AAXJs 17.9% and the peer groups average of 16.5%. It was the highest among all funds in this review.

The funds risk-adjusted returns, calculated via the Sharpe Ratio, were negative for both the one-year period ended February 29 and for 2015. Evaluating a negative Sharpe Ratio may be misleading, so well avoid that.

GSAGXs information ratio, calculated with AAXJ as the benchmark, was 1.56 for the one-year period ended February 29, placing it first among the 12 funds in this review. The information ratio shows the consistency of a fund manager along with the measure of his ability to generate excess returns over a benchmark. The higher the reading, the better the consistency. For 2015, the funds information ratio also placed it first among its peers.

Story continues

A note to investors

Apart from having the best information ratio among its peers, GSAGX had the best alpha for both the one-year period ended February 29 and for 2015. The funds performance in year-to-date 2016 has been lacking, though. Its volatility has not been the highest, but other metrics have been hurt badly.

Investors would do well to assess the performance of the fund during longer periods and across market cycles in order to see whether this superior performance was just a one-off.

In the next article, well look at the JOHCM Asia ex-Japan Equity Fund Class I (JOAIX).

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya speaks with the media after his meeting with Director General of Civil Aviation E.K. Bharat Bhushan in New Delhi March 20, 2012. REUTERS/Parivartan Sharma (Reuters)

By Derek Francis and Sudarshan Varadhan

BENGALURU, India (Reuters) - An Indian tribunal, heeding a call from a group of creditor banks, has blocked a $75 million settlement agreed between Diageo Plc <DGE.L> and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, after he was ousted from the spirits giant's local unit last month.

Banks owed money by Mallya's now defunct Kingfisher Airlines had demanded "first right" to the Diageo cash, arguing they had been left with hefty unpaid debts - $1.4 billion as of September 2013 - when the airline collapsed more than three years ago.

Mallya, a household name in India and the face of one of the country's most high profile collapses, agreed the settlement with Diageo after stepping down as chairman of Diageo-controlled United Spirits <UNSP.NS> following months of wrangling.

Mallya had been due to receive $40 million of the settlement immediately and the remainder over five years.

The Debt Recovery Tribunal in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru will hear the case next on March 28, it said on Monday, asking Mallya, Diageo and United Spirits to make public the details of their agreement.

Until then at least, the payment is blocked.

Mallya said over the weekend he had no plans to run from his creditors and was in talks over a one-time settlement to resolve Kingfisher's debts.

He did not disclose how much debt was under discussion, but said the settlement would be based on additional payments to the banks, which he said had already recovered 24.94 billion rupees ($372 million).

He said he had already held three meetings and follow up calls with the banks.

State Bank of India <SBI.NS> Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, whose bank is leading the group of creditors, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

'POSTER BOY'

Mallya, once dubbed by Indian media as the "King of Good Times" for his extravagant lifestyle, sold most of his stake in United Spirits to Diageo when his Kingfisher Airlines was grounded by debt and safety concerns, with staff left unpaid.

Story continues

After stepping down from United Spirits' board, Mallya had said he would spend more time in England, closer to his children. That raised concerns among the banks, left with a mountain of bad loans after years of profligate lending and struggling to reclaim their cash even from high profile cases such as Mallya's.

Mallya said he had become a "poster boy" for the bad loans crisis, when others owed much more than Kingfisher.

Kingfisher's creditor banks are set to auction a company property in India's financial capital Mumbai this month. But it is expected to fetch just a fraction of what they are owed.

($1 = 67.0465 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Zeba Siddiqui; Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Mark Potter)
MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya said he was in talks with banks for a one-time settlement of debt that his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes, adding that he had no plans to run away from his creditors.

Mallya's statement comes after a group of banks led by State Bank of India ask a court to arrest him, impound his passport and give them priority access to the $75 million (52 million pounds) Mallya is due to receive from Diageo Plc. The tribunal is expected to give its verdict on the case on Monday.

Kingfisher, once India's second-biggest airline, stopped flying in 2012, leaving its creditors, suppliers and employees with unpaid dues and salaries. Exchange filings from 2014 show the airline owed more than $1 billion to Indian banks, mostly state-run.

"I have been making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with the banks," Mallya said in a statement late on Sunday, which he said was aimed at refuting what he called a "hysterical campaign" against him in the media.

Mallya did not disclose how much debt was under discussion, but said the settlement would be based on additional payments to the banks, which he said has already recovered 24.94 billion rupees ($371.98 million).

He said he had already held three meetings and follow up calls with the banks.

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Last month, Mallya stepped down as Chairman of India's top spirits company United Spirits Ltd in a settlement with its new owners Britain's Diageo Plc and said he would spend more time in England, where his children live.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui, Devidutta Tripathy and Derek Francis; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
Israel's new Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot visits the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, following his swearing-in ceremony in February 2016 (AFP Photo/Gil Cohen-Magen)

Jerusalem (AFP) - Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot's mother said he was destined to be a wise man, but some of Israel's rightwing politicians were not so sure after a recent speech.

The plainspoken military chief of staff, with his familiar greying buzzcut, said what in other situations may seem obvious, but it touched a nerve in Israel.

"When there's a 13-year-old girl holding scissors or a knife and there is some distance between her and the soldiers, I don't want to see a soldier open fire and empty his magazine at a girl like that, even if she is committing a very serious act," he said.

"Rather he should use the force necessary to fulfil the objective."

Many have described his comments as common sense, but the remarks were only the latest from Eisenkot to stir debate.

The 55-year-old, who recently marked a year as Israel's top soldier, has won praise from those advocating a moderate approach in the face of calls to crack down more harshly on Palestinians.

But rightwing politicians, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, have called such comments inappropriate.

The controversy has come amid violence since October that has killed 181 Palestinians and 28 Israelis.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out gun, knife and car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

But Israel has also faced accusations of using excessive force, including during an incident in November when two girls aged 14 and 16 stabbed a man with scissors.

Video footage showed the girls being shot, then a policeman running back towards one of them while she was lying on the ground and opening fire again.

Many believed Eisenkot's speech was referring to that incident.

For one of his former commanders, such comments reflect the approach of a man he calls "very balanced, never too hasty".

"He had to explain it in a very simple explanation," retired Major General Ilan Biran told AFP. "But the fact that it created a boom, that has to do with politics."

Story continues

- 'A quiet boy' -

Eisenkot grew up in the desert town of Eilat on the Red Sea, the son of Jews who emigrated from Morocco. His father worked in the nearby copper mines.

His mother, a homemaker, said in a 2014 interview with a local website that she had a dream when she was pregnant that signalled he would be a "wise man" -- though she would have preferred he become a rabbi.

One of his high school teachers described him as a serious student.

"Really, it was a surprise for me. He was a quiet boy," Eli Yakov, 63, who taught Eisenkot in the 1970s, said of his rise through the military.

"He became so serious" in recent years, Yakov said, "and everybody said: 'That's it, we know he's going to be something big.'"

His brother told a local newspaper that Eisenkot had intended to join the navy, but changed his mind at the last minute because he was interested in the army's Golani Brigade, often on the front lines. He would eventually become its commander.

He later served as commander in the occupied West Bank and in northern Israel, before rising to deputy chief of staff.

Eisenkot, who holds a history degree from Tel Aviv University, had a brush with politics in 1999 when he became military secretary to then prime minister Ehud Barak.

The married father of five took over the military's top job in February 2015.

- 'Like a juggler' -

Despite recent comments, Eisenkot has at other times not shied away from threatening force.

In 2008, he warned Hezbollah that any strike by it would be met with "enormous destruction" of the Lebanese villages from where it originated.

The Lebanese Shiite militia had fought a war with Israel two years earlier, and Eisenkot said in the interview with an Israeli newspaper that Hezbollah should not turn such villages into "military bases".

In a report on the 2014 Gaza conflict, when Eisenkot was deputy chief of staff, a UN commission of inquiry said both Israel and Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes, and criticised Israel's "huge firepower" that devastated the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

For Palestinians, Eisenkot's recent remarks mean little and are unlikely to change the outlook of one of the most rightwing governments in Israel's history.

"He said something that's basic common sense and an ethical responsibility," said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior figure in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

"I don't see why he suddenly became so great -- maybe in comparison to the political climate."

Still, supporters point to a history of what they call a balanced approach by Eisenkot, who did not respond to an interview request.

A letter he reportedly sent to Netanyahu while northern commander discouraging an attack against Iran's nuclear programme foreshadowed some of his recent comments.

In January, he said that the Iran nuclear accord reached last year held risks, but also opportunities, raising eyebrows because Netanyahu had condemned the deal as a "historic mistake".

"He's like a juggler balancing between so many conflicting interests," said Yossi Melman, security analyst for the Jerusalem Post.

"And still he keeps the balls in the air."
By Francesco Guarascio

BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - Italy's 2016 budget is at risk of breaking European Union fiscal rules even if Rome is granted all possible fiscal leeway by the European Commission, euro zone finance ministers said in a joint statement on Monday.

Italy has the second largest debt in the European Union after Greece and is running an expansionary budget in 2016 in a bid to revive sluggish growth.

This puts Rome at odds with EU fiscal rules which require significant cuts in public debt for countries with excessive indebtedness and corrections to reduce the structural deficit.

Stretching the rules, Rome asked for nearly 10 billion euros of further deficit spending in 2016 and urged the Commission, which monitors euro zone national budget plans, to grant it flexibility allowed by the rules.

The Commission will decide in May on Italy's request.

But euro zone finance ministers made clear in a joint statement on Monday that "even if the maximum potential additional flexibility is granted, the risk of a significant deviation (from EU budget rules) may remain."

To be in line with EU rules, Italy may be forced to find additional revenue to plug its fiscal gap this year.

Ministers, gathered in Brussels for a regular monthly meeting, also raised concerns about Italy's debt which is to decline this year, but not by as much as the rules stipulate.

Italy's debt is projected at 132.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product in the latest economic forecasts of the EU Commission.

If a euro zone country does not respect EU fiscal rules, it can be subject to tighter monitoring procedures which are likely to affect its financing costs. EU financial sanctions are also foreseen for countries who repeatedly breach the rules, although they have never been applied.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio)
As the fifth anniversary of Japan's massive earthquake and nuclear disaster approaches, the country's former prime minister said it was time to do without nuclear power.

"If you look at the reality of these last five years, Japan spent two years without a single nuclear plant on line. There are now a few active reactors, but still, that's only a handful," Naoto Kan, who was prime minister when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, told CNBC. His comments were translated from Japanese.

"These five years have demonstrated that we can secure enough power without nuclear plants. That's why I believe we should stay away from the large risk posed by nuclear plants and focus instead on renewable energy by changing our sources of power," Kan added.

Kan isn't alone in his opposition to nuclear power; opinion polls have showed that a majority of Japanese people agree. But he blamed the current ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party the recent restart of four reactors, which had been shuttered in aftermath of the disaster. Kan is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan.

"The Liberal Democratic Party, which ran on a platform of returning to nuclear power, won all the major elections," Kan said. "The main reason is the [Shinzo] Abe administration focused the elections on economic policy. Now these economic policies are at a dead end, while the people's anti-nuclear sentiment remains strong." Kan was referring to Abe's economic stimulus program, known as Abenomics, which has a mixed track record in its aim to kick start the long-moribund economy out of deflation.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Northeast Japan. It was one of the most powerful quakes on record, unleashing a tsunami along 700 kilometers (435 miles) of coastline.

The earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which contaminated nearby towns in what was the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Story continues

According to the latest estimate, 15,894 people were killed in the combined disasters; an additional 2,562 others are still listed as missing, and more than 450,000 people were forced from their homes.

Five years on, the decommissioning effort at Fukushima Daiichi is still in its early stages, and is expected to take 30 to 40 years. Just last month, three former executives from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the company that operated Fukushima Daiichi, were indicted for failing to take safety measures to prevent a nuclear disaster. They are the first Tepco officials to charged over the meltdown.

The government's immediate response to the disasters was "very complicated," Kan told CNBC.

"The natural disaster and the nuclear accident occurred and unfolded at the same time. That was the most difficult aspect," he said.

"If it had only been the earthquake and tsunami, the first stages would have been difficult. There were lots of victims, but there were previous examples of how to respond," he said. "In the case of the nuclear crisis, we didn't know how serious it would become. The situation kept escalating."

Kan cautioned that the nuclear disaster was not yet over.

"There is still contaminated water coming out of the buildings of reactor one to four. Tepco says it is storing it in tanks, but part of it is leaking out into the ocean," he said, adding that radioactive particles were also still leaking, while nuclear debris remained in the reactors that melted down.

Additionally, the human cost of the disaster was ongoing, he noted.

"There are still more than 100,000 evacuees from Fukushima who are unable to return home. Even if the government and Fukushima prefecture say they will, there are still many women with young children who have decided to leave the area," he said.

-Reuters contributed to this article

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.



-By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1





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Formula One - F1 - United States Grand Prix 2015 - Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, United States of America - 23/10/15. Force India team owner Dr. Vijay Mallya during a press conference. Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Hoch Zwei. Livepic

MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Liquor baron Vijay Mallya said he was in talks with banks for a one-time settlement of debt that his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes, adding that he had no plans to run away from his creditors.

Mallya's statement comes after a group of banks led by State Bank of India asked a court to arrest him, impound his passport and give them priority access to the $75 million Mallya is due to receive from Diageo Plc. The tribunal is expected to give its verdict on the case on Monday.

Kingfisher, once India's second-biggest airline, stopped flying in 2012, leaving its creditors, suppliers and employees with unpaid dues and salaries. Exchange filings from 2014 show the airline owed more than $1 billion to Indian banks, mostly state-run.

"I have been making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with the banks," Mallya said in a statement late on Sunday, which he said was aimed at refuting what he called a "hysterical campaign" against him in the media.

Mallya did not disclose how much debt was under discussion, but said the settlement would be based on additional payments to the banks, which he said has already recovered 24.94 billion rupees ($371.98 million).

He said he had already held three meetings and follow up calls with the banks.

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Last month, Mallya stepped down as Chairman of India's top spirits company United Spirits Ltd in a settlement with its new owners Britain's Diageo Plc and said he would spend more time in England, where his children live.

($1 = 67.0465 rupee)

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui, Devidutta Tripathy and Derek Francis; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
Hillary Clinton has more than double the number of delegates than her chief rival, Bernie Sanders. He has an unmatched fundraising operation, one that could help him stay in the race throughout the primary season and perhaps to the convention.

Sundays presidential debate in Flint, Mich., is a reminder that, as Republicans engage in theatrics, Democrats arent entirely free of drama.

The debate is likely to put much greater focus on the water crisis in Flint than Republican candidates did in their debate from Detroit on Thursday, as well as issues like trade, gun control and Wall Street.

Follow along below for updates:

7:57 pm ET: Nancy Reagan. The debate starts with a moment of silence for Nancy Reagan, who died this morning.

8:06 pm ET: The Water Crisis. Moderator Anderson Cooper starts with the water crisis, saying that safeguards were ignored and even today lead is present in water.

Sanders repeats his call for Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, to resign. Amen to that, Clinton says, adding that another alternative is for him to be recalled. This is the first time that she has called for his resignation.

Cooper asks whether the federal government also bears some responsibility, and whether, as an example, the head of the EPA should be fired. Clinton tells a Flint resident that your government at all levels has let you down. But she says that an investigation has to be complete and those responsible have to be held accountable.

Sanders says that he would fire anyone who knew what happened and did not act appropriately.

Both candidates are conveying the sense of urgency, and Sanders gets applause when he says that his concern is after the media attention subsides yet major problems still remain.

Its raining lead in Flint, Clinton says, referring to the lead contamination in the citys water supply.

8:21 pm ET: Sanders win. News outlets are projecting that Sanders is the winner of todays caucuses in Maine.

8:23 pm ET: Snyders response. Snyder tweets, Im taking responsibility as our value system says we should. My track record is getting things done, and I want to get this done.

Story continues

This was never about money. This was a failure of government at all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy.

8:28 pm ET: Trade tiff. Sanders and Clinton spar over the issue of trade and the auto bailout.

I am very glad that Secretary Clinton has gotten religion on this issue, Sanders notes of Clintons recent opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership. He points out that Clinton supported trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said is responsible for the loss of huge numbers of jobs.

Clinton points out that Sanders was against the 2008-2009 auto bailout, a huge issue in Michigan, which votes on Tuesday. The money was there and had to be released in order to save the American auto industryI voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that saved the auto industry.

That leads to a contentious exchange, with Sanders telling Clinton, Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America. As she tries to respond, Sanders says, Excuse me, Im talking.

Sanders insists that he supported the auto bailout, but not a bailout of Wall Street bankers. Clinton says that her opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership came after she could see what was in it, rather than opposing something she had not seen.

8:35 pm ET: The speeches. Sanders has come into this debate with a number of attack lines, including one directed at speeches that Clinton gave to Wall Street firms after she resigned as secretary of state. Clinton has yet to release transcripts of those speeches, for which she was reportedly paid more than $600,000. You want me to release my speeches to Wall Street? Sanders says. Here it is. Theres nothing!

8:47 pm ET: A break. Clinton and Sanders have talked lead contamination, the auto bailout, NAFTA, the Export-Import bank. Neither has referenced their anatomy.

8:52 pm ET: Kalamazoo shootings. The father of a shooting victim in a recent tragedy in Kalamazoo, Mich., asks the candidates what they would do to curb mass shootings  but asks that the answer not be increased mental health research or expanded background checks which do not work.

Clinton outlines a series of moves, but also says, We have got to have a public discussion, because we have created a culture where people grab for guns all the time. Sanders, too, calls for a variety of measures.

But this is an issue where Sanders has been on the defensive over his support for 2005 legislation that provided liability exclusions for gun manufacturers. He expresses concern that holding manufacturers broadly liable would eventually restrict the legal sale of guns.

Clintons campaign has attacked Sanders over the vote, and she says that such a move is necessary to improve gun safety and accountability.

Essentially your position is, there should not be any guns in America, Sanders responds. There are people who hold that view. That is fine if you hold that.

Clinton follows up by citing what happened in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn.

You talk about corporate greed. The gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much money as they can, Clinton says.

9:09 pm. Avenue Q. Don Lemon asks the candidates what racial blindspots they have (a reference to a line from Avenue Q, Everyones a little bit racist).

Clinton at first answers by citing her work with the Childrens Defense Fund, perhaps in response to Sanders reference to his arrest in the early 60s while protesting segregated housing in Chicago. Lemon asks the question again, and she answers, I cannot pretend to have the experience you have had and others have had. Sanders gives essentially the same answer, but says, When youre white you dont know what its like to live in a ghetto. You dont know what its like to be poor.

9:17 pm. The 90s. Whats perhaps striking about this debate is how much has been focused on the 90s. Sanders tries to tar Clinton with welfare reform, which President Bill Clinton signed in 1996, as leading to an epidemic of extreme poverty. Clinton says that the legislation had a lot of provisions that unfortunately were stripped out by George W. Bush. Welfare reform created discord in the administration: Peter Edelman, the husband of the Childrens Defense Funds Marian Wright Edelman, resigned over it.

Clinton also cites the improvement of median incomes among African-Americans during her husbands term, a time of immense job growth.

If were going to argue about the 90s, lets try to get the facts straight, she says.

9:34 pm. Climate change. The candidates are asked about an issue that rarely gets raised at the GOP debates  climate change and, in this case, fracking.

Clinton outlines a series of areas where she opposes fracking.

By the time we get through all of my conditions, I dont think there will be a lot of places in America where fracking is taking place.

Sanders seizes on her nuance. My answer is a lot shorter, he says. No, I do not support fracking.

9:44 pm. The contrast. Given the breadth of the issues posed to the candidates, its a wonder why the candidates have taken until now to take note.

Compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week, Clinton says.

Sanders is more biting. We are going to invest a lot of money into mental health and when you watch these Republican debates, youll know why.

9:53 pm. Trump and emails. Clinton is asked about Donald Trumps vow that he will hammer her on her use of emails while secretary of state. She doesnt address the emails directly, but says, Trumps bigotry, bullying and bluster are not going to wear well. Trump also called Sanders a communist, to which Sanders quips, That is one of the nice things he said about me.

Clinton notes that she has gotten more votes than any other candidate so far, but Sanders cites polls showing he does better in a head-to-head with Trump.

10:02 pm. ET: Thats it. They came. They sparred. They tried to score points. But this debate between Clinton and Sanders could not be more different than the Republican debate last week, when questions about trade and the economy were obscured by a tone that has been compared to a wrestling arena. Clinton and Sanders went at it, but it never got personal, unless you consider Sanders excuse me, Im talking snap a bit rude. Instead, this debate was much more substantive and informative.

Sanders scored some points in putting Clinton on the defensive over shifting policy positions, particularly from the 90s, but he has created some social media criticism for saying, When youre white you dont know what its like to live in a ghetto. You dont know what its like to be poor.

Clinton did well in addressing a sense of urgency in Flint  its raining lead  and did well in an emotional response to Sanders past support for immunity for gun manufacturers. But she should have directly addressed how she would counter Trumps expected attack line about those damn emails.

10:16 pm ET: Top tweets. According to Twitter, Sanders led Twitter conversation with 55%. The top tweeted moments: When Sanders said he hated the word huge; when he said to Clinton excuse me, Im talking; and when they each addressed how their faith guides them.

Related stories

Super Saturday: Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders Score Wins in Challenge to Front Runners

Hillary Clinton to Return to Hollywood for March 24 Fundraising Swing

Hillary Clinton to Join Bernie Sanders at Fox News Town Hall
Investing in Asia sans Japan? Try These Mutual Funds

(Continued from Prior Part)

Invesco Asia Pacific Growth Fund performance

In this article, well specifically outline the performance of the Invesco Asia Pacific Growth Fund Class A (ASIAX), which is one of the classes available for retail investors. The fund is invested in companies such as Broadcom (AVGO), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), China Mobile (CHL), NetEase (NTES), and class B shares of Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK).

From a purely net asset value return standpoint, ASIAX was one of the better performers in the one-year period until February 29, 2016, after having had a poor 2015. It stood and third and eighth, respectively, in the peer group for the aforementioned periods. For return comparison, weve chosen two ETFs: the iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF (AAXJ) and the WisdomTree Asia Pacific ex-Japan ETF (AXJL).

For evaluating benchmark-related metrics, weve chosen AAXJ as the benchmark for all funds in this review, as it tracks the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index.

Other metrics

ASIAXs standard deviation, or its volatility of returns, in the one-year period until February 29 was 14.6%. This was sharply lower than both AAXJs 17.9% and the peer groups average of 16.5%.

The funds risk-adjusted returns, calculated via the Sharpe Ratio, were negative for both the one-year period ended February 29 and for 2015. Evaluating a negative Sharpe Ratio may be misleading, so well avoid that.

The information ratio, calculated with AAXJ as the benchmark, was 1.05 for the one-year period ended February 29, ranking it sixth among the 12 funds in this review. The information ratio shows the consistency of a fund manager and measures his ability to generate excess returns over a benchmark. The higher the reading, the better the consistency. For 2015, the funds information ratio placed it eighth among its peers.

A note to investors

Similar to the information ratio, ASIAXs alpha ranked it sixth and eighth for the one-year period ended February 29 and 2015 respectively. Year-to-date in 2016, the fund has been among the better performers both in terms of consistency of returns and alpha generated.

Story continues

The standout feature of ASIAX is its low volatility of returns. For investors who believe in the long-term potential of the fund and its investment philosophy, its low standard deviation is an added advantage.

In the next article, well look at the Columbia Asia Pacific ex-Japan Fund Class A (CAJAX).

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita gives an interview during the UN conference on climate change COP21, in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, on December 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Loic Venance) (AFP/File)

Bamako (AFP) - Mali's High Court on Monday rejected an attempt by a civil society collective to have President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita face a charge of high treason.

A group of associations filed the complaint against Keita last week to the court, which is competent to judge the country's leaders if accused by the National Assembly of misconduct in office.

The Biprem collective -- the Popular and Pacific Intervention Block for the Reunification of Mali -- accused Keita of "high treason and calamitous management" of the country.

Biprem also accused the president of reneging on a promise made at his 2013 investiture to "guarantee Mali's territorial integrity" amid widespread ongoing insecurity.

Mali's vast, desolate north continues to be beset by violence, having fallen under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

A landmark peace agreement was reached last year between the Mali government and Tuareg-led rebels, but jihadist violence remains a threat.

"The High Court has rejected the document," a court official told AFP. The decision was also published in a High Court document.

The court said it considered Biprem's complaint against Kaite as merely a "tract" and added that "these associations are not entitled" to bring such a case.

It added to accept a case would require the support of two-thirds of national assembly lawmakers.

Biprem's announcement that it was filing a complaint last week sparked controversy in Mali as intellectuals and a politician cited as members or signatories denied having any part in it.

They included writer Seydou Badian Kouyate, who was a minister under Mali's first president Modibo Keita.

"I categorically deny it. I'm not a member of Biprem and I did not sign the document. I do not see why my name is mentioned," Kouyate told AFP on Monday.

Biprem is headed by Lassine Diawara, a journalist and supporter of Amadou Aya Sanogo, an army officer who led a 2012 coup against then president Amadou Toumani Toure.

Diawara backed Keita at the 2013 election but then switched to the opposition.
(Adds exports to the United States)

MEXICO CITY, March 7 (Reuters) - Mexico's auto production fell 4.1 percent in February compared with the same month a year ago, while exports slid 1.2 percent in the same period, the Mexican Auto Industry Association (AMIA) said on Monday.

Mexico produced 271,278 units during the month, and exported 219,670, AMIA said.

Production at Volkswagen AG slumped 12.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

The German automaker's exports from Mexico have dropped every month since September, when the company became embroiled in a major global scandal over rigged emissions tests of cars with diesel engines sold in the United States.

Exports to the United States, Mexico's top trading partner, jumped 5.7 percent to 168,251 units. The United States receives more than two-thirds of Mexico's car exports. Exports to Latin America plunged by 28 percent, while exports to Canada were nearly flat.

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Investors are struggling to keep the March rally alive as stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^RUT) are having a tough time getting traction while crude oil (CLJ16.NYM) climbs. Keith Bliss of Cuttone & Co. joins us live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the markets.

To discuss some of the other big stories of the day are Yahoo Finance's Alexis Christoforous and Nicole Sinclair, along with David Nelson, chief stregist at Belpointe Asset Management.

Oil stocks making a comeback

Crude oil is on a tear, trading above $37 dollars a barrel today, up 30% at one point since the February bottom. Some of the big oil and gas driller names are up nearly as much, such as Conoco Phillips (COP) and Hess (HES). But others are lagging, such as Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX).



Amazon changes tune on encryption

An update to a story we covered on Friday, when we reported that much to everyone's surprise, Amazon (AMZN) had quietly removed encryption from its Fire operating system last fall, citing that customers didn't use it much. This was in light of the fact that Amazon signed on to Apple's (AAPL) plight with the Department of Justice by filing an amicus brief in the case in which the Feds have ordered Apple to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Over the weekend, Amazon announced that it would restore encryption in its Fire OS this spring.

Apple hit on several fronts

Times have been a little tough for Apple lately. This morning, the Supreme Court rejected the company's effort to get its big e-books price-fixing case thrown out. As a result, it will have to pay consumers $450 million as part of a class action settlement. Over the weekend, the first "ransomware" attack on Mac users was reported, puncturing a hole in Apple's supposed invincibility to hacking. And our own Aaron Pressman is writing a piece today about the ongoing struggles for users of the Apple iCloud.

Trump's China $$$

Bloomberg is reporting about a quarter of the funding for real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's new Trump Bay Street luxury apartment building in Jersey City, NJ, is from investors whose payments helped them get visas to the U.S. According to Bloomberg, almost all those investors are Chinese.






Marios Polyzogopoulos | CNBC. Greece is courting another sort of migration crisis has gone largely unnoticed, but may create new troubles for its struggling economy.

Already at the heart of one migration crisis, Greece is struggling with another that has gone largely unnoticed, but may create new headaches for the country's struggling economy.

Debt troubles and the resulting political and economic turmoil has prompted a growing number of Greek companies to migrate operations to neighboring countries such as Bulgaria and Cyprus, where taxes are just a third of what they are in Greece. The shift has exacerbated what was already a common occurrence in the Hellenic Republic: Tax evasion, which government officials estimate costs the economy $20 billion in annual revenue.

Thanks to an attractive tax regime, Bulgaria has emerged as the European Union's very own version of America's Delaware, a haven for companies looking to play tax arbitrage. With a corporate tax rate of 10 percent, low incorporation costs and a glide path for foreign companies to set up shop, scores of Greek companies are seeking shelter in Bulgaria. The country's tax rate is even more generous than the 12.5 percent seen in Ireland  also a draw for multinational corporations looking to elude the grasp of the tax man.

According to Bulgaria's Registry Agency, almost 14,400 Greek companies registered there by the end of 2014. Provisional data also shows that an additional 4,500 Greek-owned companies were founded in Bulgaria in 2015  a stunning average rate of 12 companies a day.

Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce director Gabriela Dimitrova told CNBC that Greece currently tops the list of the countries with foreign companies registered in Bulgaria, with those numbers "constantly growing."

Read More Why 2016 could bring a new Greek crisis

For the Hellenic Republic, at least part of its problem appears to be efforts to comply with the terms of its financial bailout. International creditors have demanded Greece end widespread tax avoidance.

A European Commission source told CNBC that officials are working with Greece to ensure corporate taxation that is effective, limits uncertainty, and contains no distortions. At the same time, technical assistance is being provided to address the issue of income shifting across borders, the source added.

Story continues

Nikos Siakantaris, a managing partner at Greek tax firm UnityFour Private Consulting House, explained that Greek business migration to Bulgaria initially started in the last decade. At first, factories from Northern Greece moved there to take advantage of the reduced labor cost.

Later, however, business migration transformed into full fledged tax flight, which has accelerated in the past couple years due to Greece's economic crisis. Capital controls imposed in 2015 accelerated the effect of companies seeking shelter, Siakantaris added.

"It is noticeable that we are receiving numerous daily requests from either individuals or legal entities that wish to relocate for tax purposes to countries with lower tax rates, compared to the Greek ones," Siakantaris said. This flight of Greek companies to Bulgaria is possible thanks to the European Union's (EU) free movement of capital and labor, which many companies exploit to seek lower tax rates.





According to European and Greek legislation, EU companies must pay tax on their profits within the EU, where the activity takes place.

Yet many Greek-owned, Bulgarian based companies appear to issue invoices directly in Bulgaria for services provided in Greece. This sleight of hand allows these entities to pay the more favorable Bulgarian rate, but represents an obvious drain on tax revenue in Greece  where corporate tax rates are currently at 29 percent.

The practice of cross border tax arbitrage comes in many variations, and is a source of concern for European tax authorities. Last year, Greece proposed a 26 percent withholding tax on Greek transactions that come from havens like Bulgaria and Ireland, raising the ire of Bulgarians.

George Pitsilis, Greece's secretary general of public revenue (the republic's version of the IRS) told CNBC recently that tax authorities are growing more vigilant about shelter-seeking corporations.

"We have already planned a communication campaign to inform taxpayers about schemes and vehicles used for tax evasion and tax avoidance, with a view to enhance voluntary compliance and prevent the use of such structures," Pitsilis said. "Our next goal is to identify the artificial arrangements which create certain taxpayers, exploited abusively freedoms conferred by EU law and move to the implementation of already existing tax provisions precisely to address such abuses," he added.

In an effort to deter tax competition between EU member states, the European Commission urges countries to share tax-related information with one another. The initiative, called Country by Country reporting (CbCR), aims to allow authorities to spot tax avoidance schemes and better target audits.

Information sharing helps to avoid instances where some Greek companies receive tax benefits from Greece even as they are incorporated in another EU economy.

"In practice, Greece is refunding VAT [value added taxes] to Greeks who appear to be registered in Bulgaria. This is called tax cannibalism," UnityFour's Siakantaris told CNBC.







More From CNBC


On Mar 7, 2016, we issued an updated research report on Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM  the market leader in mobile chipsets.

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company reported impressive financial results in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 wherein both the top and the bottom line steered past the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, Qualcomm has provided a soft revenue outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Revenues are projected between $4.9 billion and $5.7 billion, and its mid-point of $5.3 billion lies below the current Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.66 billion. Meanwhile, second-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share are estimated between 77 cents and 87 cents.

Innovation to Power Growth

Qualcomm looks to unveil its new Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, which will enable 1 Gigabit per second download speeds over the air. This indicates a marked improvement from the current 4G LTE speed limit of 450 Megabit per second. What makes this chip remarkable is that it will enable such high speeds over the existing 4G LTE network itself. This Snapdragon X16 LTE modem may be a blessing for Qualcomm in its efforts to tackle competitive pressure from other chipset makers like Intel Corp. INTC and Mediatek. Moreover, as the first mover in this new Gigabit chipset segment, Qualcomm stands to benefit in the form of increased sales.

Samsungs Association to Boost Sales Further

Qualcomm announced that its Snapdragon 820 processors will power Samsungs latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Considering Samsungs brand value in the smartphone market and its unquestioned popularity, the news is a major positive for Qualcomm, holding significant potential as a revenue driver. Last year, Samsung had ditched Qualcomms chipsets, resulting in massive drops of revenue and shipments at the company.

Competitive Pressures

For long, Qualcomm has operated as the undisputed leader in the mobile chipset space. However, in recent times, it faces challenges from low-cost chip manufacturers like MediaTek and Rockchip as well as handset manufacturers SoC (System on Chip) projects, such as Exynos by Samsung. Moreover, due to the heating and reliability issues that plague the Snapdragon 810, certain manufacturers like LG Corp. have opted for the previous-gen Snapdragon 808. Likewise, manufacturers like Sony Corp. SNE have incrementally adopted MediaTeks SoC for their product lines, bringing on desperate times for Qualcomm. Qualcomms chip making revenues fell 22% on a year-over-year basis for 2015, affected by a 10% drop in shipments.

Story continues

On the other hand, while Qualcomm continues to power Apple Inc.s AAPL iPhone 6S modem, there have been reports that the Cupertino, CL-based company may chose Intel for its next line of iPhones.

Regulatory Headwinds

Regulatory proceedings against Qualcomm are on the rise with the company facing antitrust cases in various countries. Apart from the EU charges, the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation to determine whether Qualcomms patent licensing arrangements violate the Taiwan Fair Trade Act. Further, the company recently disclosed that its patent-licensing practices were questioned by South Koreas Fair Trade Commission. Additionally, the company remains embroiled in regulatory investigations in China, Japan, Europe and the U.S.

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WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - February 18, 2016) - Led by United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) President Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the nation's mayors, while in Miami Beach for their Winter Leadership Meeting, will stand with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and support her call for state and federal assistance for the residents of Flint, Michigan.

On the heels of a U.S. Conference of Mayors fact-finding mission to the city of Flint as well as last week's Democratic Steering & Policy Committee's Congressional hearing on The Flint Water Crisis, the mayors will receive a report from Mayor Weaver, USCM CEO & Executive Director Tom Cochran and Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who were designated by Mayor Rawlings-Blake to lead the Conference's fact-finding mission.

The mayors will also stress their 'metro' agenda -- The 2016 Mayors' Compact for a Better America: A Call to Action -- that calls on the Presidential candidates and Congress to INVEST in and PROTECT America's cities and metro areas. Developing healthy, safe, affordable and modern water and wastewater systems is one of the key items on the Mayors' agenda.

With more than 85% of people in the United States living in our nation's cities and metropolitan areas, mayor clearly understand that metro issues impact everyday Americans and are calling on the Presidential candidates to focus on these issues. Mayors are convinced that despite their geographic location, cities large and small across over the country are plagued by many of the same challenges.

WHAT: USCM to Hold Press Conference During Winter Leadership Meeting:

Baltimore (MD) Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, USCM President

Oklahoma City (OK) Mayor Mick Cornett, USCM Vice President

New Orleans (LA) Mayor Mitch Landrieu USCM Second Vice President

Flint (MI) Mayor Karen Weaver

Miami Beach (FL) Mayor Philip Levine, Host

+ Other U.S. Mayors

WHEN: Friday, February 19, 2016 at 12:15 p.m. ET

WHERE: Loews Hotel Miami Beach | Poinciana 1 Room | 1601 Collins Avenue Miami Beach, FL | 33139 | (305) 604-1601

NOTE: Reporters Interested in Covering the Press Conference should RSVP to etemple@usmayors.org
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is doubling down on his hometown state by vigorously campaigning there all this week. Over the weekend, Rubio had a disappointing showing on Super Saturday with third and fourth place finishes. He won the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday, his second win of the election season, but it hasnt done much to boost his standing.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is doubling down on his hometown state by vigorously campaigning there all this week. Over the weekend, Rubio had a disappointing showing on Super Saturday with third and fourth place finishes. He won the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday, his second win of the election season, but it hasnt done much to boost his standing.

Seriously Puerto Rico will not provide any momentum for Marco Rubio, but the thing about this Republican race is that it is so weird; We have never seen anything like it before, said Stephen Craig, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

If Rubio cant win Florida, he is dead meat. The question is whether winning Florida would be enough.

According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, Rubio trails Trump by 16% in Florida, with 28% support from likely Republican primary voters compared to Trumps 44%.

Before the winner- take-all primary on March 15, GOP candidates must win the Tuesday presidential contests in the states of Hawaii, Mississippi, Michigan and Idaho.

Craig says there are no indicators at this point that suggest Rubio cant turn the race in a new direction, however with the shift to new battleground states, he says Ohio Governor John Kasich could be more of a threat to him than [Texas Senator] Ted Cruz.

In a new Monmouth University poll, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump ranks first place among Republican primary voters in Michigan with 36%, while Cruz and Kasich are vying for second place. Cruz has 23%, close behind is Kasich with 21% and Rubio comes in fourth with 13%.

In a recent American Research Group (ARG) poll, however, Governor Kasich pulls ahead of Trump in Michigan. The survey conducted March 4-5 shows Kasich with 33% compared to Trumps 31% support among GOP primary voters in the Great Lakes State. This is a dramatic shift from the February poll, where Kasich had 17% compared to Trump with 35%.

Lets wait and see if Kasich can emerge in the Midwest, and certainly with Ohio coming up he could have a chance, said Craig. If Trump wins Michigan that will set him up well for March 15.

Story continues

On Sunday during a campaign rally in Idaho Falls, Rubio asked the crowd of nearly a thousand people for their help on Tuesday.

Its crunch time here. I need to win, said Rubio. He went on to tell supporters he is the conservative candidate that can actually win the presidency: Im the only one left who can unite us.

As the Rubio campaign zeroes in on the Sunshine State, Craig says there is no guarantee for a home state advantage or that Rubios strong endorsements will actually help.

Florida is definitive; If Rubio loses I dont see how he has any credibility if he cant win in Florida. If he does win in Florida, I still dont think he has much unless he wins one of these big states somewhere else, said Craig. Florida Republicans want their vote to count so if he looks like he is dead meat, why waste your vote on him?

Rubio was scheduled to hold a rally in Tampa, Florida Monday at 5 p.m. ET.

Related Articles
The one-metre long (three-foot) piece of debris was found on a Mozambique beach (AFP Photo/Blaine Gibson) (ATSB/AFP)

Mozambican civil aviation authorities on Monday handed over suspected debris from missing flight MH370 to Malaysian experts after the piece was found by an American amateur investigator.

The debris, which was picked up on the Mozambique coastline, could provide fresh clues into the mystery of the Malaysia Airlines flight, which disappeared two years ago.

"We officially gave the piece to the Malaysian experts this morning," Joao de Abreu, president of Mozambique's Civil Aviation Institute, told AFP.

"If it is revealed that it belongs to MH370, then these experts will come back to Mozambique to launch more extensive searches."

The Malaysian team will leave Maputo on Tuesday and the piece will be taken on to Australia for analysis.

It was found last week on a sandbank near the town of Vilankulo by Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from Seattle who has travelled the world trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the Boeing 777 plane.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has said there was a "high probability" that the piece came from a Boeing 777.

Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the plane going missing.

MH370 was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it vanished on March 8, 2014 on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Last July, a wing fragment was found washed ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and later confirmed to be from the plane.

On Sunday, the man who had found the first part said he had come across a second possible piece from the missing plane and had handed it over to police immediately.
By Siva Govindasamy and Praveen Menon

SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Reuters) - Two years after twin air crashes that left its brand in tatters, Malaysia Airlines is still a company in limbo.

The loss of two Boeing 777s just months apart in 2014 triggered a much needed state bailout for the already loss-making carrier. It cut a third of its staff, grounded its Boeing 777-200s and scrapped its less profitable long-haul routes.

As a result of those efforts - and low oil prices - the group says it will reach its target to turn a profit in 2018, the same year its German boss, turnaround guru Christoph Mueller, ends a three-year contract.

But some analysts and executives question a bet on a narrow, regional business model they say could leave it struggling to compete with regional rivals.

They say Mueller and his team are not paying enough attention to the airline's long-term strategy, in the face of intense competition from southeast Asian rivals like Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Air Asia - particularly if the airline continues to haemorrhage pilots, engineers and mid-rank managers.

"Apart from shedding jobs, cutting its fleet size and renegotiating vendor contracts, it would appear nobody envisions what the airline might look like in 10 years' time," said Shukor Yusof, founder of Malaysia-based consultancy Endau Analytics.

Malaysia Airlines was struggling with a high cost base and low yields even before 2014, but its troubles deepened after March that year, when flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. In July 2014, Flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.

APRES MOI?

In December 2014, Malaysian state-owned sovereign wealth fund Khazanah took the airline private as part of a 6 billion ringgit ($1.47 billion) restructuring plan. Mueller, 54, was brought in as the airline's CEO in May 2015 on the strength of his experience turning around Ireland's Aer Lingus, Belgium's Sabena, and Germany's Lufthansa.

Story continues

Some of the operational changes Mueller has implemented are starting to show results: on Friday, the company released data showing revenue per available seat kilometre, an industry measure of efficiency, up 10 percent from the previous quarter.

But that may not be enough, senior executives warn.

"Khazanah must push Christoph and his team to do something about this if they want to secure the airline's future beyond his three-year contract," said one. The executive was not authorized to speak to the press.

A second executive also called for greater ambition, arguing against "too much short termism" in the overhaul plan.

On Friday, the airline announced that its latest cost cuts included renegotiating contracts with leasing companies, reducing the number of suppliers, and implementing a new IT system.

The cuts so far have included a dramatic shrinking of the airline's network: over the last year, it has cancelled all non-stop flights to Europe except those to London and ended several low-yield Asia Pacific services.

It is instead concentrating on short- and medium-haul flights to Asia and Australia. It has signed a codeshare agreement with Gulf carrier Emirates to give its passengers access to points in Europe and Africa through Dubai.

That, argue some executives and analysts, may leave it sitting uncomfortably between full service rivals and local budget competitors like AirAsia and AirAsia X.

As a smaller full-service airline without a large network, it won't be able to compete effectively with other full service hub carriers in the region, they say.

But it will also have to compete with Malaysian budget carriers AirAsia and AirAsia X, which have a similar point-to-point network, lower cost base and can offer cheaper ticket prices.

In a written statement to Reuters, Malaysian Airlines said its business plan took "a long term view of the airline's strategy with a distinct focus on cost competitiveness in the short term and a clear ambition for expansion after reaching break even. It is clearly the national carrier's role to support the Malaysian economy to enhance connectivity in the rapidly growing markets in Asia Pacific and beyond."

A planned rebranding has been put on hold. The company, explain some executives and analysts, wants to be profitable before it relaunches the brand.

The restructuring of the fleet and network, and the cost cutting plans are "fundamental and underpinning elements which have to come ahead of any softer elements such as brand", said John Strickland, a British-based independent aviation consultant.

For Johor Bahru-based Yusof, despite the restructuring, there are more questions than answers about the airline's future.

Says Yusof: "Sadly its mid- to long-term future, under the current circumstances, looks almost as bleak as the possibility of finding the missing MH370." ($1 = 4.0800 ringgit)

(Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Alexandra Harney)
Visitors check out products at the ZTE stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Albert Gea

By Steve Stecklow

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the license applications generally will be denied.

The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE.

"This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE.

The company can appeal against the action.

ZTE, based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, said in a statement on Sunday that it was aware of media reports on U.S. export restrictions.

"ZTE is highly concerned about recent media reports relating to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation," the company said. "ZTE has been working with associated U.S. government departments on investigations since 2012 and maintains constant communication with associated departments and is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns."

Trade in shares in ZTE, which also sells consumer electronic devices such as smartphones in the United States, was suspended on Monday in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The company did not offer an explanation.

"We believe the restrictions, if implemented, will cause significant supply problems to ZTE," Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng wrote in a note, adding that ZTE has major trading relationships with several U.S. companies including Qualcomm (QCOM.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and IBM (IBM.N).

Story continues

Telecoms equipment and terminal businesses combined account for 80 percent of ZTE's total revenue of 2015, Meng said. The company's revenue for last year was expected to rise 23.8 percent to a record high of 100.8 billion yuan ($15.47 billion), preliminary results showed.

ALLEGED VIOLATIONS

The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it.

The U.S. companies, which included Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), IBM (IBM.N), Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) and Dell Inc [DI.UL], have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of the companies still do business with ZTE.

Washington has long banned the sale of United States-made technology products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents - some of which had been marked by the company as "Top Secret" - outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents.

The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had implemented that scheme.

The ZTE statement did not provide comment relating to the documents.

The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers."

BUSINESS IMPACT

What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's global business is not clear.

One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S ... Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company are from U.S. suppliers."

One of ZTE's websites also states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp (INTC.O), IBM and Honeywell International Inc (HON.N), are "key strategic partners of ZTE". The terms of the partnerships are not described.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught.

"The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities", the document states.

In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws". It is not clear if the alleged scheme was implemented.

'TOP SECRET'

Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president.

The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders".

It states that ZTE "has ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba", adding that "all of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen".

The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States.

"R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law."

The document does not specify what law may have been violated.

The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime", the document states.

The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S.," and that such an eventuality could leave the company facing "the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products".

ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets.

Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word "for" in 21st paragraph)

(Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in HONG KONG; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Anne Marie Roantree and Alex Richardson)
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - The UK government supports plans by French energy company EDF to build a new nuclear power station in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron's spokeswoman said on Monday after the company's finance director resigned.

EDF's Thomas Piquemal resigned over the company's plan to build the nuclear reactors, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.

"We continue to fully support the project," Cameron's spokeswoman told reporters, adding that the French government had also expressed its full support.

Developed as a partnership between state-controlled EDF and Chinese group CGN, the plan to build two 1,650-megawatt nuclear reactors -- among the biggest in the world -- has faced opposition from unions and within EDF's board.

(Reporting by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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1. Cancelling the Sea King replacement

2. Sponsorship scandal

3. Gun Registry

4. HRDC boondoggle

5. Problems with Transition Job Funds program

6. Tainted blood

7. Radwanski Spending Affair

8. Pearson Airport

9. GST Flip Flop

10. Airbus Investigation

11. Voting against Red Book promise of independent Ethics Commissioner

12. Irving fishing lodge stays/travel on Irving jets for cabinet ministers

13. Martin traveling on private corporate jets as Finance Minister

14. Don Boudrias stay at Boulay owned chalet

15. Denis Coderre staying with Boulay

16. Alfonso Gagliano being appointed Ambassador to Denmark

17. Shawinigate

18. Claude Gauthier (PMs friend)s Transelec getting CIDA grant that was questioned by the Auditor General and even CIDA.

19. Liberal fundraiser Pierre Corbeil charged with fraud by RCMP after he approached several Quebec companies seeking federal job training grants and asking for payments to Liberal Party, having gotten the names from senior Quebec Liberal Minister, Marcel Masse.

20. Michel Dupuy, Heritage Minister, lobbying the CRTC.

21. Tom Wappel refusing to help blind veteran

22. Gaglianos son benefiting from contracts from his fathers department

23. Gaglianos former speechwriter, Michele Tremblay was on a $5,000 a month retainer with the Canada Lands Company to provide speeches for the Minister. Former President John Grant let her go saying we got nothing in return. Grant claimed that all Crown Corporations reporting to Mr. Gagliano were told to put Ms. Tremblay on a monthly retainer.

24. Iltis replacement

25. Purchase of new Challenger jets for the Prime Minister and cabinet

26. NATO Flying Training program contract

27. Liberal friends appointed as IRB judges being investigated by RCMP

28. Hedy Frys imaginary burning crosses

29. Maria Minnas improper municipal vote

30. Minna giving contracts to two former campaign staffers for public relations work for a conference that had already been held

31. Lawrence MacAulay and contracts directed to Holland College

32. Lawrence MacAulay and Tim Banks

33. Lawrence MacAulay hired his official agent, Everett Roche, for $70K, but Roche never did any work for it. (Oct 2002)

34. Art Eggleton and contracts to his ex-girlfriend

35. Copps aide Boyers spending habits

36. Collenette resigns for breach of ethical guidelines involving a letter he wrote to the Immigration and Refugee Board

37. APEC Inquiry

38. Andy Scott's 1998 resignation that came eight weeks too late, after a media circus wore him down for indiscreetly shooting his mouth off on an airplane.

39. Anti-American comments by Liberal MPs, officials, and the former Minister of Natural Resources.

40. Rock and the Apotex/Cipro affair

41. Rock giving Health Canada contract to car cleaning company.

42. Manley lobbying CIBC on behalf of Rod Bryden

43. Manleys fundraiser suggesting donors to his leadership write it off as a business expense.

44. Manley using his pre-budget consultations as Minister of Finance to solicit support for his leadership bid.

45. Coderres relationship with Group Everest

46. Martins fundraiser/employee of Finance Jim Palmer

47. Martins blind trust and his relationship with CSL.

48. Gerry Byrne requesting fundraising money be sent to his home address, with no records kept.

49. Gerry Byrne pouring bulk of ACOA money into his own riding.

50. Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation

51. Prime Ministers former assistant, Denise Tremblays huge travel expenses on Veterans Review and Appeal Board as Minister pleaded poverty to veterans widows.

52. Chretien appointing Hon. Roger Simmons (former Trudeau minister convicted of income tax evasion) as Consul-General in Seattle

53. Chretien trying to bring hit-and-run driver Carignan back into caucus.

54. The RCMP is investigating possible fraud and bribery within Industry Canada, involving possible "overpayments" to recipients of federal business grants. The probe centres on the National Research Council, which hands out federal grants to small- and medium-sized businesses.

55. More than half a dozen bureaucrats have been "removed" from their jobs at a Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) in Toronto following a police investigation into projects funded under one of the department's grants and contributions programs

56. Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan called in the RCMP and ordered a sweeping security review after four tax department computers were stolen containing confidential personal information on more than 120,000 Canadians.

57. More than $7 billion stashed in Foundations by Finance Minister Paul Martin with little or no accountability

58. Dhaliwal overseing Richmond-airport-Vancouver transit line while being owner of the airport limousine service

59. Tom Rosser, former Dhaliwal advisor lobbying Natural Resources department and minister on environmental issues only months after leaving government.

60. $5.3 million GG northern travel

61. GG budget doubles in 5 years

62. Robert Thibault giving a grant as ACOA minister to a wharf and boatyard where his brother-in-law has a monopoly.

63. Royal LePage contract, which the government was forced to cancel in the wake of serious concerns being raised.

64. Shutting down the Somalia Inquiry

65. Home heating rebate, which was sent to prisoners and deceased.

66. Martin firing Bernard Dussault, Chief Actuary of CPP

67. Ethel Blondin-Andrew buys fur coat on government credit card

68. Chretiens imaginary homeless friend.

69. Liberal MP Rick Lalibertes extensive travel budget

70. Liberal Senator Thompson living in Mexico

71. Vendetta against former BDC President Francois Beaudoin

72. The flag give-away  which estimates suggest might now have cost $45 million instead of the promised $6 million, and reportedly involved fake invoices.

73. Gaglianos two week trip, at taxpayers expense, for a two day event with the head of the Royal Canadian Mint and Maurizio Caruso.

74. Secretary of State for multiculturalism and status of women Sheila Finestone using government car (which junior ministers are only allowed to use for government business) to drive home to Montreal, which even Sheila Copps criticized. (Ottawa Citizen, May 22, 1994)

75. Liberal MP Jag Bhadurias hate mail to his former employers, wishing that they had been shot by killer Marc Lepine

76. Liberal MP Jag Bhaduria making false claims about his academic qualifications.

77. Paul Martin and Maria Minna attending fundraising dinner for group linked to Tamil Tigers in May 2000 (National Post, Sept. 8th, 2001).

78. David Anderson, as National Revenue Minister, suing the government for lost wages after being removed as IRB appointee by Conservative government seeking $454,000 from a deficit-ravaged federal treasury. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004). Anderson eventually agreed to drop the suit.

79. David Anderson suggesting that the BC doesnt need extra House of Commons seats, because they wouldn't be worth much given the poor quality of most West Coast MPs. (Vancouver Sun, July 24, 2004)

80. A consultant on an executive interchange program persuaded Natural Resources to undertake a $700-million reorganization of its research facilities for which no business case had been made. The program was fast-tracked because he had developed a social relationship with the deputy minister. He was eventually charged with diverting $525,000 to a numbered company he controlled. (Globe and Mail, May 30, 2005)



And the list continues under Prime Minister Martin:



81. Raid on reporter Juliet ONeills home by RCMP

82. Permanent Resident Cards

83. Judy Sgro going on vacation as cards became mandatory and landed immigrants were left stranded

84. Minister Frullas renovations

85. Pay raises for chiefs-of-staff in ministers offices, while spending is frozen for public service.

86. The governments changing numbers on how much money has gone to CSL

87. Lobbyists in Paul Martins transition team being allowed to return to lobbying immediately, after being involved in process of picking new cabinet and senior staff.

88. Minister Comuzzis anti-Quebec comments

89. Martin government using closure after only six days in the House of Commons, followed by using time allocation in the Senate.

90. Problems with DNDs contracts with Compaq Computers that may have cost taxpayers up to $159 million for work not performed.

91. Martin using government jets to tour the country campaigning before election, spending up to $1 million for air travel alone.

92. Martins relationship with Earnscliffe

93. Questionable contracts to Earnscliffe

94. The appointment of former Liberal MLA Howard Sapers as the Correctional Investigator of Canada

95. Pierre Pettigrews flip flopping on health care

96. David Dingwalls expenses as head of Royal Canadian Mint

97. Liberals planning to give David Dingwall a severance package after he resigned

98. The secret National Unity Fund reserve

99. Calling an early election after earlier promising first to get to the bottom of the sponsorship scandal

100. Martin suggesting changes to legislation and introducing bill that benefited CSL, despite concerns from his own Deputy Minister that he was in a conflict-of-interest (Ottawa Citizen, May 26, 2004)

101. $99 million Public Works contract that went to company overseen by Liberal fundraiser and future Senator Paul Massicotte (Montreal Gazette, June 26, 2004)

102. Parliamentary Secretary Dan McTeagues 3-person, $224 trip to a Pizzeria

103. Immigration Minister Judy Sgros staff being allowed to stay on extended travel benefits, letting them bill taxpayers for thousands of dollars in hotel rooms and meals, because they didnt want to move from Toronto to Ottawa until after the election.

104. Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Lucie McClungs travel expenses

105. Contracting irregularities on more than two dozen projects at DND worth tens of millions of dollars, showing over-billing, profit excesses, unauthorized additional work, lack of accounting records, spiralling cost overruns, etc. (Globe and Mail, July 14, 2004).

106. ACOA Minister Joe McGuire canceling ACOA loan and grant to ABL Industries Inc. because it would compete with company in his riding. (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, July 17, 2004).

107. Andy Mitchells chief of staffs $22,000 in expenses to commute to Ottawa (Toronto Star, August 2, 2004).

108. Andre Ouellets travel and hospitality expenses at Canada Post.

109. Government delaying release of audit on Ouellet until after the election (Globe and Mail, July 31, 2004).

110. Martins principle secretary Francis Foxs sister getting untendered contracts (The Province, July 27, 2004).

111. Continuing problems in advertising files at Public Works (Ottawa Sun, July 26, 2004).

112. A Liberal Party of Canada fundraising letter signed by Paul Martin, asking potential contributors to offer $7,000, $7,100 or $7,200 in contributions  far in excess of donation limits passed by the very same Liberal government

113. Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne violating municipal bylaws. Municipality pursuing legal action against him. (Ottawa Citizen, August 19, 2004).

114. Spa Days for inmates approved by the Correctional Service of Canada, which on Aug. 21 invited inmates at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., to dabble with manicures, pedicures and aromatherapy, not to mention cups of tea served in fine china, all accompanied by a harp serenade. (National Post, September 9, 2004).

115. Five employees in the ''overwhelmed'' immigration section of Canada's embassy in Iran have been fired over the past year after they each were caught breaching federal ethics rules (National Post, September 13, 2004).

116. Questionable contracts and spending from the Canada Investment and Savings group set up by Martin in 1996 (Globe and Mail, September 13, 2004)

117. Questionable contracting practices at Canada Information Office (The Hill Times, September 13, 2004).

118. A top Canadian diplomat based in China has resigned amid reports he is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to help Chinese nationals enter Canada illegally. (Vancouver Sun, September 22, 2004).

119. Abuse of government credit cards by staff at Fisheries Department (CP Wire, September 24, 2004).

120. Canadas questionable hiring of the niece of Syria's foreign affairs minister to work at the embassy in Damascus (Globe and Mail, October 5, 2004)

121. Helene Scherrer using Challenger to fly to Banff during election to give partisan speech

122. Abuse of Challengers by Paul Martin and various ministers (eg. Andy Mitchell, Claudette Bradshaw)

123. Abuse of Challenger jets for political business instead of government business (Le Devoir, October 4, 2005)

124. Paul Martin taking Challenger jets to Liberal fundraisers

125. Challenger food bill of $508 per flight

126. Expenses during election filed by aide to Ralph Goodale

127. Questionable expenses during election filed by aides to Judy Sgro

128. Ongoing problems and safety concerns with the submarine program

129. Various federal departments reported in excess of $1.1 million in theft of computers in 2003, but the information is potentially more valuable than the hardware (Vancouver Sun, October 14, 2004).

130. According to the latest public-accounts-of-Canada reports for the period March 2004 and March 2005, over 700 laptops, desktops and central processing units went missing from 35 federal government agencies -- worth $6 million. (The Province, October 19, 2005)

131. Federal government has lost track of $587 million a year in EI overpayments and underpayments at the Department of Human Resources. (Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2004). However, the government defends itself by stating that in fact it has only lost track of $25 million a year and collects the other overpayments. (Ottawa Citizen, October 13, 2004)

132. $133,000 grant to a Toronto film company that used classified ads to search for the "perfect" *****. (National Post, October 14, 2004).

133. Man convicted of fraud against government hired to teach ethics course to public servants (National Post, October 20, 2004).

134. Public Works selling confiscated grow-op equipment to drug traffickers. (National Post, October 21, 2004).

135. Pressure by Liberal MPs and ministers on ACOA to make funding decisions based on politics (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, October 25, 2004).

136. Paul Martins Director of Communications Scott Reid insulting Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador (Toronto Star, October 28, 2004)

137. The Martin government spent $127,223 on a poll last February testing ways to diffuse negative reaction to the bombshell auditor-general's report -- which included the finding the Liberals ignored their own rules prohibiting the use of tax dollars on partisan polls (Vancouver Sun, November 8, 2004).

138. Judy Sgros campaign volunteer (a stripper) getting ministerial permit

139. Sgros senior policy advisor going to strip club to meet with owner to discuss bringing more strippers into Canada. (National Post, November 25, 2004). Subsequent revelations indicate that he went to at least one other strip club to conduct similar meetings (Toronto Sun, December 7, 2004)

140. Sgro giving out details of private immigration files, violating Privacy Act

141. Allegations that Sgro broke the elections law in failing to properly identify the source of a campaign contribution. (Toronto Star, December 8, 2004).

142. Revelations that the program to bring in foreign exotic dancers was created under pressure from organized crime (National Post, December 18, 2004)

143. Irwin Cotler appointing his former chief-of-staff to federal court (National Post, November 23, 2004).

144. Heritage Minister Liza Frulla giving grant to magazine that put her on the cover and made her honourary president (Ottawa Citizen, November 25, 2004)

145. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP John Harvard as Lt-Governor of Manitoba, in order to get him to step aside for star candidate Glen Murray.

146. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing Liberal MP Yvon Charbonneau to UNESCO, in order to get him to step aside for Martin crony Pablo Rodriguez.

147. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing former Liberal MP Karen Kraft-Sloan as Ambassador for the Environment. (Department of Foreign Affairs Press Release, February 16, 2005).

148. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointing defeated Liberal candidate Dave Haggard as the chair of a newly created Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. (OIC 2005-0001)

149. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his friend Dennis Dawson to the Senate

150. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed his former Principal Secretary Francis Fox to the Senate

151. Despite promising an end to cronyism and patronage, Martin appointed disgraced former cabinet minister Art Eggleton to the Senate

152. Martin and his wife complaining about having to live in 24 Sussex (Edmonton Journal, November 17, 2004)

153. Millennium Bureau spending done with same lack of controls and oversight of sponsorship program

154. The RCMP has charged a senior Immigration Canada manager and four accomplices in an alleged bribes-for-status scheme in which Arab immigrants paid up to $25,000 to have their claims fast-tracked and approved (National Post, December 17, 2004)

155. Making widows of RCMP officers killed in the line of duty pay for their husbands funerals (Under pressure from the Conservative Party, the government reversed this policy)

156. Martin patronage-appointee Jim Walsh breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Christmas Party (St. Johns Telegram, January 20, 2005).

157. Port authority losing more than $60,000 in public funds on the stock market. When Central Cape Breton Community Ventures took over the port in Iona in 2000, the private agency deposited only $5,000 of the $245,000 it received from Transport Canada into a designated bank account. The federal funding was meant to cover the port's maintenance, insurance and professional services costs (Chronicle-Herald, January 31, 2005).

158. Canadian flag lapel pins being made in China. Only under pressure, Scott Brison flip flops and agrees to have them made in Canada again.

159. Questionable dealings around the privatization of the Digby Wharf, which even Liberal MP Robert Thibault wants the RCMP to investigate (Chronicle-Herald, February 10, 2005).

160. Adrienne Clarkson spending $17,500 to evaluate cleaning at Rideau Hall (Ottawa Sun, February 19, 2005)

161. Martin patronage appointee Glen Murray breaking ethics guidelines and attending Liberal Convention as delegate

162. Martin ignoring parliamentary committee and appointing Glen Murray as chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy

163. Marlene Jennings, the Parliamentary Secretary for Canada-U.S. relations, making anti-American remarks

164. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November and still sending ambassador back to Iran

165. Government knowing about details of torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi back in November but doing nothing

166. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on questionable acquisitions at CFB Borden (Ottawa Sun, April 18, 2005).

167. Joe Volpe keeping stripper visa program operating, despite having promised to shut it down (CTV.ca, March 5, 2005)

168. Jean Lapierre acting as lobbyist without registering

169. Joe Volpe trying to intimidating Sikh community

170. In the spring of 2003, the RCMP investigated allegations that Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi had requested favours and financial support for Paul Martin's 2003 leadership campaign in exchange for helping Indian nationals get these temporary resident permits (Globe and Mail, March 10, 2005).

171. Liberals spending $443,237 to change the name Passport Office to Passport Canada (Montreal Gazette, April 21, 2005).

172. Ken Drydens chief of staff charged with careless driving (Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2005)

173. Liberals trying to buy off Conservative MPs with offers of patronage positions

174. Liberals handling of the submarine program

175. Public Service Integrity Officers travel expenses (Ottawa Sun, May 4, 2005)

176. Liberal Senator Michel Biron going to hearing to support killer Karla Homolka (CTV News, June 9, 2005)

177. Public Works contract watchdog Consulting and Audit Canada violating contracting rules (Toronto Star, July 4, 2005)

178. Technology Partnerships Canada rules being violated to pay lobbyists (Globe and Mail, June 24, 2005)

179. Former Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Robert Nault is working as a paid lobbyist for Nelson House First Nation in what some allege is an apparent violation of a federal code of conduct. Among the federal departments Nault is lobbying is the Indian and Northern Affairs department he headed until December 2003, according to a lobbying report Nault filed with the federal government. Nault registered as a lobbyist for Nelson House, now known as Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, on July 18, 2005 -- one year and seven months after leaving his cabinet post. Under the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders, Nault is barred from working for any entity with which his department had "direct and significant official dealings" for two years after leaving office. He is also barred for two years from lobbying his former department or any of his former cabinet colleagues (Winnipeg Free Press, September 14, 2005)

180. According to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail, Pierre Pettigrew billed Canadian taxpayers for $10,000 for trips for his driver in 2001 and 2002. Pettigrew took his driver to South America and Europe, even though the driver didnt do any driving on the trips. (Globe and Mail, September 14, 2005)

181. Joe Volpes questionable hospitality expenses (Globe and Mail, September 21, 2005)

182. According to media reports, Industry Canada has frozen federal financing for research projects by an Ontario biotechnology firm pending the outcome of an investigation into the company's agreement to pay $350,000 in lobbying success fees to former Liberal cabinet minister David Dingwall. Such contingency fee payments violate Technology Partnership Canada rules. (Globe and Mail, September 23, 2005)

183. Expenses of chairman of the Royal Canadian Mint Emmanuel Triassi, who also approved David Dingwalls expenses (Globe and Mail, October 4, 2005)

184. Last week, Public Works was also silent on details of another case involving forensic accounting. Government accounts published on Thursday showed a department employee had embezzled $3.45 million from Public Works office in Koblenz, Germany. Even though the employee was convicted and jailed in Germany, Public Works will not name him or give any details of the crime (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005)

185. The federal government inadvertently revealed yesterday that it is conducting a large-scale forensic accounting probe into "possibly criminal matters" when it published details of a contract intended for a Quebec accounting firm. The notice awarding a $2-million contract for forensic accounting services was published on the government's tendering website, MERX. It gave notice that Consulting and Audit Canada was planning to award the sole-source contract to Leclerc Juricomptable, a Quebec City firm specializing in forensic work and litigation support. The contract award notice said the work had to be sole-sourced to Leclerc because it is "not in the public interest to jeopardize the current investment in the investigation or to significantly increase the risk to a successful completion of the investigation into possibly criminal matters." A spokesman for the Department of PublicWorks and Government Services said yesterday that the notice was published "prematurely" and would be withdrawn last night. He could not say, however, what is under investigation, but said the contract was not tied to another scandal that has kept Quebec forensic accountants busy over the past years. "It's not related to sponsorship or Gomery, that I can tell you," said spokesman Pierre Teotonio (Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2005). It was subsequently revealed that the department involved was CIDA (CP Wire, October 4, 2005)

186. Questions about campaign funds from Raymond Chans campaign going to his companies (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)

187. Questions about a possible conflict-of-interest between Chans activities as minister on behalf of possible business associates (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)

188. Questions about the report that Chan filed with the Ethics Commissioner (Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2005)

189. Government giving out contract that specifies no paper trail to be left in government offices (Vancouver Province, October 11, 2005)

190. Questionable travel expenses at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (CP, October 16, 2005)

191. Two employees at DFO fired for making fraudulent travel claims (CP, The Province, October 18, 2005).

192. Lobbyist registrar Michael Nelson has launched investigations of four people for eight possible breaches of the ethics guidelines for lobbyists, the first such investigations ever launched under the code. (Globe and Mail, October 18, 2005)

193. According to media reports, the federal government has terminated two contracts with a consulting firm that used to be run by Liberal MP David Smith and now run by his wife, following a forensic audit of the contracting practices at a federal agency (Globe and Mail, October 19, 2005)

194. ATI requests by prisoners for information on prison system and guards, when information is actually disclosed

195. Liberal candidate Richard Mahoney lobbying for satellite radio company for a month before registering (Ottawa Citizen, October 19, 2005)

196. Delays and ballooning costs mean a giant software project at National Defence will eclipse its original budget and won't meet its goals until 2011 -- if at all. An internal audit obtained by Canadian Press raises red flags about a new system designed to streamline computer tracking of military inventory and purchases. MASIS -- or Materiel Acquisition Support Information System -- started in 1997 as a $147-million undertaking. What began as a focused effort to cover a single equipment category in each of the navy, army and air force soon mushroomed. By 2003, Defence officials estimated MASIS would be in place by 2006 at a cost of $325 million, more than twice its forecast budget. A full introduction of the complex software has now been extended to 2011. The heavily censored May 2005 internal audit, released under the Access to Information Act, catalogues a litany of "revised planned milestones.'' "The prime contract has been amended six times, each time increasing amounts for professional service fees,'' it says. (CP, The Record, October 24, 2005)

197. Hospitality and travel expenses of executives at CMHC (Journal de Montreal, October 24, 2005)

198. Questions about Squamish land deal lease (The Province, October 26, 2005)

199. Liberals handling of tainted water at Kashechewan First Nation
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 ...
Evaluating the free market by comparing it to the alternatives (We don't need more regulations, We don't need more price controls, No Socialism in the courtroom, Hey, White House, leave us all alone)
PLATTSMOUTH  A southern Nebraska man will spend time in jail for driving while intoxicated in Cass County last year.

Hebron resident Dylan R. Jasperson, 29, appeared in Cass County District Court Monday morning for a sentencing hearing. Jasperson pled guilty in November to one Class W misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol-third offense.

Jasperson had been convicted of DUI twice in the previous ten years. The first conviction happened in Nuckolls County in October 2006. The second conviction took place in Thayer County in November 2011.

A Nebraska State Patrol trooper was on duty April 19 when he noticed a pickup truck parked in the middle of the Exit 420 westbound on-ramp east of Greenwood. The trooper approached the vehicle and found Jasperson asleep in the back seat of the extended cab. The trucks engine was running at the time.

The trooper spent several minutes knocking on the doors before Jasperson woke up. The trooper searched the vehicle and found two open bottles of alcohol. One of the bottles contained whiskey. Jasperson was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test.

Jasperson was transported to the westbound I-80 weigh scales near Waverly for a chemical breath test. The test registered a blood-alcohol content level of .165.

Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde said he felt a jail sentence was appropriate due to Jaspersons criminal record. He said authorities had revoked probation for Jasperson in each of his previous two DUI cases. He also had his probation revoked in a theft case in 2005.

He hasnt been able to complete probation either of the times hes been arrested for DUI, Fedde said. He is not a suitable candidate for probation in this case.

Fedde said Jasperson was arrested in Thayer County in February in a separate incident. Thayer County officials charged him with driving during revocation and leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Defense attorney Robb Gage said Jasperson had remained sober since December. He said his client had started attending a support group near his hometown. He asked the court to consider placing Jasperson on probation.

Judge Jeffrey Funke said he was concerned about Jaspersons overall record. He said Jasperson had not taken advantage of the opportunities he had been given in earlier probations to address his alcohol issues. He also said the court needed to place the interests of society above the interests of an individual.

You were passed out on an on-ramp of the interstate, Funke said. You rolled the dice and gambled with your life and the lives of others.

Funke sentenced Jasperson to a term of 180 days in Cass County Jail. Jasperson must pay a $1,000 fine and all court costs associated with the case. His drivers license will also be suspended for 15 years.
A Council Bluffs, Iowa, man was sentenced to serve prison time by Judge Geoffrey Hall Monday morning in Dodge County District Court for committing a pair of felonies in May 2015.

Jason Blackman, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of being in possession of a controlled substance  methamphetamine, a Class IV felony; and flight to avoid arrest, also a Class IV felony.

Hall sentenced Blackman to serve one year in the Lincoln Correctional Facility on both counts. Blackman was credited with serving 154 days in Saunders County Jail and under the Nebraska Good Time Law, Blackman could be released in six months following the concurrent sentences.

The maximum sentence Blackman could have received was two years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.

Blackman was arrested Oct. 4 by the Dodge County Sheriffs department when a deputy witnessed Blackman driving erratically near U.S. Highway 30, court records show.

The deputy activated his emergency lights and Blackman proceeded to attempt to flee the scene, reaching speeds of 105-110 mph before crashing his vehicle into a roundabout on the highway.

A sweep of the vehicle led to the discovery of two meth pipes, and one bag containing a crystal like substance, which field-tested positive as being methamphetamine.

Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Sopinksi said that Blackman was not a viable candidate to receive the privilege of probation because of his lengthy criminal record, one that includes criminal charges still pending in Iowa.

There are substantial and compelling reasons that the defendant shouldnt be given probation, Sopinski said.

When asked by Hall if Blackman had any remarks, he gave a lengthy apology to the court, Sherriffs Department and the citizens of Fremont.

Im very sorry for what I did, it was an act of desperation, Blackman said.

In other District Court news:

*Ashley M. Jensen, 30, of Fremont was sentenced to serve prison time for two felony charges. Jensen is being required to spend one year in the Nebraska Correctional Facility for Women for being in possession of a controlled substance  methamphetamine, a Class IV felony; and another count of being in possession of a controlled substance  Tramadol, a Class IV felony.

Jensen was credited with one day served and under the Nebraska Good Time law, could be eligible for release in six months.

Jensen was arrested on Oct. 28, 2015, when officers of the Fremont Police Department were dispatched to Walmart in regard to a shoplifting complaint.

Officers were informed that a woman driving a white pickup truck had taken several items without paying.

Jensen was located driving down Johnson Road, where she was seen throwing a methamphetamine pipe out of her window. The pipe  when retrieved  contained a crystal-like substance which tested positive as methamphetamine.

A search of the car led to the discovery of the stolen items and Tramadol pills. A bag of methamphetamine was later discovered in her possession.

*Chase T. Backman, of Fremont, pleaded no contest and was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol third offense enhanced by refusal, a Class IIIA felony.

Backman faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine and 15-year license revocation.

Backman was arrested on May 21, 2015 after the Fremont Police Department was dispatched to the area of 19th and Broad Streets in regard to a hit-and-run accident where the driver of a white Pontiac G6 left the scene.

Officers followed a trail of oil and antifreeze that led to Backman and his vehicle. He refused to submit a preliminary breath test and complete field sobriety, as well as refusing to submit to a blood draw at Fremont Health Medical Center where he was transported.

Hall ordered a pre-sentence investigation and sent down sentencing for 9 a.m. April 25.
World Takaful Conference (WTC), the leading global forum for Takaful, will take place on the 11th and 12th of April in the Dusit Thani Hotel, Dubai.

Takaful is a type of Islamic insurance, where members contribute money into a pooling system in order to guarantee each other against loss or damage. Takaful-branded insurance is based on Sharia, Islamic religious law, and explains how it is the responsibility of individuals to cooperate and protect each other.

The Takaful industry is still at a nascent stage in its development although its growth has been rapid over the past 7 years and its total assets have doubled in the last 5 years. As the industry navigates through the complex global insurance landscape, there is a greater need for its leaders to share insights and deliberate on new strategies to help it grow beyond its niche status.

H.E. Ebrahim Obaid Al Zaabi, Director General of the UAE Insurance Authority (IA), will keynote the upcoming gathering of the global Takaful industry. H.E. Al Zaabi will join another industry pioneer, Abdulla Al Awar, CEO of the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, in opening the worlds most influential annual Takaful event.

H.E. Al Zaabi will set the stage for the regulatory issues important to the industry, addressing the top priorities for regulators to support regional and international Takaful growth. This is highly topical given that the IA is working on finalizing regulations to streamline the sector, which will redefine the competitive and financial strength of Takaful. In 2010, the IA issued legal and Sharia rules and principles required to regulate the Takaful industry, and as follow up in 2014, the Authority promulgated financial regulations for Takaful operators.

In light of recent regulatory developments, His Excellency will speak on the necessary steps needed to strengthen the industrys corporate governance framework and improve its asset-liability management to ensure that Takaful operators remain solvent.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport welcomed the first Taipei flight of EVA Air. The Taiwanese airlines Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft landed Ataturk Airport with its 275 passengers.

275 passengers arriving from Taipei were welcomed by the officials of TAV Airports and EVA Air. During the reception held, the passengers and guests were treated a cake to celebrate the flights that will connect Istanbul and Taipei. Later, 113 passengers were sent off from Ataturk Airport to Taipei at 11:45 AM by the flight launched by EVA Air.

TAV Istanbul General Manager Kemal Unlu stated: Being one of the world's most significant hubs, Istanbul Ataturk Airport continues to increase the number of flight destinations. Last year, Istanbul Ataturk Airport was the third busiest airport of Europe following London and Paris by providing services to more than 61 million passengers. We are glad to host these new flights of EVA Air from Istanbul to Taipei, the capital city and also the most significant commerce and culture center of Taiwan. We will continue working to make Istanbul a center of attraction".

EVA Airlines will be launching direct reciprocal flights from Ataturk Airport to Taipei every Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. EVA Air has become the one of the 129 airline companies hosted by Istanbul Ataturk Airport. More than 280 domestic and international flights are launched from the airport. Ataturk Airport hosted 447,000 flights in 2015 while providing services to approximately 61,300,000 passengers.
MENOG, a forum for network operators in the Middle East, will take place in Istanbul from 23-24 March 2016.

The Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG) meetings offer network engineers and other technical staff the opportunity sharing their experiences and knowledge, presenting and discussing latest networking innovations and discover new business models and applications. It is a highly selective meeting attended by experts and interested people from industry, academia and government.

MENOG 16 Workshops will take place on 19-22 March and MENOG 16 Plenary will be on 23-24 March.

Located in the central area of Sisli, adjacent to the former Bomonti Beer Factory, Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center will host the forum.

For more information and program of the event, click here.
Boniface Mwangi is looking for a job. It may have come as no surprise when, during the launch of his book two weeks ago, he declared he wo...
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Monday, March 7, 2016:

NO PLAN TO CLOSE ELDORA: Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday that he has no plan to close the State Training School for Boys in Eldora. Branstad in 2014 ordered the closure of the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo, and a national anti-youth prison advocacy group has the State Training School in Eldora on its list of facilities it believes should be closed. Branstad said his administration is "not looking at closing Eldora," and noted there were a number of issues specific to the Toledo facility, including allegations of abuse. Branstad said he does not see a need to close Eldora. Regarding the mission of the advocacy group Youth First, the state said it does not consider the Eldora facility to be a youth prison. The state Department of Humans services told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that the Eldora facility "provides treatment and educational services within a structured setting to assist youth who are adjudicated delinquent."

PSYCHIATRIC MEDICAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM: State officials Monday touted the creation of mental health residency programs in central Iowa that are slated to create up to 10 new psychiatric residency positions in Iowa annually. Gov. Terry Branstad said the state has put up $2 million annually to help fund a match program to recruit and retain psychiatric professionals in Iowa. Residency programs will be formed at Broadlawns Medical Center, UnityPoint Health in Des Moines and Mercy Medical Centers in Des Moines in coming years - aided by legislation intended to reduce barriers for medical residency programs to receive funding and to increase the ability for significant investments to be made into more costly residency programs like psychiatry. Organizers hope the residency programs will encourage more physicians and mental-health specialsits to establish practices in Iowa upon completion of the training.

APPEALS BOARD SETTLEMENTS: The three-member State Appeal Board on Monday approved a number of judgments and settlements involving claims brought against state agencies and their employees. Without dissent, the board approved a judgment ordered by a federal judge for $298,919 in attorney fees stemming from a challenge the Iowa Right to Life Committee brought against the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Board over state forms and the reporting requirements for political action committees. Jeffrey Thompson of the Iowa Attorney General's Office said the judgment settles disputes that were resolved by the courts or legislative action in the wake of a complaint that was litigated through the state and federal court systems. Board members also approved an $80,000 payment to an estate in the 2013 death of a patient at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. A separate $10,000 payment was approved to settle allegations related to sexual orientation and disability discrimination brought by a former Iowa Workforce Development who applied for a job with the state Department of Public Safety, and a $70,000 payment was approved to settle damages resulting from a controlled burn by the state Department of Natural Resources that got out of control and burned buildings and vehicles on an adjacent property.

AFSCME RALLY FOR STAFF SAFETY: AFSCME union members plan to hold a Rally for Staff Safety outside of the Iowa Department of Corrections Central Office in Des Moines on Wednesday afternoon. The gathering at 3:45 p.m. will focus on issues that affect safety at state prisons and community-based corrections facilities, according to organizers who also plan to deliver a petition from Iowans calling for safety issues to be addressed. AFSCME Iowa Council 61, which represents correctional officers in the Iowa prison system, recently expressed concern over escape at the Newton prison and called on the warden of the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville to "take safety seriously" following inmate assaults on staff members. The rally comes at a time when members of the split-control Legislature are fashioning state funding priorities for the 2017 fiscal year that begins July 1.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "That's really up close and personal." - Gov. Terry Branstad in describing a conversation he had with then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, inside a phone booth in the Hotel Savery in Des Moines in 1976.
DES MOINES  Two school funding issues  imbalances in transportation costs and in per-pupil spending allowances  were deemed by state lawmakers worthy of extra attention prior to this years legislative session.

Yet upon their return to the Capitol this session, legislators have made little headway on either issue.

Rural public school districts across the state say their high transportation costs mean more money spent on buses and less on classroom programs and supplies. And districts statewide are limited by a school funding formula mechanism that forces some to spend less per pupil than other districts.

School officials and education advocates have pressed lawmakers to devise solutions, and those lawmakers created an interim study committee to investigate.

That committee met once in December to hear from school officials and state agencies. Committee members pledged to take the information gleaned back to their colleagues in the Capitol and discussed meeting again, but they did not.

The result this session has been a small flurry of bills, but none that mustered enough support to survive a legislative deadline. That made them technically ineligible for the remainder of the year, although there are maneuvers by which a bill can be resurrected.

Only one proposal to address the school funding issues remains eligible for consideration this year: to allow school districts to use money from their infrastructure sales tax to offset transportation costs or supplement per-pupil spending.

That proposal has been inserted into two separate pieces of legislation, one of which is the governors bill in which he proposes sharing future school infrastructure sales tax revenue with water-quality projects.

The proposal to use school infrastructure funds to alleviate the transportation and per-pupil spending issues will face critics who say it steals money from one need to fund another.

I think those face a tough, uphill battle, said Brad Hudson, a government relations specialist with the Iowa State Education Association.

In other words, legislative consensus on a solution to these issues has proved elusive.

Rep. Phyllis Thede, D-Bettendorf, said she is frustrated at the inaction. She supported a proposal that would have addressed the per-pupil funding issue by providing a three-year window for districts to use money in their cash reserves.

Opponents said even though it did not allow districts to raise property taxes during the three-year window to offset the cash reserve spending, districts likely would be forced to raise property taxes down the road to refill those reserves.

Thede admitted the proposal was a temporary solution, but said she thinks it would have helped districts until lawmakers could devise a long-term solution.

Now, were just not going to do anything. I think thats irresponsible, Thede said. We have a bill that at least would have taken a little bit of the pain and given us some time to work on this.  Were not doing that, though. We chose not to do it.

Thede represents a portion of the Quad-Cities area that has become the flash point in the per-pupil spending debate. Davenport schools Superintendent Art Tate has pledged to defy state law by covering the per-pupil spending difference in the 2017-2018 district budget with money from the districts reserve accounts. Such action, which Tate said is necessary to avoid further program and staff reductions, could result in the suspension of Tates education license.

Davenport is among the districts in the state allowed to spend the least amount per pupil. Those at the highest level spend $175 more per pupil. If Davenport was allowed to spend at the highest level, it would mean $2.8 million more in its budget.

Thede said some districts are at a tipping point. She said a math teacher told her that the teacher has 34 students in one class.

You cant, year after year, have that many kids in a classroom, Thede said. Theres going to be some kids who fall behind.

Transportation funding is similarly hampering many rural school districts. The average Iowa school district spends a little more than $300 per student on transportation, but some districts spend roughly triple that.

That money is going for buses and bus drivers, not for education, said Hudson, of the Iowa State Education Association.

Devoting new money to balance districts that spend more than the statewide average would cost the state $20 million to $30 million, according to state estimates.

Hudson, who has been involved with state government for three decades, said he thinks the root issue is inadequate general school funding, which has magnified the issues in these specific budget areas.

I think the biggest problem right now is (legislators) are saying their priority is education, but you look at one chamber that is cutting taxes like crazy (referring to the Republican-controlled House) and the other (the Democratic-controlled Senate) doesnt have revenues to do both, Hudson said.

Ive never seen (legislators) put tax breaks before education until six years ago,  he said. Never in my 30 years have I seen (education) pitted against tax issues like I have in the last four or five years.
MASON CITY  With their 4A state championship trophy and a basket of red roses in hand, the Mason City girls varsity basketball team returned home to cheers and a victory rally at the high school gymnasium on Sunday.

After a thrilling 51-44 finish over Pella in Des Moines on Saturday night, fans packed one half of the gyms stands Sunday to savor the programs first girls state basketball title.

The team will soon add its own black state championship banner to those from other sports already on the gymnasiums wall.

Mason City head coach Curt Klaahsen paid tribute to the girls, fans, coaches and parents. Despite coming into the tournament as the lowest seed in the 4A field, he said afterward, he always believed they were capable of winning a championship.

We were very confident we were going to be competitive, he said.

The Mohawks took down No. 1 Western Dubuque, No. 5 Keokuk and No. 8 Pella last week. Add in the regional final win over No. 10 Waverly-Shell Rock, and the Mohawks took down four straight top-10 opponents.

When he was hired from Cherokee as head coach in 2007, Klaahsen said, he felt the culture was Mason City could not win a state championship.

We just basically said we werent going to make excuses, he said. We were going to get to work.

With eight seniors exiting the roster this year, Olivia Pederson, 18, got a chance to turn emotional in public when she spoke of the bond between the girls now leaving the program. Most have played basketball together for half their lives  since third grade.

Mason City reserve players come up big in state title DES MOINES  Makenzie Meyer played all 32 minutes, Megan Meyer played 28 minutes and Marci W

Its been the running joke for the last 24 hours that I havent stopped crying, she said afterward. They gave me Kleenexes before I came in, but I left them in the bus because I didnt think I would need them.

Senior Makenzie Meyer, who was named captain of the state all-tournament team, recalled the fourth quarter Saturday night when Pella took the lead.

I just knew what was at stake, Makenzie said before the rally on Sunday. I didnt want to end it with a loss. I wanted to end it with a state championship.
Albany, NY , March 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the research report, the controlled release fertilizers market in Asia Pacific was valued at US$1.12 billion in 2014 and is projected to reach US$2.10 billion by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 7.2% between 2015 and 2023.

Rising demand for better yield crops coupled with shift toward sustainable agriculture is likely to drive the controlled release fertilizers market during the forecast period. However, lack of awareness regarding the advantages of controlled release fertilizers and high cost compared to conventional chemical fertilizers may hamper market growth. Furthermore, the potential application of these fertilizers in the turf grass and lawn care industry is expected to provide abundant growth opportunities to the market during the forecast period.

Research Report with Free Analysis & ToC: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/asia-pacific-controlled-release-fertilizers-market.html

Based on product type, the controlled release fertilizers market in Asia Pacific can be segmented into polymer sulfur coated urea/sulfur coated urea, polymer coated urea, polymer coated NPK fertilizer, and others (including coated micronutrients). In terms of volume, polymer sulfur coated urea/sulfur coated urea is anticipated to be the largest segment of the controlled release fertilizers market during the forecast period. In terms of volume, polymer sulfur coated urea/sulfur coated urea segment accounted for more than 45% share of the controlled release fertilizers market in Asia Pacific in 2014. Polymer coated urea was the second-largest segment of the market in 2014. It is estimated to expand at a significant rate during the forecast period.

Application segments include cereals & grains, oilseeds & pulses, fruits & vegetables, and others (turf, ornamental plants, etc.). Among these, the cereals & grains segment is primarily projected to boost the demand for controlled release fertilizers in the region. The cereals & grains segment held more than 60% volume share of the controlled release fertilizers market in Asia Pacific in 2014. The fruits & vegetables segment was the second-largest segment in 2014.

Download Research Brochure: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=9644

China was the largest market for controlled release fertilizers in terms of volume in 2014. It was followed by Japan, India, Australia, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The controlled release fertilizers market in China and India is likely to expand at a significant rate due to rising demand for these fertilizers in agriculture and horticulture applications. The controlled release fertilizers market in other emerging economies of Asia Pacific is anticipated to experience modest growth during the forecast period.

The controlled release fertilizers market is moderately concentrated; large and medium companies operate across the region. Key players operating the market include Shikefeng Chemical Industry, ATS Group, AgroBridge (Malaysia), Greenfeed Agro Sdn Bhd, Haifa Chemicals Ltd, Nufarm Ltd, HIF TECH SDN. BHD, Eurochem Agro Gmbh, Compo GMBH & Co. KG, Kingenta Ecological Engineering Group Co., Ltd, and Central Glass Co Ltd.

The report segments the controlled release fertilizers market in Asia Pacific into:

Controlled Release Fertilizers Market  Product Analysis

Polymer sulfur coated urea/sulfur coated urea

Polymer coated urea

Polymer coated NPK fertilizer

Others (including coated micronutrients, etc.)

Controlled Release Fertilizers Market  Application Analysis

Cereals & grains

Oilseeds & pulses

Fruits & vegetables

Others (including turf, ornamental plants, etc.)

Controlled Release Fertilizers Market - Country Analysis

China

India

Japan

Australia

Korea

Indonesia

Pakistan

Malaysia

Thailand

Philippines

Vietnam

Myanmar

Cambodia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Interact with our pool of experienced analysts for any report related queries: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=ASK&rep_id=9644

About TMR

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.
ALBANY, N.Y., March 7, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The final numbers are in, and once again, the generosity and caring for local children in need is overwhelming. Thanks to the support of dozens of individuals, businesses, and organizations, the annual CDPHP Holiday Appeal netted $31,555 for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York's BackPack Program.



The program provides nutritious, easy-to-prepare foods to children in need in grades K-6. Each Friday, these students receive a backpack filled with food to take home over the weekend. The program continues to grow each year, and currently serves 2,500 children at 115 schools across 18 counties.



"The outpouring of support from our local community members, businesses, and organizations never ceases to amaze me. They are committed to fighting food insecurity and helping local children get the healthy foods they need to thrive," said John Bennett, MD, president and CEO, CDPHP. "Thanks to these donations, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York is able expand this outstanding program and to help more local families in need."



"Children participating in the Food Bank's BackPack Program are attending school more regularly and focusing and performing better while in school. The CDPHP Holiday Appeal makes it possible for many children to achieve those positive results," said Mark Quandt, executive director of the Regional Food Bank. "I want to thank CDPHP and all the businesses and individuals who contributed to the appeal for their compassion and generosity toward children in need in our communities."



Organizations that supported the 2015 CDPHP Holiday Appeal include:

Adirondack Cabling

Albany/Capital Region EWGA

Anchor Agency

Canoe Associates

CapBen Consulting

CapitalCare Medical Group

German American Club of Albany

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

LabCorp

Puro Construction Co

Rose & Kiernan Charitable Foundation

Ted's Floor Covering



During the 15th annual appeal, CDPHP encouraged individuals, organizations, and businesses to donate to the Regional Food Bank during the month of December and into January. CDPHP matched donations, dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000.



Click here to find out why the BackPack Program is important to Cameron, a local student who participates in the program.



About CDPHP

Established in 1984, CDPHP is a physician-founded, member-focused and community-based not-for-profit health plan that offers high-quality affordable health insurance plans to members in 24 counties throughout New York. CDPHP is also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.



About the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York

The Regional Food Bank has been helping to feed the poor and hungry in our communities since 1982. It is the only organization of its kind in northeastern New York. The Food Bank collects large donations of food from the food industry and distributes it to charitable agencies serving hungry and disadvantaged people in 23 counties.
Sat, 10/15 (12pm ET): Getting into Stanford GSB with GMAT 770 - How David Made it Possible in 6 Months
lx468 wrote:

GPA: 3.33



School/Major: Top 5 US Engineering School, Industrial Engineering. As in calculus, prob, stat, and other math courses. Bs and some Cs in advanced engineering courses.



GMAT: 760, 49 Q and 46 V



Work Experience: 1 year as a tech consultant at a software company, 2 years as a strategy consultant at Accenture, promoted after one year (normal is 2-3).



Extra Curricular Activities: Currently part of a program to mentor college students at my undergrad alma mater. Also part of a diversity outreach mentoring program through work. Recently started volunteering regularly at an organization that helps refugees assimilate in the US. "Ad-hoc" volunteering at food banks, animal shelters, and tree-planting events. Was the head of community service committee for Residence Life (RAs) in college.



Gender/Ethnicity/Facts: Male. Bangladeshi immigrant (citizen now). Moved to the US as a kid because parents thought my siblings and I would have better educational opportunities if we grew up in the US school systems. Parents work in "unskilled" retail jobs and we were very poor when I was young.



Goals/Reason for MBA: Leverage experience working in operations strategy to help transform companies in terms of costs, efficiency, and adaptability to new processes and technologies. I understand that I can do this in consulting, but I feel it would be more impactful to do this as part of the organization in their corporate strategy group.



Target Schools: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, Sloan, Kellogg (aiming high, I know)



I'm planning on applying during round 1 and 2. Do I have a good shot at these schools? Any glaring weaknesses? Anything I can work on between now and then?

Hey there dude!Good to hear from you,So the short of it is overall you have a very good profile, but I would advise you to spread out your schools a bit more (over the Top 20). Your GMAT is awesome! But your GPA is so-so, and Accenture, although good, is not MBB. So it's gonna get real competitive for you in the top 5 schools.My first question to try and make the most out of your profile would be: What else ya got?!I mean good job + good GMAT + good school is like the minimum of Top schools - but then: what's your story? what's your extras? who are you? what do you want? what volunteer work have you done? anything else??? It's the things that make you awesome and unique that will push you over into Top 5 schools.I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions or comments lemme know!Best,Jon
Police have arrested a suspect in connection to a small bomb that exploded inside the wheel well of a car in the Bronx last week.

Richard Laugel, 36, was taken into custody today after he was reportedly found hiding in the attic of a house between Hollywood and Zulette Avenues in the Bronx. Laugel has been charged with attempted murder, arson and criminal possession of a weapon.

The Daily News reports that Laugel had snuck a small explosive device made from a pipe and two aerosol cans into the undercarriage of another man's car last Wednesday around 7 p.m. He then detonated the bomb while the man and another passenger were inside the car, near Roberts and Hahan Avenues in Pelham Bay. Officers found the car stopped in the intersection with a flat rear tire and deployed airbags. Neither person inside the car was injured in the explosion.

Police have yet to disclose information on Laugel's motive for the bombing attack, or what his relationship was to the victims. The News adds that he is currently awaiting arraignment.
The two artists responsible for illegally installing a giant bust of Edward Snowden in Fort Greene Park last spring have created a new political piece, and this time, rather than commemorate a big data whistleblower, they're skewering two powerful planet-killing plutocrats. Andrew Tider and Jeff Greenspan unveiled a mural of David and Charles Koch, a.k.a. the Koch brothers, on a Lower East Side wall Monday morning.

The image of the two corporate energy barons comes from The Captured Project, Tider and Greenspan's artistic protest against the corporate honchos whose company has brazenly flouted the law while "destroying our economy, environment, and society." Tider and Greenspan commissioned the portraits to be painted by prison inmates, as part of a series they describe as "People In Prison Drawing People Who Should Be."

"The Koch Brothers use their money and power and influence," Tider said. "You take a look at what they really do with it, and you can just tell that in 50 years time people will look back and see that they were on the wrong side of history. These guys use their money to deceive people about climate change, and they don't do it in an open waythey do it through secret organizations."



Courtesy of Jeff Greenspan

Tider and Greenspan worked with the LISA Project, a street art nonprofit, to secure the wall space at the intersection of Rivington and Suffolk, and then enlisted Willow to complete the piece. Tider described the process as a careful artistic handoff: the original Koch Brothers portrait was painted by Joseph Acker, an inmate at Oregon's Snake River Correctional currently serving a 10 year sentence on charges related to identity theft. Willow created a wall projection of Acker's work in his studio, then covered it with paper that was eventually cut into the outline of the finished mural.



Courtesy of Jeff Greenspan

Tider described the idea: "Let's not just make a portrait of these guys, let's make it as close to this inmate's vision as possible. As if he painted it himself."

Willow completed the mural at about 6:30 p.m. last night after two and a half days of work. "It was interesting to watch people as it was taking shape pass by and realize it was the Koch brothers and be confused as to why they were on the LES," Greenspan said. "David [Koch] was manifested by last night and nobody fucked with it, attacked it, threw anything in his face. Or burned the building down."

A limited-run book containing all of the portraits from the Captured Project has already sold out, and the work has garnered Greenspan and Tider a new level of artistic fame. The two men are donating all the book's profits to the organizations supporting Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. "We didn't want to just quote-unquote 'raise awareness,' we wanted to do something that would have a measurable effect," they said.

As for the ultimate fate of the Koch brothers' mural, death is certain. The building it's been painted on, located at 177 Suffolk Street, is slated for demolition later this year, and the LISA Project has confirmed that no new projects will go up on its wall. And so at some point in the near future, these faces of Capitalist greed and big money politics will be blasted to pieces. Tider and Greenspan can't wait to watch it happen.


When communist Mayor Bill de Blasio seized power in a bloodless coup two years ago, many local business leaders and NY Post editors warned that New York City would immediately devolve into a dystopian hellscape dominated by squeegee men on tall bikes and ex-cons in Elmo costumes demanding $20 hugs in Times Square. Crime would rise, the economy would collapse, Al Sharpton would drink Andrea Peyser's blood from David Koch's shattered skull. And yet...two years later, bearded mobs of artisanal Brooklyn revolutionaries have yet to pillage Park Avenue. How is it the rabble is still not roused?

Despite fears expressed by NYC's ruling class, the economy has actually grown in the past two years. Employment rose 2.3% last year, and according to the state Labor Department's seasonally adjusted job numbers for January 2016, New York City has reached a record 4.29 million total jobs. This is part of the biggest two year jump in job growth (249,000 jobs) in New York City's history, according to the Economic Development Corporation.

There were 35,400 new private sector jobs created in NYC in January 2016, with the largest growth seen in the Educational Services field. Strong local job growth has also been seen in Health Care & Social Assistance fields and Professional, Scientific, & Technical services. NYC's unemployment rate is down nearly three percentage points since de Blasio took office.

"The incredible growth we're seeing shows we can make our economy stronger and more fair at the same time," Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen said in a statement. "We're making strategic investments in fast-growing fields with good-paying jobs and real career pathways for New Yorkers."

NYC also welcomed a record number of tourists last year58.3 million of them.

"What we expect from mayors is they encourage private-sector economic activity and they dont screw it up, Kathryn S. Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a powerful group that includes most of the citys biggest employers, told the NY Times. "Its obvious he has not screwed it up."

To be sure, NYC is still screwed up in many ways. Homelessness remains an intractable problem. Rent is still obscenely expensive. Soulless corporate chains are displacing local businesses and draining the city of its unique character. The NYPD is still routinely violating the Constitutional rights of countless New Yorkers. The subway keeps making us late for work. All these subway slashings are scary. Times Square still doesn't have designated Freedom Zones.

The city faces many complex challenges that the de Blasio administration may not be able to meet, but the conservative canard that a progressive leader = economic ruin turns out to be total bullshit. Who knew!
A 23-year-old man is in custody after a deadly series of alleged assaults in Queens, which including a slashing, a fatal stabbing, setting a homeless man on fire and spraying chemicals on police officers yesterday. NYPD Assistant Chief Diana Pizzuti said the massive manhunt for the suspect made for "a very unusual day here in Astoria."

According to the NYPD, the first incident occurred at 11:20 a.m. on Sunday when a 39-year-old woman was slashed in the face and neck in front of 25-69 36th Street. The victim, Bertha Carpio, identified the suspect as her neighbor, James Patrick Dillon. According to Carpio's husband, Dillon yelled at her, "What are you looking at, bitch?" while he was riding a bicycle, and then threw a brick at her and brandished a knife. The husband added, "My wife tried to keep moving, but he assaulted her, grabbed her by a hoodie and repeatedly slashed and stabbed her."

Police started to canvass the area for Dillon, with no luckuntil 3:09 p.m. when officers received a call about an argument outside a liquor store at 38-18 Astoria Boulevard. There, Dillon allegedly got into an argument with a homeless man, 61, and store owner George Patouhas, 55, stepped in. The Daily News reports that Patouhas was "mortally knifed in the neck"; he was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.

The homeless man, who helped out in the store, was also doused with an accelerant and Dillon set him on fire, police say. He was taken to Weill Cornell-NY Presbyterian Hospital and is currently in stable condition.

Just after 5 p.m., the authorities received a 911 call about a burglary at 30-65 42nd Street, with the call saying that a man tried to break in and was on the fire escape. Cops from the Critical Response Command tracked Dillon to 25-38 36th Street at 5:40 p.m. A neighbor said, "The guy was just standing there with the lighter in his hand yelling, Dont come near me, dont come near me.'"

Assistant Chief Pizzuti said, "The officers demanded the suspect drop a knife and bottle of accelerant he was carrying. He refused. The suspect then sprayed the two officers in the face with the liquid, burning their hands. The officer then discharged their weapons, shooting the suspect." Dillon was taken to Elmhurst Hospital center with gunshot wounds to his leg, while the police officers were taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Dillon is reportedly bipolar; NYPD Deputy Chief John Essig said, "We believe it was a psychological problem with the individual. He's been treated in the past and the family has indicated that he has not been taking medication recently."

Store owner Patouhas was a well-known figure in the neighborhood; one person told the Times, "He was such a nice guy, and he would give all these guys favors. Theyd say, Let me get a pint of vodka, and Ill pay you tomorrow."

The first victim, Bertha, Carpio was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she received stitches. She said to the Post, "Im in so much pain. Im really lucky to be alive. He could have killed me... He needs to be removed from society  far, far away from here."
"exceptionally terrific"

- Blawg Wisdom



"A protein-laden dose of big thinking on criminal justice reform."

- Evan Smith, Editor-in-chief and publisher, The Texas Tribune



"A powerful and well-researched site."

- The Austin Chronicle

GFB is "an indispensable handle if you're interested in criminal justice in Texas."

- Emily Bazelon, Slate



" Grits is the first thing I read every morning and I learn something every single time."

- Pam Colloff, ProPublica/NY Times Magazine

"plenty of biting commentary and credible research"

- San Antonio Current



Scott Henson is "one of the nations finest criminal-justice policy wonks."

- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

Grits for Breakfast "is the best blog about criminal justice in Texas" and "as usual extremely fair"

- Erica Grieder, The Economist



"the best coverage of criminal justice in the entire state"

- Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly

I respect the work Scott does and appreciate his thoughtful and extensive coverage of Texass criminal justice system

Jim Bethke,"Grits for Breakfast has done a terrific job covering Texas prison overcrowding issues."

- Doug Berman, Sentencing Law & Policy



"the indispensable blog on criminal justice and law enforcement in Texas"

- Marie Gottschalk, author of 'Caught'

"plugged in and well written"

- DallasBlog



"I always tell people interested in these issues that your blog is the most important news source, and have had high-ranking corrections officials tell me they read it regularly."

- Scott Medlock, Texas Civil Rights Project



"a helluva blog"

- Solomon Moore, NY Times criminal justice correspondent



"Congrats on building one of the most read and important blogs on a specific policy area that I've ever seen"

- Donald Lee, Texas Conference of Urban Counties



GFB "is a fact-packed, trustworthy reporter of the weirdness that makes up corrections and criminal law in the Lone Star State" and has "shown more naked emperors than Hans Christian Andersen ever did."

-Attorney Bob Mabry, Conroe

"Grits really shows the potential of a single-state focused criminal law blog"

- Corey Yung, Sex Crimes Blog



"I regard Grits for Breakfast as one of the most welcome and helpful vehicles we elected officials have for understanding the problems and their solutions."

Tommy Adkisson,

Bexar County Commissioner



"dude really has a pragmatic approach to crime fighting, almost like hes some kind of statistics superhero"

- Dirty Third Streets



"concise, knowledgeable, in-depth and sometimes counter-to-prevailing wisdom"- Rob Patterson,"Scott Henson's 'Grits for Breakfast' is one of the most insightful blogs on criminal justice issues in Texas."

- Texas Public Policy Foundation



"Nobody does it better or works harder getting it right"

David Jennings, aka "Big Jolly"



"I appreciate the fact that you obviously try to see both sides of an issue, regardless of which side you end up supporting."Kim Vickers,Grits for Breakfast "has probably broken more criminal justice stories than any TX reporter, but stays under the radar. Fascinating guy."Maurice Chammah,"unrestrained and uneducated"

John Bradley,

Former Williamson County District Attorney, now former Attorney General of Palau



"our favorite blog""Scott Henson ... writes his terrific blog Grits for Breakfast from an outhouse in Texas."

- To the People



2004 Koufax Award Winner:Best Single Issue Blog Winner of Blawg Review's

2006 Equal Justice Award

Public Defender Investigators' 2007

"Editors Choice Award"

2009 Austin Chronicle

'Best of Austin' Award Ranked among Top 3 most influential independent law blogs in North America, 2012



Well, I don't wear a Stetson

But I'm willing to bet, son,

That I'm as big a Texan

As you are.


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.
Last month, Rick LaBreche, more commonly known as the Happy Plumber from Butte, authored an op-ed in which he highlighted the failings of the poorly named Employee Rights Act. He also brought to light the fact that the Employee Rights Act is being pushed by a deceptive right-wing dark money operative named Rick Berman. It looks like the Happy Plumber hit the nerve of a very wealthy operative, because Berman responded with a short op-ed of his own.

In his response, Berman did not address the Employee Rights Acts failings, which are many. Specifically, the fact that the Employee Rights Act would make it more difficult for working families to stand together and demand fairness in the workplace and the economy.

Furthermore, Berman did not refute his involvement in battling Mothers Against Drunk Driving, opposing the regulation of mercury levels in fish and attacking the minimum wage increase. In fact, Berman heads dozens of shell organizations dedicated to undermining the middle class and pushing extreme agendas. Berman heads the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Employment Policies Institute, which oppose paid sick leave and minimum wage increases; the American Beverage Institute, which opposes laws designed to curb drunk driving; the Enterprise Action Committee and Family Coalition, which attacks health care reform; and the Humane Society for Shelter Pets, which aims to defund the humane society. Want to know more about Berman? I encourage you to visit BermanExposed.com.

This brings me to the Center for Union Facts, which Berman used to pen his latest op-ed. The fact of the matter is that the Center for Union Facts is a just one more of Bermans many shell organizations beholden to anti-worker corporations. In 2012, Glenn Kessler, who authors the Fact Checker for the Washington Post, called out the Center for Union Facts for pushing nonsense facts.

I also found Bermans description of the Happy Plumber incredibly sleazy. The fact of the matter is that Rick LaBreche spent over three decades as a union pipefitter and earned an honest living through sweat and elbow grease. Thats something Berman, who makes his money by spreading deception on the behalf of extremist clients, would know nothing about. When it comes to workers rights, Ill always go with a workers opinion over a paid hacks opinion.

If Berman ever took the time to leave his posh Washington, D.C., consulting firm, hed know that Montanans stand up for our neighbors. Thats why more Montanans are voting to join unions, but thats also why Berman is so focused on pushing deception and lies in Montana. Hes clearly working for out-of-state special interests that want to shove right-to-work down our throats.

Make no mistake, Montana workers are under attack. In January, it came to light that the National Right to Work Committee was involved in illegal campaign activities targeting moderate Republicans. Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte refuses to say whether or not hed sign right-to-work legislation and has hired consultants who brag about their relationships with Scott Walker and the Koch brothers. Now we have Berman getting involved in the business of Montana. People should be alarmed about the distortions and deception being shipped in from Washington, D.C.

Al Ekblad is the executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO in Helena.
The Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal is our worst nightmare that nobody is talking about.

The TPP is a deal with 40 percent of the global economy for the 1 percent to get richer, and the rest of us to fall to the bottom of the barrel.

If you want proof that the TPP was written to benefit corporate interests, just look at the negotiation process. The trade agreement was deliberated for seven years behind closed doors between the U.S. and 11 other countries, with 600 corporations in on the talks too. If that doesnt convince you, just read the deal.

The TPP would flood the U.S. with unsafe imported products, increase medicine prices, offshore tens of thousands of American jobs, throw us into competition with low-wage countries like Vietnam, ban buy local policies, free banks from strict oversight and empower corporations to attack American environmental and health safeguards. In other words, it is the Christmas list of Wall Street and major CEOs. This trade deal is less about trade and more about lining the pockets of corporations, banks and big-shot lawyers.

This deal is bad for 99 percent of Americans and bad for Montana. If you are in that 99 percent (make less than $350,000/year) please call Rep. Zinke and urge him to vote no on the TPP.

Stuart Shay

Billings
Helena teacher Melissa Romano, who announced her intent last year to run as a Democrat for superintendent of public instruction, made her candidacy official Monday by filing with the Secretary of State's office.

A quality education is essential for every one of our children to be successful in life, providing the opportunity to realize their strengths, talents and dreams, Romano, a fourth-grade teacher at Four Georgians Elementary School, is quoted as saying in a press release issued by the Montana Democratic Party. As a parent, a teacher and a person dedicated to a strong public education system throughout Montana, I am running to serve all Montanans as your Superintendent of Montanas Office of Public Instruction.

In 2012, Romano received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the press release says. She lives in Helena with her husband and four children.

Romano will face off against Republican candidate Elsie Arntzen, a longtime Billings legislator who taught at Billings elementary schools for 23 years. Arntzen officially filed with the Secretary of State's office on Feb. 10.
EAST HELENA  In front of a farm supply store in a town just five miles down the road from the state Capitol, Republican candidate for governor Greg Gianforte announced his running mate -- Lesley Robinson.

The choice of location was just one of the ways Gianforte, a wealthy Bozeman tech entrepreneur, cast his running mate as an alternative to Gov. Steve Bullocks re-election campaign -- the incumbent is focused on the sphere of Helena, Gianforte said, while Robinson, 49, is the voice of the states agricultural and rural communities.

For political insiders in Helena, East Helena may as well be eastern Montana, he said. Its flyover country. These insiders in Helena have spent their entire working careers inside the bubble of government and they are out of touch.

East Helena is a community that is fiercely proud of its identity. The town was the site of an Asarco smelter that operated from the late 1880s until 2001, and opens into agriculture land to the north and east.

Gianforte emphasized Robinsons farming and ranching ties and reminded the crowd that agriculture is Montanas No. 1 industry.

Its time to call in the farm team, Gianforte said, and maybe with a little tech support as well.

Robinson, a fourth generation Phillips County resident, serves as county commissioner and has run a ranch near Zortman with her husband, Jim, since 1985.

Her public policy experience includes leading several groups that advocate for ranchers, particularly those with leases to graze on public lands.

She is a former director of the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Beef Council. She also has worked with the Montana Public Lands Council and served as chairwoman of the Montana Association of Counties' Public Lands Committee, among a handful of local livestock organizations.

I think its vital that we have someone in leadership who understands rural issues, Robinson said.   I can assure you that rural Montana issues are being ignored.

Robinson said the state isnt listening to the rural counties that send money from natural resource extraction to Helena but cant pay for local infrastructure projects.

It doesn't get much more rural than Phillips County, with 4,253 residents living across 5,212 square miles. Robinson told the crowd its a place where the cattle outnumber the people and the Keystone pipeline should have crossed over from Canada.

She said over half the county is owned by the state or federal government and said those lands could be managed better, though she didnt advocate for the state taking over entirely.

I dont think that the deed should be changed to the state, Robinson said of how those federally owned lands should be managed. You can look at the state managing, helping to manage it. There definitely needs to be some improvements, but Im not sure how those are all going to pan out.

Robinson also echoed Gianfortes call for state department heads to come from industry. State agency leaders should be folks that have actually walked in the shoes of the people they serve.

Gianforte said he picked a woman as his running mate because she was the most qualified, not as a move to get more female votes.

In my career, Ive always focused on one thing, and that is capability, he said. The most important thing in any selection for leadership is the individuals ability to do the job.

He dismissed Robinson as being pegged as politically unknown, saying she may not be well-known in Helena, but shes known across the state.

Robinson currently represents 15 states as the western representative for the National Association of Counties, having led the group's Federal Lands Management committee.

According to a press release from the stock growers association, Robinson described keeping a watchful eye on federal policies and regulations as her top priority during an acceptance speech of the regional post in 2014.

She is active locally in the Bear Paw Development Corporation, Phillco Economic Council, Phillips Transit Authority and the Joint Powers Trust, as well as the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and she was appointed to the Montana Board of Dentistry by former Gov. Judy Martz. Robinson said shell serve out the rest of the year as county commissioner.

She said Monday she wants to build a bridge between local and state governments. State government has a habit of saying theyll come and get our input but actually not listening to what they think is right for our area.

In making the announcement, Gianforte took another swipe at Bullock over the role of lieutenant governor.

While others have looked at the role of lieutenant governor as merely a placeholder, I see Lesley as playing a vital role in our administration, he said.

At the end of last year, Bullocks lieutenant governor Angela McLean quit to become the director of American Indian and minority achievement and K-12 partnerships in the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

Emails between McLean and Bullocks staff show her initiatives had been reduced and there was frustration over McLeans role.

At the time, Bullock said: "This happens every day in businesses across the country, where the fit just isnt right. Angela is smart and ambitious, but seemed frustrated with the role of lieutenant governor, and that was disruptive to our work for Montana.

Bullocks new lieutenant governor and running mate Mike Cooney has worked in and around Montana politics for decades, most recently as deputy commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry.

In response to Greg Gianforte naming Robinson as a running mate, Jason Pitt, spokesperson for the Montana Democratic Party, released a statement saying:

"Greg Gianforte and his running mate choice Lesley Robinson would undo Montana's progress. While Montana's economy is strong and getting stronger and we are rated as the most fiscally prudent state in the country, they are promising reckless tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and would turn our budget surplus into deficit. This approach has almost bankrupted states like Louisiana and Kansas and jeopardizes Montana's recent economic success."
MATTOON -- The Coles County Health Department's Mattoon office will close this week because of budget problems.

The services offered at the office at 1402-1404 Broadway Ave. will continue but only at the department's main office in Charleston, administrator Diana Stenger said.

Stenger said the main reason for the decision to close the Mattoon office was the lack of state funding for the department.

Specifically, the state owes the department about $169,000, mostly from the Illinois Department of Public Health, since the last state fiscal year ended in June, she said. The political standoff on a new budget has meant schools and other agencies haven't received their state funding for the eight months since.

Stenger said the Mattoon office will be open through Tuesday.

The office's current site opened in 2011, and the health department had a smaller officer at a location on Charleston Avenue for four years before that.

The office has the Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program for clients in the Mattoon area. The program helps with nutrition for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, infants and children up to age 5.

Immunizations and services in the department's family case management program also take place at the Mattoon location.

The office's current caseload is about 450 people, and it also had provided immunizations for more than 100 since December, according to Brenda Warren, the department's WIC coordinator.

Stenger said the health department board and administrators "ran several scenarios" on how to deal with the funding reductions.

The decision to close the Mattoon office was based on staffing levels and the difficulty the department would have paying the rent for the office, she said. Rent and utility costs for the office total about $20,000 each year, she added.

She also said other factors in the decision included that the department hasn't received a state grant to fund required services such as food inspections and disease control.

Two WIC positions at the Mattoon offices were eliminated in August, Stenger said. There have been some other reductions but no decision on any others, and the situation will be re-evaluated this summer, she said.

There are currently no plans to reopen the Mattoon office if the funding situation improves, Stenger said.

"We've used up our reserves," she said. "We have to build up."
WASHINGTON -- 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 doesn't 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 Trump's use of the definite article, to sidekick status -- the "good" ones being, I suppose, a bunch of Sammy Davis Jrs. and Ricky Ricardos.

Trump's 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 doesn't 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: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're 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 don't 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 don't." 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" won't 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. Trump's 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 last September, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, and has since repeated: "I was in Paris recently, and Paris doesn't look like Paris anymore."

What could Trump be talking about? The Eiffel Tower hasn't 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, mostly the sons and daughters of immigrants from former French colonies. Trump never spells this out, but I've only heard him use the line in discussions about immigration.

There's 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 young black and Hispanic men were accused of raping and brutalizing a Central Park jogger. The men 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 Trump's 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.
There are few statues of women in Yerevan. What does this say about us as a society that values equal rights? Below are excerpts from American University of America (AUA) students enrolled in a persuasive writing course exploring this topic as part of an in-class writing assignment. We present them to you on the occasion of March 8, International Womens Day.

Maria Mkrtchyan

As the sun sets, Mother Armenia proudly faces Mount Ararat, bearing our past and surveying our present. This description of a national alpha female completely disregards the fact that the panorama surrounding Mother Armenia includes many other statues of musicians, composers and writers, which, guess what, are all male. Mother Armenia would be profoundly upset if she knew that the closest female statue to her is the chunky and clothes deprived woman with exposed buttocks facing the sky. We are speaking of the bare Botero, smoking a steel cigarette, at the Cascade.

It is a paradox that our culture honors women.

They are glorified, almost sacredly, but only in the narrowly confined context of specific social standards. When it comes to equal rights, feminism still has a long way to go in our society. Mother Armenia does look like a real feminist ready to go into battle for her rights - except that she is not real. She is a national metaphor. What about those real women such as Srpouhi Dussap, recognized as the first Armenian feminist writer? Did she not deserve to have her place on a city street or in a square? Apparently, sculptors were too busy carving statues of naked muses and damsels in distress.

Botero Statue: Naked In March, or Bare It All

Gayane Aramyan

Statues became popular figures in Yerevan in the 20th century when Armenia joined the Soviet Union. They were mostly dedicated to writers, politicians and musicians, and they were mostly men.

Before the 19th and 20th centuries, Armenian craftsmen sculpted xachqars (crosses carved out of stone). These carved works recounted biblical histories and often embodied Christ. Rarely did they depict Saint Mary together with Jesus Christ. We still do not know why there are so few xachqars that depict Saint Mary. Perhaps sexism was rooted a long time ago and carved in stone.

One explanation for this gender imbalance is the lack of space on a stone because the central part of a xachqar must depict a cross. If the sculpture had additional space on the stone, he was more inclined to depict Jesus than Saint Mary, a display of gender inequality from early on.

In the years following the founding of the Soviet Union, statues represented individuals who shaped history and ushered cultural change. Many of these statues were built to transmit the values of the Communist regime and legitimize its leaders who were mostly men, and so sexism existed in the country long before women gained the right to vote.

Arguably, Mother Armenia is the biggest statue in Yerevan and may suggest that we actually do appreciate the role of authoritative women in society. However, Mother Armenia does not represent a real historical figure. We tend to generalize the importance of women in society and feel more comfortable honoring them in the abstract. We see them as the embodiment of certain virtues but not of tangible achievements. Until this wrong is righted, Armenia will remain a sexist country.

It is high time that we replace a number of middling, male statues with brilliant women in marble, bronze and steel. Let us erect statues that pay tribute to the feminine gender.

Mirey Kazandjian

One might conclude that Armenia is a mans world by the sheer number of male statues, but is it really?

Consider Mother Armenia located in Victory Park high above the city.

This female statue symbolizes peace and power and personifies the strong women who have helped their husbands and sons during times of war. Her strategic and towering position indicates that she is guarding our country.

Although most statues in Armenia represent male figures, one of the most important ones does not, and this speaks volumes about the important role that women play in Armenian society.

Tradition and Transcendence

Garbis Wizoyan

It is true indeed that most statues in Yerevan are that of men, yet most Armenians are clueless about the social injustices that plague the modern world.

Who shall we point our social-justice-bearing-fingers at to smite down the patriarchy that plagues Yerevans sculpting culture?

Do we rise up in arms and topple the entirety of our government for their approval of this 9 to 1 penis to vagina ratio? Do we wrangle all the sculptures responsible for this injustice and force them through a Bachelors degree in Womens Studies? Unfortunately, the majority of the citys residents are oblivious and ignorant of the universal issue of equal rights.

Consider the existing female statues in Yerevan: they recount a long tale of ignorance and denial that comes from generations of chauvinism and conservatism. One might argue that the biggest statue in Armenia is that of a woman, standing watchful over the Turkish border and keeping the country safe. We cannot deny that the statue in question used to be none other than Stalin who was not guarding the nation, but, rather, making sure that the chains of his totalitarian oppression would remain unbroken.

The fact that the only exceptional female statue in the country, Mother Armenia, has undergone a sex change operation, which taken on its own is ineffable to most Armenian men, is the nail in the coffin for this testosterone ridden nation. Yet the country dotted with so many landmarks celebrating the achievement of men is hardly short of prominent and talented women, both in modern and ancient history.

Maryam Israelyan

I can imagine how smart men determine whose statue is worthy of a place on a street or in a square. They come together and deliberate on the issue and decide that there should be more statues of women across Armenia. The men are confident that they can resolve the issue of gender inequality. They try to think of women who made a significant contribution to society, but they find no one. This is too sexist of an outcome, they conclude. Women must have done something significant. The statue of Mother Armenia should be good enough to address the perceived gender gap.

The problem, of course, is not with statues. The problem is, and has always been, with history.

The technical task of erecting the statue of a woman is simple: pick a woman; settle on the composition; sculpt her figure, and give it a spot in public. At least, that is how it is done with a man. It is not that we lack successful women in history. Taking care of children, cooking and providing sustenance to the family are heroic tasks, but they are thankless ones. Statues were dedicated to men who contributed to wars and revolutions. Trouble making was the privilege and precinct of man. They have often been rewarded for their mad genius and violence with statues.

Denying that there is sexism is arrogant. Thanks to feminism such a position is untenable today in many parts of the world. The number of women statues though is not to blame. Women statues on our streets reflect their roles in history and they embody our biases and values. They are sadly represented correctly.

Top photo: Mother Armenia: Symbol of Masculine Might?
Armenians are leaving Chanakhchi, a village in Georgias Kvemo Kartli administrative region straddling the northern border of Armenia.

Mouzegh Khachikyan, a young Chanakhchi resident says that the village once had 130 households. The number has dropped to 70.

Sixty families have left. We didnt have electricity for weeks. The Georgians do nothing to help us. Its an Armenian village and the Georgian authorities couldnt care less, Khachikyan says.

The only hope for the village is to open the Jiliza border crossing. But the government of Armenia has forgotten about the importance of opening the border and the Jiliza crossing. Armenian border villages in Georgia, including Chanakhchi, have faced unresolved socio-economic problems for many years. It comes as no surprise then that Armenians are leaving.

On March 4 it took this reporteran hour and a half to travel the 28 kilometer road from Sadakhlo to Chanakhchi. Lyova Gaboyan, who was grazing his sheep along the road, said the road leading to the Armenian village of Akhkyorpi is worse. Armenian villagers have opened a temporary road through the fields of Chanakhchi. Residents from Chanakhchi, Akhkyorpi, Khozhorni, Gyulubagh, Brdadzor and other Armenian villages use it.

Everything here is difficult. Yesterday, I wanted to till my land. They didnt let me. The Georgian border guard said that the river was the border and that I could only till land 500 meters distant from the border. If you measure out those 500 meters, the land reaches the road. So, my land has to remain untilled, Mr. Gaboyan complained.

Chanakhchi resident Zoya Israyelyan says there is no medical service in the village. Young families have packed up and left, leaving behind the elderly in need of medical attention.

Senik Konyans three children have relocated to Russia. They went to work, to live. Im all alone here, says the 80-year-old.

Mrs. Konyan says theres a nurse, who also doubles as a teacher at the village school, who looks after her.

She says that theres an Azerbaijani doctor who serves the Armenian villages but that he tells them to go to Armenia for medical assistance. Sometimes, when we go to see him, he says go to Armenia. The Turks dont bother us but neither do they assist us, Mrs. Konyan says.

Zhiro Khachikyan, another village resident, says he cant raise a family with the work that he does. His eldest son, Yura, a third grader, escorted us to the family home.

Sousan, Zhiros wife, works as a cleaner in the school. I met Yuras two grandmothers and his uncle Meruzhan, who said he suffers from skeletal cancer but cant afford medical treatment.

Poverty wafted from every crevice of the family house. Meruzhan said that Zhiro works when there is work available, otherwise he helps out as a shepherd.

Two of Zhiros children, 7 year-old Armen and 6 year-old Anahit, have trouble speaking.

I am getting documents prepared for Armen and Anahit showing they are foreigners and have a right to attend class in Chanakhchi. We havent taken them to see a doctor because we dont have the money. The two of them dont have passports and we cannot get them to Armenia to see a doctor, says Meruzhan.

I ask Anahit how old she is. What did I teach you? Yura reminds his sister. The girl holds out six fingers. Thats right, Yura says in praise. Armen shied away from our questions, hiding behind his brother Yura.

There are twenty pupils in the village school that is divided up into several shacks painted blue.

Mrs. Manan, the school principal, said she couldnt answer questions from reporters from Armenia without prior permission from higher-ups.

So she got on the phone and called Rouslan malum, her Azerbaijani boss, asking for permission to tell me about the school and conditions there. Rouslan forbade her to say anything.

I then got in touch with Arsen Hakhverdyan, an MP from the Marneuli District.

Yes, I know about the problems there. But their MP is Aida Khachikyan. Chanakhchi is the only village where electric pylons havent been repaired. They will be this year, Hakhverdyan said.

When I asked Hakhverdyan about the plight of poor Armenians in Georgia and whether the government was doing anything, his feathers got a bit ruffled.

You mean destitute families and not destitute Armenians, because not only Armenians live in the region, but other nationalities as well. Those in need who qualify receive government social aid, Hakhverdyan claimed.

Residents I spoke to had no idea what social aid the Armenian MP was referring to.




Most Pelhamites likely have wandered the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and have admired the massive oil on canvas painting of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze. An image of the iconic painting appears immediately below.









Washington Crossing the Delaware, Oil on Canvas, 149 Inches

by 255 Inches, Now Hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

in New York City, by Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwabisch Gmund

18161868 Washington, D.C.). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.





The painting depicts George Washington standing near the bow of a boat as he is rowed across the Delaware River by a group of soldiers on the night of December 25-26, 1776 to lead the Continental Army in a successful surprise attack on 1,400 Hessian troops holding Trenton, New Jersey.





Washington's Surprise Attack on the Hessians at Trenton





Beginning about 11:00 p.m. on Christmas night, Washington began moving portions of his army across the half-frozen Delaware River from three locations. Overnight he moved about 2,400 soldiers across the river, but two more divisions totaling another 3,000 men with artillery pieces failed to rendezvous at the appointed time and were not moved across the river.





On the morning of December 26, about 1,400 Hessian defenders were sleeping off the effects of a Christmas celebration the evening before. Washington separated his men into two columns and approached Trenton stealthily. The Continentals surprised the Hessian troops, quickly overwhelmed their defenses and, by 9:30 a.m., had the entire town surrounded. Although several hundred Hessians escaped, Washington captured nearly 1,000 prisoners and lost only four Americans in the attack.





Although historians continue to debate the importance of the battle, it seems to have had little strategic significance. Instead, it served as a morale-booster and emboldened the Americans after they had suffered a string of defeats at the hands of British and German troops.





A Little More About the Painting





The painting by Emanuel Leutze has become an American icon. The one hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is not, however, the original painting. The original hung in the Kunsthalle in Bremen, Germany, but was destroyed in a British air raid in 1942. Leutze painted two additional versions of the scene, one of which once hung in the West Wing of the White House but now is part of the collections of The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota. The other, of course, is a full-sized replica by Leutze of the original destroyed in 1942. It is that replica that hangs in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.





There are a host of fascinating stories involving the Leutze painting that hangs in the Met. For example, in 2007, researchers located a photograph of the painting taken by the studio of Matthew Brady in 1864 and discovered that the simple frame in which the painting was displayed was not the original frame. The photograph established that the original frame was a massive 12 feet by 21 feet hand-carved frame topped with a massive eagle atop a crest that is fourteen inches wide. The painting is now displayed in a replica frame hand-carved by artisans of Eli Wilner & Company to match the Brady photograph.





In the painting, the man standing behind General Washington holding the American flag is Lieutenant James Monroe who, of course, later became the fifth President of the United States of America. He is, however, holding an American flag that did not exist at the time Washington crossed the Delaware. It is the "Stars and Stripes" whose design was not specified by the Continental Congress until June 14, 1777 and reputedly flew for the first time on September 3, 1777, nearly nine months after Washington and his army captured Trenton.





Is There a Pelham Connection?





Washington and his men crossed the Delaware only nine weeks or so after the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776. Pelhamites long have recounted that the painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" depicts Marblehead Mariners who fought in the Battle of Pelham rowing the boat.





It turns out that among the forces that rowed Washington's troops across the Delaware that fateful night were the Marblehead Mariners led by Colonel John Glover who headed the American forces during the Battle of Pelham. But,

Is the tale that the Marblehead Mariners who fought in the Battle of Pelham are depicted rowing Washington across the Delaware a true tale?





First we can dispatch a part of the tale. Colonel Glover's Marblehead Mariners did not actually fight in the Battle of Pelham. Colonel Glover left his men at his orginal encampment to serve as a reserve force to slow the British and German troops if, at the close of the Battle of Pelham, the British and Germans had chased Colonel Glover and the remaining troops he led during the Battle of Pelham across the Hutchinson River toward Washington's army as it moved from northern Manhattan toward White Plains. The British and German troops, however, did not chase Glover and the men he led across the Hutchinson River. Rather, they ended the chase at the river, losing an opportunity to attack Washington's main army.





The question remains, however. Though Glover's Marblehead Mariners did not fight in the Battle of Pelham, are they depicted rowing Washington and Monroe across the Delaware? The most likely answer seems to be that although the Marblehead Mariners were among those who moved Washington and his troops across the River, they were not the only ones. Indeed, many watermen from the Philadelphia area joined the cause and helped move Washington's men that night. Moreover, many believe -- but have not established with certainty -- that the soldiers rowing the boat in the painting are not intended to depict specific individuals or members of particular units but, rather, are intended to depict a symbolic cross-section of the young American States. According to one popular account:





"The people in the boat represent a cross-section of the American colonies, including a man in a Scottish bonnet and a man of African descent facing backward next to each other in the front, western riflemen at the bow and stern, two farmers in broad-brimmed hats near the back (one with bandaged head), and an androgynous rower in a red shirt, possibly meant to be a woman in man's clothing. There is also a man at the back of the boat wearing what appears to be Native American garb, possibly representing colonial appropriation of previously indigenous holdings, but also possibly to represent the idea that all people in the new United States of America were represented as present in the boat along with Washington on his way to victory and success."









Moreover, Colonel Glover's Marblehead Mariners had distinctive uniforms that do not appear to be depicted among any of those on board the boat in the Leutze painting. The Marblehead Mariners of Marblehead, Massachusetts were seamen whose uniform consisted of a short blue seaman's jacket, tarred pants, and woolen caps. None of the soldiers in the boat appear to be in such a uniform.





In short, though Pelhamites long have told the story that the famed Marblehead Mariners of Colonel John Glover, who led American troops in the Battle of Pelham are depicted rowing Washington and James Monroe in the painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware," the story seems apocryphal. It is another fascinating legend that provides insight into our Town's magnificent history, but it seems to be just that -- a legend.





Labels: 1776, 1777, 1851, Battle of Pelham, Col. John Glover, Emanuel Leutze, George Washington, James Monroe, Paintings, Washington Crossing the Delaware
News, commentary, and analysis of current events in Honduras where cultural forms intersect with political interests, with links to the work of Honduran writers and scholars.
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On transportation funding, Wisconsins constitution will almost certainly be amended  because thats how big money wants it.
State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Monday apologized for opinions she published 24 years ago as a college student that referred to people with AIDS as degenerates and called gay people queers.

To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview, Bradley said in a statement. These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state.

I am frankly embarrassed at the content and tone of what I wrote those many years ago, Bradley said in the statement, in which she also said she wrote them as a very young student.

Bradley was responding to the release of two letters to the editor and one column she wrote in 1992 as a student at Marquette University when she had a different last name. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now disclosed the writings, published in the Marquette Tribune, at a state Capitol news conference Monday.

The revelation comes less than a month before Wisconsin voters go to the polls to determine whether Bradley should retain her seat on the high court or whether she should be replaced by Appeals Court judge Joanne Kloppenburg.

There is no statute of limitations on hate, Kloppenburg said in a statement. Rebecca Bradleys comments are as abhorrent and disturbing today as they were in 1992 as people were dying in huge numbers from AIDS.

Ryan Owens, a political science professor at UW-Madison specializing in the politics of and appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, said he didnt think the release of Bradleys comments would affect her campaign.

I think the question in this case is going to be: Who will respond negatively to these comments? Owens said. Obviously these are statements that are on their face pretty negative and pretty disparaging, but I think the question that we are going to ask in the political sense, is this going to move the dial. I suspect the answer to that is probably not.

Owens said the public has shown repeatedly that comments people made decades ago are things they are not going to hold (candidates) accountable for.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Bradley to three judicial positions in as many years  including as Supreme Court justice last fall  said Monday that neither the governor nor our office was aware of the columns.

The spokeswoman did not immediately respond to whether Walker would have appointed Bradley had he known.

Justice Bradley appropriately made it clear today that a column written in college does not reflect her views as a Supreme Court justice, a court of appeals judge, a circuit court judge or as an attorney, Walker said in a statement.

Fairness at issue

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, said Monday that the writing shows Bradley cannot be trusted to treat all people fairly under the law. He called on her to resign immediately, a move her campaign rejected.

In a Feb. 28, 1992, letter, Bradley wrote that Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving marital relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills, referring to the transfer of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

She also wrote in a Feb. 11, 1992, letter, Perhaps AIDS awareness should seek to educate us with their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.

In a Nov. 11, 1992, column, she wrote that One will be better off contracting AIDS than developing cancer, because those afflicted with the politically-correct disease will be getting all of the funding. Bradley added, How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments.

Ross called the columns hateful and venomous attacks on gay people and people with HIV.

Bradley also in the November 1992 column called then-President Bill Clinton a tree-hugging, baby-killing, pot-smoking, flag-burning, queer-loving, bull-spouting 60s radical socialist adulterer.

Bradley characterized One Wisconsin Nows release of the columns as a blatant mudslinging campaign to distract the people from the issues at hand.

But Scott Foval, political coordinator for the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, and who is gay, said Bradleys comments make me question if she can be truly unbiased and truly fair regarding matters in the lesbian and gay community. Foval was present at the news conference.

Owens said he suspects the news of her 1992 writings will be a big deal for a few days, but likely wont come back to haunt her should she keep her seat on the Supreme Court.

Close race

Walker appointed Bradley, who is backed by conservatives, to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice N. Patrick Crooks in September. Kloppenburg is backed by liberals.

According to the latest Marquette Law School Poll, each candidate has the support of 30 percent of those polled, while 31 percent remain undecided. The two face off April 5.

Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken said Kloppenburg did not write any opinion columns during college.

A search of the online archive of the Yale Daily News revealed no articles or opinion columns by Kloppenburg during her undergraduate career at Yale University.

The UW-Madison Law School reference library found three articles in which Kloppenburg was referenced as a former assistant attorney general providing comment related to her work on environmental law.

The release of Bradleys writing Monday prompted an immediate backlash from conservatives against Ross. Conservative website Media Trackers published a series of public tweets by Ross that contained crude sexual references. Ross did not respond to a request for comment.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is gay, also said Bradleys columns raise questions about her fitness to serve as an impartial justice.

The people of Wisconsin would be right to question Justice Bradleys commitment to our nations founding belief that all Americans are created equal under the law, she said in a statement. I for one believe that our Wisconsin values deserve better from judges on the Supreme Court.

Reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report.
Immigrants rights supporters lost a key battle to get ID cards for people who are living in the U.S. illegally when the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to ban counties from issuing such cards, but activists say theyre not giving up the fight.

Led by the group Voces de la Frontera, advocates hope a sustained show of force  which started with a major protest at the state Capitol last month  will prompt Gov. Scott Walker to veto the measure.

If that doesnt work, they say theyre going to shift their focus to cities with significant Latino populations, such as Milwaukee and Madison.

Supporters say local ID cardholders would be able to open bank accounts, enter schools and accurately identify themselves to police, among other benefits. But opponents say the Republican-sponsored proposal will prevent fraud and confusion, because the cards are easy to fake and counties dont have the authority to issue such documentation.

We already issue state ID, Sen. Van Wanggaard said, adding that a new form of identification creates a problem of having credibility.

The issue highlights continued efforts to bring immigrant communities into the mainstream in Wisconsin and elsewhere around the nation, and the resistance of political leaders, such as Wanggaard, who say immigrants shouldnt be rewarded for entering the country illegally.

Symbolically, said Jon Blazer, an immigration expert with the American Civil Liberties Unions national office, this is quite important to both sides. It speaks to the symbolism of who belongs.

The local ID programs started in the mid- to late-2000s and have gained traction in many places across the nation, Blazer said, but the broader push has picked up momentum since 2013, when eight states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico started allowing immigrants without legal status to obtain drivers licenses. New York City officials in 2014 started issuing IDs, calling it the largest municipal ID card program in the nation.

But the efforts have been met by backlash: A bill this year in Arizonas Senate challenged a Phoenix local ID plan but failed, and North Carolina lawmakers sharply limited local powers to issue ID cards last year.

A local effort led to finalized plans in Milwaukee for a jointly funded city-county card, which would have started going out this year if not for the legislation on Walkers desk, Voces executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz said.

Eduardo Perera, a 41-year-old contractor who was born in Mexico and who has lived in Milwaukee for years, said the identification would have made his life easier in many ways, but aside from that, he said, its a moral thing.

Ive lived here 26 years. Ive owned a house for 18 years. I should be able to prove that Im here.

Perera and others say the cards would have helped everyone from victims of domestic violence, who cant obtain restraining orders without identification, to city residents who cant drop off recycling without ID.

But Republican legislators see it differently: Trying to get ID for someone here illegally is a federal issue, Wanggaard said.

The local ID bill, which passed last month, and a sanctuary city bill pending before the state Senate that would require police to check the immigration status of criminal suspects, prompted more than 15,000 people to protest at the state Capitol last month.

Walker hasnt indicated whether he plans to sign the ID legislation, but the Republican said recently that he doesnt expect the sanctuary city bill to advance and that hes just fine with that.

Neumann-Ortiz said the local ID bill at its heart is racist and anti-immigrant, and she noted that her group will call for more protests over the next few weeks. If it passes there will be a political price to the Republican party.
Donald Trump may well be the most polarizing figure to come along in American politics for several generations. Still, he has managed to unite David Duke and Louis Farrakhan, men whose cultural and political profiles suggest theyd find it hard to agree on anything.

Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan leader who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives before losing several races for higher office. A white nationalist, Duke has traded not only in a frank and forthright bigotry against black people but also in anti-Semitism.

Farrakhan is the leader of the Nation of Islam, a cultish religious organization that claims roots in Islam but is more closely connected to black nationalism. He, too, has a long history of anti-Semitism, as well as reckless and unhinged attacks on white people in general.

Whatever their serious and searing disagreements, both men are attracted to Trumps presidential candidacy. You probably know by now that Duke has spoken fondly of Trump, telling his presumably white radio audience recently that voting for anyone else is really treason to your heritage.

Farrakhan, for his part, has stopped short of an outright endorsement. But he did tell his followers that I like what Im looking at in Trump because the real estate mogul has stood in front of (the) Jewish community and said, I dont want your money.

If youve somehow managed to miss the rise of Trumpism in this most peculiar campaign season, the fawning of Duke and Farrakhan provides a quick guide to the roiling resentments and bitter antagonisms that undergird Trumps popularity: He hasnt just attracted bigots, but he has also urged them on. He was slow to repudiate David Dukes enthusiastic support; he has engaged in a cheap and hateful xenophobia, smearing Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists; he has vowed to close the United States to all Muslim immigrants.

Though the Republican establishment is belatedly in full-out panic over Trumps rise, his dominance in the GOP presidential primaries isnt the most worrisome thing about his campaign. Whatever happens to his candidacy, his voters arent going away  and neither are their dangerous passions. Their anger will not be easily placated.

How did we come to this? Isnt the United States supposed to be the shining city on a hill, the exemplar of racial diversity and religious pluralism, the exceptional nation that respects human rights and practices tolerance?

In truth, weve never been as exceptional as we claim. Our history shows a faltering and hesitant path toward the practice of our stated ideals, a twisting, wrenching journey toward full equality for all.

But either through divine inspiration or sheer luck, the nation has had the right people at the right time, whether Abraham Lincoln or Eleanor Roosevelt or Martin Luther King.

Still, there have always been forces of backlash and bigotry among us. Those forces are most powerful during times of economic dislocation and rapid social change, when ordinary citizens grow anxious about their jobs and fearful about their place in the social order.

And we are living through just such a moment: The population is becoming more diverse just as the crosswinds of globalization and technological change have buffeted the economy.

It is only too easy for some people to blame the other, to find scapegoats in those people who dont look or sound like them.

Perhaps the nation might have avoided the rise of Donald Trump and his odious politics if more of our political and business leaders had avoided the impulse to pander to hate and to profit from fear. Instead, there has been pandering aplenty.

Politicians have played to the peanut gallery, exploiting racial, ethnic and religious fault lines for advantage. Meanwhile, media moguls interested less in policy than in money have found it lucrative to exploit divisions with tendentious news-talk shows that foster fear and cultivate anxiety.

If the nation survives this crazy season  and I still dont believe we will swear in a President Trump next January  perhaps our leaders will learn an important lesson: This democracy is a delicate matter, a fragile proposition, and it must be nurtured and protected.

Our exceptionalism depends on our making righteous choices.
1986 edition It's Diana Wynne Jones Day! Kristen at We Be Reading, our host, decreed that today we would discuss Howl's Moving Castle. And she has a great think-out on the different kinds of magic found in the story. Throwing several different kinds of magic into a world or a story seems to have been a bit of a DWJ trademark. I can remember quite well where Howl's Moving Castle lived on the shelf in the library where I grew up. It was not the first DWJ book I read (that was Witch's Business ) but it was one of the early ones. I must have found it right after it was published in 1986. As a result, I practically have it memorized -- I could not tell you how many times I've read it. Even so, I enjoy it anew every time, and I still have new realizations about what's going on. (Though possibly I have the same ones over and over, and just forget! My kids tell me so sometimes.) When I first met my husband, he had kind of forgotten reading for fun, a
Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> Weekend News Bulletin Monday March 7, 2016 CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras: Pressure on Turkey to accelerate readmission procedures [02] Econ Minister Stathakis: First review a key for the course of the Greek economy [03] FM announcement on an article in the "Sunday Kathimerini" regarding a text submitted by the head of the Turkish representation to NATO [04] By the end of the week the condition will be better, estimates Alt. Defence Minister Vitsas [05] No to unilateral actions, says German Interior Minister on refugees issue [06] IMF is responsible for the delay of the programme's review, says parliament president Voutsis [07] We must be prepared for a large number of refugees, says Alt. Migration Minister Mouzalas [08] 5,245 migrants and refugees ready to leave from the Aegean islands [09] Wildfire on Skopelos [10] Weather Forecast [11] Athens Headlines at a glance Politics [01] PM Tsipras: Pressure on Turkey to accelerate readmission procedures Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his address on Sunday to SYRIZA Central Committee said that the respect to EU agreements on the migrants and refugees issue and the pressure on Turkey to implement and accelerate the readmission procedures will be his main positions on Monday' EU Summit with Turkey. Moreover, Tsipras sternly attacked the European extreme-right, the main opposition New Democracy and the collusion that wants, as he said, the destabilisation of this government. Tsipras committed to continue his policy on the refugees issue which highlights Europe's humanitarian face without this meaning that Greece will become a warehouse of souls. Referring to the negotiations on the programme's review by the institutions he underlined that "the first review will be completed despite IMF's delaying tactic. Veto must be used with prudence and without fear, says FM Kotzias Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias did not rule out the possibility Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to veto at the EU Summit on the refugees issue. "The veto is a negotiation tool, a tool to promote right positions. It must be used with prudence and without fear" he noted in an interview to the Sunday newspaper Realnews. On whether the refugees issue can have an effect on Greece's relations with its neighbouring countries, Kotzias underlined that "there are some that show that they do not consider a problem the disruption of the countries relations in our region. The neighbours that might blindly trust these "third persons" will do a huge mistake and there will also be consequences". Kotzias answers to those that accuse his of "hard foreign policy" that "the defence of the country's needs and interests...is a very important issue and can not be dealt with endless retreats and concessions." [02] Econ Minister Stathakis: First review a key for the course of the Greek economy The completion of the first review is a key for the course of the Greek economy, said on Saturday Economy Minister George Stathakis addressing an event held at Chania Chamber of Commerce. "The completion of the first review will form a much more stable macroeconomic environment that will be able to boost the economy" noted Stathakis and in parallel he underlined that despite the difficulties in 2015 the real economy resisted. "The real economy, the productive part of the economy despite the pressure and the macroeconomics shows a dynamic, endurance and in parallel it paves the way for positive impact in the second half of 2016 if the right measures are imposed". Referring to the programmes of the new NSRF, he stressed that they are adapted to Greece's new growth model because they represent the new growth model that focuses on the fields of the economy that are characterised by extroversion, innovation, high added value and special emphasis on the ecological dimension of the whole plan. [03] FM announcement on an article in the "Sunday Kathimerini" regarding a text submitted by the head of the Turkish representation to NATO The 17-point text submitted by the head of the Turkish representation to NATO, Ethem Buyukisik, on 15 February 2016, and published in the "Sunday Kathimerini", was never the subject of substantial negotiation, because it was rejected, in its entirety, by the Greece representation and the other NATO allies. "So one might well wonder as to the sources, the aims and the ends served by the leaking of such documents to the press by circles that want to act to undermine the national effort to deal with the refugee/migration issue, especially at a time when significant ground has been gained during the negotiations in question" said the Greek Foreign Ministry annoucement. [04] By the end of the week the condition will be better, estimates Alt. Defence Minister Vitsas Alternate Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas estimated on Sunday that by the end of the week the condition with the refugees will be much better. Vitsas paid a visit to the refugees' temporary hosting areas at Piraeus port and afterwards toured the same areas in Elliniko and Eleonas. "We are here with Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas to inspect the hosting areas because we are trying to coordinate our actions and to find the most decent way to host these people with aim in a short period the port to be decongested and to find a specific place to temporarily host these people. We are not only doing our humanitarian duty but also our duty to the country and to Europe. There are difficulties and I want to say that this week will be difficult but I believe that when it end we will be in a better condition" said Vitsas. [05] No to unilateral actions, says German Interior Minister on refugees issue German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere stressed that "in the refugee crisis nobody can believe that the permanent solution lays in unilateral national actions. Moreover, such measures are against some state-members, as it is now for Greece" he said in a statement to Sunday newspaper RealNews. De Maizier expressed the certainty that "at the end the negotiations will bear fruit and the number of refugees that reach Schengen's external borders will be significantly lower. Greece must contribute in this through total identification, effective hotspots and readmission of migrants to Turkey". [06] IMF is responsible for the delay of the programme's review, says parliament president Voutsis Parliament President Nikos Voutsis put the blame for the delay of the review on the IMF in an interview to the Sunday edition of Ethnos newspaper. "The delay is the direct undermining of Greece and the current government's effort in order the appropriate conditions to be formed that will lead us to growth. The Fund's responsibility is huge for this delay..." he noted. On the refugees issue he said that the access to the Europe for those entitled must be ensured based on the agreements as well as Turkey's participation in the implementation of the decisions. Voutsis ruled out scenarios of an ecumenical government and called untimely and irrelevant whatever discussion for early elections noting that this issue is set by particular parts that "feel that their short-term economic interests are affected by the current government's policy". [07] We must be prepared for a large number of refugees, says Alt. Migration Minister Mouzalas Alternate Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas referred to the condition of thousands of refugees that are stranded in Greece, in his address on Sunday to SYRIZA Central Committee. Mouzalas said that a huge effort has been done in the last period during which 850,000 refugees and migrants passed from the country and reiterated that we must be prepared for a large number of refugees adding that for the time being the effort focuses on where these people will be temporarily hosted. He underlined that SYRIZA government was forced to face this issue and referring to the condition in Idomeni (Greece-Fyrom buffer zone) he said that the refugees must understand that this way is closed. Referring to Europe he said that "we had a bad time but not because it is our fault". Mouzalas said that Greece needs economic support noting that a huge bargaining will be held in Europe on this issue. He clarified that Greece's will is the money to be channeled to the national planning because "those who come to work here will use the country's infrastructures". General News [08] 5,245 migrants and refugees ready to leave from the Aegean islands 5,245 refugees and migrants are identified and ready to depart from the islands of the northeastern Aegean for the port of Piraeus. The number of persons stranded on Lesvos reached 3,550 while 542 migrants and refugees were identified at Moria hotspot in the last 24 hours. On the island of Chios were identified 389 refugees while 1,422 persons are ready to leave for Piraeus. Finally, 273 migrants and refugees were identified on the island of Samos. On Saturday, 50 migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh were sent to camps in Xanthi and afterwards will be deported to Turkey. [09] Wildfire on Skopelos A wildfire that broke out on Sunday afternoon on the island of Skopelos is burning a forest with pine trees. Two firefighting aircrafts assisted by 5 fire engines and a large number of volunteers are currently in the area battling the blaze. [10] Weather Forecast Heavy rain in the northern parts, fair weather in the eastern parts and southerly winds are forecast for Monday. Wind velocity will reach 7 on the Beaufort scale. Temperatures in the northern and western parts will range from 04C-19C. Possibility of rain in the evening in the eastern parts, 06C-21C. Scattered clouds over the Aegean islands and Crete, 09C-20C. Fair in Athens, 07C-19C. Rain in Thessaloniki, 07C-17C. [11] Athens Headlines at a glance AVGHI: Guinea pig for the second time? Forget it! ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: Keep refugees and the review in installations. EPOCHI: STOP to xenophobia and to the war. ETHNOS: IMF sets the debt as wedge in the review. KATHIMERINI: Turkish claims on the table via NATO. KYRIAKATIKI DIMOKRATIA: The dice will be rolled tomorrow RIZOSPASTIS: Communist Party's announcement on the current economic and political developments. TO PARON: Permanent hotspot in Greece for 300,000 refugees. TO VIMA: Minister blackmails prosecutor! 36, TSOCHA ST. ATHENS 115 21 GREECE - TEL: 64.00.560-63 - FAX: 64.00.581-2 INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.ana.gr - E-MAIL: anabul@ana gr - GENERAL DIRECTOR: Michalis Psilos Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Eurogroup's Dijsselbloem says institutions to return to Athens 'possibly tomorrow' [02] 'Open the borders,' plead desperate refugees in Idomeni, as EU leaders bargain [03] Greek construction group Ellaktor to built segment of TAP pipeline [01] Eurogroup's Dijsselbloem says institutions to return to Athens 'possibly tomorrow' BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/C. Vasilaki) - Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the institutions will return to Athens "possibly tomorrow" to complete the first review of Greece's adjustment program. Speaking after the Eurogroup meeting at a joint press conference with European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, and the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling, he said the preparation has been satisfactory but that more work needs to be done to complete the review. He specified that there are fiscal gaps that need to be covered and reforms that have to be deepened. On his side, Moscovici expressed his satisfaction with Eurogroup's decision to ask for the return of the institutions to Athens, noting that this positive development is due to intensive work between the institutions and the Greek authorities in recent weeks. He stressed however that work needs to continue on a number of issues: the operation of the privatization fund, taxation, social security reform, the creation of an independent authority on public revenues and resolving the problem of non-performing loans. Concerning fiscal targets, Moscovici said that in the Commission's view, Greece will have to achieve a primary surplus of 3.5 pct of GDP in 2018. "We will work together to agree on the measures which will lead us to the achievement of this goal," he said. Asked about the completion of Greece's first program review, the Commissioner said it could be achieved soon as it is in everyone's interest, all the more so considering Greece's refugee crisis. He said the review could be completed before the Orthodox Easter on May 1, noting that the institutions are returning to Greece to find a solution as soon as possible. Moscovici also said talks on debt relief will start soon. The managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling, said ESM representatives will visit Athens on Tuesday and stressed the need to complete the review soon, noting that the Greek economy's liquidity margins are tight and that the country must avoid falling into arrears. He reminded that ESM has already disbursed 21 billion euros, which is one fourth of the total amount of the program (86 bln euros). On his side, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos confirmed that the heads of the institutions will return to Athens. "The institutions agreed to return. The IMF also agreed to return, despite some differences," he told journalists, noting that the meeting was "very good". "We expect further talks, to complete the first review in time and to have a conversation about debt. I'm sure that when logical people sit around a table, they'll find a logical solution," he added. [02] 'Open the borders,' plead desperate refugees in Idomeni, as EU leaders bargain Grimly hanging on and determined to stay close to the gateway north, despite ever-deteriorating conditions at the woefully inadequate Idomeni camp, the refugees stranded in Greece had only one message for Europe's leaders as they met on Monday to seek a solution to the refugee crisis: 'Open the borders'. They knew little and cared less about the politics and the bargaining in Brussels, clinging only to the hope that the obstacles barring their path to central Europe will somehow be lifted, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary. In the meantime, since most now realise the wait could be a long one, they busied themselves setting up makeshift shelters, using blankets to protect themselves from the cold and huddling around open fires with their families to cook and keep warm, trying to eke out what little money they have left as long as possible. Authorities in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Monday tightened the criteria even further, now accepting only Syrians and Iraqis from specific areas in those countries where conflict is taking place and turning back those from Damascus, Baghdad and other towns considered "less dangerous". Only a few hundred were allowed to cross the border in the 24 hours before 6:00 on Monday and FYROM had not let even one refugee pass throughout the morning. This has not deterred those seeking a chance at a new life in Europe, with an estimated 400 newcomers arriving at the already overstretched Idomeni camp each day. They are determined to stay as close as possible to the no-man's land with FYROM, in case there is any change and a decision is made to let more people through. There are even a few dozen Afghans who still believe they will be get through, despite the blanket ban for all nationalities apart from Syrians and Iraqis. One young Afghan had been camping out at Idomeni with his family for 20 days, waiting. "What can I do? I will stay here and if they don't let us [pass], I will set fire to myself and burn," he told the ANA-MPA. Doctors Without Borders are now working to expand the camp, installing new toilets and putting up four large tents, each fitting up to 200 people. This was still not enough and additional chemical toilets to the 180 already installed will be needed, aid worker Antonis Rigas told the ANA-MPA. "The camp was designed for 2,500 people and now it has become gigantic," he said. Based on the last figure released by Greek authorities, there were now 8,550 refugees crammed into the camp at Idomeni, while FYROM authorities had only allowed 337 people through in the 24 hours before 6:00 on Monday. [03] Greek construction group Ellaktor to built segment of TAP pipeline Greece's biggest construction group Ellaktor said on Monday that subsidiary Aktor, along with French-based global pipeline contractor Spiecapag, will construct the first out of the three segments of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in northern Greece. TAP envisages the construction of a 760-km pipeline stretching from the Greek-Turkish borders to the coast of Albania. The specific section concerns the construction of a 48-inch diameter pipeline, 180 kilometers in length, stretching from the Turkish border to Kavala, as well as additional facilities for its operation. Completion of the project is expected in about two years, the company said. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Last year, Baron David de Rothschild was indicted by the French government after he was accused of fraud in a scheme that allegedly embezzled large sums of money from British pensioners.

by Matt Agorist

It has taken many years to bring this case against Rothschild and his company the Rothschild Financial Services Group, which trapped hundreds of pensioners in a bogus loan scheme between the years of 2005 and 2008.

One by one the pensioners lost their money and pressed charges against the notorious banker, beginning a case that would take many years to get even an indictment.

In June, Paris-based liaison judge Javier Gomez Bermudez ruled that Rothschild must face a trial for his crimes, and ordered local police to seek him out in his various mansions that are spread throughout the country.

It is a good step in the right direction. The courts are now in agreement with us that there is enough evidence to interrogate Baron Rothschild. The first thing they will have to do is find him. Once they have done that they can begin to question him. It is a real breakthrough moment for everyone involved, lawyer Antonio Flores of Lawbird told the Olive Press after the ruling. In short, independently of what happened to the investment, Rothschild advertised a loan aimed at reducing inheritance tax, which is a breach of tax law, he added.

While news of a single Rothschild being indicted is certainly noteworthy, a particularly important announcement was made this Friday.

The French government announced that it has launched an investigation into the entire Swiss branch of the Rothschilds banking empire.

According to Bloomberg:

The Swiss unit of Edmond de Rothschild said its the subject of a French probe regarding a former business relationship managed by a former employee. Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA is actively participating in the criminal investigation under way, the Geneva-based bank said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The bank denies all the allegations that have been made against it. Edmond de Rothschild, a private banking and asset management firm established in Paris in 1953, oversees about 150 billion euros ($164 billion) and is led today by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild and his wife Ariane. The Swiss unit traces its roots to the acquisition of Banque Privee in Geneva in 1965. The company has no further comment at this time, according to the statement. Officials in Geneva werent immediately available to respond to a telephone call from Bloomberg News on Friday.

The Rothschild empire has been instrumental in helping move the global elites wealth from traditional tax havens like the Bahamas, Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands to the U.S.

Last month, the Free Thought Project reported on the above the law tax haven established inside the United States by the Rothschilds.

After opening a trust company in Reno, Nev., Rothschild & Co. began ushering the massive fortunes of the worlds most wealthy individuals out of typical tax havens, and into the Rothschild run U.S. trusts, which are exempt from the international reporting requirements.

The Rothschild banking dynasty is a family line that has been accused of pulling the political strings of many different governments through their control of various economic systems throughout the world.

Historically, there is ample evidence to show that the family has used insider trading to bilk money from both private and public funds.

During the Battle of Waterloo in the Napoleonic wars, Nathan Rothschild was responsible for one of the oldest cases of insider trading, which led to the Rothschild family robbing a whole nation blind.

In 1815 when the battle of Waterloo took place, there were no quick methods of communication like we have today so messengers were used for communication in times of war.

The Rothschilds took advantage of this by having spies on the frontlines of the battle who would return information to the family faster than the messengers used by the military.

When the British won the war, Nathan Rothschild, was of course, the first to know, and he immediately went to the stock exchange and started selling stocks while putting out the rumor that the French had won the war.

This created a panic on the floor of the stock exchange and investors all over England began frantically selling their stocks. With the price of all stocks plummeting Rothschild was able to buy out the whole English market for a fraction of its cost.

When word returned that the English had actually been victorious, the value of the market soared, and overnight Nathan Rothschild expanded his familys wealth, and cemented their position as one of the richest families in the world.
She attended the prestigious Latin School of Chicago until she graduated in 1939, after which she left Chicago to attend college in Massachusetts.

Nancy Davis Reagan, born Anne Francis Robbins on July 6, 1921, moved to Chicago from when she was eight years old to join her actress mother after she married Loyal Edward Davis in 1929. Dr. Davis, a politically conservative neurosurgeon at Northwestern University, adopted Nancy when she was 14 years old.

CHICAGO - Sunday, Nancy Reagan, wife to the late President Ronald Reagan, died in her Bel Air California home at age 94 of congestive heart failure. She lived in Chicago from the time she was eight years old until she left to attend college in Massachusetts.

She returned for a short time after graduating to work at Chicago's Marshall Fields before pursuing her acting career, which gradually took her to Hollywood.

Finding her name Nancy Davis being on the Hollywood Black List of suspected Communists, Ms. Davis met with the president of the Screen Actors Guild at the time to ask for help in removing her name. Ronald Reagan looked into the matter at her request, and found Ms. Davis had been confused with another actress with the same name.

The meeting was the beginning of a three year courtship that led to the Nancy Davis marrying Ronald Reagan March 4, 1952.

Ronald Reagan was elected as governor of California in 1967 with Nancy at his side. After he left the governorship in 1975, he pursued his first bid for the presidency with Nancy's encouragement.

He eventually won the presidency in 1980, and served the country until January 1989. During his first term, an assassination attempt nearly ended his life, and with the help of Mrs. Reagan, he recovered and served a second term.

During her years as First Lady, Mrs. Reagan led a campaign against drug abuse that was launched when a high school girl asked her what to do when offered drugs. "Just say no," Mrs. Reagan said, and it became a slogan that was picked up nationwide.

Mrs. Reagan was very protective of her husband's welfare after the assassination attempt, and the two remained very close throughout the years at the White House, with Nancy as his confidante.

The Reagans had two children together and raised two others from Ronald Reagan's first marriage.

Services are scheduled near the Reagan Presidential Library in Palo Alto California later this week, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband.
Three teachers, including a headmaster, have been arrested for allegedly messaging answers through their mobile phone to a student during a recently held matriculation examination in Ganjam district of Odisha.

By India Today Web Desk: Three teachers, including a headmaster, have been arrested for allegedly messaging answers through their mobile phone to a student during a recently held matriculation examination in Ganjam district of Odisha.

According to PTI, the teachers were arrested on Saturday i.e. March 5, have been identified as Rama Chandra Polai, Headmaster of Santosh Pur Panchayat high school, Bansidhara Biswal and P Naba Patra, Assistant Teachers in Bharati Vidyapitha, Ganjam and Primary School, Raulibandha, respectively, a police officer said.

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Ramakanta Mahallick, Inspector in charge of Ganjam police station revealed that on February 29 the candidate came 20 minutes late to the examination centre at Bharati Vidyapitha.

Invigilators recovered a mobile phone from his pocket during checking. Also, "some SMS and missed calls came to the phone," the officer said.

On checking the phone, the answers were noticed in the inbox of it, which was then handed over to centre superintendent Sudhir Kumar Padhi who further gave it to Ganjam District Education Officer (DEO) Sanatana Panda. All the information was enough to lodge an FIR against the teachers.

"The teachers were arrested under relevant sections of Odisha Conduct of Examinations Act-1988," Mahallick said.

After being presented in court, they were sent to 14-day judicial custody.

"The mobile to which they had allegedly sent answers of mathematics' questions, was also seized," the Inspector said.

Further, the DEO said that appropriate action will be taken against the teachers after proper police investigation.

Check: Ignou restarts online notes portal 'eGyanKosh'

Click here to get more education news.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here .

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A suicide attack at a court compound killed at least eight people in northwestern Pakistan.

By Reuters: A suicide attack at a court compound killed at least eight people in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks in areas around the volatile Mohmand tribal area.

Senior police official Sohail Khalid told Reuters that three police personnel were among at least eight people killed, and 27 others were wounded in the blast.

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Saeed Wazir, another police official, said that the attacker targeted the court building in the town of Shabqadar.

"The suicide bomber was trying to enter the judicial complex and he blew himself up when the police stopped him," said Wazir.

Eyewitnesses described a huge explosion at the scene.

"We were sitting with a lawyer when a huge explosion took place in the sessions court," said Gohar Khan, a local police official who was at the scene.

"The army and other law-enforcement agencies have arrived and cordoned off the area. The injured are being shifted to nearby hospitals."

Television footage run on Pakistani news media showed widespread damage and the charred remains of at least two vehicles at the scene.

Shabqadar, located about 150kms (90 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad, is adjacent to the Mohmand tribal area, which has seen several attacks in recent days.

On March 1, a remote-controlled roadside bomb targeted a convoy of vehicles travelling in Mohmand, killing two Pakistani employees of the United States Consulate in nearby Peshawar.

About two weeks earlier, on Feb 18, Taliban gunmen killed nine Pakistani paramilitary personnel in two separate attacks on checkposts in Mohmand.

Both earlier attacks were claimed by the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has been waging an insurgency against the Pakistani state since 2007, in a bid to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

A series of military operations in Pakistan's volatile tribal areas - the latest of which was launched in 2014 - have reduced the TTP's ability to hit major targets regularly, but attacks on security and civilian targets do continue to occur.

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Preident Pranab Mukherjee will not be taking part in the World Culture Event being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the banks of Yamuna river in Delhi. Sources said that President has pulled of the event amidst reports of environment law violations.

By India Today Web Desk: Preident Pranab Mukherjee will not be taking part in the mega culture fest being organised by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the banks of Yamuna river in Delhi. Sources said that President has pulled of the event amidst reports of environment law violations and farmers not getting adequate compensation from the organisers.

While a mega show has been planned for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living (AOL) Foundation event in farmland along the Yamuna, farmers claim the "compensation" does not even cover their sowing costs. Over 3.5 million people are expected to attend the event.

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The three-day event starting March 11 will be organised near Mayur Vihar. A grand inauguration ceremony, which will be attended by 35,973 performers, has been planned.

However, environmentalists have raised questions over the event being held in the fragile Yamuna plains.

Following the controversy, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) disowned the permission it gave to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's organisation for holding the event. It has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it wasn't fully aware of the "scale" on which the World Culture Festival is being held.

Meanwhile, a petition against the AOL event, on change.org, has gathered over 2,800 signatures. The petition, launched by Vimlendu Jha of NGO, Swechha India, asks for immediately "shifting out of the event from the ecologically-sensitive area". It also asks for "strict action against the damage caused".

The petition will be submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.



Also Read

Campaign to shift Art of Living event venue gets over 2,800 signatures

Art of Living event in Delhi exposes neglect of Environmental Law

Art of Living denies it was fined for damaging Yamuna floodplains Art of Living mega event on Yamuna floodplain faces fresh trouble

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Security has been beefed up across the country, after Pakistan's National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua shared information regarding terror infiltration with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Saturday night.

In this file photo, security personnel check a vehicle near the building of the Home Ministry in New Delhi. Reuters

By India Today Web Desk: Security authorities have increased vigilance in tier two cities including, Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh and Panji, after intelligence inputs that terrorists from Pakistan have sneaked into India. Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are already in high alert.

The alert have been sounded a day after intelligence agencies said that at least 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists may have entered India to target Shivratri festivities. Reports said that the terrorists may have entered India through Gujarat and may be planning to carry out a big strike.

Intel letter on terror threat.

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A meeting of the top brass of Delhi Police was held following which all Deputy Commissioners were instructed to heighten vigil in their districts today, a day after the force received intelligence input about a potential terror strike.

Police presence and patrolling around temples which were teeming with devotees, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places like metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus, which witness very high footfall, has been stepped up.

Places in the country that may bear the brunt of terror attacks. (India Today TV grab)

Gujarat DGP PC Thakur held a meeting with NSG officials in Gandhinagar and said that a NSG team has been deployed at the famous Somnath temple. He also issued orders cancelling leave of all policemen. "Four teams of NSG reached Gandhinagar on Saturday night. Out of these, three will remain here, while one team will go to Somnath," he said. Each team may have between 50 to 90 personnel.

Reports said that Pakistan's National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua had shared information regarding terror infiltration with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Saturday night. India has not confirmed or denied the report about this intelligence sharing between the two countries.

ALSO READ:

India on high alert for Shivratri terror threat, Lashkar militants may have sneaked into Delhi



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Passengers were detained for nearly three hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after they objected to an immigration official behaving rudely with an elderly citizen.

By Ankur Sharma: 'High-handed' immigration officers at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport are giving nightmares to air travelers - even if they are domestic flyers.

Passengers from Mumbai to Delhi became the latest victims as they were 'detained' for nearly three hours at Terminal-3 after they objected to the rude behaviour of the immigration staff. Three domestic passengers - two software developers and one senior doctor from Mumbai -have alleged that the immigration officials ganged up, abused and manhandled them and also tried to snatch their mobile phones.

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Victim Abhishek Baxi, who is a software developer, reached the IGI Airport on the intervening night of March 4 and 5 along with his business partner. "Around 12.30 am, I landed at the IGI airport through an international flight (AI314) coming from Hong Kong. There was some confusion or mismanagement at the exit queue for domestic passengers.

An argument ensued between some passengers and the immigration official stamping the boarding passes. I was far behind in the queue, and although I heard the noise, I did not know what the argument was about. When I reached the official's counter to get the pass stamped, he spoke rudely to a senior citizen to which I objected," Baxi told Mail Today.

Later, some other officials of the immigration department joined him.

According to the complainant, officials were angry with him because he asked him to behave properly with a senior citizen. Later, a senior official of immigration department arrived on the scene but instead of sorting out the matter, he blamed Abhishek, his business partner and Dr Susheel Mahindroo, a senior doctor with Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai for the sequence of events. After analysing the CCTV footage, he later toned down and asked Abhishek to write a compromise letter.

"The immigration officials took me, my business partner and Dr Mahindroo to a room for questioning. Some other officials joined them and abused and threatened us. Later, a Delhi Police sub-inspector and a senior immigration official came and asked us to follow them as they wanted to take us to a different room. As we were walking towards the office of Immigration Bureau, one of the officials pushed me and tried to snatch my phone. He abused me. He also pushed the doctor who fell down on the spot," Baxi told Mail Today.

According to the complainant, immigration officials forced him to write a compromise letter before leaving IGI Airport. "In that room, senior officials kept us waiting for almost one hour and after that officials forced me to write a compromise letter before leaving IGI Airport. When I refused to do it, he went out," complainant said. The victim complained that immigration officials forced them to wait for almost three hours and the three could only leave the airport at around 3 am. Abhishek has filed a complaint with Delhi Police and the civil aviation ministry to take action against the erring officials.

Mail Today contacted the Immigration Bureau for its reaction, but the Commissioner (immigration) didn't respond despite repeated calls and messages.

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Also read:

Indira Gandhi International Airport is world's best airport for second time in row

Delhi's IGI Airport retains world's number 1 position, bags 3 international awards: Interesting facts



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By Mail Today: In a major breakthrough, the Bengaluru police arrested drug kingpin Mohammed Afsal (28) and recovered 20 kgs of high grade ganja worth Rs 20 lakhs from him.

The City Crime Branch (CCB) team of the Bengaluru police laid a trap for Afsal after receiving a tip-off that he was planning to sell ganja. A police decoy contacted Afsal and lured him into the trap. Afsal fell into the trap with the drug consignment on Sunday in the city.

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Afsal was wanted in several cases, but the police were unable to lay their hands on him in the absence of evidence. This time, Afsal was caught red-handed. The police have booked cases against him under the the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

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By Mail Today: The Capital was placed on high alert after intelligence inputs of suspected terrorists sneaking into India.

According to intelligence inputs, at least 10 suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, who are believed to have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat. Agencies have information that terrorists may have sneaked into the Capital for an attack even as four elite NSG teams were rushed to the western coastal state.

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Security at all prominent government establishments like including IGI Airport, Metro and railway stations and ISBTs was beefed up. According to a senior police official, police have asked their officials to continue patrolling and also keep a track on suspicious vehicles. "We have deployed teams at various strategic positions, including markets, malls, temples, etc. Also, we have asked personnel to keep a check on suspicious vehicles and activities," a senior official said

On the eve of Maha Shivratri, Gujarat, other metro cities and Jammu and Kashmir were also on high alert. Raids were conducted at Kutch and other places while security was beefed up at vital installations, sensitive areas and all major temples, including the famous Somnath temple where a NSG team has been deployed.

Important buildings and crowded places have been placed under security cover after police received inputs about a potential terror strike in the city. A constant vigil is being maintained near prominent malls, hospitals, schools and colleges. A police source said the input specifically mentions 10 militants of LeT and JeM having entered India via Gujarat and the possibility of a terror strike in Delhi.

The Special Cell and Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have been briefed about the input separately so that activities of gangs operating in and around the city and elements with suspected terror links can be monitored. The police are also ensuring that CCTV cameras at all places with high footfall, like popular markets and metro stations are functional. Patrolling across the city has been intensified.

Security has been beefed up at major religious sites in Gujarat like Somnath Temple and Akshardham and in metro cities. Vital installations across the metros like railway stations and airports are also being secured. An advisory has been issued to enhance security at all strategic locations, sensitive industrial sites and religious places in Gujarat after intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists have entered the state from the sea, official sources said.

Gujarat DGP PC Thakur held a meeting with NSG officials in Gandhinagar and announced that a team will be sent to step up security at Somnath temple. He also issued orders cancelling leave of all policemen. "Four teams of NSG reached here (Gandhinagar) on Saturday night. Out of these, three will remain here, while one team will go to Somnath," he said. Each team may have between 50 to 90 personnel.

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Also Read: After Gujarat, Delhi on high alert following terror threat

Also Read : NSG deployed in Gujarat after 10 Lashkar terrorists sneak into state



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"JNU has been used as a launchpad to unleash an insurrection against the constitution. It may not be a largescale attack on democratic rights like what happened during Emergency but I can foresee that coming. We face a much bigger attack," said Yechury in an exclusive interview to India Today.

By India Today Web Desk: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary and Rajya Sabha leader Sitaram Yechury today said that through the sedition row at JNU, the BJP is trying to replace history with mythology and philosophy with theology.

"JNU has been used as a launchpad to unleash an insurrection against the constitution. It may not be a largescale attack on democratic rights like what happened during Emergency but I can foresee that coming. We face a much bigger attack," said Yechury in an exclusive interview to India Today's Karan Thapar on the show To The Point.

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"If you look at the bail order the judge has given in Kanhaiya's case, there are certain serious doubts over what is happening also in the judiciary. But I am not saying this is Emergency yet," said Yechury.

Other big quotes from the interview:

On Rohith Vemula case - "We have to engage the youngsters." Arun Jaitley's claim that the JNU row was a victory for BJP - "It is a Machiavellian interpretation. The logic is Machiavellian. Before going to jail, the students had the national flag. When they came back they did the same again - said 'Jai Hind'. Not a question of them winning, but it is a battle of ideas. It is a battle of visions. Are we a secular democratic republic or are we to bring in its place the Hindu rashtra?" "CPI has corrected its mistakes. 1942, 1962 are both patent propaganda lies. Communists are not against democracy." "Is it not India's official policy to have good relations with Pakistan. If you want good relations, then shouting Pakistan zindabad is anti-national? It is not wrong to say Pakistan zindabad. Merely saying 'Pakistan zindabad' is not anti-India. If at all that was said. The first thing to prove the veracity of it. If you say India murdabad, that is anti-national." "The police should find out who doctored the tapes, and who propagated them." "Action should be taken against media who are involved in doctoring tapes. I am going to bring this up in the Parliament tomorrow." "Kanhaiya Kumar is the best example of Make in India. It was Modi who made Kanhaiya by mishandling the case. He made an icon in India." "Kanhaiya Kumar is an endearing person and his speech is his campaign." "Kanhaiya won't travel to Kerala, Bengal to campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls." "Hate speeches are an attack on the Constitution. The BJP has used JNU as a launchpad to unleash an insurrection against the constitution It's not that the insurrection is full-blown yet. But this is a beginning. These are the signals. If you don't catch them at the early signals then all of us are in for big trouble. The government has to act now.

Watch the full show here

Also Read



Yechury counters Jaitley's jibe, says Centre's regime resembles Hitler's model

JNU row: AAP considers legal action against 3 news channels



JNU row: AAP considers legal action against 3 news channels



Man behind Rs 11 lakh bounty on Kanhaiya Kumar arrested





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One sailor was killed and three others were injured after a fire broke out onboard India's aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Goa.

By Press Trust of India: One sailor was killed and three others were injured after a fire broke out onboard India's soon to be decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Goa.

"The ship reported incident of stream leak and a "minor fire" on one of the ships boiler rooms late this afternoon," a navy spokesperson said.

While he claimed that the incident was quickly brought under control, four sailors sustained injuries while combating the fire.

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One of them, Chief Engineer Mechanic Ashu Singh was critical, having suffered smoke inhalation, the spokesperson added.

He was shifted to the Naval Hospital in Goa where he suffered a cardiac arrest and died, the official said, adding the other three are "under treatment and out of danger".

"Prima facie, it appears some insulating material in the boiler room caught fire from heat due to the stream leak. Investigation is underway," the spokesperson said.

Viraat, one of the two aircraft carrier that India is operating, is expected to sail back to Mumbai soon.

Earlier in the day, family members of the navy personnel visited the aircraft carrier, which will be decommissioned soon.

The navy said the fire incident happened when the ship had earthed the Goa harbour after the sortie.

"All the families had disembarked and the ship was in the process of shutting down the missionary including the boiler," the navy officer.

INS Viraat had first served the British Navy for over 30 years, before being bought by India. It was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 after undergoing extensive refit.

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A 20-year-old woman jumped from the third floor of a building near Kolkata to escape a rape bid by her boyfriend and three of his friends.

Three men, who allegedly tried to rape her, have been arrested by the police.

By India Today Web Desk: A 20-year-old woman jumped from the third floor of a building near Kolkata to escape a rape bid by her boyfriend and three of his friends.

The incident happened on Sunday evening in Howrah, a city on the outskirts of Kolkata. Three men, who allegedly tried to rape her, have been arrested by the police.

As per reports, the woman had come to meet her boyfriend in the presence of two of his friends. They allegedly gave her a spiked drink and then propositioned her. When she screamed, they allegedly threatened to kill her. That is when she ran to the balcony and jumped.

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Local residents took the injured woman to the hospital and handed over the three men involved to the police.

ALSO READ

Maharashtra panchayat's Talibani justice: Minor girl whipped publicly for not resisting rape by father



Minor girl raped, battered to death in Uttar Pradesh

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Tipsters @evleaks and @onleaks have apparently gotten their hands on the phone in question (in prototyping stage) and leaked everything that there is to it, much to HTC's disappointment.

By India Today Web Desk: HTC's next flagship phone will apparently not be called the One M10. The Taiwanese company may reportedly drop the 'One' moniker that it employs for its flagship phone line-up altogether in its next flagship phone, and start afresh, if serial tipster Evan Blass is to be gone by. At the same time, the 'M' prefix that means nothing at all (but HTC's convention of using product codenames in actual nomenclature) in the real world is also going away. HTC's next flagship, ladies and gentlemen, will just be called the HTC 10, according to @evleaks. And all of a sudden, the teaser hasgtag #powerof10 makes so much more sense, doesn't it?

You heard it here first: advertisement "HTC 10" Evan Blass (@evleaks) March 4, 2016

HTC has been teasing the 10 for quite some time now. At the same time, it hasn't given anything away with regards to what could be in store. All we know officially is that the phone will have chamfered edges and a very compelling camera.

Tipsters @evleaks and @onleaks have apparently gotten their hands on the phone in question (in prototyping stage) and leaked everything that there is to it, much to HTC's disappointment.

To begin with, the HTC 10 is seen sporting a similar build as the One A9, at least from the front. There's the all-familiar curved 2.5D glass and a physical home button that should house a fingerprint scanner. The back is more reminiscent of HTC's One flagship line-up with a circular camera module and what appears to be a dualLED flash. The more prominent change however are the distinct chamfers along the edges, a first for HTC. The 3.5mm audio jack occupies the top centre while the lower end has a speaker vent (honing HTC BoomSound with Dolby audio) and a USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing purposes.

According to the tipsters, the HTC 10 will come with a 5.15-inch QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor under the hood with 4GB of RAM and a 12-megapixel (UltraPixel) camera on the rear.

Further, HTC will reportedly launch the phone on April 19. The HTC 10 will not have a Windows phone variant, the tipsters add.



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Karnataka Police arrested 10 people in connection with a communal clash in Gangavathi in Koppala district in central Karnataka on Sunday.

By Mail Today: The police arrested 10 people in connection with a communal clash in Gangavathi in Koppala district in central Karnataka on Sunday. Six people were injured in the clash.

However, the police claimed that the situation is under control.

According to the police, people belonging to different religions fought over a public place in Bannigida camp in Gangavathi. Later, it turned into a full-fledged communal clash resulting in injuries and loss of property. The police had to rush additional forces on Sunday, as the communal clash spread to other parts of Gangavathi.

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The police arrested Chand Pasha, A Hussein, Abdul, Akbar, Ravi Bannigidadava, Ramesh Chalavadi, Anil and Naveen for instigating the clash. Six different cases have been registered by the police in connection with the incident.

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Minister of State for Human Resource and Development, Ram Shankar Katheria stirred a fresh controversy today by taking a dig at Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's scheduled visit at slain Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Arun Mahore's home.

By India Today Web Desk: Minister of State for Human Resource and Development Ram Shankar Katheria stirred a fresh controversy today by taking a dig at Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's scheduled visit at slain Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Arun Mahore's home in Agra.



Katheria, who faces hate speech charges on the Mahore murder case, accused Mayawati of playing Dalit card for political advantage. He further said that if Mayawati visits Arun Mahore's home he would retire from politics.

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Commenting over the murders of Mahore and Dr. B R Ambedkar University employee Satyendra, he said that BSP never cared about these Dalits who were fighting against corruption and anti-national acitivities.

Katheria also slammed Akhilesh Yadav's government for its inability to ensure law and order in the state. He claimed that the entire Uttar Pradesh, including Agra, has been cowering under the rampant terror of the criminals.

Pointing out the 17 murders in Agra over last two months, Katheria demanded President's rule in the state and subsequent dissolving of the Samajwadi Party government.

Commenting on the debate on his alleged hate-speech, Katheria said that I did not give any disputed speech and had only said that the community needs to unite to strengthen and defend itself.



ALSO READ:

Ruckus in Parliament over minister Ram Shankar Katheria's hate speech





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Kiku Sharda recently revealed a new aspect of the much awaited The Kapil Sharma Show, which will see Kiku, Kapil Sharma and the rest of the gang members back in action.

By Press Trust of India: Actor Kiku Sharda has revealed that unlike Comedy Nights With Kapil, The Kapil Sharma Show will not have any family entertaining the audience.

The new show, to be aired on Sony, is likely to have a street-based theme, says actor Kiku Sharda.

Kapil played the central role of Bittu Sharma in Comedy Nights with Kapil, Ali Asgar was the cute Dadi, Sumona Chakravarti enacted the role of Kapil's wife Manju, Sunil Grover and Kiku Sharda played the annoying neighbours Gutthi and Palak, while Chandan Prabhakar was seen in the role of the servant Raju.

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After a successful two-and-a-half-year stint on Colors, the show came to an end in January this year due to a fallout between Kapil and the channel.

Also read: The Kapil Sharma Show's journey begins; Sunil Grover shares pic en route to Amritsar



The same team will soon be back with a new show, The Kapil Sharma Show, on Sony and the setting of the show is also likely to change.

"This time not a family (set up)...it would be more like a street where people are living," Kiku told PTI.

"There will be different people coming in. Like how Palak and Gutthi used to come on the show, they were not family. So, may be something like that," he said, without divulging further details. Also read: The Kapil Sharma Show is a finite series with 26 episodes

In the earlier show, Kiku played the role of Palak. "The character (of Palak) was loved because people loved her style and attitude. We have not narrowed down on what exactly my character would be like on the new show."

"I am open to playing a woman again. I would like to explore lot of other things as well. On a daily basis, I interact with lot of new people and new ideas come to my head," he said. Also read: A fan spotted Kapil Sharma at the most unexpected place. You won't believe where



The Kapil Sharma Show will go on air from April 23 on Sony.

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A draft legislation by the Maharashtra government proposes that the salary be fixed by bar owners, though dancers should have the right to choose their work timings.

By India Today Web Desk: If the Maharashtra government has its way, bar dancers in the state will be provided with a fixed monthly salary and identity cards.

A draft legislation by the Maharashtra government proposes that the salary be fixed by bar owners, though dancers should have the right to choose their work timings.

The proposal, made by the state home department in a bid to regularise dance bars, also wants identity cards for the dancers be made mandatory.

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The department wants bar owners to follow these rules, but the legislation has not been finalised as yet, as legal opinion is awaited before it is converted into a bill.

The draft legislation was put forth after the Supreme Court last week struck down six of the 26 norms proposed for obtaining dance bar licences.

The Maharashtra home department plans to impose stricter norms to contain obscenity and vulgarity, which the apex court accepted within the purview of the state, and put the onus of safety of the dancers on bar owners.

The state government plans to table the draft of the proposed bill in the budget session starting March 9.

Also Read:

Supreme Court relief for Maharashtra dance bars, no CCTV cameras on stage

Grant licences to dance bars within 10 days: SC to Maharashtra



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If, however, my ill luck so has it that you pass away, I should only say that there would be nothing wrong in your doing so in your separation from me while I am still alive, I love you so dearly that even if you are dead, you will be alive to me." Addressed to Kasturba and signed Mohan Das, dated November 9, 1908, from Volksrust Gaol, in South Africa, nothing illustrates better the dichotomy between Gandhi the man and the Father of the Nation. Whether it is his fraught relationship with his eldest son Harilal or his indifference to Kasturba, it is clear that public greatness often comes at a huge personal cost.

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Gandhi playing with a child during a trip to England

All you need to do is to read his son Harilal's 14-page letter to his father, a searing indictment of his parenting skills. Addressed to the service of Pujya Pitaji, it says, among other harsh things, "You have dealt with us just as a ringmaster in a circus treats animals in his charge. The ringmaster may believe that he is ridding the animals of their beastly character because he has the welfare of animals in his heart." The compassion he had in abundance for the nation was sadly absent in his dealings with his family.

Gandhi with Kasturba in North West Frontier Province as guests of K.A. Ghaffar Khan

When clarifying his position, Gandhi made one of his typically honest admissions: men may be good but not their children. This was typical of Gandhi. His level of self-awareness and introspection were an equal match with his experiments with himself. The Mahatma may not have won the love of his immediate family, but he was loved by a nation which finds his message of gender equality, end to caste discrimination and promotion of communal harmony increasingly relevant-in fact, strikingly so.

Gandhi with Rabindranath Tagore Gandhi with Rabindranath Tagore

Publisher Pramod Kapoor's labour of love has rare pictures, letters, documents and cartoons from sources all over the world. It is beautifully put together, in what he clearly says has been a lifelong project. By the time the book winds down to the assassination, with a choked Sardar Patel uttering "my heart is aching, my tongue is tied" and a distraught Jawaharlal Nehru telling Manuben to "sing louder, who knows Bapu may wake up", there will be no reader without a giant lump in their throats. For, what Gandhi died for is unfortunately alive in all of us even now.

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The Purvanchal Sena president, Adarsh Sharma, who announced a bounty of Rs 11 lakh on the head of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested by the Delhi Police.

By India Today Web Desk: The Delhi Police today arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with posters that announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who shot dead JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

The Purvanchal Sena president, Adarsh Sharma was arrested on charges of defacement of public property, abetment to offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery. He has beena arrested under Sections 116,505,506,468 and 471 of IPC

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Sharma, a native of Begusarai in Bihar, who lives in a rented accommodation at Rohini, went underground soon after a case under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act was registered against him at the Parliament Street police station, a report in Hindustan Times said. The case was registered after pamphlets signed by him were found pasted in parts of Delhi which said that the Sena will give Rs 11 lakh to anyone who will kill Kanhaiya.

The pamphlets that surfaced in public places close to the Parliament on Saturday had the name of the Purvanchal Sena, an organisation that claims to work for people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

"Whoever shoots JNUSU president and traitor Kanhaiya Kumar will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh from the Purvanchal Sena," the posters in Hindi read.

Meanwhile, keeping the JNUSU president's safety in view, a team of Delhi Police will now escort Kanhaiya each time he steps out of the university campus. According to the police, DCP south has asked the university to keep the local police station informed about Kanhaiya's movement.

Kanhaiya was arrested by the Delhi Police on February 12 on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at a cultural event organised on the campus on February 9.

Kumar was granted conditional six-month interim bail by the Delhi High Court on March 2.



Also Read

Man who offered Rs 11 lakh to kill Kanhaiya has Rs 150 in bank, owes rent for months

Meet Jhanvi Behal, the girl who challenged Kanhaiya Kumar to debate on Modi



BJP expels Yuva Morcha leader after he announced reward to anyone who cut Kanhaiya's tongue

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Maharashtra Police today detained over 100 women activists planning to storm the sanctum sanctorum of the renowned Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik district.

By India Today Web Desk: Maharashtra Police today detained over 100 women activists planning to storm the sanctum sanctorum of the renowned Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik district.

Around 200 women activists of the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade (BRB) led by its president Trupti Desai had left Pune and were joined by another 100 women en route to Nashik, but all were stopped around 100 km away at Shingote village near Sinnar town in Nashik district.

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"We are being treated badly. Instead of stopping us, I request the chief minister to provide us police protection," an agitated Desai told media persons as she was bundled into a waiting police van by women police officers.

Earlier - the Bhumata Brigade had made a high-voltage attempt to breach a similar ban at the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district

Also Read

Women activists vow to enter Trimbakeshwar temple to protest entry ban

Shani Shingnapur protest: Women across Maharashtra denounce gender bias in the name of religion









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A second rape case has been filed against chancellor of Alliance University, Madhukar G Angur, who was accused of raping his niece last month.

By Aravind Gowda: A second rape case has been filed against chancellor of Alliance University, Madhukar G Angur, who was accused of raping his niece last month.

According to the police, a 50-year-old marketing executive of a star hotel in Bengaluru has accused Angur of raping her thrice in 2005 and 2016. Apparently, they met on a matrimonial site and became friends. He promised to marry her, but didnt keep his promise. In the meantime, she was offered employment in the Alliance University. However, as Angur did not keep his promise, she quit the University and joined a star hotel.

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Angur, who was arrested last month, was released on bail earlier this month. The police have summoned Angur to question him in connection with the latest rape complaint.

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The laptop contains few photographs of Sheena and Rahul and Sheena had occasionally used the laptop.

By India Today Web Desk: The Khar Police in Mumbai on Sunday handed over Rahul Mukerjea's laptop to the CBI to gather evidence in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case.

The laptop contains few photographs of Sheena and Rahul and Sheena had occasionally used the laptop.

Rahul is considered an important link in the murder case by the agency which also grilled of his father Peter Mukerjea, an accused in the case who was arrested on November 19, 2015.

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Rahul had handed over the documents belonging to Sheena, which, according to a source, she used for blackmailing Indrani, who is accused of murdering her.

According to investigators, Sheena, who was engaged to Rahul, was blackmailing Indrani that if she did not give her a 3 BHK flat in the city, she would expose her by telling people that she was Indrani's daughter and not sister, as the latter had claimed.

Peter's complicity in Sheena's murder was nailed after Rahul, his son from his first wife Shabnam, showed CBI officials cellphone conversations of his father and Indrani that he had recorded on his Blackberry phone. Rahul had saved the conversations after his mother Shabnam had advised him to do so, and had kept the mobile phone with him. He had given the phone to the CBI.

The CBI had questioned both Peter Mukerjea and his son Rahul in the murder case.

ALSO READ:

Sheena Bora murder case: CBI quizzes Rahul and Peter Mukerjea

Indrani had told Peter about conspiracy to kill Sheena: CBI to court



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South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

By Reuters: South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a UN Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

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Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The joint US and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of "the non-provocative nature of this training" involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

North Korea's National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would "realize the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification", in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.

"The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the US and its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves," the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North's KCNA news agency.

The North, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The threat on Monday was in line with the usual rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.

The latest UN sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea and the US militaries began talks on Friday on the deployment of an advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system in South Korea.

Also Read:

North Korea warns of preemptive nuclear attacks against US and South Korea



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Farmers along the Yamuna have claimed that Sri Sri's Art of Living Foundation forcibly acquired land from them for an event at a low compensation.

Farmers allege that their agricultural land was seized by the Art of Living foundation at a meagre price for the 3-day World Cultural Festival.

By Baishali Adak: This comes not from areas like Beed or Vidarbha where distressed farmers commit suicide every year, but the National Capital Region itself. While a mega-show has been planned for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living (AOL) Foundation event in farmland along the Yamuna, farmers claim the "compensation" does not even cover their sowing costs.

"This is how criminals are born! When the poor is trampled upon like this, he either kills himself or takes up arms," Paan Singh told Mail Today in anguish. Singh claimed his nine bigha of land (3.6 acres) has been acquired forcibly by AOL.

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"In return, they put `26,000 in my pocket. The money I put into raising my crops was Rs. 2.25 lakh, most of it with karza (loan)," he states. "My land has been bulldozed. I don't know how I'll manage now," Singh rued.

Paan Singh's is among at least 200 farmer families affected by Art of Living's 'World Culture Festival,' the venue for which is the Yamuna floodplain. An estimated 100 acre of land under agriculture - wheat, vegetables and flowers - has been seized on the western side of the river. This includes villages Chilla, Nangli and Sarai Kale Khan along the DND flyover, and some UP Canal and DDA (Delhi Development Authority) property on the Noida Road side.

A gigantic stage, complete with golden 'temple-style' domes, has come up at hopping distance from the DND. White portable cabins, huts and toilets are visible elsewhere, besides two pontoon bridges created on the river itself.

Illegal occupants

Vinay Sukhija, an AOL teacher, told Mail Today: "Even one inch of land with crops has not been touched. Only fallow land has been used. These farmers are anyway illegal occupants on Yamuna bank. We gave them `4,000 per bigha on humanitarian grounds; despite that we are having to face so much jhagda and fasad (fights)."

A senior DDA official, however, said on condition of anonymity: "We granted AOL only 24 hectares (60 acre) of vacant land. Instead, they have spread out on 150-200 acres, including agricultural land on all sides. A farmer even approached us with a High Court stay on eviction when threatened by AOL people. We immediately shot off a letter to AOL office warning them of court contempt. They have rampaged everything."

Master Baljeet Singh, General Secretary, Delhi Peasant Cooperative Multipurpose Society, though, said this is nothing new: "We have been tilling this land since 1950. It was granted to us when the country was under acute crisis, under the 'Grow More Food' campaign. It is true we earn our bread from this but we have been chowkidaars (security guards) of Yamuna over these decades. We are harassed and forced out on the pretext of Khel Gaon, Akshardham, DTC Bus Depot, and now this."

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Farmer Dharam Singh said: "It all began a week back. Four men claiming to be from AOL came and said they need to build access roads to their event venue. I said alright. Then they brought JCB machines and turned my standing vegetable crops - kakri, kheera, torai, bengan, gobhi and pyaaz - into pulp. When we protested, they threatened us with police action. Then they gave me `14,000 for my four bigha of crops. What do I say? I bought gobhi (cauliflower) seeds alone for `26,000."

His neighbour Jagan Lal pointed out that the land may have been taken for only three days - March 11 to 13, the duration of 'World Culture Festival - but it is likely to be unproductive for at least a year now. "The way they have compacted the land with rollers, it will take us several months to soften it for cultivation. That is two harvesting seasons. Zameen -asman ek karna padega."

"Further, if they lay bricks over it or concretise it for car parking, it will be useless," he says.

Elong Shri, a 62-year-old woman farmer, said, "Gale se ek niwala nahi utra hai jis din se fasal ujad ke gaye hain (I haven't had a morsel since my crops were razed). We are small farmers. The real owners of these farmlands have sublet it to us and live elsewhere. We have to pay them rent too. I don't know from where I will arrange that."

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Also read:

Art of Living mega event on Yamuna floodplain faces fresh trouble

Art of Living denies it was fined for damaging Yamuna floodplains

Art of Living event in Delhi exposes neglect of Environmental Law



--- ENDS ---
Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Te3n's producers recently approached the tourism department of Bengal with a proposal of co-branding with the film. Although a number of hit Hindi films have been shot in the city even in recent years, but this would be for the first time that Bengal tourism will get promoted through a Bollywood film.

By Press Trust of India: With a major part of the upcoming Bollywood thriller Te3n being shot in West Bengal, the Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer will soon be used by the state government to attract tourists.

ALSO READ: Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui ride a scooter on the streets of Kolkata

ALSO READ: Shooting for Te3n felt like preparing for Kahaani sequel, says Vidya Balan



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The producers of the film recently approached the tourism department with a proposal of co-branding with Te3n. "We will partner with the film but the manner in which we will be associated is being worked out. Our advertising and marketing agency O&M is having talks with the producers," A R Bardhan, principal secretary, West Bengal tourism department, told PTI.

He said since the film is a thriller so they want a deal with the producers that West Bengal Tourism gets a credit in the trailer.

"We may even have a Bengal tourism advertisement along with the film trailer because we are soon launching our TV commercial with Shahrukh Khan. We would want that TVC along with the trailer of the film," the official said.

Although a number of hit Hindi films have been shot in the city even in recent years, but this would be for the first time that Bengal tourism will get promoted through a Bollywood film.

Branded as Experience Bengal Sweetest Part of India, the state tourism has rolled out a fresh advertising and marketing campaign. A new TVC, with SRK as brand ambassador, will be rolled out later this month.

Produced by Sujoy Ghosh and directed by debutant Ribhu Dasgupta, Te3n will release next year. It also stars Vidya Balan, who calls Kolkata her second home, in a special appearance. It was shot in different parts of the city including the Raj-era Writers Buildings.

Bollywood has been romancing the varied colours of the 'City of Joy' in a number of films. In 2012 the superhit mystery Kahaani starring Vidya Balan brought to limelight the myriad colours and vibrancy of colonial Kolkata.

In the same year, Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor's romantic-comedy-drama film Barfi! presented the beauty of the little explored parts of the city and the mystic charm of the hills of Darjeeling. More recently, Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone's father-daughter tale of Piku was also shot in the city.

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Over 300 women activists will be marching to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in protest against the temple management's decision banning entry of women in the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

By India Today Web Desk: Over 300 women activists will be marching to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in protest against the temple management's decision banning entry of women in the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

The march to the famous temple, which has been planned on the occasion of Shivratri today, has been organised by Bhumata Brigade of Pune. The group had previously protested against the ban on entry of women inside Shani Shinganapur temple.

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Bhumata Brigade leader Trupti Desai said that despite the refusal of the temple committee to allow entry of women inside the Trimbakeshwar temple, the group is determined to go ahead with the march.

The Bhumata brigade members, who were arrested last month for their similar attempt at Shani Shingnapur temple, are ready for another face off with the district and the temple.

"We will be able to enter the temple today. What police did last time is a violation of Constitution and they will not do that again," Desai said.

"There is no case in any court either, so they cannot use that excuse. So I request the chief minister that they should deploy more police and allow us the entry. I would like to say to Hindutva groups that I am Hindu too. This is not a fight of religion or of god, this is a fight for women's rights," she added.

Also read:

Shani Shingnapur temple row: Will Devendra Fadnavis ensure #RightToPray?

Shani Shingnapur protest: Women across Maharashtra denounce gender bias in the name of religion



--- ENDS ---
As many as 672 cases of sexual assault, rape and harassment, were reported in Karnataka in 2015, but the conviction rate is zero.

By Mail Today: As many as 672 cases of sexual assault, rape and harassment, were reported in Karnataka in 2015, but the conviction rate is zero.

Karnataka's Home Minister G Parameshwara revealed this startling information to the Legislative Council session on Friday with the Opposition parties criticizing the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for its inaction.

Replying to a question from its own member and senior Congress leader VS Ugrappa, the Home Minister admitted that the conviction rate was poor in Karnataka. However, he assured quick action to dispose off such cases on a priority basis in the courts.

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Parameshwara announced setting up of 29 courts (for speedy trials of cases related to crimes on women) and six inquiry centres across the state for quick disposal of the cases. The minister also informed the House that all police stations had been instructed to open history-sheets against the rape accused and convicts in their respective jurisdictions.

Reflecting on the sad state of affairs in Karnataka, VS Ugrappa, who heads the government Committee on Women's Safety, pointed out that between 2013 and 2015, a whooping 4173 cases of sexual violence, including rape, harassment and molestation, were reported from across Karnataka.

"Unfortunately, only in 89 cases did the conviction take place. We cannot afford to ignore such crimes against women. The police are to be blamed for this poor conviction rate while the accused remain scot-free," he lamented.

ALSO READ:

Three-member SIT to probe Murthal rape case Murthal gangrapes: Women were dragged to fields and raped, confirm truck drivers



--- ENDS ---
FrieslandCampina profits rise, considers acquisition

FrieslandCampina has announced that 2015 operating profit rose by 17.8% to 576 million. The company also said that it will start investigating a possible acquisition of up to 51% of Engro Foods in Pakistan.

FrieslandCampina has announced that 2015 operating profit rose by 17.8% to 576 million. Margins increased due to the sale of more added-value products in Asia and the increased sales of dairy ingredients and infant nutrition by FrieslandCampina Ingredients. Additionally lower purchasing costs and currency translation effects contributed positively. Net profit increased by 13.2% to 343 million. The volume of milk supplied by member dairy farmers increased by 6.4% to 10.1 billion kilo. Revenue fell by 0.7% to 11,265 million. The milk price for member dairy farmers fell by 18.9% to 34.64 per 100 kilos of milk due to the lower guaranteed price for raw milk.

Concurrently with its results announcement, FrieslandCampina said that it will start investigating a possible acquisition of up to 51% of Engro Foods in Pakistan.

2015 was an exceptional year for the dairy sector and for FrieslandCampina, said Roelof Joosten, CEO Royal FrieslandCampina. On 1 April 2015 the milk quota system for dairy farmers was abolished after 31 years. In an uncertain dairy market FrieslandCampina performed well. This good result could, to some extent, offset the reduction of the milk price for member dairy farmers.

FrieslandCampinas unique dairy chain underpins its activities. In recent years FrieslandCampina has performed well in a number of attractive market positions. The focus remains on sustainable growth of the most valuable product market combinations and product market combinations that absorb mainly member milk. At the same time we will continue to manage in a very cost-conscious way so that the means to achieve growth are available.

The company said that global milk production is expected to continue to increase in 2016 and that the situation with regard to the supply of raw milk in the Netherlands is uncertain, in part because of uncertainty related to the details of the intended phosphate regulation. Whether the demand for dairy products on the world market will increase at the same rate as worldwide milk production is uncertain, FrieslandCampina said. This will depend primarily on the development of demand in China and on whether or not Russia lifts the embargo on the import of dairy products from the European Union. As a result of these developments, prices for basic dairy products are expected to remain under pressure for some time.

The result for 2016 is expected to be under pressure due to the low oil price and the resulting stagnating economies in oil exporting countries such as Nigeria and the Middle East, the geopolitical tensions in several regions and the expected increase in the quantity of raw milk. Continuous cost reductions, both at the production facilities and in the offices, are therefore also foreseen in 2016 in order to offset the pressure on results and to enable investments.

For the longer term the outlook remains positive, the company said. As the worlds population grows and prosperity increases in many regions, the demand for food, and in particular food rich in nutrients, which includes dairy products, will continue to rise.
Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
The officer becomes the first member of the state police force to lose their job in the fallout over the hesitant response to the May school attack that ki...
You notice it's always in an election year when tempers are high when something like this usually happens.

begin quote from:

The pastor of a prominent Idaho church was shot and critically wounded in the church's parking lot Sunday, a day after he delivered the invocation at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, authorities 

News Idaho Pastor Shot, Critically Wounded After Delivering Prayer for Ted Cruz

Idaho Pastor Shot After Sunday Services 1:13

Tim Remington, senior pastor of The Altar Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, at a church program gathering in 2014. KHQ-TV

Coeur dAlene police detectives have identified Kyle Andrew Odom, of Coeur dAlene, as the suspect in Sunday's shooting at The Altar Church. Coeur dAlene Police

The pastor of a prominent Idaho church was shot and critically wounded in the church's parking lot Sunday, a day after he delivered the invocation at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, authorities told NBC News.Tim Remington, 55, senior pastor of the nondenominational Altar Church in Coeur d'Alene, was taken to Kootenai Health and Medical Center in critical condition, police and the hospital told NBC News. The hospital reported his status as stable late Sunday night.Coeur d'Alene police Detective Jared Reneau said that when officers arrived shortly before 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), they found Remington with multiple gunshot wounds. Matthew Remington, Remington's nephew, told NBC station KTVB of Boise that his uncle was conscious and was talking to emergency workers on the way to the hospital.The gunman fled and remains at large. Coeur d'Alene Police identified the suspect late Sunday as Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, a white man in his mid-30s with blond hair and blue eyes. Odom was believed to have been driving a 2004 silver Honda Accord, and police warned he should be considered armed and dangerous.Associate pastor John Padula told NBC station KHQ of Spokane, Washington, that there is surveillance of the man waiting in a silver car for Remington. He told The Associated Press that Remington has been threatened several times by some of the drug addicts he works with through his faith-based recovery program.Padula said the church was praying for the gunman as well as Remington."We don't love him less than anybody else," Padula said. "And we pray that he comes to know Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, so we don't want to see anything bad happen to him, either."Remington, a prominent spokesman for conservative issues, delivered the opening prayer for Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas who is among the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, at a rally Saturday at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds."Our prayers are with Pastor Tim, his family, and the doctors who are supervising his care," Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Cruz's campaign, told NBC News. "We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice."Remington grew up in Coeur d'Alene, in northern Idaho, and was pastor of a church in California during the 1980s, when he started a street ministry for drug and alcohol addicts, according to a biography on the church's website He returned home to Coeur d'Alene about 18 years ago and started The Altar Church, as well as the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation drug and alcohol residential program. He and his wife, Cindy, have four children.
Last week was a very busy one for the IPKat blogging team . So, if you missed the action on this weblog, here is Round-up No 86:

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal and cross-appeal in the long running trade mark and passing off "Glee" dispute between Comic Enterprises and 20th Century Fox (Comic Enterprises Ltd v Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation [2016] EWCA Civ 41 ), previously reported on IP Kat here, here and here . The Court of Appeal considered certain issues afresh, and its reasoning is instructive, particularly in relation to 'wrong way round' confusion evi dence. The floor goes to Katfriend, Eibhlin Vardy ( A&O ).





With Spring fast approaching, the IPKat is also embracing the impending season of renewal and growth with exciting announcements on this season's IPKat blog team. Meet Emma, Nedim, and Mike! Meet Emma, Nedim, and Mike!





This is about the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) decision in Shoe Branding Europe BVBA v Adidas and OHIM [ Case C 396/15 P ] , another trade mark case upon parallel stripes and shoes. Imogen Fowler and Iza Junkar (Hogan Lovells) tell all.





April 26 is the World IP Day is year the theme is "Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined". David reports of the most relevant IP-related events in the UK and beyond. . Th





Eleonora pens of the Opinion of Advocate General (AG) Henrik Saugmandsgaard e in Austro-Mechana , C-572/14 , a reference for a preliminary ruling regarding interpretation of the private copying exception within Article 5(2)(b) of the InfoSoc Directive .









Mark pens of a recent decision of the Oberlandesgericht Munich, which held that YouTube is not liable for financial damages for hosting copyright-infringing videos.





Following last week's Preparatory Committee meeting where the topics of opt-out and court fees were agreed (see post here ), the judicial salaries for full-time Unified Patent Court judges have been announced. Annsley breaks the news!



* The UK Implements the Unitary Patent - Statutory Instrument passed

Darren and his colleague Robert Barker pen a detailed post upon the Statutory Instrument that will implement the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court in UK law, which was approved by the House of Commons on 1 March and the House of Lords on 2 March.





This post of mine is about the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) decision in Daimler AG Egyud Garage Gepjarmujavito es Ertekesito Kft ( C-179/2015 ). The ruling addresses the notion of "use of trade mark" in on-line advertising and explores possible remedies against trade mark infringements on the internet.





Katfriend Prashant Reddy pens about a wide legal dispute between Monsanto and some Indian seed companies, backed by the Indian government (& state governments). It involves the use of price-control legislation to fix IP licensing fees, the demand for compulsory licences for Monsantos patent over its Bt technology, demands by state governments for the outright revocation of Monsantos patent over its Bt technology, and an ongoing investigation into Monsantos licensing deals.





France has just entered the debate concerning whether any fee should be paid for indexing content online, though from a different angle. Debate in France is not about news content, but rather images, recounts Eleonora.





Nedim's first post is about a recent decision of the Stockholm District Court, which rejected an application to issue an injunction against a Swedish internet access provider to block access to torrent sites The Pirate Bay and Swefilmer.

Lindesay Low, Senior Legal Counsel at the Scotch Whisky Association, shares his thoughts on the recent decision Viiniverla Oy V Sosiaali- ja terveysalan lupa- ja valvontavirasto (C-75/15), where the CJEU considered whether the use of the name Verlados on a Finnish cider spirit, was an illegal evocation of the geographical indication Calvados.





Carnival is a big deal in Trinidad. Behind the revelry and partying is an unappreciated copyright backstory, concerning sometimes acrimonious and complicated licensing issues regarding the music and live performances that are central to the festivities. Emma recounts the state of confusion of copyright in Trinidads Carnival industry also via a lovely song of this years popular Carnival tunes, which she amended for the Kat-readership's pleasure.





Now that OHIM has decided how Article 28 declarations are going to work, Darren Meale , of Simmons & Simmons, London, offers his further thoughts on what to expect. has decided how Article 28 declarations are going to work,









**********





PREVIOUSLY, ON NEVER TOO LATE





Never too late 85 [week ending on Sunday 2 8 February]  Reha Training | Battistelli having hard times | Blocking injunctions in trade mark cases | AIPPI UK event | Patent Enforcement Worldwide | Why Mickey Mouse is not mickey mouse | UPC court fees. AG Yves Bot's take in| Battistelli having hard times | Blocking injunctions in trade mark cases | AIPPI UK event || Why Mickey Mouse is not mickey mouse | UPC court fees.





Never too late 84 [week ending on Sunday 21 February]  Domain Name Law and Practice | Unwired Planet v Huawei and Samsung Celltrion Inc. v Biogen Idec Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG and Genentech Inc. | Design v Copyright in Italy | Unitary patent and double patenting | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc v Kymab Ltd & Anor | IKEA in Indonesia | Eli Lilly v Janssen Sciences. | In memoriam of Justice Antonin Scalia |. | Design v Copyright in Italy | Unitary patent and double patenting || IKEA in Indonesia |





Never too late 83 [week ending on Sunday 14 February]  Actavis v Lilly. Indigenous IP | Arnold J's latest judgment flags down the iconic London black cab | Life of a national/EU trade mark ... in a map | A comprehensive explanation of trademarks |





Never too late 82 [week ending on Sunday 7 February]  PhD Student Seminar at CIPA | IP meets Antimonopoly law in Japan | German Federal Patent Court invalidates 80% of litigated patents | Inquiry as to damages: no longer a rare avis? | US trade secrets | Trends in IP Data | EPO's new Chief Economist | GIFs and copyright | Katcall for new positions in the IPKat team | Star Wars IP.





The European Patent Office has just announced a "landmark deal" in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with FFPE-EPO, which is a trade union of EPO employees. Merpel reports.
The International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women's rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

International Womens Day (IWD) is now an official holiday in countries throughout the world from Afghanistan to Armenia and Uzbekistan and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mothers Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

th March 2016, Global Peace Foundation Tanzania participated the IWD celebrations at Serena Hotel, Dar Salaam, the event was organized by Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Country Director, Martha Nghambi was one of the speaker during the event. On 6March 2016, Global Peace Foundation Tanzania participated the IWD celebrations at Serena Hotel, Dar Salaam, the event was organized by Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Country Director, Martha Nghambi was one of the speaker during the event.

Global Peace Foundation Tanzania, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting an innovative and values based approach to peace building, its a chapter of a premier international non-profit, Global Peace Foundation (GPF), headquartered in Washington, D.C.

GPF engages a global network of public and private sector partners in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas to implement programs and activities that transform education, build youth leadership, strengthen community-based development efforts, and foster a culture of service and volunteerism.

With chapters in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania, GPF maintains a strong presence in Africa and has a successful track record of promoting peaceful coexistence and mitigating extremist and sectarian violence.

During the 2015 general elections, GPF Tanzania in collaboration with Inter Religious Council For Peace Tanzania (IRCPT), conducted Peace Dialogue and a successful pre-election Social media campaign, Amani Kwanza, to encourage peaceful participation of youth, and also In July 2015, GPF Tanzania gathered about 200+ Leaders and Former African Presidents to the Global Peace Leadership Conference held at Melia Hotel, Zanzibar, and about 800+ Youth from East Africa including Colleges and Universities Presidents, for the East African Youth Summit that held at Zanzibar Beach Resort, the theme was Promoting Peace, Security and Sustainable Development in the East Africa Region: A Call to Moral and Innovative Leadership 





Country Director, Global Peace Foundation Tanzania Martha Nghambi speaks out during the International Women's Day held at the Serena Hotel in Dar es salaam over the weekend.

GPF Tanzania representatives posed with their partners, Tanzania Women Interfaith Network (TWIN)





Masked participants celebrate the day during the International Women's Day held at the Serena Hotel in Dar es salaam over the weekend.

A cross-section of participants during the International Women's Day held at the Serena Hotel in Dar es salaam over the weekend.

Super model Tausi Likokola was one of the high profile participants during the International Women's Day held at the Serena Hotel in Dar es salaam over the weekend.
[March 07, 2016] RSA Conference 2016 Brought Together Top Information Security Experts to Debate Critical Cybersecurity Issues at 25th Anniversary Event

RSA Conference, the world's leading information security conferences and expositions, concluded its 25th annual event last Friday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Keynotes, sessions and debates focused on the Internet of Things, industrial control systems, encryption, artificial intelligence and machine learning, crowdsourcing, healthcare, automotive, and more, with many reflecting current industry news. A record number of more than 40,000 attendees experienced keynotes, peer-to-peer sessions, track sessions, tutorials and seminars. "RSA (News - Alert) Conference continues to be the premier security event, with each event seeing more attendees than ever before, and RSA Conference 2016 was no exception," said Linda Gray, General Manager of RSA Conference. "Our 25th anniversary marks not only a milestone in the conference's reach and impact in this important industry, but is also a testament to the work we as a community are doing together. There were a lot of great discussions over the course of the week, and I look forward to the positive impact these will make on our world moving forward. We thank the cybersecurity community for its continued support, innovation, spirit and drive as we shape the future of our industry, together." RSA Conference 2016 highlights include: Hot session topics and presentations: Gerhard Eschelbeck, Vice President Security Engineering at Google, gave a packed house an inside look at what it's like heading up security for one of the world's biggest tech companies and hacker targets during "My Life as Chief Security Officer at Google." Ben Rothke, Senior eGRC Consultant, The Nettitude Group; Phil Agcaoili, SVP & Chief Information Security Officer; Elavon, Roland Cloutier, VP & CSO, ADP, Inc. and Jack Jones, EVP Research & Development, RiskLens shared their strategies for success at the "Habits of an Effective CISO" panel. Attendees learned how to effectively tell their security story and speak the language of business at "The Measure of Success: Security Metrics to Tell Your Story" panel with Lisa Lee, Senior IT Examiner, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Julie Bernard, Principal, Cyber Risk Services, Deloitte (News - Alert) and Wendy Frank, Principal, PwC. First time presenters William Bengtson, Senior Security Program Manager, Nuna Health and Robert Wood, CISO, Nuna Health, Inc. highlighted how defenses and strategy must evolve with attacker tactics, techniques and procedures at "The Rise of the Purple Team." As the year begins, Mario Vuksan, CEO, ReversingLabs, reviewed fundamental industry shifts and how to adopt how to trust and build software at "Threats of Greatest Consequences Heading into 2016."

Phantom was named "RSA Conference 2016's Most Innovative Startup" by the Innovation Sandbox's judges' panel comprised of technology, venture and security industry thought leaders.

The Conference reached a new audience at the first-ever, interactive CyberSmart: Parents Education Workshop. Parents from across the Bay Area gathered to learn more about how to teach their children to interact safely with technology.

The inaugural Security Scholars Program brought together the brightest up-and-coming cybersecurity students from 10 participating public and private universities with leading experts, peers and conference attendees. Throughout the week, students made professional connections, discussed industry trends and participated in conference activities. The program concluded with a Poster Exhibition where scholars demoed and discussed their work while connecting with industry leaders.

RSA Conference donated space within the Moscone Center so industry professionals could meet the challenge to "go bald" with St. Baldrick's Foundation to help raise awareness and money for childhood cancer research. The 19th Annual RSA Conference Awards program highlighted the work of four security professionals in the fields of mathematics, public policy and security practices. This year's winners included: Art Coviello, Jr - Lifetime Achievement Award

Roland Cloutier, CSO, ADP - Excellence in the Field of Information Security

Professor Ueli Maurer, ETH Zurich - Excellence in the Field of Mathematics

Christopher M.E. Painter, Coordinator for Cyber Issues, U.S. Department of State - Excellence in the Field of Public Policy RSA Conference 2016 Asia Pacific & Japan takes place July 20-22, 2016, at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Additionally, RSA Conference returns to Abu Dhabi in Nov. 15-16, 2016. RSA Conference 2017 will take place Feb. 13-17 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. EXHIBITOR QUOTES "RSA Conference showcased the breadth, depth and creativity of technologies and people arrayed against bad actors worldwide, whose singular mission is to penetrate and to exploit. Speaking with counterparts from organizations focused on protecting data, networks and applications, I gained even more confidence that collectively we're up to the challenge. While the attack methods and surfaces are contantly changing, defending against penetration and internal leaks remains a major focus. At RSAC this year we saw a marked increase in the number of solutions coming market that are focused on doing both through better application security. As organizations continue to advance their application security initiatives, collectively we will adapt and continue to thwart the bad guys."





Black Duck "RSA Conference 2016 was a strong reiteration of the message that the industry needs a more comprehensive approach to ensuring information is secure regardless of platform. As security professionals, we're responsible for ensuring information is protected regardless of device, platform or operating system. We don't just use one, we use all solutions: cloud, mobile, network, data center, SaaS. Businesses need a method to ensure control between traditional infrastructures, cloud and mobile to establish trust with the customers. To get out of a reactive state and into proactively defending data, companies have to look for solutions that enable a control plane. Without it, there is no single source of trust."

- Stan Black, CSO, Citrix

"We had an incredible week at RSA Conference, an event known for gathering the biggest movers, shakers and disruptors in the industry. This year, it is clear enterprises are making great strides to adopt new technologies to help them battle the onslaught of cyber threats. As a company recently out of stealth, Fireglass was able to showcase its enterprise-grade Threat Isolation Platform and received a wealth of positive feedback. The security industry's most influential professionals were able to experience first-hand Fireglass' ability to eliminate cyber threats without any client software while providing a seamless user experience."

- Guy Guzner, Co-founder and CEO, Fireglass "RSA Conference brings together the best and brightest in the industry to share insights on how to counter the latest threats, create strategic and robust defenses, and review the latest information security innovations. As the security landscape only becomes even more rife with new threats, we must come together to create meaningful solutions that protect our data while still ensuring that we are empowering our end users to conduct their business at hand. This year's conference has been particularly insightful as we analyze how the larger connected world will affect how the industry approaches a number of new security challenges. The connected world is going to be a driver of significant technology innovations. However, with technology advancements we may also see more potential threats and vulnerabilities from creating smarter homes, devices and enterprises. As a larger industry, it's our responsibility to shape the conversation and develop standards, protections and proactive strategies to responsibly keep an individual or organizations data out of the hands of those meaning to exploit it. We look forward to continuing to address these and many more pressing security issues until next year's RSA Conference."

- James L. Bindseil, President and CEO, Globalscape "With breaches soaring to new heights every year, and an ever growing concern for cybersecurity, this year's RSA Conference provided a great learning experience for all attendees. Bringing together a 'who's who' list of leading cybersecurity professionals means there was a plethora of opportunities to engage face-to-face, explore the latest trends and see how peers are solving problems. SecureAuth was ecstatic about the chance to show our value to this centralized audience of individuals who have cybersecurity top of mind. RSA Conference is a can't-miss opportunity for us year after year."

- Craig Lund, CEO, SecureAuth "In the past year, the cybersecurity climate rose to a scorching temperature - as witnessed by the number of breaches and cyber attacks, as well as new legislative measures like the Cybersecurity National Action Plan and U.S.-EU Privacy Shield. This year at RSAC, we're seeing traffic and interest from organizations that have understood the changes in cyber threats, and taken necessary steps to deal with them using data-centric IT security solutions like Vormetric's. The RSA Conference is our strongest event of the year, and its leadership as the foremost global forum for IT Security discussions and learning make this a great place for us to both find new customers and to build on relationships with existing customers and partners."

- Tina Stewart, Vice President of Marketing, Vormetric RSA CONFERENCE ONLINE Blog - http://www.rsaconference.com/blogs

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November 28, 2018 Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14; Revelation 1.4b-8; John 18.33-37 + For any of you who have known me for any period of ti...
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About the photos, and permission to use

All photographs (unless otherwise noted) on these web pages are the exclusive property of Jim McCormac, and are protected under United States and International copyright laws. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, stored, distributed or manipulated without written permission. All rights are reserved.



All photographs are available for purchase. If interested in an image(s), please feel free to contact me at: jimmccormac35 AT gmail.com



If you contact me requesting free photos, the reply may be long in coming :-)



I've been taking photographs for a few decades, but never became fully engaged in photography until 2003. That's when I got my first digital camera. Since then, photography has become a passion and a steadily growing addiction. If you delve back far enough into this blog, you will see photos that were made with a range of cameras. Early on was a Canon Rebel DSLR, followed by a Nikon D7000. I've since returned to Canon, and use their gear exclusively. My current camera bodies are a Canon 6D II and 5D IV - both are awesome cameras, each with their primary use.



The lens bag includes a number of Canon lenses that collectively cover most bases, ranging from macro to super telephotos. I do lots of macro, and my typical flash gear is the Canon Twin-Lite setup, or sometimes a diffused Canon 600 speedlite. If the gear needs three-legged stabilization, it is mounted on either an Induro tripod, attached to an Induro Gimbal head, or a Gitzo 3542 tripod and Wimberly WH-200 head. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my iPhone 7 smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become.






For over 50 years and in 146 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society. ACDI/VOCA currently has approximately 34 projects in 26 countries and revenues of approximately $174 million.

Chief of Party, Ethiopia

We are currently seeking a Chief of Party for an anticipated multiyear, USAID-funded Feed the Future project in Ethiopia that will focus on agricultural development, agribusiness and market Development. This project will work to sustainably reduce poverty and hunger by improving the productivity and competitiveness of value chains that offer jobs and income opportunities for rural households. Chief of Party responsibilities for this program include, but are not limited to the following:

Responsibilities:

Provide overall technical vision, leadership, and project management



Supervision of all international consultants and local project staff



Ensure day-to-day technical, schedule, and financial performance of the project in accordance with the scope of work and annual work plans



Serve as the projects key liaison with headquarters, USAID, government counterparts, private sector stakeholders, subcontractors, academic institutions, and other local partners to exchange information and develop professional relationships



Collaboratively create and implement a strategic, long-term programmatic vision



Manage and supervise the work of project personnel and subcontractors



Oversee preparation and supervision of project work planning, performance management, and strategic communications



Quality control and timeliness of all deliverables



Review of all financial and logistical information on a periodic basis



Recommendation and evaluation of proposed staff



Making verbal or written presentations as requested by the client to varied audiences



Minimum Qualifications:

 Masters degree in agribusiness, economics, trade, business, agronomy or a related field.

 Minimum 10 years of experience working in developing countries; preferably on agricultural value chain development.

 Minimum of 7 years of Chief of Party experience on a large, complex USAID-funded project (at least $20 million).

 Ability to collaborate successfully with host-country government officials, international donors, and private sector stakeholders.

 Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity

 Extensive management experience and strong leadership and communication skills required.

 Work experience in Ethiopia and/or other East African countries preferred.

 Strong communications and interpersonal skills with evidence of ability to productively interact with a wide range and levels of organizations (government, private sector, NGOs, research institutions).

 Demonstrated ability to be collaborative across projects, flexible and creative.

 Fluency in English.
If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the worlds leading childrens rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote childrens survival, protection and development. The worlds largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Position

Under the supervision of the Administrative and Finance Manager (P-4), the position of the Quality Assurance Officer will be responsible for strengthening the Ethiopia Country Offices (ECO) risk assurance and compliance efforts. The incumbent will be responsible for quality assurance, compliance and oversight in the context of a large scale country office.

It will provide guidance on compliance issues and conduct operations peer review, will provide support to implementation of the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT) and other quality assurance activities. It will conduct a quality check of financial transactions to ensure compliance with IPSAS, Administrative and Finance Policies and Procedures. Moreover, the position will provide training and guidance to staff on UNICEF Administrative and Finance policies and procedures. The position is also responsible for analyzing cause and effect of policy changes to the operations of the offices and it will provide advice on implementation.

Key Expected Results

1. Report on the Ethiopia Country Offices compliance efforts and provides guidance on compliance issues.

2. Conduct quality check of financial transactions to ensure compliance with IPSAS, Admin/Finance policies and procedures.

3. Provide support in the implementation of HACT assurance activities.

4. Analyse the Offices existing compliance policies and procedures and recommends measures for improvement.

5. Responsible for all assurance work in ensuring quality of transactions, analysing cause and effect of policy changes to the operations of the office and advice on the feasibility of its implementation.

6. Provide capacity building training to staff on IPSAS, Administrative and Finance policies and procedures, including at sub-office level across eight field offices and sub-offices.

7. Establish and/or review systems and procedures for compliance with rules and regulations and prepares reports and recommendations.

8. Provide oversight on ensuring timely preparation and submission of financial transactions and accounting reports and statements for the Head of Office and Headquarters.

9. Ensure monitoring and recovery of advances and accounts receivables are timely performed.

10.Conduct quality check and ensures processing and recording of disbursements and payments are done in a timely manner and in compliance with Admin/Finance policies and IPSAS and in accordance with established rules, regulations and systems, and within budgetary limits.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

 An advanced university degree (Masters) in Accounting, Finance or Business Administration or related degree.

 A minimum of two years of relevant work experience in finance and accounting.

 Proficiency in English and a second UN language (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is required. Knowledge of the local working language of the duty station is an asset.

 Computer skills, including internet navigation, and various office applications.

 Experience in an international organization is desirable.

 Supervisory ability and ability to conduct trainings is considered an asset.

 One of the following certifications is considered an asset: Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Chartered Financial Analysis (CFA).

Competencies of Successful Candidate

 Holds UNICEFs Core Values: Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Integrity;

 Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking;

 Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals;

 Shows respect for the views and contributions of other team members;

 Analyzes and integrates potentially conflicting numerical, verbal and other data from a number of sources; makes rational judgments from the available information;

 Demonstrates and shares detailed technical knowledge and expertise;

 Sets clearly defined objectives and plans activities for self, own team or department;

 Follows procedures and policies;

 Possesses good judgment, analytical skills, takes initiative, and maintains high sense of responsibility.

Remarks

The New and Emerging Talent Initiative (NETI) is an entry point for dynamic professionals interested in an international career with UNICEF. Aside from the qualifications indicated in the job description for this post, all NETI programme applicants must also meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Completion of an advanced university degree (Masters degree or equivalent) at the time of application;

2. Proficiency in English and another official language of the United Nations;

3. Readiness to be assigned to any UNICEF office worldwide, including hardship duty stations;

4. At least 2 years of relevant work experience for functions at the P-2 level, and at least 5 years of relevant work experience for functions at the P-3 level. Relevant experience should include work in developing countries and in multicultural environments.

All applicants will be required to complete a technical test questionnaire at the time of application. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and will therefore advance to the next stage of the competitive selection process, which involves various additional assessments including a language proficiency test.

To view our competency framework, please click here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.
Plan International

Social and Behavioral Change (SBC) Operations Officer,

Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity, Ethiopia

Background

Plan International is a global organization that works side by side with communities in 50 developing countries to end the cycle of poverty for children and their families. Plan works at the community level to develop customized solutions and ensure long-term sustainability. Our solutions are designed up-front to be owned by communities and range from clean water and healthcare programs to education projects, economic empowerment, child protection initiatives and youth civic engagement. Across program areas, Plans activities are guided by a Child-Centered Community Development (CCCD) approach, which is rights-based, holistic, gender-sensitive, and inclusive.

Position Description

Plan is seeking applicants for a proposed Social and Behavioral Change Operations Officer role for an anticipated five-year USAID/Ethiopia Feed the Future Value Chain Activity. The SBC Operations Officer is responsible for overseeing project finances and administrative operations in accordance with relevant USAID regulations and in line with Plans financial and administrative management policy provisions. The SBC Operations Officer will supervise grant management and financial reporting on grant performance and will ensure best use of resources by managing the preparation of sound budgets, monitoring project expenses as well as operations, and assuring timely preparation of donor financial reports. This position is contingent upon award of the project by the donor.

Responsibilities

Provide oversight of financial and administrative management of the project in compliance with donors rules and regulations.



Develop strategic planning, work planning, and budgeting processes.



Supervise all financial management and operations to ensure best use of resources through sound budgeting, monitoring of project expenses, and timely preparation of donor financial reports.



Develop and implement monthly project-wide financial review (project tracker) and analysis, as well as provide timely and reliable financial information for decision-making.



Maintain strong internal policies, processes, and controls systems in order to provide timely, consistent and accurate financial and budget management.



Work closely with Plan International USA home office and Plan Ethiopia country office staff on internal and external financial reviews and audits; work closely with project finance/grants/administrative staff and sub-grantees to ensure appropriate implementation of regulations.



Prepare financial reports for donors.



Key Qualifications and Skills

Masters degree in finance or financial management, and/or a professional qualification in accountancy. Bachelors degree with significant experience in project finance management may be accepted.



Significant experience managing programs funded by the U.S. Government, including experience managing finances for USAID-funded projects.



Extensive experience in financial management and/or project administration.



Demonstrated knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) applicable to USA accounting procedures and processes.



In-depth knowledge of USAID financial management rules and regulations and other key USG regulations, including USAID 22 CFR Part 226 Administration of Assistance Awards to U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations, 22 CFR Part 145 Grants and Agreements with Non-Profits, OMB Circulars A-122, Cost principles for non-profit organizations, and A-133 Audit of states, local governments, and non-profits.



Ability to adopt new software and financial management systems.



Excellent communication, management, and leadership skills.



Proven analytical skills in isolating priorities and tackling them.



Demonstrated knowledge about gender and development, and demonstrated experience and proficiency in managing programs that mainstream gender.



Work experience in Ethiopia highly preferred.



Excellent English oral and written communication skills; knowledge of Amharic preferred.



Plan is an Equal Opportunity Employer and as such qualified female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

Further, Qualified Ethiopian nationals, including those living in the diaspora, are additionally highly encouraged to apply.
Monday, March 07, 2016 Post-McCleskey Political Era Will Have To Wait As Feds Fold On Indictment, Plus: The Great Unraveling: First The Oil Crash; Now The Medicaid Crisis; Soon A Million Recipients And A Giant Budget Hole McCleskey & Martinez The post-McCleskey political era in New Mexico will have to wait. However the decision by the Feds not to indict the



The serious legal questions



Still, the no indictment outcome had to cause a big sigh of relief for the pair. An indictment would have been devastating to them and cratered their campaign plans as Jay awaited trial. They live to fight another day, but because McCleskey overreached and triggered an investigation the fight in him and Martinez will not be as furious.



Another reason for that is the calendar. Tomorrow is filing day for all the legislative seats. It will be the last chance for Martinez/McCleskey to push candidates into the primary and general election races. State Senators, in particular, will be free to roam about the building once they know with certainty that they are not machine targets.



THE GREAT UNRAVELING



Secretary Earnest And that brings us to the state of state government which continues to unravel before our eyes. The latest body blow was delivered by Human Services Secretary



The secretary said



Gov. Martinez agreed to President Obama's plan to expand Medicaid but she and the Legislature have yet to figure out how to pay for it. Because there are so many low-income New Mexicans, they are eligible for Medicaid. Come July 2017 it's expected half the state or nearly 1 million individuals will be on Medicaid. Boom!



Folks, we'll say it again. Before the radical transformation of the economy here is finished, you're going to continue to see and hear things you never thought possible. Add 1 million New Mexicans getting Medicaid to the list of shockers (and you thought 10,000 applicants for 290 Cheesecake Factory jobs in ABQ was the topper.)



You can't cut your way out of the Medicaid hole. Santa Fe needs to find cash and fast. Taking over $400 million out of medical care--one of the few sectors growing jobs in this state which is saddled with the highest jobless rate in the USA--is economic suicide.



Still Martinez and company are still chanting "no new taxes" even as state government sinks into the abyss and the state economy seems headed for its worst performing decade since the Great Depression (we'll get our No Bullshit Economists working on that one). How our elected leaders can refuse to come up with $86 million when it means over $400 million in spending for health care is a question for a political malpractice lawyer, not a blogger.



Here's some low-lying fruit to get that $86 million. Yes, do some cuts. Then start sweeping some of the hundreds of millions in unspent capital outlay into Medicaid for at least a one time funding fix; raise the gas tax a nickel a gallon for three years and slow down the corporate income tax cut that has failed to attract businesses as promised. That means legislative finance leaders such as Senator John Arthur Smith and House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Harper must get busy with Secretary Earnest and stop the nonsense about no new taxes forever and ever, even if it means citizens head to the cemetery instead of the ER.



If Medicaid is allowed to go into the gutter look for high quality medical professionals to join the exodus out of here and for a work force even less prepared to work. You think it can't get worse? Think again.



STUMPING WITH SUSANA



There's no use imploring Gov. Martinez to join in the Medicaid problem solving. She's out of here. It's kind of like Big Bill when he found succor on the national stage.



As the Medicaid crisis brewed and oil prices stayed in the cellar, she was off to Kansas Friday to give a badly timed endorsement of Marco Rubio, with a dash of Trump bashing thrown in. (Transcript



This is the home of New Mexico politics.







Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.



( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 The post-McCleskey political era in New Mexico will have to wait. However the decision by the Fedsthe notorious political consultant known as the state's "Shadow Governor" because of the immense influence he exerts over Governor Martinez, does not mean McCleskey and the political machine he heads will strengthen. The opposite could be true.The serious legal questions raised by the federal grand jury probe put McCleskey and Martinez on softer legal ground. There will be more scrutiny of him and the millions he hopes to raise this year in an effort to keep Republican control of the State House and take control of the State Senate. And, on the moral authority front Martinez was downgraded by her infamous holiday pizza party when audio tapes revealed her bossing around low-level hotel employees and the police--and appearing pretty loaded while doing so.Still, the no indictment outcome had to cause a big sigh of relief for the pair. An indictment would have been devastating to them and cratered their campaign plans as Jay awaited trial. They live to fight another day, but because McCleskey overreached and triggered an investigation the fight in him and Martinez will not be as furious.Another reason for that is the calendar. Tomorrow is filing day for all the legislative seats. It will be the last chance for Martinez/McCleskey to push candidates into the primary and general election races. State Senators, in particular, will be free to roam about the building once they know with certainty that they are not machine targets.And that brings us to the state of state government which continues to unravel before our eyes. The latest body blow was delivered by Human Services Secretary Brent Earnest who reported that the cost of the state run Medicaid program is about to blow an enormous hole in the budget. That follows a cannon strike from the oil and gas fields where plummeting prices there have already shredded the treasury.The secretary said the shortfall will amount to a hefty $86 million over the next 16 months, but because that money is matched much more than that by the Feds, the actual shortfall will be an elephantine $417 million.Gov. Martinez agreed to President Obama's plan to expand Medicaid but she and the Legislature have yet to figure out how to pay for it. Because there are so many low-income New Mexicans, they are eligible for Medicaid. Come July 2017 it's expected half the state or nearly 1 million individuals will be on Medicaid. Boom!Folks, we'll say it again. Before the radical transformation of the economy here is finished, you're going to continue to see and hear things you never thought possible. Add 1 million New Mexicans getting Medicaid to the list of shockers (and you thought 10,000 applicants for 290 Cheesecake Factory jobs in ABQ was the topper.)You can't cut your way out of the Medicaid hole. Santa Fe needs to find cash and fast. Taking over $400 million out of medical care--one of the few sectors growing jobs in this state which is saddled with the highest jobless rate in the USA--is economic suicide.Still Martinez and company are still chanting "no new taxes" even as state government sinks into the abyss and the state economy seems headed for its worst performing decade since the Great Depression (we'll get our No Bullshit Economists working on that one). How our elected leaders can refuse to come up with $86 million when it means over $400 million in spending for health care is a question for a political malpractice lawyer, not a blogger.Here's some low-lying fruit to get that $86 million. Yes, do some cuts. Then start sweeping some of the hundreds of millions in unspent capital outlay into Medicaid for at least a one time funding fix; raise the gas tax a nickel a gallon for three years and slow down the corporate income tax cut that has failed to attract businesses as promised. That means legislative finance leaders such as Senator John Arthur Smith and House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Harper must get busy with Secretary Earnest and stop the nonsense about no new taxes forever and ever, even if it means citizens head to the cemetery instead of the ER.If Medicaid is allowed to go into the gutter look for high quality medical professionals to join the exodus out of here and for a work force even less prepared to work. You think it can't get worse? Think again.There's no use imploring Gov. Martinez to join in the Medicaid problem solving. She's out of here. It's kind of like Big Bill when he found succor on the national stage.As the Medicaid crisis brewed and oil prices stayed in the cellar, she was off to Kansas Friday to give a badly timed endorsement of Marco Rubio, with a dash of Trump bashing thrown in. (Transcript here . Video here ). No sooner had she announced Rubio as her new Prez pal and he goes and loses a bunch of states and is essentially out of the race. Like we said this political machine is dented--and showing rust when it pulls stunts like that. . .This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Links HOME

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Lincoln, March 2, 2016, Swanson Russell received 15 awards at the Nebraska ADDY Awards Show & Banquet held Feb. 20 in Omaha.

The agency accepted four gold ADDY Awards for clients in the following categories: FMC, Poster; Minn Kota, Photography Campaign; Minn Kota, Regional/National Television Advertisement; SiteOne Landscape Supply, Integrated Brand Identity Campaign.

The agency accepted nine silver ADDY Awards for clients in the following categories: Do Space, Logo Design; Humminbird, Regional/National Consumer Campaign; Humminbird, Regional/National Television Advertising; Minn Kota, Regional/National Consumer Campaign; Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau, Music with Lyrics; Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau, Online/Interactive Campaign; Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau, Regional/National Consumer Campaign; Pepsi, Full Page Magazine Advertisement; SiteOne Landscape Supply, Photography Campaign.

Swanson Russell also received two silver ADDY Awards for internal work in the category of Advertising Industry Self-Promotion Integrated Media Campaign.

Were extremely proud to be recognized for national and regional work produced on behalf of seven clients, said Brian Boesche, partner and chief creative officer at Swanson Russell. I would like to congratulate our clients as well as the Swanson Russell account teams for these well-deserved accolades, which are the result of creative thinking and problem solving that connects and gets results.

The Nebraska ADDY Awards are sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and aim to recognize and reward creative excellence in the art of advertising. Judges evaluate entries submitted from around the state. For more information about the Nebraska ADDY Awards and award winners, visit www.nebraskaaddys.org.

Founded in 1962, Swanson Russell is a Nebraska-based marketing communications firm with offices in Lincoln and Omaha. In addition to working with local and regional clients, the full-service agency is nationally recognized for expertise in agriculture, health care, outdoor recreation, construction and the green industry. For more information about Swanson Russells Real Connection approach to advertising, public relations, interactive and branding services, visit www.swansonrussell.com.
Lets start at the beginning. Say we agreed with President Barack Obama and we thought that Guantanamo Bay prison should close.

OK. Then what?

Where are we putting these prisoners? Are we bringing them to America and mixing them with our own citizens? Are we building a new prison on our soil? Or are we moving prisoners to another country?

None of those answers seem appealing. Yet, without having a real answer, the president is proposing to shut the doors of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

According to the president, (Guantanamo Bay prison) is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law  This is about closing a chapter in our history.

Hearing comments like that, it seems Obama is more concerned about his legacy than national security.

Guantanamo Bay prison was opened in 2002 as a place for detainees from the Afghanistan war and its where some of the most dangerous terrorists have gone for interrogation. The way it has worked, detainees there were not protected by the Geneva Convention and the courts had no authority to oversee what the government did to prisoners on the base.

In an address last month about his plan, Obama said, I dont want to pass this problem on to the next president, whoever it is. And if, as a nation, we dont deal with this now, when will we deal with it?

But closing Guantanamo Bay is not a solution. It will create new problems for the next president and the nations security.

The president wouldnt be closing Guantanamo, David H. Remes, who represents 13 Yemeni detainees, five of them on the transfer list, said in a New York Times article. Hed just be moving it to the United States.

The prisoners being kept at Guantanamo Bay are considered to be potentially some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world or connected to them. These are people who may have connections with ISIS and other terrorist groups.

ISIS doesnt hesitate to decapitate and kill our citizens. They are dangerous.

The Obama administration has called the prison a recruiting tool that is used by terrorist groups.

But that makes no sense. If anything it seems the closure of Guantanamo Bay would be more of a recruiting tool.

It would show, if you get caught, there will be less severe consequences. Here is the future recruiting video: If you are caught, its OK. You will go to an American prison, eat three solid meals and be able to watch TV, because that is an American right after all.

If President Obama is worried about his legacy and national security, he should leave Guantanamo Bay open.
State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Monday apologized for opinions she published 24 years ago as a college student that referred to people with AIDS as degenerates and called gay people queers.

To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview, Bradley said in a statement. These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state.

I am frankly embarrassed at the content and tone of what I wrote those many years ago, Bradley said in the statement, in which she also said she wrote them as a very young student.

Bradley was responding to the release of two letters to the editor and one column she wrote in 1992 as a student at Marquette University when she had a different last name. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now disclosed the writings, published in the Marquette Tribune, at a state Capitol news conference Monday.

The revelation comes less than a month before Wisconsin voters go to the polls to determine whether Bradley should retain her seat on the high court or whether she should be replaced by Appeals Court judge Joanne Kloppenburg.

There is no statute of limitations on hate, Kloppenburg said in a statement. Rebecca Bradleys comments are as abhorrent and disturbing today as they were in 1992 as people were dying in huge numbers from AIDS.

Ryan Owens, a political science professor at UW-Madison specializing in the politics of and appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, said he didnt think the release of Bradleys comments would affect her campaign.

I think the question in this case is going to be: Who will respond negatively to these comments? Owens said. Obviously these are statements that are on their face pretty negative and pretty disparaging, but I think the question that we are going to ask in the political sense, is this going to move the dial. I suspect the answer to that is probably not.

Owens said the public has shown repeatedly that comments people made decades ago are things they are not going to hold (candidates) accountable for.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Bradley to three judicial positions in as many years  including as Supreme Court justice last fall  said Monday that neither the governor nor our office was aware of the columns.

The spokeswoman did not immediately respond to whether Walker would have appointed Bradley had he known.

Justice Bradley appropriately made it clear today that a column written in college does not reflect her views as a Supreme Court justice, a court of appeals judge, a circuit court judge or as an attorney, Walker said in a statement.

Fairness at issue

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, said Monday that the writing shows Bradley cannot be trusted to treat all people fairly under the law. He called on her to resign immediately, a move her campaign rejected.

In a Feb. 28, 1992, letter, Bradley wrote that Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving marital relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills, referring to the transfer of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

She also wrote in a Feb. 11, 1992, letter, Perhaps AIDS awareness should seek to educate us with their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.

In a Nov. 11, 1992, column, she wrote that One will be better off contracting AIDS than developing cancer, because those afflicted with the politically-correct disease will be getting all of the funding. Bradley added, How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments.

Ross called the columns hateful and venomous attacks on gay people and people with HIV.

Bradley also in the November 1992 column called then-President Bill Clinton a tree-hugging, baby-killing, pot-smoking, flag-burning, queer-loving, bull-spouting 60s radical socialist adulterer.

Bradley characterized One Wisconsin Nows release of the columns as a blatant mudslinging campaign to distract the people from the issues at hand.

But Scott Foval, political coordinator for the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, and who is gay, said Bradleys comments make me question if she can be truly unbiased and truly fair regarding matters in the lesbian and gay community. Foval was present at the news conference.

Owens said he suspects the news of her 1992 writings will be a big deal for a few days, but likely wont come back to haunt her should she keep her seat on the Supreme Court.

Close race

Walker appointed Bradley, who is backed by conservatives, to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice N. Patrick Crooks in September. Kloppenburg is backed by liberals.

According to the latest Marquette Law School Poll, each candidate has the support of 30 percent of those polled, while 31 percent remain undecided. The two face off April 5.

Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken said Kloppenburg did not write any opinion columns during college.

A search of the online archive of the Yale Daily News revealed no articles or opinion columns by Kloppenburg during her undergraduate career at Yale University.

The UW-Madison Law School reference library found three articles in which Kloppenburg was referenced as a former assistant attorney general providing comment related to her work on environmental law.

The release of Bradleys writing Monday prompted an immediate backlash from conservatives against Ross. Conservative website Media Trackers published a series of public tweets by Ross that contained crude sexual references. Ross did not respond to a request for comment.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is gay, also said Bradleys columns raise questions about her fitness to serve as an impartial justice.

The people of Wisconsin would be right to question Justice Bradleys commitment to our nations founding belief that all Americans are created equal under the law, she said in a statement. I for one believe that our Wisconsin values deserve better from judges on the Supreme Court.

Reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report.

I think the question we are going to ask in the political sense, is this going to move the dial. I suspect the answer to that is probably not. RYAN Owens

UW-Madison political science professor I think the question we are going to ask in the political sense, is this going to move the dial. I suspect the answer to that is probably not. RYAN Owens

UW-Madison political science professor
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About My Gap Year

This blog is a way of recording my time abroad during this next year. I will be heading to Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Peru in the fall on service trip with Rustic Pathways, and then studying in Granada in the spring. I'll be updating roughly every week, as some of the places I will be will have limited internet access. Hope you enjoy!
[JURIST] Iran billionaire businessman Babak Zanjani was sentenced to death on Sunday after being found guilty on charges of fraud involving an oil fund, a judicial official stated. Zanjani, a 42-year-old oil tycoon who currently is one of Irans richest men, was arrested [BBC report] in 2013 after accusations arose that he withheld $2.7 billion in oil revenues by channeling it through his various companies. According to the judicial source, Zanjani embezzled [Bloomberg report] the money from the state-run National Iranian Oil Company [official website] in an attempt to circumvent international sanctions on crude exports, and then used the Tajikistan branch of his own bank to get the money out of Iran. The crimes occurred in 2012 during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [BBC profile], which was around when international sanctions against Iran were peaking. The court sentenced two other men to death in the case as well.

Much international pressure has been directed toward Iran in recent years for its use of the death penalty. In January Amnesty International (AI) released a report [JURIST report] on the many juvenile offenders on death row in Iran. The report states that 73 executions of juvenile offenders took place between 2005 and 2015 and that 160 juvenile offenders are currently on death row. Iran executed [JURIST report] Saman Naseem, a juvenile offender who was 17 years-old when sentenced to death in February of last year; he was charged in July 2011 with enmity against God and corruption on earth. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Ahmed Shaheed urged [JURIST report] Iran in April 2014 to immediately halt the execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari. Jabbari was executed [JURIST report] the following October despite international opposition. In June 2014, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned [JURIST report] Irans use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders and called on authorities to halt the announced execution of Razieh Ebrahimi, who was 14 years old when sentenced to death.
[JURIST] Kuwaits Supreme Court on Monday upheld the four-year jail sentence against an activist found guilty of insulting judges on Twitter. Ahmad Fadhel was convicted [AP report] for writing comments considered offensive to a number of judges in Kuwait. Three top judges sued Fadhel for defamation, and a lower court issued the four-year sentence in October 2014. The appeals court upheld the sentence last February, and now the ruling by the Supreme Court is final.

Recent political unrest in the region has caused the Kuwait [BBC backgrounder] governments to clamp down on online activists. In April the Kuwait Supreme Court upheld [JURIST report] a two-year prison sentence for a man accused of insulting the emir on Twitter. The convicted man, Ayyad al-Harbi, was an online journalist in his 20s who posted verses by an Iraqi poet critical of the nations ruler. In June 2014 the Supreme Court similarly upheld [JURIST report] the two-year jail sentence of an opposition online activist for writing tweets found to be offensive to the emir. After the ruling, activist Hejab Al Hajeri said on his Twitter account that his determination is bigger than their jail. In November 2013, Musaab Shamsah was sentenced to five years in prison [JURIST report] for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a Twitter post. In October 2013 an appeals court in Kuwait affirmed a 10-year prison sentence [JURIST report] against Twitter commentator Hamad al-Naqi for posts deemed offensive to Islam.
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday reversed [opinion, PDF] an Alabama Supreme Court decision that refused to recognize an out-of-state adoption by a same-sex partner. Petitioner, VL, had legally adopted the biological children of her partner, EL, while living in Georgia. When the pair split, VL sought custody and visitation rights in Alabama. The Alabama Supreme Court, however, refused to recognize the decision of a Georgia court to recognize the adoption, declaring the adoption void. In a per curiam decision, the Supreme Court reversed, finding the Alabama court must give full faith and credit [LII backgrounder] to the Georgia court decision.

Under Georgia law, as relevant here, [t]he superior courts of the several counties shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all matters of adoption.  That provision on its face gave the Georgia Superior Court subject-matter jurisdiction to hear and decide the adoption petition at issue here. The Superior Court resolved that matter by entering a final judgment that made V.L. the legal adoptive parent of the children. Whatever the merits of that judgment, it was within the statutory grant of jurisdiction over all matters of adoption. The Georgia court thus had the adjudicatory authority over the subject matter required to entitle its judgment to full faith and credit.

VL had appealed [JURIST report] to the Supreme Court in November.

Same-sex marriage and adoption rights remain in a state of legal uncertainty despite the Supreme Court ruling [JURIST report] last June that states must allow same-sex marriage and recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state. Last week the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed petitions [JURIST report] that sought a ruling declaring the states prohibition on same-sex marriage valid. In August Mississippi civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the policy that bans adoption by married same-sex couples.
The West Virginia Senate on Saturday voted 23-11 to override Governor Earl Ray Tomblins veto of House Bill 4145 [text], allowing civilians 21 and over to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The bill will now become law after the West Virginia House of Representatives voted 64-33 to override the veto. The bill amends the states current concealed weapon statute by removing the permit and training program requirements to carry a concealed weapon. The permit process had also included a background check and a gun safety class, but the new law continues to bar those 18-21 years of age from concealing a weapon. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey expressed confidence that the legislation will not impact public safety. Tomblin had said [WSAZ report] that he vetoed [JURIST report] the bill in the interest of officers safety.

Gun control [JURIST backgrounder] and the Second Amendment continue to be controversial national topics, and gun awareness has risen in the wake of recent shootings across the nation. Last month Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed [JURIST report] gun safety measures into law that will prevent domestic abusers and certain types of criminals from owning and carrying guns. In January US President Barack Obama announced executive actions [JURIST report] on gun control requiring those in the business of selling firearms, including those selling firearms at gun shows, to be licensed and background checked. In December the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit vacated [JURIST report] a lower court ruling that found that a DC gun law requiring a concealed carry permit outside of the home may violate the constitution.
Im happy to say that my art and technique has been included in this book by UK author/artist Gill Barron , the fairly famous Painter of Everything (shes well on her way to painting everything in the entire world, and doing a beautiful job of it, too).I have two step-by-step projects in the book, as well as several other finished paintings used as illustrations.The book is entitled Acrylic Secrets: 300 Tips and Techniques for Painting the Easy Way , and has been distributed worldwide by Readers Digest Books.Its now available on Amazon and you can order your copy here.
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Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

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Blockade not relaxed yet: DPM KC

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Chitra Bahadur KC has said that Nepal witnessed the blockade from India for not drafting constitution in the interest of the foreigners.
Delay in erecting power lines worries hydro developers

Investors who have sunk money in hydropower projects are concerned whether they will be able to sell the energy generated by their plants immediately after they come online
Deuba is the new Nepali Congress President

Former prime minister and senior leader of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected as party president in a run-off, defeating acting Party President Ram Chandra Poudel with a wide margin.
EC scraps Minister Singh's party for not furnishing financial details

The Election Commission has scrapped registration of 15 political parties including the one headed by the Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Prem Bahadur Singh for not furnishing income and expenditure details for three consecutive years.
Nepal Army marks Army Day (in pictures)

The Nepal Army (NA) marked 'Army Day' amid a special function at Tundikhel, Kathmandu on Monday.
Nepali guards may face competition in Malaysia

Malaysia has been hiring security guards exclusively from Nepal for the past 10 years, but that could change.
North Korea threatens US and South with nuclear strikes

North Korea has warned of "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes on the US and South Korea as they begin their largest ever military drills.
NRA shifts goalpost as victims wait

Even as earthquake victims desperately wait for government announced housing reconstruction aid, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) continues to chop and change its timeline to begin aid distribution aimed at rebuilding houses destroyed by earthquake in April last year.
Rising India

India today is admired by Africans, courted by the West, loved by Southeast Asians but feared by its neighbours
Security concerns should be addressed politically: Army chief

Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rajendra Chhetri has said the security concerns of the country should be addressed through the political process, adding that the security force can only be a medium in doing so.
Sri Lanka: School place 'found' for HIV rumour boy

The Sri Lankan government says it has found a new place for a boy who was excluded from school after other families shunned him over HIV rumours.
Three men shot during Sydney factory siege

A gunman is believed to be in a stand-off with police at a Sydney factory where a man was shot dead and two others injured.
US election 2016: Sanders beats Clinton in Maine caucuses

Bernie Sanders has beaten Hillary Clinton in the Maine caucuses, the latest contest in the battle to be the Democratic presidential candidate.
Another police officer has died following yesterdays attack on a police station in Kapchorwa district, bringing the death toll to two.

Police Constable Steven Lubega died at Mbale Referral Hospital where he was transferred after sustaining serious injuries in the attack.

Yesterday a gang of criminals suspected to be operating in the Mt. Elgon Forest area attacked Kapchorwa Police station, and set free their colleague, John Chemusaka who was in the police cells.

Police Constable Hakim Kaddu was shot dead in the ensuing exchange of fire.

According to the police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, other police officers are still in critical condition.

Some of those injured include Inspector of Police Musumba Jeremiah, who took a shot to the right thigh, and Police Constable Junior Rukundo, who was hit by a bullet fragment to the chest.
Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, How I sold out to da Man. Robbie Bell again performs: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells and Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to Dancing with the Stars, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.



Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and Big Cat Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).



Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.



Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".



In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word jackass was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.



In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.



Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.



Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!



This is definitely a Beaver production.



Note: Security provided by INS.


By Kim Jae-won





Cho Yong-byoung

Shinhan Bank CEO

Shinhan Bank said Monday it plans to reach the Myanmar market next year by opening a branch there, seeking to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country as part of its global strategy to find new revenue sources.

The nation's most profitable lender said it aims to open its branch in Yangon in the first quarter of 2017. Shinhan is the first Korean lender that has won a preliminary license to operate in the country. The bank plans to win official approval within a year.

"Our goal is to offer services to customers in Myanmar from the first quarter of next year. We are preparing for the opening, though a detailed business plan is not available yet," said a Shinhan spokesman.

The announcement came as Shinhan is strengthening its foothold in the region with its thriving Vietnamese business. The bank has invested in the country for more than two decades by offering banking services to the people of Vietnam since 1995. The bank is one of the largest foreign lenders in the country along with HSBC.

Shinhan said Myanmar will play a crucial role in tapping deeper into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations market, adding that the country's economy has grown more than 5 percent every year since 2011. The nation's gross domestic product expanded 8.5 percent in 2014, according to data from the World Bank. Its 2015 figure is not available yet.

The stabilized political conditions of the country will also beef up economic growth, Shinhan said. The National League for Democracy, a political party led by its Chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, is consolidating its power in the country after winning a majority of the seats in the general election last year.

Shinhan Financial Group, a holding company of the lender, said that the group expects its Myanmar business to grow like that of Vietnam.

"In 10 years, we may see that our Myanmar business will reach the level of what we are doing in Vietnam. We will invest in Myanmar to find new opportunities," said a spokesman for the group.

Korean financial groups are reaching out to overseas markets, mostly in Asia, but are having trouble in showing good performances due to regulatory issues from the local governments, language barriers and cultural differences.

The financial regulator is also pushing for market players to go global, but they said the government needs to support them more aggressively by signing big infrastructure deals with the local governments.

"Japanese banks have advanced into Asian markets successfully on the back of the Japanese government which has invested in developing infrastructure in these countries. The Korean government should learn more from Japan," said a manager of a local financial group, asking not to be named.
A vice chief of South Korea's presidential advisory panel on unification has said that international sanctions in response to North Korea's relentless provocations could help create an opportunity for national reunification.



Speaking to Yonhap News Agency from London on Sunday, Yoo Ho-yeol, executive vice chairperson of the National Unification Advisory Council, noted that "precarious situations," caused by the communist state, can generate momentum for the South to pursue and lead the unification process.



"Should the North engage in provocations continuously and cause neighboring states to think such actions can lead to a precarious situation, circumstances may arise when we can expect (international cooperation) for the South's pursuit of unification," he said.



"China and Japan would cooperate in the unification process led by the South. At least, they would not oppose it. In this regard, it is a good opportunity to move China and Japan (toward supporting the South's unification efforts)."



Yoo expressed his views shortly after he held a meeting with young adults in London on the unification of the Korean Peninsula.



Touching on the provocative nature of the Kim Jong-un regime in Pyongyang, the vice chairman pointed out that Seoul should not respond to any of the North's saber-rattling "in a weak manner."



"Under the Kim Jong-un regime, we cannot anticipate that the situation will stabilize through a soft-line approach," he said. "The North would take advantage of it, and this is the stark reality of the regime."



In the meeting with young adults, Yoo said Seoul decided to shut down the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong last month on the premise that Pyongyang would not expect Seoul to take such a strong step.



He also said that Seoul might also have thought that the closure of the complex was needed as the North could take hostage South Korean workers should cross-border tensions escalate into a more serious conflict.



The closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, considered the last bastion of cross-border cooperation and reconciliation, came in response to the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test and Feb. 7 long-range rocket launch.



Yoo added that the punitive measure to close the complex has played a role in encouraging China to change its previously lenient stance toward the North and nudge it to join the international community in slapping tougher sanctions on the North for its most recent provocations. (Yonhap)




DNR question of the week

Q: Now is the time of year when Minnesota residents can contribute to the DNRs Nongame Wildlife checkoff fund on their tax forms. What is this money used for and how does it help wildlife?

A: Donations made to this fund are used by the DNRs Nongame Wildlife Program for a number of statewide efforts to help protect and manage more than 800 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, butterflies and selected invertebrates that are not traditionally hunted or harvested. This includes conservation efforts for threatened and endangered species.

Specifically, the species that have benefited from these efforts are bald eagles, trumpeter swans, peregrine falcons, eastern bluebirds, Blandings turtles, bats, timber rattlesnakes, great blue herons and other colonial water birds like egrets and grebes. The money also helps to acquire land and easements that protect habitat; manage prairies, forests and wetlands; create buffer zones along lakeshores; assist private landowners and local governments with habitat management; fund educational programs; and much more  including the DNR EagleCam.

Contributions can be made on your Minnesota tax form or online at www.mndnr.gov/eco/nongame/checkoff.html. These donations provide 80 percent of funding for the Nongame Wildlife Program and are matched with funds from conservation license plates.

- Carrol Henderson, DNR Nongame Wildlife Program supervisor
Have you thought about improving the air at your business, but the price tag holds you back? If your business can reduce the use of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), you may be eligible for a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

VOCs are emitted from industrial and commercial processes used in many businesses. The familiar smells from coatings, inks, solvents, adhesives, gasoline and other everyday products are VOCs. They can be harmful to our health, both indoors and outside. Combined with ozone, they help form smog, also a harmful air pollutant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just tightened the federal ozone standard last year. Levels in many areas of Minnesota may exceed the standard the next time its revised. This could trigger costly regulatory requirements for businesses. MPCA is offering the grants to help businesses stay within allowable limits, which will benefit all Minnesotans.

The challenges we face with air quality today are mainly from the smaller but numerous sources all around us, said MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine. Voluntary actions are an important part of the solution. Were glad to be able to offer some support to help get things rolling.

The grants will pay up to $50,000 for projects to reduce use of VOC-containing chemicals or put in lower-emitting equipment. Reducing VOCs helps save businesses money on disposal and permitting fees, and can reduce some regulatory obligations. It also means less exposure and better health for employees.

Grant applicants must be small businesses with less than 100 employees and which have painting, degreasing or cleaning operations. A variety of other projects to reduce VOCs cost-effectively may also be eligible.

Grant applications will be accepted through May 11. Contact Eric David at eric.david@state.mn.us or 651-757-2218 with questions.
WKBT-TV general manager Scott Chorski, and news director and station manager Anne Paape will conclude the Viterbo University Leadership at Noon series. The two will speak Tuesday, March 15, in Reinhart Center 107.

Chorski has served as general manager of the local CBS station for the past 15 years. He serves on the Executive Committee of Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, is a member of La Crosse Downtown Rotary Club, and serves on the Salvation Army Development Committee.

Paape has been at WKBT for 25 years and leads the team of WKBT journalists responsible for producing 22 hours of live local news programming each week, the stations website and multiple social media accounts. The newsrooms work has earned the station the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association News Operation of the Year Award for the past six years and was honored in October with the national Edward R. Murrow Award for the documentary Tears to Water.

The Viterbo Leadership at Noon series features business leaders discussing the key values that contribute to successful business practices. All series events are free and open to the public and audience members are welcome to bring their own lunch or purchase a boxed lunch for $5. The Leadership at Noon series is sponsored by the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership and the Dahl School of Business at Viterbo University.
MADISON  During the course of a professional friendship spanning more than two decades, UW-Madison neuroscientist Richard Davidson has had many opportunities, formally and informally, to discuss his research with the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, while not a trained scientist, often provides input that is surprising and unusual, Davidson said.

He is like your star graduate student who is intensely curious, who will ask extraordinarily probing questions, and who will go to the essence of the issue very quickly, Davidson said.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is expected to fill that role when he returns to Madison for the 10th time this week to participate Wednesday in a panel discussion on global well-being. The event in Capitol Theater at Overture Center is being convened by the Center for Healthy Minds, the UW-Madison entity founded by Davidson.

While the Nobel laureate is coming to Madison at Davidsons invitation, he will, as has been his practice in the past, engage with the broader community. He is scheduled to offer a Buddhist teaching Tuesday at the Madison Masonic Temple, sponsored by the Wisconsin Tibetan Association.

Both events are sold out. People can sign up to watch a free live-streaming video of the Overture Center event at centerhealthyminds.org.

The Dalai Lamas presence over two days will deepen an already long and uncommon connection with the city. The relationship developed along two independent, coincidental tracks.

Starting in 1979, the Dalai Lama began visiting the area to continue his nearly lifelong friendship with Geshe Lhundub Sopa, one of the most revered Tibetan Buddhist scholars in the U.S. and founder of Deer Park Buddhist Center near Madison.

Separately, the Dalai Lama invited Davidson to his residence in India in 1992 to discuss with a small group of other scientists the possibility of conducting research on Tibetan Buddhists to see what effect their intense training in mindfulness may be having on their brains.

Today, both connections remain strong, putting Madison at or near the top of U.S. cities most visited by the Dalai Lama. Although Geshe Lhundub Sopa died in 2014 at age 92, the Dalai Lama retains close ties with the monks at Deer Park and will be staying there on this visit.

Were very honored that he has chosen to come back to a place where a very good friend of his lived, said Penny Paster, a longtime Deer Park volunteer who is helping with the planning for his stay. It seems he has an affinity for Deer Park and feels extremely comfortable there.

Davidson credits the Dalai Lama with challenging him to study kindness and compassion with the same scientific tools used to research fear and anxiety. That set Davidson on the professional path that has become his area of expertise and renown: investigating, with scientific rigor, what constitutes a healthy mind and whether well-being can be a learned behavior.

The Dalai Lama has stayed actively interested in the research and has made a commitment to visit the Center for Healthy Minds on a regular basis, Davidson said.

Hes been coming here every two to three years, and I expect that as long as he remains healthy, he will continue that, Davidson said.

The Dalai Lama, 80, was last here in 2013 when, also at Davidsons invitation, he participated in a panel discussion at Overture Center on global issues moderated by Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post. He also addressed the state Legislature and spoke to a sold-out crowd of 3,500 in Exhibition Hall at Alliant Energy Center.

The public events this week will be smaller. The Madison Masonic Temple, 301 Wisconsin Ave., seats a little over 1,000 people, said Tsetan Atruktsang, president of the Wisconsin Tibetan Association. She said people will come from as far away as California, Connecticut and Canada to hear his teaching, which is titled Geshe Langri Thangpas Eight Verses of Training the Mind.

Tickets first went to people affiliated with the events sponsors and the Center for Healthy Minds, as well as scientists, students, members of the media and the Dalai Lamas entourage, said Marianne Spoon, a spokeswoman for the Center for Healthy Minds.

By Feb. 18, when tickets first became available to the general public through the Overture Center ticket office, only 293 remained, and they sold out in a matter of days, Spoon said.

To expand the audience, the Center for Healthy Minds is enabling its partners and co-sponsors to embed the live-stream video on their websites. Those partners include Wisconsin Public Television, National Geographic, the Mind and Life Institute and ABC News.

Wisconsin Public Television plans to re-broadcast the panel discussion at a later date, Spoon said. National Geographic will host a live watch party for several hundred people at its auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Other watch parties will be held around the country, including a large one at UW-Madisons Union South that is free and open to the community, Spoon said. The event begins at 1:30 p.m.

ABC News anchor Dan Harris will moderate the panel discussion, titled The World We Make. It will focus on how the world might look in roughly 15 years if people today took seriously the notion that well-being can be learned, Davidson said.

Every human being is born with the capacity, even the propensity, for kindness and compassion, Davidson said. But it requires nurturing. One of the values of the dialogue with the Buddhist tradition is that they have developed what we can think of as an extremely elaborate, granular and sophisticated technology for how to cultivate these virtuous qualities.
DENNISON, Minn. (AP)  It was not in Jeff Flatens job description 15 months ago when he was elected mayor of Dennison, Minnesota.

Every day, including weekends and holidays, Flaten drives to a sewer lift station on the west edge of the tiny Goodhue County town, pries opens a manhole-size steel lid and climbs 15 feet down a ladder in a metal tube to make sure the villages two wastewater pumps are working.

The task landed in the mayors lap when the citys longtime sewer and water system operator retired, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. Flaten hasnt been able to hire a replacement, because not only is the work unpleasant but the lift station, built in 1962, also fails to meet federal safety standards.

Its obsolete and essentially dangerous, he said.

Flaten, 49, a state corrections officer with a college degree in sociology, didnt know anything about operating a sewer pump before he was elected. On a couple of occasions, he said, hes had to restart the pumps by hand. About once a week, he also has to clean out a screen that catches debris before it clogs the pumps.

Somebodys got to do it. If the poops not moving, then its going to back up in the sewer mains, he said.

Flaten has asked Gov. Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature for $726,000 this year to build an above-ground lift station. The city, population 190, proposes to chip in another $48,000, funded in part with a new $25 monthly water fee on residents, to complete the project.

Dennison simply cant afford to pay for the project on its own, Flaten said. The city is already up to its eyeballs in debt, its property taxes are higher than neighboring cities and another fee increase might drive people away.

Funding needed

The village is one of hundreds of small cities in rural Minnesota with diminutive tax bases that are struggling to find money to replace aging wastewater, stormwater and drinking water systems or upgrade them to meet changing environmental standards.

Their plight isnt as hazardous as that in Flint, Mich., where high lead levels in drinking water pose a serious health threat. But it reflects a growing national concern over governments role in providing safe, clean and affordable water.

Here are four more small towns seeking state help:

Afton, population 2,953, in Washington County, doesnt have a municipal sewer system, so about 100 homes and businesses in the citys Old Village rely on private septic systems that pose a pollution threat, as many are in the St. Croix River flood plain. The city is getting final state approvals and taking construction bids for a municipal sewer collection system and wastewater treatment plant. City administrator Ron Moorse expects the system to be operational by the fall at a cost of more than $4 million, with the state picking up about half the tab.

Chisholm, Buhl, Kinney and Great Scott Township, combined population 6,745, in St. Louis County. Less than two years after opening a $28 million Central Iron Range Sanitary Sewer District wastewater treatment plant, operators were told the plant failed to meet strict new federal mercury discharge limits for facilities releasing water into the Great Lakes basin. So the district is now adding a mercury removal facility. Price tag: more than $4 million. Local officials have asked the state to foot at least half the bill. Without the grant money, we just wouldnt be able to do it, said sewer district executive director Norm Miranda.

Mountain Lake, population 2,134, in Cottonwood County. The city used to have a problem with stormwater infiltrating its sanitary sewer lines and overloading its treatment plant, forcing the city to pump sewage into its namesake lake. It spent $12 million from 2012 to 2014 to fix its sewer lines. Now, the city wants a state grant to help pay for a $13.4 million project to rehabilitate and expand its old and overloaded stabilization pond system.

Winnebago, population 1,394, in Faribault County has an aging sanitary sewer system with numerous maintenance problems, including storm- and groundwater seeping into leaky sewer mains, which has caused backups into basements and overflows into the Blue Earth River. Weve had whole potatoes from gardens end up at the wastewater plant, said city administrator Chris Ziegler. The city is seeking $3.7 million from the state for a $6.6 million project that would separate its sanitary sewer and stormwater systems.

State aid

Last month, Dayton proposed a $220 million plan to upgrade sewer and water systems and protect groundwater across the state. About 60 percent of the state aid for water projects money would go to rural communities.

His plan would increase state aid for municipal sewer and water projects from an average of $160 million to $300 million a year and enable the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority, which provides grants and loans to local governments, to fund up to 80 projects a year, compared with fewer than 50 now, said Jeff Freeman, the authoritys executive director.

But that would just be a down payment on meeting cities needs. The Pollution Control Agency and the state Health Department have 567 local projects totaling $1.7 billion on their priority lists for funding for sewer and water system construction over the next five years.

Based on a survey of Minnesota cities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates the state will need $11 billion in sewer and water improvements over the next 20 years.

Bipartisanship?

Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor members of the House and Senate bonding committees seem to be warming up to Daytons request for more money for municipal water projects  even though Republicans contend the $1.4 billion price tag on the governors overall bonding bill was too high.

House Capital Investment Committee Chairman Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, said he hasnt heard any opposition to helping cities, especially small towns, upgrade their sewer and water systems.

I think theres generally good support from the people Ive talked to so far, he said. I will give the governors proposal very serious consideration. The only concern I have is that we invest the money wisely.

Torkelson, a farmer, is one of the Republicans who clashed with Dayton over contentious parts of his plan to require vegetative buffer strips to help protect lakes and streams from agricultural runoff and erosion.

Its nice to find some common ground with the governor, he said. I hope we can go forward and work together on this.

Senate Capital Investment Committee Chairman LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, said his panels tours of water projects last fall convinced him the need is there.

Unnecessary regulations?

Some lawmakers, however, question whether new PCA water discharge regulations are driving up water treatment costs unnecessarily.

In recent years, the agency has adopted new phosphorus standards for discharges into lakes and rivers to prevent algae growth that causes what Katrina Kessler, PCAs water assessment section manager, called green and slimy water conditions.

But Sens. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, and David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said the PCAs new standards are forcing many small towns that have borrowed money to construct new sewage treatment plants in recent years to go deeper in debt to upgrade their systems. They want the PCA to prove that the benefits of the new regulations outweigh the costs.

The PCA cant change the standards, because they are based on science, Kessler said, but the agency can be flexible in how it works with cities to meet the standards. It could, for example, help cities get state grants and loans, set longer compliance schedules or find alternative ways to reduce phosphorus discharges.

Thirty-three cities have requested state funds to upgrade wastewater treatment plants to meet new discharge limits, she said. The total cost of those projects is around $210 million, while Minnesota cities have identified $4.2 billion worth of projects to meet all sewage treatment needs.

So the amount of money needed to meet discharge limits based on new standards is only a fraction of the overall need, Kessler said.
The Paul E. Stry Foundation has provided $15,000 in 2016 to be used for state natural areas to conduct prescribed burns, control invasive species, and pursue other management activities on Department of Natural Resources-owned natural areas in western Wisconsin.

Natural Resource Board members accepted the donation last month at their meeting in Madison.

For nearly a quarter century, Bob Swartz and other directors of the Stry Foundation have helped save bluff prairies along the Mississippi River near here by donating money to maintain them.

To buy a prairie and just own it doesnt preserve it. DNR has the staff, the equipment and the mission to do it, Swartz says.

This generous gift again will provide critical funding for restoration of State Natural Areas in west-central Wisconsin and will benefit numerous rare species that depend on these sites, says Dean Edlin, district ecologist stationed in Alma.

The Stry Foundation has a long history of providing funding for restoration of state natural areas located along the Mississippi River near La Crosse, including providing seed money to establish the DNRs first state natural areas crew in La Crosse in about 1992. Since then, crews have received this gift funding almost every year, Edlin says.

Rush Creek and Hogback Prairie state natural areas, both in Crawford County; Battle Bluff state natural area in Vernon County, Bradys Bluff State Natural Area in Perot State Park in Trempealeau County, and Maiden Rock Bluff State Natural Area in Pepin County are among properties recently receiving management attention as a result of the foundations funding.
MADISON (AP)  Dozens of demonstrators marched from the Social Justice Center in Madison to the house where a 19-year-old man was fatally shot by police one year ago.

Friends and supporters of Tony Robinson's family gathered Sunday for the protest march and later for a candlelight vigil. The biracial teen was unarmed when he was fatally shot by a white police officer on March 6, 2015. Officer Matt Kenney was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting.

Some at the march said they had little confidence there had been any progress in addressing racial disparities since the fatal shooting.

Police leaders say officers have redoubled their outreach efforts over the last year.
A La Crosse man stabbed his wife in front of five children late Sunday at the couples South Side apartment before they huddled around her as she was dying, according to court records.

Prosecutors Monday charged Haron Joyner, 35, with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Jessica Joyner, 29. Hes jailed on a $100,000 cash bond.

Apartment tenant Lynn Hollowitch said a loud thud shook the units of 1314-1320 S. Fifth Ave., a multiplex bounded by Adams and Hood streets, during an escalating argument between the couple.

Mommy! Hollowitch heard, then Stop!

Hollowitch called 911 at 11:16 p.m. before Haron Joyner said something to the effect of, I already said not to play with me, Hollowitch said.

Then, another thud, this one louder than the first, Hollowitch said.

The kids said, Shes dead.'

Haron Joyner stabbed his wife in the neck, face and chest six or seven times in the kitchen of their upper unit before she escaped to the apartment across the hall, according to the complaint.

She collapsed there in a pool of blood, telling the tenant that someone had tried to kill her before the five children, ages 5 to 11, surrounded her, crying and screaming.

Hollowitch rendered aid, trying to keep her alert and alive until police took over and searched the building for her attacker, who was described by one child witness as too calm, to the point of being super creepy, after the stabbing.

I just cant do this anymore, he said before walking calmly from the chaotic scene, according to the complaint.

Haron Joyner called to turn himself in while standing outside the La Crosse County Jail but wasnt there when police arrived. Officers found his van at the La Crosse Tribune, where he worked in the packaging department, and a lieutenant discovered blood in the buildings bathroom sink before employees said Haron Joyner fled in another car.

Police arrested him at 2:07 a.m. when they found him inside a car parked in the 3600 block of South 29th Court, about 90 minutes after his wife died at a local hospital. He had blood on his pants and shoes.

One child said Haron Joyner stabbed his wife as she was running away after he said she was dating a crackhead, according to the complaint. He told one child that she was next, the complaint stated.

Authorities dont know yet how long Haron Joyner, a New York native, has lived in La Crosse or whether he has a criminal record. He returns to court March 15 for a preliminary hearing.
Incurring the wrath of the professoriate, Wisconsin legislators stuck to their guns last summer and removed tenure guarantees from state statute.

They essentially bundled up the issue and rolled it down State Street to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, which is scheduled to adopt a new tenure policy on Thursday.

The regents are a group of unpaid citizens doing an often thankless job, and they probably dont much relish being in the line of attack. Luckily, they have a clear, written set of Expectations of Board Members to guide them. Here are just a few of those expectations:

Regents are expected to represent the public interest in general and not the interest of any particular constituency.

We already know regents are considering the interests of the professors who served on a Tenure Policy Task Force made up almost entirely of UW System employees. The recommendations of the task force already have been adopted by a regent committee and are now before the full board. Its less clear, based on the committee vote to simply adopt the task force findings without any real discussion, whether theyre considering the general public, which includes students, taxpayers, parents and employers.

Regents are expected to engage in strategic planning to address future needs.

The Tenure Policy Task Force is recommending that the regents allow layoffs of tenured faculty only in the case of financial emergency or program discontinuation.

Universities across the country are changing dramatically in the face of distance-learning technologies, an evolving economy and the rapidly changing needs of students and employers. Programs are already being redirected or modified rather than discontinued, and if schools are to become more nimble as they plan for the future, chancellors need the ability to lay off tenured faculty when programs are being modified  even if they are not being eliminated outright, according to a new Wisconsin Policy Research Institute report, The Trouble with Tenure: How the Regents can make professors accountable to taxpayers and students.

Regents are expected to be well-informed.

Good information can be hard to find when it comes to tenure. But there are some things that new research makes clear  such as the fact that tenure doesnt always work well.

A WPRI-sponsored survey of 459 UW System instructional staff members (those who work alongside tenured professors but arent eligible for tenure) found that most believe tenure is a good indication of the quality of research. However, only about 30 percent feel it is a good indication of the quality of instruction or of the impact on the community, business or economy.

Thats why regents should direct campuses to use definitions of public service that include tangible, measurable contributions to business, the community and the economy when granting or denying tenure.

Its also why regents should direct campuses with varying missions to clearly articulate why each department benefits  or doesnt  from having tenured employees rather than instructional staff operating on contracts. Roughly one-third to one-half of full-time equivalent positions involving teaching are already held by instructional staff, depending on the campus.

There is currently little or no data on how often tenure-track candidates decide to leave rather than apply, how often they are denied or how often decisions are overruled by chancellors. Similarly, there is no data on whether faculty are ever terminated as a result of post-tenure reviews or even how many might be considered underperforming. No one can be well-informed unless regents mandate data-driven reports from each campus on an annual basis.

Regents are expected to establish and maintain a strong system of accountability to the public for performance results.

The regents must do more than simply adopt the recommendations of their task force if they are to convince taxpayers, students, parents and, yes, legislators that all professors are performing as theyre supposed to. The regents should direct campuses to adopt a stronger post-tenure review process with clear and defined expectations.

Its clear that professors favor the status quo, but the rest of us  taxpayers, students, the business community and legislators  need a better way to know if the campuses and professors are fulfilling their end of the bargain.

Support invariably will depend on whether the regents meet what they say are their own expectations.
In 1904, University of Wisconsin President Charles Van Hise declared, I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every home in the state. The Wisconsin Idea, as this aspiration came to be known, depends on the freedom to sift and winnow in search of the truth. The Regents famously defended that freedom as essential to higher education when UW Professor Richard Ely faced a political attack for exposing the truth regarding the dangerous working conditions many Wisconsin citizens faced.

Since then, Wisconsin has been a leader in establishing the principles of academic freedom that are necessary to provide our students with a world-class education. The faculty, working through the American Association of University Professors, and the American Federation of Teachers, partnered with the Board of Regents and the Legislature to create the institution of faculty tenure. Rather than a job for life, tenure is a right to due process. In short, faculty cannot be summarily dismissed for what they research and teach. Without tenure, faculty cannot challenge conventional wisdom, test controversial ideas, or question university administrators on academic and educational issues without fear of reprisal. Tenure is indispensable to the freedom to sift and winnow.

Sadly, our current governor and Legislature have relentlessly attacked this legacy. In 2011, they passed Act 10, which stripped faculty of collective bargaining rights and critically weakened those rights for other state workers. Last summer, the Legislature passed Act 55, described by the governor as an Act 10 for the UW. The governor proposed to eliminate the search for truth from the universitys mission. Limitations to tenure and shared governance in Act 55, compounded by enormous budget cuts to the UW System, weaken this mission in practice.

After Act 55 became law, the AAUP and AFT-Wisconsin called on the UW Board of Regents to enact policies that conform with longstanding AAUP policies and standards. In January, the chairman of an ad hoc task force proposed new tenure policies. In February, without discussion, the Board of Regents Education Committee voted to recommend adoption of these policies. The recommended policies will come before the full Board for a vote Thursday.

In the brief period in which the policies were available for comment, the boards task force adopted some minimal language from the AAUPs Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure. However, these draft policies still fall far short of those standards and depart radically from our proud Wisconsin tradition.

First, the AAUP standards hold that a decision to discontinue an academic program should be based essentially upon educational considerations, as determined primarily by the faculty. This has worked well for Wisconsin for many years. In contrast, the draft policy before the Regents puts financial considerations first, as determined by campus chancellors. This is a disservice to our students.

Second, the draft policy makes it easier to use program changes to lay off faculty, thereby undermining academic freedom and jeopardizing the quality of students education. The draft policy does not require the University to inform faculty members whom it is considering for discontinuance, nor does it invite them to respond. Neither does the draft policy provide for severance pay when a program is discontinued and no alternative position is available for adversely affected faculty. In these ways, it increases the likelihood that faculty layoffs will become an early response to ordinary financial considerations rather than a last resort for dealing with emergency conditions.

Third, the draft policy replaces a good post-tenure review procedure with a bad one. Since the 1970s, all tenured faculty at all UW campuses have been subject to dismissal for just cause, which refers to an inability or unwillingness to fulfill professional and institutional responsibilities. Such firings under the old law had to respect due process rights of faculty through the Universitys established grievance procedure. Twenty-five years ago, the Regents instituted post-tenure review with the idea of encouraging tenured faculty to continue their professional development. Now, the 2016 draft policy introduces a new post-tenure review procedure that can lead to the dismissal of faculty for something less than just cause, and without the former protection of due process rights. The new post-tenure review procedure provides faculty with no right to challenge an evaluation and correct the record by appeal to an elected faculty grievance committee.

If promises of academic freedom are to be meaningful, the Board of Regents must remedy these problems at its March meeting. We urge the regents to do so. The achievements of their predecessors hang in the balance.
Q How do scientists find fossils?

 Ian Gervasi, 7, Stephens Elementary School, Madison

A There are a number of steps that go into a researcher finding a fossil. First, you have to figure out what kind of fossil you want to find.

You need to know the age of the rock youre looking for, who owns the land that the rock is on and if that rock at the surface is actually exposed.

First, scientists consult a geologic map. This is a map where other geologists over past decades have mapped the geology at the surface of the Earth.

Once scientists find a location with the rock needed, they go to another map like Google Earth, which helps determine if the rock were looking for is exposed. For example, we dont want rock thats covered with grass or a lake or some ranchers pond.

Once youve gotten permission to be on the land, you systematically start walking the surface looking for hints of fossils. You can walk a lot of rock and not find fossils, but youve narrowed the process down by researching geologic maps in advance.

If you hear about a fossil dig or people whove actually excavated fossils out of the ground, they usually first found it by taking the steps described above.

Fossils are also sometimes found by accident, like the mammoths that were found in Colorado recently. The mammoths were found because a crew was excavating for a house and stumbled on the fossils.

I work on fossils in the earliest part of the late Triassic period, about 230 to 220 million years ago. This is the classic red rock of the western United States, and we spend much of our time in Wyoming.

Were looking for some of the earliest examples of dinosaurs and animals associated with them.

Each year we take a group of students from UW-Madison who have been volunteering and working in the Geology Museum.

We go out in the field and spend two to three weeks prospecting, learning all different aspects of the science. Upon returning to the lab, the students get to work on the material that they themselves collected.
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29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 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(6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (8) 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(7) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (6) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 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Most Thursday and Friday nights for the past decade I could be found hard at work...laughing in an aisle seat.
Monday, March 7, 2016

In a brief and straightforward per curiam opinion today in V.L. v. E.L., the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed the Alabama Supreme Court's denial of full faith and credit to a Georgia adoption involving a lesbian couple.

As we discussed last September when the Alabama Supreme Court's opinion was rendered, it relied in large part on the dissenting opinion of a Georgia Supreme Court in a different case to support its conclusion that the Georgia courts did not have proper "jurisdiction" over the adoption.

The United States Supreme Court stated that the Alabama Supreme Court's "analysis is not consistent with this Court's controlling precedent." It continued:

Indeed, the Alabama Supreme Courts reasoning would give jurisdictional status to every requirement of the Georgia statutes, since Georgia law indicates those requirements are all mandatory and must be strictly construed. That result would comport neither with Georgia law nor with common sense. As Justice Holmes observed more than a century ago, it sometimes may be difficult to decide whether certain words in a statute are directed to jurisdiction or to merits. Fauntleroyv. Lum, 210 U. S. 230, 234235 (1908). In such cases, especially where the Full Faith and Credit Clause is concerned, a court must be slow to read ambiguous words, as meaning to leave the judgment open to dispute, or as intended to do more than fix the rule by which the court should decide. Id., at 235. That time-honored rule controls here. The Georgia judgment appears on its face to have been issued by a court with jurisdiction, and there is no established Georgia law to the contrary. It follows that the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit. That the parties to the case are lesbians - - - "two women who were in a relationship" - - - is made apparent by the United States Supreme Court. This fact most likely figured largely in the Alabama Supreme Court's original majority ruling given the well-known hostility of its controversial chief justice to sexual minority rights. However, given Friday's odd dismissal of the same-sex marriage litigation by the Alabama Supreme Court and today's United States Supreme Court definitive and unanimous reversal, it seems as if the opinions of Alabama Supreme Court Justice Greg Shaw (pictured below), who dissented in E.L. as well as the earlier same-sex marriage opinions, has been vindicated. Alabama Supreme Court Justice Greg Shaw

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2016/03/united-states-supreme-court-reverses-alabama-supreme-courts-denial-of-full-faith-and-credit-to-lesbi.html
Monday, March 7, 2016

As Stacey writes just below this post, much is happening in the arbitration arena currently.

In December, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act pre-empts state law. Thus, when parties have executed agreements calling for arbitration rather than court resolutions, the arbiration clause will be upheld. The case was DirectTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, No. 14-462.

In the case, Imburgias contract stated that [i]f ... the law of your state would find this agreement to dispense with class arbitration procedures unenforceable, then this entire Section 9 [the arbitration section] is unenforceable. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-462_2co3.pdf

The Supreme Court noted that when DIRECTV drafted the contract, the parties likely believed that the words law of your state included California law that then made class-arbitration waivers unenforceable. But the Courts subsequent holding in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Conception found that the Federal Arbitration Act pre-empts state law on the issue. Thus, parties cannot contractually bind themselves to invalid state law. When they refer to state law, this means only valid state law.

These rulings favor businesses, not consumers. This is so particularly so in cases between consumers and banks or credit card companies. A 2007 report found that over four years, arbitrators ruled in favor of the financial institutions in no less than 94% of the cases. Of course, in the typical take-it-or-leave it style contract, consumers have the choice only of agreeing to arbitrate or not getting the desired service.

As for the belief that arbitration saves scarce judicial resources, it is noteworthy that businesses file four times as many lawsuits as individuals. It is hard to imagine any company giving up its own right to sue another company in a business dispute. Double standards abound here.

Meanwhile, in early February, Senators Leahy and Franken introduced the Restoring Statutory Rights Act. This would create an exception in the Arbitration Act for disputes involving individuals and small businesses. The only way individuals would enter into arbitration is if they agreed to do so after the dispute has been filed. Thats very different from the current process, which automatically shunts all customer disputes into binding arbitration.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also considering a ban in mandatory-arbitration provisions in contracts for credit cards and other financial services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is looking to do the same in relation to nursing home contracts.

Acts and regulations are highly warranted in this context. We know where the Supreme Court currently stands on the issue. We do not know where it will go with a new justice soon to be appointed, but judicial branch action in this area may not be forthcoming any time soon.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2016/03/regulating-against-forced-arbitration-in-consumer-cases.html
Monday, March 7, 2016

The widow of late Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi is currently involved in a bitter legal dispute with the Bank of Valletta over the assets of her son. Mutassim Gaddafi was a senior government official and, in 2011, started the account with 700 but quickly grew it to over 60 million as the Libyan revolt grew in severity. He was killed, along with his father, in 2011 after being captured and on his body was discovered the documents which revealed the accounts. Currently elements of the Libyan government are seeking to access the funds but are being faced with a crisis of legitimacy due to the ongoing struggle over control of the nation. As of now, the dispute is set to go to court in April after the Malta Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to intervene in the dispute.

See Helena Grech, Dispute over Gaddafis 90 million estate held in Malta, The Independent, March 6, 2016.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2016/03/gaddafis-widow-seeks-sons-assets-held-at-bank-in-malta.html


An experimental therapy uses a persons weak immune system to fight deadly blood cancers.

Stanley Riddell is a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the U.S. state of Washington. He and his colleagues added molecules to immune cells that attack cancer cells. They put the modified cells back in the patient, where they multiply and fight cancer.

So, thats the one interesting thing about this. It doesnt require repeated treatments or repetitive cycles of chemotherapy, said Riddell.

Thats what I think in the future may be most important for patients  that its a single treatment instead of many months of treatment.

It has shown great promise in small trials with patients. In one study of 35 patients with a type of leukemia, 94 percent experienced a complete remission. Fifty percent to 80 percent of patients with other blood cancers also saw a reduction in symptoms.

Riddell said, This is encouraging because these are all patients who have failed all conventional therapies, including many kinds of bone marrow and stem cell transplants.

Getting these very high rates of remission is obviously very exciting for us, he added. These patients do not have any other treatment options that are likely to work.

Immune system cells usually fight invading viruses and bacteria. They can also combat cancer. But they are soon overwhelmed by the disease.

The work by Hutchinson researchers increases this natural cancer-fighting ability.

Using the immune system has also shown promise against skin cancer and some lung cancers. But for other cancers, immunotherapy is considered a last resort.

Riddell said he thinks that may change. In some cases, it may be better than chemotherapy or even replace it, he said.

Im Mary Gotschall.



Jessica Berman reported on this story for VOANews.com. Mary Gotschall adapted this story for Learning English. 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

therapy  n. the treatment of physical or mental disorders

immune system  noun phrase the body's natural defenses for fighting disease

leukemia  n. a serious disease in which the body forms too many white blood cells

remission  n. a period of time during a serious infection when the patient's health improves

conventional  adj. of a kind that has been around for a long time and is considered to be usual

marrow  n. a soft substance that fills the bones of people and animals

immunotherapy  n. a treatment that uses your bodys own natural defenses to help fight cancer (source: www.cancer.org)


A new U.N. report on labor and migration in the Asia Pacific area says economic gains from migration are often ignored.

The report calls for greater cooperation to avoid inequalities and human rights abuses.

The United Nations released the report February 29. It says that in 2013, there were 213 million migrants worldwide. Asia-Pacific countries hosted more than 59 million of those migrants. That number has grown since 1990 and is expected to expand.

Hongjoo Hahm is deputy executive secretary of the U.N.s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). He says the main driver of migration in the region is economics.

Economic gains is why migrants are on the move and we see the migrants largely moving unlike in other regions of the world; In Asia, one of the biggest and unique characterization is migration occurring from South to South, except to say those going to the Gulf [oil] countries.

Each year, about 2 million Philippine citizens leave for work overseas. Also, more than a half-million workers leave Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan each year.

The migrants go to countries that include Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.

But restrictions on migrant workers in some host countries limit their rights and social protections. The U.N. report says such restrictions are often unjustified and are harmful to human rights.

Hongjoo of UNESCAP says migrants do not drive down wages. He says the report found migrants impact on local wages and inequality was small.

When you provide migrants with decent work, when you treat migrants as your own, when you assimilate them into your economy and treat them as national labor, it really benefits your national economy.

But Phil Robertson says some countries treat migrant workers poorly. He is Asia-Pacific deputy director for Human Rights Watch.

Robertson says Asian governments, such as Malaysia, prefer short term irregular migration. This means allowing migrants into the country for a short time. That leaves many migrants in the irregular or underground economy with little protection legally.

You know, driving through all these issues is an exaggerated sense of national security that somehow these refugees and migrants constitute some sort of threat to the countries. You see this in Thailand, where theres often reference to migrants or refugee mobs. You see this in Malaysia where theres an effort to try to continue to keep refugees out of the formal economy, not giving them the right to work.

Robertson says Southeast Asias ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) needs to develop better policy around migrants.

U.N. economists say migrant trends in the future will be influenced by changes in population, especially where there is aging.

The Asia Pacific Migrant Report 2015 offers ideas on policies with respect to human rights, decent work and social protection for nationals and migrants.

Im Mario Ritter.

Ron Corben reported this story from Bangkok. Mario Ritter adapted the report for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

What can migrants bring to a host country? What should host countries do for migrants who come to work? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

trend  n. the general direction of change, development or action

unique  adj. one of a kind

characterization  n. describing the character or qualities of something or someone

unjustified  adj. not necessarily right, fair or correct

assimilate  v. to become part of another culture or society

underground  n. not official or out in the open, hidden, secret; not legal


The United States has noticed an increase in fighting in Eastern Ukraine, a Department of Defense official told VOA.

Despite an agreement for a ceasefire in 2015, about 430 Ukrainian armed forces have died, said Michael Carpenter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

Ukrainian government soldiers are battling Russian-backed military forces. The pro-Russian forces have carried out hundreds of attacks in eastern Ukraine in the last week, according to one NATO military leader.

Carpenter told VOA that the fighting in Ukraine is fueled by Russia. He said the solution is diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia.

NATO top commander U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove spoke to reporters at the Pentagon, and said that disturbing trends had formed in Ukraine. He told Congress on Tuesday that attacks have increased. He said there have been more than 470 attacks in the past week.

Breedlove also said sections of Ukraine that saw no fighting in the past are now under attack.

The surge in violence has officials calling for more resources to aid Ukraine and stop Russian aggression. But Breedlove told American lawmakers, the personnel, equipment and resources necessary to carry out its ongoing mission is not available.

Ukraine declared independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Pro-Russian separatists have fought in the region since March 2014.

Im Jim Dresbach.

VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb wrote this story. Jim Dresbach adapted her report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

NATO  n. short for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; a group of countries that have agreed to provide military support to each other.

fueled - v. to give support or strength to something

surge  n. a sudden, large increase

personnel  n. the people who work for a particular organization

mission  n. a task or job that someone is given to do
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Timely common sense comments regarding the state of our world.
This week Dawson County Clerk Karla Zlatkovsky issued the following letter to the ACLU of Nebraska:

Dear Ms. Miller,

In response to your letter dated February 25, 2016, to my knowledge Dawson Countys website does not provide English-only election forms or contain any significant information about elections. Dawson County is in the process of creating bilingual election content for its website, however such materials are not ready to be published online at this time.

Being in compliance is a top priority for my office. If I have inadvertently missed something, I will get it corrected immediately.

Zlatkovskys letter was in response to a letter the ACLU sent to her office Feb. 25 regarding bilingual election materials. The ACLU said Dawson, Dakota, and Colfax Counties are required by law to offer bilingual election materials because more than five-percent of those counties populations are members of a language minority (Spanish).

The ACLU of Nebraska criticized Dawson and Colfax Counties for not offering Spanish-language election materials on the counties websites.

Zlatkovsky said at the time that her office has hard copies of the information, and it is available online on the Nebraska Secretary of States website.
Disclaimer: Some of the links and banners on Life in Israel are ads, and some are affiliate links. Affiliate links are links that will earn me a commission off any purchases you might make after clicking on the link/banner, though you will not pay more because of that.
Jides Remix Mini isnt the only cheap mini-desktop computer that runs Jides Android-based, desktop-style operating system. The Unuiga S905 is a similar device with a 64-bit ARM-based processor, Remix OS 2.0 software, and a starting price of $25 for the first 100 people to back the projects crowdfunding campaign.

Theres on small catch though: shipping costs for the Unuiga S905 can double the price of the mini PC in some situations.

Update: International shipping prices have been cut a bit.

The little computer features an Amlogic S905 ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor with Mali-450 graphics and features Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, S/PDIF, two USB 2.0 ports, and a microSD card reader.

Once the early bird pricing for the entry-level model is gone, the price for a single unit goes up to $30. Theres also a Unuiga S905+ model thats priced at $45 (or $5 less for early birds).

The cheaper models feature 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. The Plus version features 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and 802.11ac WiFi.

Both models measure about 4.4 x 4.4 x 0.8.

The Unuiga S905 will ship from China, and the company behind the project expects to be able to ship bulk purchases of 5 or more units in April, with individual units shipping in May. That catch I was talking about though? Shipping to the US runs $26  which means that you could end up paying $51 for a $25 device or $66 for a $40 model.

Update: Shipping to the US and most other countries has been cut to $15.

Thats still less than youd pay for a Remix Mini, though. Jides mini PC with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage is currently selling for $70.

Another interesting thing about this crowdfunding project is that it seems to be a partnership between Unuiga and ARMDevices, a mobile technology website and video channel operated by mobile enthusiast Charbax.

You can check out his preview in the video below:
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Highlighting Louisiana books and authors and literary events happening in the Bayou State.
Mumbai: Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu on Sunday snubbed rumours that she has got engaged to her Alone co-star Karan Singh Grover, after she was captured wearing a prominent diamond sparkler on her ring finger.

"Wait for me to announce my wedding when I want to and if I want to. Please stop treating it frivolously," Bipasha tweeted.

Some images that have surfaced online feature Bipasha sitting on the back seat of a car, while Karan is seated in front, next to the driver. Looking casual, deglam and tired, Bipasha can be seen looking down, trying to avoid the papparazzi.

The Jism actress, who was earlier famously dating actor John Abraham, has urged fans and media persons to avoid speculating on her current relationship status.

"For years, I have dealt with this constant discussion. Please be patient. After all it's my life. Thank you all. Humble request to all those who love me," she said.

Commenting on the images that have sparked speculation of her engagement, she said: "And yes, I don't like getting clicked at 10 p.m. post a massage. Oily and dirty. Am sure all women will understand that. It's not rocket science."

IANS
Pune: Actor-filmmaker Kamal Hassan Sunday pitched for dedicated film archive facilities in each state to facilitate students, who are studying cinema.

Hassan was invited as a chief guest at closing certification ceremony of the Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop 2016 at National Film Archive of India (NFAI) here. He paid homage to the 82-year-old founder and former director of NFAI, P K Nair, who breathed his last here on March 4.

"I request (the) government to set up separate film archives in each state so students, who are studying cinema

can avail the facility whenever they want. And (can) even access 12,000 films (which) Nair Saab (P K Nair) managed to preserve for us and probably his (Nair's) dream of having film archives in each metropolis and state might come true," the Vishwaroopam actor said.

"I would also like to request (Central) government to set up a dedicated institute of film preservation and digitisation in the name of Nair Saab (P K Nair).

"Few years ago, I and Nair Saab (P K Nair) wanted to set up film archive in Chennai, however, due to some reason it did not happen, but having dedicated archives in each state is a plausible mission and that is why I put forth it," he added.

On the Centre's ambitious project - National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM)- which is being housed in NFAI, Sunil

Arora, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said, "All the hurdles have been cleared in the project and it will receive its first tranche of funds (of) Rs 20 crore in next two to three days."

"Film preservation and restoration workshop could be organised once in every two years as it is creating skill set

and manpower and (the) ministry is committed to giving complete support in this regard," Arora added.

"The NFHM in all practical terms has kick started now. It will now be implemented in time bound manner. We will take best practises from the world over and NFHM will be implemented as per global standards," the I&B secretary said.

The workshop was conducted with the idea of furthering and facilitating the knowledge of film restoration. The workshop saw lectures, presentations and practical classes, conducted by leading international experts pertaining to film preservation and restoration.
Even as the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) is set to pass orders later today on SBI seeking the lenders' first right on the $75-million payout from Diageo to Vijay Mallya, the liquor baron said he is in talks to enter into a one-time settlement with state-run banks.

Last month, Mallya stepped down as chairman from United Spirits Ltd, ending months of acrimony with the company's new owner, Britain's Diageo Plc.

The businessman, who also owns the country's largest brewer United Breweries, has been under pressure from banks to repay debts since Kingfisher Airlines stopped flying in 2012.

Mallya said in a statement late on Sunday that he had three meetings with lenders to discuss settlement of debt by making additional payments to the banks.

"I have had three meetings and follow-up calls in the recent past, and my efforts will continue," Mallya said.

Banks have recovered an aggregate Rs 2,494 crore ($371.98 million), Mallya said.

The United Spirits board began a process last April to remove Mallya as the company's chairman due to alleged financial irregularities. Mallya denied the allegations and refused to resign.

DRT had reserved its order after hearing the submissions made by both parties - bankers and Mallya - on March 4.

SBI had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, as the bank approached DRT seeking action against him for defaulting on loans.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT here against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him.

With inputs from Agencies
A 20-year-old girl jumped off a three-storey building, after three men, including her boyfriend, allegedly tried to rape her on Sunday in Howrah, reports DNA. She suffered some brain injuries after the incident and has been admitted to the Howrah General hospital, reports The Times of India.

The girl is a resident of Liluah in Howrah and was put up at a friends place. An NDTV report suggests that, at the time of the incident, she was visiting her boyfriend in the apartment where the two other men were also present. She was then allegedly forced to consume a spiked drink, following which the three men allegedly assaulted her.

In her drugged state, she gathered her remaining senses and in an effort to escape the assaulter, jumped off the building and is now in critical condition, reports said. A mound of sand present on the ground floor saved her life, as per the report by The Times of India.

Some locals caught hold of the attackers and handed them to the police. According to the DNA report, they will be produced before the local court on Monday. They have been booked under the charges of molestation.
The issue of women's entry into religious shrines is back in the limelight as activists from the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, an organisation for women, under the leadership of activist Trupti Desai on Monday announced that they will march to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik and attempt to enter its sanctum sanctorum.

The entry of women into the sanctorum of the temple is banned. The temple trust claimed that the ban on women is based on tradition and that no objection has been raised on the issue so far, according to an IBNLive report.

The ancient temple in Trimbak town, located 30 km from Nashik, houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. The shrine has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the flow of lakhs of devotees on account of the festival of Maha Shivratri.

"We will definitely enter (the sancorum) today. The police will not repeat their mistake this time because this is about a right given to us by the Constitution. The police had insulted the Constitution the last time they had stopped us," Desai told CNN-IBN.

Desai was talking about the time when a group of women from the Bhumata Brigade was stopped from entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.

The 350 women activists had been stopped by police in a village 70 km from the shrine as they tried to break a 400-year-old tradition banning women from entering its sacred sanctum.

"We will hold the CM responsible if we are detained this time," Desai further said. "I request the Chief Minister to give us police protection instead of trying to stop us... If they detain us, this will be an insult to International Women's Day and to women."

"Also, since a high alert has been announced, Nashik Police had requested us not to come in buses. Hence we are going by small vehicles. We have even reduced our women members and there are only 150-175 women, who will try to enter the sanctum in a peaceful manner," Desai said.

Nashik Rural Police tightened security around the temple in the pilgrimage town to avoid a face-off similar to what happened at Supa village on 26 January, when the women activists were proceeding towards Shingnapur.

"We have deployed extra police force and also put barricades to restrict activists of Bhumata Brigade with a view to maintain law and order of this small town," Deputy SP, Praveen Munde said.

Meanwhile, right-wing organisations including Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together and decided to stop the activists before they reach the temple.

According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

Women, however, can have 'darshan' from outside the core area.

He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6-7 AM on all days.

As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Also, some priests in the temple town said most of the women devotees may not want to defy the tradition.

Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Desai had in February also received an anonymous threat letter warning her of dire consequences like thinker Narendra Dabholkar. Dabholkar was found murdered on 20 August 2013.

The two-page letter written in Marathi had questioned her selection of Shani Shingnapur temple as an agenda.

The letter had warned her either to stay away from the issue or face fatal consequences like Dabholkar.

Desai had filed a complaint against unknown person at the Sahkar Nagar Police Station in Pune. A police officer had confirmed about the threatening contents of the letter. "We will investigate the letter," a police officer had said.

However, the Bhumata Brigade chief was not scared by the threat to her life.

"No, I am not frightened by the threat. If anyone is threatening to kill me, the person should come on record. He is afraid of me. That's why he has not dared to mention his name. This kind of threats are common in social service," Desai had told Firstpost from Pune.

(With inputs from PTI)
Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale has sought financial assistance from the Maharashtra government for those who marry outside their caste.

"The government should provide financial aid worth Rs 4-5 lakh for inter-caste marriages. This will help end caste-related disputes. I am myself married to a girl belonging to the Brahmin community," the Dalit leader told reporters here on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Athawale also expressed concern over the India-Pakistan relations, against the backdrop of the attack on Pathankot air base. "Pakistan has engaged in direct and indirect war with India on several occasions, which includes an attack on Parliament, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and the attack on the Pathankot air base recently," he said.

"On one side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan. Modi also invited Sharif for his swearing-in. Time and again, he wants friendship with Pakistan, but despite this they have engaged in direct or indirect war," he added.

PTI
New Delhi: Amid a raging debate on nationalism in the wake of the JNU row, noted historian Romila Thapar on Sunday said efforts are being made to "obfuscate" the existing definition of nationalism, which is based on "reliable history" and not just on "anyone's fantasy about the past."

"Today efforts are being made to obfuscate the existing definition of nationalism. The nationalism draws on reliable history and not just on anyone's fantasy about the past.

"Critical enquiry as we all know is essential to the advancing of knowledge, it is expected of the university to critically enquire into what public may claim this knowledge to be," she said in her address to the students at JNU.

"Nationalism draws on the identity of a citizen which is pre-eminent but cannot be an identity claimed as superior by any single group, it has to include equality of all the equal rights of citizens. Incisive debates on this are part of the nationalist enterprise which is part of the ongoing enterprise of the relationship between history and nationalism and universities are obvious place for such debate," she said.

Thapar's lecture titled "History and Nationalism: Then and now" was part of the "nationalism teaching" series which are being conducted at JNU which is caught in a row over a 9 February event.

The classes are being held at the varsity's administration block.

"Nationalism doesn't exist on one identity, it is all inclusive. National history of course has its moments of joy, it goes to the past and golden age and utopian age but whatever national identities superseded existing identities, if it is inclusive it is generally much healthier but if it pretends to be much exclusive then it could be a disaster," she said.

Thapar, an Emeritus Professor at JNU, referred to herself as "dinosaurs of JNU" talking about how she joined university in 1970.

"Various theories have been put about origin of Aryans. Max Mueller said they came for central Asia. Dayanand Saraswati said they came from Tibet. Tilak as we all know was much more adventurous and suggested the Arctic regions. When it became fashionable in the 1920s to talk about Aryans being indigenous to India. It was little embarrassing to have Tilak talking about Arctic circle and someone had the bright idea of saying that in those days in Vedic times, the north pole was actually located in Bihar," she said, with a touch of humour.

Thapar has been maintaining that the current nationalism at JNU over an event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013, will not have an impact on the varsity's future as there is lot of intellectual support for the institution from across the globe.

Thapar also said that even though she was "deeply depressed" since the last one month over "attempts at breaking JNU" she was feeling much better now.

Tracing the early history of nationalism, Thapar went on to differentiate between inclusive and exclusive nationalism by giving examples of African nationalism and German Nationalism during the 1930s respectively.

"Nationalism has a lot to do with understanding your society and finding your identity as member if that society. History is essential to a national ideology, but it has to be a shared history. It cannot be a history based on one identity, but has to be all inclusive.

Stressing on the fact that colonial rulers were responsible for creating a narrative of Hindu-Muslim nation, Thapar said, "colonial scholarship talked about Hindu nation and Muslim nation and talked about how the two were permanently hostile to each other and required British to keep peace.

"Interpretation of history came to be based on the two-nation theory and from this perspective Hindu, Muslim antagonism became a given."

The theory of an Aryan race, she said, was also useful in projecting that India had a single history, one that she added, posed problems to it's believers when the Indus Valley Civilisation was discovered.

"It was anti-colonial nationalism which first claimed Indian nationalism. The primary identity was Indian, an overarching identity where everyone was equal with equal rights. This was new," she said.

The historian then went on to describe how nationalism and communalism became important concepts for the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha which still used concepts like two-nation theory.

PTI
A BJP youth leader by the name of Kuldeep Varshnay offered Rs 5,00,000 as a reward for cutting off JNU students union leader Kanhaiya Kumars tongue. While this is deplorable, it needs to be noted that Varshnay is still free at the time of writing this piece while Kanhaiya was arrested following a cultural programme he had allegedly organised at the JNU campus on February 9.

The BJP leader clearly incited (if not incentivised) people to commit violence and yet walked free, while Kanhaiyas speech was criminalised immediately though it wasnt an incitement to violence. Moreover, posters were put up in Delhi offering Rs 11 lakh as reward for Kanhaiyas murder  only Adarsh Sharma has been arrested so far.

This causes us to wonder if the laws that criminalise speech are the same for everyone or are they merely being used as a tool to protect the sentiments of the majority. For example, during the Delhi gang-rape protests in 2012, there were many comments and slogans that called for death to the rapists. Even last year, following agitations after the framing of the Juvenile Justice (Amendment) bill, there were calls for death penalties to be imposed on juveniles accused of rape. One couldnt come by any article online without reading comments like No trial, direct death for rapists. One begins to wonder why these incitements to violence went unpunished.

The law on freedom of speech is quite settled as far as India is concerned. All citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression but the State may pass laws that impose reasonable restrictions on exercising the right. The interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, maintaining friendly relations with foreign nations, decency and/or morality, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to violence are all reasonable restrictions it may consider. In my view, these restrictions are sensible as they criminalise only those speeches which affect the exercise of free speech.

This reasonableness also shields us from most forms of legislative overreach, which may infringe upon fundamental rights. For example, defamation, libel and slander have no place in a public debate as personal attacks result in heckling, can drown out voices and actually hurt free speech. Clearly, there can be laws that criminalise speech that affects the sovereignty of India. For example, writing a letter to the President of Pakistan asking him to invade India should ideally be a criminal offence. Decency and morality are questionable, but are needed to prevent public offence, and in fact, courts have been quite liberal in reading laws that criminalise obscene speech. Contempt of court is necessary for our judiciary to function effectively, it would be hard pressed to have a republic where people can openly advocate the disobedience of a court order and incitement to an offence is criminalised for obvious reasons.

However, when it comes to the public order test, things begin to get dicey. Thats when we begin to see the true face of how these laws are applied and for whom they are applicable. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris last year, many newspapers, in India and abroad, self-censored themselves and refused to carry the offensive cartoons. Two papers in India, however, did  one was the Mint and the other was a little known Urdu paper Avadhnama edited by a lady called Shrin Dalvi. The editor of Mint was not arrested for carrying the cartoons, but Dalvi was.

Her trial is underway and she is currently out on bail. She has received death threats and was forced to go into hiding fearing the safety of her children and family. Today, she lives without employment as there has been a social boycott of her by the Urdu Press. I have looked around and am yet to find any article that talks of people being arrested for threatening to kill her.

The same can be said of Kamlesh Tiwari, a purported member of the Hindu Mahasabha, who released a press statement saying that the Prophet of Islam was the worlds first homosexual. Over one lakh Muslims rose up in protest demanding that he be put to death for his statement. They further went on to advocate a call for blasphemy laws in India, laws which they felt should carry the death penalty.

Whats worrying is that most of the laws criminalising speech in India are bailable offences, which means you cant be detained after being charged with hate speech. The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has detained Tiwari under the National Security Act, a law that provides for preventive dentition. He is, by any stretch of the term, a prisoner of conscience, but we dont see a debate on free speech surrounding him. Contrast this with the uproar caused by the prosecution of MF Hussain for his paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses.

Was it that we felt freedom of speech was threatened when Hussain was prosecuted, but we dont feel so when Tiwari is detained without a trial or a charge? One could argue that it is so because the Hindu community is more liberal thanks to their higher economic and social status in India (as outlined by recent reports on the status of minorities) or one could argue its because as a society, we enjoy living in an echo chamber and dont like it when the voices that are echoed are different from the ones we are shouting ourselves.

There are very few laws that criminalise speech in India, except those that do so on grounds of public order, reflected in Article 19(2) of the Constitution. Most speech offences in India are ones which cause a break in public order and its important to realise that we are the people who are prone to disorder when we hear something we don't like.

Varshnay is able to get away for the same reason the Mullahs who called for the head of Tiwari and Shirin Dalvi are able to get away. It is not smart politics to initiate a prosecution against a person who says something that the majority agrees with, irrespective of the fact that, prima facie, offences can be made out from these statements.

Calling for more free speech will mean getting around the idea that people like Tiwari will go around making their statements, free from prosecution. I am of the opinion that, no matter how distasteful, Tiwari has the right to make them, just like Kanhaiya has the right to make his speeches criticising the government and just like Hussain had the right to draw the paintings. It is the duty of the law and order administration of a civil society to ensure these people are safe while making these statements. A safe space for freedom of speech does not only mean a safe space for speech the majority can agree with. It means a safe space for all speech. We cannot criminalise speech just because the police have a tough time maintaining order following the way people react; that's a copout, a copout the colonial administration that drafted these laws could afford, but a copout that is suicidal for any free-thinking democracy.

In the seminal US Supreme Court decision of Abrams vs United States, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, in his dissent, argued why freedom of speech was necessary for a democratic society. The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas  the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, Holmes had written.

This is often called the marketplace of ideas, and its time that free speech advocates began campaigning for laws protecting ideas that they themselves cant get behind, for thats the real defence of freedom of speech. A free market of ideas must be open to all ideas, no matter how distasteful they may be.

The true test of a democracys character is a person who is able to say the most offensive and distasteful things while maintaining order while he does so. If as a people we want fewer laws criminalising speech, we need to start maintaining order in the manner we react to it.
New Delhi: The Delhi government has decided to file criminal cases against three TV news channels on the basis of a magisterial probe which concluded they aired allegedly doctored videos of a controversial event at the JNU involving its students' president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Sources said the government's legal team has been ordered to initiate action against the three channels whose names were not mentioned in the report by the New Delhi District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar.

"A lower court will be approached under Section 200 of CrPC under which a magistrate takes cognisance of an offence on receiving a complaint," a senior government official said.

Earlier on Monday, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and JD(U) leader K C Tyagi met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and demanded action against the TV channels which allegedly ran "doctored" videos on the JNU row.

The magisterial probe, ordered by the Delhi government, had found that out of seven videos sent to a Hyderabad-based forensic lab, three were doctored, including one clipping of a news channel.

As per report of the Hyderabad-based lab, two videos were "manipulated" where voices of persons not present in the clippings were added.

In the manipulated clips, videos have been edited and voices have been added, the lab report had stated.

The government's probe did not find any evidence of JNU leader Kumar raising anti-India slogans at the controversial event in the university. Kanhaiya was charged with sedition following allegations that anti-national slogans were raised at the event to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Kashmiri separatist leader Maqbool Bhat.

Kumar was released on bail last week, while two other JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the sedition case.

According to the probe report, anti-national slogans were chanted on the campus and JNU administration has already identified a "few faces" who were "clearly" heard raising them. The probe panel said their whereabouts must be found and their role investigated.

PTI
Following intelligence inputs that suggested major cities in the country may be on the terrorists radar on the occasion of Maha Shivratri on Monday, Indian authorities have sprung into action, stepping up security around sensitive areas, crowded marketplaces and iconic landmarks. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had sent an alert saying 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba militants had entered the country through Gujarat and were planning a strike on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

On Monday morning, Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high level meeting with the chiefs of IB and RAW and also National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Following the meeting, massive security arrangements were underway at several key places in Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, etc. The National Security Guard (NSG) has sent a 120-member team to Gujarat, and has asked more teams to stay on standby at other locations.

According to a report in The Hindu, Pakistans National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart about the militants having sneaked past the border, following which Doval sent a note to the IB warning them of a possible attack, particularly at some coastal pilgrimage centres in Saurashtra or Kutch. We have received four teams of NSGs. They have been deployed in Ahmedabad and Somnath temple. Along with the state police, NSG personnel are on standby mode, said Gujarat DGP PC Thakur to the newspaper, adding that leave of all police officials and personnel have been cancelled.

The Somnath temple on the Saurashtra coast had turned into a fortress by Monday, with NSG commandos and state police officials deploying personnel there. Shivratri events, which were to be held at the temple, have also been cancelled following the intelligence inputs. The NSG team has positioned itself at the temple. We have accepted the suggestion of the police and called off the cultural programmes that were to be held on Sunday and Monday. But the number of tourists has not been affected, Pravin Laheri, secretary of the Shree Somnath Temple Trust, which manages the temple told the Indian Express.

In Porbandar, the deputy director of fisheries issued a circular asking personnel to keep a close watch on fishermen who had returned from Pakistani jails. IG (border wing) AK Jadeja told the paper that a core group of 22 agencies, including police, BSF and IB were working in coordination. We are maintaining records of people who have come from Pakistan on long-term or short-term visas. The water wing of BSF has intensified patrolling. Police are watching the coastline and border villages like Lodrani, Lakhpat, Nirona etc, Jadeja said.

Confirming the security arrangements in place, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel said, With the kind of arrangement made by the state government, and help offered by the Centre, I do not think any untoward incident will take place. I pray there will be no incident in the state or anywhere else in the country.

Other states too have intensified security presence. Maharashtra declared an official alert. A top police official of the state police said all unit chiefs have been asked to ensure maximum protection of persons and offices. A terror alert was also issued in Uttar Pradesh and state capital Lucknow, according to Times Now. Heavy security was also at force at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. The police were also keeping a close eye on the Kanwarias (devotees who walk barefoot carrying the holy Ganges water as an offering to the Shivlingas) as there was apprehension that they may be targeted by terrorists.

At the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata, security was tightened following an e-mail threat warning of a bomb blast in the next 24 hours. Airport officials told PTI that the e-mail came to the airport managers ID and appeared to originate from Germany.

In Punjab, Shivratri celebrations at the Jatpat Bani Shivala temple near Pathankot were muted following the security threat. The temple, surrounded by 35 acres of forest area, was teeming with security presence. The paper also mentioned that police forces at Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have all suggested that a group of terrorists may have reached the Jammu region a few days ago and might be hiding out at the Sidhra area.

The Coast Guard, too, has enhanced its surveillance of the Western coast of the country, specifically along the seas off Gujarat. We have enhanced our air and sea surveillance following the security threat. Our surveillance is always 24/7, but since the input has come directly from the NSA, we are being extra cautious, said a senior Coast Guard official, mentioning that they have not only pressed more ships into the sea for surveillance but also increased sorties made by their planes.

(With agency inputs)
A man in Uttar Pradesh was allegedly shot dead by a Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA's brother on Saturday night for overtaking his vehicle.

The incident took place in Balrampur after the victim identified as Jairam Yadav was returning after attending a marriage at Tariyapurwa village, reported IBNLive.

The MLA is the brother of the accused is Jagram Paswan and Balrampur Sadar in UP Assembly. His brothers Annu and Sadhu Paswan fled from the spot after the assault, the report said.

Police have registered a case of murder against the accused and are trying to apprehend the culprits.

According to another report in Hindustan Times, Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Balram superintendent of police, said eight teams were out to nab the culprits who have absconding till now.
Visakhapatnam: Maoists murdered a small-time businessman on suspicion that he was working as a police informer, a senior police official said on Monday.

The rebels slit the throat of Mukkali Gundu Rao near Kumkumpudi village under GK Veedhi Police Station limits of

the district on Sunday night, Superintendent of Police Koya Praveen said.

They left behind a note near his body saying Rao had associated himself with the anti-Maoist wing of district

police and shared information with cops about Naxals and their activities, he said.

Rao was husband of former Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency member M Chandrakala and was engaged in the

business of supplying tiles in construction sector.

Last evening, while Rao was returning home on a bike along with his younger brother Ramana, the rebels intercepted

the two-wheeler and killed Rao. They allowed Ramana to go after threatening him, Praveen said.

Police have filed a case and launched an investigation to identify the Maoists involved in the murder.

PTI
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his match in Kanhaiya Kumar, noted writer Nayantara Sahgal on Monday said as she praised the JNUSU president for his speech at JNU after his release from jail and his subsequent "rational" interviews to the media.

"Kanhaiya Kumar has electrified India with not only his speech in which much passion prevailed, but also in the interviews that he has given to the media where much rationality, much common sense, much quiet measured talk and a command of facts prevailed," she said here.

"We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for taking us out of that molasses of depression which many of us had fallen into for a while. Mr Modi has met his match in Kanhaiya Kumar," she

said at the launch of Rajmohan Gandhi's latest book "Understanding the Founding Fathers".

According to Sahgal, Gandhi's book is essentially a response to the criticism meted out at the founding fathers of India by two men  Swami Sachidanand of Gujarat and Perry Anderson, an American Marxist scholar.

The author writes in a "defensive" mode explaining that India is not what Anderson says and that Indians do not value the things that the Swami does.

Sahgal, niece of Jawaharlal Nehru, said it was imperative for the countrymen to be offensive, particularly in the current scenario, when "facts of our recent history are being totally falsified and education and culture are really in a battleground by our ruling government".

"In this day and age where everything that we value, the whole meaning of India and what India stands for is under dangerous attack, we need to be on the offensive. Everyone of us needs to stand up and be counted and speak out... We never need to explain ourselves to any one," she said.

Contradicting Gandhi, who writes in the book about the existence of a "temporary cement" of a common enemy holding India together during difficult times, she asserted it was instead a "permanent cultural cement" that bound the country, and that it was the latter that prevented the country from collapsing under the attack of Hindutva forces.

"What does not fall apart and has not fallen apart for centuries is a permanent cultural cement. It has been ineradicable through centuries. That is basically what holds us together and which the advocates of Hindutva are now trying to destroy," she said, adding being a Hindu, born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh, she considered herself a "Muslim by culture".

Sahgal accused the BJP government of trying to "appropriate" Ambedkar and wondered if it actually believes in his radical views on caste.

"The present government is trying to make an icon of him. I don't know if the government has read what Ambedkar writes in his book 'Annihilation of Caste' and I quote him, 'If you wish to bring about a breach in the system, you have to apply dynamites to the vedas and the shastras. You must destroy religion of the shrutis and the smritis'," she said.

Referring to the ongoing debate over nationalism, historian and politician Sugato Bose, who was also present at the book launch, cited Mahatma Gandhi's strong disapproval of the discrimination against any religion or community.

"When Mahatma Gandhi was in Nuakhali in search of peace, as a sanatani Hindu, he said I am a Muslim and a Christian at the same time...He said in Bihar, 'Is it nationalism to crush the 14 per cent of the Muslims in Bihar?' And the same question can be asked in a Gandhian way about Muslims in India today," Bose said.

The TMC leader also pointed out that the book was a powerful rebuttal of Anderson's charge that Gandhi was "Hindu revivalist".

"It shows that if you go through the entire collective works of Mahatma Gandhi, there is not one word of deep seated prejudice against any other religious faith and community. Gandhi's evocation of Ram Raj was completely different from the meanings that have been given to that phrase in today's politics," he said.

PTI
Ahmedabad: Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) has apprehended 18 Indian fishermen and seized their three boats off the Gujarat coast, an association said on Monday.

These fishermen were captured by the PMSA near the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) on Sunday, secretary

of Porbandar-based National Fishworkers Forum Forum (NFF) Manish Lodhari told PTI over phone.

"We came to know about the incident from other fishermen who returned to the coast. We were told that 18 fishermen on three fishing boats were apprehended by the Pakistani agency near Jakhau coast and taken to Karachi," he said.

The arrests were made on a day when Pakistani authorities announced they will release 87 Indian fishermen, most of them from Gujarat, who according to PMSA, were captured for allegedly violating its territorial waters.

The announcement was made on Sunday and the released fishermen will return home on Monday after the issuance of

travel documents by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

This is the second incident in last one month when PMSA has captured Indian fishermen off the Gujarat coast. On

7 February, the agency had apprehended 12 fishermen and seized two boats.

Recently, Lodhari sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to initiate efforts to bring back jailed Indian fishermen and their boats from Pakistan.

According to Lodhari, who is also president of Porbandar Fishermen Boat Association, at present there are around 440 Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat, and about 860 boats in the custody of Pakistan.

In his letter, Lodhari had claimed that out of the 860 boats, 604 belonged to fishermen from Porbandar, around 400 km from Ahmedabad.

Gujarat Fisheries Minister Babubhai Bokhiria said the state government received a communication about the release of 87 Indians from the Indian High Commission office in Islamabad some time back, which was sent via Union home ministry.

"The message said that Pakistan has released 86 fishermen and one civilian, who have already boarded a train at Karachi on Sunday and will reach Lahore on Tuesday (tomorrow), where they will be handed over to the Indian authorities," Bokhiria told PTI over phone.

Accordingly, the Gujarat government would send a team of Fisheries Department officials to Amritsar tomorrow to receive the Indians freed by Pakistan.

Bokhiria claimed that the message also said that 86 more fishermen would be released from the jail in Karachi on 21 March.

Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani said he has requested the Punjab government to take custody of these 87 Indians at Wagah border, saying it would be difficult for the Gujarat government team to reach there in time.

"I have made this plea to Punjab government on humanitarian ground as the released nationals will be tired

after three days of journey from Karachi to Lahore," he said.

PTI
Lucknow: Alleging discrimination, suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur on Monday announced that he will stage a sit-in in front of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's official residence at 5 Kalidas Marg on 10 March.

In a statement issued in Lucknow, Thakur said he had been discriminated against as the Uttar Pradesh government had

reinstated Lucknow DIG D K Chaudhary within 15 days after suspending him on serious charges of unwarrantedly slapping an old man but nothing of that sort had been done in his own case.

He has sent an email to DGP Jaweed Ahmed in this regards, where he said that he was suspended in July 2015

merely for having raised his voice against "injustice" and has been kept in suspension till date, while the suspension order has become illegal after not having renewed after 90 days mandatory period.

Thakur said that Chaudhary was suspended on 24 February after the video showing the incidence becoming viral and the DGP and CM Akhilesh Yadav took cognizance of it and got an inquiry conducted.

"Yet he was immediately reinstated which shows the double standards," Thakur alleged.

He said it has become imperative for him to express his inner pain and anguish and hence he would sit alone at CM

residence.

PTI
Kerala High Court judge Justice B Kamal Pasha on Sunday came down heavily on the Muslim Personal Law and said that if a Muslim man can marry four times, Muslim women should also be allowed to have four husbands, reported Hindustan Times on Monday.

The report further added that he called for the religious heads to introspect and end the "hegemony of men" and said that opposition to the uniform civil code is unfair.

According to The Hindu, Pasha said, "The Koran gives both men and women permission for extra judicial divorce. But it is difficult for a Muslim woman to seek divorce as per the personal law."

On Sunday, Deccan Chronicle reported that the Supreme Court accepted a writ petition filed by the president of the progressive women's association NISA against the discrimination meted out to Muslim women under the Sharia law. In her petition, activist VP Zuhra maintained that "the Sharia law was against the Constitution and un-Islamic," the report added.

Last year on 28 October, Hindustan Times had reported that the Supreme Court had decided to examine the Muslim Personal Law to do away with the provisions biased against Muslim women. A bench of justices AR Dave and AK Goel requested Chief Justice of India HL Dattu to constitute an appropriate bench and address the issue.

There is no safeguard against arbitrary divorce and second marriage by her (a Muslim womans) husband during currency of the first marriage, resulting in a denial of dignity and security to her, the bench said in the report.

Activists have been campaigning for a change in the Muslim personal law as it allows polygamy and the use of the triple talaq system.

The Apex court's decision was opposed by some Muslim organisations, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). According to The Indian Express, Islamic organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said that "a court cannot test the validity of personal law." The report further added that in the plea, the organisation said, "The Mohammedan Law is founded essentially on the Holy Koran and it cannot fall within the purview of the expression laws in force as mentioned in Article 13 of the Constitution of India, and hence its validity cannot be tested on a challenge based on Part III of the Constitution.

Though as per Quran and Hadith, "triple talaq" is a crime, once said, the process would be considered complete and cannot be changed, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) spokesman Maulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi.

"We have nothing to do with what happens in other Islamic countries. What we follow is what the Quran Sharif, Hadith and Sunnat has said. There is no scope of change in the system," he said.

With inputs from PTI
As Vijay Mallya and his loans from banks are back in the news, with DRT order on SBI petition to impound his passport expected today, the liquor baron on Sunday issued a statement refuting all media reports.

In the statement he accused media of indulging in sensationalism and also denied that personally he was not a borrower or a defaulter. He also said he is not trying to escape investigation.

He also said his plans to move to London has been misportrayed by the media.

Here's the full text of the statement issued by Mallya:

The past few few days have witnessed a near hysterical campaign in the media directed against me.

Recognising that the media was indulging in sensationalism, I thought it was best to let the drama play out  never spoil a sensational story with the truth.

However I feel that the time has come to clarify my position in order to avoid this relentless attack on my reputation.

Kingfisher was launched on the basis of a viable business plan vetted by SBI Capital Markets and renowned International aviation consultants, but despite every effort, it was an unfortunate commercial failure caused by macro economic factors and then Government policies.

The truth about Kingfisher Airlines and its financial stress due to external factors has been reported by State Bank of India to the Reserve Bank of India in their letter dated 31st January 2012.

A consortium of Banks loaned funds to Kingfisher Airlines, a public Company, but these loans were secured by blue chip securities.

After the closure of the Airline, since April, 2013, the Banks and their assignees have recovered, in cash, an aggregate of Rs. 1,244 crores from sale of pledged shares. In addition an aggregate of Rs. 600 crores is lying deposited in the Karnataka High Court [since July, 2013] and a further sum of Rs. 650 crores belonging to United Breweries Holdings has been deposited in the Karnataka High Court since early 2014, being sums realized from the sale proceeds received by United Breweries Holdings from the sale of shares in United Spirits to Diageo Plc in July, 2013.

Thus, the aggregate cash recovery/security available is Rs 2,494 crores.

Legal proceedings apart, I have been making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with the Banks, and to that end I have had three meetings and follow up calls in the recent past and my efforts will continue  this settlement would be based on additional payments to the Banks.

Personally I am not a borrower or a judgement defaulter.

Despite pledging blue chip securities and depositing significant amounts in Court, a successful disinformation campaign has ensured my becoming the poster boy of all Bank NPAs.

In fact, Banks have NPAs of Rs. 11 lakh crores and have borrowers who owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines to the Banks  a fact never alluded to or widely reported by the media as in my case.

None of these large borrowers [whose debt is significantly more than the KFA debt] have been declared wilful defaulters, but unfortunately, United Breweries Holdings and I have been declared wilful defaulters by certain Banks on technical grounds. I have legally challenged these declarations.

All the enquiries conducted have failed to find any evidence of misappropriation of funds by Kingfisher Airlines or myself  for the simple reason that the allegations and the innuendo to this effect is plainly false. My Group directly invested over Rs 4000 crores into Kingfisher Airlines itself which investment stands fully impaired  it is not as though it is only the bank debt that has suffered. The banks will recover a substantial part of their debt  my groups loss is permanent.

Absent any fraud, the concept of corporate limited liability cannot be ignored.

I have been most pained as being painted as an absconder  I have neither the intention nor any reason to abscond. I have been a non resident for almost 28 years and the Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged this in writing.

Over the years, I have built successful businesses in India and abroad. I am also honoured to be a member of the Rajya Sabha.

I have been summoned before various investigative agencies and have duly attended and cooperated with each of them, and I will continue to do so.

My statement as to my personal future after quitting Diageo/USL - that I want to spend more time in England closer to my children - has been grossly distorted and misportrayed. I wish to reduce my business commitments gradually and devote more time to my family, and that my resignation from United Spirits was a step in this direction.

The payments from Diageo Plc to myself are towards my personal non compete obligations globally except in the UK. In effect, I have given up my interests in the spirits business globally at considerable cost.

I have always lived an honourable life and the calumny notwithstanding shall continue to do so. As to the allegations in the media, all I can say is I hope some sobriety and sense will prevail and truth not held a hostage to TRP.
New Delhi: Students cannot attain political maturity by merely focusing on the events off campus; their training requires raising them on campus too. By debating and agitating on issues, students create an intellectual space that helps them develop skills to influence, mobilise and lead people. The case of Jawaharlal Nehru University is a perfect example. That, however, is not the case with Jamia Millia Islamia, another prominent university in Delhi.

The university was built to fulfill the need for education and nationalistic agitation.The university which boasts, and rightly so, of a rich history of student activism during the freedom movement sadly remains indifferent to political activity by students.

The students union elections have been banned here since March 2006 after students allegedly 'started interfering with the administrative matters of the institution'. The students union was vitiating the academic and administrative atmosphere of the varsity and hence the poll process had to be suspended to ensure that there was no disruption in normal academic transactions, an official of the university told Firstpost.

But the students are demanding to reinstate their union. They say it is ironical that a university with such a rich past, has no democracy or voice of dissent left on its campus now. Fed up with writing repeatedly to vice chancellors and the University Grants Commission, three students had challenged the varsitys directive in the Delhi High Court in 2011 and the matter is still pending.

First banned in 1996, the elections of Jamia Students Union were held again in December 2005 when noted scholar Mushirul Hassan was the vice chancellor. Few months after the new union was elected, it was dissolved. Since then, the union office in the campus is closed. In July 2012, the then vice chancellor Najeeb Jung, who is now the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, ruled out any possibility of a students union election stating that there have been no such elections for the last four-five years. I have not studied the background of unions here.

The students alleged that their democratic rights were being curtailed and there was just one-way communication between them and the administration. They demanded that instead of eliminating the whole process, the varsity should at least allow political activism among students, in a manner that did not affect academic activities.

Students union gives a common platform to students in colleges and universities to fight for common interests. But it has been a decade now and on the pretext that a case is pending in court, the university administration has stopped union election. Consequently, students here find themselves on weaker ground against the authorities, Md Reyaz, a research scholar, told Firstpost.

Interestingly, Jamia has strong union of teachers and non-teaching staff.

In the last decade, I hardly saw any real mobilisation of students for a common cause. Even when the Occupy UGC movement (launched in October last year in response to a recommendation for scrapping the non-NET fellowship) was going on, the collective participation of Jamia students was minimal, he said, adding that the argument that students should focus on studies and leave politics is hilarious and shows the ignorance at best and unyielding attitude of the authorities at worst.

Universities have always been the cradle for future leaders and it is here that they sharpen their skills. From incumbent Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to former Bihar Chief Minister Laldu Prasad Yadav, they all had their training in politics in universities.

If the current dispensation really believes that students should not indulge in politics, shouldn't they begin by suspending the students wing  the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)? he asked.

The school headmaster's approach towards running a university has apparently become sort of a norm. It helps the administration suppress views and uncomfortable opinions from students, many students feel.

Asad Ashraf, an ex-student of the university who earned masters in Peace and Conflict, said every vice chancellor of Jamia has 'killed its democratic aspiration' during his tenure. I was myself suspended for demanding a students body on the campus and questioning the authoritative ways of the administration. There is no students body despite the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations (which was set up by the then UPA government in December 2005 in response to a directive by the Supreme Court and had stipulated that all institutions of higher education, both private and public, should conduct student union elections every year). Vice chancellors, citing administrative reasons, act at the behest of the central governments and do not want leaders to prosper among a large chunk of minority students studying here, he alleged.

According to Meeran Haider, who is pursuing MBA in International Business, an undemocratic university is being created in a democratic country.

The consecutive administrations of the university have always tried to please and ingratiate the respective governments for personal benefits, betraying the vision of the founding fathers. In a nut shell, you can say in democratic India, an undemocratic university is being created, he said.

What would have happened if a JNU-kind incident had occurred in Jamia? asked Haider, who is also co-convener and spokesperson of Jamia Students Forum (JSF), which is fighting for restoration of campus democracy. Perhaps , the institution would have been shut down by now and it would have turned into a war zone, he said, concluding, a community which has no participation in national politics and administrations ends up becoming slave and the same is happening with us.

JSF is planning to launch a campaign on a large scale to press the government to accept their demand. Another student, on the condition of anonymity, said the problem lies among the so-called guardians of Jamia itself. They see the university as a launch pad for their own political ambitions. Student politics will pave the way for an assertive Muslim intelligentsia. And that would hamper their personal ambition, he told Firstpost.

Jamia unit of Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), the students wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, which has staged various protests demanding the reinstatement of the union, says every society and nation has meaningfully prospered when it allowed each of its members to participate democratically.

Sharing the same view, Hamraj Singh, who is pursuing MA in Media Governance, says an educational institution does not only teach us theoretical aspect of socio-political issues but also to practice them. Jamia should restore students democracy. It will make the atmosphere more vibrant in and around the campus, he said, voicing concerns over whether the student union will be able to keep itself above minority politics."

Syed Danish, a former student of the university, asked the Jamia administration to take a lesson from JNU on how a student is made politically educated and the part the campus plays in it.

Replaying the entire episode of what happened in Jawaharlal Nehru University in the past one month, one wonders what lies in the spirit of JNU. To be precise, how do we build a university which has a gallant history of taking a non-conformist stand in the face of the most oppressive of governments? How do we build a university which can inspire and educate its students to face existential threats from all sides and never surrender? he added.

The university has taken note of the requests from the students but they cannot take a stand on the issue as the matter is sub-judice.

Our Vice Chancellor Professor Talat Ahmed is personally inclined to having a students union in place but the matter is in High Court. Once the case is decided and final nod on conducting elections come, we will be more than happy to implement it, said university PRO Dr Mukesh Ranjan.
New Delhi: Linking the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar issues with rights of the marginalised, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of "crushing" the weak and the poor who demand their rights.

He also said Union ministers and BJP leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him but they should not

"crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak."

"Tribals from Bastar met me today. They said they are facing atrocities in Chhattisgarh's Bastar and that they are being threatened and crushed.

"Country will not benefit by beating and threatening people. You pressurised Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, here you are pressurising Kanhaiya and our students," the Congress Vice President told reporters in New Delhi.

He alleged that wherever the poor is seeking rights, "be it farmer, Dalit, tribal or small trader  small traders came to me  wherever a weak person is raising voice, NDA government, Modi government is trying to crush it."

These people are the strength of India and no one will benefit by crushing them, he said.

"If you have to take action, do it. Those who break law, take action. But by crushing, threatening and beating the poor won't help the country," Rahul said.

In an apparent reference to Modi's remarks in the Lok Sabha that "some people age but do not mature", Rahul said the PM and his Cabinet colleagues are free to attack him. "Modi attacked me personally. His party colleagues are attacking me personally on a daily basis," he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently took a dig at the Congress Vice-President over his Lok Sabha speech and said "the more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know  when will he know".

"As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity," Jaitley had said in a Facebook post reacting to Gandhi's remarks that Prime Minister Modi does not consult his senior ministers on policy issues.

"Do as much personal attacks as you want. But don't crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak. Hit me as much you want. Attack me as much you want. Speak for as long as you want to, but don't hit the poor people of the country," Rahul stressed.

PTI
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday decided to pull out of a cultural extravaganza being organised by Art of Living guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as a controversy raged over the three-day event on the flood plains of river Yamuna that has raised environmental concerns.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate event on Friday and the President was to attend the valedictory function on Sunday.

"The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances," an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Monday.

The event drew criticism after some activists petitioned the National Green Tribunal, a qusai judicial body on environmental issues, asking it to stop the event as it would have a deep impact on the Yamuna flood plains. The Tribunal is expected to give its judgement on Tuesday.

While the organisers expect 35 lakh people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment that may be caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

The AOL foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The three-day event will be held from 11-13 March on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of the foundation.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and the foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.

Ravi Shankar, however, has defended holding of the event saying that he would have received a red carpet welcome in any other country for holding such an event.

Comparing the importance of the festival to the Olympics, Shankar also said that the NGT report is biased.

He said the committee constituted by the NGT was "biased" and claimed that the organisers of the event had not cut a single tree.

He denied claims that the Yamuna flood plains was being destroyed because of the event and said it was an eco-friendly function.

PTI
Mumbai: In a veiled attack on the BJP for letting JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar get "free publicity", ally Shiv Sena on Monday sought to know how he got bail in such a short span of time when others charged with 'sedition' are still languishing in jails.

"(Union Minister) Venkaiah Naidu said Kanhaiya Kumar is getting free publicity. If that is so, who is responsible for letting him get free publicity? Today, nothing comes for free," the Sena said in an edit in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"A price has to be paid for even the smallest of things. Working class people, labourers who used to save money in PF, will now be taxed on their earnings. In short, the government has only shown people nothing will be given for free," it said.

It said that Hardik Patel, who led the Patel agitation demanding reservation for his community in Gujarat is still behind bars after being charged with 'sedition' and so are people like Colonel Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya.

"Then how did Kanhaiya get bail so easily? Was it that keeping him behind bars was becoming a problem for the government and that it had to answer too many questions?" the Sena asked.

"If Naidu says Kanhaiya is getting free publicity, then our system and administration is responsible for it. He has become a hero because people are announcing reward for attack on Kanhaiya," it said, referring to BJP leader Kuldeep Varshnay announcing Rs 5 lakh prize money for cutting off the tongue of Kanhaiya, who he had alleged, was speaking against BJP and PM Narendra Modi after being released on bail.

A poster announcing Rs 11 lakh prize money to anyone "shooting down" Kumar was also spotted in Delhi.

The Sena further said that the sole aim (of politicians) is to win elections and form a government.

"Promises made before elections vanish into the air and farmers, labourers, working class and students are made victims. If this continues, there would be human bombs made within the country. These youngsters will be exploited for political games," the Sena warned.

Kumar, who was arrested on 12 February on sedition charges, was released from Tihar jail on 3 March after the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months.

PTI
New Delhi: Looking for allies in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, the BJP on Monday said it was making efforts to bring together all partners with whom it had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"We are trying to bring all parties with whom we had contested Lok Sabha polls together in Tamil Nadu," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state, said.

Reports had it earlier that leaders of the actor Vijayakanth-led DMDK were meeting Javadekar in New Delhi on Monday which did not materialise.

The BJP high command is worried over the possibility of DMDK going with the DMK-led alliance in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly election.

Vijayakanth, who was with the NDA during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is hinting that he may finally go back to the DMK-led alliance to take on the ruling AIADMK of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP projected Narendra Modi's leadership and built a formidable non-DMK, non-AIADMK alliance that included DMDK of Vijayakanth, Vaiko, the PMK and assorted caste-centric outfits. The NDA bagged over 18 percent of the voteshare and two of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Congress has already joined the DMK-led alliance.

On the other hand rebel leader GK Vasan is likely to join the AIADMK-led alliance. Most of the smaller parties are likely to go with the DMK-led alliance.

In the 2011 Assembly elections, DMDK had won 28 seats and Vijayakanth became leader of the Opposition party. But recently some of his MLAs have defected to the AIADMK.

PTI
Kolkata: West Bengal's main opposition Left Front on Monday released its first list of 116 candidates, that included former Asian Games gold medallist runner Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, and said talks were on "at a fast pace" for an understanding with the Congress, for the upcoming state assembly polls.

However, LF chairman Biman Bose ruled out any joint campaign with the Congress.

"Discussion were on at a fast pace. We already have a front. Now we are forging a new front. Earlier we had parties like the Nationalist Congress Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal with us. Now the Janata Dal-United will be part of the expanded Left front. Some other parties are also keen to join," said Bose.

Regarding the Congress, he said the LF was trying to work out an understanding with the Congress, which would ensure there was no split in anti-Trinamool Congress votes.

"If the Congress has faith in the LF slogan of Trinamool hotao, Bangla bachao, and BJP hotao, desh bachao, it will be with us. We are trying to work out an understanding with the Congress, and neither a front, nor alliance.

"Congress has ruled the state for long. Congress also had an electoral understanding with the Trinamool Congress in the past. Today we welcome the Congress if it shares our slogan against the Congress. But understanding does not mean an alliance or a front," said Bose.

Ruling out any joint campaign with the Congress, the LF chairman said: "LF will campaign from LF platform, and Congress from its platform. There will be no platform sharing on the campaign trail".

However, in the event of violence during the poll campaign, the LF, its associates and the Congress will rush to the spot without carrying the respective party flags.

Bose mocked posters and graffiti linking the LF spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist poll symbol sickle-hammer-star with the Congress' symbol hand. "This is not our stand. Sickle-hammer is sickle-hammer. Hand is hand."

Sikdar, a former CPI-M MP, would be in fray from Ranaghat North seat in Nadia district, while State CPI-M secretary Surjya Kant Mishra would contest from his old constituency of Narayangarh of West Midnapore district.

A significant feature of the list made public on the day was that 68 of the candidates were fresh faces.

The list included 16 women, and 25 from the religious minorities.

The state is slated to hold the seven-phase polls from 4 April to 5 May.

IANS
Kolkata: West Bengal's main opposition Left Front on Monday released its first list of 116 candidates that included former Asian Games gold medallist runner Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, and said talks were on "at a fast pace" for an understanding and not an alliance with the Congress, for the upcoming state assembly polls. The state is slated to hold the seven-phase polls from April 4 to May 5.

LF chairman Biman Bose also ruled out any joint campaign with the Congress.

"Discussions were on at a fast pace. We already have a front. Now we are forging a new front. Earlier we had parties like the Nationalist Congress Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal with us. Now the Janata Dal-United will be part of the expanded Left front. Some other parties are also keen to join," said Bose.

Regarding the Congress, he said the LF was trying to work out an understanding with the Congress, which would ensure there was no split in anti-Trinamool Congress votes.

"If the Congress has faith in the LF slogan of 'Trinamool hatao, Bangla bachao, and BJP hatao, desh bachao', it will be with us. We are trying to work out an understanding with the Congress, and neither a front, nor alliance.

"Congress has ruled the state for long. Congress also had an electoral understanding with the Trinamool Congress in the past. Today we welcome the Congress if it shares our slogan against the Congress. But understanding does not mean an alliance or a front," said Bose.

Ruling out any joint campaign with the Congress, the LF chairman said: "LF will campaign from LF platform, and Congress from its platform. There will be no platform sharing on the campaign trail".

However, in the event of violence during the poll campaign, the LF, its associates and the Congress will rush to the spot without carrying the respective party flags.

Bose mocked posters and graffiti linking the LF spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist poll symbol sickle-hammer-star with the Congress' symbol hand. "This is not our stand. Sickle-hammer is sickle-hammer. Hand is hand."

Asked to give details about its "understanding" with the Congress including if the Left will contest in all the 294 seats, Bose replied: "This is only the first list, there are more lists to come, you will get know all the details."

Sikdar, a former CPI-M MP, would be in fray from Sonarpur North seat in South 24 Parganas district, while State CPI-M secretary Surjya Kant Mishra would contest from his old constituency of Narayangarh of West Midnapore district.

Mishra, also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, is the only CPI-M politburo member from the state featuring in the first list.

Bose also said it was a "political tradition" in Bengal of not projecting anyone as the chief ministerial candidate and refused to comment if Mishra would be the face of the coalition.

A significant feature of the list made public on the day was that 68 of the candidates were fist timers in assembly polls. The list includes 16 women, and 25 from the religious minorities.

Among the candidates announced on the day, six are from Forward Bloc, five from the Communist Party of India (CPI), one each from Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) and the rest (113) from Front spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist.

The list also includes nine former state ministers and five former parliamentarians.

IANS
Seoul: North Korea threatened pre-emptive and 'indiscriminate' nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States on Monday, as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises.

The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response.

Participation in the joint exercises  known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle  has been bumped up this year to involve 300,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets.

In a statement issued hours before the drills began, North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an 'all-out' military counter-offensive.

Describing the exercises as 'nuclear war drills' aimed at undermining North Korea's sovereignty, the statement said the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army was ready to launch a 'pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike' in response.

The threat came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby, in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.

AFP
Kolkata: A charity group established by Mother Teresa says an Indian Catholic priest was abducted by militants when they attacked a retirement home in southern Yemen last week, killing 16 people including four nuns.

Missionaries of Charity spokeswoman Sunita Kumar said Monday in Kolkata that Father Tom Uzhunnalil was handcuffed and taken away by the attackers when they stormed the retirement home in Aden.

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said there was no information about the priest's current location or status.

After they entered the retirement home, the gunmen moved from room to room, handcuffing their victims before shooting them in the head. Kumar said two of the killed Catholic nuns were from Rwanda and the other two were from India and Kenya.

AP
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed over the phone the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt, the Kremlin said on Monday.

"The two sides stressed the importance of creating all necessary conditions for the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt and tourist exchanges," the Kremlin said in a statement.

On 31 October, 2015, a Russia-bound Airbus A321 crashed shortly after taking off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, mostly Russians.

The Russian Federal Security Service announced later that the plane was brought down by a bomb, and Putin then ordered the suspension of all of the country's flights to Egypt following the tragedy.

In late February, Sisi said terrorists were behind the crash with the aim to ruin Egyptian ties with other states.

The crash also led some other states, including Britain, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals over security concerns.

Egypt is one of Russians' main tourist destinations, and the incident dealt a heavy blow to the country's already battered tourism sector. The Egyptian authorities have been taking a series of measures to boost the tourism industry.

IANS
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has ignored repeated peace offerings by senior colleagues Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne since his downfall as leader, a new book claims, in further signs of damaging disunity within the government just months out from a federal election.

The book by political commentator Niki Savva, The Road to Ruin, How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin destroyed their own government, also alleges Mr Abbott slapped the buttocks of his chief of staff Peta Credlin, not realising a minister witnessed the behaviour. Fairfax Media has independently verified this account.

Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin both deny any romantic involvement. They have accused Savva of unethical journalism, complaining she did not put any claims to them before publishing.

There have been growing signs that the relationship between Mr Abbott and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is deteriorating, including last week when Mr Abbott said he was "flabbergasted" by what he saw as a late delivery timeline for a future submarine fleet.
The trial heard that the 26-year-old from Lake Macquarie logged on to the website teenchat.com in January 2014 while completing his police training at the southern NSW academy engaged in explicit sex chats - once with a teenage girl and once with a police officer pretending to be a teenage girl.

He was found not guilty of one further count of sending indecent material to a person under 16, and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.

Following a two-week jury trial in the Downing Centre District Court last month, Christopher Porter, 26, was found guilty of two counts of using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person who he believed was under 16.

The career of a young NSW Police trainee is almost certainly over after he was found guilty of having indecent online sexual conversations with teenage girls from his dormitory room at the Goulburn police academy.

The aspiring police officer admitted during the trial that on a number of occasions he went onto the site and pretend that he was a soldier who had served with the Australian Defence Forces in Afghanistan and that he would marry her wearing his "full military dress with medals".

He also conceded during that he had gone onto the site for the purposes of having sexually explicit conversations.

However, the 26-year-old said that people constantly misrepresented themselves on sites such as teenchat and that, as far as he was concerned, the girls "could have been anyone".



"It was just words on the internet," he told the jury.



"I didn't have any motivation involving children."

But the court heard that, on number of occasions, Porter would ask the recipients their age and then pose the question, "Do you like older guys?"



He would then move to more personal questions such as "Have you got boobs?" and "Are you a virgin?"



Logs of the conversations tendered in court revealed that the police trainee also asked one girl "can I finger you", to which she responded by telling him he was "being creepy".

Porter was eventually caught in a sting by West Australian police in which an officer went on to the site pretending to be a 14-year-old girl and, in May 2014, was arrested at the NSW Police Force Academy in Goulburn.
State troopers and volunteer officers in the southern US state of Alabama have broken up a demonstration of black and white civil rights protesters, injuring at least 50 people.

They assaulted a group of about 500 demonstrators using tear gas, whips and sticks after Governor George Wallace ordered the planned march from Selma to the state capital Montgomery to be halted on the grounds of public safety.

At least 10 of the injured have been taken to hospital with skull and limb fractures and suffering the effects of tear gas.

They were stopped by 200 police this morning at the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they were heading east out of Selma on US Route 80.

When they refused to turn back the state troopers, some on horseback, attacked in full view of photographers and journalists.

As they were pushed back to the Browns Chapel Methodist Church area, some protesters threw bricks and bottles at police but were chased into their homes by troopers wielding sticks, riot guns, pistols and tear gas bombs.

The streets were patrolled for an hour after the violence had subsided.

Among the injured was John Lewis, the chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), who along with Hosea Williams, led the silent marchers from the Browns Chapel Church towards the outskirts of town.

He told the New York Times: Next time we march we may have to keep going when we get to Montgomery. We may have to on to Washington.

One of the doctors at Selmas Good Samaritan Hospital said it looked as if there had been a moderate disaster.

Another hospital official said most of the injuries had been sustained by heavy blows.

FBI agents will be interviewing the wounded and other witnesses tomorrow to establish if there are grounds for legal action against the officers involved.

The protest march had been planned to highlight discriminatory practices in the state that prevented black people from registering to vote.

It was also meant to commemorate the death on 17 February of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was shot by a state trooper on a civil rights march in Selma.

There is widespread outrage at events in the city.

Congressman William Ryan of New York said the Federal Government should send marshals, or even troops down to Alabama to protect the marchers.

But Governor Wallace remains steadfast in his views saying: These folks in Selma have made this a seven-day-a-week job but we cant give one inch. Were going to enforce state laws.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Since 1963 Selma had been the focus of civil rights activists attempting to register black voters in Dallas County, Alabama.

Demonstrations in January and February 1965 tried to highlight violations of existing voting rights laws. On the orders of Sheriff James Clark and with the support of Governor George Wallace, the protests were forcefully broken up  resulting in the death of activist Jimmy Lee Jackson.

The violent scenes in Selma on 7 March, which left 17 people in hospital, came to be known as Bloody Sunday.

Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King organized another march there two days later. His group knelt and prayed in front of state troopers who stopped them at the Edmund Pettus Bridge but did not attack them.

Dr King filed a federal lawsuit for the right to march on Montgomery and on 21 March began the third and final march under the protection of federal troops. He and his supporters arrived a week later and held a rally attended by thousands.

President Lyndon B Johnson finally signed a new Voting Rights Act in August 1965 that banned discrimination in voting practices and procedures on the grounds of race or color.
As soon as police raided the home of former Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and questioned him early Friday, red-shirted activists of his Workers Party took to the streets. Fist fights broke out with police as well as with those applauding the detention  a preview of the unrest that likely awaits Brazil and its embattled president.

The second term of President Dilma Rousseff has been overwhelmed by twin crises  an economy crippled by recession and a political establishment under siege by a massive corruption investigation. The probe of Lula, an iconic figure who chose Rousseff as his successor, escalates almost two years of mounting tension.

Rousseff isnt directly implicated in the latest investigation, which focuses on favors Lula and his family allegedly received from companies involved with Petrobras, the state oil company at the heart of the corruption probe. But she is under intense attack for a range of reasons and Lula remains the soul of her Workers Party, known as the PT. His questioning raises the temperature a week before pro-impeachment protests scheduled for Sunday.

Were going to have an escalation of tension once again, and no one is really in control, said Riordan Roett, director of Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies. Everyone is worrying what shoe is going to drop next, and in Brasilia, there are lots of shoes in the air.

The week began with the resignation of Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo amid criticism from the PT, that he wasnt doing enough to control the investigation. By the time he stepped down on Thursday, there were reports of plea bargain testimony from a PT senator recently released from jail and put under house arrest.

The alleged plea, from Senator Delcidio Amaral, is more dangerous for Rousseff since she is personally implicated, according to two people participating in the governments response to impeachment. The investigation of Lula emboldens the opposition and makes Rousseffs ouster much likelier than it was a month ago. Eurasia, the political risk firm, puts the chance now at above 50 percent.

This makes a coalition against impeachment more difficult, Rafael Cortez, political analyst at Tendencias Consultoria Integrada, said in a phone interview.

Impeachment doesnt happen easily, however. The lower house hasnt formed the congressional committee that will present a recommendation on the impeachment request opened on Dec. 2. That report must be confirmed by both the lower house and the Senate in a process that may take months.

Rousseff aides dismiss the possibility that the president would step down of her own accord, and she has said publicly she will defend her mandate. But last weekend when she decided to remain on a visit to Chile rather than return for PT anniversary celebrations, it was clear that Rousseff feared being booed by her own party. Her support appears to be at rock bottom in spite of a recent poll showing an improvement in her approval rate.

If Rousseff is removed by impeachment, Vice President Michel Temer of the Democratic Movement Party would take over. Temer canceled public events planned for this weekend after Fridays police operation targeting Lula.

Temers party, known as the PMDB, will hold its national convention in Brasilia on Saturday, the day before the planned protest. The party isnt expected to take an official position on impeachment, though individual legislators are free to support it.

Separately, Brazils electoral court is analyzing a request to annul Rousseffs 2014 reelection, which would also remove Temer as vice president. If this happens before 2017, new elections will be called.

The arrest last month of Joao Santana, the mastermind of Rousseffs 2010 and 2014 presidential campaigns, gave the opposition more ammunition for its challenge of Rousseff. Santanas arrest in the corruption allegation ended two months of relative calm for Rousseff and breathed new life into calls for her ouster.

PT congressmen and party leaders lost no time Friday calling on the partys faithful to defend Lula from what they called a politicized police action. The outrage from leftist leaders is not only to defend the legacy of the PTs 13 years in power but also to preserve the future of a party planning to rally around Lula again in 2018 to once again run for president.

Though the threat is real, the PT wont go down without a fight, Jose Guimaraes, leader of the government in the lower house of congress, said in an interview.

Now we go to the streets to prevent this coup, Guimaraes said. This spectacle threatens the democratic order. Anna Edgerton, Bloomberg
Chinas President Xi Jinping has pledged to contain any moves by Taiwan toward formal independence in his first public remarks on the issue since the self-governing island democracy elected a president and legislature from the independence-leaning party in January.

Speaking to delegates to the annual meeting of Chinas ceremonial parliament, Xi said China wont budge in its insistence that Taiwan recognize it is part of China, regardless of political changes on the island of 23 million.

We will resolutely contain Taiwan independence secessionist activities in any form, Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency at their meeting Saturday. We will safeguard the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again.

The landslide election of Tsai Ing-wen as president, along with a legislative majority for her Democratic Progressive Party, has thrown a question mark over the future of relations between the sides.

Tsai, who wont be inaugurated until May, takes over from China-friendly Nationalist Party President Ma Ying-jeou, who oversaw the signing of a series of agreements during his eight years in power establishing closer economic ties between the sides.

A Japanese colony for 50 years, Taiwan was reabsorbed by China in 1945, but then split apart again after Chiang Kai-

sheks defeated Nationalists moved their government to the island in 1949 after the Communist seizure of power on the mainland.

China continues to view the island as a breakaway province to be recovered by force if necessary.

In his remarks, Xi reiterated Chinas self-declared bottom line that Taiwans government must accept a 1992 formulation agreeing that Taiwan is part of China. Tsai has said she wants the status-quo of peace and stability between the sides, but has so far withheld her endorsement of the so-called 92 consensus.

Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwans political situation, Xi was quoted as telling the delegates.

Apart from occasional criticism in state media, China has largely held its fire regarding Tsais election.

In his main policy address to the congress on Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang made no mention of Taiwans elections, but said China would stick to its major policies on Taiwan and wants to maintain the peaceful growth of cross-strait relations and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan strait. AP
Indonesias president yesterday urged a summit of Muslim nations to be part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than part of the problem.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who heads the most populous Muslim nation, said the entire world is concerned by the deterioration of the situation in Palestine and criticized what he called Israels unilateral and illegal policies.

Officials from 57 countries are meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, for a special summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that is focused on Palestine and Jerusalem. The Middle East quartet  consisting of the U.N., Russia, U.S. and European Union  and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are also represented.

The OIC should be part of the solution, and not part of the problem, Jokowi said in opening remarks to the summit. If the OIC cannot be part of the solution to Palestine, then the OIC becomes irrelevant.

Israel says a recent surge in violence is the result of a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say it stems from frustration from nearly a half century of Israeli military rule.

For decades, international efforts have failed to work out a lasting comprehensive agreement on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Jerusalem, borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security arrangements.

Talks ground to a halt three years ago, and efforts to revive them have stalled, particularly over Palestinian demands that Israel announce a freeze in construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which they claim as part of a future state along with Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country doesnt waver in its belief that what Palestine needs is independence and the right to determine its own affairs.

Among the leaders at the Jakarta meeting is Sudanese President Omar al-

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes allegations linked to the conflict in Sudans Darfur region. Indonesia is not an ICC member state. AP
While exiting the court after the final statements in the case where he is representing Alan Ho, the President of Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente, responded to a few questions from journalists. One of these questions regarded an interview published on Friday, March 4, in the Hoje Macau newspaper, where lawyer Manuela Antonio expressed concerns about the increasing difficulties for Portuguese lawyers to work in the territory, saying that the AAM is giving in to pressures to the detriment of the quality of lawyers.

On this topic, Neto Valente commented: That is not true. I think what is on the line here has nothing to do with quality or giving in to pressures, since there were no changes [to the association positions]. In fact the AAM positions are quite clear and I have been saying [to the association] that we are very worried about the quality of our education system, which in our opinion has been suffering some deterioration. We should demand more quality from law courses, and in some cases we should even demand that they should be closed.

The only change that happened here was the closing of the protocol that allowed around five or six lawyers from Portugal to come to Macau each month. That is not possible anymore, Neto Valente said, adding that the association does not work only for Portuguese lawyers. The association works for 400 lawyers and cannot worry itself over particular cases. Neto Valente concluded by saying, Manuela Antonio has stories from people who enjoyed coming [to Macau]. I have them, too, but the last thing I want is for someone to come and say that I contributed to solving that problem because I also have a personal interest.
Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani said yesterday that the Islamic State group has been defeated in the eastern parts of the country, where it had taken over some remote districts.

Speaking at the opening of parliament, Ghani said Afghan forces had dislodged IS loyalists from regions of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan.

Afghanistan will be their graveyard, he said in an address broadcast live on national television.

IS has had a presence in Afghanistan for more than a year. Officials have said most militants calling themselves IS are disaffected Taliban fighters.

Afghan forces have claimed victory following a 21-day operation in the Achin and Shinwar districts of Nangarhar, claiming at least 200 militants killed, a provincial official told The Associated Press.

Achin and Shinwar are among a number of districts in the remote mountainous regions along the Pakistan border that were overtaken by IS loyalists in recent months.

The Afghan government is attempting to end the war on its territory with hopes of drawing the Taliban into a dialogue and eventual peace talks. The IS presence has been principally in the east, where they have also fought the Taliban for territory.

The Taliban have intensified their war to overthrow the Kabul government. The usual winter lull on fighting did not come in the southern regions, notably Helmand province where most of the opium that produces the worlds heroin supply is grown.

Officials have said the fight in Helmand, which the Taliban consider part of their heartland, is for control of the smuggling routes, and some Taliban groups have been fighting each other. The drug production is worth up to USD3 billion a year. The Islamic State group is believed to be interested in Afghanistan because of the riches offered from contraband, including weapons, alcohol and minerals. AP
An Associated Press investigation has found that an American company that bills itself as a pioneer in identifying emerging epidemics made a series of costly mistakes during the 2014 Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africa.

San Francisco-based Metabiota Inc. was criticized for feuding with fellow responders, contributing to misdiagnosed Ebola cases.

The government laboratory that Metabiota shared with Tulane University in eastern Sierra Leone misdiagnosed several patients with Ebola and one WHO scientist told colleagues in an email that it was a situation that WHO can no longer endorse.

Metabiota founder Nathan Wolfe contested the claims.
China is studying the possibility of a railway link between the mainland and Taiwan, the governments latest idea to use its high-speed train know-

how to bridge a stubborn political divide.

The proposal for a transit link across the 180-kilometer Taiwan Strait to the self-ruled island was referred to only in passing in the draft of the 2016-20 development plan released Saturday in Beijing. The document mentions the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, as a potential rail destination by 2030 and features a map of the train system, with a proposed rail line connecting the city with the mainland city of Fuzhou.

Even if such a project were technically feasible, it would face huge challenges politically. Taiwan and the mainland have been governed separately since Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-

shek fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and have occasionally exchanged fire over the decades, with China test-firing missiles into the strait in the mid-1990s. Although the two sides have seen expanding economic ties in recent years, Taiwan voters in January ousted the more mainland-friendly Kuomintang government in favor of the Democratic Progressive Party.

Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council said Saturday that such a rail link would concern national security and public opinion and wasnt up to China alone, the Taipei-based United Daily News reported, without naming any officials. President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, the DPPs chairwoman, doesnt take office until May 20.

China, which built the worlds largest high-speed rail network over the past two decades, is trying to leverage its expertise to build diplomatic clout globally and in 2014 even floated the idea of a 13,000-kilometer link to the U.S. via Siberia and Alaska. Such projects have faced political resistance from people wary of closer ties with China, with a proposed train link between Hong Kong and the mainland bogged down over concerns about stationing mainland immigration officers in the semi-autonomous city.

The draft of Chinas 13th five-

year-plan proposed completing the rail connection between Hong Kong and Beijing by 2020. It also called for building a second link to the restive region of Tibet by the end of the next decade. Bloomberg
Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On has said that the government is confident that its proposed scheme to enable recreational boats to travel between Macau and Guangdong Province would be completed before the end of 2016.

Chuis comments were made in Beijing during a meeting with the Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, Hu Chunhua, and the Governor of Guangdong Province, Zhu Xiaodan, according to a statement from the Government Information Bureau (GCS). The meeting is part of a four-day program as the MSAR CE visits the city to attend the opening ceremony of the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress (NPC).

The project was presented in early November last year during a tour organized by the Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) to the harbor, located in Coloane.

At the time, operations were expected to commence before the end of 2015, but since then they have been postponed without a clear justification.

One of the other topics addressed during the meeting was the recently demarcated 85-square-kilometer area of maritime waters to be administrated by Macau.

That, according to the CE, would be a driving force for greater cooperation between Guangdong and Macau.

Reviewing the achievements of the two regions bilateral cooperation last year, Chui stated that both governments had continued working toward the mid-and

long-term development goals outlined in the Framework Agreement onCooperation between Guang- dong and Macau, as well as the goals set out within the Co-operation Joint Conference.

Over the past year, the MSAR has strived to boost ties with Hengqin, Nansha and Cuiheng, initiating several cooperation projects.

As part of his visit to Beijing to attend the NPC meeting, Chui met on Friday with the State Councilor and Minister of Public Security, Mr Guo Shengkun. The meeting resulted in an exchange of views on how to maintain Macaus prosperity and strengthen bilateral ties.

Also on Friday, the CE met with the Minister of the General Administration of Customs, Yu Guangzhou. During that meeting, he stated, Macaus unique cultural heritage, tourism attractions and commercial links to Portuguese-speaking countries will help the city take a more prominent role in the development of the One Belt, One Road initiative.

Minister Yu mentioned that the next phase of work would include improving the legislation to ensure the enforcement of the rule of law along the coastal area between the mainland and Macau. That legislative document is expected to be endorsed this year and will serve as a foundation to draft further legislative cooperation between the two regions. RM
Portuguese political analyst, historian and politician Jose Pacheco Pereira yesterday told reporters that China can not continue indefinitely as a country run by simultaneous yet contradictory ideologies and systems, warning that eventually it would lead to an internal collision.

There is no other place in the world that has a capitalist system run by a communist party, said Pereira. They [will] need to adjust something. The way things are going now the systems will collide.

Speaking at a press conference prior to a talk organized by the European Union Academic Programme  Macau (also included in the Macau Literary Festival program), the former vice president of the European Parliament further warned that the conflict between state capitalism and a thin veneer of communism is hardly the only contradiction in the worlds second largest economy.

He also recognizes an internal conflict between Chinas modernizing economy and its entrenched autocratic governance that seeks to curtail dissent and repress freedoms.

You cannot have a modern society without freedom even in economic terms, he rationalized. You have to have conflicts and escapes [like trade union activity and strikes]. You cannot disappear if you publish books that the government does not like.

Even if I recognize that the CCP is one of the most successful parties  irrespective of its ideology  you cannot rule indefinitely from a single source of power [] and it is impossible to have modernity without the inclusion of the views of many different people, added Pereira.

The historian admits that while these are medium- and long-term pressures on the Chinese state, conflicts and contradictions always have cycles, inferring that their effects intensify and diminish alternately. He agrees that the recent economic problems observed in China over the last six months may have some connection to these internal contradictions, concluding that the countrys development requires more openness.

However Pereira is somewhat more optimistic when it comes to the triangular relationship between China, Macau and Portugal, claiming that the MSAR faces a unique opportunity in embracing its Portuguese heritage. He adds that it could serve as a boon to the three parties.

China really does not need Portugal but if they have Portuguese people in their own country, it is an advantage, he said as it contributes to the diversity of thought in a nation.

This is true of Macau, as it is of Hong Kong, and other places, added Pereira, referring to the other European enclaves in the late-19th and early-20th centuries such as German- occupied Qingdao.

The world is a complex place, he continued, and differences among people contribute to diversity. They are an advantage. And it is a great advantage to China to be able to absorb [the cultures of other] countries with a long history.

Fortunately, according to Pereira, the Portuguese culture in Macau has been crystallized or preserved even better than in Portugal itself, which has developed and changed with the times.

Its not a bad thing for it to happen here, he added. Daniel Beitler

owner of the largest private library

Jose Pacheco Pereira is the owner of what he describes as the largest private archive-library in Portugal, totaling more than 200,000 books and documents. It is said that were the books and documents to be arranged on a single bookshelf the shelf would need to be 5km in length. The collection also includes artifacts, such as objects from the Cultural Revolution, and a small tin safe that was used to collect money for the then-new state of Israel. I am trying to maintain a certain amount of rescue to books that are normally thrown away, he said, adding that he focuses on the salvation of books that relate to modern history and contemporary politics in a broad sense. Asked whether he intends to open his collection to the public, he said simply: if you want to visit for research, it [the library] is open.
In Beijing, Chui Sai Peng suggests that Macau and mainland China should work together to promote legislation concerning bilateral issues, mainland media has reported.

At a meeting of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), Chui Sai Peng told the media that Macau is exceptionally experienced in urban management and in the protection of local culture, and that this experience ought to be shared with the mainland in order to facilitate the development of effective legislation in the relevant areas.

In addition, the complicated qualification accreditation process for Macau residents who live in the mainland were addressed. For example, some of our professionals have to return to the mainland to renew their certificates before they start work, Chui explained, adding, I hope qualified organizations can start [accrediting qualifications]. It would be very convenient.

Chui brought a motion steering towards greater commercial cooperation between Macau and Zhuhai, as well as between their two Customs services.

The President of the Legislative Assembly, Ho Iat Seng, also attended the NPC and commented on the Hengqin free trade zone: Personally, I think Hengqin is developing quickly. As was written in the Report on the Work of the Government, I agree with the further expansion of the free trade zone. In light of his declarations, the Hengqin model could be extended to the whole nation.

According to data collected over the course of 2015, the Hengqin area generated a regional GDP of RMB9.25 billion, an annual increase of 36.9 percent. The effective utilization of foreign investment was estimated to be around USD426 million, an increase of 65.7 percent.
At the National Peoples Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Lawmaker Fong Chi Keong reassured the media of his non-involvement in the Ho Chio Meng case, Macao Daily News reported.

According to initial reports, Fong believes that the rumor of his entanglement in Hos case started spreading after he vented his opinion on public affairs.

Besides being a member of the Legislative Assembly, Fong is also the leader of a number of non-governmental organizations, and has a record of more than twenty

years of contribution to charity work. Fong added that had he loved money so much, he would not have committed himself to non-

profitable jobs. We use our brains to make money, not corruption, he said.

Ho Chio Meng stands accused of pocketing over MOP44 million from illegally granting public contracts. To the lawmaker, the amount of money which Ho was allegedly given was, in fact, small. He also thinks that the Commission Against Corruptions investigation of the former Public Prosecutor General was a show to grab attention.

Fong added, Its MOP 20,000 per case. Do you really think he is so desperately in need of money? He holds a doctoral degree, is he really so shallow? Think about it, nobody would believe it.

Fong argued that legislative work in Macau should serve the city, not just the privileged. He stated that the foundations of a harmonious society, which should be deemed as a priority, rely on the economy.
MSS Recruitment (MSS) and Hello-jobs.com (Hello Jobs) are holding the Fifth Macau Campus Joint Recruitment Event, where companies try to assist local graduates seeking professional careers at one of the 63 small and medium size companies (SMEs) participating in the event.

MSS and Hello Jobs conducted an online survey with the participation of 30 human resource managers from local SMEs. 67 percent of them stated that there were more job vacancies in 2015 than this year. The results also show that 58 percent of the participants expect to be able to provide fresh graduate students with a salary that starts from MOP10,000 up to MOP11,000, with none of them willing to offer a monthly paycheck above MOP13,000.

Jiji Tu, managing editor of MSS, suggests that graduates should maintain and promote a stable and reliable performance in order to obtain higher salaries in the future. The right attitude is crucial when working for a company. Employers want to see stability, he said.

The event is offering 400 job vacancies in various industries, including hospitality, trading, art performance, construction, and others. However, MSS notes that the enterprises participating in the event are usually SMEs. Large businesses tend to hire fresh college graduates directly from their schools.

According to MSS, graduates in the past used to change jobs frequently as a result of the extensive employment availability. In addition, they would normally have a preference for big companies or state-owned enterprises, for example, companies related to the gaming industry and public banks. In these working environments they could hold administrative positions with a daytime working schedule.

There is no obvious clue indicating which kind of industry graduates would prefer to work in. However, they care about their work schedules. Night shifts are not welcomed, Jiji Tu told the Times.

The aforementioned survey also analyzes the challenges posed by the flourishing gaming industry, which compels SMEs to raise their salaries up to MOP12,000 in order to be more competitive in the human resources market. Moreover, despite the ongoing economic slow down, 92 percent of the human resource managers believe the pay scales being offered are the same as last year, whereas 87 percent of a group of the 1,378 surveyed employees admitted they dont expect any bonuses.

MSS Recruitment is a Macau-based HR services agency that was registered in 2008 and provides HR solutions to Macau companies. Hello Jobs is one of MSS Recruitments branches. Staff reporter
The European Union Academic Programme in Macau (EUAP-M) is commemorating International Womens Day this year with a seminar titled Women and Gender Politics: The Contemporary Situations in Europe and Macau.

Speakers will include Agnes Lam and Tony Schirato from the Department of Communication at the University of Macau (UM), as well as Brian Hall from the Department of Psychology.

The seminar is open to the public and will be held today at 3 p.m. at the UMs Tai Fung Lecture Hall (E4-G051). It will be held in English.

Established in 2012, the EUAP-M is a partnership between the UM and the Institute of European Studies of Macau (IEEM), co- financed by the European Union. It aims to raise awareness of the EU in Macaus general public, particularly among local students.

Every year International Womens Day is given a theme by the United Nations (UN), and the 2016 theme is Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality (more on page 14).

In addition, an independent campaign is being run this year by professional services firm EY in collaboration with other corporate partners to organize various events while promoting the cause through a complementary #PledgeForParity hashtag.

atfpm seminar on women rights

The Macau Civil Servants Association (ATFPM) held a seminar on womens rights, where topics such as sexual harassment, domestic violence and maternity leave were discussed. According to Rita Santos, President of the ATFPM, the association will strongly support the Legislative Assembly to classify domestic violence as a public crime, and to help it promote the convictions of those accused of sexual harassment. In addition, the ATFPM will continue to advocate for 90 days maternity leave, and it hopes to see more female lawmakers and top officials
With most opposition leaders in jail or exile, public protests tightly controlled and courts rendering verdicts decried for lack of due process, the Maldives has nearly slid back to where it was eight years ago: an autocratic state that quashes dissent.

Since assuming power in this Indian Ocean archipelago nation of luxurious seaside resorts just over two years ago, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has tightened his grip on this fledgling democracy with virtually no challenger.

The opposition is in disarray and freedoms have been restricted. Mohamed Nasheed, a pro-democracy activist who won the 2008 elections, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, and two defense ministers, including one of Gayooms allies who fell out of favor, have been given long prison terms. Street protests are banned and rallies that are permitted in restricted places are poorly attended.

Even two of Gayooms vice presidents have been voted out by allied lawmakers in Parliament. The first fled the country and the second has been arrested for attempting to assassinate the president in a mysterious blast on his speedboat.

If the ruling party doesnt allow the opposition to function, again the concept of democracy is flawed, said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty Internationals Maldives researcher. In todays Maldives the reality is this.

The U.S. State Department has called for an end to politically motivated trials and urged the country to restore confidence and a commitment to democracy and human rights.

Its been a depressing downward spiral for this young democracy of 1,200 coral islands that in 2008 was brimming with hope after holding its first multiparty election, ending the autocratic 30-year rule of Gayooms half-brother.

During his time in office, Nasheed faced conflicts with the judiciary and bureaucracy. His handling of disputes and controversial steps like locking up the Supreme Court and arresting opposition politicians raised questions about his own abuse of power. His ordering of the arrest of a top sitting judge in 2013 and holding him in secret detention triggered weeks of protests.

Nasheed resigned amid the public outcry and after losing support from a section of the military, but he then battled Gayoom in a contentious 2013 election. The Supreme Court annulled the first round results that showed Nasheed in the lead, and police then delayed a revote giving Gayoom enough time to form a winning coalition.

Gayoom, 56, has steadily concentrated power in his hands and tried to sideline opponents.

After governing coalition party leader resort owner Gasim Ibrahim defected to the opposition last year, his properties were seized by the government and his bank accounts frozen. He fled the country and returned several months later in support of Gayooms government, and won court cases that gave him back control of his properties and accounts.

Last month, Sheikh Imran Abdulla, leader of the countrys conservative Islamic party, was sentenced to a 12-year jail term for instigating violence in a speech during an anti-government protest last year.

Even Gayooms allies arent safe. His running mate in the 2013 election was voted out by Parliament and Gayoom appointed an ambitious young loyalist to the post. But within months the new deputy was arrested for plotting to assassinate Gayoom in a blast aboard the presidential speedboat. The government insists it was a bomb but FBI investigators said there is no such evidence. No vice president has been appointed since.

Gayoom also plans to make defamation a criminal offense amid series of media reports and opposition statements implicating him in corruption and money laundering  charges he denies.

Government spokesman Ibrahim Hussain Shihab says democracy is still evolving in the country and that it welcomes support from the international community.

Maldives is a young democracy; it has one of the most liberal constitutions in the region, he said. We have independent institutions as well but they are still at the stage of building capacity. The capacity itself is not ideal. We want to work toward that.

In response to criticism from international organizations for failing to protect democratic principles, Shihab acknowledged that the country may be lacking.

What we need is guidance and support to rectify problems inherent in this young democracy, he said. We are open to international support.

The European Union is working with the Maldives to improve its democracy, but recent events raise serious concerns, said Paul Godfrey, the EUs deputy head of mission for Sri Lanka and Maldives.

We have seen a movement backward from the election in 2013, Godfrey said, which under the current circumstances dont give us confidence that there could be a free and fair election in 2018. Krishan Francis, Colombo , AP
Paulo Cardinal is well positioned to comment on the state of affairs of the legal system in Macau. A legal adviser to the Legislative Assembly for more than twenty years, he is also a scholar and an author, currently completing a PhD in law at the University of Coimbra. Mr Cardinal considers himself an optimist who says what he thinks, although he may not say all he thinks. He illustrates that idiosyncrasy with a story: Some groups in the PRC see me as an oppositionist. I recall one time in Beijing when a uniformed gentleman pointed his finger at me in an attempt to reeducate me, shouting in Mandarin. Contrarily, during a United Nations seminar I had a gentleman from Tibet accusing me of being a dangerous agent of the PRC.

In an interview with the Times, Paulo Cardinal comments on Ho Chio Mengs arrest and gives his view on issues like the Basic Law, the implementation of the one country, two systems policy and the legal protection of non-resident workers. The Portuguese legal expert stresses that the opinions revealed in this interview reflect his own personal views and not those of the institution he works for.

Macau Daily Times  How would you describe the controversy surrounding the arrest of the former Prosecutor General, Ho Chio Meng?

Paulo Cardinal  The controversy around this case is precisely that, a controversy. It is a case of paramount relevance and, instead of having thus far a solid set of juridical or judicial answers, it is permeated by doubts, perplexities and paradoxes, at least apparently. This controversy, this case, is undoubtedly extremely important for the sake of the judicial system and of the SAR itself. And it seems complex for a number of reasons. In fact, in order to have a comprehensive approach and attempt to really understand it, we could view it as white collar crime, delving into corruption, by a rather high official  one of the principal officials, nominated by the Chief Executive and appointed by the Central Peoples Government  but not only that. It is necessary, as mentioned already, to investigate whether the person also committed any of these crimes in relation to his high functions; that is, if it illegally influenced the normal progression of cases in the public prosecutors office. This is far more relevant and worrying in terms of the systems credibility. Another fact that also merits contextualization is that this person was once publicly slated in the community to become chief executive. All this being said, with all the seriousness of the case exposed, it is imperative  in the name of the second system in force in Macau  to fully observe the Basic Law and core principles in force such as constitutionality, legality, presumption of innocence, right of appeal; as well as to strictly observe the laws in force and apply them in a correct manner. ()

This, however, has not been totally achieved so far. In fact, how can one explain to the population that for some matters, the person is apparently viewed as a magistrate  thats why the TUI was in charge of determining Ho Chio Mengs detention. Yet in other aspects, he was not considered a magistrate, such as the non-application of article 33 of Law 10/1999 (special guarantees concerning pre-trial detention and protective custody). Who, in society, will understand this paradox? If it is only an apparent paradox and not a real one, why has no one explained it so far, especially in such a high-impact case?

MDT  Should Ho Chio Meng be considered a magistrate?

PC  I do not know everything that might provide a conclusive answer. For example, has he so far been granted the special regimen established in articles 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 of Law 10/1999, Estatuto dos Magistrados? These deal with various rights, such as the right to personal use of a vehicle, residential phone, medical assistance for him and his family, several subsidies, aspects related to official missions of representation outside Macau If yes, that means these had been maintained after he took over his functions with the studies committee, so it seems he is still a magistrate.

We could add other reasons. For example, in disciplinary issues, article 65 states clearly that besides the acts practiced in violation of the magistrates professional duties, aspects of their public life that may be incompatible with the dignity required to the exercise such functions shall also be subjected to disciplinary proceedings. This presupposes an idea of viewing magistrates as more than just strictly performing their duties.

MDT  Is the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) the appropriate court to assess this case?

PC  Regarding the TUI being the appropriate court and the consequent denial of the fundamental right of appeal, I must say first and foremost that it is not understandable that the problem still exists after a decade. The uncertainty posed, and the possible or probable denial of a fundamental right of appeal, is very damaging. It creates a bad image for the system and it is difficult to accept. Nothing was done 10 years after the [Ao Man Long] case; none of the many warnings were taken into consideration. The naked truth is that the denial of the fundamental right of appeal means the disregard and restriction of a fundamental right, and of the Basic Laws generous right of access to justice. It is a clear and direct violation of the ICCPR (14.5, and there are many international reports and decisions reaffirming this doctrine, especially in cases such as this) and of article 40 of the Basic Law. Besides, it imposes an image of a weak system in regard to the respect and safeguard of fundamental rights. The problem is not new and, I must underline, is a real problem with our current law. Something could have been done before and should have been done afterwards, especially by way of changing the Judicial Organization Law. After two revisions, in 2004 and in 2009, this problem was simply not tackled.

MDT  And how could it be tackled?

PC  For example, by changing the composition of the TUI from three to seven, or at least five. Naturally, one cannot help but wonder why we do not implement Hong Kongs system of non-permanent judges. This new system in which the first instance of the TUI would operate via a section and on appeal, in plenary, could provide adequate answers. The fact is that the TUI is in need of change, in order to renew itself, in order to foment new approaches rather than crystallize its current one. Three judges is also a rather small number. Too small. The courts competencies could be reinforced in some subject matters in order to better justify its increment in the number of judges. () All of the above means a change of the law. Nevertheless, it is my understanding that, even in the absence of a legal change (clearly the optimal solution), the courts should resort to any possible legal means to guarantee the effectiveness of the fundamental right of appeal; such as by way of resorting to general principles of law, or by directly applying international norms in force. It would not be easy, surely, but would also not be impossible.

In short, this is a situation that should be unacceptable in a system that preserves the Rule of Law. It undermines it. And this sacrifice is not necessary to effectively pursue justice and administer it. On the contrary, a system that is conceived with all minimum guarantees and that does apply [this rule], receives reinforced legitimacy in its decisions, including guilty verdicts. The denial of the fundamental right of appeal is unnecessary, inadequate and embarrassing.

MDT  Journalists and analysts have drawn two different conclusions from the case. Some say it is an example of a legal system that is working properly, while others say that it is a sign of its unreliability. What do you think?

PC  Here, and I believe anywhere, a situation like this can be legitimately viewed from two perspectives: a sign of discrediting the system or a sign that the system has ways to attack the crimes that discredit it. I believe both [arguments] carry good weight.

MDT  You argue that the concept of legal entity cannot only be reduced to sovereign states, although that idea is favored in China. However, China is being more interventionist in the international scene, trying to regulate issues such as the use of the Internet. How can these contradictory tendencies reconcile themselves?

PC  For example, the U.S. is a global power with a strong voice in the international panorama. It doesnt have a concept of sovereignty similar to the one that appears in China. () From Chinas viewpoint, it seems that the concept of sovereignty is frozen in time, and is more characteristic of the past century or even the end of the 19th century. It is a whole, indivisible and inalienable concept that doesnt follow the tendencies observed over the past century, during which time the concept of sovereignty was relativized, opening space for entities other than the States. For example, the SARs of Macau and Hong Kong are clearly new players in the field of international law.

MDT  Despite being represented in several international organizations, you advocate that Macau is a legal entity with limited capacity. Can you explain what you meant?

PC  Yes, Macau and Hong Kong [have that capacity]. The main subject of international law is the State. As a matter of principle, a State has the full ability to impose its laws. Everything that is not a State enjoys a limited capacity. Macau and Hong Kong have those limitations. For example  and the Basic Law is very clear in this regard  Macau cant sign defense or military treaties. But in matters related to sports, culture, labor, education and many others, Macau enjoys the capability to sign international treaties with other entities. On a quantitative basis, Hong Kong is a member of more international organizations than Macau.

MDT  But Macau and Hong Kong can take part in those organizations on a completely autonomous basis?

PC  Macau is not an independent state and there are areas where it cannot intervene. But I believe, for example, that in civil aviation  a very relevant topic for Macau  Macau signs international treaties related to routes, slots and other matters with complete autonomy. I dont know if that really happens since I dont work in that area. But, as a matter of principle, it has this autonomy. To give another example, Macau is a founding member of the World Trade Organization, an organization that operates under the United Nations umbrella.

MDT  You argue that the Joint Declaration on Macau (which led to the transfer of sovereignty from Portugal to the PRC) takes precedence over the Basic Law

PC  Yes, it may sound like a strange opinion, denoting an over-internationalist profile. I dont mean that, since I dont think that all international law should be above internal law, like the constitutions  although that happens in some cases, like the Netherlands. Macau is a very special situation and what I say about Macau applies to Hong Kong in 99.9 percent of cases. There were questions that, as people like to say here, were historical legacies and that could be solved in several ways. One of those would be through war  China would very likely have the right to say this is ours and we are going to take over. Fortunately, things didnt happen that way. It should be noted that, at this time, the PRC was returning to the international scene and needed to demonstrate that it respected and was actively contributing to international law.

MDT  And they did it through the joint declarations with the United Kingdom and later with Portugal?

PC  By doing that, the PRC indicated that it values international law and wants to abide by it. The reversion of Macau to the PRC is not a blank cheque. The reversion meant that a Basic Law was drafted, that the MSAR was created, that the societys idiosyncrasy would be maintained for issues of human rights, religion, and the economic and social systems. That naturally implies that, in order to abide by international law, the joint declaration must be above the Basic Law.

Furthermore, the Basic Law states its subordination to the Joint Declaration [see preamble and article 144: No amendment to this Law shall contravene the established basic policies of the Peoples Republic of China regarding Macau.]. And the Basic Laws preamble states that, basic policies of the Peoples Republic of China regarding Macau have been elaborated by the Chinese Government in the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration. To me, this is clear. I understand that politically it is perhaps unwanted, but it is the correct stance and Im not doing politics here. As a legal expert and law scholar this is what I conclude. () This was valid in 1999 but it is also valid now, because the Joint Declaration is in force until 2049.

MDT  As it is often said, do you see the Basic Law as a mini-constitution?

PC  I dont call it that, because it has a large scope. That is a euphemism used in some Chinese jurisprudence, but it is problematic: they have to say that the Basic Law must be enforced, but they dont want to say it is a constitution, so they call it mini. It is not mini, it is truly a constitution as it regulates the matters as any constitution does, such as the functions of the political system, fundamental rights and the economic system. It is not a constitution in the ultimate sense  because Macau is not a state  but it works like one.

MDT  Does Macau lack a law on the exercise of fundamental rights?

PC  The panorama of fundamental rights in Macau is not unfavorable. The problem is that citizens should never take those rights for granted. It may be very hard to build a good system of fundamental rights, but it is very easy to erode them. The most relevant instrument lacking in Macau is a general law that ensures the exercise of fundamental rights.

It is one thing to say that we all enjoy the right to hold meetings and organize a demonstration, or that we all have religious freedom. The laws detail, for example, the right to hold meetings: if authorities must be informed, etc.

But when things go wrong, how can we react? () Law cant be applied without restrictions. How are those restrictions made? Can they have retroactive effects, can the rights be suspended? Are there rights that cant be suspended in any instance? Those provisions are currently nonexistent, but they existed before 1999 through the enforcement of the Portuguese Constitution, which includes principles like proportionality, the adequate use of the law and even the right to resist. If a fundamental right is being threatened, a citizen should have a lawful right to resist. Regarding proportionality, I cant, for example, cite the right to have ease of transit to abolish the right to hold a meeting. Perhaps I can say that the meeting cant be held at 7 p.m., but instead at 8 p.m. and use the road partially in order not to block it.

MDT  But how do you explain the proposal to establish a Trade Union Law being constantly voted down at the Legislative Assembly, although it has been gathering more support?

PC  Im in support of a Trade Union Law because Im for the Basic Law. I believe this is not so much a political question but rather a practical question. Lawmakers are navel-gazing. Something must change. The International Labor Organization has clearly criticized the MSAR regarding this matter. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have Trade Union laws. The civilized world, whether it be integrated in a more capitalist or socialist bloc, have Trade Union laws. Those countries didnt end, the structure of the state didnt crumble, the companies didnt go bankrupt. This is an old question. Dr Neto Valente wrote an article prior to 1999 where he states that this question is not mainly political: many lawmakers are linked to business interests and cant dissociate themselves from those interests. I dont know if this is true and its not up to me to tell, Im just pointing out a possible explanation. We had strikes in Macau and, looking at the labor associations, I dont foresee that [after the eventual trade union law approval] we will enter a period of endless strikes.

MDT  Whats your take on the protection of the so-called non-resident workers in Macau?

PC  From a legal viewpoint, I see a certain fragmentation of social groups that is not coherent with a democratic and pluralist society, and above all with a society that has a profound tradition of accepting people from elsewhere. That happened during World War II and in 1949, and with the boat people from Vietnam. It seems that there is a divide between permanent residents, non-

permanent residents and others. I see, with some concern, speeches that are ignorant, xenophobic and groundless. Obviously, Macau is a small place and is not able to receive everybody. A set of criteria must be established in order to determine who should be received. But once a person is integrated in the local workforce, he or she should be treated equally and accorded the same rights and duties as a resident.

MDT  Macau is far from achieving that.

PC  Very far away. We have cases of non-residents that contribute to the welfare system and do not benefit from it. This is inconceivable. The same applies to the right to an education. There are cases of children who have their parents staying here legally  we are not speaking of criminals  and face difficulties enrolling in local schools.

The division between permanent and non-permanent residents, according to the Basic Law, serves only one purpose: the exercise of political rights. All the rest is wrong. For example, its groundless that a permanent resident is entitled to a health voucher and a non-permanent resident isnt. Regarding this question, the last Trade Union Law proposal presented by Kwan Tsui Hang, Lam Heong Sang and Ella Lei was going in the right direction, because it didnt differentiate between permanent, non-permanent and non-residents. All those were beneficiaries of the rights to freedom of association.

MDT  Do you believe that the recent incident of the missing booksellers and the riots in Hong Kong could impact upon the one country, two systems policy?

PC  Regarding the booksellers, I dont know what happened. If it is whats being said  that they were kidnapped and taken to the mainland  that is obviously a blow to the implementation of the one country, two systems idea.

MDT  Do you see similar things happening in Macau?

PC  I know that there are books of the same type being sold in Macau and, as far as I know, nobody has disappeared.

MDT  How do you assess the one country, two systems policy applied to Macau? Its officially been described as a success

PC  The Basic Law is not a masterpiece and the policy implementation is not perfect. Assessing the pros and cons, I see it as successful, so much so that other parts of the world have been tempted to copy the Hong Kong and Macau model. () The model is well built, but a lot depends on the dynamics of its implementation. There are the words and the men. The words of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, and the men that will implement those words. There is a natural tension as part of the dynamics related to autonomy issues. The center  in this case Beijing  tries to get more power and the periphery  Macau and Hong Kong  also try to achieve more power. The Basic Law establishes limits, but there are grey areas.

What happens then? Clearly in Hong Kong they are trying to retain a higher degree of autonomy from Beijing. Generally speaking, the policy (in Macau) is a success. But are there warning signs? Maybe. For example, there are some decisions made by TUI about the famous moot point of the referendum, which seems to indicate an interpretation that is frozen in the first system and not in the second system. Some of the governments stances on that matter are concerning. But in Macau, I feel there is freedom and I can express my opinions as I wish. Before 1999, under Portuguese administration, I was reprehended and they wanted to expel me from Macau.

MDT  What do you think will happen to Hong Kong and Macau after 2047 and 2049, respectively?

PC  As the Americans would say, thats the million-dollar question. Autonomy is guaranteed until those dates? What could happen? To end all forms of autonomy does not go against the Joint Declaration from a legal viewpoint. But it may disappoint societys expectations. Autonomy can also be renewed, though not in the form of a joint declaration. China can say that the Basic Law will be in force for a longer time. Another thing can also happen: the development of the PRC may create a situation where, at that time, theres neither a first nor a second system.

As Macau citizens  and Im one, although I was not born here  we should push for the second system. The second system is about, for example, not allowing the University of Macau to undermine the Portuguese language. The second system cannot forget that Portuguese is an official language in Macau. This is not because it was imposed by Portugal. It is an official language because it was imposed by the PRC through a treaty signed in free will by two sovereign states and submitted to the United Nations. There is no treaty that can be more formal than that. There are often individuals with stances that are apparently favorable to the first system but in fact question the PRC-defined policies toward Macau and Hong Kong.

MDT  Regarding the Portuguese and the law, there was a recent issue where a Portuguese prosecutor was asked by Lisbon to return to Portugal.

PC  I dont know the details of that case, but it is an example. Due to the lack of human resources, and the quality and experience of those resources, Macau needs judges and prosecutors with Portuguese roots. Portugal must understand that it has historical responsibilities to make sure that the Portuguese-based law continues. () I have been arguing for a long time  and I have been misunderstood  that we should follow Hong Kongs example. Until recently, Hong Kongs Court of Final Appeal had judges from Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Brunei. And there was no problem, nobody said it was colonialism. What we should have here are more judges with Portuguese roots, by which I mean, for example, judges from Cape Verde or from Brazil.

Studies on Macau law lagging behind

Paulo Cardinal recently introduced the trilingual book, Macau SAR and the European Union at the Rui Cunha Foundation. He says that the work, penned by Francisco Leandro, is a good example of the kind of legal research that is lacking in Macau. There should be more research [] It is lacking in the University of Macau. It doesnt publish a lot [regarding legal matters] and it doesnt seem to be accessible, when it should be a point of reference, Cardinal says. The Macau law can only survive if theres genuine work of study, research and publishing. Afterwards, people can agree or disagree, but this work is needed. The roots are Portuguese but the law is not Portuguese anymore and it will become increasingly distant from that.
The Deputy Superintendent who went missing last week was a witness in the case of the six police officers arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) in early January for alleged involvement in an organized crime scheme that enabled mainland Chinese gamblers to illegally enter the territory, a Public Security Police Force (PSP) source told the Times.

The missing officer had worked in the Criminal Intelligence Unit before a recent transfer to another department.

The Director of the Unitary Police Service, Ma Io Kun, highlighted the case during the Macau Police Forces Open Day event on Sunday at the police headquarters.

According to information from the director, the disappearance of the Deputy Superintendent occurred right after the PJ called him to testify as a witness in a criminal case on which he was working.

Ma stated that the police have already spoken to the officers family and have initiated disciplinary procedures, a regulatory measure for officers who take an unjustified absence from duty for more than five consecutive days.

Ma also said on Sunday, I believe once the case is done, we will be able to understand what happened.

The police are investigating the officers whereabouts.

Police save woman from unusual kidnapping

The border police saved a woman from two kidnappers en route to mainland China, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a press conference held yesterday afternoon at police headquarters.

While visiting a local casino, the victim met two mainland Chinese residents, one aged 33 and the other 35, who offered her HKD50,000 to gamble in exchange for interest. After losing the full amount and being held against her will in a hotel room, the victim was coerced into crossing the border to mainland China alongside the two extortionists, who demanded a ransom for her release.

When crossing the border, the woman alerted the border police who rescued her and, with the help of the PJ, arrested her two captors.

The men have been presented to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).
The shifts on board the ship are punishing: 12 hours on, 12 hours off, seven days a week, for a month straight  though pingpong and poker during the downtime help break up the monotony. But for the American man who designed a sonar device being used in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, spending nearly six months at sea searching for the plane was something of an honor.

With that honor has come the weight of responsibility  for the families of the 239 people on board the vanished plane still desperate for answers. Now, with the search of a remote patch of ocean off Australias west coast drawing to a close and the planes wreckage proving stubbornly elusive, Jay Larsen is among those feeling the pressure.

I think there is some tension building as the end of the job comes nearer, says Larsen, whose Whitefish, Montana-

based company built one of the devices scanning a mountainous stretch of seabed where the plane is believed to have crashed nearly two years ago. Everybody wants to find this thing, including us.

Larsen has been involved with the hunt from the beginning, when marine services contractor Phoenix International Holdings hired his deep-water search and survey company, Hydrospheric Solutions, to provide the sonar equipment used on board the search vessel GO Phoenix. The Malaysian-contracted vessel participated in eight months of the hunt until June last year.

Most recently, Larsen and his team flew to Singapore to load their sonar device onto a Chinese ship, the Dong Hai Jiu 101, which has just joined three other vessels scouring the southern Indian Ocean for the plane. He then traveled on board the Dong Hai to the west Australian city of Fremantle, and, after ensuring the sonar and his team were ready to go, bid them adieu last month as they set out for the search zone 1,800 kilometers to the southwest.

Larsens company has a crew of eight people on the Chinese ship who are tasked with running the sonar system  or flying the fish, as he puts it. That fish is actually a 6-meter long, 1.5-meter wide, 3.5-ton bright yellow behemoth called the SLH ProSAS-60, which is dragged slowly behind the ship by a cable.

The device hovers just above the seabed as it scans a patch of ocean floor 2 kilometers wide, sending data to computers on board that process the information into images.

The black-and-white, near-

photo-quality pictures that pop up on the screen resemble the surface of the moon. The imagery, produced by synthetic aperture sonar, is higher quality than conventional sonar, Larsen says, giving him confidence that his team wont miss the debris field if they drift over it.

The job can be grueling. Larsen was on board the GO Phoenix at the start of the underwater search  from September 2014 to February 2015 

breaking only to return to shore once a month for fresh supplies, and flying home once to the U.S. for the holidays.

It almost ruined my head, my brain, my heart, my marriage, but we got it going, he says.

On board, two teams of three people work alternating 12-hour shifts every day, a job that requires close attention and coordination. One of Larsens employees sits at the controls flying the sonar, while a navigator sits beside him looking at upcoming terrain to warn him of obstacles. A third staffer sits in a nearby seat providing a backup set of eyes. Another team member pops in occasionally in case anyone needs a break.

The work is both monotonous and intense; there are long stretches where nothing happens, until bam  a massive mountain in the seabed suddenly appears in front of them. The sonar could be destroyed if it hits a rock wall, or it could get hopelessly stuck on something and languish forever on the ocean floor, which reaches depths of 6.5 kilometers (4 miles).

Its that whole cliche of hours of boredom interspersed with moments of terror, Larsen says. Some of the terrain out there is just incredible, these mountains and trenches and stuff that were trying to get every last look into to make sure we dont miss anything. So the more daring we are, the better in terms of the imagery 

but the consequences are real. [] Its a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment and we dont want to lose it.

Larsens team must work closely with the crew to ensure the vessel is maintaining the right speed so the sonar doesnt sink to the bottom.

Those on board also must grapple with the regions notoriously brutal weather. The team can operate the sonar in up to 4-meter swells, but anything bigger forces them to pull up the gear so it isnt damaged. Maneuvering the massive device out of the water when the waves are big is tricky, as it can swing violently from the crane as the ship rocks. Well-planned choreography by more than a dozen people is required to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

The first month Larsens team was on the hunt, they were in a constant state of alert, expecting the plane would quickly be found. As time passed, some of that anxiousness waned and the job became more routine. But theyve never given up hope that the aircraft will be spotted, even though theres just 30 percent of the 120,000 square kilometer search zone left to check.

It literally could be any minute, we could look up and see debris on that screen, he says.

When Larsens team isnt on duty, they burn off energy at the ships gym, watch movies, read and play poker, pingpong and somewhat contentious rounds of Monopoly. But often, they prefer to retire to their rooms for much-needed solitude. Most people share a room with one other person, but work opposing shifts so they get the space to themselves.

The Dong Hai crew is planning to stay in the search zone for 38 to 42 days at a stretch before returning to port for supplies. Its a tough assignment, but Larsen didnt have any trouble wrangling volunteers.

Everybody wants to be on the MH370 search, he says.

The job comes with some perks, such as the novelty of being the first humans to lay eyes on much of the underwater terrain. The seabed in the search zone is so remote that it had never even been mapped before the hunt for Flight 370 began. In that sense, the search has proven thrilling, though Larsen is conscious of the larger goal.

There are 239 families out there, so its hard to be like, Were excited! This is awesome! he says. But at the same time, were really proud right now to be a part of the search because its a huge effort and I hope to bring resolution to those families. And thats really the thing that drives us all is, Put a lid on this thing. Lets get this done. By Kristen Gelineau, Sidney , AP
Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall celebrated their marriage Saturday alongside family members, media executives and music stars in a church considered the spiritual home of British journalism.

The media mogul groom and model-actress bride emerged from St. Brides church in Fleet Street after the service beaming in the London drizzle. Murdoch wore a dark blue suit, Hall an ice-blue silk Vivienne Westwood dress accompanied by silver shoes and a small bouquet of cream flowers.

Among some 100 guests at the service were actor Michael Caine, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, artist Tracey Emin, playwright Tom Stoppard, Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, as well as newspaper editors and executives, including Rebekah Brooks, chief of Murdochs British newspapers.

Also attending were the couples 10 children. Murdoch, 84, has six children from three previous marriages, while 59-year-old Hall has four with her ex-

partner Mick Jagger.

The couple officially tied the knot Friday in a civil service at Spencer House, an aristocratic palace built by ancestors of the late Princess Diana. They were also due to hold a reception there Saturday.

Hall and Murdoch reaffirmed their marriage vows at the hour-long church service, which included music by Wagner, Schubert and Vivaldi and the hymns Jerusalem and Amazing Grace. Murdochs son James read from the Bibles 1 Corinthians  a passage that declares the greatest of these is love  and Halls son Gabriel Jagger read from ancient Chinese text the Tao Te Ching.

Australia-born Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp., and former supermodel Hall were introduced last year and announced their engagement in January.

This is the fourth marriage for Murdoch, who owns Fox News Channel, movie studio Twenty-First Century Fox, publisher HarperCollins and newspapers in Britain and the U.S.

It is the first official marriage for Texas-born Hall. She and Jagger had a private Hindu marriage ceremony in Bali, Indonesia, in 1990. During divorce proceedings in 1999 a British court declared the marriage invalid.

Britains newspapers were based in Fleet Street for decades until Murdoch moved his printing presses to east London in 1986 to escape the grip of the powerful printers unions. The rest of the print media soon followed, but the area remains the symbolic home of British journalism. Jill Lawless, London , AP
The arrest of the former Public Prosecutor General, Ho Chio Meng, is undermining [the publics] confidence in the system, according to the president of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente.

Speaking on the sidelines of the court session involving the former director of Hotel Lisboa, Alan Ho [see more on page 7], the lawyer and president of the AAM said he had no doubts that the case involving Ho and other high-

ranking officials from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) is shaking societys confidence in the legal system.

How do I know it shakes? Because it shakes my own [confidence]. If it shakes mine, it will also shake the [confidence] of other people, Neto Valente told journalists. I am seeing, unfortunately, situations that are almost sinister and others that seriously affect the image of the legal system of Macau and the judicial organization.

Neto Valente also added that the rejection by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) of Ho Chio Mengs habeas corpus request is the result of the system that we have. Although some people might suspect that instead of the habeas corpus claim an appeal [against preventive custody would have been more effective], if such an appeal had been made, maybe someone would also think that a habeas corpus [claim would have been more preferable], and nothing would have changed. Neto Valente also affirmed that the problem resides in the fact that the system has been addressed through individual cases only. It would be good if someone with a broader view were able to change the law.

I think what is more important is the fact that there is a gentlemen who is a magistrate without being a magistrate. Its possible that Macau law should not allow people to occupy magistrate positions if they are not involved in the jurist profession, Neto Valente added.

This case laid bare the weaknesses of the system. What we get from all this is that there is no transparency in the system. What worries me more is his [Ho Chio Mengs] work as Prosecutor General. I am more worried about the allegations of influence peddling, precisely because nobody is investigating it; the prosecutor is the president of the Magistrates Council together with four others, which has created a corporatization of these departments. It is not enough for people to be honest  they must look honest too, he concluded.

Regarding the possible interference of political decision-making in judicial departments due to the Chief Executive (CE)s nomination of lawmakers to perform functions in judicial organizations, Neto Valente believes that the two functions are incompatible, and that politics needs to respect ethics. Valente adds that when a political decision is made, it should pass the message to society that the decision has ethical support, because if society thinks the decision is wrong, it is wrong, even if there is a law that allows it. Laws are made for the people who make them, Neto Valente said, alluding to the appointment of Chui Sai Cheong to the Magistrates Council.
Chinas top legislator Zhang Dejiang said yesterday the central authority will act strictly in compliance with the Constitution and the respective Basic Law of Hong Kong and Macau.

Zhang, chairman of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, made the remarks when joining group deliberations with national lawmakers from Hong Kong and Macau, two special administrative regions.

Hong Kong and Macau will experience an important period in the next five years with significant opportunities for development, Zhang said, adding that the central authority will continue to adhere to the principles of one country, two systems, the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong, the people of Macau governing Macau, and both regions enjoying a high degree of autonomy.

Hong Kong and Macau should continue in the right development direction, consolidate consensus for development, display their unique advantages and functions, and promote the one country, two systems policy along the correct path, the top legislator said.

Hong Kongs biggest advantage is its reliance on the inland areas of the motherland, Zhang told the national lawmakers from Hong Kong, urging the region to seek development, maintain stability and promote harmony, and seize opportunities in the countrys implementation of the 13th Five-

Year Plan and the Belt and Road Initiative.

When meeting with lawmakers from Macau, Zhang urged the region to take advantage of the countrys 13th Five-Year Plan and the central authoritys supportive policies to Macau, and bolster a moderately diversified economy. MDT/Xinhua
Across the year of 2015, 8,468 Chinese nationals immigrated to Macau, according to information released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). This represents a significant growth of 43.8 percent, or an additional 2,579 immigrants when compared with 2014.

Those granted the right of abode totaled 1,784, down by 494 compared to the previous year, while a total of 1,778 illegal Chinese immigrants were repatriated to the mainland, marking an increase of 369 year-on-year.

Non-resident workers totaled 181,646 at end-2015, an increase of 11,300 compared with end-2014, indicating a slower growth of 6.6 percent this year, even as Chinese immigration soared.

In 2015 the number of live births delivered amounted to 7,055, a decrease of 305 year-on-

year. The gender ratio of the newborns stood at 109.2, meaning that 109.2 male babies were born for every 100 female babies.

Marriage registration was also down by 366 cases last year to 3,719 marriages in total, while divorces fell by 140 to 1,168 cases.

Mortalities totaled 2,002 in 2015, representing an increase of 63 year-

on-year. The top three underlying causes of death were neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory system and diseases of the respiratory system, which recorded 734, 504 and 321 deaths respectively.

The total population of Macau at end-2015 had reached 646,800, up 1.7 percent year-on-year, with the female population accounting for around 51 percent of the total, according to DSEC.

The proportion of the total population aged 65 and over increased by 0.6 percentage points to 9 percent, while those aged 14 or under saw a similar rise of 0.5 percentage points to make up 11.9 percent of the population. DB
Unlike other presidential wives, Nancy Reagan didnt testify before Congress about health care, celebrate controversial Supreme Court decisions or sit in on Cabinet meetings.

She never emerged as a political player in her own right. Nor did she seek to, says historian David Greenberg, the author of Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.

On the other hand, neither did she confine herself to the domestic sphere. And by taking an active role in her husbands business, she helped to reconcile conservatism to the reality of womens changing roles. Her views may have been conservative, but her political involvement implied that it wasnt improper for women to participate in what conservatives considered the mans sphere.

Nancy, who died Sunday at 94, wasnt out to break the rules of being first lady. But she knew well how to work within them. Ronald Reagan had promised to champion conservative values when elected in 1980, and Nancy Reagan was in some ways a throwback to a more old-fashioned approach. Her immediate predecessor, Rosalynn Carter, had attended Cabinet meetings. Betty Ford had spoken candidly about gun control, premarital sex and her surgery for breast cancer and praised the ruling of Roe v. Wade, when the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to abortion, as the best thing in the world. In the 1990s, Hillary Clinton would try (and fail) to overhaul the countrys health care system.

Nancy Reagans most public issue was more in line with expectations for first ladies: her Just Say No to drugs campaign, which she launched after a schoolgirl asked what to do if someone offered her drugs. The effectiveness of Just Say No remains in dispute, but it became a catchphrase (and punchline) for the 1980s and part of an effort that included drug-free zones and zero tolerance policies in schools. Reagan herself gave speeches and even made a cameo appearance on the NBC sitcom Diffrent Strokes.

Reagan had other causes and in her post-Washington years openly broke with conservatives by advocating (and allying herself with the liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy) for embryonic stem cell research for Alzheimers, the disease which afflicted her husband. But while first lady, she stated most of her opinions in private. Often in tandem with such White House moderates as Chief of Staff James Baker and longtime adviser Michael Deaver, she favored better relations with the Soviet Union, opposed high military spending and urged the president to speak openly about AIDS.

Her prevailing ambition was to help her husband, and she did so in uncommonly forceful style.

Ronald Reagan was a striver, but his striving was masked by his courteous, amiable manner and enduring fatalism, biographer Lou Cannon wrote in President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. Hers [Nancys] was out in the open, all cards on the table, for anyone to see. With a directness unusual either in Hollywood or Washington, Nancy Reagan favored anyone who helped her husband or advanced his career and opposed anyone who was in his way. She put people off, while he put them at their ease.

Nancy Reagan acknowledged the limits of her influence. In her memoir, My Turn, she wrote of her husband that he often seems remote, and he doesnt let anybody get too close. Theres a wall around him. Sometimes, she added, even I feel that barrier. In his book, Cannon noted that the president ignored her advice on military spending and resisted her and many others before agreeing to fire Bakers unpopular successor as chief of staff, Donald Regan.

Reagan biographer Edmund Morris, who spent three years around the Reagans while he was president, was dismissive of Nancys political influence. But he did cite her importance to him personally, as someone who managed his finances and other everyday details, and as a street fighter who protected her husband from predators. He likened her to Edith Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt.

Both Reagan and TR tended to like everybody and were easily taken advantage of, Morris says. And both of these women, Nancy and Edith, were good at keeping away these conniving, predatory people, whether they were office seekers or lobbyists.

Greenberg says Nancy Reagan wasnt ideologically driven, like many of his aides.

For that reason, she should get credit, with James Baker and Michael Deaver, for helping him to avoid some of the pitfalls that a consistently hard-

right presidency would have encountered, Greenberg says. Her protectiveness served him well overall. Hillel Italie, New York, AP
CHINAs top economic planning official says it is impossible that the countrys economy would have a hard landing after a period of robust growth.

PHILIPPINES The government says an American woman who visited the country in January has tested positive for the Zika virus in the United States.

BRAZLIAN President Dilma Rousseff joined hundreds of people gathered outside the residence of her predecessor Lula da Silva, one day after police questioned him in an investigation into a sprawling corruption case involving state-run oil company Petrobras.

MYANMAR Nine people were killed and 16 others injured in a bus crash in Nuathogyi township, Myanmars northern Mandalay region yesterday morning. The dead include the driver and six women, while the injured were brought to Mandalay Hospital for treatment.

INDIA U.S. seed giant Monsanto has threatened to pull its genetically modified crop technology from India if the government goes ahead with its plan to cut the companys royalty fees.

POLAND Hundreds of women have marched in Warsaw to demand greater accessibility to abortion, better working conditions and more state support in raising children.

AFGHANISTANs President Ashraf Ghani says the Islamic State group has been defeated in the eastern parts of the country, where it had taken over some remote districts.

MEXICO The once-secretive Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has launched a public relations blitz, calling on his lawyers and even his common-law wife to keep his name in the news.

USA Creating fresh evidence that theres no quick end in sight to the fractious Republican Party race for president, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump each captured two victories in a four-state round of primary voting.

USA Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president  and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimers disease  has died.
CHINA Seeking to douse fears about Chinas economy, the finance minister says that Beijing can manage its rising debt load as it steps up deficit spending to prevent a slide in growth.

INDONESIA has defended its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a war crimes suspect, into the country for a summit of Muslim nations.

INDIA Thousands of dead fish have washed up on the banks of a polluted lake in Indias southern technology hub of Bangalore. People spotted the dead fish floating in Ulsoor Lake yesterday in a residential district. A residents spokesman said sewage from many parts of the city has been flowing into the lake, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Water samples are being collected for testing.

PAKISTAN A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a court in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing 11 people, police said. The blast in the town of Shabqadar also wounded another 15 people.

IRAQ Officials say the death toll from Sundays suicide truck bombing south of Baghdad has climbed to 61. A police officer said yesterday that among the dead were 52 civilians, while the rest were members of the security forces.

SYRIA Russia says it is aiming to step up humanitarian aid to Syrias war-battered people by opening up its military facilities in Syria for international aid cargos. The Defense Ministry said that Russia is ready to provide all necessary help to international and foreign organizations in the delivery of humanitarian aid.

NATO announced that it was expanding its mission to help choke off the smuggling of migrants into Europe by deploying warships in Greek and Turkish waters, reinforcing its flotilla and deepening cooperation with the European Unions Frontex border agency.

USA Bernie Sanders has beaten Hillary Clinton in the Maine caucuses, taking 64% of the vote, in the latest contest in the battle to be the Democratic presidential candidate. In the Republican race, Marco Rubio easily won Puerto Ricos primary, beating billionaire Donald Trump.

TUNISIA 26 people have been killed in clashes between police and unidentified gunmen near the Libyan border. The interior and defense ministries said in a joint statement yesterday that the dead included 21 attackers, one Tunisian soldier and four civilians. A 12-year-old girl was among the civilians who were killed.
USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently announced this years deadline for producer applications for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is March 31.

March 31 is also the deadline by which initial applications are needed from farmers with expiring 2012-2016 contracts if they want to renew them for another five years. Some 12 million acres already in the program are eligible for renewal this year.

CSP is a continuous sign-up program, and producers can apply to enroll at any time of the year, said Traci Bruckner, Senior Policy Associate for Agriculture and Conservation at the Center for Rural Affairs. NRCS applies a cut-off date for applications to be considered during a particular fiscal year. Once the cut-off date is past, producers may continue to apply, but they will not be considered for entry until the spring of the following year. To enroll in 2016, you must file your application by March 31.

The Conservation Stewardship Program is a voluntary stewardship incentives program administered by NRCS. It rewards farmers, ranchers, and foresters for maintaining existing conservation and for adopting additional measures that run beyond the farm or ranch.

CSP pays producers for clean water, better soil management, improved habitat, energy efficiency, and other natural resource benefits. Since the program began in 2009, nearly 70 million acres of farm and ranch land have been enrolled in the program.

To sign up, farmers and ranchers should visit their NRCS local service center and submit their basic application form by the March 31 deadline. To find a local service center visit: http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?agency=nrcs

Once a farmer or ranchers initial application is accepted by NRCS, they are then scored based on current and planned future conservation activities, added Bruckner. If applicants meet acceptable conservation levels, they become eligible to compete in a ranking process that determines who will receive contracts. NRCS works down through the list of eligible applicants until acreage allocated to the particular state for that particular year runs out.

2012 Contracts Up for Renewal

March 31 is also the deadline for CSP contract holders who enrolled in 2012 to renew. CSP contracts last for five years and can be renewed for an additional five years, extending and building upon their previous conservation efforts and current level of stewardship.

Existing CSP contracts enrolled in 2012 will expire later this year if they are not renewed by March 31. Producers should act now to ensure a seamless transition into another five-year contract and avoid any lapse in payments.

Approximately 12 million acres and 8,000 contracts are up for renewal this year. To see the number of contracts and acres set to expire in each state: http://goo.gl/y1NZwW. The map below shows the total number of acres that were originally enrolled in 2012, which are set to expire at the end of the year if not renewed before March 31.

In 2014 and 2015, approximately 75 percent of expiring CSP acres were renewed in the program, and we join our colleagues at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) in hoping to see renewal rates that meet or exceed the first two re-enrollment periods.

Producers should be receiving a letter from their local NRCS office very soon about the opportunity to renew their contract for another five-year period. Renewal applications must also be received by March 31 to ensure a seamless transition into their next contract without a lapse in payments.

Program Improvements

We are pleased to report that two key improvements we have been advocating for along with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition will be part of the program moving forward, Bruckner said. These include more funding and a higher and expanded application of the minimum payment for small acreage farms and ranches.

NRCS will be able to enroll nearly all 10 million acres as authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, which is 2.3 million more acres than last years sign-up due to the annual appropriations not placing any funding limits on the CSP. This will help ensure NRCS can better meet program demands and enroll more farmers. In Nebraska, for example, in 2015 NRCS was only able to enroll 30% of eligible program applicants, Bruckner added.

The increase in the minimum payment to improve access for small acreage farms and ranches will be set at $1,500. Previously, this minimum payment was set at $1,000 and was only available to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, Bruckner concluded. This change opens up the minimum payment level to all participating small acreage farms and ranches.
Recently, Ethan Mansfield unearthed a 2007 photo showing several people kicking back at hot springs near Lowman. The group, including Mansfield, had just graduated from Boise High School. Fifteen grinning grads wearing swimsuits crowded into the frame.

Today, Mansfield is one of just two living in Idaho.

He returned to Boise after graduating from Whitman University in Walla Walla, Wash. Now a regional economist at Idaho Department of Labor, Mansfield said he looks at his bright and talented classmates in the photo who left Idaho and cringes at the implications for his states economy.

Its a little sobering, he said. I get a little depressed living in Idaho sometimes, and this doesnt help.

The Idaho exodus spans beyond Mansfields class. Statewide, college-educated millennials  those born between 1980 and 2000  are jumping to economic hubs such as San Francisco, Seattle and Salt Lake City for higher pay and the big-city amenities that studies say attract young professionals.

The flight of the millennials is not one-way. Some data show that more 20- and 30-something adults are coming to Idaho than leaving, and other data show that Idaho is actually gaining college-educated people from elsewhere. But the data do not sort the college-educated in-migrants by age. Economists believe many of them may be retirees or are approaching retirement age.

Some of those leaving, like Boise native Andrew Wilburn, 28, move for jobs better suited for their level of training.

Wilburn, who holds a masters degree in higher education and student affairs, moved to Wyoming last month for job at Laramie County Community College. He had previously left a job working an entry-level position in the admissions office at the College of Idaho to search for to a higher-paying one. The Wyoming job pays more than 50 percent more, he said.

Wilburn, who graduated from Boise High a year before Mansfield, said most of his high school friends have already left Idaho.

People want to stay here, but there arent many options or much industry available in Idaho, he said.

The millennial exodus is forcing government officials to ask uncomfortable questions. In January, Idaho Department of Labor Director Ken Edmunds told legislators that retaining Idaho talent should become a core economic-development strategy. He said the state is losing half of its college graduates within four years of graduation. Thats a problem, he said.

Weve been avoiding this issue for a long time, because our employers dont like to hear it: We dont pay well, Edmunds said.

Economic Opportunity

Jillian Moroney, 28, said she would love to stay in Boise, where she enjoys easy access to rock climbing, backpacking and her other favorite outdoor activities. But Moroney, an Idaho Falls native who earned a Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Idaho, doubts she will find an in-state job after her post-doctorate position ends in July.

She is looking at positions in Montana, Washington and Oregon.

Id love to stay, but Idaho doesnt have a ton of higher-level jobs, Moroney said.

Idaho doesnt produce enough highly educated professionals that it can shrug off losses such as Wilburn and Moroney, Mansfield said. In King County in Washington, home of the robust Seattle economy, more than half of millennials hold college degrees. In Idaho, only 30 percent hold an associates degree or higher. Other enviable economies, such as Denver and Minneapolis, also have better-educated workers, Mansfield said.

These places are economic hubs, Mansfield said. [An educated populace] isnt the sole indicator of economic dynamism, but we need to import educated talent if we hope to reach that kind of production in our economy.

Courtney Allen, 26, graduated from Boise High before graduating from Boise State University in 2012 with a degree in graphic design. She said she could have continued working in her field in Boise but moved to Bangkok, Thailand, a year ago to start a travel company, Courting Adventures, that takes small tour groups around Asia.

Allens love of travel played into her decision to leave Idaho, but she also felt living in Bangkok  with a population greater than 8 million  would expand her opportunities.

I love Boise, but Boise is a work in progress, she said. Things are just starting to ramp up, particularly in the tech industry. I wanted to move to a bigger city where I could make valuable connections and advance my career.

Moroney earned her bachelors degree at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., before returning to the U of I for her masters and doctorate. She said the difference in attitudes among her friends at each university were significant.

The majority of friends I went to school with in Washington wanted to stay in Washington, Moroney said. The majority of students I went to school with in Idaho accepted positions in different states, positions they were happy to accept.

Idaho has a lower cost of living than most larger cities, and Boise has a growing Downtown and outdoors access that attract millennials like Moroney and Wilburn, Mansfield said. Idaho cannot realistically match high wages paid in larger cities for positions requiring college degrees. But closing the wage gaps in industries such as technology, health care and financial services would go a long way to keeping millennials here, he said.

If we could increase wages  and not even to Seattle levels  kids in the school system now looking at options would see that Idaho has some economic opportunity for a good quality of life and for economic advancement, he said.

Cultural Reasons Allen said her ambivalence about Boise extends beyond economics. Allen, who is black, felt more at home in Atlanta, where she lived until moving to Boise as a teenager. She said her picture appeared on Boise State catalogs and banners, which she saw as the universitys effort to promote diversity in its student body. This year, the student body is 2 percent black.

Im attracted to vibrant, multicultural cities, she said. Theres not much in Boise in regards to diversity.

Moroney also said Idahos conservative politics turned off many of her University of Idaho friends.

Its frustrating that the Legislature always questions why people leave, but then they ruin things we care about: higher education, womens rights, a living wage, affordable health care, LGBT rights, the environment, Moroney said. Thats a hostile environment to come in as a young person if you want to see change.

Who Is Moving Here? In-migration may be replacing the educated millennials leaving Idaho. About 3,500 more millennials ages 21 to 30 moved into Idaho than left in 2014, according to Census data compiled by Mansfield, including 1,900 from California. Idaho also gained about 5,000 people from migration in the 31- to 40-year-old age bracket, which includes older millennials.

Idaho also had a net gain of about 2,000 incoming residents with an associates degree or higher, according to the Census. Idaho ranks 18th among states for migration of educated residents, Mansfield said.

However, the data on in-migrants with degrees does not specify the incoming residents ages. A large chunk of those degrees could be held by the roughly 13,000 people ages 51 and older who moved to Idaho in 2014, Mansfield said.

While highly educated workers approaching retirement boost Idahos economy, they are less likely than millennials to inject economy-changing ideas into the state, Mansfield said.

Some of those incoming college degrees are likely held by retirees, which tend to increase demand for low-wage service jobs. Retirees also increase demand for high-paying health care jobs.

The new Idahoans are fueling growth, he said.

Every state wants to see an influx of highly educated people flooding into their state, Mansfield said. Idaho is gaining people with bachelors degrees from other states. Thats better than a lot of other states can say.

While the data dont say why young people are moving to Idaho, Mansfield suspects the state is making a bad trade.

Its nothing we can prove yet, but Im concerned that were exchanging local talent weve produced with bachelors degrees or higher for people with high school diplomas or less, he said.

Idahos growing economy needs more young professionals to avoid stagnation regardless of their states of origin, Mansfield said.

Theres also a sentimental argument for retaining Idahos homegrown talent, Mansfield said. The 15 Boise High grads in his hot springs photo taken in 2007 included some of the top students in the class.

They are people who grew up in community. They are the ones who will make most positive change in Idaho, he said. Part of their potential stems from fact they have vested interest in Idaho and seeing Idaho do well.

A lot of (my friends) want big-city living... They want to be adults. They want to work for a startup, making 60, 70, 80K a year and doing cool things. Andrew Wilburn, outgoing Idaho millennial
CNN reports: "While that exchange was the clearest violation of debate rules to date, the sources said, it followed a pattern: At multiple debates, [Donald] Trump has consulted with his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski backstage even though it was expressly forbidden by the networks.

"Thursday night's debate in Detroit marked a new extreme, however, as Lewandowski went directly onto the stage to meet with Trump during the commercial break. As in previous debates, Fox News had explicitly informed the campaigns that candidates were not allowed to communicate with their campaign staff during commercial breaks, the sources said."

The incident is reflective of what Donald Trump's opponents are up against. Trump plays by no rules, and the media are too afraid or self-interested in the ongoing ratings show to object to, let alone enforce, restraints applicable to other candidates. It is also telling that Trump needs the help and is unable without someone spoon-feeding instructions to him to withstand an assault from a united front of his opponents.

And what do those opponents do? When Trump was bloodied at the end of the debate -- despite his handler's help -- the candidates meekly offered that they would support Trump if he became the nominee. This followed a debate in which Trump was vulgar, insistent that he would order our troops to commit war crimes and entirely incapable of answering any policy question. When he was drowning, they threw him a life line.

Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., gave a lovely, uplifting speech. He reminded the crowd that the future of the country is at issue. He recalled his underdog campaign for the Senate in 2010 against then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, when the "establishment" was against him. And, to conservatives already miffed by Trump's decision to back out of his appearance at CPAC, Rubio reminded them of the fundamental precepts of conservatism -- free-market economics. a strong national defense and reverence for the Constitution -- and declared that conservatism must be more than an "attitude." He took a glancing punch at Trump, saying he did not want the movement to be "hijacked" by someone who was not a conservative.

In a Q&A with CNN's Dana Bash, he threw more gentle barbs Trump's way. The American dream, he said, is not "about how many buildings have your name on them." And he agreed with Bash that as a parent it was difficult to explain to his children the language being used in the presidential campaign. Given the perfect setup to lambaste Trump for saying in the debate he would order the military to commit war crimes, Rubio simply said a commander in chief should never tell our troops to break the law.

What Rubio did not do and seems unwilling to do is go for the jugular. Why not, as Mitt Romney has done, say outright that Trump is unfit to be president and will not get his support? Why not say flat-out the country is better than to elect a know-nothing bully?

The Rubio team insists theirs is the only campaign that in a sustained earned media way has hit Trump and whose outside groups are doing the same. It is indisputable that for months Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, bolstered Trump, helping to mainstream him and make him appear respectable to voters. None of Trump's opponents has done more than Cruz did -- before deciding it was in his interest to attack Trump -- to unleash Trump on the GOP and the country. Ohio Gov. John Kasich refuses to say a critical word about Trump.

So, yes, Rubio has done more than the others to take on Trump. But as yet, Rubio is not winning states, his voting results in Saturday's states were dreadful and the impression of someone lacking a winning edge and a knock-out blow is beginning to congeal. As it hardens, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Rubio's dismal showing in Saturday's contests -- some of his worst results to date, with not even a second-place in any of the 4 states -- along with Cruz's success in Maine and Kansas will fuel the perception Rubio is not the candidate to protect the party and country from Trump.

The Rubio team would say that their long-term approach will work. Rubio advisers are convinced the map is getting more hospitable. Recent polling shows the gap between Trump and Rubio narrowing in Florida to single digits. Rubio continues to maintain high favorables and is the only candidate whose appeal spans multiple geographic areas and demographic groups. Maybe all that will be enough to vault Rubio into first place in Florida and other states with March 15 primaries. If so, it will be vindication of his game plan. But if it does not, the comparison will be made to Rudy Giuliani who did not win an early state and mistakenly banked on Florida to rescue him. And many will question why Rubio did not go for the kill. They will wonder whether he could have knocked out Trump and saved the Republican Party had he only been willing to get tougher and tell the truth about Trump -- that he is a menace to the country and no Republican in good conscience should support him.
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Monthly news from Mark and Andrea working at L'hopital Regional de Bardai, Tibesti, Chad.




I am using a format similar to the email messages I send to about 1000 colleagues on my private email list serve that I have been managing since 1997. Each entry will include the title of the news article, the first few paragraphs and a link to the entire article. My comments will be in blue arial font and key excerpts/quotes from the article will be in the article's original format. As a good Soldier always strives to improve his fighting position, I will endeavor to improve this site.





Also follow on twitter at @davidmaxwell161

The purpose of this site is to share information on national security issues with anyone who has an interest in these topics. My focus is on National Security Issues of Policy and Strategy; Asia, with particular emphasis on Korea and China, as well as Special Warfare (Unconventional Warfare and Foreign Internal Defense) and Surgical Strike (Counterterrorism) and how they relate to US National Security.
The blog is devoted to the multiple issues of the security culture.
Pope Francis expressed sadness, during his Sunday mass at the Vatican, at the deadly attack on an elderly home in Aden, Yemen, on Friday, describing it as an act of senseless and diabolical violence.

The attack left 16 people dead, including four nuns.

The elderly home was established by Mother Teresa and is run by Catholic missionaries.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pope was shocked and profoundly saddened by the killings and 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.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and Ansar Al-Sharia, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, mentioned by some reports as responsible of the act, distanced itself from it in a rare statement denying any connection or relation to the operation that targeted the elders house. This is not our operation and its not our way of fight, the group said.

Extremist groups calling for strict adherence to Islam and the sharia are known for glorifying killings and boastfully claiming responsibility.

Yemens turmoil is slowly dragging the country into general insecurity as Aden, declared liberated by the Hadi-led government backed by the Saudi-led coalition, continues to be marred by several high profile attacks and mass killings.
Hamas has reacted to a statement released by Fatahs revolutionary council stating that it could pursue other means to regain control of the Gaza Strip.

The statement was considered to be contrary to the peaceful efforts by the two groups to reach an agreement over the affairs of Palestine.

The reconciliation agreement signed in 2014 between the two groups has proven to be challenging because the unity government that should be established under it and based in Ramallah is yet to take over the reins of Gaza.

Fatah stated that failure to reach an agreement with Hamas in the upcoming talks in Doha would oblige the group to consider other options to retake Gaza but Hamas said Fatahs threats to retake Gaza betray the truth of its intentions. Hamas called on Fatah to leave the custodianship up to the Palestinian people, respect election results and adopt the principle of partnership.

Both Hamas and Fatah aim at obtaining Palestines statehood and independence but their ideological approaches differ. Hamas is for armed resistance while Fatah prefers negotiation.

However, Palestines chief negotiator Erekat in an authored document published on Sunday by Asharq al-Aswat claimed that US Secretary of State John Kerry told President Abbas that Washington would veto any UN Security Council resolution targeting Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories or supporting Palestinian statehood during a meeting in Jordan on February 21. He said Kerry was also against international efforts by Palestine to gain more recognition, joining international institutions, adhering to treaties or redefining ties with Israel.

Talks between Israel and Palestine have been suspended since 2014 and France is trying to revive it under an international peace summit later this year.
Egyptian government Sunday charged outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and Gazas Hamas of the assassination of Public Chief Prosecutor Hisham Barakat last year in June.

This plot was carried out on the orders of the Muslim Brotherhood  in close coordination with Hamas, which played a very important role in the assassination of the chief prosecutor from start to finish, Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar told reporters at a press conference.

Ghaffar indicated that Turkey-based Muslim Brotherhood movement collided with the Hamas movement in the Gaza strip which provided the training and the explosives for the attack.

This is a very big conspiracy that started a long time ago, he said.

Barakat was the countrys top official killed in the insurgency that erupted following removal of Egyptian first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi by former army Gen. al-Sisi in 2013 who later won 2014 presidential elections.

Al-Sisi moved on to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood movement which has been blacklisted as terrorist group. Most senior officials of the movement fled the country while hundreds of others including Morsi have been arrested and handed down lengthy jail sentences in controversial trials criticized by human rights groups and leaders around the world.

Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have both denied any involvement in the killing of Barakat.

The Interior Minister revealed that 48 Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested in connection with the assassination while fourteen of them have confessed to the killing of the countrys top prosecutor.

Egypt has been facing insurgency since al-Sisis military coup against the Muslim Brotherhood backed President Mohamed Morsi. Attacks against military and security forces have occurred repeatedly in the countrys Sinai Peninsula where militants affiliated to IS built a nerve center.

Authorities have claimed that anti-government attacks have killed more than 500 soldiers and security forces. President al-Sisi who vowed to wipe out insurgency following the death of Barakat recently indicated that militant attacks only occur in the Sinai, which represents one per cent of the countrys territory.
Leader of the Lebanon-based Shiite organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, Sunday took aim at Sunni Arab countries and Israel to whom he vowed defeat after Sunni Gulf States blacklisted his organization as a terrorist organization.

Speaking at an event commemorating the martyrdom of a senior Hezbollah commander, Ali Fayyad, Nasrallah hailed some Arab leaders who refused to align on Saudi Arabia-led condemnation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group and accused Israel of trying to divide the Arab world.

Last week, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) blacklisted Hezbollah as terrorist group because it was recruiting young people of the Gulf and sending them to the battle field in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Nasrallah also laid into Gulf States which he said did nothing for Lebanon and Palestine pointing out that it was his movement which drove out Israel from South Lebanon.

Referring to Saudi Arabias decision to rescind its military assistance to Lebanon worth $3 billion, Hassan Nasrallah said We do not need your weapons; leave us alone.

In his speech aired on Hezbollah media outlet al-Manar, Nasrallah also denied receiving orders from Shiite-dominated Iran which is reportedly sponsoring the Shiite movement in Lebanon.
Misrata-based Libyan forces targeted in air strikes militants of the Islamic State group in Sirte and claimed that many IS leaders were hit.

Speaking after the airstrikes, foreign media spokesman for the Tripoli-based government Jamal Zubia said the airstrikes carried out by Misrata struck the groups headquarters and many leaders are believed to have been hit.

According to press reports, the extremist group has begun to take medical equipment from the towns Ibn Sina hospital to set up a field hospital as it expects more airstrikes to follow.

Jamal Zubia said the death toll has reached 18 and it would increase.

However, residents in Sirte said IS was not affected by the strikes because the bombs landed on civilian areas killing at least one local. Airstrikes on Sirte are reported frequently and often attributed to unidentified aircraft.

It has also been reported that the group is about to launch a mass recruitment program to promote its vision and mission and to beef up its ranks.

The Islamic State group is hoping to increase its members in Libya and could be working on its ambitions as reports from Sirte claim that IS have demanded that everyone in the town brings their children to their local mosque for lessons on sharia and missionary work.

The West hopes that the formation of a unity government will facilitate quelling the extremist group.
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In this Sept. 24, 2014, file photo, healthcare workers load a man suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus onto an ambulance in Kenema, Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota Inc., an American company given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in the Ebola outbreak, was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Tanya Bindra, File)

An American company that bills itself as a pioneer in tracking emerging epidemics made a series of costly mistakes during the 2014 Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africawith employees feuding with fellow responders, contributing to misdiagnosed Ebola cases and repeatedly misreading the trajectory of the virus, an Associated Press investigation has found.

San Francisco-based Metabiota Inc. was tapped by the Sierra Leonean government and the World Health Organization to help monitor the spread of the virus and support the response after Ebola was discovered circulating in neighboring Guinea in March 2014. But emails obtained by AP and interviews with aid workers on the ground show that some of the company's actions made an already chaotic situation worse.

WHO outbreak expert Dr. Eric Bertherat wrote to colleagues in a July 17, 2014, email about misdiagnoses and "total confusion" at the Sierra Leone government lab Metabiota shared with Tulane University in the city of Kenema. He said there was "no tracking of the samples" and "absolutely no control on what is being done."

"This is a situation that WHO can no longer endorse," he wrote.

Metabiota chief executive officer and founder Nathan Wolfe said there was no evidence his company was responsible for the lab blunders, that the reported squabbles were overblown and that any predictions made by his employees didn't reflect the company's position. He said Metabiota doesn't specialize in outbreak response and that his employees stepped in to help and performed admirably amid the carnage of the world's biggest-ever Ebola outbreak.

In this Aug. 10, 2015, file photo, a nurse walks past an ambulance at a facility shared by U.S. epidemic research firm Metabiota Inc. and Tulane University at the government hospital in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that in the early months of fighting the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Metabiota was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

"Metabiota's team worked tirelessly, skillfully and at substantial potential danger to themselves to assist when most of the world was still ignoring the problem," he said in an email. "We are proud of our team efforts which went above and beyond the call of duty."

Wolfe said some of the problems flagged were misunderstandingsand that others were planted by commercial rivals.

The complaints about Metabiota mirror the wider mismanagement that hamstrung the world's response to Ebola, a disease that has killed upward of 11,000 people. Previous AP reporting has shown that WHO resisted sounding the alarm over Ebola for two months on political, religious and economic grounds and failed to put together a decisive response even after the alert was issued. The turmoil that followed left health workers in Kenema bereft of protective equipment or even body bags and using expired chlorine, a crucial disinfectant.

WHO said Metabiota was well-placed to help when Ebola broke out in West Africa because of its expertise with Lassa, a related disease. The agency declined to give any detail about how it dealt with the complaints from senior staff about the firm or the status of their current relationship.

In Sierra Leone, Sylvia Blyden, who served as special executive assistant to the country's president in the early days of the outbreak, said Metabiota's response was a disaster.

"They messed up the entire region," she said. She called Metabiota's attempt to claim credit for its Ebola work "an insult for the memories of thousands of Africans who have died."

___

"THE VIRAL STORM"

Wolfe, a swashbuckling scientist sometimes described as the Indiana Jones of virology, has focused his company's work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In his book, "The Viral Storm," Wolfe writes that his work is aimed at hunting down "the first moments at the birth of a new pandemic" to prevent its global spread.

With a doctorate in immunology and infectious diseases from Harvard, Wolfe, 45, has found some serious backers. Metabiota and its nonprofit sister company Global Viral have received millions in funding from USAID, Google and the Skoll Foundation, among others. The Department of Defense alone has granted more than $18 million worth of contracts to the firm, federal records show.

In this Aug. 11, 2014, file photo, a health worker cleans his hands with chlorinated water before entering an Ebola screening tent at the government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota Inc., an American company given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in the Ebola outbreak, was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Michael Duff, File)

In the early months of the outbreak, with WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thin on the ground, Metabiota said it stepped in to help at the request of the Sierra Leonean government.

An account posted to its website says Metabiota provided "critical support" in the earliest days of the outbreak, organizing training, jointly running Sierra Leone's Ebola laboratory, assisting with outbreak logistics and producing daily reports for the government.

Messages saved to ProMed, a mailing list for outbreak watchers, are upbeat, describing Metabiota's tests and how it was teaching Sierra Leoneans how to set up Ebola isolation wards. On May 12, senior Metabiota scientist Dr. Jean-Paul Gonzalez said preparedness work had "ultimately protected, or at least uniquely prepared, Sierra Leone."

But there were already reports of suspected infections in the country and, within weeks, the virus tore through Sierra Leone, overwhelming the hospital in Kenema where Metabiota shared the 700-square-foot (65-square-meter) lab with Tulane.

To some at Tulane, which had a long-established research project at the lab, Metabiota's missteps were predictable. The two groups worked side-by-side in an uneasy relationship that observers said sometimes tipped into open conflict.

Tulane microbiology professor Bob Garry questioned whether Gonzalez was the right person to teach Sierra Leoneans how to protect themselves from Ebola. In 1994, the French researcher was at the center of a safety scare at Yale University after he accidentally infected himself with the rare Sabia virus and didn't notify officials there for more than a week. The university put more than 100 people under surveillance and ordered Gonzalez to take a remedial safety course. Garry said that should have raised a red flag.

"Do you really want the person who infected himself with hemorrhagic fever going around explaining to people how to be safe?" he asked.

Gonzalez referred questions to a Metabiota press representative, who said in an email that the incident happened more than 20 years ago and that Gonzalez has extensive lab safety experience.

But Garry also faced questions; the WHO emails obtained by AP complaining about the Kenema lab are as critical of Tulane as they are of Metabiota.

Garry acknowledged mistakes but said they were understandable given the chaotic circumstances.

In this photo taken Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, Metabiota Inc. founder Nathan Wolfe speaks during an interview at his offices in San Francisco. Wolfe has focused his company's work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In the early months of the Ebola outbreak, Metabiota was one of the first to assist the Sierra Leonean government with disease surveillance, training and lab testing. Within a few months, scientists from the World Health Organization, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about the quality of Metabiota's work. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

"We didn't have the personnel and the infrastructure that was needed to handle the onslaught of cases that were coming," he said. "We were doing the best we had with what we had there."

___

"THEY WERE AT WAR"

As the death toll mounted in July, scientists from WHO, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about what Metabiota and its Tulane colleagues were doing at the Kenema lab, according to the emails obtained by AP and interviews with those on the ground at the time.

When Gary Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada, double-checked some of the facility's work in mid-July, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and identified up to five people wrongly diagnosed with Ebola, among them a worker with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Kobinger told AP in a telephone interview that the misdiagnoses he caught suggested many more had gone unnoticed.

"If you detect two, three, four, five, how many are out there?" he said.

The mistakes were doubly dangerous in a country where many mistrusted international workers, who were suspected of spreading Ebola deliberately, said Bertherat, the WHO outbreak expert. Attempts to reassure a jittery public could be "totally ruined if the population does not trust anymore in the diagnostic of the medical teams," he wrote in an email.

Bertherat proposed two fixes for the problematic lab: WHO could either train Metabiota and Tulane staffers, or close down the facility and transfer all testing to another lab. He told his boss on July 18, 2014, that shutting down the shared lab was the "more prudent" option.

Five days later, Geneva-based WHO staffer Pat Drury emailed the agency's chief, Dr. Margaret Chan, with criticism of both Tulane and Metabiota, referring to their shared facility as two labs.

In this photo taken Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, a sign in a hallway at Metabiota Inc. in San Francisco advertises the company's mission. The company tries to identify and monitor emerging epidemics around the world and was given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in Sierra Leone in the early months of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

"Both labs do not meet international standards for Biosecurity," he said, adding that "several patients have been wrongly tested positive."

Metabiota founder Wolfe said "we did wonderful lab work as far as I'm concerned." Errors in the shared facility stopped once "other groups" were pulled from the testing and, in any case, he noted that Metabiota tested over 1,800 samples. Even if any mistakes were made, he said the error rates were well within ranges seen elsewhere.

Wolfe did not name the "other groups," but documents and interviews show Metabiota and Tulane blamed each other.

"On the surface, they were collaborating," Kobinger said. But in reality, "they were at war."

U.S. health official Austin Demby, who was sent to evaluate the lab's work at the request of the CDC and Sierra Leone, said initial diagnostic tests carried out by Metabiota and Tulane clashed as often as 30 percent of the time. Errors raised the risk that the virus could be spread further by sending infected patients home or confining otherwise healthy people to infectious Ebola wards.

In a July 21 email to CDC and State Department officials, Demby put the blame at Tulane's door, saying Metabiota's tests were always closer to the mark and that Tulane's "add no real value to the diagnosis." But Tulane's Garry said Metabiota's staff stirred confusion by not following protocol.

Wolfe said that was "simply false."

The lab's set-up also was worrisome. Used needles littered the place, according to a worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because the worker was not authorized to speak to the media. Demby said in his email that the lab lacked an ultraviolet light for decontamination and didn't have enough space to process blood samples safely.

"The cross contamination potential is huge and quite frankly unacceptable," he wrote.

Tulane pulled the plug on its tests soon thereafter and the lab's results improved. Kobinger credited Metabiota researcher Nadia Wauquier"the hero of that whole gang"with tightening procedures, but eventually the company was relieved of its testing duties and the CDC took over. Both Tulane and Metabiota say they stepped aside voluntarily.

In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo, Tulane microbiology professor Bob Garry poses for a photo in the laboratory of the J. Bennett Johnston Health & Environmental Research Building in New Orleans. Garry was among the scientists who voiced concerns about the quality of the work of Metabiota Inc., an outbreak monitoring company which was given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola epidemic. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

___

"THEY ARE SENDING WRONG MESSAGES"

Outside the lab, the training touted by Metabiota unnerved some fellow responders.

Anja Wolz, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, told AP in an interview that she saw Metabiota workers enter the homes of suspected Ebola patients without protective gear and without decontaminating themselves before leaving high-risk areas.

"They didn't even have chlorine with them to wash their hands," she said, adding that Metabiota project coordinator James Bangura told her they didn't need the critical disinfectant.

"I didn't go inside the Metabiota lab," she said. "I refused to go because I had already seen enough."

In a telephone interview, Bangura denied flouting safety measures.

Aid workers also complained that Metabiota employees including Bangura and a Ugandan consultant hijacked the outbreak response in Kenema, which was supposed to be directed by WHO.

Metabiota staffers "are systematically obstructing any attempt to improve the existing surveillance system and there are a lot of improvement(s) needed," WHO Ebola coordinator Philippe Barboza said in an August 8, 2014, email. The next day, he argued that WHO should pull its outbreak staff from Kenema so they wouldn't be tarred with Metabiota's failures, writing he was "very concerned of the potential reputational risk for WHO."

British disease expert Chris Lane echoed Barboza's concerns. In a message to Barboza, he lamented that "much good work was achieved prior to the arrival of the Metabiota field staff."

In this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, Gary Kobinger works in a mobile laboratory set up by the Public Health Agency of Canada in Mweka, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the agency, was among the experts who examined the work done by Metabiota Inc. and Tulane University at the government laboratory in Kenema, Sierra Leone, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. After double-checking some of the facility's work, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and said that as many as five or more people were wrongly diagnosed with Ebola. (Christopher Black/World Health Organization via AP, File)

Barboza and Lane declined comment on the arguments. Metabiota officials acknowledged the dispute but downplayed it.

"It is inaccurate to suggest a major conflict between WHO and Metabiota," Wolfe said, noting that Bangura was awarded a Sierra Leonean presidential silver medal for his Ebola efforts.

Nevertheless, the disagreement was serious enough that Metabiota said it fired the consultant and pulled Bangura from Kenema.

The consequences went beyond office politics. In one email, Barboza said 1 million euros in funding proposed by the International Rescue Committee was being held up because the donors wanted "a clear WHO leadership."

Some responders said one of the most disturbing mistakes Metabiota employees made was misreading the epidemic.

Wolz, of Doctors Without Borders, said she recalled a meeting in the early summer as cases began multiplying "when I said that the outbreak was completely out of control." She said Metabiota responded, 'No, we know where we are, everything is OK.'"

Kobinger, the Canadian scientist, said Bangura would interpret temporary dips in the number of cases to mean that the outbreak was dissipating. He said he couldn't fathom that reasoning given the number of Ebola-positive samples pouring into his own lab in nearby Kailahun.

Though Bangura said he did not personally make any estimates, Kobinger said Bangura told him in July that the outbreak would be over in "two or three weeks."

Any suggestion Metabiota wrongly forecast the Ebola epidemic is rejected by Wolfe, who once wrote that his career is focused on creating systems "that can accurately detect pandemics early, determine their likely importance, and, with any luck, crush those that have the potential to devastate us."

Wolfe told AP that his company couldn't be held responsible for the predictions of employees seconded to Sierra Leone's Health Ministry.

In this Sept. 24, 2014, file photo, a health worker sprays a colleague with disinfectant after working inside a morgue with people suspected of dying from the Ebola virus, in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota Inc., an American company given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in the Ebola outbreak, was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Tanya Bindra, File)

"We didn't make forecasts. We loaned individuals to the ministry," Wolfe said. "So the notion that somehow it's a Metabiota forecast is simply completely inaccurate."

Fellow responders may not have grasped the distinction. On Aug. 11just three days after WHO had declared the crisis a global emergencyMetabiota employees presented a slideshow to an Ebola task force. Next to a bar chart showing a slowdown in cases were the words: "The outbreak is stabilizing."

WHO data specialist Mikiko Senga wasn't persuaded.

"This is the kind of report we get from Metabiota epidemiologists," she emailed colleagues from the presentation. "They are sending wrong messages. The outbreak is clearly not stabilizing."

It was only in the second half of August that Kenema numbers began falling and, even then, the virus was merely moving to more populated areas.

Nearly two years after the virus was first discovered circulating near its border, Sierra Leone still is not officially Ebola-free.

___

"THEY MESSED UP ON EBOLA"

Despite doubts about Metabiota's performance, Wolfe's firm has largely been congratulated on its work in West Africa. In December 2014, it won a European Union grant to help validate new tests and treatments for the disease, something a company official said was in recognition of "the critical contributions our team has made in supporting the current outbreak."

In 2015, the company raised some $30 million in investment from four U.S. investment firms intended to "support Metabiota's efforts to further develop and deliver epidemic risk management worldwide," according to a press release.

Even WHO has publicly credited Metabiota for its work during the outbreak. Months after Senga, one of its employees, complained privately about Metabiota's optimistic predictions in Kenema, she wrote a sunnier account on WHO's website.

"The fact that they were already there helped a lot," she wrote in a post called "Ebola Diaries." Tulane and Metabiota employees already being established in Kenema "made our case investigations and contact tracing work a lot easier," she wrote.

Senga declined comment when reached by AP.

Guillaume Lachenal, a medical historian at Paris Diderot University who has followed Metabiota's work in Africa, said it was indecent of the company to claim Ebola as a success story.

"They messed up on Ebola. That can happen," he said. "To make a success story out of their Ebola response, that's quite something."

Explore further 10 critical mistakes in last year's Ebola outbreak

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Research from the Single-Cell Genomics Centre on the Wellcome Genome Campus could change the way we look at gene expression and immune response. Published in Nature Methods, the new method, TraCeR, provides a powerful tool for research into immune response, vaccination, cancer and autoimmunity.

What makes one T cell attack an antigen, and another remember it for next time? A series of RNA sequencing experiments by the Teichmann group at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute led the group to develop a new technique for understanding T-cell receptors. TraCeR, a single-cell sequencing tool, allows the determination of both the sequence of the T-cell receptor in individual cells, along with each cell's gene expression profile. This opens up new possibilities in the future for developing rapid diagnostics based on the genetic profile of blood cells.

When your immune system detects an invader - whether that's a disease or, in the case of autoimmune disease, part of your own body - it starts producing an army of T cells to remove the pathogen, which itself is producing lots of different proteins.

"It's a battlefield, with fighters on different fronts, snipers, generals and even journalists bearing witness," explains Mike Stubbington of EMBL-EBI, now at the Sanger Institute. "What we wanted to know was how different populations of T cells respond to disease - what role they're playing in the battle."

T cells are equipped with receptors that can latch on to a particular invader out of a vast array of possible options. This means they are extremely variable, with hundreds of billions of possible DNA sequences. A combination of paired sequences determines what protein a receptor will detect, so to understand what is happening at the molecular level, it is imperative to find both sequences in each cell. Using TraCeR, scientists can look at the DNA and RNA (expression) profiles of these highly variable T-cell receptors at the same time.

The researchers found the receptor sequences are unique, unless the T cells have the same parent cell. The presence of 'sibling' cells proves that an infection has triggered the division of a particular T cell, which indicates it is multiplying to fight the invader. Using TraCeR, the researchers accurately identified 'sibling' cells and explored their different response to Salmonella infection.

"This technique helps us see whether all the 'children' of a particular T cell do the same thing at the same time, which is an open question in biology," adds Tapio Lonnberg of EMBL-EBI. "We can start to see whether the antigen itself plays a role in how a T cell will respond, and even whether it's possible to determine what the invader is, just based on the sequence of a T-cell receptor."

"This kind of breakthrough work can only be done using single-cell measurements," says Sarah Teichmann, Head of Cellular Genetics at the Sanger Institute. "This new tool for single-cell sequencing gives us a new approach to the study of T cells, and opens up new opportunities to explore immune responses in disease, vaccination, cancer and autoimmunity."

The next step for the team is to apply similar methods to the study of B cells to better understand the adaptive immune system as a whole.

Explore further Linking gene expression and DNA methylation in single cells

More information: T cell fate and clonality inference from single-cell transcriptomes, Nature Methods, DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.3800 Journal information: Nature Methods T cell fate and clonality inference from single-cell transcriptomes,
Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are twice as likely to be granted protection if their application is supported by medical documentation of torture, writes Jules Lipoff, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues in the March 7, 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

"Physicians are uniquely able to help victims of torture and trauma secure asylum status by providing a comprehensive evaluation," write Lipoff and co-authors Jenna M. Peart, MD, of Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver and Elisabeth H. Tracey, fourth-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine. "Physicians should directly and empathetically elicit a detailed history of any trauma and ask about the origin of all exam findings."

The United Nations' Convention against Torture forbids countries from transporting people to any country where there is reason to believe they will be tortured. As a signatory to the treaty, the United States grants asylum to individuals who demonstrate a credible fear of persecution in court.

When appropriate, forensic medical evaluations may be used to corroborate episodes of trauma. Asylum-seekers who receive medical evaluations along with legal support have success rates of 79 to 89 percent compared to the national average of 37.5 percent, suggesting that the medical assessments have a substantial effect on the application process.

"In some cases, a forensic medical evaluation may mean the difference between an individual securing legal status and being forcibly returned to a country in which they face persecution and torture," say the authors in their letter to the editor.

Examples of findings during medical evaluations which could substantiate allegations of torture include scars compatible with whipping, an injury to the arms known as brachial plexus palsy causing significant loss of function, and bone fractures. The authors note that in one group of asylum- seekers, 69 percent had scars on their head and neck, 10 percent had scars on their genitals, seven percent had broken bones, and six percent had burn marks.

In the United States, official asylum evaluations comprise an oral history, physical exam, and review of records. Physicians record their findings in a medical affidavit, including thorough descriptions, photographs, and/or drawings. The affidavit is submitted as corroborating evidence in court. On occasion, the physician may also testify as an expert witness.

Noting that physicians can be trained to perform forensic evaluations in short courses and offer this service on a volunteer, part-time basis, the authors write that "physicians should consider this unique opportunity to defend human rights." Furthermore, Lipoff and colleagues "encourage all physicians to appreciate the far-reaching effects of these traumas on all victims of forced migration."

The Penn Human Rights Clinic, a medical student-run clinic dedicated to providing psychiatric and physical evaluations of survivors of persecution seeking asylum in the United States, provides such training. The program was founded in 2012 as a collaboration between Physicians for Human Rights and medical students and physicians at Penn.

Explore further Physicians reminded of ethical obligations regarding torture
 Really happy with Melissa Parke, she has done great work with us on Sims Direct
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

Hillary Clinton picked up an endorsement Monday from the city of Miami's last Democratic mayor.

Manny Diaz told the Miami Herald he has decided to back Clinton, his 2008 presidential candidate, after earlier this election cycle supporting Martin O'Malley.

O'Malley, the former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor, had befriended Diaz when both headed their respective cities. Diaz hosted O'Malley in Miami last year, but his presidential campaign proved to be short-lived.

Diaz issued his Clinton endorsement in a statement to the Herald titled, "When Main Street Prospers, So Does America."

As former Mayor of Miami and President of the US Conference of Mayors, I live and understand the daily needs of a city and its people  the things that matter most to all of us.

Over 85% of the American people live in metro areas. These areas are the economic engines responsible for over 85% of all jobs, income, economic growth and GDP. These are the places where we work, raise our children, worship and where neighbors help one another.

When Main Street prospers, so does America.

But, if America is to remain competitive, if we are to preserve the American Dream for future generations, we must continue to invest in the things that help us grow Main Street; we must invest in job creation, education, infrastructure, public transit, public safety, housing, health care and the environment -- investments in the hope and opportunity we all deserve.

The next president must understand the need to refocus on what makes America great -- that an investment in Americas Main Street, our cities, is an investment in the American people, an investment in America's future.

That is why today, I am proud to endorse someone who understands and has always been a partner of Americas cities, Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Miami's current mayor, Republican Tomas Regalado, supports Marco Rubio.
Help for families to bury the remains of children exhumed in unmarked graves at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys survived a legislative maneuver on Monday that threatened to put the proposal in jeopardy and stirred fierce opposition from Democrats in the Florida House.

State Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, and Rep. Ed Narain, D-Tampa, have proposed legislation that would give families up to $7,500 to the next of kin of the children discovered in graves on the school's now-shuttered campus in North Florida, just west of Tallahassee. Many of those remains still have not been identified.

But during a debate over the legislation on Monday, Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, said that amount seemed too expensive and proposed an amendment that would slash it to $2,000. Tobia said he spoke with a funeral director he would not name, who told him $2,000 would be more than enough to cover the cost of reburials. He said reducing the amount would save the state money and prevent people from trying to spend up to the maximum of $7,500 for the burials.

"Two thousand is a lot more reasonable than $7,500," Tobia said.

But that brought a flurry of questions from Democrats in the House. State Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, warned that changing the amount would have an effect on the budget, potentially requiring it to go back to the House Appropriations Committee, which is not scheduled to meet again before the Legislature completes its annual session on Friday. Even if that didn't happen, it would have required the bill to go back to the Florida Senate for another vote, even though the bill had already passed a week earlier. Either way, the amendment would have put the bill in serious jeopardy with only four days left in the Legislature's session.

Rep. Reggie Fullwood, D-Jacksonville, questioned why Tobia would offer such a low amount, noting that the cost of burying his grandmother was far more expensive than $2,000.

"So it's your opinion Rep. Tobia that because these remains were in the ground that they don't deserve a respectable burial like one of our family members would?" Fullwood asked Tobia.
@ByKristenMClark

Florida's 650 charter schools and 3,600 traditional public schools would each get a pot of $75 million in state funds next year to spend on construction and maintenance projects, under a budget agreement the House and Senate appropriations chairmen announced Sunday afternoon.

The figure -- about the same as what Republican Gov. Rick Scott had asked for -- is $25 million more for each set of schools than lawmakers allocated this year.

It's also a compromise between Republican leaders in the House and Senate from what each chamber originally sought. In their budgets, both the House and Senate wanted to keep capital funding for traditional public schools level at $50 million. For charters, the House wanted $90 million, while the Senate budgeted nothing.

"From our perspective, it was kind of a guiding principle that we ought to be doing for the public system what we're doing for the charter school system, and we ultimately agreed on a level for funding both," Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said.

"The reality is we're up from last year," added House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes.

The equal funding level is a victory for charter school advocates, who lobbied to get at least as much in capital dollars as traditional schools. Charter schools are publicly funded but privately managed. Unlike district-run schools, charter schools often lease their facilities, rather than build them.

In a statement this evening, the Florida Charter School Alliance, which represents more than 200,000 students, "thanks the Legislature for the increase of $25 million in dollars to fund the cost of school facilities."

Supporters of conventional public schools are likely to be somewhat disappointed, although they're set to get more money this year than last. They had urged lawmakers to make up for years of reduced funding, when state capital money to charter schools far outweighed what conventional schools received.
@JeremySWallace

Life insurance companies will have to do more to track down beneficiaries of the deceased under a bill that passed the Florida House on Monday and goes back to the Florida Senate for final approval.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has made the issue a top priority this year because he said there is a systemic practice within the life insurance industry in which many companies are sitting on billions of dollars in overdue, unpaid life insurance benefits. He said some companies are doing little to track down families whose loved ones paid their premiums for years.

"For years insurance companies had no trouble sending their agents to their house for the weekly payment," Atwater said during a Senate Banking and Insurance committee meeting on the topic in January. "They knew exactly where they lived for 20 years. But now that it may be time to pay up, its a horrified hardship to find that individual."

Atwater said some insurance companies have made it so the only way beneficiaries can collect is if they can locate the policy paperwork, of which they may not be aware, and present a death certificate to the company.

Under Senate Bill 966 insurers would be required to search the Social Security Administration's Death Master File for all of their policyholders retroactively to 1992 and every year going forward. If a beneficiary cannot be found, the insurance company must turn the policy over to the State of Floridas Unclaimed Property Program, currently overseen by Atwater, where the state will continue to look for rightful beneficiaries.

The House passed the bill on a 109-0 vote. It now goes back to the Florida Senate. If the bill is approved there it would go to Gov. Rick Scott for his approval.
An expansion to medical marijuana in Florida is headed to Gov. Rick Scott after the state Senate approved the measure today.

Under the bill, which passed on a bipartisan 28-11 vote, terminally ill patients could be prescribed medical marijuana. It could also lead to more growers if nurseries turned down for a license by the Department of Health are successful in ongoing court challenges.

Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, sponsored the bill in the Senate, which grew from a two-page expansion of the state's Right to Try law to a 29-page proposal that includes regulations and provisions for additional licenses.

In 2014, the Legislature passed a law allowing medical marijuana low in euphoric THC to be prescribed for patients who suffer from cancer or severe seizures. No patients have yet received the drug, and several of the nurseries that DOH did not grant one of the five available regional licenses by DOH filed challenges in court.

"People are waiting," Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, said. "There are people who need treatment. I'm not saying this bill is perfect ... but this is the best we have."

But some senators argued that Bradley's bill won't fix the problems that led to the two-year wait.

"The system is designed for profit, not to help patients," Sen. Jeff Clemens said.

The main issue raised by opponents: Which companies are licensed to grow and sell marijuana, especially as it appears voters could open up medical marijuana even further in November.

In this year's bill, lawmakers wrote in provisions to ensure that the original five growers approved by the Department of Health for growing low-THC cannabis are protected and have the first crack at full-fledged medical marijuana in the state.

That's caused controversy, as senators have called the structure a "monopoly" and said it helps entrenched special interests.

"Does this set up a state-sanctioned drug cartel, which is what it is?" Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg asked. "Yes, it does. You're basically mandating that five families get wealthy."

Nevertheless, some advocates who have pushed for additional licenses have declared a victory. A group of black farmers that had not been eligible to become growers under strict rules in the 2014 marijuana legalization would now be among the first to gain additional licenses if there are ever 250,000 patients.

Several senators argued that's an unreachable threshold. Others voiced concern that the five growers approved by DOH have not shown they are capable of growing full-strength marijuana or handling distribution and retail sales.

Senators have voted down attempts to include additional conditions and allow for more licenses to be granted, or at the very least for lower thresholds for expanded licenses.

Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, said lawmakers can come back and make tweaks. Clemens said he's planning to try to rewrite the structure again next year.

"We need to pass this, make changes next year and the next if we need to and get it going," Montford said.

The bill passed the House last week and now heads to Scott's desk for signature or veto.
If Gov. Rick Scott vetoes large chunks of the Legislature's new budget, some lawmakers say overriding his vetoes is a definite possibility.

If that happens, it would be historic, and it would fittingly take place in the historic setting of Florida's Old Capitol, which is now a museum.

The 2016 regular session is scheduled to end Friday, March 11, and construction crews will begin tearing down the 1970's-era chamber on Saturday to begin construction on a $6 million replacement, which includes new paneling, carpeting, desks, chairs and visitors' galleries. The outdated photo at left, provided by the Senate, is a preliminary rendering of what the new Senate will look like. The new chamber should be ready by the time of the next organizational session following the general election in November.

The Senate chamber in the Old Capitol no longer has the spitoons and floor-mounted ash trays that it had decades ago. But it has been recreated and restored to its old luster and is used for historic and community events, such as a recent annual gala hosted by the League of Women Voters of Florida. The Senate has held discussions with the Florida Channel about the logistical changes needed to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of a special session in the Old Capitol.

If a special session is held, the House will stay put. But the temporary relocation of senators to the Old Capitol would revive another grand Tallahassee tradition: Back in the day, reporters who covered the Senate sat in the chamber, a few feet behind the senators themselves -- not in a glass-enclosed gallery overlooking the chamber.

In a memorandum to senators, Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, wrote: "The egg and dart molding and the Ionic columns were modeled after the Historic Capitol as well as the 1947 chamber which was demolished in the late 1970s. Both styles have a long history in public and government buildings dating back to ancient times, which will fit the historical and traditional style of the new chamber. Additionally, the white dome is connected to the style of the 1947 chamber, which was almost entirely white."
In his last session as a state senator, Democrat Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale will leave a legacy that reflects his county's long struggle for racial equality.

The Senate unanimously approved a bill Monday to rename John U. Lloyd State Park as Von D. Mizell - Eula Johnson State Park to honor two African-American pioneers. Mizell was Fort Lauderdale's first black doctor and Johnson was the county's first NAACP president.

In the years before the civil rights movement, Fort Lauderdale's world famous beach was off limits to black residents, and they were restricted to what was then known as "Colored Beach" at John U. Lloyd State Park, just south of Port Eveerglades. The park was originally named for a former county attorney who handled the paperwork creating the park, but Smith said the time has come for the state to change its name.

"John Lloyd is a good man," Smith said, "but now is a good time to acknowledge why we have the park."

Smith's bill (SB 288) also renames a park boat ramp for Alphonso Giles, who ferried local black residents to the beach in the days of segregation. Three of th epark's pavilions are being named in recognition of other local civil rights trailblazers, including one for W. George Allen, who was the first African-American to graduate from the University of Florida law school and who as a young attorney pursued lawsuits to integrate the county's public schools.
More than 1 million voters have cast ballots in advance of next week's Florida presidential preference primary. Balloting is on pace for turnout to set a new record for a presidential primary and is sure to exceed the 1.7 million people who voted in the last primary in 2012.

Through Sunday, slightly more than 1.1 million ballots had been cast statewide. Nearly 900,000 were mail ballots and more than 230,000 were cast at early voting sites. Republicans are voting in substantially higher numbers than Democrats. The Department of State is updating daily vote totals by party, by county, by mail and by type on its website.

Pinellas County remains the statewide leader in mail ballots returned with 104,000 through Sunday. Miami-Dade is the early leader in early voting with 15,603 ballots cast at early voting sites through Sunday.
@MichaelAuslen

Uber is doubling down on its campaign targeting Senate President Andy Gardiner with just five days left in the legislative session.

The company wants the Florida Senate to approve legislation preventing local governments from banning or regulating it and other ridesharing companies like Lyft.

In an effort to ramp up public pressure, Uber's smartphone app is this morning prompting users to "vote for Uber," and asking them to vote yes or no on a simplified version of that part of the legislation. "It's not hard to hold an up or down vote," the app will retort.

The feature is launching in Tallahassee and Orlando, which is Gardiner's hometown, but the company intends to roll it out statewide throughout the day.

It's part of a bigger PR blitz the company has taken against the Senate president in the last week in an attempt to force a vote on their favored legislation (HB 509) before state lawmakers finish their work in Tallahassee on Friday.

In addition to stopping local governments' bans, the ridesharing legislation would set insurance and background check requirements. It passed the Florida House on a 108-10 vote in January. Opponents

However, Senate leaders have been reluctant to preempt local governments, instead favoring a plan backed by the taxicab industry that would focus on insurance. Gardiner has ties to Mears Transportation, a taxi and limo operator in Orlando.

For its part, Uber has flooded Tallahassee with 30 registered lobbyists.

The Senate's point person on ridesharing, Rules Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said Friday that he's working with taxi and ridesharing companies to find an agreement, although previous deals have broken down.

"If we can get the consensus, we'll be on our way," he said. He indicated that a compromise being worked out over the weekend would include "some" local government preemption.
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"The wonderful Middle East Institute blogger Michael Collins Dunn noted the other day

, the former Egyptian Defense Minister and Intelligence chief . . ."

 Marc Lynch,

Foreign Policy

"Michael Collins Dunn is the editor of

. He also blogs. His

summarizes a lot of material on the Iranian election and offers some sensible interpretation. If you are really interested in the Middle East, you should check him out regularly.

 Gary Sick,

Gary's Choices

"Since were not covering the Tunisian elections particularly well, and neither does

, Ill just point you over

. Its a great post by MEI editor Michael Collins Dunn, who . . . clearly knows the country pretty well."

 alle,

Maghreb Politics Review

"And bookmark that blog! Good posts, long posts, fast pace."



again.

"Ive followed Michael Collins Dunn over at the Middle East Institutes

since its beginning in January this year. Overall, it is one of the best blogs on Middle Eastern affairs. It is a selection of educated and manifestly knowledgeable ruminations of various aspects of Middle Eastern politics and international relations in the broadest sense.

 davidroberts at

The Gulf Blog

"Michael Collins Dunn over at the indefatigable and ever-informative

puts forward an

focusing on what he sees to be some level of distortion of coverage of the Yemani conflict. "

 davidroberts at

The Gulf Blog

"What's amazing about this blog is not just the range of subjects covered but the clear expertise of the blogger in discussing them."

 John T., commenting on

"Time Out for Something Completely Different: Punic and Berber Influences on Etruscan?"

"Michael Collins Dunn, editor of the prestigious

, wrote an interesting '

' on the Berriane violence at his

. It is a strong piece, but imperfect (as all things are) . . .

 kal,

Middle East JournalMiddle East Institute Editors Blog
Got some ideas about economics, policy, science, art or whatever, and you can write? Let us know here , we're looking for contributors!
Organizations are invited to join in at the annual Community Non-Profit Day at Southgate Mall on Saturday, April 2. Exhibitors are provided a booth space to fundraise and connect with the community to raise awareness for their organization  free of charge. Past exhibitors have ranged from Girl Scouts selling their famous cookies, to Big Sky Thunderbirds displaying intricate model planes, to Animal Wonders sharing knowledge of exotic animals and insects.

Applications are available at shopsouthgate.com/event/community-non-profit-day/ or at facebook.com/southgate.mall. The deadline to apply is March 23. For more information, email lauren@shopsouthgate.com.

***

An AARP Smart Driver Safety Course is being offered on Friday, March 11, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Providence St. Patrick Hospital, 500 W. Broadway, Conference Room 2. There are no tests or exams to be completed. The course is sponsored by AARP and the cost is $15 for AARP members and $20 for non-AARP members. Call 543-7184 to register.

***

Missoula IHOP, 3700 N. Reserve St., will offer guests a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes on National Pancake Day, Tuesday, March 8. This family-friendly tradition aims to raise needed funds and awareness for Shodair Childrens Hospital, the only Childrens Miracle Network Hospital in Montana. For every short stack of buttermilk pancakes served on National Pancake Day, IHOP guests are invited to make a voluntary donation to Shodair Childrens Hospital.

Representatives from Shodair along with Ms. Montana Danielle Wiseman and Miss Montanas Outstanding Teen Katie Orr of Missoula will be available on site from 7 to 8 a.m.

***

The Bitterroot Chapter, Preceptor Sigma, of Beta Sigma Phi will be holding its annual Tulip Flower Sale beginning at 10 a.m. on Good Friday, March 25. The proceeds this year will be donated to the CASA program here in Ravalli County. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. These advocates are volunteers who support children that may be displaced from their homes or in foster care and they follow them through the court system.

The tulips will sell for $8 per bunch (10) and can be purchased from members in front of Ravalli County Bank and Kmart and walking members on Main Street. Flowers may also be purchased in Hamilton at Parker's Cannery Warehouse, 307 Highway 93 N.

***

The Brain Injury Alliance of Montana is hosting the third annual Bowl for Brain Strong Fun(!) Raiser on Saturday, April 2, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Five Valleys Bowling. The day includes bowling, a silent auction, lunch. A participation sponsorship is $250 for a team of six and includes shoe rental, lunch and soft drinks for the team, listing in the event program and on the Brain Injury Alliance of Montana Website and a team photo taken at the event. The funds raised from this event will support awareness and prevention of brain injury through the BIAMT.

For more information on how you can sign up for the Bowl for Brain Strong Fun! Raiser, call 541-6442 or email infobiamt.org.
Davin Athman texted his wife Sunday morning, poking fun that she was stuck in church while he was out pheasant hunting with their son, Keenan.

"You're in church, and I'm praying to the pheasant and McDonald's coffee gods!" he said he texted her.

Keenan, 14, and his dad headed to Rooster Ridge Pheasant Club in western Missoula on Sunday morning to participate in a youth hunt organized by Pheasants Forever.

"We're an outdoor family. Hunting is part of our life," Davin said. "When they're old enough, we need to give them all the opportunities we can find.

"Hunting is something that is precious. This gives these kids an opportunity to hunt whenever they can."

Keenan had hunted waterfowl before, but Sunday was his first time pheasant hunting. He was careful during his guided trek in the fields, hesitating to shoot if the conditions weren't right or if Pheasants Forever Montana state representative Dan Bailey's dogs sprinted after the bird.

The Missoula Trap & Skeet Club hosted two clinics in February, teaching kids basic gun safety and handling and what to expect when hunting. Sunday's hunt was the culmination of that training. Fourteen kids ages 10 to 17 signed up for the hunt.

"They're not just coming out here brand new," said John Cuddy, youth coordinator for Pheasants Forever's Five Valleys chapter.

The griffons, German shorthaired pointers and Labradors were amped up, running around and through the legs of the crowd of youth hunters and their parents. Bailey said his two griffons may have been a little too excited Sunday after not hunting for awhile. They got in the way a few times, chasing after a low-flying bird  meaning Keenan and 13-year-old Abby Riska couldn't shoot out of concern for the safety of the dog.

Having the griffons lead the way was a benefit, though. It slowed everything down as the pair of dogs pointed toward a bird, closing in on the brush and giving Keenan and Abby time to quietly inch closer.

"This gives 'em more of an opportunity to get ready, get their feet planted, get ready to shoot," Bailey said.

***

Sunday's event feeds into one of Pheasants Forever's initiatives: "No Child Left Indoors."

"The number of kids hunting and buying licenses and getting outdoors is going way down," Bailey said. "More and more kids are focusing on computers and playing video games and not getting outside."

Drops in hunting license sales and memberships in organizations like Pheasants Forever presents a problem for the future of hunting in Montana and habitat conservation, he said.

"In the future, if we don't have as many people hunting, out buying hunting licenses ... then we won't have folks caring about this," he said.

Mike Riska's family is a hunting family. His daughter, Abby, took to the fields Sunday to try nabbing her first pheasant. Mike said he's been pheasant hunting since 1979; Abby started last year.

"I've just always been interested," Abby said, traipsing up a hill behind Bailey and Keenan. "My dad always hunted when I was little and I just liked hanging out. I just started thinking about hunting and everyone at school was talking about how they were going to hunt, so I thought it would be fun."

She shot a couple of grouse last year, as well as an antelope. The pheasants on Sunday were smaller than what she expected, she said as she came back from shooting at and missing a bird. But Mike pointed out that at least they flush, rather than running the hunter ragged through the brush.

"The more you can put them in a controlled environment and make sure it's as safe as possible for the kids and the dogs and us, the better," Bailey said. "Pheasants Forever focuses a lot on getting kids outdoors hunting."

Montana's pheasant season ran from October through Jan. 1 last year, which is why the kids were hunting at Rooster Ridge, a pheasant preserve, this weekend. The guides put out 36 birds, about two to three per child  if they shot them.

"The preference is to hunt wild birds during hunting season, but that can be challenging at times, so a preserve is a good way to get the kids out, familiar with the birds, familiar around dogs, familiar around guns so when they get the opportunity to hunt wild birds during pheasant season, they're comfortable and safe," Bailey sad.
Many years ago, a friend in the mining industry told me one of the inconvenient truths about mining. Namely, that much of minings economic activity resulted not from actually pulling resources from the ground, but from pulling dollars from speculators on the stock market. Not to put too fine a point on it, but with the majority shareholder purchase of the proposed Black Butte Copper Project by Australian mining firm Sandfire Resources, theres plenty of talk about speculative benefits, and a lot less about what it might really mean to White Sulphur Springs and the headwaters of Montanas famed Smith River.

Its not hard to recall how the Black Butte project was initially pitched to the community and surrounding residents. Exploratory drilling showed a high-grade copper deposit that would be extracted via underground mining with a limited mine life of 11-14 years and small surface footprint. Tailings and waste rock would be stuffed back into the hole and the risk of acid mine drainage to the Smiths headwaters would be virtually nonexistent.

But then Sandfire stepped in and the stock market speculation began. Early this year, the plans began to change and suddenly there were more ore body discoveries that promised a much larger mining district with a projected life of 50 years or more, and the flash of all those potential dollars began to blind the eyes of White Sulphurs commerce boosters to just what that might actually mean to the long-term future of their environment, social structure and way of life.

Its no secret that Montanas history is rife with fast-talking promoters promising endless wealth and well-being for any number of mining proposals. Its also no secret that every mining project that has ever come to fruition has broken any and all promises of environmental protection. The bust always follows the boom and treatment of subsequent pollution often winds up being required in perpetuity  which means forever after the mining companies are gone, collapsed into bankruptcy or have simply walked away from the resulting disasters, leaving taxpayers to foot the cleanup bill.

Of course, theres the Berkeley Pit, the Anaconda Smelter, the Clark Fork Superfund site (the largest in the nation), Zortmann-Landusky, Golden Sunlight and hundreds of smaller mine sites that continue to require pollution treatment long after the glimmer of gold or copper is gone but the tailings, water pollution and surface disturbance remain. And that says nothing about the hundreds of millions that will be required to eventually address the pollution at Colstrip. As longtime Hi-Line legislator Francis Bardanouve often told his colleagues during floor debates on mining: They got the gold and we got the shaft.

Late last week, Sandfire Resources CEO Karl Simich assured Montanans that modern, environmentally responsible mining would be a boon to the economy while protecting the Smith River. But closely parsing Simichs words leaves plenty of room for doubt. Take this line, for instance: Were very serious about it and were obviously very concerned along with everyone else that it has a positive contribution to the environment, to White Sulphur Springs and Montana.

But then Simich slipped in a different line while explaining that we are all normal people living in normal households around the globe and wherever we may come from we want to ensure that the impact is minimalized.

Theres a big difference between making a positive contribution to the environment and ensuring the impact is minimalized. Those listening to or reading his words would do well to note that difference and perhaps ask Simich if he can point to even one mine, anywhere, that has made a positive contribution to the environment.

Mix that in with Simichs pitch for the much larger mining district in which he promises to look at other opportunities and look at being more proactive, and it ought to give area residents and Smith River lovers a bad case of the willies.

The Montana Environmental Information Centers Derf Johnson hit the nail on the head when he told reporters, theyre selling Montanans a small footprint, underground mine with a relatively minor impact, when in reality what theyre telling investors is this is a much larger project that will create an industrialized zone.

Time for White Sulphurs mine boosters to take heed of Francis Bardanouves sage advice and wake up about who gets the gold, who gets the shaft and who, at this point in the promotional schtick, is getting the old and well-known snow job.
Professor Steve Running recently penned an opinion piece in the Missoulian (March 1) in which he asked readers to sign petitions to place proposed Initiative 180 on the ballot. He began with a lengthy discussion of something he knows a great deal about  climate change - and ended with a call to support I-180, something he clearly knows little about. It was disappointing to see a respected voice on climate change advocate a rewrite of Montana law when the proposed rewrite is not only unreasonable, but would have a profound adverse impact on NorthWesterns electric customers.

I-180 is a poorly conceived attempt to rewrite the 2005 Renewable Power Production and Rural Economic Development Act. That legislation, championed by then-state Sen. Jon Tester, created the states renewable portfolio standard. It effectively applies to only two utilities in Montana: NorthWestern Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. It required them to have a generation resource portfolio with at least a 15 percent renewable energy component by 2015. Of critical importance, Testers legislation had a cost cap. If renewable energy developers demanded too high a price for their power, the two utilities did not have to buy it to meet the 15 percent statutory mandate.

NorthWestern Energy already relies on renewable resources to meet the majority of its customers energy needs. All told, NorthWestern owns, or has under contract, 237 megawatts of wind generation resources and 479 megawatts of hydroelectric generation resources, about two thirds of its total generating capacity. With its dams, NorthWestern will meets its customers needs with an energy mix which is about 44 percent hydro, 13 percent wind and 43 percent fossil fuel.

The authors of I-180 have a huge trick up their sleeve. Under the language of the proposed initiative, NorthWesterns recently purchased 442 megawatts of hydroelectric generation cannot be counted towards meeting the proposed renewable mandate in the initiative until NorthWestern achieves an 80 percent renewable energy portfolio.

For a generation resource to count as an eligible renewable resource under the 2005 act, it had to be constructed after Jan. 1, 2005. In their proposed rewrite of the act, the authors of I-180 left that provision intact so that NorthWesterns recently acquired hydro facilities could not be counted in meeting the 50 percent renewable mandate for 2030.

Because I-180 does not allow the use of the dams to meet the proposed standards until it has achieved an 80 percent renewable portfolio, NorthWestern would have to acquire significant additional power that it does not need to serve customers to meet a 2030 standard it currently exceeds. For example, I-180 would establish a 37 percent renewable standard for year 2024. To meet that standard in eight years, without counting its hydro facilities, NorthWestern would have to acquire the generating capacity of more than three Judith Gap wind farms, at a total cost in excess of $1 billion.

The proposed initiative also repeals the cost cap which was an integral part of the 2005 legislation. Tester knew a cost cap was essential to protect MDU, NorthWestern and their customers. And, because I-180 only applies to about 65 percent of the electric customers in Montana, the burden would be even more unreasonable.

The supporters of I-180 will likely claim they have invented a new cost cap  a 2 percent limit on the rate increases that NorthWestern can seek. That isnt a cost cap. That is a limit on cost recovery. The supporters of I-180 are unrealistically contending that the state can in one breath impose hundreds of millions of dollars in costs upon NorthWestern, and in the next breath refuse to allow it to recover those state-imposed costs in rates.

I-180 isnt really about climate change. It is political theater. It is not only a bad idea, but a discredit to Montana.
It was troubling to read that the University of Montana's Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program is slated to lose nearly 16 percent of its budget. Not identified by UM President Royce Engstrom in November as a program challenged by enrollment and subject to reduction, rather, the thriving WGSS was later commended by him in a memo shared with faculty.

Keila Spzaller's reporting (Missoulian, Feb. 29) captured the eloquence of two WGSS students' voices in describing the importance of this program, not only for their education, but for our society. This sentiment is reinforced on UM's website: "Become a politician, activist, entrepreneur, educator, artist, historian, journalist, & much more" (www.umt.edu/study/womens-gender-and-sexuality-studies).

Seguing from the morning paper to a Y treadmill and new book from the Hellgate High School library: "The Republic of Imagination," I was reminded of Spzaller's article. Azar Nafisi (New York Times bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran") writes: "I object to the notion that passion and imagination are superfluous, that the humanities have no practical or pragmatic use or relevance and should thus be subservient to other, more "useful" fields. ... If it is true that in a democracy, imagination and ideas are secondary, a sort of luxury, then what is the purpose of life in such a society?"

What indeed? I urge UM administration to reconsider the proposed budget cut to the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.

Thank you.

Karen Buley,

Missoula
NOXON  One of two major mining projects proposed for the northwest corner of Montana will be explained at public meetings in Noxon, Thompson Falls and Libby this week.

Hecla Mining Co. has scheduled town hall meetings to go over its plans for the proposed Rock Creek Mine in the Cabinet Mountains northeast of Noxon.

Hecla says there are 2 billion pounds of copper and 229 million ounces of silver available there, and that the mine would employ more than 300 people and operate for 30 to 40 years.

Sanders County, where the mine would operate on 1,550 acres owned by Hecla, and nearby Lincoln County, have typically had the highest unemployment rates in Montana for several years.

In the most recent figures, from December, the unemployment rate in the two counties was more than double the statewide average of 4.3 percent. In Sanders County it was 9.6 percent, and in Lincoln County it was 10.4 percent.

Environmental groups have argued the proposed Rock Creek Mine, and another project proposed for nearby, the Montanore Mine, threaten the habitat of a remote population of grizzly bears and will drain groundwater supplies for local streams and rivers.

The U.S. Forest Service issued a supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed Rock Creek Mine last month, starting a 45-day comment period. Earlier, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality gave conditional approval to the Montanore project.

Hecla took over Revett Mining Company last year and closed Revetts Troy Mine with an eye on opening the larger Rock Creek Mine project.

Hecla is the fourth company to own the Rock Creek project, and said the town halls in Noxon, Thompson Falls and Libby are intended to re-acquaint local residents with details of the proposal.
A Column by John Sinclair Greetings from St Johns Hospital on the eastside of Detroit where Ive been held for the past two weeks while t...
(APPLAUSE)

In 1963, and an important day for me, I went to the march on Washington led by Dr. King for jobs and freedom. Dr. King has been an important inspiration for me. In this campaign, if you go toberniesanders.com and read our position on criminal justice, it is I believe the strongest position of any candidate. What it says among other things, 51 percent of African-American kids today are unemployed  you know were going to do? Were going to provide education and jobs for those kids, not jails or incarceration. COOPER: In a speech about policing, the FBI director borrowed a phrase from Avenue Q saying, everybody is a little racist. So on a personal front, what racial blind spots do you have?

CLINTON: Let me go answer Mr. Mcghees question because I think its a profound one.

I think the most important that happened to me was a combination of my church and youth minister when I was a teenager, insisting that we go in to inner-city Chicago because I lived in a suburb and have exchanges with kids in black and hispanic churches. It was also important for me to be a baby-sitter for the children of migrant workers and to learn more about their lives, and to hear Dr. King speak in Chicago when I was about 14 years old. That got me thinking about what I needed to do to try to fulfill my faith.

When I was in law school, I had the opportunity to mead a visionary woman, named Mary Right Adelman, who worked with Dr. King who was the first African-American woman who passed the Mississippi bar. I asked her for a job and she said she didnt have any money. I was working my way through law school and she said if I could get a job and get myself paid, she would give me a job. So I got law students a Civil Rights Research Council Grant.

The first thing she did was send me to look at South Carolina, to investigate juveniles being sent to adult jails. The second thing she did was to send me to Alabama to investigate segregated academies. So from that moment until today, I am so grateful for my experiences as a very young woman driven by my church and my experiences working for the Childrens Defense Fund which have given me some insight and have lit a fire inside me to do everything I can to address systemic racism.

LEMON: I want to ask both of you this question. I appreciate you responding to that question, but I want to ask both of you again. In a speech about policing, the FBI director James Comey borrowed a phrase saying, everyone is a little bit racist. What racial blind spot do you have? Secretary, you first.CLINTON: Well, Don, if I could, I think being a white person in the United States of America, I know that I have never had the experience that so many people, the people in this audience have had. And I think its incumbent upon me and what I have been trying to talk about during this campaign is to urge white people to think about what it is like to have the talk with your kids, scared that your sons or daughters, even, could get in trouble for no good reason whatsoever like Sandra Bland and end up dead in a jail in Texas.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I have spent a lot of time with the mothers of African-American children who have lost them, Trayvon Martins mother. And Ive gotten to know them. Ive listened to them. And it has been incredibly humbling because I cant pretend to have the experience that you have had and others have had. But I will do everything that I possibly can to not only do the best to understand and to empathize, but to tear down the barriers of systemic racism that are in the criminal justice system, in the employment system, in the education and health care system.

That is what I will try to do to deal with what I know is the racism that still stalks our country.

(APPLAUSE)
Whether there was real potential for a constructive dialogue with Iran about Iraq during the Bush years has been much debated. Ryan C. Crocker, a veteran diplomat, said that while officials from the two nations had productive consultations over Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the prospects for a similar discussion on postwar Iraq were greatly diminished after President George W. Bush described Iran as a member of the axis of evil in his January 2002 State of the Union address.

The chance for a serious dialogue that might actually have led somewhere pretty much ended with axis of evil,  said Mr. Crocker, who served as an American envoy to Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the region.

But Mr. Khalilzad was eager to see if the United States could elicit cooperation from Iran before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the White House authorized him to meet with Mr. Zarif.

Accompanied by Mr. Crocker, Mr. Khalilzad informed Mr. Zarif that the Bush administration wanted to establish a democratic government in Baghdad that would be at peace with its neighbors  a formulation that was intended to signal that the United States did not plan to expand its military operations into Iranian territory.

Mr. Zarif, however, had his own ideas on how postwar Iraq should be governed. He favored a quick handover to Iraqi exiles, argued that Iraqi security institutions should be rebuilt from the ground up, called for the extensive purging of former members of Husseins Baath Party and opposed an American occupation, Mr. Khalilzad wrote.

Image Zalmay Khalilzad Credit... Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

That approach, which appeared designed to magnify Irans influence inside Iraq, differed radically from Mr. Khalilzads strategy to form an interim Iraqi government that included Iraqis who had remained in the country during Husseins rule, and not just leaders in exile. Nor did Mr. Khalilzad favor sweeping purges of Baath Party members.
Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont faced off in a Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Mich., on Sunday night, and after finding some early agreement over the states mishandling of the water crisis there, the two clashed for the rest of the night on questions including campaign finance, gun control and the auto bailout.

Commentators and pundits shared the opinion that there were no campaign-altering moments, though Mr. Sanders, who was on the attack throughout, occasionally seemed to lose his cool and stumbled a bit when discussing race. Mrs. Clinton managed to stay on her game and stirred excitement by taking some shots at Donald J. Trump. In the end, Democrats were most satisfied that their candidates mustered more decorum than the Republicans.

I think Hillary Clinton got the better of it tonight. Counterpunched better in key moments. Sanders better on God, fracking and closing statements.  Dante Atkins, contributing editor to the liberal website Daily Kos

Clinton came prepared to the CNN debate and more than held her own, preventing Sanders from the clear victory he needs to change the trajectory of the race ahead of Michigans primary on Tuesday.  Alex Seitz-Wald, MSNBC political reporter
GAIOLE IN CHIANTI, Italy  Fences are rising. There is talk of a brutal and destructive insurgency, invasions and a slaughter that could include hundreds of thousands in the years ahead.

If that sounds something like a war, the battlefield is the prized vineyards of Chianti, Italys vaunted wine region in the heart of the rolling hills of Tuscany.

And the enemy? An exploding population of voracious wild boars and deer that savor the sugary grapes and the vines tender sprouts, but that are also part of the regions famed landscape, hunting traditions and cuisine.

Long allowed to thrive as part of that heritage, the wild ungulates, the group to which these species belong, are now four times as numerous in Tuscany as they are in other Italian regions. In Europe, only parts of Austria have more.
Today were announced the 15 projects and the 16 directors that will participate in the 2016 edition of the Cinefondation's Atelier. What follows are the news from the official site.



The Cinefondations Atelier has been created in 2005 to stimulate creative filmmaking and encourage the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. So far, out of 171 projects accompanied, 126 have been released in the theaters and 18 are currently in pre-production. For LAteliers 12th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected, from the new director to the well-known filmmaker.



The Cinefondations Atelier hosts its 12th edition this year and will invite to the Festival de Cannes 16 directors whose projects have been considered particularly promising. Together with their producers, they will be able to meet potential partners, a necessary step to finish their project and start the making of their film. LAtelier provides its participants access to international co-productions, thus accelerating the films completion.







Abou Aleila, Amin Sidi-Boumediene, Algeria

Animas, Jose Ortuno, Spain

La Cordillera, Santiago Mitre,Argentina

Daouds Winter, Koutaiba Al Janabi, Iraq

Death in Bed, David Volach, Israel

Femme Fatale, Kyoko Miyake, Japan

Iguana Tokyo, Kaan Mujdeci,Turkey

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, Mouly Surya, Indonesia

Memories and my Mother, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, India

My Favorite Fabric, Gaya Jiji, SyriaNi dieux ni maitres, Eric Cherriere, France

Sow The Wind, Danilo Caputo, Italy

Tantas Almas, Nicolas Rincon Gille, Colombia

The Boarding School, Rezan Yesilbas,Turkey

The Whole-Timers, Bibhusan Basnet and Pooja Gurung, Nepal







From May 13 to 19, LAtelier will arrange meetings with the directors for film industry professionals interested in investing in their projects. The Livre des Projets and the meeting request forms will be available online at the beginning of April. The professionals willing to meet the directors and their producers will then be able to request a meeting and consult online a selection of our directors previous works.



To check Le Livre des Projects go here for English, is a pdf file.




When Tara Walker Lyons was 12 years old, she ran through a dark alley of Augusta one night to knock on the door of a Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office deputy.

She had fled her home after suffering six years of sexual abuse by a relative, she said during testimony at a January hearing at the state capitol.

Now 27 years old, Lyons is speaking out to protect other children from sexual abuse.

Lyons wants Montana to follow in the footsteps of 26 other states that have passed a law supporting Erin's Law, the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Awareness Act. It provides federal funding to each state for sexual abuse prevention and education in the schools.

However, Lyons' efforts face some steep challenges in Montana because local school boards decide curriculum in Montana's 413 school districts.

Lyons has been crisscrossing the state and traveling from her home in Hamilton to Helena to testify about the need to get sexual assault prevention education into schools.

Unfortunately, Lyons' story is far too common in Montana and the United States.

In 2008-2009, the Montana Child and Family Services Division received 1,406 reports of child sexual abuse, according to the Montana Attorney General's office website. In 2009, 347 rapes were reported, and over half of the rape victims (188) were children between the ages of 3 and 17, it reports.

Nationally, one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 71 percent of these children were assaulted by someone they were acquainted with or knew by sight and 10 percent were assaulted by a family member.

Speaking out

"I just started coming out with my story this past year," Lyons said after testifying before the Education and Local Government Interim Committee.

So far, she is finding no one else in Montana "advocating for sex abuse prevention" education in the schools, she said.

When the abuse started, Lyons went from being a good student to doing poorly, she said. She suffered from anxiety and was constantly biting her nails.

As an adult, she turned to alcohol for solace, she said. Two years ago she was charged with a DUI and went for inpatient treatment at the Montana Chemical Dependency Center.

"That was the first time I got professional treatment," she said. "I had felt so much shame" about what had happened.

Like other victims, she blamed herself, she said.

After therapy and treatment, she began speaking out publicly as part of the Department of Corrections' Victim Impact Panel, telling her story at various prison boot camps and prerelease centers.

Since speaking up, she's been approached by survivors of all ages, she said. "The most excruciating thing for me to ever hear is that they have never told anyone before."

It's estimated that only 30 percent of sexual assault victims disclose the abuse, she said.

Lyons was never taught about "unsafe touch," she testified. "Had I known what a mandated reporter was, I would have known that I could go to a teacher or counselor about what was happening to me in the middle of the night. Instead, it took six years for me to go to police directly. I had told my mother repeatedly, I told my friends, my friends even told their parents. But the abuse continued."

Under Erin's Law there is now federal money available "to bring Montana up to speed regarding sexual abuse prevention education," she told the interim committee.

Lyons also testified before the Health and Physical Education Negotiated Rulemaking Committee in late January, which is reviewing revised health and physical education content standards for K-12 students. She told the committee that "body safety information is missing" from the standards.

"It's almost as if we are unintentionally keeping our kids in the dark, and we are too afraid to do something about it," she said.

Tara's challenge

Doing something about it faces a lot of challenges.

Montana's constitution requires that curriculum be done at the local level, said state Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe, D-Great Falls.

"We have such a strong local-control environment in our state," she said, "where we really believe in local school boards in terms of establishing the specific curricula. The state creates broad standards, but it's up to the local school district to come up with a curriculum."

"That's Tara's challenge," said Moe. "Can Tara go to every single local school board and tell her story?"

As a legislator, Moe has heard heart-wrenching stories of parents who have lost their children to suicide as well as hearing from victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Parents and victims are asking "public schools to do things about issues that were never considered public school issues."

"The legislature is not empowered  nor do I think they should  to make those kind of mandates to the public schools," said Moe, who is an educator. "The place for the kind of curriculum that she (Tara) is recommending  is at the local level."

"I'm a supporter of parents' rights," added Moe. Parents want to be in charge of sex education. "We want our kindergarten kids to remain innocent ... but in the absence of any kind of intervention or education on that (topic) by the schools, we are accepting the fact that one out of four girls and one out of six boys (will be victims)  and that there is nothing we can do about that.

"The parent can deliver that same instruction, but it would not be Tara's parent, would it?" said Moe.

Moe has advised Lyons to speak at the statewide teachers conference and the school board association annual meeting. Lyons is also trying to speak at the Montana superintendents conference.

"Tara's story is so compelling," she said. "And the facts that go beyond Tara's story are even more compelling."

School districts need to decide if they're giving their students the tools they need to keep them safe, she said.

Moe also recommends that teacher preparation and continuing education standards could make teachers more aware to watch for signs or side effects of sexual abuse that are displayed by children in their classrooms.

"There are certain things  that are telling about elementary children who are suffering abuse."

"As an overall comment, I admire her courage so much," Moe said of Lyons. "Her story is one that should be listened to.

"There is a place for those discussions to occur. In the past, we've been concerned we want our children to keep their innocence ... but in doing that we also render them vulnerable.

"We're hearing stories from victims of sexual assault  not just Tara  that require a response from society."

To learn more visit youtu.be/dW8JpnlsJWQ or Lyons' Facebook page, Defending Innocence Project.
DARBY  For the second time in 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 at 6 p.m. in the high school library to talk about a plan to host UM Professor Samir Bitar on Wednesday.

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.
MISSOULA  Oscar winner and University of Montana alum J.K. Simmons will give the 2016 commencement address in Missoula.

On graduation day, May 14, UM will honor both Simmons and former U.S. Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas with honorary doctorates, according to a news release from University Relations.

"It's our honor to reward two such remarkable individuals," UM President Royce Engstrom said in a statement. "Both have risen to rarefied heights in their respective careers, and both have contributed a great deal to the University of Montana."

The last three years, UM has brought a high-profile Democrat to give its commencement address. Ambassador and former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus spoke last year; Gov. Steve Bullock gave the address in 2014; and Jim Messina, architect of President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, spoke in 2013.

"If you look at the past decade of our commencement speakers, you will see an array of people who have achieved great success in life and in their careers," Peggy Kuhr, vice president of integrated communications at UM, wrote in an email.

"Some are UM alumni and some are not. Their achievements are in the worlds of business, politics, education, government service and journalism. With J.K. Simmons as UM's commencement speaker this May, our graduating students and their families will hear from someone who has much to share about the importance of the arts, of family and of giving back to your community."

In 2015, Simmons won an Oscar for best supporting actor and a Golden Globe Award for his role in "Whiplash." He will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

"The family of Jonathan Kimble (J.K.) Simmons has many ties to Missoula," the news release stated. "His father, Don, was a UM music professor and music department chair for years, and his mother, Pat, was active with many community organizations."

Thomas, who had a career as a wildlife research biologist, will receive an honorary doctorate of science.

According to the news release, K. Norman Johnson, a university distinguished professor at Oregon State University, wrote the following in Ward's nomination letter: "Rarely has a scientist risen to such high levels of policy making. Rarely has a scientist been so completely trusted by a president."

President Bill Clinton named Ward chief of the Forest Service in 1993.

"Thomas went to serve as the endowed Boone and Crocket Professor of Wildlife Conservation at UM from 1996 to 2005," the news release stated. "He mentored graduate students and mesmerized students in his undergraduate classes with the real story of how conservation happened in North America from the perspective of someone who was there for many of the issues of the last half of the 20th century."

In his career, Thomas produced some 600 publications, according to UM. He is retired and writing books from his home in Florence.
Hockey took a backseat to something more important between the first and second periods of Sunday's Butte Cobras game at the Butte Community Ice Center.

The team invited the family of Dr. Peter Sorini to center ice, and Stephanie Sorini was presented with a check for $10,000. Stephanie Sorini is the wife of Dr. Sorini, who died of brain cancer on Feb. 8 at the age of 56.

The money will go to the Believe Sorini Strong Foundation.

"(Cobras owner) Michael Burks came to our home to visit with us and said he wanted this season to be for Peter Sorini," Stephanie recalled. "I was just so honored that he would do this.

"Pete had an opportunity to work with some of these guys through the chamber of commerce, through their color run and events that the kids volunteered for."

The Cobras had a similar campaign last season  their inaugural season  with money going to Mariah's Challenge. Burks knew that he wanted to do something similar this season. Involving the Sorini Family turned out to be a pretty easy decision.

"Dr. Peter Sorini was our team doctor last year, and we found out that he got brain cancer, so this (past) offseason I knew we were going to do a third jersey for some organization like we did for Mariah's last year," Burks said. "One of the things that really touched my heart was when I drove drive down the street in their neighborhood. There were little signs. Everybody in the neighborhood had signs in the grass supporting Dr. Sorini. Right there it just made me believe that this whole community was going to rally together."

The Cobras' third jersey came courtesy of Ryan and Cristin Nielsen. They were the green Irish ones worn by the Cobras during their home games on Sundays. "Nielsen Property Management" was displayed across the back.

The Sorini family was overwhelmed with love and support from friends and Butte residents when word got out that Dr. Sorini had cancer. The family suddenly had thousands of people in its corner, showing support and generosity with each day. It hasn't stopped.

"We recently set up the foundation because of the all of the kindness and generous people of the Butte community and around the world," Stephanie Sorini said. "People wanted to do something more, so we set up this foundation so we could pay it forward to the community in southwestern Montana. What we've chosen to start with is scholarships for Butte High, Butte Central and Anaconda high schools so we can send kids off to college and try to make their lives a little easier.

"Through the foundation we also want to help other families undergoing medical treatment to make their lives a little bit easier and take that burden off of them in some small way."

The show of support, coupled with the strength of the Sorini family, confirmed to Burks and Nielsen that they had made the right move.

Fans were able to bid on the jerseys through an online auction. All of the jerseys sold  at $250 each  with the money going to the foundation. The winning bidders received their jerseys at the conclusion of Sunday's game.

The jersey auctions brought in $7,500. The Cobras rounded it off by adding another $2,500. That doesn't include the $2,000 Nielsen and his wife Cristin pitched in for the jerseys. The Nielsens presented the check to Stephanie Sorini. Daughters Bella, Gia and Marietta stood alongside their mother.

"We wanted to be a part of the Butte Cobras this year," Ryan Nielsen said. "We were excited to be asked and to be a part of this.

"The Sorini family in Butte and the Anaconda area is just an amazing family. There is no better family to give it to than the Sorinis, and we're excited to see the scholarships and Pete's legacy continue on."

"It was the whole community that has been so good to our family throughout this whole journey, and Michael Burks and the Cobras stepped up to the plate early on and gave their support," Stephanie Sorini added. "They sent incredible well-wishes to our family. This event that they did for us was pretty overwhelming."

Anyone wishing to donate to the foundation can do so at Believe Sorini Strong Foundation, P.O. Box 3417, Butte, Montana 59702.
A former state doctor who is facing an indefinite suspension of his medical license for alleged illegal drug use was arrested in Butte Friday night on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and possession of dangerous drugs.

Mark Jay Catalanello was a staff physician at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs and served as the medical director at the Montana Chemical Dependency Center in Butte until October, when the Montana Board of Medical Examiners temporarily suspended his medical license amid accusations that he was using illegal drugs.

The state placed Catalanello on paid administrative leave following his Sept. 29 suspension and his last day working for the state was Oct. 19, 2015.

Catalanello has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and has had his medical license suspended in Montana and revoked in California following felony drug arrests in 2001 and 2005.

An MTFP investigation into Catalanello that began more than a year ago uncovered a lengthy record of drug and alcohol abuse, felony arrests, failed rehabilitation, refusals to participate in mandated drug and alcohol screenings, and suspended and revoked medical licenses in Montana and California.

Catalanello was taken into police custody early Friday evening after he allegedly yelled and screamed at police as well as an owner and bartender at the IT Club in Rocker. Butte-Silver Bow Undersheriff George Skuletich told The Montana Standard on Monday that Catalanello was reportedly belligerent, angry and made vulgar comments.

Police had earlier responded to the Living Water Coffee Co. in Rocker, where an employee reported that Catalanello yelled and screamed at her as he waited in the drive-through. His black 2016 Dodge Ram pickup truck was located at the nearby IT Club where he was found inside.

He was very irate, Skuletich said.

Catalanello may appear at an initial appearance in Butte district court as early as Tuesday. He faces two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of criminal possession of pot, all misdemeanors. He was released from the county jail late Saturday afternoon on $955 bond.

Last month Catalanello failed to show up at a trial before a Montana Department of Labor hearings examiner to defend himself against allegations leveled in October that he relapsed in violation of the board-imposed terms that allowed him to get his medical license back following a 2005 suspension.

An adjudication panel of the Montana Board of Medical Examiners is expected to take up Catalanellos case at a meeting in Helena on March 11. The panel is expected to consider a recommendation that Catalanellos medical license be suspended indefinitely.
EAST HELENA  In front of a farm supply store in a town just five miles down the road from the state Capitol, Republican candidate for governor Greg Gianforte announced his running mate  Lesley Robinson.

The choice of location was just one of the ways Gianforte, a wealthy Bozeman tech entrepreneur, cast his running mate as an alternative to Gov. Steve Bullocks re-election campaign  the incumbent is focused on the sphere of Helena, Gianforte said, while Robinson is the voice of the states agricultural and rural communities.

For political insiders in Helena, East Helena may as well be eastern Montana, he said. Its flyover country. These insiders in Helena have spent their entire working careers inside the bubble of government, and they are out of touch.

East Helena is a community that is fiercely proud of its identity. The town was the site of an ASARCO smelter that operated from the late 1880s until 2001 and opens into agriculture land to the north and east.

Gianforte emphasized Robinsons farming and ranching ties and reminded the crowd that agriculture is Montanas No. 1 industry.

Its time to call in the farm team, Gianforte said, and maybe with a little tech support as well.

Robinson, a fourth-generation Phillips County resident, serves as county commissioner and has run a ranch near Zortman with her husband, Jim, since 1985.

Her public policy experience includes leading several groups that advocate for ranchers, particularly those with leases to graze on public lands.

She is a former director of the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Beef Council. She also has worked with the Montana Public Lands Council and served as chairwoman of the Montana Association of Counties' Public Lands Committee, among a handful of local livestock organizations.

I think its vital that we have someone in leadership who understands rural issues, Robinson said.   I can assure you that rural Montana issues are being ignored.

Robinson said the state isnt listening to the rural counties that send money from natural resource extraction to Helena but cant pay for local infrastructure projects.

It doesn't get much more rural than Phillips County, with 4,253 residents living across 5,212 square miles. Robinson told the crowd its a place where the cattle outnumber the people and the Keystone pipeline should have crossed over from Canada.

She said over half the county is owned by the state or federal government and said those lands could be managed better, though she didnt advocate for the state taking over entirely.

I dont think that the deed should be changed to the state, Robinson said of how those federally owned lands should be managed. You can look at the state managing, helping to manage it. There definitely needs to be some improvements, but Im not sure how those are all going to pan out.

Robinson also echoed Gianfortes call for state department heads to come from industry. State agency leaders should be folks that have actually walked in the shoes of the people they serve.

Gianforte said he picked a woman as his running mate because she was the most qualified, not as a move to get more female votes.

In my career, Ive always focused on one thing, and that is capability, he said. The most important thing in any selection for leadership is the individuals ability to do the job.

He dismissed Robinson as being pegged as politically unknown, saying she may not be well-known in Helena, but shes known across the state.

Robinson currently represents 15 states as the western representative for the National Association of Counties, having led the group's Federal Lands Management committee.

According to a press release from the stock growers association, Robinson described keeping a watchful eye on federal policies and regulations as her top priority during an acceptance speech of the regional post in 2014.

She is active locally in the Bear Paw Development Corporation, Phillco Economic Council, Phillips Transit Authority and the Joint Powers Trust, as well as the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and she was appointed to the Montana Board of Dentistry by former Gov. Judy Martz. Robinson said shell serve out the rest of the year as county commissioner.

She said Monday she wants to build a bridge between local and state governments. State government has a habit of saying theyll come and get our input but actually not listening to what they think is right for our area.

In making the announcement, Gianforte took another swipe at Bullock over the role of lieutenant governor.

While others have looked at the role of lieutenant governor as merely a placeholder, I see Lesley as playing a vital role in our administration, he said.

At the end of last year, Bullocks lieutenant governor Angela McLean quit to become the director of American Indian and minority achievement and K-12 partnerships in the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

Emails between McLean and Bullocks staff show her initiatives had been reduced and there was frustration over McLeans role.

At the time, Bullock said: "This happens every day in businesses across the country, where the fit just isnt right. Angela is smart and ambitious, but seemed frustrated with the role of lieutenant governor, and that was disruptive to our work for Montana.

Bullocks new lieutenant governor and running mate Mike Cooney has worked in and around Montana politics for decades, most recently deputy commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry.

In response to Greg Gianforte naming Robinson as a running mate, Jason Pitt, spokesperson for the Montana Democratic Party, released a statement saying:

"Greg Gianforte and his running mate choice Lesley Robinson would undo Montana's progress. While Montana's economy is strong and getting stronger and we are rated as the most fiscally prudent state in the country, they are promising reckless tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and would turn our budget surplus into deficit. This approach has almost bankrupted states like Louisiana and Kansas and jeopardizes Montana's recent economic success."
While some Montanans horrified at marijuanas ubiquity in the state, and in todays culture, may be celebrating, we find the state Supreme Courts decision effectively gutting the voter-passed medical marijuana law regrettable.

We certainly do not advocate the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, as has been done in Washington and Colorado. We also believe the ranks of the states medical-marijuana patients may have been swollen by overprescribing doctors. But cannabis indisputably has medical application for sufferers of myriad diseases, including those struggling with many types of cancers. Thats why 22 states have decided to make the drug available legally for prescribed medical use, as did Montana voters a decade ago. The medical-marijuana measure garnered 62 percent of the vote.

The clear intent of the Legislatures bill, almost totally upheld by the Supreme Court, was to eviscerate the law and make it impossible for anyone to continue in business as a legal provider to correctly certified patients. Thats whats unfortunate. Obviously none or almost none of the states 442 providers will be able to stay in business with a maximum of three customers each. And neither will nearly all of the 13,000 holders of medical prescriptions for the drugs use be able to find legal sources to obtain it.

Pragmatically, if the people who really need the drug for medical reasons are now forced to the streets  a risky proposition at best considering the states marijuana possession laws are among the harshest in the nation  the trade becomes a drain on local and state resources rather than a revenue source. It enriches criminals, from local growers to cartel shippers. It multiplies challenges for drug-law enforcers already taxed with the scourge of meth and bracing for the onslaught of opioid issues other jurisdictions across the country have seen. And it criminalizes sick people.

Also, the courts action undermines the clear intent of the voting public, and therefore weakens the rule of law.

Perhaps the Legislature  and the Supreme Court  believe they have struck a valuable blow for the forces of rectitude in the culture wars. From here, it looks like a pyrrhic, and punitive, victory.
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 []
Vodacom has announced contract prices for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

The devices will launch in South Africa on 11 March 2016, and pre-orders and pre-registrations are available through network operators and retailers.

Those who pre-order or buy a Galaxy S7 before 20 March will receive a free Samsung Gear VR headset.

Vodacom is also offering an additional 2GB of data per month for 3 months, 6 months free access to music streaming service Deezer, and a wireless charger or D-Link Bluetooth speaker with its deals.

Galaxy S7, S7 Edge (32GB) Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 Edge Data Minutes/Airtime SMS Vodacom Smart S R599 R699 200MB 75 200 Vodacom Smart M R709 R809 300MB 120 300 Vodacom Smart L R829 R979 500MB 250 500 Vodacom Smart XL R899 R999 800MB 400 800 Vodacom Red Advantage R1,099 R1,169 1GB 700 Limitless Vodacom Red Premium R1,599 R1,669 2GB 1,200 Limitless Vodacom Red VIP R1,999 R2,069 5GB Limitless Limitless Vodacom uChoose Smart S R619 R719 200MB 75 200 Vodacom uChoose Smart M R739 R839 300MB 120 300 Vodacom uChoose Smart L R879 R979 500MB 250 500 Vodacom uChoose Smart XL R969 R999 800MB 400 800 Vodacom uChoose Flexi 200 R599 R699 0 R200 0 Vodacom uChoose Flexi 350 R739 R839 0 R350 0 Vodacom uChoose Flexi 500 R829 R929 0 R500 0 Vodacom uChoose Flexi 750 R899 R999 0 R750 0 All Vodacom deals include 2GB bonus data per month for 3 months, 6 months free Deezer, and a wireless charger or D-Link Bluetooth speaker. All deals include Samsung Gear VR until 20 March 2016.

Samsung has confirmed that SAs versions of the device will run on its Exynos 8 Octa 8890 processor, which has four 2.3GHz cores, and four 1.6GHz cores.

Currently, only prices for the 32GB models of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are available in South Africa. Pre-orders also only mention the 32GB models.

The key specifications of the devices are summarised in the table below.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S7 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Dimensions 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9mm 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm Weight 152g 157g Operating system Android 6.0 Marshmallow Android 6.0 Marshmallow Display 5.1 QHD (1,440 x 2,560) 5.5 QHD (1,440 x 2,560) Rear camera 12MP with f/1.7 lens 12MP with f/1.7 lens Front camera 5MP with f/1.7 lens 5MP with f/1.7 lens Storage, internal 32GB 32GB Storage, expandable miroSD up to 200GB miroSD up to 200GB RAM 4GB 4GB Processor 2.3GHz + 1.6GHz Exynos 8 Octa 8890 2.3GHz + 1.6GHz Exynos 8 Octa 8890 Battery 3,000mAh 3,600mAh Cellular data LTE, HSPA+ LTE, HSPA+ IP Rating IP68 IP68

More on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 pre-orders in South Africa  what people want to buy

Apple iPhone 6s Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge  drop tests reveal which is stronger

Samsung Galaxy S7  South African contract and cash prices

Samsung Galaxy S7 hands-on tested  it is beautiful
A way for you to stay up to date with the Peters family while they are in Mexico.
As owner of this blog, I bear no responsibility to what other contributors/bloggers may post. I encourage all to speak freely without indulging in libel or defamatory content. Anyone who feels offended by any posting can email me and I will remove the offending article if appropriate. Contact me at redbeansg@yahoo.com redbean
Andrew Rudd talked about the winery he wants to create on 57 acres in the hills above St. Helena, with its pond that is a mecca for birds and animals and its vineyard in a bowl-like area.

He hopes to keep the honor and tradition of Napa Valley going in this little piece of perfection, Rudd said.

But the narrow, winding driveway leading to the property isnt quite perfect. That proved the only point that gave the county Planning Commission pause on Wednesday as it discussed Rudds proposal.

After an hour-and-a-half, the commission unanimously approved the project known as 3646 SMR Vineyards Winery for production of up to 20,000 gallons a year and 84 visitors a week. The property is located at 3646 Spring Mountain Road.

Commissioner Anne Cottrell praised the look of the proposed winery, with its vertical wood siding, seam metal roofing and stone terraces.

It appears theyve made an effort to have the building blend in with the area, Cottrell said. It doesnt stick out.

Only the half-mile-long, common-access driveway generated significant discussion.

That driveway is 8 feet to 12 feet wide, as opposed to the county commercial standard of 18 feet with 1-foot shoulders. Short segments exceed the slope standard of 20 percent.

The winery sought  and wonan exception to county standards so it can reduce tree removal and grading on steep slopes. An improved version of the access road will be 12 feet at the narrowest and 20 feet at the widest, have a ribbed concrete surface on the steepest sections and have turnouts.

Resident Ginna Beharry said the project seems like another case of shoehorning in a winery where it doesnt belong.

This is not a safe road  you are putting at risk for life, limb and property, Beharry said.

Neighbor Robert Holuba wrote to the commission saying the half-mile-access driveway has no room for two cars to pass without one car pulling off the pavement. It has numerous blind bends.

But the countys Engineering Services Division and county Fire Department found that proposed road improvements will meet the goals of the countys road standards while preserving environmental features. They concluded the road can serve the anticipated 19 daily trips generated by the winery, as well as those for nearby homes and the Keenan Winery.

The expert opinions swayed the Planning Commission.

Remote wineries served by smaller, more challenging roads can alert their by-appointment-only visitors that vehicles of certain sizes arent recommended, Planning Commission Chairman Michael Basayne said.

I think its common sense and I think it is employed, he said.

Rudd told the commission his background. He attended school at UC Berkeley in the early 1970s and visited family friends in Calistoga who had friends with vineyards and wineries.

That together with the beauty of the valley, the weather and rural nature left a very strong impression on me, Rudd said. That remains with me today.

After a stint in academia and a career in the high-tech industry, he was ready to join Napa Countys wine world. At 3646 Spring Mountain Road in the Mayacamas Mountains along the western Napa Valley, he and his wife found their piece of heaven on earth.

Its a truly beautiful location, Rudd said. We appreciate it dearly. We have sufficient love of nature that we have no desire whatsoever to spoil it, but instead to care and nurture it.
The Napa Valley Unified School District has informed parents that they have until April to object to their childrens personal information being released by the state to those involved in a lawsuit over special education.

District officials also have told parents that NVUSD was not a party to the litigation, but was merely trying to inform them of a federal judges decision in February, which was modified just last week in response to the volume of objections filed by parents statewide.

We want to alert you to a statewide issue that has implications for your students personal data, including Social Security number, address, test scores, IEP (Individualized Education Plan) information and more, NVUSD reported to parents via automated phone messages and emails on Feb. 22.

The statewide issue stems from a court case between the California Department of Education and a parent group in Morgan Hill called the California Concerned Parents Association.

The association sued the state alleging widespread, systemic non-compliance by local education agencies with special education laws, NVUSD said to parents.

The plaintiffs persuaded U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller to initially order the state to turn over information and records for 10 million California students dating back to January 2008 to association attorneys for analysis.

Individual school districts like NVUSD were not ordered to release any student data.

NVUSD, however, sought to let parents know what had happened in the Morgan Hill case, and that they could file an objection with the court concerning their childs information being released by the state to the parents association.

Parents wishing to object were advised to complete and mail in a form provided on the California Department of Education website. The deadline is April 1.

Filing an objection does not guarantee that the court will comply with the request, NVUSD informed parents in a second message on Feb. 24.

We want to clarify on behalf of the State Department of Education that the form you complete and mail to the court does NOT obligate the court to allow you to opt out of the data release. It does tell the court that you object to the data release. We have no information about what the court may or may not do with those objections, the message read.

Many parents have expressed frustration over the news of the pending disclosure of their kids personal data.

This is absolutely ridiculous and wrong, Burt Polson wrote in an email to the Napa Valley Register. Why do I not have any automatic privacy, but have to opt-out of something like this?

Kimberly Axtell Schager posted on NVUSDs Facebook page: This needs to be fought. What happens when our childrens information is compromised.

In response to the number of objections filed with her court, Mueller modified her order on March 1 saying a key database maintained by the California Department of Education would not be released to the plaintiffs.

Instead, the state would maintain control of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). The agency will run searches for information requested by the plaintiffs.

Other portions of Muellers original order were left in place that could still result in the release of other information, including six years of student standardized testing, and records of special-education students.

The California Department of Education hailed the judges decision to change her ruling, saying in a March 4 news release: The court also reiterated that no student personally identifiable information may be released to the plaintiffs unless and until they demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that the method to be used to store the sensitive student data is secure. The parties are still litigating the extent of the disclosure of student data.

The state agency has fought the release of any data it oversees during the three-year court battle.

Back in the Napa Valley, school district officials say they have done what they can to help parents understand the situation.

Our interests are that our students data remain secure, and that parents and former students are aware of the court-ordered release and what that implies, so they can decide for themselves whether or not to file an objection with the court, said Elizabeth Emmett, NVUSDs director of communications and community engagement.

We will do what we can to help (the Department of Education) and the courts share information with California families, but we are not able to offer insight on the case or the ruling, she added.
Although lake water levels are low, outrage is high, and building, after the latest Bureau of Reclamation bid process fiasco. Reclamation announced that no successful bids were received in response to the latest Prospectus (the third failed bid process since 2006). Three California companies each bid on one area (Berryessa Point, Monticello Shores and Steele Canyon). All three bids were found to be "non-responsive." But Reclamation won't actually say what that really means.

Ten years ago thousands of people who loved Lake Berryessa spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, donated thousands of hours of effort, sent thousands of letters to the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of the Interior, and Congress. Some of us delivered more than 10,000 petition signatures to Washington, D.C., supporting a common sense, fiscally responsible plan simply described as "Preserve the Best, Improve the Rest."

But no one in power listened, and we finally lost the "Battle for Berryessa" -- resulting in the ghost lake we see now.

This major recreational destination, and its residential and business communities, have been severely damaged -- resources important to the state of California and Napa County, both from a social and financial perspective.

If the government could pay millions to demolish the lake resorts why cant they pay millions to construct new basic infrastructure like launch ramps, power, water, sewer facilities? Will they be allowed to reject reasonable bids just to continue interim contracts with minimal amenities"?

Congressman Mike Thompson got money during the economic crisis which was used to demolish the resorts. He should now get money to help restore them. How does $50 million sound?

It is again time to demand accountability from the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal government represented by Congressman Mike Thompson, the California State Government, and the Napa County supervisors.

They must make it right, but will only take action if we all demand it!

A new Save Lake Berryessa 2016 has begun. Check out the Facebook page at facebook.com/SaveLakeBerryessa2016.

Peter Kilkus

Napa
Napa's neighbor to the south is poised to make a terrible mistake that could ruin the Napa River for decades.

Vallejo's planning commission will vote in June on whether to approve a 65-year permit for a cement factory on the banks of the Napa River. The factory, being proposed by a company from Ireland called Ecocem/ORCEM, will import industrial waste from steel mills in Asia to be ground into cement on the banks of the Napa River. Huge ships -- some of the largest on the bay -- will offload the waste material and store it alongside mountains of powdered cement, gypsum and limestone at the river's edge.

These hazardous materials -- in open-air piles exposed to wind and rain -- will make their way into the Napa River.

How do we know this will happen? Just look at Ecocem's own corporate video on YouTube ("Ecocem -- the green cement") and you'll see its powdered product spilling from ships and trucks as it's moved about their facility in Europe. Or use Google to get a satellite view of Ecocem's factories in Ireland, France and the Netherlands and you'll see grim pictures of dust-covered facilities and mountains of dust exposed to the elements.

There is only one way to keep the Napa River free from the damage Vallejo's cement factory will cause. Vallejo's planning commission must hear from its neighbor to the north. Napa must remind Vallejo's politicians that the Napa River is not theirs to destroy.

Peter Brooks

Vallejo
Kentucky Traveler, out August 13  Preorder here

Bluegrass and Country Music icon RICKY SKAGGS has just about done it all over the course of his 50+ years in music. With hundreds of career accolades and countless life experiences under his belt, Skaggs certainly has a story to tell.

Now, for the first time, Skaggs is ready to tell the story of his life with the release of his personal autobiography,

"Kentucky Traveler" is an honest, deeply American story of the power of faith, family, and music from one of America's most beloved Bluegrass and Country artists.

Unlike other farm boys growing up in the small town of Cordell, Kentucky, Skaggs learned to play the mandolin at five years old. Sure, plenty of other mountain boys plucked guitars or fiddles, or learned the old songs their grandparents taught them. But few tried and fewer still mastered the mandolin. By the time he was six years old, Skaggs' talent was clear enough that his daddy knew he had to get that boy onstage. When Bluegrass master and mandolin virtuoso Bill Monroe rolled into a nearby small town, Ricky was there. As the crowd cheered, "Let little Ricky sing one!" so began a storied life in music.

With Monroe as a mentor and with a family who supported him at every turn, Skaggs joined the Clinch Mountain Boys band and became a professional musician at age fifteen. By twenty-one he was already considered a star in the Bluegrass world. Skaggs would eventually move away from his roots into the world of mainstream country musicand in doing so, became a country legend and a household name.

Despite the hit singles, gold records, and successful tours, Skaggs knew there was more to his mission. With a failed marriage and a sometimes strained relationship with his children, Skaggs had to make a choice. He would follow God's plan, and rededicate his life to Christ, to his family, and to the music that made him. He would carry the torch lit by his musical heroes Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, and Bill Monroe and, most important, live the life and play the music that would make his mom and dad proud. Telling the intimate stories of a successful career built on passion, drive, and faith, sharing tales of his influences, and fondly recalling the instruments that have shaped his sound over the years and the friendships that have shaped his life, Skaggs paints a unique insider look at the evolution of bluegrass.

In "Kentucky Traveler," the music legend who revived modern Bluegrass music, Ricky Skaggs, gives a warm, honest, one-of-a-kind memoir of decades in musicalong with the Ten Commandments of Bluegrass, as handed down by Skaggs' mentor Bill Monroe; the Essential Guide to Bedrock Country Songs, a lovingly compiled walk through the songs that have moved Skaggs the most throughout his life; Songs the Lord Taught Us, a primer on Skaggs' most essential Gospel songs; and a bevy of personal snapshots of his musical heroes. For readers of Johnny Cash's autobiography, lovers of "O Brother Where Art Thou," and fans of Country music and Bluegrass, "Kentucky Traveler" is a priceless look at America's most cherished and vibrant musical tradition through the eyes of someone who has lived it.

"Kentucky Traveler" is available for pre-order now at kentuckytravelerbook.com and will be available in retail stores nationwide upon its August 13 release.
(As delivered)

Good evening

And first of all, warmly welcome to you, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, its great to see you here again, to see you at NATO headquarters and to be able to meet with you.

Turkey is a strong and valued Ally and I think it is important that we are able to meet in times like this where we are facing a lot of challenges that we have to respond to in a unified and firm way.

And we discussed during our meeting the serious instability we face on the Alliances southern borders. Turkey is on the front line. And NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey.

Turkey is hosting more than two and a half million refugees. Bearing the brunt of the greatest refugee and migrant crisis since the Second World War in Europe.

And NATO is playing its part. We took swift decisions to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea.Our ships have been collecting information and conducting monitoring.

Over the week-end, we decided to step up our efforts and our support to assist international efforts to deal with the crisis.

We are expanding the area of activity into the territorial waters of Turkey and Greece, in close coordination with both Allies. So NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today.

We are expanding our cooperation with the EUs border agency Frontex. And we are expanding the numbers of ships in our deployment. So I welcome the contributions and the announcements by the United Kingdom and France.

I thank Turkey and you, Prime Minister, as well as Greece, for your efforts and commitment in implementing our decisions.

Our Maritime Command has also exchanged letters with Frontex.

This will allow us to exchange liaison officers and to share information in real time. So that Frontex, as well as Greece and Turkey, can take even more effective action.

This is a great example of how NATO and the EU can work together to address common challenges.

Our mission is clear. NATO ships are not in the Aegean Sea to stop or push back boats with migrants and refugees. NATO ships are there to help Turkish and Greek authorities, and Frontex, in their efforts to cut the lines of human trafficking and criminal networks.

Today, we also discussed the situation in Syria. NATO has decided to intensify intelligence, surveillance and monitoring along the Turkish-Syrian border.

This will complement the assurance measures for Turkey we decided late last year, including more AWACS presence and an increased naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean.

We also continue to augment Turkeys air defences with Patriots.

Despite reports of violations, the Syrian ceasefire seems to be largely holding.

This is the best possible basis for renewing efforts to reach a negotiated, peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria. But we remain concerned by the Russian build-up in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.

Russias military activity in the region has fuelled the humanitarian crisis and driven more people to Turkeys borders. It has also caused violations of NATO airspace.

So more than ever, it is important to see calm, de-escalation, and dialogue.

So Prime Minister, NATO stands with Turkey. And Turkey stands with NATO. And our security is indivisible.

So Ahmet, welcome.
Krin Gabbard is one of the finest stylists writing about jazz today, and Better Git It In Your Soul finds him at the top of his game. The writing is crisp, charming, and funny, a pleasure to read. The authors love of this immensely rich body of music comes through on every page. Thomas Brothers, author of Louis Armstrong: Master of ModernismOne of the reasons that the great musician Charles Mingus is not better known is that the raw complexity of his life and the scale and sweep of his work seem to demand a whole team of artists and scholars to fathom and explain his importance in several different arts. Finally, Krin Gabbardbiographer, musician, film scholar, and literary criticsteps in with a book worthy of this twentieth-century master, and one that will surprise even those familiar with his legacy. John Szwed, author of Billie Holiday: The Musician and the MythGabbard conveys the complexity of Minguss life and his changing representation in an engaging and accessible book. A fascinating and thought-provoking read, this book is a must for anyone interested in jazz. Tony Whyton, author of Beyond A Love Supreme and Jazz IconsCharles Mingus is one of the most importantand most mythologizedcomposers and performers in jazz history. Classically trained and of mixed race, he was an outspoken innovator as well as a bandleader, composer, producer, and record-label owner. His vivid autobiography, Beneath the Underdog, has done much to shape the image of Mingus as something of a wild man: idiosyncratic musical genius with a penchant for skirt-chasing and violent outbursts. But, as the autobiography reveals, he was also a hopeless romantic. After exploring the most important events in Minguss life, Krin Gabbard takes a careful look at Mingus as a writer as well as a composer and musician. He digs into how and why Mingus chose to do so much self-analysis, how he worked to craft his racial identity in a world that saw him simply as black, and how his mental and physical health problems shaped his career. Gabbard sets aside the myth-making and convincingly argues that Charles Mingus created a unique language of emotionsand not just in music. Capturing many essential moments in jazz history anew, Better Git It in Your Soul will fascinate anyone who cares about jazz, African American history, and the artists life.Hardcover, 336 pagesISBN: 9780520260375$34.95, 24.95Krin Gabbard retired after thirty-three years of teaching at Stony Brook University, and he now teaches in the jazz studies program at Columbia University. His previous books include Hotter than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture and Jammin at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema. He lives in New York City with his wife, Paula, and he is busy playing his trumpet and writing a memoir about his parents.
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

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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

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Turkey FM slams OSCE decision to send needs assessment mission to Armenia

Peskov reacts to Erdogan's words about Putin's softening on Ukraine negotiations

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

Explosions rock Ukraines Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia

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

MPs in Strasbourg, present threatening dangers: Armenia has powerful support in European Parliament

Years first snow falls in Armenias Shirak Province

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

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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

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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

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Armenian and Iranian Foreign Ministers meet in Yerevan in extended format

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A rare first edition of David Walker's 19th century anti-slavery book, "Appeal," owned and signed by W.E.B. Du Bois, has been obtained by Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, with a generous grant from the B.H. Breslauer Foundation and additional support from other individuals.

Written and published in 1829 in Boston by Walker, a self-educated African American merchant, "Appeal" is considered one of the most important documents in African American history. Its full title is "Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles, Together with A Preamble to the Colored Citizens of the World, But in Particular, and Very Expressly to Those of the United States of America."

Only half a dozen copies of early editions of "Appeal" are known to exist, and only two known first editions can be found in libraries, according to the Rose Library's curator of research Randall Burkett.

The first edition at Emory is stamped with Du Bois' ownership signature on the title page, and his holograph signature is on the front fly. The book also contains Du Bois' extensive marginal markings.

"One of the most compelling aspects of this work is that it addresses some of the questions that continue to challenge us today," says Rosemary Magee, director of the Rose Library.

Kevin Young, curator of literary collections and of the Rose Library's Danowski Poetry Library, echoed that sentiment in a comment to The New York Times. "The book is testament to a line of black protest and prophecy that stretches from Walker to Du Bois to #blacklivesmatter," he said. "Seeing it and the markings it's almost as if Du Bois's lines in the text make that literal."

In his autobiography, "Dusk of Dawn," Du Bois called Walker's "Appeal" "that tremendous indictment of slavery," recognizing its importance as the first "program of organized opposition to the action and attitude of the dominant white group."

According to the late American historian Herbert Aptheker, "Walker's 'Appeal' is the first sustained written assault upon slavery and racism to come from a black man in the United States." The publication was considered so radical and revolutionary in its call to arms that even abolitionists condemned it as inflammatory.

"The book itself is a landmark of political protest and eloquent articulation of the demand for freedom for people of African descent in the United States," says Pellom McDaniels III, curator of African American Collections in the Rose Library. "It is as important for African American political and social history as Thomas Paine's 'Rights of Man'; it is a demand for freedom and a call to arms."

Walker used networks of African Americans, including black seamen to get copies into the hands of Southern slaves, where it could be read aloud and in secret to small groups, according to McDaniels. He suggests that state and local Southern governments were horrified by the "Appeal" and reacted by arresting and even lynching enslaved and free blacks suspected of owning the publication. To prevent the possibility of insurrection, all found copies were destroyed, he says.

Walker's "Appeal" is among the earliest African American-authored books in the Rose Library's holdings, and the oldest example in the library's collection of material published by African Americans, an area Emory has pioneered. These materials are open to allincluding students, faculty and visiting scholars, and are a cornerstone of research and teaching programs.

The Rose Library also holds first editions of Phillis Wheatley's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" (1773), J.A.U. Gronniosaw's "A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, An African Prince" (1790), and Benjamin Banneker's "Almanac" (1793).
Outside the Box set for March 24-April 3

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Its a tough world for new music composers these days. So many different musical movements and styles have been done and then re-done already. There are opportunities in Hollywood for soundtrack composers, but the competition is more than fierce. The same is true with video game soundtracks. And out of all the music sales, something like one percent is classical, and of that, less than one percent is for new music.

But people are still composing, they are still following the music their souls tell them to write. And Outside the Box, a celebration and study of contemporary music written for classic instrumentation, is part of it. The festival returns to Southern Illinois University Carbondale for 15 concerts in 11 days, March 24-April 3.

Christopher Walczak, assistant professor of music theory and composition, is in his first year on the faculty at SIU. He brings with him considerable composition and commissioned composition expertise, as well as performance and festival participation experience.

While a main function of the festival is bringing new music to the Southern Illinois region, Walczak is excited, too, about what it means for his students at the people level.

New composers today are facing maybe the biggest question mark, he said. We live in an age when everything is art, anything goes, its not only been done, its been neo-done. Its a challenge: What do you do with your art? How do you make your way?

Walczak wants SIU students to learn composition and music theory and philosophy from the festival guest musicians, but he also wants them to become career savvy. The composers headlining Outside the Box have found their artistic niches and they have the commissions and festival and academic residencies to go with it. And, in many cases, theyve found ways to support their music in other areas of the music industry -- teaching or sound engineering, for example.

The guests hes invited may not be household names, but in the field of new music they resonate. Walczak said thats a benefit, too. This festival helps put SIU on a different kind of map, one appealing to composers and music professionals and festival organizers. The students benefit from the expanded viewpoints of guest musicians, and the musicians learn about SIU. Its networking and bridge-building for the students and faculty.

For music lovers, its a lot of opportunities to hear some of the biggest names in new music:

 Pulitzer Prize winner Yehudi Wyner

 Coolidge Trio

 Sonic Apricity

 BlueSHIFT

 Nathanel Bartlett

And School of Music faculty and ensembles:

 Concert Choir

 Wind Ensemble

 Studio Jazz Orchestra

 Altgeld Chamber Players

 Dick Kelley

 School of Music Emerging Composers

 Jeremiah Selvey with the SIU Contemporary Vocal Ensembles

 Junghwa Lee

 Jay Needham (Department of Radio, Television and Digital Media)

 Percussion Ensemble

Yehudi Wyner will perform some of his own works in company with the Coolidge Trio at 7:30 p.m. on March 26 in the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall. SIU faculty will also perform, including works from SIU emerita composer Kathleen Ginther, Christopher Walczak and composer Augusta Read Thomas.

A complete schedule is available here, with links to further information about all guests.
Poll: Voters support medical marijuana, split on casual use

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Voters in Illinois show overwhelming support for medicinal marijuana use, but less than half support legalization for recreational use, according to a new poll conducted by Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

The sample of 1,000 registered voters was surveyed Feb. 15-20 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

When asked whether they favor or oppose legalized medicinal marijuana in Illinois, 82 percent of those express support for the policy. Only 16 percent oppose and 3 percent did not know or answered otherwise.

Currently there is a four-year pilot program in Illinois for the use of medical marijuana. That program is due to expire in 2018.

Overall support for medical marijuana has increased dramatically -- by 19 percentage points -- and opposition cut in half since a 2013 institute poll asked a similar question. The 2013 poll showed 63 percent support and 32 percent opposition. The 2013 poll was taken before the current medicinal marijuana pilot program was in effect.

Support is less strong on the question of recreational marijuana. Fifty-one percent oppose legalization of recreational marijuana while 45 percent said it should be legal.

We see clear support for medicinal marijuana, but recreational use is a mixed bag, David Yepsen, institute director, said. Medical use, recreational use, and decriminalization are all related but are still distinct public policy issues in the minds of many voters. They are likely to be issues in the debate over criminal justice reform, new revenues and public health.

Support for medicinal marijuana is strongest with younger voters. Among voters younger than 35 years old, 90 percent favor medical use. Only 8 percent of those under 35 oppose medicinal use and 2 percent answered otherwise. On average, older voters were also supportive but not as strong.

Younger voters are also much more supportive of legal recreational use than older voters. Among those younger than age 35, 72 percent support and 24 percent oppose. Support significantly decreases among people over 65 years old, with only 29 percent in support.

These data show that substantial support for medical cannabis can be found in every demographic, and that support has substantially increased in the last few years. Another result to pay attention to is the heavily skewed support for recreational marijuana among millennials, Delio Calzolari, institute associate director, and one of the poll designers, said.

The poll also gauged attitudes toward gay marriage and abortion.

On the issue of marriage equality, 53 percent stated that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to legally marry and 25 percent said same-sex couples should be allowed to form civil unions, but not marry. Sixteen percent said there should be no legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared that same-sex couples have the right to marry in a 5-4 decision. Illinois began recognizing same-sex marriage in 2014 and civil unions in 2011.

* On the question of abortion rights, 44 percent of Illinoisans said that abortion should be legal in certain circumstances and 36 percent said that abortion should be legal in all circumstances. Fifteen percent stated that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

The poll has tracked public opinion on those two social issues since 2009. The attached charts plot the shifts in Illinois public opinion over that time.

Poll results are available here.

For more information, contact Yepsen at 618/453-4009 or Calzolari at 618/453-4001.

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 to Carol Greenlee at 618/453-4078.

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.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday promised entrepreneurs and potential investors in the state all out support by the government in their ventures and assured ease of doing business. He also hinted at some major economic policy reforms to give a leg-up to industrialisation and economy in Haryana. "I promise that you will never find my government hesitating or wanting, in going the extra mile to support your ventures. Our enterprises promotion policy, 2015, is just a beginning," Khattar said while delivering the keynote address on the opening day of the two-day 'Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit' here. "We have planned some major economic policy reforms in the coming days," he said. When the summit was conceived five months ago, a target of attracting an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore in Haryana was set, as per the enterprise promotion policy announced on August 11, last year. "I am told by the state chief secretary that the commitments so far have already exceeded this target by 200 percent," he added. Khattar said his government planned to amend the Factories Act as well as the Payment of Wages Act to facilitate certain categories of businesses and remove anachronistic conditions. Listing key initiatives taken by his government to make things easy for investors, he said Haryana had already ended the uncertainty over future enhancements in the cost of industrial plots, launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic change of land use in 75 development blocks in the state, done away with the CLU requirement in 31 blocks, and set up three-tier grievance redressal system for both existing and new investors. With only 1.34 percent of India's geographical area and only 2.09 percent of its population, Haryana contributes 3.51 percent to India's gross domestic product and 4.2 percent to its exports, the chief minister said. He thanked representatives from China, Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, UK, and Ontario province of Canada for participating in the summit. "We intend to pass in the coming assembly session the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Bill, 2016," he said and sought entrepreneurs' comments and suggestions for its improvement. --Indo-Asian News Service pradeep/tsb/dg ( 370 Words) 2016-03-07-17:43:35 (IANS)
"Maha Shivratri greetings to everyone," Prime Minister Modi said on twitter.

Devotees in large numbers are reaching Shiva temples since early morning.

A large number of people are expected to offer 'jalabhishek' of holy water and special prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

In Ayodhya, devotees thronged Nageshwarnath temple to offer their prayers after taking holy dip in Saryu River. In Allahabad people in large numbers took holy dip at the confluence of Ganga and Yamunaat sangam and offering holy waters to various Shiva temples.

Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the 6th night of the dark Phalgun (February or March) every year. It is believed that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati on this day.

Shivratri fast is considered to be the most important fast for the devotees of Lord Shiva.

Shiva Purana states that if a devotee observes Shivaratri Vrata with sincerity, pure devotion and love he is blessed with the divine grace of Lord Shiva. (ANI)
A long-running dispute over the leadership of Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund reaches London's High Court on Monday, potentially paving the way for litigation against two global investment banks to move forward.The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) wants to pursue Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in the English courts for more than $3 billion it claims was mismanaged. Both banks have rejected the allegations.The fund, however, is mired in a power struggle between two rival chairmen, Hassan Bouhadi and AbdulMagid Breish. The dispute mirrors the fragmented nature of the country following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.Bouhadi was appointed as head of the LIA in October 2014 by the LIA's board of trustees, populated by leaders of the House of Representatives.But his Tripoli-based rival Breish says he in in charge, reinstated as head of the fund following a decision by Libya's Court of Appeal.Bouhadi initiated proceedings in London's Commercial Court in September 2015 to determine this question of authority.The issue needs to be settled to provide the legal clarity to allow the litigation against the two investment banks to move forwards. If the LIA wins these cases it could result in an award of billions of pounds.As an interim measure, advisers BDO were appointed by the court in July 2015 to manage the litigation on the LIA's behalf. This has allowed the pre-trial work on the bank litigation to continue, such as the taking of witness statements and gathering of expert evidence.At the time of BDO's appointment, it was hoped Libya would soon form a national unity government and determine the question of LIA leadership for itself, but hardliners are resisting a formal vote in Libya's elected parliament to endorse the new UN-backed government.In the absence of any decision from Libya, an English court now has to rule on who has the authority to bring the litigations against the banks, regardless of the merits of those cases.To do this, the judge, William Blair, the brother of former British prime minister Tony Blair, must first decide which is the legitimate government of Libya, using some procedures once developed to decide who was in charge in Somalia.He will consider who has the constitutional right to govern in Libya; who has administrative control; whether there is any indication from the British government as to what it regards as the legitimate government; and what the international community regards as the legitimate government.The case could run into a second week, and a judgment is not expected immediately. The judgment may also be appealed against. REUTERS PS RK0537 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-624481.Xml
A soldier was also injured and has been hospitalised.

This was the second major encounter in south Kashmir after three HM militants were killed by security forces at Tral in south Kashmir Pulwama during the intervening night of March 2 and 3.

As many as 21 militants of Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and HM were killed this year so far.

Sources said the operation has ended as there was no other militant present in the area.

They said security forces and state police personnel launched a search operation at village Bichroo following a tip-off about the presence of militants. However, when the security forces were moving towards a particular area in the village, militants hiding there opened fire with automatic weapons.

Security forces also retaliated and in the ensuing fierce encounter, a top HM militant, identified as Dawood Sheikh was killed.

Dawood, a most wanted militant was involved in a number of militancy related incidents. UNI BAS RSA 0926

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Hairath (Maha Shivratri), the day Shiva was married to the Goddess Parvati and marks the convergence of Shiva and Shakti, was celebrated today throughout the Kashmir valley, where fresh snowfall was received on the hills which is being considered auspicious. After joining night-long puja in their respective houses, members greeted each other on the occasion of Salaam. Since Maha Shivratri, the most important festival of Kashmiri pandits, fell on a Monday, it is considered more auspicious. Muslims and members of other communities greeted their Kashmiri pandit brethren on the occasion. A large number of devotees were visiting temples, particularly Shankaracharya temple on the hill top of Takhat-e-Suliman, since early this morning despite cold weather conditions. Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti greeted people on the occasion. Authorities have set up special fish sale counters at different places in the valley for Kashmiri pandits, who have not migrated along with other community members in 90s or returned here. The Shivratri festival extends to about three weeks in households of Kashmiri Pandits and each day or a group of days, has a special name and religious function which includes social performances also. Some of them include Akodah, Hurya Aatham, Dyara Daham, Vagarye Bah, Heracnia Truvah, Donya Mavas and Tila Aatham. On each day, different functions are held. The Mahashivratri festival, observed as "Hairath" by Kashmiri Pandits on the marriage anniversary of Lord Shiva and Goddess Uma, begins on the first day of Phalgun Krishna Paksha and ends on the Amavasi day in Phalgun. In between, there are numerous auspicious days like Hur Ashtami. Walnuts, whose shape represents the universe, play an important part in 'Hairath' rituals. Walnuts are filled in earthen pots and then filled with water. The water is changed every day of the festival. A big earthen pot, two medium sized earthern pots as many small earthen pots, clay modelled to the shape of elephant trunk and seven bowls are used in the Hairath ritual and they are known as 'watuk'.More UNI BAS RSA 0940 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-624520.Xml
As more youths from the Kashmir valley are coming forward to join the security forces, Army is holding eight-day-long recruitment rally at Bandipora in north Kashmir in July this year. As many as 242 youths from different parts of the state joined the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI) after a strenuous training regimen of eleven months on March 5. A Defence ministry spokesman said the Army Recruiting Zone headquarters has decided to hold Army recruitment rallies in Bandipora in north Kashmir and Drass in Ladakh region. He said online application registration at the official website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in is a must for all aspirant candidates, he said, adding that at Bandipora, the schedule is planned from July 11-18 for all districts of the Valley. He said at border town of Drass, the rally for the candidates from Leh and Kargil has been planned from August 22-25. The recruitment rallies will be held for all categories in the Army. Lt General Satish Dua, GOD 15 Corps has recently highlighted the vital role played by the parents of Kashmiri youths in motivating their children and wards to join the noble profession of security forces.UNI BAS RSA 1004 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-624529.Xml
Shops and business establishments remained closed at Quimoh and other villages in Kulgama district and traffic was also off the road. Government offices, banks and educational institutions remained closed on account of Hairath holiday.

However, traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway was plying normal though additional security forces and state police personnel had been deployed to prevent any stone pelting.

During the encounter last night in which a HM militant Dawood was killed and a soldier was injured, hundreds of people, including youth and women, took to streets at village Bichroo, raising ''pro-freedom'' slogans for several hours.

Today, additional security forces and state police personnel was deployed at Bichroo, Quimoh and other areas to maintain law and order.

Situation elsewhere in the south Kashmir was normal.UNI BAS RSA 1009

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Even though the Centre has yet to release funds under Priority Works- Comprehensive Plan for Flood Management Works on Jhelum-Phase-1 costing Rs 399.29 crore, massive dredging operation was going on in river Jhelum and Flood Spill Channel from state share funds. Governor N N Vohra has directed officials to speed up dredging to ensure that work is carried out speedily and completed well in time. The state government has yet to receive funds from the Centre for carrying out the dredging and other works for comprehensive flood management in river Jhelum, officials said. However, the Irrigation and Flood Control(I&FC) department has already started dredging work with the funds allotted under state share by the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. An official spokesman said that I&FC chief engineer Javid Jaffar said that that the cumulative dredging work done in the Jhelum river till date was to the tune of 6,10,000 cubic metre (cum). Similarly, dredging has been completed to the tune of 92,000 cum in the Flood Spill Channel. He said that the cumulative target set by the department was more than 8,00,000 cum to be achieved by the end of March 2016. This, he said, is over and above the dredging works which would be executed through the Kolkata based Reach Dredgers which has been tasked with mechanical dredging of 7,00,000 cum in the Srinagar stretch and 9,15,000 cum in Baramulla stretch. They said Chief Engineer has explained to Mr Vohra that these works would continue round the year irrespective of the changes in water levels in the river. The Governor was further informed that the identification of sites and construction of dykes as well as mobilisation of dredgers has already been initiated at the sites of Bell mouth of Flood Spill Channel at Outfall Channel Baramulla. The Governor directed that the actual dredging work on both the sites must be started without any further delay. They said that during his tour to Flood Spill Channel at Padshahi, Shivpora, Srinagar, yesterday, the Governor directed officials to ensure that the ongoing dredging works on the river Jhelum were carried out speedily and completed well in time. The Governor, who was informed that the mechanical dredging at the site would be dredging out a mass of 200-250 cubic metres per hour, directed the Divisional Commissioner to urgently initiate a cleanliness and beautification drive along the river fronts on both sides. Under the Prime Ministers Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Programme 2015, the DPR for Priority Works- CoUmprehensive Plan for Flood Management Works on Jhelum-Phase-1 costing Rs 399.29 crore has been carved out of the main project for Comprehensive Plan for Flood Management Works on Jhelum costing Rs 2083 crore. The main components of this project include re-sectioning and land acquisition to restore the width of the Flood Spill Channel, especially at Shariefabad and Naidkhai, strengthening of embankments, particularly vulnerable spots of river Jhelum and urgent dredging works in the river Jhelum and Flood spill Channel. UNI BAS RSA 1040 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-624564.Xml
Following intelligence of suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba infiltration through the Gujarat-Pakistan border, a multi-city terror alert has been issued to ensure no untoward incident happens and terror attacks are averted. Tier two cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panji have also been alerted about possible attacks. Besides Delhi where the alert was specifically issued yesterday, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Bangalore have also been alerted through security agencies. According to the intelligence by Pakistan, while the terror suspects have entered India through Gujarat, there was no information on their subsequent movement which is why a multi city, pan India, alert was issued. Gujarat went on alert due to information that 10 terrorists have crossed over from Pakistan into the border state. The Centre had sent out a precautionary alert, calling for a heightened vigil, particularly in Delhi given that Parliament is in session. Earlier today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting on internal security in Delhi in the wake of the terror threat. Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials were also present for the meeting besides senior Home Ministry officials. Meanwhile, four National Security Guard teams have been deployed in Gujarat in which three teams have been sent to Ahmedabad and one in Somnath where devotees are gathering for Shivratri celebrations. "We got the input yesterday after which all the police across Gujarat was alerted. There are continuous combing operations and several check posts have been set up. We are searching for suspects involved in different activities and every possible protective measure is being taken," Gujarat Director General of Police PC Thakur told the media here. Appealing to the people of Gujarat that they should not panic, Thakur assured that the security forces are ready to counter the situation. In Gujarat, this is a second major alert about a possible terror strike in the state, which shares land and sea border with Pakistan. Pakistan's National Security Advisor (NSA) Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about a group of fidayeen from the Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammed cadres on a mission to a major terror strike in the state. (ANI)
The election bugle has been sounded for four states and a union territory and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a daunting task after its two back-to-back humiliating defeats in Delhi and Bihar. The party can fancy its chances in Assam only where Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is battling anti-incumbency after staying in power for 15 years. In the remaining states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and union territory of Puducherry, it has very negligible presence. The BJP is desperate to expand its footprint in the remote northeastern part of the country after its astonishing performance in Assam in the last general elections where it bagged seven out of the 14 seats. This time, the BJP has stitched together a formidable alliance by netting its off-an-on ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a former ally of the Congress - Bodoland People's Front - and dissident Congress leaders. BJP's state chief Sarbananda Sonowal, who has been declared the chief ministerial candidate, was a long time associate of AGP before he joined hands with the saffron party. It also embraced 10 Congress MLAs led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, an influential minister in the Gogoi cabinet, after their defections. The BJP will be banking heavily on the experience of Sarma, who oversaw the last assembly elections and engineered the Congress' astounding victory when political pundits were writing the obituary of the grand old party in the state. The Congress triumphed in 79 of the 126 seats. On the paper, the BJP looks set to upset the applecart of the Congress, which failed to strike a pre-poll alliance with Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). Their common vote bank - the Muslim vote - is likely to be split as both the parties derive maximum political strength from Muslim-dominated areas. The AIUDF doubled its strength from 9 to 18 in the last assembly elections contesting on 77 seats. The BJP has improved its vote share between the 2011 assembly election and 2014 general elections incredibly. From 11.5 percent, the BJP's vote share jumped more than three-fold to 36.5 percent in the last parliamentary elections. In contrast, the Congress' vote share fell down from 39.9 percent in 2011 to 29.9 percent in the general elections, a massive erosion of 10 percent in its vote share. It remains to be seen whether the BJP will succeed in repeating or improving its 2014 performance because the saffron party was helped largely by a massive wave in favour of Modi then. Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra since then. There has been dip in the popularity of Modi as he has struggled to implement any of his much flaunted promises. To make matters worse, the economy is not doing as well as one expected. The BJP in Assam represents a rainbow party with members largely drawn from other parties. It has recruited Congress dissidents, members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), the student wing of the AGP and surrendered cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which waged an armed struggle against the state. Even its face in the state, Sonowal, was president of AASU. It will be interesting to watch how this rag-tag bunch of politicians stays together as everybody will be demanding its pound of flesh. As of now, it is advantage BJP as it has tied up with AGP and Bodoland People's Front (BPF). All the three parties have a common cause as far as their opposition to the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is concerned. But its decision to take the Congress dissidents in its fold, with complete different political ideology, will be tested in the polls. This is a major irritant in otherwise a perfect combo to take on the veteran Gogoi who will find the going tough this time. The AGP's decision to flirt again with the Hindu party after burning bridges with it in the past underlines its desperation as its fortunes have been constantly on the downslide and is losing political space in the state. In fact, the BJP's growth story in Assam has been largely at the expense of the AGP. Interestingly, both the parties have fared badly whenever they entered into an alliance in the past. Their first attempt to come together ended in a catastrophe in 2001 as the then ruling AGP was unseated by the Congress. In that election, the AGP managed just 20 seats whereas the BJP bagged eight seats. The two parties against decided to kiss and make up in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The decision boomeranged on the AGP which won just one seat whereas the BJP triumphed in four seats. In the last assembly elections, both the BJP and AGP went separately. The AGP bettered BJP as it netted 10 seats out of 104 seats on which it contested whereas the BJP managed just five out of 120 seats on which it went to polls. If one tallies the 2011 vote share of all the three parties which contested the elections separately - the BJP, AGP and BPF -- it was 33 percent, which was about six percent short of the Congress. The permutation this time favours the BJP-led alliance as Gogoi has been incapacitated due to defection by Sarma, considered to be the master strategist and architect of Congress victory in the last elections. But predicting elections is not an easy task in India as several pollsters have burned their hands in the past with their prognosis going wayward. Assam election is a do-or-die battle for both the Congress and BJP. Both parties need to win this high stake election. The Congress has not won a single state election after its disastrous performance in the 2014 general elections, though it took some solace in last year's victory in Bihar being part of the Grand Alliance. Riding on the wave of Modi's popularity in general elections, the BJP snatched some big wins in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and formed the government in Kashmir as a junior partner. But it began with a disastrous note in the next year as it was annihilated completely first in Delhi by the rookie Aam Aadmi Party and then by the RJD-JDU-Congress alliance in Bihar. The results in Delhi and Bihar are a big question mark on the popularity of the BJP whose career graph is on the downhill as the Modi magic has started fading. Therefore, both the parties will go for the kill in Assam to recover the lost ground. But will they be able to pull off an outright victory? I have my doubts. My bets are on a hung legislative assembly with no political party or group in a position to form the government. [Vikas Khanna is a senior journalist and the views expressed by him are personal.] (ANI)
In the backdrop of reports of 10 terrorists from Pakistan having sneaked into Gujarat and alerts issued by the Gujarat and Delhi police, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today chaired a meeting on security situation in the country.Most metro cities, including Delhi, have remained on high alert for the second day. The alert in Delhi is not withdrawn and is continuing, according to the Delhi police officials.However, the Home Ministry played down the meeting held in the morning. "It was nothing but a routine meeting in which everybody which was present and it was held at 11 am instead of 10 am the usual time. Much is being made out in a section of media. There is nothing unusual about the meeting," Additional Director General(Media) K S Dhatwalia told UNI."The alerts are issued by the agencies and state police only. If there is something, a particular agency issues alert and passes on to other state agencies according to situation. These are operational matters at the level of agencies and Home Ministry has no role in alerts," Mr Dhatwalia said.The police increased security arrangements in the national capital yesterday following an intelligence report that around ten militants from Pakistan had crossed border to launch terrorist attacks.According to Delhi police, these terrorists, who are members of the Lashkar-e-Toiaba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), had sneaked over to this side of the border through Gujarat to attack various places in capital like shopping malls, hospitals, schools and colleges. As a result, security measures have been tightened at these places and elsewhere.Gujarat police has advised Delhi police to step up security in crowded markets and pilgrimage spots among others. It said the terrorists might especially target temples on the occasion of ongoing festival of Mahashivratri today.Security was stepped up across Gujarat and four teams of National Security Guard(NSG) also landed in Ahmedabad following intelligence inputs regarding 10 terrorists sneaking into the state from Pakistan through sea route.As many as five abandoned Pakistani boats in creek area close to Indo-Pak border in Kutch have been found in past three months. The last such boat was found yesterday. The possibility of the terrorists using these boats can not be ruled out, sources said.UNI PRA SW AE 1435 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-624884.Xml
Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers of HM militant Dawood Ahmad Sheikh who was later buried at his native village Qaimoh.

Defying curfew-like restrictions, people from Qaimoh and adjoining villages gathered near the residence of Dawood to join the nimaz jinazah.

Shouting separatists slogans, people carried the body of Dawood in a huge procession to the local graveyard where he was laid to rest.

The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered in three shifts due to a huge rush of people.

However, when people from Khudwani towards Quimoh, security forces stopped them from moving ahead, leading to clashes. Security forces resorted to lathicharge and later burst teargas shells to disperse the stone pelting demonstrators.

Several persons were also injured in the clashes.UNI BAS AE CS1514

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Bajaj Auto, India's leading motorcycle maker, todayannounced booking window of its latest version "V", a new generationtwo-wheeler, which contains metal from India's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which was decommission in 2014. Announcing the booking dates between March 10-20, company's vice-president(Mktng) Sumeet Narang told a media conference here that the buyers,who would book in first eleven days beginning from Thursday, would getdelivery of two-wheeler on March 23 or on the following day. "The V (new mo-bike) contains metal from India's first and most celebratedaircraft carrier, the erstwhile INS Vikrant."The company has confirmed that all those customers who book by March 20 are assured of owning a piece of history on March 23,immortalized by a commemorating insignia on the fuel tank assembly," MrNarang said.Available in two colors - ebony black and pearl white- the mo-bike is costsRs 64,498 ex-room in Kolkata. Mr Narang said the price was very competitive for a 150 cc bike asother automakers sold two-wheeler of 125 cc with almost same price inthe market.He hoped that the new mobike would do good business in eastern India, whichhas over 55 per cent market for two-wheeler.West Bengal is major market for executive commuters bikes.UNI PC PL PL -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-624953.Xml
: Strides Shasun Limited, an integrated globalpharmaceutical Company head-quartered in Bangalore, today announcedthat its wholly owned subsidiary Strides Pharma Inc. has enteredinto an agreement with Moberg Pharma, Sweden and its affiliates toacquire Jointflex, Fergon and Vanquish brands for US dollar 10 million plus inventory value at closing. The acquisition strengthens Strides Shasuns strategy to build aglobal OTC franchise. The transaction adds USD 6.1 million of revenues and deliversabove company EBITDA margins. The transaction is immediatelyaccretive and is expected to close within next four weeks, accordingto a release here. The company has global manufacturing foot print with 12manufacturing facilities spread across three continents, including sixUS FDA approved facilities and six facilities for emerging markets. The company has also two dedicated R&D facilities in India withglobal filing capabilities and a strong commercial footprint across85 countries. UNI MSP KVV ADB 1555 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-624915.Xml
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said he was ready to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a debate on what the Congress and BJP have done for the state. Addressing a press conference here, the veteran Congressman said, I am prepared to take on Narendra Modi in a debate. He can say what the BJP government has done for Assam and I will reveal how much more the Congress governments have done. I can take on state BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal in a debate at any time on developmental issues concerning the state, Mr Gogoi said, alleging that Mr Sonowal, as a Union MoS and BJPs chief ministerial candidate, has not done anything for the state. The CM reiterated that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has been curtailing benefits from Assam, including scrapping special category status and special investment promotion policy. In an apparent attack on former Congress minister and BJP leader Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma, who was earlier quizzed by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam, Mr Gogoi questioned why the BJP fell silent on the issue. He maintained that the people of Assam will see through the politics of personal benefit being played by the BJP and its leaders and vote back Congress to power for a fourth straight term. Polling will be held in two phases on April 4 and 11 next for 126 Assembly constituencies in the state.UNI SG PL AE AS1645 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-625136.Xml
In a shocking incident, a fourth standard student died after fighting with a few of his classmates over a geometry box in a government school of Kollapalayam village in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district. The incident took place on February 29 when the student, named Surya, had a scuffle with his class mates over a geometry box. As per reports, the teacher, who was present at that moment, advised them not to fight inside the class and told them to go outside. The quarrel later started outside the class and Surya's fellow students hit him with a stick on his head. When Surya went to his home, he felt sick about which he informed his mother. The parents took cognizance and took him to the Tiruchankoodu hospital. The hospital authorities advised his parents to take him to the District head hospital in Salem where he went to coma. After few days in coma, Surya died yesterday. Following his death, the relatives and the human right activists have staged a protest demanding justice for Surya's death. Surya,'s uncle Murugesan said that the teacher did not take proper steps to end the fight which ultimately resulted in his death. Rangasami, an activist, also held the teacher responsible for the same. "She was sleeping inside the class when this fight happened and she failed to control the students. After Surya was hit on his head and chest by his fellow students, he came home and felt severe pain and told his mom. He was shifted to Tituchankodu hospital and then to Salem hospital, but he lost his life," he said while demanding proper compensation for the family members and action against those responsible for the unfortunate incident. (ANI)
Indian Navy chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan on Monday began a visit to Britain to consolidate existing Maritime Cooperation initiative as well as explore new avenues, an official statement said on Monday. The visit, which will conclude on March 10, also aims on taking forward the vision statement, prepared during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Britain visit in November last year, which among other things, says the two countries want to to work "more closely together" to respond to the threats of terrorism and extremism, cyber-attacks, nuclear proliferation, and violent conflict. Admiral Dhowan during his visit will hold discussions with the British defence secretary, the First Sea Lord, chief of defence staff, and the other senior officers of the Royal Navy. "India and United Kingdom have several commonalities, which serve as the foundation for closer cooperation and multi-faceted interactions. Both countries are vibrant, secular and multi-cultural democracies," said the navy statement. The Indian Navy has had traditional links with the Royal Navy which have come a long way since institutionalisation of various defence fora for enhancing bilateral relationship between the two countries. With constitution of the Indo-UK Defence Consultative Group (DCG) and the Military Sub Group (MSG) in 1995, a two-tier system of cooperation was established to progress various areas of defence cooperation. In September 2004, the two countries inked a pact to embark upon a strategic partnership in which defence cooperation figure prominently. Establishment of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks' forum, officially referred to as Executive Steering Group (ESG) is the main mechanism of enhancing cooperation between the two navies. Indian Navy and Royal Navy are partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS); a Maritime Cooperation construct conceptualised and pioneered by the Indian Navy in 2008. Conduct of the Exercise 'KONKAN 15' from September 5 to 11 of Plymouth was the continuation of a long standing series of exercise between the two navies. The two navies also interact on a host of issues like training, doctrinal concepts, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) among others. --Indo-Asian News Service ao/vd ( 343 Words) 2016-03-07-18:19:33 (IANS)
Amid a high terror alert by Indian security agencies, the Pakistan Marine Security Agency has brazenly captured three Indian boats with 18 fishermen in the Arabian Sea off the Jakhau coast in Kutch.According to National Fish Workers Forum Secretary Manish Lodhari, the boats were captured from near the International Maritime Boundary Line last night.There might be in all five boats, but we are still waiting for the confirmation from Pakistan, he said.What is perceived as perplexing is how the Pakistan Marines managed to capture the Indian fishing boats despite Indian Coast Guards, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force having been put on high alert in the wake of intelligence reports about at least 10 suicide squad members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad sneaking into Gujarat.The Centre sent four teams of the National Security Guards to Gujarat after state home minister Rajnikant Patel requested central assistance.Security was stepped up at all vital installations and at all public places. The Anandiben Patel government cancelled the leaves of all police officers to be deployed on security duty during 'Mahashivratri' today.Special 'garba' and 'aarti' planned for 'Mahashivratri' at the revered Somnath temple were cancelled in view of the terror attack alert. However, thousands of devotees turned up at all major Shiva temples in Gujarat, including at Somnath to offer prayers for the deity. Security agencies have mounted a search for some unidentified Pakistanis who are suspected to have sneaked into Gujarat in five fishing boats which were found abandoned near the Sir Creek on Kutch coast during the last three months, including one apprehended by a Border Security Force patrol last Friday. Some ration, water jugs, fishing nets, crabs, diesel and mattresses were found on board.Mr Lodhari said that on February 19, 16 Indian boats with 88 fishermen aboard and on February 7, a day after the arrest of 11 Pakistani fishermen and their boat from Indian waters off the Gujarat coast, the PMSA had nabbed two Indian boats off the Okha coast with 12 fishermen on board.Pak Marines have so far captured 63 Indian fishing boats with more than 572 fishermen from near the Gujarat coast since October last year, Mr Lodhari added. UNI ND AY-RP1810 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0352-625382.Xml
Police said the Congress leader was booked under Section 304 and 212 of the IPC and 25 of the Arms Act.

A special police team from Berhampur raided the apartment at Bhubaneswar yesterday, where the former Congress MLA was residing and brought him to Berhampur, along with two of his associates, identified as Bapi and Kackey.

Police also raided the residence of Ramesh Jena here last night and recovered two revolvers with five live bullets, besides Rs 10 lakh in cash and several land documents.

The former Congress MLAs father Arakhita Jena was also produced before the SDJM court.

Police had a tough time yesterday while controlling the supporters of the former congress MLA, who tried to enter the police station and gherao it in protest against the arrest of Ramesh Jena. Police resorted to mild lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

Senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and Congress Chief Whip in Odisha Assembly Tara Prasad Bahinipati today condemned the arrest of Ramesh Jena.

Mr Bahinipati, who met the Police IG (Southern Range) Amitab Thakur, later told newspersons that Congress will gherao the IG office in protest against the arrest of Ramesh Jena.

Congress leaders have described the police action as a political conspiracy.UNI XC-DP AKM RJ AN1800

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today took a serious note of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders trying to malign Delhi government on the matter of Delhi Punjabi Academy. In a statement here, AAP leader Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi dared SAD leaders to present the figures of budget allocated to Punjabi Academy on the basis of facts. He said the Akali leaders lied before the media that the budget of Delhi Punjabi Academy was decreased by AAP government. He said in the year 2014-15, Rs 17.70 crores was allocated to Delhi Punjabi Academy and was increased to Rs 20.75 crores in year 2015-16 by AAP government. The AAP lead Delhi government was absolutely serious about promoting and preserving Punjabi language and culture in Delhi, the leader added. Mr Ghuggi said on the other hand, the condition of Punjabi language is going from bad to worse in Punjab. Thousands of Punjabi teacher cadre posts in school and colleges of Punjab were lying vacant from long time. Even after repeated reminders of the Punjab and Haryana Court, the state government was doing nothing to fill the posts, he added. Ironically, the leaders who are raising fingers on AAP government are already rejected by the voters of Delhi. The leaders of Akali Dal, BJP and Congress should abstain from misguiding people with their lies, Mr Ghughi warned. He said the opposition parties should respect the feelings of voters in Delhi, who have given mandate to AAP in Delhi. UNI DB RJ AE VN1836 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-625355.Xml
Haryana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has expressed grief and sorrow at the loss of lives and property during the recent Jat reservation agitation and demanded imposition of Presidents Rule in the state. In a resolution, the CLP, which met under the leadership of CLP leader Kiran Choudhry here today, also demanded that a judicial commission of inquiry, headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, should be set up to go into the violence that marked the Jat reservation agitation. The resolution was passed unanimously by all CLP members. Briefing media, Ms Choudhry said that all Congress MLAs strongly condemned the role of the state government and complete failure of the state administrative machinery in tackling the situation and demanded strict action against such BJP leaders as had been making irresponsible and inflammatory statements. It asked the state government to provide adequate and immediate relief to the kith and kin of those who lost their lives, sustained injuries and to those who suffered damage to their properties during the unfortunate violence. The CLP appealed to the people of Haryana to maintain peace, harmony and Apsi Bhaichara at all costs. It also decided to raise this issue in the budget session. Besides it would rake up such issues as compensation not given to the farmers, power tariff hike etc. AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad was also present at the meeting which was attended by Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, AICC secretary Asha Kumari and all Congress MLAs from Haryana, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.UNI DB AY AE AN1903 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-625477.Xml
For the month of June, I am blogging about essays. What is the difference between an article and an essay? Here are some basic ways in whi...
Police said the accused, identified as Lars Olof Rikard (36), arrived at the airport for boarding an Air India flight to Lakshadweep.

Incidentaaly, Lars arrived at the airport yesterday from Middle East and was staying at a hotel here, sources said.

On interrogation, the man hailing from Sweden said that he has already informed d the police that he was a fishermen and leaving for Lakshadweep in this connection.

A case was registered under Section 20 (iv) of Indian Telegraph Act and the Swedish National would be produced before the Magistrate.UNI CGV KVV ADB 1955

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The MoU documents were signed and exchanged in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) Managing Director Sudhir Rajpal signed these MoUs on behalf of Haryana government and exchanged the documents with the representatives of the companies.

These agreements included an MoU of Rs 15,000 crores for financial services signed with ICICI, of Rs 2,000 crore for Electronics, Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) with Bharti Airtel. Similarly, MoU involving an investment of Rs 283 crore was signed with Star Wire (India) Limited for manufacturing special and critical steel adopting high-tech technologies.

The MoU of Rs 200 crore was signed with Minda Kosei Aluminium Wheel Private Limited for automobile parts, alloy wheels, of Rs 190 crore with Honda for worker housing, and another MoU of Rs 150 crore with Plasser India Private Limited for manufacturing unit for track maintenance machines.

Apart from this, MoUs of Rs 100 crore each were signed with Minda Industries Limited and Mindarika Private Limited for automobile parts switches. Another MoU of Rs 80 crore was signed with T G Minda Private Limited for automobile parts rubber hoses and an MoU was also signed with Snapdeal for e-commerce.UNI DB SHS AN1908

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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was gaining stature with each attack of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Ministers and BJP leaders. ''BJP must pay heed to what Opposition is saying. It's a sorry state of affairs that Modi government and BJP believes that whatever they are doing, is absolutely perfect and consider rest everything wrong,'' Mr Rawat told mediapersons here. The way PM, Ministers and BJP leaders are attacking Mr Gandhi, proves that he is rapidly rising on political horizon, he added. Sharpening his attack, the former Parliamentary Affairs Minister said BJP is not exemplifying its stand on tolerance by neglecting non BJP-ruled states and regimes and particularly, Congress-led governments. ''Not listening to Opponents' thoughts, this is the intolerance of BJP,'' the Congress leader quipped. Mocking Mr Modi, Mr Rawat said the Prime Minister is himself was ensuring his win in the coming state polls by showing apathy towards this Himalayan foothill state. Elaborating further, Mr Rawat said he was fully confident about victory in the coming Assembly polls as this time ''it will take only one-fourth of the efforts poured during the last electoral battle, due to the fast shattering image of Mr Modi.'' Alleging that Modi government had slashed budgetary allocations of Uttarakhand, Mr Rawat said running the state was becoming difficult with each passing day due to the shortage of funds. More UNI RG RJ 2015 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-625747.Xml
Punjab Congress Legislature Party leader Charanjit Singh Channi today said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should immediately resign and seek fresh mandate from the people on the Satluj Yamuna Link. Addressing a press conference here, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has always betrayed the interests of the people. "Today Mr Badal is just shedding crocodile tears in the media on the issue of SYL. What did he do when the land acquisition notices were issued when he was the Chief Minister on February 20, 1978?" he asked. Mr Channi said, The Modi-led BJP government has taken the matter of SYL in the Supreme Court against the interests of Punjab, while they are the alliance partners with SAD in Punjab. Mr Badal should come up clean on this issue and claear his stand. "Punjab doesnt have surplus water to give anybody, this is the future of Punjab and without this asset our land will go unfertile". The Congress leader said it was Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government who stopped the construction of the SYL by passing the historic water treaty agreement in the Assembly. He said the party will also bring in the adjournment motion on March 10 on the issue so that this can be debated in the House. All Congress legislators will march on foot towards the Assembly on March wearing black badges and black flags as a mark of protest. Mr Channi said the Congress party will not allow the Chief Minister to speak inside the House until the government comes clear on this issue. He added that the party will reveal its strategy to corner the government on the budget session after the CLP meeting on March 9 in which Captain Singh, Ambika Soni, Shakeel Ahmed and Harish Chaudhary will be present along with all Congress MLAs.UNI DB SW AE VN2018 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-625608.Xml
As many as 86 devotees from Amritsar district will board for Chennai under Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra Scheme (MMTYS) to have glimpse of the pious Christian prayer places besides paying obeisance over there. Giving details in this regard Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said today that the train will depart from Gurdaspur around 3pm and arrive at Amritsar at 4:15, which will have a halt of 10 minutes. He said that preparations in this regard have been accomplished including reception, water and food arrangements for devotees. Mr Roojam said that under this scheme the Christian devotees from across the state will depart for Chennai in this special train, which will be leaving with more than 1000 devotees and return on March 13. He said that all the expenses on this religious trip will be borne by Punjab Government besides making special arrangements for medical assistance during the trip. UNI XC AE AE NS2021 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-625613.Xml
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir is paying his first official visit to India beginning from today. Al-Jubeir During the two day visit, the External Affairs Ministers of two sides will discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. Previously, they met on the sidelines of the First India Arab League Ministerial meeting in Manama, Bahrain on 24 January, when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited there.India and Saudi Arabia share friendly relations based on close people-to-people contacts.The 'Strategic Partnership' that our two countries established in 2010, envisioned a deeper engagement in political, economic, security and defence areas through the Riyadh Declaration. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and infrastructure development projects.Saudi Arabia has become India's fourth largest partner with bilateral trade reaching 40 billion dollar in 2014-15 and largest crude oil supplier accounting for about one-fifth of our total imports. Indians form the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia and their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised. There are over 2.96 million Indian nationals presently working in Saudi Arabia.UNI MK PY SHS 2059 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-625815.Xml
The opposition Left Front today denied for any alliance with the Congress for the West Bengal Assembly elections, saying both the sides were only having an 'adjustment' to oust the Trinamool Congress from the state. "We are going for an adjustment with the Congress. Having an alliance and an adjustment are not the same thing," Left Front Chairman Biman Basu said, while releasing the first list of 116 Front candidates. "We have given call for ousting the Trinamool Congress and the BJP to save West Bengal. If the Congress believes in this slogan and join us in the movement, then they are welcome," he said. The Front Chairman clarified that there would be no sharing of platform by the Left Front and the Congress for poll campaign. "However, if there is anything violent, then a joint move could be made against such incidents without carrying party flags," he added. Mr Basu, however, said a "full scale move" has been initiated with few other parties, including the Janata Dal (U) to get the as associates of the Left Front. The six-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will start on April 4. Mr Basu said the Front would announce the names of more candidates in the coming days after further discussions among the constituents. Among the names of the 116 candidates 68 are new faces while 16 are women and 25 are from the minority community. In a departure from party tradition, the CPI(M), major constituent of the Left Front, has fielded its state committee Secretary Surjyakanta Mishra from Nayagarh constituency in West Midnapore district. Dr Mishra had won from the constituency in 2011 and then became leader of the opposition much before he was made the party's state Secretary. It has been a tradition in the CPI(M) not to field its state secretary as a candidate in elections. The other prominent candidates include former minister Ashok Bhattacharjee from Siliguri. UNI KDG BM PY SHS VN2226 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-625848.Xml
The Mother Superior, of the old age home in Aden, which was attacked last week, has been flown out to Abu Dhabi, said Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Chandy told IANS that Sister Sally, who hails from Kerala, has been flown out from the troubled place and from there, she is proceeding to Jordan, where the congregation to which she belongs has establishments. He said that this came through with the full support of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who directed Indian Embassy officials in Djibouti to help Sister Sally, who headed the old age home run by the Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. "I did speak to her (Sally) yesterday (on Sunday) and after I got information from Delhi that her safe transportation to Abu Dhabi has been arranged, I tried to speak to her a few times, but I could not get the call. I presume that she is on the flight," said Chandy. While the nun has been rescued, there is still no word about priest Tom Kuzhuvennal who was taken away by these unidentified gunmen. He hails from the state's Kottayam district. Gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group on Friday attacked the home, killing four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, including one from India. The Indian nun has been identified as Sister M. Anseleme, 57, from Jharkhand. Of the other three nuns, two were from Rwanda and another from Kenya. --Indo Asian News Service sg/vd ( 258 Words) 2016-03-07-22:49:42 (IANS)
The Delhi government has decided to file criminal case against certain TV channels for airing 'doctored clips,' in which JNU students were shown chanting anti-national slogans, state government officials said. The decision to sue TV channels follows the magisterial probe ordered by the State government that found that at least two video clips out of seven which were sent to forensic lab to ascertain their authenticity were 'tampered'. The probe also gave a clean chit on March 3 to JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is facing sedition charges in connection with an event organised to observe the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. "Nothing adverse could be found against him. No witness or video available could support allegation against him,'' said the magisterial probe. However, in case of another JNU student Umar Khalid, who was also facing the sedition charges, the report said, ''He 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. His role needs to be further investigated,'' adding that in video footage he was heard saying Kashmir keep fighting, we are with you." Earlier, official sources said the lab report clearly states that videos were tampered and words such as 'gun' (Bandook) and 'soldiers of Hurriyat' (Hurriyat Ke Jawan) were later inserted in the video and AAP government is mulling to sue certain TV channels. In this context, the Delhi Government had also sought legal opinion from the law department. Many videos flooded the social media platforms since the controversial event occurred, following which JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and two other students were arrested. Earlier in the day, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and JD(U) leader K C Tyagi met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and demanded action against the TV channels which allegedly ran "doctored" videos on the JNU row. The Delhi High Court had granted bail to Kumar for the period of six months after hearing detailed arguments from the prosecution and defence on March 3. UNI RG/AR PY SHS 2050 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-625876.Xml
Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti was admitted here in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) tonight. According to sources, the senior BJP leader complained of severe pain in her leg. Ms Bharti had severe problem in her leg after she met with an accident earlier. The Union Minister was returning from Bhopal by Punjab Mail to New Delhi. An ambulance was called at Hazrat Nizamuddin Station and she was brought to AIIMS at around 2200 hrs. UNI SHS DS 2351 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-625914.Xml
Even as dark forces unabatedly attempt to rend this nations communal fabric, Madhya Pradeshs commercial capital has witnessed a golden-hearted gesture when a Hindu concurred to donate his brain-dead 20-year-old sons kidney to a 32-year-old Muslim woman. Dhar Districts Manawar-resident Pappu Davar (20) was injured in a road accident. Yesterday, he was pronounced brain dead at a private hospital here. Organ donation was discussed with the youths father Mukesh who agreed, Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Dubey told UNI. Two green corridors were created at 0700 hrs and 0845 hrs today. The first one from the hospital by Sanwer Road to another private one in Palasia conveyed the kidney in eight minutes and the organ was transplanted into Sahina Bi. The other corridor was to Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport where the deceaseds heart and liver reached in seven minutes and were taken to Delhi by plane. The district administration made such corridors on earlier occasions for rushing organs. They were created on October 7 and November 8 last year; January 3 and 22, February 9 and March 5.UNI XC-AC PY SHS VN2313 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-625871.Xml
EU leaders sit down with Turkey's premier today seeing a glimmer of hope for an end to the refugee crisis that has divided Europe but troubled by having to seek favours from a government that scorns their ideas of human rights.With tens of thousands of migrants hoping to reach Germany stranded in Greece by closing borders, the summit will formalise the closure of the Balkan route out of Greece, diplomats said, while pledging help to Athens and seeking assurances that Turkey will, with NATO naval back-up, bar the sea to people smugglers.The leaders in Brussels are likely to tell Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of concerns about rights after the Turkish government seized control of a critical newspaper. But EU officials said they will also be anxious not to alienate Ankara just as hopes are rising of a solution to the crisis.Fellow EU leaders, long bitterly divided over how to end chaotic movements that have put Europe's Schengen free-movement system in jeopardy, will also assure Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of help housing those now stranded in Greece who hope to follow the million that found refuge in Germany last year.An EU endorsement of recent border closures by Macedonia, Austria and other countries on the route north from Greece will be accompanied by a renewed commitment to revive plans to relocate asylum claimants around the EU, diplomats said.A draft EU agreement will declare that the "West Balkan route is closed", although diplomats added that the statement was likely to go through considerable redrafting.NATO said yesterday a new naval force secured approval for operating in Turkish and Greek waters. That will lend force to a deal with Turkey to take back migrants halted in its waters and those who reach Greek islands but fail to qualify for asylum.Meeting Davutoglu two days after his government seized control of Zaman, Turkey's top-selling newspaper, EU leaders are torn between anger at Ankara's action and fear of derailing Turkish willingness to stop migrants sailing for Greece.European Council President Donald Tusk, the former Polish premier who will chair today's talks, had barely left a meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and declared cautious optimism on the migrant crisis when police seized the newspaper."It's a slap in the face," one senior EU official told Reuters after EU envoys met in Brussels on yesterday evening.RISKING ALL ON TURKEYAmnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, said: "Using Turkey as a 'safe third country' is absurd ... Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency."However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces regional elections next Sunday that will pass judgment on her much criticised decision to open the door to Syrian refugees last summer, is keen to see a three-month old deal with Ankara start working fast. She met Davutoglu in Brussels late yesterday.Germany has been pushing for resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees from the more than two million in Turkey. But diplomats say that is unlikely to be discussed in detail by other EU leaders until they see flows from Turkey are falling.Over a weekend that saw at least another 18 people drown in the straits, Turkish police mounted a raid on a beach opposite Lesbos. Reuters journalists saw them stop some 120 migrants from leaving and arrest at least two from a migrant-smuggling gang.However, some 30,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and 2,000 to 3,000 more arrive daily. Tsipras, struggling with an economy blighted by the euro crisis, has called for urgent help and insisted Greece will not become a "warehouse of souls".EU officials believe that signs Europe's external border in Greece is being brought under control can ease resistance from some in the Union to a plan to relocate asylum seekers from Greece to other European countries - a scheme that has seen barely 300 people move from Greece over the past few months.Three months ago, EU leaders, fearful that border closures have put their Schengen passport-free zone in jeopardy, agreed to provide 3 billion euros (3.3 billion dollars) to help care for Syrian refugees in Turkey. They also promised to revive talks on Ankara's EU membership and speed up a plan to give Turkish travellers easier visa access to the European Union.REUTERS PS RK0558 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-624476.Xml
Slovak President Andrej Kiska said today he would ask Prime Minister Robert Fico to try to form a government after Saturday's election in which Fico's leftist Smer party won the most votes but lost its parliamentary majority.Fico faces a tough task to find enough support among the eight parties that won seats in parliament, some of which refuse to work with Fico or one another."I have decided ... that already tomorrow I will ask the chairman of the Smer party, which won the most votes in the election, to create a government and a majority coalition that would back such government," Kiska told reporters. REUTERS JW PM1427 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-624889.Xml
A Japanese submarine will visit the Philippines for the first time in 15 years, along with two warships that will then sail on to Vietnam, in a show of support for nations opposed to Beijing's ambitions in the South China Sea, a person familiar with the matter said.The Japanese submarine, which is used for training, and the destroyers will arrive in the Philippines in April. The escort vessels will later sail to Vietnam's strategic Cam Ranh Bay base on the South China Sea, the source said."It sends a message. It is important for Japan to show its presence," the person with knowledge of the plan said on Monday. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.A Japanese Ministry of Defence spokesman declined to comment on any submarine visit but said the navy normally conducted training voyages in March and April."But we are still in the planning stage so are unable to provide details," he said.The visits were first reported by Japanese media, including the Sankei newspaper, yesterday.Asked about the visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Japan occupied the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea during World War Two so China was on "high alert" for Japan's military moves there."The cooperation of relevant countries should benefit regional stability and should not be directed at third parties or harm another country's sovereignty or security interests," he told a daily news briefing in Beijing.Of the countries bordering the South China Sea, the Philippines and Vietnam are most opposed to China expanding its influence in the region by building bases on reclaimed islands.The Philippine military had not received any official notification of a visit by a Japanese submarine, a military spokesman said, though a visit to the Subic Bay naval base was expected."Informally, we know a Japanese submarine is visiting Subic in April," said the Philippine spokesman, Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla.JAPANESE MINISTER TO VISITRich in natural resources, the South China Sea is also a major thoroughfare for global trade worth up to 5 billion dollars a year, much of it coming to and from Japanese ports.The United States, which has asked China to halt reclamation work that could destabilize the region, has irritated China by conducting naval patrols close to the man-made outcrops in what are known as freedom-of-navigation operations.Rather than confronting China in such a direct way, Japan instead wants to build the capacity of nations in the region to improve their surveillance of Chinese forces. Japan's Minister of Defence Gen Nakatani is due to travel to the Philippines in April to discuss cooperation.Japan has already offered to supply the Philippines with aircraft that will help bolster patrols over the disputed sea. Japan wants to give the Philippines a handful of Beechcraft TC-90 King Air training planes that could be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar.The Philippines has also asked the United States to hold joint naval patrols.Japan and Vietnam agreed in November to hold their first joint naval exercise.The United States has no South China Sea claim and says it takes no sides, though it has been highly critical of China's assertiveness and says it will protect freedom of navigation. REUTERS JW AS1451 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-624912.Xml
Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to US government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior US officials.Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three US officials, who all declined to be identified."As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world," said one of the officials.The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico.US officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign. US allies in particular usually don't want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins.Senior leaders in several countries -- including Britain, Mexico, France, and Canada -- have already made public comments criticizing Trump's positions. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded him a threat to peace and prosperity in an interview published yesterday.Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the private diplomatic complaints.Japan's embassy declined to comment. The Indian and South Korean embassies did not respond to requests for comment.A spokesperson for the Mexican government would not confirm any private complaints but noted that its top diplomat, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, said last week that Trump's policies and comments were "ignorant and racist" and that his plan to build a border wall to stop illegal immigration was "absurd."The foreign officials have been particularly disturbed by the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes that the billionaire real estate mogul has pushed, according to the US officials.European and Middle Eastern government representatives have expressed dismay to US officials about anti-Muslim declarations by Trump that they say are being used in recruiting pitches by the Islamic State and other violent jihadist groups.On December 7, Trump's campaign issued a written statement saying that he was "calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."Trump subsequently said in television interviews that American Muslims traveling abroad would be allowed to return to the country, as would Muslim members of the US military or Muslim athletes coming to compete in the United States.There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts."European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump's rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic," said a senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity."With the EU facing an existential crisis, there's more than the usual anxiety about the US turning inward when Europe needs US support more than ever."Another of the senior US officials said the complaints are coming mostly from mid-to-low ranking diplomats - described as "working level" - rather than from the most senior officials."The responses have ranged from amusement to befuddlement to curiosity," the official said. "In some cases, we've heard expressions of alarm, but those have been more in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment as well as the general sense of xenophobia."More than a hundred Republican foreign policy veterans pledged this week to oppose Trump, saying in an open letter that his proposals would undermine US security."A LOT OF QUESTIONS"Tomorrow, General Philip Breedlove, the United States' top military commander in Europe, said that the US elections were stirring concerns among America's allies."I get a lot of questions from our European counterparts on our election process this time in general," said Breedlove, who did not mention Trump by name. "And I think they see a very different sort of public discussion than they have in the past."While not confirming the content of private diplomatic contacts, some foreign officials acknowledged their governments' concerns about Trump.A British official noted that in January, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "What Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat the extremists more difficult."A Chinese official referred to a statement last week from China's foreign ministry spokeswoman. Asked whether China was concerned about Trump's proposal to place high tariffs on Chinese goods, Hua Chunyin declined to comment on specific candidates. But she said "I want to stress" that China and the United States have "major responsibilities" in maintaining international political and economic stability.Representatives of other countries publicly attacked by Trump, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam either had no comment or did not respond to requests for comments.Several American foreign policy experts said foreign diplomats have complained to them as well."All foreign diplomats I've talked to are amazed at the Trump phenomenon and worried about it, especially in the Middle East and Europe," said Elliott Abrams, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank who handled Middle East affairs at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2009 under then-President George W. Bush. REUTERS JW AN1706 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625234.Xml
Islamist fighters attacked army and police barracks in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday and at least 30 people, including civilians, were killed in the clashes, residents and the Interior Ministry said.Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, and closed two border crossings with Libya, the TAP state news agency said.It was not immediately clear if the attackers crossed the border, but today's assault was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spill over from Libya, where Islamic State militants have expanded their presence.Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the army barracks, local residents said."I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."Soldiers killed 21 militants and arrested six after they attacked military and police posts, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with a soldier and a customs agent.While Tunisia has been held up as a model of democratic transition since its 2011 uprising against ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the North African country is also caught up in a struggle with Islamist militancy.More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with Islamic State and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya over the border.Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago, Libya has slipped into chaos, with two rival governments and armed factions struggling for control. Islamic State has grown in the turmoil, taking over Sirte city and drawing foreign recruits.Tunisian forces have been alert for possible infiltration since last month when a US air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Islamic State militants at a camp near the border in Libya's Sabratha.Western military advisers are starting to train Tunisian border forces to help better protect the frontier with electronic surveillance and drones and authorities have built a trench and barrier to help stop militants crossing.Islamist militants trained in Libyan jihadist camps carried out several attacks on Tunisia last year, including gun assaults on the Tunis Bardo museum and a Sousse beach hotel targeting foreign tourists. REUTERS JW AN1797 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625238.Xml
Powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said today street protests by his supporters demanding the Iraqi government's resignation were intended to bolster the resolve of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deliver on promised reforms.Last Friday, in the biggest show of opposition yet to Abadi's authority, Sadr told around 200,000 supporters that the "government of corruption" should be overthrown."The demonstrations are in support of the prime minister to carry out comprehensive reforms and to form an independent government of technocrats," Sadr said in a statement posted on his website on Monday."Brother Abadi should use them in his favour before they turn against him."Abadi promised political and economic reforms last summer after mass street protests, but quickly ran into legal challenges and systemic resistance to change.Abadi, 19 months into his four-year term, vowed in February to appoint technocrats to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations but that pledge too remains unfulfilled and frustration with the government has increased.Iraqi's current system distributes positions along ethnic and sectarian lines. These patronage networks are blamed for breeding corruption that overburden the state amid a drop in oil revenues and the escalating cost of war against Islamic State militants, who control vast swathes of Iraqi territory.Yesterday state television said Sadr and other leaders of the National Alliance, a loose gathering of Shi'ite parties, voiced support for Abadi's plans at a meeting held with the prime minister in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.However, reports on other media including Dubai-based al-Hadath TV said today that Sadr had disagreed with Abadi at the meeting. REUTERS JW AN1708 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625248.Xml
Hungary and Croatia will reopen three railway border crossings that have been closed since the middle of last year because of the migrant crisis, the state news agency MTI reported today citing the two countries' interior ministers.There were no immediate details about when the crossings would reopen and whether the opening was to be permanent.Crowds of migrants entered Hungary through the crossings of Murakeresztur-Kotoriba, Gyekenyes-Koprivnica and Magyarboly-Beli Manastir on the way to Germany last year.Those large-scale movements stopped after Hungary finished a fence on its southern border with Serbia and Croatia late in 2015 to keep migrants out. REUTERS JW AS1746 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625361.Xml
EU leaders expressed guarded optimism before a summit with Turkey today that Ankara was finally ready to act to curb a flood of migrants crossing illegally into Europe.They also voiced concern, tinged with embarrassment, that increased Turkish cooperation coincides with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to cherished European values.Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the half-day meeting would also address Ankara's bid to join the European Union and he hoped for a "turning point", adding that Turkey was indispensable for the EU, just as Europe was for Turkey. EU officials said, however, that he arrived with stiff new demands.With tens of thousands of migrants stranded in Greece by closing borders, the summit may formally declare closed the Balkan route from Greece to Germany, diplomats said, although that is one of several issues where opinion is sharply divided.Leaders will pledge help to Athens cope with the backlog and seek assurances that Turkey, with NATO naval back-up in the Aegean, will stop people smugglers putting migrants to sea."I hope we will make a step forward to achieving these goals today but that will take difficult negotiations so it may take a while to get a result," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, spent five hours talking with Davutoglu in Brussels until 2:45 am to try to nail down commitments to halt the migrant flow after more than one million people - mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans - entered Europe last year, most ending up in Germany."I am sure these challenges will be solved through our cooperation and Turkey is ready to work with the EU," Davutoglu said. "Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well. Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU."EU officials said Davutoglu had raised the stakes, however, by demanding much more EU cash than the 3 billion euros ( 3.3 billion dollars) pledged to help the 2.9 million Syrian refugees Turkey is housing, faster moves to negotiate Turkish membership of the EU and an immediate easing of EU visa rules for Turks -- something the Europeans have offered only for late in the year."The Turks are negotiating very hard," a senior EU diplomat said. Another spoke of alarm that hard bargaining could disrupt talks to reunite Greek- and Turkish-speaking parts of Cyprus.DIVISIONSThere were also continued divisions among EU leaders, with Merkel resisting a push for a public endorsement by the summit of border closures by Austria and Greece's Balkan neighbours.Merkel, who faces a possible political backlash against her welcome for the refugees in three regional elections yesterday, requested the emergency summit to show voters the EU is acting to resolve the crisis.Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said yesterday that Berlin had major doubts about whether Turkey should become a member of the EU.Before the summit, EU officials told Davutoglu of their concerns about human rights after the Turkish government seized control of a critical newspaper, top-selling daily Zaman.European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he had told the Turkish premier that media freedom was "a non-negotiable element of our European identity" and they had differed sharply. The migrant crisis meant the EU needed to work with Turkey even if it was in "total disagreement" with its policies, he said.German and Dutch government spokesmen said Merkel and Rutte had also raised press freedom with Davutoglu.The EU is taking care not to alienate Ankara just as hopes are rising of a solution to the migration problem.Fellow EU leaders, long divided over how to end chaotic movements that have put Europe's Schengen open border system in jeopardy, will also assure Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of help housing migrants now stranded in Greece.Tsipras said the bloc must speed up the process of relocating registered asylum seekers from Greece to other EU countries as promised last September. EU states have so far taken in only a few hundred of a promised 160,000 people."ROUTE CLOSED"Summit chairman Donald Tusk proposed an EU endorsement of border closures on the route north from Greece, diplomats said, along with a renewed commitment to revive the relocation plan.A draft EU statement seen by Reuters said: "Irregular flows of migrants along the Western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed."However, negotiations were continuing, officials said.NATO said yesterday a new naval force had approval to operate in Turkish and Greek waters. That will lend force to a deal with Turkey to take back migrants halted in its waters and those who reach Greek islands but do not qualify for asylum.Germany has been pushing for direct resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees from Turkey. But diplomats say that is unlikely to be discussed in detail by other EU leaders until they see flows from Turkey are falling sharply.Some 33,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and about 2,000 more have been arriving daily.British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sending a naval force to the Aegean to join German and Canadian warships in the NATO force assisting the Greek and Turkish navies.Though Britain is outside the Schengen zone, further migrant chaos could damage Cameron's efforts to win a June referendum and keep Britain in the EU.REUTERS JW BL1824 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625472.Xml
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today he hoped Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would return from a summit in Brussels with the 3 billion euro in aid promised by the European Union for the refugee crisis."We already spent 10 billion dollars for 3 million people. They promised to give us 3 billion euro, four months have passed since then. The prime minister is in Brussels right now. I hope he returns with that money, the 3 billion euro," Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television.EU leaders are due to meet with Davutoglu as the bloc is looking to Ankara to help it curb the influx of refugees and migrants flowing into Europe.REUTERS JW BL1851 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625532.Xml
Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border today attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 50 people, including civilians, the government and residents said.Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack."I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."It was not clear if the attackers crossed over the border, but it was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spillover from Libya, where Islamic State militants have gained ground.Since its 2011 revolt to oust ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has struggled with Islamist militancy at home and over the border. Militants trained in jihadist camps in Libya carried out two attacks last year in Tunisia."This was an unprecedented, well-organised attack," President Beji Caid Essebsi told local radio. "But the people in the south can be confident the army and police will win against this barbarity across the border."Soldiers killed 33 militants and arrested six, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with ten soldiers."If the army had not been ready, the terrorists would have been able to raise their flag over Ben Guerdan and gotten a symbolic victory," said Abd Elhamid Jelassi, vice president of the Islamist party Ennahda, part of the government coalition.REGIONAL JIHADISTSMore than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with Islamic State and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya.Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago, Libya has slipped into chaos, with two rival governments and armed factions struggling for control. Islamic State has grown in the turmoil, taking over Sirte city and drawing foreign recruits.Tunisian jihadists are taking a lead role in Islamic State camps in Libya, Tunisian security sources say.Tunisian forces have been on alert for possible militant infiltrations since last month when a US air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Islamic State militants at a camp near the border in Libya's Sabratha.Western military advisers are starting to train Tunisian border forces to help better protect the frontier with electronic surveillance and drones and authorities have built a trench and barrier to help stop militants crossing.Islamist militant gunmen trained in Libyan jihadist camps carried out two of the three major attacks on Tunisia last year, including assaults on the Tunis Bardo museum and a Sousse beach hotel targeting foreign tourists. REUTERS JW BL1952 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-625708.Xml
Two Somali soldiers and an African Union peacekeeper were wounded when Islamist militants detonated a bomb outside an airport in the south central town of Beledweyne, the group and a local military source said today.The bomb was hidden in a "paper bag", according to Ibrahim, a local military officer who did not wish to reveal his full name.It is not clear if the bomb was intended to be smuggled on a plane. Last month a plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a bomb smuggled aboard at Mogadishu International Airport exploded mid-air. A suspected suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded during the incident.Al Shabaab, which is aligned to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on the small airport in Beledwayne, about 350km north from Mogadishu."We were behind the blast that targeted Djibouti forces. We shall give details of casualties later," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters.Ibrahim, the military officer, said the African Union (AU) peacekeeper wounded was from Djibouti. Soldiers from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi are also fighting al Shabaab as part of the 22,000-strong AU force.Al Shabaab wants to topple a Western-backed government in Mogadishu and impose its strict version of Islamic law on Somalia.REUTERS PY NS2050 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-625816.Xml
Legal action to drop Islam as Bangladesh's state religion has been revived after 28 years, and the High Court has agreed to hear the case later this month.Bangladesh's 1971 constitution originally declared all religions were equal in the eyes of the state. However, military ruler Hussain Mohammad Ershad amended it in 1988 to make Islam the state religion.Ershad's action led a group of 12 citizens to file a writ with the High Court to overturn the amendment. But Shahriar Kabir, who convened the group, said the members soon decided not to go ahead with the case."After filing the case, we realised that the bench would not be favourable for us, so we did not move further," Shahriar told Reuters today.Then the current government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, again amended the constitution. The new amendment reinstated the principle of secularism but also reaffirmed Islam as the state religion.The court action brought by Shahriar's group essentially seeks to resolve that contradiction. The High Court will hear the case on March 27."It will take long time to get any decision," said Rana Dasgupta, a government prosecutor. "The nature of the case is time-consuming. The High Court will continue to hear from both parties and then will deliver its verdict."The move to reaffirm Bangladesh as a secular nation comes amid a wave of militant violence in recent months, including a series of bomb attacks against mosques and Hindu temples .Some of the attacks, including the killing of a Hindu priest, have been claimed by Islamic State. The militant group has also aid it was behind the killings of a Japanese citizen, an Italian aid worker and a policeman.The government denies that Islamic State has a presence in the Muslim-majority country of 160 million people. REUTERS PY BL2237 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-625872.Xml
Oil producers rejoice! Finally, the end seems to be in sight for one of the worst global oil glut in history.

Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst at PRICE Future Group, says a new bull market is emerging in the global economy after one of the ugliest bear markets weve seen, and he anticipates prices to get close to $70 a barrel by the Fourth of July.

Oil prices have plunged almost 70 percent over the past 20 months, largely caused by oversupply. Major oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia have refused to cut production amid slowing demand from Europe and China, even as their own economies have taken massive hits.

Related: 5 Conspiracy Theories About the Oil Crash, from Ludicrous to Logical

Now, most countries seem to be ready to play nice and work together to boost prices. Oil prices have soared almost 40 percent since prices hit 13-year lows less than two months ago to below $27 a barrel. Recent data shows that the U.S. rig count fell for the 11th straight week.

Here are the four main reasons behind the recent rally that Flynn says are evidence that the bottom is finally here:

U.S. oil companies are cutting production

After months of job cuts and slashes in budgets, many U.S. oil companies are finally choosing to cut production. Most companies are planning to pump 10 to 30 percent less than expected. According to Flynn, the barrels of oil produced in the U.S. could fall from 9 million barrels a day to as little as eight million by this summer.

Flynn adds that even if oil prices rise over the next few months, companies arent going to be able to just head back into the oil fields and tap into new wells. Theyve already cut the spending for these projects and are deeply in debt. Roughly one third of oil companies are expected to declare bankruptcy this year, according to a Deloitte report.

OPEC and non-OPEN countries finally agree to freeze production

Countries that produce 73 percent of the worlds oil have agreed to a tentative deal to freeze production, according to Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Officials from OPEC and non-OPEC countries anticipate limiting their output to January levels and are currently in talks for how to monitor the freeze. An OPEC meeting with Russia is planned for later this month to solidify the agreement.

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Related: Why Oil Prices Will Rebound in 2016

Even though not all of the countries have good diplomatic relations, Flynn doesnt see that causing much of an impact because oil carries more weight at this point. Everybody is on their knees right now, Flynn says. Nobody can afford to play this game anymore. Even Saudi Arabia, the country that is supposed to be able to best ride out an oil bust, just asked banks for an international loan, totaling around $10 billion. The rating agency Standard & Poor also downgraded the Middle Eastern countrys credit rating last month to A- stable rom A+ negative. The agency cited pressures stemming from the oil price drop as the reason behind the move.

Iranian oil isnt that big a deal

The idea of Iranian oil entering the market once sanctions were lifted motivated many oil-producing countries to keep pumping oil at record paces to prevent losing market share. But now that Iranian oil is ready to enter the market, the problem is that companies dont have the money to invest. Production increases in Iran will be slower than expected, Flynn says.

Even if Iran is able to ramp up production, there is going to be some wiggle room from other oil producers for Iran to produce more oil, Flynn says. Iran and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, but nobody is in good shape and nobody can keep playing this game. An Iranian official said that the country would consider production cuts once the country is producing at levels seen before the sanctions were imposed.

Related: Oil Ends Down on Profit-Taking but Still Up Strongly on Week

China isnt that much of a concern

An economic slowdown in the worlds largest oil importer isnt actually hurting the oil economy as much as anticipated. There was the initial fear that Chinas demand would fall off a map and that the country would be in a total meltdown, but weve seen some stability in the Chinese market and even though demand is questionable, imports have stayed near record highs, says Flynn.

According to a Platts China Oil Analytics report, oil demand in China grew by 5.8 percent in 2015, up from 4.7 percent the year prior. Demand is expected to slow this year to 2.7 percent, due to an anticipated decline in GDP growth.

Downbeat manufacturing and service sector data released this week raised hopes of the Chinese government implementing additional stimulus measures. The country also just announced that it cut the amount of money that banks must hold as reserves for the fifth time this year. Even though these signs give investors hope that the Chinese economy is turning around, theres always the possibility that the economy will sink deeper into depression and demand for oil will plummet. If the wheels come off the Chinese economy, all bets are off, Flynn says.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Paris (AFP) - "I don't like fashion," said the French designer Agnes b.

For someone who has spent four decades at the top of the fashion tree, it is a curious confession to make.

"I like clothes," she added quickly as she put the final touches to her autumn winter collection before her Paris fashion week show Tuesday.

The creator who dressed pop icon David Bowie and cult film director David Lynch is a living contradiction.

She hates advertising, yet she married an advertising guru; she loves clothes but never goes to fashion shows.

"I never go to any of them, not to Kenzo, nor Sonia Rykiel, nor Isabel Marant. I don't want to know. Instead I like to look to the streets," she told AFP.

"I love clothes you can keep and still wear after 10 or 20 years."

Forty years after she opened her first shop in a workaday side street in central Paris, the 74-year-old designer claimed that her philosophy has not altered.

- Dyed clothes in bath -

Some things have changed though.

"I dyed my first collection in my bath," she remembered, "and some of them weren't even dry when the shop opened."

Now Agnes Trouble -- her real name, the "b" came from her first husband Christian Bourgois -- is the head of a fashion empire with a turnover of 300 million euros ($328 million) and hundreds of shops across the globe including 141 in Japan alone.

Yet she made her name with deceptively simple pop-button cardigans and striped T-shirts that were an almost instant hit in Paris, New York and Tokyo.

"I always wanted to create well thought out clothes, made for modern life, which you could rely on," she said as she smoked a cigarette in her attic office overlooking the Canal Saint-Martin.

With exhibitions and a book about to mark her singular career, she is celebrating her 40 years in the business by indulging her twin passions -- clothes and art.

The longtime art collector and gallerist, who has dedicated part of her fortune to bringing on young artists and film-makers, has commissioned a line of T-shirts from artist friends.

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The designer was close to some the biggest art world stars of the last three decades including New York painter Jean-Michel Basquiat -- "we were as thick as thieves" -- and Keith Haring.

Art seems to have been a release from the relentless demands of running a fashion house and her pet hate, advertising.

- 'I hate advertising' -

Even though she had a daughter with the late advertising guru Philippe Michel, she boasted of never advertising her brand, which has always traded on its urbane, sober look.

"I hate advertising. It's pure manipulation," she said, claiming to have been hugely marked by the revolutionary spirit of France's May 1968 street protests.

Despite coming from a right-wing family from Versailles outside Paris where the "Sun King" Louis XIV built his gigantic palace, she has "always voted for the left" having been politicised by France's long, bloody and failed war to stop Algerian independence in her youth.

She married the publisher Christian Bourgois at only 17, had twins at 19 and was separated at 20. One of the twins, Etienne Bourgois, now runs the business side of the brand.

"We were on protest marches all the time," she recalled. A devout Catholic and environmentalist, she is hugely worried by the rise of France's far-right National Front, tax evasion and the plight of refugees trying to reach Europe.

She recently joined calls demanding that the French government stop demolishing the migrant camp outside the northern port of Calais.

"I am different," she said, "I am a straight talker."

Nor has having 2,000 employees convinced her that France's 35-hour week is economically unsustainable. She also proudly points to the fact that nearly half of her clothes are made in France, a rarity in the globalised rag trade.

With other fashion houses in a flap over whether to change to a "see now buy now" system which would allow customers to buy straight from the catwalk, she plays it cool.

"We do not make clothes that go out of fashion in two months, so we don't have that problem," she said.

You would think as a mother of five, grandmother of 16 and great grandmother of two children, she might be thinking of putting up her feet.

But she does not seem obsessed with finding a successor. "I am going to organise it little by little," she said, but "I live from day to day, and I love my work." So don't hold your breath.
Santo Domingo (AFP) - A Frenchman extradited by Egypt is due to appear Tuesday before a Dominican judge for his alleged role in the escape of two pilots jailed in a drugs case dubbed "Air Cocaine."

Christophe Naudin's hearing, which was to have been held late last week, was postponed until Tuesday at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) so that he could appear before a judge with both an attorney and a translator.

Since arriving in the Dominican Republic overnight Thursday into Friday, Naudin has been detained at the Palace of Justice.

Potential preventative measures for his detention will be examined at the hearing.

The public prosecutor has requested that the court impose "coercive measures" which could include detention from between three months to a year.

The prosecutor's office needs to formally present charges against the Frenchman before the preliminary hearing, which is due to determine whether there are enough elements for a trial.

Naudin, a 53-year-old criminologist and aviation security expert who was arrested in Cairo on February 4, was sought by 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 kilograms (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.

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.

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.
(This story corrects headline and first paragraph to show that petitions, not lawsuit, were dismissed adds details on suit and ruling in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4.) By Rich McKay ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions by a probate judge and conservative religious groups who want the state's ban on same-sex marriages enforced. In a one-sentence order, the high court turned aside efforts by the Alabama Citizens Action Program, the Alabama Policy Institute and the Elmore County probate judge to block 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. The groups had asked the high court to issue an order that Alabama would no longer issue same-sex marriage licenses and would only honor licenses issued by the federal government or by a state where gay marriage was legal. The Alabama Supreme Court also issued a certificate of judgment listing its 2015 orders in which it upheld the constitutionality of Alabama's marriage laws. 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, but 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 decision 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 and Dan Grebler)
Amazon.com Inc said it plans to restore an encryption feature on its Fire tablets after customers and privacy advocates criticized the company for quietly removing the security option when it released its latest operating system.

We will return the option for full-disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring, company spokeswoman Robin Handaly told Reuters via email on Saturday.

Amazons decision to drop encryption from the Fire operating system came to light late this week. The company said it had removed the feature in a version of its Fire OS that began shipping in the fall because few customers used it.

On-device encryption scrambles data so that the device can be accessed only if the user enters the correct password. Well-known cryptologist Bruce Schneier called Amazons removal of the feature stupid and was among many who publicly urged the company to restore it.

Apple Incs legal battle over U.S. government demands that the iPhone maker help unlock an encrypted phone used by San Bernardino shooter Rizwan Farook has created unprecedented attention on encryption.

Amazon.com this week signed on to a court brief urging a federal judge to side with Apple.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
LIMA (Reuters) - An indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon took at least eight public officials hostage to demand help from the central government after an oil spill polluted its lands, authorities said Monday. The Wampis community of Mayuriaga seized a grounded military helicopter late on Sunday, holding crew members and several officials to press for inclusion in the emergency response plan, said German Velasquez, the president of state-owned energy company Petroperu. A rupture in Petroperu's 40-year-old pipeline spilled 1,000 barrels of oil in Mayuriaga on Feb. 3, nine days after a leak in the same duct poured 2,000 barrels near eight other indigenous communities in the same Amazonian region. Environmental regulator OEFA ordered Petroperu to replace parts of the pipeline after repeated leaks in recent years. It said the two most recent spills polluted at least two rivers, including a tributary to the Amazon River. Though officials refer to the second leak as "the Mayuriaga spill" because it took place in Mayuriaga, the government did not include the community in an official list of affected groups that would receive emergency supplies and attention. The government will amend the emergency decree, published last month, to include Mayuriaga, said Deputy Culture Minister Patricia Balbuena. Balbuena said a local government compiled the list and it was not clear why it excluded Mayuriaga. "It's a mistake that should be corrected as soon as possible," Balbuena said. Velasquez, who spoke by phone on his way to Mayuriaga, said the company has been tending to Mayuriaga's needs anyway. But not being included in the list would also make it harder for Mayuriaga to demand compensation, said regional governor Fernando Melendez. Representatives of Mayuriaga could not be reached for immediate comment. Peru is rife with social conflicts, especially related to water, and remote communities often take hostages to get the attention of the central government. The group being held in Mayuriaga includes three Petroperu officials, four with OEFA and a specialist with the energy and mines ministry, said Velasquez. The pipeline transported between 5,000 and 6,000 barrels of oil per day before the spills halted operations. It mostly moved crude from block 192, operated by Pacific Exploration & Production Corp, to Petroperu's Talara refinery. Petroperu faces some $17 million in fines if tests confirm the spills affected the health of locals, OEFA has said. (Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
By David Ljunggren and Roberta Rampton OTTAWA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada's charismatic Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be traveling to Washington this week for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, hoping to revitalize a frayed relationship and draw rare attention to Canadian issues. Trudeau's Liberals came to power in November by ousting the right-wing Conservative leader Stephen Harper, whose ties with Washington deteriorated as he hectored Obama in a failed bid to gain approval for a major Canada-U.S. pipeline. Trudeau, who has basked in international media attention since coming to power and whose progressive politics are much more in tune with Obama's, will attend a state dinner Thursday, becoming the first Canadian leader to do so since 1997. "We want to strengthen our relationship with the United States at a time when it is key for our agenda of economic growth," Foreign Minister Stephane Dion said in an interview on Monday. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States. It is also the United States' largest trading partner and biggest supplier of oil, but has found it hard to stand out. "We'd sometimes like to think that Americans would pay attention to us from time to time," Trudeau said in an interview with the CBS television show "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday. Trudeau will press his message on Thursday, holding talks with Obama, lunching with Secretary of State John Kerry and then attending the state dinner. Canada wants to avoid a fresh trade fight over its softwood lumber exports, while the United States will reiterate long-standing concerns about how much information Ottawa shares on terror suspects, say officials involved with the talks. The two sides are also set to sign a declaration committing to the fight against climate change, sources said. "Canada's not an issue that gets a lot of attention normally," said a senior U.S. administration official. "(But) I'd be hard-pressed to identify a relationship that's more important day in, day out, and that affects more Americans day in, day out." Trudeau has a higher profile than any Canadian leader since his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was in power four decades ago. The New York Times and Vogue magazine are among the U.S. outlets that have run sympathetic profiles about him. Still, his visit may be overshadowed by the raucous race between Republican candidates vying to run for the White House. Thursday's dinner coincides with a Republican debate in the battleground state of Florida. (Writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Bernadette Baum)
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.

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.

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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.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Singapore (AFP) - An Australian woman accused of fanning hatred of foreigners in Singapore on her website said Monday she would plead guilty to sedition, an offence punishable by jail.

Ai Takagi, 23, told a district court of her intention at the opening of what was to be a joint trial with her Singaporean husband Yang Kaiheng, 27.

She will return to court on Tuesday to enter her plea while her husband's trial will resume on Friday.

Yang and Takagi each face seven sedition charges for articles published between October 2013 and February 2015 on the socio-political website "The Real Singapore", which they were forced by regulators to shut down last year.

They were also charged with withholding documents on the website's advertising revenues from police.

If found guilty, Yang and Takagi could be jailed up to three years and fined up to Sg$5,000 ($3,620), or both, on each sedition charge.

They face one month in jail and up to Sg$1,500 in fines, or both, for withholding information from police.

State prosecutors on Monday said the couple "brazenly played up racism and xenophobia" on the site.

"They even resorted to outright and blatant fabrication in order to attract Internet users to their website -- all with the objective of increasing their advertising revenue," the prosecutors said.

Singapore's sedition laws make it an offence to promote hostility between different races or classes in the multiracial city-state, which is mainly ethnic Chinese.

About 40 percent of the labour-starved island's 5.5 million people are foreigners.

Charge sheets said articles deemed to be seditious derided Chinese nationals and other guest workers in Singapore, while one post on the website "falsely asserted" that a Filipino family instigated a fracas at a Hindu festival in February.

Prosecutors said Takagi and Yang "were wildly successful to profit from the ill-will and hostility that they were peddling" due to the popularity of their website.

Last September Filipino nurse Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 29, was jailed for four months for sedition after insulting Singaporeans online and calling on his countrymen to take over the city-state.

In 2009 a local Christian couple, Ong Kian Cheong and Dorothy Chan, were jailed for eight weeks each for distributing and possessing anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic publications.
NAIROBI (Reuters) - An Australian Navy ship has seized a huge cache of weapons near Oman's coast from a fishing vessel bound for Somalia, the navy said on Monday, exposing a possible violation of a U.N. Security Council arms embargo. The United Nations has a decades-long arms embargo in place against Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991. The Australian navy, which patrols waters around the Indian Ocean as part of an international maritime force, said it had seized nearly 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes from the fishing vessel. "The weapons were seized under United Nations sanctions, which authorize interdiction on the high seas of illicit weapons destined for Somalia," the navy said in a statement. In 2013, the U.N Security Council eased some of the embargo restrictions, allowing the Western-backed government in Mogadishu to buy light weapons to bolster its armed forces in the battle against Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, who are aligned with al Qaeda. One Western security source said the street value of the Australian Navy haul appeared to be more than $2 million. The Australian Navy did not indicate who was the intended recipient of the weapons, which were found hidden under fishing nets. As well as al Shabaab, some regional states in Somalia operate and equip their own militias without the approval of the central government. A Somali government spokesman could not immediately comment on the Australian Navy statement. The navy said personnel from HMAS Darwin had boarded the fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles (313 km) off the coast of Oman to verify which flag it was sailing under and they determined that it was stateless. HMAS Darwin is in the region as part of the Combined Task Force 150, responsible for counter-terrorism operations, curbing piracy and drug smuggling. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Gareth Jones)
By Claire Milhench LONDON (Reuters) - A court case over the leadership claims of two rival heads of Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund was adjourned in London's High Court on Monday, the judge declaring it would be premature to rule while moves were afoot to form a government of national accord. Both Hassan Bouhadi and AbdulMagid Breish claim to be rightful chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) - a long-running dispute that mirrors the fragmented nature of the country since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 [nL5N16F0Y4]. A Tobruk government is challenged by a rival administration based in Tripoli. Both claim rights to the country's resources. Judge William Blair's decision on the first day of a hearing followed arrival of a letter from the British Foreign Office, which was read out in court, on prospects for establishment of a Government of National Accord under U.N auspices that could effectively end the dispute. Fayez Serraj, named in the Libya Political Agreement as head of the presidency council, was currently putting together a cabinet of ministers. The leadership of the LIA would be clarified as soon as possible after approval of that cabinet. "In those circumstances, the court considers that it would be premature today to decide the issues before it," said Justice Blair, adjourning the case. The LIA wants to pursue Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in the English courts for more than $3 billion it claims was mismanaged. Both banks have rejected the allegations. Breish welcomed the decision. "We must not lose sight of the main objective  to return the assets that we believe have been stolen from the Libyan people," he said. Bouhadi said he was optimistic there would soon be an established government of national accord. "However, until then, the board of directors of the LIA has a duty to do everything it can do to protect the assets of the LIA." (This version of the story deletes an erroneous reference to Bouhadi status in paragraph two.) (Reporting by Claire Milhench; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Let's begin with the easy part.

Absent a black swan event, Hillary Clinton will hold off Bernie Sanders and secure the Democratic nomination for president. Even after Sanders' robust victories in Kansas, Nebraska and Maine this weekend, he still badly lags Clinton in the delegate count, with 498 to the frontrunner's 1,129.

With 2,383 delegates required to seal the nomination, he needs to win about 60% of the remaining pledged delegates and superdelegates up for grabs  a hurdle that the demographics of upcoming contests make it excruciatingly difficult for him to clear.

But even if Sanders' odds of taking up the Democratic mantle this fall are vanishingly small, he won't be leaving the stage anytime soon  and his performance at Sunday night's debate in Flint, Michigan, illuminates why.

Flawless? Not quite: Never a polished debater, Sanders didn't outshine Clinton rhetorically. A hedgehog running against the quintessential fox, he didn't display the same policy dexterity that she did, often falling back on his standard denunciations of corporate greed and income inequality.

Hoarse and tired from months of nonstop campaigning, he was prickly at times  most notably when he snapped at Clinton for interrupting him, drawing both implicit and explicit charges of sexism from some Clinton campaign staff and supporters.

Sanders to Clinton: "Excuse me, I'm talking." #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/M7Rz3lVhfP

Yet while Sanders may not have catalyzed the near-miracle that would allow him to upset Clinton, grappling with the Sanders moment and its meaning requires moving beyond a fixation on the vicissitudes of the campaign news cycle.

Given the realities of the delegate math, it's not particularly edifying to ask what Sanders can do to overtake Clinton. We can learn a lot more by asking why he's resonating with a substantial chunk of the Democratic electorate  and on Sunday, the answers were plain for any observer to see.

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Trending left: In a Democratic Party where a record number of voters now describe themselves as liberals  a development driven in large part by millennials, a core Sanders constituency  the Vermont senator speaks the language of a party base that abhors what it sees as the excesses of capitalism, favors a robust role for government in guaranteeing social rights and combating income inequality and wishes to crack down on the influence of special interests and mega-donors.

While Clinton has run a campaign harnessed to the ideological makeup of the modern Democratic Party, her centrist record and her close ties to corporations  particularly in the financial industry  was ensured to meet with skepticism among many Democrats, particularly in light of polls that suggest they now view socialism more favorably than capitalism.

Even if the odds overwhelmingly favor Clinton, then, there remains a substantial constituency for Sanders' democratic socialist campaign  and in Flint, he showed no signs that he'll stop spotlighting Clinton's vulnerabilities anytime soon.

On the offensive: Speaking in a state where free trade is about as popular as a Japanese car, Sanders was especially scathing in his assessment of Clinton's history on the issue.

While she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement she'd championed as secretary of state, Sanders asked voters to look at her record.

"I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton discovered religion on this issue, but it's a little bit too late," Sanders said, addressing moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN. "Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America  NAFTA, supported by the secretary, cost us 800,000 jobs nationwide ... permanent normal trade relations with China cost us millions of jobs."

Homing in on the theme that Clinton is a creature of the economic elite, Sanders jabbed at her "friends" on Wall Street during a discussion of the 2008 bailouts of the financial and auto industries, and he reiterated his call for her to release the transcripts of paid speeches she delivered to Wall Street banks after leaving the State Department.

"One of us has raised $15 million from Wall Street for that super PAC. One of us has given speeches on Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "Now I kind of think that if you get paid a couple of hundred thousand dollars for a speech, it must be a great speech. I think we should release it and let the American people see what that transcript was."

Though Sanders tussled with Clinton on a range of issues, including gun control, welfare reform, criminal justice and fracking, he all but embraced Clinton's line of attack that he's a "single-issue" candidate.

"My one issue is trying to rebuild a disappearing middle class," Sanders said. "That's my one issue."

Where does he go from here? That message will strike a chord for many Democratic voters  and Sanders will have the resources to continue his campaign well into the spring, given the impressive clip at which he's raising funds from grassroots donors.

He's also likely to nab several more victories, with the Mountain West and states like Wisconsin and West Virginia looking like fertile ground, according to demographic data and polls.

Come July, then, Sanders will arrive at the Democratic National Convention with a hefty portion of the delegates  and delegates mean clout. For Hillary Clinton, Sanders represents a force she can't afford to ignore this fall.
Bromances: What are they good for?

Well, according to scientists studying rats in a University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, the answer is: stress relief!

At least thats the takeaway researchers came up with in a recent study that sought to examine the effects of dude-on-dude friendships on mens health. Cheers to bonding with your bros in the name of wellness!

For the study, researchers analyzed the behavior of male rats who shared cages in an effort to glean how the rats used their bonding to deal with stress. (Note: In rat-land, adding stress to the equation means infusing the cage with moderate amounts of predator odor, aka the scent of an animal that wants to kill you.)

We found that moderate stress increased social support-seeking behavior in rat cagemates and facilitated long-term sharing of a limited water resource, decreased aggression and strongly defined dominance ranks (an indicator of home cage stability), the authors wrote.

In other words, the male rats turned to each other to deal with their fears and anxieties! Awww. Males have feelings. Cute.

A bromance can be a good thing, the studys lead author Elizabeth Kirby said in a press release. 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.

To maximize the stress-relieving benefits of a bromance, consider an all-male aerobics class! (This suggestion isnt in the study, but really it should be. Cardio is also a known stress reliever.)

Setting aside for a moment that the term bromance itself is kind of annoying in that it turns the concept of male friendship into a novelty and tries way too hard to be totally not gay, these findings do reiterate what has been suggested by past studies as well: that friendship is good for your health.

In the past, studies have linked friendship to everything from longer lifespans to improved brain function. So the fact that male rats were able to de-stress after a difficult experience by bonding with each other isnt exactly surprising. Whether its male rat friendship or male human friendship, its powers are clearly effective.

Now, lets have a study on the health benefits of male-rat-on-human-male friendship, which was heartwarmingly depicted in the 2007 Disney and Pixar film Ratatouille.
London (AFP) - A group calling itself the IRA says it planted a bomb under a prison officer's van in Northern Ireland, the BBC reported Monday, after police warned of a possible upsurge of violence around a historic anniversary.

The group, also referred to as the New IRA (Irish Republican Army), reportedly claimed responsibility to the broadcaster for the Semtex bomb which exploded in Belfast on Friday, injuring the 52-year-old.

Four people -- three men aged 34, 41 and 45 plus a woman aged 34 -- were arrested in Belfast Sunday evening, police said in a statement.

The group's statement to the BBC said the prison officer was targeted because he was involved in training prison officers who work on a wing where dissident republicans are housed at Maghaberry high-security prison, southwest of Belfast.

On Friday, police in Northern Ireland warned militants were planning to launch attacks marking the 100th anniversary of Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule, a revolt which paved the way for Irish independence.

On Saturday, police found two separate explosive devices they described as "viable" on residential streets in predominantly Catholic and nationalist west Belfast.

And on Sunday, another was found in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second-biggest city.

Some 3,500 people were killed during a mostly sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted more than three decades and pitched groups of Catholics and nationalists, who wanted Northern Ireland to become part of Ireland, against pro-British Protestants and unionists.

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.
San Francisco's new tobacco ordinance  which raises the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21  could help improve the health of a new generation of people by preventing addiction, health officials said.

Nationally, 18-year-olds can buy tobacco products, including cigarettes and cigars. However, in the past decade or so, some American communities, cities and one state (Hawaii) have passed ordinances and laws increasing the minimum age to 21.

These new policies could lead to better brain development among young adults who might have otherwise chosen to smoke at a younger age, said Brian King, the deputy director for research translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health. [10 Scientific Quit-Smoking Tips]

Research suggests that tobacco use, particularly nicotine exposure, can harm the developing human brain, King said. Moreover, the brain doesn't stop developing during the teenage years, but continues until about age 25, he said.

"There's an emerging body of evidence that has demonstrated that nicotine exposure can particularly harm the prefrontal cortex [of the brain] and lead to adverse health effects in the developing adolescent brain," King told Live Science. "And that can also continue into young adulthood."

The prefrontal cortex is involved with aspects of decision-making, cognition and memory, he added.

The new San Francisco ordinance, which is set to take effect June 1 and will also affect e-cigarettes, is also aimed at deterring people from smoking at an early age. About 90 percent of tobacco users begin before age 18, and the vast majority of the rest start before age 26, King said.

"If you can prevent use before the age of 18, you're preventing about 9 in 10 tobacco users," he said. "Then we don't have to help them quit, if we can prevent them from starting in the first place."

According to the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the Food and Drug Administration cannot raise the national age of purchasing tobacco products above age 18, King said. Congress could pass a bill increasing the age, but if it does not, any decision to set the age higher will have to come from individual states, cities and communities, he said.

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However, it's not immediately clear how the San Francisco ordinance will affect smoking rates. New York City; Berkeley, California; Boston; and dozens of other cities and communities have increased the minimum buying age to 21, according to the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, but not enough time has passed in order to study the outcomes of these measures sufficiently.

The preliminary data looks promising, King said. The city of Needham, Massachusetts, raised the buying age to 21 more than a decade ago, in 2005, and a recent survey of the region's youth showed that teenagers in Needham smoked less tobacco in the past 30 days than their peers in neighboring communities did.

That 2015 study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, showed that reported smoking rates dropped from 13 percent to 7 percent among teens in Needham from 2006 to 2010. This drop was larger than the 15 percent to 12 percent decrease seen in neighboring communities that did not raise the buying age, the researchers who conducted the study said. [Five Reasons Smoking Rules are Lax]

Furthermore, the decline was consistent for both genders and for Caucasian and non-Caucasian youth, the researchers reported.

In a March 2015 report, the Institute of Medicine estimated that if all states were to raise the minimum tobacco-buying age to 21, there would be a 12 percent drop in cigarette smoking prevalence across the nation by the year 2100, said King, who was not involved with the research.

"That would translate into nearly 250,000 fewer premature deaths from smoking," he said.

King added that raising the buying age is only one piece of the puzzle in the movement to stem tobacco use in youth and young adults. Policies to keep buildings or other areas smoke-free, media campaigns and better patient services are also helping to prevent or stop tobacco use, he said.

"Youth and young adults are particularly vulnerable to addiction for a variety of reasons," he said. "And so, preventing youth and young adults from starting in the first place could potentially prevent them from a lifelong addiction to tobacco products."

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. 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.
London (AFP) - Britain is to send several vessels to take part in a NATO mission to tackle people smugglers in the Aegean Sea, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Monday as European leaders met to discuss a migration crisis.

Cameron announced that the Royal Navy would send the amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay, which would join two Border Force cutters and a chartered civilian vessel already in the sea between Greece and Turkey, a key crossing point for refugees and migrants heading to the European Union.

The navy ship carries a helicopter on board, and it is expected to shortly begin missions to spot smugglers ferrying people to Greece. The Turkish coastguard will be informed of sightings so they can intercept the boats.

"This migration crisis is the greatest challenge facing Europe today," Cameron said in a statement released before he headed to Brussels for a summit of EU leaders.

"We've got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey."

The British ships will join vessels from Canada, Germany, Greece and Turkey on the unprecedented mission, launched earlier this month to help the European Union cope with its worst migration crisis since World War II.

Cameron described the mission as "an opportunity to stop the smugglers and send out a clear message to migrants contemplating journeys to Europe that they will be turned back".

More than a million migrants fleeing war in Syria and upheaval across the Middle East, Asia and Africa landed in the European Union last year, the bulk of them making the perilous journey across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
The following is an edited version of Marilyn Stasios Off Broadway review of Eclipsed, including new additions addressing the Broadway transfer that opened March 6.

When experienced in the intimacy of the Publics LuEsther Theater earlier this season, Danai Guriras searing drama about womens roles in the Liberian civil war had an extraordinarily visceral impact. With only 177 seats in the house, audience and performers seemed to be breathing the same air. One wondered whether that connection would be broken when the show moved to a much larger Broadway theater. Not to worry. The 900-seat Golden Theater was originally designed to be an intimate house, a good fit for small-scaled, serious plays, of which Eclipsed is decidedly one. And while the $95 top-priced ticket was a draw for downtown theatergoers, at a new top of $145, the show hits the sweet spot for the serious New York theater crowd  the ideal audience for this intense drama  that often feels overlooked and underserved on Broadway.

Playwright Danai Gurira  also the actress best known as Michonne on The Walking Dead  delivers politics with passion in this searing drama about the decisive roles women played in the second Liberian civil war  during which warlords conscripted child soldiers, ate each others hearts and performed human sacrifice. Superbly directed by Liesl Tommy and powerfully acted by a strong ensemble led by the Oscar-winning star of 12 Years a Slave, Lupita Nyongo, the play gives voice to women ranging from the wives of warlords to activists in Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, the political action group that brought an end to the war.

Meticulously detailed design work by Clint Ramos (set and costumes), Jen Schriever (lighting) and Broken Chord (sound) presents a surreal  or perhaps hyper-real  setting of the bullet-riddled one-room hovel where the captured wives and, inevitably, the bastard children of a base commander of the rebel Liberian army are housed. The women are colorfully clothed in authentic but well-worn native dress, and when they arent servicing their unseen lord and master, they remain sequestered in this small room, cooking for him, laundering his clothes and awaiting his every command.

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Helena (the quietly dignified Saycon Sengbloh) is wife #1, the stern and sensible heart of the household. Bessie (Pascale Armand, enchanting) is wife #3, bubbly and babyish, although soon to deliver a baby of her own. Theres not a sign of Maima (the vivacious Zainab Jah), who, although still officially wife #2, has run off to join the rebel army, a sexy soldier fighting for freedom in provocative halter tops and bejeweled jeans.

A 15-year-old orphan known only as the Girl (a heartbreaker, in Nyongos lovely performance) has fled the fighting and taken refuge with the wives, who hide her as best they can under a washtub. But this beautiful virgin is found out, and to her everlasting sorrow becomes wife #4.

The play is about the three-way struggle for the Girls heart and soul, artfully reflecting the difficult choices that every Liberian girl must make when she becomes a woman. Will she put herself under the protection of a powerful warlord, as the commanders two remaining wives have done? Should she make her own destiny and become a soldier, like the swaggering Maima? Or will women like Rita (the forthright Akosua Busia) convince her that true survival  of self, and more important, of home and country  lies in joining the Peace Women of Liberia and working to end the civil war?

The Girl may be young and unsophisticated, but shes no dummy, and in Nyongos intelligent performance, shes a boldly independent thinker. Unnerved by the dehumanization of the wives, she impresses on them the importance of knowing who you are, how old you are and where you come from. Although its sadly ironic that she herself has no given or family name, she instinctively understands that clinging to ones own identity keeps a woman from becoming a slave.

The playwrights argument is that women may be politically powerless, but they have other assets  like moral strength, dignity, and compassion  to draw upon in order to survive man-made wars without giving up their own humanity. The Girl may be too young and inexperienced to know which path she wants to take, but shes brave enough to listen to the arguments of both the soldiers and the peacemakers. And while Gurira boldly leaves the Girls final decision unresolved, shes unafraid to give every woman a voice in her own destiny.

Related stories

Lupita Nyong'o on Her 'Terrifying' Broadway Role in 'Eclipsed'

Off Broadway Review: Danai Gurira's 'Familiar'

Broadway 'Hughie' Closing Early After Box Office Struggle
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said he would neither fight Donald Trump, nor support him, but understood the Republican's appeal for people fed up with politics, who he said had also voted for controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Trudeau - who will visit Washington this week for talks with President Barack Obama - took office last November and will be in power when the next occupant of the White House takes over in January 2017. Trudeau also suggested Trump might not be serious about policy platforms such as tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement, which could badly damage Canada's economy. "I'm not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now. I'm not going to support him either, obviously," Trudeau told a live forum hosted by the Huffington Post when pressed to condemn the Republican. Trudeau said he was watching the United States closely "to see how it deals with what is obviously a very real set of issues around frustration toward the body politic" which had been seen around the world. He cited the case of Ford, the former populist mayor of Toronto who gained global notoriety for admitting to smoking crack while in office. "We had a mayor called Rob Ford here for a while and there's a lot of people who didn't get it. But he tapped into a very real and legitimate sense that people had around who politicians were," said Trudeau. The prime minister seemed less concerned when asked about Trump's proposals to temporarily bar Muslims from the United States and deport millions of illegal immigrants. "Let's see if the things that he needed to say in order to secure the Republican nomination are the same things he chooses to say in order to win the Presidency, if that's what happens," he said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrew Hay)
The American network CBS is reported to have a reboot of the fantasy series in the pipeline, but without the original cast. After doing the rounds online, rumors were later confirmed on Twitter by former series star, Alyssa Milano.

Hot on the heels of "The X-Files", "24" and "Full House", "Charmed" looks set to be the latest series destined to make a small-screen comeback. Ten years after coming to an end on the WB network, now known as CW, the fantasy drama series could be heading back to screens in the form of a reboot.

Unlike other recent comebacks, CBS has excluded the possibility of bringing back stars from the original cast. While David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have recently stepped back into their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully for Fox, Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs have not been called upon for the new version of "Charmed" -- at least not for the time being, since, while they won't be returning to the lead roles, the trio could always reunite for a cameo appearance.

As yet, there's no word on whether CBS will stick to the original story behind "Charmed," with the three Halliwell sisters -- Prue, Piper and Phoebe -- who discover they have supernatural powers upon the death of their grandmother. The network could opt for a new line-up of lead characters in a totally different setting, leaving behind the family's San Francisco manor.

"Charmed" ran from 1998 to 2006 and was a hit series on US TV. The Aaron Spelling production followed three sisters who also happen to be witches, played by Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, using their magical powers to combat evil forces. After Shannen Doherty quit the show, Rose McGowan starred as the trio's half-sister Paige from the fourth season onwards.
By Joel Schectman and Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. export restriction against China's ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> for alleged Iran sanctions violations is likely to disrupt the telecom manufacturer's sprawling global supply chain and could create substantial parts shortages, according to sanctions experts.

Under the measure announced by the Commerce Department on Monday, ZTE, which is a major global supplier of telecom-networking equipment, U.S. manufacturers will be banned from selling components to ZTE. In addition, foreign manufacturers will be prohibited from selling products containing a significant amount of U.S.-made parts to the Chinese company.

The Commerce Department, confirming the decision that was first reported by Reuters on Saturday, said ZTE planned to use a series of shell companies to illicitly reexport controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws." It said ZTE acted "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

While ZTE suppliers can apply for an export license to ship any American-made equipment or parts, the Commerce Department said such license applications generally will be denied.

The export restriction, which does not stop ZTE from selling handsets in the United States, is expected to have a global impact.

It is going to have a large ripple effect. Its very significant to many companies both in the U.S. and [outside the] U.S., said Doug Jacobson, an export attorney at law firm Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC, who said he has been fielding calls from clients who supply ZTE since Reuters broke news of the impending export restrictions.

For example, a Taiwanese chipmaker that uses American-made components to make processors for ZTE handsets would likely have to cut off those sales. If the Taiwanese supplier only procures components from outside the United States it can continue to sell to ZTE, experts said.

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I am telling all my clients today that anything (for ZTE)not already on board an airplane going to China, you cannot ship it starting tonight. They have to scrub and screen their customers lists  pending orders and future orders  to make sure that any transactions with ZTE are flagged and stopped.

ZTE, which has annual sales of more than $15 billion and is the only Chinese smartphone maker with a meaningful presence in the U.S. market, can appeal the decision.

EFFECT ON HANDSET PRODUCTION

ZTE is the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the United States behind Apple Inc <AAPL.O>, Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS> and LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS>. It sells handset devices to three of the four largest U.S. mobile carriers - AT&T <T.N>, T-Mobile US <TMUS.O> and Sprint Corp <S.N>.

Although ZTE is not being banned from selling handsets in the United States, the export restriction could disrupt handset production if ZTE sources American-made parts to manufacture its handsets, experts said.

AT&T declined to comment, and T-Mobile and Sprint did not respond to requests for comment.

A ZTE website states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Intel Corp <INTC.O>, IBM <IBM.N> and Honeywell International Inc <HON.N>, are "key strategic partners." The terms of the partnerships are not described.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Restrictions will not stop ZTE from buying components that do not contain American-made parts. But suppliers may choose to halt the sales of non-U.S. components that are still allowed, said Kay Georgi, an export attorney at law firm Arent Fox LLP.

"When you get placed on one of these lists nobody wants to do business with you at all," Georgi said. "They just write you off."

Trading in ZTE was halted in Hong Kong and Shenzhen pending the announcement before Asian markets closed. U.S.-listed shares of ZTE <ZTCOY.PK> <ZTCOY.PK> were up in a handful of trades in the over-the-counter market.

The United States has long banned the sale of U.S.-made technology products to Iran as part of its sanctions, even as China maintains close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties with the Tehran government. Last year, the United States and major world powers reached a deal with Iran to loosen economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.

"We hope this sends a strong message to ZTE, to China, and to other Chinese telecommunications companies who present serious national security risks not only by evading export controls, but by purposefully compromising supply chain security," said U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

(Reporting by Steve Stecklow in London, Susan Heavey in Washington, Yimou Lee in Hong Kong, Dan Burns and Malathi Nayak in New York; Editing by Grant McCool, Soyoung Kim and Leslie Adler)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Thirteen Kurdish militants and two Turkish soldiers have been killed during two days of fighting in restive southeastern Turkey, officials said on Monday. The militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Monday when a firefight broke out in the town of Idil, which has been under a round-the-clock curfew since Feb. 16 in an effort to root the rebels out. The military said on Sunday a soldier had been killed in Idil. On Monday it said a soldier had been killed by a sharpshooter in Sur, a historic district in Diyarbakir, the largest city of the mainly Kurdish southeast. Sur is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and its monuments have been badly damaged since a curfew was imposed on Dec. 2, photographs have shown. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday the lockdown in Sur would end by March 21. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers, PKK fighters and civilians have been killed since July, when the PKK abandoned a 2-1/2 year ceasefire, igniting the worst violence in 20 years. The autonomy-seeking PKK has waged an armed campaign against Turkey since 1984, and more than 40,000 people have died. President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to continue the operations until the PKK gives up its weapons. Security forces disposed of hundreds of explosives in Idil, a town of two- and three-storey homes with a population of 73,000 people situated 25 km (15 miles) north of the Syrian border, sources said. Militants had built 500 ditches and barricades in the town, they said. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Vilmos Zsigmond was remembered as a brave hero, a generous teacher and individual and a master talent who changed the art of cinematography during a memorial service held Saturday at the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Clubhouse in Hollywood.

One of the worlds most influential cinematographers, Zsigmond passed away Jan. 1 at the age of 85. He won an Oscar in 1978 for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and earned additional nominations for The Deer Hunter (1978), The River (1984) and The Black Dahlia (2006). Zsigmond received the 1999 ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, and his credits also included McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).

The estimated 150 who came out to honor Zsigmond at the memorial service were fellow ASC Lifetime Achievement honorees Owen Roizman (The French Connection), Stephen Burum (Hoffa) and John Bailey (The Big Chill), along with string of ASC member cinematographers, friends, family, and those representing his native Hungary.

The Hungarian-born Zsigmond was taught in the European style of cinematography with particular appreciation for light gradations and color tone. While a student at Budapest Film School, he formed a friendship with fellow student Laszlo Kovacs (Easy Rider), who also went on to become one of Hollywood's most influential directors of photography.

As their famous story goes, in 1956 when the Soviet Union rolled its tanks into Budapest, Zsigmond and Kovacs borrowed film and a camera from their school, hid the camera in a paper bag with a hole for the lens and photographed the conflict. The pair then risked their lives on a dangerous journey during which they carried 30,000 feet of documentary film across the border into Austria. They entered the U.S. as political refugees in 1957, and the footage was later aired on CBS for a documentary about the conflict, narrated by Walter Cronkite. Zsigmond gained his U.S. citizenship in 1962, and went on to leave his mark on the American New Wave of the late '60s and early '70s.

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If you want to see his impact look around, said ASC president Richard Crudo, who presided over the service. My generation looked up to him in awe. Everything we see today on screens big and small are in some way related to the originality of his work.

My years work with Vilmos were the best and hardest of my career,  said Michael Gershman, who had served as Zsigmonds first assistant and camera operator for many years. His only rule were there were no rules. He challenged everyone to be better at their jobs. He would see things that nobody else would see.

He taught me about light, camera movement and composition  and about wine. He liked to start with wine as a way to say &lsquolets make a nice movie,  he added.

None of these memories or history would be possible if not for one word  and this word isnt political, its philosophical  immigration, remarked ASC past president Woody Omens. Without immigration, it would have been a great loss for the country not to have had Vilmos  and a great loss for Hollywood, for the film industry, for the ASC. It would have been a great loss for (his wife) Susan, not to meet the love of her life. And it would have been a great loss of all of his students.

Director and cinematographer James Chressanthis, who made the 2008 documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos, recalled that Zsigmond once said of teaching, "When you are successful, you help the next person.' He was so humble and sharing of his knowledge. ... And when he was awarded the Oscar, he said 'I want to thank the American people for giving me a second life, and he also thanked his Hungarian mentors. He never forgot where he came from and neither should we.

If he had nothing else but Hungary, his place in film history would be secure. But he did so much more, said camera operator Joe Urbanczyk. "He was a man in perpetual search for perfection. ... and he brought out the best in everyone who worked with him. He taught us the delicate balance between light and shadows, not just in film, but in our own lives. He revealed the magnificent light that lives in the human spirit.

Read More: Vilmos Zsigmond, 'Close Encounters' Cinematographer, Dies at 85
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard has given up searching for a 46-year-old man who fell off a cruise ship near the Florida coast, the agency said late on Sunday.

Texas resident David Mossman fell about 100 feet (30 meters) into the sea from the 10th deck of a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd ship, the Navigator of the Seas, around 3 a.m. on Saturday, the Coast Guard said.

"We want to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Mossman as the decision to suspend a search is never an easy one to make and is done with great care and deliberation," Chris Eddy, search-and-rescue technical specialist at the Coast Guard 7th District, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and an exhaustive search, our crews were unable to locate him."

A helicopter and an airplane began searching for Mossman on Saturday. As of Sunday evening, the Coast Guard had covered up to 2,583 square nautical miles but had not located Mossman.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Mark Potter and Sandra Maler)
San Salvador (AFP) - El Salvador's Supreme Court on Monday announced it was freezing bank accounts held by former president Elias Antonio Saca, who is under investigation on corruption charges.

The decision to block his five accounts was made because Saca had been unable to prove the provenance of the money in them, the court said in a ruling.

The ex-leader and his wife were also prohibited from transferring shares they own in five communications companies.

Two weeks ago, the tribunal ordered a civil trial be opened against Saca on suspicion he illegally amassed at least $5 million while ruling the Central American nation between 2004 and 2009.

If illegal enrichment is proved, prosecutors could push for a criminal trial could be opened for corruption.

Another former president of the country is facing similar action. Early last month, the Supreme Court ordered a civil trial of Mauricio Funes, who ruled for five years after Saca, also on suspicion of illegal enrichment to the tune of $700,000.
Brisbane (Australia) (AFP) - A man known as "Mad Matt" appeared in an Australian court Monday after filming himself allegedly biting the head off a live rat and posting the video on Facebook.

Matthew Maloney, 24, was charged with animal cruelty following a raid by RSPCA investigators after the bizarre stunt in January.

He appeared briefly in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, making no plea, with the case adjourned until April 6, a court official said.

The video shows Maloney storming into a room, allegedly biting off the rat's head and washing it down with three shots of vodka. He then gets punched in the face and has a chair broken over his back before saying "beat that".

The clip, which remains on his "Mad Matts vids" Facebook page and been viewed more than 230,000 times, was reportedly an attempt to create a disturbing new social-media challenge.

After a string of comments branding him disgusting, Maloney posted a reply.

"All your comments are cracking me up and not one person out there will be able to say anything that will make me feel bad or make me regret what i did," he wrote.

"Its mother nature and mans gotta eat!"
Ben Carson

Ben Carson formally pulled the plug on his White House bid on Friday, but the retired neurosurgeon's campaign died long before.

The date was November 17. In a bombshell New York Times report, a man whom longtime Carson adviser Armstrong Williams described as a "mentor" to Carson said the Republican candidate couldn't be taught "one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East."

The man, Duane Clarridge, a former CIA agent, reportedly said Carson needed weekly conference calls on foreign policy so "we can make him smart."

Clarridge, described by The Times as a top Carson campaign adviser on terrorism and national security, said a claim Carson made in a November GOP debate was based on faulty information. Carson had said of Syria: "The Chinese are there."

The story was devastating to Carson's candidacy, as it was published at the same time voters were pivoting to foreign-policy issues, just four days after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Just 10 days before, Carson had done something no other candidate had before, according to RealClearPolitics' polling average: overtake Donald Trump in national polls after last summer, when the Republican frontrunner had surged to the top.

Carson overtook Trump for the first time on November 4, but Carson soon dipped back down behind the frontrunner. Through November 13, the day of the Paris terrorist attacks, he was within half a point of Trump for first.

"I mean on November 13, we were on pace to raise $40 million for the quarter," ex-Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett, now a volunteer adviser for Trump's campaign, told Business Insider in an earlier interview. "Then the campaign it just hit that ice patch. And so, instead of raising another $20 million for the second half of the quarter, they raised $3 [million.]"

Bennett said everyone knew it was the beginning of the end after the Times article dropped.

"They all thought that there were different ways out," Bennett said. "They were going to eschew a bunch of policy papers and change the trajectory of the campaign ... And then Armstrong Williams started inserting himself more and more."

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He continued: "The Paris attack, coupled with the Armstrong Williams story about how Ben doesn't understand foreign affairs, really just brought fund-raising to a complete standstill."

ben carson

The campaign, as well as Williams  who was not officially a part of the campaign but frequently appeared as a Carson surrogate in news interviews  tried to walk back Clarridge's statements and the broader view that Carson was a national-security novice.

But it was too late. The early December terror attack in San Bernardino, California, further cemented foreign-policy themes into the Republican primaries.

Carson's poll numbers were in a free fall. Within a week, he had dropped four points. By mid-December, he'd lost half of his support.

At the same time, Trump's support swelled to record highs. By Christmas, the mogul reached an all-time high in the average of polls. On New Year's Eve, with Carson's support dipping below 10%, Bennett and the campaign's communications director, Doug Watts, abruptly resigned, with Williams' influence cited as a large reason for the upheaval.

The changes didn't end up helping Carson, who first burst onto the political scene in 2013 after unleashing a scathing critique of US President Barack Obama while the president was seated next to him at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Carson's polling numbers continued to plummet, falling to just under 8% by the February 1 Iowa caucuses, where he finished fourth. As more and more candidates began to drop out of the race, Carson was unable to pick up any of their voters.

Ben Carson

Although the January FEC report showed that Carson had nearly as much cash on hand as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the retired doctor continued to finish near the bottom in each race since, with this past week's "Super Tuesday" primaries being one final disaster. Carson did not finish better than fourth in at least 11 of the 12 states that voted.

With just eight total delegates, and after Williams and his campaign chair, Bob Dees, both said they saw no path to victory, Carson finally decided to suspend the campaign.

"Even though I might be leaving the campaign trail  you know theres a lot of people who love me, they just wont vote for me," he said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "I will still be heavily involved in trying to save our nation," he added.

Soon after making the announcement and telling the crowd he would be taking a job with My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan group focused on getting US Christian voters to turn out, Carson talked about a regret that likely led to the bombshell Times story.

"I regret not choosing my own people early on," he told WABC. "Letting other people do that and trusting them. That was clearly a mistake."

NOW WATCH: Sanders predicts he'll win the democratic nomination in one of the great 'political upsets in the history of the US'





More From Business Insider


Nevers (France) (AFP) - The trial of a Dutch man dubbed the "dentist of horror" after allegedly mutilating the mouths of more than 100 patients in France is due to open on Tuesday.

Jacobus van Nierop, 51, ripped out healthy teeth and left dozens of patients in a remote French village with broken jaws, recurrent abscesses and septicaemia.

He is charged with aggravated assault as well as fraud over claims that he tried to rip off patients and insurance companies, and faces up to 10 years in prison and a 150,000 euro ($165,000) fine if found guilty.

Van Nierop, who went by the first name of Mark, was hired by a head-hunter in 2008 and was initially welcomed by locals in the rural area of Chateau-Chinon, who were sorely lacking in medical services.

Sylviane Boulesteix, 65, visited the dentist in March 2012 to have braces fitted.

"He gave me seven or eight injections, and pulled out eight teeth in one go. I was gushing blood for three days," she said.

An 80-year-old, Bernard Hugon, said the dentist left "pieces of flesh hanging everywhere" after tearing out a tooth.

"Every time, he would give us what he called 'a little prick' and we were asleep, knocked out," said Nicole Martin, a retired teacher who lost several teeth to abscesses caused by the horrific operations.

"When it was over, we would find a Post-it note saying to come back for an appointment the next day or the day after," she added.

Martin set up a victims' group in early 2013 to press charges, and it soon swelled to 120 members.

In June of that year, police arrested Van Nierop but left him free pending trial, and he fled the country the following December.

He was eventually tracked down to a small Canadian town in New Brunswick and arrested under an international warrant in September 2014.

Local media reported that he tried to slit his throat when police arrested him.

Van Nierop tried to block his extradition, first to the Netherlands and then France, claiming to suffer from "psychological problems" including gender identity issues and suicidal tendencies. But he was eventually placed in a prison psychiatric unit in the Loiret department, south of Paris.

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"He claimed to have killed his first wife, he played crazy, he said he was trans-sexual. He tried everything" to avoid extradition, Martin said.

According to Dutch media, Van Nierop had already come under investigation at home over his working practices before coming to France.

The trial in Nevers is due to last until March 18.
Geneva (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo's famous rape-care doctor Denis Mukwege will present a petition to the United Nations Tuesday demanding perpetrators of widespread, horrific sexual abuse in the country to be held accountable.

The petition, signed by nearly 200 organisations, will be handed over to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on International Women's Day, Thierry Michel, a Belgian director behind an acclaimed film about Mukwege said Monday.

"When a state is not taking its responsibility, the international community must step up," Michel told a conference in Geneva Monday.

The text, entitled "No to Impunity", demands among other things that the UN human rights office publish a long-secret list of 617 suspected perpetrators of rape and other serious human rights abuses in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003.

It also wants the UN to support the creation of a special court, made up mainly of international judges and prosecutors, to try suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country and calls for DNA to be systematically collected in rape cases.

"That could really help us determine who is behind all of these rapes," Mukwege told AFP on the sidelines of the Geneva conference.

Mukwege, known as "Doctor Miracle" due to his surgical skills and dedication to repairing the physical and psychological scars of women shattered by sexual violence, has since 1999 helped some 40,000 rape victims in the Panzi hospital he founded near Bukavu in conflict-riven South Kivu province.

Rival forces fighting for control of the vast mineral riches in eastern DR Congo have used mass rape for decades to terrorise the local population into submission.

- Raping babies -

"These rapes are a true strategy or war," lamented Mukwege, who describes horrifically violent sexual abuse, in which women's pelvises are smashed, intestines ripped, and foetuses sliced out of their pregnant mother's belly.

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The 61-year-old gynaecologist, who won the prestigious Sakharov rights prize in 2014 and has repeatedly been tipped among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said the number of rape cases flooding into his hospital have diminished some as fighting has dwindled.

While he was treating 10 rape victims each day a few years ago, that number has fallen to below seven.

But today, victims are increasingly coming from areas not in conflict, Mukwege said, also voicing alarm that "a growing number of children, even babies," are among the victims.

"This is something we are very worried about," he said.

Over just a couple of years, a study showed thousands of children in the region had been raped, more than 200 under the age of five, he said.

He also warned that former child soldiers, who had been brainwashed by armed groups and forced for months or years to do horrifying things, were being enlisted into the army with no psychological support.

"People should not be surprised that (rape) has metastasised in our society," he said.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday he was moderately optimistic that the European Union leaders and Ankara would reach agreement over a deal to limit flows of migrants into Europe through Turkey. "You are talking about pledges, I think it is more about coming to a joint approach and I'm moderately optimistic that we can take such steps today," Rutte, whose country holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, said on arriving for a meeting between EU leaders and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop and Robert-Jan Bartunek)
Earth's inner core is a metallic mix of iron and light elements such as sulfur, hydrogen and silicon, a new study finds.

This isn't the first time scientists have proposed that Earth's fiery depths are filled with brimstone, another name for sulfur. That's because the inner core is less dense than it would be if the solid metal ball were pure iron. However, the new research further confirms the idea with tests of pure iron at the extreme temperatures and pressures found in the inner core.

Researchers at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, mimicked the inner core in a laboratory equipped with a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. A small crumb of pure iron was squeezed between two diamond-tipped anvils to create high pressure and blasted with laser beams to boost the temperature. The experiment reached 163 gigapascals (about 1.6 million times the pressure at sea level) and about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,000 kelvins, or about 2,700 degrees Celsius). [Religion and Science: 6 Visions of Earth's Core]

During the experiment, the team measured how fast sound waves traveled through iron at these conditions. If the Earth's inner core was pure iron, then the speed of sound waves traveling through the core should be similar to the experimental results.

But instead, the researchers discovered the velocity of sound waves through Earth's actual core is lower than if it were made only of iron. The data and observations match more closely if 5 to 10 percent of the core's weight is a mix of sulfur, hydrogen and silicon, the researchers report today (Feb. 26) in the journal Science Advances.

"This result helps us constrain the candidate elements in the core," said lead study author Tatsuya Sakamaki, of Tohoku University. "We already know that the Earth's core contains some amount of light elements because the density of the core is smaller than that of iron. In this study, we newly show that the velocity of the core is also smaller than that of iron," Sakamaki told Live Science in an email interview.

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Although scientists cannot directly measure the Earth's core, they can estimate its size and composition with models based on how fast earthquake waves zip around inside the planet.

Measuring the amount of light elements in the inner core can help add detail to models of Earth's violent formation, the researchers said. Scientists think Earth was bombarded by giant impacts late in its birth cycle. The chemistry of the core relates to the size of the cataclysmic collisions and the temperature of the magma ocean that emerged afterward.

The core formed as metals sunk out of the magma ocean, trickling down toward the center of the planet  a process that is sensitive to temperature. "In other words, the core composition may reflect the temperature condition of the magma ocean," Sakamaki said. Knowing the temperature of the roiling sea of molten rock can help pin down the size of early impacts, according to Sakamaki.

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.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will allow wheat imports with trace levels of the ergot fungus of up to 0.05 percent, the agriculture ministry said on Monday, a day after the head of its agriculture quarantine authority was changed. Former quarantine head Saad Moussa's zero tolerance policy on ergot had lead to shipments to the world's biggest importer of wheat being rejected. Moussa was replaced on Sunday by Ibrahim Ahmed Imbabi. Egypt's agriculture ministry also said it would work with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on its wheat import policy. The zero tolerance policy under Moussa was at odds with the ministries of agriculture and supplies, both of which back a more common international standard that allows trace levels. The disrupted wheat tenders have raised the possibility of a shortage of grain which could pose a political problem for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the impoverished population relies on highly subsidised bread. Many international trading houses, who say guaranteeing zero ergot is impossible, have declined to make offers in state wheat tenders, saying it was too costly to risk having their shipments later turned away by the quarantine authority. The FAO sent a delegation to Egypt led by Pasquale Steduto, an FAO expert on water and irrigation issues, to discuss the country's 1.5 million feddans (630,000 hectares) desert reclamation project, a FAO statement said. The reclamation project aims to expand Egypt's farmland by 20 percent. The FAO will also be meeting with various parties in Egypt to study the danger of ergot and to develop policy recommendations, which will be used to write legislation on the issue, the agriculture ministry statement said. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; writing by Eric Knecht; editing by David Clarke)
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt and France began Sunday joint manoeuvres in the Mediterranean in which French Rafale warplanes purchased by Cairo last year are taking part, the Egyptian army said.

The "Ramses 2016" military and naval exercise is being held off the coast of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and are expected to last for several days, the army said on its Facebook page.

Paris announced the manoeuvres Tuesday saying the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is being used to launch air strikes on the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, would also take part.

The drill is aimed at "sharing our expertise with the Egyptian military... one of our main Middle East partners," the French defence ministry said at the time.

The Egyptian army said a French multi-mission frigate purchased by Cairo last year would also take part in the drill along with Rafale combat jets and F-16 warplanes.

In 2015, Cairo signed a multi-billion euro deal to purchase from France 24 Rafale fighters, of which six have been already delivered.

On December 19, the Charles de Gaulle carrier took command in the Gulf of the naval contingent operating as part of the international coalition fighting the jihadist IS group.

The French-Egyptian manoeuvres are taking place amid Western concerns over the growing influence of IS in Libya, a country bordering Egypt.
Cairo (AFP) - The Arab League said Monday Egypt has presented Ahmed Abul Gheit, ex-president Hosni Mubarak's last foreign minister, as its candidate to head the pan-Arab body after its present chief declined a second term.

In February, the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, 80, announced that he would not seek a second term after his current one ends in July.

"The Arab League has been officially notified by Egypt that its candidate for the post of secretary general is foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit," said Ahmed Ben Helli, the deputy chief of the Cairo-based League.

He told reporters that only Egypt so far had presented its candidate to head the Arab diplomatic body.

Traditionally, the secretary general of Arab League has held the post for two terms, and Cairo has always insisted that it be held by an Egyptian diplomat.

Arab League foreign ministers will hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss the candidacy of Abul Gheit, 74.

Appointed in 2004, Abul Gheit was the last foreign minister of Mubarak, who was overthrown in a popular 18-day uprising in early 2011.

After Mubarak's ouster, the veteran diplomat, who was well known for his tough position on Iran, had stayed away from politics and devoted his time to writing.

After joining the Egyptian foreign service in 1967, Abul Gheit held several diplomatic posts, including in Rome, Moscow and New York.

In 1999 he was appointed Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Abul Gheit had also participated in the Camp David negotiations that saw the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979.

Arabi, also a veteran Egyptian diplomat, had taken over as the bloc's chief from fellow Egyptian diplomat Amr Moussa in 2011.

Since becoming secretary general, Arabi has had to contend with a number of sensitive issues, including the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Libya, as well as the rise of the Islamic State jihadist group.
* First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) payments since terms extended to 90 days-sources

* Traders estimate EGAS owes $1 billion to LNG suppliers

By Sarah McFarlane and Oleg Vukmanovic

LONDON/MILAN, March 7 (Reuters) - Egypt's state-owned EGAS has made its first payments to liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers since payment terms for deliveries were extended, trade sources said.

Egypt imports around six to eight cargoes of LNG per month and traders said that until last week EGAS had not paid suppliers since December when it extended payment terms to 90 days from the usual 15 days, due to the country's foreign currency crisis.

EGAS head Khaled Abdel Badie told Reuters his company has made all payments that were due on LNG shipments but did not specify whether these were the first payments this year.

"We agreed with the companies to paying dues owed to them over a period of 90 days, and we are committed to this payment process," he said.

Egypt became a major market for LNG shippers after the launch of two floating import terminals last year as the country looks to plug an energy shortage that has halted industrial production during summer months and caused rolling blackouts.

A sharper decline in foreign currency receipts since the Russian airliner disaster in October, which has hit tourism, combined with low oil prices limiting aid from Gulf allies, has hindered Egypt's ability to pay for commodities.

Market participants said Egypt now owes LNG suppliers up to $1 billion and the extended payment terms have increased the country's risk profile for future LNG deals.

In January British oil major BP diverted a LNG tanker to Brazil rather than discharging in Egypt, a move which traders said was related to payment delays from EGAS, but BP and EGAS said the cargo was postponed.

BP declined to comment on whether they had received any payments from EGAS subsequent to the extended payment terms.

"We remain comfortable with our contractual arrangements with EGAS under which we continue to deliver," a spokeswoman for BP said, adding that contract details were confidential.

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Commodities trade house Trafigura, the largest supplier to EGAS, also declined to comment on whether they had been paid.

"We consider ourselves a long-term partner of Egypt. We have confidence in our client's commitment and continue to deliver two to three cargoes of LNG per month to Ain Sokhna," a spokeswoman for Trafigura said.

Other LNG suppliers to Egypt include Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) , Gas Natural (AMEX: EGAS - news) , Vitol, EDF Trading, PetroChina (HKSE: 0857-OL.HK - news) and Noble.

(Additional reporting by Abdel Rahman Adel and Eric Knecht in Cairo, editing by David Evans)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Suez Cement, which is 55 percent owned by Italian firm Italicementi, is struggling to transfer shareholder profits out of Egypt because of a foreign currency crisis, the Egyptian firm said on Monday. Egypt has been struggling to revive its economy since a 2011 uprising drove major sources of foreign currency such as foreign investors and tourists away. Pressure for a devaluation of the pound has been building but the central bank has kept it fixed at 7.7301 pounds per dollar. The bank has been trying to conserve hard currency by prioritising its use for the imports of essential goods. "The company has faced some challenges in transferring shareholder's profits abroad, which is estimated around 50 million euros ($54.8 million), as a result of the foreign currency crisis in Egypt," Suez Cement Managing Director Bruno Carre said in a statement. The statement did not say which period the 50 million euros in profit covered and a company spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. In an attempt to fight a currency black market, the central bank has also imposed restrictions on cash deposits, leaving many businessmen unable to access dollars for imports and resulting in goods piling up at ports. In recent weeks airlines operating out of Egypt have complained that they have been unable to repatriate earnings. The Civil Aviation Ministry later said the central bank had agreed on payment schedules with those carriers. ($1 = 0.9129 euros) (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; writing by Asma Alsharif; editing by David Clarke)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders agreed at a summit with Turkey on Monday to follow up by next week on Turkish proposals to halt departures of all migrants and refugees to Greece in return for EU actions, the Luxembourg premier said. After the summit concluded, Xavier Bettel tweeted that summit chairman Donald Tusk "will take forward the proposals and work out the details with the Turkish side before the March" 17-18 summit of EU leaders, a long-scheduled meeting. Martin Selmayr, chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, tweeted: "Deal. Breakthrough with Turkey." (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union would double the amount of money it has offered Turkey to help Syrian refugees and to take in Syrians direct from Turkey, according to a draft proposal on Monday seen by Reuters. A draft statement prepared during an EU-Turkey summit listed actions that both sides could take to end the migration crisis. Among these, were a proposal that Turkey would take back all irregular migrants from Greek islands, including Syrians, while the EU would then admit directly from Turkey one Syrian refugee for every Syrian readmitted to Turkey from the Greek islands. The EU would offer a further 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) until the end of 2018 to help Turkey shelter Syrians, doubling the amount of an earlier offer. And it would ease visa requirements for Turks wishing to visit Europe's Schengen area by the end of June, earlier than had been planned. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
By Heide Brandes

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A former Oklahoma City police officer convicted of raping several women while he was on duty assaulted another woman who alerted police seven months before the first reported incident, an attorney for several victims said on Monday.

The city police knew of a complaint filed on Nov. 5, 2013 by Demetria Campbell against officer Daniel Holtzclaw months before other accusations began to emerge, said attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents seven of Holtzclaw's victims in a civil lawsuit amended on Friday to include Campbell's case. The original lawsuit was filed on Feb. 25.

An investigation of Holtzclaw was not opened at that point, according to the lawsuit.

Seven months after Campbell complained, Jannie Ligons came forward on June 18, 2014, after being sexually assaulted by Holtzclaw. Police then opened an investigation of Holtzclaw.

Demetria Campbell was the first victim of this serial rapist with a badge, Crump said at a news conference on Monday. Oklahoma City knew exactly who he was and did nothing when she came forward. If they had done something about Demetria Campbells complaint, all these other rapes could have been avoided.

The lawsuit was filed against Holtzclaw, the city, Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty, Holtzclaw's supervisor, officer Brian Bennett, and Detective Rocky Gregory.

City officials declined to comment. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In December, an Oklahoma City jury found Holtzclaw, 29, guilty on 18 of 36 charges of sexual assault. Thirteen women testified against the former officer, describing encounters in which Holtzclaw coerced or forced his victims to perform sexual acts on him. He was sentenced to 263 years in prison, the maximum allowable, in January.

Prosecutors said Holtzclaw sexually abused multiple women between December 2013 and June 2014, targeting victims from a poorer, mostly African-American area of Oklahoma City.

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Holtzclaw unlawfully detained Campbell in November 2013 while she was in Oklahoma City visiting her terminally ill daughter at a hospital, according to the lawsuit.

The officer slammed her into a brick wall at the restaurant where she had gone to buy food and rubbed his genitals against her before handcuffing her and driving around the city with her in his car, according to the lawsuit. He released her after she urinated on herself, according to the lawsuit.

Campbell returned to the hospital, where an officer took her complaint against Holtzclaw, but she was never contacted again by the police, according to the lawsuit. In addition, Holtzclaw was not placed on desk duty and investigated after that complaint, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges the Oklahoma City Police Department failed to properly test, train and monitor Holtzclaw.

(Reporting by Heide Brandes, Editing by Ben Klayman and Dan Grebler)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The city council in Ferguson, Missouri said on Monday it may reconsider accepting an agreement with the Justice Department to overhaul its local justice system that it had previously sought to change, after the city faced legal action.

Citing cost concerns, the council voted on Feb. 10 to amend the agreement it had reached with the Justice Department to reform the city police department and municipal courts to address racial divisions.

The accord followed protests, sometimes violent, after the August 2014 killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer.

The Justice Department announced one day after the city council's vote that it would sue Ferguson to enforce the agreement without revisions.

Vanita Gupta, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a letter to the city council on Friday that it is the department's policy to work with cities who find the cost of such agreements prohibitive.

"It is not uncommon for financial or staffing challenges to arise in the course of implementation of our consent decrees," Gupta said in the letter. "Provided those challenges are genuine, approached in good faith and not pretexts for non-compliance, we are committed to working with jurisdictions to overcome those challenges."

In a statement released Monday, the Ferguson city council said that with those assurances, it "may reconsider whether or not to authorize" the settlement at a meeting on Tuesday.

If the city council votes to reconsider the agreement and then votes to approve it, the Justice Department's lawsuit against the city would be resolved.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Alistair Bell)
As if her first teaming with director Josh C. Waller on his 2013 debut feature, Raze  involving a sort of lethal female fight club  werent punishing enough, Zoe Bell gets pummeled (and occasionally shot) throughout most of Camino. This thriller abandons that earlier pics featureless underground interiors for dense jungle terrain, but otherwise similarly trades in violent action as our photojournalist heroine flees the anti-government freedom fighters whove turned on her. Set in 1985 Colombia, Camino is a competent but unmemorable B-movie that eschews any real political content in favor of simple, brutal survival melodrama with scant room for surprises in plot, character or directorial style. Bowing on VOD and iTunes March 8, just days after a limited theatrical launch, this resourceful low-budgeter should do well enough as a streaming item in various markets.

Having just won a photojournalist-of-the-year award for her coverage of war zones, Avery Taggert (Bell) is too cynical and surly to enjoy the moment, instead letting editor Donald (Kevin Pollak) pack her off immediately to another far-flung, potentially dangerous assignment. This time its tagging along with a small group of armed guerrillas/missionaries out to save Colombia by bringing medicine and revolutionary fervor to remote villages under expat Spaniard Guillermo (Nacho Vigalondo, writer-director of the inventive Spanish genre pics Timecrimes and Extraterrestrial).

His few followers range from idealistic, like Sebastian (Jason Canela), to borderline psychotic, like the trigger-happy Alejo (Tenoch Huerta). But the mission itself seems well intentioned until one night, when Avery happens to spy Guillermo conducting a secret transaction that casts great doubt on his personal motives. Worse, theres another witness  an innocent village child  whose immediate demise Avery captures on film. Caught literally redhanded, Guillermo in turn fingers her for the murder, in order to erase both evidence and accuser.

This happens at about the half-hour point, leaving nearly 75 minutes more for a chase through the jungle in which Avery must outwit and occasionally off her pursuers. Meanwhile, some of the latter (also including Francisco Barreiro, Sheila Vand and Nancy Gomez) begin to doubt Guillermo, questioning why a famous, well-connected gringa would kill a child in order to smuggle drugs (his version of what happened). As Guillermo does not take criticism well, he soon becomes a deadlier adversary to his own troops than the one theyre stalking.

The eventful screenplay is by Daniel Noah (who also wrote Wallers sophomore feature, McCanick, as well as his own directorial features Twelve and Max Rose), and was apparently written in great haste to take advantage of a narrow production window. Still, the intriguing premise of a wannabe-Che peoples savior turning out to be corrupt and increasingly mad isnt exploited in any truly interesting ways. Though theres one decent late twist, there are also glaringly implausible moments (such as the villain choosing to leave Avery alive at one juncture when he could easily finish her off), and neither the situations nor the character writing ever rise above workmanlike survival-action formula. That would be OK if Camino conjured more suspense, mystery or exotic atmosphere from its simple narrative concept, but Noahs direction is uninspired. As in Raze, the violence is incessant enough to be borderline monotonous, convincingly brutal yet handled sans any particular visceral flair.

Bell is back on terra more firma after her awkward if brief Annie Oakley-like turn in The Hateful Eight. But beyond the roles tailor-fit strenuous physicality, the former stuntwoman still seems a mite thin onscreen presence as a lead  admittedly, not an unusual deficit when it comes to athletes of one discipline or another promoted to headlining action movies. Other cast members (also including Dominic Rains as Averys husband in rote flashbacks) are decent if a bit conventionally glam in this context. Vigalondo doesnt share that problem, though hes not quite as threatening or commanding as Guillermo should be.

Assembly is solid: Noah Greenbergs widescreen lensing of outdoor locations (with Hawaii largely standing in for Colombia) is a highlight, as it was in last years Daniel Noah/Waller-produced The Boy. Brett W. Bachmans editing maintains a brisk pace, while the score by Kreng (aka Pepjin Caudron) is often interesting if occasionally overbearing.

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Helsinki (AFP) - A plan by Finland's centre-right government to revive the eurozone country's sluggish economy by extending working hours and reducing pay was at risk of unravelling Monday after key labour unions refused to endorse a deal.

Dubbed the "social contract" by Finland's pro-austerity government, the plan would result in three extra working days per year without compensation for many workers, and employees would have to pay a greater portion of social insurance contributions.

The plan is the brainchild of Prime Minister Juha Sipila, a former businessman who took office last May, to help the country recover from four years of recession and stagnation by restoring economic competitiveness through a deal between labour unions and employers.

While Finland has a long tradition of compromise between employer associations, unions and the government, the chances of a deal took a knock Monday after the country's largest confederation of employee unions, SAK, was riven by divisions over the pact.

SAK, which represents nearly one fifth of Finland's 5.4-million population, agreed Monday to give its "preliminary approval" for the deal, only to see five its member unions opt to stay out of the deal, including the country's single largest union PAM with 230,000 members employed in the service sector.

"In this situation it's not possible to state that there would be a deal and that it would be signed," Jyri Hakamies, the head of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), said at a press conference in Helsinki, blaming the five unions that were still holding out.

It remained unclear on Monday whether the employers confederation, EK, would continue negotiations, as it considers that without the five unions there isn't sufficient union representation for a deal to be signed.
By Mark Hosenball, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials. Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified. "As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world," said one of the officials. The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico. U.S. officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign. U.S. allies in particular usually don't want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins. Senior leaders in several countries -- including Britain, Mexico, France, and Canada -- have already made public comments criticizing Trump's positions. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded him a threat to peace and prosperity in an interview published on Sunday. Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the private diplomatic complaints. Japan's embassy declined to comment. The Indian and South Korean embassies did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Mexican government would not confirm any private complaints but noted that its top diplomat, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, said last week that Trump's policies and comments were "ignorant and racist" and that his plan to build a border wall to stop illegal immigration was "absurd." The foreign officials have been particularly disturbed by the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes that the billionaire real estate mogul has pushed, according to the U.S. officials. European and Middle Eastern government representatives have expressed dismay to U.S. officials about anti-Muslim declarations by Trump that they say are being used in recruiting pitches by the Islamic State and other violent jihadist groups. On Dec. 7, Trumps campaign issued a written statement saying that he was calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. Trump subsequently said in television interviews that American Muslims traveling abroad would be allowed to return to the country, as would Muslim members of the U.S. military or Muslim athletes coming to compete in the United States. There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts. European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump's rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic," said a senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "With the EU facing an existential crisis, there's more than the usual anxiety about the U.S. turning inward when Europe needs U.S. support more than ever." Another of the senior U.S. officials said the complaints are coming mostly from mid-to-low ranking diplomats  described as working level - rather than from the most senior officials. "The responses have ranged from amusement to befuddlement to curiosity," the official said. "In some cases, we've heard expressions of alarm, but those have been more in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment as well as the general sense of xenophobia. More than a hundred Republican foreign policy veterans pledged this week to oppose Trump, saying in an open letter that his proposals would undermine U.S. security. "A LOT OF QUESTIONS" On Tuesday, General Philip Breedlove, the United States' top military commander in Europe, said that the U.S. elections were stirring concerns among America's allies. I get a lot of questions from our European counterparts on our election process this time in general," said Breedlove, who did not mention Trump by name. "And I think they see a very different sort of public discussion than they have in the past. While not confirming the content of private diplomatic contacts, some foreign officials acknowledged their governments' concerns about Trump. A British official noted that in January, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "What Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat the extremists more difficult." A Chinese official referred to a statement last week from China's foreign ministry spokeswoman. Asked whether China was concerned about Trump's proposal to place high tariffs on Chinese goods, Hua Chunyin declined to comment on specific candidates. But she said "I want to stress" that China and the United States have "major responsibilities" in maintaining international political and economic stability. Representatives of other countries publicly attacked by Trump, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam either had no comment or did not respond to requests for comments. Several American foreign policy experts said foreign diplomats have complained to them as well. "All foreign diplomats Ive talked to are amazed at the Trump phenomenon and worried about it, especially in the Middle East and Europe, said Elliott Abrams, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank who handled Middle East affairs at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2009 under then-President George W. Bush. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; additional reporting by Jonathan Landay, Phil Stewart, David Brunnstrom, and Emily Flitter; editing by Stuart Grudgings.)
SAG-AFTRA on Sunday paid tribute to former Screen Actors Guild board member and first lady Nancy Reagan, who died earlier in the day at age 94.

Nancy Reagan led a remarkable life, from actor to the California governors mansion to the White House," SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard said in a statement. "She fully committed herself to whatever role she took on in life and overcame adversity with an exceptional strength of spirit. The union  and the nation  has suffered a great loss today.

The then Nancy Davis joined SAG in 1947. She was appointed a SAG board replacement on Aug. 14, 1950, and soon thereafter joined the newly-divorced Ronald Reagan in the SAG boardroom, at the first meeting she attended.

Their encounter is eerily memorialized in the minutes of that Oct. 9, 1950, meeting: President Reagan welcomed Nancy Davis to her first board meeting. They married 17 months later.

Read More: Nancy Reagan, Actress Turned First Lady, Dies at 94

Nancy Davis Reagan served on the board for almost 10 years, and Ronald Reagan for 14 years, including as SAG president from 1947-52 and 1959-60. He resigned in June 1960, after leading the guild during a momentous strike, and she did so the following month.

A SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles awards ceremony on Sunday began with a moment of silence in Nancy Reagans honor.

3/7/2016 3:40 p.m. UPDATE An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Nancy Davis first met Ronald Reagan at a SAG board meeting. According to a press report, they had previously dated briefly then drafted apart.

Read More: Nancy Reagan Remembered: What Hollywood Is Saying About the Former First Lady

See More: Nancy Reagan's Life in Photos

Email: jh@jhandel.com
Fox News Channels bold graphics are an ever-present sight on the networks screen. A direct interview between Hillary Clinton and one of its anchors is not. Tonight, Clinton both will appear on its air simultaneously.

The former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for President may not be a familiar foil on Fox News, but that doesnt mean Bret Baier isnt ready to interview her. Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders will take part in what has in the recent past been a rare event on the 21st Century Fox-owned outlet, which is generally thought to be more popular among members of the Republican Party. Fox News will broadcast a town hall meeting with the two Democratic candidates from Detroits Gem Theatre in front of an audience of Michigan voters just one day before the states primary.

Its not like we dont cover the Democratic campaign. We cover it every day, said Baier, in an interview Sunday afternoon. This is an opportunity for them to reach out to our audience, he said, which happens to be the largest among cable-news outlets.

The event is the latest effort by cable-news outlets to ride the intense interest in the 2016 campaign to greater glories. Viewers have flocked to various Democratic and Republican debates held by Fox News and its rivals in numbers that easily best the dramas and comedies that show up in broadcast primetime. Fox News coverage of an August 6 Republican debate lured nearly 24 million viewers, 7.94 million of them in the advertiser-coveted 25-to-54 audience  an outsize result that has yet to be bested in the current campaign.

While CNN broadcast a Democratic debate Sunday night, Baier said he believes Fox News will find subjects worthy of coverage. The topics that people care about are the economy and national security, he said. Fox News producers will watch the debate and study it and fill in the blanks, perhaps with what was not being covered.

He credits Fox News persistence for the town hall event. The Sanders campaign signed on early, he said, though Clintons participation was not secured until after Fox News announced it would broadcast the event. We have tried to get a Democratic debate for a long time. That didnt work, said Baier. Were interested in talking to Hillary Clinton and hoping it leads to other things down the road.

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Tonights event will mark the first time Baier has interviewed Clinton since 2014, he said. That lack of access does not mean his line of questioning to Democratic candidates will be any less informed. Ive seen many an interview with them, and obviously followed their campaigns very closely, said Baier. Its not like Im a stranger. The one-hour event takes place Monday night at 6 p.m. eastern.

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Paris (AFP) - President Francois Hollande has awarded the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honour, to visiting Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the president's office confirmed on Sunday.

The office had released no statement on the visit, which took place Friday, but it was reported by the Saudi news agency SPA, which said Nayef was cited for his "efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism".

A Hollande aide said Nayef, who is the Saudi interior minister, received the honour as a "foreign individual, a common protocol practice", noting that Hollande himself received Saudi Arabia's top honour during one of his visits there.

Bilateral ties are strong, sealed by major arms deals as well as Riyadh's participation in the fight against the Islamic State group.

But news of the bestowal of the Legion d'Honneur on Nayef sparked harsh criticism on social media from opponents to the death penalty, many tweeting using the hashtag "#honte" (#shame).

Saudi Arabia on Sunday carried out its 70th execution so far this year, beheading a man convicted of murder.

On January 2, 47 were executed for "terrorism", including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiites.

Most people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.
Paris (AFP) - France's foreign minister on Monday defended the awarding of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's highest honour, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, after it sparked harsh criticism on social media.

"It's a diplomatic tradition and I could tell you about many Legions d'Honneur that have been given," Jean-Marc Ayrault, the newly appointed foreign minister, told France Inter radio.

There was "nothing grandiose" about the ceremony, said Ayrault, adding that he could understand the negative reactions to the act.

President Francois Hollande awarded the honour to Nayef, who is also Saudi interior minister, during a visit on Friday for his "efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism".

France did not initially announce the news, which was first revealed by Saudi press agency SPA.

Nayef is widely respected throughout the West for his efforts to combat violent extremism. He led a crackdown on Al-Qaeda which waged a campaign of shootings and bombings against foreigners and Saudi security personnel in the kingdom between 2003 and 2007.

France has sold billions of euros worth of weapons to Riyadh, and sees Saudi Arabia as crucial to intelligence sharing about jihadist groups.

But critics point out that Saudi Arabia has spent decades funding the spread of its hardline Wahhabist teachings across the world, which is widely seen as underpinning the very jihadist threat that France is trying to defeat.

Saudi Arabia is also seen as one of the world's worst human rights violators, and there was harsh criticism of Nayef's award on social media, particularly over its use of the death penalty, with people using the hashtag "#honte" (#shame) on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday carried out its 70th execution so far this year, beheading a man convicted of murder.

On January 2, 47 were executed for "terrorism", including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiites.
Paris (AFP) - French energy giant EDF confirmed on Monday that its finance chief had resigned, a day after a source said he stepped down over a disagreement about a project to build Britain's first new nuclear power plant in decades.

Shares in the energy company plunged shortly after the Paris stock exchange opened Monday, shedding more than eight percent on overall lower trading.

EDF said Thomas Piquemal would be replaced for now by Xavier Girre who is currently finance director for France.

A source close to the matter told AFP on Sunday that Piquemal had presented his resignation last week over "the short-term feasibility" of a plan to build two new reactors at Hinkley Point in southwest England.

The firm agreed in October to construct two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) at Hinkley Point, a third-generation nuclear reactor design, with the state-run China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) taking a one-third stake.

But since then EDF has been putting off announcing a final investment decision on whether to go ahead with the plan, prompting speculation that the project could be delayed.

The company's union representatives have voiced increasing concern over the proposed plant's 18-billion ($25.8-billion, 23.6-million-euro) price tag.
Paris (AFP) - France's ruling party on Monday called for a postponement of the March 20 elections in Congo, saying long-time leader Denis Sassou Nguessou was intimidating opponents and stifling democracy.

One of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Sassou Nguesso has served as head of state for nearly 32 years, and is seeking a third term after controversially changing the constitution.

The Socialist Party (PS) of President Francois Hollande denounced "attacks on freedom of expression" in the poll run-up and the "obstacles put in the way of the main rivals of President Denis Sassou Nguessou".

The party's national secretary Maurice Braud said the Congolese head of state had organised "surveillance of his main rivals and imposed a state of emergency which seems to be unjustified".

Braud urged the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union to use their influence to delay the polls.

Congolese government spokesman Thierry Moungalla promptly took to Twitter to berate the Socialists' stance.

"Braud of the French PS cites an imaginary 'state of emergency' in Congo and (wants to) put back the election," Moungalla tweeted in a post incorporating the hashtags "hallucinogenic" and "neo-colonialism".

Congo's new constitution was adopted following a landslide 'yes' vote in an October referendum that was boycotted by the opposition, which denounced it as "a constitutional coup".

Before the changes, the constitution had stipulated a maximum age of 70 for presidential candidates and limit on the number of terms to two.

At 72, Sassou Nguesso was over the age limit and had already served two consecutive seven-year terms.

Hollande had urged the Congolese leader to "consult his people" on the proposed constitutional changes and after the referendum his office said the whole process had been severely flawed.

Congolese authorities last month detained a former army chief, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, who is running against the president.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Economy Ministry is counting on an internal investigation at carmaker Volkswagen to get to the bottom of a scandal over the rigging of emissions tests, a spokeswoman for the ministry said. "We trust that the company is leaving no stone unturned," Tanja Alemany Sanchez de Leon told a government news conference on Monday. German weekly Bild am Sonntag had reported on Sunday that the current chairman and the chief executive of Volkswagen were alerted by the former CEO to the use of illicit emissions-control software in the United States two weeks before the carmaker disclosed the scale of its manipulations. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Paul Carrel)
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany, which launched an investigation into social network Facebook last week, is well placed to handle the case, Europe's antitrust chief said on Monday. The comments by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager came after the German competition office said last week it was investigating Facebook for suspected abuse of market power over breaches of data protection laws. The German cartel office will examine whether Facebook users were properly informed about the type and extent of personal data collected by the company, and if this was in line with German antitrust rules. Vestager, whose antitrust cases include a number of high-profile technology companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple, welcomed the German investigation. "It shouldn't only be the Commission doing things that are new in terms of developing competition law," Vestager told reporters when asked if the EU was going to act against Facebook, or let Germany take the lead "They are well suited to do it. And since they both do it with the German and European perspective, then basically they do it in a way which is beneficial to all," she said. Facebook has said it complies with the law. The German cartel office said it was coordinating its probe with the European Commission, competition authorities in other European Union states, data protection authorities in Germany and consumer rights groups. Facebook has been criticised by politicians and regulators in Germany over its privacy practices and slow response to anti-immigrant postings by neo-Nazi sympathisers. German data protection rules are among the most stringent in Europe. (This story removes the reference to Facebook unlikely to come under separate EU scrutiny in first paragraph) (Editing by David Clarke)
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu discussed freedom of the press on Sunday, following the seizure of Turkey's largest newspaper by authorities, a German government spokeswoman said. "You can assume that this topic was on the agenda during the most recent talks between the chancellor and the Turkish prime minister," Christiane Wirtz told a government news conference on Monday, adding that they held talks on Sunday. "Press freedom has very great significance to the German government," she added. Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Saturday to disperse protesters outside the country's biggest newspaper after authorities seized control of it in a crackdown on a religious group whose leader the government accuses of treason. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Paul Carrel)
Athens (AFP) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the "urgent" relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country.

He made the call on the eve of a crucial EU-Turkey migration summit in Brussels on Monday.

"The immediate start of a reliable procedure to relocate refugees from our country to other EU states is an absolute emergency," Tsipras told leaders of his leftist Syriza party.

"This is what we'll pursue on Monday," he added.

Greece is at the heart of Europe's greatest migration crisis since World War II after a series of border restrictions on the migrant trail from Austria to Macedonia caused a bottleneck on its soil.

EU leaders will push Turkey at a summit in Brussels on Monday to agree to "large-scale" deportations of economic migrants from Greece, which is bracing for a fresh surge of migrant and refugee arrivals by the end of March.

The Greek government on Sunday said there were over 33,000 refugees and migrants in the country including over 6,000 on the islands facing Turkey.

It added that over 17,000 extra places would be created in relocation camps over the coming week.

Tsipras said the upheaval was due to "senseless interventions" and "contribution to imperialist conflict" by Western states -- an apparent reference to the 2003 Iraq war and its repercussions.

And he attacked other EU states and fellow Balkan countries who had failed to apply EU decisions on how to manage the problem.

"We are the only country to has applied decisions and responsibilities jointly undertaken by countries on the Balkan route in October," he said.

"We will continue to give what little we have to...hunted and persecuted people who need it. But it is self-evident that a small country like Greece cannot shoulder all of Europe's burden in this crisis," Tsipras added.

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Macedonia further tightened its controls on Sunday, only allowing around 160 people through, a daily number that has gradually fallen during the week.

On Sunday, a Doctors Without Borders source at the border said Skopje was only allowing access to Syrians and Iraqis from areas directly affected by conflict. For example, Damascus and Baghdad were considered safe areas, the source said.

A Greek police source said the practice had begun earlier this week.

Tsipras, who travels to Turkey for talks on Tuesday, said he would seek a re-evaluation of bilateral accords on the readmission of migrants not entitled to asylum.

"It is necessary to immediately activate a new agreement to hasten and bolster the readmission procedure," the Greek premier said, whilst stressing that the road should also be opened for direct acceptance of refugees in Turkey by EU states.
Brussels (AFP) - Eurozone ministers will finally address debt relief for Greece, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Monday, meeting a key demand of Athens that has been resisted by its pro-austerity partners following its bailout.

"We have a long standing promise that if the Greek government fulfils its commitments ... we will do what is necessary to make debt service manageable," said Dijsselbleom, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.

"Today, ... we made explicit that the discussion is on our table," the Dutch finance minister said.
By Ted Siefer

CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors urged a federal judge on Monday to keep a New Hampshire man behind bars while he awaits trial for allegedly helping to orchestrate a high-profile 2014 armed standoff with federal agents.

Jerry DeLemus was one of 14 people arrested last week in connection with the confrontation at the Nevada ranch of Cliven Bundy.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea Johnstone in Concord, New Hampshire, said she would determine at a later date whether to release DeLemus on bail pending his trial.

Dozens of flag-waving DeLemus supporters demonstrated outside the courthouse and packed the courtroom during the hearing, applauding as he entered.

DeLemus co-chairs the New Hampshire "Veterans for Trump" coalition organized by the presidential campaign of Republican candidate and businessman Donald Trump.

Nineteen people, including Bundy and two of his sons, have been indicted in the case brought by Nevada federal prosecutors. The charges stem from a standoff that began when federal agents seized Bundy's cattle over unpaid grazing fees.

Militia groups rallied to Bundy's defense, and the government eventually released the cattle it had seized, citing a desire to avoid violence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Zuckerman said in court on Monday that DeLemus was too dangerous to be released, noting that he had brought a large .50 caliber machine gun to the ranch.

"With respect to dangerousness, our argument begins and ends with that weapon," he said.

But DeLemus' attorney said he was law-abiding and devoutly religious, and that he had sought to bring a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

"The government knows he's not dangerous because he's been out for two years and hes been in communication with the FBI," attorney Jonathan Saxe said.

Three Republican state legislators and a neighbor testified on DeLemus' behalf. His wife Susan is also a state lawmaker.

DeLemus made headlines in January when he traveled to remote eastern Oregon to meet with armed protesters who had taken over the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The occupiers were led by Ammon Bundy, another son of Cliven Bundy, who became a symbol of defiance for conservatives following the Nevada standoff.

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DeLemus said at the time that he was acting on his own and not as a representative of the Trump campaign.

He also drew national media attention in June when he proposed holding a contest to draw Muhammad, the prophet in Islam.

(Reporting by Ted Siefer; Editing by Joseph Ax and Lisa Von Ahn)
(Reuters) - Chelsea must channel their anger properly and focus of being 'tough underdogs' when they host French champions Paris St Germain in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday, manager Guus Hiddink has said. The Blues will need to turn around a 2-1 deficit from their first leg loss at Parc des Princes last month to keep their Champions League hopes alive. "We are not the favourites. We have regained confidence and have quality but PSG can rest five, six or seven players," Hiddink told British media. "But let's be very tough underdogs. We need to be angry in a controlled way on Wednesday. The players must be fully concentrated." A poor Premier League season for the champions, who are 10th after 29 games, 10 points off the final Champions League spot, has meant winning Europe's most prestigious club competition appears their only hope of playing in next season's tournament. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)
New York (AFP) - Hillary Clinton is on a roll. If her candidacy ever looked in doubt to an insurgent Bernie Sanders, she's hurtling towards the Democratic nomination -- thanks overwhelmingly to African Americans.

A month after her bruising defeat in New Hampshire, where Sanders won every category of voter except those older than 65 and earning more than $200,000 a year, Clinton has chalked up massive wins.

In Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia she romped to victory, and is tipped to win Tuesday in Mississippi and Michigan, which all have sizeable African American communities.

Black voters have become critical to winning US elections. Without decisive African American turnout in seven states, Barack Obama would have lost to Mitt Romney in 2012, the independent Cook Political Report found.

Four years later with the country embroiled in debate about police violence and systemic racism, blacks are voting overwhelmingly for the former secretary of state, and cold shouldering the white-haired democratic socialist. But why?

Both have called for criminal justice reform demanded by the Black Lives Matter movement, although the group has endorsed neither candidate.

But beyond that, experts say Clinton more than Sanders has talked often about racism, white privilege and the need for more opportunities for blacks.

"I will do everything that I possibly can, to not only do the best to understand and to empathize, but to tear down the barriers of systemic racism," she told Sunday's Democratic debate in black majority Flint, Michigan.

- Forcefully -

Clinton raised the specter of environmental racism, questioning whether the lead-contaminated water scandal in Flint would have happened in wealthy suburbs.

"She talks very forcefully about these issues in a way that she hasn't before and you don't normally have from presidential candidates," said Stefanie Brown James, Obama's African American vote director in 2012.

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While Sanders has spent his career in Vermont, where only one percent of the population is black, Clinton was first lady of Arkansas for 12 years, taking on a prominent role in trying to improve health and education.

In the south, she ran legal clinics representing disenfranchised people.

While still a student at Yale Law School, she went to South Carolina to investigate juveniles in adult jails and to Alabama to investigate segregation in schools for the Children's Defense Fund.

After more than a generation on the national stage, all of this has become common knowledge -- particularly among blacks.

In South Carolina, she addressed the nation's oldest black sorority, dressed in green -- a courtesy to an organization whose colors are green and pink.

"That's the kind of little stuff, the attention to detail that people notice and appreciate," said Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Right or wrong for a feminist campaigning to become the first woman president of the United States, experts also agree that much of her appeal stems from her marriage to Bill Clinton.

- Race matters -

The Clinton record is not unblemished. Bill Clinton's 1996 welfare reform and 1994 crime bill are blamed for fanning poverty and record incarceration rates which have hit blacks disproportionately. Both Clintons have since expressed regret, but the former first lady has been called out repeatedly on the campaign trail over that troubled legacy.

Clinton prefers to recall the economic growth during her husband's 1990s administration as a legacy she will continue.

For more than a generation black Americans embraced the Clintons as a couple who worked against racial prejudice and presided over economic prosperity, at a time when black unemployment fell and incomes rose.

Bill Clinton's poor southern background and easy manner -- playing saxophone on television wearing shades -- won him love and admiration from black voters.

He supported affirmative action, appointed a record number of African Americans to his cabinet and was close friends with business executive and civil rights figure Vernon Jordan.

During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison famously dubbed him the first black president by comparing him to the black man always presumed guilty.

While Clinton's rival Sanders has spoken of being arrested during the 1960s civil rights movement, his plea for votes has focused far more on economic inequality.

"That's the problem that blacks typically have with white progressives, that they look at everything through class and forget that race still matters, and it's that type of framing that has frustrated some blacks," said Gillespie.

African Americans who agonized in 2008 about whether to vote for Clinton or Obama and picked Obama now feel they can do right by Clinton, the woman who has gone out of her way to present herself as Obama's heir.
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has rejected a European Union plan to resettle migrants directly to European states from Turkey, a Hungarian government spokesman said on Monday. "He has vetoed the plan which would resettle migrants and asylum-seekers directly from Turkey to Europe," spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told Reuters. Orban's tough stance on migration has boosted his support at home. Last month he proposed a referendum on whether Hungarians accepted the EU's planned system of resettlement quotas, one his government firmly opposes. (Reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by Andrew Roche)
Indonesia's leader Monday held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, with Jakarta defending having invited him to a summit of Muslim countries.

Bashir met President Joko Widodo and the Indonesian foreign minister briefly on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Jakarta.

Bashir regularly travels to Sudan's neighbours but goes on long-distance trips less frequently.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted him over war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009 and on genocide charges in 2010, all relating to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Members of the Hague-based ICC are obliged to arrest Bashir. Indonesia is not a signatory to the ICC.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir insisted that Indonesia was obliged to invite all leaders of OIC nations to the summit, including Bashir.

"OIC state leaders can come, and we treat all OIC members as state guests," he told AFP. "We can't just choose who we want to invite, and who we don't want to."

When asked about the war crimes accusations levelled at Bashir, Nasir responded: "We are not a member of the ICC so we are in no position to make the same accusations."

Bashir was due to visit Indonesia last year for a conference of Asian and African leaders, but cancelled at the last minute.

He visited China in September, where President Xi Jinping welcomed him as an "old friend of the Chinese people".

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of marginalisation.

It has left 300,000 dead and some 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, tries not to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs and has good relations with a handful of nations that have been ostracised by much of the international community.

The OIC meeting brought together representatives from 57 countries, and was focused on the issue of the Palestinian territories.

The OIC said in a brief statement that at Monday's talks, officials from Indonesia and Sudan discussed forming a joint business council, and how Sudan can support Indonesian investors.
Tehran (AFP) - President Hassan Rouhani praised Monday the strategic role played in recent elections by Mohammad Khatami, Iran's ex-president who is subject to a media ban, thanking him in a speech aired live on state television.

Rouhani's remarks, during a visit to Yazd, the home town of Khatami, Iran's only reformist president, prompted cheers from the crowd but the sound of their applause during the broadcast was lowered several times.

Iranian media are forbidden on the orders of Tehran's prosecutor from publishing pictures of Khatami, president between 1997 and 2005, or quoting his words, on account of his support for the defeated reformist candidates in the disputed 2009 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Regardless of the restrictions Khatami was a guiding influence in the success of pro-Rouhani reformist politicians in last month's elections which reduced conservative dominance in Iran's parliament.

He circumvented the ban and used YouTube and the smartphone message sharing app Telegram to urge Iranians to back reformists, also naming the group's candidates as representing a "List of Hope" for Iran.

"After the honourable leader, who had the main role in mobilising people to the ballot boxes, all elites, elders, and in particular the pride of this town, invited people in this election to create a great epic," Rouhani said, alluding to Khatami before naming him outright.

"When I entered parliament those individuals whom you brave people of Yazd province had sent to the parliament were shining flowers and lights... and in that very parliament, from Ardakan, was my dear brother Seyed Mohammad Khatami," the president added.

"Heroic Iran shall never forget its servants, those who worked for Iran's glory. They are, today, regarded as the pride of the land and no one can silence their name and their greatness."

Social media showed banners of Khatami and Rouhani were held up by the crowd during the speech but they could not be seen on the live broadcast.

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Rouhani was accompanied on the trip by Mohammad Reza Aref, a vice president during Khatami's administration, who led the List of Hope's candidates during the February 26 elections.

The group swept Tehran, winning all 30 seats in the capital, and made large gains in other cities and provinces.

The media ban on Khatami remains controversial. Iran's judiciary is independent of the government but a spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, quoted by the ISNA news agency on Monday, echoed Rouhani's remarks.

Asked about the ban on Khatamis image and his role in encouraging people to vote, ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi said: "We are thankful for the presence of all distinguished figures and scientific, political and cultural personalities who encouraged people and had a role in the election."
Wana (Iraq) (AFP) - Amid growing talk that Iraq's largest dam risks bursting, residents of the town of Wana, which would be wiped out within minutes of a breach, are both sceptical and anxious.

Wana lies a bit more than 10 kilometres (six miles) downstream from the Mosul dam on the Tigris river, the first town on the path of a possible doomsday wave.

A major failure of the dam would unleash millions of cubic metres of water down the valley and Wana would be swept by a wave experts say could reach more than 15 metres (50 feet) in height.

Yet life goes on as usual in the small town of around 10,000 inhabitants where children continue to play and cows to graze on the shores of the river every day.

Some residents choose to trust the local authorities, who have downplayed alarming assessments by the Iraqi prime minister's office and the US army.

"We are relying on Iraqi experts who tell us there is no risk the dam will burst. That is all media hype," said Fadhel Hassan Khalaf, a 52-year-old civil servant who remembers when the dam was built in the early 1980s.

The US embassy recently released an overview of a breach scenario and said 500,000 to 1.47 million Iraqis living in areas most exposed to the flood wave would probably not survive if they were not evacuated.

People in the Mosul and Tikrit areas would have to move five or six kilometres away from the riverbank to reach safety, it said.

- 'We will not survive' -

Bashir Ismail, 63 years old and a father of 13, owns a small convenience store on Wana's main street.

"If the dam was going to collapse, they would have told us to leave the area... It's impossible that they would not tell us," he said.

Zyad Saeed was less sure.

"I won't lie to you. We are now very scared that the dam will collapse, and many residents are thinking of leaving their homes and moving to Kurdistan," the young man said.

Early this month, a contract was signed between the Iraqi government and Italian company Trevi for the repair work needed to prevent a disaster.

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The pressure on the dam is increasing as melting snow feeds the reservoir and technical teams are expected to start work immediately.

"I don't know what to do, there is Daesh on one side, their trucks could just roll in," Saeed said, using an Arab acronym for the Islamic State group.

"And on the other side we have this dam that could collapse," he said, gazing at the river.

The jihadist organisation that swept across Iraq in 2014 briefly took the dam, which is now under the control of Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces.

"After the dam was taken back from Daesh, we carried out some tests on the foundations. There was no indication that the dam was at risk," Mohsen Hassan, the deputy head of the dam, told AFP in his office there.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is taking US warnings seriously though and the contract awarded to Trevi is for $300 million (273 million euros).

The US Army Corps of Engineers have said that "in terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul dam is the most dangerous dam in the world."

The mayor of Wana, Ali Mohamed Saleh, said there had been no official alert or evacuation plan from the government yet.

"So far, the situation is normal here," he said. "But if the dam collapses, we will not survive anyway."
San Salvador (AFP) - British heavy rock band Iron Maiden drew huge cheers from a 9,000-strong crowd in El Salvador's capital late Sunday when it upheld the memory of a local archbishop slain 36 years ago.

Drummer Nicko McBrain set off the thunderous ovation when he put on a black t-shirt with an image of the murdered Salvadoran priest, Oscar Romero.

Some of the musicians had before the show paid a visit to San Salvador's cathedral to visit the crypt where Romero's remains are kept.

Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980, at the height of El Salvador's civil war, as he held mass in a church in the capital.

Many in the country believe he was shot dead for speaking out against injustice and the reigning junta's repression. He was declared a martyr by Pope Francis a year ago and beatified.

The crowd at Iron Maiden's concert included fans from neighboring Guatemala and Honduras. Together with El Salvador, the countries make up the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America that is notorious for its gang violence and corruption.

"It was a top-class show that made us forget for a moment all the problems we have," said one 45-year-old man in the stadium, Ricardo ChavarrAa, who was there with his son.

Iron Maiden is on a world tour promoting its latest album "The Book of Souls". Its next stop on its customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft called "Ed Force One" is Costa Rica, for a concert to be held Tuesday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters want to carry out "enormous and spectacular" attacks against Britain and the Western lifestyle in general, Britain's most senior anti-terrorism officer said on Monday. London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the threat from the group which has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq was evolving, and that it was keen to repeat elsewhere incidents such as last year's Paris shootings and suicide attacks that killed 130 people. "What we are now seeing in recent months ... is the broadening of that threat, more plans to attack Western lifestyle ... going from that narrow focus on police and military and symbols of the state to something much broader," Rowley told reporters. "You see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date." British security chiefs have previously warned that the biggest threat posed by the group was the radicalization of young Britons over the internet and the danger posed by those who joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq to return home to carry out attacks. About 800 British citizens are thought to have traveled to Syria, many to join Islamic State (IS), since the outbreak of civil war. Rowley said recent arrests showed that IS was adopting a different methodology in trying to get fighters into northern Europe who had weapons and paramilitary training. "Terrorist groups have always wanted to do the grand and the more spectacular attack because it gets more impact," he said. He said British police had made more counter-terrorism arrests in 2015 than in any previous year including a marked number of women and those aged under 20. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents captured a village and at least two hilltops from Syrian government forces south of the city of Aleppo on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The fighters, including some from the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and Islamist group Jund al-Aqsa, took the village of al-Ais, the al-Ais hilltop and at least another in the same area in southern Aleppo province, the British-based monitoring group said. It said there were many casualties but did not give an exact figure. (Reporting by John Davison; editing by Andrew Roche)
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese submarine will visit the Philippines for the first time in 15 years, along with two warships that will then sail on to Vietnam, in a show of support for nations opposed to Beijing's ambitions in the South China Sea, a person familiar with the matter said. The Japanese submarine, which is used for training, and the destroyers will arrive in the Philippines in April. The escort vessels will later sail to Vietnam's strategic Cam Ranh Bay base on the South China Sea, the source said. "It sends a message. It is important for Japan to show its presence," the person with knowledge of the plan said on Monday. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media. A Japanese Ministry of Defence spokesman declined to comment on any submarine visit but said the navy normally conducted training voyages in March and April. "But we are still in the planning stage so are unable to provide details," he said. The visits were first reported by Japanese media, including the Sankei newspaper, on Sunday. Asked about the visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Japan occupied the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea during World War Two so China was on "high alert" for Japan's military moves there. "The cooperation of relevant countries should benefit regional stability and should not be directed at third parties or harm another country's sovereignty or security interests," he told a daily news briefing in Beijing. Of the countries bordering the South China Sea, the Philippines and Vietnam are most opposed to China expanding its influence in the region by building bases on reclaimed islands. The Philippine military had not received any official notification of a visit by a Japanese submarine, a military spokesman said, though a visit to the Subic Bay naval base was expected. "Informally, we know a Japanese submarine is visiting Subic in April," said the Philippine spokesman, Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla. JAPANESE MINISTER TO VISIT Rich in natural resources, the South China Sea is also a major thoroughfare for global trade worth up to $5 billion a year, much of it coming to and from Japanese ports. The United States, which has asked China to halt reclamation work that could destabilize the region, has irritated China by conducting naval patrols close to the man-made outcrops in what are known as freedom-of-navigation operations. Rather than confronting China in such a direct way, Japan instead wants to build the capacity of nations in the region to improve their surveillance of Chinese forces. Japan's Minister of Defence Gen Nakatani is due to travel to the Philippines in April to discuss cooperation. Japan has already offered to supply the Philippines with aircraft that will help bolster patrols over the disputed sea. Japan wants to give the Philippines a handful of Beechcraft TC-90 King Air training planes that could be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar. The Philippines has also asked the United States to hold joint naval patrols. Japan and Vietnam agreed in November to hold their first joint naval exercise. The United States has no South China Sea claim and says it takes no sides, though it has been highly critical of China's assertiveness and says it will protect freedom of navigation. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)
Before John Oliver launched into his main story about special districts, he took a moment out of Sundays Last Week Tonight episode to laugh at the comments Donald Trump made about his genitalia during Thursdays GOP debate.

Trumps opponents spent the week seeming increasingly desperate, noted the host, introducing a clip of Marco Rubio mocking the small size of Trumps hands and, therefore, his privates  a comment Trump addressed in the debate.

Donald Trump just talked about his dick during a presidential debate! A dick which I presume looks like a Cheeto with the cheese dust rubbed off, said Oliver. But Im glad he brought it up, mainly because I now have an excuse to play you something that we didnt have time to include last week  specifically, an audiobook excerpt from his ex-wife Ivanas For Love Alone, a barely fictionalized account of their marriage, as read by Morgan Fairchild.

Read More: GOP Debate: Donald Trump Talks Policy, Size of His Privates

The romantic novel tells of Czech woman Katrinka Graham who marries a rich American entrepreneur, and is said to stand as a notable critique of her Trump years. The excerpt read: In a moment, they were on the floor, on top of the mink coat, Katrinkas legs gripping his waist, as he moved deeper and deeper into her. As Adam pulled away from her, his cock fell for a moment into the valley between her legs, leaving a smear of semen on the dark silk. He smiled with satisfaction. &lsquoNow you have to keep the coat, he said.

That is horrible, although whatever you think about that, you cant say jizzing all over your girlfriends clothes is not presidential, okay? laughed Oliver.

Read More: Critic's Notebook: Trying to Stop the Trump Train at GOP Debate
If Dr. Luke is looking for more artists to come to his defense in the court of public opinion, he can count Kelly Clarkson out.

The former American Idol star, who collaborated with Dr. Luke on her career breakout "Since You've Been Gone" and the more recent "My Life Would Suck Without You," told Australia's KIIS 1065 that she only worked with the producer "because literally I got blackmailed by my label. They were like, 'We will not put your album out if you don't do this.'"

Clarkson's label RCA is owned by parent company Sony, whom a court recently ruled is not obligated to let Kesha out of her contract with them even though she has accused Dr. Luke, her producer there, of drugging and raping her, among other accusations. (Billboard has reached out to Clarkson, RCA and Dr. Luke for comment.) Though Clarkson said she didn't know what specifically went on between Dr. Luke and Kesha, she did offer that in her own experience she found him "difficult to work with" and "demeaning."

"He's not a good person to me," she said. "Unfortunately when you have that poor of character so many artists don't like you, don't like working with you. That's not normal."

Read More: Kelly Clarkson Cries During Emotional 'American Idol' Performance

Clarkson explained that despite her clashes with Dr. Luke and the fact that "he's just lied a lot," he never physically assaulted her and she had other people's lives at stake when deciding how to handle the situation.

"It was a really hard time for me," she recalled. "We have our whole touring crew, and people who depend on us for their livelihood. So it's like, sometimes you have to make decisions that you just have to sort of swallow that pill." But she conceded that if she had been victim of the things Kesha has accused him of, she would be telling a different story.

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"If it's true then I can't imagine working with somebody that had done something like that," she continued. "I've never had that particular situation happen to me. I've never been that sex kitten pop star, I've never sold that part. I don't think anyone would do that to me."

"I'm totally Texan, too," she added with a laugh. "I'd just hit someone with my car."

Read More: Shouldn't Kesha's Fans Really Advocate for Sony to Set Dr. Luke Free?

Listen to the full interview below, with the portion about Dr. Luke beginning around 1:23:40.

This story first appeared on billboard.com
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Money sent home by Kenyans living abroad rose 20 percent year-on-year in January to $137.5 million, the central bank said on Monday. Also known as remittances, the cash is a leading source of foreign exchange for east Africa's biggest economy alongside tea, horticulture and tourism. Kenyans abroad usually send money to help their families and to invest government securities and in projects like real estate. In full year 2015, remittances to Kenya rose 8.4 percent to a record $1.54 billion. For more details, click on: https://www.centralbank.go.ke/images/docs/DiasporaRemitances/January_2016_Commentary_on_Remittances.pdf (Reporting by George Obulutsal; editing by Drazen Jorgic)
By David Bailey (Reuters) - A group of Flint, Michigan, parents and their children filed a class action on Monday alleging that gross negligence by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and others caused the city's drinking water to become contaminated with lead. The lawsuit was filed in Detroit federal court and seeks damages for a proposed class of "tens of thousands" of Flint residents and property owners who have suffered physical or economic injuries. The named plaintiffs are seven residents and their 17 children who lawyers say have heightened lead levels. The state's slow response to the water crisis drew sharp rebukes from Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Sunday. Both called for Snyder's resignation. A spokesman has said the Republican governor has no intention of stepping down. Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its water source in April 2014 to the Flint River from Lake Huron. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes and into the drinking water. The city switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children, but the drinking water has not returned fully to normal. Flint began replacing lead pipes running to homes on Friday. Attorneys Hunter Shkolnik and Adam Slater allege in Monday's lawsuit the governmental defendants failed to take measures required by federal law to eliminate the dangers and downplayed the severity of the contamination to residents. Children are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, as even small amounts can stunt development, leading to lifelong academic and behavioral problems. Current and former officials and workers in Michigan and Flint are named as defendants, along with engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, which was hired to assess the feasibility of using Flint River water. A firm representative said the lawsuit mischaracterized its role and it would vigorously defend its position in court. The lawsuit accuses the governmental defendants of gross negligence, which is an exception to the immunity that shields federal and state governments and employees from lawsuits over their official duties. The strength of the immunity defense has kept many leading plaintiffs' lawyers away from filing lawsuits over the Flint crisis. The families seek payment for past and future health costs and monitoring as well as compensation for lost property value, replacement of pipes and reclamation of contaminated property. (Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Anthony Lin and Matthew Lewis)
In this commentary, Jeffrey Shulman from Georgetown Law looks at the upcoming Supreme Court case on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Obamacare, and how the drafting language in RFRA complicates the Courts job.

Mark Rienzi, attorney, and members of the Little Sisters (credit: Becket Fund)

Mark Rienzi, attorney, and members of the Little Sisters (credit: Becket Fund)

They say that hard cases make bad law. Its no less true that bad law makes hard cases. On March 23, in Zubik v. Burwell, the Supreme Court will face hardindeed, well-nigh impossiblechoices because of a bad law. The law is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Caught in the ill-focused crosshairs of RFRA will be the fate of Obamacares contraception mandate. Targeting that mandate will be a host of religious plaintiffs, great and little, rich and poor.

Passed by Congress in 1993, RFRA requires courts to look skepticallyvery skepticallyat any federal law that may substantially burden a persons free exercise of religion, even if that law has no direct connection to religion (say, for instance, a law generally prohibiting the use of hallucinogenic drugs).

RFRA was a response to the Supreme Courts 1990 ruling in Employment Division v. Smith that where a regulation burdens religious freedom only incidentallythat is, where the burden is a secondary effect of a regulation that is neutral and generally applicable, restricting secular and religious activity alikethe courts will presume its constitutionality.

Under RFRAs strict scrutiny standard, this presumption is reversed. Courts must strike down any substantially burdensome legislation unless the government can demonstrate that 1) the law is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, and 2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

Not any burden will do. The burden has to be substantial. Which brings us to, as they say, the rub. What is a substantial burden? Who gets to decide whether a persons free exercise of religion has been substantially burdened? Or, to frame the question as the Zubik Court will have to consider: How is the Supreme Court supposed to decide whether submitting a notification of exemption from Obamacares contraception mandate substantially burdens the religious exercise of such groups as the Little Sisters of the Poor (and their many co-plaintiffs)?

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Under the regulations that implement the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare), most large employers are required to include contraceptive coverage in the healthcare benefits plans of their employees. There is a complete exemption for religious employers, but government regulators work in mysterious ways, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor are not included in this designation. (Basically, the religious employer exemption applies to churches. It was a reluctant regulatory nod to the painfully obvious fact that the contraception mandate does not sit well with religious entities. Curiously, though, the designation religious employer is not limited to churches that actually do object to providing contraceptive coverage.) The complete exemption means, in effect, that an employer, without taking any action or making any notification, need not comply with the contraception mandate.

Some nonexempt religious groupsand this includes all of the plaintiffs in Zubikhave been given a kind of bypass accommodation. To avoid noncompliance with the contraception mandate and the substantial financial penalties that would accompany noncompliance, a nonexempt religious group must notify the Department of Health and Human Services that it has a religious objection to providing contraceptive coverage as a healthcare benefit.

There is another twist. (Actually, there are a great many twists in the way the law works. My colleague Marty Lederman has been systematically untwisting them on his Zubik-related Balkinization blogs.) In its notification, a nonexempt religious group must also include certain information regarding its medical insurance plan. With this information in hand, the government itself will notify the employers insurer that it (the insurer) is now responsible for providing contraceptive coverage to the beneficiaries of the employers plan.

In this way, the Obamacare regulations create a kind of moral circuit-breaker between the employer and the provision of contraceptive coverage. Or so the government thinks.

The Little Sisters do not think so, however. They thinkthey believethat the notification accommodation triggers, if not the direct provision of contraceptive coverage, the same kind of moral complicity and culpability that would be incurred by the direct provision of contraceptive coverage.

Now, in the law, there are all kinds of burdens on religious exercise. At one end of the spectrum is any governmental action that might impose a financial burdensay, a fine or the loss of a legal entitlementfor noncompliance. This is, we might say, the classic burden. Think of James Madisons 1785 remonstrance against religious assessments: Who does not see that the same authority . . . which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever? Or Justice Brennans echoing language when the Court held that a person could not be denied unemployment benefits because she would notor, perhaps she would say, could notseek work on the Sabbath Day of her faith: Governmental imposition of such a choice puts the same kind of burden upon the free exercise of religion as would a fine imposed against appellant for her Saturday worship (Sherbert v. Verner, 1963). One way to figure out if there is a substantial burden under RFRA: Follow the money.

In Bowen v. Roy (1986), the plaintiffs faced a dilemma that seems like a dress rehearsal for the Zubik case. They were denied governmental benefits because, for religious reasons, they refused to furnish their state welfare agencies with the Social Security numbers of the members of their household. The Roy Court acknowledged the burden on religious belief caused by the denial of benefits, but it reasoned that the indirect nature of the burden lowered the standard the government must meet to justify its action. Declaring that [n]ot all burdens on religion are unconstitutional, the Court vacated the ruling of the district court, which, applying strict scrutiny, had enjoined the denial of benefits. The district court, in the words of Chief Justice Burger, had applied the wrong legal standard:

The Government should not be put to the strict test applied by the District Court; that standard required the Government to justify enforcement of the use of Social Security number requirement as the least restrictive means of accomplishing a compelling state interest. Absent proof of an intent to discriminate against particular religious beliefs or against religion in general, the Government meets its burden when it demonstrates that a challenged requirement for governmental benefits, neutral and uniform in its application, is a reasonable means of promoting a legitimate public interest.

Of course, it was rational basis reasoning like this that prompted Congress to pass RFRA.[1]

At the other end of the burden spectrum are what we might think of as spiritual pressures. The Supreme Court has had occasion to considerand rejectclaims that some form of governmental action, short of a financial penalty, interferes with religious belief. When the federal government allowed a road to be built in a national forest (to support timber harvesting), there was no disputing the fact that the construction would cause serious and irreparable damage to the sacred areas which are an integral and necessary part of the belief systems and lifeway of Northwest California Indian peoples (Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, 1988).

Well, that was just too bad. Yes, the challenged Government action would interfere significantly with private persons ability to pursue spiritual fulfillment according to their own religious beliefs. But no matter how substantial the burden, the Court was not prepared to find that incidental effects of government programs, which may make it more difficult to practice certain religions . . . require government to bring forward a compelling justification for its otherwise lawful actions.

Again, the Court was living in a pre-RFRA world.

So why isnt Zubik an easy case? Doesnt it fit neatly at the fine-imposing end of the burden spectrum? Certainly, the plaintiffs think so, but the government argues that the Little Sisters et al. are mistaken. They are wrong, the government says, about how the law works. The notification letter, the argument goes, does not trigger the provision of contraceptive services. The problem with this claim is that the Little Sisters et al. believe that the notification letter, in fact, does make them morally complicitous. The fact is that the Little Sisters feel spiritually burdened. And they cant be mistaken about that.

So, under RFRA, is a burden substantial just because a person genuinely believes that it is substantial? Is this a purely subjective question? In a word, yes. Unless someone can figure out how courts should determine whether religious beliefs are mistaken or insubstantial (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, 2014). In several words, what else can it be?

The word substantially was added to RFRA late in the legislative-drafting process, a weak attempt (perhaps at the behest of prison administrators) to forestall an outpouring of insubstantial claims. The word is meant to limit RFRAs reach. But not to undercut the statutes core protection of religious freedom.

For a court to say how substantial a burden is, once the plaintiffs sincerity has been conceded, requires a measure as much theological as legal. The Court has said that [i]t is not within the judicial ken to question the centrality of particular beliefs or practices to a faith, or the validity of particular litigants interpretations of those creeds (Hernandez v. Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, 1986). But centrality is a mere hairsbreadth away from substantiality. If a plaintiff claims a substantial burden, best for a court to move on. The more straightforward questions (Right!) of compelling interest and least restrictive means await.

If the Little Sisters and their fellow plaintiffs win, we may have burdens coming out of the spiritual woodwork, so to speak. Substantially will be the adverb that launches a thousand burdensome lawsuits. (Or, to change metaphors, we might say with Justice Ginsburg, dissenting in Hobby Lobby, that [t]he Court . . . has ventured into a minefield.) Naturally, the government doesnt want every law to face heightened scrutiny merely because someone feels burdened somehow.

But dont blame the Little Sisters and their fellow religious plaintiffs for this state of affairs. Dont blame the Supreme Court. Blame last-minute legislative drafting. Blame the law of unintended consequences. Blame the promiscuous use of adverbs. Or just blame RFRA. Its a bad law.

[1] The Roy Court distinguished Sherbert because the unemployment statute at issue there had a good cause standard that created a mechanism for individualized exemptions. If a state creates such a mechanism, the Court said, its refusal to extend an exemption to an instance of religious hardship suggests a discriminatory intent. In such a case, it was appropriate to require the State to demonstrate a compelling reason for denying the requested exemption. In Hernandez v. Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (1986), the Supreme Court expressed its doubts whether the burden imposed by a deduction disallowance was a substantial one. The burden, suggested the Court, was no different from that imposed by any public tax or fee. But the Court did not decide the question, instead moving on to the compelling-interests inquiry.

Jeffrey Shulman is Professor of Legal Research and Writing at Georgetown Law. His latest book is The Constitutional Parent: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Enfranchisement of the Child by Yale University Press.
(Reuters) - Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata said he was keen to learn from his early red card in Saturday's 1-0 Premier League loss to West Bromwich Albion. The Spain international was given his marching orders for the first time in a career in which he has played almost 500 games after he picked up two yellow cards within three first-half minutes. "As you can imagine, it's not easy for me to write these lines," Mata wrote in his blog on the club website. "The truth is this is a new and strange situation for me, not easy to assimilate, but we learn from everything." Mata also felt the sending-off was harsh. "I have the feeling that both decisions were rigorous; that, in many occasions, we see more serious fouls that are not penalised in such a way, but at the same time I could have avoided them and I take responsibility," Mata wrote. Lifting the Europa League appears to be United's only hope of qualifying for next season's Champions League as defeat at West Brom left them three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand. Louis van Gaal's men travel to Anfield to take on arch-rivals Liverpool in the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
The Hague (AFP) - The Marshall Islands Monday painted a vivid picture of the horrors of nuclear war decades after some of its atolls were vaporised in atomic tests, in an unusual legal battle against the nuclear arms race.

The small Pacific island nation opened a case against India, Pakistan and Britain in a David-versus-Goliath fight before the UN's highest tribunal based in The Hague.

The Marshall Islands aims to shine a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat, its lawyers and representatives said Monday, as they remembered apocalyptic scenes after US-led tests in the 1950s.

"Several islands in my country were vaporised and others are estimated to remain uninhabitable for thousands of years," Tony deBrum, a Marshall Islands government minister, told the court.

He remembered in particular the "Castle Bravo" test of March 1, 1954, which he witnessed as a nine-year-old while fishing with his grandfather in an atoll, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the blast's epicentre.

"The entire sky turned blood red," deBrum recalled when US scientists exploded a hydrogen bomb, with a force 1,000 times stronger than the device dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

"Many died, or suffered birth defects never before seen and cancers as a result of contamination."

Judges at the International Court of Justice are holding a series of hearings over the next week-and-a-half to decide whether it is indeed competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan.

A third hearing against Britain, scheduled to start on Wednesday, will be devoted to "preliminary objections" raised by London.

The Marshall Islands alleges that despite their suffering, the world's nuclear powers have failed to comply with the terms of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

They were "not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament."

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Britain has signed the NPT, but not India and Pakistan.

The hearings are starting just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Friday ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, causing global concern.

- Pressure to cut arsenals -

The Marshall Islands had sought to bring a case against nine countries: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States.

Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons.

And the ICJ has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan because they already recognised the ICJ's authority.

Despite not having signed the NPT, India and Pakistan had an obligation under "customary international law" to negotiate and eventually reduce their nuclear arsenals, Majuro's lawyers insisted.

"Contrary to the obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament... India's conduct includes the quantitative build-up and improvement of its nuclear arsenal," deBrum said.

India's representatives declined to comment Monday and are to argue their case on Thursday, with follow-up hearings next week.

In 1996, the ICJ in another case issued a non-binding advisory opinion in which it urged the world's nuclear powers to negotiate and reduce their nuclear stockpiles.

But two decades later, very little progress has been made to cut the nuclear threat, observers attending the case told AFP.

The Marshall Islands therefore decided to sue the world's nuclear heavyweights as "it has a particular awareness of the dire consequences of nuclear weapons," it said in court papers.

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands including Bikini atoll, deBrum told the ICJ's judges.

"The Marshall Islands is on the right side of history... so there's a good chance that they will prevail," said Jacqueline Cabasso of the Western States Legal Foundation, a California-based anti-nuclear organisation.

"We don't know what's going to happen, but it will no doubt put some pressure on those states" to reduce their stockpiles, she added.
A picture is worth a thousand words. And sometimes a lot of those words are homophobic.

Last week, Vanity Fair published an interview with actor Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler. They've collaborated on two films now  Creed and Fruitvale Station. as an official picture of Jordan and Coogler from the Vanity Fair interview circulated online, a lot of disparaging remarks followed.

Here's the photo in question:

The image of Jordan with his hand on Coogler's head drew crude sexual and homophobic remarks from commenters on more than one Facebook page. When celebrity gossip blogger B. Scott, who runs LoveBScott, posted it on his Facebook, it garnered almost 300 comments, many of them negative.

Most spoke about their problem with the pose, saying the pose seemed emasculating and effeminate.

"No self respecting heterosexual males pose like this naturally," one commenter wrote.

Some other commenters were quick to clap back.

When blogger posted a response to the controversy that called out the homophobic remarks, most people agreed, but some people even engaged in homophobia on the Son of Baldwin Facebook page, which is a page about LGBT issues.

"Whether Jordan and Coogler are 'just boys' or something more: It shouldn't matter," the post reads. "Love between black people should always be celebrated given how much violence between black people is always encouraged."

Baldwin began posting that he would delete any comment that equated the word "gay" with negativity. Some of the comments under his post were, however, very supportive of Coogler and Jordan's embrace.

"This deep love is our salvation," one commenter wrote. "We can love and not have it attached to sex/sexuality."

These comments might suggest that the black community is more homophobic than others, but that's actually the case. The most common anecdote used to point to black homophobia is the role black voters played in the passing of , a myth that was later debunked. Data showed that their voting was basically in line, if not a bit higher, than most other racial groups. To the contrary, black and Latino voters were directly responsible for passing marriage equality in Maryland four years later.

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And most of the U.S.'s remaining anti-sodomy laws  which are unconstitutional and remain on the books more as a display of outright homophobia  are in majority white states.

So, no, this is not a black homophobia issue. It's just a regular old #MasculinitySoFragile problem. Seeing two men embrace one another in a way that even suggests intimacy is sometimes still too much for America's eyes.

Thankfully, not all of America.

So because of #lovebetweenmen I ride for Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, as long as they are riding for unconditional, universal love.
Upcoming cross-platform, multi-player adventure role play game "Fable Legends" is no more, and the same is true of Lionhead, the studio behind it.

In a statement published on Monday, Hanno Lemke, General Manager at Microsoft Studios Europe, said "After much consideration we have decided to cease development on Fable Legends, and are in discussions with employees about the proposed closure of Lionhead Studios in the UK."

The reason for such drastic action is a renewed focus on the titles, franchises and genres that Xbox owners are most engaged with. And although the Fable series of games, which have been around for over a decade, had a large fan base, excitement surrounding the upcoming title, which would have allowed PC and Xbox gamers to play cross-platform, was not.

In the same statement, Lemke revealed that Microsoft is also looking to shut Press Play studios in Denmark and with it "Sunset development on Project Knoxville."

Unlike the latest addition to the "Fable" series of games, "Project Knoxville" had been creating a positive buzz among the gaming community.
Ben Pyne, president of global distribution for Disney Media Networks, and Emmy-nominated producer Rola Bauer, head of StudioCanals U.S. television division, will be among this years Medal of Honor recipients at international television event MIPTV, which is set to run April 4-7 in Cannes.

Other Medal of Honor nominees include Punit and Amit Goenka, the Indian TV pioneers behind global satellite channel Zee TV, and Marcel Vinay, president of Mexican-based TV distribution giant Comarex.

All five are pioneers in the international television industry and well-known faces at the MIPTV event.

Pyne spearheaded Disneys digital distribution strategy worldwide, moving the companys films and TV series onto VOD and digital platforms across the globe, the first major studio to do so.

Bauer, whose productions include Eddie Redmayne-starring miniseries The Pillars of the Earth and crime serial Crossing Lines, helped establish the system of co-producing television series across multiple countries, a practice now widespread in the industry. Vinay is widely credited as the man who brought the telenovela to the world.

The Goenka brothers, the first Indian executives to win MIPTVs Medal of Honor, turned Zee TV into a global powerhouse, reaching 950 million viewers in some 169 countries.

Laurine Garaude, director of Reed MIDEMs television division, said all five had made a significant contribution to our industry and (their) exemplary leadership qualities are an inspiration to the entire sector.

MIPTV will fete its five Medal of Honor recipients during a ceremony on April 6.

Read More: MIPTV to Focus on German TV at 2016 Event
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 7, 2016 / Miranda Gold Corp. ("Miranda") (MAD.V) and Gold Torrent, Inc., ("Gold Torrent") (GTOR) announce an updated mineral resource for Willow Creek, Alaska. The Willow Creek Project is located approximately 121 km north of Anchorage, Alaska, in the Willow Creek mining district. The contiguous project claim block includes 43 patented and 62 State of Alaska lode mining claims covering a total area of approximately 4,290 hectares.

The Willow Creek Project is being developed through a joint venture partnership between Miranda and Gold Torrent, with Gold Torrent currently earning a 70% equity interest through the funding of the first US$10 million in development costs.

Completion of the updated mineral resource estimate for the Willow Creek Project allows Gold Torrent to move forward with their planned Preliminary Feasibility Study, anticipated to be released during the first half of 2016.

A National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report on mineral resources will be published on SEDAR within 45 days.

HIGHLIGHTS

-The updated mineral resource estimate for the Willow Creek Project completed by Hard Rock Consulting, LLC ("HRC") comprises 121,500 ounces of gold contained in 206.5 thousand tonnes grading an average of 18.3 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold classified as Measured and Indicated mineral resources. An additional 35,150 ounces of gold contained in 59.0 thousand tonnes grading an average of 18.5 g/t gold are classified as Inferred mineral resources. All of the estimated mineral resources are based on a 5.0 g/t cutoff.

-An improved understanding of the geologic controls on mineralization resulted in a significant increase in the mineral resource estimate for the Willow Creek Project.

-An updated model has been expanded to include a portion of Lucky Shot area. In total, mineral resources at the Willow Creek Project include 8 veins in the Coleman area and 2 veins in the Lucky Shot area. The mineral resource estimate is based on information from 174 drillholes.

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-Potential exists to increase the mineral resources at the Willow Creek Project through drilling down-dip extensions of the Coleman and Lucky Shot area, and the exploration targets in the War Baby and Murphy areas along strike to the east.

2016 Updated Mineral Resource Estimate

Table 1 - Mineral Resource Statement for the Willow Creek Project, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, Hard Rock Consulting, LLC, Effective Date of February 1, 2016

Note: Measured, Indicated and Inferred mineral classifications are assigned according to CIM Definition Standards. Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no guarantee that mineral resources will be converted to mineral reserves. (1) The mineral resource estimate was prepared by HRC based on data and information available as of December 31, 2015. The 2016 Measured, Indicated and Inferred mineral resources are reported considering a base case estimate that applies a cutoff grade of 5 g/t Au based on the estimated operating costs, historical recoveries, and a $1,265/oz gold price. A complete description of the modeling method, environmental and other project risks will be disclosed in the full technical report to be filed on SEDAR within 45 days. Zachary J. Black. SME-RM, of HRC, is the Qualified Person responsible for completing the updated mineral resource estimate.

The mineral resources are reported in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators NI 43-101 and have been estimated in conformity with generally accepted Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices" guidelines. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resources will be converted into mineral reserves.

The mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade to reflect reasonable prospects for economic extraction. HRC considers that significant portions of the Willow Creek Project are amenable to underground extraction methods. The "reasonable prospects for economic extraction" requirement referred to in NI 43-101 was tested by applying cutoff of 5 g/t Au. After review of several scenarios considering different metal prices, HRC applied a long-term gold price of US$1,265/oz. Metallurgical recoveries for gold were assumed to be 80%. HRC assumed mining, processing, and G&A costs of US$150.00 per tonne mined. These parameters were selected by HRC to demonstrate that the mineral resources reported meet the test of reasonable prospect for economic extraction.

This updated mineral resource estimate is based on a 3D geologic model constructed using geologic and assay data from approximately 174 historic drill holes (11 Enserch and 163 drilled by Full Metal Mining). Gold values where capped by vein to prevent high grade outlier data from potentially adversely impacting the grade estimation. The capped assay data were then composited into true thickness vein intercepts for grade estimation. Block grades were estimated using a true thickness weighted, inverse distance interpolation method.

Qualified Person

This updated mineral resource estimate was completed by Zachary J. Black, SME-RM, of HRC. Mr. Black has reviewed pertinent geological information in sufficient detail to support the data incorporated in the mineral resource estimate. Mr. Black is an Independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, and is responsible for the mineral resource estimate presented in this release. Mr. Black has reviewed the content of this news release, and consents to the information provided in the form and context in which it appears.

Data disclosed in this press release have been reviewed and verified by Miranda's President and CEO, Joseph Hebert, C.P.G., B.Sc. Geology, and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Miranda

Miranda is a gold exploration company active in Alaska and Colombia, whose emphasis is on generating gold exploration projects with world-class discovery potential. Miranda performs its own grass roots exploration and then employs a joint venture business model on its projects in order to maximize exposure to discovery while minimizing exploration risk. Miranda has ongoing relationships with Prism Resources, Montezuma Mines Inc. and Gold Torrent Inc.

For more information, related to Miranda: Joe Hebert, President and CEO 775-340-0450.

A copy of the full Technical Report will be available on both Miranda and Gold Torrent's websites at www.mirandagold.com and www.goldtorrentinc.com within 45 days.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project", "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "suggest," "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Notice to US investors:

U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC.

This press release uses the terms "measured resources," "indicated resources" and "inferred resources", which are estimated in accordance with the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Classification system. We advise investors that while those terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. In addition, "Inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty 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 pre-feasibility studies, except in certain exceptional cases. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource exists, or is economically or legally minable.

SOURCE: Miranda Gold Corp.
ExxonMobil Raises $12 Billion: A Must-Read Company Update

(Continued from Prior Part)

XOMs capex and unit costs

ExxonMobil (XOM) plans to maintain strict capital discipline in terms of capital expenditure (capex) and operating costs. With this aim, XOM has cut its capex guidance to $23.2 billion for 2016, around 25% lower than 2015.

XOM incurred capex of $31.1 billion in 2015. The main portion was in its upstream segment.

ExxonMobil focuses on lowering costs through the effective execution of projects. XOM aims at reducing project costs to improve returns. According to XOM, its refining unit cost is 15% lower than the industry average. It reduced its upstream unit cost by 9% in 2015.

XOMs peers Chevron (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), and BP (BP) have lowered their capital expenditures for 2016 and have undertaken cost reduction programs across the supply chain.

XOMs divestment plans

Moving on to XOMs divestment program, the company has been churning its portfolio by divesting non-strategic assets and investing in attractive projects. According to XOM, it has divested $46 billion worth of assets in the past ten years, of which $24 billion were in its upstream segment, and $22 billion were in its downstream, chemical, and corporate segments. XOM continued with its divestment program in 2015, raising $2.4 from asset sales.

Upstream segments projects update

ExxonMobil has a high-quality, diversified portfolio of upstream projects that hold proved reserves to the tune of ~25 billion barrels of oil equivalent. XOM produced on an average 4 MMboepd (million barrels of oil equivalent per day) in 2015.

In 2015, six projects started production in XOMs upstream segment, which added 0.3 MMboepd of working interest capacity. The Banyu Urip facility started in 4Q15. Deep-water projects such as Erha North Phase 2 and Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 and heavy oil projects such as Kearl Expansion added to the years production.

ExxonMobil plans to raise its production to 44.2 MMboepd until 2020. XOM is expecting ten projects with working interest capacity of 0.45 MMboepd to start operations in 20162017. These include huge projects such as the Gorgon Jansz in Australia, the Kashagan in Kazakhstan, and the Upper Zakum in the United Arab Emirates. Other projects such as the Julia Phase 1, the Odoptu Stage 2, and the Hebron are expected to come online in 2017.

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For exposure to the integrated energy sector, you can consider the iShares U.S. Energy ETF (IYE). The ETF has ~46% exposure to the sector.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
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)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO sent its ships into Greek and Turkish waters in the Aegean Sea on Monday to counter the criminal networks smuggling migrants into Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey. "NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, flanked by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency Frontex and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, saying that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean. Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters. (Reporting by Robin Emmott and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Abuja (AFP) - A Nigerian court on Monday charged a former chief of defence staff with a string of corruption charges, in the latest case involving a high-ranking official.

Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh was arrested last month and questioned about the alleged diversion of 3.97 billion naira ($19.7 million, 17.9 million euros) from the Nigeria Air Force in 2013.

The 59-year-old, who at the time was chief of air staff, was formally arraigned with 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering at a federal high court in Abuja on Monday.

One of the charges states that he removed 1.4 billion naira from the air force accounts to purchase a mansion in the upmarket Maitama district of the capital.

Judge Okon Abang remanded Badeh in custody until a bail application on Thursday.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan appointed Badeh chief of defence staff in January 2014 at a time of growing dissatisfaction at the military's handling of Boko Haram's insurgency.

Badeh vowed a swift end to the conflict, which began in 2009, but his time in office saw the Islamist militants run riot in three northeast states, seizing swathes of territory.

The military appeared in disarray, with troops complaining about a lack of weapons and even bullets to fight the better armed rebels, leading some soldiers to refuse to deploy.

Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is currently facing a separate trial over his alleged diversion of billions of dollars for weapons procurement using bogus defence contracts.

Badeh's time in charge also saw Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April 2014, which caused worldwide anger and criticism of the government response.

In May that year he disclosed the military knew where the 219 girls were but that a rescue mission was dangerous. Nearly two years on, none of the teenagers has been found.

Nigeria's current President Muhammadu Buhari, whose anti-corruption campaign has seen several prominent politicians and officials arrested, sacked Badeh and his entire military high command in July last year.
Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on Washington and Brussels on Monday to step up pressure on Moscow to secure the release of a hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot from a Russian jail.

The EU described reports of the hunger strike as "extremely worrisome" and called for the immediate release of 34-year-old Nadiya Savchenko.

"Russia bears responsibility for the health, well-being and observance of the human rights of all persons it detains," an EU spokeswoman added.

Three Nobel Prize laureates are among thousands of people who have signed a petition urging European leaders "to take emergency measures" to seek Savchenko's return home.

The helicopter pilot is standing trial for alleged involvement in the 2014 death of two Russian journalists in war-scarred eastern Ukraine.

She faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted in a trial that has drawn global attention and been attended by Western monitors concerned about Russia's allegedly deteriorating record on human rights.

Savchenko denies the charges and has refused all food and drink since her hearing was adjourned on Thursday before she was given a chance to make a final statement.

Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that "Ukraine has sent a letter to EU nations and the United States with the request to intensify their pressure on Russia aimed at securing our Nadiya's release."

He added that Savchenko was also visited in her southern Russian detention centre on Monday by Ukraine's consul general.

Ukraine's Hromadske Radio's website afterwards posted a hand-written note that was signed by Savchenko and dated Monday.

"Whether dead or alive, I have already won," said the message.

"I will leave jail on my own terms, showing the entire world that Russia may be forced into submission if you remain as fearless and unyielding as me."

Savchenko's case is seen by many Ukrainians as a symbol of resistance against what Kiev's pro-Western leaders view as Russia's aggression in the eastern industrial heartland of the former Soviet state.

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- 'Mockery of civil rights' -

Her fate has also sparked concern among Western governments and leading human rights groups.

The Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich and two other Nobel Prize winners in literature -- Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and the Lithuanian-American Tomas Venclova -- told European leaders that Savchenko's life and the bloc's credibility were at stake.

"Our ability to save her life will test the effectiveness of international diplomacy and our commitment to European values," said an open letter posted online Sunday and signed by more than 5,000 people.

"The Russian authorities have made a mockery of civil rights, international law, and their own Constitution."

US State Department spokesman John Kirby stressed on Thursday that Savchenko "needs to be released".

Prosecutors argue that Savchenko helped Ukrainian forces locate and direct mortar fire at two Russian state television journalists in the separatist region of Lugansk.

She counters that she was in the area of the attack incidentally and was kidnapped and smuggled into Russia.

Savchenko's supporters especially fear that her refusal to drink may irreparably damage her health or even kill her before her next hearing on Wednesday.

One of Savchenko's Russian attorneys said his client was already suffering from "an accelerated heart beat, swelling legs and jumps in temperature."

"She is still forbidding Russian doctors from performing any tests or medical procedures," lawyer Nikolai Polozov wrote on Facebook.

And her second attorney in the case said that while "her condition is more or less satisfactory, we are seeing the consequences of her hunger strike.

"She believes that the sooner these hearings are over, the sooner she can return to Ukraine," lawyer Mark Feygin told AFP.

"But that is not how these things work."

The separatist war in Ukraine has claimed more than 9,100 lives since pro-Russian insurgents angered by the ousting of Ukraine's Moscow-backed leadership revolted against the Kiev authorities in April 2014.

Russia rejects Ukrainian and Western charges of instigating and backing the unrest.
By Paige Lim SINGAPORE (Reuters) - With her brown hair, soft skin and expressive face, Nadine is a new brand of human-like robot that could one day, scientists hope, be used as a personal assistant or care provider for the elderly. The 1.7-metre tall Nadine was created in the likeness of its maker, Nadia Thalmann, a visiting professor and director of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's Institute of Media Innovation who has spent three decades researching into virtual humans. Nadine's software allows the robot to express a range of emotions and recall a previous conversation. Nadine is not commercially available, but Thalmann predicted robots could one day be used as companions for people living with dementia. "If you leave these people alone they will be going down very quickly. So these people need to always be in interaction," Thalmann said, adding Nadine could provide conversation, tell a story or play a simple game. Thalmann and her team are also working on emotive robots that can play with children. The project is still in the early development stage and no prototype is available yet. The child robot would be able to respond to questions, display emotions and recognize people. Aside from being a social companion, the child robot could supervise unattended children and inform a parent or nanny if something went wrong, Thalmann said. There are plans to program the child robot to speak different languages so that it can serve as an educational tool for children, she said. "A child has toys but they are usually passive. This robot will be an active toy which interacts with the child," said Thalmann. "It will be able to remember what the child likes." (Editing by Nick Macfie)
* Ecuador says holding LATAM oil producers meeting on Friday

* PIRA says OPEC seeks $50/barrel for oil near-term

* Oil up 5 pct on day; more than 50 pct up than this year's lows

* Technical buying, commods rally and smaller Cushing build helps (New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) throughout, updating market activity and comments to settlement)

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Global oil markets jumped more than 5 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting a 2016 peak above $40 a barrel, after Ecuador said it was holding a meeting of Latin American crude producers as OPEC sought a higher anchor price for oil.

Technically-driven buying in crude and a commodities rally also boosted oil. Industry data showing a smaller-than-expected build in stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . crude futures was another supportive factor.

Oil has rallied more than 50 percent since hitting 12-year lows less than two months ago. The rally began after Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries floated the idea of a production freeze to support prices in an oversupplied market.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said his government will host a meeting in Quito on Friday with Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico "to reach consensus over oil, especially prices."

Separately, major OPEC producers are talking about a new oil price equilibrium of around $50, New York-based consultancy PIRA told Reuters.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's more confirmation that oil producers are close to achieving some kind of a deal on price support," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "It's feeding bullish sentiment into a market that's turned 180 degrees from where it stood just weeks ago."

Brent, the global crude benchmark, settled up $2.12 at $40.84. Its session peak was $41.04, the highest since Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) . 9. That was 51 percent above the 12-year low of $27.10 on Jan 20.

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U.S. crude finished up $1.98 at $37.90 a barrel, near a 2-month high. On Feb. 11, it hit a 2003 low of $26.05.

Some of the recent gains in oil were also helped by chart-related buying as Brent and U.S. crude breached multiple resistance levels between $30 and $38.

Asset rotation by investors have also led to higher allocations into commodities, along with equities. Gold (Other OTC: GDCWF - news) and iron ore prices hit multi-month highs on Monday while Asian equities rose to two-month highs.

Hedge funds raised their bullish bets on Brent to a record high and on U.S. crude to a November peak during the week to March 1.

On the production front, U.S. shale oil output was expected to fall for a sixth month in a row in April, a government forecast said.

Some analysts said the global crude market remained oversupplied by around 2 million barrels per day and higher prices could prompt U.S. shale producers to swiftly add rigs they had cut.

Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) noted the rally was also driven by dollar depreciation. "The upside should be limited by bloated global inventories and producer hedging," it said.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in LONDON and Henning Gloystein and Manesha Pereira in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
By Jonathan Leff

(Reuters) - Major OPEC producers are privately starting to talk about a new oil price equilibrium of $50 a barrel, adding to signs that the market's long, deep rout is officially over, says one of the industry's leading prognosticators.

Gary Ross, the founder, executive chairman and chief oil soothsayer at New York-based consultancy PIRA, told clients 2-1/2 weeks ago that he reckoned the "lows are in" for crude, which was then about $30 a barrel. U.S. futures <CLc1> have rallied since then to close at nearly $36 on Friday, with a handful of analysts also cautiously calling a bottom.

In an interview with Reuters, Ross said oil should recover to $50 a barrel by the end of the year, potentially aided by eventual supply cuts from leading producers among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"They want $50 oil, this is going to become the new anchor for global oil prices," said Ross, one of the industry's most respected forecasters for his bold price predictions and decades-long history of consulting with OPEC members.

"While it may not be an official target price, youll hear them saying it. Theyre trying to give the market an anchor."

If Saudi Arabia and other powerful Gulf OPEC members begin invoking $50 as "fair price for producers and consumers" - a once-favored phrase that has been absent for several years - it may could signal the end of an unusual and extended period in which the group abandoned efforts to manage the market.

After years of signaling satisfaction with prices hovering at around $100 a barrel, top exporter Saudi Arabia in late 2014 led OPEC in its most dramatic policy shift in decades. No longer would the world's top oil exporter, or its OPEC allies, agree to cut their own production to support such high prices, which they feared would erode their share of the world market.

Instead, they would keep pumping and allow prices to fall. While they did not anticipate the longest and deepest oil price rout since the mid-1980s, the effort has at last begun to curb the rise of rival higher-cost producers such as U.S. shale drillers, another sign that prices may have found a bottom.

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In his note to clients, Ross also pointed to the recent agreement between major OPEC members and leading non-OPEC producer Russia to "freeze" production at January levels as a factor boosting market sentiment after a brutal period when the only safe trade seemed to be sell.

The pact will do little to curb immediate oversupply, especially with Iran exports still swelling after the end of sanctions. Still, working together on "verbal intervention" was a positive start that "could lead to eventual cuts" after a period in which Saudi Arabia and Russia made little effort toward any kind of cooperation, he said.

"Russian production is going down anyway, why not agree to a freeze and then cuts?" Ross told Reuters.

The $50 figure was in line with analysts' consensus for 2017 U.S. prices, according to the last Reuters poll, although much higher than the $38 a barrel median for this year. <OILPOLL>

Ross, whose forecasts are not normally made public, was among the few analysts to anticipate OPEC's decision to let prices fall in 2014.

While he was wrong-footed in the first part of last year, when crude's rebound to around $60 a barrel proved temporary, he joined others such as Goldman Sachs in taking a much more bearish view in more recent months, predicting in December that U.S. crude would drop below $30 a barrel in February.

Ever since the market detached from the $100 a barrel figure that anchored it from 2010 to 2014, analysts, traders and executives have struggled to pinpoint where it might ultimately settle, agreeing only that it would be a period of extraordinary volatility in the absence of any overt OPEC guidance.

Officials from less influential members such as Venezuela or Angola have occasionally referenced specific prices, generally in the vicinity of $70 to $80, but the bigger Gulf producers have largely avoided any public mention of a new reference point, leaving the market adrift.

(Reporting by Jonathan Leff; Editing by David Gregorio)
In the Hindu Kush mountains craftswomen painstakingly stitch flowing scarves, skilled artisans who were unable to sell their products beyond the remote region until mobile internet came to Pakistan and dropped the market into the palms of millions of previously marginalised people.

The women of northern Chitral are among the unlikely profiteers of an e-commerce boom since 3G and 4G Internet arrived in the deeply conservative Muslim country in 2014, suddenly able to market and sell traditional products without leaving their villages or in some cases even their homes.

"The online platform eliminates the middleman," says Nasrin Samad, the entrepreneur behind the artisan brand Kai, which works with women across the region.

Now, Chitrali women "have access to a global audience," she says.

Kai products are sold on polly & other stories (pollyandotherstories.com), which launched late in 2015 to connect traditional artisans like those in Chitral with consumers hungry for "authentic" products.

"Years of working with local community and craft groups had shown us how difficult it was for local small businesses, even the most talented, to access mainstream markets or connect with buyers, both within Pakistan and abroad," founder Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui told AFP.

To bridge the gap, says co-founder Ange Braid, the pair built a website to give "small, creative businesses, many of them led by women or young students, the chance to market and sell".

Opportunities like this in a country like Pakistan are "huge", says Adam Dawood, head of online marketplace Kaymu.pk.

In the first quarter of 2015 smartphone shipments to the country soared by 123 percent, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's annual report, one of the fastest growth rates in the developing world.

Broadband subscribers have topped 26 million people, the Ministry for Information Technology said in February, with broadband penetration going from three percent to more than 15 percent.

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The ministry cited World Bank studies showing that a 10 percent increase in high-speed internet connections can boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.38 percent, adding the arrival of broadband in Pakistan is set to have a "very positive impact on economic growth".

Dawood echoed the report's optimism. "There are tremendous opportunities for everyone to start selling and buying instantly and earn money," he said.

- E-mpowerment -

Women are seeing the benefits, but e-commerce presents potentially an even greater opportunity for young people in a country where roughly two thirds of the population -- of around 200 million -- are estimated to be under the age of 30.

A recent economic survey by the finance ministry singled out the challenges facing youth in Pakistan, including "limited job search expertise, a mismatch between education, aspirations and employers' requirements and a lack of mobility, among other factors".

Seventeen-year-old Daniyal Admaney says he was able to defy scepticism over his youth to launch his T-shirt design business on Kaymu, however.

"I... thought that I should do something productive during summer vacations when I have nothing to do except getting bored and sleeping," he says.

Kaymu, a venture of German company Rocket Internet, which builds online start-ups, has helped launch several other e-commerce companies unique to Pakistan such as consumer goods site Daraz.pk.

The online marketplace launched in the country about three years ago and now boasts 3,000 transactions every day, with around 11 million unique visitors in 2015, Dawood told AFP.

Kaymu now employs some 150 people in Lahore and Karachi working with 15,000 vendors like Admaney, and has a customer base of more than 300,000 people from around the country.

It has also helped bring some international e-commerce sites to Pakistan, such as carpooling site Tripda and restaurant delivery site foodpanda.

- Scramble for Pakistan? -

But global giants of e-commerce such as Amazon still do not have an established presence in Pakistan, hampered by a lack of regulations and infrastructure such as a payments system, says IT expert Shahzad Ahmad.

Unrest in the militancy-plagued country is also a factor, he says.

The promise of Pakistan remains enormous, he says, adding that the country's central bank "should undertake a study on the potential of online business and also come up with clear regulatory framework so that foreign giants are attracted to tap into Pakistani e-commerce market".

Some hurdles are in the process of being removed already. Last year the global Financial Action Task Force removed Pakistan from its list of high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions linked to money laundering.

Following the decision, the IT ministry announced in November it will ease e-commerce regulations and invite online payment giants PayPal and Alibaba to the country, where cash on delivery remains prevalent but use of debit and credit cards is growing.

In the meantime, ambitious Pakistanis are crowding the booming market with their own, localised, and in many cases successful products.

Launching an online business allows Nosheen Kashif, a former banker who quit her job to raise her family, to remain a housewife even as she launches an online jewellery selling business.

"The scope of selling online is nationwide," she says.
Paris (AFP) - Diversity campaigners Monday condemned the darling of Paris fashion week after he failed to cast a single model of colour in his two headline-grabbing shows.

Demna Gvasalia, who counts black music superstars Rihanna and Kanye West among his biggest fans, used only white models in shows for his own hip Vetements label and for Balenciaga Sunday, where he has just taken over as creative director.

The British-based Models for Diversity group slammed his choice as "appalling, unbelievable and bewildering".

Its founder Angel Sinclair told AFP that the omission was all the more "shocking after the great strides at New York fashion week" and in other Paris shows -- among the most diverse ever staged in the French capital.

"What was he thinking? I can't believe that Kanye (West) could have anything to do with him," she said.

Last month the rapper turned fashion designer -- a regular front row guest at previous Vetements shows -- threatened to poach Gvasalia, 34, from the Spanish label.

"I'm going to steal Demna from Balenciaga," he tweeted.

Sinclair, a former model, said given that the Georgian-born designer had built his reputation on edgy streetwear inspired by black fashion culture, not using black models was "gross".

"He is insulting all the black people who have been supporting him. He really needs to be educated," she said.

Gvasalia, 34, who fled his war-torn homeland as a child for Germany, has said that he gets his inspiration from riding the metro through one of the most ethnically mixed parts of Paris.

But photographs of previous Vetements shows seen by AFP show his label only ever used a non-white model once on the catwalk, an Asian model for the 2015 autumn winter collection.

Balenciaga apologised Monday for any offence the show might have caused, but said "the ethnic origin of models did not enter into consideration in any way when casting models for the show.

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"An unintended consequence was the lack of diversity... of the models who finally went on the runway. Balenciaga is committed to equal opportunity and to no discrimination of any kind (because of) shapes, sizes, races or ages," it told AFP.

Vetements has yet to comment.

- 'No excuse' -

The brand's edgy, oversized look has taken Paris fashion by storm since it began two years ago as an anonymous collective of creators.

Its models' unconventional looks quickly became part of its rebellious appeal.

So influential has it become that Vogue fashion guru Suzy Menkes tweeted "Come the revolution, Vetements is where to dress" after seeing its show on Thursday.

Gvasalia often casts his friends and fellow designers, or plucks people straight from the street for their interesting, melancholic or often ravaged faces.

But the American website Fashionista said that was no excuse as they called out the young designer for his lack of diversity after the Balenciaga show.

Casting skinny white models may have been "on-brand, but it was problematic to exclude non-white models, not to mention inconsiderate of the brand's many fans and customers of different races," it said.

"Sending the message, deliberately or not, that these 'cool kids' can only be white isn't only inaccurate, but marks a step back for the industry," it added.

Koche and H&M Studio had earlier drawn plaudits for their multiethnic and mixed-aged casting, and while Japanese label Undercover also used only white models, they ranged in age from their teens to their seventies.

Nearly half of the models Balmain's tyro Olivier Rousteing sent out were women of colour.

The mixed-race French designer, a favourite of the Kardashian clan, has been a strong advocate of diversity and a supporter of supermodel Naomi Campbell's campaign for designers to better reflect the world's women on the catwalk.
Washington (AFP) - The United States said Monday it takes North Korea's threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike seriously but will not scale back planned military exercises that have outraged Pyongyang.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the North's recent behavior -- conducting tests of a nuclear device and a long-range rocket -- had already led to new UN sanctions against Kim Jong-Un's regime.

"Kim Jong-Un has a choice he can make, which he clearly seems unwilling to make, which is to ratchet down the tension on the peninsula, to focus his resources and energy on the people of North Korea and on peace and security there in the region, rather than trying to up the ante with these kinds of comments," he said.

Earlier Monday, Pyongyang had warned of pre-emptive and "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States as the two allies started the military exercises.

But the US military has downplayed the risk from the impoverished and isolated authoritarian regime's nuclear arsenal and is going ahead with a joint annual exercise with Seoul involving 300,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops.

Kirby said Washington's commitment to South Korea's security was "100 percent" and that North Korea's posturing only made the exercises, a regular event for decades, all the more important.

"There would not be as compelling a reason to improve alliance capabilities if Pyongyang wasn't so intent on raising the stakes on the peninsula and decreasing any sense of security or stability there," Kirby said.

"We do take those threats seriously and again call on Pyongyang to cease with the provocative rhetoric, cease with the threats and, quite frankly more critically, cease the provocative behavior."

Both Kirby and Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Washington and Seoul continue to move toward deployment of a sophisticated US missile defense system to South Korea -- another point of tension.

Davis said that the two countries signed "terms of reference" for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) deployment last week.
By Manolo Serapio Jr and Enrico Dela Cruz MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has approved a new set of rules on genetically modified organisms after a top court demanded an overhaul of previous regulations, providing relief to farmers and importers worried that any delay would spark a food crisis. The five ministers that needed to sign the rules had done so as of Monday, Merle Palacpac, chief of the plant quarantine service at the Bureau of Plant Industry, told Reuters. The new rules will now be forwarded to the Department of Agriculture, with Palacpac saying they would likely take effect by April. The Supreme Court in December halted the issuance of fresh permits for planting or importing genetically modified crops until the new rules were in place, putting in limbo nearly 1 million corn farmers and buyers of GM soybean meal, the Philippines' top GMO import. The court was acting on a petition by environmental activists led by Greenpeace, with the move likely closely watched by governments elsewhere as the Philippines is seen as a trailblazer for GMO. Greenpeace on Monday said it would take further action against the new GMO guidelines. "Definitely there will be action but we haven't decided (what it will be) yet," said Greenpeace campaigner Leonora Lava, adding that it would discuss options with other petitioners and allied groups. The new rules are expected to improve transparency in the approval process for permits to plant, import and commercialize GM products, including enhanced regulations on risk assessment and involvement of local governments, said Palacpac. "The technical working group made sure that these concerns by the Supreme Court have been addressed," she said. The government had aimed to have the regulations signed by the five ministers on Feb. 24, but that was delayed as some officials were traveling. While importers of soymeal welcomed the new regulations, they were concerned it could now take longer to get permission to ship in GM crops. Under the old rules, feed millers were only required to get sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for soybean meal that they shipped in, said an industry source. But it is unclear whether they now will also have to get a separate biosafety permit, the source added. The Philippines was the first in Asia to approve commercial cultivation of a GM crop for animal feed and food in 2002 when it allowed GM corn planting. It has also allowed GM crop imports for more than a decade. Around 70 percent of its corn output is GM. GMO's critics argue the technology poses risks to public health, while advocates say such fears have not been scientifically proven and that high-yielding genetically altered crops would help ensure food security as the world's population grows. (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr. and Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Joseph Radford)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Monday street protests by his supporters demanding the Iraqi government's resignation were intended to bolster the resolve of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deliver on promised reforms. Last Friday, in the biggest show of opposition yet to Abadi's authority, Sadr told around 200,000 supporters that the "government of corruption" should be overthrown. "The demonstrations are in support of the prime minister to carry out comprehensive reforms and to form an independent government of technocrats," Sadr said in a statement posted on his website on Monday. "Brother Abadi should use them in his favour before they turn against him." Abadi promised political and economic reforms last summer after mass street protests, but quickly ran into legal challenges and systemic resistance to change. Abadi, 19 months into his four-year term, vowed in February to appoint technocrats to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations but that pledge too remains unfulfilled and frustration with the government has increased. Iraqi's current system distributes positions along ethnic and sectarian lines. These patronage networks are blamed for breeding corruption that overburden the state amid a drop in oil revenues and the escalating cost of war against Islamic State militants, who control vast swathes of Iraqi territory. On Sunday state television said Sadr and other leaders of the National Alliance, a loose gathering of Shi'ite parties, voiced support for Abadis plans at a meeting held with the prime minister in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad. However, reports on other media including Dubai-based al-Hadath TV said on Monday that Sadr had disagreed with Abadi at the meeting. (Reporting and writing by Saif Hameed; Editing by Gareth Jones)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Monday street protests by his supporters demanding the Iraqi government's resignation were intended to bolster the resolve of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deliver on promised reforms. Last Friday, in the biggest show of opposition yet to Abadi's authority, Sadr told around 200,000 supporters that the "government of corruption" should be overthrown. "The demonstrations are in support of the prime minister to carry out comprehensive reforms and to form an independent government of technocrats," Sadr said in a statement posted on his website on Monday. "Brother Abadi should use them in his favor before they turn against him." Abadi promised political and economic reforms last summer after mass street protests, but quickly ran into legal challenges and systemic resistance to change. Abadi, 19 months into his four-year term, vowed in February to appoint technocrats to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations but that pledge too remains unfulfilled and frustration with the government has increased. Iraqi's current system distributes positions along ethnic and sectarian lines. These patronage networks are blamed for breeding corruption that overburden the state amid a drop in oil revenues and the escalating cost of war against Islamic State militants, who control vast swathes of Iraqi territory. On Sunday state television said Sadr and other leaders of the National Alliance, a loose gathering of Shi'ite parties, voiced support for Abadis plans at a meeting held with the prime minister in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad. However, reports on other media including Dubai-based al-Hadath TV said on Monday that Sadr had disagreed with Abadi at the meeting. (Reporting and writing by Saif Hameed; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Hong Kong (AFP) - As the film and music industries grapple with the fallout from the race rows that dogged the Oscars and the Brit Awards, English author Bali Rai warns publishing too has a serious diversity issue.

The award-winning writer, who has Indian heritage but was born and grew up in Leicester, echoes critics of Hollywood and the Academy Awards when he suggests gatekeepers are only recognising a narrow band of talent and ideas, which does not properly reflect society.

He explains: "Publishing in the UK is a white, middle and upper class monolith. Britain is 14 percent non-white, yet how many authors reflect that? If it's more than 0.5 percent, I'd be shocked," Rai tells AFP, in an interview ahead of his appearance at the Hong Kong Young Readers Festival.

"It is a sad fact that non-white people, the LGBT community and many more do not see themselves in UK fiction from childhood. So many -- including me to begin with -- grow up thinking that books are about middle and upper class white people," he adds.

The 44-year-old, who specialises in teen fiction, describes his background as "multi-cultural, working class" adding that traditionally, "people like me don't become authors".

He says: "It's about more than racism in society -- although that exists -- it's about publishers being unwilling to think outside of their narrow ivory-tower worlds and break with tradition.

"Imagine if Harry Potter had been called Harish Patel or Hamza Pathan, for example? Would those books have been published, never mind become the mega-successes that they became? Right now, in the UK, the answer is no."

Rai acknowledges J.K. Rowling's first book was rejected by many houses, but insists "no ethnic minority authors or characters" would be able to make such an impact.

- 'Advertise the risk takers' -

Diversity has been a watchword for the arts in 2016 so far -- the lack of ethnic minority nominees for the Academy and Brit Awards, were the subject of social media campaigns under the hashtags #OscarsSoWhite and #BritsSoWhite.

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Even US President Barack Obama addressed the issue, telling regional television anchors: "I think that when everyone's story is told then that makes for better art... And I think the Oscar debate is really just an expression of this broader issue. Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot?"

Rai concedes that although diversity is being discussed more in publishing, the industry is only paying lip service to the idea, with token minority authors, rather than making wholesale changes to improve the situation.

He warns this reluctance to take risks, challenge orthodoxy, and seek out unheard voices in society is not only failing aspiring writers, but readers as well.

"If I were dictator for a day, and could change publishingI would give my entire advertising budget to the rebels and the risk-takers, and the least represented," he says, adding: "It might not make as much profit possibly, but it would add much more to literature.

"Mainstream publishing at present is staid and overly reliant on tried and tested formulas."

- Literacy undervalued -

Rai, whose debut novel (UN)arranged Marriage has been translated into 11 languages and appears on the GCSE reading list, is also calling for more public libraries and a re-think on the importance of reading and literacy in the UK, which he says are undervalued.

A 2013 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found young adults in England scored among the lowest for literacy in the industrialised world.

"When we look at falling literacy rates in the UK, or decreasing attention spans, this has coincided with the rise in time spent online, and I truly believe that we will eventually understand that there is a causal link from the latter to the former," Rai posits.

"People flit around, at speed, from one link to another, with constant new links vying for their attention. This is not conducive to high intellectual endeavour. I believe its the recipe for anti-intellectualism," he says, adding that by contrast recent research by Stanford University has found reading for pleasure boosts brainpower.

The writer admits the Internet is "a great tool, but one of many at our disposal".

The amount of time young adults spend online in the UK has almost tripled from 10 hours and 24 minutes each week in 2005 to 27 hours and 36 minutes in 2014, according to the latest figures from British media regulator Ofcom.

Blockbuster franchises such as The Hunger Games, and Twilight, still attract young readers, arguably driving interest in dystopian fiction, and dark romance, but Rai says publishers desperation to find "the next big thing" has flooded the market with this type of fiction.

His own novels, which are informed in part by his own work and life experiences, tackle issues such as suicide, honour killings, drug abuse, and racism, and are hugely popular with young adults, though the subject matter is known to make some parents nervous.

Rai is unapologetic: "Teenagers, in my experience, are their own best censors, anyway. They simply put down books that they dont like or cant deal with."

* Bali Rai is speaking at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival, 7-18 March.

http://youngreadersfestival.org.hk/

www.balirai.co.uk/
(Reuters) - Manager Claudio Ranieri is confident that nerves will not derail Leicester City's season, after watching his team defeat Watford 1-0 to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League table. Leicester's closest rivals, second-placed Tottenham Hotspur and third-placed Arsenal, drew 2-2 at White Hart Lane on Saturday and the Foxes capitalised with an assured display to go five points clear with nine games left. Ranieri said the team's self-belief stemmed from the fact that they had already achieved their main target of avoiding relegation and that they would not flag in their remaining fixtures. "We're not nervous. Our job is done. Our job was to save the team," the Italian told the club's website (www.lcfc.com). "The target was safety and it's important to remind people who Leicester were. The first target was to save the team. "Our fans continue to dream and we continue to work... it's a good combination." Ranieri said Leicester's spirit would stand them in good stead during the title run in and that the Foxes would continue to fight hard for a first Premier League title. "We know very well it's a strange chance that we have, but we want to fight," he added. "The key of this season was from the beginning, when there was a good link, a good feeling, between me and the players. "The electricity started from the beginning. This is an amazing season for us. Everything we achieve is something more. We have to build, slowly. For now, our focus is Newcastle." Leicester's next Premier League fixture is at home to relegation-threatened Newcastle United on March 14. (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)
ATLANTA (AP)  A coroner investigator says an up-and-coming rapper has been shot to death outside a popular recording studio in Atlanta.

Fulton County Medical Examiner senior investigator Tami Sedivy-Schorder says 28-year-old Trentavious White, also known as rapper Bankroll Fresh, was found shot outside Street Execs Studio around 11 p.m. Friday.

Atlanta police say White was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police told local news media they collected more than 50 shell casings inside and outside the recording studio.

White was signed to rapper 2 Chainz's Street Execs record label. He was known for his single "Hot Boy" and "Walked In" featuring Travis Porter, Boochie and Street Money.

Several rappers including T.I. and 2 Chainz sent their condolences for White through social media.

See More: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016
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."

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.

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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]

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.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Raytheon Co must defend against a $1 billion whistleblower lawsuit accusing the defense contractor of fraudulently overbilling the U.S. government under a contract to develop a weather sensor for a costly environmental satellite system, an appeals court ruled on Monday. By a 3-0 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said an engineer, Steven Mateski, could pursue claims that Raytheon violated the federal False Claims Act for at least a decade starting in 2002.

The court said Mateski's claims went beyond publicly disclosed problems in developing the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, which suffered from delays and cost overruns, including problems outlined in a U.S. Government Accountability Office report from November 2005.

"If his allegations prove to be true, Mateski will undoubtedly have been one of those whistle-blowing insiders with genuinely valuable information, rather than an opportunistic plaintiff who has no significant information to contribute," Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for the appeals court.

A spokesman for Raytheon had no immediate comment on the decision. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Allan Graf, a lawyer for Mateski, said his client was grateful for the decision.

Mateski's allegation was that Raytheon, his employer from 1997 to 2006, mismanaged its subcontract to develop the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor for the NPOESS, on which Northrop Grumman Corp held the main contract.

Friedland said it would be unfair to the government and whistleblowers to impose a "public disclosure bar" against False Claims Act lawsuits such as Mateski's that identified "specific instances of fraud," where public documents such as the GAO report merely described "problems" or even "generalized fraud."

Monday's decision overturned U.S. District Judge Otis Wright's February 2013 dismissal of the lawsuit, and returned the case to his Los Angeles courtroom.

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False Claims Act cases let whistleblowers pursue claims on behalf of the government and share in recoveries. The United States in 2012 decided not to help Mateski pursue his case.

The case is U.S. ex rel Mateski v. Raytheon Co, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 13-55341.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby and Grant McCool)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has staked his Republican presidential campaign on the upcoming contests in the Midwest, said on Monday he would not need a lead in the delegate count before his party's convention to win the nomination, according to media reports. "In order to be the nominee, you have to have a certain number of votes," Kasich said after a town hall in Monroe, Michigan, which holds its presidential primary on Tuesday. "Youve got to win. You dont just say, 'Well, I have more than anybody else, therefore Im in,'" Kasich said, according to the Washington Post. Kasich, who is rising in some opinion polls to compete with Ted Cruz for second place in Michigan's Republican primary, has embraced the idea of a brokered convention to choose the nominee if no one gets a majority of delegates in the nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election. New York billionaire Donald Trump is at the top of the dwindling Republican pack with the highest delegate count, but victories on Saturday by Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, cut into his lead. Kasich trails all his rivals, including U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, in delegates won. Kasich's best showing so far in the presidential nominating contests was second place in New Hampshire. He is hoping for a similar result in Michigan and an outright win in his home state on March 15 to keep his campaign viable. He bristled on Monday when asked about contentions by some Republicans that he is a spoiler in the race to beat Trump, whose rhetoric on immigrants, Muslims and women has raised alarm within the Republican establishment and beyond. "Maybe they're spoiling it for me. Maybe they all ought to get out," Kasich said on Fox News on Monday. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Paris (AFP) - The resignation of French energy giant EDF's finance chief sent its shares plunging Monday as concerns grew over the risks of its plan to build a next-generation nuclear plant in Britain.

Thomas Piquemal quit after a disagreement within EDF over the A18-billion (23.2-billion-euro, $25.5 billion) Hinkley Point project in Somerset, southwest England, which is set to produce seven percent of Britain's energy needs by 2025.

EDF confirmed his resignation with immediate effect, with a company source saying Piquemal had quit in a dispute over the "short-term feasibility" of the project.

Piquemal was reported to have been concerned that going ahead with Hinkley Point now could plunge heavily-indebted EDF's future into peril.

A source close to the finance ministry said Piquemal had argued that the company should wait another three years before making the final investment decision on the project.

But EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy said in a statement Monday that EDF intended to take that decision "in the near future".

Investors took fright at the news of Piquemal's resignation and EDF shares ended the day down nearly seven percent at 10.12 euros.

The company said Piquemal will be replaced by Xavier Girre, currently finance director for its operations in France.

Unions at EDF, which is 84.5-percent owned by the French state, have also expressed their concerns over the impact of Hinkley Point on the company and called for the project to be delayed.

French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged their support for the project at a summit in France last week and both governments repeated that position on Monday.

"The state, as the holder of a comfortable majority of the shares, fully supports the management team," France's Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said.

Hinkley Point will be "very profitable over the next 30 years", he added.

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A spokesman for Cameron said while he would not comment directly on Piquemal's departure, the British government continued to "fully support" the project.

In October, EDF agreed in principle to build the plant with China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), which will finance a third of the project after French group Areva pulled out amid its own financial problems.

- Untested technology -

The doubts over the project are linked to the largely untested Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) technology to be used at Hinkley Point.

There are no working versions of the technology in existence and other EPR plants currently under construction -- including one in Finland -- are years behind schedule and billions of euros over budget.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK, said Piquemal's resignation should set off "alarm bells" for the French and British governments.

"If the finance chief thinks the project will be a disaster, the optimism from both governments that the deal will be imminent is irrational," he said.

EDF has suffered badly from the global slump in energy prices.

The company slashed its dividend for 2015 after unveiling sharply lower annual net profits of 1.19 billion euros compared with 3.70 billion euros in 2014.

In the longer term, EDF faces an estimated 50-billion-euro bill over the next decade to prolong the life expectancy of France's 58 nuclear power plants.

In January, EDF said it would cut five percent of its workforce over the next three years to reduce costs.

The group is also taking a financial hit after agreeing to buy the nuclear reactors business of its troubled fellow French firm Areva.

The source with knowledge of the discussions said Piquemal had urged waiting three years before deciding on Hinkley Point because EDF's new EPR reactor in Flamanville in northwest France should be completed by the end of 2018, which is a condition for the British government to guarantee part of the financing for the plant in England.

Moreover, two EPR reactors Areva has been building in Taishan, China, should go online in 2017.

"By waiting three years, the risk would drop considerably," said the source on condition of anonymity.
Photo by AFP

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has issued a statement to dispel the perception that SAF servicemen who are injured or killed due to negligent acts cannot seek legal recourse under military rules.

The statement on Monday (7 March) was posted on the SAFs Facebook page. It came four days after a lawsuit filed by the mother of the late Private Dominique Sarron Lee against the SAF and two of its officers on grounds of negligence during training was dismissed by the High Court.

Pte Lee died in 2012 due to an allergic reaction during the training that involved smoke grenades, according to the Coroners Inquiry.

This is incorrect. SAF personnel can be charged and punished in the criminal courts for Penal Code offences of committing rash and negligent acts, even during the course of their military duties, said Brigadier General Chan Wing Kai, Commander Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

The Attorney-Generals Chambers (AGC), not the SAF, decides if the evidence warrants this course of action, he added.

On 3 March, media reports said Judicial Commissioner Kannan Ramesh had accepted arguments from the defendants, who applied to strike out the suit on grounds that there was no reasonable cause of action that led to Pte Lees death.

The deceaseds mother, Felicia Seah, had filed a suit in 2015 against the SAF, platoon commander Captain Najib Hanuk Muhamad Jalal and Captain Chia Thye Siong, for being negligent during the training.

The ruling against the mother, who had to pay the legal fees of the defendants, caused an uproar among Singaporeans on social media. In addition, the defendants would be indemnified from litigation for negligence for deaths and injuries, as stated in the Government Proceedings Act.

Death by zinc chloride inhalation a first for SAF

BG Chan said that Pte Lees death due to inhalation of zinc chloride from the smoke grenades was a first in the SAFs records in over thirty years of use.

He said that the number of smoke grenades discharged and the distance between them were not in accordance with the limits and minimum distance specified in the Training Safety Regulations.

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According to the regulations, two is the maximum number of smoke grenades allowed to be used during training. Six smoke grenades were used during the training that led to Pte Lees death.

While no criminal charges were brought against the two officers, BG Chan said that administrative and disciplinary actions have been taken against them. However, he did not specify what the actions were.

SAF said it has also extended support to the Pte Lees family by disbursing welfare grants and offering compensation. He did not specify the value of the compensation and whether the family has accepted it.

BG Chan said, (Compensation amounts) are generally two to four times that of amounts provided under the Work Injury Compensation Act for incidents arising from training and operations.

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Former Sen. Don Riegle of Michigan endorses Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday. (Photo: Caitlin Dickson/Yahoo News)



FLINT, Mich.  Former Michigan Sen. Don Riegle endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders and delivered a blistering broadside against Bill Clintons presidency and Hillary Clintons record ahead of the Democratic debate in Flint on Sunday evening.

Riegle, a member of the Keating Five who left the Senate in 1995 after getting caught up in the savings-and-loan scandal along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took aim at the former secretary of state and blamed her for decisions made by President Bill Clinton during his two terms in office.

We have to do a necessary accounting of hurtful decisions of the Clinton administration between 1992 and 2000, key decisions made back then that badly damaged our country, he said.

The collapse of state and local economies in the now impoverished Flint, Riegle argued, is a direct result of Clinton-era policies like the irresponsible Wall Street deregulation resulting from the repeal of the Glass-Steagall law, and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which Riegle proudly reminded reporters he and Sanders both opposed, despite heavy pressure from the Clinton administration.

The Clintons rammed NAFTA down the throats of the American people with false promises, said Riegle, who hails from Flint. This cant go on, unless you want to see a lot more communities look like Flint looks today.

Not only do the Clintons, as a team, need to be held accountable for these decisions, Riegle argued, but also then-Sen. Hillary Clintons vote in favor of the Iraq War in 2002 needs to be mentioned, and it needs to be understood.

I think the fateful Bush-Cheney Iraq war vote in 2002 was the epic test of the judgment, character and courage of the members of Congress serving at that time, he said. Bernie Sanders had the good judgment and the independence and the strength to go against the Iraq War.

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For Flint residents in particular, who have been lied to by their government about the safety of their water for nearly two years, perhaps the most resonant part of Riegles endorsement was his description of Sanders as honest and trustworthy.

Bernie has proven over the decades that his integrity and trustworthiness are rock-solid, he said.

Flint, Mich., is really the epicenter right now of the breakdown of our proper system of local self-government, Riegle said of the contaminated-water crisis that has brought the Democratic presidential candidates to this once-booming auto town. We go all around the world to fix other peoples problems. We often forget about the problems that are right here in our own backyard.

Sanders, he argued, has the wisdom and courage to say that our political system is broken and needs to be fixed.

With two days left before Michigans presidential primary election, polls show Clinton with a solid lead.
Photo by Digital Trends

A Singaporean who escaped a Batam detention centre on 24 January has been captured in Medan, North Sumatra, according to Indonesian media reports on Friday (4 Mar).

According to online news portal Batam News, local police chief Helmy Santika said that Damar Bahadur Chettri, 55, also known as Sam Chettri, had damaged a cell door. Police also said it was possible that prison staff had been involved during his escape.

Chettri was reportedly first arrested on 22 December at the Batam port bound for Singapore, for using a fake Indonesian passport.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defenses against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive. South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a U.N. Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions. Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programs, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies. The joint U.S. and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of "the non-provocative nature" of the exercises involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans. South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by North Korea, but Seoul's spy agency said it would hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to check readiness against cyber attack after detecting evidence of North Korean attempts to hack into South Korean mobile phones. North Korea's National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would "realize the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification", in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces. "The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves," the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North's KCNA news agency. North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it. The U.S. State Department said the United States took North Korean threats to use nuclear weapons seriously and urged Pyongyang to halt provocations. "(We) again call on Pyongyang to cease with the provocative rhetoric, cease with the threats and quite frankly, more critically, cease with the provocative behavior, the actual conduct, that has led to yet another round of international sanctions," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a regular briefing. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was opposed to South Korean-U.S. military exercises as a way of pressuring North Korea but said Pyongyang's reaction was also unacceptable. "The development of the situation on the Korean peninsula and around it is causing a growing concern," the ministry said in a statement that called on the parties involved to show restraint. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing was "deeply concerned" about the exercises and added: "We urge all sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate tensions." The latest U.N. sanctions were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for North Korea's recent tests. China though has been alarmed by discussions between South Korea and the United States on possible deployment of a new U.S. anti-missile system to South Korea. The South Korean and U.S. militaries began formal talks on Friday on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, which China sees as a threat to its strategic deterrence. (Reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson in SEOUL; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING, Maria Kiselyova in MOSCOW and David Alexander and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by Robert Birsel and Andrew Hay)
Sri Lanka's government has sacked a senior security official after guards chased away couples from a monument in Colombo for holding hands, a minister in the conservative Buddhist country said Monday.

The move came after a couple posted video of the guards on social media and is a marked change from the former government, under which police would routinely round up young lovers for kissing in public.

Deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva said he intervened after visiting the Independence Square monument on Sunday and finding security guards were driving away unmarried couples.

He said he spoke with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the sacking of the director in charge of security.

"What happened was their boss got fired," de Silva said.

"The guards will be sent somewhere else and hopefully warned not to repeat their arrogant behaviour."

The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the monument, built to mark independence from Britain in 1948.

Sri Lanka's largely conservative Buddhist society looks down on public displays of affection even among married couples.

Police are also known to occasionally arrest so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in scorching sun along the Galle Face promenade in the capital.

But the latest move suggests official attitudes have softened since the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was defeated in January 2015.
Despite the major Supreme Court victory in June for same-sex marriage, many LGBT individuals are still unable to take the next step in their families or in their own lives: Adoption rights remain precarious or even non-existent for LGBT individuals in many states. But the Supreme Court took a significant stand against this status quo and sided with one lesbian mother's right to custody of her adopted child on Monday.

The petitioner, identified as "V.L.," had adopted the three children to whom her partner "E.L." gave birth after conceiving them through assisted reproductive technology, according to the Huffington Post. Though V.L. formally adopted the children in Georgia, the couple  both residents of Alabama  ended their relationship in 2011. V.L. was subsequently denied custody and visitation rights for the children, whom she raised from birth, by the Alabama Supreme Court last year, according to the same report.

The Supreme Court ruled that the lower court's decision to refuse to recognize V.L. as a parent and declaring her adoption invalid went too far, stating that "the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit," according to CBS News.

This victory is especially meaningful considering Alabama's particularly strong history of resistance to LGBT rights. The state has the lowest level of support for same-sex marriage in the country and, as of January, 11 Alabama counties still refused to comply with the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. While LGBT individuals are legally able to adopt in Alabama, only one person in an LGBT couple can do so, making their partner little more than a stranger to the child in terms of legal rights, according to a 2015 AL.com report.

But Alabama is hardly the only state in which LGBT adoption rights are precarious. Mississippi is the only state that legally bars same-sex couples from adopting foster children, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, and other states make the process exceedingly difficult. For example, only one member of same-sex couples in Texas can formally adopt the child, while the other must undergo a separate process of "second parent adoption," according to the same report.

Hopefully V.L.'s victory will do much to show that LGBT couples deserve the same parental rights, and that love is love in any and all capacities.

h/t the Huffington Post
Beirut (AFP) - Syria's opposition on Monday agreed to attend a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks set for this week in Geneva after a landmark ceasefire led to a dramatic drop in fighting.

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels, brokered by Russia and the United States, has defied expectations and led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

The United Nations is hoping it can now restart talks on a political transition that collapsed last month in Geneva.

The opposition, represented by the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, had held off on committing to the talks but on Monday said the 10-day-old "cessation of hostilities" was making a difference.

"After consultations, the High Negotiations Committee agreed to go to Geneva. The delegation is expected to arrive on Friday," Riad Naasan Agha, a spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"We have noticed a sharp decline in ceasefire violations in recent days and progress in the humanitarian file," particularly with regards to aid deliveries to besieged towns, Agha said.

A spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme told AFP an aid convoy was heading Monday to a key rebel bastion east of Damascus.

Hussam al-Saleh said 22 trucks would distribute food, flour and medical supplies to the towns of Hammuriya, Jisreen, and Beit Sawa in Eastern Ghouta.

It would be the third aid delivery since the truce came into effect on February 27.

- 'Calmest day' since truce -

The ceasefire is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 and forced millions of people from their homes.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but the two powers have made a concerted push for the truce and further peace efforts to succeed.

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Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to extremists from the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Sunday had been the "calmest day" in Syria since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the average number of civilian deaths a day had fallen by 90 percent since the truce came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

The monitor also reported that 19 people, mostly women and children, were killed in shelling Sunday by Al-Nusra on the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood of Aleppo city.

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said Monday the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were continuing to carry out air strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

Russia launched an air campaign in September it says is targeting "terrorists" but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad's forces.

A US-led coalition has also been carrying out air strikes since September 2014 against IS in both Syria and Iraq, where the jihadist group has seized control of significant territory.

- 'Only way to end violence' -

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said at the weekend that the peace talks would resume in Geneva on Thursday, with many delegates expected to arrive several days later.

A plan agreed by world powers last year calls for a ceasefire, the creation of a transitional body, the drafting of a new constitution and fresh elections.

The main sticking point in negotiations has been the fate of Assad, who the opposition insists must step down for any transition to work.

In a telephone call Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- the key architects of the ceasefire -- welcomed "the sharp decline in violence".

The Russian foreign ministry said the two warned against "any delay in starting the process" of negotiations.

At the start of a visit to the Middle East, US Vice President Joe Biden admitted that finding a political solution would be difficult but said there was no other choice.

"So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement," he told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.

"A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild their country."
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A member of the main Syrian opposition council indicated on Monday it will go to talks that the United Nations aims to convene in Geneva, though another opposition official said they had yet to make a decision. "Our inclination is to go," Riad Nassan Agha, a member of the High Negotiations Committee, told Reuters, adding that he hoped nothing would prevent that from happening. Another HNC spokesman later told Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath TV the council had yet to take a decision on participation. Agha, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said that violations of a cessation of hostilities agreement on the part of President Bashar al-Assad's government and its allies had reduced in the last two days. He said people would start arriving in Geneva on Friday, cautioning that the HNC hoped nothing would happen that would prevent it from going to the talks. He added that the HNC wanted an immediate start to negotiations on a transitional governing body. "We started to notice that the volume of violations has started to reduce in the last two days. We hope that in the coming days until Friday that the violations reach zero," he said. "If these violations end this will create the favorable environment for the start of negotiations." A cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by the United States and Russia has reduced the overall level of violence in Syria since it came into effect on Feb. 27, though each side has accused the other of violating it. HNC coordinator Riad Hijab said on Friday Russia and their allies had carried out 90 air strikes in the country since a ceasefire was declared last weekend and current conditions are not favorable for these negotiations. He said it was premature to say if talks would resume. (Reporting by Tom Perry; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Beirut (AFP) - Syria's regime said Monday it would attend renewed peace talks in Geneva starting March 14, but the opposition was still considering whether to go despite a major lull in fighting.

The United Nations is hoping to restart peace talks that collapsed last month, building on a ceasefire that has led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes talks can begin from Thursday, but officials have indicated it could take several days of preparations before they can start.

A source close to the Syrian regime delegation told AFP it would attend the new round of talks starting from March 14.

But the opposition has sent mixed signals, with the head of the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, refusing to commit.

"The HNC will assess the situation in the coming days and we will take the appropriate decision," he said.

Hijab said a small HNC delegation would travel to Geneva "in the next two days" to meet the international task force monitoring the truce.

His statements appeared to be a step back from comments by HNC spokesman Riad Naasan Agha, who said the opposition delegation would arrive on Friday to take part in talks.

- Aid deliveries rise -

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but have made a concerted push for the truce and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said Sunday had been Syria's "calmest day" since the ceasefire began.

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Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the average number of daily civilian deaths had fallen by 90 percent since the truce came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

Aid deliveries have also improved, with the UN delivering supplies on Monday to a key rebel bastion east of Damascus, the third distribution since the truce began on February 27.

World Food Programme spokesman Hussam al-Saleh said 22 trucks would distribute food, flour and medical supplies to Hammuriya, Jisreen and Beit Sawa in Eastern Ghouta.

Residents have taken advantage of the ceasefire to stage daily protests.

In Aleppo city, dozens of men demonstrated, carrying the three-starred tricolour of the uprising and banners reading: "The world's silence is louder than the barrel bombs of death."

But an anti-regime protest in northwest Idlib city ended abruptly after Al-Nusra fighters threatened to shoot demonstrators.

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were still carrying out strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

In September Russia began a campaign it says is targeting "terrorists", but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad's forces.

- Vow to 'squeeze' IS -

South of Aleppo city, Al-Nusra Front and allied jihadists late Monday seized a set of strategic hilltops held by pro-regime forces at Al-Eis, detonating five car bombs during their offensive, the Observatory said.

"Fighters from Al-Nusra Front, Jund Al-Aqsa, and other groups seized the central Al-Eis hilltop and surrounding hills as well," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"The hilltops are important because they reinforce the regime's presence in the outskirts of Aleppo and gave them a presence near the main highway south towards Damascus," he said.

A plan agreed by world powers last year calls for a ceasefire, the creation of a transitional body, the drafting of a new constitution and fresh elections.

The main sticking point has been the fate of Assad, whom the opposition insists must step down for any transition to work.

The HNC's Hijab said that if it attends, the issue of a "transitional governing body with no role for Assad" would top its agenda.

Beginning a Middle East visit, US Vice President Joe Biden admitted that finding a political solution would be difficult but there was no other choice.

"So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement," he told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.
EXCLUSIVE: The power of film is flexing its muscle around the world in a feature documentary that is being screened to government officials from Qatar to D.C. Little Gandhi, about famed Syrian peace activist Ghiyath Matar, is being brought to D.C. and will have a special screening for Congress on March 15, with introductory opening remarks being made by Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Afterward, Little Gandhi director Sam Kadi will have a Q&A with Frederic Hof, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria.

While the docu tells the story of Matar and his edict of nonviolent protest, the filmmakers quest to make

LG InterviewSet#1-A

Little Gandhi

is a story unto itself. They made the picture without setting foot on Syrian soil, a task virtually impossible since the storys setting is to this day a war zone. Instead, Kadi and cinematographer Carl Ballou recruited Syrian activists for assistance in arranging interviews  look at the picture where they brought people to be interviewed (left)  some risking their lives, instructing them on the basics of filmmaking (camera use, lighting, etc.) through a crash course via Skype and email.

The footage is powerful  people with cameras literally running their lives in trying to get film. Interviews are conducted with sniper fire going on behind them (watch the just-released trailer above). And with that, they tell the story not only of Matar and his legacy but also of the brutality that is happening in Syria.

Kadi, a Syria native and U.S. citizen, also used Skype to conduct the interviews and direct the entire shoot inside Syria. The digital film files then took over six months to be gradually smuggled out of the country for eventual uploading. The documentary, meanwhile, also filmed in several additional locations in Turkey and the U.S.

I made this film to build a better understanding of what the Syrian Revolution is all about and what it stands for, years before the Arab Spring, said Kadi. These brave activists who were inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi kept the movement peaceful in spite of the Syrian regimes escalating violence.

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Little Ghandi flower

The film shows how Matars peaceful protests were met with live fire from the Syrian regime. It was after Matar was arrested, tortured and killed by the regime in 2011, drawing outrage in Syria and around the world, that the country erupted into the most violent domestic conflict in modern history. Matars wife and 3-year-old son are still on the run, while two of his brothers have been in government custody for more than three years, with no word ever received on their well being.

This March 18 will mark five years since the start of the Syrian uprising. That night, the film also will be shown at the U.S. Navy Heritage Centers Burke Theater in the U.S. Navy Memorial, kicking off a three-day conference about Syria. There is a march planned from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House on March 20.

The D.C. screenings come after a special screening for Qatari government officials held January 9 in Doha. That event was attended by 10 international ambassadors including Eric Chevallier, French Ambassador to Qatar, who was French Ambassador to Syria when the uprising began and is featured in the film.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht9juRpLFxg&w=970&h=546]

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Example number 3,432 of how utterly bizarre the Republican presidential primary has become is a sentence that appeared on the conservative National Review website today, in an article reporting that Sen. Ted Cruz will soon announce that as many as four (unnamed) fellow senators have agreed to endorse his run for president.

The forthcoming endorsements, the article concluded, are a sign that the members of the upper chamber are beginning to abandon their personal grievances in order to preserve the Republican Party of old.

Related: Cruz Gleefully Agrees with Trump: Its Time for Rubio to Quit

Sit with that thought for a moment: With Donald Trump leading in the race for the presidential nomination, Ted Cruz is now seen by some as the protector of the legacy GOP.

This is the same Ted Cruz, remember, whose colleagues dislike him so intensely that he is regularly refused common legislative courtesies in the Senate. The same Ted Cruz who called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky a liar on the floor of the chamber. The same Ted Cruz who engineered a government shutdown in 2013 for which the Republican Party was widely blamed.

If Cruz is to be the defender of the Republican Party of old, its hard to see just which version of the party were talking about. Its not the GOP of the old bulls in the Senate. McConnell is said to casually detest Cruz. John McCain of Arizona, the GOPs presidential nominee in 2008, has called Cruz a liar and even gave some oxygen to Trumps claim that the Texas senator is ineligible to run for president because he was born in Canada (to a mother who was an American citizen.)

Its not the Republican Party of George W. Bush, the most recent Republican president, who last year confessed to a crowd of GOP donors that he personally dislikes Cruz and finds his candidacy opportunistic. (Cruz, in a book published last year, was highly critical of Bushs record in the White House.)

Related: Trumps Delegate Math Points to a Long Slog Ahead

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Its also not the party of retired Senator Bob Dole, one-time Senate Majority Leader and the GOPs presidential nominee in 1996. In January, Dole told The New York Times that a Cruz nomination would lead to cataclysmic losses for the GOP in November.

If hes the nominee, were going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures.

Dole also suggested that even Trump would be a better president than Cruz, if only because he would be able to work with Congress. The same cant be said of Cruz, he added, because Nobody likes him.

Now, it could be argued that these are examples of personal disagreements, and that the party elders would unite behind Cruz despite their personal feelings because Republicans have similar views on how to run the country.

But even that isnt obviously true. Cruzs take-no-prisoners, accept-no-compromise style is the exact opposite of how the GOP has operated for more than a generation. Ronald Reagan, to whom Cruz regularly compares himself, was a champion of compromise who worked with Democrats all the time. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich cut deals with the Clinton administration, and more recently former speaker John Boehner infuriated Cruz by compromising with the Obama administration.

Related: Cruz Moves in on Trump, Clinton Maintains Lead Over Sanders

Being unwilling to settle for anything less than everything he wants is Ted Cruzs brand.

He regularly delivers slashing attacks on his own party for being willing to compromise with Democrats. Whether its on immigration reform, funding Planned Parenthood or a host of other issues, Cruz has consistently presented himself not as a custodian of the GOPs heritage but as the guy who wants to break into the clubhouse and start smashing furniture.

And now, were told, some in the establishment are thinking it might be a good idea to just hand Cruz the keys as a way of forestalling a Trump candidacy that would shatter the GOP brand for a generation.

The thing is, Cruzs nomination might achieve the same thing only by a different route. While Trump could sink the GOP through bigotry, erratic behavior and incoherent policy, Cruz could do it by associating Republicans with levels of dysfunction in Washington that would make the last few years look like a Golden Age.

Editors Note: This story appeared as a commentary on a report from National Review and stated that Sen. Ted Cruz was preparing to announce as many as four endorsements from fellow senators. The National Review went on to suggest that the senators backing Cruz appeared to be part of a trend in which Republicans who were originally reluctant to support him had come to view Cruz as the candidate with the best chance of saving the Republican Party from the danger of a Donald Trump nomination.

The National Review has since retracted its report, making these observations moot.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
The Daily Beast

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty ImagesThe Kremlin is threatening retaliatory action after authorities arrested Artyom Uss, the son of a top Russian official, at the United States request, for allegedly participating in a sanctions evasion and money laundering scheme.Uss, who was detained in Milan, was charged in relation to a scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil in order to support Russias war effort in Ukraine, according to charges unsealed by the U.S. Depa
As Donald Trump has moved from maverick outsider to the likely Republican nominee for president, a small band of his fellow billionaires have been funding Hillary Clintons campaign, determined to do whatever they can to keep him out of the White House. At this point in the cycle, it is very hard for me to imagine Trump can be stopped on the Republican side, says venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker, one of Clintons indefatigable boosterswho also happens to be a multibillionaire. So, it is extremely important to see Hillary win, not just because I think she is the best candidate, but because the stakes are so high.

While some have suggested that Clintons mega-donors could be on the brink of being tapped out, nothing could be further from the truth, says Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who is also a private investor. I am prepared to do whatever I can do and whatever is reasonable to make sure that it is Hillary who makes it to the White House and not Trump, he tells Newsweek.

Pritzker and his wife, Mary Kathryn (known as M.K.), are among the top five donors to outside spending groups backing Clinton, contributing more than $2.8 million to Priorities USA, a political action committee (PAC) that supports Clinton and can legally take unlimited donations. Pritzker and his wife, who each donated $1 million in January, will contribute more, he says, if necessary. He declined to say exactly how much hes willing to spend, but the 51-year-old Chicagoan, who is worth an estimated $3.3 billion, is calling this election one of the most important of my life.

That it takes billions now to elect a president was highlighted last month by Clintons Democratic opponent, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who blasted a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process. He has also questioned why so many billionaires are supporting Clinton, suggesting they expect to get something in return.

Other billionaires in the Clinton camp include hedge fund tycoons James Simons of Renaissance Technologies in New York, who also donated $3.5 million to pro-Clinton efforts in January, as well as S. Donald Sussman of Paloma Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut, who contributed $2.5 million. Donations to Priorities USA increased by more than 60 percent during the second half of last year, as Trump surged in the polls ahead of his Republican opponents before Super Tuesday.

Although Jeb Bushs failed bid in the Republican primaries proved that funding alone doesnt guarantee victory, money matters and the GOP has a lot more of it, Pritzker notes. The Democrats have not raised anywhere near what the Republicans have, he says. And thats without factoring in Trumps billions.

Republican donors, such as billionaires Charles and David Koch, along with their sprawling donor networks, have pledged to spend up to $889 million in this election cyclean amount, Pritzker points out, that would easily dwarf any Democratic war chest, even Clintons.

We are witnessing an array of financial firepower thats been heretofore unheard of, he says . Trump can spend virtually an unlimited amount of his own money on this election, which makes him unlike any of the other candidates in the race. So those who oppose him will have to work very hard to make sure he doesnt win.

Trumps private fortune has always been mysterious, and he has so far declined to make his tax returns public. He was estimated by Forbes late last year to have a net worth of $4.4 billion, but he claims to have much more. As Trump squares off against an army of deep-pocketed billionaires, Pritzker reckons this years presidential race may be the closest thing Americas seen yet to a clash of Americas 1 percent. (And that would include Clinton, who has millions herself.)

Pritzkers family, which is active in politics, is one of the richest in America, with an estimated $30 billion to its name (Trump claims to be worth around $10 billion). Pritzkers late uncle, Jay Pritzker, was co-founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, a real estate magnate and philanthropist. Pritzkers older sister, Penny Pritzker, is a billionaire Democrat and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Pritzker wouldnt comment on the possible political leanings or donations of his other family members, but said his family is more or less split half and half between Democrats and Republicans.

Three of Clintons top five billionaire backers in the 2016 cycle have a history with Trump.

Pritzkers uncle on his fathers side, Jay Pritzker, who died in 1999, had a number of run-ins with the young Trump dating back to the 1970s. Trump partnered with the Pritzker family in 1976 to acquire the Commodore Hotel in New York, turning it into the Grand Hyatthis first big real-estate coup that cemented his reputation. The Pritzker name, already well-established in the real estate business, gave Trump entree into Manhattans clubby inner circle of property titans. This was a breakthrough moment for the Queens-born scion of an outer borough real estate family.

But things went awry. Trump and Pritzker had agreed that if they needed to change a deal point, they would allow for a 10-day period to work it out. When Jay Pritzker took a trip to Nepal and could not be reached, Trump challenged the terms, reportedly telling Pritzker later , I tried to call you. I gave you 10 days. But you were in Nepal. J.B. Pritzker says hes never had any personal conflicts with Trump, but he knows the story of how Trump treated his uncle. Does it really surprise you to know that that was Donald Trump? he says.

Clintons No. 1 donor, the worlds richest hedge fund billionaire, George Soros, has given in excess of $7 million to Priorities USA, the super PAC backing Clinton. Hes also had business dealings with Trump, though theres nothing to indicate there was any friction between the two over those dealings. According to a report in the Chicago Tribune , Soros participated in a $160 million investment in 2004 with other funds to finance Chicagos Trump Tower through Grove Capital LLP, a spinoff of Soross eponymous New York hedge fund, Soros Fund Management. Soros had no comment on the investment or its outcome.

Soros, who is worth an estimated $24.5 billion, gave $25,000 to a super PAC backing Clinton at the beginning of 2015 before stepping up his donations to $1 million in June to Priorities USA and then an additional $6 million to the super PAC in late December. Soros adviser Michael Vachon told Newsweek, Does George think Trump would be a disaster as a president? Sure. But I think thats been the feeling in a lot of quarters.

Clintons second-largest donors after Soros are media mogul Haim Saban, and his wife, Cheryl, who donated $6.4 million to Clinton and a smattering of Democratic state organizations. As part of that total, their biggest chunk of cash$3 millionwent to Priorities USA in December. Last May, the Sabans hosted a dinner party at their Beverly Hills mansion for more than 700 people, raising an additional $1.9 million for the Clinton campaign.

Saban, chief executive of investment firm Saban Capital Group in Los Angeles, also had a run-in with Trump just last year. When the Republican presidential contender suggested in June that undocumented Mexican immigrants were criminals, drug dealers, rapists, one of Sabans companies, Univisiona Spanish-language network he bought in 2007dropped coverage of Trumps Miss USA and Miss Universe pageant telecasts.

Trump immediately filed a $500 million lawsuit, alleging political interference from Saban , who, Trump claimed, caused Univision to end a five-year deal it had just inked with Trumps Miss Universe Organization for U.S. Spanish-language television rights to its beauty pageants. The complaint accused Sabans company of a politically motivated attempt to suppress Trumps freedom of speech and stated that the real reason Univision had cut ties with Miss Universe was because Trump had dramatically risen in the polls while expressing critical views of Ms. Clinton.

Univision dismissed Trumps complaint as both factually false and legally ridiculous. Saban, who has called himself a one-issue guy with a focus on protecting Israel, declined to talk to Newsweek about his fund-raising for Clinton or the lawsuit, which was recently settled. The terms were not disclosed.

Trumps proposals to ban or block certain immigrants from entering the country have vexed both Soros and Saban. Soros was born in Hungary and Saban in Israel. Each are Americans with dual citizenship.

In late January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soros said, Donald Trump is doing the work of ISIS by denigrating Muslims, and predicted Clinton would handily beat him in the general election.

Trump is an anathema to Americas democracy and values, Pritzker agrees. I have a lot of Republican friends. So many of them are shocked and appalled and are desperately hoping for a different answer for the party than Trump.

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By Junko Fujita and Kentaro Hamada TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp <6502.T> plans an extraordinary executive meeting on Wednesday, indicating the troubled conglomerate will settle on a preferred bidder for its healthcare unit, two people with knowledge of the process said on Monday. Canon Inc <7751.T> and Fujifilm Holdings Corp <4901.T> are considered the front-runners with the highest bids, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Toshiba, seeking to shore up its capital after a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, is selling Toshiba Medical Systems Corp. The second round of bidding to grant preferred negotiation rights ended on Friday. A Toshiba spokesman had no comment on the sale process. Konica Minolta Inc <4902.T>, in partnership with European private equity firm Permira [PERM.UL], also remains in the bidding, one person said. The companies have been competing aggressively to buy the medical-equipment maker to broaden their revenue sources. U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co , which had teamed up with Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co <8031.T> has withdrawn from the race as the expected sale price rose too high to justify the return, another source said. The sources asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media. Toshiba is selling Toshiba Medical as part of a massive restructuring after the laptops-to-nuclear company admitted to overstating profits from 2009. The costs of this revamp have forced Toshiba to ask three major Japanese banks for additional loans of about 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion), sources have told Reuters. Toshiba Medical, which makes diagnostic equipment such as X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging systems, is the worlds second-biggest manufacturer of CT scan machines. It had annual revenues of 405.6 billion yen in the financial year ended March 2015. (Reporting by Junko Fujita and Kentaro Hamada; Additional reporting by Emi Emoto; Editing by William Mallard and Keith Weir)
The world's biggest car company wants to harness the potential of wearable technology in order to give the visually impaired more freedom and greater personal mobility.

The wearable item in question, dubbed "Project BLAID", won't be a wristband but a shoulder mounted device that carries all of the sensors and technology needed to help "fill in the gaps left by canes, dogs and basic GPD devices", in Toyota's words.

It will use cameras to monitor the space around the user and help him or her come to understand their surroundings via spoken descriptions or vibrations. Toyota plans to equip the device so that it can help a person navigate indoor spaces such as shopping malls, but also in the hopes that it will eventually lead to spatial mapping in general as well as facial recognition.

"We want to extend the freedom of mobility for all, no matter their circumstance, location or ability," said Simon Nagata, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Toyota Motor North America. The project is part of a larger 10 billion dollar investment in AI.
(Reuters) - A transformer at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina caught fire on Sunday, burning for about 30 minutes, but no nuclear material was in danger of being released, a local television station reported.

Citing Oconee County fire officials, Greenville, South Carolina-based WYFF-TV reported that Unit 1 at the Oconee Nuclear Station was shut down as a precaution. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The fire did not lead to any evacuations, the station reported, citing Scott Krein, director of the Oconee County Emergency Management agency. Krein added there was no threat to the public from the fire.

The plant is owned by Duke Energy, which will report the fire as an "unusual event," the lowest classification of emergency at a nuclear station, the station reported.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Ginger Gibson and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans desperate to stop Donald Trump from capturing the party's presidential nomination may have to unite behind Ted Cruz, a polarizing figure who has made many enemies within the party. Cruz, 45, a senator from Texas, won nominating contests in Kansas and Maine on Saturday, bolstering his argument that he is the leading alternative to Trump, 69, the blunt-spoken billionaire businessman. Many mainstream Republicans are reluctant, however, to rally behind Cruz, whom they see as too conservative for the general electorate in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Cruz has run as an outsider bent on shaking up the Republican establishment in Washington. A favorite of evangelicals, he has called for the United States to "carpet bomb" the Islamic State militant group and has pledged to eliminate the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and four Cabinet agencies. But he angered many Republican colleagues when he led an unsuccessful effort to repeal President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act that shut down the government for 16 days in 2013. Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said Cruz had not yet shown an ability to appeal beyond the most conservative voters. "The way things are going, I think it's extraordinarily unlikely that Senator Cruz becomes the focal point for Republicans who want to stop Trump," said Newhouse, who was lead pollster for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Kim Reem, a member of the executive committee of the National Federation of Republican Women, said three factions were emerging among Republicans: those supporting Trump, those backing Cruz, and supporters of the party establishment. None are inclined to compromise, she said. "I dont see a path to making everybody happy," she said. Former U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi said he would have a hard time supporting a Cruz nomination. "He'd have to change his tactics and his conduct an awful lot," he said. Cruz has feuded with party leadership, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and has often accused fellow Republicans of selling out conservative principles. Although he has been in the Senate for four years, Cruz has not won a single endorsement from any other senator. He touts that on the campaign trail as evidence he is an outsider. RUBIO FLORIDA HOPE To win the nomination, 1,237 delegates are needed. According to The New York Times, Trump leads with 384 delegates and Cruz has won 300. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, 44, of Florida, an establishment favorite still seen by some in the party as an option to Trump, has won 151 delegates and Ohio Governor John Kasich trails with 37. Some establishment Republicans say the best way to stop Trump would be for Rubio to win the 99-delegate Florida contest and Kasich the 66-delegate Ohio primary. Opinion polls show Cruz trailing in both states, which award all their delegates to the top vote-getter on March 15. Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii hold nominating contests on Tuesday. Recent opinion polls show Trump leading by a wide margin in Michigan, the day's biggest prize. At a rally in North Carolina, Trump said he would do well in those contests because he supported important local industries. "Michigan's gonna be, look, I've been fighting hard for cars," he said. "We have Idaho, we love Idaho potatoes, right?" If Cruz, Rubio and Kasich can collectively prevent Trump from getting the needed majority of delegates, they could force a brokered Republican Party convention in July in Cleveland, aimed at producing a compromise candidate. Even if Cruz gets the second-highest vote total, he may have trouble claiming the nomination at the convention over Trump. If nothing else, the debate reveals deep divisions within the party. Slater Bayliss, a Florida Republican who raised money for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush before he dropped out of the race, said: "From my perspective, Senator Cruz's views are indicative of only a very small cohort in our party." Republican donors, unhappy with Trump policies like his calls to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the United States have poured millions of dollars into attack ads over the past week. The Club for Growth, an advocacy group that pushes for lower taxes and spending, said on Monday it would spend $2 million on TV ads questioning Trump's conservative credentials in Illinois, one of six states or territories that holds a nominating contest on March 15. Outside groups have spent more than $10 million on anti-Trump advertising in Florida and $23 million in other states, according to federal records. Trump criticized rivals for running what he described as false advertising. "By the time you get them to admit that it was wrong, the election's over," he said. (Additional reporting by Megan Cassella, Luciana Lopez and Grant Smith; Editing by Alistair Bell)
For people paying attention to the Republican presidential primary, the next eight days will be a whirlwind of news, analysis, predictions and spin. After a leisurely start in February, the race has turned into a mad sprint, beginning with last weeks Super Tuesday elections, moving into tomorrows contests in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, and on through to March 15 and March 22, when a combined nine states and territories will vote.

The compression of contests in March, with contests every few days during the first three weeks of the month, tends to create a sense of urgency  as though the race can be won or lost on any given night.

Related: Newt Gingrich: Wake Up, Republicans  Its Either Trump or Clinton

But after that, the pace slows considerably. By the end of the month voters will have allocated 64 percent of the delegates to the Republican National Convention in July. In the entire month of April, only 16 percent of the total will be added to that count, followed by just 8 percent in May. The final 12 percent of delegates dont get apportioned until June.

More than half of Republican delegates will have been allocated by the end of the night on March 15, meaning that even a candidate running unopposed couldnt clinch the nomination until then. But in a field of two or more, barring a hugely dominant candidate, nobody is likely to earn the 1,237 delegates (out of 2,472) needed to assure nomination on the first ballot at the convention until much later in the race.

So far, billionaire Donald Trump has secured about 42 percent of available delegates, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 33 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sits at 17 percent, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 4 percent. (The use of the qualifier about when referring to delegate percentages is the result of broad disagreement over exactly how many delegates each candidate has earned. As of Monday morning, for example, Bloomberg, CNN, and the website FiveThirtyEight.com all showed different delegate counts.)

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March 15 is seen as a particularly big day on the calendar because that is when the Republican National Committees ban on winner-take-all contests in early states is lifted. Florida and Ohio (as well as the Northern Mariana Islands) vote on the 15th and hand all of their delegates to the winner. Taking Floridas 99 delegates and Ohios 66 will be a major coup for whichever of the remaining contenders get them. And while it wouldnt guarantee him the nomination, winning both would make Trump extraordinarily difficult to catch  meaning that absent some sort of cataclysmic upheaval, it would close off any opportunity for a non-Trump candidate to get to 1,237 through the primary process.

Related: Cruz Gleefully Agrees with Trump: Its Time for Rubio to Quit

Right now, his opponents are frantically looking for ways to prevent Trump from capturing Ohio and Florida, but even if he should take both, the story isnt over.

In general, winner-take-all states are not the deciding factor in the race. Only nine states and territories allocate delegates that way, and their combined delegate count makes up only 16 percent of the total delegates awarded.

In the end, Trump might be able to cobble together the delegates he needs to carry a straight-up majority into the convention. But he cant do it in a hurry.

Though he is comfortably in the lead, even if Trump were to win every single delegate that will be allocated between now and mid-April  a virtual impossibility because the majority of states award delegates proportionally, assuming a minimum threshold is met  he would still not have enough delegates to claim victory.

Related: Norquist Accuses Trump Naysayers of Whining, Not Working

Unless Trump collapses unexpectedly in the next two weeks, the likeliest scenario going forward is an effort not to beat him outright but to deny him a first-ballot nomination, throwing the convention into a floor fight in which delegates bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot would be free to vote their conscience on the second.

The big questions right now are 1) what strategy would best accomplish that goal  a consolidation of the field in which one anti-Trump candidate attempts to bring together all the non-Trump votes, or the preservation of a diverse field, in which a large field of choices allows Trump to win individual states but dilutes his delegate count? And 2) if a consolidation becomes the obvious solution to the GOP establishments Trump problem, will the weaker candidates willingly step aside?

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Brussels (AFP) - Turkey's prime minister made a new proposal for tackling the migrant crisis at a summit in Brussels on Monday, leading EU leaders to extend their meeting, officials said.

"There is a new proposal. We are trying to open the way to solve this process, that's why this is a new proposal," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's spokesman told reporters.

He refused to give details of the new offer, but added: "We are not here just to talk about migrants. Of course Turkey's EU accession process is an issue for us here.

"Our partners have good intentions and we have good intentions and all of us want to solve this. We want to find common ground."

European Union leaders called the summit to follow up on a deal signed with Turkey in November, under which Ankara agreed to cut the flow of migrants to Europe and take back more deportees in exchange for three billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid.

The EU also agreed to open new "chapters" in Turkey's long-stalled bid to join the EU.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny told reporters said he believed that one of the issues Turkey had brought up was speeding up the relaxation of visa regulations for Turkish nationals travelling to Europe.

European sources confirmed that the summit, due to involve a working lunch with Davutoglu followed by a meeting of the 28 EU leaders, had now been extended into the evening.

"The Turks are offering more, they are demanding more," a senior European source told AFP. "It's more ambitious on all aspects".

The source added: "Davutoglu has presented some new ideas and new proposals at lunch. The EU 28 will gather at a working session to discuss the new ideas -- that will take some time.

"Then we have foreseen a dinner with the participation of Davutoglu."
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey is ready to do all it can in conjunction with the European Union to tackle illegal migration but will not be able to completely eliminate crossings over the Aegean sea, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday. "Everybody knows what the Aegean looks like and it is not possible for any country to stop all migrants to zero. But that doesn't mean we won't do everything we can," the spokesman told Reuters on the sidelines of an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels. "This is our common problem, not the EU's, not a Greek problem. (Expecting) everything from Turkey is not fair, we are here for burden sharing, and we sincerely believe that today bolder steps will be taken." The spokesman described a meeting between Davutoglu, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the eve of the summit as "very fruitful". He declined to comment on the details of readmission agreements being discussed. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Daren Butler)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he hoped Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would return from a summit in Brussels with the 3 billion euro in aid promised by the European Union for the refugee crisis. "We already spent $10 billion for 3 million people. They promised to give us 3 billion euro, four months have passed since then. The prime minister is in Brussels right now. I hope he returns with that money, the 3 billion euro," Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television. EU leaders are due to meet with Davutoglu as the bloc is looking to Ankara to help it curb the influx of refugees and migrants flowing into Europe. (Reporting by Daren Butler and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Abu Dhabi (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday voiced concern over the takeover by Turkish authorities of a leading newspaper and said the issue would be raised with Turkey's premier.

Turkish police on Friday seized control of the top-selling Zaman, which opposes President Recep Tayyib Erdogan, drawing condemnation from the European Union, the United States and Russia, as well as international media watchdogs.

"We are monitoring this with concern," Steinmeier told reporters in Abu Dhabi, according to an English-language translation of his remarks.

He said the issue would be raised with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who was in Brussels on Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders on Europe's migrant crisis.

Press freedom campaigners have urged the EU not to compromise on fundamental values in return for Ankara's cooperation in tackling the crisis.

Zaman, closely linked to Erdogans arch-foe, US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was placed under administration under a court order which critics said was part of efforts to silence opposition media.

Zaman has an estimated circulation of 650,000.

Ankara accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities.

Turkish media said the court order was issued on the grounds that Zaman supported the activities of this "terror organisation".
By Siva Govindasamy and Praveen Menon

SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two years after twin air crashes that left its brand in tatters, Malaysia Airlines is still a company in limbo.

The loss of two Boeing 777s just months apart in 2014 triggered a much needed state bailout for the already loss-making carrier. It cut a third of its staff, grounded its Boeing 777-200s and scrapped its less profitable long-haul routes.

As a result of those efforts - and low oil prices - the group says it will reach its target to turn a profit in 2018, the same year its German boss, turnaround guru Christoph Mueller, ends a three-year contract.

But some analysts and executives question a bet on a narrow, regional business model they say could leave it struggling to compete with regional rivals.

They say Mueller and his team are not paying enough attention to the airline's long-term strategy, in the face of intense competition from southeast Asian rivals like Singapore Airlines <SIAL.SI>, Garuda Indonesia <GIAA.JK> and Air Asia <AIRA.MK> - particularly if the airline continues to hemorrhage pilots, engineers and mid-rank managers.

"Apart from shedding jobs, cutting its fleet size and renegotiating vendor contracts, it would appear nobody envisions what the airline might look like in 10 years time," said Shukor Yusof, founder of Malaysia-based consultancy Endau Analytics.

Malaysia Airlines was struggling with a high cost base and low yields even before 2014, but its troubles deepened after March that year, when flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. In July 2014, Flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.

APRES MOI?

In December 2014, Malaysian state-owned sovereign wealth fund Khazanah took the airline private as part of a 6 billion ringgit ($1.47 billion) restructuring plan. Mueller, 54, was brought in as the airline's CEO in May 2015 on the strength of his experience turning around Irelands Aer Lingus, Belgiums Sabena, and Germany's Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>.

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Some of the operational changes Mueller has implemented are starting to show results: on Friday, the company released data showing revenue per available seat kilometer, an industry measure of efficiency, up 10 percent from the previous quarter.

But that may not be enough, senior executives warn.

"Khazanah must push Christoph and his team to do something about this if they want to secure the airlines future beyond his three-year contract," said one. The executive was not authorized to speak to the press.

A second executive also called for greater ambition, arguing against "too much short termism" in the overhaul plan.

On Friday, the airline announced that its latest cost cuts included renegotiating contracts with leasing companies, reducing the number of suppliers, and implementing a new IT system.

The cuts so far have included a dramatic shrinking of the airline's network: over the last year, it has canceled all non-stop flights to Europe except those to London and ended several low-yield Asia Pacific services.

It is instead concentrating on short- and medium-haul flights to Asia and Australia. It has signed a codeshare agreement with Gulf carrier Emirates to give its passengers access to points in Europe and Africa through Dubai.

That, argue some executives and analysts, may leave it sitting uncomfortably between full service rivals and local budget competitors like AirAsia and AirAsia X.

As a smaller full-service airline without a large network, it won't be able to compete effectively with other full service hub carriers in the region, they say.

But it will also have to compete with Malaysian budget carriers AirAsia <AIRA.KL> and AirAsia X <AIRX.KL>, which have a similar point-to-point network, lower cost base and can offer cheaper ticket prices.

In a written statement to Reuters, Malaysian Airlines said its business plan took "a long term view of the airlines strategy with a distinct focus on cost competitiveness in the short term and a clear ambition for expansion after reaching break even. It is clearly the national carriers role to support the Malaysian economy to enhance connectivity in the rapidly growing markets in Asia Pacific and beyond."

A planned rebranding has been put on hold. The company, explain some executives and analysts, wants to be profitable before it relaunches the brand.

The restructuring of the fleet and network, and the cost cutting plans are "fundamental and underpinning elements which have to come ahead of any softer elements such as brand", said John Strickland, a British-based independent aviation consultant.

For Johor Bahru-based Yusof, despite the restructuring, there are more questions than answers about the airline's future.

Says Yusof: "Sadly its mid- to long-term future, under the current circumstances, looks almost as bleak as the possibility of finding the missing MH370."

(Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Alexandra Harney)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday renewed its appeal to the Taliban to join peace talks and said Afghan and U.S. forces would have to prepare themselves for the prospect of increased violence in the spring and summer if the insurgent group did not agree to negotiations. The Taliban said on Saturday it would not take part in peace talks brokered by representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, casting doubt on efforts to revive negotiations. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States backed a call by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for the radical Islamists to join talks with the Kabul government. "They have a choice. Rather than continuing to fight their fellow Afghans and destabilizing their country, they should engage in a peace process and ultimately become a legitimate part of the political system of a sovereign united Afghanistan," Kirby said. "There is and should be a sense of urgency around getting these talks up and running," he told a regular news briefing. "If there's no peace process in place and the Taliban's not willing to come to the table and talk about a reconciliation ... we would and the Afghan security forces would have to prepare themselves, for the potential for increased violence in the spring and summer months. "It's the so-called fighting season, and we've seen this before, when the weather warms up. ... I want to stress that's not what we want to see." The Taliban, ousted from power in a U.S.-led military campaign in 2001, has been waging a violent insurgency to try to topple Afghanistan's Western-backed government. Following a meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Coordination Group in February, officials said they expected direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to begin in early March. A previous peace effort broke down last year following the announcement that the Taliban's founder and longtime leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died about two years earlier. New leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has laid down conditions for taking part in any talks as he struggles to overcome factional infighting, with some breakaway groups opposing any negotiations. Heavy fighting has continued over the winter from Helmand in the south to Jowzjan province in the north, while suicide attacks have been launched in the capital, underlining the difficulty of restarting the peace process. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) - The U.N.'s aviation agency on Monday announced new requirements for the real-time tracking of civilian aircraft in distress, following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 two years ago. The International Civil Aviation Organization's governing council approved proposals for planes to carry tracking devices that can transmit their location at least once a minute in cases of distress. Plane operators will have to ensure their flight recorder data is recoverable, while the duration of cockpit voice recordings is being extended from two to 25 hours, ICAO said. The requirements for the one-minute tracking and flight recorder data are performance-based, meaning individual airlines and plane-makers can choose the best option for them, from among existing and emerging technologies, ICAO said. The changes will take effect between now and 2021. Last year Malaysia called for real-time aircraft tracking to become a priority for the aviation industry following the loss of MH370. The flight disappeared on March 8, 2014 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people aboard. Taken together, these new provisions will ensure that in the case of an accident the location of the site will be known immediately to within six nautical miles, and that investigators will be able to access the aircrafts flight recorder data promptly and reliably, said ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu in the statement. They will also contribute to greatly improved and more cost-effective search and rescue operations. Two years after the tragedy, MH370 has still not been found. On Monday, Malaysia was investigating a second piece of debris found on the small Indian Ocean island of Reunion, suspected to be from the plane. So far, only a piece of wing, known as a flaperon, discovered in July last year has been confirmed by authorities to belong to the missing Boeing 777. (Reporting By Allison Lampert; Editing by Chris Reese)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Monday the United States took North Korean threats to use nuclear weapons seriously and urged Pyongyang to halt its provocations, including testing nuclear devices and long-range rockets. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country last week to be prepared to use nuclear weapons at any time and to be ready to carry out a pre-emptive attack, state media reported. His comments came as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted annual military exercises amid heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North's recent nuclear and missile tests, which prompted the United Nations to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang. "We certainly do take those kinds of threats seriously ... and again call on Pyongyang to cease with the provocative rhetoric, cease with the threats and quite frankly, more critically, cease with the provocative behavior, the actual conduct, that has led to yet another round of international sanctions," State Department spokesman John Kirby said. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)
By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was unchanged on Monday amidst subdued activity ahead of a national holiday on Tuesday. At 1155 GMT commercial banks were quoting the shilling at 3,370/3,380, unchanged from Friday's close. Shahzadd Kamaluddin, a trader at Crane Bank, said the shilling could weaken if the central bank does not roll over repurchase agreements (repos) which are due to mature later in the week. Last week Bank of Uganda (BoU) removed more than 500 billion shillings ($148.37 million) in excess liquidity from the interbank market via two repos which are due to mature this week. UGX Spot Rate..... Ugandan Shilling Money Guide.... Calculated Cross Rates.......... Deposits..................... Deposits & Forwards............. Uganda Equities Guide....... Uganda All Share Index........ Shilling background ..... Ugandan Debt Guide............ All Uganda Bonds............. Uganda T-Bills.............. Uganda Benchmark............. Central Bank ................ Ugandan Contributor Index.... Uganda Coffee Prices....... ($1 = 3,370.0000 Ugandan shillings) (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Drazen Jorgic)
Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon on Monday denied reports it is building two airfields in northern Syria as part of the battle against the Islamic State group.

Syrian military and security officials have said the United States is expanding an airfield in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province, and new reports have surfaced of a base near the Kurdish city of Kobani.

"We are not building or operating any air bases in Syria," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.

Still, the United States has acknowledged it has sent about 50 special operations forces on the ground in northern Syria, helping train and equip local anti-IS fighters.

"That we have people there and that we have made deliveries there, and that they have to get there by some means should be no secret, but we are not going to comment on the means," Davis said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in January that the Rmeilan airstrip had been widened and was "nearly ready" for use by American planes.

The United States is supporting a Kurdish-Arab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces against the IS group in northern Syria, providing it with air cover as part of a broad coalition battling the jihadists.
American news program "60 Minutes" is getting skewered by offended Canadians after it mistook actress Kim Cattrall for the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mother Margaret.

On Sunday, the weekly, most-watched news program in the US, sat down with the Canadian leader in advance of a state dinner that will be held in his honor at the White House March 10 -- the first time in nearly 20 years that a Canadian prime minister has received such an invitation.

During the wide-ranging interview, the program aired an old black and white photo depicting his father and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau with "Sex and the City" actress Kim Cattrall, but identified her as Margaret Trudeau.

Canadians were quick to react to the error, taking to Twitter to air their grievances

"Seems like Americans really do need to "pay a a little more attention to Canada." Really @60Minutes? Kim Cattrall?" tweeted one viewer.

For her part, Cattrall sent a cheeky response, writing, "@JustinTrudeau @SixtyMinutes I have a son who is the Prime Minister of Canada? I couldn't b more proud."
By Gary Robertson RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - The Virginia state Senate on Monday approved a bill making the electric chair the default method of execution if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. The bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate by a 22-17 vote. The Republican-dominated House has already approved the measure. After a lower chamber vote on a minor amendment, the measure will go to Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe for approval. A spokesman for the governor said the measure would be reviewed when it arrived. Virginia is one of eight states that allows electrocution as a method of execution, letting condemned inmates choose between it and lethal injection. If they do not choose, lethal injection is used. Virginia, along with other states, has struggled to get lethal injection drugs because pharmaceutical companies have protested their use in executions. The last death row inmate in Virginia to choose the electric chair for execution was in 2013. Inmate Ricky Gray, who killed six people in Richmond in 2006, had been scheduled for execution on March 16, adding urgency to the legislative debate. Grays execution has been postponed by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court about whether to hear the case. Gray has not indicated which method of execution he preferred. The legislation has fueled debate in Virginia over whether capital punishment, especially the electric chair, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. "The electric chair is outdated and barbaric, Senator Scott Surovell, a Democrat from northern Virginia, said during a floor debate. He lost an effort to amend the bill by requiring the Virginia Department of Corrections to explain in detail why it was not able to obtain lethal drugs before opting for electrocution. State Senator Mark Obenshain, a Republican from the Shenandoah Valley, argued that if the amendment passed it would have further delayed execution of death row inmates. "Some (people) just have black hearts. Theyre beyond redemption, said Obenshain, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for state attorney general in 2013. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Bernard Orr)
This week in astronomy: Were getting a solar eclipse and an asteroid is going to come *thisclose* to Earth

This week in astronomy: Were getting a solar eclipse and an asteroid is going to come *thisclose* to Earth

Well, this is the kind of thing that movies like 2012 make a big deal out of: On March 8th, our planet will experience a cosmic double-whammy of a total solar eclipse AND a 100-foot-wide asteroid flying by the Earth. Neat!

The total solar eclipse of March 2016 is the only total eclipse of the sun this year. (And now I cant stop singing Total Eclipse of the Heart.) Its our first eclipse since 2015, and this time the moons shadow will travel across the Earth late Tuesday (March 8) and early Wednesday (March 9). Scientists at Space explain that the odd timeline is due to the international dateline: The eclipse starts in Indonesia early Wednesday, but moves east across the Pacific, so it will still be Tuesday for the last third of the eclipse. Its kind of like time travel, which is fitting.

If youre planning on watching the eclipse in person, remember: Never, ever look directly at the sun, even through a telescope. Instead, youll need eclipse-viewing glasses or, for some DIY fun, build a pinhole projector. Otherwise, you might end up like Libby Hurley from The Adventures of Pete & Pete.

Meanwhile, the asteroids arrival is more uncertain: Researchers first thought wed be getting the flyby on March 5, but they updated their prediction in February. While the asteroid should pass at a roomy distance of 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) from Earth, NASA officials said in a statement theres a slight possibility it will come as close as 15,000 miles (24,000 km). As long as the asteroid doesnt hit Earth, Im happy. I dont want a Deep Impact-type situation.

If you dont live in the right geographical location to see the solar eclipse, you can watch the process live in a webcast hosted by the Slooh Community Observatory starting March 8 at 6 p.m. EST, and running until 9 p.m. EST.

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NASA is also hosting a solar eclipse webcast starting Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on NASA TV, and NASA scientists will also be answering questions on Google+, Facebook, and Instagram, with the hashtag #eclipse2016. You can also check out their tweets at @NASASunEarth. They will also answer questions on Reddit the day of the event at 1 p.m. EST, and will host a Facebook Q&A at 2 p.m. EST on March 7. All this goes to say, if you have questions about these cosmic happenings, NASA is more than willing to answer them.

Theres no plan for live coverage of the asteroid flyby, as NASA officials said that it would likely too dim to view easily from Earth. If it comes by at 15,000 miles, however, that might change!

One day, of course, well all be living in space and these cosmic events will be day-to-day occurrences. I hope I can get a room on Captain Picards Enterprise.

The post This week in astronomy: Were getting a solar eclipse and an asteroid is going to come *thisclose* to Earth appeared first on HelloGiggles.
How Did the Market React before and after the US Non-Farm Payroll?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Bovespa rose to a high of 50,000

The Brazilian (EWZ) index BM&F Bovespa rose by close to 3.9% during early trade on March 4, 2016. It led the emerging market rise ahead of the US NFP (non-farm payroll) data release. The emerging markets (EEM) rose as crude oil (USO) prices bounced back among other commodities (DBC). Crude oil futures were trading higher by 1.2% at 9:30 AM EST. The US dollar-Brazilian real is inversely related to the Brazilian real. It fell by 1.7%.

Why investors flocked to the Brazilian market

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is already under pressure. Shes facing an impeachment proceeding. She received more bad news. It looks like she might be implicated by the corruption scandal. Investors blamed the presidents administrative policies for the economic downturn in Brazil. This was buoyed by the recent news as the bulls returned to the Brazilian market. The rise in commodity prices also accounted for investors increased optimism in the Brazilian markets.

The Brazilian industrial production for January rose by 0.4% on a month-over-month basis. This was the first time that the industrial production rose in nearly seven months. The rise was also against the market consensus of a 0.5% fall.

How did other Latin American indexes fare?

Looking at the performance of major Latin American (ILF) indexes other than the Bovespa, the Argentinian index Merval rose by 1.5% at 10:00 AM EST. The Mexican (EWW) index IPC rose by 0.37% after the Mexican Business Confidence came out at 52.6 for February. The Colombian COLCAP Index was trading nearly flat with a slight rise of 0.1%.

Continue to Next Part

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WTI and Brent Crude Oil Prices: Tug of War between Bulls and Bears

Crude oil price movement

April WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures contracts trading in NYMEX rose by 3.9% and settled at $35.9 per barrel on March 4, 2016. Brent crude oil prices trading in ICE rose by 4.5% and closed at $38.7 per barrel. Oil prices rallied due to slowing US crude oil output and a better-than-expected US employment report. ETFs like the United States Oil Fund (USO) and the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (UCO) also moved in the direction of crude oil prices. They rose by 4.3% and 8.7%, respectively, on March 4. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) rose by 0.3% to $200.36 on the same day.

US jobs data

On March 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that US non-farm payrolls rose by 242,000 for Februarycompared to Market estimates of 190,000. The better-than-expected rise in US jobs data boosted the broader markets (SPY). The crude oil market also reacted positively. Improving jobs data suggest improvement in consumer spending and possible improvement in economic activity. The slowing US crude oil production also led to a rise in crude oil prices. To learn more about US crude oil production, read Slowing US Crude Oil Production Supported Crude Oil Prices.

Meeting in Russia

On March 3, Nigerias petroleum minister Emmanuel Kachikwu reported that the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries is planning a meeting with oil-exporting giant Russia. The meeting will take place in Russia on March 20, 2016. The meeting will renew talks to strategize the recently concluded crude oil production deal between Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Qatar. On February 16, the countries decided to freeze the crude oil production at the levels from January 2016. This production deal is also driving oil prices higher. To learn more about the historic deal, read Why Crude Oil Prices Fell despite the OPEC and Non-OPEC Deal. You can also read Did Saudi Arabia Keep Its Word and Freeze Crude Oil Production? and Why OPECs Crude Oil Production Fell in February 2016.

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Crude oil prices rose almost 37%

Supply stripping demand caused oil prices to fall by almost 66% since June 2014. However, oil prices rose almost 37% since the lows in February 2016 due to slowing US production and the production deal covered above. The uptick in oil prices benefits oil producers like Swift Energy (SFY), Hess (HES), Energy XXI (EXXI), and Goodrich Petroleum (GDP). In contrast, low oil prices and steady product prices could benefit oil refiners like Western Refining (WNR) and Northern Tier Energy (NTI).

Read the next part of the series to learn more about the oil price forecast. The third part of this series covers the latest update in Cushing crude oil stocks and how it impacts oil prices. Well also check out the slowing US crude oil rig count in the fourth part of the series. Well cover the hedge fund oil futures and option positions in the fifth part of the series.

The ups and downs in the oil and gas market also impact ETFs like the iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC), the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (XES), and the First Trust Energy AlphaDEX Fund (FXN).

Continue to Next Part

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Los Angeles (AFP) - Nancy Reagan's death sparked an outpouring of condolences from around the world Sunday for the former US first lady.

Here are reactions of some of the main public figures who made official statements or took to social media to voice their sympathies.

- The Reagan family -

Michael Reagan, the adopted son of former President Ronald Reagan:

"I am saddened by the passing of my stepmother Nancy Reagan... She is once again with the man she loved. God Bless...

"Nancy is where she has always wanted to be with her Ronnie... Now she is at peace."

- The Republican Party -

Former president George W. Bush:

"Mrs Reagan was fiercely loyal to her beloved husband, and that devotion was matched only by her devotion to our country. Her influence on the White House was complete and lasting."

Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and former California governor:

"Nancy Reagan was one of my heroes. She served as first lady with unbelievable power, class and grace and left her mark on the world.

"She's with her Ronnie now, but those of us she left behind will miss her dearly."

Senator John McCain of Arizona:

"Nancy Reagan was an example to us all of graciousness, loyalty and dignity in good times and bad. She was an exemplary first lady, and a generous friend.

"I will always be grateful for her and her husband's many kindnesses to my family. And I will always remember her as a dear friend and patriot and as one half of a love story that Hollywood couldn't have written any better."

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump:

"Nancy Reagan, the wife of a truly great president, was an amazing woman. She will be missed!"

Marco Rubio, another candidate vying to be the GOP's presidential nominee:

"Today our nation mourns the loss of Nancy Reagan, a true example of integrity and grace. My prayers are with the entire Reagan family."

- Democrats -

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle:

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"We remain grateful for Nancy Reagan's life, thankful for her guidance and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again."

White House hopeful Hillary Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton:

"Nancy was an extraordinary woman: a gracious first lady, proud mother and devoted wife to President Reagan -- her Ronnie.

"Her strength of character was legendary, particularly when tested by the attempted assassination of the president, and throughout his battle with Alzheimer's."

Bernie Sanders, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination:

"Nancy Reagan was an exemplary first lady. Even after her time in the White House, she was an outspoken advocate for stem-cell research to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Nancy Reagan had a good heart, and she will be dearly missed."

Former US president Jimmy Carter:

"Rosalynn and I are saddened by the passing of former First Lady Nancy Reagan. She will always be admired for her strength of conviction and her lifelong devotion to her husband."

- World leaders -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"I remember Nancy as a noble woman who supported president Reagan and stood by his side. She will be remembered as a great friend of the State of Israel."

- Celebrities -

Actress Joan Collins:

"My friend Nancy Reagan died aged 94. The end of an era, #Love the 80s."

Talk show legend Larry King:

"#NancyReagan was some kind of gal! Warm & wonderful. Always had her husband's best interest. We'll miss you."

Beach Boy Brian Wilson:

"Sad to hear Nancy Reagan passed away. She stood up for us in 1984 when we were banned from playing July 4 D.C. Show. Ended up being great."
Zendaya will join Tom Holland in Sony and Marvel's Spider-Man reboot.

Holland is starring as Peter Parker in Sony's new take on the webslinger. Zendaya's role is currently being kept under wraps, but sources say it is not a lead role. Marisa Tomei is attached to play Aunt May.

Jon Watts is directing the currently untitled Spider-Man reboot from Marvel and Sony. Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal are producing the film, which focuses on a teenage Parker.

Zendaya is known for starring on Disney Channel's Shake It Up, and also appeared on the 16th season of Dancing With the Stars. She currently stars on Disney Channel's K.C. Undercover. Shes repped by CAA and Monster Talent Management
Enill warns of recession woes

He said another option was to reduce expenditure in which scenario all contract employment will not be renewed and non-fixed contractual and new projects requiring funding will be reviewed. He said this process will mean that the decision making will not happen in the expected time frames and planning in the private sector will be challenging. He said the third option was to pursue both of the options he mentioned.

Enill made the comments as he delivered opening remarks at a one-day 2016 Technical Anti-Money Laundering Seminar conducted by NEM Leadership Consultants at the Radisson Trinidad hotel, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

He referred to the increasing level of unemployment resulting from retrenchment, and said Labour Minister, Jennifer Baptiste -Primus had admitted in Parliament that the figures may be higher that those reported to the Ministry of Labour.

Enill said that there was a belief that diversification was the solution to the countrys problems but in his view, diversification was only half of the conversation. He added, If diversification is the solution what is the problem? The problem is expenditure. You cannot be spending $63 billion dollars when your revenue is $30 billion less, and expect to fix this by diversification. Your policy must control expenditure and also manage the revenue risk. He said the country also had to deal with the diversification challenges such as inefficient government bureaucracy; crime and theft; poor work ethic in the national labour force, and corruption. He also said the issue of the countrys ageing population also had to be confronted.

Participants at the seminar heard an update on new anti- money laundering regulations from chartered accountant Nigel Matthew; a briefing on Mutual Evaluation Reports from Diana Firth Novelo, Deputy Executive Director of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force; as well as other speakers on the effectiveness of the compliance function; the AML Compliance Audit; and a presentation on Obligations of Reporting Entities and Emerging Trends and Typologies by Nigel Stoddard, Deputy Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago.

In response to questions on the sidelines of the seminar afterwards, Enill said it is extremely important that individuals and institutions pay attention to the anti-money laundering regulations. because it is part of their corporate governance responsibility in ensuring that they protect their institutions.

He added that at this point in time when the country is experiencing a recession, institutions will have a number of risks to manage.

They are going to have to manage risks of a disruption, less revenue, changes and this particular money laundering seminar really is about corporate governance.

It is really about knowing your customer. It is about creating a higher degree of due diligence.

It is about making sure that your organisation is not at risk, because if you look at some of the penalties in the law, they are extremely, extremely high both for the individual and the organisation.
Celebrating Black History

In honour of this celebration, I present some of my favourite books that highlight important events in black history  especially books that highlight the role of West Indians in the American Civil Rights Movement.

This list reflects the contributions of three of the most important West Indian contributors to the Civil Rights Movement. Marcus Garvey, Zephaniah Alexander Looby and Stokely Carmichael all made invaluable contributions to the movement.

Although Jamaican- born Marcus Garveys concept of black pride and his Pan African movement of the 1920s pre-date the Civil Rights era, Garvey did help to set the stage and the mood for the movement with his marches in Harlem.

Garveys Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was the largest black secular organisation in Africa-American history.

For many people, Zephaniah Alexander Looby is not a wellknown figure in the Civil Rights movement, but he is an important contributor, who is acknowledged in most books about the movement. Born in Antigua, Looby spent his childhood in Dominica. Orphaned by the time he was 14, Looby signed on board a whaling ship, jumped ship in the US and earned a doctorate degree in law. He won important cases in Tennessee courts in the 40s and 50s  including the Columbia Race Riot case, which he fought with Thurgood Marshall and Maurice Weaver.

Trinidadian-born Stokely Carmichael became a crucial contributor to the American Civil Rights Movement. He is credited with the slogan Black Power and he came up with the Black Panther symbol when he worked on voter registration in Lowndes County, Alabama. His fiery rhetoric, wry sense of humour and uncanny ability to articulate the problems of black Americans combined to make him a charismatic leader Here are my Top Ten books that celebrate Black History.

1. Negro with a Hat by Colin GrantIn my book, this is the best and most readable biography of Marcus Garvey.

2. Malcolm X by Manning Marable  This controversial biography of Malcolm X gives a whole other side to the Black Muslim leader who was the subject of Alex Haleys biography.

3. Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith  There is no lofty language to match the brilliant concept of this book, still Blood Brothers is an important read for its probing story of the friendship between the activist and the athlete.

4. Extraordinary Black Americans by Susan Altman  If you dont know where to take the plunge into the Civil Rights Movement, these short biographies serve as an important guide.

5. Stokely, A Life by Piniel Joseph  The latest biography on Stokely Carmichael and his work in the Civil Rights Movement is an important look at Carmichaels life work.

6. The Black Jacobins by CLR James  Trinidadian writer CLR Jamess history of the Haitian Revolution reads like a novel.

7. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James  Booker Prize-winning Jamaican author Marlon James spins a tale about the assassination attempt on Bob Marley.

8. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King  Filled with tension and fascinating stories, this biography of the first black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall highlights many of Marshalls cases during the Civil Rights Movement.

9. Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear by Aram Goudsouzian  This book captures the spirit, hope and fear that defined the Civil Rights Movement.

Happy readin
Classes begin at St James Youth centre

In a recent visit to the centre at Terrebrulee Road the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Darryl Smith, joined hands with members of the community to pray for the success of all future projects at the facility. We want this place to be vibrant and pumping, Smith said during his visit to witness the start-up of programmes at the three-story facility and to sit in during some classes, a media release stated.

Smith hopes that the St James community and environs would take advantage of the programmes at the centre which are free to all participants, the release said.

For more info visit the ministrys website at www.sport.gov.tt.
HANDS CHOPPED OFF

The vicious attack on accounts clerk Jennifer Rampersad is the latest in a series of domestic violence acts perpetrated against the nations women by men whom they knew and had a close relationship with. Rampersads attack comes hours after Amina Mohammeds body was found in bushes with her throat slit. A third woman, Rachael Chadee, remains in hospital after she was forced to drink acid, doused with the corrosive liquid and slashed across her face.

Doctors have to police investigators that if Rampersad survives, she will never be able to drive her car again as both of her hands were chopped off during the incident at her her New Grant home. The hands, Newsday was told, could not be reattached. One of her fingers was found on the bloodstained mattress, after the assault. It is believe that a sharpened cutlass, which Rampersad kept in the house for her protection, was used on her as it is now missing.

Rampersad, of Sancho Road, New Grant, remains warded at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Last Friday, Rampersad traded in her used vehicle and drove home with a new van which she parked downstairs her two-storey house. Up to yesterday, relatives said she was still unconscious having also been chopped so deeply across her head, that there is a gaping hole.

Up to last night, she was in surgery with surgeons trying to save one of her arms which is hanging by strands of flesh and skin.

There were no signs of forced entry into the heavily burglar-proofed house. Rampersads mother Irma Soodeen, 72, who slept in an adjoining room, was awakened at 1.40 am, by her daughters screams on Saturday morning. On checking, she found her on the floor covered in blood trying to crawl with bloody stumps where her hands used to be. Soodeen raised an alarm and neighbours rushed over.

A report was made to police and officers led by Supt Rajkumar arrived on the scene.

Rampersad was rushed to the Princes Town District Health Facility where she was treated before being transferred to the SFGH. When Newsday visited the victims home yesterday, relatives were mopping blood stained floors while others were wiping splotches of blood from the walls.

Rampersads bloodstained mattress was leaning against a wall.

Cupboard doors were smeared in blood. Nearby, Rampersads sister Devi Soodeen stood sobbing as she watched family members cleaning up. Why would someone do that to my sister? God, I have never seen so much blood...is blood and more blood everywhere, she cried.

She (Jennifer) is a very independent woman who works hard. She owns her own home and vehicle.

If she was home today, she would have been at Miracle Ministries worshipping with Pastor Winston Cuffie, Soodeen said. She added that her sister did not have any children and five years ago, her husband Deochan Rampersad, died.

They were all asleep when someone entered the house and took the cutlass and went into her room. It look like after she got chopped on the head, she tried to prevent more chops and lifted her hands to her face. The man chopped off both hands. Two of her fingers were chopped off. There were patched of hair with on it on the mattress. Its one bloody hell in here, she said.

WOMENS DAY The attack on Rampersad came three days before Trinidad and Tobago joins the world in celebrating International Womens Day tomorrow. Rampersads attacker, police said, who is from the New Grant area, has been detained and is assisting police in their investigations.

Investigators believe that the intruder is known to Jennifer and may have had a key to the house. Police have also noted, that Jennifer had reported to family members that she had forgotten the keys to her house in the vehicle she had earlier traded in.

Newsday was also told, that she was expected to meet with someone on Saturday to collect the keys The attack on Jennifer comes on the heels of the murder of Amina Mohammed, 30, a geriatric nurse of Lalbeharry Trace, Debe, who was found with her throat slit at the side of the road on the outskirts of San Fernando last Friday evening. Mohammed, a mother of two, was divorced and was expected to attend the Princes Town Magistrates court in a domestic related matter, sometime this week.

An autopsy will be carried out today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Meanwhile, still warded in serious but stable condition at the SFGH, is mother of three Rachael Chadee, 35, who was forced to ingest acid when on February 22, an estranged male relative broke into the familys house at La Romaine and locked her in a room .

Chadees mother, Doris, stood helplessly outside the room while her daughter was being attacked.

The man also threw acid on her and chopped the woman in the face. Chadee, who remains under police guard at SFGH, can barely speak because of the damage done to her throat. Roger Bissoo has been deemed a Wanted Man by police in connection with the acid-attack, but remains in hiding.

Sgt Ramlogan is investigation Saturdays chopping of Jennifer.

One of the themes for this years International Womens Day is, gender equality.
Criminologist weighs in on school violence

Why is it that in 2016, we have no appropriate place for deviant youths that we need to being back on track? he asked. We need to understand their problems and deal with them. Ramdhanie noted that the education system already had a shortage of guidance counsellors and social workers. Who will help these students? he asked. Will private persons be employed. Are there funds available in this recession? What about the dozens of other schools with similar or worse situations? Ramdhanie was speaking in the wake of the Ministry of Educations recent crackdown on student delinquency at the Chaguanas North Secondary School in which more than 20 students were expected to be removed from the institution.

It was reported that some of the students had matters pending before he courts while others were chronic troublemakers. The ministry carried out a similar exercise, last Tuesday, at the El Dorado East Secondary School, where criminality among some students was revealed to be rampant. No decision has been taken on whether these delinquent students would be removed from the system.

Lovell Francis, Minister in the Ministry of Education, has confirmed that the students at the Chaguanas North Secondary School have not yet been removed as it was a legal issue. Francis said the presence of students in school was governed by the Education Act.

Ramdhanie told Newsday that the countrys problem with youth violence was no different from what obtains in other parts of the world.

There are many things that work globally but we are not catching on as fast as we should because the technocrats are not on top of things, the decision-makers do not see them as attractive, the resources (human, financial, physical) may be unavailable, he said. The criminologist lamented that this country has not risen to the challenge of youth delinquency.It hasnt really bothered us too much as a people.....It is only when it hits home or close to home that we are troubled by it, he said. To really come out as a nation on this matter hard, we need a strong force to lead us in this direction.

We are basically a laid back society trying not to ruffle any feathers.

One day we will realise that we need to deal with this massive problem and that it has reached too far.
3-year-old grazed by bullets

A man who was standing nearby when the incident occurred, was not so fortunate, as bullets fired at him, were deadly accurate and he was killed .

According to a police report, Chavez Snaggs, 27, of Winston Mulligan Drive in La Horquetta was at home with his three-year-old relative Thycun Snaggs and another man identified as Theron Pierre .

The three were in the gallery relaxing when a gunman entered and without warning opened fire. Bullets struck Snaggs in his leg and abdomen, while Pierre was shot in the head. The toddle was grazed in the head and leg by bullets. The gunman left the house and ran off .

All three were rushed to the Arima District Hospital and transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where Pierre succumbed to his injuries while receiving emergency treatment .

The toddler was treated and discharged into the care of his mother Carlene Edwards, police told Newsday .

Snaggs meanwhile, remains warded at hospital in a stable condition .

No motive has been established for the murder and investigations are continuing .

In an unrelated incident, a 21-year-old woman from New Grant near Princes Town, is one of two persons warded at San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), following a shooting incident at a bar during the early morning hours on Saturday. Reports are Jacqueline Cedeno- Samuel was shot in the lower abdomen by gunmen, who according to police, opened fire on patrons liming at Belle Bagai Bar, located on Southern Main Road, Vistabella .

Also injured was security officer Clement Phillip, 29, and Christopher Perot of Hubert Rance Street, Vistabella. Police said that Phillip was shot on the buttocks while Perot sustained gunshot wounds to the left side of his face .

According to a police report, it was at about 4.28 am, Cedeno-Samuel, Phillip and Perot were among patrons inside the bar when gunshots were fired .

The three patrons later realised they had been shot. The gunmen escaped in a vehicle parked near to the bar .

The three were rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where Cedeno-Samuel and Perot were treated and warded. Phillip was subsequently discharged from the hospital. No arrest has been made and no motive established. Several spent shells were later recovered inside the bar. Police investigations are ongoing .
Lee Sing: Women worse off

The event, held at the Institute of International Relations, was a response the fallout from former Port-of-Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kees controversial statements about the death of Japanese national Asami Nagakiya, whose body was discovered under a tree at the Queens Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain on Ash Wednesday.

Tim Kee had appeared to link the womans death to the vulgarity that is often associated with Carnival.

Although Nagakiyas body has since been flown back to Japan, debate on issues related to victim blaming and domestic violence rages. Among those sharing perspectives at the forum were Manager of the Victim and Witness Support Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, Margaret Sampson-Browne; university lecturer Dr Gabrielle Hosein; and Amilcar Sanatan, a post-graduate student at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies.

During his presentation, Lee Sing took the hard line on violence against women, saying he was very grateful for the positive influence his mother and sisters had on his life. My mother and sisters were in my eye perfect, he said, revealing that he had subsequently sought perfection in all of his undertakings. Some of my best work has been achieved in consult with women and great people. Lee Sing, a businessman, observed that although women were outperforming men in many areas of work, many men were still reluctant to acknowledge their contribution.

Women are working side by side with men and the men cannot deal with that, he said.

Zeroing in on the women who have lost their lives to domestic violence, he observed that many men cannot deal with the reality of a woman leaving them. He lamented that in such cases, many women end up dead.

If a nation cannot protect its most vulnerable, it is in my view, not a nation, he said. Lee Sing argued that violence against women is a national issue for which government must develop a comprehensive response.
NGOs host Church service

God wants to deal with us and if you allow Him, then we can be blessings to others. We can only change ourselves but we can influence others after we ourselves are changed. Helen Cumberbatch also addressed the congregation and said there are so many women who are facing issues on a daily basis and is not given their fair share of opportunities.

We all as women need to keep in touch with the issues that are affecting us throughout the world, she said. Cumberbatch explained that following her research, she found nine key issues affecting women across the world which includes access to education, employment opportunities, reproductive health and rights, maternal health, gender base violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, water and sanitation and gender equalities.

She urged the women not to stay within the church, but be active throughout communities, to look for opportunities and solution to help women who are affected.

In respect to this years theme Pledge for Parity, Cumberbatch explained, parity is the state of our condition of being equal, so its really a pledge for equality for both genders. Speaking to Newsday after the service, Coordination of the NGOs organisation, Hazel Brown said she too shared the same sentiments that a person has to be transformed positively in order to have a positive influence on others before they to can make change. Brown said IWD is not only to celebrate the achievements of women, but to appreciate the pillars which have been built by women through stable family structures, community and organizational development at a global level.

In a release from the International Womens Resource Network (IWRN) stated that in a 2012 study conducted in New Delhi, found that 92 percent of women reported having experienced some form of sexual violence in public spaces in their lifetime, and 88 percent of women reported having experienced some form of verbal sexual harassment in their lifetime. The release also stated that family violence remains a priority issue for the organization, as their recent research strongly suggests that all forms of violence including school violence, poverty, lack of mechanisms to treat with tolerance and anger management, are all linked and are negatively impacting families.
JP, IRO Head to meet Pope Francis

The IRO president said that he has been invited as well to hold inter-religious discussions with the Vaticans apostical divison while in Rome. It is an honour and a privilege to meet His Holiness and we are looking forward to it, Maharaj said. Khan, who will be accompanied by his wife Cecile, their daughter Jennefer and grandson Jordhan, said that the invitation had been extended but was reluctant to divulge details due to the sensitive nature of such a visit.

But I am honoured, and my family as welll. If there is room for discussions on matters pertaining to my area of expertise as a Justice of the Peace for over 55 years, I will be do so for my countrys interest, Khan said.
Ministry assists fire victims

The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services through its Make a Smile Shine (MASS) Programme came to the James aid and successfully assisted with items of clothing and some personal care items.

Subsequently, a Temporary TT Card was also issue to them for their immediate access to grocery items.

Manager of the main Peoples Issues Resolution Coordinating Unit (M PIRCU), Asauph Ghany, was on hand to guide the couple through the administrative processes involved in acquiring further long-term assistance from the Ministry and invited the James to visit the Ministrys, Social Welfare, Point Fortin branch for further support in their journey to recovery.

James, who is a retired Police Officer said he felt overwhelmed by the many offers to assist him including those granted by the Ministry. In fact he said that he was completely impressed by the overall response and felt exceedingly grateful to Minister Crichlow- Cockburn and her team for reaching out to his family and providing assistance in their time of need.
CIBC First Caribbean lends helping hand

The Trinidad and Tobago arm is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JAW), which is the worlds largest non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing the level of delinquency among youth and increasing their personal financial literacy. The Company Programme utilises an age-specific JA business and economic model which educates and inspires students about entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness skills. JA operates though partnerships with businesses and educators in the nationwide delivery of relevant business learning experiences though professional volunteer mentors.

This year, the flagship programme which runs from January to May, will impact over 1,200 Form 4 students from 75 secondary schools.

Students form groups through which they run their businesses, meeting weekly at JAs centres in Port of Spain, Chaguanas, Trincity and San Fernando. CIBC FirstCaribbeans Managing Director Anthony Seeraj made the presentation to JATT on behalf of the Bank.

He conveyed the banks commitment to youth and education, saying that the donation is an ideal fit with CIBC First- Caribbeans support for the upcoming generation of business leaders.
Waiting to be thrown out

The woman, a HDC tenant in one of the buildings, Newsday was told, was not prepared for the lawlessness and went around the neighbourhood with a petition in hand, soliciting signatures to get HDC to evict them.

But it was another caring neighbour who refused to sign the petition and informed the illegal tenants of the womans actions. So at 10.45 am on Tuesday last, it was no surprise when HDC officials accompanied by police officers climbed the stairs to Apt 16 on the fourth floor of Building Four and informed HDCs newest tenant Claudia Joseph-James, 36, that she and her three children must vacate the apartment immediately.

Joseph-James only moved into the apartment one month ago.

I expected it but the truth is I have nowhere to go, she cried. It was Carnival Saturday night (February 6) when the nation was in full fete mode, the homeless woman and her children sneaked into the three-bedroom apartment, complete with two toilets and bath, a laundry room, a living room and a kitchen - the vandalised apartment was heaven sent, and there she set up her home with only a mattress and a stove. There was no running water, but that was the least of her troubles - she had a shelter for her family. She told Sunday Newsday she lives every day in the apartment as if it is her last day there because she knows she is an illegal occupant.

A victim of domestic violence, Joseph-James said she had to flee her home two years ago to save her life, and since then she has been knocking from place to place. Her relatives couldnt afford her any accommodation because they too are struggling.

It was while travelling recently in a taxi to Point Fortin and pouring her heart out to a taxi driver that a female passenger mentioned to her about the empty HDC apartments in Harmony Hall.

What she heard was music to her ears.

I had to find this place and I spoke to several people who directed me here. When I saw it, I thought I saw heaven and thanked God for leading me here so that I can provide a shelter for my children, she said.

Joseph-James admitted it was the wrong thing to do but did it out of desperation. It real hard to know you want somewhere to live and all these apartments here standing empty, she told Newsday.

There are five rundown HDC buildings which have been condemned, and huge warning signs are posted on the facades. Each of the buildings which stand tall at the other end of the complex has 16 apartments.

The Guaracara River runs at the back of the building which Newsday was told caused some structural problems, thereby forcing the temporary closure of the project. Newsday was also informed that for the last three years, no new HDC tenants have moved in, leaving the vast majority of unoccupied apartments to the mercy of the vandals.

There are 80-odd apartments, and only about 12 families legally occupying some of them.

But on Tuesday, as news spread about HDCs visit, six other illegal occupants went into panic mode - their stories are all similar - they have nowhere to go and cant afford the high rents. When contacted, an HDC official said the agency was aware of the state of the buildings and further explained that there are large visible signs cautioning citizens against entering the area because of the lurking danger. The official said: These buildings are among the buildings that the HDC is currently investigating for their suitability for occupation. The buildings, the official added, have suffered major technical and construction related issues, and relevant units within the agency are now reviewing them with plans to ensure that they can be retrofitted and allocated to applicants.
Sex, bullying, gambling, alcohol  welcome to school

Student misconduct is not a new phenomenon but the recent reports of serious indiscipline in at least two of the nations public secondary schools - Chaguanas North Secondary School and El Dorado East Secondary - has again put the issue on the front burner.

Of greater significance this time around, though, has been the brazenness with which these acts were carried out, often without remorse or fear of reprimand from those involved.

Stakeholders who spoke to Newsday, last week, attributed the problem to a lack of implementation with respect to punitive and/ or rehabilitative initiatives, over the years, but others suggested that illiteracy was one of the main causes of the violence and indiscipline plaguing the education system.

Trevor Oliver, former President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), called for improvements in the standard of literacy, both at the primary and secondary schools, to address the long-standing problem.

Oliver complained there were too many students in the system who could not read age-appropriate material - a reality, he feels, has contributed to frustration and violence. He said the onus was on both parents and teachers to lift the standard of literacy in schools.

Teaching has to come alive and we are now in the digital age. The days of chalk and talk are over and students can become frustrated in such an environment which lays the groundwork for indiscipline, Oliver said.

The former TTUTA head, who said he had been privy to a 1989 report on student indiscipline in schools, noted the number of consultations that have been convened over the years to address the problem.

Oliver said the problem of youth indiscipline was also compounded by domestic violence and absentee fathers.

Weighing in on the delinquency affecting schools, Dr Samuel Lochan, lecturer in the School of Education at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, said the education system has fallen woefully short in its response to troubled students. He believes that schools should fill the void left by at-risk communities. The school should be capable of a constructive response, he said.

The leadership should be able to shape a school culture  a teaching and learning environment that responds to the needs of students, regardless of their background. Lochan, who specialises in training for primary and secondary school teachers, argued that the blame for delinquency should not only be placed on errant parents.

Saying that society had gotten more violent, not just in physical terms, Lochan said the problem was compounded by poor parenthood.

Communities have young people which are not doing the job of socialising children and so they need help because they really cannot parent, he said.

Lochan said many single mothers were also overburdened by parenthood.

If a family is poor and the mother is working in KFC, the children are left unsupervised and are supervised on the streets, he said.

Lochan said this scenario sets a dangerous precedent because the schools are not prepared for dealing with them. The lecturer said universal secondary education, which was introduced over 40 years ago, never catered for troubled students.

Criminologist Professor Ramesh Deosaran said although many of the recommendations from his 2004 report, Benchmarking Violence and Delinquency in Secondary Schools, were introduced in the system, lack of implementation remained a haunting spectacle in many areas of national life.

And now, the chickens are coming home to roost, he said in relation to recent reports of escalating violence and delinquency at two secondary schools.

Referring specifically to the Ministry of Education, Deosaran said the implementation of initiatives within the sector depended largely on the minister in office.

The criminologist recalled that when Hazel Manning was minister (2002-2007), he had made some 39 recommendations with respect youth delinquency. All except one was accepted, he said.

Contrary to the Governments plan to introduce police patrols for all schools, including pre-school facilities, Deosaran said he had proposed the institution of school safety officers rather than police.
Education/Natl Security Ministries must partner

INTERIM political leader of the Alliance of Independents (AoI) Nicole Dyer-Griffith is suggesting the Ministry of Education collaborate with the Ministry of National Security to address the issue of school violence. In a release, Dyer-Griffith noted Education Minister Anthony Garcias approach in dealing with deviant behaviour in schools.

Last week, 30 students at Chaguanas North Secondary were sent home for violence and delinquency at the school.

Dyer-Griffith questioned where the students would be placed when suspended.

Are there facilities in place to support these students during the school hours? Whilst the issue of parenting also becomes a concern, are there measures in place to strengthen the parent/ school partnership? How long will these suspensions last? What happens when these suspensions are over, how are the students to be re-integrated into the school system? she asked.

She suggested that the Ministry of Education partner with such programmes as the MiLAT Academy as well as consider the development of rehabilitative suspension centres, the undertaking of training and development of teachers in understanding various learning styles and a complete revision of the current education system.

She also proposed that salaries and incentives be reviewed for teachers within the system as teachers must be recognised as attempting to provide yeomans service
Send letter to the PM

Addressing the workers at a meeting on Saturday at Four Roads Junction in Barrackpore, Persad- Bissessar urged cane farmers to gather in St Clair, at 2 pm, to deliver the letter at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Disgruntled farmers are demanding that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and his Peoples National Movement (PNM) government pay them $103 million in outstanding compensation following the closure of Caroni 1975 Ltd, 13 years ago. Attorney Gerald Ramdeen, together with Opposition Members of Parliament, are also expected to join with the farmers in solidarity on Wednesday.

Persad-Bissessar told the cane farmers that under her tenure as prime minister, a number of farmers in July last year, had received a total $27 million in compensation as part of the first of three tranches.

The second trance was expected in October last and the final, she added, by the end of this year.

Persad-Bissessar said that she had raised the issue of the payment in parliament, however, the Opposition Leader told the farmers, If you did not get money in the first tranche in July, we have to find out why. I am told some issues may be legal issues. Something must be done. I am of the view that justice must be done for you. In order to help you , you have to help us. Lets work together to make sure this happen in the shortest possible time. Persad-Bissessar told the farmers that she is prepared to take legal action on their behalf, to secure the monies owned to them. Attorney Gerald Ramdeen also addressed the cane farmers on the legal aspect of their claim. Persad-Bissessar said, If you are going to court , Gerald, I intend to put on my court clothes and I am going to court too to stand with you and with the former cane farmers. But speaking to Newsday yesterday, general secretary of the Cane Farmers Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Seukeran Tambie, accused the former Peoples Partnership administration of conning farmers and using them to create political mischief. Tambie said, They came up with an elaborate plan to make the farmers believe that they have a total of $130 million to get. But $83 million was paid to farmers in 2007 at 8.25 percent interest which equals $130 million.

There is no money to come. They duped the farmers. They conned the farmers. He explained that in 2007, there was an outstanding payment of $27 million to farmers, adding that it was therefore incorrect to say that, as the first tranche of $27 million given last year July, in fact represented the first of three tranches.

Tambie said, The second tranche of what they are looking at, was already paid in 2007 . The third tranche is the interest paid in 2007.

They are trying to palm it off on Dr Rowley. The monies paid in 2007 is to be factored into this money that is being paid. There is no money to be paid. Addressing the meeting also, former Planning Minister Bhoendranath Tiwarie said, I had explained that the remaining $103 million was allocated for expenditure for the payment of cane farmers in the 2016 budget and I summarized the situation to him.

I would like to see this matter resolved.

I have a direct interest in it because I initiated the process of payment for farmers under the direction of the then Honourable Prime Minister and the decision of Cabinet.
Whats going on with school laptops?

Gopeesingh said those laptops were a vital pillar in education, had brought pupils into the digital age, and had been a historic thrust to give ICT resources and training to school staff.

The current Peoples National Movement regime has so far declined to continue distribution of this learning tool, mainly on the specious claim that there is no evidence of its impact on student performance, he chided. As Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Keith Rowley resolutely opposed this measure, despite overwhelming evidence of its powerful educational value, and he has retained that baffling resistance as Prime Minister. He urged Government to rethink its doubts about laptops, saying that computers were part of his thrust to serve pupils multiple- intelligences, and to promote science and technology in schools to meet labour needs. and so boost the economy. Hitting Garcias claim that most laptops are defective and beyond repair, Dr Gopeesingh said only about 15 percent of laptops issued were defective.

Notably, official investigations last year had uncovered that around 15,000 of the 95,000 laptops had suffered either hard drive crashes, screen breakages, battery failures, RAM memory failures, or power adaptor failures. He said Garcias recent remarks were a rebuff to reputable manufacturers Hewlett Packard and Lenovo, to 150 ICT technicians, and to school computer labs.

Dr Gopeesingh said 89 percent of schools have computer labs and 95 percent have internet connectivity.

Some 8,747 pupils use computer labs weekly, of which some 114 labs have 15 or more computers.

Some 21 Samsung Smart Classrooms contain 30 tablet PCs, laptop servers, interactive whiteboard, and high-speed internet access.

Various enquiries had revealed that virtually all students use their laptops for various educational purposes, he asserted. One study uncovered that 70 per cent of students utilised their laptops to assist with general studies, including home work. Some 71 percent had medium to high skill levels in creating, or editing presentations using PowerPoint software, while 45 per cent undertook word processing tasks. A total of 66 per cent of students reported that having their own laptops encouraged them to learn more.

The study revealed that 100,586 persons in homes assist students with homework using the laptops.

At 4,172 households, the students laptops are the only computer devices. Laptops are also used by pupils siblings. Teachers use laptops, including the preparation of documents, lessons plans, schemes of work and multimedia presentations, and to refer pupils to internet content.
Activists and journalists were turned away by Azerbaijani authorities Monday as they attempted to visit imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova on the eve of International Womens Day. Ismayilova, an awardwinning investigative reporter who published findings on the vast assets belonging to the family of President Ilham Aliyev, is serving a 7-plus years prison term on charges of tax evasion and abuse of power. Ismayilova worked for two years as the Baku bureau chief for Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq. Ismayilovas supporters gathered outside the prison building holding bouquets of flowers. They criticized the authorities decision to deny the visit. The fact that we were not allowed to present our gifts to her or even meet with her shows how much the government fears Khadija, journalist Aynur Imranova told VOA. We will not allow her name to be forgotten. The entourage negotiated for over an hour with the authorities, trying to at least pass on flowers to Ismayilova. But, citing prison procedures on visitation hours, the authorities refused to accommodate their requests, activists said. Ismayilova was initially arrested and jailed on December 5, 2014, on libel charges that international human rights groups said were trumped up. She was accused of inciting a former colleague to attempt suicide, charges that were later withdrawn by her accuser. Subsequently, other charges were leveled against her including tax evasion, illegal business activity and abuse of power. Ismayilova rejected all charges as politically motivated and false, and RFE/RL characterized them as having no basis in reality. Ismayilovas mother, Elmira, told VOA that her daughters struggle for free speech should be highlighted on International Womens Day. I congratulate our nation on the occasion of International Womens Day, especially those women who fight for their people and for free speech, she said. I also wish to congratulate women who fight for improved governance. I wish them to be steadfast and brave. My word to women is that they should not fear. I am proud that my Khadija is one such person. Although she has been arrested, is not free, is not at home, I am proud of her. I call upon all women and my people to fight without fear for the freedom of our people, for the development of our country, Elmira Ismayilova said. During her time in prison, Ismayilova has translated Iranian American writer Sahar Delijanis Children of the Jacaranda Tree into Azerbaijani. Writing the foreword to the translated edition of her book, Delijani praised Khadija for her courage. This is a very special translation, not only because it is my mom's mother tongue, but particularly because it has been done by Khadija Ismayilova, a prominent Azeri journalist, now behind bars in Baku on political charges for more than a year, the author wrote. Delijani was born in the Evin Prison in 1983 where her mother was serving prison time for political activism in post-revolutionary Iran. Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer married to actor George Clooney, has signed on to represent Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights. Ismayilova last fall received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the National Press Clubs John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. She tells me to stay strong, her mother told VOA. Tell everyone outside to continue the good fight.
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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. At least 12 people were killed in a suicide bombing in northwestern Pakistan, the first terrorist response to the execution of a man who assassinated a politician he accused of blasphemy.

 Tops Shots



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond.

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. European leaders will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as they seek to put pressure on Turkey to stem the continuing flow of displaced people into Northern Europe.

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. In photos selected Sunday by Wall Street Journal editors, mourners mark the second anniversary of the missing flight MH370, a refugee breakdances in Lebanon and more.

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Political rivalries are delaying an offensive to recapture Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, from Islamic State, slowing the effort to take advantage of recent battlefield victories o...

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. The influx of Syrian refugees into Kilis, Turkey, is creating fissures in a country whose demographics have been fundamentally changed by the war.

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. The far-right Alternative for Germanys surge in municipal elections in the German state of Hesse looks likely to be repeated in three upcoming state elections.

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mikenova shared this story from World. The CIA and the Turkish intelligence service have also opened a secret coordination center near Syria.

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is meeting Monday with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi on the first leg of a trip that will include visits to Israel and Jordan. The White House said Biden and...

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A Taliban suicide bomber has blown himself up outside a local court compound in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 36 more. Authorities say police per...

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. On Sunday more than 50 Syrians and Iraqis opted to enter a European Union relocation scheme that in theory should guarantee them placement in an EU country, although they dont get to pic...

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. We soon may be able to add yet another name to the list of Vladimir Putin's liberal enablers.

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mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Residents gathered at the site of a suicide bombing on Sunday at a checkpoint in Hilla, Iraq, south of Baghdad.

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mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi highlighted in a phone conversation on Monday that the fight against terrorists should c...

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mikenova shared this story from Lawfare - Hard National Security Choices. Legislators in France are watching closely the fight between Apple and the FBI, but, in the meantime, the French National Assembly has amended a pending counterter...

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mikenova shared this story from NYT > Russia. A gruesome murder goes unreported in Russia because TV executives forget that their job is to report what happens, not propaganda.

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mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Five years after the civil war began with protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad began in southern Syria, a fragile truce is still holding in many areas of the country.

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mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union hopes a summit with Turkey on Monday can start putting an end to the chaotic arrivals of migrants in Greece and halt their treks through the Bal...

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mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. NATO military commanders reached an agreement with Turkey and Greece over the area of operations for the alliance mission to monitor migrants trying to cross the Aegean Sea.

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mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Former US First Lady Nancy Reagan has died at her home in Los Angeles, aged 94.

 Nancy Reagan, former US first lady, has died aged 94  video obituary



mikenova shared this story from World news + Video | The Guardian. The former US first lady Nancy Reagan has died, at the age of 94. Reagan was married to President Ronald Reagan, who served in the White House from 1980 to 1988. She was ...

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mikenova shared this story from World news. World leaders pay tribute as the former actress and widow of Ronald Reagan dies of heart failure aged 94

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mikenova shared this story from World news. &amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&amp;amp;amp;amp;c2=6035736&amp;amp;amp;amp;cv=2.0&amp;amp;amp;amp;cj=1" /&amp;amp;amp;gt; ...

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mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. TODAYonline Hurriyet Daily News Turkey detains refugee human smugglers, stops 120 Syrians from sailing to Greece Reuters DIKILI, Turkey Hurriyet Daily News A sinking boat is seen behin...

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Former first lady Nancy Reagan has died at the age of 94, her spokeswoman told NBC News. Reagan "will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, next ...

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The U.S. National Guard's cyber unit may join the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said. "Units like this can also partic...

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mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON(Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 19 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said.

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mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. AMMAN (Reuters) - The United States has nearly finished setting up an air base in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria and was proceeding with the construction of a second base for dual m...

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mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. AMMAN (Reuters) - At least fourteen civilians were killed and dozens were injured on Sunday when terrorists struck with mortars and rockets against a busy market place in a residential...

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan has died at the age of 94.

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mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. At least 25 At least 18 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece on Sunday, while Macedonian authorities imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross th...

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mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

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mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Babak Zanjani and two associates were convicted of corruption involving oil sales during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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mikenova shared this story from Defense News - Home. French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, discusses top priorities, lessons learned from recent conflicts, Warsaw Summit and more. ...

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mikenova shared this story from Defense News - Home. Defense News TV: NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

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mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Forbes The Patriarch, The Pope, And An Old Play From Russia's Geopolitical Playbook Forbes The recent meeting in Havana between Pope Francis and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox ...

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Thousands of people gathered in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on March 6 to protest negotiations between their government and Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. At least 18 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece Sunday, while Macedonian authorities imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the Greek borde...

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mikenova shared this story from The Independent - Europe. Just two months ago France was among the most vocal in condemning Saudi Arabia's New Year's mass executions

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mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. The Russian dissident was murdered in London with polonium, but only on the third attempt. In an extract from his book A Very Expensive Poison, Luke Harding traces the toxic trail th...

 Asylum seeker applications in Europe double to record 1.2 million



mikenova shared this story from The Independent - Europe. Syrians accounted for almost a third of the total figure, with 362,775 seeking shelter across the continent

 Latest votes deliver anything but clarity in GOP race



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes News. Offering anything but clarity, Republicans delivered a split verdict between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in the latest round of presidential voting, offering fresh evidence of the tur...

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mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Bloomberg Macedonia Imposes New Restrictions on Flow of Refugees Bloomberg Idomeni, Greece (AP) -- Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions o...

 Disillusioned Volunteer Says Syria A Battle For War Booty, Territory



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. What do volunteers who go to fight in Syria find? Battles for war booty and fiefdoms, says one returning Kosovar who counts himself lucky to be alive.

 Suicide attacker kills 22 in Iraq - CNN



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. The Indian Express Suicide attacker kills 22 in Iraq CNN (CNN) A suicide bomber killed 22 people and left dozens injured south of Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi police officials said. The at...

 Truck bomb kills, wounds at least 60 in province south of Baghdad



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A tanker truck blew up on Sunday at a police check point in the Hilla province, south of Baghdad, killing or wounding at least 60 people, according to an Iraqi secu...

 Israeli leader says Biden visit shows US relations strong



mikenova shared this story from World. Israels prime minister says the upcoming visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden proves the strong ties between the close allies.

 Iran sentences tycoon to death - Washington Post



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. NDTV Iran sentences tycoon to death Washington Post TEHRAN, Iran  Iran's judiciary spokesman says a court has sentenced a well-known tycoon to death for corruption after a nearly five...

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mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Slovakias leftist ruling party will begin negotiations Sunday with smaller political parties in an attempt to form a coalition government after losing its parliamentary majority in Satur...

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mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. How a one-time neo-Nazi has risen to the fore in Slovakia

 Ruling Party in Slovakia Loses Majority in Elections



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. Prime Minister Robert Fico, who ran on an anti-migrant message, could face obstacles in forming a government after the rise of far-right extremists.

 Dozens Killed, Wounded in Suicide Bombing Near Baghdad



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A suicide attack outside the Iraqi capital Sunday has killed at least 30 people and wounded scores of others. A police official says the attacker drove a explosives-filled car into a secu...

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mikenova shared this story from Washington Free Beacon. What is criticism, and what does it do? These are the two questions A. O. Scott attempts to answer in his marshmallow of a book, Better Living Through Criticism: How To Think about ...

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mikenova shared this story from Washington Free Beacon. In communities scarred by violence, many dont know what peace looks like. Teenagers in Brazilian favelas, Jamaican garrisons, and Honduran slums see these crime wars as a natural ...

 Competing Interests on Encryption Divide Top Obama Officials



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Federal Bureau of Investigation. While the White House denies any internal disagreement over its legal battle with Apple, the differences in the administration have become increasingly apparent.

 Drone Catching: An Inevitable Sport in Our Swarming Skies?



mikenova shared this story from In Homeland Security. A company has developed a drone-catching system that looks like something out of a superhero movie. Will such systems become common in the coming years?

 The FBI has a new plan to spy on high school kids across the country - Salon



mikenova shared this story from fbi aclu report - Google News. Salon The FBI has a new plan to spy on high school kids across the country Salon Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report studen...

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mikenova shared this story from fbi - Google News. WND.com FBI scrubs website of references to Islamists WND.com Like a good lapdog, the FBI nixed it after Muslim rights groups whipped out the discrimination card, Judicial Watch said. ...

 Carter Gets Strong Marks for Innovation Push; Challenges Remain



mikenova shared this story from Defense News - Home. Ash Carter made inroads to Silicon Valley last week. Now the hard part begins.

 Russian-backed Syrian-Hizballah forces tighten noose on Aleppo



mikenova shared this story from DEBKAFile. March 5, 2016, 11:41 AM (IDT) One week into the Syrian ceasefire finds Syrian, Hizballah and Iranian forces tightening their encirclement of the rebel-held northeastern distri...

 Turkey and Saudi Arabia hit back for the Obama-Putin Syrian pact



mikenova shared this story from DEBKAFile. March 5, 2016, 10:03 PM (IDT) Turkey and Saudi Arabia have taken separate steps to break free from Washingtons dictates on the Syrian issue and show their resistance to Russias hig...

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mikenova shared this story from Cyber Warfare - Google News. New York Times In New Economic Plan, China Bets That Hard Choices Can Be Avoided New York Times But the answer that Prime Minister Li Keqiang gave on Saturday was to wager that...

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mikenova shared this story from Cyber Warfare - Google News. Fortune China Lays Out Its Vision to Become a Tech Power Fortune China will implement its  cyber power strategy, the five-year plan said, underscoring the weight Beijing give...

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mikenova shared this story from cia - Google News. RT German Secret Service copies CIA playbook: blame Putin! RT German Secret Service copies CIA playbook: blame Putin! RT Editorial. This blog represents a range of opinions prepared by a...

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mikenova shared this story . Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the transfer of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran in light of Tehrans violation of an earlier pledge not to provide sophisticated Russian-made weaponr...

 Putins Rational Choices, The Chechen Gambit, and Fatal Amnesia



mikenova shared this story from Home - Institute of Modern Russia. Foreign Affairs that the Kremlins incursions into Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and Syria should not come as a surprise, as they were driven by geopolitical interests. In For...

 Turkey Seizes Newspaper, Zaman, as Press Crackdown Continues



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. The move highlighted President Recep Tayyip Erdogans campaign against opposition journalists and the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric.

 Business Briefing: Mexican Tycoon Opens Bid to Take Over FCC of Spain



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. The Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helus holding company Inversora Carso said on Friday that it would start a full takeover bid for the Spanish building and infrastructure company FCC.

 Syrian Protesters Take to Streets as Airstrikes Ease



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Russia. The Revolution Continues was the slogan as demonstrators, taking advantage of a partial truce, came out in their largest numbers in years.

 US-led airstrikes hit Isis targets in Syria and Iraq as group reports civilian deaths



mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. Ceasefire between rebel groups and Syria does not include Isis militants 135 people were killed in the first week of the fragile truce agreement The US and its allies struck 12 Islam...

 Russia stoking refugee unrest in Germany to topple Angela Merkel



mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. Analysts at Nato centre claim to have found evidence of information war over migration crisis with links to Vladimir Putin Russia is trying to topple Angela Merkel by waging an inf...

 Europes new cold war turns digital as Vladimir Putin expands media offensive



mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. Russia is deploying social media trolls in an attempt to effect political change, and Britain is not immune Janis Sartss grandfather was sent to Siberia by the Russians. His wifes ...

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 Russian warships and naval assets sailing through Bosphorus strait has Turkey frightened



mikenova shared this story from The Independent - Europe. The strait that separates the Black Sea from the Mediterranean is where Putin flaunts Moscow's naval prowess

 Russia 'trying to oust Angela Merkel by inciting unrest against refugees in Germany'



mikenova shared this story from The Independent - Europe. German chancellor has been a leading advocate of economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin's regime

 Oil prompts Moody's reviews for Russia, Saudi Arabia - CNBC



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. CNBC Oil prompts Moody's reviews for Russia , Saudi Arabia CNBC Moody's on Friday placed Russia and Saudi Arabia on review for ratings downgrades, citing both countries' exposure to t...

 Analysis Russia's New Federal Plan Will Allow It to Divide and Rule Syria - Haaretz



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Haaretz Analysis Russia's New Federal Plan Will Allow It to Divide and Rule Syria Haaretz Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov dropped a diplomatic bombshell this week when ...

 Russia's Foreign Policy: Historical Background - Voltaire Network



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Voltaire Network Russia's Foreign Policy: Historical Background Voltaire Network For Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign policy, if we study it on the long term, includes several const...

 Confidential: NATO Report Praises Russia's Superiority in Syria - Sputnik International



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Sputnik International Confidential: NATO Report Praises Russia's Superiority in Syria Sputnik International Regardless of all the western rhetoric voiced publicly on the inaccuracy ...

 'Efficient, accurate': Russian air warfare in Syria praised in classified NATO report - RT



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. RT 'Efficient, accurate': Russian air warfare in Syria praised in classified NATO report RT The limited Russian contingent operating in Syria is outperforming the more widespread grou...

 Alexei Bayer: Russia offers a cautionary tale for Americans - Kyiv Post



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Kyiv Post Alexei Bayer:  Russia offers a cautionary tale for Americans Kyiv Post Early in the 20th century, the Russian Empire was suddenly catapulted to the forefront of Western civ...

 What Role Will Russia Play in the US-Chinese South China Sea Drama? - Sputnik International



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Sputnik International What Role Will Russia Play in the US-Chinese South China Sea Drama? Sputnik International At the conference, Fu emphasized that "Chinese- Russian relations ...

 Report: Israeli intel prompts Russia to freeze missile delivery to Iran - Jerusalem Post Israel News



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Jerusalem Post Israel News Report: Israeli intel prompts Russia to freeze missile delivery to Iran Jerusalem Post Israel News Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the transf...

 How to Lose a Proxy War with Russia - The National Interest Online



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. The National Interest Online How to Lose a Proxy War with Russia The National Interest Online The circumstances are decidedly different, but the mechanics of fighting a proxy war with...

 Russia Gives Kyrgyzstan $30M Lifeline - EurasiaNet



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. EurasiaNet Russia Gives Kyrgyzstan $30M Lifeline EurasiaNet Russia has thrown Kyrgyzstan a bone  albeit not a particularly large one  in the form a $30 million grant to help cover b...

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mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Military Times The Pentagon starts planning to base more troops in Europe Military Times The Pentagon is discussing plans to permanently move one or more Army brigade combat teams bac...

 China's Two-Speed Economy



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Clumsy state-owned industrial firms stagnate as private companies race into the global market.

 Afghan, Taliban Officials Met to Discuss Efforts to End War



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. An Afghan government delegation recently met the Taliban in Qatar to discuss efforts to end the countrys long-running war, according to officials, after peace talks collapsed last year.

 Obama to travel to southern Argentina on coup anniversary



mikenova shared this story from World. President Barack Obama will visit the Argentine tourist city of Bariloche on March 24, the 40th anniversary of the military coup in this South American country, officials said Friday.

 China cuts its economic growth target to 6.5-7 percent



mikenova shared this story from World. China has cut this years growth target for its slowing economy to 6.5 to 7 percent and promised to press ahead with painful reforms aimed at boosting productivity and incomes.

 Turkish police raids opposition paper hours after take over



mikenova shared this story from World. Police, using tear gas and water cannons, on Friday raided the headquarters of Turkeys largest-circulation newspaper, hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees. The move agains...

 Police question Brazils ex-president in corruption probe



mikenova shared this story from World. 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 Petrobr...

 China opens ceremonial congress, key annual political event



mikenova shared this story from World. China is kicking off its rubberstamp parliament session, the main event on its political calendar, on Saturday. The gathering of nearly 3,000 delegates in Beijings Great Hall of the People comes am...

 Secret detentions, deaths raise alarm over Egyptian police



mikenova shared this story from World. The 32-year-old Egyptian government engineer disappeared in mid-January when, according to witnesses, masked police burst into his office in the southern city of Beni Suef and dragged him off in han...

 Putins Syria campaign is win-win for most Russians



mikenova shared this story from World. For most Russians, theres little not to like about their countrys military operation in Syria.

 Police set up barricades after seizing opposition paper



mikenova shared this story from World. Police have erected fences and are standing watch in front of the headquarters of Turkeys largest-circulation newspaper a day after it used tear gas and water cannons to storm the building and enfo...

 Iraq is broke. Add that to its list of worries.



mikenova shared this story from World. Each month, the country has a $4 billion salary bill but is earning only half that.

 Taliban rejects peace talks with Afghan government



mikenova shared this story from World. Face-to-face talks were supposed to take place in Islamabad.

 Former Iran president banned from wedding party



mikenova shared this story from World. Iranian authorities have prevented former reformist President Mohammad Khatami from attending the wedding party of an opposition leaders daughter.

 Syria rebels battle ISIS for control of Iraq crossing



mikenova shared this story from World. While suffering recent setbacks, ISIS still controls large swaths of Syria and Iraq.

 Afghan president: IS being wiped out in Afghanistan



mikenova shared this story from World. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says the Islamic State group has been defeated in eastern Afghanistan, where it had taken over some remote districts.

 Iraqi officials: Suicide attack against checkpoint south of Baghdad kills at least 11 people, wounds dozens



mikenova shared this story from World. Iraqi officials: Suicide attack against checkpoint south of Baghdad kills at least 11 people, wounds dozens.

 How to understand Putins jaw-droppingly high approval ratings



mikenova shared this story from World. Lyubov Kostyryas job is to track why 83 percent of Russians approve of their leader.

 Iraq: Suicide attack kills at least 11 south of Baghdad



mikenova shared this story from World. Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber has blown up an explosives-laden fuel truck south of Baghdad, killing at least 11 people.

 Brazil's Silva Denounces Detention in Corruption Probe - New York Times



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Brazil's Silva Denounces Detention in Corruption Probe New York Times SAO PAULO  Brazilian police questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for about four hours in an inve...

 Trump throws the GOP into an identity crisis - Washington Post



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Washington Post Trump throws the GOP into an identity crisis Washington Post Sections. Sign In; Username; Subscribe  Reading List  Accessibility for screenreader ...

 Grumpy Old Men: Why Trump and Sanders Resonate with Voters - Huffington Post



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Huffington Post Grumpy Old Men: Why Trump and Sanders Resonate with Voters Huffington Post "This is more than me; this is a movement going on. People are tired of these inco...

 Evidence of Zika's risk to pregnant women continues to grow - Washington Post



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Washington Post Evidence of Zika's risk to pregnant women continues to grow Washington Post WASHINGTON  Researchers report that the Zika virus may be linked to a wider variety o...

 Donald Trump has not brought 'millions and millions' of people to the Republican Party - Washington Post



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Washington Post Donald Trump has not brought 'millions and millions' of people to the Republican Party Washington Post One side effect of the agitation over an imminent Donald Tr...

 Cruz, Sanders, Clinton and Trump Score Wins on 'Super Saturday' - New York Times



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. New York Times Cruz, Sanders, Clinton and Trump Score Wins on 'Super Saturday' New York Times Senator Ted Cruz scored decisive wins in the Kansas and Maine caucuses on Saturday, ...

 China Tries to Reassure on Economy as It Cuts Growth Target



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. (BEIJING)  Chinas leadership tried to quell anxiety about its slowing economy following financial turmoil and rising labor unrest as it cut its growth target Saturday and promised to open o...

 Detention of Brazils Former President Could Mark the End of a Dynasty



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. RIO DE JANEIRO  The detention today of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazils former president and favored son, could be a key moment in the fall of a political dynasty that ...

 Turkish Police Fire Tear Gas To Seize Newspaper



mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Police in Istanbul raid the headquarters of Turkey's largest-circulation newspaper in a move described as "all-out despotism".

 Choreographed Applause Fails To Mask China Woes



mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. The premier receives glowing praise for his economic strategy despite having to downgrade the country's growth target for 2016.

 Syria: 135 Killed In A Week Of Fragile Truce



mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. More than 100 people are killed in areas covered by the partial truce - and another 552 elsewhere in the country.

 US 'drawing up plans for Libya air assault using faulty intelligence'



mikenova shared this story from World news. In a warning that carries echoes of Iraq, top analysts and officials say Washington's estimates of Islamic State's strength in Libya are overblown - and that a large scale intervention could ju...

 American Way: the struggle to stop Donald Trump is going to be mean and dirty



mikenova shared this story from World news. Many Republicans desperately hope that Trump can somehow be deprived of the nomination at the convention itself

 Taliban rejects fresh Afghan peace talks



mikenova shared this story from World news. Militant group says it has not authorised anyone to attend negotiations broked by Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States

 Pakistani Jailed for 13 Years for Facebook Post



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A Pakistani man has received a 13-year prison sentence for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, according to lawyers in the case. Rizwan Haider, 25, was ...

 Ukraine Peace Process Flounders



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. There has been no breakthrough in the latest diplomatic attempt to implement a peace deal in eastern Ukraine, but observers say the so-called Minsk agreements are not "dead" yet. In Paris...

 Likely Link Found Between Zika, Microcephaly



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The evidence gets stronger every day that the Zika virus causes microcephaly. Now, a study has found a likely biological link between the mosquito-borne virus and the rare birth defect. S...

 White House: US, Not Cuba, Will Determine Meetings With Dissidents



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. U.S. officials said Friday that Cubas human rights issues would be a focal point when President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry visit the island later this month. The pre...

 Taliban Militants Cast Doubt on Peace Talks With Afghan Government



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Afghanistan's Taliban militants are casting Afghanistan's Taliban has cast further doubt on prospects for peace talks with the Kabul government. In a Pashto language statement given Satur...

 Republican Establishment Declares 'War' on Donald Trump



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Split within the Republican Party has moved far beyond the usual disagreement during most primary elections, and it now appears increasingly unlikely that the party will ever fall in line...

 Iranian, Turkish Leaders Pledge to Increase Cooperation, Trade



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Leaders from Iran and Turkey called Saturday for cooperation in ending conflicts and sectarian violence in the region. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking at a joint news con...

 Cuba, EU Close to New Bilateral Agreement



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Cuba and the European Union are close to a deal on a new bilateral agreement, which would improve relations that have been chilly for decades. Cuban and EU officials made the announcement...

 February Job Gains in US Beat Expectations But Wages Remain Flat



mikenova shared this story from VOAvideo's YouTube Videos. From: VOAvideo Duration: 02:21 February was another strong month for the U.S. job market, with employers adding 242,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 perce...

 France Calls for Timetable for Ukraine Prisoner Exchange, Elections



mikenova shared this story from VOAvideo's YouTube Videos. From: VOAvideo Duration: 01:55 France's foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, called for a timetable for elections in eastern Ukraine and for release of prisoners on Thursday ...

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mikenova shared this story from VOAvideo's YouTube Videos. From: VOAvideo Duration: 02:28 The evidence gets stronger every day that the Zika virus causes a serious birth defect when pregnant women get the virus. VOA's Carol Pearson r...

 Obama Encourages Afghan Peace Effort In Talk With Ghani



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. U.S. President Barack Obama urged Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to keep trying to establish peace with the Taliban in a video conference videoconference on March 4, the W...

 Moody's Eyes Downgrade Of Russia's Rating Amid Falling Oil Prices



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Moody's Investors Service placed Russia's credit rating under review for a possible downgrade late March 4, citing the "structural shock" from a prolonged drop in oil pri...

 Syrian Rebels Seize Iraq Border Crossing From Islamic State



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A group of Syrian rebel fighters seized control of a crossing on the Iraqi border late March 4, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. For the past two months, the de facto president, defense minister, and parliament speaker of the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia (RYuO) have been engaged in an acrimo...

 Turkish Prime Minister Calls For 'Common Perspective' With Iran



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Ankara and Tehran must develop a "common perspective" in order to end sectarian strife in the region.

 Turkish Newspaper Reopens Under Police Guard After Seizure



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Turkey's largest newspaper reopened on March 5 amid a heavy police presence, hours after police raided the building to enforce a court-ordered seizure.

 Ukrainian Army Says Two Soldiers Killed By Separatists



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The Ukrainian Army says two of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with pro-Russian separatists controlling swathes of eastern Ukraine.

 Afghan Taliban Snubs Peace Talks



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The Afghan Taliban say it "rejects" peace talks with Afghan authorities.

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. U.S. presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have maintained their status as front-runners in the latest round of voting for the Republican and Democratic ...

 Russia To Flood-Stricken Vorkuta Coal Mine



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Officials in the Far Northern Russian city of Vorkuta have decided to flood a coal mine there after explosions there killed 30 miners and six rescue workers late last month.

 Two Studies Strengthen Links Between the Zika Virus and Serious Birth Defects



mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. In one small study, many fetuses of infected pregnant women in Brazil either died or experienced serious birth defects. A possible mechanism is suggested in a second report.

 Men in Police Garb Kill 10 in Honduras



mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Five men arrived in a vehicle at a billiards hall in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa and shot and killed at least eight people, and injured others, two of who later died.

 VIDEO: Can Trump ever claim to be '100% clean'?



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Newsnight's John Sweeney examines Donald Trump's claims that he is a modern day Midas, worth billions of dollars, and that his wealth means that he cannot be bought and sold.

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mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Or is China on the path to global domination?

 Slovaks likely to re-elect anti-immigrant leftist Fico



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. 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...

 Obama discusses Taliban peace talks with Afghan president: White House



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, during a video conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday, noted Ghani's role in "working with Afghanistans neighbors ...

 Kurdish YPG says Turkish troops fired on it in northeast Syria



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BEIRUT (Reuters) - A official from the Kurdish YPG militia said on Saturday the Turkish army had fired on YPG members near Qamishli city in northeast Syria, close to the Turkish border.

 German vice chancellor says Trump poses threat to peace and prosperity



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has criticized leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a right-wing populist whose political views pose a thr...

 China 2016 military budget to rise 7.6 percent



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BEIJING (Reuters) - China will increase military spending by 7.6 percent this year to 954.35 billion yuan ($146.67 billion), the government announced on Saturday.

 Cuba, EU say close to reaching political accord



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and the European Union on Friday advanced ever closer to a new bilateral agreement that would replace a unilateral policy imposed by the Europeans 20 years ago.

 Saudi foreign minister says Assad should leave sooner, not later



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. PARIS (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave at the beginning of a political transition, not at the end.

 Turkish police fire tear gas for second day after seizing newspaper



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic pellets on Saturday to disperse some 2,000 protesters gathered outside the country's biggest newspaper after the authorit...

 Taliban says will not take part in Afghan peace talks



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban said on Saturday it would not take part in peace talks brokered by a four-way group including representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the Uni...

 Islamic State is losing; coalition to step up pressure: U.S. envoy



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State is losing a battle against forces arraigned against if from many sides in Iraq and Syria and the focus would turn to stabilizing cities seized back fr...

 Turkey detains refugee smugglers, stops 120 Syrians from sailing to Greece



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. DIKILI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish authorities on Saturday detained at least two human traffickers after they shuttled some 120 Syrian refugees to the Aegean coast in a sign Turkey may...

 U.N. Security Council pushes peace deal implementation in Mali



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council traveled to northern Mali on Saturday to push for implementation of a fragile peace deal aimed at ending a cycle of inter...

 US presses UN council to confront sex abuse by peacekeepers



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 5:40 a.m. EST. UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States is pressing the U.N. Security Council for the first time to confront the escalating problem of sexual abuse and exploitation by U.N. p...

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mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 5:40 a.m. EST. 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 w...

 Things we learned from 50,000-plus pages of Clinton emails



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 4:24 a.m. EST. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton's work-related emails from her private account are now public, more than 52,000 pages detailing her tenure as secretary of state bu...

 The Latest: Even with a victory, Sanders doesn't gain ground



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 4:24 a.m. EST. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign, with voters in five states getting their say Saturday in nominating contests (all times Eastern Standard Time)...

 Trump calls on Rubio to drop out of presidential race



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 4:24 a.m. EST. WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday called on rival Marco Rubio to drop out of the White House race after the billio...

 Today's Headlines and Commentary



mikenova shared this story from Lawfare - Hard National Security Choices. In the latest news out of North Korea, Kim Jong-un ordered his military to have its nuclear warheads deployed and ready to be launched at any moment . The New York...

 Vladimir Putin is stoking the migrant crisis in Syria to tear Europe apart



mikenova shared this story from Debate | Mail Online. Copy link to paste in your message Vladimir Putins chosen weapon, according to one General, is the migration crisis itself For a moment, imagine you were one of Vladimir Putin&...

 Turkish guards 'attacking' Syrian refugees and 'pushing them into the arms of smugglers'



mikenova shared this story from The Independent - Europe. Families fleeing the carnage in Aleppo are being greeted at the border with bullets and beatings. Laura Pitel reports from Kilis on Ankara's increasingly inhumane efforts to ...

 10 Shots Across the Border 360 Video | The New York Times



mikenova shared this story from TheNewYorkTimes's YouTube Videos. From: TheNewYorkTimes Duration: 07:46 The killing of a Mexican 16-year-old raises troubling questions about the United States Border Patrol. Read the story here: http:...

 Opposition slams Russia, casts doubt on Syria peace talks - Deutsche Welle



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Deutsche Welle Opposition slams Russia , casts doubt on Syria peace talks Deutsche Welle "As Russia has provided greater levels of military support for President Bashar al-Assad - inc...

 Russia ruled by ex-spies with impunity says historian - Toronto Star



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Toronto Star Russia ruled by ex-spies with impunity says historian Toronto Star Felshtinsky, who was in Toronto on Monday, also blames Putin  and the cadre of former security o...

 The Meaning of Russias Naval Deployments in the Mediterranean



mikenova shared this story from Eurasia Daily Monitor - The Jamestown Foundation. Russian ships equipped with the advanced sea-launched Kalibr cruise missile will now be perpetually present in the Mediterranean Sea as part of Moscows na...

 Kadyrov at Loggerheads With Chechen Diaspora in Europe



mikenova shared this story from Eurasia Daily Monitor - The Jamestown Foundation. Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly voiced discontent with the actions of Chechens who reside in Europe. During the first years of his rule in Chechnya, he manag...

 US Republican Carson ends campaign



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. US Republican Ben Carson officially ends his campaign for the presidential nomination

 Germany Tells France: Shut Old Nuclear Plant



mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. An incident at the Fessenheim facility in 2014 has now been reported in Germany as more serious than previously thought.

 VIDEO: Background to the OJ Simpson case



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Los Angeles police test a knife said to have been found at a former home of OJ Simpson, whose acquittal at his 1995 murder trial captivated the US.
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China is making progress in curing its coal energy addiction but it there are big challenges. The government said on Monday that 1.8 million workers in the coal and steel industries will be laid off this year, representing more than 10 percent of the total steel workforce and fully one-fifth of the workers in the coal industry, according to economic research firm IHS Insights. The central government says it will invest more than $15 billion in retraining and job placement for laid-off workers.

Yin Weimin, the minister for human resources and social security, told a news conference that 1.3 million workers in the coal sector could lose jobs, plus 500,000 from the steel sector. Chinas coal and steel sectors employ about 12 million workers, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Coal use was down nearly 4 percent in 2015 from the year before, a slowdown being driven both by market forces and by Beijings determination to curb toxic air pollution and shift to cleaner sources of power. Already, China is the worlds largest producer of wind power, and a massive push in wind, solar, and nuclear power is planned for the next 10 years.
Mr. Randal J Kirks company, Intrexon, is fast becoming one of the worlds most diverse biotechnology companies, with ventures ranging from unloved genetically engineered creatures to potential cancer cures and gene therapies, gasoline substitutes, cloned kittens and even glow-in-the-dark Dino Pet toys made from microbes.

Mr. Kirk, 62, is a self-made billionaire, buying up or investing in companies in the biotech world. So when Intrexon acquired the British company Oxitec last summer, it attracted little attention as he extended his reach into genetically modified insects.

Mr. Kirk is leader in the effort to control the Zika virus, suspected of causing babies to be born with tiny heads and damaged brains. It is rampant in Latin America and threatening the United States.

Within 6 months, Oxitec can reduce the mosquito population by 90% in tests that have already been performed. The Oxitec technology is not based on gene drive. The Oxitec approach is self limiting and does not persist in the environment.

If his plans to sell the engineered mosquitoes succeed, Mr. Kirk will fortify his near cultlike status among some investors and colleagues who marvel at his shrewd (and somewhat lucky) investments.

Perhaps more important, a victory against the rapidly spreading epidemic could weaken opposition to genetically engineered organisms of all sorts, propelling many others out of the lab, onto the dinner table or into the environment.

Now Mr. Kirk must persuade federal agencies, foreign governments and nonprofit health organizations to place orders. He must counter caution from the World Health Organization and federal officials, who question whether the technique will be effective on a large scale. And he must overcome qualms about genetic engineering that have prompted opposition to the mosquitoes in the Florida Keys and elsewhere.

Oxitec is a pioneer in controlling insects that spread disease and damage crops. Through world class science we have developed an innovative new solution to controlling harmful insects pests.

The United Nations says the Zika virus has a strong chance of advancing across the Americas. Only Canada and Chile have been unaffected so far as the mosquito that transmits the virus has never been seen in those countries. The Zika virus has been linked with brain damage in nearly four thousand babies in Brazil. One British biotech firm is using its expertise to contain the disease and is turning to genetic modification. Oxitec is that company, and it is mating sterile male mosquitoes with virus-carrying females, with promising early results. CCTV Americas Rachelle Akuffo spoke to the CEO Hadyn Parry of Oxitec about the possibilities and pitfalls of his approach.

Dr. Luciana Borio, acting chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, told a House subcommittee on Wednesday that the agency was greatly expediting Oxitecs application to test the mosquitoes in the Florida Keys and would issue a draft environmental assessment very soon.

It is hard to judge the strength of Intrexons core technology, known as UltraVector, which is a computerized system for putting together modular DNA pieces to make complex genetic circuits. The company, saying it wants to protect its trade secrets, has not published articles about it in scientific literature.

Intrexons shares have fallen to about $37 from near $70 in July, though biotech stocks in general have also fallen. The companys market value is $4.3 billion, making Mr. Kirks 53 percent worth over $2 billion.

One big commercial opportunity could be Intrexons pilot project to use genetically altered microbes to turn natural gas, which is cheap and abundant, into isobutanol, a liquid fuel that can be used in cars. Investors want to see if Intrexons partner, the energy giant Dominion, commits to building a commercial plant, which Mr. Kirk hopes could happen as early as this year.

Intrexon is now building a factory in Piracicaba to produce 60 million male mosquitoes a week, enough to protect at least 300,000 people, and Mr. Kirk believes production could be increased to cover entire cities or countries

SOURCES  NY Times, Youtube, Oxitec, Intrexon
Graphenano is a Spanish company based in Yecla (Murcia) and they have presented their graphene polymer battery that can largely solve obstacles to the development of the electric car.

They have a partnership with the Chinese company Chint. Chint paid 18 million euros for 10% of the Spanish company.

Grabat Energy, a subsidiary of Graphenano will have a plant in Yecla with 20 production lines. They will produce 80 million battery cells. In this first phase, Grabat will have 200 employees and an investment of 30 million euros, contributed equally by Chint and Graphenano.

The second phase will be much more ambitious. The Chinese company will contribute 350 million euros to Graphenano make a second factory in Yecla. They will form a joint venture to market their products in China. It is expected to have a global revenue exceeding 3 billion and 5,000 employees. They will have batteries for home, mobile, aircraft also produce for bicycles, motorbikes, cars and drones. Grabat has achieved a battery with a range of 800 kilometers and a weight of just 100 kilograms that can be loaded into a conventional outlet only one  third the time required by a lithium-ion-lithium equivalent (which are riding automakers in their electric models). Mario Martinez said in a high-density plug could be loaded in just five minutes.

Adapted to a car like the Tesla Model S, graphene polymer batteries would increase range from 334 to 1,013 kilometers. In a Nissan Leaf range would increase from 250 to 546 kilometers on a single charge.

The batteries are said to have a density of 1,000 Wh / kg and a voltage of 2,3V. Independent analyses by TUV and Dekra show that the batteries are safe and are not prone to explosions like lithium batteries.

Here is the translated Graphnano twitter feed
Ted Cruz has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas and ME, strengthening his position as the prime alternative to Donald Trump.

According to U.S. media, primary polls were held in around five states (four Republican States and three Democratic states) Nebraska, Louisiana, Maine, Kentucky and Kansas.

With the Republican race in chaos, establishment figures frantically are looking for any way to derail Mr Trump, perhaps at a contested convention if no candidate can get enough delegates to lock up the nomination in advance.

But Trump climbed back with victories in the Louisiana Republican primary and the Kentucky caucuses.

"The scream you hear - the howl that comes from Washington, DC - is utter terror at what we the people are doing together", he said, adding that conservatives are "coming together... and standing as one behind this campaign".

Bernie Sanders Wins Maine Democratic Caucuses

Unfortunately for the GOP insiders who can not seem to catch a break this election year, "Super Saturday" was super for Ted Cruz. The scream you hear, the howl that comes from Washington, DC, is utter terror at what "We the People" are doing together .

In Maine it was a startling 13-point win for the arch-conservative Cruz in the more moderate New England region.

"I'm with Harry Potter: I'm not going to the dark side", he told reporters after a rally in Traverse City, Michigan, where Kasich hopes for a strong showing in Tuesday's primary.

The wary interest in Cruz from more mainstream Republicans is the latest unexpected twist in a GOP race where talk of a contested convention or third-party candidate is becoming commonplace.

The four Republican contests on Saturday together account for just 155 delegates. Yet while a new poll puts Mr Kasich in front in Ohio, Mr Trump appears to have a double-digit lead over Mr Rubio in Florida.

Despite the support of many elected officials in Kansas, Mr Rubio, a Florida senator, came up short, raising serious questions about his viability in the race. Kasich trailed with 25.

Chris Rock sells $65243 worth of Girl Scout cookies at the Oscars

Comedian Chris Rock put his Academy Awards host stint to good use by boosting the cookie sales of his daughter's Girl Scout group. Her mother made a decision to set up an online portal for her daughter to sell cookies and shared her story.

"Dana, you are speculating, I don't think that's going to happen". "I think it's time now that he drop out".

However Senator Rubio said he would now concentrate his efforts on his home state.

"Trump is still on the path toward the nomination", Mr Bonjean said. Puerto Rico Republicans will vote on Sunday.

But the Texas Senator's wins were sure to energise the anti-Trump forces who are desperately trying to stop Trump's march to the nomination, and they left little doubt that Cruz, who has now captured six states, is their best hope. "Our campaign has beaten Donald Trump in seven states across the country". Bernie Sanders was able to win in smaller caucuses in states with whiter populations, while Clinton ran up a big margin in a state with a heavy black Democratic population.

With 123 delegates, Rubio is 255 delegates behind Trump in the race for the 1,237 needed to win the Republican nomination for president. But it was the biggest one - Louisiana - and she will likely have maintained or grown her delegate lead even further when all is said and done. But in terms of delegates, Clinton continues to dominate with at least 1,117 to Sanders's 477. Trump said his campaign barely spent any time in those states, estimating that it was "two hours in one place and two and a half hours in the other".
Background

Work

The road not taken: Ajami and Tifinagh





Next steps?

1. The report of the meeting is available in original French (as image PDF and as HTML on the Bisharat site) and in English ( image PDF ).

3. That same Congress in Accra, part of a series organized by the Survey of West African Languages, also founded the West African Linguistic Society

4. I thought it interesting to link the names where possible to bios or other webpages with information about these individuals. In some cases, however, this was not possible.

From February 28 through March 5, 1966, a group of noted linguists and African language and literacy specialists from Africa and the North gathered in Bamako, Mali for a UNESCO-sponsored "expert meeting" on "unification of alphabets of national languages."In a posting two years ago - " See you in Bamako in 2016? " - I discussed some reasons why it would be useful to revisit issues of harmonizing orthographies of African languages on the 50th anniversary of the meeting. Here I will focus mainly on the 1966 event itself.This event was apparently the outcome of two processes, one being a proposal made to UNESCO's Executive Board by Amadou-Hampate Ba , Mali's representative to that body, to consider the issue of African language transcription, and the other a set of recommendations on the same topic by the 5th West African Language Conference held in Accra in April 1965.It also followed UNESCO-sponsored conferences on literacy held in Abidjan and in Ibadan , both in 1964.The participants in the Bamako meeting included representatives from institutions in Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Upper Volta (now of course Burkina Faso), as well as individual experts invited from other countries. Their names (from Annex I of the English and French versions of the report, which also have their affiliations and countries) are: Etienne Balenghein ; Mrs. Belovolova; Charles Bird Genevieve Calame-Griaule ; Mrs. J. Calvet; Ousmane Cisse; Bakary Coulibaly; M.A. Coulibaly; Alhaji Abba Jiddum Gana; Claude Gouffe ; Ahmed M. Aq Harnany; Carl Hoffman; Maurice Houis Pierre F. Lacroix ; Faconey Ly; Eldridge Mohamadou; Vincent Monteil ; Demba N'Daw; Condotto Nenekhaly-Camara Ibrahim Alpha Sow ; Viktoria Petrovna Tokarskaja; Mahamane Toure; Kamory Traore; Anton Vorbichler ; Malam N.S. Wali; Daniel W. Zimmerman. The meeting was chaired by the Malian minister of education, Abdoulaye Singare The meeting in Bamako actually focused on six West African languages - Fula Songhay-Zarma , and Tamasheq - and on the Latin-based transcriptions for them. According to the report, the choice of languages was based on two criteria: (1) the language must be "officially recognized for adult literacy work in more than one Member State"; and (2) linguistic study of the language must be "sufficiently advanced to enable the work to proceed rapidly." There were a few subsequent expert meetings focusing on other groups of languages in the region, and most significantly, a meeting in Niamey in 1978 with more of a continent-wide mission of harmonizing African language transcriptions.The Latin transcription of African languages actually has a long history, much of it traced back to missionary work in the late 19th century, but one of the dynamics has always been the tendency on one hand to develop special orthographies, even sometimes within the same language, for the phonetic systems encountered, and on the other hand to try to develop a unified system, even to the extent of covering many languages. This meeting is obviously in the latter category, building on earlier efforts , such as the IAI alphabet (1928, 1930).One of the ways in which the Bamako meeting was significant was in facilitating discussion and agreement among several countries, including both Francophone and Anglophone states. In particular the orthographic conventions adopted in Nigeria for Hausa and Fula (including the so-called " hooked letters ," in particular,   , and  ).Some of the conventions discussed in the meeting, such as the hooked letters above for Hausa and Fula, and the letter  ("eng") for for several languages have endured through the development of the African Reference Alphabet in Niamey. Several digraphs retained for Manding languages - dy, kh, nw, ty - and use of diacritics (accents) for open vowels were later dropped in favor of single letters and extended characters. (The "dy" has lived on, however, in the spelling of " Dyula .")So the importance of the Bamako expert meeting was not necessarily in the specifics, but in advancing the process of developing standard orthographies for major African languages used in multiple countries.Prior to European penetration and colonization of Africa, a number of languages of West Africa including most if not all the six discussed in Bamako, were written with an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet called Ajami . (The Arabic alphabet was also used on the East African coast and islands.) There was apparently no interest on the part of colonial or post-independence authorities to develop these systems.Among the reasons one might discern for such (non-)policy probably was the fact that resources were much more readily available for use of the Latin alphabet. One has only to look at Guinea's departure from the Bamako consensus to establish a Latin-based orthography using only the letters and diacritics one could type with typewriters of that epoch - no hooked letters or eng - to see an example of how central such practical limitations can be. (Guinea later harmonized its system with the rest of the region.)Little surprise then that for Tamasheq, the ancient but locally used Tifinagh script was not entertained for literacy and other work.In the years since the last major meeting focusing on harmonizing transcriptions - the expert meeting in Niamey mentioned above - we have of course seen revolutions in computing, how text in various scripts can be managed, and increasingly in human language technology. The standards fostered by meetings such as those in Bamako and Niamey have been helpful in the facilitating theof African languages.However on country levels, orthographic rules for the same languages still vary. And now there are a number of new alphabets that, in the case of N'Ko for example, are popular among significant populations. And use of the older systems of Ajami and Tifinagh are facilitated with information technology.So, in light of these complex realities and changing needs, the possibility of a new meeting that I brought up two years ago with regard to the 50th anniversary of the Bamako expert meeting still seems valid. Would a conference on African language transcriptions and technology be useful, as a way of taking stock and taking account of new developments? And would the 40th anniversary of the Niamey meeting in 2018 be a good time for it?
Comments are always welcome. Usually, I run them. Sometimes, I don't. The First Amendment applies to me, too. You can email me at rogercurry@aol.com Some lawyer elsewhere got his butt in a crack for failing to put a disclaimer on his blog. Actually, I think giving out non-public info about a still-living client had a lot to do with it, too. Anyway, here goes: This blog has been developed by Roger Curry (that's me) and sometimes I talk about the law and legal stuff. The materials posted on this blog or at linked sites are not intended to create, and do not create, an attorney-client relationship or a representation regarding any potential engagement. Is it even possible that anybody could be so stunningly stupid to think that reading a blog makes me your lawyer? Pull the other one. Readers should not act upon these materials without seeking professional counsel. After all, what kind of rocket scientist reads a blog and then makes important decisions about her/his life or business? This is an offering in the marketplace ofMy opinion isn't entitled to any more inherent credit than yours. For Heaven's sake, readwith a jaundiced eye. If we all did that, we'd all get along a lot better in this life. I only become somebody's lawyer when he or she and I specifically AGREE that I'm going to perform legal services or give legal advice. Then, it's a two-way street - I need information about the client's SPECIFIC circumstances before I can give any advice at all about what is best for that client.Thank you. There's nothing to see here. Move along. These are not the 'droids you're looking for. Move along.
Only two minutes after I had listed a dresser online for sale, someone was interested. I was ecstatic that the dresser would not only be off our hands, but wed get a little cash besides and in such short time. The buyer must have been searching for dressers for months, I thought, judging by
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Shub has a story about a pair of rich Australians whining that they had to look after their own kids on their New Zealand holiday because Immigration saw through their scam to get their nanny to work illegally on a visitor's visa. The story focuses on the fact that the nanny had to spend a night in jail while waiting for turnaround, and I agree that's neither desirable or really necessary. Meanwhile, it misses the obvious question: why weren't those rich Aussies charged? Because they seem to have violated s343(1)(a) of the Immigration Act 2009, which says that it is a crime to:



for a material benefit, aids, abets, incites, counsels, or procures any other person to be or to remain unlawfully in New Zealand or to breach any condition of a visa granted to the other person



The penalty for that is up to a $100,000 fine or seven years in jail , and the rich Aussies have as much as admitted the offence in the media. Instead, the person they put up to it is punished (she won't be able to travel for years as a consequence of her deportation), while those actually responsible walk away scot free.But I guess we couldn't possibly punish rich people when they break the law, could we?
Egyptian authorities have claimed that Hisham Barakat, the countrys chief prosecutor, was assassinated June last year in a plot planned by the countrys Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The allegations were made by Interior minister Magdy Abde Ghaffar in a televised press conference on Sunday shortly after prosecutors ordered six people, accused of having links to the attack, to be detained for 15 days as investigations continue.

Barakat was the most senior official to be killed in Egypt for the past 25 years when his convoy was rocked with a bomb attack but his driver, who survived the blast with injuries, told investigators that the chief prosecutor was conscious and walking away from the attack before being hit by a car leading to his death.

Abdul Ghaffar said Hamas trained, prepared and oversaw the implementation of the assassination which he said was carried out on orders from Muslim Brotherhood leaders staying in Turkey in coordination with Hamas that played a very big role in this conspiracy.

Some young people, said to belong to a terrorist organization, were recorded admitting they were involved in the attack.

Neither Hamas nor the Muslim Brotherhood reacted to the allegations. Both groups have strained relations with the Sisi administration while Ankara under president Erdogan has refused to recognize Sisi as president.

Cairo regularly accuses Hamas of supporting attacks in Egypt especially in the Sinai Peninsula where extremist groups are active. Egypt classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization before banning it. Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members are in Egyptian jails for their roles in violence during mass trials.

Meanwhile, the detained six people are students who belong to a terrorist organization according to an official under the condition of anonymity.
Moroccan security services have interrupted another deadly ISIS terrorist plot seeking to undermine the North African countrys peace and stability.

Moroccos Interior Ministry announced Monday it has dismantled a five-member Islamic State group cell planning to carry out bomb attacks using a pressure cooker in crowded public places.

The cell members, linked to ISIS, were operating in the southern city of Smara and the region of Chtouka Ait Baha (near Marrakech) and were ready to declare jihad in the kingdom, said the Interior Ministry in a statement.

According to the Interior Ministry, the dismantled cell first planned to join the ISIS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq before it changed course and sought to rally the Libyan branch of the terrorist organization. It intended to go to Libya via Mauritania, with the help of smugglers operating in the Sahel-Sahara region.

The arrest of this new terror group comes few weeks after authorities broke up a dangerous ISIS cell that was planning an attack involving chemical weapons.

According to Moroccos Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ,) the ten suspects, including a French national, were also planning biological attacks.

The police found six jars of sulphur-containing chemical fertilizer, which when heated can release a fatally toxic gas. Other chemicals that can create the tetanus toxin were also recovered during the raid.

Laboratory tests confirmed the deadly chemicals, classified by international specialized organizations as dangerous biological weapons. Four machine guns, thirteen tear gas bombs and significant quantities of ammunition were also among the weapons seized, together with an ISIS flag.

According to Moroccan security experts, the seized weapons and chemicals show a radical change in ISIS tactics in its terror planning. Hundreds of Moroccan nationals are believed to have joined terrorist groups in hotbed conflict zones.

They also estimate at 500 the number of Moroccan ISIS sympathizers.

Moroccan authorities are waging tireless war against Islamic extremists and fanatics. They have disrupted over 152 terror cells since 2002, and 32 over the past three years.
Tunisian security forces killed early Monday 13 terrorists and arrested 6 others after assailants launched twin attacks against a military barrack and security check points at Ben Guerdane, in the governorate of Medenine.

The Defense Ministry spokesman Belhassen Oueslati told reporters that forces took control of the situation after a group of terrorists launched coordinated attacks against the military barrack of Ben Guedane and military check points.

13 terrorists have been killed and 6 others have been made captives while there are 6 casualties among the security forces, including 2 members of the National Guard, 2 police officers and 2 soldiers. Six civilians have also been wounded in the gun battle.

Following the attack, Prime Minister Habid Essid convened an emergency meeting with Defense and Interior Ministers to discuss additional measures to secure regions near border with Libya and prevent further attacks.

In a different development, Tunisian Defense Minister Sunday announced arrival this week of American and German experts to help install a monitoring electronic system at the border with Libya, part of the countrys move to foil illegal crossings by terrorists into Tunisia.

For Farhat Horchani the electronic system will play a paramount role in the protection of the countrys lengthy border with troubled Libya. He also indicated that the system is a complementary measure to already completed sand trenches and barriers.

He also announced the use of drones to monitor permanently the border in a bid to detect any intrusion attempts.

Horchani furthermore specified that talks have been initiated with other neighboring countries to expand the surveillance system to maritime, air and land levels in order to control areas where terrorist threats are most alarming.

Aside from the American and German experts, Tunisia should also welcome British troops to help strengthen and improve surveillance at the border with Libya. Early last week, British Defense Secretary Michael Cathel Fallon announced that some 20 British troops would head to Tunisia to train local forces how to bolster security at border with war-torn Libya.

Tunisia has been embroiled in security instability after IS-trained terrorists perpetrated last year three terror attacks which claimed lives of more than 70 people, most of whom were foreign tourists.

Authorities moved on to beef up security at border with Libya after it appeared that terrorists killed on February 19 in US air raids in the Libyan western city of Sabratha were planning further terrorist attacks in Tunisia.

Tunisia has become the second country in the region to witness an upsurge in the number of attacks after Libya, experts say.
Italys Prime Minister Matteo Renzi Sunday ruled out sending Italian troops to Libya as suggested by American envoy to Rome who indicated that Italy could send 5,000 troops to help fight IS in divided Libya.

Speaking at a talk show, Renzi dismissed the allegations that Rome was ready to parachute troops in war-torn Libyan to help weed out IS fighters.

As long as I am Prime Minister, Italy will not go to Libya for an invasion with 5,000 men, Renzi told Canale 5 TV.

If there is a need to intervene, Italy will not back down. But this is not the situation today. The idea of sending 5,000 men is not on the table, Renzi added.

Renzis denial came after American envoy to Rome, John Phillips, alleged on Friday that Rome had 5,000 on stand-by to intervene in Libya to help flash out IS fighters.

We need to make Tripoli safe and ensure that ISIS is no longer free to strike, Phillips said.

Rome has been on heat to take part in targeted operations in Libya. Washington has asked Rome to allow US war planes and drones stationed in Italy to stage attacks in Libya but Rome has been reluctant to give a go-ahead while it is pushing rival Libyans camps to unity and form a single force against IS which has been expanding rapidly.

Meanwhile, the two Italian captives freed on Friday have been repatriated back home from Tripolis Mitiga airport.

Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno according to Libyan Sabratha authorities backed by Tripoli authorities were released on Friday after militia forces of the town raided the hideous where they had been detained.

However, Pollicardo and Calcagno reportedly told Italian judiciary authorities upon arrival in Italy that they were beaten up and kept unfed for many days during their detention by a criminal gang not linked to IS. They also added that they fled on Friday unaided.

Tripoli authorities who welcomed the two Italian fellows after their escape urged Rome for cooperation in the fight against IS.

We need support and cooperation from the Italians to tackle the criminal organization of Islamic State in Libya, Ali Abu Zakouk, the foreign minister of the self-declared government in Tripoli said as the two captives were to board a plane bound for Italy.

Pollicardo and Calcagno lost their fellows, Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano, who were reportedly killed on Wednesday in a gun battle between Sabratha militiamen and IS fighters.

The four Italians working for the Italian construction company Bonatti were kidnapped last July near the town of Sabratha on their way from Tunisia.
Confira o preco do seguro para o Chevrolet Onix

Saiba quando voce gastaria com o seguro do carro mais vendido do Brasil
The familiar emergency alert system, the one where we in the U.S. occasionally hear a radio or television broadcast interruption that...
Sanders is one step closer to winning the nomination. Photo: Scott Olson/2016 Getty Images

Bernie Sanders received a much-needed morale boost Sunday with a yuuuge victory against Hillary Clinton in Maine. With 91 precincts reporting, Sanders pulled ahead with 64 percent of the vote and 15 delegates while Clinton received about 35 percent and only seven delegates, NPR reports. The results rolled in while both candidates debated in Flint, Michigan, but Sanders nonetheless released a written statement: I thank the people of Maine for their strong support, he said. With another double-digit victory, we have now won by wide margins in states from New England to the Rocky Mountains and from the Midwest to the Great Plains. The pundits might not like it, but the people are making history.

His victory doesnt come as a surprise; as New Yorks Ed Kilgore noted, Maine is considered big-time Sanders territory. But these types of symbolic victories are important insomuch as they reinforce Sanderss relevance as a protest candidate to whom Clinton can make concessions in order to cement party unity.

Tonight proved once again that we are well on our way towards winning this Democratic primary. Thank you, Maine! https://t.co/LA5bXw8z95  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 7, 2016

Sanders is also favored  although not heavily  in Kansas and Nebraska, but according to FiveThirtyEight, Clinton holds the lead in the polls almost everywhere else.
The two Democratic candidates do not personify their base of support like Clinton and Obama did in 2008, but the patterns are familiar. Photo: Getty Images

The key takeaway from Sunday nights Democratic presidential candidates debate in Michigan was that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are managing to find a variety of policy issues on which they differ (or differed in the past), alongside the familiar assertions they continue to make about their basic differences in ideological orientation. With Tuesdays Michigan primary voters in mind, Sanders hit Clinton on her past support for multilateral trade agreements, while Clinton hit Sanders on his vote against the 2009 auto-industry bailout.

Michigan may provide us with our best test yet as to whether issue differences between these two candidates matter  or instead, as proved to be the case in the last contested Democratic presidential nominating contest, whether candidate preferences are mostly about who you are rather than what, specifically, you think.

In 2008, in state after state, the Obama-versus-Clinton battle turned on demography rather than policy, with Obamas coalition of African-Americans, younger voters, and independents matched against Clintons coalition of Latinos, older (and especially older female) voters, and blue-collar white Appalachians.

So far demography has been the primary determinant of candidate preference this year as well, with Clinton sweeping every state with a significant African-American voting population (with the arguable exception of Oklahoma), while Sanders wins states dominated by white liberals. This years massive division of Democratic voters by age is coming close to exceeding the divisions between black and white voters in 2008  more than can be explained by any ideological or policy-oriented differences between candidates or voters.

This pattern is more than a bit surprising. For one thing, the ideological contrasts in this years two campaigns, with Clinton hewing close to Barack Obamas legacy and Sanders promising a political revolution and implicitly criticizing both the Clinton and Obama administrations, are much clearer than those of 2008, when the most prominent issue difference (other than their past positions on the Iraq War) involved a wonky health-care-policy argument over the need for an individual insurance mandate (ironically, of course, Obama adopted Clintons position once in office). For another thing, Obama and Clinton to a considerable extent personified the demographic splits among Democrats. This time around Clintons most intense demographic support group does not share her race, and Sanders is several generations older than the under-30 voters who so powerfully feel the Bern. So youd figure that in theory either or both campaigns could get out of their current demographic ruts.

Michigan may well tell us if thats the case. Clintons demographic ace in the hole is the roughly one-fourth of likely primary voters who are African-American, where polls show her winning over 70 percent. In contrast to the southern states where she romped to victory on Super Tuesday (and again over the weekend in Louisiana), black voters are not quite enough to guarantee victory in Michigan. So shes counting on older white (and especially women) voters and those swayed by her support for the auto bailout (the United Auto Workers, like the AFL-CIO, is remaining neutral in the primary). Meanwhile, Sanders is hoping his longtime pro-labor voting record and especially his systematic opposition to every trade agreement dating back to and beyond NAFTA will break the mold for him in Michigan.

Lets hope the exit polling from Michigan is well conducted. It may tell us a lot about the rest of the Democratic nominating contest, and particularly whether what has looked to be a demographically doomed Sanders campaign can make a real fight of it.
Ahmed Almalki. Photo: New York State Police

Ahmed Almalki of Oyster Bay, Long Island, was arrested for felony DWI Sunday, and he made it pretty easy for cops to catch him. At about 1 a.m. Sunday morning, state police in Farmingdale received multiple calls that a man was driving erratically in Nassau County as he broadcast it on Periscope. Cops tuned in, figured out that he was westbound on Ocean Parkway, and caught up with him on the Wantagh Parkway. When troopers pulled over Almalkis Lexus, they noticed a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, according to police. Almalki failed sobriety tests and was arrested.

Via NBC New York, police say Almalki, 33, was charged with a felony DWI because he has a previous DWI conviction on his record. (He was also cited for failing to use his turn signals, making an unsafe lane change, driving at an unsafe speed, and driving across hazard markers. Not included among the charges, though it should have been: acting like a damn fool.) Newsday reports that Almalki couldnt be reached for comment, and that he was issued a conditional release to leave on probation. Hes due in court next Monday.
Protesters also demonstrated at last weeks GOP debate. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/2016 Getty Images

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders werent the only ones getting worked up during Sundays Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan. Before the debate, hundreds of Flint residents, including fast-food workers and clergy, demonstrated outside Whiting Auditorium to demand a $15 minimum wage. Flints water crisis has necessitated the purchase of relatively expensive bottled water  a commodity many minimum-wage workers cant afford. Some of us cant even afford to eat because of the wages, Willie Williams, who retired from his job at Churchs Chicken three years ago, told Think Progress. People have been donating [water] all over the country, but how long is [that] going to go [on]?

Im breaking out in rashes and paying for water, said Tyrone Stitt, a Fight for $15 leader in Michigan. Increasing the minimum wage would help tremendously. Stitt led Sundays march, which, according to the Detroit Free Press, began in front of a media spin room, moved across the University of Michigans campus, and ended in front of the Whiting where police blocked protesters from getting close to the building. Members of the crowd held up signs with slogans such as Flint Lives Matter, and one protester carried a cardboard cutout of Michigan governor Rick Snyder with devil horns.

Key chant from this protest: "If you want our vote, come and get it." Dems looking to Flint as mobilizing issue. pic.twitter.com/BD6Y0Kj3gI  Sam Gringlas (@gringsam) March 6, 2016

Inside the venue, both candidates criticized Snyder for how he handled the water crisis  something Snyder was quick to notice and rebuff. Williams called on both candidates to address low wages, saying theyd have to work for our vote. He went on: None of us have faith in our government.

8-year-old Mari Copeny stands in protest asking "Justice for Flint" before a rally at @UMFlint before #DemDebate. pic.twitter.com/GW2tzkVqAb  Jake May (@jakemayphoto) March 6, 2016

The minimum wage in Michigan went up 35 cents in January, but thats hardly enough to offset costs for most Flint residents, who paid nearly double the national average for their lead-infused water last year. And although Michigan officials recently gave Flint residents $30 million to pay their water bills, their water still isnt safe to drink.

If Flint residents want to see a higher federal minimum wage, both Clinton and Sanders are better bets than their potential GOP rivals. Sanders introduced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 last July, but unsurprisingly its still bouncing from committee to committee. Clinton has advocated for a $12 federal minimum wage but believes we should go further than the federal minimum through state and local efforts like Fight for $15. The federal minimum wage is still a dismal $7.25 an hour (its been that way since 2009), but states such as New York and Massachusetts are slowly creeping toward that $15 goal.
Donald Trump disembarks his campaign jet with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for a rally at Millington Regional Jetport in Millington, Tennessee. Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

On Super Tuesday, Donald Trump took the stage for a press conference at the symbolic epicenter of the most vibrant American-populist movement in decades, the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. Liberal viewers at home whove spent the last months transfixed in a horror-show kind of way by Trump suddenly couldnt stop staring at Chris Christie, standing behind him on the podium. In Christies dead eyes and uncomfortable-seeming mien, they joked on Twitter, there was a whiff of the hostage, or at the very least someone realizing too late the distastefulness of what hed signed up for. Chris Christie spent the entire speech screaming wordlessly, wrote Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post. Someone looped footage of Christie set to the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song.

The meme was pure projection; rather than consider that perhaps Christie is thoroughly unpracticed at standing in the background, we constructed a fantasy that better fit with our own feelings about Trump. And rather than acknowledge that Trump was making a turn toward the general election (in what counts as progress, he said the African-Americans rather than the blacks), we nervously seized on the nearest possible joke. This mix of alarm and dismissive disbelief that Democrats  or at least Democrats I know  are experiencing is only getting more pronounced as the months go on. Whether it is tinged with joy or dread has become a revealing window into the way that people who believe they agree about politics actually dont.

I probably shouldnt admit this, but I get the Donald Trump appeal. Sort of, anyway. Oh, not the virulent racism or sexism. Not his dumb tax plan, not his ridiculous claims about his own success. But remember the first GOP debate, all the way back in August? This was a more innocent time, before Trump had pretended that he needed to research the KKK further before disavowing it, or before Nate Silver noticed that the single best correlate for supporting Trump was Google searches for the word nigger. Sure, Trump had already said that he wanted to build a wall to keep out rapist Mexicans, but at the time, like just about every liberal (and moderate, and conservative) I knew, I figured hed already disqualified himself from being taken seriously by anyone. So we were free to gawk at the sideshow, which was genuinely great TV  has there ever been a more fascinating extemporaneous speaker in American politics? Even Hillary Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, was excited to tune in. Shh, Ive got to get me some Trump, he told the room at her headquarters. It was the most-watched primary debate ever.

Back then, it was okay for urban sophisticates to buy and ironically wear the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hat (not unlike the trucker hats theyd embraced a decade before) because Trump was the candidate of camp. Politics had suddenly gotten wild and unruly again, and a lot of us were into it. Part of the fun of following these elections, for all but the wonkiest of wonks, is the soap opera, the delectable people-watching of observing the countrys biggest egos on the biggest stage they can find, seeking to fill whatever cavern is in their soul that makes them want to be president. For the past 40 years, even as candidates have moved toward greater levels of narcissism and power-seeking, theyve also moved toward greater precision in their narratives, in their sound bites, in their adherence to lawyerly correctness and deadly carefulness. A news cycle that hungrily fed on gaffes seemed to guarantee that only personality-free robots who made the fewest unforced errors would ever become nominees. And we even found fault with our first such bot! Remember when Mitt Romneys earnest attempts at hiring more women  binders full of women  became what passed for a scandal? That man had literally never had a drop of liquor to drink. And now along came a candidate who had not only acquired three wives with kingly cavalierness (Model, actress, model might be the new Divorced, beheaded, dies) but had regularly done such things as go on The Howard Stern Show to discuss how he could have fucked the then-recently-dead Princess Diana. America is a weird, very grandiose country, more Trump than Romney. Trumps directness, his ridiculousness, his often spot-on and fascinating cruelty  hes the star of a premium-cable show about a billionaire-populist anti-hero running for president, one we loved until we realized it couldnt be turned off.

Now the question becomes: How do you feel when real life is adapted from television, rather than the reverse? There are a few distinct ways liberals and moderates have been dealing with the prospect of Trumps nomination. For some purely results-oriented Democrats, his rise has been an occasion for exhilaration: Are they really going to make it this easy? Marco Rubio, who might have seemed able to best Clinton in a general election thanks to many of the same characteristics Obama used to beat her eight years ago, is getting tossed aside like yesterdays bottled water, while Trump continues to say racist things in a country whose minorities make up 40 percent of its citizens? Great! And to the extent hes gutting a climate-change-denying, abortion-rights-restricting, health-care-ruining, one-percenter-abetting Republican Party, is that such a bad thing? A Trump nomination is a high-risk proposition, sure, but also high reward  the dismantling of a stultifying and unsustainable status quo.

Then theres another category of voter, the risk-averse. A Trump general-election defeat isnt a sure thing; everyones been wrong about him so far. What if somehow the GOP manages to organize itself around him? What if his poll numbers continue to magically rise, in new and unexpected demographics? What if Clinton gets indicted, at the last minute, for something about those emails? Stranger things have happened!

And then there are people like me. What Ive come to realize about myself, watching Trumps rise, is that I have a higher degree of personal, if not political, conservatism than Id realized. Its not necessarily my low appetite for risk, its that I am suddenly more concerned about the dignity of the country than Id ever imagined myself to be, in agreement with the Romney-bot when he shreds Trumps temperament. I find myself thinking about how much things like honor and tradition underpin my beliefs, as if I were the Republican candidate fixing a flag to my lapel.

After all: For every person who points out that perhaps the surprising popularity of the not-so-conservative Trump will allow the GOP to slow its move rightward, another person chimes in to mention the devastating effect his nomination will have on Americas standing abroad. After seven years in which the Obama administration mostly made the rest of the world forgive us for having elected George W. Bush, suddenly we come back with this guy who makes Bush look like Churchill. El Pais published an imaginary letter from King Philip II to Trump suggesting that he might bring back the Inquisition. Its easy to imagine ISIS recruiters smiling at the primary results.

And whatever conservatives might think, theres no real pleasure for a liberal in realizing that the most cynical things she might have believed about the modern Republican voter are at least in some cases true, or in seeing people with supposedly deeply held moral views (about abortion, about religion) set them aside without blinking. Theres not even much fun left to be had by the professional comics who used to see Trump as the perfect raw material. (Donald Trump is the first joke Ive ever been offended by, tweeted comic Morgan Murphy.)

For most of our lifetimes, politics has offered up only incremental changes: progress that accrues or recedes slowly; a presidency that, regardless of rhetoric, flips from center-leftish to center-rightish; a Congress that does the same polite do-si-do. A creaky but stable old system that nobody thought worked very well but just kept working anyway. Theres something a little awe-inspiring to think about how our democracy has been built on the good taste of the electorate as much as the electorate itself, something exciting about realizing that the high drama of a living constitutional democracy isnt confined to Hamilton. But it can also be plain-old terrifying. The old ways of being, the America we felt at home in  suddenly the ground has shifted under our feet. And in the anger that I feel about my displacement, my lack of control, I realize, once again, that maybe Im not as different from the Trump voters as Id like to think. I understand what it is to be confused about a new world order. Our country is going to hell, Trump said on the stage in Palm Beach, as the crowd cheered, and I nodded along at home.

*This article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Sanders and Clinton calling each other Little Bernie and Lyin Hill talking policy. Photo: Scott Olson/2016 Getty Images

There have been three Republican debates since the last time Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off, and after watching those raucous affairs, seeing candidates delve deep into policy differences on Sunday night was almost confusing. Each Democratic forum has been increasingly heated, and the rhetoric from both candidates was noticeably sharper at the CNN debate, with Clinton once again attacking Sanders on backing immunity for gun manufacturers, and the Vermont senator going after her for her Wall Street ties and trade deals. But even their testiest exchange  in which Sanders stopped Clinton from interrupting him by saying, Excuse me, Im talking  was a far cry from watching candidates concoct insulting names for each other on the debate state. Here are the highlights.

Flint Water Crisis Gets the Spotlight

During last weeks GOP debate in Michigan, there was one question about the poisoned water in Flint, and Marco Rubio responded by defending how Republican governor Rick Snyder handled the issue, which he said had become too politicized.

Therefore, it was quite the contrast to see about a quarter of the Democratic debate, which was held in Flint, devoted to the crisis. For the most part, Clinton and Sanders agreed that the situation represented a horrific failure of the government at multiple levels. Both said EPA officials who failed to act should be held accountable, and for the first time, Clinton called for Governor Snyders resignation. (Sanders has been saying he should step down since January.) Snyder registered his strong disagreement in tweets posted during the debate.

Clinton and Sanders Battle Over Bailouts

Following the lengthy section on the water crisis, the topic turned to another huge issue in Flint: the auto industry. We had the best year that the auto industry had in a long time. I voted to save the auto industry, Clinton said, referring to the 2009 bailout. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference.

Sanders countered that what she was referring to amounted to a Wall Street bailout. (Clinton tried to protest, but he wouldnt let her cut him off.) When billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy, they went to Congress and they said, please, well be good boys, bail us out. You know what I said? I said, let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street. It shouldnt be the middle class of this country.

As the Detroit Free Press explains, the $82 billion auto bailout was part of the larger Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that bailed out the big banks  thus, a senator or congressman could not vote to rescue GM and Chrysler without voting to provide the money to keep the nations largest investment banks from failing.

Sanders Questioned on Sandy Hook Suit

Gun control is one of the few issues where Clinton is to the left of Sanders, and theyve sparred many times about his 2005 vote to shield gun manufacturers from liability in lawsuits over gun violence. Following a question from the father of a girl who nearly died in the recent Kalamazoo shooting, Clinton brought up the victims of Sandy Hook (which some found moving and others found exploitative), and Anderson Cooper noted that the legislation may derail the Newtown families effort to sue Remington.

If you go to a gun store and you legally purchase a gun and then three days later you go out and you start killing people, is the point of this lawsuit to hold the gun shop owner or the manufacturer of that gun liable? Sanders responded. If that is the point I have to tell you I have to disagree.

Candidates Explain How Theyre A Little Bit Racist

The award for most unexpected reference of the night went to CNNs Don Lemon, who pressed the candidates to address their racial blind spots by quoting Avenue Q  or rather FBI director James Comey, who cited the musical in a speech last month.

Sanders and Clinton Asked to Get Personal  Maybe Too Personal  on Religion

Once again, Sanders was pressed to get more specific about his faith, when a woman asked if he believes God is relevant. (The same woman asked Clinton, To whom and for whom do you pray? She answered, rather than saying thats private.)

He gave a vague endorsement of the Golden Rule, but said being Jewish is an important part of his identity, offering this example: Look, my fathers family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean. I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping, and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitlers concentration camp.

Everybody Wants to Take on Trump

There was only one reference to a candidates appendage, and it was totally G-rated. When asked about the prospect of facing Donald Trump in a general election Sanders responded, Ill tell you something, this is my right arm. Im prepared to give   then he cut himself off, saying, no, I shouldnt say that. I would love to run against Donald Trump, and Ill tell you why.
Snyders Twitter fingers were busy tonight. Photo: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Michigan governor Rick Snyder did not appreciate the calls for his resignation during Sunday nights Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders discussed Flints ongoing water crisis, and Clinton explicitly said Snyder should be ousted. I agree the governor should resign or be recalled, and we should support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that, she said. (Sanders has been calling for Snyder to resign since January.)

Snyder, who was apparently watching the debate, took issue with the way his office was portrayed and fired back at both candidates on Twitter. In a few days, political candidates will be leaving Flint and Michigan, he tweeted. They will not be staying to help solve the crisis, but I am committed to the people of Flint.

They will not be staying to help solve the crisis, but I am committed to the people of Flint.  Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

I'm taking responsibility as our value system says we should. My track record is getting things done, and I want to get this done. #FlintFWD  Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

Clinton also said she supports efforts by Michigan legislators to get the money from the federal government in order to begin the work that must occur to fix the infrastructure, and added that the state should also be sending money immediately to help this city, to which Snyder responded that the water crisis was never about money. (In fact, Dennis Muchmore, Snyders chief of staff, said cost was an issue in the citys failure to switch water suppliers in Flint, despite repeated warnings the water was contaminated. The assessment was you couldnt do it because it was a cost that should have borne by the system, he told the Detroit News.)

This was never about money. This was a failure of government at all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy.  Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

Snyder went on to discuss the money hes pledged to get Flint back on its feet, which includes $30 million to pay residents water bills for the past two years.

I've proposed more than $230 million in additional aid for Flint, and have already delivered $70 million #FlintFWD  Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

Details on the $30 million in water bill relief for #Flint residents at https://t.co/PEFihE7Qvz. No one should pay for water they can't use.  Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

Snyder is set to testify before a congressional committee investigating the water crisis on March 17. Its unclear whether he and other officials will face manslaughter charges, but the Detroit Free Press reports hes hired two outside attorneys to serve as investigatory counsel. Both lawyers were hired on state-funded contracts for $249,000  just below the $250,000 threshold for contracts that must be approved by the State Administrative Board.
A still from DSouzas Hillarys America.

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like to a Fox News addict on five tabs of acid? If so, Dinesh DSouza has a trailer for you.

The conservative academic turned reactionary propagandist is out with a sequel to 2016: Obamas America. In that film, DSouza revealed that Barack Obama is actually an anti-colonialist revolutionary who is deliberately driving up the national debt in order to bring down America from within. Four years and one conviction for campaign-finance violations later, DSouza has attained a whole new level of wokeness.

The trailer for Hillarys America opens with a dramatization of DSouzas months-long stint in a confinement center. The Indian American* intellectual sits across from large, tattooed convicts, taking notes on their street-smart insights. DSouzas voice-over then passes on what he has learned from such conversations: All crime is about stealing. The big criminals are still at large. The camera pans up to a small television monitor where Hillary Clinton is giving a press conference. The system doesnt go after them, he continues, as the camera settles on the back of Obamas head. Because they run the system. Its time to go behind the curtain and discover the soul of the Democratic Party.

DSouza then reveals that Abraham Lincoln was actually a Republican and Democrats were the ones who supported slavery! We see an African-American woman being whipped by her masters, the ghost of a Klansman galloping out from a movie screen, a lynch mob hanging a noose from a tree. DSouza then notes that in the 20th century, Democrats went from slavery to enslavement, which is apparently a synonym for supporting corrupt unions and legal abortion as a means of eugenics. By the end, Supreme Leader Hillary Clinton is shown addressing an adoring crowd in some future totalitarian United States, as DSouza asks, What if the goal of the Democratic Party is to steal the most valuable thing the world has ever produced? What if their plan is to steal America?

The film is set to open this summer. If the Republican race plays out as expected, the doc should premiere just as Donald Trump is accepting the GOP nomination. Which will probably be a good time to remind America that the Democrats are the real racists.

*This post originially misused the term East Asian.
Nice digs. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed an Alabama court order that barred a lesbian woman from contacting the three kids she adopted and helped raise in Georgia while she was in a 17-year relationship.

The case is known as V.L. v. E.L., after the two moms, who are referred to by their initials in the court papers. E.L is the biological mother of the three kids, whom V.L. helped raise from their birth and adopted in 2007 in Georgia. After the couple split up in 2011, V.L. sued in Alabama state court, accusing E.L. of blocking her access to the children. Alabama refused to acknowledge the Georgia adoption as legitimate.

The Supreme Court agreed with V.L., saying that Alabama had violated the Constitutions full faith and credit clause requiring states to recognize each others judgments. (Thats the one establishing that if youre married or issued a drivers license in one state, all 50 have to accept it.) The Alabama court had claimed that Georgia had misapplied its own adoption laws and thus the constitutional clause need not apply; the Supreme Court responded with a summary reversal, meaning that it did not hear arguments but rejected the argument on its face. The Court said, in an unsigned opinion, that the Alabama Supreme Court erred in refusing to grant that judgment full faith and credit.
Donald Trump is winning the race to the bottom against Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Elections are inherently zero-sum contests, so it is paradoxically correct that Donald Trump showed signs of weakness in the recent round of Republican voting, but the opposition to Trump weakened even more, leaving Trump even more strongly positioned to prevail. The last several days have seen an important new stage in the Republican primary. Trump is not progressing toward the nomination any more rapidly, but the forces arrayed against him are disintegrating.

The original anti-Trump strategy, formulated in the wake of Marco Rubios inspiring second-place victory in South Carolina, envisioned the Florida senator eventually consolidating the non-Trump vote. Super Tuesday dealt that plan a grievous blow, all but closing off Rubios path to capturing a majority of the delegates. Super Tuesday forced the anti-Trump Republicans to switch their strategy from consolidation to fragmentation. If they could not give Rubio a majority, they could at least deny Trump one by deploying the non-Trump candidates regionally, where they could pick off delegates from him in their areas of strength. Rubio would take Florida, Kasich Ohio, Cruz parts of the South.

Saturdays voting threw that plan into question as well by revealing a deep and probably terminal weakness in Rubios candidacy. Rubios inability to gain traction always seemed puzzling. He seems like the perfect, laboratory-designed vessel to advance the cause of the Republican donor class: deeply conservative on economics and foreign and social policy, and happy to carry water for his donors (as seen by his ideology-free donor constituent service on issues like Puerto Rican debt and sugar subsidies), while possessed of a friendly personality and minority background that made him a plausible general-election salesman. Yet something never quite clicked with Rubio and the voters.

Rubios recent decline coincides with his recent adoption of harsh attacks on Trump as the central theme of his campaign. Rubios main asset used to be his broad acceptability to every wing of the Republican Party, a point he drove home by emphasizing his (putatively moral) refusal to tear down fellow members of the party of Lincoln. His attempt to out-Trump Trump forfeited much of Rubios likability. Rubios campaign may have figured that if juvenile bullying works for Trump, it can work for Rubio, too. It seems to have been mistaken. Rubio spent months compensating for his youth and relative lack of experience by presenting himself as stern and well-read. He gave the most detailed foreign-policy answers and constantly used the word serious as a way of showing that he was prepared for the job and not some callow youth in a hurry. His mockery of Trump forced him to give up that seriousness. Rubio tried to soften the blows of his attacks by delivering his insults with smiles and casual gestures. He was grinning open-mouthed, showing his teeth, and suddenly looking more childlike.

Marco Rubio points and laughs at Donald Trump. Photo: Michael Ciaglo-Pool/Getty Images

On Saturday, Rubio underperformed his expected showing in several states. The collapse appears to be carrying over  a new poll has him in single digits in Michigan, which may be an exaggeration of his weakness, but it indicates real distress.

Buoyed by his overperformance in recent voting, Cruz is openly bucking the informal plan to join forces against Trump. He is throwing resources into Florida, where a Rubio loss would probably end his candidacy. The replacement of an anti-Trump syndicate with Cruz, though, poses numerous problems. The first is that Trump might roll up enough delegates to take command of the race before Cruz can consolidate his position. If Trump wins Florida, and especially if he wins Ohio as well, he may become unstoppable. Republican Establishment resistance to the voters front-runner has softened, and a Trump win in Florida might make it fall apart completely.

A second problem is that Republican insiders loathe Cruz so deeply they may consider him no better, or even worse, than Trump. It is why it has been so difficult to get an anti-Trump campaign together, a Republican strategist told Politico. If the ultimate beneficiary of anti-Trump efforts is Ted Cruz, the effort itself is probably not worthwhile. The division within the party between pro- and anti-Trump factions is overlaid onto an older division between conservative pragmatists and conservative fantasists. Cruz is the leader of a fantasist wing that insists willpower can overcome any obstacles to the conservative agenda, including public opinion or the division of powers in the Constitution. Some Trump-hating Republicans like, or can live with, Cruz, but others cannot.

Finally, there is the mechanical problem of how Cruz would finalize his victory. Possibly he can overcome the above-mentioned obstacles and win an outright majority of delegates. Failing that, he would need to prevail at a contested convention in July. How is a candidate who built his national brand identity in opposition to political insiders, and the entire concept of deal-making in general, going to gain the nomination by cutting deals with insiders?

And  not that Cruz would be bound by his rhetoric  Cruz has disclaimed any plan to win the nomination at the convention, predicting voters would revolt. This represents another fear standing in the way of the anti-Trump Republicans. A convention that wrests the prize away from a populist like Trump would predictably trigger mass demonstrations, and maybe a write-in candidacy by Trump. Some conservatives argue the price of a schism would be worthwhile in order to prevent Trump from taking over the party. But few Republicans would go along with it.

This leaves Cruz and Trump as the two overwhelmingly most likely candidates. The convention scenario will probably require a rapprochement between the two. It is hard to imagine an outcome now that does not boggle the mind. Trump-Cruz? Cruz-Trump? One of the two alongside the reanimated corpse of General Augusto Pinochet?


Trump does really well with the Hispanics. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

The Latino vote isnt nearly as powerful as it could be. Among registered voters, Hispanics are much less likely to turn out for elections than whites or African-Americans. Whats more, there are millions of Hispanic legal residents who are eligible for citizenship but have neglected to apply for naturalization. Several of the nations leading Latino community groups have made increasing political engagement among these Americans a top priority for years. But its possible that none have done more for the cause of Hispanic-American enfranchisement than Donald J. Trump.

The New York Times reports that naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in 2015, jumping 14 percent in the final six months of the year, after Trump announced his candidacy. Although naturalization rates tend to get a pre-election-year boost, 2015 far outstripped 2011. And the Donald appears to be driving the surge.

I want to vote so Donald Trump wont win, Hortensia Villegas, a legal immigrant from Mexico, told the paper. He doesnt like us.

At a recent GOP debate, Trump said Hispanic Americans are incredible people. But the moguls plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, along with his infamous suggestion that Mexicans are disproportionately rapists, has left Latinos seeing him as  less than incredible. Last month, a Washington Post poll of the Hispanic electorate found 80 percent of such voters had an unfavorable view of Trump. As more legal residents like Hortensia Villegas enter that electorate, those numbers could get even worse for the Republican front-runner.
Theres an ideological chasm between Trump and conservatives. Illustration: Murphy Lippincott, Photo: Mark Peterson

People get worked up during presidential campaigns. But the rise of Donald Trump has provoked conservative intellectuals to express their dismay in existential tones. Conservative writers have used terms like unmitigated, unalloyed, potentially unsalvageable disaster to describe a Trump nomination and have declared that they are fighting for our movements existence. Marco Rubio has made this kind of talk the lingua franca of his once relentlessly chummy campaign, warning that the Republican Party would split apart were Trump to prevail. Trumps opponents have planned for the kinds of dire, schismatic responses not seen in generations of American presidential politics: using the partys summer convention, normally a scripted infomercial, to wrest the nomination from him. Or even bolting the GOP to start a third party.

The fear inspired by Trump is not merely that he would blow the partys chances of winning the presidency (though he probably would), or even that he would saddle it with long-term damage among the growing Latino bloc (though he would do that as well). It is that Trump would release the conservative movements policy hammerlock on the Republican Party.

The ideological stakes in a fight between conservatives and Trump can be difficult for outsiders to fathom. After all, Trump endorsed Mitt Romney, loathes President Obama, favors a gigantic tax cut, denies global warming, issues ritual praise for Ronald Reagan, and so on. But one place to start  a mystery that reveals a clue  is a recent report in the Times describing frantic efforts to organize an intraparty opposition to Trump. At one meeting, advisers to the Koch brothers, who control a political organization much larger than the actual Republican Party, characterized Mr. Trumps record as utterly unacceptable, and highlighted his support for government-funded business subsidies and government-backed health care.

That may seem odd  Trumps position on health care is almost indistinguishable from that of the rest of the field. He calls Obamacare a disaster and promises to repeal it and replace it with a sketchily defined alternative that will take care of everybody without any trade-offs. But the basis for the suspicion lies in Trumps long-ago-renounced support for single-payer health insurance and his more recent promises not to allow people to die in the streets, a line that provoked horror in Rubio and Ted Cruz at a February debate. Before Obamacare, those too poor or sick to afford insurance routinely died from illness or suffered horribly. By invoking their suffering, Trump implied that Obamacare did something good.

More important, his history of liberalism and his aversion to letting the uninsured die in the streets imply that Trump lies outside the anti-government consensus that has ruled the party for decades. Among major conservative parties in the democratic world, the U.S. Republican Party is unique in its ideological anti-statism. Conservative parties elsewhere accept universal health insurance, the idea that government might play a role in weaning an economy off fossil fuels, and the general budgetary principle that tax revenue needs to bear some long-term relation to expenditures. Trump does not challenge anti-government orthodoxy frontally. Instead, he evades it. He denounces government for being not too big but too dumb, and his solution frequently involves not shrinking it but putting a smart person in charge (himself). Trumps cult of personality implies the heretical possibility that government could be made to work.

The Republican Party has, for decades, been organized around a stable hierarchy of priorities, the highest of which is to reduce taxes for the wealthiest Americans, i.e., job creators, and loosen regulation of business. As long as their party is anchored by its economic consensus, conservatives tolerate wide disagreement on social issues. Some Republicans want to expand the partys coalition by taking more liberal stances on issues like gay marriage, immigration, and racism in the criminal-justice system. Other Republicans still rail against gays and immigrants. Representative Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, has ties to the white-supremacist movement and once described himself as David Duke without the baggage. Nothing Trump has said about immigrants, the Ku Klux Klan, or anything else violates the GOPs baseline standards. The problem is that he implicitly proposes to invert the partys hierarchy, prioritizing its right-wing social resentments while tolerating ambiguity on economics. And his popularity suggests that maybe average Republicans arent maniacally obsessed with shrinking government after all.

By making race and nationalism the text rather than the subtext of Republican politics, Trump threatens not only the partys agenda but the self-conception of its intellectual class. The conservative movement seized control of the Republican Party momentarily in 1964 during Barry Goldwaters candidacy, and completely in the decades to come. It succeeded in large part because many whites, especially in the working class, identified the GOP as the party that would protect their security and tax dollars from black people. Conservatives prefer to deny this history. Liberals may have been fond of claiming that Republicans were all closet bigots and that tax cuts were a form of racial prejudice, but the accusation rang hollow because the evidence for it was so tendentious, wrote The Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens recently, citing as counterevidence William F. Buckleys break with a small sect of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists to help found the modern conservative movement. Not anymore. Now, he said, Trump had besmirched the movements long record of racial innocence. In a similar spirit, the Republican consultant Rick Wilson, who has spearheaded the partys anti-Trump backlash, recently lamented Trumps refusal to immediately disavow the Klan: A generation of work with African-Americans, slow, patient work  weve pissed that away because of Donald Trump in one day. In reality, Buckley spent the civil-rights movement mocking Martin Luther King Jr. and defending white supremacy and spent the 80s defending apartheid in South Africa. The Republican Partys work with African-Americans is mostly focused on making it harder for them to vote, and Republican presidential candidates share of the black vote has declined from the mid-teens in the 70s to the midsingle digits in the last couple of elections.

Trump has also exposed another, equally deep insecurity among right-wing intellectuals: the fear that their movement appeals to rubes. The conservative movements tightening grip over the Republican Party has coincided with its elevation of leaders incapable of explaining their policies cogently. Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Sarah Palin all drew the disdain of liberal elites for their reliance on simplistic aphorisms and poor grasp of detail, humiliating conservative intellectuals, who defended the keen minds of their heroes. Whether or not Donald Trump the human being is intelligent, theres no question that Donald Trump, presidential candidate, is not. His entire campaign operates well below the level of rational thought  its all boasting, absurd promises, repetitive sloganeering, and abuse. Just as email scammers intentionally salt their messages with typos in order to weed out anyone educated enough to see through their swindle, allowing them to focus on the most gullible, Trump seems to consciously repel anyone possessed of a brain. When he says he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support, or that he appeals to the poorly educated, he is broadcasting his contempt for his supporters.

The secret fear lying beneath Rubios accurate depiction of Trump as a con artist is that Republican voters are easy marks. The Republican Party is constructed as a machine: Into one end are fed the atavistic fears of the white working class as grist, and out the other end pops The Wall Street Journal editorial-page agenda as the finished product. Trump has shown movement conservatives how terrifyingly rickety that machine is and how easily it can be seized from them by a demagogue and repurposed toward some other goal.

*This article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Three years ago, Demna Gvasalia realized he was starting to hate his job. He was a designer at Louis Vuitton, barely in his 30s, feeding the beast of perhaps the most profitable luxury brand in the world. Not that Gvasalia, who grew up along the Black Sea in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, didnt count himself lucky. He got to work with Marc Jacobs and then his successor, Nicolas Ghesquiere, both creative without bounds. And Gvasalia loved having access to amazingly skilled artisans. Thats why he got into fashion in the first place  he was fascinated by how clothes were constructed. But he found himself questioning the whole structure of the business: The big-concept shows intended to reap publicity and sell handbags. The clothes themselves he didnt personally care for or think that women would like either.

I started to ask myself, Why? And who is going to buy this? Gvasalia, now 34, says. I mean, the biggest compliment for a designer is to see someone wear your clothes. And thats something I rarely saw.

Several of his friends in the business shared his frustrations. We were all so negative, and thats when we said, Why dont we do something for ourselves, on the weekends, to be happy? he explains. The result was Vetements, a small Parisian label whose name means, simply, clothing in French.

The brand quickly attracted admirers for its sly take on everyday items like sweatshirts, jeans, bomber jackets, and blousy floral dresses that looked pinched from a small-town Salvation Army and reworked with just the right amount of design and humor.

A popular hooded sweatshirt from his spring collection that mimics the classic heather-gray Champion of the 1990s is equipped with pockets on both the front and the back. The neckline is engineered so that the hood flips to both sides, resulting in a sweatshirt that has no front or back. Its a complicated approach to such a basic garment, and the $700 price tag reflects that. But it sums up his approach to design: Take something as common as a sweatshirt and turn it into something desirable without losing its integrity as a practical garment. In the year since Vetements first runway show, in a Paris club  observed by Kanye West, among others  the number of stores selling the label has jumped to 130 from 85.

Demna Gvasalia  pronounced DEEM-nah vas-AH-liyah  didnt stay indie for long. After just three collections of Vetements, he was hired last fall as the artistic director of Balenciaga, one of the most celebrated names in fashion, synonymous with rigorous technique and architectural shapes. His appointment was something of a surprise to the industry, yet it made a lot of sense. After all, his path to Balenciaga began when he started asking the question Cristobal Balenciaga had wrestled with his entire life: What do women want to wear?

Gvasalias was easily the most anticipated show of the Paris collections, in part because of the buzz around Vetements and in part because Balenciaga had set the bar for creative fashion for most of the 15 years that Ghesquiere was its creative director (he left in 2012). Ironically, Ghesquiere left Balenciaga for many of the same reasons Gvasalia started Vetements  including a feeling that the strongest work from the catwalk would never see the light of day in stores. Under his successor, Alexander Wang, the company  with estimated annual revenues of $390 million  continued to grow, according to president and CEO Isabelle Guichot, but it put less focus on ready-to-wear. Last fall, Wang rather quietly stepped down and returned to New York to focus on growing his own brand.



With this season's show, Gvasalia seems ready to return the house to its former position as a fashion front-runner while also getting his clothes off the catwalks and onto real humans  in this case a mix of models and civilians. Held in a large, white windowless television-recording studio, with music done by a French DJ named Clara Deshayes (who was also the model who closed the show), the whole event had an inviting, pulsating, wraparound feel. At times the collection slipped too far into Vetements territory, but Gvasalia managed to dial the luxury up at the end with leather and nutria trench coats. When I noticed that the model who closed the Vetements show last week, a New York artist named Eliza Douglas, also opened the Balenciaga show, Gvasalia explained that he wanted "to transform the grungy, Jehovah's Witnesstype characters at Vetements into the powerful women at Balenciaga." Douglas was that link.

As Guichot told me, Balenciaga has always been a directional brand with ready-to-wear, and this is where we belong. Its as simple as that  I think Demna really embraces that philosophy. Thats the way he thinks and creates.

Guichot first met Gvasalia around the time that he and his friends were starting Vetements. It was a casual encounter, but it left a strong impression, she said. Its very rare that I have this kind of moment where I think, I hope I can work with this guy. He was so different in his approach. Indeed, Guichot sees similarities between Gvasalia and Cristobal Balenciaga  a comparison that might be regarded as delusional, given that Balenciagas approach was so inimitable, and his clothes were so irresistible to women, that Christian Dior called him the master of us all.

Guichot might have a point. Gvasalia is unusually committed to the notion of wardrobe, an unromantic list of categories  trench coat, peacoat, car coat, and so on. Its a very singular approach, Gvasalia told me in New York. A parka is a parka. What do we do with that parka for it to be Balenciaga in 2016? To my surprise and delight, quite a lot. When I saw a finished parka up close in the Paris studio, I was struck by the vaguely tentlike shape, much like the kinds of jackets that Balenciaga did around 1950. Its chin-scraping collar was another Cristobal touch  a flattering effect on most women. And the coat, in royal blue, could be worn half off the shoulders, mimicking a grand stole. If you zip it closed, the back stands away from the body. And because theres nylon in the cotton fabric, you can crush and mold the parka as you like. The design is very clever, even elegant in its attitude. Across the back of the collar, in block letters, is stitched Balenciaga  like a skateboard brand.

My intention is not to make clothes that are completely new, or to be in a museum  as long as something is practical and somebody needs it in her wardrobe, then it makes sense to me, Gvasalia said. Cristobal would have hardly disagreed. But in 2016, that notion seems so basic as to be radical. Gvasalia is giving a solution to an industry racked by doubts that its broken  spewing out products designed to look great on Instagram but that feel like old news by the time they hit the stores six months later.

Gvasalia is serious but not grave, and he speaks rather hurriedly (in five languages), his words broken by a dry laugh. Hes tall, pale, and gangly, with a scruff of beard. The elder son of a Georgian father and a Russian mother, he and his family spent five or six years on the move during his countrys civil war. His family hid in cellars from bombs and rockets. Gvasalia says that, in a perverse way, those moments were fun because the family was all together, talking and playing games. As a teenager in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Gvasalia remembers, he spent a lot of time in the streets, trying to avoid getting beaten up by various gangs while absorbing a sudden influx of the subcultural influences that made it to Georgia, like goth and raves.

By 15, he knew he wanted to be in fashion, though not because he viewed it as an artistic outlet. He had little access in Georgia to fashion magazines or books. He just liked how regular clothes were cut and sewn. Tellingly, the first designer he discovered on his own was Helmut Lang, who favored classic tailoring with an idiosyncratic fit. (He was also one of the first designers to put nonprofessional models in his shows, which Gvasalia does as well.)

When he was 20, he joined his parents in Dusseldorf, where his father worked importing mineral water and caviar. Gvasalia enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the school that produced the first wave of Belgian designers in the 80s. He had little understanding of high fashion, but he went to work for the Belgian conceptual brand Maison Margiela, where he spent three and a half years before joining Vuitton. Indeed, Gvasalia acknowledges that the Margiela influence  the wit and surprise of conventional shapes blown up huge or re-created in a novel way  is stamped on Vetements.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF BALENCIAGA. HAIR BY GARY GILL FOR WELLA PROFESSIONALS USING SYSTEM PROFESSIONAL. MAKEUP BY INGE GROGNARD AT JED ROOT USING M.A.C COSMETIC S. MODELS: CELINE CORBINEAU, ELIZA DOUGLAS, GWENOLA AT FORD PARIS, LIENE PODINA AT FUSION MODELS NYC, AND MARLAND BACKUS AT NEW YORK MODEL MANAGEMENT.

Today, Gvasalia lives in Pariss Ninth Arrondissement, on the Right Bank, a popular, diverse neighborhood filled with barbershops, cafes, and cheap clothing stores, like the thrift chain Guerrisol, where most items sell for 2. He likes to go there. For me, observing people in the street is very important, he says. In Paris, you have a lot of characters. And those people who might inspire me, I dont see many of them on the Left Bank, where Balenciagas offices are located. It seems obvious, but, as Gvasalia notes, fashion people are not the best sources of inspiration, because theyre already dressed in fashion. Media exposure tends to rob even the most interesting runway garments of their singularity. So Gvasalia likes to see people who are inventive out of necessity and, more crucially, lack fashion self-consciousness.

He often goes to the Guerrisol near the Barbes Metro stop: I see the people trying things. They make looks. I find this really fascinating. After seven years in Paris, and nearly 15 in Western Europe, he is hardly an outsider, but that thinking nonetheless subtly informs his approach to fashion.

At the Balenciaga studio in Paris, Gvasalia says he would use the same design method here as he does at Vetements, because Im the same person, but the products would be completely different. Vetements has no historical frame. But at Balenciaga, I need to consider the past, take out certain elements, and then apply my methods to it.

About 60 percent of his collection is outerwear. Gvasalia likes urban-friendly styles (Vetements is loaded with them) and he noted the number of tailored garments in the Balenciaga archive. Perhaps the signature piece in the collection is a brown leather trench coat with a built-in slouch  the shape was inspired by photos of children aping couture poses  that embodies Gvasalias quirky way of mashing up high and low. You could see how the shoulder, in profile, was nudged slightly forward and the sleeve was cut on a bit of a curve. When a model put on the trench, the shape didnt impel her into a slouch, although if she naturally stood that way, it became more extreme.

A man who loved perfection, Cristobal Balenciaga surely would not have understood the point of giving women bad posture. But then, probably, the whole notion of postmodernism, with its mix of past and present, high and low, ugly and pretty, probably would have escaped him. Gvasalia had the model put on a black wool coat based on a 1952 design, with two pouches of fabric raised near the hips. Its very Balenciaga, he says of the shape, although the idea was to find a modern-day version, so that it does not look like its from the archive but speaks to a woman in 2016.

Gvasalia is using Balenciagas tailoring, architectural shapes, and ideas about volume and gravity, but his designers are more accessible to a wider range of body types and ages than Ghesquieres were. That is certainly a reflection of more democratic times, but its more of a reflection of his commitment to seeing his clothes worn. Most women are not a size 0, and they like to move freely.

Before I left his studio, Gvasalia showed me one or two more things. But my mind still lingers on that cropped royal-blue parka, with its ability to strike both a street attitude and a refined pose. It seems a shame, I told him, not to make that parka every season, make it a classic, permanently available in the stores.

Later, backstage at his show and amidst the excited crush, a throng of editors and buyers surrounded Gvasalia as he patiently explained the collection. I said to him, "So, how does it feel now, with all these people here?" He's a star now.

He looked startled, then smiled and said, "But it feels good. I had in my head what I wanted, but yesterday evening when [we worked] on the lineup, I thought, This is exactly it."

*A version of this article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Hillary Clinton greets supporters during her primary night gathering on February 27 at the University of South Carolina. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton is moving ever closer to becoming something this country has never had before: a woman nominated by a major political party to be the president of the United States. The possibility that she will go head-to-head against Donald Trump puts the historic nature of her campaign in even starker relief. Had Republicans nominated someone like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, the regressive gender politics of their party might have stayed hidden under a veneer of rhetorical admiration for womens equality. But Trump appears constitutionally incapable of that. This is a guy who has called Megyn Kelly dopey and talked about her bleeding out of her wherever; took obvious pleasure in calling Ted Cruz a pussy; once responded to criticism leveled at him by a New York Times columnist by circling a photo of her, noting, The Face of a Dog!; and discussed the size of his junk during a Republican debate. He has also signaled his willingness to go after Clinton about her husbands past infidelities and has already retweeted one of his followers saying of her, last year, If Hillary Clinton cant satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?

In other words, Hillary Rodham Clinton may be running her historic race to be Americas first woman president against the living embodiment of this countrys sexist id: an orange-tinted phallus in a FUCK HILLARY, GOD KNOWS SHE NEEDS IT T-shirt.

How these bizarre circumstances will play out on debate stages and then at the polls is surely one of the most perilous chasms of uncertainty ever to yawn open before us. Because, despite its seemingly patent absurdity, there is plenty to suggest that a Trump candidacy could spell trouble for Hillary. His brash, dickish approach badly destabilized his seasoned GOP opponents, and it could be similarly damaging to Clinton, whose debate strengths rest on her knowledge, competence, and  this season anyway  her cheerful calm in the face of a loud opponent. But theres Bernie Sanders loud and then theres Donald Trump loud. And while the second might seem less presidential, its scored him rapturous fans and high ratings and robust victories all over the country. The know-it-all woman does not usually win the debate on Jerry Springer, and its this chair-throwing free-for-all spirit that Trump has successfully cultivated.

Trumps enthusiasm for exploiting Clintons weaknesses will surely gratify her critics on the right  and perhaps even parts of the left. As others have predicted, he is likely to hit her hard on her support for NAFTA in manufacturing states like Ohio. And he will no doubt take every bit of oppo on her and deploy it without euphemism or apology. The most insidious move will be going after Bill Clinton for his sexual misbehavior, and after Hillary herself for whatever role she played in covering it up. Its a strategy that, if he executes it carefully, could work against her in two ways  reinforcing the gender-based devaluation of her that resonates so gratifyingly with his natural base, while tempering the feminist defense by casting her as an enemy of women.

That said, running against Donald Trump, a man who last month suggested he needed to do more research on the Ku Klux Klan before condemning its endorsement of him, might be just the thing to drive actual enthusiasm for Clinton  not just as the lesser of two evils but as a vanquisher of the clearly more horrifying one. Never does Clinton look better than when doing battle with monsters. Its easy to forget that after two presidential-primary cycles in which her opponents were idealistic men whom she couldnt hit too hard without alienating her base. But how might we react to an unmuzzled Hillary? Maybe in the same way people cheered her when she went up against Trey Gowdy and his Benghazi witch hunt, killing them with competence and tenacity and stamina, so that even her sharpest critics on the left had to give her credit and her poll numbers went up.

It has gone well for her, too, when her opponents have overplayed their aggressive masculinity. Many still credit her first Senate win in New York to the moment in a televised debate in which her opponent, Rick Lazio, approached her podium and demanded that she sign a piece of paper. Lazio looked like a bully and it worked in Clintons favor. That Trumps misogyny is so unhidden  its like a thousand Rick Lazios storming the podium at once  could make it easier to mount a feminist campaign for Hillary. It shouldnt be hard to cast contemporary Republicans as anti-woman when an actual woman is running against a candidate who has said in the past that it doesnt really matter what they [the press] write as long as youve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.

Clintons South Carolina speech, which emphasized racial unity and a message of peace, love, and understanding, forecasts how she plans to frame her campaign in opposition to the bombastic demagogue who trades on anger and prejudice. But it also points up just how much they are running in two separate elections, to be president of two different countries. Trump is running in the country that is in the midst of a dramatic and terrifying backlash to the social movements of the past 50 years; Clinton herself represents the very victories of some of those movements and is seeking to modestly stabilize their gains. In the end, this may be an epic, gory battle between those who are threatened by the changing face of power in America and those who are doing the changing.

Its hard to imagine there are many voters who are really undecided between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The Clinton supporters want a president to be competent, capable, to understand how to work the levers of political power. The Trump supporters want a president to give jeering voice to their fury, a character through whom they might vent their frustration. Trump will never convince the competence-seekers that he is more qualified, and Hillary will never reach the Trump enthusiasts; she is what they despise. So the contest will really come down to who can persuade more of their deeply divided constituencies to come to the polls. And this is the dynamic that should give Democrats chills; because the carnival barkers job is knowing how to draw a crowd.

*This article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
If the beauty trend the past two seasons was no-makeup makeup, fall 2016s big trend can be described as no-hairstyle hair. Another way to describe it might be real-girl hair  like rich-girl hair, only with static and other imperfections. Are you taking out the frizz? I asked hairstylist Paul Hanlon, backstage at Rag & Bone. No, no, were keeping that in, he explained.

At Vetements, the hair looked plain and a bit grungy, described as matted down and slightly staticky. Colorist Andreas Kurkowitz even gave what he described as flat, matte hair color to five of the models a few days before the show, dyeing their hair to look dingy, like it had been left to lapse between salon appointments.

Londone and her natural hair at Galliano. Photo: Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/Getty Images

At Celine, one of the first shows to champion individual beauty in fall 2015, Guido Palau told the Cut in an exclusive interview that the main theme was simplicity: Phoebe talked about how she likes the girls when they walk in for meetings. Its always ease. Its never a forced kind of feeling, he said.

The mix of side parts, ponytails, easy buns, straight hair, and natural hair at Celine reflected the variety of hairstyles a normal girl might attempt in the course of a day, without the assistance of a hairstylist or a salon (though perhaps with the aid of Redken Beach Envy Wave Aid, which Palau used backstage). This is the ironic truth of modern-day hair: No matter how many hairstyle tutorials you watch on YouTube, your default options are probably still just down or up. If the Pareto principle were applied to hair, itd be that you attempt the basic hairstyles you know 80 percent of the time, and attempt something beyond your hair comfort zone 20 percent of the time.

Off the runway, this hair trend might not mean much. Like no-makeup makeup, its not really new: Most people, even celebrities like Kim Kardashian, want their hair to look like nothing has been done to it. (Arent we lucky, by the way, that the time-consuming finger waves that we saw in New York havent caught on this season?)

The fallacy of no-hairstyle hair, much like no-makeup makeup, is that models arent skipping the hair chair (although they might spend less time in it). All of the explanations for how to get the look backstage still mention at least three steps and multiple products. There hasnt been a hair equivalent of Marc Jacobss no-makeup show (yet), and hairstylists still tend to fuss even over models with very little hair like Ruth Bell, adding things like shine serum. But heres to more useful hair tips this season, and at the very least, the celebration of more natural styles and natural hair on the runway.
taylor looks amazing again fuuuck

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so true

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I want to take a plunge in his polar areas

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I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this

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Well, it's for charity.

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there has to be a better way to raise money

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I'd rather just donate the money directly, I ain't gotta freeze half to death for this shit.

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its for the special olympics.



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People have been doing this forever tho

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it's not actually that bad tbh

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We understand you're not charitable

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the idea is that being submerged in ice cold water is sort of what like the symptoms for ALS... similar to the ice bucket challenge, but not viral, iirc

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I'd do it, why not, especially if it was for charity.

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its really not that bad bb, quite refreshing

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ikr? just got out of bed to 32f and I want to die

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It's fun

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I've done one of these before and tbh it's not that bad. The initial shock of the water sucks and when you get out of the water it sucks, but actually being in the water kind of feels nice.

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it's really dumb tbh

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Me too!

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Funny because he was cast as Tim but had to drop out because of another contract.

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He's her Guy Richie. After the baby comes he's gonna rob her blind lmao.

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did u mean her kfed sweetie? and nah tbh.

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Kfed works too. And yah. After he spearminates her, he'll bounce with the alimony + child support.

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my husband did it years ago. i would rather just donate the money than jump into freezing water lol but good for them for helping with a good cause.

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not even being shallow here but... what do you guys think he sees in her?

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guaranteed set for life if he marries her $$$$

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she's not hideous, and just because he's kind of cute (or was) doesn't mean he's got high standards.



Edited at 2016-03-07 01:04 am (UTC)

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they are both kind of normal/ugly imo. he has small eyes and she's dopey looking af.

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I always remember what she said about him on Ellen. Like people look at her and they see this weird girl, but he's just as weird as she is but he doesn't show his weirdness on the outside so nobody knows.

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lol wat it's not like she's in a coma or something. What about her (or him?) makes you think he wouldn't go for her?

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not even being shallow here



Now sis

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You're not shallow, you're just jealous.



She's not conventionally pretty, but I think she's cute. Plus, if fucked-up faced guys can date supermodels, why not her?



Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, tbh!

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"Not even being shallow here" Proceeds to ignore the shit ton of accomplishments she's had at 29, her talent, work ethic, creativity, etc. etc.

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gaga is well known as a really kind, family-oriented person... it's not hard to see. lmao the celebrity impression ontd pushes onto gaga has very little in common with what people say about how she is irl.

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a triple treat - talented, beautiful and a super star

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I honestly think they're pretty evenly matched in looks.

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maybe they just like each other

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lmaoooo

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You didn't have to start out with a lie...omg...

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lol I was seriously expecting you to say what does she see in him

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Do you think he's more attractive than her? Honestly?

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... She's talented and beautiful?? What does she see in him other than him being "hot"?

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I was in Wicklow today and people were jumping in the lake. I could not

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I really like them together. Get married and have babies already. Release new album first though.

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Lol exactly. Priorities

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im surprised they didn't get married already! Idk why i thought she would marry him in a split second!

guess not.



i would donate the money to charity, wouldn't get myself in cold water, not a chance.

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How 'bout I'll pay twice as much to watch other people do it instead of me.

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This seems fun. I'll do it. Does it come with insurance in case I catch a cold?

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Are people really acting like Polar bear swims is something new?

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who is assuming that tho?

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I guess I took the comments wrong but it seemed like people were shocked that someone would do this like it was some brand new thing.

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i gave up on shameless after the crap that was season 5, but i'm excited to see noel in something new (and not green)!

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and lol about that nbc line. i have no hopes that this will ever see the light of day being on nbc or it'll be first cancelled for the season if it makes it further than the pilot.

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yeah, i didn't mind dermot mulroney in 2 or 3 episodes, but he kept showing up... and with Sheila gone? idk. and I heard debbie is/was pregnant?



Edited at 2016-03-07 03:29 am (UTC)

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omg that picture is hilarious.

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DELETE THIS

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i have watched a lot of bad movies/tv for my favorite actors/actresses, but i draw a line at watching this.

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adblock

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You gotta pay the bills, ya know?

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But talented!

Kinda like Adam Driver but with a justifiable skill-set.



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oh for sure, but talented as fuck

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that cockroach frank is going to live forever but the best character on the show is gone for good



fuck this show

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This. I fucking haaaaaaaaaate Frank. I feel like WHM deserves better because he IS a good actor.. Frank just sucks.

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I actually think WHM is great as Frank simply because he's managed to create a character that's so loathsome.

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He'll survive a nuclear attack sis, you know it. I just wish someone would stomp Frank out already.



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Maybe Frank getting involved in this drug/gun business will be what finally kills him.



A girl can dream.

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At least they did a good job at developing Mickey as a character.



Is Noel naturally blond? Because he looks better as brunette.

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At least they did a good job at developing Mickey as a character.



can I get some examples on how his character developed?

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He came out... Lol idk what else

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Well he went from absolutely despising the fact that he was gay to coming out and being proud of it. So, there's that at least.

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mte though i wish we could see how (if?) he would've ever gotten outta thug mode and made an honest living LOL

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your first line is so true, lol. I didn't make it past the 1st episode of this season.

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bye, hopefully ian's new love interest is hot af

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+1 lol

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He is, damn.

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same. They ruined Ian's character for Mickeys. I am glad he is gone.

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I'm so sad to lose Mickey, but Ian is moving in SUCH A GOOD DIRECTION. I am as proud as a mama on motherfucking Instagram.

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thank god for this silver lining though!

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lmao @ your optimism



no one on this show is allowed to be happy for long



not even the viewers

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If they fuck up Ian's life, Shameless and I will be done professionally.

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hmm, if this keeps up to the end of the season i might try watching it again (with many skippings ofc, tho i still want to know what fiona has got up to...)

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LMFAO THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO LOUD

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Did his character die or so? Haven't watched since s2

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smh boy, was shameless really paying him like pennies or something? this will definitely be cancelled an episode in.

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i've hated dermot since my best friend's wedding and he has been haunting me since - he ruins everything i love

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That's another one I hate

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I had to go through three links to find out which pilot this is:



"Mirandas Rights" is one-hour legal soap about an idealistic group of lawyers who not only work together but live together at their start-up firm.

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wait lol i didn't even bother going to the source - i thought it would be some sort of sitcom... this sounds even worse!

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i feel like they're trying for a 'how to get away with murder' group dynamic. only 100% more boring (because nbc) and probably with less death.

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let me guess, it's about a plucky young lawyer named miranda who fights for truth, justice and the american way.



"The drama is described as a legal soap that centers on 28-year-old Miranda Coale, who six years after a sex scandal upended her life, gets a shot at redemption when shes hired by a group of millennials living and lawyering together in a start-up law firm."



called it.



if the cancellation bear doesn't kill this mess, i hope a real bear does.

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this could be kinda cool tho if they're going for a monica lewinsky angle

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Omg greys anatomy ok

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I....I am very disappointed.

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'noah fence op, but you are doing the most with this post. ONTD is lazy, we are not here for riddles or rhymes, just give me the receipts. what is the show called, what is the synopsis and who else is in it? thats all i want from this shitty ass website'



For real. Keep that shit for your Xanga.

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the fuck is a xanga?

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@KeshaRose very very sorry to hear about the whole situation. I'll be happy to produce a song for you if you want my help.  Zedd (@Zedd) February 22, 2016

Kesha talks about her history with the LGBT community, and the importance of loving every part of yourself just as you are.Kesha posted this selfie on her instagram captioned with "Thank you @humanrightscampaign for having me tonight and for my visibility award. Tonight was incredibly special to be awarded for something I care so deeply about. I will fight for equal human rights till the day I die. Love always wins!"Finally could there be a collab with Zedd on the future? Zedd previously tweeted this in support of KeshaAnd he revealed to ET that her team has gotten back to him, saying "Her team actually hit us back confirming that I was serious about it, which is really cool. I'm obviously very serious about it, so maybe something will happen. Maybe there's something I can do. Maybe we can do some music. Nothing I can say right now, but it would be cool."S1: http://www.etonline.com/news/183777_exclusive_zedd_is_very_serious_about_working_with_kesha_after_offering_public_support/ S2: https://twitter.com/Zedd S3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nhP4Vr2sBo S4: https://www.instagram.com/iiswhoiis/?hl=en Fave Kesha song y'all?
Eighty-three years after the board game Monopoly was invented, and oil prices are not represented by the iron (they are not flat), nor by the hat (there appears no lid). Instead they are represented by the car, as the market is trying to accelerate higher once more. Hark, here are eight things to consider on this first Monday in March:

1) After the first-week-of-the-month data deluge, we get the usual dearth of economic data this week. Fortunately for us commodity-focused folks, we get key monthly reports from the EIA and IEA to keep us entertained.

Today we get the monthly EIA drilling productivity report, which should show production in the Permian basin holding up, while Eagle Ford and Bakken continue their decline. Tomorrow sees the EIA Short Term Energy Outlook, with insights into future U.S. production. We then have to wait until Friday before the IEAs monthly oil market report, in which we will likely hear about the ongoing imbalance in the global market (regardless of what price action is doing). OPECs monthly report is not on deck until next Monday. Related: Ultra-Bearish Headlines As A Contrarian Signal For Oil

2) Oil prices are starting the week on the front foot, as the latest CFTC data highlights the ongoing theme of an unwinding of record short positions in the market. Short positions dropped in Fridays data by 15 percent, or 25,639 contracts. Hark, this is the biggest drop in ten months. As the chart below illustrates, short positions are now at their lowest level since last November at 150,718 contracts. Nonetheless, although net longs increased because of the reduction in shorts, long positions actually edged lower; speculators are not necessarily turning crazy bullish on WTIthey are just turning less bearish.

(Click to enlarge)

3) Financial positioning in Brent continues to be much more constructive, with ICE data showing the net long position for Brent has increased to a new record:

(Click to enlarge)

4) Azerbaijan has been the latest oil producer to join the chorus of those willing to freeze their oil production to support prices. And much like the rest of the chorus, it is a token gesture given Azerbaijans oil production is in decline. It produced 830,000 barrels per day in January, down 4 percent on year-ago levels, while production this year is forecast to drop even further. Related: 3 Metrics on Picking Stocks in a Low-Growth Environment

5) It is amazing to consider that U.S. natural gas prices are reaching new 17-year lows at the same time that U.S. LNG exports are just getting going. The map below from the EIA illustrates the various stages of the projects that are underway in the U.S. In addition to Sabine Pass, which is the first terminal to start exporting LNG, there are a number of other terminals which are under construction: Cove Point, Maryland (0.82 Bcf/d), Corpus Christi, Texas (2.14 Bcf/d), Cameron, Louisiana (1.7 Bcf/d) and Freeport, Texas (1.8 Bcf/d).

Combine this with Sabine Pass permitted capacity of 4.16 Bcf/d, and LNG export capacity by 2020 will be 10.62 Bcf/d. That said, capacity is very different to actual volume. It is likely that much less, perhaps 7  8 Bcf/d, will be leaving U.S. shores at this point.

(Click to enlarge)

6) According to its latest Five Year Plan announced over the weekend, China is delaying the completion of its strategic petroleum reserve beyond its original 2020 deadline. The leading emerging market has a target of accumulating ~500 million barrels by the end of the decade, enough to cover 90 days of net imports (in line with the IEAs stipulation for its members). The process is in three phases, with phase one of 91 million barrels of storage already complete. Phase two is underway, with a capacity target of 168 million barrels.

7) While China may be the worlds largest importer of crude, India is vying for the crown of leading oil demand growth. While Indias economy looks in better shape than Chinas, and as its car market is increasing at a rapid clip (set to be the third largest by the end of the decade), its trajectory of rising oil demand growth looks set to hold firm. Related: Horizontal Land Rig Count Summary 4th March 2016

Yet while China is the fourth largest producer in the world at ~4.3 million bpd, Indias situation is very different. It produces less than 800,000 bpd, while its need for imports continues to rise. As we highlighted last week, we can see in our ClipperData that Indian crude oil imports increased by over 20 percent in February versus the year prior, spurred on by domestic fuel demand, and the chart below illustrates that this trend is only set to continue over the coming years and decades:

(Click to enlarge)

8) Finally, should we ask ourselves the existential question of why are we here? (from an oil perspective, of course), the chart below provides a nifty representation of why. While Libyan and Iranian production have been stymied by civil war and sanctions respectively since 2010, we have seen oil production increasing from a number of sourceswith the U.S. leading the charge by a country mile:

(Click to enlarge)

By Matt Smith

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Royal Dutch Shell is planning to sell assets worth a staggering $30 billion in a bid to prop up its balance sheet, after completing the $53-billion acquisition of BG Group last month. The majority of these soon-to-be-offloaded assets are in the midstream and downstream operations of the company.

The plans were first mentioned by Shells chief executive during a conference call at the beginning of February. Two anonymous Bloomberg sources familiar with the divestment program stated that this divestment may include pipelines in the U.S., a stake in a gas project in Trinidad and Tobago, and interests that Shell holds in oil and gas fields in India. Related:Its Time For Canadian Oil To Re-Shuffle, Re-shape And Rebound

Like its peers, Shell has been busy weathering the effects of the oil price slump over the last year and a half. It has sold assets, cut costs, shelved major projects and upgraded operating efficiencies. Shells actions seem to have paid off despite a credit rating downgrade from Fitch that followed the completion of the BG Group deal.

The downgrade was prompted by the fact that the acquisition--the only major deal in the energy industry since June 2014--took a $10-billion bite from Shells cash coffers.

Between 2014 and 2015, Shell sold assets worth $20 billion, which could be cause for optimism regarding this new asset sale plan. Related: Genels Stock Takes A Hit As It Slashes Reserves In Half

On the other hand, they reverse may hold true: During 2015, energy firms still had cash from the bright past when oil sold for over $100 a barrel. This year, however, most players in the field are financially exhausted, and few have the interest and money to make substantial buys.

Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden expressed his optimism in a February 4 conference call by saying, The buyers are there, particularly in the downstream and some local gas markets, and then more non-traditional routes such as MLP, private equity, and some other oil and gas companies. van Beurden did acknowledge that this year is not the best time for sellers, and that he expects less than one-third of the $30-billion target to come this year.

Buyers may well be there, especially if whats on offer is in the midstream and downstream of the industry. Oil terminals, pipelines and refineries are the most lucrative part of the oil and gas business at the moment. In fact, for Shell and its peers, the downstream is to a great extent what helped them stay in the black. Related: Anadarko Slashes 80% Of Onshore Rigs, To Lay Off 95% Of Contractors

This raises the question of whether Shell is doing the right thing. In the medium term, if these divestments should come to be realized, it will certainly strengthen the companys balance sheet.

But what about the long term?

Oil prices could be on the mend as producers all over the world are freezing or cutting output. The rebalancing of the market may be on the horizon; yet few believe oil will return to three-digit levels or even high double-digits, so the downstream will continue to be a very important earnings generator for any big energy company. Especially if there is another price rout  a possibility any long-term planner should consider.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Russia has played a master stroke in the current oil crisis by taking the lead in forming a new cartel, but its a move that could spell geopolitical disaster.

The meeting between Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela on 16 February 2016 was the first step. During the next meeting in mid-March, which is with a larger group of participants, if Russia manages to build a consensushowever smallit will further strengthen its leadership position.

Until the current oil crisis, Saudi Arabia called the crude oil price shots; however, its clout has been weakening in the aftermath of the massive price drop with the emergence of US shale. The smaller OPEC nations have been calling for a production cut to support prices, but the last OPEC meeting in December 2015 ended without any agreement. Related: Genels Stock Takes A Hit As It Slashes Reserves In Half

Now, with Russia stepping in to negotiate with OPEC nations, a new picture is emerging. With its military might, Russia can assume de facto leadership of the oil-producing nations in the name of stabilizing oil prices.

Saudi Arabia has been a long-time U.S. ally, but that, too, is changing. Charles W. Freeman Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Riyadh, recently noted that We've seen a long deterioration in the U.S.-Saudi relationship, and it started well before the Obama Administration.

U.S.-Saudi relations further soured due to the Iran nuclear deal that ended in January with the U.S. lifting sanctionsa move the Saudis vehemently opposed. The Saudis had to look for a new ally to safeguard their interests in the Gulf, considering the threats they face from the Islamic State (ISIS) and Iran. Though both Russia and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends in Syria, with Russia supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and the Saudis supporting the Sunni rebels, the large drop in prices seems to have opened a window of opportunity for Russia to ally with Saudi Arabia.

This is not the first time that Russia and Saudi Arabia have sought a close partnership. Even in 2013, The Telegraph had reported an attempt to form a secret deal, which did not go through. Iran has been a trusted ally of Russia for a long time, and if Russia can broker a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it can also push through some sort of secret OPEC deal. Related: Saudis Turn To Capital Markets For $10 Billion Loan

The production freeze to January levels that was bandied about last month carries no significance in concrete terms because Russia, Saudi Arabia and most other nations on board are pumping close to their record highs. Barclays commodity research chief Kevin Norrish said it was vital to note that there was not much incremental production expected from Russia, Qatar or Venezuela this year anyway. It was the Saudis that really mattered, as reported by Forbes.

Though Iran hasnt committed to a production freeze, since it wants to ramp up production to pre-sanction levels, Russian Energy Minister Aleksander Novak has noted that "Iran has a special situation as the country is at its lowest levels of production. So I think, it might be approached individually, with a separate solution."



With all the major Gulf nations agreeing, Iraq, which is without a credible political leadership, will also likely follow suit if Russia assures them of stronger support against ISIS.

If the above scenario plays out, Russia will emerge as the de facto leader of the major oil producing nations of the world, accounting for almost 73 percent of the global oil supply. Related: Its Time For Canadian Oil To Re-Shuffle, Re-shape And Rebound

Along with this, Russia has been in the forefront of plans to move away from Petrodollars, and Moscow has formed pacts with various nations to trade oil in local currencies. With this new cartel of ROPEC (Russia and OPEC nations), a move away from petrodollars will become a reality sooner rather than later.

Russia is smart. Vladimir Putin is genius. Moscow senses the opportunity that is almost tangibly floating about in the low crude price environment and appears to be ready to capitalize on it in a way that would reshape the geopolitical landscape exponentially.

Though a solution in Syria is welcome, a large cartel of major oil producing nations of the world with Russia as the head would be a major upset to the current balance of power. With this potential in mind, the mid-march meeting should be very interesting for the global oil patchwell beyond talk of production cuts and supply gluts.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
On February 23, Azerbaijans parliament adopted amendments to the state budget to adjust down expected budget revenues based on oil price estimates of as low as $25 per barrel (Azernews.az, February 23). Initially, the State Budget for 2016 projected oil at $5055/barrel (Trend, September 14, 2015). On January 10, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers that the achievements of previous years were not being matched due to a three-to-four-fold drop in oil prices, which led to the devaluation of the manat and the currencys instability (President.az, January 10).

According to Elshad Nasirov, the vice president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), the cost of oil production in Azerbaijan is, on average, $20/barrel from its offshore fields (Apa.az, January 25), which means Azerbaijan can still sustain its drilling and exports. Notably, Azerbaijan decided not to join Russia and Saudi Arabia in their agreement to freeze crude oil output levels (Azertag.az, February 16).



Related: Climate Action Could Save $250 Billion Per Year In 2030

In 2015, Azerbaijan produced 41.6 million tons of oil, against the predicted 40.7 million tons. The countrys natural gas production was 29.1 billion cubic meters (bcm)with the Shah Deniz field alone producing 9.9 bcmEnergy Minister Natig Aliyev noted in January. Minister Aliyev acknowledged that an accidental fire at Platform No. 10 in the offshore Guneshli oilfield, in December 2015, will influence production this year (Minenergy.gov.az, January 15). However, gas production is expected to increase in 2016, by virtue of ramped-up extraction at both the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) and Shah Deniz fields, he declared (Trend, January 16).

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov rejected allegations reported on in the Financial Times that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank might lend Baku up to $4 billion (Azernews.az, January 28). Sharifov said that Azerbaijan would independently raise $2 billion for financing gas pipelines through bonds and privatization of government assets, and had no urgent need for support from the IMF or the World Bank (News.az, January 28).

Furthermore, SOCAR is keen to enlarge its overseas exploration and investment activities. SOCAR is eyeing purchasing certain assets of Russian oil giant Rosneft (News.az, February 11), investing in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the power sector in Malta, as well as LNG trading in Western Africa (Burkina-Faso, Togo) (Caspian Barrel, February 11). According to BP, falling oil prices will not affect the implementation of long- and short-term projects carried out in Azerbaijan (Azertag.az, December 17, 2015).

In order to mitigate the fallout from dropping oil prices, SOCAR is pursuing multiple measures.



Related: Shell Hopes To Sell $30 Billion In Assets, But Timing Is Terrible

Compensation with natural gas: Azerbaijan might make up some of its financial loses by new gas production at Shah Deniz, following the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) (Apa.az, February 2), as well as through new gas fields, such as Bulla-Deniz, Umid, Absheron and Babek, which possess huge reserves (Natural Gas Europe, October 18, 2015), or exploration for heretofore undiscovered fields (Apa.az, October 15, 2015). In particular, Azerbaijan and Turkey are speeding up the implementation of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project (Trend, October 2, 2015); and construction of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will begin in March 2016 (Caspian Barrel, February 26).

Maximizing oil output: Azerbaijans SOCAR had planned to sign a new contract with its partners to increase its share in the ACG block of oil and gas fields (Trend, October 14, 2015). Supposedly, major volumes of gas extracted from ACG in 2016 will be injected into oil reservoirs to maintain oil production levels (Natural Gas Europe, February 24). Meanwhile, SOCAR is planning to receive gas from Russias Gazprom in order to inject this gas into oil layers to boost the oil output (Apa.az, February 10).

Burden-sharing: SOCAR Turkey Energy eyes purchasing a 7 percent stake out of SOCARs 58 percent share in the TANAP project (Apa.az, January 14), which will help to distribute SOCARs financial burden in the project. BPs purchase of 12 percent of SOCARs shares (out of 70 percent), in 2015, was a timely contribution in terms of the financial viability of the SGC (Hurriyet Daily News, March 13, 2015).

Privatization: According to Energy Minister Aliyev, subsidiary and service companies, as well as enterprises operating in the energy sector, not the producing ones, may be privatized (Azernews.az, February 1). This will be a positive step in terms of attracting additional investment and modernization. However, Azerbaijan is not planning to sell SOCAR, because this highly strategic asset plays an important role in the economy and the countrys foreign policy (Apa.az, January 22; Azertag.az, February 1).

Receiving loans: SOCAR has applied for loans from the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, Russian Gazprombank, South Koreas Eximbank and the ING Bank in Romania (Azertag.az, October 15, 2015; Trend, October 7, 2015; Trend, December 2, 2015; Abc.az, September 9, 2015; Apa.az, December 15, 2015).

Bonds: Moreover, Azerbaijans state oil company has decided to place bonds worth $2 billion on international financial markets to raise funds for all segments of the SGC. However, SOCARs stakes in the SGCs three chains [the South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP and TAP] will be financed in part (51 percent) by Azerbaijans Sovereign Wealth Fund [SWF], while the remaining half (49 percent) of funding should be raised by SOCAR itself. SWF has about $34 billion gained from oil/gas projects of Azerbaijan, thus, [it has] no need to raise additional money from SOCARs part, commented Gulmira Rzayeva, a senior research fellow at the Baku-based Center for Strategic Studies (SAM) (Caspian Barrel, February 8).



Related: 3 Metrics on Picking Stocks in a Low-Growth Environment

According to Standard & Poors estimations, SOCAR possesses sufficient funds to finance the capital expenditure program, and the Azerbaijani government will continue to provide financial support for SOCARs participation in major projects (TANAP, ACG, Shah Deniz), even if oil prices decline further. Oil production might decrease by about 1 percent in 2016, but gas production will be sustained (Caspian Barrel, February 05).

At the second meeting of the SGC Advisory Council, in Baku, on February 29, Afgan Isayev, the chief executive director of the SGC Closed Joint Stock Company, said that Azerbaijan is fully committed to funding [its] obligations as part of the SGC. We are now in talks with prominent financial institutions for financing of some sub-projects included in the SGC (Trend, February 29). At the same meeting, Neal McCain, the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Developments (EBRD) local office, said the EBRD is considering financing TAP and TANAP (Trend, February 29). Since the SGC is of strategic significance for Azerbaijan, Baku will maintain its support for this project regardless of falling oil prices (President.az, December 26, 2015).

By Ilgar Gurbanov via Jamestown

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Citizens of Oregon will no longer derive their energy from coal, putting the environmentally-conscious state at the front of the line of U.S. jurisdictions that are turning their backs on the widely-derided fossil fuel.

The Clean Energy and Coal Transition Act commits to eliminating the use of coal-fired power by 2035 and to double the amount of renewable energy by 2040. It will also require its two largest utilities to increase their share of clean energy such as solar and wind to 50 percent by 2040, the Guardian reported. Critics say the bill, which has been passed but still has to be signed into law by Governor Kate Brown, will drive up power costs.



Related: Big Oil Eyes Upcoming Auction In Iran

Coal provides about a third of Oregon's electricity, but most of it is imported from Utah, Montana and Wyoming. The state only has one operating coal-fired power plant, the 36-year-old Boardman facility supplying about 550 megawatts, but it is due to shut down by 2020.

State Republicans criticized the bill as leading to higher electricity costs for households but Pacific Power, a large Oregon utility, answered that the move to renewables would only raise costs by less than 1 percent by 2030, the newspaper said. The other major utility in the state, Portland General Electric, also backed the deal.

Noah Long of the US Natural Resources Defense Council said the law could limit emissions in other states if it reduces their coal use.



Related: 3 Metrics on Picking Stocks in a Low-Growth Environment

For the utility companies it means long-term certainty, he told New Scientist, adding that [Pacific Power has] a bunch of ageing coal plants which they know that they cannot run forever and this gives them a pathway for a regulated exit.

Neighbouring California hasn't banned coal but it has committed to reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Oregon plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050. Its move away from coal follows similar decisions in the UK, which plans to phase out coal-fired power within 10 years and China, which has banned approvals of new coal mines for the next three years.

By Andrew Topf via Mining.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Organizational Ombuds serve as a

confidential

,

independent

,

neutral

and

informal

dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish

from

, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.





Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- mediateur/defenseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- 

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud
"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee is back for another round, brought to you by Great Northern Distilling: grain to glass spirits, handmade in Wisconsin. The whole month of March, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs  including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars readers poll and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

Not only do bar games provide plenty of fun for a group out on the town, adding a little liquor to the mix seems to make every pool shot line up perfectly and every dart fly straight (at least for a little while, anyway).

This year, we have a new winner: 42 Lounge. While 42 Lounge nabbed this award in 2014, the year it opened, in 2015, voters selected long-time favorite Landmark Lanes, which finished second this time.

42 Lounge  named for a reference in the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"  specializes in "all things geek" and revolves around gaming. Hence, the category win is well deserved.

Plus, it's the ideal locale to talk "Star Trek," "Star Wars," "Dr. Who," "The Lord Of The Rings," or what you plan to wear this year to Ren Faire.

For our editors' pick, we selected The Tracks, at least in part because our stellar programmer Nick Barth runs the trivia nights there, but also because it's a Riverwest landmark.

OnMilwaukee editors' choice: The Tracks

Runners-up:

2. Landmark Lanes

3. Milwaukee Ale House

4. Blackbird

5. Red Lion Pub
According to Radiation Reloaded: Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident 5 Years Later, studies have shown:

High radiation concentrations in new leaves, and at least in the case of cedar, in pollen;

apparent increases in growth mutations of fir trees with rising radiation levels;

heritable mutations in pale blue grass butterfly populations and DNA-damaged worms in highly contaminated areas, as well as apparent reduced fertility in barn swallows;

decreases in the abundance of 57 bird species with higher radiation levels over a four year study; and

high levels of caesium contamination in commercially important freshwater fish; and radiological contamination of one of the most important ecosystems -- coastal estuaries.

The report comes amid a push by the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to resettle contaminated areas and also restart nuclear reactors in Japan that were shut down in the aftermath of the crisis.

However, Ulrich said, "the Abe government is perpetuating a myth that five years after the start of the nuclear accident the situation is returning to normal. The evidence exposes this as political rhetoric, not scientific fact. And unfortunately for the victims, this means they are being told it is safe to return to environments where radiation levels are often still too high and are surrounded by heavy contamination."

According to Greenpeace, it's not only the Abe government that holds "deeply flawed assumptions" about both decontamination and ecosystem risks, but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), too. Indeed, the failures in the methods used by the IAEA to come to the "baseless conclusion" that there would be no expected ecological impacts from the Fukushima disaster are "readily apparent," the report claims.

In September, Greenpeace Japan blasted the IAEA for "downplaying" the continuing environmental and health effects of the nuclear meltdown in order to support the Japanese government's agenda of normalizing the ongoing disaster.

Meanwhile, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) charged on Thursday that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has also failed to learn lessons from the Fukushima meltdown. In its report, Preventing an American Fukushima, the group states that five years after the nuclear accident, the NRC "has made insufficient progress in improving U.S. nuclear power safety" while implementing "half-baked" reforms.

"[A]ll too often," UCS said, "the agency abdicated its responsibility as the nation's nuclear watchdog by allowing the industry to rely on voluntary guidelines, which are, by their very nature, unenforceable."

"The NRC and the nuclear industry have taken steps to address some of the safety vulnerabilities revealed by the Fukushima disaster," acknowledged report author Edwin Lyman, a UCS senior scientist and co-author of the 2014 book, Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster. "But so far, the agency has failed to fully learn the lessons of Fukushima. It needs to go back to the drawing board and reconsider critical safety recommendations that it dismissed without good justification. The health and safety of the more than 100 million Americans living within 50 miles of a nuclear plant hang in the balance."

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami, which in turn produced equipment failures and the release of radioactive material at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster is the single largest release of radioactivity into the ocean and one of only two Level 7 nuclear disasters in world history -- the other being Chernobyl.
Nancy Reagan's legacy as a First Lady should be noted here, on OpEdNews.com, at least in a brief op-ed piece. She died Sunday, March 6, at age 94, from congestive heart failure at her home in Bel-Air, Calif. What was Nancy Reagen's legacy? Well, as far as I see it, it was a life of great obstacles to overcome, great achievement, and to a large degree, a snobbish callousness that had a weird edge to it of being very entrenched in trying to help some aspects of a suffering humanity. She was not just the wife of the 40th U.S. President who served from January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989. She was very much an independent woman with her own ideas and plans. And in many ways - with some very bad ones, in this writer's opinion - she ran the White House.



Although many liberals and progressives will most likely think an opinion on a First Lady may be a silly exercise in journalism, and for a writer writing for a progressive online magazine like OpEdNews.com to be penning an article on a woman who was married to a man that many progressives and liberals really love to hate, I expect a good beating on the comment thread below. Or worse, no comments whatsoever. Anyhow, I thought I'd try to put something together for Rob Kall and the gang at this magazine. The worst thing that can happen to the story is rejection, right? It's not like the first time it's happened to me here, or elsewhere, for that matter; so about all I can do if this comes to pass is to suck it all in and write on something else tomorrow, or perhaps, later in the week.

So here goes: Anne Frances Robbins was born in New York City on July 6, 1921 , the only child of Kenneth Robbins, a salesman, and Edith Luckett Robbins, an aspiring actress. She got the nickname "Nancy" after a time. Unfortunately, her biological father, Kenneth Robbins, left his marriage to Edith Luckett Robbins during Nancy's infancy, so Edith sent her daughter to be raised by her aunt and uncle, Virginia and C. Audley Galbraith, in Bethesda, Maryland. There, Nancy attended Sidwell Friends School for a time. She and her aunt would travel to visit her mother whenever Edith was in New York for lengthy theater runs. In 1929, Edith married a prominent Chicago neurosurgeon, Loyal Davis. A little bit later, Nancy joined her mother and, in 1931, Loyal adopted Nancy, changing her last name to Davis. In her new home, she was exposed to wealth and privilege. She attended the prestigious Girls' Latin School. She then studied drama at Smith College and earned a BA degree in 1943.



This was an unusual thing. A young woman earning a college degree. For the times this woman lived in, very few women went to college and earned degrees. But some girls of the privileged and wealthy classes did so during this time period. And then, even many 'pampered rich girls' from powerful families did not venture into academia to earn a college or university degree. They got married, had babies, and became socialites. This was a woman's place, after all, that these times dictated. Colleges and universities were for young men. Normally, young white men. But still, even then, there were exceptions, too. There were, after all, Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And even some women of the lower classes earned degrees.



A big turning point in Nancy Reagan's life wasn't so much her marriage to Ronald Reagan, but her mother' s marriage to a prominent doctor. What would have become of Nancy if Edith Luckett Robbins had not married Loyal Davis? Well, she very well could have earned a college degree, though very few women of this day who were born outside of an affluent family did so. After all, I am writing about a very different sort of girl here -- someone who was most likely driven and tackled challenges even at a young age. But let's face it, the odds were against it. This was a time when women in America were entering the workforce -- and being employed at labor jobs -- such as at factories. It was a time when a young girl in her 20's would be sewing a dress, not designing one. It was a time when a young woman would be working on an assembly line making lightbulbs, not working as an engineer to build a better lightbulb.

It's easy to see that her early life wasn't all that easy. Not only was Nancy Reagan the victim of a broken home at a time in life that holds so much value and importance, she was raised by relatives, not a father and mother.



During this time in American history, divorce and broken homes were the exception, not the rule, as they are during these turbulent days. People tended to stay married then, even if they hated one another. Of course, when a father wants to skip out and leave town, well...this type of behavior really isn't limited to an age or era.



But overall, society's norms were different then and although even religions have softened their views about divorce over the past few decades, during the time when Nancy Reagan was a child, a broken home could be a place of shame and distrust. Although this little tidbit of information will ultimately fall through the cracks of history, and won't even be a footnote, the First Lady's early years were marked by the same types of problems that many children face today. Today's statistics on broken homes are bleak and alarming. At least 50% of all North-American children will witness the divorce of their parents today. Almost half of them will also see the breakup of a parent's second marriage. One out of 10 children of divorce experiences three or more parental marriage breakups. And 40% of all kids growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers.



Nancy Reagan later in life. She died Sunday at age 94 at her home in California. - Wikimedia Commons

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I found it interesting, too, that Nancy Reagan was a victim of McCarthyism. And for her, this could have been a good thing in the end. Because with this big problem she faced as a young actress, it put her in touch with the man who would be her lifetime significant other. And although she was widowed for many years, I still consider this time to be devotion to her one and only love. She never remarried and reports indicate that she grieved. How else would you consider this time as a widow? Anyhow, in 1949, Nancy Reagan noticed her name was listed on the Hollywood blacklist, which was established by the film industry to warn studios and producers of suspected communist sympathizers. The then Nancy Davis was not a communist and had no association with any communist organizations. The listing was of another actress with the same name. In November 1949, Nancy contacted Ronald Reagan, president of the Screen Actors Guild, to see if he could help. And that's how the thing all got started. To say the least, sparks flew. Both were immediately attracted to each other and soon began dating, though they later saw other people. Reagan was skeptical of marriage, having just experienced a painful divorce from actress Jane Wyman the year before. After three years, Reagan finally proposed and Nancy accepted. The couple were married on March 4, 1952. At the time, these young people were going to set Hollywood ablaze. But reports indicate that during the time Ronald and Nancy Reagan were young movie stars and were not yet actively involved in politics, this dynamic duo - driven by power, pride, and ambition - still had political aspirations galore. They were power players. They had no interest in being in the Rat Pack, they wanted to run the big show. The scenery, props, actors, and even the lights in the parking lot. Anyhow, what is, is. And that's the nature of their marriage and how they rolled. But suffice it to say, early in their marriage, their main concern was getting film roles and being on the silver screen. And although they were interested in politics as young people, little did they know back then that someday they would be longtime inhabitants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., 20006.

The former First Lady's leaving this world was the top news Sunday. President Barack Obama said, "Our former First Lady redefined the role in her time here Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives. We offer our sincere condolences to their children, Patti, Ron, and Michael, and to their grandchildren."

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Much like expensive red wines, many Facebook relationships, and Kanye West's psychological state, the case of Texas House Bill No. 2 is complicated.

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Whole Woman's Health v Hellerstedt, one of the most pivotal cases in abortion law in decades. The plaintiff seeks to strike down Texas House Bill No 2, commonly referred to as HB2, legislation that was passed in 2013. It's legislation that, under the guise of protecting the health of Texan women, has actually endangered their well-being by restricting access to abortion services in Texas.

It will set a dangerous legal precedent if found constitutional. Not only will it impact abortion access, it could change the way we practice all of medicine.

HB2 is the most medically intrusive legislation that has ever been written. It placed several restrictions:

--Limits the gestational age of procedures to 21 weeks

--Requires that abortion centers must meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers

--Requires that all abortion providers must have admitting privileges at a local hospital

--Requires that the medications that are used for medical abortion are given exactly as the FDA approved

HB2 is like Mylie Cyrus talking about race in America. At first blush her statements don't seem completely unreasonable, but then you realize that she's simply hiding her own sanctioning of a racist musical industry underneath a thin veneer of false caring, rainbows, and appropriated yoga mantras.

Similar nonsense is generated when legislators regulate abortion. The areas of expertise that legislators have are writing rambling documents, shaking hands, and distributing little signs with their names on them. Nowhere in that list is medical care. HB2 is an attack on the rights of women under a thin veneer of false caring and flawed medical reasoning.

Supporters of HB2 say it's meant to protect the well-being of women, but the language of the bill demonstrates its true intent. The number of times the bill uses the word fetus, zygote, or embryo? Zero. The number of times it uses the phrase "unborn child" or "unborn children?" Twenty-seven. The number of times I heard a lecturer in medical school say the phrase "unborn child/ren?" Zero. The number of times I heard a lecturer in medical school say fetus, zygote, or embryo? Countless.

Furthermore, it is an attack on every American's right to high quality healthcare.

Nowhere else in medicine are doctors told by the law how exactly how to practice in such detail--for good reason. Certainly there are quality measures that must be met such as standards around sterility, safety, and first aid, but there are no laws that get into the minutiae of when and how to prescribe a medication. Even when it comes to potentially lethal, controlled substances such as methadone, the details of dose and timing is left up to a provider's judgement.

This is not just an egotistical physician whining over autonomy. The implications are not just about abortion but also about how to practice medicine. Research is improving the way we practice all the time. We need the freedom to change our practices based on the newest research and medical standards in balance with our patients' preferences about their own bodies. Legislators are not medical providers and their blatant overreach causes physicians to provide substandard care.

Here are the medical arguments that expose the lunacy of HB2:

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Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders won three of four state contests over the weekend. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz emerged as the leading challenger to Donald Trump in what is quickly becoming a two-man race. And the seventh Democratic debate, in Flint, Mich., highlighted the differences between the parties as much as the differences between the two contenders.

Democrats: Sanders Still Rising

Sanders took the caucuses in Nebraska, Kansas and Maine, while losing the Louisiana primary, as Clinton continued her sweep of the red states of the South. While the mainstream media -- egged on by the Clinton campaign -- edges towards calling the race over, Sanders keeps on rising. His expanding army of small donors continues to fuel his campaign. And he can look forward to growing support -- particularly in the contests after mid-March, as he introduces himself to more and more voters.

For Clinton, the victory in Louisiana showed her "firewall" of African-American voters continues to hold. The two candidates ended dividing the delegates won over the weekend, showing the tough challenge Sanders faces. But Clinton's losses in the caucuses should raise concern. Unlike 2008, she is organized and intent on competing in the caucus states. But she clearly has trouble rousing the passions of the activist voters who tend to dominate caucuses.

Republicans: The Donald Is The Moderate

The Republican race is rapidly turning into a two-man faceoff between Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Trump won the Louisiana primary and the Kentucky caucus over the weekend. Cruz won the caucuses in Kansas and Maine. Marco Rubio and Governor John Kasich trailed badly in all four. Rubio did pick up the Puerto Rican primary on Sunday.

Clearly, the much ballyhooed plan of the "Republican establishment" to rally around Marco Rubio has collapsed. Rubio's schoolyard taunts at Donald Trump haven't helped him. If Rubio doesn't win Florida on March 15 -- and he trails badly in the most recent polls -- he is gone. If Kasich doesn't win Ohio, the race may be virtually over.

Now Republicans must look on their works in horror. Trump -- the xenophobic, racist, misogynistic blowhard -- is the moderate in the race. Cruz, the most hated Republican in the Senate, is a right-wing zealot. He criticizes Trump not for being extreme, but for being squishy -- on abortion, on immigration, on judges, on government. Moderate Republicans may now try to rally around John Kasich, if he wins Ohio. Good luck with that.

Their choice is winnowing down to the disruptor against the zealot. The politics of resentment and racial division have blown up in their faces.

The Democratic Contrast: We Do Substance

The most notable contrast during the seventh Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan was not between Clinton and Sanders, but between the Democrats and the Republicans. As Andrea Bernstein, editor at WNYC, tweeted: "Democratic debate so far: guns, schools, health care, trade, infrastructure, transportation, welfare, racism. GOP debate last week: hand size."

The Democratic exchange was feistier than normal. Clinton is perfecting the technique of interrupting Sanders, hoping to set off a testy explosion. The campaign and the press tried to make much of Sanders telling her "Excuse me, I'm talking." But after the Republican melee, this is a pretty hard case to make. Sanders remains the courtliest of contenders.

The Clinton Disavowal and the Obama Embrace

The Democratic debate featured tough exchanges on trade, Wall Street, big money politics, the auto bailout, criminal justice and even the Export-Import Bank. Clinton, on the defensive, is a smart and effective counter-puncher, willing to throw a low blow now and then when cornered. But two themes stand out:

To compete in this cycle, Hillary Clinton has had to separate herself from her husband's legacy: NAFTA, China and our disastrous corporate trade policies, mass incarceration and racially biased criminal justice policies, Wall Street deregulation and big money politics. She derides "debating the 1990s," but has been forced to disavow the legacy and the impact of signature initiatives of the Clinton administration.
Would you like to know how many people have visited this page? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

A former award winning art director and writer for various ad agencies,and head writer for a number of prime time network TV series he was also Exec.Director of the Denver Group in 2008 a committee advocating for Hillary Clinton. He created and produced a series of controversial ads and TV commercials which created a media stir and was written about in the NY Times, Huffington Post, The Hill, Congressional Quarterly and did various TV interviews on Fox News, ABC,and Washington DC stations. He has also had articles published in The Guardian.
A forum for critical analysis of international issues and developments of particular relevance to the sustainable political and socio-economic development of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).
Hillary Clinton is a better choice for the world

07 March, 2016

By Zaheerul Hassan

On 5 March 2016, Hillary Clinton a former secretary of state, and Mr. Trump, a property tycoon have fighting battle and successfully maintained lead against their opponents. Both are favourites to win the vast majority and scoring better till now for their respective parties. Mrs. Clinton so far has managed to get the support of 1066 delegates out of 2383 democrats delegates. She is short of 1317 whereas her rival Sander of same party has attained 432 votes and short of 1951 more votes for nomination as democratic candidate. Thus, analysis of statics of stated data is portraying, strongest American lady Mrs. Clinton as likely potential U.S. President in the forthcoming national election.



She won the Palmetto States Democratic presidential contest on 28 February and defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders with heavy margin. Mrs. Clinton led Sanders 73.5 percent to 26 percent. Earlier, on 20 February 2016, she won the Nevada caucus and defeated Sen. By winning Nevada, Clinton proved that she can beat Sanders by dominating among racial minorities. However, one thing remained common that she emerged as popular figure in African Americans but unpopular in the youth of 27-29 age. Therefore she has to fascinate youth by announcing attractive programme to save their future. At this occasion, Mrs. Clinton thanked the people, who trued her and said,



"I am so, so thrilled and so grateful to all of my supporters out there," Clinton said during her victory celebration Saturday. "Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other."



She remained unbeatable in the southern states with big African-American majorities; beat Mr. Sanders in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and Massachusetts.



In fact, Mrs. Clinton is that American politician who remained the Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009. Mrs. Bill Clinton has the honour of occupation of White House as the First Lady of the United States during his tenure from 1993 to 2001. She also served under current President Barack Obama as the 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.



According to various independent surveys, most of the Americans consider that Mrs. Clinton has the experience and capability of conflict management but astonishingly the



young American girls particularly below the age of 30 preferred Sanders over her. Probable reasons of becoming ostracized young lot are her husbands scandal with White houses servant Monica Lewinsky and dispatching 22 the secret information through her personal email accounts. Many ladies do think that Mrs. Clinton saved her family life by forgiving him in the case of Monica that presented her as a cool minded and positive personality.



Although Email scandal to some extent provided to the opponents to screw her but department has also released the complete emails of Mrs. Clinton for public consumption. Thus, nothing alarming has been found in her email folder.



People living in United States believe that Clinton distinguished herself from Sanders by arguing that while she's also angry about economic and racial inequality. She has better solutions to address local and international issues due to her past rich experience a broader range of problems. As Sectary of State she played active role while attending and leading various international forums on Afghan, Iraq, Iran and Palestine Issues. She as well successfully guarded U.S. interests on diplomatic fronts.



On the other hand, Republican nominated candidate Trump became controversial locally and globally when in November 2015; he commented against Muslim and asked government to ban them from entering in America. President Obama, Bishop, Pope, UK ruling elite and global community criticized Trump for his statements against Muslims. In this connection, UN Secretary General too showed his annoyance against Trump comments. Moreover, those American inhabitants who are in minorities, particularly black Muslims lost faith on Republicans candidate and started supporting Mrs. Clinton. The Muslims anger has proved in Nevadas elections where Mrs. Clinton gained gorgeous victory. According to census data from 2014, Nevada's population is non-white. Twenty-eight percent of its residents are Latino, 9 percent are African American and 8 percent are Asian American.



Thus, after criticizing Muslim, Trump has globally lost political space and would not be in a position to play effective role in resolving Arab-Israel, Saudi Arabia-Iran-Yemen and Taliban issues, even if he wins the presidential elections. Another immediate challenge after winning the presidential election for her would be to settle ISIS and Syrian issue. Mrs. Clinton, if elected may boost her countrys economy by disengaging U.S. from Afghanistan and settling issue between North and South Korea. She will also be having chance to further improve the bilateral relations with China and Russia.



Mrs. Clinton number of times met Pakistani and Indian political and military elite and has personal relations with them. Therefore, she can use her personal influence in resolving burning issues between nuclear powers of South Asia. In short, Mrs. Clinton could be



the better future choice to lead U.S. and could be helpful in resolving glaring burning issues and establishing global peace.



The writer can be approach through zameer36@gmail.com




Kamals Alleggations

Mustafa Kamals press conference of March 3rd was no less than a bomb shell dropped by him to decimate the MQM Chief Altaf Bhai and the party itself too in the process. The most damaging allegation was that of the MQM receiving funds from the Indian RAW for the last twenty years! According to him the PPP government Interior minister Mr. Rehman Malik was also in know of such funding by the RAW of the MQM. If it is true then would it not be presumable that the other higher ups in the then PPP hierarchy would have been also privy to such information?! And ... and ... If yes, then why did they not take any action on such a subversive activity?! The mere thought of such a horrendous possibility is enough to send a chill down the spine of an ordinary Pakistani whose confidence is shaken beyond repairs in the politicians and the political parties who can for their own interests risk the very survival and the integrity of the country itself!!



The allegations have evoked mixed reaction from various political parties, PTI asking for a probe by a judicial commission while the ruling party advocating to disregard it for lack of any documentary evidence. One also wonders why is the MQM contented with the thought that the Kamal Press Conference balloon would be deflated soon and they are not suing him for libel and defamation in a court of law? Or, does the MQM fear that more beans shall be spilled, which is bound to happen, when the respondents would try to prove the allegations made by them?!



Oh God Almighty please save Pakistan.



Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Pakistan asked Indian govt to send witnesses of the 2008 Mumbai attack

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has asked the Indian government to send all 24 witnesses of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack to Islamabad to appear before the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the federal capital.



The Foreign Office has written to the Indian government asking it to send all 24 witnesses to Pakistan for recording statements in the trial court in the Mumbai attack case, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Chief Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar as saying on Sunday.



The prosecution chief said the ATC has already completed recording the statements of all Pakistani witnesses in the case.



Now the ball is in Indias court. The Indian government should send all Indian witnesses of the Mumbai case to Pakistan to record their statements so that the trial could further move ahead, Azhar, who is also a special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), said.



Last month, the ATC had directed the probe body to present all the 24 Indian witnesses in court to record their statements. The court had also ordered to bring back the boats allegedly used by Ajmal Kasab and other militants on the grounds that it is case property and should be duly examined.



India had accused the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group for masterminding and executing the coordinated attacks on Mumbais landmarks on November 26, 2008 that left 160-plus people dead.



Earlier, law enforcement agencies had detained commander of the proscribed militant group Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi for 30 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order by the Punjab government immediately after the ATC granted him bail on December 10, 2014. The detention was subsequently extended twice.



However, a Lahore High Court (LHC) bench declared his continued detention under MPO illegal last year and ordered his release, subject to a Rs 2 million surety bond. Lakhvi submitted the bond in April, 2015 and was set free from Rawalpindis Adiala Jail. Six other accused are lodged in the Adiala Jail for over six years in connection with planning and executing the Mumbai attack.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
Of course. You would have to be be barking mad to want to bring this rabble to NZ. But then socialists are mad by definition. It's not as if we don't have...
Argonne generated maps to show how Maines climate would change under a high emissions scenario.

From September 2012 until March 2013, Australia sweltered. And burned.

The worst heat wave recorded in the continent's history sent temperatures soaring well over 100F for weeks. Fires spread along the coasts and across Tasmania. In the Outback, roads melted.

News reports called it the "angry summer." It was so bad that it literally changed the map: meteorologists had to add two new color bands to their maps on the evening weather reports, to go up to 130.

So Australians turned on the air conditioning. The electric grid suffered in both Melbourne and Sydney. Urban railways were delayed as heat damaged the wiring. A report later that year found the heat wave was almost certainly beyond the bounds of natural climate variation.

Scientists agree that the future will bring higher temperatures for longer periods of time, higher sea levels, and both more droughts and more storms. "This means that our infrastructure, as it exists today, isn't going to be able to operate at the same level in the future," said Megan Clifford, deputy director of the Risk and Infrastructure Science Center at Argonne.

Fires in Tasmania visible from the air during Australias angry summer. Credit: Chuq/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0

Infrastructure is, by design, largely unnoticed until it breaks and service fails. It's the water supply, the gas lines, bridges and dams, phone lines and cell towers, roads and culverts, train lines and railways, and the electric grid; all of the complex systems that keep our society and economy running.

Engineers typically design systems to withstand reasonable worst-case conditions based on historical records; for example, an engineer builds a bridge strong enough to withstand floods based on historical rainfall and flooding. But what happens when the worst case is no longer bad enough?

"If we don't adapt the systems, they will break," said Duane Verner, an urban planner who works with Clifford.

"When you look at cities' long-term plans, which every city hasand they go out decades for planning major infrastructurethey rarely have local climate projections available for their planning assumptions or design criteria," Clifford said.

A major difficulty, she explained, is that it's difficult for city planners to look at a large-scale climate model and understand the impacts to their local area.

That's where Argonne scientists and researchers are bridging the gap. Argonne's infrastructure experts are just a building over from climate scientists in the environmental science division and supercomputing resources at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. They can develop and interpret the complex global climate models to predict the effects of climate change by region.

The Risk and Infrastructure Science Center can pull all of these forces together with other subject matter experts, including engineers and analysts with experience in various infrastructure industries. Combining these resources helps them develop practical and comprehensive analyses for planners. These tools not only help city planners analyze risks, but also prioritize them in light of tight budgets.

One type of analysis that Argonne frequently conducts is called an RRAPthe Regional Resiliency Assessment Program. Every year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security funds several assessments that each look at a particular area's vulnerabilities.

Verner is part of a team working on an RRAP for the Casco Bay region of Maine. Like other regions they've studied, they are finding that floods, heat waves, and other changes predicted for Maine could cause trouble for its infrastructure.

For example, in general, power plants don't like heattheir output declines, some types more than others. The same is true for transmission lines; they lose some ability to carry electricity in the heat.

"This change is in the margins, but when you add that together with increased demand for power to run air conditioning, for example, you can cross the thresholds for brownouts," Verner said.

Then there's rain. "The climate models are showing that increases in extreme precipitation events are projected for the entire U.S., because there's more humidity in the atmosphere," Verner said, "and structures like culverts, that are built to standards for past historical rainfall events, won't be able to accommodate this rush of rain." (Culverts are pipes that channel streams and water underneath roads.)

Too much rain all at once causes floods, and floods are devastating to infrastructure. Water is extraordinarily destructive. Hurricane Sandy shut down New York City, one of the largest, most prosperous cities in the world, for days. Floods wash out roads and bridges, damage homes, schools, and buildings, and overwhelm sewer systems, causing sewage dumps into local waterways; the economic impact can be severe. Sandy caused $65 billion worth of damage.

At the same time, we've also seen record droughts in recent years. "Generally, planners are using historical records for droughts in their water resource planning processes, and our climate models show that, in many cases, historical records won't provide an adequate worst-case scenario to plan for," Verner said. "It will be much worse."

Droughts are financially ruinous for farmers and agriculture; that same year as Sandy, 2012, saw a Midwest/Plains drought that cost $35 billion.

That drought saw the mighty Mississippi River drop to such low levels that shipping on the river, which normally carries billions of dollars of cargo every month, was nearly halted. "I have never seen anything like it," Colonel Chris Hall, commander of the Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District, told the Chicago Tribune.

In response, Argonne researchers scrambled to analyze the potential economic impacts if water levels dipped below a certain point on the middle Mississippi River. Billions of dollars of cargo are shipped on the river every month; power plants pull cooling water; and local communities draw water, including drinking and irrigation water. The analysis quantified the thousands of jobs and billions in income that could be in jeopardy across six states for a worst-case scenario drought.

These kinds of analyses help federal, state, and local governments understand stakes and prioritize action. With the help of the Risk and Infrastructure Science Center, as well as resiliency efforts in multiple areas at Argonne, planners can find out the types of stresses their cities and regions will face in the future.

Infrastructure is generally an ounce-of-prevention game; smart changes now can save a region billions of dollars in damages and lost economic productivity in the future. Communities can ration water from aquifers, shore up electric grids, and build roads out of water's reach. New estimates of rainfall help engineers determine what kind of storms their bridges should withstand; power companies can estimate energy demand in upcoming heat waves. They just need to know what they're facing.

"Our goal is to help planners get the information they need to do their jobs, and to drive national efforts for future resilient infrastructure design," Clifford said.

With the ongoing involvement of Argonne and the scientific community, infrastructure can be adapted and designed to withstand the changes aheadbefore it breaks.
News portals and social media are rich information sources, for example for predicting stock market trends. Today, numerous service providers allow for searching large text collections by feeding their search engines with descriptive keywords. Keywords tend to be highly ambiguous, though, and quickly show the limits of current search technologies. Computer scientists from Saarbruecken developed a novel text analysis technology that considerably improves searching very large text collections by means of artificial intelligence.

Beyond search, this technology also assists authors in researching and even in writing texts by automatically providing background information and suggesting links to relevant web sites. Living in the age of business smartphones and enterprise chatrooms, most information in companies is not distributed via spoken words but rather through e-mails, databases, and internal news portals. "According to a survey by the market analyst Gartner, a mere quarter of all companies are using automatic methods to analyze their textual information. By 2021, Gartner predicts 65 per cent will do so. This is because the amount of data inside companies is continuously growing and hence, it becomes more and more costly to have it structured and to search it successfully," says Johannes Hoffart, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and founder of Ambiverse. His team developed a novel text analysis technology for analyzing huge amounts of text where massive computing power and artificial intelligence (AI) are continuously "thinking along" in the background.

"For analyzing texts, we rely on extremely large knowledge graphs which are built upon freely available sources such as Wikipedia or large media portals on the web. These graphs can be augmented with domain- or company-specific knowledge, such as product catalogs or customer correspondences," says Hoffart. By applying complex algorithms, these texts are screened further and analyzed with linguistic tools. "Our software then assigns companies and areas of business to their corresponding categories, which allows us to gather valuable insights on how well one's own products are positioned in the market in comparison to those of the competitors," he explains. Particularly challenging hereby is the fact that product or company names are anything but unique and tend to have completely different meanings in different contexts, making them highly ambiguous.

"Our technology helps to map words and phrases to their correct objects of the real-world, that way resolving ambiguities automatically," explains the computer scientist. "Paris" for example stands for the city of light and the French capital, but also for a figure from Greek mythology or a millionfold-mentioned party girl with German ancestors - always depending on context. "Efficiently searching huge text collections is only possible if the different meanings of a name or a concept are correctly resolved," says Hoffart. The smart search engine developed by his team continuously learns and improves over time, and also automatically associates new text entries to matching categories. "These algorithms are hence attractive for companies that analyze online media or social networks to measure the degree of brand awareness for a product or the success of a marketing campaign," says Hoffart further.

At Cebit, Ambiverse will further present a smart authoring platform that assists authors in researching and writing texts. Users who enter texts are automatically provided with background information, for example company-internal guidelines and manuals or web links. "Relevant concepts are linked automatically and links for further research are show", says the computer scientist.

Visitors to the Ambiverse Cebit booth (hall 6, booth 28) will also have the opportunity to compete with their novel AI technology by playing a question-answering game. Ambiverse is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs through an EXIST Transfer of Research grant.

Ambiverse, a spin-off company from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbruecken, will be presenting this novel technology during Cebit 2016 in Hannover from 14 to 18 March at Saarland's research booth.

Explore further Software maps ambiguous names in texts to the right person
Just 300,000 Hispanic children attend Catholic Schools, amounting to 2.4 percent of the nation's 12.4 million school-age Hispanic children -- of which 8 million are school-age Hispanic Catholics. Overall enrollment in Catholic schools is 1.9 million students. Credit: Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church

The slow pace of change in Catholic schools as they adjust to an increasingly Hispanic Church poses significant barriers to Hispanic families when considering enrolling their children in parochial schools, according to a new Boston College study that reveals complex challenges for school leaders and clergy trying to serve the fastest-growing population of U.S. Catholics.

Despite efforts to increase Hispanic enrollment for the past two decades, the number of Hispanic children attending Catholic schools has remained stagnant at approximately 300,000 - just 2.4 percent of the nation's 12.4 million school-age Hispanic children, of which approximately 8 million are Catholic.

Cost has often been cited as the most obvious reason, but the first-of-its-kind study "Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church" points to additional factors that stifle school vitality and the Church's engagement with a young generation that by its sheer size is expected to emerge as America's most influential group of Catholics.

Boston College's Assistant Professor of Theology and Ministry Hosffman Ospino and Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education Executive Director Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill conducted the National Survey of Catholic Schools Serving Hispanic Families. Out of 1,488 schools identified as serving Hispanic families, 656 schools in 130 dioceses responded, accounting for 10 percent of all Catholic schools. Among the findings:

Just 14 percent of Catholic school leaders and 12-percent of teachers self-identify as Hispanic; while 17 percent of school leaders reported they speak Spanish

Only 17 percent of the schools have recruitment strategies to hire bilingual teachers

Approximately 23 percent of school leaders received training about Hispanic culture, but only 17 percent received training about Hispanic ministry and theology

Two or fewer Hispanics serve on the boards of 68 percent of the schools, including nearly 200 schools that reported no Hispanic board members.

At the diocesan level, Catholic schools administrative offices and offices focused on Hispanic ministry interact rarely or infrequently

Those disparities amount to missed opportunities in mission and ministry for Catholic schools and the Church itself, according the researchers.

"Given the striking growth of the Hispanic Catholic school-age population and the declining enrollment in Catholic schools, the Church must be realistic and plan creativelyand propheticallyto serve this critical and growing group of American Catholics," said Ospino, who in 2014 conducted a groundbreaking study of Catholic parishes serving Hispanic Catholics.

Though 6 in 10 schools provide at least one program to support English Language Learners, the programs vary by region. The study noted that most schools do little to integrate the Hispanic experience into their overall school culture, treating these differences at times as deficits instead of opportunities.

Schools using the inclusive dual-language, or "two-way", immersion model of instruction were highlighted by the study. These schools reported much larger percentages of Hispanic teachers and staff, including 44 percent of full-time and 33 percent of part-time teachers, and more opportunities to incorporate Hispanic culture and traditions.

Hispanic families seek Catholic schools that offer them educational excellence, affirm the language that most speak at home and honor their culture, according to Ospino and Weitzel-O'Neill.

The survey found signs that some schools are trying to improve outreach to Hispanic Catholics, though many schools continue to struggle to fully embrace Hispanic culture:

Just 21 percent use Spanish and English for prominent signage

Only 25 percent report using culturally diverse and inclusive school symbols

About 35 percent share school prayers in Spanish and English

Approximately 36 percent offer liturgies at least partly in Spanish

"Hispanic enrollment is undoubtedly one important part of the conversation, yet that conversation is futile without a critical assessment of the shared mission, school cultures, and the structures of Catholic schools," said Weitzel-O'Neill, whose Roche Center for Catholic Education is part of the Lynch School of Education at BC. "We need to clarify the role of Catholic education for the next generation of U.S. Catholic children and youthwho are mostly Hispanic and increasingly diverse."

A majority of the responding schools reported providing need-based financial aid to approximately half of their Hispanic students. For one-in-five of these students, that assistance covers at least 50 percent of their tuition.

"This demonstrates one strategy and a high level of commitment among Catholic schools to serve the largest body of school-age Catholics in the U.S.," said Ospino. Added Weitzel-O'Neill, "Intentional enrollment planning based on mission and Catholic Identity, must include multiple strategies to welcome and collaborate with Hispanic families and create supportive school cultures."

In September, the BC researchers will hold the first National Summit on Catholic Schools and Hispanic Families to examine challenges raised by this research and develop strategies for Catholic schools to better engage with this critical demographic group.

Explore further Schools must do more to combat obesity among hispanic kids: report

More information: To view the report or learn more about the National Summit on Catholic Schools and Hispanic Families, please visit the Roche Center website: To view the report or learn more about the National Summit on Catholic Schools and Hispanic Families, please visit the Roche Center website: www.rochecenter.org
Artist's illustration of a gamma-ray burst. Energy from the explosion is beamed into two narrow, oppositely directed jets. Credit: NASA/Swift/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith and John Jones

(Phys.org)Sometimes when a star collapses into a supernova, it releases an intense, narrow beam of gamma rays. Gamma-ray bursts often last just a few seconds, but during that time they can release as much energy as the Sun will produce in its entire lifetime, making gamma-ray bursts the most powerful explosions ever observed in the universe. They are so intense that, if pointed at the Earth from even the most distant edge of our galaxy, they could easily cause a mass extinction, possibly obliterating all life on the planet. It's thought that a gamma-ray burst may have caused the Ordovician extinction around 440 million years ago, which wiped out 85% of all species at the time.

Clearly, the farther away a planet is from gamma-ray bursts, the better its chances of harboring advanced forms of life. In a new paper, scientists have shown that the gamma-ray burst risk to life favors a universe where all objects (like planets and gamma-ray bursts) are relatively far apart. And the main factor that tells how far apart everything is in the universeor in other words, how things are spreading out and moving away from each otheris dark energy or the cosmological constant.

One of the biggest unanswered questions in cosmology is why does the cosmological constant have the particular value that scientists observe? Einstein initially devised the cosmological constant to be like an "anti-gravity" force, so that a larger value means that the universe is expanding very rapidly and objects are being pushed farther apart from each other. A smaller value means that the universe itself is smaller and objects are somewhat closer together.

Currently, the value of the cosmological constant is estimated to be about 10-123. Researchers have placed upper bounds on this value (it can't be more than 10-120 or else galaxies and other structures could not form because their matter could not have gotten close enough together). But so far, no research has been able to place a lower bound on the value.

The number of protective halos increases as the value of the cosmological constant increases (different colors of lines represents different values of the constant). The two graphs represent two different sizes of halos, though they give similar results: for example, both show that few halos existed more than 7 billion years ago, which fits with the age of the Earth being about 4.5 billion years old. Credit: Piran, et al. 2016 American Physical Society

By showing that the chances of advanced life existing is extremely small when planets are close to gamma-ray bursts, the new study makes an argument for placing the first lower bounds on the value of the cosmological constant. The scientists estimate that, when the value gets below 10-124, the number of protective "halos" of space (regions where planets stand a chance of avoiding gamma-ray bursts for long periods of time) sharply decreases. In other words, it would be pretty unlikely for humans to exist if the value were smaller than this number.

"We have found a lower limit on the cosmological constant," coauthor Tsvi Piran at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem told Phys.org. "As you know it is very small, 10-123. If it is so small, then why not zero? Zero is a 'round' number and one can look for a basic law of physics that will force the cosmological constant to vanish. Additionally, why not a negative value?"

By showing that the cosmological constant is very unlikely to be zero or negative, and much more likely to be close to its observed value, the results may help explain where this value comes from.

"This is important as it gives clues to the question of what is the origin of this constant," Piran said. "It is generally believed that the value of the cosmological constant is determined by some quantum process, and understanding its relevant range is important to have a clue on its origin."

The full analysis is more complicated, as the researchers had to account for other factors, such as the age of the universeit can't be too young nor too old for advanced life. It can't be too old because planets need to orbit around a hydrogen-burning star like our Sun, which is young enough that it has not yet reached the end of its lifetime. But the universe also can't be too young because a galaxy (where protective halos reside) must have time to undergo chemical evolution to produce metal elements. A high metallicity decreases the odds of having a nearby gamma-ray burst, since the stars that cause these bursts have relatively low metal concentrations.

It's not surprising that Earth seems to occupy a favorable point in the researchers' simulations: a place with minimal exposure to gamma-ray bursts, and at a time with many hydrogen-burning stars like the Sun, along with a high average metallicity. This special place and time may help researchers search for other possible locations of life in the universe.

"We would like to further refine this limit and extend the range of parameters (beyond just the cosmological constant) that influence the rate of gamma-ray bursts, and investigate their implications for the possible locations of planets that can harbor life," Piran said.

Explore further Researchers learn more about the possible role of gamma ray bursts on life extinction in the universe

More information: Tsvi Piran, et al. "Cosmic Explosions, Life in the Universe, and the Cosmological Constant." Physical Review Letters. DOI: Journal information: Physical Review Letters Tsvi Piran, et al. "Cosmic Explosions, Life in the Universe, and the Cosmological Constant.". DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.081301 . Also at: arXiv:1508.01034 [astro-ph.CO]

 2016 Phys.org
Credit: Mohd Hasrul Hamdan

Harvesting of oil palm fruits is now made easier and faster  thanks to Universiti Putra Malaysia and Malaysian Palm Oil Board which have jointly developed a new electric cutter innovation, known as E-Cutter.

Equipped with a specially-built generator that is light in weight, this electric cutter technology will also reduce manpower and enable harvesting of fruits and pruning of fronds to be done on trees as high as 30 feet.

"As it is easy, simple and very efficient to use, this tool will also enhance the process of harvesting of oil palm fruits, at the same time, increase the yields," Universiti Putra Malaysia (PM)'s Faculty of Engineering Researcher, Associate Prof. Ir. Dr. Norhisam Misron, said.

Associate Prof. Ir. Dr..Norhisam and MPOB Research Officer, Abdul Razak Jelani spent about five years on research into the technology.

"E-Cutter will complement the existing methods used in harvesting the fruits manually, such as long poles and sickles. This innovation will see an improvement to the "trimming" technology where the mechanical concept is being replaced with electric, making it to be more economical and environmental-friendly.

"The cutter will vibrate in cutting the oil palm fronds or fruits," Associate Prof. Ir. Dr. Norhisam said.

Unlike farmers who used mechanical tools and manual methods to harvest oil palm fruits or trim the fronds, he said E-Cutter used an electric concept to move it.

"This technology is developed via a system that combined an electric and motorised generator. A Double Standard Generator with high power density is used as the generator.

"It is lightweight and small but very powerful and it is portable for easy usage by farmers," he said.

He also said E-Cutter weighing less than 9kg, is generated by petrol and was developed using a research grant of RM300,000 provided by the Higher Education Ministry and RM180,000 by MPOB.

A demonstration on its use was held during the Show Case Produk Inovasi UPM-MPOB dan Malaysia Innovation Hub (MIH) ceremony at Taman Pertanian Universiti UPM. The event was also attended by Higher Education Minister, Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh; UPM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Datin Paduka Dr.Aini Ideris, and MIH Chairman, Tan Sri Dr. Ghauth Jasmon.

During the event, MIH as UPM industrial partner, also introduced an Oil Palm Harvester with Anti-brushing Collection System  a machinery that makes it easier for farmers to collect oil palm fruits from tall trees.

MIH Technical Consultant, Dr David Tan said the equipment could be run by just a single operator.

"The harvester also features a collection system to minimise bruising of fruits which could affect the quality of processed oil," he said.

Dato' Seri Idris, meanwhile, said both innovations could reduce dependence on foreign workers in the plantation sector.

Explore further Formula to get rid of black spots in papaya developed
FBIs Encryption War. Credit: flickr/EFF, CC BY-NC

Apple's defiance of the FBI's request to unlock the work phone of one of the San Bernadino shooters has become an all out PR and legal battle being waged on all fronts.

Although the case is ostensibly about unlocking a single phone, even the FBI has admitted that this is all about setting a precedent that would allow law enforcement unfettered access to anyone's phone.

For a start, the phone in question is unlikely to contain anything useful for law enforcement in this case. The phone was a work phone and Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had taken the precautionary step of destroying their personal phones prior to the attack. This care suggests that they would not have used the work phone for contacting possible accomplices.

The FBI has gone all out in its attempt to convince the courts that Apple is stopping terrorists from being investigated for the sake of its marketing strategy. The FBI's use of the All Writs Act received a setback in the NY Federal Court when Judge James Ornstein rejected the FBI's request to force Apple to assist in cracking another phone, one that belonged to a drug dealer. The judge ruled that the case was not just about a single phone but was setting a precedent that was "so far-reachingboth in terms of what it would allow today and what it implies about congressional intent in 1789as to produce impermissibly absurd results."

At the same time, a significant number of technology companies have filed "Amicus Briefs" in support of Apple's opposition to unlocking the San Bernadino shooter's phone. Mark Zuckerberg has posted

"Facebook stands with many technology companies to protect you and your information.Asking a single company to undermine the security of its product for a single, albeit important, investigation threatens the security of all of us in the long run."

The FBI hasn't found many friends in the US Congress' House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. One Congressman, Zoe Lofgren who represents Silicon Valley called the FBI's battle to defeat the encryption around the phone a "fool's errand".

This is not to say that the FBI does not have its own supporters in its quest against encryption. As I have written about before, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron also believes that the technology companies should provide law enforcement and governments with access to any technology at all times.

In the area of public opinion, Apple has published a letter to the court from the husband of one of the victims in the San Bernadino shootings. The letter said what many believe that the FBI already had a great deal of information about the killers and that he and his wife valued privacy and security. He wrote:

"Neither I, nor my wife, want to raise our children in a world where privacy is the tradeoff for security. "

Other family members of people killed in the attack have taken the opposite view filing letters in the court to support the request for Apple to help the FBI get access to the phone.

There is little doubt that the FBI are continuing to use these court cases as a means to apply pressure on technology companies to weaken encryption to allow them unlimited access. The lack of subtlety in their approach has resulted at least in everyone being fully aware of the stakes and the technology community has rallied as a consequence. The sides of this debate are as entrenched as those arguing for and against gun ownership, especially in the US.

As far as the individual cases in the courts are concerned and especially in the case of the phone involved in the San Bernadino shooting, the questions debated will hopefully be about the legal questions being raised. The Californian court may not take the view of Judge Ornstein and it will then be a question of whether Apple can take the matter to the supreme court.

Explore further US lawmakers call Apple, FBI to encryption hearing

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


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This popular and widely read blog acts as a Legal Commentary on issues affecting Town & Country Planning including recent changes in planning legislation and judicial rulings in planning cases, as well as some thoughts on other issues arising in the course of my work as a Planning Lawyer. It was originally intended mainly for fellow planning professionals, but all are welcome to read it. The views expressed are my own and nobody elses.
New solution allows online marketplace providers to provide tax collection

Boston, MA, March 8, 2016  Aiming to help businesses grow online sales by protecting them from increasingly onerous compliance obligations, Sovos announced today it will offer the industrys first global marketplace tax solution.

More and more of our Fortune 100 retail clients are launching online marketplaces, providing massive opportunities for brands to reach more consumers, said Andy Hovancik, CEO of Sovos Compliance, the 35-year leader in tax compliance software. Tax authorities are making it harder and harder for online

sellers to stay compliant, which puts everyone at risk. We help businesses grow by removing risk and streamlining the extra compliance work.

The global marketplace tax offering is the latest addition to the Sovos Sales Tax platform, already in use by many of the top 100 retailers. The unique two-pronged compliance solution helps both retailers managing marketplaces and sellers using those channels to sell with confidence. First, Sovos provides

real-time sales tax calculations on every sale in the marketplace, including more than 12,000 jurisdictions and 9,000 unique product taxability codes. Then, the solution fully manages tax filing to states and local governments for sellers, a process that generally costs a small business tens of thousands of dollars a year according to Aberdeen Group.

Top retailers badly want marketplace sellers to have access to the current tax rates because not only is it the right thing to do but its a competitive advantage, Hovancik said. Until now, the cost and complexity of most solutions has been a major issue. Our research suggests the lions share of marketplace sellers are completely out of compliance and we plan to change that with our global marketplace solution.

US online sales surged 14.6% in 2015 according to Internet Retailer. Small to mid-size business, a segment that makes up the vast majority of marketplace sellers, nearly doubled the overall growth rate. At the same time, state governments have gone on the offensive to capture sales tax revenue from remote sales further complicating already murky sales tax compliance rules.

The Sovos marketplace solution gives retailers an automated way to keep their businesses and their sellers ahead of the curve. Some of the most noteworthy new features include:

Continuous platform-wide rate updates in thousands of jurisdictions to reduce audit and penalty risk.

Multi-seller sales tax configuration allowing each marketplace seller to configure both jurisdictional and product tax settings to assist with processing of sales tax.

Automatic rules and rates updates from the Sovos enterprise tax team, with a leading library of sales and use tax data.

Support for multiple ERP instances to streamline implementation and migration for busy IT

departments at the worlds largest retailers.

About Sovos Compliance

Sovos delivers technology solutions to help businesses meet the demands of their unique tax, compliance and reporting obligations. The company enables over 4,500 clients to operate with the confidence to efficiently navigate todays dynamic regulatory environment. Sovos utilizes a unique ability to turn knowledge into highly functional, scalable software that seamlessly integrates with a wide-array of applications and information technologies used by businesses today. Sovos gives clients peace of mind by simplifying tax compliance, providing greater control and visibility, and mitigating compliance risk.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sovos.com

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AntBuddy is the winner of Vietnam Start Up competion. (Photo: Lien Hoang)

Lots of countries want their own Silicon Valley, and Vietnam is certainly one of them.

Last week, some Vietnamese entrepreneurs got a step closer to their tech dreams, thanks to a competition for startups.

Lien Hoang visited a co-working space in Ho Chi Minh City to meet the competitors.

If you learned anything about the Vietnam War, you probably heard how Vietnam was an underdog. The people were smart and determined, and thats how they beat a way richer country, the United States.

Today, this actually is not a bad analogy for some tech startups. Theyre full of smart young people who dont have as much money as big corporations. But they work hard, and sometimes, their ideas can change entire industries.

Maybe thats why startups are so popular in Vietnam -- theyre a way for underdogs to make it big.

Underdogs like Manh Tuan, whose website Ez4home.com helps people renovate their homes.

Thats him pitching his startup at a recent contest hosted by Tech in Asia, the media house. I attended the contest, and the room was so packed some of us had to stand and could barely hear the people talking.

There were five companies, and they had to convince the judges that, they had the best business plan. And the winner would get a trip to Singapore to meet investors and other startups.

One of the contestants was Windeliv, a smartphone app that connects shoppers with people who can deliver stuff to them by motorbike.

In Vietnam theres a lot of motorbikes, says Windeliv founder Dinh Thanh Cong.

And he is right -- there are 90 million Vietnamese, and more than 40 million motorbikes. But I should let him continue.

And unemployment rates are still high, he says, So thats why I believe that this kind of business model can be successful in Vietnam. Not only Vietnam, but also Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, India, and Indonesia.

You might think the startup scene is kind of similar everywhere [right]. You have techies taking their coding skills, and then teaming up with business people who are good at marketing or accounting.

But startups are also personal to each country.

For example, another contestant was BeeIO, which brings technology to agriculture.

And that makes sense when you remember that two-thirds of Vietnam is rural. There was also Vice App, which pushes e-commerce for physical stores, because Vietnamese still do most of their shopping in person.

These two didnt win the Tech in Asia competition. Heres one of the three judges, Ryu Hirota, describing the company that did win.

Theres no language barrier, says Hirota, Theres technically no border barrier. So I think they can deploy to many countries in Southeast Asia, as they stated.

Thats why the judges didnt take very long to reach a verdict.

It was a consensus. So there were not so many reasons, we didnt discuss that much, he says.

So  who was the winner?

Its called HTK Inc, which created Antbuddy, a type of software that helps coworkers communicate with one another in real time. I asked the product manager An Ha how victory felt.

My names An, Im with the Antbuddy team, we just won the trip to Singapore with Tech in Asia, she says, And we are very, very excited. I can tell you that my mouth has been hurting from smiling too much. So thats how happy we are.

Ha said the best part was that her company would get a lot more exposure now.

We havent got any funding whatsoever, and were looking for funding. So through these events, through the Tech in Asia conference, we have more chance to meet investors, she says, And by winning this, it gives us credibility because the judges here believe in our potential, the potential of our tool, and also the potential of the market we serve.

For startups in the audience that wanted to compete in the future, another judge, Eddie Thai, had some advice.

Make sure youre very clear about your problem statement, says Thai, Make sure you address the economics. Make sure you talk about how you are sustainably different from anything else.




India is among several countries that have decided to significantly cut its CO2 emissions.

After the Paris Climate agreement last December, India pledged a voluntarily 12 percent reduction.

One way the country plans to achieve the target is through responsible forestry.

Jasvinder Sehgal visited a forest in Telangana province, where farmers have planted millions of new trees.

The tribal women of Rajeev Nagar village, 19 miles from the Bhadrachalam are singing folk songs to bring good luck.

Their songs are a prayer to the local goddess, which is an indigenous tree.

While they sing the men play drums made of eucalyptus wood.

Everyone is in high spirits the night before the eucalyptus harvest, the third harvest in the last nine years.

Kesar Kantamma aged 60 is one among them.

We have earned more than $70,000 from the harvests. From the first harvest we built a new house, while the money from the second harvest was used to pay for our sons medical care, says Kantamma, We have also been able to send our four sons to school. My two sons are now teachers while the other two are serving in the air force.

64 year old Kesari Bajaroo is Kantammas husband.

He tells me about his trees.

I have 4,000 trees on my two hectares of land. Out of this, 2,400 are eucalyptus trees along with many indigenous plants on my four acres of land, he explains, I also have many medicinal plants. The other trees I have are mango, tamarind, casuarina and subabul. I also have madhuka latiforia, which is the local goddess.

Kesari has adopted the agro forestry model on his farmland where he grows vegetables under his eucalyptus trees.

He says the model is proving to be a great moneymaker.

Before I was living in a small hut close to my new house, he says, In spite of having land, my wife and I worked on agriculture farms owned by others. The new eucalyptus plantation and the agro forestry model has made me a good amount of money. Today, I own a jungle.

But the trees do much more than make money.





The social and farm forestry initiative program that Keasri is part has seen 4896 kilotons of CO2 sequestered this year.

The sequestration ultimately utilizes the atmospheric CO2 and coverts in into oxygen.

A major win for Indias emissions reductions commitment.

Under the program, started by local paperboard factory ITC, Bajaroo along with other farmers have planted a breed of eucalyptus tree that is more resilient and productive, and has a shorter harvesting time.

Sanjay K Singh from ITC explains.

We give them the best clones that we develop in our research and development, explains Singh, So the productivity is higher that fetches them a higher price. Along with this we also give them the good practices of fertilization, ploughing, all these good practices help them to improve the productivity of the farm land.

The special farm forestry plantation program is in strict adherence to standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC.

The council is an international NGO that ensures that forests and plantations are managed in a responsible manner, and in accordance with internationally recognized standards.

FSC representative T. Manoharan explains how India is pioneering responsible forestry.

Responsible forestry is happening and it continues to happen because India is very much [a] pioneer in terms of social forestry programs, agro forestry, farm forestry programs, he says, With the support of the farmers promoting trees outside the forests we can very well achieve the objectives of the responsible forestry.

Manoharan says there are several thousand small farmers in a cooperative framework.

And together they can make a difference.

Individual farmers may be having half a hectare or two hectare; they all formed a group and supporting to the FSC mission and standards through a coordinated way and are contributing to the global benefits, notes Manoharan.

Back at the forest, a group of small marginal farmers has called a meeting to discuss harvesting techniques and future plantations.

Bajaroo is the team leader of the group known as Sangha.

He says that members of his group adhere to the local laws and contribute to change the social, environmental and economic status of the village.

Its now morning in the jungle and birds are freely chirping in the dark, dense woods.

The farmers have started harvesting their trees, but with climate smart techniques, their work is helping India achieve its emissions goals.




Protest in solidarity with JNU students in New Delhi. (Photo: Bismillah Geelani)

A police crackdown at a prestigious Indian university and the arrest of several students on charges of sedition has sparked protests from student groups across India.

The current demonstrations come just weeks after controversial protests by Dalit students, and as Bismillah Geelani reports, the government is now on the defensive against what appears to be a slowly but steadily growing student movement.

At New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, or JNU, a professor is addressing a gathering of more than a thousand students.

Several academics, intellectuals and representatives of political parties are also here to express solidarity with the students, who have been staging a sit-in for the last two weeks.

The protests began after the arrest of student union president Kahayya Kumar, and several others, who have since been charged with sedition.

Authorities accuse the students of shouting anti-India slogans at an event commemorating the third anniversary of the controversial execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru.

The Kashmiri Muslim was convicted of involvement in the 2001 attack on Indias Parliament.

But students like Priya Devrit insist that Kumar was targeted because he didnt allow right wing students to intervene.

What he was essentially trying to do was protect the right to dissent and allow democratic freedoms of speech for students, irrespective of where they belong, because even the right wing says extremely hard line things, she explains.

But the fact is that they say it, we let them say it so if the extreme left takes a position to support self-determination movements of certain people whats wrong? The point is why such dissent is being scuttled in JNU, she adds.

Police also arrested a professor from Delhi University and charged him with sedition for organizing a similar event in the capital.

And a nationwide hunt is now ongoing to arrest dozens of other students believed to have participated in the JNU protest.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh says the government will not tolerate such activities.

The government is committed to act tough against such people. Anyone chanting anti-India slogans and questioning the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country will not be spared, says Singh.

JNU is known as the countrys most liberal university campus.

Hindu nationalist groups like the Bharatiya Janata Party, or the BJP, have described the university as a den of anti-national elements.

But critics view the current crackdown as a form of political revenge by President Narendra Modis-led, BJP government.

JNU student Devrit says the government is trying to impose a narrow definition of nationalism on the country.

The common sense in India has become that university spaces should align with a certain decorum which falls in with nationalist tendency, especially with this government in power because before this weve had supporters of Maoist movement, says Devrit.

It doesnt mean they are anti-national, they are talking of indigenous peoples rights so by that definition everyone will become anti-national, it will be very few people then in a university space who you can actually straightjacket into this frozen sense of nationalism, she continues.

Students and teachers from several other Indian and foreign universities have also come out strongly in support of the JNU.

Describing the crackdown as an assault on freedom of speech and campus autonomy.

The issue also caused uproar in the parliament for several days with the opposition strongly condemning the heavy-handed response of the authorities.

Jyotiraditya Sindia is an MP from the opposition Congress Party.

He says the government wants to silence the university students because they are highlighting the persecution of minorities.

Including the recent suicide of a Dalit student that led to nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists have made outlandish statements.

Like this one from Vikas Kumar, a member of the group Bajrang Dal.

They should all be thrown out and they should be hanged, he says, They are Pakistani agents and they are being funded by the Pakistani agencies, thats why they are indulging in anti-national activities.

Amid the continuing protests and nationwide debate around nationalism, calls are also growing louder for the revocation of the colonial era sedition laws.

Some believe Sanjay Hegde, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, explains.

The larger question really is about the sedition law itself, he says, It is almost equivalent to the blasphemy laws of Pakistan. Its very easy to allege that somebody is anti-national and then demonize the person. Its often an invitation to a lynch mob to take over.

Here in the capital, critics say the laws are being used to criminalize lawful dissent.




The union representing around 122 Canadian Pacific Railway workers in the region declared victory Monday, after an unannounced strike that lasted eight hours.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way union launched the strike at 6 a.m., surprising CP Rail with the work stoppage. Union members picketed near rail yards in Fort Edward, Whitehall and Saratoga Springs, which lie along CP Rails Delaware & Hudson line.

CP Rail spokesman Andy Cummings refused to disclose what impact, if any, the strike had on CP Rail customers, though he said passenger trains through the area were not affected.

The strike ended at about 2 p.m. Monday.

Amtrak was not impacted, but as far as impacts to our customers, we would just communicate that directly with our customers, Cummings said.

The union claims CP Rail has not paid employees fully for time they worked, has not accurately paid employees at their contractual hourly rates, paid employees incorrectly or not at all for holidays and vacations and deprived union workers of health insurance and supplemental sickness benefits while on medical leave or furlough.

The strike ended after a meeting was scheduled between union officials and company representatives, according to Clark Ballew, a spokesman for the union.

After our strike action this morning, Canadian Pacific has assured (union) members that those employees shorted on rates-of-pay, holidays and vacations  or otherwise shortchanged in any way through errors in its payroll department  will be fully compensated and made whole, the union said in a prepared statement.

The union and railroad company have scheduled a meeting for March 14 in Chicago to hash out the issues highlighted during the strike.

I am proud of our brothers and sisters on the (Delaware & Hudson), said Dale Bogart, the unions Northeastern System Federation general chairman, in a prepared statement. We all stepped out with conviction and courage today. We stuck together and we stood up for whats right.

CP Rail has been involved in a controversial effort to buy out rival Norfolk Southern since the fall. The Calgary-based rail firm has been repeatedly rebuffed by Norfolk Southern, which claims the buyout offer doesnt accurately reflect its value.

And any such deal would face significant regulatory hurdles, as no major railroad mergers have been approved since the federal Surface Transportation Board adopted rules for such mergers in 2001, according to an Associated Press report.

CP Rail also reportedly approached rival CSX Railroad earlier this year about a possible merger, according to the Associated Press.

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way officials suggested CP Rails merger goals might be behind its alleged payroll failings.

CP is desperately attempting to merge with Norfolk Southern Railroad, stated the union in its prepared statement. In an effort to make his company and its proposed merger more palatable to Wall Street, CP CEO Hunter Harrison has deliberately cut payroll staffing with blatant disregard to his employees.

This may win him praise from hedge fund managers and stock speculators, but it leaves our members, their spouses and children out in the cold.
GLENS FALLS  Glens Falls Mayor Jack Diamond has set an August deadline to finalize plans and negotiations for the citys proposed South Street catalyst project.

I have spoken with the economic development director and I have given him a time line, Diamond said in a recent interview at City Hall.

The Capital Region Economic Development Council identified the mixed-use, multi-building redevelopment project as an immediate priority in its application for the state Upstate Revitalization Initiative competition in 2015.

However, the region was not selected as one of the winning fund recipients.

The project would have transformed a privately owned former garment factory building at the corner of South and Elm streets, two vacant city-owned buildings and possibly other buildings.

As envisioned, it would have included space for the SUNY Adirondack culinary program, which is currently housed at a site the college leases on Bay Road in Queensbury.

The city-owned buildings are the former Hot Shots sports bar across South Street from the factory building, and a former warehouse building behind the Hot Shots building on Elm Street.

Diamond said if the project does not materialize by August, he will ask the Greater Glens Falls Local Development Corp. board, which he chairs, to authorize selling the two city-owned buildings piecemeal, perhaps at a reduced price.

Well address it at that point in time, and maybe theres an opportunity to look at the sale price, he said.

EDC Warren County President Edward Bartholomew would not discuss for this report the status of negotiations or potential state funding.

We are working on a goal to continue efforts of quality revitalization in the South Street area in a timely fashion with appropriate development and employment opportunities for the region, he said.

Bartholomew would not disclose the asking price for the two city-owned buildings.

Diamond said he does not know if the original developer is still interested in the project.

He said Bartholomew told him there may be some interest in the South Street project, but he did not offer specifics.

He thought he had some leads in the works, Diamond said. I dont know how interested they are at this time. I do hear there is still some interest.

Diamond said the August deadline gives enough time, if the larger project isnt going to happen, to still meet a goal set in his State of the City presentation to sell the two buildings by the end of the year.

Diamond said it took more than three years to negotiate with developer Sonny Bonacio, Glens Falls Hospital and the state on details of the mixed-used project now under construction on Hudson Avenue, next to the hospital.

He does not want to have another open-ended process as he prepares to leave office at the end of 2017.

Some of these economic development initiatives take a lot of time, he said.
Robert Nemer establishes college scholarship for teens

Bravos to Robert Nemer, a judge and sponsor of The Post-Stars Teen Excellence Awards, for his insistence on establishing a $5,000 college scholarship for one of the 21 recipients at the annual awards. The scholarship will be given annually, but Nemer hopes to get other community members to add even more scholarships in the future.

Granville school officials propose money-saving idea

Bravos to Granville school officials for bringing forward the idea of closing Mary J. Tanner School to save taxpayers as much as $667,000 a year. But during a forum that drew close to 100 people, the public made it clear it did not want to close the school. That appears short-sighted, considering the struggles local school districts have in holding the line on taxes while still trying to provide a quality education. The public should be reminded it is not the building that makes the difference in a childs education but the quality of the teachers and the programs. It was further disturbing to learn that many at the forum did not even want to listen to outside ideas of how to make their childrens education better. That is also short-sighted.

Moreau Town Board gives developer a refund

Bravos to the Moreau Town Board for refunding $371,000 to a developer who was forced to pay for sewer hookups before his project had even been built. The developer said he felt trapped by an overzealous building inspector. After hearing the story, the Town Board voted to refund the money.

Ann Marie Donohue spends career at Fort Hudson

Bravos to Anne Marie Donohue for her 41 years of service working at the Fort Hudson Nursing Center. These days, it is unusual for anyone to stay in one place for four decades, and nursing home officials will tell you it is often hard to keep someone for four days. Donohue is to be commended for dedicating her lifes work to the care of the elderly. It is needed today more than ever.

Queensbury athlete carries the flag in Lillehammer

Bravos to Queensburys Kalyn McGuire for being chosen to carry the flag in the closing ceremonies at the Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. McGuire is a skeleton racer who is a junior at Queensbury High. She finished 16th in the competition and was chosen from among 62 other American athletes competing.

Schuylerville pushes forward on zoning

Bravos to four of the five Schuylerville Village Board members who faced the music in a meeting with residents to discuss the details for the proposed zoning code. The board listened patiently for 90 minutes, going over the details and the reasons for the proposed code. The board is intentionally going slowly to make sure the village is comfortable going forward. That is absolutely the right approach and has so far been successful.

Diamond gave consolidation his best shot

Bravos to Glens Falls Mayor Jack Diamond for his well-intentioned efforts at consolidation between Glens Falls and Warren County. Diamond cannot run for mayor again because of term limits. His only ulterior motive was to improve the citys financial position for the future. It was also wise to give up the effort once it became obvious the political winds were against him.

Warren County stalls consolidation again

Boos to Warren Countys Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee for insisting on a study of police consolidation before continuing talks with the city. It was obvious from the start that county leaders did not want to go forward with this initiative, and with a study expected to take a year or more, this was simply another tactic to delay discussion of the issue. Then, after Glens Falls Mayor Jack Diamond announced he was giving up on the consolidation efforts, Glens Falls supervisors Jim Brock and Matt McDonald convinced county leaders that more discussion was needed, but now the mayor has bowed out, which leaves us more confused than ever.

Bravo from a reader: USW Local 649 steps up

Bravos to the United Steel Workers (USW) Local 649 in Easton for their donation to Comfort Food Community of 1,600 pounds of food and nonfood items. The contributions will go a long way in replenishing much-needed goods at CFCs Greenwich and Cossayuna food pantries. More than 130 union employees donated and shopped for the items, sensing the importance of conducting this food drive during the winter when supplies at pantries often run low.

 Nancy Fitzpatrick, Greenwich
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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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Since the opening of its first staffed campus pickup location at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., in February 2015, Amazons campus program has been steadily gaining momentum. By the end of this summer, the e-tailer will have staffed locations at seven additional universities from California to Texas and Massachusetts, as well as sites near two other universities.

In fact, Amazon Campus has gained so much traction over the past year that for the first time it took a small booth at Camex, the campus market expo, which is being held in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center from March 4-8.

On the opening day, the booth had a steady flow of booksellers inquiring about how Amazons bolt-on campus model, or staffed pick-up locations, works. As one bookseller, who requested anonymity, told an Amazon rep, Students are buying from you anyway. Wed rather have 1.5% of the sale.

Part of what sparked conversations at the show was an educational session on Amazon on Campus: The Next Generation of Campus Retail, moderated by Brian Collins, senior business development manager for Amazon Campus. But a number of college store staffers were caught by surprise by Amazons announcement on the opening day of Camex that it had added another partnership, this one for a pick-up location with University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.

Panelists Rob Wynkoop, managing director, senior enterprises and procurement services at Purdue University in West Lafayette, In., and Ruth Yanka, executive director, administration and finance operations at UMass Amherst, spoke about why their schools chose Amazon as their official bookstore of record. In both cases it came down to a frequently heard buzzword throughout the weekend, affordability.

Part of our engagement with Amazon was the result of an RFP [request for proposal] and reducing the cost of textbooks, Yanka said. UMass received six responses to the RFP, but chose Amazon primarily because of its pricing and customer service. Our students were already purchasing online and we wanted to get ahead of the curve, she added. UMass continues to work with Follett to sell apparel and other emblematic items, as well as general books.

For Purdue, which did not issue an RFP, it was an opportunity to provide additional choice and savings to our students. Student affordability is one of the key tenets at Purdue, Wynkoop said, estimating that the first semester that the university partnered with Amazon, students saw 30-35% savings on textbook and other material purchases .

Students at UMass found the transition to buying textbooks at Amazon relatively seamless. According to Yanka, the response was, duh, you havent done this already? By going with Amazon, she said that the longest wait times during rush was two minutes. Purdues Wynkoop called it a no brainer for students, although he acknowledge some apprehension from faculty and staff.

Although Amazon is known for its online retail, not every piece of Amazon Campus is online. In addition to having two brand ambassadors at each school, when Amazon is the official textbook provider, Joe Alpert, senior business manager at Amazon Campus noted, the e-tailer handles buy back for print textbooks on campus.

To a question on whether there will be more off-campus locations like the one in Santa Barbara, which are not necessarily in partnership with the schools, Collins said, We see the value of campus partnerships. It will always make a lot of sense for a location on campus.

Another college store staffer asked Yanka how shes filling budget holes, since Amazon offers a lower commission on textbook sales. So far, UMass has yet to address the issue, although as Collins pointed out, the commission isnt only on textbooks. He also noted that by partnering with Amazon, independent stores can improve their performance and optimize their selection and reach. Millenials are voting with their wallets and feet, he added about the popularity of Amazon among young people.

Although Amazon may be a solution on a growing number of campuses, not everyone is persuaded. At a session immediately afterwards on What Amazon Would Prefer You (or Your Boss) Didnt Know, Jeff Sieber, a bookseller at University Book Store, which is across the street from Purdue, and Jim Zaorski, CEO of Sequoia Retail Systems, spoke about the opportunities for independent bookstores despite much that Amazon does right.

Amazon is not after your book business, said Zaorski, one of a number of company-watchers who pointed out that Amazon wants to get young people as customers and to keep them for life.

Amazon's presence has not destroyed UBSs business. Two years later, were still here, said Sieber to much applause from the audience. Instead UBS has become more competitive about its pricing and also sources books from Amazon during nonpeak times, which gives it the inventory it needs to compete with Amazon and drives up Amazon pricing at rush.

The bookstore has also began offering free Wi-Fi, because it wants students to see that a required $17 chemistry lab book is being sold for $30 on Amazon. Weve become very transparent, Sieber said. We cant beat them on all books, but some books. Were down. But were still here. Were profitable.
Supporting inclusive investment in Ethiopias transition to a Climate Resilient Green Economy (CR GE) is a key policy priority for the government of Ethiopia.~To achieve this, policymakers will need to address financial and market development needs of prospective investors,including those of rural households, small and medium enterprises and start-up private sector enterprises.~In this paper, we focus on the role of national development finance institutions in mobilising and delivering finance for inclusive investment in CR GE. Based on a case study of the development Bank of Ethiopia, we find that national development finance institutions have the potential to deliver scaled-up and long-term finance to those who need it most.
Ghana's main export revenue comes from three sources: gold, cocoa and oil.

Coffee production was at its peak in the mid-1960s, hovering around 6,700MT. However, in 2009, coffee production recorded its lowest production of 1,140MT.

"As part of efforts to diversify sources of national revenue as well as provide additional income to farmers, the Government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board, intends to increase Ghanas annual coffee production from the current level of about 6,000 metric tonnes to 100,000 metric tonnes in the short to medium term," president Mahama said in his State of the Nation Address.

"Government support for COCOBODs Pilot Coffee Rehabilitation Project instituted in 2010 resulted in a gradual increase in production to 6,000 metric tonnes by 2015," he said

President Mahama said his administration is promoting coffee cultivation in areas considered as marginal for cocoa production.

"Parts of the Volta, Eastern, Central and the transitional areas of Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions such as Techiman, Wenchi, Bechem, Nkoranza, Atebubu, Kwame Danso, Drobo, Akomadan, Offinso, Jamasi, Mampong-Ashanti, Kete Krachi, Dambai are being targeted for aggressive promotion of the cultivation of coffee. "

In addition, he said the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana has developed high-yield varieties of coffee that, under good management, start bearing in 2-3 years after planting, with average yields of 2- 3 metric tons per hectare.

"With a projected planted area of 100,000 hectares over the next six years, it is estimated that from 2021, about 100,000 metric tonnes of coffee can be produced annually which will subsequently increase to about 200,000 metric tonnes over the next decade," he said.

Five million improved, early maturing and high yielding coffee seedlings are being raised and supplied to farmers, Mahama said.
Today, we are potentially on the cusp of such a change  driven by virtual reality (VR).

VR will not simply affect one particular industry or a scientific research need. They have the ability to touch every aspect of society  from prepping for surgery to traveling in space. The ideas and opportunities are endless, if we can focus on the core outcome and not be afraid to try new ideas and concepts.

Here are four ways that VR is transforming industries:

1. Reimagining the Body

VR will enable doctors to see the body in new ways, with technologies that can transform medical imaging into interactive 3D programs.

VR gives a very immersive way of looking at all this data, says Sandeep Gupta, manager of Biomedical Image Analysis at GE Global Research, which is working with some research hospitals on early-stage testing of VR technology to allow doctors to take a virtual tour of a patients brain.

The technology holds the potential to not only improve patient outcomes, but also cost. Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center found that VR simulations helped to reduce surgical planning time by 40 percent and increase surgical accuracy by 10 percent.

2. Empowering the Worker

On the factory floor or the oil field, VR can provide skilled laborers with the real-time information to improve their effectiveness and safety. Industrial wearables  smart gloves, helmets, glasses, watches  enable workers to communicate with machines via sensors connected through the Industrial Internet, allowing for higher level of efficiencies, productivity and even predictivity.

I have witnessed first-hand how human error can mean the difference between not just profit and loss, but life and death, and there is potential for 4D to vastly improve almost every process  from training new employees to assembling the most advanced machinery, says Andy Lowery, president of Daqri, a startup that has developed a smart helmet for industrial applications. The helmet, which Lowery dubs the worker empowerer, is equipped with a camera, sensors and a transparent visor that displays data superimposed over objects in the workers view.

Wearables powered by VR and the Industrial Internet are redefining the future of work.

3. Collaborating Across Space

It doesnt get more remote than space, and thats where the true potential of VR technology is being tested.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are experimenting with Microsofts HoloLens for mixed-reality interactions with ground control. Instead of having to rely upon voice commands from Houston, astronauts are now able to have an expert guide them through in real-time how to make a repair or perform a certain experiment in space which reduces the possibility of error. The device can also display animated holographic illustrations on top of the objects with which the crew is interacting, eliminating the risk that communication delays could complicate difficult operations deep in space.

HoloLens and other virtual and mixed reality devices are cutting edge technologies that could help drive future exploration and provide new capabilities to the men and women conducting critical science on the International Space Station, says Sam Scimemi, director of the ISS program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Given the remoteness and extreme nature of operations, space could be the final frontier for VR technology.

Off-the-Job Training

Given VRs early success in the gaming industry, its no surprise that some of the biggest promise for the technology lies in worker training applications. By introducing VR into an apprenticeship program, an industrial company could digitally transporting new employees to their future work environment without the added expense of relocation or fear of failure.

Engineers at Bosch have developed a virtual reality training experience to train auto technicians how to repair gasoline direct-injection (GDI) engines. By using virtual reality to train technicians, Bosch is creating a cost-efficient training program that directly benefits their bottom line, as Bosch projects it will have a 56 percent market share in GDI technology by 2017.

Training has been pretty much the same forever, says Rob Darrow, manager of strategic projects for Bosch. What is the future of training and how do you get tools to engage people and talk to them?

The power of VR is that it transports you to a place that you have never been to before  the future. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of how these technologies will impact industries and improve our lives. The future is bright.
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The Pilot project funded by the African Health Markets for Equity (AHME) would have Bolgatanga Municipal, the Kassena-Nankana Municipal and Kassena-Nankana West District benefitting.

The project, which is expected to commence on March 8, this year, would enumerate 11,800 core poor households in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal and Kassena-Nankana West District with 14,400 in the Bolgatanga Municipality to assess their income status before enrolling the poorest into the Scheme.

Launching the project at separate functions in Bolgatanga and Navrongo on Friday, the Regional Director of the Scheme, Mr Sebastian Alagpulinsa, observed that as the country develops over time, the populations demand for better social protection increases, hence the need for government to find innovative means to provide for health needs of the population.

He explained that the government, through the NHIS in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and other partners like the Department of Social Welfare and the district assemblies among others were implementing the project to address such needs of the people.

The Regional Director stated that as part of the project implementation, the Scheme would continue to embark upon sensitization programmes in the selected communities to educate them about it.

The Regional Director, who expressed dissatisfaction at some health service providers charging additional monies instead of sticking to the contract signed by them and the NHIS, expressed the hope that with the review of the service tariffs, which was expected to take effect from March 1, the problem would be solved.

The Director of National Operations of the Scheme, Mr Rockson Kofi Atakolie, said the three Districts in the Region were lucky to be selected to benefit from the package, and impressed upon the stakeholders including chiefs, assembly members and opinion leaders to support the project to succeed.

He mentioned that over the years, the Scheme had been grappling to identify the real people who were poor and vulnerable during enrolment and expressed the hope that the new project would help address the problem.

The Scheme Manager of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal and West District, Mr. Ayamga Agana Clement, said the Scheme was already enrolling vulnerable groups and school children and said the implementation of the new project would improve the scheme.

The Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar, who stood in for the Regional Minister, Mr Albert Abongo, lauded the new intervention and commended the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the funding agency, the African Health Markets for Equity.
Ghana has had both good and bad moments as a nation. However, we must congratulate ourselves as a people, and come together to develop our country. At this point in our national life, we must burry whatever divides us and forge ahead as one people in pursuit of peace and sustainable growth Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said this on behalf of the Council at a prayer session with staff of the Christian Council of Ghana in Accra last Friday to commemorate the Independence Day.

He said every Ghanaian has a moral responsibility towards the peace and development of the country. As citizens of this country, we must be determined and committed to the peace and growth of this country. This should inspire us to contribute to national efforts towards sustainable development.

Rev. Dr. Opuni-Frimpong also called on institutions responsible for sustaining the peace and development of this country not to act in a way that might create tension and violence.

Our state institutions and their leaders must also be proactive, non-partisan and work in the supreme interest of the country. State institutions must not act in any manner that can trigger public distrust and tensions, he added.
She said this at a ceremony to commission a 10-seater water closet toilet facility which was financed by the late MP at Akyem Old Tafo in the Abuakwa North constituency of the Eastern Region.

"We have been here without toilet facility since the school was established in 1890" she indicated.

The District Pastor of Old Tafo Presbyterian church, Rev. Maxwell Amagyei Antwi also expressed gratitude to the late statesman for his enormous support to the community and the constituency in general.

"He has been a true statesman to everybody and I hope God replaces him with someone who can continue the good legacy he (J.B) had done" he reiterated.

He said the facility will go a long way to ease problems both pupils and teachers go through in responding to their nature's call. He therefore appealed to school authorities to take good care of the facility in order to expand its life span.

Meanwhile residents of the community have called for justice to prevail concerning the gruesome murder of the late MP.
According to the proud new mum, she invested her time in prayer to God with a 30 day prayer journal.

Tonto who left for America last month to birth her baby welcomed her first child few weeks ago February 17, 2016, barely a year after her union was consummated traditionally in Rivers state.

The actress during her pregnancy continuously denied allegations of being pregnant and surprised fans with news of her delivery.

On August 29, 2015, Mr. Churchill paid the movie star's bride price in a private and traditional ceremony held at Tonto Dikeh's family home in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The event will start off with a Q&A session hosted by TheOtherStyle.com editor, Edwin Okolo and will include questions on how Deola started OmogeMuRa and how the she balances it with a 9-5 job and other projects.

Ive always wanted to meet with readers of my blog, she said. I meet a lot of my readers at events and parties and they always want to know about the blog and how I am able to do it all. I mustered up the courage and I decided to put together an event that allows me to meet, interact and have fun with my readers.
Folawiyo is highly regarded for her vibrant collections that mix traditional West African fabrics with modern tailoring and beaded embellishments. Over the years she has garnered international recognition for their work, including joining the Business of Fashion 500 (BoF) List for 2015.

The former lawyer, wife and mother of two has mastered the art of making traditional African prints appealing to not just Nigerians and Africans but the rest of the world. She has been present in the UK, the US, South Africa and Nigeria itself.

As for her career, the style star highlighted two major things thus far that she is grateful for. The first being the designer of the year in Africa award that she won , she described it as nice that not only in Nigeria were the loved, it was also beyond Nigeria.

The second feat, which was very high praise for the designer was being inducted into the Business of Fashion 500. According to the mother of two; for you to get that kind of recognition, youre doing something right..that was very nice to receive that honor. Its always encouraging when people can give you a pat on the back.

Personally, the beautiful lady gushes that her greatest accomplishments are her kids and being married; I dont care what anyone thinks, yes yes, im a sucker for my husband...children are a blessing and a reward.

She also talked meeting the man of my dreams and creating this family that we have. It means the world to me...the greatest thing that I have and I get to enjoy these people everyday.

She also added that her daughter was in boarding school and that she was happy that she was back home briefly on break. She also added that she would love to take her son to school more and that she enjoys his company.

In closing, She mentioned that her husband balances me out, my soulmate, only one that can tell me the truth sometimes and I love that.
The fashion and beauty Blogger, Deola Adebiyi who runs the 'OmogeMura' blog launched in 2012 will host a selected guest for the first time at the intimate event.

The event is a way for Deola to meet and connect with readers and followers of her blog - OmogeMuRa. OmogeMuRa is a lifestyle blog which focuses on fashion and beauty blog and was established in 2012. It started as a mini portfolio of work but has since expanded and grown into a prominent source in Nigerias fashion and beauty industry.

The event will start off with a Q&A session hosted by TheOtherStyle.com editor, Edwin Okolo and will include questions on how Deola started OmogeMuRa and how the she balances it with a 9-5 job and other projects.

Ive always wanted to meet with readers of my blog. I meet a lot of my readers at events and parties and they always want to know about the blog and how I am able to do it all. I mustered up the courage and I decided to put together an event that allows me to meet, interact and have fun with my readers. Deola Adebiyi of OmogeMura revealed about the Meet and Greet'.

The OmogeMuRa Meet and Greet will also include mini beauty makeovers, live fashion illustrations, photobooth sessions, giveaways and fun interactive games.

To register and save your spot, click here

Details:

Date: Saturday, March 12th 2-16

Time: 12pm  8pm

Venue: Avalon Lounge, 26 Maitama Sule Street, Ikoyi, Lagos

Entry fee  N1000 only

This event is proudly sponsored by Cointreau, Iyaoloja, Compass Consulting, Olori Cosmetics, and SheaLoveAfrica.
Shortly after the abduction saga of Ese Oruru was brought to a close, a lawyer and human rights activist, Tsembelee Daniel Sorkaa, brought the case of Paul to limelight, leading to Tambuwal setting up a probe panel to uncover the truth and return the girl to her family.

Patience Paul before her abduction

Photo Credit: Facebook

The young girl was reportedly abducted last year by Monde and Suleiman who are said to be members of the Hisbah group, and housed in the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto where she was forced to convert to Islam and given out in marriage.

The rescued teenager's brother, Isaac Paul, released a statement thanking the Governor for effecting the release of his young sister.

Read the statement here:

I, Isaac Paul, wish to use this opportunity to thank the Governor of Sokoto State, Governor Tambuwal, the Sultanate council, the Commissioner of Police in Sokoto, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, the Justice Development and Peace Commission, the general public, all public social medias, all Nigerians and other private NGOs both within and outside the country, who have assisted in one way or the other to help me see my sister Patience Paul, again.

I wish to use this medium to inform you all that as at the time of compiling this vote of thanks, Patience Paul, my sister who was abducted since 12th of August, 2015, at Gidan Kukah in Rungin Sambo area in Sokoto State, has been released to me in good health, with only a case of malaria after a test was run on her at the police clinic in Sokoto.

My joy knows no bound as shes now back home and reunited with her siblings.

Those who collaborated in it have all been arrested and remained at the state C.I.D, as investigation still continues with the state C.I.D, which will eventually end in court soon.
Eboigbe who was arraigned on 12 counts before Justice A. A. Okeke, was arrested by officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in the state, following a tip-off.

The victims who were between the ages of 15 and 21 years, were also rescued from Eboigbe.

Eboigbe had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were said to be contrary to sections 15a, 16 and 19b of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003.
"This is a single case and there is no epidemic and no outbreak. The Department of Health is prepared in terms of detection, isolation and treatment of those who could possibly be infected by the virus, Coloma said.
Badeh was sent to the Kuje Prison today, March 7, 2016, by presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang after his bail application was refused.

In refusing Badehs application, Justice Abang held that it was filed before his official arraignment.

The judge said further that the application will be properly heard on March 10, Badehs trial will commence on March 14.

The former CDS is facing charges of criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N3.9 billion.

He has been accused of spending the money on a vast array of propertiesin Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also allegedly recovered $1 million from Badehs home.

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Ambode gave the confirmation at a news conference at the Lagos House, Alausa on the rescue of the girls by security operatives in Sunday morning.

He said that the girls had been re-united with their families.

"The Lagos State Government is extremely pleased to announce that the three students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu who were were rescued by security operatives in the early hours of today.

"The three girls have been safely re-united with their families and the government wishes to assure Lagosians that their security is top priority and it will not relent in ensuring that Lagos remains safe and secure," he said.

He commended the Lagos State Police Command, the Department of State Security and members of the armed forces who worked tirelessly to secure the release of the girls.

Ambode warned that kidnapping or any forms of crime would not be tolerated in the state.

"Let me warn that our position is clear and unambiguous, Lagos State has the capacity and the will to go after every form of crime and criminality in order to safeguard lives and property in the state."

The state Commissioner of Police,Mr Fatai Owoseni, said that the girls were hale and hearty and were not molested by their abductors.

He said that the girls were rescued around Imota in Ikorodu.
In the ruling by Justice James Tsoho of a Federal High Court in Abuja today, March 7, proposed prosecution witnesses lined up to testify against Kanu will have their faces shielded.

Last week, the court had thrown out application by the federal Government, requesting to mask its witnesseswhile testifying against the Biafra leader, citing security reasons.

According to Vanguard, Justice Tsoho dismissed the objection by Kanus lawyer, Chuks Muoma (SAN), ruling that the request by the Federal Government for its witnesses to testify behind a witness screen did not amount to revisiting the courts earlier ruling prohibiting the prosecution witnesses from wearing masks.

The prosecution led by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Diri. had argued that the screen will only shield the witnesses from the members of the public present in court, the argument which was affirmed by the judge.

Justice Tsoho said the screen will not prevent the judge, the accused persons and lawyers to the parties to see the witnesses while testifying.

Also dismissed was Muoma's request that the court should discharge and acquit its witnesses because the prosecution did not produce its witnesses to enable the trial to commence today.

The judge ruled that the provision of section 351(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 relied on by the defence to ask for the quashing of the charges, did not apply to the circumstances of the case.

He said the court can only dismiss the charges against an accused person who is present in court when the complainant in the case is not represented in court.

Commencement of the trial was however scheduled for Wednesday, March 9.
A statement obtained from the Nigerian Armys social media page, and signed by Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, the acting Director Army Public Relations, said During the encounter, troops met stiff resistance from the terrorists. They however overcome and cleared Dure 1, Dure 2 and Jango, Dibiye and other suspected Boko Haram terrorists hideouts within the general area of the district. Three soldiers however sustained injuries as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). They were immediately evacuated for medical treatment and are in stable condition.

He also said Troops killed several terrorists and recovered 2 hand held Motorola radios one of which was booby-trapped, materials for Improvised Explosive making Devices and destroyed several grains storage facilities.

The Army spokesman also said It is imperative to state that we shall not rest on our oars in implementing the directives of our indefatigable Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai to ensure that Boko Haram terrorists are completely defeated and their remnants are cleared wherever they may be hibernating.
In a statement released by the Presidency in Abuja, the pensioner, Mrs. Julius, who retired as a cleaner from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, also pledged to contribute N1,000 every month towards the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons.

According to her, she made the donation because of the President's tested and trusted integrity, adding that she believes Buhari can restore Nigeria's lost glory and end corruption in the country.

The pensioner also commended the Presidents efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency and rehabilitate internally displaced persons, the statement said.

While receiving the donation on behalf of the President, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, expressed appreciation to Mrs Julius for believing in the Buhari administration.

We have a pact with Nigerians to change things for the better and we are on the right track. President Buhari and his team are working tirelessly to revamp the economy, combat terrorism and curb corruption, Adesina said.

Pulse recalls that during the 2015 Presidential campaign, a 95-year-old woman, Hajiya Fati Koko, popularly called Maitalla Tara,had donated her life's savings, N1 million, to support Buhari's campaign.
The suspect is claiming damages for the violation of his human rights and that of the inmates of Kuje Prisons, Abuja.

Premium Times reports that Okah listed some actions that amount to violation of the human rights of the prison inmates. They are:

1. The failure of prison authorities to stop drug and sex trade.

2. Refusing inmates conjugal rights.

3. Refusing him to make phone calls to his family members abroad.

4. Selective treatment of inmates based on their status.

5. His detention in solitary confinement without a warrant.

Also joined in the suit are Federal Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Prisons Service.

It was filed by his lawyer, Timipa Okponipere on February 15, 2016.

Recently, Okahs daughter, Tarila Okah, visited him in prison to get his blessing to marry her fiancee.

Charles Okah is the brother of Henry Okar, the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
Ibrahim, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in Kano on Monday, said that the hoodlums abducted the woman on Sunday in Ririwai town, near the notorious Falgore forest.

The forest serves as den for cattle rustlers and other criminals.

When contacted, the Police Commissioner, Mr Muhammad Katsina, confirmed the incident and disclosed that four suspects had been arrested.

"We have arrested four persons in connection with the issue and they are helping our investigation.

"Their intention was to kidnap the member,'' the police official said.

He said that the command's anti-kidnapping squad was already combing the Falgore forest to rescue the elderly woman.
According to the lawmaker who spoke to The Nation, the kidnappers invaded Ririwai town, near the notorious Falgore Forest, last Thursday night, and whisked away his stepmother, Hafsat Abubakar.

My stepmother, Hajiya Hafsat Abubakar, was in her room when they invaded the house on the fateful day, he told the newspaper.

He disclosed that the abductors are demanding N50 million ransom from the family.

Kano state police commissioner, Muhammad Katsina, who confirmed the incident said his men have arrested four fulani suspects in connection to the abduction.

We have arrested four persons in connection with the issue and they are cooperating with us," Katsina said.

Their intention was to kidnap the member because of his closeness to the big shots in the state. We are making efforts to rescue her alive."
You will recall that the girls were abducted at gun point from their school on February 29, 2016.

One of the suspects, Mr. Arigidi, who spoke to newsmen, said We went to Maya bridge to enter canoe and went to the school around 8 p.m.

After we gained entrance into the school, we took away three girls and we took them to our hideout. But along the line, we had disagreement between ourselves and I was actually the one that started it. I told other members of the gang that what we have done is not good and that I dont like it.

I know that security in Lagos State is now tight and I was telling others that there was no way we would get away with this kind of job considering the level of security in the state.

Adding that Three days after I ran away, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) then arrested me somewhere in Majidun and that was how I told them how we planned the attack.

Agiri also said One thing I will like to say is that if not for the fact that I was arrested, they would not have seen the girls because I was the one that revealed everything to the police.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that girls are back in school for regular academic activities as their examination begins next week.

The girls are back in school and they are also preparing for their forthcoming examinations, an anonymous administrative staff member of the seminary told NAN. This week is for revision and examinations will commence fully next week.

According to NAN, a parent, Bola Odu, who returned her children to the school, said the incident was a lesson for other school authorities to improve security around their premises.

He also advised them to always carry out proper screening and profiling of those to be employed as teaching and non-teaching staff.

I have a boy and a girl in the school and I have returned them after the kidnap incident was resolved, Odu said.

It was learnt that the school has beefed up security in and around the school.

On February 29, the three female students  Timilehin Olusa, Tofunmi Popo Olaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were kidnapped by gunmen from the junior seminary at about 8p.m.
Mrs Jackrich was said to be on her wayto attend a church service when she was taken away.

Confirming the development, the Legal Adviser for the council chairman, Mr. Tabu Tamuno-Dike, said the 56-year-old Mrs Jackrich, was kidnapped by four heavily armed men.

The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria ALGON), Rivers State Chapter, however described the abduction as "politically motivated."

The state ALGON Secretary, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, who is also the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the State, said the abduction is aimed at destabilising the PDP in the state.

The abduction is designed to distract the chairman of Asari-Toro Local Government Area from effectively mobilising supporters for the PDP in the forthcoming legislative rerun elections slated for March 19, 2016, he said.
Premium Times reports that the minister died in an auto accident along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

President Buhari in a statement released by Garba Shehu, said Barrister Ocholi was an accomplished and patriotic Nigerian, who was keen to accept the call to service at a time his country needed him.

Also, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar expressed his sadness at the death of Ocholi on his Twitter timeline. Saying Really saddened by the death of James Ocholi, the Minister of State for Labour, and his son. May they rest in peace.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu also said The tragic death of Chief James Ocholi is shocking and sad.My condolences and prayers go to his family. RIP @olulateef.
While the Minister and his son died instantly after the crash, his wife and the driver who were badly injured were rushed to the hospital but Mrs Ocholi died a few hours later.

The driver died today, March 7, at the National Hospital Abuja.

Dignitaries including wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari and wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo have thronged the Ocholi family home to pay their condolence.

The minister was on his way from a church program, with his wife and second son when the tyre of the SUV they were travelling in burst and crashed at Kilometre 57, along Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He was 55 years old.

Ocholi was appointed Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. He was also the Chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the Abuja chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association.

In 2011, he was governorship aspirant in Kogi State on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change.

Between 2013 and 2014, he was deputy national legal adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Last year, he made another attempt at the governorship race in Kogi state under the aegis of the APC, but lost at the primary election level to the late Abubakar Audu.

He was survived by four children - his eldest son Aaron, and three daughters.

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While speaking at the 2016 national summit and 4th international colloquium organised by the Centre for Human Security at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun state; he blamed religious leaders for the spread of extremism in the country.

I went to Syria when I was president of Nigeria. One of the places I was taken to was a refugee camp where those refugees have been since 1948, nothing has been done to them. How do you want their children to think? he asked.

In Norway, I met some members of the Taliban. We spent two days together. They are in the second echelon of the leadership, I was told the top ones will not come out and when we listened to them, we are bound to say yes, they can get something better than they were getting.

Obasanjo also blamed parents for not devoting adequate attention to the training of their children.

If we do not get it right from home, we have started losing the battle. Communalism is going down the drain. There is popular saying that four eyes brought a child to the world and 200 eyes nurtured the child. But where are the 200 eyes of the community? he asked.

We do everything with impunity. We have been dealing with issues beyond us. We ought to prevent it. Prevention is even cheaper than cure. Can we prevent? Can prevention be part or best of our solution? We can also see where things are going down. We have home or houses, what happened at home? What do we teach? Moral training starts from home. Home is very important, but parents do many wrongs.
Obasanjo said the anti-graft agency fared well during the tenure of Nuhu Ribadu, adding that the agency is now a toothless Bulldog.

OBJ said Honestly, when Nuhu was handling EFCC, he handled it in such a way that people coined the saying that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Nuhu Ribadu and then the thing you will ask is how did we go down? How did we lose that?
Ben Bruce reacted to the presidents comments via a Facebook post. It reads:

Its awkward for a leader to say no #ForexForEducation for our kids schooling abroad when his own kids school abroad!

Mr. President, these are people who voted for you. You ought to be more sensitive about their need for #ForexForEducation.

This year all tiers of govt, including the Presidency, will spend billions importing cars. If we can afford that, cant we afford #ForexForEducation

What do we expect parents whose kids have spent 2 years in schools abroad. Should their kids drop out after going so far? #ForexForEducation

Its not a matter of "those who can afford it". The parents aren't saying they cant afford it. They're saying they cant get #ForexForEducation.

I am an advocate for #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira but I accept that there are some courses that we don't offer #ForexForEducation

If we can provide foreign exchange to those going on pilgrimage, surely we can provide #ForexForEducation. Education is a priority!

These policies will have the opposite effect of what you intend. Nigerians will take their funds to neighboring nations #ForexForEducation

We as elected representatives of the people must be sensitive to their needs and reflect this sensitivity in policies #ForexForEducation
Buhari made the remark during a recent interview with Al Jazeera during his visit to Qatar.

I will like people to assess Nigeria, especially this government on where we found ourselves. When we came in, we found out that there were 42 ministries and we found out that the economy could not take 42, so we reduced it to 24. We also removed 21 permanent secretaries, he said.

People who want to be fair to us to sit and reflect, from the president to the ministers to the permanent secretaries were all taken over after eight successive governments of those who are now in the opposition.

So, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 percent loyal to this government, Buhari added.

The president said the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget are unfortunate adding that those responsible for the embarrassment will be punished.

Buhari also recently revealed that the 2016 budget that is currently being debated at the National Assembly is not the one he presented to the legislative house.

The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never had I heard the words budget padding, he said on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, while addressing members of the Nigerian community in Saudi Arabia.

Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team. The Minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.

What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished, he added.

The budget has been the centre of controversy since it was reported missing from the Assembly premises in January.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki later said that two different versions of the document had been submitted to the legislative house.

The saga has led to the sack of the Director-General of the Budget Office, Yahaya Gusau while Buhari is said to have also ordered a cleansing of the office.

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Fayose stated this in statement signed by his spokesman, Lere Olayinka.

The government of Ekiti State may have to reconsider the usefulness of men of the DSS in the government house and other institutions of the State government, Fayose said.

He accused the All Progressives Congress and the Federal Government of plotting to truncating democracy in Ekiti State and other states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party, like Rivers and Bayelsa.

If Buhari likes, let him relocate all DSS men in Nigeria with the entire ammunition in their armoury to Ekiti, the will of Ekiti people can never be broken, he said.

They will only try, and like they have always done, they will fail because dictatorship has never triumphed over the people.

Even Buharis dictatorship between 1984 and 1985 ended one day and Nigerians will also outlive his present dictatorship.

Fayose said the Lawal Daura-led SSS has deviated from its primary assignment, which according to the Security Agencies Act Cap. N74 LFN, 2004, is to provide intelligence for the protection of the internal security of Nigeria.

He: Instead of assisting the police, military and other security agencies with classified matters, we now have a DSS that is running after perceived opponents of the president, arresting goat and fowl thieves as well as husbands who assaulted their wives.

If the DSS was alive to its responsibilities, we wont be having Boko Haram insurgents killing Nigerians, all these kidnappings and Fulani herdsmen killings, raping and destroying farmlands in the South-West, South-East and North-Central zones in the country would have been nipped in the bud.

It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari and his APC and those keeping silent now because of politics may also end up in the belly of this roaring lion that is threatening to consume our democracy.

Therefore, Nigerians and the international community should take special notice of the use of the DSS and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to muscle opposition.

As for me, I wish to say once again that I am not among those Nigerians that are afraid of harassment by any agency of the federal government.
The bill for a law to substitute the Kaduna State Religious Preaching Law, 1984 will license all clerics in the state including quest speakers if passed into law.

Pulse gathered that the bill is in conflict with the Section Four of the Nigeria Constitution on the right to worship.If passed into law, the governor will have the sole power to appoint individuals to issue or not licenses for people willing to preach in designated areas of the state.

Section Four of the bill is demanding that the two major religions in the state, Christianity and Islam will be regulated by a committee of Jamaatu Nasil Islam- with equal representation of Izala and Darika in case of Muslim and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Christians.

It was gathered that an Inter-faith Ministerial Committee will be appointed by the governor to exercise supervisory control over CAN and JNI.

The bill which has scaled through first and second reading and now at a committee level, had secured input from CAN and JNI without a public hearing.

Let me tell you, all processes that will make this bill to be passed into law have been completed except for the public hearing. The committee members are working very fast to pass the bill and not necessarily calling for a public hearing a source at the Kaduna State House of Assembly said.

A member of the joint Committee, who is also the Assemblys committee chairman on Judiciary, Irimiya Kantiyok could not immediately comment.

Pulse gathered that the bill which has been summarized into 15 points, is also seeking to issue license to all preachers in the state for a period not exceeding one year. External preachers will be licensed within the period of their programmes in Kaduna, it was gathered.

All licensed preachers would be registered and accredited to preach in all the local governments while clerics without license, or people who plays religious cassette or uses a loudspeaker for religious purposes after 8pm in a public place, uses a loudspeaker in vehicle plying the streets with religious recordings, abuses religious books or uses any derogatory terms in describing any religion among others shall be liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine of N200,000.00 or both or have his license revoked.
Bello told the that the abduction was a vindication, further highlighting that in the past all efforts to rescue the victim turns out unsuccessfully.

The right thing is now being done. I say this because we have witnessed a lot of similar situations in Kano State in the past. And many a time, our efforts to return the abductees to their families were unsuccessful. We just hit brick walls.

We have pursued such issues in the past without any success. Our ladies were abducted and we had to approach the Islamic groups, for instance, the Hisbah Command, and nothing comes out of it.

Sometimes, they keep the girl(s) with the Hisbah Command. Sometimes, they keep the girl(s) with the local chief of the affected areas, what they call Hakimi.

I dont think they are really innocent. Truth is truth. Justice must be seen to be done. How do you abduct even a daughter of a pastor? A pastor, his daughter, was abducted in Kano here and it was a tug of war .I am not even sure how it was eventually resolved.

There was a limit to which anyone can push a matter of this nature; otherwise it might lead to religious crisis.

We want the other religion to understand that whatever they dont want us to do them, they should not do it to us. I dont think we will like to do that to any Muslim girl.

We dont abduct Muslim girls and then, force them into conversion. No! If you marry your wife properly, with all the consents that are needed and your wife decided to be a Christian or Muslim, so be it!

Nobody is against any young couple getting married if they reach the age of marriage, if they are of age; but things should be done properly and, according to all the existing rules of their tradition, culture and faith, he said.
Mustapha made the declaration on Monday while inspecting ongoing construction at the proposed site of the institution in Jimtilo near Maiduguri.

He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done at the Senate Building and the five faculties of the institution.

Mustapha urged the contractors to meet the September deadline for the completion of the project to enable the authorities seek permission from the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the institutions take off.

The don lauded the state government for releasing N3.6 billion out of the N4 billion earmarked for the project.

Mustapha assured that the committee would work hard to ensure that the university emerged as one of the best in Nigeria, in terms of facilities and academic staff.

According to reports by the News Agency of Nigeria, that the committee was first inaugurated in 2010, under the chairmanship of late Prof. Nuru Alkali, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri.
According to Leadership, the association expressed their displeasure that despite the exorbitant rate charged by these insurance industry, no move has been made to compensate families of students who lost their lives as a result of illness or the ghastly accident.

NANS senate president, Comrade Royce Odoh Ochai, speaking to journalists in Jos, urged management of tertiary institutions in the country to wake up to their responsibilities.

He said, We have watched with keen interest the recent happenings on our campuses, most especially the high rate at which we lost our beloved student(s) through accident and sickness.

It is a very sad development that virtually all campuses in Nigeria, both federal and state institutions, ranging from monotechnics, polytechnics, colleges of educations and universities receives huge amount of money from Nigerian students compulsorily for the purpose of insurance, but it is highly disappointing that such fee are not being used for what they are meant for.

We lost many of our students of recent and it is so disheartened that even at the exorbitant rate we paid for Insurance policy, the management of institution cannot compel these unseen insurance brokers to pay claims or benefits to the victims of this untimely death.
According to TheNation, the student staged the protest on Saturday, March 5, to express their displeasure over poor facilities and epileptic power supply which have been plaguing the university community for some time now.

They barricaded the gate around 11:05am while chanting songs and carrying placards with the messages, no light, no water.'

The aggrieved students accused the school authorities of ignoring the problems in spite of the several efforts made to call its attention to the situation.

President of the Students Union, Mr. Olateju Oladimeji, lamented that the union had written the authorities over the problem but that there had been no positive response.
The United Nations has a decades-long arms embargo in place against Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991.

The Australian navy, which patrols waters around the Indian Ocean as part of an international maritime force, said it had seized nearly 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes from the fishing vessel.

In 2013, the U.N Security Council eased some of the embargo restrictions, allowing the Western-backed government in Mogadishu to buy light weapons to bolster its armed forces in the battle against Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, who are aligned with al Qaeda.

One Western security source said the street value of the Australian Navy haul appeared to be more than $2 million.

The Australian Navy did not indicate who was the intended recipient of the weapons, which were found hidden under fishing nets. As well as al Shabaab, some regional states in Somalia operate and equip their own militias without the approval of the central government.

A Somali government spokesman could not immediately comment on the Australian Navy statement.

The navy said personnel from HMAS Darwin had boarded the fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles (313 km) off the coast of Oman to verify which flag it was sailing under and they determined that it was stateless.
Leading the field is Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, a former economist and investment banker backed by both Boni Yayi and the main opposition Democratic Renewal Party.

By relinquishing power as mandated by law, Boni Yayi stands out from leaders in countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo Republic, who have circumvented limits on their time in office.

Zinsou has promised to restructure the economy, aid small businesses, improve access to micro-credit and create more jobs, especially for young people.

Local media later said provisional results showed that Zinsou would advance to a run-off election, having gained a plurality of the votes, and would face prominent businessman Patrice Talon.

There were no results yet from the national electoral commission.

Benin produces cotton, but its economy is flagging, in part because falling oil prices have hit its neighbour Nigeria, its largest trading partner. A big choice facing voters was who would best create jobs and improve education.

There were fears that the election would be marred by logistical difficulties, but there were few problems, barring small delays, electoral commission member Moise Bossou said.

Some polling stations in the capital stayed open beyond the set closing time to allow people already in line to cast their ballots, a witness said.

"It's a matter of pride for me to have done my duty as a citizen," said Clarisse Nibime, who voted in the capital.

The election reinforces Benin's credentials as a model of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. The country became the first to move from dictatorship and single-party rule to multi-party democracy when it held elections in 1991.
Geoffrey Mwamba, vice-president of the United Party for National Development, was arrested on charges of inciting violence against Lungu last week. Police said he had threatened to "go for his throat".

Political tensions are mounting before presidential, parliamentary and local elections in Aug. 11.

Mwamba was also arrested then released by the police last week on separate charges of training party supporters to become an illegal militia.

President Lungu a fortnight ago accused the opposition of training party supporters to cause voilence during the elections.

Mwamba also denied that charge and his party said the arrests of 21 of its members on similar accusations were meant to intimidate the opposition before presidential elections.
Barakat, 64, was killed in a car bomb attack in Cairo in June 2015. He was the most senior state official to die at the hands of militants since the toppling of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013. There was no confirmed claim of responsibility.

A judicial source told Reuters that six men had been detained but did not give details on their affiliation or charges they faced.

Judges and other senior officials have been targeted by radical Islamists opposed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and angered by prison and death sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other government opponents.

The Egyptian judiciary says that it is independent of the government and military, but some judges have been accused of bias after handing down lengthy jail terms and mass death sentences.

The attack last June cast doubt on Egypt's ability to contain an Islamist insurgency that has been targeting higher-profile targets.

Egypt is grappling with a Sinai-based insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the Sisi, then military chief, ousted the Brotherhood's Mursi after mass protests against his rule. The Brotherhood was soon after banned and designated as a terrorist organisation. The group says its peaceful and that it rejects violence.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items for Monday:

ELDORA TRAINING SCHOOL: Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday that he has no plan to close the State Training School for Boys in Eldora. Branstad in 2014 ordered the closure of the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo, and a national anti-youth prison advocacy group has the State Training School in Eldora on its list of facilities it thinks should be closed. Branstad said his administration is "not looking at closing Eldora" and noted there were issues specific to the Toledo facility, including allegations of abuse. Regarding the mission of the advocacy group Youth First, the state said it does not consider the Eldora facility to be a youth prison. The state Department of Humans services told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that the Eldora facility "provides treatment and educational services within a structured setting to assist youth who are adjudicated delinquent."

PSYCHIATRIC MEDICAL RESIDENCY: State officials Monday touted the creation of mental health residency programs in central Iowa that are expected to create up to 10 new psychiatric residency positions in Iowa annually. Gov. Terry Branstad said the state has put up $2 million annually to help fund a match program to recruit and retain psychiatric professionals in Iowa. Residency programs will be formed at Broadlawns Medical Center, UnityPoint Health in Des Moines and Mercy Medical Centers in Des Moines in coming years. It will be aided by legislation intended to reduce barriers for medical residency programs to receive funding and to increase the ability for significant investments to be made into more costly residency programs such as psychiatry. Organizers hope the residency programs will encourage more physicians and mental-health specialsits to establish practices in Iowa upon completion of the training.

APPEALS BOARD SETTLEMENTS: The three-member State Appeal Board on Monday approved judgments and settlements involving claims brought against state agencies and their employees. Without dissent, the board approved a judgment ordered by a federal judge for $298,919 in attorney fees stemming from a challenge the Iowa Right to Life Committee brought against the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Board over state forms and the reporting requirements for political action committees. Jeffrey Thompson of the Iowa Attorney General's Office said the judgment settles disputes that were resolved by the courts or legislative action in the wake of a complaint that was litigated through the state and federal court systems. Board members also approved an $80,000 payment to an estate in the 2013 death of a patient at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. A separate $10,000 payment was approved to settle allegations related to sexual orientation and disability discrimination brought by a former Iowa Workforce Development employee who applied for a job with the state Department of Public Safety, and a $70,000 payment was approved to settle damages resulting from a controlled burn by the state Department of Natural Resources that got out of control and burned buildings and vehicles on an adjacent property.

AFSCME RALLY: AFSCME union members plan to hold a Rally for Staff Safety outside of the Iowa Department of Corrections Central Office in Des Moines on Wednesday afternoon. The gathering at 3:45 p.m. will focus on issues that affect safety at state prisons and community-based corrections facilities, according to organizers who also plan to deliver a petition from Iowans calling for safety issues to be addressed. AFSCME Iowa Council 61, which represents correctional officers in the Iowa prison system, recently expressed concern over an escape at the Newton prison and called on the warden of the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville to "take safety seriously" following inmate assaults on staff members. The rally comes at a time when members of the Legislature are fashioning state funding priorities for the 2017 fiscal year that begins July 1.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "That's really up close and personal."  Gov. Terry Branstad in describing a conversation he had with then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, inside a phone booth in the Hotel Savery in Des Moines in 1976.

 Times Bureau
JAMA Psychiatry DOI: Kim, S., De Vries, R., & Peteet, J. (2016). Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Patients With Psychiatric Disorders in the Netherlands 2011 to 2014DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2887

Once again the uncomfortable topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) is covered on this blog ( see here for the last entry ) as I discuss the findings reported by Scott Kim and colleagues [1] who reported on the "Accompanied by some media interest ( see here ), the Kim paper provides an important overview of the: "" in relation to EAS. As per other countries, certain legal protections are currently in place in the Netherlands when it comes to EAS. Although it is widely assumed that EAS is generally 'linked' to the presentation of physical conditions, either limiting life or causing extreme suffering, there is an increasing number of people turning to such options on the basis of the effects of psychiatric and/or behavioural conditions/labels/disorders. Before you form any snap opinions about the 'rights and wrongs' of this, it is worth bearing in mind the far-reaching effects that psychiatric conditions can have on a person and how this manifests in relation to issues such as suicide rates for example. I say that last sentence whilst making no personal value judgements on the provision of EAS.Kimanalysed data on 66 people who received EAS. 66 people who are no longer with us. Most were women (70%) and most had some history of 'psychiatric admission' (80%). About half of the cohort had a history of suicide attempt(s). The types of diagnoses/labels applied to the cohort ranged from depression (35%) to psychotic disorder(s) (8%). As per the last occasion when EAS was discussed on this blog, mention of the autism spectrum is made in 2 of the 66 cases reported on. Also: "" I might add that those are words actually included in the case reports analysed." Alongside the psychiatric or behavioural presentation of cases, Kim and colleagues also report on the presence of various comorbid medical conditions. Many (58%) had a least one medical condition. Some (18%) had 3 or more including: "Various other points are covered in the Kim paper which I would encourage interested readers to peruse. The bottom line is that procedures pertinent to EAS in relation to psychiatric/behavioural manifestations are being utilised and a degree of diversity is present among those seeking such an extreme alternative. That social isolation and loneliness are part of the reasons why EAS is being sought is also an important point to reiterate.The accompanying editorial on the Kim paper ( see here ) also makes for an important read. Questions are raised: "" that have some really important repercussions particularly in view of the discussions on a good death ( see here ).I do finally want to pass comment specifically on the inclusion of autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in amongst the Kim case files. My view is the same as it was the last time I discussed this topic:'I know the idea of modifying the presentation of autism is not palatable for everyone, and that society also needs to play a role in how people with autism / autistic people are welcomed and supported. When however a label such as autism potentially leads, or is contributory, to a path whereby a person considers ending their own life by suicide or euthanasia, I find it difficult to say that we should just stand back and watch from the sidelines.'More research on this uncomfortable topic is of course implied.----------[1] Kim SYH.. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide of Patients With Psychiatric Disorders in the Netherlands 2011 to 2014.. 2016. Feb 10.----------
views and poetry from an anarchist perspective.
HELENA - A chance encounter with a homeless woman changed the lives of Karen Olson and thousands of homeless families.

Olson, who founded Family Promise in October 1986 after that meeting, spent the next three decades increasing awareness about homeless families with children and inspiring others to give them hope in the future.

Family Promise has grown into some 200 affiliates nationwide and has helped more than 650,000 people, Olson said during a recent visit to Helena which is home to one of the organizations five affiliates in Montana.

This was her first visit to Helena, although she has previously been to Montana. Her visit to the state was on behalf of a fundraiser for the Bozeman affiliate and to visit all five of the Montana affiliates.

Olson is an advocate for affordable housing and a livable wage that will allow people to afford housing. She is critical of the lack of national outcry for those who have no housing and live in camps or in vehicles out of sight in parking lots in the shadows of big box stores.

Even though this is an election year and presidential candidates are crisscrossing the nation to spread their messages, the issues that Olson champions are not in the forefront.

Its not on the agenda at all because its not popular, she said.

The count held each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is kept low because of the time when the annual count -- the Point in Time Survey -- is conducted, Olson said.

While people living on the streets, under bridges or in vehicles may be counted, not so for those families that are doubled or tripled up in cramped quarters with friends or relatives, she explained.

Its also not popular as there's not a constituency for the homeless, Olson said.

Unlike advocate groups for the elderly, for example, theres no national voice for the homeless, she added.

Theres not the political will to create the policies to make housing affordable, Olson said, nor is there a national outcry for this tragedy.

Without the political will, she doesnt see homelessness ending soon.

Allocating and appropriating money for community development corporations, such as Habitat for Humanity, could make housing more affordable, she explained of one possible solution.

Family Promise of Greater Helena is preparing to mark its fifth year, said Nick Zullo, the Helena affiliates director.

The local affiliates roughly $500,000 annual budget relies on in-kind contributions and volunteerism for $350,000 of that total, Zullo has said. Three to five families at any time may be participating in Family Promise.

About 53 families have been helped since the Helena affiliate opened, he said, and noted that 18 of them were assisted in obtaining housing in the last 14 months alone.

What allows families to move toward finding housing are 908 volunteers and 26 area churches, Zullo said.

Family Promise would not have grown were it not for them, the volunteers who have gone above and beyond, Olson said.

She also lauded those who have opened their pocketbooks to donate.

Each of the churches participating in the Family Promise program houses a family for one week every three months as the family moves toward economic self-sufficiency and the goal of being able to afford housing.

Carroll College also participates in the program and makes housing available to families for a month each June while students are gone.

Olson, who was at Carroll College for lunch as part of her itinerary here, spoke of how she got involved, which began in New York City when she decided to take a sandwich to a homeless woman whose belongings filled the bags she carried.

Until that day, Olson, who marketed products such as razor blades and mouthwash, watched as others passed by those laying on sidewalks and streets as though just a part of the urban landscape.

But on a day not unlike others, this homeless woman who looked despondent caught Olsons attention.

Way back when, I always wanted to make a difference, Olson said as she recalled that day and what compelled her to take those first steps that led across a Manhattan street to buy a sandwich for the woman.

The food provided a conduit for conversation. Olson got to hear Millies story and learned Millie hadnt eaten since the previous day.

Olson would hear more stories in the coming weeks from other homeless people as she and her two sons took sandwiches to feed those who lived on the streets outside the Port Authority bus station in Manhattan.

Homelessness was no longer an abstraction for Olson. She had faces and names to attach to stories of life on the streets. And from her experiences, she reached conclusions about homelessness.

The issue really isnt homelessness, Olson said. The issue is poverty.

Poverty is the root cause of homelessness, she continued and added, Homelessness is a symptom when you look at it.

About half of those Family Promise has helped nationwide are homeless and the other half, Olson explained, are at risk of losing their housing.

A higher minimum wage, she said, would certainly go a long way toward ending family homelessness.

Olson saw her community of Summit, New Jersey, a 40-minute drive from midtown Manhattan, being mostly unaware of homelessness. Her skills in marketing led her to organize a conference on homelessness and 200 people came for the all-day event. Homeless families told their stories too.

Subsequent meetings with participants on creating a shelter for those without homes failed to produce a building she hoped to see renovated for this purpose. Officials with the churches that she spoke with declined to offer space for a shelter.

But from this disappointment came the concept of 13 congregations each hosting a homeless family on a rotational basis. Although the homeless families couldnt stay in the churches during the day, the YMCA provided a place for them.

That first year, about 70 percent of the families found housing, Olson said. Volunteers provided housing, security deposits for rent, furniture, clothing and vehicles and made other vital contributions.

Volunteers were going above and beyond, she said.

Those participating in what became Family Promise today are able to remain in the churches where they stay as they advance through the program.

More than 170,000 volunteers nationwide make this possible, Olson said.

Families that become homeless can disintegrate, become more expensive for society because of substance abuse treatment and prevention that they can require, she explained.

So too does she see society paying a price for children who are homeless and more likely to fail in schools and have social and emotional problems.

Its a tragedy in the United States that 2.5 million children and their parents will be homeless this year, Olson said. It just should not be. We can do better.

For Olson, the good thats done through Family Promise is clear.

When families find housing, jobs -- housing that they can afford -- they are given hope, a new outlook on the future. How do you put a value on that?

How do you put a price tag on that? You cant.
BUTTE  Any kid who loves haircuts may be a cut above his peers.

Nolan Drake of Butte, a Lego-loving 4-year-old, gladly let his golden locks grow long for an entire year then donated the hair to charity.

He wants his dearly departed hair to be made into natural wigs, specifically for kids. Christina Drake, his mother, let him make the call  despite his previous hatred for haircuts.

"He made the decision about a year to a year and a half ago that he was going to grow out his (already long) hair and donate it to children who don't have hair due to illness or disease," said Christina.

On Thursday, exactly one year to the day since his last haircut, she took her precocious son into Beauty on Broadway.

Then cosmologist Kyle Marshall started snipping Nolan's precious locks.

"I have cut a little girl's hair for charity, but not a boy's before," said Marshall. "He was very good. He was probably one the best toddlers I've had. I'm super proud of him."

Marshall said her shop usually uses Locks for Love, a charity that converts donated natural hair to wigs.

But after much research, Christina selected Children With Hair Loss, a nonprofit based in South Rockwood, Michigan. The charity takes donations  monetary and follicle  to make human hair replacement wigs for children with medically related hair loss.

"I read reviews and audits, and from what I read, they've got only one paid employee," she said of Children With Hair Loss. "It's totally nonprofit, and they don't charge for the wigs, so I figured that was the one."

Plus, the charity only required a minimum of eight inches of hair. Nolan ended up with about 10 inches, reaching nearly to his elbows. Some organizations require 12 inches.

"It was pretty long," Christina said "He was totally satisfied. He couldn't wait to show all his friends his boy haircut."

Jennifer Smith, Nolan's Silver Bow Montessori teacher, used his charity experiment as a teachable moment for her early education class of 25. Nolan is one of the oldest students among the 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds.

"Some of the older kids understood enough," said Smith. "You don't need to give them a lot of information. I explained to them about sick children taking medication, losing their hair and needing wigs."

Smith took before-and-after photos of Nolan to share with the students.

"Montessori is very experiential and concrete, and that's real hair," Smith added. "We wanted to have some fun with it. As soon as Nolan walked in Friday wearing his stocking cap, he said, 'I did it.'"

In keeping with the school's mission, Nolan was a big hit with his school mates.

"We're all very close to each other, and some of the older students know, too, and we were excited to see him," Smith said.

Montessori, a private school for kids ages 3 to sixth grade, stresses hands-on learning while nurturing "independent children engaged in joyful learning" in its mission statement.

"He's a great boy  a very kind, empathetic child," Smith said. "It's been a neat thing to share in the classroom."

Nolan will turn 5 on March 26, then he moves up to the big leagues next year: kindergarten at Margaret Leary Elementary. His willingness to part with his hair impressed everyone.

"That's a pretty significant decision for such a young child to make," added Christina. "He's got a heart of gold, that kid. Now he wants to do it again."

Little brother Logan, a redhead, wants to follow big brother's lead.

"Logan never has said anything negative about his brother's hair," Christina said. "But yesterday he told me, 'I want to grow my hair out.'"
Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
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.
Contact:

Mostly, the Rude Pundit doesn't give a shit what you have to say, but, if you have to say it, you can write to Lee Papa here: rudepundit(at)yahoo(dot)com
The New York Times - March 3, 2016

My Father, the Editor, Under Fire

by Tahmima Anam

I scrolled through a series of videos and images. The first one was titled aConfession,a and featured a newspaper editor being harangued by a talk-show host. Further down, I saw a photograph of a crowd burning an effigy of this man. There was another, a Photoshopped image of the man with devilas horns affixed to his head. Then there were the news stories, the tally of lawsuits against him rising to 30, 40, 70 cases. Finally, there was a statement from the prime minister of Bangladesh: The editor should resign and face trial.

The editor is my father, Mahfuz Anam, and the newspaper is The Daily Star, the English-language paper he co-founded 25 years ago.

My father used to joke that one of his ambitions was to open an ice-cream parlor. Instead, at the age of 41, he left a career at the United Nations to start a newspaper.

I was 15, and we were living in Thailand at the time. Soon, we had packed up our lives and returned to our hometown, Dhaka. The newspaper was born in January 1991, just as the eight-year military dictatorship of President H. M. Ershad ended. With the onset of democracy, my father was able to return to Bangladesh and fulfill his duty to the country that he, as a freedom fighter, helped liberate 20 years before.

Within months of taking on the editorship of the paper, my father criticized the first democratically elected government for its failure to reach out to the opposition and create a bipartisan consensus. He then lambasted the opposition for boycotting Parliament and for resorting to general strikes as a means of protest. In a deeply divided political climate, he set the tone for independent journalism, meting out criticism for both parties if they failed to serve the greater good.

The Daily Star became the biggest circulation English-language daily newspaper in the country, with a sister publication in Bangla called Prothom Alo. Together, they are a major force in the independent print media and attest to the relative freedom enjoyed by the press in Bangladesh since the end of the dictatorship, something to be proud of in a region where journalists are regularly imprisoned and disappeared.

Yet my father has not been immune from the heavy hand of the state. He has faced pressure from the government, the intelligence services, the army, the police a all the institutions from which he has demanded transparency.

At no point was this greater than in 2007, when an army-backed caretaker government held power for two years in the run-up to national elections. During this period, the intelligence services supplied stories to the press in the form of transcripts, audiotapes and videos in which people confessed to having bribed government officials, including the Awami League leader and current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. These reports couldnat be independently verified, but The Daily Star, along with other media outlets, ran the stories anyway.

In July 2007, Ms. Hasina was arrested on charges of corruption. She was detained in the grounds of the Parliament for 11 months.

Once the military rule ended, the witnesses who had accused Ms. Hasina recanted, claiming their stories were extracted under duress; these retractions were reported in The Daily Star. Even so, over time, my father came to regret his judgment in deciding to run the original story without corroboration; on Feb. 3, on the occasion of The Daily Staras 25th anniversary, he went on a late-night talk show and said as much.

The following morning, the airwaves were awash with his aconfession.a The son of Prime Minister Hasina, Sajeeb Wazed, called for my fatheras arrest on charges of treason, alleging that he was the cause of Ms. Hasinaas incarceration. Since then, scores of lawsuits charging my father with criminal defamation and sedition have been lodged in courts all over Bangladesh.

This is only the latest chapter in the stateas targeting of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo. In March 2015, The Daily Star published a photograph of a recruitment poster produced by the banned Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir with the caption aterrorism rears its ugly heada ; Ms. Hasina told Parliament that the paper had ahelped the radical causea by printing the photograph and the state would amove againsta those who had published it. In August, a sudden drop in advertising from the telecoms sector was widely believed to have been ordered by state intelligence.

And now this. Doubtless, the publication of unverifiable reports based on aconfessionsa made by people in custody a though a common media practice in Bangladesh a should be questioned, and this could be an excellent opportunity to revise journalistic practice. Instead, the state is exploiting the chance to double down on its suppression of free speech.

When something like this happens to someone you love, it is difficult not to focus on his immediate safety. Yet the harassment of my father is not about the governmentas ire against one man, but about the stifling of the independent media in Bangladesh and the general narrowing of critical space.

Ms. Hasina herself has now gone on the record that she, too, believes the rumor that my father was behind her arrest. Rather than investigating the intelligence task force, which coerced the confessions, or the judicial process that led to the case against Ms. Hasina, or the officials involved in her arrest, the government has brought down the full force of the state on a newspaper.

My father sent a text message to me in London the other day. aIam being sued for 17 billion dollars,a he wrote. aThis is more than the total budget of the country at independence.a I hear the smile behind the words. I also feel the sadness behind the smile.

I wonder if this is how he felt in 1958, when his father was arrested by the Pakistani military dictatorship for being a Bengali nationalist. My grandfather spent four years in jail, released only when his health had deteriorated so badly that the authorities were afraid head die in custody.

A year ago, the blogger and free speech activist Avijit Roy was murdered as he was leaving the Ekushey book fair. Then, we feared the violent extremists who were murdering our writers on the streets. Now, it is the state itself that is brutally suppressing political dissent. Caught between a paranoid government and the threats of violent fringe groups, the free media is the victim.

Guiltily, I dream of that ice-cream shop, its sweet blandness, and that other life we might have had. Of course, it was never going to be. Dissent is in the blood, and now the story must be seen through.

I fear the worst for my father. However things are resolved for him personally, his beloved country will emerge the poorer for his ordeal.

Tahmima Anam, a writer and anthropologist, is the author of the novel aA Golden Agea and a contributing opinion writer.

[SEE ALSO:

Lawsuits against editor Mahfuz Anam - Attempt to stifle independent mediaa in Bangladesh http://www.sacw.net/article12402.html ]
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By Selwyn Duke

Its just a paper about the hand. It bears the not-very-titillating title Biomechanical characteristics of hand coordination in grasping activities of daily living. But now its authors could use a helping hand after receiving the back of someone elses.

Written by three researchers from Chinas Huazhong University and one from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, the paper was published January 5 in the PLOS ONE journal. And what was its supposed trespass?

It referenced the Creator numerous times.

This created intense controversy, with some scientists and even PLOS ONE editors calling for a retraction and other scientists threatening a boycott. And the journal did ultimately print a retraction on March 4, apologizing to readers for the inappropriate language.

Read the rest here.
 In praise of (impossible?) request tasking Government Accountability Office with accounting for "the cost of crime in the United States" | Main | Lots of Montgomery GVRs in latest SCOTUS order list 

The title of this post is the title of this notable new paper now available via SSRN authored by Sherod Thaxton. Here is the abstract:

Justice Stephen Breyer recently made international headlines when he emphasized that reforms to the capital punishment process have apparently failed to ameliorate the rampant arbitrariness, capriciousness, and bias that led the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily invalidate the death penalty over forty years ago. According to the Justice, the primary cause of this failure has been the Courts backpedaling on the very substantive and procedural protections it initially articulated as necessary for the constitutional administration of the death penalty. The Courts capital punishment jurisprudence initially underscored the importance of social scientific evidence in assessing the fairness of capital punishment systems, but now the Court routinely minimizes, or outright ignores, social science evidence on the operation of the death penalty. This has led to the growing disjunction between the Courts rhetoric and the reality of capital punishment. Justice Breyer underscored the Courts responsibility in holding death penalty systems accountable and called for full briefing on the basic question of the social realities of the administration of capital punishment.

Meaningful death penalty reform, if possible, requires a more prominent role for social science in death penalty decision-making. In this Article, I develop a doctrinally anchored statistical model that carefully disentangles and evaluates questions of arbitrariness, bias, and disproportionality in capital charging. I begin by discussing the Courts inconsistent efforts to rationalize and regulate capital punishment systems. I then adopt a framework of statistical inference in an effort to provide greater definitional and analytical clarity. Finally, I describe a set of analytical tools uniquely suited for diagnosing capital charging errors that closely aligns with the Courts conceptualization of unacceptable arbitrariness. I illustrate the usefulness of the model on data involving actual death penalty-eligible defendants from Georgia.

My analysis reveals that death penalty charging practices are highly inconsistent, irrational, and disproportionate, both within and across jurisdictions in Georgia. The Article concludes by explaining how the empirical model might be used to improve accuracy and consistency in capital charging systems through empirically informed front-end charging screening.
 Lots of Montgomery GVRs in latest SCOTUS order list | Main | Is the Supreme Court fight already starting to "doom" federal statutory sentencing reform? 

March 7, 2016

Extended discussion of sex offender registries as life sentences for juveniles

The new issue of The New Yorker has this very lengthy article authored by Sarah Stillman titled "The List: When juveniles are found guilty of sexual misconduct, the sex-offender registry can be a life sentence." I recommend the piece in full, and here are just a few snippets:

Kids who sexually harm other kids seldom target strangers. A very small number have committed violent rapes. More typical is the crime for which Josh Gravens, of Abilene, Texas, was sent away, more than a decade ago, at the age of thirteen. Gravens was twelve when his mother learned that he had inappropriately touched his eight-year-old sister on two occasions; she sought help from a Christian counselling center, and a staffer there was legally obliged to inform the police. Gravens was arrested, placed on the public registry, and sent to juvenile detention for nearly four years. Now, at twenty-nine, hes become a leading figure in the movement to strike juveniles from the registry and to challenge broader restrictions that he believes are ineffectual. He has counselled more than a hundred youths who are on public registries, some as young as nine. He says that their experiences routinely mirror his own: Homelessness; getting fired from jobs; taking jobs below minimum wage, with predatory employers; not being able to provide for your kids; losing your kids; relationship problems; deep inner problems connecting with people; deep depression and hopelessness; this fear of your own name; the terror of being Googled. Often, juvenile defendants arent seen as juveniles before the law. At the age of thirteen, Moroni Nuttall was charged as an adult, in Montana, for sexual misconduct with relatives; after pleading guilty, he was sentenced to forty years in prison, thirty-six of which were suspended, and placed on a lifetime sex-offender registry. In detention, the teen-ager was sexually assaulted and physically abused. Upon his release, his mother, Heidi, went online in search of guidance. Im trying to be hopeful, she wrote on an online bulletin board, but I wonder if he even stands a chance. Last fall, she contacted a national group called Women Against Registry, joining the ranks of mothers who are calling into question what a previous group of parents, those of victimized children, fought hard to achieve. Recently, common ground between the two groups has emerged. Many politicians still wont go near the issue, but a growing number of parents  along with legal advocates, scholars, and even law-enforcement officials  are beginning to ask whether the registry is truly serving the children whom it was designed to protect. If the sex-offender registry is a modern development, the impulse behind it  to prevent crimes by keeping tabs on bad actors  is not. In 1937, after the sexualized murders of several young girls in New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia called for the police to keep a secret list of all known degenerates. A decade later, California built the first database of sex offenders, for private use by the police. But the practice of regulation took off only in the nineteen-nineties, when a tragedy changed the publics sense of the stakes involved.

March 7, 2016 at 11:41 AM | Permalink

Comments

Lifetime sexual offender registration for relatively minor offenses is ridiculous policy, and it's doubly ridiculous when it's a 12 year old.

Additionally, nonsense like that undermines respect for the justice system.

Posted by: federalist | Mar 7, 2016 3:06:43 PM

And what about those who, for many reasons least of which are those who have developmental disorders that create vulnerabilities that lead them into viewing child porn? These individuals have harmed no one. Have not directly offended anyone. And yet, because they "viewed" someone who did offend a child they are faced with many years of prison and the lifetime registry?? How many more lives will be destroyed because our society chooses to live in fear rather than except the mountains of empirical research which illuminates the very low recidivism rates and effective therapies for these unfortunate individuals??

Posted by: tommyc | Mar 7, 2016 4:33:46 PM

All this controversy could be avoided were the suspected predator summarily executed in secret , albeit that protocol would perhaps create more controversies 

The Dr. Phil show featured a while ago a situation where the older sister had seduced her younger brother and they were continuing the coital conduct until caught 

He strongly recommended counseling for the girl as an inpatient 

I suppose there are some who would favor branding or tattooing Trampy Pervert on her forehead with digital billboards throughout her neighborhood , county , state , etc.

She would be required to confess her onerous sin every time she applied for anything , including licenses , rebates , etc.

ITEM: An age 12y  seduces her age 9 brother in Ohio , and they secretly engage in coitus , beginning with a frequency of twice a week ; which over a course of

3y evolves to twice a DAY

He is now age 12 and she is age 16 



Posted by: Docile Jim Brady  the Nemo Me  Impune Lacessit  in Oregon  | Mar 8, 2016 11:49:21 AM

All this controversy could be avoided were the suspected predator summarily executed in secret , albeit that protocol would perhaps create more controversies 

The Dr. Phil show featured a while ago a situation where the older sister had seduced her younger brother and they were continuing the coital conduct until caught 

He strongly recommended counseling for the girl as an inpatient 

I suppose there are some who would favor branding or tattooing Trampy Pervert on her forehead with digital billboards throughout her neighborhood , county , state , etc.

She would be required to confess her onerous sin every time she applied for anything , including licenses , rebates , etc.

ITEM: An age 12y  seduces her age 9 brother in Ohio , and they secretly engage in coitus , beginning with a frequency of twice a week ; which over a course of

3y evolves to twice a DAY

He is now age 12 and she is age 16 



Posted by: Docile Jim Brady  the Nemo Me  Impune Lacessit  in Oregon  | Mar 8, 2016 11:49:21 AM

All this controversy could be avoided were the suspected predator summarily executed in secret , albeit that protocol would perhaps create more controversies 

The Dr. Phil show featured a while ago a situation where the older sister had seduced her younger brother and they were continuing the coital conduct until caught 

He strongly recommended counseling for the girl as an inpatient 

I suppose there are some who would favor branding or tattooing Trampy Pervert on her forehead with digital billboards throughout her neighborhood , county , state , etc.

She would be required to confess her onerous sin every time she applied for anything , including licenses , rebates , etc.

ITEM: An age 12y  seduces her age 9 brother in Ohio , and they secretly engage in coitus , beginning with a frequency of twice a week ; which over a course of

3y evolves to twice a DAY

He is now age 12 and she is age 16 



Posted by: Docile Jim Brady  the Nemo Me  Impune Lacessit  in Oregon  | Mar 8, 2016 11:49:22 AM

All this controversy could be avoided were the suspected predator summarily executed in secret , albeit that protocol would perhaps create more controversies 

The Dr. Phil show featured a while ago a situation where the older sister had seduced her younger brother and they were continuing the coital conduct until caught 

He strongly recommended counseling for the girl as an inpatient 

I suppose there are some who would favor branding or tattooing Trampy Pervert on her forehead with digital billboards throughout her neighborhood , county , state , etc.

She would be required to confess her onerous sin every time she applied for anything , including licenses , rebates , etc.

ITEM: An age 12y  seduces her age 9 brother in Ohio , and they secretly engage in coitus , beginning with a frequency of twice a week ; which over a course of

3y evolves to twice a DAY

He is now age 12 and she is age 16 



Posted by: Docile Jim Brady  the Nemo Me  Impune Lacessit  in Oregon  | Mar 8, 2016 11:49:22 AM

School age children are in a learning environment, the problem is the teacher (parent, peer,family member,or school). Even pets must be taught and corrected for bad behavior or considered to have a bad owner.

Posted by: LC in Texas | Mar 8, 2016 2:46:48 PM

You know, everyone uses the term "fear" as a semi-rationale explanation for the existence of these laws. That is totally incorrect and misleading.

The real reasons are two-fold:, a need for hatred (scapegoat) and willful ignorance. That Grassley, Hatch, Schumer and Feinstein enjoy rolling around in the filth of hatred and willful ignorance, tells you ALL you need to know about these people.

Posted by: albeed | Mar 8, 2016 5:03:54 PM

No one with a brain *ever* thought that most of these juveniles should ever be on a Registry. Politicians love it though.

Talking about "juveniles vs. adults on the Registry" distracts from the fact that the Registries should not exist at all. I don't think there are many intelligent, informed people who ever supported the Registries and certainly nearly none do today.

People who are listed on a nanny big government Registry - understand that government is your enemy. People who support them are your enemy. People who support the Registries are not your fellow U.S. citizens. They are enemies to be defeated. Start by defeating any usefulness at all for their Registries. One of the primary things that they like about their Registries is that it allows them to imprison people and generally harass people who are not imprisoned. Don't allow it. Keep the enemies away from you. Harass them by any legal means available.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Mar 10, 2016 1:00:50 PM

I am a Sex Offender because of my X-wife YES my xwife!!!! She was never Raped!! She did it to pay me back because I wouldn't go to Illinoise and get her daughter who was there legally going to school for her disability in learning. She was 11 at the time. My brother took her back there and my X-wife was ok at first but then she went Nuts and ended up in a mental ward for 90 days which didn't help and my parents took our son because I had to work 5 days a week 50 hours. He needed to go to school so they enrolled him up where they lived.

She my X was on drugs, had epilimsy and seizures but nobody knew it but us. She wanted to pay me back for NOT going to get her daughter so she would say I Raped her or beat her up. Since she had seizures she could get away with it, the Police didn't know about her condition only her drug use. The Detective on the case didn't help matters much, he would come over and have Sex with her when I was in Jail and keep it a secert. I got tired of going to Jail every time and so I left and went Homeless in Berkeley and Oakland. Evan though I wasn't living there she still made False Police reports and the Cops were stupid enough to believe it. She had another Boyfriend who she met at work and she was an easy lay. She had gained weight so I don't know what they saw in her beside a free piece of you know what? Because of her I have to register every Birthday and I am fighting it. She knows she lied and so does my son but he doesn't speak to his mother.

In Solano County it's called SO-Long-County so your screwed.

So if you are a young Sex Offender your messed up and remember 15 Gets you 20. 15 minutes to get it 20 years to think it over!!!! SO DON't Be stupid.

Posted by: Philip O'Conner | Apr 22, 2016 12:50:05 AM

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 Extended discussion of sex offender registries as life sentences for juveniles | Main | Notable split Sixth Circuit ruling on (suspect) limits of retroactive guideline reductions 

March 7, 2016

Is the Supreme Court fight already starting to "doom" federal statutory sentencing reform?

The question in the title of this post is my first reaction to this commentary piece authored by Inimai Chettiar from the Brennan Center for Justice which carries the headline "Don't Lock Up Prison Reform: Congress' fight over the Supreme Court shouldn't doom desperately needed sentencing reform." Here are excerpts (which includes something of a status report from Congress):

With a heated partisan battle over the future of the Supreme Court entering a stalemate, and some Democrats threatening to shut down the Senate, many are starting to expect nothing will get done in Congress this year. But it doesn't have to be that way. There is one topic on which lawmakers can act, even in this bitter climate. The same Senate Judiciary Committee members sparring over the Supreme Court nomination process will soon announce a long-awaited compromise on a bill to help reduce America's prison population. Can our nation's leaders put aside their differences to help resolve one of the largest crises facing our country? We certainly hope so. The bill would be the largest congressional action on criminal justice reform in a generation, and a rare attempt at cooperation across party lines. Lawmakers should not allow partisan bickering over the next Supreme Court justice to destroy a chance to fix a system we all agree is not working. Congress must act fast, in this rare area of bipartisan accord, to pass sentencing reform.... Much has been learned in the last 25 years about who should be locked up and for how long. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act recalibrates sentencing laws to implement these lessons.... Last month, Sens. Tom Cotton and Jeff Sessions raised concerns the legislation would jeopardize public safety. In response, a group of nationally prominent police chiefs and prosecutors  the men and women who protect our safety every day  explained how the bill would actually help reduce crime. Now, co-sponsors Sens. John Cornyn, Chuck Grassley and Mike Lee are revising the bill to address these anxieties. At least two major changes are expected. One would remove a provision from the bill that would have reduced mandatory minimums for repeat felons caught with a firearm. Another would limit current prisoners' ability to seek reduced sentences under the new law if they committed certain serious crimes. To many progressive advocates, these changes significantly reduce the breadth of the bill. But even if there's a compromise bill, the next step is getting it to the floor for a vote. Last week, Grassley met with President Barack Obama to tell him the Judiciary Committee will not hold a hearing or vote if he puts forth a Supreme Court nominee. It's rumored that some Democrats would allow the sentencing bill to falter if Republicans try to block a nominee. But it is a false choice to pit sentencing reform against a Supreme Court battle. Accord on one shouldn't be overridden by combat on the other.... Congress has passed legislation during other confirmation clashes. While Justice Elena Kagan's nomination was pending in 2010, Congress passed a series of significant bills including sanctions against Iran, the Dodd-Frank Act, and another criminal justice law called the Fair Sentencing Act. In 2005, a year that saw the confirmation of two new Supreme Court justices (Roberts and Alito), Congress passed a free trade act. Both parties have a decision to make. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must decide whether to bring the measure to the Senate floor. His Democratic counterparts Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi must choose whether to bridge the divide, even if temporarily. We will soon see how much the parties really care about getting government to work  and how much their cares about over-incarceration are more than just words. Our politicians will not be able to sell the notion that the people's business should come to a complete halt for the sake of election-year posturing. The time has finally come for criminal justice reform. With Congress at a flashpoint over the Supreme Court, bipartisan cooperation to act matters now more than ever.

March 7, 2016 at 12:33 PM | Permalink

Comments

Given that I had already figured this effort was dead I don't see how Scalia's death has any bearing on the outcome.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Mar 7, 2016 1:20:36 PM

It actually has moved along a little bit. The House put the post-conviction portion of its bill HR 759, out of committee on February 11 and Sensenbrenner(!!!???) signed on as a co-sponsor.

I find this amusing in a sick way because the congressional/Senate plan for the judicial nomination is to do nothing. So why can't they do other stuff?

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Mar 7, 2016 4:13:20 PM

Also, I hope the current thing does fail. It's such a half-assed, useless pile of crap anyway. Need to let some younger legislators that don't have Byzantine notions of justice work on it next year or the year after.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Mar 7, 2016 4:16:22 PM

I basically agree with the first comment. It's an election year. Hard to see something that major being passed at this point now even if Scalia didn't die. Realistically, we have to see how the new President and (if things change there) new Congress will handle it. I don't know the details enough to say but inclined to believe the last comment too. Maybe, as you say, the law net would push things forward somewhat. Hard to tell.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 7, 2016 9:41:08 PM

I agree that nomination has nithing to di wuth getting the bill to the floor.

I also agree wuth Fat Bastard in that, the bill will have so many exclusions the benefits may be lost. Mostly his point in getting younger and different views in office is spot on.

Grassley ( Iowa loves him ) is 86 yrs old. Where are you going to go and get a job of any value at that age. i dont care if he jogs daily and eats triple cleaned oats. His views and knowedge iof whats going on in the country now, are way behind times.

We have to impose age limits and term limits on these guys. This includes all aspects of every federal job. Yes, supreme court justices as well, congress senators, district, circuit judges and Ausa as well. How the hell can the country run at all with stagnent minds.

Tell me one job that a person 80 + yrs old can get hired, besides govnt work. Enough said.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Mar 8, 2016 1:20:26 AM

Haha, MidWestGuy, Grassley is exactly who I was thinking of when I wrote that about younger legislators. I was startled that Sensenbrenner signed onto HR 759, as it is more liberal than the Senate portion of the SRCA, and I put Sensenbrenner in the same general slot as Grassley.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Mar 8, 2016 10:27:09 AM

Haha, MidWestGuy, Grassley is exactly who I was thinking of when I wrote that about younger legislators. I was startled that Sensenbrenner signed onto HR 759, as it is more liberal than the Senate portion of the SRCA, and I put Sensenbrenner in the same general slot as Grassley.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Mar 8, 2016 10:27:15 AM

86 tacks on a few years.

Born: September 17, 1933 (age 82), New Hartford, IA.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 8, 2016 4:14:12 PM

I am leaning towards agreeing with all of you. It seems they are all too busy to decide on such a crucial topic. Its been 50 odd years this injustice in the system has been going on, why not wait til the election is over & get serious about peoples lives that deserve a second chance. Maybe Cruz & Cotton will get caught doing some nasty no no's in the meantime & be out of the picture!

Posted by: karin wall | Mar 9, 2016 8:07:45 AM

Countless lives are in the hands of politicians who are in office simply because they happened to be the lesser of the evils presented to the voters. Most of them are completely out of touch with what the people feel is important. Maybe a prerequisite for ea. One would be to spend a year of their lives in prison for every lie they have told the people,or for every time they have broken the law. A year in prison to wait for them to decide if they want to go do the job they are being paid to do. Shame on our political parties.(both)to even think 5, 10, 15 yrs to life in a cage is acceptable for a first offense. And no possibility for parole.time is no consequence for them.

Posted by: Gayle clay | May 13, 2016 6:43:40 PM

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A story making the rounds from the weekend for obvious reasons concerns a 51-year-old woman wanted for a parole violation who led the Redding Police Department and Shasta County Sheriff's Department on a high-speed chase in a minivan painted to look like the famed Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. It was not exactly the most incognito way to avoid police attention, and thus Sharon Kay Turman was not hard to spot after the Shasta County Probation Department contacted police in order to locate her on Sunday afternoon, as KRCR originally reported. Actually apprehending her, however, turned out to be a challenge.

At speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, Turman fled from a traffic stop in Redding and led authorities on a chase from Highway 237 to Interstate 5. Police ended the chase at one point after she allegedly blew several red lights and hit four other cars, and was posing a danger to the public.

The distinctly painted 1994 Chrysler Town & County minivan was then spotted by a CHP helicopter heading west on Highway 36, and she then was seen abandoning the vehicle in northwestern Tehama County, according to CBS News. Turman then escaped and her whereabouts are unknown.

Police are still looking for her, and you can see what she looks like at right if you happen to be in Northern California and see her. Anyone with any information on her whereabouts is should contact the Redding Police Department at (530) 225-4200, or Secret Witness of Shasta County at (530) 243-2319.










One man was fatally stabbed and another shot to death in San Francisco in the last few days, bringing the city's homicide count for 2016 to seven.

According to San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza, police were called to the corner of Turk and Leavenworth Streets at 7:41 Thursday evening after 911 callers reported a violent altercation was underway.

When officers arrived at the Tenderloin corner, they discovered two stabbing victims: A man and a 42-year-old woman. Both were transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where the male victim died, Esparza says. According to the San Francisco Medical Examiner, the dead man has been identified as SF resident Donnie Smith.

Esparza says that witnesses saw the injured woman and another woman engaged in a fight. When the male victim attempted to break up the altercation, another bystanding man confronted him and "stabbed him several times."

Citing SFPD's ongoing investigation, Esparza could not provide any additional details on the relationship between those involved in the fatal incident.

At present, Esparza says, it's also unclear which of the participants stabbed the woman. Her injuries aren't considered life-threatening, and she's expected to survive.

The other woman and the stabbing suspect both fled the scene, and haven't been spotted since. As of this morning, Esparza says, no arrests have been made.

Officers/Investigators working a Homicide case inside an apartment in the 200 Block of Harbor Road. NFI will be released at this time.  Captain Vaswani (@sfvas) March 6, 2016

In San Francisco's second homicide in recent days, a 19-year-old man was shot to death in a Bayview Apartment Saturday afternoon.

Esparza says that at 4:03 p.m. Saturday, police were called to an apartment on the 200 block of Harbor Road, which is near Ingalls Street.

When they arrived, they found an 18-year-old man identified by ME's office as San Francisco resident Kijana Wood. Wood had been shot "multiple" times, and had succumbed to his injuries before SFPD arrived, Esparza says.

(This isn't that block's first fatal shooting: back in October 2014, a man in his 20s was shot to death on that same stretch of street.)

The suspect, a 42-year-old SF resident named Verdell Cornealis Martin, was arrested at the scene., and has been booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of murder. Additional details in the shooting were not available at publication time.

San Francisco's last homicide was on February 21, when SF resident Curtis Cail was shot to death as the vehicle he occupied left the McDonald's at Fillmore and Golden Gate. As of Monday, no suspects have been arrested in that slaying.
Social media has proven to be a powerful tool for business growth and development. But one bad post can damage a brand.

Remember the Facebook photo of a Taco Bell worker licking a stack of tacos? Or the YouTube video of Dominos Pizza employees doing disgusting things to the food?

In both cases, the posts went viral and the workers were fired. #Fail

Social media use has skyrocketed since 2005 and not all companies are prepared to deal with it. Last year, the Pew Research Center reported 65 percent of American adults use sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, up from 7 percent just a decade ago.

Sharing information has never been faster or easier. Its changed the way we communicate and build communities, and of course, the way we work, which is why Jeana Goosmann, the founder, CEO and managing partner of Goosmann Law Firm, decided to offer a free downloadable social media policy template on goosmannlaw.com.

Social media has become so pervasive in our personal and professional lives with the advent of smart phones and tablets, she said. It is imperative for all businesses in the 21st century to have a social media policy.

Here are seven reasons why.

1. Your existing policies may be out of date. Most company conduct policies are not relevant to situations that arise on social media, Goosmann said. In addition, there have been a number of recent decisions by the National Labor Relations Board addressing limits to what an employer may or may not do when it comes to social media. Employers must review their social media policies to ensure compliance with relevant labor regulations, even when it is a company that does not have a unionized workforce.

2. You dont want to break any laws. Labor laws allow employees the freedom to discuss terms and conditions of employment without interference or retaliation by their employer. But there are limits to what employees may post on social media, Goosmann said. Employers must know and understand what types of postings can result in disciplinary action against an employee.

3. You dont want to land on a list of cautionary tales. Something can start trending on Twitter or Facebook in a matter of minutes. The speed of social media is the biggest risk to an employers brand, Goosmann said. While this can help grow a companys brand, abuse of social media can also quickly magnify negative issues and create a significant public relations nightmare for a company.

4. Your workers need boundaries set in place. Are you employees allowed to be on social media at work, or is that a big no-no? Your workers need to know. A social media policy should also spell out what types of posts are subject to disciplinary action. A basic rule of thumb is if the comment would not be tolerated in person because it would violate anti-discrimination laws, criminal laws or is primarily vulgar, then those comments are also not tolerated when communicated through social media, Goosmann said.

5. Some employees need to be reminded that their strict privacy settings wont necessarily keep their posts private. If youre posting anything work-related on a social media site, an employee should think twice before hitting send, Goosmann said. Even if you limit the audience that is receiving your post, there is no guarantee that your post wont be copied and re-sent.

6. You may think certain rules of order go without saying, but they still need to be said. Businesses need to clearly outline policies and employees need to be aware of them to avoid highly visible blunders. Trade secrets, impending business transactions, etc., should not be posted on social media, Goosmann said. An employee could end up in civil and possibly criminal legal trouble for posting confidential information.

7. You want to protect your company and your people. One of the dangers of social media  coupled with the fact that it is accessible on so many mobile devices  is that people have a tendency to respond quickly to matters by sending a post, and once your post has been sent, you have very limited options for retrieving that post, Goosmann said. Be careful before you hit send.
Think you cant start a successful business without huge rounds of funding? Think again.

There have been plenty of hugely successful entrepreneurs through the years who bootstrapped their startups from nothing. Here are some of the most successful entrepreneurs who bootstrapped their businesses.

Entrepreneurs Who Bootstrapped Include 

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

The story of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak starting Apple Computer in a garage is well-known. The pair had recently withdrawn from their respective colleges and began developing consumer computer devices in Jobs parents garage in California. After developing a couple different models, the pair knew they would need more financing. So Jobs had to find a co-signer to get a bank loan for $250,000.

Bob Evans

Bob Evans started out with a 12-stool diner and a small farm where he produced his own sausage, since he couldnt seem to find satisfactory sausage elsewhere. Only as demand, and thus profits, grew did he branch out the business to include multiple sausage plants and restaurants.

Michael Dell

The founder of Dell Computers started the company in 1984 while still attending the University of Texas at Austin. He worked to build the company out of his off-campus dorm, and eventually dropped out to focus on building the company full time. His first investment was $1,000  from his family.

William Redington Hewlett and David Packard

These two entrepreneurs founded Hewlett-Packard in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California. They started the company during a fellowship they had with a professor they had worked with at Stanford University. Their original capital investment was $538.

Sophia Amoruso

The founder of Nasty Gal started out by scouring the racks at second-hand stores and selling her vintage finds on eBay. She used the money from her sales to eventually move her inventory into a warehouse and hire a few staff members. She used MySpace and other social media platforms to attract customers. And she eventually raised millions in investment in 2012, more than six years after founding the company.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates and his business partner Paul Allen started their company Microsoft in 1975 not with a huge software roll out. The two started with a simple idea, to create a basic interpreter program for the Altair 8800 Microcomputer. Even though the program they designed worked only on a simulator of the Altair, executives at MITS, the company that made the computer, were impressed. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Craig Newmark

Craigslist wasnt originally meant to be a huge online business. Founder Craig Newmark was new to the San Francisco Bay Area and wanted a way to connect with people for local events. He started the site that is now essentially the classified page for the Internet as an email distribution list to friends. And then Craigslist grew as word of mouth took off.

Paul Mitchell and John Paul DeJoria

The founders of John Paul Mitchell Systems started the hair care company from humble beginnings. DeJoria was actually living in his car around the time the company was founded. And though they originally thought they had the support of a backer, they ended up doing it on their own.

Pierre Omidyar

We may think of eBay as a huge multinational corporation, but it didnt start that way. The founder of eBay originally started the popular auction site, then called AuctionWeb, as a side hobby. Only when his Internet service provider told him he would have to upgrade his account due to a high volume of traffic to his website did he start charging for people to use the site.

Daymond John

Before founding FUBU and starting his numerous other entrepreneurial ventures, Daymond John sold hats that he sewed himself in front of the New York Coliseum for $10 each. When he realized the potential of his idea, John and his mother mortgaged their house for $100,000 in startup capital. In addition, he kept his full-time job at Red Lobster to maintain a steady income while working on creating FUBU between his regular shifts.

Yvon Chouinard

The founder of Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear designer, got his start as a rock climber. As he got more into the hobby, he taught himself how to blacksmith so that he could make his own pitons. As word spread, Chouniard began selling the pitons for $1.50. Then he set up a small shop in his parents backyard in Burbank, California.

John Pemberton

John Pemberton was wounded in the American Civil War, which eventually led him to develop the idea for Coca-Cola. Pemberton owned a drug store in Georgia. There he developed his French Wine Coca nerve tonic, which was meant to be a substitute for morphine, the drug he had originally take to treat pain from his war injuries. He later changed the recipe to a non-alcoholic version after his county passed prohibition legislation. This non-alcoholic version is what eventually became Coca-Cola.

Niraj Shah and Steve Conine

This duo founded Wayfair, originally called CSN Stores, out of Conines home in Boston. They had previously run two other companies, but started Wayfair with just one website that sold media stands and storage furniture.

Markus Frind

This entrepreneur founded the popular dating site PlentyofFish as a one-man operation out of his apartment. The company, which makes money through online ads, grew to bring in millions before Frind even hired a team, much less brought in any large investment rounds.

Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz

Burts Bees started with some extra beeswax from co-founder Shavitzs honey business. The duo created products from that beeswax and started their company with just $200 they made at a junior high school craft fair. Within a year, they had made more than $20,000.

Nick Denton

The founder of Gawker actually used money from the sale of another startup to fund the early days of the media company. He also ran the business out of his home for years before eventually renting out a storefront in 2008.

Moses and Endel Phillips

Before the Van Heusen line of clothing ever officially launched, Moses and Endel Phillips were sewing shirts by hand and selling them to coal miners in Pennsylvania from push carts. Through the years, the couple grew the company from its humble beginnings to a larger NYC-based shirt company. And through a few mergers and changes, the company eventually became Phillips-Van Heusen.

See Also: Line for Famous Barbecue Inspires Entrepreneurs

Tom Preston-Werner

The founder of GitHub, the popular hosting service for software development projects, actually turned down a six-figure salary from Microsoft in order to work on GitHub. He bootstrapped the company for about five years before accepting a large investment round.
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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #75 on: March 04, 2016, 02:40:23 PM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 04, 2016, 12:38:37 PM



What is problematic is the wholesale unchecked border crossing, flowing into the US. One of the cornerstones of US immigration is the concept of "admitting and inspecting" and so, as in my grandparents cases, they came through Ellis Island, were quarantined, until cleared for health purposes, have papers processed, and were free to begin their lives. It was a process of accounting for those who came into the country. Some sections in Mexico are extremely dangerous. A young woman mayor was assassinated on the first day of office, not even a month ago. I cannot speak to the economic issues, but am shocked at the violence connected to the cartels infiltrating the US.



Health is a big issue. Zika is becoming a huge problem coming through South and Central America. What is also problematic are convicted felons who have been deported and return to what are called "sanctuary cities" to escape prosecution. I know of no country that would permit people to just decide to move to a new one, unchecked by any government authority. The US is very generous but we are in debt and cannot afford that much longer.



The VA health care positions of the candidates are interesting ones. Trump is one who is advocating providing insurance cards to all veterans whereby they could access medical care at hospitals of their choosing. I can get onboard with that position. That is not a GOP position. That is not a Democrat position. Both parties are vested in the keeping the unacceptable status quo. This would permit vets to access better levels of care, and not be "warehoused" in a VA hospital without care. One of my parents died in the VA system. You can rest assured that few elected officials would choose medical care at a VA facility.



If mainstream candidates who go-along-to-get along are elected it will be the same-old-same-old. The country needs to be shaken up. Only new people in power who have no or few ties to the old structure of power will be able to do that without push-back from lobbyists or powerful groups.



Both Sanders and Trump are effectively tapping into the collective rage of the US. Trump is a capitalist, first. At some point, he was allied to the Democrats. People change parties all the time, to run for office or move to establish residency to qualify to run for office. Bernie calls himself a socialist. Some find that troubling.



The US cannot fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. JMHO



CSM - I know less about NAFTA than you. What I do know is that there are both Mexicans and Canadians who border-cross with permission, to work every day in the US as commuters.What is problematic is the wholesale unchecked border crossing, flowing into the US. One of the cornerstones of US immigration is the concept of "admitting and inspecting" and so, as in my grandparents cases, they came through Ellis Island, were quarantined, until cleared for health purposes, have papers processed, and were free to begin their lives. It was a process of accounting for those who came into the country. Some sections in Mexico are extremely dangerous. A young woman mayor was assassinated on the first day of office, not even a month ago. I cannot speak to the economic issues, but am shocked at the violence connected to the cartels infiltrating the US.Health is a big issue. Zika is becoming a huge problem coming through South and Central America. What is also problematic are convicted felons who have been deported and return to what are called "sanctuary cities" to escape prosecution. I know of no country that would permit people to just decide to move to a new one, unchecked by any government authority. The US is very generous but we are in debt and cannot afford that much longer.The VA health care positions of the candidates are interesting ones. Trump is one who is advocating providing insurance cards to all veterans whereby they could access medical care at hospitals of their choosing. I can get onboard with that position. That is not a GOP position. That is not a Democrat position. Both parties are vested in the keeping the unacceptable status quo. This would permit vets to access better levels of care, and not be "warehoused" in a VA hospital without care. One of my parents died in the VA system. You can rest assured that few elected officials would choose medical care at a VA facility.If mainstream candidates who go-along-to-get along are elected it will be the same-old-same-old. The country needs to be shaken up. Only new people in power who have no or few ties to the old structure of power will be able to do that without push-back from lobbyists or powerful groups.Both Sanders and Trump are effectively tapping into the collective rage of the US. Trump is a capitalist, first. At some point, he was allied to the Democrats. People change parties all the time, to run for office or move to establish residency to qualify to run for office. Bernie calls himself a socialist. Some find that troubling.The US cannot fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. JMHO

Well, I suppose it's a matter of debate but I don't think that Trump's plan puts him significantly out of place within the status quo. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans." Trump's plans though to fire the corrupt and incompetent VA executives that let our veterans down, aligns him precisely with Ted Cruz who "co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to fire VA senior management for mismanagement and performance failures."



In my previous post, I never suggested that the US should fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. Instead, I suggested that the US should stop actively participating in the destruction and impoverishment of Mexico. This is not calling on the country to fix everyone's problems but instead is calling on the country to stop actively causing these problems. Like I said, the massive migration from Mexico occurred as NAFTA policies were instituted in the country and were having their effect. As long as this crucial element of the story is kept from the discussion, any discussion of fixing the so-called problem of migration is an insincere one. The rage that you speak of in this case is directed towards the wrong target, largely because the real issues have been silenced. As far as I can tell, Trump has only served to perpetuate the confusion on this issue, though I do credit him for calling for the end of NAFTA something that unsurprisingly has raised the ire of many, as witnessed by the Wall Street Journal's response.



As for the troubling nature of Bernie Sanders calling himself a socialist, I find it troubling myself because he isn't one. Well, I suppose it's a matter of debate but I don't think that Trump's plan puts him significantly out of place within the status quo. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans." Trump's plans though to fire the corrupt and incompetent VA executives that let our veterans down, aligns him precisely with Ted Cruz who "co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to fire VA senior management for mismanagement and performance failures."In my previous post, I never suggested that the US should fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. Instead, I suggested that the US should stop actively participating in the destruction and impoverishment of Mexico. This is not calling on the country to fix everyone's problems but instead is calling on the country to stop actively causing these problems. Like I said, the massive migration from Mexico occurred as NAFTA policies were instituted in the country and were having their effect. As long as this crucial element of the story is kept from the discussion, any discussion of fixing the so-called problem of migration is an insincere one. The rage that you speak of in this case is directed towards the wrong target, largely because the real issues have been silenced. As far as I can tell, Trump has only served to perpetuate the confusion on this issue, though I do credit him for calling for the end of NAFTA something that unsurprisingly has raised the ire of many, as witnessed by the Wall Street Journal's response.As for the troubling nature of Bernie Sanders calling himself a socialist, I find it troubling myself because he isn't one. Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #76 on: March 05, 2016, 05:22:02 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 04, 2016, 02:40:23 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 04, 2016, 12:38:37 PM



What is problematic is the wholesale unchecked border crossing, flowing into the US. One of the cornerstones of US immigration is the concept of "admitting and inspecting" and so, as in my grandparents cases, they came through Ellis Island, were quarantined, until cleared for health purposes, have papers processed, and were free to begin their lives. It was a process of accounting for those who came into the country. Some sections in Mexico are extremely dangerous. A young woman mayor was assassinated on the first day of office, not even a month ago. I cannot speak to the economic issues, but am shocked at the violence connected to the cartels infiltrating the US.



Health is a big issue. Zika is becoming a huge problem coming through South and Central America. What is also problematic are convicted felons who have been deported and return to what are called "sanctuary cities" to escape prosecution. I know of no country that would permit people to just decide to move to a new one, unchecked by any government authority. The US is very generous but we are in debt and cannot afford that much longer.



The VA health care positions of the candidates are interesting ones. Trump is one who is advocating providing insurance cards to all veterans whereby they could access medical care at hospitals of their choosing. I can get onboard with that position. That is not a GOP position. That is not a Democrat position. Both parties are vested in the keeping the unacceptable status quo. This would permit vets to access better levels of care, and not be "warehoused" in a VA hospital without care. One of my parents died in the VA system. You can rest assured that few elected officials would choose medical care at a VA facility.



If mainstream candidates who go-along-to-get along are elected it will be the same-old-same-old. The country needs to be shaken up. Only new people in power who have no or few ties to the old structure of power will be able to do that without push-back from lobbyists or powerful groups.



Both Sanders and Trump are effectively tapping into the collective rage of the US. Trump is a capitalist, first. At some point, he was allied to the Democrats. People change parties all the time, to run for office or move to establish residency to qualify to run for office. Bernie calls himself a socialist. Some find that troubling.



The US cannot fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. JMHO



CSM - I know less about NAFTA than you. What I do know is that there are both Mexicans and Canadians who border-cross with permission, to work every day in the US as commuters.What is problematic is the wholesale unchecked border crossing, flowing into the US. One of the cornerstones of US immigration is the concept of "admitting and inspecting" and so, as in my grandparents cases, they came through Ellis Island, were quarantined, until cleared for health purposes, have papers processed, and were free to begin their lives. It was a process of accounting for those who came into the country. Some sections in Mexico are extremely dangerous. A young woman mayor was assassinated on the first day of office, not even a month ago. I cannot speak to the economic issues, but am shocked at the violence connected to the cartels infiltrating the US.Health is a big issue. Zika is becoming a huge problem coming through South and Central America. What is also problematic are convicted felons who have been deported and return to what are called "sanctuary cities" to escape prosecution. I know of no country that would permit people to just decide to move to a new one, unchecked by any government authority. The US is very generous but we are in debt and cannot afford that much longer.The VA health care positions of the candidates are interesting ones. Trump is one who is advocating providing insurance cards to all veterans whereby they could access medical care at hospitals of their choosing. I can get onboard with that position. That is not a GOP position. That is not a Democrat position. Both parties are vested in the keeping the unacceptable status quo. This would permit vets to access better levels of care, and not be "warehoused" in a VA hospital without care. One of my parents died in the VA system. You can rest assured that few elected officials would choose medical care at a VA facility.If mainstream candidates who go-along-to-get along are elected it will be the same-old-same-old. The country needs to be shaken up. Only new people in power who have no or few ties to the old structure of power will be able to do that without push-back from lobbyists or powerful groups.Both Sanders and Trump are effectively tapping into the collective rage of the US. Trump is a capitalist, first. At some point, he was allied to the Democrats. People change parties all the time, to run for office or move to establish residency to qualify to run for office. Bernie calls himself a socialist. Some find that troubling.The US cannot fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. JMHO

Well, I suppose it's a matter of debate but I don't think that Trump's plan puts him significantly out of place within the status quo. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans." Trump's plans though to fire the corrupt and incompetent VA executives that let our veterans down, aligns him precisely with Ted Cruz who "co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to fire VA senior management for mismanagement and performance failures."



In my previous post, I never suggested that the US should fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. Instead, I suggested that the US should stop actively participating in the destruction and impoverishment of Mexico. This is not calling on the country to fix everyone's problems but instead is calling on the country to stop actively causing these problems. Like I said, the massive migration from Mexico occurred as NAFTA policies were instituted in the country and were having their effect. As long as this crucial element of the story is kept from the discussion, any discussion of fixing the so-called problem of migration is an insincere one. The rage that you speak of in this case is directed towards the wrong target, largely because the real issues have been silenced. As far as I can tell, Trump has only served to perpetuate the confusion on this issue, though I do credit him for calling for the end of NAFTA something that unsurprisingly has raised the ire of many, as witnessed by the Wall Street Journal's response.



As for the troubling nature of Bernie Sanders calling himself a socialist, I find it troubling myself because he isn't one.

Well, I suppose it's a matter of debate but I don't think that Trump's plan puts him significantly out of place within the status quo. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans." Trump's plans though to fire the corrupt and incompetent VA executives that let our veterans down, aligns him precisely with Ted Cruz who "co-sponsored legislation to make it easier to fire VA senior management for mismanagement and performance failures."In my previous post, I never suggested that the US should fix everyone's problems or fight everyone's battles. Instead, I suggested that the US should stop actively participating in the destruction and impoverishment of Mexico. This is not calling on the country to fix everyone's problems but instead is calling on the country to stop actively causing these problems. Like I said, the massive migration from Mexico occurred as NAFTA policies were instituted in the country and were having their effect. As long as this crucial element of the story is kept from the discussion, any discussion of fixing the so-called problem of migration is an insincere one. The rage that you speak of in this case is directed towards the wrong target, largely because the real issues have been silenced. As far as I can tell, Trump has only served to perpetuate the confusion on this issue, though I do credit him for calling for the end of NAFTA something that unsurprisingly has raised the ire of many, as witnessed by the Wall Street Journal's response.As for the troubling nature of Bernie Sanders calling himself a socialist, I find it troubling myself because he isn't one.



The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.



NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.



There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.



Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification? CSM - The migration thing is not just Mexico. It is the migration from Central America as well. So, the issues are larger than just economic injustice. Many are political refugees, and some from the Middle East using the open border to gain access to the US.The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification? Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #77 on: March 05, 2016, 05:47:03 AM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 05, 2016, 05:22:02 AM



The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.



NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.



There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.



Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification?

CSM - The migration thing is not just Mexico. It is the migration from Central America as well. So, the issues are larger than just economic injustice. Many are political refugees, and some from the Middle East using the open border to gain access to the US.The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification?

Unfortunately, the US's destructive policies have probably been even more severe throughout Central America than they have in Mexico which have been terrible enough. This includes supporting terrorist campaigns or outright carrying out terrorism in countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, all leading targets of US intervention. So similarly repairing these countries that have been devastated as a result of these policies could go a long way in alleviating these concerns.



To repeat, when you are talking about the vet's important issues, I was quoting the conclusions reached by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who concluded that Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans."



Yes, Bernie incorrectly calls himself a socialist. He's a pretty conventional moderate liberal. I addressed this issue above. You responded to that particular post by saying it was a "nuanced break-down of the ideology." Unfortunately, the US's destructive policies have probably been even more severe throughout Central America than they have in Mexico which have been terrible enough. This includes supporting terrorist campaigns or outright carrying out terrorism in countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, all leading targets of US intervention. So similarly repairing these countries that have been devastated as a result of these policies could go a long way in alleviating these concerns.To repeat, when you are talking about the vet's important issues, I was quoting the conclusions reached by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who concluded that Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans."Yes, Bernie incorrectly calls himself a socialist. He's a pretty conventional moderate liberal. I addressed this issue above. You responded to that particular post by saying it was a "nuanced break-down of the ideology."  Last Edit: March 05, 2016, 06:13:17 AM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #78 on: March 05, 2016, 06:17:53 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 05, 2016, 05:47:03 AM Quote from: filledeplage on March 05, 2016, 05:22:02 AM



The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.



NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.



There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.



Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification?

CSM - The migration thing is not just Mexico. It is the migration from Central America as well. So, the issues are larger than just economic injustice. Many are political refugees, and some from the Middle East using the open border to gain access to the US.The vet's first issue is extreme health care coming back from war. They have many issues that regular health care is ill abled to deal with never mind the VA which is still in the dark ages. That prospect of a health care insurance card would open the door to at least equal health care for returning vets. The health care system is spread out over large geographic regions which restricts family visitation as well as distance to travel that is unacceptable. Trump is the first to address that in that way. Trump does need to sit down and work out his positions on various aspects of not just the VA, but also ramp up his positions and plans for how he will address the myriad of problems any one of them who is elected will face. The lineup of candidates is down to 4 so the heat is on for his advisors to sit with him and come up with what will be a strategy that is doable and not just political rhetoric.NAFTA has been around since Bill Clinton in 1994 even if it started with Bush 1. The draft was initialed in 1992 when Bush was in office as a lame duck, but finalized under Clinton, after he was in office for a year. "NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I did not believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement." (Bill Clinton) It eliminated tariffs on a half of Mexican imports and a third of US to Mexico exports. There does seem to be some side agreement on the environment. (I have little idea what that means and don't believe a word of this industry-driven climate change policy.) It was reported that a lot of plants from the US moved to Mexico which does not translate to US jobs but i was not an economics major.There seems to be a decrease in corn farmer incomes. Corn, in general has decreased because of the high fructose corn syrup controversy for nutritional reasons. It is in virtually every food, and people want it eliminated for health reasons. The agricultural subsidies in general, in the US need to be looked at. I hope that happens regardless of who is in office next year.Bernie calls himself a socialist. Do you think his ideology fits better with another political classification?

Unfortunately, the US's destructive policies have probably been even more severe throughout Central American than they have in Mexico which have been terrible enough. This includes supporting terrorist campaigns or outright carrying out terrorism in countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, all leading targets of US intervention. So similarly repairing these countries that have been devastated as a result of these policies could go a long way in alleviating these concerns.



To repeat, when you are talking about the vet's important issues, I was quoting the conclusions reached by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who concluded that Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans."



Yes, Bernie incorrectly calls himself a socialist. He's a pretty conventional moderate liberal. I addressed this issue above. You responded to that particular post by saying it was a "nuanced break-down of the ideology."

Unfortunately, the US's destructive policies have probably been even more severe throughout Central American than they have in Mexico which have been terrible enough. This includes supporting terrorist campaigns or outright carrying out terrorism in countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, all leading targets of US intervention. So similarly repairing these countries that have been devastated as a result of these policies could go a long way in alleviating these concerns.To repeat, when you are talking about the vet's important issues, I was quoting the conclusions reached by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who concluded that Trump "has not laid out specific policies" when dealing with what they consider to be "the most pressing issues facing veterans."Yes, Bernie incorrectly calls himself a socialist. He's a pretty conventional moderate liberal. I addressed this issue above. You responded to that particular post by saying it was a "nuanced break-down of the ideology."



The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.



Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.



Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."



And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense. CSM - A lot of these corporations are multi-national in nature. Few of the larger ones, are not even US-owned but many are offshore or designated elsewhere to avoid taxes. The US has these companies beyond their reach so I am unclear as to how policies can be forced upon those once US-owned corporations but who have outsourced a lot of their work so they cannot be under the jurisdiction of the US.The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense. Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #79 on: March 05, 2016, 06:34:38 AM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 05, 2016, 06:17:53 AM



The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.



Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.



Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."



And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense.

CSM - A lot of these corporations are multi-national in nature. Few of the larger ones, are not even US-owned but many are offshore or designated elsewhere to avoid taxes. The US has these companies beyond their reach so I am unclear as to how policies can be forced upon those once US-owned corporations but who have outsourced a lot of their work so they cannot be under the jurisdiction of the US.The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense.

I didn't mention specific corporations so I'm not entirely sure what you mean in that paragraph. That said, NAFTA did make it easier for corporations to do things like outsource labor. The whole program is meant to increase profit to corporation owners at the expense of labour. The effects of it have been bad everywhere but they have been particularly devastating in Mexico and the US does have power over whether or not these policies continue.



As for the vet issue, again, I am drawing from the conclusions reached by a veterans organization rather than anecdotal evidence. People can decide for themselves what evidence is more convincing. I'm not suggesting that they don't believe the VA issue is important or even one of the most important issues. It's simply that solutions that Trump offers are not specific enough nor are they believed to be effectively solving the right problems. I didn't mention specific corporations so I'm not entirely sure what you mean in that paragraph. That said, NAFTA did make it easier for corporations to do things like outsource labor. The whole program is meant to increase profit to corporation owners at the expense of labour. The effects of it have been bad everywhere but they have been particularly devastating in Mexico and the US does have power over whether or not these policies continue.As for the vet issue, again, I am drawing from the conclusions reached by a veterans organization rather than anecdotal evidence. People can decide for themselves what evidence is more convincing. I'm not suggesting that they don't believe the VA issue is important or even one of the most important issues. It's simply that solutions that Trump offers are not specific enough nor are they believed to be effectively solving the right problems.  Last Edit: March 05, 2016, 07:49:08 AM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #80 on: March 06, 2016, 07:06:51 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 05, 2016, 06:34:38 AM Quote from: filledeplage on March 05, 2016, 06:17:53 AM



The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.



Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.



Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."



And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense.

CSM - A lot of these corporations are multi-national in nature. Few of the larger ones, are not even US-owned but many are offshore or designated elsewhere to avoid taxes. The US has these companies beyond their reach so I am unclear as to how policies can be forced upon those once US-owned corporations but who have outsourced a lot of their work so they cannot be under the jurisdiction of the US.The vets issues, I am pretty familiar with with knowing many of these vets (regardless of a position of the group you mention) and their first gripe is the VA. If your body is in need, nothing else matters. Policy starts with basic needs. The quality of the care and ready-access is first.Some travel out-of-state for care. That is unacceptable. Not getting a timely appointment is unacceptable. And many of the docs are working at the VA for school loan-forgiveness for medical school and are not in that specialty of caring for the very specific physical and emotional needs of returning vets. It is medical care, first, alright and so far, Trump has taken the bull by the horns. They should be cared for on the taxpayers dime and at a level equal to the care the congress members get. No questions asked.Trump, as I suggested earlier, needs to sit down with his advisors and map out their strategies and policies so that he is ready to answer these hard questions when asked. The GOP is flipping out over someone they laughed at six months ago, (Trump) looking for a brokered convention. The "party is ov-a."And the Democrats are doing no better with Clinton's IT guy getting immunity looking to do the same thing to screw Bernie out of the nomination. Judge Andrew Napolitano explained last night, that if someone is getting an immunity deal, then there is a sitting grand jury, assessing evidence already. So, this nonsense of Loretta Lynch saying she cannot comment, as to whether there is a grand jury investigation, as part of the political stonewalling, is just that, nonsense.

I didn't mention specific corporations so I'm not entirely sure what you mean in that paragraph. That said, NAFTA did make it easier for corporations to do things like outsource labor. The whole program is meant to increase profit to corporation owners at the expense of labour. The effects of it have been bad everywhere but they have been particularly devastating in Mexico and the US does have power over whether or not these policies continue.



As for the vet issue, again, I am drawing from the conclusions reached by a veterans organization rather than anecdotal evidence. People can decide for themselves what evidence is more convincing. I'm not suggesting that they don't believe the VA issue is important or even one of the most important issues. It's simply that solutions that Trump offers are not specific enough nor are they believed to be effectively solving the right problems.

I didn't mention specific corporations so I'm not entirely sure what you mean in that paragraph. That said, NAFTA did make it easier for corporations to do things like outsource labor. The whole program is meant to increase profit to corporation owners at the expense of labour. The effects of it have been bad everywhere but they have been particularly devastating in Mexico and the US does have power over whether or not these policies continue.As for the vet issue, again, I am drawing from the conclusions reached by a veterans organization rather than anecdotal evidence. People can decide for themselves what evidence is more convincing. I'm not suggesting that they don't believe the VA issue is important or even one of the most important issues. It's simply that solutions that Trump offers are not specific enough nor are they believed to be effectively solving the right problems.

CSM - just as an example, I will use Comcast, who is NBC (National Broadcasting) and General Electric. They are a multi-corps that are connected both media and industry. As far as labor, much of that has to do with whatever trade unions are involved. I don't think Comcast is union, at least in the US. Clinton (Hillary is alleging that she spoke out against NAFTA but her hubby signed off.) (That was on Huffington Post.) (Contrary to that, is ABC's coverage where she is said to have supported it.) It is hard to know all the effects, or how the treaty as applied in Mexico, but what is stopping the leaders of the three nations to sit down and perhaps modify or even call for revocation of the treaty? That has to come from the leaders of all the countries involved.



When the vets talk, I listen. Most don't choose the VA if they have an option and pay for outside insurance for better care if they are able. Many are not able and are at the mercy of the VA. It is that ability to use a universal medical card for insurance coverage anywhere that makes the difference in what can get them to return "whole" in society to make them productive. I know scores of vets through my kids and as former students. It is their chief complaint. That is just basic and essential and the govt. has failed them badly.



There are also vets who have had to pay for their own protective gear to be in combat. That is an outrage, while all these bureaucrats who work in this area of veterans affairs, are counting paper clips. A lot of these agencies need to be reviewed to assess whether they are doing their jobs, in a non-political fashion.

CSM - just as an example, I will use Comcast, who is NBC (National Broadcasting) and General Electric. They are a multi-corps that are connected both media and industry. As far as labor, much of that has to do with whatever trade unions are involved. I don't think Comcast is union, at least in the US. Clinton (Hillary is alleging that she spoke out against NAFTA but her hubby signed off.) (That was on Huffington Post.) (Contrary to that, is ABC's coverage where she is said to have supported it.) It is hard to know all the effects, or how the treaty as applied in Mexico, but what is stopping the leaders of the three nations to sit down and perhaps modify or even call for revocation of the treaty? That has to come from the leaders of all the countries involved.When the vets talk, I listen. Most don't choose the VA if they have an option and pay for outside insurance for better care if they are able. Many are not able and are at the mercy of the VA. It is that ability to use a universal medical card for insurance coverage anywhere that makes the difference in what can get them to return "whole" in society to make them productive. I know scores of vets through my kids and as former students. It is their chief complaint. That is just basic and essential and the govt. has failed them badly.There are also vets who have had to pay for their own protective gear to be in combat. That is an outrage, while all these bureaucrats who work in this area of veterans affairs, are counting paper clips. A lot of these agencies need to be reviewed to assess whether they are doing their jobs, in a non-political fashion. Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #81 on: March 06, 2016, 08:51:43 AM  What is stopping the three leaders is that they are, for the most part, always representatives of the elite sectors of the society who stand to benefit from these policies at the expense of the population. That we are forced to rely on these leaders to change anything is pretty good evidence of how democracy is severely malfunctioning in North America. Incidentally, a crucial part of NAFTA is that it worked to break down and undermine trade unions. I don't agree that it is "hard to know all the effects, or how the treaty as applied in Mexico." These things have been quite conclusively documented and studied. I'm confused as to why you bring up Clinton.  Last Edit: March 06, 2016, 08:52:56 AM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #82 on: March 06, 2016, 09:08:16 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 08:51:43 AM What is stopping the three leaders is that they are, for the most part, always representatives of the elite sectors of the society who stand to benefit from these policies at the expense of the population. That we are forced to rely on these leaders to change anything is pretty good evidence of how democracy is severely malfunctioning in North America. Incidentally, a crucial part of NAFTA is that it worked to break down and undermine trade unions. I don't agree that it is "hard to know all the effects, or how the treaty as applied in Mexico." These things have been quite conclusively documented and studied. I'm confused as to why you bring up Clinton.

Clinton is an issue because she is a Presidential candidate, and because she has been shown to have 2 positions on NAFTA. An election year is the perfect time to both raise the issue and to cause sunlight to fall upon it. Clinton is getting big union support so it is a huge issue and what you have said about union busting runs contrary to the support she is getting now.



Facebook pages or twitter accounts that are targeted to address the issues might be a good way to harness media on the issue to raise awareness. Studies can be linked and either validated or debunked and this is exactly the year to raise them. Clinton is an issue because she is a Presidential candidate, and because she has been shown to have 2 positions on NAFTA. An election year is the perfect time to both raise the issue and to cause sunlight to fall upon it. Clinton is getting big union support so it is a huge issue and what you have said about union busting runs contrary to the support she is getting now.Facebook pages or twitter accounts that are targeted to address the issues might be a good way to harness media on the issue to raise awareness. Studies can be linked and either validated or debunked and this is exactly the year to raise them. Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #83 on: March 06, 2016, 10:31:29 AM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 09:08:16 AM Clinton is an issue because she is a Presidential candidate, and because she has been shown to have 2 positions on NAFTA. An election year is the perfect time to both raise the issue and to cause sunlight to fall upon it. Clinton is getting big union support so it is a huge issue and what you have said about union busting runs contrary to the support she is getting now.



Facebook pages or twitter accounts that are targeted to address the issues might be a good way to harness media on the issue to raise awareness. Studies can be linked and either validated or debunked and this is exactly the year to raise them.



Clinton has talked about pulling out of NAFTA but, as far as I'm concerned, I don't find the reasoning to be particularly convincing. The argument from the Democrats tend to be, "NAFTA hasn't been good for America so we will pull out." This ignores the fact that NAFTA has been devastating to Mexico and that the whole purpose of NAFTA was mostly to reform the Mexican economy so that it was friendly to American investment. Now that the money has been made and Mexico has been devastated, it is not a question of whether or not NAFTA should be terminated simply because of how well America is faring, though NAFTA's problematic impact on American jobs alone is bad enough.



To be honest, if it came down to Clinton and Trump, it would be a no-brainer for the labour unions to support Clinton, as it would for any working person. Republican policies like the kind that Trump is in favour of enacting (insofar as he has any clear policies) inevitably lead to the usual increase in levels of public debt. Clinton has talked about pulling out of NAFTA but, as far as I'm concerned, I don't find the reasoning to be particularly convincing. The argument from the Democrats tend to be, "NAFTA hasn't been good for America so we will pull out." This ignores the fact that NAFTA has been devastating to Mexico and that the whole purpose of NAFTA was mostly to reform the Mexican economy so that it was friendly to American investment. Now that the money has been made and Mexico has been devastated, it is not a question of whether or not NAFTA should be terminated simply because of how well America is faring, though NAFTA's problematic impact on American jobs alone is bad enough.To be honest, if it came down to Clinton and Trump, it would be a no-brainer for the labour unions to support Clinton, as it would for any working person. Republican policies like the kind that Trump is in favour of enacting (insofar as he has any clear policies) inevitably lead to the usual increase in levels of public debt.  Last Edit: March 06, 2016, 10:34:48 AM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #84 on: March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 10:31:29 AM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 09:08:16 AM Clinton is an issue because she is a Presidential candidate, and because she has been shown to have 2 positions on NAFTA. An election year is the perfect time to both raise the issue and to cause sunlight to fall upon it. Clinton is getting big union support so it is a huge issue and what you have said about union busting runs contrary to the support she is getting now.



Facebook pages or twitter accounts that are targeted to address the issues might be a good way to harness media on the issue to raise awareness. Studies can be linked and either validated or debunked and this is exactly the year to raise them.

Clinton has talked about pulling out of NAFTA but, as far as I'm concerned, I don't find the reasoning to be particularly convincing. The argument from the Democrats tend to be, "NAFTA hasn't been good for America so we will pull out." This ignores the fact that NAFTA has been devastating to Mexico and that the whole purpose of NAFTA was mostly to reform the Mexican economy so that it was friendly to American investment. Now that the money has been made and Mexico has been devastated, it is not a question of whether or not NAFTA should be terminated simply because of how well America is faring, though NAFTA's problematic impact on American jobs alone is bad enough.



To be honest, if it came down to Clinton and Trump, it would be a no-brainer for the labour unions to support Clinton, as it would for any working person. Republican policies like the kind that Trump is in favour of enacting (insofar as he has any clear policies) inevitably lead to the usual increase in levels of public debt.

Clinton has talked about pulling out of NAFTA but, as far as I'm concerned, I don't find the reasoning to be particularly convincing. The argument from the Democrats tend to be, "NAFTA hasn't been good for America so we will pull out." This ignores the fact that NAFTA has been devastating to Mexico and that the whole purpose of NAFTA was mostly to reform the Mexican economy so that it was friendly to American investment. Now that the money has been made and Mexico has been devastated, it is not a question of whether or not NAFTA should be terminated simply because of how well America is faring, though NAFTA's problematic impact on American jobs alone is bad enough.To be honest, if it came down to Clinton and Trump, it would be a no-brainer for the labour unions to support Clinton, as it would for any working person. Republican policies like the kind that Trump is in favour of enacting (insofar as he has any clear policies) inevitably lead to the usual increase in levels of public debt.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution? CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution? Logged

Emily



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2021 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #85 on: March 06, 2016, 11:35:57 AM  Just thought I'd add, regarding Central America, CAFTA. And United Fruit. And the occupation in the 1930s.





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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #88 on: March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour. Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.  Last Edit: March 06, 2016, 12:14:12 PM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

Emily



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2021 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #89 on: March 06, 2016, 12:18:33 PM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 12:03:08 PM Quote from: Emily on March 06, 2016, 11:35:57 AM Just thought I'd add, regarding Central America, CAFTA. And United Fruit. And the occupation in the 1930s.

Emily - "Going forward" and using the leverage of the impending election, is there a beneficial solution that can be realized?

Emily - "Going forward" and using the leverage of the impending election, is there a beneficial solution that can be realized?

The US started with actual slaves and indentured servants and we still haven't gotten over our addiction to slave-wage labor. We've just moved it around. A complete overhaul of our labor policies and corporate welfare system, plus recognition of the autonomy of other countries and acting on the world stage as a member, not a dictator, would be good. Repealing NAFTA and CAFTA would be essential. Discontinuing our selfish, frankly a**holish attitude to the refugees from the economic (and health) devastation we've wreaked in other countries would be a start.The US started with actual slaves and indentured servants and we still haven't gotten over our addiction to slave-wage labor. We've just moved it around. Logged

Emily



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2021 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #90 on: March 06, 2016, 12:23:44 PM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot. I like what you said about borders. I've always found it ironic that 'free world' governments exert control over where people can live and work.If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot. Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #91 on: March 07, 2016, 06:14:28 AM  Quote from: Emily on March 06, 2016, 12:23:44 PM Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.

I like what you said about borders. I've always found it ironic that 'free world' governments exert control over where people can live and work.If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.



Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.



It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.



We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.



There is no time like the present. The world is what it is. It is not the time to lament the old colonial empires unjust manner of land-conquest. Right now is a prime-time opportunity to make use of the election cycle to raise these issues to become a greater part of the discussion or create a dedicated Twitter site or Facebook page to raise awareness.Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.There is no time like the present. Logged

Emily



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2021 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #92 on: March 07, 2016, 06:23:43 AM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 07, 2016, 06:14:28 AM Quote from: Emily on March 06, 2016, 12:23:44 PM Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.

I like what you said about borders. I've always found it ironic that 'free world' governments exert control over where people can live and work.If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.



Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.



It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.



We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.



There is no time like the present.

The world is what it is. It is not the time to lament the old colonial empires unjust manner of land-conquest. Right now is a prime-time opportunity to make use of the election cycle to raise these issues to become a greater part of the discussion or create a dedicated Twitter site or Facebook page to raise awareness.Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.There is no time like the present. I don't think anyone was referring to anything but present day circumstances. I've worked on many campaigns, so appreciate that practical action is appropriate, though most often depressingly ineffective against ground-up brain washing. Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #93 on: March 07, 2016, 06:29:00 AM  Quote from: filledeplage on March 07, 2016, 06:14:28 AM Quote from: Emily on March 06, 2016, 12:23:44 PM Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.

I like what you said about borders. I've always found it ironic that 'free world' governments exert control over where people can live and work.If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.



Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.



It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.



We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.



There is no time like the present.

The world is what it is. It is not the time to lament the old colonial empires unjust manner of land-conquest. Right now is a prime-time opportunity to make use of the election cycle to raise these issues to become a greater part of the discussion or create a dedicated Twitter site or Facebook page to raise awareness.Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.There is no time like the present.

Yes, as Emily said above, I was referring to present day circumstances. Yes, as Emily said above, I was referring to present day circumstances.  Last Edit: March 07, 2016, 06:30:06 AM by Chocolate Shake Man  Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #94 on: March 07, 2016, 06:30:14 AM  Quote from: Emily on March 07, 2016, 06:23:43 AM Quote from: filledeplage on March 07, 2016, 06:14:28 AM Quote from: Emily on March 06, 2016, 12:23:44 PM Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 06, 2016, 12:10:36 PM Quote from: filledeplage on March 06, 2016, 11:12:42 AM CSM - Political people can always craft a defense or pretext to repeal something. I was always under the impression that NAFTA was to benefit the 3 countries involved. People usually enact legislation or treaties for mutual or benefit between or among countries.



Absent repeal of NAFTA, or with the possible repeal, what do you think could be a solution?



Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.



A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

Initially, great efforts were made by the three countries to pass the the law without the populations being aware of it happening. Policies, when they are crafted by elite members of society, do not work to benefit that society, but to instead benefit the elite sectors that are crafting those policies in the first place. Obviously the elite figures in Mexico who were signing on NAFTA were only too happy with a policy designed largely for the purposes of making Mexico more open to American investment since that tends to lead to profits for elite sectors of the penetrated countries as well even as the countries plunge into poverty. Those have historically been the consequences of US policies in Central America, Haiti, South Korea, etc.A real solution would be to recognize that borders are by their nature illegitimate acts created by power centres, imposed arbitrarily and unnaturally and without any care about people and their culture, and are achieved and maintained only through violence and coercion. But in the meantime, repealing NAFTA and paying Mexico enormous reparations with the profits that were achieved through the exploitation of the country, would be a start. Then, once that's done, there can be an actual discussion of a free and fair trade system, rather than a system designed to increase profits at the expense of labour.

If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.

I like what you said about borders. I've always found it ironic that 'free world' governments exert control over where people can live and work.If that were to happen, much of my above post would be rendered moot.



Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.



It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.



We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.



There is no time like the present.

The world is what it is. It is not the time to lament the old colonial empires unjust manner of land-conquest. Right now is a prime-time opportunity to make use of the election cycle to raise these issues to become a greater part of the discussion or create a dedicated Twitter site or Facebook page to raise awareness.Or, set up a network, draft a position paper, and send it to the major candidates political directors, with the others all on "copy" as well as notables, such as senators and congress members and organizations, who have an interest in these issues, to engage a higher level of dialog and make it part of the election cycle. Then follow up with media.It is time, paper, postage and follow-up phone calls to the respective parties.We can talk about this until the cow-jumps-over-the-moon but action. Talk is cheap. Activists act.There is no time like the present.

I don't think anyone was referring to anything but present day circumstances. I've worked on many campaigns, so appreciate that practical action is appropriate, though most often depressingly ineffective against ground-up brain washing.



And, if you are the leader (or one of those who are like-minded) of the movement; you get to control it's path. You might not win on the first round, but you will, if you get the message out there and keep it out there. Emily - while activism is time-intensive and labor-intensive it is one of the few effective ways of combatting any issue whether a social issue or environmental issue. Your barometer is how the "other side" fights, to know how successful you are becoming. And the time is ripe to raise these issues. This year IS the grassroots non-conventional year to get a message out that you think is important.And, if you are the leader (or one of those who are like-minded) of the movement; you get to control it's path. You might not win on the first round, but you will, if you get the message out there and keep it out there. Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #96 on: March 07, 2016, 06:47:47 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 07, 2016, 06:39:04 AM In my opinion, though, there should not be a leader of grassroots movements who control its path.

CSM - absent leaders or a core group of concerned citizens, who know how to get a message out, there is no movement.



Someone/ or a core group needs to be at the helm to mobilize and organize.



Who you gonna call?



Even unions has a leaders. They started as grass-roots. CSM - absent leaders or a core group of concerned citizens, who know how to get a message out, there is no movement.Someone/ or a core group needs to be at the helm to mobilize and organize.Who you gonna call?Even unions has a leaders. They started as grass-roots. Logged

Chocolate Shake Man



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 2869 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #97 on: March 07, 2016, 07:00:37 AM  If they are going to be successful, grassroots movements need to be fully democratic in their structure. There should not be one person leading the way. Rather, there needs to be a constant mutual exchange of ideas. It's only because we are indoctrinated into thinking that we need to be led that we think that all movements require leaders. As far as I'm concerned, if we are to break away from ruling ideologies, we need to reconceive the way that people can organize.



Unions have leaders but good union leaders do not and should not control the path of the union. Logged

filledeplage



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Smiley Smile AssociatePosts: 3151 Re: Summer of Trump  Reply #98 on: March 07, 2016, 07:13:46 AM  Quote from: Chocolate Shake Man on March 07, 2016, 07:00:37 AM If they are going to be successful, grassroots movements need to be fully democratic in their structure. There should not be one person leading the way. Rather, there needs to be a constant mutual exchange of ideas. It's only because we are indoctrinated into thinking that we need to be led that we think that all movements require leaders. As far as I'm concerned, if we are to break away from ruling ideologies, we need to reconceive the way that people can organize.



Unions have leaders but good union leaders do not and should not control the path of the union.

CSM - As a practical matter, once the issues are worked out, someone/s will always emerge as a leader, regardless of how "democratic" the structure is or is not.



Someone has to be the spokesperson. I have been involved as a union member for several decades and also involved with matters that can become union-connected but not union-managed. Unions and their leaders can be influenced by the government, so they are not perfect.



The most expeditious way to some issue-raising is just plowing ahead with a position paper or some website to get the issue out there to see if there is interest sufficient to sustain an organization and movement. Building a network is hard work and after the "democratic" crowd leaves, there are often, only a few who are willing to do the actual work required.



This year, time is of the essence. CSM - As a practical matter, once the issues are worked out, someone/s will always emerge as a leader, regardless of how "democratic" the structure is or is not.Someone has to be the spokesperson. I have been involved as a union member for several decades and also involved with matters that can become union-connected but not union-managed. Unions and their leaders can be influenced by the government, so they are not perfect.The most expeditious way to some issue-raising is just plowing ahead with a position paper or some website to get the issue out there to see if there is interest sufficient to sustain an organization and movement. Building a network is hard work and after the "democratic" crowd leaves, there are often, only a few who are willing to do the actual work required.This year, time is of the essence. Logged
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.
PRINCE FREDERICK, 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 7, 2016)The Calvert County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.WEEKLY SUMMARY: During the week of February 29 through March 6, deputies responded to 1,695 calls for service throughout the community.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-13172: On March 5, 2016, Deputy M. Trigg conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven in an unsafe manner on Hallowing Point Road/Mason Road, in Prince Frederick. He discovered, to be in possession of a controlled dangerous substance (morphine) and possession of paraphernalia (tin can). He was transported to the Detention Center and charged with multiple traffic violations, including driving while impaired, possession of morphine and paraphernalia possession.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-13162: On March 5, 2016, Deputy T. Mohler conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven in an unsafe manner on Plum Point Road, in Huntingtown. The driver,, was found to be in possession of a controlled dangerous substance (Xanax) and paraphernalia (metal container). He was arrested and taken to the Detention Center for processing.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-13100: On March 5, 2016, Deputy S. Moran conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven in an unsafe manner near the intersection of N. Solomons Island Road/Main Street, in Huntingtown. The driver,, was found to be under the influence of a Dissociative Anesthetic (PCP) and unable to operate a vehicle safely. He was placed under arrest for possession of a dangerous nonnarcotic drug (PCP), possession of paraphernalia (plastic wrapper) and for driving while impaired by drug(s).CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-12641: On March 3, 2016, Deputy R. Evans conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven unsafely at the intersection of Rt. 4/Chaneyville Road, in Owings. The vehicle's driver,, was found to be in possession of an illegal drug (K2/Spice) and possession of paraphernalia (crack pipe). While Latinia Holland was being processed at the Detention Center, a secondary search revealed an additional drug (crack cocaine) and paraphernalia (plastic baggie) in Latinia Holland's possession. She was charged with CDS possession-not marijuana (crack cocaine), CDS possession-not marijuana (K2/Spice), possession of paraphernalia (crack pipe and plastic baggie), possession of contraband in a place of confinement and for driving a motor vehicle on a suspended license.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-11950: On February 29, 2016, Deputy T. Marshall conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven in an unsafe manner at MD Rt. 4/Hospital Road, in Prince Frederick., was found to be in possession of CDS a synthetic narcotic (Suboxone). He was arrested and transported to the Detention Center for processing.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-11730: On February 29, 2016, Deputy R. Wilson conducted a check welfare stop on a vehicle that was partially pulled off the roadway at MD Rt. 4/Skinners Turn Road, in Owings. He discovered the driver,, passengers,andwere all showing signs of intoxication. Holland was charged with CDS possession-not marijuana (PCP) and for multiple driving offenses; Bell and Ford were both charged with CDS possession-not marijuana (PCP). They were all transported to the Detention Center and processed accordingly.THEFT CASE #16-12759: On March 4, 2016, Deputy N. Barger responded to Meadow Run Lane, in Owings, for the report of a theft. Several mail packages, with delivery confirmation, were stolen from the mailbox of the National Inc. and Stitch business.THEFT CASES #16-12004, #16-12010, #16-12011, #16-12013, #16-12016, #16-12027, #16-12181, #16-12193: Deputies responded to Harvard Street, Apple Court, Forest Trail, C Avenue and Kings Creek Drive, in St. Leonard, for the report of multiple thefts from (mostly) unlocked vehicles. These thefts took place between February 29 - March 1, 2016 during the overnight hours. Stolen items include an Apple iPod, Apple cellphone charger, wallet, money, credit cards, jewelry, tool kit, a purse, power inverter, XM Radio, 1st Brand car seat and several gas cans. The investigation is continuing.THEFT CASE #16-11796: On February 29, 2016, Deputy J. Livingston responded to a medical office on Solomons Island Road, in Huntingtown, for the report of a theft/burglary. Sometime between 10:00am on February 28 and 10:00am on February 29 someone entered the office safe and removed money. The case is suspended pending further information.
Ahuna Mons NASA

One year ago, on March 6, 2015, NASAs Dawn spacecraft slid gently into orbit around Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Since then, the spacecraft has delivered a wealth of images and other data that open an exciting new window to the previously unexplored dwarf planet.

Ceres has defied our expectations and surprised us in many ways, thanks to a years worth of data from Dawn. We are hard at work on the mysteries the spacecraft has presented to us, said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator for the mission, based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Among Ceres most enigmatic features is a tall mountain the Dawn team named Ahuna Mons. This mountain appeared as a small, bright-sided bump on the surface as early as February 2015 from a distance of 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers), before Dawn was captured into orbit. As Dawn circled Ceres at increasingly lower altitudes, the shape of this mysterious feature began to come into focus. From afar, Ahuna Mons looked to be pyramid-shaped, but upon closer inspection, it is best described as a dome with smooth, steep walls.

Dawns latest images of Ahuna Mons, taken 120 times closer than in February 2015, reveal that this mountain has a lot of bright material on some of its slopes, and less on others. On its steepest side, it is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high. The mountain has an average overall height of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). It rises higher than Washingtons Mount Rainier and Californias Mount Whitney.

Scientists are beginning to identify other features on Ceres that could be similar in nature to Ahuna Mons, but none is as tall and well-defined as this mountain.

No one expected a mountain on Ceres, especially one like Ahuna Mons, said Chris Russell, Dawns principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles. We still do not have a satisfactory model to explain how it formed.

About 420 miles (670 kilometers) northwest of Ahuna Mons lies the now-famous Occator Crater. Before Dawn arrived at Ceres, images of the dwarf planet from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope showed a prominent bright patch on the surface. As Dawn approached Ceres, it became clear that there were at least two spots with high reflectivity. As the resolution of images improved, Dawn revealed to its earthly followers that there are at least 10 bright spots in this crater alone, with the brightest area on the entire body located in the center of the crater. It is not yet clear whether this bright material is the same as the material found on Ahuna Mons.

Dawn began mapping Ceres at its lowest altitude in December, but it wasnt until very recently that its orbital path allowed it to view Occators brightest area. This dwarf planet is very large and it takes a great many orbital revolutions before all of it comes into view of Dawns camera and other sensors, said Marc Rayman, Dawns chief engineer and mission director at JPL.

Researchers will present new images and other insights about Ceres at the 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, during a press briefing on March 22 in The Woodlands, Texas.

When it arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015, Dawn made history as the first mission to reach a dwarf planet, and the first to orbit two distinct extraterrestrial targets. The mission conducted extensive observations of Vesta in 2011-2012.

Dawns mission is managed by JPL for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorates Discovery Program, managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission

More information about Dawn is available at the following sites: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

Larger image
This Week at NASA: One-Year Crew Returns Home and More. NASA

After spending nearly a year aboard the International Space Station  conducting a host of biomedical and psychological research on the impacts of long-duration spaceflight on the human body, NASAs Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos wrapped up their historic mission on March 1  with a safe parachute landing in Kazakhstan.

Just over a day, later  at Houstons Ellington Field, near Johnson Space Center, a host of family, colleagues and VIPs welcomed Kelly back to the United States, including Second Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. There were cheers, embraces and expressions of appreciation for his efforts to help advance deep space exploration and Americas Journey to Mars. Also, Next ISS crew heads to launch site, Low boom aircraft, Orion Service Modules solar array wing deployment and more.
The possibilities of post-election development as suggested by the Sme daily includes a patchwork government or a constitutional chaos.

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President Andrej Kiska will, as is customary, authorise the election winner, Robert Fico, to form a government. However, it is clear already now that any post-election mathematics will be very demanding and the parliamentary majority will not be established without the participation of at least four parties.

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The possibilities of post-election development as suggested by the Sme daily are:

1. A patchwork led by Smer

As Fico will be assigned to form government, it will be him who will lead the first round of negotiations about the future ruling coalition; but without having too many options. Even with the Slovak National Party (SNS) chaired by Andrej Danko, he will not have enough votes, which means he will need another partner. But other rightist parties have long-term problem with SNS, for various reasons.

Thus, the only chance is that Smer will have to start cooperating with rightist parties. Part of the government would have to be also someone from Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) or Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO), though, and these two have ruled out collaboration with Smer. But also Most-Hid and Siet would have to agree with Smer collaboration  and their respective chairmen, Bela Bugar and Radoslav Prochazka, excluded possible coalition with Smer; at least in hints.

Smer chairman Fico stated on the election night that he is interested in forming a government but the negotiations will be longer than they are used to in the past.

A wide leftist-rightist coalition would also be one of the possibilities, with participation of Smer and four rightist parties, while SNS and People's Party - Our Slovakia (LSNS) would end in opposition, either alone, or with some other party. However, this is not very probable.

Read also:

Read also: Small chance to form a stable government Read more

2. Rightist patchwork

A second possibility of the post-election development is forming a right of centre government. Such a coalition, however, would have to consist of at least six parties: SaS, OLaNO, Most-Hid, Siet and also SNS and Sme Rodina.

However, Boris Kollar, founder of Sme Rodina party, said already before the election that he does not want to be part of rightist government, while it may support it in the parliament at the most. Thus, the rightist government would depend on his will, as without his support, it would fail to push through anything in the parliament. SaS chairman Richard Sulik said already during the election night that a government composed of many parties makes no real sense to him. Moreover, a rightist government bears in it the risk of mutual conflicts of right parties, such as took place during the term of Iveta Radicovas government.

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Read also: Extreme measures Read more

3. Vague alternatives

Other post-election calculations are rather mathematical combinations than real eventualities, as several variables in this equation are unknown. They count on the participation of Smer and SNS, but such a coalition would need at least one, if not two, more partners. It is not clear at all how Boris Kollar will approach his political performance. Theoretically, also another right party could be possible  some willing to cooperate with Smer and SNS.

4. Caretaker government

One of the choices is also political parties with constitutional majority agree on putting together a caretaker government for the Slovak presidency of the European Union. The Czech Republic, too, was in such a situation whose cabinet collapsed during its EU presidency.

The caretaker government would lead the country through its international duties, and after about a year, early elections would take place. However, if political parties came to an agreement on such a government, the question remains whether it would not be more advantageous for them to try continue ruling in this line-up. That would be very non-standard, though.

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Read also: Far right in parliament Read more

5. Constitutional chaos

The most probable option to come after this election is a constitutional chaos. Within 30 days after parliamentary election, the new parliament has to be summoned, and the new government has to file its policy statement within 30 more days. If parliament does not pass a policy statement, and thus expresses no confidence in the government, president will recall it and the speaker of parliament must announce early election. If such a situation emerged, early election would take place during the autumn, in the middle of Slovak EU presidency.

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SLOVAK President Andrej Kiska will authorise the outgoing Prime Minister  and chairman of the winning Smer party  Robert Fico to form a new government.

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On March 7, Kiska announced at a press conference that he will ask Fico on March 8 to form a new government, and also admitted, as quoted by the TASR newswire, that the situation emerging after the election is complicated.

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Kiska opined that probably everyone in Slovakia was surprised by the election outcome: We have different results than had been expected by the parties themselves, he said. We have several new parties in parliament and we will also have there radical political extremism in uniforms.

There are several dividing lines between individual parties, he added, and while some cannot be overcome  and it would not even be right to overcome them  other can and should be, albeit with difficulties.

Kiska plans to meet six party leaders on the same day; while he did not invite head of Peoples Party-Our Slovakia (LSNS) Marian Kotleba, PM Fico left for the European Union summit in Brussels, and will meet with Kiska on the morning of March 8. The six leaders visiting him on March 7 (from 10:00) include Richard Sulik (Freedom and Solidarity / SaS), Igor Matovic (Ordinary People and Independent Personalities-NOVA / OLaNO-NOVA), Bela Bugar (Bridge / Most-Hid), Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party / SNS), Boris Kollar (We Are Family / Sme rodina) and Radoslav Prochazka (Network / Siet).

I want to know how the party chairmen see the possibility of putting together a stable majority, president said. The situation is complex, and that is why I dont want to process systematically, so that we can gradually find out what are the possibilities and what are not. The president summed up that voters have been sending a message to politicians for some time already that we need to dramatically increase the trust of voters in the state. This time, they said it so loudly and so clearly that it cannot be ignored, he opined. I dont think that values are threatened in Slovakia; but people express expectations that these values will bring specific results for their everyday life. He added that the country needs both the government and opposition to work together to convince people that they do not have to go to the elections only to protest.

Options include caretaker government

The options offered for this post-election situation by the Slovak Constitution include the president assigning the chairman of the winning party to form a government  and then either appointing this proposed government or assigning someone else to do so, the Sme daily wrote on March 7. If the new government fails to win the confidence of the parliament, the president will remove it  and the old cabinet will rule until a new one is appointed but with limited powers. The new speaker of parliament would announce the date of an early election.

If the president does not believe the politicians, or if none of the political leaders is able to form a government, the president could appoint a caretaker one but a new general election would follow, anyway. After a constitutive parliamentary session, political parties can agree that they will try to bypass the president in the procedure if they manage to put together at least 90 MPs and adopt a law on shortening the election term, the speaker of parliament can announce a new election, according to Sme.
AFTER the results of March 5 general election were announced, it looked like a stalemate, although there are some possible combinations that could create a government.

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Already on the evening of March 6, the winning Smer party and the second strongest party, centre-right Freedom and Solidarity-SaS (until now in opposition) started efforts to form a government through their respective chairmen, Robert Fico and Richard Sulik, the Sme daily wrote on March 7, though not together.

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The most probable solution is a coalition formed by Smer, the Slovak National Party-SNS (not in parliament last term), and opposition parties Most-Hid and Siet, which would comprise 85 chairs in the 150 member parliament.

Another potential solution is a government composed of SaS, Ordinary people and Independent Personalities-NOVA (OLaNO-NOVA), SNS, Most-Hid and Siet, with support in parliament of Boris Kollar and his Sme Rodina (We Are Family) party that would have two more votes.

Any new ruling coalition to come out of political negotiations is likely to face several problems, Sme wrote. Eight parties have made it to the parliament: apart form those already mentioned are also the anti-establishment Peoples Party  Our Slovakia (LSNS) of Marian Kotleba (8.04 percent, 14 chairs), and anti-establishment Sme Rodina / We Are Family of Boris Kollar (6.62 percent, 11 chairs). This indicates instability that may complicate Slovakias position abroad due to the countrys presidency of the Council of European Union, starting in July.

The narrow margin of the winning Smer (28.65 percent or 49 chairs) can cause problems as the party will have to look for at least two (or maybe three) coalition partners.

The nationalist Slovak National party (SNS  8.64 percent, 15 votes) was also helped by the success of Kotleba and LSNS.

SaS leader Sulik, on March 6, hinted that both SNS and Sme Rodina would be acceptable for his party as coalition partners, Sme wrote.
Contacts between new political party and organized crime a source of concern

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The achievement of Boris Kollars Our Family in entering parliament on their first try has been somewhat overshadowed by the dismaying popularity of Marian Kotlebas radicals in Our Slovakia. But Im guessing the Family is not feeling neglected; quite the opposite. This is a party that has reason to fear close scrutiny.

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That reason is quite simply the disturbing number of contacts between people on Our Familys election candidates list  and now among its soon-to-be MPs  and organized crime. Party founder Kollar himself, for example, co-owned two Bratislava companies (Pressburg Invest and Apex) with slain Bratislava gangster Peter Steinhubel in the early to mid-1990s. A second of Kollars business partners in Apex, gangster Roman Deak, was slain a year before Steinhubel, in 1999.

Then there was the Solisko Sport firm, where Kollar was on the board of directors while Lubor Jajcaj was on the supervisory board; Jajcaj, a member of the Takac crime group, died of cancer in 2007.

Another business partner of Kollars, Frantisek Lefler (they figured in half a dozen companies together), co-owned Lotos-Papers in the mid-1990s with senior Takac gang members Ivo Ruzic and Jozef Surovcik.

Number 9 on the Family candidate list, Ludovit Goga, like Kollar figured in the 1. Tatranska ski company in Strbske Pleso with Martin Findura, a business partner of Poprad strongman Ondrej Zemba. Oh, and lets not forget about Petra Kristufkova, the common-law wife of murdered gangster Robert Dinic (1998), who is No. 5 on the Family candidates list.

As Kollar tells it, his Family was founded after an old friend, Peter Marcek, approached him with the idea of transforming his moribund Slovak Citizens Party (SOS). Marcek, formerly head of the Slovak Wrestling Association, figured in the K.U.K.S. company with murdered gangster and lifelong wrestler Jozef Svoboda in 1995. Of Svoboda he once said: Im not trying to defend him here, but everyone says Svoboda was a gangster. He was never investigated, charged or found guilty. He was just a businessman who knew influential people from politics.

These are disturbing associations. But in post-election Slovakia, with fascists preparing to take their parliamentary vows, there will inevitably be a tendency to downplay them. Such as by noting the time that has passed since these contacts were active; the right of Family MPs to be presumed innocent of wrongdoing; and the fact that Slovakia is a small place, where everyone knows everyone else.

Let the reader judge. But it would perhaps behoove this countrys next prime minister, if he is thinking of accepting Family as a coalition partner, not to give them the keys to the European structural funds program, or authority over the justice system or the police. And while hes at it, perhaps someone should keep a sharp eye on the silverware at cabinet meetings.
Even a native Edmontonian might be surprised to stumble upon Rogue Wave Coffee Company, nestled among a carbon-brush supplier and a taxi depot in a deceptively industrial-looking area just north of downtown. The new roasters cafe, which opened in July 2015, is still one of the citys better-kept secrets, and the only place in town where Rogue Waves small-batch roasts are served.

Inside the brightly colored building that Rogue Waves cafe shares with four (yes, four) tattoo parlors and several artists studios, a large community bulletin board covers the wall in the common entryway. Turn left and youll find yourself at Rogue Waves wooden counter, where pastries from Knosh Catering (another of the buildings tenants) are displayed beside an impressive array of pour-over equipment. One of the few cafes in Edmonton to emphasize manually brewed coffee over batch brew and espresso, Rogue Waves modus operandi, in the words of co-owner Dave Walsh, is to focus on the pour-over and build from a small spot. The cafe serves Chemex-, Nel-, and syphon-brewed coffee, as well as cold brew in the summer, and offers espresso pulled from a two-group Synesso Cyncra machine. Even if espresso-based drinks arent Rogue Waves specialty, my cappuccino is steamed to a perfect temperature.

Though space here is limited, seating is maximized with a long plank table facing the counter and bar seating along the windows facing 114th Street. Theres also space to set out patio tables in the summer; the freakishly warm weather in Alberta this winter means that even in February, a rotation of illustrated tattoo artists drink coffee and chat outside. Inside, the atmosphere is equally casual and communal, with patrons talking to one another and to Walsh, whos serving customers and making coffee. Though the cafe closes at 5 p.m. during the winter, in the summer theyll stay open until 7 p.m., allowing them to catch some of the early traffic drawn by Mercury Room, an independent music venue on the corner.

Owners Walsh and Dave Laville have been friends since seventh grade. Their development from aficionados to hobbyists to coffee professionals wasliterallya trial by fire. We turned out really good roasts in the oven, on a pan, or in a popcorn popper, Walsh remembers. We had a beloved homemade roaster called Stubby, and we had a lot of fires.

After experimenting with coffee roasting for more than 10 years while selling to family and friends, they started Rogue Wave as a roastery in 2014. Now they roast about 300 pounds of coffee per month in a Torrefattore roaster. Theyre in the process of expanding their roastery in Northeast Edmonton, renovating the space and adding a North roaster to their arsenalfor which, Walsh admits, we dont have the software quite figured out yet, though it seems such a dive-in-and-do-it-yourself approach lies at the heart of the Rogue Wave philosophy.

Rogue Waves focus on independence and experimentation is not unlike other companieslike Iconoclast Coffee, just down the streetthat are new to the Edmonton roasting scene. Walsh sees this diversity and individuality as a positive thing for the local coffee industry as a whole, going so far as to say that he would like to see at least three more roasters operating independently in the city. There arent a lot of other businesses you can get into, he remarks, citing the freedom he feels that Rogue Wave, as a small player, enjoys in controlling quality on a minute level and determining the parameters of its own success.

Walsh explains one of their goals as being that customers coming back to the cafe a few months after their last visit will get a better cup of coffee every time. Rogue Wave sources green beans primarily through Atlas Coffee Importers and Cafe Imports, but Walsh is delighted to note that in this day and age, you can fire off an e-mail to a farm and buy green coffee that way. New coffees are often tested right in the middle of the cafe, in a tiny Huky 500 Roaster made by Mr. Li in Taiwan.

When I ask whats new and exciting at the moment, Walsh recommends a pour-over from Yemen. He warns me that the beans are slightly older than they should be; nevertheless, my coffee is sweet with a balanced acidity and tastes of fresh blueberries. Its enough to convince me to take a bag of freshly roasted Costa Rican beans home. Brewed in my French press, the relatively light roast is full and flavorful, a welcome addition to breakfastand the local lineup in my coffee cupboard.

Lizzie Derksen is a writer, zine publisher, and coffee professional living in Edmonton, Alberta. Read more Lizzie Derksen on Sprudge.
TOKYO (Sputnik)  The South Korea-US joint military exercises will have a special focus on developing the countries' joint capability to launch precision strikes on North Korea's top leadership, state media reported Monday, citing military officials.

On Monday, the annual springtime joint exercises kicked off in South Korea. The US contingent includes some 17,000 troops, which is said to be the largest number of US forces in South Korea in decades. Washington has stepped up efforts at deploying strategic weaponry in South Korea in response to North Korean violations of UN resolutions, specifically its nuclear test and ballistic missile launch earlier this year.

"The focus of the exercises will be on hitting North Korea's key facilities precisely," one of the officials told Yonhap News Agency.
Cuts in public spending, such as pension reductions, are seen by the lenders as a key to reviving Greece's banking sector and restoring business. There is quite a lot to restore: Greek unemployment remains the highest in Europe at almost 25 percent  and just under 50 percent among the young. Many companies are relocating to other countries as a result of over-taxation. Meanwhile, the once booming tourism trade has taken a hit because of refugee arrivals. Last week, it was announced by Greece's official statistics agency that the debt-stricken nation had dipped back into recession.

According to the former finance minister of Greece, Gikas Hordouvelis, the situation is "now more dangerous than it was last summer."
The EU is willing to make a deal with Turkey at any price to stem the flow of migrants into Europe , despite misgivings about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's autocratic government, crackdown on the opposition and human rights abuses, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

"Rarely has the EU needed Turkey so badly. And rarely has Turkey looked like such an unattractive partner," wrote Gideon Rachman.

"The raid on Zaman newspaper, the countrys largest daily, underlines the fact that Turkey is an increasingly autocratic and unpredictable state, driven by the personal whims of its president. The EU issued a statement of concern, following the raid. But it is unlikely to press the matter very hard  given the urgent need for Turkish co-operation on refugees."
Since September 2015, eight countries in the Schengen zone have reintroduced border checks.

Belgium seeks to raise the issue of media freedom in Turkey during Monday's EU-Turkey summit, Belgian Prime Minister said.

On Friday, a Turkish court ordered the Feza Media Group, which includes opposition newspaper Zaman, Todays Zaman daily and the Cihan news agency, to be placed under the management of government trustees. In 2015, Turkey ranked 149 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index, according to Reporters Without Borders.

"I was never naive regarding this issue, I have frequently said that we must protect our own, European interests in the relationship with Turkey, to see eye to eye clearly without forbidden topics. We will talk about media freedom, which, for us, is unshakable. We will also see how each of us can fulfill the commitments undertaken within recent months, both from the European side and the Turkish side," Michel told reporters ahead of the summit's opening.

Turkey must fulfill its commitments in maintaining border control, stemming illegal migration and tackle migrant smuggling and improve living conditions for Syrian migrants in Turkey, Michel said.

The EU-Turkey summit focusing on stemming migration flows into the bloc kicked off earlier on Monday in Brussels. The EU leaders are discussing with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cooperation on migration, focusing on a speedy implementation of the EU-Turkey action plan, according to the European Council website.

Earlier in the day, a diplomatic source in Brussels said that the European Union is turning a blind eye to Ankara's press freedom violations due to Turkey's key role in resolving Europe's migration crisis.


BRUSSELS (Sputnik)Turkey, as a candidate for European Union membership, should respond to Brussels call to defend freedom of speech and assembly, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on arrival to the EU-Turkey migration summit Monday.

"There is a need for Turkey to respond to the call from the European Union side, as a candidate country, to respect the highest standards when it comes to democracy, rule of law, fundamental freedoms starting from freedom of expression and freedom of association," Mogherini said in remarks broadcast by the European Commission audiovisual services.

The EU-Turkey summit focusing on stemming migration flows into the bloc kicked off in Brussels earlier in the day.
"It is important to discuss the role of men in pregnancy," he said.

According to the proposal, men would have the right to opt of out the legal responsibilities of being a father up to the 18th week of pregnancy, the final point at which a woman can choose to have an abortion.

This "legal abortion" would be final, and men should not be able to change their mind later, Nilsen said.

Nilsen explained that the legislation would help men who do not dare say that they don't want children, or don't want to be involved in being a parent when their partner becomes pregnant.

"There are typical examples of men taking the easy route and not being clear about how involved they want to be. It is important that men are honest with their intentions. With this proposal, there is a clear legal decision."

Sweden's Nyheter24 news website conducted an online poll about the proposal. The majority of respondents, 127, voted in favor of the proposal, and 100 voted against.


BRUSSELS (Sputnik)A team of Greeces international creditors may be dispatched to Greece to continue the review of state reforms before signing off on the next bailout package, EU Finance Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Monday.

"I think that today we will come to a unanimous decision to send the mission chiefs back to Athens. My point of view is that we should do that," Moscovici told reporters ahead of the Eurogroup meeting among the eurozone's finance ministers.

He argued that the review should be concluded "as soon as possible."


KIEV (Sputnik)The European Parliament expects the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, to find solutions that could prevent possible reelections to the country's parliament, Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee Head Andrej Plenkovic said Monday.

"The key issue of the Ukrainian Week was exactly the launch of the reform process of the Verkhovna Rada We noted that Ukraine continues to pursue a policy of pro-European reforms. There is sense in the general dialogue between the political parties [in Ukraine]. And we expect that they will not only find the right solution in order to avoid early elections, but also will continue to implement the reforms," Plenkovic told Ukrainian Segodnya daily.

Ukraines parliament has been in a crisis, facing a de-facto collapse of its ruling coalition. On February 15, the parliamentary faction aligned to Poroshenko  the Petro Poroshenko Bloc  described the cabinets work in 2015 as unsatisfactory.
In comparison, the socialist "Direction-Social Democracy" Party of Prime Minister Robert Fico, which ran on an anti-migrant platform, took 28.3 percent of the vote, or 49 seats; previously it had held 83 seats in the legislature. The party will have to form a coalition in order to stay in power.

The LSNS is led by Marian Kotleba, the former chairman of the banned neo-Nazi party Slovak Togetherness  National Party. Marian Kotleba is an outspoken opponent the United States, NATO, the European Union and immigration.

According to The New Observer, the LSNS is the great rising surprise of Slovak politics: a hardline nationalist party that was banned by the system under accusations of neo-Nazism, and which was refounded in 2011. It has ties with both Greece's Golden Dawn party and the Hungarian party Jobbik.

The L'SNS website states that the party "continues in the legacy of our national heroes  Ludovit Stur, Dr. Andrej Hlinka and Dr. Jozef Tiso." While Stur was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century and Hlinka was notable for his early support of Slovak independence, Tiso was an anti-Semitic Nazi collaborator who ruled Slovakia from 1939 until 1945. During that time, Slovakia offered to pay Berlin 500 Reichsmarks for each Jew it deported to Germany, on condition that they didn't return. They didn't: 83% of Slovakia's Jews died in the holocaust. According to the BBC, Kotleba once described Tiso's regime as "like living in heaven."



The polls indicate that LSNS took 23 percent of all first-time voters, indicating that the younger generation in Slovakia is increasingly turning toward nationalism.

The rise of these nationalist forces, who have until now been perceived as marginal groups, to actual politics, is an outstanding occurrence; its consequences are almost impossible to predict.
Will it be run by Syria's legitimate President Bashar al-Assad, or will it be controlled by one of the various rebel groups, fighting in that particular region, or under control of the Syrian Kurds, asks the journalist.

Or maybe Turkey itself wants to be in control? However, this would be a clear violation of international law, he states. Or should the refugee settlement be subject to international protection, similar to the UN protected zones in Bosnia during the Bosnian war? However, the author adds, this would not be a particularly fitting example, referring to the Srebrenica safe area.

No wonder that Washington holds back because Obama does not want to be drawn into yet another, though limited, adventure in the Middle East, the journalist says.

Erdogans true motives, the author reasons, could be mere propaganda, a desire to demonstrate that his country is willing to do more to settle the refugee crisis, this time however on the territory of another state.

The idea also sounds as yet another attempt to push for a buffer zone on the territory of Syria along the border with Turkey, which Erdogan has been pushing through for a long time.

If such a city is built, the author reasons, the US-led coalition would no longer oppose the no-fly zone, which in turn, would provide an air cover for its moderate rebels fighting against President Assad.
"But what can be heard well now on this Russian military base is the voice of Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, who heads the center coordinating the ceasefire. Each day, he takes stock of the violations; at the moment, relative calm reins. Russia is exchanging this information with the US military."

Nevertheless, "Russia remains highly active in Syria. In the course of our visit, organized by the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministries, we were able to visit the village of Maarzaf. During the conflict, the village did not cooperate with either the opposition or with Bashar Assad's regime."

Village authorities, the correspondent noted, were convinced to sign on to a peace agreement with the government, supported by Russia, in exchange for defense and security. "Sheikh Ahmad Mubarak, an important person in the area, who has his own small army, thanked the Russians for their assistance, and promised to free the country from all invaders."

"About thirty such documents were signed after the intervention of the Russian military. Such events attract even more people thanks to the fact that military also distributes food aid and medicine."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Turkey and allegedly moderate opposition groups do not respect the established ceasefire in Syria, and are putting at risk the new round of the intra-Syrian peace talks scheduled for Wednesday, opposition Syrian Democratic Council co-leader Haytham Manna told Sputnik on Monday.

"The ceasefire is not respected by other groups, not by us. There are attacks against civilian Arabs and Kurds from the so-called moderate groups. Also, Turkey opened the border for many armed people who came from Turkish territories to the north of Aleppo," Manna stated.

Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) told Sputnik that Turkey shelled Kurdish positions in the north of Aleppo province in Syria, in the vicinity of the town of Tall Rifat.
At the same time however, "a series of respected American military experts have already suggested that it may be possible that what the aircraft carrier really is a super-expensive, 'super-graveyard' for its crew of thousands. The huge ship, aspiring to become a symbol of America's power on the oceans, may become obsolete before it is even completed."

Last month, Harry J. Kazianis, a military analyst and senior contributor for the Washington-based foreign affairs magazine The National Interest, said as much in an article.

"Countries with the technological means, specifically great powers like China and Russia nations the Pentagon considers as the main big challenge for the US military  are developing cruise missile platforms that can strike from long-range and en masse from multiple domains," Kazianis noted. "Such weaponsif accurate, using highly trained crews combined with the means to find their target on the vast open oceans could turn America's supercarriers into multi-billion dollar graveyards for thousands of US sailors."

"And Harry Kazianis is not alone in offering such an opinion," Ischenko recalled. Also last month, in an op-ed for Politico, retired US Navy Captain Jerry Hendrix, a defense analyst for the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, suggested that the golden age for US carriers ended the moment when China and Russia began introducing long-range coastal missile systems into the ranks of their militaries.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US defense contractor Northrop Grumman is working with Saab in Sweden to produce the flight guidance and navigational system for the new Euro-drone, or unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).

"Northrop Grumman Corporation, in cooperation with Saab Aerosystems, has provided the Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) for the nEUROn UCAV demonstrator, which recently conducted more than 100 test flights in France, Italy and Sweden," Northrop Grumman said in a press release on Monday.

Northrop Grumman's subsidiary in Germany, Northrop Grumman LITEF, supplied the fiber-optic, gyro-compassing AHRS guidance system, the release added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  North Korea announced it would be ready for a preemptive strike on the United States and South Korea in case of a threat to security over the two nations joint military exercises, state media reported Monday.

According to the statement of the Korean National Defense Commission on the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongang believed the military exercises were a pretext for war.

"A preventive nuclear strike of justice will be carried out in accordance with the order by the Korean People's Army leadership," the statement said, adding that any military action "bringing down North Korea" will be responded with a "a sacred war of justice."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Bolivia has decided to set up its National Atomic Energy Agency for proper cooperation with Russia, General Director of Russia's state nuclear energy Sergei Kirienko said on Monday.

On Sunday, Russia and Bolivia signed an intergovernmental cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and cooperation in building a nuclear research and technology center at an altitude of 13,500 feet above sea level in El Alto. Kirienko was accompanied by Bolivian President Evo Morales and Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy Luis Alberto Sanchez.

"He [President of Bolivia Evo Morales], speaking today, said that. the government was considering to establish a national [atomic] agency, because the complexity is that Bolivia has no governing body that has to be our partner in the construction of this [nuclear research] center. So far, the agreement has been signed by the Minister of Energy, but the president of Bolivia agreed to create this special agency in Bolivia," Kirienko told reporters.
An EU diplomatic source told RIA Novosti ahead of the EU-Turkey migrant summit that European leaders were ready to abolish short-term visas ahead of this fall, in addition to paying the extra $3.29 billion and fast-track EU accession talks, if Ankara carried out its commitments.

Grybauskaites office stressed that Brussels goal was to help Turkey financially, in the humanitarian sector, as well as in EU integration, and defended Eastern and Central European members for temporarily shutting down internal visa-free EU borders.

"You cannot blame these countries, since Europe unfortunately failed to protect its external bordersThere is no alternative," she argued, adding that the Schengen visa-free system was "hanging by a thread."

Brussels and Ankara drafted the EU-Turkey action plan in November 2015, under which EU member states pledged to pay Turkey 3 billion over the next two years and fast-track Ankaras EU accession talks in exchange for efforts to limit migrant arrivals.

Schultz confirmed later on Monday that Turkey requested the same amount to be paid in 2018.

Europe has been beset by a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty, with many of those using the so-called Western Balkan route to get into the western EU states.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, militants attacked army, police and National Guard positions in the center of the Tunisian city of Ben Gardane near the border with Libya, leaving several civilians and soldiers dead. According to media reports, Tunisian security forces have killed over 30 militants.

"Today's attack shows how right and necessary it is that we focus our support on strengthening the Tunisian border security. But it also shows how urgent it is for the entire region that we achieve stabilization in Libya so that there will be no more safe retreat for ISIS [Daesh]," the German foreign minister said Monday, quoted by the press release.

Steinmeier also called for the formation of a unity government in Libya and the prompt implementation of the peace agreement.
"He's someone that you have to continually stand up to, because like many bullies he is someone that will take as much as he possibly can unless you do," Clinton said at a debate back in January.

"In fact," Mirzayan suggested, "this is a very important statement, showing that Hillary looks at relations with Russia as one of confrontation, in accordance with a strategy of containment. It is for this reason, for example, that she advocates for NATO's expansion, and accentuates the bloc's anti-Russian character."

In this regard, the analyst noted, "there's nothing strange in Hillary's approach."

Speaking to Expert, Leonid Polyakov, a professor of political science at Russia's Higher School of Economics, said that "for the Democrats, the foreign agenda and the idea of America's dominant role as a 'beacon of humanity' is an obsession  an idee fixe from which virtually all the problems of the contemporary world arise. Americans, guided by the concept that they 'are the beacon of humanity  the exceptional nation', give themselves a kind of carte blanche to interfere in the affairs of any country across the globe."

"Of course," Mirzayan noted, "this does not mean that the Republicans are pure pragmatists; among them too there exist idealists like the neoconservatives. For the most part, however, it is the Democrats, and especially those who were part of Bill Clinton's administration, and have now passed into the team of his wife, who dream to return Russian-US relations to the paradigm which existed in the Clinton years. Or, if the Kremlin is opposed (and it is), to engage in deterrence."


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The 2017 Department of Defense budget focuses on US capabilities to deter or defeat near peer adversaries, including Russia and China, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities Robert Scher said on Monday.

"One of the key areas to focus on in this budget is to say that great power conflict is something that we hadnt done as much work on as we had done on other issues in the past, and [Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter] clearly wanted to focus on that," Scher said at a Center for Strategic International Studies conference on defense spending.

In recent testimony to the US Congress, Carter named Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and global terrorist networks as the "five challenges" facing the Department of Defense in the future.
Shoot the f*cking dice. Shoot the f*cking dice like youre f*cking some n*gger, LiButti shouted at another point, according to testimony in the case.

Employee complaints about the casinos willingness to cater to the hateful mobster resulted in a fine of $200,000.

Trump has denied that he personally knew the high-roller, but LiButtis daughter, Edith Creamer, told Isikoff otherwise.

Hes a liar, said Creamer. Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trumps then wife] Ivana and the kids. My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City]. My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there. After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump, but it pisses me off that he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.
As Sundays democratic debate was broadcast from Flint, Michigan, the poisoning of the city took center stage.

Senator Sanders laid into the governor, stating in no uncertain terms, "I believe that the governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible."

In a few days, political candidates will be leaving Flint and Michigan. They will not be staying to help solve the crisis, but I am committed to the people of Flint. I will fix this crisis and help move Flint forward. Long-term solutions are what the people of Flint need and what I am focused on delivering for them, Snyder posted to Facebook, responding to Democratic candidates calls for his resignation.

 Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

He also tweeted, This was never about money. This was a failure of government at all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy.

 Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) March 7, 2016

The poisoning of Flint water began in April 2014, when the city stopped receiving its supply from Detroit, instead shifting to water taken directly from the Flint River, a source known to have a high corrosive salt content. Corrosive salts in the water damaged the pipes, which contain lead, causing that material to be released into the water, and contaminating it.

The FBI has joined the US Postal Inspection Service, the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of the Inspector General, and the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, into the wide-ranging criminal probe of the Flint water crisis, to determine which laws were broken and who broke them.
According to him, "Iran is changing, to be sure, but the country is headed to a more progressive strategy than joining the hegemony hell bent on the country's destruction for decades."

In this regard, Butler pointed to a recent spate of studies, including one conducted by the University of Maryland, which he described as "proof of Iranians' attitudes toward the West."

"The studies tell us that Iranians greatly favor Iran's role in helping Syria and Russia defeat Daesh and other factions inside war torn Syria. Even more importantly, the people surveyed overwhelmingly believed US involvement in Syria is only designed to topple Assad," Butler said.

According to him, Iran has long been under an unbearable pressure of unjustified sanctions, which is why the Iranian people will unlikely "dive into the waiting arms of Washington and London" in the foreseeable future. Butler suggested that Tehran would rather develop ties with Moscow and Beijing irrespective of any possible changes in Iranian parliament.

"Iranians' views of Russia and China are highly favorable and have improved considerably over time, at least according to most polls taken in the last couple of years. Meanwhile, the clear mistrust of Western countries, with the exception of Germany, is evident without taking performing any surveys," he said.


CAIRO (Sputnik)The improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria prompted opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) to participate in Geneva talks set to start on March 10, HNC spokesman Riyad Agha said Monday.

"We were encouraged to accept the invitation [by] partial improvement of the humanitarian situation [in Syria], we hope that it will improve further", Agha told RIA Novosti.

The HNC spokesman said that the opposition was set to join talks on March 11. He added that the opposition wanted to immediately start discussions on the formation of a transitional government in Syria.
Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah Sisi agreed in a phone talk on Monday to continue close cooperation on the settlement of the Syrian conflict.

"It was agreed that Russia and Egypt will continue close cooperation in the framework of the International Support Group on Syria," the statement reads.

Sisi called for the swift launch of the UN-backed peace process.

Abdel Fattah Sisi in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin supported a swift start of the UN-backed political settlement in Syria, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday.

"Abdel Fattah Sisi praised these [political settlement] steps and spoke in favor of an early launch of the political process of the Syrian settlement under the auspices of the United Nations," the statement read.

Russia and Egypt agreed to continue close cooperation in the framework of the International Syria Support Group, according to the document.

Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah Sisi in a telephone conversation stressed the need to continue the fight against international terrorism not only in Syria but also in Libya and Yemen, the Kremlin press service said Monday.

"The need to continue effective fight against international terrorism, not only in Syria, but also in Libya and Yemen, has been underlined," the press service's statement reads.
The Turkmen people are sorry about the death of a Russian pilot in Syria and they hope for Russia's help in maintaining peace and fighting Turkey's aggression in Syria, Mustafa Kafe, mayor of the Syrian village of Al-Issawiyah, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying ; most of villagers are known to be members of Syria's Turkmen ethnic minority.

Kafe's remarks came after about five metric tons of Russian-Syrian humanitarian aid was delivered to his village and a field hospital was deployed there; the village is located 20 kilometers from the country's border with Turkey.

"I am grateful to the Russian Federation for the help we receive, and for the truth that [Russia] presents to the entire world. We have always lived peacefully and quietly, and maintained good neighborly relations with all neighboring nations," Kafe said.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)Joint US-South Korean military drills are unprecedented in size and place undue pressure on North Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.

"US-South Korean military exercises that began on March 7, although formally routine, are in reality unprecedented in their scope, the number and types of weapons involved, as well as the type of maneuvers being carried out," the ministry noted.

It said the developments in and around the Korean Peninsula "are causing growing concern."


VIENNA (Sputnik)The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has yet to assess the existence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Monday.

"The additional protocol between Iran and IAEA has just started to be implemented, since 16 of January. And normally within 180 days the country has to send the declaration. After that the IAEA reviews the declaration and may ask questions or seek clarifications. At this stage only one month has passed and it is too early to say," Amano told reporters.

The Additional Protocol to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, reached between Iran and the international community in 2015, allows IAEA inspectors to access Iran's nuclear sites suspected of potentially breaching the deal.
Turkeys importance to the European Union only grows with the rise of "outright fascists" and "ultraconservatives" in countries throughout Europe, ranging from less influential member states like Ukraine, Hungary, and Greece, to the ascendancy of far right and nationalist sentiments within the power states of Britain, France, and Germany. "You have a proliferation of Nazis like during the Golden Dawn in Greece," the country most heavily impacted in the European refugee crisis, explains Draitser.

How is the EU responding to increasing far-right Islamophobia?

In response to the increasing militancy of the far-right in Europe, "officials are now making inflammatory statements directly in opposition to the tenor of the discussion six months ago," states Draitser. Just last week, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said in a statement to "potential illegal economic migrants," that they "should not come to Europe, should not believe the smugglers, and should not risk their lives and their money, it is all for nothing."

"This has dangerous implications and one has to be taken aback at just how reactionary the politics in Europe has become," says Draitser. "There is racist scapegoating, rampant Islamophobia, and this is being fed into, in a very hysterical way, by some of the European tabloids and by the media apparatus."
If Clyde Francis got a little teary eyed during Sunday nights Dan Patch Awards banquet, it was understandable. It also was not unexpected.

Francis, who celebrated his 59th birthday Saturday, on Sunday watched as Wiggle It Jiggleit was honoured as harness racings 2015 Horse of the Year during the U.S. Harness Writers Associations Dan Patch Awards banquet at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Wiggle It Jiggleit, trained by Francis for owner and longtime friend George Teague Jr., won 22 of 26 races last season and earned $2.18 million (U.S.) in purses.

With him, it doesnt take much for me to get emotional about it, Francis said. Ill go back and look at races, Ill look at them over and over again, and I get teary eyed. Its just a sentimental thing.

Im around him every day. Hes like a pet. Everybody doesnt get to enjoy a horse like him every day. Im just lucky enough to be around one like him. I never thought Id be. Just to be affiliated with a horse like him is great.

Wiggle It Jiggleits Horse of the Year Award topped the night, but there were numerous other horses --- not to mention horsemen and horsewomen --- recognized during the evenings festivities.

Other horses honoured were trotters Pinkman (Trotter of the Year and best three-year-old male), Southwind Frank (two-year-old male), Broadway Donna (two-year-old female), Mission Brief (three-year-old female), JL Cruze (older male) and Bee A Magician (older female) and pacers Boston Red Rocks (two-year-old male), Pure Country (two-year-old female), Divine Caroline (three-year-old female), State Treasurer (older male) and Venus Delight (older female).

Francis has worked with Teague for nearly two decades. Teague co-owned and trained 2004 Horse of the Year Rainbow Blue, and while Francis was somewhat involved with Rainbow Blue, it was nothing like his connection with Wiggle It Jiggleit. Francis liked Wiggle It Jiggleit from his earliest days and Teague decided it was time for Francis to get more recognition and named him the trainer for the horse.

With Rainbow Blue, I was around for a little bit, but not as much hands on as with [Wiggle It Jiggleit], Francis said. With him, I was hands on from day one; from the time we started breaking him. Me and Mike [caretaker Mike Taylor] had him on our side of the barn and we were the only ones to fool with him. Its been a fun ride.

Its been a ride that has seen Francis become better known throughout the harness racing industry, even though he was previously recognized by many trainers and caretakers in racetrack paddocks on the East Coast through his association with the Teague Stable.

Now, Im more so known worldwide in the horse industry as the trainer of Wiggle It Jiggleit, Francis said. Thats a great feeling. Its great to go through the paddock and have all eyes on you.

Youre not going to find a better person than George. He would do anything for anybody in the world. He doesnt even have to know you for him to help. He just likes to help people. I cant praise him enough.

Wiggle It Jiggleit, who is getting ready for a return to action this season, also received 2015 Dan Patch honours as Pacer of the Year and best three-year-old male pacer. His victories included the Meadowlands Pace, Little Brown Jug, Battle of the Brandywine, Max C. Hempt Memorial, Carl Milstein Memorial, Hap Hansen Progress Pace, and Matron Stakes.

He won the Little Brown Jug in a memorable stretch duel with Lost For Words, rallying in deep stretch after racing on the outside for much of the mile to get to the wire first by a nose. That race was recognized as the Railbird Moment of the Year.

The Jug, I dont know if youll ever see another horse race like that again, Francis said. I look at that race as one of the greatest races Ive ever seen a horse go.

Even the races he lost, I was never disappointed in him. Hes one of those horses that gave you what hes got every time he hit the track. You could never get down on him.

Team Teagues celebrating went beyond Wiggle It Jiggleits Horse of the Year honour. Teague was recognized as the 2015 Owner of the Year, his second such trophy in his career; 25-year-old Montrell Teague, who drove Wiggle It Jiggleit in all his races, was recognized as the Rising Star; and Taylor was honoured as Caretaker of the Year.

Teagues previous Owner of the Year honour was in 2007.

What a fun year it was to have such a great horse, Teague said, referring to Wiggle It Jiggleit. Words cant explain it. When youve got the mom and youve got the dad and you wind up with one like this, and you dont expect it, its definitely an extra bonus.

Montrell Teague won 160 races last year and set a career high with $3.71 million in purses. In addition to driving Wiggle It Jiggleit, he piloted Ohio Sire Stakes champion Miss Me Yet and Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund winners Apple Bottom Jeans and Remember Me VK.

Its been a very fun ride, and to be honoured with such a great award adds to it, he said. Dad always said greatness comes with opportunity and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to race one of the greatest horses to ever hit the track. Wiggle It Jiggleit has given me and my family enough thrills to last a lifetime.

Jimmy Takter received his fifth trophy --- and second in a row --- for Trainer of the Year. Takter trained Dan Patch Award-winners Pinkman and Pure Country and set a record by winning six Breeders Crown races in 2015. Other top horses for Takter last year included Crown champs Wild Honey, All The Time, Always B Miki, Creatine, and The Bank.

Its nice; we had a fantastic year, Takter said. I had a great group of horses and I have a great group of people that participate with us. Its not just a one-man show.

David Miller was recognized as Driver of the Year. He won a record five Breeders Crown races last year and was the regular driver of Dan Patch Award-winners Divine Caroline and Broadway Donna. He also had stakes wins with State Treasurer and Bee A Magician. Miller also was Driver of the Year in 2003.

It means a lot to me, Miller said. I think my competition is pretty tough, its a battle every night, so its an honour to be named Driver of the Year. Its been an incredible ride. I love it so much.

Hanover Shoe Farms President and CEO Jim Simpson received the Stanley Bergstein-Proximity Achievement Award for his contributions to harness racing. He also saw Hanover Shoe Farms recognized as Breeder of the Year. Hanover-bred horses earned a record $30.16 million in 2015.

I would like to emphasize that political activism is one of my new chores in this industry, and I cant say I like it, Simpson said. But it must be done. The more active you can be politically, the better.

Longtime harness racing participant and owner Marv Chantler was the recipient of the January Davies Humanitarian Award for his contributions beyond harness racing through his work with Matthews House Hospice.

"It's an honour to stand here tonight," said Chantler during his acceptance speech. "I've had a lot of fun in this business and been very successful in life, but it's a magnificent honour when you start giving back to other people and I'm going to keep doing that for a long, long time."

Joe Bellino received the Railbird Horseperson of the Year Award for his own behind-the-scenes benevolence. He discussed a cause very close to his heart.

"There is a woman out there who is fighting breast cancer," said Bellino. "She is fighting it every day. It's close to my heart. They've started a cause called Team to the Moon Stable and we ask to donate one per cent of your horse's earnings. Please donate to this cause of Lou and Maria Sorella. I ask that you donate to this important cause."

Other winners included Breana Carsey and Michelle and Albert Crawford of Crawford Farms, receiving the President's Award. The Breakthrough Award was given to Kentucky Harness Horsemens Association Executive Director and multiple racetrack announcer Gabe Prewitt while the Good Guy Award went to trainer JoAnn Looney-King and the Unsung Hero Award to Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame Director of Development Joanne Young.

For all of the USHWA award announcements, click here.

(With files from HRC)
The 'Green Hornet' has shot to the top of the leaderboard after a thrilling first day of the International All Star Series in Australia.

North American star Yannick Gingras drove victories in his first two starts on Australian soil and then followed up with a bold run in the last race to steal the limelight on day one.

But it wasnt all an international flavour, with Terang young gun Jason Lee claiming one for the Vics in race three on Yackandandah and then Greg Sugars winning the last of four races, romping home late with Wardwell to overpower Gingras Captain Bronzie.

In the end the World drivers walked away with a 133 points to 124 edge over the Vics.

The six-meet series, which starts and ends at Tabcorp Park Melton around meets at Echuca, Maryborough, Ballarat and Bendigo, began with Gingris driving Michael Stanleys promising three-year-old Spiritwriter to a thrilling win.

Spiritwriter ran down a bold drive by Gavin Lang aboard Blackbird Power, who appeared to have pinched the race.

I thought I was coming second down the stretch, I always felt Gavin had it but asked the horse for a little bit more and it ran great, Gingras said.

Gingras then followed up with a 10m win on Fiery Blue Chip in race two, with Comigal (Dexter Dunn) and Illawong Bella (third) filling the placings.

His run was broken when Lee, still a concession driver and the series youngest competitor, claimed the third race aboard Yackandandah, with ultra-consistent Dexter Dunn (New Zealand) finishing second driving Zalta and Victorian Chris Alford third on Jaccka Wilco.

I can sort of relax now, Lee joked, having cracked through for a win.

He said he felt lucky to have been picked for the event and been exposed to such champion drivers.

The last race provided another ripping showdown, with Greg Sugars mowing down Gingras to salute on Wardwell, a third win for Sugars on the day having won the opening two races on the card, which were not part of the series.

Gingras said he found the racing more comfortable than expected, noting with a wry smile I was near the front as usual, so things didnt really feel much different to home.

Harness Racing Victoria chief executive John Anderson said to be in the presence of such greatness was quite an honour, with the Victoria and World drivers combining for 40,000 wins collectively.

The racing followed a visit from Melton Specialist School students, who had superstar cards and caps signed by the drivers and were thrilled by a visit from Captain Joy.

Now retired, Captain Joy won more than $1 million in his career and is cared for by Susan Hunter through HRVs HERO Program, which re-educates retired racehorses.

International All Star Series day one leaderboard: Yannick Gingras, 42; Dexter Dunn, 33; Chris Alford, 31; Jason Lee, 30; Greg Sugars, 27.5; Brett Miller, 21; Gavin Lang, 20.5; Corey Callahan, 19; Anthony Butt, 18; Kerryn Manning, 15.

Overall leaderboard: World 133, Victoria 124.

Corey Callahan, Greg Sugars reflect on first day of International All Stars Series

Brett Miller chats with driver Chris Alford

(with files from Harness Racing Victoria)
The Meadows Racetrack & Casino has tripled  to $15,000  the total-pool guarantee for its Monday, March 7 Pick 4 wager as part of the United States Trotting Association's Strategic Wagering Initiative.

While $5,000 Pick 4 guarantees are offered each card, The Meadows sweetened the pot when Saturdays Pick 4 was uncovered, resulting in a carryover of $2,734.15.

Minimum wager for the Pick 4 (races four through seven) is 50 cents. Since Pennsylvania law requires a minimum per-race wager of $2, a player wagering at the 50-cent level must bet at least four tickets.

First post Monday is 1 p.m.

(The Meadows)
So if you are in Stockholm on March 21st, book a table at one of these restaurants and celebrate French cuisine! If you will be staying at the, contact me in advance for help in reserving a table. It is worth mentioning that Bistro Sud (one of the participating restaurants) is located just around the corner from the hotel. Check the Gout de France's website to see each restaurant's menu.
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Amazon.com said it plans to restore an encryption feature on its Fire tablets after customers and privacy advocates criticized the company for quietly removing the security option when it released its latest operating system.

We will return the option for full-disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring, company spokeswoman Robin Handaly told Reuters via email on Saturday.

Amazon's decision to drop encryption from the Fire operating system came to light late this week. The company said it had removed the feature in a version of its Fire OS that began shipping in the fall because few customers used it.

On-device encryption scrambles data so that the device can be accessed only if the user enters the correct password. Well-known cryptologist Bruce Schneier called Amazon's removal of the feature "stupid" and was among many who publicly urged the company to restore it.

Apple Inc's APPL.O legal battle over U.S. government demands that the iPhone maker help unlock an encrypted phone used by San Bernardino shooter Rizwan Farook has created unprecedented attention on encryption.

Amazon.com this week signed on to a court brief urging a federal judge to side with Apple.

Reuters
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Even as the Department of Justice battles Apple in court over access to encrypted data, the Obama administration remains split over backing requirements that tech manufacturers provide law enforcement with a "back door" into their products, according to a dozen people familiar with the internal debate.

FBI Director James Comey and the DOJ - who are fighting to access an iPhone tied to the San Bernardino attacks  have long tried and failed to convince other departments to join the broader battle against unbreakable encryption, the current and former government officials said.

Federal justice officials argue that strong encryption makes it harder to track criminals, a central contention in the iPhone case. But officials in other departments - including Commerce, State and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy - counter that encryption is integral to protecting U.S. secrets and the technology industry. The issue has been discussed in meetings of the interagency National Security Council and elsewhere.

Some government officials also worry that confronting the tech sector on the issue could heighten distrust of American products overseas and drive terrorists and top criminals to seek foreign-made encryption.

Several key officials in the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security opposed the fight with Apple based on those concerns, the sources said.

Luke Dembosky - until recently the deputy assistant attorney general for national security and the senior cybersecurity prosecutor on some of the biggest hacking cases in recent years - cast the broader disagreements over encryption as "very healthy."

"It's a very big government, and everyone is trying to do the right thing," said Dembosky, who last week joined the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. "There are countries where they don't have these debates."

NSA Director Michael Rogers has taken a middle ground, saying that strong encryption is important but compromise is desirable.

Years of interagency debates over encryption have left the Obama administration lacking a cohesive policy stance on the issue, many tech industry leaders have said.

The Justice Department last month persuaded a federal judge to order Apple Inc to write software to help unlock an iPhone used by shooter Rizwan Farook in the December attack in San Bernardino. Apple is fighting the order, calling the case an overreach by prosecutors that threatens the security of all iPhones. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for later this month.

NO GOVERNMENT CONSENSUS

As is customary in such cases, the decision to take action against Apple was made without consulting the White House, said two sources familiar with the matter.

"The DOJ and FBI pursue all such matters independent of the White House," a senior administration official said.

The official added that the White House does not intend to seek legislation mandating back doors.

In an interview, John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, dismissed suggestions that some administration officials did not support the Justice Department's action in the Apple case. The effort was never intended to settle the encryption debate, he said, but rather to assist San Bernardino County, which asked for help in unlocking Farook's county-owned iPhone 5c.

The tech industry has united behind Apple, with more than 40 companies this week submitting legal briefs arguing that compliance with the judge's order would undermine encryption and public trust in Internet security.

By contrast, the division among government agencies has left some administration officials in an awkward position of publicly supporting the Justice Department's case against Apple while also acknowledging the need for strong encryption. They have been more vocal about their concerns behind closed doors, according to four people who have spoken with them or their subordinates.

"Just to cut to the chase, I'm not a believer in back doors or a single technical approach," Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a largely pro-Apple crowd at the RSA security conference on Wednesday. "I don't think we ought to let one case drive a single solution."

Congress is also divided on the issue, with liberal Democrats joining libertarian Republicans in opposing government back doors.

ELUSIVE COMPROMISE

The lack of consensus prompted the White House last year to abandon a push for legislation that would require U.S. technology firms to provide law enforcement a way around encryption.

Privately, however, President Obama sought a compromise, asking large telecommunications and technology firms, including Apple and Microsoft, to work toward an "exceptional access" agreement that would provide investigators access to content that is typically encrypted, said two sources with knowledge of the discussion.

An Apple spokesman said that the company never seriously considered installing a back door and tried to shift the discussion to a broader conversation about law enforcement cooperation.

Either way, Apple CEO Tim Cook lambasted the White House for not publicly affirming support for strong encryption at a January summit in San Jose, Calif. between technology executives and senior national security officials convened largely to discuss online extremism, sources familiar with the meeting said.

Cook's comments aggravated White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, who thought the iPhone maker was backtracking on its earlier commitment to work collaboratively on resolving law enforcement's encryption concerns, according to one person with knowledge of the situation.

That confrontation helps explain why, after months of apparent respectful disagreement in public and private pursuit of compromise, both sides suddenly came to battle heavily armed.

Amid the hostilities between Apple and the FBI, some have called for President Obama to weigh in to help resolve the standoff.

"I'm waiting to hear what the president has to say about it," Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who supports Apple, said in an interview. "I know [White House Press Secretary] Josh Earnest has said he is for the Justice Department, [but] I want to hear from the president."

Reuters
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BlackBerry is exploring alternatives to make working on BBM, its messaging platform, "more convenient and fun" to support users after rival WhatsApp announced to stop its support to Canadian firm's operating system from later this year.

WhatsApp, which has over a billion users globally, had earlier this week said it will end support for BlackBerry phones and those powered by Nokia's Symbian operating system later this year.

"BlackBerry is committed to our BlackBerry 10 operating system, and we work closely with developers to create and deploy solutions to bring apps to our consumer and enterprise fans. We continue to invest in the BlackBerry 10 platform and will introduce several key security updates this year," BlackBerry said in a statement.

It added that the company is "actively exploring alternatives for BlackBerry users once support of WhatsApp Messenger for BBOS and BlackBerry 10 ends in late 2016".

"Users of BlackBerry PRIV, which runs on Android, will not be impacted...While the app landscape continues to evolve, our commitment to BlackBerry10 and our developers is unwavering," it said.

BlackBerry, in its blog, said it is building more features into BBM, especially on the security front.

"We're evolving group and multi-person chats. We're making BBM Protected an even better messaging solution for security-conscious organisations. We're giving you ever more privacy and security by allowing you to control previews. We're also working to make BBM more convenient and more fun," it said.

Stating that messaging continues to be one of the most popular ways to communicate, BlackBerry said it will keep evolving the app and the services within it.

Once exclusive to BlackBerry devices, the company made BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) available on rival platforms of Android, iOS and Microsoft in 2013.

As of March 2014, it had about 85 million monthly users and around 113 million global registered users. The move was aimed at offering the struggling smartphone maker get newer avenues for monetisation.

WhatsApp said it had made the "tough decision" to end support for BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, Android 2.2 and Windows Phone 7.1.

Citing the reason, the Facebook-owned company said when it was set up, about 70 per cent of smartphones sold were powered by operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia.

However, mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft account for 99.5 per cent of sales today.

WhatsApp, which competes with the likes of Hike, Viber and LINE as well, is very popular in emerging nations like Brazil, India and Russia.

PTI
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The Chinese government will launch a campaign to address the emerging practice of sharing and hosting pornography through cloud storage services.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publication said website administrators, police, as well as industrial and publication authorities will tighten supervision of cloud storage enterprises, and hold them accountable for the security of their services.

The office released details on six cases which involved individuals profiting from the sale of account names and passwords to cloud storage hosting pornography.

In one case, a court in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, sentenced one Liu Hangjie to three years plus six months in prison for selling access to pornography hosted on a cloud storage site.

Liu was selling individual accounts that had access to over 10,000 pornographic video clips.

Cloud storage services used by criminals include those run by Internet security firm, Qihoo 360, and online video website LeTV, the Xinhua report said.

PTI
tech2 News Staff

Internet pioneer Ray Tomlinson, who is credited with the invention of e-mail, has died at the age of 74, media reports said.

According to reports, Tomlinson died of an apparent heart attack late on Saturday.

The US computer programmer came up with the idea of electronic messages that could be sent from one network to another in 1971, BBC reported.

His invention included the ground-breaking use of the "@" symbol in e-mail addresses, which is now standard.

He sent what is now regarded as the first e-mail while working in Boston as an engineer for research company Bolt, Beranek and Newman.

The firm played a big role in developing an early version of the internet, known as Arpanet.

https://twitter.com/gmail/status/706534596767141889

However, Tomlinson later said he could not remember what was in that first test message, describing it as "completely forgettable".

A BBC report said his work was recognised by his peers in 2012, when he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. Tomlinson, became a cult figure for his invention in 1971 of a program for ARPANET, one that allowed users to communicate to one another via computers and servers using messages.

Born in Amsterdam, New York, Tomlinson went to school at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MIT in the 1960s. Tomlinson soon joined research and development company, Bolt Beranek and Newman that is now Raytheon BBN Technologies.

With inputs from IANS
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U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the National Guards cyber squadrons will play an increasingly important role in assessing the vulnerabilities of U.S. industrial infrastructure and could be asked to join the fight against Islamic State.

The National Guard  a reserve military force that resides in the states but can be mobilized for national needs  is a key part of the militarys larger effort to set up over 120 cyber squadrons to respond to cyber attacks and prevent them.

One such unit, the 262nd squadron, is a 101-person team that includes employees of Microsoft and Alphabets Google. The unit is famous throughout the country for several high profile vulnerability assessments, Carter said at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington late on Friday.

He told reporters the squadron was not currently engaging in offensive cyber missions but could be in the future.

Units like this can also participate in offensive cyber operations of the kind that I have stressed we are conducting, and actually accelerating, in Iraq and Syria, to secure the prompt defeat of ISIL, which we need to do and will do, Carter said. Were looking for ways to accelerate that, and cybers one of them.

The 262nd squadrons work includes a study last year on the control system used by Snohomish County Public Utility District in Washington state, which helped the utility strengthen its security, and a 2010 case in which the U.S. Air Force briefly lost contact with 50 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The 2010 assessment cost about $20,000, much less than the $150,000 that a private sector company would likely charge, said Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Borchers, deputy commander of the 252nd Cyber Operations Group, which oversees the 262nd squadron.

Borchers said the squadron is the only National Guard group that currently assesses industrial control systems, but it is now looking to train others. It is also studying the security of big weapons programs, such as the B-52 bomber.

Using National Guard units for such work made sense because it allowed the military to benefit from private sector cyber experts, Carter said.

It brings in the high-tech sector in a very direct way to the mission of protecting the country, he told reporters. And were absolutely going to do more of it.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney seems to have taken a jab at Microsoft on its recent Microsofts Universal Windows Platform (UWP) initiative. The founder of Epic Games lashed out at Microsoft in an article penned down in the Guardian talking about how Microsoft is gradually trying to take complete control by introducing a locked-down UWP ecosystem.

In the article Sweeney talks about how Microsoft launching Windows features that exist in the UWP scheme are "effectively telling developers you can use these Windows features only if you submit to the control of our locked-down UWP ecosystem.".

He goes on to say that "Theyre 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 confirms that he is not against the development of the Windows Store, but with Microsoft bending the rules in its own favour. "My view is that bundling is a valuable practice that benefits users, and my criticism is limited to Microsoft structuring its operating system to advantage its own store while unfairly disadvantaging competing app stores, as well as developers and publishers who distribute games directly to their customers.".

However, Tim Sweeney's comments did not fall on deaf ears. Microsoft CVP of Windows, Kevin Gallo stepped up with statement to defend Microsoft's ideas about UWP scheme.

The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store.We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily side-load apps by default, with no UX required.

We want to make Windows the best development platform regardless of technologies used, and offer tools to help developers with existing code bases of HTML/JavaScript, .NET and Win32, C+ + and Objective-C bring their code to Windows, and integrate UWP capabilities.

"With Xamarin, UWP developers can not only reach all Windows 10 devices, but they can now use a large percentage of their C# code to deliver a fully native mobile app experiences for iOS and Android. We also posted a blog on our development tools recently.

If Microsoft does take control, developers could be looking at a situation that would not let them sell to consumers directly. While the move will simplify things for consumers, game developers would be looking at a locked-down environment with Microsoft approving things for them. This in turn could either be the end of the PC as a gaming platform or could sow the seeds for a new gaming platform, one that does not need Microsoft inputs, but one that is run by game developers themselves. Microsoft already lost out on the smartphone race with Windows 10, could PC gaming be next?
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As Apple's legal battle with the FBI over encryption heads toward a showdown, there appears little hope for a compromise that would placate both sides and avert a divisive court decision.

The FBI is pressing Apple to develop a system that would allow the law enforcement agency to break into a locked iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, a demand the tech company claims would make all its devices vulnerable.

In an effort to break the deadlock, some US lawmakers are pushing for a panel of experts to study the issue of access to encrypted devices for law enforcement in order to find common ground.

Senator Mark Warner and Representative Mike McCaul on Monday proposed the creation of a 16-member "National Commission on Security and Technology Challenges."

But digital rights activists warn that the issue provides little middle ground -- that once law enforcement gains a "back door," there would be no way to close it.

"We are concerned that the commission may focus on short-sighted solutions involving mandated or compelled back doors," said Joseph Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology.

"Make no mistake, there can be no compromise on back doors. Strong encryption makes anyone who has a cell phone or who uses the Internet far more secure."

Kevin Bankston of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute expressed similar concerns.

"We've already had a wide range of blue ribbon expert panels consider the issue," he said.

"And all have concluded either that surveillance back doors are a dangerously bad idea, that law enforcement's concerns about 'going dark' are overblown, or both."

The debate had been simmering for years before the Apple-FBI row.

Last year, a panel led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists warned against "special access" for law enforcement, saying they pose "grave security risks" and "imperil innovation."

Opening up all data

"I'm not sure there is much room for compromise from a technical perspective," said Stephen Wicker, a Cornell University professor of computer engineering who specializes in mobile computing security.

Opening the door to the FBI effectively makes any data on any mobile device available to the government, he said.

"This is data that was not available anywhere 10 years ago, it's a function of the smartphone," Wicker said.

"We as a country have to ask if we want to say that anything outside our personal human memory should be available to the federal government."

Apple has indicated it is ready for a "conversation" with law enforcement on the matter.

But FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel that some answers are needed because "there are times when law enforcement saves our lives, rescues our children."

Asked about the rights envisioned by the framers of the US constitution, he said, "I also doubt that they imagined there would be any place in American life where law enforcement, with lawful authority, could not go."

A brief filed on behalf of law enforcement associations argued that because of Apple's new encryption, criminals "have now switched to the new iPhones as the device of choice for their criminal wrongdoing."

Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which includes major technology firms but not Apple, said that although tech firms and law enforcement have had many battles, "there are many areas where we cooperate and where we find middle ground."

But Black said the tech sector is largely united in this case because the FBI wants Apple to create weaker software or introduce "malware" to be able to crack the locked iPhone.

"On this narrow specific issue of 'can companies be compelled to create malware,' I think there may not be an answer," he said.

'Going dark' fears

Law enforcement fears about "going dark" in the face of new technology have been largely exaggerated, Black said.

While access to encrypted apps and smartphones is difficult and traditional wiretaps don't work on new technology, "there are a lot of other tools for law enforcement," he said.

"There is more information available in 2016 than in any year since the founding of the country."

Although law enforcement has growing expectations about using technology to thwart criminals, that type of power is too broad, Black added.

"If they are seeking a level of total surveillance capability, I don't see a compromise available," he said.

Wicker said that to give law enforcement access, Congress could in theory mandate that devices use automatic cloud backups that could not be disabled. But that would constitute a dramatic departure from current views about privacy.

"From an individual rights standpoint," he said, "that would take away control by the user of their personal information."

AFP
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.
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Uber is teaching its drivers in Pakistan how not to sexually harass women, a spokeswoman said 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 told AFP 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 Organization.

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.

AFP
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The U.S. Commerce Department is set to place export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE Corp for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The restrictions will make it difficult for the company to acquire U.S. products by requiring ZTE's suppliers to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. According to a Commerce Department notice that will be published next week in the U.S. Federal Register, the license applications generally will be denied.

The restrictions will take effect Tuesday, Reuters has learned, and apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE Corp in China. Those companies are not the target of the export curbs on ZTE.

"This is a significant new burden on trade with ZTE," a senior official at the Commerce Department told Reuters. The official declined to comment on whether the U.S. government might take further action against ZTE.

The company can appeal against the action. ZTE, based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, said in a statement on Sunday that it was aware of media reports on U.S. export restrictions.

"ZTE is highly concerned about recent media reports relating to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation," the company said. "ZTE has been working with associated U.S. government departments on investigations since 2012 and maintains constant communication with associated departments and is committed to fully address and resolve any concerns."

Trade in shares in ZTE, which also sells consumer electronic devices such as smartphones in the United States, was suspended on Monday in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The company did not offer an explanation.

"We believe the restrictions, if implemented, will cause significant supply problems to ZTE," Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng wrote in a note, adding that ZTE has major trading relationships with several U.S. companies including Qualcomm, Microsoft and IBM.

Telecoms equipment and terminal businesses combined account for 80 percent of ZTE's total revenue of 2015, Meng said. The company's revenue for last year was expected to rise 23.8 percent to a record high of 100.8 billion yuan ($15.47 billion), preliminary results showed.

ALLEGED VIOLATIONS

The Commerce Department investigated ZTE for alleged export-control violations following reports by Reuters in 2012 that the company had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known technology companies to Iran's largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it.

The U.S. companies, which included Microsoft Corp, IBM, Oracle Corp and Dell Inc [DI.UL], have all said they were not aware of the Iranian contracts. It is not clear if any of the companies still do business with ZTE.

Washington has long banned the sale of United States-made technology products to Iran. The Commerce Department's investigation focused on whether ZTE had acquired American products through front companies and then shipped them to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Commerce Department investigators obtained internal ZTE documents - some of which had been marked by the company as "Top Secret" - outlining an alleged sanctions-busting scheme. Reuters reviewed some of the documents.

The senior Commerce Department official declined to comment on whether ZTE had implemented that scheme. The ZTE statement did not provide comment relating to the documents.

The day after the first Reuters article was published in March 2012, a ZTE spokesman said the company would "curtail" its business in Iran. The company later issued a statement saying: "ZTE no longer seeks new customers in Iran and limits business activities with existing customers."

BUSINESS IMPACT

What effect the new export restrictions will have on ZTE's global business is not clear. One undated internal ZTE document obtained by Commerce Department investigators and reviewed by Reuters states: "Our company has many technologies and components that came from suppliers in the U.S ... Lots of chips or software used in the products of our company are from U.S. suppliers."

One of ZTE's websites also states that several leading U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp, IBM and Honeywell International Inc, are "key strategic partners of ZTE". The terms of the partnerships are not described.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said the company had a licensing agreement with ZTE but could not confirm if the Chinese company purchases other products, such as software. The other U.S. companies did not respond immediately to requests comment.

The undated internal ZTE document also describes a proposal overseen by the company's legal department that describes ways to export American products subject to U.S. sanctions by using shell companies to avoid getting caught.

"The biggest advantage" of one method is that it will make it "harder for the U.S. government to trace it or investigate the real flow of the controlled commodities", the document states.

In its planned action against ZTE, the Commerce Department cites the proposal, stating that the company "planned and organized a scheme to establish, control and use a series of 'detached' companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws". It is not clear if the alleged scheme was implemented.

'TOP SECRET'

Another internal ZTE document from August 2011 that discusses "U.S. export control risks" facing the company allegedly was signed by several top ZTE officials, including Shi Lirong, its president.

The document, marked by the company "Top Secret" and "No spreading abroad without permission of ZTE", begins "Dear company leaders".

It states that ZTE "has ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries - Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria and Cuba", adding that "all of these projects depend on U.S.-procured items to some extent, so export control obstacles have arisen".

The document goes on to cite "other risks" to ZTE, including its operations in the United States. "R&D employees at the U.S. Research Centers often travel between China and the U.S., carrying R&D data," it states, in an apparent reference to research and development. "This already severely violates the law."

The document does not specify what law may have been violated. The company "needs to take preventative measures immediately, otherwise will face the risk of being investigated anytime", the document states.

The document also states that ZTE's Iran project "can potentially put us at risk of being put on the Blacklist by the U.S.," and that such an eventuality could leave the company facing "the risk of losing the supply chain of U.S. products".

ZTE Corp is one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers with operations in 160 countries, according to its website. It also is a major manufacturer of mobile handsets. Founded in 1985, its shares trade on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets.

Besides ZTE, the export curbs will apply to two of its Chinese affiliates, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd and Beijing 8-Star, and an Iranian company, ZTE Parsian.

Reuters
comments from a conservative Christian perspective, sometimes on Oregon local and state issues with thanks to A.E. Housman
Dedicated to the Restoration of Progressive Democracy
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If you like epic fantasy action films that seem conceived by seventh grade boys, thenis for you. Look, Johnny: you can remove the smartest gods brain and its blue. It sparkles too. Then you can put it in your own head and you get smarter!The film wrings some of the residual cool from the ultra-violent and ultra-stylish(2006) even going so far as to reinvent that films star (Gerard Butler) as chief antagonist/bad boy god Set.When you watch, directed by Alex Proyas, just let your brain go and indulge in a dumbed down smorgasbord of everything you need to tantalize the 12-year-old boy within: fights, acrobatics, shapeshifting, death traps, weapons, cleavage, capes, armor, and, most important, MONSTERS!It even offers a He-Man cartoon style beat-you-over-the-head moral that what you do in this life matters that good deeds and compassion trump power and vengeance.The time is before history began, when Egyptian gods walked among their devotees. And how do we tell god from mortal? Easy: gods are twice the size of humans, of course!Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), god of the sky and son of the beloved Osiris, spends his days partying with the goddess of love Hathor (Elodie Yung). Just as Horus is about to assume the crown, uncle Set (Butler), equipped with a lust for power and a Scottish accent, transforms into a metallic-looking animal, tears out Horuss eyes (which become blue jewels), and then usurps the throne.Horus loses his ability to fly and goes into hiding, but all is not lost: young human Bek plans to brave a booby-trapped path to steal back Horuss eyes (at least one of them), then convince the god to defeat Set and assume his rightful position. Thus god (now sporting an eye patch) and human embark on a journey during which Horuss ultimate objective will waver between vengeance and compassion.In the meantime, the impulsive Set, exuding that Butlerian machismo, does all the things a 12-year-old boy would do. He builds a towering monument to his space-dwelling father Ra. He gets mad enough to chop off his own soldiers head. He oppresses his people. His lust for power grows. I cannot be fulfilled, he tells his estranged wife Nepthys. Set even changes the admissions price to the afterworld: before it was good deeds; now its treasure.In the films best scene, two gigantic fire-breathing snakes mounted by goddesses with serpent tongues  do you see the connection there?  pursue Horus and Bek. When the snakes first approach, one chooses to crash through some ruins when it could easily have gone around them. Destruction for destructions sake. Yay!There are moments in the film that are quite humorous, particularly when the gods lose their cool. For instance, when Bek urges Horus to run faster during the snake pursuit, the god responds worriedly, I cant! Even better: when Anubis discovers his underworld is under threat, the hitherto collected and eloquent god of death breaks into an oh no! performance that would make Scooby Doo proud.Thankfully, the gods of Egypt arent above one liners. In the midst of battle, one enemy reminds Horus that he can no longer fly. Neither can you, he responds. You can guess the rest.The juvenile way that the gods are portrayed also evokes a chuckle. For instance, when Horus visits his grandfather Ras solar ship (in outer space), we get a three minute reprieve during which Ra engages in his daily ritual of keeping a space-dwelling demon from destroying the earth. Here we have a top tier actor (Geoffrey Rush), wide-eyed and engulfed in digital flames, using a staff to shoot flame bursts at the gigantic creature.But perhaps no god embodies the seventh grade mentality as well as Thoth, god of wisdom. To underscore his deep contemplations, he holds his hands behind his back and sometimes even holds a fist beneath his chin a la Rodins. At one point, Thoth holds a bunch of leaf lettuce and mulls over its essence, its mystery, its truth. Horus rips it away and says, Its lettuce!So follow Horuss example: dont approachwearing your critics hat or seeking wisdom; just enjoy the crunchiness of a good action film.  Douglas J. Ogurek
Pakistan bomb: Fourteen killed in Qadri revenge attack

Nearly 30 people were also injured in the attack, including children

BBC Online: At least 14 people have been killed in a Pakistan bombing which militants say was in revenge for the execution of a policeman turned assassin. The suicide attack, at the entrance to a court in the north-western town of Shabqadar, wounded nearly 30 others, police told local media. Militants said it was to avenge the hanging last week of Mumtaz Qadri, who was seen by many as a religious hero. Qadri killed the governor of Punjab in 2011 for opposing blasphemy laws. Shabqadar is located on the border of the tribal district of Mohmand, which remains volatile years after the military said it had been cleared of militants. "The court and judges were our target as their practices are un-Islamic," a spokesperson for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), told Pakistan's Express Tribune.
Indonesian leader urges Muslim world to unite on Palestine

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the start of their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia o

AP, Jakarta :Indonesia's president on Monday urged a summit of Muslim nations to be part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than part of the problem.President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who heads the most populous Muslim nation, said the entire world is concerned by the deterioration of the situation in Palestine and criticized what he called Israel's "unilateral and illegal policies."Officials from 57 countries are meeting in the Indonesian capital Jakarta for a special summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that is focused on Palestine and Jerusalem. The Middle East quartet and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are also represented."The OIC should be part of the solution, and not part of the problem," Jokowi said in opening remarks to the summit. "If the OIC cannot be part of the solution to Palestine, then the OIC becomes irrelevant."Israel says a recent surge in violence is a result of a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli military rule.Among the leaders at the Jakarta meeting is Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes allegations linked to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.Another report adds: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir arrived in Indonesia on Sunday, defying an international warrant for his arrest, to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit, the Sudanese state news agency said.The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010, accusing him of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in the western Darfur region.Members of the ICC are obliged to act on arrest warrants. Indonesia is not a member.Last year, Bashir canceled a trip to Indonesia for a summit at the last minute. His plan to attend an Asia-African leaders conference in Jakarta in April sparked protests among rights groups who wanted the president to be arrested.
Women in sustainable development

M.A. Jabbar :

International Women's Day on March 08, again reminds us that women's empowerment is the reflection of gender parity, which is the prerequisite for sustainable development. Women's participation in the workplaces, leadership role in the political and social arena, and access to education, healthcare, and credit can be regarded as empowerment of women. The day provides all an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality in all spheres of life. Several events will take place to mark the economic, political, and social achievements of women and several organizations, government, charities, educational institutions, women's group, corporations including the media will celebrate the day in a befitting manner. Bangladesh like all other UN member-states will observe the day with renewed pledge to protect women's rights and with assurance to make women's participation in all spheres of national life.

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General in his message on the day emphasized on the importance of gender equality as there is no greater investment in our common future. UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka called for observance of the day in a befitting manner as for this year's celebration of IWD is the first within the new 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and asserted for ensuring Gender Equality and Empowerment of women and girls at all spheres in life for building stronger economies and healtheir societies.

As we know, the major obstacles faced by women and girls in their way to development in Banglaesh are marked as sexual harassment, child marriage and dowry etc. All these are preventable through united efforts of all and change of attitude towards women. They also face economic disparity. As to note one study of Center for Policy Dialogue(CPD) and Manusher Jonno foundation (MJF) have quantified with estimation worth Tk. 5948 billion or USD 151.72 billion as unpaid household works of women in Bangladesh. It said that unpaid work of women is equivalent to 87.2 percent of GDP of Fiscal Year (FY) 2013-14. However, their contribution goes unrecognized. The study however shows that 60.4 percent women do not want to be involved in paid work as their families do not like and about 60 percent women cited preferece to give time to family. The study suggested for inclusion of informal sector contribution in country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Government of Bangladesh is committed to attaining the objectives of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action and Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030 in conformity with the fundamental rights enshrined in the Bangladesh constitution. It has adopted the National Policy for Women's Advancement (2011) and series of programs for ensuring sustainable development of women.

Regarding leadership role in politics there has been an encouraging trend in the number of women of elected parliamentarians (20% of total seats). About literacy, Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to achieve gender parity in priamary education, which is now compulsory and free for all children aged between 6 and 10. All children attending primary and secondary school receive textbooks free of cost. The education of girls upto grade II in public institutions is also free. Stipends are awarded to girl students to avert dropout. MDGs-Bangladesh progress report 2012 reveals that it has made commendable progress in respect of increasing equitable access in education (Net Enrolment Rate:98.7 percent; girls 99.4 percent, boys: 97.2 percent). The government is in the process of implementing a comprehensive National Education Policy, providing Bangladesh's intention to ensure all citizens with a quality education wtih an emphasize removing gender based disparities.

Maternity and health:

In view of the needs of mothers, the government has extended maternity leave for mothers from four months to six months. Bangldesh has achieved tremendous success in cutting down maternal mortality rate by more thatn 66 percent during the last two decades and is dropping around 5.5 percent each year. Steps have been taken to reduce this to 63 per 100,000 live bith by 2030 and for extending delivery of primary health care services through community clinics to rural, marginal and vulnerable women.

Combating violence against women:

Relentless efforts of the government have been reflected though passing of Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 and in order to effectively implementing the law government has formulated Domestic Violence(prevention and protection) Rules 2013. Other laws included- Prevention and Restraintment of Human Trafficking Act 2012 and Pornography Control Act 2011. In addition to enactment of laws, one-stop crisis centers provides medical treatment, legal support, policy assistance and rehabilitation to the victims, DNA profiling lab and DNA screening lab have been established for the benefits and welfare of women.

Economic support and social safety net: In order to expedite women's fortunes extensive programme have been taken for their training, creating job opportunities and ensuring participatin in the job market and providing support through SME. Extensive social safety net programme have been undertaken by providing various kinds of allowances namely destitute women allowances, maternity and lactating-mother allowances, disabled women allowances, divorced women allowances. Vulnerable Group Feeding(VGP) is carried out to ensure food security to vulnerable extreme poor women. For economic emancipation and empowerment of rural women collateral free micro-credit is given with nominal service charge.

As a result, Bangladesh women have come out vigorously with hundreds of thousands of initiatives for changing fortune of their fortunes. They have brought a social transformation with their participation in the economic development in the country. Today women are in everywhere- in the administration, judiciary, eduation, health-care sector, engineering, banking and insurance, entreprenuership and business and in fact every sector.

The rapid growth of the garment industry has provided a large number of formal sector jobs for women who comprise more than 90 percent of its labor force. This has significantly contributed to Bangladesh's annual growth rate of more than 5 percent over the past decade. They are contributing significatly in SME and readymade garments sectors. Their contribution to food, social security, education, and child-care are beyond calculation. A study shows that in rural area paddy and rice production from cultivating to marketing are processed in 23 phases and of them 17 phases are completed by rural women. A UNICEF study says that women spend two-third of their time on food production although their totral income is equaivalent to only 10 percent of global income.

The constitution of Bangladesh emphasize on the rights of women. Beside there are some special laws and provisions which protect and promote the right of women. Bangladesh government has formulated women development policies and different line Ministries of the governsment has taken several steps in order to promote gender equality and to integrate them with the development. Nevertheless, we have to do more for socio-economic development.

Bangladesh is a developing country committed to achieve various socio-economic targets for the welfare of the people. Keeping half of the total population-women, a strong nation equipped with socio-economic development cannot be expected. As such, government has given priority to accelerate the rights and dignity of women in the society. With government efforts- NGOs, public representatives, civil societies, individuals and family and in fact all from respective places can work together to achieve the goals for sustainable development.



(Jabbar is a banker and executive secretary of national anti-tobacco organization, ADHUNIK.)
DB to probe Banasree siblings murder

Staff Reporter :The case of the gruesome murder of two siblings in the city's Banasree area has been transferred to the Detective Branch (DB) of police for further investigation. Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Maruf Hossain Sardar on Monday said that the case was shifted to the DB on Sunday night. He said the case had been transferred to the DB soon after getting directions from DMP headquarters regarding the matter, the DC said. The case handed over to the DB as law enforcers had suspicious about the killers and motive of the murders, the police official said. However, the mother, Mahfuza Malek Jasmine confessed to killing the two children once during initial interrogation by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and again in Police custody, but 'without any emotion', the law enforcers said.Nusrat Jahan Urmi of Viqarunnisa Noon School, and her younger brother Alvi Aman, a nursery student of Holy Crescent School at Banasree area, were found dead at their apartment on February 29.The family first claimed that they died after eating refrigerated Chinese restaurant food.However, the autopsies conducted on their bodies by the forensic department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital found injury marks on the throat of Urmi and on that of Alvi and his one leg.Police detained four people-Pintu Das and Shaheen, caretakers of the house, victims' relative Ferdous, Obaidul Islam, cousin of Mahfuza, and house tutor Sheuli Akter-the following day for questioning them over the death.Besides, a court asked the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct chemical tests on the food and water taken by the two siblings and permitted police to conduct DNA tests of the evidence, including pillow-cover, bed-sheet, tissue paper and blanket, collected from the room of the two children.On March 2, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained Amanullah, Mahfuza and Afroza Malek, the father and mother, and maternal aunt of the two siblings, from Jamalpur district for quizzing them over the mysterious death of the two children.On March 3, briefing reporters at the RAB headquarters, its Director (Media) Mufti Mahmood Khan said during interrogation Mahfuza Malek revealed that she strangulated her daughter and son to death with a scarf as she was worried over their future and education.Amanullah, father of the two children, filed a case against their mother Mahfuza with Rampura Police Station On March 3.A Dhaka court put Mahfuza on a 5-day remand on March 4 over the murder of two siblings.Earlier in the day, police sought a 10-day remand for Mahfuza. Inspector (Operations) Mustafizur Rahman of Rampura Police Station, also investigation officer of the case, filed an application before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court seeking permission for taking Mahfuza Malek, the mother of the two kids, on a 10-day remand for interrogating her.
IS attack Tunisian forces near Libyan border : 50 killed

Reuters, Tunis :Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 50 people, including civilians, the government and residents said.Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the center of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack."I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."It was not clear if the attackers crossed over the border, but it was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spillover from Libya, where Islamic State militants have gained ground.Since its 2011 revolt to oust ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has struggled with Islamist militancy at home and over the border. Militants trained in jihadist camps in Libya carried out two attacks last year in Tunisia."This was an unprecedented, well-organized attack," President Beji Caid Essebsi told local radio. "But the people in the south can be confident the army and police will win against this barbarity across the border."Soldiers killed 33 militants and arrested six, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with ten soldiers."If the army had not been ready, the terrorists would have been able to raise their flag over Ben Guerdan and gotten a symbolic victory," said Abd Elhamid Jelassi, vice president of the Islamist party Ennahda, part of the government coalition.More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with Islamic State and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya.Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago, Libya has slipped into chaos, with two rival governments and armed factions struggling for control. Islamic State has grown in the turmoil, taking over Sirte city and drawing foreign recruits.Tunisian jihadists are taking a lead role in Islamic State camps in Libya, Tunisian security sources say.Tunisian forces have been on alert for possible militant infiltrations since last month when a U.S. air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Islamic State militants at a camp near the border in Libya's Sabratha.Western military advisers are starting to train Tunisian border forces to help better protect the frontier with electronic surveillance and drones and authorities have built a trench and barrier to help stop militants crossing.
13 killed in Pak suicide attack

Al Jazeera News :At least 13 people were killed - including two women and a child - in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan on Monday, described as a "revenge attack" by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban. The bomber blew himself up outside a district court in the Shabqadar market area of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. Charsadda in northwest PakistanPolice said 26 people were also wounded in the explosion - with six in a critical condition. The blast took place about 30km from the region's main city of Peshawar. Inspector Ali Jan Khan, from the Shabqadar police station, said the attacker was attempting to enter the court. "The suicide bomber was interrupted by two security personnel, which prompted him to blow himself up outside the court," he told Al Jazeera. Asfandyar Khan, a hospital worker, told Al Jazeera that two women and a female child were among the dead.Medical teams were dispatched to the scene, but the death toll is expected to rise, he said. A splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was a revenge attack for the recent execution of a former Pakistani commando who shot dead Punjab province's governor in 2011. "The Pakistani courts give decisions against the laws revealed by Allah, and convict and hang innocent people," the group's spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in an emailed statement.The assassinated governor Salman Taseer had sought to reform Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws. Charsadda is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven regions along the border with Afghanistan, where the Pakistani military has launched a major offensive against fighters from al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "Charsadda is the first point of entry for any attacker coming out of Mohmand," said Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital Islamabad.
Two teachers' room sealed off

DU Correspondent :

After a long conflict over the issue oof 'Evening Master's Programme', two teachers room of Dhaka University's Department of Information Science and Library Management was sealed off allegedly by the chairman of the department.

The two teachers are Professor Saiful Alam and Assistant Professor Md Jaber Hossain. They share room number 1019 at Arts Building.

Sources said, teachers of the department have been disagreeing with the chairman of the department, Professor Muhammad Mejbah-ul-Islam, over sharing money in evening master's programme as well as class distribution. It was learnt that the chairman disputed several times with the teachers over the issue.

Consequently, the chairman sealed off the teachers' room on Saunday night, it is alleged.

Prof. Jaber Hossain said on Sunday night he went to his residence after having his class. "Peon Kholil phoned me and said the chairman sealed off my office room at 9:00 pm. I did not go to the department on Monday. So, I cannot say anything in this regard," he said.

Some students of the department alleged that the chairman has behaved badly with the teachers, students and staff of the department. "Our teachers are always eager to take evening courses class. Because teachers get money from these classes," they said not to named. However, Professor Muhammad Mejba-ul-Islam denied the allegations.

The chairman told The New Nation yesterday that the room padlock has been pirated. As many important papers are in the room, we locked the door with another padlock for security. "As our clerk wrapped the padlock by paper, it seems that we sealed off the room."

Refuting the allegation of any problem in evening Masters programme, Prof. Mejba said, "We didn't face any problem with evening coureses."

He said, "The course began in 2006 and is till running. Already we produced 23 batches and the 24th batch is now running. There is no conflict with teachers about class distribution. Professor Salma Islam is our course coordinator and she equally distribute classes among us. All of our Professors and Lecturers get five hundred taka for each class. So, there is no way to conflict with the issue."
10 kg gold seized at HSIA

BSS, Dhaka :

Customs officials seized 10 gold bars weighing 10 kilograms worth about Taka 5 crore from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital city on Sunday night.

"We, on a secret information, seized 10 gold bars weighing one kilogram each from inside seat number 17/E and 17/F of a Singapore returned flight

(BG-085) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at the airport around 9.30 on Sunday night," assistant commissioner of customs Rezaul Karim told BSS.

The estimated cost of the seized gold bars is Taka 5 crore, he also said.

The seized gold will be deposited to the Bangladesh Bank upon completion of the procedures, he added.

A case was lodged to this end.


2 accused now at BNP's helm: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressing a public rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan in city marking the Historic 7th March.

UNB, Dhaka :

Describing the reelection of Khaleda Zia as BNP chairperson and Tarique Rahman as its senior vice chairman as a stage-managed drama, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said now two accused are this party's top leaders.

"Whom they (BNP) have actually elected-there two accused, one (Khaleda) is an accused in a case of misappropriating orphans' money and another (Tarique) in the Aug 21 grenade case - and his (Tarique' s) name is also there in Interpol's wanted list if this is the case, what this party can deliver!" she wondered.

Sheikh Hasina, also the President of the ruling Awami League, was addressing a mammoth public rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan in the city marking the historic March 7 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

She alleged that Tarique Rahman has remained absconding in cases filed against him for money laundering and corruption. "He (Tarique) is now a senior BNP leader!" Earlier on Sunday, Khaleda Zia has been reelected BNP chairperson unopposed, while her son Tarique Rahman reelected the party's senior vice chairman before the party's national council session.

Both of them were reelected as no one else filed nomination to contest the elections to the posts. The Awami League organized the rally with Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair.

Referring to the higher court verdict that declared illegal the grabbing of power by Ziaur Rahman, Hasina questioned what can BNP deliver since it is formed by a usurper. "They've tainted the politics of the country."

She alleged that although Zia claimed himself a gallantry award-winning freedom fighter, he had actually acted as pimp of the defeated forces as he released the convicted war criminals from jail after the assassination of the Father of the Nation with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.

Hasina also alleged that Zia had rehabilitated the war criminals, brought back Ghulam Azam and other war criminals who had opted for having Pakistani passports. "Later, his wife, Khaleda, followed his footprints as she made war criminals as her Cabinet members."

The Prime Minister alleged that for long 21 years-from 1975 to 1996 -- all conspiracies were hatched to destroy Bangladesh. Turning to the countrywide mayhem unleashed by BNP-Jamaat killing and burning hundreds of people to death to foil the January-5 polls and then again for three months in 2015, she said the people of Bangladesh had never surrendered before 'arson terrorism' as put up a strong resistance.

She said that the movement of BNP is only to destroy the spirit of the Liberation War, deter the economic development of the country. "She (Khaleda) can't tolerate Bangladesh's march forward."

Alleging that BNP had never wanted Bangladesh to be self-sufficient in food, Hasina said her AL government's stance is not to move ahead begging from others, but to stand on its own feet with dignity.

The Prime Minister sought cooperation from all in building the country imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War and urged the youth to groom themselves as honest and hard-working force since they are the future of the nation. Turning to the historic 7th March speech of Father of the Nation, Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, said the 7th March speech was not only a speech, rather it was a holistic plan to build an independent country.

She said Bangabandhu's 7th March speech is now globally acclaimed as it is one of those speeches of around 2,500 years which had inspired any nation for attaining independence. Hasina said this speech has so far been translated into 12 languages while works are on to translate it into more languages. "But, Zia, then Ershad and then Khaleda had tried time and again to ban this speech."
Arrest warrant for Gaan Bangla TV MD Tapas

bdnews24.com :

A Dhaka court has issued an arrest warrant for Gaan Bangla Television Managing Director Kaushik Hossain Tapas.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur issued the warrant on Monday in a case filed by Tapas's mother Meher Nigar Chanchal over a property dispute. Chanchal's lawyer HM Masum told this news agency that she had filed the case with Gulshan police against Tapas, his father and brother in 2014 in connection with their

Baridhara apartment.

According to the case details, the defendants had repeatedly tried to evict Chanchal and even 'murder' her.

The defendants have also been accused of looting valuables from the house.

Tapas's father and Sonar Bangla Insurance Company vice president Delwar Hossain Raja and his son Taufiq Hossain Tanmoy are currently out on bail.


HC embarrassed to hear Tareque's petition

UNB, Dhaka :

The High Court on Monday felt embarrassed to hear a petition filed by suspended Rab official Tareque Sayeed seeking termination of a case filed by the son-in-law of slain lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker in connection with Narayanganj seven murders.

The petition was placed before an HC bench comprising Justice Md Emdadul Huq and Justice FRM Nazmul Ahsan. Golam Kibria,

Tareque Sayeed's counsel, said as the HC bench felt embarrassed to hear it, and the documents of the petition will be sent to the Chief Justice who will make a bench for hearing over the petition.

On February 24, Tareque Sayeed filed a petition seeking cancellation of the case.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his three associates and driver were abducted by miscreants from Fatullah area of Narayanganj.

Hours after their abduction, senior lawyer at District Judge's Court Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver were also abducted on their way to capital Dhaka. Three days into their abduction, the bodies of six people, including that of Nazrul and Chandan Kumar, were recovered from the Shitalakhya River on April 30. Besides, the following day, the body of Jahangir, car driver of Nazrul Islam, was recovered from the river.

After the murder of seven people, Selina Islam filed a case against six people while Advocate Chandan Sarkar's son-in-law filed another case. On April 8, 2015, detectives pressed charges against 35 people, including the three sacked Rab officials and Nur Hossain, now in an Indian jail, in connection with the seven murders.
WEA award giving ceremony held

10 women entrepreneurs receive crests for their outstanding performance

Chaired by President of WEA Nasreen Rob Ruba, former Advisor to Caretaker Government Rokeya K. Chowdhury was present at the WEA Award-giving ceremony held at a hotel in the city on Monday.

Staff Reporter :

Speakers at a programme on Monday urged the women of the country to continue fight for their empowerment and gender equalization.

They said women's participation in some sectors is significant which should spread in all other sectors.

'Women Entrepreneurs' Association (WEA) Bangladesh' has arranged an award-giving ceremony among successful women entrepreneurs at a city hotel under the banner of 'Pledge for parity'.

Presided over by the President of WEA, Nasreen Rob Ruba, the programme was attended by a former advisor to the caretaker government Rokeya Rahman as the chief guest.

WEA Vice President Nadia Binte Amin, Secretary General Faria Islam Haque, Treasurer Rebeka Abedin and Director Aysha Shiddika were present at the programme, among others.

"Success of women in some sectors like education and teaching is better than the men. We want to see such success in all other sectors for

a real women empowerment," said Rokeya Rahman. She said, "More than 2.0 million people across the country are now fighting for their existence and honour with the help of micro credit. Other women should also join hands with them."

While commenting about the award winning entrepreneurs, the former advisor said, "I salute your relentless try for honour and success."

Nasreen Rob Ruba said the award giving ceremony is an honour to all the women in the day of 'World Women's Day'.

"This award is an honour to all the women those who are trying to establish themselves in the society and fighting for their rights and dignity across the globe," she said.

"Our fight for gender equalization will continue until achieving the final goal," the WEA president said.

She said the association members have attended different national and international fairs and proved their capability. "Our attempt to participate in such fairs will continue."

In the programme, Rokeya Rahman and Nasreen Rob Ruba jointly handed over crests to ten successful women entrepreneurs for their outstanding performance in business and women empowerment.

All the award-winning entrepreneurs are members of WEA. According to WEA president, the number of awards will gradually be increased and non-member entrepreneurs would also be included in the list of yearly recognition.

The winners of this year's awards are: Khadiza Afzal, Nasreen Zamir, Tootli Rahman, Shireen Q. Datta, Shaheen Khan, Geetee Billah, Nasreen Khan Anni, Afsana Ahmed, Roushan Ara Mahmood and Rezina Nasren Cynthia.
Police must show efficiency to make life safe, not harass others

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)'s move to collect personal information of house owners and tenants has caused panic among many city dwellers fearing unanticipated harassment and misuse of information for other purposes to endanger one's safety of life. DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah has however assured the city dwellers that no one will be unduly harassed.

As it appears the move has created serious misgivings opening debate whether police can seek such information that may eventually endanger citizens' life. Human rights activists say police can't do that, there is no law as such to demand personal information and it must stop. It is every citizen's right to maintain secrecy of his/her personal life as provided under the Constitution. In fact a lawyer has already filed a writ to the High Court on Thursday challenging the legality of the move. He has also sent legal notice requesting the government to refrain from collecting the information while seeking the court's direction to stop use of any information already collected from house owners and tenants.

DMP officials are however claiming that it is legal obligation for all citizens to assist police by giving information; which are helpful to identify criminals and prevent crimes when many criminals are hiding in rented houses in false names and with false address. Militants are also using rented hideouts and such information will help to unearth their presence. The one-page form, has therefore called for information about tenants, including date of birth, phone, national ID and passport numbers and photographs. It also demands information about housemaids and drivers.

The DMP is trying to justify the access to personal information of city dwellers showing that combating growing militancy and criminal activities in the city needs such access to personal information. But when such law is not in place to demand access to personal information that curbs personal safety, people wonder why the DMP is not using all other ways without making intrusion to people's personal secrecy.

In the overall situation of harassing innocent public by everybody in power including police, such a move by the police asking the landlords, owners of the residential houses to supply detailed particulars of tenants is not permissible. This is seen as a vicious political move and police is being politically used. Our considered view is that police must remain above politics and do its best to make life easy and safe for the general public.


The Elites Want Genocide This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a ...
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The deal being offered by big business interests to solve Louisianas historic budget shortfall puts too much of the burden on working families that can least absorb a tax increase.

Times of crisis call for shared sacrifice. But the deal being offered by big business interests to solve Louisianas historic budget shortfall would violate that basic principle by putting too much of the burden on working families that can least absorb a tax increase.

With Louisiana facing a $900 million budget gap that threatens critical health and education programs, a temporary one-penny increase to the state sales tax is a reasonable solution  as long as its part of a broader framework of revenue increases and prudent budget cuts. Even so, raising the state sales tax from 4 percent to 5 percent would make Louisianas combined (state & local) sales tax rate the highest in the country, according to the Tax Foundation.

Louisianas high sales taxes are the major reason why families in the bottom 60 percent of income earners pay state and local taxes at twice the rate of the richest 1 percent as a proportion of total income. Raising the current tax by a penny will cost an average middle-income family in Louisiana $319 per year.

Published reports indicate that business interests are now pushing to add a second penny of sales tax. Lets be clear: Picking this option means choosing to side with large, multinational companies over the working families of Louisiana.

Raising the money necessary to avoid devastating cuts in the current-year budget isnt easy. But the second penny of sales tax wouldnt be necessary if the business community  and the wealthiest taxpayers  were to share in the sacrifice. For example:

I Temporarily suspending the payment of inventory and motion picture tax credits. Last year the Legislature put a $180 million cap on film credits, but the state currently is $46 million under the cap.

I Removing the sales-tax exemption on business utilities would raise an estimated $60 million between April 1 and June 30 and bring in $240 million to help address next years shortfall.

Beyond that, the Legislature should look to the beer, liquor and tobacco industries for additional revenues. Cigarette taxes have broad public support, yet the 22-cent per pack increase that passed the Legislature would still leave Louisiana 53 cents below the national average. Louisianas beer tax has not been raised since 1948 and is lower than in many Southern states.

Finally, legislators should remember that Louisiana is already a low-tax state for business. And that those businesses, just like families, are dependent on good roads, quality schools and safe communities that our tax dollars help support. But by proposing to add yet another penny to Louisianas sales tax, the business community has shown that its not willing to share in the sacrifice thats needed to bring Louisiana out of this historic abyss.

Jan Moller is director of the Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Budget Project, which provides independent research and analysis of Louisiana fiscal issues and their impact on low- and moderate- income residents.
A Republican state senator from Washington Parish has pre-filed a bill for the 2016 regular session that would bar New Orleans, Lafayette and ever other city in the state of Louisiana from removing, relocating or adding context to Confederate monuments, even if those monuments are on city property and belong to the municipality.

Senate Bill 276 by Sen. Beth Mizell, a freshman Republican from Franklinton, would create the Louisiana Heritage Protection Commission, an oversight body whose seven members would be appointed by leaders in the Legislature. The secretary of the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism would also serve on the commission.

Indeed, the bill ostensibly pertains to monuments and statues to every armed conflict the United States has participated in (emphasis ours):

Historic conflict means any war, battler or military conflict in which citizens of the United States or any state or territory of the United States have participated in, including, but not limited to, the French and Indian War, American Revolution, War of 1812, Unites States-Mexican War, the War Between the States, Spanish American War, the Mexican border period, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada), Operation El Dorado Canyon (Libya), Operation Just Cause (Panama), Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (Persian Gulf War I), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Persian Gulf War II).

That white lady, Mrs. Mizell

While Mizells bill deftly enumerates every war, battler or military conflict the U.S. or its territories have participated in, SB 276 is undeniably about the Civil War and the Confederate monuments that proliferated in Louisiana and elsewhere across the Deep South in the decades after the Civil War.

So it isnt curious, at all, that Mizell uses the politically charged term War Between the States in place of the most-commonly used Civil War in her white heritage bill. War Between the States was, like War of Northern Aggression, a moniker that gained favor in the South in the decades following the war as white Southerners across the former Confederacy desperately tried to convince themselves that the Civil War wasnt about slavery by erecting monuments to a bunch of brave and noble white people. In broad strokes this post-bellum myth-making was known as the Lost Cause.

Remember when the U.S. invaded Panama in 1989 and captured military dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega? Its true, the many monuments to Operation Just Cause will also not be consigned to the dust bin of history. Also safe from the historical revisionists are all those plaques and statues to Americas righteous 1983 invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada in which the stars and stripes both kicked ass and took names.

The bill states that no memorial regarding a historic conflict, historic entity, historic event, historic figure, or historic organization that is, or is located on, public property, may be removed, renamed, relocated, altered, rededicated, or otherwise disturbed or altered.

In other words, if the bill passes not only would New Orleans be prevented from (re)moving the Confederate monuments to Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. PGT Beauregard, the city couldnt even do anything with the obelisk commemorating the Battle of Liberty Place, arguably the most racist, ugly event in the history of the Crescent City, as Wikipedia notes:

The Battle of Liberty Place, or Battle of Canal Street, was an attempted insurrection by the Crescent City White League against the Reconstruction state government on September 14, 1874, in New Orleans, where it was then based. ...The insurgents held the statehouse, armory, and downtown for three days, retreating before arrival of Federal troops that restored the elected government. No insurgents were charged in the action. This was the last major event of violence stemming from the disputed 1872 gubernatorial election. ... In 1891, the city erected a monument to commemorate and praise the insurrection from the Democratic Party point of view, which at the time was in firm political control of the city and state and was in the process of disenfranchising most blacks. The white marble obelisk was placed at a prominent location on Canal Street. In 1932, the city added an inscription that expressed a white supremacist view.

For readers who miraculously got this far in the article and who just read Democratic Party and had a Rush Limbaugh moment of jubilation, please remember that the Democrats were the party of white, Southern racists until Democratic leaders in the mid-20th century embraced the Civil Rights Movement, at which point the racist Dems began defecting en masse to the GOP. OK? Keep that in mind? Donald Trump, just sayin.

The base of the Battle of Liberty Place obelisk in New Orleans has an inscription: United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state. It really says that, and it was added in 1932, a decade after the monument to Gen. Alfred Mouton was erected in Lafayette, which should give us some insight into the context in which General Mouton rose to such prominence here in the Hub City. (Hint: It was about white supremacy.)

New Orleans later added an additional inscription to the Liberty Place monument to reflect a modern, multi-ethnic appreciation for the battle: In honor of those Americans on both sides of the conflict who died at the Battle of Liberty Place ... A conflict of the past that should teach us lessons for the future

If Sen. Mizells bill were to become law, Lafayette would be prohibited, without the blessing of an appointed commission, of doing anything to add context to our own monument to the Confederacy and Jim Crow, like New Orleans did with its Battle of Liberty Place monument.

Anyone who favors local control and small government  I'm talking to you, conservative Republicans  should oppose this bill, which adds another layer of government bureaucracy, the Louisiana Heritage Protection Commission, and prevents cities in Louisiana from acting on the will of their democratically elected leaders. The state of Alabama did this recently in passing legislation that prevents cities in Alabama from raising the minimum wage, which Birmingham wanted to do. Other states have done it to prevent towns from banning fracking. Its heavy-handed BS and we should have none of it.

Gen. Alfred Moutons smirk just got a little smugger.

Read the bill by clicking here.
Monet rahapelien ystavat ovat viime vuosina loytaneet netticasinot ja olleet ihmeissaan. Verrattuna kotimaisen Veikkauksen kivijalkarahapeleihin puhutaan aivan eri tason palautusprosenteista ja lisaksi pelaaminen on aarimmaisen helppoa ja turvallista. Netticasinoiden maara on tana paivana todella suuri ja niita loytyy jokaiseen lahtoon, suurin ongelma aloittelevalla pelaajalla onkin tehda valinta siita, minka netticasinon valitsee. Kaikkien netticasinoiden mainospuheet naet lupaavat kauniita asioita ja niiden lapinakeminen on tietysti tarkeaa. Nyrkkisaantona voidaan kuitenkin jo kattelyssa todeta, etta jos valitsemasi netticasino on lisensoitu ETA-alueella, sen kanssa ei tule olemaan ongelmia, ellei niita itse jarjesta. Kay tutustumassa parhaisiin netticasinoihin osoitteessa www.ilmaiskierroksia.info!

Ensimmainen nyrkkisaanto on siis varmistaa, etta valitsemallasi netticasinolla on ETA-alueen lisenssi. Suurimmassa osassa tapauksista se on Maltan eli MGA:n lisenssi. Myos Viron, Englannin ja Gibraltarin lisensseja nakyy ja naissa valvonta on jopa Maltaa tiukempaa. Lopputulema on kuitenkin se, etta ETA-alueen lisenssi takaa suomalaisille verovapaat voitot seka sen, etta niita valvotaan kontrolloidusti. Maailmalla on iso nippu Curacaon lisenssilla toimivia netticasinoita ja niistakin suurin osa on laadukkaita. Ne eivat kuitenkaan ole suomalaisille asiakkaille verovapaita, joten emme suosittele niita.

Tana paivana markkinoille on ilmaantunut paljon ETA-alueella toimiva netticasinoita ilman rekisteroitymista. Jos tarkoitus on vain pelata yksittaisia pelikertoja, on varsin helppo suositella naita. Netticasinot ilman rekisteroitymista tarjoavat palvelun tunnistautumisen verkkopankin avainlukulistan avulla ja saman palvelun kautta tapahtuvat talletukset ja mahdolliset voittojen nostot silmanrapayksessa. Normaaleihin netticasinoihin pitaa asiakkaan rekisteroitya, tehda talletukset ja tunnistautua dokumenttien avulla. Tama on lisenssiehtojen mukainen kaytanto, eika kovinkaan monimutkainen, mutta silti monet asiakkaat haluavat yksinkertaista ja nopeaa palvelua. Toki normaalit netticasinot tarjoavat usein asiakkailleen laadukkaita talletusbonuksia ja erilaisia kampanjoita, joten kannattaa tarkkaan punnita, kumman ratkaisun valitsee. Kannattaa myos muistaa, etta tunnistautuminen tehdaan vain kerran, joten mikaan jatkuva riippakivi se ei ole.

Suomalaiset asiakkaat ovat netticasinoille tarkeita, joten kaikilla vahankin laadukkailla netticasinoilla on suomenkieliset sivut seka suomenkielinen asiakaspalvelu  suomenkielisyys kannattaakin ottaa netticasinoa valittaessa nyrkkisaannoksi. Vaikka tana paivana englanninkielisyys on harvoille ongelma, on suomenkielisten netticasinoiden maara niin valtava, etta suosittelemme niiden kayttoa. Rahansiirrot ovat tana paivana niin hyvassa mallissa, etta niiden kanssa tuskin tulee mitaan ongelmia. Kolme tarkeinta segmenttia: Suomalaiset verkkopankit, luottokortit (Visa, Mastercard) seka nettilompakot (Skrill, Neteller) loytyvat jokaisesta laadukkaasta netticasinosta. Viime vuosien trendiksi noussut verkkokauppa on kehittanyt rahansiirrot niin laadukkaiksi ja nopeiksi, etta niiden suhteen ei ole enaa vuosiin ollut ongelmia. Luonnollisesti netticasinot kayttavat naita samoja palveluita ja hyotyvat kehityksesta.

Naiden isojen linjojen jalkeen netticasinon valintaan vaikuttavat luonnollisesti tarjottavat tervetuliaisbonukset  uudet asiakkaat saavat tana paivana kovan kilpailun myota merkittavia etuja netticasinoilta ja niita kannattaa luonnollisesti vertailla. Erilaiset talletusbonukset, ilmaiskierrokset seka ilmaiset pelirahat tuovat suuriakin rahanarvoisia etuja ja niiden vertailu on ehdottomasti kannattavaa. Myoskaan useampien tilien avaaminen ja tervetuliaistarjousten kayttaminen ei missaan nimessa ole huono idea.

Kun edella mainitut asiat ovat mieleisia ja vaihtoehtoja on vielakin jaljella, mennaan jo nyansseihin. Toki pelivalikoima on yksi kriteeri, mutta taman paivan netticasinoissa tamakin asia on paasaantoisesti varsin samanlainen. Toki useamman samantasoisen netticasinon vertailussa kannattaa yleensa valita se, jossa on eniten peleja tarjolla. Vaikka omat suosikit loytyisivatkin useammasta, voi tulevaisuudessa mielenkiinto nousta joihinkin muihin peleihin ja silloin on tietysti mukavampaa, etta ne loytyvat valikoimista. Viimeisena voidaan nostaa esiin kaytettavyys  joidenkin netticasinoiden sivut ovat vilkkuvia, valkkyvia ja epakaytannollisia. Omaan silmaan ja kaytettavyyteen sopiva sivusto on luonnollisesti aina se paras valinta. Tarjonta netticasinoissa on tana paivana valtava ja jokaiselle loytyy varmasti se oma netticasino  onnea matkaan!
As I travel, I want to know: What do people like me do? Where do they eat? What do they like best? What are some of their favorite places, both on and off the beaten track? Like most of you, my travel was severely curtailed during the past year due to Covid 19. As we begin to venture out again, I will go back to posting articles about current travel, to both local and more distant destinations. Many thanks to my many guest posters for expanding the breadth and scope of this blog.As always, you can use the search function to look for posts about a particular country, state or other categories.



Happy traveling, both real and virtual, in 2022!

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The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
WOLF LAKE  The U.S Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, will host a public meeting this week concerning dike construction projects and the impact of the projects on flood water heights.

It is a follow up to a public hearing the Corps held in 2014.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at the Shawnee High School Gymnasium, 3365 N. Illinois Route 3 in Wolf Lake. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Formal presentations will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The St. Louis District, in coordination with the Army Corps of Engineering Research and Development Center initiated a study based on comments from a 2014 public hearing. The study focused on the impacts that the Grand Tower Phase 5 design has on flood heights. With the study now complete, the Corps will be presenting the results to the public during the meeting.

"We want to re-engage with our stakeholders and the public to communicate the results of the study and ensure they understand the study and its results," said Project Manager Mike Rodgers.

The meeting will include an overview of river training structures, and study results. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentations.

To view the full study please visit: http://bit.ly/hydrostudy. For more information visit the St. Louis District webpage at www.mvs.usace.army.mil and Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsaintlouis.
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."

- St. Augustine





"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous, and then dismissed as trivial, until finally it becomes what everybody knows." -

William James





"This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men." -- Ronald Reagan



A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

-- Edward Abbey





"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." ~~~George Washington"Conservatives are enemies of the government. Liberals are enemies of the nation because they are not enemies of the government."Aristotle the Hun"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain." ANONA nation that substitutes emotion and empathy for rational thought will eventually digress into the Dark Ages,Congressman Steve King (R-IA),Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.They may be more likely to go to Heaven for good intentions yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be cured against ones will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.~ C. S. Lewis
Politics is all about opinions and everyone has one. When it comes to partisan politics, our opinions are often based on what we read or see on TV, stereotypes and prejudice and sometimes facts. But not too often facts.

Like everyone else, I have my own political opinions. But this column is about facts  political facts about who are Democratic and Republican voters in South Carolina.

Unlike a lot of other states, in South Carolina we dont have voter registration by party affiliation so the only way to really know who is a Democrat and who is a Republican is to either ask them or look at primary elections. If someone shows up to vote in a Democratic or Republican primary, we can pretty safely assume he or she is a Democrat or a Republican.

In February, we had the rare circumstance of having both a Democratic and Republican presidential primary one week apart. And because they were primary elections and far fewer people vote than in a general election, we got a look at who are the most hardcore partisan voters.

CNN conducted exit polls of voters in the two presidential primaries and they put the full results on their 2016 Election Central website. These polls are particularly interesting in that they were done by the same high-quality professional company, using the same methods, in the same time period and asking many questions with the exact same wording.

So, what did these polls tell us? Some responses were what you would expect based on common stereotypes, but some of the results may surprise you.

Gender: Democratic voters are significantly more female than male; Republicans are evenly split. Democrats  39% men, 61% women and Republicans  51% men, 49% women.

Age: On either end of the age spectrum, more Democrats are younger and more Republicans are older; in the middle years, they look about the same. Democrats  17-29 15%, 30-44 20%, 45-64 47% 65 and older 19%. Republicans  17-19 5%, 30-44 17%, 45-64 46%, 65 and older 27%.

Race: It will come as no surprise that African-Americans are more D than R: Democrats  white 25%, black 61%, Latino 2%, Asian 1%. And Republicans are virtually all white: Republicans  white 96%, black 1%, Latino 1%, Asian 0%.

Education: The results based on education may surprise you. The stereotype of Democrats being poorly educated and Republicans being well educated is just not so in South Carolina. There were some small differences but not a whole lot. Democrats  high school or less 23%, some college 37%, college graduate 24%, postgraduate 16%. Republicans  high school or less 16%, some college 30%, college graduate 33%, postgraduate 21%.

Income: On the income scale, the stereotypes hold more true than with education. Democrats  less than $30k 33%, $30-50k 28%, $50-100K 24%, $100-200K 13%, $200k or more 2%. Republicans  less than $30k 10%, $30-50k 17%, $50-100k 37%, $100-200K 26%, $200k or more 10%.

Ideology: Traditional measures of political ideology show the greatest difference. There are very few Democratic voters that call themselves conservative; and virtually no Republican that calls themselves a liberal. Democrats  conservative 11%, moderate 35%, liberal 54%. Republicans  conservative 81%, moderate 17%, liberal 1%.

Most important issue: When it comes to what each partys voters think is the most important issue, there is a fairly sharp difference. Democrats  health care 21%, economy/jobs 44%, terrorism 10%, income inequality 10%. Republicans  immigration 10%, economy/jobs 29%, terrorism 32%, government spending 26%.

Economic outlook: Though there are some gradations in attitudes, both parties voters are worried a lot about the U.S. economy. Democrats  very worried 50%, somewhat worried 34%, not too worried 14%, not worried at all 1%. Republicans  very worried 72%, somewhat worried 14%, not too worried 2, not worried at all 0%.

Urban, suburban or rural: There is no great surprise here; Democrats are more numerous in rural areas and Republicans dominate the suburbs. Democrats  urban 13%, suburban 27%, rural 60%. Republicans  urban 23%, suburban 48%, rural 29%.

Region of the state: The traditional stereotype of the Upcountry being full of Republicans and the Lowcountry full of Democrats is not really true. Though the general state division holds, its not by a lot. Democrats  Upcountry 18%, Piedmont 11%, Central 34%, Pee Dee 15%, Lowcountry 23%. Republicans  Upcountry 29%, Piedmont 13%, Central 23%, Pee Dee 15%, Lowcountry20%.

Although most of the questions were the same for both primaries voters, some questions were different and provided some interesting insights. Contrary to stereotypes, a lot of Democrats own guns: 41% do own guns and 59% dont. Over half of Democrats go to church at least once a week, more than once a week 27%, once a week 26%, a few times a month 16%, a few times a year 19%, never 11%.

The popular perception that S.C. Republicans are a cold and calculating lot that only care about winning is not wholly accurate. When asked what was the most important thing in choosing a candidate, only 15% chose electability, it ranked 4th  far behind shares my values at 37%, can bring change at 31% and tells it like it is at 16%.

So, what does all this jumble of numbers tell us?

First, we are more alike than we think we are. Second, neither side is as one-dimensional as the other side thinks. And third, we should all slow down and really listen to each other and not just make assumptions based on knee-jerk, partisan stereotypes.

And, most of all, thanks to everyone, on both sides, who cares enough to take the time to vote  and answer all these questions.

Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and president of the SC New Democrats, an independent reform group started by former Gov. Richard Riley. Contact him at phil@philnoble.com
We were enjoying lunch at a North Augusta, S.C., restaurant recently when a potentially violent incident nearly broke out.

We overheard a man telling his lady friend, odd as it sounds, that he should probably beat up another man seated nearby. Why? she asked him. Because of the company name on the mans shirt, he told her. It was the name of a well-known national corporation.

The man spoiling for a fight was either mentally ill or perhaps had an unforgettable customer service problem with the company.

At any rate, luckily the completely innocent object of the mans scorn appeared not to have heard the threat, and eventually the belligerent customer and his lady friend left.

But for a few tense moments, we realized we couldve been caught in the middle of a brawl.

Feeling a sense of obligation to step in and protect the unwary patron against his would-be attacker, we briefly wondered if being armed wouldve been a good idea.

We dont know, even in retrospect. But it wouldve been nice to even have had the option.

As Georgia residents, however, we didnt. For some reason, which makes absolutely no sense in the middle of a violent confrontation, Georgia concealed-weapon carriers are not allowed to pack in neighboring South Carolina, and vice versa.

Its called reciprocity. States have it with some states, and not with others.

We find that goofy to begin with; we carry our First Amendment rights across state lines  why shouldnt we be allowed to take our Second Amendment rights too? It is, after all, a federal constitutional right.

But reciprocity is even nuttier in its implementation: We know of a man with a South Carolina concealed-carry permit who applied for an additional permit in New Hampshire last year  because the New England state is reciprocal with Georgia, while South Carolina is not.

So, as a matter of convenience, to carry in Georgia, he went knocking on New Hampshires regulatory door.

Thats the state of gun laws in 2016 America. And its just beyond absurd.

In fact, North Augusta state Rep. Bill Hixon reports that its the top issue his constituents bring up to him.

Moreover, as Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, notes, the ludicrous laws make lawbreakers out of otherwise law-abiding citizens who have cause to cross state lines for business or pleasure and who may forget to accommodate the other states law.

Its time to stop this insane patchwork of concealed-carry laws  if not nationally, then locally.

Hixon introduced a law last year making South Carolina reciprocal with both Georgia and North Carolina. It passed the House easily, 101-5, but got bogged down in the state Senate.

Earlier this month, Hixon asked South Carolinians who border either state to contact their sheriffs and urge them not to block reciprocity. The state Sheriffs Association has opposed it  even though both South Carolina and Georgia are already reciprocal with most of the other states in the country.

Its as if the two states were isolating each other for an embargo.

Also muddying the water is a competing proposal in South Carolina that would eliminate gun permits altogether. That admittedly dicier prospect should make Hixons more modest proposal for mere reciprocity with Georgia and North Carolina more palatable.

We got off easily in our North Augusta near-encounter. But in Columbus, Ohio, recently, a machete-wielding man entered a deli and hacked four people, before being chased out by a bat-wielding employee and a customer throwing chairs.

Surely in a similar circumstance we would want more of a defense than that. We should at least have a right to it.

No matter where we live or choose to eat lunch.

This editorial is from The Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle via The Associated Press.
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/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan has left behind the CIS countries in the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2016.

Azerbaijan climbed by one position in the report and took the 32nd place among 126 countries. In the last year's EAPI report, Azerbaijan stood at the 33rd place.

The Energy Architecture Performance Index, developed by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture, aims to provide an additional set of data to help leaders benchmark the current performance of national energy systems, and inform decision-making in the context of the changes under way in the global energy landscape.

When developing the report, some 21 indices are taken into account, in particular, the ratio of imports and exports of energy products to GDP, on emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, on electrification tariffs and so on.

Azerbaijan's total score in the EAPI 2016 report was 0.68. The country got this score in the economic growth and development sub-index, which measures the extent to which a countrys energy architecture adds or detracts from economic growth.

In the environmental sustainability sub-index, which measures the environmental impact of energy supply and consumption of the country, Azerbaijan got 0.57 score.

Azerbaijan's score in the energy access and security sub-index, which measures the extent to which an energy supply is secure, accessible and diversified, was 0.79.

In the EAPI 2016 report, the first place was occupied by Switzerland while Norway was the second and Sweden was the third. France, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Colombia, New Zealand and Uruguay entered the top ten.

Among the CIS countries, Russia stood at the 52nd place, while Armenia - at 56th and Georgia - at 46th. As for other CIS countries of the Central Asian region, Kazakhstan took the 57th place, Uzbekistan - 84th, Kyrgyzstan - 96th and Turkmenistan - 118th place.

Azerbaijan with its huge oil and gas reserves, not only ensures its own energy security, but also plays an important role in ensuring energy security of Europe.

The Azerbaijan-initiated Southern Gas Corridor is considered by the EU as a vital project for pursuing the energy security strategy of the union.

Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to meet the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The Southern Gas Corridor is set to change the energy map of the entire region, connecting gas supplies in the Caspian to markets in Europe for the very first time.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.




/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Iran, both nations enjoying huge natural gas reserves in the world, have a potential to become key suppliers of gas to the European market, Omid Shokri Kalehsar believes.

The energy analyst said in his article recently published in the Journal of Middle East Policy Council that the primary objective of the EU is the diversification of energy resources. In this regard, the expert believes that Iran may involve itself as a player in the Trans-Anatolian and Trans-Adriatic gas-pipeline projects, inviting foreign companies to make investments in its energy sector in time for the post-sanctions era.

"Azerbaijani companies have a potential role in this also, investing in the current energy sector from a close, and therefore more knowledgeable, proximity. Energy cooperation could help both Iran and Azerbaijan to improve their mutual relations and develop ties," he said.

Kalehsar believes that both countries have an intention and an enough resource base in this regard.

Azerbaijan began to present itself as a key ally in the European energy market, partly by retaining an interest in having a potential role in the Southern Gas Corridor.

The country, located within the South Caspian Sea Basin, is among the oldest oil producers in the world. Revenue from the production and export of oil and natural gas is a mainstay of the country's economy.

Azerbaijan is one of the Caspian region's most important strategic oil and gas export routes to the West. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which updated its report on the country in early 2014, said that Azerbaijan's proven natural gas reserves are estimated at approximately 35 trillion cubic feet.

The Islamic Republic, in turn, has been planning to take its rightful share in the world energy market, primarily as a major natural-gas exporter.

The capacity of Iran's oil and gas production decreased dramatically under the sanctions placed on the country by the EU and the U.S. over Iran's alleged attempts to build a nuclear program.

After the nuke deal, however, the country has begun to reinvigorate its oil and gas production and export capacity. Tehran is looking for markets to target, and Europe is interested.

Earlier Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that Iran is interested in Baku's proposal to use Azerbaijan's infrastructure for transporting energy resources to the world markets.

"Azerbaijan enjoys a developed pipeline infrastructure. Besides existing pipelines running to Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Iran, the Southern Gas Corridor project is being implemented. All this infrastructure should be used effectively not only by Azerbaijan, but also by other countries," the minister noted.

Many international transport routes, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipelines and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, Azerbaijan-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Iran and Azerbaijan-Russia gas pipelines originate namely from Azerbaijan.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan is considered by Tehran as a suitable route for the transit of Iran's massive natural gas resources to European consumers.

Irans geographical location makes it possible for the country to bring its gas to markets in Europe via routes running through Turkey or Azerbaijan.

It is believed that TANAP, which will later be linked to TAP, can become a reliable route for supplying Iranian gas to Europe. By joining TANAP, Iran is sure to strengthen Azerbaijans regional position as a transit country. This will not only bring economic benefits, but also political dividends that will be much more significant.

The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to join the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

The Southern Gas Corridor pipeline system has been designed to be scalable to twice its initial capacity to accommodate additional gas supplies in the future.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

An art exhibition entitled Hellas being held in the Centro Italiano Baku has opened its doors for little art lovers until March 11.

The childrens artworks have been inspired by Ancient Greece, the cradle of European civilization. Under the guidance of Galina Nikolayevna Churilova, students of Childrens Studio of Ecological Posters of the Tofig Ismayilov Children and Youth Creativity Centre have studied the ancient Greek art and embodied this knowledge to high level paintings, graphic arts, batiks and pottery.

The exhibition displays more than 150 pieces of art-painting, graphic art, batik and pottery- made by 28 students, from 5 to 15 years old.

The event is organized by the Greek embassy in Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Greek Community ARGO and Centro Italiano Baku.

The event was declared open on March 6 by Paola Casagrande, the director of the Italian Center Baku and followed by the welcoming speeches of Dimitrios Tsoungas, Greek Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Portnova Nadejda Petrovna, Deputy Director of the Tofig Ismayilov Children and Youth Creativity Centre and Mrs. Churilova Galina Nikolayevna, director of the project.

The children presented their inspired and colorful batik costumes in a delightful defile, accompanied by Greek music, which attracted everybodys attention. At the end of the event, all students, as well as the School and the project director were awarded with a Certificate of Achievement and Excellence for their great art performance inspired by Greek civilization.

A jury committee consisted of the Greek ambassador, Tsoungas, journalist and writer Elchin Mirzabeyli, artist Elisabetta Salvatori, Azerbaijani painter Mahmud Mahmudzadeh, and Cultural Attache of the Greek Embassy Maria Dolka awarded five artists diplomas of Excellence.

Visitors and jury were amazed by the high level of art performance and the quality of art works by young Azerbaijani artists. The Greek Muse has inspired young Azerbaijani artists to express their personal unique talent and contribute to worlds cultural dialogue.

Locating at the Murtuza Mukhatarov street 7, the gallery is open to the public from 10:30 to 19:30.
The Legislature of the US State of Alaska adopted a proclamation (citation) highlighting the importance of the strategic partnership between the US and Azerbaijan, the Consulate General of Azerbaijan to Los Angeles told Trend March 7.

Passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Alaska Legislature, the proclamation was co-authored by the majority of the state legislators and signed by the Senate President Kevin Meyer and House Speaker Mike Chenault.

The proclamation, which has been sent by the Alaska Legislature to Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles, noted that Azerbaijan is one of the worlds fastest developing and modernizing countries, is the largest economy of the region, and is our biggest trade partner in the South Caucasus.

Like Alaska, Azerbaijan has vast oil and gas resources, contributing to the energy security of the US, Europe, and Israel, and is a critical element of the Southern Gas Corridor which will further diversify energy supply for our European allies, the document further read.

The proclamation applauds the Azerbaijan-US partnership dealing with energy security, fighting international terrorism, illegal drugs, human trafficking, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and stressed that since 2001, Azerbaijan has provided a vital transportation route to supply the US and coalition troops based in Afghanistan.

On behalf of the families of the 2,753 people killed in the terror attacks of 9/11, the Alaska State Legislature thanks the Republic of Azerbaijan for being one of the first countries to render comprehensive and unconditional assistance by opening its airspace and airports for use by coalition troops in Afghanistan, and for sending soldiers to stand with US troops there, the document said.

Azerbaijan has a predominantly Muslim population and a constitutional tradition of peaceful coexistence and interfaith harmony between various religions, which has enabled it to maintain close strategic relationships with Israel, the US, and other free and independent allies, the proclamation said.

Thus far, this is the first official document passed by the Alaska State Legislature regarding Azerbaijan.
By Aynur Karimova

The successful development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary in different sectors, in particular in political and economic fields, was high on the agenda of talks held between President Ilham Aliyev and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was on an official visit to Baku on March 6.

At a one-on-one meeting, the two sides also stressed that they enjoy good potential for developing the bilateral relations in different fields.

Following their private meeting, President Aliyev and Prime Minister Orban met in an expanded format and made speeches at the event.

During the meeting President Aliyev said Azerbaijan is keen on further developing relations with Hungary in all sectors.

He also noted that bilateral ties between the two countries differ for their dynamics and mutual understanding.

"Hungary is a very close friendly nation for us; we would like the economic relations to correspond to the political level of our ties. Also, there are good prospects in the field of agriculture, energy, and high technologies," President Aliyev stressed.

He also expressed Azerbaijan's interest in attracting Hungarian investment in the country and involving more Hungarian companies to participate in the projects financed by Azerbaijan.

The sides also discussed further intensification of cooperation of the two countries in the transport, energy, agriculture, water supply, ICT, infrastructure and other sectors.

Later, President Aliyev and Premier Orban made statements for press.

In his remarks, President Aliyev said Hungary is a very close and friendly country for Azerbaijan. He voiced his confidence that Orban's visit to Azerbaijan will play a significant role in expansion of relations between Baku and Budapest.

"Our political relations are at a very high level," he said. "The high level of political relations makes positive impact on all other spheres. We have been successfully working in international organizations. Hungary plays a very positive and active role in Azerbaijan's relations with the European Union. Relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan are developing successfully, and I am confident that Hungary will continue to consistently support the development of these relations."

Speaking about the economic ties, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan and Hungary are successfully cooperating in the energy sector. He also pointed out the existing cooperation between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and Hungarian MOL company.

He also expressed his country's interest in cooperating with Hungary in the agricultural and education fields.

First Lady awarded

As part of Orban's visit to Azerbaijan, a ceremony has been held to award First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva with Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary.

Speaking at the award ceremony, the Hungarys prime minister said this Order, which represents the Hungarian people, is awarded not to the spouse of Mr. President, but to the most popular Azerbaijani woman.

"The activity, carried out by Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, is known worldwide," he said adding that Mrs. Aliyeva has gained great love of children grown up at orphanages due to her generous support them.

Orban said the first lady's charitable activities not only help these children, but also promote the existing relations between the two countries.

After his brief remark Orban presented the order to Mehriban Aliyeva.

Mrs. Aliyeva thanked the PM for the reward, saying that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation implements various projects in the education and health care, as well as in the social fields.

"I am sure that the projects being realized in the humanitarian sphere, help the peoples, nations better understand each other," she noted.

Later, President Aliyev hosted a dinner reception in honor of Orban. The first ladies of the two countries also attended the event.

Business forum

The main milestone of Orban's official visit to Azerbaijan was the Azerbaijan-Hungary business forum, which focused on development of bilateral relations in various sectors of economy.

Addressing the business forum, which was attended by over 50 representatives of Hungarian companies operating in agriculture, ICT, construction, renewable energy sources, industrial production, tourism, light industry, consulting, Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev made several attractive and profitable proposals to activate Hungarian companies' operation in Azerbaijan and to conduct joint work in third countries.

In particular, Mustafayev proposed Hungarys Gedeon Richter Company to establish enterprises for medicine production in Azerbaijan.

He said that currently, 135 types of Hungarian-produced medicines are imported to Azerbaijan, whilst there is a greater potential for cooperation in this field.

We also have good opportunities for cooperation in ICT, agriculture and tourism, he noted. As a result of the work done by our governments, Hungarys WizzAir company will restore the flights on Budapest-Baku-Budapest route from March 27. We have information that all tickets for this flight have already been sold."

Hungarian companies actively participate in construction of roads and bridges in Azerbaijan and the sides are keen for even larger cooperation.

Currently, Azerbaijan and Hungary are planning to cooperate in developing the toll roads system, information technologies and developing agriculture in Azerbaijan.

Mustafayev also offered Azerbaijan and Hungary to jointly work in Iran and to make joint investments in the third country.

We have great opportunities to cooperate in investment sphere. We believe that there is a great mutual interest in this field, he added.

"I would like to emphasize the possibilities of investing in third countries, said Mustafayev, adding that from this point of view, work has already been done in Iran on lifting the sanctions.

During the post-sanctions period, we can consider joint activities in this country, he stressed.

The minister noted that Azerbaijani companies are already operating in Iran, while Iranian companies are active in Azerbaijan. Therefore, we are well aware of the situation in Iran. Taking into account a number of other factors as well, our companies can play a mediating role for Hungarian companies in Iran.

Speaking at the business forum Peter Szijjarto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said great success has been achieved in recent four years in developing bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Europe has faced challenges in the recent year and in this situation, it is very important to have reliable and predictable friends and Azerbaijan is that friend, he noted.

We want to focus not just on boosting trade, but also on the development of investment cooperation, particularly in the sphere of information technologies, development of infrastructure and agriculture, Szijjarto said, adding that the two sides also successfully cooperate in energy sector.

He also said the Hungarian government has opened a credit line worth $200 million through the Eximbank to develop the bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The sphere of information technologies definitely has the greatest prospects for bilateral cooperation, said Szijjarto.

The minister added that Hungary is interested in developing the cooperation in developing the toll roads system in Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Hungary in 2015 totalled $27.96 million, of which over $27.7 million accounted for the import of Hungarian products, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.
/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Georgia enjoy good opportunities for developing the relations in political, economic, energy, humanitarian fields, as well as in a multilateral format.

This was stated by President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze in Baku on March 7.

During the meeting, Janelidze, who was in Baku with his first official visit, said the two countries' foreign ministries are actively continuing their joint work and projects.

President Aliyev, in turn, stressed the importance of cooperation between the relevant bodies of the two countries.

The president further said that a number of issues have been successfully resolved between Baku and Tbilisi and the two countries are getting closer to each other.

As part of the Baku visit, Janelidze met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, who also appreciated the bilateral ties.

Speaking at a briefing held after the meeting with the Georgian minister, Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan and Georgia plan to intensify the strategic partnership.

He also noted that they discussed the prospects for developing and intensifying the strategic partnership, as well as the cooperation in energy and transportation sectors.

Azerbaijan highly appreciates the cooperation with Georgia within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, the implementation of which will expand our cooperation in the transportation sector, Azerbaijan's top diplomat added.

He also noted that the parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the border delimitation commission. We have invited Georgian experts to Baku to continue the talks in this area."

Baku and Tbilisi are also expected to expand the legal framework as over 10 documents on bilateral cooperation are under development.

Janelidze, in turn, said that the two countries are bound by close cooperation in energy sector, recalling that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Baku-Supsa project.

Our cooperation also covers the transportation sector, the Georgian minister said. Both countries will closely cooperate to develop the economic potential.

Saying that Georgia also supports cooperation in the customs area, Janelidze noted that it is necessary to develop the legal framework between the two countries.

We will also continue to cooperate on international arena. Both countries support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other and I hope that this position will remain unchanged, he added.

He further added that Georgias President Giorgi Margvelashvili will pay a visit to Azerbaijan soon.

Azerbaijan and Georgia established diplomatic relations in 1992, one year after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. In October 1997, Azerbaijan and Georgia became two of the four founding members of GUAM, an organization that also includes Ukraine and Moldova.

Today, relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia are more than strategic partnership. The two countries are successfully cooperating in the political field, and strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Georgia is developing from day to day.

The two neighboring countries enjoy not only good political relations, but also long-standing and successful cooperation in the energy sector. Further, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR is deeply involved in the energy market in the neighboring South Caucasus republic.

Azerbaijan has long been one of Georgias largest trade partners, with trade turnover between the two countries reaching $433.95 million in 2015.

Azerbaijan mainly exports petroleum, petroleum oils and gases, gypsum, anhydrite, plaster and other products to Georgia, while motor cars, live bovine animals, bars and rods of iron, as well as cement, make up the majority of imported goods from Georgia to Azerbaijan.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

The International Conference "NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit: opportunities and expectations" kicked off in Baku on March 7.

The event, jointly organized by the Human Rights Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) and NATO Contact Point Embassy in Azerbaijan, the Romanian diplomatic mission, aimed at discussing the perspectives of cooperation between North Atlantic Alliance and partner countries, especially NATO-Azerbaijan relations in the light of NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit to be held on July 8-9.

Addressing the event, Romanian Ambassador to Baku Daniel Cristian Ciobanu stressed that Azerbaijan is NATOs major partner.

The ambassador said this conference is another proof of the importance, which Romania attaches to its relations with Azerbaijan, as well as strengthening ties between NATO and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan participates in NATOs programs on Afghanistan and plays an important role in Europes energy security, Ciobanu added.

Azerbaijan is a very important and highly valued partner of the North-Atlantic Alliance. Relations between NATO and Azerbaijan are successfully developing. The two sides actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas.

Romania strongly supports the strengthening and deepening of NATO-Azerbaijan partnership.

Elmar Huseynov, senior advisor of foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, in turn, said that such events have particular importance for the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

He emphasized that after the launch of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, transportation capabilities of NATO in terms of projects related to Afghanistan will increase.

Head of the NATO Liaison Office, William Lahue emphasized that Azerbaijan participates in many programs of NATO and cooperates with the alliance more actively than other partners.

Azerbaijan not only participates in a number of programs, but also always seeks new opportunities within NATO, according to Lahue.

He went on noting that NATO is working on a number of programs in which not only Azerbaijan, but also other countries of the region can also participate.

Partnership in the region can be assessed as strong and stable, Lahues said, adding that the organization also supports Georgia which seeks to join the alliance.

In her remarks, director of the Human Rights Institute, MP Ayten Mustafayev spoke of importance of the conference, hailed the cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

The event then heard a speech from the head of the International Security Department at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Gaya Mammadov, on "NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation".




/By Azernews/

By Laman Ismayilova

The activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, engaged in the peace talks on the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is an object of criticism and reason for dissatisfaction of Azerbaijan.

Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev believes that this is a fair discontent, as the trio of international mediators representing the U.S., Russia and France, is actually inactive.

Baku expresses dissatisfaction with the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group for a reason, he told Day.Az.

I totally agree with those Azerbaijani experts, who say that any settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - it does not matter in whose favor it is - automatically deprives bureaucrats from OSCE very profitable sinecures. Their logic is that the process is all, the goal is nothing, he said, noting that the OSCE Minsk Group countries will act only under the threat of war.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

Kalachev, commenting on Russias weapon supply to Armenia, said that Moscow should carry out adequate and equal policy towards Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The balance of forces in the region meets interests of all, who are interested in a diplomatic rather than a military solution to the problems that occur, he said.

Baku has repeatedly stated that Armenia carries out illegal activities, including drug trafficking in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, Armenia shelters representatives of various terrorist organizations, including the PKK on these territories, and this causes damage to the national security, but also has a negative impact on regional security.
Iranians voted for moderates from all political factions in the recent parliamentary election, President Hassan Rouhani said.

He made the remarks in a press conference in Tehran March 6, Trends correspondent reported from the event.

I'm glad that at the election moderates were elected among the parties and groups, Rouhani said.

He hailed the high turnout at the election, saying it strengthened the pillars of the Islamic establishment.

He further said that the government and the parliament should cooperate.

Rouhani further said that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been almost concluded and the P5+1(US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) have done their main commitments.

People can feel results of nuclear deal implementation, Rouhani said.

He added that next Iranian fiscal year will be better one in terms of welfare for Iranians.

The JCPOA has led to a 10 percent decrease in expenses of international financial transactions, the Iranian president said.

He further said that Iran needs to reclaim its status in trade and business.

The Iranian president added that Iran has recovered its position in oil export and will continue that in the coming months.

Tehran has increased its oil output to 1.4 million barrels per day following the removal of the sanctions, Rouhani said, adding, the figure will reach two million barrels by next Iranian fiscal year.

He underlined that the countrys economy should be revived by private sector.

However the sanctions are removed some international private companies and banks still are afraid of working with Iran, Rouhani said, urging the US to be more active and encourage European banks to cooperate with Iran.

Regarding the crisis in Syria, Rouhani said that the Islamic Republic has told Russia as well as other countries that territorial integrity and unity of Syria should be maintained.

He also said that Iran has not stopped its aids to Yemeni people.

Iran sends and will continue to send humanitarian aids to Yemen, Rouhani underlined.
US JP Morgan bank lowered its global oil supply estimates by 0.4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 96.4 million bpd, with the drop in non-OPEC supply only partially offset by higher OPEC estimates.

In 2017, analysts of the bank forecast further global oil supply contraction of 0.5 million bpd amounting to 95.9 million bpd.

Lower US, Canadian and European supply estimates are incorporated based on our view that low prices are starting to have an increased impact on the financial ability of producers to sustain production, JP Morgans analysts said in a report obtained by Trend.

Non-OPEC oil supply is expected by the analysts to decline by 0.9 million bpd to 54.7 million bpd in 2016 and by 1 million bpd to 53.7 million bpd in 2017.

Low prices have certainly started to feed through into lower non-OPEC supply growth, albeit not yet sufficiently to rebalance markets, analysts said. However, the process appears to be underway and building momentum. Consequently, it still seems premature for Saudi Arabia and others to look to support prices at this juncture.

JP Morgan forecasts OPEC oil production at 32.2 million bpd both in 2016 and 2017 compared to 31.5 million bpd in 2015.

Cartel's 13 members produced 32.335 million bpd in January, about 130,700 bpd more than December 2015, according to OPECs latest report. The official quota for OPEC oil production stands at 30 million bpd.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday emphasized the maintenance of Syria's territorial integrity, rejecting any scenarios for partitioning the country, Anadolu agency reported.

"We have agreed that Syria will sustain its presence as a strong, unitary Syria. We do not want a partitioned Syria," Davutoglu told reporters ahead of his departure for Brussels, where he will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, the holder of the rotating EU presidency.

Davutoglu said he discussed the issue with Iranian officials on Saturday's visit to Tehran and evoked the Sykes-Picot agreement, the 1916 secret agreement between Britain and France that established the borders of the modern Middle East, and is widely blamed for many of its current woes.

"100 years ago, Sykes-Picot partitioned the region. We should not allow again the division into small pieces. We must enter into efforts that could unite the region on a large scale. Here, there are contributions Iran and Turkey can make," the prime minister said.

In his remarks, Davutoglu called for a political structure in post-Assad Syria "where every national is represented and no one is excluded".

"As this was not done in Iraq, we can all see that peace and serenity in Iraq have not been maintained".

Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN figures.
Germany will resume providing guarantees for German exports to Iran in the near future, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, the Islamic Republics deputy transport minister said.

He said that negotiations were held with officials of the Germanys economy ministry on the issue, Mehr news agency reported March 6.

It was agreed that Iran will pay its $560 million debts by June which will pave path to resuming Hermes cover, Fakhrieh Kashan said.

Hermes cover is a common way of referring to an export credit guarantee (ECG) by the German government. These guarantees are an important part of German foreign trade policy and protect German companies in the event of non-payment by foreign debtors. The export credit guarantees of the Federal Republic of Germany offer an array of insurance options which are mainly targeted at exports to developing countries and emerging markets.

Currently export companies in Germany trading with Iran, cannot be protected by state-Hermes coverage, due to the millions of dollars owed by Iranian companies.

According to Iran Custom Administration's statistics, Germany exported $1.43 billion worth of goods to Iran and imported $248 million from this country during 10 months of current Iranian fiscal year, which started on March 21, 2015.
UAE-based Network International, the largest payments processor in the Middle East and Africa, could begin working with some of Iran's largest banks this year, the company's chief executive told Reuters on Sunday.



The company is in talks with the banks about how it could begin processing debit, credit and other payment transactions without breaching the remaining economic sanctions against Iran, CEO Bhairav Trivedi said.



He declined to name the Iranian banks, beyond saying that they are among the country's largest public and private lenders.



"We believe there are a lot of opportunities in Iran to expand our market, but we are not leaping into anything blindly," Trivedi said. "If we can cross our Ts and dot our Is from a regulatory standpoint, then I would like to say yes, we can initiate this year."



For several years, Iran was largely frozen out of the global banking system by economic sanctions over its disputed nuclear plans. In January this year world powers led by the United States and the European Union lifted most sanctions in return for curbs on the nuclear programme.



But foreign banks and payments companies have remained wary of re-establishing ties with Iran because some US sanctions remain and US banks are still prohibited from doing business with Iran directly or indirectly.



That has made many foreign institutions fear they could still be targeted by US officials or face legal problems in the United States if they resume business in Iran.



"There's still some doubt about how the sanctions and US dollar clearing will work in practice," Trivedi said. "We are evaluating the proposals to create a structure that works."



Some Iranian banks were clients of Network International before sanctions were tightened in 2011.



Network International is 51 per cent owned by Dubai's largest bank Emirates NBD, with the remainder held by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic.



In 2014 Network International processed more than Dh85 billion ($23.1 billion) of transactions involving banks in the Mena region. The figure is set to swell this year after its acquisition of rival Emerging Markets Payments.  Reuters
A long-running dispute over the leadership of Libya's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund reaches London's High Court on Monday, potentially paving the way for litigation against two global investment banks to move forward.



The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) wants to pursue Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in the English courts for more than $3 billion it claims was mismanaged. Both banks have rejected the allegations.



The fund, however, is mired in a power struggle between two rival chairmen, Hassan Bouhadi and AbdulMagid Breish. The dispute mirrors the fragmented nature of the country following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.



Bouhadi was appointed as head of the LIA in October 2014 by the LIA's board of trustees, populated by leaders of the House of Representatives.



But his Tripoli-based rival Breish says he in in charge, reinstated as head of the fund following a decision by Libya's Court of Appeal.



Bouhadi initiated proceedings in London's Commercial Court in September 2015 to determine this question of authority.



The issue needs to be settled to provide the legal clarity to allow the litigation against the two investment banks to move forwards. If the LIA wins these cases it could result in an award of billions of pounds.



As an interim measure, advisers BDO were appointed by the court in July 2015 to manage the litigation on the LIA's behalf. This has allowed the pre-trial work on the bank litigation to continue, such as the taking of witness statements and gathering of expert evidence.



At the time of BDO's appointment, it was hoped Libya would soon form a national unity government and determine the question of LIA leadership for itself, but hardliners are resisting a formal vote in Libya's elected parliament to endorse the new UN-backed government.



In the absence of any decision from Libya, an English court now has to rule on who has the authority to bring the litigations against the banks, regardless of the merits of those cases.



To do this, the judge, William Blair, the brother of former British prime minister Tony Blair, must first decide which is the legitimate government of Libya, using some procedures once developed to decide who was in charge in Somalia.



He will consider who has the constitutional right to govern in Libya; who has administrative control; whether there is any indication from the British government as to what it regards as the legitimate government; and what the international community regards as the legitimate government.



The case could run into a second week, and a judgment is not expected immediately. The judgment may also be appealed against.  Reuters


New Zealand-based Waiwera Artesian Water, a leading water brand which is internationally renowned for its award-winning taste and health qualities, has announced its availability in the UAE and plans to further expand its footprint in the region.



Adyton One General Trading, a Dubai-based top food and beverage distribution company, has acquired the distribution rights for Waiwera Artesian Water across the UAE. Founded in 2012, the company is in partnership with The Armed Forces Cooperative Society, and part of HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises.



Adyton One is planning investments of about Dh33 million ($8.98 million) to reinforce Waiweras market reach in the UAE, and boasts one of the highest per capita water consumption in the world. In the UAE, more than 250 litres of bottled water are consumed per person per year.



The UAEs bottled water market, which was worth $ 845 million in 2013, is expected to reach the $1 billion mark in 2016, according to Euromonitor International, which offers huge growth potential. The launch of Waiwera brand in the UAE assumes great significance in this direction.



Ahmed Al Raeesi, chairman of Adyton One General Trading, said: Our company is privileged to partner with Waiwera Artesian Water as part of its expansion plans in the UAE, wider Gulf and the Middle East region.



Waiweras world-famed water quality, award-winning bottle design and environmentally-friendly policies make the brand a perfect fit for both high-end restaurants and todays quality and eco-conscious consumers and is a proud addition to our portfolio, he said.



Since 1875, Waiwera has drawn its water from an artesian aquifer in one of the purest places on Earth, New Zealands Waiwera Valley. The first premium bottled water from the Southern Hemisphere, Waiwera was voted the worlds best water in 2008 by Decanter Magazine and has also won prestigious design awards.



The product is Halal certified by The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (Fianz) which is issued only after a thorough and rigorous Halal auditing process. The water is also Carbon-neutral certified, as also accredited by Bio-Gro and HACCP.



Waiwera Artesian Water in UAE, is available in 350 ml and 500 ml BPA-free polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
A total of around 80 to 100 international companies are projected to invest approximately $5 billion in the Egyptian-Chinese industrial zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt, said a report.



A total of 68 companies from Egypt, Japan, Korea, France, China, have already invested approximately $1 billion in the region, and about 33 of these companies are operating in the industrial field, Hui Jiwen, the managing director of Tianjin Teda Company, was quoted as saying in the Daily News Egypt report.



Jiwen made the comments while participating in the Builders of Egypt forum recently.



He added that the investments are expected to provide over 20,000 to 30,000 job opportunities.



Jiwen said that the company is primarily concerned with industrialisation and modernisation of the industrial environment in Egypt.



He further noted that the Egyptian-Chinese industrial zone is host to five key industries, namely silos, equipment, petroleum products, non-woven textiles and complementary industries, added the report.


Advanced Armour Engineering (AAE), a British-owned armour specialist in the UAE, has signed a long-term agreement with Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (Saif Zone) to establish two advanced factories with a total working area of more than 50,000 sq ft.



Simon Hurst, general manager of AAE, said: We plan to inaugurate the facility by June 2016. The pre-built facilities will be reconfigured to accommodate the companys large-scale specialised processing machines.



Saud Salim Al Mazourei, director of Saif Zone and Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, said: We welcome AAE to Saif Zone which has emerged as an ideal business hub.



We see more industries and more trading companies from Europe and from Russia coming to Sharjah. I hope, AAEs new initiative in our industrial zone will increase its output and expand its network, he said.



Specialised in defence and security, transport, architectural metalwork, construction equipment, oil and gas equipment sector and maritime, AAE currently exports to over 12 countries and is firmly seen as the partner of choice of many of the leading blue chip OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in the region, said a statement from the company.



Hurst added: AAE is fully conversant in all grades of ballistic steel and metals and works closely with high-strength, wear-resistant and armoured grade steels. Due to our up-to-date knowledge and many years of experience, we are able to assist clients in selecting the right materials for various applications.



Our highly trained technicians have more than 25 years' experience in materials processing and design optimisation in both ballistic and blast mitigating steels, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) today (March 7) welcomed a high level delegation from the Indonesian parliament, on a visit to meet the countrys key industry leaders in order to promote cooperation in various fields.



The delegation was headed by Asep Maoshul, member of the House of Representatives, said a statement from Alba.



The meeting was held at the Albas Al Dana Hall where the delegation was welcomed by Ali Al Baqali, Albas chief financial officer; Khalid Latif, chief marketing officer; and Amin Sultan, acting chief operations officer.



Speaking on the visit, Al Baqali said: We are pleased to receive the Indonesian delegation and discuss various matters related to industry and commerce between the two countries.



As one of the key pillars of the kingdoms economy, it was a privilege to share our companys success story as well as promote the business friendly environment of Bahrain, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi-based telecom services operator Mobily has called upon all prepaid customers to update their fingerprint records at its various branches in the kingdom.



The move is in line with the directives of Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) of Saudi Arabia.



The mobile firm is inviting the prepaid customers under the patronage of CITC with the slogan Confirm your Number by your Fingerprint and is equally applicable for both nationals and expats, said a statement from Mobily.



This campaign aims to match identification documents such as IDs and residency cards with fingerprints of the customers, it stated.



Mohammed Al Belwe, the executive general manager (Corporate Communications) said: "Based on the directive of CITC, the process of updating fingerprint information for the customers has been initiated to facilitate customers; this will ensure that consumer rights and privileges are maintained and their privacy remain secure through stringent data security."



"It is an extremely important procedure to verify the information and the database; the process is one of the important milestones for Saudi telecommunications industry, which is among the vital sectors of national economy," he added.



Mobily said it plans to utilise multiple contact centers for providing the fingerprint update service to ensure that customers dont face any inconveniences, considering the large number of people expected to update their information.-TradeArabia News Service
Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes committed a "massacre" of scores of civilians in Idlib governorate on Monday, part of a pattern of breaches of a two-week truce, opposition coordinator Riad Hijab told reporters on a teleconference.



Hijab said the latest fighting, as well as arrests by Syrian government forces, were causing the opposition to consider whether it should attend a round of peace talks in Geneva.



"It will be before the end of this week, there will be a clear decision about this," Hijab said.-Reuters
The Kia Motors Roadshow, being held across the UAE, will be returning to Dubai for its stop at Arabian Center, where it will be demonstrating its automotive offerings on March 11.



Kia Motors, through its sole distributor in the UAE, Al Majid Motors Co, has been showcasing its current portfolio of passenger vehicles during the latest instalment of its Roadshow, which concludes on March 25.



Kias annual Roadshow gives car fans and potential customers the chance to check out the companys most recent additions, the all-new Optima and Sportage, alongside its established favourite models at popular locations across the UAE. Kia specialists will be on hand to answer questions and arrange test drives at the venue, a statement said.



We have received a great deal of interest in last years KIA Roadshow from walk-in customers at our showrooms across the UAE, which inspired us to have the roadshow over the period of 6 weeks so as to allow all our valued customers to take advantage of our premium automotive offerings, said Mohammed Khader, president of Al Majid Motors Co, Kia.



We will have a team of experts on hand at each venue to assist with customer queries. This includes assisting with test drives and ensuring best-practice in helping customers choose the right vehicle to suit their needs. As always, we are anticipating a strong response, as Kia automobiles have an established reputation for offering outstanding performance and utilizing the most advanced technology for their respective market segments. he added.



The Roadshow will be held next in Fujairah at Lulu Mall on March 18 and the final stop will be at Al Qasba in Sharjah on March 25.  TradeArabia News Service
Opec member Iran has raised its official April selling prices for most of its crude oil grades for Europe and Asia, except for the Mediterranean, where prices fell slightly, an industry source with knowledge of the matter said.



The organisation's third largest oil producer had been expected to raise the April price for Asian buyers to the widest differential to a similar Saudi grade since 2011, in anticipation of higher demand for its oil since the lifting of international sanctions in January.



From February Iran has also started sales in Europe but volumes have been slow to pick up so far as many buyers have complained about legal obstacles.



Iran's oil export chief Mohsen Ghamsari told Reuters last week he expected sales into Europe to rise from March onwards while adding that banking and shipping insurance difficulties have so far impeded exports to the continent.



The expectations that Iran will heavily discount its barrels have also not materialised so far, with refiners in Europe saying they prefer to buy cheaper Iraqi, Kurdish and Kuwaiti barrels.



Ghamsari said last week Iran would not offer further discounts but could consider a pricing improvement for its crude sales to Europe by selling some spot cargoes at the dated Brent benchmark, though it was sticking with Brent Weighted Average (BWAVE) for its term contracts.



Other than Europe, NIOC's main targets for increased oil sales in Asia are China, India and South Korea, Ghamsari said.-Reuters
Hyatt Regency Dubai, an iconic five star hotel in Dubai, has welcomed Stephane Blanc as its new general manager.



Blanc joins Hyatt Regency Dubai from a long career with Starwood, where he last held the position of deputy general manager at the Le Meridien Dubai hotel, before opening his own food and beverage (F&B) consulting company in Thailand.



Originally from the French part of Switzerland, Blanc started his career in the culinary field, and held several senior chef roles in Dubai, Bangkok, Jakarta and Bali, before moving into F&B operations with Moevenpick Hotels in Asia. In 2000, he joined the Le Meridien in Dubai, where he held the positions of director of food and beverage, executive assistant manager, and subsequently from 2011 to 2015 his previous role of deputy general manager.



I am very excited to join Hyatt, and in particular the team at Hyatt Regency Dubai  an iconic Dubai hotel that I have always admired, Blanc said. - TradeArabia News Service
Former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill has filed a defamation lawsuit against state Rep. Tim Stubson, who is running for U.S. House, over comments he posted on his Facebook campaign page.

The suit centers around a Feb. 8 exchange on the Tim Stubson, Republican, U.S. Congress page. An unidentified Fremont County journalist asked Stubson for his position on a 2013 law that removed Hill from the Wyoming Department of Education for about a year, until the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

At the time, Stubsons page had 800 followers, according to the suit, which was filed Feb. 22 in Natrona County District Court.

Stubson wrote on Facebook that Hill had committed many illegal acts that werent disclosed publicly. Stubson alleged Hill was out of control and had to be stopped, the lawsuit states.

The suit claims the attack was part of a continuing pattern of malicious conduct. It further alleges Stubson made the comments to distract voters from his sponsorship of SF104, the legislation that temporarily removed many of Hills powers.

The defendant has repeated such unwarranted personal attacks upon the plaintiff as a tool in deflecting attention from his voting record relating to an act ruled unconstitutional by the Wyoming Supreme Court (SF104,) the suit states.

Hill seeks damages and costs incurred from the lawsuit. She also seeks immediate court action to stop Stubson from commenting on the matter.

Emblem attorney Rob DiLorenzo is representing Hill. The Star-Tribune left a message with DiLorenzo late Monday morning. He did not respond.

Stubson, in an interview Monday, said he has the right to political speech. He said he couldnt specifically comment on the lawsuit and will retain an attorney. Stubson is a Casper attorney.

Obviously, I dont want to talk about the specifics of the allegations, he said. Well deal with those as we move through the court system. The thing I would want to say is I really think this is clearly an attempt to swat back at me for efforts I made on the investigative committee.

The Legislature, in addition to passing SF104, investigated Hills conduct in office, held hearings in Cheyenne and issued a report. A legislative report rebuked her for misconduct in office, but did not recommend lawmakers impeach her.

Hills actions went beyond the statutory authority granted to her office, Stubson said.

Stubson said the battle with Hill illustrates how hard it can be to make public officials accountable and transparent  even someone in his own party.

With respect to the congressional race, if people in Wyoming want someone to stick their neck out and demand accountability in D.C.  no matter who it is, no matter what party  I have a record of doing that, he said.

In 2013, DiLorenzo sent a letter to Stubson and other legislative leaders threatening to sue them for libel if they released legislative report that rebuked her. The leaders released the report, but Hill did not follow up with a libel lawsuit.

Stubson was served the defamation lawsuit while in Cheyenne for the Legislatures budget session, he said.

He was served the lawsuit Wednesday  a day before he and Gov. Matt Mead, Attorney General Peter Michael and several legislative leaders were sued over state construction contracts for the Wyoming Capitol reconstruction and other projects.

Rep. Gerald Gay and a Uinta County resident filed the suit. They are being represented by Hills husband, Drake Hill.

Stubson said the two lawsuits could be connected.

To me it appears there are some common fingerprints on these lawsuits, he said. Ultimately, time will bear that out.

When reached via text message, Hill did not comment on the lawsuit itself, but did say the Star-Tribune retained Stubson for legal work in the past.

Stubson works for the Crowley Fleck law firm, which employs about 150 attorneys, according to its website. The Star-Tribune used the services of another lawyer at the firm in October 2013, when DiLorenzo demanded the Star-Tribune retract a headline on a story related to Hill. The Star-Tribune did not retract the headline and Hills attorney did not file a lawsuit.

The Star-Tribune did retain Stubsons services for employment work at some time before that. However, the newspaper is no longer using his services.
LARAMIE  A University of Wyoming coalition has put together online maps that provide companies with the information they need to find the best places to find oil and gas, mark all known flowing and abandoned oil and gas wells and list ownership, well depth and other information.

The map has been posted to make the information available to the industry and the public.

Industry officials say the information will allow drillers to recover gas and oil that otherwise wouldnt be available.

Previously, people had to dig through records to find the information.

I think that anytime you have the ability of giving information out and more accessible to the general public and industry, the better off you are, said Tom Drean, Wyoming state geologist and director of the Wyoming State Geological Survey.

The website was put together by the University of Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute, with several collaborators who assisted in finding and providing the maps information, said Nick Jones, manager for conventional resources at the institute.

The large map has dozens of options that can be combined to get the big picture of what the industry is doing in Wyoming.

A little over a year ago, we did some listening sessions around the state to get an idea of what operators with Wyoming assets needed and how could the Institute help, Jones said. They all said data, data, data.
CODY  A proposed one-cent sales tax has people in Park County and Cody on edge.

Supporters say the money is needed so the community can invest in itself. Opponents say their tax burden is already too high.

City officials are sending out a survey to gauge support for the tax, which could also affect tourism for people on their way to Yellowstone National Park.

According to the Cody Enterprise, residents are concerned about having enough money for utilities, public buildings and roads.
DEARBORN, Mich.  It is here in the industrial Midwest, not in the South, where Ted Cruzs audacious theory of the 2016 race was supposed to be put to one of its most important tests. Michigans primary on Tuesday  and especially what happens that day in the Detroit suburbs that in 1980 were ground zero for a new political species, Reagan Democrats  will answer this question: Can Cruz locate and motivate legions of recently nonvoting conservatives, millions of them nationwide, especially whites without college experience, who can be pulled back into voting in numbers sufficient to determine the election in November?

One problem with Cruzs plan is that it was formulated in olden days, in the world B.D.T.  Before Donald Trump. He, too, is courting this cohort of the disaffected, whose grievances about politicians certainly cannot this year include being ignored by them. But although Trump may bestride the political scene mastodon, Patrick Colbeck and Wendy Day are undaunted.

Colbeck, 50, was an engineer with no interest in politics until, six years ago, he did something almost unprecedented even among members of the national legislature: He read the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. He concluded that this is about control and has nothing to do with care. Now he is a Republican state senator, the first Michigan legislator elected from the tea party, and a thorn in the side of the GOPs legislative leadership on spending and other matters. Which is to say, he is somewhat like Ted Cruz, of whose Michigan campaign Colbeck is chairman.

Day, 43, is the wife of a soldier who has a Purple Heart from two tours in the Middle East, and the mother of a 19-year-old soldier just back from his first deployment, in Kuwait. She was working with war widows before becoming state director of the Cruz campaign because hes been to Babylon and survived. Meaning hes resisted the seductive nature of Washington. Now she travels with a spreadsheet, supplied by Cruzs national campaign headquarters in Houston, detailing the expected March 8 vote in all of Michigans 4,500 precincts and the number of votes Cruz needs to get in each in order to win the state.

Houston projects that Cruz needs 345,000 of the 1.08 million votes the campaign expects to be cast. Day has on her phone a picture of two of those voters who, with no prompting from the campaign, set up a table outside a tractor supply store to educate voters about Cruzs enthusiasm for the Second Amendment. Other volunteers held a fundraiser at a gun range to pay for a Cruz billboard.

Yes, each such anecdote testifies to Cruzs ability to energize a passionate cadre, and, yes, as has been said, the plural of anecdote is data. Today, however, much more than when Winston Churchill said so eight decades ago, We have entered the region of mass effects. In Michigan, as in many of the Super Tuesday states, the Cruz campaign mounted the most ambitious efforts to create telephone-and-shoe-leather get-out-the-vote operations, all of which strengthen the sinews of American democracy. In its approach to Iowa, the campaign identified 150 clusters of Iowans for special attention, including a group of 60 who signed a petition seeking legalization of the sale of fireworks in the state, a group that received a blessing from Cruz in his libertarian mode.

But todays saturation journalism about presidential politics  and especially the insatiable appetite of television for the garish sights and sounds of Trump, whose campaign consists almost entirely of feeding this appetite  can raise waves of passion and distraction that wash away more methodical ways of engaging with voters.

A Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll, taken Feb. 14-16, after Iowas caucuses and New Hampshires primary but before South Carolinas primary and Nevadas caucuses, presented a microcosm of the GOPs national problem: Trump 25.2 percent, undecided 21.3, Cruz 15, Marco Rubio 11.8, John Kasich 10.5, Ben Carson 9, Jeb Bush 5.3. Trump had the highest unfavorable rating (41.3), but the combined 37.3 percent of the three serious Trump rivals still in the race is too fragmented to derail him. And Kasich, from contiguous Ohio, is targeting Michigan.

Michigans primary comes a week  an eternity  after Super Tuesdays 11 primaries altered the political landscape. Michigan is one of the 18 states (and the District of Columbia)  with 242 electoral votes  that Republicans have lost in six consecutive presidential elections, so attention must be paid.
Raytheons newest ship-defense missile hit a surface target and set a distance engagement record in recent test flights, Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems said Monday.

In one recent test flight off Hawaii, the company said, a Standard Missile-6 fired by the Navy guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones hit and sank a decommissioned Navy destroyer.

In another, more complex test, the USS John Paul Jones successfully hit five targets in four separate mission scenarios, while setting a record for the longest-range test of its kind.

The single test demonstrated the Navys concept of distributed lethality, or employing ships in dispersed formations to increase surface firepower options, the company said.

The USS John Paul Jones fired one SM-6 during the test, while a similar guided-missile destroyer was on hand to assist, said Raytheon, Southern Arizonas biggest private employer.

The other, multishot test proved the tactical capability of SM-6 by demonstrating both its maximum down-range effectiveness and maximum, cross-range intercepts in over-the-horizon missions using targeting data from sources apart from the firing ship, the company said. Further details about the test were not available.

While the Navy has not released the effective range of the SM-6 or the engagement distance achieved in the recent test, previous long-range versions of the Standard Missile have been rated at a range of more than 200 miles. The company said the recent test beat a previous, also undisclosed record-long engagement during a test flight in June 2014.

Raytheon says it has delivered more than 250 SM-6 missiles, which were deployed for the first time in 2013.

The Navy recently awarded Raytheon a $270 million contact for fiscal year 2016 SM-6 production.
Mexican authorities extradited a man wanted on suspicion of sexual assault in South Tucson.

The U.S. Marshals Service said the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office took Armando Inigo Aguilar, 61, into custody Saturday. An arrest warrant was issued Dec. 30 in Pima County for Aguilars arrest on suspicion of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled female 15 years of age or older in December 2014, the U.S. Marshals office in Tucson said in a news release Sunday. The warrant also accused Aguilar of violating sex offender registration requirements.

After an investigation by South Tucson police, Aguilar was charged with six counts of sexual assault and fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution, the news release said.

U.S. Marshals worked with authorities in Mexico and determined Aguilar was working as a security officer under an assumed identity in Hermosillo, Sonora, the news release said. Mexican authorities arrested Aguilar on March 4 and deported him the following day through Nogales. He is being held in Santa Cruz County pending his transfer to Pima County.
The union representing Pima County sheriffs deputies is fighting a proposed pay plan it says was presented as a raise, but will actually cost employees money in the long run.

On Dec. 30, bureau chief Karl Woodridge sent an email to all commissioned personnel proposing an adjustment to the departments pay package. The email, which the Star obtained through a public-records request, included a ballot for employees to vote to accept or reject the proposal.

Fraternal Order of Police President Tyke Manoleas followed up with an email to employees, recommending they not sign the ballot.

As this ballot could be legal and binding, until we get further recommendations from our legal counsel, its not reasonable to sign one way or the other, he wrote.

Sgt. Kevin Kubitskey, president of the Pima County Deputy Sheriffs Association, which represents deputies, sergeants and corrections officers, said hes never seen a ballot attached to any type of proposal sent to department members.

Kubitskey has appeared before the Board of Supervisors many times in recent months to speak about the unions concerns with the plan.

The plan proposed a swap in the countys contribution to employees retirement plan for a pay raise, but will actually cost deputies money, Kubitskey said.

Currently, the county pays 3.65 percent into pensions, while the employee is responsible for 8 percent. The ballot asked for the employees consent to receive a 3.65 percent increase in pay, but they would contribute the full 11.65 percent to their retirement plan.

Kubitskey said while the proposal seemed reasonable at first, a breakdown of the numbers revealed that with the increased salaries, employees would pay more in taxes and lose money in the long run.

The proposed swap violates Arizona statutes, Kubitskey told supervisors in a recent meeting.

Emails obtained by the Star indicate the departments command staff was willing to seek approval for the transfer plan even though there was apparent widespread disapproval among deputies.

Sheriff Chris Nanos wrote in a Jan. 1 email to members of the command staff that he didnt understand why the deputies would be against the plan.

Chief Deputy Christopher Radtke recommended in an email that the department proceed with the plan, and if it was voted down, so be it. Woolridge indicated in an email the feedback hed received from employees indicated the vote wouldnt go well.

The unions attempts to discuss the issues with senior staff members were unsuccessful, resulting in an email from command staff, saying that the department was moving ahead with the plan without any explanation, according to an email Kubitskey wrote to Nanos in late January.

The topic of pay packages and the transfer plan was brought up during a two-hour meeting Nanos held with deputies on Feb. 26, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by the Star.

Nanos asked for the meeting, Kubitskey said, when asked how it came about. He wanted the opportunity to talk to the individual deputies before the upcoming (sheriffs) election.

During the first several minutes of the meeting, Nanos told attendees that his No. 1 goal is to increase deputy pay, but that he wasnt looking at the departments budget to come up with the money for pay increases.

Im not doing anything to save any money for you to get step raises, he said, according to the recording obtained by the Star. The only thing Im doing is working with the board and (county administrator) Chuck Huckelberry to get decompression.

Decompression is a plan that would adjust deputies pay to bring them up to the proper level of the departments pay scale, which would bring their pay more in line with other law-enforcement agencies. The Board of Supervisors had approved such adjustments before, but denied the unions request last summer for another departmental adjustment.

The letter Kubitskey sent Nanos indicates a deadline of Feb. 29 for the department or county to propose a reasonable pay package. Kubitskey said hes working with members of the Board of Supervisors and that the deputy union has extended the deadline to mid-March.

In response to the departments proposal, the union submitted its own pay proposal, asking for a 5 percent pay increase, instead of the 3.65.

The union has been fighting since last summer for the department and county to follow through on increases in salary, or step increases, that employees were promised years ago. The proposed transfer plan is independent of any other proposals related to an increase in pay, Woolridge wrote in the ballot.

Starting pay for deputies and corrections officers is $43,370 a year. The-top paying agency in the state, the Tempe Police Department, starts its officers at $56,742.

Nanos said hes been working with Huckelberry since last July, trying to figure out how to get decompression for the nearly 750 deputies and corrections officers who are eligible.

The way it is now, we have 10-year veterans making the same money as brand-new deputies, Nanos said. Thats wrong.

During those discussions, Huckelberry told him that the retirement contributions were hurting the county and that the transfer plan would help the countys budget out in the long run, easing the cost of decompression.

If it helps the county, and helps make my guys whole (in pay), then I agree with it, he said, explaining why the plan was proposed.

After the labor groups expressed their concerns, Nanos said he and the command staff met with the union heads to talk about what happened, but no agreement was made between the 3.65 proposed and the 5 percent the union proposed.

I said, Lets just take it off the table and do decompression, he said, stressing that the labor groups have told him for two years that decompression is their No. 1 concern.

After he made the decision to scrap the transfer plan, he learned from his finance staff that the cost of decompression would actually increase by roughly $700,000 without the transfer plan.

I told the group at the meeting (on Feb. 26), If you want your pay proposal instead of decompression, tell me, he said. But as long as they want decompression, I cant support their pay proposal.

Depending on the employees time of employment, each would receive between a 5 and 35 percent pay raise under decompression, though most would be in the 5 to 15 percent range, Nanos said.

In addition to decompression, hes also seeking a 2 percent raise for the 250 deputies and corrections officers who are already topped out on the pay scale.

Nanos says he knows the $7.4 million package will be a hard sell to the community because so many people are struggling financially.
The Fond du Lac Loop website is at:

Information about The Loop is at:

Down the Road

 The Coronado National Forest has reopened some areas of Mt. Lemmon after winter time closures.

Some roads remain closed as snow and ice are still present in some areas.

The newly reopened areas include: General Hitchcock Campground; Incinerator Ridge Road; Organization Ridge Road; and the road to Mt. Lemmon Recreation Site/Summit Trailheads.

Closed areas include: Oracle Control Road (upper and lower); Bigelow Road; Bear Wallow Road; and Marshall Gulch Picnic Area.

Call the Santa Catalina Ranger District Office at (520) 749-8700 during normal business hours for more information.

 Work continues on the Interstate 10 bridge at Empirita Road east of Tucson will require ramp closures all next week.

The Arizona Department of Transportation will repair the deck of the bridge at Exit 292 in Cochise County.

The following restrictions and detours will be in place all week:

The eastbound I-10 off ramp at Empirita Road will be closed around the clock from Monday at 6 a.m. until Friday at 4 p.m. During this closure, eastbound motorists can continue traveling on I-10 to Mescal Road/J-Six Ranch (Exit 297), exit and return to Empirita Road, where the westbound off ramp will remain open.

The westbound I-10 on ramp at Empirita Road will be closed around the clock from Monday at 6 a.m. until Friday at 4 p.m. During this closure, motorists wishing to access westbound I-10 can take eastbound I-10 to Mescal/J-Six, exit and return to westbound I-10.

The eastbound I-10 on ramp at Mescal Road/J-Six Ranch (Exit 297) will be closed daily from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. During this closure, motorists can enter westbound I-10 at Mescal/J-Six, exit at Empirita Road and return to eastbound I-10.

The work is part of a $15.1 million project to improve a 17-mile segment of I-10 between Tucson and Benson and replace the westbound I-10 bridge spanning Davidson Canyon.

The work is scheduled for completion in June 2016.
PHOENIX  An organization questioning the research behind climate change will get another chance to demand to see the emails of two University of Arizona scientists.

The state Court of Appeals has overturned the ruling of a trial judge who said the university need not disclose 1,700 emails and other records from Jonathan Overpeck and Malcolm Hughes. Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner had said the university did not abuse its discretion in concluding that disclosing the documents would not be in the best interests of the state.

But appellate Judge Joseph Howard, writing for the unanimous court, said its legally irrelevant what university officials thought was appropriate to disclose. Howard said everyone involved in the case acknowledges the emails are public records. And he said state law carries a presumption that all public records are subject to disclosure, with certain exceptions.

What that means, Howard wrote, is that trial judges must actually examine the records to determine whether making them public really would harm the best interests of the state as the university is claiming.

The ruling does not guarantee the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, which has raised questions about climate change and the causes behind it, will get all the documents. But in raising the bar for the university to shield them from disclosure, it increases the chances that at least some of them will see the light of day.

And while the decision could be seen as a setback for the university, it underscores the breadth of the states public-records laws and the fact that the burden of proof in these cases lies with the party trying to shield them from view.

New legal briefs are due this week, after which Marner will set a date to hear arguments.

Hughes said he could not comment on the litigation. Overpeck did not return a call to his office seeking comment.

The group, formerly known as the American Tradition Institute, filed a request for more than a decades worth of emails of the two UA professors, whose work focuses on climate change.

According to court records, the university provided more than 1,600 pages of records and a log describing about 1,700 records it was withholding. The university said it was withholding emails to protect either the confidentiality of information privacy of persons, or a concern about disclosure detrimental to the best interests of the state.

After the group sued, the university gave the judge about 90 of the withheld emails, which both sides agreed were representative .

Marner said some emails were properly withheld because they contained things like confidential information or attorney work product.

There was another batch the judge described as prepublication critical analysis, unpublished data, analysis, research, results, drafts and commentary. Marner said the university had not abused its discretion in withholding these or that it acted arbitrarily or capriciously.

It is that second batch that is at issue.

Howard, writing for the court, said Arizona law expresses an open access policy toward public records and exists to allow citizens to be informed about what their government is up to.

But he also said the law permits withholding documents that are privileged, confidential or detrimental to the interests of the state .

Whats important, Howard said, is that while the agency with the records has the initial discretion to deny access, under no circumstances should that determination be final, calling that inconsistent with all principles of democratic government. What that means, Howard said, is that Marner is required to determine, on his own, whether disclosure would be contrary to the best interests of the state, regardless of the arguments of the university.

In filing the original lawsuit, attorney David Schnare of the E & E Institute said Overpeck was prominent in the cause of global warming, including activism for environmental pressure groups.

Schnare also said the pair came to his groups attention after a server at a British university was hacked, disclosing thousands of email exchanges between academics and others involved in climate research. He said the lawsuit is part of a larger effort by his organization to find whether theres any bias to research and conclusions.

The issue, he said, is that the majority of this research is funded by the federal government. And that, Schnare argued, can taint the results.

The technological elite continues to get federal money if it views global warming as an existential threat to mankind, Schnare said. He said requesting the public records associated with the research will help understand the quality of the science that is the foundation of the policies that are being applied to us all.

What all that will show, Schnare said, is whether there are biases.

He said that can occur scientifically in terms of which data are used and what methods are chosen.

And then there are biases associated with preparing papers and doing research thats outcome-oriented, he said. Schnare said viewing the emails and other documents will enable his group to figure out whether any of that is at play.

Schnare is not saying global warming does not exist. Is there some? he said.

Well, the answer is yes, depending on what your starting point is, saying that depends on whether one looks at the last 18 or 19 years or back to the 1960s and 1970s.

Ive never said that 100 percent of that increase is natural, Schnare said. And he said carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that can trap heat. Holding all other things equal, inevitably the temperature would have to go up and therefore mankind would have an effect on that, he said. Heres the problem: You cant hold everything else all equal.
The League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson is hosting a public forum on March 19 focusing on Proposition 123.

Campaigners for and against the education funding initiative will explain their positions and answer questions, and Richard Gilman of Bringing Up Arizona  a research-based web publication focused on public education  will be the featured speaker.

The event will be held on the lower level of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., at 10 a.m. Parking is free in the library garage.

For more information, visit www.lwvgt.org

Charity to distribute free backpacks, snacks

More than 2,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies and snacks are being donated to Tucson-area schoolchildren.

The Feed the Children charity is donating the backpacks to the Marana Unified, Amphitheater, Tucson Unified and Sunnyside Unified school districts on Wednesday.

They will be distributed throughout the school year to students experiencing hardship.

Students to compete

in auto-repair contest

Students from four Southern Arizona schools will compete in the 2016 Arizona High School Auto Challenge next month.

Juniors and seniors from Flowing Wells, Marana, Mountain View and Safford high schools qualified for the contest, which will be held at Mesa Community College on April 22, by completing an online written test.

At the state competition, the students will be charged with fixing a bugged vehicle.

Marana High School is fresh off a first-place win at the Arizona High School Pit Crew Challenge on Feb. 19.

The team went up against students from seven Arizona high school automotive programs.

The timed challenge included teams of students performing tasks on vehicles and engines.

Sunnyside teacher finalist for $20K prize

A Sunnyside School District teacher is in the running for a $20,000 science lab makeover.

Rene Corrales, a science teacher at STAR Academic Center, was named a district winner in the Shell Science Lab Challenge.

The contest is open to middle and high school science teachers and seeks to reward educators who have found innovative ways to deliver quality lab experiences with limited resources.

As a district winner, Corrales and the STAR Academic Center will receive a $1,000 grant to purchase lab equipment and other science resources, $1,000 in donated science lab equipment and a $300 gift certificate to the National Science Teachers Association, along with other prizes.

Corrales is one of 18 district winners. Five national finalists will be chosen, and a grand-prize winner will be selected from among them.

Steele Elementary

to hold rummage sale

Steele Elementary School will hold its 10th annual rummage sale Saturday.

The event will be on campus, 700 S. Sarnoff Drive, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward a shade structure on the playground.

The sale will feature furniture, household goods, clothing, toys and seasonal decorations.

County schools chief Arzoumanian honored

Pima County Schools Superintendent Linda Arzoumanian is being awarded the Southern Arizona Association for Education of Young Children Board Award.

The honor recognizes Arzoumanians devotion to public service, support of childrens issues and political advocacy on behalf of young children as she prepares to retire at the end of 2016 after 16 years holding the seat.
OPINION: "Pima Community College belongs to the entire Tucson community. The governing board is the communitys way to hold the college accountable and to steer the institution toward best serving the greatest number of people. Help secure the brightest future for our community college and join us in supporting Theresa Riel for the District 2 seat on the PCC Governing Board," writes Makyla Hays, president of the Pima Community College Education Association.
Help India!

Rajamahendravaram : BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that he wants the party to emerge as a key force in the electoral battle in south India.

Addressing a public meeting in Rajamahendravaram, as Rajahmundry is now called, he said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should spread to all regions of the country.

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Modiji has given slogan of Congress-free country. If we have to free the country from Congress, we have to ensure that be it north, south, west and everywhere region, the BJP flag should fly high and vande mataram slogan is sung, he said.

In Andhra Pradesh, where BJP is a partner in Telugu Desam Party-led government, this was the first public meeting of BJP after states bifurcation.

He asked BJP workers to take the party to every village and booth in the state and strengthen the organisation. Those who say that BJP is a party of the north should know that the party unit in Andhra Pradesh is the strongest in the country, he said.

He claimed that the BJP which started with 11 only members, is today the largest party in the world with 11 crore strong membership.

The BJP chief said that though there are NDA governments at both the centre and in the state, their political rivals are making a false propaganda that the BJP-led government at the Centre is not extending necessary support to Andhra Pradesh.

During the last one-and-half years, Modi government has given schemes worth Rs.1.40 lakh crore to Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Stating that Polavaram project is the lifeline of the state, the BJP leader said it was Modi government which is making it a reality by merging seven mandals (of Telangana) with Andhra Pradesh.

He said the state was selected under the project to ensure 247 electricity in every village. Listing out the initiatives, he said national highway works worth Rs. 65,000 crore were sanctioned for the state.

Shah said Kakinada and Visakhapatnam were selected under smart cities project while the central government also released Rs.1,500 crore as initial assistance for development of new state capital Amaravati.

He said an industrial park at a cost of Rs.22,000 crore will come up in the state. HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam will be built at a cost of Rs.25,000.

He said it would take seven days for him to read the entire list of works sanctioned for the state during last one-and-half years.

Shah challenged Congress party to explain to people what it did for Andhra Pradesh during last 60 years. He alleged that the Congress insulted the state and this forced N. T. Rama Rao to launch the TDP for self-respect of Telugus.

Interestingly, NTRs daughter and former central minister D. Purandareswari was translating Shahs speech in Telugu.

She quit Congress party to join BJP on the eve of 2014 elections.
Help India!

By TCN Staff Reporter

Kozhikode: Kerala High Court Justice B Kemal Pasha on Sunday lashed out against Muslim Personal Law, saying their laws were discriminatory. The judge said that the Muslim Personal law was extending a raw deal towards women while inaugurating the discussion on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, organised by Punarjani Charitable Trust, a collective of women lawyers. As per the laws, the men can marry four times and easily divorce the wives through extra-judicial divorce. But the same law is not applicable to the women, Kemal Pasha said.

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Under the law, women are facing discrimination in divorce, marriage and succession laws. The women are denied even the privileges ensured by the Quran. While it comes to the inheritance law, the women are subjected to discriminations, he added.

The laxity of the clerics and the functionaries of mosque committees in addressing the woes of Muslim also came under heavy criticism.

The leaders and the clerics should try to implement the orders of Quran rightly. The leaders and clerics speak against the dowry. But, they dont dare to ban it. The women could be ensured the protection of law if changes are introduced in the Domestic Violence Act he said.

The scenario could be changed if the women are empowered. Cases, where men marry one more time, are low in southern Kerala. Muslim women there are more empowered compared to northern Kerala, he added.
Help India!

By Shafeeq Hudawi

Kozhikode: While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its associate organisations have been vociferously protesting against the crackdown in JNU and HCU, its party members in Kerala seem to have little respect for voices that oppose their stance.

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Chitralekha, a Dalit auto rickshaw driver who had been protesting against the atrocities of fellow drivers and attack by local CPI (M) workers, was allegedly attacked by party workers on the early hours of Friday morning.

The attack came days after Chitralekha had called off her agitation in front of the Secretariat following Chief Minister Oommen Chandys assurance that steps would be taken to address her woes. Chitralekha was holding a dharna; in front of the state secretariat seeking land to live and protection from the miscreants.

The 39-year-old lady told Twocirles.net that she saw CPI (M) worker Abhilash damaging her auto rickshaw but he ran away by the time she came of the house at Edat in Payyannur.

I saw Abhilash and two others when I looked through window, she alleged. Chitralekha became the target of local CPI (M) leadership as she married a man belonging to Thiyya caste, which claims the higher ranking in the Hindu caste system. Ever since I began to work as an auto rickshaw driver to earn my food in 2004, I have been facing threats from the CPI (M) activists. When I arrived in an auto rickshaw-stand affiliated to the CITU (the CPI (M) affiliated trade union), I was welcomed by caste slurs.

They asked me what the hell is a Pulaya lady is doing with our auto rickshaw stand?

Pulaya caste members were the slaves of feudal landlords in Malabar.

The auto rickshaw, according to Chitralekha, needed repair of Rs. 20,000 as its seat and cover were completely torn.

Payyannur police confirmed that Chithralekha had filed a complaint, saying her vehicle had been damaged. The roof and seat of the vehicle had been damaged with blade, the police said.

After staging protests in front of the Kannur collectorate and the state secretariat for the last few years, the government recently allocated her five cent land at Kattambally in order to relocate her from Edat owing to repeated attacks. The land was given following 122 days dharna in front of Kannur collectorate and 20 days protest in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. On March 4, she was visiting her house at Edat to collect documents for one of the several cases in court, which had been filed during these years due to the harassment.

They were not able accept a woman auto driver, who is a Dalit woman, was doing the same job they do. Since then, they have been torturing me. In December, 2005 they burned my auto rickshaw. Still, they are taking up efforts to lower my morale by describing me as a woman, who drinks and doesnt know how to behave, she added.

However, the latest attack is unlikely to dent her confidence: I am not ready to bow my head and continue to fight back, she said.

Meanwhile, the continuing assault on the Dalit lady has drawn the ire of the activists and Dalit organisations in Kerala.

Chithralekhas case has brought the attitude of CPI (M), which claims to be the protectors of Dalits, to the light. The attacks could be easily brought to an end if the party leaders interfere in the issue. But, despite repeated pleas and protests the party leadership is turning a blind eye towards her woes, said Dalit activist AS Ajith Kumar.

However, Chithralekha is pinning hope on the district administration as she has given a detailed complaint to the district collector P Balakiran seeking steps to end the assault on her.
Help India!

In the second of the three-part series on Malegaon,we look at how the lives of Muslim youths were systematically destroyed after the September 2006 blasts: first, they were wrongly accused of orchestrating the blasts and second, even after they were granted bail, the terror label refuses to leave them in peace.

By Special Correspondent, TwoCircles.net,

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Malegaon (Maharashtra): The Malegaon blasts did not just end lives of innocents; it had an equally disastrous impact on the people who survived it. Seven youth from the textile town of Maharashtra, who were accused of causing the blasts which left 37 dead and 125 injured, were released on bail four years ago. However, as they have found out, if it was difficult to shed the terror tag, it is equally difficult to start a new life after release from jail too.





Salman Farsi



The reactions to the September 2006 blasts, at least from the government, were predictable: Islamic extremists were accused of the blasts, and two months later, nine Muslim youths were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS for their alleged role in the blasts; seven out of these were from Malegaon. On December 21, 2006, ATS filed a charge sheet in the special MCOCA court against the nine accused and showed four others as wanted.

The nine people arrestedNoorul Huda Samsudoha, Shabbir Ahmed Masiullah, Raees Ahmed Rajab Ali Mansuri, Salman Farsi Abdul Latif Aimi, Farogh Iqbal Ahmed Magdumi, Mohammad Zahid Abdul Majid Ansari, Abrar Ahmed Gulam Ahmed, Mohammad Ali Alam Sheikh and Asif Khan Bashir Khanwere about to find how difficult it is to shed the terror tag, even if there is little to prove their guilt.

In 2010, Swami Aseemanand, an alleged Hindu extremist, confessed in the Mecca Masjid blast case that 2006 bomb blasts at Malegaon were the handiwork of Hindu radicals. His confessions lead to the arrest of four Hindu radicals by the National Investigation Agency. Subsequently, in November 2011 these nine Muslim youths were granted bail as NIA did not object to it.





Noorul Huda



Apart from Mohammad Ali Alam Sheikh and Asif Khan Bashir Khan, who were also accused in 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, the other seven were released from prison at the end of 2011.

But bail was not a cause of celebration. Even now, these accused have to appear on court hearing dates and their discharge application is pending before court since 2012.

New lives, but the terror tag remains

The lives of all the seven took a different course after their release. Salman Farsi, one of the accused is currently working as a Unani doctor with Bharat Vikas Group (BVG) as an emergency medical service officer for the Maharashtra Emergency Medical Services in Nampur, 30 km from Malegaon.

As a part of his duty he stablises people facing medical emergencies and then drives them to the nearest hospital.

After coming out on bail, he first tried starting a business but could not succeed and hence joined BVG. Now, he spends six days of the week away from family at Nampur and spends Sunday with his family in Malegaon.

Life after bail has been a struggle. I have family responsibilities owing which I am working with BVG. Some people still prefer to stay away from me due to the false allegations against me, Farsi says in a sorrowful voice.





Raees Ahmed



Farsi is the only accused who has not filed discharge application before trial court: instead, he filed an application to scrap all charges before Bombay High court. He has not engaged any lawyer to argue this application and hence it is pending there.

Another person, Raees Ahmed, makes a living by selling imitation jewellery and other ladies items at his rented shop near the busy Anjuman Chowk market of the town. At the time of his arrest, Raees used to sell batteries along with his brother in law Shabbir Masiullah at a rented shop inMalegaon. Masiullah was also made accused in the same case by ATS.

Raees, a soft-spoken man, says, After coming out on bail, I had no guts to continue the same business because ATS made the same as a ground to implicate me in the case.

At the back of our shop, ATS officers mixed some powder with the soil and claimed that explosives used in the blasts were stored there. We had never ever thought that blasts that took away so many lives of our own townsmen would be blamed on us, dejected Raees says with an unexciting tone.

The subsequent period spent in jail has impacted Raees in a substantial manner. After coming out on bail in 2011, Raees decided to live a reserved life. Reason? I try not to recall jail days, but unfortunately when I meet people, they curiously ask about false allegations and what I used to do in prison.

The accusations also impacted Raees future plans. I can do much better in business but I have decided not to stretch myself further for earning till I am fully discharged from the case, Raees says, sitting at the counter of his shop.

Shabbir Masiullah died in an accident on March 2, 2015 when he was constructing a house and a compound wall collapsed on him and his son after a JCB machine mistakenly hit that wall. He is survived by wife and three children.

Equally disturbing is the fact that some of the accused faced discrimination from their own community. Muhammad Zahid was imam at a mosque in Phoolsavangi village of Yavatmal district from where he was picked up by ATS in November 2008. After bail he again worked as an Imam at a mosque in Malegaon. However, the mosque committee did not allow him to continue after couple of months due to unwarranted limelight the mosque had earned due to Zahid.

An Imam who is not in a mosque has little else to do: no wonder, then, that Zahid is now left with selling fodder in the morning and firewood in the evening to earn livelihood. He got married months before arrest and his wife had a miscarriage when he was in jail. Now he has a three-year-old son.

Nobody wants to employ me in the mosque due to allegations against me. I have no money to start a business. Life is very difficult for me but I am doing whatever little I can, Zahid says.

Like the other accused, Zahid also has to go to Mumbai court for hearing, which is scheduled every 15 days. Whenever he is short on money, he does not go to court and hands over exemption application to co accused who then file it before court on his behalf or give it to their lawyer.

To mark presence in court at Mumbai (for hearing) cost Rs. 400 therefore I skip dates and ask my co accuse and lawyer to file exemption, Zahid explains his arrangements during hearing dates.

Zahid was arrested in the case four months after his younger brother Muhammad Javed was arrested by ATS in Aurangabad Arms haul case in 2006. Javed was released on bail in 2014 after spending 8 years in jail.

Farogh Magdumi, another accused, is also Unani doctor who runs a four-room clinic and spends most of his time at the clinic. Besides Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind functionaries, he does not meet others except the people that visit his clinic. He has two children  daughter and son.

Noor ul huda Shamsudoha had been married for four months married when he was arrested by ATS. He is the nephew of Salman Farsi. After coming out on bail he is running power loom which is the traditional occupation of the town: in Maleagon, every 10th house has a power loom.

It was not easy to start life afresh after spending five years in prison. A year passed by in answering peoples various queries and then I started power loom where I work hard to earn as much as I can to support my family, Shamsudoha narrates.

He does not miss hearing dates and says, I never file exemption even though attending court date is a double loss for me in respect of money because I have to shut power loom on that day. I do not miss because I fear if any contrast order is passed by court that may bring nightmare days back again.

Two other accused, Asif Khan Bashir Khan and Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, are still in jail in connection with 7/11 Mumbai train bombings. Asif Khan has been sentenced to death while Muhammad Ali was sentenced to life imprisonment by special MCOC court on September 30, 2015.

Advocate Irfana Samdani, a senior lawyer from the town, stood all along with these accused till they were released on bail in 2011. Samdani continues to monitor progress in the case and often these accused meet her to enquire on the case proceedings. We helped them get bail and filed their discharge application which is pending before court. Samadani, who is sympathetic to the condition of these youth, adds, I feel sad that I cannot help them in regards with employment and other issues that they are facing.

Related: Part One:

Malegaon blasts victims and families seek justice, not compensation
The Online Railbird Report: Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky Big Winner After Banking $255K

March 07 2016 Chad Holloway

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 far and away online poker's biggest winner of the week with $255,433 in profit.
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China targets pornography on cloud storage Updated: 2016-03-06 15:40 (Xinhua)

A staffer of an Internet company identifies porn photos on a social networking website. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING -- The government will launch a campaign to address the emerging practice of sharing and hosting pornography via cloud storage services.

According to the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, website administrators, police, as well as industrial and publication authorities will tighten supervision of cloud storage enterprises, and hold them accountable for the security of their services.

The office released details on six cases that involved individuals profiting from the sale of account names and passwords to cloud storage hosting pornography.

In one case, a court in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, sentenced Liu Hangjie to three years plus six months in prison for selling access to pornography hosted on a cloud storage site.

Liu was selling individual accounts that had access to over 10,000 pornographic video clips for 50 yuan ($7.68).

Cloud storage services used by criminals include those run by Internet security firm, Qihoo 360, and online video website LeTV.
Chinese central government to continue financial support for Tibet Updated: 2016-03-07 20:06 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - China will continue to roll out preferential financial policies to boost economic and social development in Tibet over the next five years, according to financial authorities on Monday.

Monetary and credit policy support will be fine tuned during the 2016-2020 period, according to a circular issued by the central bank and regulators of China's banking, securities and insurance sectors.

Financial institutions will be encouraged to open branches in Tibet and more direct financing and financial bonds are expected to help enterprises in Tibet, especially small and micro businesses, according to the circular.

More financial support for infrastructure, agriculture and environment protection is promised, as well as policies to improve farmers' incomes, according to the circular.
Mainland shows determination, goodwill in cross-Straits relations Updated: 2016-03-08 03:10 (Xinhua)

TAIPEI -- A clear message was sent out from the top legislature's annual session that the Chinese mainland has strong determination and sufficient goodwill in the development of relations across the Taiwan Straits.

A report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang Saturday said the mainland will continue to adhere to the 1992 Consensus as the political foundation for cross-Straits ties and will promote exchanges in diverse fields with Taiwan compatriots.

Later that day, President Xi Jinping expounded on the mainland's firm stance when joining a group of lawmakers from Shanghai.

STEADFAST DETERMINATION

"Only by accepting the 1992 Consensus and recognizing its core implications can the two sides have a common political foundation and maintain good interaction," Xi said.

The 1992 Consensus clearly defines the nature of cross-Straits ties, and is the basis for the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties in the long run.

Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who won Taiwan's leadership election in January, remains ambiguous about her stance on the 1992 Consensus, just stating that she wishes to "maintain the status quo."

Chang Wu-yueh, head of the graduate institute of China studies at Taiwan's Tamkang University, said that Xi's words reiterated the significance of the 1992 Consensus in the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations

"Without this foundation, it will be extremely hard to maintain the status quo. Meanwhile, the mainland has steadfast determination to address the issue of 'Taiwan independence'," Chang said.

In his speech, Xi vowed to resolutely contain "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities in any form, safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again.

"Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation," Xi told legislators.

Teng Che-wei, head of the Taipei-based non-governmental organization Cross-Straits Public Affairs Association, said that neither side of Taiwan Straits should sabotage the common foundation, or else exchanges across the Straits will suffer.

"Tsai has been emphasizing the status quo, but status quo cannot be grown in the air. There must be concrete measures to maintain it," Teng said.
China going green at rapid, near-record rate Updated: 2016-03-07 11:08 By Hua Shengdun in Washington(China Daily USA)

China is making great strides in its green-energy efforts, according to an environmental expert.

"China broke records last year in the installation of wind and solar power," said Manish Bapna, executive vice-president of the World Resources Institute. "Clean energy investment was over $110 billion, twice what the US invested."

The investments are part of China's commitment to phase out the use of coal for energy. Bapna spoke at a press teleconference about China's 13th Five-Year Plan and how it will affect climate and energy at the World Resources Institute in Washington on March 4.

"China has committed to a new kind of economic development. It sees a move from real dependence on heavy industry toward service and innovation, and particularly a more consumption-based economy," said Kate Gordon, vice-chairwoman of climate and sustainable urbanization at the Paulson Institute.

"China has already been taking a slew of actions to cut its use of coal, which is responsible for about 80 percent of its CO2 emissions and about 50 to 60 percent of its most damaging form (of air pollution), PM (particulate matter) 2.5," said Barbara Finamore, Asia director at the National Resources Defense Council.

Individual cities and provinces have decided to impose their own limits on carbon emissions.

"There are 20 provinces and 30 cities that have already set some sort of coal-cap targets," Finamore said. "And for some, that means an absolute cap on coal consumption; for some this means no more increase, and for many, they set coal-consumption-reduction targets."

Despite good news on the environmental front, China's economic focus on creating a "green manufacturing strategy" and shift from growth driven by investment and exports to one driven by consumption has come with a price: job loss.

According to preliminary forecasts, a total of 1.8 million workers will be laid off in the coal and steel sectors. The central government will allocate 100 billion yuan ($15.4 billion) over two years to help the laid-off workers find new jobs, according to media reports.

China's draft 13th Five-Year Plan will be reviewed at the annual session of the national legislature, which opened on March 5. Experts are optimistic that China will continue to improve its environmental protection efforts through the legislative process.

"Expectations are fairly high about what might be contained not only in the 13th Five-Year Plan, but perhaps as importantly, the following sectorial plans," Bapna said.

"And I think we're quite keen to see whether this shift that we have started to see over the past several years takes on a more accelerated step change in the coming five years."

Allan Fong in Washington contributed to this story.
Peruvian business leaders see trade with China growing Updated: 2016-03-07 04:50 By MAO PENGFEI in Mexico City(China Daily Latin America)

Trade between Peru and China has grown fourfold since diplomatic relations were established in 1971, and Peruvian business leaders say they are confident it will keep growing.

Trade was spurred by the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) signed in 2009 and the strengthening of ties with a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2013. Two-way trade is expected to total more than $16 billion for 2015.

China has overtaken the United States to become the South American country's largest trading partner, and while it is the leading buyer of Peruvian commodities, such as copper, iron and fishmeal, it is also purchasing nontraditional exports, especially agro-industrial products.

China is a new topic for us, said Julio Varilias, CEO of the Gandules Agro-Export Corporation. Since the signing and ratification of the FTA, China has become an important market for Peruvian exports, because of its size and large number of consumers. And Chinas domestic policies are changing.

Gandules, named after a type of pea, is recognized as a leader by the most important agro-industrial companies in Peru and supplies more than 40 countries. The privately owned company has been in the agribusiness for many years, and has an extensive production chain, including green pigeon peas, jalapenos, peppers, chilies, asparagus, sweet corn, beets, pineapples and table grapes.

How did the company gain access to the Chinese market?

We have been attending various trade shows in China, with the intention of seeking out a market, said Varilias. China is a very competitive country, producing and processing many foods, so to enter the Chinese market, you have to be very competitive.

The company is still expanding its market there, especially for fruits and peppers (brown pepper and chili), and Varilias recommends that Latin American countries really look to the Asian-Pacific nations, with China being a priority destination, for their exports.

Now we only export processed peppers and table grapes. But the national food industry is inspired to (export) other types of fruit, such as mangoes, citrus, avocado and asparagus, said Varilias. Everyone can succeed. Peruvian products are renowned for their high quality and taste, so I think thats something Peru has to exploit a lot.

Were there difficulties in accessing the Chinese market?

I think the requirements are quite similar in all countries ... food is very sensitive, very delicate; each country looks after its citizens and is therefore very demanding, Varilias said.

Perus National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa) obtained phytosanitary permits from Chinas General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) through direct discussions for shipments of food.

Interest in buying Perus agricultural and seafood products is evident from Chinese delegations that regularly attend Perus food-trade show Expoalimentaria, organized annually by the Association of Exporters (Adex).

But Varilias said there is a financial problem. There is no Chinese commercial bank in Peru to facilitate trade, so you have to go through foreign bank intermediaries that have direct transactions with China, Varilias said. The subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Lima is doing notable work, but it still hasnt gotten the approval of the National Superintendency of Banking and Insurance (SBS) to operate as a commercial bank.

Perus imports from China are increasing annually, as demonstrated in store windows featuring everything from computers and communications technology to textiles and clothing, televisions, footwear, motor vehicles and many other items.

Executive Director Oscar Zevallos of Grupo Deltron, the countrys largest importers of Chinese goods, said: Our relationship with China dates back several years (and) we have a 25-year history in the national market.

Initially, we imported (electronic) components from the US, but as import volume grew, we began a direct relationship with China. We have direct Chinese suppliers, like Lenovo, said Zevallos.

Deltron imports laptops, tablets, accessories, motherboards, smartphones and other components from China. The company has its own brand, Advance, which is made in China with special requirements, and receives an average of 10 shipping containers weekly.

Zevallos said business diversified last year. We are bringing drones, smart-watches and scooters from China, and we are increasing other product lines, electronic toys, Zevallos said.

China is the main source of world production for goods, including high-tech products, he said. And thanks to fluid bilateral trade, underpinned by the FTA and the strategic partnership, tariffs are gradually coming down. In addition, items his company handles are exempt from tariffs, and as shipping volumes increase, freight rates decrease, it has become easier to send and receive goods.

Take the Lenovo brand, for example. We placed about 5,000 computers a month in the Peruvian market last year, said Zevallos.

The company has an office in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Shenzhen, in South Chinas Guangdong province, which makes it much easier to do business without intermediaries.

Deltron, he said, recently had about 400,000 500-page coloring books printed in China, as requested by the Ministry of Education for an online course in English taught at public schools. The company used Chinese publisher Best & Well, which completed the task in 45 days, explained Zevallos. It showed the publishers ability to stick to a schedule and provide high print quality at a favorable price.

Trade with China presents no problems, he said, because it is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Chinas efforts to expand its free trade have generated new opportunities.

Varilias and Zevallos agree that, with China being a strategic partner for Peru and Latin America in general, the region should make the most of Chinese technology to promote innovation and productivity, boost trade and investment to strengthen competitiveness, and join regional chains by partnering with China in projects and joint ventures.
China's top 10 tech startups

Updated: 2016-03-03 07:02

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Beijing boasts the world's second-largest number of most valuable tech startups, according to the Zhongguancun Unicorn List released on Monday by the Great Wall Enterprise Institute, a research house in the capital.

The number of so-called unicorn companiestech startups valued at more than $1 billion eachhas reached 40, second to Silicon Valley in the United States.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi, valued at $46 billion, ranks first, followed by group-buying player Meituan-Dianping ($18 billion), and China's largest ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi ($16.5 billion).

No 10 iQIYI (value: $2.5 billion)
Britain not to join EU common asylum process: Cameron Updated: 2016-03-07 23:57 (Xinhua)

BRUSSELS -- Britain would not join the European Union (EU) common asylum process, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday before an EU-Turkey summit which aimed to stem the missive migrant influx.

"We have an absolutely rock solid opt-out from these things, so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe," Cameron told reporters on his arrival for the summit.

"We will have our own approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our own borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status we have," he told reporters.

"It is important that we help the continent of Europe to secure its external border ... that is why we are sending British ship just to do just that," he added.

Meanwhile, in a statement published ahead of the summit, Cameron called "the migrant crisis the greatest challenge facing Europe today" and elaborated Britain's position on this issue.

"Britain has not faced anywhere near the scale of migrants coming to Europe as other countries because we are out of Schengen and retain control of our borders," the statement said.

"But where we can help, we should. And we've got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey," it said.

Britain was not included in the EU's passport-free Schengen zone, although it signed up to Europe's Dublin regulation which demands member states to take responsibility for refugees who arrive in their country first.

Europe's Schengen policy was at risk as several European countries have imposed border controls to stem the massive migrant flows.

European leaders were gathering here to seek solutions to better safeguard its passport-free policy and the EU's executive body the European commission was set to outline plans in the coming days to overhaul EU asylum policy, which Britain could choose whether to join or not.

Before the summit, London announced that its naval ship Mounts Bay would support the international response to the migrant crisis in the Aegean Sea.
Liang case stirring Chinese generosity Updated: 2016-03-07 11:08 By Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA)

Eddie Chiu, director of Lin Sing Association, flipped through notepads filled with names and donation amounts from the New York Chinese community in support of Peter Liang's legal fees for his appeal of his manslaughter conviction. Hezi Jiang / China Daily

Eddie Chiu has never seen so much of anger in the Chinese community, and at the same time, so much hope.

"Their inhibited feelings finally came to the surface," said Chiu, 68, director of the 116-year-old Lin Sing Association, a fraternal club in Chinatown where local residents come in to read newspapers and chat or to seek Chiu's help on translation and legal questions.

The past three weeks at the club were lively and emotional. People came in with money - as little as $5 to a check of $10,000 - for Peter Liang, a former New York City police officer who was convicted of manslaughter on Feb 11. They are looking to hire a new lawyer for Liang in an effort to win an appeal.

By the evening of March 3, the association had received more than $350,000, Chiu said. More than $100,000 of that sum is in cash, mostly in denominations of $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills.

Chiu said many Chinese senior citizens walked up the stairs to the club with assistance from home attendants, and handed him a rolled up $5 or $10 bill. "It's not the amount that matters the most. It's their hearts.

"Many of them don't even know the English alphabet," he said. "But they want a better future for their children and grandchildren. They want Peter Liang to win an appeal."

Chiu flipped through five large Staples notepads, and every page was full of names and the donation amounts. There have been around 2,000 donations made by individuals and businesses, he said.

According to the notepad, a 10-year-old and a 6-year old each brought in a $5 red envelope that they received on Chinese New Year, symbolizing good luck.

Chinese residents at an East Village senior center produced a $3,000 donation. "Many of them are all living off Social Security benefits," Chiu explained.

A Chinatown association that unites people with the family name Liang also raised more than $3,000. Local restaurants, pharmacies, laundries and barbershops pitched in to help.

Workers at the Trump Soho hotel together donated $600.

"I've been here for 40 years, and I have seen too much unfairness," Chiu said. "Whenever there is a car accident between a Chinese driver and an American driver, it's always the Chinese's fault. They don't speak much English, and they couldn't fight for themselves.

"A Chinese deliveryman was recently beaten by a black customer at his job, but he didn't want to make it a case because he's afraid other misfortune would happen to him," Chiu said.

"We are too angry. We have borne too much," he said. "We stood up."

On Feb 20, tens of thousands of members of the Chinese community held rallies in more than 40 cities across the US to protest the manslaughter verdict against Liang, a rookie NYPD officer, in the shooting death of a black man in November 2014.

Liang, now 28, discharged his gun in a darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, and the ricocheted bullet fatally struck Akai Gurley on a lower floor.

Liang was the first NYPD officer to be convicted of killing a civilian since 2005, and many in the Chinese community believe Liang is a scapegoat.

The Lin Sing Association is one of many organizations that have raised money for Liang.

John Chan, chairman of Brooklyn Asian Communities Empowerment, announced on March 4 that he also has raised more than $300,000 on behalf of Liang.

A legal defense fund was also established in New York for Liang.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
In 1915, Gu Hongming (Ku Hung-Ming) - a Chinese man born in Penang, educated in the UK, who rose to prominence serving an imperial government official in the waning years of Qing Dynasty China - published a book, The Spirit of the Chinese People, that was aimed to convince Europeans and Americans of the modern significance and utility of ancient Chinese culture, especially Confucianism. It was one of several books he wrote, the one, now, a hundred years later, that might be most widely cited still. In his own time he was something of a cross-cultural phenomenon. An anti-modernist, he defended the value of traditional Chinese ideas and practices while energetically engaging with intellectuals in the West on questions of how best to define and defend universal "civilization." He believed that Westerners could not only understand Confucianism, but they could absorb it into their own lives in a transcendent global-cultural unity. His idealism would be swept aside by the brutalities of the twentieth century, but it is instructive to look back on his book from the vantage of a hundred years.

Before we start, I should simply state that we will ignore here the rhetorical conventions of Gu's day that are so out of place in our time. His championing of the "real Chinaman" and his sweeping generalizations about the national character of England and Germany and France are rather off-putting today. He gets caught up, at times, in using the devices of Western Orientalism to refute the excesses of Western Orientalism. But we will set all that aside and assume the best about Gu: he was working to bring Chinese and Western ways of thinking into dialogue with each other, searching for points of contact and profitable intellectual exchange.

The first thing to notice about Gu is perhaps the most obvious: he not only believed in the intelligibility of cross-cultural understanding, he lived it. Although his cosmopolitan background - he was an early "third culture kid" - might have been unusual in his day, he demonstrates a fundamental human capacity to find meaning in more that one cultural context. In that regard, he stands as a tangible contradiction of various assertions that different cultures are incommensurable. Some might argue that certain ideas embedded in one culture -- say, ren  -- are simply untranslatable into, for instance, English. While a one-for-one word correspondence may indeed be problematic, Gu rejects non-translatability in The Spirit of the Chinese People and forges ahead:



Love includes all true human affection, the feeling of affection between parents and children as well as the emotion of love and kindness, pity, compassion, mercy toward all creatures; in fact, all true human emotions contained in that Chinese word, jen () for which the nearest equivalent in the European languages is, in the old dialect of Christianity, godliness, because it is the most godlike quality in man, and in modern dialect, humanity, love of humanity, or, in one word, love. (53)

We could take Gu to task for foregrounding "love" as a translation of ren, and "godliness" opens up all sorts of problems, but notice how these are only facets of a fuller exposition. If we focus in on something like "the humanity found in the bond between parents and children" we would be closer to the core (dare I say "heart") of ren. And that is the point. We should not expect word-for-word translatability. But if we enter into a serious conversation, if we seek out a variety of sources and perspectives, construct a semantic field of several terms and phrases, then we can come away with a good understanding of what ren means and entails, even if some of the isolated, specific concepts used in a larger discussion would not, in and of themselves, serve as adequate translations.



Another kind of incommensurability might come when we try to accommodate the claims of one culturally-embedded system of thought (let's call it a "philosophy") to the concerns and understandings of another differently culturally-embedded philosophy. That is to say, while a philosophy might be comprehensible to people from other cultural contexts, its claims cannot be adapted and used or enacted in that other cultural context. Notice how Alasdair MacIntyre states the problem thusly:

...Confucianism appears to face a recurrent type of dilemma: either it retains its highly specific and concrete character, thus tying itself to particular Chinese forms of social relationships of a traditional kind and, while not necessarily exempting the concrete embodiment of these forms altogether from moral criticism, rendering its moral standpoint inseparable from loyalty to these now often radically changing forms, or it makes itself relevant to types of social order in which these forms of social relationships do not or no longer exist, but in so doing it empties itself of specific moral content and so diminishes its doctrine of the virtues by specifying them only in barren generalities. (120)



He says a lot with that "barren generalities." And he is saying here, essentially, that Confucianism, as a philosophy that arose and was given meaning within a Chinese cultural context, cannot really be invoked or employed to address issues in a modern American cultural context. If a person tried to be an "American Confucian" she would have to either construct a social setting that somehow replicated "Chinese forms of social relationships of a traditional kind" or settle for a rather un-Confucian-like set of "barren generalities". An American and a Confucian might be able to understand and talk to one another, by MacIntyre's lights, but neither could take on an authentic form of the other's culture. A modern American could not really be Confucian or follow, as a way of life, Confucianism.

Let's put aside the question of authenticity (since it is bound up with the larger question of whether it is possible for any ancient philosophy to be authentically lived in a modern context) and consider whether differently situated philosophies are as incommensurable as MacIntyre believes.

Gu thinks not. He clearly believes that Confucianism can be useful to Westerners facing the depredations of modernity. Although his choice of words is unfortunate at times, what he seems to be arguing is that Confucianism is a kind of civil religion. If we substitute "civil" for "state" in the following passage, we can see him begin to make Confucianism relevant to Europeans and Americans:



Again, the term chun tzu chih tao ( ) in the teachings of Confucius, translated by Dr. Legge as "the way of the superior man," for which the nearest equivalent in the European languages is moral law - means literally, the way - the Law of the Gentleman. In fact, the whole system of philosophy and morality taught by Confucius may be summed up in one word: the Law of the Gentleman. Now Confucius codified this law of the gentleman and made it a Religion - a State religion. (29)

Gu elaborates this notion of a civil religion, especially as it resides in and regulates and gives life to the family. He is a fierce traditionalist and insists that Confucian civil religion requires absolute loyalty to the emperor. We could, however, argue that, now, given the irreversible demise of imperial authority in China and most parts of the world, the civil religion that emerges from Confucianism can thrive in a more populist political context. Indeed, in the Introduction to The Spirit of the Chinese People, Gu suggests just such a possibility when he refers to the Chinese "religion of good citizenship". (III). And in that same Introduction he makes this argument:



In fact I really believe that the people of Europe will find the solution to the great problem of civilization after this war, - here in China. There is, I say here again, an invaluable, but hitherto unsuspected asset of civilization here in China, and the asset of civilization is the real Chinaman. The real Chinaman is an asset of civilization because he has the secret of a new civilization which the people of Europe will want after this great war, and the secret of that new civilization is what I have called the Religion of good citizenship. (X)

Confucianism, as the "religion of good citizenship," holds the solution to war torn Europe, a sentiment that Eza Pound seemed also to have believed (he published Cathay poems in 1915, too). The "real Chinaman" is one who practices Confucianism and is, in Gu's mind, the avatar of a "new civilization," one that advances a universal humanity and draws from "the best which has been thought and said" (Matthew Arnold was a favorite of Gu's) from all the world's cultures. Again, there is an obvious idealism in all of this, but one that rejects various assertions of incommensurability and spiritedly advances a global Confucian project.



For the most part, however, Gu failed in his intellectual efforts. The traditional imperial system he defended was not revived in China. Confucianism did not catch on in the West. The horrors of WWI did not produce a great reconciliation of civilizations, but only paved the way for the worse horrors of WWII.



Interestingly, however, Gu seems to have anticipated the work of Robert Bellah, who is generally credited with coining the term "civil religion" in relation to America. And now, a new book has been published that considers how that notion of "civil religion" might apply to Confucianism in China today: Confucianism, A Habit of the Heart: Bellah, Civil Religion, and East Asia. There is much to contemplate in this volume, more than we can consider here. But we should note Bellah's embrace of a kind of universal humanity not unlike Gu's. In the last chapter of the new volume, which might be the last of Bellah's work to be published, he resists cultural particularism, which holds that humans can find meaning only in specific cultural contexts and that universal humanity is, as MacIntyre would have it, barren:



What I would question.... is the idea that the global and the particular are mutually exclusive, that one lives in one and only one community, which, were it true, would surely make the idea of membership in "a single universal tribe" impossible. I would argue, on the contrary, that humans have almost never lived in one and only one community, that we almost always, and in modern times necessarily always, live in many overlapping communities...(208)

Gu is a living example of Bellah's point: a man who lived in more than one community simultaneously. And, if Bellah is right, Gu is not all that extraordinary in this regard. We all live in multiple communities, and we can find meaning in various cultural flows. We may have to work at it, study language and philosophy and history and literature, but we can, as humans, come to know the cultures of others and, more significantly, bring those cultures into our lives as communities of which we are a part. We can not only learn them, we can live them. Notice, too, that, while he does not invoke Bellah's notion of "civil religion" Henry Rosemont Jr., in his most recent book, Against Individualism: A Confucian Rethinking of the Foundations of Morality, Politics, Family, and Religion, also sees a religious-like project in Confucianism that can be adopted by contemporary Americans.



He may have gotten some things wrong - the absolute loyalty to the emperor thing, for instance - but Gu was clearly on to something.






Jonah Falcon is something of a celebrity in his home city of New York for one very big reason: he is the owner of the world's la...
I'm at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center today for the inaugural gathering of participants in a new program called the New Paradigm Spiritual Community Initiative.

This is an invitation-only gathering for about fifty people working in a variety of different arenas, all of which could be described as "spiritual communities" in one way or another. Some of us serve congregations; others serve in other capacities. (And some, like me, do both. I'm there both as a pulpit rabbi and as co-chair of ALEPH.)

The NPSCI is intended to be a five-year project, and this initial "consultation" will help to set its direction.

Yesterday we began with some getting-to-know-each-other work. Each person took one minute to introduce ourselves to the room and say something about who we are, what we do, why we're here, what we're hoping for, etc. (And wow, this is quite a group!)

Then last night Rabbi Sid Schwarz (author of Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Community) offered some framing remarks. Here are a few glimpses of what he said:

NPSCI aspires to support the development of spiritual communities that: a) are rooted in the wisdom and practice of Judaism, b) help people realize their full human potential; and c) inspire people to work for a more just and peaceful world... When we are able to give people a sense of their purpose in the world, it is an experience of kedusha, holiness. Religions, at their best aspire to do both tzedek (justice) and kedusha (holiness), and often they fall short. They lose focus and perspective both on the means and the ends. But one of the things we in this room have in common is, we believe that Judaism has some chochmah, some wisdom, that can help create vibrant spiritual communities...

He talked about the need for innovation and R&D in Jewish life (a subject near and dear to our hearts in ALEPH!), the need to support and train those working within existing institutions on transformation from within, and the need to help people see that the paradigms in which we live are changing and that we need to shift our institutions to meet those changing paradigms. He asked:

Can we identify common elements that constitute a new paradigm for spiritual communities in America, and if so, what are the elements? What are the conditions for success? What best supports adaptation and innovation?

The question "what are the preconditions for spiritual innovation" is one of the core questions we're bringing to the ALEPH / Jewish Renewal Listening Tour. Any time our core questions appear in other contexts, I feel affirmed in the fact that we're asking the right questions -- and glad to be able to wrestle with these big questions in the company of others for whom they are also meaningful. Another place of overlap between R' Sid's remarks and our conversations at ALEPH was this question he asked:

What would it be like if it were presumed that a Jewish spiritual community is one which both does the healing work people need in order to become whole, and one which raises people's sights about how to contribute to healing our broken world?

Today we're exploring different themes (wisdom, justice, covenental community, sacred purpose, arts), hearing from researchers from Harvard Divinity School who are working in this arena, and breaking into affinity groups (I'll be connecting with creative and innovative pulpit rabbis.)

The NPSCI is sponsored by Clal and spearheaded by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. Its other organizational co-sponsors are Hazon, Bend the Arc, Mechon Hadar, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. I'm not sure yet what exactly I'll be taking away from this gathering, but I can already tell that these are going to be thoughtful, interesting, meaningful conversations about the future of spiritual community. I'm glad to be here.
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On the March 2016 effective date, all Siluriformes fish, including catfish, will be under the regulatory jurisdiction of FSIS and no longer regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Photo vneconomy

HA NOI (VNS)  The United States (US) has released a list of eligible catfish exporters of four countries, including Viet Nam, who could ship their products to that country.

These products would be shipped under the inspection programme of the US for Siluriformes fish, including catfish.

They are 23 plants in Viet Nam 19 plants in China, 13 plants in Myanmar and 7 in Thailand, according to the fisis.usda.gov website.

The March 2016 effective date of the rule under the inspection programme for Siluriformes fish begins an 18-month transitional implementation period for both domestic and international producers.

On the March 2016 effective date, all Siluriformes fish, including catfish, will be under the regulatory jurisdiction of FSIS and no longer regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

During the 18-month transitional period, FSIS will re-inspect and conduct species and residue sampling on imported Siluriformes fish shipments at least quarterly at US import establishments on a random basis.

Also, during the transitional period, countries wishing to continue exporting products to the US after the transitional period must apply for an equivalency determination.

Applications for equivalency must be completed by the end of the 18-month transitional period, September 1, 2017. The FSIS will assist countries with their equivalency applications.

According to Viet Nams General Department of Customs, Viet Nam exported 11,770 tonnes of tra catfish to the US in January, earning US$32.4 million. The exports had a year-on-year increase of 24.5 per cent in volume and 4.1 per cent in value.

Lack of tra catfish supply for export

The local tra fish industry will see a lack of supply for processing until 2017, and that will have an effect on exports this year, an official has said.

Duong Ngoc Minh, Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) deputy chairman, said all factories processing tra fish require 3.500 tonnes of the product per day supplied together by them, farmers and through supply from the regions.



However, at present all sources put together meet only 70 per cent of the demand and the volume would drop further in the next few months, he said. The supply of tra fish was expected to meet 50 per cent of demand, or 1,700 tonnes, from June 2016 until the first quarter of 2017.



The lack of supply was due to a reduction in tra fish production last year, he said. This was due to lack of funds for production among enterprises and disinterest from banks in advancing loans for production. Since the farmers did not receive sustainable co-operation in consuming their tra fish they stopped producing it and decided to rear other kinds of fishery products for a higher profit.



That situation would affect the industrys tra fish exports for this year, Minh said. Vietnamese tra fish products are exported to 80 countries and territories in the world, but the lack of supply would mean the industry can only meet the demand of three major markets mainly the United States, Europe and China.

Therefore, Viet Nam would find it difficult to meet its target of US$1.7 billion in tra fish exports for this year, he said.



Importers know there is a lack of tra fish for processing so they have promoted imports at present to avoid higher prices by this year-end, Minh said. So the price of tra fish and its export price are expected to increase in the future, reported cafef.vn.



The local enterprises and farmers should follow the developments in the local tra fish market to seize the opportunities to push up the prices, he said.

To take care of these issues, the tra fish industry needs a specific strategy to ensure output of 1.2 million tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes for export processing, including policies on credit, increase of quality, and co-operation between farmers and processors for ensuring consumption and production in the long term, Minh said.

Viet Nam - Plants Eligible to Export Meat (Siluriformes Only) to the United States:

1/ WORKSHOP 3 - VINH HOAN CORP

2/ Vinh Hoan Corporation (VINH HOAN CORP)

3/ Workshop 2 - Vinh Hoan Corporation (VINH HOAN CORP)

4/ Bien ong Seafood Co., Ltd

5/ GOLDENQUALITY SEAFOOD CORPORATION (GOLDENQUALITY)

6/ Van uc Tien Giang food export company

7/ Southern Fishery Industries Company Ltd. (SOUTHVINA)

8/ NTSF Seafoods Joint Stock Company (NTSF SEAFOODS)

9/ CADOVIMEX II freezing factory No.1 - CADOVIMEX II seafood import - export and processing Joint Stock Company

10/ Thuan An Production Trading and Service Co., LTD- Thuan An III Enterprise of Aquatic Processing and Exporting (SONASEAFOOD)

11/ Tan Thanh Loi Frozen food Co.Ltd

12/ Ben Tre Aquaproduct Import and Export Joint Stock Company - (AQUATEX BENTRE)

13/ Viet Phu foods & fish Corporation (VIET PHU FOODS AND FISH CORP)

14/ Asia Commerce Fisheries JSC (ACOMFISH)

15/ C.P. Vietnam Corporation  Ben Tre Frozen Branch

16/ Hung Vuong Corporation (HV Corp.)

17/ An Giang fisheries import - export joint stock company, Factory 7 (AGIFISH CO.)

18/ An Giang Fisheries Import - Export Joint Stock Company, Factory 8 (AGIFISH CO.)

19/ Frozen Factory AGF 9

20/ Agifish Food Processing Factory

21/ Hung Vuong Corporation (HV Corp.) - Workshop II

22/ Europe Joint Stock Company (EJS CO.)

23/ GEMPIMEX 404 Company.

Source: fsis.usda.gov
Local and FDI companies who want to apply for business registration certificates or make some changes in their existing certificates can call (08) 1080 to fix an appointment with the departments Business Registration Division.  File Photo

HCM CITY (VNS)  The HCM City Department of Planning and Investment has launched a business registration service through switchboard and supporting services that can help businesses get a new or amended certificate within 15 minutes.

Local and FDI companies who want to apply for business registration certificates or make some changes in their existing certificates can call (08) 1080 to fix an appointment with the departments Business Registration Division.

The department says it has also launched services that will help businesses perfect their documents and procedures, tackle promptly cases of wrong names, forms, and other similar problems.

In most cases, each set of documents will be processed within 15 minutes free of charge, it says.



With sectors where the processing cannot be done immediately and a meeting is required, officials must provide instructions specifying the different papers that need to be submitted.



In these cases, businesses can expect to receive their certificates within three working days of submission of documents or have the certificates sent by post.

The department says that around 310 businesses register their documents through switchboard every day.

Deputy director Le Thi Huynh Mai said they were working on the principle that Whenever enterprises approach the department, they get their work done.

Between 1,000 and 1,500 businesses contact the department every day, mostly registration or supplementary documents. The submission and returning of supplementary documents were a bother for both the businesses and the department, which would be overloaded with work.

The support provided in perfecting the documents had helped reduce the number of documents the department receives daily to 900; and 96.25 per cent of documents are processed in time, Mai said.

The department is studying ways to establish a timer service on its website, aiming to save both time and cost for businesses, and upgrading the citys investment environment.

Last year, 29,771 businesses received guidelines from the switchboard to complete their registration papers at home. Of these, 13,500 submitted their documents to the investment department and got their registration certificates.  VNS
Ted Osius, the US ambassador to Viet Nam speaks at the event.  Photo vtv

HA NOI (VNS)  More than 20 Vietnamese start-ups have an opportunity to seek the support of high-tech United States (US) enterprises and venture capital firms after the Innovation Roadshow 2016 yesterday.

The event was organised by the US Embassy in Ha Noai and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).

Vieat Nam was willing to learn from pioneering countries for the purpose of connecting different sources to support innovation and entrepreneurship incubation and widening the network to keep pace with the latest technological trend in the world, Traan Vaen Tung, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology spoke at the conference.

As the US is home to thousands of the worlds leading high-tech corporations, through such events as the Innovation Roadshow 2016, Vieat Nam is expected to promote networking between the US and Vietnamese companies, the deputy minister said.

With more intense co-operation between the US and Vieat Nam, we do hope that Vieat Nams start-up ecosystem will be more effective, focussed and efficient to bring about valuable opportunities for the start-up community in the country, Tung said.

MoST is developing the legal framework for venture investment and start-up accelerators together with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as implementing the national project for supporting the start-up ecosystem for new innovative enterprises till the year 2025, according to the deputy minister.

This is a big opportunity for us to listen, experience and connect with big technology companies from the US, Traan Minh Son, co-founder of Lozi, a Vietnamese mobile application for sharing food and drinks, said to Viet Nam News.

Ted Osius, the US ambassador to Vieat Nam, said at the conference that the history of the US economic growth was founded on incredible innovation and creativity and as President Barack Obama said, it was essential for the future of the US to maintain its role as the worlds engine of innovation.

However, innovation was not just essential to the future of the US, it was also vital to Vieat Nams future, he emphasised.

We are here today to foster and promote the incredible growth in the start-up community in Vieat Nam, he added.

David Thorne, the senior advisor to the US Secretary of State, spoke at the event that this Roadshow was important for energising entrepreneurship as they were building up the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to be held in Silicon Valley this summer.

The summit will showcase inspiring entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors from around the world.

We are looking forward to having strong representation from ASEAN, especially Vieat Nam, he said.  VNS
HCM CITY (VNS) A series of events were held in Ha Noi and HCM City during the weekend in celebration of International Womens Day.

The Viet Nam Volunteer Information Resource Centre, in collaboration with UN Women  United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women  as well as the embassies of Canada and Belgium organised a bus journey on Sunday to promote gender equality among the young people of Ha Noi.

Secretary for the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee, Nguyen Phi Long, said that young people play a key role in changing societys mindset and behaviour to support gender equality.

UN Women Country Representative in Vietnam , Shoko Ishikawa, said that the journeys objective was to help young people understand the importance of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

She added that many stereotypes and prejudices about both men and women must be changed in order to help them achieve their life goals.

The journey was part of the UN Womens HeForShe and #HowAbnormal campaigns to abolish gender stereotypes and violence, and promote equality.

On the same day, more than 5,000 people took part in a walking event in HCM City s District 7 to promote awareness for the development of women.

The event, which was organised by the HCM City Association of Women Entrepreneurs to raise funds in support of disadvantaged women in the city, attracted a large number of participants from the citys administrative offices, organisations and universities.  VNS
Many experts have blamed the high intrusion of salty water into the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta on climate change and the low level of water running from the upper reach to the lower reach of the Mekong River delta. How do you respond to their arguments?

Based on our hydrometereological data and the water level in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, in Southern Viet Nam, over the past 30 years, I can say that there are two main causes of drought in the Cuu Long Delta: water coming from the upper reach of the Mekong River (accounting for over 90 per cent) and the rainfalls in the region, plus the use of water in the Delta coupled by impacts from the sea.

This year, the rainfall in the Cuu Long Delta has been extremely low  a record low in history. No rain was reported in February. As a result, it has seriously affected the water flow in the Mekong River, including the portion running through Viet Nam.

The rainfall is low while the demand for water in all countries sharing the Mekong River is high, and Viet Nam is situated at the lower end of the river. This has resulted in a serious drought in the Cuu Long Delta. According the our hydrometerreological data at the Tan Chau and Chau oc stations on the Tien and Hau Rivers, the water levels in these two stations were also at their lowest levels in their log books.

In Viet Nam, late March and early April will be the peak of the dry season in Viet Nam. So, the situation will become more serious in the next two months.

In addition, poor water regulation among projects in the Mekong basin has contributed to the problem of water scarcity in the lower basin. At present, on the main tributary of the Mekong River, there are already a few Chinese projects and other international projects built on the main tributary. Due to drought, they dont discharge water down to the lower end of the river. In addition, Thailand has also built some projects causing the diversion of water in the region. All these activities have rendered the drought in the lower Mekong Delta more serious.

For our Cuu Long Delta, the low rainfall in January and February coupled with high tides has worsened the intrusion of salty water into the Delta.

Does the Mekong River Commission have conducted any impact assessment of reservoirs on the upper reach of the Mekong River on the regions socio-economic development?

Over the past three years, the Vietnamese Government has assigned the Viet Nam National Mekong Committee to conduct studies on the impacts of hydropower plants on the main tributary of the Mekong River in the Cuu Long Delta Region and the Cuu Long Delta of Viet Nam and Cambodia as a whole. The latest study was completed in December 2015 and sent to the Government.

According to the study, hydropower plants built on the main tributary of the Mekong River and some projects in Chinas Yunnan Province have caused serious consequences for the river flow of the Mekong River, particularly in the dry season. It is the main cause of saltwater intrusion into the Cuu Long Delta region in Viet Nam. In addition, it also has negative impacts on Viet Nams aqua products and alluvium.

According to the latest report, the volume of aqua products from the Cuu Long Delta will drop by 50 per cent while the alluvium will drop by 70 per cent. This will seriously affect the local peoples livelihoods, the region and the countrys socio-economic development.

At present, there are three major hydropower plants on the upper reach of the Mekong River: one belonging to China (it is already in operation), and the other two  Don SaHong and Xayaburi - are from Laos and are in the process of being constructed.

In the context of climate change, what should countries sharing the Mekong River do to balance the interests of each nation?

All nations have a right to pursue their socio-economic development goals. But during their exploitation of the Mekong River, they should respect international laws and practices, particularly the use of water resources - which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 21, 1997 and came into effect in 2014 - and the Co-operation Agreement on the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River in 1995.

As a member of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), Viet Nam has regularly exchanged information with Cambodia and Thailand on the use of water on the Mekong River.

In the near future, the MRC will send a letter of request to China to ask it to consider issues related to tapping water from the Mekong River.  VNS
NA Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hungn speaks at the session.  Photo VNA HA NOI (VNS)  Socio-economic development, national security, foreign affairs and mid-term finance will be the key issues to debate at the upcoming 11th NA meeting, NA Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said yesterday in Ha Noi. HA NOI (VNS)  Socio-economic development, national security, foreign affairs and mid-term finance will be the key issues to debate at the upcoming 11th NA meeting, NA Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said yesterday in Ha Noi.

Hung made the remark at the convening of the NA Standing Committees 46th session in which the NA expects to complete preparations for the 11th meeting, scheduled for this month.

During the three day session, NA deputies will review the implementation of socio-economic development in 2015 and discuss plans for socio-economic development, finance, public investments, and land use from now until 2020.

The NA Standing Committee will debate and approve a decree on market management and regulations on the organisation and operation of the Juror.

NA Chairman Hung said the 11th meeting, the last gathering of the 13th legislature, would make decisions for the countrys major matters for the next five years.

At the meeting, a number of positions will be adjusted in order to ensure the States smooth operation after the Party Central Committee made personnel changes following the 12th National Party Congress, he said.

The top legislator expressed his hope that the NA Standing Committee and relevant agencies would make thorough preparations for the upcoming meeting.

Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI) Bui Quang Vinh yesterday presented reports on socio-economic development outcomes from the last five years, as well as plans for socio-economic development and mid-term public investment in the next five years.

The report on socio-economic development last year showed that national GDP grew about 6.68 per cent, the highest increase since 2008.

Around 1,526 communes or 17.1 per cent of total communes nationwide and 15 districts had reached new-style rural standards by the end of last year, according to the report.

More than 1.6 million jobs were created in the same year, 1.6 per cent higher than the target set previously. The unemployment rate hit about 3.29 per cent, meeting the target of below 4 per cent.

The MPI had set targets for the next five years focusing on macro-economic stability, economic restructuring in tandem with growth model reform, democracy, social equality and progress, climate change response, natural resources management, environmental protection, national defence and security, and international integration.

It said in its report on socio-economic plan for the next five years that the target was aimed to turn Viet Nam into a modernised and industrialised country.

Another report presented by Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung revealed that State budget overspending last year hit VND256 trillion (US$11.52 billion), accounting for 6.11 per cent of GDP.

State budget collection was close to VND997 trillion (US$44.9 billion), up nearly VND86 trillion ($3.9 billion) or 9.4 per cent of the estimated figure.

Also yesterday, deputies of the NA Stading Committee heard a report delivered by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on land use plans for 2016-20.  VNS
HA NOI  International assistance, particularly from countries with quality education sectors like Finland, was critical to Viet Nams development, Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan said at an education forum yesterday.

The forum, which was attended by Vietnamese and Finnish education officials, experts and university representatives, was held during a five-day visit to Viet Nam by Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka.

Luan said as Viet Nam was now a middle-income country, it needed high quality human resources for sustainable development.

He said the ministry would help companies and training institutions from the two countries co-operate further.

Nguyen Xuan Vang, director of the ministrys International Education Development Department, said challenges for Viet Nams education system included limited resources, urgent need for qualified trainers and uneven development among regions and population groups.

Toivakka said relations between Viet Nam and Finland had been based mainly on development assistance but this changed as Viet Nam developed very rapidly over recent decades.

Its time to move on and look for new avenues of co-operation in our bilateral relations, she said.

There are over 500 Vietnamese students studying in Finland, the third largest nationality of overseas students in Finland.

Finland helps develop smart power grid in Viet Nam

The Central Power Corporation and Finlands ABB Oy Company launched mini Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system projects in the central and Central Highlands regions with the aim of developing a smart power grid.

The introduction of the mini SCADA system in Tam Ky city in central Quang Nam province and Pleiku city in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai is vital to improving the effectiveness of power supply.

Investment for the two projects totaled about US$4.5 million.

Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Hoang Quoc Vuong said that since 2006, with preferential credit worth 10.5 million EUR ($11.5 million) from Finland, the Central Power Corporation built the mini SCADA system in four cities in the central and Central Highlands regions.

Finland has so far provided assistance for approximately 20 projects with a total investment of 57 million EUR in health, environment, clean water and energy in Viet Nam. -- VNS
Duong Noi Urban Area in Ha ong District, Ha Noi. Problems exist in mordern urban areas: technical and social infrastructure are not synchronised while qualifications and managerial capacity are less than required.  VNS Photo oan Tung



HA NOI  Urban development statistics in Viet Nam show a relatively bright picture, especially in Ha Noi and HCM City. But there is already a price to pay for burgeoning development: urban social infrastructure overload.

To transform new urban areas into a sustainably developed and livable environment, mechanisms, policies and implementation must be changed.

According to many experienced urban programming experts, certain problems exist in modern urban areas: technical and social infrastructure are not synchronized while qualifications and managerial capacity are less than required. All of these problems create consequences.

Ha Nois Department of Planning and Architecture experts have demonstrated big shortcomings in developing new urban areas in the city. Those areas were not constructed in line with each other nor with a bigger long-term vision of the whole city.

The connection between new urban areas in the north and northeastern of Hong (Red) River, including Bac Thang Long, Sai ong, Thach Ban and ang Xa was poor, making them quite isolated from each other.

Urban areas in the western and southern of the city which have built both residential and resettlement areas are now facing overpopulation.

Investors in the majority of urban areas have developed most of the land available. New urban areas usually provide living space for as many people as possible, while land usage for traffic, trees, sports, schools, cars and parking is kept to a minimum.

These calculations have led to overpopulation. Meanwhile, connections between the city centres infrastructure and surrounding areas were ignored or neglected.

Several projects cannot even be implemented because of failure to plan properly.

Creating a legal framework

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen inh Toan, said that the role and responsibility of real estate enterprises in planning and policy making needs to be addressed. Such enterprises implement planning and policy schemes, contributing to urban area development.

A legal framework for sustainable development is needed, according to urban development experts.

Legal remedies must solve pressing issues, including poor land management, lack of comprehensive infrastructure and urban services projects, environmental pollution, and land clearance.

The government needs to support real estate investment companies in raising capital to develop new urban areas. And the government needs to enforce building standards in urban construction.

The government should also issue regulations on investment and construction management of new urban areas, to ensure implementation according to the approved plan. -- VNS


HCM CITY  Although the proportion of women in leadership roles and management in politics and the economy in Viet Nam has increased in recent years, it is still insufficient compared to their potential, Ton Nu Thi Ninh, vice chairwoman of Viet Nams Peace Committee, has said.

Ninh spoke at an international conference held last Saturday in HCM City by the HCM City Association for Women Executives and Entrepreneurs (HAWEE) to mark International Womens Day.

She said that Viet Nam now has three women in the Politburo.

How heartening the progress is, she said, however, adding that the percentage of women in the Party Central Committee still remains only at 10 per cent.

The proportion of female members in the 13th Congress is 24.4 per cent, higher than the world average of 22.5 per cent. However, it has declined over the last four congresses.

The Government should have more policies to give opportunities for women to raise their representative proportion, she said.

More women should be in leadership positions to manage the country because they are worthy. Moreover, they have the capacity but they lack one thing. That thing is a chance, she added.

Ninh said there were already chances in politics, which is why they were focusing to develop leadership and management in the field of economics.

In 2014, 24.9 per cent of enterprise and farm leaders were female, an increase of 0.5 per cent compared to 2013.

Ninh said that women should be given a chance to prove themselves.

Men should be unbiased towards women, she said.

The conference, which attracted more than 300 foreign, domestic and enterprise leaders, most of them women, heard discussions about women in technology, innovation and the sciences, as well as talks about leadership capacity training for women and social values for female enterprises.

Women in the tech field

The proportion of women working in technology and science is lower than for men.

Dr Nguyen Thi Hoe, chairwoman of KOVA Group, said that female students whom she had taught in universities often achieved better learning outcomes than male students.

However, after graduating they do not gain promotion at work because they are in charge of housework, she added.

Hoe said that enterprises and the Government should have proper bonus policies for good female employees so that they will be loyal, work a long time and contribute to research.

Sherry Boger, general manager of Intel Products Viet Nam, said that they should negotiate with their spouses about housework duties.

Because of impediments such as these, they do not have much time to build professional and social networks that could help them be passionate about their work.

She cited one global research study on women in technology, engineering and science, which showed that women in these fields were isolated due of a lack of networks.

Intel Viet Nam is providing scholarships to female students at technical vocational schools to encourage more women to learn and work in the field.

Astrid Tuminez, Microsoft regional director of legal and corporate affairs in Southeast Asia, said that women who take advantage of technology in their daily lives and jobs could gain success.

At the conference, HAWEE and the Australia Consulate General signed an agreement on cultural and educational exchange and co-operation in female leadership and enterprises.

A walk to call for womens sustainable development was held last Sunday in District 7, attracting more than 5,000 attendees. Nearly VN500 million (US$22,200) was raised by the conference and walk.  VNS
HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am asked for improved quality of education and training at a seminar in Ha Noi promoting vocational training yesterday.

Over the past two years, Viet Nam has carried out comprehensive reforms of the education-training system, of which vocational training is an important aspect, he said.

Statistics showed that among 53 per cent of the trained workforce, only 20 per cent underwent training for three months or longer.

He proposed continuing to study labour incentives, attracting investment in education and vocational training, and improving ties between employers and trainers.

Given the recent birth of the ASEAN Community and Viet Nams entry into new free trade agreements, the country must overcome manpower challenges amid integration, he said.

Reports delivered at the event showed that globalisation, new technologies and longer working times are changing the global labour landscape, which requires each country to devise flexible vocational training development strategies.

Participants also discussed how Viet Nam could develop by 2020 and beyond.

Deputy PM am and Lord David Puttnam, UK Prime Ministerial envoy to Viet Nam , chaired the event, which was hosted by the Embassy of the UK and Northern Ireland and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Within the framework of the International Skills Partnership, the British Council will host a seminar today to establish training quality assurance mechanisms up to UK standards. VNS
Hai Duong Province authorities are urgently looking for ways to rescue a ship that is stuck under the An Thai Bridge. The 3,000-tonne Thanh Luan 28 ship was travelling on the An Thai River from Hai Duong to Hai Phong City when it hit An Thai Bridge and trapped there. No loss of human life was reported, but the crash caused a girder of the bridge to crack, affecting traffic near the site. The police had to ban people and vehicles from using the bridge. VNA/VNS

Photo Manh Minh.
Speech pathologist Dr Ruth W.Bass of Island Therapies in Newport Beach, California, gives guidance to parents with autistic children at a free workshop held by the Ket Noi Yeu Thuong (Connecting to Love) programme.

Gia Loc

HCM CITY(VNS)  Four-hundred people filled the auditorium of Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital last Saturday, listening raptly to advice given by American doctors about guided methods of intervention for their autistic children.

The parents, with smartphones ready to record the event, were eager to learn about ways to improve their childrens social interaction and communication skills.

The American health experts were visiting Viet Nam as volunteers for Project Viet Nam Foundations annual Ket Noi Yeu Thuong (Connecting to Love) programme, which also serves children with other health problems such as a cleft palate.

The programme, which ends on March 11, provides free healthcare and training to teachers and parents as well as doctors and patients in HCM City, the central province of Nghe An, and the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

Speech pathologist Dr Ruth W. Bass of Island Therapies in Newport Beach, California, spoke about methods to use with non-verbal children to help them develop speech.

A father from the south-central coastal province of Binh inh attending the workshop said his 30-month-old son had never spoken.

By chance, I heard about the programmes training workshop. I caught a bus to attend to hear about detailed guidelines, he said.

A 32 year-old mother from HCM Citys Binh Thanh District, whose eight-year-old daughter is autistic, had the same concerns as the father.

Her daughter spoke until she was three years old, but afterwards spoke only single words instead of phrases.

During a break in the presentation, the woman sought out Dr Bass to speak to her directly.

Such training workshops are very useful for me, the woman told her.

Dr Bass said: Im really happy we have a full house. We love it here, and our group continues to come back every year.

Vietnamese-American Quynh Kieu, a paediatrician and founder of Project Viet Nam Foundation, said the foundation would post links for parents to consult on its website.

I hope that experts will encourage their colleagues to come to Viet Nam for the next training workshop, Kieu said.

Besides the autism training workshop, the American doctors performed surgery on 83 children with cleft lip palate and heart rhythm disorders.

Many of them visited two disadvantaged districts in Can Tho to offer free dental treatment and to deliver medicine.

Kieu, whose family moved to the US in 1975, has worked with the programme for 20 years. She said she wanted to return to Viet Nam to help improve health care for children.

After the American Academy of Paediatrics offered her encouragement and support, Kieu set up the non-profit humanitarian Project Viet Nam Foundation.

Its goal is to create sustainable paediatric healthcare while providing free healthcare and aid to impoverished rural areas across the country.

The Ket Noi Yeu Thuong programme has attracted more volunteer American doctors each year.

Kieu said each trip leaves the doctors with unforgettable memories.

She recalled that last Thursday doctors had performed a four-and-a-half-hour surgery on a five-year-old girl with a serious cleft lip and palate at the Military Hospital No.175.

The girl was from a Central Highlands province in the remote Gia Lai area.

Doctors there were unable to perform this kind of operation, and the family did not have money to travel to the bigger cities.

After hearing about the programme, the parents registered to get free surgery.

Kieu said the girl, upon seeing her surgeon in the hallway, ran up to her and hugged her

The surgeon promised to come back to Viet Nam next year to work in the project.

An American couple, both nurses, have also been taking part in the programme since 1999. They collect new equipment from donors to later give to Viet Nam.

In the past, the husband was in the military during the war in Viet Nam. He said he wanted to return to show his concern and love for the Vietnamese by offering assistance to those in need.  VNS
Germany today announced that it will support the government's 'Smart Cities' programme by taking up projects in Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Coimbatore.

State Secretary in German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety Gunther Adler today led a delegation of technical experts to meet the officials of the Ministry of Urban Development. It was the second meeting of the Indo-German working group on urban development.

The first was held in September 2015.

Adler said the German Building Ministry "will support German companies that want to cooperate intensively with Indian partners in order to assist Indian cities in implementing their plan." He also met his Indian counterparts Urban Development Ministry secretary Madhusudan Prasad and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Secretary Nandita Chatterjee.

Gunther said German companies will like to help its Indian partners in construction of residential housing, efficient water supply, waste water management and renewable energy in Bhubaneswar in Odisha, Kerala's Kochi and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. A German official said Germany had vast experience in building 'brown cities' or existing cities, into 'green cities', particularly after Germany's reunification in 1990 when projects were undertaken to reshape the cities of the erstwhile East Germany.

German officials said they expect the Indian government to put in place necessary institutional and policy frameworks to facilitate the public private partnerships between German companies and their Indian counterparts for the 'Smart Cities' programme.
00:43 Federal govt to increase fines for serious data breaches to a minimum of $50m The Federal government will increase the financial penalty for companies suffering serious data breaches at a minimum of $50 million - following...

00:28 Money showers onto a highway in Chile following a robbery A robbery in Chile has resulted with the thieves throwing the stolen bags of money out of their car window after being chased by police.

00:40 Lord help us: Mental acuity of Joe Biden is again under question Sky News host Cory Bernardi says the mental acuity of the most powerful man in the world, US President Joe Biden, is again under question....

01:14 All the rage: Protesters glue themselves to the floor at Volkswagen It all went bad after protesters glued themselves to the floor at Volkswagen in Germany, according to Sky News host Cory Bernardi.

08:24 Embarrassment: Joe Biden weakens America Fox News contributor Lara Trump says US President Joe Biden is an embarrassment for America and he weakens the country.
WAVERLY  The $3.6 million Waverly Area Veterans Post is within $200,000 and a few months of becoming a reality.

The post, a combined effort of various Waverly-area veterans organizations and designed to provide a myriad of services for current and returning veterans of past and present conflicts, is anticipated to be completed this summer and dedicated in the fall.

Were within $200,000 of a $2.6 million goal, said Henry Hank Bagelmann, a board member of the project. We now have over 800 donors, and were still running at about 72 percent of those gifts at less than $1,000 each, which I think is incredible.

Its grassroots, Bagelmann said. So many people wanted to be a part of it. A dedication is tentatively being planned for early October. The post might have a soft opening about a month earlier than that, to allow time for a shakedown to make sure everything is in good order prior to the opening.

Thatll give the public a chance to see the facility and try it out prior to a formal dedication, Bagelmann said.

Its coming together pretty quickly, said Larry Buchholz, WAVP board vice president and former Waverly public works director and Cedar Falls city engineer, monitoring construction progress. Were getting to the point where well be looking toward hiring a manager and employees. Were shooting for a spring or early summer completion  June 1, maybe July 1, that well be completed and ready to open. I think the goal is to be open and functional for a couple of months before we do a real grand opening, a hard opening, so we have all the bugs worked out.

Work is progressing inside on the part of the building that has been enclosed. Construction work began last spring.

Organizers have started receiving inquiries about reserving the facility for special events.

The facility is the result of several years of work after several Waverly veterans posts buildings were severely damaged by the 2008 flood. That, and the large number of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in need of services, prompted organizers to move forward with the project. It has received financial support from former Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Colin Powell, as well as Saving Private Ryan star Tom Hanks and his actor wife, Rita Wilson. Retired U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Evan Curly Hultman of Waterloo, chairman of a U.S. reserve officers association during Present Ronald Reagans administration, served as honorary chairman of the fundraising effort.

Bagelmann said city officials have been supporting the project. They seem to be focused on doing the right thing, Bagelmann said.

Weve got over 150 people who have been memorialized, by people who wanted to give gifts to memorialize or honor a family member or friend. He thinks those kind of gifts will continue. People may be honored as patriots, whether they served in the military or not.

A patriot is someone who has a love of country. Its about that simple, Bagelmann said.

Fundraising may be ongoing even after the $3.6 million goal is reached, Buchholz suggested. Our goal is to set up an endowment to assure the long-term success of the facility, something for maintenance and to make sure we have everything we need to function.

Donations are still being accepted. Information is available online at www.waverlyvets.us.
WATERLOO  The Crossroads Rotary Club is going out in a blaze of philanthropy.

The service club is disbanding after 45 years of existence. It is almost as old as the shopping center for which it is named. Crossroads Center opened in 1970; the club was chartered in June 1972.

However, the clubs dissolution brought a windfall for a number of community organizations and causes. As the club dissolved, it took the $45,000 it raised over the years and distributed it to 16 different organizations, the largest to Hartman Reserve Nature Center in Cedar Falls and the Boy Scouts.

Its kind of bittersweet we are disbanding, but awful nice we have the funds we were able to accumulate over the years that we were able to give to a lot of organizations, said Al Smith, a retired insurance agent and 25-year club member.

The club met most of the time at Sunnyside Country Club. The membership wasnt limited to the mall area, but west across south Waterloo to include the commercial area along Kimball and Ridgeway avenues.

The club is disbanding due to dwindling membership. Once numbering in the mid 30s, a little more than a dozen are left, not all of them active. In 1981, the club admitted its first women members.

In 1999, Crossroads Rotary was approached by a club in the United Kingdom by the name of Waterlooville that wanted to have an exchange with a club of like size and name. Joel Harris organized a visit to their club in the UK and Waterlooville also traveled to Iowa a few years later to visit our state and were hosted by Rotarians here.

Our focus the past few years has been children and families and the (Northeast Iowa) Food Bank, because the food bank serves children, club member Ruth Buck said. Weve done several projects in the community. We were involved in Build our Ballpark, a nonprofit initiative by retired advertising executive Bob Hellman.

When membership dwindles, you dont know what to do, Buck said, but the funds were available to be disbursed. I think we made the right decision.

Our club was a small club but we made a big difference in the Cedar Valley, club member Meg Brady wrote. Over the years, Crossroads Rotary Club donated to many organizations, schools and individuals.
Q. When American Airlines came out of bankruptcy in December 2013, I invested $9,600 buying 400 shares at $24. My wifes been telling me to sell for over a year, but my gut says to hold. Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

 TE: Kankakee, Ill.

A. In 1989, Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, invested $360 million in the convertible preferred of US AIR Group (merged with American Airlines in late 2013). Five year later, that position was worth $90 million and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB-$136) lost $270 million. Though Buffett eventually made money on this investment, it prompted him to make the following statement: The airline business has been extraordinary. It has eaten up capital over the past century like almost no other business because people seem to keep coming back to it and putting fresh money in.

The Street is bullish American Airlines (AAL-$41) should deliver another strong performance this quarter. Value Line believes this could be a $95 stock in a few years, Deutsche Bank and Argus rate it as a buy while Reuters and Credit Suisse rank AAL as outperform. But AALs great share earnings are a result of an impressive buyback program. In 2014, management used $2.5 billion to repurchase 60 million shares, reducing outstanding shares by 11 percent, and last year AAL repurchased 35 million more shares. Management is thinking short term, like it always does. These airline bozos are buying back AAL because fewer outstanding shares increases the earnings per share. It makes more sense if those clowns used those billions to reduce AALs mushrooming debt that pushed it into bankruptcy several years ago.

Because the number of carriers is increasing, the competition between the airlines is furiously heating up again. And some carriers, of which AAL is one, are reporting lower passenger yields from competition. And AALs management announced it intends to compete head-on with lower cost carriers. So this will result in lower ticket prices and lower revenues and lower earnings. Then things become tough again and management will pine for a more comfortable cash position, just like it always has. Stupid is as stupid does!

AAL is headed by W. Douglas Parker. Ive always had uncomfortable feelings about men who prefer an initial for their given name. W. Douglas appears to be a nice fellow, but Im concerned about his level of management skills. Doug was a semi-big shot at Lufthansa, US Airways, America West and early on in his career worked as a financial analyst for American Airlines  all of which, except for Lufthansa, required bankruptcy protection in the past dozen years. Douglas has done a credible job of running American since it came out of bankruptcy in 2013. Im disappointed in managements short-term focus  that Douglas and his board cavalierly used precious billions to repurchase AAL stock to goose share earnings. I wonder how effective W. Douglas will be working with the various unions that are the nemesis of every airline. He doesnt do unions well.

You should have listened to your wife at $56. Earnings will be disappointing. Sell those 400 of AAL immediately.
By The Associated Press Mar. 05, 2016 | 05:59 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Kentucky, adding to his victory earlier Saturday in Louisiana.

That's the 12th state win for the billionaire businessman, who aimed to extend his delegate lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Saturday's nominating contests.

Among his supporters in Kentucky was 57-year-old Karen Gallardo, a lifelong Republican who said she was proud to caucus for the real estate mogul.

She said, "It wasn't a close call." She added, "The reason I want Trump so bad is that I feel he has a vision, he knows the country. He is a successful businessman."

On the Net:
The drive from Zagreb to Ljubljana is less than two hours. Slovenia uses the Euro currency; Croatia has their own currency, but most merchants appreciate credit cards, so it makes little difference. We had rented a VW Sportvan with "Blue Motion" technology and GPS. This was a very fuel-efficient, autobahn-capable, compact vehicle. The GPS was invaluable in finding some of the small B&B-style accommodations we had reserved for our trip, given that they were located in the narrow streets of old-town neighborhoods. Crossing the border into Slovenia, we needed to stop and buy a sticker to show we had paid our highway-use fee. I had made reservations at a boutique hotel on the west side of Ljubljana, convenient to the old central city and also highways to further destinations. Ljubljana is in a valley with a river running through it and a castle overlooking it. The castle is surrounded by parkland. Along the river are many restaurants and ice-cream shops. The entire country is compact enough that you can get anywhere in Slovenia from the capital within about two hours. The Alps are at the northern border, and the ocean is a short drive west. The country is heavily forested; our cave tour guide said she often has bears in her yard. When it rained one day, we toured a cave (one of many) in the morning, and then, when it cleared in the afternoon, we drove to Lake Bled in the Alps. We had time to take side trips to Austria (the autobahn there is amazing, long tunnels through mountains, long bridges spanning valleys, use fees required) and to Trieste, Italy. If you are interested in history, find out how many different countries have claimed Trieste in its past.Extensive caves are found in southwest Slovenia. They stretch long distances underground; if your lantern were to go out, you would probably never find your way out. There are underground lakes; when it rains, the lower tunnels fill up and a roaring sound can be heard as the water flows through the complex of tunnels.This is a popular view of Hallstadt, Austria. Picturesque, between lake and mountains, but very touristy. We were held up leaving because a head-on auto accident had occurred on the narrow mountain road leading into town.The river flowing through Ljubljana; many restaurants along its banks. We took a boat ride through the city.Chapel on an island in Lake Bled. A castle overlooks the lake and mountains surround the valley. Again, very touristy; you know a place is touristy when you can't find a place to park, or the parking is distant and pricy.We found lake Bohinj to be a better place to stop; further up the valley, less crowded, and more walking paths.
Second, even if you dont believe the overwhelming evidence supporting the reality of global climate change, whats not logical about taking common sense steps to reduce our impact on the environment? What is so wrong with the idea of reducing greenhouse gas emissions? How does reducing deforestation in the Amazon not benefit the world? If you call yourself a Christian and believe our home planet to be a gift from God, why would you not want to treat it with care and respect?

First, its hard to credibly argue against the reality of global climate change when 97% of climate scientists have coalesced in agreement that it is, in fact, quite real. While its difficult to point at individual natural phenomena with an eye towards an AHA!! moment, when one looks at trends, its difficult to ignore the plethora of anecdotal evidence. Theres the more than four-year-long catastrophic drought in Syria, the wild swings in hurricanes and other natural disasters, and the undeniable increase of the Earths average surface temperature, among other observable phenomena, that lend credence to the argument that the Earth is warming. As the level of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere continues to increase to ever more dangerous levels, one has to wonder where the tipping point is. When will it be too late to take action to prevent what appears may well be a looming catastrophe? When will we have dawdled for so long that our window will have closed?

I find the debate over the reality (or not) of global climate and change and (if its real) whether or not its caused by the activity of man to be patently silly. There are a couple of different ways for a person gifted with the ability to think critically to evaluate this argument:

As sea levels continue to rise and coastal areas face the reality of eventually being underwater, are we to stand idly by and do nothingbecause we dont believe in the reality of global climate change? Science doesnt give a damn what you believe; theres ample evidence showing our environment is being changed, and not for the better. Even our Joints Chiefs of Staff have identified global climate change as the single greatest risk to the security of the Homeland. As extreme weather patterns increase, droughts and other extreme weather consequences will only continue to become more frequent, costly, and dangerous. Syria hasnt had a decent wheat harvest in four years, which has driven millions into cities and increased unrest throughout the country, increasing pressure on already scarce resources and prompting the government to crack down on dissent. The resulting civil war has killed thousands and driven millions from their homes, many fleeing to Europe and beyond in the hope of finding a better life.

In the meantime, American politicians on the Right continue to fiddle while Rome burns. Chained to an ideology that refuses to acknowledge the validity of science when it doesnt mesh with their agenda, some in Congress refuse to even discuss global climate change. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Congress, securely in Republican hands, refuses to face reality because its not supported by their talking points. Three of the top four GOP Presidential candidates (Trump, Rubio, and Kasich) have made it clear that they will renege on the commitments made by President Obama at the recent Paris climate summit. Ted Cruz hasnt specifically addressed the commitments made by our government, but hes made it crystal clear that he believes global climate change to be a hoax perpetrated by Liberals bent on promoting a radical Left-wing agenda whose ultimate goal is to rob good, God-fearing, patriotic Americans of their freedom and liberty.

Again, even if it you dont believe in the reality of global climate change, why wouldnt you want to take actions that are better for the environment? Why wouldnt you want to do everything possible to ensure that the world we bequeath our children is in the best condition we could possibly leave it in?

Why not do the right thingsif for no other reason than its the right thing to do- for the planet, our future, and in the interest of generations to come? Sometimes, taking common sense action is just the right thing to do. Isnt it time we stopped looking at things in the short-term and took a longer view? This is the only world we have; common sense would seem to make it clear we cant keep treating our home like an ashtray.

Its time we did the right thing and erred on the side of ecological preservation, dontchathink? Theres no other honest, logical choice to be made. If we destroy this planet, where do we go?

I dont know about you, but Id rather not find out.
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. Woody Allen

This isnt intended to put forward an argument for the best Presidential candidate; thats an argument that will continue playing out over the next few months. I merely want to ask a question: Dont we deserve a President who possesses intelligence and intellectual agility sufficient to the task of answering a simple question without resorting to bullshit and meaningless babbling? I dont expect my President to be a Ph.D.- though that would certainly be a selling point. The honor and privilege of sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office should go to someone with the intellectual capacity to speak coherently, intelligently, and in complete sentences about how he/she plans to address the problems facing America.

I want my President to be someone who can address issues intelligently while also articulating a vision for moving this country forward. What I most assuredly do NO want is a President with the vocabulary of a schoolyard bully (I have the best words.) and the vision of a seven-year-old. It shouldnt be too much to expect my President to be a person of integrity, moral courage, and possessed of the willingness and ability to stand up for ALL Americans. I dont want my President to be someone for whom the office is little more than an extended spontaneous orgasm, the completion of a massive ego trip by someone who has no clue and even less conviction about how to move America forward.
"He writes with sensitivity, passion, intelligence and with an eye to the common good."

"[He is] clearly one of those silly people who believes in 'civilization,' probably along with the Tooth Fairy and justice."

"He lives in a magical fantasy world."

"Powerfully spoken."

"A balanced and sensible view concerning the crazy ideas that often prevail regarding war and freedom."

"You do good work."



"Our political differences are vast and irreconcilable but he earnestly believes what he wants is best for the country; hes firmly committed to it, makes no apologies for it and wont settle for less."

"God bless you!"



"SHUT THE FUCK UP."
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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

 Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.

 Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.

 What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.

The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.

 How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!

 Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package  which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.

 Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.

Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices

 Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.

 Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.

 Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.

 Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.

With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks

Betway:

Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.

Coral Casino:

Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.

Ladbrokes Casino:

Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

Paddy Power Casino:

Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. 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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If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
Mar 6, 2016 | By Benedict

A two-legged chihuahua named Leo has been given a big mobility boost in the form of a 3D printed prosthesis. Staff at California State University Channel Islands 3D printed the tailor-made wheelchair device, which the enthusiastic dog soon got to grips with.

Image credit: JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR

When Camarillo resident Yvette Bocz first set eyes on Leo the chihuahua at the Riverside County Animal Shelter, she knew she had made a friend for life. Born with just two legs, Leo was abandoned as a pup, but learned to hop around like a bunny on his hind legs. We immediately clicked, Bocz told CBS, and hes basically been with me ever since.

For many years, the adorable two-legged pooch was able to move around relatively freely, hopping from place to place with boundless enthusiasm. Although Leo retains that same vim and vigor, his increasing years are beginning to take their toll on his overworked shoulders. So, seeking help for her little friend, Bocz got in contact with Phil Hampton, a professor at Cal State Channel Islands whom she had met through an alumni organization.

When Leos owner made the first call in fall last year, Hampton was too busy organizing his Science Carnival to respond. However, the pair ran into one another at Oxnard's Gull Wings Museum in January. Luckily, Bocz was perfectly equipped to convince Hampton to get on board: She had Leo right there in the car. It was love at first sight, Hampton admitted. Hes such a cuddly little guy. I thought: Yeah, Ill help you with this. Lets see what we can put together.

With the help of Lorna Profant, a biology lecturer with expertise in anatomy and physiology, Hampton fired up the universitys $22,000 Stratasys 3D printer and created a preliminary 3D printed prosthesis for Leo. The 3D printed wheelchair device consisted of a felt-lined cradle to support the chihuahuas body, as well as three legs and three (non-printed) model aircraft wheels attached to the foot of each leg. A pet store harness kept the device tightly secured to Leos body.

The two scientists came to Bocz and Leos house on Valentines Day, but were frustrated as the 9-pound two-legged canine struggled with the weight of his new prosthesis. But, determined to overcome the problem, the Cal State Channel Islands academics got straight back into the lab to work on a second model.

When Hampton returned to the house last Friday, Leo took to his new 3D printed prosthetic with ease. With his shoulders fully supported by the 3D printed frame, Leo was able to walk with his back legswithout overexerting himself. Bocz and Hampton both hope that the 3D printed device will help give Leo the freedom to run around and play with added freedom, enabling him to integrate with other dogs in the Camarillo area.

Image credit: JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR

When Bocz witnessed Leos delight at using his new 3D printed wheelchair, she couldnt help but shed a tear. Its like watching your child walk for the first time, she explained. Just watching him actually use his back legs like regular walking motion and wagging his tail. I see the potential that lies ahead for him. Im very, very happy.

Hampton and Profant were satisfied with their 3D design, and have therefore decided to publish the 3D printable files for the prosthetic online. When they do so, anybody with a 3D printer will be able to print their own dog wheelchair and get their own disabled pooch back on its feet.

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Paul wrote at 3/7/2016 7:44:03 AM:'m just womnderiung that there are still video's where someone need Adobes Flash plugin ?? Thats a no go for me !




Mar 7, 2016 | By Kira

Sigma Labs has received two high-profile contracts from aerospace company Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop advanced quality control measures for the metal 3D printing of aerospace parts. The first contract will see Sigma Labs technology used by Aerojet and the U.S. Air Force to define standards for qualifying metal 3D printed aerospace components. Under a second and separate contract, Sigma Labs will also provide its technology to the America Makes 3D printing research initiative, via a quality assurance project led by GE Aviation and Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Sigma Labs develops in-process monitoring, analytical tools, and quality inspection systems for aerospace components made using metal 3D printing technology. Its flagship product is PrintRite3D, a proprietary software that allows for the rapid and low-cost certifying and qualifying of metal 3D printed aerospace parts. Though the exact terms of the Aerojet Rocketdyne awards were not disclosed, the contract grants Aerojet a non-exclusive license to use Sigma Labs PrintRite3D software applications in ongoing metal 3D printing projects with the U.S. Air Force and America Makes.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Air Force awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a $6 million contract to develop new standards of 3D printed rocket engines. The contract was part of a drive by the U.S. military to reduce its dependency on costly, Russian-made aerospace components, such as the RD-180 rocket engines used in the Atlas 5 rocket. Sigma Labs quality inspection systems will therefore assist Aerojet in fulfilling this contract by defining rigorous inspection processes to ensure that the metal 3D printed components meet the exacting requirements of the U.S. Air Force, and of the aerospace industry more generally.

Sigma Labs also received a second order from Aerojet Rocketdyne to use its proprietary IPQA (In-Process Quality Assurance) software applied to an America Makes project, currently led by General Electric Aviation. The goal of this project is to develop a commercially available, platform-independent Quality Assurance technology for the high-volume production of metal 3D printed aerospace parts. The program is being funded by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), and follows a $500,000 contract awarded to Sigma by GE Aviation and America Makes in January 2016 (GE Aviation and Sigma have in fact been working together since 2013.)

Though there are many players involved in these interconnected, high-profile contracts, the end-goal is to improve the certification and qualification of metal 3D printed aerospace parts. This will help to usher in a new era of cheaper, faster, and more advanced aerospace component manufacturing.

Working alongside Aerojet Rocketdyne on this Air Force program, as well as with America Makes, allows Sigma Labs to once again showcase the benefits of our unique technology, said Mark Cola, President and CEO of Sigma Labs. This is a great opportunity for Sigma Labs to gain additional exposure within the aerospace and defense industry, particularly as part of an initiative designed to define standards and qualification requirements for 3D-printed rocket components. We look forward to the rollout of these programs in 2016 and appreciate the trust that both Aerojet Rocketdyne and the U.S. Air Force have placed in Sigma Labs.

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-willy- wrote at 3/8/2016 3:52:08 PM:I am still waiting for the filter down effect of jet engines reaching the mass consumers. Think about it, a small jet engine to power the portable generator would be half the size of the motor currently used and a third the weight.




Mar 7, 2016 | By Alec

We see fantastic 3D printed quadcopters all the time, but the reality is that they use a relatively simple aviation method  at least when you have motors available. For millions of years, the animal kingdom has instead relied on wing-power  a technique that scientists have found difficult to replicate. However, as part of a study on animal flight, researchers from Tongji University in Shanghai have actually managed to 3D print a Dragonfly ornithopter, that flies by harnessing the power of flapping wings.

If youve ever opened a coffee table book on the history of airplanes, youll have seen the sometimes ludicrous flapping machines with which French, English and American inventors endangered their own lives. Jumping off church towers and so on, most of these machines never really worked. While small, often elastic-powered ornithopters (machines powered by flapping wings) were possible, transferring that power to aircraft capable of carrying humans was another matter. Theres a reason why commercial aircraft dont feature flapping wings. However, that doesnt mean we cant still learn things from the animal kingdom. Over a period of millions of years of evolution, flapping wings have proved to become the most efficient and widely used technique for birds, insects and even flying fish. In contrast, humans have only been flying for a single centuries, so theres much we can still learn.

That is why research professor Shen Hai Jun from Tongji University in Shanghai has been working on small models that mimic animal flight. The most recent result of that study is a 3D printed bionic miniature Dragonfly, which is remote controlled like a quadcopter. It has just completed a preliminary test, and showed a good flight performance, featuring upward and downward movement, hovering and even an 180 degree sharp turn. The wings are fully capable of producing lift and pull, with the electromagnetic enabling free flight. Enough to call it The King of Flight.

So how was it designed? First the research team performed an in-depth study of a dragonflys body structure, to get to grips with how the unusual insect actually functions. This data was subsequently taken to CAD software, where they produced simplified versions of the creatures wings, veins, head, feet, chest and waist seconds. To this, some ornithopter features were added: fuselage, landing gear, engine mounts and other components, with the trailing of the dragonfly functioning as a rudder. Converted to an STL file, they finally 3D printed all those separate ornithoper parts.

But of course working on such a scale seriously limits your equipment options. Based on past experience, the Dragonfly was equipped with a 7mm diameter brush motor and the corresponding deceleration group as a power source, and 3.7 volt lithium batteries for energy. Infrared two-channel control was used for communication, with one channel focusing on wing beat frequency (ie: flight altitude and speed), with the other controlling direction. The Dragonfly's rudder is a homemade miniature servo with solenoid coil with a 4 mm diameter.

After assembly, a 0.1 mm polyethylene plastic film was glued to the dragonfly veins to form the wings. The completed Dragonfly weighs just 15 grams, is 16 cm in length and has a 15 cm wingspan  one of the smallest 3D printed flying machines we know of. But its also one of the best tested, as the Dragonfly was taken to the wind tunnel in Tongji Universitys tiny airplane laboratory. The test results show that the power system can produce more than ten grams of lift and pull power, which meet the Dragonfly power requirements of flight. Incidentally, the wind tunnel used was the same as used by the Wright brothers over a century ago. Recovered by the laboratory, the lift/drag mechanical scale has since been replaced with a more precise electronic scale.

The results are certainly impressive, and this is one of the most inspiring 3D printed flying machines weve ever seen. Remarkably, it is actually just one of the several 3D printing projects that the professor and his team have been working on. Last year, they developed 3D printed flying fishes (based on erythema fins flying fish and white tip flying fish) that also went through a series of wind tunnel tests.

We are the first in China and the world to directly test 3D printed miniature aircraft in wind tunnel tests. The flying fishs lift to drag ratio can be maintained at between 5 to 6, which is the upper limit of small aircraft lift to drag ratio for inside use. This shows that the two flying fishes have excellent aerodynamic performances, he said. The team previously also worked on 3D printed butterflies, flies, cicadas and more. We hope that these 3D printed insects can help us reveal the mysteries of animal flight and result in more knowledge for human development, Shen concluded.

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K wrote at 3/12/2016 5:11:52 PM:They just stole this design from thingiverse... http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:951687 China always does thisFlybywire wrote at 3/10/2016 9:16:40 AM:Thinkpools dragonfly in Thingiverse doesnt fly at all. Thinkpool provided a video showing it dropping like a stone. Why that was put on Thingiverses frontpage eludes me.Jeremy U wrote at 3/9/2016 5:27:29 AM:This is Thinkpool from Thingiverse and I want to thank the Tongji University in Shanghai for using my design. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:951687 I know the university is a honorable and reputable institution that would never steal a design without some sort of Attribution. Check out my other flying designs including my Dragonfly on Thingiverse. http://www.thingiverse.com/thinkpool/designs I will continue to make flying wonders, thank you.craig billings wrote at 3/8/2016 1:27:05 PM:It's called 'CHINA innovation' aubenc. *sarcasm*aubenc wrote at 3/7/2016 8:00:29 PM:There's something that sounds/looks at least "weird" in this post. Looking at the 1st pics here (2nd, 3rd and 4th)... It doesn't look like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:951687 has something to do with any Shanghai University. Looking at it the other way around, the shanghai Univ. work looks a lot to the thingiverse thing. Now, who was the first? Has one the permission from the other to use the other one's work without any attribution? Are they part of a team, collaboration or whatever? I just don't know but, still, there's something that looks not right to me here.




Mar 7, 2016 | By Alec

While weve already seen plenty of 3D printed prostheses and bionic limbs that replace missing arms and limbs, that is actually a relatively small portion of the collective of wearable medical devices. At some point in our lives, most of us will have worn orthotics or braces for some period of time and, as is the case for prosthetics, getting the right fit can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. To combat those common problems, 3D printing giant Stratasys has recently founded CYBER with the University of Michigan and Altair Engineering. Their goal? To transform the orthotics industry through 3D printing.

Its just one of those portions of the medical industry that people accept without thinking about what else is possible. If you have an injured, weakened or recovering body part, youll quickly be directed towards braces and orthoses (also known as orthotics). While many people wear them for just a few weeks, a significant proportion of orthotics are actually used to address long term conditions too. Muscle weaknesses, neural damage caused by a stroke, multiple sclerosis, nerve injuries, and more  orthotics are actually very frequently prescribed. A significant portion of those orthotics are going to military veterans in the US  According to the US Veterans Administration (VA), spending on those kinds of medical devices increased almost 80%, from $907M to $1.6B from 2005 to 2009, with about 1.5 million orthoses provided in 2009. And with populations aging, it is projected that up to 7.3 million US citizens could be wearing orthoses by 2020.

In short, this is thus a field that could incredibly benefit form custom-made and well-fitting wearables, and that is exactly what CYBER seeks to realize. According to Andrew Hanson and Scott Rader of Stratasys, this partnership will be working to find solutions that leverage 3D printing and Industry 4.0 to transform the design, comfort, utility and customization of Ankle Foot Orthotics (AFO). Whats more, they have already found funding from innovation institute America Makes.

The current mold-based production system for orthotics.

So what will this solution look like? In a nutshell, the CYBER team will seek to set up a digital workflow system that combines a cloud-based physical system with 3D printing and Altairs OptiStruct Software. Right now, getting a custom-made orthosis takes about a month, with extensive mold making and hand-made modifications being necessary. Add that up to the insurance authorization processes and existing demand issues, and it is everything but easy or cheap for the patient. Its also simply not very efficient. The final structures are heavy due to a constant sheet thickness, while strength and flexibility in the areas that count is non-existent.

The patient is left with a bulky limitation on his leg. Though customized, its is everything by optimized  and that is something 3D printing can realize. While custom AFOs have always been created with a patients custom shape, additive manufacturing provides improved possibilities to truly customize the manufacturing of an AFO. The ability to adjust trim lines and alter the type or thickness of plastic has provided some basic options for tuning the flexibility of an AFO, says Jeff Wensman from Michigans Orthotics and Prosthetics Center. But, additive manufacturing, and specifically the CYBER team, is creating a process to actually engineer and design an AFO for a specific patient. Different amounts or types of material can be printed to provide a specified stiffness and allow areas of flexibility, based on the patient presentation. This exciting technology opens up an entirely new tool box that the clinician can use to enhance patient outcomes.

To optimize this solution, CYBER is working on a digital platform that will allow clinicians to create Ankle-Foot Orthoses with automated tools that provides options for perfect integration of a patients prescription. The engineered cyber-physical system provides the seamless integration of the cloud based algorithms with the physical component manufacture to optimize overall part geometry and its corresponding tool-paths, they say.

Not only could this reduce waiting time to as little as a day, it also greatly reduces material waste through 3D scanning and 3D printing and reduces the need for regular doctor visits. Whats more, it will enable a very personalized form of care  enabling doctors, for instance, to provide an elderly wearer with a most light-weight option as possible. And to insure this doesnt add additional burdens to doctors, Stratasys and Altair engineers manage the workflow and input optimization alternations.

To be fair, there are still a few obstacles that need to be overcome before this can be a realistic option. Specifically, current 3D printing solutions do not yet provide a high enough throughput to enable one-day visits. A new production system will therefore have to be adopted, one that also makes multiple material 3D printing accurate and efficient enough. On the software side, a whole clinical interface will need to be integrated into CAD design as well.

But then youd really have a platform that could not only be efficient, but cost-effective too. The US Veteran Administration is lined up as one of the first CYBER partners, and estimates suggest that they could save as much as $1.3B per year by 2020 with a full adoption of the CYBER program. A proof of concept is scheduled for 2017. Integrating additive manufacturing into orthotics and prosthetics patient care is an opportunity for the manufacturing community to make a positive impact in healthcare; the success of this project is expected to make the manufacturing process more efficient and reliable, so that orthotics and prosthetics service can be more accessible to people who need it, they conclude.

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Trevor wrote at 3/7/2016 6:47:24 PM:Did Stratasys just hint at multi-material printing? Hopefully it come quickly! it's been ~6 years since the last real machine release... What materials are they printing with?




by Evert Cilliers aka Adam Ash



Ronald Reagan cut the top marginal income tax rate from 50% to 28%, made war on labor unions, and saddled us with massive income inequality.

Bill Clinton exported our manufacturing jobs with NAFTA, and signed the two bills that repealed Glass-Steagall and removed derivatives from all oversight  to bequeath us the crash of 2008 and the Great Recession.

George W. Bush lied America into committing a war crime by invading Iraq and causing the deaths of over 4,000 of our young men, and giving countless more soldiers brain damage, loss of limbs, PTSD, and driving many to suicide, and killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi women and children.

There's no way that Donald Trump can be that bad as our president.

He's not that dumb, for a start.

In fact, he's smarter than the entire GOP (not that this says much).

What people forget is that Trump is basically bullshitting his way to the nomination. After Eric Cantor lost to Dave Brat, who played the immigration card hard and accused Cantor of being in favor of amnesty, Trump stuck his finger in the wind and realized he could get somewhere as a presidential candidate if he got hard-assed about immigration.

He was right.

I don't for a moment believe that Donald will ever build a wall, or expect Mexico to pay for it. That's just his way of coming up with great bullshit, to dramatize the immigration issue so everybody gets it in simple terms. A fucking wall!? Yeah, right, that'll keep them out.

And once Trump got going, he started hitting the one issue that he is serious about, and that we should all be serious about: getting our jobs back from China. It would a great day for US manufacturing when Donald sticks some punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. That's not bullshit, that's what our manufacturing industry and our workers sorely need.

Trump must be the first Republican ever who has no respect for any Republican leader. He never stops insulting them, from the moment he said John McCain is no war hero, to neutering Jeb by calling him low energy, to claiming Mitt Romney would have gone down on his knees for Trump's endorsement, etc. etc. This guy may be running as a Republican in name, but he sure ain't no party man.

Don't forget, Trump is a socially liberal New Yorker, and not a dyed-in-the-wool conservative by any measure. Which is why he's got nothing against Planned Parenthood, Social Security, abortion or any of the other socially-retro bugaboos so beloved by the troglodyte GOP.

Trump is a man who can read people, and who has read America, and knows what bullshit works to get the nomination. Demonize Mexican immigrants, demonize Muslims, and so con poorly educated nativist older white men who've had a hard time since wage stagnation started in 1970 to eventually blister their American Dream to tatters, and who need to blame someone.

Despite being a man from the elite, Trump can talk the talk that regular Americans understand. It's because Trump is a real estate guy. If you've ever been around real estate guys, you know they're very down-to-earth. Got the common touch. Trump can talk blue-collar language, even though he was born rich and got his MBA at Wharton. Of course, he also happens to be a narcissistic blowhard vulgarian, but that's every poor guy's dream of how he would act if he were rich. So Trump is a walking wish fulfillment of every poor guy. That's why they love him. He's also a strong man, real macho, with the hottest wife in the field. As one woman supporter said, Trump has balls the size of watermelons, while the other GOP candidates' balls are the size of raisins.

Watch how Trump ducks and weaves against Hillary in the general. Heck, he doesn't even have to track to the center: he's gotten this far without really having any policies, so he's free to say whatever he wants, which he is pretty good at.

And Hillary had better watch out, because Trump is the best counter-puncher in the business. What happened when she complained about his attitude to women? He reminded her forcefully how she had treated the women with whom her husband had dallied. Hillary immediately shut the fuck up.

It's going to be a riot, watching the insider candidate being baited by the outsider. The establishment vs the anti-establishment. Where do you think the sentiment of America lies? With the anti-establishment, which is why Trump is demolishing the GOP field and why Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary a run for her money.

Trump could win if he hangs the establishment label around Hillary's neck, and you can be sure he will. Americans are fed up with politicians, and Trump isn't one.

And if Trump wins the presidency, so what?

Just like Hillary, he's from our elite. He'll surround himself with his elite pals in his administration, and probably call on a number of business types. You know, Bloomberg types, who don't feel very party-affiliated (like Trump himself), but like to do a good job.

Trump will be a pretty good president, methinks. Way better than Reagan, Clinton or George W. Probably not as good as Obama, our best president since FDR and LBJ, but a damn side better than the utter disasters we've had in living memory.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
(Bloomberg) Ohio Governor John Kasich and his wife Karen paid about $1.3 million in federal taxes on the adjusted gross income of $5.1 million that they earned over a seven-year period, according to documents released by the Republican presidential candidates campaign.

The couples annual effective federal tax rate was 24.3 percent, according to Kasich for America, which released the first two pages of each tax return the couple filed from 2008 through 2014. The family also paid state taxes totaling $376,272 during this period.

Kasich, first elected governor of Ohio in 2010, didnt release the schedules for his returns that would have provided detail on the familys business income, dividends, capital gains and deductions. Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, competitors for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, also omitted such schedules when they released their respective tax returns in late February.

We have done what the others in the race have done, Rob Nichols, Kasichs press secretary, said in a telephone interview. Nichols said that the Republican front-runner, billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump, hasnt released anything.

Clinton Returns

In July, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, released full tax returns covering an eight-year period from 2007 through 2014. The documents showed that the Clintons paid an average federal tax rate of 31.6 percent on the $139.1 million that they earned during the period.

In addition to his salary as Ohios governor, Kasich derived his income during the period from his work as a public speaker, board member, author, commentator on Fox News and as an employee of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the New York-based brokerage that collapsed during the financial crisis.

While Karen Kasichs occupation is given as vice president in the returns for years prior to 2011, she last worked in that position for Gerbig, Snell, Weisheimer, a public relations firm now known as GSW Worldwide, around 2002, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Lehman Brothers

The couples highest earnings came in 2008, when they reported total income of about $1.4 million. That was the final year that Kasich worked for Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection that September after failing to wring a bailout from the federal government.

Kasich, who as an Ohio Representative became chairman of the House Budget Committee, hosted Heartland With John Kasich on Fox News Channel after leaving Congress. He has also written three books.

Kasich and his wife earned $892,609 in 2009 and $862,878 in 2010, including business income of $315,502 and $454,848 during the two respective years. While their business income fell to less than $140,000 in each of the two successive years, the decline was offset in part by distributions from individual retirement accounts, the tax documents show. These distributions totaled about $279,000 in each of 2011 and 2012.

Inheritance Payouts

Karen Kasich received the IRA distributions as an inheritance from her late father, according to Nichols. Her father had begun taking distributions from his individual retirement account, and there was still money left when he died. Federal law requires that the distributions he initiated continue to be made to heirs such as his daughter, Nichols said.

The Kasichs earnings fell to $313,705 in 2013 and $402,603 the following year, the tax filings show. They paid federal taxes at an effective rate of 15.1 percent in 2013 and 18.5 percent in 2014, according to Saturdays release.

The forms showed that the Kasichs overpaid their taxes by $127,787 in 2008 and by smaller amounts in 2012 and 2013the equivalent of giving the federal government an interest-free loan.

Financial disclosure forms filed with the Federal Election Commission, and made public in August 2015, showed Kasich, his wife and their two daughters had a net worth of between $9.1 million and $22.3 million, the Columbus Dispatch reported at the time.
The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve the management of its backup and restoration process, according to a new report.

The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, examined the IRSs Tier II Environment Backup and Restoration Process, which protects important data saved on its computer systems. TIGTA evaluated the process following an incident in which the IRS discovered that a backup did not exist when needed to restore significant data. In addition to finding that the IRS is not effectively managing the process, TIGTA learned the IRS did not take effective action following this incident.

According to TIGTA, IRS management has not established goals and does not regularly collect sufficient performance metrics to monitor, measure, and report on the effectiveness of the process.

The IRS must provide adequate backup and restoration of this important computer data, called the Tier II Environment, which consists of non-mainframe servers, the report noted. These servers run various operating systems, including versions of Microsoft Server, Linux and UNIX. Some examples of the important data stored within the Tier II environment include e-mails, personal and shared files, and taxpayer information. If the data is not backed up properly, a possibility exists that all taxpayer and management information could be lost and become unrecoverable. The IRS must effectively manage the Tier II backup and restoration environment to ensure that its technology fully serves taxpayers.

As a result, IRS management does not have information to detect if a required backup is not created. Similarly, management does not routinely test restoration of backups to ensure the integrity and reliability of the data.

If there is a failure in the ability to restore a system containing taxpayer data, it can have serious consequences in the IRSs ability to administer the tax system, said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement.

TIGTA recommended that the IRS chief technology officer establish goals and performance measures; implement a problem management process; and create and implement a backup strategy that includes tests to restore databases. The IRS should also ensure that a root cause analysis is performed on known vulnerabilities and that corrective actions are properly documented; develop standard operating procedures; and establish procedures to notify support personnel that backups have been completed successfully, according to the report. TIGTA also recommended upgrades to the software and aged hardware infrastructure, and the development of guidelines for actions that should be taken when equipment reaches its end of useful life.

The IRS agreed to establish goals and plans to implement performance measures and to use the measures to address these concerns. We generally agree with the recommendations, wrote IRS chief technology officer Terence V. Milholland in response to the report. However, we would like to point out that significant budget and resource constraints have challenged our efforts to modernize and maintain the computing infrastructures and associated processes that support the IRSs backup and restore requirements. Notwithstanding this challenge, we remain committed to providing the best backup and restore services possible.
A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Davenport, Iowa: Preparer Gregory Scott Alcala, 43, has pleaded guilty to preparing and presenting a false return, wire fraud and making a bomb threat in and affecting interstate commerce.

According to the plea agreement, in about February 2010 Alcala began operating Alcala Tax Service and beginning two years later and continuing to at least March 2014 he devised a scheme to defraud by filing altered returns. Specifically, he prepared returns for clients and provided them with a copy of the prepared return and told them that he had filed that return with the IRS.

In reality, Alcala did not file that version but instead, unbeknownst to the client, altered the return to inflate the refund. Alcala then filed the unauthorized version of the return and directed the additional refund amount to his bank account. Alcala prepared at least 164 returns that included false or fraudulent information and directed at least a portion of 159 of those refunds to his account.

On or about Dec. 26, 2013, a switchboard operator for Badger Mutual Insurance in Milwaukee received a call from Alcala in Davenport during which Alcala said he was going to send the operator a bomb.

Sentencing is June 8. Preparing and presenting a false tax return is punishable with a maximum of three years of imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. Wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years and up to a $250,000 fine. Alcala faces a maximum of 10 years and up to a $250,000 fine for making the bomb threat.

Aurora, Colo.: Preparer Kathy Jo Eads, 58, has pleaded guilty to preparing and filing a false income tax return.

Beginning in January 2010 and continuing through April 2013 and conducting business as Money Matters Financial Services, Eads prepared 33 false federal returns for 15 clients that included either a false Schedule C or a false Schedule C-EZ. All 33 returns requested refunds; the IRS paid 28 of them in full and the other five refunds were applied against previous taxes that the taxpayers owed. The 33 false returns resulted in a tax loss of $96,376.

Eads charged her clients varying fees. When one client requested her 2010 refund, Eads suggested that the client cash the check at a nearby check-cashing business; the client declined, and Eads asked, Wheres my tip? According to authorities, the client thought the question was a joke and walked out of the office, but Eads followed her into a parking lot and said, The only reason I put the business on your tax return was because I wanted a thousand dollars out of it.

Syracuse, N.Y.: Preparer Aundra Johnson, 46, has been charged with felony counts of grand larceny and attempted grand larceny and 18 counts of offering a false instrument for filing.

Johnson, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was released on his own recognizance, is employed by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and is also a paid preparer, running Johnsons Tax Service out of his home.

He is accused of filing false and fraudulent personal income tax returns claiming inflated refunds on behalf of numerous individuals for tax years 2010 through 2013. Johnson allegedly prepared phony returns using false income figures and fabricated income on Schedule Cs and made claims for unjustified claims for refundable credits.

If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison or more than $20,000 in fines.

West Palm Beach, Fla.: The U.S. has asked a federal court to stop preparer Renel Herard and his companies, Herard Tax Services, a.k.a. Herard Security & Training, and Herard Multi Services Inc. from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

The complaint alleges that Herard has been preparing returns since approximately 2009 and has prepared more than 4,000 for clients since 2011. The complaint also alleges that Herard prepares returns that unlawfully understate tax liabilities and overstate refunds by fabricating or exaggerating deductions and tax credits.

His practices include fabricating Schedule C losses and falsely claiming fuel tax, child care and education credits for taxpayers who did not incur qualified expenses, according to the complaint. The complaint further alleges that beginning with returns he prepared for the 2014 tax year, Herard falsely claimed the Premium Tax Credit.

The government complaint alleges that the loss to the U.S. Treasury may be in the millions of dollars.

Houston: Preparer Felix Martin has been indicted on 18 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns. The indictment alleges that Martin prepared false and fraudulent individual returns for others for the tax years 2009 and 2010, allegedly using false education and American Opportunity credits as well as false statements regarding business income.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false returns, as well as potential fines and restitution.

Dunmore, Pa.: Local resident Diego Rojas, 42, has been indicted for conspiracy to make false claims against the government.

Rojas owned and operated Dunmore Cash Checking, a tax preparation, check-cashing and money transfer business. In 2013, he deposited more than 350 U.S. Treasury checks, at least 250 of which were identified as coming from stolen ID refund fraud activities. The approximate value of these checks was $1.6 million, and each was deposited into a bank account that Rojas owned.

Annapolis, Md.: State comptroller Peter Franchot has suspended processing of electronic and paper returns from 22 private preparers at 28 locations due to a high volume of questionable returns.

The suspicious characteristics included business income reported when taxpayers did not own a business; refund amounts requested that were much higher than previous-year returns; inflated or undocumented business expenses; dependents claimed when taxpayer did not provide 50 percent of support or care; inflated wages and withholding information; and inflated itemized deductions.

The preparers or businesses were:

In Baltimore, Fachel Tax Service; Phenomenal Tax Service Corp.; TA Income Tax Service; JMD Tax Service; Marcjeze Tax Services; Bodmars Tax Service; MK Tax Services and Investment; Neighborhood Tax Services (a.k.a. Royal Auto Sales N Neighborhood Tax or People Tax Services); Chimex Tax Service; Veritas Efile Service (also in Greensboro, N.C.); and Jovan LLC.

Charles Multi Services, Pocomoke City, Md.; Irenes Taxes and Griffin Financial, both in Oxon Hill, Md.; Swift Pro Tax Service, in Nottingham, Md.; Tax Central USA, in Forest Heights, Md.; J & J Tax Service, in Accokeek, Md.; The Tax Store 101, in Bowie, Md.; and Broadview Advisors and Co., in Silver Spring, Md.

Swift Tax Service, in Washington; Evaniel Francois, in Naples, Fla.; and Eskindes Accounting and Tax, in Douglasville, Ga.

The latest suspensions follow announcements in the past several weeks that the comptroller halted processing returns from 37 other preparers.
By Derrick Broze

For the third time since December 2015, the Obama administration has met with social media companies to discuss fighting the spread of online extremism.

On February 23, the U.S. Department of Justice met with officials from Facebook, Twitter, and Google to discuss how online social media firms can take the lead in disrupting online radicalization.

Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism, attended the meeting and told Reuters it was a recognition that the government is ill-positioned and ill-equipped to counter ISIS online.

George Selim, director of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office for countering violent extremism activities, said the federal government is not equipped to push back against online recruitment efforts from terror groups. Selim said the objective is to help communities and young people to amplify their own messages.

Reuters reports that the U.S. government is also investing in counter-narrative programs at schools and community groups. Another program, funded by Facebook and the U.S. government, involved peer-to-peer (P2P) college courses that teach students to create their own anti-militant messaging.

A senior FBI official told Reuters that the bureau works with many other non-governmental organizations on spreading counter-narrative programs.

This latest meeting between social media firms and the U.S. government represents a continuation of policies the Obama Administration sought to enact at the end of 2015. In December 2015, President Obama gave a speech urging high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. The speech came after the terror attack in San Bernardino, California.

Despite the Obama administrations push for closer relationships, it seems that many tech companies may be resistant to working with the government. Reuters reported in December that former employees of Facebook, Google and Twitter, stated that the companies all worry that if they are public about their true level of cooperation with Western law enforcement agencies, they will face endless demands for similar action from countries around the world.

In January 2016, The Guardian reported that senior intelligence officials were flying to California to meet with executives from Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, YouTube and others.

The Guardian obtained a copy of the agenda which showed the White Houses desire to channel the tech firms talent into a fight against radicalization.

It states:

In what ways can we use technology to help disrupt paths to radicalization to violence, identify recruitment patterns, and provide metrics to help measure our efforts to counter radicalization to violence?

The meeting involved Obamas Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough; National Security Agency Chair, Admiral Mike Rogers; the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper; and FBI director, James Comey.

What does the increasingly cozy relationship between government and technology companies mean for the privacy of Americans? Should the people continue to use these services if they agree to operate more closely with the already intrusive U.S. government?

We should remain skeptical of the governments claims regarding their need to access private information shared through social networks.

Image Credit

This article first appeared at Ben Swanns TruthInMedia.com

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Derrick is available for interviews.
Advertising Club Madras, in its Diamond Jubilee year, presented its prestigious Distinguished Service Award to Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman & Managing Director, RK Swamy BBDO. The legendary RK Swamy was honoured with the first award in 1994 and Srinivasan Swamy is the sixth recipient of this award in the last 22 years.

The award is for his exceptional leadership and service to the Indian advertising industry.The award was presented by N Murali, Co-Chairman, The Hindu, who was the Chief Guest of the evening. The event, held on the evening of March 3, 2016, was attended by the veterans of the advertising industry.

RV Rajan, Past President of Advertising Club and Founder President of Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India; Ramesh Narayan, Past President of AAAI; N Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant; and DK Srinivasan, Honorary Secretary of Hindu Mission Hospital, felicitated Swamy on the occasion.

Advertising Club President KR Skandaraaj welcomed the gathering, while P Siva Prasad, Vice President, proposed a vote of thanks. Jagannath Ramaswamy, Past President of the Club, played host to the meeting.

N Murali warmly congratulated Swamy or Sundar on his outstanding achievement. Drawing a parallel between his father, RK Swamy, and him, N Murali said that both worked for the industry in different economic environments. RK Swamy worked at a time when advertising was seen as a necessary evil but a wasteful expenditure. He spoke of the huge contributions of both RK Swamy and Srinivasan Swamy to industry associations, specially the AAAI. By sheer dint of his abilities and fighting spirit, he (RK Swamy) breached that bastion when he took on the leadership role at AAAI. He was the first person from this part of the country to do that. The only second person to have done that is Sundar (Srinivasan) Swamy, N Murali further said.

With huge disruptions happening in the advertising industry, Murali commented that RK Swamy BBDO today is probably the only agency of its size that is full service under its own umbrella, and credit for that should go to Sundar and his team.

Ramesh Narayan, Past President of AAAI, tracing his association, mentioned that the Goafest was the brainchild of Srinivasan Swamy. He also movingly spoke of the human side of Srinivasan Swamy and as a steadfast friend. He added, Swamy may have been unwelcome to Mumbai in the late 90s, but he today is most popular there!

N Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant thanked Sundar for the contribution that he and his colleagues had made to help Cognizant grow. He complimented Sundar as person who always wanted to help others. Quoting from RK Swamys biography, he said, We carry a responsibility to the industry. No amount of time or money is an excess in serving the industry. It is the hand that feeds us, and added that Sundar indeed lived by these principles.

DK Srinivasan Honorary Secretary of Hindu Mission Hospital, of which Srinivasan Swamy is the President, shared the innumerable instances when both RK Swamy in the early days and Srinivasan Swamy later had rendered incomparable services in fund raising, in organising events and in constantly advising and helping the not for profit hospital or the Valluvar Gurukulam Schools, of which he is the Chairman.

RV Rajan talked about how the award got to be instituted in 1994 to honour RK Swamy principally. He also recalled his association with RK Swamy and later with Srinivasan Swamy. He delved into how the two generational representatives have left an indelible imprint on the Indian advertising industry.

The citation presented talked of various contributions made by Swamy to the various institutions he touched and the indelible mark he left behind while he was in their helm.

Srinivasan Swamys 5 key contributions

In his acceptance speech Srinivasan Swamy said that to him, the Award from the Advertising Club Madras was the most coveted one among his other awards received till now. As his contribution, he picked five aspects among many others to speak on.

The first was leading and building a relationship between IBF and AAAI as an institution to institution relationship and on an equal footing. He warmly recalled his role as Chairman of the joint industry body of IBF-AAAI for seven years and the camaraderie that was present between the executives from both sides.

The second contribution he listed was that of starting Goafest, and from day-one, how this was embraced by the constituents as a holistic festival comprising seminars, awards and fun place to be.

The third contribution that Swamy listed as meaningful was that of inviting media agencies to be part of AAAI under a Media forum which eventually lead to their being part of AAAI membership.

The fourth aspect highlighted by him was the fact that he helped set up Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (CAAAA); and the fifth point was on transforming IAA from a low profile organisation in India to that of being recognised as the most active industry body not just in India, but globally as well.
The body of 61-year-old Hua Davis of Wilmington, Delaware was discovered on the backside of MacNaughton Mountain, according to media reports.

Davis is said to have begun her hike on Friday and was reported overdue to Forest Rangers, who found her body about 4 p.m., Saturday afternoon.

Its believed she became hypothermic and disoriented. Temperatures were well-below freezing Friday night and there is still deep snow in the higher elevations of the High Peaks.

MacNaughton is a remote peak due north of the Upper Works trailhead in Tahawus, accessed in winter by orienteering rather than a marked trail. While there are herd paths at the summit, cripple-bush is common and the upper portions of the mountain are covered by blowdown.

According to comments posted to social media, Davis was a well-known and experienced hiker. Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau noted that she was the 1,000th Saranac 6er. We are saddened and sorry for her passing and extend our condolences to her family, Rabideau said in a post to social media. A post on the Saranac 6er Facebook page from 10:53 am Thursday read On the way to bag the 6 peaks.

Despite offering limited views, from the 1950s to the 1970s MacNaughton was believed to be over 4,000 feet and was climbed by many 46ers (its actual elevation is 3,983 ft). The peak is named for James MacNaughton, grandson of Adirondack Iron Works organizer Archibald McIntyre.

On Monday, DEC issued the following statements:

On Saturday, March 5, 2016 Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers began searching for an overdue hiker who did not return to her hiking party the night before. After locating the subjects car at the Adirondack Loj, Forest Rangers began an immediate and extensive search of MacNaughton Mountain and the surrounding area. After searching most of the day through snow, mud and cold temperatures, Forest Rangers found 61-year-old Hua Davis, of Wilmington, DE deceased on the western slopes of MacNaughton Mountain and then worked with New York State Police helicopter to transport her to Lake Placid Airport.

After completing the recovery operation in difficult backcountry terrain, as Forest Rangers hiked out a Forest Ranger fell through the ice of a brook and was submerged chest deep while carrying a 50-pound backpack. Fellow Rangers quickly pulled their colleague from the icy water, changed his clothes and stabilized his core temperature while the outdoor air temperature was in the lower 20s.

The Rangers requested an emergency extraction to prevent frostbite and hypothermia from overtaking the Forest Ranger. New York State Police and Forest Rangers, using night vision goggles, preformed a difficult, nighttime rescue operation in the Adirondack wilderness to secure the Rangers and transport them to Lake Placid Airport. The Forest Ranger was determined to be in stable condition and after warming up was sent back into service.

On March 5, 2016 at 1:11 p.m., DEC Ray Brook Dispatch received a request for assistance for a 35-year-old male from Brooklyn, NY who slipped and sustained a lower leg injury on Little Haystack Mountain. The hiker made his way to the false summit of Haystack where he was able to call for assistance. DEC Forest Rangers were in the area for a current search near McNaughton Mountain and assisted the injured male. The New York State Police Aviation assisted and reached the injured man at 3:20 p.m. He was packaged and hoisted out at 3:35 p.m. and flown to Adirondack Health in Saranac Lake for treatment. The incident concluded at 4:00 p.m.

This story has been updated with comments from Mayor Clyde Rabideau and a statement by DEC.
-- At the Air Force Associations Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced the newest bomber addition to the Air Forces long history of aircraft, the B-21. Now its up to you to name it.Im challenging and Im calling on every Airman, James said. We want our active-duty, our (Air) National Guard, our Reserve, our civilians, our family members; wed like all of you to give us your best suggestions for a name for the B-21, Americas newest bomber.For the B-21 naming contest guidelines and to submit, click here
AF announces Operation Colony Glacier casualty recovery

The Air Force announced on March 7 the names of two service members who have been recovered from a C-124 Globemaster II that was lost on Nov. 22, 1952.



Airmen 2nd Class Thomas Condon and Conrad Sprague have been recovered and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.



On Nov. 22, 1952, a C-124 crashed while en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, from McChord AFB, Washington. There were 11 crewmen and 41 passengers on board. Adverse weather conditions precluded immediate recovery attempts. In late November and early December 1952, search parties were unable to locate and recover any of the service members.



On June 9, 2012, an Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk crew spotted aircraft wreckage and debris while conducting a training mission over Colony Glacier, immediately west of Mount Gannett. Three days later, another Alaska National Guard team landed at the site to photograph the area and they found artifacts at the site that related to the wreckage of the C-124. Later that month, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and a joint task force team conducted a recovery operation at the site and recommended it continue to be monitored for possible future recovery operations.



In 2013, additional artifacts were visible and every summer since then, during a small window of opportunity, Alaskan Command and Alaska National Guard personnel have been supporting the joint effort of Operation Colony Glacier.



Medical examiners from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used testing done by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, along with other forensic evidence, in the identification of the service members. DNA testing continues to identify the remaining personnel. The crash site continues to be monitored for future possible recovery.



For more information, contact the Air Force public affairs at 703-695-0640. For service record specific information, contact the National Archives at 314-801-0816.
Flint recruiters assist community in crisis

Recruiters are known as the face of the Air Force in communities all across the U.S., and in Flint, Michigan, local recruiters Staff Sgts. Parker Smith and David Whitney are also known as the faces of compassion and humanitarian service.



The city of Flint has been in the news since April 2014 when its drinking water became contaminated with lead. While some repairs were made to the water distribution system, the damage was done, and President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Flint, Jan. 16. Shortly thereafter, Smith and Whitney, assigned to the 339th Recruiting Squadron E-Flight, began volunteering to help with the crisis.



"I felt bad for the people of Flint," said Whitney, who lives outside the affected area. "I was also pretty upset at the fact there were a lot of people griping and complaining about the issue but they didn't want to pitch in and help out."



The two recruiters have been volunteering every Wednesday and don't plan on stopping until the crisis is solved. They've helped assemble water testing kits, load bottled water into vehicles and unload pallets from trailers. Whitney said they normally hand out about 25,000 bottles of water during their volunteer shifts. Members of their delayed entry program also help out.



"I have asked them all to help out in some way whether it's handing out water or just donating water, and they have all participated," Whitney said.



Lt. Col. Justin Tyree, the 339th RCS commander, said that Whitney and Smith have been busy working to meet increased enlisted accession goals.



"Recruiting is a tough business, Tyree said. Yet they took the time and put in the extra effort to make everyday life more bearable for people they don't even know. That says a ton about their character. I'm very proud to serve alongside them.



Smith, a native of Mobile, Alabama, has been a recruiter for less than a year. He was formerly an F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chief.



"The thing that's meant the most to me during all this is seeing the gratefulness of the people we hand water to," he said.



Whitney, originally from Sumter, South Carolina, has been in Flint for four years. Before becoming a recruiter he was an electric power production craftsman. He also has an optimistic outlook on the situation.



"The best thing for me is that I'm making a difference and helping people get a basic necessity that they might not get otherwise," he said.



Whitney and Smith's flight chief, Master Sgt. Gregory Lamb, said the Flint recruiters are not only making a huge impact within the community, they are also showing the Air Force cares.



"When they are out sacrificing their personal time for other individuals, it shows that the Air Force thinks above itself by caring for the welfare of those families who need help," Lamb said. "It's awesome to see these two individuals carrying on the great tradition of the Air Force and its humanitarian efforts."
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 Command's 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."
Vive la liberte: B-52s join French forces for close air support exercise

U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses joined French aircraft and ground troops from a dozen nations to kick off a close air support exercise in the Mediterranean Monday, March 7.



Serpentex, an annual French-led exercise, involves joint-tactical air controllers from 12 partner countries. Operating on the French island of Corsica, these JTACs work together to practice properly identifying targets and using that data to call in air strikes from nearby French and American aircraft.



"Serpentex is a great opportunity to have all the JTACs from coalition nations in one place, training together to increase interoperability and work on communication skills," said Maj. Sarah Fortin, 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron assistant director of operations. "It gives them a chance to train and get smart on what they have to do and what their capabilities are, so later on down the road when it counts, they can perform effectively and efficiently."



Serpentex differs from other joint-military exercises in the region as it concentrates solely on close air support. This critical capability puts the power of precise, concentrated air strikes in the hands of troops on the ground, who can call these strikes in to defend themselves against enemy attacks or to eliminate vital targets with lethal accuracy.



This is the first year B-52s have been invited to participate in the exercise, as the role of CAS has traditionally been filled by various fighter platforms. The Stratofortress is well-suited for this application however, as it can loiter for extended periods and carries a wider range of munitions than any other aircraft in the U.S. inventory.



During the exercise, the B-52s will join with French fighters to support JTACs from several NATO nations as well as those from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, who are also participating this year. Training with a wide range of mission partners ensures a more comprehensive learning experience, Fortin explained.



"Working alongside our coalition partners out there will be a great experience for everybody," Fortin said. "Most of them haven't worked with bombers for these types of missions before. We have a longer duration and a lot wider turn radius than some of the fighters, so they're going to have to find a new pacing for calling us in for close air support. But I promise that bomber CAS is worth the wait."



The B-52s involved in Serpentex also participated in the Norwegian-led Cold Response 16, a large-scale NATO military training exercise in the Trndelag region of Norway involving 16,000 troops and comprising air, ground and maritime operations. The bombers will be participating in both exercises simultaneously for a short time as Cold Response winds down. Temporarily stationing the aircraft in Europe allowed for more sorties, shorter flight times, less fuel burned and more training hours.



"The ability to train bomber aircrews in different geographic combatant commands is essential to maintaining a strong, credible bomber force that enhances the security and stability of our allies and partners," said Lt. Col. Dennis Cummings, 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander. "Our ability to smoothly and effectively conduct these multinational missions is heavily indebted to the hospitality of Spain and fantastic support we are receiving from U.S. Air Forces Europe."


Women's History Month Spotlight: Lt. Col. Elizabeth Blanchford

Lieutenant Col. Elizabeth Blanchford is a Joint Logistics Planner, 953rd Reserve Support Squadron, Joint Planning Support Element, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC), U.S. Transportation Command, Norfolk, Virginia.



She is part of a unique mission which provides ready, rapidly deployable skillsets to form a joint task force in response to a major theater crisis. She provides strategic mobility functional expertise in development of contingency and crisis action plans for joint force commanders, accelerating the formation and effectiveness of JTF Headquarters with the joint operation planning process and logistics and air mobility planning.



She serves as a subject matter expert for JECC on strategic air mobility capabilities of the Air Force in joint operation planning.



A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Blanchford earned her Bachelor of Science in General/Liberal Studies, concentration in Biology with a Russian language minor in 1995. She earned her Master of Science degree as a Distinguished Graduate from Air University in Military Operational Art and Science and received the coveted Transformation Award for her thesis paper.



Blanchford entered active duty May 1995. Graduating from Aircraft Maintenance Officer training in 1995, she has had a broad range of assignments ranging from flight-line and depot maintenance to serving as an assistant director of Aerospace Studies, AFROTC Montana State University Detachment 450.



As a Tanker Airlift Control Element maintenance and operations officer with the 621st Air Mobility Operations Group, she led teams in support of presidential, humanitarian and contingency operations worldwide.



More recently she deployed with the JECC for a five-month crisis action planning effort at European Command. Following that deployment she served on a one-year active duty tour as an operations analyst in the EUCOM J7. She was responsible for providing timely, accurate, and relevant assessments to EUCOM senior leadership to enable their decision making process.

In addition to these assignments,



Blanchford performed duties as the admissions liaison officer for U.S. Air Force Academy for 11 years, two of which she served as the director for Montana.



Last year she represented the United States as team lead for the first womens Military Competition team for Confederacion Interaliada de Oficiales de Reserva (CIOR) in nearly a decade. This three-person Military Pentathlon team competed against NATO counterparts in rifle and pistol shooting, orienteering, land and water obstacle course, and hand grenade throwing. The womens team took first out of 24 teams in the Team Combat Casualty Care competition in Shumen, Bulgaria.



As a civilian she served as an international recruitment specialist for Montana State University. She was responsible for recruitment activities worldwide with a focus on Asia, India, the Middle East and Europe, traveling independently to 50 countries making presentations and conducting meetings with colleagues, counselors, students and families.



Blanchford also spent four years as a staff officer with the Physical Disability Board of Review, a congressionally mandated joint appellate level review board for veterans discharged from service in the 10 years post 9/11 with a disability of 20 percent or less.



Finally, she has accepted a job as the humanitarian assistance advisor to the military for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and will begin training for the new position next month.



Her awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Joint Service Achievement Medal.


Reserve welcomes Guard members to Yellow Ribbon training

After two decades in the Air Force, Master Sgt. Nicholas Barnhardt had yet to deploy overseas, and doing so was one of his goals. Before achieving that objective last year, though, the Florida Air National Guard meteorological technician and first sergeant attended Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program pre-deployment training with his wife.



I wanted to make sure Michelle had as much info as possible to prepare her for my absence, said Barnhardt, who is assigned to the 159th Weather Flight at Camp Blanding in Starke, southwest of Jacksonville. Since this was my first deployment, it was a learning experience for both of us. I wanted to make sure we were set up for success.



Yellow Ribbon promotes the well-being of Guard members, reservists and their loved ones by connecting them with resources before and after deployments. It began in 2008 following a congressional mandate for the Department of Defense to assist part-time military members in maintaining resiliency as they transition between their uniformed and civilian roles. GIs typically qualify to attend one Yellow Ribbon prior to deployment and two after returning home to help with their readjustment.



It made me feel better prepared to deploy, Barnhardt said while attending post-deployment Yellow Ribbon training hosted by the Air Force Reserve Feb. 27-28 in Orlando. He and other members of his unit were among 200 Guard members and their families who joined 500 people from the Air Force Reserve for the weekend event. Guard members sometimes attend Reserve Yellow Ribbon training weekends when they are more convenient for them than the Guards schedule is.



Maj. Gen. Michael Kim, mobilization augmentee to Lt. Gen. James Jackson in his role as commander of Air Force Reserve Command, was in Orlando and said he was glad the Reserve could support Guard members.



Were all Citizen Airmen, Kim said. We share the same lifestyle, trying to balance family, the Air Force and civilian jobs, so Im glad that the Guard is here with us.



Michelle Barnhardt said participating in the Yellow Ribbon event in Orlando helped her better prepare for her role as one of only two members of the Florida Air National Guard Key Spouse Program, which promotes partnerships with unit leadership, families, Airman & Family Readiness Centers, and other community and helping agencies. Key spouses help address needs of military families, especially supporting them during deployments.



A key spouse for one year, she said the event was great for networking with other families and resource providers, and that she will share information she received with other spouses from her husbands unit.



I like to keep track of those benefits and resources in case I can help somebody find what they need, she said. When people call and need information I try to seek it out immediately.



Her husband said he takes it upon himself to share information with his unit as well, especially the new members.



We recruited a lot of people recently, Barnhardt said. Im looking forward to enlightening them.



The weekend before the Orlando event, five Air National Guardsmen from Southern California joined 350 reservists and loved ones at Reserve Yellow Ribbon training in San Diego. The security forces members will deploy this spring from the 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station at the Port Hueneme portion of Naval Base Ventura County.



"I got a lot of questions answered for me and my family, said team leader Staff Sgt. Nicholas Morales, preparing for his sixth deployment. There was a lot of information and resources that helped put my family at ease about me leaving.



First-time deployer Senior Airman Evaristo Mares said the Yellow Ribbon event provided him and his wife with just the right amount of information.



"It wasn't too much. You could be a sponge (and) absorb it all, he said. There was a lot of good information for me and my spouse, especially contacts for her to get in touch with and to help stay in touch with me.



Mares said hes not the least concerned with this being his first deployment.



I know I have good top cover, he said. We're a cohesive team, and we watch out for each other.



The California Air National Guard sometimes sends its pre- or post-deployers to Reserve Yellow Ribbon events when it has 25 or fewer Airmen in need of the training, said Lera Masini, who coordinates Air National Guard Yellow Ribbon for the southern region of the state.



Ive gone myself, and it was enjoyable, he said. We usually dont send our Airmen to another state. Our events keep them close to their base.



(Ellen L. Hatfield of the 349th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Office at Travis Air Force Base, California, contributed to this report from San Diego)


At least seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the attack on a church in Khamardih area of Chhattisgarhs Raipur city yesterday.

Five people were injured as a mob of alleged Bajrang Dal members barged into a church in Khamardih during prayers and began vandalising the room and attacking the people present.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the police has taken necessary action and added that the guilty would not be spared.

We are in touch with the district administration, who has informed that necessary action would be taken and the guilty would be punished, Rijiju said.

Chhattisgarh Christian Forum President Arun Pannalal had yesterday told ANI that members of the Bajrang Dal chanting Jai Sri Ram charged into the church and attacked woman, ripped their clothes off and also thrashed infants.

They began alleging that people were being converted here. The police came here and seized the vehicles the attackers came here. They desecrated the Bible and some of the pictures that were hung on the wall, Pannalal told ANI.

He asserted that it was a matter of shame for the government that minorities were being constantly attacked.

This is the fourth attack on churchgoers in Chhattisgarh in the past five weeks. We are trying to get a First Information Report filed, Pannalal said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday registered case against Vijay Mallya under prevention of money laundering act and will question him shortly.

The ED has named 7 persons, including Mallya, in the money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had launched a preliminary enquiry against the king of good times under the anti-money laundering laws to ensure that he does not escape to friendly countries, just like former commissioner of Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi, whose deportation from the UK is long awaited after a series of red-corner notices.

With this, the enforcement sleuths were also in the process of short-listing Mallyas properties in India and overseas.

The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) will also pass orders on government-owned State Bank of Indias (SBI) application seeking lenders first right on the USD 75 million payout from Diageo Plc to Vijay Mallya under a recent sweetheart deal.

Rejecting allegations that he is an absconder in the wake of his statement to spend more time in England after signing a sweetheart deal with Diageo, the liquor baron said he will continue to cooperate with investigative agencies related to the loans provided by banks to long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The CBI found that the IDBI Bank granted loan to Kingfisher Airlines despite an adverse internal audit report on its financial condition. The report had highlighted that the company was unable to repay loans earlier obtained from a consortium of 17 banks of which IDBI was a part. Mr. Mallyas companies owed over Rs. 7,000 crore to the consortium.

The EDs move comes in the backdrop of the Karnataka High Court recently issuing notice to Mr. Mallya and nine others on a petition by State Bank of India (SBI) and 12 other banks seeking his arrest and impounding of his passport on charges of defaulting on loans.

Mallya, who was widely known as King of Good Times and his lavish parties before his businesses started plunging into one after another crisis resulting in sale or closure of various companies, also said that while banks would eventually recover a substantial part of their debt, the loss for his group is permanent.

I have been most pained as being painted as an absconder  I have neither the intention nor any reason to abscond. I have been a non-resident for almost 28 years and the Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged this in writing, he said in the statement.
RTI activist Anil Galgali has donated Rs 11,000 prize amount received as a token of appreciation for his contribution to the field of RTI to Naam Foundation an institution headed by leading actor Nana Patekar and Makrand Anaspure. They are collecting funds for providing relief to drought hit farmers in the state. Sajag Nagrik Manch (Alert Citizens Forum) Pune had organised confederation of Alert Citizen Right to Information Award at the BMCC road in the IMDR. The said award was conferred upon Senior Journalist and RTI activist Anil Galgali for his immense contribution in the field.

RTI activists both as individual or at groups level are soon emerging as our countrys strength. Their works should be spread across the country. Pune has emerged as the city of having maximum activists using the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the country. Other cities should take a cue from Pune, said Nikhil Dey a senior RTI activist.

Today the entire country is suddenly in the mood of serving the nation. But people like us refrain from such activities. This should be stopped somewhere now. Whilst following up with various cases for RTI, even today we have to undergo several hardships. Nothing is easy. But we havent stopped. We continue to serve our country through such works, said Anil Galgali.
US Vice President Joe Biden ruled out a military solution to end Syrias conflict in remarks published on Monday, calling for a political transition despite the difficulty.

That should be clear to everyone, Biden told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National at the start of a visit to the United Arab Emirates ahead of travelling to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement, he said.

Saudi Arabia, which backs the Syrian opposition, and ally the UAE have said they are willing to send ground troops to Syria under US command to battle the jihadist Islamic State group.

Bidens comments come as President Bashar al-Assads regime and its opponents are to this week resume UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva as a fragile ceasefire holds in Syria.

The talks are aimed at ending the five-year Syria war that has killed more than 270,000 people, displaced millions and devastated the country.

The fate of Assad, who is refusing to step down, has been one of the main sticking points in the talks.

A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild their country. To create a credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian system, a new constitution and free and fair elections, Biden said.

Biden said the truce that went into effect in Syria on February 27 seems to be holding but was not perfect.

He noted however that levels of violence have dropped significantly across the country and said this opened the way for the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Biden also praised US relations with the UAE and its partners in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

He acknowledged the challenges posed by the historic nuclear deal struck last year between Iran and world powers and the concerns it raised in GCC countries who are wary of Tehran.

Thats why we worked so hard to achieve a nuclear agreement with Iran, because as dangerous as Irans actions are, they would be exponentially greater if Iran possessed a nuclear weapon.

He said steps were being taken to bolster the security of the GCC monarchies to be able to deal with Iran diplomatically from a position of strength.

Biden was to hold talks later today with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and on tomorrow with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
After losing in Delhi and Bihar, BJP has big challenge ahead in Uttar Pradesh. After sweeping the State in the general elections of 2014, the party has been on a downward slope. Recently, BJP President Amit Shah claimed that the party will get a majority in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and exhorted its cadres to inform the people about the Narendra Modi governments achievements. When Mayawati spoke in the Rajya Sabha and forcefully reiterated her demand for a Dalit member in the committee investigating Rohith Vemulas suicide, she was not in a mood to listen to anyone. The BSP chief brushed aside the Chairman and told him, You listen to what I have to say. Mayawati told the HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who had threatened to cut off her head if the former UP CM was not satisfied, that she was not impressedand mischievously asked her what Irani would do now. Mayawatis speech on Vemula was not marked with great flair. Her tone remained monotonous, but the aggression was palpable. And this aggression was expected as she was relatively silent for long without issues. They are her vote bank in UP. Mayawati had three cleared objectives in her speech: 1). Use the Vemula issue to consolidate and polarize the entire Dalit community behind her. 2). Project a strong anti-BJP message to send a signal to the states Muslims; and 3). Position herself as a strong leader ready to take over Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

On the other hand, there are three other issues that might go against BJP in UP. Dalits in UP are heterogeneous and while Jatavs, Mayawatis own community, is solidly behind her, other non-Jatav Dalit communities often incline towards BJP. We have seen this trend in the 2014 General Elections. By picking up the issue that discriminates against a Dalit student, Mayawati hopes to consolidate all Dalit communitiesor at least, sow a seed of doubt in their minds about the BJP.

Mayawatis newly found aggression is also a signal to the states Muslims that they can bank on her. And finally, the BSP hopes to convert the Uttar Pradesh 2017 battle to one where Mayawati is projected as a strong leader.

The Samajwadi Party governments tenure is, in the public perception, associated with a degree of lawlessness and a weak CM, riddled with super-CMs from his family and party. This is contrasted with Mayawatis term, where she was seen to be strict on law and order and who kept the administration under tight control. If people in UP today look back at her rule with nostalgia, it is because she was strong. Meanwhile, BJP assumes that there is no challenge before the party in 2017 as the states people are fed up with caste politics unleashed by parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Ahead of the assembly elections, due next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rediscovered the maxim: United we stand, Divided we fall. Accordingly, the party is launching a massive effort to win over dissidents, both within the party and those who have parted ways. They will be drafted into the districtwise samanvay samiti (coordination committee) to work closely with the party leadership in the coming campaign.

The party is perturbed that, at the moment, the BJP state unit is beset with dissidence. In the 16th general election, the party swept the state winning 73 of the 80 seats in the Lok Sabhaa record for the BJP.

The need for coordination committees was felt because of the ongoing differences in the top rung of the BJPs Uttar Pradesh unit. While senior leaders admit that the BJP has several factions in Uttar Pradesh, the problem is visible as the party has not been able to choose its state president. There is an internal fight within the party leaders for becoming state president of the party and because of which lobbying has been started, as it is an important post. Some of the senior leaders of Uttar Pradesh, both at the national and the state levels are trying to influence their views but party President Amit Shah will take the final decision.

Senior leaders pointed out that though a coordination committee is not a constitutional body in the party, it was started to accommodate all party leaders so that there is no dissidence and people dont quit to join other political parties.

BJP is trying to accommodate as many leaders as it can through these committees, so that the dissidents, former MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) and MPs (members of Parliament) return to the party and start working for the BJP again. Political analysts cautioned that while the effort to start the coordination committees is a good step towards team building, but there are inherent differences and contradictions in the BJP, both at the national and state level.

Mr. Shah set to redo his national team in by the second week of March; it will be interesting to see just who is finally going to Lucknow, as a BJPs state unit president. For a struggling BJP to even appoint a party president to engage the complex caste arithmetic of Uttar Pradesh, Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani can be an ideal candidate along with other contender who is also Union Minister in Modis government.

With Rajnath Singh eminently suits the UP bill to confront the entrenched charismatic Opposition leaders like Mayawati, Mulayam but that will unsettle Union cabinet with none in BJP to step into Rajnaths shoes. Modi will also not be inclined to spare him for UP when the Centre is yet to grapple with increasing problems created by the constant side-kicks of left supported Congress. Iranis parliamentary performance has no relevance to UPs rural voters. After its Lok Sabha victory, the BJP chose to rest on oars without taking steps to consolidate by nurturing and projecting local leadership or by drafting suitable people from the central cabinet to lead the party in UP.

Rajnath Singh has previously served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2000 to 2002. Losing an active member of central team should be gain for the party as he as a chief ministerial candidate can save BJP. Muslims are unhappy with Mulayam and tactically vote for BSP. SP or BSP with whom Rahul goes may tilt the balance. Neutrals will like to vote for a formidable combination. In any case, BJP has a record immensely difficult to sustain.

Iranis so called fiery speech ended up opening a Pandoras Box, for the time being. Its put on hold due to budget; it will be taken up in right time by Mayawati to expose the lies of Irani. UP does not belong to BJP, results are very clear. BJPs winning streak is over, unless Ram Temple attracts some publicity.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, an organisation for women, under the leadership of activist Trupti Desai on Monday announced that they will march to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik and attempt to enter its sanctum sanctorum.

The group has demanded that women must be allowed inside the temple on Shivratri.

The march to the famous temple, which has been planned on the occasion of Shivratri today, has been organised by Bhumata Brigade of Pune. The group had previously protested against the ban on entry of women inside Shani Shinganapur temple.

Bhumata Brigade leader Trupti Desai said that despite the refusal of the temple committee to allow entry of women inside the Trimbakeshwar temple, the group is determined to go ahead with the march.

The Bhumata brigade members, who were arrested last month for their similar attempt at Shani Shingnapur temple, are ready for another face off with the district and the temple.

We will be able to enter the temple today. What police did last time is a violation of Constitution and they will not do that again, Desai said.

There is no case in any court either, so they cannot use that excuse. So I request the chief minister that they should deploy more police and allow us the entry. I would like to say to Hindutva groups that I am Hindu too. This is not a fight of religion or of god, this is a fight for womens rights, she added.

Desai had also met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in January over entry of women in Shani Shinganapur and Trimbakeshwar temples.

The ancient Trimbakeshwar temple, located 30 km from Nashik, is a major Lord Shiva shrine of the country, which has one of the 12 jyotirlingas, drawing devotees from far and wide.

In our culture there has been equal status given to both men and women and this was same for worshipping gods also. The women can equally worship god as men do. We feel the society must work in accordance and provide equal opportunity to all, said Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson MCW.

Meanwhile, the temple trust has maintained that the ban of entry of women is based on tradition, claiming that no objection has ever been raised on the same.

The ancient Trimbakeshwar temple, located 30 kilometres from Nashik, is a major Lord Shiva shrine of the country, which has one of the 12 jyotirlingas.
We have an opportunity to show the powers that be in Washington that the autism community can show a united front. The sum of the whole is greater and more powerful than the parts. We can do this without compromising our positions. The opportunity is called the Power of One March for Unity, sponsored by Unlocking Autism. This event is set up so that you can raise money for your preferred autism organization. See the website for details. POWER OF ONE WEBSITE The only requirement is that you walk next to each other with respect. Given our current political season, respect and decorum seem like quaint notions. They aren't. Families are drowning in autism related problems. Aging out and graduation from high school present monumental challenges. We'll need help with employment, or lack thereof, housing, medical care, social inclusion, romantic life, police interaction, mental health, financial stability and assistance for aging parents who will be crushed by having to care for adult children anywhere on the spectrum. You need to know that Autism Speaks, the autism organization with the most influence in Washington DC, has refused to participate. They've turned their back on unity, preferring their own blue lights -which frankly, do nothing but cast a gloomy pall of sadness. It's OK. They represent the status quo. And we all know that the status quo is woefully inadequate for actual people WITH autism and their families.

Visit the Power of One website to learn how to get a bracelet that supports your preferred organization. Autism Speaks tried to "brand" autism, as if it were Coca Cola, by using only blue. Autism was always multi-colored, from the earliest days. The puzzle was red, turquoise, blue, yellow and we all used it. Let's use it again.World Autism Awareness Day March - 2016, Washington, D.C.

Come be ONE. March for yourself, your children, your brother, your sister - anyone. March for unity. March for hope. March for change. March for one of these organizations.

Talk About Curing Autism

The Autism Society of America

Generation Rescue

The National Autism Association

Unlocking Autism

Come march for more than one organization if you want!








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Date: February, 2016.

Place: Lake Charles, United States.

Since the beggining of cinema, the so called science fiction stories have captivated the minds of millions of people. From far future civilisations to intergalactic battles and alleged alien invasions, these productions have brought large amounts of money to their creators, and joyful moments to spectators. However, this cheerful scene changes when some of these stories break the screen to become a true fact. This is what happened in the small city of Lake Charles, state of Louisiana, United States.

On February 29, specialised in UFOs web site MUFON.com received an anonymous report affirming that in the mentioned city there were lights hovering everywhere in trees around us, and also in our field and hovering on the 171 highway.

The source claims having seen beaming lights on us thru windows, which allegedly produce a strange fog. In our house the lights grow and expand causing electronic-like fog in our home that makes it hard to breathe a little bit, says the report.

The unidentified objects emitting the lights were described as all coloured balls of light moving. Blue, red, orange, gold, etc... Its like a rainbow!

The report finishes with these dramatic statements: I'm trying so hard to speak to someone about the insane events I've been through. These lights are little compared to such. I know they're out there. Contact me for the big story, PLEASE! I want to get this out there!

Draw your own conclusions

For further information: http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=view_long_desc&id=74893&rnd=

Long Description of Sighting Report

Lights hovering everywhere in trees around us. Lights in our field and hovering on the 171 hwy.. beaming lights on us thru windows and beaming lights on us if we have phones outside with us.. the beams make my leg cramp up (I have an ancient Egyptian rune tattoo on that very leg that stands for energy) the beams cause fog and in our house, the lights grow and expand causing electronic like fog in our home that makes it hard to breathe a little bit. When that happens and we try to look at them outside again, it's impossible bc they produce a static harsher than before that like sticks to our eyes and we cannot see.. it makes even the door seem to morph.. it's so very un realistic! It sounds crazy but we are 3 people seeing this VERY often here in Moss Bluff. We have one huge light I'm our back field that will zip aorund, fly up, show us all sides of its lights all over it and shoot off.. it's like the only real ship we keep seeing. It's still a ball like shape. There's all colored balls of light moving. Blue, red, orange, gold, etc... it's like a rainbow! They have tails, sometimes headlights and some of those headlights randomly jump up over our neighbors fences and go down and zip around in their yards.. I've had personal encounter with am extraterrestrial being.. and ever since then I feel so magnified when these lights come out. There has to be some type of alien dna or object within me. I'm trying so hard to speak to someone about the insane events I've been through. These lights are little compared to such. I know they're out there.. contact me for the big story, PLEASE! I want to get this out there!








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There has always been one thing that differentiates health workers from other fields of work and that is human empathy. Healthcare workers are always known to possess human empathy in very huge volumes to the extent that most are even willing to sacrifice their comfort in order to see a patient healthy and smiling. However, that has not been the case with Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum who with the passing of each and every single day practices the complete opposite of being empathetic to patients.

Numerous negative reviews by his patients, which can be found on RateMDS.com, all point to the sad fact that the well-being of humans and human life in general are valueless in his sight. One ex-patient wrote this, Empathy is important and totally necessary when dealing with very sick people. However, Dr. Tenenbaum does not know what that word means. This goes to prove that Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum really lacks that very essential component which makes all health workers and especially physicians very different from other people  human empathy.

It is this very same lack of human empathy on the part of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum that has led to a once energetic and healthy old woman now being totally helpless and even unable to speak or walk. This woman by name Dezrin Carby-Samuels has sadly tasted the wickedness of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum and his lack of value for human life.

For anyone who is suffering from a certain ailment, one factor that really helps in that persons speedy recovery is the love and care displayed by the physician and so it is very grave to find a physician who really rejoices when his patients are suffering. That behaviour is very inhumane and is never even put on display by the least of creatures in the world.

When one takes time to go through majority of the reviews posted on RateMDS.com by ex-patients of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum, none of them is willing to recommend him to anyone and this really speaks volumes of how wicked and callous he is to his patients.








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From the 1960s on down, many labels have been placed on African Nova Scotians who exhibited differing behaviors. These labels include learning disabled, crazy, animalistic, et cetera. One could venture to say most psychologists and psychiatrists in the province of Nova Scotia have little or no understanding of the lives, culture, heritage, lineage and traditions of African Nova Scotians.

Psychologists and others are said to play an essential role in helping people modify their behaviour to prevent and recover from chronic mental and physical illnesses. But these roles are limited when there is little understanding of the African Nova Scotian experience.

African Nova Scotians are just as much candidates for mental illness as any others, yet have limited access to and receive substantially less treatment.

Although mental health professionals in Nova Scotia have extensive training, they lack culturally appropriate training. As far as I am aware, there are fewer than 10 African Nova Scotian mental health counsellors, including myself. There needs to be an increase in funding for mental health services that includes culturally-sensitive programming and services. This can help reduce stigma and reduce much of the suspicion that many African Nova Scotians have of the mental health system. Equally, such programs will increase awareness and provide culturally competent services that promote inclusion.

Many African Nova Scotians are suspicious of the extent of mental health system because they do not see themselves in the picture. Personally, I suffer from anxiety and the mental health professionals I have visited had no clue or understanding about my culture, heritage, customs, traditions or the impact that racism has had on my mental wellbeing. Likewise, my father and many other seniors in the community suffer high levels of mental distress based on the power and control of racism.

Many organizations, if they had the necessary funding in place, could be the instruments and vehicles for necessary changeespecially if theyre non-profit. The key objectives of Afro-centric mental health services are programs and services based close to home, featuring community involvement (including set-up, monitoring and administration) and a timely response strategy to deal with youth in crisis in our communities.

There must be a concerted effort put forth to affect the action needed on Afro-centric mental health services. African Nova Scotians suffer in silence, not being privy to programs and services they can identify with. With differences in heritage, culture and lineage, the time is past due for services and programs that accommodate the unique differences of African Nova Scotians.

African Nova Scotians have been in Nova Scotia over 500 years, and deserve the same opportunities, considerations and health care as other Nova Scotians. With our aging population, federal and provincial governments have activated plans to attract and to bring others here, which is a good thing. But I encourage governments not to forget the peoplewho are already here.

Understanding heritage and ethnicity is the difference between healing and isolation.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to provide for all, not just the haves or the chosen few. To do so is to support and embrace diversity in all its splendour and glory.








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With the winter holidays behind us and a New Year ahead of us we now have a chance to ask ourselves how we want 2016 to be defined.

Its a time when we celebrated the arrival of thousands of refugees from war-torn Syria. How is it that Canada has a national refugee policy and no national strategy for dealing with poverty and homelessness?

Although there was no discussion about poverty in the Liberal platform for the federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his mandate letter to Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister for Families, Children and Social Development asked Duclos to, Lead the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy that would set targets to reduce poverty and measure and publicly report on our progress, in collaboration with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. Our strategy will align with and support existing provincial and municipal poverty reduction strategies.

A federal policy for poverty would help address the growing divide between those who have and those who dont in our society.

We need to rethink how we understand poverty and homelessness in our society. As Franklin D. Roosevelt argued, The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Presently resources and policies to address homelessness fall predominately on municipal governments. This means that cities are responsible not only for the costs of short-term housing but also any other homeless strategies including emergency shelters. The politicians at city hall are debating the budget for 2016 and already have jettisoned funds for some of the emergency shelters that were funded in 2015 after three people died on the streets in Toronto. Coun. Joe Cressy reports that last year brought the number of homeless deaths in Toronto since 1985 to 792 people. Deaths like these, that can be prevented are a sad comment on us as a society.

According to a 2013 survey conducted by the group Homeless Hub there are some 5,200 homeless people in the GTA. While the majority of those surveyed have access to some form of shelter, 450 people live permanently on the streets of Toronto. In a city where condominiums are being built on almost every corner we need to provide housing and access to housing for all our residents. As a society this should be one of our primary goals.

The researchers at Homeless Hub argue that one of the problems is how we look at homelessness.

They say we manage homelessness rather than eliminating it. Looking at plans developed by other communities and governments Homeless Hub advocates a Housing First policy that prioritizes finding stable long-term housing for those in need before addressing the issues that led to the loss of their homes.

At present an ad hoc system of emergency shelters and transitional housing is administered by different groups and agencies results in a tiered bureaucratic system that is difficult to navigate for anyone, let alone those who have been forced onto the streets. The homeless trying to access housing in this system are also required to meet certain criteria that can place strain on their already difficult circumstances.

This can include substance abuse counselling or other behavioural therapies in order to secure housing.

The ideas behind this system are moralistic, dating back to the 19th-century idea of the deserving and the undeserving poor.

The Housing First policy turns this model on its head, arranging first for housing and then for any other supportive services needed once individuals have secured safe homes.

Communities that have adopted the Housing First policy note a reduction in the number of homeless and the cost of administering to those in need. It is a win, win for all involved.

The homeless gain stable homes, the community gains individuals who can contribute again to society and the bean counters in local government see a reduction in overall costs.










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The frantic Downtown building boom continues. Three new, tall and very dense Downtown projects are in the news. One is a large office development close to Union Station along Bay Street; two are condos in the sensitive St. Lawrence Neighbourhood.

The Bay Street project by Ivanhoe Cambridge is two very tall office towers with a connecting landscaped bridge spanning the railway tracks between them .The 48-storey southern tower at 45 Bay will include a relocated GO bus station closer to the Gardiner Expressway. This is good for traffic.

Apart from GO buses, other long-distance buses are today farther north close to Bay and Dundas. They are not well connected to city public transit. They add to centretown traffic congestion. There is now a possibility these other buses may also be included in 45 Bay cresting a real central public transit hub. This location will also be connected to the future East Bayfront Light Rail Transit (LRT).

The 58-storey northern 141 Bay St. tower will be on the present GO bus station between the railway and the fine Classical Front St. federal office building. This tower will have a deep, 5-level underground public parking garage for 440 cars and also trucks serving the tower.

The garage access on Yonge Street is a problem. It directly faces The Esplanade leading into the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood. This stable, successful, mixed-income neighbourhood must be protected from more and heavy traffic.

New traffic lights on Yonge will control the garage access. But tricky means must be found to prevent or severely limit garage traffic from entering the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood via The Esplanade, the main street tying together the unique neighbourhood along the linear David Crombie Park.

The wide, landscaped bridge linking the Bay Street office towers seems innovative at first sight. Lush landscape drawings are seductive. But how will trees and plants grow in soil not well protected from winter freezing by the cold underside of the bridge? Also, how will the public be attracted to use the bridge far above pedestrian street level?

Another issue for the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood is a huge condo project by the Pemberton Group. The new project occupies a whole city block formerly occupied by Sobeys and Acura Motors between The Esplanade, Front, Sherbourne and Princess streets.

Even as revised, this project is totally out of scale and density with the existing low- and mid-rise, well-planned, mixed-income neighbourhood. The project will have four tall towers of 33, 29, 27 and 25 storeys on a 10-storey podium base. This is higher than even the nearby area tallest-yet-to-be-built two 26-storey towers along Front at Sherbourne recently approved by the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) against city and community objections.

The developer has successfully used the now common developer tactic of filing an early threatening appeal with the developer-friendly OMB. This appears again to have achieved the desired effect of intimidating overworked city planners and the community to basically accept the ever-so slightly reduced project still not fitting the unique neighbourhood.

Another proposed project threatening the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood is 75 The Esplanade on the south side of the street on the Church Street parking lot. The north side of The Esplanade in this area has heritage designated, 4-storey original waterfront warehouses. They have attracted lively bars and restaurants with busy summer outdoor patios on the wide sidewalk.

The tall, new project of 34 storeys by Harhay and Carttera will shadow The Esplanade for part of the day. Adjoining it is the unusual Novotel Hotel built some years ago according to the then but no longer enforceable city zoning bylaw.

The hotel rises six storeys before sloping back for three storeys to keep sunlight reaching the street. (Novotels attractive sidewalk arcade, reminiscent of old European cities, will not be continued along 75 The Esplanade.)

Condos on the back, southern side of 75 The Esplanade will stare across a narrow, busy lane right into the 8-storey city community housing residence built on top of the high, 6-storey open and 24/7 brightly lit city public parking garage.

A better solution would be to replace the lower condos facing the garage with internal parking in its 8-storey podium. Such parking is much less expensive for the developer than a deep 3-level underground garage for 126 cars. Condos in the podium can still face The Esplanade and Church St. The incessant push for more density and height in downtown continues. The question remains: Will the boom continue or bust?

Stig Harvor is a retired architect

Clarification and corrections of Stigs February profile in The Bulletin:

Stig was born 1929. He spent World War 2 in German-occupied Norway. He came to Canada in 1945 and moved from New Brunswick to Ottawa in 1959.

His Ottawa architectural firm Harvor and Menendez worked in association with Schoeler and Heaton on some notable projects. Later, Stig was involved in the design management of Place du Portage IV in Hull. He moved to Toronto in 1993 and took over retired architect and professor John Flanders column in The Bulletin in 2003.
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2016 - Both sides of the biotech labeling debate are gearing up for a final showdown on the Senate floor that could arrive as soon as this week.

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee have been negotiating details of a compromise version of the bill that the panel approved, 14-6, last week to preempt state GMO labeling laws. The key to passing a bill is to work out disclosure requirements that could appeal to enough Democrats to overcome an expected filibuster.

Senate action on the bill is a definite possibility as early this week, according to a Senate source.

The industry-backed Coalition for Safe Affordable Food and the American Soybean Association last week launched an effort last week to get farmers to call into Senate offices. A toll-free number was set up - 866-464-6633 - so growers can call to get advice on how to contact senators.

Coalition spokeswoman Claire Parker said the group would continue to pursue our full bore effort to get a uniform national labeling bill passed through Congress and will be urging that the Senate acts on this urgent matter before the Easter recess.

The committees legislation would allow food companies to proceed with plans to disclose biotech ingredients through a smartphone code or on the web through the new SmartLabel system. A possible compromise proposed by Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., would make the disclosure system mandatory if it doesnt cover at least 85 percent of relevant products within four years.

In a news conference on Friday at Commodity Classic, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the case for the mandatory disclosure approach that Democrats want, as spelled out in the Donnelly amendment.

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, Vilsack said.

If you have that kind of system thats mandatory, thats flexible, with time you can get 60 votes and get something that can get through the Senate.

The House passed a different preemption bill last summer but is expected to go along with whatever legislation emerges for the Senate.

Opponents have labeled the preemption bill the DARK Act, as in Denying Americans the Right to Know. They want Congress to instead mandate that companies put wording or a symbol on foods and they are trying to drum up a public outcry that would discourage Democrats from supporting the preemption bill.

One group, the Organic Consumers Association, is using the prospect of the floor debate to try raise $250,000 by March 15. We have to fight back. Fast, wrote the groups director, Ronnie Cummins.

Vilsack also is likely to be asked about the labeling issue on Wednesday afternoon when he testifies before the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, which controls his budget.

At a hearing before the panel last week, the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Robert Califf, affirmed the FDAs long-standing position that there is no legal justification for mandatory labeling of biotech products unless they are materially different than conventional version.

Vilsack also will speak to the National Farmers Union in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday at the groups annual convention.

Members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition will be on Capitol Hill for the second week in a row to lobby lawmakers to protect conservation spending and other programs from cuts in the appropriations process.

The groups policy director, Ferd Hoefner, said the farmers are largely avoiding the biotech labeling issue and instead focusing on preserving funding for food safety training, outreach to veteran and minority farmers, sustainable agriculture research, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.

The House is in recess this week.

Overseas, the European Union is moving toward reapproving the use of glyphosate herbicide, best known by the trade name Roundup. Experts from the 28 EU member countries are meeting privately to consider a European Commission proposal to extend authorization for glyphosate for 15 years.

Heres a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere:

Monday, March 7

National Farmers Union annual meeting through Tuesday, Bloomington, Minn.

Darci Vetter, the chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, speaks at the Virginia Governors Conference on Agricultural Trade, Richmond, Va.

9 a.m. - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addresses the NFU meeting.

Tuesday, March 8

NFU annual meeting.

8 a.m. - Vilsack addresses the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on federal efforts to improve child nutrition and curb opioid abuse, Omni Shoreham.

10 a.m. - Philanthropist Jay Faison holds news conference to announce plans to push Republicans toward conservative-focused energy agenda, National Press Club.

10 a.m. - Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Forest Service budget request, 366 Dirksen.

10 a.m. - Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, 138 Dirksen.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee hearing on the state of the maritime industry, 253 Russell.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing with Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, 342 Dirksen.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 138 Dirksen.

Wednesday, March 9

8 a.m. - Regeneration International hosts panel on Is Healthy Soil the Solution to Global Warming? with French agriculture official Catherine Geslain-Laneelle and others, National Press Club.

9:30 a.m. - Waterways Council press conference to discuss the Army Corps of Engineers fiscal 2017 budget and the Water Resources Development Act reauthorization, National Press Club.

9:30 a.m. - Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on Cooperative Federalism: State Perspectives on EPA Regulatory Actions and the Role of States as Co-Regulators, 406 Dirksen.

10 a.m. - Vilsack and former agriculture secretaries Dan Glickman and Ann Veneman discuss federal nutrition policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, 1225 Eye Street, NW.

Noon - USDA releases the month Crop Production report and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

2 p.m. - Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with Vilsack, 124 Dirksen.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, 138 Dirksen.

Thursday, March 10

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with President Obama, White House.

8:30 a.m. - USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.

Friday, March 11

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman meets with European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

#30
From 'Never Again' to 'Never Mind'

The Arabic letter "n" (inside red circle), signifying "Nasrani" (Christian), on an Assyrian home in Mosul. White House press secretary Josh Earnest was recently asked why the Obama administration refuses to call the Islamic State's (ISIS) brutal assault on Christians "Christian genocide." His response speaks volumes. "Legal ramifications," he blandly and bloodlessly answered, assuring us "there are lawyers that are considering whether or not that term can be properly applied." These pathetic, cold and empty words are especially jarring coming from the Obama White House. After all, it was President Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for "his diplomacy...founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." It was President Obama who declared, "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges." It was President Obama who lectured us in 2012, "Too often, the world has failed to prevent the killing of innocents on a massive scale...'Never again' is a challenge to defend the fundamental right of free people and free nations to exist in peace and security...'Never again' is a challenge to nations." Rampage It pays to recall that "Never again" is what the world said after Hitler and his death cult tried to erase Europe's entire Jewish population. In response, the United Nations in 1948 declared as genocide "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group": killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of one group to another group. Much of what ISIS has done in its rampage through Syria and Iraq is too gruesome to describe in this venue. But here's the R-rated version (one strains to find the words to sufficiently soften it to PG-13). You be the judge of whether it amounts to genocide or attempted genocide:

The European Union reports that Christians and Yazidis (a Kurdish religious tradition that blends elements of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam) "have been killed, slaughtered, beaten, subjected to extortion, abducted, and tortured" by the Islamic State's coordinated campaign of butchery and brutality.

ISIS has orchestrated mass-beheadings of Egyptian Christians; razed, desecrated, and plundered ancient Christian churches; shelled Christian homes; targeted Assyrian Christians for abduction; and crucified Christian children as young as 12.

As it carries out what the Hudson Institute's Nina Shea describes as "religious genocide," ISIS has given Christians a choice to convert to Islam, make payments to remain Christian, or face execution. In a haunting echo of how the Nazis branded Jews, the ISIS death cult marks Christian-owned properties with the Arabic equivalent of the letter "N," for "Nazarene."

ISIS has kidnapped and murdered 1,000 Christians in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The Iraqi city of Mosul has been emptied of Christians.

As proof of its savage piety, ISIS has murdered 5,000 Yazidis; forced 2,000 Yazidi women into marriage and sex slavery; conducted a systematic campaign of rape against Christian and Yazidi women; imprisoned Christian and Yazidi children as young as eight; sold children into slavery; and perhaps most shocking and shameful of all, used "mentally challenged" children as suicide bombers, according to the United Nations.

An estimated 700,000 Syrian Christians have fled the ISIS onslaught and the wider civil war in Syria. On a single night in August 2014, ISIS forced more than 150,000 Iraqi Christians from their homes and into hiding. All told, "More than 1 million Christians have fled the terror of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the remaining populations are a small remnant (250,000 in Iraq and 200,000 in Syria)," as J. Daniels, an expert in international human rights law, has written in this space.

According to The New York Times, ISIS has "manufactured rudimentary chemical warfare shells" and is aggressively pursuing a chemical-weapons capability.

In control of 26,000 square-miles of Iraq and Syria, ISIS is threatening U.S. strategic allies and treaty allies in Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia; using its Iraq-Syria beachhead to spread into Europe, Africa, and Afghanistan; and attracting footsoldiers to its cause. In fact, the number of foreigner fighters aligned with ISIS in Iraq and Syria has doubled, with as many as 31,000 people from 86 countries now fighting under the ISIS banner.

Just as ISIS draws fighters to its caliphate, it also inspires, dispatches, directs and commands fighters around the world, including in the U.S. The FBI has 900 ISIS-related investigations underway in all 50 states.

Since October 2015, ISIS has been responsible for at least 551 murders in eight countries outside its Iraq-Syria caliphate: The Paris siege (130 killed), Ankara bombing (102 killed), Russian airliner bombing (224 killed), Beirut market bombing (43 killed), Tunis bus bombing (12 killed), San Bernardino massacre (14 killed), Jakarta attack (seven killed), Istanbul suicide bombing (10 killed), and Aden car bombing (nine killed).

This list of mega-crimes is at once shocking yet unsurprising. After all, ISIS leaders have openly declared, "We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women." ISIS materials call for "jihad against the Jews, the Christians, the Rafida [Shiite Muslims], and the proponents of democracy." The Islamic State's founding father, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been clear from the beginning that he is at war with civilization, with anything or anyone that refuses to submit, with the very notion of free will. Like America's World War II foes, he delights in war. "Soldiers of the Islamic State," he howls, "erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the earth with fire." Like America's Cold War enemy, he hates freedom and wants to upend the liberal global order. "Let the world know that we are living today in a new era"--an era that will "trample the idol of nationalism, destroy the idol of democracy." And like his forefather Osama bin Laden, terror is his weapon of choice. "Terrorism is to refuse humiliation, subjugation and subordination... Terrify the enemies of Allah and seek death." Worse Than al Qaeda All of this explains why the European Parliament last month declared ISIS guilty of "committing genocide against Christians and Yazidis." What's difficult to explain is why the Obama administration hasn't come to a similar conclusion--to his credit, Secretary of State John Kerry tried in 2014--and why it hasn't done more to defend U.S. interests and ideals in this struggle between civilization and barbarism. Before discussing how ISIS is threatening U.S. interests, a moment on what the president hasn't done may be instructive. Gen. David Deptula, who led the initial air campaign in Afghanistan, says, "Airpower needs to be applied like a thunderstorm, and so far we've only witnessed a drizzle." He argues that "excessive procedures...are handing our adversary an advantage." The numbers amplify his point. Some 75 percent of warplanes are returning to base without releasing their weapons. The average number of strike sorties per day against ISIS is 11, with an average of 43 weapons releases per day. By way of comparison, Russian officials report that their air force--not known for power projection since the collapse of the Soviet Union-- launched 2,300 missions over Syria in a 48-day span. That translates into about 47 per day. In late 2014, the decrepit Syrian air force conducted 210 airstrikes in the span of 36 hours. To be sure, quality and precision are often more important than quantity when applying kinetic force, but there are benefits to quantity, as the American people--and their enemies--know from previous air campaigns. For the growing chorus of Americans who demand that U.S. intervention be limited only to places and purposes that directly impact U.S. interests, this is one of those unique instances where humanitarian ideals and national interests overlap. If the above litany of crimes against humanity assaults America's conscience, the following illustrates how ISIS represents a clear and present danger to America's interests:Add it all up, and ISIS is "more powerful now than al Qaeda was on 9/11," according to Rep. Peter King, chairman of a key House counterterrorism committee. Brett McGurk, the president's envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, calls ISIS "worse than al Qaeda." The Interest of Humanity Even so, we know that global leadership demands more than pursuing simple self-interest. In 1897, Theodore Roosevelt challenged America to resist "cold-blooded indifference to the misery of the oppressed." Even when "our own interests are not greatly involved," he declared a few years later, there are "occasional crimes committed on so vast a scale and of such peculiar horror" that "action may be justifiable and proper" "in the interest of humanity at large." Nobel laureate and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel invoked this same line of thinking during a 2012 ceremony at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial. "The greatest tragedy in history could have been prevented had the civilized world spoken up, taken measures in 1939, '40, '41, '42," he intoned. "So in this place we may ask: Have we learned anything from it?" As the White House averts its gaze, Pilate-like, from the Islamic State's assault on civilization, as Washington allows sequestration to shrink the reach, role, and resources of civilization's first responder and last line of defense, as our politics devolves into a reality-TV circus, as the American people focus on their hand-held devices, the answer is obvious. No one dares utter those words "Never again" nowadays. Sadly, as a hemorrhaging world staggers to the end of the Obama era, "Never mind" is more apt.
March 4, 2016

It was 3 a.m. on May 24 when an armed force burst into the Khalil family home. Noor Khalil opened his eyes to eight masked men. He was pulled out of bed, bound and blindfolded. Then he dropped off the face of the earth for four days.

In an Egyptian Homeland Security building, where physical constraints were accompanied by a gun to his head, Khalil said he learned that his brother had met with the same fate, except the latter would not resurface for 122 days.

A United Nations international convention defines enforced disappearance as the arrest, detention, abduction or other deprivation of liberty by a state or state-authorized agents, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the act.

Having strong roots in the 1990s war against terrorism, the phenomenon is not new to Egypt. But the term enforced disappearance was not common, and the incidents were not as documented or systematic as they are under the current regime, according to Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms. Lotfy, a former Amnesty International researcher, spoke with Al-Monitor in a recent interview.

Disappearances began increasing after then-President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in July 2013. Initially, Muslim Brotherhood supporters were targeted but now, enforced disappearances affect all citizens, whether politically affiliated or not.

At first, the disappeared were hidden in a military prison in Ismailia called Al-Azouli. As people emerged from there, telling horror stories of torture and mistreatment, the venue was exposed internationally in June 2014.

But that was not the end, and there is no way of telling how a person is chosen, human rights lawyer Haleem Henish told Al-Monitor.

Many victims of forced disappearance are Islamists but they are not leaders, nor do they have mobilizing power, Henish said. Ashraf Shehata, who was in favor of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi running for president, has been missing for two years, one of the longest documented stretches.

Authorities scoop up people, Lotfy said, like throwing a big net into the sea, and fishing out what they can.

He explained that everyone accompanying a suspect who is arrested is also arrested, followed by arrests of people from their circles. This is a common practice in the districts of Nasr City, Shubra and Matareya, where those detained are mainly children, he said.

Lotfy recounted an undocumented incident in which he said one high school student was arrested, and his whole class went missing for five days.

According to Article 54 of the Egyptian Constitution, police are required to deliver an arrested citizen to public prosecution within 24 hours. Yet one day might not provide enough time to extract information.

Khalil said his brother Islam was tortured with electric currents as he was suspended by his hands and feet, which were tied to a pipe in a position designed to inflict maximum stress. Denying knowledge about people he had never encountered before, his brother was told to stay hanging there until you remember. Racking his brain for information he didnt have while his blood pressure rose, he slipped into unconsciousness, Khalil told Al-Monitor.

Egypts security institutions are a failure, incapable of carrying out proper investigations, Henish said. So people are physically pressured or emotionally coerced until they confess to whatever crime.

All tales tell the same story. Hundreds of blindfolded and shackled Egyptians fill the corridors of Homeland Securitys invisible realms. They are forbidden to speak to each other. When they are interrogated, the questions dont involve certain charges, but pry into personal information about friends such as what books they read and which places they frequent, according to several interviews Al-Monitor conducted.

A pivotal topic is how the disappeared are related to the January 2011 revolution. One victim recounted being told, Tell me what you are planning! You revolutionaries brought down the country. Without Homeland Security, Egypt would have gone down in flames!

Lotfy said of the captors, They want the genie returned into the bottle that broke with the 2011 revolution.

In some cases, people are forcibly disappeared more than once. And some who disappear are killed, Henish said.

Noor Khalil recalled being threatened with the same fate as Islam Attito, an engineering student taken from an exam hall May 20. His body was found the next day.

People who are tortured into confessing to crimes that call for the death penalty are then quickly put through a military trial, without any opportunity for a fair one, Henish said. In a case dubbed Arab Sharkas, three young men were arrested before the crime they were accused of even took place, Henish said, yet they were executed.

Islam Khalil reappeared in September. Wearing the same clothes he was arrested in four months before, emitting a non-human like odor, peering through ghostly eyes from his hair-covered face, he was barely recognizable to his own family. With no strength to talk, he merely smiled.

Later, Khalil revealed that some people whose families thought were dead were actually still breathing. The list of names he provided gave new life to the campaign Stop Forced Disappearances, which had been launched in August. But saving those lives came with a high bill.

According to Noor Khalil, his brother was denied the opportunity to file a forensic report to document abuses. Officers plainly told him, You were targeted from above.

Al-Monitor was told that, when filing complaints at police stations, victims families are slapped with a sharp, sarcastic, Filing a complaint to the government against the government?

The Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied any forced disappearances in Egypt, to which human rights lawyer Taher Abo El Nasr replied, If the state claims ignorance of where a person is, it is still its job to find all those missing people.

An accountant who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, is one of the few to resurface, and is among the even fewer to be released without being tortured or framed. He remembers hearing angry voices from the room next to his giving the order, Confess to what you did. The order was followed by the unmistakable sound of powerful electric stun guns, exploding wails and screams.

When the accountant was discharged Feb. 11, he and three others were thrown by the side of a highway still blindfolded. As they parted ways, they congratulated each other on seeing life again  albeit a life forever tainted by the haunting whimpers coming from the room next door.
March 4, 2016

Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the Israeli military chief of staff, gave the Israeli Cabinet a periodic security briefing Feb. 21. According to press reports, Eizenkot expressed concern over the deteriorating political situation within the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the continuation, for six months by now, of almost daily terror attacks by individual Palestinians. He recommended to the Cabinet that the economic situation in the West Bank be ameliorated, primarily by allowing a greater number of Palestinians to work in Israel.

Simultaneously, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met in recent weeks with Palestinian Minister of Finance and Planning Shukri Bishara and agreed to transfer half a billion Israeli shekels ($127 million) of withheld customs tax to the PA in order to alleviate their enormous budget deficit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while reluctant to be personally identified with these policies, supports such moves, as he has already promised the US administration to take economic measures in that direction.

The Palestinians are in dire need of assistance. Their economy suffers as a result of the current security situation, with measures taken by the Israeli army curtailing freedom of movement. There is also the issue of fatigue and reluctance by the international donor community to keep transferring money to the PA. The unemployment rate in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has reached 27.5% and is over 35% for Palestinian youths, according to Trading Economics, which bases its figures on data from January by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. At the same time, the price of basic food products keeps rising and increased by 2.7% in 2015. The trade deficit is dramatic: $335 million in 2015, which is exacerbated by claims of economic mismanagement and government corruption. Nevertheless, despite the dire need for Israeli economic assistance, the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah rejects out of hand any Israeli talk of economic peace or any economic assistance replacing an immediate two-state solution.

A senior Fatah executive member with close ties to President Mahmoud Abbas spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity about the Israeli economic measures. Israel is not the solution to our economic hardship, but the cause of this hardship to begin with. Also, there is no real Israeli economic assistance  they are simply giving back our money from customs taxation according to existing economic agreements. And greater freedom of movement is a far cry from what our bilateral agreements stipulate. The PA cannot develop a single economic project in areas of its jurisdiction without Israeli military and bureaucratic consent. Not to speak of the prevention of Palestinian economic development in 60% of the West Bank [Area C, under Israeli control]. The security checks for imports and exports make trade impossible and Israels continuous hold on infrastructure materials and plans [water, electricity, roads] make daily life impossible. There is only one solution to prevent the gradual collapse of the Palestinian economy: Palestinian statehood on the 1967 lines and an end to the occupation. That is also the solution to Israels security predicament. We will not be bought by self-serving Israeli economic measures, he said with visible anger.

The Israeli governments view of economic peace derives from its rejection of a two-state solution. A senior Foreign Ministry official dealing with the Palestinian issue told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that a two-state solution is currently out of the question, blaming Abbas for incitement of violence. The senior official said that given this situation, Israels policy toward the PA must be based on aiding the West Bank economy in order to prevent the dismantling of the PA. He claimed that the Foreign Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces see eye to eye on this and expressed confidence that the transfer of funds by the minister of finance and the increase of Palestinian work permits to Israel would stabilize the internal Palestinian crisis and also the security situation.

This is diametrically opposed to the Palestinian perception. The Palestinian view of economic peace is that of economic cooperation between two neighboring states under conditions of equality.

The Israeli government suffers from a serious misperception in regard to its economic relationship with the PA. Israel aspires to increase and abuse the Palestinian dependence on its economic clout in the West Bank. What the Palestinians want is political and economic independence. They are ready, unlike most other Arab countries, for economic cooperation with Israel.

Returning funds to the Palestinians  funds that belong to them in the first place according to the Paris agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO  and granting work permits for cheap Palestinian labor signify basing such economic relations on Israeli dominance, instead of equality. A more constructive relationship will require Israeli investment in the Palestinian high-tech sector, joint economic zones, tourism cooperation and a more equal share of water resources for the Palestinians. Above all, this necessitates a different Israeli worldview leading to the sharing of the land between two states. What is proposed today leads up to a form of economic colonialism.
March 7, 2016

We should not be looking for love and warmth from the Egyptians. We should be looking for quiet and helpful cooperation instead, Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova of the Zionist Camp told Al-Monitor in response to the suspension of Tawfik Okasha from the Egyptian Parliament. The parliamentarian was punished for inviting Israels ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren, to his home for dinner. Okasha also had a shoe thrown at him in parliament, an incident that received wide coverage in the Egyptian media. The Israeli media also made much of the incident, and there has been speculation that Okasha had actually been sent to meet with the ambassador by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. If so, he would have been a test balloon, sent to see if it was possible to tighten relations between Egypt and Israel. Today, those relations consist primarily of military cooperation.

Svetlova, who was born in Russia, is an expert in Middle East affairs and a former commentator on Arab affairs for Channel 9. While working as a journalist, she covered the Arab Spring in Cairos Tahrir Square. Today she is completing a doctorate, writing her dissertation on coverage of Israel in the Egyptian media from the dawn of peace in 1977 up until 2011.

The rest of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: Do you see the incident involving Okasha and the Israeli ambassador as indicative of the normalization of Egypts ties with Israel?

Svetlova: No. There is still a long way to go before that. The truth is that I was very surprised that anyone even expected normalization between Egyptian and Israeli society now, of all times. The Egyptians are willing to accept Okashas attacks on Hamas, but they are not willing to accept his support for Israel. The fact that he opposes Hamas does not mean that he can support Israel. A distinction must be drawn between military and agricultural cooperation, which always exists, and normalization between the two societies themselves. Egyptian intellectuals have not changed their position, which is a classic Nasserite position that advocates struggle until the ends are achieved  and that includes the goals of the Palestinians. The circles of hatred toward Israelis have not disappeared, and no one is trying to dismantle them. That is why I was so surprised by Israels optimism.

Nevertheless, I also want to note that there have been a lot of improvements in the relationship between the two countries. Security and intelligence cooperation are currently more significant, and there are even slightly fewer manifestations of open hatred and incitement in the Egyptian press. That is the impression I get from reading the daily papers. There are fewer expressions of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric compared to the 1990s. Obviously, that is a positive change. When I speak to my friends there, some of them business people, they tell me that personally, they would like to see a thawing of the relationship between the two countries, and that they could benefit from that economically. Nevertheless, they note, they are also realists, so they dont think that such a change is possible right now.

Al-Monitor: What are the reasons for that?

Svetlova: It stems from the fact that ever since the revolution in Tahrir Square, the Egyptians have been much more focused on what is happening in their own country. They have plenty of problems with the Islamic State. Furthermore, the media is much freer. It is more independent and not managed by the regime itself. That is a significant change. Perhaps over time that will slowly bring about change, but it certainly wont happen all at once, and definitely not when the education system hasnt changed, when the entire media hasnt changed. There is almost no pro-Israel coverage, or coverage of Israels intellectual and economic achievements. They still sell "Mein Kampf" and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" at Egyptian book fairs. The hatred toward us exists, and there are people in Egypt who make a point of feeding it, including both Islamists and radical leftists. Right now, no one has it on their agenda to change attitudes toward Israel; so yes, they cooperate with us when it is convenient, but they make a point of not appearing too close to Israel.

Al-Monitor: Does it have to do with Israels policies in the territories and the occupation?

Svetlova: I wouldnt connect everything that is happening in Egypt to what is happening  or not happening  here. What we must remember is that even in the 1990s, when the PLO recognized Israel and peace accords were signed, it really had no impact on the way Israel was covered by the Egyptian media or the public in general. Reservations about us never really disappeared. There were cases of Israeli flags being burned and anti-Israel songs being performed. I cant say that things would be different if we would only act differently. The situation is much more complicated than that. I sometimes see Egyptian bloggers writing that they have to contend with the Islamic State. They say that they have plenty of problems and that Israel isnt their enemy. On an individual level, however, all that hasnt clicked yet, and I dont expect it to click soon. During the Arab Spring, there were conspiracy theories that Israel is behind the revolution and that it was intending to tear Egypt apart. In other words, the problem runs very deep.

Al-Monitor: Isnt the younger generation instigating change? Dont the social networks have an impact?

Svetlova: Only a small fraction of Egypts 90 million citizens are hooked up to the social networks. At the same time, exposure to new media actually often serves to reinforce prejudices against Israel. Nevertheless, I detect a glimmer of change. It is very slow, but it is still possible to point to the beginning of something. So, for example, the Egyptian TV series The Jewish Quarter, which aired during Ramadan, depicted the relationship between Jews and Egyptians before 1947 in a positive light. That is a ray of hope, as far as I am concerned. It was something about us that wasnt negative. It showed Jews without horns and a tail. Nevertheless, it is still far from being part of the general consensus.

Al-Monitor: Do you mean it wont happen in our generation?

Svetlova: I dont get the impression that the change will happen in this generation. It will take time. In order to bring about such changes to the popular consciousness, it is first necessary to destroy the seeds of hatred through education and the media. That is nowhere near happening. This is true even if there is no fighting or even open hostility between Egypt and us, and in fact, we cooperate in certain areas.

At present, we are in a situation in which the Egyptian government is maintaining and preserving its relationship with us, but on the other hand, it doesnt want to declare itself our friend. Former President Hosni Mubarak also went through all sorts of stages in his relationship with Israel. For example, when there was agricultural cooperation, there was an article in one of the Egyptian newspapers that Israel was poisoning Egyptian farmers. The editor of that paper was actually appointed by Mubarak. Incongruities like that have always existed.

Al-Monitor: What is Sisis position? In an interview with The Washington Post, he said that he speaks frequently with Netanyahu.

Svetlova: It is in Egypts interest to cooperate with Israel, because what is happening in Sinai  the infiltration of the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations  is important to Sisi, and he needs Israeli intelligence to counter it. It is all a matter of survival. Sisi is a very clever man. If Israel would take positive steps toward the Palestinians, it would certainly make it easier for him to take small but positive steps in our direction. Even then, however, these steps could not be dramatic. I do not believe that the public opinion in Egypt will change dramatically the moment we relaunch peace talks.

Al-Monitor: Do you see any chance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paying a historic visit to Cairo? There have been reports of that possibility recently.

Svetlova: I would really love to see that, but I dont think it will happen now. This is not the time for it, either. The relationship between the two states is good, but it is not a good idea to publicize that. Sisi has a lot on his plate, including Islamic State attacks, even in Cairo. This poses a big challenge to him, especially after he boasted that he restored security to the streets of Cairo. Politically, I think that we should stop looking for love and warmth, not from the Egyptians, and not from the Palestinians either. We need to focus on realpolitik, to consider what is best for our country and the advantages we stand to gain from partnerships, even quiet partnerships. Sometimes, the rush to announce something that doesnt exist yet and isnt even ready is actually detrimental to us. We have to accept things as they are. The Arab states, and Egypt in particular, are in the middle of an enormous struggle. They really arent that interested in us now, so we should let things calm down first.
March 7, 2016

Expel to Gaza the families of Palestinians who attack Israelis. That is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus latest proposal to combat the third intifada and dissuade possible future assailants. On March 2, the Prime Minister's Office asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to examine the legality of such expulsions, or perhaps more properly, to whitewash them.

In the letter, which the Prime Ministers Office released to the media, Netanyahu explained, I believe that using this tool would result in a significant reduction in the number of terrorist attacks against the State of Israel, its citizens, and its residents. Why was the request to the attorney general provided to the media? It is not clear. Was the Prime Ministers Office trying to put pressure on the attorney general, who seems to oppose any collective punishment that might not pass muster with the Supreme Court? Might Netanyahu be trying, yet again, to show the Israeli public that he has more effective methods to stop the wave of terrorism but is being hindered by the legal system?

Regardless, the proposal to expel the families of attackers as a form of collective punishment had been raised by the security forces as early as November 2015, in response to the stabbing attack in the Etzion settlement bloc in which Hadar Buchris was killed. According to security sources, the investigation of the incident revealed that the assailants mother knew that he was planning to launch the attack but failed to prevent it or report him. This became the basis of the proposal to include the families of terrorists in the circle of punishment and deterrence.

In October, when the current intifada began, the defense establishment had offered several proposals on how to combat the wave of terrorism. At the time, the specific characteristics of the intifada were unclear, and the main concern was that various armed Palestinian groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatahs armed wing, the Tanzim, might join it.

At the time, no one was talking about an intifada driven by young, individual Palestinians acting out of sheer desperation and going over the heads of the Palestinian leadership to launch attacks against Israelis. No one expected these young people to ignore the established Palestinian leadership, be it the Palestinian Authority or the leaders of various groups and movements in the territories.

Today, after half a year of this intifada, it seems as if the security forces and the political class alike have a relatively clear picture of the situation. What stymies everyone is the simple fact that no one has any idea about how to stop the wave of terrorism and rein in disaffected young Palestinians. What the security forces do know, however, is what they should not do: They should not let tensions in the West Bank escalate, and they should not be adding fuel to the fire.

The policy of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is inspired by its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot. Eizenkot recently said that he doesnt want to have a soldier empty his clip at a 13-year-old girl armed with a knife. Thus, the IDF has been filling the vacuum left by the political leadership: As reported in Al-Monitor in late February, the IDF proposed improving the Palestinian economy by increasing the number of work permits in Israel. In addition, it opposed grandiose operations in the territories and called for the bodies of Palestinian attackers to be returned to their families for burial. Given this record, it is hard to believe that the IDF and the rest of the security establishment are advocating the expulsion of attackers families to Gaza.

The weapon of expulsion had previously been tried as part of the prisoner exchange for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 to deal with freed Palestinians whom Israel refused to allow into the West Bank. Instead, these former prisoners were expelled to Turkey and other countries willing to take them. Some were sent to Gaza. As I wrote in Al-Monitor last July, just being in Gaza pushed these prisoners to plan more attacks and acts of revenge. What happened, in effect, was that they commanded terrorist networks in the West Bank from Gaza.

Similarly, the demolition of attackers homes is a controversial policy within the defense establishment. Defense officials had concluded during the second intifada (2000-2005) that the damage caused by this policy outweighed its usefulness. Today, with perpetrators of attacks unaffiliated with any particular group, the debate over the efficacy of destroying their homes has become much more intense. It is doubtful whether demolition really is an efficient means of preventing would-be terrorists from launching attacks in Israel. It could, in fact, encourage other family members or people in the families immediate circle to decide to launch their own revenge attacks.

The demolition of attackers' homes continues, with the political establishment having quelled the military establishments opposition. Netanyahu now seeks to expand the circle of punishment by expelling the families of the attackers to Gaza after their homes have been destroyed. If Netanyahus proposal is sanctioned and receives the courts seal of approval, Israels reputation could suffer irrevocably. Imagine the photos of women, children and the elderly whose homes were just destroyed being loaded onto army trucks under heavy military guard. The footage would be broadcast around the world, drawing unprecedented fire and claims of basic human rights violations. This kind of extensive media coverage would be like adding a barrel of gasoline to a fire already burning out of control.

Often, some family members of Palestinian attackers from the West Bank have a history of security violations. They would certainly have a motive for revenge. Concentrating them in Gaza stands in direct contrast to the predominant approach in the IDF focusing on the importance of reducing the motivations for terrorism, instead of increasing them. It could be a fatal mistake. Who is to say, for instance, that expelling the immediate family would not increase the motivation of extended family members remaining in the West Bank to take revenge by launching an attack?

The expulsion of families to Gaza could also cause serious problems for the Foreign Ministry, which, by chance, is also headed by Netanyahu. Ambassadors and their staff will have to contend with a world flooded with images of these families being torn from their homes. Worst of all, it is hard to imagine that Israels diplomatic representatives will have any plausible excuse to justify what is happening.
March 6, 2016

Irans Palestinian fault line

Iran may be poised to exploit the continued divide in relations between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as the PA shows further signs of strain and the prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution seem increasingly unlikely.

Daoud Kuttab suggests that a two-state solution may be all but dead, absent a massive international diplomatic intervention. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahus unconditional support for expanded settlement construction in the West Bank, including in an area known as E1, would cut off the north and south of the West Bank from one another. Palestinian officials have often repeated the statement that the two-state solution is dead or almost dead. The E1 settlement possibility is clearly one tangible case in which such a claim can be physically checked out and proven to be truly detrimental to the potential of an independent and interconnected Palestinian state, Kuttab writes.

Akiva Eldar laments that Moroccos decision not to host the Arab League summit this year is another sign of the missed opportunity offered by the Saudi-brokered Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. Kuttab proposes that 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.

The PAs fortunes are directly linked to the prospects for peace. Adnan Abu Amer reports that donor support for the PA is going downhill. He writes, "On Sept. 29, the World Bank expressed concern that the continued decline of international assistance to the PA would cause instability and political conflict. If a Palestinian state fails to emerge, stuck in a political dead-end with Israel, then international decision-makers will find it difficult to convince their constituents of the need to continue financing the PA, leading to the latters gradual inability to carry out its duties, services and administrative responsibilities to the Palestinian populace and its ultimate collapse.

Meanwhile, attempts to reconcile Hamas and the PA continue to flounder. Abu Amer reports that Qatar tried and failed to broker a deal between Hamas and PA leaders in Doha last month. Hazem Balousha writes that Hamas links to Egypts Muslim Brotherhood could be under strain after the Jordanian Brotherhoods Shura Council broke ties with the Egyptian branch last month. Balousha writes, It seems that Hamas is not about to announce any fundamental change in its ideology or links to the Muslim Brotherhood because it believes the region is in crisis and would thus prefer to wait until these crises are resolved and choices have been made.

Asmaa al-Ghoul reports from the Gaza Strip that initiatives by political leaders have become excuses for inaction, rather than calls to action. Ghoul writes, These political initiatives, which have engulfed the Palestinian political action, did not solve the accumulated crises in the Gaza Strip crisis  reconciliation is stalled, electricity is cut for more than 12 hours a day and the Rafah crossing remains closed and is only opened at intervals. All of this makes the initiatives seem like a mere public show.

Iran, meanwhile, seems poised to enhance its own position as a broker or spoiler on the Israeli-Palestinian fault line, a trend we have been covering in this column and in Palestine Pulse for over three years. Back in November 2012 we wrote, Iran revealed that it has the wherewithal to shift the equation and provide some payback [in Gaza], even in those areas where its adversaries allegedly hold sway.

Shlomi Eldar reports that Irans ambassador to Beirut has shrewdly offered aid and support to the families of Palestinians who died committing attacks against Israelis. It looks like Iran understands that what is happening now in the PA will have far-reaching, significant consequences. A full-blown intifada could shift priorities abruptly, and if Iran stakes a claim in the West Bank, it could influence the character of Palestine on the very next day, Eldar writes.

Eldar reviews Irans record of support for both the PA and Hamas. Irans interest in the region and its involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are nothing new, and Iran's past behavior gives some indication of the way it thinks, he writes. Iran is trying yet again to get a foothold in the West Bank. Its money will probably not go into the PAs coffers, since the government is considered to be collaborating with Israel. Rather, it will go to individual families through Islamic welfare institutions that assist Palestinians in the occupied territories. These institutions tend to be identified with Hamas and operate freely throughout the West Bank. Even when Hamas' relations with Iran chilled following the outbreak of the Syria war, Iran continued supporting the groups. Iran's generosity will make life much easier for the institutions and strengthen their influence across the West Bank. Therefore, while Abbas certainly understands the significance of an Iranian foothold in the territories, he is utterly unable to take on these charitable organizations.

Syrian military presses attack on Islamic State

Khaled Atallah reports from Damascus that Syrian military and allied forces have pressed an offensive against the Islamic State east of Hama.

Under the agreement for a cessation of hostilities in Syria negotiated last month, attacks are still permitted against IS and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaedas affiliate in Syria. Both the Syrian government and Syrian armed groups have blamed each other for violations of the agreement, but the sides are otherwise respecting the Feb. 27 agreement.

In terms of the forces participating in the battle alongside the Syrian army, he [Jamal Hazouri, a war correspondent accompanying the Syrian army forces] noted that hundreds of young people from the tribes of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor are taking part in the battle, fighting under the banner of the national defense forces. These forces consist of a militia formed by the regime to include young volunteers, be they Syrians or foreigners. They have been fighting alongside the army since the beginning of 2013, Atallah reports. The Raqqa battle is still relatively far away if we look at it from the perspective of distances that the Syrian army would have to cross. But from an ambitious perspective, it has become imminent.

Jaish al-Islam is not a rebel group

The Washington Post reports on March 5 that the powerful rebel group Jaish al-Islam released a statement claiming that the cease-fire had failed to stop pro-government advances, including near the rebel groups stronghold east of Damascus, the capital.

Sorry, Jaish al-Islam is no rebel group. This column has repeatedly called for clarity in reporting about armed groups operating in Syria. Jaish Al-Islam is a foreign-backed, jihadist entity fueled by an ideology of sectarian bigotry and hatred that mirrors that of Jabhat al-Nusra and IS. It militarily collaborates with Jabhat al-Nusra and that may be why it is the target of recent attacks. If so, we say let it be. Syria is better served when Jaish al-Islam, like Jabhat al-Nusra and IS, are driven out of Syria for good. Labeling Jaish al-Islam fighters as rebels is both inaccurate and a disservice to the many Syrians among the opposition who seek a unified and nonsectarian future for their country. Ali Mamouri analyzed the hate-filled ideology of former Jaish al-Islam leader Zahran Alloush. It is worth reading again.

Al-Monitor Syria Timeline

Julian Pecquet this week presents a timeline of the perspectives of US officials on US policy toward Syria.

He writes, At the root of the Obama policy's failure, argues former Ambassador Ryan Crocker, was the mistaken impression that Bashar al-Assad would be as easy to dislodge as other dictators felled by the Arab Spring. As ambassador to Syria, Crocker had formed firsthand impressions of the Syrian regime's "near-perfect police state" in one-on-one discussions with the future Syrian leader in the late 1990s, but no one in the administration asked for his opinion before announcing that Assad had to go. "It's Diplomacy 101: Never set a policy if you don't have the means to achieve it," Crocker told Al-Monitor. "That was a policy based on hope, which we all know is a fairly idiotic concept."
March 6, 2016

The funeral for Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi, the former custodian of the shrine of Imam Reza, was held March 5 in the holy city of Mashhad. It was a significant funeral not only because of who attended  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, all traveled from the capital, Tehran, to the northeastern city to attend  but it was the end of one of the longest tenures since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

With the passing of Ayatollah Tabasi there is now a vacancy for being custodian of one of the wealthiest charitable foundations in the country, Astan Quds Razavi; the position will be highly coveted for its religious and material significance.

Tabasi fell ill with respiratory problems Feb. 26, just as Iran was holding parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts but did not run in the elections. Tabasis grandson announced his passing on Telegram on March 4. He was 80 years old.

Born in the city of Mashhad to a religious family, Tabasi entered the seminary at the age of 16 and immediately excelled. According to Tabnak news, he studied under a number of learned clerics, and the leading cleric of Iran at the time, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, had recognized Tabasis talent.

For his political activities against the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Tabasi was forbidden from giving sermons and was imprisoned a number of times. After the revolution, the former supreme leader and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, appointed Tabasi as his representative to Khorasan province and as custodian of Astan Quds Razavi. When Ayatollah Khamenei became supreme leader, he renewed Tabasi's positions.

Astan Quds Razavi is a charitable endowment that oversees the holy shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite imam, and owns numerous subsidiary institutions, businesses and landholdings throughout the country. There are no specific numbers of the total wealth of the endowment but a 2004 estimate put it at $15 billion. Given that the endowment has steadily grown under Tabasi, this figure is probably larger today. Approximately 17 million Iranians and Shiites around the world visit the shrine of Imam Reza every year, which is also a source of revenue for the endowment.

While Iran has other endowments, none of them have the same political, religious, financial and geographical status as Astan Quds Razavi, according to the Asre Iran news website. Ensaf News wrote, Other than its spiritual position because of the high volume of its economic activity and its political power, it is considered one of the most important components of the [position of the] supreme leader.

Ensaf reported that due to accusations of a lack of transparency in its economic affairs, the institution has for a long time been a source of rumors about financial impropriety  though the article said that no accusation has ever been proven. Throughout its history there have also been attempts to tax Astan Quds Razavi but because it is a charitable foundation, these attempts have been blocked.

Tabasi held this position for 37 years; no other major institution in the country has been associated with one individual for such a long time, and especially from its inception. Although Tabasi was close to Khamenei, he was also believed to be close in political leanings to the pragmatist Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and opposed the policies of hard-line officials. Asre-e Iran wrote that former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had attempted to exert influence over Astan Quds Razavi but was blocked by Tabasi.

While a number of names have floated around in the Iranian media as possible successors, according to a number of Iranian websites, Prosecutor General Sayed Ibrahim Raisi is rumored to be named as custodian of Astan Quds Razavi. Raisi, 55, was born in Mashhad and is currently a member of the Assembly of Experts and the conservative Combatant Clergy Association. Seyyed Mehdi Khamoushi, head of the Islamic Propagation Organization, is another name that has been mentioned as taking over Astan Quds Razavi. Hard-line Mashhad prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda is rumored to take over as Khameneis representative to Khorasan province.

*Update, March 7: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed General Prosecutor Hojat al-Islam Seyyed Ibrahim Raisi to head Astan Quds Razavi, Irans wealthiest endowment. Raisis political career began just a few years after the 1979 revolution when he became prosecutor of Karaj. He quickly excelled and former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini handed him some of the most important cases in the country. Raisi has held important positions such as head of the General Inspections Office and prosecutor general for the Special Court of Clergy. He is also a member of the Assembly of Experts representing South Khorasan province.
March 6, 2016

The United States and Tunisia are cooperating more tightly than ever to combat terrorism in North Africa, the fledgling democracys envoy to Washington told Al-Monitor in a pair of recent interviews.

Faycal Gouia said relations between the two countries are closer than he has ever seen them in 25 years on the job. Days after a US strike in Libya near the border killed several dozen suspected terrorists  including an alleged mastermind of last years attacks in Tunisia  he suggested such operations are becoming the new normal as nations throughout the Middle East and beyond join forces to defeat a common enemy.

We are witnessing a time and a reality that encourages and urges all efforts to be gathered to fight terrorism, Gouia said. Sometimes we have to ignore national egos and even part of our sovereignty to give full success to our fight.

Gouia spoke with Al-Monitor at the embassy Feb. 26 and again March 3 during a visit to Capitol Hill with Nobel Peace Prize winner Ouided Bouchamaoui. The wide-ranging discussion touched on his hope that US President Barack Obama will stop by for a visit during his last year in office  its so important symbolically  and the countrys efforts to battle corruption and reform its economy.

Gouia declined to weigh in on pending legislation in the House that would label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, but warned against conflating political and militant Islamists. The Brotherhood-inspired Ennahda party is a key member of Tunisias governing coalition and has been lobbying for the past two years to assuage US concerns about their motivations.

We have to draw a clear difference between Islamists and terrorists, Gouia said. I think it is normal that political parties  Islamist or not  win open, democratic and transparent elections.

While upbeat about Tunisias future, he warned that progress would be elusive as long as chaos reigns in Libya. He urged the State Department to rethink plans to cut military funding for Tunisia even as it boosts much-needed economic aid.

They increased economic support, but reduced security assistance, he said. Now were going to fight, so to speak, to try to shore up military aid because its very important.

The career diplomat previously served as his countrys second-highest ranking diplomat in Tunisias technocratic government in 2014. Since taking his post in May, he has made it a priority to encourage US investment in Tunisias battered economy, notably through the passage of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

It is important for the exchanges [of goods and services], but it is also symbolic, Gouia said. We will be able to say to the world, Dont worry, come to Tunisia and make the best deals ever!

Below is a transcript of the interviews, condensed and edited for clarity.

Al-Monitor: Washington seems more and more convinced that some kind of US intervention will be needed to prevent the Islamic State from expanding its control over Libya. Is Tunisia at risk?

Gouia: Libya will not fall into the hands of the Islamists. In Libya you have all tendencies, all political orientations. Remember who won the election in 2014? It was the liberals, not the Islamists.

These [terrorist] movements have no chance in going far in their endeavors, because they will be combated and pursued anywhere they are, either in North Africa or the Levant or the east. They will be trapped by the local population and security forces and also by [international] coalitions.

Second, we have to draw a clear difference between Islamists and terrorists. I think it is normal that political parties  Islamist or not  win open, democratic and transparent elections.

There is no fear for Tunisia. Tunisia is a nation of more than 3,000 years; its a very old and historic civilization. Tunisia is a country with institutions, with a government; we have a constitution, we have an elected parliament. In Tunisia, only the political process can bring people to power  you cannot take power by force.

Al-Monitor: A US strike near Libyas border with your country killed several dozen IS recruits last month, including a Tunisian suspect in last years terror attacks in your country. Is this a sign of closer ties between our two countries?

Gouia: There is cooperation between countries on fighting terrorism on a daily basis. And thats normal. I dont know a single country that is not making terrorism a priority on its political agenda, and I dont know of a single country that is not ready to cooperate with the international community to fight terrorism.

This is an international network; it exists everywhere on this planet. Some information talked about plans to attack Tunisia, so fighting against these individuals is essential.

We are witnessing a time and a reality that encourages and urges all efforts to be gathered to fight terrorism. Sometimes we have to ignore national egos and even part of our sovereignty to give full success to our fight against terrorism.

Al-Monitor: Italy appears ready to host armed US drone missions over Libya, according to press reports, but only if they target foreigners and not Libyans. Do you think the West should resist getting caught up in Libyas internal conflict?

Gouia: I doubt that this info is right. To me it doesnt make sense. When I go on a strike and I know that in this city or village there are terrorists, I stop everything and I ask, "OK, before I attack these terrorists I have to ask, please give me your ID"? It doesnt make sense.

Terrorism is an international cancer. Fighting it should not take into consideration nationality.

Al-Monitor: The House Judiciary panel just voted to label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Would such a move risk destabilizing Tunisia, whose governing coalition includes the Islamist Ennahda party?

Gouia: This is just a draft law, and it is given to the secretary of state to have the final word. I think we have to wait until we see more clearly what the secretary of state says.

As far as Ennahda is concerned, it doesnt belong to the Muslim Brotherhood movement. And second, Ennahda is not a terrorist organization  it is a legal party in Tunisia, they are part of the government and the parliament; they are a very moderate party and they are playing a major political role in Tunisia and no one can doubt about their importance on the political scene in Tunisia.

Al-Monitor: The US foreign aid budget proposed for Tunisia in FY 2017 is pretty flat at $140 million, but economic support is up about $20 million over last years request. Is that the right approach?

Gouia: They increased economic support, but reduced security assistance. Now were going to fight, so to speak, to try to shore up military aid because its very important. Terrorism and challenges of all sorts that threaten Tunisias stability and security must be taken into account as we reinforce cooperation between our two countries.

One of the main challenges for this government and the previous government and I think the next government is employment. Without creating jobs for hundreds of thousands of youth in Tunisia, the social situation will be insecure, especially among those who have higher degrees and are unemployed. Now they are demanding their right to be active and get a job.

By favoring the economy in the US assistance, we have an American contribution to the social peace in Tunisia by creating jobs and developing regions and developing the Tunisian economy. And it helps on the security side. Once you have social peace in the country, you can have control over your security.

Social peace in Tunisia, a better economic situation, creating more jobs and a peaceful Libya  all these elements are important to secure Tunisia and let the government work on the other reforms needed for the country, such as education, public health, transportation.

Al-Monitor: Theres been talk over the years of negotiating a free trade agreement with Tunisia. Would that help?

Gouia: Thats something that Im trying to do every day.

Our business community in Tunisia is asking for an FTA with the United States. It would give Tunisia another dimension and show the world that Tunisia is a close partner with the biggest economy in the world. It means our economy is reliable and trustworthy.

Jordan, Morocco, Oman, if you compare before and after their FTAs [with the United States], you can see the difference. It is important for the exchanges [of goods and services], but its also symbolic. We will be able to say to the world, Dont worry, come to Tunisia and make the best deals ever!

Al-Monitor: What is the status of the banking and tax reforms? Some US officials seem to think Tunisia is dragging its feet.

Gouia: I understand both sides. Of course the Americans would like to help Tunisia, and for them  as well as for the international financial institutions like the World Bank, the IMF [International Monetary Fund]  they would really like to see Tunisia develop its economic situation.

But, on the other hand, there is a new reality in Tunisia. First you have a parliament and any law should be adopted by the parliament. And the parliament has been in action only for one year. You cannot ask a new parliament to deal with tens and tens of new laws in such a short time.

Also there is a procedure, as there is here [in the United States] or in any democratic parliament. Any draft law should go through a process, commissions  they invite experts, they invite the administration and there is a big debate  until it reaches discussion at the plenary and is adopted. So it is a long process, and as a democratic country now we have no power over the parliament. Can you go to Congress and say, "Hurry up, get this done"? You cannot. It is the same in Tunisia.

Second, there are many other reforms we are working on. We are working on reforming education, reforming so many sectors and even creating new agencies required by the constitution, such as the constitutional council.

And you have many tendencies within the parliament: Some who are more liberal, some who are socialists, conservatives, etc. To get all these people together and to get them to agree on one law is not easy.

Al-Monitor: The Obama administration has been preaching the virtues of democracy throughout the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Is it unfair to then take Tunisia to task for its deliberative pace?

Gouia: The Americans are our friends and allies, and they want us to succeed and go quickly. I dont see any disadvantage to being behind us to push us.

We are working together and they understand the situation, but since they want us to succeed thats why they are asking us to go faster.

As someone who has worked on Tunisian-American relations for the past quarter of a century, I can tell that our relation was never as good, as dynamic, as close as it is now. Because the administration and Congress believe that Tunisia can make it, can succeed. Americans would like to see Tunisia succeed, not only for its own people but as an example and a model for the rest of the region to tell the other people and countries of the region, yes, you can create a new, democratic system and you can succeed.

Al-Monitor: Tunisia has often been called the Arab Springs golden child. Others see a country on the brink of economic ruin. What is your assessment?

Gouia: On the political side, weve had so many achievements, but we have many challenges. No one can argue otherwise. The genius of Tunisians is how to transform these challenges into opportunities.

Let me explain. One of the most important challenges in Tunisia is the employment of about 350,000 young Tunisians with high education and university degrees. You can look at it as a problem, as a challenge, but you can look at it as an opportunity also for Tunisia. It is up to us, and our friends  the United States, the European Union  to help Tunisia transform these obstacles and difficulties and challenges into opportunities.

These 350,000 young people with high degrees and high education can benefit the country, can bring wealth and create start-ups and jobs for themselves and other people looking for jobs, if  there is an if, always  we give them an opportunity to create their own start-ups and projects and integrate the economy. This comes with a lot of needs: money, vision  and thats what the government is doing now.

Once the situation is back to normal in the region, Tunisia will benefit because Tunisia relies on the outside world for tourism, for foreign investment, for exports. Everything is done with others. We cannot be successful if the region is not stable.

Al-Monitor: Corruption remains a big problem. Some Tunisians seem to think things were actually better under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, when the first family took what it wanted but kept everyone else in line.

Gouia: I dont agree with those who say corruption now is worse than it was five years ago. Its just not true. Now its about people asking for bribes. But before we had institutional corruption  thats the danger behind that kind of corruption. The rule was, you had to partake in corruption, especially to create a new enterprise or for foreign investors.

Now its about small-scale corruption. Of course people are complaining. This is not part of our culture.

Al-Monitor: Is it unfair to expect Tunisia to address corruption when the country has so many other problems?

Gouia: We should not wait or give the impression that we accept the situation. No. The government is serious about it. We created recently a ministry in charge of fighting corruption. Many mechanisms are now in place to ask people to complain against any attempt at corruption. Many actions were taken over the past few weeks and months to fight seriously against corruption.

People should trust the system and the government and the institutions. A corrupt administration cannot be qualified as a good administration. Governance now is the keyword in Tunisia: Everywhere you go you hear about governance and fighting against corruption. Im sure in the next few months, the situation will improve.

Al-Monitor: President Obama has held up Tunisia as the Arab Springs success story. What more could he do in his final year in office?

Gouia: President Obama has visited Africa twice during his eight years in office. We really hope that hell stop by, even for just a few hours, in Tunisia. Its so important symbolically and significant for reinforcing the bilateral relationship.

Al-Monitor: What is your parting message to Americans reading this?

Gouia: I would like to tell Americans to look at Tunisia as a very important site for investment, for tourism and for partnership. Tunisia has very good institutions, has very good advantages  a free trade agreement with Europe, extremely qualified talents in all fields, and its very well located.

And Im sure that when the region is secure  and believe me, its coming  many Americans and others will come to Tunisia. Im very optimistic about the future of Tunisia.
March 4, 2016

SANAA, Yemen  One of the oldest civilizations in the world in one of the poorest and most troubled countries of the Middle East is facing a tough cultural crisis. Yemen, which extends over a surface area of 528,000 square kilometers (204,000 square miles), abounds with the antiquities of various cultures, the oldest of which dates back 3,000 years. The civil war that the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, is participating in, alongside President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadis government, is a scar in humanitys civilization.

An overview of the Old City of Sanaa that is on the UNESCO's World Heritage List shows the extent to which the city and its heritage have been tarnished by the missiles of fighters. Over 6,000 historical houses whose renovation dates back to nine centuries have been reduced to remnants and occupy a surface area on which five houses were built before an Arab coalition missile hit them.

In mid-June 2015, Saudi-led military coalition airstrikes bombed the historic al-Qasimi neighborhood in Sanaa's city center, destroying five historic houses. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said in a statement published June 12 that she was distressed by the damage done to the oldest jewels of Islamic civilization and called on all parties to keep the heritage sites out of the circle of conflict.

The neighborhood is one of dozens of historic archaeological sites in Yemen destroyed by the coalition airstrikes and local attacks resulting from the armed conflict between supporters of Hadi, the internationally recognized president, and the armed Houthis and their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The country known historically as Arabia Felix (in Latin), meaning happy Arabia, is no longer as fortunate, facing a threat of destruction of its history and heritage.

On Sept. 19, the airstrikes hit al-Falihi neighborhood and killed 10 members of the same family: Hafaz Allah Ahmad al-Ayni, his wife, Houria Saad al-Hadid, and their children Nassim, Ahmad, twins Maria and Maram, Mohammad, Ali, Malak and Yehya. The shelling destroyed yet another historical house and damaged a number of nearby houses.

Amt al-Rzaq Jhaf, the undersecretary of the General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites, told Al-Monitor, The coalition airstrikes destroyed 52 archaeological sites, notably Asaad al-Kamal cave in Ibb province, the Cairo Citadel in Taiz province, Awam Temple, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of Bran, Baraqish graveyard, the Great Dam of Marib and the historical walls of the city of Saada.

Jhaf accused Saudi Arabia of violating the Hague Convention, stressing the need to protect cultural property during armed conflict. Saudi Arabia is disregarding the feelings of millions of people passionate about Yemeni architecture, she said.

Amid the raging war in Yemen, and following UNESCOs calls not to target historical sites, one can only bank on the ethics of the fighting parties.

The Kawkaban fortified citadel, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Sanaa, has managed to preserve its strength and beauty for 18 centuries, but on Feb. 14 it was destroyed by the shelling from missiles of the coalition aircraft.

The General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites condemned the destruction of the citadel in a statement published Feb. 15 and said that it targeted history, heritage and human values.

On Nov. 21, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast near the archaeological old walled city of Shibam, in eastern Yemen's Hadramawt province, 990 kilometers (615 miles) from the capital Sanaa. The blast that targeted a military checkpoint of Yemeni troops wreaked havoc in the city that dates to the 16th century and is famous for its fenced mud-brick high-rise buildings that rise up to more than 30 meters (98 feet) in the middle of a vast desert.

Hassan Aideed, director general of the General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites in Hadramawt, told Al-Monitor, The blast caused the historical city serious harm. The citys walls and mud houses were damaged.

Aideed called on the international organizations supporting the Yemeni architectural heritage, such as UNESCO, to intervene quickly to save around 160 damaged houses in Seiyun.

Aideed told Al-Monitor, Due to the bombing, the historical buildings nearby suffered from cracks and several families have been displaced while they wait for the buildings to be renovated.

Shibam, known as the Manhattan of the Desert, is a haven for desert tourism lovers. Inhabited by 7,000 people, the city includes about 500 buildings from five to 11 stories. It was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1982.

In the southern province of Taiz, two prominent historical landmarks were ravaged by the internal armed conflict, ongoing in the province for nearly a year now.

On Feb. 3, the National Museum in Taiz came under artillery fire. The museum, which includes rare manuscripts and pre-Islamic and traditional artifacts, was almost completely burned.

The Cairo Citadel, built a thousand years ago, was ravaged by the aircraft shelling that targeted it more than once.

The Houthi forces, officially called Ansar Allah, backed by troops loyal to Saleh, seized the historic citadel and its fortified fence in March 2015. They set up cannons to bombard the city and the sites affiliated with the Popular Resistance loyal to Hadi, which turned the city into a target for the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

The historical Marib Dam was hit by an air raid on May 31, 2015, which destroyed ancient Sabaean inscriptions carved on its walls. Marib province is located to the east of the capital Sanaa and was the largest ancient city in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.

The city hosts many important cultural landmarks such as Bran Temple, Awam Temple and Cemetery and Marib Dam, which is considered an architectural wonder. These cultural landmarks are all included in the World Heritage Sites in Yemen.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which controls the southern city of Mukalla in Yemen, destroyed on April 2, 2015, a number of Sufi shrines and domes built in 1158, alleging that these shrines promote polytheism.

The destruction of a number of unique cultural heritage landmarks in Yemen caused the country to lose an important part of its civilization and creative legacy.

The monuments that remain standing are struggling to survive. UNESCO in July 2015 included Sanaa and Shibam on its list of endangered World Heritage Sites, thereby sending a message to the warring parties to stop destroying history and sounding the alarm that those areas are under threat of destruction.
An Alabaster soldier walked away from a Shark Tank-style competition a winner - and with funding that could transform her small business.

Leah Olszewski started FEMTAC in 2013 to fill a gap in women's tactical apparel. A lot of clothing designed for the practical aspects of work in the field is ill-fitting, which not only has functionality impacts but also makes it harder for female agents to hide the fact that they're agents, she said.

Since Olszewski started her business, she's still been in the prototyping process - but after a recent win at the Veteran's Business Battle, an pitch competition for investment in veteran-owned businesses, she could have just earned the money to get her product on sale.

"The money is really going to help us complete prototypes, which doesn't seem like a lot, but that's everything for us - we can start sales and get the money coming in," Olszewski said.

FEMTAC was offered $50,000 in investment funding right away and has been tagged for more funding, pending negotiations.

But maybe the most valuable thing Olszewski earned at the competition was contacts she made with potential major investors.

"The opportunities there were just fantastic," Olszewski said. "What they do is pretty great, because they actually put you in touch with investors, if that's what you're looking for, and you don't always get that at other competitions."

More than 125 businesses applied for Veteran's Business Battle, which took place last month at Rice University in Houston.

Olszewski, now an Alabaster resident, has been in the military since 1997.

Her core customer base is primarily law enforcement officers who don't regularly wear a uniform, like detectives or undercover agents; women in the military, especially special operations officers; and private defense contractors.
Anthony Mackie.jpg

Actor Anthony Mackie, above, stars as the Falcon in "Captain America: Civil War," opening in theaters May 6, 2016. (Disney)

Despite playing a superhero in Marvel movies on the big screen, actor

Anthony Mackie

doesn't feel safe in Birmingham.

In a roundtable interview from the set of Marvel's upcoming "Captain America: Civil War,"

, including Mackie's character the Falcon, the band Earth, Wind & Fire, the Grindr app and "the horror that is Birmingham, Alabama."

Quint said that Mackie, whom he calls "one of the most charismatic actors working today," made "a press conference style interview flow like a 1:1 conversation."

The breezy talk included a bit about Birmingham, Ala., for which Mackie expressed a deep fear that should surprise and probably amuse residents.

After joking about shooting in Birmingham instead of Atlanta on the "Avengers" movies, Mackie was then pressed by Quint (who said he hails from Alabama) to elaborate on his experience in the southern city.

"It's bananas!" said Mackie, a New Orleans native. "You drive through that m-----f------ and make it out alive. Yeah. Go to Birmingham. Just check it out, dawg."

He then describes seeing a guy driving a truck with "deer legs hanging out," an unusual sight to the star of "The Hurt Locker" and "The Night Before."

We're not sure which part of Birmingham Mackie drove through to inform this unfortunate opinion of the city, but I'm sure locals would love to see the Falcon fly back in to perhaps see the sunnier side.

If not, then it's his loss. We're looking forward to DC's "Batman v Superman" anyway.

Read Mackie's full comments about Birmingham from the AICN interview below. "Captain America: Civil War" opens in theaters May 6, 2016.

Q: They've talked about this being a very global movie. Is there any specific location you're excited about at all?

Anthony Mackie: The thing about Avengers 1 that was so cool was they were in New York. I was like "Damn!" I really wanted to go shoot a few days in New York, but we were, like, in Birmingham, Alabama. It was like... "Why are we shooting here? Why are we doing Atlanta for Birmingham?"

We have a bunch of different locations, but I really wanted it to be a major city like New York or LA.

Q: But you were in Birmingham, Alabama?

Anthony Mackie: No, why would we shoot in Birmingham? I was using that as an example. Have you ever been to Birmingham?!?

Q: I'm from there.

Anthony Mackie: Wait, you're from Alabama or Birmingham?

Q: Alabama.

Anthony Mackie: Are you from Birmingham, Alabama?

Q: No.

Anthony Mackie: Alright. Go to Birmingham. It's bananas! You drive through that m-----f----- and make it out alive. Yeah. Go to Birmingham. Just check it out, dawg. I drive to New Orleans once every two weeks and I hit Birmingham and I'm like (looks terrified, hands on an invisible steering wheel). Literally just look at the front of the car. Don't look out the window. Don't look out the window.

I have this picture... There was this dude in a truck and he was hauling ass. He was in a Toyota truck, so that tells you what kind of dude he was. Who the f--- buys a Toyota truck? So, he had, like, deer legs hanging out of the back of his truck, like tied up and out. It was like one, two, three, four deers. Then there was some other animal. It wasn't a deer. The legs... I don't know what it was, but it was hanging, like he had it tied from a rack, I guess it was a gun rack, out the back window... Carcasses. Driving. And leaving a trail of blood as he drives down the highway.

Don't look, dawg. Keep going. Whatever that fifth thing is, don't look.

Watch the trailer for "Captain America: Civil War" below:
Legends of hauntings often originate in places where very real tragedies occurred so it shouldn't be surprising that the site of a bloody Alabama battle was named one of the country's most haunted parks.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Tallapoosa County, the site of the final battle of the Creek War in 1814, was mentioned Sunday by Listverse.com on its "Top 10 Haunted Parks in the USA."

According to Listverse, "Visitors to Horseshoe Bend National Military Park routinely report foul stenches, strange noises, and sightings of apparitions at locations throughout the property."

A group called Alabama Ghost Hunters wrote about experiences of its members at the site, which has been preserved as a national park. One investigator described hearing screams and seeing a white figure at the site. Click here to read that description.

The source of the hauntings is reportedly the souls of as many as 1,000 Red Sticks who were killed there March 27, 1814.

According to the National Park Service, Gen. Andrew Jackson, with a force of more than 3,000 troops and native allies, attacked the Red Sticks on the banks of the Tallapoosa River near its U-shaped bend.

"Fighting ranged over the south end of the peninsula throughout the afternoon. By dark at least 800 of Chief Menawa's 1,000 Red Sticks were dead (557 slain on the field and 200-300 in the river). Menawa himself, although severely wounded, managed to escape. Jackson's losses in the battle were 49 killed and 154 wounded, many mortally," the NPS site said.

The Treaty of Fort Jackson, signed in August 1814, gave 23 million acres of Creek land to the United States. The State of Alabama was formed from this land.

Join al.com reporter Kelly Kazek on her weekly journey through Alabama to record the region's quirky history, strange roadside attractions and tales of colorful characters. Find her on Facebook or follow her Odd Travels and Real Alabama boards on Pinterest.
One man was killed and another injured in a single-vehicle crash in Tuscaloosa County.

Alabama State Troopers this evening identified the victim as Ronald Price. He was 47.

The crash happened at 10 p.m. three miles southwest of the Fosters community. Authorities said Price, of Brookwood, was driving a 1995 Toyota Celica that left the roadway and overturned. He was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Trooper Reginal King said Price was not wearing a seatbelt.

His passenger, 47-year Troy Hendricks, of Buhl, also wasn't wearing a seatbelt and he was thrown from the Celica. He was taken to DCH Region Medical Center. His condition wasn't released.

King said the crash remains under investigation.
Travelers, searching for a vacation to celebrate a special occasion or need a list of spur-of-the-moment getaway locations, can get a head start at Marine Corps Community Services Information, Tickets and Tours 18th annual Travel and Recreation Trade Show, March 16.

The free show, open to all base personnel, retirees and their family members, will be held at Thomason Gymnasium from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany.

More than 30 different exhibitors will be on hand representing attractions, hotels, conventions and visitors bureaus.

The representatives will provide information on tourist and vacation destinations, dinner shows and historical sites throughout the region as well as in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

New to the show this year will be representatives for white water rafting in Columbus, Georgia and hotels in Alabama.

This is a great opportunity for all attendees, those who are new to the area as well as those who have lived here for years, to get good ideas for vacation destinations, Sue Truver, manager, Information, Tickets and Tours, MCCS, MCLB Albany, said.

Truver added vendor representatives will be handing out brochures and answering questions throughout the event.

Many vendors discounted tickets are sold at Information, Tickets and Tours. In addition to learning about new destinations to visit, attendees can also register for numerous door prizes and giveaways.

Winners do not need to be present. The Information, Tickets and Tours office staff will contact prize recipients to claim their prizes.

Thomason Gym will be closed March 15 for vendors to set up their displays.

The Marine Corps Birthday Ball Committee will be on hand selling hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and drinks at the event. Proceeds will support the Marine Corps Birthday Ball held in November.

For more information, call 229-639-8177, visit their website, www.mccsalbany.com/storage/MCCSAlbany/assets/File/Travel%20Road%20Show%202016(1).pdf, or stop by the Information, Tickets and Tours office located inside the Marine Corps Exchange.
#1 -Most Resourceful

#2 - Most Adaptable

#3 - Most Accessible

#4 - Most Awkward

I have been in a lot of Spanish language situations. I have been in a lot of Spanish language churches. And as a result, I have experienced a lot of translators over the last nine years of marriage to a native Spanish speaker. Here are some of the highlights through the years:I spent a month at language school in Xela, Guatemala. It was incredible to sit with an individual tutor for several hours every day and talk. She didn't speak any English, but she was incredibly skilled at speaking in simple Spanish so I could understand.When I got sick, she offered to take me to her doctor. He didn't speak English either, so she agreed to "translate." Basically, he would talk and she would "dumb it down" into Spanish I could understand. It was incredibly helpful actually.But she didn't know how to explain the question, "Do you have a cough?" So she asked around the question, and then she faked a cough. And then the doctor mocked her translation skills, and we all laughed.We were sitting in a Spanish church hosting an English guest speaker. The translator was standing next to her on stage since nearly the entire room required translation. The speaker was sharing, and the translator was translating.Then, the speaker became moved to sing her sermon. It was not a familiar song, and it appeared she was freestyle singing thoughts as they came to her. Thankfully, she had a nice voice.Bless that translator, who tentatively began singing the sermon in Spanish. Turns out she did not have as experienced of a singing voice. But she had all my respect because I feel like she didn't sign up for all that. And after a few minutes of this hilarious back-and-forth, she began simply speaking Spanish translations.Ah, the Internet. You are there when we need directions, movie times, and also when we want to read what our husbands are posting on Facebook.There's only one problem. While Internet translations are certainly accessible, accuracy is a moving target. It's not uncommon for me to read a collection of English words that make absolutely no sense together in that order. (I collected a few favorites here .)There once was a time when I stood in a church sanctuary after the service was over while my husband helped the band pack up their equipment. A woman called into the microphone, hoping to be heard above the sound of parishioners socializing.Then I heard the phrase "the girl who only speaks English." Yeah, I'm going to pretend I didn't get that at all.But the sweetest tweenage boy walked over and said, "She's talking to you." My eyes darted to my husband on stage like a frantic cat trapped beneath a bicycle. We didn't know anyone at this church but the visiting band.The woman onstage began to prophesy about my life, and this darling boy translated, saying things like "God will bless your womb." I think he and I both wanted to be invisible.Translators are like bilingual superheroes. I love them and am grateful for their hard work. And I also enjoy the amusing situations that sometimes emerge.
In New York, a city where funerals can cost as much as $50,000, many Muslims say they cannot afford to die.

New York, US  Ahmet Kargi, 40, rolls up his sleeves, revealing a tattoo on his right arm  a white crescent and star inside a red shield.

Its the Turkish flag, he says. Makes me feel closer to my roots.

His keffiyeh blows in the wind as he rides his 2003 Harley Davidson through the quiet streets of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, passing brownstones, Gothic churches and Mexican restaurants.

He stops at the corner of Vanderbilt and DeKalb Avenue, and enters an inconspicuous, burgundy and beige three-storey building. It is the Piro Funeral Home, a neighbourhood fixture since the early 1900s.

Back then it was where the bodies of Italian immigrants who worked in the Navy Yard were prepared before being shipped by boat to Italy for burial. Today, it might be one of a kind: a multireligious funeral home with separate sections for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Kargi is the president of the Muslim section, called Islamic Funeral Services.

I never saw myself doing this, he says. But things fell into place at a certain point in my life and it just made sense.

Cleansing the body

Today, Kargi is at the funeral home, handling the final rites of a 48-year-old Iranian man. Ali died in his sleep, and his body has just been released from the medical examiners office. His Russian wife, Svetlana, tells Kargi that her husband had been stressed because he had recently been laid off from his job and wasnt able to send as much money back home as he would have liked.

Svetlana is an Orthodox Christian but wants to ensure that all rituals are performed in accordance with her husbands Muslim faith.

WATCH: When I Die: Inside Japan\s Death Industry

In Islam, the dead should be buried as soon as possible. The body is first cleansed in lukewarm water, and then wrapped in several layers of plain cotton sheets. Soon after, there is a congregational prayer service called the Janazah, during which mourners pray for the deceaseds soul and ask God to pardon them for their sins. Then the body is buried.

Kargi handles the first part of the process, cleansing Alis body. He moves quicker than usual, concerned because it has already been two days since Ali died. The medical examiner had to come in to conduct an autopsy because Ali was in his 40s and seemingly in good health. The burial will be further delayed because Alis family plans to fly his body back to Iran, which will take a few days. Svetlana cant afford to send the body overseas, so Alis family in Tehran are making the arrangements.

Shipping bodies overseas is a smooth process for the most part. Countries such as Egypt and Morocco have been known to step in and cover the funeral and shipping costs for their citizens in the US.

In Alis case, however, it will be tougher than usual. The Iranian embassy in Washington DC has been closed since the US and Iran severed relations in 1979, and any official work is processed through the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United States, located inside the Pakistan embassy. Kargi, well versed with the procedures of shipping bodies internationally, will need to make a few additional calls from his funeral home to ensure that Alis body gets back to Tehran safely.

From the army to the funeral house

Kargis family came to the US from Turkey in 1974. He was 26 when, in 2001, his father, Hussein, died, leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves. He had grown up poor, mopping buildings and helping his father to paint empty apartments in south Brooklyn for $100 a day. On the day of his fathers funeral, Kargi witnessed something that was a rarity in his life until that point.

The imam, Erhan Yildirin, treated me and my mother with such respect, he recalls. He took care of my fathers final rites and rituals as if he were his own father.

That respect moved Kargi, whose easy smile hides a history of teen angst and soul-searching. At 17, he dropped out of high school and met a group of New York Muslims who were recruiting men to fight in the 1992 Bosnian War. He was turned away because he was too young. So he joined the US army instead. But that ended quickly. He faced discrimination, he says, and after asking to leave, was given an entry-level discharge.

After my fathers funeral, I began helping Yildirin on and off, he explains.

Yildirin founded Islamic Funeral Services in 2001.

My fathers death changed my outlook on life like night and day, Kargi reflects. I was the wildest child you could imagine, living life like there were no consequences. But then I realised I would die one day and I started contemplating my own mortality. Helping Yildirin at the funeral home meant facing death every day, and it gave me a unique perspective on reality.

Yildirin and Kargi became close, and the younger mans responsibilities gradually increased. He joined Islamic Funeral Services full-time in 2005.

The first time

On a winter morning in 2010, when Yildirin needed the day off, Kargi found himself in charge of completing the Muslim funeral formalities for a Turkish man.

I remember coming in before dawn, and no one was here, no one to keep me company. It was a little nerve-racking, he recalls.

Kargi began with the cleansing ritual.

I was warming up the water and I was really nervous. Even though I had done it many times before with Erhan, I had never done it by myself, he says.

Kargi had his back to the body, which was lying flat on a custom-made table with the arms resting upon the chest. Islamic law states that the arms should be by the sides.

I was standing there for maybe 20 minutes, making sure the water temperature was just right, he recalls. Suddenly, I felt a small nudge on my back, as if someone touched me.

I dumped the water, slipped on it, got back up, started running towards the door, but Im looking at the body and not at the door so I slam into the doorframe. I bump my head and then run the other way. I came out of the building; it is pitch dark and cold outside. I have no jacket on and Im shaking. It took me a while to bring myself to get back inside.

Kargi stared at the body in the washroom and gradually explained the incident to himself through basic science: The temperature in the room rose because of the water, loosening the resting arms, and one of them briefly touched Kargi as it slipped off to the side.

We cant afford to die here

Over time, he grew comfortable with the job, and estimates that he has now washed about 500 bodies. The ritual cleansing is the easy part, he says.

Many Muslims who come here to bury their loved ones often blur the lines between religion and culture, and I am caught in the middle  trying to respect their wishes and still ensure that I am not doing anything that is forbidden in Islam.

Kargi explains the importance of simple funerals in Islam  no elaborate services or extravagant caskets. But that is at odds with how the funeral business works in the US, where traditional funerals can cost from $6,000 to well over $50,000.

Islamic funerals are for the dead, he says. In other religions, funerals often include prolonged ceremonies. I would say they are mostly to help those left behind rid themselves of their guilt, to say one last goodbye and to maybe exhibit one last form of appreciation. But at that point its too late. In Islam, everything done during a funeral is for the person who died, to ensure he has a peaceful transition to his final resting place.

But finding an earthly resting place can be a challenge for New Yorks Muslims. There are thought to be between 600,000 and one million Muslims in New York City, but there is no exclusive cemetery for them to bury their dead.

We often use cemeteries in New Jersey, like the Jersey State Memorial Park Cemetery in Millstone, which is where my father is buried. There are also smaller Muslim sections at cemeteries in Long Island, and in parts of the city. But they can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000, and I have seen graves go up to $14,000 inside the city. That is considered a wasteful expenditure in Islam, and so we have to resort to the most affordable options available, Kargi explains.

Death is an inevitable reality. It shouldnt be so complicated for someone to bury the deceased, it shouldnt be so expensive, it shouldnt be such a headache or a hassle, says Nooruddean Abu Ibrahim, a 28-year-old Palestinian American who has been doing Islamic funeral work in New York for more than a decade.

Muslims here have a common saying: We cant afford to die here.

The Muslim community in New York needs to come together so we can have our own cemetery, he says.

Since we are dependent on other cemeteries, it usually costs us a lot. If we have our own cemetery, we could make sure people from our faith dont have to spend so much money to bury their dead.

In order to support Muslims who cannot afford to pay hefty funeral expenses, Ibrahim started a nonprofit organisation called the Janazah Project. It raises money from the Muslim community to cover funeral costs for needy families on a case-by-case basis.

Over the years, Ibrahim says more people have reached out to the Janazah Project for support. Kargis business at Islamic Funeral Services has grown as well  from about 60 funerals a year to an average of 200.

New York Muslims are often segregated based on nationality. But those from different countries and cultures are united by their shared funeral rites. Ibrahim and Kargis clients have been African American, Bosnian, Albanian, Uzbek, Chinese, Turkish, Egyptian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi, among others.

Follow your passions

Soon after making arrangements with Iranian officials for Alis body to be sent to Tehran, Kargi shrouds it. With the help of a few others, he carefully places it inside a simple wooden coffin, with the word head carved in Arabic to indicate how to position the body.

Svetlana asks to see Alis face one last time, and holds back her tears as his body is whisked away for shipment.

She is remarkable, Kargi says. So concerned about respecting her husbands religion and family.

Svetlana gives Kargi a thank-you card. He reminds himself to take a look at it later.

I typically work 9 to 5, but the nature of this job is such that I cant really plan my hours, Kargi says.

His predecessor, Yildirim, who founded Islamic Funeral Services as an independent funeral home housed inside Piro Funeral Home, says: It can get very overwhelming. The schedule, the daily routine that comes with being in this business, it was getting to be too much for me.

Yildirim is now the citys community coordinator between NYPD police officers and the Muslim community. Among the projects that Yildirims office is working on is a movie about Islam, which will be included in the police academys core curriculum.

Erhan felt he needed to get away from this business, but Im not there yet, Kargi says. I cant say if and when I ever will be.

He shuts the back door of the van into which he has just placed Alis casket. As the driver pulls out of the garage, Kargi arranges a few empty caskets that are lined up against the garage wall.

Death is a very humbling, natural part of life, thats what Ive learned, he says, taking a deep breath. I have learned to embrace it, and I dont fight it. I know I came with nothing to this earth, and I know I will go back with nothing. Trivial things really dont matter. We humans make everything so complicated.

He clears his desk, grabs his keys and, as the sun begins to set, walks slowly towards his Harley.

Its been a long day but Im looking forward to the rest of the evening, he says, his face lighting up as he speaks of his wife, Noor, and their two-year-old daughter, Ayesha.

Life is all about sharing quality time with your friends and family, he says. And about following your passion . I am recording my own album. I cant wait to play some guitar back home, and make some good music.

Heritage and religion

At home, Kargi finally gets to open Svetlanas thank-you card. There is $300 inside, a tip much higher than he is used to.

I thought to myself, she is working two jobs and has a 12-year-old child. This is way too much. I was so moved I just started crying because I couldnt believe what she did, he says.

I called her and offered to give her back the money. I told her that a thank-you is enough. But she said to me, My child is 12 and I have nobody to introduce him to his heritage and religion. Hopefully down the line maybe you could mentor him or he could call you if he has questions  or maybe you could come for coffee and meet him, be like an older brother to him.

Her outlook at such a difficult time was really touching. Moments like these really make what I do worthwhile.
Will the surge of Nubian activism in Egypt, Sudan and diaspora communities lead to a rebellion?

Midway through Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisis first parliamentary speech on February 13, a member of parliament shouted, Dont forget Nubia, Mr President.

On early Monday morning, February 22, as hundreds of tourists gathered at Abu Simbel Temple in Aswan to witness a solar alignment illuminate the face of King Ramses II, dozens of Nubian activists stood in silence holding Egyptian flags and banners that read Nubia is not for sale, wearing T-shirts with the statement, Nubians against Decree 444. By mid-week, the hashtag #Nubia_Against444 was spreading in English and Arabic.





Since the Egyptian parliament approved Decree 444 in January of this year, the situation between Nubian activists and security forces has been tense.

The decree issued in late November 2014, designates a stretch of land in Nubia adjacent to the Egyptian-Sudanese frontier, as a restricted military zone  including 18 Nubian villages declared border regions.

Nubian displacement

The area  extending from Egypts southern border 110 kilometres on the eastern side of the Nile and 25 kilometres to the western side of the river  is, say leaders, precisely the stretch of land that Nubians were hoping to return to, in compensation for the mass displacement they suffered 1963.

ALSO READ: Black Egyptians decry daily racism

The story of Nubian displacement over the past century is well known. The uprooting of the Nubian population from the banks of the Nile began in the early 20th century, when British colonial administrators began building a series of dams.

The construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1963 by Gamal Abdel Nassers government, and the creation of an artificial lake covering the Upper Nile Valley from Aswan in Egypt to the Dal Cataract in Sudan  led to even greater dislocation, as an estimated 50,000 Nubians were forced out of their villages and resettled in a region north of Aswan known as New Nubia.

UNESCO, the UNs cultural body, would dismantle and relocate Nubias most famous monuments threatened by submersion. The Nubian families displaced were promised compensation  a house and two feddan of land, about 10,000 sq metres, but the Egyptian government never fulfilled its promise.

The Aswan Dam helped bring water and electricity to millions of Egyptians, but for decades, Nubians have dreamed of returning to the homeland lost during the hijra (exodus).

No mans land

Thus many Nubians rejoiced when the new Egyptian constitution, passed by referendum in January 2014, spelled out their right to return to their ancestral lands within a decade.

Many Nubians rejoiced when the new Egyptian constitution, passed by referendum in January 2014, spelled out their right to return to their ancestral lands within a decade. by

Article 236 of the constitution specifically calls for the economic and urban development of peripheral areas such as Nubia and Upper Egypt: The state works on developing and implementing projects to bring back the residents of Nubia to their original areas and develop them within 10 years in the manner organised by law.

But the Presidential Decree 444, passed by the House of Representatives in January, declares those very areas a military-controlled no mans land.

Nubian leaders have called Decree 444 unconstitutional, and many are suspecting that regime officials included an article on Nubian rights in the constitution simply to gain their communitys vote in the referendum.

Speaking on Al Hayat Egyptian television last week, Mohamed Azmy, head of the Nubians Union, observed, that the presidential decree was in clear violation of the constitution.

The Nubian people were happy and hopeful with the new constitution, and felt that finally the government would compensate them for their suffering and sacrifice  and now were back at point zero? he said, adding that the Egyptian parliamentarians who so readily passed the decree that contradicts the constitution, must have approved it without reading the text.

Tensions have been running high between Nubian groups and security forces. Clashes erupted between soldiers and Nubian activists near Aswan on Thursday, with soldiers firing rounds and arresting protesters.

ALSO READ: Egypts Nubians seek to return home

The past few years have seen a surge of Nubian activism in Egypt, Sudan and even in diaspora communities. In July 2015, Nubian activists organised a protest on the steps of the Journalists Syndicate in Cairo, with banners that read Im Nubian and proud and No to racism.

They demanded laws to punish racist discourse against Nubians, and to promote the teaching of Nubian history in Egyptian schools.

Nubian rebellion?

Government repression is sparking more media-savvy organising. Just this month young activists launched NubaTube, an online channel to promote Nubian language and culture.

A few days ago the Nubian coalition Aidun (Returning) issued this statement: We will hold protests outside Egyptian embassies around the free world, and perform our traditional music and dance to demand our legal and legitimate right to return to land and protect our culture from extinction.

Activists are now demanding that the Egyptian parliament revisit Decree 444, or else they will resort to international organisations. Across the border in Sudan, Nubian activist have also been rallying against the building of the Dal and Kajbar dams that the regime wants to build at the Niles second and third cataracts.

The Association of Nubians, an organisation based in northern Sudan, warned that the construction of these dams would obliterate more than 7,000 years of Nubian civilisation. Protests grew in November when it was announced that Saudi Arabia would be financing these projects. Even in Washington DC, Nubian-American organisations have been holding rallies outside the White House in defence of their ancestral lands.

Nubian community leaders are warily watching this youth agitation, wondering about the possibility of unrest and a government crackdown on both sides of the Egyptian-Sudanese border.

We cannot guarantee that the new generation will behave in the same [peaceful] way as their forebears, one Nubian elder in the village of Adnadan, told Reuters. Surely there will be a rebellion. Maybe not against the state, but at least within the community.

Hisham Aidi is a Harlem-based writer. He teaches at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Hillary Clinton is the political mask of the corporate face of America, but Donald Trump is the real deal.

A spectre is hovering high over the United States  the spectre of a Trump presidency. All the elders of the Republican Party have now entered into a frightful alliance to disown and exorcise this spectre. But the goblin listens to no one, as millions of xenophobic, angry, poorly educated (as Trump proudly calls his own supporters), mostly white men and women storm around him, raising their right hands Sieg Heil style and pledging allegiance.

In an extraordinary display of Republican chaos, CNN reports, the partys most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasted current frontrunner Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation and the GOP [Grand Old Party].





The cause for fear is self-evident: GOP hawks declare war on Trump, according to reports, Prominent Republican hawks are debating whether to hold their noses and vote for Clinton instead.

Corporate skin, political masks

What is the difference between Trump and Clinton? This is the critical question the US voters face this year, but not the world at large, for which Trump promises to do more of what Clinton and all Democrat and Republican presidents before her have already done and continue to do to the world.

The difference between Trump and Clinton is the difference between commodity and branding. Trump is the real face of corporate America, Clinton its mask. In choosing Donald Trump, Americans are choosing corporate America instead of its representative Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is the real deal, Hillary Clinton is the camouflage.

ALSO READ: Why I will vote for Bernie Sanders

Why buy the stooge of corporate America, Donald Trump supporters are effectively asking, when the real deal, their preferred candidate, is on sale?

Why buy the stooge of corporate America, Donald Trump supporters are effectively asking, when the real deal ... is on sale? by

This is a decisive moment because the fake facade of US politics is finally falling down and the naked truth of corporate reality running this show reveals its naked fascistic face for the whole world to see.

A demagogue salesman is appealing to the basest instinct of US consumers, to the very logic of US capitalism run amuck.

His supporters have been trained Pavlovian dog-style for Trump from birth and now instinctively each time they push a cart down the supermarket isle hunt for the cheapest product on sale. Trump is the cheapest product on sale.

Naked fascism

The naked fascism that Trump flaunts today has always been there but hidden behind the mask of politics-as-usual; hidden behind smiling faces, false promises, gaudy oratorical speeches, the kissing of frightened babies, the shaking of insincere hands, while hiding the terror of global warfare, drone attacks, special forces, secret kill lists, CIA torture chambers.

A consensus is now building in the US that the Trump presidency is so dangerous Democrats and Republicans should unite to prevent it by electing Hillary Clinton. But what exactly is the difference between a Clinton and a Trump presidency for the world at large?

ALSO READ: Trump and Baghdadi

The prospect of a Trump presidency is only frightful if you think Hillary Clintons record of warmongering around the world  from Iraq to Libya to her threatening Iran with annihilation  is a stellar record of high-minded and competent diplomacy.

Americans have every reason to fear a Trump presidency, but the world at large has not an iota of reason to believe Clinton would be any better. Trump is promising to deliver to Americans a dose of what Clinton, her husband, the current US president, and all the Republicans and Democrat presidents before him have administered to the world at large.

Now suddenly these Republicans are scared of fascism. They did not worry about fascism when they produced George W Bush, who wreaked havoc on Afghanistan and Iraq and set in motion a criminal catastrophe that has now resulted in murderous mayhem raging from Iraq to Syria.

But now that Trump appears to threaten their entire party apparatus suddenly they worry about fascism. Fascism arrived and wreaked havoc from one end of the globe to another by these very Republican cons and neocons a very long time ago.

Xenophobia is on sale

Clinton has a proven record of murderous warmongering on a par with any Republican warmonger. Donald Trump only promises to do more of what she has done. He has no record of any such atrocities as yet.

Clinton has a proven record of murderous warmongering, on par with any Republican warmonger. Donald Trump only promises to do and be more of the same that she has done... by

He, in fact, has occasionally condemned both the Afghan and Iraq invasions, and on Israeli murderous records he has declared himself agnostic and neutral, even daring to suggest that Israel is not sincere in its claim to be peaceful. And, contrary to Clinton, he is not in any billionaire Zionists deep pocket and has not written and signed a pledge of allegiance to those hell-bent on stealing the entirety of Palestine no matter what the cost to Palestinian lives and Liberty.

Yes, indeed, the horrors of Trumps xenophobic racism and misogyny against Mexicans, Muslims, women etc is abominable, but we know all this because he is not a seasoned politician and has not learned how to conceal and camouflage his racism.

When Clintons guard was down and she did not realise the cameras were rolling, she too called young African Americans super-predators who had to be brought to heel.

She is the same person  only now she has learned how to camouflage her racism. Trump has not mastered that art. Trump has a different product to sell  himself  and has targeted a different market  white supremacists basking in their racism. The salesman is naked in his fascism, the politician is properly dressed in socially acceptable verbiage.

In choosing Trump over Clinton, Americans are opting to buy the real product instead of a badly packaged camouflage representation of that product.

Clinton is the political mask of the corporate face of America, and this time around Americans wish to see the real face of their government, the rule of corporate America, and not some corrupt politician being funded by them to represent that face with a mask of fair play and warm wishes.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Trump and his legions of supporters have made a mockery of US claims to exceptionalism and global leadership.

What seemingly began as a cutting-edge reality show has rapidly morphed into an impending political nightmare, as Donald Trump cruises towards the White House. In state after state, the brash, tough-talking New York billionaire has routed his fellow Republican opponents, inflicting humiliating defeats on establishment candidates such as Jeb Bush.

Thanks to his spectacular performance during the initial stages of Republican Party primaries, Trumps bid to become the partys standard-bearer has assumed an air of inevitability. Dismal performance by mainstream candidates such as Marco Rubio, and the unwillingness of more moderate candidates to coalesce around an alternative candidate, has only buttressed Trumps momentum.

Ted Cruz better-than-expected performance is unlikely to attract Republican establishments support. Branded as an ideologue, and disliked by most of his colleagues, the Texan Senator is seen as an even greater threat to the party. And compared with Trump, he is seen as a weaker candidate against the Democrats.

There is, of course, a slim chance that Trump will fall short of becoming the Republican nominee, and he is widely expected to lose any eventual race against either of the two Democratic Party candidates, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

Nonetheless, Trumps astonishing political success, so far, has engendered deep anxiety among the United States closest allies, including those in Asia, which has been at the centre of the Obama administration rebalancing foreign policy strategy.

Trumps isolationist pronouncements have included praise for autocratic Russia, threats to impose heavy tariffs on Asian goods, and blatant anti-Muslim tirades which have shocked and alienated governments and hundreds of millions of people across Asia and beyond.

No wonder then that German newspaper Der Speigel has dubbed Trump as the worlds most dangerous man, while JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has described him as even worse than Voldemort. The US increasingly dysfunctional politics and the rise of polarising figures such as Trump are rapidly undermining the countrys leadership credentials in the region.

Soft power and hegemony

In his influential work, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Harvard University academic Joseph Nye underscored the importance of the power of attraction in maintaining the US global leadership.

Acknowledging the inevitable economic and military catch-up of rival powers such as China, Nye argued that the future of US hegemony will largely depend on its ability to use persuasion rather than coercion in shaping the global order.

If Trump wins the presidential race, don't be surprised if some US allies and friends start defecting to revisionist powers such as China, whose leaders would suddenly look less erratic and more reliable than US. by

According to Nye, the appeal of Hollywood, the ideals of the US democracy, and the charisma of American leaders, among other attractive features of their power, will act as force multipliers, allowing Washington to maintain its strategic primacy even when it no longer enjoys full-spectrum dominance over its rivals. He called this the US soft power.

Nyes hypothesis was put to test when the George W Bush administrations unilateralism, brinkmanship, and brash diplomatic posturing severely undermined the US image and leadership across the world, including in places such as Europe and Australia, which came to embrace rising powers such as China.

This is precisely why President Barack Obama, whose American dream life story and meteoric rise to the White House captured the worlds imagination, dedicated much of his diplomatic capital to mending frayed ties with alienated allies in Europe and reaching out to major civilisations such as the Muslim world.

Under the Obama administration, The US global approval ratings bounced back, allowing Washington to more effectively deploy its convening power, most evident in its effective assembly of an international coalition vis-a-vis the Iranian nuclear issue.

OPINION: Politics of disillusionment and the rise of Trump

With Asia emerging as the worlds new centre of economic gravity, the Obama administration engaged the region more than any of his predecessors. As part of the US Pivot to Asia strategy, President Obama chose the region as its first foreign trip, held short sleeve intimate summits with leaders of China and Southeast Asia, and pushed for a pan-regional Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, among many other initiatives.

Amid Chinas rising territorial assertiveness in adjacent waters, the Obama administration has steadily augmented the US military presence in the region, while soliciting diplomatic and military support from allies and partners across the region. But its soft power is in danger.

Trumps venom

Trumps abhorrent call for total ban on entry of Muslims, amid growing public anxiety after the San Bernardino terror attacks, not only provoked international outrage vis-a-vis the New York billionaire, but has also cast a dark shadow on the US democratic pedigree.

Leading experts such as Francis Fukuyama have warned about democratic decay, while others have bemoaned the rise of authoritarianism in the US.

Traditionally, Asian governments have been careful not to be seen as interfering in the US domestic politics. But Trumps venomous rhetoric proved just too much to bear, especially for multicultural Southeast Asian countries, which have spent decades on fostering intercommunal harmony.

OPINION: US elections  Its the system, stupid

Nur Jazlan Mohamed, deputy home minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia, bluntly characterised Trump as a symptom of an emerging wave of xenophobia in the US: [Trumps] proposal reflects the thinking of many people in America, and this is worrying.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim-majority country, has also taken notice. A top Indonesian politician, Setya Novanto, was placed under investigation for violation of ethics laws when he was seen appearingat one of Trumps campaign events.

Adhering to a 19th century doctrine of US foreign policy, Trump has called for abandonment of free trade and extraction of imperial tribute from allies such as South Korea, while praising Chinas massive reclamation activities in adjacent waters as a reflection of strategic acumen and lashing out at major allies such as Japan as free-riders.

Trump and his legions of supporters have made a mockery of US claims to exceptionalism and global leadership. And if Trump wins the presidential race, dont be surprised if some US allies and friends start defecting to revisionist powers such as China, whose leaders would suddenly look less erratic and more reliable than US.

Richard Javad Heydarian is a specialist in Asian geopolitical/economic affairs and author of Asias New Battlefield: US, China, and the Struggle for Western Pacific.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Vermont senator easily beats Hillary Clinton in another northeastern state, as pair square off on stage in Michigan.

Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic caucuses in Maine, scoring a needed victory in the northeastern US state for his challenge to Hillary Clinton for their partys presidential nomination.

With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting on Sunday, Sanders led Clinton with 64.3 percent of the vote compared with her 35.5 percent.

A victory along those lines would see him take most of the states 25 convention delegates at stake.

It was an expected win for Sanders, who enjoys strong backing in the northeastern US region and hails from nearby Vermont.





I thank the people of Maine for their strong support, his campaign said in a statement.

With another double-digit victory, we have now won by wide margins in states from New England to the Rocky Mountains and from the Midwest to the Great Plains.

The win came as the two Democratic presidential contenders squared off in a debate in Michigan on Sunday, where they clashed angrily over trade, the car industry bailout and Wall Street.

Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, said Sanders came out sparring on a number of issues.

He also reminded the audience that there is a key philosophical difference between himself and Hillary Clinton  their ties to Wall Street, Halkett said.

READ MORE: Super Saturday  A nightmare for the Republicans?

In the debate, held in Flint, Michigan, Sanders said Clinton supported disastrous trade policies that moved manufacturing jobs out of cities such as Flint and Detroit and shifted them overseas.

But Clinton said Sanders opposition to the 2009 car industry bailout, a crucial issue in a state that is home to the US car industry, would have cost Michigan millions of jobs. The bailout, which Clinton supported, passed Congress and has been credited with helping save the US auto industry.

If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it, Clinton, the former secretary of state, said of Sanders.

The debate was held in Flint to highlight the citys water contamination crisis, and both candidates expressed outrage at Flints plight and demanded state and federal money begin to flow immediately to begin relief and rebuilding efforts.

Sanders has struggled to slow Clintons march to the nomination to face the Republican candidate in the November 8 general election to succeed President Barack Obama.

Sanders also questioned the sincerity of Clintons conversion to opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal.

Al Jazeeras comprehensive coverage of the US presidential election campaign

The two contenders cut each other off on several occasions, a rare occurrence in a race that has been much more polite than the raucous Republican presidential campaign.

Sanders repeated his charge that Clinton is too close to Wall Street and demanded again that she release the transcript of paid speeches she has given to Wall Street firms.

Opinion polls show Clinton, 68, leading in Michigan and Mississippi, which vote on Tuesday. She also leads in polls in several big states that vote on March 15, including Ohio and Florida.

Sanders, 74, faces a tough challenge erasing Clintons lead of about 200 bound delegates who will choose the nominee at the July convention. Since the Democratic race awards delegates in each state proportionally, she will keep gathering delegates even in those states she loses.

The Democratic debate occurred one day after Sanders won nominating contests in Kansas and Nebraska, and Clinton won the bigger prize of Louisiana, a win that allowed her to slightly expand her delegate lead.
Six people were wounded when a bomb planted inside a notebook computer exploded at an airport in Somalia on Monday, the second such attack in recent weeks targeting civilian aviation in the country.

The bomb detonated at a checkpoint in the small central town of Beledweyne, about 325km north of the capital Mogadishu, where last month al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for a blast that tore a gaping hole in a passenger plane shortly after takeoff.



Kenya commemorates troops killed in Somalia conflict

A laptop computer went off at the screening area, and the security forces have also managed to defuse two other explosive devices, one of them planted in a printer, police Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Dhuh Abdi told reporters.

Six people were wounded, two of them policemen.

The blast on Monday took place where security screening is carried out before cargo and passenger luggage are loaded on to planes.

The security checkpoint was manned by African Union troops from Djibouti, as well as Somali government security forces.

No immediate claim of responsibility for the attack was made.

On February 2, a blast punched a one-metre-sized hole in the side of an Airbus A321 about 15 minutes after it had taken off from Mogadishu heading for Djibouti. The suspected bomber is believed to have died after being sucked out of the aircraft, which managed to turn around and land safely.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility saying the bomb targeted Western officials and Turkish NATO forces thought to be on the flight.

The armed group  fighting to overthrow Somalias government and establish a state based on its interpretation of Islamic law  said the operation was retribution for the crimes committed by the coalition of Western crusaders and their intelligence agencies against the Muslims of Somalia.
Americans are working with local officials in Paraiba to find possible link between virus and microcephaly in babies.

There has been a steep rise in the number of babies born with malformations in areas in Brazil affected by the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

There are more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, with just under 700 confirmed ones.

Going from home to home in Paraiba, in the countrys northeast, doctors from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are working with Brazilian health officials to find a possible link between the virus and microcephaly in babies.





This is obviously something very important to know and we want to get the information out as soon as possible to be able to understand this, and create public health awareness, Dr Alexia Harrist of the CDC said.

Whether linked to Zika or not, there are more babies now in need of special attention.

In places like Paraiba, overwhelmed health workers are doing all they can to help families to cope  one day at a time.

It has been 10 months since the first case of Zika was confirmed, but medical facilities in Paraiba are still struggling.

The Brazilian government has been commended by the World Health Organization for doing its best to handle a difficult situation.

However, its efforts do not seem to be making their way to the areas most affected.

There is still a lack of information, particularly with regard to Zikas consequences.

So little is known that government officials are asking everyone to do whatever they can to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes.
After weekend pause, demolition teams in France move in to dismantle tents and makeshift shacks housing refugees.

Calais, France  French demolition teams backed by riot police have resumed destroying the southern part of a refugee camp in Calais known as the Jungle after a pause over the weekend.

Dozens of police officers, local officials and demolition workers moved in on Monday morning after a night of rainfall and snow to dismantle tents and shacks housing refugees.

Security forces  carrying riot gear, tear gas, and pistols  formed a cordon around the area set for demolition, as officials from the Calais state authority ordered residents to move out.





While the majority of the group of mostly Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees complied, several are holding out and refusing to leave.

The demolition resumed despite a silent protest by dozens of residents and volunteers in the camp, several of whom are on hunger strike.

Al Jazeera spoke to Tom Radcliffe, a Buddhist priest from London, who stopped eating on March 2 in solidarity with a group of Iranian refugees who had done the same.

My neighbour said to me I was driven out of my home by armed men, and now I have come to Europe the same thing is happening again.

I have had so many conversations where people said, I came to Europe because of the human rights but I came here and found that was only for Europeans.'

Radcliffe said the group would stop their strike if French authorities halted the demolition, pending the outcome of legal appeals against the demolition order.

Sites targeted in Mondays clearance included the Ashram tent, a refugee and activist-run kitchen that fed hundreds of people a day for free.

Organisers of the kitchen told Al Jazeera that they would be moving their equipment to a smaller space in the northern section of the camp, which is not covered by the current demolition order.

French authorities moved in to destroy the southern section last week after an order was issued by the state authority for Calais in February.

The operation led to sporadic clashes between security forces and refugees trying to protect their dwellings; often tents or makeshift wooden structures, powered by small generators and gas canisters.

During the violence, several tents were set alight, with the fires consuming belongings, clothes and supplies.

On Sunday and on Monday morning, refugees and volunteers tried to avoid similar incidents by moving the dwellings to parts of the camp unaffected by the current round of demolitions and scavenging materials to help build new structures.

Despite being spared from the demolition order, residents of the northern section of the camp said that they fear being forced out shortly, with some considering increasingly desperate measures.

A friend of mine got to Birmingham after jumping on to the trucks going to England, Im going to try it this week, said Mohamed, a Syrian refugee, who did not want his surname to be published for fear of possible legal consequences.

Local authorities are offering accommodation to refugees who agree to abandon their homes inside converted cargo containers in the northern section, but few have taken up the offer.

The area is cut off from the rest of the camp by a metal rail and security checkpoint, and many refugees fear they will relinquish their right to claim asylum in the UK by registering to move there.

French officials say about 800-1,000 people live in the area of the camp affected by the clearance operation, but activists say they have carried out surveys putting the number at more than 3,000.

They say roughly one in 10 are unaccompanied children.

Follow Shafik Mandhai on Twitter: @shafikfm
Bloody raid on army and police posts in Ben Gardane killed 55 people, mostly attackers who infiltrated the country.

Tunisias border with Libya was closed on Tuesday after a brazen attack by suspected ISIL gunmen on a frontier town left at least 55 people dead.

Gunmen attacked the eastern town of Ben Gardane on Monday and fighting continued past nightfall.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said the assault was an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border.



Deadly attack in Tunisia could just be the beginning

This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organised. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.

The death toll includes 36 attackers, seven civilians and 12 members of Tunisias security forces, Essid said.

Tunisian interior and defence ministers travelled to the town to oversee heightened border protection operations on Tuesday, according to a joint statement.

The attackers simultaneously targeted an army barracks and police posts with heavy weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.

The government imposed a curfew in Ben Gardane.

A security and military campaign began last week in Ben Gardane after Tunisian security officials said terrorist groups had infiltrated the country.

Officials said that the campaign followed raids in Libya against ISIL.

Fighters trained in Libya carried out several deadly attacks inside Tunisia last year.

READ MORE: Hopes of a better life in Tunisia hang by a thread

Al Jazeeras Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Ben Gardane, said the strategically important town is regarded as the gateway to Libya. It serves as a hub for arms trafficking and smuggling of everyday goods. Tunisia has built a fence along the border with Libya, but that doesnt seem to stop the movement of armed attackers coming in from Libya and targeting the army and security forces, she said. In the past week we have seen several incidents of people coming across. Last Wednesday, troops killed five armed men in a firefight outside the town, in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Deadly attacks by ISIL on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisias tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.
Bomber strikes outside court in the northwest, killing at least 13 people including two women and a child.

Two women and a child are among at least 13 people killed in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan, described as a revenge attack by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.

The bomber blew himself up outside a district court in the Shabqadar market area of Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

Police said 26 people were also wounded in the explosion, with six in a critical condition.

The blast took place about 30km from the regions main city of Peshawar.

Inspector Ali Jan Khan, from the Shabqadar police station, said the attacker was attempting to enter the court.

The suicide bomber was interrupted by two security personnel, which prompted him to blow himself up outside the court, he told Al Jazeera.

Asfandyar Khan, a hospital worker, told Al Jazeera that two women and a female child were among the dead.

Medical teams were dispatched to the scene, but the death toll was expected to rise, he said.

A splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was a revenge attack for the recent execution of a former Pakistani commando who shot Punjab provinces governor in 2011.

The Pakistani courts give decisions against the laws revealed by Allah, and convict and hang innocent people, Ehsanullah Ehsan, TTP spokesman, said in an emailed statement.

READ MORE: Pakistan attack  My son died protecting his his guests

Salman Taseer, the slain governor, had sought to reform Pakistans controversial blasphemy laws.

Charsadda is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven regions along the border with Afghanistan, where the Pakistani military has launched a major offensive against fighters from al-Qaeda and the TTP.

Al Jazeeras Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital Islamabad, said: Charsadda is the first point of entry for any attacker coming out of Mohmand.

In January, Bacha Khan University  also in Charsadda  came under attack by the TTP, which killed 21 students and teachers.



Pakistan: Sufficient evidence to identify university attackers




Pentagon says drone strike targeted al-Shabab training camp in Somalia, 195km north of Mogadishu, over the weekend.

The US military has carried out a drone strike against an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia over the weekend, killing at least 150 fighters.

The Pentagon said on Monday that the strike occurred over the weekend on the camp about 195km north of the capital Mogadishu.





The fighters were there training and were training for a large-scale attack, Captain Jeff Davis, Pentagon spokesman, said.

We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces.

It was an air operation. Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated.

Davis said as many as 200 fighters were believed to be training at the camp and that the US military had been monitoring the site for several weeks before the strike.

Earlier on Monday, six people were wounded when a bomb planted inside a notebook computer exploded at an airport in the small central town of Beledweyne.

The bomb detonated at a checkpoint about 325km north of Mogadishu, where last month al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for a blast that created a big hole in a passenger plane shortly after takeoff.
Palestinian group had been accused of helping the Muslim Brotherhood of plotting fatal bomb attack on chief prosecutor.

Hamas has denied Egypt governments allegations accusing the Palestinian group of involvement in the assassination of the countrys chief prosecutor last year.

Hisham Barakat was killed in a car-bomb attack in Cairo in June 2015. There was no confirmed claim of responsibility.

In a press conference in Cairo on Sunday, Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypts interior minister, said the killing was ordered by Turkey-based leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood group in close coordination with Hamas.

READ MORE: Egypt claims Hamas-Brotherhood hand in Barakat killing

However, Salah al-Bardawil, a senior Hamas official, said in the Gaza Strip on Monday that the accusations were baseless.

Hamas denies these political allegations made towards us, he said.

It has never been a characteristic of us to interfere in Egyptian security affairs.

No relations with Hamas

Abdel-Ghaffar had also accused Hamas of providing training to the suspects, allegations that Bardawail denied.

The suspects have never entered Gaza and have no relations with Hamas, he said before asking the Egypt government to review the false allegations in order to avoid straining relations with Palestine.

Egypt has arrested 14 people suspected to be involved in assassinating Barakat, accusing them of receiving training in the Gaza Strip.

Gamal Heshmat, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood in exile, had also dismissed the accusations as an ongoing effort by the Egyptian government to demonise the Brotherhood.

Their accusations do not contain any credibility; they only reflect failures of politics and security, he told Al Jazeera.

Barakat was the most senior state official to die at the hands of armed groups since the toppling of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in 2013.

Since then, the Brotherhood was banned and declared a terrorist organisation inside Egypt.
A PR drive on Twitter by Najib Razak to defend his position in corruption scandal has turned into a criticism tool.

Only days after facing a political call to step down as Malaysias prime minister, Najib Razak now faces more pressure from the public.

The hashtag #RespectMyPM was supposed to support Najib, 62, on Twitter as he launched a public-relations campaign defending his position.

However, that turned into a criticism tool by Monday  a day after it was launched  for alleged corruption and crackdown on media outlets as well as opponents.

How am I to #RespectMyPM when I #SuspectMyPM stole billions from the nation!  TK (@terencekumar) March 6, 2016

On Friday, leaders from across Malaysias political spectrum  led by Mahathir Mohamad, the 90-year-old former prime minister  joined hands for a national movement to remove Najib.

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, the opposition and top civil society groups.

Mahathir said the assembled leaders, despite their differences, shared one goal.

Respect is EARNED NOT Demanded #RespectMyPM shld start by earning the respect. The people are not stupid & mindless pic.twitter.com/SkiWCoOxR4  Yong Yek Ming (@shiokguy) March 7, 2016

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 anger with his tenure.

Najibs honesty and credibility have been under attack since last July when the Wall Street Journal revealed a deposit of approximately $700m into his personal bank account.

Najib said that the money came from an Arab donor but questions surrounding the amount and its presence in a personal instead of political party account remains unanswered.

I will #RespectMyPM if he decided to resign.  Syahmi Asmari (@shamiebledsoe) March 7, 2016

The report said the funds came via a series of financial transfers from a heavily indebted state investment fund 1MDB which Najib, as finance minister, also oversees.

In January, Malaysias attorney general cleared Najib of any criminal offences or corruption, saying the transfer was a gift from Saudi Arabias royal family and that no further action needed to be taken.

Opposition leaders denounced the finding, saying the appointment of the attorney general by Najib in the middle of the crisis suggested a conflict of interest.

But others said it was a victory for Najib that would allow him to focus on winning the next general elections in 2018.
As the US and South Korea start their largest ever military exercises, Pyongyang warns of an all-out offensive.

North Korea has pledged a sacred war of justice for reunification including a nuclear strike against the United States, saying joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington were being carried out to prepare for an invasion.

South Korean and United States troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills nuclear war moves and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Koreas fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a United Nations Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of its nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong-un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.





The joint US and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of the non-provocative nature of this training involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Koreas defence ministry said that it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

Still, it issued a statement on Monday warning the North that it should immediately stop its reckless behaviour that would drive them to their own destruction.

If North Korea ignores our warning and conducts provocations, our military will relentlessly respond and we warn that North Korea will be held fully responsible for any situation leading to North Koreas reckless provocation, the statement said.

OPINION: What we know about Kim Jong-un

North Koreas National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would realise the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification, in response to any attack by US and South Korean forces.

Its response would include nuclear weapons and their use against the United States, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement on Monday.

We have a military operation plan of our style to liberate South Korea and strike the US mainland, the KCNA report said, also adding a powerful nuclear strike means targeting the US imperialist aggressor forces bases in the Asia-Pacific region.

The North, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The threat on Monday was in line with the usual rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.

The latest UN sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the US and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the US and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea and the US militaries began talks on Friday on the deployment of an advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system in South Korea.
Sudans President Omar al-Bashir has travelled to Indonesia, defying an international warrant for his arrest, to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit.

The meeting, which began on Sunday, is dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and brings together officials from 57 countries.

Bashir managed to fly under the radar of Indonesian human right activists and NGOs. Last year, he cancelled a trip to attend an Asia-Africa conference in the capital Jakarta after protests by rights groups who wanted the president arrested.

The same human rights groups now question the morality of this summit  discussing peace and human rights in Palestine  as the topic is being discussed with someone who has been accused of violating the same rights of his own people, Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen reported from the conference venue.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010, accusing him of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in Sudans western Darfur region.

Members of the ICC are obliged to act on arrest warrants. Indonesia is not a member.

OPINION: Why South Africa let Bashir get away

Bashir, who has ruled Sudan since an army-backed 1989 coup, rejects the ICCs authority.

But he had not travelled outside the Middle East or Africa since 2011, until he visited China in September to attend celebrations commemorating the end of World War II. China is also not a member of the ICC.

In June, Bashir was forced to flee South Africa after a court ruled he should be banned from leaving pending the outcome of a hearing on his possible arrest.

At the OIC summit in Jakarta, Indonesias President Joko Widodo urged Muslim nations to be part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than part of the problem.

Widodo said on Monday that the entire world is concerned by the deterioration of the situation in Palestine. If the OIC cannot be part of the solution to Palestine, then the OIC becomes irrelevant, he said.
Damages sought from Sheldon Adelson and others for financing construction of settlements on Palestinian soil.

New York, US  A group of Palestinians has launched an ambitious $34.5bn lawsuit against United States-based tycoons, charities and firms for supporting Israeli land grabs, settlement-building and other violations of Palestinians rights these past four decades.

They seek damages from Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate, Irving Moskowitz, a philanthropist with property interests in East Jerusalem, and megachurch pastor John Hagee for financing the construction of settlements on Palestinian soil.

Lawyers also name such charities as Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and private firms, including Dead Sea-based cosmetics maker Ahava, UK-based security firm G4S and the industrial powerhouse Israel Chemicals Limited.

Were not in this for the money, but well probably pick the pockets of some very wealthy corporations, Martin McMahon, a lawyer for the complainants from the firm Martin McMahon and Associates, told Al Jazeera on Monday.

Its about time that the world woke up to the fact that Palestinians are being murdered every day with US taxpayer dollars.

The case is brought by Bassem al-Tamimi, an activist, and about 35 other Palestinians and Palestinian Americans who say they have seen their loved ones killed by Israeli forces and lost their land to settlers and business and construction schemes.

They allege five counts of conspiracy, war crimes, aggravated trespass, pillage and racketeering via various legal mechanisms, including laws against organised crime and US entities linked with overseas human rights abuses.

Al Jazeera contacted Adelson, Hagee and some of the four dozen charities, firms and individuals named in the case but spokespeople were not immediately able to comment.

The suit was filed in the Federal District Court of Washington DC on Monday.

The pro-Palestinian lawyers said that they expected protracted legal arguments over the courts jurisdiction and potential dismissal proceedings.

A trial, possibly by jury, would probably not take place for five years, they said.

We have cases going that have lasted 13 years, so we are used to long cases, Jameson Fox, another lawyer for the Palestinians, told Al Jazeera.

In a statement, al-Tamimi, said that he was tortured and jailed for staging protests at Halamish, a West Bank settlement.

Doaa Abu-Amar, another complainant, lost 14 family members when Israeli forces bombed a day-care centre during the 2009 assault on Gaza, it is claimed.

Ahmed al-Zeer was beaten and left disabled by settlers who attacked him outside the settlement of Ofra, it is claimed.

Susan Abulhawa, another complainant and poet, said she sought official recognition of Palestinian suffering.

I want a court, somewhere, somehow, to hold accountable those who have financed my pain of dispossession and exile and to hold accountable the financiers of Israels wholesale theft of another peoples historic, material, spiritual, and emotional presence in the world, Abulhawa said in a statement.

Palestinians have a poor track record for winning in US civil courtrooms.

Pro-Palestinian lawyers suffered a setback in New York in February 2015, when jurors awarded $218.5m in damages against the Palestinian leadership and blamed it for terror attacks in Israel that killed or wounded American citizens a decade previously.

Pro-Israel lawyers chalked up another victory in New York last year, when jurors agreed that Jordans Arab Bank was liable for materially supporting Hamas.

A US class action suit against Avi Dichter, Israels former security chief, over a one-tonne bomb hitting a Gaza City apartment block in 2002, failed in the US after Dichter was granted immunity from prosecution.

Palestinian lawyers complain that US jurors are biased. A Gallup opinion survey last month found that 62 percent of Americans sympathise with Israelis compared to 15 percent who side with Palestinians.

McMahon said that unconditional support for Israel was waning.

Forty per cent of Jewish Americans condemn settlements so there is a complete reversal going on in America against tolerating these actions from the Israeli government, and our law suit apparently is a vehicle for those who are completely frustrated by that process, McMahon said.

George Bisharat, a Palestinian-American law professor at California University, described a growing number of so-called lawfare cases between Israelis and Palestinians, where courts are used in part to sway public opinion.

Im sceptical of courts and their willingness to be politically daring and would put the odds of this case winning at less than 50 per cent, Bisharat told Al Jazeera.

As a matter of publicity, there is great potential to be exploited here. Palestinian have not effectively explored all of their legal remedies or been artful in managing cases, so there is untapped potential there.

Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl
Indian student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was jailed by authorities on sedition charges, isnt backing down from his criticism of the government following his release on bail from jail.

Police in New Delhi arrested Kumar, a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans  a charge he has denied.

His speech on March 3 went viral and #Kanhaiyakumar was on Twitters top 10 global trending list.

Kumar has attacked the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he calls its dictatorial tendencies. Al Jazeera spoke to the 28-year-old student about his arrest.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Al Jazeera: There is an outpouring of support for you. How do you feel after coming out of jail?

Kumar: Through your channel I want to thank people around the world who have stood in support of JNU, democracy and justice. A fight has been waged against those who have attacked democracy. I feel, its the beginning of that fight and its going to be long.

Can you tell us about the incident in court in Delhi when lawyers attacked you?

It was a worrying moment for me, but I was not scared. Whats happening in my country is that on the one hand people are talking about justice, constitution and patriotism and on other hand one accused [Kanhaiya] was attacked inside a court complex. It was an attack on democracy. Those who did were in lawyers dress, whose profession is to serve justice. They are now talking about mob justice instead of law of the land.

READ MORE: Loud and clear, Indian students send message of freedom

Whats your take on the sedition law under which you were arrested?

Words can be wrong and right, but they cannot come under sedition law. Unless the words are put into practice, sedition should not be slapped on anybody.

This government has resorted to dictatorial and fascist ways. Those who speak against them and their ideology are being branded as anti-nationals. Laws like sedition are not needed in a liberal democratic state. It is being misused. It is being used as a political tool by this government.

Its the same law drafted by the colonial power. No changes have ever been made. Its being used on the same pattern as the British used it.

The current controversy has its genesis in an event organised by students at JNU on the issue of Indian-administered Kashmir. Do you think there is freedom to talk about the Kashmir issue in India?

In India, Kashmiri people can speak  freedom of speech is guaranteed by the constitution. The way they [government officials] are trying to control freedom of speech, it shows their dictatorial tendency. Its not a matter of Kashmir or Pakistan, this government does not tolerate persons, institutions and groups that have differing views.



India court grants bail to student leader

They have this tag of anti-national that they impose. If somebody talks about Kashmir, border disputes, capital punishment, if somebody talks about it under the limits of the constitution then its not wrong. There was a public outcry after a section of the media focused on the slogan Bharat tere tukde honge [India you will be broken into pieces]. But was that slogan shouted or not? I dont know. Its still under investigation.

Is the controversy about freedom of speech  or a student backlash against the governments education policy?

The government is attacking educational institutions. Its a continuous attack against Indias intelligentsia, which talks about protection of constitution, human rights and freedom. Voice of dissent arises from there. These voices of dissent become basis for agitation against anti-people policies being pushed by this government.

To limit freedom of expression and trample voices that are against the governments wishes, and crush any chances of agitations building up against the government  attack on JNU is part of this strategy because JNU stands up against anti-people policies.

READ MORE: New Delhi protest: Thousands call for students freedom

Why do you think the government and far-right groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are attacking JNU?

RSS is an organisation with a terrible ideology. It does not understand India; it has always tried to destroy Indias social fabric. It has nothing to do with Indias sanskriti [culture]. It runs its politics on the basis of rumours and divisive agendas. For them attacking institutions like JNU is necessary as these institutions stand for human rights.

Multicultural tradition and thought is against RSS ideology. RSS believes in dictatorial ideology. Its guidelines have been inspired from Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler and their hardcore nationalist views. Thats why they are not able to digest JNU, and thus continuously attack. This government is guided by RSS diktat more than parliament and constitution.

Do you think space for freedom of expression has narrowed in India?

The scope of freedom of expression has not shrunk but it is under continuous attack from the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken on this issue. Do you think he should have intervened?

Its ironic that Modi used to tell us about the last Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that he was silent as if he did not have tongue. But reality is that the previous prime minister at least used to speak on important issues of the country. He used to take a stand when it was required. I dont know whats Modis majboori [helplessness] that after becoming prime minister  be it the issue of education, people rights, health, attack on constitution  he has remained silent. Modi has turned out to be the real silent prime minister.

How do you define Azadi [freedom]  a term that landed you in trouble?

When we talk about Azadi it is not just about one state against another. Its ambit is big and meaning is very big. Azadi is also about getting rid of issues facing the country. By relating meaning of Azadi with unity and sovereignty of the country there was an attempt to misinterpret it. Now the truth is coming out.

Two other students from JNU are still in jail. What is being done to address their cases?

We have a students union and we will take a call as per its constitution. Student council will decide what course of action needs to be taken. There is consensus among students that we will continue agitation for the release of jailed students who are facing sedition cases, and reinstatement of those students who have been suspended.

Even teachers, common students and employees are supporting us, only ABVP [the ruling BJPs student wing] is not part of this.

Your speech went viral. Why do you think people liked it so much?

Whatever happened to me, I put before people the truth and my pain. I am very glad and thankful that people liked my speech.
Turkish citizens to get visa-free travel to Schengen zone by June in return for cooperation on refugees, officials say.

Turkey has asked for an additional $3.3bn from the European Union to help it check the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea, according to reports.

The country is due to receive $3.3bn until the end of 2018 to cover the costs of dealing with the refugees, but it has reportedly asked for double the amount.

Martin Schulz, head of the European Parliament, said the request came at a summit in Brussels on Monday between Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish prime minister, and EU leaders.

Under a draft proposal, Turkey and the EU could cooperate to end the flow of irregular refugees to Greek islands and start resettling Syrian refugees directly from Turkey to the EU.

READ MORE: Calais refugee camp  Destruction resumes at The Jungle

In exchange for readmitting refugees from Greece to Turkey, Brussels will grant Turkish citizens the right to travel throughout the EUs Schengen zone without a visa latest by end of June 2016.

The Turkish government is also trying to secure the countrys EU membership.

Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well, Davutoglu said before the summit.

He expressed hope that the talks will be a success story and a turning point in our relations.

Temporary home

Turkey is a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria.

It is also a transit country for waves of people heading to Europe from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

We are not sending them. They are going [to Greece] by sea and many of them are dying, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys president, said, criticising the EU for its reluctance to take in more refugees as well as its demands on Turkey to halt the flow of people.





We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths.

On Sunday, at least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece.

The Greek coastguard launched a search-and-rescue mission for people believed to be missing from the accident near the Turkish town of Didim.

At least 15 people were rescued and brought to land in the care of emergency aid workers.

About 13,000 people are living in precarious conditions in Greece as they wait for authorities to let them into Macedonia so they can move towards Western Europe.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says a humanitarian crisis is quickly unfolding at the border, with refugees living in makeshift camps and in the open, as authorities allow only 250 a day to pass through.

More than one million asylum seekers have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015  the majority fleeing the war in Syria  with nearly 4,000 dying while crossing the Mediterranean.
The Egyptian government has barred journalists from reporting on events in the troubled Sinai peninsula.

The last time Mohannad Sabry, an Egyptian journalist who has reported extensively from the Sinai Peninsula, reported from North Sinai in June 2015, he received a phone call from a source telling him that every military checkpoint east of el-Arish was stopping vehicles, with instructions to arrest him.

Does that make me, as a journalist, a terrorist in their eyes? Or as dangerous as a terrorist? Sabry wondered. He left the area and has not returned.

These checkpoints are part of Egypts security apparatus as the military battles an insurgency in the region. North Sinai is the main theatre of Egypts ongoing war on terror against Wilayat Sinai, considered the most potent branch of the Islamic State group outside of Syria, Iraq, or Libya.

In his recently published book, Sabry suggests that the Egyptian military is more concerned with preventing information from coming out of Sinai than it is with tackling terrorism in the sparsely populated but strategic peninsula.

OPINION: The Sinai is far from stable

Under Hosni Mubaraks 30-year rule, Sinai was subject to strict limitations on access and reporting.

Following the toppling of Mubarak in 2011, Sabry was able to travel into the peninsula regularly, returning with insights into tunnels and smuggling networks, economic deprivation and neglect, growing Islamist militancy, and Egypts nascent war on terror.

Now, under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian authorities have attempted to re-impose a total blackout on independent reporting from Sinai.





The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) conducted a census among journalists in Egypt following the introduction of an anti-terror law in August 2015 that criminalises reporting on terrorism that deviates from official government statements.

They told us that journalism is over in Sinai, said Sherif Mansour, CPJs Middle East and North Africa coordinator. They [said] the only reporting we can do is to follow the armys story. Anything else is a prison wish.'

Ismail Alexandrani, a journalist and researcher focusing on Sinai, was arrested in November 2015 and faces charges of publishing false news and belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now a banned group in Egypt. Saeed Abuhaj, of the Sinai Media Centre, has been held in prison without trial since November 2013, according to the CPJ.

Many Sinai-based journalists, activists, and residents are also afraid to speak, caught between threats from both the military and the armed fighters in the region.

They by Sherif

the only reporting we can do is to follow the armys story. Anything else is a prison wish.]

For press freedom groups, the Egyptian states position on Sinai is just the most extreme iteration of a nationwide crackdown on freedom of expression.

There is one simple and clear reason for the blackout in Sinai, which continues to become increasingly hostile and hermetic. Its because the current Egyptian regime does not want the crimes it committed in Sinai to be exposed, said Sabry.

Sabry has documented serious human rights violations by Egypts military in Sinai in his book, including the indiscriminate shelling of civilians, the destruction of houses and land, arbitrary arrests, and widespread  and increasingly brutal  torture. Entire settlements have been erased  including the Egyptian side of the city of Rafah.

The military has imposed frequent curfews, road closures, and lengthy communication blackouts across North Sinai. One of the reasons [the military] dont have any kind of proper intelligence coming from the community is that they are stifling that community, claimed Sabry.

The Egyptian authorities are keen to control the narrative in its war on terror, said Zack Gold, a non-resident fellow at the Rafik Hariri Centre for the Middle East. The military is really concerned about morale  They want to give the Egyptian people and troops statements of hope and reassurance.

OPINION: Scapegoating Hamas for Sinai problems

The war on terror also has implications for neighbouring Gaza and Israel, and beyond. After Israel, Egypt is the biggest recipient of US military aid, and US law prohibits military aid to security forces that commit gross human rights violations. And yet, Mansour said, the Egyptian governments narrative is the only one being told about how this military equipment is being used.





The blackout on reporting can obscure failings as the battle against Wilayat Sinai drags on, despite repeated military offensives.

There are indications that the military may be adapting its tactics to some extent. The recent Operation Martyrs Rights employed elite troops with some success in a more sustained counter-insurgency campaign.

The reporting blackout may also benefit Wilayat Sinai, as their violence against local communities often goes unreported.

The lack of independent reporting makes it difficult to gauge the level of support for Wilayat Sinai among the local population, and to what extent the states tactics are alienating a generation of Sinai civilians. It could also reinforce misconceptions and prejudices among the wider Egyptian population.

For decades, the Egyptian government and much of the media labelled Sinais mostly Bedouin population as smugglers, traffickers, drug dealers, traitors or terrorists.

The current government has said that it recognises the need to work with the local population and provide a development programme for the region. Grievances from economic neglect and police brutality  which have been ignored by successive Egyptian governments  have been a factor in fuelling crime and militancy, according to Gold.

Theres no broad constituency for giving more developmental aid and assistance to North Sinai, because the connection isnt made between meeting these grievances and lessening militant recruitment, Gold said.

The Egyptian authorities have stated that they have plans to develop Sinai, although critics say there has been little in the way of meaningful action. Meanwhile, the government continues to insist that they are close to eradicating the armed fighters.

Justice Minister Ahmed Al-Zind defended the anti-terror law in comments to AFP news agency. Egyptian authorities did not respond to requests for comment on this article.

Before the press blackout went into effect, Sabry spent months on the ground in Sinai engaging in small talk with residents before they trusted him enough to open up on sensitive issues.

Now, this type of reporting is no longer possible, and the voices of ordinary Sinai residents are mostly going unheard.

Sabry left Egypt just before his book was published to promote his work in a series of book tours and lectures, but he now fears arrest if he returns to Egypt.

Nothing in the Sinai will change, predicted Sabry, not the militarys position, nor the political or security turmoil, without exposing the whole story and the ugliness of that story and taking it apart piece by piece.
Raid on army barracks and national guards in Ben Gardane leaves 10 soldiers and seven civilians among 45 dead.

At least 45 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and armed men in a Tunisian city near the border with Libya.

The Tunisian interior ministry said at least 28 attackers, 10 soldiers and seven civilians were killed in Mondays gun battle in Ben Gardane.

The attackers simultaneously targeted an army barracks and national guards with heavy weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.

An ambulance was also stolen in the clashes.





While the situation has calmed down, authorities said a curfew will be implemented in the city on Monday evening.

We have decided to impose a curfew in Ben Gardane on both vehicles and pedestrians  starting from today [Monday] between 7pm [18:00 GMT] and 5am [04:00 GMT], an interior ministry statement said.

A security and military campaign began last week in Ben Gardane, after Tunisian security officials said terrorist groups sneaked into the country.

Officials said the campaign followed raids in Libya against fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Fighters trained in Libya carried out several attacks inside Tunisia last year.

Al Jazeeras Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunisia, said Ben Gardane is a strategically important town that is regarded as the gateway to Libya. It serves as a hub for arms trafficking and smuggling of everyday goods.

READ MORE: Hopes of a better life in Tunisia hang by a thread

Tunisia has built a fence along the border with Libya but that doesnt seem to stop the movement of armed attackers coming in from Libya and targeting the army and security forces, she said.

In the past week we have seen several incidents of people coming across.

Habib Essid, Tunisias prime minister, ordered the defence and interior ministers to head to Ben Gardane to oversee operations against the members of the armed group.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five armed men in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.





Troops have been on alert in the border area following reports that fighters had been slipping across since a US air strike on an ISIL training camp in Libya on February 18 killed dozens of Tunisian fighters.

At least four of the five fighters killed in last weeks firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in a bid to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said.

Deadly attacks by ISIL on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisias tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop fighters infiltrating.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tunis, journalist Nicholas Noe said the latest attack is a significant turn for Tunisia and the regional security.

Its been something that we have been predicting for months, he said.

The situation in Libya and the growing ISIL presence are having a spillover effect in Tunisia, he said.

This could just be the beginning of an even wider conflict.
European Union leaders meet Turkeys prime minister in another attempt to check the flow of refugees.

During Mondays summit in Brussels between the European Union and Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish prime minister, said his country is indispensable in solving the worsening refugee crisis.

More than 2,000 people travel every day from Turkey to Greece, where many are stranded.

Countries on the main route through the Balkans are aiming to stop them from moving north.

The EU has offered several incentives to encourage the Turkish government to crack down on migrant and refugee movements. An estimated 3bn ($3.3bn) will be made available for Syrian refugees.

Turkeys long-coveted EU membership process is being accelerated, as are moves to ease EU visa requirements for Turkish nationals.

However, Turkey has a huge refugee and migrant challenge of its own. It is acting as host to more than two million Syrians escaping the civil war.

So, can the EU rely on Turkey to help solve the crisis? And what are the alternative options?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Basak Kale  Research Fellow at the Centre for European Studies

Marc Pierini  Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Europe and former EU ambassador to Turkey

Florian Hartleb  German political expert
Albert L. Rhoton Jr. was a man of God.

The internationally renowned neurosurgeon is credited with building up UF Health Shands Hospitals neurosurgery department. He attended the First Lutheran Church in Gainesville for 44 years.

On Feb. 27, neurosurgeons from around the world, including Japan, Australia and Turkey, attended a celebration of Rhotons life at the church. He died Feb. 21 from metastatic cancer. He was 83.

He would say regularly that everything he did was for the glory of God, said Eric Rhoton, 56, his son.

  

Albert Rhoton was born in a log cabin in rural Kentucky, Eric said. Growing up, he would wake up with snow on his blankets that filtered in from the holes in the walls.

He attended a two-room school and was the first in his family to go to college, Eric said. While at a summer camp for disadvantaged boys, the dean of Washington Universitys School of Medicine saw potential in Rhoton. He graduated from the school in 1959.

In 1972, Rhoton came to UF Health as a professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Neurological Surgery. His two sons and two daughters attended UFs College of Medicine.

At home, Eric Rhoton said his sisters would call their 6-foot-2 father The Gentle Giant for his kind demeanor. Eric said his father was an inspiration.

The main message at home was to find a passion for something and then to work your hardest, he said.

  

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Weeks before he died, he would ask his wife, Joyce, to drop him off at his microsurgery lab at UF Health. He retired 10 years ago, his son said.

He was doing chemotherapy that would wipe him out  he could barely walk  but he still wanted to go in, Eric said.

His dad ran almost every day to stay healthy and would challenge his colleagues and friends to push-up contests to prove he wasnt old.

His body was really weak in the end, but his mind was still clear, he said. His last words were, Let me go.

  

His father got the most joy from teaching others, his son said.

He traveled the world, spreading his knowledge of neurosurgery from shacks in Nicaragua to courses in Israel, where he was transported by a convoy of armed vehicles, he said.

Alice Rhoton-Vlasak said her father was grateful to help the UF Health Department of Neurosurgery become what it is today.

He did feel like it was all a blessing that he had some God that allowed him to have the life he had, the 52-year-old said.

Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004.

From left: Alice Rhoton-Vlasak, Joyce Rhoton, Albert L. Rhoton Jr., Albert Rhoton, Eric Rhoton and Laurel Rhoton-Selner pose for a photo at Mohonk Mountain House resort in New Paltz, New York.
The 2016 election is everywhere and spreading fast  faster than Zika or even Kendrick Lamars new, surprise album Untitled Unmastered. Its there on your news feed when you go to bed and is provided to you by your local newspaper  hey, whats up?  when you wake up. From every which way, its an adrenaline shot of nothing but primaries, caucuses, debates and He Who Must Not Be Named.

In spite of the coverage, however, not all questions are necessarily answered, such as, Whats up with this delegate system? For all those who nod in reluctant agreement at your politically versed roommate or zone out whenever Wolf Blitzer describes delegate appropriations (or anything, really), we at the Alligator have your back.

Think of the delegate system as a long series of middlemen. When you vote or your states caucus casts support toward a candidate, that support goes not directly to the candidate, but to a delegate: party activists, local political leaders and the like. These delegates are usually attributed to a candidate on a proportional basis. So, say Kanye West in 2020 won about one third of a states primary, he would win one third of the delegates. Local delegates then convene to elect state delegates, who will then actually cast votes at the July conventions. Complicated? It gets worse, because delegate systems vary between political parties and even between states.

In the Republican delegate system, the thing to watch out for is the winner-takes-all status of certain states. In this setup, a candidate must simply pass a certain threshold of voters within a state to assume 100 percent of the states delegates. Winner-takes-all states include Florida and Ohio, which is why you heard former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney call out to voters last week, encouraging them to vote for Rubio in Florida and Kasich in Ohio in order to snatch winner-takes-all victories from the orangutan frontrunner. (See Michael Beatos column for more!)

For Democrats, the factor of caution is superdelegates. While delegates are allocated in relation to peoples votes, superdelegates are unpledged, meaning they can swing allegiance between Hillary and Bernie up until the July convention, and their job is to support the Democratic National Committee.

Whats the purpose of the superdelegate system? Well, lets hear it from DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz herself, who told CNN, Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials dont have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. We at the Alligator find it ironic that the Democratic Party hosts such an undemocratic system.

But lets keep in mind that superdelegate allegiance, while currently skewed toward Hillary, is first and foremost to the Democratic Party. Back in 2008, Obama initially fell behind Hillary in superdelegates as well, but with enough Obama voter support, superdelegates eventually pledged to Obama; the same could prove true for Bernie in July.

Whats the solution to this bureaucratic chaos? Get out there and vote. Florida primary polls close March 15, just eight days away. So whether youre Democrat or Republican, independent or non-affiliated, Team Edward or Jacob, Marvel or DC, make your voice heard  on the ballot, not just Facebook. The stronger our voter turnout is, the closer the delegate systems must bend towards popular desire. Otherwise, we relinquish our democratic authority.
The Human Resources, Science and Technology Department (HRST) of the African Union commission (AUC) honoured the Celebration of Youth Volunteerism under the theme Volunteerism as a human centered approach to ensuring Human Rights towards the realization of Agenda 2063. The African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AU-YVC) is a continental development program that recruits and works []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
1. Japan welcomes the peaceful holding and announcement of the results of the Presidential elections, which constitute critical steps towards the return to democracy, in the Central African Republic. 2. Japan hopes that the people of the country will continue to act calmly with the spirit of cooperation towards the consolidation of peace and the []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
During his visit, the Minister made the following statement: The United Kingdom is a long-term partner of the Congolese people. We want a strong, stable and prosperous Democratic Republic of Congo. We work in partnership with the government of the DRC to implement its own plans to provide services for the Congolese people, grow the []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
A brand new bilateral project designed to assist the Government of Tunisia to strengthen its strategic communications began this week with a three day workshop in Tunis. Experts from the UK visited Tunisia to share their experience and knowledge of the challenges all governments face when trying to communicate effectively. The UK delegation was led []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...




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ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words

BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance

A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum

OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008

HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground

BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum

WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground

FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World

POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day

FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance

YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum

THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground

OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:

WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama

PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words

TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day

THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum

THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies

AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance

CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida

SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World

PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground

VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day

REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies

FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum

SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008

AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World

STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special

SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum

TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt.  Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground

IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008

CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies

WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto

DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance

I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
No one could have expected that the current presidential campaign would feature not one but two candidates who resemble in some ways and might be considered Marxists, one of a traditional kind, the other a more modern version.

The traditional one, Bernie Sanders, is a self-described democratic socialist but all his emotional rhetoric and compassionate indignation at the inequities in American society is related to what Karl Marx wrote regarding the concentration of capital and the banking system and the contradictions in the capitalist mode of production. That indignation was evident as a young man when Sanders spent a few months in a left-wing Israeli kibbutz as the guest of the Hashomer Hatzair youth, normally regarded as a progressive Zionist movement.

The anger at those capitalist contradictions, and the unfair nature of American society, mostly manifested in and epitomized as Wall Street remains in the older 74-year-old Bernie, the advocate of the redistribution of wealth who believes in the desirability of socialism, though he might differ somewhat from Karl Marx who argued that capitalism was a historical and progressive (sic) stage on the way to socialism. The passion of Sanders is more agreeable and admired than is his analysis of political and economic reality.

The other presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is a figure who might sometimes be mistaken as a neo-Marxist, as an echo not of Karl Marx but of the incomparable Groucho Marx, the third son, born in 1890 and named Julius, of an impoverished Jewish tailor, above a butchers shop near Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York. As a result of his public performances on Broadway, films, and television, with his persona with bushy eyebrows, thick painted moustache, glasses, and long chewed cigar, Groucho is now a legendary figure. Indeed, he is officially recognized as such. The Marx Brothers film, Duck Soup, is preserved in the National Film Registry because the Library of Congress thinks it is culturally and historically significant.

Groucho, who had no formal education, has become immortal as the quintessential politically incorrect figure, saying things in an outrageous manner and style that are not usually said in public. His comedy was brash, often coarse, offensive, rude, and insolent, and aggressive toward people and disregarding conventions. Groucho mocked existing authority in provocative fashion, sometimes directly but more often by ingenious word play or double entendre.

Trump, the fourth child of an increasingly successful real estate developer, was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York in 1946. After college at Fordham University and the Wharton School of Business, he started his career in 1968 with a gift of $200,000, in todays terms more than $1 million.

Trump is different from the real Julius Marx in his business career, accumulation of large wealth, and highly public personal life, but he is similar to Groucho in two respects. Both appeared in highly successful TV series. Trump was a very highly paid performer in the reality show "The Apprentice" from which he is said to have got as high as $3 million for one episode and earned $213 million for 14 seasons.

More relevant is Trumps penchant, like Groucho, for outspokenness and provoking people especially rivals. Trump, as was Groucho, is a colorful figure constantly drawing attention to himself and becoming the center of any scene. Both were and are bold, direct, straightforward, and take risks. Both were and are boastful, arrogant, full of mockery, often cruel, with a sense of entitlement, and perhaps narcissistic.

Groucho appeared to be nonpolitical. In contrast, Trump has identified himself over the years with inconsistent affiliation as Democratic (D), Republican (R), Reform, D, R, Independent, and now R. He supported both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton for president and has changed position on key political issues. On this issue of inconsistency and lack of a clear agenda, Groucho had two things to say. One is that, All the jokes cant be good. Youve got to expect that once in a while. The other is his insolent remark These are my principles, and if you dont like them, well I have others.

Both Groucho and Donald see themselves as outsiders. Interestingly, the almost stereotypical Jewish looking Groucho rarely if ever made Jewish jokes, with which he may have felt uncomfortable. Groucho was a self-educated person, a would-be intellectual who was unable to go to college because he was forced by the needs of his family to go to work as a teenager.

Grouchos intellectual aspiration is shown in the remarkable correspondence with and his meeting with T.S. Eliot in 1964. Yet his feeling as an outsider and insecurity as a Jew was shown in his famous telegram, quoted in different versions, to the Friars Club in Beverly Hills, California, I dont want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.

Donald sees himself and is seem by the mainstream of the Republican party he hopes to lead as an outsider. His general behavior towards and disparaging remarks about political rivals, as well as his views on migration and deportations and other subjects have made him a polarizing figure. The outsider status of Trump is not lessened by his lack of specificity on how exactly how he plans to make America great again.

The American electorate in considering their vote can learn a lot from Groucho. In the Marx Brothers classic film Duck Soup of 1933 Groucho, playing Rufus Firefly, president of Fredonia, declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of a woman. In A Day at the Races, Groucho, a veterinarian, poses as a doctor who is appointed head of a sanitarium.

In Horse Feathers, Groucho is President of Huxley College, and sings us his message, I dont care what they have to say. It makes no difference anyway. Im against it.

Will this be the message of the presidential candidates discussed here? Groucho has given fair warning to the electorate in both the Democratic and Republican parties.
In the March 2016 issue of National Geographic it is noted that a marble dolphin with a fish in its mouth turned up at a site in the Negev Desert in Israel. The 16-inch statue was embedded in the floor of a seventh-century building. Although some archaeologists believe it may have been part of a statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, others maintain that "a dolphin eating a fish symbolizes the persecution of early Christians [.]"

And thus, persecution and murder of Christians continues into the 21st century. In Nigeria, violent killings of Christians are up 62 percent according to Open Doors which monitors religiously motivated violence and persecution. In 2015 there were 4,028 killings and 198 church attacks, nearly double those of the previous year. Since 2009, 11,500 Christians were killed, 13,000 churches were destroyed and 1.3 million Christians have fled to safer areas of Nigeria or have attempted to reach Europe.

According to Rose Gamble, "the persecution of Christians is carried out by three groups: Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsmen; and the Muslim religious and political elite that dominate northern Nigeria. In fact, several areas of northern Nigeria have seen Christianity virtually wiped out."

The ongoing ISIS slaughter of Christians has resulted in the European Parliament unanimously passing a resolution referring to the Islamic State's (ISIS) killing of religious minorities under its control as "genocide" in the Middle East. But the Obama administration dithers and when asked, White House spokesman Josh Earnest claims that the word genocide "involves a very specific legal determination that has, at this point, not been reached." This should come as no surprise since the FBI has "released a new edition of its anti-terror video game, 'Don't Be a Puppet' that scrubs all references to Islamic terrorism" per the demands of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Thus, as Clare M. Lopez explains, "Islamic jihad is now excluded from a list of potential terror threats."

Additionally, in Canada "Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant has called out Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his refusal to recognize as 'genocide' the sweeping targeting of Christians by ISIS in the Middle East." And so, [t]housands of Yazidis have been summarily executed, killed, or, in the case of Yazidi women, kidnapped and sold into slavery by ISIS.

In a report titled "Our Generation is Gone: The Islamic State's Targeting of Iraqi Minorities in Ninewa" [sic] published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, one learns that the Yazidis, Christians, Sabaean-Mandaeans, Shabak, and Turkmen minorities face genocide. One month after the invasion of Nineveh, ISIS issued "a decree saying that Christians had three options: (1) convert to Islam; (2) pay a jizya, a fee levied on non-Muslim residents; or (3) leave the city by noon [.] On the day of the decree, ISIS labeled Christian homes with an 'N' for Nasrani, denoting Christian and Shia-Shabak homes with an 'R' -- for Rafida, denoting Shia."

Nina Shea, Director, for the Center for Religious Freedom at Hudson Institute has repeatedly publicized the plight of these people and emphatically asserts that

[t]he Islamist genocide -- and there can be no doubt that it is genocide, despite world silence -- of the Christians, Yazidis, Mandeans, and other defenseless ethno-religious minorities of Syria and Iraq continues. The killing of these peoples is deliberate and brutal and is rooted in religious hatred of the 'infidel.' It is meted out in sudden violent executions, mass deportations, and the gradual, methodical destruction of their civilizations. Washington is blind to this genocide that occurs alongside, but is separate from, a sectarian Muslim power struggle. It has failed to defend them militarily. Now it is failing to provide humanitarian help in the only manner left: resettling the survivors out of harms way, in countries where they will be able to rebuild their families and preserve their unique ancient cultures without fear.

As of November 2015, the United States "admitted a total of 53 Syrian Christian refugees, a lone Yazidi and fewer than ten Druze, Baha'is and Zoroastrians combined." In fact, there is a "gross under-representation of the non-Muslim communities in the numbers of Syrian refugees into the United States."

In February of this year, over 100 NGOs sent a letter "urging the administration to declare Islamic State atrocities as genocide against all minorities, including Christians, and not just Yazidis." Apparently, the State Department leaked "word that an official genocide designation would be forthcoming" but it would only recognize a "Yazidi genocide and not one against Christians."

Apart from exposing the horror of the situation, why is this designation of "genocide" important? According to Shea, "a genocide designation would have significant policy implications for American efforts to restore property and lands taken from the minority groups and for offers of aid, asylum, and other protections to such victims." Otherwise, "the United States and other governments would not be bound to act to suppress or even prevent the genocide of these Christians." But given that Obama invokes the Crusades and the Inquisition, as a means of ignoring Islamic terrorism, the antipathy against Christianity is not surprising.

Raymond Ibrahim publicizes atrocities against Christians in the Moslem world and his January 2016 update includes the following:

Iraq: The Islamic State blew up the country's oldest Christian monastery, St. Elijah's. The 27,000-square-foot building had stood near Mosul for 14 centuries. Kosovo: Muslims urinated in an Orthodox Christian church in Pristina, the capital. Algeria: On January 7, unknown vandals damaged, robbed and wrote jihadi slogans on a church. Kuwait: Lawmakers rejected an initially approved request to build churches because it 'contradicts Islamic sharia laws.'

No location is immune, so that in Mongolia, "days after a church celebrated Christmas, explosives were thrown into the stove chimney of a Kazakh house-church." In Pakistan, the Apostolic Church was burned. In Kasur, Pakistan, "several Christians are on death row due to accusations of blasphemy against Islam." In Germany the Father Superior of St. George the Victorious Monastery in Gotschendorf wrote that "Christian refugees from Syria, Eritrea, and other countries are exposed to humiliation, manhunts, and brutal harassment at the camps for refugees by their Muslim neighbors. This also relates to the Yazidi religious minority."

A Terror Threat Snapshot document produced by the Majority Staff of the House Homeland Security Committee highlights 81 total ISIS-Linked arrests in America and 21 ISIS-Linked plots to launch attacks in America with 6,600 Western fighters having traveled to the conflict zone to join ISIS. In fact, the United States faces the highest Islamist terror threat since 9/11. Yet, the Obama administration has surged the release of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay despite alarming rates of recidivism. And the Iranian regime which gained access to $100 billion in cash as a result of the nuclear deal continues to fuel its global network of terror. In the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan, the Islamists executed every man in a village. In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to execute more individuals per capita than any other country in the world.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's testimony to Congress on current security threats clearly indicate that Obama's approach of "strategic patience" has not worked; instead, his leading from behind has unleashed more global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, diminished global freedom, and human suffering. Leading "threat actors" are Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and non-state actors who "continue to use the internet to organize, recruit, spread propaganda, collect intelligence, raise funds, and coordinate operations." Sunni violent extremism has been on an upward trajectory since the late 1970s and has more groups, members, and safe havens than at any other point in history." Moreover, "Al -Qa'ida's affiliates have proven resilient."And, finally, homegrown violent extremists pose the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the US homeland in 2016."

Those who insist that concerned Americans are either racist or exaggerating the danger would do well to ask themselves "[w]hat if Christian terrorists were blowing up Muslims" as liberal Saudi journalist Nadine Al-Budair posits. She asserts that Muslims consistently "absolve [themselves] of guilt and she pointedly asks the following:

Imagine a Western youth coming here and carrying out a suicide mission in one of our public squares in the name of the Cross [.]

Imagine hearing the voices of monks and priests from churches and prayer houses in and out of the Arab world, screaming on loudspeakers and levelling accusations against Muslims, calling them infidels, and chanting: 'God, eliminate the Muslims and defeat them all.' Imagine that we had provided an endless number of foreign groups with visas, ID cards, citizenships, proper jobs, free education, free modern healthcare, social security, . . . and later a member of one of these groups came out, consumed by hatred and bloodlust, and killed our sons on our streets, in our buildings, in our newspaper [offices], in our mosques and in our schools. It is strange that we condemn [the West] instead of addressing what is happening in our midst - the extremist ways in which we interpret the shari'a and our reactionary attitudes towards each other and the world. It is strange that we condemn instead of apologizing to the world.

Strange, indeed.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com
Donald Trumps popularity is a response to decades of arrogance and betrayal by the Republican establishment.

After giving us lackluster centrist candidates in election after election, the elite is amazed that the rank and file are so fed up that many are falling for a pseudo-populist huckster whos smart enough to take positions that are an anathema to the establishment, but not to the base. In separate polls last fall, 64 % of likely Republican voters supported a moratorium on Muslim immigration, while 73% agreed with a wall on the border.

Insults aside, last week, Mitt Romney attacked Trump with a feather duster, charging, His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. Ouch, that must have hurt.

Getting campaign advice from Romney is like getting directions from Wrong Way Corrigan. He started the 2012 campaign by saying Barack Obama was a nice guy but in over his head. A man who despises America and is doing his best to undermine our security -- who reviles the middle class as Bible-banging bigots fixated on guns -- is not a nice guy.

Later, he told a group of wealthy donors that 47% of the American people will vote for the president no matter what, because theyre welfare addicts. Like Democrats, RINOs are economic determinists who believe voters are motivated solely by their wallets. In 2102, Romneys mantra was jobs, jobs, jobs --forget open borders, moral decline, terrorism or judicial tyranny (throwaway lines at best). In consequence, he lost, lost, lost.

The other half of the 2012 GOP comedy team, Speaker Paul Ryan -- another Republican defeatist -- also took a shot at Trump.

As speaker, Ryan worked with Nancy Pelosi to pass the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, fully funding ObamaCare, executive amnesties and Planned Parenthood. Conservatives gave the GOP the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. In return, the Republican leadership gave us empty rhetoric and vague promises. (My party went to Washington and all I got was this lousy T-shirt slogan.)

The Republican establishment believes it has a divine right to pick the partys nominees. Ford, Dole, McCain, and Romney -- the elite has an unerring instinct for disaster. For them, vision and values are irrelevant. Its all about credentials (whos next in line for the nomination) and who wont upset the media by being divisive.

Their choice this year seemed to be based on breeding. Bonnie Prince Jeb, heir to the Bush dynasty (who said illegal immigration is an act of love), sank to the single digits before he withdrew. Then, Boy Marco became the RINO flavor du jour. Now, theres talk of drafting Ryan. I wonder what Harold Stassen is doing these days.

The GOP establishment has always treated the base with contempt. Our role was to show up at rallies waving signs (and do other grunt work), while our betters were left to run the party. Youll take what we give you and like it, they told us. Whenever an outsider comes close to the nomination -- Gingrich, Santorum, Cruz -- they get hysterical.

Romney and company are scared of Trump? Well, so am I. If hes elected, hell treat us like his first two wives the first chance he gets. Conservatives who are now supporting him will wake up one day knowing how it feels to be date-raped.

Republican insiders thought they could play us for suckers forever. Whenever we dug in our heels, all they had to do was point to the latest Democrat horror story -- Clinton, Kerry, Obama and now Hillary -- to scare us into line. What are conservatives going to do, stay home, they sneered? In 2012, 10 million did, costing Romney the election.

The difference between the Republican elite and its Democrat counterpart is mostly rhetorical. Republican insiders are comfortable with big government -- as long as they get to distribute the largesse. They view social issues as stuff to stick in a platform to keep activists happy, and promptly forget once in office.

Now their chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance in the form of a sleazy New York real estate developer who brags about buying politicians. The one candidate who could stop him, Ted Cruz, they wont give the time of day because hes an authentic conservative.

If nothing else good comes out of this election, at least it will mark the demise of the Republican establishment. They keep threatening to start a third party if Trump wins the nomination. Why not? They could call themselves -- the Whigs.
If Donald Trump is a true conservative, then there is no danger at all in electing him to be president. Trump might, in fact, introduce a new and dynamic electoral element to conservatism, as he noted when observing that he might carry New York and other traditionally leftist states in the northeast part of our nation. If Trump is a true conservative, then he could be the best thing that happened to conservatives in America since Reagan.

His dealing-making prowess, his willingness to tweak the delicate noses of political correctness, his willingness to take on the Republican Establishment  all these are great advantages that Trump would have over most Republican nominees or Republican presidents...if Trump is a true conservative. We all ought to hope that Donald Trump is just that  a conservative who cherishes the values of conservatives and wants to restore the moral greatness of America (the other so-called "greatness" of wealth and power don't really matter).

What, though, if Donald Trump is not just a RINO, but a CINO  a "conservative in name only"? What if Trump really does see the problems of politics today that we do not negotiate tough enough deals or that we do not manage government well enough? What if Trump believes that he can save America by producing business growth (without also constraining federal courts, reducing presidential power, and re-asserting the only true greatness of our nation: its moral greatness)?

This does not mean Trump is insincere or phony, but just that he honestly believes that muscle and money make everything right. What is the danger to that? If Trump is President Trump, he is also the leader of the Republican Party, and Congress will have no real chance of stopping much of what he proposes.

Suppose, for example, that Trump nominated Brian Sandoval to replace Justice Scalia. Sandoval is a "moderate" who would sometimes rule with the leftist side of the court. What if Trump then appointed Chris Christie to the next vacancy? The Supreme Court would move sharply left without any true leftist being appointed, and Senate Republicans could do nothing about it.

What if Trump, anxious to "get things done," decided that the vast arrogation of executive power by Obama, while wrong in theory, was just what he needed to implement his agenda? If Trump is "results oriented" instead of "rights oriented," then, like leftists, Trump might take the attitude that the ends justify the means, and what, exactly, could Republicans in Congress do about that?

Furthermore, what if Trump intended to reform health care "sensibly" but still embrace a single-payer plan? He might construct something better than Obamacare, but the underlying principle of keeping government out of health care would be lost, perhaps forever, in American politics. In one sense, an Obamacare that is wildly unpopular is better, in the long run, than a Trumpcare favorably received.

This assumes, of course, that Trump really does fancy himself a conservative who joined the Republican Party recently as the best way of implementing his particular conservative program. What if Trump is really more of a moderate who is trying to temper the conservative movement, even as he kicks out an incompetent and corrupt Democrat administration?

Talk of "bringing Americans together" is always scary stuff  very much the glop of true RINOs. We need, instead, to split America apart and produce victory for conservatives over leftists and their tapioca moderate friends. While trying to do the right thing, Trump may so divide conservatives and so splinter Republicans in Congress that we can do nothing, except what Trump feels is good policy, for at least four years.

Conservatives are always weakest with a Republican president like Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Bush, or Bush as the titular head of the only reservoir of conservative political power. Except for Nixon, the other four of those Republican presidents were honorable and decent men. But all were disasters for conservative policies in America.

Indeed, most of the awful programs since World War Two were brought to us with RINO presidents whipping conservatives in Congress into supporting their "reforms." The opportunity for good things if Trump is a true conservative are great, but the dangers to conservatives if he is not truly conservative are monumental.
Stock market crashes are almost always accompanied, if not provoked, by panic selling. Investors, large and small, sell everything fearing that no amount of market stimulus, or bromides, will rescue their fortunes.

There is no good news on any front -- be it employment, durable goods orders, commodity prices, emerging market economies, global conflict, or currency rates. There are no safe harbors. Large cap, small cap, high dividend yield, growth plays, IPOs, Triple A bonds, junk bonds -- all to be flushed. Even contrarians can be swept up in the torrent of despair.

Flight from the status quo becomes a stampede. No instruments are safe except cash and gold. Precious metals other than gold get crushed like any commodity, joining stocks and bonds in freefall. Wholesale surrender. Sell, sell, sell!

The word in financial jargon is capitulation.

Trump Nation has capitulated.

Trump Nation is well beyond rage, and sending a message. Trump Nation is dumping every traditional asset imaginable; yes even the kitchen sink. Fundamentals, if any remain, are ignored. Nothing from the old order works. Nothing from the ruling oligarchy registers. Trust and belief in the status quo is long gone. Might as well get out. Start over.

Trump Nations rejection of the political market -- and its psychological surrender -- looks and feels just like a financial market capitulation. Embracing Donald Trump is the equivalent of flight from capital into cash, despite the pain of accepting big chunks of realized losses. At least raising cash, in a financial crash, has a floor. It cant get any worse.

Voting for Donald Trump is the desperation farm bankruptcy auction. Raise whatever cash you can and then walk away from the stubble, from the overleveraged machinery, from the scourges of bovine TB, from perennially crappy milk prices, and nasty chores like cleaning up mastitis, and shoveling out the calves pens not to mention decades without a day off. At least a few hard dollars remain to start over. All else is hopeless.

Some have foretold the Trump capitulation phenomenon as nihilism. Walter Russell Mead back in August likened Trump nihilism to entertaining barroom banter.

By flouting PC norms, reducing opponents and journalists to sputtering outrage as he trashes the conventions of political discourse, and dismissing his critics with airy put-downs, he is living the life that -- at least some of the time -- a lot of people wish they had either the courage or the resources to live For voters whove come to believe that both parties are owned and operated by the kind of people who pay Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to make platitudinous speeches, who believe that the system is rigged and will never be reformed, that the candidates offering real solutions to real problems are fooling either themselves or, more probably, you, Trump at least offers the satisfaction of making the other rat bastards and pompous PC elites squirm. He laughs at them and makes them look small; he defies their hatred and revels in their pursed-lip disapproval. By incurring the hatred of the chattering classes, he seems to some voters to be signaling both that he hates the empty showmanship of the capital as much as they do and that, by making himself the enemy of the self-determined arbiters of the rules of the political game, he is throwing himself on the support of the American people Trump is a sham, of course, but for many Americans in 2015 the whole political process is a sham. Trump, however, is an entertaining sham, and some voters think that if the establishment is going to screw you no matter what you do, you might as well vote for the funny one.

Far from amusing, classical nihilism is peeing on your own ashes, heartily cheering complete destruction by scorching your neighbor, and oneself. Nothing in the established social order is worth preserving. Repressive conditions under the Tsars in mid-19th century Russia gave rise to classical nihilism that has pervaded the Russian psyche ever since:

Nihilism was a specific fashion style. Nihilism was a new approach to aesthetics, criticism and ethics. Nihilism was the contradiction between a studied materialism and the desire to annihilate the social order.

Trump Nations capitulation, if channeled productively could be a necessary cleansing political transformation. But can its practitioners know when to stop short of the modern equivalent of Russian nihilism?

And how will Trump Nation reconcile Trumps nihilist inherent conflict between his material excesses, that benefit only him, and his mode of liquidating social order that betrays everyone else -- all shtick, no substance?

Instead, a more selective, and enduring, form of socio-political nullification might take a page from Maine wild blueberry growers who burn off the blueberry barrens every three to four years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lHQ82aY-pk

Burning off the blueberry thatch wipes out everything above the topsoil -- leaves, and stems, along with latent diseases -- fungus, insects, and invasive weeds. Burning the blueberry barren enables nourishment of the roots that are largely unaffected by the inferno. Once the burn-off has purified above ground, fresh Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, and micro-nutrients below ground can replenish the blueberry stock -- and within two seasons produce bumper crops.

Burns on the blueberry barrens are managed by skilled operators, carefully gauging humidity, wind speed and direction, fuel oil ignition, monitoring equipment fittings, and spray nozzle pressure. Neighboring fields, woodlands, and homes are untouched; more than selective pruning, much less than salting the entire ground, certainly far removed from the sociopath recklessness of an arsonist.

So, what follows capitulation? Just like the blueberry barren, typically, recovery and restoration. Ditto when financial market capitulation leaves behind a market structure, the means to rejuvenation. While the content of the marketplace may be abandoned, the governing lattice is not swept out.

While affirming the validity of capitulation, now the question is whether Donald Trump is the skilled blueberry barren burn-off operator, deft enough to cleanse the topside while improving fertility at its roots, preserving the surrounding fields, woodlands, and real property.

Is Donald Trump the statesman-in-waiting, best equipped to survey the charred rubble, and restore the republic?

Or is Donald Trump simply a crass opportunist without principles, except those that enhance his non-stop shallow and crude self-promotion?

And is Donald Trump a fraud, a ruse, a charlatan, a phony, a hoax? Is Trump mere brand, more illusion than faithful portrait?

The answers are obvious. Trump Nation doesnt really care. Capitulation is all the fashion, and all that matters now.
Everyone acknowledges that this is not an ordinary election cycle. Almost as confusing as the campaign events are the explanations of those trying to explain why so many bizarre things are happening. Everyone has a take on the political carnival.

Everything seems to be a confused mess. However, if one observes closely, a narrative has emerged both on the right and the left that is now dominating the debate.

The narrative builds upon the all too apparent fact that there is great discontent and polarization inside the country. No one contests this conclusion. However, the framing of the narrative is turning everything upside down.

The narrative presents the scenario of two poles. The first pole is made up of those who are well-off, successful, and educated. They live in healthy families, and in good neighborhoods with excellent schools, which isolates and buffers them from the rest of America. They have benefited disproportionally from the anemic growth in the economy over the years.

On the other side is an underclass composed of those who are poor, uneducated, and neglected. They live in broken families, and in poor neighborhoods with horrible schools. They are joined by blue-collar workers who have lost jobs to immigrants and outsourcing to places like China. They live on the margins of society and are isolated from the other pole.

The two sides share little in common save an increasing animosity. This never-the-twain-shall-meet narrative can be found in Charles Murrays compelling book, Coming Apart, or in Robert Putnams Our Kids. Pundits and columnists repeat and echo versions of this portrayal in diverse media.

The final component of the narrative is a broken establishment that cannot address the concerns of the underclass. Big government bureaucrats and global managerial elites are simply too far removed from ordinary people to identify with them anymore. People with pitchforks (and iPhones) in hand are called upon to overthrow establishment candidates and replace them with outsiders who will change the system and truly represent the people.

These two components combine to form a carefully choreographed narrative that is hardly new. It undeniably resembles a neo-Marxist rehash of class struggle theory. The new narrative merely pits the latte-drinking haves against the macro-and-micro-aggressed have-nots.

One cannot deny that real problems like immigration, outsourcing, and unresponsive elites exist. However, like all Marxisant narratives, it is a distorted portrayal of reality. These narratives always build upon legitimate grievances and frustrations. But they also reduce everything to economic terms and treat man as an economic being, a mere cog in a machine called modern society.

Indeed, this narrative does not correspond to the facts since a person is much more than just an economic unit of production. Moreover, even the two poles do not match reality since anti-establishment candidates are attracting people from all demographics and income levels. Something much deeper lies behind the current malaise that defies the have/have-not dialectic.

That is why another narrative should be proposed.

This narrative is also not new, but comes from a concept of man that dates back to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. It holds that economics is not the most important human field. Man does not live by bread alone, but has another side that is spiritual and superior. This superior side is what makes every person unique and establishes his dignity. It gives rise to moral acts that govern those political, social, cultural, and religious activities that tower above mere economics.

The proposed narrative to explain the present electoral cycle would not be based on the battle of the haves versus the have-nots. Rather it holds there is a universal moral crisis that is devastating all society. It is not just polarizing but shattering the nation and its economy into a thousand pieces.

Contrary to the abysmal gulf of the other narrative, the establishment and the underclasses are victims of the same affliction -- each in varying degrees and manifestations. Both are driven by a terrible and frenetic intemperance where everyone must have everything instantly and effortlessly. This leads them both to great debt and unrestraint. Both groupings see their families being destroyed through divorce and general breakdown. All share in the immoral movies, fashions, drugs, and promiscuity that recognize no class and ravage a social fiber where people no longer pray. Structures across the board are crumbling whether they be governments, families, institutions, or customs.

What must be urgently addressed is the rot of this social decadence that is weighing heavily upon the nation. It will soon have great economic consequences that will shake the nation to its very foundations. That is why it is important that the narrative be changed.

The narrative that should govern the debate should be one of unity, not division. It should be directed at the moral problems of this universal crisis, not against fellow Americans. The surviving ramparts of the nations moral establishment should be fortified, not torn down. People need to return to God as the center of our lives, not the federal government. These are the issues that few dare to mention in the present political circus, but they lie deep within the souls of so many Americans who grieve for the nation.

John Horvat II is a scholar, researcher, educator, international speaker, and author of the book Return to Order, as well as the author of hundreds of published articles. He lives in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania where he is the vice president of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.
Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans Times Picayune reports:

The U.S. Justice Department will file a motion to approve a proposed $20.8 billion settlement of civil claims between BP and federal, state and local governments stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill on March 31, a federal judge announced Wednesday (March 2). Justice officials also will file copies of public comments they have received on the proposed settlement. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier made the announcement in an order filed Wednesday cancelling a March 23 hearing he had tentatively scheduled on the consent decree that includes the settlement. Barbier said that once the motion is filed, he will review it and any comments or objections that were submitted with it, and take the proposal under advisement.

Now Judge Barbier must consider the fairness of the settlement before approving it. Is it fair? Obviously, there is much to view as just. But there are also parts of the settlement that are not. Let us start with the DOJs miserable record of obtaining convictions in its criminal prosecutions. The Wall Street Journal front-page headline reads, "U.S. Bid to Prosecute BP Staff Falls Flat." The subhead reads, "Judges dismissed charges related to Gulf oil spill; tally: 3 misdemeanors." The list covers five criminal prosecutions. The targets can be separated into three groups.

One is actually a Halliburton employee! CBS News reported:

Prosecutors said that in May 2010, Badalamenti directed a senior program manager to run computer simulations on centralizers, which are used to keep the casing centered in the wellbore. The results indicated there was little difference between using six or 21 centralizers. The data could have supported BP's decision to use the lower number. Badalamenti is accused of instructing the program manager to delete the results. The program manager "felt uncomfortable" about the instruction but complied, according to prosecutors. A different Halliburton employee also deleted data from a separate round of simulations at the direction of Badalamenti, who was acting without the authorization of the company, prosecutors said.

Note that in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, in May 2010, while the well control efforts were scrambling to do something that had never been done before, Halliburton was destroying exculpatory evidence! Guilty!

The next two are BPs well site leaders (aka company men) Robert Kaluza (the day shift WSL) and Donald Vidrine (the night shift WSL). Kaluza was acquitted; Vidrine entered a guilty plea. Vidrine was the man in charge the night the blowout occurred. Fair?

That brings us to Kurt Mix, a BP drilling engineer, and David Rainey, a BP vice president. Both became directly involved after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon took place. How can someone who did not participate in the decision-making process before the blowout be held responsible for the blowout and spill?

The case against Mr. Rainey charged him with Obstruction of Congress. The case fell apart when Democrat congressional aides declined to testify under oath. Note that Democrat congressmen and women can lie under oath on the floor without fear of prosecution because of Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution:

...for any Speech or Debate in either House, [Senators and Representatives] shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Mr. Rainey was acquitted. Fair?

Now we come to the key prosecution, that of Kurt Mix. I have long been of the opinion that Mr. Mix was being unfairly treated. Mr. Mix recently wrote an op-ed, "I Was an Oil Spill Scapegoat," originally published in the Wall Street Journal. He now has a website to tell his own story.

Looking back now at the Justice Departments conduct, I realize that I made one egregious error: I naively believed that the task force simply wanted the truth.

Check out the timeline on his website. One thing I never saw reported anywhere and therefore did not know myself is shown on September 16, 2010:

The relief well casing program, well intercept, and hydraulic kill -- designed and executed by a team on which Kurt served as project lead -- successfully intercepts and seals the blown-out Macondo Well over 13,000 feet below the sea floor

Now we know why the DOJ attacked his credibility so intensely. Kurt Mix was the project lead who successfully intercepted and sealed the blown out Macondo well. They wanted to shut him up. He would not fit their narrative.

Kurt Mix is the hero of the BP oil spill.

He needs to be heard. Judge Barbier ought to call him as a witness. He has been treated extremely unfairly.

And Judge Barbier should call Sen. Ed Markey to answer for his and his aides behavior. Make them take the Fifth in open court. He should also call former assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division Lanny Arthur Breuer, who signed the Mix indictment, to answer for why he brought such a meritless indictment. Make them testify under oath. Could we see discipline against them for obstruction of justice, perjury, and/or contempt of court by Judge Barbier?
Polling data out of Michigan continues to overwhelmingly support a win by Donald Trump in the state's upcoming primary.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted March 2-4 shows Trump in the lead among GOP primary voters, with 39% support, well ahead of Ted Cruz (24%), Marco Rubio (16%), and John Kasich (15%).

Trump is seen as the least establishment candidate, with just 30% saying that he would ultimately do what big donors want if he is elected president, compared with much higher views of likely pandering to big donors for Cruz (47%), Kasich (48%), and Rubio (66%).

Trade restrictions with China are a priority for Michigan's GOP base. Almost 60% of those asked want more trade restrictions with the communist state, versus just 7% who would like fewer restrictions and only 18% who prefer the trade relationship to be kept as is.

Trump carries the greatest personal credibility among voters. Half (50%) of the poll's respondents said he is the candidate most able to bring some needed change, compared to 22% for Cruz, 17% for Kasich, and 11% for Rubio.

Voters also think Trump is most prepared to be president (31%), compared to 30% for Kasich, 28% for Cruz, and 10% for Rubio.

Trump (53%) is seen as most able to win in the general election among the GOP candidates, carrying a large lead over Cruz and Rubio at 19% each and Kasich at 8%.

Contrary to the narrative being spun by his opponents, Republican primary voters in Michigan see Trump as most focused on the issues (32%), ahead of Cruz (30%), Kasich (27%), and Rubio (11%), and they believe that Trump best understands the middle class (31%, tied with Kasich), compared to 21% for Cruz and 17% for Rubio.

In a vote of who is most likely to get things done, Trump (49%) won easily among the candidates (Cruz was second at 21%, followed by Kasich at 18% and Rubio at 11%).

Trump also wins by large margins on each of the major issues for GOP primary voters, garnering the highest percentage for doing the best on taxes (42%, ahead of Cruz at 26%), federal spending and budgets (44%, ahead of Cruz and Kasich tied at 25%), immigration (52%, ahead of Cruz at 23%), and trade policy (54%, ahead of Kasich at 19%).

A full 70% of the Republican survey group in Michigan support Trump's proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Separate polling by NBC News/WSJ/Marist Poll also shows a commanding lead for Trump (41%) in Michigan as the primary approaches, followed by Cruz (22%), Rubio (17%), and Kasich (13%) among likely GOP voters.

Over the past week, growing discrepancies have been seen between polling data and the primary results  generally favoring Cruz and hurting Trump  whereby Trump is not winning some states that the polling data was consistently showing he should (e.g., Oklahoma and Kansas) and winning others (e.g., Louisiana) by far smaller margins than the polling data suggested. The likely cause of the disconnect is not a systematic error in polling data failing to register last-minute voting switches from Trump to Cruz, but instead a failure of Trump to mobilize his supporters to vote. In contrast, it appears that Cruz has been very effective in many states at getting out his vote.

If this pattern persists and intensifies, Trump will face an increasingly difficult challenge of closing out what the polling data of potential voters suggests should be an easy trip to a GOP nomination victory far before the convention.
Fracking, which has given us low energy prices and weakened enemies of the United States from Iran to Venezuela, as well as crippling the financial backers of Islamism, is the enemy of progressives. So naturally, Bernie Sanders is fully on board for diminishing or eliminating it, and Hillary is pandering to the left wing of the Democratic Party.

During the Flint debate:

CLINTON: "I don't support it when any locality or any state is against it, number one. I don't support it when the release of methane or contamination of water is present. I don't support it number three, unless we can require that anybody who fracks has to tell us exactly what chemicals they are using."

...

SANDERS: "My answer is a lot shorter. No. I do not support fracking. And by the way, Anderson, I'm glad you raised the issue of climate change because media doesn't talk enough about what the scientists are telling us. If we don't get our act together, the planet that we are going to leave our children may not be inhabitable."

This will not help Hillary win votes in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where frackings bounty has rescued once failing economies. And those of us who do not cherish memories of $4-a-gallon gas might think twice about voting for either of them.

I have to wonder if Hillary wont modify her position if she gets the nomination and remains unindicted.
On March 2, 2016, the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on "Protecting the Free Exchange of Ideas on College Campuses." Subcommittee chair Peter Roskam was quite enthused over the topic; ranking member John Lewis not so much.

The witnesses at the hearing included two college students, Alexander Atkins from Georgetown University and Joshua Zuckerman from Princeton. They in many respects represent polar opposites politically (as well as alphabetically). Atkins and Zuckerman each recounted obstacles to the free expression of ideas on campus.

What struck me the most about the stories they told to the subcommittee is the proactive roles of the college administrations in imposing obstacles to free expression, in ways and to extents unfamiliar to me from my undergraduate and postgraduate days of the 1970s and 1980s.

Also testifying was Catherine Sevchenko of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, as well as professors Frances Hill of the University of Miami Law School and Robert P. George of Princeton and Harvard.

Atkins recounted (and produced documentation) that the Georgetown administration invoked the Internal Revenue Code's restrictions upon political activities for tax-exempt organizations as its rationale for imposing curbs on free expression. Sevchenko confirmed that such invocation of the Internal Revenue Code "is not an isolated event, but an example of a national problem that affects all colleges and universities."

Prof. George discussed the importance of the free exchange of ideas, and Prof. Hill explained free expression within the framework of the Internal Revenue Code.

Sevchenko referred to the problem as "institutional misunderstanding of applicable Internal Revenue Service guidelines regarding political expression on campus." I know that the Internal Revenue Code is notoriously complex, but one must wonder how Georgetown's Office of Counsel, for all of its resources and talent, can "misunderstand" the difference between the personal speech and expressions of an individual and the speeches and expressions on behalf of an institution.

Perhaps the main motivation of Georgetown and other colleges is to avoid entanglement in costly litigation, even where the courts ultimately rule in their favor. If so, then the combination of political correctness and taxation is causing colleges to fail miserably in their purported missions to educate through the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints.

And perhaps there still are proponents of political correctness on the leftward side of the spectrum who can still reason clearly enough to grasp that the abusive uses of the Internal Revenue Service against those on the right, whose ideologies differ from those of the chief executive of the United States, might just as easily be turned against themselves.

Kenneth H. Ryesky is a lawyer who has taught business law and taxation at Queens College CUNY. He formerly served as an attorney for the IRS.
Laura Dore is one of the most sought after video vixens in the world.And with a body like this,i dont think anyone should find it dif...
Sweden pioneered the construction of public swimming pools allowing mixed bathing in the late 19th century, when it was a shocking thing in many other countries. And the Swedes have, until recently, enjoyed the use of large, well-appointed public indoor pools. With long, cold, dark winters, the chance to swim indoors and socialize in a warm and wet environment has been a prized part of civic life.

But thanks to the arrival of masses of young male Muslims from counties with very different ideas about men and women mixing together with few clothes on, this pleasure is on the verge of being lost. Ingrid Carlqvist writes a long and disturbing report at the Gatestone Institute on the wave of sexual assaults and misbehavior that have forced some pools to close. While the assaults started more than ten years ago, they have recently increased greatly. Unfortunately, Swedish authorities have chosen a path of political correctness, suppressing news of the incidents and following very permissive and naive countermeasures.

In 2003, "youth gangs" were so disruptive to other guests at the indoor water park Aq-va-kul that on several occasions, the establishment was forced to close. Despite investing 750,000 kronor ($88,000) in taller entrance gates, a glass-enclosed reception desk, surveillance cameras, and an Arabic-speaking "pool host" to tackle the security problems, things just kept getting worse. In 2005, senior staff member Bertil Lindberg told the local daily newspaper, Sydsvenskan: "Things have escalated this year. Large gangs of 10-20 young people threaten and provoke other guests as well as the staff. They did not come here to swim; they are just looking for trouble."

One problem: The Koran and Haditha teach that Islam is the only permitted way of life, so assimilation into the host countys customs and way of life that violate the sacred injunctions (as, for example, female modesty) is not the path of righteousness. Instead, the host must be made to change its ways as soon as the Muslim population is numerous enough to compel this.

As the numbers of Muslims in Sweden has grown, the problems have increased.

One of the first reported incidents occurred in 2005, when a 17-year-old girl was raped at Husbybadet, in Stockholm. The 16-year-old perpetrator started groping her in the hot tub, and when the girl moved to a cave with streaming water, he and his friend followed her. They forced the girl into a corner, and while the friend held her down, the 16-year-old pulled off the girl's bikini and raped her. During the trial, it emerged that some 30 people had witnessed the attack, but the teenagers continued the rape anyway. The 16-year-old rapist was sentenced to three months in juvenile detention and his friend was acquitted.

Three months for ruining a young girls life:

The victim was badly traumatized and had to be treated in a psychiatric care facility, after several failed suicide attempts.

The authorities are burying their heads in the sand. With the surge in arrivals late last year, the number of incidents has skyrocketed. I cannot list all of them, but the article goes into detail on numerous examples. Perhaps the most enlightening incident is this, where authorities reacted exactly contrary to the manner that could protect Swedes:

On January 15, a local paper, Kungalvsposten, wrote that two girls had been sexually assaulted in an elevator at the Oasen public pool Oasen, in Kungalv. The two suspected perpetrators are "unaccompanied refugee children." Jonas Arngarden, Municipal Director of Social Affairs, told the paper: "This shows that we need to step up the work concerning issues of equality and interaction among our new arrivals, in schools as well as at the asylum houses." The attack caused members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (Nordiska motstandsrorelsen), a supposed neo-Nazi organization, to show up at Oasen on February 13. They put on green shirts with the word "Security Host" (Trygghetsvard) printed on the back, and "patrolled" the facility. The municipality had not reacted strongly to the sexual assault, but the visit by vigilantes scared the municipal management, and it immediately called the Oasen management to a meeting. Mayor Miguel Odhner told the daily, Expressen/GT: "It is completely unacceptable to have some kind of disguised vigilantes at municipal pools. It is very, very serious that we have violent extremism vying for greater foothold in our municipality."

The inevitable result is that Swedes are avoiding pools:

Another public pool employee told Gatestone that the refugee boys frighten away ordinary patrons and that more and more Swedes are now avoiding public pools altogether. "Even Swedes who have bought expensive season tickets stay away now, because they think the mood is unsettling. Considering that they young asylum seekers get their entrance fee paid by the municipalities, one could rightfully say that tax money is being used to drive away those who would pay."

It is pretty obvious where this is heading. The only question is whether Swedes will willingly give up a cherished part of their heritage in order to submit to the culture of the invaders. Sad to say, the jury is out on that question.
Samuel Johnsons aphorism that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel doesnt apply to Hillary Clinton in her email scandal, because nobody  not even her die-hard supporters  would believe her if she said that she set up the private email server in the interests of the United States. Rather, the last refuge of this scoundrel is to blame everybody else she dealt with at the State Department, in the process impugning not only her own close aides, but career diplomats and other nonpolitical professionals who deserve better.

This strategy is reflected in the campaigns current mantra that everybody, including former secretaries Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, at one time or another sent emails that were later determined to be classified. A recent Washington Post analysis of Hillarys released classified emails demonstrates that she directly sent at least 104 to various aides and officials, and that they too, including the current secretary of state, John Kerry, occasionally sent out emails through nonsecure servers that were later deemed classified. However, what the analysis also shows is that these government officials, when they did use unsecured servers, at least used government accounts, which provide a measure of security, not a private home-brewed server like Mrs. Clintons.

The Posts news editors must be popping a lot of Thorazine, because their coverage of Clinton is increasingly schizophrenic. As longtime readers of the paper know, the news operation is considerably more left-leaning than the editorial side (which occasionally takes a more centrist view). News stories are routinely slanted to present the most favorable liberal perspective and mock or demean opposing outlooks. This tendency is apparent in the Clinton case as well. The Post has broken some important stories in the email scandal, like the recent revelation that the Justice Department granted former Clinton I.T. aide Bryan Pagliano immunity. And the Posts most heroic figures, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, have separately suggested that the Clinton scandal is the real thing. But since Hillary is the Posts gal, they seeded the Pagliano report with expert liberal analysis that suggested that the immunity deal is either nothing to get excited about (a weird way to promote a scoop) or actually a good thing for Clinton, while omitting contrary interpretations.

The Posts analysis of her emails follows the same pattern. On the one hand, the news that Clinton herself personally authored over 100 classified items cuts against her chosen narrative that she got a lot of emails and that she can hardly have been expected to actually read and analyze them all for security issues as she received them or passed them on. On the other hand, the article goes out of its way to suggest that this was an endemic problem at State. And strangely again, the explanation is rather contradictory. We are told that the sending and receipt of classified information was the result of poor security procedures that preceded Clintons arrival. But we are also told (in line with claims made by Clinton and her campaign) that there is a culture of over-classification in the government. So which is it? Were officials at State too lax about security procedures or too anal? If nothing else, one thing this controversy demonstrates is that the Clinton State Department was pretty much a mess.

But besides the country itself, which is now enduring yet more Clintonian malfeasance in the midst of a critical election, are many individuals that Clinton is cold-bloodily demeaning in an attempt to exonerate herself with the everybody did it canard. This rests on the weak premise that other government officials  aides, ambassadors, career officials  occasionally misidentified information as innocuous or insufficiently sensitive to merit security classification. There is little doubt this happened, and continues to happen, as government employees do their best to protect sensitive information but not bog the government down in layers of unnecessary security protocol. But none of the officials identified in the Post analysis did this deliberately by establishing a private home-brewed email system to avoid State Department classification procedures entirely  and this no less, by the head of the State Department itself.

The Post article anonymously quotes one poor soul (identified as a former senior official) whose good name has now been impugned as a careless operator: I resent the fact that we are in this situation  and were in this situation because of Hillary Clintons decision to use a private email server.

Hillary Clinton repeatedly claims that she is the champion of the little guy. It has always been a risible claim, but if any of her supporters (including at the Post) are actually paying attention to the scoundrel, this latest gambit ought to disabuse them of the notion.
The Kingdom of Mustang, bordering the Tibetan plateau, is one of the most remote and isolated region of Nepalese Himalaya. Once an independent Buddhist kingdom, Mustang was annexed by Nepal at the end of the 18th century, but retained its status as a separate principality until the 1950's when the area was more closely consolidated into Nepal. Because of its sensitive border location, Mustang was off-limits to foreigners until 1992. The relative isolation of the region from the outside world has helped Mustang preserve its ancient culture which is more closely tied to Tibet than to Nepal.

The landscape is also unlike anything that is to be found anywhere else in Nepal deep gorges carved by the Kali Gandaki River, and strangely sculptured rock formations. The cliffs face are pitted with an estimated 10,000 ancient cave dwellings, some of which are perched more than 150 feet above the valley floor. No one knows who dug them, or how people even scaled the near vertical rock face to access them. Some of the caves appear almost impossible to reach even to experienced climbers.

Photo credit: National Geographic

Most of the caves are now empty, but others show signs of domestic habitation hearths, grain-storage bins, and sleeping spaces. Some caves were apparently used as burial chambers. The several dozen bodies that were found in these caves were all more than 2,000 years old. They lay on wooden beds and decorated with copper jewelry and glass beads.

In other caves, skeletons dating from the 3rd to the 8th centuries, before Buddhism came to Mustang, had cut marks on the bones that may have been inflicted during the practice of sky burial, where the bodys flesh is sliced into small pieces and left to be eaten by vultures. Sky burial is still practiced in many remote regions in the Himalaya.

Archeologists believe that the caves in Mustang were used in three general periods. They were first used some 3,000 years ago as burial chambers. Then around 1,000 years ago, they became primarily living quarters, perhaps to escape battles and intruders into the valley. Finally, by the 1400s, most people had moved into traditional villages and the caves became places of meditation. Some of these caves were turned into monasteries such as the Luri Gompa, the Chungsi Cave monastery and the Nyiphuk Cave Monastery, all of which were built around and inside the caves.

Luri Gompa is one of the most famous in Mustang. The monastery is set on a ledge, at least a hundred meter high from the ground, in one of the many natural pillar like sandstone structures. A winding footpath climbs all the way from the bottom of the valley to a single entrance door that leads into two interconnecting chambers. The outer chamber contains a shrine, while the inner chamber the main treasure of Luri Gompa is beautifully decorated with a series of paintings depicting Indian Mahasiddhas  saints who were said to have achieved siddhi, or extraordinary powers by meditation. No documentation pertaining to this mysterious gompa or monastery has been found, but the wall paintings appear to be have been made in the 14th century or even earlier.

Photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: nepaladvisor.com

Photo credit: David Rengel/Washington Post

Photo credit: National Geographic

Luri Gompa. Photo credit: Bob Witlox/Flickr

Photo credit: Bob Witlox/Flickr

Photo credit: www.paulo-grobel.com

Frescos in the ceilings of Luri Gompa. Photo credit: library.brown.edu

Sources: Nat Geo / library.brown.edu / www.oneworldtrekking.com
Over the weekend, news arose that Chinese OEM ZTE had been slapped with some heavy restrictions on goods sent to them from the United States. To put a long story short, allegations are that suppliers in the U.S. were sending ZTE components and supplies, which ended up making their way to Iran. Since the U.S. has a policy of not exporting tech goods to Iran, the allegations were not taken lightly and restrictions were placed, essentially blocking ZTE from receiving U.S. goods. Suppliers would have to apply for a license in order to export to ZTE, but according to a notice from the U.S. commerce department, those licenses will most likely end up being denied. Obviously, this puts a bit of pain on both ZTEs operations and their relations with the U.S. and China, unsurprisingly, isnt happy.

China maintains close trade relations with the Middle East, including Iran. This action against ZTE has caused trading of their stocks in Hong Kong and Shenzen to come to a screeching halt following the official announcement. Although ZTE can appeal the ruling starting today, it is set to go into effect on Tuesday. With ZTE being a major player in the Chinese OEM scene, having them take such an economic blow was not taken lightly by the Chinese government. Chinas Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Hong Lei, went so far as to say, we hope the US stops this erroneous action and avoids damaging Sino-US trade cooperation and bilateral relations.

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U.S. firms that ship supplies and other goods to ZTE include big names like Qualcomm, Intel and Microsoft. These firms will have a hard time getting goods to ZTE with this restriction, if theyre able to at all. For their mobile business, this essentially means that ZTE is unable to use the Qualcomms Snapdragon or Intel Atom processors that are popular in mobile devices, if stocks of such items dry up before this decision is reversed, that is. The three biggest players they may be able to get silicon from at this point are Samsung, Huawei and MediaTek, although its not guaranteed that the former two would be willing to share their in-house chips. Its likely that this will soon be reversed, but how this plays out over the coming weeks will be interesting to watch.
The recently released Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S7, is just starting to make its way into the hands of those who placed pre-orders, as well as showing up in carrier stores. Samsungs newest next big thing is finally materializing after a long string of leaks and rumors leading up to the phone being made official at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Already meeting with big expectations, the phone is still making its way to some carriers. Among them are Sprint subsidiaries Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. While both carriers will be getting only the vanilla Galaxy S7 and skipping out on the Edge variant, they will be getting the same no-compromises Galaxy S7 that the larger carriers are getting. Boost Mobile will be releasing the handset on March 11, while Virgin Mobile subscribers will be able to get their hands on their very own Galaxy S7 starting from March 18.

As a quick reminder of the specs, the Galaxy S7 packs a 5.1 inch super AMOLED screen with a 1440 x 2560 resolution, along with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor backed by 4 gigabytes of RAM. The whole package is kept humming along by a 3,000 mAh battery. The phone also has 32 gigabytes of internal storage, of which 8 is taken up by TouchWiz and system files. Not to worry, of course, as there is a microSD card slot on board to store your files and even your apps. To boot, the phone is water-resistant, alleviating worries for those who are concerned about any accidents that might happen.

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Though it hit the premium carriers first and can already be bought unlocked, the Galaxy S7 and, for some carriers, the Galaxy S7 Edge should start making their way to regional carriers and MNVOs fairly soon. As for Boost and Virgin, youll be able to score the Black Ony Galaxy S7 for $649 plus tax, but no other versions are available. There is no word on whether the Galaxy S7 Edge will be coming later on, though it could be assumed that it would have likely came through side by side with the Galaxy S7 if it was going to come at all. Head through the source link to view the full announcement from Sprint.
OnePlus has managed to become a very respected company in a really short period of time. This China-based smartphone manufacturer has been founded back in December 2013, and in April 2014 theyve released their first smartphone, the OnePlus One. That device has actually managed to surprise quite a few people, and was regarded to be one of the best smartphones of the year. Well, OnePlus has introduced two additional phones last year, the OnePlus 2 flagship, and the OnePlus X mid-ranger. That being said, this company is going to release their third-gen flagship in a couple of months, the companys co-founder said that we can expect the device to arrive at the end of Q2 this year.

We havent exactly seen many leaks / rumors when it comes to the device, but according to the companys co-founder, we can expect a significantly different design this time around. Speaking of which, a OnePlus 3 concept images surfaced recently, and you can check them out if you take a look in the gallery down below. Keep in mind this is not a leak of the actual device, but just a bunch of concept images for you to check out, though the final product might resemble this in the end, who knows. As you can see, the device pictured here does look quite different than all three OnePlus-branded devices, though the power / lock slider button is back here once again, and so is the Type-C USB port. This device features a metal frame, and has a rather large speaker grill on the top. According to rumors, the OnePlus 3 will sport a 5.5-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080) display, 4GB of RAM and will sport a fingerprint scanner. The device is said to ship with the Snapdragon 820 64-bit quad-core SoC, along with the Adreno 530 GPU for graphics. The 20-megapixel camera has also been mentioned, and you can expect the device to ship with Android Marshmallow with the companys OxygenOS installed on top of Googles OS.

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That is pretty much it. You can expect to see a lot more rumors / leaks before this device actually gets launched by the company, so stay tuned for that, of course. Well make sure to let you know as soon as some additional info surfaces, as always.
Owning a smartphone in the U.S. does mean having to make a choice between which carrier you will go with. As well as competing with each other on the price of their plans, carriers also compete with specific promotions geared towards the latest smartphones. After all, taking advantage of carrier smartphone promotions is sometimes the most affordable way (in the short term) to pick up a new smartphone. However, Google looked to somewhat change the status quo by announcing they were entering the carrier business with the launch of their Project Fi network. A service designed to offer more affordable plans and plans which are based on your actual level of usage.

At the time, this was particularly big news although once the details started to come through it became a little less relevant to a number of Android smartphone owners due to the restrictions in place. This was not actually Google acting as a carrier but instead Google adopting an MVNO status and combining the networks of T-Mobile and Sprint to form the basis of their network. Not to mention, that you also had to own one of the latest Nexus devices to make use of the service and also had to get an invite to even be able to test out the service to begin with. Aspects which immediately reduced its appeal to a number of consumers.

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Since then though, Google has lifted the need for an invite a little, by occasionally opening up invites and now it seems Google is looking to take Project Fi to the next level, as they have today confirmed that invites are now gone forever. As a result, anyone interested can now order a Project Fi SIM to test out the network without having to worry about getting an invite first. Although, it seems you do still need to have one of the more recent Nexus smartphones to use the SIM. That said, Google also today announced that they will be dropping the price of the Nexus 5X to only $199 for the next month to celebrate the next step in Project Fi. Which is not only an ideal way for new customers to pick up one of the two latest Nexus smartphones at a very affordable price, but also to test out Project Fi at the same time.
The tablet market is one which is largely considered to be a dangerous bet right now. The general market is in decline, as people opt for alternatives like larger sized phones, Chromebooks or otherwise. As a result, the number of manufacturers bringing a tablet to the market of late, has decreased considerably. Although, there has been a few coming though. One of the companies who does not seem to be as concerned as other manufacturers on the state of the tablet market is Samsung, who has routinely been releasing tablets and some rather interesting ones as well. According to a new benchmark listing that has now been noted, it looks like another new Samsung tablet is on the way.

The tablet is question is coming with the SM-T585 model number and as is the case with any benchmark listing, there are a few specs being highlighted. According to the details, the SM-T585 will be a 10-inch tablet and will come boasting a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Inside, the SM-T585 looks to be equipped with 2GB RAM and powered by an Exynos 7870 Octa-core processor (clocking at 1.7 GHz). Storage is set at 16GB and this does look to be expandable storage, thanks to the inclusion of a microSD card slot. Cameras listed come in the form of an 8-megapixel rear camera which is coupled with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. While the operating system is listed as Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). It is also worth noting that the tablet sees to be offering 4G LTE support as well.

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So while the specs are nothing too grand for a tablet, they are equally not that bad either. However, aspects that the benchmark listing does not provide, is where this tablet will firmly sit. It could join the likes of the Galaxy Tab A or E families or could sit elsewhere. Although, as this looks to be a 4G LTE supported tablet, it does stand to reason that it could be positioned as a 4G LTE version of one of the already exacting Tab A or E Wi-Fi only options. Not to mention, there is no further details on pricing or availability.
ZTE is not necessarily a well-known brand in the U.S., but their devices do have a small presence here and have steadily been gaining more traction with more recent device launches, like the ZTE Axon for example. Beyond exporting devices and other products to the U.S., ZTE also has products and supplies exported to them from the U.S., but according to a recent report U.S. exports to ZTE in China are set to face restrictions come Tuesday, due to potential violations ZTE has made on U.S. export regulations that are in place for exporting products to Iran.

The restrictions are to be imposed on U.S.-made products, but arent just limited to products that ship out from the U.S., and will also apply to U.S.-made products that are shipped out from other countries. This means that any company globally that wishes to export U.S. produced and manufactured products to ZTE in China, will have to first apply for an export license with the U.S. Commerce Department. However, its being said that those applications have a high likelihood of being denied, which is going to make it all the more challenging for ZTE to have U.S.-made products imported from the U.S. or elsewhere. Its also not known whether or not any actions besides the export restrictions will be taken against ZTE at this time, as there are no official statements from ZTE or the U.S. Commerce Department.

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Some of the products that were being exported out from the U.S. to ZTE come from some of the tech industrys biggest corporations like Microsoft and IBM, as well as Oracle and Dell. With the restrictions in place, its said to be unclear as to whether or not the above listed companies as well as any other U.S. companies which export to ZTE will continue to do so. While its unclear how long these restrictions will last, its also unclear as to whether this will have any affect on ZTE products being exported out of China into the U.S., although there was no menton about those details from the U.S. Commerce Department in the report.
Here is a DIY blog to help you as you work out your 2017 carnival schedule and try to figure out which carnivals you are going to storm a...
(ANSA) - Brussels, March 7 - Turkey is offering to take back all migrants who have illegally reached the EU from a certain date on (and not retroactively), both economic ones and asylum seekers - but is proposing a mechanism by which, for each Syrian illegal taken back, the EU must take one legally from Turkey, diplomatic sources said Monday at an extraordinary migrant summit. Ankara is also asking for an extra three billion for migrants in 2018; the opening of new chapters in its accession process to the EU; and the liberalisation of visas in June.

Turkey is asking the EU for another three billion euros, on top of three billion already earmarked, to address the migrant crisis, European Parliament Speaker Martin Schulz told reporters on the sidelines of the EU-Turkey summit on the migrant and refugee emergency Monday.

European Council sources said earlier in the day that Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu changed the stakes of today's extraordinary EU-Turkey summit on migration during an informal lunch with 28 EU leaders. Davutoglu is airing "new ideas" that "go beyond" agreements made with European Council President Donald Tusk at a meeting last Thursday, they said.

This implies a "program change" at today's extraordinary EU summit on migration with Turkey. EU leaders will meet after lunch to assess Turkey's proposals, then have dinner with Davutoglu tonight. Also on Monday, The Financial Times paper said Turkey has requested further EU financing for the migrant emergency - over and above the three billion euros already allocated - as well as faster procedures to grant Schengen Area visas to its citizens and a speeding up of its EU adhesion negotiations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey "has saved almost 100,000 refugees in the (eastern) Mediterranean" but "the EU still has to give us the three billion euros promised four months ago". Erdogan added that he hopes Davutoglu comes back from Brussels with the promised funds, accusing western countries once again of indifference to the "plight of women and children dying at sea", to the "massacres of the regime of Bashar al-Assad" and of the "Turkmans, Arabs and our brothers who are under the Russian bombing" in Syria.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Monday his country "will shut down all (asylum seeker) routes, including the Balkan one". "Traffickers must not have any opportunity," he said upon arriving in Brussels for an EU-Turkey migration summit. The agreements with Turkey are a good thing but "only time will tell" if they will hold up, the chancellor said.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Monday in a press conference with Polish counterpart Witold Waszczykowski Monday that with Poland "there is a difference on the EU decision on the system of quotas of resettlements". He said "this path is certainly complex, but compulsory" and explained that "the idea that only the countries of first arrival can resolve the emergency is not realistic, nor something to be agreed with".


(fixes slug)(ANSA) - Rome, March 7 - Italian prosecutors investigating the torture and death of 28-year-old Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo have renewed requests for evidence pertinent to the case to Egyptian judicial authorities, sources said Monday. The missing material includes transcripts of witness statements, CCTV footage from the metro and the Cairo neighborhood where Regeni lived, and cell phone data. Egypt has sent over some material which is being translated from Arabic, but it appears to be incomplete. A team of Italian investigators dispatched to Egypt a month ago is still on hand in Cairo.

Regeni went missing the night of January 25 and his badly burned, mutilated body turned up in a ditch on the city's outskirts on February 3.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 7 - The two survivors of a Libya hostage ordeal on Monday spoke for the first time about what they had been through during their seven months' imprisonment with two others who eventually died, from being stripped near-naked to fears of being handed over to ISIS and how some dogged work with a nail helped them to freedom.

Gino Pollicardo was speaking in his home town of Monterosso in the lovely Cinque Terre area of Liguria, while Filippo Calcagno met reporters in the Sicilian town of Piazza Armerina with its equally famous Roman mosaics.

Meanwhile Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the bodies of the two hostages who didn't make it, Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano, might arrive back in Italy Tuesday.

The four oil construction workers taken hostage by Libyan militias in July begged them "not to sell us to ISIS", the two surviving hostages, Pollicardo and Calcagno, told Rome prosecutors, judicial sources said Monday. The captors reportedly replied: "Don't worry, we won't". Pollicardo and Calcagno were taken hostage in July along with Failla and Piano, who were shot dead while being moved.

Calcagno said Monday at his home in Piazza Armerina that "I don't know if (our captors) were men from ISIS. It'll be up to them to say if they were ISIS or criminals. For me they are criminals because what they do is awful"".

Calcagno told journalists that he and his three co-workers were held by "a family of criminals - there were women and a child" and that they "suffered hunger, thirst, beatings, punches, blows with rifle butts and we had to do our business inside a plastic thing".

Piano and Failla, the two hostages killed on March 2, "were with us until March 1," Calcagno told reporters. He said that from that day on "we were alone and I don't know where they took them," said Calcagno. The four were workers for the Parma-based Bonatti oil construction firm.

The two survivors told prosecutors on Sunday that they freed themselves and said they believed their captors were not part of a group directly linked to ISIS, ANSA sources said. It is still not clear the circumstances in which Piano and Failla were killed last week. Pollicardo and Calcagno said they were frequently beaten and kept hungry during their seven months in captivity. They said they were together with Piano and Failla until Wednesday and only found out about their deaths when they returned to Italy on Sunday. The told prosecutors they broke down a door to escape about being left alone by their captors.

Calcagno said he and Pollicardo disguised themselves before breaking out of their place of captivity for fear other groups might abduct them. "We disguised ourselves because we were afraid there might be some other group outside that might get us," he told reporters at his house at Piazza Armerina. "We went onto the road with the intention of asking for help, but we were looking for the police because they were the only ones who could help us," he said. "We found the policemen and from then on it was plain sailing. I went back with them about an hour later to identify the house".

Calcagno added he managed to open the door of the house they were being held in with a nail. "I worked that door a lot. I realised that you can do a lot of things with a nail. I worked on the lock, or rather the part where the lock is inserted into the door. The wood was hard but gradually, with determination, I weakened that part. Then I called Gino, because my fingers had been hurting for days and I told him 'come on Gino if you hit it a couple of times we can do it'".

In other revelations, Pollicardo said their captors "stripped everything off us, left us in our underwear, they even wanted to take those off." Asked if the captors were members of ISIS or common criminals, he said: "Aside from 'salamelek' (salam aleikum) I don't know any Arabic so I don't know if they were talking about religion or other things". Of one thing I'm sure, when there was the American air strike we were still all together". Also on Monday, Foreign Minister Gentiloni said he hoped the remains of Piano and Failla will return to Italy "if possible by tomorrow".

Italy has been tipped for a lead role in an international coalition in Libya if a future national-unity government requests it.


(ANSA) - Brussels, March 7 - Premier Matteo Renzi requested a reference to freedom of the press be included in the final declaration of an ongoing EU-Turkey summit on the refugee crisis or he will withdraw Italy's backing for any deal negotiated, European sources said Monday. Also on Monday, Renzi met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu, and EU foreign minister Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of the summit.

Turkey earlier offered to take back all migrants who have illegally reached the EU from a certain date on (and not retroactively), both economic ones and asylum seekers - but is proposing a mechanism by which, for each Syrian illegal taken back, the EU must take one legally from Turkey, diplomatic sources said. Ankara is also asking for an extra three billion for migrants in 2018; the opening of new chapters in its accession process to the EU; and the liberalisation of visas in June. European Council sources said earlier in the day that Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu changed the stakes of today's extraordinary EU-Turkey summit on migration during an informal lunch with 28 EU leaders. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey "has saved almost 100,000 refugees in the (eastern) Mediterranean" but "the EU still has to give us the three billion euros promised four months ago". Erdogan added that he hopes Davutoglu comes back from Brussels with the promised funds, accusing western countries once again of indifference to the "plight of women and children dying at sea", to the "massacres of the regime of Bashar al-Assad" and of the "Turkmans, Arabs and our brothers who are under the Russian bombing" in Syria.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said early on Monday that his country "will shut down all (asylum seeker) routes, including the Balkan one". "Traffickers must not have any opportunity," he said upon arriving in Brussels for an EU-Turkey migration summit. The agreements with Turkey are a good thing but "only time will tell" if they will hold up, the chancellor said.

In related news, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said at a press conference with Polish counterpart Witold Waszczykowski that there are differences with Poland over "the EU decision on the system of quotas of resettlements". He said "this path is certainly complex, but compulsory" and explained that "the idea that only the countries of first arrival can resolve the emergency is not realistic, nor something to be agreed with".


(ANSA) - Rome, March 7 - The two surviving members of a group of four Italian workers abducted in Libya last year told prosecutors on Sunday that they freed themselves and said they believed their captors were not part of a group directly linked to ISIS, ANSA sources said. It is still not clear the circumstances in which the other two employees of the Parma-based Bonatti oil construction firm, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, were killed last week.

Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno said they were frequently beaten and kept hungry during their eight months in captivity.

They said they were together with Piano and Failla until Wednesday and only found out about their deaths when they returned to Italy on Sunday.

The told prosecutors they broke down a door to escape about being left alone by their captors.


Biden in Emirates, talks on terrorism, Syria, Iran Regional tour including Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, MARCH 7 - The fight against Isis and Al Qaida,as well as the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq will be on the agenda of Vice-president Joe Biden during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he has arrived today on the first leg of a regional tour that will bring him also to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan. One of the most contentious topics of the talks for Biden who visited the Grand Mosque of Sheikh Zayed in Abu Dhabi today, will be Shia Iran, as worries concerning its role and its relationship with Washington in the aftermath of the nuclear deal continue to mount in Sunni Arab countries.



Last month Emirati ambassador to the US, Yusef al Otaiba, said that Iran is furthering instability in the region.



"We clearly understand the challenges that its behaviour (Iran's) poses to the region - said Biden in an interview with Abu Dhabi newspaper The National - and that is why we have worked so hard to reach a nuclear deal.



As dangerous as Iran's actions may be, they'd be exponentially more so if Teheran had a nuclear weapon''.




(ANSAmed) - GAZA, MARCH 7 - The magic of cinema is not easy to extinguish. This is what came to mind this week, in Gaza, at the cultural centre of the Red Crescent when hundreds of spectators were able to watch a very rare film projection in the Strip.



Everything was where and how it should be: tickets costing the equivalent of 2.5 dollars sold at the entrance, the projection room, darkness envelopping the movie theatre and, finally, the images of the film depicting the fight of the Palestinian people brought to life on the big screen.



''Just like when I was a teenager'' murmured 50 year old Muhammad Bur'ai, a cameraman from Deir el-Balah, south of Gaza. Nowadays, the almost two million people living in the Strip do not have even have a movie theatre worthy of such a name.



They can watch films on television, but if they want to experience the darkness of real cinema, the envelopping fealing of loudspeakers around them and the reaction of the audicence they must do so abroad.



''That's exactly the first thing I do when I go abroad'' admits Bur'ai.



''As soon as I arrive, I run to a cinema''.



Reaching out for memories, the elders in the Strip say that in not such a distant past there were three movie theatres in Gaza.



The first one was called al-Nasr, in street Omar el-Mukhtar.



Egyptian films were screened there and also Western ones. The building also hosted a restaurant-bar.



A picture from the 70' captures its facade and shows the movie screened that day, 'Concert of joy'.



The Amer Cinema was not far: it was apparently of ill repute both because it was close to the seat of the Israeli military government and also because it offered 'saucy' pictures without paying much attention if the viewers were adults or minors.



The latter apparently entered the movie-theatre without any trouble.



Close-by, there was also a third movie-theatre, 'Jalaa' ', the most suitable choice for all members of the family. Its lined arm-chairs in the gallery are still remembered fondly in Gaza.



This used to be another venue for Egyptian and Western movies.



Bur'ai is still nostalgic for the dimly lit room, its croaky loudspeakers and the vendors who sold sandwiches and drinks and he even longingly recalls the slaps across the face he received from his father when he found out his son had slipped into a cinema.



He knew that teen-agers would discover censored movies and smoke their first cigarettes under the cover of darkness.



All of that ended in 1987 with the first Intifada, when cinemas blew up in smoke.



In those charged days of popular uprise while the numbers of the dead rose it was unacceptable that some members of the population could still think about having fun.



The buildings remained in a state of abandonment also because the growing strenght of Hamas ran against their re-opening.



With Yasser Arafat's return to Gaza from exile (1994) it seemed it would be possible to turn that page.



The owners of al-Nasr restored the building hoping to be able to run it again but Hamas demonstators made that impossible.



The building has remained almost intact since then but is still shut.



Bur'ai is left only with memories.



To this day, he still rememers clearly the Indian films of his childhood and their stars .



How many screenings was he able to attend all in all? ''I think I must have been five or six but they are ingrained in my heart''.
Clashes with Isis on Tunisia-Libya border, 53 dead Jihadist attack on barracks at Ben Guerdane, curfew imposed

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MARCH 7 - The Jihadist danger is more serious than ever in Tunisia. With a surprise blitz at dawn Monday, Isis attacked national Guard, army and police barracks complexes at Ben Guerdane, the last city before the border with Libya.



The terrorists who were repulsed then hit civilian targets.



At least 53 people were killed including 35 jihadists and 18 civilians and members of security forces. The dead included a 12-year-old girl. Seven terrorists were taken prisoner.



"Our country is at war against barbarism," said Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.



The chain of events remains to be clarified but one thing is certain: the presence on Tunisian territory of groups of Isis affiliates or sympathisers that must not be undervalued by Tunisian authorities.



Precisely because of this Tunisian authorities decreed a night curfew in the city. The armed forces have secured entrances to Ben Guerdane and closed temporarily the frontier crossing points as well as stepping up patrols along the border.



It was the second such armed incursion in the area by a jihadist group in recent weeks though this time the attackers, while coming from Libya, had logistic support on the ground in Tunisia.



Nearly all the Tunisians fighting for Isis in Libya have Tunisian nationality. It was no coincidence that the authors of the terror attacks on the Bardo museum and Sousse last year were trained in the Libyan camps while Noureddine Chouchane, the main target of the US raid on Sabrata February 19, had Tunisian nationality.



It is also no coincidence that most of the terrorists who were killed in the American raid were from Ben Guerdane.



(ANSAmed).




Migrants: Syria effect on the route through Libya Iai report, Mare Nostrum rescues don't explain record numbers

(by Rodolfo Calo) (ANSAmed) CAIRO, MARCH 7 - The migrant flux through Libya is undergoing some changes recently, most in terms of numbers and routes, especially due to the civil war in Syria. However the massive arrival of migrants in Italy can't be explained by the rescues carried out by the Italian Navy-led operation Mare Nostrum. So says a recent report by the Institute of International Affairs(Iai). The dossier recalls that from the beginning of 2000 the number of migrants who undertook to cross the Mediterranean on the route from Libya the annual average was generally under 40,000 but that in 2014 this skyrocketed up to 120,000 people landing in Sicily most of whom left from Libya.



The institute founded by Altiero Spinelli argues that this "unexpected increase has wrongly been attributed" to Mare Nostrum which saved the lives of thousands of people while not managing to prevent the deaths of 3,419 others tha made 2014 a record for drowning and loss of life in the Mediterranean.



In actual fact the landings increased after the mission was dismantled in order to start the much more limited operation entitled "Triton" coordinated by the European borders agency Frontex.



Two "push factors" need to be considered. One is the situation in Libya, which deteriorated rapidly spreading insecurity. While the majority of the 2.5 million immigrants living in Libya in 2009 had left "there still was a big group of people who are not Libyans" and who "desparately wanted to leave".



The second "push factor" was the geographiocal origins of the migrant flow concerning Libya, western Africa, the Horn of Africa and Syria.



"It is very probable that this third group of migrants, those fleeing from Syria and to a lesser extent Palestinians, could have contributed to the high numbers" recorded in 2014 says the report. Of the 170,000 people who arrived on the italian coast that year more than 42,000 were Syrians and 6,000 were Palestinians, representing 28% of migrants. Only 206 were identified as "Libyans".(ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - MOSCOW, MARCH 7 - Raqqa, the 'capital' of the Islamic State in Syria has been rocked by a revolt against it's grip on the town, reported Rt quoting sources on the ground and news-outlets Alalam and Hamrin. After days of fighting which provoked hundreds of deaths some "200 Isis militants'' decided to ''support the local population'' and this compelled the terrorists to create "checkposts at the entrance of the city",a source told Sputnik, a Russian newsagency close to the Kremlin.



According to these reports, the citizens of Raqqa conquered five of the city's neighbourhoods - al-Dareiyeh, al-Ramileh, al-Ferdows, al-Ajili and al-Bakri - where Isis' black flags have been supplanted by Syrian ones.


TUNIS - The deathtoll of fighting that erupted between the Tunisian army and Isis militants on the border with Libya has risen to 25 dead, reported the Tunisian Ministry of Defense clarifying that among the victims, there are several jihadists, civilians and a military officer.

According to the same source, six jihadists were captured.

The situation - confirmed the Ministry of Defense - is now ''under control''.

The terrorists who launched their armed incursion aboard 4x4 vehicles likely coming from the Libyan territory intended to attack the army barracks of the National Guard of Jallel.

A military plane is flying over the area.

According to the local media, Isis terrorists also seized an ambulance in the area of the regional hospital.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities are forbidding access to the island of Djerba after the events of Ben Guerdane.
ANSAmed - Weekly diary from March 7 to March 13

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 7 - 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).




(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, MARCH 7 - On the eve of the EU-Turkey summit out of which significant steps are hoped to be achieved both regarding the rescue of Schengen and the European approach to the migrant crisis, a new massacre took place in the Aegean Sea.



At least 25 people died in the shipwreck of a vessel, while other dozens where rescued by Turkish and Italian Coast Guard Units.



In the meantime, Nato announced it would strenghten the presence of its ships in the area to assist the EU Poseidon operation in the fight against human traffickers also in Greek and Turkish waters.



Thousands of migrants remain amassed at the border with Macedonia, which decided to limit even more access to migrants.



All political and diplomatic eyes are on the summit.



It is a crucial venue out of which much is expected in terms of the full application of the plan agreed with the Union - not only renewed commitment by Ankara to limit the flow of refugees to Greece but also a green light to the re-admission on its territory of those who were denied asylum.



The summit is also expected to offer much needed support to Greece which is confronted with an already difficult situation at risk of becoming even worse after the closure of the so-called Western Balkan route.



According to European Council President Donald Tusk, this objective is attainable and it will allow the rescuing of Schengen from an implosion otherwise hard to prevent.



In Athens, Premier Alexis Tsipras reiterated that his country has no intention of becoming a 'warehouse of souls' and asked for 'immediate' relocation procedures for asylum-seeking migrants already on Greek territory.



The closure of the Balkanic route, although called for and welcomed must, according to Italy - which is arriving at the summit emboldend by an alliance with Germany - necessarily be accompanied by monitoring actions on possible alternative routes and by the support of countries that may be involved.



Rome fears in particular that the flow of migrants may take the route across Albania and from then on by sea reach Italian coasts.



A scenario which is not new and which Italy wants to avoid at all costs.



"A consensus is finally emerging to draw a European joint response to the crisis'' said European sources at the end of the expert meeting that took place in the afternoon to prepare tomorrow's summit.



The strategy will also be based on other foundations such as the reform of Dublin and a concrete relaunch of the relocation system.



These issues, however, wil hang in the cold, until the position of Eastern Countries of the Visegrad group will emerge.



Poland appears to have embraced a more constructive approach, but Slovakia's attitude remains in doubt especially after the latest round of voting relaunched extremist positions.
Aviation Africa 2017 will be the 2nd event in the Aviation Africa series, the first having been held in May 2015 in Dubai and attended by over 400 delegates, featuring 40 exhibitors and 12 sponsors.

The event will take place on 22 & 23 February 2017 at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. The event will be a two-day conference and exhibition focusing on all aspects of the aviation industry including MRO, Business Aviation, defence and commercial aviation.

It is being supported by the Rwandan Government including the Ministry of Infrastructure, Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority and RwandAir. The Rwanda Development Board, Akagera Aviation and Kigali Serena Hotel are confirmed partners. Rwanda is fully committed to supporting the Aviation Africa 2017 event and ensuring that aviation related events grow in Rwanda. They will be inviting all Rwandan aviation industry to the event as well as their counterparts across the African continent.

Why Rwanda?

Rwanda has an open visa policy for all African and international visitors, operating a visa-on-arrival service, welcoming participants globally and Africans from across the entire continent. It has a strategic geographic location, a large investment in tourism and hospitality and high levels of security.

According to IATAs latest forecast Rwanda is one of the 10 African countries whos aviation market is expected to grow by 7-8 per cent each year on average over the next 20 years, doubling in size each decade. The World Bank in 2015, voted Rwanda 46th in the world and 2nd in Africa after Mauritius as best countries to do business in.

Aviation experts say 2015 could well have been the year when a strong foundation was laid for the countrys aviation industry. They point to the $45 million expansion works at Kigali International Airport, including terminal expansion and airside parking, the planned new airport at Bugesera, 40 kilometres from the capital, with $750 million support, and the upgrading of Kamembe airport among others.

Kigali Airport was recently ranked 7th in Africa and the best Airport in East Africa by Skytrax. According to experts this rank could be a game-changer in attracting future investors.

RwandAir is expanding its routes and there are more airlines than ever flying into Rwanda, including Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Kenya Airways, KLM, Turkish Airlines, SN Brussels and Emirates Cargo.

We are really pleased to host our next Aviation Africa in Kigali, said Alan Peaford, conference organiser and chairman. We have visited Kigali on a number of occasions and are not only impressed by the investment the government is making in their aviation industry but also in the country as a whole. The city is safe, progressive and growing quickly and we know that Aviation Africa will develop along with it.

For more information on Aviation Africa 2017 and how to participate please visit the website at www.aviationafrica.aero
The aircraft were shipped and reassembled by the manufacturer at the Flight Colleges hangar in Al Ain and will be showcased at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo, where they will participate in the acrobatic display to officially open the event.

The Extra aircraft will be used for prevention and recovery training, which equips pilots with the skills to recognise, prevent and, if necessary, recover from a developing or developed airplane loss of control event.

Christopher Ranganathan, Etihad Airways vice president operations training, said: Our main aim is to train pilots who are able to demonstrate safe, effective and efficient operations, and the addition of these new trainer aircraft greatly support this goal.

The two aircraft join the colleges existing fleet of trainer aircraft which includes 13 Cessna 172s and six Diamond DA42NG aircraft. The fleet will be further enhanced with the arrival of four additional Embraer Phenom 100 aircraft which are expected to arrive later this year.
Getting the Summit underway will be James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, Dr. Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, director general of the UAE Space Agency, Marillyn Hewson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin, Bernard Charles, president and chief executive officer of Dassault Systemes and Bertrand Marc Allen, president of Boeing International who will deliver keynote industry talks. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadalas managing director and group chief executive officer, will also make a welcome address.

Former US astronaut and the second man to walk on the moon Buzz Aldrin and Saudi Arabias Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab to go into space, will attend to talk about their experiences and how to inspire youth into learning more about the space sector and its opportunities.

Around 1,000 C-level executives and 140 media from 59 countries will be at ADNEC to discuss the most pressing issues and trends within the four industries. Organised by Streamline Marketing Group, the Summit is an invitation-only strategic forum that will cover a wide-range of topics including globalisation, workforce challenges, air traffic management, safety and sustainability. Industry leading speakers from companies in both established and emerging markets will share their experiences of supporting industrialisation, improving supply chain standards and creating value-added jobs for highly skilled individuals.

James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, the Summits official airline, commented: The return of the Global Aerospace Summit brings fantastic opportunities to share concepts, practise and thinking with frontrunners from across the global industry. Abu Dhabi is well placed to host the summit and will offer exclusive outlooks on these deliberations. The emirate has become a lively centre for many components of the aviation and aerospace sectors, thanks to the vision and the dedication of government, and the commercial strategies of businesses such as Etihad Airways. We are delighted to be welcoming the industries leaders to Abu Dhabi for this significant Summit.

Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, director general of the UAE Space Agency added: Events like these allow us to focus on what has been achieved in our industries so far and look ahead at where we want to go and what we want to achieve. The Summit gives us the chance to propose solutions to common challenges faced around the world and only by getting together and discussing these issues can they be solved. In a short period of time, the UAE has built a space sector which is providing huge opportunities for economic development and diversification and this has only been achieved through collaboration and knowledge transfer. I am looking forward to addressing the worlds leading industry executives and updating them on the UAE Space Agencys plans for the development of the UAE space sector. We also use the Summit as an opportunity to build new business relationships and strengthen existing ones and to explore the possibilities of cooperation in the fascinating field of space exploration.

Bernard Charles, chief executive officer for Dassault Systemes added: As the world is moving from a product economy to an Experience economy, innovation is going through a paradigm shift. The Aerospace industry is the industry that creates the most sophisticated products ever built by man, and these products should benefit from this transformational approach to innovation: the future of the Aerospace Industry is to move from Design thinking to Experience thinking to take a leading role in this new world of Manufacturing As a Service. With the 3DEXPERIENCE collaborative platform, decision makers in public policies, education, and business can lead and accelerate this transformation that will shape the industry and the society of the future.

Joe Anselmo, editor in chief of Aviation Week, who is moderating one of the key Summit sessions, said: It will be an interesting two days of discussion. Airbus and Boeing are pushing ahead with plans to increase production rates, but face headwinds from falling oil prices, slowing economic growth in China and a more expensive U.S. dollar. I look forward to the opportunity of interviewing Marc Allen, the president of Boeing International, and will be interested to explore Boeing's international strategy, how it contrasts with that of Airbus, and how the company views new competitors from China and Russia."
The NDC programme allows Qatar Airways as a NDC enabled airline to present customised and personalised offers to its customers.

The pilot, which completed in December, will now see the production roll out of the new platform to all travel agencies in the Qatar Airways network who use Farelogix. By reaching this important milestone, Qatar Airways will offer travel agent partners and intermediaries alike an enhanced sales platform tool on which to showcase the airlines premium products.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: In a world of growing choice, travel classes, routes and airline alliances, the overall passenger experience is key, from seamless journeys through to the very booking process itself.

In this regard, I am delighted that the Qatar Airways pilot programme with Farelogix has now completed, with the roll out and implementation across the Farelogix platform. This additional level of detail showcasing Qatar Airways premium products will only enhance everyones understanding and experience of our airlines premium products, before passengers even commence their journeys.

Aimed at enhancing the capability of communications between airlines, travel agents and intermediaries, NDC will provide all users with a richer, personalised and dynamic interface. Qatar Airways has been actively engaged in the evolution of the IATA NDC programme since it was first introduced in 2012, and fully committed in 2015 to implementing the programme.

Partnering with Qatar Airways to deliver this pilot has given us a tremendous opportunity to showcase the potential for NDC," said Jim Davidson, chief executive officer of Farelogix. Completion of this pilot is very exciting for both Farelogix and the airline industry at large. Airlines today are investing heavily in their product and brand. This pilot-to-production effort demonstrates that airlines can offer consumers a variety of choices consistent with their brand, delivered through a number of distribution channels.
Of these passengers, 106,851 started their journey from Abu Dhabi, while the remaining were transfer passengers who chose to transit through AUH in order to benefit from this unique facility. Operations at the US pre-clearance facility in AUH started in early 2014.

Immigration, customs and security clearance procedures for arrival to the United States can be completed at AUH through the pre-clearance facility in Terminal 3. Passengers traveling to New York, Washington, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles on flights operated by the national carrier, Etihad Airways, can take advantage of this unique service, and avoid lengthy queues upon arrival in the US.

The facility is the first of its kind in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and one of the few worldwide.

Our vision is to become the worlds leading airports group and we strive to achieve the highest standards in all that we do. By providing facilities such as this one, we are taking the passenger experience to the next level, said Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports.

The implementation of the pre-clearance facility has brought about a number of key benefits, including the introduction of the most advanced baggage screening technology which meets United States TSA security standards, allowing air travellers who connect onto a US domestic flight to have their baggage checked through from Abu Dhabi to their final destination.

The system is one of the latest airport technologies available, and highlights the importance of using enhanced software to ensure a smoother and more efficient passenger journey.

Abu Dhabi Airports recently won the Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in the Joint Projects Category for the US pre-clearance facility.

Al Mansoori said: We are proud to receive this award as it is recognition of our commitment to improving passenger experience and encouraging innovation. This demonstrates our dedication to Abu Dhabi governments drive to promote excellence. We believe that the facility has brought important benefits to our passengers and we would like to thank all our partners who were involved in delivering this capability, including Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Police and Immigration, and the UAEs Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
45th Space Wing successfully launches Falcon 9 SES-9

The 45th Space Wing supported the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the SES-9 communications satellite March 4 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.



SES-9 was built by Boeing Satellite Systems and is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit. The satellite increases SES's global video capabilities in Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and is also designed to deliver reliable data connectivity across Asia while providing support to growing mobility communications needs across the Indian Ocean, according to an SES release.



A combined team of military, government civilians and contractors from across the 45th SW provided support to the mission, including weather forecasts, launch and range operations, security, safety and public affairs. The wing also provided its vast network of radar, telemetry, and communications instrumentation to facilitate a safe launch on the Eastern Range.



Col. Shawn Fairhurst, the 45th SW vice commander, who served as the launch decision authority for this mission, lauded the efforts of all those involved in making this launch a success.



"Congratulations to SpaceX and the entire team who ensured the success of this launch. We truly have a tremendous space team here on the space coast, and it's my honor to be a part of this mission supporting the commercial space industry," he said. "Assured access to space is a team sport and here on the Eastern Range, we continue to prove we are the 'world's premier gateway to space.'"
B-52s join French forces for close air support exercise

U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses joined French aircraft and ground troops from a dozen nations to kick off a close air support exercise in the Mediterranean March 7.



Serpentex, an annual French-led exercise, involves joint terminal attack controllers from 12 partner countries. Operating on the French island of Corsica, the JTACs work together to practice properly identifying targets and using that data to call in air strikes from nearby French and American aircraft.



"Serpentex is a great opportunity to have all the JTACs from coalition nations in one place, training together to increase interoperability and work on communication skills," said Maj. Sarah Fortin, the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron assistant director of operations. "It gives them a chance to train and get smart on what they have to do and what their capabilities are, so later on down the road when it counts, they can perform effectively and efficiently."



Serpentex differs from other joint-military exercises in the region as it concentrates solely on close air support. This critical capability puts the power of precise, concentrated air strikes in the hands of troops on the ground, who can call these strikes in to defend themselves against enemy attacks or to eliminate vital targets with lethal accuracy.



This is the first year B-52s have been invited to participate in the exercise, as the role of close air support has traditionally been filled by various fighter platforms. The Stratofortress is well-suited for this application, however, as it can loiter for extended periods and carries a wider range of munitions than any other aircraft in the U.S. inventory.



During the exercise, the B-52s joined with French fighters to support JTACs from several NATO nations, as well as those from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, who are also participating this year. Training with a wide range of mission partners ensures a more comprehensive learning experience, Fortin explained.



"Working alongside our coalition partners out there will be a great experience for everybody," Fortin said. "Most of them haven't worked with bombers for these types of missions before. We have a longer duration and a lot wider turn radius than some of the fighters, so they're going to have to find a new pacing for calling us in for close air support. But I promise that bomber CAS is worth the wait."



The B-52s involved in Serpentex also participated in the Norwegian-led Cold Response 16, a large-scale NATO military training exercise in the Trndelag region of Norway involving 16,000 troops and comprising air, ground and maritime operations. The bombers will be participating in both exercises simultaneously for a short time as Cold Response winds down. Temporarily stationing the aircraft in Europe allowed for more sorties, shorter flight times, less fuel burned and more training hours.



"The ability to train bomber aircrews in different geographic combatant commands is essential to maintaining a strong, credible bomber force that enhances the security and stability of our allies and partners," said Lt. Col. Dennis Cummings, the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander. "Our ability to smoothly and effectively conduct these multinational missions is heavily indebted to the hospitality of Spain and fantastic support we are receiving from U.S. Air Forces (in) Europe."
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All the latest Ashbourne news. Ashbourne is an historic market town in Derbyshire. Situated on the southern edge of the Peak District, it is known as the 'Gateway to Dovedale' and the 'Gateway to the Peak District'. Ashbourne is famous for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played since at least 1667, although its origins may date back centuries earlier. Ashbourne became a Fairtrade town in March 2005. The popular Tissington Trail, which follows the route of the former Ashbourne to Buxton railway, starts on the edge of town. Keep up to date with the latest news from the town by signing up for our newsletter.
Alaa al-Zahrani was beheaded for killing a person by stoning. Most of the death sentences imposed for murder and drug trafficking. Activists and international organizations are fighting to get fairer trials and less cruel executions.

Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Saudi Arabia yesterday executed a Saudi man accused of murder, bringing to 70 the number of executions carried out in 2016. According to reports from the Saudi Ministry of Interior, Alaa al-Zahrani was killed Abdullah al-Sumairi by stoning him to death. He was sentenced to death by city court of Jeddah, on the Red Sea.

Last year, Saudi Arabia carried out 153 death sentences, most of them for drug trafficking and murder. This was the highest number in 20 years.

At the beginning of 2016 Riyadh executed 47 people accused of "terrorism"; including the Shiite dignitary Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a leading figure of protest against the Saudi regime. The killing sparked outrage- not only diplomatic - between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite), which is likely to further inflame the already complicated picture Middle East.

Most death sentences in the Arab country are executed by decapitation.

For years the main Human Rights associations and many Western governments have been fighting to force the Saudi kingdom (Sunni Wahhabi) for fairer trials and less cruel executions. Saudi Arabia - where there is a strict observance of sharia, Islamic law - is the only country in the world where the death sentence can be executed by beheading in the public square.



Capital punishment in the Kingdom is handed down for murder, armed robbery, rape and drug trafficking, but also for witchcraft and sodomy. No less cruel are the sentences for minor crimes such as theft and the crime of opinion, which in addition to imprisonment, involve the cutting of the hand or foot and public flogging.
by Thanh Thuy

In 2009, Bishop Cosma Hoang Van Djat set up a drop-in clinic run by Dominican nuns. Hundreds of young women driven from home because they are pregnant find comfort and support in the facility. Many non-Catholic single mothers are baptised before they return home.

Hanoi (AsiaNews)  The Tu Phong Drop-in Centre is a clinic that saves babies from abortion; it also offers some solace, support, and hope to single mothers.

Mgr Cosma Hoang Van Djat set up the facility in 2009 in Our Lady of Tu Phong parish, in Bac Ninh Diocese (Hanoi).

Fr Dominique Nguyen and the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters run the clinic day and night to stop abortions, which have reached a record level in Vietnam.

Currently, some 50 single mothers are staying at the facility with their babies. The nuns provide the young women, who are often poor and uneducated, with an alternative to abortion.

"Hundreds of unfortunate young women and girls have rediscovered happiness and value in their own lives, Sister Maria Hao said. They prayed to Our Lady of Tu Phong and gave birth to their children here."

"The nuns are also social workers, said the sister. They help the young women in their daily lives, taking care of the infants health and teach the mothers work skills. The sisters also provide spiritual and psychological support."

Abortion is a growing phenomenon in Vietnam, which is ranked first in South-East Asia and fifth in in the world for the practice. Each year, more than 300,000 women aged 15 to 19 turn to abortion, often outside normal health facilities.

The abortion rate has reached almost 70 per cent among high school and university students. In the capital Hanoi, many young women abort more than once, as if it were a contraceptive method.

Sister Lien, who works at the Tu Phong Drop-in Centre, met with students in the diocese to explain its work.

"The drop-in clinic is part of the Diocese of Bac Ninh. In addition to social work, we offer a full range of pastoral outreach services. Every evening, children and mothers participate in the Mass in the local parish church."

Each mother has a different and tortuous path, the nun explained. Usually, they are between 16 and 22, and have in common the fact that they got pregnant but did not want to keep the baby.

In many cases, their family pressured them to have an abortion because they did not want to raise the child. Only when they agree to abortion are they allowed home."

"A young woman told me she wanted to attend catechism, and be baptised along with her son, said Sister Anna Hoa. When I heard this, I was moved and happy.

Two thirds of abandoned mothers who come to the clinic are non-Catholic, but when they leave the centre to return home to their parents, most are baptised."
Mgr Hinder said that "government channels have been activated to determine Fr Toms fate. At present, it is still unclear whether he is alive or dead. The lone survivor, the mother superior, was moved out of the country". Shocked, Yemenis condemn the attack. Mgr Ballin agrees with pope about "Too much indifference around this brutal affair.

Sanaa (AsiaNews)  There are no further news about the fate of Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, said Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar of Southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen).

Last Friday (4 March), a terrorist commando attacked a retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Aden killing 12 civilians and 4 nuns. They also seized Fr Tom, a 56-year-old Indian priest.

Mgr Hinder said he is going through government channels in various countries involved to establish contacts in order to find out what happened to the clergyman who should be "in the hands of the attackers".

However, "we do not know if he is still alive, the prelate noted. There is no firm information. Channels have been activated to get his release. We are doing everything possible."

Yemeni authorities believe the Islamic State (IS) group is behind the violent incident. However, although the group is very active in the country, no one has yet claimed responsibility for the action.

"We are aware that no group has claimed the criminal attack . . . but information points to the involvement of Daesh," said a Yemeni security official, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

For Mgr Hinder, the attack against the retirement home in Aden, which led to the brutal deaths of four missionary sisters of Mother Teresa, has generated "profound sadness," not only among Christians in the region, but also among Yemenis.

"People in Aden, Yemenis in general, are sorry for the turn of events, the bishop said. They held the nuns and their work in high esteem. They were shocked by what happened because terrorists were behind it, although we do not know precisely who the perpetrators are."

The attackers killed the four nuns  Sister Anselma from India, Sister Marguerite and Sister Reginette from Rwanda, and Sister Judit from Kenya  and 12 other people who worked at the centre. Only the superior, Sister Sally (also from India) managed to save herself from the attackers brutality.

Speaking about the mother superior, Mgr Hinder said she is going to be moved out of the country. The transfer should take place today."

"If there are no setbacks, she will be in a safe place today, the prelate added. The nun will move to one of the communities outside the country, but the situation is delicate and I cannot say more."

Mgr Hinder also thanked Pope Francis for his clear and strong condemnation of the attack against the Missionaries of Charity in yesterdays Angelus, as well as his criticism for the worlds indifference.

Following the Marian prayer, the pope said, I express my closeness to the Missionaries of Charity for the great loss they had. He also appealed to Mother Teresa. May she accompany her martyr daughters of charity in Heaven, and intercede for peace and sacred respect for human life.

Mgr Camillo Ballin, apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain), also launched an attack against the indifference of the media and civil society.

"The pope is right, the bishop told AsiaNews, because it is an evil thing to kill in the name of God. It is just as bad to see the indifference of the media, the absolute silence on the massacre" by mainstream media.

For the vicar, this is a "very serious". Informing people about what happens in the world" is increasingly important.

For Mgr Ballin, the nuns bore witnessed with their own lives to "the passion of Christ," which "has involved them in his passion and death. Today, they partake in the joy of the resurrection."

Speaking about the situation of the Northern Vicariate, at least as far as Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are concerned, he said that "there is freedom of worship, although with certain limits."

However, for some time, "a climate of tension is visible and governments have tightened controls and beefed up security because of real fears that the Islamic State group might make inroads.

However remote, the prelate hopes to see the two great reginal powers, "Iran and Saudi Arabia, find a balance" between them.

Nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata, were attacked in the past.

In July 1998, a gunman shot and killed three nuns of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata as they left a hospital in the Yemeni city of Al Hudaydah.

Local authorities said at the time that the attacker was an unbalanced Saudi. Two of the murdered nuns were from India  Sister Lilia and Sister Anneta  whilst the third, Sister Michelle, was from the Philippines.

Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war pitting the countrys Sunni leadership, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital. For Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, who are allied to forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are militarily supported by Iran, a charge the latter angrily rejects.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and IS-linked jihadist militias are active in the country, which adds to the spiral of violence and terror.
U.S. Drone Attack Kills 150 Suspected Somali Terrorists

Trending News: A U.S. Drone May Have Just Prevented A Huge Terrorist Attack

Why Is This Important?

Because the world is a dangerous place.

Long Story Short

BBC News is reporting that a U.S.-controlled drone struck a suspected terrorist camp in Somalia, killing 150 militants. Officials believe the al-Qaeda affiliate was preparing to launch an attack.

Long Story

These days, most talk of terrorism usually pertains to ISIS, who's busy trying to burn the entirety of the Middle East to the ground. But while they might be the most prominent terrorist organization, it's important to remember that al-Qaeda, the group responsible for the September 11 attacks, is still a thing. Our military certainly hasn't forgotten them, which would explain why a U.S. drone attacked a training facility operated by Al-Shabab, a Somali al-Qaeda affiliate. BBC News reports that 150 militants were killed, and not a moment too soon  they may have been about to carry out a big attack.

"We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces," Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told BBC News.

The camp was located about 120 miles north of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital that was recently wrested from Al-Shabab control. Davis told BBC News that the camp had been under surveillance for a while now, but that the attack launched Saturday because they believed the fighters had completed their training and were about to go on the offensive. He wouldn't comment on the specifics of their plans.

Al-Shabab has been extremely active in Somalia recently, taking responsibility for four attacks in 2016 so far. The worst occurred at a Kenyan base that killed 180 soldiers, but attacks in public places have resulted in the death of 59 civilians. Unfortunately, despite African Union forces' best efforts, al-Shabab retains a significant presence in Somalia:

BBC News

No one's said whether the planned attack would have taken place in Somalia or somewhere abroad, but either way it sounds like a lot of people just dodged a major bullet, for now.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

What is necessary to finally end terrorism?

Disrupt Your Feed

When you think things are bad here, keep in mind that it could be a lot worse.

Drop This Fact

258,000 Somalis died in the famine between October 2010 and April 2012.
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.

Indictment Unsealed

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.

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.
The Bar Council in England has published a guide for chambers in a bid to stamp out residual sexual harassment in the profession. The guide forms part of the Councils research into unacceptable behaviour experienced by some barristers. Focusing on self-employed barristers, the Council found that at the training stage, women of all ages were positive about their experience and, although there were some incidents of inappropriate behaviour, many challenges faced by trainees were not gender-specific.In junior practice though, the bar Council found that a significant number of women felt pushed into areas such as family and sex crime, which resulted in a high rate of stress among juniors. The report also found that balancing a career at the Bar with bringing up children was problematic and some respondents said it was difficult to see how that balance could be achieved.On applying for Silk, some respondents felt that men in chambers were given greater support than women. Squire Patton Boggs has promoted 39 lawyers to its international partnership from 20 offices and across its key practices. Three of the new partners are from Australia. In Sydney, Anna Elliot makes partner in the labor & employment practice; and Shaan Palmer becomes a restructuring & insolvency partner. In Perth, Fabio Fior is a new real estate partner.International law firm Nabarro has elected real estate partner Ciaran Carvalho as its senior partner. He will succeed Graham Steadman on May 1, 2016, and beat two others, Jonathan Warne and Iain Newman, in the election.The firm has also expanded its Singapore office with the hire of Matthew Nortcliff as partner in the funds and indirect real estate team where he will lead the Asian funds practice. He joins from Hogan Lovells in the city state where he has been since 2010, but this is a return to Nabarro where he trained and was a funds associate in the London office.Neeraj Budhwani is one of two new appointments to the global partnership council of Clifford Chance. The Hong Kong-based corporate partner, along with London finance partner Jeremy Connick, joins the council which is headed by senior partner Malcolm Sweeting. Beijing corporate partner Tim Wang has also been re-elected for a second three-year term.
Dear everyone,



I'm going to apply for a student visa for my undergraduate course starts this July. I've been living with my girlfriend for 1 years 6 months. We don't have a joint bank account but I've sent her money and there is a receipt for that transaction (near $5000). I let her keep the money, I withdrew cash and give her to deposit into saving account under her name (More than $20000). We have evidence to prove we live in the same address such as mail, package. We've planned to married but don't do wedding to save the money for tuitions but at least we have marriage certificate and it will help the sub class visa can be granted more easy. Unfortunately, my grandfather died and in my country (Vietnam) when there is someone died in a family, any activites related to marriage are prohibited.



It would be really sad if she can not grant a sub class visa to able depart at the same time with me to Australia. We've never been separated since 9/2014. What should I do to make this process has higher succesful rate? What if her sub class visa refused when we apply at the same time? Will my main visa affected?



If it looks like she has only few chance to get the visa; our option B is that I will come back home after the first semester in Jan 2017 and register for marriage certificate (again, no holding wedding party to save money for the tuitions). Then apply sub class visa for my wife (no longer girlfriend as will have marriage certificate at the time). Will this plan possible?



Which is the best plan and what should I do in my situation? What are the costs? I've been asking some Vietnamese firms but their answers are lack of information since they only process dependant visa for married couples.



I'm looking forward to hearing from you.



Regards,



Viet Nguyen
HP

Like the previous Wraith facelift featured in our spyshots, this example has camouflage on the front end, while the rear of the vehicle and the profile are not disguised. However, the interior too features its fair share of camo, so Rolls-Royce must have applied some changes there.This time, our friends at SB-Medien captured the Wraith prototype in a winter scenario. The vehicle was spotted when leaving a compound near the Arctic Circle.The body of this car is painted white, and the vehicle still has the elegance characteristic of Rolls-Royce cars even with the camouflaged front end.According to some sources, the new Wraith facelift is expected to receive a new suspension setup, inspired by the one of the Dawn, its convertible version.In traditional Rolls-Royce style, the interior will feature wood veneers, but the dash is expected to receive an upgrade to the multimedia system and improved connectivity options. Most likely, the improved connectivity systems will come from BMW, the company that owns the Rolls-Royce brand.From a design point of view, the Wraith Series II, as the official name of this model is expected to be, boasts a new shape for the headlights, a redesign of the front bumper, as well as minute changes to the hood. The profile and the rear end of the Wraith seem unchanged from the current model.The Wraith Series II is expected to launch by the end of this year and come to market as an MY2017 car. The current Wraith features a 6.6-liter V12 twin-turbo unit, which has a maximum output of 632. The engine was detuned for the latest version of the BMW 7 Series, the M760Li . Meanwhile, back at Rolls-Royce, the unit could be improved for the Series II, but dont expect a massive power hike.
kWh

Just one month ago, Elon Musk took offense at the comments posted by some blogger and Tesla owner wannabe about the Model X's launching event. Instead of taking it like a man or answering with a set of arguments that would prove the man wrong, Musk did the equivalent of grabbing all of his toys and leaving: he decided not to allow said blogger to buy a Model X, despite him having paid the deposit already.The amount of control Tesla has over its product is not something most of us are used to. And it's not just about who gets to own the cars - no, this control extends even after you've paid for the vehicle and it's sitting tightly in your own garage. Receiving upgrades overnight that turn your commuter into a damn-near self-driving car is great, but Tesla could be sending something else as well.Jason Hughes, a Tesla Model S owner and hacker by excellence, found that out the hard way. Nosing around the latest update, Jason found a piece of encrypted code that turned out to be the badges for a P100D future model (either a Model S or a Model X - or both - using 100battery packs). He tweeted Tesla about it, but instead of getting a tweet back, he was treated to a different type of answer.Showing the kind of approach you'd expect from a North Korean leader, and not a Californian car company, Tesla attempted to revert Hughes vehicle to an earlier firmware version, to protect any further leaks (Jason did say he came across other interesting stuff). Given his skills, he was able to block the process in time, and then issued a "wtf?" tweet to Tesla and Elon Musk.What does the man in charge do? Well, he answers by denying any implication in the matter. "Wasn't done at my request. Good hacking is a gift," read Elon Musk's tweet. No apologies, no further explanations, just "it wasn't me."Naturally, Jason is a bit flabbergasted by all that happened. Talking to Teslarati , he said, "Yeah, seems Ive gotten Musks attention on the matter. Thats enough of a truce for me for the time being on it to give them a chance to sort things out. Long story short, Tesla really should watch what they put into production firmware if they dont want details about it posted. Im not the only person with access to their cars internals, and under no real obligation to keep anything I find secret on Teslas behalf. If I keep it secret, nothing is to say someone else wont in the future."Do we really want cars that we don't have complete control over? Imagine you say something bad about Tesla in a comment somewhere, and the next morning your car refuses to switch on. Isn't this a little too 1984-ish? If Tesla keeps this kind of behavior up, it'll soon get dozens of lawsuits on its head. Or dozens of people switching to a different electric car maker, and as this year's Geneva Motor Show suggested, we won't be lacking in those.
The big news for this release is Vaniitys return to the camera. Alas, what she says is her Energizer Bunny high energy comes across as way too many Coffee Nudges. After a lot of jumping around and much chatter about wanting to be a rap star in spite of her cute voice, she mellows out, shows off her new hormone-influenced boobs, stuffs a toy up her pretty ass and jills off onto Silveras camera.

Jesse has looked better and been more enthusiastic, but shes always a pleasure to watch.

The real shows are put on by less big name she-males, including freshly single Domino Presley, whose six-pack looks masculine when slicked with sweat; Morgan Bailey, who looks more feminine as she becomes aroused; and gothish Aly Sinclair, who dons rubber and has lipstick on her teeth.

Native American Carmen Moore is astonishingly passable, Honey Foxxx returns for her pop shot, Kimberly Kills explains how she joined the Army because she was a hostile youth, and Hazel Tucker wears a leash and a glass ass toy.
Women of Aviation Week will kick off with the arrival of an Air Canada flight at Vancouver International Airport. Onboard the airplane will be an all-female flight crew and theyll be cleared to land by a female air traffic controller in a media event. That it took a coordinated effort by WOAW, Air Canada and Nav Canada to put together perhaps highlights the gender imbalance in aviation. The crew, controller and a female aviation technician will take part in a news conference at YVR to mark International Womens Day (March 8) and celebrate the granting of the first pilot certificate to a female in 1910. According to the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide the numbers of women working in aviation remain stubbornly far below the ratios achieved in most other professions and in some cases are even dropping despite events like this organized by this group and others.

The rest of the week will be highlighted by more than 100 events around the world aimed at showing girls and women that aviation careers are open to them. In many of those events, women and girls who have never flown in a small aircraft before will go for a short flight provided by a volunteer pilot. More than 15,000 flights are expected and girls who register their flights can win a variety of prizes. Those inspired to take flying lessons can win scholarships toward further flight training by being the first, second and third participants to solo an aircraft after taking a WOAW week introductory flight.
Within the cavernous FAA warehouses in Oklahoma City molders jetsam once vital to National Airspace System (NAS), such as NDBs, Terminal Control Areas, Flight Service Stations (FSS), GADO (General Aviation District Office) and, now, Flight Watch. Time was when you were cruising in your 47 Navion with the canopy slid back, and the ADF pointing to thunderstorms and faulty magnetos, you could tune your Narco SuperHomer to 122.0 MHz and  through the static  hear a friendly voice, advising you to wait your turn for weather updates.

Flight Watch was the Weather Channel without pictures for pilots, but its gone. Sad though that may be, enquiring minds ask, Flight Watch? Wasnt that an FAA test question years ago? In part, yes, but it deserves a proper funeral.

So in Brainteaser #216 we asked you to suggest uses for the newly available frequency 122.0.

Additionally, we asked what other FAA programs should be axed.

Responses proved, once again, that Brainteaser readers are creative and slightly demented. We like that.

Heres a highly unscientific distillation of the replies to the question, What should become of Flight Watch and 122.0? (Names have been redacted to protect FAA employees who wrote to us on government computers.)

Give Peace a Chance

Most responders recognized the possibility of turning 122.0 into an expansion CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency). Heres a sampling of unedited comments:

The 122.0 freq could be assigned as an additional CTAF frequency. On busy days, any present CTAF is subject to saturation.

Use 122.0 as a CTAF frequency at uncontrolled airports.

Use it for UNICOM where frequency congestion is a problem.

Give it to CTAFs so as to free up some congestion from overlapping CTAF transmissions.

Great ideas all, because anyone who flies on VFR weekends knows that CTAFs are awash in squealing verbal garbage, making it often impossible to announce a position or identify the cluck whos announcing every stinkin leg of the traffic pattern or that hes taxiing to the runway at your airport, so you can confiscate his microphone and return it only after he learns that the radio does not produce lift.

CFI rant over.

Adding another CTAF could dilute frequency congestion, but do we really think thatll make the offenders think before transmitting?

Share The Words

A few submitters suggested using 122.0 as an air-to-air frequency. You know, so you dont have listen on CTAF to the CB chatter from buddies in separate homebuilts calling out performance figures to each other, as in:

Proud Pilot #1 headed to Oshkosh: Im indicatin one-twenty-two, now! How bout you?

Proud Pilot #2 headed to Oshkosh: Showin one-thirty at 2400 RPM  phew-doggie!

This reader was a bit more specific in frequency allocation, although, perhaps a bit misguided: Turn 122.0 into the new air-to-air frequency that pilots can use instead of 121.5.

A gentle reminder here that 121.5 is the emergency frequency and not an air-to-air frequency. The Balloon Flying Handbook reminds us that The air-to-air frequency is 122.75. Balloonists, pestered by circling fixed-wing aircraft, should try calling the intruder on 122.75 to tell them to buzz off. Just dont expect a response.

Another reader thought 122.0 should be a standby emergency frequency, for use, perhaps, when 121.5 is congested with non-emergency air-to-air chatter.

Frequency 123.45 (aka Fingers) is periodically utilized for air-to-air, but the FAA (and FCC) might develop heartburn with that. FAA Order 6050.32 reflects the special use of 123.45 MHz: 123.45 MHz is authorized to be used only for non-government flight-test operations, not air-to-air communications. However, the frequency 123.45 MHz is designated as an air-to-air VHF communications frequency to enable aircraft engaged in flights over remote and oceanic areas out of range of VHF ground stations to exchange necessary operational information and to facilitate the resolution of operational problems.

Another reader suggested, Keep 122.0 MHz open as another optional UNICOM freq or use it as a Flight Following channel.

Easier still, call the nearest Approach Control facility or Center for radar flight following. Those frequencies are accessible on your GPS or go old-school and check the A/FD (Airport/Facility Directory) or sectional charts.

This readers suggestion simplifies finding frequencies by turning 122.0 into Directory Assistance: Have a recorded broadcast of all available frequencies in the area 

In Canada, this pilot writes, 126.7 is used for position-reporting by VFR aircraft who are not with flight following. It improves see-and-avoid, since you can broadcast, Over Lake Scugog at 3500 (feet) eastbound. This leads to brief conversations among pilots flying in the immediate vicinity. When flying VFR in the U.S. when flight following is unavailable, I feel naked, not having a clue where other aircraft are.

The vision of naked, clueless Canadians in U.S. skies is reason enough to reallocate 122.0 for this purpose.

Several readers suggested that Flight Watch retain some of its former weather-reporting status by broadcasting area forecast-type info such as cloud tops and PIREPs. Kind of an area AWOS. Or used to report any unusual weather that is not a hazard but very interesting to note.

Another pilot supports the PIREP theme: Click on 122.0 to leave and to listen to PIREPs. Especially local icing PIREPs. While several pilots suggested that Flight Watch should broadcast NOTAMs affecting the local area, Facebook could handle much of this, too.

And yet another pilot (or possibly a Lockheed Martin briefer fearing job elimination) suggested 122.0 be turned over to AFSS to do whatever they feel like with it.

Thinking outside the box, this pilot said, Turn Flight Watch into Wrist Watch, and continuously broadcast the time. This will be useful for timing of holding patterns, non-precision instrument approaches and cooking three-minute eggs. It can also be fed into the aircraft intercom/speaker system to annoy passengers.

Practical absurdities continued with a plan for Flight Watch to serve as a warning service to indicate where FAA inspectors are conducting ramp inspections.

Advertising Possibilities

What ad exec wouldnt leap at the opportunity to target an audience? Certainly, this Madison Avenue reader sees the potential: (Why not broadcast) advertising for airport businesses? Eat at the Ailerona Flapjack, mention you heard it on 122.0 and get a free flapjack ? Or pan bread, for all you R. Bach barnstorming fans out there.

Running with the commercialization theme, one reader said Flight Watch should be turned into a job search board (with) Craigslist broadcasts for all those unemployed AMEs after Third-class medical reform passes. Or, he continued, (Make it) the audio for Americas Got Talent, Local Air Show Edition, where local hangar owls provide commentary on landing prowess, pattern-flow violations and POH weight-and-balance deviations sponsored by your local A&P mechanic union or FSDO.

Or make 122.0 a pilot-help frequency. It wouldnt be for full-blown emergencies but more for, Could someone remind me how to land in a crosswind? Like a call-in ask-the-experts show: Hello, youre on Flight Watch, how can we help? Yeah, long-time flyer, first-time caller 

Two respondents went all digital on us with these suggestions: (122.0) could be a data transmission frequency for the new texting between controllers and pilots. Since 122.0 is in the middle of the band, the data wont be scared or intimidated by non-aviation chatter in other adjacent frequency bands.

Never known data to get scared but point taken and expanded upon by this reader who says, Make Flight Watch the Aviation Twitter site. #stupidpilottalk.

And speaking of stupid pilot talk, this pilot suggests we use the old Flight Watch frequency for the people who need to say, All traffic please advise. Variations on that stupid phrase include, but are not limited to, Traffic in the area, please advise. AIM 4-1-9(g) has more to say on that issue.

At least one pilot has no use for 122.0, Flight Watch or anything associated with it: I believe 122.0 should be abolished just like that stupid nauseating FAA score. Dont they have other things to waste their money on similar to firing and ruining FAA whistle blowers careers for doing their jobs and not covering up unsafe practices to justify the FAAs numbers to Congress.

Take that and get off my lawn!

Two pilots considered the educational possibilities of Flight Watch in the right hands, beginning with, 122.0 could be a broadcast of updates from the Federal Register with a Jackie Gleason laugh. How sweet it is.

Educational potential continues if a very sexy female voice could read FARs and help keep us current.

Although not educational in nature, this alternate use for Flight Watch could prove entertaining: It should be used to tell flying stories AS THEY ARE HAPPENING. Each story must begin with, Here I am, instead of the venerable, So there I was. This will increase the efficiency of Natures gentle way of weeding out pilots who forget to FLY THE PLANE. (All CAPS indicates shouting.)

This entry made little sense, but it was entertaining in a heard-on-a-barstool-at-closing-time way: (The term) Flight Watch should replace Center, since Contact Boston Flight Watch on one-two-seven-decimal-seven-five just sounds cooler, and its still two syllables.

What To Eliminate

The survey had two parts. We also asked what else the FAA should eliminate. Heres an IFR suggestion: Would be nice to eliminate visibility requirements for legal descent below mins for Part 91 pilots. This legality is almost entirely subjective and serves no real purpose. If one can see the runway environment and can land using normal descent and normal maneuvers, subject to good judgment, that should do it. Go for it.

Several readers suggested eliminating FSDO and TSA, and one even went so far as to suggest the FAA should go eliminate itself. We thought those suggestions a bit extreme, because, honestly, without the FAA wed lose much of the grist for our editorial mill.

One reader was specific regarding which FAA entity should be purged: Get rid of the ACOs (Aircraft Certification Offices). Do we really need the FAA to validate TCs and STCs? Its 2016. Time for a standards-based approach, with well-trained auditors to check the paper trail. Businesses are there to make money. They wont succeed if they have shoddy products. Let the market decide.

Say what you will about ACOs, but not so fast on declaring this 2016, warned one dude who returned to the first part of our survey by saying he wants 122.0 MHz to play 60s and 70s rock music. Well, OK. Just nothing by The Eagles.

Many readers  too many to quote each  want to relegate the FAAs Third-class medical and the Aeromedical Branch to the FAAs Dustbin of History in Oklahoma City. Here, now, is one of the more temperate comments: What else should the FAA eliminate? The *$#%&^&*^%$ Third-class medical! What is happening with PBOR2 (Pilot Bill Of Rights 2)?

To which this CFI replies, Yeah!
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Armenias leading parliamentary opposition parties have accused the government of going back on its pledge to ensure the introduction of an all-proportional voting system, regarding the so-called rating ballots proposed in a recently published draft legislation as a means to retain the current partly majoritarian electoral system.

Most of Armenias opposition parties in recent years have sought a change of the current system of parliamentary elections in which 41 members of the 131-seat National Assembly are elected from single-mandate constituencies.

They have insisted that unlike the ballots in which citizens are offered to vote only for lists of candidates presented by political parties, campaigning in elections in single-seat constituencies mostly contested by wealthy individuals with extensive government links is rarely done along political lines, while the focus of candidates pledges is mostly improvement of local infrastructure, social aid and other function reserved for local government bodies.

Critics also say that due to this peculiarity such majoritarian elections are a major source of vote buying, ballot-box stuffing and other forms of electoral fraud.

A number of recent opposition initiatives to make changes in the Electoral Code to scrap the majoritarian elections in favor of all-party-list ballots were rejected by President Serzh Sarkisians ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

Government officials would explain such rejections by the fact that an all-proportional voting system could harm the representation of regions in the one-tier parliament.

Sarkisian and the HHK, however, pledged to reform the Electoral Code to address the oppositions concerns when they initiated amendments to the countrys Constitution envisaging a transition to a parliamentary form of government.

Some of the parliamentary minority parties, such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Prosperous Armenia Party, embraced the reform and campaigned for the constitutional changes. Other opposition parties, like Heritage and the Armenian National Congress (HAK), which are also known as advocates of an all-proportional voting system, still opposed changes in the Constitution, considering that they were a ploy for Sarkisian to extend his power beyond 2018 when his second and final presidential term expires.

In the wake of a disputed referendum that officially approved the government-advocated changes, the Western government and international organizations urged the Armenian authorities to ensure that the drafting of the new Electoral Code was held in an inclusive manner and the new electoral laws were adopted with broad consensus.

Leading opposition parties and civil society organizations, however, felt they were left out of the process when the government revealed its draft last week, more than a week after submitting it to the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe body advising governments of member states on legal reforms.

The opposition also criticized a number of provisions in the draft, including its purported failure to address the need to hold all-proportional elections.

In essence, it is not a proportional system, it is attracting peoples votes through a majoritarian vote in a nominally proportional election, deputy head of the Heritage party Armen Martirosian said in Azatutyun TVs Sunday Analytical Show with Tamrazian.

Martirosian referred to the fact that under the proposed draft Electoral Code all political parties and blocs of parties participating in parliamentary elections will have to present two electoral lists, with one listing their top candidates for each of the 13 constituencies that Armenia will be divided in.

Authors of the draft legislation explain that this provision will stimulate political parties to also work in the regions and will ensure proper representation of provinces in the one-tier parliament.

Opposition members, however, see ulterior reasons behind the proposed system.

People no longer vote for Republican Party members, Martirosian claimed. But now they will willy-nilly vote for a local candidate, which will automatically give a vote to the Republican Party In reality, this mechanism amounts to the same majoritarian system, but in its even more sinister form.

Martirosian assumed that under the proposed system tycoons and local strongmen will continue to influence the choice of people in their constituencies, ensuring the overall victory of the ruling party.

The HAKs parliamentary leader Levon Zurabian, who was also a guest of Azatutyun TVs talk show on March 6, agreed with this view.

If before we had 75 percent of members of parliament elected by party lists and 25 percent elected from single-seat constituencies, then this ratio will, in fact, be changed to 50-50, he argued. Only half of the lawmakers will be elected by a classical proportional system, while the other half will be elected by a nominally proportional system that will be majoritarian by its essence.

Armen Rustamian, of the ARF, however, called the oppositions approach to the issue antiscientific. This is a truly proportional voting system, because you vote with just one bulletin and for a political party. You cannot vote for a person without giving a vote to a party. In other words, these two votes are in one, he insisted.
7 March 2016 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, engaged in the peace talks on the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is an object of criticism and reason for dissatisfaction of Azerbaijan.

Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev believes that this is a fair discontent, as the trio of international mediators representing the U.S., Russia and France, is actually inactive.

Baku expresses dissatisfaction with the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group for a reason, he told Day.Az.

I totally agree with those Azerbaijani experts, who say that any settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - it does not matter in whose favor it is - automatically deprives bureaucrats from OSCE very profitable sinecures. Their logic is that the process is all, the goal is nothing, he said, noting that the OSCE Minsk Group countries will act only under the threat of war.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

Kalachev, commenting on Russias weapon supply to Armenia, said that Moscow should carry out adequate and equal policy towards Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The balance of forces in the region meets interests of all, who are interested in a diplomatic rather than a military solution to the problems that occur, he said.

Baku has repeatedly stated that Armenia carries out illegal activities, including drug trafficking in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, Armenia shelters representatives of various terrorist organizations, including the PKK on these territories, and this causes damage to the national security, but also has a negative impact on regional security.

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7 March 2016 18:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku backs transition of the OSCE Minsk Group, established to mediate for peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to activity in full format.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov made the statement while talking to ANS TV channel.

With transition of the Minsk Group to activity in full format and holding meetings in full squad, we will achieve another tool for increasing the international communitys pressure on Yerevan, he said.

Armenia's territorial claims in the late 1980s accompanied with bitter military aggression resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh, and seven surrounding regions. More than a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs in the aftermath of the war between the two South Caucasus republics.

Azimov believes that Armenia feels comfortable with the current format of the MG. Overall, the international community get little information about the conflict, little pressure is placed on Armenia. Thats why it is not suitable for us, he said.

He noted that the talks carried out within the mandate of the OSCE MG co-chair countries - France, Russia and the U.S.- mainly serves to the interest of these three states.

When the relations between the United States and Russia strain, we can feel the same within the Minsk process, he said, noting the importance of resuming the activity of Turkey, Germany and Sweden within the MG.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs, dubbed the Madrid Principles.

However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries for over 20 years.

Azimov, commenting on Russias weapon supply to Armenia, said the military-political alliance of Russia and Armenia does not surprise anyone.

The two countries have a long-term contract and under this deal, Russia keps its military presence in Armenia, bring new weapons to the country and keeps it under its focus, he said.

Noting that Russia ensures the air defense of Armenia and observes the borders of this country, he said that 70 percent of Armenias economy is owned by Russia.

Russia backs Armenia inside its territory and inside the territory of Armenia, However, in case the war broke, Azerbaijan will be fighting in its territory. Azerbaijan, being in its territory, rightfully will defend itself and take steps for defending its territorial integrity. In this case, from a legal point of view, Russias joining the conflict from Armenian side is illegal, he said.

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7 March 2016 11:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

The Azerbaijani Parliament has adopted a package of amendments to the legislation, which stipulates the establishment of the Financial Market Supervisory Body at the plenary session on March 4.

In particular, amendments were made to Azerbaijans Tax Code, Civil Code, Code of Administrative Offences, Law on Central Bank, Law on Banks, Law on Postal Service, Law on Securities Market, Law on Investment Funds, Law on Insurance Activity, Law on Lotteries, Law on Non-Bank Credit Organizations, and others.

In February 2016, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the public legal entity - the Financial Market Supervisory Body, which will be in charge of licensing, regulating and controlling activities of securities market, investment funds, insurance and credit institutions (banks, non-bank credit institutions, postal operator) and payment systems.

The new amendments stipulate restricting the rights of members of the Central Banks board, as well as their close relatives to own predominant shares in financial institutions.

Previously, the above-mentioned individuals were prohibited to own shares only in the credit organizations controlled by the CBA.

However, under the new amendments, their owning shares in the credit institutions, insurance (reinsurance) and investment companies, controlled by the Azerbaijani government, can also be prohibited.

It is expected that the Financial Market Supervisory Body will help to improve the control system to counteract legalization of money or other property received by criminal way and financing terrorism, as well as ensuring transparency and flexibility of the control system in these areas.

To ensure transparency the body will be managed in accordance with the principles of collegial governance, and the principles of operational and financial independence will be taken as a basis.

The charter, the structure and composition of the Board of the body will be determined within a month, according to the presidential decree.

The establishment of the Financial Market Supervisory Body in Azerbaijan will improve the management and regulation mechanisms of the financial market of the country, and open new opportunities for pursuing a unified policy and regulatory standards on the financial market.

Financial market stability regulation committee to be established

Azerbaijan will also establish a committee on financial market stability regulation.

Speaking at the parliamentary session, Rufat Aslanli, the Head of the working group on the establishment of the Financial Market Supervisory Body, said that the new body will be called the Committee for Financial Stability, which will be in charge of ensuring stability and sustainability in the financial sector and resolving liquidity issues.

"This is one of the points of the new mechanism, which consists of three main elements," he said adding 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.

"The Central Bank of Azerbaijan, the Finance Ministry and the Financial Market Supervisory Body will sign a special memorandum," Aslanli said, noting that yhe sides have already agreed upon the signing of this document.

New laws adopted

The parliament also adopted amendments to the law "On stimulation of insurance in agriculture." The changes envision that the country will liquidate the upper limit of the insurance rate, defined by the relevant executive authorities in the calculation of the amount of coverage of insurance cases in the agrarian sector.

Azerbaijan's supreme legislative body also adopted amendments to the law "On public procurement" and a law "On approval of the articles of the agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank."

Also, the law "On Licenses and Permits" was removed from the agenda of the plenary session of the parliament after Ziyad Samadzade, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship and Industry, made such a proposal.

The MP explained this proposal with the fact that a list of permissions should be specified and difference between a license and a permit should be clearly explained.

Samadzade believe that the number of permits should be reduced as well.
7 March 2016 11:19 (UTC+04:00)

A meeting of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne Think Tank (WTFL Think Tank ) was held in Baku last week.

An exclusive group of handpicked personalities from the international travel, tourism and hospitality industry came together in the Azerbaijani capital to discuss "the drivers of success for emerging destinations".

Among those in attendance at the event were Secretary-General of the UN WTO Taleb Rifai and President of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne Reto Wittwer.

The meeting will feature discussions on an array of issues including global tendencies that will affect the tourism sector over the next decade, the essence of human resources for tourism development, the impact of new technologies on business models and marketing.

In his remarks, Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Qarayev highlighted the government`s measures to develop the tourism industry.

During the Baku visit, Taleb Rifai was also received by President Aliyev.

Refai recalled his previous visits and meetings with President Ilham Aliyev. He hailed the fact that a range of issues discussed during the meetings, including work on visa issuance and execution of low-cost flights, are being successfully implemented under the leadership of President Aliyev.

The head of state recalled with pleasure his meetings with the UNWTO Secretary General, thanked him for supporting the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, and stressed the importance of his recommendations in this regard.

President Aliyev said tourism was always one of the priorities in Azerbaijan, adding the country`s fruitful geographical location and its beautiful nature created good opportunities for developing tourism industry.

The head of state stressed the significance of tourism in ensuring the financial flow to the country and creating new jobs amid the global economic crisis, adding that reforms in the field of tourism were continued in the country. The head of state expressed his hope that as a result of work done the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan would increase.

They exchanged views on the issues related to the expansion of tourism services, coordination of tourism with other fields of economy, and improvement of tourism infrastructure in Azerbaijan.

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7 March 2016 10:52 (UTC+04:00)

The Legislature of the U.S. State of Alaska adopted a proclamation on February 29 highlighting the importance of the strategic partnership between the United States and Azerbaijan.

The proclamation, which has been sent by the Alaska Legislature to Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles, notes that Azerbaijan is one of the worlds fastest developing and modernizing countries, is the largest economy of the region, and is our biggest trade partner in the South Caucasus.

"Like Alaska, Azerbaijan enjoys vast oil and gas resources, contributing to the energy security of the United States, Europe, and Israel, and is a critical element of the Southern Corridor which will further diversify energy supply for our European allies," the document further notes.

The proclamation applauds the Azerbaijan-U.S. partnership dealing with energy security, fighting international terrorism, illegal drugs, human trafficking, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and stresses that "since 2001, Azerbaijan has provided a vital transportation route to supply American and coalition troops based in Afghanistan".

On behalf of the families of the 2,753 people killed in the terror attacks of 9/11, the Alaska State Legislature thanks the Republic of Azerbaijan for being one of the first countries to render comprehensive and unconditional assistance by opening its airspace and airports for use by coalition troops in Afghanistan, and for sending soldiers to stand with U.S. troops there, the document says.

"Azerbaijan has a predominantly Muslim population and a constitutional tradition of peaceful coexistence and interfaith harmony between various religions, which has enabled it to maintain close strategic relationships with Israel, the United States, and other free and independent allies. Alaskans trust that our relationship will be enhanced in the future as the United States of America and the Republic of Azerbaijan collaborate on our common goals of freedom and independence," the proclamation concludes.

Passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Alaska Legislature, the proclamation was co-authored by the majority of the state legislators and signed by the Senate President Kevin Meyer and House Speaker Mike Chenault.

Thus far, this is the first official document passed by the Alaska State Legislature regarding Azerbaijan.

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7 March 2016 10:34 (UTC+04:00)

Joint military exercises TurAz Shahini-2016 of the Air Forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey began on March 7.

The exercises will last until March 25, the Turkish General Staff reported.

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 plan.

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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7 March 2016 12:05 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan is NATOs major partner, Romanias Ambassador to Azerbaijan Daniel Cristian Ciobanu said in Baku on March 7.

He made remarks at the international conference NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit  opportunities and expectations.

The event is supported by the Institute of Human Rights of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and the Embassy of Romania - NATO's coordinator in Azerbaijan.

This conference is another proof of the importance, which Romania attaches to its relations with Azerbaijan, as well as strengthening ties between NATO and Azerbaijan, said the ambassador.

Azerbaijan participates in NATOs programs on Afghanistan and plays an important role in Europes energy security, according to Ciobanu.

Elmar Huseynov, senior advisor of foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, said that such events have particular importance for the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

After the launch of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, transportation capabilities of NATO in terms of projects related to Afghanistan will increase, said Huseynov.

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7 March 2016 14:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

The successful development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary in different sectors, in particular in political and economic fields, was high on the agenda of talks held between President Ilham Aliyev and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was on an official visit to Baku on March 6.

At a one-on-one meeting, the two sides also stressed that they enjoy good potential for developing the bilateral relations in different fields.

Following their private meeting, President Aliyev and Prime Minister Orban met in an expanded format and made speeches at the event.

During the meeting President Aliyev said Azerbaijan is keen on further developing relations with Hungary in all sectors.

He also noted that bilateral ties between the two countries differ for their dynamics and mutual understanding.

"Hungary is a very close friendly nation for us; we would like the economic relations to correspond to the political level of our ties. Also, there are good prospects in the field of agriculture, energy, and high technologies," President Aliyev stressed.

He also expressed Azerbaijan's interest in attracting Hungarian investment in the country and involving more Hungarian companies to participate in the projects financed by Azerbaijan.

The sides also discussed further intensification of cooperation of the two countries in the transport, energy, agriculture, water supply, ICT, infrastructure and other sectors.

Later, President Aliyev and Premier Orban made statements for press.

In his remarks, President Aliyev said Hungary is a very close and friendly country for Azerbaijan. He voiced his confidence that Orban's visit to Azerbaijan will play a significant role in expansion of relations between Baku and Budapest.

"Our political relations are at a very high level," he said. "The high level of political relations makes positive impact on all other spheres. We have been successfully working in international organizations. Hungary plays a very positive and active role in Azerbaijan's relations with the European Union. Relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan are developing successfully, and I am confident that Hungary will continue to consistently support the development of these relations."

Speaking about the economic ties, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan and Hungary are successfully cooperating in the energy sector. He also pointed out the existing cooperation between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and Hungarian MOL company.

He also expressed his country's interest in cooperating with Hungary in the agricultural and education fields.

First Lady awarded

As part of Orban's visit to Azerbaijan, a ceremony has been held to award First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva with Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary.

Speaking at the award ceremony, the Hungarys prime minister said this Order, which represents the Hungarian people, is awarded not to the spouse of Mr. President, but to the most popular Azerbaijani woman.

"The activity, carried out by Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, is known worldwide," he said adding that Mrs. Aliyeva has gained great love of children grown up at orphanages due to her generous support them.

Orban said the first lady's charitable activities not only help these children, but also promote the existing relations between the two countries.

After his brief remark Orban presented the order to Mehriban Aliyeva.

Mrs. Aliyeva thanked the PM for the reward, saying that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation implements various projects in the education and health care, as well as in the social fields.

"I am sure that the projects being realized in the humanitarian sphere, help the peoples, nations better understand each other," she noted.

Later, President Aliyev hosted a dinner reception in honor of Orban. The first ladies of the two countries also attended the event.

Business forum

The main milestone of Orban's official visit to Azerbaijan was the Azerbaijan-Hungary business forum, which focused on development of bilateral relations in various sectors of economy.

Addressing the business forum, which was attended by over 50 representatives of Hungarian companies operating in agriculture, ICT, construction, renewable energy sources, industrial production, tourism, light industry, consulting, Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev made several attractive and profitable proposals to activate Hungarian companies' operation in Azerbaijan and to conduct joint work in third countries.

In particular, Mustafayev proposed Hungarys Gedeon Richter Company to establish enterprises for medicine production in Azerbaijan.

He said that currently, 135 types of Hungarian-produced medicines are imported to Azerbaijan, whilst there is a greater potential for cooperation in this field.

We also have good opportunities for cooperation in ICT, agriculture and tourism, he noted. As a result of the work done by our governments, Hungarys WizzAir company will restore the flights on Budapest-Baku-Budapest route from March 27. We have information that all tickets for this flight have already been sold."

Hungarian companies actively participate in construction of roads and bridges in Azerbaijan and the sides are keen for even larger cooperation.

Currently, Azerbaijan and Hungary are planning to cooperate in developing the toll roads system, information technologies and developing agriculture in Azerbaijan.

Mustafayev also offered Azerbaijan and Hungary to jointly work in Iran and to make joint investments in the third country.

We have great opportunities to cooperate in investment sphere. We believe that there is a great mutual interest in this field, he added.

"I would like to emphasize the possibilities of investing in third countries, said Mustafayev, adding that from this point of view, work has already been done in Iran on lifting the sanctions.

During the post-sanctions period, we can consider joint activities in this country, he stressed.

The minister noted that Azerbaijani companies are already operating in Iran, while Iranian companies are active in Azerbaijan. Therefore, we are well aware of the situation in Iran. Taking into account a number of other factors as well, our companies can play a mediating role for Hungarian companies in Iran.

Speaking at the business forum Peter Szijjarto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said great success has been achieved in recent four years in developing bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Europe has faced challenges in the recent year and in this situation, it is very important to have reliable and predictable friends and Azerbaijan is that friend, he noted.

We want to focus not just on boosting trade, but also on the development of investment cooperation, particularly in the sphere of information technologies, development of infrastructure and agriculture, Szijjarto said, adding that the two sides also successfully cooperate in energy sector.

He also said the Hungarian government has opened a credit line worth $200 million through the Eximbank to develop the bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The sphere of information technologies definitely has the greatest prospects for bilateral cooperation, said Szijjarto.

The minister added that Hungary is interested in developing the cooperation in developing the toll roads system in Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Hungary in 2015 totalled $27.96 million, of which over $27.7 million accounted for the import of Hungarian products, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

Later, the two countries signed four memorandums of understanding. The documents have been signed between Hungarian and Azerbaijani companies - Umirs Europe and East Stream, Project Service Venture and RR Group of Companies, Toll Service and Sinam, European Parking System and Komtec.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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7 March 2016 15:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli



The total output of defense goods in 2015 made up 274.5 million manats (about $168 million), increasing by 6.7 times compared to 2007, and 3.1 to 2010, according to the Defense Industry Ministry of Azerbaijan.

Some 37.9 percent or 104 million manats ($63 million) from a total production made up defense products, 47.7 percent or 131 million manats ($80 million) -- products of special purpose, development work and etc. and 14.4 percent or 39.5 million manats( $23 million) was products of civil purpose.

Azerbaijans expanding military budget has lifted it to the top among its neighbors in the South Caucasus. The country's military budget for 2015 was $5 billion, which is considerably more than $3.8 billion military expenditures in 2014.

The country manufactures the Istiglal sniper rifle, Mubariz rifle, Orbiter-2M unmanned intelligence drones, Gurza armored patrol car, "Matador" and "Marauder" armored vehicles, anti-tank mines, etc.

Last year, the Defense Industry Ministry accomplished work over the creation of night vision devices, prismatic binoculars with a compass, mine fuses of different types and organized their production.

Since 2009, the Defense Industry Ministry has demonstrated its products at international exhibitions and now the ministry is preparing for the second Azerbaijan International Defense Exhibition "ADEX-2016" to be held in Baku this year. More than 100 international companies have passed registration to participate at the exhibition.

Azerbaijan, which is in war with neighboring Armenia over the latter's territorial claims during more than 20 years, keeps in focus the armament, working closely with leading companies and firms in various fields of military industry.

The country purchased numerous weapons from foreign countries including Turkey, Russia and Israel, to modernize and upgrade its armed forces, and signed military contracts with over 20 countries which envisage a large-scale weapons supply.

Azerbaijan, leaves behind the CIS and regional countries to take its place among the first 70 strongest militaries of the world, according to the US-based Global Firepower survey center.

The survey center has ranked the Azerbaijani army as 64 of 126 in the list of world's strongest armies with a GFP Power Index rating of 1.5221.

It reports that as of January 2016, Azerbaijan's weapon arsenal possesses 314 tanks, 121 aircrafts, 79 helicopters, 47 naval vehicles to enter the list of countries with well-equipped military forces in the world.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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7 March 2016 16:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The International Conference "NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit: opportunities and expectations" kicked off in Baku on March 7.

The event, jointly organized by the Human Rights Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) and NATO Contact Point Embassy in Azerbaijan, the Romanian diplomatic mission, aimed at discussing the perspectives of cooperation between North Atlantic Alliance and partner countries, especially NATO-Azerbaijan relations in the light of NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit to be held on July 8-9.

Addressing the event, Romanian Ambassador to Baku Daniel Cristian Ciobanu stressed that Azerbaijan is NATOs major partner.

The ambassador said this conference is another proof of the importance, which Romania attaches to its relations with Azerbaijan, as well as strengthening ties between NATO and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan participates in NATOs programs on Afghanistan and plays an important role in Europes energy security, Ciobanu added.

Azerbaijan is a very important and highly valued partner of the North-Atlantic Alliance. Relations between NATO and Azerbaijan are successfully developing. The two sides actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas.

Romania strongly supports the strengthening and deepening of NATO-Azerbaijan partnership.

Elmar Huseynov, senior advisor of foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, in turn, said that such events have particular importance for the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

He emphasized that after the launch of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, transportation capabilities of NATO in terms of projects related to Afghanistan will increase.

Head of the NATO Liaison Office, William Lahue emphasized that Azerbaijan participates in many programs of NATO and cooperates with the alliance more actively than other partners.

Azerbaijan not only participates in a number of programs, but also always seeks new opportunities within NATO, according to Lahue.

He went on noting that NATO is working on a number of programs in which not only Azerbaijan, but also other countries of the region can also participate.

Partnership in the region can be assessed as strong and stable, Lahues said, adding that the organization also supports Georgia which seeks to join the alliance.

In her remarks, director of the Human Rights Institute, MP Ayten Mustafayev spoke of importance of the conference, hailed the cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

The event then heard a speech from the head of the International Security Department at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Gaya Mammadov, on "NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation".

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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7 March 2016 16:58 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Georgia enjoy good opportunities for developing the relations in political, economic, energy, humanitarian fields, as well as in a multilateral format.

This was stated by President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze in Baku on March 7.

During the meeting, Janelidze, who was in Baku with his first official visit, said the two countries' foreign ministries are actively continuing their joint work and projects.

President Aliyev, in turn, stressed the importance of cooperation between the relevant bodies of the two countries.

The president further said that a number of issues have been successfully resolved between Baku and Tbilisi and the two countries are getting closer to each other.

As part of the Baku visit, Janelidze met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, who also appreciated the bilateral ties.

Speaking at a briefing held after the meeting with the Georgian minister, Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan and Georgia plan to intensify the strategic partnership.

He also noted that they discussed the prospects for developing and intensifying the strategic partnership, as well as the cooperation in energy and transportation sectors.

Azerbaijan highly appreciates the cooperation with Georgia within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, the implementation of which will expand our cooperation in the transportation sector, Azerbaijan's top diplomat added.

He also noted that the parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the border delimitation commission. We have invited Georgian experts to Baku to continue the talks in this area."

Baku and Tbilisi are also expected to expand the legal framework as over 10 documents on bilateral cooperation are under development.

Janelidze, in turn, said that the two countries are bound by close cooperation in energy sector, recalling that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Baku-Supsa project.

Our cooperation also covers the transportation sector, the Georgian minister said. Both countries will closely cooperate to develop the economic potential.

Saying that Georgia also supports cooperation in the customs area, Janelidze noted that it is necessary to develop the legal framework between the two countries.

We will also continue to cooperate on international arena. Both countries support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other and I hope that this position will remain unchanged, he added.

He further added that Georgias President Giorgi Margvelashvili will pay a visit to Azerbaijan soon.

Azerbaijan and Georgia established diplomatic relations in 1992, one year after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. In October 1997, Azerbaijan and Georgia became two of the four founding members of GUAM, an organization that also includes Ukraine and Moldova.

Today, relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia are more than strategic partnership. The two countries are successfully cooperating in the political field, and strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Georgia is developing from day to day.

The two neighboring countries enjoy not only good political relations, but also long-standing and successful cooperation in the energy sector. Further, Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR is deeply involved in the energy market in the neighboring South Caucasus republic.

Azerbaijan has long been one of Georgias largest trade partners, with trade turnover between the two countries reaching $433.95 million in 2015.

Azerbaijan mainly exports petroleum, petroleum oils and gases, gypsum, anhydrite, plaster and other products to Georgia, while motor cars, live bovine animals, bars and rods of iron, as well as cement, make up the majority of imported goods from Georgia to Azerbaijan.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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7 March 2016 11:41 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan Airlines has posted a congratulatory video dedicated to March 8 - International Women's Day on its official YouTube channel, AZALs press service said.

The video tells about the hard work of flight attendants, dispatchers, employees of security service and managers in sale offices.

Azerbaijan Airlines heartily congratulates all women represented by the ladies working in the sphere of civil aviation, and wishes them clear sky, beautiful days and spring mood!", the message reads, Azertac state news agency reported.

Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of the CIS countries, with the newest airplane fleets, consisting of 25 airplanes. The airline flies to 40 destinations in 19 countries and transported more than 1.8 million passengers in 2014.

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7 March 2016 17:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan has left behind the CIS countries in the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2016.

Azerbaijan climbed by one position in the report and took the 32nd place among 126 countries. In the last year's EAPI report, Azerbaijan stood at the 33rd place.

The Energy Architecture Performance Index, developed by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture, aims to provide an additional set of data to help leaders benchmark the current performance of national energy systems, and inform decision-making in the context of the changes under way in the global energy landscape.

When developing the report, some 21 indices are taken into account, in particular, the ratio of imports and exports of energy products to GDP, on emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, on electrification tariffs and so on.

Azerbaijan's total score in the EAPI 2016 report was 0.68. The country got this score in the economic growth and development sub-index, which measures the extent to which a countrys energy architecture adds or detracts from economic growth.

In the environmental sustainability sub-index, which measures the environmental impact of energy supply and consumption of the country, Azerbaijan got 0.57 score.

Azerbaijan's score in the energy access and security sub-index, which measures the extent to which an energy supply is secure, accessible and diversified, was 0.79.

In the EAPI 2016 report, the first place was occupied by Switzerland while Norway was the second and Sweden was the third. France, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Colombia, New Zealand and Uruguay entered the top ten.

Among the CIS countries, Russia stood at the 52nd place, while Armenia - at 56th and Georgia - at 46th. As for other CIS countries of the Central Asian region, Kazakhstan took the 57th place, Uzbekistan - 84th, Kyrgyzstan - 96th and Turkmenistan - 118th place.

Azerbaijan with its huge oil and gas reserves, not only ensures its own energy security, but also plays an important role in ensuring energy security of Europe.

The Azerbaijan-initiated Southern Gas Corridor is considered by the EU as a vital project for pursuing the energy security strategy of the union.

Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to meet the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The Southern Gas Corridor is set to change the energy map of the entire region, connecting gas supplies in the Caspian to markets in Europe for the very first time.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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7 March 2016 17:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan's State Philharmonic will host a concert of Azerbaijani Symphonic Orchestra named after Uzeir Hajibeyov on March 11, at 19:00 pm.

The concert will be conducted by Azerbaijani honored art worker Elshad Bagirov.

The director of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic and honored artist of Azerbaijan, Murad Adigozalzade will perform solo on piano.

The concert program includes overture from the opera " Alborada del gracioso"( "Morning Song of the Jester) by Maurice Ravel, "La Mere" (The sea) Claude Debussy and Divertimento in C major for piano and orchestra .

Murad Adigezalzade was born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1973, and began his serious music studies at the Baku State Academy of Music.

After graduating, Adigezalzade was awarded the first prize in the National Pianists Competition, winning the titles of Best Pianist of the Year and Best Musician of the Year.

Since 2004, Adigezalzade he has been a soloist of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic.

In 2005 he was awarded Honoured Artist of the Azerbaijan Republic, and in 2007 received the Presidential award. Since 2006 he has been director of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic.

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7 March 2016 17:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

An art exhibition entitled Hellas being held in the Centro Italiano Baku has opened its doors for little art lovers until March 11.

The childrens artworks have been inspired by Ancient Greece, the cradle of European civilization. Under the guidance of Galina Nikolayevna Churilova, students of Childrens Studio of Ecological Posters of the Tofig Ismayilov Children and Youth Creativity Centre have studied the ancient Greek art and embodied this knowledge to high level paintings, graphic arts, batiks and pottery.

The exhibition displays more than 150 pieces of art-painting, graphic art, batik and pottery- made by 28 students, from 5 to 15 years old.

The event is organized by the Greek embassy in Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Greek Community ARGO and Centro Italiano Baku.

The event was declared open on March 6 by Paola Casagrande, the director of the Italian Center Baku and followed by the welcoming speeches of Dimitrios Tsoungas, Greek Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Portnova Nadejda Petrovna, Deputy Director of the Tofig Ismayilov Children and Youth Creativity Centre and Mrs. Churilova Galina Nikolayevna, director of the project.

The children presented their inspired and colorful batik costumes in a delightful defile, accompanied by Greek music, which attracted everybodys attention. At the end of the event, all students, as well as the School and the project director were awarded with a Certificate of Achievement and Excellence for their great art performance inspired by Greek civilization.

A jury committee consisted of the Greek ambassador, Tsoungas, journalist and writer Elchin Mirzabeyli, artist Elisabetta Salvatori, Azerbaijani painter Mahmud Mahmudzadeh, and Cultural Attache of the Greek Embassy Maria Dolka awarded five artists diplomas of Excellence.

Visitors and jury were amazed by the high level of art performance and the quality of art works by young Azerbaijani artists. The Greek Muse has inspired young Azerbaijani artists to express their personal unique talent and contribute to worlds cultural dialogue.

Locating at the Murtuza Mukhatarov street 7, the gallery is open to the public from 10:30 to 19:30.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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7 March 2016 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Iran, both nations enjoying huge natural gas reserves in the world, have a potential to become key suppliers of gas to the European market, Omid Shokri Kalehsar believes.

The energy analyst said in his article recently published in the Journal of Middle East Policy Council that the primary objective of the EU is the diversification of energy resources. In this regard, the expert believes that Iran may involve itself as a player in the Trans-Anatolian and Trans-Adriatic gas-pipeline projects, inviting foreign companies to make investments in its energy sector in time for the post-sanctions era.

"Azerbaijani companies have a potential role in this also, investing in the current energy sector from a close, and therefore more knowledgeable, proximity. Energy cooperation could help both Iran and Azerbaijan to improve their mutual relations and develop ties," he said.

Kalehsar believes that both countries have an intention and an enough resource base in this regard.

Azerbaijan began to present itself as a key ally in the European energy market, partly by retaining an interest in having a potential role in the Southern Gas Corridor.

The country, located within the South Caspian Sea Basin, is among the oldest oil producers in the world. Revenue from the production and export of oil and natural gas is a mainstay of the country's economy.

Azerbaijan is one of the Caspian region's most important strategic oil and gas export routes to the West. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which updated its report on the country in early 2014, said that Azerbaijan's proven natural gas reserves are estimated at approximately 35 trillion cubic feet.

The Islamic Republic, in turn, has been planning to take its rightful share in the world energy market, primarily as a major natural-gas exporter.

The capacity of Iran's oil and gas production decreased dramatically under the sanctions placed on the country by the EU and the U.S. over Iran's alleged attempts to build a nuclear program.

After the nuke deal, however, the country has begun to reinvigorate its oil and gas production and export capacity. Tehran is looking for markets to target, and Europe is interested.

Earlier Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that Iran is interested in Baku's proposal to use Azerbaijan's infrastructure for transporting energy resources to the world markets.

"Azerbaijan enjoys a developed pipeline infrastructure. Besides existing pipelines running to Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Iran, the Southern Gas Corridor project is being implemented. All this infrastructure should be used effectively not only by Azerbaijan, but also by other countries," the minister noted.

Many international transport routes, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipelines and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, Azerbaijan-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Iran and Azerbaijan-Russia gas pipelines originate namely from Azerbaijan.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan is considered by Tehran as a suitable route for the transit of Iran's massive natural gas resources to European consumers.

Irans geographical location makes it possible for the country to bring its gas to markets in Europe via routes running through Turkey or Azerbaijan.

It is believed that TANAP, which will later be linked to TAP, can become a reliable route for supplying Iranian gas to Europe. By joining TANAP, Iran is sure to strengthen Azerbaijans regional position as a transit country. This will not only bring economic benefits, but also political dividends that will be much more significant.

The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to join the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

The Southern Gas Corridor pipeline system has been designed to be scalable to twice its initial capacity to accommodate additional gas supplies in the future.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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7 March 2016 16:46 (UTC+04:00)

The Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of the Azerbaijani gas to Europe, has enjoyed strong political support from the EU as it is seen as allowing for diversification of supplies and routes, as it would deliver non-Russian gas to Europe, Katja Yafimava, Senior Research Fellow in Oxford Institute for Energy Studiess Natural Gas Research Programme told Trend by email.

Currently Russia is the core gas supplier to the EU.

However, Yafimava noted that the volumes contracted for Europe within this project are still relatively small  around 10 billion cubic meters from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field will have to reach Europe by 2020.

The analyst believes additional non-Azeri gas sources for the Southern Gas Corridor (i.e. Middle East or Central Asia) are possible in the 2030 timeframe but would face many political and commercial obstacles.

As for new Russian gas exports pipelines to Europe  e.g. Nord Stream 2, which will increase the capacity of an existing offshore pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia's coast to Germany,  there is no political support from the EU, Yafimava said.

On the contrary, she noted that there is quite a significant opposition to this project.

It does not mean that it will not get built but it means that it might be delayed beyond 2020, Yafimava said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for EU. It envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

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7 March 2016 12:24 (UTC+04:00)

The Uzbek National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz has started construction of a booster compressor station at the oil and gas field Sharkiy Berdakh (Kashkadarya region, south of Uzbekistan) worth $293.94 million, a representative of the holding told Trend.

The Uzbekneftegaz NHC signed a contract for the supply of technological equipment, contract supervision, starting-up and adjustment at the booster compression station with the PJSC Sumy Machine-Building Science and Production Association (Ukraine) in late 2015, according to the representative of the holding.

Supply of the equipment should be completed in spring of 2016, and the launch of the booster compressor station is planned for November 2016.

Commissioning of the booster compressor station with design capacity of 18 megawatts will make it possible to increase production at the field to two billion cubic meters of gas and 43,100 tons of condensate per year.

The project is financed through a loan of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan (FRDU) worth $57.87 million and own funds of the Uzbekneftegaz NHC.

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7 March 2016 14:33 (UTC+04:00)

Iranian Zagros Airlines has reached preliminary agreements with a Brazilian company to import 20 airplanes.

Our recent talks with Brazils Embraer have led to positive results, Zagros Airlines CEO Hushang Seddiq said, Eranico news agency reported on March 7.

Irans aviation has gone decrepit under sanctions, with airplanes age averaging 25 and many bitter accidents in the past few years.

Zagros announced it is ready to buy 20 aircraft with 135 seats each. The Embraer representative then left for Brazil with a preliminary agreement in order to prepare the final steps, he added.

Zagros offered paying 10 percent of the total price in cash, Seddiq said.

However, he pointed out that the physical carrying of the airplanes to Iran will require a green light by the United States, without any further explanations.

This comes despite the fact that the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany) have agreed to lift economic sanctions on Iran starting the implementation day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on January 16, 2016.

However, it seems that US companies are not willing to start business with Iran, whereas many European companies have already visited the country and reached preliminary agreements with Iranian counterparts, although European companies are said to yet fear a reversal of policy by the US and reinstatement of sanctions on Iran.

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7 March 2016 18:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Turkey, which eyes to give a new impetus to its trade ties with neighboring Iran following removal of international sanctions, intends to take the rising golden opportunity in Iran's economy and to play a more active role on the Islamic Republic's market by its private sector.

The first step towards achieving this goal has already been taken: on March 5-6, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who led a high-ranking delegation, was on a two-day visit in Tehran. This visit was the first official visit by a Turkish premier in the wake of the nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

He was accompanied by ministers of economy, customs and trade, energy, transport, communications and development, government officials and representatives of major Turkish media.

Davutoglu first met with Eshaq Jahangiri, Irans First Vice President, and the sides discussed regional issues, as well as the issues of mutual interest.

Later, speaking at a joint press conference, Jahangiri said that Iran and Turkey are determined to deal with their differences regarding the regional issues in order to safeguard security in the region.

He also noted that Tehran and Ankara share the same viewpoint on many issues, while there are differences on some regional matters.

He further said the two countries share mutual interest in establishing security and stability in the entire region.

Jahangiri added that terrorist groups are negatively affecting security in the region.

The officials from the two sides have held fruitful talks on cooperation in oil and energy fields, as well as transportation, customs issues, preferential tariffs, banking ties, as well as tourism, he stressed.

Jahangiri went on to add that Turkey is the main target for Iranian tourists. He also expressed hope that Turkish investors will invest in Irans tourism sector.

The two sides are determined to boost annual trade to $30 billion, Jahangiri added.

He said it was agreed that the next round of Iran-Turkey joint commission on economic cooperation will be held in a month to settle the barriers ahead of materializing this purpose.

Iran and Turkey, the Middle Easts two powerful players, share very close economic ties despite taking part in opposing political blocs.

Tehran and Ankara are already clashing over a number of issues, in particular their supporting opposing sides in the Syrian crisis. However, both sides are determined not to allow the political tensions to affect their economic goals.

Tehran and Ankara intend to increase their trade volume to $30 billion. The two states have signed a preferential trade agreement that could pave the way for a rise in the bilateral trade. The two countries trade turnover stood at $13.7 billion in 2014, according to the data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The trade turnover between Turkey and Iran stood at $22 billion in 2012 before dipping to $14.5 billion in the following year due to the economic sanctions imposed on Tehran by the West.

Davutoglu, in turn, said that the removal of sanctions on Iran opens up new opportunities for Turkey.

He said that Turkey always supported Iran in the period of sanctions.

Despite a number of differences between Iran and Turkey, our peoples have much in common, the Turkish premier added. Iran is Turkeys gateway to Asia, and Turkey is Irans gateway to Europe."

Iranian market promises a huge opportunity to Turkey in various sectors, including tourism, automotive industry, clothing, textiles, machinery, chemistry, petrochemistry and energy industry, as well as banking, telecommunications and transportation. Apparently, Turkey is not going to lose this tempting market for political disputes.

Turkish prime minister also said that energy issues were discussed during his meeting with Jahangiri.

Iran is an important gas supplier and Turkey is an important market, he added.

Davutoglu believes that Turkey and Iran also have significant potential to withstand the growing radicalism in the region.

Iran and Turkey should prevent external interference in the region, he added.

He also noted that the Iranian-Turkish cooperation is for the benefit of the entire region.

Davutoglu also met with President Hassan Rouhani to discuss mutual relations and the latest developments in the Middle East, particularly the Syrian crisis.

Rouhani expressed hope that cooperation between Tehran and Ankara will consolidate bases of stability in the region.

He also emphasized positive impact of the Tehran-Ankara cooperation on settlement of regional issues.

"Iran and Turkey share common goals and interests and they should consolidate bases of stability and peace in the region through cooperation, as well as coordinating and focusing on campaign against terrorism as common enemy," he said.

He added that Iran and Turkey are two brotherly neighboring countries, sharing abundant religious and cultural commonalities. "The basis of religious ideology of the two countries is totally different with that of certain violence seeking countries."

The president underlined the need for campaign against terrorism as a common danger and threat to all nations and said that foreign countries are not after drastic settlement of regional problems and only seek their own interests.

"So, we believe that regional problems should be solved by countries and nations of the region and undoubtedly, Iran-Turkey cooperation will play a constructive role in establishment of durable peace in the region," he added.

Rouhani believes that certain regional problems have not harmed Tehran-Ankara relations.

"There is no obstacle on the way of expanding bilateral relations and today there is a suitable opportunity to make optimum use of potential available to expand bilateral ties in line with interests of the two nations," he noted.

He also said Tehran and Ankara enjoy many capacities for growing relations in various domains, especially in the transportation, energy, trade, joint investment, tourism, scientific and technological sectors and they are ready to start common cooperation in all the fields.

President Rouhani underlined further activation of Iran-Turkey Joint Cooperation Commission and hoped that compilation of operational mechanism in the near future will bring a new change in bilateral relations.

Davutoglu, for his part, underlined the need for Tehran-Ankara regional cooperation to fight terrorism, saying "as far as regional issues are concerned, we should join hands and stand the barbaric methods of the terrorist groups."

He emphasized that Turkey is ready to have full cooperation with Iran in fighting terrorist groups in the region.

The Turkish prime minister said Turkey's foreign policy is based on respecting national sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-intervention of foreign countries, and right of people of countries to decide their fate.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 March 2016 10:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku is one of the most fantastic places in the world, located at the meeting-point of Europe and Asia.

Few cities in the world are changing as quickly as Baku and nowhere else in Eurasia, East and West blend as seamlessly and chaotically as in this beautiful city.



An ancient civilization with enigmatic history dating back to 5500 BC and unique architecture, Baku is a compact city in which visitors can easily walk around the city center to see most attractions, along with a mix of architecture.

Baku is a city that lives with the bustling city life, but still managing to preserve its oriental fairy tale despite the modern charms of civilization.

Its heart, the UNESCO-listed Icherisheher or Old City lies within an exotically crenelated arc of fortress wall.

As time passes, the image of the city has also changed. Bakus territory got expanded, going far beyond the charming Icherisheher, which seems frozen in time, remaining an eternal monument of ancient architecture.

Only here, inside the ancient walls of the Old City you can feel the touch of history, admire the ancient architecture and listen to local legends ... But once you raise your head everything changes: the city of the future is rising outside the old town with huge futuristic glass and concrete buildings of bizarre shapes and designs.

Its easy to spend a whole day exploring this medieval walled village, walking through the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, a sandstone palace complex that was the home of northeastern Azerbaijans ruling dynasty, and the tapering Maidens Tower, which is Bakus foremost architectural icon of millennia old.



Academician of the International Architecture Academy of oriental countries, Ph.D of Architecture, Professor Ramiz Abdulrahimov told Day.az that Icherisheher accommodates the most ancient buildings of the city, preserving some of the oldest structures in the Middle East region, relating to the VII-VI centuries BC.

Eurasias oil-boomtown began its rapid development since mid nineteenth-century, when history of oil industry started to grow in the city, attracting a large number of entrepreneurs from different countries of Europe including well-known businessmen like Siemens, the Nobel brothers and Rothschild.

Baku also has local millionaires such as Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev, Murtuza Mukhtarov, Teymur Ashurbayov, Musa Nagiyev etc. Having grown rich on the oil industry, they sought to build European style villas and apartments. They built many buildings for ordinary people, in particular, Zeynalabdin Tagiyev tried to do a lot for people. He built a magnificent building of male and female gymnasiums, a lot of factories and plants, the academician said.

Because of the lack of professional national architects, Baku millionaires began to invite specialists from Europe, who gave a unique look to the city.

Creating houses and buildings in the styles of their cultures and countries, the foreign specialists were also ordered to use Islamic elements in Bakus architecture.

Thus just over 30-40 years the citys appearance was replenished by beautiful mixture of Western and Islamic elements "neo-gothic", "neo-baroque", "neo-rococo styles.

Those visiting the City of Winds recognize that Baku is the most beautiful city of the South Caucasus.



In the last decade, countless towers have mushroomed, replacing gloomy Soviet apartment blocks. Some of the finest new builds are jaw-dropping masterpieces.



The capital city Baku is famous for its newly constructed "Flame Towers", which becomes a symbol of Baku and modern cultural Heydar Aliyev Center which is one of the world's five best architectures.

Baku is not only a city, but also the largest port located on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, which is, in fact, the largest salt lake in the world.

Long and beautiful promenade called Boulevard with 8 km in length, located on the shore of the Caspian Sea, is a favorite place for walks for Bakunians and guests. Romantic couples canoodle their way around wooded parks and hold hands on the Caspian-front Boulevard, where greens and opal blues make a mockery of Bakus desert-ringed location.



Baku has a lot of historical and architectural monuments, belonging to different periods of history. Ateshgah fire temple, existed even before Islam, is located in 30 km in the south-eastern part of Surakhani settlement of the Absheron peninsula.

The Temple, revered by Zoroastrians, appeared at the place of "eternal" inextinguishable fires - burning natural gas output. This is why the temple is called "Ateshgah", which means "House of Fire", "the place of fire."



The open air museum is included in the UNESCOs preliminary World Heritage list and considered as one of the most interesting monuments due to its historical value.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
 

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The London concept store has announced that it will serve a range of hot lunch dishes and desserts, baked instore.

Costa Fresco, on Londons Tottenham Court Road, has introduced hot dishes from luxury brand Charlie Bighams and handmade dessert creators, Cartmel.

The desserts on offer are sticky toffee pudding and sticky chocolate pudding, which will be sold for 2.45 each. The lunches will include macaroni cheese, fish pie and lasagne. Desserts will be baked instore, chilled and then heated on purchase.

Ciabattas and pastries

The Costa Fresco menu also features ciabattas and pastries, fresh soups and salads, alongside barista-made coffee.

Carol Welch, global brand and innovation director for Costa, said: Our Costa Fresco store was inspired by the Costa brothers passion for delicious food so were proud to be working with Charlie Bighams and Cartmel to expand our menu.

A Cartmel spokesperson added: Like Costa Fresco, we pride ourselves on creating delicious handcrafted puddings. All of our puds are made by hand from 100% natural ingredients, and our famous sticky toffee pudding will be the perfect lunchtime treat or afternoon pick me up.

Last week, the high street coffee shop chains owner, Whitbread, blamed mild weather for disappointing sales.
The Hayes sandwich manufacturer has been issued with a 15,220 fine for breaching hygiene regulations, for the second time.

Fresh Foods (UK) Limited, which produces sandwiches for distribution across the UK, repeatedly breached hygiene regulations and was found guilty of four food hygiene offences last week.

The company was made to pay a fine of 15,220, with further costs of 5,000. Company director, Sukhwinder Singh, was also personally fined 3,300 for neglecting to maintain good systems. This included his inability to trace ingredients back to registered suppliers.

The previous owners of the sandwich manufacturing company, First Choice Deli Supplies Ltd, were heavily fined in 2013, before the company changed hands and became Fresh Foods.

First Choice Deli Supplies pleaded guilty to eight breaches of food hygiene regulations on 3 December 2013. It was fined 8,000, and ordered to pay 100 as a victim surcharge and 5,000 costs.
Senior judges in Belfast have allowed Northern Irelands Attorney General to become involved in the Ashers Baking Company gay cake row.

The Northern Irish bakery is appealing against its 500 fine for refusing to make a pro-gay marriage cake for gay rights activist Gareth Lee. The appeal was interrupted on 3 February due to a surprise request by the Attorney General, John Larkin QC, to deliver a representation on any clashes between European and Northern Irish discrimination law.

According to The Belfast Telegraph, the judges decision will now allow Larkin to make those representations when the case resumes on 9 May.

Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said: We are satisfied that there is an issue about whether or not the relevant statutes give rise to direct discrimination issues, which is more than frivolous and vexatious.

The Attorney General for Northern Ireland is the chief legal advisor in Northern Ireland for areas of criminal and civil laws which have been devolved to the region.
Couple Says PV Vision Mission a Rewarding Experience

Jamestown, North Dakota - Jamestown Lions Club members Dwaine and Joyce Heinrich said a vision-screening mission to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, did as much to bless them as it did the people they wanted to help.

"It was a very worthwhile and rewarding experience," Dwaine Heinrich said. "It was one of those things you can't buy."

Hosted by the Puerto Vallarta Lions Club, North Dakota volunteers screened approximately 1,000 youth and adults from Feb. 21-24. The screenings determined a person's vision health and when glasses were needed, there were suitcases full of donated prescription glasses to match.

"We gave away over 1,000 pairs of glasses to 773 people," Heinrich said. "Some needed reading glasses and the regular ones since we didn't have bifocals."

The majority of those needing glasses were farsighted, he said. Out of all the screenings, only six people wound up not needing glasses.

In the event there wasn't a pair of glasses to match a prescription, Heinrich said volunteers would pick out a set of frames and the Puerto Vallarta Lions Club would purchase the lenses.

The glasses were donated by people from around North Dakota, he said, and after being cleaned and repaired, the glasses came to Jamestown, where staff from Lifetime Vision Source, Professional EyeCare Centers and Looysen I Care checked the prescriptions for each pair.

"All involved, starting with those who donated glasses, played a part in improving the lives of less fortunate individuals," Heinrich said. "Seeing the smiles and feeling the appreciation of those who received glasses was of course very heartwarming."





The Lions Club made eradicating blindness part of its mission in 1925, he said. Leaders met with Helen Keller and learned that blindness is treatable and preventable in many cases, especially when people are young, he said.

In North Dakota the Lions Club provides vision screenings for youth ages 6 months to 6 years old, but not for adults, he said. The international screenings have a different focus in treating adults and giving out glasses, he said.

"In Mexico we did screen some children but primarily the people we worked with there were the working poor," he said. "During this trip we had some discussions with some folks locally there so that we can get into the school and do some screenings if we go back."

The Fargo and Puerto Vallarta Lions clubs formed the mission through the International Foundation of Lions Clubs International, he said. The Heinrichs' joined the Fargo Lions Club and Fargo Gateway Lions Club project with other Lions Club members from Bismarck, Mandan, Minot and New England, who paid for their own travel and lodging expenses.

Steve Thom, an ophthalmologist in Fargo, provided eye examinations when a screening showed more concern than needing glasses. Allie Thom, his daughter, is a Spanish-speaking student at Concordia University in Moorhead, Minn., and worked as an interpreter on the mission.

"They both were simply fantastic," Heinrich said.

The Puerto Vallarta Lions Club is small, but dedicated, he said. Its president, Enrique Perez Florez, appeared on the local radio and television stations to let people know about the screening event, he said.

"The Puerto Vallarta Lions obviously care about their people," Heinrich said. "This mission was directed toward the working poor."

The patients were "very gracious, friendly and appreciative" of the screenings, he said.

"It was really an experience and certainly one that you have to do to understand what it's like and to appreciate what it all means - not only to the people you are serving but also to the people that went here to serve," Heinrich said.
Mexican Government to Counter Trump's Criticism

Mexico City - The Mexican government has come up with a plan to confront criticism of the country during the U.S. presidential campaigns, but it doesn't include getting into verbal duels with the candidates.

The government instead will approach the campaigns of the Republican and Democratic nominees once they are chosen and share information about how the U.S. relationship with Mexico is an opportunity and not a threat, Francisco Guzman, an official in President Pena Nieto's office, said Tuesday.

Outlining the plan to journalists, he said Mexican consulates in the U.S. have been instructed to start meeting with organizations and public opinion leaders to discuss the contributions Mexicans make to the United States.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump, in particular, has drawn attention in Mexico by talking about Mexican migrants being rapists and bringing drugs to the United States, and he has repeatedly promised to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

Two former Mexican presidents struck back at Trump in the past few weeks. Vicente Fox called him crazy and a false prophet, while Felipe Calderon compared Trump to Hitler in the way he plays on people's anxieties.

Guzman said Mexico's current administration will not get into confronting individuals.

"We could win the front page of all the newspapers here or in other places with a swear word and the next day that would not be good for anyone," he said. "What the government will do is deploy a greater effort to counteract the misinformation about the bilateral relationship, about the contributions of Mexican immigrants to the United States, but in a very neutral way," Guzman added. "It is not to go against one candidate."

Annual trade between the two countries amounts to more than $500 billion.

Guzman's comments came on Super Tuesday in the United States with each party's candidates competing in 11 states. He said he expected comments by American candidates to become more moderate as the contest advances.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called some of the campaign rhetoric "damaging" during his February 24-25 visit to Mexico City and assured his hosts it did not represent the attitudes of the majority of Americans.

Source: eagletribune.com
Democrats Abroad Costa Banderas Annual Meeting

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The Costa Banderas Chapter of Democrats Abroad will hold their Annual Meeting and Luncheon at Roberto's Restaurant, located at Basilio Badillo #283 on the south side of Puerto Vallarta, on Monday, March 14, 2016.

Lunch will be served from Noon to 1:00 pm. The menu selections will include your choice of Chicken Enchiladas -or- Chicken, Fish, or Vegetarian Fajitas. The cost per dish, including one drink (wine, beer, margarita, Iced Tea, Lemonade, soft drink) is 200 pesos. The Chapter will pay for 100 pesos of that, so each guest will pay only 100 pesos plus gratuity on the total cost of the meal. Seating is limited to 50 guests so RSVP is required. If you plan to attend, please send an email with your food selection to tricia(at)tricialyman.com.





Following lunch, the Costa Banderas Chapter's Annual Meeting will be held from 1:00-2:30 pm. We will be discussing our year in review and previewing primary voting still possible and the general election in November. We will also be electing a new board member to replace John Wilson-Bugbee.

Democrats Abroad Mexico Annual Meeting

For the first time ever, the Democrats Abroad Mexico Annual Meeting will be broadcast all over Mexico via Web-Ex, a popular Internet conferencing program and the program of choice of the Democratic Party Committee Abroad (DPCA) or DA International. The meeting will take place on Monday, March 14, from 2:304:30 pm Central Standard Time.

Agenda for the Democrats Abroad Mexico (DAM) Annual Meeting:

1. DAM Annual Business Meeting 2:30-4:30 (including speakers & Q/A, Secretary's Report, Treasurer's Report, DAM Chair's Report, Update on Global Primary/GOTV)

2. Speaker: Chair. Marc Rodriguez, part-time DPCA Program 3:153:30 pm. Marc, originally from Mexico City, now lives in Washington, D.C.

3. Speaker: Ana Maria Salazar 3:304:00 pm, Questions and Answers 4:004:30 pm

Ana Maria Salazar is a journalist and radio personality from Mexico City. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is widely recognized as an expert of international law and national security in Latin America. She holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and in the District of Columbia.

Between June 1998 and January 2001, Ms. Salazar served at the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Drug Enforcement Policy and Support. She oversaw and controlled a budget in excess of $1 billion dollars that supported the Department of Defense's counter drug programs in the United States and over 20 other countries.

Ms. Salazar played a key role in developing the $1.3 billion dollar support package for Colombia that was signed by President Clinton in June 2000. As a result of her efforts at the Pentagon, Ms. Salazar was recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Hispanic Americans in the United States.

Prior to joining the Pentagon, Ms. Salazar served at the White House as Policy Advisor for President Clinton's Special Envoy for the Americas in 1998. In that capacity, she formulated and coordinated policies designed to advance the President's agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean in areas such as justice and security, law enforcement, education, human rights, democracy and trade.

Ms. Salazar frequently appears on English and Spanish speaking television and radio news and talk shows, providing analysis and commentaries on politics and foreign affairs. She has also provided technical assistance, lectured and published in English and Spanish on the topics of criminal justice reforms, alternative dispute resolution, and training programs for military personnel, investigators, prosecutors and judges.

For more information about the annual meeting, please contact Costa Banderas Chapter member David Kamp at snowkamp1(at)yahoo.com.
Residents in Lake Jovita in Dade City are now prepared to help save each others lives.

Today this was a drill, Joe Castellano said. We have spent the past several months getting ready for this. We have had several training classes where the neighbors got trained in CRP and the use of an AED.

Castellano and his neighbors have implemented a program called Neighbors Saving Neighbors. When a 911 call comes in for someone who has had a heart attack in the community, the local dispatcher sends out an alert to everyone signed up to respond.

On Americana Avenue, where Castellano lives, thats 36 people. Their cell phone or home phone will ring, giving the address of where the person needs help.

The program is designed to help those suffering from cardiac arrest and get the life-saving help as quick as possible.

Statistics are that every minute that passes without any treatment, you have 10 percent degradation in the patient, Castellano said.

Thursdays drill started at 11 a.m. The patient  a dummy provided by Bayfront Health Dade City  was down in Castellanos garage. The patient had a heart attack and someone called 911. More than a dozen people showed up to respond  the quickest couple showed up in 45 seconds.

They immediately started administering CPR. Another resident fetched an AED machine thats stored on the wall of a home in the middle of the block.

Residents took turns administering CPR and using the AED machine until Pasco Fire Rescue arrived. It took Fire Rescue about five minutes to get there, which is an average time, according to Battalion Chief Greg Gude.

Depending on the time of day, that could be a little bit longer or a little bit shorter, Gude said.

The Battalion Chief said he supports the communitys effort.

I think this is an awesome thing, he said. This is really good for the citizens in this community to have this type of training and to have this type of equipment.

Bayfront Health Dade City provided two instructors to teach the residents how to properly perform CPR and use the AED machine, CEO Shauna McKinnon said.

(Weve) trained so far almost 70 of the residents, she said.

Lauretta Runyon lives on Americana Avenue and feels comfort knowing that if something were to happen, her neighbors can help her  though she hopes they never have to.

I hope this is all for practice, she said.
More than 50 new flashing beacon crosswalks are coming to St Petersburg.

St Petersburg resident Dave Dalkin uses the mid-block crosswalk on 38th Avenue North between 5th and 6th Streets North on a regular basis.

He'd like to get help from the city to give pedestrians more visibility while using the crossing. He's requested amber flashing beacons for the crosswalk as an added safety feature.

"People don't stop for you. They don't see you either. There's no...you have to have some kind of indication. These people are coming down the street pretty fast. They don't slow down," he said.



Evan Mory, Director of Transportation and Parking for the City of St Petersburg, says the city has a minimum amount of foot traffic required in order to warrant flashing beacons. Twenty four people must cross the street in a two hour period. The mid-block crossing on 38th Avenue North averages 24 people per day, well below the city standard.

Mory expects the crossing to eventually see the flashing amber beacons, however, there are much busier crossings with priority.

"We're almost finished with installing 50 additional crosswalks with the flashers in St Pete, which will take our total up to a little bit over a hundred," Mory said.



Many of those new crosswalks will be along 4th Street North.


Sen. Marco Rubio is pounding Florida's pavement, hoping for one last stand in the Sunshine State for the Republican presidential nomination.

Rubio campaigned in Tampa and Sanford on Monday, if nothing else to galvanize his fiercest supporters to help him win in Florida next Tuesday. About 900 showed up in Sanford, many lining up around 4 p.m.



He'll be in Sarasota and in St. John's County on Tuesday.

Florida's Republican senator has had a tough time connecting to his fellow party members. Even though party leaders swung their support behind him, Rubio is still getting pummelled by Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, both candidates who have successfully appealed to the voters looking for an "outsider."

Still, Rubio did not go after his opponents, instead talking about strengthening the military and bringing conservative values to the White House.

He also heavily criticized the current administration.

"On my first day I will prove I follow the Constitution. And Im going to repeal Barack Obamas unconstitutional executive order," Rubio said to cheers.

Florida's primary carries 99 delegates, and in Florida one candidate can win all 99. Since Rubio is running a distant third in the delegate count, those delegates are extremely important to slowing down Trump's momentum and keeping Rubio in the race.



Trump, meanwhile, will be holding a news conference in Jupiter in South Florida on Tuesday. The conference will begin at 9 p.m. at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter.

Florida presidential primary coverage March 15 starting at 5 p.m. All presidential results plus your local races Central Florida local election results on News 13 Tampa area local election results on Bay News 9





Less than 1,000 people attended a rally for Marco Rubio in Sanford on Monday, March 7, 2016. (Joel Schipper, Staff)
Hulk Hogan took the stand Monday in his $100-million lawsuit against Gawker Media.

The former pro wrestling star, whose legal name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker for $100 million, accusing the New York-based blog of violating his right to privacy.

Hogan says the website violated his privacy when it published a portion of video of Hogan having sex with Heather Clem, the then-wife of local radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.

Gawker, however, says publishing the video as a news story protects it under the First Amendment because the former wrestler denied sleeping with Heather Clem and talked publicly about his sex life.

For the first time, Hogan talked candidly about the night the sex video was made back in 2007.

"When I went to the house I saw the door was cracked open. So, I pushed the door open and it was kind of like a group hug and then Heather just started walking to the bedroom pulling my hand and I walked with her, Hogan testified. It felt really crazy and Bubba walked in right behind and he says, 'OK, you guys, I'm going to go to my office, and here's a condom.'"

The jury also heard video deposition from Heather Clem who confirmed her husband asked her to have sex with Hogan.

Attorney: "When Bubba Clem asked you do you recall what your answer was?"

Heather: "I said I would."

Hogan told the jury that he felt something was wrong that night and even asked Bubba if there were secret cameras recording him.

"My gut was telling me that was off, this was wrong and from the feeling I had. I said, Bubba you're not filming this are you? And he just lashed into me. What the hell's wrong with you? I'm your (expletive) best friend. How dare you say that to me? I would never do that to you. And it just kind of froze me in my tracks."

Heather Clem testified that Hogan did not know.

Attorney: "To the best of your knowledge Mr. Bollea had no idea there was a camera in the room at the time of your sexual encounter, was that correct?"

Heather: "Yes."

Hogan said when the video was released about five years later on Gawker's website it turned his world upside down.

"I was completely humiliated. My family has been through so much. My feeling was 'Not again.' I had just completely cleaned my life up, he said.

Gawker says Hogan settled his lawsuit against Bubba for $5,000. Gawker attorneys got Hogan to admit on the stand that Bubba's a good liar. Bubba says he's going to refuse to testify in this case by taking the Fifth.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.
The Nicaragua, an oceangoing steamer, dropped anchor at the Pearl Street dock on March 16, 1916, becoming the first ship to call at what became the Port of Beaumont, more than 40 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

The Port of Beaumont will host a fireworks display at 9 p.m. Thursday during the opening night of the South Texas State Fair. The celebration honors a centennial of the port, an odds-defying accomplishment, considering it isn't a natural port and diggers over the decades have had to move a lot of river bottom to create it.

Be glad they did.

Otherwise, the settlement where Beaumont arose might be just an outpost on the southern end of the Big Thicket - population: a billion mosquitoes, several thousand alligators and gar fish. Beaumont's port, with access to the Gulf of Mexico and the rest of the world's ports, helps anchor an estimated 90,000 jobs in Jefferson County that are directly and indirectly tied to the petrochemical industry. It also touches billions of dollars of economic activity.

The next deepening project, which will take the ship channel to 48 feet, will secure the region's economic future and support national defense, advocates of the project have said.

"Every city would love to have this," said C.A. "Pete" Shelton, president of the port's board of commissioners for the past dozen years.

Local histories recount shallow-draft schooners making their way upriver to Beaumont, where there might have been enough depth under their keels. But Sabine Pass easily silted in, making passage to the open Gulf of Mexico much more difficult.

By 1899, two years before the Spindletop gusher that kickstarted the modern oil age, the mouth of the channel at the Gulf of Mexico was deepened and jetties were built to prevent silting.

Port of Beaumont activity in 2015 Received 149 ships and 274 barges

and Completed $250 million in public and private investment for new rail holding yards, new wharves, rail development and a petroleum terminal

in public and private investment for new rail holding yards, new wharves, rail development and a petroleum terminal Annual economic activity is $250 million, and the port supports 3,800 direct, indirect and induced jobs. Source: Port of Beaumont See More Collapse

A group of local investors built a deepwater canal valued at about $1 million to connect the Kansas City Southern railroad to the Gulf near Port Arthur. It was called Stilwell Canal, named for Arthur Stilwell, the man for whom Port Arthur is named.

A series of events led to the port's current status:

- In 1908, local Beaumont business leaders connected Beaumont with its own channel to the Port Arthur ship channel.

- In 1916, with the new channel completed and deepened to 25 feet, a turning basin was scooped out in a bend of the river and Beaumont became a deep water port.

That series of canals between Beaumont and Port Arthur and the Gulf became the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

- In 1922, Congress approved deepening the channel to 30 feet and widening it to 125 feet.

- In 1937, the waterway was deepened to 34 feet and widened to 350 feet.

- In 1947, the channel went to 36 feet.

- In 1949, the Texas Legislature created the Port of Beaumont as a political body and governmental entity.

- In 1962, Congress authorized another deepening to 40 feet and to 400 feet in width, where it stands today.

Congress has authorized another deepening to 48 feet. The the project awaits only the money to pay for it, which could run as much as $1.1 billion.

The water route from Beaumont to the Gulf and the rest of the world is 42 miles of channel.

DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach
Here are seven updates.

Westchester Medical Center plans $230M medical pavilion with ASC

Valhalla, N.Y.-based Westchester Medical Center plans to build a $230 million Ambulatory Care Pavilion. The 280,000-square-foot facility has 185,000 square feet allotted for ambulatory care space.

CMS finalizes changes to ACA marketplace

CMS released a final rule featuring standards for health insurers selling coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2017. The standards address areas such as surprise bills, network transparency, risk-adjustment, standardized options, patient safety and annual open enrollment period.

Florida House approves free-market healthcare reform proposals

Florida House passed various free-market healthcare reform proposals, which aim to cut regulations to incite competition, lower costs and increase healthcare access. One proposal enables the creation of new recovery centers able to care for patients for up to 72 hours post-surgery. The bill extended the time patients can recover at an ASC for up to 24 hours.

Northeast Missouri Surgery Center elects Dr. Bhagirath Katbamna board president

Board-certified in internal medicine and a diplomate in gastroenterology, Bhagirath Katbamna, MD, will serve as Northeast Missouri Surgery Center's board president. He has served on the board since 2009.

Donald Trump releases 7-point healthcare reform plan

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released his healthcare reform plan, centering on repealing the Affordable Care Act and increasing healthcare access. Donald Trump said his reforms are "simply a place to start" and also aim to get rid of state barriers inhibiting payers from selling insurance across state lines.

TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital plans to build new ASC

TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital in Bowling Green, Ky., is building a 13,000-square-foot surgery center in Warren County, Ky. The center costs $9.1 million.

Fort Sutter Surgery Center hosts Medical Board of California members

In February, Sacramento-based Fort Sutter Surgery Center hosted the Medical Board of California, who saw ASC operations, peer viewing and adverse events reporting process.

More healthcare news:

2015 healthcare provider placements: 8 things to know

5 GI physicians in the news  March 4, 2016

6 essential physician leader skills
Sanford Health plans to develop at least 300 clinics in Ghana. In the last two months alone, the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based health system has opened 12 for a total of 17 clinics in the West African nation, according to the Argus Leader.

Sanford Health's growing presence in Ghana is part of a larger goal: "To be the No. 1 primary healthcare provider in the country," said Jim Slack, vice president of Sanford Health International Clinics, told the Argus Leader.

The health system launched Sanford International Clinics in 2007 with a $400 million gift from T. Denny Sanford. The initiative, with the mission to provide healthcare to underserved populations around the world, has forged a new relationship with Global Health Corps.

GHC, a New York City-based nonprofit founded in 2009 and led by Barbara Pierce Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush, stations professionals from Africa and the U.S. in yearlong paid fellowships to work with local organizations to enhance access to healthcare services and improve health outcomes. Approximately 600 fellows have participated in GHC, working in the U.S., Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia.

GHC plans to work with Sanford Health to help develop healthcare providers and implement best practices for EMRs, supply chain management, clinical education and standardization for medication, according to the report.

Sanford Health has been working in Ghana since 2012. Its healthcare infrastructure there is comprised of a network of clinics staffed by Ghanaian medical professionals. Roughly half of the clinic facilities are newly built, and the others are renovated existing buildings. Much of the healthcare Sanford Health providers deliver is through telehealth, according to the report.
Great Neck, N.Y.-based Northwell Health and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration are in talks about a rescue plan for Brooklyn's distressed community hospitals, according to Crain's New York Business.

With fewer than 15 days cash on hand, four of Brooklyn's hospitals are on the state's financial distress watch list. These hospitals, along with many others in Brooklyn, are undesirable from the view of would-be acquirers. The state has reserved about $700 million to overhaul the healthcare delivery system in Brooklyn, but big hospital networks are hesitant to sacrifice their bottom lines to save the distressed hospitals, according to the report.

Northwell Health could be the hospitals' savior, as the $7.8 billion health system is interested in expanding its presence in Brooklyn. The system is in talks with state officials about a plan to create and manage a network of hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and primary care clinics in Brooklyn. Northwell Health is already in a partnership with Maimonides Medical Center, and the new network would include Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

There is still a lot of work to be done before a management contract is signed, as there is no agreement on a feasibility study. A feasibility study is likely to show some of the struggling hospitals, including Brookdale University Hospital, need to downsize or close, according to the report.

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As Apple continues to fight the federal government's order to unlock the iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino attack last December, new questions regarding the government's intention have risen.

Experts suggest the federal government presses forward in this battle mainly to establish a precedent where in the future businesses will be forced to assist them. According to a Bloomberg report, "the feds almost certainly could [break into the iPhone] themselves."

Apple publicly lists security vulnerabilities which cyber experts could exploit to try to gain access, and the National Security Agency is "the best-funded spy agency on Earth," according to the report.

Additionally, a Politico report suggests the government already has access to much of the information investigators need, such as websites the shooter visited, phone calls made, apps downloaded and text messages exchanged.

Apple maintains its opposition to the government's demand for unlocking the iPhone, and has garnered the support of approximately 40 companies that have submitted court briefs in the Federal District Court for the District of Central California challenging the case, reports The New York Times.

The United Nations has also joined the conversation, saying forcing Apple to unlock the iPhone may threaten the safety of lives around the world, according to The Washington Post.

In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said, "It is potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers," if the government is successful in forcing Apple to unlock the phone. "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."

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Ransomware, the malicious strain of software in the news lately for its role in holding hospitals hostage for cash, is expected to only become more widespread, according to experts. In the first targeted attack of its kind against Macintosh computers, bad actors used ransomware against Apple users this past weekend via an infected version of a downloaded program, according to Reuters.

"This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom," Ryan Olson, director of Palo Alto Threat Intelligence, told Reuters.

In the past, ransomware attacks exclusively targeted Windows operating systems. But whoever was responsible for the recent attack embedded a functional version of the malware in a program called Transmission, used on Apple's iOS to transfer data on sharing networks.

According to the Reuters report, Apple engineers immediately hopped to action to remove digital permissions from the latest version of Transmission, disabling it before it was able to infect other computers. On Sunday, Transmission released an update version of its software that automatically removes the ransomware from computers when users download it.

The ransomware in question, called "KeRanger," lies dormant in a computer for three days before it connects to the computer's server and encrypts files that are then ransomed.

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Hawaii Pacific Health, based in Honolulu, is no stranger to the Epic EHR. The health system's contract with the EHR vendor is approximately 12 years old. The EHR is used in the system's inpatient and outpatient locations, as well as by 250 of its community providers. Well past the growing pains of implementing a new system, Hawaii Pacific is leveraging its EHR to better understand its patients' needs and improve overall care across the enterprise.

Steve Robertson, senior vice president and CIO of Hawaii Pacific Health, oversees the system's revenue cycle and IT operations. Melinda Ashton, MD, spearheads the healthcare system's quality initiatives as senior vice president and chief quality officer. Mr. Robertson and Dr. Ashton describe how their health system is using the Epic EHR to improve diabetes care and the need to align health IT and quality strategy.

Editor's note: Interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

Q: Why did Hawaii Pacific choose to use its EHR to improve care for diabetes patients?

Dr. Melinda Ashton: We started on this journey because we identified patients with diabetes and their comorbidities as top reasons for readmissions and longer length of stay. These patients are also at higher risk for postoperative complications. We looked at how our system was managing hyperglycemia. We looked at glucose values for all of our patients. The EHR makes that possible. Looking at the data, I was quite concerned. We had a lot of patients with hyperglycemia.

There have been a lot of conversations at the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program meetings about hyperglycemia. Starting from there, we found a program [Glytec] to integrate into our EHR  something that could help with hyperglycemia management.

Steve Robertson: We wanted to establish a commercial ACO, and we realized we really needed to focus on length of stay improvement. This [diabetes care] became a high priority focus. We felt we could get to a different level.

Q: What did you discover during the process of this improvement initiative?

MA: It turns out we had previously not looked at the entire process of glucose management. For example, we have clinical assistants who do the testing. The problem was, they might do the test, but do they actually report the results immediately? Are the results on a piece of paper in their pockets? During this process, we integrated our glucometers with the EHR. There was no longer any delay factor.

We also found physicians hadn't necessarily adopted new ways of hyperglycemia measurement. They were using sliding scales. We began to talk about the way the new computerized protocols would help physicians through recommended dosage and timing. We found nursing education and physician champions to be important throughout this entire process.

Q: Do you have plans to use the EHR to explore and improve other disease-specific areas?

MA: We are already using our EHR to look at sepsis and surgical quality. Sepsis was actually our first project.

Q: What advice do you have for CIOs planning to use their EHRs in a similar way?

SR: CIOs must absolutely partner with chief quality officers. If you can move your office to the chief quality officer, it would be the best thing you can do for your patients and community. You can't have IT and clinical quality separating. There are no ways to get the improvements you are looking for without IT and quality working together.

Once you have the infrastructure in place, it becomes about the incremental changes that can transform everything you do. Do not underestimate clinical workflow and buy in.
Kevin Hammeran has been named CEO and administrator of Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women and the Spence and Becky Wilson Baptist Children's Hospital, both in Memphis, Tenn.

Here are five things to know about Mr. Hammeran.

1. Most recently, he was senior vice president and COO at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and was chief administrative officer of the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and the Sloane Hospital for Women, both in New York City.

2. During his time at Morgan Stanley and Sloane Hospital, initiatives directed by Mr. Hammeran resulted in more than $15 million in annual savings, and provided year-over- year improvements in length of stay and efficient use of resources, hospital officials said.

3. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley and Sloane Hospital, he was executive vice president and COO of Miami Children's Hospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.

4. In his new role, Mr. Hammeran will take the lead in facilitating Spence and Becky Wilson Baptist Children's Hospital's relationship with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

5. Mr. Hammeran will replace Anita Vaughn, who will work as a part-time consultant with the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation. Ms. Vaughn specifically will work on projects related to fundraising for the Spence and Becky Wilson Baptist Children's Hospital and the continuing development of the Universal Parenting Place housed within Baptist Women's Hospital.

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders faced off in Flint, Mich., March 6 for the latest Democratic presidential debate. In the city at the center of a serious lead water poisoning crisis, healthcare was an important topic for the two contenders.

The candidates' remarks on healthcare focused on the water crisis in Flint, as well as the path's each would take to improve or replace the Affordable Care Act.

Here are four key points Sen. Sanders and Ms. Clinton made on healthcare during the debate.

1. What would they do for Flint? Anderson Cooper, CNN news anchor and moderator of the debate, began the night by asking each candidate what they would do for Flint. "Now we've come to Flint because this is a city in crisis, a city where, as you probably know, the tap water is toxic," said Mr. Cooper. "Public servants, public institutions not only failed to prevent the crisis, their decisions created this crisis."

Sen. Sanders was first to respond. While he noted "there's a lot of blame to go around," Sen. Sanders contended Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder "should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible" and that he should resign.

Consistent with the larger theme of his campaign, Sen. Sanders then said the proliferation of millionaires and billionaires around the country has led to further disparity in income and wealth, causing middle class families to suffer. "Among many other things, we need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our water systems, our waste water plants, our roads and our bridges. The wealthiest country in the history of the world has got to get its priorities right, take care of the people  no more tax breaks for billionaires."

2. Clinton presses need for federal funds in Flint. Ms. Clinton affirmed Sen. Sanders' point, saying she supports the efforts by Michigan's senators and members of Congress to obtain the necessary federal funding to repair the state's water infrastructure. She added, "I know the state of Michigan has a rainy day fund for emergencies. What is more important than the health and wellbeing of the people, particularly children? It is raining lead in Flint, and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required."

3. Sen. Sanders advocated again for a single-payer health system to replace President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform, though he did not dive too deeply into the matter. After claiming the U.S. spends almost three times as much on healthcare than the U.K. and 50 percent more than the French, Sen. Sanders said, "When we talk about Europe and their pluses and minuses, one thing they have done well that we should emulate and that is guaranteed healthcare for all people for a better care for all."

4. Ms. Clinton defended the ACA, pointing out that about 90 percent of the U.S. now has health insurance. "We are going to stay on that and get to 100 percent universal coverage," she said, noting she plans on building on the ACA if elected.
The Illinois Medical District Commission recently welcomed its new executive director, Suzet McKinney, DrPH, according to a report from The Chicago Defender.

Here are five things to know about Dr. McKinney.

1. In her role, she is charged with overseeing all aspects of operations at the medical district, which includes Rush University Medical Center, the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Cook County Health and Hospitals System and University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, all based in Chicago.

2. Prior to taking on her current role, she was deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health Preparedness & Emergency Response and the division of women and children's health at the Chicago Department of Public Health.

3. While serving as deputy commissioner, Dr. McKinney was responsible for leading the department's public health and healthcare preparedness efforts, developing a strategy and planning for the division of women and children's health and overseeing more than $26 million in both state and federal grant funding, according to a news release.

4. Dr. McKinney earned a doctorate degree in public health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, a master's degree in public health from Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill., and a bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, based in Waltham, Mass.

5. Dr. McKinney also has academic appointments with Boston-based Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.
Healthcare's future is being shaped by some of the biggest companies in the world. However, the Federal Trade Commission seems intent on keeping hospitals from shaping that future.

In April 2015, IBM launched Watson Health. Less than a year later, IBM has invested more than $4 billion in the division. It acquired Explorys, a cloud-based healthcare intelligence company; Phytel, a population health company; and Merge Healthcare, a provider of enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems. Most recently, it announced plans to acquire Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion. Watson Health also has relationships with Apple, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and CVS Health. The division has more than 5,000 employees. "Our goal was to enter the healthcare industry in a big way," said John Kelly, IBM's senior vice president of cognitive solutions and research.

Within a three-week period in 2015, three major health insurance mergers were announced: Anthem acquiring Cigna for $54.2 billion, Aetna acquiring Humana for $37 billion and Centene acquiring Health Net for $6.3 billion. The Anthem/Cigna combination would create the largest U.S. health insurer, with $115 billion in annual revenue and 53 million members  about 20 percent of Americans.

CVS Health recently purchased the pharmacy and clinic business of Target for about $1.9 billion, adding 1,672 retail pharmacies and 79 retail clinics, bringing the number of CVS MinuteClinic locations to more than 1,100, and building on CVS' 50 percent retail clinic market share and 27 million patient visits. The New York Times called CVS "arguably the country's biggest healthcare company, bigger than the drugmakers and wholesalers, and bigger than the insurers."

Within just over a year, Roche, the world's largest biotech company, made six acquisitions and investments in genomics companies: GeneWEAVE, Kapa Biosystems, Genia Technologies, Bina Technologies, Signature Diagnostics and Foundation Medicine. Roche's 2015 revenues were more than $48 billion, and it has more than 90,000 employees.

These are the kinds of companies that will be influencing and controlling healthcare in the future: Big data companies looking to narrow the use of high-intensity services through predictive analytics and personal health monitoring. Big pharmacies trying to gain more influence on the provision of low-intensity healthcare. Big insurers looking to position themselves as the organizers of care. And big drug companies looking to change the very nature of care with new genomic technologies. To stay in the healthcare game, a company needs big operations, big intellectual capital, big cash flow and the ability to raise big capital.

At the broadest level, hospitals have two choices: stick to tradition and see their share of the healthcare pie and relevance shrink, or figure out a way to get big enough to compete in a much larger and more taxing arena.

Enter the FTC

The FTC appears determined to keep hospitals in the smallest box possible. Ignoring the changing nature of healthcare described above, the FTC applies an antiquated, price-focused view of competition, while other federal agencies take a relatively hands-off approach as hospitals' new competitors grow.

In recent months, the FTC has picked up the pace of challenges to hospital mergers and acquisitions. Within six weeks, the FTC challenged a proposed merger between Advocate Health Care Network and NorthShore University Health System in the Chicago area; a proposed merger between Penn State Hershey Medical Center and PinnacleHealth System in the Harrisburg, Pa., area; and a proposed acquisition by Cabell Huntington Hospital of St. Mary's Medical Center in Huntington, W.Va.

In these cases and others, the FTC's challenges rest on the assumptions that these health system combinations will reduce competition, giving hospitals power to charge higher prices. Further, the FTC says these combinations will not improve quality and efficiency.

These contentions are flawed. The FTC tends to define service areas narrowly, heightening the appearance of potential anticompetitive effects. The FTC assumes a pricing power that even large healthcare organizations don't have in the face of larger and growing insurers. And the enhanced capabilities for capacity management and care coordination that these hospital mergers facilitate are key to the federal government's own policies aimed at achieving improved quality and efficiency of both inpatient and outpatient services.

Far more problematic is the narrowness of the FTC's view of consolidation. By seeing hospital mergers primarily through the lens of pricing acute-care services, the FTC misses the enormity of change in healthcare and the critical importance of encouraging the nonprofit provider community to be an essential part of that change. Hospitals will be pushed out of the market by IBM, the large insurers, CVS, Walgreens and others unless they are big enough to compete both through traditional services and by expanding in many, many new directions.

Given current FTC policies and procedures, hospitals' battle for relevance is being lost before it can even be fought.

The Role of Consolidation for Hospitals

Government policymakers and market forces have converged on population health management as the starting line for our nation's efforts to reduce healthcare costs, improve care quality and reduce fragmentation. Without scale and size, the vast majority of hospitals and health systems will be unable to develop the network size and breadth, talent and technology to reach this starting line.

However, companies like IBM, CVS, and others are already moving aggressively beyond population health management, toward a new healthcare ecosystem built on sophisticated interactions among science, technology, scale and service. Already, hospitals' competitors are more likely to be these multibillion-dollar companies than another hospital down the street.

Despite the increasing pace of hospital and health system mergers in the last 10 years, very few existing provider organizations have the size to be a meaningful player in this environment. Any growth hospitals have been able to achieve pales in comparison with the size of existing and emerging industry giants.

Hospitals are critical to the effectiveness of healthcare in America. Their pervasiveness, community focus, expertise in high-intensity services and mission to stay by the sides of their patients across all levels of health and stages of life make hospitals central to a high-functioning national healthcare system. However, without the ability to get big, hospitals will find that they are at a competitive disadvantage in the emerging healthcare ecosystem.

The FTC clearly has a mandate and a job to do, but this set of problems should be thought about differently.

Your comments are welcome. I can be reached at kkaufman@kaufmanhall.com.

The following column was republished with permission from Kaufman Hall. It was originally featured on Kaufman Hall's blog, found here.

Copyright 2016 Kaufman, Hall & Associates, LLC

Ken Kaufman's book Fast and Furious: Observations on Healthcare's Transformation is available at kaufmanhall.com/fastandfurious
New Jersey's acting Attorney General has determined Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey's OMNIA line of discount health plans did not violate any laws, according to NJ.com.

Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy's decision, detailed in a letter released Friday, comes five months after state Sens. Nia Gill (D-Essex) and Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), requested he "delay Horizon from offering the OMNIA tiered plans" until his office established "a permanent oversight mechanism for the process for tiering and rating healthcare providers in New Jersey," according to the report.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's largest insurer, has been on the defense since announcing the launch of its OMNIA tiered health plans early last fall. The line is designed to offer consumers significant savings if they agree to seek care from hospitals chosen for the network that agreed to lower reimbursement rates.

Hospitals in the network have been assigned to either a Tier 1 or Tier 2 category. Tier 2 hospitals are worried too many of their privately insured patients will migrate to the top tier hospitals, further straining their finances. In November, 17 hospitals named to OMNIA's Tier 2 category filed an appeal challenging Gov. Chris Christie's (R) administration's approval of the health plan.

In the fall, acting Attorney General Lougy said he would review the transcript and any related documents from an Oct. 5 hearing, where Horizon and state insurance regulators who approved the insurance plan were questioned on how OMNIA was created and the criteria used to determine the tiers of hospitals.

In his letter to Sens. Gill and Vitale, acting Attorney General Lougy said: "At the request of members of the Legislature, the Attorney General has undertaken a careful review into the OMNIA Health Alliance established by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to determine if the implementation or operation of the Alliance violates New Jersey law. The Attorney General has determined that no further action is warranted as a result of that review," according to the report.

Regarding the letter, Sen. Vitale said, "I appreciate the letter but it was not what we asked the Attorney General to do. We wanted an ongoing role  a level of oversight by those independent eyes and ears for healthcare consumers because I did not believe the Department of Banking and Insurance did its job. We could not allow Horizon to decide state health policy and which hospital succeeds and which suffer."
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Baffled residents have spoken of their frustration after a roof-top car park was built which can only be accessed by foot.

The "secret" car park was created on the roof of a gym five years ago as part of a phased development in the town centre of Farnborough, Hampshire, which suffers from a lack of parking spaces.

But the next stage of the development, which would include a bridge to access the car park, is still to be started, with the developers, St Modwen, admitting there is still no timescale for the project to get under way.

The 80-space car park, which was meant for residents living in the development and not as a public pay-and-display, has been built above The Gym in Queensmead.

Gareth Lyon, Conservative councillor for the town centre area on Rushmoor Borough Council and member of its development management committee, said: "We have a massive problem with car parking in Farnborough. To have had this huge car park lying empty defies belief. It is ridiculous."

A spokesman for St Modwen said: "Farnborough town centre is a long-term regeneration project where St Modwen has already delivered 185,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and hotel space, including a new Sainsbury's, Travelodge, JD Wetherspoons and New Look.

"Some 70 apartments have been built with 35% affordable. A new Vue cinema is now open with new restaurants also opening.

"The car park above The Gym was completed as part of the build contract for the Sainsbury's block. It will be a private car park for residents only, for which the access has always been designed in the overall regeneration plan to be via a bridge link from a new block that will be in a subsequent phase of development."

A Rushmoor Borough Council spokesman said: "This is a privately owned car park for residents and so we feel it is more appropriate for the owners, St Modwen, to comment rather than us."

The local authority's chief executive, Andrew Lloyd, told The Independent that St Modwen had decided not to proceed with the development during the economic downturn.

He said: "It was right not to proceed until the retail units of the first phase had been let. It wasn't desirable to proceed with void properties in the middle of the recession.

"We are pleased the development survived the recession. We are absolutely confident it will bring a major boost to Farnborough. And town centre car-parking space is not a major issue in Farnborough because we have a lot of it."

Clementine Wallop posted on Twitter: "Everything you needed to know about 'joined up thinking' in Britain."

Eleanor Mia posted with crying emojis: "My old gym has a 'secret' car park on top of it, oh Farnborough."
Paul Daniels' wife, Debbie McGee, has thanked fans for their "wonderful messages" in the wake of the magician's diagnosis with terminal cancer.

The 77-year-old fell at home and was rushed to hospital suspected of suffering a stroke, although he was later diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, his son has said.

McGee wrote on Twitter: "I wish I could answer all your wonderful messages individually but there are so many. They are all appreciated so much.

"Paul and I had no (idea) of how people felt. Truly amazing. Thank you."

Daniels' son, Gary Daniels, one of his three children by his first wife Jacqueline Skipworth, has also been calling his father with messages of support.

McGee wrote: " My youngest stepson Gary has phoned everyday since his Dad took ill and he has now lost his voice. Missing your calls so get better soon xxx"

Another of the entertainer's sons, Martin Daniels, said the family do not know how long his father has left.

He told the Sunday Mirror: "There's no treatment which can help him. Doctors haven't said how many weeks or months he might have - and we haven't asked.

"He knows things are not in his hands now and we are living in the knowledge every day is a bonus.

"It is unbearably difficult. He has said before 'When It's your time, it's your time' and that's how he is trying to face up to things."

Martin, 52, who is a magician himself, had to cut short a tour in Argentina after receiving a call from McGee, 57.

The entertainer remained upbeat while undergoing tests in hospital which later revealed he had a "rapidly growing" brain tumour, his son said.

"A couple of days after I arrived to see Dad in hospital he was up and walking about trying to cheer up all the other patients.

"He said to me 'Right, I am going to have a wander round now and see if everyone is all right'.

"He went round the beds saying hello, making jokes. He sat at the nurses' stations. He was doing a little ditty by the door to the ward saying 'Roll up, roll up, visiting time is over folks'."

Daniels, who is said to be "lucid", is now at his Thames-side home surrounded by his family, said his son, adding that the support of his fans had given them "tremendous strength at what is a very difficult time".
The Yorkshire Rows team of Janette Benaddi, Frances Davies, Niki Doeg and Helen Butters, who set a new world record as the oldest all-female crew to row across an ocean (Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge/PA)

Four working mothers who became record breakers when they rowed across the Atlantic have joked about which Hollywood actors could star in a film of their 67-day challenge.

Helen Butters, Janette Benaddi, Frances Davies and Niki Doeg received a heroes' welcome on their return to their home county of Yorkshire after completing the 3,000-mile race in February.

The four friends - known as the Yorkshire Rows - became the oldest women to row across an ocean when they crossed the finish line of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in Antigua.

The women, who all have children at the same school and became friends after taking up rowing at a club in York, formed the plan to take part in the race around three years ago at a boat club dinner.

During their 67 days at sea, the team encountered a hurricane, power failures, attacks from flying fish, seasickness and injuries.

They also revealed they had to row naked after running out of clean clothes and said an equipment failure had left them steering by hand and one rower down at all times.

Speaking in Leeds on Monday, Benaddi, 51, hinted that their story could be made into a film, saying: "Watch this space."

Benaddi and Butters joked that they wanted Renee Zellwegger and Kate Winslet to play them but said they would have to master a Yorkshire accent first.

The pair said an earlier error which resulted in a clip of Butters naked from the waist down being shown to viewers of BBC Breakfast was "not a big deal".

Butters, 45, from Cawood, North Yorkshire, said all ocean rowers row naked for comfort and suggested that people should focus more on the achievement of the team.

She said: " We were ocean rowers being naked, we were naked most of the time and that's just how it is basically.

"That's just how it is for all the teams - we're not unusual."

Benaddi, from Burn, North Yorkshire, said: "We've rowed an ocean, what is it if something's shown on TV? It's not a big deal, is it?"

Laughing, Benaddi then hugged Butters and added: "Because it wasn't me, it was you. Helen's cool with it."

The team, who were raising money to build a Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre in Leeds and for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said they were still friends after the race.

Benaddi said: "We totally nailed the ocean and totally nailed the friendship thing."

When asked what items they would take with them if they were to do the race again, Benaddi said more chocolate, Doeg, 45, said more letters from home, Davies, 47, said song sheets and Butters said she would take her children.

Mother-of-two Butters said she hoped she would inspire her own, and other children, by completing the race and said she thought her own children would take part in the challenge when they turn 18.

She said: "It was just such an amazing experience, I would have liked to have shared it with them."

Speaking about the "positivity and can-do mentality" of the other teams who took part in the race, she added: "For me, I just wanted to pass that on to (my children) so whatever they do, they have that same mentality.

"As children, as they get older they can get negative. We just want to do a lot of work with schools and children and coach them at that early age to say if ordinary mums like us can do this, you can do anything."
Tomorrow women all over the world will come together to celebrate their achievements in politics, culture, economics and society for the 2016 International Women's Day.

This year the campaign's theme is one of parity - #pledgeforparity - a campaign for equality which aims to empower women and girls no matter where they live to achieve their ambitions in all areas of life and society.

But the campaign organisers have pointed out there is much to do following the World Economic Forum's predictions back in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. A year later, the same organisation estimated that a slowdown in the already snail's pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn't close entirely until 2133.

The pledge for parity is calling on men and women to help speed up this rate of change calling for gender balanced leadership among other things.

Other goals include developing inclusive cultures, to respect and value differences and to root out workplace bias.

Events will take place all over Northern Ireland to Celebrate International Women's Day in line with the worldwide effort which has won the backing of big businesses.

We talk to local women from all walks of life about what it means to be female in 2016.

Lynda Bryans (51) is a TV presenter and lecturer. She lives in Belfast with her husband Mike Nesbitt, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and their two sons, PJ (19) and Christopher (17). She says:

"When I was a teenager I went to secretarial school as it was one of my three options - become a secretary, a nurse or I could go to work in a factory.

These days I lecture young women in journalism and there has certainly been an attitude shift - they know that equality matters and they are entitled to have as much as anybody else has. Confidence is still a big issue for young women - they limit themselves and we need to work harder at encouraging them to do more and be more."

Laura Lacole (26) is a glamour model and lives in Belfast. She says:

"It's very easy to take for granted that society has always been this way and I certainly did when I was younger. When you're taught about what women had to go through before it's unbelievable and you realise just how good we have it now, while acknowledging how much work there is left to be done especially in different parts of the world.

Now you don't need to be married to be respectable and you can leave a marriage if you're not happy. It's okay for a woman to have child on her own now, too. I would say to any woman that she doesn't have to compromise on having a family or a career."

Claire Ferry (40), is a director of Maitri Yoga Studio. She lives in Belfast with her husband Geoffrey. She says:

"I feel enormously privileged to have been born now and to my parents in this time. There's no way I would have been able to open my own business in the past. My mum's parents didn't want her to do anything if she wasn't going to be a teacher and my grandmother had to give up work the moment she got pregnant.

We definitely have a long way to go, though. While we mustn't put down how far we've come, when it comes to issues such as gender equality, pay gaps and different gender mixes we still have a lot to do."

Anna Lo (64) is the Alliance Party MLA for south Belfast and a mum to two grown up sons, Conall and Owen. She says:

"We really haven't come that far in terms of politics and women's rights in Northern Ireland. Women make up 50% of the population but only 20% of Assembly members at Stormont are female - we should be working to make that number at least 35%.

I think women's reproductive rights in Northern Ireland are still way behind the rest of the world, too."

Pamela Ballantine (57) is currently presenting chat show UTV Life each Friday night. She says:

"We've certainly got a lot more freedom. Women are studying courses like engineering or mechanics now much more than they used to and people don't even bat an eyelid at that. There aren't male and female jobs now the way there used to be. It's all about acceptability and accessibility."

Pat Jordan is the founder and owner of Jourdan, the luxury women's fashion boutique in Belfast. She says:

"My mother started a business in the Fifties, and back then she had to get a man to sign the lease. Bank managers required a male signature on loans or any kind of business transaction.

That wasn't the case for me, but almost everyone I dealt with as part of my business in the Sixties or Seventies was a man.

Things still aren't equal - they are up to a certain level but you still don't find many women on boards. I think discrimination has virtually disappeared - there are older men who will always favour men over women but we're getting there. It's an exciting time for women and there are so many opportunities around for us now."

Petra Wolsey (41) is marketing director for the Beannchor Group. She lives near Holywood with her husband, hotelier Bill and daughter Caoilinn (5). She says:

"The timing of International Women's Day is interesting in terms of the candidates in the American Presidential race. On one hand there is a very modern woman, Hillary Clinton who is against someone like Donald Trump who thinks it's acceptable to be so overtly misogynistic.

Meanwhile, there are incredibly strong, young feminists who have a new spin on things such as Emma Watson who has made important speeches at the United Nations.

In my mind being a modern feminist is about equality for both genders and I think Emma has a wonderfully positive message."

Jo-Anne Dobson (47) is the Ulster Unionist MLA for Upper Bann. She lives in Waringstown with her husband, John and their children Elliot (23) and Mark (21). She says:

"I think women are doing better. We're getting more top jobs and advancing quicker and taking up the challenge of putting ourselves forward. We're not leaving everything to men any more. I'm always particularly encouraged by young women showing an interest in politics. I think it's important that those of us who are in what were previously predominantly male roles, are mentoring and bringing forward young women to take their place in future political arenas."

Belfast fashion designer Larissa Watson (47) has four children, Clare (19), Natalie (16), Callum (12) and Charlie (5). She says:

"I think women now have very pressured lifestyles. They are the nurturers and the breadwinners and they put themselves under a lot of pressure.

As I get older it seems to me that many of these pressures are self-imposed and it's really important to nurture yourself. If you run yourself into the ground then there's nothing left for the other areas in your life. That's why it is important to take time out for yourself and regroup -meditate, eat well and look after your body and mind."

Clare Allen (38) is a novelist and lives in Londonderry with her husband, Neill, and their children, Joseph (11) and Cara (6). She says:

"We've come an awful long way but there is still a long way to go. I think a big issue for women now isn't gender inequality but competition between women. There's also a new wave of feminism that is anti-men instead of pro-equality and I don't think that does women's cause any favours. Women should be supporting each other."

Jane McClenaghan (43) is a nutritional therapist and lives in Belfast with her partner Nev. She says:

"Women now are doing really well compared to my mum's generation. We have a lot more freedom but unfortunately it can leave us juggling too many things at once. We haven't quite worked out the work-life balance just yet. It's a really good and exciting time to be a woman, though and if things go well in America we might even have our first female President."

Hilary Maguire (59) is clinical services manager of the Northern Ireland Hospice. She lives in Belfast with her husband Gerry and they have two sons, Conor (36) and Gerard (32). She says:

"I've been in nursing since 1975 and although it was predominantly a woman's occupation, I have seen men rise through the ranks faster than women. I've been with the hospice now since 1997 and I can see how things have changed. I'm a manager of a service that I've been able to develop and now my voice is heard just as much as any man's."

Paula McIntyre (49) is a food writer and broadcaster. She lives in Portstewart. She says:

"This International Women's Day I will be cooking alongside five internationally recognised female chefs and food writers at a fundraising event in London for the Frankwater charity in Bristol (which supports and funds clean water projects in Italy). I feel respected and appreciated in the place where I come from and it's nice to have that recognition extended beyond my home turf. It is a blessing to live in a part of the world where I have freedom and rights as a woman."

Beth Robinson (58) is a partner in Templeton Robinson Estate Agents. She lives in Belfast with her husband David. She says:

"I think we're very fortunate and I feel life is very positive. My life compared to my mother's is much easier. We still have to fight battles but things that were major issues for my mother are now very manageable. There are now lots of processes in place now to ensure that women are not sidelined."
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt speaking last month at the launch of the partys Our Vision For You, The Voter, document

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has warned that leaving the European Union could lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom.

Writing in the Belfast Telegraph today, he asked how any unionist could support quitting the EU if it threatens the future of the Union.

He sounded the alarm bells after the UUP executive dramatically decided to campaign for Northern Ireland to remain within the EU.

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Their move splits unionism over the June 23 referendum, with both the DUP and Jim Allister's TUV strongly backing an exit.

The UUP now joins Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance as one of the major Stormont parties backing a retention of the EU connection.

But UUP leader Mike Nesbitt insisted his 'stay in' stance was backed by 99% at a meeting of the party executive attended by 100 members, with "only one dissenting voice".

The motion agreed following a three hour debate was: "The UUP believes that on balance Northern Ireland is better remaining in the European Union, with the UK Government pressing for further reform and a return to the founding principle of free trade, not greater political union".

But it also added: "The party respects that individual members may vote for withdrawal on the 23rd of June."

In today's article, he added that Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon "has already made clear her intention to force a second referendum on Scottish independence and I know of very few who believe the UK can withstand a second such challenge if the SNP are gifted such an opportunity through Brexit".

And he warned: "My question is simple: how can a unionist support Brexit when it clearly poses an existential threat to the future of the union they believe in?"

Meanwhile, the leader of one of the UK's biggest business groups has resigned after expressing his support for Brexit.

John Longworth (left) quit as the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) following controversy over his suggestion the UK could have a "brighter" future outside the EU.

Downing Street strenuously denied claims it put pressure on the BCC to act following Mr Longworth's comments at the group's annual conference on Thursday.

But Ukip MP Douglas Carswell responded to the announcement by tweeting: "Well done Downing Street. You got your man."
Child killer Robert Howard was haunted by the face of a girl and described his years in Castlederg as a very "dark time", an inquest has been told.

Howard, who is suspected of murdering teenager Arlene Arkinson, also said he thought of the "terrible things" that happened in the Co Tyrone town, every single day.

The claims were made to a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) detective who had flown to England to question him about another matter in 1999 - five years after the schoolgirl vanished.

In a statement which was read to the court, Detective Sergeant Trevor Stevenson said: "He (Howard) said that not a day went past that he didn't think about the terrible things which had happened in Castlederg and that he was haunted by it.

"He said he would see a face in the crowd, the face which would remind him of the girl, and bring it all back to him."

The 20 minute conversation took place at Deptford police station in London, while waiting for Howard's solicitor to arrive so he could be questioned about another rape.

Mr Stevenson, who had been stationed in Castlederg between 1994 and 1999, said it had been "intense".

He recalled telling Howard how he believed that in the end, every man had to pay for what they had done.

"He (Howard) said he knew that to be true but was scared of what would happen to him if he told what he had done," the officer said in his statement.

At the time Howard appeared noticeably nervous and used his long fingernails to make dents in the foam cup he was holding, it was claimed.

Although Arlene Arkinson's name was not specifically mentioned, the officer said there was "no doubt" it was the missing schoolgirl they were talking about, adding: "Robert Howard was one of the most evil men I have ever met."

He said: "I believed he was talking about Arlene Arkinson because to be 'haunted' meant they had to be dead.

"To my knowledge she was the only girl he had killed while he was in Castlederg."

Howard also admitted to being a scared coward who was only concerned for himself. He had inquired about incarceration, asking whether life meant life; whether he would be locked in a tiny cell; and whether he could serve a sentence in England, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

If he saw a policeman, Howard said he would cross the road because he always believed they were coming for him, the court heard.

Mr Stevenson said: "He said he believed he needed help but was too scared to take the next step."

The child killer also asked whether fish would have eaten a body dumped in water and was visibly shaken when told that some bodies were well preserved in water.

He replied: "Oh my God", the court was told.

At the time, ongoing searches for Arlene's body were still making news headlines.

Mr Stevenson acknowledged that, being a twisted and manipulating character, Howard may have been trying to throw police off the scent.

"The criminal will always look after himself. Robert Howard was no exception," he said.

"I believed that he knew exactly what we were talking about.

"I believed that he had been responsible. Whether he wanted to give up where the body was, I don't know."

When asked by a lawyer for the Arkinson family if he believed the convicted killer was close to confessing where Arlene's body had been dumped, Mr Stevenson replied: "I don't know.

"His physicality was such of that he was someone doing an awful lot of thinking about what he was saying and about what he might say."

Fifteen-year-old Arlene, from Castlederg, vanished after a night out at a disco across the Irish border 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.

But the 71-year-old remained the prime suspect in the Arkinson case until his death in prison last year.

Meanwhile, another PSNI officer who interviewed and charged Howard with murder revealed that on the morning of his remand hearing he had inquired about any bargains that could made.

Detective Inspector Herbert Henderson described a conversation that took place in a cell in Enniskillen court house during which Howard had paced back and forth.

The retired officer said: "He was trying to sound out what guarantees he would have - whether we would be open to him staying in a prison here (Northern Ireland) as opposed to being returned to (HMP) Belmarsh."

No offer was ever made by police.

Earlier, the court heard from Stephen Walsh, a former partner of Arlene's sister Kathleen, who was arrested in 1996 by officers investigating Arlene's disappearance.

Mr Walsh, who was never charged, told the Belfast court he was the victim of a vicious rumour campaign and called for the identity of the person who tipped police off to be made public.

Addressing the coroner Brian Sherrard, he said: "All these allegations were made about me and Kathleen. You know the person that made these allegations.

"It is in those files that nobody can see. Me and Kathleen are entitled to find out who tried to destroy us."

District Judge Sherrard, who has yet to rule on the Public Interest Immunity application, said he would take the comments on board.

Meanwhile, Arlene's family doctor Brendan O'Hare said there was no evidence that Arlene had been pregnant or had miscarried a baby.

The case has been adjourned until Tuesday.
There has been an angry reaction to a report that a former British soldier who took part in an IRA bomb attack on an Army base is to receive an armed services pension.

Convicted terrorist Michael Dickson, who served with the Royal Engineers for seven years, was jailed for his part in the mortar attack in Germany in 1996.

It has also emerged that he used the address of Sinn Fein's Dublin office to make an application for his Army pension.

His move was condemned by a victims' group and veterans.

Dickson (52), who was dubbed the "renegade bomber", was part of a Provo gang that launched the mortars from a van against a Royal Engineers barracks in Osnabruck.

One narrowly missed a fuel storage container at the base.

The Service Personnel and Veterans' Agency said the convicted terrorist will receive the cash, according to documents seen by the Daily Star Sunday.

After he was tracked down by the newspaper in Dublin, Dickson, who is eligible to claim the money when he is 60, said: "I served my time, it has f*** all to do with you, now f*** off."

Kenny Donaldson, a spokesman for Innocent Victims United, said the Ministry of Defence must now confirm he will not receive the pension.

"The MoD must signal without delay that this convicted terrorist will not receive an Army pension paid for by the UK taxpayer. We implore the MoD to confirm that the pension will not be paid to this convicted terrorist and that they will immediately take steps to review records to establish if there are other Michael Dicksons who could slip through the system in being deemed eligible to receive a pension.

"If this matter is not resolved, then it will be a further injustice not only for terror victims, but also for society at large."

Sinn Fein was asked why it had supported Dickson's application for a pension. However, a spokesman said it was "unaware of any correspondence".

Ulster Unionist MLA Andy Allen, who served in the Royal Irish Regiment, accused Dickson of trying to "provoke tensions". Mr Allen, who was 19 when he had his right leg blown off and left badly injured by a homemade bomb in Afghanistan in 2008, said that the law should prevent him from receiving taxpayers' money.

"There is legislation that would rule out some people under certain circumstances, and I think this clearly has be one of those circumstances, as he committed a terrorist offence," he added.

"I think he's trying to wind people up and he's trying to provoke tensions.

"I would hope that the MoD will look at his case and change their mind, given the fact what he's done."

Ulster Unionist MP Danny Kinahan, who also served in the armed forces, said he planned to raise the issue in the House of Commons.

He said: "Sinn Fein won't sit in Westminster but yet here they are helping someone else take more money off the State that they don't want to be part of.

"It appals me, there are people in the Army who probably did less time but did very brave things and won't get a pension because they didn't do their time."

An MoD spokesman told the Daily Star Sunday: "The Ministry of Defence does not comment on individual pension cases.

"However, the armed forces pension scheme clearly sets out provision for the forfeiture of pension benefits if an individual has been involved in an act that has had serious implications for the defence and security of the State."
A huge plant to turn thousands of tonnes of chicken waste into renewable energy is to be built in Co Antrim, it can be revealed

A huge plant to turn thousands of tonnes of chicken waste into renewable energy is to be built in Co Antrim, it can be revealed.

Negotiations are at an advanced stage for the multi-million pound anaerobic digester to be constructed at an undisclosed location, partly-funded by Government loans.

The plant is expected to be up and running within two years and will provide the poultry industry with an urgently-needed solution to the growing environmental problem of chicken waste.

Details emerged as Stormont ministers Michelle O'Neill and Jonathan Bell confirmed that a similar 23m anaerobic digester is currently being built in Co Donegal, aided by a 9.3m loan from Invest NI.

The Glenmore project, located on a private estate near Ballybofey, will turn surplus poultry litter into low carbon biogas and organic fertiliser. The plant will be fuelled by a range of organic feedstocks, including 25,000 tonnes per year of poultry litter from Northern Ireland producers, as well as slurry and silage. It will generate renewable energy in the form of biogas, which will be transported in containers to the Montupet and Bombardier factories in Northern Ireland where it will be used to power the manufacturing process.

Even the trucks transporting the fuel will be powered with biogas.

A Mallusk-based company, Williams Industrial Services, is building the Glenmore plant.

The millions of birds reared in Northern Ireland create around 260,000 tonnes of poultry litter a year. At present most of the waste is spread as fertiliser on fields. But it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, which can run off into rivers and lakes and damage them.

A controversial plan by Rose Energy to build a 100m incinerator plant at Glenavy near Lough Neagh was finally scrapped by then Environment Minister Alex Attwood in 2012. The poultry industry was in favour of the project but locals fought a long campaign against it.

In 2014 the Departments of Enterprise and Agriculture launched a scheme to find innovative ways of dealing with poultry waste and set up a loan fund to get projects off the ground.

"The Glenmore project is the first to reach financial close under the scheme and will help our poultry sector to grow and provide low carbon energy for some of our most important manufacturers," said Enterprise Minister Mr Bell.

Another product from the new plant will be liquid digestate, including phosphates, nitrates and other nutrients, which is to be used as an organic fertiliser in adjacent commercial forestry and agricultural land.

Agriculture Minister Ms O'Neill said: "We are committed to helping our agri-food sector grow in ways that are commercially and environmentally sustainable.

"Such innovative and sustainable processes will allow the sector to flourish."
The chance discovery of a terrorist weapons store buried in a forest park in Northern Ireland has potentially saved lives, police have said.

Explosives and bomb making parts were discovered in barrels unearthed in Carnfunnock Country Park near Larne, Co Antrim at the weekend.

Police, who have warned of an upsurge in dissident republican activity in the run-up to the Easter Rising centenary, have now published images of the deadly cache seized.

Officers were alerted to the terror hide by a vigilant member of the public who spotted something suspicious while visiting the popular scenic location on Saturday.

The find came just over 24 hours after a dissident republican bomb injured a prison officer in east Belfast. A renegade group styling itself the New IRA has claimed responsibility.

Three men and woman arrested in connection with the bombing remained in police custody on Monday.

Police have yet to establish which paramilitary group owned the weapons found in Carnfunnock.

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Whatsapp Explosives and bomb making parts found at Carnfunnock Country Park. Explosives are pictured in the round container three in from the right on the front row

While dissident republican involvement is one main line of inquiry, detectives are retaining an open mind, primarily due to the fact the park is located in what would be considered a predominantly unionist area.

Police said four barrels were found - two barrels were empty but two contained a variety of bomb-making components, including wiring, toggle switches, circuit boards, partially constructed timer power units, ball bearings and a small quantity of explosives.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector Gillian Kearney said: "The seizure of these items has potentially saved lives. Our inquiries are progressing and a detailed forensic examination of all these items will take some time.

"At this stage, it is too early to attribute ownership of these materials to any particular grouping or individual. It is vital that people remain vigilant, wherever they are and whatever they are doing. We will continue to work to keep people safe and would ask anyone with information about suspicious, criminal or terrorist activity to contact police.

"As has been shown by the events of last weekend, if people provide us with information, we will act on it to ensure everyone is kept safe."

In the days since Friday's under-vehicle bomb attack, three viable explosives - understood to be pipe bombs - have been found in residential areas in Belfast and Londonderry.

Stormont's Justice Minister David Ford has said the threat to prison officers in Northern Ireland is to be speedily reviewed after last week's murder bid.

The target, a married father-of-three, 52, required surgery after an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving. His injuries were not as severe as first feared.

Mr Ford said: "He is the kind of citizen that this society needs, he is the kind of person who is of benefit to the public service, as well as to the wider community, and he is a fine person who had no reason to be attacked."

The attack happened in the Hillsborough Drive area off Woodstock Road, a predominantly loyalist area in the east of the city, just after 7am on Friday.

The victim, a long-serving officer based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast who works as a trainer for new recruits to the Northern Ireland Prison Service, had just left home to drive to work. His condition has been described as stable.

In a statement to the BBC, the New IRA said the officer was targeted because he was involved in training other guards at HMP Maghaberry, near Lisburn.

A spokesman said the officer was one of a number on a list of potential targets and the attack arose from a dispute over the treatment of dissident republican inmates.

The New IRA claimed to have used the plastic explosive Semtex and a commercial detonator in the attack.

Following the blast, police commanders expressed fears that it could be the first of a number of dissident attacks to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, when Irish republicans staged a rebellion against British rule in Dublin.
The controversy surrounding businessman Frank Cushnahan's alleged conduct in Nama's 1.3bn Project Eagle deal has deepened.

It has emerged that both Mr Cushnahan, a former member of Nama's Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC), and Nama's then head of asset recovery, Ronnie Hanna, met with a potential bidder for the agency's Northern Ireland loan book in December 2012, a full 12 months before Nama formally announced its sale.

The meeting was held in the offices of Tughans solicitors in Belfast and involved a presentation from Michael George, the managing director of US private equity giant Fortress Investment Group, in which he outlined his company's financial strength and experience. Following this, it is understood a general conversation ensued between those present in relation to the potential opportunities presented by Nama's Northern Ireland loan book.

While a source familiar with the matter described the December 2012 meeting as "informal in nature", the mere fact that it took place will invariably serve to deepen the pressure on Mr Cushnahan to explain his alleged conduct in the lead up to Nama's ultimate sale of Project Eagle to US private equity fund Cerberus.

It is understood Fortress had two further "casual contacts by phone" with accountant David Watters between the December 2012 meeting and March 2013 about the potential for investing in Nama's Northern Ireland loan book. These contacts came to nothing, according to the same source, who expressed their "deep frustration" that Fortress was being dragged into a controversy in which it had "absolutely no involvement".

A spokesman for Fortress Investment Group declined to comment on its managing director Michael George's meeting in December 2012 with Mr Cushnahan and Mr Hanna.

Asked if Nama had been aware that this meeting had taken place, and if Mr Cushnahan and Mr Hanna had been acting with its authority, a Nama spokesman said: "Nama has nothing further to add to the extensive information it has already provided on the Project Eagle sales process."

Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding Cerberus's acquisition of Nama's Northern Ireland portfolio remain the subject of investigation by both the UK's National Crime Agency and the US Securities and Exchange Commission as well as a parliamentary inquiry in Northern Ireland.

That investigation took a dramatic turn after a BBC Spotlight programme broadcast a covert recording of Mr Cushnahan appearing to admit he had been in line for a fee from the Project Eagle deal. Responding to the programme's potentially explosive content, a spokesman for Cerberus reiterated its position that it had never paid for or sought advice from Mr Cushnahan when acquiring Nama's Northern Ireland loan portfolio. "To the best of our knowledge, no improper or illegal fees were paid by us or on our behalf," he said.
The funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

The funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

The funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Funeral of Patrick McDonnell in the Lagmore Drive area of Belfast which was disrupted by an alert on March 07, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Mourners at the funeral of Belfast dad Patrick McDonnell who was killed after he was hit by a truck in North Carolina have heard how he was a devoted family man who was a passionate artist.

The 52-year-old father-of-three was an artist renowned for his skill in crafting stained-glass windows.

He was described as a "happy-go-lucky man" who was loved in his community.

Mr McDonnell leaves behind his wife Ursula and children Patrick (27), Shannon (26) and Melissa (23).

Mr McDonnell was also a grandfather to two and moved to America four years ago and would return to Belfast regularly, his most recent time over Christmas.

He was killed while out walking along a junction of Avent Ferry Road and Trotter Bluffs Drive, in the Holly Springs area.

Crash investigators in America said they would not be prosecuting the driver of the vehicle that struck Mr McDonnell.

On Monday his funeral was held at Christ the Redeemer Church in Dunmurry.

The funeral was disrupted for a period because of a security alert at the adjacent primary school.

Delivering the homily, Father Peter O'Kane said the master craftsman would be happy to see his coffin bathed in light from the church's beautiful stained glass windows.

He said: "Among the many high commendations of his work, a colleague from North Carolina described him as a genius in his eld.

"As a craftsman and artist he brought the beauty of colour and design to many parts of Ireland and the States, from private homes to churches and public places.

"Patrick was passionate about his work and took great pride in everything he did, with meticulous care and attention to detail.

"I mentioned to the family how Patricks hands looked much older than the features of his face - they were hands that knew a lot of hard work from the time he was an appreciate to his father up to the day he died."

Fr O'Kane said Mr McDonnell - as well as his craft - was passionate about Celtic Football Club and had been since the team's 1967 European Cup triumph. Indeed his coffin was lined with a commemoration rug that Patrick had retrieved from a coal bunker paid 1, scrubbed clean and wore with pride for 13 years.

The priest went on: "He proudly wore his Celtic jersey and especially the one that was sent out to him for his 50th birthday with the writing on the back, 'Paddy Mac from the Lower Wac'. It must have turned a few heads and left many guessing, 'wheres the Lower Wac?'

"Patrick talked to everybody and anybody - he was a happy-go-lucky man who made friends everywhere he went - tributes have been pouring in from the length and breath of Ireland and from the States too.

"He never took a back seat but lived life to the full - always on the go, always smiling, and ready for any challenge. Ive heard it repeated these days, 'He packed more into his 52 years that most people in a long lifetime.'

"He was the life and soul of a party and wasnt shy about his far from modest opinion of himself as a great dancer and singing - I was made for the stage he told Shannon recently, love my singing, love my dancing, love Paddy Mac.

"We know the old saying, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed' and thats how Patrick was for many people - he had a generous and compassionate nature and quietly helped many people behind the scenes in times of need or personal crisis."

Fr O'Kane said that over everything, Patrick's family was what "truly mattered to him"

"He was devoted to them and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to be with them," said the priest.

"He worked long, hard hours, often clocking up a 16 hour day to make sure that Patrick, Shannon and Melissa had everything they needed - he was truly devoted to them and the grandchildren.

"When he and Ursula moved to the North Carolina, he looked forward to his annual trip back home to meet up with everyone again.

"A Belfast bap, Tatyo cheese and onion crisps and a sh supper topped the menu.

"A short time ago he made a photo collage of the family and had it placed above his work bench where he could look at it often during the day - the family was always in his heart and mind."

Ahead of the funeral Mr McDonnell's nephew Sean McCorry paid tribute, he said: "My uncle was a happy-go-lucky man who was much-loved.

"He was very well-known around west Belfast. He was known for his stained-glass work here. I'd say nearly all of the stained-glass in west Belfast was made by him.

"He was just a happy-go-lucky man and we're all just terribly shocked by the news.

"He's left behind a family who are just absolutely devastated."
Sunday Life International Womens Day March and Rally on Saturday, March 5 from Writers Square to Belfast City Hall. Picture Colm O'Reilly Sunday Life 05-03-2016

Sunday Life International Womens Day March and Rally on Saturday, March 5 from Writers Square to Belfast City Hall. Picture Colm O'Reilly Sunday Life 05-03-2016

Sunday Life International Womens Day March and Rally on Saturday, March 5 from Writers Square to Belfast City Hall. Picture Colm O'Reilly Sunday Life 05-03-2016

Hundreds of marchers took to the streets of Belfast yesterday to celebrate International Womens Day 2016

Hundreds of marchers took to the streets of Belfast yesterday to celebrate International Womens Day 2016

Hundreds of marchers took to the streets of Belfast yesterday to celebrate International Womens Day 2016

Hundreds of marchers took to the streets of Belfast yesterday to celebrate International Womens Day 2016

Hundreds of marchers took to the streets of Belfast to celebrate International Womens Day in 2016

Hundreds of marchers took to Belfast's streets on Saturday to celebrate International Women's Day 2016. This year's theme was 'Reclaim the Agenda'.

The noisy and vibrant parade started off at Writer's Square and made its way down Royal Avenue to the City Hall for speeches and celebrations. Many marchers dressed in period costume to reflect the influence of the Women's Suffragette movement.

Among the groups in the procession were trade unions, including Unison and Unite, the Belfast Cleaning Society, Belfast Feminist Network, the Workers Party and the Socialist Party.

Before the parade, crowds gathered in Writer's Square for face-painting, drumming, a roller disco, guitar orchestra, singing and a Feminist Photo Booth.

Today, an Ulster Hall lecture will explore the life and work of Margaret McCoubrey, the suffragist, pacifist and labour councillor whose commitment to tackling poverty and social inequality earned her a pivotal role in early 20th century Belfast.

The talk by Myrtle Hill starts at 1pm, with lunch from 12.30pm. Admission is free and booking is not required.
High-profile flag protester Jamie Bryson has failed in a bid to overturn his conviction for taking part in illegal public processions.

Appeal judges on Monday rejected claims that the onus was wrongly shifted onto him to show he was unaware that a series of demonstrations in Belfast broke the law.

Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan ruled: "Where the information was within the appellant's knowledge it was clearly more appropriate to place the legal burden on him.

"That burden was not arbitrary or beyond reasonable limits."

Bryson was challenging convictions for which he received a six-month suspended prison sentence.

The 25-year-old, of Rosepark in Donaghadee, Co Down, had fought charges linked to widespread demonstrations over the decision to restrict the flying of the Union flag at Belfast City Hall.

He faced four counts of participating in un-notified public processions during January and February 2013, and obstructing traffic on the city's Newtownards Road.

At his trial last year he insisted he did not know the protests could have been unlawful, and claimed he was the victim of a political prosecution.

He accepted featuring on CCTV footage of the events, but repeatedly stressed that each time he walked to and from the centre of Belfast as an individual.

During the contested hearing prosecution counsel had accused him of treating police who interviewed him with contempt

The court heard Bryson told officers quizzing him about the marches that he was an Irish Republican and the First Minister.

He even suggesting a fictional gay relationship with fellow campaigner Willie Frazer, it was claimed.

In an unusual move defence lawyers called one of Northern Ireland's most senior police officers to give evidence as part of their case.

Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr told how he agreed to meet Bryson and loyalist community representatives as part of efforts to ensure their weekly demonstrations did not break the law.

Mr Kerr also insisted that he warned those at the meeting on January 29, 2013 of the "criminal justice consequences" of taking part in un-notified public processions.

Bryson's bid to overturn his convictions at the Court of Appeal centred on the legislation used to prosecute him.

The Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 had left him facing a reverse burden to prove he did not know, or have reason to suspect the demonstrations were unlawful.

His lawyers had previously contended that was a breach of his human rights.

They argued that he faced an unjustifiable burden to prove he was oblivious to the illegal status of the marches.

But Sir Declan, sitting with Lord Justice Gillen and Mrs Justice Keegan, held that the issue of whether Bryson knew or suspected the parade was un-notified was "plainly within his own knowledge".

He backed the trial judge who had stated a case posing questions on whether she was right to apply a legal burden and hold that it did not unjustifiably infringe on the presumption of innocence.

The Lord Chief Justic confirmed: "For the reasons given we answer each of the questions in the affirmative."

Following the judgement, Bryson said he was "disappointed but not surprised" and would consider taking his case to the European Court of Appeal.
An investigation has been launched into the sudden death of a man in his Ballygally home, near Larne.

The man, thought to be aged in his 50s, was found dead in his Coast Road home on Sunday night.

The Fire Service were called as there were concerns carbon monoxide may have been to blame, however, their tests proved negative.

Several other people were checked over at the scene by the Ambulance Service.

Police said a post-mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of the man's death.

The Health and Safety Executive is investigating.

A spokeswoman said: "The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has been notified of a death at a property in the Larne area and is making enquiries. Our thoughts are with the family involved at this difficult time."
Former Health Minister Jim Wells has been selected by the DUP to stand in the Assembly election, it can be revealed.

The controversial MLA's formal endorsement at the party's spring conference ends a growing stand-off between his constituency association and the party leadership.

Mr Wells had fallen foul of party officers after being accused of failing to follow internal rules, including on dealing with the media.

And, as the Belfast Telegraph revealed last week, when candidates were summoned for official photograph sessions for election posters Mr Wells was not among them. Mr Wells was making no comment on the latest turn of events last night. But a party spokesman confirmed: "Jim is selected for South Down. The party will be announcing its full candidate list this week."

The delay in the selection process had sparked speculation that Mr Wells might run against the party as an independent, threatening to split an already-squeezed unionist vote in a closely-fought constituency.

It is understood that up to six members of the DUP's senior party officer team - including chairman Lord Morrow and deputy leader Nigel Dodds - interviewed Mr Wells and there were "fiery exchanges".

Mr Wells and the DUP's press spokesman both refused to comment on the meeting. But it's believed that much of the discussion centred on remarks about same-sex marriage made by Mr Wells at an election hustings event in Downpatrick last April.

Following a recording of his comments - which he stated were doctored - he resigned as Health Minister and later began a campaign to clear his name.

The DPP announced in October that he would not be prosecuted over the comments.

Nonetheless one party source told the Belfast Telegraph: "Some at the top of the party don't believe Jim is an appropriate candidate following that controversy.

"It has damaged him greatly. This is not a question of electability. Everyone knows that if he gets the nomination he would easily be re-elected. People in South Down are very supportive of him, but he doesn't have the support of the party officers."

A source in the constituency association told the Down Recorder newspaper, however, that contact had been made with party leader Arlene Foster in an attempt to ensure Mr Wells got the nomination.

"Jim Wells is the only candidate as far as we are concerned. As far as we are aware, the meeting (with party officers) was in fact cordial," the source said.

"No one else has put their name forward and Jim has our unanimous backing. He is the best man for the job."

Mr Wells sparked controversy recently over remarks about women before a Stormont committee meeting, but was exonerated. Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the comments did not amount to sex discrimination and did not breach the Assembly code of conduct.

The Assembly's standards committee also rejected a complaint against Mr Wells over confronting Sinn Fein MLA Megan Fearon over the remarks.

Mr Wells was recorded telling Ulster Unionist MLA Ross Hussey that a woman civil servant who had walked through the room had scared him "out of his wits", reminding him of Arlene Foster, and went on to say that "she wouldn't take prisoners".

Then he quipped: "I'm brilliant with women under the age of eight and great with those over the age of 80 - it's the ones in between I can't cope with, between eight to 80."

Mr Bain said it was not possible to judge whether the comments represent Mr Wells' actual view of his ability or "were jocular in nature".
Arlene Foster was taken out for a Mother's Day treat yesterday - and had her heart melted by her youngest son Ben.

The DUP leader enjoyed Sunday lunch at the Killyhevlin Hotel in her Co Fermanagh home patch with her family.

And while the busy mother-of-three was delighted that her own mum Georgina Kelly (82) was there, nine-year-old rugby fan Ben presented her with an adorable Mother's Day card.

Taking to her Facebook page, Mrs Foster posted a picture of her mother with Ben.

"Thank you to the kids for my Mother's Day treat at the Killyhevlin and hubby too. I think he might have paid. Glad that mum was able to come, so I could show her Ben's Sunday school work for today."

Ben's card revealed he loves how his famous mum cooks his eggs, hugs him, buys him clothes and takes him to rugby matches.

Meanwhile, Belfast-born TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, who is still recovering from his double hip operation, revealed his heartache at not being able to travel home to Belfast.

Thank you to the kids for my Mother's Day treat at the Killyhevlin and hubby too. . . (I think he might have paid!) Glad that mum was able to come so I could show her Ben's Sunday school work for today Posted by Arlene Foster on Sunday, 6 March 2016

He posted on his Twitter page: "First time not with her on Mother's Day but my boys in Belfast have saved the day with FaceTime. Love you Mum x."

He also gave an update into his recovery, writing: "Folks thanks for asking after me. Doing OK and doing my best to be mobile. Surprised at how tired I get. But so far so good. Cheers."

World champion boxer Carl Frampton may terrify opponents in the ring - but he didn't escape his Mother's Day duties after wife Christine reminded him of the special day on Twitter.

"Happy Mother's Day everyone. Really enjoying this invisible breakfast in bed," she joked.

However, Carl was quick to reassure her, saying: "On its way love."

And, just hours later the mother-of-two tweeted: "Lovely end to Mother's Day. Lying in bed while Carl does baths, bottles and uniforms. Back to porridge for me tomorrow."

The boxer's manager, Barry McGuigan, also took to social media to pay tribute to all mothers. He wrote: "Belated happy Mother's Day to all those amazing ladies out there, we couldn't do it without you. Have a lovely day."

Bangor-born TV presenter, actress and model Zoe Salmon, who is planning her wedding to Co Down man William Corrie, posted online: "Happy Mother's Day mummy and to mothers everywhere."

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable, Stephen Martin, revealed his softer side by paying tribute to all the police mothers who were working yesterday: "Happy Mother's Day to all the special mums across NI. A big thank you to all those PSNI mums not at home but at work."
Gardai are investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of an 11-month-old baby boy at an apartment.

It is understood the alarm was raised by the baby's mother about 6pm yesterday.

When emergency services arrived at the scene, an apartment complex off High Street in Killarney, Co Kerry, they found the baby inside.

Despite paramedics' best efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later by a local doctor.

A man, aged in his 30s and understood to be from Eastern Europe, was taken from the Park Place Apartments and brought to Kerry University Hospital in Tralee, where he was treated for physical injuries. He was said to be in a serious condition last night.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster was notified of the baby's death and travelled to Killarney last night to carry out a post mortem.

Gardai said they were waiting to interview the injured man and a number of other people who were in the apartment building complex.

They said they were investigating all of the circumstances surrounding the baby's death.

The apartment is understood to be the home of a Polish family.

The apartment complex, which is located above a row of shops, is opposite Killarney Garda Station.

Local Independent councillor Donal Grady described the death of the baby as "very tragic" in what is a shocking first for the area.

"It's very tragic to see anything happen to a child of 11 months. I don't ever remember a tragedy like this in the town. The town is only really waking up to what has happened now and it's shocking," he said.

Fine Gael's Bobby O'Connell said the town would rally around the family of the baby.

"It's very, very sad the town is in shock, and the whole area is in shock also. It's very sad for the poor baby and the parents as well."

A garda spokesman said: "Gardai are investigating all of the circumstances surrounding the death of an 11-month-old baby boy at an apartment complex in Killarney, Co Kerry."

Anne Lucey, Robin Schiller and Laura Larkin, Irish Independent
Detectives will interview the man when hospital doctors give the go-ahead

A man is to be interviewed by detectives over the death of an 11-month-old baby boy.

Gardai said a post-mortem examination is to be carried out on the infant's body and forensic examinations will take place in the apartment in Killarney, Co Kerry, where he was discovered on Sunday evening.

The alarm was raised by the baby's mother shortly before 6pm on Sunday when she returned home from work at a hotel in the town.

She is understood to be originally from Poland and is in her 20s.

Gardai said the man they wish to interview had been with the baby during the day and was found in the apartment with serious injuries.

He is in his 30s and also believed to be from Poland.

He was taken to Kerry University Hospital in Tralee on Sunday evening and was said to be in a stable condition on Monday.

Gardai said emergency services were called to the Park Place apartment complex in Upper High Street , near Killarney town centre, when the discovery was made.

The baby boy was treated at the scene by paramedics but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Dr Margaret Bolster, of the State Pathologist's Office, carried out a preliminary examination of the baby's body and the apartment on Sunday evening.

Specialist forensic officers and scenes of crime experts have also been dispatched to the apartment complex.

The baby's body remained in the apartment overnight.

It is understood the injured man will be interviewed by garda detectives when hospital doctors give the go-ahead.

Gardai described the infant's death as "sudden and unexplained".

Detectives appealed for witnesses, including anyone who was around the Park Place apartment complex between 1pm and 6pm on Sunday.

The baby's mother is being supported by a Garda family liaison officer.

Forensics specialists spent several hours in the apartment and the baby's body was removed by hearse to University Hospital Kerry for a post-mortem examination.

"The results of the post-mortem will determine the course of the investigation," the Garda press office said.
Ireland can expect to get hit by near-record wet winters every eight years, a climate expert has warned.

While vast swathes of the west and Midlands remain under water since last December, research by Maynooth University claimed the notion of once-in-100-years weather events will soon be a thing of the past.

The first study of its kind to explore changing seasonal extremes on Ireland's environment said that extremes will become the new normal.

And while this winter looks set to beat all comers for rainfall, Dr Conor Murphy, of Maynooth's department of geography, said his climate models show washouts similar to the record set in 1994-95 could hit every eight years.

The research said the likelihood of a record wet winter has doubled since 1850.

"By contextualising climate change relative to extreme weather that people have observed in their own lifetimes, it is our hope that this research will provide a more tangible reference point for a wide range of audiences," Dr Murphy said.

Alongside international researchers, the team at Maynooth took 150 years of Irish weather records and selected the wettest, stormiest, driest and hottest of years.

The scientists determined how unusual the extremes were and then built experiments to project and scrutinise weather patterns over the next 100 years.

It found t he summer of 1995 was the driest and warmest on record and the chance of a re-run of a lengthy heatwave is now 56 times more likely compared with 1900.

The models also warned that as many as 26 out of the final 30 years of the 21st century are expected to be warmer than the hottest summer on record.

The study said the likelihood of this record-breaking run of increasingly high temperatures is almost 250 times greater than in 1850.

The alarming findings were published in the international journal Climate Risk Management and it aims to advise decision-makers who will ultimately be tasked with adapting to climate change.

The report warned the ramifications are not to be taken lightly.

It said that extremely warm summers will have significant consequences for Irish society as deaths soar alongside temperatures.

It also warned of the significant challenges for water resource management and agriculture, as such conditions have historically resulted in widespread winter flooding and summer drought.

Author Dr Tom Matthews, previously of Maynooth and now at Liverpool John Moores University, added: " The impetus behind this research was a desire to combat the psychological distancing that is widespread amongst the general public and decision-makers.

"There is an undeniable need for us all to reduce our emissions and plan appropriately for climate change.

"However, there is a common perception that climate change is temporally, geographically or socially distant from people's lives, and this reduces public engagement with the issue."

John Lynskey, national sheep chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association, said the harsh winter has had a severe impact due to the additional costs of feed and meal for ewes and lambs.
John Longworth resigned as director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce after suspension over pro-Brexit comments

The senior business leader who stepped down after voicing his support for Brexit has insisted he "voluntarily resigned" and was not pushed.

John Longworth quit as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) following the controversy over his suggestion the UK could have a "brighter" future outside the EU.

Number 10 has strenuously denied claims by Brexit campaigners that it put pressure on the BCC to act following Mr Longworth's comments at the group's annual conference on Thursday.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Longworth said: "I've voluntarily resigned as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce in order to have the freedom to express myself on the European referendum."

He said he did not "know anything" about claims the BCC, which has a neutral stance on the EU referendum, may have faced political pressure to remove him from the role.

But pressed on the matter, he added: "What I can say is that Government departments, including Number 10, from my experience actually contact business representatives all the time and express their views, sometimes very strong views and strident views

"But I have to say in my experience it has never affected my position, I've always represented business views without fear or favour."

And he insisted he had not spoken to any pro-Brexit campaigners before he decided to speak out at the conference last Thursday.

He said: "I didn't speak to them about this decision at all, or anyone else for that matter. It was entirely my decision. Of course, in my role I spoke to all political parties about all issues."

Mr Longworth, who spent nearly five years at the BCC, was speaking in a personal capacity when he said Britain would be better off outside the EU.

The businessman said he was attempting to "inform the debate" on Brexit by making his comments, but admitted he was not sure he would be allowed to stay in his position after he made them.

"I wasn't certain that would be the case and I understand the BCC's decision," he said. "But I thought it was such an important matter it was important for me to speak out.

"I had no idea what the consequence would be, but I have chosen to resign from the British Chambers of Commerce because I understand their position, and while I do not think I did anything wrong, nonetheless I think it is important that I respect the British Chambers."

A number of Brexit-backers had hit out at the BCC's decision to suspend Mr Longworth over his comments, with Boris Johnson saying he had been "crushed by the agents of Project Fear".

Mr Longworth said he was "very grateful" for the Mayor of London's intervention, adding "that was extremely helpful support for me; it certainly cheered me up over the weekend".

He also revealed that while he had not spoken to Mr Johnson, he would "consider" being a spokesman for the official Leave campaign.

He said: "I am still considering what to do at the moment, but I am certainly going to speak out on the European referendum because that is the very reason why I have resigned."

His comments come as Mr Johnson told the Press Association he thinks the businessman will join the out campaign where he can "speak his mind".

Senior Tory backbencher David Davis has asked for details of Government communication with the BCC relating to Mr Longworth's suspension and resignation.

He said: "The last thing we want to see is a witch-hunt against business leaders brave and astute enough to make the argument that Britain would be better off economically if it regained the power to strike its own trade deals and was freed of the crippling burden of red tape, costing many billions a year, imposed by Brussels.

"We need a clear statement by 10 Downing Street that the Government was not involved in pressurising the BCC into suspending Mr Longworth."

But Defence Secretary Michael Fallon dismissed claims the Government had intervened to force Mr Longworth out of his job as "bizarre conspiracy theories".

He told Sky News: "The board of the British Chambers of Commerce have made it very clear that this was their decision, and there was no external pressure from anybody else."

Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokeswoman said that Number 10 has "regular discussions" with major business organisations, but declined to go into detail about any contacts since Mr Longworth's speech.

His decision to step down was "a matter for Mr Longworth and the BCC", said the spokeswoman, adding: "No pressure was applied by Number 10."

Pro-Brexit Cabinet minister Chris Grayling described Mr Longworth's treatment as "disgraceful".

"The fact that a prominent business figure has stood up and said 'I believe Britain should leave the EU' is a view we should be listening to and certainly the way the BCC has approached this in terms of just forcing him out has been wholly unacceptable and in my view has brought that organisation into some degree of disrepute," the leader of the Commons told Sky News.

"I think the question for this is why were the BCC so willing to move to remove someone who had expressed a personal view, a stated personal view?

"Almost regardless of the debate about where, how and when this came from, why was the board of the BCC so spineless that it was not prepared to accept the views of one of its senior people and to give them the freedom that David Cameron has given his ministers? I think it's just shameful."

Meanwhile, former governor of the Bank of England Lord King of Lothbury indicated he could vote for withdrawal.

Lord King told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "There are good arguments for both sides of this. I'm still waiting to hear the facts and arguments which will enable me to make up my mind."

He criticised the two competing camps for offering implausible visions of Britain as either a "land of milk and honey" or a "land of plagues and locusts" in the wake of Brexit.
Charities have been warned the loss of EU funding does not justify campaigning for a Remain vote

Charities have been told that the possible loss of European Union funding does not justify an organisation campaigning for a Remain vote in the referendum.

Guidance issued to trustees makes clear that political activity such as campaigning for either side in the June 23 vote "can only ever be undertaken in support of your charitable purposes".

The Charity Commission guidance warns there could be "reputational risks" for charities which decide to get involved in the political battle.

Warning that the potential loss of Brussels funds is not on its own a reason for campaigning, the guidance said: " Many charities are funded by the EU or its institutions, and conditions are usually attached to the funding.

"For charities that are in direct receipt of such funding, the possibility of a loss of funding will clearly be an issue. However, knowing that the outcome of the referendum could result in a loss of funding would not in itself justify political activity directed at the UK remaining in the EU.

"The key issue is how remaining in or leaving the EU would affect your charitable purposes and the ability of your charity to continue its work.

"The extent of the charity's engagement must be proportionate to the issue involved. Trustees must consider issues such as the risk posed to the charity by the loss of funding and the ability to replace the funding that is at risk of being lost.

"If your charity does get involved in any political activity connected with the referendum, you should ensure that, during such involvement, you publicly acknowledge the source of your funding so that the reasons for your involvement can be fully assessed.

"If you do not do so, this could seriously undermine and detract from the quality of your contribution to these very important issues and may attract regulatory scrutiny by the commission.

"In those exceptional circumstances where a charity considers the outcome of the referendum itself is likely to affect directly, positively or negatively, the delivery of their charitable purposes, full transparency about funding is especially important."

The commission warned charities it will be closely monitoring the situation and will take action where the guidance is breached.

Kenneth Dibble, the commission's director of legal services, said: 'Political activity by a charity can only ever be undertaken in support of its charitable purposes.

"This guidance sets out the rules charities must follow should they be considering engaging in the EU referendum.

"The guidance clearly says that there are reputational risks for charities which engage in political activity on the EU referendum. Trustees must therefore consider the guidance carefully before involving their charities."
Turkey has demanded Europe's leaders hand over an additional 2.3 billion as the price of helping to stem the flow of refugees heading across the Aegean Sea.

At talks in Brussels, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu also called for the speeding up of Ankara's EU membership application and quicker access to visa-free travel for Turkish nationals.

In the course of the meeting, David Cameron and other EU leaders did raise concerns about the Turkish government's latest press crackdown.

However misgivings over the weekend raid on the offices of the Zaman opposition newspaper in Istanbul were largely overshadowed by the pressing need for EU leaders to secure Turkish support in dealing with the migrant crisis.

The president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz confirmed that Mr Davutoglu had asked for an additional three billion euro (2.3 billion) on top of the 3 billion euro already promised.

As the talks were extended into the evening, Mr Schulz said the Turkish requests for further financial support "are in the debate, are in the discussion".

British sources indicated the Government would be sympathetic to calls from Ankara for more help to support refugees from the Syrian civil war in the region - provided it could be shown that it was proving effective.

"If the system is working we will look at that. We will not turn the tap off," one source said.

Despite the need for Turkish co-operation on the migrant crisis, Downing Street said that Mr Cameron and other leaders had raised the issue of press freedom during a working lunch with Mr Davutoglu.

"The PM underlined the importance of protections for a free press and human rights in Turkey," a spokesman said.

Earlier, Mr Cameron insisted there was "no prospect" of Britain joining a common EU asylum system as officials in Brussels continued to grapple with the chaos caused by the huge influx into the continent.

The Financial Times reported that the European Commission was preparing to bring forward proposals at a further EU summit later this month to centralise control of asylum claims.

It would mean replacing the current Dublin regulation under which refugees have to claim asylum in the first country they arrive in.

That puts pressure on countries such as Greece and Italy - where many of the migrants from Syria and north Africa first set foot in the EU - while protecting those further away.

However Mr Cameron said that Britain's opt-out from the Schengen agreement meant that it would be unaffected by any changes.

"We have an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe," he told reporters.

"We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have."

The UK has announced plans to deploy a Royal Navy ship to join a Nato operation to tackle people smugglers bringing migrants across the Aegean Sea.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay will use an onboard helicopter to provide information for the Turkish coastguard about the routes being used by smuggling gangs, giving them a better chance of intercepting boats attempting the perilous crossing to Greece.

"What's essential is to work out where this people smuggling is done from and then to get a policy in place of returning people, which in the end will stop people making this very dangerous crossing," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We have to put a stop to this because otherwise we are going to see more lives lost and more misery."

Around 1,800 migrants a day arrived in Greece in February, with more than 116,000 migrant arrivals across the Aegean already this year.
Artist's impression of the how the new Hinkley Point C station will look (EDF/PA)

The Government's energy policies are coming under increasing criticism after the chief financial officer of power giant EDF resigned, casting fresh speculation over its plans to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley.

Thomas Piquemal is believed to have stepped down because of concerns that a final decision on investment for the 18 billion project in Somerset was being made too soon, potentially threatening EDF's financial position.

The company, which is 85% owned by the French government, recently gave assurances that it was close to making a decision on the proposed Hinkley Point C project.

But a series of delays have led to calls for the Government to review its energy plans.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, said: " Alarm bells should be ringing deafeningly loudly in the offices of the French and UK governments this morning.

"The Chief Finance Officer's decision to quit over EDF's apparent commitment to push ahead with the controversial Hinkley nuclear power deal should be of huge concern.

"If the finance chief thinks the project will be a disaster, the optimism from both governments that the deal will be imminent is irrational.

"The UK Government urgently needs a 21st century plan to boost our home-grown renewable energy which is being sidelined because the Government is focusing on this nuclear white elephant."

Shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy said: "This power station is absolutely central to the Government's strategy for keeping the lights on and meeting Britain's international commitments on climate change. With growing scepticism over whether it will now be built, ministers must tell us: what is their plan B?"

The company said Mr Piquemal will be replaced by Xavier Girre, who joined EDF last year as chief finance officer for France.

After a summit in France last month, Prime Minister David Cameron and French president Francois Hollande issued a communique that said there had been "major progress" in recent months "with a view to confirming the project".

EDF also said it will extend the life of four of its UK nuclear power stations by between five and seven years.

Asked about Mr Piquemal's reported departure, David Cameron's official spokeswoman said: "I'm not going to speculate on the resignation of one individual. That is a matter for EDF.

"We continue to fully support the project and President Hollande said himself on Thursday afternoon that it has the full support of the French government.

"The French government are in discussions with EDF on this. They've been clear that they fully support this, and now we wait for the next stage, which is the financial investment decision. The discussions under way are regarding support from the French government."

Phil Whitehurst, national officer of the GMB union, said: "The UK Government should now be considering a move to Plan B. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority should be redesignated as the Nuclear Development Authority and take over responsibility for the project - which has to go ahead.

"The UK construction industry and its supply chain simply cannot be left hanging in limbo any longer with regards to the final investment decision of Hinkley Point C, where infighting inside the EDF board has now created yet another high-powered resignation."
The London Housing Commission called for Whitehall to give greater control to the mayor of London and the city's boroughs

Extra powers over planning, tax and spending should be given to London to help ease the capital's housing crisis, experts have recommended.

The London Housing Commission called for Whitehall to give greater control to the mayor of London and the city's boroughs in exchange for a commitment to dramatically increase the number of homes being built.

The commission found that current measures are delivering only 25,000 new homes a year - half what is needed to keep pace with London's growing population.

The panel, led by former civil service chief Lord Kerslake, called for measures to double the annual supply of homes in London by 2020.

Working together, the boroughs and mayor must unlock enough land for 50,000 homes a year and make sure their planning departments can cope with the extra workload.

The commission also called for a major programme of public sector-led new housing alongside developments from private firms.

Lord Kerslake said: "London is facing a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions brought about by a chronic under supply of new housing. It needs urgently to be building far more houses of all types and tenures.

"We are confident that the package of measures we have set out in our report would go a long way to solving London's problems.

"While the mayor and the boroughs can do more with the powers that they have now, the only route to building substantially more homes in London is to give the capital's leaders more direct responsibility over the key levers such as land use, planning rules, housing standards, property taxes and investment and holding them accountable for delivery.

"If nothing is done, both the scarcity and affordability of housing across London will continue to worsen. Levels of home ownership will continue to fall and rents will continue to rise.

"That will not only put extra strains on the lives of Londoners living in the capital, but will also have wider social and economic consequences.

"The next strategy for London housing requires two phases. First, there is a number of actions the mayor and the boroughs can take immediately to boost housing supply. Beyond that, there are a series of longer-term reforms, including devolving powers to the mayor and the boroughs, which would make further inroads into the housing crisis, and maintain the momentum behind the efforts of the mayor and boroughs."

The commission, established by the IPPR think-tank, recommended that the cap on the boroughs' housing borrowing limits should be lifted so that they can invest more in new supply, and that London should be able to retain a substantial portion of the money raised from stamp duty.

London's mayor would be given power to "call in" boroughs that are failing to identify enough land for homes or refusing too many applications to build new homes.

Boroughs would be allowed to set their own licencing schemes for landlords, with the prospect of a condition that they could be banned from renting out homes if properties are not brought up to a decent standard by 2025.

A new tax could be levied on developers if housebuilding targets have been missed and boroughs would be able to set a higher council tax premium on empty and second homes.

A Government spokesman said: "Housing completions were up 35% in London in 2015 and the capital is receiving 1.45 billion through the affordable homes programme. We have also announced we will help deliver at least 90,000 affordable home starts in London by 2021.

"Alongside that many innovative approaches to boost housing delivery have been developed by the Government and Greater London Authority including housing zones and build-to-rent schemes.

"We are also reforming stamp duty, which will help people into home ownership."
The UK is facing the threat of "enormous and spectacular attacks" by Islamic State (IS) as the extremist group aims to wage war on Western lifestyles, the national head of counter-terrorism has warned.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said that while in the past few years the Islamist group has called on would-be jihadis to attack police and the military, their plots are now broader "plans to attack Western lifestyle".

He said: "In recent months we've seen a broadening of that, much more plans to attack Western lifestyle, and obviously the Paris attacks in November. Going from that narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state to something much broader. And you see a terrorist group which has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date."

He added: "You see a terrorist group that whilst on the one hand has been acting as a cult to use propaganda to radicalise people to act in their name ... you also see them trying to build bigger attacks."

Mr Rowley, who is the national policing lead for counter-terrorism, said that IS is trying to get supporters who have received military training in Syria into northern Europe to stage attacks.

The counter-terror boss said the "shared effort to look for any possible links of those networks or other networks that have reached the UK is obviously a massively high priority".

In the last three years the number of arrests of terrorist suspects has risen by 57% compared to the previous three years.

Around half lead to a charge. Last year just over three-quarters (77%) of those arrested were British nationals, 14% were female and 13% were aged 20 and under.

The number of girls and women and the number of teenagers is a new trend, Mr Rowley said.

"That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalisation, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh (IS) are resonating with some individuals," he added.

Scotland Yard has seen more than 20 families and around 50 young people go through family court proceedings over concerns about radicalisation in the past year.

Police are beginning to use trained psychologists who can provide advice both about how to deal with those at risk of being influenced by extremists, as well as terrorists in the event of an attack.

The number of trained firearms officers across the UK is also being increased in the wake of the Paris atrocities, which saw 129 people killed in co-ordinated attacks by extremists.

Official advice was issued at the end of last year to "Run, Hide, Tell" if marauding gunmen are found to be on the loose - meaning get as far away as possible, hide, and if possible call the police.
Moonpig has apologised to dozens of customers who complained about deliveries of Mother's Day cards and flowers.

The online greeting card and gift firm was bombarded with complaints about gifts that were damaged, late or failed to arrive.

Among the complaints posted on social media were photos of flowers with wilted leaves and snapped stems and a smashed vase.

One customer claimed their mother took delivery of a flower box to find it was empty.

The company spent Mother's Day answering the stream of complaints on Twitter and Facebook before reportedly attributing the problems to "an issue" with a supplier.

Michael Blair wrote to Moonpig on Twitter: "OMG ! Flowers just arrived for Mum - broken, ripped, dead, disgusting! And no card til Monday either!"

Becky Peters, from Newport, South Wales, tweeted: "@MoonpigUK two years in a row you have disappointed me, you've lost a customer. Don't advertise your cards to be delivered on Mother's Day if they're not going to arrive."

Helen Palmer tweeted a photo of a sorry-looking bouquet and a damaged vase along with the comment "#unhappy Mother's Day".

Jakeyjelly tweeted: "@MoonpigUK ordered my Mother's Day flowers and got the card but no flowers in sight absolute disgrace!" alongside a photo of an empty box.

In adverts ahead of Mother's Day the firm said it would take orders for gifts until 2pm on Friday and flower orders up to 4pm on Saturday.

Flowers and plants were supposed to arrive between 8am and 9pm over the Mother's Day weekend, the company said.

A spokesman for Moonpig told the BBC: "We can confirm that an issue with one of our suppliers has delayed the delivery of flowers to some of our customers this weekend.

"We know how important Mother's Day is and we have apologised to and compensated all customers who have experienced a delay.

"We've been working hard to put things right and by the end of Mother's Day almost all orders have been delivered. We hope our customers accept our sincere apologies."

Other customers were more positive about their service from Moonpig, whose personalised greeting card service accounts for a major share of the UK online market.

Melissa Rose Ledbury wrote on Facebook: "Quite surprised to see all the negative comments, I was going to say I'm really pleased with my order, my mum text me around 10 to say her flowers had arrived and said they look lovely!"
The defendants are the first to be cleared after the landmark Jogee ruling

The first defendants in a murder trial have walked free from Britain's most famous criminal court following the shock ruling on joint enterprise law.

On Thursday February 18, the Supreme Court found that trial judges had been wrongly interpreting the law for 30 years over co-defendants in murder cases who did not strike the killer blow.

The same day, defence lawyers at the Old Bailey applied for charges to be thrown out in the case of two young men accused of stabbing to death 24-year-old Ahmed Ahmed in Plumstead.

The legal bid on behalf of Khalid Hashi, 23, nicknamed Van Damme, and Hamza Dodi, 24, was unopposed by the Crown Prosecution Service which took into account the Ameen Jogee ruling immediately after it was given.

The following day, Judge Paul Worsley ruled that the pair had no case to answer and they were formally acquitted in front of the jury on Monday February 22.

The fallout from the landmark Jogee ruling could not be reported until the conclusion of the Old Bailey trial of other co-defendants involved in the Plumstead murder.

Today, Osman Musa Mohamed, 20, aka Ratface, was convicted of Mr Ahmed's murder. He has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Hussein Roble, 18, aka "Stewie", from the Woolwich area of south London, was cleared of the same charge.

The court had heard how Mr Ahmed was knifed repeatedly in the leg when he walked out of the block of flats where he lived in Plumstead on August 10 last year.

Wearing hoods and scarves over their faces, the killers had lain in wait outside, having forced Mr Ahmed's friend Monzir Mohamed to go to the door.

The court heard how Mr Ahmed was seen by a witness to come downstairs and push the door release button as if he was going outside to speak to them.

But instead, the men rushed in and attacked him. Three of the mob wrestled him to the ground while another attacked him with a kitchen knife, while others swarmed around.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors that the victim had "absolutely no idea" what was about to happen to him. It was unclear whether the killer switched their target from another man to Mr Ahmed.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: "The CPS carefully considered the recent Supreme Court judgment (R v Jogee, Ruddock v R) and its impact on this case.

"In light of this and the evidence given during the trial it was determined that there were no grounds to oppose submissions of no case to answer for these two defendants."

Following the Supreme Court ruling, lawyers predicted that thousands of prisoners would seek legal advice on appealing against their convictions.

However, the effects were felt straight away in live criminal cases going through the Crown Courts.

During an unrelated hearing at the Old Bailey, a defence lawyer indicated she was considering an application to dismiss the case against another murder accused in light of the Jogee ruling before it reached trial later this year.

Justices had said the interpretation of part of the law relating to joint enterprise - which can result in people being convicted of assault or murder even if they did not strike the blow - had taken a "new turn" in the mid-1980s.

Senior judges decided in 1984 that a "secondary party" would be guilty of murder if he or she "foresaw" the possibility that the "principal" might act with intent to cause death or serious harm

The Supreme Court said that development was wrong. Justices said it was not right that someone should be guilty merely because they foresaw that a co-accused might commit a crime.

They said jurors should view "foresight" only as evidence to be taken into account, not as proof.
Dr Mike Durkin said the new contract "clearly contains a number of measures that will directly improve the safety of care for patients, putting right some serious flaws"

A new contract for junior doctors will not be "unsafe or dangerous for patients", the NHS's national director for patient safety has said.

In an open letter ahead of a strike by junior doctors on Wednesday, Dr Mike Durkin said the current contract had serious flaws and patients would be safer under the new arrangements.

He said: "Can it really be fair to label the new contract as 'unsafe' when it clearly contains a number of measures that will directly improve the safety of care for patients, putting right some serious flaws in the current contract that posed risks to patient safety?

"I am particularly aware of the current situation where doctors in training find themselves fatigued and under stress because of rota gaps and increased workload which can lead to an inevitable impact on morale and staff safety.

"It is disappointing that the view of the new contract as unsafe is being perpetuated and not challenged more widely."

Dr Durkin said the new contract will deliver a number of safety benefits, including l imits on working hours, i mproved shift patterns and more safeguards.

"I believe these changes will be good for doctors and good for patients," he said. "The importance of effective handover between shifts for patient safety is well known, and these measures will help doctors to work with others to make handovers safer."

There will also be a stronger role of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in scrutinising working time for junior doctors, he said.

"Independent scrutiny of the reports from doctors who have been asked to work in conditions they believe are unsafe must be put in place.

"The CQC must also assess and challenge how trust boards have responded to such reports and indeed all safety concerns and where they fail, financial sanctions to benefit the junior doctor must be put in place."

Junior doctors are to stage a 48-hour strike from 8am on Wednesday, followed by another one on April 8 and another on April 26.

They will provide emergency care only during these periods.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has launched a judicial review into the imposition of the new England-wide contract, which followed a breakdown in talks between the BMA, NHS Employers and Government officials.

Dr Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee, said: "Junior doctors want to agree a fair contract that delivers for patients, doctors and the NHS as a whole which is why during negotiations the BMA successfully pushed very hard for improvements around safe working and patient care. We remain concerned that the imposed contract has many untested elements, including how effective the new safeguards will be in practice.

"The Government's proposals would also greatly impact those junior doctors who work the most unsocial hours, affecting doctors in our A&Es and other areas of medicine that are already struggling to recruit and keep staff, compounding staff shortages which would clearly be bad for the delivery of patient care and the NHS in the long term."
A piece of rogue software has succeeded in infecting a number of Apple Mac computers, making files stored on the device inaccessible

A virus that locks users out of their computer until a ransom is paid has been discovered on Apple devices for the first time.

A piece of rogue software called KeRanger has succeeded in infecting a number of Mac computers, making files stored on the device inaccessible.

It then demands payment of one bitcoin - the virtual currency and worth around 280 - to return control of the files.

Security researchers from Palo Alto Networks first reported the virus, which is known as ransomware, saying they believed it to be the "first fully functional ransomware seen on the OS X platform", on which Apple laptop and desktop products run.

Apple has long prided itself on its computers' supposed lack of vulnerability to many viruses, broadly staying free of major issues.

The malware was hidden inside a popular piece of software called Transmission, which is used to transfer data on peer-to-peer sharing site BitTorrent.

Palo Alto Networks said users who downloaded version 2.90 of the software on Friday were infected with the ransomware, which stays dormant for three days before beginning to lock files using encryption, asking for the ransom in order to release them.

It is believed that as the malware became available on Friday, those who downloaded it then would begin to encounter problems on Monday unless an update was installed.

The security firm also said they had reported the issue to Apple, adding that the technology giant has since fixed the vulnerability in its systems by revoking a digital certificate that allowed the software to be installed in the first place. Transmission has also removed the malicious download from its website.

Palo Alto Networks' intelligence director, Ryan Olson, told the Reuters news agency: "This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom."

Ransomware, among other malicious software, has long been known to target users of fellow desktop software Microsoft Windows, generating millions of pounds a year for cyber criminals.
A major shake-up of schools funding in England aimed at removing historic differences in the amount of money on offer in different parts of the country has been unveiled.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said the reforms would mean the "biggest step towards fairer funding in over a decade", ending a situation where a school in one area can receive over 50% more than one with a similar mix of pupils in a different part of the country.

Under plans to sweep away the existing system, she insisted that every school will get funding that "genuinely matches their need".

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the Government would introduce a new formula in his Autumn Statement in November last year, leading to concerns from Labour and unions that the plan could direct money away from cities to "leafy shires".

The Department for Education (DfE) insisted the new formula would end the funding "postcode lottery" and money would go straight to schools rather than being directed to local authorities.

The current system is "outdated, inefficient and unfair", the DfE said, and could mean a school in one part of the country could receive 50% more than an identical school with the same children in another place "simply because of an accident of history".

The Education Secretary said: "We want every school in England to get the funding it deserves, so that all children - whatever their background and wherever they live in the country - get a great education.

"The introduction of a national funding formula from 2017-18 will see the biggest step towards fairer funding in over a decade - ensuring that pupils get funding that genuinely matches their need. It will also ensure that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds continue to receive significant additional funding to overcome entrenched barriers to their success.

"This is a key part of our core mission to extend opportunity to all children and provide educational excellence in all parts of the country: rural and urban, shire and metropolitan, north and south."

The Government's proposals would consider four factors in determining core schools funding: basic per pupil funding; funding for additional needs, taking into account factors such as deprivation, low prior attainment by pupils and whether they had English as an additional language; school costs, including those relating to schools serving rural communities; area costs, ensuring extra funding in high-cost places.

Once the principles behind the new formula have been agreed, a second consultation will seek views on the weighting of the various factors.

This second stage consultation will set out full illustrations of the impacts of the funding formulae across schools and local authorities, giving an indication of which areas will lose out.

The variation in funding under the current system means that although Rotherham and Plymouth have similar proportions of pupils from poor backgrounds eligible for free school meals, Rotherham receives nearly 500 more per pupil.

Demographic changes have also left the funding settlements out of date - in the last 10 years the proportion of pupils in Lincolnshire eligible for free school meals has more than doubled while in Southwark, south London, the rate has nearly halved.

Decisions made by local authorities can also alter the amount available to headteachers. A secondary pupil with low prior attainment would attract 2,248 of additional funding in Birmingham, compared with 36 in Darlington while in other local authorities, these pupils would not attract any extra cash.

From 2016-17 an "invest to save' fund will be made available to schools to help them cope with the change to a national funding formula.

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said: "While the principle of so-called fair funding is the right starting point, the devil will be in the detail. Even before any changes to the funding formula, all schools will see their budgets cut by at least 8% in real terms over the next five years, having a huge impact on teaching and frontline resources.

"The Tory Government has dodged the difficult questions about school funding ahead of this year's elections because they know that many parts of the country, including London where they face a key election, will lose even more from schools budgets.

"Now that they've fired the starting gun on a funding review, they should get on with the detail and not leave schools in the dark."
A teenager who stabbed a school boy to death during a "trivial" row has been convicted of culpable homicide.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, died from a knife wound to the chest in a fight at Cults Academy in Aberdeen on October 28 last year.

A 16-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted fatally stabbing Bailey but had denied murder.

A jury at the city's High Court took less than two hours to convict him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide after a five-day trial.

The killer was also found guilty of two other charges of having a knife and knuckledusters at the school.

He is being held in custody and will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on April 1.

There was audible sobbing in court after the verdict was delivered, and the room was told two families had been destroyed by October's events.

Emotions were high during the trial, which saw a teenage witness break down as he gave details of the fight and the accused himself start crying at one stage.

During evidence, it emerged that Bailey - a hard-working fifth year pupil with four young brothers - suffered a major loss of blood after receiving the single stab wound to the heart.

The court heard that on the day he was stabbed, Bailey had missed out on a lunchtime trip to the local supermarket as his friends forgot to tell him about the plan.

He was in a corridor with a group of boys and, after refusing a second biscuit to one, made a remark about him getting fatter.

Accounts of the fight differed between witnesses but the jury heard that Bailey, who was on his way out of the corridor, turned round and squared up to the youth after he made a comment about his mother.

They both were said to have thrown punches and two onlookers said Bailey had him in a headlock before he pulled out a knife.

A post-mortem examination revealed he died as a result of a "penetrating stab-force injury to the chest" which went directly into the heart.

The killer told police as he was handcuffed "it was just a moment of anger".

He later told officers: "I didn't mean to but I stabbed him."

The jury heard from a friend of the accused that he had shown him a knife a day or two before the fatal incident and the teenager "thought it was something cool to have".

In his speech to the jury, prosecutor Alex Prentice QC described the row as a "silly, trivial fight between two school boys" but told the jury: "Bailey Gwynne had no chance."

But defence QC Ian Duguid said the case centred around an incident which happened "in the blink of an eye" within 30 seconds.

Once the verdict was delivered, judge Lady Stacey told the killer: "You have been convicted of a very serious charge."

She deferred sentencing to allow for the preparation of background reports.

Mr Prentice told her the teenager's lawyer contacted the Crown two days after the incident to indicate that he wanted to plead guilty to culpable homicide. But the Crown decided that was "not acceptable" at the time and the plea was rejected.

Mr Duguid said: "There are two families that have been destroyed by these events."

Bailey's family left court without commenting.

Aberdeen City Council has announced it is to hold a review of Bailey's death to "identify any lessons that can be learnt to inform future practice".

Detective Superintendent David McLaren, lead officer for the north area of Police Scotland's major investigation team, thanked the pupils and staff at Cults Academy who tried to save Bailey.

He said: "The death of Bailey Gwynne has had a massive impact on his family, friends, fellow pupils and staff at Cults Academy.

"The details of the case have caused shock within the local community and further afield across the whole of the country."

He also paid tribute to Bailey's family, and said: "Today won't bring their son back, the pain of not having Bailey around will last for a very long time."

Gayle Gorman, director of education and children's services at Aberdeen City Council, said: "Bailey Gwynne should never have died in this way. He was a 16-year-old boy with his whole life in front of him. We will not forget him.

"The trial may have ended but for those involved, the process of moving forward now begins."
Labour MP Sarah Champion wrote to the Government urging it to change the terminology (BBC/PA)

The term "child prostitution" is being removed from official statistics over concerns it is an outdated phrase that encourages "victim-blaming".

The term has already been removed from legislation after a series of grooming scandals highlighted the extent of child sexual exploitation in Britain.

But the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had continued to use the term in its latest release on crime figures.

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham and the shadow minister for preventing abuse and domestic violence, wrote to the Government urging it to change the terminology.

She said the term was wrong because it infers criminality on the part on the child, and does not acknowledge that children cannot consent to sex themselves, but are instead exploited.

Karen Bradley, Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime, wrote back saying she is in "complete agreement" that the "language used in relation to these awful crimes must reflect their true nature".

She said the term "child prostitution" had been removed from legislation, but had not been changed in ONS data due to a "communication breakdown".

Releases from January this year and October last year have been amended and the ONS has confirmed that the old term would be removed from all future publications.

Ms Champion said: "I am very pleased that the Government and the Office for National Statistics agree with me that the use of the term 'child prostitution' is wrong and greatly misrepresents such a sensitive issue.

"It is essential in moving forward and tackling all forms of child abuse that we address the misuse of language and treat all victims and survivors with the dignity that they deserve.

"Victim-blaming has been a barrier to justice for many; this change is another step in the right direction."
Two men from Rotherham have been identified as missing after the collapse of a power station being prepared for demolition.

One worker was killed and three are still missing after the incident last month at Didcot in Oxfordshire.

Thames Valley Police said in a statement: "The family of Ken Cresswell, aged 57, from Rotherham, confirmed that their loved one is missing following the partial collapse of Didcot A Power Station on 23 February.

"Ken is loved very much and his family haven't given up hope of him being recovered and returned home. They ask the media to continue to respect their privacy at this difficult time.

"The family of John Shaw, aged 61, from Rotherham, confirmed that their loved one is missing. John is loved very much and his family haven't given up hope of him being recovered and returned home. They ask the media to continue to respect their privacy at this difficult time."

Police today met today with the families of the three missing people, as part of the ongoing support being given.

"Our priority remains the recovery of their loved ones so they can be returned to their families and to understand what caused this incident," said a statement.

The power station is owned by Npower.

Mike Collings, 53, was killed when the structure folded nearly two weeks ago.

Emergency services have since said it is "highly unlikely" the missing are still alive and last week stated that the recovery operation could take months.

The third demolition worker buried and left unaccounted for has been named by his family as Chris Huxtable.

His partner Jade Ali has launched a petition in a bid to find the missing men.

Ms Ali, from Swansea, posted: "We need them home. Minutes are turning into hours, and days are turning into weeks.

"Get these three hard working men out and back home."

The petition has gathered more than 1,200 signatures so far.

A supervisor who missed the collapse by seconds said it is "ridiculous" that three trapped colleagues have not been uncovered from the wreckage.

Mathew Mowat said: "There are quite a few people feeling blessed, including myself - and then feeling guilty and frustrated on not being able to get our friends out and sent home.

"We all need closure on it, the guys and the families. We need to move forward and get them out - I would do it by hand if I could."

The 49-year-old added: "I feel guilty in not being under there with the guys and for coming home because they are still there left under that steel - it is ridiculous they are not out."
The report suggests placing a greater emphasis on using an online marketplace to buy from suppliers

Up to 10 billion a year could be saved by improving the way Whitehall purchases goods and services, according to a think tank.

The Reform report on Government procurement suggests placing a greater emphasis on using an online marketplace to buy from suppliers.

If the growth of e-procurement continued at current levels, nearly 6% would be done online, saving around 470 million a year by 2020.

But if Whitehall followed the example of Estonia, where the government buys half of its goods and services online, or South Korea, where e-procurement makes up 64% of spending, the savings could amount to around 10 billion a year.

Will Mosseri-Marlio, the report's co-author, said: "Transforming central government procurement could save up to 10 billion a year, three-quarters of the annual cost of the police service in England and Wales."

The report said the precise amount spent by central government departments was disputed, but the National Audit Office figure was around 40 billion.

In total, it is estimated the digital marketplace has saved departments 20% on legacy contracts, and 50% when process costs were included.

If Whitehall followed Estonia's example of carrying out 50% of spending online and achieved savings of 50%, that would amount to a 10 billion saving a year.

But the report warned that a "somewhat fraught relationship" between the Crown Commercial Service and Government Digital Service could limit Whitehall's ability to make such savings by preventing the "acceleration" of reforms.

"More significantly, commercial staff will need to acquire new skills if they are to harness the potential benefits of digitisation and drive value for money more generally," the report said.

Co-author Alex Hitchcock said: "Commercial skills in the civil service are a long-standing concern. Unless the Government improves practice, savings from digital procurement are unlikely to materialise."

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Taxpayers rightly expect us to find the best value for money, and everyone deserves the best possible public services.

"We've saved billions of pounds for taxpayers through our commercial reforms, and the Crown Commercial Service and Government Digital Service will continue to work closely together to introduce the latest innovations and ensure we get the best value from every deal."
The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area and authorities are hunting several attackers who are at large

Deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers have left at least 53 people dead near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fear that violence from Libya could destabilise the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn on Monday and fighting continued into the evening. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defence ministers travelled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

The Tunisian government did not identify the attackers and no group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organised, and whose goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," said Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.

The attack left 35 "terrorists", seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those who were killed.

Libya's chaos, five years after the uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has allowed the Islamic State group to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognised body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried about the IS presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year. IS extremists claimed responsibility for those attacks, and Tunisian authorities said the attackers had been trained in Libya.

At dawn on Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah said. A night curfew has been ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The nearby tourist cities of Djerba and Zarzis were not affected by the violence, the statement said.

France's foreign ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory."

''This attack just reinforces the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tunisia was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition".

Tunisia has been as a model of relative stability for the region since an uprising five years ago ushered in a democracy and unleashed Arab Spring protests across the region.

Tunisian forces have repeatedly clashed with extremists on the borders of Libya and Algeria in recent years, but Monday's fighting was exceptionally deadly.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group. Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following a February 19 US raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defense minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.
A boy untangles a Spiderman doll caught in barbed wire around the fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni (AP)

Turkey has demanded an additional 3 billion euro (2.3 billion) from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis.

Turkey - a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria - is an indispensable EU partner in trying to dissuade people fleeing conflict or poverty from taking to makeshift boats and making the short but often-dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea.

"To avoid that refugees arrive in Greece we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande said as he arrived for the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by The Associated Press, the leaders said they will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection".

But Turkish leaders have upped the ante, demanding the additional funds by 2018, on top of 3 billion euro the EU had already pledged to help Syrian refugees in the country, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said.

Turkey has also made requests to ease visa rules by June instead of the end of the year.

The country also wants to be able to send Syrian refugees to the 28-nation EU as they take people back who have made the crossing into Greece. The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea.

Nato ships are also set to help patrol the sea between Greece and Turkey, easing the load on Turkey's military-run coastguard.

Turkey says this summit is as much about its thwarted EU membership ambitions as Europe's inability to manage the refugee emergency. The membership talks have dragged on for a decade and Ankara is looking for improved negotiating conditions.

"Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations."

A planned news conference with Mr Davutoglu was cancelled after the Turks made new demands. They are expected to be discussed over a dinner, which was added to the summit programme.

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of failing to deliver on the refugee fund and criticised the Europeans for refusing to take in more refugees.

"We are not sending them. They are going (to Greece) by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths," Mr Erdogan said, in an address to women trade-unionists.

North of Greece, Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans, allowing just a trickle of people through. The move - backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary - has ratcheted up pressure from the other side as Greek authorities don't have enough shelter for those who are stranded.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

An estimated 13,000-14,000 people waited at Greece's border with Macedonia on Monday hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, conceded that Turkey will need extra help if more migrants are sent back.

"We will need to bring relief to Turkey, and that means you have to be willing to take people in from Turkey" who are the most likely to qualify for asylum, he said.
German government officials have expressed concern about the state of press freedom in Turkey.

Turkish police stormed the headquarters of the country's largest-circulation newspaper, Zaman, on Friday as part of an intensified crackdown on the opposition.

A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she raised the issue of human rights during a meeting on Sunday in Brussels with Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Christiane Wirtz said "press freedom comes up as an issue with Turkey on a regular basis".

German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said countries wanting to join the European Union, including Turkey, "should be expected to have a common understanding of basic rights and civil liberties in Europe".

Turkey has become a key partner in EU efforts to stem the flow of migrants coming to Europe.
Hulk Hogan is suing the site for publishing a sex tape of him

Opening statements are set to begin in the civil trial between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and a popular news website.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker for 100 million US dollars for publi shing a sex tape of him and the wife of a US radio personality.

A six-member jury will determine whether Gawker violated Hogan's right to privacy when it published the video of the former professional wrestler having sex with his best friend's wife. Hogan's lawyers say it garnered seven million views.

Hogan says the video was made without his knowledge.

Gawker says the publication was a legitimate scoop because Hogan had talked openly about his sex life before, in forums such as Howard Stern's radio show.
Relatives of passengers and crew of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 release balloons with the names of those who were on board during a commemorative event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AP)

Twelve Chinese families whose relatives were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have filed a lawsuit in a Beijing court, one day before the deadline for pursuing litigation against the carrier.

The plane disappeared on March 8 2014, with 239 people - including 153 Chinese citizens - on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Under international agreements, families have a two-year window to sue following an air accident.

The group's lawyer, Beijing-based Zhang Qihuai, said the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is "to find out the cause of the accident and those who are responsible".

The lawsuit, lodged in a transportation court, also named Boeing and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce among the defendants. The court will decide if and where to hear the case.

Several relatives said they hope to use the case to obtain more information from the airline, which they said has not been forthcoming.

"If we lose this opportunity, it might become even more difficult" to obtain answers, said Zou Jingsheng, a professor whose 27-year old son, Ling Annan, was studying in Malaysia and was on the flight. "We will find out the truth through legal means, and we'll look into the responsibilities that Malaysia Airlines failed to fulfil."

After two years, the fate of the Boeing 777 remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. The Australian-led search effort is to continue until June, having already spent more than 130 million US dollars looking through a vast area of the Indian Ocean nearly 4 miles deep.

Investigators believe the plane flew far off course and ran out of fuel in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. One confirmed piece of wreckage has been recovered, a part of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island last year, and two other possible pieces have been found in the past week.

Victims' kin in China, Malaysia and Britain have urged authorities to continue to search until the plane is found.
A gunman who killed one person and wounded two others inside a western Sydney business was found dead inside the building after a six-hour stand-off on Monday, Australian police said.

Heavily armed officers moved into the sign-making business after spending hours positioned around the factory in an industrial area of Ingleburn, a suburb 25 miles (40km) south-west of Sydney.

Once inside, they found a 33-year-old man dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, said New South Wales Police Detective Inspector Mark Brett.

Officers also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Mr Brett said. It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the gunman or had been hiding while they waited for the siege to end.

Police were called to the business after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found three men suffering gunshot wounds. One, a 43-year-old, died at the scene, and two others were taken to hospital for treatment.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Mr Brett said. He would not say how long the suspected gunman had been dead, or whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the stand-off. He also declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a "long-arm weapon".

One of the shooting victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body, Mr Brett added.

The siege brought the suburb of Ingleburn to a standstill throughout the day. Staff at nearby businesses were told to stay inside and roads were blocked off in the area.
Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall on the US border with Mexico (AP)

Mexico's president has compared the language of Donald Trump to that of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Asked about Mr Trump, Enrique Pena Nieto complained to the Excelsior newspaper about "these strident expressions that seek to propose very simple solutions" and said that sort of language has led to "very fateful scenes in the history of humanity".

"That's the way Mussolini arrived and the way Hitler arrived," Mr Pena Nieto said.

Mr Pena Nieto had avoided direct comments until now on Mr Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the two countries' borders. Mr Trump has also said Mexican immigrants bring crime and drugs to the US and are "rapists".

But as the New York businessman has built a lead in the GOP primary, current and former Mexican officials have begun to publicly express alarm. Former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon have also alluded to Hitler in describing Mr Trump.

In the interview with Excelsior, Mr Pena Nieto said he would work with whoever eventually wins this year's US presidential election and to maintain a climate "of mutual respect and joint agreements".

In another interview published on Monday, with the newspaper El Universal, the Mexican president said he would be "absolutely respectful" of the US political process, but said, "It appears to me that (Trump's comments) hurt the relationship we have sought with the United States."
North Korea has threatened nuclear strikes on the US and South Korea, this time in reaction to the start of huge joint military drills by the two countries.

Belligerent threats have been a staple of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but they spike especially when Washington and Seoul stage what they say are annual defensive springtime war games.

Pyongyang says the drills, which will run until the end of April, are invasion rehearsals.

Always ragged relations between North Korea and its rivals have worsened after Pyongyang's nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket test last month.

The United Nations has slapped the North with harsh sanctions, and South Korea has taken a harder than usual line on the North.

The North's powerful National Defence Commission threatened strikes against targets in the South, US bases in the Pacific and the US mainland, saying its enemies "are working with bloodshot eyes to infringe upon the dignity, sovereignty and vital rights" of North Korea.

"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the North's statement said.

There is considerable debate about whether North Korea is even capable of the kind of "strikes" it threatens. The North makes progress with each new nuclear test but many experts say its arsenal may consist only of still-crude nuclear bombs. There's uncertainty about whether they have mastered the miniaturisation process needed to mount bombs on warheads and widespread doubt about whether they have a reliable long-range missile that could deliver such a bomb to the US mainland.

But North Korea's rhetoric raises unease in Seoul and its US ally, not least because of the huge number of troops and weaponry facing off along the world's most heavily armed border, which is an hour's drive from the South Korean capital and its 10 million residents.

The rival Koreas' usual animosity occasionally erupts in bloody skirmishes - 50 South Koreans were killed in attacks in 2010 that Seoul blames on the North - and there is always a worry about an escalation of violence.

South Korea's military says this year's war games will be the largest ever staged, involving 300,000 South Korean military personnel and 17,000 from the US. Analysts say one part of North Korea's traditional anger over the drills is that they force the impoverished country to respond with its own costly war games.

Responding to the North's threat, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said North Korea must refrain from a "rash act that brings destruction upon itself".
Mrs Reagan is given the flowers by little Laura OFarrell in Ballyporeen

Nancy Reagan will be fondly remembered as the First Lady who graciously accepted flowers from a little girl, sipped on Carolans cream liqueur and wrote letters to her hosts over 30 years after visiting Co Tipperary.

Mary OFarrell hails from President Ronald Reagans ancestral home in Ballyporeen, which the couple visited on June 3, 1984.

One of my fondest memories is when our six-year-old daughter Laura had a posy of flowers to present to Mrs Reagan when she arrived, she recalled, paying tribute to Mrs Reagan, who had travelled with her husband to the birthplace of the Presidents great-grandfather Michael.

Laura got a bit tired, we had taught her to curtsey and all that, but when they came she said: Here, Mrs Reagan and just handed them to her  and she took them so graciously.

When they went outside to see the show that was being put on, I asked would I take the flowers and she said: Oh no, these are the first Ive got since we came here.

We found her to be an absolute lady.

Mrs OFarrell and late husband John owned the local pub, which was renamed after the President.

The interior of the pub was later shipped to the Ronald Reagan President Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, where it was completely reassembled as one of the key exhibits.

At its opening in 2005 the OFarrells again met with Mrs Reagan, who had continued to write to them every Christmas.

She spent 45 minutes talking about how much the President loved Ballyporeen. We were amazed, she added.

The late RTE presenter Derek Davis, who covered the Ballyporeen visit, previously recalled how US officials  including the Secret Service  consulted as much with Mrs Reagan as her husband.

She was consulted about the menu for the State dinner and personally directed Presidential staff to liaise with the Irish authorities over the precise cooking of the meal  even down to the amount of butter that was being used during the cooking of the fish starter.

She warned her husbands digestive system didnt respond well to overly rich and butter-laden foods, and was consulted about her husbands visit to Farrells Pub in Ballyporeen.

After her input, it was agreed that President Reagan would drink a pint of Smithwicks Ale rather than Guinness  amid concerns that the richness of a pint of stout might upset her husbands stomach.

She was an amazing lady, said the late councillor Con Donovan, who was instrumental in that 1984 Presidential visit.
Feminism, like many "isms", changes with each generation. And so it should. Change is a sign of development, adaptation and survival. Perhaps surprisingly, nuns were often a source of feminist ideas. Nuns came in 40 shades of personality types, just like everyone else, but they had great dedication to girls' education. The most withering judgment a nun might make was: "You'll end up working at Woolworth's." (At one time considered a downmarket store.)

My girlhood heroines were Joan of Arc, the dancer Anna Pavlova and Iris Kellet, the equestrian ace.

I was influenced by Simone de Beauvoir, whose ideal way of life was living in a cheap hotel in Paris and meeting Jean-Paul Sartre for high talk over cigarettes and Pernods in Left Bank cafes. They disparaged possessions as "bourgeois". This would be a difficult template of feminism to emulate now.

De Beauvoir was brilliant on analysing how society had stereotyped women, but she also saw that Nature was the joker in the pack. She had abortions because "pregnancy makes a woman Nature's plaything" and she loathed that.

All stereotypes are limiting of both men and women. Pink for a girl and blue for a boy is a hideous form of stereotyping. And, yet, if you banned every fairytale ever written, little girls would still find a way to play at being princesses.

I'm delighted to see the prominence and visibility of young women in so many walks of life now. But I don't repose much confidence in the idea of gender quotas. Ability should be the first criterion. You must be up to the job.

All jobs should be open to ability. Yet, natural inclination is still a factor. You won't find many women wanting to be long-distance truck-drivers. Or sewage engineers. When I saw women sweeping the streets in the USSR, I felt it was belittling.

Is the Catholic Church the last bastion of prejudice against women being ordained? Not quite. And despite the patriarchy, women remain the majority among congregations.

Before a village Mass recently in provincial France, the women seemed to be running everything: but when the priest appeared they all kissed him on both cheeks, like mothers making a fuss of the only boy in the school.

Which brings us to the mothers of sons. Feminist or not, they come to see that, to rephrase Tammy Wynette: "Sometimes it's hard to be a man."

Domestic violence is a feminist issue - who wouldn't deplore it? But I have yet to read a really insightful analysis as to why some women - modern, free and independent - still choose violent men.

Rape is an important feminist issue - as well as a criminal matter. Women should be empowered with the confidence to report it whenever it occurs.

Yet, I think "no means no" is a silly slogan. The entire world of advertising and PR is devoted to the art of persuasion. If people are open to persuasion in everyday life, they can also be persuaded to change from "no" to "yes" in sexual encounters.

There probably is a case for "consent classes" for university students. Boundaries have been blurred and maybe need restating. My son was sitting on a bus recently when he heard schoolboys loudly discussing the schoolgirls they had slept with. He felt like telling them off, with reference to some Victorian tome of courtliness: "Gentlemen! We don't bandy a lady's name in the mess!"

Abortion has become a feminist issue, though it wasn't always so. Early feminists were often evangelical Christians. Marie Stopes believed that effective contraception would halt abortion.

People must follow their consciences on this subject, but a woman will always be more admired for having a baby - especially in difficult circumstances - than for terminating a pregnancy. Hallmark has yet to produce a card saying "Congratulations on your abortion!"

I appreciate the point that we are entitled to sovereignty over our own bodies, but again Nature plays the joker. Germaine Greer once said: "If we had rights over our own bodies, we'd have the right not to get cancer, not to grow old."

Germaine tried hard to have a baby in her 30s, but Nature - and assisted conception efforts - declined to co-operate. We all learn that not every choice is ours for the asking.

I agree that motherhood should be voluntary. And childcare should be supported by every available element of society - the Government, private industry, communities at every level. Affordable and high-standard childcare is often the major deciding factor in whether women become mothers.

Equality: yes, as an aspiration. But older women experience this differently. They notice that older men get called "Sir", while older women get called "love".

The word "feminist" has come to mean "extremist" for some. But no cause was ever won without an element of extremism - even fanaticism. Moderates often inherit the mantle of the wild outliers and make it respectable.

Am I a feminist? Yes, but a feminist of my own time and influences: with theory tempered by experience.

And, surely, we are all still entitled to define our own kind of feminism?
On my travels I once met an Australian millionaire and asked him if he had any particular policy to attaining wealth. He replied that he used the 'K.i.s.s.' policy, meaning 'Keep it simple stupid'. I now apply that policy to the referendum debate.

1) I believe it is an accepted fact that parents have a responsibility to put their own family first, then - if they wish - they can assist others, where possible. Now, it behoves any government to apply this same principle - ie: employ its bona fide citizens first, then employ others that have the necessary qualifications to carry out the duties required.

2) Governments of whatever country are elected by the citizens that live in it. Governments are then obliged to make laws to satisfy the demands of its citizens; these same laws only applying to their country and not intended to be overridden by any collection of foreign nations.

3) Britain's welfare system is the envy of the world - its financial benefit system, free health service, free legal aid, statutory protective employment laws, to name but a few. All have been created by the sacrifices of the taxpaying British people.

4) The homes of British people are protected by law. One cannot trespass on their home, or land, or take possession illegally. The same laws should - must - apply to all the countries that make up the British Isles.

In conclusion: David Cameron claims that he has made changes to Britain's membership of the European Union - changes that will benefit Britain.

David Cameron was fortunate to be born never knowing what it was like to be hungry. And, like a family's responsibility to put their children first, he is protecting the family of the super-rich, whose desire is to get richer at the expense of other "human resources".

HARRY STEPHENSON

Kircubbin, Co Down

Squandering of EU cash over the years shocking

Readers may be aware of the considerable media frenzy over the impending EU referendum.

Many column inches seem to be devoted to the hokey-cokey, in-out policies of the various parties, causing even more confusion for the electorate.

In the Second World War the British Savings Committee ran a campaign using a character called the squander bug to discourage wasteful spending.

It would appear Northern Ireland has a bad infection of squander bug  judging by the vast amount of EU money wasted over the years. For example, those recent daft public realm schemes and community relations projects.

It would have been more prudent to use this money for improving existing infrastructure such as roads and transport.

For example, Strangford Lough could have had a suspension bridge constructed by now to replace the clapped-out ferry service, which would improve access for residents and visitors  especially to allow access to an acute hospital a mere 10 miles away, instead of more than 30 miles to Dundonald.

BARTHOLOMEW SHOLTO

By email

Backers of Brexit trading on fear

The leaders of the campaign to leave the European Union say that the argument for staying is based on fear.

A few conversations with ordinary people on each side show that those who want to stay in the EU are not afraid of people who speak other languages, are not afraid that if a foreigner lives here an indigenous person will lose their job or their house, are not afraid that every desperate refugee is a terrorist and are not afraid to believe that it is possible for 28 countries to be in a peaceful union and defend the interests of their own people while still respecting the rights of others.

They are also not afraid of saying that the EU is a very complicated and far from perfect organisation, but the countries in it are much stronger together than they would be apart.

Those who want to leave seem terrified that we arent strong enough to maintain our independence while also working with others.

But we are actually quite good at that, having transformed an Empire into a voluntary Commonwealth and fought with allies in the many European wars that are  thankfully  now a thing of the past.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Hypocrite Nelson getting shirty on 1916 is pathetic

Maybe last Thursday was a light day for important news, but it beggars belief that the main story on your front page was Nelson McCauslands outburst in protest at the FAIs decision to use shirts commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising (News, March 3).

He says that the uncritical endorsement of the Easter rebellion reinforces a republican narrative.

Ive got news for Mr McCausland: (a) it has sweet FA(I) to do with him, and (b) love or hate the Easter Rising, its a matter of history and, in a free country (which I believe Ireland to be), people are entitled to commemorate historical events if they wish.

God knows, people like Mr McCausland have been commemorating the Battle of the Boyne for 300-plus years  an uncritical endorsement reinforcing a Protestant narrative if ever there was one.

STEVE LAIRD

Belfast

Omagh families must not despair

My heart goes out to relatives of victims of the Omagh bomb.

I urge them not to give up hope  even after 18 years of disappointments.

All they need is for those responsible for this tragedy to be brave enough to admit to his/her/their involvement in this terrible deed and make their peace with God at the same time.

JAMES KELLY

Ballynahinch, Co Down

Police killing of dog a disgrace

It's outrageous Welsh police think that driving into a dog is an acceptable way to deal with an animal running loose.

This could just as easily have been a frightened human being, or someone mentally ill. These officers need a course in humane animal control if they believe crushing a dog under a vehicle was their best option.

CALUM PROCTOR

By email
Sex Offender David Hall before the walking tour in Antrim with Sunday Life reporter Ciaran Barnes.

A convicted sex offender is running council-backed walking tours through Antrim town centre.

Davy Hall, 46, was convicted a decade ago of indecently assaulting a schoolgirl at a formal.

But that has not stopped him cosying up for photos with unsuspecting Antrim DUP councillor Nigel Kells  who is Junior Minister Emma Pengellys election campaign manager  and who has innocently endorsed the tours on social media.

sacked

Speaking to Sunday Life yesterday, Cllr Kells said: I know Davy, as we go to the same church. I also knew he had been sacked from his job as a teacher, but I didnt know why.

Ive only lived in Antrim eight years.

Hall groped his victim during a dinner dance at a Templepatrick Hotel.

After he appeared in court he was sacked from his job teaching history at Parkhall College and was also booted out of the Ulster Unionist Party and Orange Order.

A history buff, he recently started holding 5-per-head education tours around Antrim during which he points out locations associated with the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion.

Hall told Sunday Life his walks have the full support of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council  a claim that is backed up by the fact they are being promoted as part of its Market in the Square event on March 19.

A number of Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors social media sharing of the tours highlight further political support.

Of course the council know about my background, and it has accepted that Ive moved on, Hall told Sunday Life yesterday.

The incident I was involved in occurred 14 years ago. Ive paid the price.

I lost my job and my career. Im trying my best to move on, he added.

Hall has a number of Saturday morning walking tours planned throughout March.

Writing on Facebook about being invited to take part in the council Market on the Square event he said: Delighted to have been invited by my local council to have my tour marketed as part of this event.

But Antrim residents who tipped Sunday Life off about Halls tours said they are unhappy that he has the endorsement of the local council.
Theres a myth that Sigmund Freud, the famous father of modern psychology, was the first Jew who ever managed to start working out that human beings have a whole subconscious thing going on. Freud started speculating about ego and id and a bunch of other now discredited theories about what was causing emotional and mental issues in people, and voila, he was lauded for the better part of a century for his amazing (yet completely unproven) insights into the human character.

But heres the ironic thing: while the secular-but Jewish Freud got a lot of the credit for putting psychology on the map, authentic Judaism has been teaching people about how to deal with their subconscious inner struggles for centuries.

Pick up pretty any book on Jewish self-development (known as mussar in the original Hebrew) and youll find hundreds of references to the fact that people are created with two distinct, and opposing sides to their personalities. On the one hand, we have whats called the inclination for good, (or the Yetzer HaTov, in Hebrew); and then we have the Yetzer HaRa, aka the Evil Inclination.

In a nutshell, the Evil Inclination berates a person, drags them down, fills them with paranoia, anger, hatred and fear (and whole bunch of other negative emotions, too), and encourages them to do a lot of nasty things - but it always has a rationalization and justification as to why its OK to do all this stuff.

The Yetzer HaRas primary arena of operations is the subconscious mind, and more than two thousand years ago, our Rabbis were already teaching us that the main goal of the evil inclination is to literally kill a person  and unfortunately, it often does a pretty good job.

Just look at all the people who smoke themselves to death, or eat themselves to death, or worry themselves to death, or work themselves to death

By contrast, the inclination for good encourages us to see the good in ourselves and others, to have self-compassion, to accept that were limited human beings, and to strive for self-improvement. It fills us up with positive emotions and thoughts like love, happiness, acceptance (of the self and others), humility and faith.

So thats the basic paradigm were dealing with when it comes to understanding human nature, and its been part and parcel of the orthodox Jewish tradition for millennia, already.

In 1940, the famous mussar authority Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler wrote the following to one of his students:

You asked me about the relationship between the spirit [called the nefesh in Hebrew] and the soul [called the neshama] and the good and evil inclinations. You should know that the spirit of man is his egowhich has both good and bad qualities. Rabbi Dessler then went on to describe how most people are completely clueless that its their spirit / ego thats in the driving seat, and that if theyd only stop for a moment to really contemplate their true intentions and desires, theyd be shocked to discover how murky and unholy they so frequently were.

Rabbi Dessler explains: Whenever the Yetzer HaRa is involved no one can distinguish between good and bad. The only way to do this is by fear of God and constant struggle with the Yetzer HaRa.

But thats not all: Judaism also teaches that there is an additional Evil Inclination that people have to deal with, that takes the form of an external Heavenly angel, or accuser. And this is where things start to get really interesting, because while Judaism teaches that a person is able to get on top of their innate ego, or natural evil inclination (albeit with a huge struggle), the angelic Evil Inclination is a whole different story.

If we go back to the Rabbis who redacted the Gemara, they tell us clearly that if God didnt help us, this angelic Evil Inclination would mash us into the floor every single time.

So far, weve learnt that each of us has an innate inclination for good (aka, the soul) and an innate inclination for evil (aka, the spirit, or life force) that are battling it out inside of us on a daily basis; and that theres also an angelic Evil Inclination that theres no way we can beat, unless we get God involved in the process.

Heres something else that you should know about human psychology: each persons inclination for evil and inclination for good are evenly matched, in order to maintain free choice. That means that if someone is struggling with some hugely unpleasant character traits, habits or emotional difficulties, its only because their capacity for good is actually so enormous!

Can you imagine how different most therapy sessions would be if instead of focusing on all the bad, the emphasis would shift to emphasizing how much potential for good the patient actually has, just waiting to be discovered?

So now, we reach the question of questions: How do we successfully fight off our inclinations for evil, and do our best to put the inclination for good in the driving seat?

Thankfully, the Rabbis also had this covered hundreds of years before Freud was even a gleam in his fathers eye: we need to ask God to help us. And the single best way of doing this is to spend some time talking to God regularly, every single day, in our own words about the issues were facing, and how were feeling, and how were acting and reacting in life.

When we get God involved, He somehow starts helping us to see past all our rationalizations and excuses, to see what actually needs some work and improvement, but in a very gentle, motivating manner.

One of the biggest mistakes psychology makes is that it encourages people to focus on the bad, and the problem, and the flaw, without explaining how to get past it, so they end up stuck with all this newly-uncovered bad and they can get pretty depressed and start to despair about ever really fixing the problem.

Instead of dwelling on the bad, Judaism teaches us that its enough just to recognize there are issues that need to be addressed and worked on, without endlessly analyzing and discussing our problems and flaws. Authentic Jewish psychology says: Focus on the good, and dont keep harping on the so-called bad in yourself and other people.

Thats because our bad characteristics and horrible behavior patterns arent really us  theyre just all the rubbish were getting wrapped up in by our Evil Inclination. Remember that the real us  the real you  is the soul, and its only good.

But the only way we can really release that good is if we connect ourselves firmly to God, and get Him involved in the process, preferably by talking to Him every single day.

Sadly, the secular Freud probably never knew about this authentic, original, and still the best Jewish talking cure for all emotional and mental difficulties. If he did, maybe modern psychology would have fulfilled its touted potential for transforming the world, and healing the human psyche, once and for all.

Rivka Levy is the Founder of the Jewish Emotional Health Institute (JEMI), promoting God-based holistic health techniques. Visit her at: www.talktogod.today .




Nancy Reagan captured a quiet elegance as first lady from 1981 to 1989 and was the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the U.S. She was also the first lady during the time of her husbands time as California governor from 1967 to 1975. She became the most iconic first lady to live at the White House.

Sadly, Reagan passed away in 2016 from congestive heart failure, at 94.

She will join her beloved Ronald at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, who died on June 5, 2004. They were said to have an amazing relationship that spanned over 50 years since they met as actors in 1952 and where married that same year.

Then, Nancy Davis, an actress with 23 movies to her credit, sought out Reagan as she was accused of being a sympathizer for the communists, and was threatened to be blacklisted. Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors Guild and told her it was a mistake since another actress carried the same name. Her timing was great as he just divorces actress Jane Wyman and the rest is history.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama released the following:

We remain grateful for Nancy Reagan's life, thankful for her guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again.

Nancy became on the most influential woman and first lady to take residence in the White House, and is remembered for her Say no, anti-drug advertising campaign that the spilled over into pop culture in 1982 in shows like Diff'rent Strokes.

The success of the campaign also was applauded by schools all over the country that began when a young girl asked her:

Mrs. Reagan, what do you do if somebody offers you drugs? And I said, Well, you just say no. And there it was born. She was also known to be very involved with the presidency, and believed in astrology after her husband was shot. She continued to advocate for children and the war against drugs. To my young friends out there: Life can be great, but not when you can't see it. So, open your eyes to life: to see it in the vivid colors that God gave us as a precious gift to His children, to enjoy life to the fullest, and to make it count. Say yes to your life.

A flair for entertaining at the White House--she was a protector of husband's political affairs ensuring they were carried out and was coined, "The Iron Lady." This she made no apologies. And if that interferes with affairs of state, then so be it. "No first lady need make apologies for looking [out for]our for her husbands personal welfare. The first lady is, first of all, a wife.

Former first lady Barbara Bush said Nancy was devoted to her husband. Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family.

When Ronald died, she worked to protect his legacy and became an advocator for stem cell research to find a cure for Alzheimers.

When people say, You have Alzheimer's,' you have no idea what Alzheimer's is. You know it's not good. You know there's no light at the end of the tunnel. That's the only way you can go. But you really don't know anything about it. And you don't know what to expect.

After the news of her death, a rainbow was over the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library .

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, pictured leaving parliament in December, called an emergency meeting Monday of top intelligence officials after receiving a tip from Pakistan about possible infiltration by 10 suspected terrorists.

Security forces were searching Monday for 10 suspected militants who may have crossed into India via the state of Gujarat that borders Pakistan, which, for the first time officially shared intelligence with its neighbor on possible infiltration.

Besides Gujarat, a terror alert was sounded in Delhi, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka states, after Pakistani intelligence on Saturday suggested that 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) members had crossed the border to launch an attack in India.

Security has been beefed up at key military installations, airports, railway stations and religious shrines across the country, police said. Several teams of the National Security Guard (NSG), Indias elite force, are involved in the operation.

There is no information on the identities of the suspects or their targets, according to P.C. Thakur, Gujarats director general of police.

Every policeman has been armed to his strength and people have been asked to report anything suspicious to avert a possible tragedy, Thakur said.

Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh called an emergency meeting of top officials of the Intelligence Bureau and Indias external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

The tip-off, which is being hailed as an unprecedented action by Pakistan amid stalled bilateral peace talks, followed the discovery of an abandoned boat off Gujarats Koteshwar coast on Friday.

Foreign-secretary level talks aimed at improving long-strained ties between the two rivals were postponed indefinitely in January after an attack at an Indian air force base by suspected Pakistani militants.

New Delhi said it provided crucial evidence to Islamabad that the strike was carried out by the Pakistan-based JeM.

JeM chief Masood Azhar was one of the Pakistani handlers of the Jan. 2 attack on the Pathankot Air Force Station, according to Indian security forces. All six attackers were killed in the three-day assault, which left seven Indian security personnel dead.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs foreign policy adviser, Sartaj Aziz, said recently in a televised interview in India that Pakistan was acting on the leads and Azhar had been in preventive custody since Jan. 15.

Three other JeM operatives were charged last month by Pakistani authorities for involvement in the Pathankot attack.

India has also given its nod to a Pakistani team visiting the base to continue their investigation into the attack.

Exact dates of the arrival of Pakistani investigators will be known next week, according to media reports.

Boost to strained ties

The latest intelligence tip-off, by Pakistans National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, is bound to give a significant boost to bilateral ties, analysts said.

Sharing of intelligence related to a potential terror strike is definitely a positive move that should satisfy India and enable two nations to develop some amount of trust in each other, Srinagar-based political analyst Gul Wani told BenarNews.

The vitiating factor between the relations of two countries is terror, which is affecting both sides. Such intelligence sharing could lead to better understanding between India and Pakistan, Wani said, adding it was high time the two countries realized that terror could not be fought without joint collaboration.

Sameer Patil, a security analyst with the Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House, said the recent action by Pakistan to fight terror had set the stage for talks in the near future.

Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both are scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., for the fourth Nuclear Security Summit, on March 31 to April 1. Patil said he expected talks between the two leaders to take place during that visit.

Pakistan is finally making an attempt to demonstrate to the world community that is serious about addressing Indias concerns on terrorism.

India had made clear that it would not hold talks with Pakistan until it acts sternly against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack. But now, with Pakistan making a few arrests and also sharing intelligence on terror, I think it would enable Modi and Sharif to discuss ways to move forward to combat terrorism, Patil told BenarNews.

But Imtiyaz Ahmad, a New Delhi-based political analyst, was sceptical that the dialogue process would move ahead until Pakistan had arrested and convicted JeM chief Azhar.

Surely, the latest move by Pakistan (to share intelligence) is a good confidence building move, but it wont break the diplomatic stalemate between the two countries, Ahmad told BenarNews.

New Delhi will cautiously respond to this sudden gesture by Islamabad, while continuing to demand action against JeM leaders to resume the stalled dialogue.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Murad Ebrahim, shown here delivering a speech in Tokyo in June 2015, is warning that the Islamic State is seeking a foothold in the Philippines because of Muslim frustration over peace efforts.

The leader of a Philippine militant group is pointing to efforts by the Islamic State (IS) to gain a foothold in his country as a reason for the government to establish an autonomous region for minority Muslims in the south.

Speaking in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Murad Ebrahim called for a political solution to bring peace to the Bangsamoro region of the southern Philippines, according to reports.

Ebrahims comments came 10 days after he met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who then expressed his commitment to peace efforts in the neighboring country.

Razak said he supported efforts by the Philippines and MILF leaders to extend through March 2017 their long-standing ceasefire tied to a 2014 peace deal, the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).

The ceasefires extension followed the recent adjournment of the Philippine congress without passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law, as required by the CAB to establish the autonomous region.

Ebrahim claimed that IS extremist group was using the growing frustration among Muslim groups in the south over the congressional inaction to establish itself in the Philippines, according to media reports.

There have been some efforts of penetration, but they have not succeeded in establishing a stronghold, Ebrahim said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. But now after the non-passage of the (bill), we are quite concerned that they can capitalize on this because the (frustration) of the people in the area is now very strong.

He expressed hope that the next Philippine president who takes office in June would keep pursuing the peace process. President Benigno Aquino III, who led efforts to broker the 2014 peace agreement, cannot seek reelection.

Thousands killed over decades of fighting

Efforts to bring about peace and establish an autonomous home for the Muslim population, which forms a majority in Bangsamoro, are linked to more than 40 years of fighting in the region that has left more than 120,000 dead.

While Najib and Ebrahim were meeting late last month, Philippine security forces battled followers of Indonesian Ustadz Sanusi, a Jemaah Islamiyah member who was killed in the Philippines in 2012. MILF members did not participate in the fighting, which displaced 20,000 people and left at least six combatants on both sides dead.

Ebrahim said MILF leaders wanted the peace efforts to work and were seeking to dissuade IS-allied militants from attacks, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

We cannot completely abandon armed struggle, but we always believe we have to give supremacy, primacy to the peace process because we believe the solution to the problem is still political, Ebrahim said, according to AFP. As long as the peace process has a chance to move forward then we dont want to revert to violence again.
Asylum seekers wait to board trucks as Thai immigration officials (not pictured) escort them to a court in the southern province of Songkhla, March 15, 2014. Thailand that day sentenced dozens of asylum seekers thought to be from Chinas Uyghur minority for illegal entry.

Thai officials on Monday rejected allegations by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) that six Uyghur men were beaten and denied medical treatment at a detention facility in Bangkok.

In this case, we can confirm that it was not true. Because in the past, besides arresting them [Uyghurs] for illegal entry, we focused on giving [them] humanitarian assistance, Deputy governmental spokesman Maj.Gen. Weerachon Sukhontapatipak told BenarNews.

If there is no evidence, they cannot make a blank accusation, he said.

Weerachon was among Thai officials responding to questions about a statement issued Friday by the Munich-based WUC, which expressed alarm at the continued mistreatment of Uyghur refugees in Thai detention facilities and alleged that six Uyghurs were badly beaten by police at a facility in Bangkok on Feb. 29.

We are also deeply concerned that Thai authorities have not allowed for proper access to medical treatment for their injuries, said the organization that advocates rights for ethnic Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that faces repression in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region.

Police Lt. Gen. Nathathorn Prosunthorn, who heads the Immigration Bureau that oversees detention facilities for undocumented immigrants nationwide, labeled the WUCs allegations as false.

There is no such thing, Nathathorn told BenarNews. We have only handful of Uyghurs in Bangkok. Most of them are in the south.

The claimed content on the [WUCs] website was false. Uyghur [detainees] didnt even cause police problems at all, he added.

Nathathorn was referring to a specific allegation from the WUC about the six Uyghur men being beaten up by police after getting into a heated exchange with some officers at the Central Bangkok detention facility.

The group [of Uyghur men] took exception to the fact that Thai officials at the facility had been watching an erotic film in the presence of the detainees, which then led to an argument between the two groups, the WUC said.

Thai police were subsequently called in to calm the situation and reportedly beat the men, one of [whom] sustained serious head injuries, the statement in English added.

It noted that the six men and another 50 Uyghurs had been held at facilities in Bangkok for at least two years after being discovered at a human trafficking camp in southern Thailand.

We remain rightly concerned that this mistreatment and lack of proper access to medical treatment will continue until the group is finally released from these facilities, the WUC went on to say.

It is now the obligation of the Thai government to ensure that the remaining group of Uyghur refugees [is] freed from detention in a timely manner and that they are provided adequate care.

In July 2015, the World Uyghur Congress and rights groups criticized Thailand for forcibly repatriating nearly 100 Uyghurs to China  a move that sparked protests in Turkey, which is home to one of the largest Uyghur communities outside Xinjiang.

The WUC also said then it had obtained direct information from a source on the ground in Thailand who indicated that at least 25 men were also killed trying to resist boarding the plane  an allegation that Bangkok also rejected. But the WUC appeared to have taken down the statement hours after publishing it on its website.
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Media Advisory, March 7, 2016 Contacts: Valerie Love, (510) 274-9713, vlove@biologicaldiversity.org

Susan Hoog, (775) 772-3892, harmonyflowdesign@sbcglobal.net 'Keep It in the Ground' Rally to Target BLM's Oil, Gas Auction in Nevada RENO, Nev. Dozens of climate change activists will stage a Keep It in the Ground rally Tuesday outside the Bureau of Land Managements fossil fuel lease sale at a casino in Reno, Nev., March 8. The bureaus climate auction, as protesters dubbed it, will allow industry to bid on more than 50,000 acres  more than 75 square miles  of publicly owned oil and gas leases in Nevada. These public lands harbor an estimated 486,000 tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution and provide important habitat to sensitive and imperiled species such as the bi-state sage grouse, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, pygmy rabbit, Prebles shrew and at least 22 species of raptors and owls.



Protesters will rally at the iconic Reno arch with signs and a 60-foot Keep It in the Ground banner, then march to the Silver Legacy Resort Casino, where the auction will be held. The rally is part of a rapidly growing national movement calling on President Obama to define his climate legacy by halting new federal fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans  a step that would keep up to 450 billion tons of potential carbon pollution safely in the ground. Similar Keep It in the Ground protests are planned for upcoming auctions in Milwaukee, New Orleans and Cheyenne, Wyo., and have already taken place in Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. Since November protested lease sales have been postponed in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. SPECIAL VISUALS NOTICE: At 8pm Monday, activists will project a large format climate-themed slideshow on the outside of the building of the Silver Legacy Casino, site of Tuesdays auction. What: Keep It in the Ground rally at BLM oil and gas auction.

When: 8 a.m. Tuesday, March 8.

Where: Meet at Reno Arch, group march to Silver Legacy Resort Casino, 407 N. Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada 89501.

Who: Local activists from participating groups including Great Basin Climate Action Network, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Great Basin Resource Watch, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, Rainforest Action Network, 350.org, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Media availability: Protesters will be available for interviews before and after the rally and photos will be made available to the media.

Visuals: Protesters with signs, flags, and a 60-foot-long Keep It in the Ground banner under the iconic Reno arch. Background

Some 67 million acres of U.S. public lands are already leased to dirty fossil fuel industries, an area 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park and containing up to 43 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Nearly one quarter of all U.S. climate pollution already comes from burning fossil fuels from public lands. Remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not been leased to industry contain up to 450 billion additional tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution.



In September more than 400 organizations called on President Obama to end federal fossil fuel leasing. In November, Senators Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (D-Vt.) and others introduced legislation to end new federal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases. Last month the Obama administration placed a moratorium on federal coal leasing while the Department of the Interior studies its impacts on taxpayers and the planet. Since November 2015, in response to protests, the BLM has postponed oil and gas leasing auctions in Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.



Download the September Keep It in the Ground letter to President Obama.



Download Grounded: The Presidents Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground (this report details the legal authorities with which a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases).



Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S. Federal Fossil Fuels (this report quantifies the volume and potential greenhouse gas emissions of remaining federal fossil fuels).



Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet.



Download Public Lands, Private Profits (this report details the corporations profiting from climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction on public lands).



Download WildEarth Guardians formal petition calling on the Department of the Interior to study for the first time ever the climate impacts of the federal oil and gas leasing program and to place a moratorium on new leasing until completed that study is completed.
Node Africa is currently the most ambitious start-up in Kenya, even though it was barely two months old when it officially launched on January 28, 2016.

Image via Biz4Afrika

The firm was founded in December 2015 and it has so far landed several big clients who seem well satisfied with its services.

The question many would ask the co-founders, Phares Kariuki and Brian Mutia, is how they managed to achieve such a huge milestone within such a short time.

For starters, Node Africa is a cloud infrastructure services firm, basically positioned to handle remote data storage for other firms, according to Kariuki, who doubles as the chief executive.

He said they ventured into the business with a capital base of Ksh1 million, while much of the boost came from a partnership with VMware, an American company that provides cloud and virtualisation software and services.

Kariuki said Microsoft is also supporting them through its cloud computing platform called Azure and the productivity software, Office 365.

I don't want to take credit for starting Node Africa in six weeks. Its the tech community that achieved this milestone. There was a lot of goodwill and we got everything we needed without hassle, he said in an interview during the colorful launch in Nairobi.

The goodwill simplified the entire process, he added.

The list of clients that Node Africa is doing business with currently includes among others WhatsUPAfrica, PesaPal, Strathmore University, and Tarpo Tents.

Kariuki said Node Africa has six employees and their aim is to turn the firm into a cloud computing powerhouse this year. This will involve creating more awareness about cloud computing and offering the services at affordable rates. He said their charges range between Ksh1000 and Ksh100,000, depending on the needs of the client.

Kariuki believes that start-up success is not about the amount of money or the number of investors who are willing to invest, but rather the appeal and relevance of the product on offer.

For instance, at Node Africa, we are much more focused on innovation in order to improve our product. We believe this is what will give us the ultimate success, he said.

And what is Node Africa's focus in 2016?

Am very clear on a few things now. First, start-ups have to grow the talent internally. So we will recruit more young people, grow them and train them. But one of the things I have set out very clearly for the organisation is that everyone who joins us has to abide by our way of working. There is no one who is irreplaceable, even me, Kariuki said.

Register your business in the Biz4Afrika platform for more useful tips that will enhance your competitiveness and performance in business.
Following the ECCO International Communication Network international survey, conducted last year to determine the role of journalists within the current changing media landscape, Reputation Matters, the South African member of the ECCO network, asked South African journalists for their viewpoint on the future of journalism in the country.

Pixabay

The rapid pace of technological innovation is the driving force behind the ever-evolving media landscape, especially following the rise of the internet. The 2015 survey explored the effect of this technological change on media and what journalists believe the future will look like.

The survey was targeted mainly at editors, freelancers or writers and heads of departments at South African media outlets. The opinions of additional respondents such as publication owners, content managers, producers, radio hosts, programme managers and social media managers were also included in the study. The survey asked over 200 South African media industry professionals their opinion on the matter.

The study indicates that the changing media landscape contributes toward an increased workload for journalists, more budget cuts, lower job security within the industry and less time available to conduct research. Daily and weekly newspapers are expected to decline strongly, while tabloids and magazines share a similar fate. Despite the constant change, traditional television and radio should remain stable. In contrast to the other media platforms, 83% of the respondents expect a dramatic increase in the use of online platforms (blogs, social media, news portals and Internet broadcast media).



With the resulting decrease in print media sales, media professionals expect revenue to come from online subscriptions and advertising, as well as sponsorship. Respondents showed little confidence in paywalls (pay-per-article), crowdfunding or public funding revenue models. To address the financial issue, some media professionals suggested that media houses should diversify their product offering (to support the new digital generation) or generate income streams internationally. Collaboration is a suggested solution by offering consumers bundled subscriptions to various media outlets.

We see that most media professionals agree that turning to blogging is an option, as many already have blogs, but they are not convinced that it would be a viable or sustainable income stream  readers would not want to pay for content when so much is already free online, says Regine le Roux, md of Reputation Matters. It also takes time to establish a blog and for its popularity to grow.

Several media professionals indicated that they are concerned about the standard of journalism and dropping levels of credibility as anyone and everyone becomes an expert journalist  one respondent went as far as to say, The blogspace is crowded with morons.

The study shows that the media still value PR agencies and the news tips and press releases that they offer. Just over half of the respondents (52.3%) indicated that the role of PR agencies have become a lot more important over the last five years. With that said, 71% of the respondents indicated that they still rely a lot more on personal contacts and that one-on-one engagement has grown in importance.

Most of the respondents write for both online and print media and branch into radio and television, podcasts, newsletters, social media, blogs and quarterly print editions of online content etc. Some commented that one can no longer view newspapers and magazines as a print medium with online content but rather that it is the other way around.

The advent of social media has changed the media landscape largely because of its immediacy. Anyone using social media becomes a daily news reporter. Because of this, publishing houses will need to investigate different business models, even different types of reporting, to adapt to the online market.

It is obvious that the online space presents not only challenges to traditional print media, but also great opportunities. The media that adapts the best in terms of its business model and product offering will be the ones that thrive, concludes le Roux.
Enduring empowerment company Brimstone Investment has sewn up profits at its 100%-owned clothing manufacturing subsidiary House of Monatic (HoM), with the help of a fashion retailing thrust.

Mustaq BreyImage source: BDlive

At an investment presentation last week, CEO Mustaq Brey disclosed HoM had increased revenue 17% to R214m, with net profit coming in at R6.4m. He said HoM  which manufactures brands such as Carducci and CSquared  had increased its share of the corporate wear and retail segments.

Although investors attending the presentation agreed that HoMs achievement was noteworthy in a local clothing manufacturing sector in which margins had been torn to shreds by cheap imports, they did say that HoM was one of Brimstones peripheral investments.

Brimstones intrinsic value table places a book value of only R45m on HoM, which is also understood to hold valuable industrial properties.

This pales in comparison to the companys main investments such as fishing conglomerate Oceana (R2bn) and Life Healthcare (R1.5bn).

But HoM was one of Brimstones first investments after its formation in the mid-90s. It was acquired from the late Doug de Jagers Lenco Holdings.

Brey said HoMs retail initiative  selling clothing through factory shops, show rooms and CSquared boutiques  was gaining traction.

He said there were now five boutiques in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, with plans to roll out another two this year, including at the Mall of Africa.

Brey discounted suggestions that Brimstone could drive a fully fledged retail rollout at HoM. "Basically, we have been short of orders from major retailers  they simply are not ordering enough from us. So, we use our capacity to supply our own stores."

He said retail sales now represented 15% of turnover.

Market watchers have pointed out that HoMs retail ploy is not dissimilar to a successful tactic adopted in the 1990s by Rex Trueform (Rextru), a fashion retailer that has Brimstone as a 22% shareholder. For decades, Rextru was focused on clothing manufacturing, before launching the Queenspark fashion chain, which is now the main profit driver at the company.

However, any notions that Brimstone could usher HoMs retail endeavours closer to Rextru seem unlikely.

Brimstones recent investment presentation made it clear the shareholding relationship with Rextru was a tense one.

Brimstone chairman Fred Robertson voiced considerable displeasure at Rextru  including arguing that the companys nonexecutive chairman Michael Krawitz was grossly overpaid.

Robertson said Brimstones influence as a major shareholder was negated by Rextrus "double pyramid" structure, involving N-shares and holding company African & Overseas Enterprises.

"Weve tried to rock the boat, but the pyramid is solid."

Robertson added that sometimes Brimstone was loathe to complain about the frustrating situation at Rextru. "We worry the JSE will delist Rextru, and then the company will be hidden away."

Last week, Rextru reported that headline earnings for the six months ended-December improved 48% to 65.3c per share.
If you have been eyeing a new luxury car, even though yours is barely a year old, or yet another pair of imported shoes, give yourself a break. You may be displaying the worst of consumerist excess, but according to psychologists, it's what humans are programmed to do: to consume as much as we can, and to display our most attractive traits and acquisitions to gain prestige and impress a mate.

The marketing industry tapped into this from the start, says evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller in the documentary Consumed: Inside the Belly of the Beast (2011). The problem is that today, lured by irresistible products and brands, many people believe that flaunting their purchases can compensate for a perceived lack of social status, intelligence, creative talent or sense of humour.

The difference between humans and animals is that we can change our ideology; were a flexible species. And there is a growing consensus worldwide that our obsession with conspicuous consumption is a zero-sum game.

Behavioural scientist Warren Hern says our consumption is acting like a cancer.

"Ultimately, cancer kills the organism that supports it." The average Briton, it is believed, consumes as much as if there were ther resources of three planets were available.

Humans continuous need to create and grow has led to tremendous advancement, but evolutionary theorists interviewed for the documentary fear there has been a simultaneous detachment from the environment. There is a backlash against this, though; many people are questioning where the products they buy come from, and whether they really need something before they buy it. And although globalisation has led to more buyers, it has also spread the anticonsumerist cause, creating a loose conglomeration of people who are trying to slow the environmental damage.

Trend expert and founder of Flux Trends, Dion Chang, says a tipping point was reached after the 2008 economic meltdown, when people suffered enormous loss.

As they witnessed the devastation, he says, "peoples empathy chips were activated".

This led to the birth of the "sharing economy", a proliferation of services such as AirBnB, in which people offer travellers accommodation in their homes, and Locomute, a car-sharing network. Uber is another service sparked by the drive to make transport available to everyone.

The move to anticonsumerism is not only about the economy  high net worth individuals are just as likely to get on board, says Chang. "There is an awareness to gather memories, not stuff."

In SA, with its dual economy, the trend manifests a little differently. While an emerging middle class still wants to own a car, home and other high-value possessions, there is a growing preference for durable goods made in a sustainable way.

For these consumers, disposable fashion that changes every season is a no-no, says Chang. "These consumers are buying more expensive, considered pieces. This has also seen the growth of the artisanal movement in which people prefer hand-made, quality goods that will not soon fall apart."

They are also supporting domestically made goods as many are aware the flight of manufacturing to cheaper locations has led to huge job losses.

Downscaling is another growing trend  a lock-up-and-go home enables a more mobile, less complicated and economical life while leaving a smaller ecological footprint. Inside these homes, you are more likely to find technology that enables the occupants to download or stream their music, rather than racks of CDs, and Kindles instead of shelves of books.

Chang says that for retailers, this means there is disruption on the horizon. If your business model is built on producing and selling at volume, how do companies embrace the trend towards lower consumption and remain profitable? In fashion, seasonality may go, and events like Fashion Week will have to be rethought. As manufacturers create more durable products, service providers may change their model to maintain those items rather than replace them. Already, there are schemes in terms of which a customer can bring back a used item as a trade-in on a new one. The used item, such as a bed, is given to charity as part of the companys social investment.

The joy of buying a new blingy thing can be shortlived and buyers remorse can set in quickly. With more awareness that a selfish purchase can lead to social consequences, the focus is shifting from the short to the long term, say commentators in Consumed.

Individuals can play a huge role but, says Tim Cooper, professor of Consumption and Sustainable Design at Nottingham Trent University, "the real change will be made by far-sighted industry people". Their challenge, says designer Jonathan Chapman, will be "to make products that have a sustainable and durable set of values so we dont fall out of love with them so quickly".

British designer Tom Cridland has tapped right into the zeitgeist, bringing to market his "30-year sweatshirt" that he undertakes to repair for its lifetime. He is now seeking 50,000 through crowdfunding so he can start production with master cotton-clothing manufacturers in Portugal.

"As I grew more familiar with the clothing industry, I started to hear the term built-in obsolescence in conversation," Cridland says. "I didnt want my trousers to have it and it started me thinking that it would be worthwhile to really make a point that clothing should be durable."

Cape Town-based Zaid Philanders company, I Scream & Red, turns discarded vehicle seatbelts, fabric samples and upholstery into fashionable bags.

The business, which is making a name for itself at design shows and trade fairs, trains and equips its employees with compact sewing workstations in their homes. They can use the equipment to build their own businesses and, as many of them are physically challenged, working from home suits them.

British businesswoman Mary Jardine, is selling her range of handbags  which are super-stylish but do not bear any ostentatious branding  to the likes of Naomi Watts, Emma Watson and Keira Knightley.

For ideas on durable products, go to Buymeonce.com, whose mission is to "find and promote products that dont break the bank, dont break the planet  that dont break at all!" Some of their featured products are available in SA and include Le Creuset pots, Zippo lighters and Dr Martens footwear with the "For Life" label.

In this brave new age, your most fashionable status symbol is probably those tatty jeans you bought ages ago. Every rip and stain on them has a story to tell. Somehow, the commercially ripped ones dont cut it.
Nigeria is to break up its state-run oil and gas firm into 30 separate companies as part of wider plans to overhaul the corruption-ridden operation, the country's junior oil minister announced.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told an energy conference in Abuja, that the move was designed to make the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) more efficient.

Unbundling state assets

"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.

Uprooting corruption

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) 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.
Global engineering and project management company, DRA Group, showed its commitment to green by donating a shipping container used as part of its exhibition stand at the 2016 Mining Indaba to a social development project in Langa.

The container was repurposed as the central office-cum-information and reception area for iKhaya leLanga, a project which is transforming the disadvantaged community in the Cape Town township.

Tourism destination

Non-profit organisation, Ikhaya leLanga, which operates from an abandoned old primary school, is pursuing an innovative model of turning the area into a commercially viable tourism destination. The project is the brainchild of British-born social entrepreneur, Tony Elvin, who is helping transform the area into a creative hub to attract visitors.

Street art competition

The container was handed over on 20 February 2016 to mark the culmination of a week-long DRA Global Langa Quarter Street Art competition, which featured 17 street artists who were selected by a curatorial panel to paint a section of the wall outside the Langa Stadium.

Renowned French street artist, Jace, from Reunion Island judged the competition, supported by a public vote, and also participated in the five-day art event by painting the container that DRA donated.

Street artist, Jace, at work

CSR initiative

DRA connected with the Ikhaya leLanga initiative as part of its corporate social responsibility focus on enterprise development.

The Mining Indaba not only gave DRA an opportunity to ensure that some of its exhibition infrastructure is up-cycled; we are also moving away from just donation-based causes and focusing some of our CSR on empowering people to empower themselves. Helping develop businesses and create jobs is both empowering and sustainable, explains Rob Welsh of DRAs Cape Town office.

The initiative also aligns with DRAs philosophy of discovering extraordinary possibilities in providing engineering solutions for its clients. In particular, DRA was inspired by the iKhaya projects vision of both creating jobs and bringing to life the areas fascinating history.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has launched the Missing Middle campaign to support students who are too rich to qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), but too poor to afford fees and qualify for commercial loans.

The initiative - which aims to raise at least R60m by the end of this year - kicked off with a high profile event in Johannesburg where R10m was generated.

Nearly R31m had already been raised by 28 February, including a personal donation of R200,000 by UJ vice-chancellor, Professor Ihron Rensburg, as well as R100,000 that has been pledged by the university's Students Advisory Council. The executive deans of faculties at the university have also jointly pledged R550,000 to the fund.

Our job as universities is the empowerment of the next generation of leaders for the South African economy, society and governance through academic study leading to concrete, sought-after qualifications, Prof Rensburg said.

Funding challenges

"While the #feesmustfall campaign last year successfully highlighted the funding challenges facing all South African universities, we are acutely aware that we have a particular duty to thousands of our students who no longer qualify for government support via NSFAS, but whose families cannot afford to put them through university. It is this 'missing middle' that UJ aims to support through the campaign.

About 5,000 students at UJ are currently classified as part of the 'Missing Middle' - almost all of whom have been assisted by the university, which has paid their initial payment for the 2016 academic year. However, these students still require support for the balance of their fees, books, and other living needs.

The UJ Missing Middle campaign aims to cover the tuition fee portion of the full years costs. The average total cost of a year's study at UJ currently stands at R85,000 - including tuition and residence fees, books and a living allowance.
The South African Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, has signed the Host Country Agreement for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The conference will be held in South Africa from 24 September to 5 October 2016.

Molewa signed the agreement with the secretary-general of CITES, John Scanlon, on the margins of an international conference on wildlife crime in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

Scanlon described South Africa as a highly appropriate location given the frontline wildlife challenges and opportunities being tackled on the continent. Africa is home to a vast array of CITES-listed species and South Africa is globally recognised for the Big Five. CITES Parties and observers look forward to convening in South Africa for the World Wildlife Conference."

Illicit wildlife trafficking

At COP17 Parties will collectively evaluate the progress made since 2013, and take decisions on what additional measures are needed to end illicit wildlife trafficking. It will also consider a number of proposals to bring additional species under CITES trade controls, as well as tackle issues concerning livelihoods, and the review of significant trade, traceability, and the effectiveness of CITES implementation, amongst other things.

The Host Country Agreement signing coincided with the release of the official COP17 logo. The logo is an iconic image of the African white rhinoceros. The rhino's body comprises the outlines of a number of species of endangered plants and animals from the African continent, such as the pangolin, cycad, African aloe and African lion.

"The choice of a rhino as the dominant image in the logo for COP17 is also to draw attention to the challenges South Africa and other African range states face as a result of poaching," said Molewa. "This logo is furthermore testament to the rich tapestry of biodiversity for which our country is known globally."

Human silhouettes

The incorporation of human silhouettes emphasises the crucial role people play in species conservation. The colours of the logo draw inspiration from the diverse hues of the African seasons. The rhino's heart, in the shape of the African continent, symbolises the idea that the African continent is the wellspring of life.

"The COP17 logo reminds all of us of the interconnectivity between different species, and of the fragile, complex relationships between humankind and our stewardship of our natural resources. South Africa looks forward to hosting this important gathering, where we will chart the course for a new era in species conservation," Molewa said.
Tracker's Men in the Making programme continues to gain momentum and celebrate the success stories it has created over the past few years.

The joint initiative by Tracker and the SABC aims to empower and develop teenage boys by introducing them to positive role models, giving them career guidance and exposing them to the working world.

Supported and endorsed by the Department of Basic Education, the programme is designed to be more than just a career day - the main objectives are to help teenage boys from Gr 10-12 understand the value of education, challenge them to overcome their obstacles and to encourage them to strive to become productive adult citizens in our country.

In its inaugural year the campaign reached 400 students through 35 companies. Today, more than 8,300 young mens lives have been touched by many of our countrys well-known leaders and over 680 corporate participants the likes of which include MTN, Rand Merchant Bank, First National Bank, BDO, Hollard, Mi-Way, Department of Energy, Transnet and AFGRI.

Access to mentors

According to Nolwandle Ntshiza, CSI manager at Tracker, the Men in the Making programme hopes to help raise responsible young men by providing access to role models, mentors and skills development. Tracker realises that it takes a village to raise a child and this is why we encourage other companies to join the Men in the Making campaign. Working with our partners the SABC, the Department of Basic Education and numerous corporates we are able to provide an impactful and sustainable programme, said Ntshiza.

Ntshiza is optimistic about the future of this campaign. The growth that this programme has shown since inception is phenomenal and we are honoured to be a part of something that has a sustainable and material impact on specific boy children. Were able to show them that through education and dedication opportunities will arise for them to create different lives and better futures for themselves with South Africa being the eventual benefactor.

The SABC is proud to have partnered with Tracker in developing an initiative that seeks to build young men that come from various walks of life via the Men in the Making initiative and firmly believes that it is about time that the nation also considers boy children as important to nurture as girl children. It will be half the battle won in trying to level the playing field for our boys and girls as the future leaders of our country and the world, said the SABC group executive for Corporate Affairs, Sully Motsweni.
We are at the beginning of 2016 caught in a fearful gridlock of strategic contradictions.

On the one hand we are in one of the tighter economic contractions in recent history, characterised by some of the lowest growth rates in modern times with the general scent of austerity accompanying most national budget policies - around the world.

Much of the global economic woes are laid at the doorstep of Chinas declining growth rate, the lower prediction, from The Conference Board of which is 3.7% in their Global Economic Outlook 2016 (the IMF forecast is 6.3%). Of course in the same report, the USA is described 'a bright spot in a weak global economy' with a predicted growth rate of 2%.

The general commentary points to an increased Sino-consumption pattern as a core remedy to the global economy. This of course is a vicious circle. Chinas consumption patterns depends intimately on its earnings from exports. Exports to exactly those countries that can no longer afford these Chinese exports as their own economy is in decline because of lower Sino consumption trends. The chicken is not getting enough nutrition to lay the egg to grow into the next chicken. On both sides of the import/export divide.

Further, the added conundrum is also the primary contradiction. The World Economic Forum cites the failure of adaptation and mitigation measures to global climate change as the number one risk to the global economy in 2016. This supersedes last years number one risk, namely, water crisis and comes on the back of a lukewarm result at COP 21, in Paris in December 2015.

Fundamental contradiction

Core to any adaptation and mitigation strategy is a radical shift to lower consumption patterns from local to global levels. Herein lies the fundamental contradiction. If the touted solution of increased Chinese and concomitant global buying patterns as the fundamental remedy to the current economic crisis is realised, then this must mean two steps backward for sustainable development and the global climate change agenda.

And yet these conversations occur rampantly in the media as if they have no relationship at all, and sometimes even by the same commentators. If ever we needed innovation and creativity, this is that time.

This conundrum is mirrored in the water sector, and perhaps water can pave the way with an innovative strategy. South Africas ability to meet the entirety of its national water and sanitation objectives, including the sustainable development goals, requires a significant quantum of new investment in both infrastructure and more rigorous operations and maintenance regimes. The traditional model of increased sales to realise sufficient funds for these interventions, ala the global economy, is clearly contrary to the overall objective of sustained and predictable water security.

In fact, many of the solutions we have been punting in South Africa, from an ability to deal decisively with leaks and non-revenue water to large scale adoption of low flush and dry new sanitation to more efficient irrigation methods and practice to more efficient water use in industry and mining all point to lower sales volumes. But, this is on the back of an increased recognition of value.

Three pillars

The key to financial sustainability in the water sector in a sustainable development paradigm rest on three important pillars. The first is water being priced in relation to its value and in line with use efficiency. High efficiency use must be incentivised and low efficiency use must be penalised - at all levels, in all use sectors. The second is that operations and maintenance optimisation must be a legitimate component of the infrastructure budget. The third is an expansion of capability and opportunity to radically increase the size of the water resources team.

It is time to open up the discussion on the sustainability of the model of the state as the sole water service provider. The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, has been clear that this is not the same as privatisation and Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan in the 2016 budget speech, has opened the doors to innovative models.

We must use them. This is not only about increasing the funding pool for water investments, but can also genuinely increase the size of the South African water team in a manner that guarantees our water security into the future to stimulate and enable the growth we vie for.

This water security must be achieved in a manner that ensures a realisation of the constitutional imperative of meeting the basic water and sanitation needs in a reliable and dignified manner for all who call South Africa home.
The expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) is currently under way.

The CTICC East, a R832m jointly funded project by the CTICC, City of Cape Town and Western Cape government, is aimed to increase the global competitiveness of Cape Town as a premier world-class meetings and events destination.

We recognise that economic sustainability is only possible through a willingness to continually invest back into our product offering and infrastructure," said Julie-May Ellingson, CEO at the CTICC. "Over the past few years the CTICC has turned away hundreds of potential business opportunities. This expansion will allow us to accommodate these events.

Ellingson emphasised the significant contribution that CTICC has already made to the local economy with over 91,000 direct and indirect jobs which have been created to date. Since inception, the CTICC has made a cumulative contribution of R28.8bn to South Africas gross domestic product and R25.6bn to the gross geographic product of the Western Cape.

Exhibition capacity

The expansion will double the existing exhibition capacity by adding 10,000m2 of multi-purpose conference and exhibition space and 3,000m2 of formal and informal meeting space. The underground tunnel will connect the CTICC West and East, allowing for delegates and guests to move seamlessly between the two buildings.

With 60% of the construction already completed, the CTICC is confidently moving towards the practical completion at the end of 2016, with commissioning of the building taking place between November 2016 and February 2017. The CTICC expansion will officially open in March 2017.

The expansion enables the CTICC to host concurrent events simultaneously, increasing the enviable ability of already hosting the highest number of international association events in Africa. As a result of the expansion, the CTICC was able to secure the World Ophthalmology Congress, which will see the CTICC West and East simultaneously occupied by 15,000 delegates in 2020.

Our strategy is to increase capacity in to order meet CTICCs growing list of clients who want to expand their events into both buildings and other clients who we will now be able to accommodate, concluded Ellingson.
Uber, operating in 371 cities across 66 countries and 6 continents, has become a household name. Except for the benefits it offers locals in getting around safely and timely, it is a great option for tourists travelling to South African cities. We spoke to Alon Lits, general manager, sub-Saharan Africa about the Uber benefits tourists can enjoy.

Alon Lits

Why should tourists use Uber and not another taxi service?

Alon Lits: Visitors can relax because they know that a safe, reliable and affordable ride is available when they land in a new city. Uber takes the stress out of travel with a familiar, easy to use service with a standard electronic payment option.

Would you say Uber is especially convenient for international visitors?

Lits: Uber helps people get a ride at the push of a button - theres no waiting on the street or walking through unfamiliar neighbourhoods to find transport. Its the most convenient way to get a safe, reliable and affordable ride - the app detects your location, tells you about your driver in advance, and means you can pay without using cash so it is easy and safer for both riders and drivers.

Drivers undergo rigorous screening, including background and driving history checks before they can join the Uber platform. Passengers rate their driver and drivers rate their passengers through the app to ensure quality and a respectful environment for everyone.

Especially in a country like South Africa, safety is an important issue. Getting into a car with a stranger is a risk. What does Uber do to ensure the safety and security of its customers?

Lits: Uber is a safe, reliable, affordable and convenient way to get from A to B. Our technology makes it possible to focus on safety for riders and drivers before, during, and after every trip in ways that have never been possible before. Of course, no means of transportation can ever be 100 percent safe because accidents and incidents will always happen. But were working our hardest to ensure that these are kept to an absolute minimum - including through new technology, increased investments in customer support and using the advice of our independent Safety Advisory Board.

South Africas business travel industry is growing exponentially? What does Uber offer business travellers to make their transport easy and reliable?

Lits: Uber for Business is a travel management platform that helps get your team wherever they need to go. Its easy to setup and maintain with these great features:

 Centralised billing: one payment source linked to all employees

 Team management: complete control over who is riding

 Increased transparency: see how your employees travel in a new light

 Seamless travel: the same Uber you know and love

 Learn more on the website

Any tips for Uber users, local and international, for when they are travelling in South Africa?

Lits: Visitors will need access to data or wifi hot spots. Once connected, visitors can relax because they know that a safe, reliable and affordable ride is available when they land in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Uber takes the stress out of travel with a familiar, easy to use service with a standard electronic payment option.

We suggest local and international travellers visit some of these must see destinations that are uniquely South African. In Johannesburg travel to Soweto to see iconic museums like the Hector Pieterson Museum and the Soweto Towers (bungee if you dare). In Cape Town you cannot miss a trip up Table Mountain and visit the penguins at Boulders Beach. When in Durban visit uShaka Marine World and when going to PE stop in at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum.

With an eye on tourism to help create jobs and grow the economy, how will Uber contribute to this in the tourism space?

Lits: Uber has enabled over 4,000 work opportunities since launching in South Africa and globally Uber has pledged to create 1 million jobs for women by 2020. Tapping into the international market will help to increase demand and, therefore, work opportunities for more driver-partners.

What is your response to other taxi services saying that Uber is negatively impacting on their business?

Lits: Our technology is open and pro-choice and we are keen to offer it to a broad number of taxi drivers to boost their occupancy rates and chances for profit. In fact many taxi drivers are already using our technology to boost their incomes and we would welcome more who wish to join their colleagues.

Uber has been engaging with taxi associations since last year to find a way that we can partner with them. We do not feel that it should be about Uber or Taxi but rather Uber and Taxi. We hope tourists, business travellers and residents alike can enjoy a safe, affordable, hassle-free time travelling whichever way they choose to get around South Africa.

Uber has recently undergone a massive make-over. How has the response been?

Lits: We've launched a new brand that better reflects Uber today. Weve cut the curls from our logo and made the font a bit bolder, though weve kept the grid as well as the black letters and white framing. Weve replaced the U-shaped app badge with new colourful/patterned icons, as well as over 65 different colour and pattern palettes for each country we serve.

The new app icon comes from a new way of thinking about app icons for the Uber family of apps. At the centre of the app icon is the Bit - the mark of our technology. It is contained within a geometric shape that denotes the product (the circle for riders, the hexagon for driver-partners). Underneath lies a pattern and colour, which represents the atoms we serve in every country (i.e. people, cities and cultures).

In terms of the app, there will be one, new app icon/launcher. When it loads (i.e. before you get to the map where you can book a car) there will be unique patterns and colours for the US, India, and China - and a global version of the patterns and colours for everyone else. Over time, we will localise these. For drivers, there is one global icon with consistent patterns and colours where drivers are based.

Alon Lits joined Uber as its first general manager in Africa in August 2013. Lits began his career in the leveraged finance division of Investec Bank Limited, where he provided debt and preference share financing solutions to public and private companies in South Africa, as well as Africa's largest private equity funds. Before joining Uber, Alon interned with the emerging market focused private equity fund, LeapFrog Investments, focusing on investment opportunities throughout Africa. He holds an MBA from INSEAD where he was part of the leadership teams of both the Private Equity and Africa Clubs.
Aimed at reviewing what has been done to combat seasonality in tourism in Cape Town as well as what can be done moving forward, Cape Town Tourism participated in a challenging industry discussion which included a remarkable three tiers of government seeking to build the economy in this sector.

A lively panel discussion highlighted the importance of building on what already exists and learning from what has worked in the past. Key drivers mentioned included domestic tourism initiatives, tapping into events, boosting business tourism, Joint Marketing Agreements with travel trade and safe-guarding our brand narrative and reputation in international markets.

A review of what has been done to combat seasonality was presented by Enver Duminy, CEO at Cape Town Tourism and chairperson of the Local Organising Committee for Seasonality, as well as Tim Harris, CEO at Wesgro.

Comments from the pannel

Industry sector input was invited with questions from the floor and put to the panel. Some of the resulting responses and comments included:

Ministry of Economic Opportunities MEC - Alan Winde: Collaborative solutions

We need to collaborate with all stakeholders including all organisations from tourism, related industries such as winemakers and in all tiers of government to find solutions. We must ensure that were continually putting out a good message to leverage our brand that is Cape Town. One way of doing this is for organisations to generate more events, as the niche market is important for the economy.

Chairman of Cape Town Tourism  Enver Mally: Build on local opportunities

Local experiences can be grown to become attractive to national and then the international market. The Cape Town Cycle Tour wasnt created to attract international visitors, but it has developed an international reputation over time. What experiences can we create for locals to enjoy that could grow in stature in the same way?

CEO of SAACI  Adriaan Liebetrau: Exploit the business tourism segment

Cape Town is already the number one city for business events. Opportunities exist to make more out of conferences as opportunities to offer leisure activities to business travelers. Conference delegates are paid for by their companies to be there, and up to 40% of those delegates return within five years for holidays; we need to offer more incentives to this captive market.

Chairman of FEDHASA Cape  Rob Kucera: Realistic expectations

We must keep chipping away at the international markets, but also we have to be realistic  bearing in mind that were competing against destinations like Barcelona and London, for us its winter, but its summer in Europe. We need to provide more direct flights and packages that appeal to markets such as the UAE.

Chairman of SATSA Western Cape  Collin Thaver

In markets such as the UAE there are challenges that exist when marketing, for example, Ramadan moves constantly and expats in the UAE only get two weeks leave so they usually go home to their families. However, we find that opportunities exist to incentivise the market, as most of the financial year ends in Dubai happen to be in April and June, so new budgets kick in as we enter our winter period.

Duminy says We constantly strive to spread the message that Cape Town is an ideal destination to visit 365 days a year. After years of combatting seasonality as individual organisations, the time has come to collaborate, to inspect what opportunities and offerings exist and to test those. It is encouraging to see that, as stakeholders, we clearly have the will, creativity and resources to make a difference as we pay attention to all of the details that add up to the big challenge of seasonality in tourism in Cape Town."
Ros Atkins has hosted coverage of many major stories around the world for BBC News, including the death of Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama's first election victory and inauguration, the football World Cups in Germany and South Africa, the Charles Taylor verdict, the London Olympic Games and Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

He has also hosted from an array of locations, including an informal settlement in Soweto, a hospice in London, a prison in Indianapolis, a bookshop in Tel Aviv, a Nazi exhibition in Berlin, a maternity ward in Lagos and a classroom in Tanzania.

I had the pleasure of chatting to him at the IAB Digital Summit last week on the topic of his presentation: Authenticity in digital publishing

1. You spoke at the IAB Digital Summit about authenticity in digital publishing. Elaborate a little on exactly what this means.

Atkins: Theres a long-term thing and a short-term thing at play here. The long-term thing is that for as long as media has been around, the people who most successfully communicate are the ones the audience can tell are being themselves and are being true to their journalism, to their ethics, to the brand they may represent. People who try and distort that tend not to be seen as trustworthy communicators. That principle existed long before the internet came along. With the internet, the digital arena is now everyones arena. When Im on the TV, the BBC is in complete control of that environment. When Im on the radio, the same. When Im online, the reverse is true. We are not in control to any degree  we can have control on our website, but if we go onto Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or wherever else it might be, that is someone elses arena where everyone exists. If you arent authentic when everyone else is trying to be, people are going to suss it out  theyre not going to trust you, theyre not going to want to hear from you because theyll be aware that youre trying to pull a manoeuvre of some form and they are much, much more likely to respond to a journalist if they feel that what they are getting is what theyd get if they met you. Id always measure my success as a broadcaster and a journalist by how similar I seem on the radio, TV or online to how I am when people meet me.

2. As a regular visitor to South Africa, whats your view on our authenticity of social media?

Atkins: Im not sure its any different here than it is in any other country. Some people use it, the majority dont. I think we can easily lose sight of the fact that Twitter, for instance, is very popular for a minority of people, whether it is for South Africa or for the UK, but the majority of people dont use it at all. That said, I think social media can offer authentic insights into how people feel. That doesnt mean we can treat it as a scientific survey of opinion, but I use social media for clues to help me understand what people think, why they do what they do and why they believe what they believe. Social media is a very effective way for people to share their individual experiences and for a journalist I think there are lots of clues there that lead you to people, events and beliefs to help you understand every issue youre reporting on.

3. What is your view of the vitriol so often witnessed on Twitter?

Atkins: Clearly some people arent very pleasant when they get to the pub. When they are on Twitter, the anonymity of being online and the fact that its easy to be rude to someone youre not sitting face to face with means people really feel able to offload. But  and thats a very big but  just because some people are very angry and think its appropriate to communicate that anger in vulgar terms directly to individuals, doesnt mean that were not seeing sincere and authentic expressions of passion, whether it is anger, sadness, happiness, or enthusiasm, and we cant wish this development away. Social media is real and very much part of peoples lives, and peoples online emotions and peoples online identity is increasingly a core part of their overall identity.

Interesting times. Click through to our IAB Digital Summit & Bookmark Awards special section for more on all things digital.
Fashion retailer Rex Trueform (Rextru), one of the more conservative family-controlled companies on the JSE, has made a move to market its wares online.

At the weekend, Rextru disclosed it was selling its fashion lines through the Zando website. CEO Catherine Radowsky said the move was part of the companys strategy towards servicing a larger customer base.

"It is showing signs of potential," she said.

Rextru trades mainly through its Queenspark chain, which increased turnover 6.5% to R286m.

Gross profit margins shifted up to 55% (previously 54.8%), which pushed Rextrus operating profit up 7.4% to R14.9m.

Looking ahead, Radowksy said the clothing retail market was expected to remain under pressure.

She said the cost of imported goods was subject to the weakening of the rand.

"Going forward, the weaker rand will likely put pressure on gross margins," she said.

Fortunately, Rextru has a sturdy balance sheet with a cash pile of more than R90m, which is equivalent to about 450c per share.

The company also has ambitions to invest in properties located in Salt River in Cape Town.
Current thinking by futurists and trend analysts points to an outdated organisational culture and structure that has not kept up with radical changes in society, or the current and future needs of the workforce, particularly the influential millennials.

The future of work is the title of many articles and research reports within the human resources and recruitment industry, currently. One could say predicting the future of work is a trend all in itself.

Like many service industries that we have seen disrupted in recent times, forcing new models through - like Uber has done to public transport; Airbnb to the hotel industry; and big tech companies like Google and Amazon have done to traditional corporate culture, so the entrenched organisational hierarchical power model is being further disrupted by millennials and ongoing societal change.

Millennial matrix

Not since the open plan office revolution and the ditching of formal work wear, has management been this uncomfortable. Millennials work differently, shop differently, and are motivated more by corporate brand values and flexible working hours, than money. They dont believe in the main, that their lives should be disrupted by their work. And, heres the real shocker: they want to be happy at work!

Allan Pike, Tanya Eksteen, Marc Privett

Digital technology is the most fundamental change that has impacted on the human resources and recruitment industry, says Yolanda Gibbon, founder of Cardilogix.

It saw businesses locally and globally having to change their HR strategies and employment practices. Generation Z and the millennials are turning to that which they know best  social platforms to search and interact with prospective employers. They believe in building and cultivating relationships but want to know more about their future employer, so a personal interaction and relationship on these social platforms makes this possible.

It is this new workforce of digital natives and social savvy beings that is contributing to the need for organisations to transform. This, and the fact that current organisational structure is over 100 years old and has not kept pace with changes in culture and society.

Holacracy trend

Holacracy is the biggest trend in the disruption of organisational culture and it heralds an exciting new era for the traditional organisation in terms of structure and workplace practice.

In the latest episode of the Tomorrow Trends podcast aired last week, futurists, Graeme Codrington and Raymond de Villiers, of TomorrowTodayGlobal are in conversation on the future of work and what it means for organisations.

TomorrowTodayGlobal consistently challenges corporates to rethink their organisations since we are living in disruptive times, which require different strategies. Holacracy is a new approach and model for organisational design.

TomorrowTodayGlobal CEO Graeme Codrington says holacracy is a new way of thinking in organisational structure, it certainly is the current buzz, and a new trend that they have highlighted as something worth looking at and which they are experimenting with in their own team.

De Villiers says that current business structures are designed for a world of work that no longer exists: a top down hierarchy; a career path that works you up the ladder; people at the top with more authority than people on the bottom, regardless of skill or experience; and inherited legacy systems.

It has overt structure, but the covert reality that sits under the surface and the misalignment between those two things, creates the mess.

Outdated legacy

Current hierarchical organisational structure originated in the early 1900s, aligned with societal structure at the time. Now we have this inherited organisational work structure that no longer aligns with the way people live, think, says De Villiers.

De Villiers explains that traditional hierarchical organisational structure is a pyramid with fewer individuals with more power, the higher up you go. Holacracy is about multiple circles in an organisation. Those circles are oriented around tasks - what we need to get done. It isnt leaderless, but the role and space of leadership is strategic and about the visionary structure for the business.

Tasks are put out and the business self-organises around the tasks. Whoever has the skills and abilities gets involved. Team members can play different roles in different tasks  maybe as project leader for one task, an expert for another. Leadership doesnt necessarily dictate who that individual will be. It is self-organising, recounts De Villiers.

Holacracy is the extension of a trend. We are now getting labels put on something that people can talk about. We also have leading organisations doing it, like Zappos, a subsidiary of Amazon, which made the move into holacracy over a period of 18 months.

Codrington emphasises that this is a critical new trend because it does indicate a change in the way things have always been done in organisations. De Villiers urges organisations to revisit the inherited rules in place in business and evaluate them to see if they need to be disinherited as legacy rules that no longer apply, in order to make some of the cultural shifts needed.

Employer branding

The rise of employer branding  how companies position themselves as attractive in the marketplace so they attract top talent  is a key trend that feeds into this. Whether companies are progressive and will accommodate new organisational thinking and the demands of the millennial workforce, is something that the talent is looking for.

Companies and recruiters are developing a better understanding of employer branding and its importance, says Marc Privett, general manager of Careers24.com. How a company is perceived by employers and potential candidates can either help it to attract and sign top talent or discourage candidates from considering job opportunities or offers from that particular organisation.

Just as social media allows employers to vet potential employees, so too does it allow top talent to find out everything they want on potential employers. It is this greater transparency that means that organisations need to be authentic about what they stand for.

Employers can no longer make blanket statements about their values and the way they work - employers need to walk their talk or be exposed on social media, says Allan Pike, CEO of Key Recruitment Group.

This includes how employers treat their employees  whether they have to work excessive overtime, whether work/life balance is taken into account, and so on. It also plays an important role in retaining top-calibre talent once organisations have attracted the top achievers, says Tanya Eksteen, director of resourcing for Sage International.

Offering a lucrative salary is not enough anymore. A work-life balance, flexibility, career growth, professional development and other benefits such as maternity and paternity leave, all play an integral part in the candidates decision-making process, she emphasises.

Social media

Since social media platforms are now the most important factor in employer branding as well as search, Gibbon says HR teams should actively keep watch to see what the competition is doing, posting and offering in terms of remuneration and benefits and how they are hiring talent, to be even more innovative.

In recent research it was found that top performing companies have a socially engaged workforce. Not only does your workforce act as your brand evangelists, it makes your company attractive to prospective employees.

While Eksteen points out that social media and other digital platforms have become a standard way of communicating with employees and attracting top talent, Pike cautions employers that the personal touch remains important.

Although the big employment portals have radically increased the availability of candidate prospects, potential employees still want to feel that they are being considered both in terms of who they are and the skills profile they represent, hence the need for personal engagement with prospects remains an important part of the recruitment process, Pike explains.
However the trial was postponed till 17 March as the petitioner police officer U Aung Myi Oo was absent, informed lawyer Daw Ma Thain Naing. She also added that earlier on 22 February the accused individuals were prosecuted by the police for their association with the militants under act 17(1).

The Arakanese youths namely Myint Kyaw (alias Tun Naing), U San Maung, Zaw Lin Tun (alias Maung Than Tun), Zaw Min Tun (alias Kalar Chay), Saw Ran Naing(alias Kyaw Soe Min), U San Maung (alias Maung Han Soe), Kyaw Thein Chay(alias Hlaing Thein Chay), Zaw Min Oo, Nyo maung(alias Maung Win), Zaw Win Naing, Aye Kyaw Than, Zaw Min Htay and Win Aung (alias Kyan Chay) were handed over to the police by the Burma Army.

Some of the fathers of the accused youths were also present on the occasion. One of them, who came from Pauk Taw township, commented that his son was seemingly well. His son was arrested by the Army from Sittwe on 17 January last. Later a group of 20 Arakanese youths were picked up by the Army from Kyauk Taw, Kyauk Pru, Taungup and Yangon locality last month.

According to a police source, over 50 Arakanese individuals were detained suspecting their involvement with the Arakan Army and they are still in various police stations across Arakan State. Out of them nearly 28 Arakanese are in Kyaw Taw police station alone, added the source.
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"Democrats are not always right" Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said during last night's Democratic presidential debate.

I think we can agree insofar as no one is always right but, on this issue, Democrats and even a significant number of Republicans are right while Bernie Sanders is dead wrong.

Sanders spoke out against the Export-Import Bank during last night's debate after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called him out for voting against reauthorization of the bank.

Sanders responded by referring to the bank as "corporate welfare."

I dont want to break the bad news  Democrats are not always right. Democrats have often supported corporate welfare; Democrats have supported disastrous trade agreements," Sanders said during Sunday's Democratic debate in Flint, Mich. "But on this issue, I do not believe in corporate welfare."

This only makes sense if you have absolutely no idea how the Export-Import Bank works.

The bank does not subsidize any American or foreign corporations, it merely provides loans and financing to foreign companies that wish to purchase American-made exports. The Export-Import Bank is not funded by taxpayers, it's funded by the fees and interest payments it collects from clients.

Shuttering the bank provides absolutely no benefit to American workers or small businesses. Many small businesses rely on the bank to access foreign markets. In fact, shuttering the bank last year actually cost hundreds of jobs in multiple sectors of the manufacturing industry because foreign buyers no longer had access to capital to buy American-made goods.

The idea that the bank is an example of "corporate welfare" or somehow detrimental to small businesses may sound familiar because that's exactly what the House Republican Freedom Caucus says. That's exactly what senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says. Failed GOP candidate Jeb Bush took a similar stance.

Sanders' position on the Export-Import Bank puts him on the same side as the most radical factions in Congress and against the Democratic party, the business community including the Chamber of Commerce, and a significant number of state and congressional Republicans who want to keep jobs in their districts.

The Sanders campaign responded to criticism of his stance last night by saying "more than 75 percent of Export-Import Bank financing goes to large profitable corporations which have moved manufacturing plants and jobs overseas."

That statement says more about Sanders than the corporations he's decrying.

It may be true that some of the corporations who benefit from Export-Import Bank financing have outsourced jobs in the past, but punishing them now by shuttering the bank will not actually bring those jobs back. On the contrary, it will shift even more jobs overseas just as we saw last year. Moreover, the financing isn't actually provided directly to the American corporations Sanders is pointing a finger at; the financing is provided to foreign companies that want to purchase products manufactured in America by those corporations.

In other words, Sanders would cut off workers' noses to spite their faces. His opposition to the bank is purely ideological, not practical or substantive. It would be a misnomer to say opposition does more harm than good because it does no good at all. There's no cookie for closing the bank. There's no there, there.

Many people including myself devoted a significant amount of time last year to explaining why the Flying Monkey Caucus and the likes of Ted Cruz are wrong about the Export-Import Bank. To now be forced to explain why Bernie Sanders and his Brogressive disciples are wrong about the bank is frankly infuriating.

I prefer it when Democrats make evidence-based arguments, but Bernie Sanders has been a Democrat for about 5 minutes. Sanders has held elected office for several decades but didn't become a Democrat until he decided to use the party to run for the Democratic nomination. He has voted against many of the Democratic party's priorities. Bernie Sanders identified as an Independent from 1979 to 2015 and he has voted like one.
No. 1 Serial Killer In The World "Thug Behram" Who Killed 931 Indians! Life oi-Syeda Farah

We have heard a lot about many serial killers like Charles Sobhraj or Jack The Ripper or even Ted Bundy who sexually assaulted and killed his victims before keeping their severed heads in his apartment as trophies.

These stories still do give a chill every time we hear about these merciless killers who enjoyed the screams of innocent victims and went barbarian in killing several lives.

In India, back in the 17th and early 18th century, we did have a serial killer who has been known to have killed over 900 innocent victims. He was none other than "Thug Behram".

He was known as "the king of thugs" and was known to kill the victims in a unique way. He killed people between the years 1790-1840.



He used a "rumal" which is nothing but a handkerchief to strangle his victims. The rumal had a special coin sewed in the centre and it helped him strangle his victims easily by blocking the adam's apple and choking his victims to death.

When he was confronted, he clamined to have murdered over 125 men with his bare hands and over 150 men with his rumal.



An East India Company officer, known as James Paton, who was working for the "Thuggee and Dacoity Office" in the 1830s wrote a manuscript on Thuggee.

In this, he describes about how mercilessly Behram had killed his victims. This serial killer is said to have been hanged to death when he was 75 years of age.

Such stories make a chill run down our spine when we hear to them and these men did serve as a symbol of the most feared "inhuman beings". This is just a little update on Thug Behram.

Stay tuned to our section to know more about such interesting, blood-curdling stories and facts about more such serial killers across the world who shocked the world with their inhuman nature.

If you have any suggestions, do share them with us in the comment section below.
Kerry Washington and Anita Hill talk 'Confirmation' at Brandeis

The "Scandal" star visited campus March 6 to talk about her upcoming HBO film in which she portrays Hill

Photo/Mike Lovett Kerry Washington entering Wasserman Cinematheque

Actor Kerry Washington visited the Brandeis campus Sunday to sit down for a talk with University Professor Anita Hill, whom she portrays in the upcoming HBO film "Confirmation."



In front of a capacity crowd in Wasserman Cinematheque, the pair talked about the upcoming film, which tells the story of the 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearings for Clarence Thomas. Before a riveted nation, Hill testified that Thomas had sexually harassed her while she worked for him at the Department of Education and later at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The conversation at Brandeis touched on the hearings and issues of race, gender and sexual harassment 25 years later.



"We weren't saying the words 'sexual harassment' before this brave woman came forward," Washington said. "To look at who the woman is behind this legacy, that for me is one of the things that was so interesting about the opportunity to play Anita Hill. So often we put people on a pedestal and we don't consider our cultural icons to be human. I wanted to access and portray the human being Anita Hill, not just the legacy."



Hill admitted that getting to know her personally was probably a challenge for Washington, as she is very protective of her private life and is not always the easiest person to get to know. But it is an honor to be portrayed by someone as committed to the role and her story as Washington, Hill said. Washington is also an executive producer for the film.



"Not only is she a wonderful actress, but I think she is just the perfect person to play this role," Hill said.



The event was organized by Alice Kelikian, associate professor of history and chair of the Program in Film, Television and Interactive Media. The idea for Sundays conversation was hatched at an alumni event in Los Angeles last year when Kelikian asked actor Tony Goldwyn '82, who co-stars with Washington in the TV series "Scandal," about the possibility of bringing Washington to campus and he encouraged her to pursue it.



"We have him to thank for this event," Kelikian said.

The pair talked for about an hour and took questions from the audience. Hill offered observations of how female characters are often presented in film and television today.

"Sexual harassment happens all the time in television and it's a laugh line  even rape happens and there are jokes," Hill said. "How are you supposed to then go into the workplace and understand that (sexual harassment) is wrong and illegal when it's been portrayed to you as funny, or that it doesn't even matter?"

Kerry Washington and Anita Hill

Washington said she has a sense of duty to seek out roles that depict three-dimensional characters.



"I am aware that by choosing the roles that I choose, the very act of being a fully committed artist is an activist act," Washington said.



"Confirmation" will be released on HBO April 16.
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This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steady improvement to Brandons downtown is helping to revitalize the area, and Mayor Rick Chrest hopes the progress will continue.

Theres lots of little things  you can call it a game of inches, Chrest said. While it would be great to have a mega project come down there  and maybe that will occur yet  but in the meantime, we just gotta keep making the little incremental improvements.

The Downtown Brandon Development Forum was held a year ago, and since then, there have been some ups and downs.

Unfortunately, the McKenzie Towers project, which would have seen the historic building transformed into 85 residential apartments, was halted.

That was certainly disappointing, and a bit of a setback  but we are still very much focused on wanting to make sure that something happens to that building and that project, Chrest said.

Bringing new residents to live downtown has been identified as a major priority for revitalization, and fortunately some new projects are underway.

Two 12-unit apartment blocks are under construction at the corner of Fifth Street and Princess Avenue.

Developer Van-Bi Le previously told the Brandon Sun that the two-bedroom, 920-square-foot units will fluctuate in price and are expected to rent for between $900 to $1,050.

Its a real positive for the downtown because  you need people to live downtown, you need to have people downtown outside of typical business hours, outside of 9-5 during the week, so thats a really great thing, said Renaissance Brandon executive director Elisabeth Anning.

Anning is also confident that the McKenzie Towers project will become viable for a developer in the near future.

Eight new apartments are expected to be available this year in the 800 block of Rosser Avenue. The upper storeys of the buildings at 829 and 833 Rosser Ave. will be renovated into five one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units.

Anytime youre getting new residents downtown, its a win, and thats really in the heart of downtown, Anning said.

The developers were able to take advantage of the upper-storey residential development initiative, which provides support for property owners who turn their vacant or under-used upper storeys of their downtown buildings into residential housing.

Anning has been with Renaissance Brandon for close to a year, and looking back, she says it has been an exciting time for downtown. The opening of Prairie Firehouse was a great addition.

It is an amazing restaurant and it has brought a lot of people downtown, she said. And Im hoping people that maybe would not have ventured to downtown otherwise  Theres been a lot of hype around it and  they havent disappointed.

Fraser Sneath Coffee and Skin Clinics opened up on Rosser Avenue, which Anning says has been extremely popular.

Its beautiful in there and its always busy, she said. There are a lot of new independent coffee shops that have been opening up in Winnipeg, and this is our version of that  and it is terrific.

A common complaint about downtown is that it shuts down after regular business hours. Anning says they are steadily seeing improvements, especially with Prairie Firehouse, Brandons YMCA, new exercise facilities and dance studios.

Bit by bit, with every single new development or business that opens and stays downtown, we are bringing people downtown in the evenings and on the weekends, she said.

Another major topic of discussion at last years forum was the vacant land at the corner of Ninth Street and Princess Avenue. Renaissance Brandon is actively looking at development opportunities for that area.

Theres  a fair bit going on behind the scenes on that front for sure, so Im pretty optimistic that something may come to bear, Chrest said.

Chrest said another small change he was pleased to see taken care of was the removal of the concrete barriers on Ninth Street at Princess Avenue and Rosser Avenue.

The general consensus is that downtown revitalization needs to be a community effort that includes the city, Renaissance Brandon, local business owners and developers.

Every different organization involved in downtown has a part to play, Anning said. Renaissance Brandon has an important part to play, and we are working as hard as we can and doing everything we can to assist developers  Everybody has a part to play, no one entity can do it entirely themselves.

The next Downtown Brandon Development Forum is being held on March 14 at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustin
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This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HALIFAX  Two kilometres of pipe that connects an offshore drilling rig to a wellhead deep under the ocean broke off and sank in a storm off Nova Scotias coast Saturday, prompting concerns from an advocacy group over the risks of deepwater accidents caused by harsh ocean conditions.

Shell Canada (TSX:SHC) says there was no drilling fluid or hydrocarbons leak because the pipe had already been drained of fluids and a blowout protector remained in place over the well.

The Scotian Shelf includes some of the provinces richest fishing grounds for haddock, and a huge spawning area for lobster.

John Davis, director of the Clean Ocean Action Committee, said Monday the incident is a reminder of the enormous power of huge offshore waves on the Scotian Shelf  and the risks of an offshore accident in one of North Americas most productive fishing grounds.

Its another indicator to us that we need a regulatory regime that makes sense, and  basically takes notice of the fact were at the edge of our technological ability, he said in a telephone interview.

Environmentalists and fishermen have questioned the amount of time it would take the multinational company to bring a vessel and a capping system to the Shelburne Basin offshore site, about 250 kilometres off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, in the event of a blowout.

A Shell spokesman said in an email that in this instance the company was taking a precautionary measure ahead of a storm and there was no risk of a leak nor is there any need to bring in additional equipment.

Cameron Yost wrote that as the drill ship moved away from the well site, high and heaving waves caused the riser tensioner system to break off and fall to the bottom of the ocean.

The well was successfully shut in prior to the disconnect and the blowout preventer is in intact so there is no risk of a leak, he wrote in an email.

He said the drilling ship Stena IceMAX had safely disconnected from the companys Cheshire well, a step that had been taken without incident in the past at the location, about 225 kilometres east of the coast.

Yost also said that for the time being operations were suspended

A spokeswoman for the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board says the regulator isnt doing its own investigation because there was no health, safety or environmental issue involved in the incident.

Kathleen Funke says the board has sent two safety inspectors to the ship and will monitor the investigation carried out by Shell.

Shell acted appropriately and they took the appropriate precautions, she said in an interview.

The blowout preventer functioned perfectly. This is not a spill response issue at all.

She said at this point its unclear if the material on the ocean floor will be retrieved. Yost also said that will be reviewed by investigators.

When it approved the licence for drilling an exploratory well, the boards chairman said he was confident that all reasonable precautions to protect safety and the environment have been taken.

However, the Ecology Action Centre, the provinces largest environmental group, said it remained concerned over the number of days it would take for Shell to bring a subsea technology used to cap oil spills.

Shell acquired six exploration licences in the Shelburne Basin in 2012-13. It says the Shelburne Basin has water depths ranging from 1,500 to 3,500 metres.

The Nova Scotia premiers office has praised the $1 billion exploration program, calling it one of our most exciting opportunities for growth.
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HALIFAX  Despite making an award-winning docudrama on Canadas only all-black military unit in 2001, director Anthony Sherwood says hes still amazed how little is known nationally about the No. 2 Construction Battalion.

Sherwood will present a special screening of his film Honour Before Glory, at the new Halifax Central Library on Tuesday as part of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the formation of the battalion in 1916.

Nova Scotia is one of the provinces where the story has flourished and has been told several times, said Sherwood. But Im amazed that there is still a lot of people who dont know this story.

The military unit formed during the First World War was the only predominantly African-Canadian battalion since Confederation. The segregated battalion allowed black men who had previously been turned away by recruiters to enlist in the military.

Sherwood said the unique story of the battalion is an important piece of Canadian history because it shows that there were black Canadians who served their country during the first great global conflict.

I think that participation and that service should be recognized, said Sherwood.

Sherwood, a Halifax native, said he came to be interested in the battalion through the diary of his great uncle, Reverend William White, who served as the units chaplain. That diary became the basis for the film, which won a Gemini Award in 2002.

I strongly believe he wanted somebody to read this (diary) and tell this story, said Sherwood.

Formed on July 5, 1916 in Pictou, N.S., the more than 600-strong unit was mostly comprised of men from Nova Scotia, although volunteers also came from other parts of Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

After sailing overseas in 1917, the battalion served in various support roles along the Western Front in Europe digging trenches, building railroads, repairing roads and laying barbed wire. All the while its soldiers remained segregated from their white counterparts, living and sleeping in separate quarters.

The units perseverance and service was recently recognized with a commemorative stamp issued by Canada Post and it was also the focal point for Februarys Black Heritage Month celebrations in Nova Scotia.

That kind of recognition is welcomed by Sylvia Parris, whose father Joseph enlisted in the battalion when he was only 17-years-old.

Parris said her father, who died in 1972 at the age of 73, never spoke about his war experiences.

She said its only been in recent years that she came to realize the significant role men like her father played in Canadas history.

It wasnt in the public school system, said Parris. Its really now that we are looking back and reflecting and asking questions.

Russell Grosse, executive director of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, said the battalion which once was at risk of becoming a footnote in history, has become a source of pride to the African Nova Scotian community.

Grosse said the black soldiers of 100 years ago made an important statement that Canada was their home too.

They wanted to serve their country and were told they couldnt, said Grosse. It was remarkable that they had to go through that legacy of fighting to fight.
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This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL  Quebecs environmental hearings into the Energy East Pipeline project got off to a difficult start Monday evening, as protesters chanted and disrupted proceedings seconds after the companys vice-president began speaking.

Joseph Zayed, with Quebecs environmental regulation agency, was forced to temporarily suspend the hearings as protesters snuck into the audience room, unfurled a banner denouncing the pipeline and sang songs to try and silence the presenter.

The room was brought under control after roughly 15 minutes and Louis Bergeron, Energy Easts vice-president for New Brunswick and Quebec, was able to start again.

Environmentalist protester Jean Leger waves a banner and sings at the opening of environment hearings on the Energie Est pipeline, Monday, March 7, 2016 in Levis, Que. The hearings were stopped for 16 minutes because of the protest. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) is the company behind the $15.7-billion project that would carry more than a million barrels a day of crude from Alberta and Saskatchewan, through Quebec to Saint John, N.B., for refining.

The project is particularly controversial in Quebec, where environmental activists and some municipal politicians have come out against the pipeline.

They say the risks of Energy East are greater than its benefits and it would represent an increase in the countrys greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to global climate change.

Many of the roughly 250 people gathered in a conference room in Levis, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, were against the project.

People booed and chirped when they didnt like Bergerons answers, forcing Zayed to plead with the crowd several times to settle down.

Quebecs environmental review agency is tasked with conducting an assessment of the risks and benefits and produce a report to the provinces environment minister.

Bergeron gave the broad strokes of the Energy East project to the agencys three commission members as well as to those gathered in the audience room.

The Energy East project will bring a major reduction of foreign imports of oil into refineries in Eastern Canada, Bergeron said.

Canadas oil sands are currently landlocked and TransCanada says an export pipeline to the Atlantic Ocean would open international markets and grow the countrys GDP, benefiting all Canadians.

Pipelines are a way to transport oil that is safe, reliable and efficient, Bergeron said.

After TransCanadas presentation, Canadas National Energy Board gave a brief presentation about its role in reviewing energy project proposals.

While the federal government has final say over whether or not Energy East is given the go-ahead, it would be politically difficult for Ottawa to force a pipeline on Quebecs territory if the province rejects the project.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has not taken a position on the pipeline, and neither has Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Members of the public who took part in the question-and-answer period after the presentations were mostly skeptical of the project.

They asked Bergeron questions about soil contamination, increased greenhouse gas emissions and the rights of property holders along the pipeline route.

Many of Bergerons answers were met with some boos and other muffled comments from many in the audience.

Mondays hearings were the beginning a months-long process looking into the Quebec portion of the pipeline.

The hearings will be broken down into two parts: the first will analyze the projects potential impacts on water and risks of spills. The second series of hearings are scheduled to begin in April, when the environmental agency is set to hear more from the public.

Last week, a Quebec court refused an environmental coalitions request to suspend the hearings.

The coalition was seeking the injunction because it believes the process will not be complete without impact studies from TransCanada.
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WINNIPEG  Author, Indigenous rights activist and now star political candidate Wab Kinew is facing questions heading into the Manitoba election campaign about lyrics he wrote and performed that are demeaning to women and gays and lesbians.

Kinew has apologized repeatedly and without reservation over the last two years, but some political opponents, as well as some on social media, say the 34-year-olds transformation is very recent and came soon before his entry into the political arena.

To be clear, I apologize fully for these lyrics, accept responsibility for them and am committed to helping bring about the societal change necessary to end misogyny, address gender based discrimination, Kinew wrote on Facebook on the weekend.

Indigenous author and broadcaster Wab Kinew speaks to supporters in Winnipeg, Tuesday, Feb.2, 2016. Kinew is facing questions on the Manitoba election campaign trail about lyrics he wrote and performed that are demeaning to women and gays and lesbians. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert

I have been called to account by my wife, my sister, my mother and other friends and colleagues for my own biases. I have heard these truths and concluded that I need to change my behaviour to be a more positive influence on the world around me.

Kinew is running for the governing NDP in the Fort Rouge constituency in Winnipeg. While the NDP has plummeted in opinion polls since raising the provincial sales tax in 2013, Fort Rouge has been a party stronghold, represented recently by former finance minister Jennifer Howard who is not seeking re-election in the April 19 vote.

Last week, the NDP criticized Jamie Hall, a Liberal candidate in another constituency who posted several social media messages in which he used terms such as whore or skank to refer to women. The Liberals dropped Hall, but also pointed to Kinews many uses of similar language in his music career that stretched into his very early 30s.

In one song when he was in a rap group called Dead Indians, Kinew talked of slapping female genitalia and used a slur for gay men.

In songs both with the Dead Indians and his later solo career, Kinew repeatedly used derogatory words for women and their body parts. In a 2009 recording, he talked of sexual conquests, chasing skirts and of having made panties drop.

Kinews turnaround appears to have come sometime around 2014. He apologized for his lyrics at an aboriginal music awards ceremony that year, and called on other hip-hop musicians to do the same. He apologized again in his 2015 memoir The Reason You Walk, and has apologized twice more in recent days.

NDP Health Minister Sharon Blady, who lashed out at the Liberals over their former candidates offensive language, said she accepted Kinews apology and pointed to his actions in recent years, such as fighting for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Kinew has generally received positive feedback on social media, although some people have questioned on his Facebook page whether his apology was part of a strategy to clean his image before entering politics.

Kinew is running against Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari and Progressive Conservative Audrey Gordon for the Fort Rouge seat, and the NDP have high hopes that he will keep the seat orange and prevent Bokhari, a political rookie, from gaining a legislature seat.

An opinion poll done by Strategic Communications, commissioned by the New Democrats, suggests Kinew is a strong contender, although it has a wide margin of error.

The poll, obtained by The Canadian Press Sunday, suggests Kinew has 33 per cent support in the constituency, compared to 23 per cent for Gordon and 15.5 per cent for Bokhari. Fifteen per cent were undecided and 13 per cent said they would support another party or independent candidate.

The random automated telephone survey involved 293 respondents in Fort Rouge last Thursday  just as the debate over Kinews lyrics took shape, and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 5.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The Liberals said Sunday they had yet to do polling of their own in Fort Rouge, but were getting positive feedback on the doorstep.

Theres still a lot of people that are identifying as undecided. But typically, when they say theyre undecided, the last thing they say is But not the NDP, said Liberal spokesman Mike Brown.
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OTTAWA  The 80s are back in fashion, television and movies  and maybe now in direct diplomacy too.

That decade saw former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan forge a personal friendship through state dinners and summits that would outlast their years in office.

But the personal relationship also provided the foundation for several landmark Canada-U.S. deals.

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and U.S. President Ronald Reagan hold their first round of talks on March 17, 1985 in Quebec City. The '80s are back in fashion, television and movies -- and maybe now in direct diplomacy too. That decade saw former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan forge a personal friendship through state dinners and summits that would outlast their years in office. But the personal relationship also provided the foundation for several landmark Canada-U.S. deals. The topics on the table then are some of the same ones current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and current U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to be discussing at the state dinner in Washington, D.C. this week -- trade, the environment and the Arctic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Scott Applewhite

The topics on the table then are some of the same ones current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and current U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to be discussing at the state dinner in Washington, D.C. this week  trade, the environment and the Arctic.

The meeting is a good sign, Mulroney said.

Not much happens on the international scale between Canada and the United States if theres not a personal relationship between the president and the prime minister, he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The Canada-U.S. free trade deal, the acid rain accord and an agreement on Arctic sovereignty all would have been harder to achieve without a personal relationship, Mulroney said.

Those who tell you that it is unimportant for Canada as to whether you have a prime minister who has a good relationship with the president or not doesnt have a clue what hes talking about, Mulroney said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Good things happen in the American administration when the president of the United States says the prime minister of Canada and Canada is my friend and I want to see these things happen.

The 1988 agreement on the Northwest Passage was a case in point.

In the early 1980s, the U.S. was of the view the Northwest Passage was international waters, but Canada disagreed. After a U.S. coast guard ship travelled through without getting formal permission from Canada, Mulroney began to aggressively lobby the Americans to see things his way.

When Reagan visited Ottawa in 1987, Mulroney showed him a globe, pointed to the route and asked Reagan how it could be considered international waters if it froze over and people could walk on it. As the story goes, Reagan then told his aides he wanted to say something nice about the passage in his upcoming speech to Parliament.

Well the Americans just about went nuts. That was the last thing they wanted to hear, recalls Derek Burney, Mulroneys former chief of staff.

But they went off to draft a paragraph for the speech on finding a solution and the eventual upshot was the 1988 agreement that would require the U.S. to ask permission for future ice breakers to cross those waters.

Obama and Trudeaus conversations on the Arctic are more likely to revolve around the environment than sovereignty.

Burney said he thinks there is room for another coming together of perspectives on the need for environmental protection of the Arctic.

Theres a lot of potential. But it needs to be prodded from the top or it wont happen, he said.

Other topics up for discussion this Wednesday are broader climate change negotiations, the future of the Trans Pacific Partnership and border security.

While Mulroney and Reagans terms in office overlapped by a full five years, the Trudeau-Obama relationship will be shorter lived as the U.S. will chose a new president this fall.

Whether the next administration will take any cues from it remains to be seen, Mulroney said, but that doesnt negate the power of Obamas invite.

Even if the president is only going to be there for a number of months this is an important tribute to Canada and to the manner in which the president views the relationship, he said.
Opinion

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This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its hard to believe less than 50 years ago Canada routinely jailed homosexuals for having sex with each other. Labelling sex as criminal  a gross indecency or buggery  was, in effect, a legalized injustice. That may be a smug observation, informed by the luxury of 21st-century perspective, but it makes it no less true.

And now, the son of the prime minister who in 1969 famously took the state out of the bedrooms of the nation, is looking at granting pardons to potentially thousands of people convicted of sex crimes simply because they were gay. Its a step, but it does not go far enough. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should erase the convictions, and apologize to them and the families of those who have since died.

That includes the family of Everett Klippert, an Alberta man jailed for lengthy terms for having sex with men. His case is seen as the reason Pierre Trudeaus government decriminalized gay sex. And, following a Globe and Mail story about the justice systems treatment of Mr. Klippert, it has now turned Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus mind to pardoning homosexuals similarly convicted.

Mr. Klipperts case was unique because he was declared a dangerous offender by the courts in 1966, a process that included a psychiatrist declaring him incurably homosexual. As a result, he was sentenced to an indefinite jail term. Think about that: locked away, perhaps forever, for having consensual sex. Mr. Klippert was released in 1971, three years after the Trudeau Criminal Code reforms.

Mr. Klippert, who died in 1996, is a symbol of the abuses against gay men who simply wanted to live their lives fully, or as best they could in an era that regarded homosexuality as abnormal, morally wrong and dangerous. His may be the most egregious case, but there are many men who were indelibly marked by the stain of a criminal conviction. Its tempting to dismiss this as a lesson in history, an injustice that resulted from antiquated attitudes, but thats cheaping out. The federal government should make amends for a bad law. People suffered, and that should be widely recognized.

A declaration from the prime minister that Canada regrets the mistake  a denial of what today is recognized as a basic and ordinary civil liberty  would vindicate the wronged, and give some relief to their families, who also suffered from the stigma and shouldered the resulting social and economic stress. Some of these men would have been earning the family income, and a jail sentence would have deprived their dependants of support. Further, the convictions would have had lingering blowback when the men tried to return to the job market.

There continues to be a cost to gay Canadians and their families. The Canadian Forces did not allow gay people to serve until 1992; until then, gays serving who were found out were involuntarily released (like a dishonourable discharge). They too should have their service records corrected and any lost benefits such as pensions restored, along with letters of regret from the Forces and defence department. In addition, any who were court-martialed or imprisoned should be pardoned.

Canada has issued national apologies for past shameful actions: the internment of enemy aliens; the racist head taxes on would-be Chinese immigrants; and the forcible removable of First Nations children sent to residential schools. Locking up gay men simply for being human and harming no one would not now meet the legal definition of a wrongful conviction. But it was abundantly wrong. Canada should say so.

 Winnipeg Free Press
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An intermission in lyrics. An interlude in song. A reflection on what portion of a musical score has already been given vocal flight, and an act of preparation for what triumphant notes are yet to come.

Indeed, it is this time of the latter half of the 2015-16 school year that the choir of Ecole secondaire Neelin High School finds itself recounting some greatly successful performances of the second semester, as well as awaiting many other undoubtedly memorable and fantastic future events, currently in preparation.

Here is a brief glance, for any and all with an appreciation for the ear-tingling delight of our voices, of a Neelin choir in motion.

Harkening back to the still young beginning of the second semester (Feb. 9, exactly), the Neelin choir readily immersed itself in an environment typically more competitive than the common, carefree concert. The environment, specifically? None other than the Brandon Festival of the Arts, located at the First Presbyterian Church. Annually, Neelin Choirs participate in this city-wide celebration and contest of music, speech, and dance, respectfully under an adjudicators watchful assessment. While contending with, and performing alongside, other magnificent choirs within the Brandon School Division, Neelin managed to achieve a superior score: an 87 of 100 possible points being our most modest performance, an 88 our most formidable.

Another performance, also located at the First Presbyterian Church, would soon follow our previous display of vocal might at the festival, as the Vincent Massey Concert Choir and Neelin Chamber Choirs would join forces with the Canadian Mennonite Universitys choral ensemble on Feb. 26.

Here, the unbridled power of our culminated choirs, given direction and channelled into beautiful song by CMUs own Janet Brenneman, was truly felt, alongside the equally wondrous pieces that each individual choir had to share.

Three of Neelins alumni, likewise, made an appearance as CMU vocalists, one of whom, the massively talented Nathan Sawatzky-Dyck, provided a soul-garnering solo for one of the mass choir arrangements, The Gift.

Thank you to all who attended and all who toiled so diligently to produce such an evening of marvellous sound!

Now, with the imminent sprouting of spring and relieving retreat of winter, Neelin choirs continue to prepare for a variety of approaching events and other dates of vocal concourse.

Emerging rather quickly is Neelins own spring concert, You Are the Music, scheduled for March 16 at 7:30 p.m.; an early celebration of a rejuvenating season as we anticipate its arrival. We invite any and all to come attend at the First Presbyterian Church, as our voices mingle with the reawakening sounds of spring.

With anticipation in mind, Neelin vocalists will be given the opportunity to embark on a six-day tour of Vancouver May 19-25. Word of a well-diversified and generally packed voyage to the West Coast has already begun to spread throughout the choir ranks. Vocalists who wish to attend will perform at a number of schools within the urban sprawl of Vancouver and area, and will be able to experience a multitude of other choral workshops, events and festivities; not to mention, the significantly taller landscape of a rather elevated British Columbian outback.

Once more, we are at the lull in song, a fleeting recess, a rest in melodious chant. However, as is with any moving stone, moss does not remain long on the general choral body of Neelin, and soon will be in vocal motion.

Again, we invite anyone and everyone to attend our You Are the Music concert on March 16 at 7:30 p.m., and to likewise remain vigilant to a vast array of other choral performances yet to be announced.

 Aidan Trembath is a Grade 11 student at Ecole secondaire Neelin High School.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 07/03/2016 (2420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg hosted the fourth annual National Fair Trade Conference Feb. 18-20.

It was an event they said couldnt be done! Yet it was a huge success that garnered lots of media coverage, attracted 400 participants from around the world and opened up our province to a growing economic sector: fair trade business.

Why did they say it couldnt be done here? Organizers were told that Manitoba is too cold in the winter to attract a large audience. There was indeed one potential speaker, based in Colombia, who just laughed when invited, saying he would prefer to come in the summer. However, as it turned out, we had spring-like weather that made sidewalks and roads slippery, but had people wearing jackets instead of parkas!

Conference staff was told that nothing would be gained by holding the conference in Winnipeg  certainly no business would spend the money to be represented. Instead, the fact was that many companies participated, large and small, from distributors such as Aramark to chains such as Federated Co-ops, to 100 per cent fair trade importers of coffee, tea, tropical fruits, sugar and other products.

Certifiers and fair trade licensing organizations were there, both Canadian and American. Larger-scale procurers attended such as representatives of the provincial government, Crown corporations, conference venues, economic development specialists, a number of cities and municipalities from across Manitoba and Canada, school and campus groups and a large delegation of students and adults from Quebec.

Fair Trade Certified products offer a guarantee that producers and workers receive a fair wage and work in environmentally clean and safe places. The fair trade system prohibits child labour, promotes co-operatives and aims to improve the earnings and relative power of women in the workplace. Most fair trade products are tropical, coming from the poorest countries on our planet.

This years conference was called Building Momentum, as fair trade has enjoyed unprecedented gains in public knowledge and sales, particularly in Manitoba. Keynote speakers included Tukwini Mandela, granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, whose family owns a fair trade wine company in South Africa.

As well, Beny Mwenda from Tanzania, well known to Brandon people, spoke at the conference. Benys organization, the Tanzanian Society for Agricultural Education and Extension, has been strongly supported financially by Brandon and Westman organizations, churches and educational institutions for the past 20 years, with many local people also going overseas to offer their help in person.

Past national conferences were held in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, and the Canadian Fair Trade Network is looking for a host committee for 2017. Vancouver people huddled after this years event to consider hosting the next one and what they could do to top the 2016 success! As the Lower B.C. Mainland is home to many fair trade companies, site visits might be the focus for one conference day next year.

The Prairies are as yet a largely untapped market for fair trade goods. What has been for years a niche or specialty market has quickly become mainstream, especially in the large population provinces such as B.C., Ontario and Quebec. While Manitoba is the leading Prairie province in fair trade, shipping from ports such as Vancouver and Montreal to here causes an added cost to products and, of course, many of these importers and companies also dont have offices here for promotion.

Sessions at the conference plus a trade show to wind up the event led to a lot of deals being made as Manitoba merchants and global importers and processors met. Many of the companies, not having been to Manitoba before, came a few days early or stayed an extra day to get out and visit stores to show their wares. Followup to the conference has already begun with organizers being invited to meet with companies in Winnipeg to begin to help promote the new fair trade products that they are carrying.

Brandon was not ignored during the conference. A large contingent representing the Marquis Project, Ten Thousand Villages and the City of Brandon attended with Mireille Saurette speaking to the conference at an evening session about current activities and future plans for fair trade in Brandon. Both Mireille and the City of Brandon, which became a Fair Trade Town in 2014, have received national awards from Fairtrade Canada.

You can find more on this subject by checking out fairtrademanitoba.ca and cftn.ca. Specifically on fair trade in Brandon, go to marquisproject.com.

 Zack Gross is a former executive director of Brandons The Marquis Project, an international development organization, and was an organizer of this years national fair trade conference.
A number of Irish start-ups are heading to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin next week.

The interactive festival showcases cutting-edge technologies and global digital creativity.

IDA Ireland and Culture Ireland will be bringing Macnas to the Texas event for a pop-up street theatre spectacle on Saturday.

Barry ODowd, senior vice president of the IDA, explained why the festival is such a draw.

"It's the fastest-growing city in North America, and it's a real tech hub as a city," he said.

"We've managed to get a number of projects in recent times from that area including Indeed.com, which is a recruitment platform and Amazing.com just recently announced, so this week we'll have a team on the ground, doing a lot of marketing there and doing direct pitches to companies as well as running a number of events."
Cork Midsummer Festival will receive a 20% increase in funding from the Arts Council for its 20th anniversary this year.

A series of cultural events will run over two weekends from 17-19 June, and 24-26 June, and on the summer solstice, June 21st.

This years landmark event will see the award-winning Corcadorca theatre company stage their biggest site-specific production since 2008.

Sacrifice at Easter by famed The Butcher Boy author Pat McCabe will take place at Elizabeth Fort on Barrack Street in Cork city.

The Arts Council has increased its funding to 105,000, the Cork City Councils Arts Office funding is 70,000 and Failte Ireland has allocated 18,000.

The programme will include music, dance, performance and art along with a range of free and outdoor events.

Commenting on preparations for the 2016 event, executive director Lorraine Maye said: We are hugely appreciative to the Arts Council, Cork City Council and Failte Ireland for their fantastic show of support.

Exciting plans for this years Festival are already afoot and we can promise that this unique celebration of culture will stretch to all parts of the city, and will offer something creative and entertaining for every taste and budget.

Ms Maye continued, One of the Festival highlights is sure to be the spectacular Sacrifice at Easter, written in response to the 1916 centenary.

Priority booking for Sacrifice at Easter is now open for festival friends and patrons at www.corkmidsummer.com, with tickets going on general sale from March 16.

Corcadorca Theatre Company Manager Fin Flynn described the performance as a creative collaboration between Pat McCabe, director Pat Kiernan and renowned composer Mel Mercier, saying: Sacrifice at Easter is made possible by the support of Cork City Council and the Ireland 2016 office - a fitting event as the Corcadorca this year celebrates 25 years of making theatre in Cork.

The Festivals Artistic Curator Kath Gorman added We are delighted to have the innovative Corcadorca return for the 2016 Cork Midsummer Festival.

We are really looking forward to this one-of-a-kind performance, along with the other new, exciting events and the return of well-loved Festival favourites.

For now though, we are remaining tight-lipped on all other events until we announce the Festival highlights later in March.
Let Me Tell You is a new bespoke podcast series from



Hosts Daniel McConnell and Paul Hosford take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments in recent Irish political history from the unique perspective of one of the key players involved.


Another Irish naval vessel is to be sent to the Mediterranean to help in the refugee crisis.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed the move on the fringes of an EU leaders summit in Brussels.
The Justice Minister says she is concerned there may be a paramilitary display at the funeral of Vincent Ryan tomorrow.

Mr Ryan was shot in an apparent gangland style assassination in Dublin last week.

Although he was a staunch republican, his family say he will not have a military funeral.

When his brother Alan was buried - balaclava clad men & women in paramilitary uniforms, accompanied the hearse.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald says gardai have been in contact with the family ahead of the funeral.

"That obviously is a concern and the public, I believe, are appalled at those type of displays.

"An Garda Siochana will take every step possible to ensure that there is a dignified funeral.

"Certainly the public do not want to see that kind of display, sometimes it is quite difficult, but I believe the Garda Commissioner has been in contact with the family and they have expressed their wishes to her."
The head of the Taxi Federation has accused some drivers of lending their cars to people without a taxi licence.

The allegation follows the arrest of a fake taxi driver in Dublin at the weekend.
Members of the public are being asked to stay away from Cork University Hospital after a recent increase of cases of the winter vomiting bug.

In a statement the HSE has asked people to minimise their visits - either to the Emergency Department or to see patients.
Conor McGregor has shown humility in the aftermath of his

McGregor spoke with noted MMA journalist Ariel Helwani shortly after suffering the devastating loss in Las Vegas.

As in the octagon and later on in his press conference, the Dubliner credited Diaz for a good fight and acknowledged that he had not been fully prepared for the differences when fighting at welterweight.

"If I was fighting a man at my own weight, 155 or 145, theyre gonna be kod from them shots, you know? he explained.

I feel a bit of adjustment to knowing that the opponent will be able to take more of it. But then I could continue to compete at [welterweight] no problem.

Video from UFC on Fox.

But he had harsh words for his previous opponent, former featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

The Brazilian

Read More:

Ive seen Joses thing, McGregor told Helwani. He can celebrate another mans victory but at the end of the day when we faced he was unconscious.

Maybe Ill go back down and shut him up one more time.

It is what it is, Ill be back.
Deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers have left at least 53 people dead near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fear that violence from Libya could destabilise the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn on Monday and fighting continued into the evening. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defence ministers travelled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

The Tunisian government did not identify the attackers and no group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organised, and whose goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," said Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.

The attack left 35 "terrorists", seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those who were killed.

Libya's chaos, five years after the uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has allowed the Islamic State group to take control of several cities.

The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognised body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried about the IS presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

IS extremists claimed responsibility for those attacks, and Tunisian authorities said the attackers had been trained in Libya.

At dawn on Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah said. A night curfew has been ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The nearby tourist cities of Djerba and Zarzis were not affected by the violence, the statement said.

France's foreign ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory."

''This attack just reinforces the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tunisia was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition".

Tunisia has been as a model of relative stability for the region since an uprising five years ago ushered in a democracy and unleashed Arab Spring protests across the region.

Tunisian forces have repeatedly clashed with extremists on the borders of Libya and Algeria in recent years, but Monday's fighting was exceptionally deadly.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group.

Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following a February 19 US raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defense minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.
A gunman who killed one person and wounded two others inside a western Sydney business was found dead inside the building after a six-hour stand-off today, Australian police said.

Heavily armed officers moved into the sign-making business after spending hours positioned around the factory in an industrial area of Ingleburn, a suburb 25 miles (40km) south-west of Sydney.

Once inside, they found a 33-year-old man dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, said New South Wales Police Detective Inspector Mark Brett.

Officers also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Mr Brett said.

It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the gunman or had been hiding while they waited for the siege to end.

Police were called to the business after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found three men suffering gunshot wounds. One, a 43-year-old, died at the scene, and two others were taken to hospital for treatment.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Mr Brett said.

He would not say how long the suspected gunman had been dead, or whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the stand-off.

He also declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a "long-arm weapon".

One of the shooting victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body, Mr Brett added.

The siege brought the suburb of Ingleburn to a standstill throughout the day. Staff at nearby businesses were told to stay inside and roads were blocked off in the area.
The first defendants in a murder trial have walked free from Britain's most famous criminal court following the shock ruling on joint enterprise law.

On Thursday February 18, the Supreme Court found that trial judges had been wrongly interpreting the law for 30 years over co-defendants in murder cases who did not strike the killer blow.

The same day, defence lawyers at the Old Bailey applied for charges to be thrown out in the case of two young men accused of stabbing to death 24-year-old Ahmed Ahmed in Plumstead.

The legal bid on behalf of Khalid Hashi, 23, nicknamed Van Damme, and Hamza Dodi, 24, was unopposed by the Crown Prosecution Service which took into account the Ameen Jogee ruling immediately after it was given.

The following day, Judge Paul Worsley ruled that the pair had no case to answer and they were formally acquitted in front of the jury on Monday February 22.

The fallout from the landmark Jogee ruling could not be reported until the conclusion of the Old Bailey trial of other co-defendants involved in the Plumstead murder.

Today, Osman Musa Mohamed, 20, aka Ratface, was convicted of Mr Ahmed's murder. He has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Hussein Roble, 18, aka "Stewie", from the Woolwich area of south London, was cleared of the same charge.

The court had heard how Mr Ahmed was knifed repeatedly in the leg when he walked out of the block of flats where he lived in Plumstead on August 10 last year.

Wearing hoods and scarves over their faces, the killers had lain in wait outside, having forced Mr Ahmed's friend Monzir Mohamed to go to the door.

The court heard how Mr Ahmed was seen by a witness to come downstairs and push the door release button as if he was going outside to speak to them.

But instead, the men rushed in and attacked him. Three of the mob wrestled him to the ground while another attacked him with a kitchen knife, while others swarmed around.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors that the victim had "absolutely no idea" what was about to happen to him. It was unclear whether the killer switched their target from another man to Mr Ahmed.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: "The CPS carefully considered the recent Supreme Court judgment (R v Jogee, Ruddock v R) and its impact on this case.

"In light of this and the evidence given during the trial it was determined that there were no grounds to oppose submissions of no case to answer for these two defendants."

Following the Supreme Court ruling, lawyers predicted that thousands of prisoners would seek legal advice on appealing against their convictions.

However, the effects were felt straight away in live criminal cases going through the Crown Courts.

During an unrelated hearing at the Old Bailey, a defence lawyer indicated she was considering an application to dismiss the case against another murder accused in light of the Jogee ruling before it reached trial later this year.

Justices had said the interpretation of part of the law relating to joint enterprise - which can result in people being convicted of assault or murder even if they did not strike the blow - had taken a "new turn" in the mid-1980s.

Senior judges decided in 1984 that a "secondary party" would be guilty of murder if he or she "foresaw" the possibility that the "principal" might act with intent to cause death or serious harm.

The Supreme Court said that development was wrong. Justices said it was not right that someone should be guilty merely because they foresaw that a co-accused might commit a crime.

They said jurors should view "foresight" only as evidence to be taken into account, not as proof.
The relatives of a dozen Chinese passengers, who were on board the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight, have filed a lawsuit against the company.

They appeared in court in Beijing today ahead of tomorrow's two-year anniversary of its disappearance.
The head of the European Parliament says Turkey has asked for an additional 3bn from the European Union to help it deal with the refugee crisis.

Diplomats also said that EU leaders are faced with additional Turkish requests to speed up visa liberalisation and better conditions for membership talks.
A vet has been given a suspended jail sentence and banned from keeping animals for life after police found dogs locked in cages in a filthy "pitch-black dungeon" at his practice.

Gary Samuel was charged after officers discovered 22 dogs and eight cats in the back room, living quarters and basement of Armley Vets, on Town Street, in Armley, Leeds.

Samuel, 49, of Western Road, Enfield, was convicted of six offences under the Animal Welfare Act at Leeds Magistrates' Court earlier this year and has now been given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months; ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work; fined 200 and told to pay 500 costs, the RSPCA confirmed.

Last month, Samuel's assistant Rochelle McEwan, 28, was also disqualified from keeping animals for life, as well as being sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

McEwan, of Stonecliffe Close, Leeds, was also ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay 250 costs.

The RSPCA said it was called in by police officers who had gone to the surgery in relation to an unrelated matter.

One cat was put down on site and a dog was put down the following day. Three further dogs have had to be put down on veterinary advice.

RSPCA inspector Nikki Cheetham said: "I've seen a lot of shocking things working for the RSPCA but I would certainly never have expected to deal with something like this.

"People who work in the veterinary profession are the first port of call if an animal needs help. It is unthinkable to consider what was going on in this surgery as clients were coming and going, paying their vet fees.

"Dogs and cats were in a back room, the vet's living quarters and a basement, accessed by a trapdoor in the floor that had been hidden by a piece of carpet - that's where most of the dogs were found. They were in cages covered in faeces, with no access to food or water, in the pitch black. It was like a dungeon."

Ms Cheetham said most of the dogs were Husky-types, with the exception of two Chinese crested dogs. Adult dogs were in the basement while puppies were found shut in one of the rooms, with most of the cats in another.

She said 21 animals - 15 dogs and six cats - have already been re-homed from RSPCA centres and branches in County Durham, York, Liverpool, Chester, Leeds and Harrogate.

Ms Cheetham said: "I've had the pleasure of seeing a couple of the animals recently, with their new owners, which was a lovely experience.

"Of course, the adult dogs are taking some adjusting to the wonderful new homes they're now living in, but they have owners who are committed to them for the long haul."
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More than 60 per cent of drivers who tested positive for alcohol consumption after accidents on Canberra roads have recording blood-alcohol readings double the legal limit since 2002.

A government laboratory report, published online on Monday, revealed more than 10 per cent of hospitalised drivers tested positive for alcohol consumption during the 12 year period.

A government report has revealed the link between drink driving and road accidents. Credit:Peter Stoop

One hospitalised driver recorded a blood-alcohol reading of .63  12 times the legal limit  while the average intoxication level in 2014 was 0.136.

The report also revealed 42 per cent of those who returned positive samples had had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.15, or three times the legal limit.
A man has pleaded guilty to murdering Canberra woman Daniela D'Addario, whose body was found in the boot of a car on the NSW south coast last year.

Josaia Vosikata, 27, sparked a massive search when he fled police who stopped his blue Hyundai Getz and discovered Ms D'Addario's body on April 23.

The pair had been reported missing from the ACT several days earlier, according to a police statement.

Vosikata, who previously denied the killing, wore a suit and spoke in a quiet voice as he admitted to his crime before Chief Justice Helen Murrell in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday.
An 18-year-old mother has admitted to abducting her baby daughter from a north Canberra care home.

The woman and her then-partner sparked a manhunt when they took the one-year-old from the Barnados property in Belconnen during a supervised visit and fled to the south coast in August last year.

She pleaded guilty to two charges, including unlawfully taking the child, on what was to be the first day of her ACT Supreme Court trial on Monday.

The woman's co-accused and ex-partner, aged 22, last week admitted to aiding in the unlawful taking of a child and aggravated burglary and was sentenced to two years behind bars.

He will be eligible for release in August.
The federal opposition says the Turnbull government should consider a royal commission into the life insurance industry, after tricky and unethical practices within the Commonwealth Bank's insurance division were exposed by a Fairfax Media/Four Corners investigation.

The call came as Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer revealed the government was seeking an urgent report from the corporate regulator into the incidents raised by the investigation, and the industry more broadly.

Shadow financial services minister Jim Chalmers said Labor was prepared to consult with the government about a royal commission - a public inquiry with the greatest power to compel witnesses and gather evidence.

That would be in addition to an existing Senate inquiry into financial advice that will expand to include life insurance, and a separate investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Indue may become the next payments company to become a full bank in its quest to boost profits and compete with masses of new fintech start-ups.

Chief executive Manuel Garcia is exploring options to raise up to $20 million in capital and is now entertaining pitches from advisers to guide its strategy.

Becoming Australia's latest challenger bank and floating are two options Indue boss Marcel Garcia is considering to boost profits

"The most important problem for me is to fix my access to capital," he said.

Indue is owned by mutual lenders such as credit unions. It issues payment cards, including pre-paid cards for the likes of Coles and on behalf of the federal government to welfare recipients.
Kisimul has lodged new evidence with the NSW Supreme Court that it alleges proves a former employee and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank stole its farmer database and planned to use it to pitch to new borrowers.

The evidence  obtained by subpoena by the data company from the bank, its subsidiary Rural Bank and analytics company Prismatik  captures emails, records of databases and who accessed them, including board presentations identifying the potential to win $550 million in new loans with the data.

Farmer database owner Kisimul Holdings alleges a former employee and Bendigo bank subsidiary Rural Bank stole its data. Credit:Paul Rovere

Combined with an affidavit from Prismatik managing director Rob Morris that states records in a Rural Bank database called Oculus he had seen appeared identical to Kisimul's database, chief executive Adam McNeill said the evidence is sufficient to prove the banks had illegally accessed its data.

"It has been a long and tortuous process extracting the evidence we knew would categorically prove our case," said Mr McNeill.
An Australian dollar at parity with the greenback again? It's a possibility, and Saxo Bank's chief economist Steen Jakobsen is betting on it.

The colourful economist for the Danish investment bank, famous for his annual "outrageous predictions", said the shrinking global liquidity following interest rate rises in the United States and negative interest rates in Japan and Europe is driving volatility in capital markets, but it's boom time for the local currency.

"When liquidity tightens and the regulatory framework is putting a dampener on the banks' ability to trade, then you will have volatility," he said, noting the recent underperformance of global banks.

The market rout in January and early February and ensuing rally was the markets blowing the lack of liquidity out of proportion.

But volatility was "the only guarantee right now" and investors need to move into a defensive position, anticipating challenged returns in the sharemarket as the US Federal Reserve continues its interest rate rise cycle this year.

Speaking to Fairfax Media, Mr Jakobsen predicted the RBA to raise interest rates, noting its divergence in monetary policy direction with the US was unprecedented. The first 25 basis point move may go either way, he said, but the following 50 basis points will certainly be a move north.

Interest rates are sitting on a record low 2 per cent, unchanged since May, and economists surveyed by Fairfax Media expect rates to remain either on hold or cut by year's end.

He said Australia is best placed to capitalise on the shift in the global economy, in the liberalisation of China's renminbi and a weaker US dollar.

"I think the renminbi will be a big chunk of a lot of export company's cash flow going forward and you are better positioned than anyone in the world to deal with Asia in terms of resources, and Asia still grows on average at 6 per cent," he said.

"I think the US dollar will weaken and why wouldn't I be in a high yield, highly correlated to China currency?"

Read more.
SBS managing director Michael Ebeid has brushed off outgoing ABC boss Mark Scott's suggestion that the two public broadcasters should explore a merger.

Speaking at the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Communications and Arts, Mr Ebeid said "as far as I can tell, the only people talking about an ABC-SBS merger are the ABC".

SBS managing director Michael Ebeid says the numbers don't make sense for an SBS-ABC merger. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Nobody that I speak to in government is talking about it, nobody in Canberra is talking about it, the opposition certainly made it very clear they're not interested in talking about it."

Mr Scott, who finishes his term as ABC managing director in May, has advocated for the bringing together of the two networks and used his final major speech at the National Press Club in February to state his case; which included $40 million in forecast savings.
Australian job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet slipped in February, a sign that firms were unsettled by turbulence in financial markets and a gloomy global outlook.

A monthly survey by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group showed total job advertisements fell 1.2 per cent to 154,748 per week on average in February, from January when they increased by 0.9 per cent.

Australian companies appear to have eased off hiring in February.

Ads were still 8.2 per cent higher on February last year.

Internet ads dropped by 1.3 per cent in February, while newspaper ads rose 6.9 per cent. Newspaper ads have been in decline for years and account for only a fraction of the total.
The rock stars of brain injury are easy to pick. The fans start gathering at book signings well before the authors turn up, and there's always someone at the World Congress on Brain Injury, staged last week at the Hague in the Netherlands, keen to hear more information about the details of a particular operation. Then, at the cocktail reception and perhaps to rub in just how singularly talented some people can actually be, paediatric rehabilitation physician Peter de Koning picked up his electric guitar until the congress was, quite literally, rocking.

(And, at this point, it's probably important to note that this is not the same Peter de Koning as the one who had the 1995 one-hit wonder, "It's always spring in the eyes of the dental assistant", although this might be a natural mistake to make.)

No matter how skilful the surgeon, no matter how precise the scalpel; it can never be enough.

The point is these are the technical experts; remarkable neurosurgeons with razor sharp skills, imagination and precision. As it should be, their extraordinary ability is applauded, and it's easy to see why these skills are so widely admired.

This is our usual model of medicine and it's best described as the "orthopaedic model". Brilliant surgeons; incredible pressures; working against the clock until finally, success or the tragic failure of a body convulsing into darkness. And this is the image we conjure up when thinking of heart transplants or other operations, because it's terrific to realise that medicine's come so far since the days patients veins were opened to drain away disease. So much has been achieved it's only right to pause for a second to congratulate ourselves on the successes. Brilliant technicians deserve every plaudit. And yet, and yet ...
"But it's your job to be friendly" and "the customer is always right" are mantras we often hear in bars, hotels and retail stores. But this seemingly innocent assumption can lead to some disturbing outcomes, particularly for vulnerable employees.

It's no secret that sexual harassment is a pervasive and destructive behaviour faced by many women in the workplace.

One in four female employees has experienced sexual harassment at work at some time in the past five years. Credit:Rob Banks

The prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace has remained largely unchanged during the past 30 years, contrary to popular belief and in contrast to community expectations.

The national statistics tell us that one in four female employees has experienced sexual harassment at work at some time in the past five years. Things are even bleaker in certain sectors: up to 67 per cent of female retail workers have been victims of harassment.
Google has announced that it's 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 moment's conversation to purchase something.

Woolworths customers have been advised to check their bank statements after the retailer charged hundreds of customers twice because of a payments processing glitch. Credit:Michele Mossop

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, "I'll 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 company's 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 wands of wizarding fans around the world are quivering with excitement as they eagerly await the latest magical instalment from the fertile and apparently inexhaustible mind of J.K. Rowling.

The Harry Potter author has announced, via her website Pottermore, that four "new pieces of writing" will land this week in a new series called History of Magic in North America.

J.K. Rowling Credit:AP

The first instalment  the length of which is unknown  will drop at 1am AEDT on Wednesday, with subsequent chapters released at the same time for the next three days.
Melbourne Ballet Company stretches into shape at Alex Theatre

St Kilda's Alex Theatre is a new-ish venue on the landscape but a solid string of productions (such as the sell-out Bad Jews, returning in April) augurs well for its longevity.

La Mama is planning to celebrate its 50th birthday with a book and wants to hear from patrons with stories of memorable performances. Credit:John Woudstra

Now, the Alex is adding ballet to its catalogue as the Melbourne Ballet Company enjoys a 2016 residency.

"It's exceedingly rare for a commercial theatre to offer a residency," the theatre's general manager and artistic director, Richard Fitzgerald, says. "There are no taxpayer funds here, just the Alex St Kilda supporting talented artists, ensuring they are exposed to our audiences."
The tiny confines of Carlton's La Mama belie the sheer number of people who have filled its seats across the decades, and with the venue celebrating its 50th birthday next year, the call has gone out for those patrons and performers to stand up and be heard.

A lavish coffee table book is planned as part of the anniversary festivities and the work will be composed of recollections and anecdotes by artists and audiences who have populated the space throughout its half century.

La Mama in Faraday Street, Carlton, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. Credit:John Woudstra

The book, which will be published by Melbourne University Press and Miegunyah Press, is being edited by frequent La Mama writer and performer Adam Cass. Photographs are also being sought amid the hope the publication will be "a book that people will fall in love with and cherish".

Contributions or questions can be directed to Cass at thebookproject@lamama.com.au
For more than 30 years, the Melbourne Playback Theatre Company has been serving up its particular brand of improvised theatre, in which true stories from the audience are transformed into engaging impromptu performances.

This year, the company is branching out with a series of one-off events aligned with particular calendar moments, ranging from Sorry Day to Science Week.

Michelle Nussey will MC The F-Word event.

The first takes place this week to coincide with International Women's Day. Titled The F-Word, it will feature a panel Q&A with guests Clementine Ford, Celeste Liddle, Melba Marginson and Jane Gilmore, after which audience experiences inspired by the discussion will be transformed into spontaneous theatre.

Playback's Michelle Nussey will MC the night, which takes place at Brunswick's Howler on Thursday.
"It's a very definite taboo if the mother doesn't connect or if she moves away. I wanted to write Bea with enormous empathy and I didn't want to judge her ... Certainly women who aren't living with their children have said they feel ostracised."

Exile, isolation, ostracism. Such words already weigh heavily on the three actors playing Bea and her best friends in an upcoming Melbourne Theatre Company production.

"We've talked about a secret society of unhappy mothers", says Susan Prior who plays Bea. "Society says you have to cope, you have to be calm and maternal" - instructions not given to fathers to the same extent.

Nadine Garner, who plays Bea's friend Kate, speaks with feeling about the modern expectation to do it almost alone. "Think about wet-nursing in the past, and there were always other women that helped with mothering. You often don't even have grandparents helping now. You have a baby now and you go back to work and cope, or you go and live on the other side of the world from your family ... I don't think women have ever been so alone. The loss of the tribe has left women exposed to depression and anxiety."

Bea's friends represent her tribe; yet that doesn't guarantee acceptance, says Garner. "Kate is the voice of the status quo, so I give Bea the hardest time about what is expected of her as a wife and a mother."
Nine is pinning its hopes on its controversial Australian series Here Come the Habibs!, greenlighting a second season while the first season is still on air.

The show attracted plenty of press late last year when the promo hit Australian living rooms, with viewers accusing the sitcom of being both "casually racist" and "outdated" on Twitter.

It was even the subject of a Change.org petition calling for it to be pulled before it aired on TV.
Where better to retreat from the salacious rumours about your predecessor or questions about the gay marriage plebiscite and party disunity than to board a Melbourne tram at lunchtime.

Leaving the elite Athenaeum Club, the prime minister jumped on a crammed Collins Street tram, joking that he didn't need a myki while travelling in the city.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been focused on holding a double dissolution on July 2. Credit:Jesse Marlow

A few polite hellos were exchanged but the mood on the tram was typical for the lunchtime crush - quiet.

"Hope the inspectors check his ticket," a burly bloke joked to his partner after spotting the PM and his minders.
"Deductibility of interest payments on debt creates a tax advantage for debt over equity," he wrote. "Negative gearing ensues by way of combining debt interest deductibility with concessional tax treatment of capital gains, encouraging over-investment in property and related asset inflation sectors."

Kim Hawtrey, now with consultancy firm BIS Shrapnel, wrote the words more than 20 years ago when he was an academic at Macquarie University in an article in the journal Australian Tax Forum.

Negative gearing encourages excessive use of debt, lifts overseas borrowings and raises real interest rates, according to the economist whose work on the subject has been lauded by the Treasurer Scott Morrison.

More than two decades on, Dr Hawtrey says he won't divulge his personal position on negative gearing, saying the work his firm released last week was "technical" and "dispassionate".

Treasurer Scott Morrison addresses the media during a press conference at Parliament House. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"I have not commented on my views and I am not going to comment on my personal views, from a policy point of view, or as a voter or whatever," he told Fairfax Media.

"We were simply given a task and we carried out that task, and no attribution or nothing should be read into that as to any policy preference."

"Any policy issue in Australia, we do reports on both sides of those issues for parties that are on both sides of the political fence, if you like, and we do that impartially and dispassionately as economists, as technicians, if you like."
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has responded to a new book about his downfall by defending his government's record and declining to engage directly with what he calls "scurrilous gossip".

He was responding to the publication of The Road to Ruin, How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin destroyed their own government, by journalist and former Liberal staffer Niki Savva. Among other robust, on-the-record critiques of the Abbott government by MPs, the book contends that ministers and other colleagues were concerned about the perception that Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin were having an affair.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the former prime minister said "the best response to this book is in the objective record of the Abbott government". He cited stopping the boats, abolishing the carbon and mining taxes, and committing to a second Sydney airport as examples of his government's achievements. Australia was kept safe and progress was made on "budget repair", he added.
The wife of former Eagles band member, bassist Randy Meisner was killed when a rifle she was handling accidentally discharged and shot her in the head, Los Angeles police say.

Police said on Monday officers found 63-year-old Lana Rae Meisner dead on Sunday from a single gunshot wound at the couple's home in the San Fernando Valley.

Randy Meisner.

Investigators say Lana Rae Meisner lifted the rifle from a storage case when another item inside shifted and hit the trigger, causing the gun to fire.
Concerns raised about Sydney dance teacher Grant Davies nine years ago

A dancer who was groomed and molested by Sydney dance teacher Grant Davies has told a royal commission Davies' actions escalated for years after police were first alerted to claims he was abusing students.

Grant Davies has pleaded guilty to multiple child sex offences. Credit:Facebook

The witness, given the pseudonym BZP, was among a number of young students who complained to police about Davies in 2007.

A former teacher at RG Dance, which Davies ran with his sister, Rebecca Davies, also raised concerns about Davies' behaviour in 2007, the commission heard.
Police have launched a murder investigation after a woman died in suspicious circumstances in a house fire at Lalor Park in Sydney's west on Monday night.

Firefighters found the woman's badly burned body in the front of the Lucas Road house, which was well alight by the time they arrived about 9pm. She was the sole occupant of the house.

Neighbours told AAP they heard a scuffle before spotting the fire and calling emergency services.

"We heard a scuffle and then we heard something like a 'pop pop' and then somebody yell out 'help help' and a bang and then I looked out the window and I saw the fire," Karen Taylor told AAP.
One of the men who was taken hostage during a deadly six-hour siege in Sydney's south-west says he was working his first shift at the sign-making factory when gunfire broke out on Monday morning.

The man, identified only as Seksane, spoke briefly as he left a Sydney police station late on Monday night after being interviewed by detectives about the hours he had been held inside his new workplace, Inline National Signage, in Ingleburn.

Seksane said he was part way through his first shift at the business, on the corner of Heald and Stennett roads, when gunfire erupted about 10.45am on Monday.
A business dispute between a Finks bikie and a group of brothers is believed to have been the catalyst for a siege in south-west Sydney that ended with two men shot dead and two others injured.

Three other hostages escaped unharmed after the six hour ordeal which began when Finks bikie member Wayne Williams, 33, shot three men inside a signage business at Ingleburn at 10:45am.

Mick Bassal, 43, was killed, and his two brothers were injured when Williams opened fire with a long-arm firearm.
Two armed men wearing motorcycle helmets harassed staff and patrons at the Albion Hotel with a firearm and crowbar before stealing the night's takings on Sunday.

Police said they entered the gaming area about 9pm yelling for everyone to get on the ground before they jumped over the bar and stole cash. They fled on a blue or possibly black motorcycle.

The man wielding the firearm was about 183cm tall, of solid build, and wore a black helmet, black pants and a white shirt. The man brandishing a crowbar was of slim build and wore a long-sleeved shirt with beige cargo pants and a white helmet.

No one was physically hurt. Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen the men or the motorcycle entering or leaving the hotel to contact them.
Police investigating a fatal shooting near Ipswich late last week have charged a 19-year-old man.

But four days on the suspected killer is yet to be charged.

The homicide squad is investigating the shooting death of a man at Booval. Credit:Ten News

Police say a group of men broke into a home in suburban Booval, in the city's east, about 1am Friday and one of them, a 26-year-old man, was fatally shot.

The shooting came after the group allegedly stormed the home and hit a 27-year-old resident in the head.
Four men and three boys missing after embarking on a weekend fishing trip in Queensland's remote north west have been found safe and well on Tuesday morning.

A major air and land search was launched on Monday when the group failed to return from the trip.

Four men and three young boys ahve been found after failing to return from a weekend fishing trip in Queensland's remote north west. Credit:iStock

They set off from the remote Aboriginal community of Doomadgee, nearly 500 kilometres north of Mount Isa, at 3.45pm Friday and were expected to return on Sunday.
Senior Constable Jaye Lilley always wanted to be a police officer - her partner PD Turbo was conscripted.

She shares her life with PD Turbo, detecting dangerous drugs, executing search warrants and vehicle searches.

Senior Constable Jaye Lilley, with her partner PD Turbo. Credit:QPS

In 2009 she entered the police academy and has been on the beat for six years.

"I would always pretend I was a police lady when playing games with my three sisters," the Ed Sheeran fan said (Constable Lilley that is, not Turbo).
3AW Breakfast hosts Ross Stevenson and John Burns have had to abandon plans to broadcast their radio show from India this week.

The veteran broadcasters had been planning to present their morning show live from New Delhi and Agra, but the Indian government has banned them from broadcasting from the country.

Veteran broadcasters Ross Stevenson and John Burns have had to make a last minute change after the Indian government banned them from broadcasting.

The decree caused a change of plans and Stevenson and Burns are instead doing their show this week from Malaysia.

Stevenson was already in Malaysia last week, where he was doing a food and travel program.
A kangaroo carrying a joey in her pouch was shot with a bow at close range in a cruel attack in Melbourne's north.

The kangaroo was rushed to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital by wildlife rescuers yesterday afternoon in a critical condition, the arrow still protruding through her chest.

Lort Smith staff remove the arrow from River's chest.

The hospital's Dr Tristan Rich said staff immediately supplemented her with oxygen, intravenous fluids and took an X-ray to assess the extent of injury.

"It's amazing that the arrow didn't puncture her heart or lungs, and I was able to remove it quite easily," he said.
A 20-year-old Lalor man has been arrested at Melbourne Airport over a shooting death at a budget motel in Melbourne's north east.

The man was arrested on Sunday night and charged with murder. He is due to face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday.

The alleged victim, 23-year-old Mahamd Hassan, was shot dead inside a room at the Parkside Inn Motel in Kingsbury on Saturday night.

Detectives believe four men were inside the room at the time when a single gunshot was heard about 10.45pm.Family and friends have taken to Mr Hassan's Facebook page to pay tribute to the former Reservoir High School student and share their memories of him.
A man believed he was acting on God's orders when he killed his elderly father, who was hanging out washing, a court has heard.

Crown prosecutor Diana Piekusis told the Supreme Court on Monday that Slave 'George' Pedevski, 51, attacked his father, Risto, 79, with a claw hammer at the family's Yarraville home.

George Pedevski believed he was acting on God's orders when he killed his father. Credit:Pat Scala

Ms Piekusis said Pedevski, who suffered from chronic paranoid schizophrenia and had not taken his medication for many months, had argued with his father over how he was constantly turning off the gas water system because he feared being gassed.

Pedevski's father told his son if he turned off the gas water system again he would report him to the police. Every time he turned off the system his father had to get a tradesman to come to the house to switch it back on.
Louisa Barrow's body lay with her partner for almost 130 years with nothing to acknowledge her presence to passers-by. Until now.

Ms Barrow had four children with Supreme Court judge Sir Redmond Barry, the man who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang.

Dr Celestina Sagazio at the Melbourne General Cemetery with the plaque in memory of Louisa Barrow. Credit:Jason South

But the couple never married and their 34-year relationship was a secret from his family in Ireland until it was revealed in his final years.

Now the Melbourne General Cemetery has erected a plaque at Ms Barrow's resting place to publicly mark her presence there.
A gunman is on the run after a man was shot outside his home in Melbourne's south-west on Monday night  the state's fourth shooting incident in just three days.

The 49-year-old victim was shot after he approached a man outside his house on Alison Drive in Lara, near Geelong, about 9pm.

Police are hunting a gunman after a shooting near Geelong. Credit:Paul Rovere

The victim was flown to The Alfred hospital and is believed to be in a stable condition.

The Lara shooting comes after three separate shootings across Melbourne at the weekend  one involving a 23-year-old man, Mahamd Hassan, who was shot dead inside a room at the Parkside Inn Motel in Kingsbury.
A man has been arrested after a four-hour stand-off with police in Geelong on Monday morning.

Officers were called to a residential street in Whittington at about 5.50am. The man was arrested at 9.45am and taken to Geelong Hospital for assessment.

Police say the man is threatening to harm himself.

The man was threatening self harm, a police statement said.

Critical Incident Response Team members negotiated with the man, who was alone in the house, and Challenger Close was closed between Ranger Court and Explorer Court.
An Egyptian student is accused of using online dating sites to rape six women - and attacking another who broke free - in Melbourne within two months.

Adel Nafady has been charged with 44 offences, including 21 rapes against six women and the assault of another who had been in the country for just two days before she was allegedly attacked.

Igors Urvancevs allegedly siphoned money out Mr Forrest's family bank accounts by installing a virus on a home computer. Credit:Rob Young

Mr Nafady, a 28-year-old studying a masters of business administration, arrived in Australia from Egypt on a student visa in February last year, the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told on Monday.

Within weeks of his arrival, prosecutor Lesley Taylor SC said, Mr Nafady began contacting women on several dating websites, including OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Meetme.
A woman who was "frozen out" by her husband committed the ultimate act of family violence in killing the couple's two young sons, a coroner has found.

Judge Ian Gray found it was difficult to resist the conclusion that Anitha Mathew was punishing her husband when she set fire to her Clayton South home, while she and her sons Philip, 9, and Mathew, 5, were inside on June 1, 2012.

Anitha Mathew died in the house fire with her two sons.

The 37-year-old had given the boys sleeping tablets before she lit the fire, in which she also died.

Ms Mathew's husband, George Philip, was returning from a trip to India at the time.
China's mammoth carbon dioxide emissions are likely to peak before 2025, and may have already done so.

New research by prominent economist Lord Nicholas Stern has found that China, easily the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, may have already applied the brakes, well ahead of schedule.

China, by far the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is aiming to reach a peak in carbon emissions by 2030. Credit:Getty Images

If true, it would mean China has already met one of its key pledges in last year's landmark Paris climate agreement - to peak its emissions by 2030.

The new forecasts follows similar work last year by Lord Stern and Australian researcher Fergus Green that found Chinese emissions would stop rising by 2025, five years before its stated target.
Tehran: An Iranian court has issued a death sentence against an Iranian oil tycoon in a case widely portrayed as a symbol of corruption during the administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Babak Zanjani, 41, one of Iran's wealthiest businessmen, was sentenced to death with two other defendants.

President Hassan Rouhani is determined to stamp out corruption, which is seen as the legacy of his predecessors. Credit:Handout via AP

Zanjani, with a reported estimated net worth of $US14 billion ($18.9 billion), had previously been blacklisted by both the United States and the European Union for helping Iran sell oil in violation of international sanctions.

In 2013, the US Treasury Department accused Zanjani of being involved in a multibillion-dollar scheme to launder money in a sanctions-busting manoeuvre. Those allegations came before last year's deal between Iran and world powers that ended most nuclear-related sanctions in exchange for constraints on Tehran's nuclear program.
Baghdad: Scores of people were killed when a suspected Islamic State jihadist exploded a petrol tanker in a city south of Baghdad on Sunday, a worrying sign that Iraq's civil war may be moving into a new phase.

Initial estimates were that up to 60 people were killed and 70 injured when the rigged tanker exploded in the mainly Shia town of Hillah, which 95 kilometres from the Iraqi capital and near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. Other accounts put the death toll at 33 with some 115 injured.

Municipality workers remove destroyed vehicles at the scene of a deadly suicide bomb attack in Hillah, south of Baghdad, on Sunday, March 6, 2016. Credit:AP

Islamic State (IS) posted a claim of responsibility on a website linked to the group, Amaq. "A martyr's operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilleh, killing and wounding dozens," it said.

The checkpoint, a nearby police station and several houses were destroyed or damaged, officials said. More than 20 police officers were said to be among the dead.
Manila: The Philippines will become the first country to enforce tough new United Nations sanctions on North Korea when it initiates formal procedures to impound a cargo vessel linked to the reclusive nation, a government spokesman has said.

The MV Jin Teng, which is suspected of being a North Korean ship, arrived on Thursday at Subic Bay, a commercial port about 80 kilometres north-west of Manila. With procedures beginning on Monday, the ship will be impounded, its crew deported and it will most likely be inspected by a team from the UN, said Charles Jose, a spokesman for the Philippines foreign affairs department.

The North Korean cargo vessel Jin Teng docked at Subic Bay, Philippines. Credit:Jun Dumaguing

The vessel is registered and flagged under multiple countries, but it is one of 31 listed as being owned by North Korea, Philippine officials said, and therefore subject to seizure under the new sanctions. The sanctions are the result of a UN Security Council resolution passed last Wednesday, following a North Korean nuclear test on January 6 and a long-range rocket test on February 7.
After a successful bid to the University International Strategic Fund, Dr Janet Orchard has been awarded 1500 to enable her to visit South Africa this month to explore her project entitled Developing the skills of pre-service teachers in applied ethical decision making. She will be collaborating with Dr Karin Murris from the School of Education, University of Cape Town and Dr Nuraan Davids from the School of Education, Stellenbosch University and their respective colleagues.

Dr Orchard has piloted an innovative approach to pre-service teachers ethical deliberation, Philosophy for Teachers, or P4T. It has been adapted from a model of learning through dialogue, within a community of fellow enquirers known as P4C (Philosophy for Children). Teaching, irrespective of its geographical location, is fundamentally a relational practice in which unique ethically complex situations arise and to which teachers need to respond. Therefore, alongside a wide range of pedagogical skills, new teachers need to develop personal qualities, knowledge and understanding that will enable them to navigate these professional demands.

The project will facilitate collaboration between the GSoE and the University of Cape Town (a WUN member) to examine whether an ethical deliberation model in England can be adapted to another national context. Dr Murris is an internationally recognised authority in Philosophy for Children currently researching teachers and teacher educators attitudes towards behaviour in classrooms.

Whilst on her visit, Janet will lead a seminar at the University of Cape Town, explore the feasibility of a pilot P4T workshop in South Africa, and meet a second South African colleague, Dr Nuraan Davids. The trip will build research collaboration and fuel future funding bids, fostering partnership between UoB and philosophers of education and teacher educators in two South African universities.
Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers

Firstmac shifts up a gear on auto loans National sales manager appointed to pursue growing market

Sydney-based mortgage group N1 Loans is set to list on the ASX this month after having closed their IPO for $5 million.N1 Loans  which is based in Sydney but also runs an office in Shanghai  also runs the only Chinese language mortgage comparison website in Australia, Chengdai. N1 Loans CEO, Ren Wong , says the groups IPO was oversubscribed with strong investment interest from both local investors, N1 customers and Asian investors due to its focussed and niche business model.There are over one million Chinese speaking citizens in Australia, many of whom are not fluent in English. Since we started the business in 2011, we have been servicing our customers in Mandarin because we wanted to create an environment in which they are more comfortable and we can help them access the financial services that they need.By focusing on our customers needs we have become one of the fastest growing mortgage companies in Australia. In April 2015, N1 Loans opened the first and only Chinese language mortgage comparison website (www.chengdai.com.au) and we are already receiving over 4,000 unique visits per month.Wong said he is pleased with the results of the IPO and said its listing will help grow the business to be a leader in the residential mortgage broking sector.N1 is aiming to build Australias largest multicultural online-to-offline residential mortgage broker business. We believe we have a tremendous opportunity to grow our footprint in Australia and we will continue to expand our range of products and services, specifically targeting the insurance and financial planning industries.We are humbled by the support in our company and we look forward to delivering strong growth and a business with strong integrity, serving not only the Asian speaking community, but all Australian customers seeking a competitive mortgage rate.The successful issue of 70 million shares in N1 Loans Limited at $0.20 per share was raised at an implied (undiluted) market capitalisation of $16.2 million.
Last time on Quantico, Elias revealed that he was blackmailed into planting the bomb at Grand Central and framing Alex. Before he committed suicide by jumping out of a window, he told Alex that he was contacted to plant another bomb, but he refused. While Alex and her circle of FBI agent friends searched for the second bomb in a nearby hotel, they realized that they were on a wild goose chase as a bomb exploded in the FBIs Emergency Command Center.

The winter premiere of Quantico, titled Alex, deals with Alexs testimony before a congressional hearing about the terror attacks. Hopefully, we will find out which of the characters we are acquainted with (if any) perish in the second bombing.

ABC Renews Quantico, Fresh Off the Boat and The Goldbergs >>>





Training Days

The NATS are beginning the second part of their training. Alex still hasnt heard from her ex-boyfriend, Agent Ryan Booth, who has gone undercover with his ex-wife. Really? What could possibly go wrong in this scenario?

Miranda Shaw is trying to persuade her son, Charlie, to cooperate with Agent Maxwell, who is investigating his kidnapping. They believe that Charlie was abducted by a terror cell that is planning an attack in the US. Maxwell will give Charlie one more day, but after that, he will be questioned at a field office, and Miranda wont be allowed to be in the room.

Nimah offers to talk to Charlie and try to find out what he knows, but she isnt successful. Raina takes a stab at talking to Charlie. He gives her the first names of the four guys who kidnapped him.





Class Warfare

Shelby gets back in contact with the female con artist who is pretending to be her half-sister, Samar Hashmi. Shelby invites her to come and visit, but Caleb isnt sure why.

When the NATS go to the lecture hall, they come face to face with the class that is one month ahead of them. Alex and her class will take on the other NATS in a set of challenges, like an obstacle course, hand to hand combat and hacking computers. The wining class will select five trainees from the losing class to go home. Each trainee will be scored individually, then the scores for their class will be computed.

The other class has Drew Perale, a former NFL player, and Dr. Will Olsen, who is extremely intelligent and worked for NASA. Iris Chang, who is from Beverly Hills, sued all her business partners from six startups. Both teams end up in a tie, so the classes are going to compete in one final exercise in Hogans Alley. The higher class will pose as hostage takers, while Alexs class will be the team to extract the hostages.

Is Cheating Okay?

The higher class manages to listen in on the lower class microphones, and they are one step ahead of Alexs class. They dress up the hostages to look like bad guys and escape out the back with the money. Yikes! Alex and her friends are facing going home after killing four hostages.

Miranda and Liam decide that the exercise is unfair and cut people from both classes. They then combine both groups into one big, harmonious class. Awkward!

Shelby goes to a restaurant to meet Samar, but her husband shows instead. He explains that the woman Shelby knows as Samar is really his wife, Haiffa. When Samar told her contact that she was ending the scam, she disappeared. Her husband, Khaled, begs for help from Shelby and Caleb.

Is there a Mastermind?

Three months after the bombings, Alex is testifying before a Senate committee, and she tells them she is positive that Elias Harper did not act alone. Meanwhile, Vice Presidential candidate Claire Haas, whose husband, Executive Assistant Director Clayton Haas, perished in the second bombing along with 31 other agents, believes that Alex is trying to gain sympathy by exploiting peoples fears. Haas is also speaking out about Elias acting alone.

Alex is watching the news coverage of her in a bar, and she seems to be a regular. When a man approaches and wants to buy her a drink, she responds that she will name five things about him. If she gets any wrong, he can sit next to her and buy her a drink. Wow  if I was going through everything that Alex has been going through, I would probably take the free drink. Instead, Alex ends up making out with the stranger before deciding that she needs to bail.

Alex also has some bitterness towards Miranda and Liam since they have sidelined her with trauma leave. When Nathalie arrives to take Alex to the hearing, she reminds Alex that her friends, and fellow agents, investigated the mastermind theory of the bombings, but no evidence has found to support the theory that Elias didnt act alone.

5 Reasons Why Quantico Star Priyanka Chopra is the Sexiest Woman on TV >>>

Everyone is Mad at Alex

Even Simon Asher, who has spent the last three months going over everything that Elias ever said to him, believes that Elias acted alone. Simon left the FBI and New York City after the second explosion, and he is angry and bitter. Simon also maintains that Elias despised the FBI, and 32 agents paid the price with their lives. Shelby is also angry, only she is furious with Alex. She lost her job and became a tabloid target for sleeping with her boss and had to move back to Georgia to escape the unwanted attention.

A man, Duncan Howell, jumps from a bridge after asking the police to tell Alex Parrish a message. A police officer tracks down Alex and relays the message: Tell her I thought I didnt have a choice. Alex is shocked by this news. Since the hacker helped her find out about the second bomb, Alex believes that someone got to both Howell and Elias.





Please Give Up

Alex is surprised to see Ryan at her door. Brian Goldman, the fellow that Alex made out with in the bar, has accused her of taking his key fob. Ryan wants to know when Alex is going to stop chasing this conspiracy. Ryan brings Alex a copy of the plea deal that Howell signed a few days ago admitting to computer fraud. Howell was heading to jail, so that is why Ryan believes that he jumped. Alex still clings to her gut instinct telling her that Elias was telling the truth about being forced to plant the bomb. Ryan leaves in disgust.





A New Threat

Alex prepares a statement and says that she is reversing her earlier testimony and that it is time to move on. Her friends are still angry, as is Ryan because he knows that she lied under oath. Alex is also reinstated, but Im sure she isnt overjoyed.

When she is drinking alone in her apartment, Alex gets a call from someone with a digitally altered voice. The caller says that Alex was right all along and that she lied under oath. They give her an address and order her to come alone.

Alex arrives and finds Nathalie with a bomb strapped to her waist. The caller states that Alex may not have been the terrorist before, but she will be now.

I really enjoyed this episode of Quantico. Although I really love the series, I think that the time jumps are a bit confusing since there are so many of them.

Quantico airs Sundays at 10pm on ABC.

(Image courtesy of ABC)
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October 3, 2022

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Burnham-On-Sea Police Stations enquiry office looks set to move into the towns library when the station closes as part of financial cutbacks, Somersets Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has said this week.

Speaking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: I would like to reassure residents that there will always be a local police presence in Burnham-On-Sea with plans for the enquiry office to move into the library.

She added: The fact is that with fewer resources I have to prioritise people over buildings.

I made it clear in 2014 that I would reduce over-sized and under-used police buildings by 36% in order to focus funding on police officer and PCSOs.

Burnham-On-Sea.com reported here last year that Burnhams Police Station is earmarked to close.

But Mark Weston, the Police and Crime Commissioner Conservative candidate, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: I do not support the closure of Burnham-On-Sea Police Station. I regard it as an important part of the fabric of community policing.

I believe that the station is especially important in the summer when people flock to Brean. The station serves as the hub for policing the massive increase in people coming to the area.

I believe that since the financial situation has improved over what was previously expected that we have the flexibility to review the planned closure plans and think again at how we best serve local communities across Somerset, including here in Burnham.

The debate comes as residents across the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge area will go to the polls for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election on Thursday 5th May.

Also see:

Burnham-On-Sea Police Station to close as move to fire station nears

Burnham voters set to go the polls to choose police commissioner
MARCEL CIOLACU:

"Nu cred ca ar fi crescut pensiile anul acesta daca PSD nu ar fi intrat la guvernare"
THE BALLAD OF BANT SINGH: A QISSA OF COURAGE

Nirupama Dutt

Speaking Tiger

213 pages; Rs 250



After a recent trip I took to Punjab, a friend told me how she admired the region and Sikhism for their egalitarian character. To those who do not know about Mazhabi Sikhs - Dalits who converted to Sikhism - Punjab is that safe haven where the farm labourer happily tills the soil with the landowner, sings soulful songs and dances around the Lohri fire. This is the tableau of Punjab we see in the Republic Day parade, often replicated in Bollywood films and popular music. Dig just a little deeper and Punjab's rural economy and feudalism is as dark as the rest of the country. This aspect of Indian society is perhaps even more insidious in Punjab where it is hidden from the mainstream narrative of a flourishing state.

In The Ballad of Bant Singh: A Qissa of Courage, author Nirupama Dutt grabs the reader by the hand and takes her into the world of Bant Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh, a member of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, and a father who spoke up and fought his daughter's rapists. Mr Singh's daughter was gang-raped in 2002 by two Jat men in the village of Burj Jhabbar. The fact that Baljit Kaur, Mr Singh's daughter, was a Dalit became a "justification" for the heinous act. The "casual" abuse of women's bodies is an aspect that Ms Dutt dwells on through the course of the book, including personal anecdotes and inappropriate jokes from educated friends to accentuate the impact.

Mr Singh's story is simple. He chose the legal route to justice after the Jat-dominated village panchayat asked him to bury the fact of his daughter's rape. As Ms Dutt explains, Mr Singh has been an activist of an ultra-Left party without ever reading Mao or Marx. "The radicals of Punjabi soil were his ideals," she writes. Mr Singh then borrowed much of his ideology from Sant Ram Udasi, a revolutionary Punjabi poet. Udasi's songs about the injustice done to farm labourers and women in a deeply patriarchal society guided the efforts of Mr Singh in fighting for justice - for his community and his daughter.

But Mr Singh had to pay a price for this. Boys from the Jat community accosted him one night and beat him to a pulp. Mr Singh, after a frustrating struggle to get medical attention, lost three of his limbs, with the fourth one losing almost all of its function. This was a time before a photograph on the social media could, to some extent, start a revolution. Mr Singh's case was buried without a trace in the local media, before NGOs in Delhi took notice of the injustice being meted out to him.

Ms Dutt remarkably carves out each detail of Mr Singh's life through the memories of people with whom he has been associated. Each minute detail is neatly stitched together in a simple, flowing narrative. The story of Mr Singh's life is also then an entry point into understanding the ignored troubles of a farm labourer in an agrarian economy already in crisis. While farmer suicides are now gaining more attention, the landless Dalit labourer's struggles only keep mounting.

The book will be an enriching, enlightening experience for those looking to understand the complex caste structure within Punjab. To those who believe in the accepting nature of Sikhism, the book presents a hard-hitting facet. The dominant Jat community felt that Mr Singh challenged their authority by dressing well. Unlike others in his community, he is also not someone who can be easily threatened into silence. So much so that members of his own Mazhabi Sikh community would rather remain in the margins than speak up for their rights and face "consequences". The Brahmanisation of Sikhism, which began in the realm of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, is now complete, with a caste divide so deeply rooted that even the teachings of Guru Nanak cannot erase them.

The Ballad of Bant Singh is one of those rare pieces of literature in which the cause of both marginalised groups - Dalits and women - find equal space. Even though it presents a grim and unsettling narrative, the presence of Punjabi folk tales and poetry and Mr Singh's own ability to see humour in the hardest situations make the prose sparkle. The bright yellow mustard fields at the start of the book are, in the end, tainted with the feudalism and oppression that Ms Dutt unravels. But the scene of a simple dinner of aloo matar and kheer at Mr Singh's home, which I felt I was partaking in, offers a warm sense of upliftment. A deeply personalised narrative makes the larger social narrative that much more readable.

Reading Ms Dutt's prose took me back to the time when I would prop my elbows on my knees and listen to my grandmother narrate tales of Partition. Those stories and their oddly tactile nature have stayed with me, and I am certain so will Ms Dutt's rendition of Bant Singh's ballads.
Mahindra & Mahindra plans to tie-up with a Chinese company to manufacture Ssangyong vehicles for the China market. Pawan Goenka, executive director, Mahindra & Mahindra, told a news agency that making Ssangyong cars in China would ensure that it could sell vehicles competitively there. M&M acquired an over 70 per cent stake in Korean auto major Ssangyong in 2011. However, the Indian major has not been able to turn it around and Ssangyong continues to report losses. Earlier, Mahindra had plans to launch Ssangyong in the US market, but has now changed its strategy to focus on China. At present, Korean manufactured models are sold through a distributor in China. Ssangyong is also witnessing declining sales in Russia, which was once a major market for it. The Korean carmaker sold about 145,000 units in 2015, slightly higher than 141,000 a year earlier. However, exports accounted for just a third of its sales in 2015, as against more than half in 2014. Mahindra & Mahindra is investing almost a billion dollars to boost Ssangyong's product lineup. Its new compact, SUV, Tivoli - which has done well in South Korea - could be launched in China.

Source : BS Motoring
Apollo Tyres, the countrys second largest company in the sector by revenue, has ventured into the two-wheeler space to become a full-range maker. Until now the company was manufacturing truck, bus and car tyres.

Unveiling the new products, vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar said, We are looking to cater to at least 85 per cent of the two- wheeler market with our current product range. In the second phase, we will come up with radial tyres for bikes with higher engine capacity.

Read more from our special coverage on "APOLLO TYRES" Apollo Tyres to invest up to $600 million on two plants in FY17

The company has outsourced manufacturing and is looking to reach sales of 500,000 tyres a month in two years. It will look at setting up a dedicated manufacturing facility after crossing the monthly milestone of 500,000 tyres. At 500,000 tyres a month, the company would have a tenth of the market share.

Acknowledging Apollo is a late entrant, Kanwar said the company was not scared of competition. I am very confident that given our leadership in other categories, we will do well here, he said. Apollo will need to compete against entrenched two-wheeler tyre makers like MRF, Ceat and TVS Srichakra.

The two wheeler tyre segment is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.5 per cent. India is estimated to have 120 million two wheeler population.

The two wheeler tyres have been designed and developed by the company's R&D Centre in Chennai.

The company has launched tyres for motorcycles and the fast growing scooter segment. The range of two wheeler tyres from the company will be available from today at Apollo's authorised sales channel across the country.
Generation Company has signed an agreement with the Railways for electrification of the Lalitpur-Udaipura rail section under the public private partnership (PPP).

The Railways would complete the electrification work in a year's time under its customer funding scheme, which would cost nearly Rs 47 crore.



The electrified rail section is expected to facilitate uninterrupted coal supply to its plant and also help running of fast passenger trains in the area.

BPGC is setting up a 1,980 megawatt (mw) thermal power plant in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

While, two units of 660 mw each had already been commissioned in September and December 2015 respectively, the third unit of 660 mw is scheduled to start generating later this month. The total investment in the plant is pegged at Rs 16,000 crore.

BPGC President (commercial) Dwarikesh Sharma and North Central Railway (NCR) Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM) Jhansi Vinit Singh signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

BPGC is owned by Kushagra Bajaj-led Bajaj Group, which has business interests in personal care products, real estate, sugar and ethanol.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) will deliver verdict later today on a plea by the State Bank of India to direct and Diageo Plc to deposit the $ 75 million (around Rs 500 crore) committed by the British liquor firm for a non-compete deal signed with the Indian liquor baron to exit the spirits business.

Mallya, who owes over Rs 7,200 crore to a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India, has objected to the plea by India's largest public sector bank seeking the money saying that the payments are being made to him as a person not to compete with Diageo in the liquor business.

"The payments from Diageo Plc to myself are towards my personal non compete obligations globally except in the UK. In effect, I have given up my interests in the spirits business globally at considerable cost," Mallya said in a statement on Sunday evening.

The banks also have filed petitions in the DRT as well as the Karnataka High Court to arrest Mallya, impound his passport as well as seek disclosure of all his assets.

Mallya had taken the loans to run the defunct Kingfisher Airlines that led to him losing control over his liquor empire to global players - Diageo in spirits and Heineken in beverages. He claimed that his UB group has pumped over Rs 4,000 crores in Kingfisher Airlines.

"My Group directly invested over Rs 4000 crores into Kingfisher Airlines itself which investment stands fully impaired - it is not as though it is only the bank debt that has suffered. The banks will recover a substantial part of their debt - my groups loss is permanent.

Absent any fraud, the concept of corporate limited liability cannot be ignored," Mallya said in the note. ?

Mallya claimed that since April 2013, banks have recovered Rs 1,244 crores in pledged shares and Rs 1250 crore has been deposited in Karnataka high court belonging to United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd.

The plea by the banks in the DRT maintains that SBI should have the first right of the funds from United Spirits as Mallya had stepped down from the company's board. The banks want Diageo to deposit the funds in the tribunal.

SBI, which leads a consortium of banks that lent Mallya, declared him as a wilful 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 wilful defaulter.

Mallya and Kingfisher, now defunct since it suspended operations in October 2012, owes SBI and the consortium of 17 banks over Rs 7,200 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.
Fed up with requests for excise duty exemption on jewellery falling on deaf ears, ornaments manufacturer and retailers have extended their strike indefinitely.



Representatives of various jewellery associations including India Bullion and Jewellery Association (IBJA) and All Indian Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) claimed to have met with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and all other ministers concerned in addition to a number of bureaucrats of various ministries in the last one week with a request to exempt jewellery from 1% excise duty. But, their requests have not been received by the government seriously.

In fact, a request letter written by the Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari addressing to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard was also ignored by the Ministry of Finance. It is, however, unclear whether the Prime Minister has directed the Finance Minister to the proposal of 1% excise levy.

While presenting the Union Budget 2016-17, Jaitley proposed 1% excise levy on jewellers which irked manufacturers and retailers. After announcement made to the excise duty levy on February 29, jewellers convened meetings of their regional representatives and decided to go on strike initially for three days beginning March 2 which was later extended till March 7. Now, the same has been again extended indefinitely.

"Jewellery Association representatives from all States in India unanimously decided to continue the strike till further notice to protest against the imposition of excise duty that will negatively impact a large number of manufacturers, artisans and craftsmen. The Excise guidelines, which have been drafted for the Gems & Jewellery are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry. We urge the Government to withdraw the proposal to impose excise duty till there is proper dialogue and discussion on the subject. Our protest continues till the Government takes cognizance of our views and acts favourably," said G V Sreedhar, Chairman, GJF.

Jewellers recently held discussions with Jaitley wherein the latter expressed concern over bullion trade, which resulted in increasing gold imports that has encourages current account deficit (CAD) issue. On this concern, all jewellers have proactively and voluntarily decided to stop selling bullion to consumers.

Jewellers offered 1% increase in import duty instead of excise levy to the similar tune which according to jewellers would yield higher tax collections. Import duty on gold currently stands at 10%.

Meanwhile, bullion dealers body IBJA has declared "dharna" for full day until an assurance is received from the government for a rollback in excise levy.

"We will sit on a peaceful dharna throughout the day till the government announces a rollback in excise duty. We are not against the government but, against the excise duty which would lead to inspector raj," said Surendra Mehta, Secretary, IBJA. Earlier in 2012, similar proposal was announced but was rolled back after intensified industry wide protest.
Global rating agency Moody's today downgraded Vedanta Resources plc's (Vedanta) corporate family rating (CFR) to "B2' from "Ba2" as improvement in the earning's looks distant due to the low commodity price environment.

Moody's has also downgraded the company's senior unsecured rating to "Caa1" from "B1".

The outlook on all ratings is negative.

Besides effect of the low commodity price environment, a slower correction in leverage metrics than initially anticipated is also driving rating says Kaustubh Chaubal, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst.

The rating actions also incorporate the refinancing risk that the company faces, in particular, in relation to its debt maturities during the financial year ending March 2017 (FY2017).

There has been a fundamental downward shift in the mining sector, with the downturn being deeper and the recovery longer than had previously expected. This has resulted in increased credit risk and weaker credit metrics for Vedanta, as well as the global mining sector, Moody's said.

Consequently, ratings need to be recalibrated to reflect the companies' expected performance over a more protracted challenging operating environment.

Slowing economic growth rates in China materially impact the demand for base metals and prices globally. Even as the Government of India's (Baa3 positive) move to raise duties on imports of aluminum and zinc will raise selling prices in India, the impact will be modest.

At the same time, the reduction in taxes on the production of crude oil to 20 per cent ad valorem ($6-$7 per barrel at current prices) from Rs 4,500 per tonne ($9/barrel) will lower the cash cost of production by some $2-$3/barrel.

However, the decline in oil prices has been so sharp that the reduction in taxes on production will have a muted impact on Vedanta's earnings.

Vedanta's B2 CFR also reflects refinancing risks associated with its $2.67 billion debt maturities in FY2017.

The company's FY 2017 maturities include $1.9 billion due in the April -- July 2016 period and the balance $0.77 billion due in the remainder of the year.

While the company has so far secured financing for a part of these debt maturities, the absence of a completely executed refinancing plan keeps near term liquidity risk imminent.

Moody's recognizes that on a consolidated basis Vedanta has large cash balances of $8.9bn although almost 90% of which is held at its two listed subsidiaries Hindustan Zinc Ltd (unrated) and Cairn India Ltd. (unrated).

Furthermore, Vedanta's weak operating performance will result in a potential breach of some of its covenants in March 2016. This may require it to request that its lenders provide waivers and relaxations.

The company has confirmed that it has received lender approvals for waivers for the next covenant testing date on 31 March 2016 and relaxations for the periods beyond that date. The timely receipt of confirmations from its balance lenders is critical, Moody's added.
Mygubbi.com, a fast growing online home interior decor and furnishing company, today announced that it has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from multiple angel investors led by Vipul Parekh, co-founder of Big Basket, Ananda Kallugadde, co-Founder of NeoBytes and Rajesh K Murthy, EVP of Infosys.

MyGubbi has been offering home interior decor and furnishing solutions in Bengaluru since September 2015 and has over 50 successful home completions in a short time span.

myGubbi is gearing up for an accelerated growth path as it aims to secure a sizeable share of the Home interiors market. Read more from our special coverage on "START-UPS" Indian start-ups get back to basics

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Ravi Rao, Co-Founder, myGubbi, said that the company started in 2015 and the seed funding is a testimony to the efficacy of our profitable yet scalable business model and high growth prospects.

The online furniture market size in India is estimated to be around $30 billion.

"myGubbi has sound business principles based on unit economics, and we have clear visibility on achieving operational break even. Currently, the company is focused on setting up innovative technology driven systems and processes required for the e-commerce business", said Rao.

The myGubbi model addresses a key challenge in the execution of home interiors: providing end-to-end solutions from designing to execution, along with the flexibility of customization.

Umesh Sangurmath, Co-Founder and CEO, said that, "we have been gaining good traction in the Bengaluru market and are targeting a monthly run rate of about 100 homes in Bengaluru alone. We are also expanding to Mumbai, Pune, Mangalore and Coimbatore over the next few months.

While we are sufficiently funded and are invested in developing our core assets, we are also in advanced stages of discussion with investors to raise Series A investment to accelerate our expansion into other cities."

Rajesh Murthy who has been handling multi-billion dollar business for Infosys can relate to the scope of technology to change the interior business.

"Interiors and Decor is a high touch point and large ticket size business that needs high service delivery standards. I believe myGubbi is making the right investments and building a strong model to establish service delivery standards that will be hard for others to emulate" said Murthy.

myGubbi is an online home interior decor and furnishing company (Orange Gubbi Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

Founded by Umesh Sangurmath - an alumnus of NITK, Surathkal who has 25 years of experience of working in large MNCs including Wipro and Future group and Ravi Rao who is also from NITK and an IIMB alumnus with experience in Infosys and Accenture.
Recently, there were reports that the Karnataka government had imposed strict rules on app-based taxi aggregators and radio cab operators. A web-based tech news portal also reported that drivers will have to be trained once a year on safe driving skills. The number of hours the drivers put in will also need to be monitored.This presents a dilemma for the likes of Uber and Ola, especially when it comes to quality monitoring of drivers. Physical driver monitoring devices have been known to be expensive.Son, in steps Zendrive. The US-based start-up, which has a tech development facility in Bengaluru and raised $13.5 million from Sherpa Capital, recently developed a machine learning system that uses sensors in smartphones to monitor driving.Zendrives founders, Pankaj Risbood, earlier with Google, and a former Facebook pro, Jonathan Matus, started the company after deciding travel wasnt as safe as they initially believed it to be. Both worked with big data and analytics and decided, what if there was a product that would sit in an existing app and process driving patterns? Over 90 per cent of people think they are above average to good drivers. But, 30 per cent of fatal accidents in the US were caused by using the phone while driving, said Risbood.The way it works sounds easy. Smartphones have various sensors. Most games even have accelerometers. These can be turned outwards to measure the speed the vehicle is travelling at, he explained.

These sensors, coupled with GPS, can give accurate data on where the car is and if the driver is speeding. These sensors even know how many times you touched the phone, he said. The information collected is sent to a dashboard with the fleet owners, where the driver data can be processed. The data can then be crunched to pre-empt scenarios. Based on the historical braking style, speed and road condition, the system can then send texts to the driver to slow down or maintain speed. We even incentivise drivers by sending them goals via text to achieve, Risbood added. The results, he says, have been interesting. Speeding was down 60 per cent. The fleet driver system is built on trust and if these details are shown to the customer, 'stickiness' improves. This also means the steep insurance premiums that aggregators and ride sharing companies pay can be controlled. However, that will also need an overhaul in Indian insurance practices. "Currently, insurance is based on the vehicle, not the driver. We are planning on running pilots to rate drivers and offer them an insurance accordingly. Right now, telemetric devices imbedded in the car are used in some cases but that, too, is not turning out to be economical, said Sanjay Datta, chief, underwritting and claims, ICICI Lombard. Zendrive has implemented the product in Western Europe and have signed on an insurance company in India (name not disclosed) as a client, it says. Rishbood points to the clients he is currently working with as proof of the concept. We are working with Shuddle and Hopskipanddrive, two US-based companies, and the results have been very encouraging, he said. The companies, typically, act as a Uber Pool for children, where parents can send a group of children to the same destination together and split costs. Safety is the product for these companies and thats what we can assure, he said. Currently, Zendrive has a little over 100 clients and wishes to increase its India presence. We want to start working with all fleet operators. said Rishbood. He explains that with their tech base in Bengaluru and their product essentially needing only a smartphone, the world is their oyster.
With a view to launching its payments bank, Paytm has tied up with US-based FIS Global, for technology, say sources close to the company. The bank may come by the second half of the next year.

Sources added the deal would be worth Rs 150 crore and the contract would span five years. FIS is a Fortune 500 company.

Paytm is a mobile payment and commerce platform owned by One97 Communications. Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm plans to turn its 120-million wallet users into account holders of its payments bank once it is launched, it is learnt.

FIS offers the financial world payment processing and banking solutions, including software, services and technology outsourcing.

According to experts, the core banking system is the backbone of any bank. This is one of the critical elements of information-technology infrastructure, a source said. ''All consumer transactions will go through this, so it is critical to have a foolproof system.''



FIS says it has more than 20,000 clients in 130 countries. According to the company website, its technology enables billions of transactions that move over $9 trillion per year around the globe.

According to sources, Paytm would tie up with firms for banking operations over the next three months.

Last month, Paytm hired Shinjini Kumar as chief executive of its proposed payments bank. Kumar has worked at organisations that include PricewaterhouseCoopers and Reserve Bank of India.

Kshitij Sanghi, earlier with McKinsey & Company, has joined Paytm for the bank. Narendra Singh, earlier with Boston Consulting Group, has been hired as deputy general manager for project management. Varun Khullar, who worked for ITC, has joined as vice-president to look at partnerships. Vikas Purohit, formerly with Amazon, is vice-president and looking after branch and business-correspondent network.

Paytm plans to invest Rs 1,200 crore in the payments bank during the first three years.

The bank would set up 20 branches, 200 smaller branches, and take on at least 1,000 agents, it is learnt.

Paytm is one of the eleven, including Airtel, Vodafone, Aditya Birla Group, to secure a licence for payments bank in August 2015. The entities which got permission from the central bank must have an initial capital of Rs 100 crore each and will have to start operations within 18 months.
Motor Corp is building a war chest to strengthen its footprint in India - its largest market. The Japanese automaker plans to sell 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) of convertible bonds and cancel most of the stock it bought back from Volkswagen last year, as the Japanese automaker expands in India following a failed alliance, says a Bloomberg report.

will sell the bonds primarily to fund the $2.8 billion (Rs 18,774 crore) factory it's building in Gujarat, according to a statement filed to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday. It will also cancel 70 million treasury shares, or 12.5 per cent of outstanding stock, to boost returns for investors after ending its partnership with Volkswagen in September.

President Toshihiro Suzuki, who took over from his father and Chairman Osamu in June, has been under pressure to expand in India as well as reward shareholders who lost out on value because of the Volkswagen alliance. Daniel Loeb, whose hedge fund Third Point LLC bought a stake in the carmaker in August, said Suzuki should cancel all Volkswagen stocks.

BETTING BIG ON INDIA Suzuki to sell $1.8 bn convertible bonds to fund $2.8-bn mega factory in Gujarat



Cancels most of the stocks it bought back from Volkswagen; it acquired 111.6 mn shares from the German company



Maruti has a contract manufacturing agreement with Suzuki for the Gujarat plant - Suzuki to sell products on a no-profit-no-loss basis



Gujarat plant to have production capacity of 250,000 cars per annum



Three of six assembly lines to become operational in 2017



Maruti said the arrangement will bring Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 cr FDI to India at zero cost

Suzuki acquired 111.6 million shares from the German automaker last year. The Japanese company said on Monday that it will hold a maximum of 50 million treasury shares, mainly to exercise the convertible bond sale.

Maruti Suzuki, the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese automaker, has a contract manufacturing agreement with its parent for the Gujarat plant. As per the agreement, Suzuki will sell products (from the Gujarat plant) to Maruti on a no-profit-no-loss basis. The proposal for contract manufacturing was put to vote before the shareholders last year. Almost 90 per cent of the 65.8 million votes cast were in favour of the resolution. The voting result came in December. The proposal had to be put to vote as it was a related-party transaction.

The Gujarat plant is supposed to have six assembly lines, each with a capacity to produce 250,000 cars per annum. In the first phase, three assembly lines are expected to become operational in 2017. Maruti said the arrangement will bring foreign direct investment between Rs 8,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore to India at zero cost.

As it did not invest in Gujarat, Maruti is sitting on a cash pile of over Rs 13,000 crore. The company, which aims to increase its annual sales to about two million units by 2020, will invest Rs 15,000 crore over the next five years in procuring land for doubling its dealership network and expanding stockyard, warehouse and transportation infrastructure. Maruti sold 1.1 million vehicles last year. The Delhi-headquartered company, promoted by Suzuki, has a dealership network of over 1,700 outlets at present. The convertible bond deal is Japan's biggest since November 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
T-Hub, a public-private-partnership initiative by the Telangana government to support technology-enabled start-ups, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Tat Capital, a corporate finance advisory that facilitates trade and investment ideas between Australia, New Zealand and the Indian sub-continent through effective capital raising.



The MoU will connect T-Hub's start-ups with Australian growth with next-generation innovations to explore acquisition, partnerships and strategic investment ideas, besides providing T-Hub's start-up and VC community access to Australian VC, private equity and family office investors to cross-pollinate ideas, technology and capital between the regions.

"Entrepreneurs are always breaking boundaries and this is another geographical barrier that we hope entrepreneurs in India, especially T-Hub, will cross and help us establish a long-standing relationship with Australia and New Zealand. This also provides them with an opportunity to sail in uncharted waters and swim against the tide. We look forward to this association with Tat Capital and building greater things for entrepreneurship in India," said T-Hub chief executive officer Jay Krishnan.

According to T-Hub, the MoU will allow Tat Capital to offer Australian businesses access to Indian expertise from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Information Technology, and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research. Australian will be able to utilise resources in Indian business, technology, intellectual property and legal frameworks to start or improve their businesses in India.

Tat Capital co-founder Ram Gorlamandala said the new agreement was testament to the growing interest in cross-border opportunities between the three countries.

"India is a natural fit in many ways for Australian business, and vice versa. In recent times we haven't seen the level of interest in India that it warrants, but this is changing rapidly and we look forward to progressing this change through our new partnership," he said, in a statement.

Next month, Tat Capital, along with a number of prominent and listed Australian, New Zealand and Indian businesses, will host a business insights tour to Hyderabad.
Tata Motors, the country's biggest vehicle manufacturer, has signed an agreement with Pune-based Bharat Forge and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) of the US, for the ministry of defence's (MoDs) Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme.

Tata Motors will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge as a partner. GDLS will bring its expertise in combat vehicle platforms. FICV is billed to be one of the army's biggest projects, worth $11 billion (Rs 78,000 crore).

Tata Motors' strengths are described as in design, development and integration of mobility platforms. Bharat Forge's competence is in fighting platforms and manufacturing. With General Dynamics expertise as a systems integrator, the idea is to offer an indigenous solution, stated Tata Motors.

Ravi Pisharody, its executive director (commercial vehicles), said: Defence particularly needs partners with long-term commitments, to see products and solutions through multiple generations of evolution. We )three) have joined hands for a complete FICV solution for the armed forces.



FICV, an armoured battle vehicle for the infantry, needs to be compact, tracked and amphibious, no heavier than 18-20 tonnes, so that it can be air-portable and also transportable by other means to combat zones. The vehicle must fire anti-tank guided missiles to ranges beyond four km, with a crew of three and eight combat-kitted soldiers. It is aimed to replace the army's fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP-II) series armed vehicles, in operation since 1980.

Baba N Kalyani, chairman, Bharat Forge, said: (This) partnership will constitute an important milestone, to help meet the governments objectives to strengthen indigenous defence capabilities."



The state-owned Ordnance Factory Board and two private companies will make it to the final list of prototype manufacturers, which will then be put to extensive evaluation and testing by the army before a contract is awarded.

Tata Motors and Bharat Forge were independently pursuing the FICV programme and were among the 10 original bidders, which included Tata Power, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Rolta, Pipavav, Punj Lloyd and Titagarh Wagons.

General Dynamics designed and developed a Ground Combat Infantry Fighting Vehicle for the US army.
Tata Motors, India's biggest vehicle manufacturer, has signed a strategic agreement with Bharat Forge Limited and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) of the US, for the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoDs) prestigious Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) program.

will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge Limited as a partner, while General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its much proven expertise in combat vehicle platforms.

will play on its strengths related to Design, Development & Integration of mobility platforms, while Bharat Forges will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths. General Dynamics proven expertise, as SOSI (a system of systems integrator) in various integrational programs, will bring in the required competency enabling Tata Motors, the lead integrator, to offer a truly indigenous solution for this Make program.

Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicles, Ltd. said, Defence particularly needs partners with long-term commitments to see products and solutions through multiple generations of evolution, and we at Tata Motors are proud to have joined hands with Bharat Forge and General Dynamics Land Systems, for a complete FICV solution for the Indian armed forces. Through this partnership we will be better positioned to help the country realize its Make in India vision, for the first completely indigenized combat vehicle, at the same time cater to the opportunities available right here in India.

To be developed under the Make Category, the FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle, for infantry men to keep pace with new advancements in weaponry system. The FICV needs to be compact, tracked and amphibious, no heavier than 18-20 tonnes, so that it can be air-portable and transportable by other means, onto combat zones. The vehicle must fire anti-tank guided missiles, to ranges beyond four kilometers, with a capability to carry a crew of three and eight combat-kitted infantrymen. The FICV will replace the Indian Army's fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP-II) series armed vehicles, that are in operation since 1980.

Baba N. Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited, Our proposed partnership will constitute an important milestone, to help meet the Indian Governments objectives to strengthen indigenous defence capabilities, and particularly in land systems, with the FICV. Working with the countrys largest automotive manufacturer, will help us develop new directions for both and to address future requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. We look forward to an exciting future

Donald Kotchman, Vice President, Tracked Combat Vehicles, General Dynamics Land Systems said, We are proud to have been selected by Tata Motors Limited as a partner in order to meet the requirements of the Indian Ministry of Defence FICV program. At General Dynamics Land Systems, we have established a track record of delivering and sustaining international programs, in a timely and cost-effective manner throughout the platforms life. Led by Tata Motors, we look forward to working with our consortium partners in supporting the Make in India initiative, developing the Indian FICV.

The FICV is mobility oriented and is established by the fact that 3 of the 5 core technologies and 19 of the 34 critical technologies are mobility related, such as engines, transmission and running gear, which are core to Tata Motors, which as a lead of this consortium, has demonstrated years of experience of integrating key technologies needed in the armoured mobility segment. With around 14 Tata engaged in providing cutting edge solutions in the defence and aerospace sector, the group has the capability and ability to deliver on the FICV programme.
Telecom operators on Monday approached telecom regulator Telecom Regulator Authority of India (Trai), asking it not to enforce the regulation on compensation for call drops till the hearing in Supreme Court, slated on Thursday.

The Supreme Court has directed the matters to be listed on March 10, for final disposal. In view of the above, and since the aforesaid matters being sub judice before the Hon'ble Court, we request you to keep your letter, dated March 2, in abeyance, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) wrote to Trai.

Trai had asked all telecom service providers for a compliance report on the readiness in their networks for offering compensation to the mobile users for call drops by Monday. Last week, the Supreme Court refused to grant interim relief to the operators while listing the case for hearing. The operators had challenged Trais regulation in the high court here, which in turn dismissed the telcos petition, following which the operators went to the Supreme Court last week.

In October last year, Trai had come out with the regulation which was to come into effect from January 1, mandating operators to give one rupee for every call drop to the user, with a maximum of three per day.

The telcos had termed the regulation as arbitrary and whimsical, contending that providing compensation to consumers amounted to interfering with the companies' tariff structure, which could only be done by an order, and not by any regulation.

Trai had told the high court that consumers have a right to get compensated for call drops and this was different from the quality of service guidelines that cellular service providers have to follow under the licence conditions. However, telcos had argued that even if consumers were facing problems, a regulation without statutory backing cannot be created.

According to analysts, if Trais regulation is implemented, it could lead to a decline of seven-eight per cent in the operating income of telecom operators. However, for companies that had a call drop rate of two per cent or below  as was mandated earlier  will see a negative impact of three-four per cent on their operating income. Interestingly, the new regulation does not allow leeway of two per cent call drops, which means the regulator expects the network to be perfect and telcos to pay for every call drop.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had recently said, During the past six months, nearly 20,000 sites have been added for 2G (second generation) services across India. Similarly, nearly 45,000 sites have been added for 3G services.



The government has been asking operators to invest in infrastructure to improve the quality of services, while operators say spectrum crunch is a major problem for call drops scenario.

Trai has been conducting service quality audits of networks on a regular basis since July and had published results of the most recent survey on February 4. It conducted drive tests during December-January on selected routes of seven cities  Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Bhubaneswar and Indore  and shared the findings with the telecom operators. According to the report, most telecom operators, including MTNL, failed the tests.

MOUNTING TROUBLE
Vistara is ready to take off its training wheels and take off in the Indian market, after completing a year of operations. The airline's new strategy officer,, in a free-wheeling chat with Malini Bhupta talks about the flight path he intends to chart. Edited excerptsAs the person in charge of strategy, network, branding and pricing, I want Vistara to be more visible and its pedigree, which is Tatas and Singapore Airlines, to be known to people. Year one was the year of setting up and so we wanted to learn to walk before we ran. Now as we are settling down, our goal is to ramp up. We will be increasing frequencies and adding new routes. By the end of the summer, we expect to have double the number of daily flights we have today.My previous answer still holds true. We started with no historic data, so we fine-tuned along the way. The three-class configuration has been re-calibrated. We truly believe there is a demand for premium seats. Consumers are beginning to understand the difference between economy and premium economy a lot more, which comes with more exclusivity, benefits and leg room. We need to focus on communicating this a lot more. All around the world, when companies started cutting back on travel after the financial crisis, a lot more people were flying economy. But, these consumers wanted a better option that would not cost as much as a business-class ticket. This is what has led to the emergence of premium economy segment.A lot of small businesses in the smaller cities have a demand for premium economy. As we expand, if there is a need to focus on smaller cities and we need to look at different configurations targeted at less business-class-oriented cities, we will look at a different configuration where it makes sense. Airlines across the world do it. British Airways, for instance, has five or six different configurations on their Boeing 747s, depending on which market they are flying.There is great opportunity in non-metro markets.

The Route Dispersal Guidelines categorises metro-to metro routes and some big cities such as Category I route. Remote regions such as Jammu & Kashmir and Andamans as Category II. All other cities are classified as Category III, which are non-remote and non-metro. The requirement for capacity deployment in Category III is 50 per cent of the capacity on Category I, however, if you see how airlines are deploying capacity, it is almost double. There are smaller cities in India, which are very attractive to fly and gradually we would tap those markets. Which markets will Vistara look at to grow  including the metros where capacity is soaked up? At the moment, the most choked is Mumbai-Delhi, but we'll increase our total flights to 10 between these cities as of now. Metro to metro markets are not easy and you can make money only if you have multiple flights a day as two flights a day do not make the equation viable. We will look at the other metro-to-metro routes that are not choked and grow in these. These routes, too, will get choked in five years due to infrastructure constraints. Hence, we are considering connecting to more routes from these metros, which we will announce in due course. Both the Centre and state governments are pushing to attract air traffic to smaller cities. What would Vistara look for to fly to small towns? We look at what is being offered and do the math. We would like to see the cost reduction through lower fuel taxes or landing charges and revenue guarantees before deciding. We will, then, review the revenue and cost side and see if money can be made. Bhubaneswar and Bagdogra lowered fuel taxes and saw a growth in traffic. When costs come down, fares can be lowered to stimulate demand.

There's been noise around foreign controlled airlines. Please comment.

Having a foreign CEO in the aviation business is not new. Majority of the management and staff in Vistara is Indian. Singapore Airline is not controlling the airline. They are shareholders and operate at the board level, which is chaired by a long-time Tata veteran. Sharing technical expertise does not mean being controlled by the foreign partner or else they would not have hired me for this role.
Online hotel, bus and cab aggregator YatraGenie is expanding its bus ticketing service as it looks to take on rival goibibo Group-owned redBus. After establishing itself in the South Indian market, where there is high penetration of intercity bus travel, the company is looking to take its service up north.

YatraGenie has launched its online bus ticketing service in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bhubaneshwar, and now partners with over 2,000 bus operators across the country. Going forward, it plans to have a presence in 200 Indian cities by mid-2016, taking its business pan India.

"We are now looking at the next phase of growth. We believe that there is an untapped potential for the strong value proposition that we provide to our operators as well as our consumers.

Through this expansion, we hope to replicate the success that we achieved in the south," said Renil Komitla, CEO of YatraGenie, in a statement.

redBus, which controls 70-75 per cent of online bus ticketing market in India, is now looking at growing its services internationally. The company launched its service in Singapore and Malaysia in mid-2015 and is even exploring entry into markets outside Asia. Domestically, redBus has partnered with over 1,500 bus operators and operates across 80,000 routes.

South India sees higher demand for intercity bus travel given its better road infrastructure where YatraGenie has built a presence in 60 cities so far. The company raised its Series A of $2.5 million in September last year which it is using to fuel its growth.

goibiboGroup, which is backed by South Africa's Naspers Group, recently received an additional $250 million (nearly Rs 1,700 crore) in funding. Majority of the funds will be used to grow the company's hotel room booking service, but part of it will also support redBus' expansion nationally and internationally.
Delhi was today put on high alert after Police received inputs that 10 suspected LeT and JeM terrorists believed to have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat may have sneaked into the capital for an attack even as four elite NSG teams were rushed to the western state.On the eve of 'Maha Shivratri' festival, Gujarat as well as other metros and Jammu and Kashmir were also on high alert with raids conducted at Kutch and other places, security being beefed up at vital installations, sensitive areas and at all main temples including the famous Somnath temple where a NSG team has been deployed.The Gir-Somnath district authorities have postponed tomorrow's cultural event at Somnath temple owing to the .In Kolkata, security has been stepped up at NSC Bose International Airport after an e-mail threat that it would be blown up within 24 hours, airport officials said.The e-mail came in the airport manager's ID early today and it was claimed to have been sent from Germany, they said.In the capital, security was beefed up at vital installations, important buildings and crowded places after Delhi Police received inputs about a potential terror strike in the city. A constant vigil was maintained near prominent malls, hospitals, schools and colleges.A police source said the input specifically mentions about 10 militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits having entered India via Gujarat and that they could carry out a terror strike in Delhi.The Special Cell and Crime Branch of Delhi Police have been briefed about the input separately, so that activities of gangs operating in and around the city and elements with suspected terror links can be monitored.The police are also ensuring that CCTV cameras at all places with high footfall, like popular markets in the city and metro stations are functional. Patrolling across the city has been intensified.

Heavy security was also put into force at important Shiv temples in Uttar Pradesh and special security checks were in place at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

Special vigil was being maintained on big and small temples in places like Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and other important places, the official said.

Police was also keeping a close eye on the 'kanwarias' (devotees who carry holy Ganges water and walk bare foot to offer it to Shivlinga's) as there was an apprehension that they may be targeted by terror outfits.

Security has been ramped up at major religious sites in Gujarat like Somnath Temple and Akshardham and in metro cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.Vital installations across the metros like railway stations and airports are also being secured.An Advisory has been issued to enhance security at all strategic locations, sensitive industrial sites and religious places in Gujarat after intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists have entered the state taking the sea route, official sources said.Gujarat DGP P C Thakur held a meeting with NSG officials in Gandhinagar and announced that one team will be sent to step up security at Somnath temple in Gir-Somnath district.

Thakur issued orders late last night cancelling leave of all policemen. "Four teams of NSG reached here(Gandhinagar) last night. Out of these, three will remain here, while one team will go to Somnath," he said. The size of each team could vary between 50 to 90 personnel.
The ministry of road transport and highways is planning to build five more expressways, according to sources. These are Vadodara-Mumbai (473 km), Bengaluru-Chennai (264 km), Delhi-Jaipur (226), Kolkata-Dhanbad (277 km), and Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar-Katra. Of these, detailed project reports (DPRs) have been prepared for the first four, while the DPR for Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar-Katra is yet to be prepared.

The government has begun the construction of the 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which will connect Uttar Pradesh with Haryana.

Read more from our special coverage on "EXPRESSWAY" Maharashtra puts Mumbai-Nagpur expressway project on fast-track

An express highway is a controlled-access highway, mostly six-lane or above, where entrance and exit are controlled by the use of slip roads. The 93-km Ahmedabad-Vadodara stretch was the first expressway in the country.

Overall, the Cabinet has approved construction of eight expressways. The Delhi-Agra expressway has already been completed by the Uttar Pradesh government.

According to officials, it was also decided to give top priority to the Vadodara-Mumbai corridor given the traffic density. Officials said land acquisition issues for the 473-km Vadodara-Mumbai expressway had been resolved and the tender would soon be invited for the project.

Officials added that the government was examining various options including taking state governments on board. Under this plan, the state government would contribute by pooling the land or also having a joint venture in the proposed expressway.

Sources said these expressways would not only reduce travel time, but also propel the country's economic growth. The proposed express highways would be 'world-class' in the sense that those would match the quality and specifications in advanced nations.

To expedite work on expressways, the government is also planning to have separate mechanism for expressways, sources added.
One sailor was killed and three others were injured after a fire broke out onboard India's soon to be decommissioned aircraft carrier in Goa.

The ship reported an incident of stream leak and a "minor fire" in one of the boiler rooms late this afternoon, a navy spokesperson said yesterday.

While he claimed that the incident was quickly brought under control, four sailors sustained injuries while combating the fire.

One of them, Chief Engineer Mechanic Ashu Singh was critical, having suffered smoke inhalation, the spokesperson said.

He was shifted to the Naval Hospital in Goa where he suffered a cardiac arrest and died, the official said, adding the other three are "under treatment and out of danger".

"Prima facie, it appears some insulating material in the boiler room caught fire from heat due to the stream leak. Investigation is underway," the spokesperson said.

'Viraat', one of the two aircraft carrier that India is operating, is expected to sail back to Mumbai soon.

Earlier in the day, family members of the navy personnel visited the aircraft carrier, which will be decommissioned soon.

The navy said the fire incident happened when the ship had earthed the Goa harbour after the sortie.

"All the families had disembarked and the ship was in the process of shutting down the missionary including the boiler," the navy officer.

had first served the British Navy for over 30 years, before being bought by India. It was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 after undergoing extensive refit.

The ship, which also saw action in the Falklands War and was India's sole carrier for over a decade, attended the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in February.
A fortnight ago, when the Jat reservation agitation was at its peak in Haryana, 26 Japanese and a Swedish national were caught in a factory in Rohtak. The city was burning, with agitators setting on fire not only commercial establishments but also the house of state industries minister Captain Abhimanyu.

The Haryana government flew the foreigners in choppers to Delhi safely. This one incident had a profound impact on the Haryana government's decision to hold the Global Investors Summit in Gurgaon on March 7-8.

"Some dark clouds began to loom large over this summit. We had just been through 100 difficult hours when seven of our 21 districts witnessed some unfortunate law-and-order events For a while, I wavered. Should I believe these doubting Thomases? Or should I trust Suzuki chairman and Kenji Hiramatsu, the ambassador of Japan to India?" Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal asked a packed house at the inauguration of the two-day summit here on Monday.

The two Japanese had profusely thanked the CM for never having lost sight of the Japanese and Swedish nationals caught in the turmoil. "They were naturally worried till we had safely flown them out in choppers to Delhi in the middle of the curfew," he said. The Japanese ambassador, in his address, was the first to flag the issue when he said safety around industrial parks was important. Later, Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive officer, Maruti Suzuki, said, "Like all well-wishers of Haryana, we are disturbed about the incidents."



While the CM took refuge in the sacred texts and analogies to reassure investors, it was left to Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer, NITI Aayog, to forcefully drill the point that the long record of good law and order in the state cannot be impacted by a one-time interruption. But, as the chief minister said, Haryana is the only place where a battleground, Kurukshetra, is considered sacred.
Four years ago, Vinith Johnson, 22, left his family surprised when he decided to drop out of a prestigious Chennai college mid-session. He based his decision on outdated course curricula, inexperienced faculty and inadequate infrastructure. He told his parents he wanted to attend a foreign university, which would allow him the flexibility of choosing electives with the main subjects.

Johnson's father assured him of funding his education abroad but the latter was ready to surprise him again. He opted for a year-old Shiv Nadar University (SNU), set up in 2011. It was a bold move, as one had to traverse through dusty, narrow and serpentine village roads in Gautam Buddh Nagar of Uttar Pradesh to reach the sprawling 286-acre campus. Construction is still on in some blocks.

"I am proud of my decision. I am getting to study additional subjects like economics after regular classes. It opens so many fields for me," says Johnson, now a final-year B-Tech student, while seated in the library amid setting of the dusk outside.

Miss the mark

Till a few years ago, Indian students would hesitate before joining a newly-opened college or varsity. Parents would also discourage their children, fearing substandard institutes and fewer job opportunities after education.

Such fears were premised on reports, including the one published by software industry body Nasscom. Its report says Indian information technology firms reject 75 per cent job applications of engineering graduates and 90 per cent of college graduates because they lack presentation, negotiation and time management skills.

"The expansion in has been accompanied by several problems such as proliferation of substandard educational institutions, which cannot fill vacancies with qualified competent teachers and consequently suffer from outdated curricula, lack of motivation and accountability," University Grants Commission (UGC) vice-chancellor H Devaraj was quoted by The Hindu last month.

India has 711 universities, comprising 46 central, 329 state, 205 state-private and 128 deemed-to-be-universities. It added 1,147 colleges, taking the total to 40,760, in the past year.

The other aspect of falling educational standards can be gauged from the fact that around half of all engineering seats go unfilled every year and the All India Council for Technical Education is trying to lower the total number from nearly 1.7 million to 1.1 million by next year.

Amid mistrust, students such as Johnson are quitting mid-course and taking chances with universities such as SNU, Ashoka and OP Jindal Global University (JGU), which have recently come up in the National Capital Region.

Sector experts say while SNU has managed to create a niche for itself with its engineering courses, Ashoka is well regarded for its liberal arts course, something new to India. JGU has made a mark with its law school, increasingly popular among children of top lawyers.

These new universities aspire to be India's answer to Harvard or Columbia in the next 10-15 years, and attribute their current success to research-based education than only classroom training. Students are given a choice to study electives which are entirely different from their course curriculum.

What sets them apart from other centres of excellence in the government's domain is less administrative control and more autonomy to the institutes. For instance, the prestigious Nalanda University grappling with financial and administrative issues. Private varsities, on the other hand, enjoy greater flexibility in designing courses.

"I designed the economics course here and now people prefer us over Jawaharlal Nehru University when it comes to computational economics," says Partha Chatterjee, who heads the department of economics at SNU. He joined after having taught economics at the National University of Singapore for six years and a brief stint with a prestigious management school in Delhi. "I met with a lot of resistance when I tried to change the outdated economic course in Delhi," he adds.

Like Chatterjee, many Indians have left a cushy profession abroad and taken up teaching assignments with these new universities. One of them is Vinita Shastri, dean of undergraduate programme at the Ashoka. Besides Indian professors, these three universities have managed to attract good faculty from abroad by offering a handsome pay package. This at a time when Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management are struggling to fill vacant posts.

"We pay our professors much more than the prescribed rate of the UGC. The starting salary is around Rs 1.2 lakh. Besides, we are liberal in giving research grants to our professors," says Sanjeev P Sahni, principal director of the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences at JGU. A campus visit revealed state-of-the art infrastructure and classrooms fitted with projector and video-conferencing screen.

"Students in India don't interact much in the classroom. Our biggest emphasis is on improving their writing and presentation skills," says Kathleen A Modrowski, dean of liberal arts and humanities at JGU. A US national, she stays at the fully residential campus.

Currently, JGU has 160 full-time faculty members in its five schools. It claims 40 per cent of its faculty has degrees from the top 50 global universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and Berkeley. There are four Rhodes scholars as well.

JGU has a tie-up with around 100 universities in 34 countries. The teacher-student ratio for its law school is 1:15 and for other schools is 1:8. Similarly, SNU has 184 faculty members and 1,797 students, a teacher-student ratio of 1:10. It claims to have spent Rs 1,500 crore on six research centres. Ashoka has 35 full-time faculty members and is supported by 20 visiting faculty, including professors of international repute.

Some of its academic partners include the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; University of California, Berkeley; University of Michigan; Sciences Po, Paris; Carleton College; King's College London, Yale University and Trinity College, Dublin. The total of students is 570.

These universities either stand at par or fare better than the top-ranked Indian universities on account of the teacher-student ratio. The other way to judge is through citations in international journals and number of research papers. JGU says its faculty produced 450 research articles in the past five years. SNU's faculty has written 250 journal articles.
In a move to promote a start-up culture in the capital, the Delhi government on Monday announced an incubation policy and distributed Rs 1.5 crore each to six higher educational institutions for promoting entrepreneurship.

Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia gave the seed money . The beneficiary institutes were Ambedkar University, Delhi Technical University, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Institute of Information Technology, Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

According to Punya Salila Srivastava, secretary, training and technical education, a committee was appointed for this purpose under the chairmanship of Professor Yogesh Singh after an initial workshop was conducted last April. The Delhi Government said that it has accepted the recommendations of the committee.

"Incubation and start-up is a buzz word. But policies cannot be implemented around buzz words. Life, society, market, country can't run around buzz words. There has to be a concrete plan for that. There has to be a concrete implementation policy for that. Of course for that you need money also. You need seed money also. Now, if you have a good idea, a good plan and need money, we will give it to you", said Sisodia said.
Exporters, while waiting for the global downturn in commodities to pass, feel the government could have done more in the recent Union Budget to stem the continuous slide in export.

Merchandise export fell in January for a 14th month in a row. Major foreign exchange earners such as petroleum products and engineering items continue to contract, due to softening prices and subdued demand globally. Trade experts warn against optimism for February, too, with Chinas services and manufacturing growth in decline.

While the recent Budget scores on socio-economic and infrastructure spending, plus more ease in doing business the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) is disappointed at the lack of immediate relief. Only widening the scope of duty drawback and the promise to continue supporting exporters through earlier declared incentives like interest subvention and the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was not enough, it said.

For small and medium enterprises, which currently enjoy no additional fiscal benefit under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), FIEO had suggested fiscal incentives, apart from proposing tax benefits to exporters for creating jobs.

Engineering

Trade experts have called for more policies which address specific concerns. Engineering exports, 23 per cent of merchandise shipment in January, have fallen to 19 of the 25 top countries India send such goods to. Of the 33 broad engineering products, 22 recorded a contraction.

However, EEPC has welcomed the proposed changes to the Customs Act to allow deferred payment of duties for importers and exporters with a proven record. The Customs Single Window Project, to be implemented at major ports and airports starting from the next financial year, has also been welcomed.

The engineering sector had also wanted a Rs 1,000-crore fund from the government for raising operational efficiency and improving business infrastructure, along the lines of the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (Tufs) for the textile sector.

Textiles

Incidentally, despite Tufs and measures such as continuing of duty-free import of input goods being announced in the Budget, textile exporters are miffed. And, not only because the finance minister didn't mention the industry even once in his speech.

Textiles are 11 per cent of all merchandise export and the second largest employer in the country, after agriculture. Exporters have repeatedly warned of Indian goods losing competitiveness in the global market as compared to those from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, South Korea and Vietnam.

R K Dalmia, president, The Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council, said: Preferential trade access being given to competing nations by major importers like the European Union and the US, beside discriminatory import duties on Indian goods in important markets like China and Canada, are severely affecting the industry. Talks on free trade agreements with the EU, Australia and Canada to remove trade barriers are progressing tardily.

On the Budget proposals, the industry has mixed reactions. The two per cent excise duty on branded readymade garments have been questioned by exporters as unnecessary when the government is pushing the goods and service tax amendments. On the other hand, the announcement of an additional one per cent FOB value of exports duty-free for specified fabrics has allowed garment exporters to estimate additional shipment of Rs 7,500 crore.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will make a statement on the issue of tax proposals for Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Jaitley is likely to announce rollback of his Budget announcement to levy tax on 60 per cent of EPF withdrawal. The proposal had attracted strong criticism from the salaried class, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ask Jaitley to put the proposal on hold.

Apart from this, the government is to introduce a Bill to further amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968 and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 in the Lok Sabha.

The government has also listed the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, the National Waterways Bill and Whistle Blowers Protection Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Aadhaar Bill has not been listed for discussion in the Lok Sabha for Tuesday.

The government is hopeful that the Congress will support not only the Aadhaar Bill, despite its objections on it being presented as a money Bill, but also the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the real estate Bill would become a reality during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. I am holding discussion with all stakeholders, he informed domestic and global investors at the Happening Haryana conclave in Gurgaon.

In a related development, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of crushing the weak and the poor who demand their rights.

He also said Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him, but they should not crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak.

Jaitley had recently taken a dig at Gandhi over the latters speech in the Lok Sabha, saying: The more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know  when will he know.



The PM, without referring to the Congress vice-president by name, too had taken potshots at him during his speech in the Lok Sabha.
The internet is one of the finest creations of the human mind and it cant be the monopoly of a select few, Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for communications and information technology, said on Monday.

We value the internet to be open, plural and inclusive, and access should be without discrimination. While fully endorsing the multi-stakeholder model, the issue of security should also remain in focus, where the government has a very important role to play, as safety and security remains the primary responsibility of the government, said the minister while delivering his speech at a conference of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Morocco.

He noted some people abuse the internet to unleash terror and cyber crime, which needs to be checked.

India has one billion mobile phone connections and 400 million internet subscribers. Also, 980 million Indians have a unique digital identity, known as Aadhaar, which is being used for direct benefit transfer of subsidies and other connected programmes. The priority is to ensure banking the un-banked, funding the un-funded, securing the unsecured, and pensioning the un-pensioned. Digital infrastructure is the basis for all these game-changing programmes. Innovation and entrepreneurship are also being promoted in a big way, he said.

ICANN manages the domain name system, or DNS, which helps organise the Internet with the allotment of domain names such as .com, .org, .net and so on. ICANN is in the process of a transition for transfer control of internet governance from the US government to a multi-stakeholder model.

To be truly global, internet must have the linkage with the local. Local language and the local content must also get adequate manifestation on this medium. Diversity of the representation should be ensured in the new architecture because developing and emerging economies are going to contribute the next billion internet users , Prasad said.
Just like the odds and ends that clutter the backyards of state-run non-life insurance company offices, there is a shell company tucked away within the accounts of one of them.

The presence of such an oddity in the annual report of Oriental Insurance Company for close to 40 years, however, does not surprise analysts. "It has been a long time since anyone took the public sector insurance companies to the cleaners," said one of them.

It could be a first of sorts for capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to deal with, since no government-run company has ever come to it to be listed with such an entity riding on its balance sheet.

In Budget 2016-17, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced plans for the listing of the four government-run general insurance companies - New India Assurance, National Insurance, United India Insurance and Oriental.

Except for New India Assurance, none of the other three is in a position to get a nod from Sebi unless the sector regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai), steps in. Their balance sheets are in a mess even though they rank number one to four among all non-life insurers in India. "The jewel in the crown is New India Assurance, whether for its underwriting practice or on any other metric," says Anurag Sunder, director, insurance business at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It is also the largest among the four.

Yet, for the central government, they are the 'also-rans'; surprising when the government is pushing for deep insurance coverage in health, accident cover and for crops. Unlike the Jan Dhan Yojana, where the National Democratic Alliance government has clearly depended on public-sector banks to deliver, none of the four social insurance schemes will offer the state-run insurance companies any pole position except for Agriculture Insurance Company of India. The four general insurance companies do not have the cash to take on more of the low-premium businesses any more.

For years, these four state-owned companies have priced their insurance products in their major portfolios such as motor and group medical health policies at low premiums, but paid out fat claims on them. Advisory services Willis Towers Watson estimates the motor business at 48 per cent and health at 22 per cent of the total non-life insurance business in India. The losses have been shored up by other profitable business such as fire insurance, but as competition has intensified, those margins have also got wiped out. K K Srinivasan, former member (actuary) at Irdai, agrees. "I would describe the level of competition among the four public-sector units (PSUs) as intense. It is affecting their profitability."



The shorthand measure of the performance of any insurance company is a metric known as combined ratio - the total losses and expenses as a percentage of the total premium earned by an insurance company. It should be less than 100 for a company to earn and show some profit.

Even for New India, the ratios are above 100 per cent. For United India, it is 117.16 per cent as on December 31, 2015; for Oriental 125 per cent; and for National it is 114 per cent. None of their private sector peers has crossed this dubious century. This means government-run companies are eating through their capital for each additional rupee of premium they book.

In a recent report for the Indian insurance sector, China-based Haitong Investment Bank notes: "We think what we regard as inadequate (incurred but not booked claims) provisioning by PSU insurers except New India is a concern. They are not showing the actual claims and this approach seems to mask the impact of aggressiveness in other verticals." It has become scary. The weak numbers are hitting where it hurts the most - the solvency margins, a metric to measure if the company is in trouble or not.

The entire industry demands easier margins pointing to the reserves they hold to pay off large claims, but the PSUs need a bit more help. In November last year, the chiefs of all the non-life insurance companies met the regulator to ease the mandated solvency ratio of 150 per cent. "If the proposed regulations are implemented, solvency margins of many companies that are compliant today will reduce significantly," noted a presentation made by them. The public-sector ones want freedom to value their reserves instead of the straitjacket the regulator imposes on every one.

One way they have made good is their earnings from the investment of their funds. But, here as well, Srinivasan says there is problem. "These companies use to hold a lot of excellent shares. But, the need to declare attractive dividends has often pushed them to sell those aggressively."



The valuation reserve of these companies has consequently remained flat. His suggestion for the insurance companies is to merge them before taking them public. "Else, they may start going sick soon." The painful alternative for the government is to pump in additional capital to improve their balance sheets.

Consequently, the companies were not keen to hit the market despite the changes introduced in the sector last year including a higher foreign investment cap. Last year, the chief of one of them had claimed his company was well capitalised and so it was not in favour of a public issue. That tune has now changed. News agency Press Trust of India quoted Sanath Kumar, chairman and managing director of National Insurance Company, as saying: "There is a lot of hidden wealth in these state-owned general insurance companies in terms of market value of assets they hold, brand equity, trust of their customers and other such parameters... We believe that the real valuation will make a very attractive proposition for the investors."



However, those signs of wealth do not include Industrial Credit Company of India on the books of Oriental since 1973, even though it was not even an insurance company. The entity with Rs 10 lakh paid-up capital has proved impossible to liquidate. Since 1999, there is an unresolved court case in Aligarh blocking the dissolution of the shell company, but the interesting part is that the holding company has not been able to take the case on to its books and let the shell be wound up.

ALL IS NOT WELL
ICICI Bank has launched iWork@home, an initiative that allows women employees to work from home for up to a year. Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank, explained this could be extended for more than one year based on the requirements of the employee. This initiative allows women employees to have access to their required operating systems in a safe and secure manner, creating a seamless office-like environment.

The technology platform for this programme has been developed in-house by ICICI Bank in partnership with students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. To ensure that data security and privacy are upheld, facial recognition technology would be used to scan the face to ascertain there no intruder accesses the office system.

Women in all roles, except those in direct customer-facing ones, would be eligible for this initiative based on their life stage needs. These would include young mothers, expectant mothers, those suffering from medical conditions among others. Kochhar said the aim was to give a stronger support system to manage the challenge.

The bank has also launched an initiative which aids women managers who travel on business, by covering the travel and stay of young children and their caregivers.

This would ensure that when a young mother of a child up to three years travels for an official purpose on an overnight trip, the child is also allowed to travel with her.

Kochhar said under the iWork@home pilot, a total of 50 women have been made part of this system and they have received more than 100 requests for this. Women who would have otherwise quit due to maternity, childcare or other reasons are now requesting for this option so that they can continue to work with the bank from home and are also progressing at the same pace in their career as other colleagues, she added. The bank, which has about 30 per cent women in its overall workforce, has also seen an increase in productivity where women have been enabled to work from home.

Under this programme, which was launched a few weeks back, employees are carrying out multiple tasks which include checking documents for loan disbursement, image-based verification of cheques for clearance and processing of export-import documents for payments, among others.

ICICI Bank has also introduced new benefits under its Advantage Woman Savings Account. These include unlimited free ATM usage at all banks, cash back subject to a maximum of Rs 750 per month on usage of debit card at departmental stores; it also provides 30 per cent discount on first-year locker rentals.
Government-owned Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has revised its earlier estimate for equity infusion from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to Rs 178 crore, after an easing of the rule for determining the amount. The initial estimate was up to Rs 500 crore.

It told the BSE on Saturday that it planned to issue 21.5 million shares at Rs 82.79 each to LIC on a preferential basis. The price was fixed on the rule set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The banks stock had closed six per cent higher at Rs 90.6 on the BSE on Friday.

Last month, the Gurgaon-based lender had told BSE it would raise equity capital from the government, the majority shareholder, up to Rs 1,000 crore through a preferential allotment of shares and up to Rs 500 crore from LIC.

OBC executives said the benefit from modification in the said rule was 25-30 basis points (bps). Common Equity tier I (CET-I) capital will improve by that much in percentage terms, leading to a reduced requirement from LIC, for now. CET-1 was 7.56 per cent at end-December 2015. Assessment for the next financial year would be made after closing the account books for FY16.

The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at end-December was 11.14 per cent, well above the nine per cent stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

After issuance of the new shares, LICs holding would rise to 14.5 per cent from the present 8.36 per cent. The central governments stake would come down to 55.17 per cent, from 59.13 per cent. OBC would hold a meeting of its shareholders on March 29 to approve the share issuance.

Last Tuesday, RBI had announced the rule relaxation. Banks may now account for 45 per cent of their revalued real estate assets in CET-1  paid-up capital, reserves and provisions. Major public sector banks (PSBs) are expected to see their CAR increasing by 20 to 100 bps on easing of norms boost their capital.

According to ICRA, an independent credit rating agency, PSBs will now have to raise tier-I capital of Rs 1,60,000 crore to Rs 2,60,000 crore between financial years 2016-17 and 2018-19. The earlier estimates were between Rs 1,90,000 crore and Rs 3,00,000 crore.
Shri Kiren Rijiju expresses satisfaction on steps for disaster risk reduction . . An effective response is a result of good preparedness, Dr. P.K. Mishra . .

The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju has said that greater the efforts into Disaster Risk Reduction, the lesser the effort required into post-disaster response. Speaking at the valedictory function of the National Workshop organised by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Strengthening National Response Capabilities" here today, Shri Rijiju said that as the 'UN Designated Disaster Risk Reduction Champion for Asia Region', greater attention is now being paid in the country to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The Government of India has taken measurable and sustainable steps to reduce disaster risk within and outside its boundaries, he added. .

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The Minister further said that as the first step towards Disaster Risk Reduction, country has to ensure that natural habitats are not disturbed. The systems which are in harmony with the nature are to be developed. There should be emphasis on earthquake resistant housing designs which are drawn from the traditional practices while at the same time nature is not disturbed or excessively exploited. This will ensure the aesthetics and comfort in normal times and minimal damage in times of disaster, Shri Rijiju mentioned. .

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He said that our country is highly vulnerable particularly to natural disasters of varying magnitude. He said that the unplanned and poorly executed human settlements, unsafe building practices and high density population, particularly in the urban areas, have further compounded the complex matrix of hazards, risks and vulnerabilities of the region. .

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Shri Rijiju said that the government alone will not be able to meet this challenge on its own. He mentioned that various Disaster Management authorities in the States, NDRF, National Institute of Disaster Management, Educational Institutions, NGOs are actively involved in this and we need to synchronize these efforts for best results. Keeping this in view, Government had judiciously decided for induction of two more battalions of NDRF at Varanasi and Itanagar which are being made operational in a time bound manner, he added. .

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On the occasion Shri Rijiju launched the NDRF web portal and the nationwide campaign Mai Tulsi Tere Angan Ki", an initiative to Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme. He also released a coffee table book on NDRF and presented medals to the NDRF personnel for rendering meritorious service. .

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During the day, the workshop included two sessions to discuss on subjects like making India response ready to face disasters and emergency medical management. .

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Earlier in the day, Dr. P.K. Mishra, Addl. Principal Secretary, Prime Ministers Office appreciated the role and contribution of NDRF and NDMA at the national and international level. .

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Dr. P.K. Mishra also released NDRF manuals, Standing Operating Procedure during disasters and a book by Shri O.P. Singh, Director General, NDRF on the recent disaster in Nepal. .

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Dr. P.K. Mishra said that actions and activities are to be taken prior to, during and immediately after a hazardous event, aimed at limiting injuries, loss of lives and damage to property and environment. As disaster management professionals, one must appreciate that response operations usually have to be carried out under very difficult and more often than not traumatic conditions, with heavy demands on personnel, equipment, and scarce logistics resources, he added. .

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Dr. P.K. Mishra said that the challenge lies in having a system which can cope with uncertainties in terms of time, place and duration of the disaster. He said that the intricate inter-relationship between planning and response, utilization of resources and significance of Standard Operating Procedures for response agencies needs to be understood. He said that an effective response is a function of good preparedness. .

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Dr. P.K. Mishra said that the efficacy and effectiveness of response will depend on preparedness, to which aspects such as technology, capacity building, media management and humanitarian logistics tools can contribute a great deal. .

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Shri O.P.Singh, Director General, NDRF in his welcome address explained about the achievements and highlights of NDRF during the last one decade. He mentioned that the force has been performing to its fullest capacity in relief and rescue operations during disasters. .

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The workshop was attended by representatives from National Disaster Management Authority, National Institute of Disaster Management, States Disaster Response Force, States Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs and heads of Central Armed Police Forces. .

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V.O. Chidambaranar Port sets Container handling record . .

V.O. Chidambaranar Port has achieved a momentous landmark in container handling by surpassing the previous financial years container traffic of 5,59,727 TEUs by handling 5,61,586 TEUs 25 days ahead of the close of the current financial. .

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This year, upto 6th March 2016, the Port has maintained an impressive growth at 9.36 percent as compared with the same period of last financial year. .

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It is notable that V.O. Chidambaranar Port offers the fastest transshipment time to Colombo among all Indian Ports. At present there are two Container Terminals in V.O. Chidambaranar Port. Berth No.7 with a capacity of 4.17 lakh TEUs is being operated by PSA SICAL. The Terminal commissioned under BOT basis on 21.12.1999 operates 8 services a week, of which 6 services are operated between Tuticorin and Colombo, 1 Coastal service and 1 international cum coastal service connecting Tuticorin Colombo Mundra Jebel Ali Mundra Pipavav Cochin and Tuticorin. .

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The Berth-8, operated by M/s. Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminals Mumbai, commenced its partial operations from 11.05.2014 and full fledged operation with the capacity of 6 lakh TEUs is expected by December 2016 with commissioning of quay cranes. Presently, M/s. Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminal offers 2 services a week between Tuticorin and Colombo, 1 coastal service and 1 International cum coastal service connecting Tuticorin Colombo Mundra Jebel Ali Mundra Pipavav Cochin and Tuticorin.

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Commodities like cotton yarn, handlooms, machinery, sea food, paper, granite, coir pith etc., are exported though containers to Europe, North America and almost all Asian Countries. Cotton, metal scrap, waste paper, cotton fibre, chemicals, metal and rubber products etc., are imported predominantly from Europe and East Asian Countries. One Inland Container Depot and 13 Container Freight Stations located in the vicinity of the Port ensure seamless flow of containers to and from the Port. .

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On 20th February this year, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust also created a new record in handling copper concentrate. A quantity of 19,055 Metric Tonnes of copper concentrate in bulk was unloaded from the vessel MV. Dynasty Shanga at Berth No. IX by means of hoppers directly into trucks. M/s. Inter Ocean Shipping (India) P Ltd., are the ship agent and M/s. Villavarayar & Son are the stevedores for the vessel. This is the highest tonnage ever achieved in a single day in the Port, using hoppers, thus breaking the previous record of 17,105 Metric Tonnes of copper concentrate in bulk unloaded from the vessel MV. Navios Celestial on 23.05.2015. .

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Erratic weather conditions, especially delayed rain, coupled with increased pest proliferation, is casting a shadow on the production of high value first-flush tea in North Bengal and the adjoining sub-Himalayan region.

Small growers estimate at least 40 per cent of the first-flush crop this year might be hit. Arrivals usually start in March. Only production of Assam tea is stable, say sectoral officials. Also, there is pressure on supply from the south, with frost in the Nilgiris and a labour strike at Kanan Devan Hill Plantations last year. All this will send prices northward, though the industry feels it is a bit early to comment on the coming auctions.

Says B G Chakroborty, president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association: In 2015, North Bengal produced around 355 million kg, of which small growers produced 131 mn kg. This year, however, since September, this region has not seen any rain and we are dependent on artificial irrigation. Pest infiltration is also high, says the Association. Output in February-March is down 50 per cent when compared to the same periods last year, said Chakraborty.

First-flush production basically requires adequate winter rain. It accounts for nearly a fifth of production in the Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling belt; in terms of value, it is around 35 per cent. The trans-Himalayan region accounts for nearly 28 per cent of national production.

There are about 250,000 small tea growers in Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh. Together, they contribute nearly 38 per cent of India's production. Subrata Roy, business advisor to the tea division of Aditya Birla Group and a sector veteran, said steady output in Assam might compensate for the loss of production, if any, in the other regions.
India's exports of oilmeal, largely used for bird and animal feed, dropped 52 per cent between April 2015 and February 2016, due to lower domestic output as crushing mills reduced their operation capacity on disparity.

Data compiled by the apex industry body, the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA), showed exports at 1.09 million tonnes (mt) in the first 11 months of the financial year, compared to 2.26 mt in the corresponding period last year. It was four mt in the comparable period of 2013-14.

In February alone, India's export fell 74 per cent to 53,866 tonnes from 208,499 tonnes in the same month last year.

"Soybean crushing is very much reduced due to continuous disparity and high price affecting availability of both oils and meals. Capacity utilisation is at the lowest. The industry is passing through a very tough time and many plants have been closed or are operating at very low capacity. Rapeseed meal export is also reduced to one-third of last year," said SEA.

The export of soybean meal is at a historical low of 70,390 tonnes during the first 11 months of 2015-16, compared to 613,676 tonnes in 2014-15 and 2,558,781 tonnes during the same period of 2013-14. Currently, export price of Indian soybean meal is quoted at $480 per tonne against Argentina origin soybean meal CIF (cost, insurance and freight) Rotterdam at $321 per tonne. Indian soybean meal is totally out-priced by $160 per tonne in the international market.
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of crushing the voices of poor and weak, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi dared the ruling dispensation, saying 'attack me but spare the poor people of the country'.

Gandhi, who met a delegation of tribals from Chhattisgarh's Bastar region, said that the government was oppressing anyone who spoke against them.

"Our tribal brothers and sisters from Bastar have come to meet me. They told me that they are being threatened and oppressed in Chhattisgarh. The nation is not going to gain from the oppression of people. In Hyderabad, you oppressed Rohith Vemula, here you are trying to oppress Kanhaiya and students. The NDA Government is trying to crush the voices of poor and the weak," he told the media here.

"Narendra Modi ji and his Cabinet will attack me. Modi ji even attacked me personally. People of his party attack me daily. Attack me as much as you want, but do not crush the poor, labourers, farmers, adivasis, Dalits. Attack me, but spare the poor people of the country," he added.
United States presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders indulged in fierce and substantive debate in Flint, Michigan, last night disagreeing over key progressive issues like trade, guns and the auto industry bailout.

During the Democratic debate, both joined forces calling on the resignation of Machigan Governor Rick Snyder over the city's water contamination crisis.

As they took on the stage, it was announced by Associated Press that Sanders had won the Democratic caucuses in Maine, his eighth victory in the 2016 presidential primary race.

Sanders thanked Maine's voters and looked forward to Tuesday's primaries in Michigan and Mississippi.

Sanders and the former secretary of state had one of their sharpest exchanges on several topics, including trade and job creation.

"Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of the disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America," Guardian quoted Sanders as saying.

Clinton replied that Sanders had voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry and stated that this was a pretty big difference according to her.

Sanders attacked Clinton's past support for international trade agreements, one of the attempts made to win blue-collar votes against her in Michigan.

Both Sanders and Clinton have been campaigning hard in Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

During the debate, both also tussled over whether gun manufacturers should be legal liable when their weapons are used in crimes.

While Clinton said that giving immunity to gun makers and sellers was a terrible mistake, Sanders said that his support for the 2005 law was an effort to protect small gun shops in his home state of Vermont.

Sanders told the audience in Flint that Clinton's approach could amount to ending gun manufacturing in America.

Clinton hit back at Sanders while recalling the Sandy Hook massacre.

Highlighting corporate greed on the part of Sanders, she said that the gun manufacturers sold guns to make as much money as they could.

"It was quite mild compared to Republicans, and I also think it was really substantive. It's not even in the same universe as the Republican debate, but he does seem to be frustrated and that was apparent," Guardian quoted Clinton as saying after the debate.
New Delhi, Mar. 7 (ANI): The election bugle has been sounded for four states and a union territory and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a daunting task after its two back-to-back humiliating defeats in Delhi and Bihar. The party can fancy its chances in Assam only where Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is battling anti-incumbency after staying in power for 15 years. In the remaining states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and union territory of Puducherry, it has very negligible presence.

The BJP is desperate to expand its footprint in the remote northeastern part of the country after its astonishing performance in Assam in the last general elections where it bagged seven out of the 14 seats. This time, the BJP has stitched together a formidable alliance by netting its off-an-on ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a former ally of the Congress - Bodoland People's Front - and dissident Congress leaders.

BJP's state chief Sarbananda Sonowal, who has been declared the chief ministerial candidate, was a long time associate of AGP before he joined hands with the saffron party. It also embraced 10 Congress MLAs led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, an influential minister in the Gogoi cabinet, after their defections. The BJP will be banking heavily on the experience of Sarma, who oversaw the last assembly elections and engineered the Congress' astounding victory when political pundits were writing the obituary of the grand old party in the state. The Congress triumphed in 79 of the 126 seats.

On the paper, the BJP looks set to upset the applecart of the Congress, which failed to strike a pre-poll alliance with Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). Their common vote bank - the Muslim vote - is likely to be split as both the parties derive maximum political strength from Muslim-dominated areas. The AIUDF doubled its strength from 9 to 18 in the last assembly elections contesting on 77 seats.

The BJP has improved its vote share between the 2011 assembly election and 2014 general elections incredibly. From 11.5 percent, the BJP's vote share jumped more than three-fold to 36.5 percent in the last parliamentary elections. In contrast, the Congress' vote share fell down from 39.9 percent in 2011 to 29.9 percent in the general elections, a massive erosion of 10 percent in its vote share. It remains to be seen whether the BJP will succeed in repeating or improving its 2014 performance because the saffron party was helped largely by a massive wave in favour of Modi then. Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra since then. There has been dip in the popularity of Modi as he has struggled to implement any of his much flaunted promises. To make matters worse, the economy is not doing as well as one expected.

The BJP in Assam represents a rainbow party with members largely drawn from other parties. It has recruited Congress dissidents, members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), the student wing of the AGP and surrendered cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which waged an armed struggle against the state. Even its face in the state, Sonowal, was president of AASU. It will be interesting to watch how this rag-tag bunch of politicians stays together as everybody will be demanding its pound of flesh.

As of now, it is advantage BJP as it has tied up with AGP and Bodoland People's Front (BPF). All the three parties have a common cause as far as their opposition to the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is concerned. But its decision to take the Congress dissidents in its fold, with complete different political ideology, will be tested in the polls. This is a major irritant in otherwise a perfect combo to take on the veteran Gogoi who will find the going tough this time. The AGP's decision to flirt again with the Hindu party after burning bridges with it in the past underlines its desperation as its fortunes have been constantly on the downslide and is losing political space in the state.

In fact, the BJP's growth story in Assam has been largely at the expense of the AGP. Interestingly, both the parties have fared badly whenever they entered into an alliance in the past. Their first attempt to come together ended in a catastrophe in 2001 as the then ruling AGP was unseated by the Congress. In that election, the AGP managed just 20 seats whereas the BJP bagged eight seats. The two parties against decided to kiss and make up in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The decision boomeranged on the AGP which won just one seat whereas the BJP triumphed in four seats. In the last assembly elections, both the BJP and AGP went separately. The AGP bettered BJP as it netted 10 seats out of 104 seats on which it contested whereas the BJP managed just five out of 120 seats on which it went to polls.

If one tallies the 2011 vote share of all the three parties which contested the elections separately - the BJP, AGP and BPF -- it was 33 percent, which was about six percent short of the Congress. The permutation this time favours the BJP-led alliance as Gogoi has been incapacitated due to defection by Sarma, considered to be the master strategist and architect of Congress victory in the last elections. But predicting elections is not an easy task in India as several pollsters have burned their hands in the past with their prognosis going wayward.

Assam election is a do-or-die battle for both the Congress and BJP. Both parties need to win this high stake election. The Congress has not won a single state election after its disastrous performance in the 2014 general elections, though it took some solace in last year's victory in Bihar being part of the Grand Alliance. Riding on the wave of Modi's popularity in general elections, the BJP snatched some big wins in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and formed the government in Kashmir as a junior partner. But it began with a disastrous note in the next year as it was annihilated completely first in Delhi by the rookie Aam Aadmi Party and then by the RJD-JDU-Congress alliance in Bihar.

The results in Delhi and Bihar are a big question mark on the popularity of the BJP whose career graph is on the downhill as the Modi magic has started fading. Therefore, both the parties will go for the kill in Assam to recover the lost ground. But will they be able to pull off an outright victory? I have my doubts. My bets are on a hung legislative assembly with no political party or group in a position to form the government.

[Vikas Khanna is a senior journalist and the views expressed by him are personal.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development issued the sixth rupee or 'Masala Bond' at the London Stock Exchange today. The bonds are likely to raise five billion rupees (USD 73.9 million).

The EBRD bond has a six percent coupon with a listed tenure of three years. It is issued under its 35 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme.

"The EBRD Masala bonds set a triple-A benchmark for offshore rupee issuances, and it once again demonstrates how this class of bonds can play a leading role in funding India's infrastructure and overall development. It also highlights how London has become the number one international financial centre for masala bonds," said Head of Primary Markets (Equity & Debt) India, LSEG, Jasmine Arora.

London Stock Exchange Group has a long history of supporting Indian companies seeking international growth capital. There are currently 55 Indian or India-focused companies quoted on London's markets in addition to 26 Indian Global Depository Receipts listed on London's international order book.

Indian companies have raised equity capital worth USD 8.1 billion in London and London Stock Exchange has seen 28 rupee or Masala bonds listed in total on its markets that have raised Rs. 165 bn.
President Ashraf Ghani on Monday warned the insurgent groups operating in the country to face the full wrath of the security forces if they did not lay down their arms.

"If someone wants peace we will be ready to make peace with them, but for those who want war, we will eliminate them," Tolo news quoted Ghani as saying at the graduation ceremony for cadets at the Marshal Fahim National Defense University (MFNDU).

Ghani asserted that the war on Afghanistan was imposed one and added that the insurgents were attacking the mosques and targeting schools.

Ghani warned Al-Qaeda, Daesh and other terrorist groups that they would be destroyed in the country and also called on the Taliban to separate themselves from the insurgents.

Praising the newly-graduated troops, he asserted that their topmost commitment should be to defend the country.

He assured that the government was striving for a professional military, which should be neutral and without political links.

Lauding the security forces for their efforts, Ghani said 2015 was a year of survival for Afghanistan and added that the Generals showed that they could defend the country.

He urged the guests attending the event that all of them had similar responsibility towards defending the people and their land.

Ghani reiterated the cadets to be ready for a worse situation, but also expressed hope for a better future.

President Ghani also thanked the international community for their efforts to provide training, equipment and facilities to the security forces.

More than 549 officers, including 13 women, graduated from the academy. They will soon be joining their fellow troops in combat missions.
The ruling Awami League is currently holding a mass rally in Dhaka's Suhrawardi Udyan marking the historic March 7.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is the president of Awami League, has already joined the rally and is expected to address the same later, reports Daily Star.

Many Awami League leaders, including Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Dr. Dipu Moni, have already addressed the rally.

On this day in 1971, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his fiery speech called on the freedom-loving Bengalis to wage a decisive struggle against the Pakistani rulers.

The watershed speech touched every Bengali heart across the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and mobilised the whole nation to prepare for the ultimate sacrifice they made in the Liberation War.
Devotees offered prayers to Lord Shiva on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri, which is being celebrated across the nation today.

Devotees thronged the Assam Rifles Shiva temples, one of the oldest in the capital city, right from noon to perform special pujas with milk, ghee, honey and incense sticks.

"Every month there is Shivaratri, but today is special as it is 'Maha Shivaratri' and is celebrated every year on the 14th day in the Krishna Paksha of the month of Falgun in the Hindu calendar. On this day, lord Shiva was married to goddess Parvati and so this day is special," said Prabhakar Pandey, the temple priest.

"People from all communities come here to pray because Shiva gets pleased very fast on anyone who is devoted to him and fulfills their wishes with his blessing," he added.

As part of Maha Shivaratri celebrations, many temples in and around the city were decorated and religious programmes in temples and mutts went throughout the day.

Special pujas like 'rudrabhisheka' and 'special alankara' were organised.

Ila Sengupta, a devotee from Kolkata, said Maha Shivaratri is a big day for celebration, especially for the women.

"I enjoyed here and came here to pray wishing well-being for everyone. I also prayed for the well-being of my neighours and countrymen," she added.

The Maha Shivaratri festival is celebrated every year on the 14th day in the Krishna Paksha of the month of Falgun in the Hindu calendar.
As scores of women activists march to the Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik to protest against their entry in its inner sanctum, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MCW) on Monday batted for equality of both genders worshipping gods.

"In our culture there has been equal status given to both men and women and this was same for worshipping gods also. The women can equally worship god as men do. We feel the society must work in accordance and provide equal opportunity to all," Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson MCW told ANI.

Bhumata brigade, the women group, which led the protests at Shani Singhnapur temple is organising the march led by activist Trupti Desai.

The group has demanded that women must be allowed inside the temple on Shivratri.

Meanwhile, the temple trust has maintained that the ban of entry of women is based on tradition, claiming that no objection has ever been raised on the same.

The ancient Trimbakeshwar temple, located 30 kilometres from Nashik, is a major Lord Shiva shrine of the country, which has one of the 12 'jyotirlingas'.
Martin Dolan, the head in-charge of the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, believes the plane will likely be found in the next four months.

Almost two years since MH370 disappeared en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, the only confirmed trace of the missing flight was flaperon wing in the French island of Reunion last year.

Two pieces of debris found on Reunion and Mozambique, suspected to be the part of the plane is yet to be positively confirmed.

Dolan, the head of the Australian authority tasked with scouring the search, is confident it will be found this year reported Guardian.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which has led the search effort since March 2014, likely considers it to be the scenario known as the 'ghost flight' theory.

According to ATSB's modeling, the plane after running out of fuel would have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia.

More than 85,000sq km of a long but narrow seventh arc, totalling 120,000sq km of seafloor has been searched by the ships as of this month.

According to that, Dolan said the plane is yet to be searched in 30,000-odd sq km and will be found when the operation concludes around July if not before.

"It's as likely on the last day [of the search] as on the first that the aircraft would be there. We've covered nearly three-quarters of the search area, and since we haven't found the aircraft in those areas, that increases the likelihood that it's in the areas we haven't looked at yet," Guardian quoted Dolan as saying.

Meanwhile, the 1m piece of metal that was found by Blaine Alan Gibson last month in Mozambique will shortly arrive in Canberra for testing.

Until then, Dolan warned not have too many expectations and even if it is found to be from MH370 then it would not necessarily lead to the plane.
Karachi's former mayor Mustafa Kamal on Monday managed to pull MQM leader Dr. Sagheer Ahmed into his party fold.

Ahmed on the occasion also announced his resignation from the provincial assembly seat, which he was elected to, reports Dawn.

Ahmed clarified that he was present on his own volition, adding he has not been in contact with anybody.

Ahmed expressing confidence said those with conscience will come and join the party, stating that there was no reason to be afraid of.

Ahmed said that he had to break relationship with his family members as he kept on defending MQM leader Altaf Hussain.

He elaborated that he along with all other party members had served Altaf as if he was a god.

Stating that this community's patriotism has become a joke, Ahmed said that his biggest difference with the MQM was that it used party workers like tissue papers.
Following the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission's report absolving the Akhilesh Yadav-Government of direct responsibility in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, the Congress Party on Monday asked if the Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party are 'in cahoots' to absolve each other.

"The state government can't absolve itself from the responsibility. After all those horrendous incidences took place on the watch of the state government. The BJP and its serving central ministers are clearly complicit, so is it a kind of Tweedledum and Tweedledee between the Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party in order to absolve each other," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI.

"Are they in cahoots with each other? These are the questions which will be raised once the report is studied in detail," he said.

The Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission has blamed the "negligence" of the local administration, the "failure" of the intelligence agencies and exaggerated reporting in the social and print media for the communal riots that left over 60 persons dead and 60,000 homeless in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts.

The commission was constituted to probe the reasons for the riots and the administrative lapses in controlling the violence.

The 775-page report was tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Sunday.

Though the former Allahabad High Court judge identified 14 causes for the violence, he has not indicted any SP leader or senior official or police officer.

The commission said no further action would be taken against BJP MLA Sangeet Som, who had uploaded on YouTube a provocative fake video that was shot in Pakistan, until the investigation was completed.

No penal action would be taken against the then BSP MP for an inflammatory speech.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday greeted the nation on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri which is being celebrated with devotion and religious fervour.

"Maha Shivratri greetings to everyone," Prime Minister Modi said on twitter.

Devotees in large numbers are reaching Shiva temples since early morning.

A large number of people are expected to offer 'jalabhishek' of holy water and special prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

In Ayodhya, devotees thronged Nageshwarnath temple to offer their prayers after taking holy dip in Saryu River. In Allahabad people in large numbers took holy dip at the confluence of Ganga and Yamunaat sangam and offering holy waters to various Shiva temples.

Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the 6th night of the dark Phalgun (February or March) every year. It is believed that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati on this day.

Shivratri fast is considered to be the most important fast for the devotees of Lord Shiva.

Shiva Purana states that if a devotee observes Shivaratri Vrata with sincerity, pure devotion and love he is blessed with the divine grace of Lord Shiva.
NEC Corporation recently announced that the University of Adelaide and NEC Australia have agreed to collaborate on a Smart Cities project that will help accelerate smart, dynamic and sustainable cities.

Urbanisation, population pressures, and resource scarcity are driving the need to develop solutions for more efficient and safe technology-enabled Smart Cities.

That's why NEC Australia has announced it is investing in a new partnership with the University of Adelaide through a memorandum of understanding covering joint efforts that will help realise more efficient, safe, and sustainable cities of the future.

The University of Adelaide, a leading Smart Cities research centre, is bringing together a multidisciplinary group of researchers with industry and government partners to develop expertise in research relating to Smart Cities.

Smart Cities will be enabled by digital technologies and will create sustainable infrastructure and ecosystems that benefit communities and enterprises. NEC Australia and the University of Adelaide intend to collaborate on research projects of mutual interest in the field.

"We look forward to working closely with the University of Adelaide to find innovative answers to the challenges that demand a Smart Cities approach to urban living. The combination of the University of Adelaide's research excellence and NEC's global and local expertise in technologies that are essential for Smart Cities will open up new opportunities in the field," said Mike Barber, Executive Director at NEC Australia.

NEC Australia's approach to delivering innovation combines its nationwide design, development and support capabilities with international R&D and collaboration with government, universities and businesses on projects that add social value.

NEC's international efforts in the field include its partnership in the UK with Bristol Is Open, a joint venture between Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol.

Bristol Is Open aims to create the world's first open, programmable city to support the creation of innovative new smart services for people, business and academia. NEC has been supplying Bristol Is Open with advanced IT and communications technologies, including Software-Defined Networking (SDN) compatible switches, LTE small cells and iPASOLINK ultra-compact microwave systems, helping them to build the smart city test bed platform.

In Australia NEC innovations are already enabling smart city capabilities. For example, NEC Australia is delivering the Western Australia Department of Water's new water information management system to improve its capacity to sustainably manage water resources across the state.

Public safety technologies are another key enabler of Smart Cities. NEC's internationally acclaimed biometric identification technologies are now being used on smartphones at South Australian Police and Northern Territory Police to fight crime and enable immediate identification. Biometrics in combination with access control and video monitoring systems will ensure Smart Cities are able to rapidly respond to safety incidents when required.

The partnership with Adelaide demonstrates NEC Australia's commitment to orchestrating a brighter through the innovative application of computing power, networks and software.
North Korea has threatened to turn Washington and Seoul into 'flames and ashes' as the joint military drills between the two nations began Monday and warned of an indiscriminate pre-emptive .

Such threats from Pyongyang's (Capital of North Korea) leader Kim Jong Un has been a common one, since he took power after the dead of his dictator father in 2011. His threat of using nuclear strikes tends to increase when Washington and Seoul stage what they call annual defensive springtime war games.

Pyongyang delegates said that the drills between the two allies are rehearsals for invading.

The country's National Defence Commission threatened against targets in the Seoul, US bases in the Pacific and the US mainland in an assumption that its enemies were working to infringe upon the dignity, sovereignty and vital rights of North Korea.

"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the North's statement said, reported Guardian.

Meanwhile, there is considerable debate outside whether Pyongyang is even capable of the kind of strikes it threatens.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and launched its long-range rocket a month later.

Following North Korea's move relations with Seoul and Washington further soured.

The US-drafted UN resolution recently adopted by the Security Council laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons program that will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure to Kim's regime.

South Korea says it will announce new unilateral sanctions on Tuesday.

Meanwhile as the joint military exercise touted as the largest involving 300,000 South Korean military personnel and 17,000 from the United States kicked off and will run through the end of April, analysts say one part of North Korea's traditional anger over the drills is that they force the impoverished country to respond with its own costly war games.

South Korean Defence Ministry Spokesman, Moon Sang Gyun responding to Pyongyang'S threat, said that North Korea must refrain a rash act that brings destruction upon itself.
A day after the Pakistan Government released 87 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, lodged at Landhi Jail in Karachi for over two and a half years as a goodwill gesture, the Pakistani Marine Security Agency (PMSA) has captured five Indian boats along with 30 fishermen off the Gujarat coast.

The incident took place amid beefed up security on the Gujarat coast in the wake of intelligence reports of terrorists sneaking from Pakistan.

As per reports, of the five boats captured by Pakistan, two are from Okha and three from Porbander.

These boats were captured by the Pakistani marines from International Maritime Boundary Line in the Arabian Sea off the Jakhau coast.

Pakistani Marines has so far captured around 57 Indian fishing boats with more than 340 fishermen since October last year.

The 87 Indians prisoners will return on Tuesday after the issuance of travel documents by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Earlier, an official of the Pakistan Rangers had told reporters that it has handed over the 87 Indian nationals to the India boarder authorities at the Attari-Wagah border.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will undertake a three-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 9 on the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during which he would witness the ongoing 'Thunder of the North' military exercises, conducted by 21 countries.

Among the countries taking part are Saudi Arabia's five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as well as Chad, Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal and Tunisia, reports Dawn.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said the stated goal of the exercise is to improve training in responding to threats posed by terrorist groups.

Both countries enjoy multi-faceted cooperation in the field of defence and counter-terrorism. Pakistan has affirmed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 'our Saudi brethren' against any threat to their territorial integrity and sovereignty," the statement issued by the Foreign Office said.

Pakistan has consistently supported all regional and international efforts to combat militancy, extremism and terrorism and has extended its full support and cooperation to the international community.

Saudi Press Agency (SPA) earlier called the exercise the 'most important and largest in the region's history' in terms of the number of nations taking part and the weaponry being used.
Amid the heightened security in Gujarat in wake of intelligence reports of terrorists sneaking from Pakistan, the Pakistani Marine Security Agency (PMSA) captured five Indian boats along with 30 fishermen on board off the Gujarat coast.

According to reports, two boats are from Okha and three from Porbander.

The boats were captured by the Pakistani marines from International Maritime Boundary Line in the Arabian Sea off the Jakhau coast.

Pakistani Marines has so far captured around 57 Indian fishing boats with more than 340 fishermen since October last year.

Meanwhile, Security Guard (NSG) teams have been deployed in the state as Maha Shivratri is being celebrated with security being heightened at vital installations, including Somnath temple in Gujarat.

"We got the input yesterday after which all the police across Gujarat was alerted. There are continuous combing operations and several check posts have been set up. We are searching for suspects involved in different activities and every possible protective measure is being taken," Gujarat Director General of Police PC Thakur told the media here.

He added that four NSG teams have been deployed in the team so far in which three squads are in Ahmedabad and one in Somnath.

Appealing to the people of Gujarat that they should not panic, Thakur assured that the security forces are ready to counter the situation.

Earlier, the Pakistan's NSA informed that these are fidayeen from the Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammed cadres.
Eighty-six fishermen and one Indian citizen - freed by the Pakistan Government as a goodwill gesture from Landhi Jail Karachi recently - were on Monday handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) at the Attari-Wagah border on Monday.

The fishermen had been languishing in prison for over last two and half years. Reports suggested that around 500 Indians, mostly fishermen arrested allegedly for territorial violation.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not be attending the cultural festival being organised by the Art of Living Foundation later this week.

According to the Art of Living founded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, President Mukherjee had agreed to give the valedictory speech at the World Culture Festival, which will be held on the Yamuna floodplains in East Delhi from March 11 to 13.

The Green Tribunal (NGT) is hearing a case for shifting the venue of the event as construction is banned on the floodplains.

The festival will bring together people from different cultures, nations, and faiths as a one world family in a resounding message of peace.
Pakistan Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has appealed for an investigation against former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf and all those politicians who had supported him for their suspected links with India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Rashid's comments come days after Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) senator Mustafa Kamal claimed that his party had ties with the Indian spy agency.

Speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of the Advertising Booking Centers Association in Lahore , Rashid said that any probe into MQM's alleged ties with the RAW should be expanded to include the likes of Musharra f because he had included MQM in his government, reports The Express Tribune.

The probe, Rashid said, should also include other members of the 'Musharraf league' such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, who was part of the 2002 National Assembly which had been elected under Musharraf's dictatorship.

Rashid asked 'why Imran had remained silent when he saw MQM chief Altaf Hussain's posters in India'.
Leaders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) met Union Human Resource and Development Minister Smriti Irani in Delhi today to discuss the current issues prevailing in the news cycle including the furore over Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar.

The meeting was an internal workshop where several issues were discussed including strategies adopted by Left parties over the upcoming state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and union territory Puducherry.

The assembly elections in Assam for 126 assembly seats will be held in two phases. The first phase will be held on April 4 and the second phase on April 11.

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.

In Tamil Nadu, voting for 234 assembly seats would also be held in a single phase on May 16.

In Puducherry, voting for 30 assembly seats would also be held on May16.

The counting of votes in all the poll bound states will take place on May 19.
After PeeCee's on set sneak peek, it's time for Zac Efron to showcase his hot shirtless body on the set of 'Baywatch' in Miami Beach.

It seems the 28-year-old actor is quite aware of how notoriously good looking he is, atleast his Instagram post says so, reports E! Online.

"Honestly I have a hard time with paparazzi but s/o to this dude," he wrote on Instagram page alongside a photo of him taken by a celebrity photographer.

Efron plays lifeguard Matt Brody in the movie, taking over the role David Charvet played on 'Baywatch' the series in the '90s.

The 'High School Musical' star was also spotted filming scenes with Dwayne Johnson, who plays main character and lifeguard Mitch Buchannon.
In the wake of inputs that 10 suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed the internal security situation in the country.

The high-level meeting was attended by top security officials, including Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Dineshwar Sharma besides others.

The Home Minister during the meeting took stock of the steps taken to prevent any possible terror attack.

At the meeting, he was briefed that four Security Guard (NSG) teams have taken position at different locations in Gujarat and would rush to any place if there is any emergency.

Rajnath also reviewed the steps taken to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats.

Meanwhile, Delhi has been put on high alert after police received inputs about a potential terror strike in the city by 10 suspected LeT and JeM terrorists.

Police source said the input specifically mentions about 10 terrorists having entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat and that they could carry out a terror strike in Delhi.

On the eve of 'Maha Shivratri', Gujarat, metros cities and Jammu and Kashmir were put on high alert with raids conducted at Kutch and other places. Director General of Gujarat police P.C. Thakur said three NSG teams have been kept on standby in Ahmedabad, while one team has been sent to Somnath temple in Saurashtra.

Meanwhile, the Gir-Somnath district authorities have postponed today's cultural event at Somnath temple owing to the terror threat.

In the wake of intelligence inputs suggesting some terrorists may have sneaked into Gujarat via the sea route, the Maharashtra Police on Sunday issued an alert across the state. The Maharashtra police said all unit chiefs of the state police have been asked to ensure maximum protection of persons and offices.

In view of alert by intelligence agencies of potential terror strike, security has been tightened in Rajasthan also. Rajasthan ATS has issued direction to all range IG and district SP to enhance security. Police has been asked to increase vigil on bus station, railway station, airport and crowded places.

Superintendent of Police Dr. Rajeev Pachar on Sunday said following an input by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that some people with wrong intentions have entered Rajasthan via Gujarat, the local police alerted various security agencies such as BSF, army and air force.

"We have spoken to various security agencies such as Border Security Force (BSF), army and air force in this connection and alerted them," he said.

"The local police are conducting regular searches of inns, hotels and lodges. Besides, police in civil dresses have been deployed at several places, said the SP.

He said at Ramdevra and Sam, which are important points from the point of pilgrimage and tourism, respectively, police have deployed armed men to prevent any untoward incident.
The Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the attack on a local court in Charsadda's Shabqadar area on Monday in which eight people were killed.

The Jamatul Ahrar said the attack was carried out to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, reports Dawn.

The blast left 14 people injured, while two police personnel were among the dead.

District Police Officer Sohail Khalid informed that that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

The attacker was intercepted by the policemen stationed at the court gate as he was attempting to enter the sessions' court premises.

The cops fired at the attacker, who detonated his explosives with a loud bang.

The casualties were shifted to Shabqadar Hospital.

Some vehicles parked in the vicinity of the blast site caught fire.

Shabqadar tehsil is close to Mohmand tribal region, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants were said to have carved out strongholds.
President Pranab Mukherjee has said it is the nation's collective responsibility to create an ecosystem, which ensures safety, security and dignity of women in the society.

"On the occasion of International Women's Day, I extend warm greetings and good wishes to the women of India and thank them for their contributions over the years in the building of our nation," President Mukherjee said in his message on the eve of International Women's Day.

The President said that women have always been given the highest level of respect in our country.

"Their protection and safety is a sacred duty of society as a whole. We must respect the right of women to equal opportunities and a dignified life. We have a collective responsibility to create an ecosystem that ensures the safety, security and dignity of women in society," President Mukherjee said.

"On International Women's Day, let us redouble our efforts for achieving gender equity and empowerment of women. Let us strive to enable our women realize their full potential and participate meaningfully in all aspects of our country's development," he added.
India will spare no effort to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who went missing in Yemen after the Islamic State militant group attacked a care home run by the Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in a tweet said, "Though there was no Indian Embassy in Yemen, we will spare no efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil."

The minister noted that there was a camp office in Djibouti. She also corrected the number of Indians killed in the attack from four to one.

Gunmen stormed the refuge for the elderly on Friday, killing a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other employees.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the Indian mother superior of an aid home in Aden, where four nuns were killed and an Indian priest was kidnapped by gunmen, will be safely evacuated today itself.

"Yemen - I have spoken to Sister Sally - an Indian from Kerala. She is safe and will be evacuated today itself," Swaraj tweeted.

She had said earlier that India will make all efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who went missing in Yemen after the attack on the aid home.

"Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have an Embassy there. But we will spare no efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil," Sushma tweeted.

An Indian nun from Jharkhand was among the four nuns who were massacred by unidentified gunmen at a retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Yemen.

Sister Sally survived after she hid herself from the gunmen after a guard sounded a warning cry about the attackers.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy said that the Indian Government will shift out Sister Sally as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters Chandy said that after he spoke to Swaraj, Indian officials from Djibouti have established contacts with Sister Sally.

"I managed to speak to Sister Sally a while ago and she said that she has been contacted by Indian Embassy officials from Djibouti who are expected to come to take her with them on Monday. She said that things are not that smooth where she is and there is no information about Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kottayam district and was taken away by the gunmen," he said.
Lauding the public sector enterprises to be ready with a large investment kitty of Rs 5.02 lakh crore for the next financial year, ASSOCHAM urged Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the CMDs of the CPSEs asking them to ensure that the entire planned expenditure for the fiscal 2016-17 is spent to give a leg-up to the economic growth.

In a subdued economic environment where the private sector is reeling under high debt, over-capacity and low margins, the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) have to take a lead in reviving the business sentiment. Fortunately, with funds not being a problem for the state-owned firms, it is only a question of speedy implementation of the planned projects, be in the railways, highways, atomic energy, aviation, power or coal, an ASSOCHAM Paper stated.

Against the revised estimates of Rs 4.25 lakh crore for 2015-16, the Plan estimates for the CPSEs, including Indian Railways and the National Highway Authority of India have been pegged at Rs 5.02 lakh crore for 2016-16. The best part is of this new investment, only Rs 95,330 crore would be contributed by the Central Budgetary Support whereas an overwhelming rest of it would be internal generation and the unutilized reserves with the government -owned companies, it said.

ASSOCHAM President Mr Sunil Kanoria suggested that the Project Monitoring Group under the supervision of the Prime Minister's Office can regularly ask for the feedback on the implementation of each of the projects given by the CPSEs given to their administrative ministries. But at the beginning of the year, it would be a great start if the Prime Minister himself has a brain-storming with the CMDs of all the CPSEs.

Some of the inter-ministerial issues can then be resolved on the spot. Things like fuel linkages, environmental clearances, can be resolved immediately where the cases are not pending in the court.

Of the total planned investment by the CPSEs, over Rs 3.50 lakh crore is earmarked in the railways, highways, power and oil sectors. A special focus group of the ministers concerned in this area can be constituted who can meet along with the CMDs of the concerned CPSEs to monitor the project implementation, the chamber said.

It said the project implementation will also help the government realize its disinvestment target at a much better value realization since by the time the expanded capacity is commissioned, the capital market may also see a revival resulting in a significant appreciation in the CPSE shares. Besides, the project implementation in key infrastructure like roads, railways, power and gas and petroleum would, improved state of infrastructure.

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A shift in the billing model to fixed billing by multiple system operators (MSO) is likely to resolve the collection inefficiencies faced by them, which is leading to rising write-offs, believes India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). The fixed billing model will mean MSOs will collect a fixed fee from the local cable operators (LCOs), immaterial of the amount collected from the subscriber. This will help address the issue of delays in payments and non-payments by subscribers and lead to a business to business (B2B) billing rather than the business to customer (B2C) billing.

Ind-Ra believes that a fixed billing may also lead to reduction in the receivable days, write-offs and provision for doubtful debts which has widened in the last three years. The three listed players namely Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd's ('IND A-'/Stable), Den Networks Limited and Siti Cable Network Limited have seen an average increase in the cumulative receivable days to 123 days in FY15 from 88 days in FY12. While, the cumulative write-offs and provision for doubtful debts for all three is around INR6.2 billion indicating collection inefficiencies.

The MSO industry nationwide has been struggling to reach common ground with LCOs regarding revenue share. The issue is on two counts; one regarding the proportion of revenue share and the other regarding actual collection of the same. This is largely on account of LCOs unwilling to let go of historical revenue share enjoyed during the analogue regime. Even in the digitised markets, the current net revenue collection is far from the original Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommended revenue share of 65:35 (MSO: LCO).

Digitisation was expected to improve the profitability of MSOs, however, slower-than-expected rise in net realization from LCOs has hurt profitability. With the help of digitisation MSOs were supposed to shift their business model to B2C, in which LCOs were supposed to be deemed agents of MSOs. However, paying and non-paying subscribers still cannot be determined in the digitised regime and resistance from LCOs for revenue sharing remains. The ownership of customers continues to remain with LCO's. Hence, MSOs' collections continue to remain lower than anticipated. In the digitised phase 1& 2 markets, the transparency levels however have improved and identification of subscribers can be ascertained.

A way forward could be to agree on a certain fixed amount with the LCOs (B2B billing- based on the number of subscribers connected on the MSOs' digital network under the respective LCOs) irrespective of the actual money collected by the LCOs from their respective subscribers. This would ensure that cash collections are de-linked from the amount recovered or declared to have been recovered by LCOs from the subscribers. Further, if these amounts are fixed; the collections can be made upfront on a pre-paid basis. Though this may be lower than the original expected amount; this would at least ensure stable and timely cash collections. Technology support in terms of closed loop wallets and other supporting technology platforms can facilitate the collection mechanism.

Ind-Ra notes that some of the national MSOs have started working toward this model and could be a positive for the overall business profile of MSOs.

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The Haryana government on Monday signed 11 MOUs involving a total investment of Rs.18,159 crore with different companies on the first day of the two-day "Happening Haryana Global Investors' Summit-2016" here.

Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) managing director Sudhir Rajpal signed these MoUs with representatives of the companies in presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

These agreements included an MoU of Rs.15,000 crore for financial services signed with ICICI, and a Rs.2,000 crore MoU for electronics, IT and IT enabled services (ITeS) with Bharti Airtel.

Similarly, an MoU involving an investment of Rs.283 crore was signed with Star Wire (India) Limited for manufacturing special and critical steel by adopting high-tech technologies. An MoU of Rs.200 crore was signed with Minda Kosei Aluminium Wheel Private Limited for automobile parts, and alloy wheels, one of Rs.190 crore with Honda for worker housing, and another MoU of Rs.150 crore with Plasser India Private Limited for manufacturing unit for track maintenance machines.

Apart from this, MoUs of Rs.100 crores each were signed with Minda Industries Limited and Mindarika Private Limited for automobile parts switches. Another MoU of Rs.80 crore was signed with T.G. Minda Private Limited for automobile parts rubber hoses and an MoU was also signed with Snapdeal for e-commerce.
At least 15 members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group were killed in airstrikes in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, the government said on Monday.

"Acting upon confirmed intelligence reports, the pilotless plane of the coalition forces stormed a hideout of IS militants in Achin district last night," Xinhua quoted a government statement as saying.

The district, bordering Pakistan, has been the scene of heavy clashes between IS militants and security forces, backed by pro-government local militiamen over the past couple of months.

In an unrelated incident, six Taliban militants were killed and seven injured after security forces repelled an attack on three villages in Darqad district of Takhar province, a police spokesperson said.

--Indo-Asian News Agency

mg/py/dg
At least 17 people were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

A Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) factional group Jamatul Ahrar, in an emailed statement, claimed responsibility for the attack, terming it as a "revenge of the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri", killer of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

The blast in Charsadda district of the province left over 30 people injured. Two policemen and a woman were among the 17 dead.

Official sources at a nearby hospital told Dawn they received 13 bodies, while the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar received four.

A local police official Sohail Khalid told media that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

The attacker was intercepted by policemen stationed at the court gate while attempting to enter the court premises.

The cops fired at the attacker who detonated his explosives-laden vest.

At the time of the explosion, the courts were crowded after a break over the weekend.

Some vehicles parked in the vicinity of the blast site caught fire.

Security and emergency teams reached the blast site and sealed the area.

The incident came at a time when law-enforcement agencies are said to be making gains in implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and taking counter-terrorism measures across the country.

The TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has been waging an insurgency against the state since 2007 in a bid to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

A series of military operations in tribal areas -- the latest of which was Zarb-e-Azb launched in 2014 -- have reduced the TTP's ability to hit major targets regularly, but attacks on security and civilian targets do continue to occur.

Sympathising deeply with the bereaved families, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif deeply condemned the terrorist attack.

"The premier has extended his heartfelt condolences to the victims' families and prayed to Allah Almighty for grant of courage to them for bearing the irreparable losses," a statement issued by the Prime Minister's office said.

Sharif further said that the countless sacrifices by the country's law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism will not go in vain. "The nation is united in its commitment to wipe out this menace from our soil," he added.

"Those who embraced martyrdom in the line of duty sacrificed their today to safeguard a peaceful tomorrow for our future generations, and they deserve gratitude and recognition of the highest degree," said the prime minister.
At least 22 people, including 13 militants, were killed in Tunisia when a group of gunmen stormed into the military barracks near the Libyan border.

Five civilians and four security personnel were also killed in the ongoing clashes, Xinhua news agency reported citing Radio Mosaique FM.

The security forces have also arrested six militants.

The North African country has witnessed several major terrorist attacks since 2015.

In March 2015, the Islamic State (IS) attacked Bardo Museum in Tunis killing 22 people, most of them were foreign tourists.

In June 2015, a 23-year-old student attacked the Marhaba hotel in Sousse, killing 38 foreign tourists.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and tribal activist Soni Sori on Monday visited Jawaharlal Nehru University here to express solidarity with the students agitating for the release of those still in judicial custody in a sedition case.

Sori, who was attacked in Bastanar in Chhattisgarh by unknown assailants on February 20, also addressed the students in front of the varsity administration block and assured of support to the students.

Two JNU students -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- are currently in 14-day judicial custody.

"The moment (JNU Students Union president) Kanhaiya Kumar came back from prison, I was extremely happy. We all are now waiting for the other two students to come out and be amongst us again," Sori said.

"When I was studying, I was told that children and students are the country's future. Now those very students are branded anti-nationals. How will the country progress like this? It is sad to see the fight you all involved in," she said.

Sori also spoke about her struggle against the Chhattisgarh government for targeting of tribals in the state.

"It is the tribals who are struggling in this fight between the government and Maoists. We are tormented in the name of Maoists. Even we want azadi (freedom) from all of this. Today, I'm happy to be able to keep this issue in front of you since JNU students have always stood for our struggle," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.

Six JNU students, including Khalid and Bhattacharya, were charged with sedition after anti-India slogans were raised at an event held on the campus on February 9 to protest against the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in Tihar jail in 2013.
The Mother Superior, of the old age home in Aden, which was attacked last week, has been flown out to Abu Dhabi, said Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Chandy told IANS that Sister Sally, who hails from Kerala, has been flown out from the troubled place and from there, she is proceeding to Jordan, where the congregation to which she belongs has establishments.

He said that this came through with the full support of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who directed Indian Embassy officials in Djibouti to help Sister Sally, who headed the old age home run by the Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

"I did speak to her (Sally) yesterday (on Sunday) and after I got information from Delhi that her safe transportation to Abu Dhabi has been arranged, I tried to speak to her a few times, but I could not get the call. I presume that she is on the flight," said Chandy.

While the nun has been rescued, there is still no word about priest Tom Kuzhuvennal who was taken away by these unidentified gunmen. He hails from the state's Kottayam district.

Gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group on Friday attacked the home, killing four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, including one from India.

The Indian nun has been identified as Sister M. Anseleme, 57, from Jharkhand. Of the other three nuns, two were from Rwanda and another from Kenya.
China on Monday called for a fair and balanced execution of the UN resolution against North Korea, adding that the responsibility is not confined to Beijing.

"The UN Security Council resolution should be implemented by the whole international community and not just one country," said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei.

Hong made the remarks after being asked if the major responsibility lies with China since about 90 percent of the North Korea trade volume is from China, Xinhua news agency reported.

A resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the 15-country council on March 2, requires states to inspect all cargo going to and from North Korea.

It imposes an asset freeze on all funds and other economic resources owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the North Korean government, if they are found to be associated with its nuclear or ballistic missile programmes or any other prohibited activity.

The talks, which involve China, North Korea, the US, South Korea, Russia and Japan, stalled in late 2008.

"The resolution aims to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile plan without affecting the people's livelihood and humanitarian needs," Hong said.

"It also calls for the resumption of the six-party talks to ease the situation through political and diplomatic ways. This is the fundamental solution of the Korean nuclear issue," he added.

The resolution, therefore, should be implemented in a comprehensive and balanced way without deliberately highlighting one aspect or neglecting others, he said.

The spokesperson reaffirmed that China will implement the resolution seriously and comprehensively.
Congress vice president on Monday accused the central government of muzzling the voice of the poor, tribals and the underprivileged.

"Tribals from Bastar and other areas of Chhattisgarh came up to see me. They told me that they are being oppressed and their voice is being muzzled by the BJP government," Gandhi told reporters after meeting a delegation of tribals and Congress legislator from Bastar area of Chhattisgarh who called on him at his residence.

"Modi ji made a personal attack on me in Parliament. Everyday his partymen also make personal attacks on me. I don't care but please don't attack the poor and underprivileged," he added.



ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi hits back at PM for launching personal attacks on him

Gandhi also asked the Bharatiya Janata Party not to attack the poor and the average businessmen as it would not help anyone.
Scottish DJ Calvin Harris has "politely declined" a collaboration with girlfriend Taylor Swift over fears that it would destroy their relationship.

Harris, 32, doesn't want to mix his professional with his personal life, a source told The Sun newspaper, reports dailymail.co.uk.

It seems that Harris has learnt from his past as the mega-producer previously collaborated with ex-girlfriend Rita Ora on her last album before their sour split.

"Calvin's next single is ready but the label is keen for him to get a big female US star to collaborate on it. They floated the idea of him working with Taylor but he politely declined it. Calvin has seen how sour things can turn when working with someone he's dating," said the source.

Harris has reportedly set his sights on working with Beyonce Knowles.
At least 12 miners have been confirmed dead and another was injured after a gas outburst occurred in a coal mine in China's Jilin Province on Sunday, rescuers said on Monday.

The rescue work ended on Monday morning, after rescuers brought the one injured to hospital while confirming the other 12 trapped miners dead, reports Xinhua.

The accident occurred around 11.20 a.m. on Sunday in Songshu Mine owned by Tonghua Mining Industry Co. Ltd. in the city of Baishan.

A total of 316 rescuers aided with 46 medical workers joined the rescue, local authorities said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The aircraft debris found in French overseas territory of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean could be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, according to the drifting calculation, a Malaysian official said on Monday.

The media reported that an object measuring about 40 by 20 centimetres was found by the seashore last week, Xinhua reported.

The debris could be from the missing MH370 flight, as calculations of the drift of all debris expect that they would be around that area, said Ab Aziz Kaprawi, Malaysia's deputy transport minister.

"That is to say, any debris found within that area is tentatively, possibly... would be from MH370. And it would be verified later on," he said.

A wing part identified as flaperon was found on the island last year, the first debris confirmed to be from the missing flight.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said last week that another piece found in Mozambique, which lies at the same corner of the Indian Ocean, may be from a Boeing 777, the same model as MH370.

Both Malaysian and Australian authorities, which coordinate search in the South Indian Ocean, have sent team to verify the debris.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them being Chinese nationals.

The malaysian officials has said that search for the missing flight will continue even after two years the MH370 disappeared.
In a double blow to beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai lodged a money laundering case and the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying him $75 million till a case against him was disposed off.

The tribunal barred Diageo plc from paying Rs.5.04 billion ($75 million) as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd. last month, till the pending case against the liquor baron before it is decided.

"The presiding officer of DRT (R. Benkanahalli) ordered temporary attachment of the severance package amount and directed Diageo not to pay it till our case is finally heard and disposed of," counsel for State Bank of India told media persons in Bengaluru.

Reading out the one-page order, Benkanahalli said Mallya shall not temporarily draw the $75 million mentioned in the interlocutory application till the case's disposal.

"Diageo plc and United Spirits Ltd shall not disburse the amount ($75 million) to Mallya or his nominees or agents till the disposal of the bank's original application. Amount as sought by the applicant banks stands attached," the order said.

The tribunal also directed all defendants to furnish details of the agreement on or before next date of hearing (March 28), when it will hear the bank's three other applications, seeking his arrest, impounding of his passport and seizure of his assets.

It also ordered issuing notice of the bank's application to Diageo office in London through registered post.

In another major stumbling block for Mallya, the ED on Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, officials said.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

Mallya and the top executives of the erstwhile KFA have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by the SBI had extended to the airline which it failed to repay.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands, which is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the ED under the PMLA, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

Last week, CBI Director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials concerned.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the Indian laws, officials said.

The flamboyant businessman, who recently announced his plans to spend more time with his family in Britain, as refuted all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled as a "wilful defaulter" by some of the lender banks.

Mallya has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders and the agencies to settle the debt.

Perceived as the 'King of Good Times', last month Mallya quit as USL chairman, the liquor company founded by his family, and sold its majority stakeholding to Diageo in return for a $75 million settlement package.

Mallya had shot into news last week when some former KFA employees wrote an open letter, blaming him for the grounding of the airline and damaging the country's reputation in the aviation industry.

"We are still not able to understand what you meant when you said I don't have money to pay your salaries while the spree continues, let it be Caribbean Premier League or luxurious yacht," said the letter.

Once reputed as the most glamorous and luxurious private airline in the country, KFA feel into bad days and was grounded in October 2012 after a huge financial mess including default of bank loans, dues to oil companies, airports and even staff salaries.
In a double blow to beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai lodged a money laundering case and the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying him $75 million till a case against him was disposed off.

The tribunal barred Diageo plc from paying Rs.5.04 billion ($75 million) as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd. last month, till the pending case against the liquor baron before it is decided.

"The presiding officer of DRT (R. Benkanahalli) ordered temporary attachment of the severance package amount and directed Diageo not to pay it till our case is finally heard and disposed of," counsel for State Bank of India told media persons in Bengaluru.

In another major stumbling block for Mallya, the ED on Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, officials said.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

Mallya and the top executives of the erstwhile KFA have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by the SBI had extended to the airline which it failed to repay.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands, which is being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the ED under the PMLA, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

Last week, CBI Director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials concerned.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the Indian laws, officials said.

The flamboyant businessman, who recently announced his plans to spend more time with his family in Britain, as refuted all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled as a "wilful defaulter" by some of the lender banks.

Mallya has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders and the agencies to settle the debt.

Perceived as the 'King of Good Times', last month Mallya quit as USL chairman, the liquor company founded by his family, and sold its majority stakeholding to Diageo in return for a $75 million settlement package the payment of which has now been stayed by the DRT.

Mallya had shot into news last week when some former KFA employees wrote an open letter in New Delhi in which they alleged he had "blood-stained hands" and blamed him for the grounding of the airline and damaging the country's reputation in the aviation industry.

"We are still not able to understand what you meant when you said I don't have money to pay your salaries while the spree continues, let it be Caribbean Premier League or luxurious yatch," said the letter.

Once reputed as the most glamorous and luxurious private airline in the country, KFA feel into bad days and was grounded in October 2012 after a huge financial mess including default of bank loans, dues to oil companies, airports and even staff salaries.
Internet pioneer Ray Tomlinson, who is credited with the invention of e-mail, has died at the age of 74, media reports said.

According to reports, Tomlinson died of an apparent heart attack late on Saturday.

The US computer programmer came up with the idea of electronic messages that could be sent from one network to another in 1971, BBC reported.

His invention included the ground-breaking use of the "@" symbol in e-mail addresses, which is now standard.

He sent what is now regarded as the first e-mail while working in Boston as an engineer for research company Bolt, Beranek and Newman.

The firm played a big role in developing an early version of the internet, known as Arpanet.

However, Tomlinson later said he could not remember what was in that first test message, describing it as "completely forgettable".

A BBC report said his work was recognised by his peers in 2012, when he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
The Enforcement Director (ED) on Monday registered a money-laundering case against founder of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, official sources said.

"We have filed a case against Mallya on Monday. The case is specifically based on the case registered by the CBI against him and others in 2015," Assistant Director (Enforcement Directorate) A.K. Rawal told IANS in New Delhi.

The businessman and the top executives of what was once Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) have been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Rawal said.

The measure follows an audit of the Rs.7,200 crore loan that a consortium of 11 public sector banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) had extended to the KFA which the airline failed to repay.

The KFA is alleged to have diverted as much as Rs.4,000 crore of that money to international tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman Islands.

Other businesses of Mallya were also being scrutinized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, an official, requesting anonymity, told IANS in Mumbai.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Anil Sinha had expressed dismay last week in Mumbai over the laxity of the lending banks and regulatory agencies in taking action against Mallya, other KFA directors and officials.

It is feared that Mallya might become a fugitive from law by shifting base to a country where it might be difficult to make him face the law, officials said. The flamboyant businessman recently announced his plans to spend more time in England.

He has denied all charges against him and taken exception to being labelled a "wilful defaulter" by lenders. He has also denied he was planning to flee the country and said he was ready to cooperate with the lenders to settle the debt.

Last month, Mallya agreed to quit as chairman of United Spirits Ltd. in return for a settlement by the British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo.
Actor Eddie Redmayne, who is trying to find time to go through parenting guides, says he and his wife Hannah Bagshawe want their baby's gender to come as a surprise when the child is born.

The actor of "The Theory of Everything" fame has admitted he initially wanted to find out the gender of his first child, but his wife thought otherwise, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He said: "It's gonna be a surprise. I was like, 'Maybe we should find out?', but my wife was like, 'We are not finding out', so she wears the trousers. (It's) one of the great surprises that still exists in the world."

The 34-year-old actor has been very busy and said he hasn't had a chance to check out a parenting guide, but he isn't worried.

"We got our first book, which is looking at us, and we are staring guiltily as we should be learning 'how to be parents', but we haven't opened them yet. We have got a while," he told Extra! TV.

However, he had earlier mentioned that they are working on the "logistics" of welcoming a child into the world.
At least eight people were killed and 14 injured on Monday in a suicide attack in the premises of a court in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

The attacker was intercepted by police stationed in the premises as he attempted to enter the court, Dawn online quoted district police officer Sohail Khalid as saying.

The police fired at the attacker who detonated explosives, Khalid said.

Security and emergency teams reached the site and cordoned off the area, the officer added.

The casualties were transferred to nearby hospital.
At least eight people, including two police personnel, were killed and 16 injured on Monday in a suicide bombing in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police said.

The bomber blew himself up as he was intercepted by a security personnel while attempting to enter a court premises in Charsadda district, Dawn online quoted district police officer Sohail Khalid as saying.

The injured people were transferred to nearby hospital, the officer said.

Awami National Party (ANP) chief Zahid Khan criticised the provincial government for "inadequate security measures".

The sound of the explosion was so intense that it could be heard from miles away, an eyewitness said.

A rescue team was rushed to the site while a search operation was going on in the area.

The police and security officials have cordoned off the area.

The attack came as law-enforcement agencies were implementing National Action Plan (NAP) and taking counter-terrorism measures across the country.

A total of 2,159 terrorists have been killed and 1,724 arrested since the NAP was launched after the TTP-claimed attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.
Delhi Police has claimed to have arrested a key member of an extortion gang that took about Rs.82 lakh from businessmen in the national capital and Haryana in separate cases.

Arvind Kadyan, 28, one of the members of the gang active here for more than three years, was arrested on Sunday from Najafgarh in western Delhi.

The gang had recently extorted Rs.40 lakh from property dealer Mahender Yadav who belongs to Nangloi in Delhi.

Mahender was "honey-trapped" by a female member of the gang, who made contact with him in December last year on the pretext of selling him her flat, the police said.

"Mahender was abducted at gun point by other three members of the gang when he accompanied the woman to her flat. They held him captive and forced him to call his family members to tell them to arrange Rs.50 lakh urgently for him to strike a property deal," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav said.

"Mahender's family could only manage Rs.40 lakh. The gang collected the money from Mahender's family. Before his release, they made a video showing him in compromising positions with the woman. Mahender was told that the video would go viral if he informed the police," the officer said.

However, Mahender did report the matter to the police. The police then started its investigation leading to the arrest of Arvind Kadyan.

Kadyan told police that he along with his associates Sandeep, Akash, Rinku and Suman, the female member, had executed the extortion plan.

He also told the police that the gang had been involved in other such cases.

"They had extorted over Rs.42 lakh from three different businessmen of Haryana by using the same modus operandi," the officer said.

Kadyan said the gang included one Ramesh Tiwari and Ajay and used a minor girl as well, the officer added.
Students in the US two to three times more often describe male professors as "brilliant" and "genius" than female professors, new research has found.

"Male professors were described more often as 'brilliant' and 'genius' than female professors in every single field we studied -- about two to three times more often," said lead researcher Daniel Storage from the University of Illinois, US.

For the study, the researchers conducted an analysis of more than 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, where students write anonymous reviews of their professors.

Students most often use the words "brilliant" and "genius" to describe male professors and in academic disciplines in which women and African-Americans are underrepresented - such as philosophy and physics -- the findings showed.

The findings, reported in the journal PLOS ONE, included academic disciplines in the sciences, humanities, social sciences and math.

The new analysis offers new insights into students' attitudes and thoughts, the researchers said.

"What is valuable about spontaneous comments is that they provide an unvarnished reflection of how people evaluate others in their field, and what they look for in other people in that field," Andrei Cimpian, professor at University of Illinois, noted.

The study also found that none of the following four factors could fully explain the underrepresentation of women or African-Americans in a field -- average GRE (graduate school entry exam) math scores, the desire to avoid long hours at work, the selectivity of each field or the ability to think systematically.

While there are correlations between some of these factors and the presence or absence of women and African-Americans in some fields, "we consistently found that the only thing that was explaining the proportions of women and African-Americans in a particular field was that field's emphasis on the importance of brilliance and genius," Storage said.

"Both of these groups are stereotyped in a similar way about their intellectual abilities and therefore are potentially affected in a similar way by the amount of emphasis that's put on brilliance," Cimpian said.

"The people in certain fields might not see that quality in women and African-Americans. Women and African-Americans themselves may be conditioned to not see these qualities in themselves," Cimpian noted.
Germany will partner India in turning Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Kochi into smart cities, it was announced on Monday.

"Germany wants to support the ambitious Smart Cities programme of India," State Secretary in the German ministry of environment, nature conservation, building and nuclear safety, Gunther Adler, said at a media briefing here.

"Here the German building ministry also supports German companies that want to cooperate intensively with Indian partners in order to assist Indian cities in implementing their plan," he said.

He said urbanisation went hand in hand with the requirement of residential housing, water supply and waste water management.

"This has been taken up by the Indian government by launching 100 smart cities programme which we are ready to support," Adler said.

He said the Indian government last year invited Germany to be a partner in its Smart Cities programme.

"Cooperation has been announced in the cities of Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Coimbatore. These are among the first cities of the 100 smart cities chosen," he said.

Adler, who is on a two-day visit to India, made the announcement at the second meeting of the Indo-German Working Group on Urban Development,a new forum initiated in 2015.

Adler also met Madhusudan Prasad, secretary in the urban development ministry and Nandita Chatterjee, secretary in the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry.

He also met representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

German Ambassador to India Martin Ney said that Germany was an ideal partner in India's endeavour to create smarter cities.

"We are very strong at smart planning for urban centres. We have developed the technologies to make life in cities easier," he said.

"We have developed the processes to bring on board the stakeholders to make cities thrive, and German companies have developed smart solutions to to make smart cities."

India is the biggest partner of Germany's development cooperation programme worldwide.

In 2015, this collaboration reached a new record level of 1.5 billion euros (Rs.11,000 crore).
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday promised entrepreneurs and potential investors in the state all out support by the government in their ventures and assured ease of doing business.

He also hinted at some major economic policy reforms to give a leg-up to industrialisation and economy in Haryana.

"I promise that you will never find my government hesitating or wanting, in going the extra mile to support your ventures. Our enterprises promotion policy, 2015, is just a beginning," Khattar said while delivering the keynote address on the opening day of the two-day 'Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit' here.

"We have planned some major economic policy reforms in the coming days," he said.

When the summit was conceived five months ago, a target of attracting an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore in Haryana was set, as per the enterprise promotion policy announced on August 11, last year.

"I am told by the state chief secretary that the commitments so far have already exceeded this target by 200 percent," he added.

Khattar said his government planned to amend the Factories Act as well as the Payment of Wages Act to facilitate certain categories of businesses and remove anachronistic conditions.

Listing key initiatives taken by his government to make things easy for investors, he said Haryana had already ended the uncertainty over future enhancements in the cost of industrial plots, launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic change of land use in 75 development blocks in the state, done away with the CLU requirement in 31 blocks, and set up three-tier grievance redressal system for both existing and new investors.

With only 1.34 percent of India's geographical area and only 2.09 percent of its population, Haryana contributes 3.51 percent to India's gross domestic product and 4.2 percent to its exports, the chief minister said.

He thanked representatives from China, Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, UK, and Ontario province of Canada for participating in the summit.

"We intend to pass in the coming assembly session the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Bill, 2016," he said and sought entrepreneurs' comments and suggestions for its improvement.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene personally and secure the release of Indian fishermen from Lankan custody.

In a letter to Modi, the text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa requested the former's personal intervention to issue instructions to the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with Sri Lanka and secure the release of 64 Indian fishermen and 77 fishing boats.

"There is an urgent and imperative need to ensure that our fishermen are not arrested and abducted on the high seas. Proactive action needs to be initiated at the highest level to ensure a permanent solution to this sensitive issue that plagues the livelihoods of thousands of Tamil Nadu fishermen," she said.

Jayalalithaa drew Modi's attention to the apprehension of 29 Indian fishermen and their four fishing craft from near Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday.

A narrow strip of sea divides India and Sri Lanka. Indian fishermen are arrested by the Lankan Navy on the charge that they fish in Lankan waters.

Sri Lanka continues to keep the apprehended Indian fishing boats even though it releases the fishermen.
The Aam Aadmi government is likely to take legal action against three news channels that allegedly ran doctored videos of some Jawaharlal Nehru University students raising "anti-national" slongans on February 9, sources said on Monday.

The move comes after a magistrate report submitted to the Delhi government on March 2 said that "no direct link" has been found between JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and the anti-India sloganeering event.

Earlier in the day, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United leader K.C. Tyagi met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue.

The DM's report said that seven videos related to JNU incident were sent to Truth Labs, Hyderabad, of which three were found to be doctored. "In those doctored versions, video has been edited and voices added," the report said.

The state government ordered a magisterial probe into the matter on February 13.

The report added that the role of Umar Khalid, another JNU student accused of raising anti-India slogans, needs to be further investigated.

On February 9, a cultural event was organised at the JNU to commemorate the third anniversary of the execution of parliament terror attack convict Afzal Guru.

During the event, anti-India slogans were allegedly raised, following which JNU students leader Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested by Delhi Police on February 12 on charges of sedition.

Kanhaiya Kumar was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.
West Bengal's main opposition Left Front on Monday released its first list of 116 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls.

As many as 60 of the candidates were in the fray for the first time.

The list includes 16 women, and 25 from the minority communities, Left front chairman Biman Bose said.

The state is slated to hold the seven-phase polls from April 4 to May 5.
A Maoist guerrilla was killed on Monday in a gun battle with security forces in Jharkhand's Palamau district, police said.

The encounter took place in a jungle area under Paki police station of Palamau district which is about 160 km from here, said a police official.

The guerrilla belonging to the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was killed.

Three rifles, live cartridges and some incriminating documents that he had on his person were seized by the police, the official said.

Seven Maoist groups are active in Jharkhand, two of which, PLFI and CPI-Maoist, have been banned by the state government.

As many as 18 of the 24 districts of the state are affected by Maoist violence.
Turkish and EU leaders have gathered in Brussels for an emergency summit on tackling Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

The EU aims to stem the flow of migrants and plans to declare the route north through the Balkans closed.

It will press Turkey to take back economic migrants and has pledged to give Ankara $3.3 billion, BBC reported.

Last year, more than a million people, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, entered the EU illegally by boat, mainly going from Turkey to Greece.

Many migrants leave Greece in a bid to reach northern Europe, but eight countries have introduced temporary border controls.

Some 13,000 migrants are currently stranded in northern Greece, after Macedonia, backed by Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia, closed its border to all but a trickle of migrants.

The human cost of the migrant crisis was brought home again on Sunday when a boat capsized off Turkey drowning 25 people.

The EU states remain divided over their response to the crisis with strains showing this year even in Germany and Sweden, seen as the countries most open to refugees.

The summit will be in two parts, the first involving Turkey while in the afternoon British Prime Minister David Cameron will join other EU leaders in seeking out a common approach to the crisis.

The EU is expected to ask Turkey to take back thousands of migrants who do not qualify for asylum. In return, the EU will discuss plans to resettle in Europe some refugees already in Turkey.

Last week, European Council President Donald Tusk said he had been told by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country was ready to take back all migrants apprehended in Turkish waters.

A draft summit communique declared that the route for migrants through the Western Balkans will close. The draft also pledges that the EU will "stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do its utmost to help manage the situation".

Greece said on Monday that it would meet its pledge on accommodation for refugees, with a capacity of 37,400 by March 15.

The EU last October said it would relocate 160,000 asylum seekers, mainly from Greece and Italy, but there was strong opposition among some members and fewer than 700 migrants have moved.

The future of the Schengen agreement -- which allows passport-free travel in a 26-nation zone -- will also be on the agenda.
Naples, 7 March (IANS/AKI) Gunmen shot dead Giovanni Sarno, the brother of Naples mafia informant Carmine Sarno overnight as he slept in an apartment in the city centre, police said.

Sarno's niece identified his body at the apartment in Naples' Sanita district after an unnamed man rang on his relations' intercom at at around 4 a.m. to tell of the murder.

Police have opened a probe into the slaying of 54-year-old Sarno, who was separated from his wife and was known to drink heavily, according to neighbours.

Sarno's brother-in-law was previously murdered after the brothers decided to turn state's evidence against the Naples mafia and testified at the trials of several alleged Camorra clan members.

Prime suspects in Sarno and his brother-in-law's murders are the Contini, Casalesi, Barra and Acerra clans, against whom the Sarnos gave evidence, Naples daily Il Mattino reported.

--IANS/AKI

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An analysis of palm-sized stone grinders used around 7,000 years ago in North Africa shows that ancient communities resisted new farming practices because of their highly mobile style of life.

Giulio Lucarini and his team from the University of Cambridge were able to spot plant residues, too small to be visible to the naked eye, caught in the pitted surface of several of the stone tools excavated from a cave called Haua Fteah located in northern Libya.

According to earlier studies, the stratigraphy (layers of sediment) at Haua Fteah indicates continuous human habitation from at least 80,000 years ago right up to the present day.

In a paper published recently in the journal Quaternary International, Lucarini and colleagues said the surfaces of the grinders show plant use-wear and contain tiny residues of wild plants that date from the time when, in all likelihood, domesticated grains would have been available to them.

Comparing the characteristic shape and size of the starch found in the grinders' crevices to those in a reference collection of wild and domestic plant varieties collected in different North African and Southern European countries, the researchers were able to determine that the residues, most probably, came from one of the species belonging to the Cenchrinae grasses.

Various species of the genus Cenchrus are still gathered today by several African groups when other resources are scarce. Cenchrus is prickly and its seed is laborious to extract. But it is highly nutritious, especially in times of severe food shortage.

"Haua Fteah is only a kilometre from the Mediterranean and close to well-established coastal routes, giving communities their access to commodities such as domesticated grain, or at least the possibility to cultivate them," Lucarini said.

"Yet it seems that people living in the Jebel Akhdar region may have made a strategic and deliberate choice not to adopt the new farming practices available to them, despite the promise of higher yields but, instead, to integrate them into their existing practices," he added.

Lucarini suggested that North African communities delayed their move to domesticated grains because it suited their highly mobile style of life.

"Opting to exploit wild crops was a successful and a low-risk strategy not to rely too much on a single resource, which might fail. It's an example of the English idiom of not putting all your eggs in one basket," the researcher said.

"Rather than being 'backward' in their thinking, these nomadic people were highly sophisticated in their pragmatism and deep understanding of plants, animals and climatic conditions," he added.

Evidence of the processing of wild plants at Haua Fteah confirms recent theories that the adoption of domesticated species in North Africa was in an addition to, rather than a replacement of, the exploitation of wild resources such as the native grasses that still grow wild in the site.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said US Vice President Joe Biden's impending visit demonstrated the strong ties between the "close allies".

"This visit expresses the strong relations between Israel and our ally the US," Netanyahu told his cabinet here.

"There are those who have predicted the collapse of these relations -- it is not so," he said, in an apparent reference to his rocky relations with President Barack Obama over Netanyahu's opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran, Xinhua news agency reported.

Biden, who will arrive in Israel on Tuesday, will also visit the Palestinian National Authority, Jordan, and the UAE. His visit comes amidst fears of escalation in the wake of a six-month-long wave of bloody violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Whereas both Israel and the US officials stress the strong security-related cooperation, diplomatic relations have been strained in recent years.

Most of the tensions have surrounded the different approaches towards the nuclear deal signed by world powers and Iran, with Netanyahu vocally objecting to the agreement signed between world countries and Iran, calling it a "historic mistake", whereas the US stood by the agreement.

The US government had also recently deplored Israel for its policies towards Palestinians in the occupied territories in the West Bank, as well as a wave of right-wing legislation against left-wing organisations.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCull will visit Singapore this week with trade and security issues as the main agenda.

McCully's trip to meet Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan would be his first visit to Singapore since the country's general elections in September 2015, Xinhua quoted the minister as saying.

"Singapore is one of our top export markets with two-way trade reaching $1.9 billion in 2015," McCully said.

"New Zealand and Singapore share a warm friendship based on trade and economic links, extensive defence ties, and regional cooperation."
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said Monday that implementation of the agenda of alliance and heading the new Jammu and government were both important issues for her, but added that the central government would have to take steps for this to happen.

Addressing workers of her Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kupwara town, she said: "For me, the decision of forming an alliance with the BJP is a sacred legacy of my father, (the late) Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

"But equally sacred for me is the implementation of the agenda of alliance w hich my father agreed to with the BJP.

"I have no issues with the BJP. My party's alliance with the BJP is intact. But, my demand is for the central government to come forward and take steps so that my becoming the chief minister of the state benefits the people."

Mehbooba reiterated that she has no ambition to become the chief minister for the sake of pomp and show.

"If I had any burning personal ambition, I might have become chief minister of the state much earlier, even during my father's lifetime.

"When doctors advised my father not to interact with the public for fear of catching infection, I could have become the chief minister, but I chose not to because Mufti Sahib had a burning desire to serve his people till the very end of his life," she said.

Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unscheduled visit to Pakistan in December, she said: "When Modiji visited Pakistan, I broke the news to my father when he was in the hospital. He smiled and told me 'I have always told you war is neither a solution for us (India) nor for them (Pakistan)'.

"For me those words of my father are sacred. Our youth are dying at an age when they should learn to live and grow in life.

"A poor man's son, Captain Tushar from Udhampur was killed in an encounter recently. He was just 26. Another youth who was known as 'Newton' in his neighborhood because he had secured 98 percent marks was killed as a militant at the age of 16.

"Whether our youth get killed at 26 or 16, it is tragic and needs to be stopped. If I become chief minister without being able to stop the mindless killing of our youth, what use is that for me?" she asked.
Controversial Bihar leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Monday said there was nothing wrong in burning of the Indian flag in nor was sloganeering against India anti- .

The five-time MP and the Jan Adhikar Party chief told this to media in Bihar's Madhepura district while calling upon the poor not to visit temples, saying "all Hindu saints are anti-national". To avoid exploitation from such saints, they should avoid going to temples, he added.

His comments evoked condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.

Criminal-turned-politician Pappu Yadav's wife Ranjeet Ranjan is a Congress MP from Supaul in Bihar. Yadav, who was expelled from Rashtriya Janata Dal last year, was close to BJP during 2015 Bihar assembly elections.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend the World Culture Festival to be organised by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living foundation, Rashtrapati Bhavan officials said on Monday.

The president had earlier agreed to attend the opening ceremony of the three-day event here on March 11 along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More than 35 lakh people are expected to attend the event.

The Art of Living along with the Delhi Development Authority is facing in the National Green Tribunal a case of alleged violation of environmental laws and polluting the Yamuna river. The NGT is expected to deliver the verdict in the case later this week.

According to some estimates, about 35,000 people will attend a musical evening as part of the larger event on the bank of Yamuna in the national capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed over the phone the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt, the Kremlin said on Monday.

"The two sides stressed the importance of creating all necessary conditions for the resumption of Russian flights to Egypt and tourist exchanges," the Kremlin said in a statement.

On October 31, 2015, a Russia-bound Airbus A321 crashed shortly after taking off from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, mostly Russians.

The Russian Federal Security Service announced later that the plane was brought down by a bomb, and Putin then ordered the suspension of all of the country's flights to Egypt following the tragedy.

In late February, Sisi said terrorists were behind the crash with the aim to ruin Egyptian ties with other states.

The crash also led some other states, including Britain, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals over security concerns.

Egypt is one of Russians' main tourist destinations, and the incident dealt a heavy blow to the country's already battered tourism sector. The Egyptian authorities have been taking a series of measures to boost the tourism industry.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday met top officials to discuss important security matters.

The meeting, termed as "routine" by a home ministry official, assumes importance as it was held in the backdrop of Pakistan sharing information with India that 10 terrorists may have slipped into India to carry out terror strikes in Gujarat during Mahashivratri festivities.

"It was a routine meeting where the minister discusses and takes stock of security situation in the country," the official told IANS.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up across Gujarat and in other parts of the country after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval got a call from his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua that 10 terrorists from two Pakistan-based outfits have entered Gujarat.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed the overall security situation in the country in the wake of inputs that 10 terrorists from Pakistan may have sneaked into India for attacks.

The high-level meeting, attended by top security officials, including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, the minister took stock of the situation and reviewed steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks.

"It was a routine meeting where the minister discusses and takes stock of security situation in the country," a ministry official told IANS.

The officials briefed the home minister about the measures taken to beef up security at strategic locations.

The meeting comes in the wake of information from Pakistan that 10 terrorists may have slipped into India to strike during Mahashivratri festivities at famous temples in Gujarat.

Security was beefed up across Gujarat and in other parts of the country after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval got a call from his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua about the 10 terrorists from two Pakistan-based outfits having sneaked into India.

--Indo-Asia News Service

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South Korea and the US on Monday began their largest annual war games as North Korea's top leader Kim Jong-un warned of a nuclear strike against the US following a nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said.

The largest war exercises so far staged on the Korean peninsula came after North Korea tested its first hydrogen bomb on January 6 and followed up with the launch of a long-range rocket on February 7, which is seen as a test of ballistic missile technology.

The exercises, code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, are scheduled to run till the end of April, Xinhua news agency reported.

The CFC said the UN Command, the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting South Korea during and after the 1950-53 Korean War, had informed the North Korean Army through the truce village of Panmunjom about the dates of the exercises and their non-provocative nature.

Joint amphibious landing manoeuvres, called Ssang Yong exercise, will also be the largest in scale since it was launched in 2012.

South Korea and the US have increased the deployment of surveillance assets against possible provocations from North Korea, which has denounced the war games as a dress rehearsal for a northward invasion.

In face of the US-South Korea war games, Kim had ordered nuclear warheads to be placed on standby for use at any time.

Kim said the enemies were planning to carry out the "beheading operation" that targets the North Korean leadership and its system.

He made the remarks when he guided the test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher, boosting concerns over the already heightened tensions on the peninsula.

--Indo-Asian News Agency

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Seven people were jailed in China's Hunan province on Monday for poisoning endangered birds and trafficking their carcasses for meat.

The People's Court in Yueyang city sentenced one of the seven to 12 years in jail and fined him 10,000 yuan ($1,500), Xinhua reported.

Two others were sentenced to 10 years in prison and were fined 10,000 yuan while four were jailed for one to six years.

The gang poisoned, transported and sold endangered birds from the wetlands of Dongting Lake Nature Reserve and surrounding regions.

Police began investigating after law enforcement officers with the reserve found a boat carrying many dead water birds including cygnets and herons on January 18, 2015.

They found that the gang bought pesticides to poison the birds and killed more than 60 wild water birds in the reserve, selling the carcasses to a restaurant in Changde city between November 2014 and January 2015.
Aleppo, March 7 (IANS/AKI) Around 40 militants have defected from the Islamic State in Syria's northern Aleppo province, aided by the main local armed group Faylaq al-Sham, the opposition Ara News website quoted a rebel spokesman as saying on Monday.

The IS deserters are now in a safe location and will be "closely monitored" by rebels, Ara News cited rebel spokesman Ali Jafaar as saying.

"Secret contract took place over the past two months between opposition factions and IS members wanting to defect," Jafaar said.

IS militants shot dead Abu Ali al-Tunisi, a Tunisian commander of the jihadist group's operations in its self-declared capital of Raqqa in northern Syria, Ara News reported Sunday, quoting a local media activist, Ammar al-Hassan.

The militants reportedly opened fire on al-Tunisi's car on late on Sunday, killing him and two of his escorts, according to Ara News.

Clashes broke out between IS militants on news of Al-Tunisi's killing, which came amid escalating power struggles within IS over the number of foreign jihadists promoted to leadership positions and disputes over money, Ara News said.

--IANS/AKI

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Tata Motors Ltd. along with Bharat Forge Ltd. and the US-based General Dynamics Land Systems will develop the future infantry combat vehicle (FICV) for the Indian armed forces, the company said on Monday.

In a statement Tata Motors said an agreement has been signed with Bharat Forge and General Dynamics for this purpose.

The FICV will replace the Indian Army's fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP-II) series armed vehicles, that are in operation since 1980.

According to the statement, Tata Motors will bring its design, development and integration of mobility platform strengths to the table while Bharat Forge will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths.

On its part General Dynamics will bring its expertise and system of systems integration.

According to the statement, FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle for infantry soldiers and will be compact, tracked and amphibious.

The vehicle will not weigh more than 18-20 tons and will be air-portable.

The firing range of the anti-tank missile will be beyond four kilometres and with capability to carry a three-member crew and eight combat-kitted infantrymen.
The shocking death of Kalabhavan Mani, often referred to as the "poor man's superstar", has left his fans in Thrissur shaken. Thousands of them waited for hours to get one last look at the actor, even as a special police team began a probe into what caused his death.

Mani passed away on Sunday night at a private hospital at Kochi and soon after his death, speculations surfaced that this was not a natural death as the hospital authorities reported presence of a chemical in his body. He was 45, and is survived by his wife and a daughter.

Mani's friends and colleagues from the film industry started making a beeline on Monday morning to have one last glimpse of the hugely talented actor, who died unexpectedly.

Top political leaders from across parties also paid their last respects to Mani.

The last rites will be conducted in Chalakudy at 5 p.m. and given the crowd that has gathered, the police are finding it tough to contain the mourners.

Passions were running so high that Innocent, the Chalakudy Lok Sabha member and president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, could not move in to pay his personal tributes to his partner of numerous films. People milled around to grab the opportunity to take one last look at Mani. In this melee, the dress of Innocent was torn.

Mani, who loved his tipple, was reportedly suffering from liver-related illness and doctors had advised him to exercise caution.

On Saturday, Mani was brought in a serious condition from his outhouse in his hometown Chalakudy near here. It was his favourite place to spend time with his friends.

Soon after the police registered a case of unnatural death late Sunday night, they sealed his outhouse and on Monday morning, a team of forensic experts and police dog team conducted a probe at the place where Mani was last present.

On Monday morning, a team of police surgeons conducted the autopsy at the state-run Medical College Hospital here and samples of his internal organs have been sent for tests to identify the chemical substance.

According to media reports, police have taken statements from five of his friends with whom he was last seen at his outhouse.

Despite Mani having a temperamental nature, he was a loved person at his home town Chalakudy as he never carried any airs about him. He was always proud of the way he made it to the top and was always seen mingling with everyone.

Rising from being an autorickshaw driver, Mani in an acting career of close to a quarter century went on to act in over 200 films, including those in Tamil and Telugu. He was known for his dancing style besides his trademark ballad singing.

Mani started donning the greasepaint in 1993, but his stock rose hugely with the film "Sallapam" in 1996 and after that, through his characteristic laugh and dialogue delivery style, he never looked back. Eventually, his star status grew to a level where he was often referred to as the "poor man's superstar".

A naturally gifted artiste, Mani proved his mettle in the film "Vasantiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njanum" where he played the title role of a blind man. This film took him to even greater heights and won him the special jury award at the national and the state level in 2000.
Thousands of people offered prayers at various temples across Punjab and Haryana on Monday to mark Maha Shivratri amid tight security arrangements.

In view of intelligence reports of the possibility of a terror strike on this festive occasion, tight security arrangements could be noticed around temples at various places.

Lord Shiva temples were specially decorated for the occasion as people began thronging these places since Sunday night.

At the Shiv Temple at Saketri in Haryana's Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, hundreds of devotees queued up to offer prayers.

"So many people have come here to offer prayers. Many of them have walked several kilometres to reach here. Along the way, we saw many groups walking and others singing devotional songs and dancing," Sonali Thakur, a devotee, said.

People thronged temples in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and other places in Punjab and in Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Panipat and Kurukshetra in Haryana.
Twenty years is a long time to carry through the dream of passing at least the Class 10 examination, especially when life is a struggle just to make two ends meet.

Not for Smriti Banik, 39, though.

This mother of two daughters does private tuitions and runs a tea stall to supplement her husband's meagre income as a vegetable seller. That's in addition to the household work.

She still has had the desire and the energy to prepare for this year's Madhyamik (Class 10th) examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education, which started on March 3.

Smriti is now sitting for the board exams along with her teenaged daughter Sagarika. Both are enrolled as examinees at Office Tilla Higher Secondary School in Bishalgarh, 30 km from here.

"When I was three years old, my father died. We were four sisters. My mother had to struggle through poverty to run our family," Smriti told IANS.

She said she had to discontinue her Class 10 studies when she got married in 1996 at the age of 19.

"Since then, I have always wanted to sit for the Madhyamik, but poverty came in the way."

Her husband Jiban Banik is a small vegetable trader, and barely earns enough.

"I tutor small children and run a tea stall," Smriti said with undisguised simplicity.

Thankfully, her husband, elder daughter Sagarika and even neighbours have been encouraging and helpful. They all helped her make up her mind to take this year's Madhyamik examination.

For many weeks before the examination, Smriti had to take at least 2-3 hours off her household chores and other work every day to study.

She and Sagarika would study together, sometimes through the night.

"Even though the syllabus has changed since I stopped my study 20 years ago, I have managed to prepare myself with the help of my daughter," she said.

Smriti said she would like to study beyond Class 10.

Becoming a college graduate -- even a post-graduate -- is her larger ambition.

Over 47000 students, including 23,464 girls, are sitting for this year's Madhyamik examination of the Tripura Board of Secondary .

Board president Mihir Deb said every year some elderly men and women, retired government employees and even jail inmates take the secondary and higher secondary examinations.

"These elderly men and women, retired government employees and jail inmates are not sitting for such examinations for getting government jobs but to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams," Deb told IANS.

Tripura's literacy rate increased to 96.82 percent last year from 87.75 percent recorded in the 2011 Census, he noted.

(Sujit Chakroborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said two Indian sailors have died and three injured due to a fire in a vessel in Yemen.

Sharing the tragic news on twitter, the minister also expressed her condolences to the bereaved families. "We have lost two Indian sailors Mahesh Kumar Rajagopal and Deepu Lathika Mohan due to fire in a vessel Al Sadaa. My condolences," she tweeted.

The minister said the injured have been admitted to a hospital in Salalah, Oman.

"The three injured have been admitted in a hospital in Salalah, Oman. Our missions in Djibouti and Oman are providing all assistance," she added.
Bureaucrats, politicians, academics, trade associations and the media are looking at start-ups today with the same fervour and hope with which they looked at the public sector in the 1960s, foreign direct investment in the 1990s, and liberalisation in the last decade: to provide the magic formula that will create jobs for young people and taxes for the government - and also speed up the GDP growth rate. Together with this, a realisation is growing: that a key to a vibrant start-up culture is "innovation", the processes by which firms master and put into practice product designs and manufacturing processes that are new to them - whether or not they are new to the universe, or even to the nation. The question on everyone's mind is this: What will create a plentiful supply in India of innovative, world-conquering start-ups? Are there any clues from history about what works?



Ironically, though the notion that start-ups are going to be the force of change and the fountainhead of economic growth and job creation is widely seen as the ultimate capitalist idea of our time, the man who first proposed the idea was the Austrian-born Marx-influenced theoretician Joseph Schumpeter. In his 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, he coined the phrase "creative destruction" to describe how entry by entrepreneurs supplied the disruptive force that sustained economic growth - even as it destroyed the value of established companies and jobs that had enjoyed market power derived from previous technological, organisational, regulatory, and economic paradigms.
Fifty-seven students and 14 teachers were booked in mass cheating incidents in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura and Agra last week. Pictures and videos showed friends and relatives of the students scaling walls and passing chits through windows at the examination centres. Students were caught blatantly copying from each other.
Many measures in the Union Budget for 2016-17 that put in place an elaborate package for agriculture and farmers' welfare are on the right lines. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seems to have missed the opportunity to also simultaneously roll out certain much-needed reforms in areas like agricultural credit, farm subsidies and technology transfer. The underlying theme of the agricultural package - to enhance farmers' income - is sensible, given the steady erosion of profitability of farming and the consequent widespread rural distress. The measures mooted for this purpose range from enhancing agriculture's resilience to drought to ensuring more efficient and transparent marketing of farm produce through electronic platforms. The government also proposes to improve the efficiency of input use, especially that of water and fertiliser, by encouraging their need-based application as guided by the soil health records. Besides, it seeks to enable farmers to hedge their risks through the new highly subsidised universal crop insurance scheme. More importantly, the Budget promises to strengthen the supplementary sources of farmers' income by encouraging livestock rearing and generating more employment in rural areas. In fact, the measures like encouraging investment in cold storage as well as in the food processing industry are also aimed indirectly at boosting farmers' income. So also is the move to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the retail trade of locally produced food products, though the effectiveness of this measure in the absence of foreign direct investment in retail is in doubt.
The government has extended an olive branch by waiving penalty and interest to multinationals like and Cairn for one-time settlement of tax disputes arising out of retrospective law, but one isn't sure if the companies will accept it.

Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia's assertion that the government can't do away with the retrospective law, which was brought in by the United Progressive Alliance government, speaks of its political implications. Undoing the law, though legally permissible, would mean foregoing demands running into thousands of crores of rupees in tax component alone. It would be a political hot potato uniting the Opposition to sharpen knives against the ruling dispensation for what would be perhaps rightly seen as the government's willingness to be arm-twisted by the handful of powerful multinationals on the pretext of creating an environment for facilitating foreign investments. Also, what is equally intriguing is the absence of any legal challenge to the law by the firms. has opted for international arbitration, whose jurisdiction in such matters is contested by tax authorities for valid reasons.

S K Choudhury Bengaluru

can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
China's latest five-year plan shows central planners are still clearly in the driving seat of the world's second-largest economy. The country's leaders have reiterated their pledge to lift GDP by at least 6.5 per cent a year until 2020. Though that's a lower growth rate than in the past, it is still too high. Unrealistic targets distort the economy by delaying rebalancing and boosting debt.

Chinese GDP data have long been viewed with suspicion. Even Premier Li Keqiang, who confirmed the targets at the start of China's annual parliament on March 5, told a US diplomat in 2007 that he paid more attention to indicators such as rail cargo and power consumption, according to cables released by Wikileaks.

However, the targets remain important because local leaders' promotion prospects depend on achieving them, regardless of whether their fiefdoms are home to smokestack industries or tech companies.

Take Heilongjiang, the northeastern industrial province that borders Russia. Official growth in the region was about 5.6 per cent in 2015, though some cities reported dramatically lower numbers. Economic output in Daqing, China's biggest oil-producing city, contracted by about a quarter.

Nevertheless, leaders in the province are aiming for growth of at least six per cent growth this year, while keeping urban unemployment below 4.5 per cent. Indeed, Li said that if China's overall growth rate dipped below the target of 6.5 to seven per cent in 2016 then GDP would have to expand more quickly in future so that the country could realise its ambition of doubling economic output in the decade to 2020. Those goals seem incompatible with sacking millions of workers in the coal or steel industries and clearing smog.

Long-term targets also ignore the risk of external shocks. Global growth is slowing, the European Union is grappling with a migration crisis and the United States could elect a protectionist president. But only nodded to these threats by not giving an explicit target for foreign trade.

Faced with a choice of accepting the possibility of lower growth or boosting debt, bureaucrats have opted for the latter. That means delaying the pain of meaningful restructuring for another five years.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday termed JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar's speech, delivered following his release on bail, a victory for us, saying he had gone to jail for raising anti-India slogans but came back to speak amid slogans of Jai Hind and hoisting of the tricolour.

The senior BJP leader also launched a stinging attack on Rahul Gandhi for voicing sympathies for those who raised slogans for breaking up India and said it was the Congress vice-presidents ideological hollowness that he did something that likes of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi never did.

In his valedictory address to a convention of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, BJPs youth wing, Jaitley said it was the countrys misfortune that the Congress vice-president sympathised with the actions of a small group of Jihadists and a bigger group of Maoists.



Congress had always been against those wanting to break the country through the last 100 years of struggle between nationalist and anti-national forces, Jaitley said as he attacked Rahul.

A new trend has started. Some people want to hold an event to commemorate Yakub Memon and some to commemorate Afzal Guru. These people used to comprise a small section of jihadists and a big group of Maoists. Slogans were raised for breaking up the country and it was the countrys misfortune that a Congress leader, who has been in the mainstream so far, went there to express sympathies with those who did so. It was ideological hollowness, he remarked.

BJP fulfilled its national responsibility and emerged victorious, he said, referring to Kanhaiya's speech without naming the JNU Student Union President.

While the Left has had a historical tradition of speaking against the national interest, Congress was always against the conspiracy to break the country except for Emergency when it was supported by CPI, Jaitley said.

The JNU row and the opposition attack on the Modi government and BJP was at the centre of the two-day BJYM conclave with party chief Amit Shah, chief ministers attacking Congress, especially Rahul.

Maintaining that a change was happening across the country, Jaitley said the Modi government was voted to fulfil three responsibilities-- to rid the country of dynasty, corruption and hunger and poverty.

Noting that "dysnastic parties" suffered a big defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha poll during which Congress leaders hardly made any reference to corruption, he spoke about a number of schemes, including Jan Dhan Yojana and insurance schemes for life, health and crop, to underline the government's work to help the poor.

Jaitley defended the party's aggressive stand on JNU row, and asked BJP workers to take the "ideological battle forward" while talking about the government's achievements with pride. "We will definitely win," he said.

For the last 100 years, Jaitley said, nationalist forces and communists have clashed and the latter believed in using violence to break up the country when it became independent.

Addressing the gathering, BJYM president and MP Anurag Thakur said the Morcha members will spread across the country carrying the national flag to spread the message of nationalism.
At least 12 people have been killed when a gas outburst occurred at a coal mine in northeast China's Jilin Province, state media reported today.

The accident took place in Baishan city's Songshu Mine yesterday when over 700 miners were underground.

Nearly 692 miners managed to escape but 13 got trapped and 12 of whom later died. One person was injured who was rushed to a nearby hospital where his condition was said to be stable, rescuers said.

A total of 316 rescuers, aided with 46 medical workers, carried out the rescue operation which ended this morning, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Songshu Mine is owned by Tonghua Mining Industry Company Limited.
18 people were killed in a single accident in a week-end of deadly crashes in northern Nigeria that also saw a junior minister and his family killed, officials said today.

A commuter bus went up in flames after a head-on collision with a truck late yesterday at Buzaye village near the city of Bauchi, said Federal Road Safety Corps spokesman Rilwanu Suleiman.

"All the 17 passengers and the driver were burnt to death in the fire," he told AFP.

The bus was returning from Nigeria's capital Abuja while the truck was heading towards the central city of Jos.

Hours earlier Nigeria's junior labour minister James Ocholi died in a crash with his wife and son while returning to Abuja.

Ocholi's car somersaulted several times after a rear tyre burst, according to several local media reports.

"The entire country mourns the loss of this great man, who has sadly left us when we need him most," President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement late yesterday.

Accidents are common on Nigeria's bad roads due largely to speeding, reckless driving, poorly maintained vehicles and potholed, often unlit roads.
A man who police say fatally shot one person and wounded two others inside a western Sydney business was found dead inside the building after a six-hour standoff today.

Heavily armed police moved into the sign-making business after spending hours positioned around the factory in an industrial area of Ingleburn, a suburb 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Sydney.

Once inside, they found a 33-year-old man dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, said New South Wales police Detective Inspector Mark Brett.

Police also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Brett said. It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the shooter or had been hiding the whole time while they waited for the standoff to end.

Police were called to the business after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found three men suffering gunshot wounds. One 43-year-old man died at the scene, and two others were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Brett said. He would not say how long the suspected shooter had been dead, or say whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the standoff.

Brett declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a "long-arm weapon."



One of the shooting victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body, Brett said.

The standoff brought the suburb of Ingleburn to a standstill throughout the day. Staffers at nearby businesses were told to stay inside and roads were blocked off in the area.
Two youths today drowned in the in Krishna river when they had gone to take a holy bath at Patayedlalunka village in Krishna district, police said.

A group of five youths went to take a holy dip in the river Krishna on the occasion of 'Maha Shivrati', Avanigadda Sub-Inspector DV Kumar said.

While P. Ramana (18) and N Manojkumar (13) drowned, the other three were saved by locals, he said.

Their bodies were recovered and have been sent for post mortem. A case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigations are underway, the officer said.
Heavy fighting for an army barracks in a Tunisian town near the Libyan border killed three civilians, three security personnel and 13 militants, medics and the defence ministry said.

A 12-year-old was among the civilians killed in Ben Guerdane, hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud told AFP, adding that two security agents were also among the dead.

The defence ministry said that 13 militants and a soldier were killed as troops thwarted the attack on the barracks.

Six militants were also wounded and detained, defence ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula told AFP.
Three Iraqi fighters died today trying to defuse bombs left behind by the jihadists in Ramadi, as the toll taken by the huge mine-clearing effort there continued to rise.

The victims were three local tribal fighters killed by the explosion of improvised devices they were attempting to defuse, Anbar province governor Sohaib al-Rawi said.

He said the danger posed by unexploded bombs and booby-traps remained an obstacle to the return of Ramadi's residents.

The local government "understands the pressing need for IDPs (internally displaced persons) to return home, but we will not allow a chaotic return resulting in more casualties," he said on social media.

"We have lost more than 35 members of the security forces and sons of the tribes (tribal fighters) this year," Hamid al-Dulaimi told AFP.

"As of yesterday, we had a toll of 15 deaths in our ranks alone," said Omar Khamis al-Dulaimi, a senior leader in the tribal fighters working alongside federal forces.

Ramadi was declared liberated when Iraqi forces wrested the main government compound back from the Islamic State group late last year, but the city was completely retaken only last month.

Laying thousands of bombs and booby-trapping buildings was the backbone of IS's defence of the city last year.

Explosive ordnance disposal training has been a main focus for the US-led coalition.

"The destruction is enormous, people are still being killed by IEDs and mines that have been left by Daesh (IS)," the US envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurk, said on Saturday during a visit to Baghdad.

"We're very focused now on the counter-IED (improvised explosive device) mission," he said.

The officials in Anbar could not provide a figure for civilians killed by unexploded bombs in Ramadi over the past few weeks.

The city was virtually emptied of its population by the time the fighting culminated, and very few civilians have been able to return because of the lack of basic services and the risk of unexploded bombs.
The 87 Indians, mostly fishermen who were freed yesterday, will return tomorrow after the issuance of travel documents by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Earlier, an official of the Pakistan Rangers had told reporters that it has handed over the 87 Indian nationals who were released from a Karachi jail after over two years detention.

However, Indian officials in New Delhi said the intimation about their release was given at a very short notice and though it was a case of "verified nationality" they need to be given documents to cross over to India.

Meanwhile, the Rangers also maintained that since the official who was to "debrief and record their (Indians) statements" was not present at the Wagah Border, the handing over will happen tomorrow.

Pakistan's leading charity Edhi Foundation spokesman Younis Bhatti told PTI that it has been asked to provide food to the Indian nationals.

"We are told that the Indian nationals could not cross the border because the official concerned was not present at Wagah to debrief and record their statements," he said.

The Indian nationals were freed from the Landhi Jail in Karachi yesterday. They arrived in Lahore by a train this morning.

"After releasing 87 Indians, we now have a total of 457 more (Indians) in the prison, and most of them are fishermen arrested for territorial violation," Jail's deputy superintendent Shakir Shah said.
The Afghan government still hopes to hold peace talks with the Taliban despite a recent statement from the insurgents saying they refuse to take part in the process, an official said today.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai called the Taliban's rejection a "tactical" move and said Kabul would continue its peace efforts.

"We are very much hopeful to reach a result in the peace process," said Karzai during a joint press conference with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond in Kabul.

He added that the Afghan government had already formed a delegation for future peace talks.

The Taliban issued a statement on Saturday saying they would not participate in a peace process with the government until foreign forces stop attacking their positions and leave the country.

It said they "reject" peace talks and that reports of their participation were "rumors."



Hammond said that United Kingdom supports the Afghan peace process and would provide USD 1.4 million toward preparations. Face-to-face talks were expected to take place in Pakistan in early March, but Afghan officials said in recent days that they have been postponed for at least a week.

Senior government officials had characterized the meeting as the first real step in a peace process aimed at ending the war, now in its 15th year.

The talks were decided on by delegates of four countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States - who met in Kabul last month. No date was set, and no names of participants were announced.

The last attempt at direct talks broke down last summer after just one round when Kabul announced the death of longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
National carrier today said it flew the "world's longest" all-women operated and supported flight from the national capital to San Francisco.

The flight, which travelled a distance of around 14,500 kilometre in close to 17 hours, was operated as part of International Women's Day celebrations.

The non-stop Delhi-San Francisco flight took off from here on March 6.

"This year for the first time, on the world's longest non-stop flight, entire flight operations from cockpit crew to cabin crew, check-in staff, doctor, customer care staff, ATC (air traffic control) and the entire ground-handling were handled by women," said in a release.

CMD Ashwani Lohani said it was a historic flight and "the longest operated by all-women crew". "The airline has immense respect for women and it is a symbol of women empowerment," he added.

The flight was under the command of Kshamta Bajpayee and Shubhangi Singh, along with First Officers Ramya Kirti Gupta and Amrit Namdhari.

The carrier has about 3,800 women employees, including pilots, cabin crew, engineers, technicians, doctors, security personnel and executives.
Arab parties in Israel's parliament have condemned the recent designation of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group as a terrorist organization by several Gulf Arab states.

Two parties from the Joint List, an alliance of Arab-backed parties, today criticized the move by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by asking how they would respond when Hezbollah fires rockets at their communities.

Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at Israel in 2006, when the country fought a war with the militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah's chief recently threatened to strike a chemical facility in Israel.

The Arab parties drew anger last month after meeting relatives of Palestinians who killed Israeli civilians. Israel's Arab minority enjoys full citizen rights but often face discrimination in areas like unemployment.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not be attending the cultural festival being organised by the later this week, in the wake of controversy over holding the three-day function on the Yamuna flood plains. According to the Art of Living founded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, President Mukherjee had agreed to give the valedictory speech at the World Culture Festival, which will begin on March 11.

While the organisers of the function expect lakhs of people to attend, concerns have been raised by experts about the damage to the environment that may be caused as the three-day event was being held on flood plains of the river in east Delhi. The Green Tribunal is hearing a petition which has claimed that the organisers will release 'enzymes' into 17 drains that flow into Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgement is expected tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Indian Army, which has built a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna for the festival, is likely to build one more to ease movement of those expected to attend the controversy-ridden mega event. The development came even as there was criticism from some quarters, including the social media, about using Army to build the floating bridge for such an event. "Lakhs of people are expected to turn up. There is a question of law and order and also fears of stampede. Permission has been granted by concerned authorities to host the event.

If a permission has been given, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is run smoothly," highly placed defence soures said. They said the organisers had approached the Defence Ministry seeking six such bridges but the Army was asked to erect only one. A second bridge has been erected by the PWD. "The Delhi Police has now given a report saying that there are fears of stampede and hence the Army might build another bridge," sources said, adding that a Minister from the Delhi government has also written to the Ministry highlighting the need for such bridges. Sources said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the Defence Secretary to look into the issue. During his interaction with the Army, the force wondered whether their personnel should be used to help a "private event". "The Minister was of the view that since permission has been granted, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything was fine. The Army, which has the expertise, was asked to step in keeping the larger good of people in mind," sources said. They added that the Army has been used during Kumbh Mela and even the Commonwealth Games. Told that the event has come under the scanner of the Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, sources said the Army is only helping people and it is up to the concerned authorities to grant permission or withdraw it.
Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale has sought financial assistance for those who marry outside their caste from the Maharashtra government.

"The government should provide financial aid of Rs 4-5 lakh for inter-caste marriages. This will help to end the caste-related disputes. I am myself married to a girl belonging to Brahmin community," the Dalit leader told reporters here yesterday.

Meanwhile, Athawale also expressed concern over the India-Pakistan relations, against the backdrop of the attack on Pathankot air base.

"Pakistan has engaged in direct and indirect war with India on several occasions, which includes attack on Parliament, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and attack on air base in Pathankot recently.

"On one side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan. Modi also invited Sharif for his swearing-in. Time and again, he wants friendship with Pakistan, but despite this they have engaged in direct or indirect war," he added.
US Vice President Joe Biden ruled out a military solution to end Syria's conflict in remarks published today, calling for a political transition despite the difficulty.

"That should be clear to everyone," Biden told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National at the start of a visit to the United Arab Emirates ahead of travelling to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

"So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement," he said.

Saudi Arabia, which backs the Syrian opposition, and ally the UAE have said they are willing to send ground troops to Syria under US command to battle the jihadist Islamic State group.

Biden's comments come as President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its opponents are to this week resume UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva as a fragile ceasefire holds in Syria.

The talks are aimed at ending the five-year Syria war that has killed more than 270,000 people, displaced millions and devastated the country.

The fate of Assad, who is refusing to step down, has been one of the main sticking points in the talks.

"A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild their country. To create a credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian system, a new constitution and free and fair elections," Biden said.

Biden said the truce that went into effect in Syria on February 27 "seems to be holding" but was "not perfect".

He noted however that "levels of violence have dropped significantly across the country" and said this opened the way for the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Biden also praised US relations with the UAE and its partners in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

He acknowledged the "challenges" posed by the historic nuclear deal struck last year between Iran and world powers and the concerns it raised in GCC countries who are wary of Tehran.

"That's why we worked so hard to achieve a nuclear agreement with Iran, because as dangerous as Iran's actions are, they would be exponentially greater if Iran possessed a nuclear weapon."



He said steps were being taken to bolster the security of the GCC monarchies to be able to "deal with Iran diplomatically from a position of strength".

Biden was to hold talks later today with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and on tomorrow with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
US Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a Middle East tour today, vowing that the United States and its allies would "squeeze the heart" and destroy the Islamic State group.

Biden spoke before several hundred US airmen as drones rolled the down the runway at the Al-Dhafra Air Base, a major desert outpost near the United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi.

The Emirates is one of the most important US military and political allies in the Persian Gulf. It is also a major commercial hub that includes the business-friendly port city of Dubai.

"We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world," Biden said, using an Arabic acronym for IS, a militant group he dismissed as "criminals and cowards."



The base hosts American and other aircraft taking part in operations against the IS group in Iraq and Syria, a point Biden noted as he rallied the assembled troops.

"You control the skies over Iraq and Syria and as a matter of fact, you control the skies over the whole damn world," Biden said, drawing cheers.

The Emirates is the first stop on a regional tour that will also take in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His wife, Jill, is accompanying him.

The trip will include talks on US economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said.

Earlier in the day, Biden visited Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, pausing outside to remove his black dress shoes in keeping with Islamic custom.

He examined a wall in the ornate mosque bearing the 99 names of God written in Arabic before stepping outside to wave at visiting tourists kept a short distance away. Accompanying Biden on the mosque tour was its director-general, Yousif Abdallah Alobaidli, and Minister of State Reem al-Hashimi.

Biden later visited Masdar City, a government-backed clean energy campus on the capital's outskirts, taking a few moments to talk to Shefaa Mansour, a student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studying at the affiliated Masdar Institute.

He later looked at a model of a desalination plant, something crucial to the Emirates, which experts warn may run out of groundwater in the next 15 years.

Emirati Minister of State Sultan al-Jaber handed him a bottle of water made at the plant. The vice president looked at it, then smiled.

"Now make sure I'm still standing," he said. "Watch what happens when I take the first sip. I'm more energized." Biden then paused for a moment and added: "Do you need a partner? I'm out of a job soon."



The seven-state Emirates federation, which includes the Gulf commercial center of Dubai, is one of the largest oil producers in OPEC.
Nasscom Foundation today said it has received a grant of USD 4.78 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to strengthen public libraries in India with access to technology, training and advocacy.

Nasscom Foundation has launched Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM), a multi-stakeholder effort to revitalise and transform public libraries into inclusive knowledge and information centres.

Indian public libraries can make benefits of technology accessible to millions of Indians who do not currently have access to computers and the Internet, Nasscom Foundation said in a statement.

These can also provide training on using technology to access information that improves lives, it added.

"The Indian Public Library Movement will draw strength from the presence of a strong public library network in India, the committed leadership demonstrated by partners, and the ongoing support for public access to technology through the Government's Digital India initiative," Nasscom Foundation Chairman Ganesh Natarajan said.

IPLM will start by reaching out to a million library users at 300 district-level libraries and provide them with community driven services like computer training classes, access to online information about agriculture and health, a safe place for students to study and learning opportunities for people of all ages.

"The BMGF provided support for a pilot project for modernisation of 7 government public libraries in Uttar Pradesh.

"Based on the positive outcomes of the pilot project, the state government will now participate in the Scale Up Program, to be implemented by IPLM/ NASSCOM Foundation," Shantwana Tiwari, Officer on Special Duty, Department of Secondary Education (UP) said.

She added that 16 government public libraries of the state will be covered under the Scale Up programme, including seven libraries covered under pilot phase.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress today blamed BJP and PDP for the ongoing political uncertainty in the state and accused them of "hoodwinking" the people.

"BJP and PDP are responsible for the present political crisis and chaos in the state... Only Congress represents aspirations of the people and this is the party which can ensure justice to the people of all the three regions of the state," Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmed Mir told a rally in Khour area of Jammu.

Referring to the stalemate over government formation in the state, Mir accused PDP and BJP of misleading people in the name of agenda of alliance.

"People are being treated as slaves by both the parties and the present political drama staged by them is another attempt to hoodwink the people like they did in the assembly elections," Mir said.
Accusing the government at the Centre of restricting public's fundamental rights, Assam Chief Minister today said the party is trying to impose a single ideology on the country.

"There has been varied ideologies prevalent in the country since long. But the BJP's agenda, at the behest of the RSS, is to impose a single ideology which is not possible in a diverse country like India," Gogoi told reporters here.

"The has attacked the Constitution by restricting freedom of speech and expression guaranteed to us by the fundamental rights and this cannot be tolerated," he said.

Expressing his views on JNU Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar's recent speech, Gogoi said Kumar has rightfully pointed out that they want freedom guaranteed under the Constitution but the Centre has slapped sedition charges against him.

" vice-president supported it and sedition charges were pressed against him. I, too, support the demand for freedom," Gogoi said.

I am not agreeing to Kanhaiya's every point but he has a right to freedom of speech and expression and nobody can take that away, the Chief Minister said.

People did not accept the restrictions on freedom of speech and expression during the Emergency and rejected the government then, though several positive developments took place in the country, Gogoi said.

The government's attitude of "we are funding their education, so the students cannot criticise us, is absolutely wrong and unacceptable", he said.

He said if any unlawful activities have been committed the law should be allowed to take its own course, he said.

There are many banned militant outfits in Assam like ULFA, NDFB, DHD, KPLT and if somebody supports them, that does not mean that they will be put behind the bars, Gogoi said.

"If we had done that, entire Assam would have become a jail. The militants and their supporters are our brothers and sisters, it is our duty to bring them to the mainstream and I have been largely successful in doing it," Gogoi said.

The AGP government had brought sedition charges against journalists and people came out in large numbers to protest against this move and ultimately AGP was not successful in gagging the media, Gogoi said.
Looking for allies in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, the BJP today said it was making efforts to bring together all partners with whom it had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"We are trying to bring all parties with whom we had contested Lok Sabha polls together in Tamil Nadu," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state, said.

Reports had it earlier that leaders of the actor Vijayakanth-led DMDK were meeting Javadekar here today which did not materialise.

The BJP high command is worried over the possibility of DMDK going with the DMK-led alliance in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly election.

Vijayakanth, who was with the NDA during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is hinting that he may finally go back to the DMK-led alliance to take on the ruling of AIADMK of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP projected Modi's leadership and built a formidable non-DMK, non-AIADMK alliance that included DMDK of Vijayakanth, Vaiko, the PMK and assorted caste-centric outfits. The NDA bagged over 18 per cent of the voteshare and two of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Congress has already joined the DMK-led alliance.

On the other hand rebel leader GK Vasan is likely to join the AIADMK-led alliance. Most of the smaller parties are likely to go with the DMK-led alliance.

In the 2011 Assembly elections, DMDK had won 28 seats and Vijayakanth became leader of the opposition party. But recently some of his MLA have defected to the AIADMK.
At least 14 people were killed and 26 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded court in Pakistan's restive northwest, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer's Islamist assassin.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the district court's compound in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 14 people, including two policemen, were killed while 26 others were wounded in the attack, District Police Officer Sohail Khalid said.

The Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was carried out to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, killer of Taseer.

Qadri was hanged last Tuesday at a Rawalpindi jail after his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Security and emergency teams reached the blast site and sealed the area. A probe was immediately launched into the assault.

Shabqadar tehsil is close to Mohmand tribal region, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants were said to have carved out strongholds.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres west of Charsadda, where militants attacked a university on January 20 in an attack that left 21 people, mostly students, dead.

At the time of the explosion, the courts were crowded after a break over the weekend.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body.

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.

Qadri's execution triggered protests by thousands of Islamists who called it a "black day".

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.
At least 17 people were killed and 30 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded court in Pakistan's restive northwest, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer's Islamist assassin.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the district court's compound in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 17 people, including two policemen, were killed while 30 others were wounded in the attack, offcials said.

The Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was carried out to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, killer of Taseer.

Qadri was hanged last Tuesday at a Rawalpindi jail after his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Security and emergency teams reached the blast site and sealed the area. A probe was immediately launched into the assault, Dawn reported.

Shabqadar tehsil is close to Mohmand tribal region, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants were said to have carved out strongholds.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres west of Charsadda, where militants attacked a university on January 20 in an attack that left 21 people, mostly students, dead.

At the time of the explosion, the courts were crowded after a break over the weekend.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body.

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.

Qadri's execution triggered protests by thousands of Islamists who called it a "black day".

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.
Jewellery portal BlueStone aims to quadruple its revenues to Rs 1,000 crore by 2018 as online buying in the ornaments category picks up pace in the country and the firm expands its international presence.

"People today are much more comfortable buying jewellery online. Transactions on our platform have been growing steadily and we are seeing about 5,500-7,000 orders per month. Our annualised run rate in FY2015-16 stood at Rs 250 crore," BlueStone.Com Chief Operating Officer Arvind Singhal told PTI.

The aim is to cross the Rs 1,000 crore milestone by 2018, he added.

Singhal said the Ratan Tata-backed company has introduced many services, including home try-on, to help ease customer concerns around online jewellery buying, which is a high-ticket item. Bluestone's platform features over 4,000 handcrafted designs.

The average ticket size ranges between Rs 22,000-24,000 and its biggest single order has been for Rs 8 lakh.

Interestingly, the company gets about 70 per cent of its traffic from mobile devices.

"Mobile contributes for about 40-45 per cent of the revenues and this is expected to grow to 65-70 per cent of the business in two years," he said.

Bluestone, which raised Rs 100 crore funding in July last year, has investors like Accel Partners, IVY Capital, Dragoneer, Kalaari Capital and Saama Capital.

The company is also betting big on international markets.

"We deliver to 20,000 pin codes along with four international destinations - the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. International business contributes about 5 per cent of our revenues and is growing," he said.

Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai contribute to about 60 per cent of the company's business currently.

The jewellery market, which is primarily offline in India, is currently valued at USD 60 billion and is expected to touch USD 100-110 billion in next four to five years.

Online transactions are expected to reach 1-2 per cent of this market by the same time.
Bolivia signed a $300 million deal with Russia to build a world-class in the South American nation, President Evo Morales announced.

"Now we are able to deliver major cooperative projects in this case with Russia as well as with China and Europe sometimes," the president said at a ceremony signing documents for the deal yesterday.

"How nice that some partners come here with investment and cooperation not just aggression and provocation," Morales said in an apparent jab at the Unites States, which he often accuses of undermining efforts of his leftist government.

Work on the Russian technology plant in El Alto, next to the capital, is expected to take four years.

It is due to include components on medical research, food safety and nuclear research "with non-violent ends."



A new state agency will be in charge of the lab project.

Last month, a massive referendum defeat was Morales's first direct election loss since taking office a decade ago.

It means he will have to step down at the end of his current mandate, in 2020.

Morales, 56, is already Bolivia's longest-serving leader since independence from Spain in 1825.
Following a "directive" from the Centre, the CBSE has asked all its schools to prepare a 'mission statement', containing goals to be achieved by the institutions which should be prominently placed on their websites and also in official publications before the first week of June this year.

In a circular, the Central Board of Secondary Education said that a directive by the "Government of India" requires that all schools may frame a Mission Statement, containing the goals to be achieved by their institutions, while the nation approaches the 75th year after Independence in 2022.

"School Heads may also ensure that their school's Mission Statement prepared and prominently posted on the homepage of the schools' website and reflected in all official publications on or before the first week of June 2016," the CBSE circular said.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, the CBSE circular said that when schools are building and working to sustain their image, one of the most important considerations is their mission.

"A well thought out and well drafted Mission Statement provides them the focus, direction and motivation to achieve excellence through their curriculum. It also represents their values, and thereby, influences the work culture for students, teachers and stakeholders," it added.

The CBSE also issued guidelines, which suggested what a mission statement, which has to be formed by schools after discussions with students, teachers and parents, could be like.

"No more chalk and talk method. Every class in the school will have a class library and other learning resources for hands-on experiences in the next three years, and by 2022, the school will ensure improved learning levels of the students in all the classes in all subjects," said an exemplar Mission statement put forth by the CBSE.

It said that the "school will improve school attendance and performance by 20 per cent (from the present), every year, in the next 5 years, by taking initiatives to celebrate reading week, arithmetic or mathematics or science week, promoting peer learning by forming reading clubs and also promoting team teaching.

The CBSE guidelines put forth some other examples of what



a mission statement can be.

"By 2022, the school will achieve plantation of 2000 trees in the area where it is located creating environmental awareness among students and sensitizing the community members," said one example.

Another said that "The school will achieve 100 per cent literacy in the nearby community, utilizing school resources by 2022, creating a literacy team, theatre and advocacy groups in the school with teachers, students, school alumni and school management committee members."



Among other examples, one talked of creating a mechanism to provide training to all children from class VIII onwards in a skill area which has utility in the local community while another one mentioned that in the next 3 years, the school will prepare the health profile of every child.
The Centre has lauded Chhattisgarh government for undertaking e-auction of limestone blocks in the state.

Union Steel and Coal Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has congratulated Chief Minister Raman Singh for successfully undertaking e-auction of limestone blocks, official sources said today.

The last month's auction of limestone blocks in Karhi Chandi, Baloda Bazaar-Bhatapara district, was first such sale in the State under the Centre's Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, they said.

In a letter to Raman, who also holds the Mine portfolio, Tomar said Chhattisgarh has become a leading state in auctioning limestone blocks under the Act.

Following this public sale, the State will get Rs 413.30 crore in royalty, while a sum of Rs 313.80 crore will go to the National Mineral Exploration Trust, he said.

Tomar has offered all possible help from his Ministry to the State Government for future auctions, the sources added.

The Karhi Chandi blocks were auctioned at 58.95 per cent higher than the base price set by the Indian Bureau of Mining (IBM price), they said.
The Centre has approved a proposal of granting over Rs 27 crore for the Integrated Child Protection Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir.

"A proposal worth Rs 27.92 crore for funding Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) has been accepted by Project Approval Board (PAB) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India," an official spokesman said.

He said that the PAB has also agreed to release a non-recurring grant of Rs 3 crore for financial year 2015-16 for the scheme.

"At the request of the state government, the central government has also approved the establishment of homes for children with special needs in Srinagar and Jammu. It has also agreed to consider upgrading the existing Bal Ashrams and children homes managed by the state in different districts and bringing them at par with ICPS norms in terms of staff and infrastructure," the spokesman said.

Governor N N Vohra, through a personal letter, had requested Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, for release of the grant due in 2015-16 for implementation of ICPS and to also accord approval for establishing two new homes for children with special needs in the state.

The spokesman noted that the implementation of ICPS in the state will bring a transformative shift in addressing the unmet requirements of children who are in need of care and protection and also those in conflict with the law.

He said that consequent to the central government's sanction, the Governor has ordered that time-bound action be taken on all fronts, particularly for setting up homes for children with special needs, both in Srinagar and Jammu, and progress reports sent to him every month beginning March 15.
Chinese telecommunications equipment giant ZTE said today that it is facing US government restrictions, after a media report that the company allegedly violated US export controls on Iran.

In statements to the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges, ZTE said trading in its shares had been halted at its request over the "United States Commerce Department's proposal to implement export restrictions on the company" but gave no further details.

ZTE is China's second-biggest telecom equipment maker.

agency Reuters reported that the restrictions mean ZTE's suppliers must apply for an export licence before shipping any US-made equipment or parts to the Chinese company.

The report, which quoted documents and a senior official at the US Commerce Department, said the measures will take effect on Tuesday.

Asked about the issue, China's foreign ministry on Monday criticised US government actions against the country's companies.

"China is always opposed to US sanctions on Chinese enterprises citing domestic laws," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing.

"We hope that the US side can stop such erroneous practices so as to avoid further damage to Sino-US economic cooperation and bilateral relations."



Washington in January eased several restrictions on doing business with Iran, following an international agreement over the country's nuclear programme.

But sanctions tied to accusations that Tehran supports terrorism remain in effect, still largely blocking US companies from business with Iran.

China's Global Times newspaper on Monday quoted a ZTE statement as saying: "ZTE closely complies with international industry rules as well as the laws of foreign countries."



Founded in 1985, ZTE offers both telecom equipment and services with customers in more than 160 countries, according to its website.

In January, Norway's public pension fund said it had divested from ZTE because of corruption fears, according to the country's central bank, which manages the fund.

An ethics council that advises the bank said ZTE was facing corruption allegations in 18 countries and the group was or had been under investigation in 10 of them.

ZTE shares fell 1.44 percent in Shenzhen and jumped 3.51 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday, the last session they traded.
The relatives of a dozen Chinese passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 began filing suits against the company at a Beijing court today, just a day before a legal deadline to do so.

Packed into a small office at the Beijing Rail Transportation Court, which has been designated to handle MH370 cases, they held manilla folders with litigation papers in their hands.

Several wiped away quiet tears, turning to borrow tissues from neighbours, before depositing their documents with court officials.

The flight, with 239 people -- including 153 Chinese citizens -- on board, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, and authorities said it went down in the southern Indian Ocean.

Under international agreements, families have two years to sue over air accidents.

But many Chinese families still believe their relatives are alive and were "deeply conflicted" over the decision to go to court, said lawyer Zhang Qihuai, whose Lanpeng firm represents the group who were filing suit on Monday.

"They think that after you've accepted compensation, the company can deny any further responsibility and wash its hands of the incident, and that the public will naturally forget about the whole thing," he explained.

The compensation requested ranged from around five to eight million yuan (USD 755,000 to USD 1.23 million) per victim, he said, depending on their age and earnings.

"Originally, many didn't intend to sue, and instead wanting to continue waiting. But there's a time limit, so they have no other choice -- losing the right to sue would be terribly painful."



Several US, Malaysian, Australian and Chinese law firms have told AFP that they have begun filing suit on behalf of relatives, seeking undisclosed damages.
A former bank chief, his son and mistress accused of obtaining over USD92 millionthrough embezzlement andbribeswent on trial today in China's northern Inner Mongolia region.

Yang Chenglin, former chair of the Bank of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is being tried along with son Yang Hai and his mistress Zhang Ting in the Intermediate People's Court in Inner Mongolia's Baotou City.

Prosecutors said Yang began soliciting bribes in 1999, while chairing the Hohhot Commercial Bank, which became the Bank of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2003.

He is alleged to have used the bribes to buy apartments in Beijing and Inner Mongolia for Zhang and real estate in the United States for his son.

He also used public funds to make business tours overseas and purchase expensive gifts such as ivory ornaments, state-run Xinhua agency quoted the court as saying.

The bribes taken directly by Yang or through his son and mistress are alleged to total 307 million yuan. He is also accused of embezzling nearly 300 million yuan. Yang Chenglin was detained in 2014.

Before the trial, he confessed to having taken 78 million yuan from six companies.

Yang Hai said his father accepted 49 million yuan in bribes from other companies. The confessions may lead to lenient punishments for the pair, the report said.

Thousands of officials were punished in the anti-corruption campaign initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping since he took over power in 2013.
Four more youths have been arrested in connection with the alleged vandalisation of a church on the city outskirts, taking the total number of those taken into custody so far to nine, police said today.

"In all, nine persons have so far been taken into custody in connection with the alleged vandalisation of the prayer hall located at Kachna village on the outskirts of the state capital," Inspector General of Police, Raipur Range, G P Singh told PTI here today.

Out of the nine held, six are minors, he said.

Singh said interrogation of the nine youths was on and information was also being sought about the group to which they belong.

The miscreants fled the spot when the police arrived there. However, motorcycles of two youths were left behind at the premises, based on which the nine were arrested.

As per information received so far, the villagers in Kachna area had complained to the administration that some people had set up a prayer hall by encroaching upon a land in the village. Police is enquiring with the villagers taking this also into account, the IG said.

A group of about 15-20 youths allegedly sporting saffron bands on their forehead yesterday barged into the church while prayers were underway and vandalised the premises and thrashed those present.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh condemned the incident and said that police was conducting a probe into it.

He said that strict action would be taken against the guilty and the offenders will not be spared.

The president of Chhattisgarh's Christian Forum, Arun Pannalal, had yesterday alleged that the slogan-shouting attackers belonged to Bajrang Dal and that women and an infant were also not spared while the police in the state capital remained tight-lipped on their identity.

They damaged chairs, fans and other articles in the premises and even beat up the people present, he said.

Pannalal said yesterday's incident was the fourth attack on a Christian place of worship in the past one month in the state.
The United Nations' lead official on climate change says the next leader should be a woman, but she has no plans to seek the job.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, says a female candidate should succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he finishes his second term this year.

But when asked whether she could be that woman, the 59-year-old Costa Rican diplomat told The Associated Press on Monday that it was "not within my plans."

Figueres' role in shaping last year's long-awaited Paris Agreement to fight climate change has raised her profile.

Four men and three other women so far have been nominated for the post. Although the nomination system observes no fixed rule, many diplomats take the view that it's Eastern Europe's turn to receive the top post under an informal rotation system. Six of the existing candidates are from Eastern Europe.

Figueres says she hasn't decided what to do after she leaves her job in July after six years in charge.

The Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank, listed Figueres among its "women to watch" in the race for secretary-general, while Vogue magazine called her "one of the most promising" potential candidates.

Jean Krasno, a City College of New York professor who oversees a campaign to elect a woman as the next UN leader, described Figueres as "exactly the kind of secretary-general that we need, (someone) who can broker global agreements".

Figueres said it's "about time" that a woman gets the job. "And I have no doubt that there will be strong candidates to compete for that responsibility," she said in a telephone interview from her office in Bonn, Germany.

She took the helm of UN climate change policy in 2010 at a low point following an acrimonious summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, that failed to produce an envisioned landmark agreement to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.

"I very quickly realised that the tone had to change," Figueres said.

Citing her motto of "Impossible is not a fact, it's an attitude," she set out to persuade government, business and civic leaders to keep their faith that diplomacy could rein in climate-changing pollution.

Chances for a deal improved in November 2014 when the world's top greenhouse gas polluters, China and the United States, jointly announced efforts to control their emissions.
City-based start-up e-commerce portal - Clipbyte.Com today said it is looking at raising around USD 2 million to fund its business needs.

"We are exploring equity infusion at regular intervals as e-commerce business needs a quantum and consistent flow of funds. We are in the process of raising close to USD 2 million," Clipbyte Chief Executive Officer Pradeep Kuber said in a statement here.

The portal provides comprehensive online services for media monitoring across broadcast, print, Internet and social media.

"Indian economy and Indians are increasingly becoming techno-savvy and hence the delivery of product is assuming equal or rather greater significance than the product itself.

"In this context, Clipbyte, with its product delivery platform for media monitoring service, will go a long way in facilitating the appetite of the rapidly changing media industry that is creating perceptions through content than ever before," Kuber said.

The e-commerce firm has achieved the distinction of being ahead of the curve to provide a combination of monitoring services across the media spectrum on a single platform to large & mid-size firms and media professionals on the move that include the form of apps on smartphones, the statement said.

In 2015, media market in India across print, electronic and digital was estimated at Rs 88,000 crore and growing at an annual growth of 8 per cent, 13 per cent and 44 per cent rate, respectively, it added.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will present the 2016-17 budget in the assembly tomorrow.

CM Raje, who holds the finance portfolio, has held pre-budget meetings with stakeholders of various sectors to know their expectations and suggestions for the budget.

The industry stakeholders have asked the government to revitalise investors' confidence and to simplify tax regime.

The Chief Minister will present the budget at 11 am.

In one of the pre-consultationmeetingswith the Chief Minister last month, CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) pressed for steps to enhance ease of doing business.

A simple, transparent and non-adversarial tax regime, bereft of complexities and ambiguities would go a long way to strengthen business sentiment and restore faith of the investor in the state, a CII official said.
Alleging that the Manohar Lal Khattar government failed to control the situation during the Jat quota stir in Haryana, Congress Monday demanded President's Rule be imposed in the state.

Congress also demanded for a judicial inquiry by a Supreme Court judge ordered into the incidents of violence.

Haryana Congress Legislature Party, in a meeting chaired by its chief Kiran Choudhry, today passed a resolution in this regard, alleging that the government machinery failed to control the volatile situation.

The party also demanded that strict action be taken against "those BJP leaders who had been making irresponsible and inflammatory statements" and government provide adequate relief to the families of those killed during the stir and people whose properties were damaged.

The resolution said Congress will raise the issue in the budget session of the Assembly starting next week.
The twin immolations by Tibetan youth last week, including one in India, protesting against Chinese rule in were "instigated" by the Dalai Lama and his followers, a media report here said today.

"Over 100 self-immolation attempts by Tibetans in China since then, most of which killed young monks, were proved to have been masterminded and instigated by the so-called 'spiritual leader' and his followers. Their stereotype is to incite self-immolations, make an issue of them and solicit international support through media and political figures," an article in state-run Global Times said.

"Self-immolation is only conducted by a slim number of extremists who are used by separatists. Any attempt to split the country is not only doomed to fail, it is also not the desire of the majority of Tibetan people," it said.

A 16-year-old Tibetan student Dorjee Tsering set himself ablaze in Dehradun last week and died later.

Around the same time, 18-year-old young Tibetan monk Kalsang Wangdu also immolated himself and died in Sichuan province.

"Both cases were soon spread by Tibetan separatist groups, and picked up by Western media. It's common to see self-immolation cases hyped in March as part of the agenda by Tibetan separatists," the article said marking the first time official media reported such incidents.

Overseas Tibetan groups say nearly 130 Tibetans committed self-immolations in recent years calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and to protest against Chinese rule in .

"Facts have revealed that the Dalai Lama, misperceived as a peace-loving monk in the West, planned the Lhasa riot on March 14, 2008 that killed 18 innocent people," Global Times articles said referring to revolts by Tibetan monks.

The twin immolations also coincided with the commencement of China's annual parliament season that kicked off last week.

The People's Congress (NPC) and advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meet annually for a fortnight to clear legislative business.
A day after killing of a militant in an encounter, mobs today went on rampage and clashed with security forces in parts of Kulgam district of Kashmir where a spontaneous strike was observed to mourn the death of the ultra.

A 16-year-old boy suffered serious pellet injuries on the face and abdomen in the clashes while a mob set ablaze a government quarter as part of protest against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Dawood Ahmad Sheikh in an overnight encounter with security forces.

The clashes broke out at Khudwani near Qoimoh, about 60 kms from here, after the funeral prayers of the slain militant, a police officer said.

He said security forces resorted to teargas shelling and also used pellet guns after a mob indulged in stone-pelting on the deployments.

The boy was referred to Srinagar for specialised treatment and was admitted in SMHS hospital, the officer said.

He said a group of youth also entered the Agriculture farm in the village and set ablaze a staff quarter.

However, no one was injured in the arson, the officer said adding the fire was later put off and the protesters chased away.

The local administration had deployed police and paramilitary forces in strength in the sensitive areas, fearing law and order situation during the funeral procession, officials said.

However, thousands of people attended the funeral prayers of the militant who was laid to rest at a graveyard in his native village of Qoimoh.

Officials said the situation in the town is tense but under control.
Delhi government has no statutory power to seal unauthorised motor driving schools which have mushroomed in the capital due to lack of stringent law, CBI has told a court.

CBI, which was directed by Delhi High Court to probe the alleged nexus between Delhi Transport Authority and the driving schools, in its report highlighted the laxity in the provisions of the 1988 Motor Vehicle Act.

"Transport department has no power either to seal or impound unauthorised schools. The absence of specific stringent penal provision in Motor Vehicle (MV) Act resulted in mushrooming of unauthorised motor driving training schools (MDTS)," CBI told Special Judge Vinod Kumar.

The probe agency said there was no provision prescribed specifically in the MV Act to take action against unauthorised MDTS, barring a liberal fine of Rs 100 against such vehicles.

It said even after imposing a fine on the vehicles of unauthorized MDTS, they continue to ply due to the liberal provisions of MV Act.

"After thorough examination of the rules and procedures pertaining to issuance and renewal of licences of the MDTS, it was found that MV Act/Rules have deficient penal provisions against errant MDTS operating in violation of MV rules," CBI said.

However, the Enforcement Wing of transport department has taken action against 458 vehicles during special drives against vehicles of unauthorised MDTS between 2006 and 2012 for offences prescribed under MV Act and Delhi Motor Vehicle Rules, 1993.

"Investigation has further disclosed that as per provisions of MV Act, after prosecution of a vehicle, no further action regarding suspension/cancellation of registration certificate can be initiated against the same vehicle by the Operation Branch," the agency added.

The CBI, which had re-investigated the case after the court rejected its earlier closure report in 2011 with a direction to further investigate, said "Transport Department has also taken up the matter with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for incorporating suitable strict penal provision.

(Reopens LGD4)



Earlier, on its FIR in 2007, the CBI had conducted a probe and filed a closure report in 2011 which was rejected.

"Investigation have further disclosed that no written complaint against any official of Transport Department has been received for not taking any action against the vehicles of unauthorized MDTS after being identified/traced plying against the MV Act/ Rule.

"Transport department did not maintain any data suggesting total number of unauthorized MDTS which are operational in Delhi," it said.

The agency had also informed the court that a departmental enquiry has been initiated against 16 transport officials for failing to take action against some driving schools on its recommendation.

The CBI had made the submission after completing preliminary enquiry on the direction of the High Court which had asked it to probe if there was any nexus between officials and motor driving schools for illegal gratification and bribe.
Thousands of devotees thronged temples across Maharashtra, including the Trimbakeshwar temple here, on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

The Nashik police stepped up security in the city and district in view of the festival.

The festival was also celebrated with at the Grushneshwar temple near Aurangabad, which is one of the 12 'Jyotirlingas'.

Similarly, devotees queued up at various temples in Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and other towns to offer prayers to Lord Shiva.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul today appealed to the people to adopt the concept of 'Swachh Bharat Mission' with a sense of responsibility and not to treat it as mere government programme.

Speaking to the students of Dera Natung Government College during an event to flag off a walkathon on Swachh Bharat mission, the chief minister said the mission for cleanliness should not be limited only to occasions but must be imbibed in our daily life.

Appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Swachh mission, Pul said, "Due to Modi's rigorous campaign on cleanliness, there is a growing awareness in the country - the success of which can be seen in the streets of New Delhi. Today, the city is much cleaner and safe to live."



On similar line, Pul said he too wants to lead the mission on cleanliness in the state so that he can motivate people to take part in such exercises.

He appreciated Governor J P Rajkhowa, for initiating a successful cleanliness campaign in the capital city during the President's rule in the state.

"If we were able to achieve cleanliness during President's rule, then why not now? Why do we require the authorities to impose the responsibilities which are ours?" he quipped.

"We cannot always look towards Governor, chief minister, chief secretary or deputy commissioner to help us. This city belongs to us and it is we the people who have to take the initiative first," Pul added.

(Reopens CES13)



To make the cleanliness campaign a success in the



capital city, the chief minister informed on series of measures to be taken on urban revamp with special emphasis on maintaining public hygiene.

He informed that he would personally monitor the work performances of municipal and urban authorities, and said they should expect surprise checks even during late hours.

"If there are shortages of manpower, machinery and resources, convey to me.

I will take immediate action to address it," he affirmed.

Speaking on preventive healthcare, Pul said cleanliness is the best form of prevention.

He particularly stressed on water, sanitation and hygiene and called for proper toilet facilities to prevent open defecation.

He disclosed that the capital city will be fully equipped with public toilet complexes in major public places on 'pay-and-use basis', with separate toilet facilities for men and women.

Pul also stressed on due importance for maintaining cleanliness in public places likes schools, colleges and hospitals.
A 58-year old medical practioner



from Coimbatore was found dead in a hotel here today, police said.

Senthilnathan of Saveripalayam had checked into the hotel on his return from Bengaluru. In the early hours today, he had called the room boy saying he was experiencing chest pain.

However, when the hotel staff entered his room, he was found dead.

Police said they found 60 sleeping tablets scattered on his bed, adding the cause of death would be known only after post-mortem.

Premilimary investigations showed that Senthilnathan's son had died last year and his daughter was living abroad. He had two wives and one had died, police said.
In a double whammy for liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Debt Recovery Tribunal today barred him from accessing USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with SBI is settled while the ED registered a money laundering case against him in another default case.

The money laundering case launched by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in Mumbai against Mallya and others was in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case, official sources said, adding Mallya and others will soon be questioned.

Diageo and United Spirits Ltd, owned by the UK-based firm, have also been restrained by DRT Judge Benakanahalli in Bengaluru from temporarily disbursing the USD 75 million amount to Mallya, who worked out the deal under a severance package.

The tribunal ordered that the amount be attached till the disposal of the original application filed by State Bank of India in 2013 in connection with Kingfisher Airlines' loan default case.

In his order on the plea by the SBI application seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million sweetheart deal, the judge also directed disclosure of details of the agreement which they have arrived at.

Three other applications filed by SBI before the DRT will come up for hearing on March 28.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT in Bengaluru against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him. The state-owned top lender had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, which the judge had said on March 4 would be heard later.

Mallya had to quit recently as chairman of United Spirits - a company founded by his family in which he sold majority stake to Diageo.

Official sources said the ED recently filed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the IDBI loan default case.

They said while the ED's zonal office in Mumbai has registered the case, sleuths are also looking at the overall financial structure of Kingfisher airlines and a separate probe under foreign exchange violation charges could also be initiated.

"Mallya and others will soon be questioned. The agency has collected relevant documents from concerned authorities and the bank in question," they said.

The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint.

The CBI had booked Mallya, director of Kingfisher Airlines, the company, A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the airlines, and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits.
Loyal elderly readers need to be encouraged to come to libraries by equipping them with suitable technology, a British library consultant has suggested.

"The older people in your country and in my country still like to come to library though the number may be declining. There is a huge opportunity. I think by encouraging them, we would be providing opportunities to make them feel they are needed," Tom Forrest, former Director of Cultural Services in Oxfordshire, told PTI here on the eve of his interaction with library experts of the country in New Delhi.

"Libraries should have mobile apps. You can read an e-book and access catalogues online. In fact physical books and digital versions should supplement each other and build a bridge between the two generations, both of whom should be engaged in active library movement," Forrest, who has worked in over 20 countries to impart knowledge on using technology to improve access to services and content, said.

Talking about the experiment to retain the old and loyal readers in different cities of the UK like Manchester, Forrest said, "Our motto is to make them feel they are needed. I have something to give through memory sessions, storytelling for children and likewise.

Noting that libraries have to be relevant to people in the



20-age group equally, Forrest said, "Libraries can't be seen in isolation from the places frequented by this generation like shopping malls and plexes and we have to tailor them to younger people as well. That remains the challenge."



Forrest, who was here on an invitation from the British Council to give a talk in Kolkata on UK Libraries Today and Tomorrow, said, he had been hearing about death of books for years but that would never happen.

"I know the nostalgia tinged with books and classics which becomes apparent as you flip through the pages of a classic physically. I want some of that nostalgia captured digitally," he said, adding these issues would come up during his interaction with Indian public library experts, here and in New Delhi later.

Talking about his visit to the National Library Kolkata, Forrest said, "I was very impressed (the way) National Library organises its activities."



"I am told they have an agreement with the British Library to work together. Their chief executive is coming over here soon. The two institutions will collaborate in sharing skills. There are many shareable documents with a shareable past between the two institutions," Forrest said.

Among the present generation of library readers in his country, he said there was a wide following for present day Indian origin writers like Vikram Seth, Jhumpa Lahiri and Amit Chowdhury.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today criticised the European Union for a four-month delay in disbursing a promised 3 billion euro fund for refugees agreed under a November deal.

"It's been four months. They are yet to deliver," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held summit talks on the migrant crisis with EU leaders.

"Mr prime minister is currently in Brussels. I hope he will return with the money," added Erdogan.

The EU clinched an agreement with Turkey to deliver 3 billion euros (USD 3.3 billion) in funds for refugees in return for Ankara's cooperation in tackling the refugee crisis - the worst in the continent's history since World War II.

But the money has yet to arrive and obtaining the funds is one of the priorities of Davutoglu's talks in Brussels.

Erdogan said it was not the fault of Turkey, which is hosting 2.7 million refugees from the Syrian civil war, that so many migrants were using its coast as a springboard to reach the EU.

"Look, they say on the other side, 'don't let refugees come in'. Okay. But it is not us that is sending them. They are coming from the sea and a lot of them are unfortunately dying," Erdogan said.

The president said the Turkish coastguard has rescued close to 100,000 migrants from the sea but mocked the efforts of Turkey's neighbours in trying to save them.

"But the others are puncturing the boats and causing their death," he said. His comments appeared to be a reference to unverified claims, vehemently denied by Athens, that the Greek coastguard was sinking the migrant boats.

"This is how we are different," the president said. "This is how we look at people and that is how they do it.
Revelations made by three top Home Ministry officials have reinforced that Congress targeted Narendra Modi through the Ishrat Jahan case, two pro-RSS journals claimed wondering if P Chidambaram was alone in this "political conspiracy" or a "puppet".

"The ghost of Ishrat Jahan encounter carried out in 2004 continues to haunt the politics of Bharat. This time it is troubling former Home Minister P Chidambaram and his masters in Congress. At least three top officials, who served in the Ministry during the UPA government, have indicted Chidambaram in delinking Ishrat from the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"These revelations have reinforced the theory of political conspiracy by the Congress and Chidambaram to target the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi through the Ishrat case," the cover article in 'Organiser' said.

"Is it Chidambaram alone or someone above him? Did Chidambaram act as a 'Puppet on a Chain'? The skeletons have started tumbling out of the cupboard. Only time will tell who are the 'real players' behind the entire conspiracy," it said.

The article, "The Ishrat Cover Up-Damning Designs", quoted Hitler's Propaganda Minister Goebbels's phrase "Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth" and said Congress has done the same in Ishrat case to target Modi.

"In a similar way the Congress party in a free, democratic India dipped into the idea to target its apparently strongest opponent Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat," it said.

The article alleged the state machinery under UPA regime demoralised honest intelligence agency officials, sent some behind bars on false charges, spread canards in public, fed 'false stories that looked genuine' to media and as per Mani's latest statement - even went on to torture him, an upright bureaucrat of MHA to coerce him to change his original stand and sing to the tunes of his bosses.

"The North Block - that houses Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) - became the hub of conspiracy led by none other than the then Home Minister P Chidambaram," it claimed.

"Congress like Goebbel, propagated falsehood to tarnish his (Modi's) image and gain politically. It dubbed Modi as 'Gujarat's butcher', 'killer' and what not only to turn falsehood look like truth and gained. Even after Modi got a clean chit from court, he did not get relief from this hate campaign," the article in 'Panchjanya' said.

The 'Organiser' alleged that the UPA government "used every possible illegal, immoral, unethical means and the State power for political reasons to tarnish the reputation" of Modi.

"All of this was aimed at stopping the rising popularity of Modi and to ensure that he didn't get the chance to contest consecutive elections, especially the general election of 2014," it said.

According to the journal, what Congress-led UPA government wanted to hide and put the entire blame on Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, has boomeranged.

"The Congress and its former Home Minister P Chidambaram have got exposed with the latest revelations from the then Home Secretary GK Pillai, former Under Secretary (Home) RVS Mani and former IB Special Director Rajendra Kumar.
The parents of a man killed in the November attacks in Paris have asked the European Court of Human Rights to rule whether "serious dysfunctions" by Belgian authorities violated his "right to life", their lawyer said today.

Valentin Ribet, a 26-year-old lawyer, was among the 90 people massacred at the Bataclan concert hall in the jihadist attacks of November 13.

His parents believe that "serious dysfunctions arose in the Belgian protection and surveillance system that facilitated the terrorists' infiltration into French territory and the commission of these crimes," the Ribets' lawyer Samia Maktouf said in a statement.

The Bataclan dead were among 130 people who were killed at several locations in the French capital that night.

The downtrodden Brussels district of Molenbeek was home to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the organiser of the Paris killings who recruited old friends and other small-time delinquents to help him carry out the attacks.

It was also home to Salah Abdeslam, the Paris attacks suspect who is still on the run and who some think may have found refuge in Molenbeek for a time after the killings.

Maktouf said the assailants were "radicalised, trained in jihad and prepared for armed acts in France" in Molenbeek.

Abaaoud and Abdeslam had been able to go back and forth between the two countries before the attacks "despite surveillance by the Belgian authorities," said Maktouf, who represents several victims' families.

She says the case rests on the "right to life" guaranteed by the European Human Rights Convention.

In normal circumstances, the court that enforces the convention is a last recourse after other avenues are exhausted.
Pakistani heartthrob Fawad Khan has revealed he is yet to read the final draft of the Sonam Kapoor-starrer "Battle of Bittora", contrary to media reports that he had turned down the film.

Fawad made his Bollywood debut opposite Sonam in 2014 film "Khoobsurat".

The 34-year-old actor said he has high regards for the "Neerja" star and her sister Rhea ('Khoobsurat' producer') and he is open to working in "Battle of Bittora", which is based on Anuja Chauhan's novel of the same name.

"I have lots of love and respect for the Kapoors, Sonam and Rhea, they are like family. The first draft was there but they were wanting to revisit the draft. But by the time that happened Sonam was already doing 'Neerja'. I was also committing to other things," Fawad told PTI in an interview.

It was reported that Fawad was uncomfortable with a few intimate scenes in the script. Both parties tried working it out, but the actor reportedly decided that he doesn't want to be a part of the project.

The 34-year-old actor, however, said it was just an issue of "time-lines" of the actors not matching and he is yet to read the updated draft of the film.

"It was more of a matter of time-lines not being able to match than anything else. So 'Battle of Bittora' is something we are yet to sit down and talk. I am yet to hear the updated draft of the film," he added.

It was also being said Farhan Akhtar, who has worked with Sonam in "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", would replace Fawad.

Fawad said he is not the only actor who is being considered for the role.

"They are also looking at other actors. I am not the only option so let's see what happens. It's an interesting story though."



He will be next seen in "Kapoor and Sons", which also stars Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah.
Students most often use the words 'brilliant' and 'genius' to describe professors who are male and in academic disciplines where women and African-Americans are underrepresented, a new US study has found.

Researchers analysed more than 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.Com, where students write anonymous reviews of their professors.

"Male professors were described more often as 'brilliant' and 'genius' than female professors in every single field we studied - about two to three times more often," said Daniel Storage from University of Illinois in the US.

"Students also used 'brilliant' and 'genius' to describe their professors most often in academic fields such as philosophy and physics, in which women and African-American students are a distinct minority," said Storage.

The study found that none of the following four factors could fully explain the underrepresentation of women or African-Americans in a field - average GRE (graduate school entry exam) math scores, the desire to avoid long hours at work, the selectivity of each field or the ability to think systematically.

"While there are correlations between some of these factors and the presence or absence of women and African-Americans in some fields, we consistently found that the only thing that was explaining the proportions of women and African-Americans in a particular field was that field's emphasis on the importance of brilliance and genius," said Storage.

"Both of these groups are stereotyped in a similar way about their intellectual abilities and therefore are potentially affected in a similar way by the amount of emphasis that is put on brilliance," said Andrei Cimpian from the University of Illinois.

"The people in certain fields might not see that quality in women and African-Americans. Women and African-Americans themselves may be conditioned to not see these qualities in themselves," said Cimpian.

The findings were published in the journal Science.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today ordered a probe into the incident of hundreds of dead fish being washed ashore at Ulsoor lake, a popular boating site in Bengaluru, and sought a report on it.

"I have visited Bengaluru twice and held meetings with all concerned authorities and officials, which includes Special Lake Development Authority, state government, plus Municipal Corporation and organisations responsible for maintaining the lake. They have given us a timelime on how to improve the quality of lakes. We are monitoring it.

"I have already ordered an inquiry and sought a report on the issue," Javadekar said.

He said several parts of the IT city does not have proper drainage, and the sewage was being released into the lakes, hereby polluting the eco-system.

"The very fantastic eco-system of lakes in Bengaluru has been destroyed for the last 30 years gradually because (residential) colonies around it release the discharge not in the city drains. At many places, there are no city drains, so they release their discharge in the lakes.

"This is the condition we inherited and we are improving that," Javadekar said.

The fish are believed to have died due to high levels of pollution into the lake.

A tourism spot, Ulsoor lake had been choked with water hyacinth in recent years.

The incident comes even as there is a growing concern by environmentalists over polluted lakes, exemplified by the thick froth and flames from the Yamlur lake that caused ripples in the city last year.
Reiterating India's support to multi-stakeholder model for governing Internet, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said there should be focus on security also which is the primary responsibility of governments.

"While fully endorsing the multi-stakeholder model, the issue of security should also remain in focus, where the government has a very important role to play, as safety and security remains the primary responsibility of the governments," Prasad said at ICANN Summit at Marrakech in Morocco.

A new Internet governance model is being worked out through global consultation process and it is being coordinated by global Internet body ICANN.

ICANN has been assigned the task to manage Internet by the US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under a contract, which expires on September 30.

NTIA has decided to step out of its role of ICANN overseer after the contract expires and it be managed by global community and work is in progress to set rules on who should manage Internet post September 30.

The new model was proposed to be finalised by September 30 last year but responses of some of the groups involved in the process could not be closed in time.

Since consensus on some issues related to accountability could not be arrived at by various communities, the process is expected to be closed by September this year if communities reach at an agreement.

India has proposed that Internet should be managed through multi-stakeholder approach and the governments should have "supreme right and control" on matters relating to international security.

"If Internet is one of the finest creations of human mind, it ought not be allowed to be abused by the few, to unleash terror and cybercrime through dark net and dark webs and other instruments. Therefore, the role of government will continue to be relevant, as an important stakeholder," Prasad said.

A committee on Internet governance set by Indian government has favoured the approach and decided the country should try to collaborate with the US on the matter.

"We instinctively value Internet to be open, plural and inclusive and access should be without discrimination. To ensure its stability, it must also be secure," Prasad said.

India in its submission has said under new transition, the body managing Internet should have "accountability towards governments" in areas where "governments have primary responsibility, such as security and similar public policy concerns.

Prasad talked about push for content in local language



over internet so that people can establish a link with it.

"Diversity of the representation should be ensured in the new architecture because developing and emerging economies are going to contribute the next billion internet users," he said.

The minister said that India would like to share its own experience of successfully living in a country with diversity and the spread of internet capturing this diversity.

"Democracy and Deliberative policy making are some of the core strengths of India. We wish to convey our good wishes to the new architecture, in which we seek a constructive engagement with international community and let me assure that India's would be a voice of moderation," Prasad said.

Last round of public comments closed on December 21. ICANN received 4-5 comments from India among about 80 comments it received over accountability of new entity that will manage or oversee functions of Internet.

The proposal will be then sent to US government which is expected to take 60-90 days to gets approvals from various authorities within their government.
France's foreign minister today defended the awarding of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's highest honour, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, after it sparked harsh criticism on social media.

"It's a diplomatic tradition and I could tell you about many Legions d'Honneur that have been given," Jean-Marc Ayrault, the newly appointed foreign minister, told France Inter radio.

There was "nothing grandiose" about the ceremony, said Ayrault, adding that he could understand the negative reactions to the act.

President Francois Hollande awarded the honour to Nayef, who is also Saudi interior minister, during a visit on Friday for his "efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism".

France did not initially announce the news, which was first revealed by Saudi press agency SPA.

Nayef is widely respected throughout the West for his efforts to combat violent extremism. He led a crackdown on Al-Qaeda which waged a campaign of shootings and bombings against foreigners and Saudi security personnel in the kingdom between 2003 and 2007.

France has sold billions of euros worth of weapons to Riyadh, and sees Saudi Arabia as crucial to intelligence sharing about jihadist groups.

But critics point out that Saudi Arabia has spent decades funding the spread of its hardline Wahhabist teachings across the world, which is widely seen as underpinning the very jihadist threat that France is trying to defeat.

Saudi Arabia is also seen as one of the world's worst human rights violators, and there was harsh criticism of Nayef's award on social media, particularly over its use of the death penalty, with people using the hashtag "#honte" (#shame) on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia yesterday carried out its 70th execution so far this year, beheading a man convicted of murder.

On January 2, 47 were executed for "terrorism", including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiites.
Germany will partner with India to develop Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore as smart cities.

"Germany would contribute to India's smart city programme and will help develop the cities of Kochi(Kerala), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Coimbatore(Tamil Nadu) as smart cities," State Secretary in Germany's Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Gunther Adler, told reporters here.

The three cities are among the 20 cities which are to be developed as smart cities, announced by Urban Development Ministry in January this year.

Germany had earlier set up a six-member joint committee with India to identify the cities which it could develop as smart cities.

The committee had two representatives of Urban Development Ministry, one from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and three from Germany.

German Ambassador to India Martin Ney, addressing the press conference, said Germany is an ideal partner in India's mission to create smarter cities as the country is "very strong at smart planning for urban centres".

"We have developed the technologies to make life in cities easier. We have developed the processes to bring on board the stakeholders to make cities thrive and German companies have developed smart solutions to make smart cities," he said.

Germany had already been engaged in various fields related to smart cities-such as sustainable urban mobility, water and waste-water management, renewable energies and energy efficiency, the Ambassador said.

"We have been supporting important Indian initiatives such as 'Swachh Bharat', National Mission for Clean Ganga and Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation," he added.

Germany is India's second largest bilateral donor with a record commitment of 1.5 billion Euros (Rs 11,0000 crore) agreed last year, Ney said.

Meanwhile, India and the US have also agreed on formulating action plans for development of smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam.
A day after the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps for securing the immediate release of all 64 fishermen and 77 boats in Lankan custody.

"I request your personal intervention to issue directions to the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities and secure the immediate release of our 64 fishermen and 77 fishing boats still in Sri Lankan custody," she said in a letter to Modi.

"May I request you to accord the highest priority to this issue," she said.

Stating that the apprehension of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy continued unabated, she said 29 fishermen and their four fishing boats were apprehended by them in early hours of yesterday in two separate incidents.

In the first incident, nine fishermen on board a mechanised fishing boat, from the Rameswaram fishing base, were apprehended and taken to Thalaimannar in the neighbouring country.

Fifteen fishermen on board two boats and five others on board another boat from Threspuram in Tuticorin District were taken into custody and taken to Kalpitiya, in Sri Lanka, she said.

"The right to life and livelihood of Tamil Nadu fishermen who carry on fishing in the traditional waters of the Palk Bay is being infringed upon by the Sri Lankan Navy's recurrent actions of apprehension, attack and harassment of the innocent fishermen," she said.

She reiterated that India's sovereignty over Katchatheevu, an islet in the Palk Strait ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, should be restored.
A 19-year-old college student, who got married in November last, has lodged a complaint of dowry harassment against her husband and in-laws here, police said today.

The girl, studying in a private college here, in her complaint to All Woman Police Station stated that her husband started harassing her for more dowry soon after the marriage, police said.

He had also allegedly threatened to finish her off, which was supported by his parents and sister, she claimed.

Based on the complaint, police registered cases against her husband and three in-laws and investigations were on, they said.
Concerned over continuous decline in exports, a committee of top officials including from commerce and shipping ministries will meet tomorrow to discuss ways to fast-track clearance processes and improve ease of doing business to boost shipments.

The meeting will be chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.

The committee would deliberate on facilitating implementation of measures for fast tracking the regime for export and import clearances besides other trade facilitation steps, an official said.

It would also work on ways to expedite the progress of e-trade and its various components like creating paperless and contact free approval environment for export and import clearances.

The committee to facilitate trading across borders and fast tracking of export import clearances was constituted last month by the Prime Minister's Office.

Its other members include Central Board of Excise and Customs chairman, Director General of Foreign Trade, representative of Railway Board, shipping and Airport Authority of India.

"This is the first meeting of the committee," the official added.

Fast tracking clearance procedures promotes ease of doing business for traders which in turn helps reducing transactions cost for exporters and importers both.

Exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that reduction in transactions cost would certainly help in boosting exports.

In terms of trading across borders, India ranked at 133rd out of 189 economies, according to the World Bank's report on ease of doing business.

Exports dipped for the 14th month in a row, down 13.6 per cent in January to USD 21 billion due to fall in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods, although trade deficit showed improvement.

Imports shrank 11 per cent to USD 28.71 billion last month, resulting in a trade deficit of USD 7.63 billion, lowest in eleven months.
The government wants to have a say in recommending names of candidates for elevation as judges of the Supreme court, with the draft Memorandum of Procedure prepared by it favouring a role for the Attorney General at the Centre and Advocates General in states in the exercise.

The MoP is a document which guides the collegium in appointment of judges.

If the Supreme Court accepts the draft, then effectively the government can also suggest candidates as the AG is the top law officer appointed by the government.

In the appointment of judges to the high court, all the high court judges as well as the respective Advocates General of the state will be free to recommend their candidates, the draft says. This would mean, the state governments can also recommend candidates through their Advocates General.

While the draft MoP has been finalised by a group of ministers headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, it is likely to undergo changes before being sent to the Chief Justice of India for approval.

The draft also states that any dissent note to a recommendation of the collegium to appoint or elevate a judge should be mandatorily shared with the Executive.

This point has been incorporated based on the judgment the Supreme Court delivered last year on ways to make the collegium system more transparent.

The draft also says upto three judges in the Supreme Court should be from the Bar.

The government has decided not to bring the collegium appointments under RTI ambit as it apprehends it could lead to a flood of applications from aspirants and "interested parties" seeking file notings and other details.

According to the draft MoP, evaluation of judgments delivered by a high court judge during the last five years and initiatives undertaken for improvement of judicial administration should be the yardstick of merit for promotion as chief justice of a high court. At the same time, it also suggests that seniority should also be kept in mind.

The document stresses on the need for merit as a major yardstick for appointment of judges.

Another suggestion is that a high court should not remain without a chief justice for more than three months.

Some of the issues highlighted by the draft MoP are transparency in the appointment process, eligibility criteria, a permanent secretariat for the collegium and a process to evaluate and deal with complaints against candidates.

The government and the judiciary are learnt to be on the same page on the issue of a permanent secretariat for the collegium.
Gujarat Fisheries Minister Babubhai Bokhiria today said the state government is yet to get any official confirmation on the release of 87 Indian fishermen from a jail in Pakistan.

In a goodwill gesture, Pakistan yesterday released 87 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly violating its territorial waters and would free 86 others later this month.

The fishermen, who had been languishing in prison for the last two-and-half years, were released from Landhi Jail in Karachi and will be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border.

However, Bokhiria said, "It is surprising to hear such through media, because our government has not received any official communication from the Centre or Indian High Commissioner's office located in Islamabad in this regard."



"Unless we get official communication from the concerned authorities in this regard, how can we comment on it," he told PTI on phone.

"After learning from media reports about the release of 87 Indian fishermen from Pakistan, I asked Gujarat Fisheries Commissioner to find out if any such message was received, to which he (fisheries commissioner) replied that till 1130 hrs today, no such message was received," he said.

As per usual practice, whenever fishermen from Pakistani jails are released, the communication is sent to the state fisheries department in advance so that it can dispatch its team of officials to Wagah border for taking custody of the released fishermen after proper verification and identification, Bokhiria said.

Earlier in Pakistan, Faisal Edhi, who heads a private charity organisation, the Edhi Foundation, arranged the train journey for the fishermen yesterday and gave them gifts and some cash.

Jail superintendent of Landhi Jail Shakir Shah had told PTI that 86 more Indian fishermen would be released on March 20. He said a total of around 536 Indian fishermen were in jail, serving varying terms for violation of Pakistani territorial waters.

Fishermen are frequently arrested along with their boats by both India and Pakistan as the maritime border in the Arabian Sea is poorly defined, and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location.

In the past, the two nations have released each other's fishermen as goodwill gestures.

Although in December, India and Pakistan had agreed to revive the dialogue process when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad for a summit, 66 Indian fishermen were arrested by Pakistan the same month.

In January, another 45 Indian fishermen were arrested for allegedly violating Pakistan's territorial waters.
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said out of 740 universities in the country, happenings in two or three of them are spoiling "image", in remarks that came against the backdrop of controversies in JNU and Hyderabad Central University.

"There are 740 universities in the country. 737 university students are focusing their attention on studies, academic excellence only, nothing else, everything is peaceful.

But because of happening in 2-3 places the image is gone. We should not allow such things to happen in future," he said at the 'Happening Haryana' global investor summit.

JNUSU president 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.

There was outrage over suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the Hyderabad Central University.

Naidu said "unfortunately" in India there is also a tendency in "some the section of media" to blow things out of proportion and make things if everything is going wrong.

Referring to the Jat agitation, Naidu said what happened in the state should never allowed to be repeated.

"We should draw lessons from that and there has to be repentance on that also because you cannot have such things here. There is nothing wrong in making a demand, asking for anything, but there is democratic method and everybody has to follow, otherwise name would be spoiled and people would be hesitating," he said.

In wake of the agitation, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said many people "in and outside my government", suggested to reconsider holding the investor Summit.

"I knew that the right action was to carry on with this summit sans the frills and celebrations. Natural calamities and law and order disturbances are risks in all locations in the world. What really matters is, how the Government responds," he said.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today promised entrepreneurs and investors to give all support to industrial ventures, and provide favourable conditions to promote ease of doing business.

Addressing the investors on the opening day of Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit in Gurgaon today, the chief minister further hinted at some major economic policy reforms to boost industrialisation and the economy of the state.

"Ipromisethat you will never find my government hesitating in goingtheextra mileto support your venture. We have planned some major economic policy reforms in the coming days," Khattar said in the two-day summit.

He said the state's Enterprises Promotion Policy, 2015 is just a beginning of such reforms and requested the investors to come forward with comments and suggestions for its improvement.

The Haryana government has planned to amend the Factories Act to exempt industrial units using power and employing less than 20 workers, he said.

The Payment of Wages Act will also be amended for the benefit of workers.

Listing some of the key initiatives taken to make things easy for investors, he said Haryana had already ended the uncertainty over future enhancements in the cost of industrial plots, launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic CLUs in 75 blocks, among others.

"Whatever little remains, is in the works and would be yours,very soon," he added.

On connectivity, he said the 54-km-long Manesar-Palwal section of the KMP Expressway would be inaugurated later this month. The Kundli-Manesar section will be made ready in exactly 343 days from today.

"I envision Haryana as a futuristic state, with smart villages and cities and e-governance solutions forallpublic services. We will do everything to reduce the cost of doing business and to enhance the ease of doing business in Haryana," he said.

Solar Energy Policy, 2016 would be launched tomorrow which aims at installing 4,000 MW capacity in five years through numerous steps like grant of status of industry, exemption from Land ceiling laws and price preference of two per cent for one to two MW producers located in Haryana.
Haryana has received investment commitments of Rs 3 lakh crore and the number is expected to rise further on the last day of the global investor summit tomorrow, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today.

However, a statement released by the state government said that 11 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), involving investment ofRs 18,159 crore, were signed with differentcompanies on the first day of Happening Haryana Global Investor Summit which kicked off here today.

When the Summit was conceived five months ago, it was designed as the first event towards realising the goal of achieving an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore or USD 16 billion US dollars set when the policy was announced on August 11, 2015, the Chief Minister said in his address at the summit.

"But now, I am told by our Chief Secretary that the commitments so far had already exceeded this target by two hundred per cent. We hope by tomorrow, this number will see a still more substantial increase," he said.

"This reflects a resounding endorsement of the policy commitments and an appreciation of the steps taken by my government to implement these," he said.

According to the official statement, an MoU of Rs 15,000 crore for financial services signed with ICICI Bank.

Bharti Airtel signed a pact of Rs 2,000 crore investment in electronics, IT and ITeS sector.

Besides, an MoU involving an investment of Rs 283 crore was signed with Star Wire (India) Limited for manufacturing special and critical steel adopting high-tech technologies.

The MoU of Rs 200 crore was signed with Minda Kosei Aluminium Wheel Private Limited for automobile parts, alloy wheels, of Rs 190 crore with Honda for worker housing, and another MoU of Rs 150 crores with Plasser India Private Limited for manufacturing unit for track maintenance machines.

Apart from this, MoUs of Rs 100 crore each were signed with Minda Industries and Mindarika Pvt Ltd for automobile parts switches.

Another MoU of Rs 80 crore was signed with T G Minda for automobile parts rubber hoses and an MoU was also signed with Snapdeal for e-commerce, release said.

Meanwhile, Indiabulls Housing Finance in a statement said that the company together with its group firm Indiabulls Real Estate has committed an investment worth Rs 25,000 crore in Haryana over the next seven years.

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Later in the day, a Haryana government release said the Day One of the summit was marked by signing of 38 MoUs with different companies and involved a total investment of Rs 1,28,740 crore.

These agreements included an MoU of Rs 45,365 crore for mixed use development, office and retail, smart city signed with M3M, Rs 12,823 crore and Rs 11,100 crore for infrastructure with Vatika Limited and IREO Private Limited respectively, release said.

Also, an MoU of Rs 500 crore for logistic park with Allcargo, of Rs 680 crore for solid waste management with Alqimi India Pvt Ltd and another involving an investment of Rs 125 crore for skill development with Amartex Group.

Among others, an MoU involving an investment of Rs 552 crore for food processing plant with Boortmalt India Holdings Private Limited, Rs 8,650 crore for solar energy with CLP, Rs 6,132 crore for infrastructure with Countrywide Promoters Private Limited, Rs 110 crore for CSR Initiative with DLF Foundation, Rs 200 crore for manufacturing of LED and Non-LED indoor lighting, fixtures and downlighters, the release said.

Likewise, an MoU of Rs 3,678 crore for food processing plant was signed with Indo European Sustainable Development (IESD) with associate partner ASACA India Private Limited, Rs 1500 crore for R&D with IOCL, Rs 1000 crore for electronic cluster with Jaina Mobile Industries (Karbon Mobile), Rs 280 crore for Food Processing with Karnal Foodpack Cluster Limited, Rs 850 crore for Solar Energy with Lanco were signed.

In infrastructure sector MoUs of Rs 8749 crore and Rs 5500 crore were signed with Omaxe and Puri Construction Private Limited respectively.

Also, MoU of Rs 710 crore for tourism with Swiss International Hotels, Rs 300 crore for automatic parking with UBE Industries, Rs 1000 crore for Electronics, IT and ITeS with Vodafone and Rs 490 crore with Wanfeng were signed, the release said.

British Deputy High Commissioner Chandigarh, British Deputy High Commission, David Lelliott said that they were planning to make an investment of Rs 1000 crore in healthcare sector in Haryana which would expect to generate 3000 jobs, it said.

With a view to encourage small and medium enterprises, the Haryana Government today said it has decided to reserve 20 per cent of its purchases for this sector.

A new policy would soon be introduced for this purpose. Also, the Government would create an e-Com portal which could be used by anyone for marketing their products.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today promised to go "extra mile" to support industry, enhance ease of doing business and provide supporting infrastructure -- within days of a massive Jat quota stir causing huge losses of thousands of crores of rupees.

Addressing investors and industrialists at the Happening Haryana Global summit here, Khattar also said that the investment commitments have reached Rs 3 lakh crore on the first day itself of the two-day event and his government has lined up major economic policy reforms in the coming days.

"If you choose this ancient land for your future business karma, I promise that you will never find my government hesitating, or, wanting, in going the extra mile to support your venture. Our Enterprise promotion policy, 2015 is just a beginning. We have planned some major economic policy reforms in the coming days," Khattar said in his keynote address.

The Chief Minister said when the event was conceived five months ago, it was designed as the first event towards realising the goal of achieving an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore or USD 16 billion set when the policy was announced in August 2015.

"But now, I am told by our Chief Secretary that the commitments so far had already exceeded this target by two hundred per cent. We hope by tomorrow, this number will see a still more substantial increase. This reflects a resounding endorsement of our policy commitments and an appreciation of the steps taken by my government to implement these," he said.

Hinting at some major reforms, Khattar said the state government has planned to amend the Factories Act to exempt industrial units, using power and employing less than 20 workers, and also, units not using power and employing less than 40 workers.

The Payment of Wages Act will also be amended to remove the anachronistic condition that wages must be paid in cash to workers drawing salary of up to Rs 18,000 per month.

Listing some of the key initiatives taken to make things easy for investors, Khattar said Haryana has already ended the uncertainty over future enhancements in the cost of industrial plots, launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic CLUs in 75 blocks, and set up a unique three-tier grievance redressal system, for both existing and new investors.

"Whatever little remains, is in the works and would be yours, very soon," he added.

On further improving connectivity, he said the 54-km-long Manesar Palwal section of the KMP Expressway would be inaugurated later this month.

Also, the Kundli Manesar section will be made ready in exactly 343 days from today.

Referring to the Jat agitation which lead to loss of



lives and property, Khattar said just a fortnight ago, some "dark clouds" began to loom large over this summit.

"We had just been through one hundred difficult hours when seven of our twenty one districts witnessed some unfortunate law and order events," he said.

Khattar further said that many people "in and outside my government", suggested to reconsider holding the Summit.

They, he said felt that the state would not get the expected response from the investor community.

"I knew that the right action was to carry on with this summit sans the frills and celebrations. Natural calamities and law and order disturbances are risks in all locations in the world.

"What really matters is, how the Government responds. I was confident that we had done the right thing by our people and our investors in the most challenging times in the history of Haryana," Khattar said.

He thanked China, Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, UK, and the Ontario province of Canada for participating in the Summit.

The Chief Minister further said that next Monday the Budget session of the legislature will beging.

"We intend to pass the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Bill, 2016 in this session. The draft Bill is available in the public domain. I request you to expedite your comments and suggestions for its improvement," he said.

Khattar said tomorrow the Solar Energy Policy, 2016. will be announced.

Through steps like grant of status of industry, exemption from land ceiling laws and price preference of 2 per cent for one to two MW producers located in Haryana, this policy aims at installing four thousand MW capacity in five years.
Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to one of the five accused arrested for allegedly supplying sensitive documents to ISI operatives of Pakistan, saying allegations against him were "very serious in nature".

Justice P S Teji denied relief at this stage to accused Fareed Khan, an army hawaldar who allegedly shared secret information with other co-accused who used to forward them to Pakistan based intelligence operatives for monetary gains.

"In light of the facts and circumstances, this court is of the view that the allegations against the petitioner are very serious in nature, he is involved with other co-accused in supplying the information relating to Indian national security to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

"In the kind of cases in which petitioner's involvement is disclosed by the main accused and recovery of documents from the petitioner, in the considered opinion of this court the submission of Additional Public Prosecutor ... Regarding misuse of liberty of bail either by fleeing from justice or by tampering with evidence or by indulging again in anti-national activities, cannot be ruled out at this stage, especially when the trial is at an initial stage," the court said.

It said after careful scrutiny of the case and examining the contents of the petition and the FIR, "this court observes that the name of the petitioner is disclosed by the main accused Kaifaitullah Khan, who was the ISI Agent."



All the five accused were arrested in connection with alleged supply of secret Indian documents to an operative of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Kafaitullah was the first to be arrested from here on November 26 last year when he was heading to Bhopal to attend a religious congregation and allegedly recruit more spies.

This was followed by the arrest of then serving BSF head constable Abdul Rasheed, former army hawaldar Munawwar Ahmad Mir and government school teacher Sabar, who are all currently in judicial custody. All of them were booked under the Official Secrets Act.

During the arguments, Fareed had claimed that the Jammu & Kashmir government had "intentionally passed the direction to the authorities of Crime Branch to torture him" and alleged that the police had falsely planted the materials recovered from his house.

Police countered his claims, saying Fareed had received Rs 20,000 from ISI Agent Faisal-ur-Rehman for providing the said information. He had passed the information regarding Indian Army to Rehman through his associates Munawwar, Kafaitullah and Sabar, the police had alleged.
Observing that students who indulged in unnatural offences to satiate their sadist instincts did not deserve any sympathy, the Madras High Court Bench here today upheld the expulsion of three students from a private college for brutally attacking a fellow student.

"Any tinkering by this court with the orders of expulsion against the petitioners will send wrong signals to the educational institutions," Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana said.

He was dismissing the petitions by the three students of the college in Devakottai who were apprehended while beating a B.Com student causing him severe injuries.

"If judicial activism is resorted to in the cases like the present one, it will be difficult to control the already worsened condition of discipline in educational institutions," the Judge said holding that the petitions were wholly devoid of merit and substance.

He said a perusal of the records showed that the expelled students were caught beating a B.Com student causing him severe injuries in the backbone.

The college Council, after discussing the matter in detail, decided that the continuance of the students in the college will be detrimental to the smooth functioning and recommended their dismissal.

Referring to the petitioners' ground that they had not been given any opportunity to give their views, the Judge said the requirements of natural justice must depend on the facts and circumstances of the case.

In this case, the petitioners, who are students, indulged in threatening the third year B.Com students and attacked one Kannan beating him in an "uncultured and brutal manner".

"I am at a loss to understand as to what are the requirements of natural justice in a case of this kind," the Judge said.
The head of a major British business group has resigned from his post after publicly backing leaving the European Union, sparking a row over whether he had stepped down due to political pressure.

John Longworth stepped down yesterday as head of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) after he expressed support for Britain leaving the EU at the group's annual conference, despite the BCC's official stance of neutrality.

In a statement, BCC president Nora Senior said that "no politician or interest" had influenced Longworth's decision, saying that his expression of pro-Brexit views was "likely to create confusion" on the group's neutral stance.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office was forced to deny that it had leaned on the BCC to suspend Longworth following his remarks.

"We are clear no pressure was put on the BCC to suspend him," a Downing Street spokesman said.

But eurosceptic politicians dismissed the defence, claiming that Longworth had been a victim of "Project Fear" - the nickname they have given the campaign to stay in the EU because of its focus on the security and economic risks of ending Britain's 43-year-old membership of the European bloc.

"Well done Downing Street. You got your man," wrote Douglas Carswell, an MP for the eurosceptic UK Independence Party, on Twitter.

"This is what Project Fear looks like. Nasty people in Number 10."



Earlier yesterday, London mayor Boris Johnson, the leading advocate of the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, said that Longworth's suspension was "absolutely scandalous".

"It cannot be right that when someone has the guts to dissent from the establishment line, he or she is immediately crushed by the agents of Project Fear," Johnson said in a statement.

Cameron and Johnson are both members of the Conservative party but they have long been rivals, and the campaign for the June 23 referendum has pitted them head to head.

The prime minister has accused Johnson of being motivated by a desire to one day replace him in Downing Street, but the mayor dismissed the allegation on Sunday as "cobblers".

"To the best of my knowledge there is not a single EU leader in the last 20 years who has had to step down as a result of a referendum, whether on Europe or not," Johnson said in a BBC interview.

Speaking to the same programme, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble repeated the warning he issued to British business leaders this week that a Brexit would send shockwaves across the EU.

"For years we would have such insecurity that would be a poison to the economy in the UK, the European continent and for the global economy as well," he told the BBC, speaking in German.
India remained on high alert owing to a terror threat on 'Maha Shivratri' today as temples and strategic places were under tight vigil amid inputs that 10 LeT and JeM terrorists have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat which saw an unprecedented security cover.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the internal security situation in the country at a high-level meeting in Delhi attended by top security officials including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma.

As a multi-city alert remained in place, Singh took stock of the situation and the steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks.

An alert has already been sounded in Gujarat and other major metropolitan centres by central security agencies following reports that the 10 terrorists are on a mission to carry out attacks against high-value targets. However, so far there is no clue about the suspected terrorists.

A similar alert has also been sent to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.

In the national capital, Police presence and patrolling around temples which were teeming with devotees, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places like metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus, which witness very high footfall, have been stepped up, a senior official said.

Four NSG teams were stationed in Gujarat where massive police combing operations and robust security were in place at major temples and other vital installations.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel held a high-level security meeting to review the situation. Inspite of reports that terrorists might strike in Delhi or other places, Gujarat Police has decided to not to let its guard down till they are 100 per cent sure that the state is safe.

"We have informed the CM about steps taken by state police to thwart any terror strike in Gujarat. We have also informed the CM about what kind of co-operation we are getting from para-military forces and central agencies in our efforts to intensify the security cover in the state," Gujarat DGP P C Thakur said.

Since Somnath temple in Gir-Somnath district has remained on the target of terrorists, more than 250 policemen along with State Reserve Police as well as NSG commandos are deployed in and outside the temple since yesterday.

Security was also tightened in Jammu and Kashmir, two days after a top army commander disclosed that there were "disturbing" inputs about a terror attack in the country and also after the detection of a tunnel along the international border in Jammu region.

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In New Delhi, after the review meeting, Home Minister



Rajnath Singh said that action has been taken following the intelligence inputs.

"We have received some information and whatever necessary instructions had to be given, have been given," Singh told reporters.

Singh also reviewed the steps taken to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats, official sources said.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said security agencies were working and taking necessary steps after receiving the intelligence inputs.

In Kolkata, security has been beefed up in the city while general entry at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose international airport has been banned for three days after receiving a threat mail.

In view of the January 2 terror attack in Pathankot airbase, security agencies were not taking any chances and all possible steps are being taken to prevent any terror strike.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold extensive talks with her Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir tomorrow during which they will discuss entire gamut of bilateral ties besides regional and global issues of mutual interests.

Al-Jubeir's visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful Arab nations, from April 2.

Saudi Arabia is India's largest crude oil supplier accounting for about one-fifth of the country's total imports. The Gulf nation is India's fourth largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching USD 40 billion in 2014-15.

Indians are the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia whose contribution in the progress and development of the country is well recognised. There are over 2.96 million Indians currently working in Saudi Arabia.

"During the visit, the two ministers will discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest," the External Affairs Ministry said.

Ways to ramp up trade trade ties, besides exploring new areas of cooperation are likely to figure in talks between the two leaders. The two leaders are set to deliberate on the situation in West Asia too.

Previously, Swaraj and Al-Jubeir had met on the sidelines of the First India Arab League Ministerial meeting in Manama on January 24.

The 'Strategic Partnership' the two countries established in 2010 envisions a deeper engagement in political, economic, security and defence areas through the Riyadh Declaration.

"In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and infrastructure development projects," the MEA said.

Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of his three- nation trip from March 30 during which he will also visit Washington to attend Nuclear Security Summit.

Starting his visit with Belgium on March 30 for India-EU Summit, Modi will travel to Washington for NSS from March 31 before his two-day bilateral visit from April 2 to Saudi Arabia.
India today reaffirmed its commitment to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to provide weather forecast to South and Southeast Asian region to mitigate loss to life and property due to natural calamities.

Secretary General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Geneva Petteri Taalas, today called on Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, and assured full support of WMO and hoped that India will continue to play leading role in meteorological observations, services and capacity building of developing countries.

Vardhan assured WMO that India would continue to play a vital role in implementation of its programmes in India and would provide forecast services/advisories to the South East Asian region to mitigate loss to life and property due to natural calamities.

India provides weather forecast/ advisories warning related to cyclone and tsunami to South and Southeast Asian countries and the Indian Ocean Rim Nations.

This is the first visit of Taalas to any National Meteorological Services in the world after taking over charge of Secretary General of WMO on January 1.

During his visit, he also met Secretary, MoES M Rajeevan, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General L S Rathore, and seniors officers of IMD.

A presentation on the activities of IMD and contribution to WMO activities through Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre, Regional Training Centre and Regional telecommunication Centres of WMO functioning at IMD was also made.
Housing Finance together with its group firm Real Estate has committed an investment worth Rs 25,000 crore in Haryana over the next seven years.

"Participating in the 'Happening Haryana Global Investors summit', Group has signed an MoU with the state government making an in-principle commitment to invest Rs 25,000 crore in the state over the next seven years by way of direct lending through home loans as well as indirect lending to the developers of various projects, particularly in the affordable housing segment," the company said in a statement.

Read more from our special coverage on "INDIABULLS" IREF to raise Rs 500 cr

The group is headquartered in Gurgaon and already has sizeable exposure in NCR, both as a lender as well as a developer, it added.

The statement said Indiabulls seeks to significantly scale up its operations in Haryana to provide a boost to the state's economy, as also to tap into the growing demand for affordable housing.
As US presidential election gathers steam, a young Indian-American-led research team is set to bring two separate dossiers on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the two Democratic Party frontrunners, that would raise serious questions on their candidature.

The voluminous dossier against Clinton is based on publicly available resources and hundreds of petitions filed under the freedom of information act (FOIA) - similar to India's Right to Information Act - which have been compiled by the Republican Party research team headed by 31-year-old Raj Shah.

"What we are seeing, a candidate (Clinton) after decades of living in a bubble, whether secret service protection, living in high-end mansions and nice fundraiser with elite crowd seems to be out of touch and out of step with the struggles of middle-income voters," Shah told PTI in an interview.

A graduate of the prestigious Cornell University, Shah, was appointed as research director of Republican National Committee (RNC) by its chair Reince Priebus last February.

Shah exuded confidence that the Clinton dossier now almost ready would raise serious questions about her candidature.

Questions about her "character" and "honesty" would keep on lingering, he said, referring to the documents that is now in his possession and would be finally handed over to the Republican presidential nominee, whenever it is decided.

"Somebody who has lived the way she has for so many years, cannot possibly understand the struggles of middle class Americans," Shah said, adding, "her failures dramatically outweigh the accomplishments."



"Her record as Secretary of State, when you scratch the surface, there is a whole lot of vulnerability there, whether it is foreign policy, whether you look at actions of Russia, look at chaos in the Middle East, Libya and other places."



"Then, there is how she handled managing State Department in particular secret email server that has got her into hot water," Shah alleged.

Refusing to divulge details of the dossier, Shah indicated that Clinton's term in the State Department would be one of the main focus areas to attack the former First Lady.

Shah said a similar dossier is ready for Sanders, the Senator from Vermont, the other Democratic presidential candidate.

"Our primary mission in the campaign is to make the case that Clinton and Sanders can take the country further down the wrong direction," he said.

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In fact, Shah is known for specialising in anti-Clinton research.

As co-founder of America Rising PAC, which he co-founded, he wrote a book "Failed Choices: A Critique of the Hillary Clinton State Department," with co-authors Stephen Thompson and Tim Miller.

"Raj is the expert on the subject of all things Clinton, and his expertise will be an asset to our party," Priebus said at the time of his appointment last February.

Shah had served as deputy research director at the RNC during the 2012 election cycle.

He also served in various research roles at the White House during President George W Bush's second term.

As of now, he observed, it would be difficult to say who among Clinton and Sanders would be easier to defeat in the November presidential elections.

"With Sanders there is inexperience factor, his positions are more outside the mainstream," Shah said in response to a question, adding character questions would linger the most for Clinton.

"We are seeing a pattern in public life that stretches back decades now, shifting positions in ways that are politically convenient. Some of the stuff that she is being criticised for the campaign trail whether it is speaking fee, she has a long history with that as well.

"It dates back to 1990s, selling overnight stays in Lincoln bedroom and coffees at the White House," he alleged.

Shah has been doing "opposition research" for over a decade now.

"We build out a fact-driven case for or against the candidates that we are looking at. What we do in the research team is to put together in the fact sheet," he said.

He said the document against Clinton would be nearly 1000 pages-long and the research is all based on information that is publicly available.

"We filed hundreds of FOIA to all state and federal offices. That is a process that uncovers new information that may not have been in the public domain. It is a lot about connecting the dots," he said.

But he ruled out looking into personal and private lives of the opponents.

"We are not looking into personal lives," he said.

A second generation Indian-American, Shah's parents are from Mumbai having origins in Gujarat.

His father first came to the US for studies in 1970's then moved back to India. But after marriage his father and mother moved back to the US in late 70's.

They lived in Chicago and then moved to Connecticut, where Shah was born and raised.
All-women Indian theatre group Creative Arts, has been invited to stage its award winning production, "Baawre Mann Ke Sapne", in Colombo on the International Woman's Day tomorrow.

Invited by the SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, the Ramanjit Kaur-directed play will reflect the battle of every woman, working or otherwise.

"The SAARC Cultural Centre invited us for staging 'Baawre Mann ke Sapne' at the prestigious Lionel Wendt Theatre on the occasion of International Woman's Day tomorrow," Kaur told PTI from Colombo.

"After the positive response we got from the audience of Kolkata, New Delhi and Mumbai, we hope to connect with the Lankan audience too," she said.

Certain issues pertaining to women are universal, crossing boundaries, language and customs, said Kaur.

"Baawre Mann Ke Sapne" has been woven together through improvisations, incidents and real life experiences, the SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, said in its website announcing that it will be celebrating the International Woman's Day with this production.

The script of "Baawre Mann Ke Sapne" is derived from a dozen short stories by women writers ranging from Jhumpa Lahiri of the new generation to veterans like late Lalithambika Antharjanam.

The production had bagged the best theatre award at the National Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity in Mumbai and also critically acclaimed at the International Theatre festival by Bratyajan of Kolkata.

"During our workshops we slog from 7.30 AM to 7.30 PM but when we return home, we switch to the homemaker mode, as all women are practised to do in their lives," Kaur said.

"We consider homemaking a profession too. That means women balance both professions - career and home - with aplomb. This production aims to portray that," she said.
Indonesia defended today its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a suspected war criminal, into the country for a summit of Muslim nations.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 because of suspected involvement in crimes against humanity, specific war crimes and genocide. The charges stem from reported atrocities in the conflict in Darfur.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia is not an ICC member state and has no legal mechanism or obligation to arrest al-Bashir.

"It is a matter between him and the ICC, not the question of Indonesia," he said.

The US Embassy in Jakarta said it was "concerned" by al-Bashir's travel to Indonesia for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Like Indonesia, the US is not a party to the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC.

The embassy said in a statement that the US strongly supports the ICC's efforts to hold accountable those responsible for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo met with al-Bashir during the summit. The Sudanese leader didn't comment after the meeting.

Indonesian officials said the two discussed solidarity with Palestine and deeper economic ties.

Indonesia has promised to ratify the Rome Statute but there is continuing political opposition, partly because past atrocities by the Indonesian military might lead to ICC cases.

Last year, al-Bashir reportedly canceled a trip to an Asia-Africa conference in Jakarta after protests by rights groups.
Indonesia's president today urged a summit of Muslim nations to be part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than part of the problem.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who heads the most populous Muslim nation, said the entire world is concerned by the deterioration of the situation in Palestine and criticized what he called Israel's "unilateral and illegal policies."



Officials from 57 countries are meeting in the Indonesian capital Jakarta for a special summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that is focused on Palestine and Jerusalem. The Middle East quartet and permanent members of the UN Security Council are also represented.

"The OIC should be part of the solution, and not part of the problem," Jokowi said in opening remarks to the summit. "If the OIC cannot be part of the solution to Palestine, then the OIC becomes irrelevant."



Israel says a recent surge in violence is a result of a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli military rule.

Among the leaders at the Jakarta meeting is Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes allegations linked to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
President Hassan Rouhani praised today the strategic role played in recent elections by Mohammad Khatami, Iran's ex-president who is subject to a media ban, thanking him in a speech aired live on state television.

Rouhani's remarks, during a visit to Yazd, the home town of Khatami, Iran's only reformist president, prompted cheers from the crowd but the sound of their applause during the broadcast was lowered several times.

Iranian media are forbidden on the orders of Tehran's prosecutor from publishing pictures of Khatami, president between 1997 and 2005, or quoting his words, on account of his support for the defeated reformist candidates in the disputed 2009 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Regardless of the restrictions Khatami was a guiding influence in the success of pro-Rouhani reformist politicians in last month's elections which reduced conservative dominance in Iran's parliament.

He circumvented the ban and used YouTube and the smartphone message sharing app Telegram to urge Iranians to back reformists, also naming the group's candidates as representing a "List of Hope" for Iran.

"After the honourable leader, who had the main role in mobilising people to the ballot boxes, all elites, elders, and in particular the pride of this town, invited people in this election to create a great epic," Rouhani said, alluding to Khatami before naming him outright.

"When I entered parliament those individuals whom you brave people of Yazd province had sent to the parliament were shining flowers and lights... And in that very parliament, from Ardakan, was my dear brother Seyed Mohammad Khatami," the president added.

"Heroic Iran shall never forget its servants, those who worked for Iran's glory. They are, today, regarded as the pride of the land and no one can silence their name and their greatness."



Social media showed banners of Khatami and Rouhani were held up by the crowd during the speech but they could not be seen on the live broadcast.

Rouhani was accompanied on the trip by Mohammad Reza Aref, a vice president during Khatami's administration, who led the List of Hope's candidates during the February 26 elections.

The group swept Tehran, winning all 30 seats in the capital, and made large gains in other cities and provinces.

The media ban on Khatami remains controversial. Iran's judiciary is independent of the government but a spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, quoted by the ISNA agency today, echoed Rouhani's remarks.

Asked about the ban on Khatami's image and his role in encouraging people to vote, ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi said: "We are thankful for the presence of all distinguished figures and scientific, political and cultural personalities who encouraged people and had a role in the election.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra has directed officials to check the sale of spurious fertilizers and chemicals to farmers in the state.

"The enforcement wings of the departments of Agriculture, Horticulture and other allied departments should work closely and keep effective check to ensure against spurious fertilizers and chemicals sold to the farmers.

"The enforcement wings shall be held responsible if there is any default," Vohra said during a review meeting at the Shalimar campus of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)-Kashmir here yesterday.

The Agriculture department must ensure hassle-free services to the farmers and fruit growers across the state and keep a check on rates, quality and availability of the inputs required by the agriculture and horticulture sectors, Vohra said.

Regarding the soil and pesticide testing facilities, the Governor asked his Advisor Khursheed Ahmad Ganai to ensure that the required funds to make the SKUAST-K Laboratory fully functional were immediately released within the next few days.

The Governor stressed the importance of high density apple plant nurseries being set up in the Valley to increase horticulture produce and uplift of the state's economy.

He also called for planned initiatives for creating awareness about various schemes and latest techniques in agriculture and horticulture sectors.

The Governor inaugurated a two-day technological exhibition cum seed mela, organized by the University to promote and propagate the adaption of improved farming systems in the Valley.

He stressed the need to reduce the distance between the laboratory and the fields so that every farmer is benefited.

The farmers should be encouraged to adopt the latest technologies, the Governor said adding there is a need to promote organic farming as it will benefit the farmers as well as improve the state's environment.

The development of agriculture sector will benefit over 60 per cent of the state's population and usher in a new era of progress, Vohra added.
Jain Irrigation Systems (JISL) today got CCI approval for selling its stake worth Rs 792 crore in the company and its food subsidiary JFFFL to agri-business funding firm Mandala Capital.

The company had announced the plan in November last year to raise capital with the primary purpose of accelerating JISL's balance sheet strengthening and also providing growth capital for JFFFL.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved "acquisition of stake in Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd (JFFFL) and Jain Irrigation by Mandala Rose and Mandala PrimRose Co-Investment Ltd", the regulator said in a tweet.

In the first stage, JFFFL will raise Rs 396 crore from Mandala by issuing preferential equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs).

Upon conversion of CCDs in five years, Mandala is likely to get up to 17.13 per cent stake in JFFFL depending on its performance.

In the second stage, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) will raise Rs 396 crore by making preferential issue of CCDs with 5 per cent annual coupon to Mandala for a subscription amount of Rs 285.1 crore.

The CCDs will be converted into ordinary equity shares of JISL within 18 months from the date of allotment of share at Rs 80 per piece or at such higher price as determined in accordance with the applicable Sebi norms.

"We are delighted to be putting together such a large equity investment from Mandala even in challenging global market conditions. Through the transaction, JFFFL is well funded for future growth," JISL Managing Director Anil Jain had said during announcing the deal.

"At the high-end of the agreed range, the valuation placed on JFFFL by Mandala's investment in JFFFL is almost equal to the entire current market capitalisation of JISL. This equity issuance is high value accretive for the company and a game changer," he had said.

YES Securities is acting as financial advisors to JISL for the transaction, the company had said.

The food business of the company comprises food manufacturing units at Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Vadodara (Gujarat) and Chittoor ( Andhra Pradesh) besides the indirect subsidiaries carrying on food business activities.

Jain Irrigation is engaged in manufacturing of micro irrigation systems, PVC pipes, HDPE pipes, plastic sheets, agro processed products, renewable energy solutions, tissue culture plants, financial services and other agricultural inputs since the last 34 years.
Jewellers today decided to continue their pan-India strike for an indefinite period against the Budget proposal to impose 1 per cent excise duty, despite the Centre's assurance that it would look into the issue.

"We have met more than 358 associations affiliated with GJF, consisting of over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, artisans, among others, who have collectively decided to extend the strike indefinitely, till we get some positive announcement from the government," All India Gems and Jewellery Federation (GJF) Chairman Sreedhar G V told reporters here.

He said the excise tax guidelines, which have been drafted for the gems and jewellery industry are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry.

"We urge the government to withdraw the proposal. Our protest continues till the government takes cognisance of our views and acts favourably," he added.

Jewellers have been on a strike since March 2, protesting against the proposed excise duty imposition on non-silver jewellery items made in the Budget 2016-17 as well mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transaction of Rs 2 lakh and above.

Representatives of GJF on March 4, met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to press for their demands.

After the meeting, GJF had said the Finance Minister has assured that he will look into their grievances. But, the Federation still decided to extend the protest till today.

He further said Jaitley had expressed concern and asked for alternatives to the excise duty.

On March 3, the GJF delegation had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave him their representation. "The PM gave us his valuable time and heard about our plight," he added.

The industry is estimated to have incurred a business loss of Rs 10,000 crore during the six-day strike, which includes bullion, diamond and jewellery.

The size of gems and jewellery industry is estimated at around Rs 3.15 lakh crore with the potential to grow to Rs 5 lakh crore by 2018.

(Reopens BOM 10)



Meanwhile, supporting the jewellers' strike, the Confederation of All India (CAIT), in a statement, said revenue generation is necessary, but excise duty is not the only solution and other options can be worked out by talks between trade and the government.

CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said there could be many other alternatives for augmentation of revenue, which will protect not only the interest of traders but also of the government.

He said gold has been considered as the safest option for saving investments by majority of people in the country.

The levy of excise duty, TCS, custom duty and of VAT on gold will make it a costly option and will discourage consumers from investing in gold which will result in loss of business and lakhs of small artisans and traders across the country will be adversely affected, he added.

Meanwhile, in a meeting of jewellers in Uttar Pradesh, it has been decided yesterday to go on indefinite strike, President of Uttar Pradesh Sarafa Association, Mahesh Chander Jain told
Bullion and jewellery traders in Uttar Pradesh, on strike since March 2 against the Budget proposal to re-impose 1 per cent excise duty on jewellery, have decided to extend the stir indefinitely.

Jewellers across the country have been protesting against the proposed excise duty imposition on jewellery items made in the Budget 2016-17 as well mandatory quoting of PAN by customers for transaction of Rs 2 lakh and above.

In a meeting of jewellers from the state, it has been decided yesterday to go on indefinite strike, President of Uttar Pradesh Sarafa Association, Mahesh Chander Jain told PTI.

Meanwhile, all jewellers in Meerut continued their strike for a sixth straight day, President of Meerut Bullion Traders Association, Ravi Prakash Aggarwal said.

Most of the bullion markets and jewellery showrooms have been closed since March 2 in major cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai.

"The budgetary proposal levying one per cent excise duty on jewellery would affect trade and wipe off the existence of small jewellers," Jain said.

The trade in the state is estimated to have incurred huge losses during the strike, he added.

"It has been decided that jewellers will not end their strike till the government rolls back the proposal", Jain added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget for 2016-17 had proposed 1 per cent excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on jewellery excluding silver other than studded with diamonds and some other precious stones.

The Finance Ministry has clarified meanwhile that jewellers only with turnover of more than Rs 12 crore will be liable to pay 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery items.
The JNU Students Union today alleged that varsity Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi made a "false" statement before a probe panel that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and other student leaders had a meeting with him (Zutshi) on the day of controversial Afzal Guru event.

Zutshi had claimed, deposing before the high-power enquiry committee constituted by Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, that Kanhaiya Kumar was against the authorities' decision to cancel permission of the February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The university issued a press statement today saying the, "Registrar had a meeting with three JNUSU representatives- Kanhaiya Kumar, Rama Naga and Saurabh Sharma (ABVP) on February 9 for discussion on route for newly acquired bus for physically challenged students of JNU".

Zutshi has made the same statement before the probe panel inquiring into an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The students union, however, claimed that Zutshi's statement was "false and no such meeting took place."



"We want to condemn the false statements made by JNU Registrar. I have checked with other JNUSU office-bearers. There was no such meeting of Zutshi with JNUSU President and General Secretary, on February 9 as described by him in his statements. The other office-bearers did not even meet one another, let alone meeting the Registrar together," JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora said in a statement.

Zutshi, is also under criticism from a section of students and teachers for allegedly mishandling the issue.

Meanwhile, the students union is holding a council meeting tonight to discuss the "onslaught on JNU and future course of action".

The meeting has been called by general secretary Rama Naga, who is among the six students whose role in the February 9 event is being probed.

"Fight for justice for Rohith Vemula and installation of portrait of poet Vidrohi in JNUSU office and Vidrohi Bhawan," are the two other agendas for the meeting.

However, Saurabh Sharma, joint secretary JNUSU and the only ABVP member in the union, said that Rama Naga has no authority to call a council meeting in the face of charges and discrepancies he is facing.

"The council meeting has been called by Rama Naga the general secretary of the JNUSU. Naga is facing sedition charges and has also been debarred from JNU in addition to facing proctorial enquiry. After the February 9 incident he was absconding and surfaced on the February 21 He has no authority to call a council meeting," he said.

Saurabh also said ABVP is demanding resignation of Kanhaiya, Naga and Shehla.

"We are also demanding that the President, Vice President and General Secretary should resign on moral ground because they maligned the JNU and participated in Anti national activities," Sharma said.
JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar will lead the movement demanding release of two other varsity students who are still in judicial custody in a sedition case.

"Though I have got bail in the case despite both the government and police trying their best to delay it as far as they can but our fight is not over yet. Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are yet to be released. I will now lead the ongoing student movement," Kanhaiya said.

Kanhaiya was released from Tihar Jail last week after the Delhi High Court granted him bail.

"Though 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 added.

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.

While Kanhaiya spent 18 days in jail, two other students -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are also in judicial custody in a sedition case over the event.

The JNU Students Union led by Kanhaiya has called a council meeting tonight to discuss the "onslaught on JNU" and finalise their future course of action.

In Kanhaiya's absence, JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora had led the student agitation.

The JNUSU president was arrested in connection with the February 9 event. Five other students -- Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rama Naga, Anant Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar -- had gone in hiding since then but resurfaced on the campus 10 days later.

While Umar and Anirban surrendered before the police, the remaining three refused to do so but maintained that they are open to questioning by police as and when needed.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit the family of BSP founder Kanshi Ram in Punjab on his birth anniversary on March 15.

This will be the AAP chief's second visit to the assembly poll-bound state which has a sizable Dalit population, in a fortnight.

Party sources said Ram's family invited the AAP chief to their village. The BSP founder was born in Pirthipur Bunga village of Punjab.

"He has been invited by the family of Kanshi Ram and villagers of Bunga. So, he will be visiting them on March 15, Ram's birth anniversary," said an AAP leader.

The elections in Punjab are slated for early next year. The party has four MPs, all from Punjab.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel today praised jailed Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel, saying he has "brought the community together".

"When I was coming, people shouted 'Jai Sardar (an invocation to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel). I also shouted 'Jai Sardar'. We are all marching ahead on the call of 'Jai Sardar'. This community (Patidar) has today come together because of that boy," he said without taking the name of the 22-year-old Hardik.

The 87-year-old politician, an important leader of Patels who still enjoys clout in the State, was speaking at an event organised by the Patidar community near the temple town of Somnath, around 400km from here.

Keshubhai, once a rival of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, quit BJP in 2012 and floated Gujarat Parivartan Party to contest the Assembly elections that year.

However, he resigned from the fledgling outfit after it won just two Assembly seats in a 182-member House. The veteran politician, who himself won from Visavadar in Junagadh district, later resigned as MLA due to ill health.

Though the two-time BJP Chief Minister had met Hardik at least once during the height of the quota agitation last year, this is possibly the first time he has showered praise on the young community leader from a public forum.

Before his arrest, Hardik had come calling on Keshubhai before meeting Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in September last year.

Hardik, lodged in Surat's Lajpore Jail, faces charges of "sedition" and "waging war against the government" in cases filed in Ahmedabad and Surat. An order on his bail plea in Ahmedabad is likely to be pronounced by a court tomorrow.

Hardik has been leading the agitation for quota under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS).
Sri Lankan navy has foiled a bid by two people to smuggle 6.94 kilogrammes of gold worth nearly 34.5 million Sri Lankan rupees to India in a fishing boat, officials said on Monday.

Sri Lankan navy yesterday arrested the two people from northern Jaffna peninsula's Madagal area as they were trying to smuggle the gold to India.

6.94 kilogrammes of gold, worth nearly 34.5 million Sri Lankan rupees, was seized from them.

The suspects were attempting to transfer the stock of gold by means of a dinghy, a navy statement said.

The items were handed over to Sri Lanka Customs in Jaffna for further investigations, it said.
The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.

Navy SEAL teams don't have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This weapons carousel undercuts the "train like you fight" ethos of the U.S. Special operations forces, they said.

Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.

US military officials said they were looking into the issue.

Sharing rifles may seem inconsequential. It's not. The weapons, which are outfitted with telescopic targeting sights and laser pointers, are fine-tuned to individual specifications and become intensely personal pieces of gear.

"They want their rifles," Hunter said. "It's their lifeline. So let them keep their guns until they're assigned desk jobs at the Pentagon."



The problem isn't a lack of money, according to Hunter. Congress has frequently boosted the budgets of special operations forces in the years since the 9/11 attacks, he said.

Rifles also are among the least expensive items the military buys, leading Hunter to question the priorities of Naval Special Warfare Command, the Coronado, California, organization that oversees the SEALs.

"There is so much wasteful spending," he said. "Money is not reaching the people it needs to reach."



Combat rifles can cost up to several thousand dollars depending upon the type of weapon and quality of the sights and other attachments.

But the M-4 carbine, the standard combat rifle used by the military branches, cost less than $1,000 each when bought in bulk, according to Defense Department budget documents.
Comedian Louis CK has appealed to his fans to not vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The 48-year-old "Louie" star compared Trump to German dictator Hitler, in a lengthy online post addressed to his fans, reported Aceshowbiz.

The post began with, "Please stop it with voting for Trump. It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all."



CK said he's endorsing neither Hilary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders but he's open to a "good smart conservative" to represent the Democrats.

Then he noted, "Trump is not that. He is dangerous.
Mahashivratri was celebrated with religious fervor and gaiety across the Jammu region with thousands of devotees thronging temples to offer prayers to Lord Shiva.

Elaborate security arrangements were made across the region, especially in and around the temples, in the wake of "disturbing inputs" that terrorist outfits might try to create trouble during the festival.

The Kashmiri Pandit community celebrated the occasion as 'Herath'. Over one lakh devotees paid their obeisance at the famous Shiv Khori temple in the Reasi district of the state.

Mahesh Sharma, Executive Officer, Shri Shiv Khori Shrine Board, said about 1,07,453 devotees have visitedShiv Khori since morning and the pilgrimage was still on.

A grand Shiv Khori fair was also organised by the district administration Reasi, Shri Shiv Khori Shrine Board (SSKSB) and Tourism department for Shivratri.
In a fresh blow to beleaguered Vijay Mallya, the Debt Recovery Tribunal today barred him from withdrawing USD 75 million exit payment from British liquor giant Diageo till the disposal of Kingfisher Airlines' loan default case filed by SBI.

Diageo and United Spirits Ltd, owned by the UK-based firm, have also been restrained by DRT Judge Benakanahalli from temporarily disbursing the amount to Mallya, who worked out the deal under a severance package. The tribunal ordered that the amount be attached till the disposal of the original application filed by State Bank of India in 2013.

In his order on the plea by the SBI application seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million sweetheart deal, the judge also directed disclosure of details of the agreement which they have arrived at.

Three other applications filed by SBI before the DRT will come up for hearing on March 28.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT here against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him.

The state-owned top lender had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, which the judge had said on March 4 would be heard later.

Mallya had to quit recently as chairman of United Spirits - a company founded by his family in which he sold majority stake to Diageo.

Under the deal, that also ended a year-long boardroom battle at United Spirits, Diageo has agreed to pay Mallya USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore).

The settlement was sealed even as at least three banks including SBI declared the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Mallya and his group holding firm UBHL (United Breweries Holding Ltd) as 'wilful defaulters' to recover unpaid loans.

DRT had on March 4 reserved its orders on the application



by SBI seeking the lenders' first right after hearing arguments by both sides.

Delivering the order today, it said: "The defendant (Mallya) temporarily shall not draw the amount mentioned in the present application till disposal of original application as sought by the applicant banks."



It also added: "Diageo plc, Diageo Netherlands and USL shall not dispense the amount to Mallya or any of his agents, nominee or asignee till the disposal of the original application. Amount mentioned in IA is attached.

"The defendants, Diageo plc, Diageo Netherlands and USL are directed to furnish details of the termination agreement arrived between them."



Under fire, a defiant Mallya had yesterday rubbished the charge that he was an "absconder" and said he was making efforts to reach a 'one-time settlement' with banks through additional payments to the lenders.

Denying that "personally" being a "borrower or judgement defaulter", he had flayed the "disinformation campaign" to paint him a "poster boy" of all bad loans. Questioning the "wilful defaulter" tag by some banks, he had also hit out at them, alleging that they didn't go after borrowers who "owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines".

Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 7,800 crore to the consortium led by SBI, which had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the airline.

Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank and Dena Bank.

Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter while Punjab National Bank had also declared him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters last month.

As part of the deal, Diageo said it would pay USD 40 million immediately to Mallya with the balance being payable in equal installments over the next five years.

It will also absolve Mallya of all liabilities over alleged financial lapses at the company founded by his family.
A 38-year-old air passenger who arrived here from Dubai today was taken into custody for allegedly smuggling gold worth Rs 52 lakh, airport officials said.

The person, a native of Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu, was found carrying 1.5 kg of gold concealed in a suitcase handle, which was detected by customs officials, they said.

He was taken into custody for questioning, they added.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has won the Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, US television projections have said, in a White House race otherwise led by billionaire Donald Trump.

Rubio, 44, had a comfortable lead in the US commonwealth in the Caribbean, according to CNN and NBC News yesterday.

Residents of the island have US citizenship but cannot vote in the US presidential election if they are Puerto Rico residents. Still, they take part in the primary process.

Rubio had about three quarters of the votes, the projections showed, which should hand him the 23 party convention delegates in play.

His campaign was in need of some good news. The son of Cuban immigrants who grew up in Las Vegas and Florida has been struggling in the presidential race.

If confirmed, this would mark just the second outright win for Rubio, who also took Minnesota on Tuesday.

Trump has kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race, and called for Rubio to end his presidential bid.

Senator Ted Cruz has emerged as Trump's strongest challenger in weekend primaries with mixed outcomes.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, extended her frontrunner status in the Democratic contests, though Senator Bernie Sanders showed he is still in the race with a pair of victories.

Clinton and Sanders compete today in Maine's nominating contest and face off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.
Marshall Islands today moved the UN's International Court of Justice in The Hague against India accusing it of failing to halt the nuclear arms race, evoking a sharp reaction from India which has written to the ICJ saying NPT provisions cannot be extended to it as a legal obligation.

The tiny South Pacific state began legal proceedings against India at the United Nations' highest court, as part of cases against three of the world's nuclear powers -- India, Pakistan and the UK -- in a bid to infuse new life into disarmament negotiations.

"The Republic of the Marshall Islands has instituted proceedings at the International Court of Justice against all nuclear weapon states, including India, contending breach of customary law obligations on nuclear disarmament flowing from Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Government believes that given our consistent and principled position on the NPT, to which India is not a party to, NPT provisions cannot be extended to India as a legal obligation. India has written to the ICJ denying this contention and reiterating India's position of principle on nuclear disarmament," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in New Delhi.

Hearings of the ICJ in this regard are to take place shortly, he added.

The Marshall Islands filed cases against all nine nations that have declared or are believed to possess nuclear weapons -- the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. But only the cases against the UK, India and Pakistan got to this preliminary stage as the other six declined to take part, according to the Marshall Islands' legal team.

Cases against Pakistan and Britain will start tomorrow and Wednesday respectively.
A 26-year-old trainee Merchant Navy officer from here has disappeared from his ship en-route to Mozambique under mysterious circumstances, his brother claimed today and demanded a CBI probe.

"My brother Sandeep Yadav had last talked to us 12 days ago before he went missing on March 2. He is a trainee electrical officer of 'MT Jag Pushpa' ship of the Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited," Bhupendra Yadav told PTI.

Bhupendra said their father Nandram, a police head constable, received a call from the company's Mumbai office on March 3 about Sandeep having gone missing from the vessel, which had started from Vadinar in Gujarat, while it was sailing in Indian Ocean.

"I left for Mumbai on March 4 and after reaching the company's office at Ocean House, Worli, I spoke with the captain of the ship.

"The captain informed me that Sandeep's cabin mate Abhishek told him that Sandeep was having a headache and didn't turn up (for duty).

"When Abhishek reached the cabin, he found Sandeep sleeping. Next day (on March 2), when he woke up he didn't find my brother," Bhupendra said.

The captain searched for Sandeep, but could not find him, he added.

"I tried to lodge a complaint with Worli police but in vain," he said, adding that the company has assured him of an inquiry.

"However, we need a CBI probe into my brother going missing," Bhupendra said.

He claimed that he dialled 'Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Helpline' and raised the issue but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, local MP Alok Sanjar called upon Sandeep's family this evening and assured them of organising a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to trace him.

"I am taking the family of Sandeep to Delhi and will take up the issue with External Affairs Ministry. I will provide all possible help to the troubled family," Sanjar said.
President Enrique Pena Nieto stepped up Mexico's criticism of Donald Trump's inflammatory comments about his country, saying his "strident rhetoric" recalls the rise of Hitler and Mussolini.

Pena Nieto urged Americans to vote with "caution" as he used newspaper interviews published today to slam the Republican front-runner's criticism of the Mexican government and migrants.

The Mexican leader condemned Trump's "strident tone," saying such comments seek "very simple solutions" to complicated problems, and he warned that they can hurt US-Mexican relations.

"There have been episodes in the history of humanity, unfortunately, where these expressions, this strident rhetoric, has only really led to ominous scenarios in the history of humanity," he told the daily Excelsior.

"That's how Mussolini and Hitler arrived. They took advantage of a context, maybe a problem, that humanity was experiencing at the time, after an economic crisis. And I think that what was proposed led to what we know from history, a global conflagration," the president said.

Pena Nieto's comments follow tough reactions from his predecessors, with former president Felipe Calderon also drawing a parallel with Hitler and Vicente Fox dropping the F-bomb against Trump's call for Mexico to pay for a border wall.

Trump, who leads the race for the Republican nomination, has railed against immigrants and especially immigration from Mexico, accusing the country of sending drug dealers and rapists to the United States.

As for the billionaire's vow to make Mexico pay for a border wall, Pena Nieto told Excelsior there was "no scenario" in which his government would foot the bill.

"I hope that the electorate there is really cautious" and that "in the end it results in a government with which -- as we have up to now -- we seek dialogue and we continue building bridges of understanding, within the framework of absolute mutual respect," he said.

In an interview with El Universal, Pena Nieto warned that Trump's statements "hurt a relationship that Mexico has sought with the United States of bridges, of dialogue, of rapprochement, of seeking solutions to shared problems."



He added, "It seems to me (such statements) come from an ignorance of Mexico."



The Mexican leader said, however, that he would seek a "constructive dialogue" with whoever is elected the next US president on November 8.
Supermodel Miranda Kerr has taken to social media to share her first pictures with billionaire boyfriend Evan Spiegel.

The Australian beauty, 32, and the Snapchat co-founder made their red carpet debut at a pre-Grammy Awards party last month, but Kerr has now gone public online, sharing sweet shots from their trip to Washington, DC on Instagram.

Posting photos of the couple in front of tourist attractions including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, the model seemingly timed her decision to publicly share the snaps just as cosy photos surfaced of her ex-husband Orlando Bloom with his rumoured new girlfriend Katy Perry.

Kerr, 32, has been dating the technology mogul since June, 2015 and she previously opened up about their low-key love life.
Linking the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar issues with rights of the marginalised, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of "crushing" the weak and the poor who demand their rights.

He also said Union ministers and BJP leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him but they should not "crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak."



"Tribals from Bastar met me today. They said they are facing atrocities in Chhattisgarh's Bastar and that they are being threatened and crushed.

"Country will not benefit by beating and threatening people. You pressurised Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, here you are pressurising Kanhaiya and our students," the Congress Vice President told reporters here.

He alleged that wherever the poor is seeking rights, "be it farmer, dalit, tribal or small trader --small traders came to me -- wherever a weak person is raising voice, NDA government, Modi government is trying to crush it."



These people are the strength of India and no one will benefit by crushing them, he said.

"If you have to take action, do it. Those who break law, take action. But by crushing, threatening and beating the poor won't help the country," Rahul said.

In an apparent reference to Modi's remarks in the Lok Sabha that "some people age but do not mature", Rahul said the PM and his Cabinet colleagues are free to attack him. "Modi attacked me personally. His party colleagues are attacking me personally on a daily basis," he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently took a dig at the Congress Vice-President over his Lok Sabha speech and said "the more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know - when will he know".

"As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity," Jaitley had said in a Facebook post reacting to Gandhi's remarks that Prime Minister Modi does not consult his senior ministers on policy issues.

"Do as much personal attacks as you want. But don't crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak. Hit me as much you want. Attack me as much you want. Speak for as long as you want to, but don't hit the poor people of the country," Rahul stressed.
Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, who was attacked with an acid-like chemical in Chhattisgarh, said on Saturday the condition of her face is reflective of the fight in naxal-hit Bastar area.

"My face today is the face of the fight in Bastar, the condition is the same. I was also jailed in a fake case of being associated with naxalites, the same way he (Kanhaiya) has been framed for his so called terrorist links. I am glad that JNU has started this massive movement which helped in getting bail for Kanhaiya," Sori said while addressing JNU students.

Sori, was introduced by Kanhaiya to the audience at the varsity's administration block, which has been the venue of protest ever since the students union president was arrested in a sedition case over an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti- slogans were allegedly raised.

"Government will not say anything when women are raped by policemen but in this case they applied all their tactics but could not find a single evidence against Kanhaiya. But JNU students have always expressed solidarity with my fight since 2011," she added.

Sori, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on an AAP ticket, was brought to the capital by the party and taken to the hospital as the local doctors were "unable" to identify the chemical and treat her.

The 44-year-old Adivasi school teacher was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch for Chhattisgarh Police in 2011 on charges of acting as a conduit for Maoists. During her imprisonment, she alleged that she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh state police. By April 2013, the Indian courts had acquitted her in six of the eight cases filed against her due to lack of evidence.

When the agitation for Kanhaiya's release was going on, a group of JNU students had burnt the effigy of Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh condemning the attack on Sori.

(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.)
threatened "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland if the two allies push ahead with joint military drills scheduled to begin today.

The threat to carry out what it described as a "pre- emptive nuclear strike of justice" was made in a statement by the North's powerful National Defence Commission, citing the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA).

It came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use "at any moment," in response to tough new UN sanctions imposed over the North's fourth nuclear test in January and last month's long-range rocket launch.

Pyongyang has issued dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military tensions of the Korean peninsula.

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.

The national Defence Commission described the annual South Korea-US military exercises as "undisguised nuclear war drills" that threatened the North's national sovereignty, and vowed an all-out offensive in response.

"The indiscriminate nuclear strike... Will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea)," said the statement published by the North's official KCNA news agency.

Any strike would not just target operational theatres on the Korean peninsula, but also US bases on the mainland and in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.

"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," it added.

The annual exercises slated to begin today - called "Foal Eagle" and "Key Resolve" last for weeks and involve tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops.

Pyongyang has long condemned the drills as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.
Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan today began his four-day visit to the UK during which he will explore new avenues of cooperation in the defence sector.

Dhowan is scheduled to hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence, First Sea Lord, Chief of Defence Staff, and the other Senior Officers of the British Royal Navy.

Talking about Dhowan's visit, the Navy said India and the UK have several commonalities, which serve as the foundation for closer cooperation and multi-faceted interactions.

The Indian Navy has had traditional links with the Royal Navy which have come a long way since institutionalisation of various defence fora for enhancing bilateral relationship.

With constitution of the Indo-UK Defence Consultative Group (DCG) and the Military Sub Group (MSG) in 1995, a two-tier system of cooperation was established to take further the progress in various areas of defence cooperation.

In September 2004, the two countries inked a pact to embark upon a strategic partnership in which defence cooperation figures prominently.

Establishment of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks' forum, officially referred to as the Executive Steering Group (ESG) is the chief mechanism of enhancing cooperation between the two navies.

Indian Navy and Royal Navy are partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a Maritime Cooperation construct conceptualised and pioneered by the Indian Navy in 2008.

The two navies also interact on a host of issues like training, doctrinal concepts, Maritime Domain Awareness(MDA).

"The ongoing visit of Admiral Dhowan will consolidate on existing maritime cooperation initiative as well as explore new avenues," the Navy said in a statement.
Amid rising number of dog bite cases in Delhi, the NDMC has decided to conduct a canine census in its area beginning with the Walled City, six years after such an exercise was taken up by the then unified MCD.

"Stray dog census would be conducted in our areas. Out of the six zones, we will begin the exercise with two zones -- City and Sadar Paharganj ourselves while for the rest four we have already floated tenders for private agencies," a senior NDMC official told PTI.

City and Sadar Paharganj Zones fall under the Old City, where a case of fatal dog bite was reported a few months ago, and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said the Walled City area, being more populated and congested, was chosen on a "priority basis".

"Street dog menace is a major issue in the city and we have been trying to address it through various means, whether it is opening of sterilisation centres or procurement of dog-catching vans," he said.

NDMC's Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj in the panel's meeting today said, "10 new vans costing nearly Rs 54 lakh would be procured soon to catch stray dogs."



No official census of streets dogs in Delhi has taken place in the last six years even as the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had been planning to conduct a fresh one in its area.

The last count of street dogs was done in 2009 for the then Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which had pegged their population at around 5.62 lakh. The MCD was trifurcated into - North, South and East Corporations in 2012.

Cases of dog bites, including children being fatally attacked by them in areas such as Darya Ganj and Okhla, have raised concern about street safety in the city.

The death of a seven-year-old boy in Jamia Nagar area last August after being attacked by a pack of dogs had prompted both the Delhi High Court and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognisance of the issue which later had issued notice to the civic bodies.

"We are committed to ensure safety of citizens and that is why we will soon be also opening our three new sterlisation centres in Rohini, Timarpur and Shradhanand Marg. We already have started one in Udyog Vihar's Peeragarhi area but the operation have been currently stalled due to water issues but we will resume soon," the official said.

"Along with the drivers for dog-catching vans, two trained dog catchers would also be hired. Besides, an ambulance van as a mobile sterilisation and immunisation centre is also on the cards," Bhardwaj said.

"A register would be maintained with details about dogs getting sterilised and vaccinated. Dangerous and rabid dogs would be kept in separately," he said.

The number of sterilised dogs for NDMC from April 2012 to June 2015 stands at 19,128.
Noting that progress cannot be made by neglecting half of the population of the society, speakers at a programme organised by the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board today said there is a need to sensitise men to check crimes against women.

Speaking on the eve of International Women's Day, Padma Bhushan awardee Indrajeet Kaur said women created the society and progress cannot be achieved by neglecting them.

The social activist said the ills prevailing in the society were responsible for increasing crime against women and people should give a serious thought to finding a solution to them.

Kaur said in a country like India where women have been accorded the status of goddesses, their poor condition was unfortunate.

Educationist Naeema Khatoon said on one hand the society reveres women as goddesses, on the other it discriminates against them. All parents ask their daughters to return home before dusk but do not say the same to their sons, she said.

Khatoon said there was a need to sensitise youths to protect women as it would help prevent incidents like the Nirbhaya gangrape case and added that discrimination against women is rampant even at workplaces.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University G B Pattnaik said there was a myth in society that women were lagging behind, in reality the society itself is backward and added that now women are competing with men in every sector.

Chairperson of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board Shaista Amber said harassment of women continues despite stringent laws and to end it children should be taught to respect women.
The first round of voting to elect the new president of Nepali Congress ended inconclusively leading to a run-off poll today.

No candidate could manage to win the election held for the post of the president of Nepali Congress on the final day of the 13th general convention yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, 69, secured first position with 1,565 votes and the party's vice-president Ramchandra Poudyal secured second position with 1,152 votes.

General secretary Krishna Sitaula received 324 votes.

As per the statute of the Nepali Congress it requires more than 50 per cent votes to win the presidential election. There are altogether 3,156 votes cast and 108 were invalid.

The election process was pushed to the run-off as the presidential frontrunner Deuba had fallen 11 votes short of 1,575, required to get the top post.

Only two candidates, Deuba and Poudyal were in the run for the presidential post in the second round of polls. Twenty voters who took part in the first round, did not cast their vote in the second round.

Speaking to journalists briefly after casting his vote in the run-off, Deuba claimed the election was only a formality.

The election was called in to elect the party's new leader to succeed 79-year-old former prime minister Sushil Koirala, who passed away last month. Three candidates are in the fray for the post of party president.

The general convention of the oldest party Nepali Congress will have significant impact in the political spectrum of the country.

Analyst say the power equation may change in the country after the election within the Nepali Congress.
A Nigerian court today charged a former chief of defence staff with a string of corruption charges, in the latest case involving a high-ranking official.

Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh was arrested last month and questioned about the alleged diversion of 3.97 billion naira (USD 19.7 million, 17.9 million euros) from the Nigeria Air Force in 2013.

The 59-year-old, who at the time was chief of air staff, was formally arraigned with 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering at a federal high court in Abuja today.

One of the charges states that he removed 1.4 billion naira from the air force accounts to purchase a mansion in the upmarket Maitama district of the capital.

Judge Okon Abang remanded Badeh in custody until a bail application on Thursday.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan appointed Badeh chief of defence staff in January 2014 at a time of growing dissatisfaction at the military's handling of Boko Haram's insurgency.

Badeh vowed a swift end to the conflict, which began in 2009, but his time in office saw the Islamist militants run riot in three northeast states, seizing swathes of territory.

The military appeared in disarray, with troops complaining about a lack of weapons and even bullets to fight the better armed rebels, leading some soldiers to refuse to deploy.

Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is currently facing a separate trial over his alleged diversion of billions of dollars for weapons procurement using bogus defence contracts.

Badeh's time in charge also saw Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April 2014, which caused worldwide anger and criticism of the government response.

In May that year he disclosed the military knew where the 219 girls were but that a rescue mission was dangerous. Nearly two years on, none of the teenagers has been found.

Nigeria's current President Muhammadu Buhari, whose anti-corruption campaign has seen several prominent politicians and officials arrested, sacked Badeh and his entire military high command in July last year.
Three Nobel Prize laureates were among thousands of people who signed a petition urging European leaders to secure the release of a hunger-striking Ukrainian pilot from a Russian jail.

The 34-year-old Nadiya Savchenko is standing trial for alleged involvement in the death of two Russian journalists in war-torn Ukraine. She faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted.

Savchenko has denied all charges and has not been eating or drinking since her hearing was adjourned Thursday before she was given a chance to make her final statement.

Her case is seen by many Ukrainians as a symbol of resistance against what Kiev's pro-Western leaders view as Russia's aggression in the eastern industrial heartland of the former Soviet state.

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied yesterday outside Moscow's diplomatic mission in Kiev to demand her repatriation to Ukraine. The protests saw the Russian embassy pelted with eggs and the windows of at least one diplomatic car smashed.

Savchenko's fate has also sparked concern among Western governments and leading human rights figures.

The Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich and two other Nobel Prize winners in literature - Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and the Lithuanian-American Tomas Venclova - told European leaders that Savchenko's life and the bloc's credibility were at stake.

"Our ability to save her life will test the effectiveness of international diplomacy and our commitment to European values," said an open letter posted on the Internet yesterday and signed by more than 5,000 people by early today.

Savchenko was "kidnapped and imprisoned for more than twenty months in the Russian Federation," the letter said.

"The Russian authorities have made a mockery of civil rights, international law, and their own Constitution. They show disdain for the international community and the Minsk Protocol" that aims to bring an end to the 23-month war.

Russian prosecutors argue that Savchenko was involved in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 in her capacity as a volunteer in a Ukrainian battalion.

She denies any involvement and says she was kidnapped and smuggled into Russia.

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.

The separatist war has claimed more than 9,100 live since pro-Russian insurgents angered by the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-backed leadership revolted against the Kiev authorities in April 2014.

Russia rejects Ukrainian and Western charges of instigating and backing the unrest.
Mumbai Press Club has invited nominations from journalists across the country for its prestigious RedInk awards.

The last date for nominations has been extended to March 15 in keeping with the suggestion made by editors and journalists, says a release issued by Mumbai Press Club here.

Entries are invited in 11 categories - politics, business, crime, science and innovation and environment.

Entries from print/web and television will be judged separately by juries set up for each of the categories, it said.

Last year, for the first time a new category - Journalist of the Year - was introduced and Srinivasan Jain of NDTV was given the award.

The theme of the RedInk Awards 2016 is 'To Rise Above It All', according to Gurbir Singh, President of Mumbai Press Club.

The theme assumes significance as journalists and journalism are under severe threat and pressures from violence, vested interest and hashtag writing, he said.

The Awards will be presented to the winners at a ceremony at the Jamshed Bhabha Hall, National Centre for Performing Arts, here on April 26.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would deliver the keynote address and participate in an ongoing media debate.

In the past, doyens of journalism including Vinod Mehta, Kuldip Nayar, N Ram, Mrinal Pande and last year Dr Prannoy Roy have been honoured with the 'Redink Award for Lifetime Achievement' for their long and consistent service to the profession.
Japanese scientists have proposed a novel turbine design to efficiently harness green energy from ocean currents that may be used to provide round-the-clock electricity to our homes.

Ocean currents are a source of power comparable to fossil fuels in terms of consistency and reliability, and at the same time, clean and renewable.

Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have proposed a design for a submerged marine turbine to harness the energy of the Kuroshio Current, flowing along the Japanese coast.

This design is especially suitable for regions regularly devastated by storms and typhoons, such as Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, researchers said.

The turbine operates in the middle layer of the current, 100 m below the surface, where the waters flow calmly and steadily, even during strong storms.

"Our design is simple, reliable, and power-efficient," said Dr Katsutoshi Shirasawa, a staff scientist in the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit.

The turbine comprises a float, a counterweight, a nacelle to house electricity-generating components, and three blades. Minimising the number of components is essential for easy maintenance, low cost, and a low failure rate.

The OIST design is a hybrid of a kite and a wind turbine: an ocean-current turbine is anchored to seabed with a line and floats in the current while water rotates its three blades. Ocean currents are rather slow, averaging 1-1.5 m/s.

However, water is over 800 times as dense as air, and even a slow current contains energy comparable to a strong wind. Additionally, currents do not stop or change direction.

The team, led by Professor Tsumoru Shintake, head of the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit, built a prototype turbine and conducted various experiments to test its design and configuration.

Results confirmed the robustness and stability of the turbine construction. The achieved efficiency is comparable to that of commercial wind turbines, researchers said.

The design can easily be scaled up or down, depending on local conditions and needs. Shirasawa and colleagues aspire to build an energy farm featuring 300 turbines 80 m in diameter.

The expected output is about 1 GW - the equivalent of one nuclear reactor, capable of powering over 400,000 homes. This project will be an important step towards development of green energy, researchers said.

Fossil fuels propelled the Industrial Revolution and subsequent technological advances. However, our future cannot be based on them, if only because they are a finite resource; and we are very close to exhausting them, researchers said.

Solar and wind power is often seen as the main locomotive of the energy revolution. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that solar panels and wind turbines alone cannot provide all the energy we need, especially considering that energy consumption around the world is steadily growing, they said.

The finding was published in the journal Renewable Energy.
US President Barack Obama ordered flags lowered to half-staff today at the White House and all federal buildings in honor of late former first lady Nancy Reagan.

Reagan, who died yesterday at age 94, will be buried alongside her husband former president Ronald Reagan tomorrow at his presidential library overlooking Simi Valley, California.

A fierce protector of her husband and his political legacy, Reagan had outsized influence during her White House years from 1981 to 1989.

Obama and his wife Michelle praised her "proud example" in a statement yesterday, saying she redefined the role of first lady.

Reagan, the 40th US president, suffered from Alzheimer's disease after leaving the White House and went into a long decline, cared for by his wife until his death in 2004.

The Obamas highlighted Nancy Reagan's advocacy "on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's."



As a "mark of respect" for the former B-movie actress, Obama ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at federal building, military posts, US naval vessels and diplomatic missions until sunset of the day she is buried.
Oil prices rallied further today, boosted by strong US jobs growth and as a cut in the country's crude drilling activities sparked hopes of an easing supply glut, analysts said.

Recent dollar weakness helped also to lift demand for the commodity priced in the greenback, as did indications that producers were already making moves to limit output.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in



April jumped USD 1.58 to trade at USD 37.50 a barrel around 1715 GMT.

Brent North Sea crude for May delivery surged USD 1.73 to USD 40.45 a barrel compared with Friday's close.

Brent earlier today hit a near three-month high at USD 40.68 a barrel and WTI reached a two-month peak at USD 37.68.

Prices had rallied Friday on the back of sliding US production and after the US Labor Department reported that the world's top economy added a robust 242,000 jobs in February.

"There was a bit of a double-win. On the one hand we had strong US jobs growth but on the other hand, we had lower wage growth and therefore, a weaker US dollar," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Australia, told AFP.

"There's an ongoing... Momentum in commodity prices generally and oil is part of that," he said today.

Bloomberg reported that US drillers have slashed the number of active rigs to their lowest level in more than six years.

However, analysts say that for an even greater gain for battered commodity prices there needs to be production cuts in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"We're a long way away from any production cut agreement. The market did react to the initial (announcement of) meetings but since then there hasn't been much to give markets any encouragement," Spooner said.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela last month agreed to freeze output if other producers followed suit.

Emirati Oil Minister Suhail Mazrouei today said that current market prices were already forcing most producers to freeze oil output levels, insisting it made "no sense" to pump more crude.

"Current prices are forcing everyone to freeze. So I think it is happening as we speak," Mazrouei told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

"It does not make any sense for anyone to increase production at current prices."



Mazrouei said he was aware of talks on holding a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, but stressed that he had not received an invite.
A united Opposition is set to corner the government in the upcoming budget session of the state legislature beginning March 9 over "failure" to tackle severe drought conditions and allegations of irregularities against ministers.

Dhananjay Munde, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, charged that the government did not take action against "five corrupt" ministers including Education Minister Vinod Tawde, Tribal Development minister Vishnu Savara and Women and Child welfare minister Pankaja Munde.

"We have exposed the manner in which these ministers are involved in corruption and had demanded an inquiry and their resignation during winter session held at Nagpur in last December. But nothing has happened as yet. We feel that this government is shielding corrupt ministers," Munde said.

Congress and NCP legislators say they would continue to put pressure on the state government in the upcoming session that will begin with a joint address by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to both Houses of the Legislature.

"We will continue to press our demands on these issues in the upcoming Budget session and will also raise drought, law and order situation in the state and failure of 'Make in India' event," Munde added.

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said that the Devendra Fadnavis government has failed to resolve the drought situation



"Fadnavis held a cabinet meeting at Latur on Friday. This was nothing but an eyewash as there was nothing new in the assurances given at a press conference,'" Vikhe-Patil said.

He added that farmers need immediate help as unseasonal rains and hailstorms in parts of North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha have ruined Rabi crops.

Girish Bapat, minister for parliamentary affairs, has, however said that state government is ready to reply to all issues that will be raised by Opposition party members.

Meanwhile, Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, chairman of Upper House and Haribhau Bagade, Speaker of the Lower House, have called a joint meeting of ruling and Opposition party leaders on Tuesday at 12 noon.

"They will mediate between the ruling and Opposition members to conduct business of both the Houses properly," said an official from the state legislature.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia this week to witness a major military exercise by troops of several Muslim countries to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terror groups.

"The Prime Minister will undertake a visit to Saudi Arabia on March 9-11," the Foreign Office said, citing the invitation extended by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

It said a large number of other Heads of State and Government have been invited to witness the ongoing military exercise 'North Thunder' and its closing ceremony.

Troops from 21 countries, including Pakistan, are participating in the exercise, in the northern region of Saudi Arabia.

"The main goal of the exercise is to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terrorist groups," the statement said.

Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with Saudi Arabia and both countries enjoy multi-faceted cooperation, including in the fields of defence and counter-terrorism.

Pakistan holds the Saudi Arabia has affirmed that "we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with our Saudi brethren against any threat to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Saudi Arabia," the Foreign Office statement said.

It said Pakistan has consistently supported all regional and international efforts to combat militancy, extremism and terrorism and, to this end, has extended its full support and cooperation to the international community.

Pakistan earlier had reservation on joining the 34-member coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism but later agreed to join the coalition.

Pakistan, however, said it will not deploy troops in foreign countries in combat role but share intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism.
Eighty-seven Indians, mostly fishermen arrested in Pakistan for allegedly violating its territorial waters, were Monday handed over to India at the Wagah Border after being released from a prison.

"We have handed 87 Indians, mostly fishermen, to the Border Security Force," a Pakistan Rangers official told reporters at the Wagah Border.

He said the Indian nationals have been handed over to the Indian authorities after verifying their documents.

The Indian nationals were freed from the Landhi Jail in Karachi Sunday. They arrived Lahore by a train today morning.

"After releasing 87 Indians, we now have a total of 457 more (Indians) in the prison, and most of them are fishermen arrested for territorial violation," Landhi jail's deputy superintendent Shakir Shah old The Express Tribune.

"Some 86 more Indians are likely to be released on March 20," he said, adding the 87 Indians had been in jail for more than two years.

Fishermen are frequently arrested along with their boats by both India and Pakistan as the maritime border in the Arabian Sea is poorly defined, and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location.

Some of them spend years in jail before being repatriated.

In the past the two nations have released each other's fishermen as goodwill gestures.

Although in December, India and Pakistan had agreed to revive the dialogue process when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad for a summit, but the same month 66 Indian fishermen were arrested by Pakistan.

In January, another 45 Indian fishermen were arrested for allegedly violating Pakistan's territorial waters.
Bangladesh's central bank said today that part of almost USD 100 million allegedly stolen from a reserve account in the United States last month has been recovered.

Suspected Chinese hackers stole the money from the foreign exchange account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 5, according to a central bank official and media reports.

Some of the money was then illegally transferred online to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the central bank official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Part of the money hacked from Bangladesh Bank's account in a bank in the United States has been recovered," the bank said in a statement, without disclosing the amount found.

"Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit is in contact with the anti-money laundering authorities of the Philippines to track down and bring back rest of the money," it added.

Philippine authorities have frozen the recovered money following court orders, Bangladesh Bank said.

Bangladesh's central bank has around USD 28 billion in foreign currency reserve.

Philippine website Inquirer.Net last week said the nation's financial regulators were investigating what could be the single largest money laundering case ever uncovered in the country.

It reported that the USD 100 million was leaked into the Philippine banking system, sold to a black market foreign exchange broker and then transferred to at least three local casinos.

The amount was later sold back to the money broker and moved out to overseas accounts within days.

"The initial report is that some funds went missing in Bangladesh and the suspicion is that this bank -- or the central bank of that country, itself -- was hit by hackers based in China," the Inquirer.Net said, quoting an unnamed banking source.

The portal said its findings were backed by at least three government officials and four bankers.
Punjab government has refused to pay a bill of Rs 6.35 crore to the Center for deployment of paramilitary forces during and after the terror attack at Pathankot air force base.

In a communication to the Center, the state government has said that the deployment of these units was in "national interest" and "expenditure thereon should not be billed to the state government", officials said here.

NDA constituents Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP are in power in Punjab.

Whenever central paramilitary forces are provided to any state, their expenses are borne by the central government but it is adjusted against the state's budget later on, a home ministry official said in Delhi.

The ministry of home affairs had billed the state government for the deployment of paramilitary forces in Pathankot and nearby areas between January 2 to 27 during and after the terrorist attack at the Air Force base in the region.

The attack had probably originated in Pakistan and it threatened national security, the state government said in response.

Congress, meanwhile, dubbed as "travesty" the Centre's move to bill Punjab, making a strong pitch for waiver of all militancy related dues of the state.

"Travesty to bill Punjab for #anti-terror operations ALL Militancy related dues of Punjab need waiver Punjab's fault Pakistan is its neighbor," party spokesman Manish Tewari said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

The state, which has a debt of Rs 1.17 lakh crore as of September 2015, was charged by the Centre for 20 companies of paramilitary for a period of 25 days.

Deployment of each company costs Rs 1,77,143 per day, according to the ministry of home affairs letter, officials said here.

Punjab has also been instructed to bear the transport charges. Of the 20 companies, 11 belonged to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and nine to the Border Security Force (BSF).

Punjab government also pointed to the Centre that six of those 20 companies were used only to monitor escape points for terrorists and not for law and order management, officials added.

On the issue of expenses occurred on operation to neutralize the terrorists at Pathankot, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had said the defence of Indian territory falls under the Union Government and the Centre should bear the expenses.

Seven security personnel and at least four terrorists were killed during the nearly 80-hour operation after the ultras sneaked into Punjab from Pakistan and attacked the air base on January 2.
North Korean threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States are "unhelpful" and serve only to aggravate tensions, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The US military has downplayed the risk from North Korea's nuclear arsenal and was going ahead with a joint annual exercise with Seoul involving 300,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops.

had earlier on Monday warned of pre-emptive and "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States as the two allies started the military exercises.

"That is rhetoric that is unhelpful," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.

"We continue to ask them to refrain from provocative actions and statements that only serve to aggravate tensions," he added.

Davis added that Washington and Seoul continue to move toward deployment of a sophisticated US missile defense system to South Korea.

He said the two countries last week signed "terms of reference" for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System deployment.
The body of well-known South Indian film actor Kalabhavan Mani, who died at a private hospital in Kochi, will be cremated at the premises of his residence today, as people thronged the government medical college hospital here to pay their last respects.

Hospital sources said post-mortem on the body was performed by a special team of doctors in the morning.

The decision to perform autopsy was taken after doctors at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, where he was treated for liver and kidney diseases, found substance of methanol in his blood samples.

They had reported the matter to police yesterday itself. Police have registered a case of unnatural death and constituted a special investigation team to probe the mystery behind the death, police sources said.

Mani (45) was brought to the private hospital on Saturday evening in a serious condition. He was put on ventilator support after his condition deteriorated last evening and died at 7.15 PM.

Meanwhile, thousands of people thronged the Medical College Hospital here to pay their last respects to the popular actor, who shot to fame with his performance as a visually challenged person in "Vasantiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njanum".

He won special accolades from both national and state film award juries for his performance in the movie.

Elaborate arrangements have been made to enable the public to pay their last respects to Mani here and at Chalakkudy in Thrissur district where the cremation is to be held at 5 pm.

Born on January 1, 1971, Mani was an autorickshaw driver when he started his career as a mimicry artiste at the famous Cochin Kalabhavan, a centre for learning performing arts, in Kochi two decades ago.

He began his acting career in the Siby Malayil directed Malayalam film "Aksharam".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the demise of Mani.

"A promising career is cut short. Kalabhavan Mani was multifaceted and popular. Pained by his demise. Condolences to his family and fans," he tweeted yesterday.

"It is an irreparable loss for us," noted film director Kamal has said.

Mani is survived by wife and daughter.

(Reopens MDS9)



Meanwhile, Idavela Babu, an office bearer of AMMA



(Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), said Mani's body would be shifted to Thrissur Government Medical College for post-mortem after questions were raised about his death at a young age.

A special team of doctors would perform the post-mortem at Thrissur Medical college tomorrow morning, he said.

However, police and Amrita Hospital authorities are tight-lipped about the exact cause of death.

Babu said arrangements are being made in Thrissur and his hometown Chalakkudy for his fans and public to pay their last respects.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight condoled the demise of Mani.

"A promising career is cut short. Kalabhavan Mani was multifaceted and popular. Pained by his demise. Condolences to his family and fans," he tweeted condoling Mani's death.
The Madras High Court today closed a PIL seeking a direction to authorities to shut unrecognised private schools after the Tamil Nadu education department informed 746 such schools had only been given a one-time temporary recognition.

In a counter-affidavit to the PIL, the School Education Department submitted that the schools had been given temporary recognition till May 31 as a one-time measure pending final decision to be taken by the government on the report submitted by the expert committee set up to look into the norms governing the schools.

Taking note of the counter, first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh said it had been stated that there was no chance of further extension as the temporary recognition was only a one-time measure.

"On our query, this position is once again affirmed by the counsel for the government, on instructions from Superintendent, Director of Matriculation Schools, K Venkatesan who was present in the court. We take afore said on record and close the PIL," the bench said.

The PIL was filed by NGO Change India, seeking to forbear the Education Department from granting recognition to schools, which fail to meet the norms specified by the school education department vide several Government Orders and the Supreme Court judgment and to close down all such unrecognised institutions.

It was filed consequent to the tragic death of 94 children in a fire accident in a nursery school on July 16, 2004 in Kumakonam, which had brought to fore lack of safety aspects in such schools functioning in cramped locations.

Counsel for the government submitted that the expert committee had been constituted on March 5, 2013 under the chairmanship of Director of School Education, for fixing the minimum land requirements of private schools.

He further submitted that the opinion of the Heads of the Department on the recommendations of the Committee has been sought, which is yet to be received and it was further affirmed that on receipt of the same, it will be suitably acted upon by the government.
A PIL today urged the Bombay High Court to order demolition of illegal constructions coming up in Kalyan-Dombivili municipal area in neighbouring Thane district despite a court ban due to lack of grounds for dumping waste material.

The PIL was mentioned today before a division bench headed by Chief Justice D H Waghela which posted the matter for hearing next week.

The petition, filed by real estate agent Kishore Sohony, sought a direction to Maharashtra government and the Commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to file a detailed report on the number of illegal constructions in the area and also take steps to demolish them.

The PIL urged for registration of criminal cases against municipal officials, real-estate developers and local politicians who are allegedly operating in connivance with the accused to build such illegal structures.

It also urged the state government and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take necessary steps to form a special force to tackle the spate of illegal structures being built on day-to-day basis in the municipal limits.

The petition further said there have been over 75,000 illegal constructions in KDMC jurisdiction in the last 25 years. The land-sharks hail from politics and are having partnerships with the municipal officers and local MLAs, it alleged.

The PIL said the high court had earlier imposed a ban on the new constructions in the Kalyan-Dombivli region due to paucity of an appropriate dumping facility.

Despite the ban, such illegal constructions are mushrooming in the area, it alleged.

The PIL also alleged despite illegal constructions going on, agencies such as Anti-corruption Bureau are turning a blind eye to the complaints lodged in this regard by civilians.

In the recent past, a real-estate developer wrote a confession to the ACB and the Chief Minister expressing his willingness to reveal the bribes paid by him to municipal officers and MLA for promoting illegal floors, but there has been no cognisance of it, the PIL further alleged.
An Italian flying a Japan-bound flight allegedly threatened to crash the plane with 200 passengers on board if his wife left him, according to a media report today.

The unnamed pilot, in his 40s, sent a text to his wife saying he would kill himself along with the 200 passengers on his Rome-Japan flight after she apparently threatened to leave, The Times reported on the incident that occurred in January last year.

Police managed to stop the at Fiumicino airport in Rome from taking controls of the flight just minutes before take-off. His wife had alerted authorities after he sent her a text message threatening to commit suicide and kill everyone on board the long-haul flight from Rome, the report said.

Another took his place and passengers were not told about the incident that has been kept secret until now, the report said.

The Italian pilot sent the text message after his wife announced she was leaving him, and referred to the flight he was due to take that night.

The pilot had previously been reported to police by his wife for mistreatment. He remains suspended and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, according to reports.

This incident happened two months before German pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed his Germanwings A320 in the Alps, killing 149 people.
A police complaint was lodged against noted Telugu actor and MLA N Balakrishna by a section of lawyers today for allegedly passing 'vulgar' comments against women at a movie function, police said.

Balakrishna, a TDP MLA from Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh, is the brother-in-law of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

"We have received a complaint against Nandamuri Balakrishna alleging that he made some vulgar comments against women at an audio release function for a movie held three days ago. We are seeking legal opinion on the issue," Saroornagar police inspector S Lingaiah told PTI.

Wading into the issue, YSR Congress MLA RK Roja today demanded an apology from the CM and Balakrishna on the issue.

"While the top leadership itself has been pursuing anti-woman policies it percolates down the line resulting in the harassment of women at various levels and such government should apologise to the women community," Roja told reporters on the eve of International Women's Day.
A self-styled zonal commander of ultra outfit People's Liberation Front of India was today killed in an encounter with the district armed police force in Naxalism-hit Palamau district, the police said.

The encounter took place when the activists of PLFI, who were preparing meals, opened fire at the police force approaching them in course of its special drive in the naxal-affected areas, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kanhaiya Singh, said.

The police force retaliated to the firing in self-defense and the zonal commander Amrit Yadav, a resident of Kasmar in the Panki police station limit, was killed in the firing, he said.

The other extremists fled, the police said adding three rifles, some live cartridges and Naxal literature were rocovered from the spot.
With the arrest of a 28-year-old man, Delhi Police today claimed to have busted a gang which was active in the national capital for the past three years, honey-trapping realtors and extorting them.

The accused has been identified as Arvind Kadyan, a small-time property dealer residing in west Delhi's Nangloi area, DCP (Special Cell) S K Yadav said.

According to police, the active presence of the gang first came to light when a Nangloi-based realtor, from whom the gang allegedly extorted Rs 40 lakh, approached the police in December 2015.

In his complaint, the realtor told the police that in December he was approached by a woman who wanted to sell an apartment.

One day the woman persuaded her to accompany to a vacant flat in the area where three others, with their faces covered, forced were already inside and allegedly threatened that they would take obscene pictures of the two and send them to his family.

The alleged extortionists demanded Rs 50 lakh from the realtor, who called up his brother-in-law and could manage Rs 40 lakh immediately.

Later, the case was transferred to the Special Cell and, based on a tip-off, a team tracked down Kadyan at southwest Delhi's Najafgarh area.

During interrogation, Kadyan told police that he worked under one Sandeep alias Rinku. The two of them allegedly extorted from the realtor with one Akash and the woman, who was roped in by Rinku.

Soon it also emerged that the gang had extorted Rs 7 lakh from another realtor from Haryana's Jhajjar district, who was honey-trapped by a minor girl. Others involved in the case were Rinku, Ajay, Ramesh Tiwari and a woman identified as Suman.

In the second case, reported in December 2012, the members of the gang forcibly entered a room dressed as police officials but the modus operandi was all the same.

In another case, reported in May 2012, the gang had allegedly extorted Rs 3 lakh from a realtor based in west Delhi's Mundka area.

In this case, members of the gang, including one woman identified as Chandni, even shot a video of their target getting intimate with the woman who honey-trapped him.

"Efforts are on to arrest the other members of the gang," police said.
Delhi High Court has sought Delhi Police's reply on the bail plea of sacked Uttarakhand minorities panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, who along with 20 others is facing a murder trial in a 2012 shootout here that claimed the lives of liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his younger brother Hardeep.

Justice P S Teji also asked the police to file their status report on Namdhari's plea which said he was "no more required by investigating agency and no purpose would be served while keeping him in jail with hardened criminals".

The trial court in July last year had framed charges under section 302 (murder) read with section 149 (offence committed by member of unlawful assembly) of the IPC against all the 21 accused including Namdhari and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) Sachin Tyagi.

Namdhari, however, in his bail plea claimed he was innocent and the complainant of the case on whose statement an FIR was lodged has not supported the police theory that he was part of the conspiracy in which the two brothers died.

He said the FIR did not contain his name and neither did the complainant mention his role in the incident.

The application also said he had never misused any of the condition imposed on him during an interim bail granted on earlier occasions. Currently, he is on interim bail which is to end on March 18.

"The rule is to allow bail rather to refuse the same. The bail ought not to be held as punishment, since the law presumes an accused to be innocent till the guilt is proved," Namdhari said in his plea filed through advocate R S Malik.

Ponty and Hardeep, who were allegedly involved in a property dispute, were killed in a shootout at a Chhattarpur farmhouse here on November 17, 2012. Subsequently Namdhari was arrested on November 23, 2012. Later, the remaining accused were apprehended.

Namdhari in his bail application also claimed that there



was no "premeditation" for shooting at Hardeep.

"The provocation came from the side of Hardeep, as he started firing indiscriminately at Ponty and his PSO fired the alleged shot in self defence...

"There was no reason or occasion for him to be part of the conspiracy, as he and his PSO had no interest in the properties of the deceased brother. They were not to be benefited in any manner and had thus no reason to be part of such conspiracy," the accused's counsel contended.

On January 28, 2014, the trial court had dropped murder charges against all the accused and added the charge of culpable homicide not amounting murder under section 304 of IPC against the alleged main conspirator Namdhari and his Personal Security Officer Sachin Tyagi.

On May 15 last year, on the plea of police, Delhi High Court had overturned the trial court's decision and directed framing of murder charges against all the 21 accused.

Ponty and Hardeep were also charge sheeted in the case. However, the trial against them had abated as they were killed in the shootout.

The court had ordered framing of criminal conspiracy, common intention and those under the Arms Act against all the 21 accused for trying to take over the disputed farmhouse from the possession of Hardeep.

Delhi Police had filed two charge sheets in the case and levelled murder charges against all the accused. The first charge sheet had named Ponty as an accused as he had reached the place of the incident with Namdhari and others as part of his "well-hatched conspiracy" to take possession of the south Delhi farm house.

The supplementary charge sheet had accused Hardeep in the case, saying the probe had shown Ponty was killed by the shot fired at him by his brother.
Delhi Police today questioned Adarsh Sharma, who claimed to be the president of 'Purvanchal Sena', in connection with the case registered over sticking posters in the city announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who "shoots dead" JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Sharma was questioned at a police station in New Delhi district, a senior police official confirmed without divulging further details.

On Saturday, posters announcing Rs 11 lakh reward for shooting dead Kumar were seen stuck on a wall near Press Club of India and bus stops and metro stations in New Delhi district.

The poster said "whosoever shoots JNU Students' Union president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena."



The posters carried the mobile number and name of Adarsh Sharma, president of one Purvanchal Sena.

On the same day, the police registered a case of defacement of property in connection with the matter and questioned one person, who was allegedly involved in sticking the posters on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of the controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning here this Friday.

"The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances," an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said here today.

Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release 'enzymes' into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgement is expected tomorrow.

The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.

"This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information," the petition said.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.
Duke of Cambridge Prince William and his wife Princess Kate Middleton will pay a two-day visit to Assam starting from April 12.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the state's Chief Secretary to take all steps so that the Britain's popular Royal couple go back with fond memories of the state and its rhino habitat Kaziranga National Park (KNP), a government release stated today.

The Chief Minister also wished that the state's historical connection with the British people through its oil and tea industry be showcased during the couple's visit to KNP.

Gogoi noted that it was former Viceroy of India Lord Curzon who had declared the area which the present Kaziranga National Park occupied as a reserved forest to protect its treasure of flora and fauna.
As the film and music industries grapple with the fallout from the race rows that dogged the Oscars and the Brit Awards, English author Bali Rai warns publishing too has a serious diversity issue.

The award-winning writer, who has Indian heritage but was born and grew up in Leicester, echoes critics of Hollywood and the Academy Awards when he suggests gatekeepers are only recognising a narrow band of talent and ideas, which does not properly reflect society.

He explains: "Publishing in the UK is a white, middle and upper class monolith. Britain is 14 per cent non-white, yet how many authors reflect that? If it's more than 0.5 per cent, I'd be shocked," Rai tells AFP, in an interview ahead of his appearance at the Hong Kong Young Readers Festival.

"It is a sad fact that non-white people, the LGBT community and many more do not see themselves in UK fiction from childhood. So many -- including me to begin with -- grow up thinking that books are about middle and upper class white people," he adds.

The 44-year-old, who specialises in teen fiction, describes his background as "multi-cultural, working class" adding that traditionally, "people like me don't become authors".

He says: "It's about more than racism in society -- although that exists -- it's about publishers being unwilling to think outside of their narrow ivory-tower worlds and break with tradition.

"Imagine if Harry Potter had been called Harish Patel or Hamza Pathan, for example? Would those books have been published, never mind become the mega-successes that they became? Right now, in the UK, the answer is no."



Rai acknowledges J K Rowling's first book was rejected by many houses, but insists "no ethnic minority authors or characters" would be able to make such an impact.

Diversity has been a watchword for the arts in 2016 so far -- the lack of ethnic minority nominees for the Academy and Brit Awards, were the subject of social media campaigns under the hashtags #OscarsSoWhite and #BritsSoWhite.

Even US President Barack Obama addressed the issue, telling regional television anchors: "I think that when everyone's story is told then that makes for better art... And I think the Oscar debate is really just an expression of this broader issue. Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot?"



Rai concedes that although diversity is being discussed more in publishing, the industry is only paying lip service to the idea, with token minority authors, rather than making wholesale changes to improve the situation.

He warns this reluctance to take risks, challenge orthodoxy, and seek out unheard voices in society is not only failing aspiring writers, but readers as well.

"If I were dictator for a day, and could change publishing...I would give my entire advertising budget to the rebels and the risk-takers, and the least represented," he says, adding: "It might not make as much profit possibly, but it would add much more to literature.

"Mainstream publishing at present is staid and overly reliant on tried and tested formulas."



Rai, whose debut novel (UN)arranged Marriage has been translated into 11 languages and appears on the GCSE reading list, is also calling for more public libraries and a re-think on the importance of reading and literacy in the UK, which he says are undervalued.
A day after two labourers died after getting trapped in a borewell at Girgaum in central Mumbai, police today registered a case of negligence against a private contractor under whom they used to work.

The contractor was identified as Sahadev Badape (70), under whose orders the duo-- Balu Javale (39) and Yashwant Javale (47)-- used to work, police said.

They died yesterday after getting trapped inside the tunnel of a borewell, which they had gone to clean.

According to police, the duo had entered the borewell in Fanaswadi area at around noon.

However, they could not climb out of it, which was 40 feet deep with 2.5 feet in diameter.

After half and hour, fire brigade officials brought them out but they were declared dead on arrival at Nair Hospital.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar today attacked Rahul Gandhi accusing him of creating an impression that there is "dictatorship" like situation in the country.

Dismissing the Congress Vice President's charges against the NDA government as not having "a head or a tail", he said "it's not even worth responding to...Rather, it is not even a charge."



Javadekar said Rahul is talking about the oppressed class and the poor but his party did nothing for them while it was in power for last 10 years.

"Rahul Gandhi is going everywhere and wants to impress that there is dictatorship like situation in the country, which is not the case.

"If anytime the country had witnessed dictatorship, it had been brought by Congress during the Emergency between 1975-77. So, it is their legacy and not our working style," Javadekar said.

The Minister claimed the Narendra Modi government is open to every citizen and was following the model of inclusive growth.

"The Modi government belongs to farmers, youth, poor and the oppressed class and it is working for the uplift of these sections and they are liking it. But, those who did not even think about these sections for 10 years are now concerned about them.

"Because of this, they raise questions that does not have head and tail. It's not even worth responding to...Rather, it is not even a charge," Javadekar said.

Asked about JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar campaigning for Left parties in Assembly poll-bound West Bengal and Kerala, Javadekar said "everyone has a right" to do that.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today greeted women of the state on the eve of International Women's Day, and assured that her government is committed to empower them.

Expressing her views on United Nation's theme for this year's Women's Day-- 'Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality'-- she said, "This will come true when we empower women in all the sector with behaviour of equality."



The state government is committed for women empowerment and welfare schemes like 'Bhamashah' have been started with this objective, a statement quoted her as saying.
Congress parliamentarian and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh has suggested the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection should be settled within the country's democratic framework.

"You cannot have economic growth with environment protection if you ignore the basic democratic values of the country," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Delivering the Bibudhendra Misra memorial lecture on 'Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India' here last night, Ramesh appreciated the present NDA government's focus on accelerating the rate of economic growth but suggested it has to be inclusive and sustainable.

"We need faster economic growth but if it (the growth) imposes intolerable burden on our natural resources, the growth will not be sustainable," he said.

In order to make growth sustainable, law of the land will have to be implemented and enforced in letter and spirit and for this the institutions safeguarding them must function professionally and transparently, he added.

Ramesh said India should address environmental problems on priority basis while trading on the path of growth because of its demographic peculiarities, global climatic changes, health hazards due to pollution, and livelihood issues it faces.

"We Indians delight in passing laws but take great delight in by-passing the laws," he said on a lighter note.

Presided over by Ravenshaw University V-C Prof P K Sarangi, the memorial lecture was also addressed by late Bibudhendra Misra's close associate freedom fighter Bhabani Patnaik and former advocate general and eminent lawyer Jayant Das.
Tamil Nadu government today told the Madras High Court that in buildings which have at least come up post 2009 and post the regulations, whether teaching cum hospitals or only hospitals must have ramp facility and necessary changes would be made in regulations accordingly.

A submission is this regard was recorded by the First Bench Comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh while hearing a PIL by social activist Jawaharlal Shanmugam seeking a direction to the authorities to initiate action for providing ramps and fire compliance certificates on the high rise buildings including Hospitals and Educational Institutions which do not have minimum standard requirements.

In order to work out a comprehensive viable proposal including the necessary changes which have to be made, it would be appropriate if the representatives of the MCI, CMDA, Health Department and the Fire and Rescue Service Dept and Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities would sit together and apply their mind together, the bench said.

The responsibility of holding such a meeting would be with the Principal Secretary, Health Department, the bench said.

An affidavit would be filed in pursuance to the meeting of specifying what changes have to be made, the court said.

The petitioner while referring to the incident of fire accidents that took place in a private hospital at Kokatta in which 85 patients and 4 staff members died and to major fire accidents in Chennai submitted that in major hospitals many inflammable articles are present in wards, laboratories, intensive care wards, operation theatres and in case of fire accident these inflammable articles would accelerate the spread over areas.

Stating that the absence of a ramp facility from the top most floors to the basement in a multi storied hospitals building, evacuation and shifting of very sick patients during the time of emergency would be a near impossible task, the petitioner sought the court to direct all the concerned authorities to provide ramp facility as a mandatory rule from the top most floor to ground floor for easy evacuation of the patients.

The Counsel for MCI further submitted that it had provided in the regulations for a ramp in teaching-cum hospital institutions.

The bench granted one month's time for carrying out such provisions and posted the matter for further hearing to Apri 21.
Their build-up campaign has been nothing short of spectacular and inaugural champions India would be the firm favourites to be the first two-time trophy winners when the ICC World Twenty20 gets underway with the qualifiers, here tomorrow.

The Tournament-proper will begin March 15 when India take on New Zealand and the qualifiers before that will fill in two slots for the Super 10 stage.

The opening day double-header in qualifiers features games between Zimbabwe and Hong Kong besides a Scotland- Afghanistan clash. Both the matches will be played here.

The other teams in the qualifying round are Ireland and the Netherlands.

The top two teams from the qualifiers will join India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies in the Super 10 stage, which will be played alongside the women's event from March 15-28.

Although Sri Lanka are the defending men's champions, they hardly seem to be an intimidating force having endured a 1-2 loss as recently as in February, to India.

On the contrary, 2007 champions India are looking like an unstoppable force which will be further galvanised by the passionate support from its adoring home fans.

The Asia Cup triumph, during which Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men did not lose a single match, is the latest confidence- booster that the Indians received heading into the big event after victories over Australia and Sri Lanka in the run-up.

India are in Super 10 Group 2 along with 2009 winners Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and a yet-to-be-decided qualifier.

India will launch their campaign in Nagpur against New Zealand on March 15 before they go head to head with Pakistan on March 19. Their other matches will be against a qualifier in Bengaluru on March 13 and Australia in Mohali on March 27.

Even though they are placed in a tough group, India are expected to make the semifinals given the stupendous form the team is in coupled with the distinct home advantage.

Sri Lanka have been placed in Super 10 Group 1 along with South Africa, West Indies, England and a yet-to-be-decided qualifier. Their will open their title defence against the qualifier in Kolkata on March 17, and play West Indies in Bengaluru on March 20, England on March 26 and South Africa on March 28.
Noted RTI activist Anil Galgali, who received the Alert Citizen Right to Information Award, has decided to donate the Rs 11,000 cash incentive to an NGO run by actors Nana Patekar and Makrand Anaspure for drought-hit farmers in Maharashtra.

Galgali received the award yesterday from Pune-based Sajag Nagrik Manch (Alert Citizens Forum) for his contribution in the field of RTI.

"I am going to hand over this amount to the 'Naam Foundation' which is doing excellent job to help the drought-affected people," Galgali told PTI.

On the occasion, another RTI activist Nikhil Dey said Right to Information is the need of the hour.

He said RTI acts as tool that forces the government and bureaucracy to bring in transparency in its functioning.

However, sometimes it's used for blackmailing and this should be stopped at all levels, Dey said.

Nayak said Rule 5(2)(iv) does not follow the lowest



benchmark for fee rates set by the Central RTI Rules as well as those of Uttarakhand and other states with regard to inspection of records.

"Rule 7(8) does not provide for search procedures to be initiated by the Commission when a public authority claims that records are missing," he said.

Nayak said these Rules do not differentiate between APL and BPL RTI applicants.

"Rule 4(5) is also against the spirit of the RTI Act where a PIO is not required to transfer an RTI application to more than one public authority under Section 6(3) of the Act... A Full Bench of the CIC went a step further and ruled in a case that where PIOs of multiple public authorities have official email ids, the RTI application can be transferred to all of them at the click of a button instead of following the DoPT's suggested route," he said.

Nayak has said Rule 4(7) is in complete violation of Section 10 of the RTI Act relating to severability of exempt information.

The objections have been supported by Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra and UP-based activist Urvashi Sharma.

Sharma said the rules allow an RTI applicant to take back his plea, stop all the proceedings after the death of an applicant, besides take back order of penalising an erring PIO which will open floodgates of threats and abuses aimed at the applicants.
Senator Bernie Sanders scored a win over the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in the Maine Democratic caucus where 30 delegates are at stake.

With 86% of the vote counted, the senator from the neighbouring state of Vermont won 64% of the vote, compared with 36% for the former first lady, Efe news agency reported.

This is the eighth victory for Sanders in the primaries to elect the Democratic candidate for the presidential elections in November, while Clinton leads with twelve victories.

Read more from our special coverage on "US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS"

It was an expected win for Sanders, who enjoys strong backing in the region and hails from nearby Vermont."I thank the people of Maine for their strong support," his campaign said in a statement."With another double-digit victory, we have now won by wide margins in states from New England to the Rocky Mountains and from the Midwest to the Great Plains."Clinton and Sanders also faced off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan, just two days before a crucial primary in that delegate-rich northern industrial state.They tackled the scandal surrounding the lead-contaminated water in the city, with Sanders railing against the "disgrace beyond belief" and both calling for more accountability.On Saturday, Clinton won in Louisiana, the biggest prize of the night, but Sanders won in Kansas and Nebraska.Clinton was favored in Louisiana thanks to overwhelming support from African American voters, while Sanders has tended to do best in states with largely white voters.After Saturday's contests, Clinton had 1,121 delegates, nearly half the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination.But speaking at the CNN debate, Sanders sought to stress his campaign was on an upswing."Just in the last two days, we have won the caucuses in Maine  we won that tonight with a very large turnout  we won Nebraska, we won Kansas, and Kansas was the biggest turnout in their caucus history," he said."I think we are exciting working class people, young people who are prepared to stand up and demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the few," he added.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders today beat Hillary Clinton in the Maine caucuses to bounce back into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination while Florida Senator Marco Rubio won the Republican primary in Puerto Rico defeating frontrunner Donald Trump.

Sanders' victory in Maine, which was announced during CNN's Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, is his third of the weekend after winning Kansas and Nebraska.

Sanders, 74, beat former secretary of state Clinton with 64.3 per cent of the vote compared to her 35.5 per cent across precincts in an expected win for the self-styled Democratic Socialist candidate who hails from nearby Vermont state and has strong support in the region.

"I thank the people of Maine for their strong support," the Sanders campaign said in a statement.

But 68-year-old Clinton remains far ahead in the total number of delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination for which a candidate should win at least 2,383 delegates.

For Rubio, 44, it's his second win in a campaign that has been dominated by real estate tycoon Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. With 100 per cent of the votes counted on the island, Rubio topped the 50 per cent threshold required to win all 23 of Puerto Rico's delegates.

The dominant issue facing the island territory - which has no electoral votes in the US general election - is a public debt crisis, with the government owing USD 73 billion.

It was the second outright win for Rubio, who also won Minnesota on Tuesday, but Trump, 69, has kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race, and called for Rubio to end his presidential bid.

Cruz has emerged as Trump's main rival in the weekend's primaries with mixed results.

To secure the Republican Party nomination, a candidate has to win at least 1,237 delegates.
"Saturday Night Live" has targeted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during an episode hosted by Jonah Hill.

In a parody dubbed "Racists for Trump", "real" American offer insight into why they'll be voting for the Republican presidential candidate.

They included a man wearing a Nazi armband, another man painting "white power" on the wall, and a woman ironing a Ku Klux Klan uniform, reported Ace Showbiz.

In another sketch, Darrell Hammond returned as Trump who addressed his supporters that included "racists, ugly racists, people who didn't even know they were racists."



In the "Cold Open" segment dedicated to super-Tuesday results, Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton and Taran Killam's Ted Cruz delivered their speeches as well.

Earning the biggest applause, however, was Jason Sudeikis who returned to the variety show as Mitt Romney.
In a veiled attack on the BJP for letting JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar get "free publicity", ally Shiv Sena today sought to know how he got bail in such a short span of time when others charged with 'sedition' are still languishing in jails.

"(Union Minister) Venkaiah Naidu said Kanhaiya Kumar is getting free publicity. If that is so, who is responsible for letting him get free publicity? Today, nothing comes for free," the Sena said in an edit in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"A price has to be paid for even the smallest of things. Working class people, labourers who used to save money in PF, will now be taxed on their earnings. In short, the government has only shown people nothing will be given for free," it said.

It said that Hardik Patel, who led the Patel agitation demanding reservation for his community in Gujarat is still behind bars after being charged with 'sedition' and so are people like Colonel Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya.

"Then how did Kanhaiya get bail so easily? Was it that keeping him behind bars was becoming a problem for the government and that it had to answer too many questions?" the Sena asked.

"If Naidu says Kanhaiya is getting free publicity, then our system and administration is responsible for it. He has become a hero because people are announcing reward for attack on Kanhaiya," it said, referring to BJP leader Kuldeep Varshnay announcing Rs 5 lakh prize money for cutting off the tongue of Kanhaiya, who he had alleged, was speaking against BJP and PM Narendra Modi after being released on bail.

A poster announcing Rs 11 lakh prize money to anyone "shooting down" Kumar was also spotted in Delhi.

The Sena further said that the sole aim (of politicians) is to win elections and form a government.

"Promises made before elections vanish into the air and farmers, labourers, working class and students are made victims. If this continues, there would be human bombs made within the country. These youngsters will be exploited for political games," the Sena warned.

Kumar, who was arrested on February 12 on sedition charges, was released from Tihar jail on March 3 after the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months.
A first group of six South African youth has successfully completed four month agricultural training programme at city-headquartered International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

The initiative, with support from the South African government, is an effort to give youth from the region more opportunities in the agricultural sector, ICRISAT said in a statement.

It comes at a time when the South African government has emphasised agriculture as a priority for the country's economic development. These trainees have made agriculture their key to fight issues like unemployment and poverty, it said.

"Today's youth aren't aware of all the potentials there are in agriculture. It is not just limited to farming in fields, there are a host of opportunities like agribusiness, where youth can engage themselves in," Lilly Thato Mabonela, one of the South African students, was quoted as saying.

She hopes to empower and engage more youth in her country in agricultural ventures that she plans to set-up after she returns to South Africa.

She wants the government and other organisations to do more to attract youth towards agriculture, like conduct awareness workshops in schools and colleges and offer free education to the disadvantaged youth of India and Africa.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today paid a private visit to the city, her second such tour here in less than a month.

According to UPCC general secretary Mukund Tiwari, Gandhi landed in the city around noon and drove straight to the historic Anand Bhavan where she spent nearly four hours before boarding her return flight to the national capital.

Local Congress leaders rushed to Anand Bhavan upon learning about the party president's sudden visit, Tiwari said.

"Gandhi greeted us before saying politely that she was here in connection with work related to various trusts named after former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru," he said.

There was, however, no meeting with them.

Notably, the Congress chief had come to the city on a similar visit on February 13-14.
A Samajwadi Party MLA's brother allegedly shot dead a man following a dispute over their vehicles brushing against each other during overtaking near Tribhuvan Nagar in Dhanepur area here, and was arrested today police said.

Annu Yadav, brother of SP MLA from Balrampur Sadar Jagram Paswan, was arrested from Gomti Nagar area in Lucknow, Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kumar Yadav told reporters here.

"Annu Yadav, the main accused and MLA's brother, who shot dead a person, has been arrested and hunt is on for rest," DGP Jaweed Ahmad tweeted.

The incident took place on March 5 night when MLA Jagram Paswan's brothers Annu and Pappu Paswan and a relative, Angad, were returning from a marriage function and they had dispute with some persons over overtaking of their vehicle and then opened fire, the SP said.

Jairam Yadav (40) was killed on the spot in the firing, he said.

An FIR in this regard has been registered against Annu, Pappu and Angad, police said, adding it has seized the vehicle and was trying to nab the absconding accused.

About the incident, eyewitnesses said that the brothers of the MLA got agitated as they could not overtake the vehicle in which Jairam and others were travelling.

After overtaking the vehicle, they entered into a heated exchange and opened fire on Jairam.

Local residents earlier demanding strict action against the accused and compensation to the victim's family, obstructed traffic on Lucknow-Gonda Highway.

Police, however, reached the spot and pacified the protesters.

(Reopens BOM27)



Meanwhile, the NGO 'Savera' today filed a complaint with the Women Police Station, claiming the picture of the victim was being circulated on various social media platforms.

Savera's chief Tara Kerkar demanded that police should take action under section 228 A of the Indian Penal Code (disclosing identity of a victim in certain cases) against those who are circulating the picture.
Sri Lanka's government has sacked a senior security official after guards chased away couples from a monument in Colombo for holding hands, a minister in the conservative Buddhist country said today.

The move came after a couple posted video of the guards on social media and is a marked change from the former government, under which police would routinely round up young lovers for kissing in public.

Deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva said he intervened after visiting the Independence Square monument yesterday and finding security guards were driving away unmarried couples.

He said he spoke with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the sacking of the director in charge of security.

"What happened was their boss got fired," de Silva said.

"The guards will be sent somewhere else and hopefully warned not to repeat their arrogant behaviour."



The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the monument, built to mark independence from Britain in 1948.

Sri Lanka's largely conservative Buddhist society looks down on public displays of affection even among married couples.

Police are also known to occasionally arrest so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in scorching sun along the Galle Face promenade in the capital.

But the latest move suggests official attitudes have softened since the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was defeated in January 2015.
Punjab Assembly's budget session beginning tomorrow is likely to be a stormy affair with Congress set to put Parkash Singh Badal administration on the mat on several key issues, including agrarian crisis, alleged lawlessness, reservation for Jats even as the ruling alliance is geared up to highlight its development initiatives.

SAD patron and leader of House Parkash Singh Badal had summoned a joint meeting of SAD-BJP legilsature parties here tomorrow to discuss threadbare the issues and prepare the strategy to face the onsalught of Congress.

Punjab Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi today proposed a detailed discussion on the issue of providing reservation to Jats in the budget session.

He said Congress would approach the Speaker for special discussion on this sensitive issue before the situation gets out of hand, as in neighboring Haryana.

Channi said the agrarian crisis in the state had been deepening over the years and the same was getting reflected in increasing incidences of suicide by distressed farmers, especially in the Malwa belt.

He said farming had become unsustainable for small and marginal farmers.

The CLP leader said besides discussing and debating steps to make farming profitable for small farmers, the issue of reservation should also be discussed as the two were closely interlinked.

The reservation issue had arisen mainly because of rising unemployment and farming turning unprofitable.

He said the present quota scheme could not be disturbed and modalities should be worked out after evolving consensus.

Congress will also corner the government on the issue of alleged lawlessness and drug menace in the state.

Meanwhile, Akalis and BJP members are all set to present the work done in different departments on the development front, a party spokesman said.

The budget session will commence here tomorrow with the address of Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki.

The discussions on Governor's address will take place for two days on March 11 and 14.

The budget will be presented on March 15, an official spokesman said.

The discussion on budget will take place on March 16 and 18. The session will conclude on March 22.

With Assembly elections due early next year, this budget will be the current government's last.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said



the Punjab Government will announce major pro-people decisions in the budget.

He also said this year would observed as development year and Rs 25 crore would be released for each constituency for inclusive development.

Punjab Government has fulfilled 95 per cent of its promises made during in manifesto in 2012 and remaining would be fulfilled in the months to come.

He said more than Rs 20,000 crore would be spent connecting all major cities with 4-6 lanes across the state.

He stressed that Punjab was the only state which was giving free power at a cost of up to Rs 5,500 crore annually to farmers.

Talking about people-friendly and pro-poor schemes, he said the Shagun scheme, Atta Dal, free power to SC families, old age pensions are key decisions of the government.

He also informed that recruitment process for more than 1 lakh jobs is under process and all these vacancies would be filled in the next 6 months.

The Deputy CM also said that the Punjab Government has decided to release grants to Mahila Mandals and youth clubs to empower the women and youth in the rural areas.
A section of students of a deemed university near here today staged a protest against alleged levy of fine and excessive fees, and indulged in vandalism, police said.

The students at the university premises in neighbouring Kancheepuram District staged protest and suddenly began pelting stones on wall-glass panels of some of the administrative building blocks and later dispersed, they said.

"We have not received any formal complaint from the management (of the university) till now," a senior district police officer said.

"They (students) are protesting over allegations of levy of fine and collection of excessive fee by the private university," the official told PTI.

Claiming that the management initially sought "police bandobust inside the university premises," he said the institution was told that the request would be considered only on the basis of a formal complaint.

Unrest among a section of students had been simmering for some time over the "fee issue" and management had held talks too, he said.

The incident comes weeks after the suicide of three girl students of a naturopathy college in Villupuram District over allegations of exorbitant fee.
At least eight people were killed and 15 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a court in this northwestern Pakistani city, police said.

The incident occurred in a lower court of Shabqadar tehsil bordering the volatile Mohmand area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to police in Charsadda district, the suicide bomber detonated his vest inside the court premises, killing eight people including a policeman and wounded 15 others.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body. The casualty figure could also increase further.

The blast occurred when scores of people were present in the court premises. The injured are being rushed to hospital.

Security forces and police cordoned off the area and started an investigation.
Mozambican civil aviation authorities today handed over suspected debris from missing flight MH370 to Malaysian experts after the piece was found by an American amateur investigator.

The debris, which was picked up on the Mozambique coastline, could provide fresh clues into the mystery of the Malaysia Airlines flight, which disappeared two years ago.

"We officially gave the piece to the Malaysian experts this morning," Joao de Abreu, president of Mozambique's Civil Aviation Institute, told AFP.

"If it is revealed that it belongs to MH370, then these experts will come back to Mozambique to launch more extensive searches."



The Malaysian team will leave Maputo on Tuesday and the piece will be taken on to Australia for analysis.

It was found last week on a sandbank near the town of Vilankulo by Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from Seattle who has travelled the world trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the Boeing 777 plane.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has said there was a "high probability" that the piece came from a Boeing 777.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the plane going missing.

MH370 was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it vanished on March 8, 2014 on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Last July, a wing fragment was found washed ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and later confirmed to be from the plane.

Yesterday, the man who had found the first part said he had come across a second possible piece from the missing plane and had handed it over to police immediately.
Syria's opposition today agreed to attend a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks set for this week in Geneva after a landmark ceasefire led to a dramatic drop in fighting.

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels, brokered by Russia and the United States, has defied expectations and led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

The United Nations is hoping it can now restart talks on a political transition that collapsed last month in Geneva.

The opposition, represented by the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, had held off on committing to the talks but on Monday said the 10-day-old "cessation of hostilities" was making a difference.

"After consultations, the High Negotiations Committee agreed to go to Geneva. The delegation is expected to arrive on Friday," Riad Naasan Agha, a spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"We have noticed a sharp decline in ceasefire violations in recent days and progress in the humanitarian file," particularly with regards to aid deliveries to besieged towns, Agha said.

The ceasefire agreed on February 27 is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 and forced millions of people from their homes.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but the two powers have made a concerted push for the ceasefire and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to extremists from the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Sunday had been the "calmest day" in Syria since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the average number of civilian deaths a day had fallen by 90 percent since the ceasefire came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said today that the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were continuing to carry out air strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

Russia launched an air campaign in September it says is targeting "terrorists" but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad's forces.
Syria's regime said today it had been invited to peace talks in Geneva from March 14 but the opposition said it was still considering whether to attend despite a major lull in fighting.

The United Nations is hoping to restart peace talks that collapsed last month, building on a ceasefire that has led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

A source close to the Syrian regime delegation told AFP it had been invited to a new round of talks starting from March 14 in the Swiss city.

The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes the talks can begin from Thursday but officials have indicated it could take several days of preparations for the negotiations to get off the ground.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime has already expressed its willingness to take part in talks but the opposition has sent mixed signals on whether it will attend this latest round.

The head of the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, today refused to commit to the talks.

"The HNC will assess the situation in the coming days and we will take the appropriate decision," he told reporters.

Speaking in a conference call from Riyadh, Hijab said a small delegation from the HNC would travel to Geneva "in the next two days" to meet with the international task force monitoring the truce.

Hijab's statements appeared to be a step back from earlier comments by HNC spokesman Riad Naasan Agha, who said the opposition delegation would arrive on Friday to take part in talks.

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but the two powers have made a concerted push for the truce and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said yesterday had been the "calmest day" in Syria since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the average number of civilian deaths a day had fallen by 90 percent since the truce came into force, with an 80 per cent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.
Three Syrian boys were electrocuted today, with one seriously hurt, whilst playing atop a railway car at the Greek border camp of Idomeni, local police said.

One of the boys, aged 12, was taken to hospital at nearby Kilkis with burns on his legs and abdomen, police told AFP, while the other two did not require hospitalisation.

"He received first aid and oxygen here and was taken to hospital," an aid worker told Athina 9.84 radio, adding that the boy's life was not in immediate danger.

A migrant believed to be from Morocco had died in December in a similar incident at Idomeni, where more than 13,000 mainly Syrian refugees have been trapped under miserable conditions following a decision by Balkan states to limit the number of people allowed to continue their journey further north.

Overall, there are over 36,000 refugees in Greece, according to the government.

Some 150 Syrians today held a protest to demand passage, holding a German flag and shouting the name of German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- one of the few European leaders who has shown keen interest in their plight.

Staff from the European asylum agency EASO today were handing out leaflets in Arabic, urging the refugees to leave the grim camp and seek accommodation in one of many relocation centres the government has created in recent weeks.

Once there, they can register for the European Union's refugee-sharing scheme, which the EASO staff explained could take two to three months.
Three Syrian boys suffered electric shocks today, with one seriously hurt, whilst playing atop a railway car at the Greek border camp of Idomeni, local police said.

One of the boys, aged 12, was taken to hospital at nearby Kilkis with burns on his legs and abdomen, police told AFP, while the other two did not require hospitalisation.

"He received first aid and oxygen here and was taken to hospital," an aid worker told Athina 9.84 radio, adding that the boy's life was not in immediate danger.

A migrant believed to be from Morocco had died in December in a similar incident at Idomeni, where more than 13,000 mainly Syrian refugees have been trapped under miserable conditions following a decision by Balkan states to limit the number of people allowed to continue their journey further north.

Overall, there are over 36,000 refugees in Greece, according to the government.

Some 150 Syrians today held a protest to demand passage, holding a German flag and shouting the name of German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- one of the few European leaders who has shown keen interest in their plight.

Staff from the European asylum agency EASO today were handing out leaflets in Arabic, urging the refugees to leave the grim camp and seek accommodation in one of many relocation centres the government has created in recent weeks.

Once there, they can register for the European Union's refugee-sharing scheme, which the EASO staff explained could take two to three months.
China today strongly opposed any invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory, and said that the Tibetan spiritual leader must give up his "secessionist" stance.

"We strongly oppose anyone who is in power (in Taiwan) to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island," Padma Choling, chairman of the standing committee of Tibet's regional People's Congress told media here on the sidelines of the parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).

"Everyone clearly knows what kind of person the Dalai Lama is," he said, replying to a question from a foreign reporter about the intention of some political figures in Taiwan to invite the Dalai Lama to the island.

"The Dalai Lama must give up his secessionist stance and stop all activities to split the motherland. Our attitude is consistent," Padma, also a deputy to the NPC said.

According to reports, Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen is considering inviting the highest-ranking figure in Tibetan Buddhism to visit in his capacity as a religious leader.

Choling's comments came in the backdrop ofPresident Xi Jinping warning against "Taiwan independence", saying that "national secession" should not be repeated.

"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form," Xi had told lawmakers last week.

"We will safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again," Xi said.

China regards Taiwan which broke away from the mainland in 1949 as part of it and insists on all other countries which have diplomatic relations with it to follow One China policy.

While China routinely opposes the Dalai Lama's visit to different countries, his proposed visit to Taiwan comes in the midst of present political tensions arising after the election of the new President, who defeated Eric Chu, candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT), which advocated improvement of ties with Beijing.

"Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation," Xi had said.

China regards the 80-year-old head of Tibetan Buddhism, who fled to India in 1959, as a separatist.

Despite being in exile for about 57 years the Dalai Lama remains most revered Buddhist spiritual head in Tibet.
Tat Capital, an India-Australia/NZ corporate advisory firm, has signed a memorandum of understanding with start-up incubator T-Hub, a Telangana government initiative.

According to an official release, the MoU will facilitate trade and investment between Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent.

Tat Capital is the only Australian/ New Zealand business with such an agreement.

The MoU provides T-Hub's start-ups access to Tat Capital's global family office and investor network and connects T-Hub's start-ups with globally recognised Australian growth companies with next generation innovations to explore acquisition, partnerships and strategic investment ideas, the release said.

The MoU also connects T-Hub's start-ups and VC community with Australian VC, PE and family office investors to cross-pollinate ideas, technology and capital between the regions, it further said.

T-Hub CEO Jay Krishnan said, "Entrepreneurs are always breaking boundaries and this is another geographical barrier that we hope entrepreneurs in India, especially T-Hub, will cross and help us establish a long-standing relationship with Australia and New Zealand."



"This also provides them with an opportunity to sail in uncharted waters and swim against the tide. We look forward to this association with Tat Capital and building greater things for entrepreneurship in India," he said.

Tat Capital co-founder Ram Gorlamandala said the new agreement was testament to the growing interest in cross-border opportunities between the three countries.

The MoU will allow Tat Capital to offer Australian businesses access to Indian expertise from the Indian School of Business, Indian Institute of Information Technology, and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research.

Australian companies will be able to utilise resources in Indian business, technology, intellectual property and legal frameworks to start or improve their businesses in India.

Next month, Tat Capital, along with number of prominent and listed Australian, NZ and Indian businesses, will host a business insights tour to Hyderabad.
The home-grown auto major Tata Motors today announced a tri-partite partnership with Bharat Forge and US-based General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) to bid for India's Rs 50,000-crore future infantry combat vehicle (FICV) project.

Tata Motors will lead the consortium with Bharat Forge as a partner while General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) will bring in its much-proven expertise in-combat vehicle platforms, the company said in a statement.

On the partnership, Tata Motors Executive Director, Commercial Vehicle, Ravi Pisharody said: "Through this partnership, we will be better-positioned to help the country realise its 'Make in India' vision, for the first completely indigenised combat vehicle and at the same time cater to the opportunities available right here in India."



Bharat Forge Chairman and MD Baba N Kalyani said: "Our proposed partnership will constitute an important milestone to help meet the Indian government's objectives to strengthen indigenous defence capabilities, and particularly in land systems, with FICV."



GDLS Vice-President (Tracked Combat Vehicles) Donald Kotchman said the partnership will help meet the requirements of the Ministry of Defence FICV programme.

"At General Dynamics Land Systems, we have established a track record of delivering and sustaining international programmes, in a timely and cost-effective manner throughout the platform's life," he added.

The Tata Motors-led consortium's response to the Ministry of Defence EoI (Expression of Interest) commits to indigenise through various Tata Group companies that play a vital role in the defence and aerospace sector, the company said, adding that it will also partner with firms with the most advanced competencies in development of ICVs, for the global market.

In January this year, Tata Motors had said it would discuss with the government to include consolidated revenues in determining eligibility to bid for the FICV project despite being "confident" of its domestic turnover meeting the financial criteria.

The company is among the 10 reported Indian firms in race for building FICV - a tracked, armoured vehicle that will protect infantrymen riding into battle.

Reports had suggested that Tata Motors may not qualify for the tender if its London subsidiary JLR's is not considered.

The Rs 50,000-crore FICV project is spread over 25 years and other Indian firms, including L&T and Mahindra, are in the fray for the project. Other firms reported to be in the running include L&T, M&M, Bharat Forge, Pipavav Defence, Punj Lloyd and the Ordnance Factory Board.

The Army needs an amphibious FICV that is air-portable and can fire anti-tank guided missiles that destroy tanks at ranges of 4,000 metres.

The product offerings form the front-line in the passenger



vehicle business to meet immediate customer demand in a highly competitive environment, the company said.

Unveiling the line-up here, Tata Motors President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Mayank Pareek said: "In line with our commitment of offering customer-centric products that are rich in design and features, we have embarked on a journey to make ourselves future-ready by focusing on changing customer preferences."



Denoting the company's IMPACT design philosophy, the TIGOR and NEXON boasts of best-in-class driving pleasure in their respective segments, he said.

"We have taken the excitement to the next level this year by showcasing special Geneva Editions of the TIGOR and the NEXON," Pareek said.

TIGOR will be in the Indian market in the next 22 days, he added.

Tata Motors has set a target to be among the top 3 players in the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2018-19. Its new strategy is based on the evaluation of different customer segments and global advancements in terms of design, technology and innovation.

From the humble Indica to a sports car, Tata Motors is marking its 20th year of participation at the Geneva International Motor Show with a leap of faith to future. The home-grown auto major has used the platform to showcase its several prototypes and concepts starting with the Indica in 1998 -- the company's first passenger car -- and the ill-fated Nano in 2008, among others.
Telangana and Maharashtra will sign an agreement for construction of irrigation projects.

A delegation led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today reached Mumbai in this regard.

The delegation was accorded a warm welcome at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai by Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao, who hosted lunch for the visitors, a release from Telangana CMO said here.

The agreement would be signed tomorrow, it said.

The Telangana Government said on March 2 that it has reached an understanding with Maharashtra for construction of five barrages on Godavari, Penganga and Pranahita rivers.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis invited Rao to Mumbai to sign a pact on construction of the projects.

The five proposed projects include Kaleswaram, a barrage at Rajapet on Penganga, another between Chankha- Kovata, a barrage at Penpahad and another one at Tammidihatti on Pranahita river in Adilabad district. A barrage would also be built at Medigadda in Karimnagar district, a release from Rao's office said last week.

Maharashtra Government would take up the projects at Rajapet and Penpahad, while Telangana would build the remaining three, the release had said.

(Reopens BES40)



The Telangana CM was accompanied by Ministers T Harish Rao (Irrigation), Jogu Ramanna (Forest) and Indrakaran Reddy (Housing, Law and Endowment) besides Government officials, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said in Mumbai.
A 52-year-old temple



priest was today murdered near Sri Valagurnathan-Anagaleeswari temple here with police suspecting associates of some rival priest behind the killing.

The priest, Navaneethakrishnan, had come to the temple in connection with Shivarathiri festival.

He was murdered by two persons, one of whom was identified as Sutheeshkumar, when he had gone to the tank for taking bath, they said.

Navaneethakrishnan could have been murdered by associates of some rival priests following dispute over performing rituals in the temple, police said.

Sutheeshkumar was arrested after he surrendered before a local court.
Malayalam film star Kalabhavan Mani today cremated with full state honours at his home town here with thousands of mourners bidding a tearful farewell to the actor.

The cremation was held in the compound of his residential premises here in front of a large gathering of relatives, friends and his fans, who had come from different parts of the state to pay their homage to 45-year old Mani who had made a mark for himself acting in 200 odd South Indian films.

Police faced a tough time managing the crowd, who were yet to come to terms with the death of Mani.

Mani had won special jury National and state awards for his role in the popular film "Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njannum".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condoled the demise of Mani.

"A promising career is cut short. Kalabhavan Mani was multifaceted and popular. Pained by his demise. Condolences to his family and fans," he tweeted.

Mani passed away yesterday at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) at Kochi where he had undergone treatment for liver and kidney ailments.

The actor's body was brought to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital this morning for an autopsy after doctors at AIMS found substance of methanol in his blood samples.

On information from the hospital, Police have registered a case of unnatural death and constituted a special investigation team to probe the cause.

Samples of his viscera has been sent for chemical analysis and the reports were expected in two days, police said. There was a long stream of mourners at the Thrissur Medical College Hospital, Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi and the chalakudy municipal office where the body was kept to enable the public to pay their last respects to the actor who rose from humble beginnings to carve a niche for himself in the South Indian film industry.
Three daily wage labourers were electrocuted and as many injured after they came in contact with a high tension power line in Hapur district today.

Three Samajwadi Awas Yojana contractual workers died on the spot and three were injured when a grinding machine they were pulling touched a high tension power line, Additional Superintendent of Police O P Singh said.

The three deceased labourers were identified as Anil (26), Munshi (23) and Balaji (35), police said, adding the bodies have been sent for postmortem.

The three injured were rushed to a nearby hospital. One of the seriously injured was referred to a Delhi hospital, they said.

A magisterial probe has been ordered into the matter, a district official said.
Tibet's governor today said that a second railway to the capital will help bring higher incomes and better infrastructure to China's Himalayan region, despite concerns about potential harm to the region's fragile ecology and threats to its Buddhist cultural identity from Chinese migration.

First announced last week, the 1,800-kilometer line would link Tibet's capital, Lhasa, with the western Chinese metropolis of Chengdu with an estimated travel time of 13 hours.

Losang Jamcan, the governor of the Chinese-ruled territory, said during a meeting of Tibetan delegates to China's National People's Congress that Tibet's regional government considers the project important to improving living standards.

"When built, we'll see even more economic benefits, even more prosperity," Losang said at a conference on the sidelines of the annual legislative session. "So we really do place a lot of emphasis on this railway."



The second railway would complement a 1,956-kilometer line that opened in 2006 and crosses passes as high as 5,000 meters.

The train has brought a major increase in both tourism and trade. With a population of just 3.2 million, 91 per cent of whom, China says, are Tibetan or members of other minority ethnic groups, Tibet last year recorded visits from 20 million tourists, a 29 per cent rise from the previous year.

Padma Choling, a senior Tibetan official and head of the regional legislature, dismissed concerns from overseas Tibetan groups and others about the impact of the second railway, whose construction start date has yet to be announced.

"It seems that every time we build a railway or something, there are worries about the environment and such. Rest assured, Tibet's environment is well protected," Padma said.

Along with facilitating trade and tourism, the existing railway to Tibet has cemented Chinese control over the territory, which was occupied by Communist forces in 1950.

China claims Tibet has been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, although many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity.
Central trade unions will observe day-long protest across the country on Thursday against the government's "attack on PF" and "anti-labour anti-labour policies", a union leader said today.

"We observe a protest on March 10 against attack on PF and anti-labour practices being adopted by the government," All India Trade Union Congress General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta told PTI.

"Government has not been considering our demands. Even they are not talking to us. Therefore, we will observe a protest. It is primarily a protest against PF tax and other issues related to workers."



RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which has decided not to participate in the protest, said the other central unions have not discussed the issues circulated to them it for putting up before government and they have already lodged their discontent through a protest on February 24.

BMS Zonal Organisation Secretary Pawan Kumar Singh said, "We are not part to this protest on March 10. We have circulated a discussion paper to all central trade unions but they did not had a word with us."



"We told them that government has moved positively on certain issues like increasing Bonus eligibility ceiling. Similarly, let's bring the government on board on other issues. But they did not discuss anything on any issue listed by us. We are not part to this protest."



The government is under attack from various quarters over its budget propsoal to tax 60 per cent of the withdrawal on contribution to employee PF made after April 1 this year. This would apply to superannuation funds and recognised provident funds including EPF.

The government has, however, promised to consider demands for a partial rollback of the proposal.

Earlier, 11 central trade unions in a joint statement said, "All the Central Trade Unions met on January 27, 2016 and resolved to continue their protest action against the anti labour policies of the Central and some State governments."



The trade unions had decided to observe March 10 as All India Protest Day against government's indifference to the 12-point charter of demands and its unwillingness to restart discussions for working out concrete steps for resolution of the issues, they had said in January.

The Joint statement was also signed by the BMS.
In a major setback for liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) today barred him from accessing USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with State Bank of India is settled.

DRT, allowing SBI plea, restrained Diageo from disbursing the money for now and set March 28 as the next date of hearing.

SBI had sought DRT's intervention in seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million payout from Diageo to Mallya as part of deal last month.

Under the deal Mallya was to step down as chairman of India's top spirits company United Spirits Ltd in a settlement with its new owner, Britain's Diageo. Mallya was to settle down in London after the deal.

SBI had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, it approached DRT seeking action against him for defaulting on loans.

DRT in its order restraining Diageo from disbursing USD 75 billion, said the amount has been attached pending disposal of original application.

It directed Mallya and the companies concerned to disclose the details of the terminal agreement.

The order came hours after Mallya said he was in talks with banks for a one-time settlement of debt that his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes.

In a statement late last night, he had also stated that he had no plans to run away from his creditors.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover Rs 7,800 crore. SBI had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. Since January 2012, the loan was not serviced.

Other 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.

Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter while PNB had followed suit last month to declare him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters.

Diageo was to pay Mallya USD 40 million immediately and the balance in equal installments over the next five years.

The deal also absolved Mallya of all liabilities over alleged financial lapses at the company founded by his family.

(Reopens DEL 31)



After the deal with Diageo plc, Mallya, 60, resigned with immediate effect as Chairman of United Spirits Ltd, which the British firm bought in April 2014.

United Spirits, maker of McDowell's No.1 whiskey and Romanov vodka, had sought his resignation after an internal inquiry found he diverted funds to other companies under his control. Mallya has denied any wrongdoing.

Mallya, who took over United Breweries Holdings or UB Group from his father in the 1980s, had last month signed a global five-year "non- compete, non interference and non solicitation" agreement with United Spirits. He was to take on a ceremonial title as founder emeritus of the Diageo unit.

He started Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 but it was grounded in 2012 amid mounting debt.
At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between Tunisian police and unidentified gunmen near the Libyan border, authorities said, amid increasing concern that violent extremism in Libya could destabilize the region.

The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn Monday in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press.

Army units averted an attack on the town's military barracks, and killed at least 10 assailants, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula. One wounded attacker was arrested, he told the AP.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three corpses had been brought to the hospital, including that of a 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities are hunting several attackers who are at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group.

Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following the February 19 US raid on an Islamic State group camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.
Tunisian police and unidentified gunmen clashed near the Libyan border today, killing at least 26 people, authorities said, amid increasing concern that violent extremism in Libya could destabilise the region.

The dead included 21 attackers, one Tunisian soldier and four civilians, the interior and defense ministries said in a joint statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among the civilians who were killed.

The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press earlier.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three corpses had been brought in, including that of the 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily-armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group.

Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following the February 19 US raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defense Minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.

Tunisia was targeted last year by three attacks that left 70 people dead and were claimed by IS. According to Tunisian authorities, the attackers had been trained in Libya.
Tunisia's Interior Ministry says several people have been killed in clashes between Tunisian police and unidentified gunmen near the Libyan border.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya and after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah says gunmen attacked a police station and military facilities at dawn today. He says security forces killed a large number of assailants. Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three corpses had been brought to the hospital, including that of a 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia and authorities are hunting several attackers who are at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.
At least 45 people were killed today near Tunisia's border with Libya in one of the deadliest clashes seen so far between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers, the government said.

The fighting in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia comes amid increasing concern that violent extremism in Libya could destabilize the region.

The government closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack that left 28 "terrorists," seven civilians and 10 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, the Tunisian interior and defense ministries said in a statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those who were killed.

Libya's chaos, five years after the uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, has allowed IS to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognized body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried about the presence of IS in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in the country last year.

Today, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in Ben Guerdane, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press.

A night curfew has been ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

France's foreign ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory."



"This attack is just reinforcing the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the country was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition."



Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three corpses had been brought in, including that of the 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.
Exceptionally deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers left at least 53 people dead today near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fear that violence from Libya could destabilize the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn today and fighting continued into the evening. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defense ministers traveled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

The Tunisian government didn't identify the attackers and no group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized, and whose goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," said Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.

The attack left 35 "terrorists," seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those who were killed.

Libya's chaos, five years after the uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, has allowed the Islamic State group to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognized body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried about the IS presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year. IS extremists claimed responsibility for those attacks, and Tunisian authorities said the attackers had been trained in Libya.

At dawn today, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press. A night curfew has been ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The nearby tourist cities of Djerba and Zarzis were not affected by the violence, the statement said.

France's foreign ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory." ''This attack just reinforces the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tunisia was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition.
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi denounced today's jihadist attacks on police and army posts near his country's border with Libya as "unprecedented" and coordinated assaults.

In statements broadcast on state television, Essebsi said the assault that killed 28 jihadists was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and vowed to "exterminate these rats".

The attacks in the border town of Ben Guerdane, where 10 members of the security forces and seven civilians also lost their lives, were "unprecedented" and coordinated", said the president.

"Maybe they were aimed at controlling this region" in order to proclaim a "new (jihadist) province", he said.

"The Tunisian people are at war with this barbarism and with these rats and we will exterminate them... Definitively," said Essebsi.

Tunisian forces fought off today's assailants in the second day of clashes in the border area in less than a week.

Tunisia has seen an emergence of radical Islam since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocratic strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who suppressed opponents including Islamists.

In recent years a large number of Tunisians have joined the Islamic State group (IS) in Libya, where authorities say they have been trained to carry out attacks at home.

Last year IS -- which has set up an Islamic "caliphate" in parts of Syria and Iraq under its control and is also active in Egypt -- claimed three attacks in Tunisia, killing dozens of foreign tourists and presidential guards.

Tunisia has been battling the jihadists who have taken advantage of a power vacuum in Libya -- also rocked by a 2011 uprising -- to set up bases, including in the Sabratha area between Tripoli and the border with Tunisia.
Turkey ratcheted up its demands for helping the EU with the migrant crisis at a high-stakes summit in Brussels today, demanding an extra three billion euros in aid in return for its cooperation.

Ankara is also haggling for a refugee swap under which the European Union would resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey in exchange for every Syrian refugee that Turkey takes back from the overstretched Greek islands.

Under the last-minute proposals by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the 28-nation bloc would also bring forward visa-free travel for Turks to June, and speed up its EU membership bid.

The EU is paying an increasingly high price to secure Turkey's help in dealing with the biggest migration crisis since World War II, but has little choice as Turkey is the main launching point for the Greek islands.

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the EU for a four-month delay in disbursing an original three billion euros in aid for 2016-17 under a deal agreed in November.

"It's been four months. They are yet to deliver," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. "Mr prime minister is currently in Brussels. I hope he will return with the money."



More than one million refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015 -- the majority fleeing the war in Syria -- with nearly 4,000 dying while crossing the Mediterranean.

In a surprise move, Davutoglu unveiled what his spokesman called a "new proposal" at a lunch with EU leaders in Brussels, forcing them to extend the lunchtime summit until dinner to discuss his demands.

The Turkish premier hinted as much as he arrived for the talks, saying: "Turkey is ready to work with EU. Turkey is ready to be member of EU as well."



European Parliament head Martin Schulz confirmed Turkey's demand for an extra three billion for 2018 on top of the 2016-17 money, saying it "will require additional (EU) budgetary procedures".

One EU diplomat told AFP Turkey was proposing "a potential gamechanger" where it will take back not only irregular economic migrants who have reached the Greek islands but also those from Syria deemed genuine refugees.

"In return, we have said for every Syrian they take back, we will resettle one Syrian" from camps in Turkey, where 2.7 million Syrian refugees are living, the diplomat added.

Turkey would also see visa-free travel brought forward to June if Ankara commits to immediately bringing into force the deal to readmit illegal migrants sent back from the Greek islands.
A roadside bombing in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula killed two policemen today, the interior ministry announced, in the latest in a string of attacks on security forces.

The bomb exploded close to an armoured vehicle on a highway near El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, it said in a statement.

Islamist militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks in the peninsula.

On Sunday, gunmen killed two members of the security forces in an ambulance as they were being taken to hospital with injuries from a bombing. A medic was also shot dead.

Most of the Sinai attacks are claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group's Egyptian branch, "Sinai Province".

IS also said it carried out the bombing in October of a Russian airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.

Sinai jihadists pledged allegiance in November 2014 to IS, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria and also has a presence in conflict-ridden Libya.

Jihadists, who have long used Sinai as a base, launched an insurgency after the military overthrew Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Two persons were killed when their motorcycle was hit by a car at Nandigama bypass road in Krishna district, police said today.

The mishap occurred last evening when K.Ramakrishna Reddy (27) and E.Venkata Reddy (38) were returning to Vijaywada after visiting the Penuganchiprolu Sri Tirupathama temple, Nandigama Circle Inspector Sathyanarayana said.

The duo died on the spot. A case under relevant sections of IPC has been registered at the Nandigama police station and investigations are underway, the officer said.
Two French teenagers suspected of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group have returned home, two days after they went missing, officials said.

Israe, aged 15, and 16-year-old Louisa disappeared from their school in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps on Friday, prompting the police to launch a search for the pair.

The public prosecutor in Annecy said the teenagers "had left or were trying to leave for Syria".

"(They would) use any means possible to leave the country and were likely using fake identities," the police added.

The public prosecutor confirmed that both girls had returned home by Sunday evening -- Louisa during the afternoon after hearing a TV appeal from her mother, and Israe a few hours later.

Israe was already known to authorities as "radicalised", and had been placed in foster care and banned from leaving the country. A travel ban was put in place for Louisa on Saturday.

Israe's mother Nadia told Le Parisien newspaper that she had caught her daughter trying to leave for Syria two years ago.

"It is not easy to break this cycle... She has been sucked in by it," Nadia told the newspaper. "She wanted to go to Syria to help children and serve a good cause."



Following the incident, Nadia had alerted the authorities and Israe was enrolled in a deradicalisation programme.

Dounia Bouzar, who runs the anti-radicalisation centre Israe attended, said the 15-year-old had recently left a psychiatric hospital where she had been treated for "teenage depression". She described the teen as "fragile" and suicidal.

Louisa's uncle dismissed any allegations his niece was intent on travelling to Syria, describing her as simply a "runaway".

According to official sources, more than 1,000 French nationals, of which nearly a third are women, have travelled to Syria or Iraq to join the Islamic State group. Almost 600 are believed to still be there and "at least 161" have died.
App-based cab aggregator Uber has partnered with the Mumbai traffic police to curb drunk-driving by installing Uber Breathalysers at bars and pubs in the city.

Uber Breathalyser is a kiosk that analyses alcohol content in a persons blood and accordingly flashes a red light, if its over the legal limit, and a green light, if its safe for the person to drive.

If the reading is over the legal limit, a message is displayed on the screen that helps the person request an Uber home, instead of driving.

Through this campaign, we aim to build awareness against drunk-driving and give people a convenient and reliable ride back home. We hope to work with the Mumbai traffic police to install these devices across all bars and pubs in the city, Shailesh Sawlani, GM, Uber Mumbai, stated.

The first kiosk in Mumbai was installed and launched a few days ago at Nook, a nightclub in Phoenix Marketcity Kurla.

Uber had committed to investing $1 billion to ramp up operations here last year, and said it would invest heavily in safety measures for its riders. The companys global CEO Travis Kalanick, was optimistic about the India business, and had said they could double its investments to $2 billion if it sees more than five times the return.
After being declared as wilful defaulter by State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, one more state-run lender United Bank of India today said it is continuing its efforts to declare liquor barron Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulter.

United Bank of India (UBI) was the first lender to make an attempt to declare Mallya as wilful defaulter in 2014 but it was dismissed by the Calcutta High Court.

"Early last year, we went to Calcutta division bench. Most of the arguments have been heard. We were expecting the final outcome before March," United Bank of India Managing Director and CEO P Srinivas told PTI.

"We have not left the case (to declare Mallya as wilful defaulter). We are pursuing it," he added.

The bank's earlier decision to declare Mallya as wilful defaulter was dismissed by the High Court on technical grounds. The RBI guidelines require a three-member grievance redressal committee but the bank had formed a four-member committee.

Earlier in the day, the Debt Recovery Tribunal barred Mallya from withdrawing USD 75 million exit payment from British liquor giant Diageo till the disposal of Kingfisher Airlines' loan default case filed by SBI.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT here against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him.

Diageo and United Spirits Ltd, owned by the UK-based firm, have also been restrained by DRT Judge Benakanahalli from temporarily disbursing the amount to Mallya, who worked out the deal under a severance package.

The tribunal ordered that the amount be attached till the disposal of the original application filed by State Bank of India in 2013.

In his order on the plea by the SBI application seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million sweetheart deal, the judge also directed disclosure of details of the agreement which they have arrived at.

"This is a temporary relief for us. There were three more applications SBI had filed and we want to hear judgement on them," the UBI chief said.

SBI had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, which the judge had said on March 4 would be heard later.

These three applications filed by SBI before the DRT will come up for hearing on March 28.

Mallya had to quit recently as chairman of United Spirits - a company founded by his family in which he sold majority stake to Diageo.

Under the deal, that also ended a year-long boardroom battle at United Spirits, Diageo has agreed to pay Mallya USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore).
The British Parliament has warned activists who projected "unauthorised" images, including that of a swastika during a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here last year, on to the Palace of Westminster, saying the iconic building is "not a free billboard".

Among recent projections highlighted by a House of Commons spokesperson includes a swastika by the campaign network Awaaz to protest against the Prime Minister's visit last November with the message "Modi Not Welcome".

"Unauthorised projections break planning permission regulations. They also dilute the impact of a marketing technique that Parliamentreserves for moments of national significance," Lee Bridges, Commons' director of external communications, told advertising magazine 'Campaign' last week.

"These buildings are not free billboards - proposals to project commercial campaigns that are not in the national interest will not be granted permission. The council can pursue incidents where a projection has been made without its permission," he warned.

Awaaz had projected a sword-wielding Modi on to the Gothic Parliament building as part of a wider "Modi Not Welcome" protest against his visit to London last year.

Bridges added: "The Houses of Parliament are recognised around the world as a symbol of the UK and a must-visit for tourists. As an iconic sight, it is perhaps unsurprising that Parliament - and, in particular, Big Ben (the Elizabeth Tower) - has become the backdrop for guerrilla marketing projections.

"However, as a much-loved, Grade I-listed public building, it is important to protect Parliament's symbolic status.

Having commercial messaging beamed on to it compromises this status, which iswhy there are planning laws requiring permissions before any projection is allowed."



He stressed that to legally project on tothe Houses of Parliament,people need permission from both the Speaker ofthe House of Commons and the planning department of Westminster City Council.

"The Houses of Parliament, famed for their stunning Gothic architecture, are part of an Unesco World Heritage Site and need to be enjoyed as such," he said.

Besides the protest by Awaaz, other unauthorised projections included a monkey by British tea firm PG Tips last month to mark Lunar New Year, which is the Year of the Monkey as well as an advert for a weight loss brand.
The British government is set to increase fees across most categories of applications from March 18, in a move that will affect thousands of Indians who were the largest group of skilled workers to be granted visas to live and work in Britain last year.

The changes, proposed in January this year, mean a 2% rise for most fees including the short-term visitor visas and most work or study applications and a 25% increase in fees for nationality and settlement applications.

The UK Home Office said the increases will reduce UK taxpayer contributions towards the border, immigration and citizenship system and ensure that by 2019-2020 the system is self-funded by those who use it.

"These changes ensure that the Home Office can achieve a self-funding system, whilst continuing to provide a competitive level of service, and a fees structure that remains attractive to businesses, migrants and visitors," a Home Office statement said.

According to recently-released figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Indians formed the largest group of skilled workers to be granted visas to live and work in theUK last year.

Indians bagged the majority of the 92,062 visas issued to skilled migrantsin 2015.

"Indian nationals accounted for 57% of total skilled work visas granted (52,360 of 92,062), with USA nationals the next largest nationality group (10,130 or 11%)," the ONS report said.

Most of these migrants go on to apply for settlement in the UK and will now pay around 25% more for such applications as the fee for a settlement application or so-called "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (ILR) application within the UK will increase from 1,500 pounds to 1,875 pounds.

The main changes effective from March 18 are: visas linked most closely to economic growth, such as those offered to workers and students, will be increased by 2%.

A 2% increase will apply to all visit visas to help maintain the UK's position as one of the world's top tourist destinations.

An increase of up to 25% will apply to settlement, residence and nationality fees, as these routes deliver the most benefits to successful applicants.

An increase of up to 33% for optional premium services offered by the Home Office such as the super-premium service and priority services overseas.

Family and spouse visas will in future cost 1,195 pounds and the fee for "Adult Dependant Relatives" is going up to 2,676 pounds.

The next step after ILR, leading to naturalisation as British citizens, will cost 1,236 pounds instead of the current 1,005 pounds.

Companies applying for a Tier 2 sponsor licence to enable them to recruit foreign workers, including Indians, still need to pay a fee of 1,476 pounds, which has remained unchanged.

A new 25-pound fee for processing invalid applications is also to be introduced. At the moment, any fee paid for an invalid application is refunded.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today expressed pleasure over students' opting for traditional dresses willingly instead of western attire on the occasion of the convocation.

Naik said that 25 universities of whose he is Chancellor have changed the European graduate gown culture voluntarily and are using traditional Indian dresses during the convocation ceremony.

He also advocated for women's reservation in Parliament and state assemblies, saying 40 per cent of girls have graduated in all universities of the state, which is a good sign.

During Atal Bihari Vajpayee's term as Prime Minister, I as a minister gave suggestions to implement 33 per cent reservation in Goa and North Eastern states where the count of MPs is less.

Naik was addressing a gathering at 24th convocation ceremony of Centre for Management Development at Modi Nagar.
The United States said today it is placing trade restrictions on Chinese telecommunications equipment giant ZTE due to violations of US sanctions on Iran.

The Commerce Department said in an order to be officially published tomorrow that ZTE Corp and related companies set up a scheme to circumvent US sanctions and "illicitly export" controlled items to Iran, violating US laws.

The company will be forced to apply for permission on its exports and reexports from the United States in the future due to actions "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States," the order said.

ZTE, China's second-biggest telecom equipment maker, confirmed earlier that it will be hit with the restrictions, though it did not provide any background or reason.

Trade in ZTE shares was halted in Hong Kong and Shenzhen as it notified the exchanges of the "United States Commerce Department's proposal to implement export restrictions on the company."



China's Global Times newspaper today quoted a ZTE statement as saying: "ZTE closely complies with international industry rules as well as the laws of foreign countries."



The order could hamper ZTE's ability to purchase technology hardware and software in the United States.

The company is one of the world's largest suppliers of telcommunications equipment and services, from networks to popular cellphones.

The case dates back to 2012 when the Commerce Department first began investigating the transfers of US technology to Iran, according to reports.

Under the Commerce Department order, ZTE Corp and three other companies -- ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications, Beijing 8-Star, and Iran-based ZTE Parsian -- were placed on the export restrictions list.

The order said the latter three were identified in ZTE documents for a scheme specifically aimed at circumventing US export controls.

Asked about the ZTE case, Beijing criticized US government actions against Chinese companies.

"China is always opposed to US sanctions on Chinese enterprises citing domestic laws," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing.

"We hope that the US side can stop such erroneous practices so as to avoid further damage to Sino-US economic cooperation and bilateral relations."



Washington in January eased several restrictions on doing business with Iran, following an international agreement over the country's nuclear program.
MDMK General Secretary Vaiko and PMK chief S Ramadoss today hit out at the Tamil Nadu government over the suicide of a Tamil Sri Lankan refugee in Madurai district and demanded appropriate action in the case.

"S Ravindran has committed suicide only after intimidation crossed all limits," Vaiko said.

Stating that US and European nations treated Tamil refugees with respect, he alleged, "It is only in Tamil Nadu that they are treated like extremists and terrorists and threatened and intimidated."



S Ravindran, who lived at the Uchampatti refugee camp in Madurai district, committed suicide yesterday by holding an electric overhead cable after climbing a high-rise power transmission tower.

He ended his life after an argument with a retired revenue inspector, also the camp incharge (on contract basis).

Demanding appropriate action against the official, Vaiko alleged that the incident had brought bad reputation for Tamil Nadu and demanded solatium for Ravindran's kin.

Stressing that refugees should be treated with respect, Ramadoss alleged, "Inhumane approach of Tamil Nadu's rulers and some officials" was the reason for the suicide.

Stating that camp occupants were "unable to bear the harassment," he said only due to such factors some of them undertake dangerous boat trips to countries like Australia and end up getting killed.
VO Chidambaranar Port, one of the 12 major ports in the country has set a record by handling 5.61 lakh TEU container traffic, a growth of 9.36 per cent over the previous period.

"VO Chidambaranar Port has achieved a momentous landmark in container handling by surpassing the previous financial year's container traffic of 5,59,727 TEUs by handling 5,61,586 TEUs 25 days ahead of the close of the current financial," a statement from Ministry of Shipping said today.

This year, upto March 6, 2016, the Port has maintained an impressive growth at 9.36 percent as compared with the same period of last financial year, it said.

The port offers the fastest transshipment time to Colombo among all Indian ports. At present, there are two container terminals in VO Chidambaranar Port - Berth nos 7 and 8.

"Berth No 7 with a capacity of 4.17 lakh TEUs is being operated by PSA SICAL. The Terminal commissioned under BOT basis on December 21, 1999 operates 8 services a week, of which 6 services are operated between Tuticorin and Colombo, 1 Coastal service and 1 international cum coastal service connecting Tuticorin - Colombo - Mundra - Jebel Ali - Mundra - Pipavav - Cochin and Tuticorin," the statement said.

The Berth-8, operated by Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminals Mumbai, commenced its partial operations from May 11, 2014 and full fledged operation with the capacity of 6 lakh TEUs is expected by December 2016 with commissioning of quay cranes, the statement said.

TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) is used in shipping as the unit of the capacity of a container ship.

Commodities like cotton yarn, handlooms, machinery, sea food, paper, granite, coir pith etc are exported though containers to Europe, North America and almost all Asian Countries, the statement said.

It added cotton, metal scrap, waste paper, cotton fibre, chemicals, metal and rubber products, among others are imported predominantly from Europe and East Asian Countries.

On February 20, VO Chidambaranar Port Trust also created a new record in handling copper concentrate.

Over 19,000 tonnes of copper concentrate in bulk was unloaded from a vessel, which is the highest tonnage ever achieved in a single day in the port using hoppers.
There are many, including us, who are party to the agitation against booking of JNU students in a sedition case over an event against hanging of Afzal Guru but will JNU stand for SAR Gilani who has been charged with the same offence, asks his brother Bismillah.

Gilani was arrested in the wee hours of February 15, barely three days after the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. While six JNU students have been charged with sedition over an event on campus, Geelani is facing the charges over an event at the Press Club on the same issue.

His family, however, feels the way the chorus for Kanhaiya's release grew among students supported by academicians and others, Geelani has been given a "differential" treatment by JNU.

"The event was the same, the charges are the same. Police had been claiming that they had evidence against Kanhaiya which is also under question now but no such claims of proof have been made against Geelani. But why is the public discourse silent on him, why the differential treatment," Bismillah told PTI.

"JNU is known for making everybody's headache its own, for standing in support of many but why are they silent on Gilani. There was a massive campaign demanding Kanhaiya's release and now the clamour has shifted to Umar and Anirban but not one is talking of Gilani," he added.

Gilani, who holds a doctorate in Arabic and teaches at Zakir Hussain College (Evening) in Delhi, has been questioning Afzal Guru's hanging ever since Delhi Police accused him of being involved in the 2001 Parliament attack and failed to win a conviction.

"My brother has been teaching at DU since years but not even once the college authorities have tried to reach out to us since his arrest. When my brother was arrested in 2001, the Delhi police had projected him as the mastermind behind the Parliament attack.

"Though his acquittal came as a relief to us, the two years that he spent in jail and the time after it still haunts us. He has two grown up children who have to justify to people that he is not a criminal," he said.

Bismillah, who has written a book, Manufacturing



Terrorism: Kashmiri encounters with the Media and Law, where he tells his brother's story, said, "I agree that it is important to defend students, they are future of the country but people who have been supporting JNU should not have two different approaches over the same issue."



At the Press Club event, a group had allegedly shouted slogans hailing Guru, following which the police had lodged a case under sections 124A (sedition), 120B(criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC against Gilani and other unnamed persons.

The police had claimed to have registered the FIR taking suo motu cognisance of media clips of the incident. A Delhi Court had sent him to judicial custody till March 16.

Though Kanhaiya Kumar walked out of Tihar last week after he was granted a bail in the case, two more students - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya - are still in custody. Kanhaiya, after his release, has joined the ongoing movement at varsity demanding the duo's release.
A lady passenger has been arrested at the Indira Gandhi International (IGIA) airport here for allegedly carrying close to three dozen live bullets in her baggage.

Officials said 33 live rounds of .22 calibre gun were recovered from the baggage of the woman identified as D S Gupta during scanning of her baggage yesterday at terminal 1D of the IGIA by CISF security personnel.

The lady was supposed to have travelled to Dimapur with her husband, they said.

"She was asked to produce documents for having the bullets but she could not furnish any valid papers in this regard," a Central Industrial Security Force spokesperson said.

The lady was later handed over to Delhi Police which arrested her under various sections of Arms Act, the spokesperson said.

Carrying bullet rounds during air travel are against aviation rules and is considered violation of Arms Act.
In a replay of their high-voltage march to Shani Shingnapur temple, women activists today headed to the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in a bid to break the ban on entry of female devotees into its sanctum sanctorum but were stopped and detained by police at a village about 80 km away from the shrine.

The activists under the banner of Bhumata Brigade who numbered between 150 and 175 and led by its chief Trupti Desai were stopped at Nandurshingote village by rural police from proceeding to Trimbak town in Maharashtra's Nashik district where pilgrims had gathered in large numbers on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival.

They were detained under various sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, a senior police officer said.

Located 30 km from Nashik town and 160 km from Pune, Trimbak town has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the huge flow of devotees.

Desai had left Pune earlier in the day trooping nearly 150-175 activists in vehicles as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the "garbhagriha" (sanctum sanctorum) of the ancient temple which houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.

Before setting out, she made a plea to Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.

"Since the Chief Minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today and will be allowed to enter the 'garbhagriha'," Desai, who chose the occasion of Maha Shivratri to resume their campaign, told PTI.

"On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Women's Day and on the day of Maha Shivratri," said Desai before setting out to Nashik.

Desai and her activists were stopped from proceeding to Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednanagar district on January 26 when police detained them at a village 70 km away from the shrine.

Nashik Rural Police had tightened security around the temple to avoid a face-off with deployment of addtional forces and barricades putting up barricades.

Opposing the campaign, certain local outfits like Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together threatening to stop the activists if they sought to breach the prohibited area.

As per tradition followed since past many years, women are not allowed in temple's garbha-grih for worship while men are allowed for an hour between 6 am to 7 am in the morning, but wearing sovala (a silk dhoti) for offering pooja to Lord Shiva.

(Reopens DEL 47)



Desai had stirred a national debate on gender bias at



various temples across the country with her attempt to enter the inner platform (chauthara) at the Shingnapur temple where women are traditionally not allowed to worship.

The rights group's march on Republic Day, joined by over 400 women, was stalled by police stopping the marchers at Supa village, 70 km away from the shrine.

A mediation effort by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also failed to end the deadlock on the issue with Desai refusing to accept the 'Tirupati model' of darshan that would keep both men and women away from the inner sanctum which houses a rock idol of Lord Shani.

According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

Women, however, can have 'darshan' from outside the core area.

He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6 and 7 AM on all days.

As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Meanwhile, temple premises witnessed a flutter earlier in the day as a sadhvi sought to enter the area where women are banned.

Sadhvi Harisiddha Giri of Juna Akhada was stopped from entering the inner sanctum of the temple there by local women and members of the Devasthan trust, a police official said.

The sadhvi then sat on a fast outside demanding that women be allowed to enter the place.

"I am representing all women of the country (requesting) to allow us entry into the temple's 'garbha griha' (sanctum sanctorum), but as per tradition women are not allowed to enter it," she said.
Keeping up the campaign against gender bias at places of worship, around 150 women under the banner of Bhumata Brigade today left for the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik district in Maharashtra seeking to break the bar on female devotees at the inner sanctum of the Lord Shiva shrine.

The outfit led by Trupti Desai had on January 26 made a high-voltage attempt to breach a similar ban at the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahamednagar district but vowed to carry on with its campaign for gender justice.

Choosing the occasion of Maha Shivratri to resume their campaign, the outfit urged the authorities not to block them as they had done during the earlier march.

The ancient temple in Trimbak town, located 30 km from Nashik, houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. The shrine has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the flow of lakhs of devotees on account of the festival of Maha Shivratri.

Desai, president of Bhumata Brigade, who left Pune with nearly 150-175 activists as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the "garbhagriha" (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple, urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.

"Since Chief Minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today and will be allowed to enter the 'garbhagriha'," Desai told PTI.

"Also, since a high alert has been announced, Nashik Police had requested us not to come in buses. Hence we are going by small vehicles. We have even reduced our women members and there are only 150-175 women, who will try to enter the sanctum in a peaceful manner," Desai said.

She also expects police to lead them to the sanctum under complete "bandobast" in order to avoid a law and order situation.

"On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Women's Day and on the day of Maha Shivratri," said Desai, who left for Nashik this morning.

Nashik Rural Police tightened security around the temple in the pilgrimage town to avoid a face-off similar to what happened at Supa village on January 26, when the women activists were proceeding towards Shingnapur.

"We have deployed extra police force and also put barricades to restrict activists of Bhumata Brigade with a view to maintain law and order of this small town," Deputy SP, Praveen Munde said.

Meanwhile, right-wing organisations including Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together and decided to stop the activists before they reach the temple.

According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar



Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

Women, however, can have 'darshan' from outside the core area.

He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6-7 AM on all days.

As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Also, some priests in the temple town said most of the women devotees may not want to defy the tradition.

Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Desai had stirred a national debate on gender bias at various temples across the country with her attempt to enter the inner platform (chauthara) at the Shingnapur temple where women are traditionally not allowed to worship.

The rights group's march joined by over 400 women, hailing from Pune was stalled on the Republic Day when police stopped the marchers at Supa village, 70 km away from the shrine.

A mediation effort on the part of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also had failed to end the deadlock on the issue with Desai refusing to accept the 'Tirupati model' of darshan that would keep both men and women away from the inner sanctum which houses a rock idol of Lord Shani.

According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar



Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

Women, however, can have 'darshan' from outside the core area.

He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6-7 AM on all days.

As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Also, some priests in the temple town said most of the women devotees may not want to defy the tradition.

Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Desai had stirred a national debate on gender bias at various temples across the country with her attempt to enter the inner platform (chauthara) at the Shingnapur temple where women are traditionally not allowed to worship.

The rights group's march joined by over 400 women, hailing from Pune was stalled on the Republic Day when police stopped the marchers at Supa village, 70 km away from the shrine.

A mediation effort on the part of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also had failed to end the deadlock on the issue with Desai refusing to accept the 'Tirupati model' of darshan that would keep both men and women away from the inner sanctum which houses a rock idol of Lord Shani.

Meanwhile, Sadhvi Harisiddha Giri of Juna Akhada based



at Trimbakeshwar town, was today stopped from entering the inner sanctum of the Lord Shiva temple there by local women and members of the Devasthan trust, a police official said.

The Sadhvi then sat on a fast outside demanding that women be allowed to enter the place.

"I am representing all women of the country (requesting) to allow us entry into the temple's 'garbha griha' (sanctum sanctorum), but as per tradition women are not allowed to enter it," she said.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China stocks climbed in early trading on Monday, extending strong gains over the past four sessions, as investors reacted positively to statements from top Chinese leaders at the annual parliament session over the weekend.

Hong Kong shares also had a positive start to the week, aided by an upbeat mood in the region, following Friday gains in U.S. and European markets, and continued rebound in oil and commodity prices.

The CSI300 index rose 0.6 percent to 3,113.50 points at 2:05 GMT, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 2,895.25 points.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.3 percent, to 20,239.77 points.

China's top economic planner said on Sunday that the country's economy was not headed for a hard landing and was not dragging on the global economy, but uncertainty and instability in the global economy did pose a risk to growth. [nL4N16E03R]

Beijing has set a growth target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent for this year, and aims to run a fiscal deficit equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, up from the previous year's target of 2.3 percent.

China's start-up board ChiNext jumped over 3 percent in early trading, recovering much of Friday's sharp losses, after Beijing laid out its vision over the weekend to become a tech power over the next five years.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Eric Meijer)
Farmer Ram Pal Singh voted for Narendra Modi's promise of "better days" in India's 2014 general election, but he won't be backing the prime minister again even after last week's budget promised more aid to the countryside.

Growing discontent in rural India, home to two-thirds of the country's 1.3 billion people, bodes ill for Modi as he tries to bounce back from a heavy defeat in a state election last year in Bihar and build a support base to keep power in the 2019 general election.

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016

In an eyecatching announcement, the budget doubled spending on agriculture and farmers' welfare to $5.3 billion in support of his promise that their incomes would double by 2022.

Yet critics say most of the extra spending is in fact an accounting entry that shifts the cost of an interest subsidy to the agriculture budget that was previously borne by the finance ministry.

"We have received nothing from the government. We don't even recover our costs," said Singh, whose 21-acre (8.5-hectare) plot is big by Indian standards.

Two failed monsoons, and sudden unseasonal rains, have caused widespread crop damage across northern India. Debt-laden farmers like Singh say low state purchase prices and a lack of compensation for crop losses are worsening their plight.

Singh lost $4,500 over the past two years because of severe damage to his wheat and sugarcane crops in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, 30 miles (50 km) east of New Delhi. It has left him with debts of more $10,000, and despair has driven him to think of selling his land.

"We have so much land but we still struggle to survive ... there is only sadness in farming," said Singh, 60, who does not want his grandchildren to work in the fields.

Last month, farmers went on the rampage in neighbouring Haryana state to protest a lack of economic opportunity. Thirty people died and saboteurs cut metropolitan Delhi's main water supply.

"The budget may give you an illusion the government has tried to address the problems faced by farmers," said independent food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma. He called instead for a package of "immediate assistance" to stop a spate of suicides by farmers from spreading.

RURAL DISTRESS

Modi last year promised higher compensation for crop losses, but more than a dozen farmers interviewed by Reuters on a field trip said they had received no relief. Many have taken out more loans or sold cattle to tide themselves over.

All but one said they will not support Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next year's poll in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, home to 200 million people.

In 2014, the party swept Uttar Pradesh, winning 71 of 80 seats to claim the strongest parliamentary mandate in three decades. The budget play seemed designed to improve its standing in rural areas, traditionally a weak spot for the BJP.

"For the first time the agriculture sector has figured prominently in budget, and for the first time we've seen such a sharp rise in allocation for farmers' welfare," Farm Minister Radha Mohan Singh told a news conference.

But Jai Kisan Andolan, a peasants' rights movement, and 35 farming unions counter that the budget offered them no debt relief, and failed to hike either government farm purchase prices or crop-loss compensation rates."Most of what the budget speech projects as big favours to the farming community is actually 'business as usual' with a sleight of hand," the groups said in a statement after the budget.

In addition, the main effort to expand irrigation - adding just 2 percent of net cultivated area of 141 million hectares - is seen as piecemeal. And a new crop insurance scheme is expected to get off to a slow start.

"The government does not have a firm plan to address the rural crisis. They will have to pay a big political price for this," said Satish Misra, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global oil markets jumped more than 5 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting a 2016 peak above $40 a barrel, after Ecuador said it was holding a meeting of Latin American crude producers as OPEC sought a higher anchor price for oil.

Technically-driven buying in crude and a commodities rally also boosted oil. Industry data showing a smaller-than-expected build in stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for U.S. crude futures was another supportive factor.

Oil has rallied more than 50 percent since hitting 12-year lows less than two months ago. The rally began after Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries floated the idea of a production freeze to support prices in an oversupplied market.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said his government will host a meeting in Quito on Friday with Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico "to reach consensus over oil, especially prices."

Separately, major OPEC producers are talking about a new oil price equilibrium of around $50, New York-based consultancy PIRA told .

"It's more confirmation that oil producers are close to achieving some kind of a deal on price support," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "It's feeding bullish sentiment into a market that's turned 180 degrees from where it stood just weeks ago."

Brent , the global crude benchmark, settled up $2.12 at $40.84. Its session peak was $41.04, the highest since Dec. 9. That was 51 percent above the 12-year low of $27.10 on Jan 20.

U.S. crude finished up $1.98 at $37.90 a barrel, near a 2-month high. On Feb. 11, it hit a 2003 low of $26.05.

Some of the recent gains in oil were also helped by chart-related buying as Brent and U.S. crude breached multiple resistance levels between $30 and $38.

Asset rotation by investors have also led to higher allocations into commodities, along with equities. Gold and iron ore prices hit multi-month highs on Monday while Asian equities rose to two-month highs.

Hedge funds raised their bullish bets on Brent to a record high and on U.S. crude to a November peak during the week to March 1.

On the production front, U.S. shale oil output was expected to fall for a sixth month in a row in April, a government forecast said.

Some analysts said the global crude market remained oversupplied by around 2 million barrels per day and higher prices could prompt U.S. shale producers to swiftly add rigs they had cut.

Morgan Stanley noted the rally was also driven by dollar depreciation. "The upside should be limited by bloated global inventories and producer hedging," it said.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in LONDON and Henning Gloystein and Manesha Pereira in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
One of Indias best-known whistleblowers, who brought to light dangerous practices in the generic drug industry in 2013, is taking the country's drugs regulators to court, accusing them of failing to enforce rules on drug safety in the $15- billion industry.

Three years ago, Dinesh Thakur (pictured) had accused Indias then largest drugmaker and his former employer, Ranbaxy Laboratories, of failing to conduct proper safety and quality tests on drugs and lied to regulators about its procedures.

Read more from our special coverage on "PHARMA" Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw backs move to have separate pharma ministry

He was awarded the whistleblower award  prize money of almost $48 million  by the United States. The US regulators had fined Ranbaxy $500 million for violating federal drug safety laws and making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.

Ranbaxy said the fine marked the resolution of past issues and it continued to make safe, effective and quality medicines.

Thakurs fresh case, a public interest litigation suit, is listed on the Supreme Court website for hearing on Friday.

It alleges that responses provided to him by government show how lax regulation can lead to potentially harmful medicines being sold in India without proper approvals.

The suit, which names as respondents the health ministry, the Drugs Consultative Committee and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), would not result in penalties but the objectives would be the creation of a framework for the recall of drugs and a commission to examine faulty drug approvals.

The head of CDSCO, G N Singh, said: We welcome whistleblowers, we have got great respect, but their intentions should be genuine, should be nationalistic... I don't have any comment on this guy.



The other named parties did not respond to requests for comment.

Thakur, who said there was no financial motive for the suit, spent much of 2015 working with lawyers to file more than 100 public information requests on how state and central drug authorities had responded to cases where rules had been broken, some of which first came to light five years ago.

The responses he obtained show CDSCO and the health ministry have still not adequately investigated and prosecuted those breaches, despite saying they would, said Thakur.

An overwhelming number of non-standard-quality drugs are not prosecuted in criminal cases, since state drug controllers only impose minor administrative penalties on the offenders, Thakur says in the lawsuit, citing government data.

The health ministry and CDSCO did not respond to requests for comment on its penalty policy.

Thakur, who worked for Ranbaxy for two years from 2003 before turning whistleblower, is now chief executive of Florida-based MedAssure Global Compliance, which advises drug companies on quality and safety.

After the Ranbaxy settlement in the US in 2013, Thakur said the authorities in India did not contact him about it or probe the reasons for the fine, nor did they respond when he approached them through 2014.

The ministry and CDSCO did not respond to requests for comment on their response.

The Ranbaxy case prompted the FDA to increase inspections of Indian pharmaceutical plants. Products from 44 such plants are now banned for sale by overseas authorities but still sell in India.

Thakurs suit refers to the case of Buclizine, a drug made by Belgian firm UCB but since sold to Mankind Pharma for marketing in India.

The CDSCO allowed UCB to sell Buclizine as an appetite stimulant in 2006, though it was not approved for that purpose in Belgium and banned in several other countries.

UCB was not asked for clinical studies, the parliamentary committee found.

UCB said it couldn't answer current questions related to Buclizine but that it observed all regulatory, legal, quality and safety regulations.

The CDSCO website says its expert advisory committee found no convincing literature to support the drug's use as an appetite stimulant in 2013 but agreed to give Mankind Pharma time to make a case for the drug.

Since then, Mankind Pharma Managing Director Sheetal Arora told Reuters it had received no official request for data to prove the safety and efficacy of the drug, which it was still selling.

The parliamentary committee demanded an investigation and the drugs regulator committed to one in 2013. Thakur received a statement from the health ministry last year, viewed by Reuters, showing no inquiry had begun.

The regulator did not respond to requests for comment.

KNOW THE MAN
* Up to 43% of women in the working age (about 153 million) in India only do domestic work, indicating the scale of their exclusion from the workforce.

* A quarter of Indians (300 million) are illiterate, with 10% of those aged six to 14 dropping out of school.

* Nearly half of all homes (47%) lack piped drinking water and sanitation.

* About 88% of diarrhoeal deaths are caused by poor sanitation.

These are some reminders of the scale of Indias continuing backwardnessdespite economic progressand the linkages between poverty, health and access to a better quality of life, explained in the India Exclusion Report (IXR) 2015, released on Saturday, March 5, by New Delhis Centre for Equity Studies.

IndiaSpend was associated with the reports data research.

How India struggles to get the basics right

A quick glance at the 283-page report reveals that the result of poor maternal and infant healthcare is a life expectancy of 66 years (lower than the global average of 71, just a year more than Ethiopias 65 and seven years behind poorer Cambodias 73).

These indices are particularly related to a lack of piped water for drinking, and sanitationabsent in 47% of Indian homesemphasising governmental failures in providing basic infrastructure to the poor and vulnerable.

The IXR also discusses practices that can help overcome such lack of access.

It explains free, clean primary health services in Pimpri Chinchwad, Maharashtra, for the poor. In Chennai, it analyses a surveillance, disease prevention and outbreak response; in Raipur, Chattisgarh, strong community outreach practices.

Rather than ruthlessly evacuating slums, the parivartan (transformation) programme in Ahmedabad started in 1996, assured slum dwellers that they would not be evicted for the next 10 years. The assurance was not legally binding, but it helped ensure community participation to upgrade physical infrastructure (water supply, sanitation, drainage, roads) with financial assistance from the corporation.

In Bangalore, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board considers the urban poor as potential customers. In 2000, procedures to get a water connection were simplified: The requirement of formal tenure documents for new connections was replaced with simple occupancy proof (to address concerns of land tenure), connection fees were reduced and tariff structure for domestic water was revised to introduce lower minimum monthly charge (to address concerns of affordability), and shared connections were offered as an alternative, said the report.

Exclusion from public goods particularly affects women, children

Exclusion is viewed as lack of access to key public goods, provided and maintained by governments and civil societysuch as health infrastructure, sanitation, drinking water and work opportunities, especially for women.

Poor health and education infrastructure adversely affects women. Maternal health benefits dont reach women easily and lack of access to education limits employment opportunity among them; 43% of women in the working age-group of 15-59 years only do domestic work, according to the report.

India has 71 million single women, according to data from Census 2011, and an IndiaSpend analysis had observed a 39% rise in about a decade. Single women include widowed and divorced women; the social stigma associated with their status excludes them from participating equally in economic activities, the IXR report said.

An estimated 44 million children in India work, the report said.

Other than lack of access to education, these children also suffer from poor health.

Disaggregated data for urban child workers are unavailable, although some reference is made to occupations such as construction, work in factories, the service sector, said the report. Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labour. Child workers typically suffer from a variety of health effects, including orthopaedic ailments, injuries, stunting of gastro-intestinal, endocrinal and reproductive systems because of strain and exposure, and greater preponderance of substance abuse as compared to children who are not in labour.

Disadvantaged groups: Victims of violence

52 persons lay dead, over 60 had been grievously injured, and scores of houses destroyed in fires, across 14 villages (the effects radiating to 74 adjoining villages) in (the) two districts of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in western Uttar Pradesh in September 2013.

Violence spread to about 74 villages in the adjoining districts of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. The largest violence-induced migration in recent timesmainly of Muslim familiesis part of a continuing phenomenon, the report said, warning that many instances of deaths, injuries, sexual violence, and destruction of property remain uncounted to this day. Indeed, official figures themselves vary greatly, as this IndiaSpend report explained.

Will a new tax make life more difficult for the poor?

The implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) can increase the Gross Domestic Product by 2%, according to the IXR. This will, in turn, increase the governments tax income, possibly enabling it to provide better services.

But tax, the report said, is inevitably a burden on every person who has to pay it. Indirect taxes on consumer goods are high, and this means everyonethe rich and the poormust pay equally.

 indirect taxes (i.e., the taxes imposed on the production, trade and sales of goods and services), which are regressive in nature as they do not distinguish potential tax payers on the basis of their ability to pay or, in other words, on the basis of their incomes By virtue of being included as a part of the price of a good, an indirect tax also generates socio-economic exclusion, especially for the poor consumer, said the report.

GST continues to be on the drawing board with a consensus between the centre and state governments proving elusive. Depending on the actual format of its implementation, as and when that happens, including the rates of taxation and the list of commodities exempted from taxation, the implications of the GST burden on the poor household would have to be reassessed.

(IndiaSpend is a data-driven, public interest journalism non-profit)
Strides Shasun buys Swedish firm Moberg Pharma's 3 brands for $ 10 mn

Moberg brands that are currently marketed in USA, Australia and Middle East will strengthen Strides Shasun's strategy to build a global OTC franchise

Moberg brands that are currently marketed in USA, Australia and Middle East will strengthen Strides Shasun's strategy to build a global OTC franchise

Strides Shasun Ltd, through its wholly owned subsidiary Strides Pharma Inc, has entered into an agreement to acquire three brands - Jointflex, Fergon and Vanquish - from Swedish firm Moberg Pharma for a total consideration of $ 10 million (about Rs 67 crore) plus inventory value at closing.



Moberg brands that are currently marketed in USA, Australia and Middle East will further strengthen the OTC business of Strides Shasun. "The OTC business has now reached a critical size and is showing promise to become an important part of the overall growth strategy," said Strides Shasun in a press release.



Recent acquisitions has enabled Strides Shasun build an emerging OTC franchise both in its regulated and emerging markets. The acquired Moberg brands will strengthen Strides Shasuns strategy to build a global OTC franchise.



The OTC portfolio now includes Chemists Own umbrella brand in Australia and Nuprin in the US, acquired by erstwhile Shasun from Scolr Pharma, US. Nuprin has the global rights to the first ibuprofen 12 hour extended release (ER) tablet as well as the associated controlled delivery technology (CDT).

BS B2B Bureau
Agribusiness set to boom in Africa, says DHL

Published: 18 December 2013

It is no secret that Africa is on the rise and increasingly offering lucrative opportunities to local businesses due to the continent's steady economic growth, increased disposable income and high consumer confidence.Charles Brewer, Managing Director of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, says that one particular sector which has seen significant growth in Africa is agribusiness, which entails the full value chain from agricultural production/farming through secondary processing, distribution and retailing to the end user/consumer (farm-to-fork concept). "The retail sector is booming in Africa, as is the rapid growth of populations and the African middle class. As a result of this expansion, there is a greater availability of and demand for good quality agricultural produce and processed food products than ever before."He points to the recent report by World Bank - Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness  which revealed that Africa's farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030  a three-fold increase from the current size of the market which is estimated to be worth $313 billion."This expected growth highlights the growing market and many opportunities for South African agribusiness and related value chain role players to expand into Africa," says Brewer.According to Hennie van der Merwe, CEO of the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC), based in South Africa, Africa provides a new market for agribusiness firms."Given its increased spending power, demand for goods and untapped land resources, Africa is currently experiencing a revival in terms of its focus on agribusiness, not only to increase food self-sufficiency, but also to create jobs and economic activity, specifically in rural areas," says van der Merwe."In the current climate, Africa is increasingly offering greater growth forecasts," he notes. However, he explains that while Africa is well-endowed with resources, it often lacks much of the necessary expertise to unlock the commercial potential of its agriculture resources, whereas South Africa is well regarded for its expertise in commercial farming and agribusiness."One of the major limitations on agribusiness development in Africa is a human capacity and human skills constraint. The ability and experience to develop and manage commercial farming and agribusiness ventures are largely lacking in the African environment and that major technology transfer and capacity building would be necessary in this regard."Van der Merwe says this is where the opportunity lies for local businesses and farmers to expand beyond their borders and offer expertise in neighbouring countries.Van der Merwe adds that it is vital to have partnerships in place before venturing into projects in Africa. "Partnerships with a local business or association in the specific country are necessary as business owners need to be provided with assistance, guidance and sometimes protection when in the area. It is also essential/indispensable to ensure that all the building blocks for working value chains are in place to ensure and support successful operation. A local partnership will also assist with analysing the market carefully to evaluate what the real market needs, requirements and opportunities are.""The market in Africa is there and ready, but the question is how local businesses create a direct link to service the market needs," concludes Brewer.- APO
Comesa 'business visa' nears implementation

Published: 02 July 2014

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is close to implementing a business visa for the region.Speaking at workshop to finalise policies and challenges hindering cross border movement, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi said the implementation of the business visa will allow business transactions to be done more swiftly."As Comesa we have already initiated a system where we want a business visa that is uniform. If we have our business people moving freely within the region it will allow decision making in terms of business to be made quicker than what it is now and that will boost our economies," said Ziyambi.The meeting's agenda was to promote trade, free movement of goods, elimination of visas and the alignment of business laws to all the 19 member states in the Comesa Region."This workshop is particularly relevant as it comes at a time when Comesa Ministers responsible for Immigration have highlighted to member states, the need to embark on the process of documenting existing migration data for use at the national and regional levels."Zimbabwe has already demonstrated its commitment to the Comesa immigration agenda by being one of the four signatories to the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Labour and Services," he said.The Deputy Minister also said as Comesa, they were working on the relaxation of visa to allow free movement of goods and services to promote cross border traders since they contribute to economy growth."Already Zimbabwe is complying with the Comesa protocol on the gradual relaxation of visa requirements on a bilateral basis," said Ziyambi.Also speaking Wednesday morning, Brian Chigawa, Comesa division of legal and institutional affairs director said they are focusing on promoting trade within the region by simplifying movement of goods and people."The Comesa integration agenda has focused on promoting trade and investment through the launching of the Comesa free trade area. Comesa has made progress in terms of moving goods but you realise that when goods have to move people too have to move and we still have challenges in the movement of people," said Chigawa.He said a great deal of regional trade is done by cross border traders who meet many difficulties that need to be addressed. "As a trade facilitation you also have to realise that a greater part of our trade in the region is done by cross border traders and mostly women. Those people meet a lot of challenges so in moving our integration agenda forward there is need to ensure that people are able to move in the region."In addition, Chigawa said the difficulty of movement across borders can be a hindrance to investor support."You can use migration for development purposes because you cannot have a call for investors when it is very difficult for people to come into the country or try to promote trade when people cannot move across the borders," he said.- Lynn Murahwa and Funny Hudzerema
CellC said to weigh sale of No. 3 SA mobile carrier

Published: 18 February 2015

Cell C Pty Ltd. is exploring options for the third-largest South African wireless carrier including a possible sale to domestic competitors, according to two people familiar with the matter.Cell C, which is majority owned by Dubai-based Oger Telecom Ltd., is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the review, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.The wireless provider had about 20 million customers as of last month, according to the company. Market leader Vodacom Group Ltd. reported more than 31 million active customers in South Africa as of the end of last year.Cell C's survival is at risk as the company's two larger competitors, Vodacom and MTN Group Ltd., seek transactions to strengthen their dominance in Africa's second-biggest economy, Cell C Chief Executive Officer Jose Dos Santos told lawmakers in November. Cell C reduced staff last year after South Africa's communications regulator scaled back plans to reduce the cost of calling other mobile networks, a proposal aimed at helping smaller carriers.Oger Telecom is the telecommunications unit of Saudi Oger Ltd., which is the majority owner of Turk Telekomunikasyon AS.The company is fully committed to Cell C and its growth plans, and has invested $450 million in the business in the last two years, it said in an e-mailed statement today. A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.- Bloomberg
SA mine union boss decries "apartheid" wage system

Published: 22 June 2015

The newly elected head of South Africa's biggest mine union said on Sunday that his members were still being paid "apartheid" wages, signaling a hard line ahead of gold sector wage talks due to start on Monday. David Sipunzi, formerly a regional leader from the gold-producing Free State province, was elected general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) earlier this month, replacing veteran Frans Baleni.The leadership shake up has come just ahead of what are expected to be tough negotiations in South Africa's ailing gold sector, which is grappling with depressed prices, falling production and rising costs.Speaking to Reuters ahead of a rally in the mining town of Westonaria west of Johannesburg, Sipunzi defended NUM's demand for wage hikes of around 80 percent for its lowest-paid members, who make between 5,000 rand ($410) and 6,000 rand monthly. "We expect them to meet our demands. Eighty percent of just over 5,000 rand is not too much. The CEOs are raking in millions. But the indications are that they are going to plead poverty," he said."Nothing has changed. We are still being paid under the apartheid wage structure," he said, referring to the fact that lower-paid miners were overwhelmingly black and often drawn from rural areas far from the shafts - a system that has prevailed for decades.Sipunzi poured cold water on an industry initiative that has seen it propose "an economic and social" pact as part of the wage talks. Labour's response has been frosty. "We don't believe it will play a role in this year's negotiations because if we mix these two, the negotiations might become more protracted," he said.- Reuters
South Africa 'must get out of ICC'

Published: 23 June 2015

The International Criminal Court "is dangerous" and South Africa should withdraw from it, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday.Mantashe was defending the government's decision not to arrest indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir."If I was in government, I would say: 'Give notice, get out of that, it was not what was envisioned. It is a tool in the hands of the powerful to destroy the weak and it is a court that is focusing on Africa, Eastern Europe and Middle East'," Mantashe said on Talk Radio 702.Zuma is to answer questions on Bashir's departure in the National Assembly today.- Reuters
Zimpapers to get printing press from China

Published: 31 October 2013

A Chinese company has expressed willingness to avail a state-of-the-art printing press to the Zimpapers Group to be installed at the company's Bulawayo premises.This came out when the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Lin Lin paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Professor Jonathan Moyo at his Munhumutapa offices on Thursday afternoon.Speaking to journalists soon after the closed door meeting, Ambassador Lin said the visit to the Chronicle offices in Bulawayo by the Minister showed that the printing press is out-dated and needs to be changed.Ambassador Lin noted that the availability of a new printing press in Bulawayo is expected to further improve operations at Zimpapers as well as minimise the burden of transporting printed newspapers from Harare to Bulawayo.Other publishers will also be able to utilise the Zimpapers printing press in Harare and Bulawayo.A source close to the meeting also revealed that Professor Moyo and Ambassador Lin discussed the challenges being faced by companies in the country in procuring newsprint and the possibility of getting the commodity from China.Professor Moyo also expressed appreciation to the Chinese government for the support rendered to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) through the procurement of state-of-the-art outside broadcasting (OB) vans, which have seen the national broadcaster becoming one of the few stations in the region with such high technology equipment.However, the source revealed that Professor Moyo highlighted to the ambassador that there is now need to refurbish and digitalise studios at ZBC if people are to enjoy quality programmes that are being produced through the use of the high tech OB vans.The June 2015 deadline to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting is another issue that also came under the spotlight.Professor Moyo also briefed the ambassador on the progress made so far by the government in reviving the economy.He discussed with the ambassador the objectives of the recently adopted Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIM-ASSET) document, and the various clusters that have been set up under the economic framework.Ambassador Lin told Professor Moyo that the Chinese Minister of Finance is ready to meet his Zimbabwean counterpart by end of next month.He also revealed that his embassy is happy with the progress they have made with the new cabinet, unlike the previous cabinet which was characterised by discord, making it difficult for any progress to be realised.- zbc
Meikles workers row takes new twist

Published: 01 November 2013

The dispute between Meikles stores and its employees has taken a new twist following the giant retail company's refusal to adhere to the outcome of the judgment from the National Retrenchment Board.Meikles Stores has been posting losses since the advent of dollarisation four years ago and in August this year the retail company announced its intention to lay off 55 workers in Harare, Gweru and Mutare. The retrenchment board proposed that Meikles was to pay a 1.5 months' salary per year served which forced the company to challenge the judgment.Despite the judgment Meikles Stores seems to have changed goal posts by deciding to reinstate the workers in a bid to avoid paying retrenchment packages determined by the board.Meikles department stores chief executive Mrs Belinda Sharples said Meikles was facing financial challenges and they decided to bring the workers back to work."We cannot afford to pay the packages proposed by the retrenchment board because we are facing a liquidity crisis at the moment."Our decision to retrench has been reversed by the executive and the company is prepared to carry the costs rather than paying the packages."In an appeal letter to the judgment from the retrenchment board Meikles stores, stated that they are not prepared to meet the demands of the judgment."I am sure you will recall that during the course of the retrenchment board meeting we agreed that if the board chooses to impose packages above what we are ready to offer, Meikles department stores would have no option but to continue to carry to the monthly expenses of excess staff and allocate them to the various business units," read part of the letter.- herald
Air Zimbabwe re-launches Lusaka route

Published: 22 June 2015

Air Zimbabwe has today re-launched its Harare-Lusaka route which was discontinued in 2011 due to low passenger traffic. The airline will now be flying between Harare and Lusaka three times a week - on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Obert Mpofu said the re-opening of the route would help increase Air Zimbabwe's revenue streams.Zambian Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications, Yamfwa Mukanga urged the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Zambian Tourism Board to work together to make the route more lucrative for Zimbabwe.Details to follow......- the herald
Victoria Falls airport runway near completion

Published: 23 June 2015

The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) will be conducting test flights at the beginning of August to ascertain if the new Victoria Fall Airport runway meets international aviation standards.The new runway is 90 percent complete and contractors are expected to have completed installation of aviation ground lighting, centre lights and navigation systems by the end of next month.CAAZ is expected to conduct the test flights using Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 767 and the process will be supervised by the South African flight calibration unit.The process will pave way for the airport to allow bigger aircrafts to land in Victoria Falls and the aviation body intends to mobilise the tourism sector, operators and policy makers to jointly market the country`s new facility at the World Routes to be held in September in Durban, South Africa."We want Victoria Falls to be the airport hub of the region. We are therefore going to mobilise all forces from tourism operators to policy makers to make sure the facilities are appropriately marketed," said David Chawota, CAAZ General Manager.CAAZ will also begin using the new ramp which accommodates six medium sized aircraft on the 1st July and all the relevant equipment including the shuttle bus and push back facilities are already in place.Domestic and international passengers are expected to move to the new terminal which is currently 80 percent complete with effect from September to allow the contractors to refurbish the current terminal which will be used for domestic operations.- zbc
4 firms bid for Hwange Colliery coke oven facelift

Published: 24 June 2015

HWANGE Colliery Company Ltd has received bids from four companies interested in rebuilding its coke oven battery as it moves to increase regional exports.The battery, which converts coking coal into coke, stopped operating two years ago after it became "too expensive to run", managing director Mr Thomas Makore said."We want to do a complete overhaul and we have received four bids for that particular job," said Mr Makore."The battery has design capacity of producing 18 000 tonnes of coke per month."Hwange, which recently commissioned equipment worth $31,2 million, is looking at pushing more volumes of coke into the region as it targets to return to profitability by September this year.Hwange is currently producing coke through tolling arrangements with "third parties".The company supplies coke mainly to copper smelters in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Despite logistical challenges, Mr Makore said the company had adopted "an aggressive thrust" to increase its market share into the regional markets.He added that the company would diversify customer base to improve volumes.There were growing opportunities in the construction, tobacco and cement industries, he said."The recapitalisation programme is ongoing and the second phase, which includes rebuilding the coke oven battery and equipping the underground mine, is already underway," said Mr Makore.Bids to finance and supply underground equipment have also been received. The company requires about $10 million to equip the underground mine to achieve monthly coal output of 60 000 tonnes from the current 40 000-45 000 tonnes.The first stage of recapitalisation saw Hwange concluding vendor-financed transactions which included the acquisition of mining equipment from BEML worth $13 million funded by India Exim Bank while the other batch of equipment worth about worth $18,2 million was supplied BELAZ under the PTA Bank loan facility.Hwange has been operating below capacity due to the use of obsolete equipment resulting in production inefficiencies. It is also saddled with huge debts amounting to $160 million and this has negatively affected the company's ability to access lines of credit.The new equipment will see the company increasing coal production to 500 000 tonnes per month from 300 000 tonnes."With increased production and sales and employment of higher capacity machines, our cost per tonne will reduce," said Mr Makore."When our cost per tonne reduces, profitability improves. We are expecting therefore our sales to go up, our cost per tonne to go down and our cash position to also improve."We should see profitability in the third quarter to September and then going forward."- herald
Econet launches mobile extension service

Published: 24 June 2015

Mobile telecommunications firm Econet Wireless last Friday launched a service that allows farmers to access extension services from experts through the phone.Dubbed "Dial-a-Mudhumeni", the service has been launched in conjunction with four organisations - the Department of Veterinary Services, the Tobacco Research Board, Department of Livestock and Mubatsiri, a firm that specialises in produce marketing services, to provide the expert service to farmers."One of the many important insights we got is that farmers travel long distances just to get to an extension officer (mudhumeni). "Dial-a-Mudhumeni" allows farmers to get real time advice from specialists without having to leave their farms," said Econet Services chief executive officer Dr Jimmy Shindi."All a farmer needs to do is dial 144 to access the EcoFarmer call centre. They will then be routed to any of the three specialist services available, namely agricultural marketing advisers, livestock specialists and tobacco experts."The expansion of services by Econet is a move aimed at diversifying its revenue base given a decline in the use of calling services and short message services which used to be its cash cow."Dial-a-Mudhumeni" is an extension of EcoFarmer, a short messaging services launched by Econet in 2013 which is currently serving over 300 000 farmers with information on weather, farming tips and cropping insurance.The service, which will be charged at $0,30 per minute, also allows farmers to get the latest information on market prices."Because they have nobody reliable to ask, a lot of our farmers wrongly price their produce. They are often prejudiced by unscrupulous traders who take advantage of the lack of information. With Dial-a-Mudhumeni, information on what is happening on the markets is now within easy reach for farmers," Dr Shindi said.- New Ziana
CSC tannery improves operations

Published: 24 June 2015

Meat processor Cold Storage Company says it has registered an increase in hides processed at its tannery following the imposition of an export levy on raw hides by Government.Government introduced a 75cents per killogramme levy on raw hide exports in January last year as a measure to boost value addition in the leather industry.CSC chief executive Mr Ngoni Chinogaramombe told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation yesterday that the company has started to reap the benefits of the export levy."We have a tannery which is now starting to operate meaningfully but it is under judicial management.Our tannery was one of those that were affected (by export of raw hides) and it was not operational for some time. But thanks to the new Law, most traders are now compelled to tender their hides to either us, Bata or any other tannery in the country. We understand that there are some leakages and people are still smuggling raw hide out of the country, but it has helped our company to the extent that since January, we have seen an increase in hides being processed from just over 1000 to 10 000 last month," he said.At the time the levy was introduced, there was an outcry from abattoirs who said their viability was challenged as a result of the levy.The Livestock and Meat Advisory Council in its 2014 report said tanners were unable to buy raw hides from abattoirs while abattoirs were also unable to pay tanners for them to custom tan on their behalf due to lack of finance.Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa early this year announced a tax relief for raw hides exports to nine registered merchants."Subject to section 12C of the Value Added Tax, export relief shall be granted on unbeneficiated hides exported by a registered merchant issued with an export permit by the Minister of Agriculture as approved by the Minister responsible of industry and Commerce," Minister Chinamasa said in the Government Gazette on February 6He said the relief shall not exceed the maximum quantities prescribed for each individual exporter while the unbeneficiated hides shall be exported through the port of entry nearest to the stockpile of the raw hides.The CSC tannery was one of the largest in Zimbabwe but in the past 10 years, the leather sector has been failing to absorb all raw hides and skins that are produced leading to more hides being exported from Zimbabwe in their raw form. The country exports cow, crocodile, zebra, hippo and buffalo hides.- bh24
Zimbabwe's trade deficit declines

Published: 10 July 2014

The country's trade deficit in the five months to May was at $1,47 billion, narrowing by about 17,9 percent from the comparable period last year reflective of the tight liquidity situation and the lack of competitiveness on the exports market.According to the latest data from ZimStat, imports in the period were at $2,46 billion and exports amounted to $990,32 million.Exports were down 23,93 percent from $1,3 billion this time last year as the country's industries continue to lose competitiveness due to high costs and antiquated production processes.Manufactured exports are now under nine percent of the country's exports and with the declining capacity utilisation within the sector, it is clear that exports will be much lower at year end.Imports fell 23,03 percent from $3,2 billion last year with most industries' capacity to pay was severely limited.The fall in imports in turn affects the country's customs duties thereby adding to fiscal pressure.Economic analyst Dr Erich Bloch said the continued decline in trade deficit was mainly due to the improvement in foreign currency inflows generated during this tobacco selling season."As you know when the country is liquid, exports certainly decrease because there is enough disposable income for people to purchase locally produced goods regardless of the prices hence leading to the decline of the imports as well," said Dr Bloch.Economic analyst Dr John Robertson said the decline in trade deficit coupled with a decline in imports and exports shows a massive shrinkage in the local business environment."The shrinkage in business mean reduced tax revenues that eventually puts pressure on Government expenditure towards social services such as education and health," said Dr Robertson.He said the country must attract foreign direct investment through introducing flexible investment policies.Other economic analysts are of the view that lower tax revenue does not only apply to falling imports but also affected by a drop in mineral exports as Government end up getting less in royalties.The total value of mineral production excluding diamonds in the four months to April dropped 8,54 percent to $596,42 million against the same period last year, weighed down by the weaknesses in international gold prices and low investment in the sector.According to latest figures from the Chamber of Mines availed by the Finance Ministry; gold production was 4 484,5kg with a total value of $183,122 million.This is below the 4 500,21kg produced last year with a total value of $224,73 million.Cumulative royalties in the four months to April were at $41,01 million against a target of $46,16 million.South Africa remained the largest trading partner accounting for $1,04 billion of imports and $609,12 million of exports.Economists are forecasting the trade deficit to close the year lower at $3,2 billion from $3,5 billion last year and to continue narrowing to around $2,66 billion.Imports are forecast to close the year at $7,06 billion and exports at $3,81 billion.The current account position is projected to end at a deficit of $3,64 billion an improvement from $3,72 billion.- The Herald
Zim economy remains fragile

Published: 10 July 2014

Zimbabwe's economy remained fragile during the first half of the year, a period characterised by closure of companies, liquidations, property attachment over debt and continued spiralling of unemployment.Analysts and pressure groups contacted by Southern Eye on the performance of the economy in the past six months pointed out that liquidity challenges, out-dated technologies, structural bottlenecks that include power shortages and infrastructure deficits, corruption and a volatile, fragile global financial environment did not augur well for growth in the comatose economy."There are a number of companies that have succumbed so far this year as compared to last year."Many people lost their jobs. Many companies and individuals got their properties auctioned and sold," the Affirmative Action Group president for Matabeleland chapter, Roy Sibanda, said."The number of companies taken to court has gone up in the last six months."More people have been thrown onto the streets and the percentage is growing alarmingly."There has to be a change for better and the government should put systems on the ground that will resuscitate ailing companies."Most companies especially small-to-medium businesses, are not properly funded, so the government should make capital available for such businesses," he added.Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) general-secretary Japheth Moyo said the first half of the year was hectic especially for workers as more companies were closed and thousands of workers thrown onto streets."What we have realised is that the positives we have gained during the inclusive government have diminished.Now we have recorded reports of company closures, people not getting their salaries and, employees failing to remit workers' pension to National Social Security Authority (NSSA). As workers, this has been the hard year and we liken it to the 2008 era.We are not paid and the issues of liquidity crunch are still the reality," Moyo said.An economic analyst Eric Bloch estimated that the economy grew marginally by 3%."I think there was marginal economic growth of 3% and the growth rate of 3% is very small. However, it is the first step in the right direction," he said."To improve this, there should be foreign direct investment in the country and consistence policies as well as constant power supply."Another economist, Prosper Chitambara, said the economy during the first half of the year was very fragile and weak and the major binding constraint, among others, was the liquidity crunch."We witnessed deindustralisation and retrenchments of workers."The imports figures remained high compared to exports," he said."We are not competitive as the economy and things are not good."The government should reduce cost of doing business to achieve high production. Zimbabwe is a high cost economy as compared to other regional countries and the country should work on investment policies because investors want to invest where there is policy consistency." he added.Chitambara said according to World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Zimbabwe only achieved an economic growth rate of 3%.According to NSSA, at least 10 firms have been closing down every month since the beginning of the year and this could mean 60 companies have closed shop.The count could get to 120 by year-end if the situation remains dire.A survey by the ZCTU has indicated from the 1,3 million workers who were formally employed in 2012, 1,2 million remained in employment.- newsday
Chinamasa's Mid-Term Budget Review in doubt

Published: 22 July 2014

THE Mid-Term Budget Review statement was highly unlikely to be announced anytime soon, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Parliament yesterday.Chinamasa said this when he appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development where he explained that he had been too busy and away for a long time to find time to craft the review statement.However, legislators were not impressed saying it was a statutory obligation which should be obeyed by Finance ministers.The committee had invited Chinamasa to speak on progress in the implementation of policies and policy measures to address the current challenges facing the economy."I am looking at whether it is necessary for me to do the Mid-Term Budget Statement because I had been away and it is a matter that I had not paid attention to," said Chinamasa."I will have to check whether I can use my discretion on the Mid-Term Budget Review and whether it is a statutory obligation," he said.On demonitisation of the Zimbabwean dollar, Chinamasa said he had asked legislators, economists and other experts to give him advice on how best it could be done, but to date no one had come up with suggestions to him.He defended state institutions that retained part of their revenue collections saying they were justified as government was operating on a cash budget and failing to fund their operational costs from Treasury.On the economic growth rate, he projected a figure that is below 6% saying it would be above what had been projected by others.Chinamasa said he was struggling to service the civil servants' wage bill, but denied existence of ghost workers in government employ.He encouraged people to deposit their money in banks in order to resolve the liquidity challenges, adding that Zimbabweans should also have a culture of paying taxes in order to avoid being garnished by the tax collector.He said he was going to introduce a number of Bills to restore public and investor confidence in the banking sector and to instil good corporate governance at parastatals.The minister said he was also agitating for an Insurance Pension Commission to supervise NSSA and other pension schemes.- newsday
Innscor unbundling forges ahead

Published: 24 June 2015

Innscor Africa Limited (Innscor) has tasked its executive director for corporate finance, John Koumides, to lead an advisory committee implementing the separate listing of the group's fast-food business on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).A former Innscor chief executive, Koumides, was in November 2014 reassigned to his current post following the appointment of South African Antonio Fourie as the group's chief executive.This comes after the diversified group - with businesses straddling manufacturing, food processing, distribution and retail - early this month announced a restructuring of its business following the board's approval.Andrew Lorimer, Innscor company secretary, yesterday, said shareholders would be kept abreast of the unbundling developments."Once clarity has been established on certain regulatory matters a definitive time line for the unbundling will be published," he said.Innscor's fast-food business has expanded rapidly on the African continent, with the firm now having more counters in the region (196) than the 171 it has in Zimbabwe.The group operates its own fast-food outlets in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as franchised operations in Swaziland, Lesotho and Malawi.Innscor's fast-food business - which includes its own brands Chicken Inn and Pizza Inn as well as Nando's and Steers franchises - contributes 14 percent of the group's revenue.- dailynews
Apply to meet and interview with Africa's top employers in Johannesburg

Published: 05 July 2013

Global Career Company is getting in touch employment seekers to let them know about upcoming opportunity to connect, network and interview with major African employers at Careers in Africa Johannesburg, from 1-3 November 2013.The strength of your background and experience could secure you a free invitation to this prestigious event, and here's why we feel you should apply now 50% interview to offer ratio for Summit attendeesUp to 20 major African employers exhibitingNetworking opportunities with over 500 outstanding African professionalsA chance to secure instant, as well as scheduled interviewsTo attend Careers in Africa Johannesburg, and take advantage of the outstanding career development opportunities it offers, apply online instantly Global Career Company is looking forward to seeing you in Johannesburg, and to helping you take your career to the next level in Africa.- businessdaily
Mawocha becomes AfrAsia Bank MD

Published: 16 January 2014

Afrasia Bank Zimbabwe Limited has appointed former Tetrad Bank managing director Mr Tineyi Mawocha as the managing director for its rebranded flagship banking unit with effect from 6 January 2014.The appointment follows closely on the heels of the successful extraordinary meeting of the parent company AfrAsia Zimbabwe Holdings Limited which ushered in the rebranding of the group and its subsidiaries.AfrAsia Bank Zimbabwe traded as AfrAsia Kingdom Bank prior to rebranding.Kingdom Bank Limited and Kingdom Asset Management were rebranded to AfrAsia Zimbabwe Holdings Limited, AfrAsia Bank Zimbabwe Limited and AfrAsia Capital Management (Private) Limited respectively whilst MicroKing Finance retained its name for strategic reasons.AfrAsia was until now being led by Mr Sylvester Dendere as Acting MD following the resignation in March of former substantive MD Francois Molife's resignation not long after the parent group restructured its board following the acquisition of a 35 percent stake in the diversified financial services group by Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank Limited in a US$9,5 million deal.Mr Mawocha holds masters degrees in Development Finance from University of Stellenbosch, Business Administration from University of Zimbabwe and a Higher National Diploma in Hotel and Catering Management.His banking career started off at Standard Bank South Africa where he rose to the position of Standard Bank Swaziland chief executive officer from 2005 to 2012.Prior to this position he held the positions of director branch network, Gauteng Province and area business manager, south east Gauteng Province (RSA) both positions in Standard Bank South Africa.In October 2012 he returned to join Tetrad Bank as managing director, a position he left to join ABZL.Prior to his banking career Mr Mawocha had a successful hospitality career that saw him rise to the top in this field as CEO for Innscor East Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.Commenting on the development, the group CEO Mrs Lynn Mukonoweshuro said, "We welcome Mr Tineyi Mawocha to the AZHL and to the helm of AfrAsia Bank Zimbabwe Limited. We look forward to gaining from his varied experience."Mr.Sylvester Dendere who has been acting in the capacity of managing director has retained his position as deputy MD for the bank."Mr Mawocha and Mr Dendere are expected to steer the bank forward as we endeavour to bank differently in our market in 2014 onwards," said Mrs Mukonoweshuro said in a statement yesterday.To that end, AZHL has received considerable support from its shareholder Mauritius registered AfrAsia Holdings Limited to support local operations in the wake of economy wide liquidity crunch that has left many local banks struggling to meet their daily financial obligations.The bank received in excess of US$25 million in lines of credit and liquidity support guarantees and is in the process of raising US$20 million, US$5 million through a rights issue and US$15 million, through private placement as it targets US$100 million eventually to meet regulatory requirements.The group is targeting a turnaround of fortunes after floundering to a US$16,1 million after tax loss for the 18 months to June 2013 largely weighed down by non-performing loans on the books of the banking unit.AZHL says it is starting on a new slate after fully provisioning for the bad loans.- Herald
HUNY | Results of Extraordinary General Meeting

Published: 29 August 2014

The directors of Hunyani Holdings Limited ("Hunyani Holdings" or "the Company") wish to advise all shareholders that on 21 August 2014, the Company held an Extraordinary General Meeting ("EGM"). The EGM pertained to approvals for an increase in the Company's authorised share capital, the change of name from "Hunyani Holdings Limited" to "Nampak Zimbabwe Limited", offers to acquire 100% of CarnaudMetalbox (Zimbabwe) Limited and 100% of Mega Pak Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, an issue for cash to Nampak Holdings Limited (Mauritius) and the appointment of two directors to the Board of Hunyani Holdings.Shareholders are advised that all Special and Ordinary Resolutions were passed unanimously.Shareholders are further advised that two conditions precedent are outstanding. These are approvals pertaining to the Competition and Tariff Commission, and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's Exchange Control. Subject to the fulfilment of these outstanding conditions precedent, the Implementation Date of the transaction will be 1 October 2014.Shareholders will be duly updated when all conditions precedent have been met...- HUNY
EU maintains stance on budgetary support

Published: 21 June 2015

The European Union (EU) says Zimbabwe is yet to qualify for budgetary support, but the economic trading bloc will continue to channel aid through multinational organisations, EU Ambassador Philippe Van Damme said.In an interview with businessdaily yesterday, Van Damme said there were some conditions that the country must fulfil before it can receive budgetary support to revive its ailing industry."To be able to channel funds directly to government Treasury in terms of budget support we need to follow very strict and rigid procedures and we are not yet there," he said."It is important to state that our current re-engagement with Zimbabwe has no direct relation with our aid implementation modalities, but the objective is to enter into stricter dialogue with Zimbabwe," Van Damme said.According to the EU website, budget support involves direct financial transfers to the national treasury of the partner country - conditional on policy dialogue, performance assessment and capacity building.Van Damme said the trading bloc aims at rigorous dialogue with government, assurance of rule of law and sound financial reforms before directly injecting cash into Treasury."We have to help government with its public finance management system and we will do that through the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund which is managed by the World Bank."But I really hope that by 2017 we can make an assessment of the progress made in funds management and on that basis maybe decide if we can change modalities but for the time being we continue like in the past," the EU envoy said.Budget support accounts for around a quarter of all EU development aid and in 2011, 26 percent budget support was availed to sub-Saharan Africa, 16 percent in Asia, 23 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.To be eligible for this kind of support, a country must have a well-defined national or sectorial development or reform policy and strategy, a stable macroeconomic framework, a good public financial management or a credible and relevant programme to improve it, transparency and oversight of the budget through making budget information publicly available.Van Damme said he was not in a position to shed light on the asset freeze and travel ban on President Robert Mugabe and wife, Grace as the matter was still under deliberations by the 28-member union.Last year, the EU lifted sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe 13 years ago on allegations of human rights abuses.The move paved way for the trading bloc to resume aid to hard-pressed Zimbabwe.Early this year, EU offered a $234 million olive branch to Zimbabwe, intended for development projects decided jointly with the government and, if certain conditions are met in the next few years, could lead to a resumption of direct budget support.- dailynews
Chinamasa defends presumptive tax

Published: 21 June 2015

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa says Zimbabwe's presumptive tax was in line with international trends and blamed small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) for evading taxes."The issue of presumptive tax has been operative for quite a while now. The issue which may arise is whether the level is too high or too low," Chinamasa told Parliament last week."I think it's something that could be looked into. I do not believe that the presumptive tax, as currently charged, is too high. The taxpayer has a choice. You can make your books available to show that you are not making money," Chinamasa said.Zimbabwe introduced presumptive tax in 2005 but the policy was further enforced in 2011 to broaden Treasury's revenue base in view of the increasing informal business activities.Presumptive tax mainly targets small-scale traders including crossborder traders, furniture-making traders, transport operators, small-scale miners, restaurant operators, flea market and hair salon operators, among others.Chinamasa noted that some Zimbabweans were "not liable to pay tax, but if you are not prepared to be transparent to show your books to the taxman, the taxman has a right to presume you to be making an income which you may not be making"This comes as Zimra Commissioner-General, Gershem Pasi, recently widened the tax net in a desperate bid to rake in more revenue required to fund government's tottering operations leading to the taxing of struggling vendors across the country.The tax collection agency is currently in talks with the ministry of Local Government to find ways of organising vendors into designated areas so that they could start contributing to the fiscus, which has been overwhelmed by competing demands for cash.Apart from this, the authority has adopted drastic measures to sustain government operations including raiding bank accounts belonging to companies through garnishee orders.Zimra recently extended the tax amnesty window for companies to the end of June this year, hoping that more businesses would declare their tax liabilitiesAt the moment, tuck-shops are reportedly being asked to pay presumptive tax, which essentially means they are supposed to be paying $300 after every three months."We cannot afford not to follow where the money now is, which is in the informal sector. What I would say to the hon. members is that if they are already making income, all we want to know is what level of income," Chinamasa told the National Assembly.He also said if informal sector players were forthcoming with their books if they were not making any profit government would not tax them."The tax system has got tax bands and there are thresholds of income which are not liable to taxation. Like I said, you can do your books very simply, very elementary and show the taxman," Chinamasa said.- dailynews
Zimbabwe collects $1,65m tourism VAT

Published: 22 June 2015

Hard - hit Zimbabwe government collected a total of $1,65 million from value added tax (VAT) on non-resident tourist accommodation in the four months to April this year, a top official has revealed.Willard Manungo, Finance ministry's permanent secretary, on Monday told Parliament that government was aware of implications surrounding the VAT introduction and this was consistent with developments within the southern African regional countries."From a fiscal point of view, we continuously monitor the environment to try and ensure that we don't undermine the recovery of the tourism sector," he said adding that the VAT was only introduced based on submissions from tourism stakeholders.The permanent secretary noted that government from 2009 introduced rebates on capital goods and suspension of duty on vehicles imported under tourism sector as way of supporting the tourism industry in expansion initiatives and refurbishment of hotel facilities."In 2014 alone, the concessions that we gave with regards to tourism industry, we have foregone over $2 million in terms of duty that should have been paid by the sector again as a way of trying to improve the sector's competitiveness," he said.He added that 33 tourism operators had so far benefitted from the rebate on capital goods related to the tourism sector while the suspension of duty on motor vehicles imported by the sector had benefitted about 22 tourism operators."All in all, 55 operators have actually been able to benefit by way of concessions on both capital goods as well as on motor vehicles," said Manungo.This comes as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has already pleaded with tourism operators to maintain last year's rates despite the introduction of levy on foreign accommodation as a way of boosting tourism."This year we have agreed that industry will pay and they are already paying the 15 percent but they can't change their rates," ZTA chief executive Karikoga Kaseke recently said."It means the tax is eroding into their revenues and profitability. I don't know what will happen when we let them increase rates next year. It will be bad," Kaseke said.The tourism boss noted that his organisation was not ruling out the possibility of a reversal of the decision to impose the tax."The 15 percent VAT has been lumped on industry whilst efforts to try and persuade fiscal authorities are underway and the minister (Walter Mzembi) is very much pushing for reversal of that decision," said Kaseke.In January this year, Zimbabwe unilaterally imposed a 15 percent tax on foreign tourists' accommodation to enhance its depleting coffers.The southern African country has not been charging VAT on foreigners' accommodation payments and tourism-related services for the past decade.When the Vat system was introduced in 2003, the travel and tourism sector was recognised as an exporter and was exempt from VAT on foreign visitors' payments.Tourism is one of Zimbabwe's major foreign currency earners, generating $827 million in 2014, down from $856 million in 2013.- dailynews
Zinara mulls development plan

Published: 22 June 2015

The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) has dangled the idea of a corridor master development plan (CMDP) towards the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Chirundu road, which emphasises the upgrading of key constituent elements such as the southern border post.This comes as the roads manager has complained that a raft of taxes on its $206 million Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) loan have impaired some of its programmes and a key committee on the Joint Ventures Bill (JVB) has called on joint efforts in the development of the major highway."Policy direction is that we should pursue full dualisation of this road (Beitbridge) and the requirement of which is in excess of $2 billion. This quantum of financing is not easy to secure and with the problem exacerbated by demands for a return on investment within the shortest possible time," Zinara board chairman Albert Mugabe told parliament this week, adding his organisation was, however, still hamstrung by the court case over that project."The key, therefore, to enhance the project's attractiveness is to look at the macro-context and incorporate elements (that can) improve financial viability. This means we cannot just look at the artery from Beitbridge - Harare - Chirundu as a road, but rather an economic corridor, whose principal element is the road," he said."The first step then is to develop a CMDP, which will identify constituent elements that can augment and support the road's viability. For example, Beitbridge border post must be upgraded and expanded, and Zinara recognises this entry point  through our Act to build and expand tolling points as well as ancillary infrastructure - as a tolling," Mugabe added.According to the Zinara chairman, such elements include roadside service providers - notably truck-inns - and settlements, while places like Masvingo and the Beitbridge border town itself can be transformed into major participatory engines for that economic corridor.In his thinking, Mugabe feels places like the southern border town can be used to tap the goods normally found in Musina and other transitory communities around Zimbabwe's borders for availability in places like Beitbridge, and which will bring increased taxes through enhanced economic or trade activities."This ideology brings to the fore (the) otherwise hidden value of the road and thereby enhancing contributions to the viability of the project," he said, adding they were currently "compiling information around the CMDP".The debate around Zinara's possible takeover of the Beitbridge border post also comes amid incessant complaints about unnecessary bottlenecks at the country's entry points, which can cause cargo delays of up to two weeks and a major cost driver for consumer goods.Zinara as a purveyor of logistics must ensure efficiency. This means attending to the long overdue requirement of infrastructural upgrade at the ports of entry while concurrently addressing the disrepair of the arteries that lead to these ports.Under the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra)-Zinara dispute, the latter was levied an accumulative $40 million in value added and non-resident tax.According to acting chief executive Moses Juma, the Harare-based organisation has another outstanding tab of $46 million  which translates to a staggering 22,4 percent of the project value."If l add the $38,9 million we have already paid and the current exposure, it means Zimra will be collecting 41,2 percent of the loan amount (and) this has had a negative effect on our obligations," he told parliament's portfolio committee on transport this week, adding Zinara has had to borrow more costly funds to finance its operations, including the completion of its 820 kilometre-long Mutare-Plumtree highway.The road has nine world class toll plazas, which are meant to recoup money used for its construction and rehabilitation.Even, though, the roads administrator has met its three-year $200 million revenue target, it is still far short of the $5 billion kitty needed for its national road rehabilitation programme."With the current financial challenges we cannot afford to fund the rehabilitation of infrastructure in the country such as the Beitbridge-Chirundu highway," Marcos Nyaruwanda, a Finance ministry public investment programme deputy director, told a Masvingo public meeting on the JVB recently."Unless we lure private sector investors the country is not in a position to finance the dualisation of the road, which has the highest carnage due to its business and if the bill is successful then it will be easy for companies to be lured by return on profits," he added.For instance, government requires up to $1 million to do a kilometre of the major road, Nyaruwanda said.In receiving a Malawian delegation  out to study Zinara's tolling arrangements and road repair works  this week, Transport minister Obert Mpofu emphasised the need for self-funding in the repair of Africa's roads, hence Zimbabwe is mulling the idea of increasing urban tolls.While Zinara projected earnings of $55 million-plus from vehicle licencing and related services alone, Mugabe also said this was not even enough to repaid Harare's roads and let alone the national network of 82 000 killiometres-plus."To do part of Harare's road network rehabilitation, we require $400 million. Harare alone cannot lay full claim of the $55 million we are budgeting for," he said.With its funding streams listed as vehicle licensing, fuel levy, presumptive tax and abnormal load fees, road access and transit fees, Zinara partly meets cash targets through the 26 cash collection points nationwide under the Intertoll, and ZimToll arrangements.Meanwhile, Zinara yesterday launched a pre-paid tolling card and in addition to hosting a Malawian delegation to learn about its tolling operations this week.- dailynews
Zimbabwe to settle $10bn debt, says AfDB

Published: 22 June 2015

Zimbabwe will craft a "debt repayment plan" to address the country's over $10 billion debt overhang by August, the African Development Bank (AfDB) to Zimbabwe representative said.Mateus Magala, the AfDB local chief envoy, told delegates at the ongoing Buy Zimbabwe 2015: Buy Local Summit, in Victoria Falls, that the ministry of Finance, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were in deliberations on the way forward over the debt situation."The ministry of Finance created a group to see that by August, Zimbabwe can have a road map on how to resolve its debt to various international institutions owed," he said, adding that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya and the Finance ministry permanent secretary, Willard Manungo were also part of the team tasked to help the country out of its debt predicament.Magala said while the optimum debt ratio benchmark for a country like Zimbabwe was 40 percent, the current national ratio stood between 52 to 54 percent."What this effectively means is that the country's current debt levels are unsustainable," he said.Zimbabwe is saddled with an external debt of nearly $10 billion and owes the IMF $124 million in arrears accrued since 2000, while an additional $1 billion owed to the WB.Early this year, Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, announced his strategy to settle the country's colossal international debt, saying he would negotiate with multilateral lenders first as they are owed the most - then have them mediate for the country to other owed institutions like the Paris Club so that confidence would be restored in the country thereby attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).Economic experts however, say financial institutions including the WB and AfDB are barred by law from extending loans to Zimbabwe because of the outstanding debts.Last year, Dominique Fanezzi, IMF head of mission to Zimbabwe, said the country was not going to get debt relief from multilateral institutions, due to its indebtedness.Meanwhile, Magala said the country needs to invest about $2 billion annually to close its infrastructure gap and boost economic development, with a cumulative need of raising $14 billion for infrastructure development by 2020.He also said the country needed to invest about $1,2 billion of the $2 billion in power generation projects alone."This is the harsh reality of the situation, if the government doesn't do anything about this the country will always lag behind in development related issues," he said, adding that the country also had to re-brand in order to become attractive to investors.He said the risk of investing in Zimbabwe was so great that investors skirted the country as they were "afraid of what might happen to their investment."- dailynews
Brainworks roasted in Parliament

Published: 22 June 2015

Brainworks Capital Management Limited (Brainworks), the company at the centre of Zimbabwe's controversial indigenisation deals says government abandoned the implementation of the transactions almost two years ago.Zimbabwe's indigenisation laws compels foreigners to cede 51 percent shareholding to locals. The deals were stopped after the Daily News exposed anomalies which would have seen government losing millions of dollars to a private company for "facilitating" the indigenisation deals.George Manyere, Brainworks' chief executive told the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment parliamentary portfolio committee that because the controversial deals did not sail through, they were not even paid a cent from government through the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (Nieeb) or from the companies."In this particular case the transactions were abandoned, there was no success to them. In that context we just felt we also had to abandon the expenses we accumulated," said Manyere.He noted that they had agreed a time based fee with Nieeb where they would be paid $500 an hour apart from up to two percent commission based on the value of every successful transaction."I would like to indicate to this committee that we never got paid either by the company that was indigenised or neither by Nieeb. We spent a year working on these transactions. With all the costs of travel, accommodation and time spend negotiating with various companies, we never got compensated," Manyere said.According to Manyere, based on the term sheets agreed between Brainworks and Nieeb, they were charging between one up to two percent depending on the size of the transaction value.He revealed that Zimplats' indigenisation deal was worth $971 million, Mimosa's deal was valued at $550 million, Unki Mine was $242 million and Blanket Mine was $18 million.Based on the total value of the transactions if Brainworks were to charge an average of 1,5 percent fee on each transaction, the Newlands-based firm could have raked more than $26 million apart from the $500 per hour consultation fees.Manyere admitted that Brainworks was handpicked by Nieeb, an agency under the Indigenisation ministry's ambit to act as a financial consultant for several indigenisation deals that later collapsed after the Daily News investigation.Manyere said Nieeb did not owe them anything when the transactions were abandoned because their services could only be paid if the transactions had succeeded."It was at our discretion that we decided not to bill Nieeb. If we stick with the mandate letter that we signed with Nieeb, yes, we can quantify that amount in terms of time spent multiplied by $500. Our primary business is not to proffer services on a time- based fee and say we get $500 per hour."We do our work based on success and for us it was at our own discretion we felt that morally and particularly because of the client which we were offering our services, that is government, we took it upon ourselves that the fact that the transactions had been abandoned it was at our own discretion to forego the payment," Manyere said.- dailynews
Sanganai/Hlanganani to move to Bulawayo

Published: 23 June 2015

THE government has directed the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) to move the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo to Bulawayo starting next year amid reports 10 foreign exhibitors were locked out from the just ended exhibition in Harare due to a shortage of space.A total of 328 exhibitors attended the three-day tourism fair, which ended on Saturday at the Harare International Conference Centre under the theme, "Cultural Tourism: Promoting Peace Through Tourism".Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was critical of the organisation of the expo in his official opening remarks upon realising that some participants were turned away."We can't have tourism exhibitors being turned away because of shortage of space here (HICC). Can the event be held in Bulawayo next year at the ZITF grounds," said the VP.Bulawayo has the largest capacity in the country to host international conferences with spacious exhibition halls at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre.ZTA chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke admitted the shortcomings and said they had taken heed of the government directive to move Sanganai/Hlanganani to Bulawayo starting next year.He confirmed that limited exhibition space at the Harare International Conference Centre resulted in the tourism authority failing to take up a request by 10 foreign exhibitors to participate at the just ended Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Fair."Now that we've been directed to go to Bulawayo next year, foreign companies will be in excess of 50 because no restrictions will be made to companies that would want to come and exhibit at the fair. Sanganai/Hlanganani will be held in Bulawayo starting from next year until the government puts up infrastructure like a convention centre with space. HICC is a hotel, there's no exhibition space," said Kaseke."For as long as there is no exhibition space in Harare, we'll continue having it in Bulawayo. Ten foreign companies couldn't exhibit at this year's expo because we had allocated that space to our local companies."Of the foreign exhibitors who could not participate at the fair, two were from the Middle East and eight from different African countries."All our planned exhibition space was taken at this year's Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo. Other companies due to limited exhibition space had to get smaller space than requested."We've also refused 10 foreign companies who wanted to participate at Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo because we had allocated that space to our local exhibitors," said Kaseke.He, however, said this year's Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Fair recorded a 10 percent growth from last year."All our planned exhibition space was taken leaving out several more companies who were requesting any tiny possible space available at Sanganai 2015."We wish we could expand the venue, which has now become very small for Sanganai. We had 128 companies and 110 buyers participating at this year's edition of Sanganai/Hlanganani, which grew by 10 percent from last year's event."There was a 17 percent increase with 23 foreign exhibitors compared to the 10 percent achieved in 2014," said Kaseke.The ZTA boss said tour operators and buyers had good business and were happy with the quality of exhibits at the showcase.Zimbabwe Tour Operators Association chairperson, Wengayi Nhau said Sanganai/Hlanganani was a project not to make money but to promote investment."The international media for a long time had negative perception about Zimbabwe's tourism but through an event such as Sanganai/Hlanganani we're more inclined to get good coverage in the international media."The tourism expo isn't really about striking deals but now that Zimbabwe is back on the international market, the buyers have got an idea of what they're looking for because they've always been in constant touch with the local tour operators," he said."The coming of the buyers to Sanganai/Hlanganani is just to reconfirm the contacts."An official from a Kenyan Tourism Board who preferred not to be named said: "This year's fair is actually bigger and better. We've received a majority of enquiries from France, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The enquiries are about the need to know more about Kenya as a destination and possible investment opportunities in the country."- chronicle
Zimbabwe's private sector debt estimated at $4bn

Published: 23 June 2015

ZIMBABWE carries an estimated $4 billion private sector debt it needs to validate and service in order to open fresh lines of credit.This indication comes against sentiment that part of the reason Zimbabwe's private sector is not getting external loans was the government's $6.8 billion overdue external debt overhang.An official with the Ministry of Finance told a Parliament of Zimbabwe committee on budget and finance that private sector debt was estimated at $4 billion.But she said the debt had not yet been validated, as happened with central government's $6.8 billion foreign debt, the official nominal debt figure as at December 31, 2014."Private sector debt initial indications were that the figure is $4 billion, which we're still validating," said Martha Mugweni from the Ministry of Finance's public debt management office during the parliamentary committee's public hearing meeting on the Public Debt Management Bill last week.However, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa is on record saying that there was no reason why the multilateral financial institutions were not supporting the local private sector.He said the private sector had always met their external loans payment obligations and recently engaged the International Finance Corporation to consider investing in Zimbabwe.Mugweni said the government's domestic debt currently stands at $1.9 billion.The government is working on a new public debt management bill to ensure transparency in accumulation of public debt, which tax payers have to pay for.Giving the general outline of the bill and what it seeks to achieve, Mugweni said that once the bill has been passed into law, the legislation would set limits on the amount of loans that the minister of Finance can decide to borrow.The Minister would be required to give reports to Parliament about public debt annually, with initial provisions that this be done once each year. Stakeholders want the reports at least twice a year.Further, she said the new law proposes a limit on the amount that the minister is allowed to borrow, beyond which he must seek approval from parliament."Once the bill has been passed into law, the minister will be reporting all the debts to parliament and the public will be able to know how the borrowing was done." This will apply to contraction of public and publicly guaranteed debts.Acting chairperson of the parliamentary committee on budget and finance Eddie Cross said the public hearing session was third of six meetings planned in the northern part of the country with other six set for southern provinces.He said the purpose was to "make provision for the public to make their views known on the new legislation," through a report to be submitted to Parliament.Last week's public hearing session was dominated by input from officials from the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, who among other issues want mechanisms to limit the autonomy and power of the minister in contracting public debt.They said since the minister would have the sole authority to contract public debt, some checks and balances should be put in place to make the minister accountable to some authority, such as the public finance committee.There also were calls to make sure that public authorities are held accountable by local communities and also seek their input prior to debt contraction.Others called for specific percentage thresholds that guide the extent to which the minister can borrow over a given period to avoid huge debt contraction, a burden the tax payers and poor people eventually have to carry to have it paid off.Calls were also made that provisions be incorporated in the new legislation to hold Minister of Finance accountable even after they leave office with a view to prevent reckless contraction of public debt and misuse of public funds.- chronicle
Joseph Chinotimba accused of fraud

Published: 23 June 2015

ZANU-PF Buhera South National Assembly representative Joseph Chinotimba is up in arms with the Zimbabwe Urban and Rural Council Workers' Union who accuse him of siphoning funds from the labour body when he is no longer a trade unionist.Chinotimba is a former ZURCWU president and ceased to be its leader when he joined politics in 2008. The politician resurfaced last year after appointing himself executive ZURCWU patron for life.ZURCWU secretary-general Mr Bernad Dhanda yesterday told The Herald that Chinotimba was directing union funds into his personal CBZ Kwame Nkrumah bank account.He said acting on the instruction, Mutare City Council deposited $9 540,83. Chinotimba is also being accused of confiscating the union's registration certificate."As Chinotimba continued his discord in the local government sector masquerading as a trade union official, he has proved that he is not doing this to represent workers, but that he is aiming to fraudulently siphon union funds into his personal account," said Mr Dhanda."He ceased to be a union official in 2008 when he resigned from Harare City Council municipal police and stopped to be a subscribing member."Mr Dhanda said the ZURCWU constitution stipulated that for one to be a president, one must be recommended by council or branch where one is employed."It is a union for the workers in the local government sector employed by either an urban or rural council. But Comrade Chinotimba is saying the constitution does not matter, the union is mine as long as I am in possession of the original copy of the union's certificate of registration."The ZURCWU has since reported Chinotimba at Mutare Central Police Station under RRB 2390113.The union is also accusing Chinotimba of using his political muscle to order Gweru, Kwekwe and Chegutu town councils to deposit workers' union dues in his account.Mr Dhanda said the ZURCWU was investigating the amounts of money Chinotimba took from these councils.Yesterday, Chinotimba maintained he was still ZURCWU president."Dhanda does not know what he is doing. I am the president of that union. I formed it, I own it and will not give the certificate to anyone. How can I give the certificate to anyone else when it is mine?"Added Chinotimba: "The constitution says that any Zimbabwean can be a union member as long as workers like you. He no longer has people who like him that is why he is acting in such a manner."The case is at the High Court yet he is already making a lot of noise. Let us wait till the judgment is made and see who the president of the union will be," he said.He denied that unions funds were being deposited in his personal account. "The account being used is for the ZURCWU and I am just a signatory there."Mutare town clerk Mr Obert Muzawazi refused.- herald
Zimbabwe owes diplomats about R122m in salary arrears

Published: 23 June 2015

The cash-strapped Zimbabwe government is battling to pay salaries on time to diplomatic staff deployed to its 43 embassies across the world, a senior official said Tuesday.Willard Manungo, secretary for the Finance Ministry told a parliament committee discussing foreign affairs that the government owes diplomats about $10 million (R122.13 million) in salary arrears.With regards to the "salaries issue we are two months behind and we are taking steps to deal with that," said Manungo."We are doing our best to provide minimum levels of resources to guarantee... operations."Zimbabwe's government has over the years struggled to pay its embassies' staff on time as it struggles to revive the shattered economy amid a cash crunch.About 80 percent of the country's budget goes towards paying government workers, according to Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa.Zimbabwe has been saddled with a financial crisis for over a decade following President Robert Mugabe's land reforms which decimated farming, the backbone of the economy.Thousands of companies have shut down or migrated to neighbouring countries as they faced viability problems due to the perpetual liquidity shortage.Growth is expected to weaken further this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.Investors have been scared off by the country's indigenisation laws, which require locals to hold majority stakes in all firms.- AFP


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BlackBerry is in a death spiral - analyst

Published: 23 September 2013

Toronto - BlackBerry's plan to retreat from the consumer market in favour of its traditional strength serving businesses and governments is widely seen as a desperate move that industry watchers warn will only accelerate its downward spiral.The strategic shift and dramatic restructuring are fueling fears about BlackBerry's long-term viability. The uncertainty created could easily push a growing number of its telecom partners, business customers and consumers to abandon the platform."Perception is nine tenths of reality and if customer and supplier confidence continues to fall it doesn't matter how much cash they have on the balance sheet. Things could get worse," said GMP Securities analyst Deepak Kaushal.The Canadian smartphone maker, once the leader in wireless email, announced the change in focus on Friday afternoon when it also said it will report a quarterly loss of close to $1bn and slash more than a third of its workforce.Bring your own deviceIn response to queries about its future sales strategy BlackBerry said on Sunday it would provide more detail when it announces quarterly earnings on Sept. 27.On Friday, chief executive Thorsten Heins said the strategic shift to focus on so-called enterprise customers would play to the company's strengths in security and reliability."Security matters and enterprises know the gold standard in enterprise mobility is BlackBerry," he said in a statement.Blackberry still has a substantial subscriber base - 72 million users globally at the end of June, though that did decline from 76 million three months earlier.The company has struggled ever since Apple's iPhone and Samsung Electronics's Galaxy phones, using Google's Android software, grew to dominate a market that was previously BlackBerry's and had once made it highly profitable.BlackBerry bet heavily that its Z10 touch-screen smartphone - the first powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system - would help it recoup some of the luster it enjoyed when users of these devices were mostly lawyers, bankers and politicians.The bet has not paid off. GMP's Kaushal estimates as many as 3 million of the latest BlackBerry 10 phones are gathering dust with distributors who have been unable to sell them. For the second quarter, the company said it expects to have sold about 3.7 million BlackBerry smartphones to end users."I don't understood why they thought they ought to be pursuing the consumer at all, given the fact that Apple and Samsung really had the strength in that area," said Ross Healy, a portfolio manager with MacNicol & Associates, whose clients own BlackBerry shares.A shift back to corporate customers is no clear fix. Many big organizations are already handling rival devices on their internal networks and employees are increasingly allowed to choose their preferred device, blurring the boundary between business and consumer markets.For example, Credit Suisse is not supporting the Blackberry 10 and is helping employees globally to switch to iPhone and Android-run devices."We don't support BlackBerry 10 because of the added cost to our servers," said Credit Suisse US-based spokeperson Marcy Frank. The bank still supported older BlackBerry devices because there were plenty of staff who continued to use them, she said, but added: "We're driving people toward bring your own device (BYOD) ... we encourage people to give up their BlackBerry."The head of technology procurement at a major North American bank, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to media, said that while email and security are features in BlackBerry's favor, employees were increasingly turning to Apple and Android."We will purchase a limited number of BB10 but our inventory of BlackBerry devices will definitely and drastically reduce as we implement a broader BYOD implementation over the next 18 months," he said.BlackBerry was losing support at companies even before Friday's warning, said Phillip Redman, vice president of mobile solutions and strategy for Citrix Systems Inc, which provides software that helps companies manage mobile devices.He said he had met with technology staff at 60 companies in various industries and none had a strategy of adding more BlackBerrys to their mobile device fleets. Redman's own company has limited capacity to handle Blackberry devices."The writing is on the wall," he said.Carrier jittersBlackBerry's shift away from consumers will also change the dynamic with network operators, who have already been burned by the poor showing of the Z10 and a string of previously delayed product launches.The company on Friday wrote off almost $1bn, mostly on a ballooning stockpile of Z10s it must discount sharply, even as it launched a fresh flagship device - the larger-screen Z30.Poor sales of the Z10 made it difficult to get carriers to commit to the Z30, according to a source at BlackBerry, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation."Many carriers will now pull much if not all of the BlackBerrys from the shelves because shelf space is valuable and coveted and there are many other handset vendors who would eagerly invest a lot to displace BlackBerry," said a former senior BlackBerry executive who used to negotiate directly with carriers.A spokesperson for US operator Sprint Corp said questions about any change in how BlackBerry devices are sold should be directed towards the company. A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman also declined to comment specifically on BlackBerry but said it would support its customers.Highlighting the problems that have come to define BlackBerry in recent years, the company suspended the launch of its popular BlackBerry Messenger instant chat application for iPhones and Android devices scheduled for this weekend.The next Nortel?Many industry analysts are now drawing parallels between BlackBerry and Nortel Networks Corp, the now-defunct Canadian telecom equipment giant.Both companies, at their peaks, were the largest publicly listed names on the Toronto Stock Exchange. But as Nortel's revenue collapsed, it dumped employees in repeated restructurings and was eventually broken up and sold in parts.BlackBerry has already hired advisors to look at finding a buyer for all or some of the company.Given the dismal picture, Morningstar analyst Brian Colello said BlackBerry is likely to quickly attempt to go private or sell off some, or all, of its business units.But he said he was no longer confident that a private equity buyer, who would shield management from the scrutiny of being a listed company, could turn the company around."We see no hope for BlackBerry at this point," Colello stressed in a note to clients following the warning on Friday. He said, in his view, BlackBerry was in "a death spiral."- Reuters
BlackBerry posts $965m loss

Published: 27 September 2013

Ottawa - BlackBerry said Friday that it lost $965m in the past quarter, confirming preliminary figures showing a rapidly eroding picture for the Canadian smartphone maker.The company, which had given a preliminary estimate for its second fiscal quarter results, acknowledged the figures were weak, but said it hopes for a turnaround with a planned $4.7bn buyout, which would take the firm private."We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure," said Thorsten Heins, president and chief executive.He added that the company is putting in place "the necessary changes to create the best business model" for its ailing product."We understand how some of the activities we are going through create uncertainty, but we remain a financially strong company with $2.6bn in cash and no debt," Heins said."We are focused on our targeted markets, and are committed to completing our transition quickly in order to establish a more focused and efficient company."Revenue for quarter ending August 31 was $1.6bn, down 49% from $3.1bn in the previous quarter and down 45% from $2.9bn in the same quarter of fiscal 2013.The company said it shipped some 5.9 million smartphones in the quarter, which is less than what Apple sold in the past weekend in the global launch of its new iPhones.BlackBerry has said it will cut its workforce by some 40% as it seeks to restructure the company.Colin Gillis at the research firm BCG said the results were "startling weak " and may signal the end for BlackBerry."While we applaud the decision to focus on retooling the company into a niche enterprise focused business, it seems years too late," he said in a note to clients."Just as the consumer business has crumbled, the enterprise business is also in decay in our opinion. Given the negative news flow from the company, enterprise customers are likely to shy away from committing to a struggling platform."BlackBerry was just a few years ago considered the leader in smartphones, but has rapidly lost ground to Apple and other manufacturers, mainly using the Google Android operating system.BlackBerry announced this week that it signed a letter of intent with a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, which has offered to acquire the company.Fairfax, a Canadian firm headed by billionaire Prem Watsa, is already BlackBerry's largest shareholder with approximately 10 percent of its shares.Watsa resigned from BlackBerry's board in August when it announced a search for a suitor.Under the proposed BlackBerry-Fairfax deal the consortium would offer $9 for each outstanding share, and Fairfax would contribute its own shares in the transaction.A firm deal, once due diligence is completed, is expected by November 4. It also hinges on the consortium obtaining financing.BlackBerry still has some 70 million subscribers worldwide, but most of these are using older handsets, with the newer devices on the BlackBerry 10 platform failing to gain traction.According to research firm IDC, BlackBerry's global market share was just 2.9% in the second quarter, the lowest since the firm began tracking.Because BlackBerry has some $2.6bn cash on hand, the Fairfax offer is worth around $2bn for the value of the enterprise, analysts point out.While BlackBerry's newest smartphones have not sold well, analysts say its software and services are strong, especially for device management for companies with a need for strong security.- AFP
UK scraps 3,000 visa bond plan for 'high risk' Africans

Published: 04 November 2013

Britain is scrapping a plan to force visitors from six "high risk" countries to pay a cash bond of 3,000 (about R48,000), the interior ministry said on Sunday.The government had been preparing to pilot a scheme requiring visitors from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria to pay the deposit for a six-month visa.They would have forfeited the money if they overstayed."The government has been considering whether we pilot a bond scheme that would deter people from overstaying the visa. We have decided not to proceed," a Home Office spokeswoman said.Reports in June said the scheme would initially target hundreds of visitors before being extended to affect several thousand.The plan had prompted an outcry from government and business leaders in India, with which Britain has been trying to foster a closer trade relationship.Nigerian Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru also said in June that the bond scheme was "not only discriminatory but also capable of undermining the spirit of the Commonwealth family".The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK reported on Sunday that the scheme backed by Prime Minister David Camerons Conservatives had been blocked by junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.Mr Camerons government has been seeking to show it is serious about a promise to cut net migration into Britain below 100,000 a year by the next election in 2015, amid an electoral threat from the anti-immigrant UK Independence Party.But last week the government also abandoned a plan for vans with billboards telling illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest", after a pilot project met with widespread condemnation.A Home Office official said in June that the six countries to be targeted by the bond scheme were those with "the most significant risk of abuse".Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told BBC television in September that he was "absolutely not interested in a bond that becomes an indiscriminate way of clobbering people who want to come to this country".- Sapa-AFP
China assumes KP chair

Published: 25 November 2013

The incoming Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) chairperson, Mr Wei Chuanzhong says China appreciates the significant role that the scheme must play in promoting legal diamond trade and in ensuring that the precious stone contributes to the sustainable development of the African continent.The People's Republic of China takes over the chairmanship of the KP from South Africa in January 2014, and the Asian economic powerhouse pledged to ensure that the scheme remains a credible tool in curbing the illegal flow of rough diamonds.Mr Chuanzhong said as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a founding member of the KPCS, China is supportive of efforts being made to promote peace on the African continent through the eradication of conflict diamonds.Meanwhile, the outgoing KP Chairperson, Ambassador Welile Nhlapo expressed confidence that the incoming chair will consolidate the gains made, in particular the developmental role that the KPCS has played in improving the lives of people dependent on diamonds.China has emerged as a major player in the global diamond trade with market analysts projecting that the Asian country is likely to become the biggest consumer market in the world for jewelry by 2020.- zbc
Microsoft's Bill Gates steps down

Published: 04 February 2014

Seattle - Microsoft named company veteran Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer on Tuesday, ending a longer-than-expected search for a new leader after Steve Ballmer announced his intention to retire in August.Microsoft also said founder Bill Gates would step down as chairperson and assume a new role as "founder and technology advisory", reported AFP.Gates "will devote more time to the company" in his new role as the tech giant moves to transform itself amid a changing landscape in the world of computing, the company said.John Thompson, lead independent director, would succeed Gates as chairperson.Nadella is only the third CEO in Microsoft's 39-year history.The choice of Nadella was widely expected, and investors and analysts are already weighing how effective the 22-year veteran will be in re-igniting the company's mobile ambitions and satisfying Wall Street's hunger for cash.Microsoft faces a slow erosion of its PC-centric Windows and Office franchises and needs to somehow challenge Apple Inc and Google Inc in the new realm of mobile computing.At the same time, some investors are campaigning for retrenchment and a bigger cut of the company's massive cash pile.Most agree that Nadella's background in creating Microsoft's Internet-based, or "cloud," computing services makes him a safe pair of hands to take the company forward, but there remains a question over his ability to make Microsoft a hit with consumers or with impatient shareholders.- Reuters, AFP
Gold rally extends to 4th day as Greek talks break down

Published: 17 February 2015

Gold extended gains to a fourth straight session on Tuesday, underpinned by safe-haven bids after talks between Greece and its creditors broke down.Spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,232.50 an ounce by 0028 GMT. The metal has gained about 1 percent in the last three sessions to Tuesday.Talks between Greece and euro zone finance ministers over the country's debt crisis broke down on Monday when Athens rejected a proposal to request a six-month extension of its international bailout package as "unacceptable".Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chaired the meeting, said Greece had until Friday to request an extension, otherwise the bailout would expire at the end of the month.The unexpectedly rapid collapse raised doubts about Greece's future in the euro zone after a new leftist-led government vowed to scrap the 240 billion euro ($272.4 billion) bailout, reverse austerity policies and end cooperation with EU/IMF inspectors.Investors typically seek safety in bullion during economic uncertainties, and when riskier assets such as equities take a hit. U.S. stock futures and the euro tumbled in early Asian trade on Tuesday after the Greek debt talks broke down.Gains in gold were capped by a strong dollar, which makes the greenback-denominated metal more expensive for holders of other currencies. Bullion traders were also wary of liquidity this week.U.S. financial markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday, while much of Asia will be closed later this week for the Chinese New Year.Buying from China, the second biggest bullion consumer, has been supportive of gold prices in the run up to the holiday, when the yellow metal is bought widely for gift-giving.Support from Chinese consumers post-holiday could weaken.- Reuters
India back home was not that calm when I left on February 14. Rohith Vemula was still simmering when suddenly my own MAIL TODAY broke the story "JNU congregation over terrorist Afzal Guru" - enough to last for a few weeks as fodder for Indian newsrooms of all forms.

The mixed flames erupting out of protest and patriotism rants were not just confined to India.

As I was collecting some academic reference in the quiet setting of British Library's India Office section in the second half last month, United Kingdom's academic world was not that silent barely outside in close vicinity at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Westminster and those farther up to Cambridge, Warwick and Oxford.

Academic debates and activists-led protests have begun to show up as routine on UK's top academic institutions' calendar of events. Social media is abuzz with invites and support surveys against what they call "growing majoritarianism-led growing intolerance in India," a veiled attack on the BJP's more than majority mandate at the Centre.

Academics and activists who started regrouping in UK with the infamous Dadri lynching, got further close with what happened first in Hyderabad (Rohith Vemula suicide) and then in JNU (Kanhaiya Kumar's jail term on sedition charges). Many in UK's academic circle call Vemula suicide as "killing" and have held discussions under different themes from "Caste and Other Bigotries", "Caste on Menu Card" to "Politics of Beef Ban in India", among many others planned and some being scheduled. Apart from academics, at the Westminster University's prestigious Chevening Fellowship, the journalists this year are doing a special project on the "burning issue."

Pity that, said one Indian journalist attending the programme, "instead of our pluralism, which had dominated the South Asian Studies Departments here in UK, we are battling this tag of intolerance and democracy under threat back home!!" I anticipate a louder pitch and more heated discussions rallying support for JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is now out of jail on an interim bail.

Indian-origin Associate Professor Dibyesh Anand of Westminster University was very straight in saying, "UK academic fraternity got charged up with the lynching incident over beef eating at Dadri in Greater Noida area." HOWcan someone be killed over beef? Many like Anand are still finding the answer, but are certainly not amused. Academic experts and activists alike are raising the heat at different foras , including a protest outside Indian High Commission in London, to show their dissent against what they call "falling democratic institutions in India and attack on personal freedom."

Students from different parts of the world studying in the UK are still trying to find the answer to "how can someone be killed on the mere accusation of eating meat", says Anand, who himself is part of many such seminars and debates being organised across UK academic institutions.

Indian politics and governance have always attracted political scientists and sociologists abroad, but this time they are active in challenging "bigotries becoming more entrenched in India".

For instance, at the University of Westminster, the Centre for the Study of Democracy organised a discussion on "Casteism and other bigotries in India" to discuss what led to the suicide (killing) of Rohith Vemula and what can academics associated with India do to challenge this.

There have been various events on casteism, Hindu nationalism, and the growing majoritarianism including at Warwick, Cambridge and Oxford.

Now JNU is attracting many here to come and share the platform widening the very basis of tolerance vs intolerance debate on foreign soil. A public protest titled, "Stand with JNU - Protest outside Indian High Commission" is all over Facebook.

Academics were vocal at the British Library once they came to know that I am an Indian journalist, sensing that their voice will someway reach India. Unanimous in their dissenting tone, they said, "As scholars, we believe in academic freedom and our role to challenge injustices; it would be hypocritical if we expect fair play and anti-racism here in the UK but refuse to combat similar prejudices in India."

Perhaps there is a lesson for Indian government here. The political leadership not only failed to reach out to people on time in redressing the growing apprehensions about the very existence of multi-cultural, pluralistic Indian society. It all started with students-led unrest on campuses from Pune to Hyderabad to JNU finally, worse, the leadership reluctantly didn't douse the possible flames of protest abroad in the UK and the US, triggering natural debates among Indians and South Asian communities.

Even in the case of Rohith Vemula, thousands of students, activists and others have raised questions about the political nature of the suicide. It has given enough masala to the local academia to keep churning debates for a while on most talked about Indian politics and governance at their South Asian Institutes or Institute for Advance Studies. THE calendar was packed last month.

Like a discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Democracy (Department of Politics and International Relations), University of Westminster, debated: "What can UK-based scholars and students interested in India do to understand the issues around casteism and other bigotries? How can anti-racist struggles in the UK connect to, and learn from, anti-bigotry struggles in India?" And the participants were from SOAS, to London School of Economics to Oxford to University of Gottingen to University of Hyderabad to some activists.

Soon this air of defiance threatens to pollute worldwide. Already supported by staff members at SOAS London, and the Universities of Westminster, Warwick, and Edinburgh, Professors at Oxford and LSE are among some 500 supporters of the 'solidarity statement' which has been circulated among the global academic community, local UK media reports have confirmed.

(In association with Mail Today Bureau)
Under fire over huge unpaid loans of long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, a defiant Vijay Mallya on Sunday said he is making efforts to reach a 'one-time settlement' with banks through additional payments to the lenders, even as he denied "personally" being a "borrower or judgement defaulter" and alleged that "disinformation campaign" was being played to make him a "poster boy" of all bad loans.

Rejecting allegations that he is an "absconder" in the wake of his statement to spend more time in England after signing a "sweetheart" deal with Diageo, the liquor baron said he will continue to cooperate with investigative agencies related to the loans provided by banks to long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya, who has agreed to step down as Chairman of United Spirits Ltd in return for $75 million to be paid by Diageo, also insisted that he is not a "borrower or a judgement defaulter" and he has challenged the "willful defaulter" tag by some banks, which he alleged didn't go after borrowers who "owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines".

He also alleged that SBI, which has dragged him to Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) seeking his arrest and seizure of his passport to claim his Rs 515 crore sweetheart deal to exit United Spirits, was well aware of the financial stress of Kingfisher Airlines for a long time and the same was reported by the state-run lender to RBI way back in January 2012 -- months before the once-luxurious air carrier was grounded in October that year.

Mallya, who was widely known as 'King of Good Times' and his lavish parties before his businesses started plunging into one after another crisis resulting in sale or closure of various companies, also said that while banks would eventually recover a "substantial part of their debt", the loss for his group is permanent.

Putting the blame also on media and the TRP race, he said in a statement banks in India have NPAs of Rs 11 lakh crore and have borrowers who owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) --"a fact never alluded to or widely reported by the media as in my case".

The statement came a day before DRT is scheduled to give its verdict on the plea of SBI, which leads the consortium of banks that are seeking to recover loans worth about Rs 8,000 crore alongwith interest and penalties.

"I have been most pained as being painted as an absconder I have neither the intention nor any reason to abscond. I have been a non-resident for almost 28 years and the Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged this in writing," he said in the statement.

Mallya has come under an intense media glare in recent weeks after a deal he inked with Diageo, the current controlling owner of United Spirits that was set up by his family but had to be sold off due to financial stress in his UB Group.

After a year-long boardroom battle, Mallya last month agreed to quit as Chairman and Director of United Spirits while Diageo has agreed to pay him USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) and shift base largely to the UK. .

Recently, former staff and customers of KFA have also come out in the open seeking action against Mallya, while at least three banks have declared him, his group holding company UBHL and the airline as wilful defaulters.

He further said: "Over the years, I have built successful businesses in India and abroad. I am also honoured to be a member of the Rajya Sabha. I have been summoned before various investigative agencies and have duly attended and cooperated with each of them, and I will continue to do so."

Reacting to what he termed as "near hysterical campaign in the media" directed against him, Mallya said: "My statement as to my personal future after quitting Diageo/USL - that I want to spend more time in England closer to my children - has been grossly distorted and misportrayed. I wish to reduce my business commitments gradually and devote more time to my family, and that my resignation from United Spirits was a step in this direction."

The payments from Diageo Plc to him are towards his personal non-compete obligations globally except in the UK, he said.

"In effect, I have given up my interests in the spirits business globally at considerable cost. I have always lived an honourable life and the calumny notwithstanding shall continue to do so," the flamboyant tycoon added.

Clarifying his position in the loan owed by KFA, he said after the closure of the airline, since April, 2013, the banks and their assignees have recovered, in cash, an aggregate of Rs 1,244 crore from sale of pledged shares.

"In addition an aggregate of Rs 600 crore is lying deposited in the Karnataka High Court (since July, 2013) and a further sum of Rs 650 crore belonging to United Breweries Holdings has been deposited in the Karnataka High Court since early 2014, being sums realized from the sale proceeds received by United Breweries Holdings from the sale of shares in United Spirits to Diageo Plc in July, 2013," he said.

"Thus, the aggregate cash recovery/security available is Rs 2,494 crores," Mallya said.

He further said: "Legal proceedings apart, I have been making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with the Banks, and to that end I have had three meetings and follow up calls in the recent past and my efforts will continue this settlement would be based on additional payments to the Banks.

Personally I am not a borrower or a judgement defaulter."

Lamenting that he has been made "the poster boy of all bank NPA's", Mallya said: "In fact, banks have NPA's of Rs 11 lakh crore and have borrowers who owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by KFA to the Banks a fact never alluded to or widely reported by the media as in my case.

"None of these large borrowers (whose debt is significantly more than the KFA debt) have been declared wilful defaulters, but unfortunately, United Breweries Holdings and I have been declared willful defaulters by certain Banks on technical grounds. I have legally challenged these declarations."

He claimed that all "enquiries conducted have failed to find any evidence of misappropriation of funds by KFA or myself for the simple reason that the allegations and the innuendo to this effect is plainly false".

"My Group directly invested over Rs 4,000 crore into KFA itself which investment stands fully impaired it is not as though it is only the bank debt that has suffered. The banks will recover a substantial part of their debt my groups loss is permanent," he said.
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 US 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 US 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, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged US authorities to proceed with "great caution", warning: "A successful case against Apple in the US 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.

TWO BIG COALITIONS

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)


Sentiment in the euro zone deteriorated in March for the third month running, hitting the lowest level in more than a year, a survey showed on Monday, as investors worried about weaker growth prospects for the world economy.

The Frankfurt-based Sentix research group's index, tracking morale among investors and analysts in the euro zone, inched down to 5.5 from 6.0 in February.

The reading was the lowest since January 2015 and came in below expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a rise to 8.0.

"The euro zone is suffering from the loss of momentum in the global economy," Sentix said in a statement.

A plunge in oil prices and concern over a China-led slowdown in the world economy have rattled markets since the start of 2016.

Sub-indices showed investors' assessment of the current conditions in the euro zone fell to 8.3, the lowest level in 11 months, but their expectations improved slightly.

"After a drop in expectations readings in the last few months, the deterioration is now spilling over into the real economy," Sentix said.

An index tracking Germany, the euro zone's biggest economy, rose to 16.9 in March from 14.5 in February, with the expectations sub-component turning positive again.

Sentix said there were positive signs coming from the United States, Germany's biggest trading partner, as the sentiment index for the U.S. economy bounced back to 9.5 in March after falling to 3.7 in February.

The survey of 1,102 investors was conducted March 3-5. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The latest Quarterly Bank Watch Survey has been released by the Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) today.



The report shows that refusal rates have decreased slightly and the demand for bank credit has increased. The loan refusal rate decreased from 48% to 43% while SME demand for bank credit increased from 35% to 41%.



Furthermore, there has been improvements in the time taken to make decisions and in the number of decisions pending as well as the awareness of government assistance among SMEs. In addition more SMEs have approached their banks for funds than in the previous quarters.



On average, the initial decision time is now just over 4 weeks. The wait to drawdown has decreased from 3 weeks to 2 weeks.



The ISME have warned that refusal rates are still too high and there is much more progress needed in this area. ISME CEO, Mark Fielding commented, "It is essential that the bailed out banks get back to normal prudent lending as soon as possible. Funding issues for SMEs seemed to slip off the table during the election and must now be made a priority issue."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Irish Arab Business Forum 2016 will take place at the Printworks, Dublin Castle on Friday, 15th April 2016.



'Facing the Changes' is the theme of this years Forum, which will feature speakers from both Ireland and the Arab region who will examine the economic, political and social landscapes that are changing at pace.

Such changes include the impact of collapsing oil prices, the impending introduction of a VAT-style tax, growing populations and legal and policy changes that present not only unprecedented opportunities, but also new challenges for Irish businesses.



Irish exports to Arab markets have surpassed all forecasts with the value of goods and services topping 5.3bn in 2015 from a previous high of 4bn in 2014. With countries and regions such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Jordan offering considerable opportunities for Irish businesses.



This years forum will provide a platform for exploring and discussing new and emerging markets by focusing on Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.

Egypt registered the highest level of Irish export growth to the region, soaring by 84% to 307m in 2015. Other star performers were Saudi Arabia with Irish exports in 2015 growing by 33% to 1bn, Kuwait (+28% to 117m) and the UAE (+23% to 441m).

These phenomenal levels of growth are largely attributable to the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors, valued at 1.6bn and representing 60% of total Irish exports to the region.



Galway man and long-time Dubai resident, Gerald Lawless will deliver the keynote address, drawing on his almost 40 years of experience in the Middle East and his 18 years as Jumeirah Group President and CEO.In recognition of his achievements at Jumeirah, he will become the honorary president of the Jumeirah Group.



The Arab-Irish Business Forum will feature presentations on practical topics such as the legalities of doing business in the region (Niall OToole of Clyde & Co), navigating government entities (Mirna Sleiman, Thomson Reuters) and attracting the best talent in the region (Dr Markus Wiesner, Aon Hewitt).



CEO of the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce, Ahmad Younis said, "This is a unique opportunity for Irish businesses to get exposure to a wide range of insights from speakers who can offer practical advice, drawing from their own experiences to address some of the pressing issues in Middle Eastern and other Arab markets.

He added, "This event is a commercial and operational imperative for anyone doing business or looking to do business in the region."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced today that Tyco International has opened their new global headquarters and business service center at One Albert Quay in Cork.



More than 400 guests, including Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Defence, Simon Coveney, attended today's announcement



Tyco is the world's largest pure-play fire protection and security company. They provide more than three million customers around the globe with the latest fire protection and security products and services.

The company has over 57,000 employees in more than 900 locations across 50 countries serving various end markets, including commercial, institutional, governmental, retail, industrial, energy, residential and small business



In January 2014, the company, working in partnership with IDA Ireland, announced plans to establish a global business service center and hire more than 500 employees over three years to provide consistent, efficient delivery of several processes for its businesses, including sourcing and procurement, customer service, research and development, information technology and finance.

Later that year, Tyco also shifted its place of incorporation to Ireland. Approximately 250 employees are now working in the new building.



Tyco Chief Executive Officer, George R. Oliver today commented, "We are extremely pleased with how quickly this impressive facility has become a reality with the help of many partners in the government, private and academic sectors in the Cork area and throughout Ireland.

"The center is already producing strong results and has woven into the fabric of the Cork community. We look forward to becoming an employer and partner of choice in Ireland and continuing to make significant contributions as a corporate citizen."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Deloitte Best Managed Companies awards 2016 took place at Dublins Convention Centre on Friday.



This marked the eighth year of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies awards programme, in association with Barclays Bank Ireland.

Sixteen companies from around Ireland were awarded Best Managed status for the first time this year, following a lengthy qualification and judging process in which the complete performance of a business is assessed, moving beyond finances to such areas as operational excellence, strategy and human resource processes.

Almost 40% of the first time winners came from the technology and media industries, with 20% coming from the construction sector.

The awards were attended by over 800 people from the Irish business community. Frank Ryan, chair of the independent judging panel, was keynote speaker on the night.



Forty per cent of 2016s Best Managed Companies are Dublin-based, with Cork (13%), Galway (5%) and Kerry (4%) also well represented. This years winners have also been drawn from Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford and span industries including technology, construction, manufacturing, and consumer services.



Managing Partner of Deloitte and judging panel member, Brendan Jennings commented, "Congratulations to all the 2016 winners. All the companies here tonight are at the end of a long process of evaluation, which makes their Best Managed designation even more rewarding and valuable as a marketing tool for their business.

"It is clear that these companies make an invaluable contribution to the Irish economy - employing 47,000 people and generating turnover of 10bn. Its also really encouraging to see such a large number of technology companies among the winners, another indicator of the global reputation Ireland is building as a hub for such activity."



First time recipients of a Best Managed Company Award are:

 Abtran in Cork (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

 Asavie Technologies in Dublin (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

 Combined Facilities Management Ltd in Antrim (Construction)

 Denroy Plastics Ltd in Down (Manufacturing)

 Fenergo Limited in Dublin (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

 FEXCO in Kerry (Finance)

 Heat Merchants Group in Westmeath (Construction)

 King and Moffatt in Roscommon (Construction)

 Learning Pool in Derry (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

 LED Group in Dublin (Consumer Business)

 Novosco in Antrim (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)

 Portwest Ltd in Mayo (Manufacturing)

 SalesSense International Limited in Galway (Consumer Business)

 Sigmar Recruitment in Dublin (Consumer Business)

 Williams Industrial Services in Antrim (Energy and Resources)

 Wisetek Solutions Limited in Cork (Technology, Media, Telecommunications)



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced today that HBAN, a joint initiative of InterTradeIreland and Enterprise Ireland responsible for the all-island promotion of business angel investment, has unveiled a new angel syndicate.



The West by North West (WxNW) syndicate, together with Enterprise Ireland, will invest 2 million in start-ups located around the western seaboard in 2016.

It includes 12 business angels based in or connected to the western seaboard of Ireland. These successful entrepreneurs have the experience, network and business acumen to help start-ups grow their businesses into international success stories.

Over the next year, WxNW is actively recruiting to double its number of angels to 24 and become one of the largest syndicates in Ireland.



HBANs WxNW syndicate wants to invest in west of Ireland-based and connected start-ups in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, education and tourism.

The new syndicate is working closely with bodies such as Enterprise Ireland, WestBIC and the Western Development Commission to provide not only funding, but the support and access to networks to help these start-ups grow their businesses.



HBAN has already supported a number of companies located in the area, such as Embo Medical and Capsos Medical. HBAN last year celebrated reaching the milestone of 50M invested in start-ups across Ireland and Northern Ireland, cementing an annual growth of 44% in angel investment on the island since 2008.



National Director at HBAN, Michael Culligan says, "Research shows that angels and angel syndicates working together achieve better outcomes, both for companies and investors.

"WxNW is set to become an important part of the investment ecosystem along the western seaboard and the growing angel community in Ireland. We at HBAN look forward to supporting the evolution of the WxNW business angel syndicate."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) have today launched their 2016 Awards programme.

The Awards programme will provide a total of 600,000 in development funding and support to nine social entrepreneurs to accelerate the progression of their social ventures. This will bring the total funding provided by SEI to over 6.5 million to date.



Previous recipients have tackled a wide range of social issues from adult education and the provision of emergency services in rural areas to voter engagement and food waste. Former winners include CoderDojo, FoodCloud, Pieta House and Smartvote.



One of Irelands largest public companies, DCC plc, will be the flagship sponsor.



Speaking at the launch, Chief Executive of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Darren Ryan said, "Just as entrepreneurs can drive change in business, social entrepreneurs can bring about real change in society. This year we are calling on people all around Ireland to consider if their Big Idea has the potential to change Ireland. If so, we want to hear from them."

CEO of DCC plc, Tommy Breen added, "We strongly believe in the work carried out by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland and were delighted to be supporting their Awards programme again this year. It is a great privilege to play a role in assisting Irelands brightest and most ambitious entrepreneurs who are dedicated to making a positive impact on our society."



A series of roadshow events will also be taking place across the country at the Wood Quay in Dublin on the 8th of March, the MAC venue in Belfast on the 9th, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway on the 22nd and Cork County Hall in Cork on the 23rd.



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced over the weekend that Telecommunications and cloud services provider, Magnet Networks, has acquired the Irish retail business division of Imagine Communications Group in an all-cash transaction.

The deal will see Magnet Networks become the third largest provider of business telecoms in Ireland.



Magnet Networks focuses on a mix of organic and acquired growth and has previously made a number of acquisitions, which it has successfully merged into its operations.

In 2005, the company bought wireless broadband provider Leap and later added Internet Services Provider (ISP) Netsource to complement its business division. Three years later, it bought Irish VoIP provider, Glantel, and in 2012 it acquired a 90% share of Velocity 1 as it expanded into the UK market.



They offer a range of broadband, voice and cloud telephony solutions along with wi-fi, cybersecurity and managed services. They are headquartered in Dublin with offices in Galway, London and Pune in India.



The new enlarged Magnet Business division will have 11,000 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and corporate customers following the transaction. Magnet will employ 95 people, including the 17 new staff from the acquired business, with plans to hire additional people in the coming months.



CEO of Magnet Networks, Mark Kellett says, "The acquisition of Imagines retail business division is a step-change acquisition for Magnet, placing us as the third largest telecoms provider to the business community in Ireland.

He added, "Our strategy is to provide a credible choice to businesses of all sizes across Ireland based on the quality of our network and range of services, which we believe are the best in the country. We are delighted to welcome our new customers and staff to Magnet."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Uncertainty on the future of Georgias energy security has been growing since late 2015, when Georgias minister of energy and deputy PM Kakha Kaladze met with Alexey Miller, CEO of Russias Gazprom twice in the span of a month. Discussions on Gazproms potential return to the Georgian market quickly raised eyebrows in Baku and caused popular protests in Tbilisi. In a March 4 turnaround, Kaladze announced a deal to receive additional gas from Azerbaijan, thus removing the need to import Russian gas. Party politics aside, Tbilisi appears to have skillfully used its strategic position in the South Caucasus to secure a favorable energy deal without sacrificing its sovereignty.

BACKGROUND: Kaladzes September 25 and October 26 meetings with Miller were accompanied by assertions by both the minister himself and Georgias ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili which seemed to indicate the governments support for the Gazprom deal. On October 9, Kaladze said Georgia will consider importing gas from Russia once again after having switched to Azerbaijani gas in 2006. In an October 20 statement, Kaladze said there was no possibility to import additional gas from Azerbaijan, which supplies close to 90% of Georgias gas imports, leaving Georgia with no choice but to import Russian gas to cover the gap in its increasing gas consumption. On October 27, Ivanishvili stated that there is no crime if Georgia buys Russian gas and that he saw nothing wrong with the Georgian energy market becoming more diversified. The ex-PM added that he would also like to see gas imports from Iran, and that market diversification is desirable for Georgian companies despite much gratefulness to Azerbaijans state-owned SOCAR.

A potential Gazprom entry into the Georgian gas market would be politically sensitive not least because of a series of explosions which damaged power lines and gas pipelines in the winter of 2006, blamed on Russian interference and branded a series of sabotage acts by then-president Mikheil Saakashvili. Aside from prompting a switch to Azerbaijani natural gas, the events kickstarted Georgias endeavor to end its dependence on Russian energy  a strategy which has enabled it to forge an independent foreign policy and deepen ties with NATO and the European Union.

As reported in the 11/30/2015 CACI Analyst, Kaladzes statements triggered controversy both at home and abroad. The governments moves towards a deal with Gazprom were quickly criticized by the opposition: the United National Movement (UNM) and Free Democrats opposition parties, as well as civil society organizations, quickly opposed the plans. On January 16, a No to Gazprom protest concert and rally were organized outside a government building in opposition to Russias aggressive propaganda campaign against the West in Georgia. The UNM is holding a protest rally on March 6 with similar aims. The partys MPs were quoted as saying that Kaladze is lobbying for Russian interests, attempting to conceal talks with Gazprom and supplying contradictory statements, which triggers legitimate suspicions and questions marks about the goals, scale and purpose of these talks.

IMPLICATIONS: The talks have also put Georgias strategic relationship with Azerbaijan to the test  despite the fact that Baku itself has a 2 bcm per year gas deal with Gazprom. On November 5, quickly following Kaladzes and Ivanishvilis statements, Georgias President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his counterpart, Azerbaijans Ilham Aliyev met in Tbilisi and signed a joint declaration, including a clause on continuing SOCAR gas exports to Georgia. Margvelashvili recalled Azerbaijan's very principled position during the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, while Aliyev saw it fit to assure the Georgian side that Baku will be able to provide natural gas in large volumes for itself, neighboring countries, and also for European states for at least 100 years. A preceding lightning visit to Azerbaijan by ex-PM Garibashvili was widely speculated to be aimed at mending ties with Baku as a direct result of the talks with Gazprom unexpectedly coming to light.

A whole host of factors muddle the picture of Georgias actual energy requirements: its reliance on a complicated mix of energy suppliers, growing demand for natural gas, its status as both gas importer and transit country, as well as seasonal fluctuations in demand. According to the latest data presented by Kaladzes Ministry of Energy, Georgias current demand for a yearly 2.177 bcm of natural gas is fulfilled to 87% by Azerbaijan: 1.211 bcm is imported directly, while another 686 mcm is transported via the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) from the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea, which is operated by British Petroleum. The rest of the gas is imported from Russia, although most of comes as part of the 10% fee which Georgia receives in kind for facilitating the transit of Russian gas to Armenia.

Kaladzes claims that Georgia had bought Russian gas (on top of its Armenia transit fee) for several years, including during the UNMs leadership, do put a dent in the criticism that the Georgian Dream government has endured for its talks with Gazprom. They do not, however, invalidate time-tested concerns held by the political opposition that any form of energy dependence on Moscow tends to reduce states foreign policy options. One needs not look far to find that neighboring Armenias utter reliance on Russian energy and defense is an example of that very issue: Yerevans 2013 bid to sign an AA/DCFTA (Association Agreement including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) with the EU was unilaterally stopped in its tracks by Moscow.

Perhaps inadvertently, Georgias Russian overtures may have turned it into a regional power broker. Isolated Armenias reliance on Tbilisi for transit of Russian natural gas means that Moscow cannot easily play hardball in negotiations, lest the transit be interrupted. This factor both explains Serzh Sargsyans hasty visit to Tbilisi, which followed in the week after Kaladzes Gazprom plans became known, and Russias hesitation to forcefully settle issues related to the transit fee, which have been negotiated since 2011 (Armenia has expressed a desire to import more natural gas, which could mean increased transit fees for Georgia). Tbilisi is in a position of strength, because Moscow cannot cut its gas without cutting gas to Yerevan, as it threatened to do in January, without losing part of its influence over Armenia to Iran. Tbilisi is also in a good position relative to Azerbaijan, because Baku needs Georgias cooperation to be able to export its gas westwards through the SCP.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite stating earlier that importing additional gas from Azerbaijan before the 2019 Shah Deniz expansion would be impossible, Georgian PM Kvirikashvili declared on March 4 that a deal had been reached not with Russia, and not another contender, Iran, but with Azerbaijan. The deal includes unspecified SOCAR investment into Georgias economy, a sizable decrease in gas prices from $318 to approximately $278-$283 per 1,000 cubic meters, and a promise of the delivery of an additional 500 mcm of gas per year, apparently enough to cover Georgias growing energy consumption.

Georgias six-month quest for a better price on gas appears not to have only have improved its economic situation in the short- and mid-term, but it has also demonstrated its position of relative strength vis-a-vis both Moscow and Yerevan, as well as reaffirmed its position as a necessary partner to Azerbaijan, although at the price of increased mistrust in Baku. On the other hand, the process has exacerbated domestic political rifts in Georgia, contributing to record levels of mistrust between the governing and opposition parties in the prelude to the parliamentary elections in the fall of 2016.

AUTHORS BIO: Boris Ajeganov is a research assistant with the CACI-SRSP Joint Center, based in Stockholm. His research interests include frozen conflicts, the European integration of the South Caucasus, as well as Transcaucasia's role in European energy security. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Image Attribution: www.agenda.ge, accessed on March 6, 2016
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.
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By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

One Corpus Christi ISD trustee said it's going to take a miracle to bring 10 underperforming schools up to par by spring testing.

The schools on the Texas Education Agency academic watch list performed poorly during fall simulated standardized testing.

The benchmark tests, administered to 14 campuses, made trustees nervous about State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests that will start being administered at the end of the month.

"We are in March, you have two weeks to prep," District 1 trustee John Longoria said to a district official presenting the data. "You're going to need a miracle. That's the reality you are dealing with."

During Monday's board meeting, director for instructional support Victor Hernandez presented benchmark testing results from 10 Corpus Christi Independent School District campuses. Seven of the school have been rated "improvement required" for three consecutive years. Four of the schools tested are rated "met standard," but had previously tested poorly.

Officials administered district-produced benchmark tests in the fall and spring. The testing targeted struggling student populations - English language learners, special education and economically disadvantaged - and subjects students are grappling with specific to each campus.

The targeted tests were meant to shine a light on deficiencies.

According to the presentation, 12 of the 14 campuses are below academic targets based on fall benchmark testing; the exceptions were Cunningham Middle School and Garcia Elementary.

According to spring benchmarks, which closer simulated the STAAR test in length and content, none were on target and four campuses - Allen, Evans, Garcia and Gibson - were a few points shy of being on target. STAAR testing will begin March 29.

"Turnaround plans" for five schools rated "improvement required" three consecutive years will be presented to the board in May, as required by a new state law - House Bill 1842. Hernandez said the struggling schools will get two years to make systemic changes and will not face closure because of the law during that time.

Board secretary Catherine Susser pointed out some schools are doing well with math, but reading and writing are the biggest challenge for all schools.

"It's so much harder to intervene (with reading and writing,)" she said. "Everyone is shooting high but it's a tremendous challenge."

CCISD Board Update on IR Schools

Twitter: @CallerBetty

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The CCISD board of trustees:

Approved the second reading for six proposed changes to formulating class rank in the district. Two amendments were proposed - one that would have expanded the changes to include current sophomores and another to valedictorian eligibility - failed.
Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times The grave of a man named Santiago Ramirez, who died in 1910, stands broken outside of a fence surrounding the San Domingo Cemetery in Normanna.

SHARE Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times San Domingo Cemetery officials in Normanna reversed a decision to prevent the burial of a Hispanic man Thursday. NAACP Corpus Christi Chapter and LULAC Council No. 1 members visited the cemetery Sunday and questioned a Hispanic man's grave from 1910, which stands alone outside of the cemetery's fence.

By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times

A woman who was told by cemetery leaders she couldn't bury her Hispanic husband there because of his ethnicity is now advocating for others.

The San Domingo Cemetery board reversed its decision to prevent the burial of Dorothy Barrera's husband, Pedro Barrera, in the Normanna cemetery last week. A cemetery spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified, told the Caller-Times on Friday the refusal was not because of ethnicity. She said the incident was a misunderstanding and the plots were originally meant for the descendants of its original founders, who were mostly white, but there is no policy that barred Mexicans.

But during her visit there, Dorothy Barrera, 75, noticed the grave of a man named Santiago Ramirez, from 1910, stood broken and alone outside the cemetery's wire fence.

Now she's not sure she wants the remains of her husband at the cemetery.

"What if they treat his grave the way they have treated this man for years?" Barrera said. "Leaving him like that and disrespecting him like that."

On Sunday, about 15 people, including LULAC Council No. 1, American GI Forum and NAACP Corpus Christi Chapter members, visited the San Domingo Cemetery and placed flowers on Ramirez's grave. Normanna, which has a population of about 100, is roughly 10 miles north of Beeville in Bee County.

NAACP Corpus Christi Chapter president Terry Mills said Barrera brought to light an issue that has been going on in small communities everywhere for several years.

"That fence needs to come down. It's not right," Mills said. "Where are the state officials for this area? Discrimination is color blind. She is not only fighting for her husband now but for everybody else who is going through this."

It is unclear when the fence was put up around the cemetery and it is unknown if Ramirez's grave was moved.

Ken Fox, 54, has lived in Normanna since 1974. He said he remembers Ramirez's grave at that location since he was 11 years old, but does not remember when the fence was put up.

"Maybe years ago something like this was the norm. But to see it now and in my community, I am disappointed," Fox said.

San Domingo Cemetery officials could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.

Susie Luna Saldana, a member of LULAC No. 1's civil rights committee, said she reached out to Texas State Representative J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, who represents Bee County, and he and representatives from the Department of Justice will meet with Barrera on Monday to investigate the issue, including Ramirez's grave.

"For some reason these areas are still stuck in the 60s and 50s," LULAC Council No. 1 president Nick Adame said. "Discrimination is still here. That gravestone is a testimony of what people in this area are still experiencing today."

Barrera said her husband, who she was married to for 44 years, worked as a carpenter, and was well liked in the community.

"I am going to keep fighting for him and for that man's grave, and for the next generation. This needs to stop," Barrera said.

Twitter: @CallerNatalia
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By Kirsten Crow of the Caller-Times

Winnowing down a list of 16 council appointment hopefuls begins Monday.

In a special meeting, the City Council is expected to begin narrowing the field of candidates, discussing their applications in executive session before voting on the finalists in public session.

The council has not specified how many people would be named as finalists.

The person ultimately awarded the appointment - a vote expected in the regular meeting Tuesday - will serve in an at-large role once held by Lillian Riojas, who resigned from the post last month to move for a job in San Antonio.

Documents obtained by the Caller-Times show a wide diversity of applicants who range from seasoned politicians to those who would be new to public service.

State law allows the council to talk about appointments in closed session - and the council is expected to meet behind closed doors - but several council members have expressed interest in casting greater light on how the decisions are made.

Mayor Nelda Martinez said late last week that council members will be encouraged to discuss their thoughts in public before the votes.

Monday's meeting is the first step of a two-part process. It's anticipated that the selected finalists will return to council chambers on Tuesday for public interviews.

Although not a certainty, it is possible that the public interviews could weigh heavily into the council's final decision, said City Councilman Rudy Garza Jr. Similar to a job interview, it could distinguish one candidate from within a pool of candidates, he said.

After the interviews, the council will go into executive session to deliberate. Following the closed-door discussion, a vote on the appointment will be made in public session.

Twitter: @CallerCrow

IF YOU GO

What: Special City Council meeting

When: 11:30 a.m. Monday

Where: Council chambers at City Hall, 1201 Leopard St.

COUNCIL APPLICANTS

Joseph A. Coyle, retired senior project designer

Margareta M. Fratila, business consultant

Cezar Galindo, self-employed

Annie Jean Galvan, registered respiratory therapist

Michael Taylor Hunter, Borden Insurance, account executive

Bob Jones, petroleum sample custodian and radio host

Sirfrederickvon Usa King VII, business owner and independent contractor

Sylvia Michelle La Cour, equipment specialist/material coordinator

Joe A. McComb, president and owner of McComb Relocation Services

Dan McQueen, engineer

Guy James Nickleson, chief executive officer for Lead First Foundation of Corpus Christi

Larry Lee White, retired engineer

Gilbert Hernandez, sales manager

Vernon Wuensche, engineer

John Sendejar, small-business owner

Benigno Molina, president-Pinnacle Roofing

Source: City secretary's office
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"Happy Days Are Here Again."

Franklin D. Roosevelt has a reasonable claim on having the best campaign song ever. The tune, not original to FDR's team, but rolled out at the Democratic convention in 1932 has simplicity, purity of message and catchiness on its side.

Still.

How far we have come from those times. A cheerful song from a less cynical age that doesn't try to be more than it is. Happy days are here again. Because FDR. That concludes this message.

Rock songs aren't nearly so forgiving to candidates of more recent vintage. Songwriters throw out a double entendre, black humor and sarcasm that is usually taken far too literally. Rock songs that were always intended to be transgressive - to stick it to the man, in the words of Jack Black in the musicomedy "School of Rock" - get treated like prose, not poetry.

So, campaign songs have ended up becoming painfully ironic, especially if the listener considers what the lyricist is saying. The first generation to grow up with rock, the baby boomers, walked into the trap. Non-Americans do it. And so does that spray-tanned candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

These politicians remind me of the high school students in the late 1980s that dedicated "The One I Love" by R.E.M. to a love interest. Sure, it has a lovey-dovey message. In truth, it's about using your partner for pleasures carnal or otherwise: "a simple prop/to occupy my time." It drips with sarcasm.

That example underscores how difficult it is to control the message conveyed by a rock tune. R.E.M. didn't write a love song. I suspect Bill Clinton, running for president in 1992, didn't reckon with how Generation Xers like myself regarded his campaign theme, "Don't Stop," by Fleetwood Mac.

"Don't stop/thinking about tomorrow," Clinton told us. Ugh.

This baby boomer anthem is redolent of high-as-kites 1970s rock stars trying to channel the naive optimism of the 1960s and ending up facedown in their own vomit. I once saw a Stevie Nicks impersonator whose faux-coke spoon was the size of a soup ladle; I doubt the real Stevie wants to revisit yesterday's mistakes in full regalia.

In short, this song has a cheerful melody, but it reads like a lament. If I gained 50 pounds, had done enough blow to collapse my nasal passages and hardened my liver with a Amazon River of booze - and the band has collectively pulled off all those feats - I'd far prefer to think about the future. Yesterday and today are simply too painful.

"Angie," by the Rolling Stones, is a song that proves it's not only an American disease. Yes, German Chancellor Angela Merkel - whom no one, but no one, calls "Angie," by the way - used this song at rallies during her ultimately successful run at the top job.

When the audience isn't full of native English speakers, we have to give them a break. But in what world do these lyrics evoke the approval a politician seeks?

"Angie, Angie, ain't it time we said good-bye/With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats/You can't say we're satisfied." And the melody of "Angie" is no excuse, Angie. It's a dirge for a love affair that's got no pizazz left.

The best that can be said: the Stones' song tracks Merkel's own low-key, somewhat dreary personality, which obscures her talent for thumping opponents who confuse this demeanor with weakness. Merkel chews up preening, macho, glad-handing politicians the way Germans nosh on tasty sausage. Just ask Gerhard Schroeder, a braggart who has three ex-wives, and a very important ex-job thanks to Merkel: German chancellor.

And then we come to Trump, who apparently contracted with the Department of Unintentional Self-Parody for a campaign song, and got "Revolution" by the Beatles.

In this tune, John Lennon mocks the poses of leaders who embrace simple solutions that will lead only to conflict, and calls out Chairman Mao, a pop icon of the Beatles-loving European left: "But when you talk about destruction/Don't you know that you can count me out."

The guy who sang "Give Peace a Chance" clearly cherishes idealism. But Lennon refuses to play the idiot; he wants to read the fine print: "You say you got a real solution/Well, you know/We'd all love to see the plan." Where Trump's policy positions aren't insane, they are incomprehensible.

Beneath the thrashy guitars, "Revolution" reads like a rebuttal to Trump's own chest-beating campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again." Lennon has some advice for the person pitching the revolution: "You'd better free your mind instead." But that's not The Donald's way. He hears, but he does not listen.
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David Castillo

Blocking Uber makes for second-tier city

Once again the Corpus Christi City Council is on the verge of relegating this city to a second-tier destination lacking any of the modern amenities one might find in other, more progressive cities. This time it's over ride-sharing services like Uber/Lyft, and it's disguised as a concern for the safety of residents.

Let's be honest and call the fingerprint check provision what it is: a poison pill purposefully designed to be anathema to Uber. Surely there is some sort of compromise that could be worked out. Uber is right to balk.

Drunken driving is a big problem in our fair city, and Uber/Lyft, more so than the outrageously expensive and thoroughly unreliable cab services available, has provided a safe, economical, and convenient alternative that people love. I'm sure the families of those killed by drunken drivers would certainly agree that the streets are safer when drunken drivers aren't on them. But if the council has its way, we'll definitely be adding more names to the long list of drunken driving victims. The council would do well to remember this when it votes next Tuesday.
The business was awarded after a pitch involving four other agencies, and SMG takes over the account from incumbent Maxus. SMGs remit includes content, media planning and buying.

MG's return to Thailand in late 2013 is the result of a joint effort between China's SAIC Motor, which is the present owner of MG Motors, and Thailand's retail giant CP Group, with a mission to revive the British brand in both the country and wider ASEAN region.

Atipol Ithivatana, SMG Thailand CEO, said the automotive brand has aggressive plans to capture market share within the next two years.

The company liked our strategy, tools, team and the past knowledge of the automotive category, he added.



Atipol Ithivatana
Chan spent the intervening year in some project-based consulting for startups. In his new role, he will spearhead Havas creative offering with a special focus on Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. He will report directly to Mason Lin (), chairman of Havas Creative Group Greater China.

The China CEO role was empty (with Lin running the whole operation) since Edward Su () vacated his position in March 2015 to work for Youku Tudou.

In addition to managing Havas Worldwide China, Chan will also be responsible for leading key agency brands including Field Force, Havas Life Healthcare, Havas Worldwide Digital and Arnold Worldwide.

Donald is a critical hire," Lin said. "He is an experienced leader with a track record of leading large agencies and a constant advocate of digital evolution in the industry."

Chan told Campaign Asia-Pacific that when he left Leo Burnett over a year ago, he "did look away from advertising" and "tried to do something new".

He spent a fair amount of time consulting for a couple of undisclosed startups, shuttling between Hong Kong and China.

Chan said he could have seen himself doing such work for a good while, but when Lin started talking to him about Havas, he became "quite inspired by the vision of the Havas global management about how they want to move things forward".

"Maybe therere still things I can do in advertising," he said. "I have no shame to say this [Havas] is not the biggest creative network, but it is completing its integrated structure in terms of digital and traditional. It also has a simpler and singular management system in place that has the mentality of trying to think and behave like an entrepreneurial company, and wanting to be more agile like a startup".

This structure can deliver truly innovative solutions demanded by todays clients, he added.
| BY Ricki Green |

The iconic brand Jeep is giving away a piece of rural Aussie land to one lucky person with an appetite for adventure, in its latest work developed by Cummins&Partners Melbourne.

Jeep has for years inspired Australians to Dont Hold Back and get out there and explore this amazing country. However, for some people they need an extra incentive to get out beyond the city limits. So, during the month of March and April 2016, Jeep is giving one lucky person a reason to get away more often with the ultimate reward  the chance to win a big chunk of rural Aussie land if they test-drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Launching with a website, TV, press, outdoor, digital, social and PR, the campaign communicates:

The Grand Cherokee is packed with features for all-terrain performance, the only thing missing, is somewhere to drive it.

Those with an adventurous spirit are urged to visit the jeep.com.au website, where an interactive map of Australia allows them to browse any piece of land for sale outside a certain distance from each capital city.

To make this idea a reality, Cummins&Partners and Maxus Australia approached and brokered a partnership with realestate.com.au  who are known for their comprehensive property listings nationally. Using a custom live property listing API developed specifically for the campaign, the realestate.com.au properties are categorised into a diverse range of geographic types (coastal, country, forest, outback, mountain) and are filtered to reflect locations remote enough to truly have an adventure  all while acting as a testament to the fact that the feature packed Jeep Grand Cherokee is capable in any terrain.

Client:

CEO  Pat Dougherty

Director of Marketing and Product Strategy  Zac Loo

Senior Advertising Manager  Ashlin Moore

Creative Agency: Cummins&Partners

Executive Creative Directors  Jim Ingram & Ben Couzens

Creative Director  Damian Royce

Creative Team  Maurice Moynihan, Trent Hendrick & Julie Poulter

Group Business Director  Katie Firth

Senior Integration Manager  Emma Fox

Head of Customer Experience  Matthew Morgan

TV Production Credits: NiceBike Content

Executive Producer: Mark Bradley

Director: Oliver Waghorn

Digital Production Credits: Digital Dialogue

Group Account Director: John Archer

Account Manager: Sally Randall

Media Credits: Maxus Australia

Client Services Director: Kate Francis
| BY Ricki Green |

MediaCom has today announced the appointment of Michelle Mowle (left) as head of talent. Successor to Alaina Hawley, former people and culture director, who has decided to pursue other opportunities.

With over 17 years experience in a HR/talent management capacity, Mowle joins the business with a wealth of experience spanning multiple industries including advertising, media, telecommunications, hospitality and pharmaceuticals.

As head of talent, Mowle will be responsible for developing and driving innovative initiatives and solutions through the areas of attraction, development, engagement and transformation that will both complement and mirror the current and future strategic business objectives of MediaCom.

In line with the People First philosophy of MediaCom, Mowle will also bolster the learning and development programmes to further enhance the career progression of MediaComs talent. Based in Sydney, she will work with the national management team to identify emerging talent and to develop attraction and retention plans nationally.

Says Sean Seamer, CEO MediaCom Australasia: We are delighted to have Michelle join our team as head of talent. She is extremely passionate about people and has fantastic experience in transformation, talent development, engagement and recruitment. She has a unique energy and experience that will complement our leadership team and drive people initiatives within the business. Michelles hire is a key appointment for us and one that demonstrates our commitment to attracting high calibre talent to our business.

Id like to thank Alaina for her leadership, passion and contribution to MediaCom over the past 4 years and would like to also wish her every success in the future. Alaina has been a massive support and I have no doubt will continue to do great things.

Says Mowle: I am genuinely excited to re-enter the industry by joining MediaCom as the business seeks to redefine itself as a genuine solutions provider. The business has an ambitious and inspiring transformation agenda and I am looking forward to playing a key role in developing MediaCom to be the place everyone wants to work for.
| BY Ricki Green |

Ball pits, bean bags, sleep pods, scooters, free juice bar. Weve all heard about the amazing perks some companies offer their staff. But how much do you really know about a company before you sign on the dotted line and turn up for your first day?

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has launched a campaign for Seeks new company reviews tool. A company review lets you uncover what a company is really like to work for  from the people whove actually worked there. Seek company reviews are real reviews written by real employees, both past and present, which give you a genuine read on whether a job prospect is the right fit for you (or not).

All the free iced mocha lattes and massages in the world do not guarantee professional fulfilment. Conversely, a company that doesnt offer much in the way of perks may deliver far better job satisfaction, above average wages, lower stress levels and greater job security to its employees. How do you know?

So Seek created company reviews to better help Australians plan the next step in their career, armed with as much knowledge as possible. Seek company reviews currently have over 65,000 unique reviews about more than 1,000 trans-Tasman companies. The average company rating is currently 3.6 stars out of five.

Babi Kahveci, brand and candidate manager at Seek says the key to a more fulfilling career is finding the right cultural fit for you.

Says Kahveci: More than half of the population have felt that a company didnt live up to their initial impression  whether found in an interview, on their website or in a position description. Seek company reviews uncover what its really like to work for a company.

If youre thinking about taking a role with another company, theres nothing like a bit of insider knowledge to help make your decision easier. A companys rating, whether it be great career development or work-life balance, is destined to become the way potential employees decide whether they will even apply for a job there.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne creative director Ant Phillips says the agency had a great time creating the campaign, getting to poke fun at some of the more outrageous perks companies offer.

Says Phillips: More often than not, new employees wont find out what its really like to work at a company until its too late. But with Seek company reviews, you can find out about a company before you begin. It might just save you from having to endure a beach meeting in your Speedos.

In partnership with Starcom and Isobar, the campaign was planned to align with Seeks evolving journey of becoming a career partner to candidates. The campaign launches with a roadblock across TV and video, bespoke social edits and transit outdoor that includes interactive panels encouraging first hand engagement with company reviews, in addition to a heavy digital display investment.

Client  Seek

Director of Marketing  Kendra Banks

Brand & Candidate Manager  Babi Kahveci

Digital Marketing Manager  Anshu Aurora

Brand Marketing Executive  Carly Sievers

Agency  Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

Executive Creative Director  Ant Keogh

Creative Directors  Richard Williams and Ant Phillips

Planning  Matthew Kingston

Account Director  Kate Starr

Account Manager  Rebecca Orlandi

Senior Print Producer  Nick Short

Senior TV Producer  Karolina Bozajkovska

Production Company  Finch

Director  Brian Aldrich

DOP/Cinematographer  Daniel Ardilley

Editor  Michael Lutman, The Butchery

Grade  Martin Greer, The Refinery

Producer  Corey Esse & Kate Merrin
"And the way that someone of your age can command the stage like that and make everyone in this room get up on their feet. I mean, I bow down to you."
After all, has there ever been a prime minister who hasn't been accused of shagging someone other than his/her partner? Not that I can remember. Everyone from No Pants to the Captain and not once has it been proven. The only reason that accusation hasn't come up with the current Prime Minister yet is because no-one can think of a contender. Why would you have anyone on the side if you were a conservative politician and your companion was the smart, lively and capable Lucy Turnbull? She's allowed to be her own person in a way that other political spouses have not. She could probably be prime minister herself.
"They are difficult to catch and even harder to hold  their spines will make you bleed and only the initiated would even dare reach toward one if they were in defensive mode. When threatened, they raise their spiny claws and wave them about. Quite intimidating."
On Tuesday Senator Cash - who is also Minister for Employment - will address the National Press Club to mark International Women's Day. She will call on the government, employers and the community to "take a good hard look at practices that hinder women's workforce participation and change them".
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.
BMW celebrates 100 years of existence today and to mark the occasion they revealed the autonomous Vision Next 100 concept.



The self-driving concept is riddled with futuristic features lead by the new Alive Geometry approach; the driver can choose between Boost and Ease modes, offering either manual control or full autonomous driving, transforming the vehicle according to the selected mode.

When in Boost, the car is focused on the driver, supporting his driving experience by indicating the ideal driving line, steering point and speed among other. Switch to Ease mode and the interior transforms: the steering wheel and center console retracts, the headrests turn to the side and the seats and door trim merge to form a single unit.

If, as a designer, you are able to imagine something, theres a good chance it could one day become reality, said Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design. So our objective with the BMW VISION NEXT 100 was to develop a future scenario that people would engage with.

No info was released on what type of powertrain is being used by the Vision Next 100. The concept was created purely to showcase BMWs vision of the future mobility which still includes the driver.

The whole structure of the concept is made out of a combination of carbon and plastic with no traditional wheels as the bodywork stretches over the wheel arches to change direction. The most realistic feature is of course the use of carbon plastics instead of the traditional steel in the structure of our future cars.

Inside the minimalistic cabin you will find no screens as all of the needed info is projected on the windscreen directly.

BMW will take the Vision Next 100 on a symbolic world tour stopping in China, UK and the USA. When the concept arrives in London, the BMW Group will unveil two further Vision concepts from Mini and Rolls Royce while at the LA, BMW will also unveil a Vision motorcycle concept.

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO
The battle between the new Amazon Prime car show and BBCs revamped Top Gear could be taken to new grounds.



Presented by a team of six, comprising Chris Evans, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris, Matt LeBlanc, Eddie Jordan and Rory Reid, the new show could air in the States.

Netflix, as TheGuardian reports, and the British network are in the early stages of a syndication deal.

If it does materialize, it will pit the new Top Gear against as TGs former hosts, namely Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

Amazon reportedly spent around 160 million (equivalent to $227 / 207 million) for Jezza, Captain Slow, The Hamster and their executive producer, Andy Wilman, after Clarksons fracas, which led to his sack from BBC. Before signing with Amazon, Clarkson was reportedly courted by Netflix and this makes the battle between the two shows even more interesting.

In the meantime, is under way for the as yet unnamed new show that is expected to air next fall.

VIDEO
Photo: Castanet Staff - File Photo

A new Water Sustainability Act came into force Monday, replacing the old Water Act.

According to the B.C. government, the new act and new regulations will help protect water flows for ecosystems and fish, and include new and improved requirements for groundwater use and licensing, well construction and maintenance and dam safety and compliance.

As part of the new act, people or companies using groundwater for non-domestic purposes will be required to obtain a water licence and pay a fee and annual water rentals just as surface users do. This includes irrigation or industrial use as well as water bottling and municipal water systems.

For existing groundwater users, the regulations provide a three-year transition period in which to apply for a licence. Application fees will be waived during the first year.

More information about applying for a groundwater licence is available from FrontCounterBC and in a WSA overview brochure.

With the size and complexity of the new act and the number of required regulations, the government is implementing it using a phased approach. Work on the next phase of regulations and policies will be initiated later this year and includes measuring and reporting, livestock watering, water objectives, planning and governance.
Photo: Contributed - Giuseppe Costantino

Yes! You can turn off those system ads in Windows 10, perhaps even before you see them. And yes! You can easily find Internet Explorer and pin it to your Start Menu or Taskbar.

Yes, you can turn off the system ads in Windows 10

The Lock Screen in Windows 10 is the pretty picture you see on screen when you turn on the computer and before you get to the screen that lets you sign in.

Recently some users of Windows 10 reported seeing ads for games instead of pretty pictures on the Windows 10 Lock Screen.

Come on, Microsoft. Is that really necessary?

Necessary or not, its reality, and fortunately its easy to change.

Click on Start | Settings (or press the Windows Key + I at the same time)

Click on Personalization | Lock screen

In the Background section, youll see Spotlight selected. Use the dropdown arrow to select Picture instead

Choose a picture, either from the ones shown or from somewhere else on your computer.

Beneath that, slide the switch for Choose fun facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen to the Off position.

Photo: Cate Eales

While youre in the neighbourhood, you can remove the ads from your Start Menu as well.

Click on Start | Settings | Personalization| Start

Slide the switch for Occasionally show suggestions in Start to Off.

If you want to bypass the Lock Screen completely, there are a couple of ways to do it. The directions for editing the Registry are here. Please do not mess around with the Registry unless you know what youre doing. That same article has a link to a registry file that will make the edits for you.

Another option is to use the Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.0 to change the setting. The safe download, which includes no adware or toolbars, is here. Download, extract, and run the Tweaker. Its completely portable; no installation is required. Youll find this tweak by following this path:

Customization | Modern UI | Disable Lock Screen | Apply

Be sure to click on Create Restore Point before you make this or any other changes.



Yes, there is an easier way to find Internet Explorer on Windows 10

Microsoft introduced the Edge browser with Windows 10. The icon for it looks like the icon for Internet Explorer, except with a mohawk. They want you to use Edge so much that its deeply embedded in Windows 10, the same way Internet Explorer was deeply embedded in previous versions of Windows.

Thats great if you happen to like Edge. Its fine, too, if you want to install a real browser like Mozilla Firefox. or Google Chrome because when you install those programs you can easily find them and pin them to Start or your Taskbar. But if you want to use Internet Explorer, you have to go looking for it: Take charge of Windows 10.

Last week, though, I found a far easier way, just by poking around while setting up my own computer:

Click on Start | All apps

Scroll down to the W section

Click on Windows Accessories

Right-click on Internet Explorer

Click on Pin to Start to do that or on More | Pin to taskbar to do that

Boom. Internet Explorer is right there in Windows Accessories, just as it has been since Windows 98. Who knew?



Yes, I read your mail!

Last weeks column was about mail. And I received a lot of mail from readers, which Ill share in a future column. Thank you everyone for your suggestions and words of encouragement.

Suggestions or comments, please send email to [email protected]

Links

How to disable the lock screen on Windows 8 and 10 without Group Policy

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.0

Take charge of Windows 10

Get Mozilla Firefox

Get Google Chrome

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Contributed

Students from across the Okanagan will be hosting events this week to celebrate International Womens Day, an annual celebration on campus for Okanagan College students, faculty and staff to participate in.

"We are coming together to celebrate and recognize both the challenges and successes of women in our communities here and across the globe," said Morgan Rogers, executive chairperson of the Okanagan College Students' Union.

The event will be highlighted with the students' union giving out free slices of cake and T-shirts to celebrate along with their partners, the Okanagan College Womens Resource Centre, the South Okanagan Victim Assistance Society and the South Okanagan Women in Need Society.

The International Women's Day event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Okanagan College Penticton campus, Community Hall PC 113 on Tuesday, March 8.
Photo: Contributed - David Ogilvie

No one was injured after a car went off the road on the Westside Sunday evening.

The car went off road and into the ditch on Glenrosa Road just past Webber Road at around 5:55 p.m.

There was minor damage to the car.

Witnesses said roads were bare and dry at the time of the accident.
Photo: CTV

Lidia Ramos' family should have been preparing to celebrate her sweet 16 birthday.

Instead, they are planning her funeral.

The Grade 10 student died in a possibly preventable car crash.

The Langley Brookswood Secondary student told her mom she was staying over at a friends house on Friday. But instead the teen went to a gathering in Mission with other young people.

Lidia was in the backseat of a 1991 Nissan Sentra when the young driver lost control in muddy conditions on a logging road - missing a turn and hitting a tree.

Lidia died before her family could get to the hospital to see her.

Alcohol and drugs are not believed to have been factors in the crash, but speed is.

Mission RCMP believes the young driver was travelling too fast for the twisty, muddy road.

Angela Ramos, the girls mother, now has a message for young drivers: slow down.

Please, if you're going to drive I beg you - look at the person beside you because the mother or the father isn't giving permission for you to speed, she said.

The grieving mother says her daughters death is an example of how one bad decision can shatter a family forever.
Photo: Contributed - SFU

A man who pleaded guilty to gunning down his ex-girlfriend on a British Columbia university campus is scheduled to be sentenced today.

Twenty-four-year-old Gurjinder Dhaliwal pleaded guilty last week to the second-degree murder of 19-year-old Maple Batalia.

The aspiring actress and model was shot to death in the parking lot of Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus following a late-night study session in September 2012.

Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, and both Crown and defence counsel say they have recommended Dhaliwal be ineligible for parole for 21 years.

Dhaliwal's co-accused, Gursimar Bedi, faces charges of manslaughter and accessory to murder after the fact.

Bedi's trial is also scheduled to begin today.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
January 25  June 17, 2016

Drawing from across cultures and across scholarly disciplines, the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibition demonstrates the power of maps to address vital questions about the contours and content of human knowledge. Created by leading experts in the natural, physical, and social sciences, visual arts, and the humanities, the maps in Places & Spaces allow us to better grasp the abstract contexts, relationships, and dynamism of science, technology, and innovation. Individually and as a whole, the maps of Places & Spaces allow data to tell stories which both the scientist and the layperson can understand and appreciate.

Complementing Places & Spaces are some recent examples of CDCs mapping and data visualizations for use by public health professionals and policy makers, as well as infographics designed to communicate with the general public.

Places & Spaces: Mapping Science is curated by the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center at Indiana University. In Atlanta, the exhibition is presented by the David J. Sencer CDC Museum, CDCs Office of the Chief Operating Officer, CDCs Office of Public Health Scientific Services, with additional support from Thomson Reuters through the CDC Foundation.
One night about 25 years ago, I offered a very pretty girl $20 if she would sit in a movie with me. It will be dark and you wont even have to talk. She called me a goof ball and that night we went to see a movie just out, The Prince of Tides. The movie made me horribly uncomfortable and several times I asked her if she wanted to go drink some beer. She was captivated and Ive never be as glad to get out of a theater in my life.

The next day I went back to the movie taken from a Pat Conroy novel and sat through two showings. That was how I found out that I suffer from depression. And that is how I discovered Pat Conroy, a brilliant writer who has probably had the biggest influence on my career as a wordsmith than any other person I can name. If Pat Conroy wrote it, I have read it twice.

Over 20 million of his books were sold prior to his death on Saturday and, the greatest by far, was The Price of Tides. I tell people I have read it more times than my Bible and Beach Music, that came along a little later, is in my Top Ten of all time.

You see, Conroy suffered from depression and that connected our souls. Anybody who doesnt have depression cannot possibly understand it. Winston Churchill called it The Black Dog and when that hound starts circling, it is tough to handle if you are not taking medicine to help manage it. Conroy said he always had a nervous breakdown every time he wrote a book, which is probably one reason I have never tried.

But when his books would appear, I could sense his pain and passage and I pored over every page. The Lords of Discipline reminded me so much of a military boarding school I attended and The Great Santini, which exposed the sordid relationship with his father, may explain the distance I had with mine, although my Dad never abused me or hurt me in any way. Maybe that is depression, too.

I never got to meet him, which is one of my lifes regrets. We had planned to get together a couple of times through mutual friends and, had I know he was going to die from pancreatic cancer, I would have made it more of a point. The last I heard he was writing one more and I was looking forward to that.

In his book, The Last Losing Season, he revealed why he was so successful. Do you think that Hemingway knew he was a writer at twenty years old? No, he did not. Or Fitzgerald, or Wolfe. This is a difficult concept to grasp. Hemingway didn't know he was Ernest Hemingway when he was a young man. Faulkner didn't know he was William Faulkner. But they had to take the first step. They had to call themselves writers. That is the first revolutionary act a writer has to make. It takes courage. But it's necessary.

It most certainly is.

Now, let me give you a helping of stories I wish I had time to write about from last week alone:

* * *

THE ALABAMA Legislature passed a bill the other day that makes it fully legal to drive around with a loaded gun on the front seat. You dont even need a permit. So why have a gun permit? But it is still against the law not to wear a seat belt.

FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY Lawrence Summers is pushing hard for the United States to quit printing cash bills for more than $20. He claims it will make life harder for terrorists, smugglers, human traffickers and others who know that the most popular piece of paper around the world is a U.S. $100 bill. In any country you can visit a Benjamin is the only universally accepted exchange for robbers, murderers and the like.

SOUTH DAKOTA lawmakers are making sense. Rather that impose unisex rest rooms on the state where less than 1 percent of the populous is transgender, a new law will require anyone who is confused to use the restroom of your gender at birth. Is that brilliant or what?

THE TENNESSEE STATE Board of Education admits the states inability to do proper background checks on teachers. As a matter of fact, a USA Today investigation gave Tennessee an F and the Nashville newspaper, the Tennessean, just ran some names through the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification and found 18 bad apples. Worse, NASDTECs database didnt have 1,400 teachers guilty of misconduct that USA Today located and some are thought to be teaching in other states.

NANCY REAGAN WAS the best First Lady in my lifetime. What a marvelous woman. Maybe thats because when Ronald Reagan said stuff like, I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress, my heart used to soar. Jackie Kennedy was very beautiful and I felt like Barbara Bush sure raised a dandy family. But there was something about Nancy that made you feel everything was going to turn out to be just fine.

SUPER LICE HAVE now been discovered in 30 states and the mutated strain of these head itchers doesnt respond well with over-the-counter lice shampoo. But you neednt call Ghostbusters. There is a prescriptive shampoo readily available, but kids are warned not to share hats or hair brushes. The CDC tells us that kids between the ages of 3 and 11 or most susceptible and between 6 to 12 million outbreaks happen each year.

A BEAUTIFUL STORY is making the rounds about a bunch of fifth-graders at Mark Bills School in Illinois who give up one day of recess every week for a buddy. Classmate Rhemy Elsey is almost completely deaf so some of the guys in his class started the American Sign Language Club. Once a week they go into a classroom and start with the Pledge of Allegiance in hand signs. Then, with the help of the gleeful Rhemy and his interpreter, they are learning how to talk with each other. In the deaf culture, a deaf person has to come up with a unique sign as another persons name. Rhemy has named all of his pals and, when they see him in the hall, they sign: How are you today? The kid is on cloud nine.

THE BAD LITTLE JOHNNY who saw his teachers unattended phone, got it to open, and shared her naked pictures with his classmates in South Carolina may have cost the woman her job but last week the cops came to the school and shackled the juvenile. The unnamed minor has been charged with computer crime and voyeurism. Now parents are petitioning the school to take the teacher back, saying she was a victim. RULE ONE: Never, ever allow a picture to be taken of you naked. It will be face-up in the collection plate the very next Sunday.

THE LONGEST LEGS in the United States of Women belong to a 26-year-old model in Houston. From her hip to her bare foot is 49 inches. Lauren is six-feet-four from the top of her head to the floor. Can you imagine trying to shave those stems or how about buying blue jeans? The bigger question is how many people you think you know that have measured a leg?

PASTOR ANDY STANLEY, who leads the huge mega-church in Atlanta, North Point Community Church, has flipped his lid. During a sermon two weeks ago, he proclaimed, "When I hear adults say, 'Well I don't like a big church, I like about 200, I want to be able to know everybody,' I say, 'You are so stinking selfish. You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don't care about your kids...anybody else's kids.' You're like, 'What's up?' I'm saying if you don't go to a church large enough where you can have enough Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers to separate them so they can have small groups and grow up in the local church, you are a selfish adult. Get over it. Find yourself a big old church where your kids can connect with a bunch of people and grow up and love the local church." (Sure does sound like greed around my campfire.)

DURING A RECENT doctors visit, I was told that the only way Ill ever have a smoking hot body is to be cremated.

royexum@aol.com
At the beginning of March, LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG in Lauda-Konigshofen has a special reason to celebrate: The company, which was founded on March 1 1956, has its 60th. anniversary. Whilst this special historical occurrence of the recurring anniversary today will be celebrated exclusively with the staff on site, there are celebrations planned for the fall including a wider circle and in a public framework.

Exactly six decades ago, Dr. Rudolf Wobser founded the measuring devices factory LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER KG in Lauda, and, in the initial years, he was able quickly to establish the company on the market, especially with innovations of new types of laboratory thermostats in a building-block system and with refrigerating thermostats with mechanical cooling. Some of the other pioneering innovations included industrial systems (1964), measuring devices (1967) and the first thermostats in the world with micro-processor technology (1982).

Based on the ever more comprehensive product range, the company changed its trading name from the founding name to the current name, LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG in 1989, under which additional new developments and innovations took place, along with steps to extend the available market, for example, the first circulation chiller (1994), the LAUDA Ecoline (1997) and the product category of process thermostats for processing technology at the turn of the millennium.

The company founder Dr. Rudolf Wobser died on June 17 1977 at the age of just 66 years, following a short severe illness. His two sons Karlheinz Wobser and Dr. Gerhard Wobser became personally liable partners. At the end of 2002, the long-serving Managing Director Karlheinz Wobser took retirement. Dr. Gunther Wobser was appointed as the new Managing Director, and, until 2010, he guided the family company, together with his father, Dr. Gerhard Wobser, who then took retirement after 39 years.

Particularly in the preceding years, LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG experienced milestones in the development of the company and its global expansion, such as the foundation of LAUDA France in Roissy near Paris in 2005. Three years later, branches were opened in Latin America, China and the USA. The Heating and cooling systems business unit also gained more space for its ongoing growth in 2008 with the new production hall and office building, corresponding to an investment of around 3 million Euros. In 2009, LAUDA presented their equipment offensive at the ACHEMA exhibition, the leading trade fair for laboratory equipment industry. All the employees from the six LAUDA foreign branches met here for the first time at the LAUDA World Meeting.

A year later, LAUDA introduced ECO refrigerating thermostats with natural refrigerants in Europe, which allow the user to make a contribution to the reduction in the greenhouse effect, within a framework of climate protection. In the same year, 2010, they were able to achieve an increase in sales of almost 40 %, and make record sales of 53 million Euros. In 2011, LAUDA acquired a Spanish manufacturer of industrial circulation chillers and continued to operate the production facility at Terrassa in Spain. In the following year LAUDA founded the next foreign company in Birmingham (England).

After a roughly two-year construction period, involving a total investment of 6.2 million Euros, a new logistics center and a new production hall was inaugurated in Lauda in 2013. A year later, the worldwide leading manufacturer of Constant temperature equipment, temperature control devices and measuring devices made an additional strategic expansion coup with the purchase of Noah Precision, a specialist developer and producer of thermoelectric Constant temperature equipment as a new subsidiary. Also in 2014, LAUDA extended its international presence by the founding of LAUDA Italia, a 100 percent subsidiary, who will take on the task of increased expansion of business in this significant European market. In the same year, LAUDA expanded their management team with Dr. Marc Stricker, who manages the Operations, Research and Development, Information Technology and Quality Management departments, and, in this year, also coordinates the international development activities.

On March 1 2015, the 100 percent subsidiary, LAUDA Scientific, took over the development, sales and service activities for LAUDA Measuring instruments. In addition to Dr. Gunther Wobser, the company is managed by Dr. Ulf Reinhardt as Managing Director. Using his expertise and research competence, alongside his long-term partnerships, the company has been extended by the incorporation of new pioneering technologies and processes - "always bearing in mind the current requirements in the laboratories and production facilities of their customers" as emphasized unanimously by Wobser and Reinhardt.

LAUDA  The right temperature worldwide"  as the 60 year old company slogan has had it for many years. "We want to remain the global No. 1 in this demanding market. This requires excellent processes, continuous innovation and ongoing growth. In addition to our home market in Europe, we want systematically to take advantage of potential in Asia and America" ventured the President and CEO Dr. Gunther Wobser in an optimistic and confident prognosis for the future development of LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG.
Evonik Industries is expanding its promising membrane business. To this end, the specialty chemicals company will further expand its Austrian site in Lenzing/Schorfling to double the existing production capacities for the hollow-fiber membrane modules of its SEPURAN brand. The membrane offers a particularly efficient method for the separation of gases from gas mixtures such as methane, nitrogen, or hydrogen. Evonik is investing an amount in the mid double-digit million  range in the plant and its infrastructure. The production of additional membrane modules is projected to begin in late 2017. Evoniks investment will also create over 30 new jobs in Schorfling.

"The investment in Austria creates the basis for the further growth of our membrane business in the very attractive market for efficient gas separation. As a technology leader, we want to benefit in an above-average way from the growth in the global gas separation market with our highly selective and productive membranes," said Dr. Ralph Sven Kaufmann, a member of Evoniks Executive Board and its chief operating officer.

"We aim to expand the biogas membranes business, which has been well-established for five years. At the same time, we see excellent growth opportunities in the market for helium and hydrogen processing as well as for the efficient nitrogen production from air," noted Dr. Claus Rettig, chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH.

Compared to conventional methods such as cryogenic separation, gas separation via membranes is still a new technology. Because of its higher energy efficiency and lower cost, experts project higher growth for gases from membrane-based separation processes than for conventional gas separation. Nitrogen, with a share of more than 40 percent, has the largest market volume in membrane-based gas separation.

The gas separation modules that Evonik produces in Schorfling are primarily intended for the biogas market and for hydrogen and helium extraction. The new hollow fiber spinning plant will be dedicated to the production of membrane modules for efficient gas separation particularly for nitrogen extraction. The nearby Lenzing plant manufactures polyimide, a high-performance polymer, which is spun and then further processed in Schorfling. The infrastructure in Lenzing will be expanded as well.
JetBlue Airways is taking applications for 24 slots in a new program to train novice pilots to fly a passenger jet. The airline said Monday, March 7, 2016, that the program, which is the first of its kind at a large U.S. airline, will cost about $125,000 and take four years to complete. The pilots' union at JetBlue opposes the plan, saying JetBlue should instead hire pilots with experience at regional airlines who currently get passed over. (Chris O'Meara / AP)

Dallas  JetBlue Airways is taking applications for 24 slots in a new program to train novice pilots to fly a passenger jet.

The airline said Monday that the program  the first of its kind at a large U.S. airline  will cost about $125,000 and take four years to complete. Graduates could wind up flying 100-seat passenger jets.

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Warren Christie, JetBlue's senior vice president of safety and training, say the program won't replace the airline's traditional pipelines for pilots, many of whom come from smaller airlines. JetBlue hired more than 300 pilots last year, and a group of 30 new hires just started training last week, he said.

Applicants will be judged with tests measuring hand-eye coordination, multitasking, critical thinking and other skills. Those who survive the first cut will be interviewed.

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There also will be a "personality assessment" but not psychological screening, Christie said. The debate over psychological screening has increased since a Germanwings pilot intentionally crashed a plane last year in France, killing 150 people.

JetBlue expects the first group of six prospects to begin training in late summer at the airline's training center in Florida. JetBlue hired CAE, a maker of flight simulators, to provide the training. CAE has run similar programs for EasyJet and Ryanair in Europe and several airlines in Asia.

Christie believes the program will open the profession to more people. The trainees will meet all federal requirements before carrying passengers, he said.

"They will absolutely be as qualified as any other pilot that is operating a JetBlue aircraft," he said.

Taking a page from programs in Europe, the students will start training with other crew members in a cockpit or simulator much earlier than usual, according to JetBlue and CAE. Currently, some new U.S. pilots learn by dusting crops or toting advertising banners  experience that may bear little resemblance to working in an airliner cockpit.

The applicants will pay for their own training, and the cost is not much different from the amount that many aspiring pilots now spend to accumulate the 1,500 flight hours necessary for an airline pilot's license.

Christie said the students will be able to defray some of their costs by earning a salary as a CAE instructor for part of their training period. CAE declined to say how much it will pay instructors, describing it only as "a competitive salary."

Nick Leontidis, president of CAE's training business, said students who struggle will be flagged for remedial training and, failing that, expulsion. But washout rates in similar programs at other airlines have been "extremely low," he said.

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"We believe this is going to be an important part of how airlines are going to create pilots in the future," Leontidis said.

The pilots' union at JetBlue pilots opposes the plan. Jim Bigham, chairman of the union's council, said JetBlue should instead hire pilots with experience at regional airlines who currently get passed over.

Bigham said he is not against training newcomers to the field, "but when they come out, I want them to go gain some real-world airline experience prior to becoming an apprentice at JetBlue."

Associated Press
A New York hospital operator that acquired the former Maryville Academy psychiatric facility in Des Plaines less than two years ago seeks to expand to Northbrook.

US HealthVest said in its application to the Illinois health planning agency that there is greater need for inpatient mental health services in the north and northwest suburbs. The for-profit company proposes to renovate a three-story office building on Lake Cook Road, near the intersection of Interstates 94 and 294, into a 100-bed facility at a cost of $31.3 million.

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After buying the 125-bed Maryville hospital for $22.6 million in November 2014, US HealthVest renamed the facility Chicago Behavioral Hospital and expanded services to adults. Demand was so high that the hospital had to turn away 672 people last year because it did not have beds available, the application said.

Because of renovations during that time, the Des Plaines hospital only had 78 beds available. Renovations were completed at the end of last year but occupancy remains high, the hospital said.

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Anthony DeJoseph, the CEO of the Des Plaines hospital, said in the application that he projects referring 48 to 50 patients a month to the proposed Northbrook facility, which would be less than 15 minutes away by car. US HealthVest expects other nearby hospitals to also send patients to Northbrook.

The company, which would like to open the facility by the end of 2017, expects to employ about 105 people in the first year, the application said.

For the 10 months ended Oct. 31, US HealthVest reported a loss of $3.3 million on revenues of $13.3 million, according to a financial statement included in the application. The company also has two psychiatric hospitals under construction in Washington and Georgia.

The company was started in 2013 after raising $36 million from a venture capital firm and other investors. It is led by Dr. Richard Kresch, who previously ran Ascend Health, one of the largest owners of private psychiatric hospitals, which was sold in 2012.

asachdev@tribpub.com

Twitter @ameetsachdev
University of Illinois students walk across campus in Urbana, Ill., on Nov. 20, 2015. Scams targeting people struggling with student loans now rank in the top 10 consumer scams in Illinois, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said March 7, 2016. (David Mercer / AP)

With student debt now totaling about $1.2 trillion and pay for recent college graduates stuck in the doldrums, scams targeting people struggling with student loans have been proliferating and now rank in the top 10 consumer scams in Illinois, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Monday.

Each year, Madigan announces the state's top 10 scams, and this was the first time student loans made the list. They rank seventh, totaling about 1,500 of the 25,094 complaints her office received in 2015. For the eighth year in a row, consumer debt ranked at the top of the list with complaints such as abusive debt collection practices, mortgage lending and payday loans. Identity theft is number two.

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As student debt has soared during the last few years, Madigan said many of the scammers who used to defraud people with mortgage relief scams have now branched out into student loans. They often promise relief from debt but get people to make upfront payments of hundreds of dollars and then provide no relief, she said.

On Friday, Madigan's office filed a suit against Lombard-based National Student Loan Rescue and one of its principals, Gregory Kewin. The lawsuit alleges consumer fraud and deceptive business practice. The firm allegedly advertised it would get student loans out of default, remove wage garnishments, lower monthly payments and secure loan forgiveness, but didn't deliver after accepting upfront fees.

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Instead, the complaint said the firm "does little more than complete applications to federal borrower assistance programs that are already available to consumers for free."

National Student Loan Rescue did not respond to questions, and a person answering the firm's "800" telephone number said Kewin was no longer working there. Further efforts to reach Kewin were unsuccessful.

Madigan noted that there is no reason for student loan borrowers to pay fees for help.

If people have federal student loans, there are programs in place that provide relief to borrowers who cannot afford their loan payments. Under the government's income-based repayment program, borrowers can have their monthly payments reduced to fit their incomes, and the individual doesn't have to pay a fee to get the reduction.

But Madigan noted that many people call their student loan servicers, or the agents handling loans on behalf of the government, and "rarely get any real help." When borrowers "can't get help they turn to scam artists," she said.

Madigan faulted the federal government's student loan servicers for "keeping people in debt" and becoming unable to contribute to the economy through purchases such as buying cars. She noted that instead of offering income-based repayment, the servicers rely on the "quickest" approach. It's known as forbearance. If borrowers can't pay, forbearance gives them temporary relief from payments, but interest charges are added to their loans and must be paid later. This creates a cycle of debt that is hard to recover from later, Madigan said.

The Government Accountability Office in September said in a report that half of people with student loan payments would qualify to pay less under the income-based repayment program, but only 13 percent are savvy enough to set up payments that would be less harsh. It faulted the Department of Education for failing to make students aware that their student loan payments could be reduced if their income isn't large enough to handle existing payments.

Madigan said borrowers should never pay for information on paying back any loan, and that consumers can spot scammers simply by noting requests for upfront payments. She said the law prohibits anyone from collecting upfront fees for assistance with any consumer debt.

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The attorney general's office provides student borrowers with help on repayment options at 800-455-2456. If student borrowers are having trouble with their loan servicer, advice is also available at 877-557-2575 or www.ombudsman.ed.gov. To understand student loan rules, see www.studentaid.ed.gov.

Here are the top Illinois scam complaints from last year, ranked by number of complaints to the attorney general's office:

1. Consumer debt (mortgages, collection agencies, banks): 3,350

2. Identity theft (government document fraud, credit cards, utilities, data breaches): 2,636

3. Telecommunications (telemarketing, cable and satellite TV, phone service and repairs, cellphones): 2,188

4. Construction/home improvement (remodeling, roofs and gutters, heating and cooling, plumbing): 2,167

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5. Used auto sales/motor vehicles (as-is used cars, financing, warranties): 1,835

6. Promotions/schemes (phone scams, investment schemes, lottery scams, phishing): 1,813

7. Education (for-profit schools, student loan debt, loan counseling): 1,523

8. Internet/mail-order products (Internet and catalog purchases, TV and radio advertising): 1,019

9. Fraud against business (consulting services, equipment leasing, directories and publications): 726

10. Motor vehicle/Non-warranty repair (collision, engines, oil changes and tuneups): 714

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Twitter @gailmarksjarvis
United Continental Holdings President and CEO Oscar Munoz, who has been recuperating from a heart transplant since January, will return to work full time on March 14, the airline announced Sunday.

The Chicago-based airline also announced on Monday that it has named three independent directors to its board  including two with deep airline experience.

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Munoz, 57, suffered a heart attack on Oct. 15, just six weeks into the job. On Jan. 6, he underwent a heart transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Upon his release from the hospital, Chicago-based United said Munoz was expected to return from medical leave at the end of the first quarter, or early in the second quarter.

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"I am thrilled to return full time to a job and the employees I love," Munoz said in a news release. "Since September when I became CEO, our team has been focused on our employees, improving the operation and the customer experience, and the results are starting to show."

He added, "Our progress isn't just limited to the operation. Financially, we have been performing well. United's 2015 earnings were one of the best in the company's history, and we made significant progress shrinking the margin gap with our closest competitors, strengthening our balance sheet and returning significant cash to shareholders. United spent $1.2 billion repurchasing shares in 2015 and plans to spend $1.5 billion on share repurchases in the first quarter of 2016. We have a lot of positive momentum, but this is just the beginning. There is significant work under way and we see substantial upside yet to come."

Munoz returns to an airline that continues to be bogged down by labor troubles.

In mid-February, United Airlines' mechanics overwhelmingly voted to reject the company's contract offer and authorized a strike. More than 93 percent of the ballots cast  more than 7,800 members of the Teamsters voted  opposed the contract United put in front of them in October, one that would cover 9,000 mechanics in the bargaining unit.

In a statement after the defeat, Munoz said he would "personally meet with each of our labor leaders to make sure we reach an agreement that will work for our technicians."

On Friday, Munoz invited union leaders to meet with him in Chicago on March 14.

Separately, the airlines remains in federal mediation with its flight attendants union to negotiate a contract for some 24,000 flight attendants at United and Continental, which merged in 2010.

United pilots overwhelmingly approved a two-year contract extension in January and the airline last month reached a tentative deal with its dispatchers.

In a news release, Henry Meyer III, chairman of United's board, also thanked interim CEO Brett Hart, a United vice president and general counsel, for his "superb leadership as acting CEO."

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Separately, United Continental, which was targeted by group of activist investors recently, announced Monday that it has added three independent directors to its board and said certain current directors will step down.

The three new directors are: James Kennedy, 62, former chief executive of investment firm T. Rowe Price; Robert Milton, 55, former CEO of Air Canada and a former US Airways director; and James Whitehurst, 48, the CEO of information technology company Red Hat and the former chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines.

United didn't specify which directors would leave the board.

Outside directors are considered desirable in corporate governance circles because they can bring in a fresh perspective and challenge thinking inside a company.

United said the three new directors will be nominated by the board for re-election at its 2016 annual shareholder meeting. The board expects to appoint a fourth new independent director soon, who will also be nominated for re-election at the upcoming meeting. Meanwhile, certain current directors will step down from the board at or in advance of the meeting.

"For some time, the board has been evaluating potential director candidates" with help from a search firm "and with the benefit of shareholder input," Meyer said.

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In late January, Altimeter Capital Management and PAR Investment Partners, both of Boston, disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that they've taken stakes in United.

Altimeter said it had accumulated 11.5 million United shares, or 3.1 percent of the stock.

It said it has had discussions with United management, members of its board of directors, other United stockholders, and others regarding the company's "business, management, capital structure and allocation, corporate governance, board composition, strategic alternatives and direction, and strategies to enhance shareholder value."

PAR's SEC filing stated a similar purpose.

PAR said it owned nearly 9 million United shares, or about 2.4 percent of its stock.
Gang, who heads Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects, was recognized for her "bold and functional designs that incorporate ecologically friendly technologies." The jury for the international honor singled out her Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Reporting from KENNESAW, Ga.  Sen. Marco Rubio's mounting list of primary losses points to the limits of what some call his Starbucks-voter strategy, a campaign that has banked heavily on winning upwardly mobile, young suburban families.

But as Rubio's third-place and fourth-place finishes on Saturday show, the Florida senator's attempt to court white-collar Republicans is being vastly overshadowed by Donald Trump's success in energizing angry blue-collar conservatives.

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If the trend continues, it raises serious doubts about whether Rubio can emerge as the establishment alternative to Trump.

TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >>

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The Rubio campaign has dominated in well-heeled conservative enclaves like Kennesaw, with a Chick-fil-A next to a Starbucks and a Whole Foods market under construction. Voters here and at Rubio rallies elsewhere are highly educated, ethnically diverse and embrace Rubio as an optimistic new face for the Republican Party.

"We just relate to him," said Robin Harris, a schoolteacher from Athens, Ga., who took her daughters out of class for the day to attend a recent Rubio event in the Atlanta suburb of Buckhead.

She and her husband were particularly heartened to hear Rubio's own stories of paying down his college loans and, as a young dad, balancing the checkbook.

"We feel like he understands young families," she said.

Rubio has used a similar strategy in places like Virginia and Kentucky, hoping votes from wealthier suburbs would counter Trump's populist support.

But in Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina, it brought Rubio only a second-place showing. And he was a distant third in Kentucky behind Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, who increasingly look as if they are in a two-man race. On Saturday, Trump joined Cruz in saying it's time for Rubio to drop out.

Rubio's best hope now is to sweep his home state of Florida, and on Sunday that was exactly what he promised to do.

Rubio will campaign almost nonstop in Florida ahead of March 15 voting, when the Sunshine State's winner-take-all 99 delegates are at stake.

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"I have never based my campaign on one state, but I can tell you this: We will win the state of Florida," he said on CNN. "I have experience beating people who portray themselves to be one thing but are actually something else, and you're going to find that out on March 15 in Florida."

At the start of this election season, Rubio's candidacy offered the Republican Party a new narrative  a bright, young immigrant son who could appeal beyond the GOP's dwindling base of older, white Americans.

The voters of "Rubio Country"  actually, it's more like "Rubio Suburbs"  provided what many in the GOP had hoped would be the face of the party in 2016: college-educated thirtysomethings and high earners who consider themselves "somewhat" rather than "very" conservative, according to polls. They are less angry with the workings of government and the economy. And in some states they include the nonwhite voters the GOP has for years tried but largely failed to reach.

They are voters like Marietta, Ga., attorney Joel Pugh. "To be successful and to have a chance to win a national election, we have to be inclusive of all," he said, his school-age daughter, Caroline, at his side during a Rubio event in Kennesaw, near a Civil War battlefield just outside Atlanta. "He is the new generation. He has lived the American dream  it's still alive and well."

In selected counties where such voters live, Rubio has trounced Trump, sometimes winning more than 40% of the vote.

But overall, the effort fell short. Despite pouring resources into the suburbs around Des Moines; Charleston, S.C.; Atlanta; and northern Virginia outside Washington, Rubio has won only Minnesota and Puerto Rico. His delegate count is well below half that of Trump.

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In an interesting twist, Rubio, the son of working-class Latino immigrants, is doing best among voters earning above $100,000 a year. Meanwhile, Trump, the Ivy League-educated billionaire with an inheritance, is sweeping up the lower-income electorate that on average earns half of what Rubio supporters do.

Trump voters appear less interested in a promising new face than simply improving their lot  in Georgia, just 22% of Rubio voters were "very concerned" about the economy. For Trump voters, it was nearly twice that  40%.

The disconnect shows the challenges ahead for Rubio as his tries to catch up to the Trump phenomenon.

"There are a lot of candidates who have missed this: The political discourse for a lot of people in this country has been very dissatisfying," said David Winston, a veteran Republican pollster who is not aligned with any candidate this year. "Rubio's challenge here is he's got to present his economic policies to the people in a way that says: This is a huge deal that's going to make a difference to you."

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The Rubio team argues that the early voting map of Southern states was not as welcoming as the coming contests in the Northern, Midwestern and Western states. They continue to invest in the suburban landscapes in those states.

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They call it the "Ankeny strategy"  after the Des Moines suburb, with a median household income of $75,000 a year, where Rubio campaigned so heavily before the Iowa caucuses that critics cracked that he was running for mayor.

"Florida is filled with Ankenys," said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant, "which is why we're so confident we'll win there."

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

MORE ON CAMPAIGN 2016

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While the majority of the country basked in having come together to pull off such a historic feat, many of those in the minority saw the election of a black president as a threat to their well-being and have harbored deep animosity for nearly eight years. They were more than willing to throw their support behind a candidate who would champion their cause to make America great again by returning it to their control.
The spring state testing season launches this week in Illinois, amid unknowns, dramatic changes for students and continued pushback by parents who don't want their kids tested.

The lengthy PARCC exams that debuted last year will be streamlined, a nod to families concerned about so much testing.

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And for the first time since 2000, a new online science exam is scheduled for fifth- and eighth-graders as well as high school students in biology classes  though educators say they don't know all the details and are still absorbing the state's new standards for what kids should know in science.

Meanwhile, all signs point to no free college entrance exam statewide this spring for public high school juniors, who have been taking the state-paid ACT test since 2001.

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Illinois is switching to the College Board's SAT exam, but it doesn't have the money yet to administer the test given the state's budget crisis, Illinois State Board of Education officials said.

The College Board is working to give the SAT statewide in 2016-17, but that means a year would go by without the free exam for all juniors, though a new state law requires a college entrance exam be given annually.

For this school year, more than 160 school districts across Illinois have signed on to give the ACT to their juniors in March and April, at district expense, according to ACT spokesman Ed Colby.

Chicago Public Schools in January sent a letter to parents saying the district will administer the ACT to all juniors this spring. And districts from Hinsdale to Winnetka will be testing their juniors.

But that leaves out more than 300 districts that include high schools which haven't arranged to give their juniors the exam. The test has been popular because students can use the scores for college admissions applications.

The Glenbrook high schools in north Cook County's Township High School District 225 won't be covering the cost of the ACT, saying the vast majority of their students already take the exam at their own expense. The district is getting the word out to low-income students to make sure they apply for testing fee waivers, said assistant superintendent Rosanne Williamson.

In downstate districts, schools are letting parents know that the ACT won't be free this spring.

"We are continuing to support the ACT as far as encouraging students to take it ... but as far as the district paying for it globally, we are not," said Debbie Ballard, a guidance counselor at Southwestern High School, about 50 miles north of St. Louis. The school set aside money to help students who don't qualify for fee waivers but would still struggle to cover the cost of the exams, she said.

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Kevin O'Mara is superintendent of the Argo Community High School District in south Cook County and president of the High School District Organization of Illinois. He supports legislation filed recently in Springfield that would ultimately get rid of PARCC testing in high schools and give kids the choice of taking one of two college entrance exams for free. That would be the only state assessment given in high schools. Those college entrance exams really matter to students, O'Mara said.

"If I were a student, honestly, it would be hard for me to inspire myself to do well on this (PARCC) test," O'Mara said.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams, PARCC for short, are based on Common Core standards for what students should know, and they focus on critical thinking and problem-solving. Students take reading and math exams from third- to eighth-grade, and at least once in high school. The high school exams are given to students based on the courses they're in, not the grade. So students taking the Algebra 1 PARCC exam, for example, could be in ninth-, 10th-grade or even a higher grade.

The exams will be shorter this year, and schools can choose one window of time for giving them, ranging from March 7 to May 27 or June 10, depending on whether kids take the tests on paper or computer. Last year, PARCC had two testing windows.

The exams have been controversial, with states pulling out of the PARCC testing consortium or dropping the exams.

Last year in Illinois, 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, as families embraced the opt-out movement and pulled their kids out of exams.

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"I'd be surprised if the opt-out numbers don't increase because I think for the most part it (PARCC) is a poor test that hasn't been validated," said Wendy Katten, executive director of the Raise Your Hand parent group, which supports families that want to skip state testing.

In the latest twist on opting out, the state launched an investigation into why so many kids in certain districts skipped state exams last year. The so-called inquiry would include questioning school staff, community members, parents and "even students if appropriate," according to a Feb. 18 letter sent to districts from state schools Superintendent Tony Smith.

The state elaborated on those plans in a Feb. 19 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, saying that "ISBE will also publicize an email address to which individuals can anonymously report information relating to a school district not meeting the 95 percent participation rate." Federal law requires that at least 95 percent of students in schools and districts take both English language arts and math state exams.

ISBE also told the federal government that it would be looking at whether "school personnel improperly influenced a student to refuse to engage in a test," which could be considered unprofessional conduct and lead to disciplinary action against an educator's license. School districts as a whole also could be in trouble if they "chose to exclude or encouraged students not to take PARCC or engaged in other inappropriate conduct," the letter stated.

The new science exams launching this spring are not connected to PARCC. They are called the Illinois Science Assessment, ISA for short, and based on what's called the Next Generation Science Standards adopted by Illinois in 2014. The standards move away from memorizing facts and move toward deep analysis in key areas of science and engineering.

Parents used to seeing their fourth-, seventh- and 11th-graders take state science exams will now see a switch to exams in fifth- and eighth-grades as well as a variety of grades in high school. High school students will take the science exam if they are in biology or advanced biology classes, including Advanced Placement biology.

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Last year, the state failed to give science exams, though those tests were required by federal law. State education officials said the exams in place for years had become outdated, and students shouldn't be tested on old science standards. But federal officials  and science educators  weren't happy, and ISBE scrambled to get a science exam in place this school year.

The new online science exams are expected to be given throughout May and perhaps as early as April, according to the state.

Carol Baker is the curriculum director for science at Oak Lawn-based Community High School District 218. She helped write the Next Generation Science Standards.

"One of the things I'm most excited about is that I've just gotten a flood of calls from K-8 districts, and it is because finally, there is a new set of science standards and we need professional development (training for teachers)," Baker said.

"It is when a test shows up that people start to pay attention," she said.

drado@tribpub.com
Tinley Park Fire Department kicks off the annual Tinley Park's Irish parade along Oak Park Avenue Sunday in Tinley Park. | Gary Middendorf-Daily Southtown (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)

It wasn't leprechauns, but rather the children of Tinley Park employees, Meghan Fenlon was trying to organize Sunday near a rainbow parade float to hand green beads to spectators.

Fenlon, a recreational supervisor, said the park district rents the float every year for the Tinley Park Irish Parade to help people welcome spring and celebrate all things Irish.

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"We think it's very festive and fun," she said. "Being Irish, I like the Irish Parade, and it's great to be outside after the winter."

The parade, which goes down Oak Park Avenue, is now in its 17th year and draws more than 20,000 spectators, said Tinley Park marketing director Donna Framke.

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"It's a great opportunity to show Irish pride," Framke said.

Taking place a week before the South Side Irish Parade, Framke called Tinley Park's parade a family-orientated and community-centric event.

Of the 82 parade participants, many were local businesses or recreation groups, some of which used the opportunity to advertise a cause or political message.

Parade walkers for Bremen-Orland Families for Life held up anti-abortion signs, and Citizens of Tinley Park had members on a float protesting a proposed low-income housing project in Tinley Park by Buckeye Community Hope Foundation.

Dozens of supporters of The Matthew Kocher Foundation also marched with a cause. Kocher was a 15-year-old Andrew High School student who drowned in Lake Michigan two years ago.

Mathew's mother, Kathy Kocher, said the group's main mission is to promote water safety.

One parade marching group had a very Irish message to promote.

A float by the Oak Forest venue Chicago Gaelic Park focused on the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising rebellion in Ireland.

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Many consider the rebellion the beginning of the modern fight for Irish independence from the United Kingdom.

The float included actors representing the military wing, the Irish Volunteers and political wing of the struggle.

"(This event) was important in relation to the U.S.," said Larry Coughlin of Chicago Gaelic Park. "It's like in 1776 when we fought to get independence from England and (Ireland) also fought in 1916."

Coughlin said artists and carpenters worked on building the float for two months because he believes it's important for people to remember their heritage.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

But for all the causes and messages in the parade, many spectators were just looking to have fun and receive candy.

"It's for the kids, mainly," said Cliff Feipel, who brought his three small children. "We try to come every year."

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Marty Engwall said he and his 6-year-old daughter missed the Oak Forest Irish festival on Saturday but the Tinley Park parade made up for it.

"It's a nice day to come and check out Tinley Park," he said.

Chris Proper said he grew up in Chicago's Irish-influenced Beverly neighborhood and he is happy he can celebrate Irish heritage in Tinley Park.

"Now we have a daughter, and this is kid-friendly and it's right down the block from us," he said.

Frank Vaisvilas is a freelancer for the Daily Southtown
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Monday apologized for anti-gay opinion pieces she wrote as a college student 24 years ago, saying she is embarrassed by the content and tone and that they do not reflect her worldview or current work as a judge.



The liberal group One Wisconsin Now revealed one column and two letters to the editor that Bradley wrote in February and November 1992 when she was a student at Marquette University. They were published in the Marquette Tribune, the student newspaper.



Bradley faces state Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg in the April 5 election for a 10-year term on the state's highest court.



In her writings, Bradley describes homosexuals as "queers," compares them with drug addicts, saying they "essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior." She describes newly elected president Bill Clinton as "queer-loving" and says his 1992 victory "proves that the majority of voters are either totally stupid or entirely evil."



She also describes homosexuality as "an abnormal sexual preference" and says those who support it are "dumb" and "degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior."



Bradley, who is 44 now and was 20 and 21 when the pieces in question were written, backed away from the comments Monday.



"I was writing as a very young student, upset about the outcome of that presidential election and I am frankly embarrassed at the content and tone of what I wrote those many years ago," Bradley said in a statement.



One column was written after Clinton's election, but two letters to the editor from Bradley speaking out against homosexuals and the spread of AIDS were written nine months earlier, in February 1992.



"To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview," Bradley said. "These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state."



Jenni Dye, research director for One Wisconsin Now, said Bradley can't be trusted to be an unbiased member of the Supreme Court given the number of cases that could come before it dealing with gay rights in housing, health care, family and employer law.



One Wisconsin Now director Scot Ross called on Bradley to resign, saying she was unfit to continue serving as a Supreme Court justice, calling her writings irresponsible, hateful and harmful.



Bradley's campaign manager Luke Martz rejected the call for her to resign, saying that was "absurd."



Ross also criticized Bradley for not disclosing, when applying for three judicial appointments with Gov. Scott Walker, that she had been a columnist for the Marquette student newspaper.



Walker's spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said neither the governor nor his office was aware of Bradley's writings any of the three times he appointed her. Walker put Bradley on the Supreme Court in October, after previously appointing her to both the circuit court in Milwaukee and the state appeals court.



"Justice Bradley appropriately made it clear today that a column written in college does not reflect her views as a Supreme Court Justice, a court of appeals judge, a circuit court judge or as an attorney," Walker said in a statement.



Bradley called the release of her college writings "a blatant mudslinging campaign to distract the people from the issues at hand. This election is about diametrically opposed judicial philosophies."



Bradley is generally supported by conservatives, while Kloppenburg has the backing of liberals. The election is officially nonpartisan.



Kloppenburg blasted Bradley over the writings.



"There is no statute of limitations on hate," Kloppenburg said. "Rebecca Bradley's comments are as abhorrent and disturbing today as they were in 1992 as people were dying in huge numbers from AIDS."
When police arrived at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn., to respond to a report of an altercation in April 2014, they found "considerable blood evidence" at a stairwell and recovered a knife in a hallway, not far from the grisly scene.

The victim of the fatal stabbing was a 16-year-old girl, Maren Sanchez, who was later remembered as outgoing and kind, the type of girl who "brought people together."

The suspect was a teenage boy, Christopher Plaskon, whose hands and clothes were covered in blood in the aftermath, according to a probable cause statement.

"I did it," Plaskon told a school resource officer, according to the police document. "Just arrest me."

The reason for the attack, authorities would later say: Sanchez had turned down Plaskon's invitation to the school's junior prom, a dance that had been scheduled to take place that day.

Sanchez died of stab wounds to her neck and trunk, according to the county medical examiner. Plakson was charged with murder.

"Maren should be celebrating at her prom this evening with her friends and classmates," Sanchez's cousin, Edward Kovac, said after her death, according to the New Haven Register. "Instead, we are mourning her death and we are trying to understand this senseless loss of life."

On Monday, Plaskon accepted a plea deal in the case, the Associated Press reported. The 18-year old, who pleaded no contest to a murder charge, will be sentenced in June, according to AP.

Documents obtained by the Hartford Courtant in December indicated that Plaskon's father, David, told investigators that his teenage son "had recently appeared to be bothered by the fact he was turned down by a female to attend the high school prom."

The teen had said he "wouldn't mind if [Sanchez] was dead or hit by a bus," a friend told authorities, according to the newspaper's report.

David Plaskon didn't notice any red flags in his son's behavior the day of the attack, he told police.

He said his son seemed to be "in good spirits" when he arrived at school that morning, according to the Courant, which cited the documents.

Reports the newspaper:

"David and his wife, Kathy Plaskon, told police that their son had a significant history dealing with mental health issues as a child, and that he had received treatment for behavioral issues such as mood swings, depression, suicidal tendencies and self-mutilating behavior, the documents say."

A message left for Plaskon's attorney was not immediately returned Monday.

Sanchez was supposed to graduate last June and was remembered at her the Class of 2015's graduation ceremony, where she received a posthumous diploma, the Milford Mirror reported.

Students released purple balloons when her name was called, as onlookers stood and clapped.

The Washington Post
TUNIS, Tunisia  Exceptionally deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers left at least 53 people dead Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fears that violence from Libya could destabilize the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn Monday and fighting continued past nightfall. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defense ministers traveled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

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Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said on Wtaniya television that the attack was an Islamic State attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border. No group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.

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At dawn Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press. A night curfew was ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The attack and ensuing fighting left 35 attackers, seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those killed.

Corpses lay in the street and gunmen hid in homes as darkness fell, gunfire sporadically ringing out, according to resident and local journalist Raoudha Bouttar.

Another witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions from the attackers, said the gunmen spoke of creating a caliphate and "liberating" the town.

Tunisian forces have repeatedly clashed with extremists on the borders of Libya and Algeria in recent years, but Monday's fighting was unusually bloody. Tunisia has been as a model of relative stability for the region since an uprising five years ago ushered in democracy and inspired Arab Spring protests against dictatorships across the region.

An uprising in neighboring Libya led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, but since then the country has fallen into chaos, allowing the Islamic State group to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognized body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia is especially worried about the IS presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in attacks in Tunisia last year. IS extremists claimed responsibility for those attacks, and Tunisian authorities said the attackers had been trained in Libya.

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The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.

France's foreign ministry condemned Monday's attack and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory."

"This attack just reinforces the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tunisia was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition."

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group. Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following a Feb. 19 U.S. raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the French statement said.

Defense Minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected to arrive Monday in Tunis to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video surveillance system of its border with Libya.

Associated Press
Chicago Board of Education board member/vice president Jesse Ruiz asks a question at the board's monthly meeting held at Chicago Public Schools headquarters on Oct. 28, 2015. On left is Dominique Jordan Turner and on right is President Frank Clark. (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

You might think, based on a rare, overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the Illinois House on Thursday, that creating an elected Chicago Board of Education is a terrific idea. After all, what else would get a landslide 110-4 vote in the usually fractious House?

But this proposal is fingernails-on-chalkboard terrible.

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The bill would sweep aside the current seven-member board, appointed by the mayor, and install an unwieldy 21-member board chosen by voters from 20 newly created districts, with a president elected at large.

That's 21 newbies who would wrestle over the helm of a near-bankrupt school district. And that's just as many new political fiefdoms for the Chicago Teachers Union to attempt to control with its robust war chest.

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Does Chicago need a school board that is three times the current size? No. That sounds like a bloated governmental body that would be just as ineffective as another that we can think of  the one with 50 aldermen.

Yes, we recall that in last year's mayoral elections, voters in 37 wards said through advisory referendums that they wanted the school board to be elected.

We understand the anger and frustration over the current board and its predecessors. Their oversight  or lack of it  drove the system to its current position, on the brink of insolvency. The school board over the years has had some of the brightest and most politically involved people in Chicago serve on it. But it has become clear that the who's who haven't always known what's what.

The most glaring example is the board approval of more than $23 million in no-bid contracts that led to a guilty plea by former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett on a charge of wire fraud. That was a huge amount of money, going to a company that had business ties to Byrd-Bennett. Yet the board members didn't ask questions about the contract, and there wasn't a single vote against it.

CPS faces a huge budget deficit not just this year but the next and beyond because of massive pension payments that can't be put off any longer.

We suspect that an elected board, sensitive to voters' (teachers', parents') ire, would be less willing to cut expenses, close schools or reduce payroll than an appointed one. An elected board could be stacked with CTU-friendly candidates whose instincts would be to spend and borrow  if that's even possible with the system's junk credit rating  to maintain the status quo.

The bill's chief sponsor, state Rep. Robert Martwick Jr., D-Chicago, tells us he is mindful of the CTU's clout in possibly controlling board seats. He says smaller districts  to be drawn by the legislature  will encourage grass-roots organizing, "limit the influence of outside money" and guarantee minority representation.

Gov. Bruce Rauner supports an elected seven-member school board but only as part of a GOP-introduced bill that would allow the state to take over CPS if it is deemed to be failing financially. That bill would also forbid board candidates from taking donations from teachers unions or district contractors.

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The just-passed House bill doesn't go that far.

The vote, however, did give Democrats and Republicans a chance to express their outrage at CPS' fiscal mismanagement just before the March 15 primary ... and a chance to throw a sharp political elbow at Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

How does that help Chicago Public Schools students and their parents, facing the abyss of a financial debacle and a threatened teachers strike? It doesn't.

Follow the Editorial Board on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes an appearance prior to the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral Blue Monster Course on March 6, 2016, in Doral, Fla. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

I hereby offer my full-throated endorsement of Donald Trump for president.

After months of expressing disgust at the real-estate mogul and his xenophobic, distasteful campaign, something dawned on me: I'm a white guy.

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What the heck do I have to lose in all this, aside from my self-respect, sense of morality, compassion, reputation, family and ability to ever look at myself in the mirror again?

By sacrificing those minor things, my America can be made great again! (I didn't actually think my America was that bad, to be honest, but apparently it is just awful, thanks mainly to people who look different than me. Who knew?)

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At a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump noted: "We have a terrible president who happens to be African-American."

That's an excellent point, and I'm glad Trump made it clear to his predominantly white audience  who held their right hands up and swore allegiance to Trump in a way that didn't seem at all Nazi-ish  that the president who is terrible happens to also be black.

Trump's not saying there's a connection, he's just saying. (Wink to all my fellow white guys.)

But if there's one thing we (white guys) can count on it's that a Trump presidency will make things better for all of us. There will be fewer Mexicans (wall); fewer Muslims (closing mosques, no refugees, general intolerance); fewer weak men with feelings (everything will be SO strong); and fewer women and minorities in the workplace thanks to political correctness being outlawed and everyone who's not a white guy wanting to move to Canada rather than deal with all the loud-mouthed white guys.

And why is it good to have fewer of all these people? Because we (white guys) all know that every out-of-work white guy is a victim of "others." It could be the fault of the president who happens to be black. Or it could be the Mexicans pouring across our Swiss-cheese border, as long as you ignore the fact that, according to a recent Pew Research Center study, there are more Mexicans leaving the United States than entering.

It's definitely not the fault of globalization and America's change to a more knowledge-based economy. It's the fault of us believing the politically correct myth that it's the fault of globalization and America's change to a more knowledge-based economy.

Trump will erase that myth and return all the high-paying manufacturing jobs by destroying political correctness, which is what's forcing us white guys to tolerate all these other people who have made white-guy America less great.

Consider what Rush Limbaugh said on his show last week: "Trump's speaking in ways that men today still speak, when they're not hounded by the modern eclipse of feminism and its supporters. Men speak this way to each other. They crack jokes this way to each other. It does not make them bad people. And I think there's a yearning for it among a whole segment of the population, women, men, they want this kind of gruff, fearless, tell-it-like-it-is persona."

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Who among us  aside from women, blacks, Latinos, Asians, Muslims, gay men, lesbians, people with disabilities and people with a shred of human decency  isn't yearning to hear gruff men make racist jokes while slapping female co-workers on their butts?

Limbaugh continued to describe the ills of political correctness: "All kinds of horrible, rotten things happened, with just the advent of the modern era of feminism. And with all of these things like feminism and the other things that came along with it, political correctness was attached  and that was censorship. People had to shut up. They had to stop thinking the way they think. They certainly couldn't speak the way they could before, and all this is like a Champagne cork popping after years and years and years of being shaken up with all kinds of pressure building and no outlet for it. There is more anger and frustration subdued, contained over what the left has done to this country, to this culture, to our society, and it's just blowing."

I should be cork-poppingly angry! WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME?!?!

Conservative radio host Michael Savage laid it out clearly in the very first words of his show last Wednesday: "We're fighting for our survival, of course."

Of course.

He continued: "Donald Trump represents the standard-bearer of America's future if we win. And I want you to think about who hates him and why they hate him, just think about this carefully. The deviants, the perverts, the intellectual haters of America, the losers who are jealous of anyone who has succeeded."

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Damn deviant, perverted, intellectual success haters. They know nothing of the patriotism of off-color jokes and misogyny, or of the greatness America can again achieve if only we elect a loud white man who doesn't care how much he offends people who aren't loud white men.

I'm white. I'm a man. And I can be loud.

It's clearly time for me to uncork my anger and hop on the Trump train.

What do I have to lose? (Hint: everything.)

rhuppke@tribpub.com
Mike McNicholas of Arlington Heights fries tater tots and other meat-free dinner items in tall fryers outside of the Knights of Columbus Holy Rosary Council Lenten fish fry March 4 in Arlington Heights. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

"Fish fries are delicious and good for the s-o-l-e," said Knights of Columbus trustee Mike McMahon of Des Plaines, formerly of Arlington Heights.

While sole wasn't served March 4 at the Knights of Columbus Holy Rosary Council No. 4483 Lenten fish fry in Arlington Heights, 100 pounds of breaded fish were fried to catch about 200 people.

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Toss in 130 pounds of tater tots and you have a Lenten Friday fried feast.

Catholics and people of all faiths looking for an affordable Friday night out are dining at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 15 N. Hickory Ave. in Arlington Heights.

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Since Feb. 12, volunteers at the Knights of Columbus have been donating culinary talents to prepare a meal each Friday through March 18.

Many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays until Easter with fish as an acceptable alternative source of protein.

"In the Catholic world, it's a symbol of being concerned for the poor and we refrain from eating meat," said Father Brian Simpson of St. Colette Parish in Rolling Meadows.

Proceeds from the six Lenten Friday fish fry meals benefit youth ministries and programs at St. Colette, St. Edna Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church in Arlington Heights and Saint James Parish in Arlington Heights.

"What's great is the Knights of Columbus get us together so that we can support the youth in our parish so that they can help those in need," Simpson said.

Funds raised also assist Special Olympics.

Mike McNicholas of Arlington Heights is known as the "Tater Tot Man."

"That's what they started calling me last week!" McNicholas said, with a laugh, as he attended to a line of fired up fryers.

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About 425 members belong to the Knights of Columbus Holy Rosary Council, which has a 50-year-plus history. McNicholas is a past Grand Knight.

"It brings people together," McNicholas said of the Friday fish fry tradition. "It helps the kids for their missions and it's a trickle-down effect."

Dan Glynn and his wife Kate Glynn of Arlington Heights brought their twins Declan and Kaylee, 2, and daughter Coira, 4.

"We came last year and it was great," the children's mother said. "We like to come once a year."

Catherine Cordell of Palatine, a 2005 Prospect High School graduate originally from Arlington Heights, worked March 4 as a bartender.

"I don't charge priests," Cordell said, who served a complimentary beverage to Simpson.

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When Cordell wasn't looking, Simpson quietly put the money in a container on the bar.

The Lenten fish fry is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. each Friday until March 18 at the Knights of Columbus Holy Rosary Council in Arlington Heights at 15 N. Hickory Ave.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press.
China to promote Scientific and Technology Enterprises across the Country

On February 26, the Ministry of Finance along with several other departments jointly issued the Interim Measures for Equity and Dividend Incentives of State-owned Scientific and Technology Enterprises, which aims to promote Equity and Dividend Incentives for companies in Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone across China. It sets out that eligible state-owned science and technology-based enterprises may provide incentives such as equity sale, equity reward and equity options, or dividend incentives such as project income dividend and post dividend to key technical and managerial personnel.

China Simplifies Licensing Procedures for Catering Enterprises

The State Council has issued the Decision on Integrating and Adjusting the Public Health Permits and Food Operating Permits for Catering Service Places, which abolishes health permits issued by local health departments to public places including restaurants, cafes, pubs and tea houses. The principle content of the Food Safety Permit will be incorporated into the Food Operating Permit issued and subject to uniform approval and supervision by the food and drug supervision department. This reform will affect nearly 2.5 million catering enterprises and nearly 14.5 million practitioners across China, which will result in a significant reduction of burdens on catering enterprises.

The largest in the world, Chinas food service market offers many exciting opportunities for foodies and savvy business people alike, but foreigners can be daunted by the often bureaucratic process of establishing a business in China. More details about Chinas food and beverage market can be found in our previous article here.

RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

China to Further Regulate Foreign Investment Market

On March 2, a Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) spokesman reported that the ministry was aiming to speed up the revision of the three laws on foreign investment. They also added that they would make efforts to formulate a foreign investment law and submit it to the National Peoples Congress for consideration within 2016. In reaction to the increasing use of foreign capital, he stated that efforts would be made to remove access restrictions for foreign investment, channeling capital towards the high tech, green and modern service industries.

Earlier in January 2015, the MOFCOM released a draft of the proposed new Foreign Investment Law to solicit public opinions. The proposed law is set to significantly reduce barriers to foreign investment, whilst at the same time increase scrutiny of foreigners trying to evade the regulations on investing in restricted industries. However, the law has yet to be finalized and released by the State Council.

Update on Chinas Parallel Import of Automobiles Pilot Program

Chinas MOFCOM, Ministry of Industry & Information Technology, Ministry of Transport and General Administration of Customs, among other departments, recently issued the Opinions on the Pilot Program of Promoting Parallel Import of Automobiles. It sets out plans to simplify the policy for application management of the automatic import license of automobiles. This means that enterprises enrolled in the pilot program are not required to obtain the authorization of the automobile supplier in order to import automobiles and establish a distribution network, and may apply for the automatic import license of automobile products according to the actual needs of relevant business activities.



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An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2015

Doing Business in China 2015 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies that already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.

Selling, Sourcing and E-Commerce in China 2016 (First Edition)

This guide, produced in collaboration with the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, provides a comprehensive analysis of all these aspects of commerce in China. It discusses how foreign companies can best go about sourcing products from China; how foreign retailers can set up operations on the ground to sell directly to the countrys massive consumer class; and finally details how foreign enterprises can access Chinas lucrative yet ostensibly complex e-commerce market.

China Investment Roadmap: the Automotive Parts Industry

This issue of China Briefing presents a roadmap for investing in Chinas automotive industry. We begin by providing an overview of the industry, and then take a comprehensive look at key foreign investment considerations, including investment restrictions, tax incentives and manufacturing requirements. Finally, we discuss foreign investment opportunities in a part of the industry that receives substantial government support: new energy vehicles.
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China's significant foreign reserves reduction largely went to its citizens and companies, central bank deputy governor Yi Gang said at a press conference Sunday.

"China's foreign reserves declined by about half a trillion U.S. dollars in 2015," said Yi. "Mainly, the reserves went to Chinese citizens and companies."

Last year, deposits of U.S. dollars within China increased by tens of billions. Banks increased their stack of greenbacks by around 100 billion, and corporate debts denominated in U.S. dollar dropped by around 100 billion, said Yi.

Corporate and individual outbound payments in foreign currencies surpassed inbound payments by 240 billion U.S. dollars last year, Yi said.

Major outbound payments include tourism, education and consumption expenditures.

Plus, the U.S. dollar appreciated against other currencies last year, Yi added.

"By and large, the majority of foreign reserve losses can be explained by the gains made by citizens and companies," Yi said.

Yi was asked about China's foreign reserves twice at a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, of which he is a member.

China's foreign reserves are diversified, he said, reflecting China's trade, investment and payment structures.

Moreover, China follows the standards set by the International Monetary Fund when calculating foreign reserves, Yi said, stressing that assets that lack in liquidity were not included.
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A new shipping route from Qinzhou Port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to Myanmar has been launched, sources with Guangxi Beibu Gulf Int. Port Group said Sunday.

The international shipping line connects Hong Kong with ports in southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, before reaching Myanmar, according to the sources.

The new route marks the opening of the first direct shipping route linking Myanmar and the Beibu Gulf which comprises three ports -- Qinzhou, Beihai and Fangchenggang.

It takes 12 days to ship goods from Beibu Gulf to Yangon, Myanmar, the route shortens the traditional shipping time by seven days.

There are more than 20 shipping routes departing from the Beibu Gulf each week for major ASEAN ports. Guangxi is now looking to extend its shipping routes to more Middle East and European countries.
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China's over-the-counter market, or the New Third Board, has helped small firms raise 26.47 billion yuan (4.07 billion U.S. dollars) so far this year.

The number of the firms on the board reached 5,878 and their market value hit 2.64 trillion yuan as of Friday

The New Third Board was initiated in 2006 as an experimental platform for non-listed enterprises to transfer shares.

The present system, known as the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, was officially established on Jan. 16, 2013 after years of trials in cities including Shanghai, Wuhan and Tianjin.

It complements the existing main board, the SME board and the ChiNext board, being seen as an easier financing channel with low costs, simple listing procedures and a short application period for start-up firms unqualified to be listed on major exchanges.
Chinese Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei gives a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of China's 12th National People's Congress at the press center in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2016. [China.org.cn

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said Monday that the country's rising bad loans of banks could be well solved by market mechanism and government support.

Lou said his concerns about the rising non-performing loans (NPL) were because of these banks' importance to China's financial system and national economy, not because of the ministry's major shareholder status in the banks.

Most of China's big banks are publicly traded and the Finance Ministry's standing is not different from other investors in terms of shareholder status, Lou said at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress.

China may roll out policies towards the banks against the backdrop of a "big picture," in the process of deleveraging and slashing overcapacity and overstock, Lou said.
The elevator where a woman was found dead in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. [China.com.cn]

Two maintenance workers have been detained in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province after a woman was found dead in an elevator a month after the power to it was cut off.

The body of the 43-year-old victim, surnamed Wu, was found on March 1, police in Gaoling District said.

Two employees of Shaanxi Kaiwen Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Co were sent to repair a problem with the lift in a residential block on January 30, according to officials from the district government.

After identifying the nature of the problem, the men switched off the power to the elevator without first checking to make sure it was empty, the officials said.

They did not return to fix the problem until March 1. When they opened the doors, they found Wu's body.

It has yet to be determined exactly when or how the woman got into the elevator and what caused her death, but the two workers have been detained for causing it due to gross negligence, the officials said.

Police said that they have ruled out foul play, but are investigating both the maintenance firm and the building's property management company, Xi'an Huicheng Property Management.
A contract dispute involving a pregnant teacher in central China has sparked debate on the Internet.

The teacher at Shangbo Primary School in Shangqiu, Henan Province, posted pictures online of a contract she signed with the school, according to the Voice of China.

She claimed that the school refused her application for maternity leave and then fined her 800 yuan (US$123) for breach of contract.

According to the agreement, the school "guarantees rest and vacation for its teachers," but any teacher who "interrupts class schedules" due to pregnancy should pay 2,000 yuan as compensation for recruiting and paying replacements.

"Teachers ... should get pregnant in the second semester. If they get pregnant in the first semester, causing them to stop working or resign, they should pay 2,000 yuan," it said.

Liu Zhu, headmaster of the private school, said the measure was designed to "prevent disturbances to general school schedules."

"We will not stop anyone from becoming pregnant as long as their pregnancies do not interfere with the curriculum," he said.

All of the school's 30-plus female teachers agreed to sign the contract, which is renewed annually, he said.

On the Internet, however, some people accused the school of breaking the law.

"It's ridiculous," read one post.

"This is obviously against the law, the teacher should file a lawsuit," read another.

According to China's Labor Law, all women are entitled to maternity leave, while the law on the protection of the rights of women and children stipulates that labor contracts should not contain any items that stop women from getting married or pregnant.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the case.

Though unlawful, job discrimination against women still pervades Chinese society.

According to a poll by the All-China Women's Federation, about 75 percent of women said they were fired after getting married or pregnant.

Wu Liqing, who works in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said most of her female friends and classmates have experienced job discrimination, although most of them have stayed silent.

"For us, mum's the word, even when our rights are abused," Wu said.

With the changes to the one-child policy, the situation is likely to get worse, said Wen Jun, head of the Sociology Institute of East China Normal University.
Hunan Province in central China will reduce pollution at a major lake along the middle reaches of Yangtze River, in the following five years, local authorities said Sunday.

Dongting Lake has been left contaminated following years of industrial and agricultural growth, said Li Liqiang, deputy director of Dongting Lake ecological environment monitoring center.

Chen Xiangqun, vice governor of the province, said that ditches and ponds around the lake will be dredged, and pollution caused by livestock and poultry breading around the lake will also be addressed.

Garbage heaped up around the lake will be removed and major industrial pollution sources will be identified, according to the plan, Chen said.

Enterprises ordered to close as part of pollution control measures will be compensated, Chen said.

Hunan will also work with neighboring Hubei Province to protect the environment around the Dongting Lake as it stretches across the two provinces.

A total of 623 environment protection projects with an investment of 270 billion yuan (41.5 billion U.S. dollars) will be completed in four cities, including Yiyang, Yueyang, Changde and Changsha, the in next five years, according to Chen.
Authorities in east China's Jiangxi Province are paying compensation to local farmers for the damage caused to their crops by the 700,000 migratory birds that descend on Poyang Lake every winter.

Last month, Tao Wenge, a farmer in the village of Changbei in the Xinjian District of the provincial capital Nanchang, was paid 1,200 yuan (US$184) after the birds destroyed his rice crop.

"It wasn't much and didn't cover the damage they caused," he said.

About 10,000 farmers who live near the lake have received payouts, said Zhou Chengdong, director of the wetland protection office at the provincial forestry department.

"It is the first time they have been compensated," he said, adding that the funds distributed last month were in payment for crop losses in 2014.

In 2014, three regions in Jiangxi  Xinjian, and the counties of Yongxiu and Xingzi in the city of Jiujiang  were listed as national pilot zones for the compensation scheme.

The central government allocated a budget of 50 million yuan to pay for crops lost to wildlife and ecological rehabilitation projects near Poyang Lake in 2014 and 2015, Zhou said.

The birds fly to Poyang from Siberia, Mongolia, Japan and north China in late September and stay until April.

"We saw the birds eating and trampling crops near the lake in October, which is the start of the harvest season for late rice," Tao said.

"We're not allowed to kill them, so we try to scare them away by banging gongs and setting off firecrackers," he said.

Despite the best efforts of the farmers, the birds still did a lot of damage, he said.
The crab-eating macaque [File photo]

Police in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said they have intercepted substantial hauls of smuggled wild animals and animal products in two border cities.

Police in Fangchenggang said on Saturday that they had intercepted a car carrying 90 young crab-eating macaques. It is alleged that the state-protected wild animals, which originate from southeast Asia, were smuggled into China via the city of Dongxing on the China-Vietnam border.

Also on Saturday, police in the city of Chongzuo said they had confiscated 102 python skins. Pythons are first-class protected animals in China.
On March 5, President Xi Jinping spoke with deputies from Shanghai delegation at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), Chinas top legislature.

Xi called for implementing bold development concepts: innovation, coordination, green development, opening up, and sharing, and strengthening systematic integration measures for comprehensive deepening reforms and opening-up.

Innovation aims to realize a new world technological frontier, enhancing the capability of independent innovation, striving for major innovations in basic science and technology fields and to achieve major breakthroughs in core technology fields.

Innovation ranks as a priority and main driving engine to lead development. Xi Jinping said technological innovation is the key link to grab opportunities and win advantages of development.

Throughout the history, people have benefitted from innovations from water power to steam power.

The United Kingdom had claimed to be the empire on which the sun never sets. The information revolution, a unique advantage for the United States, makes the nation a global leader of technological power now.

Through accelerating the formation of an economic system and a development model guided and supported by innovation, we can recognize the development trend of Chinas future.

Currently, China's overall level of technological innovation has remained low. Science and technology has given insufficient support for the nations economic and social development.

There exists an obvious gap with developed countries in the fields of aircraft engines, semiconductor chips and other advanced manufacturing fields. Yet, China stands at the stage of a national revival. Innovation seems to be more essential than ever before.

Continuous innovation is the only way to break limitations of production factors, resource bottlenecks and personnel structures, grasp opportunities for development, foster new development impetus, and expand new spaces for development.

Innovation is not a slogan but action is necessary. It must join forces with the government, market and society.

The five development concepts put forward at the Fifth Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee are well implemented. The dynamic burst of continuous innovation can bring better-quality, higher-efficiency and better-structured development.

The author Songxiong Wei is associate Professor, the department of politics, the China National School of Administration

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )
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Food served at the Indonesian Food Festival buffet, March 5, 2016. (Photo: Ecns.cn/Wang Fan)

Gourmet lovers and connoisseurs now have the chance to indulge in authentic Indonesian cuisine, as a food festival was opened Saturday at Novotel Beijing Xinqiao.

The festival, with support from the Embassy of Indonesia in Beijing and Garuda China, has invited chefs from Indonesia to dazzle guests with culinary delights.

Dubbed as "Indonesian Food Festival," it presents a variety of local favorites such as rendang (spicy beef stew), bebek betutu (Balinese roast duck), salak (snake fruit), nasi goreng (fried rice) and mi goreng (fried noodles).

The festival runs through March 20.

IF YOU GO

Indonesian Food Festival

Lunch or dinner buffet, March 5 - March 20

Citrus Restaurant at Hotel Novotel Beijing Xinqiao, 1 Chong Wen Men Xi Da Jie, Dongcheng District, Beijing. 010-6513-3366 ext 2001.
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Some 24 Taliban militants have been killed and 13 others injured in southern Helmand province over the past 24 hours, according to an army statement out on Sunday.

A total of 15 militants have been killed at Marja district and 9 others at Khanshin district in the province, a former Taliban stronghold, since Saturday morning, the statement said.

Meanwhile, 13 more militants have sustained injuries in both the districts, it added.

The statement, however, did not comment on the possible casualties on the side of the security personnel.

Local officials said fierce fighting has been continuing between government forces and Taliban militants in Marja district over the past few days.

Taliban militants, who have been challenging the government forces in Helmand province with Lashkar Gah as its capital 555 km south of Kabul over the past couple of years, are yet to make comments on the situation in both Marja and Khanshin districts.
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Kenya's security officers said Sunday they are holding four terror suspects after being arrested at the border with Uganda while escaping to travel to Libya to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) terror group.

Police spokesman George Kinoti said the four suspects who all have pending court cases in the coastal city of Mombasa were nabbed at the Busia border late Saturday.

Kinoti said Kassim Ahmed Ali, Ali Omar Bwanaadi, Muhammed Kassim Abdalla and Mustaha Kheri Shali will appear in court in Mombasa on Monday.

"The four suspects were arrested at the Busia border while planning to travel to Libya to join IS. These are fugitives on the run," Kinoti told Xinhua by telephone.

He said the four suspects who were initially charged for planning to carry out a massive terror attack in Mombasa in January had been out on bail after being released by the Mombasa court.

"Shali is unknown and he was together with the two ladies but investigation is on to identify them. One of the men initially said they were going to Juba," Kinoti said.

The arrests come after anti-terrorist police said they have unearthed a syndicate of extremist online recruiters who have been targeting university students to join armed extremist groups in Libya and the Middle East.

The recruiters lure these youths with the promise of well-paying jobs in foreign countries only for the hapless youth to find themselves forcefully recruited into these extremist groups, the police said.

Security experts say Kenya has been a soft target for terrorist activities since 1998 and the menace has evolved as radical groups from the Horn of Africa infiltrate the country to kill and maim innocent civilians.

They said what has changed and is noticeable for it is the increase in vigilance by the general public and the fact that if they see something that they consider to be suspicious, they are more likely to report it to the police than they were.

The police, on their side, the experts said, are becoming more professional in their assessment of potential incidents.

Kinoti said security officers have made significant progress in counter terrorism measures which have seen the officers foil several terror threats including arrest of several terror suspects across the country.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's impending visit demonstrates the strong ties between the close allies.

"This visit expresses the strong relations between Israel and our ally the U.S.," Netanyahu told his cabinet at their weekly meeting in Jerusalem.

"There are those who have predicted the collapse of these relations -- it is not so," he said, in an apparent reference to his rocky relations with President Barack Obama over Netanyahu's opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Biden, who will arrive in Israel on Tuesday, will also visit the Palestinian National Authority, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. His visit comes amidst fears of escalation in the wake of a six-month-long wave of bloody violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Whereas both Israel and U.S. officials stress the strong security-related cooperation, diplomatic relations have been strained in recent years.

Most of the tensions have surrounded the different approaches towards the nuclear deal signed by world powers and Iran, with Netanyahu vocally objecting to the agreement signed between world countries and Iran, calling it a "historic mistake," whereas the U.S. stood by the agreement.

The U.S. government had also recently deplored Israel for its policies towards Palestinians in the occupied territories in the West Bank, as well as a wave of right-wing legislation against left-wing organizations.
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At least 13 people were killed and over 40 others wounded on Sunday by a fresh rocket fire against a district in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, state news agency SANA reported.

The rockets slammed into the Sheikh Maksud district in Aleppo, said SANA, adding that the attack has left significant property damage.

SANA said the perpetrators are Turkey-backed militant groups, adding that their frequent shelling on the government-controlled part of Aleppo leads to the deaths of civilians, including women and children.

The attack is the latest in a series of rebels' shelling on government-controlled parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once the economic capital of the country.

Large swathes of Aleppo are excluded from the ceasefire agreement, which went into effect last week, due to the heavy presence of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State (IS) group, both designated as terrorists by the United Nations.
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Hezbollah chief Sayed Hassan Nasrallah rejected Sunday the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states' decision to label his party as "terrorist."

Nasrallah's remarks came several days after the Saudi-led GCC labeled Hezbollah a "terrorist" organization over what it called "terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and Iraq" and alleged interference in the affairs of Gulf states.

The resolution followed a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and Hezbollah that started on February 19 when the Saudi foreign ministry announced that the kingdom was halting around 4 billion dollars military aid to the Lebanese army and security forces.

Nasrallah linked in a televised speech the latest Saudi measures against Lebanon and his party to what he described as the kingdom's "failure" in Syria and Yemen.

The speech also came one week after the funeral of Hezbollah commander Ali Fayyad, who was killed while fighting in Syria's Aleppo province.

He described his party's fighters in Syria as "the real defenders of Lebanese interests," saying "we do not want anything from you. We do not want money, arms or support, just leave this country and people alone" while addressing GCC states.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. State Secretary John Kerry on Sunday,during a phone conversation, praised the "real progress" in ensuring a cessation of hostilities in Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a press conference after a meeting of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 26, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The two sides expressed an overall positive assessment of real progress in achieving a truce on Syrian soil, which is generally respected and has already led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence," Russian Foreign Ministry said in an online statement.

Lavrov and Kerry stressed the need to prevent delay of intra-Syrian talks under UN auspices, as well as to provide humanitarian aid to blocked areas in Syria.

"It is essential to ensure from the very beginning the participation (in the intra-Syrian negotiations), along with the delegation of the Syrian government, of a wide spectrum of all opposition forces, including Syrian Kurds," the ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.

The top diplomats confirmed that joint efforts would be paid by both countries' representatives in Geneva to ensure smooth work of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) task forces on humanitarian and ceasefire issues.

Lavrov and Kerry discussed a schedule of political contacts for the nearest future.

They also agreed to continue cooperate with all involved parties in order to find the ways to settle Yemeni conflict through political dialogue.

The Russia-U.S.-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities. The truce has so far been largely adhered to despite sporadic violations.

Currently, a UN-mediated intra-Syrian talk was scheduled for March 9 in Geneva as a fresh diplomatic effort to politically settle the Syria crisis.
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Shrouded by flames and blood for nearly five years, Syria now catches a break for a long-awaited truce, fragile but a silver lining in its path to peace.

Syrians mourn next to a body during a group funeral ceremony at a cemetery following reported airstrikes on January 7, 2016 in the rebel-held city of Douma, northeast of the capital Damascus. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ceaseless conflicts have battered the country, leaving over 250,000 people dead and half of its 23 million population away from home, which dragged its neighbors and the world into unprecedented predicament.

The Russia-U.S.-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities, the first step of the political solution.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday described the truce as a glimmer of hope, adding that his troops have refrained from retaliating to the rebels breaches.

Tranquility without roars of shells and blusts prevailed the capital Damascus and the surroundings, the moment the truce came true.

SPORADIC CLASHES AMID LONG-AWAITED TRUCE

The government and nearly 130 rebel groups have agreed to the cease-fire, excluding the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS) group, as both have been designated as terrorist organizations by the UN.

Battles continued in Aleppo and the provinces of Latakia, Idlib, Hama and Homs, all the places the IS and Nusra controlled or frequently appeared in.

Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which are fighting the IS in northeastern Syria, said they will respect the cease-fire, but their war on the IS will continue.

At the first hours of the truce a week ago, several mortar shells slammed into the capital, causing no casualties, and at least two people were killed when a car bomb went off in the central province of Hama.

Sixty artillery rounds of Turkish artillery on Monday hit the IS targets to the north of Aleppo as part of the U.S.-led coalition's operation against the jihadist group.

Children play near swings in Douma, in the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, Syria Jan. 5, 2016. Picture taken January 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

CAIRO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Shrouded by flames and blood for nearly five years, Syria now catches a break for a long-awaited truce, fragile but a silver lining in its path to peace.

Ceaseless conflicts have battered the country, leaving over 250,000 people dead and half of its 23 million population away from home, which dragged its neighbors and the world into unprecedented predicament.

The Russia-U.S.-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities, the first step of the political solution.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday described the truce as a glimmer of hope, adding that his troops have refrained from retaliating to the rebels breaches.

Tranquility without roars of shells and blusts prevailed the capital Damascus and the surroundings, the moment the truce came true.

SPORADIC CLASHES AMID LONG-AWAITED TRUCE

The government and nearly 130 rebel groups have agreed to the cease-fire, excluding the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS) group, as both have been designated as terrorist organizations by the UN.

Battles continued in Aleppo and the provinces of Latakia, Idlib, Hama and Homs, all the places the IS and Nusra controlled or frequently appeared in.

Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which are fighting the IS in northeastern Syria, said they will respect the cease-fire, but their war on the IS will continue.

At the first hours of the truce a week ago, several mortar shells slammed into the capital, causing no casualties, and at least two people were killed when a car bomb went off in the central province of Hama.

Sixty artillery rounds of Turkish artillery on Monday hit the IS targets to the north of Aleppo as part of the U.S.-led coalition's operation against the jihadist group.

Syrians mourn next to a body during a group funeral ceremony at a cemetery following reported airstrikes on January 7, 2016 in the rebel-held city of Douma, northeast of the capital Damascus. More than 260,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011 and millions forced from their homes. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Turkish fire wounded a group of foreign journalists near the borders on Tuesday, injuring four who were covering the cessation of hostilities in northern Latakia.

On Wednesday, gunfire was reported in the town of Madaya in the northern countryside of Damascus, without any reported casualties.

REFUGEES, A CONCERN FOR ALL

Over four million Syrian refugees have flocked into the neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as Europe, which has been overwhelmed by the refugee wave.

Jordan last Sunday called on the World Bank for more support as refugees now take up one third of the country's population, nearly half from Syria that amounted to about 1.3 million.

Lebanon's Vice Prime Minister Genran Bassil stressed Lebanon deserved more international help as the country has accommodated about 1.1 million Syrians who have fled their war-torn country.

As of Feb. 15, Turkey had started to give permission to Syrian refugees to work in the country so as to stop them from going to European countries.

With more than 2.5 million refugees, the most in the world, Turkey is determined to stop the illegal flow of refugees from its territory to European countries.

Turkey will meet the EU's 28 leaders on March 7 for a wide-ranging summit on the worst refugee and migrant crisis facing Europe since World War II.
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China on Monday called for a fair and balanced execution of the UN resolution against Pyongyang, adding that the responsibility to do so does not stop with China.

"The UN Security Council resolution should be implemented by the whole international community and not just one country," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei at a daily press conference.

Hong made the remarks after being asked if the major responsibility lies with China since about 90 percent of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) trade volume is from China.

Resolution 2270, which was unanimously adopted by the 15-country council on March 2, requires states to inspect all cargo going to and from the DPRK. It imposes an asset freeze on all funds and other economic resources owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the DPRK government or by the Workers' Party of Korea, if they are found to be associated with its nuclear or ballistic missile programs or any other prohibited activities.

The resolution also calls for the resumption of the six-party talks, a multilateral dialog mechanism brokered by China, which was designed to facilitate a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

The talks, which involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, stalled in late 2008.

"The resolution aims to curb the DPRK's nuclear and missile plan without affecting the people's livelihood and humanitarian needs. It also calls for the resumption of the six-party talks to ease the situation through political and diplomatic ways. This is the fundamental solution of the Korean nuclear issue," Hong said.

He added that the resolution, therefore, should be implemented in a comprehensive and balanced way without deliberately highlighting one aspect or neglecting others.

The spokesperson reaffirmed that China will implement the resolution seriously and comprehensively. All parties should also abide by it with concrete and comprehensive actions, including playing a positive role in restarting the talks and avoiding actions that may intensify the tense situation, he added.
Radio Free Asia

2016-03-03

 Police in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province detained a young Tibetan woman this week after she staged a solitary protest in her township opposing Chinese policies in Tibetan areas, Tibetan sources said.

Mangga, 33, was taken into custody shortly after noon on March 1 in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) countys Meruma township in the Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan living in exile told RFAs Tibetan Service.

She had held up a photo of [exiled spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama and shouted slogans challenging Chinese policies, India-based monk Kanyak Tsering said, citing local sources.

Chinese security officers quickly appeared and took her away, Tsering said, adding, No information is available concerning her current condition or place of detention.

One of nine siblings, Mangga has a 14-year-old daughter named Gangga Lhamo, who was left at home when Mangga staged her protest, Tsering said.

Her fathers name is Tsepe and her mothers name is Pema Kyi, he added.





In trouble before

Mangga had been in trouble with local authorities before, Tsering said.

When Chinese authorities in 2008 ordered Tibetan residents of Ngaba to fly the Chinese national flag from their homes, Mangga refused, for which she was detained for eight months, Tsering said.

She was held as a political prisoner and tortured, he said.

Tibetan protester Mangga is shown in an undated photo.

Photo courtesy of Kanyak Tsering

Now, the presence of security forces [in Ngaba] has been strengthened, and the Internet is still blocked, even though local businesses have asked that those restrictions be lifted, he said.

Ngabas Meruma township has been the scene of repeated protests in the past, with Chinese police detaining two Tibetan women, Woekar Kyi and Dorje Dolma, last August after the pair staged separate protests calling for Tibetan freedom, sources said in earlier reports.

In December, two other Meruma residents were also taken into custodyone a student and the other a monkapparently on suspicion of involvement in activities opposing Beijings rule in Tibetan areas.

Sporadic demonstrations challenging Chinese rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 144 Tibetans to date setting themselves on fire in China to oppose Beijings rule and call for the Dalai Lamas return.

Reported by RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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
UCA News



By ucanews.com reporter, Beijing, China March 7, 2016

Christian rights groups have tried to ramp up pressure on Chinas government by releasing campaigns to try to secure the release of Christian lawyer Zhang Kai after more than six months in detention.

Hopes Zhang might be freed after what appeared to be a coerced confession on video at the end of last month diminished when he was then criminally detained in Wenzhou for helping churches rebuff a campaign in which 1,700 crosses have been removed in Zhenjiang province.

The Free Zhang Kai Campaign aims to raise awareness to pressure Chinese authorities for Zhangs release, China Aid said in a March 5 statement announcing the initiative.

Rights groups are pressuring China to release Christian lawyer

Zhang Kai, seen in this screen grab from February.

The U.S.-based religious rights group launched the campaign on social media and set up a petition with Change.org calling for Chinas President Xi Jinping to release Zhang.

In a separate campaign, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has urged Christians and other supporters of Zhang to write letters to Chinese embassies overseas.

Zhangs case has caused outrage among supporters including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry who publically called for Zhangs release after he was first detained in August.

Authorities have accused Zhang of endangering national security and disrupting social order but are yet to file official charges.

According to Chinese law, Zhang must be charged within a maximum of 37 days of being criminally detained on Feb. 26, or be released.

We hope Wenzhous law enforcement authorities can handle this in accordance with the law, Zhangs parents wrote in a letter posted online after he was criminally detained.

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
A steamed bun brand that originated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is preparing to go international, opening its first overseas location.

GanQiShi Bao Bao is well known for its delicious fist-sized handmade steamed buns, or baozi, which are stuffed with shredded meat, vegetables or sweet fillings.

In May, the company will open its first US outlet in Harvard Square, the historic center of Cambridge, Massachusetts that is close to top educational institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

"As one of China's most representative traditional handmade foods, baozi should be appreciated by the world," said Tong Qihua, founder and chairman of the brand, as quoted by Zhejiang Daily.

"That's why I intend to bring our authentic baozi to the US, which is crowded with Chinese restaurants but not a real traditional steamed bun restaurant."

Founded in 2009, GanQiShi now has nearly 200 outlets in Hangzhou and Shanghai, selling at least 70 million buns every year.

Its annual sales revenue exceeds 200 million yuan ($30.7 million) and in 2013, it received a private equity investment of 80 million yuan.

Over the years, GanQiShi's customer base has changed from mainly elderly and migrant workers to younger white-collar workers, students and residents as its restaurants have moved to more downtown areas. The new US branch will target similar consumers, as opposed to tourists.

"Westerners are more willing to taste traditional handmade food that is a product of the chef's emotions and hard work," Tong said.

GanQiShi intends to stick to traditional recipes and use bamboo steamers to make the baozi in its new US restaurant. The fillings will be the same as in China, including pork, vegetables, curry beef, bean paste and sweet potato with taro, and will be sold for at least $3compared to the 2 yuan ($0.31) to 5 yuan they cost at home.

"We will adapt the products to include certain local ingredients such as chicken and lobster, which are more favored by the residents of Boston," said Gao Jun, the deputy manager of GanQiShi Bao Bao.

Most of the new restaurant's 10 to 15 employees will be hired locally, and the chefs will be flown to Hangzhou for a baozi-making training program that will last at least three months.

They will learn how to accurately weigh out the dough, 60 grams for each bun, and by the end of their training will be able to make 22 unfilled baozi per minute.

Gao told China Daily that they were hiring chefs locally to help sell US customers on traditional Chinese food.

Zhang Li in Beijing contributed to this story.
Great expectations of economic reforms is likely to fuel a rally in the domestic securities market in the coming weeks. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Policy clarity and details of efforts to stabilize economic growth expected by next week

Market-people think any fresh policies aimed at stabilizing economic growth could fuel a rally in Chinese equities that could last till April-end and, perhaps, even beyond.

The two sessions of China's top lawmakers and political advisors, which started last week in Beijing and will end on March 16, are expected to debate key government reform plans before approving them.

Clarity will likely emerge only next week, which could spark the expected rally.

So, in the run-up, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.8 percent last week, paring its overall loss this year to 18.7 percent.

China's stock markets have been undulating, and at times yo-yoing, ever since the summer rout of June 2015. Investors' frayed nerves were calmed only recently by a stabilizing renminbi, an accommodative monetary policy aimed at supporting a recovery in the housing market and Beijing's improved communication.

Premier Li Keqiang delivered the Government Work Report on Saturday in front of the delegates of the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress. He reiterated Beijing's commitment to continued structural reform, and emphasized trimming of industrial overcapacity and lightening tax burdens on companies as the current environment is challenging.

Li said that tax cuts this year would be more than 500 billion yuan ($76.6 billionwhich would benefit companies and individuals. To offset the impact on overall figures, the government has budgeted a 560-billion-yuan increase in fiscal deficit to 2.18 trillion yuan or an unprecedented 3 percent of GDP.

"... China will face more and tougher problems and challenges in its development this year, so we must be fully prepared to fight a difficult battle," Li said in his speech.

Some investors found relief that Li's report did not mention the launch of the registration-based initial public offering system. There have been fears that the new system could pressure the market with a huge supply of new shares.

Liu Shiyu, the newly-appointed chief of the securities regulator, said on the sidelines of the NPC session that in order to restore investors' confidence and better protect their interests, the regulator will strictly enforce the law and step up oversight of the stock market.

Wendy Liu, chief China strategist at Nomura Securities, said, "Details on supply-side reforms will strengthen investor confidence that Beijing is taking action on economic reforms."
Zhang Xiaoling (second from left), vice-chairwoman of Sotech Smarter Equipment Co Ltd, works with her employees on the frontline of innovation, leading the R&D team to produce "China's first self-designed" printing-and-packing machines. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Entrepreneurship gets boost as traditional manufacturing base hones its digital edge

If you think entrepreneurship in China is limited to Beijing's Zhongguancun area or Shenzhen's high-tech companies in the Nanshan district, think again. Winds of innovation are sweeping parts of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, hitherto regarded as the base for traditional manufacturers and commercial services firms.

In a sense, the innovation wheel has turned full circle in Guangdong.

As the country's pioneer of economic reform and opening up, Guangdong witnessed an upsurge in private sector activity in the 1980s and 1990s. Guangdong was a center for innovation and entrepreneurship at that time, much like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are now.

Women entrepreneurs such as Li Hua, 37 years old, and Zhang Xiaoling, 55 years old, now symbolize renewed efforts aimed at giving the old economy in the region a digital edge.

Li is the founder of a Guangzhou-based service provider that helps private enterprises with their financial accounting, tax returns filings and official websites.

Li quit her teaching job in Xi'an and came to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, in 2004 to help with her mother's wholesale clothing business and start her own accounting firm.

In 2014, in a reflex to changes brought about by technological advances in her environment, she launched a new business, an exclusive e-commerce platform called Zhenhaipifa.com, for wholesale markets.

The story of Zhenhaipifa.com makes fascinating reading.

Guangzhou, which hosts the famous Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), has been South China's trade center for a long time.

Wholesale markets thrived in the city, thanks to its well-developed transport systems and ample supply of goods from factories in surrounding cities.

According to the latest figures published by the city government, there were nearly 700 wholesale markets in Guangzhou in January 2014 with a total annual trade volume of about 500 billion yuan ($76.35 billion).

However, these brick-and-mortar wholesale markets faced a threat from the then raging e-commerce fever in China.
A Chinese investor was last month given the green light to buy Australia's largest dairy farm company, with the finance minister saying he welcomed foreign investment "not contrary to our national interests".

The sale of farmland to foreigners including to Australia's biggest trading partner China has been a sensitive issue, with Canberra in November blocking the sale of one of the world's largest cattle estates to Chinese companies.

Chinese businessman Lu Xianfeng, who owns an Australian window-blind maker and founded a Shenzhen-listed engineering company, made a 280 million Australian dollar ($202 million) bid for the Tasmanian-based and New Zealand-owned dairy business in November.

Australian Treasurer (finance minister) Scott Morrison said the Tasmanian Land Company (TLC) Groupwhich owns the 190-year-old dairy business Van Diemen's Land Companyhad always been held by foreigners.

"I am satisfied that the Moon Lake proposal to purchase TLC is not contrary to the national interest," Morrison said in a statement, referring to Lu's company.

"It will ensure increased employment and investment in an important industry sector in Tasmania, while the safeguards we have put in place will ensure they pay their tax.

"Australia continues to welcome and support foreign investment that is not contrary to our national interests."

Van Diemen's current owner, New Zealand's New Plymouth District Council, welcomed the approval.

Lu said in a statement he was committing to expanding the business, which owns and operates 25 dairy farms including some 30,000 livestock, and increasing its workforce.

Some independent politicians had opposed the sale to Lu, saying prime dairy land should be in Australian hands.

Federal Independent MP Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania said the decision was "disappointing and not in the public interest".

"News just confirms the fact that the government either doesn't understand or doesn't care about the importance of Australian ownership of strategic assets," he said in a statement.

Australia's TasFoods Limited had made a failed bid for the company, while a Tasmanian businesswoman had also expressed interest.
BEIJING - Chinese finance minister said on Monday that business tax in all industries will be replaced by value-added tax (VAT) before May, a concrete step in deepening fiscal and taxation reform.

"The progress in the VAT reform last year was slower than having planned, efforts would be made to meet the May 1 deadline this year," Lou Jiwei, minister of Finance, said at a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress annual session.

Starting from May 1, the replacement of business tax with VAT will be extended to construction, real estate, finance and consumer services, to ensure that the tax burdens on all industries are reduced, Premier Li Keqiang said in a government work report to the national legislature.

Business tax refers to a levy on the gross revenue of a business while VAT refers to a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production.

A pilot plan on business tax-to-VAT was tested in 2012.

From 2012 to the first half of 2015, the measure has resulted in tax savings of over 484.8 billion yuan ($75 billion), accounting for 0.2 percent of GDP in the period, according to a report of China International Capital Corp Ltd, a joint venture investment bank.

Lou also said his ministry is working with relevant agencies on property taxation and proposals on individual income tax reform.

However, Lou advised people not to hold their expectation too high as the reform will be in "a complicated process."
BEIJING - While the media are abuzz about China lowering its growth target in 2016, global readers have been drawn to the ambitious job creation goal the country has pledged.

In response to Xinhua's Twitter poll about China's new development targets, 59 percent said the job creation goal is what impressed them most.

China vows to create more than 10 million new jobs in 2016, despite tuning down its GDP growth target this year to between 6.5 and 7 percent, according to the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday at the opening of the annual parliamentary session.

The economic growth target, which is lower than last year's "around 7 percent," won 17 percent of votes in the survey, while 14 percent of respondents went for the defense budget, which is expected to rise by 7.6 percent in 2016, the lowest level in six years.

The budget deficit increase, which has received much media hype this year as the central government decides to expand it to 2.18 trillion yuan ($334 billion), only wowed 10 percent of respondents.

In another poll about China's 13th five-year plan, which maps out major development goals for the next five years, 40 percent of respondents said they are most impressed by the country's announcement it will add at least 50 million more jobs by 2020.

The country's ambitious carbon emission plan came in second out of China's goals for 2020, with 30 percent of respondents finding it most impressive.

According to the draft plan, China pledges to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 18 percent over the coming five years in efforts to protect the environment.

Environmental protection in China has always been closely watched worldwide. Earlier this week, when asked about what they want to hear from China's parliamentary session, 40 percent of respondents said they are most concerned about the country's pollution control. In second place, with a fourth of the poll's votes, was economic restructuring.
A reporter put a telescope in front of his cellphone camera to get a closer view at the third session of the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC, the national advisory body, on March 3, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

Editor's note: Premier Li Keqiang delivered the annual Government Work Report on Saturday, elaborating on last year's performance while laying out economic blueprint ahead.

The "two sessions", referring to meetings of National People's Congress, the top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body, has grabbed world's attention. Here's a selection of quotes from international media.

"This is the first time since 1995 that Beijing has announced a target range for economic growth. It shows the government moving away from its previous approach of setting specific numbers to hit."

China sets growth target range of 6.5 to 7 percent for 2016

-CNN Money, Mar 4

"Li promised to open service and manufacturing industries wider to foreign investors, though he gave no details. He promised regulations would be made 'more fair, transparent and predictable' to attract investment."

China cuts its economic growth target to 6.5-7 percent

-AP, Mar 4

"In its draft 13th five-year plan, released on Saturday, China pledged to support Hong Kong in furthering its status as a global financial, shipping and trading hub."

Key takeaways from China's 13th five-year plan and annual reports

-South China Morning Post, Mar 5
Each year about 3,000 delegates, who represent the most powerful or knowledgeable people around China, arrive in Beijing to join an annual meeting of the National People's Congress, or NPC, the country's top legislature.

As 2016 is first year of the 13th five year plan, this year's meeting will focus on crafting China's development plan for the next five years, which makes the meeting especially noticeable. What's more, the meeting, following a year that saw lowest GDP growth rate for last 25 years, may provide crucial details on how the government plans to control a slowdown in growth while avoiding the systematic risk in the short run and the dreaded "middle-income trap" in the long run.

Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday at the opening of NPC presented the previous year's work and the priorities of 13th five year plan.

Although last year's GDP growth rate, 6.9 percent, was the lowest for a quarter of a century, we may congratulate that the transition of economic growth model, which has appealed for many years, finally began.

For domestic reform, there are structural improvements. The service sector's share of GDP rose to 50.5 percent and for the first time it accounted for more than a "half". Though for most of previous years, the national per capita disposable income growth was lower than the economic growth, last year's 7.4 percent growth rate was faster than the economic growth. Surplus capacity, such as steel production, cement and plate glass capacity is being phased out in an accelerating speed. The deposit rate floating limit has been cancelled and deposit insurance system is being introduced, which would pave the way to financial liberalization. The government introduced policies such as the "Made in China 2025" plan and the "Internet Plus" plan to support manufacturing upgrade and public entrepreneurship and innovation.

For opening-up policy, some important steps have been taken. Shanghai Free Trade Zone practice has been extended to Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian. Renminbi has been identified as IMF's Currency Composition of Foreign Exchange Reserves. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was formally established and Silk Road Fund was put into operation.

Though the stock market is volatile, systemic risk has been avoided. In fact, China's stock market is notoriously unrelated to economic fundamentals. But as the capital market will become more important for economic transition, the volatility of stock market shows that the government needs to accumulate more experiences in the capital market management.

Economic transition will be a long process. There are worries for current economic situation.

According to McCarthy's estimation, the ratio of total liability to GDP reached 2.82 in mid-2014 from 2007's 1.58. Among government, financial enterprises, non-financial enterprises and private households, the debt mainly comes from non-financial enterprises, especially State-owned companies. If these companies cannot create enough profit to cover the debts, these debts can become non-performing assets.

The high housing price is also a worry for many. History tells us that such housing prices can easily lead to systemic risk.
Jiang Chaoliang, an NPC deputy and governor of Jilin province. [Photo/IC]

China's northeastern Jilin province will step up efforts to cut overcapacity and phase out zombie companies in the next three years, as part of its efforts to carry out supply-side reforms to bolster growth during the 13th Five-Year Plan.

"Mismatch of demand and supply in certain sectors has been stalling the growth of Jilin, but we are determined to change the situation in about three years," said Jiang Chaoliang, an NPC deputy and governor of Jilin province, during the ongoing two sessions.

Excess and obsolete capacity in coal, steel and cement will be largely reduced, and new production in these areas will be strictly controlled, he said, adding for example that the province plans to cut its annual coal production almost by half - from 40 million tons to 25 million tons.

Long hailed as the country's pivotal industrial base, Jilin has been underpinned by automobile manufacturing, petrochemical production, and farm produce processing in past decades. But in recent years, the province has been trying to boost emerging industries including the modern service, aerospace, medicine, etc.

GDP growth in the province stood at 6.5 percent last year, and its value-added industrial output increased by 5.3 percent to reach 605 billion yuan ($92.7 billion) during the same period. The service sector contributed 37.4 percent to GDP last year, 1.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

"Meanwhile, zombie companies will be phased out," said Jiang. "We will not tolerate those companies who are insolvent and on life support by banks."

There is no need to worry about the job losses due to economic restructuring, though, he said. "We have already made action plans for their re-employment or retirement."

A tough process as it is, this will be a necessary step for Jilin to transform and develop in the next few years, and we have confidence to achieve our targets, he added.
Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei gives a press conference at the press center of the two sessions, March 7, 2016, Beijing. [Feng Yongbin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The number of bad bank loans is increasing, but China has the ability to resolve the issue, Lou Jiwei, China's Minister of Finance, said at the 4th session of the 12th National People's Congress in Beijing.

"The Chinese government's assistance to these banks is not for the implementation of particular industrial policies ... but for an overall consideration for the fitness of the Chinese economy. In this sense, the rise of bad loans is not a disturbing problem for me," Lou said.

After the 2008 international financial crisis, many countries' structural economic problems were exposed, and their nonperforming loan ratio rose as well, Lou said.

Many handled the challenges through market means and government assistance to key financial entities. The US government took some unusual measures to prop up the financial agencies that were of systemic importance to the economy, allowing them to overcome temporary difficulties, while continuing to support economic development and play their normal roles, he said.

"China is at a different development stage from the US. They are dealing with a crisis, and we are facing downward pressure. China's economy still is growing at mid and high speed. China has its own conditions to resolve its own issues," Lou said.

"All of China's large banks are listed, and they face an open market. The Chinese government shares the same concerns about them with their shareholders".
PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday reiterated the country's support for the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Silk Road Fund, saying that they are key sources of capital for infrastructure development.

"We particularly welcome the recent establishment of the AIIB, initiated by China but now involving a strong international partnership of multilateral and bilateral agencies," he said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Cambodia Outlook Conference here.

"Cambodia, as a founding member, will greatly benefit from this bank in terms of infrastructure investment needs," the premier said.

He also expressed his welcome to the Silk Road Fund, saying that it would support connectivity development initiatives along the land and maritime routes that link Southeast, East, South and Central Asia.

The AIIB, with an authorized capital of $100 billion, started operational in Beijing in January this year, and the Silk Road Fund with China's contribution of $40 billion was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2014 in Beijing.

The two sources of funding are aimed to provide financial support to regional infrastructure development projects in the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Wu Song, executive director, GAC Group, and director and general manager, GAC Motor. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Wu Song, GM of GAC Motor, thinks foreign brands' days are numbered

The man responsible for making made-in-China cars popular in China, a market hitherto dominated by foreign brands, clearly remembers how the bestselling Chinese model got its name Trumpchi. The story goes back nine years.

Wu Song, 52 years old, executive director of GAC Group, and director and general manager of GAC Motor, was on a business trip to Northeast China. "I was deeply moved when I listened to a Chinese song, Chuanqi (Chinese for Legend), during a taxi ride."

'Trumpchi', which sounds similar to 'Chuanqi' in terms of pronunciation, sprang in Wu's mind as a potential brand name for homegrown vehicles to be produced by GAC Motor Co, an enterprise that was still on the drawing board.

Wu was then working with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, the parent of GAC Motor Co. In 2007, he was asked to lead a team in developing a brand for a new homegrown vehicle. For Wu, at first it seemed like a mission doomed to fail.

"Building a Chinese homegrown car brand was so challenging because the market was dominated by foreign companies," said Wu.

But Trumpchi sales grew rapidly, especially in the last few years. Today, it is a household name in China.

The numbers tell its story. From 17,000 units in 2011, Trumpchi's first year, sales progressively surged to 190,000 units in 2015. That's a whopping more-than-1,000-percent rise over a four-year period!

In January this year, GAC Motor sold more than 33,000 units of Trumpchi-branded cars, up 300 percent year-on-year, according to a company source.

"We realized the dream of building a world-class homegrown car by stressing on quality and technology, which are always among the top concerns for a Chinese carmaker," said Wu. Such talk make create an impression that Wu is a lifelong automobile expert. But he wasn't like this always.

Wu first worked as general manager with a State-owned steel company for more than 10 years. From there, he moved to a startup focused on genetic engineering. A couple of years later, in 2002, the auto world sucked him in.

He joined Guangzhou Automobile Group, based in the capital of Guangdong province, South China. "I didn't major in automobile engineering. But then, I always tried to challenge myself," Wu said.

One of his initial major assignments was to build an auto engine factory, a joint venture project with Japanese carmaker Toyota. "We learned a lot during that project, from technology research and capital control to corporate management."
Shijiazhuang Shuanghuan Automobile Co displays its pure electric car at an exhibition in 2010. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently stripped 13 passenger vehicle makers, including Shuanghuan Auto, of their production qualifications in an aim to overhaul the auto industry. [Photo/China Daily]

China's recent revocation of some passenger vehicle makers' production qualifications is its latest effort to invigorate its automaking industry, said government officials and industry insiders.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released on its website on Feb 29 a list of 13 makers of passenger cars that have been banned from production because they did not apply for or failed to pass mandatory evaluations for two consecutive years.

Some of them were once famous in China, including Shuanghuan Auto. Based in Hebei province, the automaker was sued for copying the designs of international brands. The 13 carmakers have all long stopped production or gone defunct, according to Chinese reports.

The cleanup of "zombie" automakers, which began in earnest after the MIIT's suspension of 14 automakers' qualifications in November, is one of many steps the central government has taken to overhaul the auto industry.

Carmakers in China, most of them State-owned, were meant to hold lifelong qualifications, a hangover from the country's once planned economic system, before the ministry released plans in July 2012 to establish a system that removes those who cease production and allows new companies to join the sector.

The move encourages troubled companies to undergo upgrades or seek mergers, said MIIT Minister Miao Wei at a news conference in November.

"We have been the largest car-producing country and the largest car market for several years but our auto industry is far from strong."

Wang Liusheng, an auto analyst at China Merchants Securities, said the revocations will improve the sector as inefficiencies are removed. He added that removing outdated, excessive capacity is part of China's reforms to cut down on oversupply.

Zhang Zhiyong, a Beijing-based independent auto analyst, believes the move will facilitate mergers and acquisitions within the country.

"Some of those automakers once asked exorbitant prices because they held qualifications. It will not happen again now that their qualifications are revoked. In a sense, their withdrawal is helpful to the rational use of resources and growth of Chinese brands."

New forces

Experts believe that what is equally important, if not more important, is to allow new members to join the sector.

"If the government does not open the door for new forces to come in, it is hopeless that China will have a strong auto industry," said Fu Yuwu, president of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China at a recent forum held by ifeng.com on building a powerful auto industry.

In recent years, China has not granted any new carmaking qualifications.

"I would like to quote Liu Shijin, former vice-director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, who said that 'the history of applying for qualifications is a history of tears'," said Fu.
BMW launches its 730Li limousine in China last week at a retail price of 898,000 yuan to 1,028,000 yuan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

German premium carmaker BMW Group is speeding up its localization plans to further boost sales in China, its biggest single market in the world.

BMW China President and CEO Olaf Kastner said the localization plans will center on two major areasproduction and talent.

"BMW remains fully committed to China, the most important marketplace, in our opinion. We will enhance our localization strategy, from fostering local talent to local production, all centered on the approach of 'In China, by Chinese and for China'," Kastner said last week at the launch of the new BMW 730Li limousines in the tropical city of Sanya.

He said the company will bring two new models into production in China in the first half of this year.

The two locally made modelsthe 2 Series Active Tourer and the all-new X1 SUVare among more than 10 new products that BMW has planned for the Chinese market this year.

"This will enhance the diversity of our product matrix and showcase the versatility of our brand, which blends outstanding driving pleasure with the joy of being sustainable and responsible for future generations," Kastner said.

BMW runs a joint venture with Brilliance China in the northeastern city of Shenyang, Liaoning province. The venture, BMW Brilliance, has two plants producing 5 Series and 3 Series sedans as well as the current-generation X1. In January, the venture opened a plant to manufacture engines, BMW's sole engine factory outside Europe.

Bold appointments

BMW China recently announced that Michael Liu, vice-president of the joint venture, will be promoted to president of BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd on April 1, which is seen as the boldest move by a global carmaker in China because Liu is a 39-year-old Chinese citizen.

Last week, BMW China and BMW Brilliance also revealed a series of internal personnel rotations, effective Apr 1, to install three young Chinese executives and a foreigner.

"We will further align our strategy to the new market conditions and changing customer behaviors, optimize business models  and confidently explore new ways to reach and serve the new generation of customers who are born digital," Kastner said.

"In this context, we will continue our talent localization strategy, expand their experiences and put more local talent in important positions to drive our business forward."
A taxi driver is reflected in a side mirror as he uses the Didi Chuxing car-hailing application in Beijing, September 22, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Notice is first encouragement from government for car-hailing sector

A glimmer of hope may flare for ride-sharing companies in China to gain legitimacy and see further growth after Chinese ministries vowed to encourage the popular means of transport.

China "encourages orderly development of online car booking and ride-sharing", said a notice released by 10 ministerial-level departments including the National Development and Reform Commission on March 1.

The move is part of the nation's drive to encourage green consumption and marks the first time the Chinese government has given a clear, positive stance on ride-sharing in the form of legal documents.

Miao Wei, the minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at a news conference on Feb 25 that the ministry is "actively supportive" of online ride-sharing apps as they are something new in the age of the Internet that features sharing.

A month earlier, Wang Yongping, a department head at the Ministry of Transport, said his ministry supports people going home sharing a car during the Spring Festival as long as they are not profit driven.

Didi Kuaidi, the country's largest ride-sharing operator, told news portal sina.com that it is excited about the regulation and confident in the potential of online car-hailing services.

The company processes 7 million car-hailing orders on a daily basis in more than 400 Chinese cities. It saw an increase of 10 million customers in January.

Uber is following up. It has established an independent entity in China and plans to offer services in 100 Chinese cities in 2016.

Despite their burgeoning business and increasing popularity, ride-sharing companies in China including Didi Kuaidi and Uber have not won legitimacy.

Both were summoned by local governments several times in 2015 and told to obey Chinese laws. Law enforcement officials visited Uber's offices in several cities to investigate alleged illegal operations.

Local authorities in many cities including Beijing and Tianjin tightened their checks on car-hailing services and drivers of private cars faced punishment of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,535) for illegal operation around the Spring Festival holiday.

Although the regulation does not include any further details, industry insiders said it is an indicator that car-hailing app providers like Didi Kuaidi will see fewer obstacles in their development and related issues like passengers' insurance might become easier to solve.
Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management at Audi AG, says the company will continue the success story of the Q family with the new Audi Q2 that made its world premiere on March 1 at the 86th International Motor Show in Geneva. [Photo/IC]

German premium carmaker Audi AG defended its market leadership in China last year despite 1.4 percent fewer deliveries than 2014, and announced its electrification and digitization strategy for 2016.

Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management at Audi AG, told the annual news conference at the company's headquarters in Ingolstadt: "We were the undisputed No 1 in the premium segment in China in 2015. With more than 570,000 automobiles delivered, we continue to achieve very high sales there.

"People were unsettled there by a series of equity-price fluctuations on the stock markets and uncertainty in the real estate market," he said. "And the overall car market contracted over several months. But the market stabilized again significantly toward the end of the year."

In 2015, 512,198 Audi cars locally built by FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co were delivered. The Changchun-based joint venture earned 40.5 billion euros ($44.15 billion) last year, a drop of 5.5 percent from the previous year, and made 4.7 billion euros in profit, 9 million euros less than in 2014.

Axel Strotbek, member of the board of management at Audi AG responsible for finance and organization, attributed the slowdown to a lower growth rate in the Chinese premium market, and intense competition.

Strotbek said, "In China, we anticipate positive demand stimulus from the revised long version of the Audi A6, the new Q7 and later this year from the next generation A4 series."

Stadler said: "We decided to consolidate in 2016. This meant continuing our focus on customer satisfaction and profitability. 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 China."

With the new Audi Q2 making its world premiere on March 1 at the 86th International Motor Show in Geneva, the company intends to conquer a new market segment and continue the success story of the Q family. However, there's no specific information about bringing the latest small urban SUV to the Chinese market.

"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, and the company has multiplied its sales sevenfold since 2006 in the country.

The Audi Group plans to launch more than 20 new or revised models, gain new customers and continue its growth in 2016. It aims to achieve an operating return on sales ranging from 8 to 10 percent this year, and anticipates a moderate increase in the number of cars delivered.

As a result of strong demand, Audi AG achieved record worldwide deliveries of 1.8 million units, up 3.6 percent from 1.7 million units a year earlier. The Ingolstadt-based company also achieved a new record for revenue, at 58.4 billion euros.
The Chinese government is encouraging the country's robotics wunderkinds to study hard and eventually turn their research into commercial products. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Brilliant young engineer Hu Tianlian once faced a dilemma. Hu was a lecturer at China's Southwest University of Science and Technology, where he also pursued the design of robots for remote operation in dangerous industrial environments. In 2012, he founded Fude Robot Co. But there wasn't enough time in the day for both pursuits.

So he quit lecturing. "There was no going back," Hu said.

For this robotics wunderkind, a new policy giving academics three-year sabbaticals to start businesses came just too late, but many more like him stand to benefit.

The guidelines were announced by the State Council in February in the hope of spurring scientists to turn their academic research into commercial products, boosting the economy.

They also required universities and scientific institutes to consider commercial achievements when assessing students and members for academic honors. And academics that license their research to an enterprise are now entitled to at least half the proceeds from any resulting products.

"I would have been able to continue teaching, had this happened earlier," Hu said.

In 2015, the Chinese economy grew at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century. Facing the slowdown, the country's leaders have been encouraging entrepreneurship and mass innovation, hoping they can become "twin engines" of economic growth.

Universities are of course hotbeds of creativity, but there was previously little incentive or possibility for academics to try to capitalize on their creations in the market. Why give up a comfortable, prestigious job to take a chance in the notoriously risky world of entrepreneurship.

China already has thousands of tech business zones, many affiliated to universities, which offer preferential policies for startups.

But according to official figures, only 10 percent of scientific research achievements are being converted into commercial products, much lower than the 40-percent rate in developed countries.

Chu Jianxun, an associate professor with the University of Science and Technology, described the State Council's announcement as "inspiring."

"The policies free scientists from their posts while exempting them from the worry of losing their previous jobs. This gives them an opportunity," he said. "They no longer need to put all their eggs in one basket."

Chu is also positive about commercial success becoming a criteria for academic assessment.

"In high schools and academies, scientists are mostly evaluated on exam results and dissertations," he said. "With most of them doing work that is not at all productive, maybe only five out of 100 scientists are coming up with anything entirely original. Only by liberating the other 95 from the academic treadmill can we see the progress we want in society."

The Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica started considering commercial success during performance evaluation last year.

Ye Yang, deputy director of the institute, told media that its goal was 200 million yuan ($30.64 million) in profit. But to his surprise, the institute converted 15 academic achievements into products with a total contract value of 800 million yuan.
Premier Li Keqiang takes the stage to deliver the Government Work Report at the opening session of the annual National People's Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday. Wu Zhiyi / China Daily

Premier pledges reformand unveils support measures as he delivers Government Work Report

Premier Li Keqiang said on Saturday that China is confident of achieving a GDP growth rate of between 6.5 and 7 percent this year.

While delivering the Government Work Report to the top legislature, Li said that the country has enough resources and policy tools to achieve the growth rate, despite difficulties in the global market.

Last year, China recorded a GDP growth of 6.9 percent, the slowest in a quarter century.

The premier indicated that the growth target will be achieved without raising taxes from any groups of enterprises or individuals.

Massive State-led projects in public infrastructure and in relocating workers from the closure of old, polluting factories will be facilitated through government deficit financing and participation by private investors.

A raft of reform policies will be carried out, Li promised, to make the supply more effective in meeting demand, and to diversify financial risks.

In a research note, Bloomberg's Tom Orlik and Fielding Chen said China's 2016 GDP growth target is "still ambitious" and "testing but achievable".

"In order to hit it, and offset the shortterm drag from industrial restructuring, monetary and fiscal policy support will both be expanded," the economists said.

Li said the country still has new instruments for macro regulation and a good reserve of policies at its disposal.

The premier announced a draft goal of running a fiscal deficit equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, up from last year's 2.3 percent, and proposed to raise the growth of M2 - a broad measure ofmoney supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits - to 13 percent, one percentage point higher than last year's figure.

"The moderate increase in government deficit is projected primarily to cover tax and fee reductions for enterprises, to further reduce their burdens," Li said.

Li Daokui, a political adviser, saidthat raising the government deficit-projected to be 2.18 trillion yuan ($335 billion) for 2016 - is a "prudent and rationalmove".

"As China's economic transformationis a difficult process, it needs to havemore fuel added like a vehicle," he said.

In addition to proactive fiscal policy, the premier said the country would ramp up supply-side structural reform to drive sustained growth.

This will include efforts to streamline administration, transformthe functions of the government and improve its performance, and ensure that innovation-driven development holds sway.

The country will create 10 million new jobs, address socalled zombie companies through mergers, bankruptcies and debt deals, and hold the urban registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent this year, he said.

State-owned enterprises beleaguered by inefficiencies and overcapacity will be restructured, with some reorganized, merged or forced to exit themarket, he said.

The premier also promised to open oil and telecomindustries to private competitors in sweeping industrial reforms, and to speed up urbanization.

"We will significantly relax restrictions on entry into markets such as electricity, telecom, transportation, petroleum, naturalgas ... and encourage private companies to increase investment in these areas and to participate in the reform of State firms," he said.

Private competitors will be afforded the same treatment that State-owned enterprises are entitled to in terms of project approval, financing and land availability.

The premier also announced a raft of growth-supportive measures, including investment in infrastructure.

The country will invest 1.65 trillion yuan on road construction and 800 billion yuan on newrailways, according to the Government Work Report.

Huang Shouhong, deputy director of the State Council Research Office who participated in drafting the Government Work Report, said he believed the issue of laidoff workers following the overcapacity cuts would not be so pressing as some analysts have feared.

"Development of the service industry can provide far more jobs than development of other industries,"Huang said.

Li Xiang contributed to this story.
Doctor Wang Yunde from the Zhangqiu No 2 People's Hospital evaluates an elderly patient at a nursing home in Jinan, East China's Shandong province, on March 1, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Seniors are living longer but have more disabilities, new survey finds

The aging of China's population will present serious challenges in the decades ahead, particularly in healthcare, according to the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey conducted by Renmin University of China's National Survey Research Center.

About 11,000 seniors from 134 counties and districts responded to the survey, which was released over the weekend.

More than 75 percent of the survey respondents reported suffering from chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and arthritis.

By the end of last year, China had 222 million seniors, more than 4.4 million of whom suffer from severe disabilities that require long term care.

Deteriorating mental health was another concern, with 25 percent of seniors polled saying they were lonely and half saying they lived on their own with no children to care for them.

China's population, on average, is expected to become significantly older between 2022 and 2040 as members of the country's baby boom generation become senior citizens.

This aging, coupled with a labor shortage, could be the greatest demographic challenge China has ever faced, according to Zhai Zhenwu, professor of sociology and population studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

"The universal second-child policy introduced late last year will delay this trend but cannot reverse it," Zhai said.

According to Du Peng, a professor of gerontology who led the survey, "it's an aging society but not very old."

Although the effects of aging are manageable at present, Du said, baby boomers will propel China toward becoming an intensively aging society in the coming years.

China's last baby boom started in the early 1960s and lasted until the 80s, with an average of more than 20 million children born every year.

It peaked in 1963, when about 29 million children were born, and came to an end when the recently rescinded one-child policy was introduced. Last year, China had 16.5 million newborns, government data show.

According to the survey, seniors are living longer but are also suffering from various disabilities that can create a heavy burden for their families and society in general.

Du suggested that the government adopt measures that would help counteract the effects of the aging population.

"Long-term care insurance could be a major tool in this regard," he said.
A staff member at Beijing Public Security Bureau's Exit-Entry Department receives an expat on March 1, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

A new online visa and permit application service for foreigners in Beijing is set to be launched on Tuesday by the city's Public Security Bureau. It will simplify procedures for obtaining documents and shorten approval time.

Foreigners will be allowed to apply for a visa, a stay permit or a residence permit through the public service section of the website, according to a statement on Sunday by the bureau's Entry and Exit Department.

After filling out an online application form and making a reservation, applicants are directed to a designated window at the department, located at No 2 Andingmen Dongdajie, to hand in their materials.

Lin Song, a department official, said foreigners who intend to live in Beijing must register their dwelling places at a local police station before they apply.

"When they go to the window to hand in papers, they must bring with them the printouts of their online application forms with the barcodes," he added.

Another new policy issued on Sunday is designed to help foreigners stay in Beijing without a visa obtained in advance.

Foreigners normally are required to obtain a visa before they arrive in China. They are now allowed to apply on the website and get a visa upon arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport if they had to rush to China for an emergency matter.

Lin said those who arrive in Beijing at the invitation of a Chinese host for an emergency issue, can apply online and hand in paperwork at offices authorized by the Entry and Exit Department at Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 at the airport, where they can get an M or F visa.

The Public Security Bureau has also created policies to assist foreigners' visits to Beijing. They took effect at the beginning of this year.

For example, a policy was created that allows a foreign family member of a Chinese citizen to stay in Beijing for two years, extending the previous policy by one year. The two-year permits are renewable.

A family member of a Chinese citizenincluding a spouse, spouse's parent, spouse's child, or spouses of childrenis now allowed to live in Beijing for two years. Formerly, their permit required renewal annually.
Bao Xinhe, a physical chemist from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a National People's Congress deputy, reported a revolutionary chemical processing method that could make the country's basic chemical materials more affordable and eco-friendly.

The research, which reported a new reaction process to convert coals into olefins, was published over the weekend by Science magazine and stirred attention among the international scientific community.

"Olefins are known as the mother of petrochemicals, and are important intermediates in the production of plastic and medicines. The production capacity of olefins, to some extent, represents the development level of a country's chemical industry," said Wang Zizong, assistant chief engineer at Sinopec Group, one of the nation's top producers of crude oil.

Olefins can be produced from petroleum, coal, natural gas or biomass via synthesis gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen).

"Due to China's limited petroleum, last year we only produced 42 million tons of olefins, 60 percent of the domestic demand," Wang said. "That is why we need new technologies to produce olefins from other feedstocks."

As early as 1923, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany had developed a technology for converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons using metal catalysts - so-called Fischer-Tropsch synthesis - which was extensively used in industrial applications and has been constantly improved over the past century by scientists worldwide. However, conversion of synthesis gas directly to light olefins via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology remains limited.

The new process reported by Bao's team used a bifunctional catalyst containing partially reduced metal oxides and zeolite, which selectively converted synthesis gas to light olefins.

A review by Krijn P. de Jong from Utrecht University in the Netherlands said the research "should be of interest to both academia and industry". The review also appeared in Science on Friday. "The new process could become a serious competitor for industrial processes such as FTO (Fischer-Tropsch to olefins) and MTO (methanol to olefins)," de Jong wrote.

Currently Bao and his team are trying to extend the fundamental study to explore possible industrial applications.

"Back in June 2014, President Xi Jinping said the country needed a revolution in energy technology, together with related industries as a new driving force. From my point of view, the technological revolution should be combined with China's actual conditions," Bao said.

"While the US focuses on unconventional gas resources, the EU emphasizes renewable energy. We should fully understand the major energy challenge we are facing," he said, adding that development should focus on "technologies for the coal-based chemical industry".
Female soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) march during the military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II , in Beijing, Sept 3, 2015. [Photo/www.news.cn]

China's global status rose last year, and the Sino-Russia relationship was "satisfactory", according to a majority of participants in a recent survey.

More than 95 percent of respondents to the online survey said they believed China's international status rose, with nearly 61 percent saying the country's status "rose somewhat", while 35 percent said it "rose greatly".

The survey of public opinion of China's diplomatic work was conducted by the Horizon Research Consultancy Group from Feb 15 to 22, and covered 7,344 participants in 19 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Another example was President Xi Jinping's announcement at the United Nations in September that China would take a series of concrete measures to contribute to global development, Wang added.

He emphasized that China is "an active participant" that coordinates with other countries in the international community.
Shanghai is poised for a greater role in international arbitration in the Asia-Pacific region with the growth in the number of institutions offering mediation and stronger support from the courts, the president of the International Bar Association said.

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre have set up offices at the China Pilot Free Trade Zone to boost Shanghai's strength resolving disputes in international trade and investment.

"The convergence of such institutions will bring about a bigger market of arbitration, an approach that is widely-used in the world to settle commercial disputes as more foreign businesses have poured into the Shanghai FTZ," David W. Rivkin, IBA president said at a media conference during Friday's annual International Arbitration Day, which attracted more than 500 of the world's leading arbitration lawyers to Shanghai.

"Moreover, Shanghai courts have shown a stronger support for arbitration and the list of situations in which the courts will set aside or decline to enforce an arbitration award has become shorter," Rivkin said.

The State Council last April recommended that Shanghai be built into a global-oriented arbitration center.

Since the establishment of the free trade zone in Shanghai in September 2013, arbitrators in Shanghai have become more international. The Shanghai International Arbitration Center currently has a panel of more than 850 arbitrators, and nearly 40 percent of them are from 40 other countries and regions.

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Arbitration Rules, which were tailored for the zone and consistent with international standards, were created two years ago.
BEIJING - China will continue to roll out preferential financial policies to boost economic and social development in Tibet over the next five years, according to financial authorities on Monday.

Monetary and credit policy support will be fine tuned during the 2016-2020 period, according to a circular issued by the central bank and regulators of China's banking, securities and insurance sectors.

Financial institutions will be encouraged to open branches in Tibet and more direct financing and financial bonds are expected to help enterprises in Tibet, especially small and micro businesses, according to the circular.

More financial support for infrastructure, agriculture and environment protection is promised, as well as policies to improve farmers' incomes, according to the circular.
Discipline chief stresses CPC leadership By China Daily (China Daily) Updated: 2016-03-07 08:05:00

The top anti-graft official has highlighted the importance of the Communist Party of China's leadership in the new five-year plan and called on Party members to refrain from breaking the rules.

Wang Qishan, head of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said on Sunday that the Party's leadership is the key to achieving the goals of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and creating a moderately prosperous society by 2020.

Speaking after a panel discussion at the ongoing NPC session, he said the Chinese people have pursued revitalization, and the Party has led the Chinese people to strive for an independent and prosperous nation for more than 90 years. Wang said officials have to guide specific work with the essence of the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday. He urged officials to abide by Party rules and work for the benefit of the people with courage and a sense of responsibility.

Nearly 300,000 officials were investigated for suspected disciplinary violations last year, according to the watchdog. Roughly 200,000 were punished and reassigned to other posts, while 82,000 were given severe punishments and were demoted.

Ten centrally appointed and administered officials were handed severe penalties and demoted for serious violations of the Party's code of conduct. Liu Lizu, for example, was dismissed as vice-chairman of the Jiangxi provincial committee of the CPPCC and demoted to a junior-level public servant.

The watchdog has been highlighting the importance of the Party code of conduct in order to spot problems earlier and prevent officials from slipping into corruption.

Wang said in September that officials subject to minor disciplinary penalties should be the majority of those punished, those who receive severe punishments or demotions should just be a small proportion, and those prosecuted for breaking the law should be even fewer.

Xinhua contributed to this story.
Shanxi acts to clean out corruption By Du Juan in Beijing and Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan (China Daily) Updated: 2016-03-07 08:05:00

Shanxi, the northern province that has witnessed some of China's worst corruption cases, has paid a heavy price in the country's far-reaching anti-graft campaign, it was revealed on Sunday.

In the past 17 months, discipline authorities have punished 31,164 government officials after investigating 28,668 cases. Thirty-four officials have been handed over to the judicial authorities to face criminal charges.

Wang Rulin, the province's top leader, revealed the figures on the sidelines of the annual NPC session in Beijing.

However, he added that the main point to focus on was that the anti-graft campaign has helped to make local governments more accountable and has resulted in a marked drop in complaints from citizens.

"Having covered all government offices, State-owned enterprises, financial enterprises, and universities and colleges, the campaign is beginning to bring tangible benefits to local people.

"We're not only cracking down on high-level corruption, but also corruption that directly affects people's livelihoods at the grassroots level," Wang said, adding that of those probed, 15,612 were village cadres.

China launched its sweeping drive to combat graft among high-and low-ranking officials, - referred to as "tigers and flies" by President Xi Jinping - in November 2012.

As many as 129 provincial officials have been placed under investigation since September 2014, when the central government reshuffled the Shanxi leadership.

Today, more people are also turning themselves in, according to Wang, who said that last year alone 1,556 voluntarily confessed to accepting bribes and surrendered the money.

"There's a big difference between officials who admit their wrongdoings and ones who try to evade investigation. We'll deal with each case individually."

The fallout from the corruption drive has resulted in 300 vacancies across various provincial departments, but Wang said the province is in no hurry to fill them.

The key thing is "clearing up the rules for selecting officials", he said. For example, "No cases of people paying bribes to secure government jobs were reported last year."

Wu Zhenglong, the top official of provincial capital Taiyuan, said opportunities for corruption increased during the urbanization process, which has seen many villages go through large-scale renovation. The city has dealt with 300 such cases, he said.

Coal mining, a main driving force for economic development in Shanxi for many years, has also had many problems with corruption and is now undergoing a major transition.
Guangdong promises to close poverty gap by 2018 By XU JINGXI (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-03-07 09:47:31

File photo of Hu Chunhua. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Hu Chunhua, Party chief of Guangdong province, vowed on Sunday that the South China province will take the lead in poverty reduction and accomplish the task in 2018.

Guangdong has been ranking No 1 nationwide in terms of economic aggregate for the past 27 years, but Hu admitted that there is a wide disparity in wealth between cities in the province.

"In Guangdong there are places that are very rich, but also places that are very poor," Hu, also a deputy to the National People's Congress, said while taking media questions on the open day of Guangdong delegation to the NPC's annual session in Beijing on Sunday.

"Counted by per capita GDP, the largest city is 6.25 times of the smallest city. I don't think there are many other provinces or regions that have such a big gap between rich and poor."

Hu said that Guangdong surveyed the population in poverty in the province after the central government set a goal on lifting millions of people out of poverty within five years and found that there are still 300,000 people in Guangdong living in poverty according to the national standard, which means they earn less than 2,300 yuan ($354) annually.

If counted by the provincial standard, which is less than 4,000 yuan per year, there are still more than 1.9 million people in Guangdong living in poverty, he added.

Hu said Guangdong will hold a working conference after the two sessions in late March to draft the plan of lifting these people out of poverty within three years.
More progress on virtual reality base in Nanchang By WANG WEI Updated: 2016-03-07 09:47:31

East China's Nanchang city will work together with High Technology Computer Corporation (HTC) to develop virtual reality (VR) industry base, said Guo An, mayor of Nanchang city and a deputy to the National People's Congress on Saturday.

HTC will establish stores for users to experience virtual scenes in Nanchang to promote VR technology, said Guo. The national key laboratory on VR is considering to build a branch in Nanchang and Beihang University is also willing to establish a VR laboratory here, he said. Nanchang has full advantages to develop VR industry because it has technologies and talents, he added.

Guo also said that Nanchang will set up many platforms for VR development, including VR research institutions, VR academic communication center and VR theme park.

The city announced last month plans to unveil a VR industry base and attract 1000 VR companies by investing 100 billion yuan ($15.38 billion) in three to five years.

The government will also provide one billion angel fund and 10 billion industrial investment fund to help VR companies grow.
Smart healthcare changes Chinese lives, but challenges remain By Wu Yan (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-03-07 15:55:35

A resident takes a physical examination in Ningbo Cloud Hospital's offline hospital in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Zhang Lin, 84, who has suffered from hypertension for 20 years, talked with chief physician Chen Xiaomin about his symptoms via a video call on the online platform of Ningbo Cloud Hospital in Zhejiang province, East China. After reviewing Zhang's medical record, Chen gave his advice and submitted an e-prescription to the "Cloud".

A day later, Zhang received hypertension-control medicine at home and finished the process of consulting a doctor.

Internet-based healthcare, as a new branch of the industry from traditional hospitals, has become an emerging trend in China in recent years.

"I used to see Doctor Chen at Ningbo First Hospital from time to time," said Zhang. He was tired of the past experience of getting up at 5 am, taking two buses to the hospital and queuing to get an appointment with Chen.

Zhang is not the only one who benefits from Ningbo Cloud Hospital.

Instead of chatting from home, many people like He Mingdao, 68, get the chance of seeing a renowned physician online while sitting in a community hospital with community doctors, via the platform of the cloud hospital.

A patient, accompanied by a community doctor, talks with an invited doctor at a online consultation in a community clinic in Ningbo. [Photo/zj.people.cn]

Ningbo Cloud Hospital, started operations in March last year, and aggregates the resources of all offline public hospitals and community clinics in Ningbo into a regional medical network serving local residents. It also operates its own offline bricks-and-mortar hospital.

A patient can go through the entire process from online appointment, video consultation and diagnosis, e-prescription, online payment to medicine delivery at home. They can also go to a nearby community clinic for a physical examination before talking to doctors at big hospitals on the Internet.

Ningbo is just one of many locations which bet big on the promising smart hospital industry. Similarly, some hospitals in developed cities such as Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Wuhan introduced their own online services.

An Internet healthcare giant that connects well-known doctors with patients from all over the nation has taken shape in a small town of Wuzhen, also in Zhejiang province and host town for the annual World Internet Conference.
Delegate urges improved medical care in remote areas By Palden Nyima in Lhasa, Tibet (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-03-07 16:52:22

Medical services in the Tibet autonomous region have notably improved in recent years, but there is still a big gap between the care available in Tibet and China's developed provinces, a hospital official and longtime physician said.

Dr Tsewang Rigzin, 54, deputy head of the Nagqu People's Hospital in the region's Nagqu prefecture and a delegate to the National People's Congress, brought proposals to improve remote medical services to the country's top legislative body.

Born in the prefecture's Biru county, Tsewang has worked as a doctor there for 27 years and said he always has the rural people in his heart when he attends the two sessions.

At this session in Beijing, his fourth as a delegate, Tsewang recommended bringing in more medical talent to support medicine in the region.

"We are not lacking advanced equipment, but the talents who actually know how to use the equipment," Tsewang Rigzin. "It is not a gap of equipment, but a gap of talent."

The hospital where he works is located on a grassland where the average altitude is more than 4,500 meters above sea level. In such a harsh environment, many people find it hard to breathe and keeping medical staff for a length of time is challenging, Tsewang said.

A long-term mechanism is needed to keep skilled medical professionals in remote areas such at Tibet's high plateau, said Tsewang, a graduate of Tibet Nationality University.

Tsewang's hospital, which has a medical staff of about 200, plans to strengthen staff training, and it has sustainable cooperative projects with big hospitals in other Chinese provinces.

"We plan to have 30 of our doctors trained in the hospitals of the inland provinces of Zhejiang and Liaoning, and these two provinces have projects in our hospital as part their Tibet-aid projects," he said.
Kang Bing, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, delivers a speech at the launching ceremony. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The latest edition to China Daily's Focus photo album series, One Hundred Photographers Focus on Shaanxi, was launched in Beijing on Friday.

The album consists of more than 200 photos by 118 photographers from across the country.

It not only focuses on the history and culture of Northwestern China's Shaanxi province, but also on the economic and social gains it has achieved since the initiation of the reform and opening-up policy.

"Shaanxi is the cradle of Chinese nationality and the Yellow River runs through the region", wrote Zhu Ling, publisher of China Daily, in the album's preface, "The photo album appropriately demonstrates the region's progress in history, material life and people's lives."

"As the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, Shaanxi province takes an essential position in the Belt and Road initiative," said Li Wei, deputy director of the Publicity Group of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee during the ceremony.

"Economically, Shaanxi has reached the moderately developed level among China's provinces with great potential in the future," he added.

The latest photo album was sponsored by Yonghong Group, Shaanxi GLAX and the Beijing Chang'an Baiyun Hotel.

The One Hundred Photographers Focus photo album series, which has won two China National Book Prizes, was created by China Daily.

Mainly compiled by Wang Wenlan, China Daily's assistant editor-in-chief and vice-president of the China Photographers' Association, the series brings the best minds in photography together to focus on a certain international event or life in one place, whether it's a city, a region or a country.

Ten books in the series have been published so far.
Performers from The Dawns Here Are Quiet, an opera production of the National Center for the Performing Arts, prepare to go onstage. NCPA holds such "open-day activities" annually.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

One of four daughters of a civil servant and a teacher, she grew up in 1960s Liverpool. Her grandmother, who left school at age 12 and subsequently raised 14 children, had little social life or time for cultural activities. But unlike women from the older generations, Jude Kelly's passion as a little girl was to gather children in her neighborhood and tell them stories or perform plays with them.

Kelly, who is now artistic director of London's Southbank Centre, among Britain's largest cultural institutions, shared her story of growing up at the UK-China Workshop for Senior Arts Center and Theater Management, which was held at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on March 3-4.

"That's not a testimony to my individual talent. That's a testimony to a philosophy that every child's imagination would become something someday," Kelly, 62, says. "In the end, art is personal. It's about using art to explain our emotions. So, as people working in the arts, we have a great mission to celebrate the imagination of people."

Prior to 1951, very few people in Britain were directly involved with the arts but they are for everyone, Kelly says. And that's how the Southbank Centre sees it, reflecting the spirit of the 1951 Festival of Britain, which turned what was then a post-war wasteland into a creative space on the banks of River Thames, with millions visiting each year.

"The place was built for people to take part in things, not just inside concert halls. We want to make all people feel welcome to drop in any time," Kelly says.

Impressed by China's new cultural infrastructure, built in the past few years, Kelly says the country holds a big potential in engaging more people in the arts, similar to Southbank's early days .

Sean Gregory, director of Creative Learning at London's Barbican Center, another venue for performing arts, with more than 1.8 million annual visitors, says education is very crucial to making changes and giving ordinary people access to the arts.
Vincent's Bedroom in Arles, 1889 [Photo/zh.wikipedia.org]

Have you ever wanted to live in a painting? Well now you can! Vincent Van Gogh's bedroom is available for just 10 bucks a night! It's the bright idea of the Art Institute of Chicago, which has decorated a one-bedroom apartment to look just like Van Gogh's famous painting of his room in the south of France.

Van Gogh's bedroom, a painting so enticing you feel you could step right into it. And now you can, for this is a life-size replica of his iconic work, available for the public to stay in.

The room in Chicago's River North neighbourhood is listed on Airbnb, as if the artist himself were renting it. Guests even receive a letter, supposedly from Van Gogh, welcoming them.

It's all part of the Institute's aim to separate the painter from his artwork and display him as a human being.

The Art Institute of Chicago have kept the details and imperfections of the room as close to the painting as possible.

Renters also get tickets to the Art Institute's "Van Gogh's Bedrooms" exhibition, which runs through to May 10. Curator Gloria Groom says staying in the room and seeing the paintings could be a powerful combination.

The exhibition brings together the three versions of Van Gogh's "Bedrooms" for the first time in North America. From 1888 to 1889, Van Gogh painted three different versions of the room in his "Yellow House" in Arles.

The bedroom might be like stepping into a painting, but the rest of the apartment is modern and practical. Sunflowers on the coffee table are a nod to another of Van Gogh's famous works.

A museum spokeswoman said February dates for the apartment booked up within minutes of the promotion being announced. More rental openings are set to be announced on the Art Institute's social media channels.
China's hospitals are increasingly turning to online technology to provide better services, as Wang Xiaodong reports.

Like many patients, Huang Li (not her real name) used to get up early and wait in line for two hours or even longer at big hospitals to see a senior doctor.

But recently she discovered a better alternative, one that allows her to sit in front of her home computer chatting with a doctor from the hospital via a video link and paying her bills online. A day later, the drugs prescribed by the doctor are delivered to her home.

Huang, a resident of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, who has chest pains related to heart disease, had her first online diagnosis on Dec 10 with a doctor from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University's School of Medicine.

"Her condition is stable and she can continue to take the same medicines as before," said Wang Jian'an, a doctor specializing in cardiac disease at the hospital, after checking the test results that Huang scanned and uploaded. Wang had previously diagnosed Huang and prescribed drugs for her in person.

"It used to take about half a day for me to go to the hospital and finish seeing a doctor," Huang said. "Now I can just sit at home and finish the entire process in just a few minutes."

According to the Zhejiang Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, the 59-year-old was one of the first patients to use online medical services after the Wuzhen Internet Hospital, China's first Internet hospital, opened on Dec 7.

Clinical services have increased rapidly since the WIH, based in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, opened, according to Zhang Gui-min, a marketing director for the We Doctor Group, which operates the hospital.

By late January, the WIH had linked with more than 1,900 hospitals - including the Second Affiliated Hospital at Zhejiang University's School of Medicine - across China which provide more than 4,400 online diagnoses on average every day, Zhang said.

At the brick-and-mortar Wuzhen Hospital, dozens of doctors from different hospitals provide remote consultations and diagnoses on the Internet. But its major function is that it acts as a platform that links doctors and patients across China via the Internet, so registered patients and doctors from across the country can communicate directly online, Zhang said.

"We are planning to work with local health authorities so a similar Internet hospital can be set up in every provincial area of China to help patients undertake all the work it is possible to conduct online," Zhang said.

Emerging trend

Encouraged by China's top leadership, Internet-related technologies have rapidly been utilized to boost the development of various sectors, including health, in recent years. Hospitals have also welcomed these technologies, aiming to improving services for patients. Intensifying the merger of health services and Internet technologies has become a popular trend, according to officials and analysts.

"The Internet is becoming more involved in medical services and the integration of the Internet and medical care services offers great potential," said Song Shuli, spokeswoman of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's top health authority.

"The use of new technologies can help us to improve management and services. We will continue to expand and improve services and promote 'remote' and 'mobile' medical care."

According to a report released by the China Internet Development Foundation in January, mobile Internet technology was widely adopted in medical care services in major cities in China last year, helping residents to access services such as clinical registration, pay medical bills, check medical reports and interact with doctors online.

Last year, nearly 400 hospitals connected with Alipay, a popular online payment platform, according to the report. The hospitals have provided more than 50 million online services, such as making appointments and paying for clinical registration, since the project was established in May 2014. The move has reduced the time patients need to see a doctor, the report said.

Before the WIH was set up, several other hospitals, including Guangdong No 2 Provincial People's Hospital, had already started offering partial online services. But unlike the WIH, the other hospitals usually provide online services individually and are not linked with other establishments in a network.

For years more big hospitals, mostly in larger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, have been offering services, such as staff training and technical guidance, to smaller hospitals in less-developed regions. For example, the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing has been offering such online services since 1998 to grassroots hospitals in the west of the country, according to the hospital.

In January, an online hospital, jointly established by Wuhan Central Hospital, in Wuhan, Hubei province, and AliHealth - which has the e-commerce giant Alibaba as its majority shareholder - opened for service, according to a report in Economic Information Daily. Doctors from Wuhan Central Hospital conduct online video diagnoses and provide electronic prescriptions whereby the drugs will be delivered to patients, the report said.

More online hospitals, mainly aimed at patients living in remote villages in Hubei, may be built by the company in the future, the report said.

Sharing resources

WIH shares online resources with guahao.com, a popular Internet service that allows patients to register and consult doctors online and is also operated by the We Doctor Group. This means the number of registered patients and doctors for the Internet hospital could reach more than 110 million, said Zhang, from the group.

In addition to offering patients greater convenience, such as shortening diagnosis times, the Internet hospital also has a number of advantages that traditional brick-and-mortar hospitals cannot provide, he said.

"Doctors with different types of expertise can form groups and share their expertise online when giving diagnosis and treatment to gravely ill patients, which is difficult to achieve at traditional hospitals," he said.

Patients can register by logging onto the Internet or via a mobile phone app. Once registered, they can choose doctors and make reservations, consult a doctor via a video link and receive electronic prescriptions.

Once patients have paid the bills online, they wait until the drugs are delivered to their homes by courier companies, according to instructions on the hospital's website.

In addition to connecting hospitals nationwide through the Internet, the hospital also has offline operations, such as operating and testing centers. The hospital's first operating center was set up in Xiaoshan Hospital in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Jan 17, so those who need surgery after preliminary online consultations can be transferred for treatment, Zhang said.

"We are building more such centers to meet the demand from the patients," he said.

"The online hospital can really help people in less-developed areas, where high-quality medical resources are scarce, so they can also get high-quality medical care by talking with doctors from top hospitals, just as long as they are connected on the Internet," Zhang said.

However, he added that Internet hospitals cannot completely replace traditional brick-and-mortar hospitals, as in most cases a doctor has to see a patient in person to provide better diagnosis and treatment.

"Online hospitals are primarily aimed at patients with common, chronic illnesses, such as hypertension and diabetes, or those who are familiar with their ailments and have to go to see a doctor for the same problem repeatedly," he said.

For example, a patient with hypertension who has to visit a doctor regularly for prescriptions, can consult a doctor online and have the correct medication delivered to them instead of going to a hospital, he said.

"A patient must first have been diagnosed at a brick-and-mortar hospital before they can have the online treatment," he said.

Wang, from the Second Affiliated Hospital at Zhejiang University's School of Medicine, said the benefits are manifold: "The Internet hospital is an innovative effort that will greatly benefit both patients and doctors. In particular it's suitable for patients with chronic diseases who are seeking re-examination. It will be more convenient for them and will also improve the doctors' efficiency."

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's hospitals and clinics provided nearly 5.7 billion clinical treatments during the first nine months of last year, a rise of 2.8 percent compared with the same period in 2014.

A large number of those patients have chronic diseases, such as diabetes, which require frequent re-diagnosis. That makes big hospitals even more crowded, according to Han Xiaofang, former director of Beijing Medical Reform Office.

Wang said: "I think Internet hospitals will become a trend. In the future, doctors will be able to serve patients both on and offline."

Security concerns

Zuo Xiaodong, vice-president of the China Information Security Research Institute, praised the online hospital for offering patients greater convenience, but was concerned about information security.

"Online medical platforms collect a large amount of data about patients, which also attracts insurance companies and other institutions in the medical industry," he said.

"Leaks of patients' private information may happen if these online platforms fail to protect the information properly," he said, urging platform operators to make strenuous efforts to ensure medical websites cannot be hacked.

Ning Fanggang, a doctor who specializes in treating burns injuries at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, said it is not possible for online hospitals to replace their brick-and-mortar counterparts because the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases cannot be accomplished through online communications only.

Additionally, online medical services may put doctors and patients at risk if disputes arise between them, due to a lack of laws related to the services, he said.

"Online medical care services should complement the brick-and-mortar medical care services so they become more convenient," he said.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn

Online technology offers a new future for healthcare

The use of Internet technology has helped the Beijing Children's Hospital greatly ease the burden registering large number of patients - one of the thorniest problems the hospital has faced for many years, according to Ni Xin, the president of the hospital.

The BCH, established in 1942 and one of the best in China for the treatment of children's diseases, provides more than 10,000 clinical diagnoses per day on average, and more than 70 percent of the patients come from outside Beijing, he said.

"It used to be common to see parents waiting in line overnight before the registration window opened," he said.

The clinical building, designed to serve 3,000 patients, has been overcrowded for years, he said.

In June, the hospital adopted a system that encourages all patients to make reservations to see a doctor, except for emergency conditions, to relieve the problem, Ni said.

Patients can make reservations days, or even months, ahead - via the telephone, the Internet, WeChat (a popular instant-messaging platform) or a mobile app, he said.

The hospital is reducing the number of registration tickets issued on site, and eventually it will be possible to book all reservations online, he said, adding that Wi-Fi services are available in the hospital.

After the introduction of the measures, the congestion in the clinical hall has been greatly reduced, he said.

"Between 7 am and 8 am is a busy time, and the number of patients waiting in lines for registration often reached the peak," Ni said. "Now the number of patients waiting during this period has fallen by 451 per day."

The reduction has resulted in better experiences for doctors and patients, helped to lower the risk of clashes between them, and reduced traffic problems around the hospital, he said.

By the end of last year, all major hospitals in Beijing had opened services that allow patients to register for online diagnosis, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.
Permanent residents' permits, or green cards, have been notoriously difficult to obtain in China, and many people believe they are of little use.

They claim that apart from being long-term visas, green cards are only useful for opening bank accounts or buying train tickets.

But now the Chinese authorities are introducing new policies to increase the practical use of green cards, with the goal of attracting top talent to the country.

On Feb 18, the central government issued a document on managing foreigners' permanent residency.

Gao Xiang, a spokesman for the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, said: "The document aims to provide indiscriminatory treatment for green card holders. It is international practice to give permanent residents the same entitlements as local citizens.

"We already had regulations covering permanent residency, but the terms relating to treatment of foreigners were not carried out thoroughly.

"With an increasing level of openness and higher frequency of personnel exchanges, we had to introduce a more practical system to cover foreigners' rights and obligations," he said.

China began to grant permanent residency to foreigners in 2004. In 2012, 25 ministries and central government departments jointly introduced a provision on the treatment of green card holders, but the terms were not fully implemented.

Gao said: "In the United States, the founders of many great innovative companies are not US natives - the government created a talent system to bring them in. What we should do now is also build a well-established system to attract top talent from across the globe."

The newly published document includes a guideline for foreigners holding permanent residents' permits to be given equal treatment as Chinese citizens, such as on buying homes, school enrollment and in social security coverage.

Eugene Gregoryanz, a physicist from the University of Edinburgh who now works at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Heifei Institutes of Physical Science under the 1,000 Talent Plan, says: "I think that if foreigners are allowed to buy property or exchange renminbi at banks like Chinese citizens, this would be very attractive and rather useful."

The 1,000 Talent Plan, also known as the Recruitment Program for Global Experts, is a global talent program initiated by the Chinese government to attract foreign scientists or innovators.

The program has recruited 313 foreign experts since it was launched in 2011.

It offers a subsidy of 1 million yuan ($153,400) for each recruit along with research funds, a salary and other benefits.

Recruits must work in China for at least three years and remain in the country for at least nine months a year.

Gregoryanz says: "For many people I know, exchanging money is a big problem. We are paid extremely well but cannot exchange (large amounts of) renminbi to dollars or sterling at banks. We have to make do with the airport, where the exchange rates are not so good, or ask Chinese friends to do it for us.

chenyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn
Mohamed Noah performs Wing Tsun moves during a class at Egypt Wing Tsun Academy, Cairo, Egypt on March 1, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Wing Tsun started to become more popular in Egypt as it is a simple martial art for self-defense that requires neither effort nor physical strength," said trainer Mohamed Noah, or Sifu as his students call him, at the small Wing Tsun academy in Maadi district south of the capital Cairo.

Located in the first floor of a building in a quiet street, Egypt Wing Tsun Academy, the only officially certified Chinese academy for Wing Tsun in the Middle East, consists of a medium-sized parquet-floor hall with a wall-size mirror on top of which there is a portrait of Grandmaster Ip Man, Chinese Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee's teacher.
Carton King Creativity Park, a theme park where all the facilities, accessories and souvenirs are made of cardboard, offers discounts for female visitors on March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day. [Photo/Zhouzhuang.net]

Carton King Creativity Park, a theme park where all the facilities, accessories and souvenirs are made of cardboard, will offer female visitors various discounts on March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day.

Retail shops

All female visitors will enjoy a 10 percent shopping discount on March 8, while those who wear a cheongsam (a traditional Chinese dress) on the day will enjoy 10 percent more.

Consumers buying craft paper bags or hats will receive a souvenir book sealed "Zhouzhuang Traveling" worth 30 yuan.

Theme restaurant

All female visitors will enjoy a 20 percent dining discount on March 8, while those who wear a cheongsam on the day will enjoy a 30 percent discount.

The restaurant will also serve several Taiwan gourmet meal sets:

Afternoon tea set: Discounted price of 38 yuan (regular price of 68 yuan)

Taiwan gourmet set: Discounted price of 38 yuan (regular price of 68 yuan, adding a cup of honey tea)

Honey roast chicken set: Discounted price of 38 yuan (regular price of 88 yuan - numbers limited)

Inn

Female visitors will enjoy a 30 percent discount on March 8, while those who wear a cheongsam on the day will enjoy half price. Reservations should be made in advance, and a double breakfast will be provided free of charge.

For reservations and inquiries, please contact: 0512-57214998.
On Thursday, journalists covering the annual session of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the top political advisory body, received a short message from the meeting's organizers, saying selfie sticks are forbidden in the Great Hall of the People, the venue for the meeting.

Zhang Jing'an, director of the Information Office at the General Office of CPPCC National Committee, told the media that it is also forbidden for deputies to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, and CPPCC National Committee members, to use selfie sticks during the meetings.

The ban on selfie sticks during the two sessions not only shows the strict discipline of the two sessions, but is also conducive to improving the working style of the representatives from across the country. The main task of the representatives of the two sessions should be submitting proposals related to improving people's livelihoods and providing the decision-making basis for the nation's top level design.
Photos of two 16-year-olds in a wedding gown and suit at what seems to be a wedding have triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media. [Photo/Weibo.com]

PHOTOS OF A 16-YEAR-OLD boy and girl being "married" in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media last month, as the legal age for marriage in China is 22 for males and 20 for females. More couples like them have reportedly been discovered in neighboring towns and counties. Concerted efforts are needed to discourage teenagers from rushing into premature marriages, said cjn.cn:

Most of those who "get married" under the legal marriageable age are "left-behind" teenagers in underdeveloped regions. Due to the lack of proper parenting and school education, they tend to start early relationships with those that have similar backgrounds.

But rushing into a serious relationship unprepared does no good to underage youths. They are not mature enough to start a family. Some reportedly even sell their babies in exchange for a new smartphone or a motorcycle.

Many local governments are trying their best to dissuade teenagers from dropping out of school early. Their efforts, however, have a limited role in controlling premature relationships and marriages given the astonishing number of "leftover men" in rural areas.

That generation after generation is haunted by poverty in these areas is a result of local villagers' short-sightedness in their understanding of life, as shown by premature marriages. Burdened with family responsibility, youngsters find it difficult to improve their well-being.

Families, schools, and relevant social organizations all have their respective part to play in changing the attitudes of youngsters. But integrated policies ranging from social welfare to boosting economic development are needed to improve the livelihoods of rural residents.
Night view of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings of Jianwai Soho and Yintai Center in CBD in Beijing. [Photo/IC]

LI DAOKUI, a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and an economics professor at Tsinghua University, has cautioned that policies aimed at clearing the glut of unsold housing, such as zero down payments, may result in a real estate bubble. Instead, he suggests the government purchase unsold houses in third- and fourth-tier cities and rent them to rural residents who intend to live there. Beijing News said this is a good idea:

Against the backdrop of the ongoing annual meetings of the 12th National People's Congress and the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC, many economists including Li have offered their solutions to the supply glut plaguing China's housing market.

As a major economic driver of most modern economies, the real estate industry could deal a heavy blow to a local economy if the housing inventory is not properly dealt with.

China's housing market is undergoing an uneven recovery, with a real estate boom seen in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in the first two months of the year, while third- and fourth-tier cities are still struggling to destock their housing inventories. It is time for the central government to work on more specific and desirable real estate policies, in which political advisors should have a say.

That many of them have submitted proposals to clear the property glut is more than necessary. Li's suggestion that the governments of less developed regions could purchase unsold houses and rent them to rural residents, for one, would be conducive to providing low-cost housing for those on low incomes as well as destocking local housing inventories.

In fact, as China's economic growth is slowing and problems have begun to emerge, it is the right time for constructive reflections and brainstorming. As some political advisors have made clear, the supply glut in the property market is not about the market itself, but monetary policy and other policies regarding the tax reform and public accumulation funds that work behind the scenes.
A DPRK soldier stands in front of the Unha 3 rocket at the launch site in Tongchang-ri, on April 8, 2012. [Photo/IC]

ON WEDNESDAY, the 15-nation UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to impose harsh sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in response to its recent nuclear test and satellite launch. DPRK leader Kim Jong-un responded by ordering its nuclear weapons be ready for use at any time. Measures must be taken to address the political confrontation between the United States and the DPRK, and end the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, said haiwainet.cn:

Despite strong opposition from the international community, Pyongyang conducted a fourth nuclear test two months ago. However, the tough UN sanctions, which broaden the scope of financial sanctions and the scope of the arms embargo, once again, point to the fact that developing nuclear weapons will not get the country anywhere near its diplomatic ambitions.

Notably, China and the US have very different stances on how the sanctions should be used to correct the DPRK's behavior, especially the DPRK's nuclear ambitions, and the UN's role in seeking a peaceful solution.

Washington has long resorted to sanctions when dealing with global political clashes, and these have worked in some previous instances. But the truth is that all successful reconciliations are essentially a result of a variety of political consensuses rather than one-sided sanctions alone.

That the US and Cuba put an end to their decades-long diplomatic standoff last year has a lot to do with the US seeking to improve ties and the announcement it would end its sanctions against the country. This, to some extent, was an acknowledgment by Washington that the sanctions had failed.

Likewise, the US has repeatedly requested all the economic ties between the DPRK and other countries be cut, and blamed China for offering financial aid to the DPRK. Such an approach might force Pyongyang to revise its nuclear policy, but it would also bring about a humanitarian crisis on the peninsula.

That explains why the fresh UN sanctions stress that the measures are not intended to "have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the DPRK"; instead they are aimed at limiting the country's nuclear capabilities through political dialogues.

Whether these resolutions will produce some results depends not only on Pyongyang's response, but also the policies other relevant parties take. The fundamental issue is a political one, the Cold War-like long-term confrontation between the US and the DPRK. It thus requires Washington to push for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, a multilateral dialogue mechanism to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, not the other way round.
Two visitors base jump from a bridge above Getu River in Guizhou's Ziyun county. The province is known for its untouched hills and natural environment.

Residents of Gebong in southwestern China's Guizhou province are finding that learning some English words can improve their business as the mountainous village gains in popularity with overseas visitors.

"Several foreigners came to the village some days ago and each day they had some eggs and tomatoes at my stall," said Xiao Ling, making a point of speaking the two items she sold in English, sitting as she sat behind her stall at Getu River, a national-level tourist destination.

Xiao said proudly that many villagers come to her for help with English words that could help their business.

Wang Xiaobi is also a resident of Gebong and runs a hostel in the village.

"A lot of foreign visitors stay at my hostel during peak seasons," she said.

"A German rock-climbing company advertises my hostel free of charge. I receive at least hundreds of overseas visitors every year."

Gebong is one of many villages that shine with their respective charm in Guizhou.

A province where 92.5 percent of the land is hills and mountains, Guizhou is rich in waterfalls, valleys, lakes and hot springs and locals over centuries have developed customs, festivals, clothing and architecture rarely found in other parts of the country.
One by one and tied together with ropes for safety, the firefighters broke through the ice to get close to the stranded boys. [Photo/CFP]

Seven firefighters braved freezing waters to rescue two boys who fell into a hole on a partially frozen river Saturday in Guyuan city, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Chinanews.com reported.

The two boys, both 6 years old, were playing on the ice's surface when the accident happened. To rescue them, the firefighters, one by one, broke through the ice to get close to the stranded boys. The firefighters were tied together with ropes for safety. The deepest part of the river is over 2 meters deep, with mud and strong currents. These, added to the icy temperature, made it difficult for them to continue breaking through the ice.

After 20 minutes of effort they rescued the boys, who were later taken to the hospital by ambulance. The boys are now in stable condition.
A search and rescue operation is carried out after a boat carrying refugees sank in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's western province of Aydin on March 6, 2016. [Photo/IC]

ISTANBUL - At least 18 people attempting to reach Greece drowned after their boat sank off the Turkish coast on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, on the eve of a European meeting aimed at tackling the number of migrants.

The Turkish Coast Guard, using speedboats and a helicopter, rescued 15 people and recovered 18 bodies in the Aegean Sea near the town of Didim, Anadolu said. Efforts continued to find more victims whose nationalities were not given.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will be in Brussels for Monday's emergency summit with European Union leaders seeking to reduce illegal migration to member states, much of which occurs through Turkey.

"Turkey has been carrying this burden pretty much on its own for five years," Davutoglu told reporters at a news conference on Sunday before his departure. "But since the second half of 2015, this matter has become part of the Europe Union's agenda, and we are pleased with the sensibility Europe has displayed and its willingness to work together."

The EU has offered Turkey 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) to do more to stop migrants from attempting the perilous journey. The migrant crisis has divided the EU's political leaders and threatened the bloc's open-border policy.

So far this year, 135,000 migrants have reached Europe illegally, 126,000 via Turkey, and more than 400 have died, many on the so-called eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece, the International Organization for Migration has said.

Last year, a million people reached Europe through illegal routes, many fleeing economic and political turmoil in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Most of them came through Turkey, which borders Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Eddie Chiu, director of Lin Sing Association, flipped through five large notepads filled with names and donation amounts made by the New York Chinese community to support Peter Liang's further legal fee for appeal. HEZI JIANG/China Daily

Eddie Chiu has never seen so much of anger in the Chinese community, and at the same time, so much hope.

"Their inhibited feelings finally came to the surface," said Chiu, 68, director of the 116-year-old Lin Sing Association, a fraternal club in Chinatown where local residents come in to read newspapers and chat or to seek Chiu's help on translation and legal questions.

The past three weeks at the club were lively and emotional. People came in with money  as little as $5 to a check of $10,000  for Peter Liang, a former New York City police officer who was convicted of manslaughter on Feb 11. They are looking to hire a new lawyer for Liang in an effort to win an appeal.

By the evening of March 3, the association had received more than $350,000, Chiu said. More than $100,000 of that sum is in cash, mostly in denominations of $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills.

Chiu said many Chinese senior citizens walked up the stairs to the club with assistance from home attendants, and handed him a rolled up $5 or $10 bill. "It's not the amount that matters the most. It's their hearts.

"Many of them don't even know the English alphabet," he said. "But they want a better future for their children and grandchildren. They want Peter Liang to win an appeal."

Chiu flipped through five large Staples notepads, and every page was full of names and the donation amounts. There have been around 2,000 donations made by individuals and businesses, he said.

According to the notepad, a 10-year-old and a 6-year old each brought in a $5 red envelope that they received on Chinese New Year, symbolizing good luck.

Chinese residents at an East Village senior center produced a $3,000 donation. "Many of them are all living off Social Security benefits," Chiu explained.

A Chinatown association that unites people with the family name Liang also raised more than $3,000. Local restaurants, pharmacies, laundries and barbershops pitched in to help.

Workers at the Trump Soho hotel together donated $600.

"I've been here for 40 years, and I have seen too much unfairness," Chiu said. "Whenever there is a car accident between a Chinese driver and an American driver, it's always the Chinese's fault. They don't speak much English, and they couldn't fight for themselves.

"A Chinese deliveryman was recently beaten by a black customer at his job, but he didn't want to make it a case because he's afraid other misfortune would happen to him," Chiu said.

"We are too angry. We have borne too much," he said. "We stood up."

On Feb 20, tens of thousands of members of the Chinese community held rallies in more than 40 cities across the US to protest the manslaughter verdict against Liang, a rookie NYPD officer, in the shooting death of a black man in November 2014.

Liang, now 28, discharged his gun in a darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, and the ricocheted bullet fatally struck Akai Gurley on a lower floor.

Liang was the first NYPD officer to be convicted of killing a civilian since 2005, and many in the Chinese community believe Liang is a scapegoat.

The Lin Sing Association is one of many organizations that have raised money for Liang.

John Chan, chairman of Brooklyn Asian Communities Empowerment, announced on March 4 that he also has raised more than $300,000 on behalf of Liang.

A legal defense fund was also established in New York for Liang.

Chinese media and the public are following the donations closely, making sure they will be used for Liang's legal fees.

Chiu and Chan said they are only collecting the money on Liang's behalf, and will pass on the cash and checks to him soon.

"We haven't seen much of the money yet, but Peter is very grateful for all the support. It's very important for him," Liang's mother He Fang told China Daily. "He's also meeting with more lawyers through recommendations."

Chiu is determined to help Liang win an appeal, and to many in the Chinese community, it could be the turning point of their status.

"Fairness doesn't come itself. You fight for your own. You fight for equality," said Chiu. "The African Americans have fought so hard to be where they are today."

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
Clockwise from top: Iris Chang (second from right) interviewed Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin (second from left) in 1995. Chang autographs a copy of The Rape ofNanking for a reader at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington in 1998. Ying-Ying Chang (center) and Shau-Jin Chang (left) attend the first national memorial service for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, on Dec 13 last year. Photos Provided to China Daily and by Liu Yu / Xinhua

A delegation from China's Huaian city has retraced the footsteps of Iris Chang, the late Chinese-American historian and author, to the Bay Area to collect memorabilia for a museum being constructed in her memory.

Chang was the author of The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, which chronicled the massacre and the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

When the book was published in 1997, it became a best-seller, introducing the Nanking Massacre (1937-1938) to many Western readers for the first time.

In 2004, Chang took her own life at age 36 in a losing battle with depression.

Her ancestral home, Huaian city, in Jiangsu province, decided to build a memorial hall in tribute to her contributions in preserving a key chapter in Chinese history.

The construction started early last year and the center is expected to be open to the public at the end of this year. Covering a floor space of 1,000 square meters, the memorial hall will display photos representing her life and studies, as well as videos featuring interviews with her.

All the materials were donated by Chang's parents and members of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, a non-profit grass-roots organization with dozens of chapters in North America.

"The Chinese Americans' spirit of assiduously seeking historical truth is worth remembering," said Zhou Xiang, director of the Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese of Huaian city. "When the memorial hall is open, all Chinese Americans are welcome to visit it and the city."

Huaian is a well-known city with a history more than 2,300 years old. It was home to many great scholars and men of letters in Chinese history. Zhou said he hoped the establishment of the memorial hall would help promote the city's image as a cultural and historical center.

Ying-Ying Chang, Iris Chang's mother, said her daughter had heard a lot about her ancestral home though she had never been there. The couple was invited to visit the city and the construction site last year. After they got back home, they began sorting out her photos and sent about 700 to 800 to the hall. Other memorabilia will be sent back with the visiting delegation.

In San Jose, where Iris Chang spent her final days and her parents now live, a new park was named after her to recognize her contributions to the local, national and global communities. The park is expected to open in 2017.

Related reading: Iris Chang: A light in the darkness
The Great Wall of China is among the best-known landmarks in China and a top tourist attraction. Yet it has been mentioned lately by both Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for two very different reasons.

In his talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Feb 25, Wang tried to reassure the American audience why China will not replace the US.

"The reason is simple, because we're not the US," he said, triggering laughter from people such as former US ambassador to China Stapleton Roy, who understands Chinese well.

Wang went on to say that China will not become another US. "In the blood and the veins of China, there is no vein of expansionism," he said. "There is no mentality or urge to be saviors of the world."

He cited the Great Wall built more than 2,000 years as an example of Chinese non-aggressiveness, saying, "We built the Great Wall of China for self-defense."

"That is the special characteristic and the very typical expression of the features of the Chinese culture. And such a feature, ingrained in the blood or the genes of China, will continue," said China's top diplomat.

To many well-versed in Chinese culture, that also explains the rationale behind many of China's actions that are non-aggressive and defensive in nature, whether it's anti-access/area denial capability or the minimum nuclear deterrence capability.

It's in sharp contrast to the US, which has a military budget larger than the next eight countries combined and maintains by far the largest nuclear arsenal, one that could destroy the planet multiple times over.

In an article in The Nation last December, David Vine of American University quoted the Pentagon as saying that the US has around 800 military bases in foreign countries, including 174 in Germany, 113 in Japan and 83 in South Korea.

"Although few Americans realize it, the United States likely has more bases in foreign lands than any other people, nation or empire in history," Vine said.

Wang's speech, however important in helping people understand China's foreign policy, was not well covered by the US news media.

But Americans have been hearing repeatedly about "Great Wall" ever since last summer whenever Trump shouts about the wall he will build on the US' southern border to stop illegal immigrants coming from Mexico.

"I will build a great wall. No one builds a wall better than me. Believe me. I will build very inexpensively. I will build a great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words," he said in a rally in New York in June 2015. He even touted that the wall had to be beautiful because it would probably be called "The Trump Wall".

Though such words from Trump have won praise from his supporters, they have also triggered widespread anger both inside and outside the US. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox lashed out at Trump, comparing him to Adolf Hitler. During a trip in Mexico City 10 days ago, US Vice-President Joe Biden said he felt "almost obliged to apologize" for Trump's remarks about Mexico.

Trump has claimed that "I already know what it should look like." Ironically, some US publishers, such as the National Geographic, have tried to figure out what it would look like to build a roughly 2,000-mile-long wall along the border between the US and Mexico.

Others have tried to figure out how much cement would be needed, as Trump at one point said the wall would be 55-feet tall, another time 35-to-40 feet, and then 45 feet.

Some engineers have said that using concrete would not work because it would just bake and crumble under the hot southern sun. The most feasible plan had to be precast planks as seen along highways, something Trump has also talked about.

While Trump noted the wall would cost $8 billion, others estimate the price tag would be much higher.

In his Super Tuesday speech in Florida on March 1, Trump said building the wall would be easy, like "peanuts", because the Great Wall of China was built 2,000 years ago and was 13,171 miles long.

"They (Chinese) didn't have tractors, they didn't have cranes, they didn't have excavation equipment," he said.

China's Great Wall is the longest wall ever built in human history. Some have described it by saying that it would reach outer space if turned end-on-end, because the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites are in an orbit only 12,540 miles high.

Whatever Trump's intention, his plan for a great wall has been perceived by the Chinese largely as a joke by a comedian-type politician.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com.
HANOI -- A Vietnamese official described China as a top partner of Vietnam with two-way trade of over $66 billion in 2015 during an event held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Monday.

Speaking at a business forum between Vietnamese and China's Guangxi business, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said Vietnam exported more than $17 billion worth of goods to China, mainly electronic spare parts, agricultural and seafood products, as well as coal among others in 2015, according to Vietnamese statistics.

Meanwhile, the country imported machinery and equipment from China, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA cited Khuong as saying.

Currently, China is running over 1,300 projects in Vietnam with total capital of over $10 billion, Khuong said, adding that the investment is forecast to surge in the near future.

Vice Chairwoman of Guangxi's Trade Promotion Association Zhou Ling said the close geographical distance facilitates bilateral transport activities and cooperation in the spirit of making the best use of their strengths and potential.

Vietnam is expected to serve as an entrepot for China and Guangxi in particular to boost trade with the ASEAN business community, she said.

During the forum, Chinese businesses expressed their wish to seek investment opportunities and partners in the fields of hotel, food processing, health equipment, and agriculture.
(Photo : Reuters) China is tackling the use of cloud storage platforms to spread pornographic materials.

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The Chinese government is heightened its efforts to curb pornography with a plan to launch a campaign tackling the rampant practice of pornography sharing and hosting on cloud storage platforms.



The National Office against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, law enforcers, website administrators as weell as industrial and publication officials will all collaborate in the campaign. The goal of the drive is to implement strict supervision of cloud storage enterprises and hold them liable for the security of their platforms.



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China's anti-pornography office recently revealed six cases of individuals in the pornography business. The suspects allegedly sell account names and passwords to users to visit cloud storage-hosted pornography. One case involved a man identified as Liu Hangjie, who was sentenced to three years in prison by the court in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.



Liu was found guilty of selling access to pornography hosted on cloud storage websites. Liu charged his customers 50 yuan ($7.68) in exchange to individual cloud storage accounts that have access to more than 10,000 pornographic videos.



Cloud storage platforms usually used by porn makers include Qihoo 360, a Chinese Internet security firm, and LeTV, China's biggest online video enterprise.



Since 1949, China has outlawed pornography. In the past, individuals caught dealing in pornography - including creating, distributing and using porn materials - were usually fined or just warned. However, in 2005, the person behind the biggest porn website in the country was sentenced to life imprisonment, while the workers were jailed between 13 months to 10 years.



Chinese authorities launched the Cleaning the Web campaign in 2014, calling for stringent inspection on websites, mobile apps, search engines and Internet TV providers for possible pornographic content.



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A U.S. F-22 stealth fighter lands at the Osan Air Base on February 17, 2016 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. U.S. military has deployed four F-22 stealth fighter jets to the Korean Peninsula as another response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. (Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun-Pool/Getty Images)

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has issued a statement on Monday warning the United States and South Korea of a possible preemptive nuclear attacks as the two allied nations start their joint military exercises today.



The statement was released even as the United States has urged North Korea to refrain from making provocative steps and issuing statements that would trigger further tension.



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In a statement carried by state media KCNA, the DPRK's National Defense Commission said South Korea's army and people will launch an all-out offensive and make counter-action for preemptive attack.



The statement, according to China's state-owned news agency Xinhua, said the preemptive attack is aimed at the joint military drills conducted by US and South Korean forces.



"The DPRK's military counter-action will be more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike to cope with enemies most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK," the commission's statement said.



It added that preemptive nuclear strike will be ordered by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army.



The Supreme Command of the KPA earlier announced that the first attack target will be Chongwadae, the presidential office in South Korea and the second target will be the White House in the United States.



The statement also came after South Korea criticized DPRK for its denunciation of new tougher UN Security Council resolution. South Korea said DPRK's denunciation will be an outright challenge to the international community.



The 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.



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(Photo : Reuters) China's President Xi Jinping has vowed to clamp down on any move to declare Taiwan's independence from the mainland.

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Delivering what some say is his strongest warning yet to Taiwanese pro-independence leaders, China's President Xi Jinping on Sunday vowed to protect the country's territorial integrity by stamping out any move to declare Taiwan's independence from the mainland.



Xi issued the warning during a gathering of delegates at the annual meeting of the Chinese parliament. The yearly conference of Chinese lawmakers opened in Beijing last Thursday.



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"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form, safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of the nation being split to happen again," Xi said in apparent reference to the Japanese takeover of the island in 1895.



One China



China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province to be brought under control by force if necessary. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), led by President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, considers Taiwan an independent nation, but sees no need to provoke Beijing by making a formal declaration of independence.



Tsai's stunning landslide victory in Taiwan's elections in January has been seen by many as a turning point in the island's bid to break free from the grip of the Chinese mainland - a signal that Taiwan is coming of age as a democracy.



This has disturbed China's leadership, and ignited fears that Tsai's presidency -- which formally begins this May -- could bring instability, perhaps even military confrontation, across the Formosa Strait.



Relations between Taiwan and China have seen a marked improvement over the past eight years, culminating in the historic meeting between Xi and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore late last year.



Beijing now argues the meeting was only possible because Ma's KMT party had accepted the idea of "one China" in 1992. Tsai has openly rejected that policy, insisting that Taiwan has its own national identity.



"National Identity"



"Our democratic system, national identity and international airspace must be respected," Tsai said in her victory speech before the international press in January. "Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations."



Taiwan's president-elect, however, has pledged that her administration will rise above party politics, maintain peaceful relations with Beijing and refrain from doing anything that might escalate tensions between the two sides.



"Following the will and consensus of the Taiwanese people, we will work to maintain the status quo for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in order to bring the greatest benefits and well-being to the Taiwanese people," said Tsai in the same speech.



Beijing nevertheless remains deeply suspicious of Taiwan's first female president, and has -- since the run up to the elections -- repeatedly reminded both the people and leaders of the island of its readiness to clamp down on Taiwan's pro-independence movement. Taiwan, Beijing insists, is part of China, and will one day be reintegrated into the mainland.



"Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," Xi said on Sunday.



Analysts agree that Tsai and her team will face serious economic challenges when she assumes office in May.



Despite its status as a rising economy, Taiwan has the worst performance among the four "tigers" of Asia, lagging far behind South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Taiwan's growth rate has been pinned at around two percent for nearly 20 years.



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TagsChina-Taiwan relations, President Xi Jinping, Tsai Ing-wen
(Photo : Getty Images) Implementing the strict anti-corruption campaign of President Xi Jinping, Beijing punished around 300,000 government officials for corruption last year alone.

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Around 300,000 government officials were punished last year for graft and corruption by Beijing, China's ruling Communist Party said.



Out of the staggering figure, some 200,000 officials were meted out 'light punishment', while 80,000 were slapped with more severe penalties after they were found to have violated anti-corruption laws.



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President Xi Jinping, upon assuming office in 2013, made the fight against corruption the centerpiece of his agenda.



High-profile



Xi's anti-corruption campaign has netted powerful and high-profile political figures over the years. It, however, failed to capture many financial fugitives who have fled China and sought refuge with countries that Beijing has no extradition treaty with.



Beijing launched the Operation Skynet last year to arrest up to 100 economic fugitives who are living freely in other parts of the globe. Beijing has successfully extradited some fugitives, while some have voluntarily surrendered to Chinese authorities.



Daily reports



Xinhua notes that there have been almost daily reports in the state media of officials being investigated or punished over allegations of bribery, abuse of power or other corrupt practices.



China's official corruption watchdog - the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection - has failed to let the pubic in on the details of most of these cases.



Reports indicate that a majority of the officials apprehended in 2015 for corruption were released ahead of the opening session of the National People's Congress last week Saturday



Reminder



Analysts say the release was a reminder to the delegates of the NPC that Beijing will continue pursuing corrupt government officials.



Observers agree that President Xi's anti-corruption campaign is an attempt to rein in government officials who have become too influential or too powerful.



Since the anti-corruption campaign began, several multi-millionaires have been slapped with long jail terms for committing fraud in the financial industry.



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Tagsgraft and corruption, corruption watchdog, financial fugitives, government officials, china
An employee counts money at a branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC) in Huaibei, Anhui Province of China. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

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China's foreign exchange reserves, which are the world's largest, dwindled in February for a fourth straight month, hitting its lowest level since December 2011.



According to data released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, China's forex reserves dropped US$28.57 billion last month, sending the total to US$3.20 trillion at the end of February.



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The fall in February followed a US$99.5 billion drop in January and the US$107.9 billion in December, which was the biggest monthly drop ever.



The forex drop in February, however, was slightly less that what economists polled by Rueters had expected. The economists predicted that China's forex reserves would fall US$30 billion from US$3.23 trillion at the end of January.



The February data also suggested that the Chinese government is scaling back its interventions to support the currency.



The central bank's move to seel dollars in the currency markets to support the yuan sent the reserves falling US$513 billion last year, the largest yearly drop in the country's history.



For this year, the central bank expects the declines in foreign reserves to moderate on expectations that the yuan will stabilize.



Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan earlier said the changes in the country's foreign reserves were normal.



China has been using its foreign exchange reserves to hold up a weakening currency following a US$1-trillion capital outflows in 2015, Bloomberg has reported.



The foreign exchange reserves hit its peak with almost US$4 trillion in 2014 from US$21.2 billion in 1993.



Early this year, the central bank allowed the entry of seven more foreign institutions - the Reserve Bank of India, the International Finance Corporation, Bank for International Settlement, Bank of Thailand, Bank of Indonesia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Bank of Korea to enter the country's inter-bank forex market.



With the approval from the central bank, the seven new institutions will now be able to participate in the inter-bank foreign exchange market as foreign members.



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Former first lady Nancy Reagan. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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China has joined the rest of the world in expressing its condolences over the death of Nancy Reagan, former United States first lady, on Monday.



Reagan passed away at the age of 94 in her Los Angeles home Sunday morning, according to her office. The former first lady died of congestive heart failure.



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At a routine press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters that China is mourning the passing of the former US first lady, whom he said was committed to fostering friendly exchanges between China and the US.



"She was committed to friendly exchanges between the two countries, and made positive contributions to the development of the China-US relations," Hong said.



Nancy Reagan will be buried next to her husband, former US President Ronald Reagan, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.



A statement issued by Nancy Reagan's office said members of the public will have an opportunity to pay their respects at the library prior to the funeral service.



The White House also expressed its condolences over the death of the former US first lady and praised her for her role in advancing Alzheimer's research.



Mrs. Reagan became an advocate for Alzheimer's research after her husband was diagnosed with the disease in 1994.



"Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives," said the statement.



Nancy Reagan served as First Lady from 1981 to 1989. She was remembered for her passionate advocacy for decreasing drug and alcohol abuse, according to the website of the White House.



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A Biologist releases genetically modified mosquitoes in the city on February 11, 2016 in Piracicaba, Brazil. Technicians from the Oxitec laboratory located in Campinas, 100km from Sao Paulo, are releasing genetically modified mosquitoes Aedes Egypti to combat Zika virus. The laboratory is acting in Piracicaba who had a dengue outbreak last summer with 132 cases and after treatment showed only two cases this summer .The Lab will release 250,000 genetically modified mosquitoes in two neighborhoods with a large concentration of incident cases of egypti aedes mosquito, the modified mosquitoes compete with wild mosquitoes and replace them with non-Zika transmitting mosquitoes . (Photos by Victor Moriyama/Getty Images)

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The number of Zika cases on the Chinese mainland climbed to 12 on Monday following the reports from Guangdong Province of the discovery of two new cases, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.



The latest cases involved a 47-year-old father and his 6-year-old daughter. The report said the two tested positive for the virus in Enping City, in Southern China's Guangdong Province.



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In a statement, the provincial health and family planning commission in Guangdong said the father and his daughter arrived from the high-risk country of Venezuela on 3 March



It was already on 5 March when the two developed symptoms of fever and skin rash. They rushed to the hospital for medical checkup and told doctors about their trip. They were later confirmed to have contracted the Zika virus.



The Xinhua report said the two are now undergoing treatment in a Guangdong hospital and are in stable condition.



All of the 12 Zika cases recorded on the Chinese mainland were imported infections, authorities said.



The provincial health and family planning commission is expecting the number of Zika cases to increase in the coming month as a large number of Chinese is returning home from infected nations.



The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine earlier said Chinese coming from affected regions should declare themselves to the quarantine staff when entering China as part of a tightened quarantine measure against the virus.



The administration said those who manifest symptoms such as fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache, and muscle pain should declare themselves to the quarantine staff upon entry.



Zika test kits are available in entry and exit quarantine areas in China as part of the preventive measures, the authority said.



Health authorities also called for the thorough clean up of public venues, bus stations, markets and residential communities to get rid of mosquito breeding grounds.



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Graham: Many 'legal considerations' surround waterboarding 07 March, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

NEW YORK (Christian Examiner)  Evangelist and head of Samaritan's Purse Franklin Graham says he hopes the next president of the United States will "listen to our generals, admirals, and the CIA" on topics such as waterboarding  an interrogation technique which simulates drowning and induces panic.

Graham, who has refused to endorse a candidate, wrote on his Facebook page March 5 that the Republican debate March 3 raised the question as to whether or not waterboarding should be used as a method of obtaining information from terrorists. Graham did not answer the question of whether or not suspects should be waterboarded. Instead, he turned the discussion to military preparedness.

Whoever the next president of the United States ends up being, I pray it will be someone who will listen to our generals, admirals, and the CIA. For the sake of the future of this country, I pray it will be someone who will support our military in doing what they need to do to protect our country and our dearly held freedoms.

"There are many legal considerations, but I can say this for sure. Our military has been cut back  and held back  by the current administration," Graham wrote. "By some analyses, the U.S. military is at its weakest since the end of World War II, while the threats against us are increasing."

During the Republican debate, New York billionaire Donald Trump said he would order waterboarding and even tougher measures while interrogating suspects. Asked if they military would obey the order, Trump said:

"They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse, believe me," Trump said. "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."

"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 now we're talking about waterboarding.

"It's fine, and if we want to go stronger, I'd go stronger, too, because frankly, that's the way I feel. 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."

Trump also said he would target the families of terror suspects if they had provided aid and comfort to terrorists, alleging that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers had sent their wives and children home from the U.S. before they conducted the attacks.

"They knew what was happening," Trump said. "The wife knew exactly what was happening."

In reality, no evidence exists that any of the Sept. 11 hijackers had a wife or children living in the U.S., or even that any of them were married at all. Christian "just war" doctrine also includes the doctrine of non-combatant immunity so women and children will not be targeted.

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, also a retired four-star general, has said the American military would refuse an unlawful order from "President Trump," should he be elected.

"That would be a violation of all the international laws of armed conflict," Hayden said.

Graham said he hopes whoever the next president is, he will listen to his advisers.

"Whoever the next president of the United States ends up being, I pray it will be someone who will listen to our generals, admirals, and the CIA. For the sake of the future of this country, I pray it will be someone who will support our military in doing what they need to do to protect our country and our dearly held freedoms," Graham wrote.

The evangelical preacher and activist then said Islamic militants want to take American freedoms away because "they hate the God of the Bible, and they hate those who follow Him."

"If you're an American, they hate you whether you're a liberal or conservative. They want you to be subject to Sharia law and the god they worship. The god of Islam requires followers to die for him," Graham said. "The God I serve sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for me and to die for you. If you put your faith and trust in Him, He will forgive you of your sins today."
Thousands in Iran are becoming Christian and worshipping in homes hidden from view of the government, according to a ministry focusing on building Christian leaders in Iran.

According to the most recent numbers released by Open Doors USA, an estimate of some 450,000 are Christians in Iran, while other estimates say that the figure could be even higher, up to one million.

Several missionaries are being trained outside the country including from a London-based Pars Theological Centre which is fostering about 200 leaders to spread the gospel in Iran.

"Pars sees this as a real chance to train agents of change who would transform the Iranian society from the bottom up by fostering a grassroots development of the values of Jesus in an Iranian style. This is not a political movement at all, but it will have political implications because it is touching the core foundations of society ... It is not anti-Iranian. It's an Iranian movement. It's a great, great number of Muslims turning to Christ," a source told the Christian Post.

The center was founded by Rev. Mehrdad Fatehi in 2010, and has grown to 200 in three years, but is facing several challenges inside the church.

"While Iran's fast church growth is a cause for celebration, there is serious concern for the lack of depth in the movement and the severe shortage of well-equipped leaders to address this need. The church is facing a leadership crisis that, if not addressed, will damage its health and mission. So there is a great and urgent need for training quality leaders, and to do that there needs to be quality theological and leadership training that is accessible to those who are serving inside the country," the same source said.

The source further added that government persecution makes is difficult to assemble in groups of more than four to five.

The courses taught in the center range from Hermeneutics, Ministry and Teaching of Jesus, Apologetics, Christian Counseling, The Triune God, and The Suffering Church.

As many as 70 percent of the students enrolled in the center live in Iran, and study from offline video lectures and workbooks at their homes.
More than 82,000 individuals gathered at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday for Harvest America, an annual evangelistic event in which Pastor Greg Laurie of the Harvest Crusades speaks on the gospel. Hundreds of thousands more tuned into the event via livestream or radio / TV broadcasts, according to the organizers, and the event was remotely hosted in over 7,200 locations.

Of those who gathered at the stadium, over 6,000 individuals made a faith commitment in response to Laurie's message titled "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," in which Laurie addressed feelings of of loneliness and emptiness, and said that only Jesus is the solution.

The most Google-searched terms during nighttimes are "porn, lonely, and suicide," Laurie noted.

"Not a woman, not a man, not a drug, not an experience, not a possession will fill the emptiness inside you," he said. "God has an answer for your loneliness and it is Jesus Christ, his son."

"Your religious beliefs are not enough, either. You're not good enough on your own," Laurie added. "Jesus alone is uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity."

Major Christian worship artists were present at the event, with Chris Tomlin and MercyMe leading a choir of some 2,500 individuals, along with Switchfoot and Lecrae.

Various notable local church leaders endorsed and promoted the event, including Dr. Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church, Matt Chandler of The Village Church, and Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas. Over 4,000 local church members volunteered during the event to be counselors, ushers, and prayer room volunteers.

Donna Lee, 46, was one of 30 volunteers from her church, New Beginnings Community Fellowship in Cedar Hill. She told The Dallas Morning News that she hopes "that God moves the hearts of a lot of people to come to know him. If one more person comes to know Christ, it will be a success."

The event marks the first Christian event ever hosted at the AT&T Stadium.

Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, located in Riverside, and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, and heads the Harvest Crusades, a series of evangelistic events that have taken place since 1990. More than 5 million people have attended Harvest Crusades and over 450,000 people have responded to the events with faith commitments.
A few weeks ago, my neighbor drove his car into my daughters bedroom. A refugee from Southeast Asia, he had gotten the pedals confused. He spoke no English and appeared distraught after the accident. I tried to comfort him as best as I could while inspecting the cracks in our apartment walls. My manager came by and told me we were luckymost times, the cars crash all the way through, but our apartment had suffered no real structural damage. I tried to feel grateful, but it was difficult. Cars careening into homes was just one of the realities that I could not have anticipated before living and working with refugee communities in the United States.

But even if somebody had told me all that I would experience as I set off to follow Jesusthat cars would crash into my daughters bedroom in our apartment, for exampleIm not sure I would have paid attention anyway. That is the beauty, as well as the great flaw, of setting out to do big and great things for God. It is time, and time alone, that reveals whether or not the conversion ever turned into something real.

Radical Explosion

The past decade has seen an explosion of all things radical as it relates to following Christoften tied to social justice, inequality, wealth, and, more often than not, Shane Claiborne. In 2006, the Eastern University graduate authored The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. It sparked a small, passionate group of mostly 20-somethings who long for community, intimacy with Jesus, and to love those on the margins of society, as this magazine described the movement in 2005. In introducing modern readers to the desert mothers and fathers, Francis of Assisi, ...

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Jerry Bridges, the author who challenged more than a million readers to take seriously Gods command for holiness, died Sunday at 86.

The Bible teacher and speaker served with The Navigators discipleship ministry for nearly 60 years, and wrote the popular book The Pursuit of Holiness among many others.

There was nothing flashy about Jerry Bridges. He was a humble and unassuming manstrong in spirit, if not in voice or frame, wrote Crossways Justin Taylor soon after Bridges was taken off life support following cardiac arrest this past weekend. Now we can rejoice with him in his full and final healing as he beholds his beloved Savior face to face.

A Texas native and Korean War veteran, Bridges joined the Navigators in 1955 and held many administrative positions through the decades. He started writing outside of office hours in 1986, and published The Pursuit of Holiness in 1988.

Much to everyones surprise, including my ...

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When members of his congregation staged an intervention, Pastor Howard Hoekstra was ready. He had tried for 10 years to quit drinkingon his own. So when faced with others' concern, he simply responded, "You're right; I have a problem." That was the day he started his recovery.

Ten years earlier, working as a youth pastor, Hoekstra first wondered if he might have an addiction. Preparing to lead his students in a study about alcoholism, he found a self-assessment in an Alcoholics Anonymous manual. He answered the questions and "flunked" the test. So he tried to curb his drinking.

Hoekstra's parents had strictly prohibited alcohol and kept his grandfather's alcoholism a secret. In college he joined a fraternity and started drinking a lot on weekends. "I didn't think much about it; that was what all the guys did." After college he went to seminary, where "three or four of us used to party a lot." After seminary he drank to ease ...

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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.
60,000 Iranians download Bible using new anonymous app

Tens of thousands of Iranians have downloaded the Bible in the past six months under a new initiative by Christian broadcaster SAT-7, despite intense restrictions by the Iranian government.

More than 60,000 people in Iran have downloaded the Bible in whole or in part since September 2015, when SAT-7 opened a secure chat room service.

The messaging app, Telegram, allows users to send messages anonymously and SAT-7 to offer Christian programmes and secure Bible downloads. This service is especially pertinent in Iran, where social media platforms including Facebook are blocked, and the authorities closely monitor phone calls, text messages and emails.

SAT-7 says it receives 2,000 messages a day from Iranian viewers, thanking it for providing a space for believers to talk and share their faith with one another. Many ask for prayer, or give testimonies of their faith.

"We don't have enough staff to pray for everyone. It's overwhelming," said Benjamin Parsa, audience relations manager of SAT-7 PARS. He added that 1,000 people downloaded the Bible in the first week that it was offered. "This is not a follow-up project anymore; this is a movement."

One user told the broadcaster, which has over 1.7 million viewers in Iran: "This is not just a programme or media ministry, but it is truly our CHURCH for the time being!"

Iran remains one of the most dangerous places to be a Christian, ranking ninth on persecution charity Open Door's list of countries where Christians are targeted for their faith. Converting from Islam  the state religion  to Christianity is punishable by death for men, and life imprisonment for women. Last year, more than 100 Christians were arrested or imprisoned, and a number of them physically or mentally abused.

Iran has a long history of human rights abuses and violence is rapidly escalating across the country, facilitated by laws which allow the legal persecution of minority communities such as Christians and Baha'i Muslims, who have been condemned by Iranian authorities as an "illegal cult".
Alabama and Mississippi named as most religious states in U.S.; Massachusetts and New Hampshire least religious

There are many states in America that are religious, with Alabama, Mississippi, and other Southern states ranking high in the Pew Research Center's latest study.

Its recent Religious Landscape Study revealed that both Alabama and Mississippi were tied as the most religious states in the U.S., with 77 percent of its respondents from those two states saying they are "highly religious."

More than half of Alabama respondents said they attend worship services weekly, while 73 percent said they pray daily. A whopping 82 percent said they believe in God with absolute certainty.

As for Mississippi, under half of them (or 49 percent) said they attend worship services weekly, while 75 percent of them pray daily. Just like in Alabama, 82 percent of them said they believe in God with absolutely certainty.

On the flip side, the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire ranked lowest in the list of religious states, both of them getting only 33 percent. They are followed by Vermont and Maine, both with 34 percent.

"Roughly one-in-five residents of these states report attending religious services at least weekly, and roughly half or fewer say they are certain of God's existence," the study said.

Even though there are several ways of defining what it means to be religious, the study focused on four aspects: worship attendance, prayer frequency, belief in God and the self-described importance of religion in one's life.

"What does it mean to be 'highly religious'? In our analysis, this includes any adult who reports at least two of four highly observant behaviours  attending religious services at least weekly, praying at least daily, believing in God with absolute certainty and saying that religion is very important to them  while not reporting a low level of religious observance in any of these areas, such as seldom or never attending religious services, seldom or never praying, not believing in God and saying that religion is 'not too' or 'not at all' important in their life," the study explained. "We also define a person as 'highly religious' if they report three highly religious behaviours and a low level of religiosity on a fourth measure."
Australian church abuse victims dismayed Pope did not meet them

Australian victims of child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church returned home on Sunday disappointed they did not meet Pope Francis and angry with the evidence a senior Vatican official gave to an inquiry investigating the abuse.

The Vatican said it did not grant a meeting with the group of about 15 abuse victims because they had not made their request through the proper channels while they were in Rome to observe Cardinal George Pell testify.

Pell, who is now the Vatican's treasurer, became the highest ranking Vatican official to give testimony on the issue of systemic abuse within the church. His evidence to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse on cases involving hundreds of children in Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s has taken on wider implications about the accountability of church leaders.

"The simple fact is it's the pope's loss," abuse survivor David Ridsdale told reporters at Melbourne airport regarding the lack of a meeting, according to the Australian Associated Press. "He misses out. It's not our loss."

Ridsdale and the other survivors had traveled to Rome to observe Pell give evidence via videolink after a heart condition stopped the cardinal traveling to Sydney.

Ridsdale, who was abused as a child by his priest uncle, Gerald Ridsdale, said the victims faxed their request to the Prefecture of the Papal Household on the advice of Pell's staff.

The cardinal, whose heart condition prevented him from traveling to Australia to appear, was specifically asked about his knowledge of pedophile priests active in the Victorian city of Ballarat and surrounding regions. That included Ridsdale, who was convicted of 138 offences against more than 50 children in Australia.

While victims groups have rejected Pell's responses as inadequate, Vatican chief spokesman Federico Lombardi released a statement supporting the cardinal.

"Cardinal Pell must be accorded the appropriate acknowledgement for his dignified and coherent personal testimony  20 hours of dialogue with the Royal Commission  from which yet again there emerges an objective and lucid picture of the errors committed in many ecclesial environments, this time in Australia, during the past decades," Lombardi said in a statement posted on the Vatican website.

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 the counseling of priests to solve the problem.
Bangladesh may drop Islam as state religion amid Islamist attacks against minorities

Amid a spate of attacks by Muslim extremists on people belonging to minority groups, Bangladesh is reportedly considering abandoning Islam as its official religion.

A report by the Daily Mail said the country's Supreme Court has started hearing arguments that challenge Islam's status as the official religion of Bangladesh.

The move comes amid incessant attacks by Islamic extremists on people of other faiths such as Hindus, Christians and minority Shi'ites.

Last month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death and two devotees were injured in an attack on a temple in the country. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the killing in a communique posted by the ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity.

Bangladesh declared itself as a separate country after it split with Pakistan in 1971. In 1998, the country declared Islam as its state region. Today, religious minority leaders are disputing this in the latest court battle.

The debate also comes amid a U.S. warning that the terror group is stepping up recruitment in Bangladesh. Government authorities, however, maintain the extremist problems are "home grown."

''We have made arrests on each and every so-called ISIS-claimed attack. The attackers have confessed their crimes in court. They have also confessed being a Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh member, and denied any linkage with ISIS,'' said a Bangladesh police spokesman, Breitbart reported.

But the U.S. National Intelligence Agency insisted the attacks in the South Asian nation were the work of terror groups.

This was manifested in the written testimony of U.S. director of National Intelligence James Clapper that indicated the claims of responsibility from ISIS for 11 high profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities, and claims from the Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent for the killing of at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013.

Huffington Post also reported that local Islamist radicals and ISIS group have in the past claimed responsibility for killing minorities and foreigners. In 2015, seven people including four atheist bloggers and two foreigners were killed in separate attacks

Muslims make up some 90 percent of Bangladesh's population, while Hindus account for 8 percent and other religionsincluding Buddhism and Christianitymake up the rest.
Donald Trump wins 'Islamophobe of the Year' award

Donald Trump has been awarded "Islamophobe of the Year" by an Islamic campaign group.

The victory was announced on Saturday at a satirical event, the "Islamophobia Awards", in London by the Islamic Human Rights Commision (IHRC). Trump's nomination was cited as having "too many reasons to list" prior to the event.

"It is bad enough that anyone can come out with such arrogant, unapologetic bigotry and hate speech but I think what is really frightening is that Donald Trump is supported by such a large number of voters in what is the most powerful nation in the world" said IHRC's chairman Massoud Shadjareh according to Time magazine.

Alongside Trump, other candidates for the award in the "International" category included Geert Wilders, the far-right anti-Islamic Dutch politician and Tajikistan, which has promoted a campaign to eradicate conservative Islam.

David Cameron won the UK category for his "comments about Muslim women needing to learn English and being 'traditionally submissive'", wrote the organisers.

The group said the awards aim "to subvert Islamophobia through comedy and revue while simultaneously addressing a serious and significant issue in a creative manner."

Last year the IHRC was criticised for insensitivity after it gave the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo the award "for their callous, racist cartoon of the drowned Syrian baby refugee Aylan Kurdi."

The organisation defended itself by saying if Charlie Hebdo was allowed to satirise Islam, they had a right to do the same in return.
Faith and politics: What these 2016 US presidential candidates have said about their beliefs

With the excitement of Super Tuesday over, the presidential candidate field is being defined even more. But what about the faith of the candidates? Religious belief is an important topic for many voters when it comes to American politics, with voters almost as keen to know of a potential president's past and present attitudes towards faith as they are to know their policies. It can be a tricky topic for some politicians who become entangled in controversy when their Christianity doesn't appear to be compatible with their political principles. And it can be just as tough for those who try to avoid talking about their beliefs altogether. So how exactly have this year's hopefuls spoken out or shied away from opening up about their beliefs?

Donald Trump

He famously hit back at the Pope after the leader of the Catholic Church appeared to refer to him as un-Christian. Was Pope Francis right? Trump didn't think so...

"No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man's religion or faith."

Trump has also stated that no-one reads the Bible more than he.

Hillary Clinton

The democratic candidate, who could be the United States' first female president, has voiced her support for gay marriage and pro-choice stance on abortion. But how does she personally categorise her relationship with faith?

"My study of the Bible and my many conversations with people of faith has led me to believe that the most important commandment is to love the Lord with all your might, and to love your neighbour as yourself. That is what I think we are commanded by Christ to do."

Mark Rubio

Rubio has made no secret of his Christian beliefs, his strong pro-life stance on abortion (he believes abortion should be illegal in all cases), or the impact that his faith has on how he would govern if he's elected.

"When I'm president, I can tell you this: My faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. "

Bernie Sanders

Regarded by some media outlets as the face of America's more spiritual, less religious society, Sanders' election would make him America's first ever Jewish president. He personally regards himself as a secular Jew.

"It's very easy to turn our backs on kids who are hungry or veterans who are sleeping on the street, but I believe that what human nature is about is that everybody in this room impacts everybody else in all kinds of ways that we can't understand...That's my religion. That's what I believe in."

Ted Cruz

In contrast to Sanders, Cruz has been very vocal about his religious beliefs...

"To have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to know that God's only Son died to pay for my sins, that I was fallen that I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, nothing is more important to me. I am a new creature in Christ, and it central to who I am today."

Ben Carson

Super Tuesday's results brought some disappointing news for the retired neurosurgeon, and he has in fact dropped out of the race today. But here's some of what Carson had to say in the past about how his faith would impact how he would govern on certain issues...

"There is a ton of stuff about how we have an obligation to the poor, from Jesus in particularand I believe that. I believe that our obligation to the poor is not to keep them poor, not to keep them in a state of dependency."
Franklin Graham slams Open Restrooms policy; urges faithful to choose leader who will push 'radical change'

The outspoken Rev. Franklin Graham is fighting a new crusade  and this time it involves a Charlotte, North Carolina ordinance being sponsored by the local mayor that allows people to use the bathroom of their choice instead of being based on biological gender.

Graham said that the open restrooms plan blows the concept of privacy to smithereens and criticised Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the city council for voting 7-4 in favor of the ordinance.

In his Facebook post, Graham said that they are not giving up the fight to oppose the ordinance, which is set to take effect on April 1, since there is also strong opposition from the Governor.

"It's not over though. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has been clear that this is a bad policy and said if the city passed it, immediate legislative action would likely be taken by the state. I hope they will take swift action to strike down this dangerous ordinance or bring it to a referendum for voters to decide," he said.

Graham claimed the policy was dangerous because homosexuals and transgender men would have the legal right to use bathroom facilities for women if they identify as women, something he said violated the privacy of women and young girls.

Aside from sounding off on local issues, Graham also said spoke out on choosing the right leader for America in the upcoming elections, Charisma News reported.

He expressed exasperation over the behavior being exhibited by both members of the Republican and Democratic parties and said that both are "corrupt, clearly broken and need to be overhauled."

He said that there were some good candidates that could actually promote the "radical change" that the country needs, although he refrained from endorsing any candidate.

"Ultimately, the only way this nation can be turned around is for us to acknowledge God and call on His Name. God tells us in His Word, 'If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land' (2 Chronicles 7:14)," he said.
ISIS planning 'enormous and spectacular' attacks on Britain - counter terror chief

Islamic State may be planning "enormous and spectacular" attacks against the UK, the national head of counter-terrorism policing has warned.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the threat from the group which has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq was evolving, and that it was keen to repeat incidents such as last year's Paris shootings and suicide attacks that killed 130 people.

"What we are now seeing in recent months ... is the broadening of that threat, more plans to attack Western lifestyle ... going from that narrow focus on police and military and symbols of the state to something much broader," said Rowley.

"You see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date." This, said Rowley, was the "natural next step" for the group.

British security chiefs have previously warned the biggest threat posed by the group was the radicalisation of young Britons over the internet and the danger posed by those who joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq to return home to carry out attacks.

About 800 British citizens are thought to have travelled to Syria, many to join IS, since the outbreak of civil war.

Rowley said recent arrests showed that IS was adopting a different methodology in trying to get fighters into northern Europe who had weapons and paramilitary training.

"Terrorist groups have always wanted to do the grand and the more spectacular attack because it gets more impact," he said.

He said British police had made more counter-terrorism arrests in 2015 than in any previous year including a marked number of women and people aged under 20.

Britain's terror threat rating is currently rated "severe", one level below "imminent".

Last year the Metropolitan Police carried out a major "stress-test" exercise in London to see how the capital would respond to a Paris-style attack. The results have been kept secret but many of London's buildings are now surrounded with bollards designed to resist bombs.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Mark Driscoll denies racketeering, calls claims 'false and malicious'

Former Mars Hill church Pastor Mark Driscoll has said the accusations made against him in a new legal action are "false and malicious".

The lawsuit was filed last week under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

It claimed Driscoll and his chief elder Sutton Turner demonstrated a "pattern of racketeering activity" in how they ran the now-closed church by "soliciting, through the internet and the mail, contributions for designated purposes". It alleges they "fraudulently used significant portions of those designated contributions for other, unauthorized purposes".

The charges relate to allegations the church used funds donated for missionary work in India and Ethiopia for other causes and paid a company called ResultSource Inc to artifically boost the sales of Mark and Grace Driscoll's book on marriage in order to improve its position in the New York Times bestseller list.

However, in an email to Religion News Service, Driscoll said: "Unfortunately, false and malicious allegations continue to be made against me," adding: "I'm certain that the most recent examples are without any merit."

Driscoll, who recently announced the formation of a new church in Phoenix, Arizona, said: "I remain focused and devoted to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, loving others, and praying for my enemies."

Sutton Turner has reflected on the events surrounding the Mars Hill closure in a series of candid blogs. He said he wrote to his supervisor on August 26, 2011, saying that the plan was poor stewardship and would reflect badly on Mars Hill and Driscoll. However, his advice was not taken and Turner himself signed the contract in October as his supervisor had by then resigned.

Turner was asked by Mars Hill's former attorneys to take down posts he had written about ResultSource but declined to do so.

Regarding the allocation of money from the Global Fund, a major focus of the lawsuit, Turner also admitted a video he had created in 2012 had focused unduly on church-planting in Ethiopia and India, though it had referred to work in the US too.

"I now realise that over time, I did not continue to communicate as well as I should have that Mars Hill Global was doing church planting in the US, Ethiopia, and India," he said. "My personal passion for Ethiopia began to overtake the communication about church planting in the US."

He has expressed remorse about aspects of the church's life and culture.
Mosquito-eating fish being used to fight the spread of Zika virus in Latin America

Governments have been using various tools to fight the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America: fumigation, spraying of insecticides and even a plan to distribute mosquito repellents to athletes during the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Some Christian aid workers, however, are exploring an all-natural way to prevent this public health emergency from further escalating, and they are using something fishy, literally.

Aid workers from the non-profit humanitarian organisation Operation Blessing, which is affiliated with the Christian Broadcasting Network, are distributing the indigenous Sambo fish to residents in Latin America at risk of the Zika virus infection.

This fish, native to El Salvador, is known for feeding on mosquitoesthe same insects that transmit the virus said to be causing physical deformities to babies.

Operation Blessing International President Bill Horan was the one who came up with this unique solution to the Zika virus threat. The same fish was also used to fight mosquito-related diseases in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.

"We are using them, we're distributing them, and we are helping a woman who is raising them down there. But in Mexico now we have the okay right from the cabinet level of the Mexican government to use Gambuja that are found locally in Mexico to eat mosquito larvae," Horan explained, as quoted by CBN.com.

Horan added that some techniques currently being employed to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, such as the use of mosquito bed nets, do not do much to contain these disease-carrying insects.

"Mosquito bed nets are not as effective as they were for most because the Aedes Aegypti sleeps at night. They don't bite often at night. These mosquitoes are especially active right at dawn for about two hours and just before dark for about two hours," he said.

Horan even met with First Lady Ana Hernandez of Honduras to get her support on the mosquito-eating fish project in her nation.

"We're doing a great service, we're saving lives," the group's leader said. "We're eliminating suffering and we're going after this disease at its source, but wherever Zika goes, Operation Blessing is going to go also."

Operation Blessing's Tony Cece said residents in Latin America have begun using the Sambo fish in their homes, because it is all-natural and very hassle-free.

"They're putting the fish in their sinks and into containers like this. Now this one is being used to store the Sambo fish, but in homes they use it to store water," Cece also told CBN.com

"And one of the problems is these are the breeding grounds for the Aedis Aegypti larvae, which are the mosquitoes that carry the viruses like Chicken Gunyan, dengue, and now Zika," he continued.
Nanny who says Allah 'ordered' her to cut off girl's head faces Russia murder charge

An Uzbek babysitter who confessed to the crime of decapitating a four-year-old girl under her care allegedly because she was "ordered'' by Allah to carry out the grisly killing has been formally charged with murder in the case, according to reports.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, confirmed on Friday that the charges have been filed against 38-year old Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, an Uzbek citizen and a mother of three.

Bobokulova told reporters on Wednesday that ''Allah ordered'' her to cut off the head of the girl named Nastya Meshcheryakova, who suffered from epilepsy.

Witnesses saide the Uzbek nanny was dressed in black and shouted "Allahu Akbar!" as she stood outside of the Oktyabrskoye Polye metro station Monday morning, waving the girl's severed head in the air.

She threatened to blow herself up when asked by police to provide proof of her identity. Video footage also shows the woman proclaiming, "I am a terrorist. I am your death."

In the video during an apparent police interrogation, Bobokulova said she did the brutal act to avenge the killing of Syrian Muslims by Russia through its airstrikes.

In addition to killing the girl, Bobokulova was also accused of setting the family's apartment on fire before running off with the child's head. Firefighters found the headless body of the little girl in responding to the blaze.

Prosecutors told the Presnensky District Court that they think individuals who are still at large "incited'' Bobokulova to kill the child.

Authorities said the woman suffers from mental health problems and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation. She was said to be under the influence of psychotropic drugs at the time of the crime.

Bobokulova, who has three sons, had kept her mental illness a secret. She had been divorced, and was in a relationship with another man, who soon went back to his wife, the Daily Mail reported.

In a related development, Bobokulova's eldest son Rakhmatillo Ashurov, 19, was reportedly arrested by authorities over his "connections'' with the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS).

He is currently held in detention in his native Uzbekistan on a 15-day "administrative punishment'' which was applied in order to prevent a crime and as a disciplinary measure,'' the Daily Mail quoted a law enforcement source in Tashkent as saying.

"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.''

The source added: "Operational information is being collected and the family and friends of the family are being interviewed. The materials are being submitted to Russian colleagues.''

Asked by Uzbek police over his mother's role in the killing of a child, he disclosed her delicate mental state. "She was often bad-tempered, could start a scandal from nothing, broke dishes over things. But just a little bit later she behaved normally, as if nothing had happened.''
Nuns among the fatalities in suspected ISIS attack on retirement home in Yemen

At least 16 people have been summarily executed in a retirement home in the Sheikh Osman district in Yemen in an assault allegedly perpetrated by the Islamic State.

According to a report by IBTimes, the victims included four Christian nuns, staff and elderly residents of the facility.

The assailants reportedly gained access to the facility after killing a security guard and proceeded to handcuff the employees and patients. They were later executed by the gunmen who were armed with automatic weapons.

Photographs of the scene of the crime showed the victims with their hands tied behind their backs lying lifeless in a pool of blood. They sustained gunshot wounds to the head, according to authorities.

The assailants were able to flee the scene of the crime before authorities arrived and those responsible for the attack have not yet been confirmed.

Both the Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) have a strong presence in the area but the Daesh, a local branch of the ISIS have claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks in the Aden area, where the facility is situated, in the past couple of months.

A report by The Guardian indicated that there was one nun who survived the attack after hiding inside a fridge when she heard a guard's warning to run.

Sunita Kumar, a spokeswoman for Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa in Kolkata, the members of the charity were shocked by the incident.

"The sisters were to come back, but they opted to stay on to serve people," she said.

Two of the nuns that were killed were from Rwanda, while one was from India and another was from Kenya.

The violence in Yemen has so far caused the deaths of at least 6,200 civilians while 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, UN figures indicate.
Pastor Andy Stanley apologises after saying people who prefer going to small churches are 'so stinking selfish'

Andy Stanley, the senior pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, says he has realised that he made a mistake when he accused people who prefer small churches of being "so stinking selfish."

Writing on his Twitter account (@AndyStanley), Stanley says, "the negative reaction to the clip from last weekend's message is entirely justified. Heck, even I was offended by what I said! I apologise."

"The negative reaction to the clip from last weekend's message is entirely justified. Heck, even I was offended by what I said! I apologise."

Earlier, Stanley said there is a very good reason why people build big churches. "We want churches to be large enough so that there are enough middle schoolers and high schoolers, that we don't have one youth group with middle school and high school together. We want there to be so many adults that there will be so many middle school and high school kids that we can have two separate environments," he said.

Stanley knows that there are Christians who prefer to go to congregations that only have a couple of hundred members, because they like an intimate setting more. However, he does not agree with them.

"When I hear adults say 'well I don't like a big church. I like about 200, I want to be able to know everybody.' I say you are so stinking selfish," he said. "You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don't care about your kids, anybody else's kids."

Stanley understandably upset many churchgoers. Even though they accepted his apology, they said they could not forget what he said. "I forgive you, but it really chapped my hide. I don't think 140 characters is enough. God bless the regular size churches!" commented Matt Krachunis.

He later added, "I may be a bit too upset, but MAN, that was about the most smug thing I've ever heard a mega church guy say."

Fred Liggin IV wrote, "Thanks bro. I appreciate your humility here. I hope one day you can meet some of the folks from our 'small churches' to hear how God is forming them [and] their children."
Pastor shot hours after praying at Ted Cruz rally

An Idaho pastor was shot yesterday hours after he led a prayer rally for Ted Cruz.

Tim Remington was found with multiple gun wounds outside Altar Church in Coeur d'Alene, where he is pastor. The gunman had waited for Remington while he conducted his services and fled before police arrived at the church parking lot.

Remington's nephew Matthew and fellow church members said he was shot four times in the back while walking to his car.

Police later identified Kyle Odom, 30, as a suspect. He is still on the run and was last seen driving away from the church in a silver Honda Accord.

The attack came the day after Remington spoke at rally for Ted Cruz who is second in many polls for the Republican presidential nomination.

The motive for the shooting is under investigation and it is not clear whether it was linked to Remington's support of the Texas senator.

"Our prayers are with Pastor Tim, his family, and the doctors who are supervising his care," Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told NBC News. "We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice."

"We just want to be here for everyone in our congregation. Be here for our pastor. We are going to go to the hospital and wait for the word to make sure he is okay," said one church member according to CBS News.

"He opens his home to people. He takes them in and lets them live in his home," another church member said. "All the people society has turned their backs on, he goes out and he reaches out to them."

Remington is understood to be in a critical but stable condition.
Pope Francis sees 'Arab invasion' bringing positive changes to Europe, enhancing it

Pope Francis has described the influx of migrants into Europe as an "Arab invasion'' that could bring about positive changes to the continent, enhancing it.

Pope Francis was giving a speech to a French Christian group last week when he reflected on Europe's history of migration and the positive impact it has had on its culture today, according to Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

"Today we can talk of Arab invasion. It is a social fact,'' he told his audience on Thursday.

He went on to explain that the arrival of migrants, predominantly from Syria and Iraq, will help Europe in the future by making it more multi-cultural, Bloomberg reported.

The pontiff added that the present situation faced by Europe should be seen from a wider perspective "in time and impact" as he insisted that this continent will "go forward and find itself enhanced by the exchange among cultures.''

"How many invasions has Europe experienced in the course of its history! But it's always been able to overcome them and move forward, finding itself complemented and improved by cultural exchange they brought about.''

He declared that the continent "can bring about a certain unity to the world.''

As of last year, the number of Syrians seeking asylum in Europe doubled to 362,800 while the number of Iraqis jumped to 121,500, the European Commission said Friday. Huge number of migrants and asylum seekers mostly from Africa are also entering Europe.

The seemingly endless streams of people have led to tension among the 28 nations in the continent.

Some political leaders expressed belief the newcomers should be seen as a new resource.

The news comes as Greek's Prime Minister Alexis Tsiparas accused Austria and other Balkan countries of "ruining Europe'' by imposing border restrictions, which have been designed to try and slow the flow of migrants heading north from Greece.

Currently, some 30, 000 migrants are stranded in Greece, waiting for Macedonia to reopen its border so they can continue their northward trek, mostly to Germany, the Daily Mail reported.

"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 published Saturday.
Priest resigns after receiving racist abuse and death threats for defending refugees

A Catholic priest has resigned after receiving death threats and racist abuse in southern Germany.

Oliver Ndjimbi-Tshiende is of Congolese origin and told parishioners of his decision during a service on Sunday.

The resignation came after tensions erupted betwenn Ndjimbi-Tshiende and two local politicians from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party. The 66-year-old priest had criticised local CSU leader Sylvia Boher who had spoken on an "invasion" of Eritrean "refugees from military service", according to the BBC.

The comments were made in reference to a surge in the number of Eritreans seeking asylum in Germany as they flee spending years in military service for awful pay and appalling conditions.

After Ndjimbi-Tshiende's intervention another CSU politician, Johann Haindl, racially abused the priest.

Both Haindl and Boher have been heavily criticised and resigned from their posts. Police are now investigating a suspected crime of racial incitement and abuse.

A statement on the parish's website said: "We are shocked and saddened by these [death] threats." Ndjimbi-Tshiende had been preaching in the town near Munich in Bavaria since 2012.

An online petition has been launched to urge him to stay but the Catholic Church Archbishopric in Munich has said it plans to transfer him to a new post as early as April 1.
Queen 'opposed gay marriage because of her strong Christian faith'

The Queen did not believe gay marriage should have been allowed, a source told the Daily Mail.

The newspaper cites a "friend" as saying she favoured civil partnerships but because of her deep Christian faith, did not support same-sex marriage. This is because she believed the traditional Christian teaching that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Same-sex marriage legislation was passed in England and Wales in 2013 and came into force in 2014. It was passed in Scotland in 2014. It is still not allowed in Northern Ireland.

The Queen reportedly told her friend she was frustrated but powerless to intervene.

The friend said: "I said to her, couldn't she do something about it, and she replied: 'I can't. I can only advise and warn.'"

The friend added: "It was the 'marriage' thing that she thought was wrong, because marriage ought to be sacrosanct between a man and a woman."

The article is the first in a series being published by the paper to mark Her Majesty's 90th birthday next month.

Buckingham Palace did not comment because it never comments on what are regarded as private matters.

The Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which strongly opposes gay marriage and secured protection from having to allow gay marriages to take place in its churches without a change in the law.

Last year Pink News reported a story recounted by comedian and actor Stephen Fry that the Queen thought gay marriage was actually a good thing.

Fry told the Jonathan Ross Show: "When the Queen signed the Royal Assent for the equal marriages act, allowing gay people to marry for the first time, she put it down and said 'Well, who'd have thought 62 years ago when I came to the throne, I'd be signing something like this? Isn't it wonderful?'"

Fry continued: "I am so proud to live in the country where [acceptance] seems to be the absolute majority view."
Rubio wins Puerto Rico but still badly trails Trump, Cruz as he sets sight on March 15 Florida winner-take-all race

In a consolation of sorts after getting drubbed on Super Saturday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio easily won the Republican presidential primary in Puerto Rico on Sunday, getting all the 23 delegates at stake. He was the only candidate in the four-man GOP field to campaign on the island, whose residents cannot vote in the U.S. general election, Fox News reported.

Even with his new delegate haul, Rubio still badly trails front-runner Donald Trump who had a total delegate count of 384 after all the votes were counted in Saturday's contests in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine, according to the New York Times tally board. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz inched closer with 300 delegate total while Rubio had 125. Ohio Gov. John Kasich brought up the rear with 37.

His Puerto Rico victory was the second for Rubio who won the Minnesota GOP Caucus on Super Tuesday.

Rubio is placing most, if not all, of his hopes in his home state, which will vote on March 15, seeing this as the turning point of his campaign. There are 99 delegates up for grabs in that winner-take-all contest. But winning in Florida will be an uphill climb for Rubio since Trump leads in the polls.

However, the Puerto Rico win should help Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, rally South Florida's big Latino voting bloc, pundits say.

On Tuesday, March 8, four states will hold their GOP contests with a total delegate haul of 150 broken down as follows: Michigan with 59 delegates, Mississippi with 40, Idaho with 32 and Hawaii with 19.

On Saturday, March 12, the District of Columbia will hold its Republican convention where 19 delegates are up for grabs. Guam will also hold its GOP convention where nine delegates are at stake.

Then on March 15, Aside from Florida, four other delegate-rich Republican races will take place. In North Carolina, 72 delegates are at stake. In Illinois, the winner takes most of its 69 delegates. In Ohio, Kasich's home state, the winner takes all the 66 delegates. Missouri offers 52 delegates while Northern Mariana Islands holds a winner-take-all caucus with nine delegates for the taking.

Rubio downplayed his performance in the four states that held GOP caucuses or primaries on Saturday, saying that he had had long known "this would be the roughest period of the campaign," The Hill reported.
Saeed Abedini: 'I saw Christians convert to Islam in prison'

Saeed Abedini says he saw Christians "with very strong faith" turn to Islam in prison as pressures mounted, and has urged his followers to "keep going, no matter what the circumstances".

Abedini, a Christian convert, was freed from Iranian prison in January, where he had been serving an eight-year sentence on charges of "undermining national security".

In a Facebook post he said the difficulties of prison took their toll on some of his fellow inmates.

Many "religious and political prisoners who started out with very strong faith, thoughts and actions while going through so many changes in their country and world" were worn down by jail, Abedini said.

"I saw some Christian[s] who were put in prison because they would not deny their faith and they kept doing their ministry. But unfortunately, I saw some of these heroes of the faith weaken through the difficulties and hardships of prison," he said. "I heard one of the Christians prayed Namaz Islamic prayer to make his situation easier."

Abedini added: "I saw some political prisoners who started obeying the Intelligence Police of Iran to get free or make their situation easier in prison. We do not know how strong our faith really is until it is tested."

He urged his Facebook followers to hold fast to their faith, whatever difficulties they faced.

"Jesus has a reason for telling us to finish what we have started with Him and keep going forward in our Biblical values. Our reward is waiting at the end of our journey," he said.

"I started a ministry that had thousands of people but so many are not serving the Lord anymore because they did not calculate the price to walk this road to the end. Sometimes we want to blame others for causing us to fall away. We have to take responsibility for our walk with the Lord.

"We should not turn back from God's calling on our life. Keep going, no matter what the circumstances. He is waiting at the end of this life's road to take your hand and say 'Well done, good and faithful servant'. To Him be the Glory."

Iranian-born but with duel US-Iranian citizenship, Abedini was arrested in July 2012. He was found guilty the following January of having "undermined the Iranian government by creating a network of Christian house churches and ... attempting to sway Iranian youth away from Islam". Originally held in the notorious Evin prison, he was moved to Rajai Shahr prison later in 2013.

He was freed as part of a prisoner-swap on January 16 this year following a high-profile campaign for his release.
Sunday trading: Scottish Christian and Muslim leaders urge MPs to vote against change in law

Christian and Muslim leaders have united to urge Scottish MPs to block the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws.

The most senior Catholic in Scotland, the Archbishop of Glasgow Most Rev Philip Tartaglia, joined Salah Beltagui from the Muslim Council of Scotland and Rev David Robertson, Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland and others to seek to persuade MPs to vote against the changes.

A joint letter argued the issue "most certainly is" a matter for Scotland and called on all Scottish MPs to "stand up for Scottish workers and Scotland" and vote against the proposals.

It is signed by faith leaders from the Catholic, Episcopal and Free Churches in Scotland who were joined by campaign groups including CARE, the Christian Institute and the Evangelical Alliance.

The proposals were initially introduced in November but were dropped after Conservative rebels formed an "unholy alliance" with Labour and SNP MPs. With the government's slender majority of 17, it is vulnerable to rebellions from within its own party when there is a united opposition.

However the changes were re-introduced as a last minute addition to the Enterprise Bill and there are signs the SNP, which control 54 of Scotland's 59 seats, have now dropped their opposition.

"We may now abstain if we're confident our concerns have been met," said one source, according to the BBC.

Labour have seized on the opportunity to apply pressure on the SNP ahead of May's Scottish elections. Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale have signed a letter calling on the 54 SNP MPs to vote against the change.

The faith leader's letter on Monday will add to the mounting pressure on the SNP who were set to meet with trade unions ahead of a vote expected on Wednesday.

The move comes after the government was accused of "misleading" MPs by implying liberalisation of laws would only apply to high streets.

Local government minister Brandon Lewis told The Daily Telegraph councils would be able to "draw a red line around high streets "so that they had the liberalisation, but not the out of town shops".

"I would hope that people who have concerns will have a look at that, and also at the improved workers' rights, and it would help to alleviate their concerns to make sure it works for people."

However Keep Sunday Special (KSS), a coalition of organisation including unions and the Church of England, said there were no new clauses that "ensure or even promote the use of new powers for high street or town centre locations."

A KSS spokesperson said: "Brandon Lewis's comments in the Telegraph are misleading. There have been no extra amendments or changes to amendments put in place ahead of the vote this week to help town centres or 'draw a line' around shopping districts. The Government is attempting to press ahead with its original plans to give councils free reign over the Sunday trading hours in their area, whilst trying to dress the plans up as helping high streets."
Tennessee House OKs resolution opposing U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling on same-sex marriage

The Tennessee House of Representatives passed on Thursday a symbolic resolution expressing its opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court decision last June that legalised same-sex marriage in the country.

Lawmakers passed Joint Resolution 529 sponsored by Republican state Rep. Susan Lynn that calls the Supreme Court ruling a "constitutional overreach."

It says "this body expresses its strong disagreement with the constitutional overreach in Obergefell v. Hodges that, in violation of the constitutional and judicially recognised principles of federalism and separation of powers, purports to allow federal courts to order or direct a state legislative body to affirmatively amend or replace a state statute."

During the discussion of the bill on the floor, Lynn said the resolution is in support of a "lawsuit that is going on in Williamson County" which seeks to stop the issuance of marriage licences since the Supreme Court's June ruling said that "state laws ... are ... held invalid to the extent they exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples."

Lynn told The Tennessean that the resolution reminds the Supreme Court of the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government and that it violated the doctrine of severability.

"They can't decree that we now have to marry same-sex couples. Our law does not say that, it's never said that, and it was never the intent of the General Assembly to do that," she said.

The resolution says the Tennessee law prescribes that "applicants for a marriage license be a 'male and female' and that there be a valid license 'before' a marriage can be solemnized. This would appear to 'exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.'"

It cites the dissenting opinions of Chief Justice John Roberts and the late justice Antonin Scalia on the same-sex issue.

In his dissent, Roberts wrote that "the Court's accumulation of power does not occur in a vacuum. It comes at the expense of the people. And they know it."

"With each decision of ours that takes from the People a question properly left to themwith each decision that is unabashedly based not on law, but on the reasoned judgment of a bare majority of this Courtwe move one step closer to being reminded of our impotence," wrote Scalia.

The Tennessee Senate is expected to pass the resolution.
The 12 apostles: Myth or reality? Why we can still believe the Bible

Last month my esteemed Christian Today colleague Martin Saunders wrote a piece about the "three words that could save the internet (and make you happier)"  an irresistible headline that turned out to refer to "Be Kind Online". "It feels good to help each other, to encourage, build up; shine a light into someone's day," he wrote.

I've tried, I honestly have. And in writing about a National Geographic author interview with someone who's written a book about the 12 apostles, I will make a titanic effort not to say exactly what I think about the editorial policy that lets such books into print.

The work itself, Apostle, isn't out till next month, so I haven't read it. Normally, therefore, I wouldn't comment on it. However, by giving an interview to the Nat Geog, author Tom Bissell has made himself fair game.

Bissell, a lapsed Catholic, set off "to discover whether the Twelve Apostles were actual historical figures or merely characters in a fictional story". His idea of historical research is to walk the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrim route in Spain, visit the place where Judas reportedly hanged himself, and hunt (in vain) for a mysterious monastery in Kyrgyzstan where Matthew is supposed to be buried. He admits one of the greatest inspirations for the book is Monty Python's Life of Brian.

He tells the interviewer: "A couple of the names recorded in the New Testament are probably actual people. There was probably a Peter and a John, definitely a James (the brother of Jesus), and probably a Thomas. Beyond that, there's nothing historical that verifies their existence other than the gospels themselves. So I think they're a mixture of fact and fiction."

The trouble is that this might equally well be said of Bissell's book. He tells us, for instance, that James, the brother of Jesus, "definitely existed", but uses contested evidence from the Jewish historian Josephus to back up his claim. He asserts, on no evidence whatsoever, that James was Jesus' older brother and that this "confounds everything orthodox Christians accept about the virgin birth".

Of the infamous "James Ossuary" which supposedly contained his bones, he says: "I've not seen the ossuary and I'm not a trained archaeologist, but I'm perfectly willing to believe that James could have had a secreted away tomb, with an ossuary."

But it's in his comment about what would "verify the existence" of the apostles that he shows his hand, and a pretty poor one it is. For something to be "true", he says, it has to be confirmed by a secular  and therefore rigorously factual, unbiased and trustworthy  account. If it's only in the Bible, you can safely assume it's fiction.

All we have to go on is the interview, and the book might be full of far more detailed analysis, but I doubt it.

So here are my gripes about this kind of writing, which has more in common with Dan Brown than with any serious historical research.

1. It fails to take the Bible seriously as history. Bissell  and plenty of others like him  have decided the apostles probably didn't exist on grounds that would also rule out the existence of Jesus and Paul. If you're going to pick and choose what you believe, at least be honest and say that's what you're doing.

2. It's bad history. Anyone who blithely asserts that James was the elder brother of Jesus and so this disproves the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is not a serious historian.

3. It privileges the secular over the sacred. It assumes 'real' history comes from outside the Bible; anything in it is automatically suspect. But granting  as Bissell himself does  that these stories were shaped toward an end rather than being bald narrations of fact, the idea that the authors would simply have invented whole chunks of narrative just doesn't hold water. They were concerned for the truth. We might, depending on our theory of biblical inspiration, accept they made mistakes; accepting they told lies is a different thing altogether.

4. It appears to argue from the insecurity of later traditions about the apostles to their non-existence at all. But if Bissell goes to Santiago de Compostella and finds no evidence James was there (it's not clear from the interview), this says nothing about the existence of James. Ditto if he goes to Kyrgyzstan and finds no evidence for Matthew. There's no earthly reason why he should, and the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Most Christians are perfectly at ease with biblical criticism and with the idea that the Bible can be analysed in terms of how and when it was written. Things aren't always as they seem, we know that. The last 200 years has seen the Bible comprehensively taken apart. But it's also seen it put back together, as well, and the onus is still on those who doubt the fundamental reliability of the New Testament stories to prove their case. In fact, nothing's more likely than that the minor characters in the Gospel story should have disappeared. The story is not about them, it's about Jesus. A far more interesting question than why most of the apostles faded out of history is, why Jesus has not.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter:@RevMarkWoods
U.S. lawmakers ask U.N. rights chief: Did you really advice parents to kill their unborn child because of Zika?

Did the United Nations human rights chief just endorse abortion as a way to combat the spread of the Zika virus, which has already been declared a public health emergency?

Fifty-one pro-life members of the U.S. Congress urged United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to clarify his statements where he appeared to be recommending that parents in nations affected by the Zika virus crisis be allowed to kill their unborn child.

"We implore you to clarify your statement to make clear you are not lending your voice to efforts to capitalise on this disease to promote a politically motivated pro-abortion agenda," the lawmakers said in a letter to Zeid dated Feb. 25.

"We hope that your recent remarks do not favour abortion as a public health tool to tackle the Zika virus, and would appreciate a response with your clarification," they added.

The U.S. Congress members were referring to a statement posted on the U.N. website last Feb. 5, where Zeid called "for the repeal of laws and policies that restrict access to sexual and reproductive health services in contravention of international standard."

"The advice of some governments to women to delay getting pregnant ignores the reality that many women and girls simply cannot exercise control over whether or when or under what circumstances they become pregnant, especially in an environment where sexual violence is so common," Zeid said in the statement.

"Many of the key issues revolve around men's failure to uphold the rights of women and girls, and a range of strong measures need to be taken to tackle these underlying problems," he added.

Further confusion on the statement ensued when Zeid's spokesperson, Cecile Pouilly, said that countries which criminalise abortion such as El Salvador should change their laws.

"That's why we are asking those governments to go back and change those laws because how can they ask these women not to become pregnant? But also not offer them first information that is available but also the possibility to stop their pregnancies if they wish so," Pouilly said, as quoted by Reuters.

In their letter to Zeid, the lawmakers emphasised the "beauty and preciousness of all life."

"We believe the Zika virus should be a time for thoughtful deliberation as local and national governments determine the best policies to curb the spread of this disease. It should not be an occasion to exploit a genuine public health crisis to advance a political agenda to overturn the laws of many nations which are protective of life at all stages of development," they said.
Washington Supreme Court agrees to hear case of Christian florist who was slapped with anti-discrimination suit

The Washington Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear the case of a Christian florist who was found by a court in February last year to have violated the state's anti-discrimination law for refusing to sell flowers to a same-sex couple for their wedding.

Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, is seeking to reverse the lower court's decision.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a brief with the state Supreme Court last month to challenge the ruling and the state and the American Civil Liberties Union's arguments about the case.

According to the ADF, the lower court ordered Stutzman to pay penalties and attorney's fees for refusing to use her artistic abilities to make flower arrangements for long-time customer Rob Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed.

Ingersoll has been Stutzman's client and a friend for nearly 10 years. Ingersoll approached Stutzman on March 1, 2013 to seek her services in arranging flowers for his wedding.

Stutzman instead referred Ingersoll to other florists in the area who could provide such services.

"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," said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner. "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."

ADF Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said, "No one should face personal and professional ruin simply for exercising these foundational freedoms. Americans clearly oppose unjust government actions that force people to create expression against their will."

In its brief, the ADF said, "The case boils down to this question: Is there room in our tolerant, diverse, and freedom-loving society for people with different views about the nature of marriage to establish their 'religious (or nonreligious) self-definition in the political, civic and economic life of our larger community...?' The trial court's and [the state's and the ACLU's] answer is 'no.'"

It added, "This is contrary to the best of our historical and constitutional traditions, which mandate that citizens who hold non-majoritarian views be given room to express them and not be coerced, punished and marginalised through force of law."

The ADF said the trial court, the state and ACLU's opinion "that there can never be a free speech exception to public accommodation lawsendangers everyone."

In an op-ed piece in The Seattle Times, Stutzman wrote, "This case is not about refusing service on the basis of sexual orientation or dislike for another person who is preciously created in God's image. I sold flowers to Rob for years. I helped him find someone else to design his wedding arrangements. I count him as a friend."

She added, "I want to believe that a state as diverse as Washington, with our long commitment to personal and religious freedoms, would be as willing to honour my right to make those kinds of choices as it is to honour Rob's right to make his."
Women-owned businesses for the first time have won 5 percent of the federal government's small business contracts, the Small Business Administration announced this week in a celebratory press release.

That's right, women entrepreneurs have a whopping 5.05 percent "of all federal small business eligible contracting dollars," which total $17.8 billion.

In the words of a 1970s cigarette ad, "You've come a long way, baby."

Or not.

With Hillary Clinton a front-runner to become the first woman nominated for the presidency by a major political party, 5 percent strikes me as a remarkably low number. Especially when there are more than 10 million women-owned businesses, and 1,200 new ones are started every day.

Government contracting is an important avenue for any business looking to expand. The contracts are significant and the customer reliable. That's one reason why most governments have programs to help historically underutilized businesses - because these contracts can make a real difference in correcting past discrimination and economic deprivation.

States also have programs to help minority-owned businesses, but the last study of Texas in 2009 showed that 92.3 percent of state contracts still go to Anglo-owned businesses. Anglos only make up 46 percent of Texas' population.

When it comes to government contracting, white men still rule the roost. Even though minorities are starting the majority of new businesses. Does anyone else smell a good ol' men's club?

Texas and the United States have come a long way in correcting past wrongs in many respects, but when it comes to business, much work remains to be done. Much of the problem is cultural, as a business woman pointed out in a recent essay for Salon.com. But if we want to keep our economy growing, it must keep up with the demographic changes in our society and guarantee equal opportunity. From the looks of things, we have much work to do. Short-term disparities leads to long-term problems.
Houston chef Matt Marcus is collaborating with Hospitality USA to create a menu for a new brand, Restless Palate, to debut in Katy in April.

Restless Palate is described as a "fresh, and health-focused restaurant ... developed with healthier ingredients," according to a press release. Hospitality USA's other brands include the popular Local Pour, Baker St. Pub & Grill, Sherlock's Baker Street Pub and Watson's House of Ales. The new restaurant will be located in La Centerra Shopping Center in Cinco Ranch, at 2643 Commercial Center Blvd.
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On a typical day near Houston's Barker and Addicks reservoirs, it's quite beautiful in the 26,000-acre recreational green space.

But then it rains.

The two dams are among six in the nation deemed "extremely high risk" by the US Army Corps of Engineers, according to Houston Public Media. They are located on either side of the Katy Freeway at Highway 6.

RELATED: Removing dam to free trapped, primeval fish could be costly

"We have seepage that's occurring under the conduits themselves," Richard Long, the on-site manager for the US Army Corps of Engineers told HPM. "It can get worse and worse and worse."

If the dams were to fail during a large rain, experts estimate the downstream flooding could cause about $60 billion in damage to downtown Houston, development along the Houston Ship Channel and the Texas Medical Center.

To prevent the worst from happening, a $75 million federal project to fix the Barker and Addicks dam gates will be complete by 2019. A public meeting will be hosted 6:30-8:30 p.m. March 9 at the Bear Creek Community Center to discuss the project and answer questions.

The dams are just two of the 7,000 Texas dams listed as "hazardous," according to DamSafetyAction.org.
Dear Abby:

I need some relationship advice. How do you handle household expenses with a partner?

My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for 10 years. In all this time, he has never once split any of the expenses with me. I pay for everything. He does buy groceries, although not all of them. He also helps around the house and with my daughter.

If I bring up the issue of sharing expenses, it turns into a fight. He says he's "sorry" he doesn't make enough money. Then he says all that matters to me is money and threatens to move out.

I feel completely taken advantage of because he does have the money to make $300-plus monthly payments for his new boat that's sitting in my garage. To me, it's all about priorities. I would like a new car, but I have other monthly bills to pay.

Is it just me, or is this unfair?

Up to Here With It in South Dakota

Dear Up To Here:

It's not just you. You have been carrying the lion's share of the load. But unless you are finally ready to insist upon a new arrangement with this man - who has had it pretty good for the past 10 years - nothing will change.

It's time to ask yourself whether what he does contribute - on every level - is enough to satisfy you. If it isn't, be prepared to tell him you need to find an equal partner, and if he's unwilling to be that person, he should move.

Dear Abby:

Four years ago, I had major affection for a man. We talked every chance we could. We arranged times we could sit together and just talk. There was lots of flirting, eye contact and this overwhelming feeling of bliss - butterflies in the stomach - all of that.

The problem was he was married. Once I realized it, I was devastated because I understood what I wanted could never be. I feel so lost. I'm now considering going to counseling.

Now there's someone else, and it's the same problem - just a different setting.

I feel so guilty for crushing on unattainable men. What's wrong with me? Why can't I like someone who is available?

I don't want to feel this way, but I know that when I try to fight these feelings they just become stronger. I won't act on them, but I wish I could change them. How can I?

Feeling Guilty in Ohio

Dear Feeling Guilty:

The quickest way to do that would be to talk about these feelings with a licensed mental health professional. When you do, be prepared to touch on all of your relationships with men, including your father - who is usually the first "unattainable" man with whom a little girl falls in love. I am pretty sure you will find that conversation illuminating.

Once you understand your feelings, it may be easier for you to find a man who is truly available.

DearAbby.comDear AbbyP.O. Box 69440Los Angeles, CA 90069Universal Press Syndicate
Larycia Hawkins, who last month left a teaching post at Illinois' Wheaton College amid discord stemming from her assertion that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, has joined the University of Virginia as a visiting faculty fellow.

Hawkins had taught political science at the evangelical Midwestern college for seven years, when in the weeks before Christmas she donned a Muslim head scarf in solidarity with Islamic faithful.
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Shannon Miles, the man accused of gunning down a Harris County deputy, will remain in jail at least three more months before he is sent to a state mental hospital, a judge ruled Monday.

State District Judge Susan Brown's decision to keep Miles in line behind at least 60 other inmates in the Harris County lock-up was met with chagrin by state Sen. John Whitmire.

TIMELINE: How the shooting of Deputy Darren Goforth unfolded a sex scandal

"This is a sick man," Whitmire said after a brief hearing, for which he was subpoenaed but did not testify. He said defense lawyers for Miles were stalling to keep the 31-year-old from going to trial on capital murder charges.

Attorneys for Miles filed a motion last week to keep Whitmire from trying to get the accused man to a state hospital before the dozens of Harris County jail inmates in line ahead of him.

BACKGROUND: Lawyer in Goforth shooting wants lawmaker to stop interfering

Defense attorney Anthony Osso has said the case is too important to let a legislator intervene, a charge Whitmire rejected.

Whitmire was subpoenaed to testify about his intervention in the high-profile case. Proceedings in the capital murder case against Miles slowed to a crawl last month after he was declared incompetent to stand trial.

SCANDAL: Sheriff's office fires another deputy accused of relationship with Goforth witness

Brown committed Miles to a state hospital for 120 days to regain competency. That commitment was expected to be delayed at least three months because of a backlog of other inmates across the state who have also been committed.

After Whitmire read media accounts of the situation, he arranged for Miles to go to the front of the line, a move protested by his attorneys who said they do not want special treatment.

On Monday, the judge said she would sign an order prohibiting the sheriff's office from sending Miles to a maximum security state hospital before the other inmates in line ahead of him. She said she would also prohibit the state agency that oversees the process from taking him out of order.

"Mr. Miles is no more or less important than anyone else on the list, some of whom have been waiting for more than 100 days," Brown said from the bench. "It occurs to me that the fairest thing is for Mr. Miles to remain where he is on the list."

Prosecutors did not weigh in on the controversy during the hearing or afterward.

"We have no dog in this hunt," Assistant District Attorney Marcy McCorvey said in court.
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It takes a confident, commanding performer to conquer the RodeoHouston stage. The venue is cavernous. The crowd is huge. Sound can be a challenge. And it's rotating. Even the most seasoned acts can stumble.

Shawn Mendes, then, deserves huge props for his act of bravery Sunday inside NRG Stadium. The 17-year-old Canadian singer took the stage accompanied by just his acoustic guitar. No band or dancers or backup singers.

"This happens to be one of the most incredible things I've seen in my entire life," he told the crowd of 71,976. It was the biggest to date this year.

Mendes said he was "super nervous" but was warm and sincere with the crowd. He frequently asked them to cheer and sing along. They obliged at ear-piercing levels.

He strummed through several songs from 2015's "Handwritten" album, including "Something Big," "Life of the Party" and "Aftertaste."

Ed Sheeran is a clear influence, and his sound was most evident on standout "I Don't Need to Know Your Name." Mendes also included a gritty cover of Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud."

Because there were no distractions or big plays to the crowd, it felt like a fully realized, fleshed-out performance. There were highs, lows and moments of real artistry. Hit single "Stitches," of course, inspired the night's biggest singalong. And the entire stadium lit up during plaintive ballad "Never be Alone."

If Mendes wasn't already one, this would be a star-making moment. And it'll likely stand as one of the RodeoHouston season's highlights.

"I was recently on tour with Taylor Swift. And this is what it sounded like every night. I'm still not used to it," he said. "I love it here. I love Texas. This is amazing."
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A joke inside a Facebook post shared from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller's official Facebook page last Friday night didnt land as well as Miller would have liked.

But in comparison to some of the other things that Miller has shared (and had to delete soon after) from his Facebook page, this was rather benign.

On Friday night Miller posted a photo of a large dead rattlesnake with ten smaller dead rattlesnakes posed on the side of the rattler to look as if they were suckling from the larger snake.

Millers caption was meant to be light-hearted, but more than a few fans of the ag commish didnt seem to get his humor.

Spring time is around the corner. Mama rattlers will be emerging with newly hatched young. They seek warm sunshine to lay in and nurse their young. Watch your dogs and children. They become aggressive and will chase you, Miller wrote.

We all know, or should know, that rattlesnake mamas dont nurse their young, but some commenters thought that Miller had likely begun his weekend too early and had forgotten an important part of rattlesnake biology.

Snakes, being reptiles, aren't mammals and thus they do not nurse their young. They might eat them but they don't feed them milk from teats.

This isnt the first time that Miller has run afoul of the Facebook police, although this incident is a bit less controversial.

RELATED: Ag Commish takes down FB post about Muslims

A Facebook post in August was removed soon after a meme featuring the detonation of an atomic bomb and a message suggesting "the Muslim world" should face the same fate went viral on social media.

"Japan has been at peace with the U.S. since August 9, 1945. It's time we made peace with the Muslim world," stated the original post, which features the hashtags #noislamknowpeace and #COMETAKE and what appears to be a photograph of the 1957 nuclear bomb tests in Nevada.

Miller's page shared the post around 5 p.m. on a Sunday, but removed the post about 11:15 a.m. the next day. Miller's special assistant Luke Bullock later said the post was made without the commissioner's knowledge by a staffer who does not work for the state agency.

"It was an error by a staffer. The posting did not reflect the views of Commissioner Miller and as a result it's been removed," Bullock said, calling the post "inappropriate." He added Miller "will ensure that future postings do not reflect views that do not align with his view."

RELATED: Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller compares snakes to refugees, likes 'dead ones won't bite' comment

Later in November 2015, Commissioner Miller compared Syrian refugees to rattlesnakes in a Facebook meme post.

"Can you tell me which of these rattlers won't bite you? Sure some of them won't, but tell me which ones so we can bring them into the house," the Republican posted to his campaign's page along with photos of a rattlesnake pit and hundreds of refugees.

A representative from the Agriculture Department told the Texas Tribune, who first reported the on the post, that state officials do not "monitor or maintain this page," and directed questions to Millers staff.

Thankfully for Miller the only people who were bothered by his most recent rattlesnake-related post were just armchair reptologists and those who dont understand deadpan.
AUSTIN -- At a time when much of the political conversation in Texas centers on whether Mexico can be made to pay for a border wall, Texas' southern neighbor has repaid a longstanding debt -- in water.

Officials said Monday that Mexico has paid off its water debt to Texas, achieving compliance with a 1944 treaty on water in the Rio Grande for the first time in five years.

In recent years, as drought caused water shortages across the Lone Star State, the debt had become an increasing issue for businesses and ranchers along the border who depend on the river. Critics of Mexico wondered whether the debt would ever be settled, as they complained that Mexico was continuing to use more than its share of water in the border river.

The issue had been critical in areas of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where agricultural interests use water from the river for crop and produce production.

Officials with the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission said Mexico fully repaid the amount of water it owed the United States on Jan. 25.

Under the 1944 treaty, the United States is entitled to a third of the water arriving in the Rio Grande from six Mexican tributaries for a total of at least 1,75 million acre feet over five years. Officials said that at the end of the 2010-2015, Mexico owed the United States about 15 percent -- more than 263,000 acre feet -- because it had used more than its allotment.

"This success exemplifies the cooperation that now exists between the United States and Mexico to address the water needs of both c0untries," said U.S. Commissioner Edward Drusina. "Water debts may sometimes be unavoidable, but all water owners along our common border need to have annual notifications of how much water they can expect to receive the next year in order to plan accordingly."

Gov. Greg Abbott, who had worked to resolve the water debt in previous talks with top Mexican officials, applauded the benchmark.

"Achieving compliance with the 1944 water treaty has been a priority since I became governor," Abbott said in a statement. "By working effectively and collaboratively with Mexico, we will ensure that the water needs are met on both sides of the border, particularly for landowners in Texas' Rio Grande Valley."
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Something really dramatic is happening to our media landscape, the public sphere, and our journalism industry, almost without us noticing and certainly without the level of public examination and debate it deserves. Our news ecosystem has changed more dramatically in the past five years than perhaps at any time in the past five hundred. We are seeing huge leaps in technical capabilityvirtual reality, live video, artificially intelligent news bots, instant messaging, and chat apps. We are seeing massive changes in control, and finance, putting the future of our publishing ecosystem into the hands of a few, who now control the destiny of many.

Social media hasnt just swallowed journalism, it has swallowed everything. It has swallowed political campaigns, banking systems, personal histories, the leisure industry, retail, even government and security. The phone in our pocket is our portal to the world. I think in many ways this heralds enormously exciting opportunities for education, information, and connection, but it brings with it a host of contingent existential risks.

Journalism is a small subsidiary activity of the main business of social platforms, but one of central interest to citizens.

The internet and the social Web enable journalists to do powerful work, while at the same time helping to make the business of publishing journalism an uneconomic venture.

Two significant things have already happened that we have not paid enough attention to:

First, news publishers have lost control over distribution.

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Social media and platform companies took over what publishers couldnt have built even if they wanted to. Now the news is filtered through algorithms and platforms which are opaque and unpredictable. The news business is embracing this trend, and digital native entrants like BuzzFeed, Vox, and Fusion have built their presence on the premise that they are working within this system, not against it.

Second, the inevitable outcome of this is the increase in power of social media companies.

The largest of the platform and social media companies, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and even second order companies such as Twitter, Snapchat and emerging messaging app companies, have become extremely powerful in terms of controlling who publishes what to whom, and how that publication is monetized.

There is a far greater concentration of power in this respect than there ever has been in the past. Networks favor economies of scale, so our careful curation of plurality in media markets such as the UK, disappears at a stroke, and the market dynamics and anti-trust laws the Americans rely on to sort out such anomalies are failing.

The mobile revolution is behind much of this.

Because of the revolution in mobile, the amount of time we spend online, the number of things we do online, and the attention we spend on platforms has exploded.

The design and capabilities of our phones (thank you, Apple) favor apps, which foster different behavior. Google did recent research through its Android platform that showed, while we might have an average of 25 apps on our phones, we only use four or five of those apps every day, and of those apps we use every day, the most significant chunk of our time is spent on a social media app. And at the moment the reach of Facebook is far greater than any other social platform.

The majority of American adults are Facebook users, and the majority of those users regularly get some kind of news from Facebook, which according to Pew Research Center data, means that around 40 percent of US adults overall consider Facebook a source of news.

So lets recap:

People are increasingly using their smartphones for everything. They do it mostly through apps, and in particular social and messaging apps, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Twitter. The competition to become such an app is intense. Competitive advantage for platforms relies on being able to keep your users within an app. The more your users are within your app, the more you know about them, the more that information can then be used to sell advertising, the higher your revenues.

The competition for attention is fierce. The four horsemen of the apocalypseGoogle, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon (five if you add in Microsoft)are engaged in a prolonged and torrid war over whose technologies, platforms, and even ideologies will win.

In the last year, journalists and news publishers have therefore unexpectedly found themselves the beneficiaries of this conflict.

It is very good news that well-resourced platform companies are designing systems that distribute news. But as one door opens, another one is closing.

In the past year, Snapchat launched its Discover App, giving channels to brands like Vice, BuzzFeed, the Wall Street Journal, Cosmo, and the Daily Mail. Facebook launched Instant Articles, which it recently announced will be opened up to all publishers in April. Apple and Google quickly followed suit, launching Apple News and Accelerated Mobile Pages, respectively. Not wanting to be left out, Twitter also launched its own Moments, an aggregation of trending material on the platform to tell complete stories about events.

It is very good news that well-resourced platform companies are designing systems that distribute news. But as one door opens, another one is closing.

At the same time that publishers are being enticed to publish directly into apps and new systems, which will rapidly grow their mobile audiences, Apple announced it would allow ad-blocking software to be downloaded from its App store.

In other words, if as a publisher your alternative to going onto a distributed platform is to make money through mobile advertising, anyone on an iPhone can now block all ads and their invidious tracking software. Articles that appear within platforms, such as Discover on Snapchat or Instant Articles on Facebook, are largely, though not totally, immune from blockers. Effectively, the already very small share of mobile digital advertising publishers might be getting independently from mobile is potentially cut out. Of course, one might add that publishers had it coming from weighing down their pages with intrusive ads nobody wanted in the first place.

There are three alternatives for commercial publishers.

One is to push even more of your journalism straight to an app like Facebook and its Instant Articles where ad blocking is not impossible but harder than at the browser level. As one publisher put it to me, We look at the amount we might make from mobile and we suspect that even if we gave everything straight to Facebook, we would still be better off. The risks, though, in being reliant on the revenue and traffic from one distributor, are very high.

The second option is to build other businesses and revenues away from distributed platforms. Accept that seeking a vast audience through other platforms is not only not helping you but actively damaging your journalism, so move to a measurement of audience engagement rather than scale.

Membership or subscription are most commonly considered in this context. Ironically, the prerequisites for this are having a strong brand identity that subscribers feel affinity towards. In a world where content is highly distributed, this is far harder to achieve than when it is tied to packaged physical products. Even in the handful of cases where subscription is working, it is often not making up the shortfall in advertising.

The third is, of course, to make advertising that doesnt look like advertising at all, so ad blockers cant detect it. This used to be called advertorial or sponsorship, but now is known as native advertising, and it has grown to nearly a quarter of all digital display advertising in the US. In fact, digitally native companies like BuzzFeed, Vox, and hybrids like Vice, have disrupted the failing publishing model by essentially becoming advertising agencieswhich are themselves in danger of failing. What I mean by this is that they deal directly with advertisers, they make the kind of viral video films and GIFs we see scattered all over our Facebook pages, and then they publish them to all those people who have previously liked or shared other material from that publisher.

The logical answer reached by many publishers to much of this is to invest in their own destination apps. But as we have seen, even your own app has to be compliant with the distribution standards of others in order to work. And investing in maintaining your own presence comes at a time when advertising (particularly in print) is under pressure, and online advertising is not growing either. The critical balance between destination and distribution is probably the hardest investment decision traditional publishers have to make right now.

Publishers are reporting that Instant Articles are giving them maybe three or four times the traffic they would expect. The temptation for publishers to go all in on distributed platforms, and just start creating journalism and stories that work on the social Web, is getting stronger. I can imagine we will see news companies totally abandoning production capacity, technology capacity, and even advertising departments, and delegating it all to third-party platforms in an attempt to stay afloat.

This is a high-risk strategy: You lose control over your relationship with your readers and viewers, your revenue, and even the path your stories take to reach their destination.

With billions of users and hundreds of thousands of articles, pictures, and videos arriving online everyday, social platforms have to employ algorithms to try and sort through the important and recent and popular and decide who ought to see what. And we have no option but to trust them to do this.

In truth, we have little or no insight into how each company is sorting its news. If Facebook decides, for instance, that video stories will do better than text stories, we cannot know that unless they tell us or unless we observe it. This is an unregulated field. There is no transparency into the internal working of these systems.

There are huge benefits to having a new class of technically able, socially aware, financially successful, and highly energetic people like Mark Zuckerberg taking over functions and economic power from some of the staid, politically entrenched, and occasionally corrupt gatekeepers we have had in the past. But we ought to be aware, too, that this cultural, economic, and political shift is profound.

We are handing the controls of important parts of our public and private lives to a very small number of people, who are unelected and unaccountable.

We need regulation to make sure all citizens gain equal access to the networks of opportunity and services they need. We also need to know that all public speech and expression will be treated transparently, even if they cannot be treated equally. This is a basic requirement for a functioning democracy.

For this to happen, there has to be at least some agreement that the responsibilities in this area are shifting. The people who built these platform companies did not set out to do so in order to take over the responsibilities of a free press. In fact, they are rather alarmed that this is the outcome of their engineering success.

To be sustainable, news and journalism companies will need to radically alter their cost base.

One of the criticisms thus far leveled against these companies is that they have cherry-picked the profitable parts of the publishing process and sidestepped the more expensive business of actually creating good journalism. If the current nascent experiments such as Instant Articles lead to a more integrated relationship with journalism, it is possible that we will see a more significant shift of production costs follow, particularly around technology and advertising sales.

The reintermediation of information, which once looked as though it was going to be fully democratized by the progress of the open Web, is likely to make the mechanisms for funding journalism worse before they get better. Looking at the prospects for mobile advertising and the aggressive growth targets Apple, Facebook, Google, and the rest have to meet to satisfy Wall Street, it is fair to say that unless social platforms return a great deal more money back to the source, producing news is likely to become a nonprofit pursuit rather than an engine of capitalism.

To be sustainable, news and journalism companies will need to radically alter their cost base. It seems most likely that the next wave of news media companies will be fashioned around a studio model of managing different stories, talents, and products across a vast range of devices and platforms. As this shift happens, posting journalism directly to Facebook or other platforms will become the rule rather than the exception. Even maintaining a website could be abandoned in favor of hyperdistribution. The distinction between platforms and publishers will melt completely.

Even if you think of yourself as a technology company, you are making critical decisions about everything from access to platforms, the shape of journalism or speech, the inclusion or banning of certain content, the acceptance or rejection of various publishers.

What happens to the current class of news publishers is a much less important question than what kind of a news and information society we want to create and how can we help shape this.

This piece was lightly edited from a speech Emily Bell gave at Cambridge last week titled The End of the News as We Know It: How Facebook Swallowed Journalism.

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Emily Bell is a frequent CJR contributor and the director of Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Previously, she oversaw digital publishing at The Guardian.
Gavan, President & CEO of Economical Insurance, to Retire December 2016

The board of directors of Canada-based Economical Insurance announced that Karen Gavan will retire as president and CEO and director at the end of her contract on December 31, 2016.

Gavan joined the board of Economical Insurance in 2008 and assumed the role of president and CEO in 2011. As initial Chair of the Special Committee on Demutualization she spearheaded the decision to proceed with demutualization and then as CEO she successfully led the company through a period of transformational change.

The board of directors will conduct a process to select Gavans successor. Gavan will continue to lead the company during this phase, with the full support of the board and the leadership team.

Employers Holdings, Inc. Names King Vice President, Fraud Investigations

Samuel V. King was named as vice president, fraud investigations for EMPLOYERS. With 24 years of fraud investigations leadership experience and 10 years of law enforcement experience, King brings his expertise in the field of workers compensation fraud. This position will work under the senior vice president of claims.

A recognized expert in the area of workers compensation fraud, King served as past chairman of the California Workers Compensation Institutes (CWCI) Anti-Fraud Committee, founding member of California Department of Insurance Fraud Division Anti-Fraud Advisory Committee and former chairman of the California Department of Insurance committee on SIU training.

King, a licensed private investigator, will be based in Glendale, California.

American Modern Names Kleiner CEO

Andreas Kleiner has been named president and chief executive officer of Ohio-based American Modern Insurance Group, a subsidiary of Munich Re, effective May 1. He succeeds Manny Rios, who left the position in August.

Kleiner has served as a member of the board of management for ERGO International since 2007. The ERGO Group, also a Munich Re subsidiary, is one of the major insurance groups in Germany and Europe and offers health and life insurance, legal protection, travel insurance, property-casualty and direct insurance. Worldwide, the group is represented in more than 30 countries and concentrates in Europe and Asia.

Kleiner joined Munich Re as a fire engineer in 1993. From 1996 to 2003 he held leadership roles at the companys Singapore branch. He then served as chief executive officer of Munich Reinsurance Company of Africa Limited until being named to his current position.

At ERGO International, Kleiner has been responsible for the companys primary insurance operations in Asia  mainly India, Vietnam and Singapore  as well as Turkey and Greece.

Kleiner holds civil engineering and MBA degrees together with the associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute designation.

Peer to Peer Insurer Names Ariely Chief Behavioral Office



Lemonade, a global P2P insurance carrier, named Professor Dan Ariely as its chief behavioral officer.

Ariely is a professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty.

Marsh Appoints Reeve as Head of First Party Claims, UK Specialties

Marsh announced the appointment of Gary Reeve as head of First Party Claims for its UK Specialties division effective immediately. Reeve will report to Ian Martin, head of Claims for UK & Ireland.

Reeve will act as a senior claims advocate for Marshs clients on large complex energy, property and construction claims, and will manage the claims teams for the Energy and Construction practices and Bowring Marsh, Marshs international wholesale placement broker.

Reeve joins Marsh from CV Starr, where he was International technical risks and casualty claims manager, encompassing onshore and offshore energy, chemical, petrochemical, power generation, construction all risk, erection all risk and property claims. He joined CV Starr in 2008, and has over 30 years claims experience, including senior claims and loss adjusting positions at Catlin Underwriting Agencies Ltd and Xchanging.
The Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission has determined that the opt-out portion of the states 2013 workers compensation statute is unconstitutional.

Ruling on an appeal under the provisions of the Oklahoma Employee Injury Benefit Act, or Opt-Out Act, the three judge panel found the act to be unconstitutional and not enforceable. The ruling in Vasquez v. Dillards opens the way for an appeal to the state supreme court.

The Oklahoma Employee Injury Benefit Act was created by Senate Bill 1062 in 2013 as an alternative system that employers may use to satisfy state requirements to provide benefits to injured workers. That bill also established the Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission to replace the former Oklahoma Workers Compensation Court.

The restructuring of the states workers comp system and the Employee Injury Benefit Act were held to be constitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in December 2013 in response to various legal challenges.

The Opt-Out Act allows qualified employers to opt out of the Oklahoma workers compensation system by establishing an Employee Benefit Plan (Plan) under the provisions of Federal law, the Employee Retirement lncome Security Act (ERISA).

The case under Commission review revolves around the denial of a work injury claim filed by Dillards Inc. employee Jonnie Yvonne Vasquez, who injured her shoulder and neck while lifting shoe boxes at her workplace. Dillards denied her claim saying Vasquezs injury was a pre-existing condition and not an injury as defined by the Plan, according to the Commissions order.

The Commission noted that the Vasquez case was the first appeal brought before it due to a denial of benefits under the Opt-Out Act.

In investigating Vasquezs appeal, the commission addressed the issue of whether plans under the opt-out provision provide benefits and protections equal to the benefits provided under the Administrative Workers Compensation Act. It found the Opt-Out Act wanting.

Although at first blush it appears that the Opt-Out Act requires that injured workers under an authorized benefit plan must be afforded benefits equal to or better to those under the Administrative Workers Compensation Act, this is decidedly not so. A closer look at the statutorily authorized plan requirements reveals that the benefit plans permitted to be used to opt-out establish a dual system under which injured workers are not treated equally, the order states.

The order goes on to state: The appearance of equal treatment under the dual system is like a water mirage on the highway that disappears upon closer inspection.

Responding to the Commissions ruling, the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers Compensation (ARAWC), which helped to craft the 2013 law, posted the following message on its website:

The Oklahoma Workers Compensation Committee on February 26, ruled that the Oklahoma Option is invalid under the Oklahoma state Constitution.  This decision is not the final word on the Oklahoma Option. The case is far from over. It is almost certain there will be further legal and legislative efforts in response to the decision. In the relatively short time since the Oklahoma Option was created, Option plans are resulting in better medical outcomes for injured workers compared to traditional workers compensation. ARAWC continues to support the Option as a voluntary alternative with better medical outcomes, fewer benefit claims disputes and greater cost savings for employers.

The Commission itself recognized that its decision is immediately appealable to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. [T]hat Court is required to retain the appeal and must consider the case on an expedited basis, the Commissions order states.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has previously declined to take up a similar case challenging the constitutionality of the Opt-Out Act. That case, Judy Pilkington et al. v. State of Oklahoma et al, like Vasquez, claimed that the act denies injured workers process of the law. Judy Pilkington also worked for Dillards.

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak, who was a proponent of the 2013 workers comp overhaul, was named as a defendant in Pilkington.

In an email to Insurance Journal, Commissioner Doak said he appreciates the difficult work the Commission has performed during its first two challenging years and their dedication to our collective goal of protecting Oklahomas workers.

Commissioner Doak said the commissions order anticipates an appeal and stays its referral until appeals are decided, and I look forward to a complete and careful review of these issues by the judicial branch. My department will continue to perform its statutory responsibilities while this consideration occurs, and we will support our legislators as they continue to develop Oklahomas workers compensation system this session. I believe that addressing these issues head-on will enable our state to provide the best care possible for Oklahomans at a price employers can afford.

Opt-out plans such as those in Texas and Oklahoma were criticized in a searing article published in October 2015 by ProPublica and NPR. That article states that the ProPublica/NPR investigation found that the plans almost universally have lower benefits, more restrictions and virtually no independent oversight.
Unprecedented planning by state and local authorities, law enforcement and the insurance industry established what is being called a national model for protecting the public from fly-by-night contractors in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), preparation in advance of the F-5 tornado that devastated the city of Moore and surrounding areas in May 2013 resulted in a well-coordinated effort to ensure that roofers and other contractors who swarmed into the area in the hours and days after the storm were properly licensed, insured and authorized to work in the area.

Local police assisted the Oklahoma Insurance Department Fraud Unit in patrolling the area and keeping suspected fraudulent out-of-state contractors from doing work unless all protocols were followed.

Oklahoma City was the site of the recent 2016 National Tornado Summit where Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak told NICB, Its much easier to fight fraud on the front end rather than on the back end. Doak and others said the insurance industry did a highly commendable job of responding to the catastrophe and paying claims as quickly as possible. However, some homeowners who signed contracts or turned over money to contractors before the work was done have found themselves out of luck after the insurance claim money was taken by the contractor. He said insurers have begun issuing bank debit cards to policyholders in an effort to provide funds as soon as possible, while at the same time allowing the victims to avoid turning over their claims check to a possible scam artist.

Thanks to the planning efforts, the number of suspected fraud cases has been far less than expected in the aftermath of such a devastating storm. But now, nearly three years later, the Oklahoma Attorney Generals Office is seeing a disturbing trend.

At this point and time, it is local contractors, said Julie Bays, chief of the Consumer Protection Unit. Contractors who have set up shop here or out-of-state contractors who have established a local office, have told homeowners who have already paid out funds that the work is going to get done, but it never gets done.

Bays says many homeowners are now finding that they have liens filed on their property by subcontractors who may have purchased supplies or done some repair work, and were never paid by the general contractors. One such case led to the extradition of a contractor who had fled to Kentucky. He was brought back to Oklahoma to face charges of embezzling $170,000 from storm victims.

The NICB is also working with its member companies and law enforcement on cases of alleged overbilling and charging insurers for work that was never done. Its a very competitive business, so some contractors will cut corners or submit false claims in order to get a customers business and their insurance money, said NICB Special Agent Mark Wenthold. In a time when the insurers are doing their best to help the victims, they see the insurance industry as a soft target.

Source: NICB
After hugging family members of victims killed in drunken driving-related accidents, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill Tuesday aimed at toughening penalties for drunken driving offenses.

Martinez signed the measure during a ceremony at New Mexico State Police headquarters in Albuquerque and vowed to continue to press for even harsher laws despite Democratic opposition.

The bill makes it a second-degree felony to be convicted of eight or more DWIs, meaning tougher sentencing guidelines would be imposed. The measure also substantially increases penalties for convicted drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes.

Despite what some politicians have told you, drunken driving is a big problem in New Mexico, Martinez said. This is the step in the right direction. But its still not enough.

The proposal was part of the Republican governors overall public safety agenda this past legislative session, though Martinez also wanted harsher laws penalizing those who knowingly give the keys to would-be intoxicated drivers. She also sought to expand the states habitual offender laws to include felon DWIs.

Those measures passed the GOP-led House, but they died in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Some Democrats had questioned why New Mexico needed tougher sentencing guidelines and said state officials should be turning their attention to rehabilitation

Still, Martinez called on victims to put pressure Democratic senators in the future so those proposals could pass.

The bill-signing ceremony comes days after a Santa Fe man who was acquitted in 2011 of vehicular homicide in a crash that killed four teenagers was arrested again for drunken driving. Scott Owens was booked Friday on multiple charges including DWI, stalking and marijuana possession.

A jury found Owens not guilty of causing a fatal 2009 crash though he had admitted to drinking before the incident. He pleaded guilty to aggravated DWI in 2012.

It was not known if he had an attorney in his latest case.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Tyga Warns Rob Kardashian About Having a Baby with Blac Chyna: Break Up Follows

Just when everyone thought that Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna's relationship is the real deal, they called it quits and Rob has moved out. The controversial couple had been madly in love for over a month and now Kardashian's Instagram has no trace of Chyna and vice versa. Before their breakup, Tyga slipped a little advice to the Arthur George socks owner, warning him not to have a baby with Chyna because she will ruin his life. It was previously reported that Kardashian and Chyna already picked a name for their first baby together and that concerned Tyga because he knows the ordeal of having a baby with the 27-year-old model and former exotic performer.

Tyga thinks Robs about to make a huge mistake if he has a baby with Blac, a source told HollywoodLife exclusively. Tygas already told Rob not to have Blacs baby because if he does, its going to cost him a fortune.

The 26-year-old rapper revealed that Chyna will demand so much money for their kid because that's exactly what she did with their son, King Cairo.

Over the past few years, hes laced Chyna with so much money for King its ridiculous, the source shared. Granted, theres no dollar amount too large for Tyga to spend on his son. He simply wants to do it himself and not fork it over to Blac.

It seems like Tyga doesn't have to worry about Kylie Jenner's big brother anymore because he and Chyna already ended their romance after a nasty fight.

They were moving too fast, a source said to Us Weekly. They had a fight about how much time they had been spending together but theyll be back. This is a relationship in the fast lane. It all moves fast, so the breakups are dramatic too, like the relationship. They could be back together whenever, its so dramatic.

Rob Kardashian deletes Instagram photos while Blac Chyna hints at a breakup: https://t.co/18D2K2838K pic.twitter.com/KAjrmrswOl  Us Weekly (@usweekly) March 6, 2016

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsRob Kardashian, Blac Chyna, Tyga
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mainstream Maestro and Music Specialist, Dies at 86

Former President of Germany Roman Herzog (L) speaks with the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt during the 250th birthday ceremonial act of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum on January 27, 2006 in Salzburg, Austria.

(Photo : Mozarteum via Getty Images)

One of the most respected maestros in mainstream, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, an early music specialist, has died. The conductor, who passed away on Saturday in the village of St. Georgen in Attergau, was 86 years old.

A statement was posted to the maestro's website by his wife. His death follows an earlier announcement that he would be retiring in December due to health reasons.

In a letter to his fans, he wrote that his physical capabilities had forced him into multiple cancellations. Thomas Angyan, director of the Vienna Musikverein, said:

"I did not think so little time would pass between his retirement and death. We must continue the musical legacy he leaves us."

Born in Berlin and raised in Graz, Austria, Mr. Harnoncourt is the child of the granddaughter of a Habsburg Archduke and an Austrian count.

He studied cello at Vienna's Academy of Music and joined the ranks of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1952, where he stayed on for almost 20 years.

Among his other accomplishments is the period-instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien, which he founded in 1953 and kept an integral part of his career.

Mr. Harnoncourt is known as a self-proclaimed non-specialist who, however, researched and performed so scientifically that his interpretations were nearly encyclopedic.

Also on his docket of accolades, Mr. Harnoncourt led a Mozart cycle at the Vienna State Opera as well as a Monteverdi cycle at the Zurich Opera. He achievied early success as an orchestral conductor as part of a Mozart symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and, recently, led a performance of Porgy and Bess at the Styriarte Festival in Graz in 2009.

We extend our condolences to Mr. Harnoncourt's family and loved ones.

Remember the famous maestro below with a video preview.

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AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man will spend seven years in prison for robbing a bank inside a Cuyahoga Falls supermarket.

The robbery marked the fourth time in eight years that Michael Williams, 52, robbed a bank.

Williams pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated robbery with a gun in the Nov. 4 robbery. Summit County Judge Lynne Callahan handed down the sentence. Williams' trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

Williams walked into the U.S. Bank inside the Acme Fresh Market on State Road. He handed a teller a note that said: "Give me all the money from the draw, this is not a game. You have 30 seconds, or I will blow your head off. If I pull this gun, I'm gonna use it".

Williams took the cash and got in a car driven by co-defendant Timothy Rogers, 25, according to police. Cuyahoga Falls police stopped the car for a having broken headlights.

Williams ran. Officers searched and later found Williams walking on 23rd Street near Chestnut Boulevard. He ran from officers again but a police dog tracked him down behind a home on 23rd Street.

Williams will also serve two more years in federal prison for violating the terms of his probation in a connection with three bank robberies in 2008, according to county prosecutors.

Williams was sentenced to eight years in prison for robbing two banks in Knoxville, Tennessee and one in Westerville, Ohio between February and March of that year. He stole a total of $7,168 in those robberies, according to court records.

His post-prison supervision was transferred from Tennessee to Northeast Ohio in September, two months before the Cuyahoga Falls robbery.

Rogers's trial is scheduled for May 5.
Akron police 4

Akron police are investigating the fatal shooting of Recardo Travis, 26.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man shot to death in a car parked in his driveway Friday was previously targeted by gunmen during an October shootout.

Recardo Travis, 26, died Friday after being shot several times in the 1200 block of Onondago Street outside a home where 11 children and four adults lived.

Travis was set to leave the house with another man about 11:30 p.m. The other man left without Travis and returned to find him dead inside a gold 1999 Chevy Malibu that was still running. The Malibu belonged to Travis.

Travis was shot in the right eye, behind his right ear and in both hands, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner.

Police found several bullet casings on the passenger side of the car. The passenger side windows were both shot out along with the driver's side window.

No arrests have been made in the case. It's the sixth homicide in Akron in 2016. Akron's sixth homicide in 2015 happened May 17.

Travis on Oct. 19 was involved in a shootout in the 300 block of Roberts Street. Someone fired shots at him about 11 p.m. at the home, where three children under age 10 lived.

Travis admitted to police that he returned fire with a handgun and an AK-47, according to court records. Two others, including a mother of three young children, were shot. The woman was shot in the face but recovered. An 18-year-old was shot in the leg, buttocks and arms, police reports said.

Police found a large amount of marijuana packaged for sale in the kitchen, according to police.

Travis was indicted on charges of possessing a weapon as a felon, firing a gun into a home, tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon and selling marijuana.

He pleaded not guilty to those charges. His trial was scheduled for March 22.

Travis' brother, Ronnie Travis, 28, was fatally shot in July 2014 in a car in the driveway of a home in the 1200 block of Packard Drive. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Michael Herring, 31, was charged in connection with the shooting but a grand jury later rejected charges. Herring was shot and wounded in December 2014 after leaving a Luxe Nightclub in downtown Akron. Herring was later killed in an August 2015 shooting.
BARBERTON, Ohio -- Two cargo containers packed with medical supplies left the parking lot of an old warehouse in Barberton last Friday, headed on a trans-Atlantic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Standing proudly at the loading dock was Gaspard Nzita, the nurse's assistant born in Boma, Congo. After a trailer filled with medical equipment burned in a 2014 arson fire, Nzita pressed onward with a 25-year-long dream to build a hospital in his hometown.

On Friday, Nzita issued again forgave the 15-year-old boy said police started the blaze; Nzita said he was acting on behalf of God.

"It was thanks to him that we are able to send these now," Nzita said.

Inside the warehouse Friday were heaps of medical goods and office supplies, waiting to be finally shipped. There was an intensive care unit donated by Akron Children's Hospital, covered in boxes of syringes and gloves. In the middle of the heap there was a dentists chair, surgical lamps, stacks of computer equipment and piles of medical goggles. There was even a bicycle from the LeBron James Family Foundation.

Outside there were five more trailers filled.

Nzita began collecting medical supplies in the 1990s, mostly used equipment and old office furniture, with the ambition to open a medical clinic in Boma, where he grew up.

When he was 13 years old Nzita watched his younger sister die of an unknown illness, unable to find medical care before it was too late. The nearest hospital took nearly a day to get to, walking. Nzita wants to build the medical clinic that could have saved her.

Last fall, after an outpouring of support, Nzita quit his job as a nurse's assistant and opened a full time office for his charity, Educate the Congo.

He plans to send rosary beads, like the ones that survived the fateful fire two years ago, to ministries in the Congo.

Once the equipment is ready and the office opens up, Nzita wants to start collecting over-the-counter medication to send overseas. He is still raising funds to send five more fully loaded tractor trailers.

"When we heard that the trailer was burned (my wife) looked at me and says what do we do," Nzita said. "I told her, we are just getting started."
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Crucial data is due to drop from Asia's major economies this week, particularly Chinese trade and inflation numbers and Japan's final GDP estimate.

China trade, money supply and inflation data awaited

At the National People's Congress in Beijing this weekend, China announced it aimed to .

"The weekend's unveiling of the Chinese government's growth target and aspirations could set the tone for the markets at the start of the week," National Australia Bank's (NAB) analysts said in a weekly note. The NPC will run for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, China's February foreign trade data, due Tuesday, is expected to show a narrowed trade surplus of $49 billion, from January's $63.3 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note. BoAML forecasts a 15.2 percent year-on-year decline in headline exports, which fell 11.2 percent in January. Import growth could improve to negative 12.9 percent from the same period the year before, mainly because of favorable base effects.

Then on Thursday, China will release its February monetary aggregates data. Investors are expected to pay close attention to China's liquidity, such as foreign reserves levels and capital outflows. Last week the People's Bank of China cut the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points, cutting the ratio of deposits Chinese banks must hold in cash to 17 percent in a push to increase liquidity in the financial system. China's February consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) are also due on Thursday. China's CPI is forecast to remain unchanged from the previous month at 1.8 percent, while PPI is expected to improve slightly, declining 4.9 percent compared to January's 5.3 percent fall, according to analysts from the NAB.

Japan's Kuroda to discuss monetary policy

The Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will address reporters in Tokyo on Monday about monetary policy. Japan's final 2015 fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate, due Tuesday, is expected to be revised up to -0.1 percent from -0.4 percent, Moody's Analytics said. Investment is not fully accounted for in the preliminary GDP figure, which means the final estimate can be subject to large revisions.

As momentum in Asia's second largest economy continues to wane, Japanese consumer confidence is expected to Japan's take further hits, Moody's analysts said, with February's consumer confidence index, out Tuesday, likely to show a fall to 41.8, from 42.5 in January.

Bank of Korea expected to cut rates

South Korea's central bank announce its latest monetary policy on Thursday, and is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent, as exporters struggle with weak global demand, Moody's Analytics said.

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The Bank of Korea's governor acknowledged last month that the economy was softening and could , however the central bank held rates steady at 1.5 percent at February's meeting.



India trade, industrial figures due
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China's official foreign exchange reserves only include highly liquid assets, a top central banker said on Sunday, seeking to reassure investors that authorities have enough ammunition to prevent a sharp fall in the renminbi. Investor sentiment towards China's currency has turned sharply negative since a surprise devaluation in August, amid unprecedented capital outflows and concern about the health of the economy. Concern over China's currency policy sparked a global market sell-off early this year. The People's Bank of China has drawn on its foreign exchange reserves to curb renminbi weakness, but analysts believe the central bank may soon be forced to abandon this policy to prevent reserves dropping below dangerous levels. Some bearish investors have also expressed skepticism about the reliability of China's official foreign exchange reserves data, which showed reserves at $3.2tn at the end of January  still the world's largest despite declining for 19 months.

Skeptics say the headline total of reserves exaggerates the resources available to support the renminbi since they suspect it includes illiquid assets such as foreign real estate and private-equity investments that cannot be readily deployed in currency markets. Kyle Bass, the US hedge fund manager who has wagered billions that the renminbi and other Asian currencies will fall, believes China's true reserves are more than $1tn below the government's official total. Veteran investor George Soros has also suggested the renminbi may fall further. More from the Financial Times :



Nancy Reagan, former First Lady, 19212016

What are the economic consequences of Brexit?

Brussels plans radical asylum overhaul Yi Gang, PBoC deputy governor who until January was also head of the foreign exchange regulator, said on Sunday that only highly liquid assets are included in the closely watched headline reserves figure. "I can clearly tell everyone here, those assets that don't meet liquidity standards are entirely deducted from official foreign exchange reserves," Mr Yi said at a press conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing.

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China's top brass are pledging reforms and dispelling fears of a hard landing in key national meetings that started over the weekend, underscoring Beijing's efforts to stabilize market sentiment and assert the Communist Party's leadership. On Saturday, premier Li Keqiang announced a growth target of 6.5 to 7 percent this year at the annual National People's Congress, down from last year's "about 7 percent" while the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Xu Shaoshi, said that the country will "absolutely not experience a hard landing". The pledges come amid concerns about the state of the world's second-largest economy and Beijing's ability to manage its own economic transition, which emerged as key discussion points at the finance ministers and central bankers meetings in Shanghai last month. The 'relatively high' growth forecast suggests policymakers will relax fiscal targets to support the economy although the pace of structural reforms should be slow, Morgan Stanley economists said in a note.

China is struggling to cope with the transition from a manufacturing-led to a consumer- and services-led economy. Economic growth in 2015 was 6.9 percent, the slowest pace in quarter of a century. Many industries are saddled with inventory while financial market gyrations, including lack of clarity on China's currency policy, have also sapped confidence Finance Minister Lou Jiwei on Monday that the 2015 budget deficit was 2.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), two days after the finance ministry said China had budgeted for a deficit of 3 percent of GDP in 2016 in a bid to support the economy.

Societe Generale economists, however, pointed out that the actual budget deficit in 2015 was closer to 3.5 percent of GDP. The final number for 2016 may end up printing near 4 percent of GDP. In the run-up to the two meetings, Beijing flagged 1.8 million job losses in the country's' bloated coal and steel industries, setting the stage for a slew of announcements about economic reforms from tackling over-capacity to liberalizing foreign investment. While China is trying to tackle supply- and investment-led issues, there are not enough details about how consumption-side growth will offset the decline in the manufacturing sector that has powered the economy for years, said BNP Paribas' chief economist for emerging markets, Richard Iley.

"The missing element is a lack of really concrete measures on policies that will explicitly boost consumption. We know that lower investment, over-capacity is half the problemit's also got to significantly increase consumption (and) lower national savings to offset the headwinds that falling investment are necessary going to create," Iley told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday.

Getty Images

Also challenging the country's leadership is the emergence of "many Chinas", said Simon Male, head of Asian equity sales at New York-based brokerage, Auerbach Grayson. An increasingly complicated and diverse economy of the old and new will add to strains in the country, as old industries such as those in coal and steel stutter alongside rising stars in science and technology, which are likely to increasingly take global market share, Male told CNBC's "The Rundown". Even so, the assurances from the country's leaders seem to have soothed some jitters. "A lot of the fears about China a year or two ago about some sort of imminent hard landing have largely evaporated. We're realizing that China is on course for a long landing and this rebalancing is going to take a considerable period of time," said BNP's Iley. The ongoing disarray will challenge the leadership of the Communist Party of China. "(There is a) struggle to get the Communist Party reorganized after years of disorder, corruptionthat of course makes it even more difficult for the country to adjust to the very demanding problems of the capitalist system in the world today," said Wang Gungwu, chairman of the East Asian Institute in Singapore.
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As the fifth anniversary of Japan's massive earthquake and nuclear disaster approaches, the country's former prime minister said it was time to do without nuclear power. "If you look at the reality of these last five years, Japan spent two years without a single nuclear plant on line. There are now a few active reactors, but still, that's only a handful," Naoto Kan, who was prime minister when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, told CNBC. His comments were translated from Japanese. "These five years have demonstrated that we can secure enough power without nuclear plants. That's why I believe we should stay away from the large risk posed by nuclear plants and focus instead on renewable energy by changing our sources of power," Kan added. Kan isn't alone in his opposition to nuclear power; opinion polls have showed that a majority of Japanese people agree. But he blamed the current ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party the recent restart of four reactors, which had been shuttered in aftermath of the disaster. Kan is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan.

"The Liberal Democratic Party, which ran on a platform of returning to nuclear power, won all the major elections," Kan said. "The main reason is the [Shinzo] Abe administration focused the elections on economic policy. Now these economic policies are at a dead end, while the people's anti-nuclear sentiment remains strong." Kan was referring to Abe's economic stimulus program, known as Abenomics, which has a mixed track record in its aim to kick start the long-moribund economy out of deflation. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Northeast Japan. It was one of the most powerful quakes on record, unleashing a tsunami along 700 kilometers (435 miles) of coastline. The earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which contaminated nearby towns in what was the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. According to the latest estimate, 15,894 people were killed in the combined disasters; an additional 2,562 others are still listed as missing, and more than 450,000 people were forced from their homes.
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DETROIT  As a former first lady, U.S. senator, secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is the most experienced and credentialed candidate now running for president. But voter discontent makes 2016 an unusually poor year for political credentials. At a time when most Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, Clinton seeks a third-consecutive term for Democrats in the White House. Adding to her challenge are an ongoing FBI probe into her email practices, and questions about her ability to inspire enthusiasm even among fellow Democrats. Her primary rival, Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has galvanized the support of young Democrats  even young women  despite the prospect that Clinton could become America's first female president. Days before Michigan's primary on Tuesday, Clinton sat down with me at a manufacturing plant here where she announced a new proposal to crack down on companies shipping jobs overseas. What follows is a condensed, edited transcript of our conversation. HARWOOD: How much difference do you think presidents make in the actual results in our economy? CLINTON: Presidents make a huge difference. Let's just talk about the last two Democratic presidents. My husband inherited the quadrupling of the national debt in the prior 12 years. At the end of his eight years, we had balanced budgets and surpluses. That didn't happen by accident. That wasn't some deus ex machina intervention. We had the longest peacetime expansion in modern history. We had incomes going up for everybody. We lifted people out of poverty  far more than were lifted out under Reagan's presidency.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with CNBC's John Harwood speaks with at Detroit Manufacturing Systems in Detroit, MI on March 4, 2016. Mary Stevens | CNBC

HARWOOD: Some people say, well, that was a tech bubble. CLINTON: No  well, you know what? It also matters whether you've got good leadership. You can look around the world and see the difference. You can certainly see it here. Because when the Republicans came back in, we got the same old snake-oil of trickle-down economics. Even now, when you listen to the Republicans who are vying for their nomination, it's the same thing. President Obama inherited the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In my view he doesn't get the credit he deserves for guiding us through what were really treacherous waters. The Fed played a role. The stimulus package played a role. But his leadership, in my view, was central. And that's why I think it matters who your president is. HARWOOD: Over multiple decades we haven't in a durable way raised prospects for middle-class families. Your economic policies are quite similar to President Obama's and to your husband's  higher taxes on people at the top, more investments in human capital, education, infrastructure. If we've had presidents espousing those philosophies for 16 of the last 24 years, why shouldn't people conclude that either those policies don't work, or you can't get the political support to enact them in full? CLINTON: But let's talk about the results that were achieved. I think this proves my point. Elections matter. George W. Bush came in with a very different economic approach, and I think our country paid a big price because of that. This election, when it comes to the economy, is between a return to the snake-oil of trickle-down economics or building on what has been proven to work. I'm not running for my husband's third term. I'm not running for President Obama's third term. But I am not somebody who is an ideologue the way the Republicans turn out to be. I look at what works. Investing in human capital works. Improving education works. Investing with things like empowerment zones, the new market tech credits in under-invested communities work. So I have a long list of what has worked. I am adding to it, and I am making clear that there's more we can do because the evidence is on the side of what I'm proposing. HARWOOD: When I talk to Democrats and ask "What's your critique of Hillary Clinton's economic plan?," what they say is "too cautious." Isn't this a time to flip over the table and be aggressive across a wide range of fronts  more aggressive than you've been? CLINTON: I think I've been really aggressive. And you know, on Super Tuesday more people voted for me than anybody else running on either side. So somehow my message is communicating. I want us to deploy half a billion more solar panels by the end of my first term, and enough clean energy to power every home by the end of my second term. Those are big goals. I think we can get there. And when we get there, we'll put a lot of people to work.

I want to invest far more in infrastructure. I think it's clear we really need it, not only what we can see with roads and bridges and airports, but what's under the ground with water systems and sewer systems. We can put a lot of people to work with doing that. That's pretty bold.

HARWOOD: But that gets to the point that I was raising. Larry Summers, who served in your husband's administration and President Obama's, has called for infrastructure investments twice as large as you've proposed. CLINTON: Well, look I've gone as far as I think the political, you know, equation will sustain. HARWOOD: So that's not a substantive thing  that is a political calculation? CLINTON: Well, it has to be both. I want to propose things I can get done. I don't want to make promises I can't keep. Look, I was in favor of a much bigger stimulus package. I was in favor, with quantitative easing, of figuring out how to make some investments in infrastructure. What I'm proposing is on top of what the Congress finally got around to passing. Look how long it took them to pass the highway bill. I also want to put in place a national infrastructure bank so we don't have to keep going back to the Congress. What I have proposed is both doable and realistic. When I get to the White House, if I'm so fortunate, if there's a Democratic Senate, which I hope there will be, and if we've made some gains in the House, maybe we can go further. But what I have proposed builds on what the Congress finally did and takes us even further. That's the very point that I'm making. We've got to do more. HARWOOD: Another example: Neel Kashkari served in the Bush Treasury Department, ran for governor in California as a Republican. Now he's the president of the Minneapolis Fed. He said, "You know what? We should break up the big banks." That's what Bernie Sanders has called for. If a former Goldman Sachs (executive) thinks that's a good idea, why don't you? CLINTON: I haven't said that it wasn't a good idea. I'm on record, John, as saying that we now have the tools under Dodd-Frank. I am proposing we follow the law. We have a process under Dodd-Frank. If any bank poses a systemic risk, it can be broken up.

HARWOOD: Sanders wants to do it pre-emptively. CLINTON: But we have a law. You know what? We are a nation of laws. We have passed a law which sets forth a process. Now, you know if you want to claim you can do it without following the law, that seems pretty radical to me. But what I have said is I would support breaking up any bank that posed a systemic risk to the economy. And we have a process now in place, thanks to Dodd-Frank, thanks to President Obama, the toughest regulations on Wall Street since the Great Depression. My opponent acts like he's going to create this. We passed a law, and the law gave us the tools. And if we meet the criteria, we should act. I'm committed to acting.



People make all these claims. And it's hard for voters to really evaluate  is this person being smart? Are they just over-promising? Are they way out in left field or right field? Who knows? That's why I've tried to say, 'Look, here's what I will do. Here's how I will do it. Here's how much it will cost.' I think that's pretty revolutionary. Hillary Clinton

HARWOOD: Is it your view that a political revolution is not necessary, or not possible? CLINTON: I've laid out my plans and my policies. I've talked about the kind of bold proposals that I have put forward. I'm very ambitious in making the claim that we've got to take on bad business practices. We have to continue the Affordable Care Act, don't deviate from it. We're at 20 million people now insured. That's a big deal. We're at more than 90 percent now in terms of coverage. People make all these claims. And it's hard for voters to really evaluate  is this person being smart? Are they just over-promising? Are they way out in left field or right field? Who knows? That's why I've tried to say, "Look, here's what I will do. Here's how I will do it. Here's how much it will cost." I think that's pretty revolutionary.





HARWOOD: Let me ask you about your approach to top-end taxation. You set that top rate at a very high level of income  $5 million. Why so high? It looks like you set it that so that nobody would accuse you of raising taxes on anybody who could be thought of as middle class. But you could've done that at $3 million, too. CLINTON: I've got several proposals. Number one, I'd like to apply the Buffett Rule on anybody at $1 million or more so that we avoid what Warren Buffett rightly points out as the unfairness of paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. I have a 4 percent surcharge on top of income at $5 million because I want to try to stop the gaming of the system. The New York Times had a series about how effective people are in getting lawyers and accountants and advisors to really help them avoid paying any taxes. That's why I want to try to capture income. So at $1 million, and at $5 million, there's a lot of money there. We're going after where we think the real money is. As we say, follow the money. And the tax system has been, in my view, not effective in capturing money from people who are very successful. We need to do a better job.



HARWOOD: The attitude of the Obama White House toward fundamental tax reform has been, "Sounds great. Nice idea. In our current political alignment it's just not happening, and therefore, it's not worth wasting a lot of time on." Is that also your view? CLINTON: Well, look, I think it's important that we have a really robust debate about corporate taxes, and we also entertain good ideas that come from people as long as they're on the progressive side of the ledger. Our progressive tax system was one of the real accomplishments of the United States. There's been a concerted effort to try to undermine it, to dismiss it, from the Republican candidates. I'm open to ideas as long as they are progressive ideas and as long as they are ones that will actually work in practice, not just on paper, and that we have a commitment to paying for whatever we invest in. If we have a Democratic Senate, then I think we have more leverage to have a sensible discussion about fundamental tax reform. There have been some Republicans who have worked with Democrats to come up with some plans over the last few years. HARWOOD: Do you think you could work with Paul Ryan on fundamental tax reform? CLINTON: I would hope so. I would hope so. I am open to working very hard on these key issues that we have to address as a nation  that being one of them. So I'm not going to give up on it before we've even tried to do it.



No. No, it doesn't make me nervous. They've been after me for years. Nothing new about that to me. But I'm gonna wait and see who they nominate. Right now I'm running my own campaign. Hillary Clinton on whether all the sharp rhetoric being used by Republicans makes her nervous.

HARWOOD: Donald Trump has been a completely unpredictable candidate. He said the other day, "Hillary came at me, she accused me of sexism, and I came back hard and talked about her husband, and she's never gonna do that again." Are you worried that this campaign is going to get rhetorically out of control? CLINTON: Well, the Republicans already are, aren't they? The rhetoric they've been using, the insults they engage in, the bigotry and bullying that we see is, I think, distressing to a lot of voters. I'm not gonna jump ahead to think about what I might do. HARWOOD: Does it make you nervous, though? CLINTON: No. No, it doesn't make me nervous. They've been after me for years. Nothing new about that to me. But I'm gonna wait and see who they nominate. Right now I'm running my own campaign. I don't want to get ahead of myself. I still have a lot of states that we have to compete in. I know Senator Sanders is really working hard in all of these states.



I really regret some of the ways that the Republican candidates  and not just Trump, but the others  have been so divisive, finger-pointing and blaming people, going after people's fundamental rights, their civil rights and women's rights and gay rights and workers rights. You've got to run a campaign that is about people's lives, I don't expect to win them all, but I'm going to reach out to everybody, talking about what I will do as president, how what I will do will help Americans of every kind. Hillary Clinton

HARWOOD: You talked the other night about how we need to make America whole. Look at the way the two primary campaigns on each side have progressed: Donald Trump has been appealing to white voters  some pretty hard-edged appeals. You are being salvaged in your campaign by the support of nonwhite voters  African-Americans, especially, in the South. Are you concerned that we are looking at a fall campaign that could be polarized by race and defined by race in a way that we haven't seen, and that would make the idea of making the nation whole extremely difficult? CLINTON: No, I'm not. I'm proud and grateful for everybody who supports me. If you analyze the returns from Super Tuesday, I won the white vote. I do want to make America whole. I do want to unify the country. I do want us to work together to find common ground. I really regret some of the ways that the Republican candidates  and not just Trump, but the others  have been so divisive, finger-pointing and blaming people, going after people's fundamental rights, their civil rights and women's rights and gay rights and workers rights. You've got to run a campaign that is about people's lives, I don't expect to win them all, but I'm going to reach out to everybody, talking about what I will do as president, how what I will do will help Americans of every kind. I'm the only candidate with a plan for coal country  what can we do to try to revitalize the economy in places where people have literally sacrificed their lives and their health for generations? So I'm focused on actually producing results, knocking down the barriers that stand in the way of people getting ahead. I think that will be a very positive message in the general election.

When I am working with people, they say a lot of nice things about me. In fact, we have a whole archive. Perhaps we'll see that during the general election. I think you will. They know I mean what I say, and I will do the best I can to achieve it. It's a contest, and they want to win it. I want to win it. Hillary Clinton
Mac users have been targeted by hackers with "ransomware" in what is believed to be the first attack campaign of its kind against users of Apple's operating system.

Ransomware is a type of malware  or malicious software  that has been on the rise recently and steals your files and data, encrypts it, and then asks you to pay money to get it back.

Security firm Palo Alto Networks, discovered the particular ransomware, known as "KeRanger" targeting Mac users on Friday and explained how it was infecting systems in a blog post on Sunday.

A piece of "BitTorrent" software known as "Transmission" was infected with KeRanger, so that when Mac users were downloading the latest version of the product, the ransomware was installed on their machine.

"Transmission is an open source project. It's possible that Transmission's official website was compromised and the files were replaced by re-compiled malicious versions, but we can't confirm how this infection occurred," Palo Alto said in the blog entry.
The bid on Friday by Slim's Inversora Carso values the company at 7.60 euros ($8.36) a share, representing a 15 percent premium to FCC's closing share price last week of 6.59 euros. There are question marks over whether shareholders will accept the offer, however.

The share price of Spanish building and infrastructure firm FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas) soared 14 percent on Monday after Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's investment company said that it would launch a full takeover bid for the company.

Billionaire Carlos Slim speaks during an event announcing an alliance between his philanthropic foundation and the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico City, Mexico.

Slim's company already owned 27.4 percent of FCC but said its stake had increased to 36.6 percent after it bought into a 709.5-million-euro rights issue which ended last week, Reuters reported, citing a statement made by the company to the Madrid stock market regulator.

Under Spanish law, a shareholder that increases its stake in a company above 30 percent is required to launch an offer for the company.

FCC has struggled since Spain's housing bubble burst in 2008 and is heavily indebted although it managed to attract Carlos Slim and other investors looking to snap up Spanish assets with a view to a potential recovery in the country's real estate sector. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is one such investor, with a 3.92 percent stake in FCC, according to the latest filing.

Slim and Gates are not the only foreign investors interested in Spain. In 2014, hedge fund billionaires George Soros and John Paulson took major stakes in Spanish real estate investment trust Hispania but Soros decided against investing in FCC in 2014.

FCC was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Reuters contributed reporting to this story.

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"This well-timed buy had more to do with the prevailing gloom three-and-a-half weeks ago than the actual conditions at his bank," the " Mad Money " host said.

Cramer knows that Dimon did not intend to call a bottom that day, but not only is JPMorgan up more than 7 percent since then, but the Dow and have both rallied higher.

After bottoming on Feb. 11, stocks have had an enormous run in the past few weeks. What was so special about that day? It was the day JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon bought 500,000 shares of his company's stock.

We do know is that the Dimon bottom is looking increasingly like something very real and very positive.

It was a combination of various factors that all came together to allow the averages to roar higher. Cramer drilled down on each one:

The first ingredient was oil, as investors became more nervous about the potential risks to the financial system caused by the relentless decline of crude down to $26.

This was also the week of the New Hampshire primary, and many were shocked by the resounding victory that Bernie Sanders had over Hillary Clinton.

Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer

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At the same time, the Fed wasn't helping matters either. Janet Yellen was testifying at the exact same time the market bottomed, and her testimony only accelerated the view that the Fed saw the weakness occurring but wasn't necessarily willing to stop its course of tightening.

This sent Treasurys soaring, as the ten-year Treasury yield fell to 1.6 percent. Cramer interpreted this as a level indicating the massive amount of fright in the system.

Cramer also started to hear reports of tremendous losses that European banks had suffered. Deutsche Bank was widely considered to be in big trouble, but Cramer found that hard to believe.

"I doubt that big bankers have an emergency hotline to each other, but in terms of timing, Jamie Dimon's brilliant buy coincided with something remarkable," Cramer said.

The very day after Dimon's purchase, on Feb. 12, Deutsche Bank confirmed that it was not in trouble and even announced a buyback of more than $5 billion in bonds. This proved that perhaps things weren't as bad as many thought.

It also turned out that $26 was the exact bottom for oil. While oil could be lower for a lot longer, many oil companies have come back to the market with equity that could give them more flexibility.

Banks may not have had strong earnings, but at least the frightening decline in their preferred shares has subsided, along with large sell-offs in real estate investment trusts and oil master limited partnerships.

When Cramer looked at all of the ingredients to the market bottom, he thinks there might be an end to the bear market that plagued stocks for months.

"We don't know for sure. But what we do know is that the Dimon bottom is looking increasingly like something very real and very positive," Cramer said.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton lost her chances of becoming president after alienating two key states, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said Monday.

"Under her new rules, fracking would exist almost nowhere," the president and founder of Americans for Tax Reform told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "Democrats used to be able to insult the energy industry because they lived in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Alaska [and] they don't vote Democrat. But she declared war on Pennsylvania and Ohio with that statement. That's not the way to win the election."

Clinton said in a debate Sunday in Flint, Michigan, she does not support fracking.

The Marcellus shale formation stretches underground across Pennsylvania and into several other states. The advent of hydraulic fracking set off a natural gas boom starting in 2008 in those states.

Read More 16 questions for Hillary Clinton



Norquist also said Clinton took herself out of contention with her comment on guns, alienating a "bloc of the electorate that didn't exist 20 years ago."
Fears of slowing oil demand, a global crude glut and Middle East woes spooked the market at the beginning of the year, but now, a change of heart could guide oil to $50, according to an RBC Capital Markets strategist.

"[The] market's psychology has changed," Helima Croft, RBC Capital Market's head of global commodities strategies, told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Monday. "Everyone is thinking about now the recovery to $50," she said, adding that OPEC's freeze talk has influenced market sentiment.

International benchmark Brent went just slightly above $41 a barrel in intraday trading Monday before settling at $40.84, up more than 5 percent; West Texas Intermediate also rose more than 5 percent to settle at $37.90 on the day.

While $40 oil seemed farfetched to some just a month ago the case for $50 oil has been gaining momentum. A few weeks ago, Mike Wittner, head of U.S. commodities research at Societe Generale, told CNBC's "Closing Bell" that fundamentals support $40 oil, and that by year-end the market will see $50 oil.

The psychology behind the current boost in oil prices, according to Croft, is that OPEC producers have realized they need $50 oil, and are worried that lower oil prices would elicit further credit ratings downgrades and expedite austerity measures.
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The nuclear disaster has cost Japanese taxpayers almost $100bn despite government claims Tokyo Electric is footing the bill, according to calculations by the Financial Times.

Almost five years after a huge tsunami caused the meltdown of three Tepco reactors by knocking out their supply of power for cooling, the figure shows how the public have shouldered most of the disaster's cost. It highlights the difficulty of holding a private company to account for the immense expense of nuclear accidents  a concern for countries such as the UK that are building new nuclear power stations.

File photo: A worker wearing protective clothing and mask measures the radiation in the air as employees prepare materials used to create a frozen underground wall to surround the crippled reactor buildings at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Kimimasa Mayama | Pool | Bloomberg | Getty images

The Financial Times used Ritsumeikan University professor Kenichi Oshima's estimate that the disaster has cost Y13.3tn ($118bn) to date relative to the loss of equity value for Tepco shareholders. "The underlying cost is mainly being paid by the public, either through electricity bills or as tax," said Mr Oshima. Japan's government gives no single figure for the cost of the disaster, but Mr Oshima estimates the biggest cost to date is compensation to businesses and evacuees of Y6.2tn, followed by decontamination of the Fukushima area at Y3.5tn, and decommissioning of the reactor site at Y2.2tn. Cash for compensation and decommissioning comes from Tepco but it gets grants from the government to keep it solvent. In theory, this cash will come back via a levy on Tepco and other nuclear operators  but this is ultimately be paid by electricity users, making it a tax by another name.

More from the FT
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Nearly a decade has passed since an aspiring young lawyer in California, Anna Alaburda, graduated in the top tier of her class, passed the state bar exam and set out to use the law degree she had spent about $150,000 to acquire.

But on Monday, in a San Diego courtroom, she will tell a story that has become all too familiar among law students in the United States: Since graduating from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2008, she has yet to find a full-time salaried job as a lawyer. From there, though, her story has taken an unusual twist: Ms. Alaburda, 37, is the first former law student whose case against a law school, charging that it inflated the employment data for its graduates as a way to lure students to enroll, will go to trial. More from The New York Times:

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HealthLaw Insurance Plans to be Rated by Network Size Other disgruntled students have tried to do the same. In the last several years, 15 lawsuits have sought to hold various law schools accountable for publicly listing information critics say was used to pump up alumni job numbers by counting part-time waitress and other similar, full-time jobs as employment. Only one suit besides Ms. Alaburda's remains active.

None of the other cases reached trial because judges in Illinois, Michigan and New York, where several cases were filed, generally concluded that law students had opted for legal education at their own peril, and were sophisticated enough to have known that employment as a lawyer was not guaranteed. But a California judge let Ms. Alaburda's suit proceed, brushing aside efforts by the law school to derail her claims. "It has taken five years," said her lawyer, Brian A. Procel of Los Angeles. "But this will be the first time a law school will be on trial to defend its public employment figures." Ms. Alaburda's day in court will take on added meaning: These will be her first public words after years of silence while she pursued a remedy for a legal education gone wrong.

She now has student debt of $170,000, with loan interest around 8 percent. Her law degree was not a ticket to a stable, well-paying career, but an expensive detour before she went on to work in a series of part-time positions, mostly temporary jobs reviewing documents for law firms.

As her debt mounted and her job prospects faltered, she filed a lawsuit in 2011, arguing that she would not have enrolled at Thomas Jefferson if she had known the law school's statistics were misleading.

Thomas Jefferson's average student indebtedness, then about $137,000  higher than that at Stanford Law School the same year  was among the highest in the nation. She also pointed to her school's bar passage rate as consistently lower than 50 percent, which was below the average in California.

Thomas Jefferson, like other accused law schools, maintained that it filed only the data that the American Bar Association's accrediting body required.

And judges largely agreed. Students would have to be "wearing blinders" not to see that a "goodly number of law school graduates toil (perhaps part time) in drudgery or have less than hugely successful careers," Justice Melvin L. Schweitzer of New York Supreme Court wrote in 2012, dismissing a lawsuit by nine former students against New York School of Law. The nine had asked for $225 million in damages, on grounds that they had been misled by the school's stated employment figures to believe they had rosier employment prospects than the job market actually offered.

The one lawsuit still pending, other than Ms. Alaburda's, accuses Widener University School of Law, in Delaware, of posting employment data that included "any kind of job, no matter how unrelated to law." A Federal District Court judge denied the case class-action status, and that decision is on appeal.

Judges in California, which has strong consumer protection laws, have offered more solace to the generation of lawyers who lost out in the legal market, allowing Ms. Alaburda and other plaintiffs there to go forward with claims.

However, in two cases  one against Golden Gate University School of Law and the other against the University of San Francisco School of Law  judges did not grant law graduates suing the schools class-action certification, which could have led to higher damages awards. The students later dropped their lawsuits.

In San Diego, Judge Joel M. Pressman restricted Ms. Alaburda's claims to her own situation. But he ruled against the law school's efforts to get her suit tossed out, on grounds that denying transparent and accurate information to students making decisions about their education can be harmful. Thomas Jefferson, which was fully accredited by the A.B.A. in 2001, says its employment data is accurate and Ms. Alaburda's claims are "meritless." The school has 434 full-time students at its eight-story building in downtown San Diego.

Thomas F. Guernsey, the dean, said he could not comment on continuing litigation but noted in a statement that the school had "a strong track record of producing successful graduates, with 7,000 alumni working nationally and internationally."

In recent years, the A.B.A., prodded by widespread attention to questionable school data, sagging numbers of law school applicants and skyrocketing law school debt, has revamped its reporting requirements so that law schools must reveal more precise information about their graduates.

"Transparency has substantially increased in the last few years. Students can now easily compare law school outcomes," said Brian Z. Tamanaha, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of "Failing Law Schools."

Even so, he noted that "it's still a little harder for them to determine that the size of the law firm where graduates are employed also reflects the level of income that they can expect."

Law schools labor to keep their employment data at the highest percentage level because it is a major factor in national law school rankings, which in turn give schools the credibility to charge six figures for a three-year legal education.
John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), speaks during the 2016 BCC annual conference in London, U.K., on Thursday, March 3, 2016.

John Longworth resigned on Sunday night as director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce after being drawn into a political row over his support for the UK to leave the European Union.

The surprise decision illustrates the increasingly febrile atmosphere around the impending referendum on EU membership on June 23.

The support of major business figures is seen as critical by both camps given the fundamental economic arguments over Brexit.

The Financial Times revealed on Friday evening that Mr Longworth had been suspended after making several high-profile interventions in favour of leaving the EU.

Critics within the organisation claimed that he had breached the group's self-ordained position of neutrality over the June referendum.

On Sunday, Boris Johnson, London mayor, suggested, without any evidence, that the government might have engineered the suspension. The comments prompted an angry denial by Number 10.

At 10pm the same evening the BCC issued a statement saying that Mr Longworth had resigned and that there had been no political interference.
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European and Turkish leaders are meeting in Brussels for an emergency summit on Monday as the region fails to muster a collective response to the ongoing migrant crisis in the region. The summit is expected to focus on how Turkey will spend 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) worth of aid given to the country by the EU in order to stem the flow of migrants coming to Europe. The 28-member bloc is also expected to ask Turkey to take back thousands of migrants who are deemed to be economic migrants rather than refugees. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that the summit showed that his country was "indispensable for Europe, and Europe indispensable for Turkey," Reuters reported. He also said that the summit would also address Turkey's hopes for accession to EU club. Davutoglu said Turkey was willing to take back all non-Syrian migrants denied asylum in Europe as well as all those intercepted in its territorial waters, and to crack down harder on people smugglers, Reuters reported. An emergency EU-Turkey summit, originally planned to last half a day, was extended to give Davutoglu a chance to present "new ideas" going beyond Ankara's commitments so far. The 28 EU leaders would deliberate on his proposals in the afternoon and meet him again to discuss them over dinner, an EU official said.

Thousands of migrants continue to arrive in Europe every week with the majority fleeing civil war in Syria in the Middle East, although many are coming from impoverished countries in Africa and the Middle East and are seen as economic migrants rather than asylum seekers.

A migrant walks past shacks burning during the dismantling of half of the 'Jungle' migrant camp in the French northern port city of Calais, on February 29, 2016. Clashes broke out between French riot police and migrants on February 29 as bulldozers moved into the grim shantytown on the edge of Calais known as the 'Jungle' to start destroying hundreds of makeshift shelters. Philippe Huguen | AFP | Getty Images

While many are travelling by land via Turkey, thousands are arriving by sea (also travelling from Turkish shores). Southern European countries, Greece in particular, are struggling with the amount of people arriving. The UN estimated that more than a million migrants arrived in Europe in 2015. Turkey is estimated to be hosting around 2 million Syrian refugees. The migrant crisis has prompted deep tensions within the region and between countries with Austria, the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe  that have become conduits for migrants heading to richer northern Europe  refusing migrants entry. Some have closed borders and opposed the EU's plans to resettle migrants throughout the bloc using a quota system. That has left around 30,000 migrants effectively stranded in Greece on the border with Macedonia as they are unable to travel onwards, putting more pressure on already-stretched resources and making Greece feel abandoned by its European neighbors. Arriving for the summit, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the EU needed to accelerate its migrant relocation process.

'Make or break' moment?

Asked whether the summit on Monday could be a "make or break" moment for Europe as splits remain among the members, Joan Hoey, European analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that the meeting was certainly important.

"It's probably not a 'make or break' moment as we know how the EU operates, it just goes on and on trying to find a solution. I think it is quite important however in terms of the EU trying to establish its authority and trying to arrest the slide towards national policy making on this question which was demonstrated a week or so ago when Austria and nine Balkan countries decided to make up their own policy," she said.
"Other first ladies who have been very prominent like Hillary Clinton or Eleanor Roosevelt have kind of done it through their public personas, through their public advocacy," the American University professor told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Nancy Reagan was a force inside the White House."

The late Nancy Reagan was widely known for her anti-drug campaigns, her volunteer work in hospitals, and her advocacy for stem cell research. But the former first lady also played a role in critical White House staffing decisions and some of the country's most significant moments, presidential historian Allan Lichtman said Monday.

Reagan was particularly hands on in matters of personnel, both on the campaign trail and in the White House, Lichtman said. While her husband of 52 years, President Ronald Reagan, was a great communicator and leader, his strength did not lie in administration, he said.

Nancy Reagan was also important in persuading her husband to issue a "half apology" in a speech about the Iran-Contra affair, he said. Some viewed those remarks as saving his presidency following the scandal over U.S. arms sales to Iran in order to arm anti-government groups in leftist Nicaragua, he added.

The former first lady also encouraged Reagan to pursue arms negotiations with the Soviet Union that are seen by many as a prelude to the end of the Cold War, Lichtman said.

Former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a Republican supporter of stem cell research, said Monday she spoke personally with Nancy Reagan about the issue when she took it up toward the end of her life.

"She never stopped being committed to doing something that she thought was right for our country, and I think the accolades that she is receiving right now are so deserved," she told "Squawk Box" in a separate interview.

Reagan took care of her husband throughout his battle with Alzheimer's disease.

In a 2004 speech in which she broke with Republican opposition to stem cell research, she said, "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him. We can't share the wonderful memories of our 52 years together, and I think that's probably the hardest part. Because of this, I'm determined to do what I can to save other families from this pain."
Despite volatile financial markets and slow economic growth, the U.S. added 300,000 new millionaires in 2015, bringing the total to a record 10.4 million, according to a new report.

The number of American households with assets of $1 million or more, not including their primary residence, increased 3 percent last year, from 10.1 million, according to Spectrem Group, a market research and consulting firm.

The total marked a new record, but also signaled a slowdown from the 5 percent growth rate in 2014, when climbing stock markets and rising real estate values helped create 500,000 new millionaires.

"Despite ongoing concerns about market volatility and the direction of the U.S. economy, the number of affluent American households expanded in 2015," said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem Group.


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Shares in offshore driller Seadrill soared more than 50 percent on Monday, marking the stock's eighth straight day of gains on the back of what one analyst called the "mother of all short squeezes." The Oslo-listed company has seen demand to "short" its stock drop significantly over recent weeks, according to financial information services firm Markit, as spiking stock prices pressured investors to drop bets that shares would tank. About 9.2 percent of Seadrill shares, which are also listed in the U.S., are currently on loan but demand to borrow those shares dropped to 37.5 percent on Friday, Markit's data showed. That's against the most recent peak on February 8 when demand hit 78 percent. Meanwhile, the company's share price has climbed over 140 percent in the last 30 days and 190 percent over the past seven trading days alone.

A Seadrill semi-submersible drilling rig sits under construction in the dry dock at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Some reports suggest news that Seadrill's biggest shareholder, John Fredriksen, might make further investments in the company, and that speculation around the prospect have been driving share prices higher, after he recently freed up $517 million worth of shares in salmon farming company Marine Harvest. But Harald Hornes Oyen, the head of research at SEB's Oslo branch, told CNBC that the accelerated spike had more to do with speculation over the company's refinancing plans and the short-selling trend across energy stocks. "There's nothing fundamental driving this rally," Oyen told CNBC by phone. "So that leaves us with the last explanation, really, which is that this is the mother of all short squeezes," he said, referring to a market phenomenon where a heavily shorted stock moves sharply higher, compelling investors to close their short positions which in turn puts upward pressure on the stock price. That's amid growing optimism over the success of a prospective refinancing plan that was briefly mentioned during Seadrill's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. "Those who have shorted the share are beginning to panic and see that the shareholders may succeed," Seadrill chief executive Per Wullf told Reuters Monday.
A phishing email scam has forced data storage firm Seagate Technology to disclose private employee information.

Tax information, including Social Security numbers and salaries, for all current and former U.S.-based employees was sent to an unauthorized third party last week, the Cupertino-based company told CNBC in an e-mailed statement.

"The information was sent by an employee who believed the phishing email was a legitimate internal company request...At this point, we have no information to suggest that employee data has been misused, but caution and vigilance are in order."

Seagate added that it had immediately notified the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is now actively investigating it along with federal law enforcement.

Seagate also provided affected employees with a two-year membership to an identity theft protection service developed by Experian.
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Challenger banks  upstart lenders looking to take on the major retail players  are fast becoming all the rage with U.K. lenders such as Metrobank launching on the London Stock Exchange. However, there are big questions about whether they'll be able to attract customers, or even if their business models are any different. There's certainly appetite from investors. Trading of shares in British lender Metro Bank, which was founded in 2010, began on the London Stock Exchange on Monday. And Spain's BBVA said it had acquired Finnish business banking start-up Holvi after pouring a 45 million ($63.7 million) investment in British mobile-only bank Atom last year. And just last week, another U.K. mobile-only bank called Mondo raised 1 million via equity crowdfunding site Crowdcube in just 96 seconds. "I think what we're doing and some of the other challengers are doing is trying to appeal to a different segment of the population, the kind of people who live their lives on their smartphones and who expect everything to be doable in a second or two in a single touch," Tom Blomfield, chief executive of Mondo, told CNBC in a TV interview on Monday. Mondo is a licensed bank in the U.K. and has a free app which allows people to track their spending and get notifications when they use their card. Blomfield said that unlike traditional lenders, Mondo does not charge users fees.



Its a slog

But a snazzy app might not be enough for Mondo and other upcoming challengers to really take on the banks. Some investors ,have already voice concern that the business models are radically different. "You'll get the early adopters then after you do that it's a slog. You are fighting against the likes of Santander but the growth I think will pop then flatten out," Rob Kniaz, founding partner at London-based venture capital firm Hoxton Ventures, told CNBC by phone. "I think if you look at the space, I'm cynical that the app will make that difference. There is long term value, but in the shorter term, if I'm an existing customer at HSBC for example, I'm not that excited about Mondo. I've played around it, am I going to move all my business? Probably not." Mondo will pay zero percent interest on deposits but said on overdrafts it expects the interest to be between 18 and 20 percent. Blomfield admitted that this is the same as a regular bank. "You are seeing average retail lenders on an overdraft might be charging 18, 19, 20 percent interest, and it just gives you a business model straight off the bat, so you don't have to go charging customers. In fact we have no fees or charges whatsoever, we can rely solely on that net interest margin, based on the ultra-low cost base," Blomfield told CNBC. "Customers come to us for the functionality, ease of useit's more than just a bank account -- it's your entire financial life in an app," the CEO added, explaining how he believes Mondo is different. Trying to convince the population that the offering is differentiated from traditional lenders will be key.



Find an angle

Mondo
Source: Honey Maid | YouTube

As American families become more diverse, companies are learning their advertising also has to become more inclusive. A new study by BabyCenter and market research company YouGov that surveyed over 2,000 people finds that 80 percent of parents like to see diverse families in advertisements. Sixty-six percent said that brands that showed reverence for all kinds of families was a considering factor when purchasing a product. When it comes to millennial parents, the openness to accepting interracial and LGBT families is more pronounced. About 2 in 5 millennial parents said they were more likely to purchase products from companies that feature diverse families in their ads. Seven in 10 have actively not bought something because they did not agree with what the company stood for. The results and implications of the survey will be further discussed on Saturday at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. "The fact is nearly half of millennial parents are more likely to talk to their friends about products that include diverse family types in their ads," said Julie Michaelson, head of global sales for BabyCenter, a family advice website owned by Johnson & Johnson. "It's very, very important to have that talk about your brand be positive and not negative."

The changing attitudes reflect the increase in different families in the U.S. The survey found that 40 percent of families reflect "modern" types, meaning single-parent households, co-habitating (non-married) parents, LGBTQ parents, mixed-race parents and households with a stay-at-home dad. Still, it is hard to deny that there is often controversy when diverse families are featured in ad campaigns. Tylenol 's #HowWeFamily campaign highlighted some LGBT households, and got some backlash. Cheerios gained some negative attention after it had an interracial family in its commercials. Honey Maid was in the national spotlight when it showed LGBT families in its "This is Wholesome" campaign. Wells Fargo faced a boycott from Billy Graham churches when it showed a lesbian couple adopting a child. The negativity is mostly a vocal minority being amplified by the press and social media, said Michaelson. "Social media is playing a huge role in that," she said. "You are not going to please 100 percent of the people all the time. On the flip side, when that does happen, you're going to have this overwhelmingly positive response, too." Chloe Gottlieb, senior vice president and executive creative director at R/GA, believes the antagonism is more a reflection of older generations. As younger people with more open minds become more important, brands will have to adopt their values. "We are still in a transition time," said Gottlieb. "Brands are being brave, but there are still some people who aren't as comfortable, and they are reflecting it back." Michaelson pointed out the need to be authentic with your messaging in order to resonate with core consumers. "We heard a lot from the moms that when gay marriage was passed, a lot of brands jumped on that bandwagon and had a lot of flags all over their advertising," she said. "That's not how to do it. If that representation doesn't feel real, it can really backfire on their brand.
"It is quite possible that emissions will fall modestly from now on, implying that 2014 was the peak," said the report, highlighting data that shows China's emissions actually fell in 2015.

The Chinese government is currently meeting in Beijing for the National People's Congress to put the finishing touches on its next five-year economic plan. As the Congress continues, the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the London School of Economics have issued a joint study on China's projected economy and energy use.

China's carbon dioxide emissions may have already peaked in 2014, according to a report published Monday.

China's heavy industry export-led economy has provided rapid growth to the country, but is viewed as unsustainable and environmentally damaging.

In 2014, China pledged to lower greenhouse gas from around 2030 onwards.

The report suggested that a 2030 peak was far too late and that if CO2 emissions do grow from this point forward, they "are likely to peak at some point in the decade before 2025."

During a press briefing reported by Reuters, Xie Zhenhua, China's climate change envoy, disputed the claim that CO2 emissions are retreating from record levels.

"You asked whether our emissions had peaked in 2014 - certainly not.

"In fact, our carbon dioxide emissions are still increasing," he said.

As the Chinese economy rotates towards a model based on domestic consumption, growth in energy use has tailed off.

Primary energy consumption slowed to less than 1 percent year-on-year in the first three-quarters of 2015 according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

And while in 2013 half of the entire world's coal was being burnt in China, the paper argues that the country is now moving to a wider mix of energy supply.

The Chinese Electricity Council states that in 2014, China added 22 gigawatts (GW) of hydroelectric capacity, more than 5 GW of nuclear, 21 GW of wind, and 11 GW of solar.
When the fund was raised it had nearly $300 million, and the two remaining Zohar funds that have not yet reached maturity contain in excess of $2 billion.

In late 2015, Tilton filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition for the first Zohar fund she created more than a decade ago. That came after Tilton unsuccessfully sought to extend the fund's deadline with MBIA.

Tilton stepped down as collateral manager of the three funds earlier this year amid a lawsuit with bond insurer MBIA , CNBC.com has learned. She continues to run Patriarch Partners, the private equity firm she founded in 2000.

Bankruptcy consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal will replace distressed investor Lynn Tilton as collateral manager of the three Zohar credit funds totaling $2.5 billion in investments.

The second Zohar fund, containing about $1 billion, matures January 2017.

Alvarez & Marsal was tasked with the unwieldy dismantling of Lehman Brothers in the wake of the investment bank's devastating 2008 bankruptcy filing. In the years that followed, it helped distribute about $100 billion to the bank's creditors.

"Patriarch Partners and Lynn Tilton look forward to working with the newly appointed Collateral Manager of the Zohar Funds to ensure a smooth and cooperative transition process," a spokesman for Patriarch Partners told CNBC.com in an email.

"This appointment in no way affects Ms. Tilton's role as CEO of Patriarch Partners, nor her roles at the portfolio companies. Ms. Tilton looks forward to devoting all of her time and energy to managing and creating value at the more than 70 operating companies in the Patriarch portfolio."



Tilton stepped down from the credit funds that have, in part, supported the investments of Patriarch Partners in early February. Her resignation took effect March 1, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.com that states Alvarez & Marsal will become "successor collateral manager" to Tilton.

Tilton is being sued by Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Hannover Funding, which invested in her credit funds. The investors, who are seeking more than $40 million, say they were deceived about the accounting standards that would be applied to the Zohar funds in which they invested.

Lynn Tilton is stepping down from credit funds



She is also being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged in March 2015 that Tilton committed fraud and misrepresented the financial health of investments made by Zohar funds. That court case was put on hold in September when a 2nd U.S. Circuit judge issued an order to stay the case. That order has not yet been lifted.

Patriarch Partners has previously defended itself against both suits. "We deny these baseless allegations in the strongest possible terms and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves in court," according to a spokesperson for Patriarch Partners.
Fratto said a general election featuring Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton does not bode well for his party. "Republicans will lose to Hillary Clinton if Donald Trump is the nominee. And I don't think that's even a hard question."

"Anybody who says they think they know what he's going to be [like as president], they don't know what they are talking about because he will change what he's going to be," Fratto told CNBC's " Squawk Box ."

Fratto had supported the candidacy of Jeb Bush before the former Florida governor dropped out of the race. He has since thrown his support behind Rubio. "There are other candidates who have a chance right now. I'm not a big Cruz guy. But this is still a race, and Cruz is still close by."

If Trump were to become the GOP nominee, Fratto said, he would not support the billionaire businessman. "I could not in good conscience help this man become president of the United States. I have to live with myself after that. I don't want him representing me. I don't want him representing my children. I don't want him representing this party."

In another "Squawk Box" interview, Kay Bailey Hutchison, a former Republican senator from Texas, gave credit to Trump for mounting an unexpectedly strong bid. But she said the real estate mogul's lack of foreign policy experience and controversial statements should raise red flags for voters.

"[Trump] has certainly run an incredible campaign that nobody would ever have thought. It's [also] troubling some of the things he's said," Hutchison said, pointing to concern expressed by two former GOP presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain. "We need to be thinking about a presidential candidate that's presidential who can deal in foreign policy."

Following Romney's scathing anti-Trump speech on Thursday, McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he shared the concerns of the former Massachusetts governor. In a statement, McCain called Trump's views on foreign policy "uninformed" and "dangerous."

"I admire what Mitt Romney has done. It was very difficult, I'm sure for him to jump back in and say, 'Are you really thinking this through,'" Hutchison said. "I think people will listen to many of the people who are not supporting Donald Trump. And I think they're listening to the people who do support him. And that's what a primary is for."

Heading into four contests on Tuesday, Trump has a double-digit lead in Michigan, the most delegate-rich state among the four, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll. Idaho and Mississippi also hold primaries, while Hawaii holds caucuses.

"[Trump] has played by the rules. He is winning," said Hutchison, who has yet to endorse any of the Republican candidates. But with Trump holding only about a third of the 1,237 delegates needed to grab the GOP nomination outright, Hutchison said: "The race is not over. And people are now speaking about all the factors that they want in a president. There may be a different outcome."

If Trump were to win the nomination, Hutchison won't say whether she's stand behind her party's candidate. "I want to see what he does. I think it's a little too early to tell. He is beginning to think this is a reality. Is that going to make a difference? I don't want to make a commitment right now. Let's see how this plays out."
Republicans desperate to stop Donald Trump from capturing the party's presidential nomination are wrestling with whether to unite behind Ted Cruz, a polarizing figure popular with the conservative Tea Party movement. Cruz, 45, a U.S. senator from Texas, won nominating contests in Kansas and Maine on Saturday, bolstering his argument that he is the leading alternative to Trump, 69, the blunt-spoken billionaire businessman.

Mainstream Republicans are unhappy with Trump's calls to build a wall on the border with Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the United States.

Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, participate in a debate sponsored by Fox News on March 3, 2016. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

Many establishment Republicans are reluctant, however, to rally behind Cruz, whom they see as too conservative for the general electorate in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Cruz has run as an outsider bent on shaking up the Republican establishment in Washington. A favorite of evangelicals, he has called for the United States to "carpet bomb" the Islamic State militant group and has pledged to eliminate the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and four Cabinet agencies.

But he angered many Republican colleagues when he led the call in 2013 for a standoff in the U.S. Congress that led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government.

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said Cruz had not yet shown an ability to appeal beyond the most conservative voters.

"The way things are going, I think it's extraordinarily unlikely that Senator Cruz becomes the focal point for Republicans who want to stop Trump," said Newhouse, who was lead pollster for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Kim Reem, a member of the executive committee of the National Federation of Republican Women, said both Trump and Cruz were polarizing figures within their party. She said three factions were emerging among Republicans: those supporting Trump, those backing Cruz, and supporters of the party establishment. "The Cruz folks don't want to yield to supporting Trump and the Trump folks don't want to yield to supporting Cruz, and some establishment folks don't want to support either one of them," said Reem. "I don't see a path to making everybody happy."

Some Republicans argue Cruz is not polling strongly enough in states such as Florida and Ohio. Both will soon hold nominating contests, leading some in the party to question whether backing Cruz would be the best way to stop Trump.

Unforgiving math To win the nomination, 1,237 delegates are needed. Cruz has won 300 and Trump 374. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, 44, of Florida, an establishment favorite still seen by some in the party as an option to Trump, stood to build on his 123 delegates after winning the 23-delegate Puerto Rico primary on Sunday. Ohio Governor John Kasich trails with 35 delegates.

Some establishment Republicans say the best way to stop Trump would be for Rubio to win the 99-delegate Florida contest and Kasich the 66-delegate Ohio primary. Both states award all their delegates to the top vote-getter.

If Cruz, Rubio and Kasich can collectively prevent Trump from getting the needed majority of delegates, they could force a brokered Republican Party convention in July in Cleveland. Even if Cruz gets the second-highest vote total, he may have trouble claiming the nomination at the convention over Trump. Former U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi said he would have a hard time supporting a Cruz nomination. "He'd have to change his tactics and his conduct an awful lot," he said. Cruz has feuded with party leadership, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and has often accused fellow Republicans of selling out conservative principles. Although he has been in the Senate for four years, Cruz has not won a single endorsement from any other senator. He touts that on the campaign trail as evidence he is an outsider.
In this Sept. 24, 2014 photo, traders work in the ten-year bond pit on the floor of the CME Group in Chicago.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond , meanwhile, traded around 2.712 percent, close to a month high. The two-year note yield hit 0.91 percent, its highest since mid-January.

The yield, which moves inversely to the price, on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed as high as 1.92 percent, its highest in more than a month. It last traded at 1.911 percent.

U.S. government debt prices fell on Monday, supporting yields as oil prices rallied and investors digested Friday's better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

Fed speak was in focus on Monday, as Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer and Fed Governor Lael Brainard both delivered remarks on the U.S. economy.

Fischer noted that he has seen possible first signs of an inflation increase, while Brainard said that she expects inflation to move back to the central bank's 2 percent target despite risks to the downside.



On the data front, it should be a very quiet week for U.S. economic news, with just January consumer credit figures on Monday at 3 p.m. ET and wholesale inventory data Wednesday the only data releases of note in the first half of the week.

Oil prices traded strongly on Monday, extending gains seen on Friday after the nonfarm payrolls report was released showing the economy created 242,000 jobs in February, topping expectations. Front-month Brent crude futures were trading at $40.89 per barrel on Monday, up $2.17 from Friday's close.

All eyes will be on the European Central Bank this week, as President Mario Draghi is expected to deliver yet more monetary stimulus on Thursday amid growing criticism of how the world's central banks are handling monetary policy.

In Asia, China announced new economic targets at the National People's Congress (NPC) over the weekend.

China's new economic targets for 2016, released on Saturday at the National People's Congress (NPC) meeting, included a revised growth target of between 6.5 and 7 percent, a consumer price index growth target of around 3 percent and a budget deficit at 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Reuters.
Building awareness

Human nature leads us all to naturally want to work with others who are "like me" or whom we already know. Because there are relatively few women at the top, that means we remain at a disadvantage when it comes to male managers choosing people to hire, promote and offer stretch assignments to. Companies must make managers aware of this tendency and encourageor even requirethem to consider a diverse slate of candidates for new positions or responsibilities.

Building career paths

And speaking of stretch assignments, too often women won't get even asked to consider them. The thinking goes, Oh, she won't want a travel role, she's just had a baby or This client is tough, and she won't want to make waves. Keyser says, "Men make these kinds of assumptions all the time on the executive floor without even consulting the women involved."

To be a successful ally, men must learn what skills women on their teams have, what they've achieved in other roles and where they'd like to go, advises Adrienne Hand, Keyser's co-author on Make Way for Women.
How do you get deadbeat brokers and the firms that employ them to pay what they owe to investors? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is open to suggestions. Finra, the regulator of the brokerage industry, recently released some troubling data on arbitration awards and the proportion of them that go unpaid. "Previously unpublished data" from Finra that appeared in The Wall Street Journal showed that 15 percent of awards granted to investors by FINRA arbitration panels in 2014  roughly $34 million  remain unpaid by the brokers and their firms. That's slightly higher than the 13 percent average over the five years through 2014, according to FINRA's data.

Slobo | Getty Images

"The reality is that problems with collection of judgments exist across all courts, arbitration forums and government agency settlements," according to a FINRA statement emailed by public spokeswoman Michelle Ong. The self-regulatory organization said it "continues to be concerned" about unpaid awards, but a task force recently examining FINRA's arbitration process  mandatory for all clients of Finra-registered brokers  did not agree on a solution and offered no advice to help investors collect on awards against bad brokers. "Finra continues to explore a number of solutions and welcomes input from interested parties," per the statement. Not nearly good enough, said Hugh Berkson, president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association and a securities lawyer with McCarthy Lebit, Crystal & Liffman. The problem of investors being stiffed by investment brokers found liable in arbitration disputes is not new. The Government Accountability Office has raised the issue twice in the last 15 years. Berkson said the numbers released by FINRA understate the problem, and he revealed that one out of three arbitration awards and $1 out of every $4 awarded goes unpaid.

"It's time to do something about this," said Berkson, who represents investors in disputes with brokers and their firms. "There should be money available to investors who are found to have been wronged [by brokers]."

PIABA's suggestion is the creation of a national recovery pool that would cover unpaid awards. A $100 assessment on the roughly 650,000 registered reps in the industry would have covered the $62 million of unpaid awards to investors in 2013, per PIABA research. Finra has considered other solutions, such as requiring firms to have insurance that would cover losses in arbitration disputes, but decided it would be too expensive for many firms. Ditto for the idea of raising net capital requirements that can be as low as $5,000 for small brokerage firms. "A pool of assets financed by the industry makes the most sense," said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based securities lawyer. "Let brokers who are responsible for the problem pay for it."

The focus should be on preventing fraud and wrongdoing in the first place. Look for advisors you know with deep roots in the community. It's up to individuals to get engaged and to develop financial wherewithal. Brian Hamburger founder, president and CEO of MarketCounsel

A recovery pool would of course benefit lawyers such as Stoltmann and Berkson, who get stiffed along with clients when brokers don't pay arbitration awards. The idea, however, is not likely to fly in an industry that feels it already faces excessive regulation. "Good" brokers  those who pay arbitration awards against them  would have to help finance the "bad" brokers who don't. "The industry would fight it tooth and nail," Stoltmann said. So what can investors, who've been burned, do when they can't collect on arbitration awards? Unfortunately, not much other than paying more lawyers to pursue the broker and/or brokerage in court.

FINRA members who don't pay awards against them are barred from the industry until they do. Small firms, however, often face multiple claims from clients when some private placement investment or other typically high-commission product blows up. Many can't pay the awards, so they leave the industry, declare bankruptcy and hire lawyers to help shield their personal assets. Investors rarely win those legal battles. "You can go to court and use other resources to try to get paid, but it doesn't substantially increase the likelihood that you will get paid," said lawyer Brian Hamburger, founder, president and CEO of consulting firm MarketCounsel.

Hamburger thinks a national recovery pool would create perverse incentives in the industry, encouraging brokers with arbitration awards against them to leave the business because they know their clients will be made whole. "The focus should be on preventing fraud and wrongdoing in the first place," said Hamburger, who suggested investors be more diligent in picking their financial advisors and understanding their investment advice. "Look for advisors you know with deep roots in the community," he added. "It's up to individuals to get engaged and to develop financial wherewithal."
PHOTO CREDIT: The Owego Kitchen Facebook page

OWEGO, N.Y.  The Owego Kitchen, a new rustic coffee shop and cafe, announced it will formally open Tuesday, March 22 at its location at 13 Lake St.

Owners Ike and Julie Lovelass, husband and wife, will celebrate the opening of the 1,800-square-foot shop with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. with the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce. The business first opened to customers Nov. 11.

In addition to the owners, the Owego Kitchen employs 12 employees (a mix of full time and part time). They are looking to expand their staff for the summer months, says Ike Lovelass.

The cafe occupies a historic building that dates back to 1873. The brick structure was first home to S.E. Ashleys Saloon, Restaurant and Confectionary, according to the New York State Historic Trust and Cornell University.

We brought the old rustic coffee shop feel back to the place with exposed brick and hardwood flooring, Ike Lovelass says. We are bringing the building back to what it used to be.

The structure stood empty for the 10 years prior to their purchase of the property last May. The couple took six months to demolish, repurpose, and paint the cafe. Contractor Dan Snyder assisted with the renovation work in the three-floor building, making the top floor a loft in which the couple can live.

Buying the property and conducting renovations cost $200,000 in total, says Ike Lovelass. The propertys full market value was $129,870 as of 2015, according to Tioga County property records.

The Owego Kitchen owners obtained loans through the Tioga County Economic Development & Planning department and Tioga State Bank. The bank made a loan of about $100,000 while Tioga County provided a $25,000 no-interest loan. The couple funded the rest of the costs with their own cash, says Ike Lovelass.

He says its too early to gauge the cafes revenue results. But Lovelass says the Owego Kitchen is growing and already looking to expand its hours into the night and add more seating to the cafe. His spouse and chef, Julie, is exploring a dinner-menu option as the cafe specializes in breakfast and lunch currently.

My wife, she makes almost everything by hand, shes here at 4:30 in the morning baking, Ike Lovelass says.

The cafe offers fresh bagels everyday from Brooklyn Bagel Company and coffee from Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters is delivered to their doorstep. Julie Lovelass and staff make the rest from scratch.

Julie takes normal comfort food and puts a twist on it, Ike says. It will be a turkey sandwich that you can recognize and relate to, but shell put a twist on it. Shell add beer and horseradish dressing or spice it up with Sriracha.

Julie Lovelass is no stranger to the restaurant business. Active for 30 years in cooking, consulting, and owning restaurants, she considers food her passion. She graduated from the culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in 1984 and shortly after, started the Phoenix Grill in Oneonta. After selling the grill, she went on to consult for hundreds of restaurants across New York state, Ike Lovelass says.

After a decade of consulting, she really missed owning a restaurant, Ike says.

While helping Julie run The Owego Kitchen, Ike also works as executive director of a health-insurance group, called Orange-Ulster School Districts Health Plan, according to his LinkedIn page,

Shes the brains behind the operation, Im just the pretty face, he quips.

The Owego Kitchen currently is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The owners plan to stay open later in the upcoming months and expand on their catering services, including hosting private dinner parties at the cafe.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
ITHACA, N.Y.  Elizabeth Garrett, the first woman to serve as president of Cornell University, died Sunday night at age 52 following a battle with colon cancer.

Robert Harrison, chairman of the schools board of trustees, announced Garretts death in a letter posted on the schools website.

There are few words to express the enormity of this loss, Harrison wrote in the letter.

Garrett started her time as Cornell president on July 1, 2015, having previously served as provost and senior VP for academic affairs at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Garrett succeeded David Skorton, who left Cornell on June 30, 2015, to become the next secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Harrison called Garrett a remarkable human being and a vibrant and passionate leader.

While Beths tenure as president has tragically been cut short, her efforts over the last eight months have set the university on a path toward continued excellence. She will leave a lasting legacy on our beloved institution and will be terribly missed, Harrison wrote.

Cornell planned to honor Garretts memory with a moment of silence and chimes at 4:00 p.m. on Monday.

The university will hold a memorial gathering on its Ithaca campus in the near future, Harrison wrote.

We will share details as soon as they are available, he added.

Harrison also offered condolences to Garretts husband, Cornell University professor Andrei Marmor, and the rest of the Marmor and Garrett families, according to the letter.

Cornell provost Michael Kotlikoff has served as the universitys acting president since Feb. 22, according to a posting that day on Cornells Graduate School website.

Statewide reaction to Garretts death included a statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said he is deeply saddened to hear of Garretts death.

Throughout her accomplished career, and especially as President of Cornell University, Elizabeth was a visionary leader who was wholeheartedly committed to furthering the education and growth of those around her. She devoted her life to creating a better future for everyone, and she understood that in order to accomplish that, part of her responsibility as a leader was to boldly challenge the status quo. As the first woman to lead Cornell University as its president, she lived that promise herself, said Cuomo.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
NASA's T-38 jet, tail no. 913, is seen in chase of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mated with the orbiter Enterprise in 1977. The same jet will go on display with the prototype shuttle 40 years later. (NASA)

March 7, 2016

 Almost 40 years after it gave chase to the space shuttle Enterprise, a NASA jet is about to catch up with the prototype winged orbiter at a museum in New York City.



The two-seat, supersonic T-38 Talon jet, tail number 913, is set to land on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted aircraft carrier berthed on the west side of Manhattan, in early April. Enterprise has been on display at the Intrepid since 2012.



"This is the perfect airplane to enhance Enterprise's story," said Eric Boehm, the curator of aviation at the Intrepid, in an exclusive interview with collectSPACE.



The no. 913 T-38 was one of several such jets that flew as the chase planes for NASA's 1977 Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program. Carried piggyback and released from atop a modified Boeing 747 jet, the Enterprise proved that the space shuttle orbiter could safely land as a glider.







NASA T-38 jet, tail number 913, captured in flight. (Story Musgrave)

"It was an amazing test program that had to happen before the other orbiters flew in space," said Boehm.



After the ALT program, T-38 913 (N913NA) was used as a training jet, flown by astronauts to gain experience working in a high-pressure environment and to keep up their flight proficiency. Built by Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) in 1965 and delivered to NASA in 1969, T-38 913 flew for 38 years in support of the space program.



Landing 913



Boehm knew that he wanted a T-38 from the ALT program since Enterprise arrived at the Intrepid and took its place in its Space Shuttle Pavilion.



"We have always had space exhibits here with the Intrepid having recovered Mercury and Gemini missions. But with Enterprise here, now we have this whole new tangent," he said.







Space shuttle Enterprise as seen on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. (collectSPACE)

Hearing that NASA was surplusing part of the fleet, Boehm watched the listings of the General Services Administration (GSA) until he spotted a plane that matched his criteria.



"I had four tail numbers I could for sure say were there for the 1977 ALT program and I just started stalking them," he said. "If I recall, there were five states' historic preservation offices that were vying for this plane. I thought we were a shoo-in given the tie to Enterprise and it turned out that we were, because we got it."



Boehm recruited Whisler Aviation, a company specializing in the disassembly and transportation of aircraft, to pick up T-38 913 from NASA's depot in El Paso, Texas and deliver it the Intrepid in New York City. But first, it needed a paint job.



Going retro



"It is very important to us to tell the Enterprise's story with this airplane," Boehm explained. "So we're backdating the paint scheme to its 1977 livery."



Although NASA's T-38 jets have always been mostly white with two-tone blue stripes running down the sides, their tail markings have changed over the past four decades. When it was retired, 913's vertical stabilizer displayed the current livery featuring a basic version of NASA's vector logo. But at the time it accompanied Enterprise in flight, its tail was different.







NASA T-38 jet, number 913, seen on its final flight. (Story Musgrave)

"It had a raw yellow band with black cheat lines on either side of the yellow and 'NASA' in black italicized," described Boehm. "For the most part, it had a similar paint scheme [to the modern livery], it just didn't have the NASA swoop."



Fortunately for Boehm, Whisler Aviation also had a paint shop that could do the job at its fixed-based operation in Seward, Nebraska. But the Intrepid did not have the funds to underwrite the livery-change.



Enter Charles de Gunzburg, the former co-chairman and a current trustee at the Intrepid, with his wife Nathalie.







T-38 913 with its livery as flown during the Approach and Landing Tests with space shuttle Enterprise in 1977. (Story Musgrave)

"We were able to afford to move this airplane from Texas to New York, but I really wanted that paint job and Charles stepped right up," Boehm said. "Charles has been a great friend of this museum. An aviation enthusiast, Charles has donated for our education programs, he's donated for our aircraft programs and with this airplane."



"We owe Charles a great debt of gratitude for helping us acquire this airplane," Boehm said.



On approach



T-38 913 is scheduled to arrive at the Intrepid by way of a Whisler Aviation truck from Nebraska in early April.



"It is not an oversize load, so it will come over the George Washington Bridge," Boehm said. "We will reassemble the aircraft and it will be here for a day and a half to two days before its lifted by crane onto the flight deck."



No longer flightworthy  NASA removed the engines and most of the cockpit instruments to be used as spares for its active T-38 fleet  the Intrepid will need to fabricate some replacement panels and a landing gear door to complete 913's display. The museum will also prepare the jet for its outdoor exhibit.







NASA T-38 jet, tail number 913, captured in flight. (Story Musgrave)
Elementary students thrilled by Jersey cow in dairy lesson

The educational demonstration is part of a partnership between the St. Louis Dairy Council and Southwest Dairy Farmers.
Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll

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This is a big week for Justin Turner. The founder of Bernie's Burger Bus in Houston, he'll appear on Wednesday's episode of "Chopped" on Food Network, and over the weekend, he'll be in Hernando at the soft opening of his new restaurant, Catfish Blues, which opens to the public March 14.

Turner is the chef, and Josh Tucker is the owner of the new place at 210 E. Commerce. Both have Memphis connections, having worked at The Majestic Grille, and they saw an opportunity in fast-growing Hernando. The restaurant will serve Mississippi pond-raised catfish along with daily specials such as fried chicken, pork chops, meatloaf and other Southern favorites. It's a family-friendly place (kids eat free Tuesdays with adult meals), but they'll serve alcohol. Hours will be 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday and 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Sunday. Call 662-298-3814 for more information. The plan is to expand to other locations around the Mid-South.

Moving along, there's a new Caribbean place in town. Sabor Caribe has opened at 662 Madison in the former location of Arepa & Salsa. Owner Alejandro Romero said the menu is essentially the same, but it seems more extensive. Burgers have been added, along with sandwiches such as a Cuban and a modified club (it includes ham and salami). And, whew, the cachapa, that delicious omelet-quesadilla hybrid, remains available. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 901-949-8100 (English) or 901-303-2886 (Spanish) for more information.

That mile or so of Madison has three Caribbean places: Havana's Pilon at 143 Madison, serving Cuban food, and Evelyn & Olive, 630 Madison, serving Jamaican food. Sabor Caribe is mostly Venezuelan.

And speaking of Havana's Pilon: Look for a second location in Bartlett at 3135 Kirby-Whitten in the next couple of weeks. Hours will be 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. I'll let you know when it opens.

More good news: The Second Line, 2144 Monroe, opens for lunch at 11 a.m. Friday. Owner Kelly English will open this Friday and again on March 18, and then will start opening at 11 a.m. daily March 25. The menu is still being tweaked, but you'll be able to get most of what you can get there at night, plus a $10 lunch special that will include half a po'boy, a side and a nonalcoholic drink for $10. Afternoon bar specials are also in the works.

Teams Wanted

Everyone who wants to have a good time needs to mark their calendar for April 9 and plan to attend the St. Michael Panther Invitation BBQ Contest at St. Michael Catholic Church, 3863 Summer. In my experience, first-time festivals are great fun, even if they end up being a little disorganized - everyone is excited and the crowd is usually relaxed.

But barbecue teams need to act now and register to be part of the competition. It's $250, and $50 of that is a refundable cleaning deposit. Categories are ribs, wings and sauce. All proceeds benefit the church, which recently had two stained-glass windows vandalized and needs to recoup the $6,000 cost of repair. Food vendors are needed, as are local artists wh would like to set up a booth. Call 901-299-6527 for more information.

Black Restaurant Week

Don't forget this is Memphis Black Restaurant Week. The following restaurants will offer special two-course lunches for $15 and three-course dinners for $25; visit blackrestaurantweek.com to see the menus.

DeJaVu, 51 S. Main;

Evergreen Grill, 6661 Winchester;

The HM Dessert Lounge, 1586 Madison;

Mot & Ed's, 1354 Madison;

Onix 412 S. Main;

Scoops Parlor at 106 E. G.E. Patterson;

The Bistro, 2945 Millbranch;

The Office at Uptown, 594 N. Second.

Recipe of the Week

I haven't canned anything in months and was struck by this recipe for collard green marmalade. I see it in my near future.

Collard Greens Marmalade

Makes 1 quart. Ingredients

1/2 cup roughly chopped bacon (10-12 slices)

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound collard greens, washed, stemmed and roughly chopped

11/2 cups sugar

11/2 cups apple cider vinegar

 Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Directions

1 In a large frying pan over medium heat, render the bacon. Remove and drain on paper towels, leaving the fat in the pan. Add onion and lightly brown them over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes. Add the mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, garlic and jalapenos. Continue cooking for 3 minutes. 2 Toss in collard greens and stir to combine. Add the sugar, water and vinegar and reduce, over medium-high heat, to a thickened, syrupy consistency, about half an hour. Season with salt and pepper. Cool to room temperature and store in refrigerator in a tightly sealed container for up to 1 month, or follow standard canning procedures for longer storage. Source: Greens, a Savor the South Cookbook, Thomas Head
March 2, 2016 - Ben Brock, owner of Amerigo and the soon-to-open Char, is the Memphis Restaurant Association's Restaurateur of the Year. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Jennifer Biggs of The Commercial Appeal

Ben Brock seldom went to restaurants when he was young, but the 2016 Restaurateur of the Year has a collection approaching a dozen today.

"My father was very frugal," he said. "We went to Red Lobster on birthdays because it was my mom's favorite, and we stopped at Shoney's when we went to visit my grandparents in Nashville."

But when he was 15, the Jackson, Mississippi, native was told by his dad it was time to get a job.

"So I went to work at Chuck E. Cheese," said Brock, now 45. "I was a server and eventually became the party coordinator, which was actually a pretty big job for a 16-year-old. It can get pretty wild in a Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday afternoon."

Pretty soon - after quick stints at a doughnut shop and an Applebee's - Brock went to work for Bill Latham and Al Roberts at Amerigo when it opened in 1987.

"I started as a dishwasher and a server assistant and stayed through my first year of college, coming home from Mississippi State on weekends to tend bar and wait tables," he said.

Then Dad spoke again.

"He said I was working too hard and I didn't need to work like that while I was in school."

He left Amerigo and three years later went back to Jackson. While waiting to start graduate school, he went back to the restaurant to wait tables and tend bar.

"Then I decided to take a year off, and in that year I got married and ended up staying with Amerigo."

He moved to Nashville to take over the Nashville Amerigo, then transferred to Memphis to open that location, still on Ridgeway at Park, in 1998.

In 2006, Latham and Roberts sold Amerigo and Char, their Jackson, Mississippi, steakhouse, to a group called Vivid. Brock stayed on for about six months but didn't "see eye to eye" with the new owners and left. He and a friend invented a thermometer to alert kitchen staff when food is approaching the danger zone, had it manufactured in China, then lost their initial production in an earthquake.

Meanwhile, Fred Carl called Brock, 45, to see if he would like to buy Interim.

"So I called Bill Latham and basically asked him to be my bank," Brock said.

Latham, Roberts, Carl and Brock owned Interim together for a while then opened Sole in the Westin Downtown. Shortly after that, Vivid went into receivership, and Brock gathered a group to buy six properties, including four Amerigo locations and Char in Jackson.

Since then, they've been busy. Brock sold his part of Interim to Roberts and Latham, who still own it along with Babalu locations and Table 100 (Carl is no longer involved). Brock and his three partners now have five Amerigo restaurants; Sombra, Anjou and Saltine in Jackson; and Etch in Nashville. They'll open Etc. in Nashville and Char in Memphis around the same time in midsummer.

"We have people who have become Restaurateur of the Year because of what they have done for Memphis dining, and others because they have been great MRA members," said Kimberly Carlson, executive director the Memphis Restaurant Association. 'Ben is the culmination of both. He's been so involved with us, and he'll also go to Nashville or to Washington when we need him, and as a restaurateur he's so focused on excellent customer service. And he's just so nice, too."

John Seay, general manager of the cleaning services division of State Systems Inc., has been named the associate member of the year.

The banquet is open to the public.

"I wish we could come up with another word for banquet," Carlson said. "I think we should just call it a big party with awards. Obviously, we don't want it to get to the point where we have 1,500 people or so because the purpose of it is to celebrate dining in Memphis and to honor our industry. But there are a lot of people who don't work for a restaurant who are involved in some way and want to be part of the celebration."

Brock is excited about Char, which will open on the newly developed Highland Strip.

"It's a great concept. It's steak and seafood, but I call it a Southern steakhouse," he said. "At lunch we do a meat-and-three, so you come in at lunch and get your greens, your black-eyed peas, your cornbread, then come at night to eat with your spouse or your family. We have people who come in three times a week or so."

And he's humbled to be selected as Restaurateur of the Year by his colleagues.

"It's a huge honor and one definitely earned on a lot of shoulders," he said. "I truly believe it's the people around you who make you, and I've had great people around me my whole career, from my mentors to my employees."

Memphis Restaurant Association 52nd Annual Banquet 6-11 p.m. Sunday at the Hilton Memphis, 939 Ridge Lake Blvd. Tickets: $60 for members, $75 for nonmembers. Includes extensive menu and open bar. To purchase, call MRA executive director Kimberly Carlson at 901-488-4745 email kimberly@memphisrestaurants.com. Dress: Business casual, cocktail, or sports chic to honor your favorite team.
By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police have arrested three men accused of shooting into a car with six women inside Saturday night, officials said.

Christopher Blount, 23, Cordarious Johnson, 20, and Reginald Chalmers, 20, have each been charged with six counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. Blount is being held on a $75,000 bond, Johnson on $50,000 and Chalmers on $30,000.

According to police, the incident happened a little after 11:30 p.m. Saturday near Corning and Steele in the Frayser area. Officers in the area heard shots being fired and were told that men in a white Nissan had opened fire on the women in the Mini Cooper. Two of the women were taken to the Regional Medical Center; their conditions were unknown Sunday.

The three men drove to a location in the 1400 block of Haywood and told someone there they'd been involved in a shootout. Police found casings in the Nissan and the gun in the attic of the Haywood residence, according to an affidavit.
School bus

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By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal

NASHVILLE - The state Senate on Monday overwhelmingly approved legislation increasing penalties for texting and operating mobile electronic devices while driving a school bus - a bill stemming from the 2014 Knoxville school bus crash that killed two children and a teacher's assistant.

The bill still must win approval in the House of Representatives before it becomes law. The House version is awaiting review in the House Finance Committee.

But it won Senate approval on a 32-0 vote, after its sponsor, Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville, explained the bill's origin with the Dec. 2, 2014, collision of two Knox County school buses on Asheville Highway. Investigators concluded that the driver, who died of natural causes last June, was reading a text when his speeding bus carrying 22 children crossed the road and collided with another bus carrying 18 children and the teacher's aide.

"No parent should send their child off to school and that child not come home just because of a driver that is texting," Massey told her Senate colleagues. "You never recover from that. We are entrusting our kids to these bus drivers and it's a critical thing."

Her Senate Bill 1596 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.

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 Commercial Appeal files Balmy days, sandwiched in between days of rain and chill, announce the approach of spring and bring out the business spirit in young Memphians on March 7, 1953. Two got so enthused they set up their own stand. Here, Jimmy Turner, 8 (left) of 1864 Tutwiler reads his favorite comic book while his cousin and partner, Clayton Turner, 11, of 1254 Forrest sells some cupcake mix to Jimmy's sister, Ginger Turner, 11. The stand is in front of Jimmy's house and the boys raid their mothers' pantries for canned goods and their own rooms for comic books to sell.

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March 7

25 years ago: 1991

Sidney Shlenker spoke publicly for the first time about rifts with his partners and stepped closer Wednesday to getting part of the $49.5 million he needs for additions to Mud Island and The Great American Pyramid. Sources said the French bank Societe Generale approved technical language that could make $15 million available in 45 days, provided local and regional banks agree to provide the balance.

50 years ago: 1966

Rev. Paul W. Clunan, pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church, challenged more than 1,600 persons yesterday morning to show that "immoral" movies, books and magazines being offered the public are "below the normal moral standards of the community." He said the actions of 500 students to whom he spoke at a recent Students Political Affairs Forum at Memphis State University revealed that some groups approve of the movies and pornographic magazines.

75 years ago: 1941

LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Legislature passed a resolution related to the projected new bridge across the Mississippi. The resolution asked that the bridge "be free from the inhuman traffic regulations of the Memphis city police" to help the "traveling public avoid embarrassment from unnecessary and uncalled for arrests."

100 years ago: 1916

One of the most elaborate pre-Lenten bridge parties will be tendered this afternoon for the benefit of St. Joseph's Church.

125 years ago: 1891

The charter of the Second Presbyterian Church was filed yesterday. The incorporators are N.M. Woods, G.W. McRae, R.F. Wilcox, A.B. Hill, Alexander Erskine, C.W. Heiskell, Carrington Mason, J.M. Edwards, J.W. Clapp, E.C. Jones, Samuel Jack, Angus Campbell, Elliston Mason, J.P. Finnie, Murray Galbreath and W.H. Horton.
Memphis businessman convicted in Capitol riot sentenced to four years

Matthew Bledsoe was convicted in July of one felony and four misdemeanors, including obstruction of an official proceeding and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
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By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal

I'll be taking a deeper dive into the state flag controversy in a story planned for the near future, but enough is happening that it seemed appropriate to broach the topic now and in this space.

In the view of some, there is no controversy. The people spoke overwhelmingly in 2001, they would argue, when they voted 2 to 1 to keep the current Mississippi flag with its Confederate battle emblem. Given that reality, backers would say any discussion now is pointless chatter over a settled issue.

Gov. Phil Bryant seemed to say as much last week when spokesman Clay Chandler called a new federal lawsuit by Grenada attorney Carlos Moore, seeking to replace the flag, "a frivolous attempt to use the federal court system to usurp the will of the people."

Bryant made his stance clear, incidentally, at about the same time he issued a proclamation declaring April "Confederate Heritage Month." In all fairness, as Chandler pointed out, Bryant isn't the first governor to recognize Confederate heritage; former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove issued the proclamations as well.

But for Bryant, given the flag debate that shows no signs of going away quietly, the timing is bad. Dismissing out of hand the lawsuit while honoring Confederate heritage comes across as particularly tone deaf. Of course, Bryant probably feels he has adequate cover in the solidly Republican state where popular sentiment is on his side.

Still, to borrow a line I'm stealing from myself in a past column, popular sentiment should not always, perhaps, be the final word. Even Ayn Rand, a darling of many conservatives who are among the staunchest flag supporters, said "individual rights are not subject to a public vote."

Does ridding the state of official public display of the Confederate battle emblem constitute an "individual right"? I don't know; we'll have to watch the lawsuit play out.

As I said, I'll be taking a deeper look soon, with comments from those on both sides. Stay tuned.

End of the road

I'm not trying to be clever when I say Sardis Lake is the end of the road, and it's getting a parking lot.

The Army Corps of Engineers is adding a gravel parking lot on the Old Sardis Road access point on the south side of Sardis Lake. Work began March 1.

Known by many as the End of the Road, the area is popular with local visitors and college students. It serves as an access point for portions of the shoreline between the Clear Creek and Coontown Recreation areas.

According to the Engineers, the new lot will provide a stable parking surface where erosion has limited access at times. Vehicle access will be limited to the parking area only. Access points also will be provided for ATVs and foot traffic.

Promote the Vote

This item has been pushed back a couple of times because there was so much to talk about, but it's never too late to recognize local students for their part in encouraging electoral participation. These kids took part in Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's Promote the Vote competition.

"By participating in Promote the Vote, we empower our students with the knowledge to become actively involved in their communities," Hosemann said. "Students are more familiar with the voting process and learn civic participation at an early age."

And the fact that Tuesday is presidential primary day in Mississippi (get our there and vote) makes it all the more appropriate we give them a nod this week.

DeSoto winners include: Leah Rose Steen, Olive Branch Intermediate, first place in Illustrations for grades 4-6; Jayden Bugg, Olive Branch Intermediate, third place in Illustrations for grades 4-6; Christian Richardson, DeSoto Central Middle, honorable mention in Illustrations for grades 7-9; Morgan Anderson, DeSoto Central Middle, first place in Political Campaign Poster; Gracie Miles, DeSoto Central Middle, second place in Political Campaign Poster; Kobe Billman, DeSoto Central Middle, first place in Essay for grades 7-9; Emily Jenkins, DeSoto Central Middle, third place in Essay for grades 7-9, and Emilie Dandan, DeSoto Central Middle, honorable mention in Editorials for grades 7-9.

And finally ...

Yolanda Jones, a colleague whose name may ring a bell from her time covering Southaven, had a sobering but important look last Tuesday at the continuing rise in the number of deaths due to heroin overdoses. Her data focused on Memphis and Shelby County, but law enforcement officials will attest to the fact that it's an epidemic regionally and nationally.

Her story appeared a day too late for a much-deserved mention in last week's Crossing the Line, but please take the time to read if you missed it.
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By Clay Bailey of The Commercial Appeal

Editor's Note: A scene from "The Firm" was filmed at Boscos in Germantown in January, 1993. An incorrect date was mentioned in an earlier version of this story

Tom Cruise Buys A Home in Germantown, Tennessee the Internet website announced.

Uh, no Ill bet he hasnt.

Over the weekend, reports surfaced on the World Wide Web that Cruise, famous Scientologist and star of films such as Top Gun, Risky Business and The Firm, bought a house in the upscale suburb.

City Administrator Patrick Lawton was unaware of the report when asked about it Monday morning. His first reaction was to laugh. His second was exclaiming Wow! His realistic answer was: I have not heard this. What would bring him here?

Of course, there were no specifics with the story regarding Cruises new home address, nor a timetable for the move or the area of the suburb where he would land. But there were some red flags to the report, such as the actor discovered Germantown recently and liked what he saw.

That would be contrary to Cruises appearance as Mitch McDeere in The Firm, the film adaptation of John Grishams first successful novel. Much of the movie was filmed on location in Memphis, including a scene in early 1993 at the former Boscos Pizza Kitchen and Brewery location in Saddle Creek. Im not saying Cruise would remember the city from one night of filming, but his chances of recalling Germantown from that brief visit are about equal to him moving there.

This is not the first time Germantown has dealt with rumors of a celebrity calling the suburb home. In 2003, Ringo Starr reportedly was buying a house on Forest Hill-Irene near Dogwood. That caused a lot of headaches for the real owners of the house. They dispelled the report. Ringos publicist denied the rumor, and best we know, the former Beatles drummer, never visited the house, much less lived there, especially since the original folks still own the house.

The Shelby County Assessors website shows no homeowners with the last name Cruise or the actors full name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. No listings for Mitch McDeere, Joel Goodson (Risky Business); Cole Trickle (Days of Thunder), Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire) or Pete Maverick Mitchell (Top Gun), although there is a Pete Mitchell Road in Germantown.

As for the Germantown report regarding Cruise, Lawton added: He has not come in and signed up for water, adding such an appearance at City Hall would draw attention.

There was another report over the weekend that Cruise was also moving to South Queensferry near Edinburgh, Scotland.

To close the book on this hoax, I direct you (as I always do about checking such reports) to snopes.com

The rumor-disarming website notes that in recent weeks reports have surfaced about any number of celebrities moving to various quiet suburbs across the country. Whether it is Justin Bieber to Gulf Shores, Alabama or Wildwood, Missouri; Matthew McConaughey to Mulvane, Kansas or Clint Eastwood to Hot Spring, Arkansas, all of the reports seem to have similar-sounding clauses and phrases, sometimes simply changing the name of the city.

And, to all of you folks over in Maryville, another place Cruise reportedly is moving, I think thats probably as much of a hoax as the Germantown report.

And while Cruise isnt coming to the suburb, dont try to tell me that the evil tag team of Karl and Kurt Von Brauner wasn't from Germantown. Everyone knows pro wrestling is real.


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By David Trone

You likely know that wine sales in grocery stores can begin in Tennessee on July 1. You might even be looking forward to the opportunity - and as someone who sells wine, I'm with you.

But as your state lawmakers work on a bill to allow grocery stores to stock up before July 1, the same liquor lobbyists who lost the fight against wine are now trying to outlaw competition. And they're counting on your not noticing.

Under the very same bill before the legislature, HB2586/SB2094, liquor store owners would be limited to two stores across the entire state. Right now, there is no limit in Tennessee. Conveniently, the bill would allow anyone who currently has more than two stores to be grandfathered in.

Once again, the old, entrenched interests would be protected, while entrepreneurs and new businesses in the market would be shut out.

When the state passed the "wine in grocery stores" bill in 2014, many people acknowledged that liquor stores had been protected from competition for years. That protection was no accident. The liquor lobby hates competition, and it uses money and influence to try to stop it.

When it was clear the people of Tennessee had spoken on the sale of wine in grocery stores, liquor stores were allowed immediately to sell beer, giving them a two-year head start in the race to stock up. Now, they want other competitors taken out of the race entirely. It's more of the same from a group that thinks it is entitled to your business, instead of having to compete for it like everyone else.

Liquor lobbyists would have you believe they're protecting you from the evils of a store on every corner. They used these same scare tactics with wine in grocery stores, which didn't work because you're a rational, responsible adult who doesn't buy Pinot Noir for 13-year-olds. (And also, because it's illegal.)

But there's another cost to their bullying, and you pay the price. Businesses like mine, Total Wine & More, would love to come to Tennessee. With each of our stores comes 50 jobs, more than 75 percent of which are full time with benefits. We hire local companies for our construction projects, and we donate millions of dollars to charities across the country.

We already are in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and we see Tennessee customers all the time traveling across state lines to visit our stores. Your fellow Tennesseans - literally thousands of you - are coming to our stores and spending money that could and should stay in Tennessee.

So, liquor lobbyists are blocking Tennesseans from hundreds of potential jobs, revenue for your roads and schools, and donations for your communities. Oh, and you'll still have to pay more for fewer choices, because liquor lobbyists say so - or, more accurately, because they influence legislators to say so.

There is no reason the two-store limit should be put in place, except to target companies like mine and to protect the same businesses that think they shouldn't have to compete. Tennesseans should expect better

David Trone is founder and co-owner of Maryland-based Total Wine & More, which is looking to potentially open eight to 10 stores in Tennessee, including multiple sites in the Greater Memphis area.
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By George Will

DEARBORN, Mich.  It is here in the industrial Midwest, not in the South, where Ted Cruz's audacious theory of the 2016 race was supposed to be put to one of its most important tests. Michigan's primary on Tuesday - and especially what happens that day in the Detroit suburbs that in 1980 were ground zero for a new political species, "Reagan Democrats" - will answer this question: Can Cruz locate and motivate legions of recently nonvoting conservatives, millions of them nationwide, especially whites without college experience, who can be pulled back into voting in numbers sufficient to determine the election in November?

But the best-laid plans of mice and men and even senators often go awry, and one problem with Cruz's plan is that it was formulated in olden days, in the world B.D.T. - Before Donald Trump. He, too, is courting this cohort of the disaffected, whose grievances about politicians certainly cannot this year include being ignored by them. But although Trump may bestride the political scene mastodon, Patrick Colbeck and Wendy Day are undaunted.

Colbeck, 50, was an engineer with no interest in politics until, six years ago, he did something almost unprecedented even among members of the national legislature: He read the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. He concluded that "this is about control and has nothing to do with care." Now he is a Republican state senator, the first Michigan legislator elected from the tea party, and a thorn in the side of the GOP's legislative leadership on spending and other matters. Which is to say, he is somewhat like Ted Cruz, of whose Michigan campaign Colbeck is chairman.

Day, 43, is the wife of a soldier who has a Purple Heart from two tours in the Middle East, and the mother of a 19-year-old soldier just back from his first deployment, in Kuwait. She was working with war widows before becoming state director of the Cruz campaign because "he's been to Babylon and survived." Meaning he's resisted "the seductive nature of Washington." Now she travels with a spreadsheet, supplied by Cruz's national campaign headquarters in Houston, detailing the expected March 8 vote in all of Michigan's 4,500 precincts and the number of votes Cruz needs to get in each in order to win the state.

Houston projects that Cruz needs 345,000 of the 1.08 million votes the campaign expects to be cast. Day has on her phone a picture of two of those voters who, with no prompting from the campaign, set up a table outside a tractor supply store to educate voters about Cruz's enthusiasm for the Second Amendment. Other volunteers held a fundraiser at a gun range to pay for a Cruz billboard.

Yes, each such anecdote testifies to Cruz's ability to energize a passionate cadre, and, yes, as has been said, the plural of "anecdote" is "data." Today, however, much more than when Winston Churchill said so eight decades ago, "We have entered the region of mass effects." In Michigan, as in many of the Super Tuesday states, the Cruz campaign mounted the most ambitious efforts to create telephone-and-shoe-leather get-out-the-vote operations, all of which strengthen the sinews of American democracy. In its approach to Iowa, the campaign identified 150 clusters of Iowans for special attention, including a group of 60 who signed a petition seeking legalization of the sale of fireworks in the state, a group that received a blessing from Cruz in his libertarian mode.

But today's saturation journalism about presidential politics - and especially the insatiable appetite of television for the garish sights and sounds of Trump, whose campaign consists almost entirely of feeding this appetite - can raise waves of passion and distraction that wash away more methodical ways of engaging with voters.

A Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll, taken Feb. 14-16, after Iowa's caucuses and New Hampshire's primary but before South Carolina's primary and Nevada's caucuses, presented a microcosm of the GOP's national problem: Trump 25.2 percent, undecided 21.3, Cruz 15, Marco Rubio 11.8, John Kasich 10.5, Ben Carson 9, Jeb Bush 5.3. Trump had the highest unfavorable rating (41.3), but the combined 37.3 percent of the three serious Trump rivals still in the race is too fragmented to derail him. And Kasich, from contiguous Ohio, is targeting Michigan.

Michigan's primary comes a week - an eternity - after Super Tuesday's 11 primaries altered the political landscape. Michigan is one of the 18 states (and the District of Columbia) - with 242 electoral votes - that Republicans have lost in six consecutive presidential elections, so attention must be paid.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.
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.
Psychosocial Implications Of Armed Struggle In Kashmir

By Sheikh Umar Ahmad

07 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

India and Pakistan have disputed ownership of the Kashmir Valley region for many years, resulting in high levels of exposure to violence among the larger populace of Kashmir. The Partition of India in 1947 was the start of a long history of dispute between India and Pakistan for control of Kashmir, which today remains divided into three parts governed by India, Pakistan and China.

The war between two nations has damaged the very fabric of the society, not only its physical structure but also disrupted its entire social tissue, its environment and the normal routine of life for which people account several reasons. Kashmir has been witnessing a chronic socio-political unrest for the last 2 decades now. The conflict has had an enormous impact on different aspects of Kashmirs society. Indeed, there has been a colossal damage to the property and infrastructure, however, its impact can be felt nowhere more than on the mental health of the people of Kashmir.

Deliberating upon the human suffering, the conflict has not only left thousands dead and orphaned, unleashed and unmitigated violence on women and children, but the alarming increase in the psychiatric morbidity in general, is among the worst possible forms of suffering. A household survey done in some frontier areas of North Kashmir by Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada and Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University Netherlands in 2008 published a report in CONFLICT AND HEALTH JOURNAL found that The high levels of violence confronted by the Kashmiri population have resulted in high prevalence ( nearly about 33%) of mental health problems. In another report published in 2013, they stated that Poor self-rated health and likelihood of poor socio-economic functioning were associated with high levels of psychological distress. For the last two decades, Kashmir Valley has been the scene of conflict between Government forces and Mujahideens of Islamic belief, Bomb attacks, shoot-outs, pressure from both sides have affected the daily lives of ordinary Kashmiris.

Human rights abuses from government forces are reported in the form of arrests, extra-judicial killings, house to house searches, abductions and torture. Violent incidents could happen everywhere at any time and the risk of getting caught in the crossfire is always present.

The ongoing violence, the constant threat and poor future perspective put a heavy strain on the natural coping mechanisms of the people in Kashmir. A lot of people suffer from stress (normal or related to traumatic event), high amount of psychosocial problems (substance abuse, distrust) are registered and disorders like anxiety, mood and post-traumatic disorders are mounting. Most of the mental pain is presented as physical (somatization). Mental health experts in the states summer capital, Srinagar, said that there has been a staggering increase in the number of stress and trauma related cases in the Kashmir valley and these psychological problems have also given rise to general health problems like diabetes, cardiac problems and hypertension (The News August 18, 2005). Medecins San Frontiers (MSF), one of only two foreign aid agencies in Srinagar, is focused on managing this overwhelming problem. According to MSF representative Paul van Haperen, There is barely a family that has not been affected. Theres been a tenfold rise in the past decade in the number of cases of trauma (Izzat Jarundi, 2002).

Considering the daily traumas these people endure. it is not surprising that the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the rebellion is raging, has one of the highest rates of suicide in India (Agence France Presse, April 8, 2001). Mental disorders in both men and women have shown an alarming increase when compared to pre-conflict days in 1989. Days before, there has been a picture revolving on social networking sites (attached) in which some children somewhere were playing with each other. They were searching arms and ammunition among themselves, a trend that has followed by Indian Army since 1989 in occupied Kashmir. This image speaks all about the Psychosocial implications of armed conflict in Kashmiri population, that has crept over ages evolutionarily and has changed the mindset of growing buds to enjoy out of this pain & conflict.

Author is Working at CSIR IIIM Jammu

Biotechumar@gmail.com

+919906778863.






Unite In Defence Of The Rights Of Women And The Rights Of All People!

By Communist Ghadar Party of India

07 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Statement of the Central Committee of Communist Ghadar Party of India, 8th March, 2016

As we celebrate International Womens Day on 8th March, the struggle of women has advanced to such an extent that no state can claim to be a democracy and not recognize that women have the same rights as men, by virtue of being human. In addition, they also have specific rights by virtue of their role in human reproduction. In our country and other capitalist countries, the recognition of womens rights remains a formality. It remains nothing but empty words on paper, which does not satisfy the needs of women. Women are demanding that the society and State must ensure that their rights are protected both by law and in practice.

We are passing through a time when women are faced with an extremely dangerous situation, both in our country and on the world scale. Violation of womens rights has reached unbearable levels as a result of the continuing crisis of the global imperialist system and the response of the leading capitalist governments to this crisis.

The most powerful states of the world, headed by the United States of America, are on a fascist and warmongering course. Millions of people have been forced to flee from the war zones in West Asia and seek refuge in Europe. Lakhs have been turned into widows and orphans with no one to support them.

Within the US and European countries, women are out on the streets protesting against their governments and their anti-social policies. They are demanding an end to imperialist wars and to the attacks on peoples rights in the name of austerity, national security and war against terrorism.

In India, the level of economic uncertainty, political persecution and the degree of violence against women have all risen to intolerable levels. As capitalist growth has accelerated in recent decades, lakhs of Indian women have been drawn into specific sectors like the IT, BPO, garment manufacture and other sectors of export-oriented production and services. They are put to work under the most oppressive conditions at abysmal wages and are the first to be thrown out of work without any compensation. At the workplace, women are paid less than male workers who are doing the same job. Existing laws regarding maternity leave and the provision of creche facilities are regularly and openly flouted even by the biggest multinational companies. Lakhs of Anganwadi workers and other women employed in public services are deprived of rights and benefits by keeping them on temporary contracts without ever regularizing them. Working women are not allowed to organise themselves into unions and fight for their rights.

Accelerated capitalist development since the nineties has enormously enriched the monopoly houses while leading to widespread poverty and misery in both rural and urban India. Peasant distress has led to suicides, leaving widowed women to fend for the family on their own. Millions have been forced to migrate to the cities and live in the most appalling conditions that prevail in urban slums.

Blatant attacks on the dignity and security of women in society are tolerated and defended by the representatives of the ruling class. We have witnessed, in recent times, how prominent leaders of political parties who are supposed to represent us in Parliament and State Legislatures have expressed the most backward views on women. They have even justified the most heinous crimes against women, blaming women themselves for the attacks on their dignity and liberty.

Historic Conclusion

World leaders, from the US President to the Indian Prime Minister, declare every year on 8th March their dedication to close the gender gap. However, the gap between the rich and the poor as well as the gap between men and women both keep widening over time. The leaders of capitalist states do not want people to address the question as to why this is the case. They present the problems of women as if they are unconnected with the nature of the economic system and political power. They deliberately hide the origin and distort the content of International Womens Day.

The 8th of March was celebrated as International Womens Day for the first time in 1910, at a time when women were entering the work force in large numbers in North America and Europe. Working women were becoming an important contingent of the struggle against capitalist exploitation. They recognised that women will remain oppressed as long as those who work remain an exploited class in society. They boldly declared that the path to their emancipation lies in the struggle for the transformation of society from capitalist to socialism, that is, for the elimination of all forms of exploitation and oppression.

Life experience confirms the correctness of that historical conclusion drawn by working women in 1910. The further development of capitalism, at its highest stage of imperialism, has certainly not led to the liberation of women. It has led to the worsening of their conditions in many respects. It has led and continues to lead to repeated crises, to destructive wars of conquest, to ever increasing degrees of exploitation of labour, of parasitism and corruption in social life and destruction of the natural environment.

Thus, an important lesson that women must draw from the entire experience of the past century and more is that capitalist development cannot and will not emancipate women.

In our country, women suffer from multiple forms of exploitation and oppression as capitalism develops while preserving the remnants of feudalism. The State perpetuates caste and communal division. A variety of obscurantist beliefs, patriarchy, rituals and customs restrict womens freedom and reinforce their subordinate role within the family and in society. Hence the emancipation of Indian women requires a social revolution that will get rid of capitalism along with the remnants of feudal and caste-based oppression, and establish a State and system geared to ensure prosperity and protection for all.

Path Forward

Women have been actively opposing the capitalist offensive of the Indian bourgeoisie. They have been in the forefront of the mass opposition to the program of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation, ever since it was launched 25 years ago.

Women have been raising their voices against the everyday violence that they are facing in every corner of this country. They have opposed the most horrific crimes of gang rape committed by the army and security forces in Kashmir, Manipur, Chattisgarh and other states. Women have been active participants in the struggle against communal violence and state terrorism, which have accompanied the so-called economic reform program, irrespective of whether the Congress, BJP or a Third Front has been in charge of government.

They have demanded their rights as workers, peasants and tribal peoples. They have demanded their right to security and dignity.

The official response to the demands of Indian women has been to promise to accommodate more women within the ruling establishment and to enact more stringent laws against rape and sexual harassment. Life experience has shown that better laws do not address the problem because the law enforcing agencies themselves are notorious for harassing and raping women. Accommodation of more women in high places does not change the nature of the economic system, the state machinery or the political process.

The existing political process is designed to exclude the vast majority of women and men from having any say in decisions that affect them. Through periodic elections, one or another party comes to power to carry out the same agenda of enriching the capitalist monopoly houses. The vast majority of people are reduced to vote banks. We have no mechanism to select candidates of our choice or to hold the elected representatives to account. There is no way to recall them if they fail to fulfill their promises.

Ending the monopoly of political power in the hands of an exploiting minority and its criminalised parties is the first and necessary step to open the path for profound revolutionary transformations in society. What women and the working people need is political power in their hands so that they can set the agenda and change their conditions. Women need to fight alongside the majority of exploited men for the goal of establishing a system where they are empowered to participate in making decisions that affect the conditions in society.

An extremely dangerous situation is being created at the present time. The big capitalists have installed the BJP regime headed by Modi, to continue with the anti-social offensive and aggressively pursue their imperialist aims. The state machinery is being used to attack anyone who dares to oppose or question the governments policies. Students demanding freedom from capitalism and the caste system have been charged with Sedition. Passions are being aroused against them by branding them as anti-national. The ruling class is resorting to state terror and inciting sectarian violence to split the unity of the fighting women and men.

The situation calls for building and strengthening the unity and solidarity of people in defence of our rights, irrespective of ideological differences. Women need to be in the forefront of the struggle, shoulder to shoulder with working men, in defence of the rights of all.

On the occasion of International Womens Day, Communist Ghadar Party calls on all women to unite and fight for an end to the anti-worker, anti-peasant, anti-women and anti-national program of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation accompanied by communal and fascist terror. Let us advance the struggle in defence of our rights with the perspective of ushering in a State and economic system that ensures prosperity and protection for all, with no discrimination, oppression or exploitation on the basis of gender, caste, class or any other consideration.

Long live International Womens Day!

Unite and fight for freedom from all forms of exploitation, oppression and discrimination!




Mumbai Students Too Give Us Hope

By Vidyadhar Date

7 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Students from Mumbai too give us hope for the future. There was a large and very enthusiastic turnout of students in the last two days, on March 5 and 6 at the Y.B. Chavan Centre at a conference Celebrating Freedom and Pluralism in Defence of Secularism.

A feeling of solidarity and camaraderie pervaded the atmosphere and the conference ended with every one joining in the singing of the popular left-wing song Hum Honge Kamayaab Ek Din (We will succeed one day ) penned by Sahir Ludhianwi. It was sung by Rossi who also earlier sang a song - the anti national label unites the human race.

The gathering was inspired by the student protests in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi and Kanhaiya against police repression and it was felt that any impending attack on the next target, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai would be resisted. There were a large number of students from TISS, IIT and other colleges including some from interior Maharashtra.

The conference was organized by the Mumbai Collective, an organization of academics, activists, journalists, artists, film makers, political leaders and others with panel discussions, talks and cultural expressions of solidarity and protest.

A point frequently made was that it was strange that the RSS supporters were talking of patriotism when the organization never joined the struggle for independence for 22 yeas since its formation and its supporters had killed Mahatma Gandhi in cold blood.

Prof Irfan Habib, distinguished historian, in a message said India is much larger than the RSS and its cohorts and this gives us space and time to approach everyone who believes that India should fully preserve its liberty and freedom of thought.

Mr N Ram, veteran journalist, said we may be overestimating the enemys strength when we talk about impending fascism. What can be more anti-national, he said, than talking of creating a Hindu Rashra ?

Dr D Balasubramaniam, scientist and populariser of science, referred to the great rationalist tradition in India from the Buddha to Tagore while rebutting Mr Narendra Modis irrational utterances about the prevalence of plastic surgery in relation to Ganeshas trunk.

Several scientists, he said, had written a letter to the Prime Minister on this and are still awaiting a response.

The unscientific utterances of leaders were accompanied by attacks on important institutions of science including the council of scientific and industrial research and Ph.D. research with cuts in grants.

Dr Raghunathan of IIT, Mumbai, began in a light hearted way saying that he was quoting the Rigveda to show his nationalistic credentials. The quote referred to the need to imbibe good ideas from everywhere.. He blamed neoliberalism and the greed for money for the dwindling scientific temper in the middle class. Some people seemed to say Garve se Kaho, hum Lobhi hai (let us say proudly we are greedy).

Dr Prabhat Patnaik, noted economist, said the destruction of multiplicity of views and thought would make us parasticially dependent on other countries for knowledge. He also expressed concern over the letting in of the police and lumpen mobs on university campuses. Privatisation of higher education also meant the exclusion of the poor, exclusion of protests and falling aside of creativity.

Prof Chaman Lal, a radical activist and translator of poet Pash, said it was shameful that the RSS was trying to appropriate Bhagat Singh when it had nothing in common with his atheism, radicalism and revolutionary fervor. He was like a burning hot coal they are incapable of handling.

There was a loud applause during the screening of clips from a film on the JNU protests made by noted film maker Anand Patwardhan. It depicted among other things the brave speech of a girl student leader from Allahabad who is now facing threats. He said it was wrong to portray Ambedkar as anti Gandhi as Gandhi in later years was becoming very radical on the caste issue. It was revolutionary of Gandhi to introduce the practice of upper castes cleaning the latrines themselves and he insisted that he would attend a wedding only if it was inter-caste.

Mihir Desai, noted human rights lawyer, said the government had made the same blunder by applying the sedition law in the JNU case as the British committed while doing that to Mahatma Gandhi. He also recalled that Jinnah defended Lokmanya Tilak and then Tilak defended himself in the sedition case in the Mumbai high court. Tilaks case is also unique in that his portrait is displayed in the same court where he was convicted and his statement is displayed outside the room.

P. Sainath, renowned journalist, said while the media was the fourth estate it was the only estate which was bent on extracting large profits and one group treated it like real estate.

Gopal Guru, JNU professor, said people must have a right to complain and enjoy freedom of thought. There was a freedom square in the JNU campus, he pointed out. Some sections talked only of the international boundary ignoring the fact that we have created so many boundaries within the country prohibiting the poor and other sections.

Kabir Khan, film maker and director of the film Bajarangi Bhaijan, said he was fascinated by the character of the Hanuman when he and his friends went on bicycles to watch Ram Leela performances years ago in Delhi. His father, prof Rasheeduddin Khan was among the earlier teachers in JNU.

Prakash Ambedkar, Republican party leader and grandson of Dr Ambedkar, said the RSS behaved most unconstitutionally after giving an undertaking to then then home minister Sardar Patel that it would abide by the Constitution. He also made it clear that Dr Ambedkar was against the death penalty arguing that restriction on liberty was an adequate punishment.

Anjum Rajabali, film script writer, said because he was a Muslim he had failed to get a house to stay after visiting over a hundred housing societies including those of civil service officers and judges.

Mumbai has not witnessed for a long time such a conference with such stimulating discussion. It was organized by a large team including Mr Ramakumar, professor in TISS. The speakers and presenters included Sitaram Yechury, CPM leader, D Raja, CPI leader, Jitendra Awahad, NCP MLC, Kapil Patil, independent MLC, Nandita Das, actor, who read from the works of Manto, the celebrated writer, journalists Naresh fernandes and Jyoti Punwani on the post riots Mumbai scene, Swarna Bhaskar and Zeeshan Ayub read poems, Geeta Seshu, Sashi Kumar, Nikhil Wagle spoke on the media and communal politics, Hamid Dabholkar, son of the slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, spoke on the need to promote rationalism. Among other speakers were Megha Pansare, daughter in law of the murdered CPI leader Govind Pansare and Subhashini Ali, a veteran leader of womens struggles.

(Mr Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist).




Top Drillers Shut Down U.S. Fracking Operations As Oil Prices Continue To Tank

By Steve Horn

07 March, 2016

Desmogblog.com

It was a tumultuous week in the world of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale oil and gas, with a few of the biggest companies in the U.S. announcing temporary shutdowns at their drilling operations in various areas until oil prices rise again from the ashes.

Among them: Chesapeake Energy, Continental Resources and Whiting Petroleum. Chesapeake formerly sat as the second most prolific fracker in the U.S. behind ExxonMobil, while Continental has been hailed by many as the King of the Bakken shale basin located primarily in North Dakota.

Halliburton too, the drilling services goliath and namesake of the Halliburton Loophole exempting the industry from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act as it applies to fracking operations, has recently announced it will cut 5,000 drilling jobs globally (8 percent of its workforce).

Continental Resources Inc., the shale oil pioneer controlled by billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm, halted all fracking in the Bakken shale formation in the U.S. Williston Basin after posting its first annual loss since the companys public debut in 2007, wrote Bloomberg. Continental said it has no fracking crews currently working in the Bakken. The company continues to drill there, focusing on areas with the highest returns, but will leave most wells unfinished this year.

Chesapeake's immediate future is just as bleak, if not more so, and it will halt drilling in the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Eagle Ford Shale and elsewhere. The company sits as the top-producing driller in both the Utica and the Marcellus.

Whiting, the most prolific shale oil producer in the Bakken, will halt all of its fracking in the near-future. The company, 83 percent of whose produced oil comes from fracking the Bakken, will simultaneously slash its spending budget by 80 percent.

North Dakota and Oklahoma, with economies largely dependent on revenues generated from oil and gas drilling, have both projected $1 billion budget shortfalls for the forthcoming budget cycle. Things are even worse in Alaska, with a pending $3.5 billion budget shortfall.

And if the sordid news for the frackers were not bleak enough on the bottoming out of oil prices, David Hughes  a former oil industry geoscientist and current fellow with the Post Carbon Institute  recently delivered sworn testimony to the North Carolina Utilities Commission that shale gas production will peak in 2017 nationwide and then begin a rapid productivity decline.

But low oil prices, while temporarily shutting down drilling projects, do not automatically equate to an ecological victory. Naomi Klein, author of several books including This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, addressed this about a year ago in an interview published by Grist.

It is not preordained that low oil prices will either hurt or help the climate movement, said Klein. If we do nothing, then its more likely that low oil prices will work against sensible climate action, just for simple economic reasons. When oil is cheap, people feel able to buy more of it. Already were hearing these stories, like the comeback of the SUV.

Klein said that's why she believes advocates must kick oil while it's down and not remain complacent.

There are various reasons why, if we get the right set of incentives in place  both political and economic  it can be a really, really good time to get off fossil fuels and push very aggressively toward a decentralized, renewables-based economy, Klein remarked.






North Korea And The Nuclear Question

By Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

07 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

As expected, the North Korean leadership has escalated its rhetoric in the wake of the United Nations Security Councils (UNSC) new, harsh sanctions on Pyongyang.

Whenever the international community speaks or acts against North Korea, it responds with threats of attacks against Washington and/or Seoul. This time North Korea, it is alleged, has fired half a dozen rockets about 100 to 150 kilometres into the sea off its eastern coast. It is meant to be a warning to South Korea.

Most analysts dismiss it as mere posturing. No one expects North Korea to go beyond this though there is perhaps much more anger in Pyongyang over the recent UNSC Resolution.They are the toughest sanctions ever imposed on Pyongyang. Key sectors of the economy are targetted. This includes mineral exports and North Koreas access to international transport systems. This is the fifth time that the UNSC has imposed sanctions on North Korea. The first was after it tested an atomic device in 2006. The UNSC vote this time was unanimous. Chinas endorsement of harsh sanctions in particular has hurt North Korea which knows that China is its only real ally.

This is why while supporting sanctions against its ally, China has also emphasisedthe importance of opening a dialogue with North Korea. It does not want North Korea to be pushed against the wall. Beijing knows that if North Korea becomes even more isolated, it may become even more irrational and aggressive. Russia is also of the view that dialogue should be the priority. It is hoping that the comprehensiveness of the sanctions will persuade Pyongyang to enter into serious talks with its neighbours and other actors such as the United States.

For both China and Russia, dialogue is vital for yet another reason. They fear that the situation precipitated by North Koreas nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in February may be exploited by South Korea and the US to tighten their military grip over the entire region. In fact, formal talks have begun between Seoul and Washington on the possible deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea. The THAAD system is an anti-ballistic missile system which smashes into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earths atmosphere during their final flight phase. China and Russia are strongly opposed to the deployment of the THAAD system since it will impact adversely upon the military balance inthe region and increase tensions among states that are already confronted with major bilateral issues.

In the ultimate analysis, the real challenge confronting North Korea and South Korea; China and Japan; Russia and the United States is not so much North Koreas posturing or the efficacy of UN sanctions. The only way to dissuade countries outside the formal nuclear weapons club from acquiring nuclear weapons is to ensure that ALL states without exception eliminate their nuclear weapons stockpiles and refrain from manufacturing nuclear weapons and indeed, all weapons of mass destruction. It is utterly hypocritical of the US or Russia or China to demand that North Korea refrain from nuclear testing when none of the big powers is making any move towards total nuclear disarmament.

The time has come for the citizens of the world to mount a massive global campaign for the elimination of all nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,

President,

International Movement for a Just Wolrd (JUST).

Malaysia.

7 March 2016.






A Call To Boycott, Divesment & Sanction Israel From India

By Shubhda Chaudhary

07 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

New Delhi, 6 March: An appeal for the total boycott of Israel was made today at the BDS India convention held here as a mark of protest against the apartheid policies and the genocidal campaign of Israel against Palestine. The intellectuals and activists from different parts of country who attended the Boycott, Divesment, Sanctions (BDS) India convention organised by 'Indian people in Solidarity with Palestine' demanded the cancellation of the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Israel.

Senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan said that even though India has always been a supporter of the Palestinian liberation, there is a shift in this policy in recent years. Last year Indian president visited Israel for the first time even as Israel in a way insulted him by seizing the relief material sent for Palestine. Today Gaza has been turned into a prison of 2 million people.

Journalist Saurabh Kumar Shahi said that there has been tremendous upsurge in the feeling of solidarity with Palestine in the western countries, particularly in Europe, due to which Israel has begun to concentrate more on India and China. The issue has been used for exploiting the anti-muslim feeling prevailing in India.

Author Peggy Mohan said that the difference between Judaism and Zionism is analogous to that between Hinduism and Hindutva and hence the unity between the two ultra right-wing ideologies. The Israeli Zionists exploit the emotions of their youth in the same way as the Hindutva politics provokes people in the name of ultra-nationalism. However the BDS movement has made a dent on this and many Israeli youth are joining it as well.

Activist Anand Singh told that the worldwide BDS movement which is inspired from the boycott of the apartheid policies of South Africa in the last century has been quite successful in putting pressure on Israel. It is to give impetus to this movement in India that this convention is being organised. Today India has become the biggest buyer of Israeli arms and the Israeli government is killing the Palestinian children with Indian tax payer's money.

Feroze Mithiborwala from Palestine Solidarity Committee, Mumbai, while stressing on the need to expedite the movement of the boycott of Israel said that apart from opposing the Hindutva fundamentalists we must also oppose the Islamic fundamentalists.

Senior journalist and former faculty member of the Centre for West Asian Studies Qamar Agha stressed on the need to take this campaign to the small cities and town and the use of cultural forms to make people aware about the atrocious acts of Israel. Prof Ajmal from the Arabic and African studies centre, JNU, while terming the Palestinian question as an international issue said that this issue is not one of muslims but a fight for justice.

Anti-war crusader Mary Scully from USA who champions Women's, Civil Rights and Disability Rights Movement, had sent a solidarity message which was read out during the convention.

In the three resolutions passed during the convention the appeal was made to cancel the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel and to suspend all the agreement-collaboration with Israel, boycott the Israeli companies and products and carrying out academic and cultural boycott of israel. It was also agreed to take this issue to the common people.

Palestinian student Dina, Jamia's student Nadia, journalist Bodhisattwa maity and Palestinian civilian Nasser Barakat also put forward their views during the convention. Large number of intellectuals, students and activists participated in the convention including senior journalist Ramsharan Joshi, Prof. Ramesh Dixit from Lucknow, Rihai Manch' president Md. Shoaib from Lucknow, poet Katyayani, journalist Varghese Koshy, Bihar's legislature Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Rakesh Rafeeq from Yuva Samvad, writer Sazeena Rahat, Shubhda Chaudhary, A. Biswas, Dr. Subhash Gautam, Ranjana Bisht, and Kalpana Shastry.

Satyam moderated the convention and Kavita Krishnapallavi presented the opening statement on behalf of the organisers. 'Resonance's Tapish Maindola presented some songs in solidarity with Palestinian struggle and Katyayani recited her poem 'Gaza-2015'.

Shubhda Chaudhary is a PhD Student in JNU. She can be contacted at shubhda.chaudhary@gmail.com






Rethinking Feminism In India On International Womens Day

By Surabhi Singh

07 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

International Womens Day is upon us. So, here we have Soni Sori recuperating in Delhi ICU after an acid like substance was thrown at her in Bastar, a couple of firebrand lawyers stay holed up in Chhattisgarh fearing for their lives; we have a Smriti Zubeen Irani, our honourable HRD Minister, baying for the blood of JNU- for bringing down Goddess Durga to the level of a sex worker; then again we have Radhika Vemula out on the streets fighting a gut wrenching war of justice for her son; we have an auto driver Chitralekha fighting off patriarchichal Leftists in Kerala, we also have Richa Singh a student union leader from Allahabad, who risks losing her enrolment in the University for throwing BJPs fringe element Yogi Adityanath out of the fraternity, we have Mayawati- the face of Bahujan politics sparring with Minister Irani calling for her beheading; Irom Sharmila is out of her house arrest. And last but not the least, we have Shilpa Shetty selling latest designs of Mangalsutra on an online site as a special offer only for limited time.

Some would say, women have arrived at the centre stage of Indian romance with dissent and anti nationalism, or have they? Can Indian Feminist Movement be granted a pat on the back yet? Despite the hundreds of women marching on the streets more than a couple of times in the past few months, have they really found the space their voice demands in the social stratosphere yet? Or have we critically failed to uphold the voices of subalterns?

Lets see, despite all the protests, death sentences and some critical amendments in the IPC, after 2012, crime against women are at an all time high nationally. Be it public stripping, gang-raping, cat calling, body shaming, bride burning, threats of rape, each of these have seen us hitting a new low this past year. With social media becoming the order of the day, a few of these, especially those involving minorities and upper castes- have succeeded in grabbing the headlines, and managed to build up public outburst for few days. So, in the twenty first century India, in a land of Sati, Durga, Savitri, Draupadi on one hand, and Savitri Bai Phule, Mayawati, Soni Sori, Chirtralekha, Ishrat Jahan, on the other- where is an average Indian Womans fight for herself?

While going through Chitralekhas story, a dalith woman auto-driver from Kerala, who has been trying hard to survive in a deeply patriarchal society governed by twisted leftist ideology, I couldnt help but ponder on the failure of education, economic freedom, feminism and communism- at a single go. In a state like Kerala, where literacy has touched the highest accord not now, but more than two decades ago, a womans simple struggle to fend for herself and her family, meets with such dastardly dissent by men-backed by a Communist Party- is a huge comment on our positions in the society by itself. Equally shocking is the gang rape of women in Haryana by Jat men.

Adivasi women in Chhattisgarh or Niyamgiri Hills in Odisha, women workers of a private company in Kerala where they had to sit in Dharna to demand their menstrual rights, those in Gujarat, Manipur, Kashmir, Assam, Muzzaffarnagar or Sunderbans in West Bengal- have a common enemy. An entity bound by a single ideology strewn with blatant casteism, corporatocrasy, misogynist hegemony. But, against our popular belief, and much against what we have been taught in our curriculums-there is a long history of women resisting against this entity- a glorious one. The struggles are twenty- thirty years old. Their revolution, to achieve dignity and freedom, from this cruel entity has passed on through generations of brave women refusing to forget and forgive the state players, the Brahminical patriarchy, the army, the zillionaire corporate giants and the chroniclers of history of feminist struggle in India, for side-lining them cruelly into the throes of indifference. Is it safe to say that the Indian feminism has critically failed to uphold the expressions and dialogues of the subaltern voices?

Leaving out of the subaltern voices has resulted in failure of feminism in India since the last several decades. The villains of crimes against humanity, have thus managed to squeeze past legal crevices, on technicality and by purchasing the lawmakers and lawkeepers with impunity. This leaving of the subaltern voices has resulted in all of us looking at this entire struggle for azadi from a tunnel vision. SO, when we speak about farmer suicides, we are speaking of farmers failed through government, killing themselves. Are we however, talking about their wives, daughters and sisters, who have lost their sole breadwinner, thus exposing themselves to a volley of exploitation and crimes? Similarly, any dialogue around rapes, is more or less centred around the urban middle class, and in very limited of windows do we find, the issue being handled in a broader sense of the term involving, Upper Castes, Army, Crony Capitalists, Police, Politicians and the rest of the Corporate machinations. In most of these cases the subalterns arrive in the form of bodies to do their storytelling- which in stself is a huge folly.

So, when one thousand Dalith Women marched through various states of this nation, chronicling rapes of Dalith women by upper castes- it did not promulgate its cause with the massive march of Adivasi women against land diversion that again happened across several states in a gap of few months. In both cases, the mainstream feminist movement remained largely weary of the cause. So, as Arundhati Roy would ask, What is it about the womens movement in India and in the rest of the world that has in some ways depoliticized it?

So, we now have feminist organisations, who would happily discuss womens right to sexuality, live in relationships, domestic violence, entry in temples- important issues no doubt- but about gender roles as such. But, as soon as one mentions, the Adivasi women fighting state militia, who are trying to protect their hills, forests and dignity from the Police and para military, or those women, who are fighting against the caste repression in millions of villages across India, on the streets, in the dingy machine rooms of various private organisation, and in the din of red light areas- they somehow do not find takers with the popular narrative of feminism. So when Bollywood star Twinkle Khanna writes a blog on JNu, shes a feminist, and when women of Mumbais Red Light area write an open letter demanding azadi from Godess Durga, they are a bunch of women at the wrong end of the city- certainly not feminists. The root of this clubbing of feminism lies deeply entrenched in the failure of our education system, and the Corporatisation of education and the radicalisation of our thought process that refused to let the sub altern voices enter the mainstream. An evil design of neo liberalised society, gnawing off to deep economic, casteist and communal divide- succeeded in fending-off the grass root struggle against imperialism and Corporate autocracy thus preventing the neo liberalized feminists to understand their machinations, altogether.

Thus, Savitri Bai Phule could never become a champion of womens cause in our society, or Bhanwari Devi from Rajasthan, a catalyst in altering Court verdicts on rape cases of Dalith women. This is the same reason that displacement and subsequent exploitation of millions of women from their lands, or the rapes of women by army, para military, or the daliths and minority communities, could never become a feminist cause in our country. Viewing gender in this way, shorn of social, political, and economic context, makes it an issue of identity, a battle of props and costumes, says Arundhati Roy.

So, as we prepare our speeches and blogs around the next International womens Day, we have to ask ourselves- whose story are we telling, and who needs to be the new age story teller? Maybe, its time to question the politics around feminism in India and whether, we want the term feminism broadened to include the subaltern voices. Give the Lioness her turn to write her story.. so the Hunter is not glorified anymore..

(The author is an independent journalist. Previously worked with regional newspaper The Hitavada. Atheist and inter-sectional feminist, I feel caste system and communal hatred are two easiest weapons fuelling misplaced corporate ambitions and political ambitions in this nation. Unending resistance by Daliths, Adivasis and women for their rights might change the face of exploitation for good.)




Workers' solidarity protest on February 19

Workers' protest at Honda plant, February 16

The Rajasthan-Haryana border region of the high-profile Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is burning with industrial unrest. Following the unprecedented unrest by Maruti-Suzuki workers at the Manesar plant, workers at the Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd (HMSI) in Tapukara are up in arms against the alleged resistance from the management to allow a recognized union. With about 466 permanent workers, 100 casual workers, and 3000 contract workers, the dispute at the HMSI plant began soon after the application for union formation was given on August 6, 2015 to the Registrar of Trade Unions, Labour Department, Jaipur, initially signed by 227 permanent workers, with claims of support from other sections.The company responded by retrenching a few hundred contract workers from September 2015 to early February 2016, says a statement issued by the Workers Solidarity Centre (WSC) at Gurgaon-Bawal, which is organizing the workers struggle.The proposed union president Naresh Kumar was transferred to a Bihar facility of Honda in November 2015. When Naresh refused to bow down, he along with Union Secretary Rajpal and two more workers leaders were terminated. Fiveother worker leaders were suspended, 20 worker leaders, including the entire union body, were given warning letters.Things came to a flashpoint on February 16, when at 2.30 pm, a supervisor, an executive engineer, allegedly physically attacked a contract worker in the paint shop for refusal to work overtime. The contract worker was ill because of having worked overtime for three days. Around 2,000 workers stopped production, demanding action against the supervisor.The workers also raised voice for reinstatement 400 contract workers, apart from the nine permanent colleagues, who were terminated. Instead of peaceful negotiation, the management called in bouncers and the police. This was followed by an unprovoked lathicharge by the Rajasthan Police at around 7 pm, and a reign of terror, says WSC.The workers ran for their lives in and around the factory premises. There was tear gas shelling and gun firing as well as stone throwing. The police chased and detained some workers, with things continuing to remain at the boiling point over the next three days. Five workers of the union leadership were kept in police custody till February 23, where they were allegedly tortured, and then transferred to Kishangarh Jail on February 24.Parallel to this, On February 19, thousands of workers gathered in Gurgaons Tau Devilal Stadium to protest against the repression. These included workers and trade unions from the Honda plant in Manesar, the four plants of Maruti Suzuki (Gurgaon, Manesar, Powertrain and Suzuki Motorcycles), two plants of Hero Motocorp in Gurgaon, Mico Bosch from Jaipur, Rico Dharuhera, Endurance, Sunbeam, Baxter, Delphi, Lumax, Bajaj Motors.Apart from the WSC, Gurgaon, Inqlabi Mazdoor Kendra, Shramik Sangram Committee and central trade unions  AITUC, CITU, AIUTUC, HMS, BMS, and INTUC came in solidarity. A 13 member committee from among these factory-level and central trade unions was formed to support the struggle, the statement said.On February 26, when HMSI workers gathered to protest in Tapukara industrial area after the district magistrate, Alwar, denied permission, police detained 14 workers till late in the evening. The Rajasthan and the Haryana government have refused to allow workers any space in Alwar, Rewari, Gurgaon and Jaipur for their peaceful demonstration, says WSC.On March 1, 39 of the 44 Honda workers got bail from Jaipur High Court, after the lower court rejected their bail application. Five workers in the leadership, including union president Naresh Kumar, whose names were put in multiple FIRs, got bail similarly three days later.Meanwhile, says WSC, the company is sending suspension letters on a mass scale to workers. At least a 100 of the 466 permanent workers have already received such letters. It has brought in a few hundred contract workers from Odisha and other far-away states to illegally restart production.---
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Nominations are open until March 18 for the Indiana Companies to Watch list for 2016.

The program, presented by the Indiana Small Business Development Center, seeks to recognize companies that demonstrate high performance in the marketplace, innovative products, or unique processes or philanthropic actions.

Individuals are encouraged to nominate clients, vendors, peers or their own companies at www.in.gov/osbe/2364.htm.

Winning companies will be profiled in the September 2016 edition of BizVoice, presented by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, and invited to a celebration at the Indiana Roof Ballroom on Aug. 25.
Old National Bank building in Downtown Evansville

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By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press

Evansville-based Old National Bank has again been named to the Ethisphere Institute's list of World's Most Ethical Companies.

This marks Old National's fifth consecutive year on the list.

"Being honored as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies is a distinction Old National holds in the highest regard," bank president and CEO Bob Jones said in a statement from the bank.

The 2016 list, which was released on Monday, includes 131 honorees from 21 countries, representing dozens of industries. Old National was one of only two United States-based banks to be honored this year, along with Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank. The other two banks honored in this category are based in Australia.

Other Indiana-based companies on this year's list include Columbus-based Cummins and Merrillville-based NiSource.

The Ethisphere Institute is an international organization that promotes ethical business practices. Businesses that apply for inclusion on Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies list are evaluated based on their ethics and compliance programs (35 percent); corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent); culture of ethics (20 percent); governance (15 percent); and leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent).

A full list of honorees can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/
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NAMI Evansville friends and families support group about mental illness: Meeting 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Mulberry Place, 410 Mulberry St. Call 812-897-1694.

NAMI Connection support group for all mental illness disorders: Meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center, third floor, rehab building. Information: 812-897-1694.

Alzheimer's Association Memory Cafe: for people with memory loss and their loved ones, 2-3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Dream Car Museum, 2400 N. Heidelbach Ave. (for a guided tour). Registration required by calling 800-272-3900.

Alzheimer's Association Program: "Understanding and Responding to Dementia-related Behaviors," 5-7 p.m. March 15 at the Alzheimer's Association, 701 N. Weinbach Ave., Suite 510 ($5 donation suggested). Registration required by calling 800-272-3900.

Bereavement support group: Meeting 5:30-7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month in the large group meeting room, second floor of Central Library, 200 SE MLK Blvd.

Men's bereavement support group: Meeting 9-10:30 a.m. the second Monday of each month in Room 204 at Deaconess VNA Plus, 610 E. Walnut St.

Support group for bipolar/manic-depressive disorder: Meeting 7 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month, Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center, third floor of St. Mary's Rehabilitation Institute, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4934.

Survivors of Suicide support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month, Methodist Temple, 2109 Lincoln Ave. Information: Mental Health America at 812-426-2640.

Mending Hearts pregnancy loss support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, Gift Conference Room, off the lobby of St. Mary's Hospital for Women & Children, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4204.

Men's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room, 100 St. Mary's Epworth Crossing, Newburgh. Information: 812-485-5725.

Stroke support group: Meeting 10 a.m. the fourth Wednesday of each month, St. Mary's Community Education Room at Washington Square Mall, 5011 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-5607.

ALS support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Meeting Room E, Deaconess Gateway Hospital. The support group is for patients, caregivers and survivors who have lost someone to Lou Gehrig's disease.

Women's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second and fourth Monday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room. Information: 812-485-5725.

Pulmonary fibrosis support group: Meeting 4 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

COPD/asthma support group: Meeting 4 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or www.deaconess.com/calendar.

Parkinson's support group: Meeting at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, Room 350, Deaconess Physician Center, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or www.deaconess.com/calendar.

Tri-State Multiple Sclerosis Association support group meetings: 10 a.m. the second Saturday of each month, Tri-State MS Association Office, 971 S. Kenmore Drive, Evansville (contact Nita Ruxer at 812-479-3544 or Sharon Omer at 270-333-4701); 10 a.m. the fourth Saturday of each month, Gibson General Hospital, fifth floor, first room on the right, 1808 Sherman Drive, Princeton, Indiana (contact Alice Burkhart at 812-782-3735); 11 a.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Twilight Towers, in the cafeteria, 1648 10th St., Tell City (contact Terri Hasty at 812-649-4013 or Gayle Taylor 812-719-2417); 10 a.m. the third Saturday of each month, Daviess Community Hospital, Washington, Indiana (contact Cindy Kalberer at 812-254-6735 or Fran Neal at 812-259-1565); 10 a.m. the first Saturday of each month, Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 2360 Green River Road, Henderson, Kentucky, (contact Meg Burnley at 270-826-9507 or Debbie Whittington at 270-827-8298); 6 p.m. the second Monday of each month, Owensboro Health Healthpark, 1006 Ford Ave, Owensboro, Kentucky; and 11 a.m. the first Saturday of each month, Fairfield Memorial Hospital in the board room of Horizon Clinic, 303 NW 11th St., Fairfield, Illinois (contact Kathie Hill at 618-847-8452).

Compiled by Leah Ward, leah.ward@courierpress.com.
The thing about cerebral aneurysms is that they can rupture and cause permanent brain damage and/or death, but the majority of them never do. So when a doctor diagnoses you with one, what they are really saying is: "You're probably fine, or then again, maybe you'll up and die. Shrug emoji."

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"When the doc had confirmed my aneurysm," Frank told us, "I asked him what the rupture rate was. He said 1-2 percent each year. He then asked if I knew what would happen if it ruptured, and I told him: 50 percent chance of death, with another 25 percent likelihood of permanent damage ... When updating my dermatologist about the aneurysm, he said I was handling it well. I said that life is full of surprises, and that I could get hit by a bus. He said I was much more likely to die of the aneurysm. I told him his bedside manner sucked."

AlexRaths/iStock/Getty Images

"Or maybe this mole will get you! Ha, kidding ... maybe ..."

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"Part of me feels silly for worrying about it, but the consequences of a burst are so severe that it's terrifying. This emotional pinball gets very tiring very quickly." As do Frank's unproductive talks with his neurologist, like:

Frank: "So, I should be worried?"

Doc: "I didn't say that."

Frank: "Could it burst at any time?"

Doc: "Yes."

Frank: "Do we know what triggers these bursts?"

Doc: "Other than a spike in heart rate? No."

Frank: "Oh. Do they ever burst while someone's sleeping?"

Doc: "They do. But the chances are small."

Frank internally: This was productive!
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Ranchers in New Mexico's Bootheel near the U.S.-Mexico border are fed up with the lack of security, citing an increase in kidnappings, break-ins and vandalism across Hidalgo County and southeastern Arizona. Lauren Villagran of the Albuquerque Journal reports that the Bootheel area is frequented by drug traffickers from Mexico. Traveling north to move their drugs, traffickers often take ranch hands hostage, load their vehicles with narcotics, force them to drive hundreds of miles and threaten to harm them if they go to the police. The Border Patrol's Lordsburg station, in charge of monitoring the Bootheel area, has been significantly understaffed in recent months, down about 50 agents in a location that is budgeted for 284 agents. Ranchers and other residents are pleading for an increase in agents along the border.New legislation in Connecticut aims to ban a maneuver called "passing the trash," in which a teacher suspected of or known to have engaged in sexual misconduct with a student is able to receive recommendations and jobs at new schools. Michelle R. Smith and Susan Haigh of the AP report that in 2010, the U.S. Government Accountability Office studied 15 cases of K-12 schools that hired or retained teachers with histories of sexual misconduct, finding that 11 of the cases involved people who previously targeted children and six cases discovered that offenders used their new positions to target more children. Excuses for retaining suspected sex offenders included the high cost of firing a teacher and fear of lawsuits if a positive reference wasn't provided. The legislation proposed in Connecticut would require schools to contact a teaching candidate's past employers to specifically ask if the applicant was ever investigated, disciplined or asked to resign over abuse or sexual misconduct allegations. Additionally, a new federal mandate introduced requires states to create policies that make it illegal for schools to help an employee get a new job if they suspect them of abusing children.Two months after capital punishment in Florida was put on hold after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state's system was unconstitutional, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill into law Monday, which takes effect immediately. Steve Bousquet of the Miami Herald reports that under HB 7101, juries in capital cases are required to agree unanimously on the aggravating factors that under Florida law qualify a murderer for a death sentence. It also stipulates that at lest 10 of 12 jurors must agree on a recommendation of death. Previous Florida's law allowed a jury to recommend death by a simple majority vote. Several death row inmates in the state have filed appeals arguing that their death sentences are invalid because the old law that was in effect when they were sentenced was declared unconstitutional. Justices will begin considering the first of those cases this week.
An emerging Sydney IT provider has taken the National Rugby League's data to the cloud, in a deal initiated from a cold call.

Two-year-old business Solista has used infrastructure provided by Hosted Network and software from Veeam to take the worlds premier rugby league competition off-premises for its backup and disaster recovery.

NRL was already an existing Veeam customer. But then we were engaged with them independently, looking at a DR strategy, Solista general manager and co-owner Noel Allnutt told CRN.

They only had data stored on-premises, which was a risk If there was an act of God or if by any other means that site went down, they would lose all their data.

Solista, which had contacted the NRL via an unsolicited phone call, convinced the organisation that a cloud-based backup solution was necessary to mitigate risk. Allnutt said that both Zerto and Veeam technologies were proposed.

They ended up going with the Veeam solution, so that they could use their existing investment but have a cloud-connected target. We used white-labelled provider Hosted Network as the [backup] target.

NRL head of IT Maurice Veliz said that the off-field business would cease to function if there were to be a disaster but he initially struggled to get the business to commit to off-site backup.

Although the NRL does have some solid redundancy at [league headquarters] Moore Park site, the single location is a risk having all data stored on premise, he said, adding that the data now backed up to the cloud include images, video, virtual machines, match day and sponsorship databases, as well as the usual business documents.

[Related: meet the IT service providers behind the NRL]

In the next 12 months, Solista is planning to put 15 to 20 customers on the same DR architecture, according to Allnutt, and currently holds 10 quotations for prospective clients. He said the interest in the NRL-style solution is a demonstration of the companys spectacular growth.

One of our key goals is to get into the top 10 of the CRN Fast50 this year. Thats what were gunning for, he said. Were definitely looking to grow the team. Weve hired some people recently out of VMware.

[Pre-register for 2016 CRN Fast50 now!]

NRLs Veliz said that the league has received outstanding support from both Solista and Hosted Network: Any issues or queries get a response straight away. Hosted Network has been great in helping with some network issues.

The NRLs next big move to the cloud would be Office 365, according to Veliz.

Allnutt has worked in all three layers of the IT channel: he was a sales manager for vendor StorageCraft immediately before setting up Solista with a partner, as well as boasting a stint with distributor Westcon as a business development manager.

As well as Zerto and Veeam, Solista is also a Nimble Storage and Pure Storage partner. The Sydney CBD business was established in 2014.
Three past and present CSG executives have denied accusations that their firm participated in an improper deal worth almost $1 million.

The three men were being cross-examined by Victoria's corruption watchdog, which is probing the "exceptional and concerning" circumstances that ended in the state's Department of Education signing CSG and Oracle to roll out its multimillion-dollar Ultranet system.

All three figures disputed accusations by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) that CSG had prepared a worthless report on learning technologies in 2011 so that it could claim $940,000 in indirect payments from the Department of Education.

Ian Hill QC told the commission that this was a way for the department to funnel money to CSG, because CSG was suffering cash flow problems and might otherwise have walked away from the Ultranet project.

The Department of Education paid Alliance Recruitment $1 million to prepare the report; the recruitment agency then subcontracted the job to CSG for $940,000, according to Hill.

Hill told the commission that this was a "sham transaction"  but this was disputed by Denis MacKenzie, who was then chief executive of CSG.

MacKenzie said that while he wasn't involved in the day-to-day preparation of the report, he had seen no evidence that anything untoward had occurred.

Heath Caban, an ex-CSG employee who oversaw the report, told Hill that the Department of Education had received value for money.

"Others have looked at the report that your team prepared and have said that it, effectively, was worthless. You disagree with that?" Hill asked Caban. "I do," Caban replied.

"Do you disagree with the assertion that this was a sham to get money, being $1 million, out of the education department to CSG?" Hill asked. "I do," Caban replied.

Stephen Birrell, who still works at CSG, disputed accusations that the report was "incompetent and effectively worthless"  although he conceded it wasn't worth anywhere near $1 million. "I would say that it would be worth at least $500,000," he said.

"Do you see this was not a real project, was it?" Hill asked.

"I don't agree with that. This was a real project," Birrell replied.

The hearings continue.
Mobility News

Apple Partners: First Known Mac Ransomware Campaign Shows No One Lives On A 'Secure Island'

Lindsey O'Donnell

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Macintosh users for the first time have been targeted with live ransomware, a malicious software that encrypts data on infected devices and then forces users to pay a ransom via digital currency to retrieve their data, according to Palo Alto Networks.

Palo Alto Networks said the ransomware, dubbed KeRanger, infected a piece of BitTorrent software known as Transmission. When users downloaded this product, the ransomware was installed onto their machine. After Palo Alto Networks reported the ransomware issue to Apple Friday, Apple revoked the abused certificate and updated its antivirus software.

Transmission is an open-source project. Its possible that Transmissions official website was compromised and the files were replaced by re-compiled malicious versions, but we cant confirm how this infection occurred, Palo Alto representatives said in a blog post.

[Related: 6 Security Threats Facing SMBs  And How Partners Can Help]

KeRanger was able to bypass Apples Gatekeeper protection because it was signed with a valid Mac app development certificate. Apple, Cupertino, Calif., did not respond to a request for comment from CRN by press time.

The ransomware will bring attention to security on Apple devices, which are generally perceived as immune to cyberattacks, particularly ransomware, said Apple partners.

This situation helps partners like me educate clients that Apple is not immune from viruses, said David Felton, owner of Canaan Technology, Norwalk, Conn. Customers can take preventative measures before they get hit. We recommend clients use a UTM [unified threat management] solution at the gateway, and make sure they have a backup in place that includes versioning.

Felton said that ransomware is an especially destructive malware because it is entirely based off of extorting money from victims. While customers can take preventative measures, he said, there is not much they can do when attacked by ransomware if they have not backed up their data.

According to Palo Alto Networks, once KeRanger was installed, it waited three days before attacking Mac users by encrypting certain types of data on the system. KeRanger then demanded users pay one bitcoin -- equivalent to around $400 -- as the ransom price to retrieve their data.

Morris Stemp, COO of StratX IT Solutions, a White Plains, N.Y.-based solution provider that helps customers with security risk analysis, secure firewall management and encryption issues, said the ransomware is serious, and that Apple customers need to be aware of the security threats on any device.

This is not a good virus  [but] its preventable by users who are aware of what theyre doing, he said. Theres an idea in peoples head that Macs are less susceptible to viruses, but this demonstrates thats not the case.  The most significant thing this should highlight for users is that Macs dont live on a secure island.

Stemp said StratX IT Solutions has had about 10 customers who have dealt with ransomware attacks over the past six months. In addition to UTM solutions and appropriate backup measures, he said educating customers on security awareness training measures is vital to preventing future attacks.

The idea of security awareness training is one that companies should really explore, said Stemp. The hackers are getting so sophisticated at phishing  theyre using highly realistic emails based on real company information available online.

In 2014, Apple users had another scare when Kaspersky Lab detected "FileCoder," ransomware that targeted OS X users; however, Palo Alto Networks noted that this ransomware was incomplete at the time of its discovery, while KeRanger is fully functional.
Networking News

Cisco Security Exec: Vendors Like Palo Alto, FireEye Are Selling 'Legacy Technology'

Mark Haranas

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Cisco is more bullish than ever on security, saying it will fundamentally change the market and that competitors are selling "legacy technology."

At Cisco Partner Summit 2016 last week in San Diego, David Goeckeler, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Security Business Group, said Cisco is beating other vendors that can't compete with its holistic security approach, such as imbedding security throughout its new Digital Network Architecture and innovative technology like the new Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewall, which includes its Advanced Malware Protection (AMP).

Cisco reported having more than 10,800 total AMP customers and said it is now outpacing competitors FireEye and Palo Alto Networks in the space.

[Related: 10 Moneymaking Opportunities For Cisco Partners From Its New DNA]

"This is game-changing innovation, and for anybody else selling anybody else's firewall out there,  you're going to be selling legacy technology to your customers," said Goeckeler, during his keynote on stage after displaying numbers showing Cisco's lead over FireEye and Palo Alto Networks in AMP customers. "The best innovation and the fastest portfolios are happening right here at Cisco.  Cisco took over the No. 1 position as the security vendor in the industry."

Chris Dedicoat, executive vice president of Cisco's worldwide sales, told partners that the security market is "incredibly fragmented" and Cisco is building a security portfolio "above anybody else in the marketplace."

"We're going to spend money, invest heavily to make sure we have the very best security capability of anybody in this marketplace, and together with you, we will have the most powerful security organization on the planet -- we will, and you will see us, truly as a security company," said Dedicoat.

Coming off an 11 percent surge in its security business for its second fiscal quarter, Goeckeler said Cisco's security portfolio is growing 180 percent year over year with security becoming the most profitable space now for its partner community.

Phil Mogavero, vice president of Advanced Technology Group network solutions and regional chief technology officer at El Segundo, Calif.-based PCM -- a $1.5 billion technology integrator that partners with Cisco, HPE and Symantec -- said he was surprised to see Cisco become a market leader so quickly, but says Cisco's holistic security approach is a "very compelling" story that's "taking hold" with customers.

"Customers are trying to get threat protection from one [vendor] and getting products from another place, and the end result is they're falling short," said Mogavero, whose company is ranked No. 29 on the CRN 2015 Solution Provider 500 list.

He said PCM's Cisco security business is witnessing a 35 percent year-over-year growth, in part because customers don't want to have dozens of security point product vendors, which can be difficult to manage.

"Cisco's new solutions are fully integrated, integrated in threat management and integrated in the network. So it protects every endpoint, every device from beginning to end in real time," said Mogavero. "It's really breakthrough technology, especially when you mix it with their new networking DNA strategy."

The San Jose, Calif.-based networking leader last week revealed its new software, service-centric architecture DNA, delivered within the Cisco One Software suite.

Cisco advanced security solutions are available for partners to sell inside Cisco One, which includes new Cloud Access Security, Threat Awareness Service, an enhanced Identity Services Engine, Network-as-a-Sensor, Network-as-an-Enforcer and technology gained from last year's acquisition of Lancope, which specializes in threat analysis protection.

Cisco also acquired OpenDNS, a provider of advanced threat protection; and Watford, England-based consultancy Portcullis Computer Security. Security has become so important to Cisco that it even created a security-focused role for former CEO John Chambers.

Cisco channel chief Wendy Bahr said security is the most profitable area for its channel partners because of the high-margin services that security drives.

"We know that vendors and customers want fewer vendors -- they are overwhelmed by the number of security vendors they have to deal with, but want companies that have greater capabilities," said Bahr, on stage during in front of more than 2,200 partners at Partner Summit. "What we bring to the table is not just best of breed, but that threat-centric, integrated architecture that can protect the network end to end."

In a 2016 Piper Jaffray CIO Survey, Cisco was the most preferred security vendor, capturing 18 percent, up from 12 percent the year before. Symantec came in second, at 16 percent, dropping from 20 percent in 2015. Intel/McAfee placed third, at 14 percent, followed by Palo Alto Networks at 12 percent, then FireEye, with 7 percent.

In a recent Barclays Survey, chief information officers were asked to select the top three security vendors that would likely see the largest percentage of increase in spending from their company over the next 12 months. Cisco was ranked No. 1, followed by Symantec, then FireEye.

Cisco's bullish security comments came during the same week as the 2016 RSA Conference in San Francisco, where hundreds of security vendors were gathered.

"There are over 500 vendors at RSA. There's enormous amount of technology in the industry," said Cisco's Goeckeler. "The problem is, we have all that innovation, but all those point products are just being delivered to customers, and they're having to integrate all this technology themselves, and the complexity that leads to is overwhelming the innovation that the products deliver."

The networking giant's goal is to nab 20 percent to 30 percent of the $25 billion enterprise security infrastructure market over time. Throughout partner summit this year, Cisco executives reinforced the theme that security is the company's top priority.

"Cisco is completely committed to changing the security market. We are changing it with the approach we're taking," said Goeckeler. "The opportunity for [partners] in this space is incredible."
Networking News

Partners Praise Verizon's Robust Wireless Network As Carrier Takes Top Spot In J.D. Power Survey

Gina Narcisi

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For the third consecutive year, telecommunications giant Verizon swept first place in J.D. Power and Associates' Wireless Network Quality Performance Study for all six U.S. regions surveyed. Partners say the win is reflective of the effort Verizon has put into building its extensive network, which is beneficial for businesses as much as it is for consumers.

The report found that slow mobile Internet connections are the biggest culprit of customer churn. Verizon has aggressively invested in expanding its network to ensure coverage in recent years, and scored higher than every competing wireless carriers in every region.

The results of the latest J.D. Power survey will continue to help Verizon differentiate its service in the minds of businesses, said Rob Chamberlin, co-founder and chief revenue officer for DataXoom, a Berkeley, Calif.-based solution provider and Verizon partner.

[Related: Verizon Backs Apple In Encryption Debate With FBI ]

"While all the wireless carriers have their own individual strengths, Verizon has done a particularly good job of linking its brand to a top-notch wireless network," Chamberlin said. "Verizon's recent awards for both its network speed and coverage [have] been quite helpful to us as we compete for new business customers."

Consumer satisfaction firm J.D. Power and Associates asked more than 41,000 wireless subscribers across the U.S. about their last 10 calls, messages, emails and Web connections on their mobile devices between July and December 2015.

The 2015 wireless network study accounted for voice-related issues, such as dropped or disconnected calls, calls with audio issues, calls going straight to voicemail, and failed or late voicemail notifications. The survey also considered a range of text message issues and failures, as well as slow or failed Web and email connections.

The survey covered six regions of the U.S., and included responses from 48 states and Washington, D.C., according to J.D. Power and Associates.

In 2015, the carrier expanded its 4G LTE network to provide faster wireless speeds to more than 450 U.S. markets. Verizon is also in the process of testing 5G in the U.S., according to the carrier.

For solution providers managing wireless and mobility solutions for their end customers, having a carrier with a robust, reliable network that isn't hindered by congestion is critical in keeping clients connected anytime, anywhere, said Natasha Royer Coons, managing director of TeraNova Consulting Group, a Verizon partner.

San Diego-based TeraNova is a carrier-agnostic provider that specializes in telecom expense and managed services for wireless solutions.

"We have consistently recommended VZW whenever possible to reduce the possibility of service issues," Coons said. "We can procure and manage any carrier, [but] we have found that over the last five to six years, Verizon has truly pulled out ahead of the others in performance."

Network engineer Marco Anduja said Verizon has always proven effective in meeting critical communications needs. Anduja works with TeraNova to help design, test and deploy wireless networks, and also serves as managing partner for Associates Wireless LLC, a communications consulting firm based in Plantation, Fla.

"Business continuity and the need to get business done anytime and anyplace is critical to every organization. Because of this, we rely heavily on the carrier to provide optimal service," Anduja said.

Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon told CRN it attributes its latest recognition from J.D. Power to its laser focus on the investments it has made to its network for at least the past 15 years. Verizon has aggressively deployed new technologies, invested in training for its internal staff of experts, and continually tests its network performance, which is a win for consumers and its channel partners, according to a spokesperson for the carrier.

"As solutions providers, we applaud the carriers such as Verizon who invest heavily in their networks, but also engineer with brilliance to deliver strong, clean signal without congestion," TeraNova's Coons said. "This allows us to build innovative solutions with high uptime for our clients,"

Verizon's competitors battled it out in second place. Dallas-based carrier AT&T scored second place in the Mid-Atlantic region and in the Southwest. Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile placed second in the Northeast, and Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint took home second place wins in the West and in the Southeast. AT&T and Sprint tied for second place in the North Central region.
Cunard has announced that the Queen Victoria liner will be turning purple to celebrate International Womens Day during her visit to Sydney tomorrow.

In support of the day, a massive 60-meter long banner sporting this years International Womens Day campaign message  #PledgeForParity  will be hung on the liners hull shortly after she berths in Sydneys Circular Quay tomorrow morning.

Then as dusk falls, Queen Victoria will take on a new hue, with special lighting bathing the ship in purple  the internationally recognized color for womens rights.

Visible from around the Quay, the illumination will be a striking tribute to International Womens Day, which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women, according to Carnival Australia.

A special function will be hosted onboard the ship during the evening, bringing together scores of Australias leading women from a range of fields. The event will be hosted by Ann Sherry, who was named the overall winner in the 2015 Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards and is the Executive Chairman of Carnival Australia, which oversees seven of the worlds leading cruise lines in Australia, including Cunard.

Announcing the banner and the illumination, Sherry said International Womens Day was a powerful reminder that more needed to be done to ensure gender equality in the workplace.

We need to ensure that this day is more than a symbol  we need to use it as an opportunity to revitalise the activism that became the catalyst for International Women's Day itself more than a century ago, so that we can address the challenges that remain, Sherry said.

The #PledgeForParity banner is expected to be in place around 10 am, providing an ideal backdrop for photos as the international day kicks off around the world.

The illumination will commence from 7pm and will be in place until midnight during the ships overnight stay.

Queen Victorias visit to Sydney comes during her 120-night world voyage, which will see her spend almost three weeks in Australian waters. She will return to Sydney tomorrow after completing her first ever roundtrip cruise from the city, an eight-night cruise to Kangaroo Island, Hobart and Melbourne which departed on February 29.
Fincantieri and the University of Rhode Island, on behalf of its International Engineering Program (IEP), has signed an understanding, which establishes the beginning of mutual collaboration to develop academic and cultural interchange.

According to Fincantieri, the agreement, which has an initial duration of three years with renewal possibilities, will begin in the first half of 2017 and will be dedicated to undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Rhode Island.

In particular, Fincantieri said it will consider internships for some of the most skilled students from the faculties of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering at its premises in Italy.

After a training period, the students will also be given the chance to increase and upgrade their skills in the companys Italian facilities, integrating the know-how provided from the academic world with the realities of the business world, the shipbuilder stated.

The understanding also includes the possibility of activating further collaboration forms of specific projects related to research and innovation, also involving the American subsidiary Fincantieri Marine Group (FMG).

Fincantieri stated further that the agreement is part of the Groups global strategy, aimed at undertaking continuous collaboration projects with top international universities and institutes in order to build up the its presence worldwide and attract talent and professionals from all over the world.
It's happened again. Scammers have leveraged Phishing to gain access to W2 information at several firms, including technology powerhouse Seagate.

No company is immune to these types of social attacks, and organizations both large and small have become victims to a finance-based scheme that has a long reach.

Last week, Sunday in fact, Snapchat disclosed that someone had posed as the company's CEO and requested employee payroll data. The email wasn't viewed as a scam, but instead as a legitimate request, and thus 700 employees had their information exposed.

The week prior, on February 23, someone targeted Central Concrete Supply Co., posing as an employee, they requested W2 information and received it. The Friday before that, on February 19, the same scam was used against Mercy Housing Inc. Once again, it worked, and the company was tricked into exposing W2 information for all active employees.

On February 3, 2016, Magnolia Health Corporation reported that all active employees were exposed after an Excel spreadsheet containing sensitive employee data was sent to a person posing as the company's CEO.

On the same day, BrightView, a landscaping firm in California, was also successfully targeted. On February 5, Polycom, the communications company that is known for their video and telephone conferencing offerings, became another victim.

In each of these cases, the data compromised included everything needed to fill out a W2.

Now, a seventh victim can be added to the list  Seagate. Towards the end of February, Seagate was targeted by the same scam that worked against the other six firms.

The attack was a success, and Seagate handed over W2 data for 2015 on all current and former employees located in the U.S. The company learned of the incident on March 1.

The news was broken by journalist Brian Krebs after a former employee received a notice and reached out to him.

Seagate confirmed the incident with Salted Hash via an emailed statement. The company says they're working with law enforcement to investigate the incident, adding that they're "aggressively analyzing where process changes are needed" and will implement them as soon as possible.

The ultimate goal in each of the seven incidents appears to be tax fraud. The criminals who obtained the W2 information could use it to file fraudulent returns. In many of the notifications, the victimized employees are encouraged to file their returns as soon as possible and obtain their free (but ultimately useless) credit monitoring account.

There's also the chance that the data can be used for other types of fraud, or worse, amended tax returns (1040X).

Business Email Compromise / Correspondence attacks (BEC attacks) are an offshoot of Spear Phishing attacks that are personal in nature. To keep it simple, think of them as Phishing attacks, but they're more focused and usually have a single goal.

They play on the trust relationships that exist within the company. When it comes to targeting trust, awareness campaigns within the organization can help, but they're not a silver bullet. It's hard to build an awareness program that starts by creating an element of mistrust among the staff and senior leadership.

PhishLabs

In the real world, a company's staff know and trust one another. They throw birthday parties and purchase cookies during a school fundraiser. They have a softball team. They host cookouts. In some ways they're a small family.

Sometimes, that isn't the case, but think about it  how often do you question or second-guess an email from a co-worker asking for something? It isn't just about W2 data, BEC scams can target anything that's of value to the company.

Again, awareness programs built on killing trust won't work. When the CEO emails a request, there's usually a good reason for it, so the staff just complies.

What is effective is empowerment.

When a request for sensitive company data comes via email, the employee receiving the request should feel empowered to challenge it and confirm that the request is legitimate. No matter who makes the request. No matter what their status is within the company.

Further, it should be standard policy that a request for such data should be verified by at least two parties, and only if they agree should the data be released. Even better, two parties and someone within IT / InfoSec at the company.

In many of the reported BEC cases, the scam would have failed if there were additional verification policies in place. It isn't perfect solution, but it's a human answer to a human problem, because technology won't save a company looking to fight these types of attacks.

The video below talks about email scams and threats, Salted Hash filmed the segment last week during the RSA conference in San Francisco.
Over the weekend, Apple customers who were looking for the latest version of Transmission, a popular BitTorrent client, likely downloaded a new family of Ransomware that targets OS X installations instead.

The problem was discovered by Unit 42 researchers at Palo Alto Networks. They've named the Ransomware family KeRanger, and published a brief on the malware that goes into technical details.

"Users who have directly downloaded Transmission installer from official website after 11:00am PST, March 4, 2016 and before 7:00pm PST, March 5, 2016, may be been infected by KeRanger. If the Transmission installer was downloaded earlier or downloaded from any third party websites, we also suggest users perform the following security checks. Users of older versions of Transmission do not appear to be affected as of now," the Unit 42 post explains.

The problems with Transmission started on the morning of March 4. It isn't clear how the attack happened, but the result was a hijacked installation file that delivered KeRanger to the user's system. The malware was embedded within the DMG file itself. Moreover, because the installation file was signed with a valid code-signing certificate, it bypassed Apple's Gatekeeper protection.

Once installed, KeRanger will wait three days before contacting a C2 (Command & Control server) via the Tor network. The C2 calls use .onion links as well as public relay links.

Example:

lclebb6kvohlkcml.onion[.]link lclebb6kvohlkcml.onion[.]nu bmacyzmea723xyaz.onion[.]link bmacyzmea723xyaz.onion[.]nu nejdtkok7oz5kjoc.onion[.]link nejdtkok7oz5kjoc.onion[.]nu

Once contact is made, the Ransomware starts encrypting common file-types including documents, images, audio and video, source code, etc.

Researchers who have examined the malware state that it doesn't target Time Machine backups, but there is code present that would enable this function  it's just not active in the current release.

Moreover, that the malware first needs to contact a C2 before encrypting appears to be a design flaw. The point being, if the infected system isn't connected to the Internet, the malware doesn't appear to have the ability to start encrypting without making the initial contact. If contact is made, the system is encrypted and the ransom demanded is $400.00 USD.

KeRanger was signed by a valid certificate issued to Polisan Boya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., a holding company in Istanbul. It isn't clear if their certificate was stolen, but the certificate itself was revoked by Apple.

Apple also added the installers to the Gatekeeper blacklist, and updated XProtect signatures to include the entire Ransomware family.

The Transmission project removed the malicious installers on Saturday (March 5) and encouraged all users to update to the latest version (2.92). It's important to update to this version as it will detect and remove KeRanger. Those who do not will risk encryption on Monday morning at 11:00 am.

In somewhat related news, some criminals are selling compromised enterprise code-signing certificates that can be used with Apple software. The going rate for such certificates on one forum is currently $10,000 USD.
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Efforts to forever strip standardized test scores from the teacher evaluation equation in Connecticut were debated Monday during a daylong hearing of the Legislatures Education Committee.

On one side, Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell and others argued against an abrupt change that lacks federal approval and which would circumvent the work of a committee created by the lawmakers to build a model evaluation system.

Student achievement is a powerful part of figuring out if instruction is effective, Wentzell testified. I am only saying dont ban us from using it.

Countering that argument were members of the states largest teachers union, who called the plan to use student test scores to judge either student or teacher success utter nonsense.

Teaching is not testing, Shelia Cohen, president of the 43,000-member Connecticut Education Association, told the committee, seven hours into the hearing at the Legislative Office Building. Results of a single test do not measure the effectiveness of a teacher.

Although the CEA has representation on the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council  which created the 2012 system that allowed student test scores to count for one-quarter or more of a teachers evaluation  the union backed away from the formula once a new standardize test, the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium, was introduced.

A subsequent change in federal law has allowed the state to put off using scores from the new test in its evaluation system through at least this year. For now, districts can, but are not required to, use scores from that test in the formula used to determine how well a teacher is doing.

A bill under consideration would prohibit the use of statewide performance test for purposes of teacher evaluation.

Karissa Niehoff, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools, which represents principals, said by doing that, administrators would lose the ability to use test scores to develop teacher goals for improving student learning. The decision, she added, belongs at the local level.

We would be doing ourselves disservice from social justice perspective, Niehoff said.

If it is not valid, why use it? Mark Waxenberg, executive director of the CEA, countered later.

Joe Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, told the committee there is no need to change the system in place, as long as test scores are not being required in the evaluation process.

It is a complex issue, he said. We need time to look at it.

The PEAC is set to meet again on Wednesday. Wentzell, too, said she doesnt want the Legislature to tie that committees hands. She cited a department survey that found that 56 percent of teachers dont oppose using a state assessment as part of the evaluation process, if it is used appropriately.

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, co-chairwoman of the Education Committee, asked to see that study.

I can tell you, in my own district the responses I have received from teachers having SBAC count toward (evaluations) has been very negative, Slossberg said.

She also worried about holding teachers responsible for things beyond their control, like a students home environment.

Cohen,who submitted a packet of materials outlining the argument for why linking test scores to teacher performance is bad, said teachers are the first to take responsibility for student learning.

Including SBAC scores in teachers evaluations in no way helps improving student learning, she said.

lclambeck@ctpost.com
In surgery, when something goes wrong, minutes become hours.

Minutes are the focus of a lawsuit filed by the family of a 29-year-old Seymour nurse who died in February 2015 after undergoing minor elective sinus surgery at the North Haven Surgery Center. The suit alleges that the center waited as long as 29 minutes to call an ambulance after Katherine ODonnells blood pressure and pulse fell to critical levels on the operating table  and that doctors continued to proceed with surgery, even as their efforts to resuscitate her failed.

The case raises questions about how well-equipped freestanding surgical centers are to handle emergencies, and what sanctions they face for alleged lapses in care. The lawsuit alleges that the center and Fairfield Anesthesia Associates, LLC, which handled anesthesia in the case, failed to properly respond by stopping the surgery immediately and calling a Code Blue emergency when ODonnells blood pressure and oxygen levels plummeted.

Records show the state Department of Public Health investigated the incident in March 2015 and found that the standard of care was met for anesthesia and surgical services. The agency cited the center for two minor violations related to documentation, but did not raise concerns about the time that elapsed before an ambulance was called. No other state action is pending, a DPH spokesman said.

ODonnell, known as Katie to her family and friends, was a dog lover and avid New York Yankees fan who worked as a licensed practical nurse at a visiting nurse agency in Stratford. She was in good health when she went in to the North Haven Surgery Center on Feb. 25 for elective sinus surgery, records show.

But within minutes of being put under general anesthesia shortly before 11 a.m., ODonnells blood pressure began falling, according to court documents based on the surgery centers medical records. By 11:11 a.m., her blood pressure was unobtainable and the pulse oximeter was not reading, documents show. According to anesthesia notes and the Code Blue emergency sheet, surgery was allowed to continue, even as cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts were underway.

Attorney: Family wants answers

While the anesthesia notes say that CPR was started and an ambulance was called at 11:18 a.m., American Medical Response (AMR) records show no call was made until 11:40 a.m., reflecting an approximate 29-minute delay in calling EMS despite a cardiac arrest situation, according to a medical experts review included in the lawsuit.

ODonnell arrived at Yale-New Haven Hospital at 12:22 p.m. Despite efforts to revive her, she was pronounced dead an hour later.

The lawsuit alleges that the surgery center and Dr. Barry D. Stein, an anesthesiologist employed by Fairfield Anesthesia Associates, LLC, failed to properly respond to the medical emergency, failed to keep proper records of the procedure, and failed to accompany ODonnell to the hospital, among other lapses. ODonnells father, John ODonnell, is seeking unspecified damages in the case, which is pending in New Haven Superior Court. He referred comment to the familys attorney, Josh Koskoff of Bridgeport.

Attorney Sally O. Hagerty of Stamford, representing Stein and Fairfield Anesthesia Associates, declined to comment on the case. An attorney for the North Haven Surgery Center did not return messages seeking comment.

Koskoff said ODonnells family is seeking answers about what went wrong  not just for themselves, but for others who may turn to outpatient surgery centers as an alternative to hospitals. He cited another wrongful death case filed last year by the family of 53-year-old Michael A. Palmer of Stratford, who died after medical staff at an outpatient center in Trumbull allegedly gave him the wrong medication. Fairfield Anesthesia Associates is also a defendant in that case.

Were really in a dawn age with these surgery centers, and they really need to get their act together, Koskoff said. Theyre fine when nothing goes wrong, but they dont have those added layers of protection that hospitals do in case of complications.

Its really important to Katies family not only that her case be brought to justice, but that it might help to prevent something like this from happening to any other family, Koskoff said.

The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association says that the growing national network of outpatient centers is tightly regulated to ensure patient safety and quality.

Medical records in ODonnells case offer conflicting accounts of how long Stein and the surgeon in the case, Dr. Craig S. Hecht, continued operating on ODonnell after her blood pressure and oxygen levels began to fall. Hecht is mentioned in the lawsuit but is not named as a defendant.

The DPH report indicates that ODonnell was given epinephrine, a heart stimulant, at 11:10 a.m., soon after surgery began. A Code Blue emergency was not initiated until 26 minutes later, at 11:36 a.m., when her pulse rate was recorded at just 42 beats per minute, the DPH report says.

An experts review of medical records, included in the lawsuit, cites conflicting accounts of what happened in the interim. The anesthesia note on the case says that all anesthetic medications were discontinued at 11:15 a.m., that surgery was stopped, and that CPR was started. Meanwhile, the Code Blue Emergency Chart says surgery was halted at 11:22, but then resumed at 11:30.

Alleged discrepancies

The surgeons operative report appears to support that surgery continued after ODonnells vital signs failed. The report documents completion of extensive surgery . . . far more extensive than could have been completed in the four minutes preceding Ms. ODonnells circulatory collapse, the experts review says.

In its report, the DPH cites several other discrepancies in the case. The agency notes that Stein, the anesthesiologist, originally had documented that he gave ODonnell 300 mcg of epinephrine, but later changed the amount to 500 mcg by writing over the initial entry.

The DPH report also cites misleading documentation on the time ODonnell was transferred to Yale-New Haven. The patient transfer form incorrectly identified that ODonnell was transferred at 11:45 a.m., 10 to 15 minutes before EMTs actually took over her care.

A spokesman for the DPH, Christopher Stan, said there are no other actions pending against practitioners involved in the case. Stan confirmed that, in general, the DPH has authority to cite facilities for not following proper procedures in alerting emergency personnel. All outpatient surgical facilities are required to have guidelines for emergencies, as well as emergency equipment and drugs for resuscitation.

Stein is a managing partner of Fairfield Anesthesia Associates and is listed as medical director of the North Haven Surgery Center. He did not return messages.

The North Haven Surgery Center is part of a national for-profit chain of surgical centers owned by United Surgical Partners International and Tenet Healthcare, according to court filings. Dr. Mark Thimineur, director of the Comprehensive Pain & Headache Treatment Centers in Derby, is a principal of the North Haven center and was involved in its founding as the North Haven Pain Medicine Center, state records show.

Thimineurs Derby pain center has been the subject of state and federal scrutiny in the past year. A nurse who was employed there, Heather Alfonso, was charged last summer with accepting kickbacks from a drug company in exchange for her prescribing of a powerful cancer drug. Thimineur was reprimanded and fined $7,500 in June by the Medical Examining Board for writing prescriptions without properly assessing patients.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) will visit Calf Pen Meadow School in Milford, Connecticut, at 1 p.m. Monday to meet with elementary school students and announce the reintroduction of the Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act.

According to a news release put out by DeLauro, the United States is currently facing a childhood obesity epidemic, with more than one-third of children and teens are overweight or obese. Over the last 30 years, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents.
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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Ghosts are haunting the debate on whether the UK should stay in or leave the European Union. Specifically, the Conservative Party  whose leader David Cameron heads the Remain campaign  is haunted by the shades of its two greatest 20th century figures, Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.

Last month, Thatchers eminent foreign policy adviser, Lord (Charles) Powell, infuriated many of the ladys other close associates by claiming she would have voted to remain in the EU, on the terms set out by Cameron.

Now the long-serving Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames has put his name to a joint article in the Mail on Sunday with Lord (Peter) Mandelson, urging a remain vote under the headline Were joining forces to stay inour grandfathers footsteps.

Brexit: Prime Minister David Cameron heads the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union

Mandelsons grandfather Herbert Morrison was the Labour Home Secretary in the coalition War Cabinet led by Soames grandfather  Winston Churchill.

Of course, none of us  direct descendants included  can know for certain what long-dead figures would do in the situation now confronting this country. We can only know what they did and said when they were alive.

And as Mandelson concedes, Herbert Morrison rejected [joining] the emergent European Community, saying: The Durham miners would never wear it. 

Visionary

In an earlier article, entitled Churchill, my grandfather, always loved Europe, Soames complained that since he had made it clear he supported David Camerons line, as Churchills grandson I am in daily receipt of vile correspondence from people telling me that I am a traitor to his memory.

'I consider it impertinent to try to divine exactly what position the dead would take on this referendum.

'Yet it is quite evident that Churchill aimed his ire at Nazi aggression out of his love for the European civilisation of which we in Britain have always been an inseparable part.

Well said. But love for European civilisation and wishing to be or remain a member of the institutions of the EU are hardly one and the same thing.

For example both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove  who, a fortnight ago, both came out for Leave  are true Europeans in that cultural sense. Indeed, Goves idea of paradise  as he told me  is to travel to the Bayreuth festival in Germany for a week of non-stop Wagner operas.

Churchill is often cited as one of the spiritual architects of the EU because of a visionary speech he delivered in Zurich in 1946.

Peter Mandelson's (right) grandfather Herbert Morrison was the Labour Home Secretary in the coalition War Cabinet led by Sir Nicholas Soames (left) grandfather Winston Churchill

There, he called for some sort of political union between the war-devastated France and Germany: We must recreate the European family in a regional structure called, as it may be, the United States of Europe.

The speech was a sensation, reprinted the next day in every major European newspaper.

But Churchill did not resile from his earlier pronouncement that the UK could never be part of such a union: We are with Europe but not of it. We are linked but not comprised.

And as the late Hugo Young wrote of the Zurich speech in his masterly history of the UKs engagement with the EU: It does not seem to have entered Churchills mind that the destiny he envisaged for Europe, as the only way to prevent a repetition of the war, was something his own country should embrace.

In 1950, Churchill, as leader of the Conservative Party, opposed any UK application to join the European Coal and Steel Community, the progenitor of the EU.

In his article yesterday, Soames harked back to the immediate post-war period, arguing: It is easy to take Europes peace for grantedbut in just a couple of generations, Europe created something remarkable which has effectively rebuilt the Continent.

In 1950, Churchill (pictured) opposed any UK application to join the European Coal and Steel Community, the progenitor of the EU

The dreadful irony  as the former Bank of England Governor Lord (Mervyn) King has pointed out in his new book The End Of Alchemy  is that the EUs most ambitious project, the European single currency, introduced in order to bring greater political harmony, has had precisely the opposite effect.

Nowhere is this clearer than with Greece, for whom membership of the Euro, once seen as their economic salvation, has become the agent of dreadful hardship and even financial oppression. As Michael Gove said yesterday, this huge economic experiment  never before had monetary union been imposed on such a divergent group of nation states  has inflicted pain on Europe.

He added that as a result, the far-Right is stronger across the continent than at any time since the Thirties  Golden Dawn in the Greek parliament are explicitly Hitler worshippers.

The rise of such fascist parties is also a direct consequence of the EUs inability to control its external borders  with Greece the weakest point.

Yet as a member of the EU, this country is far from immune to the consequences of mass migration. As a signatory to the Maastricht Treaty guaranteeing free movement, the UK has no control over the numbers from the other 27 member states who might choose to live and work here.

In his article yesterday, Soames mentions only the positive aspect of this policy, hailing the opportunities free movement in Europe provides for travel and study.

Thats true. But this is the same Nicholas Soames who for the past few years has campaigned, alongside the Labour MP Frank Field, to bring an end to our open border for all EU citizens: the two distinguished MPs for this purpose set up the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration.

Fails

Three years ago, they published an article declaring: Reducing net immigration to the tens of thousands is the right approach. The elephant in the room is the EU.

Although Sir Nicholas professes himself satisfied with Camerons so-called emergency brake, negotiated last month in Brussels, he must surely know that even if the measure were to be agreed by the European Parliament, it will be temporary  and in any case fails to meet the minimal objective the PM sought, to block benefits for new EU migrants for four years.

Thus, in the wake of the Brussels stitch-up, Soames co-chair of the Balanced Migration group, Frank Field, wrote (under the headline This deal is awful): The Government has failed to secure the key renegotiation requirement, namely that we should regain control of our borders.

I shall therefore be campaigning to leave the EU. That seems a more consistent position than Soames.

I should add that I like Nicholas Soames. He is an ebullient, engaging companion; and he is understandably upset by those who say he is a traitor to the memory of his grandfather by supporting David Cameron and the official government line in the referendum.

But perhaps, then, he should not invoke Winston Churchill at all.

If animals had a vote in the EU referendum, how would they cast it?

NOW IT'S ANIMALS FOR BREXIT!

If animals had a vote in the EU referendum, how would they cast it? You might think this an idiotic question. But the campaigners for both sides are now asking us to consult our four-legged friends.

Last week, the agriculture minister George Eustice  who is for Out  said that by leaving the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy, we could use some of the funds saved to subsidise higher levels of animal welfare in the UK: If animals had votes, they would vote to leave.

I fear Eustice was being serious, which is worrying. On the other side, Project Fear has alighted on a similar notion to wring our hearts.

A minister in the same government department, Rory Stewart, argued the UK is using its position within the EU to lobby for a Europe-wide ban on lion-hunting trophy imports and that therefore if we left the EU, many of these animals may soon disappear completely.

In other words: vote Remain, or Tiddles of the African plains will get it between the eyes.

Of course the British are regarded as exceptionally concerned with animal welfare; but if both sides of the referendum campaign are already reduced to exploiting this, I darent imagine how low theyll stoop by the end of it.

The grey gene has been discovered: scientists have called it Irf4 and it regulates melanin, the natural hair and skin pigment.

Of course, we had for ever known that such matters are related to inheritance, and I had always been under the impression that grey hair (or not) comes from the mothers side.

My mothers hair began to go grey when she was in her 30s and she dyed it (intense dark brown) from that point. I am now silvery-haired, even though my father, who this week will celebrate his 84th birthday, has not a single speck of grey among his follicles.

Many years ago, this confused my younger daughter, who looked at us both and then asked: Who is older, daddy or grandpa?
Respected: The opinions of businessman John Longworth, pictured, must be heard in the run-up to the EU referendum

John Longworth is exactly the sort of hugely respected businessman whose opinions must be heard in the run-up to the EU referendum.

A veteran of Asda, Tesco and the Co-op, he travelled regularly to Brussels over three decades and in recent years consulted with think-tanks, economists and the Bank of England on the possible consequences of Brexit.

How chilling then, that when he gave his considered view  that Britains future would be brighter outside the EU  he was forced out of his job as director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, which represents thousands of small and middling businesses.

The reason given by the BCC board for this outrage was that he had transgressed the organisations policy of neutrality on the referendum. But these were his personal opinions and he claims he was given clearance to air them.

So what was really behind his removal? The Mail suspects the malign hand of Downing Street and Project Fear. He dissented from the Prime Ministers narrative that British business wants to remain in the EU, so he had to go.

A straight-talking Lancastrian, Mr Longworth has been a thorn in the Governments side before  calling Mr Cameron gutless for delaying Heathrow expansion, saying the EU was incapable of reform and denouncing energy policy as a complete mess.

But of course, what politicians refuse to admit is that his opinions chime not only with thousands of his members but also the vast majority of the British public.

Ministers deny putting pressure on the BCC to remove Mr Longworth but they would, wouldnt they. Such tactics are entirely in keeping with the ruthless way they have tried to marginalise those who disagree with them in this campaign.

Remember Mr Cameron instructing MPs to ignore the Eurosceptic views of local party members, or Foreign Secretary Philip Hammonds dodgy dossier, with its wild predictions of lost jobs, rocketing prices and Spain deporting British expats.

Placed under an enormous amount of pressure, Mr Longworth resigned last night, seriously damaging the BCCs credibility as an independent body. Pushing him out for expressing an honest opinion was a grotesque injustice.

As the Mail has repeatedly said, voters need genuine, passionately held views from all sides before making the decision that will shape this countrys political destiny for a generation. Its time for the bullying and scaremongering to stop.

Mandy spins again

It comes as no surprise that Lord Mandelson  the very personification of the patronising, self-serving political elite  has joined Project Fear, warning that leaving the EU would bring catastrophe.

But if this unscrupulous spin doctor, arch-manipulator and proven liar says we should stick with Brussels, wont many voters simply conclude that the right course of action must be to leave?

A craven silence

Riot police storm the offices of an anti-government newspaper, evict the editor and replace the editorial board with puppets of the president.

No, not events in some obscure Fascist state but in Turkey, which may soon be a member of the EU.

Protests: Journalists carry an injured woman after riot police used tear gas to disperse supporters in front of the Zaman newspaper headquarters

Brussels should of course have condemned such a blatant breach of human rights but because it needs Turkeys help tackling the migration crisis, it maintained a craven silence.
Thuggish Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is trying to portray a gentler aspect to his character.

In a post on the party's website titled 'How should we talk to each other online?', he urges members to refrain from 'unkind' behaviour when using social media. They should, he explained, consider 'how the recipient might feel'.

For examples of bad internet etiquette, Labour members need look no further than Watson's own online comments.

Thuggish Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is trying to portray a gentler aspect to his character

Notoriously, he has used his blog and Twitter to suggest that the now dead Tory Home Secretary, Lord Brittan, was a paedophile.

Even after Brittan's death, in January last year, Watson kept up the offensive public campaign of vilification.

He called Brittan 'evil' and Tweeted: 'I believe the people who say he raped them.'

Not surprisingly, a senior police officer said that Watson's intervention was 'deeply damaging' to their investigation.

Indeed, Watson was hauled before the Commons home affairs select committee and was forced to apologise to Lord Brittan's widow.

Quote of the week: Employment minister Priti Patel, an ardent advocate of us quitting the EU, said: 'A vote to leave is not a leap in the dark. It is a leap from a ship heading, like the Titanic, to the iceberg.'

Really? Historians believe that of the estimated 706 passengers rescued from RMS Titanic on that fateful April night in 1912  all but four of the 140 women travelling first class survived.

How apt that Ms Patel will be launching the Women For Britain campaign tomorrow.

Leave Europe? We already did!

After becoming a laughing stock by admitting that wages would rise and the number of migrants would fall if we vote Leave, pro-EU cheerleader Lord (Stuart) Rose boasted about his business record.

He said: 'I have worked in Europe. I have lived in Europe, imported from Europe, exported to Europe, hired people in Europe, and have fired people in Europe. I know Europe pretty well.'

However, he loved the Continent so much that when he was boss of Marks & Spencer, he closed all 38 of its stores in Europe.

After becoming a laughing stock by admitting that wages would rise and the number of migrants would fall if we vote Leave, pro-EU cheerleader Lord (Stuart) Rose boasted about his business record

Identified as Prime Minister Tony Blair's co-conspirator in New Labour's irresponsible plot to open the UK's borders to millions of foreigners, the then Home Office minister, Barbara Roche, put her heart into the project.

Her role is highlighted in author Tom Bower's devastating new book Broken Vows: Tony Blair - The Tragedy Of Power (recently serialised in the Mail).

Having been booted out of her job as MP for Hornsey and Wood Green by voters in 2005, she has found herself the perfect new role - chair of the Migration Museum Project.

Embarrassment for ITV News presenter Tom Bradby as he auctioned a sketch by cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry to raise money for charities Action For Children and Restless Development.

Only when bidding reached 800 did his BBC opposite number, Sophie Raworth, point out he was holding the 'work of art'upside down.

Labour's Sadiq Khan was asked by LBC radio host Nick Ferrari whether Jeremy Corbyn is an asset to his London mayoral campaign. As Khan declined to answer the question six times, I think we can assume the answer is a resounding 'no'.

Why Felicity's up in arms!

Welcome to one of the country's poshest protest groups.

The 'No Crossrail in Chelsea' campaign staged a quirky cabaret in the ultra-chi-chi area of South-West London to highlight its opposition to plans for a 1 billion railway station to be built on the King's Road.

The modern-day Sloane Ranger agitators include Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, the mother of Prince Harry's former squeeze, Cressida Bonas, and actress Felicity Kendal, who calls the plans 'bonkers'.

In typical luvvie language, Kendal says the money ought to be spent 'on a hospital, darling'.
Her mother, New Yorker Susan Levy, was excited about media fanfare

Ex-escort has revealed how she told her mother about her

The former 300-an-hour prostitute behind the best-selling Belle de Jour book has revealed the moment she told her mother about her secret life.

Dr Brooke Magnanti, 40, who now works as a research scientist and blogger, has opened up about how she told her mother that she was the woman behind the Belle de Jour character, and that she was about to publish a book recounting her experiences.

However, far from being ashamed, Magnanti's mother reacted positively to the revelation and even gave her own mother the book as a gift.

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Brooke Magnanti, now 40, above, caused a stir in 2009 when she was revealed to be the woman behind the Belle de Jour blog. The research scientist and former escort has revealed how she told her mother that she was about to be revealed as the high-profile escort

Talking to the Sunday Times Style Magazine, Magnanti described the moment in 2009 when she had to make the call to her mother, Susan Levy, to let her know the real reason newspapers had begun camping outside her house as her real identity was about to be made known.

Despite the obvious trepidation, her mother was in fact thrilled by the news, saying 'Are you joking? This is like being in a movie! Honey I haven't had this much excitement in years.'

Magnanti adds: 'When she gave the books to Grandma, I cringed.'

But her mother, a New Yorker, simply responded: 'Aw, come on honey. Your grandmother was a widow with five kids in the 60s. She was a nurse. She knows what goes where.'

Despite her mother's surprisingly laid-back attitude to discovering her daughter worked as a prostitute - and had now been exposed to the whole world - Dr Magnanti hadn't been sure how she would respond.

The mother and daughter had rarely connected during Dr Magnanti's teens, and the former escort recalled how the pair seemed total opposites.

However, as time went by the pair seemed to smooth out their differences.

The former-escort's mother, Susan Levy, right, reacted to the news in a manner that was a far cry from the shock and outrage many parents would feel. The proud mother of Dr Magnanti, even gave the book to her grandmother as a gift. When Dr Magnanti told her mother the news she had never read the books or blog

'Despite the differences in between me and my mum, over time they smoothed out, settled, as they often do between mothers and daughters.

'It began to dawn on me that she was far more perceptive about me and my life than I had given her credit for,' she writes.

Independent women run in Dr Magnanti's family, it seems; her maternal grandmother raised five children alone in New York in the Sixties.

Magnanti's mother ended up hanging around with hippies and going to Woodstock - even joining the army for a short stint.

It was probably due to her time in movement advocating free love that Mrs Levy was so unperturbed by the racy contents of her daughter's books.

In 2009, Dr Magnanti's mother, Susan Levy told the Daily Mail of her 'surprise' at learning of her daughter's past double life.

In 2009 Dr Magnanti's mother, Susan Levy told the Daily Mail of her 'surprise' at learning of her daughter's past double life. She even said she wanted an autographed copy of the memoir The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl. Above, Billie Piper playing London-based call girl Hannah Baxter in the hit TV show

Dr Magnanti's blog spawned two bestselling books and an ITV series starring Billie Piper (right)

She even said she wanted an autographed copy of the memoir The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl.

She declared her support for her 'wonderful' daughter, saying she was proud of her.

Mrs Levy had only found out about her daughter had ran 300-an hour hooker from 2003 to 2004 days before she made these comments.

Mrs Levy, 57, told the Daily Mail, of the phone message left by Dr Magnanti: 'When she told me, I wouldn't say I was shocked, I don't think shock is really the right word. But I was a bit surprised.

But she could always write. I haven't read the blog. I want to read the bool.'

She added: 'She has a good head on her shoulders, and I support her 100 per cent. You can't do more than that, absolutely 100 per cent.

The original book cover from the 2009 book, which saw Dr Magnanti revealed as Belle de Jour

'I am proud of her. She is an accomplished scientist and an accomplished writer too. She is a wonderful woman.'

Mrs Levy said her daughter had hinted at a secret in the past.

She added: 'She told me in a roundabout way that she had something to tell me a while ago - she said she needed to speak to me about things she had done in her past.'

American-born Dr Magnanti grew up in Florida with her parents, but they divorced in 1991.

Her father Paul Magnanti went on to become addicted to prostitutes, sleeping with more than 150 of them.

He has spoken of how he introduced his daughter to some of them when she was in her 20s.

Dr Magnanti turned to prostitution to cover student debts when she was studying for her PhD.

She is estimated to have earned well over 100,000 from her time as a call girl.
The small room is quiet, warm and functional. Two women are sitting in chairs. One is moving her right hand backwards and forwards in front of the other's eyes, which follow her hand intently.

It might sound like a budget hypnosis session but this strange eye flicking ritual is an increasingly popular therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which is used for a number of serious conditions, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression and common stress.

Devotees say simply moving your eyes from left to right between 25 and 30 times can diminish negative memories and, therefore, their impact on your wellbeing.

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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy can be used for a number of serious conditions, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression and common stress

This, done repeatedly with a trained psychologist - up to 40 times in an hour session - can change your life immeasurably for the better, so experts claim.

And there's a good reason why processing negative memories can improve your mental wellbeing. Most normal memories are processed by the brain, put in context and then fade with time, but the same is not true of bad memories.

'Memories are processed according to previous experience and assumption and then assimilated,' explains chartered clinical psychologist and former president of the EMDR Association in UK and Ireland, Dr Robin Logie.

'We learn from memory: hot items aren't picked up, certain foods avoided. These are all filed away and, on the whole, memories from long ago are vague.'

But if you have a bad experience, that negative memory is frozen in time.

'Your brain can't process it and the memory returns in dreams and flashbacks, often with a physical response such as feeling sick or actual pain.

'Rather than fading, it stays as vivid as the day on which it occurred. It hasn't been correctly processed.'

Brain scans have shown that when a traumatic event occurs, there is increased activity in the part of the brain which stores memories associated with sound, touch and smell, but not in the rational frontal lobes where reasoning occurs.

So trauma is stored in the brain as vivid images, sensations and sounds. Once lodged, this memory doesn't fade and exerts a disproportionate influence on subsequent behaviour.

The eye flicking could work by the theory that you can only hold so much in your head at one time. Distracting yourself by moving your eyes helps you work through the trauma without it

Everyone has at least one example of unprocessed memories floating in their heads: an ex-partner whose infidelity affected a relationship; an overheard comment which challenged confidence in friendships; or a teacher's damning assessment.

Francine Shapiro, who founded the therapy, suggests there are approximately ten or 20 unprocessed memories responsible for most of the pain in our lives.

EMDR is based on putting these bad memories in the right place. Those who have tried it, like Hannah Cooper, 38, who works in supply-chain logistics and lives in Leicestershire with her engineer husband, David, cannot speak highly enough of the process.

With a history of anxiety going back to the breakdown of her parents' marriage when she was 11, Hannah decided last December that she needed help.

Everyone has at least one example of unprocessed memories floating in their heads: an ex-partner whose infidelity affected a relationship; an overheard comment which challenged confidence in friendships; or a teacher's damning assessment

'There were little signs that things weren't right: I was being snappy with my husband, I felt very tired for no reason,' she says.

Hannah had previously suffered depression and had counselling so she consulted her therapist, clinical psychologist Dr Alexandra Dent. Dr Dent, who had trained in EMDR, suggested she try it. Over the first three sessions, Hannah identified some stuck memories.

'Rationally, I know it's not my fault my parents split up. But there were certain vivid memories that really stuck, such as the time, aged 11, I heard them arguing.

'My mother threw my father out the door and smashed a mug after him. I'd given him that mug for Father's Day and it said Dad on it.'

Every time she thought about it Hannah felt sick with tension.

During the fourth session with Dr Dent, they began desensitising the memories using eye-flicking. This starts by focusing on key aspects of the memory, following the finger from left to right and at regular intervals asking the client what they are noticing.

'I didn't really notice the left to right hand movements,' says Hannah. 'I was utterly intent on living through the memory, which was so vivid I could smell my father's aftershave.'

Afterwards, Hannah recalls feeling a great lightness.

'Now, I feel positive and have started running again. People have noticed my happiness.'

She says that had she tried to describe this memory before EMDR she would have broken down in tears. 'It's still there, but in the right place, not affecting my life.'

How on earth did somebody come up with such a concept?

It was a chance observation. Clinical psychologist Francine Shapiro, an American, was agonising over a distressing personal problem in 1987. She noticed that as she moved her eyes from one side to another, her disturbing thoughts faded without any conscious effort. She tested the theory by deliberately thinking horrible things while moving her eyes. To her amazement, the same thing happened.

EIGHT MILLION The number of British people who suffer with an anxiety disorder Advertisement

EMDR has a body of scientific research behind it that proves it to be effective for the treatment of severe trauma. Not only is it available on the NHS, but training is compulsory for Ministry of Defence mental health personnel on the front line.

Still think it sounds ludicrous? Jane Steare, the mother of Lucie Blackman, who was murdered in Japan 16 years ago, has benefited from the therapy, as has a PTSD sufferer who had been in the same Tube carriage as one of the 7/7 bombers.

The patron of the UK and Ireland EMDR Association is former hostage Terry Waite.

Dr Logie says: 'When you move your eyes, you're reducing your emotional reaction to an event and you are more able to evaluate and process it in a detached way. Secondly, the event is reprocessed, and you can think of it in a more rational way.'

So why does it work?

Some believe the eye movements allow you to process memory in the same way as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, when you dream but your eyes flick around.

When asleep you can't decide to focus on one event but when you're awake and flicking them around you're more in control.

A second idea is called the 'working memory' theory. You can only hold so much in your head at one time. Distracting yourself by moving your eyes helps you work through the trauma without it - metaphorically speaking - hitting you between the eyes.

Dr Logie believes everyone can benefit, revealing, that in training everybody receives EMDR and they all find something unresolved.

There are, as with everything, rogue therapists, he warns. You should ensure you only see one trained to EMDR Europe guidelines - see emdrassociation.org.uk to find your nearest.

In some cases, just one session can help you slot a traumatic memory into your normal pathways, where it stops affecting your life.

Patients say they do think about it but as something from the past that is no longer distressing. It becomes rationalised.

It seems EMDR may also help with more common problems such as eating disorders.

Physiologically, it fits neatly into a science buzz word: neuroplasticity, which refers to the fact that we can retrain the brain.

In EMDR, patients redirect their own neural pathways to store memories correctly.
The playlist is designed to accompany women through the birthing process

Obstetricians want expecting mothers to be as relaxed during childbirth as possible - whether it be through the presence of family members, a midwife or the use of relaxation techniques.

But leading US obstetrician, Dr Jacques Moritz, recently took it a step further and decided to create the 'perfect push playlist' to accompany women through childbirth - from the start of contractions to the birth itself.

With birthing playlists now seen as a 'key component' for many expectant parents, Dr Moritz wanted to create the 'ideal' one as 70 per cent of his patients arrive with pre-prepared songs to play through delivery.

Push playlist: Leading US obstetrician, Dr Jacques Moritz, recently decided to create the 'perfect push playlist' to accompany women through childbirth

Helping hand: With birthing playlists now seen as a 'key component' of many expectant parents', Dr Moritz wanted to create the 'ideal' one as 70 per cent of his patients arrive with pre-prepared songs

The Spotify playlist created by Dr Moritz was scientifically designed and 'mirrors' the experience of the mother, with slow and mellow songs at the beginning followed by tunes with a stronger beat through the pushing process.

'At one point I was telling people "please I beg of you, no more Enya"' Dr Pecoraro told Daily Mail Australia.

Songs like 'Just Breathe' by Pearl Jam and 'Don't Leave Me' by Regina Spektor open the list, followed by inspiring beats including Xavier Rudd's 'Follow the Sun', Coldplay's 'Don't Panic' and a Tiesto Remix of 'All of Me' by John Legend.

It then concludes with Bachs 'Unaccompanied Cello Suite #1', performed Yo-Yo Ma, which accompanies the moment women meet their baby for the very first time.

Scientific: The Spotify playlist created by Dr Moritz 'mirrors' the experience of the mother, with slow and mellow songs at the beginning followed by tunes with a stronger beat through the pushing process

Unique mix: Songs like 'Just Breathe' by Pearl Jam and 'Don't Leave Me' by Regina Spektor open the list, followed by inspiring beats including Xavier Rudd's 'Follow the Sun' and Coldplay's 'Don't Panic'

Dr Gino Pecoraro, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Brisbane, Queensland, says 'an awful lot' of couples bring music in for the delivery - most of them making up a playlist before they arrive.

'At one point I was telling people "please I beg of you, no more Enya",' because everybody wanted her music playing during delivery,' Dr Pecoraro told Daily Mail Australia.

'I've had all types though - some have played ACDC, others Bon Jovi and many people who like the rainforest sounds and soothing and calming pieces, even whale sounds.'

WHAT SONGS ARE PERFECT FOR A PUSH PLAYLIST? 1. Pearl Jam - Just Breathe 2. James Bay - Let It Go 3. Regina Spektor - Dont Leave Me 4. Sigur Ros - Festival 5. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism 6. The Lumineers - Ho Hey 7. Norah Jones - Sunrise 8. Craft Spells - After the Moment 9. Xavier Rudd - Follow the Sun 10. Lucinda Williams - Fruits of My labor 11. John Lennon - Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) 12. Colbie Caillat - Capri 13. DAngelo - Really Love 14. Milton Nascimento - Nos Bailes Da Vida 15. Coldplay - Dont Panic 16. Fleet Foxes - Your Protector 17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps 18. Kygo Maty Noyes - Stay 19. P!nk - Try 20. Muse - Starlight 21. John Legend - All of Me - Tiestos Birthday Remix 22. David Bowie, Queen - Under Pressure 23. U2 - With or Without You 24. Wilco - Impossible Germany 25. Arcade Fire - Wake Up 26. R.E.M. - Nightswimming 27. Patty Griffin - Heavenly Day 28. Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came 29. Beyonce - Blue 30. Johann Sebastian Bach, Yo-Yo Ma - Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 Advertisement

On trend: Dr Gino Pecoraro, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Brisbane, Queensland, says 'an awful lot' of couples bring music in for the delivery - most of them making up a playlist before they arrive

WHAT ARE AUSTRALIA'S MOST STREAMED 'PUSH' TRACKS? 1. Wah! - Closing 2. Steven Halpern - Music for Sleep (pt. 2) 3. The Yoga Specialists - Quieting the Mind with Healing Music 4. The Yoga Specialists - Unconditionally Loved - Music for Deep meditation 5. Prenatal Music for Yoga and Relaxation - Pregnancy Music 6. Steven Halpern - Music for Sleep (Pt. 1) 7. Michael Manring, Steven Halpern - Deep Alpha 8 Hz: Pt. 8 8. Baby Orgel - Beethoven - Piano Sonata Moonlight(music box) 9. Nirinjan Kaur - Chattr Chakkr Vartee 10. Baby Orgel - Boccherini - Minuetto(music box) Advertisement

Mr Pecoraro said many people are organised and bring in their iPad playlist which changes to match the birthing process with the music getting faster as time goes on.

'It really comes down to what helps them relinquish control...you have to during this process and the music can take over and help that to happen because it helps them calm down,' Mr Pecoraro said.

'Evidence shows that women who are less anxious have a labor that progresses better which is why we want all women to have access to a midwife who can reassure them that everything is going fine and that they are in good hands.

'If the music can help a woman feel safe and calm that's great...anything cheap and easy is worth a shot if it helps in some way.'

For those who do want to create a push playlist of their own outside of Dr Moritz's recommended tracks, he recommends music be comforting and familiar with strong instrumentals.

He says music should include 'old and familiar' favourites, perhaps from a woman's adolescence, and should emphasise instrumentals because that is what the mind 'intuitively processes.'

Do what you need to do: 'Evidence shows that women who are less anxious have a labor that progresses better,' Dr Pecoraro said

Dr Moritz also recommends playlists that have a 'wide variety of artists', have at least five to 10 hours of music and 'make a woman feel beautiful'

Music with lyrics can be distracting but if that is necessary, lyrics in a language they don't understand can work better.

Dr Moritz also recommends playlists that have a 'wide variety of artists', have at least five to 10 hours of music and 'make a woman feel beautiful.'

'The moment a child is born is highly emotional and memorable and the music you recall from that day should maintain that sense of beauty and emotion,' he said.

'Research has also shown that songs the foetus hears in the womb can be remembered, so make those memories beautiful too.'
She has been voted 'the most stylish young royal' - but looking this good comes with a price tag.

A Danish publication has reported that Crown Princess Mary has splashed out on 59 handbags in the past five years alone - equating to one piece of arm candy per month.

According to Woman's Day, Se Og Hoer has claimed that Mary's designer handbag collection, which include pieces by Prada, Chanel, Ralph Lauren and Hermes, is worth a staggering $200,000.

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Bag lover: The Crown Princess Mary has spent as much as $200,000 on handbags in the past five years

Regular shopper: This is according to the Danish publication Se Og Hoer, and amounts to one bag a month - here pictured with the $3,600 Quidam clutch

Luxury lady: Princess Mary's most expensive bag is her crocodile Hermes Birkin, which costs $44,500 - pictured on a trip to Brussels in 2012

Get it while it's hot: The Hermes Birkin bag usually comes with a huge waiting list which is difficult to get on

The priciest handbag adorning the 44-year-old royal's arm is a black crocodile Hermes Birkin, costing an eye-watering $44,500.

A favourite among the collection is the Prada Saffiano Luxe Leather Tote for state occasions, but Princess Mary is also a fan of lesser-known labels, including Quidam.

The Crown Princess owns the $10,500 Alligator Clutch bag in royal blue, and a $3,600 black purse by Quidam.

The Princess always returns, however, to her trusty $3,600 Ralph Lauren Ricky bag.

Royal favourites: Mary's other favourite pieces of arm candy come from Ralph Lauren, Quidam and Chanel

Regular recycler: However, while it's clear she loves a new handbag, she does re-wear them quite regularly

Trusty favourite: She returns to her favourite bag, the Ralph Lauren Ricky, on numerous occasions - pictured here in 2012 in London

Dressed up and down: The Princess wears the handbag when dressing up and down- pictured during the London Olympics in 2012

Mary has been pictured sporting the tan tote on a number of occasions - during the 2012 London Olympics, while out shopping in Byron Bay in December 2015, and then later this February for an event in Denmark.

This is mixed and matched with other high fashion options  such as her beautiful Chanel Quilted Lambskin Flap Bag ($6,050), as well as smaller, less expensive brands.

While the Danish Royal House refuses to comment on Marys shopping habits, the Crown Princess herself has made no secret of her love of fashion.

As well as being a regular at Copenhagen Fashion Week, she is regularly photographed out shopping  such as when she visited Byron Bay and the Gold Coast shopping centre, Marina Mirage, when she was recently back in Australia.

High fashion fun: The Princess also has a quilted Chanel bag in her collection, worth $6,050 - pictured in 2009 at a christening

Fashion fan: The Princess is a self-confessed fashion lover and is frequently photographed out shopping

As well as this, with her current handbag collection, it seems the Princess is clocking up as many as one new handbag each month, which tallies with the fact that in 2009 it was reported that in their four years of marriage, only once did Prince Frederik and Princess Mary keep within their Royal budget.

In 2008, the Royal couple overspent by 2.1 million kroner, the equivalent of around $511,000.

However, the Princess is not guilty of wearing something once and moving on.

Lesser-known lover: As well as big designers, Princess Mary also wears lesser known brands, including Quidam, as pictured here

Instead, she regularly recycles and re-styles her favourite bags, pairing them with different outfits, accessories and shoes.

Princess Mary's love of re-styling the same pieces, and pairing them with cheaper, often High Street options, has earned her the label of a 'thrifty' princess.
The all-female Yorkshire Rows team ended up revealing more than expected when they joined BBC Breakfast this morning to talk about their record-breaking trip across the Atlantic.

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that one clip of the foursome at sea briefly showed Helen Butters, 45, naked from the waist down.

The accidental flash was not missed by viewers, particularly men, who took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

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The all-female Yorkshire Rows team ended up revealing more than expected when they joined BBC Breakfast this morning to talk about their record-breaking trip across the Atlantic

The four Yorkshire mothers (from left to right) Helen Butters, Niki Doeg, Janette Benaddi and Frances Davies did not notice the slip but told Breakfast hosts Dan Walker and Louise Minchin that being naked was an occupational hazard.

Chris Saunders tweeted, 'Was it really necessary for such a gratuitous naked crotch shot of Yorkshire Rows at 6.46am today? Nearly put me off my coffee.'

Nicola Simonds was also distracted by the mishap, saying: 'We got to see a bit too much at 6.45! Almost choked on my toast.'

But Robert Currey wrote, 'Congratulations to wonderful, naked Yorkshire Rows ladies who rowed the Atlantic. Surprised & admittedly delighted at BBC Breakfast uncoverage.'

Another asked the important question: 'Who is going to play her part in the imminent movie? ... Sharon Stone?'

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that one clip of the foursome at sea briefly showed Helen Butters, 45, naked from the waist down, while Nicola Simonds saying she had almost choked on her toast

Wendy couldn't believe her eyes and asked: 'Did BBC Breakfast just accidentally show that lady rower's muff.'

She added that she'd rewound the programme to check, and Heather Stanley admitted she had done the same.

'Definitely a hairy Mary as my mum still calls it,' she added.

Geoff Guy was also eager to point out the mishap, saying: 'Something a little naughty just flash on my screen. Congrats to the ladies though.'

The rowers told Breakfast hosts Dan Walker and Louise Minchin that being naked was an occupational hazard, because clothes got soaked and took so long to dry there was no point in covering up

It was unfortunately the exposed Helen Butters who was hesitant about stripping in front of her friends, saying she was the last of the crew to embrace going naked

Yorkshire Rows set a Guinness World Record as the oldest all-female crew to cross an ocean when they arrived in English Harbour, Antigua, on February 25, 67 days and five hours after leaving La Gomera in the Canary Islands. They were competing in the 3,000-mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge

Gavin Bourne was equally keen to alert his followers to the flashing moment, saying: 'OMG did BBC Breakfast really just flash some bush on morning TV.'

Amanda Jane Pye also thought it was a 'bit early' for flashing and said: 'Someone forgot their shorts.'

Meanwhile, Doug McCarten cheekily described the broadcast as a 'thorough report'.

Rhino thought the mishap was hilarious adding a series of crying with laughter emojis to his post, which said: 'Ha ha ha did you know you showed a lady garden live on breakfast?'

Viewers couldn't believe their eyes with Amanda Jane Pye stating it was a 'bit early' for flashing on breakfast TV, but Mr Coxsure couldn't resist joking about Sharon Stone playing Helen in a future movie

The four Yorkshire mothers - Butters, Janette Bennadi, Frances Davies and Niki Doeg - did not appear to notice the slip.

But they told Breakfast hosts Dan Walker and Louise Minchin that being naked was an occupational hazard.

Bennadi, 51, said: 'It was so wet all the time - to wear clothes all the time was a bit silly really because they'd just get wet and they'd take a long time to dry so it was easier (to be naked).'

But it was unfortunately the exposed Butters who was hesitant about stripping in front of her friends.

Rhino thought the mishap was hilarious adding a series of crying with laughter emojis to his post, which said: 'Ha ha ha did you know you showed a lady garden live on breakfast?'

She admitted: 'I was the last one to embrace my nakedness.'

Yorkshire Rows set a Guinness World Record as the oldest all-female crew to cross an ocean when they arrived in English Harbour, Antigua, on February 25, 67 days and five hours after leaving La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

They were competing in the 3,000-mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Butters said: 'It was such an amazing experience, it was such a tough challenge and that's probably the fun side (shown in the clip). It was more survival than a rowing race.'
Two women who look like twins have travelled over 17,000 kilometres combined to meet each other after discovering their startling resemblance online.

Maddy, 23, from Tacoma, Washington State, found Amber, 22, from Perth, Western Australia, within just a week of signing up to Twin Strangers, a website which helps people to find their closest lookalikes.

The pair have since discovered they both have Australian lineage, suggesting they might possibly be in some way related. They also both attended beauty school and graduated in the same year.

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Maddy, 23, (left) from Tacoma, Washington State, found Amber, 22, (right) from Perth, Western Australia, within just a week of signing up to Twin Strangers, a website which helps people to find their closest lookalikes

Hair stylist Maddy came across Twin Strangers on Facebook and signed up to the site. After making a profile, she found Amber in about a week.

Amber had already been on there for a few months and said she couldn't believe it when she matched with Maddy and saw her face.

'After Maddy matched with me I received an email from Twin Strangers, and as the photo loaded of Maddys face I actually thought it was my face at first,' she explained.

The pair started chatting on Facebook and then the site offered them the chance to meet in person.

'We had been chatting on Facebook for a while so we felt like we already knew each other. I was still both nervous and excited to meet her though,' Amber said.

And as soon as the girls met in LA, where they both made the trip with their boyfriends, they felt an immediate bond.

'When I first met Amber, it really kind of felt natural, like meeting a long lost friend. We instantly connected,' Maddy said.

She admits that she has nervous about whether they would resemble each other in real life. But she needn't have worried.

Maddy (left) and Amber are awaiting the results of DNA testing to find out if they are actually distant relatives

The pair have forged a strong bond and hope to meet again in the future despite the distance between them

And as soon as the girls met in LA, where they both made the trip with their boyfriends, they felt an immediate bond

'We both had similar mannerisms that we didn't even notice until other people pointed them out. We'd be sitting or standing in the same exact position or do something at the same time. It was very bizarre,' she revealed.

Amber said the biggest similarity was their eyes.

'They're the same shape and the exact same colour. As well, our eyebrows, basically the whole top half of our faces were crazily similar.'

Even their boyfriends agreed that the girls looked spookily similar.

'Tito was actually pretty shocked to see just how much Amber and I did look alike in person,' Maddy said.

Maddy said the girls had similar mannerisms that they didn't even notice until other people pointed them out. They would be sitting or standing in the same exact position or do something at the same time

The pair had chatted on Facebook before meeting and despite a few nerves, they instantly felt relaxed in each other's company

As well as appearing on ABC's Nightline, the girls took the opportunity to do some sightseeing in Hollywood

Amber's boyfriend Callum had seen the resemblance in photos, but she said that once they met in person he was 'totally convinced'.

They soon discovered other similarities that went beyond the physical.

Maddy explained: 'Amber and I both have Austrian ancestry on our mother's side of the family. We also found out that our moms were born one day apart. There were just random facts about each others lives that were oddly similar.

Amber added: 'We graduated high school and beauty school the same year. We both have tattoos as well.'

Twin Strangers uses facial recognition software to match users with their lookalikes

Regardless of the result of the DNA test, the pair believe they have formed an unbreakable bond after instantly clicking

During their LA trip, the girls posed by the Hollywood sing, hung out on Hollywood Boulevard and Santa Monica Pier, drove through Beverly Hills, and went shopping on Rodeo Drive.

The pair also appeared on the ABC show Nightline where they were given the opportunity to have DNA testing.

'I'm really excited to get the results from that back and to see if Maddy and I are possibly related somewhere down the line,' Amber said.

Regardless of the result, the pair believe they have formed an unbreakable bond.

'We created an awesome friendship that will last a lifetime I think,' Maddy said. 'It was life changing for me. I was really nervous beforehand, but I am so glad I went through with it.

Niamh, left, with her first 'twin stranger' Karen Branigan (right). The pair were photographed together and the shoot went viral with people shocked at how similar the unrelated duo look

'I met some of the greatest people I have ever met. I didn't think I could be so sad about saying goodbye to people I had only known for a few days.'

Amber added: 'It was unforgettable. It was really incredible to be able to meet my lookalike from the other side of the world.'

'We will definitely stay in touch. We have each other on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc. and I heard Tito and Maddy are planning an Australian holiday. If I go back to the USA I will definitely be visiting their hometown for a catch up.'

THE TWIN STRANGERS PROJECT After finding her three twin strangers, Niamh is helping others meet their lookalikes with her project, set up with her friends Harry and Terence, by adding photos to their website. Facial recognition is then used to try and find a match. 'There is a huge human curiosity element to it,' she said. 'Can you imagine how surreal it would be to meet someone who looked exactly like you?' The project had originally been a Facebook page but is now a website in its own right to respond to the worldwide demand. Niamh said: 'Our Facebook page (which now has over 360,000 followers) simply couldn't cope with the demand, so we decided to set up the site so that people could search for and connect with their own lookalikes from all over the world. 'We now have over three quarters of a million users on the site and Twin Strangers are connecting through it every day. It's been an amazing journey so far and we don't really know where it's going to end!' Niamh said it is 'surreal' to meet women who look just like her and she plans to continue searching till she find seven lookalikes. She said: 'I started this journey following the theory that we all have seven doppelgangers. To get a step closer to making that theory fact is wonderful thing, but it's not all about that: 'I've discovered three amazing women who I never knew existed and I've had the chance to see whether our lives differ or align. Finding out if they're similar or dissimilar to me as a person is what's fascinating.' She said she intends to stay friends with Irene, Luisa and Karen and hopes to find more of her lookalikes so she can welcome them into their 'Niamh family'. Of her quest, she said: 'Since my search I have found three so I do think its definitely possible to find seven if one is committed enough to a search. It would be the most amazing thing, not to mention creepy, freaky, crazy to find all seven!' Advertisement

'We will all stay in contact over Facebook, for sure,' Maddy agreed. 'My boyfriend Tito and I hope to make a trip to Australia to visit. Amber and Callum are more than welcome to make a trip to Seattle too.'

Twin Strangers was set up by Dublin woman Niamh Geaney, who launched the project with her friends to see if she could find her closest lookalike within 28 days.

She was amazed to discover three women who look exactly like her, and remains on a mission to find another four.

After first meeting lookalike Karen Branigan - and staging a photoshoot that went viral - Niamh was determined to track down her six remaining doppelgangers.

Just weeks later, the 26-year-old student and TV presenter found her second lookalike, Luisa Guizzardi - but a little bit further away from home in Italy.

Then, amazingly she found her third doppelganger, Irene Adams, who also hails from Ireland.

Now Niamh is helping others meet their lookalikes with her project, set up with her friends Harry and Terence, by adding photos to their website. Facial recognition is then used to try and find a match.

'There is a huge human curiosity element to it,' she said. 'Can you imagine how surreal it would be to meet someone who looked exactly like you?'

The project had originally been a Facebook page but is now a website in its own right to respond to the worldwide demand.

Niamh said: 'Our Facebook page (which now has over 360,000 followers) simply couldn't cope with the demand, so we decided to set up the site so that people could search for and connect with their own lookalikes from all over the world.

'We now have over three quarters of a million users on the site and Twin Strangers are connecting through it every day. It's been an amazing journey so far and we don't really know where it's going to end!'

Niamh said it is 'surreal' to meet women who look just like her and she plans to continue searching till she find seven lookalikes.

She said: 'I started this journey following the theory that we all have seven doppelgangers. To get a step closer to making that theory fact is wonderful thing, but it's not all about that:

'I've discovered three amazing women who I never knew existed and I've had the chance to see whether our lives differ or align. Finding out if they're similar or dissimilar to me as a person is what's fascinating.'

She said she intends to stay friends with Irene, Luisa and Karen and hopes to find more of her lookalikes so she can welcome them into their 'Niamh family'.
This Morning host Holly Willoughby was reduced to tears during an emotional interview with the parents of a mentally ill teenager battling to get their son out of a psychiatric unit.

Matthew Garnett's parents Robin and Isabelle spoke about their plight to move their 15-year-old son from the secure mental health unit that they compared to 'a prison' to a facility which will help to treat his condition.

But the poignant interview proved to be too much for mother-of-three Holly, who broke down as she heard their story and saw a video of Matthew before his ordeal and now.

The poignant interview proved to be too much for Holly, who broke down in tears as she heard about their plight and saw a video of Matthew before his ordeal and now

The mum-of-three struggled to compose herself during the interview with Matthew's heartbroken parents

Wiping away tears, she said: 'It's just incredibly sad when you rely on a system so much and go through a difficult time in your life, you want to do the best for your son, the best that you can do. And thats out of your control.

Matthew, 15, was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and was sectioned last year after turning violent towards his father due to extreme anxiety which his parents said had instigated a 'flight or fight' mode in him.

But he has been at a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) for six months - a facility meant to act like an A&E for mental health issues, where people are treated quickly, sent home or moved on to a more suitable location.

His parents had hoped it would be the first step in getting Matthew the treatment he needed, but instead he is still trapped there without appropriate care, because there is still no bed for him at the facility which placed him at the top of their waiting list - in September.

Holly said: 'It's a very difficult decision for you to make as parents, leading up to this, to agree to this being done. And at the time you think you're doing the absolute best thing for your child.

'The problem is, this was only supposed to be temporary. It was an emergency situation, the place where he is staying at the moment is not designed for long-term detainment. And that is having an affect on his mental health, on him as a boy and him as a person.'

His parents opened up about their plight on the ITV show this morning, and said they need urgent action

The family told the show that they would never have agreed to have Matthew sectioned had they known he would be forced to spend six months in a short-term psychiatric unit

Isabelle told the show: 'If I had known what I know now I would never have agreed. We were given no choice, he was clearly unsafe for him to be in house with us and rest of family.

'The only option given to us was this one, and assumed it would be a short term emergency measure.'

What's more, instead of improving his well-being, as they had hoped when they agreed to sign the paperwork to admit him, he is now in a worse position than when he entered the unit, in Woking, Surrey, a four hour round trip from their home in south London.

Matthew Garnett has been in psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) since September - but he should have only been there for a matter of weeks before moving on to another, more appropriate facility

His distraught parents Robin and Isabelle (pictured with Matthew) say their son believes he is 'in prison'

'He's ripping out his hair, he has a broken wrist and he's ripping off the cast., he's had four casts put on and he's ripping them off. That takes some doing and gives you idea of distress he's in,' said his mother.'

Holly replied: 'And you can't be there for him because, like in prison, you have visitation hours.

'You go in a room where there's loads of people, you sit at a table, you can't see the bed that he sleeps in at night.'

To show the scale of his deterioration, a video of Matthew reading a touching Father's Day message in 2014 was shown alongside a clip of him now - in which he had a glazed over look on his face and struggled to speak as he said he wanted to go back to his 'real home'.

His mother added: 'He's a human being and he's being stripped of his human rights, I have been stripped of my mother's rights - I cannot even take my son to A&E and get his cast put on, I cannot even see where my son sleeps. He has been imprisoned for six months without appropriate care.'

Last month, the parents launched a petition to get Matthew moved and it has now reached 188,000 signatures - support which they said they had found great comfort in.

Matthew, pictured with his mother, has also started pulling out his own hair as his anxiety increases

In a statement read on the show, NHS England insisted a move to a new facility could happen in 'a matter of weeks' - but the family said they had been told that since September.

'We need action,' the father added.

Speaking to MailOnline earlier this month, Robin said: 'He is an anxious little boy and he doesn't understand why he is there. Can you imagine a three-year-old being on their own for six months? That's really what it's like, even though he is a teenager.

'He thinks he is in prison. We think he's depressed, he won't get out of bed.

'He always used to twiddle his hair when he was anxious, but he is now literally pulling it out.

'He is so, so definitely in the wrong place.'

Mr Garnett revealed they had been discussing what sort of qualifications they might be able to enter him for before he was admitted in September for what they believed would be a short term stay, allowing him to be properly diagnosed and treated.

But six months later, their son has 'regressed in every way', because staff do not know how to cope with their son's complex needs, which include autism and ADHD.

They have now launched a petition to 'Make room for Matthew', which has already got more than 23,000 signatures

Mrs Garnett wrote: 'If our son had a severe physical illness, and was detained in a random A&E department miles away from his home for six months, refused assessment, treatment and care, it would be seen as totally unacceptable, an outrage, a scandal.

'Yet, because our son has autism and mental health problems, the issue has been swept under the carpet.'

Mr Garnett said: 'How many people is this affecting? The system is so, so flawed.

'Everyone is saying the same thing. As a nation, we are storing up so much trouble, heartache and damaged lives by sweeping this under the carpet.'

They are desperate to get their son the care he needs, saying that he has 'regressed in every way' since he arrived in the PICU

A spokesman for Cygnet Hospital Woking, which runs the unit, said: 'We support some very vulnerable people, to whom we have a duty of care, a key part of which is respecting patients' confidentiality. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for us to comment on an individual case.

'Our primary purpose is to assist individuals with crisis support, stabilising them ahead of admission to a clinical mental health treatment and support service. Where a placement at a specialist service is not immediately available, a clinical decision is taken which may decide the most appropriate alternative is for the individual to remain in our care until a space does become available.'
Americans have become so accustomed to seeing their presidents going gray in the White House that most haven't even considered what it would look like to have a commander in chief who has no hair at all.

But Daily Mail Online has, Photoshopping the hair off of presidents past and possibly future to determine just how electable Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and John F. Kennedy are (or would have been) without their coifs to back them up.

The verdict? Most would be less likely to score votes as baldies, though many New Yorkers agreed that The Donald actually looks better without his signature comb-forward.

The Donald without The 'Do: Daily Mail Online played with an image of Donald Trump to reveal what he would look like without hair

Infamous: Many people said that Donald would look better without his thinning locks, which have been the butt of jokes for years

The US has only had a handful of bald presidents in its nearly two-and-a-half-century history, and most were elected back with presidential portraits were paintings  and certainly before leaders were regularly seen on TV.

In fact, the most recent bald White House boss was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served from 1953 to 1961  and he was the last president not to have to participate in debates on TV. (As he was on his way out, John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon  a win that many attribute in part to JFK's good looks and composure in front of cameras at debates.)

So would Americans elect a bald man (or woman) today? That's what Daily Mail Online set out to find out, showing New Yorkers photos of past presidents  and current contenders  without any hair on their heads and asking whether they might get citizens' votes.

Strandless Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton looks almost unrecognizable without her blonde hair

Talk of the tresses: Hillary's hair has been a much-discussed topic since her husband Bill was running for president in 1992

Donald Trump, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the only person that men and women on the street preferred without hair, with several remarking that if the 69-year-old shaved it all off, it would be preferable to his current 'do.

'Well, that's a lot better than the horror he presents with whatever that is on his head,' said one man, while another agreed: 'Yeah he looks better without hair.'

'I think his hair is quite ugly, so maybe if he shaved off his eyebrows, too, maybe it could work,' said one woman with a sly smile.

Donald, of course, is often on the receiving end of jokes about his hair, though the businessman insists he's actually proud of his locks.

'I actually dont have a bad hairline,' he told Rolling Stone in 2011. 'When you think about it, its not bad. I mean, I get a lot of credit for comb-overs. But its not really a comb-over. Its sort of a little bit forward and back. Ive combed it the same way for years. Same thing every time.'

More than graying: Though most presidents go gray during their time in office, few  particularly not thick-haired Bill Clinton  have lost their locks

No difference? Several people laughed at George W. Bush without hair and said they still wouldn't vote for him  more for his reputation than anything on his head

Hillary Clinton, 68, certainly wouldn't earn more votes for buzzing off her blonde strands, though as one woman pointed out, there's a very different perception of bald women than bald men.

'Men, you could be bald all day long, but women... you're sick,' she said, capturing the idea that many bald women are hairless because they are undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Another man, though, had a different take on No-Hair Hillary: 'I would say that that is entirely radical and she probably had like weird, totally leftist [ideas], given that she shaved her head.'

It seems, then, that the Democratic frontrunner can't win no matter how she styles her 'do, given the amount of criticism her own hair has earned over the years.

'I know that [my hair's] one of the great fascinations of our time  much to my amazement,' she told Barbara Walters in 2012.

Her husband Bill Clinton, though, got a bit more credit.

'Yeah, I'd vote for him, bald-headed or not bald-headed,' said one woman.

Seriously ageing: New Yorkers compared John F. Kennedy's hairless look to both Breaking Bad's Walter White and Annie's Daddy Warbucks

Distinguished: One man said he'd consider voting for Ronald Reagan as a baldy because he was good looking

Other past presidents, though, got more mixed reviews. When shown a photo of George W. Bush without hair, a few New Yorkers burst out laughing.

'That man works for Goldman Sachs right there,' joked one man.

When asked if they'd vote for him, several said no  but more because of the man himself than the lack of hair.

As for Ronald Reagan, one man remarked that the former actor still looked pretty good with a smooth head: 'I would vote for Ronald Reagan bald. Maybe because he's good looking in the photo.'
A collection of X-rated ornaments once owned by King George IV are expected to fetch 5,000 at an auction tomorrow.

The saucy book of Intaglio impressions includes more than 40 plaster figurines of people engaged in sexually explicit acts, mounted in a leather-bound book.

It was made by either Bartolomeo Paoletti or Pietro Paoletti in the first quarter of the 19th century in Rome and previously belonged to King George IV, a former Prince of Wales and Prince Regent who ruled from 1820 to 1830.

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The x-rated ornaments once owned by King George IV are expected to fetch between 3,000 to 5,000 at an auction tomorrow

The saucy ornaments give an insight into George IV's notoriously decadent and promiscuous lifestyle; but many seem to depict scenes from Greek myth including Zeus ravishing Leda as a swan (right)

George IV was known for his promiscuous lifestyle, his stormy relationship with his wife and his mistresses.

The collection of the moulded miniatures, ranges from the racy to the explicit and includes a shocking carving that appears to depict a human and a goat.

Little is known about why the monarch who defined the Regency period owned the mouldings or whether they were typical of contemporary early 19th century erotica.

Even to modern eyes, many of the pieces would be deemed adult only content.

But they give a new perspective to one of the royal family's most decadent ancestors, George IV who was despised by his father, King George III and set up a court of his own before ascending to throne in 1820.

He kept the book at Carlton House, a grand London mansion which was his primary residency before becoming king in 1820.

George IV (pictured in a a print of a miniature) defined the decadent whirl of the Regency period

Author Robert Huish wrote a scathing biography of the deceased monarch in 1831, claiming he contributed more 'to the demoralisation of society than any prince recorded in the pages of history'.

The unusual antique, which has never been offered publicly, is from the collection of Alan Rubin, an antiques dealer who runs Pelham Galleries in London.

It will be sold tomorrow at Sothebys Pelham Galleries sale with the auction house giving it a guide price of 3,000 to 5,000.

Mr Rubin said: 'This group of impressions of erotic subjects cast some interesting light on our notoriously dissolute monarch.
Tiffany Trump is celebrating her final round of midterms as a college student by embarking on a sunny getaway with her liberal boyfriend Ross Mechanic.

The couple, who are both students at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, didn't waste any time escaping to a warmer climate for their spring break, which officially started on Saturday. And this trip marks their second beachside vacation together in two months.

Tiffany, 22, took to Instagram that day to share a photo of herself standing on a grassy path in front of the aqua colored sea.

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Getting away from it all! Tiffany Trump and her boyfriend Ross Mechanic enjoyed a sun-soaked getaway together in order to celebrate the end of their midterms

Much-needed getaway? Tiffany took to Instagram to share this beachside photo of herself, as well as plenty of other snapshots from their trip

Little mermaid: The senior at University of Pennsylvania went snorkeling on Sunday - just a day after the official start of her spring break vacation

The blonde beauty looked beach ready in a loose-fitting cream and coral colored top tucked into frayed denim shorts as the ocean breeze blew through her wavy locks.

'Midterms,' she captioned the photo, using a check sign emoji to indicate that her exams were finally finished.

The next day, Tiffany was lounging on a hammock as she filmed the view of her stunning surroundings - including her aqua painted toenails.

Although Tiffany frequently travels to her father Donald's luxurious Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, she appears to be vacationing elsewhere this spring break.

Enjoying the view: Tiffany's 21-year-old boyfriend Ross , who is also a student at the University of Pennsylvania, took to Instagram on Sunday to share his own photo of their breathtaking view

While she is surrounded by white chairs and beach umbrellas, the lounge accessories at The Trump family club, which she snapped photos of just two months ago, are a sunny yellow.

And while she isn't at her family's estate, Tiffany is clearly having a great time soaking up the sun on her latest vacation.

On Sunday afternoon, Tiffany channeled her inner mermaid as she posed underwater while snorkeling in the clear blue sea.

The college senior wore goggles and blue as she explored the ocean floor, and while Ross was nowhere to be seen, he may have been the one who snapped the playful photo.

Tiffany's 21-year-old boyfriend also took to Instagram on Sunday to share a photo of his beachside surroundings, and it looks like the two lovebirds have the tropical location to themselves.

Look of love: Ross shared this photo of himself posed with Tiffany in New York City's East Village last month

Strut your stuff! Tiffany walked in the Just Drew show at New York Fashion Week on February 14 - the day before her date with Ross

Ross, who is a software engineering student is a registered, active Democrat whose Facebook 'likes' once included Hillary Clinton, NARAL Pro-Choice NYC, and the Penn Green Campus Partnership for environmental sustainability and policy development before he fell for his girlfriend.

His parents are also registered Democrats, while his dad is a powerhouse of the New York real estate world - just like Tiffany's. And while he may not be voting for Donald, he and Tiffany appear to have put their political differences aside as their relationship continues to flourish.

Last month, Ross shared an endearing black and white snapshot of himself in New York City's East Village with his lady love.

'She puts up with me,' he captioned the photo.

Romantic getaway: Only two months ago, Tiffany and Ross were at her dad Donald's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida

All by herself? Last March, Tiffany spent her spring break lounging by the pool at her father's exclusive club

In the sweet picture taken on February 15, Ross and Tiffany's heads are touching as they lean in as close to each other as they can get.

The night before, Tiffany had taken a cue from her former model half-sister Ivanka, 34, and made her runway debut during New York Fashion Week.

The leggy blonde blended right in with the other models at the Just Drew show, looking totally calm and confident on the catwalk at the Valentine's Day event, walking in a friend's fashion designs alongside her fellow socialite Kyra Kennedy.

Its unclear if Ross was at the show to cheer her on, but it appears that he treated her to a celebratory date the next night.

The couple have been dating since late 2015, and in January they crossed a crucial milestone in their relationship when she and her beau spent some time with her mother Marla Maples.

Snow bunny: Tiffany and her mother Marla Maples, 52, spent the Christmas holiday skiing at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah

Political family: Tiffany traveled to South Carolina with her half-siblings Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, their spouses, and her step-mother Melania earlier in February to support Donald at the Republican primary

Tiffany shared a photo of herself snuggled up to Ross during their trip to the One World Observatory in New York City with Marla.

A week before Tiffany and Ross were together in Palm Beach, Florida, where Tiffany stayed at Donald's Mar-a-Lago club after getting back from a Christmas ski break with her mom.

On January 4, Tiffany shared a poolside picture from Mar-a-Lago, followed by a beach snap of a beautiful sunset the next day. Ross shared his own poolside picture, though his was taken at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida - suggesting he was either partying elsewhere, or wasn't actually invited to stay at the Donald's resort.

Tiffany also traveled to Mar-a-Lago sans Ross over Thanksgiving break, proving you can never spend too much time at the beach.
World renown chef Heston Blumenthal said working up to 22 hours a day at the Melbourne reincarnation of his flagship restaurant - the Fat Duck - pushed him to the brink of exhaustion.

Mr Blumenthal temporarily moved his three Michelin star restaurant from England to Southgate, Melbourne, during renovations between February and August last year - much to the delight of salivating Australian foodies.

The 49-year-old chef, who was 'six years into a divorce' at the time, said the project took its toll physically and emotionally - leaving him 'deliriously exhausted.

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Hot ticket: Renowned chef, Heston Blumenthal, is set to open four pop-up restaurants in Melbourne this March

'I was on the absolute edge, working 20 to 22 hours a day,' he told the Herald Sun.

'I'd work a full day here, then, at night time, the UK would wake up ... and I'd do the day shift in England.'

He said his time in Australia allowed him to focus on experimenting with new ideas which resulted in the invention of some uniquely 'Heston' dishes.

'My time in Melbourne taught me to chuck out the superfluous. I'm now more bullish about getting things out of my life so I can spend more time in the sandpit, playing and experimenting.'

Fans will get an insider's perspective when his journey Down Under is detailed in an exclusive four-part series called 'Inside Heston's World', which will premier on SBS in March.

Following the superchef's the success with the Melbourne Fat Duck, Mr Blumenthal decided to open four hidden pop-up restaurants across Melbourne in March.

Snap up fast: Diners will have to snap them up fast, however, as they are set to be free and one-service only

The 'Hidden Heston' restaurants will pop up for one night only in separate secret locations across the city, in a move that is associated with MasterChef Australia and Channel 10's 'Heston Week'.

Open for just one service only, the tickets are bound to go like hotcakes, especially when you take into account that the menus will be available absolutely free of charge.

Clues to the whereabouts of each pop-up are a closely guarded secret, and they will not be released until the restaurant is ready to open its doors to the public.

To receive an invitation, lucky diners will have to solve clues posted on MasterChef Australia's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

People will also have to explain why they want to attend the pop-up in 25 words or less. The venture has already been described as a completely 'unique dining experience'.

In with a chance: To win, people will have to keep their eye on Masterchef Australia's social media accounts

'Coming on MasterChef Australia over the years has always been amazing fun, but this time, out of the studio and into this great foodie city that I love, popping up with MasterChef Australia, is even more exciting,' Blumenthal said in a statement this week.

The chef is a self-confessed Melbournite, calling the city his 'second home' since Dinner opened its doors last October.

The city also seems to love him, as some 15,000 foodies enjoyed a seat at the Fat Duck when it occupied a six-month residency in Crown Casino last year.

Melbourne fan: Blumenthal is already a self-confessed Melbournite, calling the city his 'second home' last year

Luxury experience: He opened Dinner last October in Melbourne, and the famous Fat Duck for six months

This venture, however, marks a significant departure for the man who is famed for his inventive dishes including bacon and egg ice cream, snail porridge and mock turtle soup.

That doesn't mean it will be any less popular, so fans would be best advised to be prepared.

The eighth series of MasterChef Australia will premiere in May 2016 on Network 10. All three judges from the previous series will return, alongside new guest judge Nigella Lawson.

Unusual ingredients: Heston is known for his unusual creations including snail porridge and mock turtle soup
Conjoined twin boys have been successfully separated after a remarkable twelve-hour operation using 3D printer technology.

Medics in China separated five-month-old twins Yu Ce Yuan and Yu Ce Xiang - known as James and Harley - who were joined at the abdomen.

They the technology to make models for a virtual operation, sending data from the twins CT and MRI examinations to a 3D printing company to build two models of the conjoined body parts.

Parents Yu Dang and Zhou Li travelled, both 20, travelled more than 1,000 miles from their home in the rural, mountainous Guizhou province to Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai for treatment.

Five-month-old twins Yu Ce Yuan and Yu Ce Xiang - known as James and Harley - were joined at the abdomen

Surgeons used the models to develop a plan for the operation, which involved separating the liver and pelvic bone before moving onto the intestines.

A urology team then worked to place the babies' bladders back inside their bodies before orthopaedic surgeons took over to reconstruct there pelvic cavities.

Finally the surgeons fitted colostomies and closed all incisions before the boys were taken to intensive care.

Mother, Zhou Li, said: 'In the beginning there was nothing abnormal. It was only when I had the baby that I realised they were conjoined twins.

'It was very painful and difficult. I felt like I was soon to die, like I couldn't breathe and there was a lot of blood.

'I never considered giving them up. I gave birth to these children, they're my flesh and I wouldn't give them to anyone else.'

Surgeon, Dr Zheng Shan, said it was an unusual case with about one in 30,000 being conjoined twins.

He said the hospital - which was the first to use the 3D printing technology in China last summer - had dealt with nine cases of conjoined twins.

James and Harley were born conjoined with this graphic demonstrating their structure before surgeons operated at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, China

They used 3D printing technology to show exactly how the twin boys were joined at the pelvis, giving doctors a better idea of how they could separate the pair prior to surgery

Conjoined twins Harley and James photographed with their parents Yu Dang and Zhou Li and their grandmother, prior to surgery to separate them

But he said this was the most complicated case he'd dealt with and said further surgery would be needed.

'The surgery is important for two people's lives and their quality of life, urination, defecation and the bodily functions they will use in the future,' he said.

I never considered giving them up. I gave birth to these children, they're my flesh and I wouldn't give them to anyone else Zhou Li, 20

'Their makeup is extremely complicated, they only have one anus, four urethra and four bladders - their structure is incredibly complicated.

'Regarding protecting their lives, I'm positive. But to ensure two lives are intact, in terms of quality of life, normal functions like giving birth - I think that's more difficult.

'The surgical procedures will be long, perhaps the children will have to go two or three surgeries.'

The operation, on February 24, was made possible by the generosity of strangers around the world who donated more than 40,000 to cover its costs..

The couple, from one of the poorest areas of China, had been unable to afford scans before the birth of the twins and the delivery came as a shock to the family and doctors.

In parts of China there is a high abandonment rate of children with birth defects, but the couple refused to give up on their babies.

The new parents borrowed money to cover the twins' initial medical expenses but were discharged after being unable to pay the operation fee.

Doctors examine the conjoined twins prior to the major surgery in Shanghai carried out last month

Medics in China worked tirelessly to separate five-month-old twins Yu Ce Yuan and Yu Ce Xiang to the relief of their 20-year-old parents. Charity Love Without Boundaries helped to raise the money for surgery

The twins' father spoke of his fears that he would have to choose between his babies' lives.

He said: 'At the beginning we thought the surgical fee was too expensive, then we were scared we'd have to choose between one and the other.

'Our hopes are that after the successful surgery their living conditions will be improved.

'We are thankful towards each kind-hearted person's help. We are very grateful for their support,' said Yu Dang.

The family were saved by Love Without Boundaries, a charity for orphaned and impoverished children, and after only a month of fundraising sufficient money had been raised.

Last week the boys were taken off their ventilators and doctors are thrilled with their progress.

Their mother said she hoped the twins would grow up to become doctors themselves.

Amy Eldridge, chief executive officer for the charity said the worldwide support for this cause had been 'truly humbling'.

'As soon as we heard their story we pledged to help, but it only became possible because complete strangers gave from their hearts.

'That's love in action at its finest,' she said.

One of the twins photographed after their operation at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University. Doctors said both were doing well but would need further operations in the future
Every year, millions of us check into hospital for surgery. The doctors who slice us up, mend our broken bodies, then stitch us back together have years of medical training under their belts, not to mention steady hands.

But could an army of robot surgeons do the job even better?

Since the first surgical robot arrived at St Mary's Hospital, London, in 2000, the number of them in UK hospitals has multiplied rapidly. Most common is the da Vinci robot, a set of three or four robotic arms controlled by a human surgeon sitting a few feet away.

Since the first arrived at St Mary's Hospital, London, in 2000, the number in UK hospitals has multiplied rapidly

There are currently 58 of these surgical systems in the NHS, undertaking operations for a variety of common complaints, from the removal of kidney and bladder cancers to basic heart surgery - though their main use is in surgical removal of the prostate gland and surrounding tissue in men with prostate cancer.

In 2012 (the latest year for which figures are available), 1,595 of these operations were carried out using robots - 29 per cent of the total performed.

In future there could be many more robot operations. Last month, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children used a Neuro-Mate robot to drill into the brain of a teenager with epilepsy and implant electrodes to detect the area triggering his seizures. Once located, this scrap of tissue was removed.

Surgeons used a robot to create a 3-D map of the boy's brain and position the drill bit so it could safely penetrate his skull. This was instead of a human surgeon cutting away a section of the skull and finding the tissue by hand, which carries a greater risk of infection and longer recovery times.

Robotic systems are also being developed that could hand over responsibility for mending broken bones; guide surgeons through the complex twists and turns of our bodies; and slam the brakes on a surgeon if they are about to make a serious error.

So should we trust them?

Most common is the da Vinci robot, a set of robotic arms controlled by a human surgeon sitting a few feet away

Twenty-five years ago, operations generally involved cutting a hole large enough for surgeons to get their hands inside. Then came keyhole surgery, which involves making just two tiny incisions through which the medical instruments are inserted, along with a small camera and a light to guide the surgeon. This usually means less pain for the patient, a shorter recovery time and less risk of infection.

But one problem with keyhole surgery is that the surgeon has a limited range of movement. This is where robots come in.

'What the da Vinci system has recreated is something like a tiny human wrist at the end of the instruments, so you can theoretically do lots of things you could do with your hands, only through a smaller hole,' says Justin Vale, a consultant urological surgeon at St Mary's Hospital in London, who uses robot surgery.

He stresses that the current generation are not 'true' surgical robots because they don't work on their own, but are guided by the movement of the surgeon's hands.

For uncomplicated procedures such as prostate or hysterectomy, where there's not too much blood supply, robotic surgery works very well

The surgeon sits at a computer console near the operating table, and their movements are translated into highly accurate, tiny movements of the robot's instruments.

In theory, this should mean greater precision and less accidental tissue damage. But in this respect, the robots have somewhat disappointed.

Take surgery for prostate cancer, which always carries a risk of incontinence and erectile dysfunction because of the close proximity of the nerves controlling the bladder and penis.

'The hope was that by allowing better visualisation of what you're operating on, you'd have less urinary incontinence and fewer patients with erectile problems,' says Mr Vale.

A 2013 review by the National Institute for Health Research comparing standard keyhole surgery with robot-assisted surgery for men with prostate cancer found a slightly lower risk of organ injury and a slightly higher probability that all the cancerous tissue was removed when robots were used.

But there was no difference in the proportion of men suffering urinary incontinence - although lack of data made it difficult to draw firm conclusions.

What's more, each robot-assisted procedure was estimated to cost an average 1,412 more than a standard keyhole procedure. It only becomes cost-effective when more than 150 such robotic operations are performed each year.

A 2013 review by the National Institute for Health Research comparing standard keyhole surgery with robot-assisted surgery for men with prostate cancer found a slightly lower risk of organ injury

This greater expense is because a da Vinci robot costs about 1.6 million, and each detachable instrument - for example, scalpel, scissors or forceps - can be used only ten times before an implanted chip renders it unusable.

Mr Vale says each instrument costs between 2,000 and 3,000. 'Scissors tend to blunt after eight to ten uses, so it makes sense to replace them. For some of the other instruments, you're left pondering why you can't use them until they break - but that's the way the system is engineered.'

It should be said that in NHS hospitals, in most (possibly all) cases, robots have been bought using charitable donations and endowments, not public money.

Meanwhile, safety concerns have been raised in the U.S., where several lawsuits have been filed against Intuitive Surgical, which makes the da Vinci robot. In some cases, such as that of a Chicago man who died from an infection after his intestines were punctured during a spleen operation, the injuries were the result of poor training - that is, the doctors hadn't been trained how to use the robot properly. In others, a robot malfunctioned during surgery and staff didn't know how to fix it.

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According to data presented to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, 144 deaths, 1,391 patient injuries and 8,061 device malfunctions related to robotic surgery were reported to the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration between January 2000 and December 2013. As yet, there are no UK figures available.

'For uncomplicated procedures such as prostate or hysterectomy, where there's not too much blood supply, robotic surgery works very well,' says Professor Jai Raman, a cardiac surgeon at Rush University Medical Centre, Chicago, who carried out the U.S. research. 'Where it gets difficult is when you are dealing with the heart or lungs or in a confined space where there's a large blood supply and a lot of small vessels.'

This is because the likelihood of accidentally cutting through a vessel is much higher. But the main problem, he says, is lack of training in how to deal with any problems that come up during surgery, such as the equipment malfunctioning, resulting in burns or uncontrolled movements.

According to Professor Raman, this sort of scenario isn't covered by standard training and doctors aren't given enough experience on the system before being allowed to operate on patients.

Intuitive Surgical points out that its robots weren't the only ones mentioned in Raman's report. Neither did the report compare the rate of adverse events with those of conventional keyhole surgery. 'Robotic-assisted surgery is safe and effective when used appropriately and with proper training,' a spokesman said.

But the likelihood of accidentally cutting through a vessel is much higher

Surgeons learn to use the system in a training simulator, and are then initially supervised by an experienced robotic-assisted surgeon. 'Ultimately, the surgeon's hospital grants surgical privileges, not the device manufacturer,' the spokesman adds.

Intuitive also offers a free service that remotely monitors operations, and may be able to diagnose and fix any problems with the system before they harm patients.

One benefit of using a robot is that it can make performing surgery less arduous. 'If using a robot makes it easier and more comfortable for the surgeon, which it does, then in the long run - particularly as the technology becomes cheaper, smaller and more accessible - people will elect to use it,' says Mr Vale.

So robots are probably here to stay, and the next generation could extend their surgical reach: systems are being developed that would monitor what a surgeon was cutting into and limit their movement if they got close to a major nerve or blood vessel.

Other innovations include developing robotic arms that can go around corners - currently they can only move in a straight line.

Kaspar Althoefer, professor of robotics and intelligent systems at King's College London, is working on such a device. He explains: 'We have taken inspiration from the octopus, which has very flexible arms that can be squeezed into tight spaces.'

And fully automated surgical robots are coming. At Bristol Robotics Lab, Sanja Dogramadzi and her colleagues have developed a robot to heal fractured bones without the need for open surgery (usually required to see all the broken bits and fit them back together), meaning a quicker recovery for patients.

A surgeon would plan the operation on a computer using CT scans of the bones, but the robot would carry out the procedure by itself. The robot is expected to be tested on human cadavers for the first time this year.

It's more difficult to automate operations involving soft tissue because it is more complex than bone.

So will we ever do away with human surgeons?

'Theoretically, yes,' says Mr Vale. 'The question is, whether we will even be operating at that point?'

For instance, he suggests, we might be able to localise radiotherapy to the extent that it could be given in far bigger doses and there would be no need for surgical incisions, effectively vaporising diseased tissue instead.
The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to return seized documents taken from Rajendra Kumar, secretary to CM Arvind Kejriwal

Was the raid on level 3 of the Delhi Secretariat overkill?

Sessions Judge Ajai Jains order of January 20, 2016 suggested this was so.

The High Court reversed Jains view on February 10, 2016. On March 4, the Supreme Court issued notice on the HCs order without the counsel having to open his mouth.

Some background is necessary. Jains order granted a search warrant, emanating from a March 14 FIR against Rajendra Kumar, Secretary to CM Kejriwal, for various alleged offences of corruption from 2010 to 2014. The request for search and seizure was made and granted on the same day as the FIR, specifying nine sets of documents and any other documents relevant to the case.

The next day (December 15) documents were seized, which prompted the Kejriwal NCT government to demand the return of some of the documents required for the day-to-day governance of Delhi. The FIR was wholly unrelated to the CMs office but concerned other departments.

Overkill

This raises a generally important issue about search warrants. The law is solicitous that general search warrants are inimical to civil liberties. Authorities cannot enter the house without authority of law and take what they want. The ground for this was laid in Entick v Carrington (1765) when the government was castigated for overkill in a sedition case against the publication the British Freeholder. It was repeated in Elias v Pasmore (1934) in respect of Scotland Yard seizing documents from the National Unemployed workers Movement.

People have a right to privacy and confidentiality. A company needs to be protected from indiscriminate search and seizure because an employee was potentially guilty of an offence at some earlier point in time.

In the present case, the allegation was against Rajendra Kumar, not the government of the NCT. Although he was secretary to CM Kejriwal, the offences for which he was being investigated related to a previous period and other government offices.

Since the raid was Rajendra-specific, a search and seizure of all and sundry was excessive.

A more hypothetical example might illustrate this. Suppose there is an employee in the Prime Ministers Office in South Block with his office on the same floor as PM Modi. Suppose further, if the PMs office was raided to investigate that employees crimes, and documents pertaining to the working of the PMs office were seized. Would the PMs office try to get the documents back? And if the PMs office would do this, why not the office of the CM of Delhi, especially as its working was rendered topsy-turvy on a day-to-day basis?

The government of the NCT (GNCT) filed an application for the release of some documents necessary for the working of the government, including the diary entries and communications for the CM.

Order

Sessions Judge Ajay Jains order is the epitome of clarity. The background to the case against Rajendra Kumar (IAS) and the company Endeavour Systems is meticulously recorded. It is noted that the offences related the Departments of the Jal Board, Trade and Taxes and Health from 2007 to August 2014.

He pointedly noticed that the CBI had not followed its usual practice of a preliminary investigation (PE) before filing an FIR. The CBI reluctantly agreed to provide photo copies. But the judge noted the law, including many cumbersome cases to rule that the CBIs reply had not averred a single word regarding how these documents connected to the allegations as levelled in FIR... from period 2010 to 2014 while pointing to 11 files seized indiscriminately.

The original files were ordered to be returned to the GNCT, to be kept safely and made available when required, with photocopies to the CBI.

Evasion

Justice Teji of the Delhi HC evaded incisive analysis and went on a tangent of its own. He asked the right question: whether the documents in question are required for the purpose of investigation?

But Justice Teji made short work of the argument of excessive search and seizure, though his judgment is studded with arguments and references.

He seemed to ignore Para 14.19 of the CBI Manual which (according to the Hawala case (1998) was legally binding and which clearly states: There should be no indiscriminate seizure of documents in any case... (or) records (which) cause dislocation in the office concerned.

The learned judge ducked the imprimatur of this injunction. Effectively, his argument was that the trial court had no jurisdiction in the matter. His judgment rests on a conflation of two concepts: Relevancy as a matter of evidence at the trial and retention as an over-reach of search and seizure. But who would decide this issue? The judges answer was that this was to be examined and decided by the investigating office and any direction to interfere with the same is not justified.

The IO is King, but what is trumps? Evidently, the trial court when concerning the relevancy of evidence. But that could take ages, whilst affecting the GNCTs work one might ask?
'High-handed' immigration officers at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport are giving nightmares to air travellers - even if they are domestic flyers.

Passengers from Mumbai to Delhi became the latest victims as they were detained for nearly three hours at Terminal- 3 after they objected to the rude behaviour of immigration staff.

Three domestic passengers  two software developers and one senior doctor from Mumbai  have alleged that the immigration officials ganged up, abused and manhandled them and also tried to snatch their mobile phones.

Passengers were detained for nearly three hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after they objected to an immigration official allegedy behaving rudely with an elderly citizen. (Picture for representation only.)

Victim Abhishek Baxi, who is a software developer, reached IGI Airport on the intervening night of March 4 and 5 along with his business partner.

Around 12.30am, I landed at the IGI airport through an international flight (AI314) coming from Hong Kong. There was some confusion or mismanagement at the exit queue for domestic passengers. An argument ensued between some passengers and the immigration official stamping the boarding passes. I was far behind in the queue, and although I heard the noise, I did not know what the argument was about. When I reached the officials counter to get the pass stamped, he spoke rudely to a senior citizen to which I objected, Baxi told Mail Today.

Later, some other officials of the immigration department joined him.

According to the complainant, officials were angry with him because he asked them to behave properly with a senior citizen.

Later, a senior official of the immigration department arrived on the scene - but instead of sorting out the matter, he blamed Abhishek, his business partner, and Dr Susheel Mahindroo, a senior doctor with Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, for the sequence of events.

After analysing the CCTV footage, he later asked Abhishek to write a compromise letter.

The immigration officials took me, my business partner and Dr Mahindroo to a room for questioning. Some other officials joined them and abused and threatened us. Later, a Delhi Police sub-inspector and a senior immigration official came and asked us to follow them as they wanted to take us to a different room. As we were walking towards the office of Immigration Bureau, one of the officials pushed me and tried to snatch my phone. He abused me. He also pushed the doctor who fell down on the spot, Baxi told Mail Today.

According to the complainant, immigration officials forced him to write a compromise letter before leaving IGI Airport.

In that room, senior officials kept us waiting for almost one hour and after that officials forced me to write a compromise letter before leaving IGI Airport. When I refused to do it, he went out, the complainant said.

The victim complained that immigration officials forced them to wait for almost three hours and the three could only leave the airport at around 3am.

Abhishek has filed a complaint with Delhi Police and the civil aviation ministry requesting action against the erring officials.
The Capital has been placed on high alert after intelligence inputs about suspected terrorists sneaking into India.

According to intelligence inputs, at least 10 suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists are believed to have entered India from Pakistan through Gujarat.

Agencies shared information that terrorists may have sneaked into the Capital for an attack, even as four elite NSG teams were rushed to the western coastal state.

Police have deployed teams at all sensitive areas in Delhi after the intelligence warning

Security at all prominent government establishments including IGI Airport, Metro and railway stations, and ISBTs was beefed up.

According to a senior police official, police have asked their officials to continue patrolling and also keep a track on suspicious vehicles.

We have deployed teams at various strategic positions, including markets, malls, temples, etc. Also, we have asked personnel to keep a check on suspicious vehicles and activities, a senior official said.

On the eve of Maha Shivratri, Gujarat, other metro cities, and Jammu and Kashmir were also on high alert. Raids were conducted at Kutch and other places while security was enhanced at vital installations, sensitive areas, and all major temples, including the famous Somnath temple where a NSG team has been deployed.

Important buildings and crowded places have been placed under security cover after police received inputs about a potential terror strike in the city.

A constant vigil is being maintained near prominent malls, hospitals, schools and colleges.

A police source said the input specifically mentions 10 militants of LeT and JeM having entered India via Gujarat and the possibility of a terror strike in Delhi.

The Special Cell and Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have been briefed about the input separately so the activities of gangs operating in and around the city and elements with suspected terror links can be monitored.

The police are also ensuring that CCTV cameras at all places with high footfall, like popular markets and metro stations, are functional.

An advisory has been issued to enhance security at all strategic locations, sensitive industrial sites and religious places in Gujarat after intelligence inputs suggested that the terrorists have entered the state from the sea, official sources said.

Gujarat DGP PC Thakur held a meeting with NSG officials in Gandhinagar and announced that a team will be sent to step up security at Somnath temple. He also issued orders cancelling leave of all policemen.

Four teams of NSG reached here (Gandhinagar) on Saturday night. Out of these, three will remain here, while one team will go to Somnath, he said.
JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar might get security cover from the Delhi Police soon.

The Delhi Police Special Cell has been tasked with assessing possible threats to the student leader and deciding whether he needs security cover.

The move follows threats from various groups that have announced rewards for killing Kanhaiya.

The police also suspect the repeat of mob attacks like the one at Patiala House court. The special cell of Delhi Police is also investigating the JNU sedition case in which Kanhaiya, who is now out on bail, is an accused.

Policemen are likely to escort Kanhaiya Kumar every time he leaves the JNU campus

Soon, the Special Cell and other units will be asked to analyse the threat perception on Kanhiaya. On the basis of the Special Cells report, security will be given to Kanhaiya. Taking the current situation into account, it is pertinent to give security cover to Kanhaiya. He should get at least two police personnel for his protection, a senior Delhi Police official said.

Delhi Police have also deployed officials in civil dress inside the campus for added protection, the official said.

In a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) authorities, the Delhi Police have said that they need to be informed about JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumars movements and his trips outside campus so as to make security arrangements for his safety.

Police have also asked the authorities to inform them about the nature of Kumars trips beyond the campus and his mode of travel.

The letter, written by Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Prem Nath to JNU authorities after Kumars release from Tihar Jail on Thursday, stated: It is also requested that the office of the undersigned and police station Vasant Kunj (north) may be informed well in time about movement/ visit of Kanhaiya Kumar, president, JNUSU, outside university campus, including the nature of visit and travel mode, so that necessary security/preventive measures may be taken to prevent any untoward incident.

Policemen are likely to escort Kumar every time he leaves the JNU campus, said sources.

Delhi Police are worried about the security of Kanhaiya because of the various cash rewards being announced against him.

For instance, on Saturday, a man put up posters across Delhi announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone shooting him dead.

Similarly, the Badaun district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Kuldip Varshney, has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone cutting off Kanhaiyas tongue.

The BJP, however, has expelled him for six years.

CPI National Secretary Amarjeet Kaur has also raised concerns over Kanhaiyas security.
India back home was not that calm when I left on February 14.

Rohith Vemula was still simmering when suddenly my own Mail Today broke the story - JNU congregation over terrorist Afzal Guru - enough to last for a few weeks as fodder for Indian newsrooms of all forms.

The rants of protest and patriotism were not just confined to India.

As I was collecting some academic references in the quiet setting of the British Librarys India Office section last month, the United Kingdoms academic world was not that silent at the nearby School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Westminster and those farther up in Cambridge, Warwick, and Oxford.

Academics and activists who united in the UK over the infamous Dadri lynching were united again by events in Hyderabad (Rohith Vemula's suicide) and then in JNU (Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest on sedition charges).

Academic debates and activist-led protests are becoming routine features at the UKs top academic institutions. Social media is abuzz with invites and support surveys against what they call growing majoritarianism-led intolerance in India," a veiled attack on the BJPs more-than-majority mandate at the Centre.

Academics and activists who started regrouping in the UK with the infamous Dadri lynching, grew closer over what happened in Hyderabad (Rohith Vemula's suicide) and then in JNU (Kanhaiya Kumars jail term on sedition charges).

Many in the UKs academic circles are calling Vemula's suicide a killing and have held discussions under different themes from Caste and Other Bigotries", and "Caste on the Menu Card" to "Politics of Beef Ban in India". Many others are planned and some scheduled.

Apart from academics, at the Westminster Universitys prestigious Chevening Fellowship, the journalists this year are doing a special project on the burning issue."

A pity that - in the words of one Indian journalist attending the programme - instead of our pluralism, which had dominated the South Asian Studies Departments here in UK, we are battling this tag of intolerance and democracy under threat back home!!"

I anticipate a louder pitch and more heated discussions rallying support for JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is now out of jail on interim bail.

Indian-origin Associate Professor Dibyesh Anand of Westminster University was very straight in saying: UK academic fraternity got charged up with the lynching incident over beef eating at Dadri in Greater Noida area.

How can someone be killed over beef? Many like Anand are still looking for the answer, but are certainly not amused.

Academic experts and activists alike are raising the heat in different settings, including a protest outside the Indian High Commission in London, to show their dissent against what they call falling democratic institutions in India and attack on personal freedom.

Students from different parts of the world studying in the UK are still trying to find the answer to how can someone be killed on the mere accusation of eating meat, says Anand, who is part of many seminars and debates being organised across UK academic institutions.

Indian politics and governance have always attracted political scientists and sociologists abroad, but this time they are active in challenging bigotries becoming more entrenched in India.

For instance, at the University of Westminster, the Centre for the Study of Democracy organised a discussion on Casteism and other bigotries in India to discuss what led to the suicide (killing) of Rohith Vemula and what academics associated with India can do to challenge this.

There have been various events on casteism, Hindu nationalism, and the growing majoritarianism including at Warwick, Cambridge and Oxford. Now JNU is attracting many here to come and share the platform, widening the very basis of tolerance vs intolerance debate on foreign soil.

A public protest titled, Stand with JNU  Protest outside Indian High Commission is all over Facebook.

Academics were vocal at the British Library once they came to know that I am an Indian journalist, sensing that their voice will somehow reach India.

Unanimous in their dissenting tone, they said: As scholars, we believe in academic freedom and our role to challenge injustices; it would be hypocritical if we expect fair play and anti-racism here in the UK but refuse to combat similar prejudices in India.

Perhaps there is a lesson for the Indian government here.

The political leadership failed to reach out to people in time to redress the growing apprehensions about the very existence of multi-cultural, pluralistic Indian society.

It all started with student-led unrest on campuses from Pune to Hyderabad to JNU. Moreover, the leadership didnt douse the possible flames of protest abroad in the UK and the US, triggering natural debates among Indians and South Asian communities.

Even in the case of Rohith Vemula, thousands of students, activists and others have raised questions about the political nature of the suicide. It has given enough masala to the local academia to keep debates churning for a while on Indian politics and governance at their South Asian Institutes or Institute for Advance Studies.

The calendar was packed last month. A discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Democracy (Department of Politics and International Relations), University of Westminster, debated: What can UK-based scholars and students interested in India do to understand the issues around casteism and other bigotries? How can anti-racist struggles in the UK connect to, and learn from, anti-bigotry struggles in India?"

Participants came from SOAS, the London School of Economics, Oxford, the University of Gottingen, and the University of Hyderabad - and there were also activists.

This air of defiance threatens to spread worldwide.

Already supported by staff members at SOAS London, and the Universities of Westminster, Warwick, and Edinburgh, Professors at Oxford and LSE are among some 500 supporters of the solidarity statement which has been circulated among the global academic community, local UK media reports have confirmed.

Sound of Ghungroo echoes on Harvard campus

India came alive at Harvard Universitys Agassiz Theatre in Cambridge Area last Saturday (Feb 27) in Ghungroo 2016 - a three-hour celebration of South Asian dance, music, and heritage all managed by undergrad students, mostly of Indian and Asian origin.

Running in its 27th year, Ghungroo was the perfect showcase of Indian cultural heritage brought together by around 400 performers on one platform.

For the audience, Ghungroo means the integration of Indias best with the West and the rest. It may be Bhangra with Rihannas pop, or Thai or Chinese dancing on a Tamil or Telugu chart number.

A group performs bhangra at Harvard's Agassiz Theatre

With four shows running from Thursday till Saturday, all packed and completely sold out, Ghungroo is truly a student-managed Indias mini-cultural landscape on foreign soil.

Watching East Asians or Asians other than Indians dancing to Honey Singhs famous numbers, or even the all-time favourite Tamil version of Roza, brings immense pride for an Indian sitting among the audience.

No one can beat the thrill of Bhangra dance and dandiya playing in garba.

Bharatnatyam by six-odd performers were near perfection and brought one very close to evenings at Kamani and Lalit Kala theatres.

Seeing locals enjoying the Indian numbers only confirmed the belief that there could be nothing better than fostering cultural diplomacy by organising more such shows to bring the world closer to India.
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is all set to make a fashion statement.

The khaki-coloured baggy knickers, often derided as khaki chaddi, may finally give way to trousers.

The Sangh is considering three options: keep it khaki, or go for either blue or grey.

Time for change: The much-derided khaki shorts worn by the Sangh may now give way to trousers

The current RSS khakis are considered particularly unfashionable as they are pleated and flare out at the bottom. This would be the biggest change to date for the RSS regulation uniform, called ganvesh.

The matter will be decided through voting at the upcoming three-day meet of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the highest decision-making body of the RSS, at Nagaur from March 11 to 13.

The matter was last debated at the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal of the RSS, which met in Ranchi last year.

The issue has been listed on the agenda of the meeting and a final decision would be taken. It has been proposed that there should be a shift from the current khaki shorts to trousers, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya told Mail Today.

Sources within the RSS told Mail Today that the change is expected to give a face-lift to the organisations image and attract young people, as well to catering to the aspirations of the growing number of young and professional members.

The RSS claims that due to its youth-centric approach in recent times, membership has increased steadily.

Tech-savvy

The right-wing ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has switched demographic gears, going tech-savvy by enlisting the youth online. The organisation claims that since 2012, when the online enlisting started, the RSS has succeeded in coaxing a large number of members in the 18-40 age group towards its way of life.

Vaidya had earlier told Mail Today that the organisation had steadily been moving towards a youthful profile.

Since 2012, when we started reaching out to people through our website, a large number of youth have shown willingness to join the RSS or work for it. Many out of those who contacted us online have also become active members and even pracharaks, Vaidya had said.

Meanwhile, the Sangh Parivars students body, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is anxiously waiting for the decision in the wake of the steady rise in its own membership.

The youth are increasingly getting attracted towards the RSS and shakhas as in the last 2-3 years the focus has shifted towards them. This change will counter the fashionable image that the Left has created about itself. Moreover, a lot of professionals are joining the RSS. There are many shakhas in areas dominated by IT professionals and around IT hubs in the country, which are not exactly shakhas but called Milan that are attracting women members too, said a national functionary of the RSS.

The khaki uniform, the organisation claims, was designed by its first Sarsanghchalak KB Hedgewar, who borrowed it from the Congress Sewa Dal, a Congress sister organisation founded in 1924.

In 1930, the black cap was adopted. In 1940, white shirts were introduced as the British banned private institutions from conducting drills as World War II broke out.

Later, in the early 1970s, high boots made way for leather shoes.
This comes not from areas like Beed or Vidarbha, where distressed farmers commit suicide every year, but from the National Capital Region itself.

While a huge spectacle has been planned for Sri Sri Ravi Shankars Art of Living (AOL) Foundation event on farmland along the Yamuna, farmers claim the compensation does not even cover their sowing costs.

This is how criminals are born! When the poor man is trampled upon like this, he either kills himself or takes up arms, a farmer named Paan Singh told Mail Today in anguish.

Farmers allege that their agricultural land was claimed by the Art of Living foundation for a meagre price ahead of the three-day World Cultural Festival

A farmer gazes at his land on the Yamuna floodplains where the festival is happening from March 11-13

Singh claimed his nine bigha of land (3.6 acres) has been acquired forcibly by AOL.

In return, they put Rs 26,000 in my pocket. The money I put into raising my crops was Rs. 2.25 lakh, most of it with karza (loan), he states.

My land has been bulldozed. I dont know how Ill manage now, Singh rued.

Paan Singh's family are among at least 200 farmer families affected by Art of Livings World Culture Festival, the venue for which is the Yamuna floodplain.

An estimated 100 acres of land under agriculture wheat, vegetables and flowers - has been affected on the western side of the river. This includes the villages Chilla, Nangli and Sarai Kale Khan along the DND flyover, and some UP Canal and DDA (Delhi Development Authority) property on the Noida Road side.

A gigantic stage, complete with golden temple-style domes, has come up at hopping distance from the DND. White portable cabins, huts and toilets are visible elsewhere, besides two pontoon bridges created on the river itself.

Illegal occupants

Vinay Sukhija, an AOL teacher, told Mail Today: Even one inch of land with crops has not been touched. Only fallow land has been used. These farmers are anyway illegal occupants on Yamuna bank. We gave them Rs 4,000 per bigha on humanitarian grounds; despite that we are having to face so much jhagda and fasad (fights).

Farmers claim that as construction is taking place on a large scale, their land will now be unproductive for at least a year

A senior DDA official, however, said on condition of anonymity: We granted AOL only 24 hectares (60 acre) of vacant land. Instead, they have spread out on 150-200 acres, including agricultural land on all sides. A farmer even approached us with a High Court stay on eviction when threatened by AOL people. We immediately shot off a letter to AOL office warning them of court contempt. They have rampaged everything.

Master Baljeet Singh, General Secretary, Delhi Peasant Cooperative Multipurpose Society, said this is nothing new: We have been tilling this land since 1950. It was granted to us when the country was under acute crisis, under the Grow More Food campaign. It is true we earn our bread from this but we have been chowkidaars (security guards) of Yamuna over these decades. We are harassed and forced out on the pretext of Khel Gaon, Akshardham, DTC Bus Depot - and now this.

Farmer Dharam Singh said: It all began a week back. Four men claiming to be from AOL came and said they need to build access roads to their event venue. I said alright. Then they brought JCB machines and turned my standing vegetable crops  kakri, kheera, torai, bengan, gobhi and pyaaz  into pulp. When we protested, they threatened us with police action. Then they gave me Rs 14,000 for my four bigha of crops. What do I say? I bought gobhi (cauliflower) seeds alone for Rs 26,000.

His neighbour Jagan Lal pointed out that the land may have been taken for only three days  March 11 to 13, the duration of World Culture Festival  but it is likely to be unproductive for at least a year now.

The way they have compacted the land with rollers, it will take us several months to soften it for cultivation. That is two harvesting seasons. Zameen -asman ek karna padega."

"Further, if they lay bricks over it or concretise it for car parking, it will be useless, he says.

Elong Shri, a 62-year-old female farmer, said: Gale se ek niwala nahi utra hai jis din se fasal ujad ke gaye hain (I havent had a morsel since my crops were razed). We are small farmers. The real owners of these farmlands have sublet it to us and live elsewhere. We have to pay them rent too. I dont know from where I will arrange that.

Campaign to shift venue gets 2,800 hits

By Baishali Adak in New Delhi

A petition against the Art of Living (AOL) event on Yamuna banks, on change.org, has gathered over 2,800 signatures.

The petition, launched by Vimlendu Jha of NGO, Swechha India, asks for immediately shifting out of the event from the ecologically-sensitive area.

Vimlendu Jha launched an online signature campaign seeking to shift the event from the ecologically-sensitive floodplain area

It also asks for strict action against the damage caused.

The petition will be submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

River activist Manoj Misra said: This is a reflection of real anger in the city against the illegality that is happening on the floodplain of their life line river.

The petition says: Please stop killing my Yamuna, I beg! Destroying the floodplains is not cultural or spiritual. How can the sudden disappearance of the flora and fauna from the floodplains be celebrated?'

It further addresses Sri Sri Ravi Shankar himself, saying: We are aware that you have raised the cause of Yamuna in the past, but this act of yours to assemble 3.5 million people and also supposedly to be in the Guinness Book of World Records is going to kill Yamuna, the only source of water for Delhi.

We acknowledge your right as an individual and organisation to propagate your faith and beliefs through an event such as this. However the entire purpose of celebrating the richness of culture gets defeated when it is done at the expense of a natural resource and more so, a river that is anyway struggling to survive.

Stage is set for AOL's extravaganza

By Baishali Adak in New Delhi

The work on the festival venue on the Yamuna floodplain is 80 per cent complete even as a petition against it rages on in National Green Tribunal (NGT).

A spokesperson for Art of Living (AOL) told Mail Today on Sunday: The majestic stage is 80 per cent done. Only lighting, sound and barricading arrangements remain. A huge pose of police and volunteers has been deployed to secure the function site and direct the expected 3.5 million-strong crowd.

Spread over 7 acres, the stage will hold 35,000 musicians, including drummers from South Africa and tribal artistes from Chhattisgarh and Sikkim

Spread over seven acres, the stage will hold 35,000 musicians - including drummers from South Africa and tribal artistes from Chhattisgarh and Sikkim - who will perform concurrently to make a world record. There will be unabated chanting of mantras for world peace.

A legal suit has been filed by Manoj Misra, a retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, against Art of Living (AOL). He has pleaded that any construction activity or event on Yamuna floodplain is against NGTs judgement, the famed Maily Se Nirmal Yamuna order dated January 13, 2015.

It had directed that the Yamunas banks be left undisturbed and in (wild) vegetation to serve as a pollution-cleansing recharge zone for the river.

The NGT is now hearing the case on a daily basis.

On Monday, the arguments of DDA and the UP Irrigation Department will be heard. An expert panel of ecologists, scientists and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has already advised a Rs 120 fine on AOL to restore the floodplain.

It is adjacent to the Okhla Bird Sanctuary as well.

At least six access roads have been created to reach the venue, from Barapulla, Sarai Kale Khan, Mayur Vihar and DND side.

The Army has apparently helped to build two pontoon bridges over the main Yamuna river channel.

Toilets with enzymes to decompose sewage have been built.

Besides this, statues of giant elephants have been erected welcoming guests to the multi-storey stage where the performances will be held.
It will come as no surprise that the 30th floor of Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf offers sweeping views over London. What may come as a shock to many is the life-changing help that is being given inside the glossy building to veterans.

The banking giant runs a programme called After - which stands for Armed Forces Transition, Employment and Resettlement. It helps veterans, who unsurprisingly can find re-entering civilian life difficult, get back on their feet with a gentle helping hand.

This is Money visited a workshop day after hearing about the work it was doing. A dozen smartly dressed ex-servicemen, some with life-changing injuries, others suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, were listening intently to David Harris giving interview and CV tips.

What next? When serviceman leave the military many are left in limbo as to what to do next - Barclays is offering help with its 'After' programme. Pictured, a unit leaving Camp Bastion in 2014

Barclays says it has helped roughly 4,000 veterans through After, which was created in 2010. David, whose background is in the police and security, is a great mix of engaging, humorous and serious.

Many of these veterans have never had a job outside of the army - and many in the civilian world fail to realise the struggle they face to gain employment and live a 'normal' life once they leave the forces.

A large chunk of veterans don't know how to create and develop a CV which gets them an interview. And if they do get in the door, many struggle to cope with the pressure of alien questions.

What those exiting the military may not know is that they are highly employable. They have certain skills which make them ideal candidates for a range of jobs - and especially leadership roles.

One of the most common mistakes made by veterans looking for jobs is a CV littered with acronyms which those outside of the military world - and even some inside - would not know.

Another is they unselfishly refer to their achievements as 'we' instead of 'I' after working as a cog in the army machine for so long.

Also, many are pushed to try for security based jobs, even if it is not a job they particularly want to do. Barclays tries to help them realise their potential and aim for roles which fit their skills better.

Helping hand: Barclays set up the After programme in 2010 - the UK arm of the bank gave 170 veterans jobs last year. Pictured, its Canary Wharf HQ

One CV example David gave was of a sniper. He asked: 'Should I put that I was a sniper on my CV  how would that be good or relevant experience in the corporate world?'

At first thought, you'd agree. Surely being a deadly assassin and putting that on your CV would frighten many employers off.

But, when you think again, you realise that being a sniper comes with a number of desirable skill traits.

These include split second decision making, risk assessment, confidence, analytic thinking, communication both one-on-one and as a team, discipline, planning, professionalism and dedication - all desirable skills in a 'normal' working environment.

Top tips: Sonny D'Avola was suited and booted at the After workshop - and is pictured here listening intently to CV and interview tips

Two of the veterans, who were there for the workshop, agreed to talk to This is Money. Sonny D'Avola, is a 28 year-old who served three tours. He joined the army at 15 and a half and left as a section commander.

When he returned after ten years, he said he felt 'grandiose' compared to civilians - a feeling which is said to be common among those leaving the army. But he soon felt lost.

But a walk in his hometown of Bournemouth, Dorset, led him on a path to Barclays. He saw a smartly dressed man and asked what he did for a living.

Instead of shunning him, the man spoke to him and said he was an investment banker. He also highlighted the fact Barclays and JP Morgan had programmes for veterans, which Sonny, at the time, had no idea about.

Dressed to impress in a pinstripe suit, shiny brogues and slicked back hair, Sonny certainly looks the part. He is slowly adapting to civilian life and is hoping that with the help of Barclays, he will soon fulfil his goal  to also become an investment banker.

'When I came out of the military, I started a university course. But after two years, I left because of personal reasons.'

Sonny suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder which can make life difficult, especially during tough times.

'Without this help, I wouldn't know where to get started with a career I want rather than going down the security route. This workshop day has been an eye-opener.'

'Grandiose': It can be a tough return to civilan life for some veterans who may struggle to find a suitable job

Colin Smith, 64, served in the military for 42 years. When he left the army in 2011, he became the chief executive of the Afghan Trust charity. With his infectious enthusiasm, he helped raise 3.5million.

Last May, he stepped down and decided to retire. But shortly afterwards, he realised he still had plenty to give and was going stir-crazy - and his enthusiasm hasn't waned.

With help from After, he has polished his CV and brushed up on his interview techniques. Although a couple of recent interviews have not been fruitful, he is more confident of the future.

'In my time at the Afghan Trust, I was getting big corporate giants involved with the charity. I want to get another job that I enjoy - there is plenty of life in me yet.' he says with a grin.

Polished: Colin Smith spent 42 years in the army - he is now looking for job opportunities in the civilian world

Banks have their fair share of scandals, while public opinion of bankers is low. But what Barclays is doing at its Canary Wharf HQ for veterans is impressive  and hasn't been shouted about that loudly by the bank.

Last year, 170 veterans were given jobs at Barclays UK. Not out of pity, but because they were the right fit for jobs inside the banking giant. Another 100 were given jobs at Barclays US.

One of which is Matt Weston, 26. He had his life changed forever when he was blown up by a IED in Afghanistan as a 19 year-old, which has left him without legs and one of his arms.

He doesn't have to work again  and many wouldn't blame him for not wanting to, especially after a number of operations.

However, he found himself bored in the months after returning home. He entered the Barclays workshop at the start of last year.

Since then, he has helped Barclays develop the next generation of talking cash machine, the details of which are under wraps. He has now secured permanent employment as a programme manager for After, out of love for the role.

Matt says: 'I turned up to one of these days Barclays ran and have never looked back. I now rent a flat around the corner and love the role.'

Running the course: David Harris, pictured right, has no military background - but is full of tips for ex-serviceman to bag a job

The programme provides constant support to veterans who are part of it, through mentoring and help after they have been in for workshops, not matter how difficult they are finding gaining employment.

It has an impressive reel of veterans who have been in the programme, now in employment, including some in Barclays investment bank, while others have been taken on in powerful management positions outside of the bank.

Stuart Tootle, chief security officer and head of the After programme, says the scheme has helped save employers 350,000 in recruitment fees since he helped create it six years ago.

He believes veterans - of which he is one himself - can help plug the skills shortage currently being experienced in some British industries.

He says: 'Veterans have a wealth of experience and possess innate skill sets that make them a valuable asset in the civilian world.

'The value that ex-military employees bring should not be underestimated, and at Barclays we have already benefited from hiring from the highly skilled veteran talent pool, while avoiding paying expensive fees to recruiters.'

With 12,000 to 20,000 leaving the UK Armed Forces every year, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of veterans of working age that may not be optimising their skills and abilities, resulting in a missed opportunity.

Meanwhile, some veterans who are in work, feel underwhelmed in their role.

Recent research of nearly a 1,000 veterans currently in employment found four in 10 felt they took a step backwards when entering the workforce while only a fifth feel their current employer fully recognises the skills and experience they possess.

Other corporate firms are also beefing up their help to veterans, through a collaborative programme called Vets, which started last year.

Companies involved include Barclays, Deloitte, Jaguar Landrover, Laing ORourke, ISS World, G4S, BAE Systems and Anchor.
It is an astonishing journey which shows the value of freedom - and one President Barack Obama might want to know more about before he embraces Cuba's Communist leadership this month.

Mirtha Benitez Vega fled Cuba and traveled across seven countries to fulfill her dream of a life in the United States.

Now she has made it to New York after months of detention in a refugee camp and a brush with armed robbers.

Daily Mail Online was there to witness her seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time - and crying as she spoke of achieving the dream she summed up in one word: 'Freedom.'

It was the second time she had cried in a few days - the first was when she walked across the Mexican border, presented her Cuban passport and was told by an immigration officer: 'Welcome to America.'

It was a greeting she had waited most of her life for and signaled the end of a grueling journey of more than 6,000 miles, taking a long, circuitous route by air, sea and land.

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Freedom: Mirtha Benitez Vega fled Cuba and traveled across seven countries to fulfill her dream of a life in the United States. Finally, four months after leaving home, she saw the Statute of Liberty

Tears of joy: Mirtha cried when she first walked across the Mexican border, presented her Cuban passport and was told by an immigration officer: 'Welcome to America.' She cried again as she saw the Statute of Liberty

Dream come true: The ability to walk freely and talk freely is a precious gift for Mirtha Benitez Vega - while she can walk round Time Square and enjoy its sights,

Big city: Cuban refugee Mirtha described Times Square as 'like the heart of the world' - adding: 'Those big moving pictures... are they cinemas? Why isn't anybody watching them?'

In contrast, Air Force One will take the president directly from Washington to Havana in just a few weeks on March 21.

Mirtha was one of up to 8,000 Cubans who feared that the onset of full diplomatic and trade relations between the US and Cuba would end their right to refugee status in America - and decided to flee.

Cubans who are able to get out of the Communist country have been given refugee status automatically since 1966, with President Clinton amending the law in 1995 to make it apply to so-called 'dry foot' arrivals - those who make it to US land, rather than territorial water borders.

Mirtha gave up her teaching job and left her husband behind to seek what she described as freedom in the US.

The couple sold everything to fund the trip. From a treasured china cup given by a visitor 25 years ago to their bed, everything went to raise the thousands of dollars needed to get out of Cuba and teach the US land border.

The promise was simple: a life of freedom, where speaking to strangers is not a crime, and a life where she can earn a living instead of staying on the subsistence wages forced on the Cuban people by Communism.

'I want to work. I am a teacher. I can teach Spanish and English. I want to help other people. I do not want money from anybody at all,' she said.

'In Cuba I would not be allowed to talk to you because you are a foreigner and I could be arrested as a prostitute. We cannot speak to tourists in Cuba.

'I was a director of education at Cienfuegos, which is about 150 miles from Havana, and I have a MA in education. But my job was very frustrating. My whole life has been like that.

'Since I was the age of fourteen I have dreamed of living in America and having freedom. I studied English so that one day I could live in the United States.

'I just want the right to talk to anybody and to have some nice things in life.

'I dreamed of being able to go to the market and having enough money to buy food and other things.

'I dreamed about my students having books and computers which are the basic needs to be able to study properly.

'The money we were paid is so low and it is to keep control of us. I earned $30 dollars a month and a pair of good shoes can cost $50.'

Cozy with Castro: President Obama shakes hands with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, whose regime has been in power for 40 years. The president is set to visit Havana on March 21. Many Cubans fear the onset of cordial relations between the US and Cuba, after decades of suspicion and frosty relationships

Long journey: Mirtha more than 6,000 miles over seven countrues taking a long, circuitous route by air, sea and land in order to make it to America to escape Castro regime in Cuba

Encampment: This is how thousands of Cubans are living, Mirtha was one of them, in cobbled-together shelters largely open to the elements with growing fear of disease after they became stuck in Costa Rica as they made their way to America, fearing the open door was about to be closed by President Obama

She and thousands of Cubans paid thousands of dollars each to people traffickers in Havana who arranged for them to fly to Ecuador and abandoned them there in early November last year.

First Mirtha headed for Colombia on bus and on foot with other refugees. The journey involved crossing the Andes, and scrambling over the border in darkness.

They faced arrest and being deported back to Cuba if captured as they were traveling without Colombian visas.

Some Cubans were stopped by Colombian police and said they were only allowed to proceed after paying bribes.

One woman Mirtha met paid $650 after being apprehended three times with her young son.

At the Colombian port of Turbo, she boarded a boat operated by people smugglers and after a seven hour trip, she was left in what described as 'mountains and jungle' to make her own way into Panama on foot.

She revealed to Daily Mail Online: 'I had to walk in the dark with the others and we were told that there were men with guns who robbed the Cubans of their money and passports.

'For some of that time I was alone and at night and I was very scared for my life. But I just kept walking and did not turn back. I slept in the open jungle and it was very difficult.'

In Panama, she and other Cubans were detained by immigration officials who confiscated their passports.

Sacrifice: In order to pay for her journey to the US, Mirtha sold everything in her house including her favorite china tea cup that a visitor gave her 25 years ago - it sold for only a few dollars

Left behind: 'I have been through hell to get here and had to leave my husband Armando behind. It has been very difficult but now I am here I can only cry tears of happiness,' says Mirtha (pictured with husband Armando)

They were eventually returned after officials were informed Costa Rica had granted them visas to enter it.

Mirtha traveled through Panama and into Costa Rica by bus, sleeping in her seat whenever she could before she reached the city of Liberia, a journey of more than 800 miles.

In Liberia she spent more than two months sleeping on a floor mattress with other refugees as Nicaragua refused them entry.

Costa Rica set up dozens of temporary camps around the border with the help of voluntary agencies who warned of a humanitarian crisis if the deadlock was not broken.

All the temporary camps were full to the brim and some Cubans took to sleeping on the streets while others were taken in by Costa Rican families and churches.

Children, pregnant women and the elderly were caught up in the impasse and the Red Cross in Costa Rica was called in to treat travelers for illnesses such as, diarrhea, dehydration, vomiting and influenza.

Stranded: This was how Daily Mail Online first met Mirtha, stuck on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, waiting patiently to get to America

Doctors also had to deal with an outbreak of chickenpox among dozens of Cubans who were quarantined in a church close to the border with Nicaragua.

Eventually the Costa Rican government and aid agencies successfully negotiated with Mexico and chartered airline operators to fly refugees out of Liberia to Laredo in Mexico.

Mirtha's nightmare ended when her friends in New Jersey sent her the $805 to enable her to pay for a seat with 124 other Cubans on a chartered flight from Liberia to Mexico.

But at least a thousand Cubans remain in refugee camps in Costa Rica in hope.

It was the final - and easiest - step. There she crossed over into the US on the Texan border and took a three-day bus journey to reach New York, knowing that friends in New Jersey were waiting for her.

When she arrived Mirtha surveyed the sky scrapers in Manhattan, wiped away tears, and said she still had to pinch herself.

On her first full day in New York City, Mirtha had a wish list of things she had dreamed of doing.

First she wanted to see the Statue of Liberty having had a picture of the monument in her bedroom as a child.

As she surveyed the statue from Liberty Park, she telephoned Armando back in Cuba and told him: 'I am free! This is freedom and one day you will have the same freedom as me.'

After chowing down on a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for lunch and apple pie in a typical diner, she headed for the Freedom Tower.

After viewing New York from the top of the 104-story building, she descended to view the memorial water tributes to the 2,606 victims of the 2001 World Trade Center terror attack - and broke down in tears.

She revealed that the nephew of her friend and near neighbor in her home town of Aguada de Pasajeros had perished in the attack on the Twin Towers.

Daily Mail Online showed Mirtha the inscription of the victim Jorge Luis Leon Sr., who was 43 and a father of two when he was murdered in the North Tower where he worked as a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald.

She ran her hand over the stone engraving and said: 'When I left home in November, I saw his auntie and cousins and they were still crying over him.

'This has brought the whole tragedy back. I remember when he died and how heart broken we all were.

'At least I can tell his family now that I have paid a tribute to Jorge on their behalf.

I know I have a lot to get used to in my America, my new country and I am determined to conquer New York and everything else to have a good life in America.

'Of course being Cubans, they will never be able to come here to the US. I thank America for giving me this chance to remember a son of Cuba here.'

Later she visited Times Square describing it as 'like the heart of the world' and marveled at the neon.

'Those big moving pictures... are they cinemas?' she asked. 'Why isn't anybody watching them?'.

The expedition across Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and a final three day bus ride from the Laredo South Border in Texas to New York, had not prepared her for the perils of negotiating stepping foot on escalators.

It was a poignant example of how life in Communist Cuba lacks so much of what is taken for granted elsewhere.

She took deep breaths and several minutes before traveling on the moving staircases at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Freedom Tower.

She said: 'I have never seen these escalators before. They do not exist in Cuba for us, but they are very frightening.

'I know I have a lot to get used to in my America, my new country and I am determined to conquer New York and everything else to have a good life in America.

Nightmare over: Mirtha's friends in New Jersey sent her the $805 to enable her to pay for a seat with 124 other Cubans on a chartered flight from Liberia to Mexico

Friends: Mirtha Benitez Vega (second from right) became friendly with these woman while traveling on a bus for three days entering the United States in Laredo, Texas to reach New York City

She is staying with a fellow Cuban in New Jersey and the first thing she received as a gift was a pair of shoes which were a size too small and hurt her feet, but she politely wore them despite the pain.

She estimates the journey to America has cost her around $10,000, but says every cent has been worth it for the freedom it has brought her.

Her loyal and supportive husband, a security guard, now sleeps on the floor as their bed has been sold off too.

Mirtha added: 'My husband and I are going to be together again.

'Maybe it could be two or five years. He is calling me everyday and writing me beautiful things and is telling me he would like to be here with me. But the problem is the money.

'I love him. I can's wait for him to be here one day. I have to get my papers cleared and find a teaching job.
As a former Education Secretary, Michael Gove is well acquainted with the nation's best state schools.

And now I can reveal he has put that knowledge to good use  choosing a London academy dubbed the 'Eton of comprehensives' for his son.

He and his newspaper columnist wife Sarah Vine have accepted a place for 11-year-old William at the oversubscribed Holland Park School in Kensington.

Former Education Secretary, Michael Gove, pictured, has sent his son to the 'Eton of comprehensives'

In choosing the school, which is 1.5 miles from his West London home, Mr Gove  now Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor  has passed up at least seven closer state secondaries.

They include Burlington Danes Academy, less than half a mile away. As Education Secretary, Mr Gove singled out for praise Burlington Danes' then principal for having turned around a school once described as 'feral'.

Like the Grey Coat Hospital  the state secondary the Goves chose for daughter Beatrice two years ago  Holland Park, a flagship academy, is praised in Tatler's top 20 state secondary schools guide.

The magazine enthused that the school, which is housed in a space-age steel and glass building, has a 'five-star feel' with facilities, including a swimming pool, that many private schools would envy.

It gushed: 'Lots of glass, lots of light, Jo Malone candles and cream roses in reception  and of course, that swimming pool.'

Holland Park used to be a mecca for the Left-wing  Tony Benn sent his children there  but it has been reborn as a leading academy, with impressive academic results.

Mr Gove's 11-year-old son William will go to the oversubscribed Holland Park School in Kensington, pictured

Tatler says its head, Colin Hall, is 'ruthlesslessly ambitious' for his pupils.

The news of the school place comes after The Mail on Sunday disclosed that David Cameron was considering a top private prep school for his son, even though he followed Mr Gove in sending his daughter to the Grey Coat Hospital.

But even Holland Park has its less impressive alumni: five recent pupils went on to become jihadis and died fighting on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq.
Relatives of the 239 people still missing after the disappearance of flight MH370 are pleading with investigators to continue the search for the wreckage.

Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight, which vanished seemingly into thin air en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Dozens of families who had gathered in Kuala Lumpur for a memorial ceremony this weekend say the search should not stop until 'something' is found.

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Hope: A boy with his face painted with the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 attends a memorial event in Kuala Lumpur this weekend, as families plead with investigators to keep looking for the lost plane

Relatives argue that instead of ending the hunt for the Boeing 777 in June, the search should be expanded if the current area being scoured comes up empty.

'We are fighting to search on because our loved ones are not home yet. So how can we say it's the end?' said Jacquita Gonzales, wife of flight steward Patrick Gomes.

The unprecedented Australian-led hunt for wreckage from the Boeing 777 is expected to finish its high-tech scanning of a designated swathe of seafloor in the remote Indian Ocean by July.

Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities plan to end the search - projected to cost up to $130million (92million) - at that point if no compelling new leads emerge.

A piece of the plane washed up on the French-held island of La Reunion last year, and new debris that is yet to be confirmed as from MH370 was found on a Mozambique beach last week.

In memoriam: Relatives of the 239 missing passengers and crew, who had gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a MH370 memorial this weekend, say the search should not stop until 'something' is found

Relatives of the MH370 victims say acceptance of their unexplained loss remains impossible two years on

But the finds came thousands of kilometres from the suspected crash zone and have yielded no clues.

In one of aviation's greatest enigmas, the plane inexplicably vanished during an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Citing imprecise satellite data, search authorities believe it flew for hours to the remote southern Indian Ocean and went down.

Many relatives remain unconvinced that authorities are searching in the right place.

'If they have exhausted one particular line of inquiry, that doesn't mean other areas may not come up with something. Just sit down and ask, 'OK, what next'?' said K.S. Narendran, an Indian national whose wife Chandrika was aboard.

Authorities hope to detect debris far down in the ocean depths and eventually recover and analyse the black boxes for clues.

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and head of the challenging operation, told AFP last week he remained 'very hopeful' something can be found before the 46,000-square-mile search zone is fully scanned.

Many next-of-kin accuse the airline and Malaysian government of letting the plane slip away through a bungled response and covering up what caused the disappearance.

Some also allege Malaysia wants to stop searching to prevent embarrassing information from emerging, which the airline and government strongly deny.

Sunday's ceremony included prayers, musical performances and the release of 240 white balloons, one for each passenger and another for the plane.

Relatives say acceptance of their unexplained loss remains impossible two years on.

Emotional: Two relatives of Chinese passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry as they leave the Beijing Rail Transportation Court in Beijing on Monday

Lawsuit: Relatives of Chinese MH370 passengers wait inside the Beijing Rail Transportation Court in Beijing

'We don't have anything to accept. We still know nothing and we are all in limbo. If anything I am worse than before,' said Grace Nathan, a Malaysian attorney who lost her mother.

Added Gonzales: 'We will fight on to make sure that we get the truth of exactly what happened to all of them. We will not give up.'

Meanwhile, relatives of a dozen Chinese MH370 passengers filed suits against Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, Rolls Royce and others Monday, a day before the legal deadline to do so.

Many families have been reluctant to sue for unlawful deaths, as they still believe their relatives may be alive.

However, under international agreements, families have two years to sue over air accidents, with Tuesday marking a deadline for lawsuits in the MH370 incident.

'Originally, many didn't intend to sue and instead wanted to continue waiting,' said lawyer Zhang Qihuai, whose Lanpeng firm represents the group filing suit in Bejiing on Monday

'But there's a time limit, so they have no other choice - losing the right to sue would be terribly painful.'

The total compensation requested from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, engine manufacturer Rolls Royce and insurance companies ranged between 10 and 70 million yuan ($1.5 million to $10.8 million) per family, he said. Verdicts might not come for two years, he added.
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Bathed in a ultraviolet light, this tiny baby is being kept alive by the expertise of Britains world-class medics.

Born prematurely, its small body not yet developed enough to keep it alive, the infant is suffering from severe jaundice.

With a special machine providing oxygen to the babys lungs, and tubes feeding fluid and drugs into its veins, a powerful UV lamp is used to break down the harmful toxins building in the skin - doing the job the babys undeveloped liver has failed to achieve.

The picture, taken in the Starlight Neonatal Unit for premature babies at Barnet Hospital in north London, is shortlisted for this years Wellcome Image Award for medical and scientific photography.

A Premature baby receiving light therapy by David Bishop at London's Royal Free Hospital, is one of the 20 winning images in the 2016 Wellcome Image Awards

Raynaud's Disease taken by Matthew Clavey from Thermal Vision Research. The hand on the left is from a healthy person, with its bright red colour conveying how it is much hotter than the hand on the right, which is from someone with Raynaud's disease. Sufferers of the diseases have small-blood vessels over-sensitive to changes in temperature

Cow Heart by Michael Frank. Windows have been cut into the heart to show the intricate nature of the valves and tubes inside. The cow's organ is 27cm from top to bottom and is about four times the size of a human heart.

Bone Development by Frank Acquaah. Each circle shows bone from a baby or child at a different age. The youngest (three months before birth) is on the left and the oldest ( two and a half years old) is on the right. These historical bones all come from the skeletons of children who died in the 19th century

Inside the human eye by Peter Maloca. Tunnels like these carry blood to the eye to help it work properly. Pictures such as this are used by doctors to help them spot early signs of disease

It is one of 20 winning images selected from hundreds of entries, with an overall single winner to be announced on March 15.

David Bishop, photography services manager at University College London, who took the image, said: It is a fascinating environment to work in. Its my job but its also my passion.

Mr Bishop, who also lectures in medical photography at the University of Westminster worked as a photographer for the Ministry of Defence before he took his current job.

He said: The things the doctors and nurses achieve is phenomenal.

The Starlight unit provides intensive care for 30 babies at a time, most of them born prematurely. The Wellcome Image Awards exhibition will tour across the UK and globally after the winner is announced.

While the photo of the baby is particularly poignant the spectacularly eclectic winners of this year's exhibition are all equally captivating.

From a photo detailing the inner workings of a cow's heart or to a shot conveying the complex network of tunnels in someone's eye, each have the ability to intrigue and excite.

Swallowtail Butterfly by Daniel Saftner. These Butterflies have two round eyes for seeing quick movements and two antennae for smelling. They also have a long feeding tube, which is curled up like a spring here, but it unrolls so the butterfly can use it like a straw to drink nectar from flowers

Moth Scales by Mark R Smith. This captivating photo is a close-up look at scales on a Madagascan sunset moth. The large moth sparkles with colour in the light and is often mistaken for a butterfly. But the colour is an illusion. It comes from light bouncing off these curved scales, and the wings themselves have very little colour

Human stem cell by Silvia A Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman. This stem cell was taken from inside a person's hip bone and was then put in a mixture of chemicals to simulate the conditions in a human body

Blood vessels in the eye by Kim Baxter. This network of white spidery lines are blood vessels inside a person's eye. If one of these tubes gets blocked or starts to leak, it may affect how well someone can see

Toxoplasmosis-causing parasites by Leandro Lemgruber. These are parasites which live inside another living thing, using it for food and shelter, these bugs are sometimes found in meat that has not been cooked properly

Detecting Stroke by Nicholas Evans. This is a medical scan showing a blocked blood vessel (highlighted in green) inside someone's neck. The blood vessel carries blood to the brain and when it gets blocked, parts of the brain can get damaged and stop working properly - causing a stroke

An extreme close up shot of a swallowtail butterfly, which has two big round eyes for seeing quick movements and two antennae for smelling, represents nature in the exhibition.

The picture, taken by Daniel Saftner, offers people the rare chance to glimpse the creature's long feeding tube, which is curled up like a spring in the photo but unrolls so the butterfly can use it like a straw to drink nectar from flowers.

Medical conditions and the human body feature heavily in this year's winners and in particular a condition that has had a devastating effect in Africa, the ebola virus.

Infectious disease containment unit by David Bishop. This special see-through tent surrounds a bed in the Royal Free Hospital in London, where patients are treated for dangerous infectious diseases, like Ebola

Bacteria on graphene oxide by Izzat Suffian, Kuo-Ching Mei, Houmam Kafa and Khuloud T Al-Jamal. This photo shows two bacteria sitting on an extremely thin sheet of carbon. Researchers are trying to stick different medicines to it so they can be carried to the right place in the body when needed

Black henna allergy by Nicola Kelley. This photo shows a black henna tattoo on the arm of a young girl. She has blisters on her arm because she is allergic to the dye. The blisters will heal but sadly they may leave marks on her skin

Maize Leaves by Fernan Federici. Each curled leaf from this young maize plant is made up of lots of small cells (the small green, square and rectangle shapes)

Wiring the human brain by Alfred Anwander. This photo maps the pathways inside a person's brain, with the links between the left and right sides of brain in red, the links between front and back in green, and the links between the brain and the rest of the body in blue

A shot of a medical ward in London's Royal Free Hospital, for patients suffering from the disease, cordoned off by a mass of plastic sheets and with quarantine suits hanging from the ceiling, is particularly striking.

Another photo which perhaps is arguably simpler than the others, but still draws the eye, is of a young girl's arm blistering from a henna tattoo.

Her skin has been covered in the bulging sores at various points across the pattern due to an allergic reaction she has suffered from the henna ink.

Ebola Virus by David S. Goodsell. The Ebola virus can spread between people when they touch body fluids which have the virus in them, such as blood or spit. This virus is about 100 nanometres wide, which is 200 times smaller than many of the cells that it infects

Clathrin Cage by Maria Voigt. These tiny cages are like baskets that carry matter inside a cell from one place to another. When the cage is not being used it breaks up into smaller pieces, which get recycled. The cage can then be put back together again when it is next needed

Dividing stem cell in the brain by Paula Alexandre. This circle of pictures shows different stages of a stem cell splitting in two inside the brain of a zebrafish before it hatches

Engineering human liver tissue by Chelsea Fortin, Kelly Stevens and Sangeeta Bhatia. This small piece of human liver has been put into a mouse with a damaged liver. The human liver has started to grow using blood from the mouse to help

Awards judge and BBC Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh, who will be presenting this years awards, said the varied range of Wellcome winners were what made it such fantastic competition.

He said: The Wellcome Image Awards consistently uncover a stunning range of images that not only capture the imagination but help bring complex concepts to life.
He also promised a change to the Marriage Act by the end of 2016

But Attorney-General George Brandis says there would be one this year

Labor has criticised the Turnbull government for confusion over the timing of a proposed plebiscite on gay marriage.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says a vote on the issue will be held as soon as possible after the election, despite Attorney-General George Brandis earlier insisting there would be a plebiscite this year, and a change to the Marriage Act by the end of 2016.

But shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has urged the Turnbull government to scrap its plan for a 'wasteful and divisive' plebiscite on same-sex marriage.

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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reacts during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, last Thursday

Federal Attorney General George Brandis speaks at a press conference in Sydney in December last year

Mr Dreyfus also hit out at government confusion over the issue, insisting the vote should be scrapped altogether.

'They need to get their stories straight but most of all, Mr Turnbull should be dropping this wasteful and very divisive plebiscite,' Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio on Monday.

'Let parliamentarians do the job we are meant to do, which is pass laws, to legislate.'

By contrast, a Labor government would have a bill to legalise same-sex marriage before parliament within 100 days of the election, he said.

Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus during Question Time on Monday, February 8, 2016

The Labor opposition frontbench reacts to Mr Turnbull during Question Time on Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Senator Brandis on Sunday said if the government was re-elected there would be a plebiscite this year, sparking speculation about the planned timing of the election.

If there was support for it, the Coalition government would introduce changes to the Marriage Act that Senator Brandis expects will become law 'by the end of the year'.

But the prime minister's office is saying only that a plebiscite would be held 'as early as possible after the election'.

'They need to get their stories straight but most of all, Mr Turnbull should be dropping this wasteful and very divisive plebiscite,' Mr Dreyfus told ABC radio on Monday.

Mr Turnbull swivels his chair to face the Liberal frontbench as he smiles during Question Time on March 1

Dumped cabinet minister Eric Abetz, who has insisted he won't be bound by the plebiscite result, said Senator Brandis' comments came as a surprise.

'These are matters that the party room still has to sort out in some detail,' he told The Australian.

'If we were to have a plebiscite before the end of the year, and you were to reverse-engineer that, it would make interesting speculation about the timing of an election.'

Greens MP Adam Bandt said the plebiscite proposal was becoming 'shambolic', with many MPs indicating they would not support the result.

Mr Turnbull says a vote on the issue of same-sex marriage will be held as soon as possible after the election

'It's not even clear that the government knows how to bring it into effect legally,' he told ABC radio.

Cabinet minister Simon Birmingham said a plebiscite would be held in a 'reasonable timeframe, as soon as is practical after the election'.

But he refused to say whether it would take place before the end of the year - noting that was related to the timing of the election, which he would not comment on.

'The government's intention is to go full term if we can, bearing in mind there are those important issues around the dysfunction of the Senate,' he told ABC radio.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten (right) speaks to his frontbench during Question Time on Thursday, February 25, 2016

The confusion arrived just after Mr Turnbull and his wife attended the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night, the first sitting prime minister to do so.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten and his deputy Tanya Plibersek also attended the world-famed parade and remained critical of the Turnbull government's decision to hold a potentially costly and wasteful plebiscite instead of opting for law reform.

'The majority of Australians support same-sex marriage and want it legislated without delay, Mr Shorten said.

But Senator Brandis earlier insisted there would be a plebiscite this year, and a change to the Marriage Act by the end of 2016

Senator Brandis maintains that changing the Marriage Act is not a response to Labor's plans to hold a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage within the first 100 days of government if elected.

'I believe that marriage is one of the fundamental institutions of society and I think it's important that the fundamental institutions of society reflect the fundamental values of society,' Senator Brandis said.

'We will be going to the election promising a plebiscite before the end of the year.'

Australia would join other countries such as the United States, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Ireland and South Africa if the nation legalised same-sex marriage.
Bernie Sanders swept a series caucuses on his campaign's target list over the weekend, putting him on track to succeed in his next big test: Michigan, on Tuesday, where Clinton is up by at least 11 points, probably more.

'I think that gap is closing. I think we have the momentum, and I hope very much that we can win,' he told reporters at a last-minute press conference thrown together by his campaign before yesterday evening's presidential debate.

The U.S. senator and his senior strategist are declining to call Michigan a must-win state - but Sanders' course to the nomination becomes a lot bumpier if he doesn't take it.

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Bernie Sanders swept a series caucuses on his campaign's target list over the weekend, putting him on track to succeed in his next big test: Michigan, on Tuesday, where Clinton is up by at least 11 points, probably more

Supporters of the 15 dollar minimum wage join Bernie Sanders supporters outside of last night's debate in Flint, Michigan

Both Clinton and Sanders have made aggressive plays for the state. Hammering her on trade during last night's debate, Sanders said, 'I was one of the first, not one of the last to be in opposition to the TPP is that American workers'

Victories in in Kansas, Nebraska and Maine over the weekend put a total of 471 pledged delegates in Sanders' column. Clinton picked up Louisiana on Saturday and now has 658.

The former secretary of state is likely to win Mississippi tomorrow and most of its 36 delegates.

Michigan is the bigger prize of the day as it has 130 delegates to divvy up.

Both Clinton and Sanders have made aggressive plays for the state. Clinton left New Hampshire two days before the primary there to hold a listening session in Flint with the city's mayor, Karen Weaver, a backer of hers.

She planted a flag in Michigan on Friday and spent the weekend sprinting across the Great Lakes State. Putting a full-court press on her opponent, Clinton has rotated her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea into Michigan to campaign for her, as well.

Sanders has visited the state several times over the last week, and his campaign notes that his first office in the state was in Flint. Like Clinton, he regularly talks about the water crisis at stops outside of Michigan, and has made the water crisis here a central theme of his campaign.

'What is going is a disgrace beyond belief. As the president of the United States, this is what I would do is if local government does not have the resources -- if state government for whatever reason America shouldn't be poisoned, federal government comes in, federal government acts,' he said last night.

At the debate, held in the city of Flint, both Sanders renewed his call for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to resign, and Clinton followed suit.

For the first time, she called on Snyder to step down and she gave her blessing to recall efforts in the state.

'It is raining lead in Flint, and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required,' Clinton charged.

Neither she nor Sanders would call for criminal charges in the matter, however. Nor did they similarly demand the federal administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, be replaced.

At the debate, held in the city of Flint, both Sanders renewed his call for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to resign, and Clinton followed suit. 'What is going is a disgrace beyond belief,' Sanders said

On Flint, they more or less agree. Thus, Sanders has made his primary appeal to residents of the state Hillary Clinton's support of an accord from her husband's presidency, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that he blames for the devastation of the Michigan's motor-based economy.

He's also hit Clinton for supporting, as a cabinet member, President Barack Obama's pursuit of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The former first lady eventually came out against the 12-nation trade deal, but it was only after months of badgering from powerful labor unions and progressive groups that could have worked against her in the primary if she hadn't.

Hammering the point home during last night's debate, Sanders said, 'I was one of the first, not one of the last to be in opposition to the TPP is that American workers.'

Even with trade as his banner, Sanders may not be able to pull off an upset here tomorrow.

'I'll tell you on Tuesday night. I'll give you a definitive answer,' he jested as he talked about his prospects at his press conference yesterday in Flint.

Sanders' top number cruncher Tad Devine privately admitted to DailyMail.com, 'I think we're behind in Michigan.'

And yet the Democratic strategist said the senator could catch up to Clinton the way he did in Iowa, a state where he was down 15 points, and the race ended in a 'virtual tie.'

'I do. I think it's happened in every state where we competed,' he said of an Iowa repeat this Tuesday in the Great Lakes State.

Devine said South Carolina was an exception to that assertion. There, the democratic socialist just couldn't make it happen and exited the state a few days before the primary to shore up support elsewhere.

'I think we knew after Nevada that our likelihood of succeeding in South Carolina had been diminished, and we decided to take a much longer view of the nominating process,' Devine said yesterday.

Down nearly 200 delegates to Clinton, Sanders' team has had to adjust its strategy for obtaining the nomination.

Now, Devine said, 'It doesn't include winning any one state -but it does include winning a lot of states...I stipulate to that.'

Devine told reporters huddled in the campaign headquarters last week, after Clinton's seven-state-strong Super Tuesday win, that it was the 'single best day' for her on the calendar.

Yesterday, he acknowledged to DailyMail.com that there be more where that came from. 'There will be states along the way where Hillary for whatever reason has a good day,' he said.

NOT SO FAST, BERNIE: Putting a full-court press on her opponent, Clinton has rotated her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea into Michigan to campaign for her, as well

But Sanders will have his fair share of celebratory days, too, he said. Days where he pulls near-to-even with Clinton in states like Massachusetts, which she won the last time she ran, in 2008, against Obama.

'What we did in Massachusetts was incredible,' Devine said. 'There will be days like that.'

Whether or not Michigan will be one of them, he could not predict.

'There will be places where we win. I don't know if Michigan's going to be on of them yet.'

Even with Michigan on board for Sanders, March 15 will prove extremely challenging for the come-from-behind campaign, as Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio go to the polls.

Clinton is ahead in all four by sizable amounts. The only contest that day that may be leaning in Sanders' direction is Missouri.

Recent polling data is unavailable for the Midwestern state, but if it votes like many of its geographical neighbors, it will go for the senator over the secretary.

A combined 691 delegates will be allotted that day, the largest share of which will come from Florida, where seniors, a demographic that overwhelmingly supports Clinton, will be the deciders.

The Sanders campaign maintains that it will continue on even after next Tuesday,though, regardless of the outcome.

We're 'getting ourselves into position to win a long race all the way through California and New Jersey,' Devine said.
A former staff member of Tony Abbott has revealed his chief of staff Peta Credlin called her a 'f***ing useless b****' as details emerge of her allegedly cancelling official invitations sent to his wife Margie.

The claims have been made in a new book, The Road To Ruin, written by political commentator Niki Savva, which details the bizarre relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin and the level of influence she had on his life.

The staff member, Fiona Telford, worked with Ms Credlin in 2007 and told Ms Savva that she was called a 'f***ing useless b****' and 'you don't f***ing know anything'.

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Tony Abbott's wife Margie was labelled a distraction by his chief of staff Peta Credlin who would often cancel official invitations in an attempt to sideline her, according to claims made in a new book

Ms Telford says she resigned shortly after and is quoted in the book saying she 'cannot forgive Credlin for the way she treated people.'

The book also reports that Mr Abbott's wife Margie was labelled a distraction by Ms Credlin who would often cancel official invitations in an attempt to sideline her.

A number of former staff say they were 'troubled' by the treatment of Mrs Abbott, according to Ms Savva.

It has been claimed Mrs Abbott was taken off an election victory party guest list in 2013 at last minute at Ms Credlin's request and that she approved official invitations before Mr Abbott's wife could see them.

A former staff member said 'Margie was kept in the dark' and the book suggests Mrs Abbott had to wait in a room across from her husband's office where she came to Parliament House.

'People in the inner circle reported that it was rare or exceptional for Credlin and Margie to be in the same room or at the same event together'.

The claims have been made in a book, The Road To Ruin, penned by political commentator Niki Savva, which details the bizarre relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin and the level of influence she had on his life

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott (right) asked one of his colleagues to apologise to his chief of staff Peta Credlin (left) after he asked her to refrain from swearing at junior members, a new book has revealed

A former staff member of Tony Abbott has revealed his chief of staff Peta Credlin once called her a 'f***ing useless b****' and told 'you don't f***ing know anything'

Ms Credlin also allegedly prohibited an official briefing for Mrs Abbott on the entitlements of being the Prime Minister's wife and was said to be furious when she realised a staff member had carried out of the task at the request of Mr Abbott.

'She angrily berated the adviser, telling him this was not the White House: he did not work for the Prime Minister's wife; he worked for the Prime Minister,' Ms Savva wrote.

'If you get any requests for briefings for Margie's ladies' lunches, it's not going to happen.'

The explosive claims follow details of Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells' concern about a rumoured affair between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells told Mr Abbott in February 2015 - on the eve of a leadership spill vote - that the perception he was having an affair with Ms Credlin was damaging him.

It has been claimed Mrs Abbott was taken off an election victory party guest list in 2013 at last minute at Ms Credlin's request and that she approved official invitations before Mr Abbott's wife could see them

The explosive claims follow details of Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells' concern about a rumoured affair between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin

Political commentator Niki Savva has penned a book titled The Road to Ruin, detailing the bizarre relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin

Ms Credlin also allegedly prohibited an official briefing for Mrs Abbott on the entitlements of being the Prime Minister's wife, with a number of former staff saying they were 'troubled' by the treatment of Mrs Abbott

Tony Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin reportedly demanded a news photographer delete these images of her last year following a media event at a police station

'Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff. That's the perception, and you need to deal with it,' Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told Mr Abbott, according to the book.

The book says Mr Abbott responded calmly and said the rumours were not true.

Ms Savva also recounts a moment where Mr Abbott was seen by a Liberal MP giving Ms Credlin a 'slap on the bum,' and the pair are said to have had matching campaign luggage.

She also reveals Mr Abbott asked one of his colleagues to apologise to Ms Credlin after he asked her to refrain from swearing at junior members of the party.

Ms Savva says Ms Credlin believed she controlled the former Prime Minister and could get him to do whatever she wanted.

The book recounts warnings to Mr Abbott that he would lose the prime ministership unless he dumped Ms Credlin. That never happened and he was toppled by Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Abbott hit back on Monday at the account of his time in office, saying his government substantially delivered on its commitments.

He said the best response to Ms Savva's book is the objective record of his government.

'The boats were stopped. The carbon tax and the mining tax were repealed. Three free trade agreements that had languished for years were finalised,' he said in a statement.

The book recounts warnings to Mr Abbott that he would lose the prime ministership unless he dumped Ms Credlin. That never happened and he was toppled by Malcolm Turnbull

The book says Ms Credlin believed she controlled former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and could get him to do whatever she wanted

The book also reports Mr Abbott was seen by a Liberal MP giving Ms Credlin a 'slap on the bum,' and the pair are said to have had matching campaign luggage

Mr Abbott said infrastructure got under way under his leadership, including the western Sydney airport that had been talked about for 50 years.

'Our country was kept safe. And a strong start was made to the vital task of budget repair.'

The former Prime Minister claimed a 'dysfunctional opposition' couldn't win an election and a 'dysfunctional government' couldn't have got so much done in just two years.

'That said, I'm not in the business of raking over old coals nor am I in the business of responding to scurrilous gossip and smear.'

Apart from being a good local MP, Mr Abbott said his focus is on the election of the Turnbull government.
All it took was love and affection for one growling dog to immediately calm down.

Matt Montes, the owner of Mission Miracle K9 Rescue in Texas, went to visit a local shelter where he came across a dog, who had been abandoned at the shelter.

The dog, Toto, went from a family to an unfamiliar place where she ended up in a cage surrounded by strange noises, smells and other animals.

As Montes was about to step in her kennel and take a look at her, the tech warned him that 'she bites', according to Montes' Facebook page.

And instead of using a snare before getting too close to the supposedly mean dog, he used bite gloves and a towel and went in to grab her.

Before Montes arrived staff at the shelter used a snare on her.

Montes said in a Facebook post: 'When dealing with shelter behavior it's important to remember one thing above all else: for many, especially owner surrenders, their entire world has been turned upside down.

Instead of using a snare before getting too close to the supposedly mean dog, Matt Montes (pictured) used bite gloves and a towel and went in to grab her. He said Toto (pictured) immediately relaxed in his arms

'They've left everything they've ever known and ended up in a cage surrounded by strange noises, strange creatures, and strange smells...bottom line nothing can be taken at face value.'

According to Montes, 'as soon as she was in my arms she relaxed'.

Montes said in a video posted to YouTube, that Toto started warming up to him even more about an hour or so after he rescued her from the shelter.

He took her to the veterinarian, where she had some blood work done and the doctors said she 'did perfectly'.

'Little Toto's finally coming out of her shell.'

Montes said in the video that 'she's coming up and seeking affection now that just recently started happening in the last hour and fifteen minutes or so'.

He added: 'Just needed a little time.'

Now, Toto is decompressing at the rescue in a quiet environment.

Montes said: 'She's a super sweet girl who was simply overwhelmed by being where she was.'

Almost any animal put in Toto's position would have reacted the way she did, especially coming from a home, being abandoned and feeling unwanted.

It looks like Toto will find a real home soon, as one Facebook user, who commented on Montes' post, already wants to adopt her.
South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises today in an annual test of their defences against North Korea.

Seoul said the exercises would be the largest ever following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test and a rocket launch last month that triggered a U.N. Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Kim Jong Un had earlier issued its latest belligerent threat, warning of a 'pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice' if the drills went ahead.

The joint U.S. and South Korean military command said it notified North Korea of 'the non-provocative nature of this training' involving 17,000 American troops and 300,000 South Koreans.

The amphibious assault vessel USS Bonhomme Richard (right) and the USS Ashland leave the South Korean port of Busan, South Korea to take part in a combined landing exercise with South Korean forces, which is being held as part of the annual joint military drills that will run until late April

South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

North Korea's National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would 'realise the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification' in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.

'The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves,' the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North's KCNA news agency.

Such threats have been a staple of the young North Korean leader since he took power after his dictator father's death in December 2011.

The North's powerful National Defence Commission made the threat to strike U.S. and South just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use 'at any moment'

But they spike especially when Washington and Seoul stage what they call annual defensive springtime war games.

Pyongyang says the drills, which run through to the end of April, are invasion rehearsals.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei noted that North Korea had already said it opposed the drills, adding that Beijing was 'deeply concerned' about the exercises.

'China is linked to the Korean Peninsula. In terms of the peninsula's security, China is deeply concerned and firmly opposed to any trouble-making behaviour on the peninsula's doorstep.

'We urge all sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate tensions,' he told a daily news briefing.

The statement came hours before the South and the U.S. were due to carry out their annual military drill in the area. Pictured: A general view shows the entrance to the Osan US military air base, south of Seoul

The latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea's spy agency said it would hold an emergency cyber-security meeting on Tuesday to check readiness against any threat of cyber attack from the North, after detecting evidence of attempts by the North to hack into South Korean mobile phones.

South Korea has been on heightened cyber alert since the nuclear test and the rocket launch.
A troubled energy firm which has come under fire for having the worst customer service in the industry is to axe more than one fifth of its workers, it has been revealed.

The job losses at NPower involve 2,500 internal and contractor posts, which will be cut from the companys 11,500-strong workforce, according to a source close to the matter.

Npower, which has not made any official comment, is expected to confirm the grim news tomorrow, when its German owner RWE will announce its full-year results.

Npower bills is reportedly set to announce thousands of job losses

Sales and marketing roles are expected to be the worst hit.

The firm has major plants in the UK including Pembroke and Aberthaw in Wales and Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire. Most of its employees live in central and north east England and in Yorkshire.

NPowers power station at Didcot in Oxfordshire collapsed last month as it was being prepared for demolition, killing one worker, with three still missing.

The devastating job cuts come just three months after the firm was fined 26 million, the largest ever fine for a British power utility, for bungling billing and complaints handling in December.

It made a loss of 48 million for the first nine months of last year.

In January, NPower was voted the worst energy company for customer service for the sixth year running, according to research from consumer group Which?.

Union bosses say the job cuts make a mockery of Chancellor George Osbornes idea of a Northern Powerhouse and are just another kick in the teeth for communities.

Morale among the workforce is already at rock bottom, according to union representatives, after the firms poor performance in recent months.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: These huge job losses will come as a devastating blow to the workforce.

Npower has been in trouble for some time thanks to poor decision-making at the very top, and workers are now paying the price. The companys failure to invest properly in new systems has left it with one of the worst customer service records in the business.

The news suggests that npowers German owner isnt terribly committed to its UK operations. Cutting a fifth of the workforce will leave the already struggling business in an even worse state. Now months of uncertainly lie ahead for a workforce whose morale is already at rock bottom.

Eamon OHearn, of the GMB union, said: Many hard-working staff have already been outsourced and so any further job losses for directly and indirectly employed staff would be another kick in the teeth for communities.

It also makes a mockery of George Osbornes rhetoric about a northern powerhouse if an energy company cant maintain jobs in the region.

Unite union national officer Kevin Coyne said: These reports of job losses will be deeply unsettling for npower staff. These are people with bills to pay and mouths to feed and deserve better than finding out via leaks to the media that they could be out of a job next week.

It is an inexcusable way for the company to treat a loyal workforce which has worked hard to turn npowers record on customer service around in the last year.

We will be demanding urgent answers and assurances from npower over the coming days as we seek to protect as many jobs as possible.
A magnitude 9 earthquake and towering tsunami killed more than 15,000 people along Japan's northeastern coast and left more than 2,500 missing on March 11, 2011.

The subsequent disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant left the nation's prime minister on the brink of evacuating Tokyo after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Now scientists say it is only a matter of when a devastating earthquake and massive tsunami hits the U.S., specifically the Pacific Northwest, potentially killing thousands, CBS News reported.

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A magnitude 9 earthquake and towering tsunami killed more than 15,000 people along Japan's northeastern coast and left more than 2,500 missing on March 11, 2011. The devastation at the time pictured

The disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant washed away entire cities and left areas devastated after the worst nuclear accident in a quarter century. Above police search for survivors

Now scientists say it is only a matter of when a devastating earthquake and massive tsunami hits the U.S., specifically the Pacific Northwest, potentially leaving thousands dead. Seattle's Golden Gardens beach above

Experts also say the seismic event has the potential to be the greatest natural disaster ever experienced in the country, displacing one million people.

'This would be like five or six Katrinas all at once, up and down from California to Canada, would be the closest thing I can think of,' Chris Goldfinger, a paleo-seismologist at Oregon State University, told CBS.

Goldfinger, whose research indicates much of the region is overdue for a major quake, estimates there is a one-in-three chance it will strike in the next 50 years.

When asked how prepared the country would be for it, he replied, 'we're not completely unprepared, but we're pretty darn close,' adding on a scale of one to ten 'we're probably a little shy of one.'

The paleo-seismologist explained that Ground Zero is the 700-mile long area off the Pacific Coast called the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

There the North American tectonic plate is met with another plate, the Juan de Fuca.

One of the plates is sliding under the other plate, causing them to converge, but they are stuck.

'And so what happens is the weaker plate, which is North America, buckles,' Goldfinger said.

Experts say the seismic event has the potential to be the greatest natural disaster ever experienced in the country, displacing one million people from California to Canada

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is where the North American tectonic plate meets another plate, the Juan de Fuca. The two plates are converging but are stuck, which will cause the weaker North American plate to buckle

The downtown skyline in Portland, Oregon pictured. Chris Goldfinger, a paleo-seismologist at Oregon State University, estimates estimates there is a one-in-three chance a major quake will strike in the next 50 years

'And eventually something's going to give, and so the coastline that's been jacked up over 500-ish years or so is going to drop about a meter in about a minute or so.'

This would be the potentially devastating earthquake that would be followed by a colossal tsunami with waves reaching up to 50 feet on shore and stretching miles inland, CBS reported.

The devastation caused by the natural disaster could include large parts of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver left crumbling; communities stranded with impassable coastal towns, bridges and roads; and a collapsed economy in the region.

The threat of a megaquake is one the government is reportedly taking seriously.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has spent years preparing the federal response to an earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.

The agency estimates that in a best-case scenario there would only be 10,000 dead as a result of the natural disaster, assuming there are no beach tourists.

'Depending on when it happens, we're talking numbers that this nation I'm not sure is really prepared to deal with,' Ken Murphy, the Administrator for Region X of FEMA told CBS.

As the threat of a major quake is real, some communities are already preparing. In Westport, Washington, an elementary school is building the country's first vertical evacuation structure, featuring 44-ft-high walls and safe, high ground on its roof (pictured)

When asked if this could potentially be the greatest natural disaster the U.S. has experienced, Murphy replied: 'I would say it has the potential for that. This is an event you send everything to, and scale back down if you don't need it.'

Some of the locations at-risk if a major quake hits includes Seaside, Oregon's school complex holding 1,500 students.

Structural engineers say a large portion of the building would collapse in a seismic event, Superintendent Dough Dougherty told CBS.

Seaside's high school is only feet away from the Pacific Ocean and three out of four of its schools are in the tsunami danger zone.

If disaster hit and students and staff were able to evacuate, they would only have between 15 and 20 minutes to get to high ground, which is 1.3 miles away, Dougherty explained.

'That's one of those other pieces that keeps me awake at night,' he said.

The school district attempted three years ago to move the campus outside the tsunami zone, but voters rejected the measure after learning it would take an 18 per cent property tax increase.

With no money from the federal government or the state, Dougherty plans to retire and work towards another ballot campaign for a new campus.

A landscape view is pictured a week after a tsunami swept through Sumatra, Indonesia in 2005

Meanwhile in Westport, Washington, an elementary school is building the country's first vertical evacuation structure, featuring 44-ft-high walls and safe, high ground on its roof.

Ocosta Elementary's emergency structure was made possible after voters approved an additional $2million for it.

Superintendent Paula Akerland noted that while community is not affluent, 'so it was a huge commitment,' the community was looking at the safety of future generations.

And while the thought of natural disaster like the one that emptied much of Japan's northeastern coast five years ago might be terrifying, Goldfinger suggests that might not be a bad thing.

'If you're really well-prepared, and the infrastructure is hardened, that can be the end of it,' he said.
Britain will today deploy a navy ship carrying marines and a Wildcat helicopter to help tackle the migrant crisis that will see more than a million people try and reach Europe this year.

Arriving at a summit in Brussels today, David Cameron said it was in Britain's interests to help secure Europe's external border and this was why he had deployed the ships.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the Mounts Bay, a Royal Fleet Auxillary vessel, would be patrolling the narrow seas between Turkey and Greek islands such as Lesbos.

The crew will be responsible for spotting smugglers ships sending desperate migrants out to sea and alerting the Turkish authorities to ensure the boats are intercepted.

David Cameron, pictured arriving at the summit in Brussels today, said Britain was deploying ships to help secure Europe's external border but would not join an EU asylum policy

To the rescue: Mounts Bay, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, is expected to start operations in the coming days

Mr Cameron is meeting with EU leaders in Brussels to come up with a plan for how Europe can cope with the massive influx in migration.

Greece faces being overwhelmed by thousands of migrants every week after Macedonia effectively sealed its border and blocked the land route into mainland Europe.

Mr Fallon said today: 'The primary mission is to build up a proper picture of the smuggling route.

'Obviously if there are migrants at sea the law of the sea dictates the nearest vessel must pick them up.

'The first thing is to build up a picture of these routes and to start breaking the smugglers' business model.

'Smugglers are making money out of people drowning now - we've had several hundred drown this winter, several thousand drown this year.

'What's essential is to work out where this people smuggling is done from and then to get a policy in place of returning people which in the end will stop people making this very, very dangerous crossing.'

As he arrived at the talks, Mr Cameron said Britain would not be part of any EU asylum policy.

He said: 'Well we have an absolutely rock solid opt-out from these things, so there's no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe.

'We'll have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. Again it underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.'

Two UK Border Force cutters will also be sent as part of the international response. They will police the Aegean Sea, pictured, and the sea lanes between Turkey and Greek islands

Two UK Border Force cutters will also be sent as part of the international response to reduce the flow of migrants from Turkey.

Around 1,800 migrants a day arrived in Greece last month, contributing to a total of 116,000 so far this year.

The Prime Minister will use an EU summit today to call on the international community to work together on the issue.

'This migration crisis is the greatest challenge facing Europe,' David Cameron said last night.

The Turkish coastguard was today searching a capsized vessel on the Aegean Coast as EU leaders worked on a solution to the migrant crisis

The latest sinking came after a weekend where 18 refugees drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach a Greek island

'Britain has not faced anywhere near the scale of migrants coming to Europe as other countries because we are out of Schengen (the EU border-free zone) and retain control of our borders.

BRITISH WARSHIP RESCUES 100 MIGRANTS STRANDED IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Michael Fallon revealed the rescue mission in the Commons today, pictured British warship HMS Enterprise rescued 100 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean yesterday, Michael Fallon revealed today. The Defence Secretary told MPs about the rescue amid concerns a new Nato operation in the Aegean Sea could neglect other routes into Europe. Addressing the route from Libya to Italy, Mr Fallon told MPs: 'HMS Enterprise is still on station in the Tyrrhenian Sea and indeed just yesterday rescued around 100 people. 'What's important in this, I think, is to begin to establish a policy of return so there is less incentive for migrants to attempt these extremely dangerous crossings and less incentives for the criminal gangs to make money out of them doing so.' Advertisement

'But where we can help, we should. And we've got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey.'

Downing Street said the Prime Minister will call for efforts to 'smash' trafficking gangs and increase the rate at which illegal migrants are sent back.

Meanwhile, it can be revealed today that a British civilian boat sent to help in the migrant crisis has picked up more than 6,000 refugees in the past four months.

VOS Grace was chartered by the Home Office amid a shortage of patrol boats and crew to secure Britain's coastline. Officials even had to borrow Royal Marines from the Ministry of Defence to man the vessel.

The Mail can reveal today that the vessel - which will join Mounts Bay and the two Border Force cutters - has picked up 6,017 migrants making the journey from Libya and delivered them to European ports.

The latest figure brings the total number of migrants picked up by Britain since May last year to 15,434.

However, the figures, released only after a request by the Daily Mail, set off a row about Britain's naval capabilities.

Former Navy chief Lord West said: 'Why haven't they celebrated the fact we are saving migrants? They don't want us to know about this because we are using what should be used to defend British waters.

'They're using Royal Marines on a civilian vessel because there aren't enough Royal Navy ships (and) there aren't enough Border Force patrol boats.

'We should be proud that our men and women are rescuing people that are going to drown, but who is left to look after the UK borders?'

RFA Mounts Bay is a landing ship which carries a Wildcat helicopter and is capable of operating with a Chinook on board, depending on the operation to which she is deployed

A source at the Home Office admitted: 'This isn't something that we have talked that openly about.'

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said: 'While welcoming the success of the missions so far in saving lives, the fact we have hired this vessel raises questions about the long-term capabilities of UK Border Force.

'It should be able to deploy its own systems to protect our borders and interests rather than having to charter ships.'

Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, said: 'This gives migrants the expectation that if they get into trouble they will be rescued by the British taxpayer.

'We must not encourage people to come to Europe and to Britain. This has got to stop.'

Immigration minister James Brokenshire said: 'I am proud of the contribution the UK is playing to support search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean. This includes the Border Force chartered vessel VOS Grace.'

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, which carries a Wildcat helicopter (pictured), will pass the information to Turkish coastguards so they can intercept the boats (file photo)
A Somalian migrant molested a child at a train station in a misunderstanding caused by 'cultural differences', a court heard.

Ali Abdullahi, 34, tried to kiss a 15-year-old girl on a station platform, lunged at a female passenger on a train journey and made an approach at another woman.

But despite pleading guilty to the attacks, the security guard, who came to Britain in 2011, still has trouble admitting he did anything wrong, the court heard.

Abdullahi approached a 15-year-old at Torquay train station (pictured) and 'behaved completely inappropriately', Exeter Crown Court heard

He told police he came from a conservative culture and misunderstood the sexual boundary between men and women in the UK.

But his mitigation was rejected by a judge who said the offences could not be put down to cultural differences and were simply sexually motivated at a hearing on Friday.

Abdullahi was given a community order and told to attend a sex offender course to improve his conduct with women following the offences in December 2013.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Abdullahi approached a 15-year-old girl at Torquay train station, Devon, and 'behaved completely inappropriately'.

'She was probably very frightened,' Judge Graham Cottle said.

He added: 'Later that day you approached another slightly older victim who got on the train travelling towards Bristol Temple Meads.

'You behaved completely inappropriately towards her.

'The sex offending was not of the most serious kind but would have been extremely frightening to both girls.'

Abdullahi then approached a third woman, a student, at the station in Bristol. She made no complaint of physical contact but had been left worried by his conversation.

Adrian Chaplin, mitigating, said Abdullahi comes from Somalia but came to Britain via Kenya in 2011, and has a wife who is currently living in Ethiopia.

At the time of the offences he had been tired after a day at work and felt frustrated as he was trying to 'establish a rapport' with the females, Mr. Chaplin said.

He added: 'There is work to be done in terms of him being frank with himself and understanding the different levels of acceptable conduct.

Ali Abdullahi, 34, tried to kiss a 15-year-old girl on a station platform, lunged at a female passenger on a train journey and made an approach at another woman (stock photo)

'He comes from a conservative culture in Somalia and misunderstands the extent to which ordinary polite engagement and interaction should or should not be seen as a precursor towards seeking to be physically close to someone.

'It is not the first case of people coming to this country and society and feeling a combination of freedom but not entirely properly understanding boundaries which can lead to a misunderstanding.'

Judge Cottle said if he sent the defendant, of St Pauls, Bristol, to prison, the sentence would be short and he would come out an untreated sex offender.
A man who fell 100 feet from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship had gotten into a big argument before the incident on Friday evening, a fellow passenger said.

David Mossman, 46, of Cypress, Texas, plummeted from the 10th deck balcony of the Navigator of the Seas ship when it was about 40 miles south of Key Largo, Florida, Coast Guard officials said.

Rescue teams combed through more than 2,500 nautical square miles before the Coast Guard called off the search.

Chris Eddy of the 7th District Coast Guard said: ''We want to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Mossman as the decision to suspend a search is never an easy one to make and is done with great care and deliberation.'

David Mossman, 46, of Cypress, Texas (left), was reportedly on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with his mother Donna Mossman (right), when he fell 100 feet from the 10th deck balcony on Friday

According to public records, Mossman (pictured, L and R) had a checkered history which included DUI and DWI charges. Fellow passenger Vince Caputo said: 'There's railings, there's no way you could fall accidentally'

The Coast Guard announced the search on Saturday. They have employed a helicopter and plane in addition to rescue teams on water to comb through 2,200 nautical square miles, but Mossman has not yet been found

Eddy continued: 'Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and an exhaustive search, our crews were unable to locate him.'

According to the NY Daily News, passenger Vince Caputo claims Mossman 'got into a big argument' on Friday night with a passenger who appeared to be his mother.

According to Caputo, Mossman was later seen chatting with someone else on the 10th deck balcony.

When the passenger turned away, the 46-year-old disappeared with a splash, the NY Daily News reported.

Caputo reportedly said: 'There's railings, there's no way you could fall accidentally.'

According to public records, Mossman had a checkered history which included charges of domestic violence battery, driving while intoxicated and driving under the influence.

The 46-year-old, who attended Temple College, posted images on his Facebook stating: 'Nails didn't hold God to a Cross. Love did'.

Earlier last month, he also posted: 'PS. God is still working on me.'

Royal Caribbean said it was 'providing support to the guest's family'.

Passengers on the ship said that there was an 'Oscar, Oscar' announcement around 11:00 P.M., according to Cruise Law News.

The conditions at sea were 'dark and difficult,' making it a challenging search, the Cruise Law News reported.

Life rings were reportedly thrown off the boat after Mossman fell overboard, and the Coast Guard has searched over some 2,200 square nautical miles with no results.

Dawn DeBlaze, a passenger on board the ship, posted the following update to her Facebook page

Royal Caribbean said it was 'providing support to the guest's family'. The ship (pictured) is one of the largest passenger ships in the world

'#HappeningNow USCG crews are searching for 46-year-old man who reportedly fell from cruise ship,' the Official US Coast Guard Southeast tweeted on Saturday.

Dawn DeBlaze, a passenger on board the ship, posted the following update to her Facebook page: '#headlinenews - I am on Royal Caribbean's 'Navigator of the Seas' with my cousin Donna when an individual jumped overboard @ ~11 pm eastern time on Fri/March 4 !! The ship was turned around to search for him, the Coast Guard alerted and a helicopter arrived to search at 12:35 am; very somber evening.'
The media is sitting on 'bombshell' exposes on Donald Trump - but won't publish it until the tycoon is the Republican nominee, Ted Cruz said on Sunday.

The Texas senator shared his theory on CBS's Face The Nation, hours after winning the Kansas and Maine caucuses on Super Saturday.

He said reporters were voluntarily holding back on criticizing Trump, hoping that the billionaire would become the nominee and be defeated by Hillary Clinton - the only possible outcome according to Cruz.

'I can't tell you how many media outlets I hear have this great expose on Donald, on different aspects of his business dealings, or his past, but they said, you know what, we're going to hold it to June or July. We're not going to run it now,' Cruz told CBS's John Dickerson.

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Ted Cruz, pictured left during the CPAC in National Harbor, Maryland, told CBS the media was withholding 'bombshell' reports on Donald Trump. The billionaire, pictured right during a news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Super Saturday, will be 'taken apart' by reporters if he's the nominee, Cruz predicted

Dickerson asked Cruz if reporters had told him that, to which Cruz replied: 'Absolutely.'

He then refused to name media outlets but said there was 'so much there'.

'Frankly, one of the reasons the media wants Donald to be the nominee is because the media knows Donald can't win the general, that Hillary would wallop him,' Cruz said.

The senator then criticized reporters for not looking deeper into Trump's tax returns, which the billionaire has refused to release saying he was currently under audit.

'The fact that Donald won't hand over his tax returns suggests there's a bombshell in there,' Cruz told Dickerson.

He also brought up an off-the-record meeting between Trump and The New York Times editorial board, during which Trump commented on his own stance on immigration according to BuzzFeed.

Both The New York Times and Trump have declined to publish the transcript of the meeting. Megyn Kelly, referring to the BuzzFeed report, asked Trump during the last GOP debate on Fox if his position on immigration was more flexible than it seemed. Trump replied: 'Theres always give and take. Theres always negotiation.'

Cruz criticized journalists for 'not questioning' what Trump told The New York Times editorial board during his CBS interview.

'I promise you, come the general election, that will be the singular focus of the media. And I think Republicans, we have been burned by that before,' he said.

'We're not interested in losing again, particularly when the stakes, I think, are catastrophic.'

The senator called for other Republican candidates to drop out of the race on Saturday night, arguing that he was the only one capable of defeating Trump.

'No other candidate has beaten him more than once. People recognize that if we're divided Donald wins, and if Donald wins, Hillary wins,' he said from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Cruz crushed Trump in Kansas and in Maine during Super Saturday and the tycoon only won by a meager margin in Kentucky and Louisiana.

Trump is still the Republican candidate with the most delegates, with a total of 384. Cruz is right behind him with 300 delegates.
The end may be nigh for a Harlem church known for hateful public messages condemning gays and President Barack Obama to eternal damnation, as an LGBT center is hoping to get an ironic last word on the matter.

In January it was revealed that New York City was about to foreclose on the church of anti-gay preacher, James David Manning, for unpaid water and sewage bills, according to DNAinfo.

The Ali Forney Center, the nation's only 24/7 shelter and service agency for LGBT homeless youth, announced a fundraising drive, Harlem No Hate, to buy the church building.

In January it was revealed that New York City was about to foreclose on the church of anti-gay preacher, James David Manning (pictured), for unpaid water and sewage bills

The Blood of Jesus ATLAH Worldwide church faces foreclosure and the Ali Forney Center plans to put in their bid to buy the church building and use it to house homeless youth. The church in Harlem is known for its outrageous signs (pictured) and it's anti-Obama and anti-gay preacher, Manning

The center surpassed its goal of $200,000 on February 9, but expects the bidding to be much higher when an auction is scheduled.

The city will hold a hearing on April 26 to determine whether the building is to be put up for auction.

Manning claims that as a tax-exempt organization, his ministry doesn't have to pay water and sewage bills.

He owes more than $355,000 on nine federal tax liens, $194,000 in outstanding water bills, and other debts, despite receiving a $186,000 tax break from New York City, according to the Daily Beast.

However, the AFC's executive director, Carl Siciliano, noted that $200,000 won't be nearly enough to buy the landmark building, at 123rd Street and Lenox, at an open auction.

The center has raised $315K, but they announced last month that it will search for a partner a developer who would dedicate part of the space to AFC and turn the rest into highly desirable condos and possible space for affordable housing.

In an update on the AFC's website Siciliano said: 'We are in discussion with potential developers and investors to acquire the building and we anticipate having a partner by the time of the auction.'

The AFC said they have raised about $315K, but are still looking for a partnership in order to buy the church building (pictured) that may bid for as much as $1.02 million

The center recently announced that they've obtained pro-bono services of major law firm, Winston & Strawn. The firm has agreed to assist them in 'all matters of our building acquisition process'.

And being that the hearing has been postponed until April, it gives the AFC more time to research the condition of the building prior to making a bid at the auction.

As for Manning, he continues with his two obsessions, homosexuality and gentrification of Harlem for which he mostly blames Starbucks.

The large red billboard in front of the church is emblazoned with rotating messages like one that said to gays 'cursed be thou with cancer, HIV, syphilis, stroke, madness, the itch, then Hell.'

Others have gone after Obama, calling him 'a Taliban Muslim illegally elected president.'

Manning also rails against 'sodomites' on the Manning Report, his three-hour daily radio broadcast, and in YouTube videos laced with gay slurs.

The hateful sign at Atlah has been hit with five violations by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, who fined it $1,850, according to the Daily Beast.

Manning, however, argued that other churches in Harlem have similar signs and he was being 'singled out' because of the 'anti-homosexual' messages, according to DNAinfo.
Police say a shooting that injured two people occurred outside a Minnesota Foot Locker over a pair of retro 'Wing It' Nike Air Jordan sneakers.

The $200 shoes went on sale on Saturday and apparently some customers came to the Brooklyn Shopping Center armed so they could ensure to get their hands on the sneakers.

Police have not identified any suspects in the shooting at this time.

A large crowd of people showed up on Saturday in an attempt to purchase the shoes.

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New shoes: The $200 Nike Air Jordan sneakers went on sale on Saturday and apparently some customers came to the Brooklyn Shopping Center armed so they could ensure to get their hands on the sneakers.

Video courtesy: KSTP

'It was absolutely crazy,' shopper Latrissa Favorite told CBS.

'I just hear the police screaming Get down! Get down!".'

Latrissa, who was at the mall on a coffee run, heard around six gun shots fired in the Foot Locker parking lot.

Police say that the two victims have non-life-threatening injuries.

'They were conscious and talking with the officers, paramedics. The word I have is non-life threatening at this point,' Commander Garett Flesland told CBS.

Witness Latrissa Favorite was troubled by the shooting and what it means for her community.

'It makes you sad for the people, and the mentality and the mind frame that we have to kill somebody, that nobodys life is valued anymore. Its sad,' Favorite said.

An investigation is ongoing.
Middle-aged Britons are to be warned their bad habits may send them to an early grave in a major public health drive that critics have labelled 'patronising' and 'hectoring'.

Adults will be told in stark terms that up to 40 per cent of deaths are directly linked to being obese, inactive, drinking too much or smoking.

A 3.5m advertising campaign launched today will urge adults to think twice about 'unwinding' with drinks after work or piling plates too high.

Adults will be told in stark terms that up to 40 per cent of deaths are directly linked to being obese, inactive, drinking too much or smoking

The One You campaign includes TV adverts and an online quiz that asks participants if they feel 'really knackered', 'fat and flabby', 'down in the dumps' or if they 'can't run for a bus'.

They will be encouraged to take up Zumba fitness classes, walk for ten minutes daily and do press ups.

There will be tips on getting a good night's sleep.

But critics have warned that lecturing grown-ups 'as if they were children' is a splurge of public money that will almost certainly prove ineffective.

Figures show that 42 per cent of middle-age adults have at least one longterm condition that could cause premature death, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

Two thirds are overweight or obese, a quarter drink more than the recommended levels and one in five smoke.

The campaign urges Britons  primarily in their 30s, 40s and 50s  to take part in an online lifestyle quiz which gives them a score out of ten and offers advice on being healthier.

As well as being asked how they feel about their physical and mental health, they are questioned on how often they drink, eat fruit or have unhealthy snacks.

Depending on their score, adults may be urged to join a slimming club or to download an app onto their phone that teaches them healthy recipes or tips for taking up jogging.

Participants will be encouraged to take up Zumba fitness classes, walk for ten minutes daily and do press ups

Other advice includes not having a nightcap before bed and having a glass of water if they are peckish, rather than an unhealthy snack.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer said: 'It is important people of all ages feel able to prioritise their health so they can lead long and healthy lives.

'We all have the power to shape our future health by making simple, small changes now.'

A Government-backed study last year estimated that 40.2 per cent of deaths in England annually are linked to behaviour, including those caused by obesity, excess alcohol, inactivity and smoking.

Furthermore, the NHS spends an estimated 11billion a year  a tenth of its budget  treating lifestyle-related illnesses such as heart disease and some cancers.

DEMENTIA ASSESSMENT Everyone over the age of 40 is to be assessed for dementia risk, the Health Secretary said yesterday. The middle-aged are to be given advice on living more healthily to reduce the risk of Alzheimers and similar diseases, Jeremy Hunt announced. The plan extends to a younger age group a programme that until now has only included those over 65. Mr Hunt also said health boards will be given Ofsted-style ratings, enabling people to make better comparisons about dementia care in their area. And by 2020, he added, dementia patients in hospital will be checked by a specialist seven days a week. Advertisement

The campaign  run by Public Health England, a Government agency  centres on a one minute TV advert encouraging adults to ditch takeaways and wine for jogging and Zumba.

But the scheme has been questioned by several experts, who fear it will be a waste of money. Chris Snowdon, of the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank said: 'It is astounding that this hectoring quango is squandering 3million promoting a tedious website. Whilst there is nothing wrong with health education, there is little that is educational about this patronising money pit.'

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Educational campaigns can be useful but costs must be kept down.

It is important that the campaign is informative rather than patronising and that large amounts of taxpayer-funded resources aren't wasted on simply stating the obvious.'

Officials say the initiative is the biggest intervention since Change4Life, the anti-obesity campaign launched in 2009 which has cost 75million. But that has been repeatedly condemned as 'ineffective' and a huge waste of public money.

But Professor Sir Muir Gray, an expert in public health from Oxford University, who advised on this latest campaign said even 'little changes' would make a difference: 'Many people are getting preventable diseases, losing fitness and becoming depressed and accepting that it's just to do with ageing  but it's not.'
Boris Johnson sat hunched, hands on knees, shoulders rounded and an expression of genial, square-jawed intent on his face.

It was the posture of a chap settling down to his morning constitutional.

He was haloed by balmy cheerfulness, a sort of comradely what ho to the world as he surveyed it through the lavatory window.

Andrew Marr would not let Boris Johnson finish his points during their interview, pictured, said Quentin Letts

The Mayor of London was in fact appearing on BBC TVs Marr programme to discuss the joys of Brexit.

With that came the problem  the snaggle, the scratchy burr, of Andrew Marr himself. The shows presenter was set on preventing old Boris saying more than a few words without interruption.

Boris: Let me explain about this single market

Marr: Were short of time.

Boris: Staying in the EU is the risky option

Marr: Enough of that.

Boris, gazing into the camera: This is a glorious once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape

Marr: Youve said that!

You need to be smarmily insistent to survive Marr. Most important, dont hesitate. Marr will leap on the tiniest pause, the most slivery semi-second of silence in your spiel, to twist his corkscrew.

The more skilful sales wallahs know how to overcome that.

You do not speak in sentences but in vast paragraphs, words and phrases glued together to create seamless noise.

It doesnt matter what you say; it is the way you say it in a controlled torrent of wodge, syllables mashed together in some ghastly industrial process to create the philosophical equivalent of supermarket garlic sausage. That is how you project omniscience.

Unlike other politicians, Boris has not mastered or can not be fagged with the soundbite. His handlers have tried to teach him but to no avail. He speaks too slowly.

Every time he paused to take a lungful of air yesterday morning, Marr zoomed into the gap. Soon the two of them were jabbering away simultaneously, Boris huff-puffing, porcine-snuffly, Marr more staccato, at times sounding cross.

As public service broadcasting goes, yesterdays 20-minute interview was pretty uninformative except in the way it showed how horribly confusing the European Union issue has become.

All the more reason to slice through the Gordian Knot? Initially Boris was all smiles, talking about the exciting opportunities for our country if we seize our freedom and quit the EU.

But when he offered to describe the journey that led me to this conclusion, Marr pounced on a break in the narrative and yanked Boris down a fiendish alleyway of detail.

At this point a Cameron or an Osborne would have firmly declined to follow his mugger. Boris lacked that guile.

Soon we were in a tangle of legal arguments, treaty articles and Brussels embuggerances.

Occasionally Boris came up for air, saying something accessible such as it would be wonderful, a great weight lifted if we abandoned the EUs sinking steamer.

Marr would each time pull him back down into scrivening nitty-gritty.

This is BBC claptrap, honked Boris. Marr said it was no such thing.

Boris essayed another melody but was hauled short. This is not the Boris Johnson Show, it is the Andrew Marr Show, said Marr.

The Mayor of London, pictured, is one of the figureheads of the campaign for Britain to leave the EU

Boris: Ah, you have sovereignty! Good joke, that, but lost as we again plunged below the waves into unfathomable minutiae.

Boris tried an analogy about how there was such self-loathing in our pro-EU elite that it was as though the gaoler had left the prison door open and the prisoners lacked the confidence to leg it for freedom.

Marr didnt like that. Quickly changed subject. Soon he wanted to know about Boriss personal ambitions.

Load of cobblers, said Boris. Youre just trying to personalise it. Marr admitted he was.

By now time really was short. Into Boriss bean there finally plopped one of those soundbite whatnots.

Its Project Fear against Project Hope, he cried.

But already Marr was announcing the final (musical) item and Boris was left to address his last remarks, barely audible, to the studio production assistants.
Huge bonus payment to staff across Facebooks British operations could help it reduce its tax bill over the next three years, it has emerged.

The social media giant is reported to be planning to hand out bonuses worth 280m to British workers.

Plans of the payments emerged just days after Facebook attempted to tackle criticism about how much tax it pays in the UK by promising to pay millions more to HMRC on its advertising sales.

The social media giant is reported to be planning to hand out bonuses worth 280m to British workers

Facebooks bonus payouts to its staff - an average of 775,000 each according to the Sunday Times  can be registered as taxable costs or expenses which means it can offset the payments against the tax it pays to the UKs HMRC.

The share payouts will be made between now and the end of 2018 and means its tax bill could shrink.

For the financial year ending 2014, Facebook paid out 35million in share awards to its employees, a practice which helped them post a loss of 28.5million.This meant for 2014 it paid only 4,327 in corporation tax. The bonus share awards are liable for income tax, for each person that received them, however the corporation itself was able to lower its tax bill. Facebooks British operations have more than doubled since 2014 when it had les then 400 staff.

Stefan Stern, director of lobby group the High Pay Centre, described the practice as leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. He added: Theres too much jiggery-pokery on tax and not enough transparency as it is. These bonuses might be good news for some hard-working and talented Facebook employees. But it is bad news for the rest of us if it means getting even less tax out of the company - if thats possible!

Last week Facebook, which records revenues of more than 700million in the UK, said that from next month it will stop routing revenues from it advertising sales, made directly by its UK team to big customers such as retailers Tesco and Sainsbury, via overseas companies.

It previously funnelled them through Ireland. Facebook Ireland paid around 2.6million in corporation tax last year despite generating 3.74billion of revenues.

For the financial year ending 2014, Facebook paid out 35million in share awards to its employees

Irelands corporation tax is at a rate of 12.5 per cent of profits compared with 20 per cent in Britain.

The amount of tax Facebook pays is also particularly frustrating because it emerged it pays less corporation tax to HMRC, than HMRC spends buying Facebook advertising.

UK tax expert Jolyon Maugham said Facebooks plan to book its UK ad sales in Britain is unlikely to make a real change on the actual tax it pays in future years. He said: We should expect it to be a good while before the deal results in any real cash moving from Facebook UK to HMRC.

The move by Facebook comes weeks after Google settled its UK tax bill for 130million. The arrangement was slammed by critics who argued it should have been much higher. Last month it emerged France is demanding 1.3billion in back-tax from Google  10 times as much as Britain got in its disproportionately small deal.

Google has a much smaller operation in France compared with the UK.

Many of the US technology giants have faced criticism for their use of complex methods to reduce their tax bill overseas.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Starbucks have also come under scrutiny in Brussels for their methods of moving money around in what appears to be an effort to avoid taxes.

However Starbucks is now making a profit in the UK and paid 8.1m in corporation tax in 2015.
Plain-talking and principled: John Longworth (pictured) spoke his mind on Europe

Generally, there are two types of spokesman for the business world. Most prominent are those with slippery tongues  and, sadly, major British companies have more than their fair share of these.

They typically represent plutocratic directors, are overpaid and have their eye on the next opportunity for themselves  normally a political career or a peerage.

I knew from the moment I first came across John Longworth that he did not belong to this category. Instead, he was an exemplar of the type who actually know what they are talking about when they fight public battles on behalf of their members. I liked him, and we have stayed in touch ever since.

The crucial difference between him and the type of PR spivs who work for organisations such as the CBI was the fact that he had spent 30 years at the sharp end of British industry.

Mr Longworth has been a board director of Tesco and Asda, as well as working on start-ups of his own.

This meant his appointment as director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce came after three decades in which he had got his hands dirty and learnt first-hand the daily problems facing the countless number of small businesses that are the backbone of the UK.

As such, Mr Longworth was the polar opposite of Roland Rudd, the sleek public relations expert who is running the Remain campaign. Rudd, who was a financial journalist before making his PR fortune, has never in his life run a business that actually makes things.

However, this does not stop politicians flocking to meet fat-cat corporate moguls at Rudds fashionable parties because they regard such occasions as superb networking opportunities.

I would argue many of the outfits that London-based Rudd champions do not always behave in the best interests of the British public.

Unlike Oxford-educated Rudd, whose sister is in the Cabinet (the vehemently pro-EU Energy Secretary Amber Rudd), John Longworth came up the hard way and it shows in the way he talks. Utterly candid, he would not know how to tell an untruth. Integrity shines through him. He is a man you would want beside you in the trenches.

Above all, he is a practical man. He knows through rueful personal experience the terrible and needless damage Brussels-made regulations can inflict on British business.

He could see straight through threats made by the Westminster and Brussels political establishments. He was a true representative of the 95 per cent of UK firms who do no business with Europe but still have to pay the full cost of EU regulation.

Mr Longworth was the polar opposite of Roland Rudd (pictured), the sleek public relations expert who is running the Remain campaign. Ruddhas never in his life run a business that actually makes things

Indeed, his savaging by the Remain lobby over the weekend exposed the two very different sides of the argument over the UKs membership of the EU. One is based on cold facts; the other on spin and vested interests.

Remains big corporate backers are often based overseas, pay little British tax, and their British head office will invariably be in central London. On the other hand, the companies John Longworth represented were smaller, with much deeper connections to the British economy and, above all, were regional.

I do not know what John Longworth will do next. But I am certain that if he was to agree to become a spokesman for the Leave Campaign, he could make a big difference to the result of the referendum. Voters would respect his plain speaking, based on facts, at a time when they feel they are being bombarded with twisted propaganda.

They would recognise that the fiercely pro-EU Chancellor George Osborne (whose personal experience of the workplace outside politics extends to a short stint working for The Telegraph) would have met his match with such a man.

If Mr Longworth agreed to become a spokesman for the Leave Campaign, he could make a big difference to the result of the referendum. Voters would recognise the fiercely pro-EU Chancellor George Osborne would have met his match with such a man

Millions who share Mr Longworths worries about a European superstate will recall that many of those who are now advocating that the UK remains in the EU were agitating 15 years ago for Britain to sign up for the euro.

Had they had their way, the British economy could have been devastated like has happened in Greece, Italy or Spain.

As for Mr Longworths former employer the British Chambers of Commerce, following his resignation I predict there will be an exodus of disgruntled members who either share his views on the EU or who are profoundly perturbed by the way that he was treated.

There is a viciousness in parts of the Remain campaign which had led to its opponents being bullied simply for exercising their democratic right to present voters with the arguments against continued UK membership of the EU.

Most chillingly, this has unpleasant echoes of the McCarthy period in the United States at the height of the Cold War, when thousands of people lost their jobs and livelihoods because they were branded enemies of the state for the Left-wing views that they held.

During this time, public servants and other influential figures were often forced to take a loyalty oath to show their support for the government.

I fear that Britain is now moving rapidly in the same direction. Public servants, as well as representatives of professional and economic bodies such as Mr Longworth, are being compelled to sign up to the official Government line that is pro-EU.

This stinks. It is a violation of the British tradition of free speech and an abuse of power.

It is worth remembering that one long-term effect of McCarthyism is that Americas government machine suffered lasting damage because the brightest and best left public service to seek fresh lives overseas.
An 18-year-old French au pair was left alone and afraid in police lock-up after attempting to go on an overseas holiday with the family she worked for.

Manon Pache told Daily Mail Australia she had been working for the Johnston family in Tenterfield, just south of the Queensland border in NSW for four months when she went to New Zealand with them.

The trip, in early December 2015, was supposed to be a chance for the tourist to see the country as a guest on the Johnston's family holiday.

But instead she was stopped at the airport, questioned by the authorities and thrown into a Queenstown police cell, ready to be sent back to Australia.

Manon Pache was locked-up in a police cell in Queenstown after being stopped by border authorities. The 18-year-old was on holiday with a family she worked with as an au pair

'I was terrified, that is just a small word but most of all I was angry and lost,' she said.

Ms Pasche looked after Dr Pip and Paul Johnston's two daughters, two and four, during their work hours.

She had become close with the family and been invited to join the Johnston family, including a set of grandparents, on holiday because she had developed a close friend ship with the family.

According to the Otago Daily Times, Authorities were concerned Ms Pache would care for the children during the holiday, and violate the terms of the visitor visa.

'The border officer explained that for immigration purposes, work is defined as any activity undertaken for gain or reward,' Amanda Mehrtens from Immigration New Zealand said.

'Given that Miss Pache's accommodation and travel had been provided to her in exchange for undertaking child-care activities this would constitute work.

'As such, Miss Pache was assessed as likely to breach any visitor visa granted to her.'

The young woman didn't get to see much of the country, after being stopped at Queenstown Airport, pictured, she was forced to spend the night in a police cell before being put on a plane back to Australia

But Dr Johnston says she told authorities Ms Pache wouldn't have needed to care for the children as they were over there to spend time together as a family.

'He (the border officer) asked what would happen if the four Johnstons wanted to go out to dinner. Who would look after the children?' Dr Johnston said.

'I said the children would be coming with us; that is the point of a family holiday.'

'I believe the visa refusal decision was not made justly.'

Immigration NZ national manager border Senta Jehle said the 18-year-old's arrangements with the family constituted work.

She admitted it was unfortunate Ms Pache had to spend the night in a police cell, but Queenstown does not have any other facilities capable of holding passengers over night.

Ms Pache was not allowed to call the French embassy, or receive her belongings while in custody. She was allowed to call Dr Johnston - who remembers her being 'terrified' on the other end of the phone.

The young woman worked for the Johnston family for five and a half months all together and is now back in France.
The European Union was last night under fire for failing to condemn a crackdown on free speech in Turkey which saw the state-enforced takeover of the countrys largest newspaper.

Critics accused Brussels of a cynical silence over hard-line president Recep Tayyip Erdogans clampdown, claiming EU leaders were reluctant to anger Ankara ahead of a crunch summit on the migration crisis.

The court-ordered takeover of Zaman sparked international outrage and was described as one of the darkest days in the history of the countrys Press  but EU chiefs largely remained silent.

Protest: A man holds a Saturday copy of the Zaman newspaper with its headline reading 'the constitution suspended' as people gathered in support outside its headquarters in Istanbul yesterday

Clampdown: The court-ordered takeover of Zaman (pictured in Istanbul yesterday) sparked international outrage and was described as one of the darkest days in the history of the countrys Press

Demonstrating: Zaman had been sharply critical of the president before the court ordered the seizure

Today they will desperately try to convince Turkey to do more to curtail the flow of migrants travelling to Europe.

In return for Ankara taking action to stop hundreds of thousands of refugees leaving its western border for Greece, the EU has pledged 2.3billion as well as the easing of visa restrictions on its citizens travelling to Europe.

It has also promised to speed up controversial moves to admit Turkey to full EU membership.

In an underwhelming statement, the EUs diplomatic service said: The EU has repeatedly stressed that Turkey, as [an EU] candidate country, needs to respect and promote high democratic standards and practices, including freedom of the media.

Dramatic: People run as riot police use tear gas and water cannons on supporters of Zaman on Saturday

Police reaction: Critics accused Brussels of a cynical silence over the hard-line president's clampdown

But neither European Council president Donald Tusk nor European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker intervened to condemn Turkeys actions.

Only Martin Schulz, European Parliament president, condemned the move on Twitter as yet another blow to Press freedom in Turkey and said he intended to raise the issue today.

'DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS' TO LET TURKEY JOIN EUROPEAN UNION Letting Turkey join the European Union would be downright dangerous because it would increase the threat from jihadists, it was claimed yesterday. Ukip leader Nigel Farage and senior Tory David Davis, two leading members of the pro-Brexit Go Movement, spoke out ahead of the Brussels meeting. Mr Farage said the move would not just [be] stupid, but downright dangerous given the current flow of Islamic State terrorists in the region. Former shadow home secretary Mr Davis said: Giving visa-free access to people carrying Turkish papers will, if anything, make worse the security threat identified by Europol. Advertisement

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned the EU on the eve of the Brussels summit not to yield to blackmail regarding migrants.

There can be no question of resuming EU accession talks while Ankara visibly tramples on basic European values, said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

Until now, the EU has demonstrated culpable weakness in response to president Erdogans attacks on the media. Is the EU determined to let itself be humiliated?

Daniel Calingaert, executive vice president of the US-based rights watchdog Freedom House said: The European Union  should not trade Turkeys support on migration and Syria for silence over the dismantling of democratic institutions.

The top-selling daily newspaper had been sharply critical of President Erdogan before the court ordered the seizure on Friday.
Offensive: Sadiq Khan, pictured right, is under pressure to sack senior aide Shueb Salar, left

Labour's candidate for London Mayor was last night under pressure to sack a senior aide who suggested the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby was faked.

Sadiq Khan faced questions about his judgment after hiring Shueb Salar despite him posting a series of offensive posts on Twitter.

Along with homophobic and sexist comments, Salar jokes about rape and murder, claims Bengali people smell and said he thought the slaying of soldier Mr Rigby by extremists in 2013 may have been fabricated.

The messages began long before Mr Khan employed Salar as a speechwriter in November 2014 and continued afterwards.

A spokesman for the MP for Tooting, who is favourite to beat Conservative Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson as Mayor, said Salar had been suspended pending an investigation.

However, Tory MPs questioned how he made it through the vetting procedure in the first place. Essex MP Priti Patel called for Salar to be sacked in a letter, saying: Why not dismiss him immediately? By deciding to only suspend him, you are in effect suggesting that the offensiveness of these views are open to interpretation.

A 2013 post by Salar the day after Mr Rigby was brutally hacked to death in the street in south-east London says: I had the feeling the Woolwich killing was probably fake.

It was followed by a link to a YouTube clip that has footage of killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale at the murder scene with commentaries questioning whether it was a hoax.

Salars anti-gay tweets include one which he said two men who were harassed for kissing on the Tube may have deserved it.

Others read: Currently hating all you faggots who have finished uni. Referring to women as hoes [whores] or bitches, he says treating a lady means buying her a nice iron and extending the kitchen.

Reversing the rags to riches tale of Cinderella would be the story of a woman learning her place, he added.

The sexist comments are particularly embarrassing as Mr Khan yesterday attended a special 30-a-head screening in London of the 2015 movie Suffragette, with all proceeds going towards winning London for Labour in May.

MP Priti Patel, pictured, called for Salar to be sacked in a letter, saying: Why not dismiss him immediately?'

The event was billed as celebrating Mothers Day and International Womens Day with the comment womens equality is good for all.

Mr Khan gave a short speech in which he described himself as a feminist and said Labour would stand up for womens rights.

However, Tory politicians expressed incredulity at Mr Khans failure to vet an employee with such vile opinions.

Pictured are a selection of tweets that Salar posted between 2012 and 2013, in which he makes sexist comments and says that he thought the killing of soldier Lee Rigby was 'probably fake'

Former police and criminal justice minister Damian Green said the mayoral candidate had shown a completely extraordinary lack of care.

I cant believe that he would have known that he had said any of this stuff, so I can only assume he didnt check anything about him before, he added.

Kingston and Surbiton MP James Berry said: The most elementary of background checks would have revealed these messages.

Here is a list of the offensive posts tweeted by Shueb Salar, which included sexist and homophobic messages

Leader of the Commons Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday: They raise serious questions about the judgment of Sadiq Khan, who chose to employ this man, despite his views being public, on a Twitter account followed by Khan himself.

Salar, 24, an amateur boxer who previously worked for a solicitors firm specialising in human rights, has moderated his comments since starting to work for Mr Khan.

But he continued marking other peoples tasteless comments as favourites. His Twitter account has now been shut down.
Dr Vladislav Rogozov (pictured) claimed that a Muslim surgeon walked out of an operation because she was asked to remove her religious headscarf

A hospital has suspended a consultant after he claimed that a Muslim surgeon walked out of an operation because she was asked to remove her religious headscarf.

Dr Vladislav Rogozov, 46, claimed in an online blog that he confronted her before the surgery when he realised she planned to wear the Islamic hijab which was against safety regulations.

But the unnamed surgeon refused, walking out of the operation and forcing staff at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital to find a replacement.

She later accused Czech-born Dr Rogozov, who has worked in Britain for ten years, of racial discrimination.

After a hospital investigation supported the consultant in his enforcement of the dress code, the Muslim surgeon left the hospital.

Religious headscarfs are 'excluded in areas such as theatre, where they could present a health and cross-infection hazard', according to the strict dress code.

At the time, the incident was not made public.

But Dr Rogozov, a consultant anaesthetist, was suspended last month for revealing details of the incident, which happened in 2013, as well as other surgeons' more recent behaviour in an interview with an Internet blog.

He said: 'I came into the operating room, where I met the surgeon, a woman shrouded in a Muslim headscarf. I immediately stopped the operation of the hall and asked her to put down her scarf and replace it with the prescribed headgear.

'After a long discussion held with respect, decency and factual arguments, the surgeon refused and left the operating room. We managed to subsequently find another surgeon who performed the operation.

'After the end of the operating day other members of the surgical team came to me (in a low voice and with the door closed) to share their concerns about the threat to patient safety.'

Dr Rogozov claimed colleagues had long-standing concerns but added 'no one dared to highlight this issue because they feared being accused of racism or intolerance'.

Dr Rogozov also spoke of an incident where a male doctor recited extracts from the Koran during surgery, and claimed Muslim staff took prayer breaks during operations.

Dr Rogozov said he confronted the woman before the surgery when he realised she planned to wear the Islamic hijab which was against safety regulations. But the unnamed surgeon refused, walking out of the operation and forcing staff at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital (pictured) to find a replacement

Writing in a blog post on a Czech website, he added: 'If the medics in a developed country are afraid to draw attention to threats to patient safety because of accusations of racism, then it is an example of the absurdity of multiculturalism.'

A source last night told The Sun: 'Dr Rogozov won't tolerate anything that puts patients at risk. It has nothing to do with the medics being Muslims. It's his fear they let their beliefs come before the patients.'

An inquiry is now ongoing after Dr Rogozov's comments were printed on the Czech website and in a Slovakian newspaper.

The NHS is also investigating the allegations.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' spokesman Dr David Throssell said: 'The member of staff has not been excluded from work for raising patient safety issues as we take these very seriously.

'However since the publication of articles, attributed to the member of staff, we have received concerns about the tone he has used.

'On this basis the content and nature of the views published are currently being investigated.'

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the UK's largest NHS Foundation Trust, running five hospitals in the city.

Last May Dr Rogozov spoke of how his father, a Russian surgeon, was forced to cut out his own appendix during a Soviet expedition to the Antarctic in 1961.

Leonid Rogozov was 27 at the time of the famous case of self-surgery and was part of a team of 12 sent to build a new base at the Schirmacher Oasis.

His son said: 'Being a surgeon, he had no difficulty in diagnosing acute appendicitis. It was a condition he'd operated on many times, and in the civilised world it's a routine operation.

'But unfortunately he didn't find himself in the civilised world - instead he was in the middle of a polar wasteland.'

Dr Rogozov went on: 'He was confronted with a very difficult situation of life and death. He could wait for no help, or make an attempt to operate on himself.

'He had to open his own abdomen to take his intestines out. He didn't know if that was humanly possible.

'He was so systematic he even instructed them what to do if he was losing consciousness - how to inject him with adrenalin and perform artificial ventilation. I don't think his preparation could have been better.'
with blacks but can't know their pain

Guns, religion and race relations in America also came up; the candidates said they

Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both sparred in a fiery debate on Sunday clashing on campaign finance, trade policies and the bail out of the motor industry.

However, while both united in their call for Michigan's Republican governor to resign over his handling of the Flint water crisis - Governor Rick Snyder took to Twitter to defend his record and promise that he is the man to fix the public health disaster.

'It is raining lead in Flint, and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required,' said Clinton, who chose to tonight to publicly demand Snyder's resignation for the first time.

Live-tweeting his response, Governor Snyder was combative in his replies and reminded everyone that Clinton and Sanders will leave Michigan tomorrow, while he will still be there to clean up the mess.

'I'm taking responsibility as our value system says we should,' said the Republican after Clinton and Sanders called for his head.

'My track record is getting things done, and I want to get this done.'

Sanders called for Governor Rick Snyder's resignation more than a month and a half ago and did so again tonight.

Scroll down for video

Hillary Clinton urged Michigan's Republican Governor to resign tonight over the Flint water crisis. Bernie Sanders called for Governor Rick Snyder's resignation more than a month and a half ago and did so again tonight

Demonstrators hold images of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder as the devil outside of the venue where the Democratic presidential candidates debated tonight

Tonight they clashed over trade - I was one of the first, not one of the last to be in opposition to the TPP, Sanders said, hitting her tonight over her belated opposition to a 12-nation deal backed by the president - and the auto bailout that heavily affected the Michigan economy

It was during Snyder's state administration that Flint made the decision to switch water from Lake Huron to the Flint River.

However, he said, 'This was never about money.'

'This was a failure of government at all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy.'

He denied he was responsible for the mess and said that he is reacting right now to the information he has at hand.

He refuted the suggestions that he was directly to blame for 100,000 Flint residents drinking contaminated water.

He said that he did not withhold money - as Clinton suggested - and had said, 'I've proposed more than $230 million in additional aid for Flint, and have already delivered $70 million.'

Defensive: During the debate Governor Snyder tried to live-tweet his responsive to the attack from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders

Not giving up: Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have called on Governor Snyder to resign

Neither candidate was willing to call tonight for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Gina McCarthy, however, and they hedged on criminal charges.

Sanders called the lead water a 'disgrace' and said if he were president, he'd send in the feds.

'What I saw literally shattered me,' he said.

That children are being poisoned in America in this century - 'That is clearly not what this country should be about.'

'I believe the Governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible. He should resign,' the Vermont senator said.

Talking after Sanders at the beginning of tonight's debate, Clinton said, 'I'll start by saying amen to that' and took credit for the evening's event occurring in Flint in the first place.

She called on Snyder to resign and threw hew weight behind an effort by the people of Michigan to recall him.

'But that is not enough. We have to focus on what must be done to help the people of Flint,' she added.

The state and federal government should send in emergency aid, she said, and pay Flint residents to deliver the water while the pipes are reconstructed.

However, during the debate, Governor Snyder decided to live-tweet some of his responses to the allegations made by the Democratic candidates.

Electioneering: Governor Snyder reminded the people of Michigan that Sanders and Clinton will be leaving Flint - while he has no intention of resigning

Solutions: Governor Snyder then tweeted out his proposals to fix the problem

Residents of Flint were repeatedly told by local government officials that their water was fine to drink when it wasn't and some 8,000 children were exposed over a two-year period, some suffering irreversible damage to their nervous systems.

Tonight Flint resident Mikki Wade told the candidates about the difficulty she faces constantly driving to pick up water 'just so my children can wash their hair...and brush our teeth.'

'Once the pipes are replaced, I'm not so sure I would be comfortable ever drinking the water,' she said.

Wade asked what the Democrats would to do regain her trust in the government if elected.

Clinton said she'd work with state and local government officials 'so that we can assure you that when it's fixed, you can trust it. You deserve nothing less.'

CNN's Anderson Cooper, a moderator of tonight's debate, pressed Clinton to be more specific. She backed up President Barack Obama's efforts so far and called for accountability from EPA.

She further touted his efforts to expand Medicaid, so more children have health care, and Head Start.

'I would do even more of that,' the former cabinet secretary said.

Tonight Flint resident Mikki Wade told the candidates about the difficulty she faces constantly driving to pick up water 'just so my children can wash their hair...and brush our teeth'

The Democratic presidential candidate said she was unsure that head of the national EPA should suffer the same fate as the regional director who oversaw Flint and resigned in January weeks after state of Michigan instituted a state of emergency in response to the toxic water.

'Well I don't know how high it goes.so I would have a full investigation, determine who knew what, when,' she said tonight.

She said 'yes people should be fired' but maintained that she could not say who exactly should be let go without a closer look at the situation.

'How far up it went, I don't know. But as far as it goes, they should be relieved, because they failed this city.'

And she said, taking a jab at the Republican Governor next door, Ohio's John Kasich, running for president this year on the Republican said, Clinton said, 'We have a higher rate of tested lead in people in Cleveland than in Flint.'

Sanders simply said fire anyone 'who knew about what was happening and did not act appropriately.'

The U.S. senator said, 'What is going on is a disgrace beyond belief.'

If the local government does not have the resources to act and the state government refuses to, 'federal government comes, in federal government acts,' he said.

Neither candidate was willing to call tonight for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Gina McCarthy, however, and they hedged on criminal charges

EXCUSE ME: 'If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy....' Sanders said during a section of the debate. Clinton tried to interrupt, but he said, 'Excuse me, I'm talking.'

'What is absolute incredible to me is that water rates have soared in Flint. You are paying three times more for poison water than I am paying in Burlington, Vermont for clean water.'

Sanders said he'd send in the CDC and rebuild the local infrastructure.

He likewise tied the problems of Flint and other towns across America to the 'proliferation of millionaires and billionaires' and wealth inequality.

And shifting the discussion to Clinton-backed trade policies that he's opposed over the years he said, in response to Wade's question about trust in government: 'I suppose they can trust the corporations who have destroyed Flint by a disastrous trade policy which have allowed them to shut down plants in flint and move to China or Mexico. We could trust them I'm sure.'

As he mocked Clinton, who made a fortune giving speeches to the financial sector after she was secretary of state, Sanders said, 'Maybe we should let Wall Street come in and run the city of Flint because we know their honesty and integrity has done so much for the American people.'

At another point in the debate the 74-year-old, who was raised in Brooklyn, went after Clinton for having a super PAC 'which is raising huge amounts' then cut himself off because, 'well, I hate to say the word 'huge.' '

Sanders acknowledged, to laughter from the audience, that 'every time' he says it, he gets mocked because of his accent, which makes it sound like 'yuge,' just like Donald Trump.

Residents of Flint were repeatedly told by local government officials that their water was fine to drink when it wasn't and some 8,000 children were exposed over a two-year period, some suffering irreversible damage to their nervous systems

The state and federal government should send in emergency aid, Clinton said tonight, and pay Flint residents to deliver the water while the pipes are reconstructed

The FBI and the EPA are investigating the Flint water crisis and officials have not said yet whether they will bring criminal charges in the case

The FBI and the EPA are investigating the Flint water crisis and officials have not said yet whether they will bring criminal charges in the case.

Clinton declined to directly call for jail time for bad actors tonight. 'That's going to be up to the legal system...I don't have all the facts, but people should be held accountable wherever that leads.

'If it leads to civil penalties, if it leads to criminal responsibility. There has to be an absolute accountability, and I will support whatever the outcome of those investigations are,' she said.

Sanders similarly said, 'I can't sit up here and make judgment over whether or not somebody committed a criminal act.

But if an investigation concludes that they did, he said, 'clearly, people are going to have to be held accountable.'

Sanders and Clinton are in a heated competition to win Michigan, which votes on Tuesday, and its 130 delegates.

Aside from the CNN debate tonight in Flint, the candidates will take turns with Bret Baier on Fox News Monday night in Detroit at 6 pm Eastern. The program will re-air at 11 pm.

Aside from the CNN debate tonight in Flint, the candidates will take turns with Megyn Kelly on Fox News tomorrow night in Detroit

Tonight they clashed over trade - I was one of the first, not one of the last to be in opposition to the TPP, Sanders said, hitting her tonight over her belated opposition to a 12-nation deal backed by the president - and the auto bailout that heavily affected Michigan

Clinton, a former senator for New York, went after Sanders and said., 'He was against the auto bailout.

'If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy....' he said.

She tried to interrupt, but Sanders said, 'Excuse me, I'm talking.'

'If you're gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders,' she retorted. 'Let me tell my story. You tell yours,' he told her. 'I will,' she said.

It was the first of several times the candidate got in a shushing match.

They also squabbled over guns, with Clinton framing Sanders as a National Rifle Association groupie, despite his D rating from the firearms group.

That is like the NRA position. No?' she asked.

'Can I -- can I finish, please? All right?' he told her.

Later in the debate Sanders was asked about his assertion that he'd advance race relations even further than President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president.

'It's not a question of being better than President Obama, it is a question of building on the work that President Obama has done, the very important work,' he explained tonight. 'He has given us a good, good basis and foundation. We have got to do better than that.'

For her part, Clinton received a question about her use of the phrase 'super predators' to describe black kids in gangs in a 1996 speech on crime.

'I think it was a poor choice of words, I never used it before, I haven't used it since, I would not use it again,' said said.

MAY THE BEST MAN - OR WOMAN - WIN: Sanders and Clinton are in a heated competition to win Michigan, which votes on Tuesday, and its 130 delegates

The candidates were both asked to discuss their racial 'blind spots' by CNN anchor Don Lemon.

'Well, Don, if I could, I think being a white person in the United States of America, I know that I have never had the experience that so many people, the people in this audience have had,' Clinton told him.

'And I think it's incumbent upon me and what I have been trying to talk about during this campaign is to urge white people to think about what it is like to have 'the talk' with your kids, scared that your sons or daughters, even, could get in trouble for no good reason whatsoever like Sandra Bland and end up dead in a jail in Texas.'

Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, had endorsed Clinton's bid for the White House and joined her on the trail on occasion.

So have the mothers of Trayvon's Martin' and Eric Garner.

'I have spent a lot of time with the mothers of African-American children who have lost them,' Clinton said tonight. 'I've listened to them. And it has been incredibly humbling because I can't pretend to have the experience that you have had and others have had.

Clinton said she empathizes with their plight, though, and will fight 'the racism that still stalks our country.'

Sanders told a story about an African-American congressman who he said refused to take cabs in Washington, D.C. as recent as 20 years ago 'because he was humiliated by the fact that cabdrivers would go past him because he was black.'

He also brought up the Black Lives Matter movement and a young lady affiliated with it who told him, him black people are 'terrorized' every day by police officers who engage in 'bullying.'

'When you're white,' Sanders said, 'you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor. You don't know what it's like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car.

'And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear. We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system.'

The candidates were both asked to discuss their racial 'blind spots' by CNN anchor Don Lemon. Both admitted they can't know what it is like to be black in America because they're white

Both candidates also drew questions from an audience member about their religions.

Sanders was asked if he thinks God is 'relevant,' and whether he has been too silent about his own Jewish faith.

'When we talk about God, whether it is Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam, or Buddhism,' the senator said, 'what we are talking about is what all religions hold dear.'

'And that is to do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.'

He said he is 'very proud to be Jewish, and being Jewish is so much of what I am.'

'Look,' Sanders said, 'my father's family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical, and extremist politics mean.'

'I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping, and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitler's concentration camp.

Clinton was separately asked about her devotional life: 'To whom and for whom do you pray?'

She never answered the first part of that question, but she claimed to pray 'on a pretty regular basis during the day,' and said it has taught her 'humility.'

'I pray for the will of God to be known that we can know it and to the best of our limited ability, try to follow it and fulfill it,' Clinton explained.

She added: 'I have said many times that, you know, I am a praying person, and if I haven't been during the time I was in the White House, I would have become one. Because it's very hard to imagine living under that kind of pressure without being able to fall back on prayer and on my faith.'
When staff could not find gluten-free gravy, Mr Skeen became '

A man has tried to sue a workers club for not providing gluten-free gravy with a gluten-free roast he pre-ordered for a Christmas party in December 2013.

Bruce Skeen had paid $1 to attend the event at Blacktown Workers Club in western Sydney reported 9 News.

Mr Skeen has coeliac disease, which means he is unable to eat any food containing gluten.

The exterior of the Blacktown Workers Club, west of Sydney, that Mr Skeen tried to sue when he was not provided with gluten-free gravy for his roast dinner at a Christmas party in 2013

He had pre-ordered a gluten-free dinner and dessert but when he received it the gluten-free gravy was missing, according to Federal Circuit Court documents.

Lawyer for the workers club, Colin Magee, said Mr Skeen had never ordered gluten-free meals in the past, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Skeen claimed he had pre-ordered the gravy as well, but staff at the workers club disputed this.

The workers club was unable to find any gluten-free gravy on the night of the event and Mr Skeen reportedly became 'angry and disruptive' when he was unable to have gravy.

He took the matter to the Federal Circuit Court, claiming the club had discriminated against him.

In February Judge Sylvia Emmett described Mr Skeen's claims as 'frivolous', which led to the case being thrown out.

Court documents show Mr Skeen tried to make a booking later that month for a New Years Eve function, and tried to order another gluten-free meal with gluten-free gravy.

Mr Skeen claims he pre-ordered a gluten-free dinner and dessert for the Christmas party and says by not providing it, the workers club has discriminated against him for having coeliac disease

As he placed the order, he became 'physically and verbally aggressive' towards the staff, which saw him temporarily suspended from the club.

Mr Skeen reportedly returned to the club three days later and was escorted from the premises by police.

During the entire series of events Mr Skeen alleged that he had been subject to 25 counts of discrimination and victimisation because of his gluten intolerance at the hands of the Blacktown Workers Club under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Among his claims, Mr Skeen said he was victimised by the club's doorman 'Steve' when he informed him 'Bruce you are not allowed in the club tonight'.

In another claim he alleged that his temporary suspension from the premises prevented him from participating in a raffle, where members could receive Christmas style meats and hampers.
Police are searching for a suspect who sexually assaulted four women in the last three weeks near the University of California, Berkeley campus.

The latest victim, a 21-year-old woman, was walking on the sidewalk at 12.09am on Saturday, when a man grabbed her from behind, pushed her to the ground and assaulted her, police said.

Following three previous attacks that took place over the course of five days in February, police said the suspect was targeting college-aged Asian women.

Although the woman attacked on Saturday was not Asian, police believe all four assaults, which occurred within a mile of each other, are linked.

Police described the suspect involved in a series of sexual assaults in Berkeley, California, as an unshaven man in his early 20s between 5ft 9in and 6ft. They believe his is the perpetrator of all four attacks

All four incidents occurred within a mile of each other, just south of the University of California, Berkeley campus

Police described the suspect as an unshaven man in his early 20s between 5ft 9in and 6ft and released video footage of a possible suspect.

On Saturday, the 21-year-old woman was attacked in the 2500 block of Etna Street. She fought back and the man fled.

The first incident, which bears a resemblance to the latest attack, occurred on February 11, at 9.10pm on Haste Street near the People's Park.

The victim also reported walking on the sidewalk when she was grabbed from behind and pushed down to the ground.

Just five days later, two women were attacked in the same night.

One woman was assaulted at the intersection of Durant Avenue and Ellsworth Street at 11pm.

Twenty minutes later, another woman was assaulted about half a mile away on the 2500 block of Benvenue Street.

The University of California Police Department said the man again approached the victim from behind and 'used a bear hug to restrain the victim' before sexually assaulting her.

She fought back and chased the suspect through a parking lot.

The police are issuing an appeal to anyone with information about the suspect.

They also advising people to walk in well-lit areas with a friend while paying attention to their surroundings.

The latest victim, a 21-year-old woman, was walking on the sidewalk at 12.09am on Saturday on the 2500 block of Etna Street (pictured), when a man grabbed her from behind, pushed her to the ground and assaulted her, police said
Bernie Sanders stuck up for himself in two moments of anger during Sunday night's debate with Hillary Clinton, shushing the former secretary of state with an outburst  'Excuse me! I'm talking!'  when she tried to interrupt him.

The two sparred in a CNN showdown in Flint, Michigan. Sanders, a Vermont senator, trails Clinton in the race for his party's presidential nomination.

The normally taciturn and grandfatherly Vermonter linked the 2009 auto industry rescue, a political hobby horse in the Great Lakes State, with the much-maligned Wall Street bailout, since they were accomplished with the same piece of legislation.

Clinton, then a U.S. senator from New York, voted in favor of it. Sanders voted no.

'EXCUSE ME! I'M TALKING!'  Bernie Sanders exploded at Hillary Clinton during Sunday's debate in Michigan

'In January of 2009 President-Elect Obama asked everybody in the Congress to vote for the bailout,' Clinton recalled. 'The money was there. It had to be released to save the American auto industry and 4 million jobs, and to begin the restructuring.'

'We just had the best year that the auto industry has had in a long time. I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference.'

'Ohh!' Sanders exclaimed as the debate audience smelled blood and cheered. 'Well, if you are talkin' about the Wall Street bailout where some of your friends destroyed the economy,' he slapped back.

'You know ' Clinton jumped in.

'Excuse me! I'm talking!' Bernie erupted, drawing cheers from his partisans.

'If you're gonna talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders,' Clinton lectured, interrupting a second time.

'Well, let me tell my story. You tell yours,' he responded.

'I will!' Clinton chirped.

When the Troubled Asset Relief Program was proposed as part of a 2008 plan to rescue investment banks with taxpayer money, Congress didn't foresee that domestic auto manufacturers would also benefit.

President George W. Bush added in that pot-sweetener two months later, in the twilight of his presidency. Congress had to approve his plan to redirect some of the money.

At the time, Sanders was an outspoken opponent of the entire program.

'Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement, and voting for corporate America,' he blasted Clinton on Sunday.

'Did I vote against the Wall Stret bailout?' he asked. 'When billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy, they went to Congress and they said, "Oh please, we'll be good boys. Bail us out".'

'You know what I said? I said let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street. Shouldn't be the middle class of this country.'

Sanders' hot temper leapt out of his chest a second time during a hot-flash skirmish over legal liability for gun manufacturers.

'CAN I FINISH PLEASE?' As Hillary interrupted Bernie more and more, he stood his ground and pushed back

He said Clinton's position boiled down to believing 'that if somebody who is crazy, or a criminal, or a horrible person goes around shooting people, the manufacturer of that gun should be held liable.'

'And if that is your position ... if that is the case then essentially your position is there should not be any guns in America. Period.'

'That is like the NRA position! No!' Clinton blurted.

Bernie pushed her voice away.

'Can I finish, please? Alright?' he exploded as a hush fell over the auditorium.

And you can  there are people who hold that view. And that's fine if you hold it,' Sanders added.
A dog was left bleeding on his family's porch after he was shot by an Oklahoma sheriff's deputy who told the family about the incident in a note taped on the door, according to the pooch's owner.

Angie Laymon said her family was away from home on Wednesday night when the Rogers County Sheriff's Office was called after neighbor's reported hearing gunshots.

She said the responding deputy decided to go to their home, and after he 'disregarded the canine warning and continued to approach the house,' he encountered their German Shepherd Bruno.

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A dog was left bleeding on his family's porch after he was shot by an Oklahoma sheriff's deputy who told the family about the incident in a note taped on the door, according to the pooch's owner

Angie Laymon said her family returned home on Wednesday to find their dog Bruno bleeding and a note taped that on the door that read 'We were investigating a crime and your dog attacked our deputy. The dog was shot'

When the deputy reached their house she said he felt threatened and shot the dog, then taped the note to the door, and left the bleeding pooch on the porch.

'Senseless...unnecessary...avoidable,' the devastated owner wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday as she recalled the incident, saying Bruno was 'only protecting his own turf.'

The note left on the door by the deputy read: 'We were investigating a crime and your dog attacked our deputy. The dog was shot and we need you to call us.'

She said her children arrived from church after they were dropped off by a family friend and found the note and then Bruno 'covered in blood, laying on the porch crying and bleeding.'

Laymon and her husband arrived 15 minutes later and the dog was then taken to the Emergency Animal Hospital, where they learned he had a bullet lodged in his shoulder joint.

She noted nearly three hours passed before the family returned home after the incident.

Footage from Laymon's security cameras shows Bruno circled and the deputy. Sheriff Scott Walton said his deputy did nothing wrong by driving onto Laymon's property and described Bruno as aggressive

She said she tried to call the sheriff's office and never heard back.

'A couple of investigative reporters got involved and made so much more progress than I did!! They stayed after it and actually managed to get a recorded interview with the Sheriff - he confirmed that my dog did not attack,' she wrote on a Gofundme page set up to raise money for Bruno's surgery.

Sheriff Scott Walton said his deputy did nothing wrong by driving onto Laymon's property and described Bruno as aggressive, according to Fox8live.

He also said that following the incident, the sheriff's office has been on the receiving end of hateful calls and threats.

'He [the deputy] certainly believes that he brought the sheriff's office under a negative light, and my instruction to him, he did not,' Walton said.

He added: 'If it gets to the point where it's expected that a law enforcement officer gets out of his vehicle and can't take any action to protect his own safety from getting mauled by a dog then I think we're in the wrong business.'

However, Laymon said Bruno did nothing wrong by protecting her home and that he did not bite the officer. She plans to file a claim with Rogers County over the shooting.

'Senseless...unnecessary...avoidable,' the devastated owner (pictured) said in a Facebook post on Thursday as she recalled the incident, saying Bruno was 'only protecting his own turf'

Bruno underwent an invasive surgery. Laymon plans to file a claim with Rogers County over the shooting

Bruno, who has since lost one of his legs following the ordeal, underwent an invasive surgery after two bones in his shoulder joint were shattered, Laymon fox8live.

'There's not enough bone left to hold it together,' Laymon said of his leg.

Laymon had set up a Gofundme page on Wednesday to help raise funds for Bruno's surgery.

She noted that if Roger's County reimbursed the family for veterinary expenses then the remaining funds would be used as a scholarship to provide life-saving funds for pets whose owners are financially unable to afford the care.

Bruno, who lost his leg after two bones were shattered in his shoulder joint, was back home on Sunday recovering

In three days the account raised more than $10,700.

Bruno was back home on Sunday recovering after surgery, according to Laymon's Facebook.

'Bruno is happy to be home, but is definitely not himself,' she wrote on Sunday.
Hillary Clinton, responding to a question from the father of a Kalamazoo shooting victim, used Bernie Sanders' rhetoric against her rival, questioning how the Vermont senator could support a bill that let gun makers and sellers off the legal hook.

'You talk about corporate greed,' Clinton said. 'The gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much money as they can make,' the former secretary of state pointed out, using a line that Sanders normally deploys against Wall Street.

The topic of guns was brought up at tonight's Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan by Gene Kopf, the father of 14-year-old Abigail, who was nearly killed by an Uber-driving gunman last month. She's now recovering.

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders again faced off on the issue of guns at tonight's debate in Flint, Michigan, where Clinton suggested that gun manufacturers are as greedy as Wall Street

Gene Kopf's 14-year-old daughter Abigail was seriously wounded when Jason Dalton, an Uber driver, went on a random shooting spree last month in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kopf asked Clinton, and then Sanders, to talk about what they would do as president to combat gun violence, setting aside tougher laws that ensure the mentally ill and criminals don't get guns, as those wouldn't have prevented the incident in Michigan.

Suspect Jason Dalton killed six people on Feb. 20, in what looks to be a random shooting spree.

He shot Abigail Kopf outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

Clinton ticked off a number of pieces of legislation she supported before attacking Sanders for his support of a bill that gave gun manufacturers and sellers legal immunity.

'I also believe so strongly, Gene, that giving immunity to gun makers and sellers was a terrible mistake because it removed any accountability from the makers and the sellers,' Clinton said. 'And it also disrupted what was a very promising legal theory to try to get makers to do more to try and make guns safer, for example.'

'That is an issue that Sen. Sanders and I differ on,' she continued. 'I voted against giving them immunity.'

'But I think we should very seriously move to repeal that and go back to making sure gun makers and sellers are like any other businesses, they can be held accountable,' Clinton added.

When it was Sanders turn, he said that he would be for legal action against a seller if he or she, for example, was selling guns that were knowingly getting into the hands of criminals.

'But if they are selling a product to a person that buys it legally  what you're really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America. I don't agree with that,' Sanders explained.

Hillary Clinton hit rival Bernie Sanders on his support for a 2005 bill that give gun manufacturers legal immunity meaning that shooting victims and their families can't easily sue the industry

14-year-old shooting victim Abigail Kopf was standing outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan when a Uber-driving gunman shot and nearly killed her. She's now walking

Hillary Clinton brought up a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Remington by Sandy Hook victims' families in articulating why a 2005 law that Bernie Sanders supported was bad

Clinton said she didn't believe that, explaining that the National Rifle Association was behind the 2005 piece of legislation because had it not been passed gun manufacturers, for fear of getting sued by victims and their families, would have potentially made guns more secure.

And those safety features, Clinton argued, may have made particular guns less 'sell-able' decreasing manufacturers' profits.

'No other industry has absolute immunity,' she reiterated.

Sanders, who said in January that he would back a repeal of the 2005 law, still warned of overreach in this department.

He said he agreed with what Clinton said, but then worried that 'essentially your position is there should not be any guns in America. Period,' he said, if gun manufacturers and sellers who had sold firearms legally were open to legal action.

Things got briefly heated.

'That is like the NRA position, no,' Clinton countered.

'Can I finish please?' a visibly annoyed Sanders shot back. 'Alright.'

'I think what you do is you hold those people who have used the gun accountable, you try to make guns as safe as possible, but I would disagree on that,' Sanders said.

Turning back to the shooting victim's father, Clinton brought up the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre of 2012 to make her final point.

Some of the victims' family members are suing Remington, the gun manufacturer of the AR-15, which gunman Adam Lanza used to kill 26 people, including 20 first-graders.

'I want people in this audience to think about what it must feel like to send off your first-grader, little backpack on his or her back, and the next thing you hear is that somebody has come to that school, using an automatic weapon, an AR-15 and murdered those children,' Clinton said.

'Now, they are trying to prevent that from happening to any other family,' Clinton continued.

The case would be precedent-setting if it went to trial, but the 2005 law that Sanders supported is one roadblock in the way.

Sanders recalled when he learned about the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
Footage has emerged of the moment a relative of an alleged killer lashed out at media outside a court, shouting obscenities as he tried to prevent a cameraman from filming the angry scenes.

The dispute followed shortly after Albert Rapovski, 20, from Lalor, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, charged with the murder of Mohammed Hassan.

Mr Hassan, 23, was found with gunshot wound to the head inside the Parkside Inn Motel in Kingsbury, north-east of Melbourne, on Saturday night.

Outside court, a man, believed to be the accused's father, appeared agitated as he threw an object at the camera before barging towards the media crew.

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Footage has emerged of the moment a family member of an alleged killer lashed out at media outside a court

'F*** you! What you want with me?' the man screamed at a female reporter.

'What you want? What! What you want, f*** off,' he continued before slapping the microphone away.

The reporter, from 7 News, asks: 'Your son is accused of murder, sir. Why are you angry at that?'

The video, recorded by Nine News, shows the angry man verbally abusing the reporter before a woman intervenes. She then pushes the man away from the reporter.

Mohammed Hassan, 23, was found dead in a motel Saturday evening with a gunshot wound to the head

The man, believed to be the accused's father, appeared agitated as he threw an object at the camera

The man who appeared frustrated, barged towards the media crew after a man was charged with murder

The video, recorded by Nine News , shows the man verbally abusing the reporter before a woman intervenes

The woman can be seen attempting to push the man away from the media crew outside of court on Monday

Rapovski, who was arrested at Melbourne Airport on Sunday evening, appeared before a Bail Justice on Monday morning charged with murder.

The charge follows the death of Mr Hassan, whose body was discovered following reports of a gunshot coming from one of the the motel rooms on Plenty Road at about 10.45pm on Saturday.

Grieving family members have paid tribute to Mr Hassan, who has been remembered as happy, smiling and having the 'heart of a lion' by his eldest brother.

'He was an amazing person, loving and caring and would go out of his way to help anyone,' Adam Hassan told The Herald Sun of his younger sibling.

'I hope this is a lesson for all the young kids out there  think twice before you do anything in life. You never know when your time is up,' he said.

Mr Hassan's eldest brother, Adam, recalled his sibling as happy, smiling and having the 'heart of a lion'

Mr Hassan's body was found in a room after occupants heard a gunshot and alerted emergency services

He recalled his brother as an 'active, outdoorsy' type who enjoyed his job as a tradie and played football.

Mr Hassan is the second youngest of eleven siblings, and people at the motel on Saturday night said family members were involved in a scuffle with police.

One woman said a group of men who were 'angry and didn't know what was going on' were yelling at police, The Herald Sun reported.
A shielded Nevada airbase used by government agencies to test unmanned aircraft has shown up on Google Earth.

Area 6, which was once used for underground nuclear testing, is located in Yucca Flat and is part of the Nevada National Security Site, where 1,000 nuclear tests were conducted between 1945 and 1992.

Four tests and six detonations happened in Area 6 according to a report by the US Department of Energy.

Now, the airbase, which has a 5,000-feet runway, houses aircraft tests for federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and that of Homeland Security, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Area 6 (pictured), which was once used for underground nuclear testing, is located in Yucca Flat and is part of the Nevada National Security Site, where 1,000 nuclear tests were conducted between 1945 and 1992

Now, the airbase has a 5,000-feet runway and a large hangar (pictured). It houses aircraft tests for federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and that of Homeland Security

These agencies use Area 6 to test unmanned aircraft with sensors and away from the public eye - and to avoid being spied on in space, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Darwin Morgan told the newspaper.

'We have controlled airspace and that gives them opportunities to test various types of platforms, he said.

'We do a wide variety of work for others - supporting people with sensor development activities. It evolved from the nuclear testing program. We had to have very good sensors to collect data in a split second before they were obliterated.'

The Nevada National Security Site, where Area 6 is located, is run by the National Nuclear Security Administration's field office in the state, who works with other agencies to develop counterterrorism techniques.

This includes testing out equipment to detect radioactive materials. These materials could be used by terrorists to make dirty bombs, which disperse them with conventional explosives.

Based on the length of the runway, Aera 6 could be used to test small aircraft such as Predator and Reaper drones, Tim Brown, an imagery analyst at defense information website GlobalSecurity.org, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The area's hangar could house 15 Reapers, he estimated.

Area 6 was built in the 1950s for $9.6 million and the current runway was added in 2005. It is now surrounded by a large hangar and several smaller buildings.

Ground operators control the unmanned aircraft thanks to antennas. A smaller, manned plane is also used to track them as they fly.

The site is located a dozen miles northeast of the secretive Area 51, whose existence was only acknowledged by the US government in 2013.

The site (pictured) was built in the 1950s and cost $9.6 million at the time. Ground operators control the unmanned aircraft thanks to antennas. A smaller, manned plane is also used to track them as they fly
Martin Bryan conspiracy theorists, who have been insisting on websites and in publications for 20 years that the killer 'did not fire a shot' in the Port Arthur massacre, are being slammed on Twitter following Channel 7's screening of Bryant's confession.

Entire books have been written claiming Martin Bryant was too stupid to carry out the shootings, that the massacre was staged to put an end to gun ownership and that authorities conspired to prevent the public 'from the learning the truth'.

The conspiracy theorists have varying theories on who carried out the shootings or why. But they all say it was just not possible for 28-year-old intellectually impaired Bryant to shoot dead 35 and wound 23 people in a rampage on April 28 - 29, 1996.

But in the wake of Seven's special Sunday Night programme which showed a grinning Bryant gloating about what he had done when he thought the camera wasn't rolling, the knives have come out on twitter against them.

'The conspiracy theory tin foil hat wearing brigade must be hating seeing footage of Martin Bryant on tv,' tweeted Chemu18Cherul.

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A grinning Martin Bryant (above, left and right) confessing in a police interview to carrying out the Port Arthur massacre, final evidence that should shut up conspiracy theorists, Twitter users have posted, but the theorists have hit back

Twitter posters say after Sunday's screening of Port Arthur massacre shooter Martin Bryant's video taped confession that the 'conspiracy theory tin foil hat brigade' should drop off with their claims that the massacre was staged to force in tighter gun controls or didn't happen at all

Conspiracy theories claiming Martin Bryant didn't carry out the shooting, or even that it didn't happen at all have clearly annoyed some Twitter users who say the video confessions means the claimants should drop off

The convict ruin s at Port Arthur in Tasmania (pictured) where Martin Bryant carried out the massacre and from which hundreds of conspiracy theories have sprung up that it was really government spies who shot the victims

'Surely even a conspiracy theorist couldn't smoke enough weed to think Martin Bryant was inncocent,' sean_woodland wrote on Twitter.

'F***ing conspiracy wankers who think Martin Bryant is innocent. Get f***ed,' Hurleystaxi said in atweet.

Disloik sent out o Twitter, 'Is anyone watching the thing about Martin Bryant? Will this put an end to the conspiracy theories. Thoughts?'

In his grinning confession during the police interview screened on Sunday,. Bryant also drew a plan of the massacre with stick figures and showed detectives how he shot the victims

But the conspiracy theorists struck back, with Kiz2a85 tweeting 'The TRUTH about Port Arthur - Conspiracy FACT#SN7#martin bryant' and inserted a link to one of the many Martin Bryant conspiracy pages on the internet.

Martin Bryant, pictured in a television interview around the age of ten after he deliberately set himself on fire and when asked by the TV reporter why he did it, he said he'd do it again, showing early on a love of attention

The conpsiracy theorists strike back posting a link on Twitter to a radio interview with Keith Noble who has written two books on why he believes the Port Arthur was staged and that Martin Bryant 'didn't fire a shot'

The mother of Martin Bryant, pictured with his father Maurice and baby sister Lindy, wrote a book claiming her son's IQ of 66 meant he

A Twitter user posted a link to this Port Arthur conspiracy theory website on which a man called Tony Pitt lists his claims about why he thinks he can prove the massacre wasn't carried out by Bryant but was staged

A left-handed Martin Bryant demonstrates to police how he shot and killed 35 people at Port Arthur, but the videoed confession wasn't enough for conspiracy theorists who claim a right-handed shooter was the killer

Twitter user Kiz2a85 clearly doesn't believe the videoed confession of Martin Bryan, posting this link to a conspiracy theory website which claims the 'killer was right handed. Martin Bryant is left handed' and that the only shooters as accurate as Bryant are spies who work for governments'

Jeff Collins of @Dinner4269 responded by tweeting '@Hurleystaxi @sundaynighton7 sad u believe media without facts'.

Another tweet in support of the theorists came from 'rconspiracy' who tweeted 'Keith Allan Noble on Why Martin Bryant Could Not Havw Carried OUt 1996 Port Arthur Massacre' with a link to a recent interview.

The interview with former Australian turned Austrian resident Keith Noble conducted by Irish broadcaster Richie Allen. Mr Allen's radio show The People's Voice presents 'all sorts of points of view youll never see on mainstream media'.

On the show, Mr Noble recommends listeners to a book, My Story, written by Martin Bryant's mother Carleen, who also doesn't believe her son carried out the Port Arthur massacre.

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The interior of Risdon prison, where Port Arthur killer Martin Bryant is kept in a maximum security protection wing and where he is obese and a loner, sometimes lashing out violently at staff

The conspiracy theorists claim that Martin Bryant (pictured left in his 20s not long before the killing) and (above, right) in his late teens did not fire a shot in the Port Arthur massacre

Mr Noble says Martin Bryant was kept in solitary confinement for six months to change his original guilty plea to the murders.

He said Bryant, who has an IQ of 66, 'could drive an automatic car' but was too simple to plan and carry out the massacre.

Mr Noble, who expands on his theories in his self-published books, Mass Murder 1 and Mass Murder 2, said that Bryant 'never shot a single person, never wounded a single person and there is no hard evidence, none to prove this'.

He said the case had 'never been never properly investigated ... there was no trial, there was no coronial inquest, there was no public inquiry, no royal commission'.

Families and friends of the victims of the Port Arthur massacre share a moment at a memorial service on the site 10 years after the killings, which conspiracy theorists pretend either never happened or were staged by government 'spies'

Inmates behind the razor wire inside Risdon prison and a caged yard in the prison where where Bryant lives in a maximum security protection unit after he conspired with another murderer to break the jaw of a staff nurse

Port Arthur gunman Martin Bryant lives in a 2m by 3m cell in Risdon Prison (pictured) with a small outside yard and shared secure day room with a neighbouring inmate

'The Government did everything conceivable to stop the public learning the truth.'

Known collectively as PAM (Port Arthur massacre) researchers, conspiracy theorists claim a wide variety of 'facts' point to the massacre being staged.

They say tightened gun laws were legislated before the massacre, that a 'a 22-body morgue truck' had been made available beforehand, that 'Royal Hobart Hospital put in place their Emergency Plan two days before and had a Trauma Seminar timed to end at the exact moment the shooting started'.

They also claim helicopter pilots were on stand-by on the Sunday afternoon, that police were decoyed to the Port Arthur peninsula at the exact moment the shooting began.

Another conspiracy theorist's claim is that the 'killer was right handed. Martin Bryant is left handed' and that the only shooters as accurate as Bryant, other than Olympians, are spies who work for governments.

THE MARTIN BRYANT CONSPIRACIES Conspiracy theories have raged for 20 years since the Port Arthur massacre claiming Martin Bryant didn't do it. Books and websites claim that Martin Bryant was intellectually incapable of planning and carrying out shooting dead 35 people and wounding 23. The conspiracy claims include: Authorities staged the shootings to bring in tougher gun control The media was in on the conspiracy and have faked video and photographs The killer was right-handed and Bryant is left-handed Walter Mikac, pictured at the funeral of his wife Nanette and daughters daughters Alannah, six, and Madeline, three, who Martin Bryant chased and shot dead in cold blood The only shooters as accurate as Bryant, other than Olympians, are spies who work for governments Police were on the Port Arthur peninsula when the shooting began Royal Hobart Hospital put its emergency plan together two days before massacre Bryant was placed in isolation in prison, forcing him into confessing Governments had covered up the facts and there has never been a trial, inquest or public inquiry Some theorists insist that no shooting massacre occurred at all at Port Arthur, meaning that Walter Mikac, whose wife and two young daughters were chased and killed by Bryant must have faked his grief Advertisement

They also claim the media was in on the conspiracy and a TV network 'superimposed'images on a video 'showing Bryant running away from the Broad Arrow cafe, where he began his rampage.

The answers as to why anyone would stage the massacre are usually explained by saying governments wanted tighter gun controls.

Conspiracy theorists on the Port Arthur massacre have made subsequent claims that other mass killings, such as the Sandy Hook school shootings, it was a hoax, just like Sandy Hook and the Nairobi mall shooting are a hoax or a fraud.

Some theorists there that no shooting massacre occurred at all at Port Arthur,meaning that grieving relatives like Walter Mikac - whose wife and two young daughters were hunted and shot dead by Bryant - has faked the whole scenario.

On www.conspiracee.com there are claims that the Port Arthur massacre was planned up to nine years beforehand to lessen opposition to gun control.

The site says an unknown professional combat shooter opened fire in the Broad Arrow Cafe and displayed an awesome display of combat marksmanship.

In conspiracy circles the massacre has come to be known as a psyop, a psychological operation or an event designed to drum up public support for some piece of legislation that would be otherwise be unpopular and probably be defeated.

The site says a long list of facts or discrepancies were overlooked and that the media had conduct a propaganda campaign.

The Tasmanian Government imposed silence on talking about Martin Bryant has only played into the conspiracy theorists' hands.

A penalty awaits any government employee caught leaking information about the maximum security inmate.

The giggling mass murderer revealed on Channel 7 on Sunday in a police interview filmed after he had carried out the massacre bears little resemblance to the obese and violent loner occupying a protection cell of Hobart's Risdon prison.

Martin Bryant, now aged 48 and weighing up to 160kg, is said to trade sexual favours for chocolate with other prisoners.

He has made violent attacks on staff and rarely leaves his cell during the seven out of cell hours before the prison's 4.30pm lockdown.

Bryant is currently housed in the maximum security protection wing, the Mersey Unit at Risdon Prison.

He reportedly had been moved from the main part of Risdon to the high security mental health Unit, the Wilfred Lopes Centre where the routine is less rigorous.

But Bryant, who requires regular health treatment for a bowel disorder, lashed out at a nurse last February, News Corp reported, breaking the man's jaw.

Inside a cell block of Hobart's Risdon prison where Martin Bryant, now aged 48, will spend the rest of his life and where he has threatened staff and attempted suicide

Conspiracy theories about the Port Arthur massacre either not taking place or having been perpetrated by people other than the killer Martin Bryant are an insult to the families and friends of the victims, pictured above, gathered at the tenth anniversary of the killing i 2006

He was moved back into the main prison, albeit in a segregated wing with limited integration with other problem inmates.

His few contacts with the outside world are via weekly visits from his mother Carleen, on weekends or Thursdays.

A loner on the outside whose neighbours and classmates used to call him 'Silly Martin, no sense, no feeling', Bryant cuts a lonely figure in the prison system.

With money deposited in his prison account by family or friends, Bryant supplement jail meals with 'buy-ups' from the prison canteen which cells chocolate, biscuits, chips and a long list of foods, as well as toiletries and tobacco

Bryant lives in a 2m by 3m cell with a small outside yard and shared secure day room with a neighbouring inmate.

Inside Risdon Prison in Hobart, where Martin Bryant is one of Tasmania's 520 inmates, the small prison population making him a target for prisoners who want to make a name for themselves harming Australia's most notorious killer

Woodwork class inside Risdon prison where Martin Bryant had privileges removed when he and another inmates planned and executed an attack on a prison nurse

He is considered to be both a threat to and under threat from other inmates who may seek the notoriety of bashing Australia's most notorious murderer.

Other high profile killers in larger prison systems such as the Anita Cobby and Janine Balding killers in NSW are able to merge with the larger prison population, which is around 11,800 in that state.

Tasmania has around 520 inmates, and fewer murderers incarcerated, making Bryant stand out for the notoriety of his crime and his behaviour.

With an IQ of around 66, he can be childlike, although other inmates reportedly found him cunning and the attack on the staff nurse last year was planned and carried out with another inmate murderer.

Bryant's cell has concrete form furniture, including a a bed base with a foam mattress, to keep hanging points to a minimum. He has attempted suicide several times, although it is unclear how he tried to kill himself.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has hit back at an account of his time in office by reminding Australians how he stopped the boats and axed the carbon tax.

Mr Abbott said the best response to Liberal insider Niki Savva's explosive new book, The Road to Ruin, published on Monday, is his government's record.

In his statement on Monday, Mr Abbott said: 'The best response to this book is the objective record of the Abbott government.

'The boats were stopped. The carbon tax and the mining tax were repealed.

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A new book by Liberal insider Niki Savva detailed the close relationship between Mr Abbott and Peta Credlin

'Three free trade agreements that had languished for years were finalised.

'Our country was kept safe. And a strong start was made to the vital task of budget repair.'

The book detailed a close relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin including a rumoured affair - which they both deny.

Ms Savva also reported a Liberal colleague once saw the prime minister give Ms Credlin a 'slap on the bum - open-handed, playful, with a loud thwack. She smiled at him, and they kept walking'.

Former staffers in the Prime Minister's office were also quoted saying Ms Credlin ran a 'dysfunctional' operation.

Firing back, Mr Abbott said a 'dysfunctional opposition' couldn't win an election and a 'dysfunctional government' couldn't have got so much done in just two years.

The book also reported Mr Abbott's wife Margie was seen a 'distraction' by Ms Credlin

'That said, I'm not in the business of raking over old coals nor am I in the business of responding to scurrilous gossip and smear.'

Apart from being a good local MP, Mr Abbott said his focus is on the election of the Turnbull government.

'Australia needs prudent, frugal, competent government - not an unreconstructed Labor Party with its five new taxes.'

Ms Credlin has noted she was not approached for comment by Ms Savva, who was Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello's former press secretary.
A woman who identifies herself as an Indigenous Australian is suing a community group for saying she is not Aboriginal.

Elizabeth Taylor, from Bowral, NSW, wants more than $150,000 in compensation from the Yamanda Aboriginal Association and Moyengully Natural Resource Management Group for lost income, pain and suffering,The Australian reports.

Ms Taylor, 40, was given a certificate of confirmation of Aboriginality in May 2010, only for it to be revoked in July 2012 after she could not prove her heritage.

Elizabeth Taylor (right), who identifies herself as an Indigenous Australian, is suing for $150,000 after a community group said she wasn't Aboriginal

Yamanda said it initially issued a certificate to Ms Taylor to avoid embarrassment, but revoked it afterwards at a special general meeting where the 40-year-old could not provide full family details and history, according to the newspaper.

While she held her certificate, Ms Taylor set up the Families Sharing Culture Aboriginal Corporation, which claims to be an educational organisation in Bowral.

Its website also says it aims to 'connect Aboriginal people and their families to Aboriginal Culture', and holds meetings every two months.

In court documents, Ms Taylor accused Yamanda of sabotaging her by sending a letter to Indigenous groups in the area in an attempt to stop her from getting jobs with them.

Ms Taylor (right) was given a certificate of confirmation of Aboriginality in May 2010, only for it to be revoked in July 2012 after she could not prove her heritage

Ms Taylor's Facebook page suggests she is interested in and passionate about a number of causes impacting Indigenous Australians

She claimed it is a form of racial vilification, The Australian reports.

Ms Taylor's compensation claim is currently before the Federal Circuit Court.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Taylor and the Families Sharing Culture Aboriginal Corporation for comment.

It comes after an Aboriginal land council said people are falsely claiming to be indigenous to cheat the system.

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chairwoman Yvonne Weldon (pictured) says something must be done about people falsely claiming to be Aboriginal

'It is a regular thing  people who can't even say what tribe they are from or where their family is from and they identify as Aboriginal,' Council chairwoman Yvonne Weldon said (stock image)

The Sydney-based Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council said one in 15 people, or possibly more, are claiming to be Indigenous when they are not.

Falsely claiming aboriginality allows them to access benefits such as home loans, Aboriginal jobs or contracts.

It wants action taken to deal with the increasing number of 'self-identifiers', such as standardised identification checks.

'It is a regular thing  people who can't even say what tribe they are from or where their family is from and they identify as Aboriginal,' Council chairwoman Yvonne Weldon said.

'It is disgusting. Something needs to be done  the way it is going, in a few decades half of Australia will be Aboriginal'.

Warren Mundine (pictured) is the chairman of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council

Supporters demonstrate against the eviction of residents of the Redfern Aboriginal tent embassy outside the Federal Court in Sydney in July 2015

The group's calls for action comes almost a year after then prime-minister Tony Abbott's chief Indigenous adviser Warren Mundine called for a national database of Aboriginal people to end the problem of proving 'Aboriginality'.

Mr Mundine said at the time: 'there is a ridiculous situation where you do have fraud, you do have petty personal politics involved,' theSydney Morning Herald reported.

The land council's chief executive, Nathan Moran, said the federal definition of the three-part Aboriginality test had been watered down, The Australian reported.

The test requires proven indigenous descent and self-identification, as well as acceptance by an Aboriginal community.
It's not certain whether or not she ordered the Grand Slam breakfast, but a Denny's patron loved her meal so much that she offered to repay her waiter with oral sex.

Video of the exchange which surfaced this week shows the diner jumping for joy and letting out a little squeal when her waiter informs her she can perform the sex act on him in front of everyone in the restaurant.

Though it's possible the female exhibitionist was intoxicated, it appears in the footage as though the sexual encounter is consensual.

It is not specified where in America the particular Denny's is located and the identities of those shown in the video has not been revealed.

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT

The question: 'I mean if she's willing...I mean come on now,' the Denny's waiter says in the footage before unbuttoning his pants. 'Whip it out. Go for it,' a male companion of the girl can be heard saying in the background

'I mean if she's willing...I mean come on now,' the waiter says in the footage before unbuttoning his pants.

'Yeah!,' screams the enthusiastic brunette before holding jumping for joy and pulling her hair back so that she can pleasure the Denny's employee right next to the table where she ate her meal seconds before.

'Whip it out. Go for it,' a male companion of the girl can be heard saying in the background.

'Yes,' she screams before dropping to her knees and following through with her request.

'I'll tell you what. Thats one awesome tip,' says the waiter as he enjoys his reward.

The girl then stops midway through the act erupting in laughter.

'That's it? You're just going to tease him? Says her male friend before the footage cuts out.

The waiter has lost his job as a result of his actions.

A Denny's spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'We are very disturbed by the inappropriate and offensive behavior of the server that was in the video. His actions were inexcusable, and as such, he was immediately terminated and no longer works for Dennys.

'As a family dining restaurant, Dennys does not tolerate this type of behavior and we deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by it.'

The act: 'Yeah!,' screams the enthusiastic brunette before holding jumping for joy and pulling her hair back so that she can pleasure the Denny's employee right next to the table where she ate her meal seconds before
The two sons of a young mum whose final wish was to donate her healthy organs have written letters to the recipients thanking them for accepting their mother's final gift.

Braith, 13, and Kobe, 12, Hodges from Darwin lost their mum, Nevada Jones, 38, on January 18 this year, a week after she suffered from a major stroke.

The young mum was kept on life support until her final wish, to save others with her organs, could be fulfilled.

Kobe and Braith Hodges with their mum, Nevada Jones. The boys lost their mother on January 18 after she suffered from a major stroke, she donated her heart, lungs and kidneys when she died

The boys' dad, Nevada's ex-partner and close friend, Andrew Hodges, told Daily Mail Australia the process of writing the letter has helped with the boy's grief of losing their beloved mum.

'It is tough for anyone to lose their mother, but they are doing the best they can, and it is definitely a comfort knowing Nevada was able to help someone one last time,' Mr Hodges said.

The boys were glad the heart went to help a young mum, in her 20s, they remember their mother as selfless and kind and are glad she could help someone live.

'Thank you for taking her heart and looking after it,' the boys said in the letter.

'She had a big heart and always put others before herself.'

Nevada also donated her lungs and kidneys, helping four recipients to have a second chance at life.

The boys also wrote letters for the recipients of those organs, thanking them for accepting Nevada's donation.

The young mum was on her way to a fancy dress party when she suffered from the stroke, the last photo on her phone was this selfie of her blowing a kiss to the camera

'Three of the people who received organs are out of the hospital already, and the other one is out of intensive care, which is amazing for people who have had such major operations,' Mr Hodges said.

The letters will be delivered by Donate Life, who have supported the family through the organ donation process, and Nevada's passing.

'We had a chat with the Donate Life support people who told us we could write letters to the recipients if we wanted to.' Mr Hodges said.

'This stuck with the boys, and one night just after the funeral they sat up and put rough pen to paper.

'It didn't take them long because they knew exactly what they wanted to say.

'They wanted to say thankyou and they wanted the recipients to know how kind and selfless Nevada was.'

The family won't be able to hand deliver the letters to the recipients as their names and locations are to remain anonymous, but they are able to speak directly to them through the letters.

'It has helped them a lot with their grief, knowing she was able to help people.

'She was a beautiful person who always put others before herself, this was her final selfless act.'

The boys have written letters to the organ recipients thanking them for accepting their mother's final gift

They boys have had great support from their local community  a fundraiser held in early March has helped to raise more than $35000 for the boys' futures.

'Even though the support has been fantastic the boys would trade it in an instant from more time with their mum.

'They just wish they could have her back.

'They were very close, and even though she worked away from town she was with them every spare moment.'

The young mum who loved to dress up was on her way to a fancy-dress, 80s themed, party when she suffered the stroke.

Mr Hodges, Kobe and Braith found out about the stroke when she arrived to hospital.

'We called her and she said not to stress, and to bring the kids in the morning.

'But she had a turn for the worst overnight.

'We spent the next week with her until they could take her organs.

'The kids were told what was going on the whole time and treasured the final moments with their mum.'

The boys with their father, Andrew Hughes, who is supporting them through the death of their mother

The family were able to access her phone before she passed away. They found her final selfie, a picture of Nevada blowing a kiss to the camera on her way to the dress-up party.

The young mum didn't smoke or drink and was described by Mr Hodges as a healthy young woman.

Her sudden stroke, and death came as a shock to the family, but they had spoken about organ donation as a family before and knew that is what she would have wanted.

'It is so important to talk about it and let your loved ones know what you want to do,' Mr Hodges said.

'Even if it Is difficult, or you don't really want to talk about it.'
Billy Brownless has broken his silence the alleged affair between his ex wife and his best friend, AFL Footy Show co-host Garry Lyon, thanking the public for its support.

'You'd like to thank everyone out there, because they keep you going,' Brownless told the Nine Network, his employer. 'You get text messages, you get phone calls, and all sorts of things. The support has been very good.'

The former Geelong Cats star described recent times as 'a big couple of weeks,' the Herald Sun reported.

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Billy Brownless arrives at a function with ex-wife Nicky in 2013. The 49-year-old reportedly suffered a 'deeply private and personal' break in his friendship with Lyon after learning of the alleged relationship

Footy Show co-host Billy Brownless (left, with ex-wife Nicky) and Garry Lyon (right, with ex-partner Melissa)

Last month, allegations Lyon and his the former Geelong Cats star's ex-wife Nicky had been having an affair for up to four years surfaced.

He is expected to address the rumours on Thursday when The Footy Show returns for the 2016 season.

Brownless said itll be an interesting show.

Brownless (left) is expected to address the rumours about his wife and Garry Lyon (middle) on Thursday when Nine Networks The Footy Show returns for the 2016 season in an interview with fellow co-host Sam Newman (right)

Weve got a bit to discuss there, so well get through that. Its been a big couple of weeks, to be honest.

Retired Hawthorn defender Brian Lake said Brownless had handled the tough situation well.

He got up and said some jokes. He looked in good spirits.

Brownless had not previously spoken about the explosive allegations.

Nicky Brownless and their daughter Lucy have also avoided addressing the scandal.

The former Geelong star and Lyon, a former Melbourne Demons star, had been friends for almost 20-years.

Last month, allegations surfaced the former Geelong Cats stars co-host Garry Lyon and his ex-wife Nicky had been having an affair for up to four-years

Lyon (right) and Brownless (left) had been friends and worked together for more than 15, and are co-hosts of the AFL Footy Show along with James Brayshaw (middle)

Billy Brownless and daughters Lucy Brownless and Ruby Brownless pose at the Emirates Marquee on Stakes Day at Flemington Racecourse in 2015

Garry Lyon speaks during the Channel Nine AFL Grand Final Footy Show at Rod Laver Arena in 2005

Lyon played 226 games for the Melbourne Demons and kicked 426 goals in an illustrious career that saw him named as a half-forward flanker in their Team of the Century
Doctors are set to reveal the details of the first uterus transplant ever performed in the US on Monday at the Cleveland Clinic.

The nine-hour surgery was performed last month at the Ohio hospital on a 26-year-old woman who did not have a uterus.

The Cleveland Clinic has provided few details, but says the uterus came from a woman who had died.

The hospital announced last fall that it would attempt 10 transplants as part of a clinical trial.

Other countries have tried womb transplants. Sweden reported the first successful birth in 2014, with five healthy babies so far.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, performed the first uterus transplant in the US during a nine-hour procedure last month (pictured). They are set to reveal some details about the surgery on Monday

HOW DO DOCTORS CARRY OUT A WOMB TRANSPLANT? The first step involves doctors removing some of the patients' eggs in order to fertilize them in a dish to create embryos. These are then frozen, until they are needed. Secondly, a womb, complete with two major arteries and four veins, removed from a from donor in a three-hour operation. The donated womb is then implanted into the patient during an operation that typically takes around six hours. The woman is then, as all organ transplant patients are, prescribed powerful immune-suppressing drugs to stop the transplanted womb being rejected by the body. Around a year later, when doctors are confident the transplant is a success, one of the embryos is thawed and implanted into the donated womb. If the pregnancy is a success, doctors ultimately deliver the baby via C-section. Once a woman has successfully carried one or two babies, the transplanted organ is then removed. Advertisement

Doctors there say the surgery, which is still experimental, might be an alternative for some of the thousands of women unable to have children because they were born without a uterus or lost it to disease.

Others have questioned whether the transplant would be a realistic option for many women. Some might reject the organ and the procedure requires taking potent immune-suppressing drugs.

The Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Andreas Tzakis said the risks aren't greater than for other transplants and that the surgery is considered life-enhancing, like transplants of the face or hand.

But unlike any other transplants, uterus transplants are temporary.

'They are not intended to last for the duration of the recipient's life, but will be maintained for only as long as is necessary to produce one or two children,' Tzakis said last year in a statement announcing the study.

Removing a uterus from a deceased donor requires more than a normal hysterectomy, as the major arteries also must be removed. The womb and blood vessels are sewn inside the recipient's pelvis. Before closing the abdomen, surgeons check for good blood flow and that the attachment to the ligaments is strong enough to maintain a pregnancy.

If a woman is approved for a transplant in the study, she would first have to have eggs removed from her ovaries, like is done for in vitro fertilization, and then freeze the embryos. Those could be implanted only 12 months after the transplant heals, if it's successful.

The hospital said it would attempt transplants in women with what's called uterine factor infertility, meaning they were born without a uterus or with uterine abnormalities that block pregnancy.

KEY QUESTIONS OVER US WOMB TRANSPLANT: HOW WILL IT WORK? Ten American women have been given the chance of having their own babies with the trial at The Cleveland Clinic. Why the excitement? Experts in Sweden announced last year that a baby boy had become the first in the world to be delivered following a successful womb transplant. In the UK, a team led by Professor Richard Smith has been working for almost 20 years to secure approval for transplants in this country. That approval has now been granted, which means the first British baby born following a womb transplant could arrive in 2017 or 2018. How do women come to have no womb? Thousands of women of child-bearing age in the US have no womb or a womb that would be unable to carry a baby. Some women are born with a syndrome known as MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser), which means their womb never developed properly. Others lose their wombs to cervical cancer. Data suggests as many as 50,000 women of childbearing age in the UK have no viable womb, and thousands in the US will be suffering the same condition. Is it risky? The operation takes around six hours, with the organ coming from a donor who has died but whose heart has been kept beating. The recipient will need to take immune-suppressing drugs following the transplant and throughout any pregnancy to prevent the chance their body might reject the donor organ. Once the donor womb is no longer needed, it can be removed by a team of surgeons. This would prevent the need for the woman to be on immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her life. Advertisement
Nearly every public school in Detroit had to close back in January after teachers called out sick in protest of deplorable conditions at the schools.

And on Sunday, Shaniqua Kent, who is suing Detroit Public Schools for a better education, asked Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Michigan what they would do to improve conditions for students and teachers at impoverished schools nationwide.

The teachers' union in Detroit has repeatedly complained about mold, rodent infestations, too-large class sizes and other issues. Photos that surfaced on social media starting in early January show black mold growing on the ceiling of schools, old food, unfixed bullet holes, and rodent droppings on the floor, according to Business Insider.

Horrifying: Nearly every public school in Detroit had to close back in January after teachers called out sick in protest of deplorable conditions at the schools

Good question: Shaniqua Kent, who is suing Detroit Public Schools for a better education, asked Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Michigan what they would do to improve conditions for students and teachers at impoverished schools

Violence: A bullet hole in a school wall that was never fixed has outraged students and teachers. 'My daughter cannot wait eight more years for success to take place,' a furious mother said on Sunday

Unsafe: This moldy piece of bread in a Detroit school cafeteria is not suitable food. Michigan is currently experiencing a crisis due to their toxic tap water

'My daughter cannot wait eight more years for success to take place,' Kent said at the debate held in Flint, where residents are experiencing a water crisis.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that America 'should be ashamed' of their treatment of the most vulnerable in the nation such as the impoverished youth.

He thanked her for 'not being resigned to that horrendous situation,' according to The Huffington Post.

Clinton said that she would create an 'education SWAT team' made up of Good Samaritans, teachers, principals, and retirees who are willing to help public schools live up to their best potential.

Hillary and Bernie answered questions from members of the audience in Flint, Michigan on Sunday at the Democratic presidential debate

Terrible: Pictured here is the rotting floor of a computer lab at a Detroit school. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that America 'should be ashamed' of their treatment of the most vulnerable in the nation

Fungus: Mushrooms grow in the wall in this photo of a Detroit school. Sanders thanked the mother for 'not being resigned to that horrendous situation'

Not working: Even new Detroit schools are lacking in repairs and have non working soap dispensers

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he saw a dead mouse, children wearing coats in cold classrooms and a gym floor too warped for play during a tour of some Detroit public schools in January, amid a teacher sick-out that forced dozens of buildings to close.

Unlike some big-city mayors, Duggan has no control over schools. Detroit's debt-ridden district of 46,000 students has been under state oversight for nearly seven years.

The 100-school district is run by an emergency manager appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder.

The governor has called for the state to commit $715 million over a decade to address the district's $500 million debt and relaunch the district under a new name.

But his plan has yet to receive support in the legislature, which is controlled by fellow Republicans.

Broken: This is a photo of out of service urinals. If elected Clinton said that she would create an 'education SWAT team' made up of Good Samaritans, teachers, principals, and retireesools

No water: Pictured here are broken water fountains. Even if they worked, Michigan residents are advised not to drink the tap water which is contaminated with lead

The 100-school district is run by an emergency manager appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder. Bernie and Hillary called for his firing on Sunday
A 25-year-old ranger has suffered serious injuries after being attacked by a crocodile at a wildlife park.

Tourists who filmed Renee Robertson being attacked female crocodile 'Tipper' during a feeding show at the Billabong Sanctuary in Townsville, North Queensland on Monday at 3.30pm at first thought the attack was part of the show.

Ms Robertson suffered a 'significant arm injury' and eight people have also been treated for shock after witnessing the attack, Queensland Ambulance confirmed.

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Renee Robertson (pictured), 25, has suffered serious injuries after being attacked by a crocodile at a wildlife park.

Video footage taken by a witness shows one of the rangers beating the crocodile with a stick until it releases Ms Robertson's arm

A witness to the attack, Frank He, described Ms Robertston's 'shocking' screams as she was mauled by the crocodile, before crawling towards the fence trying to escape.

'The screams you could hear were shocking, we felt so helpless for the poor woman in the enclosure,' Mr He told the Courier Mail.

Billabong Sanctuary owner Bob Flemming told the publication this was the first attack in 20 years, and the crocodile would not be euthanised.

During the attack another member of staff managed to beat the crocodile off Ms Robertson with a stick, before dragging her from the enclosure and treated her injuries until paramedics arrived, The Brisbane Times reported.

Another member of staff managed to beat the crocodile off with a stick, before dragging Ms Robertson from the enclosure and treated her injuries until paramedics arrived

Renee Robertson was attacked by female crocodile Tipper while inside the animal's pen during a routine feeding show (stock image)

The 25-year-old was still undergoing training in feeding salt water crocodiles and had been at the sanctuary for 12 months.

Senior operations supervisor Ross MacDonald said Ms Roberston was 'backed into a corner' by the crocodile as 'some form of interaction.'

'We are making sure that Renee's interests are looked after at this point in time, that she is receiving all treatment that is required. We are wishing her a full recovery,' Billabong Sanctuary curator Brad Cooper told The Brisbane Times.

'Staff are shaken up, in shock, we have an impeccable record so to have something like this happen is a shock to the system.'

According to their website, the Billabong Sanctuary hold a crocodile feeding presentation at 1 pm and 3.15 pm each day.
Then waited in his car for Remington and first shot him in the back

Pastor Tim Remington, 55, was critically wounded after he was shot six times in front of his church

An Idaho pastor was shot and critically wounded in the parking lot of his church just a day after he prayed with Ted Cruz and delivered the invocation at one of his campaign rallies this weekend.

Tim Remington, 55, was shot six times - including in the head, lung, hip and shoulder - in front of the nondenominational Altar Church in Coeur d'Alene.

Police said Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, is the suspected shooter. He remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

John Padula, an associate pastor at the church, said surveillance footage captured the shooter attending the morning services before waiting for Remington in his silver car, he told KHQ.

Padula said the shooter then went up to Remington as he opened his car door and 'just started shooting him in the back'.

'It didn't look like the first time he had shot,' Padua told The Spokesman-Review. 'He stood pretty professional as he was shooting'.

Remington's status was reported as stable late Sunday night, according to NBC News.

Padula said Remington was doing 'absolutely fine' in the hospital and escaped any life-threatening injuries.

Matthew Remington, the pastor's nephew, said he was conscious after getting shot and was able to talk to emergency workers on the way to the hospital, he told KTVB.

A spokeswoman for Cruz's campaign released a statement following news of the shooting.

'Our prayers are with Pastor Tim, his family, and the doctors who are supervising his care,' it read.

'We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice.'

The shooting happened just a day after Remington prayed with Ted Cruz and gave the invocation at a campaign rally Cruz held at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Saturday

John Padula, an associate pastor at the church, said surveillance footage captured the shooter attending the morning services before waiting for Remington in his silver car in the parking lot (pictured)

Padula said the shooter then went up to Remington as he opened his car door (pictured) and 'just started shooting him in the back'

Remington delivered the opening prayer at a rally Cruz held at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

Authorities do not yet have a motive for the shooting but Padula said he has received threats over the years from addicts he has tried to help.

Remington is director of the faith-based Good Samaritan Rehabilitation drug and alcohol residential program. He has been known to invite recovering addicts to live with him and his family in the past.

'He is the most selfless man I have ever met in my life,' Padula said.

'When I was struggling, when I was using drugs still, he just loved the daylights out of me and helped me, as he has done for the 1,700 people now who have graduated our program.'

Padula said the church is praying both for Remington, a father of four, and his shooter.

'We don't love him less than anybody else,' he told the station. 'And we pray that he comes to know Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, so we don't want to see anything bad happen to him either.'
Rupert Murdoch's third wife Wendi Deng has been pictured looking close to a young violinist at Paris Fashion Week today, days after her ex-husband married Jerry Hall in London.

The 47-year-old's arm was seen entwined with that of her chaperone Charlie Siem, who is 17 years her junior at the age of 30, as they sat in the front row of the Giambattista Valli show.

Eton-educated Mr Siem, born to a Norwegian father and British mother, is a top UK young violinist and is signed to Sony Classical. He is also said to be Britains youngest university professor.

Rupert Murdoch's third wife Wendi Deng was pictured looking close to a young violinist called Charlie Siem at Paris Fashion Week today, days after her ex-husband married Jerry Hall in London

Paris and London: Wendi Deng went to Giambattista Valli's Fashion Week show with Mr Siem, left, as her ex-husband Rupert Murdoch married Jerry Hall on Saturday, right

Miss Deng was in Paris with the contemporary classical violinist and model shortly after her 84-year-old billionaire ex walked down the aisle with Miss Hall, 59, on Saturday.

The former couple's daughters Grace, 14, and Chloe, 12, were bridesmaids at the lavish Central London wedding.

Miss Deng's 14-year marriage to the tycoon ended in 2013 amid reports about her infatuation with former prime minister Tony Blair.

On Saturday, as her husband wed Hall in front of friends and family, Miss Deng accompanied American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to see Nina Ricci and Celene's Paris collections.

The split is said to have been acrimonious, but New York resident Miss Deng showed no signs of strain as she grinned alongside her tweed jacket-sporting companion Mr Siem today.

Dressed in a purple dress, pink coat and daring thigh-high boots, Miss Deng had arrived arm in arm with Mr Siem, and the pair excitedly chatted to their fellow 'Frow' members once inside.

Close: Mr Murdoch and Miss Deng enjoyed a happy marriage and had two children, but it ended after 14 years in 2013

A fashionable guest: Miss Deng and Mr Siem chatted to other fashion show guests as they sat in the front row

Posing: Miss Deng is pictured in the front row of the Saint Laurent show at Paris Fashion Week today

During her marriage to Mr Murdoch, Chinese-born Miss Deng, who met the billionaire while working as an intern, became known for her fierce loyalty to her husband.

When the media tycoon was giving evidence in Parliament over the hacking scandal she protected her husband from a custard pie thrown from the audience.

Children: Miss Deng's daughters Chloe and Grace were bridesmaids at St Brides Church in Fleet Street but their mother headed to France

But their marriage unravelled and ended in 2013 - shortly after emails from Miss Deng were uncovered that suggested a close relationship with Mr Blair - which were shown to Mr Murdoch by one of his sons.

In one memo to herself, Miss Deng had written: Oh s***, oh s***. Whatever why Im so so missing Tony. Because he is so charming and his clothes are so good.

He has such a good body and he had his really, really good legs Butt [sic] . . . and he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce blue eyes which I love. Love his eyes. Also I love his power on the stage . . . and what else what else what else . . .

Other messages suggested that Mr Blair had met Miss Deng in New York, London and Beijing.

Hours after the divorce was announced, Mr Blair telephoned Mr Murdoch, insisting he was innocent. But, after a brief conversation, the tycoon refused to take any more of his calls.

Blair nevertheless spoke regularly with Miss Deng on the phone. With the support of Mr Blairs wife Cherie, both he and Miss Deng publicly denied there had ever been an affair.

But while Miss Deng is believed to be single, her ex-husband has found love again and married for the fourth time over the weekend.

Miss Hall and Mr Murdoch were bound to turn out to be an eclectic gathering with a colourful bunch of guests reflecting their past loves and lives.

As well as his daughters with Miss Deng, his other children are Prudence, 53, James, 43, Lachlan, 44, and Elisabeth, 47. Miss Halls other children are James, 30, and Gabriel, 18, both of whose father is Sir Mick.

Moving on: The newly wed couple pose outside St Bride's Church after a private ceremony of celebration in front of a host of famous faces

Famous guests: Sir Michael Caine and his wife Shakira (left) came to celebrate, as did Sir Bob Geldof and wife Jeanne Marine (right)

At the wedding breakfast, Lizzie Jagger, 32, the eldest daughter of the new Mrs Murdochs previous long-term relationship with Sir Mick Jagger, managed to sneak in a crafty cigarette as the diverse throng spilled out on to the balcony of Spencer House in Londons St James.

Her casual attire and attitude was in stark contrast to the elegance she displayed when she and her sister Georgia May Jagger, 24, wore matching ice blue bridesmaids dresses for the blessing at St Brides Church, Fleet Street, earlier on Saturday.

Famous friends: Wendi Deng went to Nina Ricci's Fashion Week show with Anna Wintour on Saturday

While Lizzie was all smiles as she arrived then, Georgia May looked a little more reluctant to show her joy on the happy occasion, in public at least.

Georgia May is said to be especially close to her mother, who encouraged her to be a model, and to be thrilled by the match.

Despite the excitement of the wedding, she did not forget Mothers Day yesterday, posting a glamorous photograph of her mother on an aeroplane on Instagram along with the message: You deserve all the love in the world, today and every day. Thanks for giving me life. Happy Mothers Day, I love you so much.

Officially, Miss Hall and Mr Murdoch wed on Friday at a civil ceremony, but both were said to have looked upon Saturdays hour-long blessing at the spiritual home of Britains media as the real thing.

The guests also included Sir Micks ex-wife Bianca Jagger, 70, who wore an eye-catching white outfit, and their daughter Jade Jagger, 44 - who is Lizzys and Georgia Mays half-sister.

Sir Mick, 72, is currently in the middle of an extensive South American tour with the band and did not attend. But former Rolling Stone bass guitarist Bill Wyman, 79, who left the band in 1992 after 31 years, joined the celebrations  sporting perhaps the least adventurous outfit of the day: a snug-fitting grey V-necked pullover, open neck shirt and dark suit.

Mr Wyman said: Jerry has simply not stopped smiling. She was ecstatic - they both were - it was a fantastic service.

Other rock royalty present included Sir Bob Geldof, 64, the architect of Live Aid and former Boomtown Rats frontman, who wrapped up warm in a brown velvet overcoat with the collar turned up and a wide, flat cap.

Details of the honeymoon remain a closely guarded secret but it is expected to be in Mexico aboard Mr Murdochs 220ft superyacht, Vertigo.

Warm welcome: Miss Deng is greeted by French model and designer Ines de la Fressange at Nina Ricci's Paris show on Saturday

Model: Mr Siem is signed to Sony Classical. He is also said to be Britains youngest university professor

Eton-educated: Mr Siem, born to a Norwegian father and British mother, is a top UK young violinist
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Many people travel the globe to get a rare glimpse of the Northern lights.

However, last night the UK played host to its very own display of the Aurora Borealis as it was visible from Scotland to Oxfordshire.

The stunning scenes are usually only reserved for the very northern tips of Scotland and Europe.

But, Met Office space weather adviser, Amanda Townsend, said that a 'lucky combination' of conditions in the lower atmosphere and in space meant the natural phenomenon could be seen across various parts of the country.

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Last night the Aurora Borealis was visible across much of the UK, including the Sycamore Gap at Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland (above)

Coversea Lighthouse, near Lossiemouth, Scotland (above) stood out against the dramatic light display, which is normally only visible from the northern tips of Scotland and Europe

Elsewhere in Scotland, the Aurora Borealis lit up the night sky over the ruins of Duffus Castle in Moray. Many people rushed to take photos thanks to the clear weather conditions

Northumberland also enjoyed stunning scenes as the natural phenomenon was seen vividly over the north east coast at Seahouses, last night

Although close to the city centre, photos showed that the northern lights shone over the Great Park in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear

The dramatic scenes were caused by a solar storm, which involves charged particles from the sun interacting with the earth's atmosphere and magnetic field.

Usually, the charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field, but some enter the upper atmosphere and collide with gas particles.

These collisions emit light which we can then see in the sky.

Ms Townsend said: 'Once in a while the solar winds are enhanced to levels stronger than normal, with particles at higher speeds, and on this occasion it has connected really well with the Earth's magnetic field.'

Clear skies across much of the country also enhanced the light display.

Those who were fortunate enough to witness the natural phenomenon shared their experiences on social media.

Panoramic views of the Northern Lights across Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire (above) were captured on camera, showing a green glow englufing the town's skies

Usually, charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field, but some enter the upper atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light which we can then see in the sky, as witnessed in Bamburgh (above), on the north east coast

A dark figure is seen to stand out against the vibrant light display at Seahouses, Northumberland (above) in a rare UK sighting of the Northern Lights

Auroral displays can appear in many colours, although pale green and pink are common, such as seen in the view from the dam on Derwent Reservoir on the border between Northumberland and County Durham

HOW ELECTRICALLY CHARGED PARTICLES FROM THE SUN CREATE THE SPECTACULAR LIGHT DISPLAY OVER EARTH There are two types of Aurora - Aurora Borealis, which means 'dawn of the north', and Aurora Australis, 'dawn of the south.' They are caused when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth's atmosphere. These so-called geomagnetic storms occur when a solar wind or cloud of magnetic field hits the Earth's magnetic field. Usually the charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field, but some enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are common. Advertisement

St Andrew's Church (above) was swept up in the geomagnetic solar storm which created pulses of Aurora Borealis. The small 18th century church near Kiln Pit Hill in Northumberland was surrounded by colour

Another building that stood out against the illuminated sky was St Mary's Lighthouse near Whitley Bay in Northumberland (above)

The bright greens and blues displayed over the hills in Caithness, Scotland (above) shone almost as brightly as the setting sun creating a sensational effect for onlookers

Many people braved the cold weather conditions to capture the rare moment on camera, as seen over the hills in Caithness, Scotland (above)

Do you have photos of the Northern Lights? If you would like to share your pictures, email them to pictures@mailonline.co.uk to share your story. Advertisement

One Twitter user described it as: 'Genuinely the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes upon.'

Another couldn't believe what they had seen, as they commented: 'Everyone thought I was mental pointing at the sky last night, I but I was right, I saw the northern lights!!'

Photographer Steve Milne said that the dazzling effect of the photos was unexpected.

Mr Milne took a stunning shot in front of the Scottish Land Girls memorial in Moray, Scotland, which was unveiled in 2012 and lit up with the green and purple sky.

Panoramic views across Low Hauxley in Northumberland (above) show the sky to be painted deep shades of green, purple and blue

People turned to social media as they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Burst of colour, such as this one in Caithness, Scotland, took places across large swathes of the country

The sculpture was created to recognise young women who left their homes to work on farms and feed the nation during World War II.

Mr Milne, who has been a photographer for around a year, said: 'It was one of the strongest displays I have really seen to date and I have seen quite a few over the years.

He said: 'There was a warning on the internet so I thought I would head to the memorial as I had been there in the day and knew it was pretty there.

The Scottish Land Girls Memorial in Clochan, Moray, Scotland (above) was given a new lease of life by photographer, Steve Milne, as the acidic shades shone down on the group of smiling females

Astronomy photographer Matt Robinson also captured the display as skies turned a rich magenta over Kielder Water in Northumberland (above)

'It was just a case of going up there and seeing if it was bright enough and thankfully it was.'

Alongside this, images of the skies over Oxford were shared on Twitter.

Mark McIntyre took several photos of the rare event.

Mark McIntyre took several photos of the rare event in Oxfordshire. He expressed his excitement as he Tweeted: 'If there were ever a nice powercut in Banbury I'd be happy!'

Mary Spicer, managed to capture images of the Northern Lights over Oxfordshire. The scene above pictures the brightest part of the Aurora display in the area at around 1am this morning

He also shared his excitement as he later tweeted: 'I do like our skies by the way - apart from Banbury up to the north. If there were ever a nice powercut in Banbury I'd be happy!'

Although the strongest part of the solar storm has now passed, the Aurora Borealis may still be visible over northern parts of England and Scotland, tonight.

Ms Townsend, said: 'The strongest part of the geomagnetic storm has passed and it probably won't be as strong on Monday night, so the main places to see aurora will be in north Scotland.'

The Met Office tweeted a satellite image of the Northern Lights shining above the UK early this morning
Navy SEALs claim they don't have enough combat rifles to go around despite their increasingly prominent role in counter-terrorism operations.

After returning from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, according to team members who confided in former Marine Rep. Duncan Hunter, who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This weapons carousel undercuts the 'train like you fight' ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.

Calling on lawmakers to confront the issue, Hunter (R-Calif.) emphasized that the weapons, which are outfitted with telescopic targeting sights and laser pointers, are fine-tuned to individual specifications and become intensely personal pieces of gear.

Navy SEALs claim they don't have enough combat rifles to go around despite their increasingly prominent role in counter-terrorism operations. Pictured: Navy SEAL trainees in Coronado, California, in 2009

Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.

U.S. military officials said they were looking into the issue.

'They want their rifles,' Hunter said. 'It's their lifeline. So let them keep their guns until they're assigned desk jobs at the Pentagon.'

The problem isn't a lack of money, according to Hunter. Congress has frequently boosted the budgets of special operations forces in the years since the 9/11 attacks, he said.

Rifles also are among the least expensive items the military buys, leading Hunter to question the priorities of Naval Special Warfare Command, the Coronado, California, organization that oversees the SEALs.

'There is so much wasteful spending,' he said. 'Money is not reaching the people it needs to reach.'

Combat rifles can cost up to several thousand dollars depending upon the type of weapon and quality of the sights and other attachments.

But the M-4 carbine, the standard combat rifle used by the military branches, cost less than $1,000 each when bought in bulk, according to Defense Department budget documents.

Hunter wrote last month to the Naval Special Warfare Command's leader, Rear Adm. Brian Losey, about the alleged weapon shortage and also asked him for a full accounting of how the command's budget was spent last year. Losey has told Hunter to expect a reply by Wednesday.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top officer at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, and Losey's superior, told Hunter last week that he is aware of the congressman's concerns.

'We're certainly running that down,' Votel said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

Votel added that heavily used rifles need to undergo maintenance and that may be contributing to the perception of a shortage. But 'we'll certainly take immediate action,' Votel said, if it's determined the combat readiness of the SEALs is being degraded.

One of the SEALs who contacted Hunter blamed a slow, penny-pinching bureaucracy that rarely seeks input from the service members who use the gear, according to a brief excerpt of his comments that the congressman's office provided to The Associated Press.

Team members expressed their concerns to former Marine Rep. Duncan Hunter, who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hunter, R-Calif, (pictured) said weapons are adjusted to fit an individual

Delays of as long as three to four years paralyze the acquisition system, the SEAL said. Once an item has finally been approved for purchase, new and better gear may be available, triggering the same lengthy screening process to see if it's worth getting instead.

Ammunition also is in short supply for training, the SEAL said, because the bulk of it is being used for combat missions.

Hunter also questioned whether the expense of expanding the size of the special operations forces could have left too little in the budget for weapons.

To meet heavy demand, the number of active-duty troops assigned to Special Operations Command, which includes SEALs, Army Green Berets and Rangers, and Air Force combat controllers, has grown dramatically during the past decade - from more than 33,600 to 56,000. There are 2,710 SEALs.

The budget for Special Operations Command is $10.4billion and the Obama administration is proposing a $400million increase over the current total for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

In his February 17 letter to Losey, Hunter also said he's received reports that the command is slow to settle official travel claims due in part to money shortages. This can cause personal and professional problems for SEALs, who hold high-level security clearances, he said.

Service members who hold U.S. government travel charge cards are ultimately responsible for any late fees, interest and accrued balance on the card.
The scheme has already won the backing of prominent business figures, including the former trade minister Lord Digby Jones (pictured)

A reclusive Scottish multi-millionaire has set up a 6.5million to fund independent candidates standing against political parties at the next General Election.

The donor, believed to be on the right of British politics, will encourage people to compete in US-style primaries and battle it out for a 10,000 fund in each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies across the UK.

Labour MPs opposed to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and Conservatives who may be disaffected by the leadership's handling of the EU referendum will be allowed to apply to be a candidate under the Charter for a Free Parliament (CFP) initiative  as long as they quit their party and stand as an independent.

The industrialist has so far refused to come forward as he wants to maintain a low profile until the initiative is formally launched next month, according to The Independent.

But the scheme has already won the backing of prominent business figures, including Lord Digby Jones, a former trade and investment minister in Gordon Brown's government.

He said CFP will 'raise the level' of public debate and 'highlight something rotten at the centre of our democratic system.

'There are hundreds of constituencies across the UK where you could put up a sheep in red or blue and it would get in. This is a first step to ending such a state of affairs,' he said.

Lord Digby, a former director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said the project will help British politics move towards a system whereby constituents choose their MP based on ability rather than which party they represent.

'There are hundreds of constituencies across the UK where you could put up a sheep in red or blue and it would get in. This is a first step to ending such a state of affairs, ' he said.

Co-founder and campaign director Martyn Greene told MailOnline that they would not announce who was the main donor behind the project until it is launched next month because they wanted the focus to be on the idea of independent candidate MPs and not the donors.

'At the moment the story must be about the concept itself and they'll come forward at the launch next month. He's away until April in China and the Pacific,' he said.

The Charter for a Free Parliament hopes to win over Labour and Tory MPs who are disaffected with their party leaders David Cameron (pictured left) and Jeremy Corbyn (right)

Mr Greene added that although the primary job of MPs is their duty to their constituents, he said 'few dare defy party whips'.

There are currently four MPs who are independent but only one of those - Lady Sylvia Hermon -stood as an independent at the 2015 election.

However, previous attempts to encourage coordinated independent campaigns have failed, with the former BBC correspondent Martin Bell - known as 'the man in the white suit - failing in his attempt to set up the Independent Network campaign despite his own personal success in beating the disgraced Tory MP Neil Hamilton from the Tatton constituency following his 'sleaze' allegations at the 1997 election.

Lady Hermon was an Ulster Unionist MP until she quit the party and stood as an independent at the 2010 election.

The other three are independent because they had their whip withdrawn from their parties, which leads to an automatic suspension.

Simon Danzcuk was suspended from the Labour party after it emerged he had sent sexually-explicit texts to a 17-year-old girl who had contacted the MP about a job in his constituency office.

Two SNP MPs were suspended by the party at the end of last year. Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thompson was forced to resign the party whip while police investigate alleged wrongdoing in property deals that were carried out on her behalf and Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry was suspended while police investigate missing donations in an organisation she co-founded.

One of the most prominent independent MPs in recent times was the NHS campaigner Dr Richard Taylor, who represented the Wyre Forest as an independent from 2001 to 2010. He later set up the National Health Action Party.

Mr Bell ousted Mr Hamilton, overturning a 16,000-strong majority and standing as an independent MP until the 2001 election, when George Osborne retook the seat for the Conservatives.

The CFP primaries will be open to anyone - including sitting MPs who have been deselected by their parties or who may be opposed to the way their party is being run.

Bitter divisions in the Tory party following the EU referendum could lead to defections, while speculation has already surfaced in the Labour party that Blairite MPs are considering abandoning the party in protest at Mr Corbyn's move to make it more left-wing.
The leader of an ISIS cell operating in southern Russia has called on fellow Muslims to join him in killing non-believers and has vowed to target President Vladimir Putin.

Abu Yasser, reported to be a deputy within ISIS's so-called Caucasus Province, calls on converts to attack 'apostates' with 'rope and knives' should they be unable to travel to join the terrorist group.

The chilling declaration was made in a video filmed in a wooded area and features a group of militants posing beside the notorious black banner of ISIS.

The group of jihadis, believed to be operating in southern Russia, posed with guns beside the black ISIS flag

It was reported the man speaking during the recording was Abu Yasser (pictured), the group's deputy emir

He threatned Putin and called on Muslims to attack non-believers with 'rope and knives' in the chilling video

Posing next to a warhead, he also said the group would use it against Putin 'and his friends, the dogs'

According to the Jerusalem Post, he states: 'I want to say to all the members of the Caucasus Province, to the faithful people, who pledged allegiance to the caliphate, emigrate to the lands of jihad and if you can't emigrate, you can fight the apostate with a rope and a knife.

'Today we do have a place where we can implement Sharia. Thanks to Allah, we have many brave brothers here with us and millions of Muslims in Russia.

'Let's get together my brothers, seize a territory and expand it.'

Posing beside a large artillery shell, he then continues the warning while patting the weapon.

'I would like to tell all the brothers in the Caucasus Province and in Russia that Allah has given us this iron missile and we will use it against the [apostate] Putin and his friends, the dogs.'

ISIS in the Caucasus Province was created in June this year and lies in south-west Russia, amid a brewing insurgency Putin has battled for years in and around Chechnya.

Some have stated it is no surprise a group has been formed in the region.

While it has a history of Islamic insurgency, ISIS is known to cherish the ferocity of the Chechen fighters within its ranks and they are considered prized recruits among the battalions fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Similar to some of the ISIS operations underway in north Africa, it appears to have been established solely as an ISIS cell and was not in existence in a different form prior to this.

However, its leader Rustam Asildarov was recruited from Vilayat Dagestan - a jihadi group created during the Second Chechen War.

It lays claim to areas surrounding Dagestan, Georgia and Chechnya, as well as a handful of provinces in Russia's south that stretch up to Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics were held.
Students campaigning for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes are now taking aim at a monument to Queen Victoria - claiming it has racist colonial connotations.

Campaigners from Royal Holloway, University of London, object to a statue of the long-reigning monarch at the university campus because she 'sanctioned colonial exploits'.

They are expected to join hundreds of students from campaigns across Britain at the 'Mass March for Decolonisation', to be held in Oxford on Wednesday, calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes.

Students campaigning for the decolonisation of British universities claim that a statue of Queen Victoria at Royal Holloway College (pictured) has 'imperial connotations'

Campaigners from Royal Holloway, University of London, object to a statue of the long-reigning monarch at the university campus because she 'sanctioned colonial exploits'

Oriel College has become the target of student campaigners who say the 19th century colonialist and founder of Rhodesia was racist.

The Times reports the 'Mass March for Decolonisation' will be part protest, part 'imperial tour of racist Oxford'.

Among those present will be supporters of the campaign at Royal Holloway which focuses on a statue of Queen Victoria at the Founder's Building in Egham, Surrey.

It comes after the BME network at Royal Holloway decided to start a poster campaign documenting the daily racist encounters and 'micro-aggressions' they faced.

The pictures showed them holding up signs with some examples of racist remarks they face written in pen alongside the hashtag #itooamroyalholloway.

In one such photograph, students are seen gathered around the statue of Queen Victoria, criticising her title of 'Empress of India'. The campaign uploaded it as a show of solidarity to the Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign.

Grace Almond, of the college's women of colour feminism society, wrote of the campaign: 'That some white students are so defensive over a statue of Queen Victoria, someone who sanctioned so many colonial exploits, shows you just how far white supremacy and racism is ingrained in our university.'

She added: 'Queen Victoria was implicitly involved in colonial exploits. She gave Cecil Rhodes a Royal Charter to lead an imperial conquest in Southern Africa. If she hadn't have given him this charter, he would not have been able to further colonisation of that region of the continent on behalf of the monarchy.'

The march has been officially backed by the National Union of Students' black students campaign.

The organisation claims the protest against the Rhodes statue is 'part of a wider struggle for decolonial learning, and anti-imperialist struggle' and that 'white supremacy is built into the very structures of Oxford University's buildings'.

In a statement, it said: 'It is no coincidence, that Oxford's elite classism, long history of excluding women from many of its colleges, in addition to its colonial contributions, make it one of the most male, pale and stale places of learning in Britain.

'White supremacy is built into the very structures of Oxford University's buildings, with the statues, names of buildings and physical structures all uncritically celebrating an Empire which dehumanises every student we are elected to represent. There can be no doubt, that part of Decolonising the student population, staff composition and curriculum, must involve a critical engagement with the physical relics of Empire.

'When we say Rhodes Must Fall, we are not simply talking about a statue: we speak to the philosophy of racial violence and apartheid, the myth of white superiority and the reality of white domination which were are dedicated to dismantling. Rhodes Must Fall Oxford is part of a wider struggle for decolonial learning, and anti-imperialist struggle, and we are proud to call them an ally.'

The plaque to Rhodes was erected in 1906 in recognition of the vast sum he left to the university.

They will be among hundreds of students from campaigns across Britain at the 'Mass March for Decolonisation', where students are calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes

The campaign to remove it, and his statue, follows the Rhodes Must Fall student protest in South Africa.

A statue of Rhodes was removed at the University of Cape Town after it was attacked as a symbol of oppression.

Oxford campaigners claim that forcing ethnic minority students to walk past the Rhodes memorials amounts to 'violence' as he helped pave the way for apartheid.

According to organisers of the march on Wednesday, it will be an 'imperial tour of racist Oxford'.

'A statement on its event page said: 'Oriel College sold out to big money. Oxford's Chancellor said students who don't like Rhodes should 'think about studying elsewhere.' A dictatorship of donors and administrators have shown no regard for the student voice, or for black life. Oxford has revealed its hand, which has only made us stronger and more determined.

'Now, we demand that Rhodes falls in all his manifestations in Oxford and beyond. We will march peacefully to various sites, and issue new demands for the fall of racist symbols, decolonisation of the white curriculum, reparatory justice, and greater black representation at all levels of the university.

'We will announce the sites to be visited leading up to the march which will be part protest and part 'imperial tour' of racist Oxford. '
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A deal to try to bring about an end to the migrant crisis affecting Europe has been delayed again after talks in Brussels could not achieve a breakthrough.

European leaders said they had reached the outlines for a possible deal with Ankara to return thousands of migrants to Turkey and said they were confident a full agreement could be reached at a summit next week.

It comes after it was announced Turkey is seeking an extra three billion euros in aid under a deal with the EU to curb the flow of migrants to the continent, as revealed by European Parliament head Martin Schulz.

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European council president, Donald Tusk, centre, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, left, and President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, right, speak at a press conference in Brussels revealing no deal has been reached

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed assurances from Turkey that it would make greater effort to 'contain irregular migration'

From left, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir, and Merkel pictured at the summit

European leaders said they had reached 'outlines' for a possible deal but another summit has been arranged for March 17 to continue talks

The leaders, including David Cameron, pictured far right, gathered for a traditional photo at the EU meeting in Brussels, Belgium

Mr Cameron, pictured arriving at the EU summit, said there was 'a basis for a breakthrough' that would see migrants arriving in Greece sent back to Turkey

After months of disagreements and increasing bickering among the 28 EU nations, French President Francois Hollande said that 'the summit has created hope that the refugee question can be dealt with through solidarity in Europe, and efficiency in cooperation with Turkey.'

All eyes are now on March 17 and the start of a two-day summit aimed at clinching an iron-clad agreement which the leaders hope would allow for a return to normalcy at their borders by the end of the year.

Turkey said it would be willing to make greater efforts to contain irregular migration, which was described as a 'welcome approach' by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

During 12 hours of negotiations, Turkey insisted that any agreement would require Europe to advance Turkey's long-delayed hope of joining the bloc.

In an additional step, Turkey said it expects EU nations to ease its visa restrictions on Turkish citizens within months.

Turkey, home to 2.75 million refugees chiefly from neighboring Syria, surprised its EU counterparts by demandingthe extra funding.

'Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well,' Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davatoglu told reporters in Brussels.

Sodden migrants wearing plastic ponchos, pictured, queue under the rain to receive food at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni

The camp at Idomeni, pictured, came under a deluge of water as the weather turned, leaving migrants to get soaked as they walked around

One child is protected by just a yellow poncho at the camp on the Greek-Macedonian border with little light to illuminate their path

Davutoglu did not disclose how much money Turkey was seeking but he said that the funds would only go to Syrian refugees.

He added: 'Not one euro will go to Turkish citizens. Every penny will be spent for Syrian refugees.'

Prime Minister David Cameron said that 'we do have the basis for a breakthrough which is the possibility that in future all migrants who arrive in Greece will be returned to Turkey.'

For its part, the EU sought to gain stronger commitments from Turkey to take back refugees who have reached European shores and ease a crisis that has left an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 souls encamped in the wintry cold on the Greece-Macedonia border.

'To stop refugees arriving in Greece, we have to cooperate with Turkey,' French President Francois Hollande said. Even though many saw the outlines of a deal, it was still too early to clinch it.

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of failing to provide enough of the already pledged funds.

UK'S PLAN TO REDUCE FLOW OF MIGRANTS ACROSS AEGEAN SEA BRANDED A 'SHAMBLES' BY EX-NAVY CHIEF Britain's plan to reduce the flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece was branded a shambles last night, as it emerged no deal had been made on where to take those rescued from the Aegean Sea. The uncertainty raised the prospect that a British ship already deployed on a Nato mission could have to rescue migrants in distress  but have nowhere to take them. Mounts Bay, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, is being sent to help hunt for people-smugglers in the area. Last month, the Defence Secretary said Turkey had agreed that migrants saved in the Aegean  even if they were in Greek waters  would be sent back. But after discussions in London, Michael Fallon told MPs migrants rescued in Greek waters would likely be taken to Europe. An MoD source said no agreement had been made, adding: We cant just send them back, it hasnt been negotiated properly. Admiral Lord West, former head of the Navy, said: There is no clarity with what we are doing ... it is still a bit of a shambles. Advertisement

A group of men have no choice but to brave the elements in waterproof jackets as they wait at the makeshift camp at Idomeni, pictured

Some people resorted to creating makeshift tents at the camp, pictured, using blankets and anything else they can find as cover

Migrants trying to cross over to the Greek island of Lesbos abandoned belongings including English language books, pictured

The belongings were strewn across the beach at Ayvacik on the Aegean sea cost, with Lesbos visible in the background, pictured

He also criticized Europe for refusing to accept asylum seekers more readily, linking that policy to needless deaths as thousands opt to cross illegally by sea from the Turkish coast to offshore Greek islands.

'We are not sending them. They are going by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea,' Erdogan said in a speech.

Turkey is seeking a new EU commitment to take Syrians and other high-percentage refugee applicants via safe travel routes, such as at the land border between Turkey and Greece, to reduce drowning deaths in the Aegean Sea.

Overshadowing the summit diplomacy is Turkey's questionable human rights record. On Friday, Turkish police stormed the headquarters of an anti-government newspaper to enforce a court order placing the paper and its sister outlets under new management.

Police spent the weekend using tear gas and water cannons to quell street protests.

Hollande said that EU cooperation with Turkey should not be interpreted as European acceptance of Turkish rights restrictions. 'The press must be free everywhere, including in Turkey,' he said.

A desperate plea for help is scrawled on one of the tents at the Idomeni camp, pictured, as refugees wait to learn their fate

One woman is pictured at the border camp carrying her belongings balanced on her head while she walks with her child

Of immediate concern was the plight of people stuck at Greece's northern border with non-EU member Macedonia, which for the past year has been one of the most popular routes for asylum seekers to reach central Europe via the Balkans.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach Germany, Sweden and other preferred destinations.

Macedonia now has effectively sealed off that route, a position backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary. Cash-strapped Greece has struggled to cope with the rapid buildup of humanity.

Those camped on the border vowed Monday to press on into Europe, regardless of what diplomats decide in Brussels.

'Whatever it takes, we will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed,' said Lasgeen Hassan, a Syrian Kurd who hopes to reunite with relatives already in Germany.

Under a stalled deal clinched in November, the EU has already pledged three billion euros (2.3bn) to aid refugees on Turkish territory in return for Ankara's cooperation in tackling Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

REPORT REVEALS MORE THAN 1,000 MIGRANTS 'KEPT IN SQUALOR' IN BRITAIN DURING HEIGHT OF CRISIS More than 1,000 migrants a month were detained in Britain in squalid conditions at the height of the crisis last summer, a damning report reveals today. Foreigners caught after sneaking across the Channel were held in unacceptable surroundings, says the new prisons watchdog. They slept on concrete floors, in crowded, smelly rooms and with insufficient food or showers. Many had lived in makeshift camps in Calais before climbing aboard lorries, ferries and freight trains to the UK. Once discovered, they were put in temporary holding centres that fundamentally lacked decency. From July to September, 3,603 migrants  including 381 children  were detained at Dover Seaport or Frontier House in Folkestone to await processing. Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke says the Home Office and private firm Tascor were overwhelmed. The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment last night while Tascor said it worked to ensure detainee welfare was not compromised. Advertisement

Children, pictured, cover up to protect themselves against the element at a protest at Idomeni where refugees want the borders opened

Another man tries to protect himself from the heavy rain and wrap up warm using a large blanket, pictured, at the camp at Idomeni

Although Turkey has complained it is yet to see any of these initial funds, a European source today said that if agreed, the extra money 'would not be a blank check' and would come with specific demands of the Turks.

'The Turks have asked for more money: three billion euros before 2018,' Mr Schulz said after attending an EU-Turkey summit dedicated to the migrant crisis. 'It will require additional budgetary procedures. The European Parliament is prepared to speed up the procedures.'

It comes as Hungary plans to cut subsidies for refugees and drastically reduce the space available in migrant detention centres, in a move that a human rights body complains is aimed at forcing refugees to leave the country.

According to draft legislation published by the Hungarian government today, from April 1 those who were granted some kind of protection or asylum will be allowed to stay in a camp for only one month, instead of the current two months.

The decree also said the maximum space available in holding centres should be identical to that prescribed in prisons.

The government, which has imposed hardline policies throughout Europe's migrant crisis, will also eliminate some subsidies, such as funds aimed at supporting education, for those who receive protection.

Last year, just 508 asylum seekers received some kind of protection in Hungary, including asylum, according to data from the immigration office.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government has been one of the harshest opponents to the refugee crisis, having erected a steel fence on the country's southern borders to keep the migrants out and introduced tough legislation to punish those who tried to cross into Hungary illegally.

Meanwhile, David Cameron today declared there is 'no prospect' of Britain joining a common European Union asylum system and stressed that the UK keeps its own borders to prevent migrants getting into the country.

Arriving in Brussels for talks on the migration crisis, the British Prime Minister insisted that the UK's opt-out from the Schengen agreement meant there could be no question of Britain joining any new asylum quota process.

Sprawling shanty town: Tents are spread across acres of land at a temporary refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border near the northern Greek village of Idomeni where thousands of migrants are stranded after Skopje limited border crossings to a trickle

Tented slum: At a summit in Brussels, EU leaders are seeking to shore up support for Greece where thousands of migrants are stranded

A girl plays with a hula hoop in a makeshift migrant camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni on Monday

Refugee children play on the railway tracks as they wait to enter Macedonia in the refugee camp near Idomeni, northern Greece

A man holds his child close to the gate at the where some 13,000 migrants are camping while they wait to cross into Macedonia

A refugee boy looks out from his tent in a camp on Greek-Macedonian border, near Idomeni, northern Greece

'We have an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe,' he told reporters.

'We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.'

Mr Cameron's comments followed reports that the European Commission is preparing to bring forward proposals to centralise control of asylum claims.

He also said Britain would be affected by the migrant crisis even if it votes to leave the European Union in the referendum in June.

'Even outside the EU, we would be affected by the migration crisis like this, he added. 'But at the end of the day we maintain our borders and our own way of doing things because we have the best of both worlds.'

Under the EU's current asylum system, known as the Dublin rules and which apply to Britain, individual countries must register and process asylum claims on a national basis and that responsibility falls to the first EU state a refugee enters.

ANTI-IMMIGRANT PARTY SCORES BIG GAINS IN GERMAN ELECTIONS AS PUBLIC TURN ON MERKEL'S POLICIES The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AFD) scored massive gains in municipal weekend elections which reflect growing public anger at the open-door refugee policy of Angela Merkel. Polls for councils in the state of Hesse saw the AFD make significant inroads on the two main parties  the Chancellors conservative CDU and the centre-left SPD  to come in third with 13.2 percent of the vote, knocking the Greens into fourth place. Frankfurt CDU politician Markus Frank said: The preliminary result of the AFD is frightening. I had expected a maximum 5 per cent. Local AFD party boss Peter Munch said his party would not seek to enter into coalition deals with the two mainstream parties. Voter turnout was exceptionally low at 48 percent  a sign of voter fatigue during the ongoing refugee crisis. Just weeks ago AFD chairman Frauke Petry provoked outrage among politicians when she advocated border guards opening fire with live ammunition on illegal asylum seekers. But days later, a poll found 29 percent of Germans agreed with her. Polls next Sunday in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt could reinforce how Mrs Merkel is getting out of step with voters and prompt accusations she has undermined her party with her moral stand. Observers are saying state parliaments will be won and lost on the issue of refugees alone. Advertisement

Hundreds of refugees wait to enter Macedonia in front of the closed border gate at the Greek-Macedonian border near Idomeni, Greece

Migrant children hold on to the fence as they wait to enter Macedonia in front of the closed border gate at the Greek-Macedonian border

A Macedonian police officer closes the border gate in front of refugees waiting to enter Macedonia at the Greek-Macedonian border

Kept out: EU leaders are expected to declare the main Balkan migrant route closed, after Macedonia  backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary  limited border crossings to a trickle. They will also push for Turkey to take back tens of thousands of migrants

A future system could see the EU centrally overseeing asylum applications  one of several ways proposed to prevent a repeat of countries like Greece and Italy handling hugely disproportionate numbers.

There are concerns that a revision to the Dublin rules could deprive Britain of the right to deport asylum-seekers to the state where they entered the EU.

The EU executive is due to present proposals for reforms of the system next week.

His comments came as EU leaders arrived for the summit to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded.

They are expected to declare the main Balkan migrant route closed after Macedonia  backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary  limited border crossings to a trickle.

Ahead of the summit, some 14,000 people were camped by Greece's border with Macedonia hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

Refugees wait to enter Macedonia in front of the closed border gate at the Greek-Macedonian border near Idomeni, northern Greece

Humanitarian organisations estimate that the number of migrants stuck at the Greek-Macedonian border crossing had swelled to 14,000

Glum: A man holds a child as they sit with others near the gate at the Greek-Macedonian border. EU leaders are holding a summit with Turkey to back closing the Balkans route and urge Ankara to deport large numbers of economic migrants from overstretched Greece

Refugees play with a balloon as they wait to enter Macedonia in front of the closed border gate at the Greek-Macedonian border

A child plays on a rail track at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni where thousands of migrants are stranded

The leaders are holding talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who said he hopes the summit will mark a turning point in EU-Turkey ties, adding that the meeting is as focused on Turkey's future EU membership as on the refugee emergency.

'Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well,' Mr Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks 'will be a success story and a turning point in our relations'.

However, Davutoglu wants faster moves to negotiate Turkish membership of the EU and an immediate easing of EU visa rules for Turks.

'The Turks are negotiating very hard,' a senior EU diplomat said. Another spoke of alarm that hard bargaining could disrupt talks to reunite Greek- and Turkish-speaking parts of Cyprus.

EU leaders are likely to tell him of concerns about human rights after the Turkish government seized control of a critical newspaper.

But EU officials said they will also be anxious not to alienate Ankara just as hopes are rising of a solution to the crisis.

No compromises: Prime Minister David Cameron arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, where he said there is 'no prospect' of Britain joining a European Union asylum system and stressed that the UK keeps its own borders so migrants can't get into the country

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a summit with Turkey on the migrant crisis on at the European Council in Brussels. EU leaders will press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands are stranded

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrives for the summit. He has urged his EU partners to put long-agreed migrant plans into action

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives for an EU leaders summit with Turkey in Brussels to discuss the migrant crisis

European Council President Donald Tusk, the former Polish premier who will chair today's talks, had barely left a meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and declared cautious optimism on the migrant crisis when police seized the newspaper.

'It's a slap in the face,' one senior EU official told Reuters after EU envoys met in Brussels on Sunday evening.

A draft statement prepared for their talks says they will ensure 'comprehensive, large scale and fast-track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection.'

NATO said on Sunday a new naval force secured approval for operating in Turkish and Greek waters.

That will lend force to a deal with Turkey to take back migrants halted in its waters and those who reach Greek islands but fail to qualify for asylum.

Arriving for a meeting with Davutoglu on the sidelines of the summit, Greece's prime minister urged his EU partners to put long-agreed and long-delayed migrant plans into action.

Children living in the Calais Jungle take part in a demonstration against the destruction of their camp by offering white roses to police

Also taking part in the demonstration were a group of Iranian hunger strikers some of whom had sewn their lips together in protest

Police are in the process of bulldozing half of the Jungle camp in Calais and evicting thousands of migrants

Protesters living in the Calais Jungle migrant camp take part in a demonstration against the destruction of their camp by French police

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters that 'rules are for all, and everybody has to implement our common decisions.'

'If there are agreements that are not implemented there are not agreements at all,' he said.

EU leaders agreed in September to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy over two years.

As of March 3, fewer than 700 people had been relocated to other European countries.

Human rights group Amnesty International hit out at the leaders for using Turkey as a buffer to stop migrants, calling the move 'a dangerous and deliberate ploy to shirk their responsibilities to people fleeing war and persecution.'

'Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency,' said the group's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, Gauri van Gulik.

UK is exempt from new EU asylum deal, claims Prime Minister David Cameron

By John Stevens, Brussels Correspondent for the Daily Mail

The Prime Minister says he will not let Brussels take control of deciding who should be given asylum in Britain.

The European Commission has drawn up plans to shift the responsibility from individual states to the centralised European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

But David Cameron yesterday said the country had an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things, so theres no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe.

Brussels will this month unveil plans to revise the Dublin Regulation that requires would-be refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter.

Under current rules, the UK is allowed to return migrants to their first point of entry in the continent. Since 2003, more than 12,000 people have been removed from Britain to other European countries under the rules, which the Home Office has claimed is many more than we have received in return.

Mr Cameron, pictured at the summit, said there was 'no prospect' of the UK joining a common European asylum process

However, one option to be presented by the commission will see the first-country principle removed and those designated as refugees by EASO shared out between countries using a quota system.

Britain has an opt-out meaning it would not have to join the new scheme, but if it lost the ability to deport people who have entered other countries first, it would be embarrassing for Mr Cameron.

Officials are keen to avoid a row on immigration months before the referendum on Britains membership of the EU, and an EU source yesterday said this country could be given a special exemption allowing it to continue to apply the current rules and deport people, even if other countries agreed to revise the system.

The European Commission will publish the list of options for reform on March 16 before a meeting of all 28 EU leaders in Brussels the following day.

It is likely the eastern European countries would oppose plans to establish a permanent quota system to share out refugees.

Mr Cameron yesterday also argued the UK would be affected by the migration crisis in the EU even if it was not a member.
The headmaster of a Pennsylvania high school has apologized on behalf of the school after three pupils dressed up as members of the Klu Klux Klan for a history project on the 1920s.

The Upper Darby high school students were photographed wearing the familiar sinister white robes, emblazoned with the letter 'K' and pointed hat associated with the hate group.

It is understood the photograph was taken during a history lesson, with the teacher insisting the assignment was never meant to harm anyone.

The Upper Darby high school students were photographed wearing the familiar sinister white robes, emblazoned with the letter 'K' and pointed hat associated with the hate group

Video Courtesy WPVI

Superintendent Richard Dunlap apologized for the shocking photo, claiming that it was 'intended to identify and highlight the atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan'.

Mr Dunlap confirmed that the photo had been taken during the last academic year but was recently uploaded on to social media, according to Philly.com.

He explained it was 'a project' that was handed out in a history lesson 'with the intention of illustrating the historical impact of the 1920s'.

'There were skits associated with this project, and a photo of a skit intended to identify and highlight the atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan circulated on social media,' Dunlap wrote.

The Klu Klux Klan is well known for their familiar white robes and peaked hoods

The KKK have a long history of violence toward African-Americans, Jews and other groups, according the Southern Poverty Law Center

'The photo has offended many in the community, and the Upper Darby School District is deeply sorry for this,' he explained.

'Though there was no intention to harm or offend anyone, we recognize that the project was in poor judgement and an inappropriate activity.'

The Klu Klux Klan are well known for their familiar white robes and peaked hoods.

They have a long history of violence toward African-Americans, Jews and other groups, according the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A French five-star hotel has refused to throw out customers so the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry can have their suites this summer, it was revealed today.

Le Hotel Marotte in Amiens says its would be 'unethical' to cancel existing bookings to make way for the royals when they represent Britain at the Battle of the Somme centenary in France.

William, Kate and Harry and their aides are said to have requested two nights in four suites, which cost up to 350-a-night, at the only five-star hotel in the area around the battlefields.

Official visit: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are representing Britain at the 2016 centenary of the Battle of the Somme but a luxury hotel says it cannot let them stay

Grand: Le Marotte, pictured, is the only five-star hotel in Amiens but it says it would be 'unethical' to cancel existing bookings to make way for the royals

Hotel manager Olivier Walti has said that the French Foreign Ministry has been in touch about securing the suites.

Local media in France have said that the royals may be forced to try Airbnb because of the lack of luxury accommodation in Amiens, which has largely three and four-star hotels.

Mr Walti said: 'The Foreign Ministry has contacted us in January to see if we were able to accommodate the royal family on the occasion of the Somme commemorations. We had to decline the offer, it is impossible, we are already booked solid.

'We would not tell people who have booked with us for months and who have already paid for their stay, sorry, but the royal family is coming, we will have to cancel. It's just unthinkable ethically', he told local newspaper the Courrier Picard.

Estelle Walti, the manager of the Marmotte Hotel in Amiens, which she runs with husband, Olivier, today told Mail Online that the French Foreign Ministry approached them in January.

Referring to the Ministry as the Quai d'Orsay  its address in central Paris  Ms Walti said: The Quai dOrsay wanted to know if we had rooms.

Weve been booked up for this period for a month, so unfortunately we couldnt help them. Its not because we didnt want the Royals here  its just that we werent going to let other customers down.

We would not tell people who have booked with us for months and who have already paid for their stay, sorry, but the royal family is coming, we will have to cancel. It's just unthinkable ethically Hotel manager Olivier Walti

The hotel, which has previously had royalty and stars like Lenny Kravitz as guests, has suites that can hold a family of four, have freestanding stone baths and even private, sound-proofed saunas.

Asked about the hotels five stars, Ms Walti said: We are an officially recognised five star establishment. She said two heads of states had stayed recently, but could not say who for security reasons.

Le Marotte technically has a no-children policy because of the lack of room for extra beds, but it is not known if they would have made an exception for Prince George and Princess Charlotte if they also go to France this summer.

Amiens' hotels have been booked by people from all over the world up to a year in advance.

Royals, dignitaries and relatives of those who died in the 1916 battle will be heading to the French city 80 miles north of Paris on June 30 and July 1.

But with no rooms available the royals are still struggling to find anywhere suitable to stay, locals sources have said.

Luxurious: Suites at Le Marotte have freestanding stone baths like this one and even their own saunas

Slaughter across No Man's Land: British armed forces lost 20,000 men on the first day of the Somme, which started 100 years ago this summer

According to Tripadvisor there are no free rooms in the town at all over the two nights they need, meaning they may need to rent a house or be handed accommodation by the French government.

William, Kate and Harry are attending the Somme 2016 commemorative events in France as the younger members of the royal family take on more responsibilities from the Queen.

On June 30 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will attend an evening vigil at Westminster Abbey to mark the eve of the start of the battle in 1916.

In France Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall will attend commemorative events in France on July 1.

The Duke and Duchess and Cambridge and Prince Harry will represent the royal family at events on June 30 and July 1, hence the need for two nights in Amiens.

The Somme offensive was part of a coordinated effort by Britain and France to achieve a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front - but became one of the bloodiest battles in history.

Big event: French President Francois Hollande, Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Victoria Wallace and Prime Minister David Cameron in Amiens this week for talks

Its aim was to capture the high ground astride the river Somme and its tributary, the Ancre, in northern France.

The theory was that a breakthrough on the Somme would allow the Allies to 'roll up' the entire German line.

Instead, July 1 saw the British army suffer the heaviest single day of casualties in its history. The battle lasted until November and controversy over what the battle achieved burns to this day.

About 1.1 million British and Commonwealth troops died in the war . But at the Somme alone, British and Commonwealth forces were calculated to have lost 419,654.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend commemorative events in France on June 30 and July 1. This is an important commemoration and they are honoured to be taking part on behalf of The Queen and the Government.
They began to smash windows and rip apart air conditioning units

The six boys climbed onto the Youth J

A group of six boys have surrendered to police after rioting on the roof of the Youth Justice Centre in Melbourne for almost seven hours on Monday.

The inmates at the justice centre in Parkville climbed on its roof while wielding metal bars around 2.30pm, a Victoria police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

The unruly group then began to smash windows, swing from the roof, kick in sheets of glass, and rip air conditioning units to shreds with their hands, according to Nine News.

Just before 10pm, the group voluntarily surrendered to the heavily armed officers at the scene.

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A group of six boys rioted on the roof of the Youth Justice Centre in Melbourne (pictured) after climbing up there with metal poles on 2.30pm on Monday

The group began to immediately smash windows with their poles, fists and feet

They also began ripping air conditioning units apart and whacking the poles onto the tin roof

They were not violent as they made their way to the ground and no one has been injured, police said.

Police wearing heavy armour and shields and the Department of Human Services search team negotiated with the juveniles until they agreed to step down, police said.

It is the second time in less than six months a group of inmates has climbed onto the roof, according to Nine News.

Last October, six people climbed onto the green roof with tennis rackets.

The boys finally agreed to come down off of the roof around 10pm after a seven-hour standoff

No injuries have been reported to either the inmates or the staff inside
A mother claims she has been threatened with legal action and a $550 fine unless she can quieten her toddler, leaving her feeling that her child has been bullied by her buildings strata company.

Artist Janin Mayer, 33, says she is disgusted after receiving a letter from strata company Bright & Duggan citing complaints from her neighbours over excessive noise, in the form of (her) child shouting and screaming from early in the morning to very late at night on a regular basis.

Ms Mayer, her husband Evi and their 19-month-old son Elliav have been living in the oceanside Vaucluse apartment block in Sydneys exclusive eastern suburbs for less than three months,' according to the Daily Telegraph.

The letter informs the couple they are  disturbing other residents and as such you are in breach of the strata scheme by-laws.

The couple are warned that they must quieten their child immediately or else face a fine.

Artist Janin Mayer, 33, says she is disgusted after receiving a letter from strata company Bright & Duggan citing complaints from her neighbours over excessive noise, in the form of (her) child shouting and screaming from early in the morning to very late at night on a regular basis'

Ms Mayer, her husband Evi and their 19-month-old son Elliav have been living in the oceanside Vaucluse apartment block in Sydneys exclusive eastern suburbs for less than three months

Please refrain from allowing your child to create excessive noise immediately and into the future. You must be mindful of other residents and keep noise levels to a minimum at all times, the letter read.

Continued breaches of the by-laws may result in the matter being taken further and a fine of $550 being imposed by the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal.

Ms Mayer, who is expecting her second child next month, says she feels discriminated against by the letter.

WTF?! Discrimination to the utmost! I am revolted, Ms Mayer wrote on Facebook to friends who voiced their support.

She says she and her husband are always mindful of her neighbours, close their windows and avoid common areas, explaining I dont know what else we can do, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Ms Mayer says despite initially feeling distressed by the threatening tone of the letter, her family is now being inundated with support.

Ms Mayer, who is expecting her second child next month, says she feels discriminated against. She says her family is always considerate of neighbours and doesn't know where young families are supposed to go

Everyones disgusted, especially people with children who just know that is normal behaviour for a toddler. In addition to the fact that city rental prices are so ridiculous anyway, it just adds to the feeling of being pushed out.

She and her husband no longer feel comfortable living in the building and are considering leaving the city completely.

They also have serious concerns about how the neighbours will react when their newborn arrives in April, leaving them stressed and upset.

I dont know where young families are supposed to go, Ms Mayer told the Daily Telegraph.
Guards were not aware of her presence inside the camp where 1.1m died

The reason she survived was because she was too malnourished to cry

Her mother gave birth to her on the bunk of a victims' barracks dormitory

Originally from Hungary, she spent her first five weeks in the death camp

Angela Orosz, now aged 71, is only one of two Auschwitz babies to survive

Three hours after Angela Orosz was born, on the top bunk of camp C in Auschwitz concentration camp, her mother was forced outside into the freezing cold dressed in rags for roll call.

Back in the camp's barracks - where 1.1 million murdered Jews had lived during the final years of the Second World War - a newly born and undersized Orosz lay so malnourished she was unable to cry.

This, she reveals, is the reason she survived her birth in December 1944 in the Nazis' most notorious death camp. Too sick to make noises, she remained undiscovered by patrolling SS guards.

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Angela Orosz was born on December 21, 1944, and spent the first five weeks of her life inside Auschwitz death camp. She has revealed she only survived because she was so malnourished she was unable to cry. Here she is pictured holding up a photograph of her parents at their wedding, prior to their imprisonment by the Nazis

The photograph shows Vera Otvos and Tibor Bein, Angela's parents, with guests at their wedding party in Budapest in 1943. Her father did not survive Auschwitz

Now 71, Orosz is believed to be one of only two people to survive being born to prisoners inside the camp.

She told The Guardian her mother had been assisted during the birth by an orderly who delivered her with a sheet, hot water and scissors.

'She told my mother to go to the top bunk. In the barrack, the bunks were three on top of each other. She went up after my mother and helped her give birth.

'I was born three days before the SS celebrated Christmas, so probably on 21 December 1944. I was so malnourished I was unable to cry, which helped ensure no one discovered me.'

At the age of one, she weighed the same as a newborn baby and her late development due to conditions in the camp for the first five weeks of her life meant she could not walk until she was seven.

In February Orosz gave harrowing testimony against former Auschwitz guard Reinhold Hanning, who she says was part of the 'killing machine' that destroyed 1.1 million lives in the camp.

Her parents had wedded in 1943 but the Nazis invaded Hungary a year later, and forced them onto a train car for cattle.

Her mother was already pregnant when they arrived in Auschwitz in May 1944 and were both put to hard labour.

In February she gave evidence at former guard Reinhold Hanning's trial and last year at the trial of 'Auschwitz book keeper' Oskar Groening (pictured)

Her father died of exhaustion, while her mother was so undernourished that the pregnancy did not show even in the seventh month.

She was also subjected to notorious camp doctor Josef Mengele's gruesome experiments, including a sterilisation procedure that entailed inserting a burning substance into her cervix. All the while during the torture, Orosz was in her uterus.

Although she was only an infant during the five weeks she spent in Auschwitz before it was liberated on January 27, 1945, Orosz said it was clear that 'it has marked my entire life'.

'I was a very sick baby. I looked like a rag doll. In November 1945, when I was almost a year old, I weighed only 6.6 pounds' - the weight of a newborn.'

Orosz only returned to Auschwitz for the first time last year, convinced by her stepbrother.

'I was hesitating, because my mother had always said to me, if you don't have any memories, don't get any. But I thought about it for a long time, and in the end I [summoned] the courage,' she said, adding that one of her two grown children accompanied her.

'It was tough to be there. At the same time, I and many other survivors wanted to show the world that we survived, that Hitler did not win, that the Jewish people are strong and will be strong.'

At Auschwitz she was approached by a German lawyer who asked her to testify at the trial of Oskar Groening - known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz".

'I first told him no. Then, I heard the testimony of one of the survivors, who embraced Herr Groening in the courtroom and publicly forgave him, and my blood was boiling.

'We survivors cannot forgive in the name of the six million who were murdered. Then I decided I was going to testify after all.'

At last April's trial of Groening, who was sentenced to four years in jail as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases, she told the accused to his face: 'I cannot forgive you.'

She dismissed any talk that low-ranking SS officers were simply following orders, calling that 'a lie'.

'They knew that children, men and women were murdered when arriving in Auschwitz. They smelled the... burning human flesh coming from the crematoria. If they were there, they were part of this mass murder.'

'It seems the world is very forgetful, and when I hear that anti-Semitism and extremism is rising again in Europe, I become angry. But at the same time I become convinced that these trials must be held.'

The main gate of the Nazi death camp, where 1.1million people were killed, stated: 'Work sets you free'

Pictured is a women's dormitory inside Auschwitz, similar to that in which Angela Orosz was born
Samantha Price faces deportation to the US after she failed to renew her visa when she became ill with cancer after moving to Britain

An American cancer sufferer who has been married to her British husband for 12 years says she's being treated 'like a murderer' for overstaying her visa.

Samantha Price, 35, moved to Edgbaston, West Midlands, in 2007, three years after she married husband David in a ceremony in Texas.

But she failed to renew her visa after discovering a lump in 2011 and later needing a mastectomy for breast cancer.

Despite continuing to undergo treatment, Mrs Price has been detained in an immigration centre after an early morning raid on her and her husband's home on February 21.

She said: 'The officers stormed into our flat at 8pm and took me away in handcuffs like I was a murderer and threw me in a police cell for two nights.

'I was locked up with real criminals yet my only crime was outstaying my visa. I was then taken to [a detention centre near] Gatwick. It's been one big nightmare.'

The couple married in the US in 2004 but have lived in Britain for more than eight years.

Her visa ran out in 2011 but the couple say they couldn't afford the 1,400 fee for leave to remain because they were paying for her prescriptions.

Mrs Price had a mastectomy in December 2013 after being diagnosed with stage three cancer and has recently been suffering pains, prompting her to fear the disease had returned.

She was waiting for an appointment for an MRI scan at the time she was detained and says she has since had an X-ray whilst being held.

Speaking on the phone from the detention centre to her local paper, the Birmingham Mail, Mrs Price said: 'David is all I have and I can't bear to be apart from him. I've known him for 18 years.

'If I am sent back to the US, I have no family over there and will be all alone. I want to stay in the UK with him.

'But because I fell in love with a man from another country we are being punished. We have been married 12 years and I want to work here and have a life but they are making it impossible.'

She added: 'I am a British citizen's wife. We are truly in love yet we are being ripped apart.'

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The couple say they didn't hear from immigration officials for three years after the visa expired, but she was told to attend monthly meetings from 2014.

She missed an appointment in 2015 because of her bad health and the couple then, feeling they were getting nowhere, turned to a solicitor to take up their case.

The couple came to Britain in 2007 after marrying in Texas. Mrs Price has been ill since 2011 and had cancer

Chef Mr Price cannot return to the US until next year at the earliest because he is banned after overstaying his visa before the couple left.

IT graduate Mrs Price has been unable to work in the UK due to her immigration status.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Ms Price has been in the UK illegally since 2011 after she overstayed her visit visa which was valid for six months.

'We are aware that she underwent treatment for cancer in 2014 and Immigration Enforcement worked with Ms Price, deferring her removal to the USA to allow her to receive treatment.

'She was asked to report to Immigration Enforcement regularly during this period, but failed to do so.

'Ms Price has not regularised her stay in the UK, and has declined the option of returning to the USA voluntarily on several occasions.

'For this reason, and after her cancer treatment, we made arrangements for her removal from the UK.'
Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials.

Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified.

'As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world,' said one of the officials.

The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico.

Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained about the xenophobic nature of Donald Trump's statements in recent private conversations, said U.S. officials, who declined to be identified

U.S. officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign.

America's allies in particular usually don't want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins.

Senior leaders in several countries - including Britain, Mexico, France, and Canada - have already made public comments criticizing Trump's positions.

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded him a threat to peace and prosperity in an interview published on Sunday.

Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the private diplomatic complaints.

Japan's embassy declined to comment. The Indian and South Korean embassies did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Mexican government would not confirm any private complaints but noted that its top diplomat, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, said last week that Trump's policies and comments were 'ignorant and racist' and that his plan to build a border wall to stop illegal immigration was 'absurd'.

The foreign officials have been particularly disturbed by the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes that the billionaire real estate mogul has pushed, according to the U.S. officials.

European and Middle Eastern government representatives have expressed dismay to U.S. officials about anti-Muslim declarations by Trump that they say are being used in recruiting pitches by the Islamic State and other violent jihadist groups.

On December 7, Trump's campaign issued a written statement saying that he was 'calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.'

Trump subsequently said in television interviews that American Muslims traveling abroad would be allowed to return to the country, as would Muslim members of the U.S. military or Muslim athletes coming to compete in the United States.

There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts.

'European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump's rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic,' said a senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

'With the EU facing an existential crisis, there's more than the usual anxiety about the U.S. turning inward when Europe needs U.S. support more than ever.'

Another of the senior U.S. officials said the complaints are coming mostly from mid-to-low ranking diplomats - described as 'working level' - rather than from the most senior officials.

'The responses have ranged from amusement to befuddlement to curiosity,' the official said. 'In some cases, we've heard expressions of alarm, but those have been more in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment as well as the general sense of xenophobia.'

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (left) said Trump is a threat to peace and prosperity in an interview on Sunday. Mexico's Claudia Ruiz Massieu (right) said last week that Trump's policies are 'ignorant and racist'

A British official noted that Prime Minister David Cameron said: 'What Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat the extremists more difficult'

More than a hundred Republican foreign policy veterans pledged this week to oppose Trump, saying in an open letter that his proposals would undermine U.S. security.

On Tuesday, General Philip Breedlove, the United States' top military commander in Europe, said that the U.S. elections were stirring concerns among America's allies.

'I get a lot of questions from our European counterparts on our election process this time in general,' said Breedlove, who did not mention Trump by name. 'And I think they see a very different sort of public discussion than they have in the past.'

While not confirming the content of private diplomatic contacts, some foreign officials acknowledged their governments' concerns about Trump.

A British official noted that in January, Prime Minister David Cameron said: 'What Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat the extremists more difficult.'

A Chinese official referred to a statement last week from China's foreign ministry spokeswoman. Asked whether China was concerned about Trump's proposal to place high tariffs on Chinese goods, Hua Chunyin declined to comment on specific candidates.

But she said 'I want to stress' that China and the United States have 'major responsibilities' in maintaining international political and economic stability.

Representatives of other countries publicly attacked by Trump, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam either had no comment or did not respond to requests for comments.

Several American foreign policy experts said foreign diplomats have complained to them as well.
Mummified mariner Manfred Bajorat's ghost boat was discovered at sea nearly four weeks before he was found dead on board as it drifted off the coast of the Philippines.

American coastguard officials were first informed after a crew members of a racing yacht first saw the mast-less vessel January 31.

But nothing was done between then and the discovery by fishermen on February 25 of his boat Sayo.

The mummified body of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, was discovered by two fishermen aboard his yacht in the Pacific Ocean 40 miles off the coast of Barobo town in Surigao del Sur

A yacht crew reported seeing Manfred Bajorat's vessel on January 31, but U.S. coastguard officials did not follow up on the report, and it took nearly a month before his body was found in the Philippines

By that time Bajorat had drifted more than 1,000 nautical miles with him becoming increasingly mummified by warm salty air.

The crew of the ocean sailing yacht LMAX Exchange - a deep sea boat belonging to the regatta Clipper Round the World - sighted the Sayo when it was involved in a competition.

In the online logbook of the crew it says: 'After the sighting of a yacht with a broken mast, the LMAX Exchange interrupted the race at 6:24.'

The LMAX team immediately informed the U.S. Coast Guard in Guam. Three hours and six minutes later the LMAX Exchange was granted permission by the US authorities to continue the race.

What happened then is unclear but media reports in Germany said Nina, daughter of 59-year-old Bajorat, informed in her hometown of Hamburg about the sighting and probable death of her father.

Tragic: Authorities are trying to establish the last days of German national Mr Bajorat, who left a tribute to his late wife, Claudia, on a shipping forum

A picture taken shortly after the discovery shows Filipino fishermen recovering Mr Bajorat's drifting yacht in the seas off Barobo town in Surigao del Sur province, Philippines

Mystery: Mr Bajorat's body was found near to the radio telephone as if he was trying one last desperate Mayday call to save himself when he died

The boat was allowed to drift on until fisherman boarded it 40 miles from the northern coast of the Philippines on February 25.

The photo of adventurer Manfred, a former insurance salesman who gave up his landlubber life for adventure on the high seas, went around the world.

His hand seemed to be reaching for a radio telephone as if her were making one last desperate bid to send a Mayday message.

At first it was feared he may have fallen prey to pirates but an autopsy showed he had died of a heart attack. How long he had been dead remains unclear.
A pregnant heroin addict and a woman who has 'confused.com' tattooed on her forehead are among the new stars of a shocking documentary on benefits.

Benefits By The Sea: Jaywick features mother-to-be Sarah from the run down area south of Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, who has been addicted to heroin for 15 years.

The documentary follows Sarah and her partner JP, who has been an alcoholic for 10 years, relying on 'Jaywick champagne' - strong cider which costs 3 for a three-litre bottle - to feed his addiction.

Benefits By The Sea: Jaywick follows mother-to-be Sarah from the dilapidated area south of Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, who has been addicted to heroin for 15 years. She is pictured with alcoholic partner, JP

The documentary follows Sarah (pictured by the seafront) and her partner JP, who has battled drink problems for 10 years, relying on 'Jaywick champagne' - strong cider which costs 3 for a three-litre bottle - to feed his addiction

The couple are desperate to keep their unborn child but face a daily battle to stay clean from drugs and drink. If blood tests show that Sarah is still using - her baby will be taken away from her at birth

Social services want to separate the couple, and the show sees JP sent to a ten-day residential detox programme - leaving Sarah to give birth alone in Colchester hospital

The couple are desperate to keep their unborn child but face a daily battle to stay clean from drugs and drink. If blood tests show that Sarah is still using - her baby will be taken away from her at birth.

Social services want to separate the couple, and the show sees JP sent to a ten-day residential detox programme - leaving Sarah to give birth alone in Colchester hospital.

She said: 'I have lost everything due to heroin. I hate it, the stuff is rotten.'

JP adds: 'Everyone is going to see my baby before I do.'

They are among the stars of the second series of the Channel 5 documentary series, Benefits by the Sea, which follows residents of Jaywick - once a thriving seaside resort, but now officially the most deprived place in England.

The show also follows tattoo addict Tara, who spends her benefits handout on new inkings. She has 'confused.com' tattooed on her forehead

Benefits by the Sea follows residents of Jaywick - once a thriving seaside resort, but now officially the most deprived place in England

JAYWICK: FROM IDYLLIC SEASIDE VILLAGE TO DOWN AT HEEL SUBURB Once billed as an idyllic seaside holiday village, its now blighted by dilapidated homes, boarded-up shops and discarded mattresses. East Jaywick in Essex is England's most deprived place, according to the Governments Indices of Multiple Deprivation. It is mainly home to temporary chalets built by businessman Frank Stedman, who bought marshes there in 1928 hoping to create a holiday village. Jaywick, the down-at-heel suburb of nearby Clacton, was ranked as the most deprived of all 32,482 small wards in England and Wales. It also has the greatest number of young people not in employment, education or training, with one third claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. Many of Britain's seaside towns have become dumping grounds following the destruction of their economies by cheap foreign travel. Resorts which used to be thriving have become heavily populated by welfare claimants, those with substance abuse and mental health problems and patients leaving the care system, a recent report by the Centre for Social Justice said. Advertisement

The controversial series is the latest to profile Britain's benefits culture, and half of the town's 5,000 residents live on benefits - more than five times the national average.

The average weekly income of the locals is 360 and there are high rates of unemployment, crime and ill health.

The show also follows tattoo addict Tara, who spends her benefits handouts on new inkings.

She said: 'Some are them are a bit ludicrous and a bit ridiculous, I've got confused.com on my forehead.'

Tattoo-addict Tara, who was stabbed by an ex-partner, is seen trying to get her ex-husband's name covered over.

She lives with housemate Darren, who combine their benefits to buy a second-hand tumble dryer for their run-down home.

But the pair cannot afford the delivery fee and so use a shopping trolley to push the machine three miles home.

The show also features ex-gangster Fred, who lives in a caravan with 15 cats, surviving with absolutely no power.

This series he is followed as he moves to a new home, helped by a local Samaritan called Dan.

Last series the documentary ran into controversy when one of the stars was accused of child abuse, after piercing babies' ears for 10.

Louise Shaw, a single mother, was filmed piercing babies' ears sending one in to a screaming fit.

Turning towards the camera afterwards, Ms Shaw jokes: 'Some say its child abuse,' before laughing the notion off.

Former armed robber Fred, from east London, has moved from the ramshackle caravan he was seen in during the last series

He shared the home with his 15 cats - but during this series he has been taken to better accommodation

Among others to appear in the last controversial series, the latest to profile Britain's benefits culture, is Disco Dave, a 45-year-old grandfather who drinks 33 cans of lager a day.

The man, whose real name is Dave Hanmore, told producers in an earlier episode he had hardly been sober since he was 15.

The first episode of the new series will be on Channel 5 tomorrow at 9pm.

During the last series a grandfather who goes by the nickname 'Disco Dave' shared his 45-year long battle with booze
An aide to Labour's London Mayor candidate Sadiq Khan quit today after a series of damaging revelations emerged, including pictures of him brandishing a gun and boasting that he could be hired as a 'hitman'.

Shueb Salar also claimed that Fusilier Lee Rigby's killing was faked, posted a series of sexist, racist and homophobic comments on Twitter and joked about rape and murder online.

The revelations raised questions about Sadiq Khan's judgement in hiring Mr Salar despite the offensive posts having been posted long before Mr Khan employed him as a speechwriter in November 2014.

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Shueb Salar posted pictures of himself posing with a gun and posted online that he could be 'hired as a hitman'

Mr Salar continued to post the controversial comments while working for Mr Khan in Parliament.

The aide resigned this morning as more revelations emerged, with pictures showing him brandishing a gun alongside comments claiming he could be hired as a 'hitman'.

He posted a video of himself online posing with a rifle and explaining how he had spent the weekend 'shooting stuff with real guns, knives, crossbows and bow and arrow's', according to the Standard.

Alongside the picture he added the Twitter hashtags: '#I'mASecretHitman' and 'ShoutMeIfYouWantMeToTakeCareOfSomeone and '#I'llMakeItLookLikeAnAccident'.

Shueb Salar, pictured left posing with a gun and pictured right alongside Sadiq Khan, Labour's candidate for London Mayor, resigned after new pictures of him emerged today

Along with homophobic and sexist comments, Mr Salar joked about rape and murder, claims Bengali people 'smell' and said he thought the slaying of soldier Mr Rigby by extremists in 2013 may have been fabricated.

Yesterday a spokesman for Mr Khan, who is the current favourite to beat Conservative Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, said Salar had been suspended pending an investigation.

But the Tory Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling said the revelations raised questions about the suitability of Mr Khan for running London.

'The real issue here is about Sadiq Khan's lack of judgement,' he said. 'If he really is surrounding himself with someone so unfit to be playing a role in public life then you have to ask whether he himself is fit to be Mayor of London. Trivialising violence can never be justified.'

And Essex MP and Employment minister Priti Patel questioned how Mr Salar had made it through the vetting procedure in the first place.

Shueb Salar quit after new pictures emerged of him posing with a shotgun and boasting that he could be hired as a 'hitman' and saying he would 'make it look like an accident'

MP Priti Patel, pictured, called for Salar to be sacked in a letter, saying: 'Why not dismiss him immediately?'

In a letter last night calling for the aide to be sacked, she wrote: 'Why not dismiss him immediately? By deciding to only suspend him, you are in effect suggesting that the offensiveness of these views are open to interpretation.'

A 2013 post by Salar the day after Mr Rigby was brutally hacked to death in the street in south-east London says: 'I had the feeling the Woolwich killing was probably fake.'

It was followed by a link to a YouTube clip that has footage of killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale at the murder scene with commentaries questioning whether it was a hoax.

Salar's anti-gay tweets include one which he said two men who were harassed for kissing on the Tube may have 'deserved it'.

Others read: 'Currently hating all you faggots who have finished uni'. Referring to women as 'hoes' [whores] or 'bitches', he says 'treating a lady' means 'buying her a nice iron and extending the kitchen'.

Pictured are a selection of tweets that Salar posted between 2012 and 2013, in which he makes sexist comments and says that he thought the killing of soldier Lee Rigby was 'probably fake'

Reversing the rags to riches tale of Cinderella would be 'the story of a woman learning her place', he added.

The sexist comments are particularly embarrassing as Mr Khan yesterday attended a special 30-a-head screening in London of the 2015 movie Suffragette, with all proceeds going 'towards winning London for Labour in May'.

The event was billed as celebrating Mother's Day and International Women's Day with the comment 'women's equality is good for all'.

Mr Khan gave a short speech in which he described himself as a 'feminist' and said Labour would stand up for women's rights.

Here is a list of the offensive posts tweeted by Shueb Salar, which included sexist and homophobic messages

However, Tory politicians expressed incredulity at Mr Khan's failure to vet an employee with such vile opinions.

Former police and criminal justice minister Damian Green said the mayoral candidate had shown a 'completely extraordinary lack of care'.

'I can't believe that he would have known that he had said any of this stuff, so I can only assume he didn't check anything about him before,' he added.

Kingston and Surbiton MP James Berry said: 'The most elementary of background checks would have revealed these messages.'

Leader of the Commons Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday: 'They raise serious questions about the judgment of Sadiq Khan, who chose to employ this man, despite his views being public, on a Twitter account followed by Khan himself.'

Salar, 24, an amateur boxer who previously worked for a solicitor's firm specialising in human rights, has moderated his comments since starting to work for Mr Khan.

But he continued marking other people's tasteless comments as 'favourites'. His Twitter account has now been shut down.
Two migrants have told how they fled Germany to return to war-torn Iraq after spending their life savings to move to Europe  only to find crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather.

Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah quit their jobs and spent their life savings to migrate to Europe  only to find crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather.

Now back home, Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah have described their quest for a better life as a disaster, saying: 'It's not worth leaving your family and risking your life for.'

They each spent some $8,000 (5,600) on the trip, much of it on smugglers, only to get stuck in asylum camps in Germany and Sweden for months on end, where they say they were given very little food or money.

The grass isn't alway greener: Surkaw Omar tells how he fled Germany to return to war-torn Iraq after enduring crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather in Europe

'We said to each other, let's go home. It's better than anywhere else': Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah each spent 5,600 on the trip, much of it on smugglers, only to get stuck in asylum camps in Germany and Sweden

'It was very bad,' Omar, 25, said of the German camp.

'Honestly, we were starving there. We ran away because of hunger. They gave us only cheese and tea, and our weekly allowance was 30.'

They decided to try their luck in Sweden instead, but that didn't work either.

'When we arrived there, it was winter. It was freezing. They put me in a room with three Syrians.

'I couldn't speak Arabic and they couldn't speak Kurdish. We were communicating like deaf people,' Omar said. After trying Germany one more time, they gave up.

'We said to each other, let's go home. It's better than anywhere else,' he said.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees heading to Europe have no choice but to brave such hardships because they hail from places gripped by war, where their lives are in danger.

But Omar and Abdullah come from Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which has been largely spared from fighting with ISIS.

They are among what experts say is a growing number of migrants who are returning home because of the difficulty of finding housing and employment in Europe.

Some 70,000 Iraqis joined the tide of refugees and migrants seeking a better life in Europe last year, according to the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Iraqi Refugees Federation, a local NGO, says the number may be twice as high, with some 40,000 coming from the Kurdish region.

Returning home: Two Iraqi migrants kiss the ground upon arrival in Baghdad after seeking asylum in Finland

But as winter set in last year, the number of people applying for repatriation with the IOM began to grow, from 100 people a month since the start of the year to 350 in September, 761 in October and 831 in January 2016.

'It is very hard to know what the total numbers are because many of them are returning independently and they blend in with other travelers,' said Sandra Black, the Iraq communications officer for the IOM. 'But the numbers are significantly increasing.'

That may come as welcome news to European countries that have opened their doors to refugees fleeing conflict but say economic migrants should stay where they are.

We said to each other, let's go home. It's better than anywhere else Iraqi migrant Surkaw Omar

It's also an indication of the mounting difficulties refugees face in Germany and Sweden, which together took in more than a million migrants last year.

'They come back for lack of hope for getting residency in Europe, lack of job opportunities, slow family reunification and for not finding the housing and living opportunities that they were hoping for,' Black said.

'The increasing number of arrivals has created massive pressures on the immigration system in Europe. Applications take longer, and so some of them give up.'

Maurizio Albahari, an anthropology professor at Notre Dame University who studies migration to Europe, said a number of European countries are 'actively seeking to discourage asylum-seekers from staying, at least indirectly.'

He said they do so by making family reunification a more lengthy and difficult process and by having long processing times for newly arrived asylum-seekers.

Of the 4,305 Iraqis who received IOM assistance to return in all of 2015 and January 2016, a third returned to the Kurdish region.

Hundreds of refugees given seats on a flight from Finland make their way through the airport

Refugees who had claimed asylum in Finland but voluntarily returned to Iraq wait at the baggage claim

The largely autonomous region is safe, and itself has been a major destination for refugees. But the war, along with plunging oil prices, has taken a heavy toll on the local economy.

Omar had worked as a day labourer in restaurants and supermarkets, while Abdullah had driven a taxi, which he sold to help finance his trip.

They say their decision to migrate was mainly driven by peer pressure.

'I saw that everybody was leaving and they were saying, It's like this and that (in Europe).'

But when I went there it wasn't like that at all,' Omar said.

'Life in Europe is really hard,' Abdullah said. 'You have to wait. And we couldn't wait.

'We couldn't wait because we were so attached and loyal to our land, our families, to our mothers and relatives.

'And honestly, Europe and a residency card are not worth leaving your family and risking your life for.'

Soran Omar, head of the human rights committee in the Kurdish regional parliament, said their experience is not uncommon.

'We told the deputy speaker of the German parliament, who was here recently, that even the people displaced from Fallujah and Ramadi were living in better conditions here in Kurdistan than the refugees in Germany now,' he said.

But he said the greater exodus from the region shows no sign of slowing down.

'A lot of people may be coming back. But the opposite current is much, much bigger,' he said.
He may be trailing in the polls behind his Republican rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

But Marco Rubio proved he is at least still popular with one supporter after she grabbed him and planted a huge kiss on his cheek at a rally in Idaho.

The presidential hopeful attended the campaign event in Idaho Falls yesterday ahead of the state's primary poll tomorrow.

Marco Rubio was greeting supporters in Idaho Falls ahead of a primary poll there tomorrow when fan Jan Mickelsen lunged at him and planted a kiss on his cheek

The Republican presidential hopeful appeared to see the funny side of Ms Mickelsen's affection but was left sporting a pink lipstick mark on his cheek

During his speech, he took aim at Republican front-runner Trump and told his supporters not to give into fear.

Afterwards he stepped down into the crowds where he shook hands with his supporters and greeted them.

But for one woman, Jan Mickelsen, she was not content with just a formal handshake and lunged at the Florida senator with her arms.

People standing around her were visibly shocked as Ms Mickelsen, pictured, who had a 'Marco Rubio' sticker plastered on her head, pulled him forward and kissed him

People standing around her were visibly shocked as Ms Mickelsen, who had a 'Marco Rubio' sticker plastered on her head, pulled him forward and kissed him.

But luckily Rubio, who hopes to be the Republican nominee found the funny side and was later seen smiling as he sported a pink lipstick mark on his cheek.

However, he did not get the same reception when he was handed three-month-old baby Evelyn Bernard during the rally.

Pictures show the infant pouting and about to burst into tears as the Florida senator holds her up, with the pink lipstick mark still on his face.

The rally in Idaho came as he won his second nominating contest of the race to the White House with a win in Puerto Rico.

There was pressure on Rubio, who only won Minnesota during Super Tuesday, to bow out of the race after he scored no victories and picked up only a few delegates in polls in Saturday.

Trump, who had traded slashing, personal attacks with Rubio in the run-up to the vote, said during his final speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, that it was time for the senator to drop out of the race.

'I would love to be able to take on Ted one on one,' Trump said in Florida, minutes after winning in Kentucky. 'That will be easy.'

The tycoon then dismissed Rubio as the 'loser of the night' in an interview with Fox News.

The Florida senator also met with three-month-old baby Evelyn Bernard, but judging by her face, she wasn't as impressed with Rubio

Most people at the rally last night opted for the more formal greeting of a handshake when meeting with the Republican hopeful

One man leans across the barriers in order to snap a selfie with Rubio, who won the primary in Puerto Rico

Cruz also urged Rubio and Ohio Governor John Kasich to drop out, arguing that the anti-Trump vote will be split as long as they remain in the race.

'If we're divided, Donald wins, and if Donald wins, Hillary wins,' he warned Saturday night from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, after winning the Kansas caucuses.

'The field needs to continue to narrow,' Cruz said.

But both Rubio and Kasich were expected to stay in at least until the primaries in their winner-take-all home states of Florida and Ohio.

During his speech, he took aim at Republican front-runner Donald Trump and told his supporters not to give into fear
German car giant BMW used its 100th centenary celebrations today to apologise for its Nazi past.

The apology and statement of profound regret for its role in using forced labour to supply armaments and aero engines to Hitlers Third Reich was made as it unveiled a vision of its next chapter of car development.

It said it was explicitly facing up to this dark chapter of its past in the city where the Nazi party had its origins.

BMW today apologised for its actions during the Second World War and expressed its 'profound regret' in assisting Hitler's regime. Pictured is its showroom in Berlin in 1939

Hitler receives a tour of the BMW AG manufacturing plant by chief executive Franz-Josef Popp in 1936

The company used forced labourers, convicts and prisoners from concentration camps to assist with manufacturing its aero engines. Pictured is one of its manufacturing plants

Guenther Quandt (pictured left), whose family now owns BMW, used slave labourers during World War Two in his weapons factories in Germany. Pictured right are German soldiers in a requisitioned BMW 327 cabrio

It came as thousands of people gathered in Munich for a major celebration of BMW first century  exactly 100 years after the Bavarian Motor Works was founded in Munich at the height of the First World War on March 16, 1916.

Having progressed from building aero engines to motor cars, today the company also owns and builds Britains MINI at Oxford, Rolls-Royce at Goodwood in West Sussex, and has a major BMW engine plant at Hamms Hall near Birmingham.

The apology and celebration also came just days after BMW and Rolls-Royce bosses last week became involved in a row over its support for the UK remaining in the European Union.

Critics accused the firm of pressuring staff to vote to remain in the EU after writing to them to warn that a British exit would harm the business, lead to trade barriers and affect the employment base.

BMW used the centenary event in Munich to unveil a radical new Vision Vehicle concept car which it said pointed the way to the future of motor car development and mobility.

But BMW Group said it was also facing up to the past noting: As well as its many successes, the BMW Group has faced several major crises and challenges during its history.

It said: Under the National Socialist regime of the 1930s and 40s, BMW AG operated exclusively as a supplier to the German arms industry.

'As demand for BMW aero engines increased, forced labourers, convicts and prisoners from concentration camps were recruited to assist with manufacturing them.

To this day, the enormous suffering this caused and the fate of many forced labourers remains a matter of the most profound regret.

BMW bosses said that in 1983 BMW became the first industrial corporation to initiate a public debate about this chapter of its history with the publication of a book entitled BMW  A German History, followed by several more publications on the subject.

It said: The BMW Group is explicitly facing up to this dark chapter of its past and in 1999, it became a founding member of the foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future for the compensation of former forced labourers.

Since the 1990s, the BMW Group has been actively engaging in efforts to promote openness, respect and understanding between cultures.

Guenther Quandt divorced Magda Behrend Rietschel, who went on to become Goebbels' wife (pictured with Hitler and the Goebbels family)

An AFA technician repairing a battery cell in a German type IX boat in 1942. AFA was owned by Gunther Quandt and manufactured batteries and accumulators for the German military

The main gate of the Nazi death camp, where 1.1million people were killed, stated: 'Work sets you free'

Pictured is a women's dormitory inside Auschwitz, where many were made to undergo forced labour

Around 2,000 guests from the world of business, politics, research, society and the media attended the Munich Olympic Hall along with selected dealers, suppliers and employees to watch a multimedia show taking them through the key moments in the BMW Groups history and present the companys interpretation of future premium mobility.

The event was streamed live around the globe, including to the firms 122,000 staff at 140 locations around the world, including the UK.

BMWs futuristic Vision car of future with a spacious domed interior features autonomous self-driving features.

Measuring 4.90 meters long and 1.37 meters high with large wheels at the outer edges of the body, the futuristic copper-colored car is a blend of coupe-type sportiness and the dynamic elegance of a saloon. It is even designed to subtly change shape as it moves.

It has Boost mode where the driver is at the controls, and Ease mode in which the driver can sit back and let the vehicle take over.

It said: In the future, BMW drivers will still want to spend most of the time they are in their car at the wheel. In the BMW VISION NEXT 100, the driver will remain firmly in the focus, with constant connectivity, digital intelligence and state-of-the-art technologies available for support.

In the years ahead, the drivers wellbeing will become increasingly important, and rather than merely feeling they are in a machine that drives itself, they should sense that they are sitting in one that was specifically designed for them.

BMW today apologised for its actions during the Second World War and expressed its 'profound regret' in assisting Hitler's regime

The celebrations today also saw the German car giant unveil its new 'Vision Vehicle concept car (pictured)

The apology and celebration also came just days after BMW and Rolls-Royce bosses last week became involved in a row over Brexit

Nearly 800 moving triangles set into the instrument panel and into certain areas of the side panels will give drivers ikey information in 3D.

A computer, dubbed an on-board Companion monitors the drivers habits: The more it learns about the owner and their mobility habits, the smarter it becomes.

'At some stage it knows the driver well enough to automatically perform routine tasks for them and offer suitable advice when needed. Irrespective of the vehicle itself, constant learning makes the Companion increasingly valuable to its owner.

It is made fabrics made from recycled or renewable materials: The visible and non-visible carbon components, such as the side panels, are made from residues from normal carbon fibre production. In the future, the choice of materials will become even more important throughout the design and production process.

The Quandt family dynasty became a major shareholder in BMW after the Second World War and are credited with making it a success.

But the family's Nazi era links were exposed a 2007 German TV documentary prompting it to commission an independent report by a leading historian.

In 2011 the Quandt family dynasty behind BMW admitted, after decades of silence, using slave labour, taking over Jewish firms and doing business with the highest echelons of the Nazi party during World War Two.

BMW'S BREXIT CONTROVERSY BMW caused controversy last week with its intervention into Britain's EU vote. While stressing that the final decision would be for the British people in the looming referendum, Rolls-Royce chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos wrote: 'Free trade is important for international business. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars exports motor cars throughout the EU and imports a significant number of parts through the region. 'For BMW Group, more than half of MINIs built and virtually all the engines and components made in the UK are exported to the EU, with over 150,000 new cars and many hundreds of thousands of parts imported from Europe each year. '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. 'Our employment base could also be affected, with skilled men and women from most EU countries included in the 30 nationalities currently represented at the home of Rolls-Royce here at Goodwood.' Advertisement

Gabriele Quandt, whose grandfather Guenther employed an estimated 50,000 forced labourers in his arms factories, producing ammunition, rifles, artillery and U-boat batteries, said it was 'wrong' for the family to ignore this chapter of its history.

He spoke out after a 1,200 page study by Bonn-based historian Joachim Scholtyseck, commissioned by the family, that concluded Guenther Quandt and his son Herbert were responsible for numerous Nazi injustices.

It found Guenther acquired companies through the Nazi programme of 'Aryanisation' of Jewish-owned firms.

"The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis," concluded historian Scholtyseck. 'The family patriarch was part of the regime."

Herbert Quandt was 'part of the system', son Stefan Quandt said after the conclusion of the three-year study - forced on the family by public outrage over a German TV documentary - compiled using company files from the 12-year period of the Third Reich.

The Quandt family bought into BMW 15 years after the War and are credited with putting it on the path to international success after the war.

The study shows Guenther became a Nazi Party member on May 1, 1933, a month after Adolf Hitler achieved supreme power in Germany.

But he had long used a network of party officials and Wehrmacht officers to build up contacts for lucrative state contracts.

Married to Magda Behrend Rietschel, Guenther was divorced by her in 1929 although they remained on friendly terms.

She went on to marry Nazi party propaganda maestro Joseph Goebbels, and would die with him - after murdering their six children - in Hitler's bunker in 1945.
Spain would demand control of Gibraltar the 'very next day' after a British exit from the EU, the country's foreign minister has warned.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo risked sparking a fresh diplomatic row over the British territory at the southern tip of Spain by using an interview to set out the advantages of Britain leaving the EU for his country.

He said a Brexit would give Spain a 'golden opportunity' to replace the UK as the United States' 'privileged partner' in Europe.

Spain would demand ownership of Gibraltar the 'very next day' after a British exit from the EU, the country's foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has warned

Turning to Gibraltar, which has long-been the subject of a dispute between Spain and Britain, Mr Garcia-Margallo said his Government would raise the issue as soon as Britain left the EU.

Asked about the consequences for Spain and the rest of the EU if British voters decided to leave in June's referendum, he told Spain's Radio Nacional that the remaining 27 EU member states would have to take a 'giant leap' towards a federal European state.

'I have defended the UK position in parliament and I have said that if, God forbid, the UK leaves, then Europe  or at least the 19 countries that share a currency  has to take a giant leap toward federalisation, toward the United States of Europe, so that the UK's exit is not interpreted as the European project starting to melt,' he said.

'It's true that this gives us an opportunity to have an even more important role than the one we already have with the United States, and don't forget about one other thing: we'll be talking about Gibraltar the very next day,' he added.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabien Picardo warned that Spain could 'pounce on us' if UK decided to leave the EU, adding: 'It is safer and more secure for Gibraltar to remain in the EU to deny Mr Margallo the opportunity to pounce on us.

Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo (pictured left) warned that Spain would demand control over Gibraltar the 'very next day' after a Brexit but Gibraltar's chief minister Fabien Picardo said his comments were 'exactly the type of attitude that we have come to expect' from Mr Garcia-Margallo

'We have fought to ensure that Gibraltar is able to vote in the Brexit referendum so that we can influence that decision.'

In a statement the Gibraltar government warned there was 'no certainty' Gibraltar's border would remain open with Spain if Britain voted to leave the EU.

Mr Picardo added that Mr Garcia-Margallo's comments took no one by surprise because they were 'perfectly consistent' with the 'manner and form' that has characterised his approach as foreign minister.

'This is exactly the type of attitude that we have come to expect from Sr Garcia-Margallo and it no doubt pervades so many others of his mindset,' he said.

'It usefully sets out the danger that those who choose Brexit potentially create for Gibraltar if there is also a Partido Popular government in Spain in the future. This is as vivid an illustration as possible of that.'

Mr Garcia-Margallo has made similar warnings about the consequences of a Brexit for Gibraltar, saying last May that it would be 'unimaginable' for The Rock to be stranded outside the EU.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister has made clear that the UK Government will meet its constitutional commitments to the people of Gibraltar and will not compromise on sovereignty.

'Our differences with Spain on Gibraltar will be resolved by political means through our relationship as EU partners, not through disproportionate measures such as the border delays we have seen over the past week.

'We have many common interests with Spain and wish to continue to have a strong relationship at every level with the Government of Spain.'

Business chief suspended for backing Brexit thanks Boris for supporting him and vows to campaign for Brexit as No 10 faces claims it 'had a hand' in forcing him out

The business chief suspended from his organisation for promoting Brexit today said he was 'grateful' for Boris Johnson's intervention on his behalf and vowed to keep speaking out.

John Longworth said he had 'no idea' if Downing Street had intervened with the British Chambers of Commerce amid demands for No 10 to 'come clean' about its role.

But speaking outside his Harrogate home today, Mr Longworth said he had made his own decision to resign, adding he would consider a formal campaign role.

Row: David Cameron (right) is under pressure to 'come clean' about Government involvement in the ousting of a pro-Brexit business boss John Longworth (left), who has resigned over a speech in favour of quitting the EU

Earlier today he blasted David Cameron for making 'highly irresponsible' claims about the dangers of leaving the EU, insisting the Government had a duty to be measured and make preparations for either result.

Mr Longworth was controversially suspended as director general last week after making his views clear at the BCC conference, despite the organisation being officially neutral on the EU question.

Number 10 today continued to deny pressure was placed upon the BCC after Thursday's conference but officials have repeatedly refused to deny anyone contacted the BCC only hours before the business group suspended him.

Speaking to Sky News today, Mr Longworth said: 'I have no idea what happened after the conference on Thursday.

'I'm certainly going to speak out on the EU referendum - that's why I have resigned.

'I am very grateful for (Boris Johnson's) intervention on my behalf and I think that was an extremely helpful support for me and it certainly cheered me up over the weekend.'

Mr Longworth said Government frequently made contact with business organisations, including the BCC, to make its views known.

But he insisted he did not know if this had been the case following last week's conference or if it had influenced his suspension.

Friends of Mr Longworth said he believed Downing Street 'had a hand' in his removal.

And he today told the Daily Telegraph it was wrong for the Government to be 'peddling hyperbole' about Brexit.

The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said today: 'No 10 talks to business organisations regularly.

'This was a decision for John Longworth and the BCC.'

Boris Johnson, pictured left today, has intervened in support of Mr Longworth and backed him to take a role in the Out campaign. David Davis, right, has filed an FOI to get records of contact between No 10 and the BCC

Tory MP Liam Fox may raise the row in Parliament today and Boris Johnson has attacked the 'agents of project fear' who moved against Mr Longworth after his pro-Brexit remarks.

Mr Johnson today said he hoped Mr Longworth would now formally join the Out campaign, telling Sky News: 'I think it is very sad that somebody like John Longworth whos given a lot of time, a lot of thought to the needs of British business and industry should be basically pushed out for saying what he thinks.'

David Davis, the Conservative Grassroots Out spokesman, announced he had filed a Freedom of Information request asking for records of conversations between No 10 and the BCC following Mr Longworth's speech.

He said: 'The last thing we want to see is a witch-hunt against business leaders brave and astute enough to make the argument that Britain would be better off economically if it regained the power to strike its own trade deals and was freed of the crippling burden of red tape, costing many billions a year, imposed by Brussels.'

Mr Longworth said today: 'It is highly irresponsible of the government of the country to be peddling hyperbole.

'It is alright for the campaign groups to do it because they are promoting a particular position.

'But the government has to be responsible. And the fact of the matter is that there is a chance that the country will vote to leave.

'If the government keeps peddling the line that it will be a disaster if we leave, which it actually won't be, they are going to put the country in a position where it will be damaged if we do.'

Mr Cameron is facing pressure to 'come clean' about Government involvement in the ousting of a pro-Brexit business boss.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said it was a 'bizarre conspiracy theory' to suggest government involvemnet.

He said: ''People who want to leave Europe - to vote No in the referendum - are seeing conspiracy theories everywhere now because they don't want to answer the basic question, which is 'If you leave Europe, where are you going?

London mayor: Boris Johnson (pictured on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday) claimed Mr Longworth had been crushed by the 'agents of Project Fear' for expressing a 'passionate, optimistic view'

'They have to start answering these questions instead of coming up with rather bizarre conspiracy theories that here the British Chambers of Commerce have flatly denied.'

The friends also insist that Mr Longworth had cleared his comments in advance with BCC president Nora Senior, who is a former adviser to Labour's Ed Balls.

The BCC today insisted this was not the case.

Mr Fox, a Eurosceptic former defence minister, accused the Government of intimidation. 'I want to know what contact might have been made and what pressure might have been applied,' he said.

'If it did happen, then come clean about it quickly. Covering up events always has worse political consequences than the events themselves.'

Mr Johnson claimed Mr Longworth had been crushed by the 'agents of Project Fear' for expressing a 'passionate, optimistic view'.

The Brexit campaigner and London mayor added: 'He speaks for the many small and medium-sized businesses  the lifeblood of the economy  who cannot understand why they should comply with more and more regulation over which this country has no democratic control.'

A friend of Mr Longworth said: 'John feels he has done everything by the book and is dismayed at what has happened. No 10 has had a hand in this, putting pressure on the BCC board to silence him.'

WHY WON'T ANY OF HIS COLLEAGUES EXPLAIN WHY THEY TURNED ON HIM? All ten members of the board that suspended John Longworth were unavailable or refused to comment yesterday. The British Chambers of Commerce press office did not return calls. President: Nora Senior was the first woman to lead the BCC in a decade and lives in a 380,000 house NO ANSWER President of the board since 2013, Nora Senior was the first woman to lead the BCC in a decade and is a former adviser to Ed Balls. There was no answer at her 380,000 house in Nottingham and calls to her mobile went unanswered. 'OUT WITH THE DOGS' A lawyer by training, Clive Memmott is chief executive of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. A woman who took a message at his 450,000 Derby home said: 'He has gone out with the dogs.' 'OUT WALKING' Mark Clarke worked as director-general of finance and strategy at the Department for Business under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Yesterday at his 2million townhouse in Islington, north London, a woman who took a message said: 'He's out walking.' PHONE PUT DOWN Vice-president of the BCC Francis Martin is a former president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce. Yesterday his phone was answered but then the line went dead and further calls were not answered. COULDN'T BE REACHED Former politics lecturer Ian Kelly has been chief executive of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce since 1995. He could not be reached. 'NO COMMENT' A former director of companies in the pub, restaurant and hotel sectors, David Bland is now a member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Answering the door of his 1.4million house in Sutton Coldfield, he said: 'I've got nothing to say. No comment.' 'NO COMMENT' With 30 years of expertise in manufacturing, finance and family business, Wendy Bowers is president of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. She said last night: 'No comment. You need to speak to the press office.' NO REPLY French-born Robin Truchy has worked in senior positions at a variety of pan-European companies, including a four-year stint as Europe director of XBOX Live. He did not respond to voice messages yesterday. NO REPLY A former graduate trainee at John Lewis, Julia Warren is now a leading HR consultant based in Reading, Berkshire. There was no reply to messages yesterday. 'NO COMMENT' Greg Watkins has lived and worked in Thailand for 24 years and has been the executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand since 1996. He declined to comment. Advertisement

The BCC had suspended Mr Longworth just 24 hours after he said Britain could create a 'brighter economic future for itself' away from Brussels.

He said that having analysed the evidence, and speaking in a personal capacity, his assessment was that Britain should leave.

He also criticised the Prime Minister's renegotiation deal, saying the EU remained 'essentially unreformed' and was 'incapable of reform'. Officially, the BCC has adopted a neutral position for the referendum.

No 10 yesterday denied it had put 'pressure' on the BCC to remove Mr Longworth. But sources repeatedly failed to deny that officials had contacted the organisation to discuss his intervention.

Senior Tory David Davis said: 'The last thing we want to see is a witch-hunt against business leaders brave and astute enough to make the argument that Britain would be better off economically if it regained the power to strike its own trade deals and was freed of the crippling burden of red tape, costing many billions a year, imposed by Brussels.

'We need to know there was no contact between ministers and their officials before Friday's BCC board meeting that took the decision to suspend its chief.'

Mr Longworth's intervention came at the BCC's annual conference last week.

Pro-EU cabinet ministers George Osborne and Sajid Javid both spoke at the conference on the understanding the organisation would be neutral in the referendum debate.

Government sources last night acknowledged that ministers were 'surprised' by Mr Longworth's hard-hitting intervention. But they insisted they had not pressured the BCC to remove him.

A Number 10 spokesman said: 'Given that 60 per cent of BCC members say they want to stay in the EU, No 10 was surprised to see the director general of the organisation come out for Brexit. We are clear no pressure was put on the BCC to suspend him.'

But Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, praised Mr Longworth for his intervention, adding: 'He shouldn't be gagged from speaking out  he's voicing the opinion of millions of entrepreneurs across the land.'

But the intervention angered some senior BCC figures who back EU membership.

Kim Conchie, chief executive of the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said the 'overwhelming majority' of local members were in favour of continued EU membership. He added: 'That's why John Longworth was suspended, not due to any outside pressure.'

In a statement last night, the BCC claimed Mr Longworth had accepted his support of Brexit was 'likely to create confusion' over the group's official stance.

It insisted the decision to resign was mutually agreed, but said that although representatives of the BCC had the right to personal opinions, 'they are not expected to articulate these views while acting in their professional capacity'.

'John Longworth and the BCC Board recognise that John's personal view on the referendum is likely to create confusion regarding the BCC's neutral stance going forward,' the statement said.

'In light of this, John has taken the decision to step down as director general and his resignation has been accepted by the board with effect from 6 March 2016.
Her stunning looks saw her crowned Miss Hong Kong last year.

However, according to students at her old university, Louisa Mac's teeth weren't good enough to grant her access to their Spring ball - as people believed she was an imposter.

Ms Mac used to study law at the University of Cambridge and had arranged to visit with a TV crew on Saturday evening.

Louisa Mak wanted to go back to the University of Cambridge, where she studied law, to film inside its 200-year-old student union

The team flew from Hong Kong with the hope of filming inside the University's 200-year-old student union.

Ms Mac, two large cameras, lighting and crew members made their way around the institution.

The team quickly stirred attention - but relations soured when they allegedly tried to grab free booze they weren't entitled to.

The beauty queen was crowned Miss Hong Kong last year. However, suspicions rose at the Spring ball as to whether she was genuine

Speaking to student newspaper The Tab, a spectator said: 'I asked one of the film crew guys who wasn't carrying a camera what was going on.

'He said she was Miss Hong Kong and had been to Newnham, so they were taking a video. She seemed nice, but not very talkative.'

Suspicions then continued to grow when rumours spread that she was actually an imposter.

One member of the ball was overheard justifying this as they claimed the 'actual Miss Hong Kong has much better teeth'.

Following the confusion, the group was ushered into an office.

However, they failed to talk their way out of the situation as they were unable to present press passes when questioned.

After discussions, security guards were called to kick the group out.

Gossip about a Miss Hong Kong impersonator crashing the ball continued to circulate round the event until students realised she was the genuine.

A post on her Instagram account earlier that day showed the star on the campus.

Eventually Ms Mak and her TV crew were taken into an office, where they failed to present their press passes. They were consequently thrown out

On Friday, Newnham College also announced the beauty queen's arrival on their Facebook page.

The post, read: 'Louisa Mak (NC 2011) was crowned Miss Hong Kong last year and returned to Newnham this week with a film crew to record a programme about her life in Cambridge.

'The law graduate joined a formal hall on Wednesday and visited her old room in Sidgwick to show her fans back home what life at a Cambridge college is like.'

The student union has declined to comment further on the incident.
The anti-immigrant AFD - Alternative for Germany - party has scored massive gains in municipal weekend elections which reflect growing public anger at the refugee policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The polls for councils in the state of Hesse saw the AFD make significant inroads on the two main established parties - Merkel's conservative CDU and the centre-left SPD - to come in third with 13.2 percent of the vote, knocking the environmental Greens into fourth place.

Frankfurt CDU politician Markus Frank said: 'The preliminary result of the AfD is frightening. I had expected a maximum five percent.'

The shock result for AFD means it has made significant inroads into the established political parties, one of which - the CDU - is headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured)

The shock result came in the state of Hesse, the capital of which is Frankfurt (pictured), where the far-right party scored 13.2 percent of the vote

Local AFD party boss Peter Munch said: 'I had firmly counted on the fact that we would reach double digit support and we managed that. I reject the allegations by critics that we are a one topic party focusing only on refugees.'

He said his party would not seek to enter into coalition deals with the two mainstream parties, adding: 'For a young political party like the AFD it is good to be a voice in opposition.'

Just weeks ago the party chairman Frauke Petry provoked outrage when she advocated that border guards in Germany open fire with live ammunition on illegal asylum seekers. But just days after mainstream politicians lambasted her, a poll found the 29 percent of Germans agreed with her.

Voter turnout in the poll was just 48 percent - exceptionally low, and another sign of voter fatigue during the refugee crisis which seems to have no end in sight.

A strong right-wing political party in Germany has been the stuff of nightmares for both labour and conservative politicians since the collapse of Nazism in 1945.

But the increasing strain on the fabric of society through immigration - especially since the events of New Year's Eve in Cologne where refugees robbed and sexually abused hundreds of women - have served to bring that third-force into the political mainstream.

The polls next Sunday in the states of Baden-Wuertemmberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt could show for the first time just how much Mrs Merkel is out of step with voters.

If there is an electoral disaster then would come the accusations that she undermined her own party with her moral stand. All other issues are off the agenda - these state parliaments will, say observers, be won and lost on the issue of refugees alone.
Her son has claimed she changed after marrying Islamic Dzhurakulov

Gyulchekhra Bobokulova was last week charged with murdering the girl, 4

He is suspected of having radicalised his Uzbekistan wife prior to murder

Husband Mamur Dzhurakulov, 48, has been arrested by police in Tajikistan

A Muslim 'zealot' suspected of radicalising the nanny who beheaded a four-year-old girl has been detained by police in Tajikistan.

Mamur Dzhurakulov, 48, had wed Gyulchekhra Bobokulova in a Sharia ceremony, after which her behaviour and outlook on life changed, according to her eldest son who said she encouraged him to train as a jihad fighter in Syria.

The 38-year-old nanny - a citizen of Uzbekistan - was last week charged with murdering the child, whose severed head she brandished in the streets of Moscow.

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

The child allegedly killed by Bobokulova has been identified as Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova

She confessed to the killing and claimed it was revenge for Vladimir Putin's aerial bombardment of Muslims in Syria.

The Kremlin labelled her 'insane' and while under arrest in Russia she is undergoing psychiatric tests having earlier suffered from schizophrenia, according to medical documents.

Her Sharia husband Dzhurakulov - who the nanny had met in March 2014 - was detained by Tajik police last week, it is understood.

He is expected to face questioning on his relationship with the nanny and whether, as police suspect, he exploited her mental state to encourage her to commit an act of terror in murdering the child.

She is believed to have had a raging argument with him on the phone the day before killing Anastasia [Nastya] Meshcheryakova, who was buried in the Orel region of Russia today.

The nanny's son Rakhmatillo Ashurov, 19, said his mother became a different person after marrying Dzhurakulov.

'Since that time, I noticed that my mother changed,' he told police in Uzbekistan.

The nanny's son Rakhmatillo Ashurov (pictured) said his mother became a different person after marrying Sharia husband Mamur Dzhurakulov

'During phone calls she started regularly telling me to pray five times a day, and to live in line with Sharia Law as it is an obligation of every Muslim.'

Under the influence of Dzhurakulov, she told him he could become a jihad fighter and go to Syria with her - but he refused.

'She told me that she wanted to do the Hajj and move to Syria because she would be able to wear a hijab, live in line with Sharia Law, study Islamic law,' he said.

'Once I'd trained in a militant camp, I could become a mujahedin fighter and do jihad. Mamur could go to Syria with us if he was able to.'

The son said he bluntly refused his mother's suggestion, and told her he would rather emigrate to America or South Korea.

He also revealed that for a time he lived in Dzhurakulov's flat which he shared with other deeply devout migrant workers.

'All of them were religious, were praying regularly,' he said, adding that he moved out because he didn't fit in.

They discussed moving to a country where Sharia Law applied, but Ashurov said he moved out because he was not religious.

Ashurov was last week detained in his native Uzbekistan after his mother committed the act.

He was sentenced to a 15 day 'administrative punishment' as law enforcement sources said he had 'influenced' by recruiters for ISIS who encouraged him to go and fight in Syria.

Anastasia's parents Ekaterina and Vladimir thanked Russians for raising funds for them after their home was destroyed in a fire ignited by the nanny soon after she killed the child.
ISIS is planning a 'spectacular' attack on British soil - and unprecedented numbers of women and teenagers are being arrested to stop one, the UK's top anti-terror officer warned today.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley has said the terror group is 'trying to build bigger attacks' around the world and the UK is one of its top targets.

After the devastating series of suicide attacks on Paris last year where 130 died, a similar plot in Britain is a 'natural next step' for the terror group, he said.

That could mean a plan to kill during significant national events, such as the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations in April, May and June.

Warning: Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, pictured, has said the terror group is 'trying to build bigger attacks' - and has its eye on the UK

Fears: ISIS has been using training camps like this one in Egypt, pictured last month, and Mr Rowley fears some will be sent to northern Europe to attack the West

The Met officer said that while in the past few years the Islamist group has called on would-be jihadis to attack police and the military, their plots are now broader 'plans to attack Western lifestyle'.

He said: 'In recent months we've seen a broadening of that, much more plans to attack Western lifestyle, and obviously the Paris attacks in November.

'Going from that narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state to something much broader. And you see a terrorist group which has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date.'

He added: 'You see a terrorist group that whilst on the one hand has been acting as a cult to use propaganda to radicalise people to act in their name ... you also see them trying to build bigger attacks.'

Mr Rowley, who is the national policing lead for counter-terrorism, said that ISIS is trying to get supporters who have received military training in Syria into northern Europe to stage attacks.

Last November Mr Rowley admitted a suspected jihadi is being arrested every day to prevent a Paris-style terror attack.

He also revealed officers are holding known extremists for 'anything we can' to 'disrupt' potential terror plots on home soil.

Today he said that in the past three years the number of arrests of terrorist suspects has risen by 57 per cent compared to the three years before that.

Around half lead to a charge. Last year just over three-quarters - 77 per cent - of those arrested were British nationals, 14 per cent were female and 13 per cent were aged 20 and under.

The number of girls and women and the number of teenagers is a new trend, Mr Rowley said.

'That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalisation, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh (IS) are resonating with some individuals,' he added.

Tragedy: An injured man near the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on November 13 last year - Scotland Yard says ISIS wants to carry out similar brutal attacks as it attempts to wage war on western culture

Scotland Yard has seen more than 20 families and around 50 young people go through family court proceedings over concerns about radicalisation in the past year.

Police are beginning to use trained psychologists who can provide advice both about how to deal with those at risk of being influenced by extremists, as well as terrorists in the event of an attack.

The number of trained firearms officers across the UK is also being increased in the wake of the Paris atrocities, which saw 129 people killed in co-ordinated attacks by extremists.

Official advice was issued at the end of last year to 'Run, Hide, Tell' if marauding gunmen are found to be on the loose - meaning get as far away as possible, hide, and if possible call the police.
A New York Senate candidate has come under fire from women's rights groups amid reports he once bankrolled two R-rated sex comedies.

Chris McGrath invested money in a company that financed the low-budget movies 'Surf School' and 'Death to the Supermodels' which include nude scenes.

The Republican, running for the Long Island seat vacated by Dean Skelos, revealed in documents filed to the Legislative Ethics Commission that he invested more than $1,000 into the firm 'Surf School LLC'.

New York Senate hopeful Chris McGrath (pictured) has come under fire from women's rights groups amid reports he once bankrolled two R-rated sex comedies

Chris McGrath invested money in a company that financed the low-budget movies 'Surf School' (pictured) and 'Death to the Supermodels'

'Death to the Supermodels', starring Jaime Pressly and Brooke Burns, was released in 2005, the New York Post reports..

The movie is given a score of 2.2 out of 10 by users of the website IMDB, which writes: 'This sexy comedy finds the world's greatest, most eccentric supermodels gathered on a deserted island for the swimsuit photo shoot from hell.'

A year later, 'Surf School' was released starring comedian Harland Williams and rapper Sisqo. .

In a trailer for the movie, the character played by Williams asks 'You ever play "slap the sponge cake"?' before he pulls back then releases a womans bikini thong.

The Post reports that three actresses meditate naked in another scene in the film.

Death to the Supermodels (left), starring Jaime Pressly and Brooke Burns, was released in 2005 while Surf School (right) was released a year later

Sonia Ossorio from the National Organization for Women told the Post: 'These types of movies arent just juvenile and silly; they are harmful to society and degrading to women.'

McGrath, an Attorney, is up against Democratic Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky in the election next month.

His spokesman told the Post: 'More than 10 years ago, [director] Joel Silverman, the son of the owner of Mortons Army Navy in Cedarhurst, where Chris had his first job, asked him to invest in a movie.
A popular restaurant has admitted to having live cockroaches inside drinking straws, on the walls of the kitchen and on the doors of the kitchen fridges.

French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant Libertine in Brisbane was fined $15,000 on February 5 for eight different food health violations, including finding cockroaches in 12 different locations around the kitchen and pantry in July 2014, according to The Courier Mail.

During a hearing at Brisbane Magistrates Court, a health official said he found multiple cockroaches inside the storage room where ingredients are kept, on the door seal of a fridge and a dead cockroach inside the preparation fridge.

More than a dozen live cockroaches and more dead ones were found in the kitchen and pantries of the Libertine (pictured) in July 2014 and again in May

French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant Libertine (pictured) in Brisbane was fined $15,000 on February 5 for eight different food health violations

During a hearing at Brisbane Magistrates Court, a health official said he found multiple cockroaches inside the storage room where ingredients are kept, on the door seal of a fridge and inside the preparation fridge

About a dozen live cockroaches and numerous dead ones were found within the kitchen, Brisbane City Councils Acting enforcement coordination manager Stephen Thomson told the court.

A previous inspection in June 2014 found an accumulation ofonion skin and lemon on the floor and an accumulation of drinking straws and bottle tops on the floor when noting the dirtiness of the kitchen.

When inspectors returned on May 20, 2015, they found cockroaches again in the storage room, around the stove and inside the dishwasher.

The restaurant and its owner, Andrew Baturo, was told to clean up the kitchen and accumulated grease so it would not attract cockroaches after each of the three visits.
ITV has today been cleared by Ofcom over a segment on This Morning which featured eight-year-old girls pole dancing.

The part of the show entitled 'Are pole dancing classes suitable for eight-year-olds?' caused a Twitter storm when it aired at 10.30am on February 16.

As part of the routine, eight-year-old Tilly-May and Timea, and 11-year-old Mia, took it in turns to perform a series of short routines for millions across the country.

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Tilly-May and Timea, both eight, and 11-year-old Mia, took it in turns to perform on the pole on ITV's This Morning in front of presenters Rylan Clark and Ruth Langsford

Some viewers criticised their crop tops and shorts, with one writing: 'Why do they have to dress like that?'

Lorraine Handbury, far right, and Lisa Grosse, centre defended their daughters' dance moves along with teacher Zoe Hardy, 33, far left, claiming it was no different to playing on a pole in the playground

They were invited to come on the show amidst a fierce debate over whether children should be allowed to take part in 'pole fitness' classes, with some experts claiming it is 'sexualising' young girls.

Despite the social media backlash, only seven complaints were made to the broadcasting regulator.

After assessing the complaints Ofcom has decided not to take the matter further.

A spokesman said: 'We received seven complaints from viewers objecting to children aged eight to 11 carrying out a pole-dancing fitness routine.

'However we won't be taking these forward for investigation.'

The regulator added that the item was clearly focused on fitness and did not include sexualised behaviour, while the routine was accompanied by a wider discussion which recognised that pole dancing has adult associations, but also clearly explained its fitness benefits for children.

In the segment psychologist Emma Kenny was on hand to argue that while the girls may have had good intentions, pole dancing was 'inextricably linked to the adult past time'.

However two of the girls' mothers, Lorraine Handbury and Lisa Grosse, defended their daughters' hobby along with teacher Zoe Hardy, 33.

The mothers of Tilly-Mae and Mia argued that any sexual connotations were invented by adults and likened the routines to innocent childhood games, saying: 'Theres a pole on the playground they play at, they climb up it, they spin round it and down. Whats the difference?'

However, psychologist Ms Kenny disagreed, arguing: 'It's got connotations to something far more salubrious. And even the outfits seen in the studio today I don't think are resonant of childhood.'

Many viewers seemed to agree with the psychologist, with one man taking to Twitter to write: 'Anybody else concerned by what looks to be child pornography on ITV #thismorning?'

Eleanor Price said 'These eight year old [sic] are going to grow up and realise what it is and wonder why their parents let them do it,' while Steve branded their moves 'seedy'.

Tony cat confessed: 'I feel totally uneasy watching it.'

Another viewer named only as Sammy seemed distressed that presenters Rylan Clark and Ruth Langsford seemed 'totally cool' with the routine, while Ollie said: 'Will #thismorning stop showing 8 year old girls swinging on the pole.'

LETSY wrote: 'They're trying to disguise it as "pole fitness" to make it sound better. No, you're encouraging your child to pole dance.'

However, instructor Zoe was adamant that there was nothing sinister or sexual in the girls' dancing.

She insisted: 'Its not sexualising children, and they should go and try it themselves and see the strength and stamina they need. Its pole fitness, not dancing.

And it seems some viewers agreed with her, with some defending the segment on Twitter.

Lissa Grosse, mum to eight-year-old Tilly May, left, and Lorraine Handbury, mum to 11-year-old Mia, appeared on the show to defend their choices, insisting that pole fitness was not remotely sexual

Psychologist Emma Kenny insisted that pole fitness was 'inextricably linked to the adult past time'

While some viewers said they were shocked by the footage - and felt 'uneasy watching it - some argued it was merely a form of exercise

Jilly Paterson added: 'Pole dancing is for men to watch. Gymnastics is for fit healthy people to perform #thismorning.'

Kym Rydings tweeted: 'If someone sexualises a child then the problem is with them, not the kid, pole fitness or otherwise!'

Meanwhile Sarah Waldron argued. 'It's basically gymnastics on a pole? I don't see anything wrong with it.'
The last of Papua New Guinea's 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels'  famous for helping carry injured Australian soldiers as they battled the Japanese during WWII  is believed to have died late last week.

Faole Bokoi died in his village of Manari, the Kokoda Track Foundation told ABC.

'I think Faole might be one of the last if not the last of the Fuzzy Wuzzies, and therefore he's the last living link between that extraordinary piece of Australian and Papua New Guinean history where they were fighting for their freedom,' KTF chairman Patrick Lindsay said.

The last of Papua New Guinea's Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Faole Bokoi, (pictured) is believed to have died late last week in his village of Manari. He is thought to have been the last member of the group

Charlie Lofberg (left), veteran of the Australian 2/27 Infantry, shares a laugh with Benjimen Ijumi from the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' during Anzac Day celebrations in 2004

The 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' used their bush skills and native knowledge to help Australian soldiers fight the Japanese in the harsh terrain of the Kokoda Track during WWII (pictured)

The 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' used their bush skills and native knowledge to help Australian soldiers fight in the harsh terrain of the Kokoda Track.

They received their nickname because of their frizzy curly hair and became well-known heroes after soldiers wrote about them in their poems and letters to family back home.

The Angels carried injured soldiers from the front lines to hospitals for treatment and hauled weapons and supplies on stretchers back to the front lines.

Australian medics treating a fellow soldier with a battlefield blood transfusion during the fight for Buna, New Guinea

Australian Lisle Johnston (pictured) watching the American B-17 bomber Frank Buck take off from makeshift runway built with help of PNG natives

The Owen Stanley Range (pictured) which winds the Kokoda Track where Australian soldiers fought

The chief of Kokoda, Benjamin Ijumi, (pictured) examines the painting The Carrier at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2011

Mr Lindsay said Mr Bokoi was bore the attributes of the Angels and the kindness they beceme well known for.

'He was very gentle and he had a dignity, a wonderful dignity,' Mr Lindsay said.

'He had this calm exterior about him but he also evoked that connection between Australia and PNG.'

Members of the Angels partake in the Anzac Day parade in Sydney in 2006 (pictured)

Former Angel, Wesley Akove, received one of the first commemorative medallions to be awarded to an Angel for his courageous and heroic work (pictured)
He pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of a cat, but a Gold Coast man is denying he actually decapitated the animal as part of a failed extortion bid.

Jordan Christie, 21, faced Southport District Court on Monday charged with unlawful killing, extortion and arson.

Christie admitted he'd attempted to extort $3000 from Lewis Hallam after suffering a broken jaw when Mr Hallam allegedly punched him in June 2014.

When Mr Hallam refused to pay the money, his father's car was torched and the dismembered cat was left outside the Hallams' Arundel home.

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A man has confessed to decapitating a cat, writing a gruesome message in the slain animal's blood and torching the owner's car in a sickening extrortion attempt

Jordan Christie, 19, will spend at least three years in jail after killing Ms White's cat and writing a threatening message in its blood on her garage door

During his sentencing, Christie's barrister, Patrick Hamilton, said while it could be argued his client had encouraged retribution against his alleged attacker, the crown couldn't prove he was the person who had actually undertaken the incidents in question.

'His role cannot be said to be higher than that,' Mr Hamilton told the court.

Christie was sentenced to three years' imprisonment but granted immediate parole on the basis he'd already served 10 months in custody following his arrest.

Judge Katherine McGuinness said Christie, now working as a roofer's apprentice, had been lucky to avoid further imprisonment and his age and plea had counted in his favour.

Mady White's cat Moo's body was found on the doorstep of a house with her head and paws cut off. Her blood was used to write a threatening message on a garage door in Arundel on the Gold Coast in June 2014

CCTV footage of the house being painted and a car being set on fire was used by police to help make an arrest

'The act was malicious and cruel and done with the intention of intimidating,' Ms McGuiness said.

'You're very lucky not to be going to jail today.'

Christie's boss at the time of the extortion attempt, Nathan Avery, earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of extortion but it is not alleged he had any role in the arson or cat's death.

Avery's matter has been adjourned to March 16 pending a psychiatric assessment.

Christie was just 19 when he took part in the macabre crimes in June 2014, and the victim of the hate campaign - the cat's owner and cystic fibrosis sufferer Mady White, then 20 - was hospitalised for more than two weeks as she dealt with the shock.

Ms White was the owner of beloved cat Moo and she fled the Gold Coast after the sustained hate campaign against her.

Moo's body was found on the doorstep of a house with her head and paws cut off. Her blood was used to write a threatening message on a garage door in Arundel on the Gold Coast on June 17, 2014.

He was just 19 when he carried out the macabre crimes in June 2014, and the victim of the hate campaign - the cat's owner and cystic fibrosis sufferer Mady White, then 20 - was hospitalised for more than two weeks as she dealt with the shock

The message 'Whers [sic] my money? Tik tok!' was found daubed on the garage door, in what was believed to be a revenge attack against the homeowners.

Christie faced court on July 1 2014 and was denied bail because he was deemed an 'unacceptable risk' of him reoffending.

In 2014 Ms White told Daily Mail Australia that she was shocked to discover the dead cat in news reports was hers and said she didn't believe her cat had been specifically targeted.

'Pretty much it was my cat being in the wrong place at the wrong time,' she said.

Ms White said she was deeply affected by the death of her cat which resulted in her hospitalisation after Moo was killed.

'The stress makes me sick. Whenever I get put under too much pressure I get sick,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms White said her problems continued in the month since her cat was killed, with her home broken into twice since the incident and her car was stolen and set alight, which Ms White thinks is part of a sustained hate campaign against her, leading her to flee the Gold Coast.

Ms White said her black Holden Cruze was stolen after she gave a lift to someone she knew, who then turned on her with a weapon.

Homeowners pictured removing the threatening message written in cat's blood from the Arundel home

'I was doing a friend a favour, I was giving him a lift, he held a weapon to me and told me to get out of the car,' Ms White said.

The theft was particularly devastating because her car contained a month's supply of an experimental drug worth $30,000 that treats cystic fibrosis.

As well as her car being stolen, Ms White's house was broken into twice  on the night of carjacking and on the following night.
Peta Credlin has hit back at allegations she had an affair with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott during his reign in office, saying the claims are 'vicious and malicious.'

Ms Credlin said she was never approached by Liberal insider Niki Savva for 'balanced' comment before her explosive new book, The Road to Ruin, hit the stands on Monday, detailing Mr Abbott's close relationship with his chief of staff.

'People tell me to ignore it but I refuse to let this stand. I earned my good reputation by working hard for four cabinet ministers, three opposition leaders and one prime minister so I am not going to let these sneering cowards define me,' Ms Credlin wrote in an opinion editorial for The Australian.

Peta Credlin (right) has hit back at allegations she had an affair with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott (left) during his reign in office

She said the rumours were 'completely false,' and explained she often had to tell colleagues she barely knew Ms Savva after asked what she had done to warrant the 'attack.'

Ms Credlin went on to defend Mr Abbott, saying he is a 'decent man'.

She believes the allegations made against her in the were to attempt to justify the coup that saw Mr Abbott removed from office.

'That's clearly evidenced by her refusal to speak with me or Tony Abbott,' Ms Credlin wrote.

'This is only one side of the story and in time, the other side should be told.'

On Monday, Mr Abbott also hit back at the account of his time in office by reminding Australians how he stopped the boats and axed the carbon tax.

In his statement on Monday, Mr Abbott said: 'The best response to this book is the objective record of the Abbott government.

'The boats were stopped. The carbon tax and the mining tax were repealed.

'Three free trade agreements that had languished for years were finalised.

'Our country was kept safe. And a strong start was made to the vital task of budget repair.'

Ms Credlin said she was never approached by Liberal insider Niki Savva for 'balanced' comment before her explosive new book, The Road to Ruin, hit the stands on Monday

The book also reported Mr Abbott's wife Margie was seen as a 'distraction' by Ms Credlin

The book detailed a close relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin including a rumoured affair - which they both deny.

Ms Savva also reported a Liberal colleague once saw the prime minister give Ms Credlin a 'slap on the bum - open-handed, playful, with a loud thwack. She smiled at him, and they kept walking'.

Former staffers in the Prime Minister's office were also quoted saying Ms Credlin ran a 'dysfunctional' operation.

Firing back, Mr Abbott said a 'dysfunctional opposition' couldn't win an election and a 'dysfunctional government' couldn't have got so much done in just two years.

'That said, I'm not in the business of raking over old coals nor am I in the business of responding to scurrilous gossip and smear.'

Apart from being a good local MP, Mr Abbott said his focus is on the election of the Turnbull government.

'Australia needs prudent, frugal, competent government - not an unreconstructed Labor Party with its five new taxes.'

Ms Credlin has noted she was not approached for comment by Ms Savva, who was Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello's former press secretary.

'This book says a lot more about her lack of ethics than it will ever say about me,' Ms Credlin told the Sunday Telegraph.

The book detailed a close relationship between Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin including a rumoured affair - which they both deny
Mexican drug baron 'El Chapo' has told his wife he has never heard of a woman now claiming to be his long lost daughter.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, says the crime boss is her father and claimed he had crossed the border into the US twice to visit his family in the state while on the run.

But her claims have been called into question by the ganglords wife Emma Coronel who said she had spoken to her husband in jail - and he has not confirmed the reports.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz (left) has claimed to be El Chapo's daughter. But this has been called into question by the ganglords wife Emma Coronel (right)

Mexican drug baron 'El Chapo' has told his wife he has never heard of a woman now claiming to be his long lost daughter

Coronel said: 'My husband told me that he had never heard of this woman before she sent him letters telling him that her mother had claimed he was the father.

'He had never heard of her before, and out of courtesy he did not want to reject the suggestion.'

But she said the family were shocked when a 39-year-old woman suddenly took this as confirmation of what her mother told her was true, and started claiming to have intimate knowledge of his affairs.

Coronel said that both her husband and his sister had never heard of the woman's mother - called Maria Luisa - with whom he is supposed to have had an affair.

She added: 'If there is a birth certificate that backs up these claims, then we will look at it, and if necessary we can do a DNA test. But in the meantime, I would invite her not to get involved. The situation is difficult enough already and delicate for the family and we certainly don't need outsiders wading in.'

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, told The Guardian that the 58-year-old drugs baron entered the US last year shortly after his now-notorious October meeting with US actor Sean Penn

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

El Chapo has several family members in the United States.

Rosa Isela said Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, 58, 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 Guardian in an exclusive interview that Guzman crossed the border to visit relatives and see her five-bedroom house, which he reportedly bought for her and her four children.

Guzman, the world's most wanted-drug trafficker, centre, is escorted by Mexican security forces at a Navy hangar in Mexico City on January 8 after his recapture

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 one-mile tunnel in a brazen prison break that left President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration red-faced.

Guzman was sent back to Altiplano following his January 8 recapture.
Report comes after Uber driver Jason Dalton went on a shooting spree last month killing six people

Firm says drivers have robust background checks and they're investing in new technology to improve passenger safety

Uber insist its service is safe and deny results are legitimate rape claims

But leaked documents reveal 5,827 results under search for 'rape'

Also had up to 170 sexual assault claims over the same time period

Ride-sharing service admits it had five reports of rape in three years

Uber passengers have made five rape claims and up to 170 sexual assault claims in the past three years.

The ride-sharing company has come under pressure over the safety of its services after Uber driver opened fire in Kalamazoo, Michigan last month - shooting dead six people.

And just last week, Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham claimed she was 'almost raped' when she took an Uber cab on Long Island.

But Uber insist its services are safe.

Uber passengers have made five rape claims and up to 170 sexual assault claims in the past three years

The firm says it received just one report of rape in every 3.3million rides, looking at complaints in three years between December 2012 and August 2015.

The firm says it received less than 170 sexual assault complaints in the same period.

However, data leaked to Buzzfeed by a former Uber customer services employee, shows 5,827 complaints under a search for 'rape' and another 6,160 under sexual assault.

Some of those complaints included subject lines such as 'Uber driver sexually assaulted me,' 'sexually assaulted by Uber driver in SF' and 'Uber driver sexually assaulted my girlfriend'.

Uber insist that the figures do not represent the actual numbers of reported rape or sexual assault.

A spokesman told Buzzfeed that 'rape' is a common typo for the word 'rate', while a search also brings up results with names that include the word rape - such as 'Don Draper' - and phrases such as 'he raped my wallet'.

Uber also admit that some rape or sexual assault victims do not report the abuse to them but contact police directly instead.

Tim Collins, vice president, Global Support, told the Business Insider that Uber was investing in new technology to boost safety.

Uber insist its services are safe. The firm says it receives just one report of rape in every 3.3million rides

Currently, every trip is GPS tracked and the real-time route can be shared by a passenger who can rate their driver after the ride.

If a serious allegation is made, Uber say it immediately suspends the driver while it carries out an investigation. The company also contacts police where necessary.

Joe Sullivan, chief safety officer, said in a statement: 'Uber is a relatively young company and we're the first to admit that we haven't always gotten things right.

'Sadly, no means of transportation is 100 percent safe today. Accidents and incidents do happen.

'But we are working hard to ensure passengers everywhere can get a safe, reliable ride, as well as to provide great customer service when things go wrong.'

Uber has faced pressure to improve its safety record after driver Jason Dalton - who had a high customer satisfaction rating - went on a killing spree in February.

Dalton, 45, is charged with killing six people and injuring two.

The gunman shot a woman in an apartment complex and then continued to pick up fares before shooting dead a father and his 17-year-old son who were looking at cars.

He later opened fire at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, shooting five people.

Four died while a 14-year-old girl was seriously injured.

On Friday, Farrah Abraham claimed that she had been 'almost raped' by an Uber driver during a trip on long Island.

Charged: Jason Dalton, 45, is charged with killing six people and injuring two last month

'An Uber driver almost raped me' the 24-year-old reality star said during her Farrah & Friends podcast, according to PageSix.com.

However, the app-based taxi service argues the reality star made the whole thing up, says PageSix.com, and that she's banned from Uber because her companion trashed the driver's vehicle.

The reality star alleged she'd only been saved from an assault by her on/off boyfriend Simon Sarah who came to her rescue during the January 2015 incident.

In Uber's account of the 2am incident, the Teen Mom and her pal instigated an altercation and the driver then complained to the company.

The ride-sharing service was banned from New Delhi in 2014 after Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav raped a 26-year-old woman.

Last November Yadav, 32, who obtained his job with Uber using faking reference, allowing him to hide his criminal record, was sentenced to life in jail.

Boston driver, Alejandro Done, 47, was also jailed last year for a decade for raping a woman in the back of his car - and was linked to the rape of five others.

Uber say they are working hard to ensure their customers are safe and say that every driver is also subject to a 'robust system of background checks' before they can work for the company.
Hamilton is also accused of killing his wife and wounding two other

27 while responding to a domestic dispute at a home in Woodbridge, Virginia

Funeral for rookie cop Ashley Guindon, 28, was held in Springfield,

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A Virginia police officer who was killed her first day on the job was laid to rest next to her father in a Massachusetts cemetery Monday after a stirring tribute from hundreds of officers from around the country who came to pay their final respects.

The flag-draped casket of 28-year-old Ashley Guindon made its way from a funeral home to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Springfield along a route lined by hundreds of saluting officers in blue standing next to their motorcycles. Hundreds more stood at attention outside the church before filing inside to the sound of a bagpiper.

The Rev. Mark Stelzer, himself the son of a former Springfield police chief, noted during his homily the risks officers face every day.

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Paying their respects: Hundreds of police officers stand outside Sacred Heart Church for the funeral of Prince William County, Virginia, Police Officer Ashley Guindon on Monday in Springfield, Massachusetts

Honor guard: Uniformed police line up for the funeral procession of Guindon, 28, who was killed during her first shift on the job February 27 while responding to a domestic dispute in Woodbridge, Virginia

Police salute as pallbearers carry the casket of Ashley Guindon into Sacred Heart Church for her funeral

Guindon (left) was allegedly shot dead by Pentagon Army Staff Sgt Ron Hamilton, 32, (right) after his wife Crystal, also 29, called 911 to report domestic assault. He is also accused of fatally shooting Crystal

Nightmare task: Sharon Guindon, top center, Ashley's mother, follows her daughter's casket as she leads mourners out of Sacred Heart Church after the somber service

'Those of us who grew up in a law enforcement family know firsthand the constant fear that any day of a loved one's duty as a police officer could be his or her last day of duty,' he said. 'Any day could spell the end of watch.'

Another funeral attended by hundreds of uniformed officers was held for Guindon in Woodbridge, Virginia, last week.

Ms Guindon was killed on February 27 while responding to a domestic dispute at a home in Woodbridge, Virginia, her first day with the Prince William County Police Department.

'She came to our department all too briefly with such passion, drive and a desire to serve,' Stephan Hudson, police chief of Prince William County, said in his eulogy.

By the time Guindon arrived with two fellow officers on the scene, Army Staff Sgt Ron Hamilton, 32, who was assigned to the Pentagon, had allegedly killed his wife, Crystal.

Hamilton allegedly opened fire as soon as the officers arrived, fatally shooting Guindon and wounding the other two. The Hamiltons' 11-year-old son was in the house at the time but survived unscathed.

Outpouring of support: Officers from across the country arrived in Springfield Monday to pay their final respects to the slain rookie cop

Police salute the casket of Ashley Guindon, killed during her first shift on the job February 27. Two other officers were wounded

Mourners leave Sacred Heart Church after the funeral of Ashley Guindon. She was laid to rest next to her father, David

The soldier was arrested and charged with capital murder, first-degree murder and malicious wounding. He has admitted that he shot dead his wife and the rookie Virginia cop, according to court records.

Prosecutors in Virginia have said they plan to seek the death penalty against Hamilton.

Ashley Guindon spent her early years in western Massachusetts before her family moved to New Hampshire.

After the funeral, her hearse was accompanied to St. Thomas the Apostle cemetery in West Springfield by dozens of police motorcycles as schoolchildren and other residents lined the streets. A Marine Corps honor guard stood at attention for the former Marine reservist at the cemetery.

Guindon was laid to rest next to her father, David, who committed suicide the day after he returned home from Iraq in 2004, where he served with the New Hampshire Air National Guard. He was buried with full military honors on August 26 that year.

'He came home and took his own life,' said Dorothy Guindon, Ashley's grandmother.

Ashley was his only child.

Hamilton's wife Crystal (left) was shot dead before Guindon arrived. Tributes were left outside the home (right)
The Republican primary race will go on for at least two more months, a top GOP official said today.

Sean Spicer, the communications director for the Republican National Committee, went through the delegate math this morning on CNN's New Day and explained that even if one candidate won every single delegate going forward the Republican race wouldn't wrap up until April 26.

'That's literally impossible so we basically guarantee right now that we won't have a nominee until May,' Spicer said.

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Sean Spicer, a chief strategist and communications director for the Republican National Committee, did the math and figured out that the earliest the Republicans could have a nominee is in May - two months away

Donald Trump is currently the delegate leader with 384 delegates, but Ted Cruz, who had a good weekend at the polls, is not that far behind

Frontrunner Donald Trump is ahead in the delegate count with 384 of the 1,237 needed, but this weekend's round of primaries gave rival Ted Cruz a boost too and now he's not that far behind Trump with 300.

While The Donald won the Louisiana primary, he and Cruz walked away with the same number of delegates  18  with Sen. Marco Rubio getting five.

Kansas went to Cruz and the Texas senator got 24 delegates to Trump's nine.

Trump won Kentucky, but only got two delegates more than Cruz, 17 to 15 respectively.

Cruz won the Maine caucuses and got 12 delegates to Trump's nine.

Then there's Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich coming from behind.

Rubio has earned 151 delegates, while Kasich has only won 37.

Both Rubio and Kasich have similar delegate strategies going forward  they're aiming to win their delegate-rich winner-take-all home states of Florida and Ohio, respectively, to propel themselves nearer the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Spicer noted the primaries were about a third of the way through and said he still expected that a nominee would come out of the primary process instead of from the convention floor.

'I still think we're on track for that to happen, that's always what's happened, that's traditional,' Spicer said this morning.

Ted Cruz, who hopes to win the primary outright and not have to go into a brokered convention, has only 84 delegates fewer than frontrunner Donald Trump

'That's a nice parlor game to play now,' Spicer said, alluding to the 'brokered' convention scenario that at least Kasich, who has the fewest amount of delegates, is embracing.

Rubio, in the past, has discussed a brokered convention too, especially after his disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire, after his third place in the Iowa caucuses delivered some momentum to his campaign.

'I don't think it necessarily is negative,' Rubio said of a contested convention.

Kasich, speaking to an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, suggested that no candidate would get to the 1,237 delegates required to claim the nomination and so a floor fight might ensue.

He pointed to the example of California Gov. Ronald Reagan challenging sitting President Gerald Ford, who took over after President Richard Nixon resigned, for the nomination in 1976.

Ford went into the convention with the most delegates, but didn't have enough to claim the nomination outright.

In Kasich's winning scenario, he would likely be behind Trump and others in the delegate count, but suggested the nomination could still come his way.

Marco Rubio has 151 delegates and hopes to play catch-up by winning his home state of Florida, which is worth 99 delegates and is winner-take-all

Ohio Gov. John Kasich sees his road to the nomination going through Ohio twice - he expects to win the state's winner-take-all primary on March 15 and win a convention floor fight in Cleveland

'You have to do it right and you can't have people in smoke-filled rooms who are the establishment, by the way,' Kasich suggested.

He also hinted he might have a home field advantage as the convention is being held in his home state of Ohio.

'By the way, they told me the convention is going to be held in Cleveland, that's kind of interesting,' he noted.

On the flip side, Cruz and Trump have both said they planned to win the nomination outright, and Spicer suggested this was much more likely to happen.

'I still believe we're at 85 percent certainty that we'll have a nominee going into that convention,' Spicer said this morning. 'Whoever gets that 1,237 will be our nominee and have the full support and resources of the RNC to win in November, plain and simple.'

With four candidates still in the race and gobbling up pieces of the delegate count, Spicer was asked if he thought any of the candidates should drop out.

'I don't know,' he began. 'In the sense that I think every candidate has got to make a decision  how much support to they have, do they have the resources to go forward,' Spicer answered.
The Prime Minister grinned briefly as she entered Downing Street after a run in the central London fog this morning as MailOnline can reveal that all her 'In Liz we Truss' merchandise was expunged. The party's cups, travel mugs, bags and T-shirts celebrating her election 45 days ago, each costing between 14.95 and 24,95, have been deleted from the website and pulled from sale. Wearing her gym kit and muddy trainers, the outgoing Tory leader, now considered the most disastrous in party history, gave a wry smile at police as she skipped into the back door of No 10 at around 8am. She will spend her last weekend as PM at Chequers, No 10 has said. The UK's shortest serving PM will still receive severance pay to the tune of 18,860 - equal to 419.11 for each of the 44 days she served. She also earned 10,000 in that time because he ministerial salary went up. Ms Truss is beginning her final week as Prime Minister as her rivals circle to take her job - but there is also increasing anger about the cash and benefits she is leaving with and demands for her to forgo them. She will now also be entitled to claim up to 115,000-a-year in an allowance for former Prime Ministers. Her predecessors Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson are all believed to have claimed it. Ms Truss will also benefit from a taxpayer-funded pension as a former minister and Prime Minister. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer today joined calls for Ms Truss to reject her allowance and hand back any payout, declaring that she had 'not earned the right' to keep it. He said: 'She should turn it down. I think that's the right thing to do. She's done 44 days in office, she's not really entitled to it, she should turn it down and not take it'.
wants to make pork mandatory in schools and canteens

German politicians claim pork taken off menus 'for religious reasons'

German politicians are campaigning to make pork mandatory in public canteens and schools, after reports that sausages, chops and bacon were disappearing from menus.

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Schleswig-Holstein claimed pork products were being removed from cafes, daycare centres and state schools across the state to 'prevent offending Muslims'

The suggestion to force public schools and canteens to serve pork has subsequently been widely mocked on social media, using hashtags #porkduty and #wurstcasescenario.

Pork duty: Politicians from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union are campaigning to make pork mandatory in canteens and schools, after reports it was disappearing from menus for 'religious reasons'

The local arm of the CDU, the party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, claimed pork was being banned for 'religious reasons' across the north German state.

'The protection of minorities - including for religious reasons - must not mean that the majority is overruled in their free decision by ill-conceived consideration,' said CDU's Daniel Gunther.

'The consumption of pork belongs to our culture,' Gunther added, according to Deutsche Welle.

'No one should be obliged to do so, but we also don't want the majority having to refrain from pork.'

Gunther later claimed in an interview with a local newspaper that 'at least one nursery in every voting district' in Schleswig-Holstein had stopped serving pork for religious reasons.

Silly sausages: CDU in Schleswig-Holstein claimed 'consumption of pork belongs to German culture'

Hands off my wurst: CDU claimed pork products were being removed from cafes, daycare centres and state schools across the state to 'prevent offending Muslims'

The news of the proposal by CDU in Schleswig-Holstein soon spread across Germany, and was met with mockery on social media.

Withing a few hours, the hashtag #schweinefleischpflicht - meaning 'pork duty' - became Germany's top trending hashtag on Twitter, with many joking that this was a #wurstcasescenario.

However, the plan to introduce mandatory pork in state canteens and schools was later rejected by the local government in Schleswig-Holstein.

'I see no need for the state to act,' state agriculture minister Robert Habeck said, according to The Local.
When Donald Trump celebrated his big win in the Nevada caucuses he dropped one of his most memorable lines thus far: 'I love the poorly educated,' he declared, ticking off the various demographic groups he had won in the state.

But those voters  ones who are predominantly white  could reshuffle the battleground state map in ways the country hasn't seen in decades, some experts predict.

Working class white voters have been trending more and more Republican in the last few cycles, but Trump could grab even more away from the Democrats in states like New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Politico reported.

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Donald Trump, who is leading the delegate count for the Republican party, could bring white working class voters and 'poorly educated' voters into his hold - potentially shifting the battleground map

Donald Trump, aided by working class voters, could bring Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Wisconsin into the GOP fold and help Republicans win Ohio - but states like Georgia and Arizona could slip away

Donald Trump could potentially lose states like Georgia and Arizona to Hillary Clinton as he's upset Hispanic voters by his rhetoric and she's used the Latino vote to win states against Democratic rival Bernie Sanders

Ohio is traditionally a battleground state and often the biggest barometer on election night of which way the race will tilt, but Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been reliably blue over the past few election cycles.

Democrats counter that Trump has done enough damage to his reputation among Hispanic voters  calling Mexican immigrants 'rapists' right out of the gate  that states like Georgia and Arizona could be in play.

President Obama's two elections already made some headway in the South with Virginia going to the Democrats the last two election cycles and North Carolina flipping to the Democrats in 2008, and then returning to the GOP column in 2012.

Out West, Obama also flipped New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, all of which had voted for George W. Bush. Democrats hope to build on this by snagging Arizona from Republicans too, with Trump at the top of the ticket.

But since elections are won on turnout, which of the two theories will prevail?

Republicans point to two aspects of the race that are in their favor, even if Hillary Clinton is ahead in the polls, which she is in New Hampshire and Wisconsin  though, interestingly, when Clinton is matched up against Trump in Wisconsin, a new Marquette University poll shows the two neck-and-neck when just focusing on those 'poorly educated' voters.

Hillary Clinton could suddenly find herself at an advantage in some of the South and West, but then could lose traditionally Democratic strongholds in the rust belt and the Northeast

First, Republicans argue that the enthusiasm is on their side.

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer touted voter turnout this morning.

'Every single state, including Puerto Rico last night, you saw record turnout on the Republican side,' Spicer noted. 'On the Democratic side you're seeing almost in every one of them ... below 2008 levels when they last had a contest.'

Primary registration could bring those voters, especially Trump's new voters, back to the polls in November if he becomes the nominee.

Something else problematic for Clinton is that she's not the popular Democratic candidate among white voters in her own party  Bernie Sanders is  which explains why the former secretary of state had such a close race in Iowa and lost in places like New Hampshire.

Those voters could move over to Trump's column in the general election  or stay home  further endangering the Democrats in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

There's nervous chatter on Capitol Hill, too, among Democrats who have to worry about their own down-ticket races, according to The Hill newspaper.

'I've been saying for months that we should never take Trump lightly and that I think he has appeal, to independents and blue-collar Democrats especially,' Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., told the Hill.

Larson formerly headed the House Democratic Caucus.

'He is stoking the fears,' Larson continued. 'He comes along and says, "I'm a deal maker, I'm about getting the deal done." And they're so fed up of seeing nothing getting done and want to see him [act] on the issues that strike to the core of their feelings.'

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., noted how nothing Trump says seems to derail his candidacy, which suggests that Democrats are facing a 'serious threat.'

'There's no dearth of issues that you can attach to Trump as a candidate that are problematic, but if what folks are saying is, "We don't care," then that changes your strategy,' Grisham said.

'Voters are so disenfranchised and so angry that they're willing to vote for anything that's so different and drastic,' she continued.
Ahmed Almaki, 33, live broadcast his DWI ride

A man who live-streamed himself driving tipsy through Long Island was busted Sunday after state troopers tuned into the feed.

New York State Police were able to zero in on drunk driver Ahmed Almaki's location by watching video he broadcast live using his phone.

The feed went live around 1am on the app Periscope.

Several callers alerted police to the live stream, police said.

The 'erratic' drive along Ocean and Wantagh Parkways ended near Hempstead Turnpike after dispatchers following the live feed coordinated with troopers on patrol, police said.

Almaki, 33, of Oyster Bay, who was driving a Lexus, emitted a 'strong odor of an alcoholic beverage' when stopped, according to police.

He failed sobriety tests and was jailed for DWI, police said.

Because Almaki had a previous DWI conviction, he was charged with felony DWI.

He was also issued tickets for four traffic violations.

Last month, a Florida woman was sentenced to a year's probation after live streaming a drunken car ride in a similar incident, KLFY reported.
Her mother became an internet star after more than 120,000 YouTube hits.

Now Charlie, the daughter of Pet, has become an online sensation in her own right by copying some of her mothers signature moves.

The lamb likes to leaps around like a dog, scratch her hooves into the ground and even goes for a walk with her owners Collies.

A video of Pet from the Scottish Highlands, went viral last year after it showed her mimicking her owner's dogs.

Fast-forward a year and Pet has now grown up and had a daughter of her own named Charlie.

Now Charlie (pictured), the daughter of Pet, has become an online sensation in her own right by copying some of her mothers signature moves

The lamb likes to leaps around like a dog, scratch her hooves into the ground and even goes for a walk with her owners Collies

And new footage, from Deadline News, shows the youngster has adopted the same extraordinary habits as her mum and loves nothing more than jumping around, playing and chasing the very same dogs.

Charlie, named after the late MP Charles Kennedy, was welcomed into the world on June 1 last year.

She soon began to mimic the unusual behaviour which rocketed her famous mother to animal stardom.

An adorable two-minute clip shows Charlie performing high kicks and leaps with the collies, twisting her body in the air in the same way as her mother used to.

The playful dogs run around in the snow as the youngster paws at the ground and chases them, bouncing on all four legs.

Her mum can be seen grazing sedately in the background, but is currently unable to join in as she is heavily pregnant once again.

Owner Mairi MacKenzie, 52, who owns the Torran Loggie BnB in Ross-shire, northern Scotland, says the lamb is 'even worse' than her mum and constantly pesters the dogs to play with her.

New footage shows the youngster (pictured right) has adopted the same extraordinary habits as her mum

She said: 'Pet was only 13 months old when she gave birth to Charlie, and it wasn't long until the two were running around together with the dogs.

'Charlie began to copy her mum - it must be a behaviour thing - and now she is even worse.

'She torments the dogs, always trying to get them to play with her. It's exactly the same as Pet used to do.

'They both go out for walks with the dogs and love spending time with them.'

When Pet was born in 2014, she struggled to survive and Mairi brought her into the croft house to keep her warm.

She was taken under the wing of the sheep dogs who 'adopted' her - and even slept in the same basket as them.

They formed an unbreakable bond, and Pet used to bleat when she couldn't see her best friends around.

Both Pet and Charlie now sleep in their own pen, but still sneak into the house when they can.

Pictures show the pair curled up by the front door and even peering into the kitchen with their ears pricked.
Meanwhile, second week of demolition work of the nearby 'Jungle' in Calais has today continued

Built by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the campsite features 200 heated wooden huts and bathrooms

They have been photographed making their way through muddy conditions towards their new homes

The first families to live in a new 2.4million migrant camp of wooden shelters near Dunkirk have arrived

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Families of Iraqi Kurds have become the first to arrive in France's new camp of wooden shelters built for 2.4million.

The new residents were photographed tramping through mud as they made their way to the camp from another site nearby where 1,000 people have been living in miserable conditions.

Built by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in opposition to the French government, the 200 heated wooden cabins also feature proper toilets and showers.

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Migrants, mainly Iraqi Kurds, in Grand Synthe outside Dunkirk begin moving into a new purpose built camp of wooden huts (pictured)

A child is pictured trampling across muddy ground as parents and families bring their possessions with them in large plastic bags

A group of migrants are escorted to their new homes inside the campsite in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk

Migrants arrive at their new temporary homes with their worldly possessions stacked in heaps outside the huts in Dunkirk

The campsite can hold several hundred migrants and is composed of hundreds of heated wooden huts, toilets and showers

Furniture, clothes, bicycles, toys and essentials including food and water are among the items migrants brought with them to the camp

Rows upon rows of patterned plastic bags line the area as far as the eye can see as the migrants go through the moving process

About 150 people abandoned the camp in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, to move Monday to wooden sheds with access to toilets and electricity built nearby by Doctors Without Borders, spokesman Samuel Hanryon said.

Families pushed luggage and piled bags on buses taking them across town to the new site. The aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, hopes hundreds more will join them in the coming days.

The move is part of efforts to improve conditions for thousands of migrants who have converged on northern France amid Europe's migrant crisis.

A few police guarded the area but did not take part in Monday's move.

In Calais, authorities are gradually evicting residents of part of the 'jungle' camp and trying to get them to seek asylum in France or move to cleaner container facilities. A few Calais migrants came to the new MSF site Monday, Hanryon said.

Smiling migrants enter the heated houses, which also give access to toilets and showers, cost more than 2 million to build

A campaigner walks past rows of the houses, built at a muddy campsite located near Dunkirk in northern France

Migrants arrive at the campsite where which Iraqi Kurdish families, made up of around 150 people, were the first to populate

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) built the camps with the assistance of Grande-Synthe town hall and helped people move in

Local mayor Damien Careme, who fought a battle with the authorities over its construction, said it was 'a great day for human solidarity'

Local mayor Damien Careme, who fought a battle with the authorities over its construction, said: 'It's a great day for human solidarity.

'I've overcome a failure of the state,' he said, adding that he could no longer stand the sight of around 75 children living in the original camp.

The move has frustrated the government which has been trying to move refugees away from the northern coast and into centres where their movement is more controlled.

The government's representative in northern France, Jean-Francois Cordet, said last month: 'The government's policy is not to reconstitute a camp at Grande-Synthe, but to make it go away.'

MSF said they hoped soon to have 375 cabins, catering for 2,500 people at the camp in Grande Synthe, outside Dunkirk

It was quite the ordeal for migrant families, many of whom looked stressed as they left their muddy temporary homes

Coaches helped bus the groups to the new camp, loading up hundreds of bags of clothes and possessions, pictured

Smoke could be seen billowing from some of the migrants former homes as they trudged through the mud to the new camp

Graffiti scrawled on one tent said 'lets go 2 England' as authorities in this country continue to worry about a migrant influx

Shoddy wooden floors is the only thing separating the migrants from a wet and muddy path to their new homes

The move was organised by MSF and its volunteers with migrants divided into groups taken to the new camp in an orderly fashion

They are located in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, and were constructed with the help of the local town hall.

The 3.1 million euro ($3.4 million) migrant accommodation is thought to be the first in France to meet international standards, and MSF said they hoped soon to have 375 cabins, catering for 2,500 people.

'It's a great day for human solidarity,' said local mayor Damien Careme, who fought a battle with the authorities.

'I've overcome a failure of the state,' he said, adding that he could no longer stand the sight of around 75 children living in the original camp.

The move has frustrated the government which has been trying to move refugees away from the northern coast and into centres where their movement is more controlled.

The government's representative in northern France, Jean-Francois Cordet, said last month: 'The government's policy is not to reconstitute a camp at Grande-Synthe, but to make it go away.'

Meanwhile, authorities today began a second week of demolition at the region's largest refugee camp, nicknamed the 'Jungle', in nearby Calais.

Thousands of migrants have been living in the 'Jungle' and other smaller camps along the northern coast, desperate to reach Britain where many have family or community ties and see better hopes of gaining employment or education.

Campaigners and charity workers accompany migrants as they get off a coach, pictured, and prepare to move into their new homes

The move has frustrated the government which has been trying to move refugees away from the northern coast

Tents lie scattered throughout the mud of the original refugee campsite in Grande-Synthe that resembles a music festival campsite

Wood, blankets and black bin liners are discarded on the muddy floors of the original campsite, revealing the difficult conditions migrants were living in

The 'homes' in the old camp have since been abandoned with only tattered tents and burned out stoves left behind to show for it

One child appears delighted to be on the move as she walks through discarded bicycles, shopping trolleys and rubbish

Children don their wellies as they watch on while their families up sticks and move on to life in better conditions in the new camp

Two men struggle to push a large trolley full of their possessions through the thick muddy ground, pictured, in France

Most migrants have turned down offers to move into the heated huts, for fear it may stop them reaching Britain, even if it means remaining in camps similar to the abandoned one in Grande Synthe, pictured

Most have turned down offers from the French government to move into heated containers alongside the 'Jungle', or into accommodation centres elsewhere in France, fearing doing so would end their dreams of reaching Britain.

Unlike these alternatives, the new camp at Grande-Synthe will not restrict the movement of migrants and refugees, MSF said.

In Calais, a group of children tried to offer white roses to the line of riot police holding back migrants and volunteers as workers resumed the dismantling of makeshift shelters in the Calais camp.

Nine Iranians who last week stitched their mouths shut in protest at the demolition, said they were carrying out a hunger strike.

Some five acres of the 'Jungle' were destroyed last week, and authorities said it could take a month or more to demolish the southern half of the camp.

Local authorities say there were between 800 and 1,000 migrants living in the southern half, while aid groups say there were around 3,500.

Meanwhile UK Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted there is 'no prospect' of Britain joining a common EU asylum system as officials in Brussels continued to grapple with the chaos caused by the huge influx into the continent.

The Financial Times reported that the European Commission was preparing to bring forward proposals at a further EU summit later this month to centralise control of asylum claims.

It would mean replacing the current Dublin regulation under which refugees have to claim asylum in the first country they arrive in.

That puts pressure on countries such as Greece and Italy - where many of the migrants from Syria and north Africa first set foot in the EU - while protecting those further away.

The sheer number of people moving such a large quantity of items makes the scene at the camp, pictured, resemble a music festival

Migrants empty out containers that were previously homes while others are armed with fire extinguishers to maintain control over blazes

A French policeman pushes back a migrant standing dangerously close to a burning tent. Officers guarded the new site but did not help people move, sources have confirmed

A group of migrants move a makeshift shelter during the demolition of the southern part of the 'Jungle', now in its second week

A refugee carries his possessions with him as he makes his way out of the campsite in Calais as police in riot gear watch on

A migrant wanders through the widespread mud of the campsite holding a sign stating: 'We are all the same, we want safe life'

A man in a Great Britain-themed hoodie walks past a group of French police officers overseeing the demolition of the massive camp

Many migrants have turned down offers to move into heated containers alongside the 'Jungle' for fear is would end their goal of reaching Britain

However Mr Cameron said that Britain's opt-out from the Schengen agreement meant that it would be unaffected by any changes.

'We have an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe,' he told reporters.

'We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.'

The UK has announced plans to deploy a Royal Navy ship to join a Nato operation to tackle people smugglers bringing migrants across the Aegean Sea.

A young boy presents a riot police officer with a white flower during a non-violent protest over camp conditions today

Protests over human rights have continued at the campsite despite the French government's orders to evict and demolish it

A fire burns one of the temporary shelters at the campsite during today's evacuation proceedings in Calais, France, pictured

A protester with a message across his lips stands next to the wreckage of a burned shelter while holding a placard about peace

A man walks through burned rubble in the 'Jungle' where some migrants torched their own dwellings leaving the wreckage behind

France's government says a hotline is going to be set up to help local businesses in Calais that are suffering amid the migrant crisis.

About 500 Calais residents and merchants have demonstrated on the streets of Paris around the Elysee Palace to draw the attention to their economic difficulties.

The new hotline will help small business owners to get tax relief.
Seven families in Flint, Michigan, are filing a class-action lawsuit on Monday in hopes of holding city and state officials responsible for the lead-poisoning crisis that has taken over their city.

The lawsuit to be filed on Monday is the latest in a series of litigation coming from Flint.

Lawyers are asking for the class-action to cover any Flint children who were poisoned by lead that was leaked into the water system when the Flint River corroded city pipes.

The crisis has turned Flint into a national symbol of government failure and environmental disaster and is a featured topic of conversation in presidential debates.

Flint resident and mother-of-three Melissa Lightfoot is one of the parents of families represented in the class-action suit.

Melissa Lightfoot is one of the parents of families represented in the suit. Her three children, five-year-old Payton (left), 13-year-old Tra'Vaughn (center) and eight-year-old Kamryn (right) all suffered lead poisoning

Demonstrators demand action from the Republican presidential candidates about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan on Thursday

She said her daughters, five-year-old Payton and eight-year-old Kamryn, and her son, 13-year-old Tra-Vaughn were all found to have high lead levels in their blood after Flint switched to the water source in 2014.

All three children have since been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder.

She said Paxton, who she describes as the 'diva of the family' was one of the top students in her kindergarten class, but she's 'so scared that could all change next year'.

'This is real,' Lightfoot, 33, told NBC News on Sunday. 'This right here is scary.'

Lightfoot said that before the water source changed last year, her children were not found to be in danger of lead poisoning.

But in late 2014, the led levels in her children were found to be above five micrograms per deciliter, which shows a concerning level of exposure.

Doctors first assumed it was from paint exposure, but Lightfoot in Section 8 housing that certified its paint was lead-free, she said.

A pediatrician then suggested it could be that water affecting the children.

'I was scared,' Lightfoot told NBC News. 'My kids are getting poisoned from something that's a necessity and as a parent there's nothing I can do to help them. It's already in them, I can't take it out, and there's no medicine for it.'

Lightfoot now uses bottled water for everything, including bathing.

She said she has watched her children's behavior deteriorate since the high levels of lead were discovered.

She said their attention drifts and they're prone to anger fits. The girls have suffered hair loss, and Kamryn has developed rashes.

'I'm constantly at a doctor's office,' she told NBC News. 'If it's not a doctor's office, it's an appointment for therapy, because of this lead being in my kids.'

Flint's water crisis began when the city switched its water source in 2014. Since then, several residents have discovered high levels of lead in their blood stream

Demonstrators protest over the Flint, Michigan contaminated water crisis with signs referencing Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Sunday

Signs at the demonstration said that 'water is a human right, not a privilege' and called for Snyder to step down

Lightfoot believes that her trust in Flint has been permanently shattered, even though the city has returned to its former water supply.

'I don't know how the rest of my kids' lives are going to play out because of how high their lead levels are,' she said. 'Now I just want to get my kids out of Flint.'

Payton, Lightfoot's youngest, has the highest level of lead in her system, with close to eight micrograms per deciliter.

Lawyers for the class action suit said one of the other plaintiffs in the suit tested as high as 30.

'Lead poisoning is an insidious disease,' attorney Hunter Shkolnik told NBC News. 'We know the brain is permanently and irreversibly damaged but it doesn't manifest itself immediately. These children have been pushed so far down now they cannot ever achieve what was expected of them.'

Another lawyer for the suit, Adam Slater, said the suit will attempt to 'hold accountable' those people were are responsible for changing Flint's water source.

He hopes it will also hold those accountable who are responsible for not taking steps to control corrosion, reassuring residents that the water was safe and failing to take action on early warnings that the water was in fact not safe.

The plaintiffs in the suit will have to show why the city and state aren't covered by government immunity if they want to proceed with the suit.

The lawsuit names engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newman, which the City of Flint hired before the switch.
Tunisian forces fought off fierce attacks from ISIS jihadists near the Libyan border, in clashes that left at least 50 people dead, including seven civilians.

Ten members of the security forces were killed in the fighting in the border town of Ben Guerdane, which Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an 'unprecedented' jihadist attack aimed at 'establishing a new Islamic State emirate'.

The border, which has long been a key access point for jihadists entering Libya to join ISIS, has now been closed and a night curfew will be enforced.

Tunisian forces fought off fierce attacks from ISIS jihadists near the Libyan border, in clashes that saw at least 45 people dead, including seven civilians

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to prevent the large number of its nationals who have joined ISIS's Libyan franchise, based in the city of Sirte

Tunisian special forces standby after enduring a difficult battle with jihadists from across the Libyan border

In statements broadcast on state television, Essebsi said the assault was 'maybe aimed at controlling' the border region with Libya, and vowed to 'exterminate these rats'.

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to stop the large number of its nationals who have joined ISIS's Libyan franchise, based in the city of Sirte.

The jihadists have taken advantage of a power vacuum since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 to set up bases in several areas of Libya, including the Sabratha area between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

US-led airstrikes targeted an important ISIS training camp in Sabratha, where many Tunisian nationals were thought to have been learning basic weapons handling and bombmaking.

Fears remain that the jihadi group is looking to inflict another attack on westerners in Tunisia, following the Bardo museum and Sousse massacre last year.

The government said that an army barracks, police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane came under attack in coordinated pre-dawn assaults.

Six members of the National Guard, two policemen, a customs official and a soldier died in the fighting, the defence and interior ministries said in a joint statement.

Six wounded militants were captured, the defence ministry said.

The government said that an army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane came under attack in coordinated pre-dawn assaults

Fears remain that the jihadi group is looking to inflict another attack on westerners in Tunisia, following the Bardo museum and Sousse massacre last year

The youngest civilian victim killed in the deadly border attack is thought to have been just 12-years-old

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia

Hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead civilians.

An AFP correspondent reported that schools and offices in Ben Guerdane were closed and troops had taken up position on rooftops across the town.

Residents were being urged to stay indoors even before the 18:00 GMT start of the nighttime curfew.

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia, the correspondent said.

Authorities said ground and air patrols along the border would be reinforced.

Prime Minister Habib Essid ordered the defence and interior ministers to head to Ben Guerdane to oversee operations against the jihadists.

'Tunisia is on the path to victory against these groups,' government spokesman Khaled Chaouket said on state-owned Wataniya TV.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

At least four of the five militants killed in last week's firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in a bid to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said.

'Suspicious movements had been reported since the Sabratha strike and there was a feeling that ISIS was looking for revenge,' said Hamza Meddeb, a researcher for the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

Tunisia has built a 125-mile barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded

Tunisian special forces take position during clashes with militants in the southern town of Ben Guerdane

Handfuls of US, British and French special forces have already been reported in Libya

Police border posts were one of the targets by the jihadi group of fighters earlier this morning

'It was only a matter of time and there were strong clues that Tunisia would be a target,' he added, mentioning the possibility of 'sleeper cells' in the country.

Deadly attacks by ISIS on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 125-mile barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating.

February's US strike on the IS training camp outside Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the strike probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

Western governments have been increasingly alarmed by the growing IS presence in Libya just 300 kilometres (185 miles) across the Mediterranean from Europe and have made contingency plans for intensified military action.

Rival administrations which have vied for power since mid-2014 are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to facilitate the fight against the jihadists.

Handfuls of US, British and French special forces have already been reported in Libya.

A contingent of around 50 Italians is about to join them, Il Corriere della Sera reported last Thursday, citing a classified order signed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last month.

Britain announced last week that it was sending a team of around 20 soldiers to Tunisia to train troops patrolling the border with Libya.

Thirty Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse last June.

And last March, jihadist gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
A teenager has been found guilty of killing fellow pupil Bailey Gwynne (pictured) at school in an argument over biscuits

A teenager has been found guilty of killing fellow pupil Bailey Gwynne at school in an argument over biscuits.

The stabbing, committed with a knife bought on Amazon, happened at Cults Academy in Aberdeen, Scotland, in October last year.

Today, a jury at the High Court in Aberdeen found the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty of culpable homicide.

The killer - who had Googled 'illegal knives UK' ahead of the death - has been cleared of the murder charge, which he had denied.

It took the jury one hour and 40 minutes to return their majority verdict.

People cried as the verdict was delivered and the court was told that two families had been destroyed by the horrific incident.

Bailey's mother, Kate Gwynne, looked heartbroken as she left the court today.

Judge Lady Stacey said the attacker would be held in custody and deferred sentence to April 1 at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Over the course of the five-day trial it emerged that:

Bailey refused to give the attacker a biscuit, saying 'you don't want to get any fatter'

The teenager responded with a joke about Bailey's mother, before the pair started grappling

Attacker pulled a knife, he had bought from Amazon, out of his pocket and stabbed Bailey to death

The killer had made Google searches for 'illegal knives UK', 'Aberdeen stabbings deaths per 1,000' and 'knife merchant' in the lead up to the tragedy

This afternoon, Detective Superintendent David McLaren, lead officer for the north area of Police Scotland's major investigation team, thanked the pupils and staff at Cults Academy who tried to save Bailey.

The prison van, containing the teenager found guilty of killing Bailey Gwynne, leaving the High Court in Aberdeen

The mother of Bailey Gwynne, Kate Gwynne, is seen leaving the High Court in Aberdeen

The Scottish media look on as the prison van, containing Bailey Gwynne's killer, leaves the court in Aberdeen

He said: 'The death of Bailey Gwynne has had a massive impact on his family, friends, fellow pupils and staff at Cults Academy.

'The details of the case have caused shock within the local community and further afield across the whole of the country.

'I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those pupils and teachers who tried their very best to save Bailey's life but, as we have heard during the trial, there was nothing anyone could have done to save him.

'Those teachers and pupils have shown incredible strength over the last week whilst giving evidence during the trial.

'Finally, I'd like to pay tribute to Bailey's family. Today won't bring their son back, the pain of not having Bailey around will last for a very long time.

The jury at the High Court in Aberdeen took an hour and 40 minutes to find him guilty of culpable homicide. Pictured is Kate Gwynne, Bailey's mother, leaving court this afternoon

Cults Academy headteacher Anna Muirhead is pictured leaving the High Court in Aberdeen this afternoon

'Throughout their ordeal they have conducted themselves with the utmost dignity and are a credit to themselves as a family.'

HOW DID THE ARGUMENT BEGIN? Police were told Bailey had refused to give another boy a biscuit, joking with him that it was 'because you don't want to get any fatter'. The accused responded to that by saying: 'Just like your mum', which led to a verbal exchange of insults. Bailey is said to have hit the accused against a wall with his head in a head lock. The 16-year-old is then said to have reached into a pocket and 'thrust' an object into Bailey's chest. Advertisement

Outside court Gayle Gorman, director of education and childrens' services at Aberdeen City Council, said: 'There are no words which can sum up for us, the emotional impact of what happened last year, and it is still hard to make any sense of Bailey's death.

'We should remember that at the heart of this were two children and there can be no greater tragedy than the untimely death of a young person.

'I would like to pay tribute to head teacher Anna Muirhead and all her staff. I'd also like to thank all the pupils involved, especially those who were called to the High Court in Aberdeen last week.

'Bailey Gwynne should never have died in this way. He was a 16-year-old boy with his whole life in front of him. We will not forget him.

'The trial may have ended but for those involved, the process of moving forward now begins. We will try and do that, while all the time, remembering Bailey as one of us.'

Bailey Gwynne, pictured, was stabbed during his lunch break at Cults Academy, Aberdeen, in October 2015

This afternoon, Detective Superintendent David McLaren (pictured), lead officer for the north area of Police Scotland's major investigation team, thanked the pupils and staff at Cults Academy who tried to save Bailey

The 16-year-old - who cannot be named for legal reasons - denied murdering Bailey Gwynne in a fight over biscuits at Cults Academy (pictured), Aberdeen, on October 28 last year

On the afternoon of October 28 last year, an argument broke out between the two schoolchildren and ended with 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne stabbed in the chest.

The blade pierced his heart and led to a 'catastrophic' loss of blood despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.

He was pronounced dead at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the 16-year-old attacker was taken into custody.

A statement he provided to police in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing was read out to the city's High Court last week.

It detailed the exchange between the two boys prior to the fatal blow being delivered.

The teen told officers Bailey had refused to give another boy a biscuit, joking with him that it was 'because you don't want to get any fatter'.

Photo issued by Crown Office in Scotland of the black bin where a knife with an 8.5cm blade was recovered

The schoolboy was stabbed during a fight with the accused at Cults Academy, Aberdeen, pictured

The accused responded to that by saying: 'Just like your mum', which led to a verbal exchange of insults.

Bailey is said to have hit the accused against a wall with his head in a head lock. The 16-year-old is then said to have reached into a pocket and 'thrust' an object into Bailey's chest.

His statement continued: 'He looked angry. I pulled out the knife and opened it up to scare him off. I tried to scare him away again and then he got in the way and I stabbed him.'

After plunging the weapon, which was bought on Amazon, into his classmate's chest, he said blood began 'spewing out'.

He added: 'I tried to take his blazer off and stop the bleeding.'

A teacher then split the two apart, noted the blood on Bailey's shirt and started marching both to the office.

Around 50 metres up the main corridor of the school Bailey collapsed.

Trial: Headteacher Anna Muirhead, pictured left last week, told the court of the battle to save Bailey. Pictured right, Advocate depute Alex Prentice, prosecuting, outside the High Court in Aberdeen

The first responder from the Scottish Ambulance Service described Bailey as 'probably the palest person I've ever seen' and said he had suffered 'catastrophic blood loss' from a two centimetre puncture wound on his chest.

Bailey's family wept in court as they heard how the teenager's heart stopped just a few minutes later as an ambulance arrived to rush the youth to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

The court were also told about internet searches found on the laptop belonging to the accused.

Forensic computer analyst Charles Bruce found Google searches including for 'what's the difference between a homicide and a murder' on the attacker's laptop

The computer had been used to find answers for questions such as 'what's the difference between a homicide and a murder'.

Police forensic computer analyst Charles Bruce also discovered Google searches had been made for 'illegal knives UK', 'Aberdeen stabbings deaths per 1,000' and 'knife merchant' in the lead up to the tragedy.

In a joint minute read out to the court at the beginning of the trial, the jury heard that it was agreed that Bailey was struck in the body with a knife by the accused, which caused his death.

The accused was also said to have had knifes or 'bladed instruments' as well as two knuckledusters at the school 'without reasonable excuse or lawful authority' between August 2013 and October last year.

The trial heard evidence from PC Christopher Masson, who was one of the first police officers to arrive at the school following the incident.

After seeing that Bailey was receiving medical attention, a staff member led PC Masson to the accused who was in the deputy headteacher's office.

The police constable told the jury that the accused was 'quite distressed' when his sergeant handcuffed him for safety.

As the officer's notes were read out to the court, the accused broke down in tears in the dock.

PC Masson said: 'He [the accused] said: 'Is he dead? It was just a moment of anger.'

'It was a voluntary comment.'

PC Masson said the accused then told him that there was a knife in a bin near the school canteen and offered to show him it.

The court heard previously that a folding knife was later recovered by scene of crime officers from a nearby bin.

Three people left bouquets of flowers outside the school, which will remain closed for a few days after the incident

Floral tributes and messages lined the gates of Cults Academy following the incident

Deputy headteacher David Strang, who had been asked to keep the accused in his office following the fight, also gave evidence.

He told the court how the boy 'sobbed a bit' then composed himself before asking for a tissue to wipe blood off his hands.

The 50-year-old teacher added: 'When he came over to put the tissue in the bin he said 'I better give you this' and at that point handed over a knuckleduster.'

Headteacher Anna Muirhead told the court that on her way to see Bailey she saw the accused sitting 'curled up' in the reception area with a teacher.

She said: 'He was distraught or upset. I questioned what was going on. He indicated 'that was me, that was my fault''.'

Ms Muirhead then saw Bailey lying underneath a screen used for school announcements with members of staff around him. She also said she could see blood.

'I knew immediately it was very, very serious,' she added. 'He was very, very pale.'

Hundreds of friends and fellow school pupils gathered to remember Bailey at the special church service the day after the attack

Around 400 of Bailey's friends and fellow school pupils gathered to remember him at Cults Parish Church

Social media was flooded with messages from friends of the teenager, who all expressed their shock at what happened.

FAMILY REMEMBER THEIR 'SPECIAL' BOY IN MOVING TRIBUTE TO BAILEY In the days after the horrific attack, Bailey's family released a statement through Police Scotland. It read: 'There are no words. Bailey is our beloved boy and our heart. Our hearts have gone with him. 'A special son, brother, grandson and friend - he never failed to make us smile (most of the time). He will always be our boy. 'We don't know what we will do without our junior 'man about the house'. 'We need time to look after each other and send our love to all those who care for Bailey.' Advertisement

Nearby churches opened in the evening to offer support to the community. A candlelit vigil was arranged for the following evening as pupils, staff and locals tried to come to terms with the 'terrible event'.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, speaking in the Scottish Parliament the day after the stabbing, also expressed her 'shock and sadness'.

She stressed such incidents were 'extremely rare in our schools' and pledged the Scottish Government would make sure that any lessons which needed to be learnt would be learnt.

She made the comments during an exchange with Kezia Dugdale at Holyrood, in which the Scottish Labour leader described the fatal incident as 'every parent's worst nightmare'.

It came as Bailey's family paid tribute to a 'beloved boy' who 'never failed to make us smile'.

They said: 'We don't know what we will do without our junior 'man about the house'.'

That evening, hundreds of people gathered to remember him at the informal vigil.

Rev Ewen Gilchrist, pictured, of the Church of Scotland Cults Parish, led the service and encouraged people to write a message on boards around the church

Cults Academy headteacher Anna Muirhead (centre) at the candlelight vigil at Cults Parish Church tonight

Mourners write on a board at a candlelight vigil at Cults Parish Church to pay their respects to Cults Academy pupil Bailey Gwynne, who was fatally stabbed at the Aberdeen secondary school.

A group of girls console each other as they lay flowers in memory of Bailey Gwynne outside the school gate

Rest In Peace, Bailey: Tributes were paid as classmates and friends of Bailey Gwynne went to the school to pay their respects

Messages left on boards around the church included 'heal the hole in our hearts' and 'you will be missed so badly, Bailey'.

One message dedicated to the teenager who had talked of his wish to join the Royal Marines, read simply 'soldier on soldier.'

Meanwhile, hundreds of floral tributes continued to be left at the school gates, which were viewed by Bailey's family in a private visit in the coming days.

In a statement released through police afterwards, they said: 'For all of you that were part of his life, however big or small, thank you for being there.'

As pupils returned to the school on the Monday for the first time since the incident the previous Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon, who was in the city for a meeting with police and council leaders, said the Scottish Government stood ready to provide any help needed in the weeks and months ahead.

One message read: 'Please look after him with you and care for all his friends and family'

Cults Academy headteacher Anna Muirhead views tributes left outside the school with pupils in October

'Bailey will never be forgotten but as the students return to Cults Academy today, I hope that they can begin to see a semblance of normality and begin the healing process,' she said.

'The response to this tragedy - from everyone in Aberdeen - has been truly remarkable and I hope that the community spirit and support we have seen can offer a small amount of light in the city at this difficult time.'

Emotions were high during the five-day trial which saw a teenage witness break down as he gave details of the fight and the accused himself started crying when the jury heard how he was handcuffed by police who attended the school.

Describing events after the stabbing to police, the accused said he told Depute Head David Strang: 'I know he's going to die, I'm going to prison.'

A PLACE OF EXCELLENCE WHERE PUPILS' SAFETY IS TOP PRIORITY By Scottish Daily Mail Reporter It is considered to be one of the best state schools in Scotland, so October's events at Cults Academy left the local community stunned. The academy is in the centre of the quiet Aberdeen suburb of Cults, near the banks of the River Dee, and recently topped an independent list for non-fee paying schools in Aberdeen. The hugely popular comprehensive has 1,050 children enrolled, making it one of the largest in the city. Ironically, it is also attached to the local police office. In 2009, staff and pupils moved into their state-of-the-art school building, which includes an interactive whiteboard in every classroom. Shortly afterwards, the decision was taken to move the local police office into the facility in an effort to save money. Now officers covering Hazlehead, Ashley, Queen's Cross and Lower Deeside are based a stone's throw from the playground. One woman, who did not want to be named, said everyone was shocked and all the parents were 'panicking' At the time, it was argued that having a police presence on site would be beneficial to the out-of-hours security of the new building. But on the night of the attack, nearby residents were in shock at what had unfolded earlier that day. One said: 'It's a super school. 'We're never bothered by the pupils. We never hear anything.' Another added: 'Cults was the place to live at one time. People moved to get into the schools. This is absolutely shocking.' One woman, whose children used to attend Cults Academy, said: 'This is a much desired school, both the primary and the secondary. It's a shock, there has never been anything like this  not that I know of. 'I am very surprised. Most of the children who go to the school are from very well-off families.' Commenting on the police office, she added: 'It is part of the school. It was built about five years ago.' The school prospectus states: 'We are very proud of our academic success, the high standard of pastoral care we provide for young people and the wide range of extracurricular activities we offer to pupils.' The prospectus also provides details of the schools Respect Policy. It continues: 'At Cults Academy we aim to provide, within a caring and co-operative atmosphere, a balanced and coherent range of interesting and structured educational experiences. 'If a pupil is being bullied, he or she will not be able to take advantage of the education which is being offered and will not feel part of a caring, supportive and safe community. 'Cults Academy does not tolerate any form of bullying. We believe all pupils and staff have a right to learn and work in a safe and caring environment. 'Nobody has the right to hurt other people by bullying them, kicking them, calling them names, spreading rumours about them or by doing anything else which is intended to be upsetting.' Advertisement

Aberdeen City Council is now to hold a review of Bailey's death to 'identify any lessons that can be learnt to inform future practice'.

Police Scotland, the Children's Reporter and NHS Grampian will also be involved in the review, which will be chaired by a soon-to-be appointed independent expert who will decide the reporting timescale and terms of reference.

A council spokesman said: 'Following the tragic death at Cults Academy in October 2015 and the conclusion of the trial in the High Court in Aberdeen today, the principal public agencies with an interest in the issues raised by the case announce their intention to commission an independent review.

'Given the issues raised by the case the agencies together wish to identify any lessons that can be learnt to inform future practice.

'In the immediate aftermath, the multi-agency partnership's priority was the care and support of those impacted by the incident.
The American Flag is flying at half-staff over the White House today, as the nation mourns the death of former first lady Nancy Reagan.

The wife of the late Ronald Reagan died of congestive heart failure at her home in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday.

On Monday, President Obama ordered that flags at federal buildings, embassies, military posts and naval vessels be lowered in Mrs Reagan's honor, until she is interred.

Mrs Reagan is set to be buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library later this week.

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Half staff: The U.S. flag is lowered to half staff above the White House in Washington on Monday in honor of Nancy Reagan. The former first lady passed away on Sunday

Mourning: Flags on federal buildings will remain at half-staff until Mrs Reagan is interred later this week, next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

President Obama and his first lady, Michelle, issued a statement following the death of Mrs Reagan on Sunday, saying she helped prepare them for life at the White House.

A statement from the couple said: 'Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House.

'She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice.

'Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives.'
A dog who was stranded on an ice lake for three days has been saved in a dramatic rescue mission that was caught on video.

Owner Charelle Meriweather, from Utah, described how her ten-year-old pet had escaped from her cousin's yard after someone had intentionally opened the gate last week.

After Meriweather had learned of the escape she said she got a call the next day from her cousin to say that her dog - known as Sadie - had been spotted stranded on ice on Deer Creek Reservoir, Wasatch County.

Sadie the dog was stranded on an ice lake for three days before being saved in a dramatic rescue mission that was caught on video (left and right)

She told Fox 13: 'My brother grabbed a canoe right away and went after her, but every time he got close, she would run away'.

Her brother had also attempted the rescue the following day but was unsuccessful.

She added: 'Watching [him] on the ice, I started tearing up because I was thinking either he's going to go through the ice and die or I'm going to lose my dog.'

But when police warned her that the ice was starting to melt and that Sadie would soon run out of solid ground to stand on, Merriweather contacted Wasatch County Sheriff's office to help.

Wasatch County deputies then carried out the dramatic rescue on the third day of Sadie's ordeal, using an air rescue boat.

The dog was spotted stranded on ice on Deer Creek Reservoir, Wasatch County (pictured)

After two failed attempts by the owner's brother, Wasatch County deputies sent out a rescue boat and were able to save the terrified dog after it had plunged through the ice into freezing water

The dramatic recovery was captured on video and shows the boat draw up next to the terrified mut, who by this time had plunged into the freezing water and was scrambling to get out.

The sheriff manages to grab hold of Sadie's collar and yanks her out of the water. Then, with the help of a second sheriff , pulls the soaking dog off the ice and into the boat.

Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office, who was part of the rescue mission, told the Daily Herald:'We believe there were a couple of dead deer on the ice and she was nibbling on the deer.'

But added that Sadie was clearly really hungry and tired and 'ready to go home'.

Meanwhile, owner Merriweather is elated to have her dog home safe and dry.

She told Fox: 'I keep checking on her every five minutes to make sure she's still there. I am just glad to have her back.'
Austrians fear parts of Vienna are becoming no-go areas after a father was attacked by a 'Sharia patrol' when he told them to stop threatening his wife and daughter for not being correctly dressed.

As various factions of migrants stake claims to territory in the city, it has been reported that the self-styled Sharia patrols have been visiting clubs and bars in the Millennium City area to make sure Chechen women were properly dressed and acting appropriately.

However, when one Austrian man tried to step in to stop the patrol from hassling his Chechen wife and daughter, he ended up being hospitalised.

Austrians fear parts of Vienna are becoming no-go areas after a father was attacked by a 'Sharia patrol' when he told them to stop threatening his wife and daughter for not being correctly dressed

It came as violence escalated across Vienna at the weekend, with more than 50 young men from the Afghan and Chechen communities clashing in the city centre.

The gang had attacked each other with planks of wood, iron bars and knives. Two of those injured are in intensive care and their condition is described as critical.

Police say that the row - which involved around 40 people from Afghanistan attacking 10 from Chechnya - had centred around a social media row on Facebook.

Six of the alleged asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been arrested. The rest have escaped.

Local couple Thomas and Manuela Sonntagfruh, standing on the bloodstained ground after the carnage at the weekend, said: 'It is quite common that young people might argue, but something like this just isn't normal.'

The latest incident follows on from mass punch-ups not only in other parts of Vienna, but also in the cities of Linz, Graz, Sankt Polten and in Salzburg.

The latest incident follows on from mass punch-ups not only in other parts of Vienna, but also in the cities of Linz, Graz, Sankt Polten and in Salzburg. Pictured are police patrolling Austria's border near Speilfeld

It comes as the youths from Chechnya, most of them linked in with various martial arts clubs, attempted to establish territories under their control, said police quoted in local daily Kurier.

Another local who had witnessed the weekend attack in Vienna was Renate Hofstatter, who said: 'Many residents around here are really worried. Personally I'm really worried if I have to go out on my own.'

Another added: 'I am a caretaker in the local block of flats, and most of the old people don't go out at night any longer.'

Meanwhile, last month it was reported how police needed to massively increase their presence in Graz train station in order to chase out bands of asylum seekers that had been rejected from Germany, and had started gathering there.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have tried to reach destinations like Germany, Austria or the countries of Scandinavia

It comes as Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans by migrants in a move backed by Austria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.
Charges have been thrown out against two young men accused of stabbing to death Ahmed Ahmed (pictured) following the shock joint enterprise ruling

The first defendants in a murder trial have walked free following the shock ruling that joint enterprise law has been wrongly interpreted for 30 years.

Last month, the Supreme Court - Britain's highest court - ruled the law had been wrongly interpreted since 1984 over co-defendants in murder cases who did not strike the killer blow.

The court granted Ameen Jogee, 24, the right to appeal his conviction for murdering policeman Paul Fyfe, 47, alongside his friend Mohammed Hirsi in 2011.

The same day, Thursday February 18, defence lawyers at the Old Bailey applied for charges to be thrown out in the case of two young men accused of stabbing to death 24-year-old Ahmed Ahmed in Plumstead.

The bid by Khalid Hashi, 23, and Hamza Dodi, 24, was unopposed by the Crown Prosecution Service which took into account the Ameen Jogee ruling immediately after it was given.

The following day, Judge Paul Worsley ruled that the pair had no case to answer and they were formally acquitted in front of the jury on Monday February 22.

The fallout from the landmark Jogee ruling could not be reported until the conclusion of the Old Bailey trial of other co-defendants involved in the Plumstead murder.

Today, Osman Musa Mohamed, 20, was convicted of Mr Ahmed's murder. He has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.

Hussein Roble, 18, from the Woolwich area of south London, was cleared of the same charge.

The court had heard how Mr Ahmed was knifed repeatedly in the leg when he walked out of the block of flats where he lived in Plumstead on August 10 last year.

Last month, the Supreme Court - Britain's highest court - ruled the joint enterprise law had been wrongly interpreted since 1984 over co-defendants in murder cases who did not strike the killer blow

The court heard that the killers had lain in wait outside, having forced Mr Ahmed's friend Monzir Mohamed to go to the door.

The court heard how Mr Ahmed was seen by a witness to come downstairs and push the door release button as if he was going outside to speak to them.

But instead, the men rushed in and attacked him. Three of the mob wrestled him to the ground while another attacked him with a kitchen knife, while others swarmed around.

Dodi and Hashi were said to have been 'secondary parties' when Mr Ahmed, 24. was stabbed to death by a gang of young men as he tried to exit the block of flats where he lived with his mother and sister.

Mr Ahmed was found unconscious in the communal entrance of Turton House in Barnfield Road after he was repeatedly stabbed in his left thigh.

He was rushed to hospital, but had already suffered 'catastrophic blood loss' and was pronounced dead just after 8pm.

WHAT IS JOINT ENTERPRISE? Joint enterprise law was used to convict David Norris and Gary Dobson of killing black teenager Stephen Lawrence. In another well-known case three teenagers, Adam Swellings, Stephen Sorton and Jordan Cunliffe were jailed for life in January 2008 for the murder of Garry Newlove. Mr Newlove was attacked in front of his daughters in August 2007 after he confronted a group outside his house in Warrington, Cheshire. The law allows for several people to be convicted of the same offence, even if they played different roles. It can be used to prosecute all crimes but has recently been mainly used in murder cases. The law means that a gang involved in a fatal attack, who could be standing by encouraging others, can be convicted of murder even if they do not land the fatal blow or kick. Between 2005 and 2013 there were 4,590 prosecutions for murder with two or more defendants, according to a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. In the same period, 1,853 people were prosecuted for homicides when the charge involved four or more defendants Prosecutors say the law is only used for people who participate in a crime while others have raised concerns about the danger of injustice. Advertisement

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors that the victim had 'absolutely no idea' what was about to happen to him. It was unclear whether the killer switched their target from another man to Mr Ahmed.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: 'The CPS carefully considered the recent Supreme Court judgment (R v Jogee, Ruddock v R) and its impact on this case.

'In light of this and the evidence given during the trial it was determined that there were no grounds to oppose submissions of no case to answer for these two defendants.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, lawyers predicted that thousands of prisoners would seek legal advice on appealing against their convictions.

However, the effects were felt straight away in live criminal cases going through the Crown Courts.

During an unrelated hearing at the Old Bailey, a defence lawyer indicated she was considering an application to dismiss the case against another murder accused in light of the Jogee ruling before it reached trial later this year.

Justices had said the interpretation of part of the law relating to joint enterprise - which can result in people being convicted of assault or murder even if they did not strike the blow - had taken a 'new turn' in the mid-1980s.

Senior judges decided in 1984 that a 'secondary party' would be guilty of murder if he or she 'foresaw' the possibility that the 'principal' might act with intent to cause death or serious harm

The Supreme Court said that development was wrong. Justices said it was not right that someone should be guilty merely because they foresaw that a co-accused might commit a crime.
This is the moment a female tourist dragged a swan from a lake in Macedonia in order to pose up for a photograph, before leaving it to die on the beach.

The woman, reportedly from Bulgaria, grabbed the unsuspecting swan by the wing and dragged it onto the pebble-strewn shoreline of Lake Ohrid, south-western Macedonia.

When the unidentified tourist had gotten her selfie snap, she abandoned the swan, which later died on the beach of Lake Ohrid, local media reports.

All for the selfie: The female tourist is seen smiling for the camera as she drags the swan from the lake

Shocked witnesses have described how the swan did not react to the woman walking up to it, as they are used to the presence of tourists visiting the town of Ohrid, which shares the lake's name.

Photographs show the woman dressed in jeans and a black coat, grabing the swan by the wing and dragging it out of the water.

Despite the visibly distressed swan clearly fighting to be freed, the unidentified woman is smiling for the camera.

Witnesses said the swan 'remained motionless on the beach after the encounter', and later died, Macedonia Online reports.

The incident was reported in Macedonian news less than two weeks after the shocking incident in where a baby dolphin died in Argentina, while beach-goers passed it around for selfies.

Horrific: Photos show the woman, reportedly from Bulgaria, grabbing the unsuspecting swan by the wing and dragging it onto the pebble-strewn shoreline of Lake Ohrid, southwestern Macedonia

Cruel: The brazen tourists then left the swan 'motionless' on the shores of Lake Ohrid

The baby La Plata dolphin was found by a group of tourists in the Argentine beach resort of Santa Teresita in the north-eastern Buenos Aires Province.

Instead of helping the dolphin back into the sea, dozens of people crowded round to look at the squirming calf as they strained to touch it, and have their photos taken with it.

The La Plata dolphin - which can live to be twenty years old - later died of suspected dehydration after being paraded around like a trophy and stroked by the tourists.
The man shot his spouse of 37 years in the temple, left a bouquet of flowers by her side and then went to police to turn himself in

in 2009, and by 2014 her health had deteriorated to such an extent she could not recognize Jerry

Canfield told police he and JoAnn had made a pact that he would end her life if an illness left her in constant pain

As part of plea deal, he will be eligible for early release next March

Mercy killing: Jerry Canfield, 73, has been sentenced to three years in the 2014 mercy killing of his wife of 37 years, JoAnn

By all accounts, 73-year-old Jerry Canfield deeply loved his ailing wife of nearly 40 years, JoAnn, and if he is to be believed, it was love that drove him one fall morning in 2014 to cover her face with a pillow and shoot her in the head.

On January 14, a judge sentenced Mr Canfield, of Alameda, to three years in prison in the killing of his dementia-stricken spouse as part of a plea deal with the prosecution.

Under the agreement, Canfield in November pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, and in return he was given credit for time served in Santa Rita Jail. The widower will become eligible for early release next March, reported the Alameda Sun.

Canfield was initially charged with murder after he walked into a police station on the morning of October 26, 2014, and confessed to killing his beloved wife by shooting her in the temple in order to end her suffering.

According to Canfield's probation report, the septuagenarian told police the gun used in the mercy killing was in his nightstand at home, next to his wife's lifeless body.

Officers who responded to the couple's residence at 2261 Clinton Avenue in Alameda that afternoon found JoAnn Canfield lying dead in her bed, with a stuffed gorilla on her chest and two birthday cards her husband had given her on the nightstand.

A bouquet of roses rested beside the woman's body.

The 73-year-old woman had developed dementia and she was rapidly deteriorating.

A neighbor said Jerry Canfield once told him that his wife was seeing little demons that were chasing her around the house, causing her to trip and fall often.

Unusual crime scene: Joann Canfield was found dead from a gunshot wound in her bed, flanked by a dozen red roses, a stuffed animal and birthday cards left there by her husband

Love story: Neighbors of the couple in Alameda, California, said Jerry and JoAnn loved one another deeply

A month before JoAnn's killing, Mr Canfield was forced to put her in a nursing home, but his neighbor said he would spend every waking moment by her side.

On October 25, a day before the shooting, the husband brought JoAnn Canfield back home. Local residents recalled seeing the woman looking disoriented and unable to recognize anyone.

Following his arrest, Jerry Canfield told investigators he and JoAnn, who had been married for 37 years, had previously agreed he would end her life if an illness left her in a state of constant pain.

'It's the ultimate love,' Lisa Reed, JoAnn's daughter from a previous marriage, told San Jose Mercury News. 'He gave his life up to go to jail to do this.'

However, in her victim impact statement, which was read aloud on her behalf during Jerry Canfield's sentencing, Ms Reed said the way he ended her mother's life left her so distraught she had to seek therapy.

Canfield, who confessed and turned himself in after the killing, told police he had no regrets because he did what his wife wanted him to do

Ms Reed offered new details about the relationship between her mother and stepfather, whom she called a 'gentle giant,' owing to his towering 6-foot-7 frame.

The daughter said JoAnn and Jerry began dating in 1976 and tied the knot a decade later. It was Canfield's third marriage. Talking to police after his arrest, he described being married to JoAnn as heaven.

Ms Canfield worked for many years as a furniture mover and truck driver, while JoAnn earned a living as a waitress.

A few years ago, JoAnn and Jerry traveled to Colorado to spend time with her grandmother, who was hospitalized with Alzheimers.

The husband told investigators the visit was an eye-opening experience for his wife, who later told him that if she were to ever contract the disease, she wanted him to end her life.

They never discussed which method they would use to kill each other. But they agreed to do it if either suffered too greatly due to poor health, an investigator wrote.

Around 2009, like her mother and grandmother before her, JoAnn was diagnosed with Alzheimer.

By 2014, her health had declined to a point where her husband, who himself was on disability, could no longer care for her.

Canfield was forced to put her in an elder care facility, but she repeatedly complained of poor treatment and begged him to take her home.

On October 25, 2014, he told staff at the nursing home he was taking his wife to visit her daughter. Instead, he drove her home and gave her two dozen sleeping pills, telling her, 'I'm going to give you your meds so you can be with your mother.'

But JoAnn Canfield woke up the next morning and began hallucinating. She no longer appeared to recognize her husband.

Realizing that he did not have enough sleeping pills to end her life, Jerry Canfield then decided to shoot her with her own gun.
Around 150 members of terror group Al-Shabaab have been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia as they were preparing to launch an attack, Pentagon chiefs confirmed.

American drones and manned aircraft dropped bombs and launched Hellfire missiles on the Raso Camp, an Al-Shabaab training facility 120 miles north of the Somalian capital Mogadishu.

Defense officials said the group had been planning a 'large-scale attack' for some time but appeared to be nearing the final stages of preparation, and so ordered the strike.

It is not yet known whether any senior figures within the terror group were among those killed in the strike, which took place overnight on Sunday.

Around 150 members of terrorist group Al-Shabaab have been killed after American drones and manned aircraft launched Hellfire missiles and dropped bombs on a training camp in Somalia (file image)

Pentagon officials said they had been watching an Al-Shabaab training camp around 120 miles north of the capital Mogadishu for several weeks before deciding to launch the strike

Officials estimated that as many as 200 fighters had been at the camp, including a number of trainers. There were no known civilian casualties. Al-Shabaab is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters in total.

Mohamed Ali Gele, one of the group's most senior leaders, was not among those killed after being captured in the country's south just hours earlier.

African union troops operating in war-torn Somalia announced they had captured Gele earlier today in the tiny village of Qoryoley.

Commander Ahmed Gabow Bule said: 'The joint forces captured Mohamed Ali Gele, Shabaabs Commander for Qoyoley, Janale towns and many other villages in the region.

'We were looking for him for a period of time. We arrested him in a security operation which was conducted in the region.

'The police are questioning him; we will transfer him to the central government of Somalia after the investigation. This was a very successful operation that resulted in the arrest of one of the senior Al-Shabaab commanders.'

Formed in 2006, Al-Shabaab - which means 'the youth' in Arabic - regularly carries out attacks in the east of Africa, including in Somalia which is widely regarded as the world's most failed state.

The group's stated aim is to oust the Somali government in order to create a territory which can be ruled according to their strict interpretation of Sharia law. They are affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The first attack credited to the group was a car bombing in March 2007 against Ethiopian troops in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu which killed 73 people.

In their latest notable attack, Al-Shabaab attempted to kill a number of 'senior Western officials' on board a flight from Mogadishu to Djibouti with a laptop bomb.

Defense officials said the group had been planning a 'large-scale attack' for some time but appeared to be moving into the final stages of preparation, prompting the attack (file image)

Al-Shabaab was behind the recent bombing of a Daallo Airlines plane en route from Mogadishu to Djibouti, blowing a hole in the side of the aircraft (pictured)

The sophisticated device managed to make it through airport security before detonating on board the plane, officials said.

However, rather than destroying the aircraft as planned, the bomb instead blew a small hole in the side of the aircraft which caused the body of the dead attacker to get sucked out.

The main suspect is believed to be a Somali national known as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh. The bomber had been carefully instructed where to sit and how to trigger the deadly device.

Following the attack the plane was forced to come back into land at Mogadishu airport.

Earlier today a roadside bomb, believed to have been planted by the group, wounded two Somali soldiers and an African Union peacekeeper near the airport in Beledweyne.

The bomb was hidden in a 'paper bag', according to local security officials, who said it is not yet clear if the device was meant to end up on a plane.

Meanwhile the Australian Navy said it seized a huge shipment of weapons, including 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and 49 PKM machine guns that was bound for Somalia.

The haul was discovered hidden under nets on a fishing boat that was stopped off the coast of Oman, navy officials said.
Marco Pierre White's estranged wife Matilde Conejero, 51, (pictured today) is accused of kicking her youngest son repeatedly in the groin

Marco Pierre White's estranged wife kicked her youngest son repeatedly in the groin and grabbed him by the hair during a fight at their west London home, a court heard today.

Matilde Conejero, 51, also known as Mati, allegedly assaulted Marco Pierre White Junior, 20 then attacked her eldest Luciano, 22, when he stepped in.

The bust-up is said to have taken place inside an apartment block in Chiswick, west London, where they share adjoining flats.

Unemployed mother-of-three Conejero appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court, under the surname of White, where she denied two counts of causing actual bodily harm.

The court heard that police were called to an altercation at the flat on September 20, when Conejero's eldest son was 21. She was arrested on October 22.

Spanish-born Conejero first met celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, the youngest to be awarded three Michelin stars, while she was working as a bar manager in one of his restaurants, and the pair later married in 2000.

As well as their two sons, who are both models, the former couple have a 13-year-old daughter, Mirabelle, 13, who is named after the renowned restaurant the chef once owned.

Conejero, born in Majorca, filed to divorce the successful restaurateur in 2007 on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour, but the proceedings were withdrawn in 2011 after running up legal bills estimated to be 3million.

They separated again in October 2012.

Katrina Rennalls, prosecuting told the court: 'This is a case of domestic assault involving Mrs White and her two sons.

'The incident has taken place at the home address of Marco Pierre White [junior].

'I understand the two brothers were at the home address when they heard their mother shouting.'

She told the court Luciano had left the property, but later returned on his hearing his mother's cries went back into the flat.

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After banging at the front door, Conejero arrived and allegedly assaulted her two sons.

'In respect of Marco, it's alleged she grabbed his hair and kicked him in the groin several times and kept hold of his hair whilst dragging him out into the landing,' said Ms Rennalls.

'She started scratching him whilst still holding his hair.

Matilde Conejero, 51, also known as Mati, allegedly assaulted Marco Pierre White Junior, 20, (pictured) then attacked her eldest Luciano, 22, when he stepped in

Spanish-born Conejero first met celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, the youngest to be awarded three Michelin stars, while she was working as a bar manager in one of his restaurants, and the pair later married in 2000

'The other son has intervened to separate the two and he was assaulted also.'

Benson Ingram, defending, told the court Conejero alleges she was attacked by her sons first and reacted to protect herself.

'She was assaulted first,' said Mr Benson.

'The restaurant below the premises called the police in relation to the assault on the defendant.'

Only Luciano will give evidence in her trial, and he will do so from behind a screen, while magistrates at the trial will be shown images of the young men's injuries.

Luciano (pictured) will give evidence in his mother's trial, and he will do so from behind a screen, while magistrates at the trial will be shown images of the young men's injuries

It is alleged that Conejero grabbed son Marco's hair, and attacked Luciano when he tried to intervene

Luciano reported the incident to the police as did staff at the restaurant in the block.

Conejero spoke only to confirm her name and address and to say 'not guilty' to both counts, and was released on bail on the condition she does not contact her sons.

She was originally arrested on suspicion of causing actually bodily harm but the charges were reduced to assault by beating.

The summary-only offences will go to trial on May 17.
Millionaire lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone used her maiden speech in the House of Lords tonight to call on the Government to do more to support women from deprived backgrounds overcome barriers to start-up their own businesses.

She blasted the 'doom and gloom' attitude that she claimed prevented too many women from becoming entrepreneurs.

And Lady Mone, who grew up in a small flat in the east end of Glasgow, told ministers to 'think big, just like Graham Bell did' to improve communication and networking opportunities for women from poor neighbourhoods, which she said would help women overcome the biggest obstacle to self-employment: loneliness.

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Millionaire lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone (pictured) used her maiden speech in the House of Lords tonight to call on the Government to do more to support women from deprived backgrounds overcome barriers to start-up their own businesses

Lady Mone (pictured) set up the bra and underwear business Ultimo Brands in 1996 but left the company last summer to avoid conflict of interest with her political career and other business interests

David Cameron appointed Lady Mone as a government business tsar in August and days later the Prime Minister announced he was appointing her to the House of Lords.

On news of her appointment Lady Mone announced she was leaving the bra and underwear business Ultimo Brands that she founded in 1996 in order to avoid a conflict of interest with her political career and other business interests.

Mr Cameron gave her special responsibility for start-ups, putting her in charge of a review into boosting the number of business start-ups in poor neighbourhoods.

She used her first speech in the House of Lords - which came during a debate on women's representation and empowerment to mark International Women's Day - to set out the challenges women faced in starting up their own businesses.

She blasted the 'doom and gloom' attitude that she claimed prevented too many women from becoming entrepreneurs

Ms Mone was seen making her way out of Scott's Restaurant in London wearing a leg brace in the hours after making her speech. She broke her right foot falling down a manhole last month

Lady Mone highlighted stark figures that show just one in five small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are led by women.

'I found that the greatest obstacle barriers to start-ups are not just the lack of capital or just expertise but the loneliest and lack of confidence and clear access to support networks,' she told her fellow peers.

'These barriers are experienced mostly by women and although I feel it's the best it's ever been since I started my business, we still have a long way to go.

HISTORY MADE AS FIRST FEMALE BISHOP SPEAKS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS The Right Revd Rachel Treweek is pictured making her maiden speech in the House of Lords today History was made in the House of Lords tonight as the first female bishop to speak in the chamber. The Right Revd Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, chose to make her maiden speech during a debate on women's representation and empowerment in the UK to mark International Women's Day tomorrow. She insisted the day was 'not about gender competition but gender parity' and told peers that women and men, girls and boys, were of equal value and must be able to fulfill their full potential. Hitting out at the unequal treatment of women across the world, the Bishop voiced concern that over the past 10 years more young people in Gloucester reported not feeling confident about the future 'with girls feeling less confident than boys'. She said such findings were reflected in other national reports, adding: 'International Women's Day reminds us that we have much work yet to do together, to work for the flourishing and valuing of women worldwide as well as in the UK.' The Bishop said that in the early 1990s women could not be priests in the Church of England and when she went to theological college 'I never imagined that one day I might be called to be a bishop'. She said it had been a great surprise and 'somewhat daunting' to be appointed Bishop of Gloucester last year and 'extremely humbling' to become the first female diocesan bishop. The Bishop said: 'It does feel poignant to be participating in this particular debate as the first female Bishop to be introduced as a Lord Spiritual,' she told her fellow peers. 'My starting point was always the firm conviction that all people are created equal in the image of God.' She added: 'Women and men, boys and girls being of equal value and being enabled to fulfill their full potential. 'It's for this very reason that I have chosen to spend much of Holy Week in Eastwood Park Women's Prison and it is the reason that I am committed to supporting the work and campaigns of those who seek to engage with the unequal treatment across the world.' Advertisement

'Just 20 per cent of SMEs are led by women and as a working mum of three I know how hard it can be. Being an entrepreneur can be the loneliest job in the world and that's why being part of networks, support and mentoring is vital.'

By teaching entrepreneurial skills to unemployed women, the Government could not only tackle poverty but also contribute significantly to the economy.

'If we were to utilise all the women currently out of work in the UK, it is predicted we would see economic benefits of between 15 and 21billion per year,' Lady Mone said.

'That's more than the total value of all UK exports to China.'

Stating that inspiration was a key to moving forward, Lady Mone quoted lyrics from Whitney Houston's song The Greatest Love Of All, as she told fellow peers: 'I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.'

Lady Mone, who is dyslexic, admitted that her first speech in the upper chamber - which came five months after she first took her seat in the Lords - was 'harder than any business I have ever started' and told peers that she was worried she would not 'fit in' the Lords.

But she was not the only debutant in the Lords tonight, with the Right Revd Rachel Treweek making history by becoming the first female bishop to speak in the chamber.

She insisted International Women's Day was 'not about gender competition but gender parity' and told peers that women and men, girls and boys, were of equal value and must be able to fulfill their full potential.

Hitting out at the unequal treatment of women across the world, the Bishop voiced concern that over the past 10 years more young people in Gloucester reported not feeling confident about the future 'with girls feeling less confident than boys'.

She said such findings were reflected in other national reports, adding: 'International Women's Day reminds us that we have much work yet to do together, to work for the flourishing and valuing of women worldwide as well as in the UK.'

The Bishop said that in the early 1990s women could not be priests in the Church of England and when she went to theological college 'I never imagined that one day I might be called to be a bishop'.

She said it had been a great surprise and 'somewhat daunting' to be appointed Bishop of Gloucester last year and 'extremely humbling' to become the first female diocesan bishop.

The Bishop said: 'It does feel poignant to be participating in this particular debate as the first female Bishop to be introduced as a Lord Spiritual,' she told her fellow peers.

'My starting point was always the firm conviction that all people are created equal in the image of God.'

She added: 'Women and men, boys and girls being of equal value and being enabled to fulfill their full potential.

'It's for this very reason that I have chosen to spend much of Holy Week in Eastwood Park Women's Prison and it is the reason that I am committed to supporting the work and campaigns of those who seek to engage with the unequal treatment across the world.'

Lady Mone, speaking shortly after the Bishop of Gloucester, pledged to make Britain a country where everyone has an equal chance to succeed in businesses.

She said: 'This country is a fantastic place to start a business. However, far too often we focus on the doom and gloom when a positive mental attitude is needed for success.

'I want to see a future when women and girls  as well as men and boys  from even the most deprived areas, dream of starting their own business.

'And I'm committed to ensuring that each and every one of them has an equal chance to succeed. I want them to believe that it doesn't matter where you're from. If you have a dream, determination and a can-do attitude and access to support, you will succeed.'

The 44-year-old officially took her seat in the upper chamber in October, swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen dressed in the traditional red ermine robe

Earlier this month she published the 'Mone Review,' recommending that ministers set up a new initiative that encourages youngsters from deprived communities to set up their own businesses.

She pointed to figures showing that people in the most deprived areas in the UK are nearly 40 per cent less likely to be self-employed and wants enterprise skills to be given a much greater emphasis in schools.

The 44-year-old officially took her seat in the upper chamber in October, swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen dressed in the traditional red ermine robe.

On the eve of her first appearance in the upper chamber it emerged that the company she founded saw a huge slump in losses that totalled nearly 400,000 in 2014.

Lady Mone was one of 45 new peers announced by David Cameron in August. Over half of the new intake are Tories, prompting accusations of 'cronyism' from critics of the appointment process.

Lady Mone grew up in the east end of Glasgow and was a long-standing Labour supporter but withdrew her backing in 2009, vowing to leave the UK after Gordon Brown announced the top rate of tax was rising to 40 per cent.

Her defection to the Tories was seen as a major coup for Mr Cameron but his decision to appoint her as a government adviser and then a peer attracted criticism from fellow Scottish business leaders, who questioned what qualified her to spearhead a government review into small businesses.
A man who kicked his girlfriend in the stomach because she was hogging the duvet was handed just a fine after a magistrate claimed most couples row over the bed covers.

Richard Heath, 35, became furious when his girlfriend accused him of being greedy with the bed covers and pulled them off him.

When she wouldnt give them back, the father-of-one snapped, pulled her out of bed by her hair, and kicked her in the stomach.

David Heath, 35, was given a fine for kicking his girlfriend in the stomach after a row over a duvet (neither pictured, file photo)

Sentencing, chairman magistrate Stewart Cockburn scolded Mr Heath for his vicious reaction  but added that bickering over bed sheets was all too common in their hometown.

At Macclesfield Magistrates Court, he said: An offence like this is quite serious as its a domestic situation. If you go out in Macclesfield, 99.9 per cent of couples argue about bed covers.

But most people dont react in the same way and you need to think about what youll do in the future.

Research has revealed that the average couple bicker in the bedroom 167 times a year  with hogging the duvet the most likely annoyance.

Last year, a court heard how a 76-year-old man tried to stab his wife to death when he woke with cold feet because she had stolen the bed sheets off him.

Mr heath - who lives with his mother in a 120,000 house in Macclesfield - originally denied assault but changed his plea to guilty on the day a trial was due to take place.

He does not have a criminal history of violence and magistrates gave him a 12 month community order with 60 hours unpaid work.

He was also issued with 200 court costs and a 60 victim surcharge and banned him from contacting his partner.

The court heard how Mr Heath was shocked to learn that his girlfriend of 18 months and mother of his baby wanted the restraining order to be enforced.

Prosecutor Kate Marchuk said: The couple retired to bed and had a dispute over him having all of the bed clothes. She pulled the covers off and he pulled them back.

Then he pinned her down and bruised her upper arms. He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her out of bed.

He was shaking her and kicking her in the stomach. She phoned her brother and police were called.

The defendant said there had been a disagreement and they had a struggle but that he didnt pull her hair and drag her out of bed.

Sentencing at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court (pictured), chairman magistrate Stewart Cockburn scolded Mr Heath for his vicious reaction  but added that bickering over bed sheets was all too common in their town

He also denies kicking her, saying he put his leg up as she walked towards him.

She added: The defendant and complainant have been in a relationship for one half years with a young child.

She says the relationship has been strained but there has been no violence previously.

Heath is now under a restraining order not to go to the property but his solicitor Taryn Craddock said her client was stunned to hear she did not want him back at their home and that the order was being enforced.

Ms Craddock, defending, added: He offers no excuse for his behaviour and is remorseful. Hes expected to return to the family home after the court proceedings.

Ive never seen a statement from the complainant asking for a restraining order.

In 2012, a survey of 2000 people by Premier Inn found ten per cent of couples argued over sleeping arrangements at least twice a week.

It found the most likely complaint was yanking the duvet off each other during the night, while snoring came in second place and being too hot was third.
Two NatWest managers who used fake customer profiles and authorised business loans to defraud the high street bank of 500,000 in an elaborate scam have been jailed.

Former manager Anzar Hussain, 43, of Bradford and 10 co-conspirators were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court today for offences including conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

Hussain worked alongside 'banking buddy' James Clegg, 34, at the branch in Bradford city centre, West Yorkshire.

The sophisticated fraud involved the authorisation of bogus business loans by willing conspirators and the use of stolen identities of innocent people.

Two NatWest managers used fake customer profiles and authorised business loans to defraud the high street bank of 500,000 in an elaborate scam. Former manager Anzar Hussain (left) and 'banking buddy' James Clegg (right) have been jailed

The court heard that Clegg processed 14 fraudulent business loans totalling 350,000 and created six more customer profiles which could have cost the bank another 150,000 if they had been successful.

In total the complicated fraud cost the bank around 290,000.

The court was told that Hussain played a 'pivotal role' while Clegg - a heavy cannabis user - did his bidding.

The scam began in 2010 when Hussain and his Clegg began to authorise and process non-existent business loans.

These loans were then credited to the accounts of the co-defendants who were outside of the banking sector.

Cash was later taken out of the various accounts through a variety of means including telephone banking.

Significant amounts of the cash was further laundered by Anzar Hussain, Imran Mirza and Amber Hussain who used stolen cheques to pay the funds into bank accounts held by a number of other high street banks.

The two former managers, alongside the other conspirators, were sentenced for the crime today.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed Hussain for a total of six years and three months for offences of conspiracy to defraud and obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

Brothers Arfan Shah (right), 37, of Bradford, and Imran Shah, 39, (left) of Shipley, West Yorkshire, received jail terms of four years and five years respectively for their roles in providing documentation, correspondence addresses and companies to launder the cash

The judge noted that at the time of the offending in 2010 Hussain and his family enjoyed a 'very comfortable' standard of living due to his position at the bank and the only conclusion to draw was that his crimes were motivated by greed.

Judge Rose said Hussain had used Clegg as a 'shield' by getting his colleague to complete the loan applications in case the fraud plot came unstuck.

Clegg, who had no previous convictions, was jailed for four years for his role in the scam.

Judge Rose said the case was an illustration of how bank security could be significantly undermined from the inside by determined and intelligent employees motivated by greed.

Chris Smith, prosecuting, said 25,000 figure was used for each bogus business loan because that was the maximum amount which could be authorised by Hussain and Clegg at a local level.

'These were loans being sought in the identities of genuine people,' said Mr Smith.

'In many cases identities were stolen and the conspirators, in our submission, gave no thought as to the consequences that would befall those people.

'Significant inconvenience was caused to people trying to unpick the loans obtained (in their names).'

Hussain worked alongside 'banking buddy' James Clegg, 34, at the NatWest branch in Bradford city centre

The trial concludes a 22-month inquiry, involving thousands of pages of documentary evidence and four separate trials.

The court heard that some people were arrested and interviewed about the loans while others were pursued by debt recovery companies.

Judge Rose highlighted the impact on some of the innocent people caught up in the scam including a man with a learning disability who had endured the 'dreadful ordeal' being arrested and interviewed.

Choudhary Zeb, 40, of Bradford, also played a central role in the conspiracy, but he was given a reduced prison sentence of 18 months after he admitted his involvement

Another man whose identity was used in the scam raised his concern at the bank, but had the misfortune to be seen by Hussain and Clegg.

'Unsurprisingly they were entirely unhelpful in rectifying the situation,' noted Judge Rose.

The judge said Clegg, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was a man with weaknesses, in particular his use of cannabis, and he accepted that Hussain, of Bradford, had embroiled him in the crime.

The other defendants being sentenced were brothers Arfan Shah, 37, of Bradford, and Imran Shah, 39, of Shipley, West Yorkshire, received jail terms of four years and five years respectively for their roles in providing documentation, correspondence addresses and companies to launder the cash.

Choudhary Zeb, 40, of Bradford, also played a central role in the conspiracy, but he was given a reduced prison sentence of 18 months after he admitted his involvement and gave evidence during the trial of his co-accused.

Sarvjit Singh, 52, and his 33-year-old wife Jaswinder Kaur, both of Bradford, allowed their details to be used in fraudulent loan applications.

Singh had his six-month jail term suspended for two years and he was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work for the community. His wife was made the subject of a 12-month community order with 100 hours unpaid work.

Liaquat Mahmood, 53, of Bradford, was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work after he was involved in a separate NatWest fraud with Hussain.

Imran Mirza, 35, of Bradford, was jailed for 15 months after he was involved in the laundering of money obtained using stolen cheques.

Amber Hussain, 26, of of Bradford, was given a two-year community order and told do 180 hours unpaid work for a similar offence relating to one stolen cheque.

Shahid Iqbal, 42, of Bury, Greater Manchester, was given a two-year community order with 200 hours unpaid work for his involvement with one of the bogus loans.

The court heard how the complex police investigation was assisted back in April 2012 when a woman found a bin-liner containing dumped banking documents in her wheelie bin.

Prosecutor Chris Smith described the find as 'a treasure trove of evidence' and Judge Jonathan Rose said the woman who handed over the bin liner was to be applauded for her action.

At the conclusion of the case Judge Rose commended the work of Detective Constable Christopher Hargreaves who had been responsible for much of the complex investigation work.

Speaking after the case, Ramona Senior, head of West Yorkshire Police's Economic Crime Unit, said: 'The sentencing of these 11 persons today represents the end of a significant and long running operation to unpick a sophisticated scam organised by Anzar Hussain and James Clegg in which they and co-conspirators stole hundreds of thousands of pounds.

'Their actions represent an enormous abuse of the trust placed in them by their employers and they richly deserve the sentences given to them today.

'Anzar Hussain and James Clegg utterly failed to meet the standards of honesty and integrity we have a right to expect from persons who work in our banks and their co-conspirators are equally complicit in this fraud.

'Throughout the investigation officers from the ECU worked very closely with fraud investigators from within the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, who provided valuable assistance to the Police.'
Two new polls out of Michigan today reserve the best news for Donald Trump, who consistently leads the pack, and good news for Ohio Gov. John Kasich too, who is neck-and-neck with Ted Cruz.

In a Monmouth University poll, Trump leads with 36 percent support from Republican voters in the state, which votes tomorrow, followed by Cruz with 23 percent and Kasich with 21 percent.

It's bad news all around for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who's in last place in the Monmouth survey with just 13 percent support. In the other survey, he's down to single digits.

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John Kasich has come from behind in Michigan and is now just about tied for second place with Sen. Ted Cruz in two new polls coming out of the Wolverine State today

Today's Monmouth University poll out of Michigan shows John Kasich surging and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio falling behind

While John Kasich is surging, Donald Trump still remains on top - though Kasich's chief strategist suggested that Michigan 'breaks late.' 'The undecided voters are breaking our way,' he said

Detroit's local Fox affiliate partnered with Mitchell Research & Communications and released a poll today that showed similar trend lines in the state.

The Fox poll has Trump in front with 42 percent.

Kasich is actually in second place here with 19.6 percent, but oh-so-barely with Cruz coming in at 19.3 percent.

Rubio's support is at just 9 percent, according to the Fox survey.

When looking at the Real Clear Politics polling average it's clear that Kasich's focus on the state has paid off.

Kasich immediately high-tailed it to Michigan after his impressive second place finish in the New Hampshire primary just one month ago.

After a disappointing Super Tuesday, where he failed to win any states, Kasich doubled down on the Michigan plan, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Now, with the primary just a day away, Kasich has gone from 10 percent support, only beating retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson who has since dropped out, to around 20 percent, virtually tying Cruz in the race.

The Real Clear Political average shows that it's Rubio's support that the Ohio governor has eaten away.

Sen. Marco Rubio (left) received the worst news out of Michigan now in last place in two polls, while Sen. Ted Cruz (right) is hovering around second place

Another poll that came out today had John Kasich in second place, barely, and Marco Rubio at the back of the pack

Since the beginning of the month, Rubio had squeezed ahead of Cruz in Michigan with Kasich behind, only now to be losing to both of his rivals.

Kasich, of course, benefits from his next-door-neighbor status.

He's also banking on winning his home state of Ohio on March 15, using its winner-take-all delegate allocation to make up for being in fourth place among his four current GOP rivals in the delegate count.

Michigan voters saw Kasich up close and personal on Thursday when he debated Trump, Rubio and Cruz in Detroit.

The polls suggest voters liked what they saw.

While the other three candidates squabbled throughout the Fox News affair, Kasich left the debate looking like the grown-up in the room, while Trump talked about his manhood and gave nicknames to 'Little Marco' Rubio and 'liar' Cruz.

Rubio and Cruz tried beating Trump at his own game, by hurling insults his way as well.

Today Kasich continued to differentiate himself in the state, according to the Detroit News, telling voters he was going to steer clear of the 'personal attacks' his rivals engage in.

His campaign's chief strategist John Weaver suggested that the governor could still pull ahead  with today's polls clearly going in the right direction.
Friends of Ms Archer are fundraising for burns unit where she was treated

He was arrested at a train station in Stockport after a five-day manhunt

Her brother Stephen Archer, 50, has been charged with murder and arson

She suffered 70 per cent burns after being set alight at home

First image of victim Julie Archer has emerged after her death on Friday

This is the first picture of Julie Archer, who died after being set on fire at home, allegedly by her own brother.

The 49-year-old suffered from 70 per cent burns and was taken to hospital in Manchester by air ambulance but died of her injuries on Friday.

Tributes were paid to Ms Archer on Monday as her brother Stephen Archer, 50, appeared before Manchester magistrates charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life.

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Julie Archer (pictured), 49, was covered in petrol and burnt alive at her home in Manchester. Her friends have begun fundraising for the burns unit where she was treated

Archer was also charged with possessing extreme pornographic images including 16 of adults having intercourse with animals.

Ms Archers daughter Quibilah, 19, escaped uninjured from an upstairs window of the house in Newton Heath, Manchester, with help from neighbours.

Ms Archer's brother, Stephen Archer (above), has been charged with his sister's murder as well as arson with intent to endanger life

Police captured Archer on Friday after a five-day manhunt which culminated in armed officers arresting him at Marple train station in Stockport where he was spotted by an off-duty officer.

During a brief hearing, he was remanded in custody to face Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday. No pleas were entered.

Friends of Ms Archer set up a crowd-funding page on the JustGiving platform asking for donations to be made to the burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital where she had been treated by doctors.

By Monday evening, the site had already received more than 400 in donations.

Karen Wakefield, an old school friend who created the page said: 'As many of you may have seen in the news, sadly, Julie passed away.

'All of the support of friends and family hasnt gone unnoticed and it is very much appreciated.

'This has been a really hard week for all of the family, and now she can be at peace we would love to donate money to the family & Wythenshawe hospital burns unit.'

In a Facebook post she added: 'Words cannot express how upset I am to hear my friend has passed away, I will treasure our childhood memories forever and Im thankful you came to surprise me - never expected it would be our last hug. Sleep tight mate.'

The tragedy occurred shortly before 9.45am last Monday, when police were called to Ms Archers home.

During the manhunt for Archer, his mother Wendy Archer made an appeal through Greater Manchester Police for her son to give himself up after she received a birthday card from him.

This is the moment Archer, 50, was wrestled to the ground by police officers outside Marple train station in Stockport last Friday after an off-duty officer spotted him leaving a train

Fire damage can be seen both in and outside Ms Archer's Newton Heath home, which was badly damaged in the attack on Monday, February 29

Speaking after the victim's death last week, Superintendent Arif Nawaz from GMP's North Manchester Division said: 'Our thoughts remain with this woman's family as they come to terms with the worst possible news.

'Our specialist support officers are continuing to support them at this dreadful time. As a result of this tragic development, the investigation team have now launched a murder inquiry.

'At this stage I would also like to thank the public for their continued support throughout this difficult and protracted investigation.

'We always aim to bring an incident like this to a safe conclusion and I am pleased to say that, as a result of the quick actions of an off-duty officer plus the professionalism of our armed officers, we have now resolved what could have been an even more serious situation.

During the manhunt for Archer, his mother Wendy Archer made an appeal through Greater Manchester Police for her son to give himself up after she received a birthday card from him
The blunder comes days after Trudeau called on America to 'pay a little more attention to the rest of the world'

Actress then tweeted: I have a son who is the Prime Minister of Canada? I couldn't be more proud'

CBS were forced to make an embarrassing apology after they mistook actress Kim Cattrall for the Canadian prime minister's mother.

During the 60 Minutes feature with Justin Trudeau, a photo of the Sex and the City star with Trudeau's father Pierre Elliot was shown as the interviewer spoke about his mother Margaret.

The picture was taken in 1981, while the actress was on a date with the then-Canadian prime minister.

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During a 60 Minutes feature with Justin Trudeau, a photo of Kim Cattrall with Trudeau's father Pierre Elliot (above) was shown as the interviewer spoke about his mother Margaret

Pierre Trudeau married Margaret (left) hen she was only 22; he was 51. She struggled with mental health issues, and the two separated in 1977, but didn't divorce until 1984. Right: Kim Cattrall on the set of the United Artist movie 'Rosebud' in 1975

Cattrall was quick to respond to the clanger, and tweeted: 'I have a son who is the Prime Minister of Canada? I couldn't be more proud.'

Others took to social media to ridicule the show.

One said: 'Clearly, this a photo taken in am alternative reality where Kim Cattrall was Canada's First Lady.'

While another commented: Showing a pic of Pierre Trudeau with Kim Cattrall and IDing her as Margaret? Ouch'.

The blunder comes just a week after prime minister Trudeau called on America to 'pay a little more attention to the rest of the world'

The actress was quick to respond to the clanger and poked fun at CBS with this tweet

A 60 Minutes spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter: 'We regret the error on one of the several video and still images shown of Margaret Trudeau. It was corrected online last night.'

The Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.

Pierre Trudeau had dated a string of celebrities after his marriage with Margaret dissolved including Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Liona Boyd and Margot Kidder.

Cattrall and Trudeau were believed to have dated in 1981.

The blunder comes just a week after prime minister Trudeau called on America to 'pay a little more attention to the rest of the world'.

Kim Cattrall, now 59, is currently starring in new series Sensitive Skin that is now airing on Netflix

The comment was made - ironically - on a previous interview for the 60 Minutes' program.

He said: '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.'

Trudeau, elected in October, made the remarks after being asked what Canadians don't like about the U.S.

And that wasn't the first time Trudeau has criticized America.

In a scathing comment made last December, the prime minister questioned the legitimacy of Republican front runner Donald Trump in the presidential race.

When asked if he would condemn the 'hateful rhetoric' of Trump at 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.

'If we allow politicians to succeed by scaring people, we don't actually end up any safer. Fear doesn't make us safer. It makes us weaker.'

Pierre Trudeau had dated a string of celebrities after his marriage with Margaret dissolved including Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Liona Boyd and Margot Kidder. Cattrall (right) and Trudeau (center) were believed to have dated in 1981
The grieving fiancee of slain police officer David Hofer arrived at her lover's New York City funeral Monday still wearing the engagement ring he gave her last year.

Marta Danylyk's husband-to-be was killed in broad daylight in a shootout with an armed suspect in a residential park in Euless, Texas last Tuesday.

Following memorial services in Euless, where Hofer, 29, moved in 2014, the deceased officer was laid to rest in his hometown of New York, whose police department employed him for five years.

Marta Danylyk arrives at the funeral mass for her fiancee, officer David Hofer, in his hometown of New York

Danylyk was still wearing the wedding ring her late fiance gave her in January last year

Danylyk walks into St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York along with Euless police officer carrying her fiance's ashes

Funeral services for Hofer were held Monday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York

Addressing her late fiance at Saturday's memorial service, Danylyk said 'It is an absolute honor and privilege to be the one you chose to love.'

'How truly blessed I am to have gotten to know your beautiful soul,' she said, according to Dallas Morning News.

At Monday's mass at Manhattan's St. Patrick's Cathedral, Reverend Monsignor Robert Ritchie described the occasion as a 'time of great sorrow.'

'Police funerals are always filled with the presence of so many brothers and sisters of the officer. Today is no different,' Richie said.

The priest said Hofer was 'a person who gave not only his service and dedication but also his life to serve the people of Texas,' the New York Daily News reported.

The slain officer's family did not speak at the funeral.

Hofer, who proposed to fiancee Marta Danylyk in his uniform last year, was killed afer responding to reports of shots fired around 3pm last Tuesday near J.A. Carr Park, in Euless.

Upon arrival, the suspect immediately fired at the officers, fatally striking Hofer.

Officers returned fire and the suspect, Jorge Gonzalez, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Before the shootout Gonzalez lay in ambush in a ditch, waiting to fire at officers, the Morning News reported.

The shooter had a lengthy rap sheet and was a methamphetamine addict, according to the Morning News.

A family member breaks down during the services for David Hofer at St. Patrick's Cathedral

Officer David Hofer died after being shot in an ambush in Euless, Texas last Tuesday

New York Police Department officials arrive at the funeral for their former colleague David Hofer

David Hofer served with the NYPD, officers pictured above, for five years before moving to Euless, Texas

Danylyk speaks to a priest after Monday's funeral services at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan

Marta Danylyk pictured speaking at memorial services for her fiance David Hofer Saturday. Pictured center, Hofer's sister, Meret Hofer, and right, a Euless police officer.

Several phone videos captured the chaos, showing cops surrounding the park and commanding the suspect to drop to the ground.

Footage obtained by the Morning News captured the sound of four quick gunshots followed by another three, then shouting.

After a few more single shots, someone can be heard shouting: 'Put your hands up! On your knees!'

Witness Nelson Leka told WFAA News 8: 'About three police officers were running around the corner holding guns, and I noticed they were chasing something, someone.'

Hofer was rushed to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, but he died in surgery.

This Facebook post from January 30 last year shows David Hofer, proudly dressed in his uniform, proposing to his girlfriend Marta Danylyk - he was killed in the line of duty last Tuesday

The young couple had bought a house together in Plano and had moved in just before Christmas

The New York Post reported Hofer, the son of European immigrants, previously worked in the 9th Precinct on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

A Facebook post from January 30 last year showed Hofer, in his uniform, proposing to his fiancee Marta Danylyk on one knee with a huge grin on his face.

The couple had purchased a house in Plano, Texas, in November, public records show.

They moved in just before Christmas after sharing an apartment together, neighbor Julie Kilgore said.

She told the New York Daily News: 'They were just starting their lives together, really.'

His fiancee was out of town at the time of the incident and had to be called home and given the devastating news.

A crime scene technician works the scene after the fatal shooting of officer David Hofer, 29

His mother, Sofija Hofer, said: 'He was a wonderful child, a wonderful police officer.

'He was working this very difficult precinct and he had a lot of traumatic experiences...so he decided to go to a safer place.'

She said her son had wanted to write a book about his experience with the NYPD.

'I thought he might be a scientist, like his father, but he always wanted to be a policeman, ever since he was a little boy,' she said.

In a statement following the officer's death, Euless police chief Michael Brown said: 'This community will not forget David's servant heart and dry wit.'

'Euless is one big family,' Mayor Linda Martin added. 'Honestly, I'm having trouble controlling my tears.'

Hofer is survived by his parents, fiance, sister and brother, city officials said.

He is the second officer to die in the line of duty in Euless, a suburb of more than 53,000 residents about 17 miles west of Dallas and 15 miles east of Fort Worth.
in a wooded area near Larne, Co Antrim

Bomb-making parts and explosives were found in plastic barrels

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These are the first pictures of a terrorist weapons haul which was discovered by chance in a forest park in Northern Ireland at the weekend.

The cache was found just days after police warned that republican terrorists were plotting dissident attacks to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

Explosives and bomb-making parts were stashed in plastic barrels unearthed in Carnfunnock Country Park near Larne, Co Antrim on Saturday.

Officers were alerted to the terror hide by a vigilant member of the public who spotted something suspicious while visiting the popular scenic location.

Finding these weapons has potentially saved lives, police said.

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Police uncovered a 'significant terrorist hide' containing bomb-making components and explosives in a wooded area in Northern Ireland over the weekend

Four barrels were found - two of them were empty but two contained a variety of components, including wiring, toggle switches, circuit boards, partially constructed timer power units, ball bearings and a small quantity of explosives

The plastic barrels were found buried in Carnfunnock Country Park, near Larne, Co Antrim

Officers said four barrels were found - two barrels were empty but two contained a variety of bomb-making components, including wiring, toggle switches, circuit boards, partially constructed timer power units, ball bearings and a small quantity of explosives.

The find came just over 24 hours after a dissident republican bomb injured a prison officer in east Belfast.

It happened in the Hillsborough Drive area off Woodstock Road, a predominantly loyalist area in the east of the city, just after 7am on Friday.

The target, a married father-of-three, 52, required surgery after the explosive device detonated under the van he was driving. His injuries were not as severe as first feared.

A long-serving officer based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast, he had just left home to drive to work when the attack took place.

The find came just over 24 hours after a dissident republican bomb injured a prison officer in east Belfast at 7am last Friday. Above, an Army remote-controlled robot inspects the damaged van he'd been driving

A renegade group styling itself the New IRA has claimed responsibility and three men and woman arrested in connection with the bombing remained in police custody on Monday.

In a statement to the BBC, the New IRA said the officer was targeted because he was involved in training other guards at HMP Maghaberry, near Lisburn.

Following the blast, police commanders expressed fears that it could be the first of a number of dissident attacks to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, when Irish republicans staged a rebellion against British rule in Dublin.

Assistant chief constable, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Stephen Martin, said that attacks were being identified and countered 'every day'.

Officers were alerted to the terror hide by a vigilant member of the public who spotted something suspicious while visiting the popular scenic location on Saturday

Finding these weapons has potentially saved lives, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector Gillian Kearney said

Since Friday's attack, three viable explosives - understood to be pipe bombs - have been found in residential areas in Belfast and Londonderry.

Police have yet to establish which paramilitary group owned the weapons found in Carnfunnock.

While dissident republican involvement is one main line of inquiry, detectives are keeping an open mind, primarily due to the fact the park is located in what would be considered a predominantly unionist area.

PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Gillian Kearney said: 'The seizure of these items has potentially saved lives.

'Our inquiries are progressing and a detailed forensic examination of all these items will take some time.'

Police have yet to establish which paramilitary group owned the weapons found in Carnfunnock and detectives are keeping an open mind because the park is located in what would be considered a predominantly unionist area

There are fears that dissident republicans have got their hands on a quantity of the Libyan-supplied plastic explosive used by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles

She added: 'At this stage, it is too early to attribute ownership of these materials to any particular grouping or individual. It is vital that people remain vigilant, wherever they are and whatever they are doing.

'We will continue to work to keep people safe and would ask anyone with information about suspicious, criminal or terrorist activity to contact police.

'As has been shown by the events of last weekend, if people provide us with information, we will act on it to ensure everyone is kept safe.'

There are fears that dissident republicans have got their hands on a quantity of the Libyan-supplied plastic explosive used by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles.

It is understood that police suspect a potential dissident connection to the Larne cache.

PSNI Gillian Kearney said: 'We will continue to work to keep people safe and would ask anyone with information about suspicious, criminal or terrorist activity to contact police'
Shop vendors in Turkey are cashing in on the flood of migrants into the EU by selling life jackets on the street.

Clothes shops are stacking their windows with the nautical safety gear while others are just setting up stalls in pedestrian areas offering them for sale.

It comes as the country has demanded the EU raises its offer of aid to 6billion to stop letting migrants go straight through to the continent.

Crowds walk past clothes shops selling life jackets at the Aegean port city of Izmir, western Turkey, pictured

Vendors are setting up stalls in the streets of Izmir trying to sell on the jackets to passers-by

Some are even taking to hanging up life jackets on cables along the walls of buildings in Izmir, Turkey

The life jackets have been spotted hanging from walls of buildings across the city of Izmir in the western part of Turkey.

They are displayed alongside t-shirts, jumpers and coats, while questions have been raised about the quality of the products with some life jackets used by migrants recently being found packed with cardboard and foam.

Vendors have been spotted trying to flog the items to passers-by as thousands of migrants continue to enter the country every week.

It comes after at least 25 migrants including 10 children have drowned after their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea during an attempted crossing from Turkey.

The refugees died after the boat they were overturned off the town of Didim in south west Turkey yesterday while fifteen people were rescued from the water.

At least 25 migrants have drowned after their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea during an attempted crossing from Turkey. Just 15 were rescued

Turkish coast guard officials confirmed 10 children died in the accident and it has since launched a search-and-rescue mission for other migrants believed to be missing.

As previously reported, European Parliament head Martin Schulz revealed Turkey had upped its demands to stem the immigration tide.

Under a stalled deal clinched in November, the EU has already pledged three billion euros (2.3bn) to aid refugees on Turkish territory in return for Ankara's cooperation in tackling Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Although Turkey has complained it is yet to see any of these initial funds, a European source today said that if agreed, the extra money 'would not be a blank check' and would come with specific demands of the Turks.

'The Turks have asked for more money: three billion euros before 2018,' Mr Schulz said after attending an EU-Turkey summit dedicated to the migrant crisis.

Turkey is demanding the EU double its aid funding if it is to stop allowing migrants through to the continent. The city of Kilis, pictured, 10km from the Syrian border, recently saw its number of refugees equal its native population

The city has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for integrating migrants, with a worker from the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, pictured, packing drums of soup for distribution to migrant camps

A family of Syrian refugees who arrived in Kilis three years ago, make the best of life despite the threat of terrorism and bombings

Abd Aljabbar Sharoukh, pictured, and his son were both injured in a car bomb attack earlier this month in Kilis, with Mr Sharoukh displaying his son's scars

'It will require additional budgetary procedures. The European Parliament is prepared to speed up the procedures.'

A draft statement circulated during an EU-Turkey summit listed actions that both sides could take to end the migration crisis.

EU and Turkish officials said the draft of a possible new EU-Turkey action plan was based on proposals from Turkey and was circulated by European Council President Donald Tusk as a basis for discussions among EU leaders.

The text included a proposal that Turkey would take back all irregular migrants from Greek islands, including Syrians, while the EU would then admit directly from Turkey one Syrian refugee for every Syrian readmitted to Turkey from the Greek islands.

Workers from the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) prepare bread made in the specially setup Syrian bakery in Kilis for refugees

Syrian refugee Vermin (L) and sister Yasmin work at a farm in Kilis, where considerable efforts have been made to ensure migrants can work and contribute to the society

Some migrants have been put to work as goat herders, pictured, in the Turkish city, which has a population of 129,000 native people which has since been equalled by its numbers of migrants

Sweets and toy guns, pictured, that are on sale in shops at the city, which has been Turkey's frontline during the migrant crisis

The EU would offer a further 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) until the end of 2018 to help Turkey shelter Syrians, doubling the amount of an earlier offer.

And it would ease visa requirements for Turks wishing to visit Europe's Schengen area by the end of June, earlier than had been planned.

Meanwhile, David Cameron today declared there is 'no prospect' of Britain joining a common European Union asylum system and stressed that the UK keeps its own borders to prevent migrants getting into the country.

Arriving in Brussels for talks on the migration crisis, the British Prime Minister insisted that the UK's opt-out from the Schengen agreement meant there could be no question of Britain joining any new asylum quota process.

'We have an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe,' he told reporters.

A Syrian restaurant, pictured, in Kilis, which has seen a huge boost in construction as affordable housing has been built for refugees

More Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation cook meals for migrants at a warehouse kitchen in Kilis, Turkey

A Syrian works on a construction site in Kilis, Turkey, to provide new homes for the influx of migrants

'We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.'

One Turkish city has shown it can make the best of the crisis after it was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Kilis, located around 10km from the Syrian border, now has as many refugees as its 129,000 indigenous population.

But it has been nominated for the award for the work done to integrate the refugees, with many immediately put to work in jobs in restaurants, construction and farms.
Durham sexually abused children as young as five while doing missionary work in Nairobi in 2014

He must also pay more than $15,000 in restitution

On Monday he was sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison

on four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place

A former missionary from Oklahoma convicted of sexually abusing children at an orphanage in Kenya has been sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison.

U.S. District Judge David L. Russell handed down the sentence on Monday to Matthew Lane Durham, 21, who had faced up to 30 years on each of four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. He also ordered Durham, of Edmond, to pay restitution of $15,863.

Durham showed no emotion when the sentence was issued.

Matthew Lane Durham, 21, of Edmond, Oklahoma was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting children in Nairobi while he was doing missionary work in Kenya

In 2014 Durham worked as a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya, with neglected children in an orphanage

'These were heinous crimes committed on the most vulnerable victims. He was their worst nightmare come true,' Russell said.

Durham asked the court for mercy prior to the judge's order.

'All I wanted was to follow God's plan for me,' he told the judge.

Prosecutors alleged Durham targeted orphans while volunteering at the Upendo Children's Home in Nairobi between April and June 2014. Durham had served as a volunteer since 2012 at the orphanage, which specializes in caring for neglected children.

A 12-member jury convicted Durham in June on seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, but Russell acquitted Durham on three of the charges in January.

During that time, Duhram sexually abused and said he raped children as young as five in a 33-day span

'I took her to the bathroom and forced her to have sex with me. This has happened on more than one occasion. ' This is one of the horrific confessions that Durham allegedly wrote out

The same jury cleared Durham of accusations that he planned in advance to abuse the children before he left the United States. Defense attorney Stephen Jones has said Durham plans to appeal his convictions.

Orphanage officials and five of the children traveled from Kenya to testify at the trial. The children, who speak Swahili, testified through an interpreter only after Russell cleared the gallery and closed the courtroom to the public and media.

In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors asked Russell to sentence Durham to 120 years in prison  the maximum punishment he faced. Prosecutors also asked that Durham be placed under supervision for the rest of his life in the event he is ever released from prison.

Excerpts of Durham's confession were read in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gifford, including a section pertaining to the alleged assault of a 12-year-old girl

'The defendant's offenses were undoubtedly serious. He raped or sexually molested by force or threat four children ranging in ages from 5 years to 14 years  some multiple times  in a span of just 33 days,' prosecutors wrote in the memo.

Prosecutors also said Durham's actions have had a chilling effect on the lives of dozens of foreign volunteers in Kenya and elsewhere 'who must now live under the cloud of suspicion, distrust and apprehension when they volunteer their time, talent and resources for the betterment of children in East Africa and beyond.'

'There is a real perception among Upendo's local Kenyan community that more pedophiles lurk among the volunteers, especially the young male volunteers,' prosecutors said.

Evidence produced by prosecutors included handwritten, signed confessions that Durham gave orphanage officials after he was accused of inappropriate behavior.

Jones has argued that the statements were coerced by orphanage officials who isolated Durham, took his passport and created the allegations to obtain $17,000 from the U.S. government for security cameras.
The mother of a four-month-old boy who died two weeks after he stole the limelight on the campaign trail by dressing as Bernie Sanders has revealed the candidate hasn't reach out to her as she tries to come to terms with the youngster's death.

Oliver Jack Carter Lomas-Davis captured hearts around the world as he posed for a picture with the candidate in a silver wig and thick-rimmed glasses on the campaign trail.

The youngster from Venice, California, was dubbed the 'Bernie Baby' as the picture of his infectious smile went viral.

But just a fortnight later, he tragically passed in his home away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

His mother, Susan Lomas, has told Daily Mail Online she is still trying to make sense of what happened, but feels blessed that she had him for four precious months.

The 46-year-old also revealed no one from the Democrat's camp has reached out to the family as they try and raise funds for his funeral and a foundation she is planning to set up.

Susan Lomas, 46, the mother of 'Bernie Baby' Jack Carter Lomas-Davis, has said Sanders has not contacted her since the boy tragically passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome on February 25

Oliver captured hearts around the world as he posed for a picture with the candidate in a silver wig and thick-rimmed glasses on the campaign trail in Las Vegas

Admittedly, she said, she can't even think about the presidential race and instead wants the fans he generated around the country to remember his infectious smile and asked that they pray for her as she looks to the future.

She told Daily Mail Online: Just keep me in your prayers for today, tomorrow and the day after when everyone has gone.

He has always been a blessing since the day I found out I was pregnant.

Oliver brought joy and happiness to me. I am glad that I told him I love him every day. I am glad I showed him nothing but beautiful things.

I just want everybody to be kind to him like I was, and that reflected on to everyone he met.'

On February 25, Mrs Lomas took a short nap before realizing something terrible had happened

I woke up after a quick nap and went to change Olivers diaper. I said: "Oliver you need a nappy change, Oliver..."

That's when she realized he had passed away.

He just wasnt there anymore and time just stood still on me. It was just the ugliest thing.'

Since then she has received an outpouring of support from friends, family and fans who shared the picture of her son.

Im hanging in there,' she said on Monday.

The wake is tonight and the burial is tomorrow. There are going to be people who are just going to say goodbye to Oliver.

After his death, Oliver's aunt Anastasia set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the burial costs and any projects in the future.

It has already raised more than $25,000. Mrs Lomas said she is happy to see the response Oliver has prompted.

The youngster from Venice, California, was dubbed the 'Bernie Baby' as the picture of his infectious smile went viral. But just a fortnight later, his mother found him dead

Its very heartwarming to see the impact that my love for Oliver has had,' she said.

What I gave to him was reflected through him with everyone who came into contact with him, even with those who had never met him.

He was taken, but he is still with us in his passing. I still get texts and emails with pictures of him for many people out there.

The one picture that stands out however is of Oliver in the arms of the Democratic candidate.

Oliver became an instant social media hit, and Mrs Lomas hopes it will always be remembered.

However, when asked if Sanders had personally reached out, Mrs Lomas said he hadn't

Not at all. All my information is out there. I have just been out of sorts with what has been happening.'

She added she has been too shocked to think about politicians and the election.

I manage to read Facebook once or twice a day to read condolences which are nice. That is pretty much the extent of it.

Mrs Lomas's plan is to start a foundation that will help spread awareness of the illness which is relatively unknown.

She feels if she had been informed of the risks, she may have been better prepared.

When this happened to me I didnt realize that until children are a little over one that there is a risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

WHAT IS SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME? Sudden infant death syndrome describes the unexpected death of a baby or toddler that is initially unexplained. Cot death was a term commonly used in the past. It has largely been abandoned, due to misleading suggestions that sudden infant death can only occur when a baby is asleep in a cot. Causes of SIDS may include accidents, infections, congenital abnormality or metabolic disorder. For those deaths that remain unexplained, experts believe there are likely to be undiscovered causes. SIDS statistics: While sudden infant syndrome deaths have declined in recent years, they still totalled around 2,000 deaths in the U.S. 2010. 221 unexplained infant deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2012 - a rate of 0.30 deaths per 1,000 live births Almost three quarters (71 per cent) of these unexplained deaths were recorded as sudden deaths, and 29 per cent were recorded as unascertained Eight out of 10 unexplained infant deaths occurred in the post-neonatal period, between 28 days and one year Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of unexplained infant deaths were boys in 2012 (141 deaths) The rate of unexplained infant deaths was three times higher among low birthweight babies, than those with a normal birthweight Source: The Lullaby Trust and Office for National Statistics Advertisement

Mrs Lomas (left) wants the fans he generated around the country to remember his infectious smile and asked that they pray for her as she looks to the future

Mrs Lomas also wants to set up a foundation to help raise awareness of SIDS. She said she wasn't informed about the risks of the disease before it was too late

'I have also learned it happens more in males. There are all these things that I am finding out that I didnt know.

I have interest in starting a foundation. There has been an outpouring of information that has been coming my way, so I need to compile it.

If one little life is saved then it will help me make sense of this in the long run. Because it doesnt make sense.

There are little baby heart monitors that you can buy. There is also a sock for babies where you can monitor oxygen levels.

Thats something that I could have and should have done. But I cant let my mind go there. I cant do anything about it now.

I could have been more informed about it and I could have been more aware of it.'
Police are hunting for an elderly man after he repeatedly shooting a chicken shop worker after becoming annoyed at a second worker cleaning a table.

The man, described as black and in his late 50s or early 60s, opened fire with 'a large handgun' inside a branch of Church's Chicken in Philadelphia at around 5.30pm on Sunday.

Police say a 19-year-old shop worker was taken to hospital after being hit in the chest and stomach and is now in a stable condition following surgery.

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Police are hunting for a black man described as being in his 50s or 60s (pictured) after a shooting at a chicken shop in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon

Officers say the man got into an argument with a 21-year-old employee who was cleaning a table close to him while he was eating, telling him to stop spraying cleaning fluid

The altercation started when the man began arguing with another employee, 21, who was trying to clean a table close to him while he was eating his food, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Witness Keith Parker said: 'He was doing his job, but the guy kept saying: "Yo, you can't be doing this spraying, this spraying. I got to eat. I got to eat."'

At some point during the argument the 19-year-old, who is the brother of the other employee, came over in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

Another employee, aged 19 and the brother of the other worker, came over in an attempt to reconcile the situation before the man pulled out a 'large handgun'

The man shot the employee in the stomach and chest before walking out of the store. The employee is now in a stable condition, following surgery

Police captain Nicholas Brown said at that point the man drew his weapon and opened fire.

The man was wearing a black fedora hat, black trench coat, black pants, black gloves and glasses.

Officers believe the man is still armed and dangerous and are warning people not to approach him, saying to call 911 instead.

Anyone who knows the identity of the suspect, or has any information on the shooting, is being asked to contact the Northwest Detective Division on 215 686 3353
The wife of a man missing after the collapse of Didcot Power Station has blasted the demolition firm in charge of the site for restarting work.

Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, have been reported missing since a derelict steel and concrete building collapsed at the Oxfordshire plant, last month.

The tragic incident, which took place when the structure was being prepared for demolition, also left one worker killed and another man still unaccounted for.

Birmingham based Coleman and Company, the firm in charge of taking down Didcot, has been criticised by Adele Shaw, wife of John, for getting on with work while her husband lays under the rubble.

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Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61 have not been found since part of Didcot Power Station (pictured) they were preparing for demolition, crumbled last month

The spat started after Coleman and Company posted a message on its Facebook page, expressing relief that injured workers had been released from hospital.

Furious Ms Shaw wrote under the post: 'So what does that say about my husband and my 2 daughters dad that's still under all that rubble?

'To me you've got your workers back on site but we're left here without our worker, my husband and my kids dad. Love you forever john where ever you may be - adele, kirsty and Emma.'

Coleman and Company have been approached for comment.

Mr Shaw and Cresswell were officially identified as missing today.

A statement from Thames Valley Police said both men were 'loved very much' and that their families had not 'given up hope' of the pair returning home.

Since the incident only biker and demolition worker Mick Collings, from East Cleveland in Yorkshire, has been named dead.

Authorities say it could take 'months' for people to be found from the wreckage of the plant building, pictured

In two almost completely identical statements the police pledged to work tirelessly to bring Mr Cresswell and Mr Shaw home.

Regarding Mr Cresswell, a spokesman said: 'The family of Ken Cresswell, aged 57, from Rotherham, confirmed that their loved one is missing following the partial collapse of Didcot A Power Station on February 23.

'Ken is loved very much and his family haven't given up hope of him being recovered and returned home. They ask the media to continue to respect their privacy at this difficult time.

Biker and demolitions worker Mick Collings, pictured, is the only person who has been confirmed dead as a result of the building collapse

'Our priority remains the recovery of their loved ones so they can be returned to their families and to understand what caused this incident.'

It is believed officers met the families of the three missing people today, as part of the ongoing support being given.

The news of Mr Cresswell and Mr Shaw, comes just hours after the partner of the third man missing, Christopher Huxtable, 34, slammed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for 'giving up hope'.

Jade Ali, 28, from Swansea, is convinced all of the missing men can still be saved from the mangled rubble wreckage of the huge building.

Speaking to The Mirror, she said: 'We are convinced Christopher and his workmates are alive.

'They have given up hope and they have no right to  they are acting like they are already dead and tell us nothing.

'They have abandoned Christopher and they have abandoned us. It is disgusting.'

Five were taken to hospital after the power station disaster but have since been released back to their loved ones.

Despite the optimism of the missing men's families, authorities claim it could take 'months' to find people buried in the rubble.

Ms Ali says the couple's daughter Tia, 11, is constantly asking when her father will return home.

She insists that until they are given the word then they will remain convinced Mr Huxtable has survived.

Ms Ali said: 'We've been treated terribly. They don't tell us anything but tell the world there is no hope. There's always hope.'

Thames Valley police were unavailable to comment.

An HSE spokesman said: 'We fully understand the anguish the families of the three missing workers will be experiencing.

'The priority of the multi-agency response remains the recovery of the bodies to their families.

Jade Ali, 28, is convinced Christopher Huxtable, 34 (pictured together), is still alive in the mangled rubble and wreckage of the huge building

'Given the risks, scale and complexity of the incident and that the building collapsed without warning, emergency services have had to strike a very difficult balance between helping those trapped and injured, recovering the bodies and the need to avoid further harm on the site.

'HSE continues to support the recovery operation with advice from its independent experts who have visited the site and studied information provided by the site owners and on the way the demolition contractors were carrying out their work when the building collapsed.

'Discussions with the site owners and the demolition contractors on proposals for ensuring risks at the site are effectively managed and controlled are ongoing.'




Missing: Mahfuza Rahman, 30 (pictured), was last seen leaving her job at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City on December 8

Police are just beginning to search for a 30-year-old nurse who has been missing for nearly three months.

Mahfuza Rahman, 30, was last seen leaving her job at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City on December 8.

Shortly after, her husband Mohammad Chowdhury called the hospital to say his wife was leaving the country immediately to take care of her parents who had been injured in an accident in Bangladesh.

But when Rahman didn't return to work last week, when her husband said she would, co-workers grew concerned and alerted the NYPD.

On Friday, police went to the family's home in the Bronx and by Sunday crews were on the scene digging up concrete and sweeping the property with a police dog, looking for evidence of foul play.

Chowdhury reportedly told neighbors in December that he was leaving the country to join his wife in Bangladesh, and taking their daughter with him.

No one has been living in the home since then, they have said.

While they have yet to find evidence of foul play, police sources told the New York Daily News that investigators believe Rahman may have been the victim of a crime and they find it suspicious that she never personally called the hospital to say she was leaving.

Concerns: When the nurse didn't return to her job last week, when her husband said she would, they alerted authorities. Above Bellevue Hospital

'Right now, its a missing person investigation,' an official told the newspaper. 'We dont have any evidence of foul play. She could have just left.'

Rahman studied chemistry at Bangladesh's University of Shaka and obtained her associate's degree at LaGuardia Community College, before graduating Hunter College in January 2014 with a degree in nursing, according to her LinkedIn page.
The number of executions in Saudi Arabia was today blasted by campaigners as truly frightening as the kingdom killed its 70th prisoner of the year.

Alaa al-Zahrani was found guilty of killing fellow Saudi Abdullah al-Sumairi with a rock to the head and was put to death in the Red Sea city of Jeddah yesterday, the interior ministry said.

The 70 executions so far this year include 47 death sentences for terrorism carried out in a single day on January 2. Most people sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

Execution: Alaa al-Zahrani has been put to death in the Red Sea city of Jeddah (file picture) in Saudi Arabia

And the level of executions was criticised today by Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UKs head of policy and government affairs, who said the kingdom is making a mockery of justice.

Mr Hogarth told Independent reporter Ashley Cowburn: The death penalty is always cruel and unnecessary, but the Saudi justice system lacks evens the basics of a fair trial system.

Its truly frightening that its courts are sentencing so many people to death Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of justice and dozens of people are paying with their lives.

Its time that strategic allies like the UK started speaking out about this shocking state of affairs. For too long Downing Street has bent over backwards to avoid offending the Saudi royals.

Demonstrations: On January 2, 47 people were executed for terrorism, including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr (pictured in posters), a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiites

In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder, according to a count by Agence France-Presse.

Its truly frightening that its courts are sentencing so many people to death Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International

Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for two decades. However, the tally was far behind those of China and Iran.

The kingdom has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

On January 2, 47 people were executed for terrorism, including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind protests that began in 2011 among the kingdom's minority Shiites.

Criticisim: French President Francois Hollande (right) awarded the Legion d'Honneur to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (left) during a visit for his efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism

Also today, France's foreign minister defended the awarding of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's highest honour, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, after it sparked criticism.

President Francois Hollande awarded the honour to Nayef, who is also Saudi interior minister, during a visit on Friday for his efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
A 16-year-old girl in Ohio was airlifted to a hospital after she was assaulted by three teenage girls at a private residence, the girl's mother said.

A family spokesman called the altercation a 'fight club' incident, and the girl's mother said on Facebook that at least a dozen other students are believed to have filmed and cheered the three teens on.

The incident was reported to police just after 5pm on Wednesday, who said the fight occurred the same day about about 2pm at a private home in Galion, Ohio.

Galion police Chief Brian Satterfield said on Monday that the incident is being investigated.

Video emerged of a 16-year-old girl in Galion, Ohio, being assaulted by three other teenage girls at a private residence on Wednesday, police said. The teenager later air-lifted to a hospital in Nationwide Childrens hospital in Columbus

A family spokesman called the altercation a 'fight club' incident that occurred at a private residence on Wednesday

A woman told police that she witnessed the incident and showed officers a video of the fight that had been sent to her via Facebook message.

The girl suffered from internal bleeding from a lacerated liver and spleen, broken ribs, and whiplash from being kicked in the head following the fight

Police said the woman said 'it was very hard to watch and that she starting crying because of (the victim) getting beat up', according to the Mansfield News-Journal.

The video indicates that the fight was instigated during an ongoing argument between two girls when one started hitting the other with closed fists, police said.

After the girl falls to the ground, the girl continues punching her and two other female teenagers join in on the fight, striking her and yelling obscenities.

The girl was later air-lifted to a hospital in Nationwide Childrens hospital in Columbus, with injuries including internal bleeding from a lacerated liver and spleen, broken ribs, and whiplash from being kicked in the head, according to WFMD.

The victim's mother stated on Facebook: 'Watching these girls beat on her and then kicking her on the stomach and in the head as she laid on the ground was the most horrible thing I have ever seen.

'I saw it because the person who video it thought it was a good idea to post it on Facebook. No one called 911 and (victim) drove herself home after.'

She said that her daughter's injuries could take more than a month to recover from, which might keep her away from school, having to do all her studies from home.

Bill Baker, who the family has appointed as their spokesman, said on Monday that the incident occurred during a 'fight club' at a private Galion residence.

The victim is recovering from the fight and released a statement about the incident, according to WMFD.

She said: 'At first I was so embarrassed to have lost the fight because I knew that was all that was going to be talked about, but I didnt lose a fight, I got beat up from multiple people beating me.

'I see this as something that had to happen in order for other people to get help. There has been so many kids That Ive never even noticed before That has come forward and said something about their problems.

'This experience has been a lot of things for sure, but to get support makes it seem like it is not such a long haul. It makes me stronger inside and out.'
Donald Trump had a long relationship with a mobster casino owner who was fined $200,000 for turning away black and female customers from Atlantic City's Trump Plaza, a report claims.

Robert LiButti is now banned from all New Jersey casinos after his association with Gambino boss John Gotti came to light in the 1990s.

But in his heyday, he worked closely with Trump - who is now on track to become the Republican nominee for the presidency.

Though the real estate mogul insists he doesn't know who LiButti is, LiButti's daughter told Yahoo News on Monday that Trump hosted their family on his yacht and in his helicopter on multiple occasions.

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Robert LiButti (right) is now banned from all New Jersey casinos after his association with Gambino boss John Gotti came to light in the 1990s. But in his heyday, he worked with Trump heading up his New Jersey casino

Trump Plaza was fined $200,000 for discrimination after LiButti turned away black and female patrons

Trump was first scrutinized about his ties to the gangster, and by extrapolation the Gottis, in 1991 when Trump Plaza was sued for racial discrimination.

Now, the relationship has resurfaced as critics increasingly accuse Trump of downplaying his connections to people such as former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.

Just as he told ABC News he had 'never heard' of Duke - with whom he once harbored a close relationship - Trump claims: 'If he was standing here in front of me, I wouldn't know what he looked like.'

'He's a liar,' Edith Creamer, LiButti's daughter, told Yahoo News.

'Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trump's then wife] Ivana and the kids.

'My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City]. My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there.

LiButti's daughter claims Trump took her and her father on his helicopter with 'Ivana and the kids'

LiButti's daughter also claimed Trump took their family on his yacht (pictured) after her 35th birthday party

'After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump, but it pisses me off that he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.'

But she said their entire family is still voting for 'the SOB' despite their gripes.

Her description of the families' ties appear to be supported by a conversation transcript, obtained by Yahoo News, between LiButti and Trump's top Atlantic City executive, Edward Tracy in 1990.

Tracy was wearing a wire for New Jersey police after Gambino sources told them LiButti was 'in Trump's pockets'.

During the discussion with Tracy, LiButti talks about his close relationship with Trump, claims Trump loaned him $350,000 to cover a gambling loss, and moans about the mogul's affair with Marla Maples, mother to Trump's daughter Tiffany.

'He's a liar,' Edith Creamer, LiButti's daughter, told Yahoo News of Trump - but said she'll vote for him

'I'm very close with him,' he said, according to Yahoo.

However, he added, Trump needed to 'get rid of the broad' - referring to Marla Maples.

According to Yahoo, LiButti said: 'He's lost that aggressiveness.  Walks around like a f***ing banana. I can't believe it's Donald Trump. I don't understand it.'

'Yeah, I know you were shocked when you saw him,' Tracy replied.

'Yeah. I can't believe it. My hero. Broke my f***ing heart. My f***ing idol. I wanted to grow up like him,' LiButti allegedly replied.

LiButti was ultimately jailed for five years in 1994 for tax fraud.

It came after Trump Plaza was forced to pay $200,000 in 1991 for his antics. A jury heard he 'did not want women, blacks or other minorities dealing or supervising his games'.

Witnesses told the court LiButti threw objects at workers in Trump Plaza, and used vile language when speaking to women, black people, and Jews.

The fine was initially set at $100,000 but state prosecutors pushed it up to $200,000 as Trump Plaza lawyers tried to reject the charges, Yahoo reports.

The case also heard LiButti had violated New Jersey law by selling numerous complimentary hand-outs from Trump Plaza for cash.

His comps included nine cars worth $1.6 million, five European vacations, Super Bowl tickets, jewelry, and $40,000 worth of champagne.

Donald Trump was not implicated in the case and was not involved in paying the fine.

His spokesman fiercely denied allegations of ties to LiButti when confronted by Yahoo News.

'During the years I very successfully ran the casino business, I knew many high rollers. I assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I dont recognize the name,' he said.

Nonetheless, the report has reignited arguments that Trump has been vague about his entrepreneurial history as voters throw their weight behind him saying they want him to run America like a business.
A little-known alliance of hundreds of lawyers in Pakistan is behind the rise in prosecutions for blasphemy, a crime punishable by death that goes to the heart of an ideological clash between reformers and religious conservatives.

The group, whose name translates as The Movement for the Finality of the Prophethood, offers free legal advice to complainants and has packed courtrooms with representatives, a tactic critics say is designed to help it gain convictions.

Leader of the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Lawyers' Forum, a conservative alliance of lawyers offering free legal advice for anyone filing a blasphemy case, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry

The stated mission of the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Lawyers' Forum and its leader Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry is uncompromising: to use its expertise and influence to ensure that anyone insulting Islam or the Prophet Mohammad is charged, tried and executed.

'Whoever does this (blasphemy), the punishment is only death. There is no alternative,' Chaudhry told supporters crammed into his small office behind the towering red-brick High Court building in the eastern city of Lahore.

The campaign could complicate the government's tentative efforts to reform blasphemy legislation, a tough task in a country where support for the law is widespread.

Chaudhry was the defence lawyer for Mumtaz Qadri, executed on Monday for gunning down the popular governor of Punjab province in 2011 over his criticism of the blasphemy law.

Chaudhry argued, ultimately unsuccessfully, that the bodyguard was justified in killing Salman Taseer, because he committed blasphemy by publicly questioning the law.

In death, Qadri was a hero for many. Tens of thousands of people gathered in a park in the city of Rawalpindi for his funeral on Tuesday, showering his casket with flowers.

Executed: Relatives gather around the body of Mumtaz Qadri after he was executed in Rawalpindi

'He lives! Qadri lives!' supporters around the coffin cried. 'From your blood, the revolution will come!'

Even discussing blasphemy is a challenge in Pakistan, and officials and activists say accusations can be used by complainants to settle personal scores and intimidate liberal journalists, lawyers and politicians.

At the same time, authorities are seeking to reduce room for abuse by insisting senior police officers are involved in cases and ruling that criticising the law does not constitute blasphemy itself.

Qadri's execution was seen as a sign itself that the government was determined to take firmer action, and it coincides with a nationwide crackdown by the powerful military on Islamist militants and their religious allies.

Since Khatm-e-Nubuwwat was founded 15 years ago, the number of criminal blasphemy cases filed in Punjab, the group's home base and Pakistan's most populous province, had tripled to 336 by 2014, according to police figures.

Qadri was hanged in a move that risks angering Islamist supporters who had feted him as a hero and threatened violence if he was executed

It fell to 210 in 2015 as stricter provincial rules were applied, but critics said the number was still too high.

Chaudhry told Reuters he had personally been involved in more than 50 criminal blasphemy cases, and said his group had grown to 700 lawyers in Punjab, where the majority of blasphemy cases are heard.

'If they hear of a complaint, the lawyers will come to the person and offer to take the case for free,' said a policeman, who asked not to be named to avoid reprisals.

'Sometimes they arrive with people and encourage them to make a complaint.'

Chaudhry said his group represented almost every complainant in cases across Punjab province. Reuters could not independently confirm this.

Reuters was also unable to determine if the movement has funding or any other form of backing from a specific group or groups, but Chaudhry said its motivation was not financial.

'Everyone knows that we are the forum that does these cases voluntarily,' he told Reuters. 'So they contact us and tell us that there is a case to do.'

Civil society activists light candles on the anniversary of the death of the governor of Punjab province Salmaan Taseer, in Lahore

He said member lawyers investigated cases to ensure they were genuine, although they had not found an unjustified blasphemy complaint yet.

The law dates back to colonial times, but was rarely implemented until about 20 years ago.

It states that anyone found to have defiled the name of Prophet Mohammad in writing or speech, including by 'innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly', should be punished with life imprisonment or death.

In 1990, that was strengthened to 'death and nothing else'.

No one in Pakistan has been executed for blasphemy so far, but jails are filling up with those sentenced to death, and there have been sporadic assassinations of the accused and people involved in their defence.

At least 65 people, including lawyers, defendants and judges, have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to figures from a Center for Research and Security Studies report and local media.

Riot police were deployed in the nearby capital Islamabad as officials braced for protests from hardliners

Some recent blasphemy cases made headlines around the world, including that of Christian woman Asia Bibi, whose conviction drew international attention including from the Pope. Her case was prosecuted by the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat.

Reema Omer, legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, an advocacy group of lawyers and judges, said the rise in blasphemy cases was deepening fears of speaking out.

'After the launch of our report (into blasphemy legislation), we were told by hosts of TV talk shows that they have been cautioned against 'going too far' in their critique of the blasphemy law, especially after recent cases of blasphemy allegations against anchor persons and media houses,' she said.

Chaudhry and his colleagues sometimes arrive in court with dozens of lawyers and supporters, say defence attorneys.

'Their conduct in these cases is ... intimidatory, 100 percent,' said defence lawyer Saif-ul-Malook, who said he had defended blasphemy cases in courtrooms full of supporters of the forum.

Qadri's father Bashir Awan said he was 'proud' of the martyrdom of his son, adding that he was ready to sacrifice all five of his other sons 'for the honour of the Prophet'

In one case, a crowd of lawyers left him barely any space to stand and shouted slogans when he spoke to the judge to present his case.

Chaudhry denied the accusations, saying that he was the victim of intimidation by human rights groups, though he did not elaborate.

'We have never had any complaints,' he said.

Family members of some blasphemy defendants disagreed.

'From our side there would be one or two lawyers, but from their side there were eight or nine lawyers, 10 or 12 clerics,' said Muhammed Aman Ullah Khan, whose wife is being prosecuted for blasphemy by a complainant whose team of lawyers is led by Chaudhry.

'They said it in exactly these words: 'If you want to be shot, then sit behind her [in court]. And if you don't want to be shot, then may you never be seen here again.''

Chaudhry denied the accusation.

Pakistan Rangers stand guard as protestors block a road linking to Islamabad, to protest the execution of bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri

'This has never happened. We respect the families (of the accused).'

That case is being heard at the Lahore High Court.

Last year, Punjab passed laws requiring blasphemy accusations to be investigated by a senior police officer.

But some police sources said some senior officers were reluctant to be drawn into cases, and many were still being handled by more junior staff.

'People become so emotional when blasphemy is mentioned that they want to take justice into their own hands,' said Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan.

He said some blasphemy accusations were made for ulterior motives, including the theft of land from religious minorities in the overwhelmingly Muslim-majority country of 190 million.

'The matter is often exploited ... You cannot say that this (law) is exploited all the time, but it is very common,' he told Reuters.

Also last year, the Supreme Court ruled that criticism of the law did not constitute blasphemy. In January, one of the country's most senior clerics told Reuters that he may be willing to review the law.

However, Khatm-e-Nubuwwat's leaders oppose change, saying it could encourage violence.
A man raped by Libyan soldiers while they were stationed at a military base in Cambridgeshire is suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The MoD could be forced to pay compensation to several victims subjected to sex offences at the hands of the soldiers while they were training in the UK.

Five Libyans were jailed last year after a court heard they raped and sexually assaulted victims in Cambridgeshire after a collapse of discipline at Bassingbourn Barracks where they were based.

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Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, left, and Ibrahim Abugtila, right, were two of five Libyans who were jailed last year after a court heard they raped and sexually assaulted victims in Cambridgeshire

Their arrests brought an end to a British Government promise to help war-torn Libya by training army cadets in the UK following the 2011 collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

The incidents prompted the MoD to send 300 soldiers back to their home country prematurely, ending an agreement to put 2,000 soldiers through basic infantry and junior command training in an attempt to help rebuild the troubled nation.

The MoD confirmed on Monday that it was considering legal claims from victims.

A spokeswoman said: 'We can confirm that compensation claims have been received by the department. As the claims are ongoing we are unable to comment further.'

The first claimant is understood to be the male victim of Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23.

They were both jailed for 12 years for rape after a court heard they acted like 'hunting dogs' as they raped the male victim in central Cambridge in October, 2014.

Mahmoud and Abugtila denied attacking the drunk man, who had been at a wedding, but were caught on CCTV leading him to the park after meeting him after a night out.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police: 'I cannot believe what I'm saying, they raped me. It was horrible, I feel horrible. Don't say anything to my mum.'

At least one further claim on the basis of negligence and breach of human rights has been submitted by one of four women assaulted on the same night in unrelated attacks.

Khaled El Azibi, 19, Naji El Maarfi, 21, and Mohammed Abdalsalam, 28, were jailed after admitting their parts in these attacks.

Five Libyans were jailed last year after a court heard they raped and sexually assaulted victims in Cambridgeshire after a collapse of discipline at Bassingbourn Barracks, shown, where they were based

The victims were all teenagers and the attacks included trying to kiss a woman without consent and then sexually assaulting her. El Maarfi exposed himself to one of the women.

The arrests coincided with other concerns over the conduct of Libyan cadets training at the base following a 'collapse of discipline'.

Despite assurances about tight controls, many of the cadets left the barracks unescorted during their stay.

A later investigation found evidence of heavy drinking and vandalism on the base.

This led to increased police patrols and 2 Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, being drafted in for extra security.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told Parliament there were 'things we could have done better' and he admitted regrets over the way it was handled.

Hywel Thomas, from Slater and Gordon, which represents the female victim, said: 'We will be arguing that the Ministry of Defence should have foreseen that harm was going to come to members of the local community as a result of the cadets escaping from Bassingbourn barracks. There had been problems a long time before these attacks took place.

'Our clients are claiming that the MoD was negligent and also will make a claim under the Human Rights Act that our clients suffered inhuman and degrading treatment as a result of the cadets being allowed to escape from the barracks.'
The widow of murdered PC Dave Phillips wore his name badge as she arrived at court today ahead of the trial of the teenager accused of killing him.

Clayton Williams, 19, of is accused of driving a stolen red Mitsubishi L200 pick-up truck which hit PC David Phillips in Liverpool the early hours of October 5 last year  causing fatal injuries  while he evaded arrest following a burglary at an estate agents in Prenton, Wirral.

PC Phillips' wife Jen, 28, arrived at court wearing her late husband's name badge while the jury was sworn in ahead of the start of the prosecution case on Tuesday morning.

Jen Phillips, pictured left, arrived at Manchester Crown Court today wearing her late husband's name badge as Clayton Williams prepared to face trial accused of murdering , PC Dave Phillips, pictured right

Mrs Phillips pictured at Manchester Crown Court with her in-laws Carol, left, and Robin Phillips, right

Father-of-two PC Phillips, 34, was using a stinger tyre deflation device in a bid to stop the truck when he was struck by it and killed, while colleague PC Thomas Birkett narrowly avoided injury.

Williams, of Wallasey, Merseyside, was due to go on trial at Manchester Crown Court today with proceedings expected to last two weeks.

Wearing a grey shirt with a blue fleece jacket, he looked on emotionless.

The judge, jury and legal counsels are due to conduct a visit to the site of the incident in the Wirral on Thursday.

The couple pictured last year with their two daughters Abigail, left, seven and Sophie, three

The scene of the killing in Liverpool last October when PC Phillips was hit by a vehicle

The teenager admitted charges of burglary and aggravated vehicle-taking at an earlier hearing in January but denies murder and has also pleaded not guilty to the attempted grievous bodily harm of PC Birkett.

PC Phillips, who had been an officer for nine years, left behind his wife, 28, and daughter Abigail, seven, and three-year-old Sophie. He died as a result of his injuries in Liverpools Arrowe Parke hospital.

Jen and PC Phillips younger sister Kate, elder sister Hannah Wieldon and parents Robin and Carol all attended the trial opening in Manchester today.
Rory posted a photo Sunday with the caption; '...making plans that I hoped we would never have to make'

Rory Feek is preparing for his wife Joey's funeral and burial in the backyard at their ranch in

Arrangements for the funeral and burial of Joey Feek are underway in Tennessee now that her family has returned home following five months in Indiana while she received hospice care at her childhood home.

Her husband Rory shared a photo on Sunday of the backyard of the couple's Tennessee ranch, writing; '...making plans that I hoped we would never have to make.'

He had previously revealed that Joey would be buried in the family cemetery on their ranch.

Rory wrote last week: 'We do have horses nowwell, the two that I got for Joey for her birthday this last fall (though she and I only got to see them a couple of times before our lives took us back to the Cancer Center in Atlanta and then here to her hometown in Indiana).

'And unfortunately, she will never get to ride those or any horses again.

'They will instead be grazing in the pasture around the family cemetery in the back field behind our farmhouse, where my bride will soon rest.'

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Final resting place: Rory Feek is preparing for his wife Joey's funeral and burial in the backyard at their ranch in Tennessee

Family: Joey and daughter Indiana returned to the farm over the weekend after five months in Indiana (family above in early 2015)

Home: Rory shared a photo of him and daughter Indiana greeting the two horses on their farm over the weekend

Best friends: 'Indy's happy to see her best friend Scout (and Scouty's little brother Ash),' wrote Rory

Joey passed away on Friday afternoon after a lengthy battle with cancer.

'My wifes greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven,' wrote 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.'

'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.'

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 on Friday

One last kiss: Earlier this week Rory posted a photo of Joey's final kiss with her young daughter Indiana

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 last 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.

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 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 last Monday morning that the terminally-ill star had just a 'few more days'

Love: Joey's husband Rory shared the tragic news last week, 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 came 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 eight 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.
Violence has once again broken out in a Greek refugee camp with blood-spattered migrants seen battering one another with rocks in an apparent fight over a loaf of bread.

Last month armed police officers fired tear gas at crowds of people in the village of Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border, after a group of asylum seekers busted through a razor-wire fence.

Some 13,000 people are living in the refugee camp - and there are fears of more violence if the 'Balkan route' from Greece through to Europe is closed.

Fight: Violence has once again broken out in a Greek refugee camp with blood-spattered migrants seen battering one another with rocks in an apparent fight over a loaf of bread

The fight comes just over a week after armed police officers fired tear gas at crowds of people in the village of Idomeni on the Greek-Macedonian border, after a group of asylum seekers busted through a razor-wire fence

More than 985,000 have travelled along it since the start of last year.

News of the violence came as it emerged Turkey is seeking an extra three billion euros in aid under a deal with the EU to curb the flow of migrants to the continent.

The country's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told 28 EU leaders at an emergency summit that Ankara was willing to take back all migrants who enter Europe from Turkey after a set date, as well as those intercepted in its territorial waters.

Meanwhile, dozens of men, women and children held a sit-down protest on the railway tracks running past the Idomeni refugee camp, calling on European leaders meeting in Brussels to open the borders.

Macedonian authorities have set up a 19-mile barbed wire boundary, with parallel lines of 8ft fencing keeping thousands of migrants trapped in Greece.

Injured: Some 13,000 people are living in the refugee camp - and there are fears of more violence if the 'Balkan route' from Greece through to Europe is closed. One of the migrants involved in the fight is pictured bloodied

Brawl: News of the violence came as it emerged Turkey is seeking an extra three billion euros in aid under a deal with the EU to curb the flow of migrants to the continent. Two migrants are pictured fighting at the camp

Argument: A migrant waiting to cross the Greek-Macedonian border is seen hurling a rock at another man

Only a narrow passage has been left in a bid to control migration flow, with officials growing increasingly stringent.

Frustrated refugees in Idomeni have occasionally blocked freight trains from passing down the tracks for hours.

But Monday's protest was more symbolic in nature as no train was passing and a Greek television station had also set up a marquee with a live camera position on the track beside the protesters.

As night fell, the protesters braved rainfall, holding up banners made of sheets and chanting 'Germany, Germany' and 'Mama Merkel,' referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel whom they see as sympathetic to their plight.

About 13,000-14,000 people are stranded in Idomeni.

In exchange for stopping the influx, Davutoglu demanded a doubling of EU funding through 2018 to help Syrian refugees stay in Turkey and a commitment to take in one Syrian refugee directly from Turkey for each one returned from Greece's Aegean islands, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

Throwing punches: Frustrated refugees in Idomeni have occasionally blocked freight trains from passing down the tracks for hours. Several are seen trying to break up a fight at a camp in the Greek village

A migrant waiting to cross the Greek-Macedonian border is said to have got into a fight over a loaf of bread

He also sought to bring forward visa liberalisation for Turks to June from late this year and to open more negotiating chapters in Turkey's long-stalled EU accession process.

An emergency EU-Turkey summit, originally due to last half a day, was extended to give Davutoglu a chance to present the new ideas that went beyond Ankara's commitments so far.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's chief of staff said on Twitter that good progress had been made in the difficult talks and 'a breakthrough during this night is possible'.

Meanwhile, David Cameron today declared there is 'no prospect' of Britain joining a common European Union asylum system and stressed that the UK keeps its own borders to prevent migrants getting into the country.
A convenience store clerk in Texas had a close call during an attempted robbery recently after he was saved from being shot by a bulletproof partition.

The black male suspect entered the store in Houston around 11.25am armed with a semi-automatic pistol.

He demanded money, but the employee refused to comply, standing his ground safe behind the bulletproof glass.

In video obtained by Live Leak, the suspect becomes angry and starts yelling at the clerk, and at one point tries to get behind the counter through a door, which is locked.

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Attempted robbery: The black male suspect entered the store in Houston around 11.25am armed with a semi-automatic pistol, but the employee refused to comply, remaining behind his partition

Demands: In the footage the suspect can be seen demanding money, however the clerk just stands there

Shots fired: As the man leaves, he fires off at least one round at the counter, which is caught by the bulletproof glass partition

Exasperated, the man eventually gives up and leaves the store.

However, after walking out the door, he returns and fires a shot at the counter from the door.

Fortunately for the clerk, the bullet was stopped by the partition.

The suspect then fled. The incident occurred on January 22.

He is described as a black male with a tattoo on his chest, approximately 60 tall, 200 lbs., wearing a black jacket with white designs, black shirt, gray pants and a black dorag.

Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to call 713-222TIPS (8477)
Most common drug behind the 1,226 deaths were opiates

The number of drug-related deaths in Germany rose by nearly 19 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014. The most common fatality-causing drug were opiates

German police have said they are too busy managing the country's influx of migrants to fight drug crime, as new figures showed a leap in drug-related deaths in 2015.

Across the country last year, there were 1,226 narcotics-related deaths - a nationwide increase of 18.8 per cent since 2014.

Opiates, either taken alone or mixed with other drugs, were behind the majority of these deaths, according to police figures revealed in Welt am Sonntag.

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said that officers were seizing smaller amounts of illegal substances because of a 'lower control capacity probably due to an increased use of police forces connected to the refugee issue'.

It is the third year in a row which has seen an increase in the number of people dying from drugs - but in 2013 and 2014 the rise was in the single figures.

The number of people being caught in possession of hard drugs for the first time has risen by 4 per cent on 2014 - particularly amphetamines, heroin and cocaine.

Police seized far less crystal meth, largely smuggled in from the Czech Republic, than in previous years, however.

German police presented the new figures to the Interior Ministry, and said that they were seizing smaller amounts of drugs because they were concentrating on the migrant crisis. (Above, asylum seekers waiting to register in Berlin, file photo)

Parts of the country which saw the sharpest rise in deaths were the eastern state of Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north east, and the small, western state of Saarland.

These three states said that deaths had as much as doubled since 2014.

Police in the large southern state of Bavaria also said they had seized smaller amounts of drugs than in previous years.

The capital Berlin, as well as Bremen and Hamburg were the worst-affected cities, according to the official figures, which were presented to the Interior Ministry.

While the BKA has pointed the blame at the country's growing refugee issue, experts believe other reasons could be behind the spike.

Police in the eastern state of Saxony and the southern state of Bavaria specifically said they were confiscating fewer drugs in comparison to other years

Drugs policy spokesman for Socialist opposition party Die Linke said that blaming the migrant crisis was 'nonsense' as there was no correlation between levels of drug consumption and the level of narcotic policing.

'If you arrest one dealer, a new one will almost immediately take his place,' Mr Tempel told The Local.

He added that the spike could have been caused by a current drop in the price of heroin due to the market being flooded.

'The user doesnt know what the quantity is theyre consuming,' he said. 'If they are used to a low quality of the drug then this can be fatal - it doesnt come with a quality control sticker.'

Germany is central to Europe's current migrant crisis and in January alone, there were 91,671 applications for asylum registered in the country.

In 2015, at least 1.1 million people entered the country due to the Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy.
A rowdy group of Bernie Sanders supporters urged the Democratic presidential candidate to call Donald Trump a 'racist' this afternoon as he went into his shtick against his GOP opponent.

Sanders had just finished talking about Trump 'insulting' women and minorities and how President Barack Obama 'has been subjected to not only more obstructionism...but it has sometimes gone further than that,' when members of his audience began hurling the 'r' word at Trump and the Republicans.

'Call it what it is - it's racism,' one man yelled, as several others shouted 'racist.'

A rowdy group of Bernie Sanders supporters urged the Democratic presidential candidate to call Donald Trump a 'racist' this afternoon as he went into his shtick against his GOP opponent

Sanders had just finished talking about Trump 'insulting' women and minorities and how President Barack Obama 'has been subjected to not only more obstructionism...but it has sometimes gone further than that,' when members of his audience began hurling the 'r' word at Trump and the Republicans

Bringing up Trump's birther movement against Obama, Sanders mused that opposition to the president 'might' have something to do skin color, leading to cheers from his audience.

'What he was trying to do was delegitimize the president of the United States,' Sanders said.

The presidential candidate pointed out in his remarks that a recent CNN poll shows him beating Trump by 12 points.

'The American people are not going to elect as president somebody who insults Muslims....that's not the kind of guy you elect president, somebody who insults Mexicans. our neighbors to the south,' he said.

Continuing, Sanders said, 'The American people are not going to elect a president who every day is insulting women' and 'African Americans.'

Earlier in his remarks, Sanders revealed that he met with a group of Arab American leaders this afternoon.

'If there is anything we are going to accomplish together...we are going to end bigotry in this county,' he said. 'The Donald Trumps and his friends are not going to prevail in scapegoating minorities in this country.'

He added,'They are not going to be successful in attacking and denigrating our Muslim friends and neighbors, or our Mexican friends and neighbors. They are not going to divide us up.'

Switching gears, Sanders said, 'What this campaign is about, is doing something something very, very radical in American politics - it is called telling the truth.

'And the truth is not always pleasant, and I wish I could tell you just wonderful things,' he said. 'But it is important for us to understand reality, because if we do not understand that reality it is in fact impossible for us to go forward.'

Sanders also tore into his immediate opponent, Hillary Clinton in his remarks, with a new aggressiveness over her support for trade deals he opposed, the money she took from Wall Street and a claim she made in last night's debate about his voting record.

The U.S. senator brought up Clinton's pay-day from Wall Street and said she must have given executives 'brilliant' speeches for the amount they were willing to pay.

'And if it is such a brilliant speech, surely you're gonna want to share that with millions of people,' he said.

SUPPORTERS: Sanders was chased down after the event by his young supporters, hoping to get a picture

Each time he mentioned Clinton, his fiery audience booed her, over and over again.

He listed off the major inter-government financial deals of the last 25 years and said, 'Hillary Clinton has supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade policies.'

'Booo,' said the audience.

Sanders also called her out for claiming in last night's debate that he was against the auto bailout that rescued Michigan's economy.

The Vermont senator actually voted for that bill. What he opposed was a broader piece of legislation to bail out the big banks that included some money for the auto industry.

His version of the story: 'In order to kind of hide her posiitons on trade, Secretary Clinton announced that I was an opponent of the bailout.

'That is absolutely untrue,' Sanders said today.

The lawmaker said, 'There was one vote, in terms of whether or not we bailed out the auto industry. I voted for that bailout, in support of th workers in the automobile industry.'
Michael Bloomberg is expected to make an announcement as to whether he will will enter the 2016 race for president within the next two weeks.

The successful businessman currently heads Bloomberg LP, which has grown to nearly 19,000 employees worldwide and added more than 1,000 in New York alone during the past two years.

The 74-year-old is mulling a new leadership structure at the company that would allow him to eventually step aside - a move similar to the one he made when he ran for New York City mayor in 2001.

The recent restructuring has raised speculation as to whether the media mogul will join the 2016 race for the White House.

Michael Bloomberg, 74, is mulling a new leadership structure at the company that would allow him to eventually step aside - a move similar to the one he made when he ran for New York City mayor in 2001

But his aides say no final decision regarding a campaign has been reached.

The billionaire told close friends and family members that he would be willing to put $1million of his own funds into a campaign and that he plans to make an announcement - if he runs or not - in March, according to the New York Times.

In order to run, Bloomberg would need more than 900,000 signatures in order to be represented as an independent candidate in all 50 states in November.

Last month he told The Financial Times that he was 'looking at all the options' when asked about a possible bid.

'I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters,' Bloomberg said, adding that the US deserved 'a lot better'.

He never planned on a second act at Bloomberg LP, which he founded in 1981 and left 20 years later after being elected mayor of New York City.

After serving three terms at City Hall, Bloomberg insisted he was leaving the business and political worlds behind and would focus on his new grandchild and on using his philanthropic foundation to give away most of his $38billion fortune, including for pet causes like climate change and gun control.

But while he gave away $510million last year, the pull of the business world proved too strong.

The recent restructuring of Bloomberg has raised speculation as to whether the media mogul will join the 2016 race for the White House

In the fall of 2014, Daniel Doctoroff, Bloomberg's former deputy mayor and chosen successor who directed the company's news division to target an expanded audience, stepped aside and Bloomberg assumed command again.

'When Mike left office, he officially had no role at the company. He wasn't even on the board,' said Kevin Sheekey, head of external relations at Bloomberg LP and one of the ex-mayor's top political aides. 'But Mike slowly began to get re-engaged with the day-to-day operations of the company and then (when he took over) once again very quickly became a very hands-on CEO.'

Bloomberg LP is putting the finishing touches on its European headquarters in London while the former mayor has ventured to the Middle East and Asia to expand the business.

And while he was rumored to be considering purchasing The Financial Times, he decided to stay away from the media ventures, instead sinking $800million to buy Barclays Index business.

The company did, however, expand its own news division, which now has more than 2,400 people in its editorial department.

Those journalists now have a dilemma: how to cover the possible presidential run of the man who has been signing their paychecks?

To this point, the news division has followed its long-standing policy of not originating stories about the company's founder to avoid a conflict of interest.
Virginia senators approved a bill allowing death row inmates to be forcibly killed by electric chair if no lethal injection drugs are available (file image)

Virginia senators have voted to bring back forced electric chair executions amid a shortage of drugs used for lethal injections.

Legislators in the Republican-dominated Senate approved the measure with a 22-17 vote Monday, though Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe has not said whether he will sign the bill into law.

Virginia does still use electric chairs in executions, but under the old rules inmates were given a choice between lethal injection and the chair.

Under the new rules inmates would be forced into the chair if there were not enough drugs to be used in their execution.

Like many states, Virginia has struggled to obtain lethal-injection drugs in recent years because drug companies have protested their use in executions.

The short supply of the drugs has forced several states to pass or consider laws to bring back other methods of executions, such as electrocution and firing squads.

Supporters of the bill say death penalty foes are forcing the state's hand by making it more difficult to obtain lethal injections.

But opponents say forcing inmates into the electric chair will actually undermine the state's death penalty by putting the constitutionality of the law at risk.

'If you press the green button you're going to be sending us into a hail storm of legal chaos,' said Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, a staunch capital punishment opponent.

'When somebody is given the death penalty in this state, the state is simply charged with extinguishing a human life, not torturing someone brutally until they finally die.'

Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw countered that when offenders murder multiple people, they no longer deserve to be treated humanely.

'When you commit acts like that, you give you up your right to as far as I'm concerned to say "well I want to die humanely",' Saslaw said.

Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions.

The last Virginia inmate to choose the electric chair was 42-year-old Robert Gleason Jr., who was executed in 2013 after strangling two of his fellow prisoners.

Inmates in Virginia are currently offered a choice between lethal injection (execution chamber, pictured) and the electric chair, but new legislation would allow prison staff to force them into taking the electric chair

In 2014, Tennessee passed a similar law to the one approved in Virginia. Utah last year approved the use of firing squads for executions if drugs aren't available.

Oklahoma became the first state last year to approve nitrogen gas for executions if lethal injections become unavailable or is deemed unconstitutional.

None of the states have executed condemned inmates using those methods since the bills were passed.

Supporters of the Virginia bill had been using the impending execution of convicted murder Ricky Gray to make their case for the bill, noting that the state has said it doesn't have enough lethal injection drugs to put him to death.

But a federal appeals court put Gray's execution on hold last month until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to intervene.

The Republican-dominated House approved the bill with a 62-33 vote last month.
A transgender woman has been jailed for three years after hoarding hand grenades and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in her home - but police are still mystified as to why she did it.

Counter-terrorism officers stormed Heather Exley's 155,000 semi-detached house in April 2014 and found improvised hand grenades, bullets, explosive material and improvised detonators.

Leeds Crown Court heard that after she was charged the 45-year-old then flew to Thailand to undergo gender re-alignment surgery while on bail.

Mystery: A transgender woman has been jailed for three years after hoarding hand grenades (pictured) and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in her home - but police are still unsure as to why she did it

Counter-terrorism officers stormed Heather Exley's 155,000 semi-detached house in Liversedge, West Yorkshire (pictured), in April 2014 and found improvised hand grenades, bullets amd explosive material

Robin Frieze, representing Exley, said his client had been going through the process of transitioning from a man to a woman for five to six years.

She was trusted on bail to return to the UK and had now undergone most of the surgery required and 'can get on with her life,' the court was told.

Police said Exley's hoarding of the explosives posed a clear danger to a residential area but officers admit they still do not know what her motivation was for storing the items.

Mr Frieze said: 'Initially when all this was found there was a suspicion it was linked to terrorism.'

He said the police had therefore made thorough checks and it was accepted there was no sinister or ulterior motive for the explosives and ammunition.

Busted: Ammunition (pictured), explosive material such as PETN and improvised detonators were all found

Haul: Leeds Crown Court heard that after she was charged the 45-year-old then flew to Thailand to undergo gender re-alignment surgery while on bail. Pictured are the pistol clips and webbing found at Exley's home

EXLEY'S HAUL OF HAND GRENADES, BULLETS AND EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL 2,000 rounds of ammunition including cartridges, hollow point bullets and soft nose bullets;

Improvised hand grenades;

Explosive material such as PETN;

Improvised detonators;

Partially constructed hand grenades. Advertisement

Exley had an interest in militaria and chemicals and made items at her home and then did not know what to do with them, the court heard.

The North East Counter Terrorism Unit said officers attended Exley's home in Liversedge, West Yorkshire, as part of a drugs inquiry. Concerns had also been expressed by the Post Office about chemicals being transported through the mail.

Specialists searched the house for a number of days following the initial discovery of ammunition, hand grenades and other explosive material such as PETN - a powerful secondary explosive which if detonated by itself could cause serious if not fatal injuries but would not be subject to spontaneous combustion.

The ammunition found included one single round of .40 Smith and Wesson, which had been modified with a hole drilled in the nose so it would expand on impact, and 16 jacketed hollow point soft nose bullets again designed to expand on impact.

Exley was charged with 10 offences under the Explosives Act and three offences under the Firearms Act and pleaded guilty to all the offences in November last year.

Police said Exley's hoarding of the explosives and bullets (pictured) posed a clear danger to a residential area but officers admit they still do not know what her motivation was for storing the items

Jailing her for three years, Judge James Spencer QC said Exley knew what she was doing was illegal.

He added: 'I have read the report that this was something of an obsession you had and the reason ascribed to it whether over-compensation for other problems does not mitigate this.'

The judge said it was accepted her motives were not sinister but she could have come under pressure from others who learnt of it or it could have been stolen by others with sinister motives.

'It is the potential for harm caused by the possession of such a quantity of such material,' he added.

Mr Frieze told the court that following discussions with the Home Office it was anticipated Exley would serve her jail term in New Hall prison for women at Flockton in West Yorkshire.

Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: 'I hope today's outcome at court sends a message to the public that the possession of highly volatile chemicals and explosives is not only extremely dangerous but is also likely to constitute a serious criminal offence.

'Exley had stored these chemicals and explosives in a house in a well-populated residential area and there is no knowing what might have happened had they been ignited, either accidentally or deliberately.

'It is still not clear what Exley's motives were for obtaining the chemicals, or possessing large quantities of ammunition without the appropriate certification.
A woman in northern China has accused her boyfriend of brutally beating her across the head over burnt bread, causing her to fall into a coma.

Chinese media had portrayed the man named Liu Fenghe as a loving, selfless man who spent 200,000 yuan (21,690) on Lin Yingying's treatment.

However, when she awoke from her coma, she accused him of causing the injury which had put her in the hospital, Huanqiu, affiliated with the People's Daily Online reports. What's more, it wasn't the first time he's hit her.

Not what it originally seems: Liu Fenghe pictured with his girlfriend who says he beat her unconscious

The man was labelled a hero after he vowed to stay by his girlfriend's side and borrowed money for treatment

The 24-year-old Liu Fenghe from Dalian, Liaoning province was hailed by Chinese media as a model partner for his injured girlfriend who fell into a coma in September 2014.

He spent around 200,000 yuan (21,690) on Lin's medical treatment and said he would take care of her for the rest of her life.

He told reporters at the time: 'I want to take care of her for the rest of her life. Even if I have to push her around in a wheelchair, I would be happy'.

They had repeatedly asked Liu how she had managed to hit her head however, he was reluctant to answer each time.

Doctors said her head was smashed from falling from at least five storeys.

Duped: She told her family that he became angry when she burnt some bread in a cake shop they ran together

In January last year, the woman was taken home by her boyfriend so that they could care for her. She still remained in a vegetative state.

At the time, the family recalled being denied access to her when they visited.

In February, the family decided to take her home to care for her themselves.

However, just three months later, she started to talk and informed them that it was Liu that had beaten her into a coma.

The pair ran a cake shop together and according to the woman, she had burnt 20 loaves of bread by accident on that fateful day.

She said that Liu was furious with her and grabbed a heavy rolling pin and beat her on the back of the head with it.

Tragic: After being taken home by her parents, she regained consciousness and told her parents Liu beat her

The woman remembers falling to the floor and her ears pounding and then hearing Liu call the ambulance.

It also wasn't the first time that he had attacked her.

In September 2013, she was playing a game on her mobile phone when Liu violently grabbed the phone and smashed it on the ground before threatening to beat her.

The violence continued. During one of the beatings, she was so badly bruised that she stayed in a hotel to hide the marks from her parents.
Forget mosquitoes, archaeologists have uncovered a haul of ancient lizards trapped in amber, which would have walked the Earth with the dinosaurs.

In scenes reminiscent of Jurassic Park - where experts find mosquitoes in solidified amber - scientists have found fossilised geckos and chameleons, frozen in time almost 100 million years ago.

The collection of 12 lizards, which was found in the jungles of Kachin state in Myanmar, date back to the Cretaceous period.

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A collection of 12 fossilised lizards preserved in amber for almost 100 million years (pictured) could help scientists to solve mysteries about the lizard family tree. Scientists believe the finds, which pre-date dinosaurs such as T-Rex and Triceratops, may be the oldest and most diverse find of tropical lizards ever discovered

Scientists believe the palaeontological treasures, which pre-date dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Triceratops, may be the oldest and most diverse find of tropical lizards ever discovered.

Tree amber can provide a valuable window into the past.

As the lizards scuttled onto trees they would have been trapped by the sticky sap, eventually becoming entombed in their golden time capsules as it hardened.

While not so great for the animals, it offers near perfect preservation of their delicate bodies for scientists to study their form and variation.

Tree amber can provide a valuable window into the past, like the iconic mosquito trapped in amber in the film Jurassic Park (still pictured) which held dinosaur DNA. As the lizards scuttled onto trees they would have been trapped by the sticky sap, eventually becoming entombed in their golden time capsules as it hardened

The amber has perfectly preserved the soft tissue and bones of the animals, for example, giving scientists a snapshot of ancestors of modern lizards.

ANCIENT LIZARDS FROZEN IN TIME The collection of 12 lizards was found in the jungles of Myanmar and date back to the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago. The amber has perfectly preserved the soft tissue and bones of the animals, giving scientists a snapshot of ancestors of modern lizards. Genetic analysis has suggested modern lizards first evolved 100 million years ago, and complete fossils of lizards from this time are rare. Two of the fossils were found to be related to modern geckos and chameleons. The researchers said that while further analysis is needed to tease out details, their collection could help to resolve ambiguities in the lizard family tree. Advertisement

Writing in the journal Science Advances, the team explain: 'This is critical because most lizards are small-bodied, and small size has been suggested as a feature that has led to the diversification and success of this group.'

Genetic analysis has suggested modern lizards first evolved around 100 million years ago, and complete fossils of lizards from this time are rare.

Two of the fossils were found to be related to modern geckos and chameleons.

Led by scientists at the Sam Houston State University of Texas, the team showed that the sticky toe pads, which modern geckos use to cling to surfaces were already present in their ancient gecko relative, suggesting this biological trick evolved much earlier than previously thought.

The team used micro CT scans to peer into the amber and analyse the bones and soft tissue of the lizards.

They wrote: 'The geckos confirm that not only were adhesive toe pads present by the mid-Cretaceous, but they were already diverse in structure,' adding that this suggests a 'significantly earlier origin' of the adaptations.

The collection of 12 lizards, which was found in the jungles of Kachin state in Myanmar (located on map), date back to the Cretaceous period almost 100 million years ago

The perfectly preserved samples pre-date dinosaurs such as the Triceratops (left) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (pictured right) and may be the oldest and most diverse find of tropical lizards ever discovered

One of the specimens has its tongue sticking out and this reveals the structure to be unlike any snake or lizard known.

While another has the bone structure of a baby chameleon, which pre-dates earliest known fossils of this group of lizard by more than 75 million years.

Dr Juan Daza, a researcher at Sam Houston State University in Texas and lead author, told New Scientist: 'One of them is perhaps the best fossil gecko that is known in the world...we started looking at the characteristics we describe in modern species, and none of those match.'

The researchers said that while further analysis is needed to tease out details, their collection could help to resolve ambiguities in the lizard family tree.

Two of the fossils were found to be related to modern geckos (pictured) and chameleons. The researchers said that while further analysis is needed to tease out details, their collection could help to resolve ambiguities in the lizard family tree
The idea might seem to belong in Harry Potter, but invisibility cloaks could soon be found in real life.

A group of engineers has invented a flexible, stretchable material that can hide an object from the eyes of radar detectors.

The so-called 'meta material' could coat the surface of the next-generation of stealth aircraft and the researchers are hoping to extend its 'cloaking' properties to include visible light, too.

A group of researchers has invented a flexible and stretchable metamaterial-based 'skin' or meta-skin with tunable cloaking effects in the microwave frequency range. The material is made up of rows of rings, with a radius of 0.1 inches (2.5mm) and gaps of 0.04 inches (1mm). It could also be adapted to hide from visible light

Radar is a way of detecting objects using radio waves or microwaves.

The waves are transmitted by the device and objects in their path reflect them back to the radar receiver, which can tell how far away the objects are or how fast they are moving.

The technology is used for detecting aircraft, spaceships, motor vehicles and missiles, for example.

The new metamaterial-based skin, or 'meta-skin', developed by a group from Iowa State University, is a kind of radar invisibility cloak that will trap radio or microwaves so would not show up under a radar detector.

The idea of an invisibility cloak might seem to belong in Harry Potter (scene pictured) but soon it could be found in real life after researchers designed a new 'meta-skin'. The material can hide from radar detectors and one day, the researchers said, they hope it will work on visible light

HOW THE MATERIAL WORKS The material is made up of rows of rings, with a radius of 0.1 inches (2.5mm) and gaps of 0.04 inches (1mm), filled with a metal alloy that is a liquid at room temperature called galinstan. The rings create electric inductors, which resist changes in current passing through them, and the gaps create capacitors, which store electrical energy in a temporary electric field. Together they create a resonator that can trap and suppress radar waves at a certain frequency. Stretching the material changes the size of the liquid metal rings inside, so changes the frequency the devices suppress. The liquid-filled rings in the meta-skin create electric inductors, which resist changes in current passing through them, and the gaps create capacitors.Stretching the material changes the size of the liquid metal rings inside, so changes the frequency the devices suppress Advertisement

It can be tuned to the specific wavelength of electromagnetic waves by stretching and flexing the skin.

The cloak is made from metamaterials, the name for composite materials that have properties not found in nature.

The specific metamaterials used for the cloak can manipulate electromagnetic waves.

'It is believed that the present meta-skin technology will find many applications in electromagnetic frequency tuning, shielding and scattering suppression,' the engineers wrote in their paper.

The material is made up of rows of rings, with a radius of 0.1 inches (2.5mm) and gaps of 0.04 inches (1mm), filled with a metal alloy that is a liquid at room temperature called galinstan.

The diagram shows the experimental setup for measuring the radar detected from a nylon rod wrapped in the new meta-skin.

The diagram shows the fabrication process flow for the meta-skin. The material can trap radar waves and one day, the researchers said, the meta-skin could coat the surface of the next generation of stealth aircrafts

The rings create electric inductors, which resist changes in current passing through them, and the gaps create capacitors, which store electrical energy in a temporary electric field.

Together they create a resonator that can trap and suppress radar waves at a certain frequency.

Stretching the material changes the size of the liquid metal rings inside, so changes the frequency the devices suppress.

In the range of frequency between 8 and 10 GHz, part of the spectrum used for things like cable and satellite TV and radar devices, the material suppressed about 75 per cent of the radar waves

INVISIBILITY CLOAKS IN THE MOVIES In Harry Potter, Dumbledore returns Harry's father's invisibility cloak to Harry as a Christmas present during his first year at Hogwarts. Harry uses the cloak throughout the series to sneak around the school. In 2002 Bond film Die Another Day, Bond's Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, can become invisible. Its "adaptive camouflage" cloaking system, allowed Pierce Brosnan to press a button and disappear his speedster, at least to the naked eye. And, although not technically a cloak, in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings films, after being introduced in The Hobbit the ring of power makes those that wear it invisible. Advertisement

In the range of frequency between 8 and 10 GHz, part of the super high frequency radio waves used for things like cable and satellite TV, microwave cookers, amateur radio and most modern radar devices, the material suppressed about 75 per cent of the radar waves.

'This meta-skin technology is different from traditional stealth technologies that often only reduce the backscattering, i.e., the power reflected back to a probing radar,' the paper said.

One day, the researchers explained, the meta-skin could coat the surface of the next generation of stealth aircraft.

They also hope in the long term that the devices will be able to be used on higher frequency electromagnetic waves, such as visible light or infrared, making a real invisibility cloak.
It hit the Earth with the power of more than a billion nuclear bombs and is thought to have sparked a global cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs.

Now the secrets of an asteroid that hit our planet 66 million years ago are to be probed by scientists who plan to drill down into the enormous crater it left behind.

The International Ocean Discovery Program is to embark upon an expedition to take rock core samples from the heart of the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico.

An asteroid more than six miles across is thought to have smashed into the Earth 66 million years ago killing off the dinosaurs (illustrated). Scientists now plan to drill more than 4,921ft (1,500 metres) down into the crater left by the asteroid to try to unravel how life recovered after the devastating impact

They hope by delving down to the shattered rocks at the bottom of the crater they may be able to find clues about how life recovered in the wake of the devastating impact.

According to some estimates around three quarters of the life on Earth was snuffed out by the mass extinction that followed the asteroid impact.

WHAT DID KILL THE DINOSAURS? While there have been many theories for what killed off the dinosaurs - from an asteroid strike to massive volcanic eruptions - recent research suggests it may have been a combination of disasters. The creatures' 160 million year long reign is thought to have been ended by a double-whammy when the shockwave from the meteor impact caused a storm of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes around the world. Much of the planet would also have been blanketed in dust, meaning plant life could have struggled for years, having a widespread impact on the food chain. Researchers recently announced they had found evidence that a string of volcanoes in a region of India known as the Deccan Traps doubled their activity around 50,000 years after the Chicxulub impact. They blanketing the Earth with sulphurous gas and dust. Together, the impact and volcanism caused a dramatic change in climate as the sun's rays were blanketed out in a version of the 'nuclear winter' predicted to follow a global nuclear war. Advertisement

It was an event that ended the rule of the dinosaurs and allowed mammals to dominate the land.

Yet scientists also believe the crater created by the impact may have become home to some unique forms of microbial life.

They hope that hidden within the rock sample will be signs of these microbes along with details of how life returned to the area in rock and sediment that has accumulated since.

A specially equipped drilling platform will be sailed to a point 18 miles (29km) off the shore of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to begin drilling down to the crater.

It will have to pass through 55ft (17 metres) of water and 1,640ft (500 metres) of limestone which has been deposited since the impact before drilling down a further 3,280 feet (1km).

Each 10ft-long (3-metre) core sample will be analysed for changes in rock type and searched for tiny fossils, and perhaps even DNA, trapped the rock.

David Smith, the International Ocean Discovery Program's operations manager at the British Geological Survey, told the journal Science: 'We've got one shot to try and get this down to 1,500 metres (4,921 feet).'

The researchers plan to drill through the day and night for two months to reach their goal once they start in April.

The expedition is being led by the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program.

They hope to unravel some of the processes that cause structures known as peak rings -rough circular hills that form around the centre - to appear in large impact structures.

These are commonly seen in craters on the Moon but the Chicxulub is the only one known on Earth where the impact ring, which sits inside the main impact crater, still remains.

The researchers will sail 18 miles (29km) off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to drill into the peak ring of the Chicxulub crater (illustrated)

The researchers hope to drill 4,920 feet down into the rock beneath the impact site (illustrated) to learn about how life got going again after the devastating asteroid collision

Scientists first discovered the Chicxulub crater after gravity maps revealed an anomaly just off the coast of Mexico. They reveal the extent of the crater and the peak ring inside (pictured)

The Chicxulub asteroid is estimated to have been more than nine miles (14.5km) across.

The initial crater would have formed within a few seconds, creating a hole 60 miles (100km) wide and more than 18 miles (30km) deep.

In the minutes following the impact, this would have then collapsed to form a final crater more than 124 miles (200km) wide and 1 mile (1.5km) deep.

It was discovered when oil prospectors were searching for possible locations for drilling during the 1960s, although it was not made public until 1981.

THE CHICXULUB DRILLING PLAN The Chicxulub asteroid is thought to have been more than nine miles (14.5km) across and left a crater more than 124 miles (200km) across and 1 mile (1.5km) deep. It was discovered when oil prospectors were searching for possible locations for drilling during the 1960s, although it was not made public until 1981. At about the same time, scientists had discovered a thin layer of iridium appears to have fallen around the world - a material that can come from asteroids  at the end of the Cretaceous period. A specially equipped drilling platform will be sailed to a point 18 miles (29km) off the shore of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to begin drilling down to the crater. It will have to pass through limestone which has been deposited since the impact before drilling down a further 3,280 feet (1km). Each 10ft-long (3-metre) core sample will be analysed for changes in rock type and searched for tiny fossils, and perhaps even DNA, trapped the rock. Advertisement

At about the same time scientists had discovered a thin layer of iridium appear to have fallen around the world - a material that can come from asteroids  at the end of the Cretaceous period.

It has led to a widespread acceptance an asteroid impact was responsible for killing off the dinosaurs.

But exactly how life on the planet recovered, and how quickly, from the disaster has remained mired in mystery.

The researchers now hope the rock samples they will obtain from the impact crater could provide some clues about what followed the impact and what enabled some life to survive.

They expect that around 2,130ft to 2,630ft (650-800 metres) down, they expect to see fewer and fewer shell producing animals fossilised in the limestone as life was still recovering from the impact.

Some scientists believe the impact could have caused the oceans to become acidified by releasing carbon dioxide, so they also plan to look at whether the species that did survive were more tolerant of water with higher acidification.

It is also thought the fractured rocks at the bottom of the crater could also have become a hotspot for life shortly after the ipact.

Geophysical data obtained from satellites have suggested the rock in the peak ring is less dense than granite should, which suggests it is porous and cracked.

These cracks could have filled with hot liquid, making them a perfect place for bacterial to thrive, according to Charles Cockell, an astrobiologist at the University of Edinburgh taking part in the study.

The researchers will use a drilling platform (drilling platform from a previous expedition pictured) to drill out rock cores from 4,921 feet beneath the sea bed.

The Chicxubub impact created a 110-mile wide crater with a feature known as peak rings - rough circular hills that form around the centre of the crater. the animation above shows how the crater formed following the impact (Credit: University of Arizona/Space Imagery Center)

The crater (illustrated) was discovered when oil prospectors were searching for drilling locations during the 1960s, although it was not made public until 1981. At the same time scientists discovered a thin layer of iridium appears to have fallen around the world - a material that can come from asteroids  in the Cretaceous period

He told Science: 'Those will be the preferred spots for microbes to grow, but it depends whether the fractures have energy and nutrients.'

The researchers will examine veins of minerals and fractures in their rock cores, searching them for signs of life that might still be living there.

Professor Sean Gulick, a geophysicist at the University of Texas, said the drilling could reveal how life on Earth recovered after the impact.
Encryption underpins the security of bank cards, state secrets and online privacy.

By using large sets of numbers, the process of encoding information means that only the person, or computer, with the key can decode it.

But this could be put to the test after scientists developed the first five-atom quantum computer with the potential to crack the security of traditional encryption schemes.

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Researchers have developed the first five-atom quantum computer with the potential to crack the security of traditional encryption schemes. Stock image. The researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Austria's University of Innsbruck call it 'the beginning of the end for encryption schemes'

The researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Austria's University of Innsbruck call it 'the beginning of the end for encryption schemes'.

Most encryption used today uses integer factorisation, or 'the factoring problem', and its security comes from the difficulty of factoring large numbers.

For example, finding the prime factors, or multipliers, for the number 15 is fairly easy as it's a small number.

However, a larger number such as 91, may take some pen and paper.

An even larger number, say with 232 digits, has taken scientists two years to factor, using hundreds of classical computers operating in parallel.

Qubits can exist in three states at once rather than the binary 1 or 0 of conventional bits - 'up', 'down' and in a 'superposition' of both. This means that, unlike standard computers, quantum computers can perform multiple calculations in parallel and hold far more information than normal bits

In encryption, two different, but intimately related numbers, are used for the encryption and decryption, making it easy to calculate but hard to reverse.

QUANTUM ENCRYPTION In computer encryption, two related numbers are used for the encryption and decryption, making it easy to calculate but hard to reverse. But quantum computers are expected to outperform traditional computers and crack this problem by using hundreds of atoms, essentially in parallel, to quickly factor huge numbers because data is encoded in the 'spin' of individual electrons. Unlike standard computers, quantum bits, or qubits can exist in multiple states at once rather than the binary 1 or 0 of conventional bits. This means they can perform multiple calculations in parallel and hold far more information than normal bits. Advertisement

However, a quantum computer is expected to outperform traditional computers and crack this problem by using hundreds of atoms, essentially in parallel, to quickly factor huge numbers because data is encoded in the 'spin' of individual electrons.

Unlike standard computers, quantum bits, or qubits can exist in multiple states at once rather than the binary 1 or 0 of conventional bits.

This means they can perform multiple calculations in parallel and hold far more information than normal bits.

For example, a computer with just 1,000 qubits could easily crack modern encryption keys while smartphone games like Angry Birds typically use 40,000 conventional bits to run.

It typically takes about 12 qubits to factor the number 15, but researchers at MIT and the University of Innsbruck in Austria have found a way to pare that down to five qubits, each represented by a single atom.

This has been designed and built by a quantum computer from five atoms in an ion trap.

Encryption is used to protect sensitive information on as it is transferred from computer to computer, such as for internet banking (stock image). But quantum computing looks set to shake things up. The current computer uses laser pulses to carry out algorithms on each atom, to correctly factor the number 15

The computer uses laser pulses to carry out algorithms on each atom, to correctly factor the number 15.

'The approach thus provides the potential for designing a powerful quantum computer, but with fewer resources,' said the research paper.

QUANTUM COMPUTER ON A CHIP In a 'triumph of electrical engineering,' a team of Australian engineers recently squashed any doubts about the forthcoming reality of quantum computers, finding answers to a phenomenon that even perplexed Einstein. The engineers from Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) proved that quantum computer code can be written and manipulated using two quantum bits in a silicon microchip - and they proved it with the highest score ever achieved. The breakthrough could pave the way for the first commercial manufacture of the 'holy grail' of superfast computing. Advertisement

'We factor the number 15 by effectively employing and controlling seven qubits and four 'cache qubits' and by implementing generalised arithmetic operations, known as modular multipliers.'

The system is designed in a way that more atoms and lasers can be added to build a bigger and faster quantum computer, able to factor much larger numbers.

The scientists said the results represent the first scalable implementation of Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm named after mathematician Peter Shor in 1994 to solve the factorisation problem.

'We show that Shor's algorithm, the most complex quantum algorithm known to date, is realisable in a way where, yes, all you have to do is go in the lab, apply more technology, and you should be able to make a bigger quantum computer,' said Isaac Chuang, professor of physics and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.

'It might still cost an enormous amount of money to build - you won't be building a quantum computer and putting it on your desktop anytime soon - but now it's much more an engineering effort, and not a basic physics question.'
Brain scans showed they had distinct patterns of activity in key areas

This leads them to find similar noises threatening even when they are safe

They struggled to distinguish sounds from those linked a negative event

Most of us know someone who lives in a perpetual state of worry, but while we may think they often fret unnecessarily, it seems they really do see the world as a more dangerous place.

Psychologists have discovered anxious people perceive the world around them differently compared to those who do not suffer from such disorders.

This may lead to their tendency to over-generalise past unpleasant memories and superimpose these on their current situations.

People suffering from anxiety interpret sounds around them differently from others. Brain scans showed people with anxiety had greater activity in key areas of the brain, such as the anterior cingulate, auditory cortex and amygdala when listening to sounds associated with a negative event (left) or a positive event (right)

While some researchers have speculated this may simply be a 'better safe than sorry' choice made by anxious people, the new research suggests there is something deeper going on.

The findings indicate that anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress may actually alter the way brain experiences and perceives the world around it.

They discovered people with anxiety disorders struggle to distinguish sounds associated with a previous unpleasant memory from new sounds they have not heard before.

Brain scans also show they have higher levels of activity in key areas of the brain involved in distinguishing sounds and memory.

ARE YOU HARDWIRED TO WORRY? If you're prone to bouts of anxiety, constantly worry about the future or regularly get nervous, it could be down to your DNA. Researchers studying stressed chimps have found anxious behaviour can be linked to a variation in specific genes, as well as in the structure of their brains. The experts spotted these genes and structures vary across the sexes, with females with a higher density of grey matter being more prone to anxiety. They believe the findings could be used to study signs of mental conditions in apes and could even help to offer insight into human mental health. Researchers studied 76 chimps, looking at their scratching behaviour and brain regions. To make the chimps mildly stressed they showed them videos of unfamiliar chimps as they whooped and barked at each other excitedly after receiving a watermelon treat. Genetic samples were also taken from the animals, with analysis focused on one genetic element in particular, vasopressin. In males, more scratching was associated with lower levels of grey matter in certain regions of the brain. But in females, the increased scratching was associated with increased grey matter density. The findings also indicate the neurotransmitter vasopressin exerts stronger effects on male behaviour than in females. Advertisement

In the real world this could be why the noise of a car backfiring can sound like a gunshot to someone who is suffering from such an anxiety disorder, for example.

Speaking to MailOnline, Professor Rony Paz, a neurobiologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who led the work, said his team were also conducting experiments that suggest similar impacts may occur with eyesight.

He said: 'We have preliminary evidence that it does occur in vision as well.'

Writing in the journal Current Biology, he and his colleagues added: 'Our results suggest that overgeneralisation in anxiety has perceptual origins.

'Generalisation effects were due, at least in part, to fundamental changes in how patients perceived the stimulus and to what extent they could discriminate it from other stimuli.'

The researchers set up an experiment where volunteers suffering from generalised anxiety disorders were played different audio tones.

Each participant was given a pot of money and they had to correctly identify one of three tones.

Pressing a key after one tone would win them more money, pressing it after would have a zero outcome and if they did not press a key after the third they would lose money.

The aim was to condition the participants to associate the tones with positive or negative outcomes.

They were then later played a range of subtly different tones along with the original tones, but they were no longer linked to winning or losing money.

The researchers found that even though each of those taking part had normal hearing and memory, after the conditioning those with anxiety disorders found it harder to distinguish the sounds.

A group of controls who did not have anxiety did not suffer similar problems.

Professor Paz and his colleagues said the participants were overgeneralising what they were hearing based on their earlier experience with the test involving money.

Brain scans also helped to reveal what was going on in the volunteers as they learned to associate the tones with a loss or a gain.

People with anxiety (stock image pictured) tend to over-generalise, applying past experiences to their current situation even when they are not a like. Some researchers have speculated this could be a choice to take a 'better safe than sorry' approach, but the new research suggests it may have its roots deep in the brain

For some people, anxiety disorders can be debilitating condition as it prevents them from living their lives normally or taking decisions. It can also adversely effect their health (stock image pictured)

Those with anxiety problems had distinct patterns in their anterior cingulate cortex when undergoing the conditioning part of the test. Similar activity was then seen in the later tests.

The researchers found distinct patterns in the amygdala, which is involved in memory and emotions, and the auditory cortex of the anxious patients.

The researchers said these differences may lie behind the generalisation process  essentially the brain is encoding the sounds associated with negative memories in a way that makes their recall less accurate.

Professor Paz said there are a few options for what may be causing this.

He said: 'Their affective network - the amygdala, cingulate-cortex and more - are more active during learning in a way that is enough to induce plasticity in the amygdala and auditory cortex.

'Their amygdala and auditory cortex are more sensitive to plasticity by inputs from the affective network.

'Or it could be both of the above. Since we saw plasticity in both the amygdala and the auditory cortex, this is probably the case.

'In other words, interactions between the amygdala and the cortex might be stronger and more impacted by learning of emotional stimuli in these individuals.'

But he added that the response may not necessarily have a negative impact on people's lives.
There are said to be more than 55 accents in the UK alone, not to mention the thousands found in other countries.

But new research suggests we're not the only ones who talk to each other in a range of dialects.

After studying long-finned pilot whales, researchers have detected dialect differences similar to the way humans from a specific location have their own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

And they are honing on identifying which dialect comes from which region.

After studying long finned pilot whales (stock image), researchers have detected dialect differences similar to the way humans from a specific location or tribal group will have their own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. And they are honing on identifying which dialect comes from which region

A team of physicists and biologists from Ocean Sounds in Norway, Germany's Max Planck Institute, and the University of Gottingen, has developed an objective statistical method for analysing whale sounds.

'Previous studies have classified whale vocalisations mainly based on how humans perceive sounds or which aspects of a sound spectrum they find important, so they may be overlooking audio features that only whales are attuned to,' the team wrote in its paper.

The team followed six separate groups of long-finned pilot whales, through the waters off the coast of Norway, and recorded several hundred calls from each group.

Instead of individual call identification, the team analysed all calls recorded from a group, quantifying how the sound characteristics changed over time.

The team followed six separate groups of long-finned pilot whales, through the waters off the coast of Norway, and recorded several hundred calls from each group. Instead of individual call identification, the team analysed all calls recorded from a group, quantifying how the sound characteristics changed over time. Stock image

The results showed that differences between different groups were significantly larger than differences within a single group.

The researchers suggest a range of reasons for the development of whale dialects.

'It is important to recognise group members for offspring care, protection against predators, and cooperative social and feeding behaviour,' they wrote.

Whale and Dolphin Conservation said the scientists used computers to analyse a range of aspects of long-finned pilot whale communication, such as whistles, and then built up a 'set of rules' or patterns of communication.

Experts are also studying dolphins off the coast of Jersey to see whether different groups make different sounds, depending on where they are from

'Whales have their own cultures of communication, similar to the way a human might pick up an accent, or way of speaking, from parents,' said WDC

'The patterns of sounds of the various different groups of pilot whales studied in the waters around Norway indicated that each group 'talked' in its own particular way - with its own distinct dialect.'

'This research is yet another fascinating insight that reveals how these intelligent creatures live in their close social groups, some passing on knowledge from one generation to the next, and why WDC is working towards international recognition of the rights of whales and dolphins.'

Whales aren't the only marine animal to demonstrate such 'language' differences.

Scientists recently discovered dolphins also have regional accents.

Mammals that live in pods in certain areas off the coast of the UK have been spotted communicating with unique sounds.

The experts had already established dolphins off the coast of Wales use unique sounds to identify themselves to each other.

But in November, a group of marine biologists from the Marine Biology Section of Societe Jersiaise in the Channel Islands began studying dolphins in the water around Jersey to determine if these 'accents' are more widespread. .

To do this, hydrophones - microphones designed to be used underwater - will be placed in the waters around Jersey, which is home to the UK's largest resident dolphin population.

They will be fitted with SD cards to record noises, which scientists say will help them identify 'numbers, species and movements' of the mammals.

Researchers from the Marine Biology Section of Societe Jersiaise in the Channel Islands will compare the noises made by dolphins off the Channel Islands with those from elsewhere to see if they have 'accents'

Gareth Jeffreys, of Societe Jersiaise said: 'Different groups will have different accents.

'Using these recordings we can understand behaviour, as their clicks will change depending on whether they are feeding or just passing through.

'We can also use the information to identify species and recognise different groups.

'So it will give us a better idea about numbers, their behaviour and during what period they are passing by, as opposed to just having reports of sightings - which are still useful.'

He added: 'The first hydrophone will go in at the St Catherine's breakwater area, which is a prominent site for dolphins.

'We could possibly place the second one off the north coast somewhere, as people quite often see common dolphins there, as opposed to bottlenose dolphins. We haven't decided on the second location yet.'

They said the first hydrophone will go in at the St Catherine's breakwater area (shown on the map) which is a prominent site for dolphins. A second one may be placed off the north coast

The work follows a 2007 study which found that a pod of 240 dolphins off Welsh coasts had their own 'accents'.

It was discovered that their whistle was different to other dolphins around the British Isles.

At the time, project leader Simon Berrow said: 'We're really building up a dictionary of a whole range of sounds.

'There are whistles, clicks, barks, groans and a gunshot sound which they might use to stun their prey.

'We're trying to associate whistle types with different forms of behaviour - like foraging, resting, socialising and communicating with their young.

'One was distinctive and exclusive to the dolphins of Cardigan Bay.'
A mysterious labyrinth hidden beneath the city of Edinburgh might once have been a druid temple, according to an art expert.

Gilmerton Cove is a series of hand-carved passageways that wind under the streets and are thought to date back hundreds of years.

But the tunnels could be even older, according to a new theory that suggests they were part of a sacred temple built and then deliberately buried by ancient Druids.

The Druids were notorious for carrying out ritualistic animal and human sacrifices and if this site was a sacred temple, such sacrifices may have taken place there.

Gilmerton Cove is a series of hand-carved passageways which date back hundreds of years and wind beneath Edinburgh's cobbled streets. Over the years there has been much debate over the origins of the site, with some historians linking it to witchcraft, smugglers, Covenanters and the Knights Templar

The origin of the Gilmetron Cove site has been a source of contention for many years.

Historians have come up with a variety of suggestions for the origin of the tunnels - including witchcraft, smugglers, and some even linked them to the Knights Templar.

But the former head of Glasgow's museums and galleries, Julian Spalding and Iron Age archaeologist Euan Mackie are now claiming the tunnels originally were a temple built by druids that they deliberately buried to protect its sacred nature.

WHO BUILT GILMERTON COVE? Julian Spalding, ex head of Glasgow's museums and galleries, said the tunnels originally were a temple built by Druids that they deliberately re-filled to protect its sacred nature. 'The work is beautifully consistent throughout and indicates a team of highly-skilled craftsmen, with numerous assistants, guided by a mastermind,' he said. 'The arrangement of rooms and passages is elaborate and the dividing walls between them are remarkably thin.' 'The identification of Gilmerton Cove as a druid temple makes sense of all the evidence. Druids were known to meet in secret in woods and caves away from habitation.' Advertisement

The Cove was initially thought to have been carved out by George Paterson, a local blacksmith, between 1719 and 24, as a pub.

However, Mr Spalding and Dr MacKie believe it could be about 2,000 years old.

It now lies beneath an old cottage and betting shop in the heart of the former mining village.

The pair thinks Paterson dug out the Cove by removing the rubble in it, but he did not carve it himself.

They believe the excavated and carved temple had instead been deliberately re-filled in ancient times, a widespread practice which prevented the subsequent defilement of sacred sites.

'Priesthoods of that period buried their religious sites when they had to leave them to prevent them from future desecration,' a spokesman speaking on behalf of Mr Spalding told MailOnline.

The druids were priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators among the Celtic tribes in Britain.

Gilmerton Cove is a series of hand-carved passageways that wind under the streets and date back hundreds of years. It is based in Scotland's capital, at the location shown. The origin of the Gilmerton Cove site has been a source of contention for many years

Druidism is often as a shamanic religion, because it used a combination of contact with the spirit world and holistic medicines to treat, and sometimes cause, illnesses.

DRUID RITUALS AND SACRIFICE Most of what we know about druids comes from written material from the Romans, but these reports contain a mix of reporting and political propaganda, and often would portray the Celtic people as barbarians. Druids also used both animal and human sacrifice. In 61 AD the Romans exterminated the Druids of Anglesey, because of their human sacrifice, effectively destroying Druidism as a religious force until a form of Druidism was revived in the 19th century. The Druids were famous for conducting ceremonial sacrifices, securing peace deals and swearing oaths. They were also fortunetellers. Advertisement

The earliest known reference to the druids dates to 200 BCE, although the oldest actual description comes from the Roman military general Julius Caesar (50s BCE).

Most of what we know about druids comes from written material from the Romans, but these reports contain a mix of reporting and political propaganda, and often would portray the Celtic people as barbarians.

Druids also used both animal and human sacrifice.

In 61 AD the Romans exterminated the Druids of Anglesey, because of their human sacrifice, effectively destroying Druidism as a religious force until a form of Druidism was revived in the 19th century.

The Druids were famous for conducting ceremonial sacrifices, securing peace deals and swearing oaths. They were also fortunetellers.

Another unique feature of the Cove is several angled roof-shafts, some orientated east and west, which would have enabled the priests below to track the movements of the sun, moon, planets and stars, the pair said.

Historical records show the tunnels in Gilmerton Cove (pictured) were initially thought to have been created by a local blacksmith called George Paterson in 1724. But Mr Spalding said he believes Paterson simply dug out rubble used to fill in the remains of the temple, but didn't carve them himself

An 18th century illustration of a wicker man, the form of execution that Caesar alleged the Druids used for human sacrifice

Druids were secretive and were known to meet in caves and woods away from where people lived, which is why the pair think Druids might have hidden their temple underground.

They also never wrote their mysteries down, according to Spalding and Mackie, which explains the absence of any inscriptions in the Cove, apart from recent clumsy graffiti.

Druids were exempt from military duties, but their training took twenty years, and part of the Cove looks like it could well have been a school.

'This interpretation explains why two passages are still blocked by unexcavated rubble.

'It is inexplicable why Paterson should have filled them up after going to the immense trouble of excavating them,' he told the Scotsman.

'The work is beautifully consistent throughout and indicates a team of highly-skilled craftsmen, with numerous assistants, guided by a mastermind.'

'The arrangement of rooms and passages is elaborate and the dividing walls between them are remarkably thin.

'The identification of Gilmerton Cove as a druid temple makes sense of all the evidence. Druids were known to meet in secret in woods and caves away from habitation.

'Gilmerton is on a high ridge, marked with megaliths, overlooking Cramond, the site of mankind's earliest settlement in Scotland.'

Gilmerton Cove features several stone tables and chairs. Other theories about its origins include an illicit whisky still, a drinking den and even the home of an exclusive 18th century club.

It has become one of Edinburgh's most highly-rated tourist attractions since it opened in 2003.
With her brown hair, soft skin and expressive face, Nadine is a new brand of human-like robot that could one day, scientists hope, be used as a personal assistant or care provider for the elderly.

The 1.7-metre tall Nadine was created in the likeness of its maker, Nadia Thalmann, a visiting professor and director of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's Institute of Media Innovation who has spent three decades researching into virtual humans.

Nadine's software allows the robot to express a range of emotions and recall a previous conversation.

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Nadine (pictured left) is the next generation of social robots that may appear in offices and care homes in future. Developed by Professor Nadia Thalmann (pictured right), at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, the humanoid is capable or expressing emotions and remembering your last interaction

Nadine is not commercially available, but Thalmann predicted robots could one day be used as companions for people living with dementia.

'If you leave these people alone they will be going down very quickly.

'So these people need to always be in interaction,' Thalmann said, adding Nadine could provide conversation, tell a story or play a simple game.

Thalmann and her team are also working on emotive robots that can play with children.

The project is still in the early development stage and no prototype is available yet.

The child robot would be able to respond to questions, display emotions and recognize people.

Aside from being a social companion, the child robot could supervise unattended children and inform a parent or nanny if something went wrong, Thalmann said.

There are plans to program the child robot to speak different languages so that it can serve as an educational tool for children, she said.

'A child has toys but they are usually passive.

'This robot will be an active toy which interacts with the child,' said Thalmann.

'It will be able to remember what the child likes.'

Nadine is touted as the latest in a new generation of robots, capable of conversing with people, adapting their responses and remembering previous conversations.

The advanced robot is the creation of Professor Nadia Thalmann, director of the Institute for Media Innovation at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

According to Professor Thalmann, the humanoid has her own personality and is capable of displaying positive and negative moods and emotions.

A video of the robot in action sees her answer questions from her creator in a pseudo-emotional computerised Scottish accent.

'You are a beautiful and attractive social robot,' says Professor Thalmann.

To which Nadine replies: 'Thank you. You look attractive too.'

The android can also react appropriately to negative sentiments.

For instance, when Professor Thalmann says 'I hate you', Nadine replies with a chipper: 'Tell me more about that'.

The technology could let humans send their robot to work, while they stay at home. This is reminiscent of the robots in Surrogates, in which Bruce Willis and Rosumand Pike live their everyday lives through robotic versions of themselves, which they control from the safety of their homes (pictured)

THE RISE OF 'UNCANNY VALLEY' Nadine's lifelike features place her well within the 'uncanny valley' - the realm in which robots become just about human enough to be realistic. Researchers from the University of California in San Diego tested why we are creeped out by these robots. The gap between how we expect them to move and how they actually move causes confusion in the part of our brain which governs body movement. The parietal cortex connects the section of the brain which processes body movements to the part which deals with how we relate to such movements. According to the researchers, this is where the conflict takes place, which leads to the feeling of being 'spooked out'. Advertisement

This new wave of social robots could ultimately be commercialised for use as personalised assistants in the workplace, and even as companions for children and the elderly.

The technology could also be rolled out at much lower cost, by appearing on a screen or monitor.

'Robotics technologies have advanced significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics,' said Professor Thalmann.

'As countries worldwide face challenges of an ageing population, social robots can be one solution to address the shrinking workforce, become personal companions for children and the elderly at home, and even serve as a platform for healthcare services in future.'

In addition to the lifelike Nadine, NTU is working on several 'telepresence' robots that could be used to carry out work remotely.

Edgar is another of this team's creations.

While Edgar doesn't have the human-like facial features of Nadine, it does provide a glimpse into the workplace of the future.

This type of telepresence robot can be controlled remotely by users from anywhere in the world.

Users simply stand in front of a specialised webcam and their upper body gestures are projected by the robot.

In addition, their facial expressions can be displayed on the robot's face, in real-time.

These next-generation robots could take us into sci-fi territory, as seen in movies such as Surrogates, in which Bruce Willis and Rosumand Pike live their everyday lives through robotic versions of themselves, which they control from the safety of their homes.

Other robots being developed by the team at NTU include Edgar (two generations pictured left and right). These robots can be controlled remotely by users from anywhere in the world. Users simply stand in front of a specialised webcam and their upper body gestures are projected by the robot

Professor Thulmann added: 'Over the past four years, our team at NTU have been fostering cross-disciplinary research in social robotics technologies -involving engineering, computer science, linguistics, psychology and other fields - to transform a virtual human, from within a computer, into a physical being that is able to observe and interact with other humans.

She added: 'This is somewhat like a real companion that is always with you and conscious of what is happening.

'So in future, these socially intelligent robots could be like C-3PO, the iconic golden droid from Star Wars, with knowledge of language and etiquette.'
In the market for a new phone?

Samsung is launching its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge at the end of this week, but if youre feeling flush - and don't want a run-of-the-mill model - you could opt for a much more bling version.

A London-based firm called Truly Exquisite is offering the flagship handsets in 24 karat gold, 18 karat rose gold or even platinum, but you'll need a spare 2,000.

Fancy a gold plated phone? London-based luxury brand company Truly Exquisite is offering the handsets for pre-order in 24k gold (illustrated), 18k rose gold or platinum, with a hefty price tag of around 2,000

The 24K gold Galaxy S7 will set buyers back 1,700, or 2,040 ($2,420 or $2,900) with VAT included.

The 18K rose gold model costs 2,160, while the platinum model will see buyers forking out a total of 2,100 ($2,990).

CUSTOMISED GALAXY HANDSETS Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge handsets will be available on 11 March. But customers can pre-order custom handsets in 24 karat gold, 18 karat rose gold or even platinum as a custom job from London-based luxury brand company Truly Exquisite. The 24K gold Galaxy S7 will set buyers back 1,700, or 2,040 ($2,420 or $2,900) with VAT included. The 18K rose gold model costs 2,160, while the platinum model will see buyers forking out a total of 2,100 ($2,990). The pricier Galaxy S7 Edge will cost 2,100 ($2,990) including VAT for the 24K gold model, 2,220 for the 18K rose gold edition and 2,280 ($3,250) for the platinum version. Advertisement

The pricier Galaxy S7 Edge will cost 2,100 ($2,990) including VAT for the 24K gold model, 2,220 for the 18K rose gold edition and 2,280 ($3,250) for the platinum version.

Those flashing the cash should be aware that a 50 per cent deposit exclusive of VAT will need to be made when pre-ordering the devices.

However, that includes a special wooden storage box, a Samsung Gear VR and a Samsung wireless charging plate.

The standard version of the Galaxy S7 is 569, the Gear VR 99 and charging plate 45, which totals just over 700, almost 1,000 ($1,420) cheaper than a model with a 24K gold back plate.

Samsung officially launched the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.

The S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch (14cm) screen, while the S7 has a smaller 5.1-inch display, with both handsets boasting water resistant features that were missing on the S6 and S6 Edge.

London-based Truly Exquisite is offering pre-orders for a custom version of the Galaxy S7 (pictured top) and the larger S7 Edge (pictured bottom row), adorned with gold, rose gold or platinum

The S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch (14cm) screen, while the S7 has a 5.1-inch display. They both have other features seen in previous Galaxy devices that users missed in the S6 and S6 Edge, such as a water resistant case

As rumours suggested, the phones feature 'always-on' displays so users can see basic phone information, such as time, date and notifications, without having to wake it up and use up battery life.

Custom-made models of flagship smartphones using precious metals are becoming more and more popular thanks to the likes of celebrities who have special edition devices made exclusively for them, such as Chris Brown who was photographed using a 24K gold iPhone 6.

In 2014, Chris Brown posted an image of a gold iPhone (pictured) customised with his initials in big cursive letters, right above the letter X, the name of his sixth studio album

The custom Samsung handsets have some way to go to beat the most expensive handset made - an iPhone handset wrapped in more than 500 individual diamonds totalling 100 carats and featuring two interchangeable diamonds, worth more than 5 million (pictured)

When the iPhone 6 was announced, US jeweller Brikk's Lux announced a line of gold, platinum, and diamond-encrusted versions of the Apple phone costing between $4,495 to $8,795 (3,160 to 6,180).

While pricey, the custom Samsung handsets have some way to go to beat the most expensive handset made.

In 2010, a custom iPhone was produced with more than 500 diamonds set into case, with a eye-watering pricetag in excess of 5million.
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It is one of the many mysteries of Ceres - a gigantic pyramid in among the vast craters and 'alien spots'.

Now, Nasa has revealed stunning new close up images of the three mile high mountain Ahuna Mons.

They reveal the 'pyramid' is in fact a dome with smooth, steep walls - one of which appears to glow.

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From afar, Ahuna Mons looked to be pyramid-shaped, but upon closer inspection, it is best described as a dome with smooth, steep walls. On its steepest side, it is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high.. This side-perspective view of Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons was made with images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The resolution of the component images is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel.

THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF CERES Ceres is 590 miles (950 km) across and was discovered in 1801. It is the closest dwarf planet to the sun and is located in the asteroid belt, making it the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres is the smallest of the bodies currently classified as a 'dwarf planet'. It lies less than three times as far as Earth from the sun - close enough to feel the warmth of the star, allowing ice to melt and reform. Nasa's Dawn spacecraft made its way to Ceres after leaving the asteroid Vesta in 2012. There is high interest in the mission because Ceres is seen as being a record of the early solar system. Advertisement

One year ago, on March 6, 2015, Nasa's Dawn spacecraft slid gently into orbit around Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Since then, the spacecraft has delivered a wealth of images and other data that open an exciting new window to the previously unexplored dwarf planet.

'Ceres has defied our expectations and surprised us in many ways, thanks to a year's worth of data from Dawn. We are hard at work on the mysteries the spacecraft has presented to us,' said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator for the mission, based at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Among Ceres' most enigmatic features is a tall mountain the Dawn team named Ahuna Mons.

This mountain appeared as a small, bright-sided bump on the surface as early as February 2015 from a distance of 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers), before Dawn was captured into orbit.

As Dawn circled Ceres at increasingly lower altitudes, the shape of this mysterious feature began to come into focus.

From afar, Ahuna Mons looked to be pyramid-shaped, but upon closer inspection, it is best described as a dome with smooth, steep walls.

Dawn's latest images of Ahuna Mons, taken 120 times closer than in February 2015, reveal that this mountain has a lot of bright material on some of its slopes, and less on others.

On its steepest side, it is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) high.

The mountain has an average overall height of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). It rises higher than Washington's Mount Rainier and California's Mount Whitney.

The mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons is seen in this mosaic of images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Dawn took these images from its low-altitude mapping orbit, from an altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers) in December 2015.

Scientists are beginning to identify other features on Ceres that could be similar in nature to Ahuna Mons, but none is as tall and well-defined as this mountain.

'No one expected a mountain on Ceres, especially one like Ahuna Mons,' said Chris Russell, Dawn's principal investigator at the University of California, Los Angeles.

'We still do not have a satisfactory model to explain how it formed.'

About 420 miles (670 kilometers) northwest of Ahuna Mons lies the now-famous Occator Crater.

Before Dawn arrived at Ceres, images of the dwarf planet from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope showed a prominent bright patch on the surface.

As Dawn approached Ceres, it became clear that there were at least two spots with high reflectivity.

This side-perspective view of Ceres' mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons was made with images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to create a 3-D (anaglyph) view.

As the resolution of images improved, Dawn revealed to its earthly followers that there are at least 10 bright spots in this crater alone, with the brightest area on the entire body located in the center of the crater. It is not yet clear whether this bright material is the same as the material found on Ahuna Mons.

'Dawn began mapping Ceres at its lowest altitude in December, but it wasn't until very recently that its orbital path allowed it to view Occator's brightest area.

'This dwarf planet is very large and it takes a great many orbital revolutions before all of it comes into view of Dawn's camera and other sensors,' said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director at JPL.

Previous video also shows a prominent mountain with bright streaks on its steep slopes. The peak's shape has been likened to a cone or a pyramid, and it appears to be about four miles (6 kilometers) high. This means the mountain has about the same elevation as Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska, the highest point in North America.

It has amazed, baffled and stunned scientists.

Now, Nasa's Dawn spacecraft has been used to create a stunning flyover of dwarf planet Ceres.

The movie shows Ceres in enhanced colour, which helps to highlight subtle differences in the appearance of surface materials.

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The animated flight over Ceres emphasizes the most prominent craters, such as Occator, and the tall, conical mountain Ahuna Mons. Scientists believe areas with shades of blue contain younger, fresher material, including flows, pits and cracks.

Scientists believe areas with shades of blue contain younger, fresher material, including flows, pits and cracks.

The animated flight over Ceres emphasizes the most prominent craters, such as Occator, and the tall, conical mountain Ahuna Mons. Features on Ceres are named for earthly agricultural spirits, deities and festivals.

The movie was produced by members of Dawn's framing camera team at the German Aerospace Center, DLR, using images from Dawn's high-altitude mapping orbit.

During that phase of the mission, which lasted from August to October 2015, the spacecraft circled Ceres at an altitude of about 900 miles (1,450 kilometers).

'The simulated overflight shows the wide range of crater shapes that we have encountered on Ceres.

'The viewer can observe the sheer walls of the crater Occator, and also Dantu and Yalode, where the craters are a lot flatter,' said Ralf Jaumann, a Dawn mission scientist at DLR.

This image of the Occator crater in false colours shows the differences in the surface composition.

Viewer can observe the sheer walls of the crater Occator, and also Dantu and Yalode, where the craters are a lot flatter.

Dawn is the first mission to visit Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After orbiting asteroid Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, Dawn arrived at Ceres in March 2015.

The spacecraft is currently in its final and lowest mapping orbit, at about 240 miles (385 kilometers) from the surface.

It recently sent back a series of stunning images of dramatic craters, strange 'alien' spots and pyramid mountains.

Now, the Dawn spacecraft has revealed its surface in unprecedented detail with the latest images sent back from the dwarf planet.

Dawn took the images near its lowest ever altitude to Ceres, at 240 miles (385 km) from the surface, between December 19 and 23.

Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres, shows off fascinating features at the high image resolution of 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel.

Shown here is one of the youngest craters on Ceres known as 'Kupalo'. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 km) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest

The crater has bright material exposed on its rim, which could be salts, and its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris.

Researchers will be looking closely at whether this material is related to the 'bright alien spots' of Occator Crater.

Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 km) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes, is named for the Slavic god of vegetation and harvest.

'This crater and its recently-formed deposits will be a prime target of study for the team as Dawn continues to explore Ceres in its final mapping phase,' said Paul Schenk, a Dawn science team member at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Dawn's low vantage point also captured the dense network of fractures on the floor of 78-mile-wide (126 km -wide) Dantu Crater.

One of the youngest large craters on Earth's moon, called Tycho, has similar fractures.

This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed.

A 20-mile (32 km) crater west of Dantu is covered in steep slopes, called scarps, and ridges.

The features likely formed when the crater partly collapsed during the formation process.

The curvilinear nature of the scarps resembles those on the floor of Rheasilvia, the giant impact crater on protoplanet Vesta, which Dawn orbited from 2011 to 2012.

Dawn's other instruments also began studying Ceres intensively in mid-December.

The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer is examining how various wavelengths of light are reflected by Ceres, which will help identify minerals present on its surface.

Dawn's gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) is also keeping scientists busy.

Data from GRaND help researchers understand the abundances of elements in Ceres' surface, along with details of the dwarf planet's composition that hold important clues about how it evolved.

The spacecraft will remain at its current altitude for the rest of its mission, and indefinitely afterward. The end of the prime mission will be June 30, 2016.

'When we set sail for Ceres upon completing our Vesta exploration, we expected to be surprised by what we found on our next stop. Ceres did not disappoint,' said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles.

'Everywhere we look in these new low- altitude observations, we see amazing landforms that speak to the unique character of this most amazing world.'

Dawn is the first mission to visit a dwarf planet, and the first mission outside the Earth-moon system to orbit two distinct solar system targets.

After orbiting Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, it arrived at Ceres on March 6, 2015.

This image from the Dawn spacecraft shows part of Messor Crater (25 miles or 40 km, wide), located at northern mid-latitudes on Ceres. The scene shows an older crater in which a large lobe-shaped flow partly covers the northern (top) part of the crater floor. The flow is a mass of material ejected when a younger crater formed just north of the rim. The image resolution is 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel
Are the US Virgin Islands in the US, someone asked me recently (one of the hazards of being a travel editor is peoples firm belief you possess an encyclopaedic geographical knowledge). My knowledge is not quite that good, but I know the US Virgin Islands  like the British Virgin Islands  are in the Caribbean.

The one thing that most people know about the British Virgin Islands is that Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson owns one of them: Necker. There are lots of other Virgin Islands (the name was probably conferred by Christopher Columbus, in case you think the destination is an extensive plug for the Branson empire).

The most impressive in the holiday business is Peter Island, owned by one of the founders of the Amway Corporation. A pattern is emerging here: once you have earned enough money, it is clearly time to think about acquiring your own island.

Beachfront Junior Suites on Peter Island are stone bungalows nestled in Deadmans Bay

In the case of Peter Island you can enjoy a rich mans paradise without the inconvenience of having to make a million: for those substantially short of that target it will be comforting to know that as a resort Peter Island is the equal of Necker but accessible at a more affordable price.

You arrive on the island by private boat in a James Bond-style approach after a 20-minute journey from Tortola, which is reached by a short flight from Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados or Jamaica.

The Peter Island Resort & Spa has the atmosphere of a private club because of the convivial staff, notably the vivacious Jean Kelly  now in her 80s  whos been there for three decades.

Of the 1,800 acres of idyllic beaches and hills in the resort, only 300 are developed, and with just 52 rooms and three villas, you barely pass a soul on the two-mile gentle Sunset Loop stroll to the peak of the estate to watch the sun set over Norman Island.

Take in the view sitting on a brightly painted chair, accompanied by a bottle of rose and plate of cheese delivered by minibus.Norman Island is reputedly the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island. To the north east lies Dead Mans Chest Island where Blackbeards infamous 15 men were allegedly marooned.

The restaurants at the Peter Island resort boast two key ingredients in each meal  the finest and the freshest

The accommodation is excellent: the Beachfront Junior Suites are gorgeous stone bungalows nestled in Deadmans Bay. They come with a double Jacuzzi and hammocks strung below coconut palms.

The two restaurants boast two key ingredients in each meal served  the finest and freshest. My advice would to take advantage of the Full American Food Plan, which pulls no punches. Breakfast is the full works: pancakes with maple syrup, omelettes, eggs Benedict and sausages followed by fruit salad, all enjoyed in the Tradewinds restaurant.

Sitting there at night you could be forgiven for being distracted from the sumptuous Saturday night Gala Buffet by the shimmering lights of Tortola across the water.

A stay wouldnt be complete without a meal on the mahogany banquet table in the Tradewinds Wine Room with more than 300 selections of the most exclusive champagne, cognac and wine.

The real delight of Peter Island, however, are the beaches. The biggest is the mile-long Deadmans Beach. Two beaches  Honeymoon and White Bay  are for guests only. Its worth taking a shuttle to ferry you to the secluded White Bay beach, a picture-postcard U-shaped hideaway which is ideal for swimming and snorkelling.

If youre seeking even more serenity, theres the palatial 10,000 sq ft spa with a pool built in the saddle of two hills.

If Blackbeard were to see the place today, you wonder whether he would have indulged in a facial. Its just what a dedicated pirate needs to help him relax after a hard days buccaneering
Las Vegas attracts more than 41 million visitors a year, of whom 400,000 are Britons. The lights are bright and the Strip positively gleams. But you don't have to gamble to win big.

Why go now? Flying to the Mojave Desert might sound like madness if you don't like heat. But, at this time of year, the weather tends to be mild and, as long as you avoid Easter, there are fewer crowds. Flights are more affordable, too. Return prices from 526 in March with BA, www.ba.com.

Sparkling in the sunshine: Las Vegas could scarcely be called 'understated' - but the city is a lot of fun

Show off: 'O' by Cirque du Soleil, at the Bellagio Resort & Casino, recently celebrated its 17th anniversary. The auditorium has seven new box suites. Champagne and cocktails are served in plush seats - and the acrobatics will leave you open-mouthed.

Suites start at 196 per person. www.cirquedusoleil.com/o.

Book now: Lionel Richie will begin a headlining residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in April. Tickets from 80 at Vegas.com. www.planethollywoodresort.com.

Long live The King: The Elvis Exhibition is a showcase of hundreds of artefacts from the Presley family's Graceland archives - at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. Items range from a handwritten note to Johnny Cash to his collection of vehicles. Tickets 17. www.graceland.com/vegas/exhibition.

Where to eat: Lago at the Bellagio offers views of the dancing fountains and a Sunday brunch blow-out. For 18, you can sip on unlimited cocktails. www.bellagio.com/en/restaurants/lago.html.

Searsucker at Caesars Palace serves classic American comfort food, including a 36oz steak for the very hungry. Don't miss the Peter Rabbit Pimm's cocktail with basil and lemon. www.searsucker.com/las-vegas.

At The Palms, Lao Sze Chuan dishes up Mandarin, Cantonese, Hunan and Shanghai dishes including three chilli chicken. www.palms.com/casual-dining/lao-sze-chuan.

And for California-inspired cuisine dine at Herringbone, which has recently opened at Aria, www.ariacom/dining/restaurants/herringbone.

Hey big spender: The Grand Bazaar at Bally's Las Vegas has more than 150 stores. But don't expect a souk - it's home to Swarovski and Superdry. www.grandbazaarshops.com.

Coming soon: Fashion Show Mall, a shopping mecca on the Strip, is opening an extension. www.thefashionshow.com.

All night long (or, at least, some of the evening): Lionel Richie will begin a Las Vegas residency in April

Where to party: Order a drone to deliver drinks at The Cosmopolitan's Marquee Dayclub. Champagne requires a minimum spend of 14,000, which includes a photo of the delivery. www.marqueelasvegas.com.

Coming soon: Jewel nightclub is opening at the Aria Hotel. Spanning 2,400 sq ft, its capacity will be a show-stopping 1,925 people. www.jewelnightclub.com.

Sleeping beauty: The SLS Hotel & Casino offers a breather from the hustle of Las Vegas Boulevard. The interiors are designed by Philippe Starck. Its towers - World, Lux and Story - house more than 1,600 rooms. The casino is smaller than in most hotels, but there are two pools. The hotel has a free airport shuttle. Rooms from 40 a night, www.slslasvegas.com.
Few places come with as much baggage as California.

Even the name of the state, which rolls off the tongue like a well-ripened peach, hints at sunshine and sand, carefree days and the salty tang of surf and suntan lotion.

For me, California is the creation of movies and books: the novels of John Steinbeck and the gritty cop dramas of Seventies San Francisco starring Clint and Steve, over-muscled cars racing up the city's crazy hills, island prisons, surfers and Haight-Ashbury bohemia.

California dreaming: Santa Cruz is a lovely seaside retreat - and its Boardwalk is an antique thrill

The reality, as ever, differs from the fantasy.

San Francisco is tarted and primped and ever-so-slightly pleased with itself. Los Angeles is a sprawling mess, a quagmire of traffic and pollution - though I have always rather liked it.

And then there is Santa Cruz.

The jewel of Monterey Bay and my favourite town in the whole of the United States. It's a couple of hour's drive south of San Francisco and is as fresh and warm as an unseasonable British spring.

Here is an oasis from the maddening traffic, the crowds, the pollution, the silliness.

Santa Cruz must be the only Californian town of any size where you see as many people cycling and walking as driving. It's full of hippies and surfers, Silicon Valley hipsters and academics.

All a-board: Surfing is hugely popular in Santa Cruz

Fiercely liberal, for the most part, Santa Cruz has pioneered drugs legalisation, and there is a tolerant attitude here that some say has only encouraged addicts, petty criminals and the homeless to set up camp (although the benign weather must play a part, too).

Stay at the beach. The High Street is only half a mile inland (a pleasant walk) and, again, this might be the only place for 300 miles where you don't need a car. There must be more cycle tracks here than in the whole of the rest of the States.

The great thing about Santa Cruz is that there is no real need to do anything. This is not a place of art galleries and great museums (although the redwood forests on the edge of town are brilliant). It is like a low-key Mediterranean resort with a year-round mild climate.

The wharf is great - half a mile long and 101 years old. Sadly, cars are allowed; more happily, you can eat fairly decent seafood and drink proper beer while listening to the barks and yelps of the sea lions who congregate beneath the wooden decking.

There are half a dozen tourist-tat shops, but no amusement arcades, and the experience is a great deal classier than that of the average British pier.

The main beach is sandy, appears clean and, unusually for this stretch of the Californian coast, lacks murderous waves. I have swum here at all times of year; it never gets truly cold (but being the Pacific it never gets truly warm either) and there are always a few reassuring locals taking a dip.

If you want big waves, walk a mile to the left or right of town, where surfers take advantage of a series of 11 world-class breaks that make this town a rival to Malibu as the surfing capital of mainland USA.

Surfing was brought here exactly 130 years ago by a group of visiting Hawaiian noblemen, who astonished locals as they rode the waves just east of the main beach. There is a small surfing museum on the headland west of the pier and plenty of places offer lessons.

Alternatively, you can explore the tidal rockpools along the coast. The Pacific here is incredibly rich in marine life. Offshore kelp beds are home to the famous sea otters  the unfeasibly cute little animals which use rocks to bash open shellfish.

Behind the beach is the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, a century-old amusement park with an antique wooden roller-coaster, a key location in the 1987 cult vampire movie The Lost Boys.

The roller-coaster is no modern techno-terror but a lovely old thing and rattles you up to splendid views of Monterey Bay. The best thing about this place is that it has obvious tourist appeal, but fails to be touristy. Santa Cruz can be quite rough around the edges, like the waves that batter its beaches. America is a rule-bound country, but here the rules seem to have been relaxed.

And that's no bad thing.
Tests discovered the presence of bacteria that can cause gastro illnesses

They flew back to the UK three days early and sought help from their GP

A British family has received 15,000 in compensation from Thomson Holidays after its Egyptian holiday was cut short by suspected cases of severe food poisoning.

Amanda Rowley, from Rownhams, Hampshire, and her two children suffered diarrhoea, stomach cramps and other symptoms, and had to fly back from Sharm el-Sheikh three days early along with her husband.

The Rowleys fun-filled break at Thomsons five-star Sensatori Resort unravelled as their severe illnesses surfaced just four days into what was supposed to be a 10-night stay in August 2014.

Amanda Rowley (left) and her two children, Lilly and Oliver, fell ill at Thomson's Sensatori Resort

Amanda said her 12-year-old son, Oliver, was the first to fall ill and became increasingly unwell as he awoke during the night with laboured breathing, shivering and a high temperature.

He was taken to the resorts doctor, who prescribed medication to ease his symptoms.

But Amanda, 42, soon began to experience stomach cramps and diarrhoea, leaving her and Oliver bedridden.

Less than 48 hours later her nine-year-old daughter, Lilly, came down with the same symptoms.

With their holiday in tatters, the Rowleys obtained fit-to-fly certificates from the doctor, allowing them to fly back to the UK despite their deteriorating conditions.

When the Rowleys returned home they visited their local GP to find out what caused them to fall ill.

Oliver (pictured before he fell ill) was infected with Salmonella and bacteria which can cause gastroenteritis

Lilly (pictured early in the holiday) lost considerable weight over months of ill health, said her mother

Amanda, who owns health care companies with her husband, John, 45, said results from a stool sample confirmed that she had contracted giardia lambliasis, a microscopic parasite that causes an infection of the intestine.

Giardiasis is usually spread by drinking water that has been contaminated with faeces, although it can also be contracted through direct contact between people or when an infected person transfers the parasites on to surfaces, utensils or food, the NHS said.

Olivers tests suggested he was infected with Salmonella and aeromonas caviae bacteria, which can cause gastroenteritis.

Amanda said her son became noticeably more tired and rundown in the months following his illness and he required additional trips to the doctor for tests and treatment.

The family travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh for a fun-filled break, bit fell ill within days of their arrival (file photo)

She said Salmonella and giardiasis lambliasis were also detected in tests on Lilly, who lost a considerable amount of weight over months of ill health.

Both children were forced to take time off from school, she added. Amanda said: It has taken us more than a year to recover but what is worse for me is I have been so put off package holidays now.

I really cant see myself or our family doing another one.

Looking back, she claimed the resorts swimming pool contained debris and there were poor hygiene practices, as the buffet was exposed to flies and food was recycled from one mealtime to the next.

Amanda contacted lawyers at Your Holiday Claims to pursue a claim for compensation against Thomson and she received 15,380 in a recent settlement.

A spokesman for Thomson said the tour operator does not comment on settlements.

British tour operators and airlines, meanwhile, have suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh on the advice of the government after a Russian passenger jet was bombed over Egypt, killing all 224 holidaymakers and crew on board, last October.

Isis claimed responsibility for the disaster, which targeted a plane that had just left Sharm el-Sheikh's airport en route to St Petersburg.

British firms have extended their cancellations up to March or May as they await further advice from the government on the airport's security situation.
She's often seen strutting around Sydney's Eastern suburbs in teeny-tiny bikinis and skimpy denim shorts.

But on Sunday Zilda Williams decided to cover up her well-known curves as she strolled through Sydney Airport ahead of yet another one of her jet-setting escapades.

The 32-year-old looked relatively demure in a pair of black skinny jeans and a scoop-neck T-shirt that covered up the majority of her DD assets, except for a cheeky hint of cleavage.

Covered up: Zilda Williams decided to swap her usual raunchy ensembles for a more conservative and comfortable look as she was spotted at Sydney Airport over the weekend

The socialite sported a pair of flip-flops on her feet and tied a khaki shirt around her tiny waist.

To ensure added comfort during the flight, the glamour model had an inflatable neck cushion attached to her wheeled suitcase.

Although her entire ensemble was on the casual side, the former Bachelor reality star was wearing fancy red acrylic nails after receiving a manicure in Sydney's Bondi a few days earlier.

Hard to miss! Despite covering up, the 32-year-old's DD assets were still somewhat visible through her white T-shirt

At the time she was preparing for the 28th birthday party of her best friend, professional makeup artist Karyssa Leigh.

Karyssa has worked with Bras n Things, and has also done the makeup for glamour models and Instagram starlets like Rebecca Edwards, Brooke Evers and, of course, Zilda.

Zilda's stint at Sydney Airport isn't her first time on a plane this year, with the former Bachelor contestant racking up thousands of frequent flyer points in recent months.

Best friends! Zilda spent the past weekend celebrating the 28th birthday of her best friend, makeup artist Karyssa Leigh

In early February she jetted off to Bali for an alcohol-fueled vacation with Playboy model turned superstar DJ Sarah Robertson.

The busty duo stayed in a luxury resort and were spotted enjoying shopping trips and poolside cocktails by day and partying at various clubs and bars each night.

Later that month she flew to Melbourne to spend time with a tradie she met on a star-studded Australia Day cruise hosted by Australian Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik.

However, she didn't end up spending too much time with her mystery beau and was soon spotted partying at an event with Melbourne socialite Susie Hooper and celebrity psychic Harry T.

Bali bombshell: The former Maxim model recently flew to Bali for a wild vacation with Playboy bunny turned DJ Sarah Robertson

Doing her own thing: Zilda recently flew to Melbourne to spend time with a tradie she met at a party, but quickly ditched the fella to party with Melbourne socialite Susie Hooper and celebrity psychic Harry T

Zilda later confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that she and her tradie fling had split so she could focus on her career.

The Kiwi-born beauty is now looking away from the reality TV genre after failing to secure a spot on both Australian Survivor and The Bachelor New Zealand, and is now hoping to move into acting instead.

'I'm actually really wanting to try my luck in acting and presenting so that's what I'm putting my energy into right now,' she told Daily Mail Australia, before adding that she has some 'really exciting things in the pipeline.'

And just last week, the blonde beauty flew to the Gold Coast to attend a baby shower and catch up with friends.

The aspiring actress was previously based in Queensland where she worked as a promo girl and glamour model, before relocating to the bright lights of Sydney after finding fame on The Bachelor.

Jet-setter! The Kiwi-born bombshell recently flew to the Gold Coast as well for a bikini-clad vacation to catch up with friends
They may work for rival networks, but it hasn't stopped Studio 10 co-host Sarah Harris and Channel Seven reporter Pippa Gardner catching up with their new babies.

First-time mother Sarah, who welcomed son Paul in December, shared a photo to her Instagram, in support of girlfriend Pippa who had just completed a 55km charity walk along the Sydney coast.

'What a beautiful mama! And what gorgeous baby. Love ya gal,' Sarah captioned a striking black and white picture of their afternoon.

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Afternoon catch up: Sarah Harris and girlfriend Pippa Gardner catch up with their new babies. Sarah and husband Tom Ward welcomed son Paul in December

Dressed in white and sporting a casual make-up free look and her blonde hair pulled back, Sarah looked relaxed and contented with baby Paul in her arms while Pippa cradled her second child.

Despite the bitterness that regularly occurs between networks, the two journalists remain good friends often showing support for one another on social media.

Although now based in Melbourne, Pippa was in Sydney over the weekend to take part in Coastrek which raises money for The Fred Hollows Foundation.

As for the Channel Ten beauty, Sarah has taken to motherhood seamlessly and manages to see the light side to being a parent of a newborn.

Introductions: Sarah recently took a day off maternity leave to make a cameo appearance on Studio 10 to introduce son Paul to her co-hosts

The 34-year-old, recently took a day off maternity leave to visit the Studio 10 set to introduce her 12-week-old son to her 'other family', co-hosts Ita Buttrose, Joe Hildebrand, Jessica Rowe and Denise Drysdale.

The blonde presenter is expected to return to work full-time hosting duties after Easter.

During her cameo Studio 10 appearance, Sarah shared details of the day Paul was born saying she wasn't aware she was even in labour.

Smitten: Sarah regularly updates her social media with adorable pictures of baby Paul

'I was at home and I ate a whole pizza and I just thought it was tummy pains from having a whole pizza!' she said.

'I kind of lasted until the morning and I kept ringing the midwives... and they said look just come in, we'll give you a quick check and they're like "Ok, you're seven centimetres dilated, let's have this baby!".

Sarah's pregnancy was closely followed on the morning program, with everything from the initial announcement that she was expecting, to the sex and name of the baby being revealed on the show.

Baby-free night: New parents Sarah and Tom enjoy a friends wedding earlier in the year sans baby

Since having their first child, Sarah and husband Tom Ward have managed to have a baby-free night out, posting a photo of themselves enjoying a drink at a friend's wedding.

Like any new parents, the pair savoured the moment, with Sarah writing 'Uh oh... Pick the new parents on the loose! (Though it's only til 10pm, when the babysitter leaves..)'
Adapted from Anthony Trollopes novel by Julian Fellowes, Doctor Thorne was not so much the new Downton Abbey as it had been labelled as Downton Abbey in miniature - i.e. a distinct improvement.

There was more plot for a start, with storylines that whilst not dissimilar were more intriguing, more subtlety, and were more juicy.

Less time was devoted to posh beauties with all the personality of ventriloquist dummies who shall remain nameless (Lady Mary) endlessly having their hair combed for them or giving us stilted history lessons about advances in crop rotation.

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Great potential: Adapted from Anthony Trollopes novel by Julian Fellowes, Doctor Thorne was not so much the new Downton Abbey as it had been labelled as Downton Abbey in miniature - i.e. a distinct improvement

There was only one scene featuring ladies taking tea in the grounds of their stately home simply to show off the scenery (and not actually drinking any).

As for that notorious symbol of the chocolate box costume drama (bonnets), one exchange suggested Julian Fellowes was clearly relishing his newfound freedom and enjoying himself.

Do you ever wish we had money? Doctor Thorne asked his niece, Mary.

I wouldnt mind a bonnet, she admitted.

Do you care about bonnets? he questioned.

Why shouldnt I?! she insisted, on behalf of her evidently defensive-but-defiant creator.

It's complicated: Doctor Thomas Thorne's niece Mary had a back story that would make Jeremy Kyle wince

There were other hallmarks of a period piece set in the 19th century in Rochester, England (as opposed to Rochester, Italy): eligible ladies carrying parasols even when it wasnt sunny, gliding across the croquet lawn like Daleks made of lace; ruddy-faced wenches in Taverns roaring with laughter; and gentlemen in frockcoats whose sideburns were seemingly made of moss spreading across their face.

The evening meal was announced by the dressing gong  with Fellowes subtext obviously those were the days.

The settings of the aristocrats homes Greshambury Park, De Courcey Castle, and Boxall Hill made Downton Abbey look pokey.

As previous Trollope adaptations The Way We Live Now and He Knew He Was Right showed his books are meatier than the insipid flotsam of Fellowes own creations.

Having condensed the novel into only three instalments, so, unlike Downton, happily Fellowes set off at a cracking pace.

Top-drawer performance: Ian McShane was in his element as Sir Roger Scratcherd, growling away uproariously like an aristocratic Oliver Reed

The murder pivotal to the plot was committed in the first minute.

Storylines concerning various suitors wealth and social standing, the doomed romance between the hero (Frank Gresham) and the heroine (Mary Thorne), and the mystery of her real identity were all established before the first ad break.

The calibre of acting was a cut above Downton too.

Tom Hollander (in the title role) and Rebecca Front (as Lady Arabella Gresham, Doctor Thornes adversary regarding his niece Mary) continued their recent strong Sunday evening showings in The Night Manager and War And Peace respectively.

Ian McShane was in his element as Sir Roger Scratcherd, growling away uproariously like an aristocratic Oliver Reed.

Trollopes novel may have been closer to Dickens than Downton (set in 1836) but Fellowes was perfectly at home with the themes of love and money meeting in the matter of marriages arranged by families most concerned with the prospects of inheritance and social standing.

As in Downton, snobbery raged.

Whoever heard of going to Paris in September? one belle carped about her cousins honeymoon. The shame of it...

A staple of the genre: There was only one scene featuring ladies taking tea in the grounds of their stately home simply to show off the scenery (and not actually drinking any)

Rank has its drawbacks as well as its privileges, Lady Alexandrina De Courcey warned, a line that could have been one of the Dowagers leftovers.

Rebecca Front enjoyed herself enormously as Lady Arabella Gresham, clutching a pug like a potential weapon, determining to foil the burgeoning love between Mary Thorne and her son Frank. She had other plans for him to alleviate the family debts by marrying him off to a wealthy American by the unlikely name of Miss Dunstable  a gal less inclined to tiptoe around things, telling Frank we both know it is not my beauty but my dollars which renders me lovely in their sight.

Lady Arabellas objection  and tactic  concerned the question of Marys illegitimacy.

If she were a Miss Thorne of Ullathorne it would be a different matter. But who is Mary Thorne ? And how precisely is she related to the family at Ullathorne? She is called his niece. That is all.

Fellowes wasted no time in spelling things out by having Mary join in the debate too.

Be honest with me uncle. Am I a Thorne? Am I your niece? she asked the Doctor.

On the defensive: Mary defiantly replied 'why shouldn't I?' when her uncle questioned whether she cared about bonnets

Mary I would spare you this if youd let me, he demurred  for about ten seconds, before telling her everything (well nearly everything).

The plot quickly unfolded.

Marys mother was a village girl and not his brothers wife as shed been told. Her father (the doctors brother) had seduced her mother and her mothers brother (now Sir Roger Scratcherd) had murdered her father (the doctors brother).

It was a family history that even Jeremy Kyle would struggle with.

Her mother was still alive, in Australia where she had gone for a new life, reluctantly leaving Mary behind.

She came to me and I offered you a home, the good doctor explained before correcting himself. But thats wrong. Its you that have made a home for me, for 20 happy years.

Revelling in her role: Rebecca Front enjoyed herself enormously as Lady Arabella Gresham

Violins nearly drowned him out as he continued: to me you are my daughter. And any man who has the honour of your love shall be the envy of the world.

Tom Hollander was terrific as Doctor Thorne, as different from his character in The Night Manager over on the other side as he could be: noble, gentle, loving.

He was though caught in a dilemma  or several  and his decisions about Mary and her future were the crux of the plot.

He was both the executor of Sir Rogers will and the intermediary negotiating loans to pay the Greshams debts incurred by Frank seniors gambling.

It transpired that if Sir Rogers son Louis died before the age of 30, he wanted his estate to pass to his sisters eldest child.

What he didnt know that this was Mary.

An impressive beginning: There was more plot than Downton, with storylines that whilst not dissimilar were more intriguing, more subtlety, and were more juicy

Doctor Thorne told him that his sisters daughter (fathered by the doctors brother) had not died as hed been told while he was in prison for manslaughter.

He told him I know your sisters eldest child  but not that she was Mary.

Scatcherd insisted on seeing her  to make my peace  but the Doctor would not promise.

He then told Mary that the man who killed her father was in the area and looking for her but not who he was or that she was his heir.

The money would of course remove all obstacles to her marrying Frank Gresham  including Lady Arabellas objections.

With Sir Roger, Mary, and Tom wanting to be brought together it seemed a perfect storm.

It was up to Doctor Thorne to decide how to steer them through it and to judge the consequences.

After the increasingly ponderous, ludicrous events in Downton Abbey, it made a change to see Fellowes have something meaty and morally complicated to work with and was good to have him back so soon. Bonnets and all.
It's nearly a year since she came out as a transgender woman In a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer last April.

And the former Bruce Jenner seems to be very comfortable in her new life as Caitlyn.

But the 66-year-old looked a little downcast on Saturday when she turned up for a family dinner in Calabasas, California, not far from her Malibu home.

Feeling blue? Caitlyn Jenner looked a little downcast on Saturday when she turned up for a family dinner in Calabasas, California, not far from her Malibu home.

She poured her beautiful figure into skin-tight leather trousers teamed with a white crochet sweater that revealed her white vest, and knee-high black leather boots.

Her long brown hair was centre-parted and left to drape over her shoulders.

The second season of the celebrity's Bravo reality show, I Am Cait, kicks off on Sunday evening.

The same day her co-stars Candis Cayne and Chandi Moore dished that they are trying to persuade their best friend join dating site Tinder.

Looking good from all angles: The 66-year-old poured her beautiful figure into skin-tight leather trousers teamed with a white crochet sweater that revealed her white vest, and knee-high black leather boots

Home time: It was dark when the I Am Cait celebrity left the restaurant to walk back to her car

In an interview with E! News's Celebrity Sit Down, Candis admitted that she is registered on Tinder and had even been out with a couple of matches.

But when asked whether the pair had managed to get their BFF to join up, Chandi replied: 'Don't we wish we could say that? But, unfortunately, no.' Candis echoed: 'We can't.'

Meanwhile, Caitlyn surprised her trans friends on Wednesday by admitting in an interview with the Advocate, that she's for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz rather than the Democrats, who are more traditionally accepting of the LGBT community.

Planning their pal's love life: On Sunday her I Am Cait co-stars Chandi Moore, left, and Candis Cayne dished that they are trying to persuade her to join the dating site, Tinder, in an interview with E! News' Celebrity Sit Down

Next up: The couple talked to E!'s Erica Lim about the second season of I Am Cait that debuts Sunday on Bravo

She said she respected his ideas for improving the country, while adding: 'But I also think hes an evangelical Christian, and probably one of the worst ones when it comes to trans issues.

'Wouldn't it be great, let's say he goes on to be president and I have all my girls [from I Am Cait] on a trans issues board to advise him on making decisions when it comes to trans issues. Isn't that a good idea?'

When asked whether she would like to be Cruzs trans ambassador, Caitlyn replied: 'Yes, trans ambassador to the president of the United States, so we can say, "Ted, love what youre doing but heres whats going on. '
She was beloved by viewers for her no-nonsense attitude and traditional values.

So when Sister Evangelina was killed off in Call The Midwifes series finale last night, many fans wept just as much as the characters.

The formidable nun, played by Pam Ferris, died peacefully in her armchair after suffering a stroke. Here, our critic gives his verdict.

Call the midwife

Rating:

Life goes on. If three words can sum up any prime-time TV series, these are the essence of Call The Midwife, the only drama that treats death not as a crime or a mystery, but as an ordinary part of existence.

The redoubtable Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris) died suddenly, but not so unexpectedly, in her favourite chair with a blanket over her knees, as the current series concluded.

We knew she hadnt quite been feeling herself, following a minor stroke, because her scoldings and tongue-lashings had been tempered with the occasional sweet smile. For example, she was even forgiving when Sister Monica Joan scoffed the last of the chocolate cake.

Tender: Sister Evangelina bathes her last newborn

But however much Call The Midwifes eight million regular viewers might have sensed it coming, her death was still a surprise. Caretaker Fred found her where shed dozed off the night before, after helping to deliver a baby to an immigrant family in an East End slum. Sister Evangelina had bathed the newborn, and rubbed soap into the cracks between the floorboards to keep the fleas out.

Its that blend of kindness and no-nonsense, sleeves-up spirit that makes the series so engaging. Set in Londons poorest streets in 1961, it is sometimes sentimental but its characters never are.

The sisters of Nonnatus House, bound by their vow of poverty, would be repelled by todays cult of celebrity. It seemed ironic that so many Poplar locals turned out to give Sister Evangelina the kind of send-off that now accompanies the funerals of reality TV stars and gangsters, such as Big Brothers Jade Goody and Ronnie Biggs.

The nuns body was laid out in an open casket, so that the friends and neighbours could shuffle past and touch her hand as they said a prayer. Then the coffin was loaded into a glass hearse, drawn by two black horses with plumed headdresses, and driven through streets lined with mourners.

Peaceful: She passes away in her sleep

The undertaker had provided everything for free: when hed been born two months premature, he said, Sister Evangelina was the midwife who saved him and his mother. We East End people see her as one of our own, he said. And over five years, the character played by Pam Ferris  previously best-known as Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds Of May  has won viewers hearts, too. It was fitting that she should leave the series in the natural, normal way that most people leave the world.

Television, which, ironically, so relishes murder, has always been afraid of death. To die without drama as Sister Evangelina did, simply slipping away in her sleep, is a very rare thing on TV  almost taboo. After a lifetimes work among the poor, Sister Evangelina knew all too well that death is not something that can be solved. It is just something that happens  an ending that, for all but the deceased, comes right in the middle of everything.

While the crotchety old nun was being laid out by her friends, elsewhere in the parish a young couple were getting married. The bride wore the white gown that had once been Sister Evangelinas, when she took her convent vows.

Heartache: Staff at Nonnatus House react to the tragic news

The wedding guests were dancing the conga, and doing the twist with Chubby Checker. Not everyone felt like partying, of course: old Fred felt quite dejected, till the vicar brought him a cup of sugary tea, the East Ends panacea for all ills.

Lesbian Patsy and alcoholic Trixie  the most louche of Nonnatus Houses residents  shared a cheroot on the stairs. But Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) had a little laugh, and a little cry, at memories of her friend. Thats how grief is, when a loved one dies of natural causes. It doesnt have to be an overwhelming emotion.
Actor said being the new Bond would be an 'extraordinary opportunity'

It is an adaptation of a John Le Carre spy novel of the same name

Tom Hiddleston, 35, pictured, has fuelled speculation he could replace Daniel Craig as James Bond

His suave and convincing performance as an undercover operative in BBC series The Night Manager has certainly impressed viewers.

And now it seems that the shows star Tom Hiddleston has set his sights even higher.

The 35-year-old actor has fuelled speculation that he could replace Daniel Craig as Bond in the 007 films, saying taking on the character would be an extraordinary opportunity if it ever came knocking.

He also said he was very aware of the physicality of the job and would not take it lightly.

His role as Jonathan Pine in Sunday night drama The Night Manager, adapted from John Le Carres novel, has seen him infiltrate the inner circle of the shows villain, played by Hugh Laurie, 56, after being recruited by a government agent.

Hiddleston, who was educated at Eton before going on to Cambridge University, is placed by some bookmakers as 10/1 to take on the role of Bond, making him the sixth favourite.

Others mooted for the part ahead of him include Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Damian Lewis, Aidan Turner, and Henry Cavill.

Speaking to the Sunday Times Culture magazine, about being in contention for the part, Hiddleston said: Time magazine ran a poll and there were, like, 100 actors on the list, including Angelina Jolie. But, yes, its nice to be included in the 100.

Im a huge fan of the series. We all went to see Spectre when we were shooting Skull Island in Hawaii. I simply love the theme tune, the tropes and the mythology.

'I love the whole thing. If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity.

And Im very aware of the physicality of the job. I would not take it lightly.

Hiddleston, right, is currently winning great praise for his role in the BBC's The Night Manager, alongside veteran actor Hugh Laurie, left

Craig, who has played Bond since 2005, triggered speculation he may give up the role when he told Time Out he would rather break this glass and slash my wrists than make another Bond film.

Were done. All I want to do is move on, he added. If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.

He later retracted his remarks, telling the BBC: Im quite straightforward and I say things when I feel it and then I change my mind.
The actress Romola Garai describes herself as a ticking grenade of gender anger  and it would be a brave person who dared to question her sincerity.

On screen recently in the ITV drama Churchills Secret, she played the politicians young nurse. In real life, though, she would surely disdain anything so ancillary.

Publicising the Sunday-night drama, she dismissed most acting work she is offered as really repulsive, then denounced cinema as violently sexist.

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Romola Garai, pictured, may be the angriest actress in showbusiness, says Alison Boshoff

With such arch-feminist views, Garai, 33, may be the angriest actress in showbusiness.

Like a younger, crosser Emma Thompson, she is, it seems, a little too busy protesting at injustice to enjoy life.

Yet, newly married to a banking-heir Old Etonian and blessed with a young daughter, there is plenty to enjoy.

She shot to fame at around the same time as Keira Knightley, who was in an adaptation of Doctor Zhivago when Romola was a luminous Gwendolen Harleth in an adaptation of the George Eliot classic Daniel Deronda.

But while Knightley has enjoyed the lucrative Pirates Of The Carribbean franchise and a stint as the face of Chanel perfume, Garai has followed a different path.

She has campaigned for supermarkets to ban lad mags, calling them fanzines for misogyny, and espoused other right-on causes  fighting for the release of dissident Russian pop band Pussy Riot, for instance.

Her only brush with Hollywood  in a sequel to the film Dirty Dancing  seems to have been a deeply unhappy experience.

Since then she has played a prostitute with hairy armpits and bad skin in BBC drama The Crimson Petal And The White, and a pregnant woman who masturbated on stage in The Village Bike, at the Royal Court in London.

Garai has impressed as Kate Parry Frye in The Great War: The People's Story, pictured, in 2014

Asked last week about her politics, she said: Leftie, liberal, hand-wringing... all that. Im drinking my own menstrual blood from my moon cup as I speak. Crikey!

How unfortunate, given all the above, in 2004 she did an underwear shoot for a glossy mens mag, posing seductively in stockings and suspenders for the readers of Esquire.

It was a shining example of the kind of come-hither exploitation she now rails against.

To be fair, Romola acknowledged she was giving out mixed messages: I spend my life trying to counter the assumption that because Im an actress, I must be thick and sexually available.

'So I dont want to look thick and sexually available  then again, I want to look totally hot in the photoshoot... you can see why men get confused. Quite.

So who is Romola and how did she get so angry?

Romola Sadie Garai was born in Hong Kong in 1982 to a wealthy expat family. Her father was a banker and he and his wife adopted two children, Ralph and Rosie, before Romola and her younger sister Roxanna came along.

They had a swimming pool, a live-in maid and an enviable lifestyle. But when Romola was seven her father lost his job and they returned to the UK, where he worked as a bank manager in Wiltshire. She has said: It was a change . . . it was difficult.

Her great-grandfathers siblings died in the Holocaust.

Romola has revealed that conversations at home tended to be of the deep, global politics variety.

She said: I was lucky. I was very well and expensively educated, so Im passionate about current affairs, which is better than being passionate about stamp-collecting.

The actress, pictured right, recently appeared as Millie Appleyard, nurse to Michael Gambon's Winston Churchill in ITV show Churchill's Secret, featuring Lindsay Duncan, left, as his wife Clementine

After leaving the independent school Stonar, near Bath, she went to the fee-paying City of London School for Girls for sixth form.

She says she didnt meet boys until she was 19 and had the kind of parents who wouldnt even think to mention that she had turned into a stunning beauty  which she had.

Having joined the National Youth Music Theatre in her early teens, she was already acting professionally before shed finished school.

Her first big role was as the daughter of Judi Denchs character in a TV film, The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells.

She was so successful, she dropped out of her English Literature degree at Queen Mary University of London to star in a film adaptation of the Dodie Smith book I Capture The Castle.

She later completed her degree and achieved first-class honours. That indicates an earnest streak  and hers is a mile wide.

She told an interviewer: Being successful and well-read can be initially very attractive to men. Give them two years and suddenly they dont want it so much.

She rather disdains her profession and did try her hand at writing a novel, without success.

Indeed, almost from the start, she has been embarrassed by the frothy nature of the acting game.

She said sarcastically: Its life-saving. On a Sunday night, people are reaching for the sleeping pills and then they see theres a costume drama on.

I Capture The Castle was followed by her first Hollywood film, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, in 2004. But although she was only a size 10, she was crushingly deemed too fat by executives.

She added: The film-makers were obsessed with having someone skinny. I just thought, Why didnt they get Kate Bosworth [the petite star of Blue Crush] if thats what they wanted?

An actress like that wouldnt worry about whether the political ideas were being sensitively or subtly dealt with.

Garai also appeared in popular 2007 film Atonement as the teenage version of narrator Briony, pictured

'Theyd do the job, smile and look pretty on the cover of Teen Vogue. There I am, 135lb and trying to make art! I was so wrong for it.

She recalled this year: I dont really think it was about me being thin. It was about controlling me. That is what the debate about weight and women in Hollywood is really about.

If you are lying about what the female form entails  there is no hair, no excess fat, no shape to the body, no texture  then you are a part of a machine that is really damaging to women.

Dirty Dancing was a deeply unhappy experience which has perhaps defined her. Certainly, she is open about having turned down numerous projects since then that she felt portrayed women in ways she wasnt happy with.

She starred in the 2007 film version of Ian McEwans Atonement, and more recently was in BBC drama The Hour and Glorious 39, an overcooked conspiracy thriller.

In 2011, she had a part in The Crimson Petal And The White, which called for nudity  she played a prostitute called Sugar.

I didnt want Sugar to look good, she has said. I wanted her to be hairy, her lips to be cracked, and for her to have that dry-skin condition. I fight for those things.

Youre playing a powerful character, but shes naked. Is it a feminist thing to do, to allow her to be vulnerable? I spent most of my time tying myself up in knots about it.

Soon after this TV series she met Old Etonian actor and director Sam Hoare, whose mother is the granddaughter of the 1st Baron Rotherwick and whose father is a wealthy banker. They had a daughter in 2013 and married in 2014.

She ruffled the feathers of the Bafta crowd in 2013 when she told them: After the recent birth of my child, I had the misfortune of having 23 stitches in my vagina.

'So I didnt think Id be laughing at anything for a long time. But tonights nominees have proved me wrong.

Garai also appeared alongside actor Dominic West in the BBC period drama The Hour, pictured

She said afterwards: It felt good to see everybody in the audience saying, Did she just say . . . vagina?

Now she is a mother, the bossy manner she once dubbed her head girl complex seems to have matured into an actual combative streak.

She happily admits that she is known for occasionally being hard to deal with on set.

She said: When a male actor goes into a dialogue with a director, hes treated as a tortured genius; when a women attempts that dialogue, shes treated as a puppet.

'Its like, Just wear the f****** dress. And if you kick up a fuss or have your own ideas, then youre a diva.

She said this week that she has turned down numerous jobs because she knows that she wont be able to work with particular directors.

She also laments that in the acting industry its acceptable to humiliate women, that shows are sold based on how the female leads look, and that lots of television is kind of porny.

I want to do stuff that I dont think is really repulsive, which is 90 per cent of the stuff you get sent. I dont want to get my t**s out.
Break-ups are never a happy occasion.

Unless your brother is breaking up with your boyfriend's baby momma.

Kylie Jenner appeared to be VERY upbeat on Twitter on Sunday within minutes of reports her brother Rob Kardashian had split from girlfriend Blac Chyna.

'Thanking God today': Kylie Jenner tweeted VERY upbeat messages within minutes of Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian's 'break-up' on Sunday

Awkward: Things in the family had undoubtedly been awkward between the 18-year-old and her 28-year-old half-brother, with the former dating Tyga and the latter dating his ex Chyna, who share a three-year-old son

'Thanking God today for all my blessings,' she posted in a tweet. 'Life is so amazing.'

She quickly followed it up with 'Put out good vibes and energy and you will receive!'; finishing a quick trio of tweets with: 'I love life'.

Things in the family had undoubtedly been awkward between the 18-year-old and her 28-year-old half-brother, with the former dating Tyga and the latter dating his ex Chyna, who share a three-year-old son.

Eagle eyed fans began speculating that the new couple had broken up on Sunday morning - after Rob deleted all their pictures from his social media accounts, before his girlfriend posted a quote about breakups.

See more on Kylie Jenner as she posts an upbeat tweet after Rob and Chyna's 'break-up'

On a trip: Chyna arrived early Saturday morning at Los Angeles International Airport to catch a flight out of town without her boyfriend Rob; the two are speculated to have broken up

As they were: A Snapchat of the two posted by Chyna last month

Superimposed over an image of a woman with her arms outstretched, the message read: 'When you just get out of a relationship & your hoe friend welcomes you back into the World of Hoe.'

The breakup came just days after Rob declared his love for his girlfriend on Instagram.

Chyna was last seen heading out of Los Angeles early on Saturday morning, with Rob noticeably absent.

The 27-year-old was heading to Jackson, Mississippi, where she headlined an event Saturday night at Freelons Bar & Groove.

Once in Mississippi she posted smiling, pouting, pictures of herself on social media with newly shorn hair, showing no sign of any heartbreak.

A message for Rob? Chyna started speculation of a break-up by posting this picture online

All over? Rob and Blac went public with their romance earlier this year and haven't been shy about showing their affection for each other. They're pictured in Beverly Hills on February 18

Rob also took to social media, tweeting a picture of a cake, ahead of his birthday later this month.

He wrote: 'cake cake cake cake cake cake March 17th'. It's now the only image on his Instagram page.

Chyna had been helping Rob slim down, and lose the excess weight he piled on after retreating from the spotlight.

Also active on social media was Kylie Jenner, who shared the message: 'Thanking God today for all my blessings. Life is so amazing.

'Put out good vibes and energy and you will receive! I love life!'

While her messages could have been simply a reference to her undeniably charmed life, they could equally refer to her delight at her brother's break-up.

Chyna has a young son with rapper Tyga, who's now dating Kylie, and her relationship with Rob made things very awkward.

New hair don't care? Chyna posted this image of herself with newly shorn hair after arriving in Mississippi

'Hi pretty!' Chyna's posts gave no sign of any heartbreak

Chyna and Rob went public with their relationship earlier this year and have been virtually inseparable ever since.

And until Sunday they certainly seemed to be getting along famously.

On Thursday, Rob shared a photo of his sleeping girlfriend, then sporting bright green hair, captioned: 'Love this woman right here.'

Indeed, despite his family's reported anger about the hookup, the reclusive former reality star seemed to be blossoming thanks to his new connection.

Message? On Sunday Rob posted a picture of a cake, referencing his upcoming birthday, captioned, 'cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake March 17th' It's now the only image on his Instagram page

Blac, who split with Tyga in 2014, had been helping overweight Rob gain confidence by placing him on a diet and getting him to work out.

And since hooking up with Blac, Rob had slowly been coming back into the public eye after withdrawing from view for the past couple of years.

He hasn't been filmed for the family reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians since 2013.

Twinning! Blac was accompanied by a female companion who was dressed in an identical outfit at LAX on Saturday

Late Friday, Rob posted a throwback photo on his Instagram of himself with Lamar Odom and Scott Disick.

He labeled the the snap of the younger-looking trio: 'Goodfellas.'

Since the pic was taken, Scott has separated from wife Kourtney Kardashian, with whom he has three children, and Lamar, who was married to Khloe Kardashian, has been fighting back from his collapse and coma last fall.

His buddies: Late Friday, Rob shared this throwback photo of himself with Scott Disick and Lamar Odom and captioned it: 'Goodfellas'
He has been left in the shade since his old girlfriend Katy Perry started a love affair with Orlando Bloom.

But John Mayer may be involved in a high profile new relationship of his own after he was spotted leaving a trendy Los Angeles nightspot with Formula One driver Jenson Button's estranged wife Jessica Michibata on Sunday.

The model wore a wide grin on her face as she was ushered into a waiting vehicle by the self-styled guitarist outside The Nice Guy in West Hollywood.

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In pole position: John Mayer grinned as he left a West Hollywood nightspot with F1 star Jenson Button's estranged wife Jessica Michibata on Sunday

John, 38, wore a satisfied smirk, as well as a casual jacket, white T-shirt and jeans, as he left the restaurant and club with his latest sidekick.

Jessica, who split from the driving ace back in December, meanwhile showed off her fantastic figure in a tight grey pencil skirt, red crop top, leather jacket and stilettos.

Jenson and Jessica, who tied the knot in a lavish Hawaiian ceremony at the end of 2014, remained on good terms despite calling time on their relationship.

A spokesperson for the former F1 World Champion told MailOnline in December: '(They) have decided to go their separate ways and it is very amicable. There is no one else involved.'

The driver, 36, and the 31-year-old fashion model first met in 2008 in a hotel bar in Tokyo and began dating eight months later.

Be my guest: John was only to happy to allow his nubile companion to climb into his vehicle first

Top of the crops: The model wore a revealing top as she enjoyed a night out with the guitar player

Their relationship experienced ups and downs and they split for a short time in 2011 before the McLaren star proposed on Valentine's Day 2014, with a ring worth 250,000.

While John was busy escorting his nubile friend to another location, his old lover, who he was spotted with as recently as December, was busy jet-setting around the world with her latest beau.

Katy and her Hobbit star other half were spotted touching down at London's Heathrow airport together on Saturday.

But while Katy's visit to the UK may have had some speculating that she was to be introduced to her British beau's family, their time on English soil was in fact very brief.

Old lover: He dated curvy popstrel Katy Perry on and off from 2012 until 2015

Split: Jessica and her Formula One star husband Jensen Button broke up last December

After spending four hours in Heathrow, the lovebirds made a quick dash to Luton airport where they greeted friends before hopping on board a private jet that whisked them off to another faraway location.

The couple had been careful to avoid being photographed together when they jetted out of New York city's JFK the previous evening.

It comes just weeks after they enjoyed a romantic break to Hawaii, where the Roar star and the Calcium Kid favourite confirmed their romance with a series of amorous gestures.

Meanwhile: Katy and her Hobbit star beau Orlando Bloom jetted out of New York to London on Friday
Natalie Portman never takes a fashion misstep.

And the 34-year-old actress didn't disappoint when she attended a screening of her directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness on Sunday.

The Oscar winner cut a ladylike figure in a pink couture coat at the Jewish Community Centre Film Festival in Washington D.C.

Directorial debut: Natalie Portman, 34, attended her film screening of A Tale of Love and Darkness in Washington D.C. on Sunday

The Black Swan star showed off her slender physique in the luxurious knee-length garb which fitted at the waistline and included a ruffled hem.

Her silky brunette tresses were swept back which allowed her stunning features to take centre stage as she wore a smokey matte eye for a dramatic look.

She wore black tights and matching blouse beneath the pale pastel wool as she stopped for a snapshot with the festival's sponsors, Elise and Marc Lefkowitz.

Biopic: Portman was spotted in full costume as Jackie O in the iconic Chanel pink suit on Tuesday filming scenes for the Kennedy assassination

Flawless: The Oscar winner cut a ladylike figure in a pink couture coat at the Jewish Community Centre Film Festival

Her directorial debut has already been described by reviewers as her love letter to Israel.

The film is based on the memoir of writer and journalist Amos Oz, with his parents; his academic father, Arieh, and his imaginative mother, Fania, played by Portman.

The movie tells the story of his memories growing up in Jerusalem in the years before Israeli statehood.

Natural beauty! Her silky brunette tresses were swept back which allowed her stunning features to take centre stage

They were one of many Jewish families who moved to Palestine from Europe during the 1930s and 1940s to escape persecution.

It's the first film where Portman speaks Hebrew and in order to play the role of Amos' mother, an immigrant from East Europe, Natalie took considerable efforts to remove all traces of her American accent.

Natalie was born in Israel and lived there until she was three, before her family moved to the Unites States.

Supporters: The Black Swan star stopped for a snapshot with the festival's sponsors, Elise and Marc Lefkowitz

It's been a busy week for Portman as she was spotted in full costume as Jackie O in the iconic Chanel pink suit on Tuesday.

She emerged from a plane, just as Mrs Kennedy had in Dallas on that fateful day as they filmed the pivotal Kennedy assassination scene.

On the cast, Natalie is joined by actor Peter Sarsgaard, who plays JFK's brother Robert Kennedy, though it's unclear who plays JFK.
On the latest episode of Girls, Hannah Horvath is horrified to discover that her boyfriend Fran Parker (Jake Lacy) has saved naked photos of his ex-girlfriends onto his cell phone.

And so Hannah (Lena Dunham) responds by staging a nude photo shoot of her own.

The New Yorker recruits her friends Ray (Alex Karpovsky) and her ex-boyfriend Elijah (Andrew Rannells) as she poses completely naked upon a couch for the third episode of season five of Girls entitled Japan.

Dare to bare: On the latest episode of Girls, Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) poses nude after she finds out her boyfriend Fran Parker (Jake Lacy) has stored naked photos of his ex-girlfriend

Not shy: Horvath posed for her friend Ray (Alex Karpovsky)

'Kind of goofy':Hannah's boyfriend didn't react quite the way she'd hoped

Hannah had initially arrived to chat with Ray and Elijah to ask for their opinion of her predicament with Fran, who said in the opening of the episode that he saved naked images of his ex-girlfriends in order to masturbate.

When Hannah suggest he masturbate to her, he tells her the nude photos she sends him are 'kind of goofy.'

It seems Hannah decided to pose nude in order to provide him with sexier images of herself.

The young writer even asks for the advice of her best friend Marnie (Allison Williams), who is in Ecuador with her husband.

Hannah inadvertently catches a full-frontal glance of Marnie's nude husband as he steps out of the outdoor shower during their video chat.

Modesty is the best policy: Elijah (Andrew Rannells) holds up a sheet to protect his friend's modesty

Moment of truth: Hannah is horrified to discover nude photos on her boyfriend Fran's phone

'Okay I just fully saw your husband's d***,' Lena tells Marnie, who is more than happy to hear Hannah say 'husband.'

Hannah's lingering anger with the nude photos even interrupts her sex life, with Hannah bringing up the images as she has sex with Fran on a couch.

Determined to show him, Hannah later goes through Fran's phone as he sleeps in bed.

Shock: Hannah explains her predicament to her friend Marnie (Allison Williams), who is in Ecuador with her husband

Interrupted: The writer is unable to let go of the photos even as she has sex with her boyfriend

Delete! Hannah angrily deletes the photos from Scott's phone before saving her own nude photo as the screen saver

The writer angrily deletes the naked images before saving her own nude photo as his screen saver.

Meanwhile, Shoshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet) has fully embraced her new life in Japan, yet she struggles with feelings for her boss Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima).

Her predicament is complicated even more, however, when Shoshanna winds up losing her job.

Loving life: Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) has embraced her new life in Japan, where she now works

Smitten: Shoshanna grapples with feelings for her boss Yoshi (Hiro Mizushima)

Over a video call with her boss Abigail (Aidy Bryant), the pink-haired character is told that she has been managed out now that the company's corporate office in Japan has been left with fewer positions.

Shoshanna nurses her wounds over beers with her girlfriends, explaining she doesn't want to go back to America, and then calls up her boyfriend Scott (Jason Ritter), who is happy to hear that she will be returning home.

He urges her to 'rip off the band aid' and get on a plane back to America, where he plans to pick her up at the airport.

Breaking the news: The pink-haired employee is devastated to learn she has been let go

Tough call: After nursing her wounds with beers, Shoshanna phones up her boyfriend to let him know she has been let go

After hanging up the phone, Shoshanna texts Yoshi and asks him what his plans are for the night.

The pair meet up at a rock concert and eventually wind up watching a friend have hot wax dripped onto his butt.

Shoshanna winds up giving it a go as well and puts on a sexy nurse uniform, however the event ends awkwardly after she playfully whips a tied-up friend.

Party on! But Shoshanna texts her boss Yoshi, and the pair eventually find themselves at a rock concert

Whip it! Shoshanna tries on a nurse outfit and playfully whips a tied-up friend in front of Yoshi

Locking lips: After a crazy night out, Shoshanna finally gives into her feelings and kisses her boss

Shoshanna profusely apologizes as she is led outside by Yoshi, where she pulls him in for a kiss, which he reciprocates.

Later in America, Scott waits for Shoshanna's return at an airport with a bouquet of flowers and a greeting sign.

As passengers pile one by one out of the plane and into the airport, it becomes clear Shoshanna has decided to stay in Japan.

Decisions: Shoshanna contemplates on her balcony the morning after her kiss with Yoshi and just before she's set to return to America

Disappointment: Scott waits for Shoshanna at an airport, but eventually leaves when it hits him his girlfriend has not returned home

Tension: Adam Sackler's (Adam Driver) relationship with Jessa (Jemima Kirke) continues to escalate

When it hits Scott that Shoshanna is not on the plane, he angrily throws the bouquet of flowers and sign into the trash.

Elsewhere in New York, the tension between Adam Sackler (Adam Driver) with Jessa (Jemima Kirke) escalates when Adam kisses Jessa in his kitchen.

Jessa eventually rejects him and pulls away as she tells him, 'We're just friends.'

'Are we?' Adam asks.

'I'm not doing this "will they, won't they" sh**. No f**king way. Sorry,' Jessa says as she leaves the apartment.
She's the globetrotting bikini blogger who never fails to impress in skimpy swimwear.

And it was back to business as usual for Natasha Oakley as she stripped down at Bondi Beach in her home city of Sydney earlier this week.

The Bikini A Day co-founder, 25, confidently flaunted her sizzling curves in a barely-there rose two-piece in images posted on Instagram on Monday.

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Flawless curves: Model-blogger Natasha Oakley, 25, posed for several bikini-clad snaps at Bondi Beach in these images posted on her Instagram on Monday, following her recent return to her home city of Sydney

Looking the definition of beach body ready, the super fit model-blogger showed off her flawlessly bronzed skin and well-toned tummy in several Instagram snaps.

True to form, Natasha displayed plenty of sun-kissed cleavage in the rose-coloured bikini, which could barely contain her ample assets.

Meanwhile, the professional poser playfully pulled at her scanty pink bikini bottoms, which drew attention to her incredibly slender body and hourglass figure.

Curvy collage: Los Angeles-based Natasha treated her 1.7million Instagram followers to this four-squared image of herself posing in her chosen bikini - a skimpy, rose-coloured two piece - and a pair of sunglasses

The Australian-born beauty shared the photos with her 1.7million followers on the social media site on Monday morning to promote her popular blog A Bikini A Day.

In one snap, she can be seen strolling away from a brightly-coloured ice cream van clutching an orange smoothie drink.

For the photo opportunity, Natasha matched her pink two-piece with an elegant red sarong, which gently billowed in the wind.

Ice cream and abs! Natasha casually strolls away from an ice cream van parked at the beachside suburb - as the bikini-clad model clutches an orange-coloured beverage

This follows another trip to Sydney's beaches with California-born pal Devin Brugman, also 25, with whom she launched her fashion blog in 2012.

Over the weekend, Natasha posted a series of pictures of the pair soaking up the perfect Bondi weather while wearing matching black bikinis, which left little to the imagination.

One image showed the pair walking hand-in-hand across the beach, with the caption: 'Showing @devinbrugman why I love home so much'.

Breast of friends: Natasha (left) walks hand-in-hand with best pal and A Bikini A Day co-founder Devin Brugman, 25, (right) on Bondi Beach, Sydney in an image posted to her Instagram account over the weekend

'Sun bums': Beach babes Natasha and Devin both displayed their pert posteriors in this sunny Bondi snap

They both concealed their gaze behind dark sunglasses - as the soaring temperatures reached heights of 28C over the weekend.

In another cheeky snap, Natasha and Devin showed off their 'sun bums' while enjoying the shade under a large beach umbrella.

Natasha's bikini featured a sleek design and fuller briefs, while Devin opted for a pair of G-string bottoms - as she wrapped up her DD-cup breasts in a halter-neck top.

'M's for Monday Active': The model-bloggers spruiked their new activewear range during a shoot for SELF Magazine at the Conde Nast offices in the One World Trade Centre Building, New York City last month

Natasha, who hails from NSW but is based in Los Angeles, only recently returned Down Under following a girly holiday with best pal Devin, 25, in Beverly Hills, California.

During their recent trip to the States, the model-bloggers also stopped by the Conde Nast HQ in New York City to promote their new sportswear brand, Monday Active.

They posted several behind-the-scenes snaps of the SELF Magazine photo shoot last week - including a romantic photo of Natasha kissing her model boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand.
She has grown up around wild life such as crocodiles, zebras, rhinos and snakes.

And on Monday Bindi Irwin added another animal to her ever-so large family.

The 17-year-old took to social media to announce she had adopted a pug puppy, which she named Stella, into her Queensland-based home.

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Extreme close-up: The 17-year-old took to social media to announce she had adopted the puppy in a short 30 second video

She shared a quick 30 second video onto her Instagram account which pictured her showing off a large smile while zooming in closely to the pet's adorable little face.

Alongside the clip Bindi wrote 'Meet Stella...The newest edition to our little family.

'At 10 weeks old, she's already melting hearts,' the Wildlife Warrior continued.

Meet the newest family member: Bindi Irwin adopted a pug puppy, which she named Stella, on Monday

The extension of the family comes a week after Bindi and her mother Terri and brother Robert 'Bob' touched back down in Australia after one month abroad.

The trio spent two weeks in South Africa, where they guest appeared on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! before jetting across to Oregon, America to visit Terri's parents, Judy and Clarence.

Despite having a happy relationship with their American grandparents, Bindi and Robert are estranged from their paternal grandfather on their late dad Steve's side, Bob Irwin.

Bindi spoke out following reports of an increasingly strained relationship with Bob, who has previously reflected on his struggle to cope after son Steve Irwin was fatally struck by a stingray in 2006.

Isn't she cute! Alongside the clip Bindi wrote 'Meet Stella...The newest edition to our little family. At 10 weeks old, she's already melting hearts'

Back on home soil: The extension of the family comes a week after Bindi and her mother Terri and brother Robert 'Bob' touched back down in Australia after one month abroad

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the 5th annual AACTA Awards in December, Bindi claimed her grandfather became reclusive in the years following his death.

'Everyone deals with grief differently,' she said. 'When my dad passed away he chose to distance himself from everything that dad loved the most.

'At the moment were really just respecting his wishes because he hasnt had anything to do with us for a long time and he decided his own path. Thats important so good for him.'
Theirs is a romance that wouldn't be approved of on their TV series Downton Abbey.

But for Laura Carmichael and her co-star Michael Fox, all seems well in their new relationship, as the new couple stepped out together for the second time since their union was revealed.

The pretty 30-year-old actress, who plays Lady Edith Crawley on the hit period drama, and her handsome beau went for a low-key stroll together in rainy London on Saturday.

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Low-key lovers: Laura Carmichael and Michael Fox - who both starred in Downton Abbey - made a rare appearance together on Saturday in London, following the news of their romance

On the hit show - which ended in late 2015 after six series - Michael, 26, portrayed illiterate servant Andy Parker.

And it's clear class divide was left long behind the two actors, who couldn't have looked more at ease with each other as they walked the streets of the capital.

Laura looked cosy in a pair of black skinny jeans teamed with a printed t-shirt and black jacket.

She covered up against the drab weather with a beanie hat over her tousled blonde locks, and also appeared to be going make-up free for their day, which saw them go shopping for flowers, perhaps for Mother's Day.

Casual pair: Laura, 30, looked comfy in skinny jeans and a jacket with a beanie, while Michael, 26, donned a hoodie with a smart jacket and a flat cap

No PDAs... yet! If onlookers were hoping for a more romantic display between the new lovebirds, they were left disappointed as they didn't attempt to hold hands as they went about their day

Something for Mother's Day? Michael was seen chatting away on his phone while carrying a bouquet of flowers, the day before Mothering Sunday

Handsome gent Michael mixed smart and casual, teaming a hoodie and jeans with a blazer and a flat cap.

However, if onlookers were hoping for a more romantic display between the new lovebirds, they were left disappointed as they didn't attempt to hold hands as they went about their day.

The not-so-unlikely couple's romance was revealed at the end of January, leaving fans of Downton Abbey delighted at the union.

In the ITV1 period drama, Laura portrays aristocratic and unlucky-in-love Lady Edith, who was served by Michael's affable character Andy among many others.

Lucky in love: Despite the gulf in social class on screen, Downton Abbey stars Laura and Michael have struck up a romance in real life

A source told The Sun that Laura and Michael really hit it off during filming last year, and their relationship has now moved beyond friendship.

The insider said: 'They started off as mates but quickly realised there was chemistry there and decided to start dating.

'Its very early days still but they are really enjoying each others company. The best part is that since the show ended they have had a lot more time to spend with each other.'

'Before that, most of their time together was at work.'

Blossoming romance: The pair reportedly hit it off during filming last year with their relationship having now moved beyond friendship

Laura was a stalwart of the award-winning period drama having starred as Lady Edith Crawley from the very first episode.

Meanwhile, Michael joined the cast for the penultimate series where he played the Crawley family's servant.

Downton came to an end after six wildly successful series in December.

And Lady Edith, after suffering more than her fair share of heartbreak throughout the duration of the show, finally found herself lucky in love.

All good things... Downton came to an end after six wildy successful series in December last year

Happy ending: In the show's finale, Lady Edith tied the knot to fabulously wealthy Bertie, much to the delight of her parents

Her chequered love life has seen her jilted at the alter by Sir Anthony Strallon, give birth out of wedlock after boyfriend Michael Gregson went missing - presumed dead - in Germany, and be ditched by fiance, the newly minted marquess Bertie Pelham after sister Mary maliciously let slip that Marigold was Edith's illegitimate daughter at the dining table.

But in the show's final episode she oozed 20s glamour as she tied the knot with the fabulously wealthy Bertie, much to the delight of her parents.

And she finally came clean to her mother-in-law about her illegitimate child Marigold. Mrs Pelham (Patricia Hodge) took the news better than expected and Lady Edith was finally able to move on happily with the rest of her life.

Late to the party: Michael joined the cast for the penultimate series where he played Lady Edith's servant

In a recent The Telegaraph's Stella Magazine, Laura, who attended Bristol Old Vic theatre school, revealed how the opportunity to star in Downton came about.

She said: 'When I left, I didn't even have an agent. There were a couple of really tough years, on several fronts, when I did temping jobs and wondered when the phone call would come.

'But the (Downton) casting director had seen me in a drama school production and I was asked to audition; all the girls in the waiting room were entirely unlike each other, because we were deliberately chosen on account of our "otherness".'
There was only one thing wrong with Doctor Thorne, Julian Fellowes first series since the demise of Downton Abbey. It was on at the same time as The Night Manager, over on BBC1.

It was a poor form frankly  forcing viewers to choose between the follow up to the nations favourite costume drama and the latest classic John Le Carre thriller.

We are halfway through The Night Managers six episode run. And as Doctor Thorne is only in three parts, ITV could easily have waited until we discovered if hotelier-turned-secret agent Jonathan Pine is going to ensnare arms dealer Richard Roper or whether Ropers title as the worst man in the world will be justified and see him survive.

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There was only one thing wrong with Doctor Thorne, Julian Fellowes first series since the demise of Downton Abbey. It was on at the same time as The Night Manager (pictured), over on BBC1

Such dilemmas, indeed the whole concept of Appointment TV, were meant to be a thing of the past  what with the advent of Sky Plus, iPlayer, On Demand, and the popularity of boxed sets.

But the publics mania for commenting on television as it happens on Twitter and other social media has not only brought them back again but made such watercooler moments more pressing and contemporary than ever.

No one wants to wait even an hour to watch the second big programme of the night to catch up/join in on what everyone has been talking/tweeting about.

So it was a nervous night for both ITV and BBC, waiting to see who came out on top in the ratings war  even though they had effectively damaged themselves as much as each other by agreeing to screen them separately.

It was a big night too for Tom Hollander who, incredibly, found himself starring in both series, on peak time Sunday night viewing, simultaneously.

Its just a shame he wasnt in The Jump on Channel 4 as well. It would have been the actors equivalent of the perfect hat trick.

ITV could easily have waited until we discovered if hotelier-turned-secret agent Jonathan Pine is going to ensnare arms dealer Richard Roper or whether Ropers title as the worst man in the world will be justified

Here are my awards for The Night Manager and Doctor Thorne for those of you who only watched one of them and the few who didnt see either.

Best must-see event of the evening: Doctor Thorne

I find modern-day spies more intriguing than the machinations of 19th century high society but even I would concede Julian Fellowes return took priority. It didnt help that the third episode of The Night Manager confirmed its initial allure is becoming stale.

Best romantic hero: Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager

Now that Jonathan Pine was no longer bed-ridden, Hiddleston was back being a blonde bombshell/Bond successfully breaking into Richard Ropers private den and photographing the details of his evil arms deal and gratuitously running along the sand with his shirt off. His rival on Doctor Thorne, Harry Richardson (as Frank Gresham), had the Lovely Hair, well-groomed features, and boyish charm of one of the boys in War And Peace, or One Direction. But frankly looking handsome on a white horse was never going to compete with Hiddleston, who was channelling 007 so perfectly it was a wonder he didnt introduce himself by saying: the names Manager. Night Manager.

Best romantic hero: Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager. Hiddleston was back being a blonde bombshell/Bond successfully breaking into Richard Ropers private den and photographing the details of his evil arms deal and gratuitously running along the sand with his shirt off

Best romantic heroine: Mary Thorne

Doctor Thornes niece was not only destined to be too common to marry her true love Frank Gresham, but not even one of the Thornes from Ullathorne after all. She was illegitimate, while her father had been murdered after seducing her village girl mother, who had later left her and gone to Australia. Talk about unlucky, not really wanted, and deeply romantic. Surprisingly, The Night Manager hadnt provided a love interest for Jonathan Pine. The closest its come so far is Richard Ropers girlfriend  the strangely-named Jed, a gal who is constantly either swimming or bathing, as if she cant be out of water for long because she is part model/part mermaid. I dont care who sees me naked ! young Jed declared, as she stripped off again. Yes, we noticed. You wondered whether  if the scene required it and was done with integrity  actress Elizabeth Debicki would keep her clothes on. Despite their evident attraction, the chances of Jed and Jonathan getting together diminished still further. If you lay one hand on that precious fruit, well chop it off, warned Ropers sidekick Lance Corky Corkoran. And I dont mean the hand.

Best romantic heroine: Mary Thorne (R). Doctor Thornes niece was not only destined to be too common to marry her true love Frank Gresham, but not even one of the Thornes from Ullathorne after all

Best Baddie: Rebecca Front in Doctor Thorne

Lady Arabella Greshams machinations were nothing if not complicated - trying to persuade Doctor Thorne that her sons love for his niece Mary Thorne must desist because there had been love-making of a very advanced kind whilst not changing the friendly intercourse between the good doctor and her family, which she needed to facilitate Sir Roger Scatcherds loans. The fact that she performed them while carrying a pug  rather than stroking a white pussycat  was all the more admirable. Richard Roper, the arms dealer in The Night Manager meanwhile, may be the worst man in the world but Hugh Lauries performance is still veering more towards parody than clever casting against type.

Best Baddie: Rebecca Front (L) as Lady Arabella in Doctor Thorne. Lady Arabella Greshams machinations were nothing if not complicated - trying to persuade Doctor Thorne that her sons love for his niece Mary Thorne must desist because there had been love-making of a very advanced kind

Best Tom Hollander: Doctor Thorne

Hollanders roles in Doctor Thorne and The Night Manager couldnt have been any more different and, as ever, he was terrific in both. The problem with his part in The Night Manager was that Lance Corky Corkoran was such a slimy, snide, piece of work he was hard to watch with any great enjoyment, while Doctor Thorne was patently a saint.

Best locations: Doctor Thorne

It was a good night for the English Tourist Board as Julian Fellowes decided one stately home wasnt nearly enough and delivered several that made Downton Abbey look like a council house. The croquet lawns and grounds were so verdant they looked like theyd been coloured in by felt pen. By comparison The Night Manager was marooned on the Thames at MI6 HQ, a rather mundane cafe in Madrid, and at Ropers (admittedly lavish) fortress on the Mallorca coast. Still, episode three missed the spectacular snowy Alpine heights where Pine was working in the opening show. Even Devon was better.

Best Tom Hollander: Doctor Thorne. Hollanders roles in Doctor Thorne and The Night Manager couldnt have been any more different and, as ever, he was terrific in both

Most ludicrous plot: The Night Manager

It was a small world in Doctor Thorne, where the fortunes of Rochesters doctor, his murdered brother, his niece, his patient Sir Roger Scatcherd, Sir Rogers sister, his nieces beloved, and his nieces beloveds mother were all intricately, often secretly, linked - like a cross between something from Jeremy Kyle and Ye Olde EastEnders.

But these storylines were still more plausible than anything in The Night Manager. Here, Jonathan Pine had become the first British or American secret agent to infiltrate the sinister inner circle of Richard Roper, a man selling napalm in the guise of tractor parts - even though this was Pines first assignment as a spy.

Roper and co. had their suspicions about Pine and knew that he had lied about his real identity, but his bodyguards left him alone long enough to a) coax Ropers little boy into effectively grassing on his dad and tell him everything he needed to know to complete his mission, b) steal the kids mobile phone when mobiles werent allowed, c) break into his den (Ropers that is, not the little boys) by stealing the only key which Roper had left in his bedroom drawer (rather than carry with him) exactly as the alarm was being tested, d) photograph the details of a massive arms deal and email them to his handler (Olivia Colman) and e) tip off Olivia Colman that Ropers sidekick Lance Corky Corkoran was on to him while ostentatiously standing next to her at an ice-cream van. So much for Ropers impenetrable organisation.

Corky was a inveterate, talkative, drunk. Ropers money man Sandy was having an affair with his childrens nanny  much to the fury of his wife. She knew all about Ropers forthcoming arms deal and disapproved of it  as she proved when she told Pine all about it.

We run a tight ship here, Roper had boasted. Hardly. It was leaking like a sieve.
They're often seen flaunting their sun-kissed curves in swimwear for popular blog A Bikini A Day.

But Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman opted for gym chic this week, as they poured their curves into busty crop tops and tight-fitting leggings for a TV interview in Sydney this week.

The models were spotted chatting with E!'s The Hype host Ksenija Lukich at Bondi Beach on Monday, wearing clothes from their upcoming sportswear range Monday Active.

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What a difference! Bikini bloggers Natasha Oakley (centre) and Devin Brugman (right) swapped skimpy swimwear for busty crops tops and figure-hugging leggings as they filmed a segment with TV host Ksenija Lukich (left) for E! Australia's The Hype at Bondi Beach, Sydney on Monday evening

Sydney-born Natasha, 25, wore her blonde hair loosely and displayed her flawless tummy in a sexy black crop top with white straps.

Devin, who hails from California, opted for support in a slightly different design of sports bra - which emphasised her ample DD-cup size chest.

Meanwhile, both pals flaunted their shapely pins in skin-tight running leggings with a stylish black-and-white design.

Girls on film: Sydney-born Natasha, 25, wore her blonde hair loosely and displayed her flawless tummy in a sexy black crop top with white straps

Breast of friends! California-born Devin, 25, opted for support in a slightly different design of sports bra - which emphasised her ample DD-cup size chest

But first: The glamorous trio posed for a quick selfie during the shoot

Model-turned-TV host Ksenija, 25, also wore figure-hugging fitness gear for the E! network show- which suggests that the segment may be spruiking Natasha and Devin's new activewear brand.

Natasha, who hails from NSW but is based in Los Angeles, only recently returned Down Under following a girly holiday with best pal Devin, 25, in Beverly Hills, California.

During their last trip to the States, the model-bloggers stopped by the Conde Nast HQ in New York City to promote Monday Active.

On the campaign trail? As host Ksenija, 25, also opted for workout clothes, it is possible the trio were talking about Natasha and Devin's upcoming sportswear range Monday Active

Promotion: This TV appearance follows a recent press trip to the States last month, where the bikini bloggers took part in a SELF Magazine photo shoot in New York to launch Monday Active

And... cut! Natasha, Devin and Ksenija enjoy an on-camera discussion against the backdrop of Bondi Beach

Natasha and Devin posed for the photo shoot with US-based filmmaker and photographer David Joshua Ford for SELF Magazine, which took place last month.

They shared several behind-the-scenes snaps on Instagram, including a romantic photo of Natasha kissing her model boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand.

London-based Gilles, who has graced the cover of Men's Fitness UK, cradled his girlfriend in his muscular arms as she affectionately wrapped her pins around him for the photo.
He vehemently denied being involved with a girl that he later admitted to 'ending up with' last month.

Now, Jeremy McConnell has been accused of trying to keep a second girl quiet about a night that they spent together two weeks later, in Scotland.

Private messages obtained by The Daily Star allegedly show the Irish model attempt to pay off a nightclub flame, so that now-ex girlfriend Stephanie Davis would not find out - just as she recently did with 19-year-old dancer Caroline Pope, who McConnell spent the night with in Newcastle.

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Keeping mum: Jeremy McConnell has been accused of trying to keep a second infidelity quiet, in hopes now-ex girlfriend Stephanie Davis would not find out

The messages reportedly hear Jeremy say: 'I had fun but you need to keep quiet please,' and when asked why, he simply answers: 'Steph.'

'Sorry, just please don't say anything. If the mags offer you money don't,' the CBB star seems to tell the brunette he met at Kitty's nightclub in Fife on February 20, 2016.

Jeremy is also quoted as saying: 'If the mags offer you money don't,' before adding: 'If you want money, I have money.'

Pictured: Pictures of Jeremy and a nightclub brunette first emerged in late February, but now text messages appear to show him bribing her not to sell their story

Please don't: He allegedly offered the nightclub girl money in order to keep her quiet

A representative for Jeremy McConnell has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

The alleged infidelity first came to light in the days that followed the incident, when Twitter pictures emerged of Jeremy throwing his arms around the pretty girl inside a club.

In the messages, Jeremy is accused of suggesting that 'People would hate you,' like they did Caroline, before she repeatedly asks him to leave her alone.

Last week, Jeremy confirmed reports that he had spent the night with teenage nightclub dancer Caroline on February 4, 2016 after meeting at Jungle in Newcastle.

Wrecked: CBB's Stephanie Davis (pictured left) and Jeremy broke up last week when he was forced to confirm that he spent the night with a different nightclub dancer at the start of February, before she'd left the show

He insisted that it was not a 'cheating' incident because Stephanie was still in a relationship with Sam Reece, though the same technicality would not apply to this reported second incident.

Jeremy reportedly went off the radar for a whole 24 hours, which contributed to the Stephanie and Jeremy's first split in four weeks.

Their second split was more recent, when Stephanie was shocked to hear Jeremy confirm his tryst with Caroline during an appearance on Irish morning show RTE1's Today show on Thursday.

Stephanie broke her social-media silence on Sunday, seeking comfort in an emotional quote from The Notebook.

The former Hollyoaks actress, 22, retweeted the post which read: 'If you can love the wrong person that much, imagine how much you can love the right one.'

Breaking her silence somewhat: Stephanie shared an emotional message amid her Jeremy heartache on Sunday, appearing to break her silence

Making her feelings clear: 'If you can love the wrong person that much, imagine how much you can love the right one', the post read

Splitsville: Celebrity Big Brother star Jeremy confirmed his infidelity was the reason for his break-up with Stephanie

Understandably, Stephanie is turning to her friends as she tries to overcome her boyfriend's revelation that he did indeed sleep with another girl while on a night out in Newcastle, after weeks of denying anything had happened.

Fellow former Hollyoaks star Wallis Day reached out to her on Twitter on Friday, writing: 'Love you @Stephdavis77 always just a call away.'

The sometime actress replied, simply: 'Love you too.'

See more of the latest updates on CBB stars Stephanie Davis and Jeremy McConnell

Stephanie's emotional post came after a close friend exclusively told MailOnline how the news of Jeremy's infidelity 'smashed her confidence into a million pieces'.

The source revealed: 'Jeremy has point blank denied this until his TV appearance and so it was a massive shock to her when he appeared and announced that without giving her any warning'.

He reportedly begged the 19-year-old nightclub dancer in question to keep silent.

Steph's friend continued: 'Stephanie is shell shocked with what has happened. Jeremy should be ashamed of himself for how he has treated her.

'She is a girl who has openly talked about her problems and him doing this like this has smashed her confidence and trust into a million pieces. To tell her on national television he would look after her and to then behave like this is disgusting'.

See more of the latest on CBB's Steph Davis as she slams Jeremy McConnell for cheating

Confirmed: Jeremy confirmed the girl in question was 19-year-old dancer Caroline Pope, who he was linked to at the time of his Newcastle visit

'To openly and publicly deny he cheated even up to 2 days ago and to then get his friend Scotty to do the same and then admit it makes him look so stupid'.

An official spokesperson for Stephanie Davis refused to comment.

Stephanie finally dumped Jeremy on Thursday, prior to his confession, when she confronted teenage club dancer Caroline Pope via text message.

Stephanie and Jeremy's relationship escalated quickly inside the CBB house in January but she publicly declared that she wanted to be 'single' during one of the shows.

'We were both single': The Irish hunk said he doesn't think he cheated on Stephanie since the pair weren't technically in a relationship at the time

Though as she went on to compete in the final of the competition, Jeremy seemingly met someone else on the very next night after his eviction.

His attempts to keep her quiet were futile as it first came to light when the pretty brunette reportedly boasted about it in WhatsApp messages seen by The Sun newspaper back in early February.

'He's in my bed...I wish, round 2 would be fab', the paper accused Caroline of bragging to her friends the morning after.

Second chance: 'I love the girl to bits', he declared, admitting that he's hopeful Stephanie will want to get back together with him

Backtracking: Just this week, Jeremy insisted he would never cheat on Steph and told fans not to believe the stories

Once the news leaked, Caroline is said to have messaged Jeremy in a panic, telling him she was terrified his fans would hunt 'hunt me down and kill me.'

Caroline also subsequently took to Twitter to deny the reports saying: For the record nothing happened between me and Jeremy standard Newcastle rumours!! Thanks for the shoutout though.'

Even Jeremy's close CBB pal Scotty T appeared to confirm that Jeremy and Caroline had spent the night together when he publicly named he in an interview with The Sun.

Poking fun at their relationship, Geordie Shore's Scotty is quoted to have said: 'To be honest. I think it's quite funny. I see them doing this whole love thing, but then I hear he's off sh***ing girls.

'I mean he sh***ed one of my mates, she's called Caroline Pope. He's supposed to be me pal and that. But if they want to play that game, then man's has got bare ammunition.

Caught in the middle: Even their ex-housemate Scotty T insisted that Jeremy had slept with Caroline

Awkward: Afterwards, Scotty denied that he'd called the incident 'cheating' because Jeremy and Stephanie weren't together at the time - the same excuse Jeremy made

'He sh***ed her as soon as he got out of Big Brother. He met her in Newcastle. I think it's pretty hilarious how they're going on about this relationship and then all they're doing is arguing. I just laugh.'

Again, the denial came down to a technicality and Scotty denied saying that Jeremy 'cheated' but added in a defensive social media rant 'he wasn't in a relationship at that point any way!'

Jeremy too, vehemently protested his innocence on the social network by saying: 'So sick to death of hungry begs selling stories for a few quid to try ruin ppl relationships. I love steph and would never hurt her end of.'

Lost love: Jeremy have been using the technicality that Stephanie was still with her boyfriend Sam Reece, pictured in April 2015, at the time of his 'cheating' incident as a get out clause

Denial: Caroline also took to social media at the time to defend herself, but it appears she confessed everything to Stephanie during a 'girl to girl' chat
More often than not, Kym Marsh is seen rocking a flattering gym-ready ensemble.

But as she stepped out for Coronation Street filming in Manchester on Monday, the 39-year-old was clad in a rather glamorous dress as she got into character as Michelle Connor.

The singer-turned-actress looked sexy as she walked through the sunny set of the soap opera, showing off her trim curves in a figure-hugging teal mini dress.

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She's the teal deal! Kym Marsh looked stunning in a plunging body-con dress as she got into character as Michelle Connor on the Coronation Street set on Monday in Manchester

But it was the body-con frock's low plunging neckline that really stole the show, as Kym was able to display a fair amount of cleavage for the programme, which airs before the watershed on ITV1.

She showed that all those days of hitting the gym have paid off as the garment clung neatly to her trim hourglass physique, while also allowing a good look at her bare, toned legs.

The Corrie wardrobe department teamed her glamorous attire with a pair of towering peep-toe platform heels and a slick black blazer for a touch of class.

Dressed to impress: The singer-turned-actress looked sexy as she walked through the sunny set of the soap opera, showing off her trim curves in a figure-hugging teal mini dress

Leggy and lovely! During a break in filming, the 39-year-old star showed off her enviable pins, made to look longer thanks to a pair of towering peep toe heels

Feeling the chill? Despite being covered in a slick tailored blazer, Kym seemed to be feeling the effects of the chilly March weather

Her raven locks were coiffed to perfection in ringlets, and she also had a full face of make-up as the scene shooting commenced.

Kym was busy filming a scene which saw her character Michelle go on a date with her former flame Will, played by Coronation Street newcomer Leon Ockenden.

It was revealed back in February that the Mr Selfridge and Waterloo Road actor would be making his debut in the serial drama as Michelle's old boyfriend, with whom she was in a romance back in their school days.

Glamorous: She looked gorgeous with her hair in ringlets and a full face of make-up, as her character Michelle Connor went to meet a former flame at his impressive mansion

Hello there, handsome! Monday's shooting saw Leon Ockendon introduced - he is to play Will, an ex-boyfriend of Michelle's

New addition: It was revealed back in February that the Mr Selfridge actor would be making his debut in the serial drama as Michelle's old boyfriend, with whom she was in a romance back in their school days

Will she stray? Michelle is married to Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) who is currently in Spain with his brother

The pub landlady - who had dressed to impress her former beau - was seen arriving at Will's mansion after he arrives unexpectedly in Weatherfield.

And Leon looks set to make an impression as he cut a handsome figure while following his co-star out of the house, rocking designer stubble and a nonchalantly unbuttoned white shirt.

However, it looks as though Michelle may be led astray by Will, as she is currently waiting for her husband Steve McDonald to return to the UK, who is in Spain with his brother following an episode of depression.

In reality, Steve's absence is down to actor Simon Gregson being on paternity leave following the birth of his third child with wife Emma.

Fans will have to wait until scenes of Michelle and Will's reunion air on Coronation Street in April to find out if she succumbs to the opportunity to cheat on her husband.
It's the stuff of fantasy, at least for his army of devoted fans.

But this was just a normal day at work for one make-up artist, tasked with primping Zac Efron.

Armed with a water bottle, the unruffled professional bronzed up the actor's buff torso on the Baywatch set on Sunday.

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Shes got the best job in showbiz! Zac Efrons make-up artist bronzes up his buff torso on Baywatch set

The stuff of fantasy: This was just a normal day at work for one make-up artist, tasked with primping Zac Efron

Paying close attention to his impressive muscled chest, the hard-working woman carefully spritzed the perfectly proportioned pecs as patient Zac waited for her to finish.

A bottle of bronzer was then selected, as she touched up the hunk's colouring ahead of a scene.

Selecting a bottle of hairspray from her arsenal, the red-headed expert then skillfully tended to the 28-year-old's hair to get that ruffled beach look just right.

Just let me finish: Paying close attention to his impressive muscled chest, the hard-working woman carefully spritzed the perfectly proportioned pecs

Now, how do I look? Patient Zac waited for her to finish

Despite having arguably the best job in showbusiness, it was clear that making Zac camera-ready was just another task to be completed.

Of course, should she be in need of someone to hold her, the applications for internships are sure to take several years to wade through.

High School Musical star Zac is reprising David Charvet's role as Matt Brody.

Just come a little closer: Despite having arguably the best job in showbusiness, it was clear that making Zac camera-ready was just another task to be completed

I'll help! A hairdresser jumped in with some spray to ensure Zac's hair had that perfect just stepped out of the ocean vibe

All done: Zac was certainly a sight to behold after the primping session

The lifeguard action for the big screen version has moved from Malibu, California, to Miami and principal photography started a week ago.

The film is being produced by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who also plays the lead lifeguard Mitch Buchannon.

Kelly Rohrback, 26, is playing C.J. Parker, the part that made Pamela Anderson a global star.

The Rock recently announced that original Baywatch star David Hasselhof will make a cameo in the new film, but it's not yet clear if Anderson is likely to join him.

Looking good: Kelly Rohrback, 26, is playing C.J. Parker, the part that made Pamela Anderson a global star

The film is being produced by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who also plays the lead lifeguard Mitch Buchannon

Looking good: Kelly wrapped up in a towelling robe between takes

Rock hard abs! Alexandra Daddario was spotted as she showed off her toned midriff

Flawless! The beauty was spotted in a blue and black patterned halter neck bra top and a pair of black workout shorts

Red hot! Ilfenesh Hadera showed off her svelte physique as she rocked the iconic swimsuit

Mingling: Hadera was spotted chatting with the crew members between takes

'Caught this guy creepin around set today': Efron captioned an image holding actor and comedian Sasha Baron Cohen
Her sister recently suffered a revealing wardrobe malfunction on the catwalk.

So fans of Bella Hadid surely won't be surprised that the brunette beauty put on an impressive display when she stepped out in Paris on Monday.

The supermodel - who recently hit headlines due to claims made over her allegedly cosmetically altered face - turned heads as she joined Kendall Jenner in the French capital.

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Showing out: Bella Hadid put on another impressive display when she stepped out in Paris on Monday

Keeping it casual, the youngster stepped out in a pair of stonewash jeans - Nasty Gal 501 Jeans in Shadow - which she rolled-up at the ankle for added cool.

However, it was her choice of top - the Nasty Gal Scouted Open Back Bodysuit - which commanded the most attention as she navigated the city's streets.

Proudly displaying her body, the model clearly wasn't feeling shy - and even removed her coat, which she then held in her hand, for maximum exposure.

Back to basics: Keeping it casual, the youngster stepped out in a pair of stonewash jeans and a black body with backless detail - which commanded the most attention as she navigated the city's streets

Looking good: The supermodel - who recently hit headlines due to claims made over her allegedly cosmetically altered face - turned heads as she joined Kendall Jenner in the French capital

Her relatively-daring wardrobe choice gave onlookers quite an unexpected eyeful, which she had surely planned.

Wearing her brown hair in a sleek centre-parting, the socialite and magazine cover star seemed to keep make-up to a minimum.

Once she was sure to have made her impression, she later slung on a fur-effect jacket for added warmth.

Sharing the same stylist? Kendall Jenner was also in he French capital and sported a similar look

Perfect pins: Showing off a large amount of her slender ankles thanks to the short length of the ripped denim, Kendall accentuated her legs further with a classic black pointed heels

She's not shy! Her relatively-daring wardrobe choice gave onlookers quite an unexpected eyeful, which she had surely planned

Bold look: Proudly displaying her body, the model clearly wasn't feeling shy - and even removed her coat, which she then held in her hand, for maximum exposure

Less is more: Wearing her brown hair in a sleek centre-parting, the socialite and magazine cover star seemed to keep make-up to a minimum

More importantly, she looked as defiant as ever following reports were made last week that she has undergone cosmetic changes to her face in recent years: Star magazine reported the girlfriend of The Weeknd had some help getting her famously perfect features.

'Bella has always been hugely insecure,' a friend told the publication. 'But it really ramped up when (her sister) Gigi started modelling.'

The magazine suggested she went to see a doctor about it: 'She really went to town with her dad's credit card and is practically unrecognisable.'

Head held high: She looked as defiant as ever following reports were made last week that she has undergone cosmetic changes to her face in recent years

It's a wrap-up! Once she made her impression, Bella slung on a fur-effect jacket for added warmth

The source did not make clear what she had done, whether it was just fillers or something more.

Her father is developer Mohamed Hadid and mother is former model Yolanda Foster, both of whom have appeared on hit bravo reality series The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.

Whether Bella has had work done or not, one thing is for certain: she is now considered one of the top models in the fashion business.

Meanwhile, also out in Paris and sporting a similar look was Kendall Jenner. Kendall, 20, made sure to draw attention to her incredibly long, envy-inducing pins as she donned a pair of pale blue, cropped straight-cut jeans by Frame Denim.

Busy bee: Kendall was seen leaving her hotel in the middle of Paris on Monday morning ahead of more appearances at Paris Fashion Week

Showing off a large amount of her slender ankles thanks to the short length of the ripped denim, she accentuated her legs further with a classic black pointed heels.

The high-waisted bottoms also served to draw attention to her slender waistline and trim hips.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians beauty teamed her flattering jeans with a camel coloured knit - with long sleeves and an on-trend high neckline - while covering up in a super-fluffy and almost pom-pom effect gilet.

Keeping it neutral, Kendall avoided looking too much like a character from Sesame Street, unlike her mother Kris Jenner, who was out and about elsewhere in Paris in a bizarre oversized fluffy coat.
Zendaya may be the latest star to get the Marvel nod.

On Monday Deadline reported the 19-year-old Disney TV star has landed a 'key' role in the new Spider-Man reboot with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spidey.

'She was among the actresses whove quietly been testing for roles, and I hear she will play a character named Michelle,' reported the site.

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Big move: Zendaya may be the latest star to get the Marvel nod. On Monday Deadline reported the 19-year-old Disney TV star has landed a 'key' role in the new Spider-Man reboot; here she is seen in February

The new man in tights: Tom Holland, 19, has already been cast as Peter Parker/Spidey; here he is seen in December

Deadline also went on to say it doesn't look as if there will be a romantic lead for Spider-Man, which would be highly unusual.

In the comics, Parker romanced Mary Jane and Gwen.

In the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man franchise, the love interest was played by Kirsten Dunst. And in the Andrew Garfield version, the leading lady was Emma Stone.

One of the ladies of the SM series: Kirsten Dunst with Tobey Maguire in 2002's Spiderman

He got the girl: Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012

The new movie will be directed by Jon Watts of Cop Car fame.

Holland, 19, will also appear in Captain America: Civil War which will come out in May.

Zendaya - who was born Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman - has been on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up! with Bella Thorne for years. The Oakland, California, native has also been in KC Undercover and Zapped.

In 2009 she competed on Dancing With The Stars.

The beauty was caught in a controversy last year when E!'s Fashion Police host Giuliana Rancic said her hair looked like it smelled of weed. Fans were quick to knock Rancic for linking dreadlocks with marijuana use and the TV personality had to apologize.

Zendaya accepted the apology.
It's no secret that dogs are highly regarded as man's bestfriend.

Proving that notion to be true, Lewis Hamilton was the picture of happiness as he walked his two pooches in Paris on Monday.

Beaming broadly, the F1 champion, 31, looked content as he was joined by Roscoe and Coco as he continued to show off his stylish wardrobe choices in the French capital.

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Man's bestfriend: Lewis Hamilton was the picture of happiness as he took his dogs, Roscoe and Coco, for a walk in Paris on Monday following the Stella McCartney PFW presentation

Content: The 31-year-old beamed broadly as he continued to show off his stylish wardrobe choices

Hamilton made a bold fashion statement in a padded coat with a detachable hem that also featured long leather sleeves.

Lewis teamed his quirky cover-up with a white striped shirt, lightwash jeans as well as a pair of leather zip details brogues.

With his hair styled in a quiff, the sportsman hid his eyes behind a pair of reflective sunglasses.

Good times: The sportsman did well to stand out from the crowd as he took to the streets

Coming through: Lewis smiled as he journeyed along with the two adorable pooches

Travel buddies: Roscoe and Coco frequently follow Hamilton on his trips around the world

From the runway to the pavement: Lewis made a bold fashion statement in a black padded coat with a detachable hem that also featured long leather sleeves

Fashion forward: Hamilton teamed his quirky cover-up with a white striped shirt, lightwash jeans as well as a pair of leather zip details brogues

Meanwhile, away from the catwalk Hamilton has been none too impressed with the new 'Halo' safety design for F1 cars, describing it as the 'worst looking' modification in the sport's history.

The new concept, which is aimed at protecting the head of the driver, was first trialled during winter testing in Barcelona last Thursday by Hamilton's Mercedes team.

While the Stevenage-born racer was understanding of the reasons behind the safety device, he simply could not get his mind around the new addition.

Too cute! The doting F1 star was seen cooing over the dogs as they struck a pose in front of Maison Goyard

Good boy! Lewis was seen petting one of his companions following the impromptu shoot

Superstar! Hamilton completed his look by hiding his eyes behind a pair of reflective sunglasses

Taking it easy: The world champion is currently in the French capital to check out Paris Fashion Week

And they're off! Hamilton and his dogs were later seen jumping into the back of a Mercedes Benz

'I love this sport and F1 cars are so unique in how they look. I feel they have lost the cool look they used to have in the 1980s and 1990s and this part is just too drastic', he said.

'It is not F1 for me. If they do implement it, I hope we have a choice of whether we have to use it and are not forced to, because ultimately it is our safety.

'I understand safety is a huge issue and something we always have to work towards but this is not the one.'
Hugh Hefner's wife Crystal Harris has been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

After the diagnosis last week the 29-year-old model announced the news on her Instagram on Sunday night and used the opportunity to warn her followers how easily the tick-borne illness can be missed.

'If you have EVER GONE HIKING, please get tested for #LymeDisease. The best lab to do this is called "Igenex" they are based out of Palo Alto.' she wrote alongside a photo of a vial of the tiny insects that cause the sickness.

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'I was diagnosed a few days ago and have a long road ahead of me,' Hugh Hefner's wife Crystal Harris has been diagnosed with Lyme disease. The 29-year-old model revealed the news on her Instagram on Sunday

'I was diagnosed a few days ago and have a long road ahead of me,' she added.

Crystal informed her fans that Lyme sufferers don't always have any clues that they have been bitten or contracted the diease.

'Supposedly you get it from ticks but I have absolutely no recollection of being bit or having a rash or ANYTHING.' she wrote.

Crystal joins a host of celebrities that have been diagnosed with the disease, including Yolanda Foster, her children Bella and Anwar Hadid, Avril Lavigne, Alec Baldwin and Ben Stiller.

Crystal went into great detail in her post letting her followers know that it's easy to miss the signs of Lyme disease and also listed the range of symptoms

A photo posted by Crystal Hefner (@crystalhefner) on Mar 6, 2016 at 10:01pm PST

Staying strong: The model looked in great shape as she posed for a snap earlier on Sunday

She continued: 'Most importantly there are SO MANY of you carrying Lyme that don't even know you have it. Probably because the ticks can be the size of specs. I always thought of ticks to be big and noticeable.

'I always thought of ticks to be big and noticeable. The symptoms are vast and when it has been left untreated for a long time can turn into MS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Dementia and ALS.'

Hefner's third wife then listed off all the symptoms of the disease including 'muscle pain, heart palpitations and memory problems.'

Another celebrity sufferer: Former model and reality star Yolanda Foster has been very vocal about her battle with Lyme disease and regularly updates her fans on her various treatments

Family struggle: Yolanda is pictured with her children (L-R) Gigi, Anwar and Bella Hadid at the 2015 Global Lyme Alliance Gala. She announced last year that Anwar and Bella also suffer with the disease

'It is a disease so many people are living with and is becoming an epidemic. I always thought I was a hypochondriac. Doctors told me it was just "stress" or "all in my head" but I finally figured it out and you can too.

The Arizona born beauty concluded her post by revealing that the sickness isn't just spread by ticks and can actually be passed from mother to child during pregnancy.

'Lyme is also related to syphilis and can be sexually transmitted' she also added before urging her 2.8 million followers to tag their friends and spread the word.

Crystal married Playboy founder and multimillionaire Hefner, 89, in 2012.
She's happily in love with French entrepreneur Jean David Blanc.

And it seems Melissa George is fond of all things Parisian.

Heading into the Garde Republicaine museum to view the Hermes Autumn/Winter 2016 collection on Monday, the Australian actress donned a fur beret.

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Well, it is Paris Fashion Week! Melissa George donned a fur beret as she attended the Hermes Autumn/Winter 2016 runway on Monday

As was to be expected, the 39-year-old carried a maroon vintage Hermes Kelly tote, which can fetch well upwards of $10,000.

As the chill continues to hang over the city, the Perth-born beauty rugged up with a full-length, chocolate leather overcoat that swamped her petite frame.

She also opted for wide-leg black trousers, tucking her unbuttoned white shirt into the high waist that she cinched with a silver buckled belt.

The length of her long trousers meant she barely showed off her chic monochrome pumps.

Fresh-faced: The 39-year-old opted for minimal makeup, with a light dusting of blush

Over-sized: The Perth-born beauty rugged up with a full-length, chocolate leather overcoat that swamped her petite frame

Makeup-wise, the Heartbeat star went for natural and luminous, with just a touch of blush and nude lipstick.

She tied her short, blonde locks into a low-slung ponytail and beamed for photographers as she clutched her personalised invitation to the show.

Later that day, Michael Coste, who is responsible for Hermes external relations, took a snap with Melissa and the front-row tribe, including Kris Jenner.

'The fabulous ladies': Michael Coste (third from left) shared a snap with Melissa (second from left) and Kris Jenner (right) after the show

Front row tribe: Australian PR powerhouse Roxy Jacenko was also in attendance, taking photos from the front row

Sharing the moment with his 25,000 followers, he wrote in the caption: 'Today at the exceptional Hermes Fashion Show with the fabulous ladies.'

Also in attendance at the coveted show was Australian PR powerhouse Roxy Jacenko, who has been flaunting her Parisian trip with her 83,000 followers.

A prolific consumer of the classic French brand, the mother-of-two shared a snap with the Kardashian matriarch from the front row.

'When in Paris,' she wrote alongside the image.
They have been on the defensive after recent rumours suggested they were heading towards a split.

And Tim Robards, 33, and girlfriend Anna Heinrich, 29, have again taken to social media to prove their love as they relaxed after a big night of fashion shows in Melbourne.

Anna posted a snap to Instagram in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in which she and her beau are seen cuddling up in bed.

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The couple who dress together: Anna Heinrich and Tim Robards snuggled up for a selfie in the early hours of Tuesday morning in matching pyjamas in Melbourne

She wrote in an accompanying caption: 'Having too much fun...... I don't want to go to sleep'

In the image, Anna and Tim are cosied up close and wearing matching pyjama sets with their respective initials embroidered on the pocket.

Blonde beauty Anna's luscious locks are swept off her face and she appeared to still be sporting her heavy makeup look from their night out.

Tim meanwhile is seen leaning his head in close to his girlfriend while flashing his pearly whites.

The pair are staying at the Crown Resort in Melbourne and the pyjamas appear to be a gift from the hotel.

What break-up? The original Bachelor Tim, 33, and Anna, 29, put on an affectionate display on the red carpet for the first night of Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival following rumours of an impending break-up

Stylish: Criminal Lawyer Anna wore a chic off the shoulder frock by Australian designer By Johnny, which featured three coloured bars across her slender waist

Earlier in the night, the duo headed out for the first night of Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, and put on an affectionate display on the red carpet.

Chiropractor Tim adoringly wrapped his arm around his girlfriend in another effort to quash the rumours there is trouble in paradise.

Criminal lawyer Anna wore a chic off the shoulder frock by Australian designer By Johnny, which featured three coloured bars across her slender waist.

Beside her Tim paired a tweed blazer with a casual T-shirt and black fitted trousers.

Loved-up: The couple have been together since falling in love on the first series of the Australian Bachelor in 2013

Trouble in paradise: Last month OK! Magazine claimed Anna had moved out of the couple's home after a row between the pair

The couple have been together since falling in love on the first series of the Australian Bachelor in 2013, and last month OK! Magazine claimed Anna had moved out of the couple's home after a row between the pair.

Sharing a picture of the article to his his 165,000 fans Instagram, Tim used a caption to decipher 'gossip mag language' and deny the claims.

He wrote: 'The term 'Heated argument'... Actually means 'god I'm full, no I don't want your last piece of steak thanks.

He continued: 'Anna, 30, has already moved out' interprets as 'Anna is actually 29 and the only thing she is taking out is the rubbish!'
She is always keen to cut a fashionable figure.

Which is precisely what Fearne Cotton did when she stepped out in central London on Monday evening - only to be greeted by a group of hardcore fans.

The blonde TV star, 34, was seen leaving the BBC Studios after recording a segment alongside Brenda Blethyn for The One Show.

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Looking good: Fearne Cotton was seen leaving the BBC Studios on Monday after recording a segment alongside Brenda Blethyn for The One Show

The glamorous presenter was on fine sartorial form as she left Broadcasting House in Oxford Circus, where the show is recorded.

Sporting a pair of cropped trousers with a floral top, she capped her look with a long, tan coat which looked to be comfortable as well as classy.

Adding a lash of hipster style, she also wore a pair of flat shoes with metal studs.

Cool mum: The glamorous presenter was on fine sartorial form as she left Broadcasting House in Oxford Circus, where the show is recorded

Her work is done! Sporting a pair of cropped trousers with a floral top, she capped her look with a long, tan coat which looked to be comfortable as well as classy

Fresh from the hair and make-up chair, she boasted a healthy glow and an effortless sheen.

Greeted by fans, she looked delighted with the level of attention and happily posed up a storm with the autograph-hunters, who requested selfies with the star.

Happy to oblige, she took time to chat with the keen followers, who no doubt shared their mutual moment on social media.

Popular: Greeted by fans, she looked delighted with the level of attention and happily posed up a storm with the autograph-hunters, who requested selfies with the star

Smile for the camera! Happy to oblige, Fearne took time to chat with the keen followers, who no doubt shared their mutual moment on social media

On good form: Fresh from the hair and make-up chair, she boasted a healthy glow and an effortless sheen

The former Radio 1 DJ and presenter, 34 who is married to musician Jesse Wood, gave birth to her second child, Honey Krissy, in September.

She is also mum to Rex, who recently turned three, and step-mum to Jesse's two children from a previous marriage.

Fearne - who this year launches her first cookbook, homeware range, as well as fronting a new ITVBe fashion show alongside Gok Wan - said that her secret to juggling everything is 'embracing the chaos' and letting things go.

Mamma mia! The former Radio 1 DJ and presenter, 34 who is married to musician Jesse Wood, gave birth to her second child, Honey Krissy, in September

Lights, camera, action! Fearne was seen filming a segment alongside Brenda Blethyn on The One Show

Fearne, who has recently been named as an ambassador for beauty brand Sensationnel's Polish to Nail Transformer, added that her secret to juggling is having a shared diary with husband Jesse, and scheduling the family's every move.

'The only way you make it work is by being thoroughly boring,' she explained. 'Me and my husband sit down and say, "Shall we do the diary thing?"

'Hes touring with his band at the moment and theyre really busy, so all we really do is sit and chat about diaries and whos got the kids when, and if we need my mum to help or whatever, so we just have to be really organised.'

She's a pro! The popular TV and radio host opted for flower power as she took to the air waves
She's well known for her love of fitness - and Charlotte Crosby treated her fans to yet another stunning picture of her bikini body on Monday.

The 25-year-old posted a snap of herself modelling a very skimpy khaki two-piece to Twitter, in which she looked remarkably toned.

She captioned the image with the words: 'N O S T A L G I A swimwear. Make sure u sign up @inthestyleuk it takes 2 seconds and gives you exclusive access.'

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Working it: She's well known for her love of fitness - and Charlotte Crosby treated her fans to yet another stunning picture of her bikini body on Monday

In the sexy snap, Charlotte can be seen playing with the tie sides on her bikini briefs, which are adorned with gold beads.

Going barefoot, the girlfriend of her Geordie Shore co-star wears her caramel locks down and in a tousled style.

The reality star recently returned from a trip Down Under alongside her MTV cast mates promoting the new series of Geordie Shore.

Something wrong? Charlotte was spotted arriving into Melbourne Airport on Saturday shielded her face with her hooded jacket as she made her way back to the UK

But it's clear she wasn't too happy about returning back to the UK.

On Saturday, the British personality was spotted arriving into the terminal and covering her face with her hooded jacket.

Wanting to go low-key, the reality TV star did her best to keep herself under wraps and away from the glare of onlookers.

Charlotte has been in Australia as part of a promotional tour for the 12th season of Geordie Shore, alongside some of her castmates.

This week, she spent time in Sydney including some quality time with her beau and co-star, Gary Beadle.

This week, they enjoyed time together on a yacht on Sydney Harbour and were joined by radio star Kyle Sandilands and his girlfriend, Imogen Anthony.

On the boat, Charlotte and her man recreated the iconic love scene from the film Titantic that featured the film's Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio - with Charlotte holding out her arms with Gary holding her waist.

The couple have been on and off recently and met during the first season of the hit show.

They confirmed their relationship at the start of this year and she told Daily Mail Australia 'we're getting on very well.'
Marco Rubio wins Puerto Rico primary: US networks

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has won the Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, US television projections said Sunday, in a White House race otherwise led by billionaire Donald Trump.

Rubio, 44, had a comfortable lead in the US commonwealth in the Caribbean, according to CNN and NBC News.

Residents of the island have US citizenship but cannot vote in the US presidential election if they are Puerto Rico residents. Still, they take part in the primary process.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, pictured February 5, 2016, won the primary election in Puerto Rico Chip Somodevilla (Getty/AFP/File)

Rubio had about three quarters of the votes, the projections showed, which should hand him the 23 party convention delegates in play.

His campaign was in need of some good news. The son of Cuban immigrants who grew up in Las Vegas and Florida has been struggling in the presidential race.

If confirmed, this would mark just the second outright win for Rubio, who also took Minnesota on Tuesday.

Trump has kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race, and called for Rubio to end his presidential bid.

Senator Ted Cruz has emerged as Trump's strongest challenger in weekend primaries with mixed outcomes.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, extended her frontrunner status in the Democratic contests, though Senator Bernie Sanders showed he is still in the race with a pair of victories.
Two 'radicalised' Syria-bound French teens return home

Two French teenagers suspected of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group returned home Sunday night, two days after they went missing, officials said.

Israe, 15, and 16-year-old Louisa disappeared from their school in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps on Friday, prompting the police to launch a search for the pair.

The public prosecutor in Annecy said the teenagers "had left or were trying to leave for Syria".

Two French teenagers suspected of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, have returned home, two days after they went missing from their school in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps Philippe Merle (AFP/File)

"(They would) use any means possible to leave the country and were likely using fake identities," the police added.

The public prosecutor confirmed that both girls had returned home by Sunday evening -- Louisa during the afternoon after hearing a TV appeal from her mother, and Israe a few hours later.

Israe was already known to authorities as "radicalised", and had been placed in foster care and banned from leaving the country. A travel ban was put in place for Louisa on Saturday.

Israe's mother Nadia told Le Parisien newspaper that she had caught her daughter trying to leave for Syria two years ago.

"It is not easy to break this cycle... she has been sucked in by it," Nadia told the newspaper. "She wanted to go to Syria to help children and serve a good cause."

Following the incident, Nadia had alerted the authorities and Israe was enrolled in a deradicalisation programme.

Dounia Bouzar, who runs the anti-radicalisation centre Israe attended, said the 15-year-old had recently left a psychiatric hospital where she had been treated for "teenage depression". She described the teen as "fragile" and suicidal.

Louisa's uncle dismissed any allegations his niece was intent on travelling to Syria, describing her as simply a "runaway".
Sri Lanka fires security boss for harassing lovers

Sri Lanka's government has sacked a senior security official after guards chased away couples from a monument in Colombo for holding hands, a minister in the conservative Buddhist country said Monday.

The move came after a couple posted video of the guards on social media and is a marked change from the former government, under which police would routinely round up young lovers for kissing in public.

Deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva said he intervened after visiting the Independence Square monument on Sunday and finding security guards were driving away unmarried couples.

The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the Independence Monument at Independence Square in Colombo Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP/File)

He said he spoke with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who ordered the sacking of the director in charge of security.

"What happened was their boss got fired," de Silva said.

"The guards will be sent somewhere else and hopefully warned not to repeat their arrogant behaviour."

The couple who filmed the guards said they were told that only married couples with children were allowed to sit at the monument, built to mark independence from Britain in 1948.

Sri Lanka's largely conservative Buddhist society looks down on public displays of affection even among married couples.

Police are also known to occasionally arrest so-called "umbrella lovers" who shelter under parasols in scorching sun along the Galle Face promenade in the capital.
Publishing's lack of diversity fails readers: author Rai

As the film and music industries grapple with the fallout from the race rows that dogged the Oscars and the Brit Awards, English author Bali Rai warns publishing too has a serious diversity issue.

The award-winning writer, who has Indian heritage but was born and grew up in Leicester, echoes critics of Hollywood and the Academy Awards when he suggests gatekeepers are only recognising a narrow band of talent and ideas, which does not properly reflect society.

He explains: "Publishing in the UK is a white, middle and upper class monolith. Britain is 14 percent non-white, yet how many authors reflect that? If it's more than 0.5 percent, I'd be shocked," Rai tells AFP, in an interview ahead of his appearance at the Hong Kong Young Readers Festival.

Author Bali Rai says publishing has a serious diversity issue STR (Hong Kong International Literary Festival/AFP)

"It is a sad fact that non-white people, the LGBT community and many more do not see themselves in UK fiction from childhood. So many -- including me to begin with -- grow up thinking that books are about middle and upper class white people," he adds.

The 44-year-old, who specialises in teen fiction, describes his background as "multi-cultural, working class" adding that traditionally, "people like me don't become authors".

He says: "It's about more than racism in society -- although that exists -- it's about publishers being unwilling to think outside of their narrow ivory-tower worlds and break with tradition.

"Imagine if Harry Potter had been called Harish Patel or Hamza Pathan, for example? Would those books have been published, never mind become the mega-successes that they became? Right now, in the UK, the answer is no."

Rai acknowledges J.K. Rowling's first book was rejected by many houses, but insists "no ethnic minority authors or characters" would be able to make such an impact.

- 'Advertise the risk takers' -

Diversity has been a watchword for the arts in 2016 so far -- the lack of ethnic minority nominees for the Academy and Brit Awards, were the subject of social media campaigns under the hashtags #OscarsSoWhite and #BritsSoWhite.

Even US President Barack Obama addressed the issue, telling regional television anchors: "I think that when everyone's story is told then that makes for better art... And I think the Oscar debate is really just an expression of this broader issue. Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot?"

Rai concedes that although diversity is being discussed more in publishing, the industry is only paying lip service to the idea, with token minority authors, rather than making wholesale changes to improve the situation.

He warns this reluctance to take risks, challenge orthodoxy, and seek out unheard voices in society is not only failing aspiring writers, but readers as well.

"If I were dictator for a day, and could change publishingI would give my entire advertising budget to the rebels and the risk-takers, and the least represented," he says, adding: "It might not make as much profit possibly, but it would add much more to literature.

"Mainstream publishing at present is staid and overly reliant on tried and tested formulas."

- Literacy undervalued -

Rai, whose debut novel (UN)arranged Marriage has been translated into 11 languages and appears on the GCSE reading list, is also calling for more public libraries and a re-think on the importance of reading and literacy in the UK, which he says are undervalued.

A 2013 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found young adults in England scored among the lowest for literacy in the industrialised world.

"When we look at falling literacy rates in the UK, or decreasing attention spans, this has coincided with the rise in time spent online, and I truly believe that we will eventually understand that there is a causal link from the latter to the former," Rai posits.

"People flit around, at speed, from one link to another, with constant new links vying for their attention. This is not conducive to high intellectual endeavour. I believe its the recipe for anti-intellectualism," he says, adding that by contrast recent research by Stanford University has found reading for pleasure boosts brainpower.

The writer admits the Internet is "a great tool, but one of many at our disposal".

The amount of time young adults spend online in the UK has almost tripled from 10 hours and 24 minutes each week in 2005 to 27 hours and 36 minutes in 2014, according to the latest figures from British media regulator Ofcom.

Blockbuster franchises such as The Hunger Games, and Twilight, still attract young readers, arguably driving interest in dystopian fiction, and dark romance, but Rai says publishers desperation to find "the next big thing" has flooded the market with this type of fiction.

His own novels, which are informed in part by his own work and life experiences, tackle issues such as suicide, honour killings, drug abuse, and racism, and are hugely popular with young adults, though the subject matter is known to make some parents nervous.

Rai is unapologetic: "Teenagers, in my experience, are their own best censors, anyway. They simply put down books that they dont like or cant deal with."

* Bali Rai is speaking at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival, 7-18 March.

http://youngreadersfestival.org.hk/

www.balirai.co.uk/

The lack of ethnic minority nominees at this year's Oscars, hosted by actor Chris Rock, was the subject of a social media campaign under the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite Mark Ralston (AFP/File)
Blast kills 17 as Pakistani Taliban avenge executed Islamist

A suicide bomber killed 17 people and injured 31 in northwest Pakistan Monday, in an attack which the Taliban described as revenge for the hanging of an Islamist assassin last week.

The bomber, who police said was aged around 20 and had up to six kilograms (13 pounds) of explosives strapped to his chest, attacked as lawyers and litigants were arriving at a court complex during the morning rush hour in the town of Shabqadar.

Senior government official Tariq Hassan said the death toll rose to 17 late Monday as four more of those injured succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Pakistani security officials inspect the site of a suicide bombing in Shabqadar on March 7, 2016 Hasham Ahmad (AFP)

Officials earlier said that 13 people had been killed and 23 wounded after the bomber blew himself up inside the complex.

"Condition of four to five more injured was critical and doctors are struggling to save their lives," Hasan told AFP.

Fayaz Khan, a senior police official confirmed the new death toll and told AFP that most of the dead have been buried.

School teacher Murid Khan, who was in the complex for a land dispute hearing, said he was getting documents photocopied when he heard gunshots.

"I looked back and there was a huge explosion," he said, adding the blast threw him over the photocopier.

"I heard screams and saw black clouds of smoke, then I fell unconscious" after being hit by two pieces of shrapnel, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban's Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it avenged the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri -- feted as a hero by Islamists after he gunned down the liberal governor of Punjab in 2011 over a call to reform the country's blasphemy law.

Qadri was hanged on February 29 in what analysts described as a key moment in Pakistan's long fight against militancy, saying it demonstrated the government's resolve to uphold the rule of law rather than allow extremism to flourish.

His funeral brought up to 100,000 people on to the streets, hailing him as a hero.

But Peshawar-based senior analyst and retired brigadier Saad Khan said using the name of Qadri was just a cover.

"The main purpose of militant groups is to spread terror and to give a message that they are still alive," he said.

"These groups need covers and using the name of Mumtaz Qadri is just an excuse."

- 'Un-Islamic laws' -

Monday's blast also targeted the court complex because Pakistan's judiciary was strengthening "un-Islamic laws", Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Taliban, told AFP.

Local TV channels showed footage of victims being rushed to hospitals soon after the blast.

Authorities said six women, two children and two policemen were among the dead. Senior regional police official Saeed Wazir praised the bravery of officers who "sacrificed their lives".

There were around 300 people in the complex at the time, another police official said.

Local bar association president Shair Qadir said they had requested security after receiving threats of an attack, but no action was taken in what he termed a police failure.

Shabqadar is near the Mohmand tribal district, one of seven semi-autonomous regions bordering Afghanistan where militants from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had established bases in the past.

Islamabad launched a military offensive in the tribal areas in 2014 that has reportedly killed thousands of militants and pushed the rest over the border to Afghanistan, resulting in improved security inside Pakistan.

However, insurgents associated with the Pakistani Taliban occasionally carry out attacks from bases inside Afghanistan.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Charsadda, where extremists attacked a university on January 20 in a rampage that left 21 dead.

Map of Pakistan locating Shabqadar, where a suicide bomber blew himself up Monday

An injured boy is rushed to hospital in Peshawar after a suicide bombing on March 7, 2016 in the town of Shabqadar Hasham Ahmed (AFP)
Indonesian leader holds talks with Sudan's Bashir

Indonesia's leader Monday held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, with Jakarta defending having invited him to a summit of Muslim countries.

Bashir met President Joko Widodo and the Indonesian foreign minister briefly on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Jakarta.

Bashir regularly travels to Sudan's neighbours but goes on long-distance trips less frequently.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo (L) welcomes Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to the Extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit on March 7, 2016 in Jakarta Darren Whiteside (Pool/AFP)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted him over war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009 and on genocide charges in 2010, all relating to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Members of the Hague-based ICC are obliged to arrest Bashir. Indonesia is not a signatory to the ICC.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir insisted that Indonesia was obliged to invite all leaders of OIC nations to the summit, including Bashir.

"OIC state leaders can come, and we treat all OIC members as state guests," he told AFP. "We can't just choose who we want to invite, and who we don't want to."

When asked about the war crimes accusations levelled at Bashir, Nasir responded: "We are not a member of the ICC so we are in no position to make the same accusations."

Bashir was due to visit Indonesia last year for a conference of Asian and African leaders, but cancelled at the last minute.

He visited China in September, where President Xi Jinping welcomed him as an "old friend of the Chinese people".

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of marginalisation.

It has left 300,000 dead and some 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, tries not to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs and has good relations with a handful of nations that have been ostracised by much of the international community.

The OIC meeting brought together representatives from 57 countries, and was focused on the issue of the Palestinian territories.
Over 50 dead as Tunisia foils 'emirate' bid on Libya border

Tunisian forces repelled a jihadist assault Monday on a town near the Libyan border, killing 36 assailants in what authorities said was a thwarted effort to establish an Islamic emirate.

Eleven members of the security forces and seven civilians were also killed in Ben Guerdane in what President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an "unprecedented" jihadist attack.

It prompted authorities to close the frontier and order a nighttime curfew.

Tunisian special forces take position during clashes with militants in the southern town of Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border, on March 7, 2016 Fathi Nasri (AFP)

Prime Minister Habib Essid, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group, said the operation's aim had been to create a "Daesh emirate" in Ben Guerdane, but the army and internal security forces had thwarted the attackers.

Essebsi, in an earlier statement broadcast on state television, said the assault was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and vowed to "exterminate these rats".

State Department spokesman John Kirby condemned the "cowardly attack" and offered fresh US help to Tunis, while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the attack "once more demonstrates the gravity of the threat faced by Tunisia".

Residents told AFP the assailants appeared to be natives of the region.

They stopped people, checked their IDs apparently to seek out members of the security forces, and announced their brief takeover of Ben Guerdane town as "liberators".

"I was about to open my shop, at 5:30 (am), when I heard gunshots coming from not far from here," said a grocer near the hospital, asking not to be identified.

When he went to see what was happening, he saw two jihadists drive off with an ambulance, an account confirmed by a medic.

Other jihadists pointed a gun at him, told him to kneel down and asked for his identity papers, which in Tunisia show your profession.

- 'Kill him' -

"I told him I didn't have my ID on me. His comrade said: 'Kill him.' But instead he shouted: 'We are Al-Imara al-Islamiya (the Islamic emirate). We've come to liberate you.'"

The assailants, apparently working from a hit list, murdered an anti-terrorist brigade official at his home, friends said.

"They knew him! They knew him!" insisted the man's uncle, Mustapha Abdelkebir, a civil activist, amid tears of grief.

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to prevent the large number of its citizens who have joined IS in Libya from returning to carry out attacks at home.

Jihadists have taken advantage of a power vacuum in Libya since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, to set up bases in several areas, including Sabratha between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

The government in Tunis said an army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane were attacked in coordinated pre-dawn assaults.

The defence and interior ministries said at least 36 jihadists, six members of the National Guard, two policemen, a customs official and a soldier died in the fighting. Seven civilians were also killed.

Seven militants were captured, the defence ministry said.

A medic said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead.

An AFP correspondent reported that schools and offices were closed and troops were posted on rooftops as helicopters patrolled overhead.

Residents were urged to stay indoors even before the 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) nighttime curfew began.

- Jihadist presence growing -

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia, the correspondent said.

Authorities said ground and air patrols along the border would be reinforced.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Troops have been on alert in the area following reports of militants infiltrating since a US air strike on an IS training camp in Libya on February 18 killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

Deadly IS attacks on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre (125-mile) barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militant incursions.

- US air strike -

The American strike on the IS training camp outside Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the raid probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

According to a UN working group, more than 5,000 Tunisians have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups, many to Libya.

Western governments have been increasingly alarmed by the growing IS presence in Libya just 300 kilometres (185 miles) across the Mediterranean from Europe, and have made contingency plans for intensified military action.

Rival administrations jostling for power since mid-2014 in Libya are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to facilitate the fight against the jihadists.

Deadly clashes have erupted for a second time in the Tunisia town of Ben Guerdane, on the border with Libya

Tunisian special forces take positions during clashes with militants in the southern town of Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border, on March 7, 2016 Fathi Nasri (AFP)

The pre-dawn attack was the second deadly clash in the Tunisia-Libya border area in less than a week Fathi Nasri (AFP)

An army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane came under simultaneous attack, authorities say Fathi Nasri (AFP)
Iran's Rouhani praises Khatami role in recent vote

President Hassan Rouhani praised Monday the strategic role played in recent elections by Mohammad Khatami, Iran's ex-president who is subject to a media ban, thanking him in a speech aired live on state television.

Rouhani's remarks, during a visit to Yazd, the home town of Khatami, Iran's only reformist president, prompted cheers from the crowd but the sound of their applause during the broadcast was lowered several times.

Iranian media are forbidden on the orders of Tehran's prosecutor from publishing pictures of Khatami, president between 1997 and 2005, or quoting his words, on account of his support for the defeated reformist candidates in the disputed 2009 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech during a visit to the central city of Yazd on March 7, 2016, praising reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami

Regardless of the restrictions Khatami was a guiding influence in the success of pro-Rouhani reformist politicians in last month's elections which reduced conservative dominance in Iran's parliament.

He circumvented the ban and used YouTube and the smartphone message sharing app Telegram to urge Iranians to back reformists, also naming the group's candidates as representing a "List of Hope" for Iran.

"After the honourable leader, who had the main role in mobilising people to the ballot boxes, all elites, elders, and in particular the pride of this town, invited people in this election to create a great epic," Rouhani said, alluding to Khatami before naming him outright.

"When I entered parliament those individuals whom you brave people of Yazd province had sent to the parliament were shining flowers and lights... and in that very parliament, from Ardakan, was my dear brother Seyed Mohammad Khatami," the president added.

"Heroic Iran shall never forget its servants, those who worked for Iran's glory. They are, today, regarded as the pride of the land and no one can silence their name and their greatness."

Social media showed banners of Khatami and Rouhani were held up by the crowd during the speech but they could not be seen on the live broadcast.

Rouhani was accompanied on the trip by Mohammad Reza Aref, a vice president during Khatami's administration, who led the List of Hope's candidates during the February 26 elections.

The group swept Tehran, winning all 30 seats in the capital, and made large gains in other cities and provinces.

The media ban on Khatami remains controversial. Iran's judiciary is independent of the government but a spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, quoted by the ISNA news agency on Monday, echoed Rouhani's remarks.

Asked about the ban on Khatamis image and his role in encouraging people to vote, ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi said: "We are thankful for the presence of all distinguished figures and scientific, political and cultural personalities who encouraged people and had a role in the election."
Nigeria's former defence chief charged with graft

A Nigerian court on Monday charged a former chief of defence staff with a string of corruption charges, in the latest case involving a high-ranking official.

Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh was arrested last month and questioned about the alleged diversion of 3.97 billion naira ($19.7 million, 17.9 million euros) from the Nigeria Air Force in 2013.

The 59-year-old, who at the time was chief of air staff, was formally arraigned with 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering at a federal high court in Abuja on Monday.

Nigeria's former chief of defence staff, retired air chief marshall Alex Badeh, was charged with 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File)

One of the charges states that he removed 1.4 billion naira from the air force accounts to purchase a mansion in the upmarket Maitama district of the capital.

Judge Okon Abang remanded Badeh in custody until a bail application on Thursday.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan appointed Badeh chief of defence staff in January 2014 at a time of growing dissatisfaction at the military's handling of Boko Haram's insurgency.

Badeh vowed a swift end to the conflict, which began in 2009, but his time in office saw the Islamist militants run riot in three northeast states, seizing swathes of territory.

The military appeared in disarray, with troops complaining about a lack of weapons and even bullets to fight the better armed rebels, leading some soldiers to refuse to deploy.

Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is currently facing a separate trial over his alleged diversion of billions of dollars for weapons procurement using bogus defence contracts.

Badeh's time in charge also saw Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April 2014, which caused worldwide anger and criticism of the government response.

In May that year he disclosed the military knew where the 219 girls were but that a rescue mission was dangerous. Nearly two years on, none of the teenagers has been found.
Marshall Islands warn over nuclear arms race at UN court

The Marshall Islands Monday painted a vivid picture of the horrors of nuclear war decades after some of its atolls were vaporised in atomic tests, in an unusual legal battle against the nuclear arms race.

The small Pacific island nation opened a case against India, Pakistan and Britain in a David-versus-Goliath fight before the UN's highest tribunal based in The Hague.

The Marshall Islands aims to shine a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat, its lawyers and representatives said Monday, as they remembered apocalyptic scenes after US-led tests in the 1950s.

The United States conducted scores of nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958

"Several islands in my country were vaporised and others are estimated to remain uninhabitable for thousands of years," Tony deBrum, a Marshall Islands government minister, told the court.

He remembered in particular the "Castle Bravo" test of March 1, 1954, which he witnessed as a nine-year-old while fishing with his grandfather in an atoll, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the blast's epicentre.

"The entire sky turned blood red," deBrum recalled when US scientists exploded a hydrogen bomb, with a force 1,000 times stronger than the device dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

"Many died, or suffered birth defects never before seen and cancers as a result of contamination."

Judges at the International Court of Justice are holding a series of hearings over the next week-and-a-half to decide whether it is indeed competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan.

A third hearing against Britain, scheduled to start on Wednesday, will be devoted to "preliminary objections" raised by London.

The Marshall Islands alleges that despite their suffering, the world's nuclear powers have failed to comply with the terms of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

They were "not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament."

Britain has signed the NPT, but not India and Pakistan.

The hearings are starting just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Friday ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, causing global concern.

- Pressure to cut arsenals -

The Marshall Islands had sought to bring a case against nine countries: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States.

Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons.

And the ICJ has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan because they already recognised the ICJ's authority.

Despite not having signed the NPT, India and Pakistan had an obligation under "customary international law" to negotiate and eventually reduce their nuclear arsenals, Majuro's lawyers insisted.

"Contrary to the obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament... India's conduct includes the quantitative build-up and improvement of its nuclear arsenal," deBrum said.

India's representatives declined to comment Monday and are to argue their case on Thursday, with follow-up hearings next week.

In 1996, the ICJ in another case issued a non-binding advisory opinion in which it urged the world's nuclear powers to negotiate and reduce their nuclear stockpiles.

But two decades later, very little progress has been made to cut the nuclear threat, observers attending the case told AFP.

The Marshall Islands therefore decided to sue the world's nuclear heavyweights as "it has a particular awareness of the dire consequences of nuclear weapons," it said in court papers.

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands including Bikini atoll, deBrum told the ICJ's judges.

"The Marshall Islands is on the right side of history... so there's a good chance that they will prevail," said Jacqueline Cabasso of the Western States Legal Foundation, a California-based anti-nuclear organisation.

"We don't know what's going to happen, but it will no doubt put some pressure on those states" to reduce their stockpiles, she added.

The US built a huge concrete dome over a former nuclear test site in Runit -- part of the Marshall Islands -- in 1980 as the radioactive contamination from the atomic test is expected to last 25,000 years Giff Johnson (US Defence Nuclear Agency/AFP)
Syria regime says will attend peace talks starting March 14

Syria's regime said Monday it would attend renewed peace talks in Geneva starting March 14, but the opposition was still considering whether to go despite a major lull in fighting.

The United Nations is hoping to restart peace talks that collapsed last month, building on a ceasefire that has led to the first significant decline in violence in Syria's nearly five-year civil war.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes talks can begin from Thursday, but officials have indicated it could take several days of preparations before they can start.

A resident rides his bicycle among destroyed buildings in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the outskirts of Syrian capital Damascus, on March 7, 2016 Sameer Al-Doumy (AFP)

A source close to the Syrian regime delegation told AFP it would attend the new round of talks starting from March 14.

But the opposition has sent mixed signals, with the head of the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, refusing to commit.

"The HNC will assess the situation in the coming days and we will take the appropriate decision," he said.

Hijab said a small HNC delegation would travel to Geneva "in the next two days" to meet the international task force monitoring the truce.

His statements appeared to be a step back from comments by HNC spokesman Riad Naasan Agha, who said the opposition delegation would arrive on Friday to take part in talks.

- Aid deliveries rise -

The truce between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and non-jihadist rebels is part of the biggest diplomatic effort yet to resolve Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict -- Moscow backs Assad and Washington supports the opposition -- but have made a concerted push for the truce and further peace efforts to succeed.

Observers say the partial truce, which does not apply to the Islamic State group or the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, has largely held despite widespread scepticism before it took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said Sunday had been Syria's "calmest day" since the ceasefire began.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the average number of daily civilian deaths had fallen by 90 percent since the truce came into force, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.

Aid deliveries have also improved, with the UN delivering supplies on Monday to a key rebel bastion east of Damascus, the third distribution since the truce began on February 27.

World Food Programme spokesman Hussam al-Saleh said 22 trucks would distribute food, flour and medical supplies to Hammuriya, Jisreen and Beit Sawa in Eastern Ghouta.

Residents have taken advantage of the ceasefire to stage daily protests.

In Aleppo city, dozens of men demonstrated, carrying the three-starred tricolour of the uprising and banners reading: "The world's silence is louder than the barrel bombs of death."

But an anti-regime protest in northwest Idlib city ended abruptly after Al-Nusra fighters threatened to shoot demonstrators.

Moscow, which has provided a daily account of ceasefire violations, said the truce was still "in general" holding apart from unspecified "isolated provocations and shelling".

It said Russian planes were still carrying out strikes against IS and Al-Nusra in three provinces, including on the main IS stronghold of Raqa.

In September Russia began a campaign it says is targeting "terrorists", but has been accused of hitting non-jihadist rebels in support of Assad's forces.

- Vow to 'squeeze' IS -

South of Aleppo city, Al-Nusra Front and allied jihadists late Monday seized a set of strategic hilltops held by pro-regime forces at Al-Eis, detonating five car bombs during their offensive, the Observatory said.

"Fighters from Al-Nusra Front, Jund Al-Aqsa, and other groups seized the central Al-Eis hilltop and surrounding hills as well," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"The hilltops are important because they reinforce the regime's presence in the outskirts of Aleppo and gave them a presence near the main highway south towards Damascus," he said.

A plan agreed by world powers last year calls for a ceasefire, the creation of a transitional body, the drafting of a new constitution and fresh elections.

The main sticking point has been the fate of Assad, whom the opposition insists must step down for any transition to work.

The HNC's Hijab said that if it attends, the issue of a "transitional governing body with no role for Assad" would top its agenda.

Beginning a Middle East visit, US Vice President Joe Biden admitted that finding a political solution would be difficult but there was no other choice.

"So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement," he told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National.

Riad Hijab, head of the High Negotiation Committee that represents several Syrian opposition groups, speaks during a panel discussion at the 52nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 14, 2016 Christof Stache (AFP/File)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaks to AFP in Damascus on February 11, 2016 Joseph Eid (AFP/File)

Syria's conflict has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions from their homes Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File)

Syrians have taken advantage of a fragile ceasefire which began on February 27 to hold anti-regime protests such as this one on the outskirts Damascus on March 3, 2016 Amer Almohibany (AFP/File)
US Supreme Court affirms ruling in Apple e-books case

The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld a ruling that Apple was part of a price-fixing conspiracy for electronic books, clearing the way for a $450 million settlement to be paid.

The top court declined without comment to hear an appeal from Apple, which lets stand a 2013 ruling by a New York federal judge.

Apple had tentatively agreed to pay out $450 million to compensate consumers harmed by the price-fixing, while at the same time pursuing its appeal.

The case in the US stems from a complaint filed on behalf of consumers, accusing Apple of working with five top publishers in 2009-2010 to set the prices of electronic books Daniel Roland (AFP/File)

In July 2013, US District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple was liable for conspiring with five book publishers to fix e-book prices.

Apple did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the decision.

The US Department of Justice meanwhile welcomed the ruling.

"Apple's liability for knowingly conspiring with book publishers to raise the prices of e-books is settled once and for all, said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department's antitrust division.

"And consumers will be made whole."

The case stems from a complaint filed on behalf of consumers, accusing Apple of working with five top publishers in 2009-2010 to set the prices of electronic books in an Apple-led effort to break rival Amazon's dominance of the market.

Prior to Apple's entry into e-books, the publishers -- all of whom reached separate settlements in the case -- complained about Amazon's $9.99 price for most titles.

Apple and the publishers agreed on contracts that let publishers set the price of most bestsellers at $12.99 or $14.99, but Apple won a provision that allowed it to match the prices of Amazon or any other retailer.

Apple's chief executive Tim Cook had said ahead of the trial that the California firm would not settle, claiming it had done nothing wrong but was merely pursuing normal business practices.

The trial focused on a six-week period in late 2009 and early 2010 during which Apple negotiated contracts with publishers ahead of its iPad launch and proposed a new and more profitable business model.

The settlement calls for Apple to pay $400 million to consumers and $50 million to cover legal fees.

Officials noted that publishers have paid a total of $166 million for consumer redress, which brings the total amount to $566 million. Most consumers will receive credits which may be applied to future e-book purchases.
Jailed Palestinians' wives caught between pride, struggle

When he was sentenced to life by Israel a decade ago in a murder case, Ahed Abu Golmi offered to divorce his wife so she could live freely, but she refused.

"I love Ahed and we are still connected," said Wafa, who has taken care of their son and daughter alone since her husband went to jail.

More than 7,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, with around 600 serving life sentences, including Golmi, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club rights group.

Khalida Muslih, the wife of Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Muslih, talks to journalists at her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah Abbas Momani (AFP)

The prisoners are often glorified in Palestinian society as heroes of the "resistance", but their wives are less noticed, often left to care for families alone.

Women who indeed choose to divorce often do so quietly, with the subject seen as taboo.

Khalida Muslih, 39, said she had no second thoughts in deciding what course to take when her husband Mohammed was given nine life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis.

According to her, being the wife of a prisoner serving time for attacking Israelis is something to be proud of, and she will never change her mind.

When her husband was sentenced in 2002, only a year and a half after they were married, she ululated in joy.

"All these years I have never regretted a thing," said Muslih, whose son was just four months old when his father was jailed.

"I was proud to be the wife of a fighter, even if that meant depriving myself of many things and breaking my heart."

- Hopes of prisoner swap -

At one point, she went 12 years without being able to speak to him, but after a long legal battle, she was given the right to visit her husband.

Now she can speak to him by telephone -- with a panel of bulletproof glass between them.

Muslih says she maintains the "indestructible hope" that they will one day be reunited through a prisoner exchange.

She prides herself on taking care of the family home that she and relatives of her husband rebuilt after it was destroyed by the Israelis in retaliation for her husband's attacks.

She now works in a telecommunications company and takes care of her son.

"Whenever I look at him, I tell myself that he lacks a father at his side," she said.

As a result, "I am a mother, father, brother and sister to my son."

It was for that very same reason that Abu Golmi, who was sentenced to life for taking part in the murder of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001, suggested to his wife that they divorce.

Wafa rejected the offer, but says she knows "many women who divorced when their husbands were given life sentences".

"Some did it because their husbands demanded it, others asked for it themselves," she said.

Some Palestinian wives have come up with extreme ways of enlarging their families while their husbands are behind bars.

Semen has been secretly smuggled out of prison in unclear circumstances to allow women to have more children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

It says that 35 babies have been born that way after more than 60 such clandestine transfers.

Wafa Abu Golmi pictured at her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah Abbas Momani (AFP)
Egypt proposes Mubarak's foreign minister to head Arab League

The Arab League said Monday Egypt has presented Ahmed Abul Gheit, ex-president Hosni Mubarak's last foreign minister, as its candidate to head the pan-Arab body after its present chief declined a second term.

In February, the secretary general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, 80, announced that he would not seek a second term after his current one ends in July.

"The Arab League has been officially notified by Egypt that its candidate for the post of secretary general is foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit," said Ahmed Ben Helli, the deputy chief of the Cairo-based League.

Ahmed Abul Gheit was the last foreign minister under Hosni Mubarak Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)

He told reporters that only Egypt so far had presented its candidate to head the Arab diplomatic body.

Traditionally, the secretary general of Arab League has held the post for two terms, and Cairo has always insisted that it be held by an Egyptian diplomat.

Arab League foreign ministers will hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss the candidacy of Abul Gheit, 74.

Appointed in 2004, Abul Gheit was the last foreign minister of Mubarak, who was overthrown in a popular 18-day uprising in early 2011.

After Mubarak's ouster, the veteran diplomat, who was well known for his tough position on Iran, had stayed away from politics and devoted his time to writing.

After joining the Egyptian foreign service in 1967, Abul Gheit held several diplomatic posts, including in Rome, Moscow and New York.

In 1999 he was appointed Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Abul Gheit had also participated in the Camp David negotiations that saw the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979.

Arabi, also a veteran Egyptian diplomat, had taken over as the bloc's chief from fellow Egyptian diplomat Amr Moussa in 2011.
US sets restrictions on China's ZTE over Iran violations

The United States said Monday it is placing trade restrictions on Chinese telecommunications equipment giant ZTE due to violations of US sanctions on Iran.

The Commerce Department said in an order to be officially published on Tuesday that ZTE Corp and related companies set up a scheme to circumvent US sanctions and "illicitly export" controlled items to Iran, violating US laws.

The company will be forced to apply for permission on its exports and reexports from the United States in the future due to actions "contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States," the order said.

ZTE is China's second-biggest telecom equipment maker Lluis Gene (AFP/File)

ZTE, China's second-biggest telecom equipment maker, confirmed earlier that it will be hit with the restrictions, though it did not provide any background or reason.

Trade in ZTE shares was halted in Hong Kong and Shenzhen as it notified the exchanges of the "United States Commerce Department's proposal to implement export restrictions on the company."

China's Global Times newspaper on Monday quoted a ZTE statement as saying: "ZTE closely complies with international industry rules as well as the laws of foreign countries."

The order could hamper ZTE's ability to purchase technology hardware and software in the United States.

The company is one of the world's largest suppliers of telcommunications equipment and services, from networks to popular cellphones.

The case dates back to 2012 when the Commerce Department first began investigating the transfers of US technology to Iran, according to reports.

Under the Commerce Department order, ZTE Corp and three other companies -- ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications, Beijing 8-Star, and Iran-based ZTE Parsian -- were placed on the export restrictions list.

The order said the latter three were identified in ZTE documents for a scheme specifically aimed at circumventing US export controls.

Asked about the ZTE case, Beijing criticized US government actions against Chinese companies.

"China is always opposed to US sanctions on Chinese enterprises citing domestic laws," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing.

"We hope that the US side can stop such erroneous practices so as to avoid further damage to Sino-US economic cooperation and bilateral relations."

Washington in January eased several restrictions on doing business with Iran, following an international agreement over the country's nuclear program.

But sanctions tied to accusations that Tehran supports terrorism remain in effect, still largely blocking US companies from business with Iran.

Founded in 1985, ZTE offers both telecom equipment and services, with customers in more than 160 countries.

In January, Norway's public pension fund divested from ZTE because of corruption fears, according to the country's central bank, which manages the fund.

An ethics council that advises the bank said ZTE was facing corruption allegations in 18 countries and the group was or had been under investigation in 10 of them.
Witnesses to be protected in pro-Biafra leader trial: judge

A Nigerian court on Monday approved a request for prosecution witnesses to testify behind screens in the high-profile case of a pro-Biafra activist facing treason charges.

Judge James Tsoho said he agreed to the erection of screens shielding witnesses from public view because those giving evidence "must not necessarily be exposed to avoidable risk".

The witnesses will only be visible to the judge, lawyers and the three defendants, including Nnamdi Kanu, who runs the banned Radio Biafra and heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.

Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu (C) attends trial for treasonable felony at the Federal High court in Abuja, on February 9, 2016 Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File)

Kanu's arrest in October last year sparked a wave of protests across southeast Nigeria, including renewed calls for a separate state for the Igbo people indigenous to the region.

A previous unilateral declaration of independence sparked a brutal civil war from 1967-1970 in which more than one million people died, many of them from starvation and disease.

State prosecutor Mohammed Diri told judge Tsoho witnesses were ready to testify but would not do so until they had assurances about their safety.

"This is because they are already receiving threats from the associates of the defendant that they will deal with them (witnesses)," he added.

Diri also read a note which he said he received from Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services, which suggested Kanu's supporters were planning to seize him during the trial.

The case was adjourned until Wednesday but defence lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor told reporters outside court he would challenge the decision to erect screens at the Court of Appeal.

Kanu has become a figurehead for the revived pro-Biafra movement. He has pleaded not guilty to "propagating a secessionist agenda" with the intention to "levy war against Nigeria".

But last month he told AFP from jail where he is on remand that he was a "prisoner of conscience" and that the dream of an independent state would one day come true.
French Socialists slam Congo intimidation, say polls must be deferred

France's ruling party on Monday called for a postponement of the March 20 elections in Congo, saying long-time leader Denis Sassou Nguessou was intimidating opponents and stifling democracy.

One of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Sassou Nguesso has served as head of state for nearly 32 years, and is seeking a third term after controversially changing the constitution.

The Socialist Party (PS) of President Francois Hollande denounced "attacks on freedom of expression" in the poll run-up and the "obstacles put in the way of the main rivals of President Denis Sassou Nguessou".

French President Francois Hollande (L) welcomes Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguessou for the opening of the UN conference on climate change, on November 30, 2015 at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of the French capital Paris Loic Venance (POOL/AFP/File)

The party's national secretary Maurice Braud said the Congolese head of state had organised "surveillance of his main rivals and imposed a state of emergency which seems to be unjustified".

Braud urged the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union to use their influence to delay the polls.

Congolese government spokesman Thierry Moungalla promptly took to Twitter to berate the Socialists' stance.

"Braud of the French PS cites an imaginary 'state of emergency' in Congo and (wants to) put back the election," Moungalla tweeted in a post incorporating the hashtags "hallucinogenic" and "neo-colonialism".

Congo's new constitution was adopted following a landslide 'yes' vote in an October referendum that was boycotted by the opposition, which denounced it as "a constitutional coup".

Before the changes, the constitution had stipulated a maximum age of 70 for presidential candidates and limit on the number of terms to two.

At 72, Sassou Nguesso was over the age limit and had already served two consecutive seven-year terms.

Hollande had urged the Congolese leader to "consult his people" on the proposed constitutional changes and after the referendum his office said the whole process had been severely flawed.
Jetliner stowaway seeks asylum in Sweden

Ground crew staff at Stockholm's Arlanda airport made a shocking discovery Monday when they found a stowaway hidden in a cargo container on a flight from Ethiopia, police said.

"Staff at Arlanda airport have found a man in a freight container on a flight that arrived from Ethiopia. The man ... has applied for asylum in Sweden," police said in a statement.

The cargo hold of most airplanes contains pressurised oxygen and while the temperature is generally cool, it is usually above freezing.

Ground crew at Stockholm's Arlanda airport found a man in a freight container on a flight from Ethiopia Anders Wiklund (Scanpix/AFP/File)

There was no immediate confirmation of the man's nationality or age, but Swedish news agency TT reported he was 27 years old.

In August 2014, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who stowed away aboard a flight from Addis Ababa to Stockholm was found safe and sound in the plane's hold at Arlanda airport.
Wife of ex-Eagles bassist accidentally shot dead at LA home

The wife of Eagles co-founder Randy Meisner has been shot dead from an accidental discharge of a rifle at the couple's home in Los Angeles, police said on Monday.

Lana Meisner, 63, died less than two hours after officers were called to the couple's home in North Hollywood over a domestic violence incident on Sunday evening, the LAPD said in a statement.

Meisner had been moving a rifle in a closet when something in the weapon's case shifted and hit the trigger, causing it to go off, the statement said.

L-R: Members of the Eagles, Randy Meisner, Timothy Schmit, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Don Henley and Bernie Leadon, appear together on stage after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 12, 1998 in New York Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File)

"When officers arrived they found Mrs Meisner suffering from a single gunshot wound. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded and pronounced Mrs Meisner dead at the scene," it added.

The statement said investigators from the police and coroner's office determined that the death was accidental and that Randy Meisner was "cooperative throughout the investigation."

Patrol officers had been called to the home at 5:30 pm to respond to a woman "asking for police assistance for a possibly intoxicated male suspect."

"The officers took a domestic violence incident report and left the location," the LAPD said.

They returned at 7:00 pm after receiving a radio call about the shooting.

Randy Meisner, who left the Eagles in 1977, is best known for co-writing and singing the Eagles' hit song "Take It to the Limit."

He has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse during and after his fame with the Eagles and has suffered several health scares that eventually forced him to retire from touring.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court reportedly placed him under 24-hour supervision last year after he was diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder and suicidal ideations.
35 killed clearing bombs in Ramadi in two months: officials

Three Iraqi fighters died Monday trying to defuse bombs left behind by the jihadists in Ramadi, as the toll taken by the huge mine-clearing effort there continued to rise.

The victims were three local tribal fighters killed by the explosion of improvised devices they were attempting to defuse, Anbar province governor Sohaib al-Rawi said.

He said the danger posed by unexploded bombs and booby-traps remained an obstacle to the return of Ramadi's residents.

Iraq government troops remove bombs planted in houses and streets in Ramadi's Husseiba easten district on February 15, 2016 Moadh al-Dulaimi (AFP/File)

The local government "understands the pressing need for IDPs (internally displaced persons) to return home, but we will not allow a chaotic return resulting in more casualties," he said on social media.

"We have lost more than 35 members of the security forces and sons of the tribes (tribal fighters) this year," Hamid al-Dulaimi told AFP.

"As of yesterday, we had a toll of 15 deaths in our ranks alone," said Omar Khamis al-Dulaimi, a senior leader in the tribal fighters working alongside federal forces.

Ramadi was declared liberated when Iraqi forces wrested the main government compound back from the Islamic State group late last year, but the city was completely retaken only last month.

Laying thousands of bombs and booby-trapping buildings was the backbone of IS's defence of the city last year.

Explosive ordnance disposal training has been a main focus for the US-led coalition.

"The destruction is enormous, people are still being killed by IEDs and mines that have been left by Daesh (IS)," the US envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurk, said on Saturday during a visit to Baghdad.

"We're very focused now on the counter-IED (improvised explosive device) mission," he said.

The officials in Anbar could not provide a figure for civilians killed by unexploded bombs in Ramadi over the past few weeks.
DR Congo rape-care doctor urges UN to help end impunity

Democratic Republic of Congo's famous rape-care doctor Denis Mukwege will present a petition to the United Nations Tuesday demanding perpetrators of widespread, horrific sexual abuse in the country to be held accountable.

The petition, signed by nearly 200 organisations, will be handed over to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on International Women's Day, Thierry Michel, a Belgian director behind an acclaimed film about Mukwege said Monday.

"When a state is not taking its responsibility, the international community must step up," Michel told a conference in Geneva Monday.

Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, laureate of the 2014 Sakharov Prize, addresses a press conference to present the documentary "The Man Who Mends Women - the Wrath of Hippocrates", in Brussels, March 25, 2015 Emmanuel Dunand (AFP/File)

The text, entitled "No to Impunity", demands among other things that the UN human rights office publish a long-secret list of 617 suspected perpetrators of rape and other serious human rights abuses in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003.

It also wants the UN to support the creation of a special court, made up mainly of international judges and prosecutors, to try suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country and calls for DNA to be systematically collected in rape cases.

"That could really help us determine who is behind all of these rapes," Mukwege told AFP on the sidelines of the Geneva conference.

Mukwege, known as "Doctor Miracle" due to his surgical skills and dedication to repairing the physical and psychological scars of women shattered by sexual violence, has since 1999 helped some 40,000 rape victims in the Panzi hospital he founded near Bukavu in conflict-riven South Kivu province.

Rival forces fighting for control of the vast mineral riches in eastern DR Congo have used mass rape for decades to terrorise the local population into submission.

- Raping babies -

"These rapes are a true strategy or war," lamented Mukwege, who describes horrifically violent sexual abuse, in which women's pelvises are smashed, intestines ripped, and foetuses sliced out of their pregnant mother's belly.

The 61-year-old gynaecologist, who won the prestigious Sakharov rights prize in 2014 and has repeatedly been tipped among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said the number of rape cases flooding into his hospital have diminished some as fighting has dwindled.

While he was treating 10 rape victims each day a few years ago, that number has fallen to below seven.

But today, victims are increasingly coming from areas not in conflict, Mukwege said, also voicing alarm that "a growing number of children, even babies," are among the victims.

"This is something we are very worried about," he said.

Over just a couple of years, a study showed thousands of children in the region had been raped, more than 200 under the age of five, he said.

He also warned that former child soldiers, who had been brainwashed by armed groups and forced for months or years to do horrifying things, were being enlisted into the army with no psychological support.

"People should not be surprised that (rape) has metastasised in our society," he said.
US denies building air bases in northern Syria

The Pentagon on Monday denied reports it is building two airfields in northern Syria as part of the battle against the Islamic State group.

Syrian military and security officials have said the United States is expanding an airfield in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province, and new reports have surfaced of a base near the Kurdish city of Kobani.

"We are not building or operating any air bases in Syria," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.

Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces gather in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakeh on February 19, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

Still, the United States has acknowledged it has sent about 50 special operations forces on the ground in northern Syria, helping train and equip local anti-IS fighters.

"That we have people there and that we have made deliveries there, and that they have to get there by some means should be no secret, but we are not going to comment on the means," Davis said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in January that the Rmeilan airstrip had been widened and was "nearly ready" for use by American planes.
Qaeda in Syria seizes key hilltops from regime: monitor

Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate and allied jihadists seized a set of strategic hilltops held by pro-regime forces in the country's north late Monday, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants battled government loyalists and overran three hilltops in the Al-Eis area south of Aleppo city.

"Fighters from Al-Nusra Front, Jund Al-Aqsa, and other groups seized the central Al-Eis hilltop and surrounding hills as well," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Protestors demonstrate in the rebel-controlled side of the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 7, 2016 Thaer Mohammed (AFP)

The jihadists detonated five car bombs during their offensive.

"The hilltops are important because they reinforce the regime's presence in the outskirts of Aleppo and gave them a presence near the main highway south towards Damascus," Abdel Rahman said.

Aleppo province is broken up into a complex patchwork of territories under the control of various groups.

The Islamic State group is dominant in the east, while rebel groups -- some allied with Al-Nusra -- control much of the west.

Government forces based south of Aleppo city have tried to expand their control north and east.

Further west in Idlib province, at least 19 civilians were killed in an air strike believed to have been conducted by either Russian or regime planes, the Observatory reported.

The raid struck a diesel market in the town of Abu Duhur, controlled by a coalition of groups including Al-Nusra.

Three of those killed were women.

Monday was the tenth day of a landmark ceasefire across parts of the country brokered by the United States and Russia.

The truce does not include areas held by IS and Al-Nusra.
New York Philharmonic explores complex great Messiaen

Among the great modern composers, Olivier Messiaen wrote from an especially intense worldview -- he was a devout Catholic, found inspiration in the songs of birds and perceived colors in musical harmonies.

The New York Philharmonic is looking to explore the range of the French master, from his celebrated works to the more obscure, with a week of Messiaen that opened Monday.

While there is no obvious anniversary for Messiaen, who lived from 1908 to 1992, the Philharmonic's outgoing music director Alan Gilbert has described the composer as a personal hero for his ability to reach a spiritual dimension.

The New York Philharmonic and Conductor Alan Gilbert perform on stage at Carnegie Hall on October 7, 2015 in New York City Andrew Toth (Getty/AFP/File)

Gilbert will swap his conductor's baton for the violin to perform Messiaen's emblematic "Quartet for the End of Time" on Sunday.

Composed in 1940, when Messiaen was a German prisoner of war, the eight-movement piece evokes the apocalypse as predicted in the Book of Revelation.

Yet in contrast to many artists who were driven by World War II to question their faith, Messiaen's work, which opens to the sound of birds, builds into a rousing affirmation of God.

Complementing the other-worldly nature of the work, the Philharmonic's performance will take place in the Temple of Dendur, the Roman-era Egyptian shrine transported to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The temple brings "this feeling of being very aware of time but also completely unaware -- being beyond time -- and I think that is what the piece is about," said pianist Inon Barnatan, who will play in the quartet.

The increasingly prominent pianist, who is in a three-year residency as the Philharmonic's first artist-in-association, said he was moved by Messiaen's own experience as he wrote "Quartet for the End of Time."

"However, I do think that music, like all other art, should stand on its own without the back story. You should be able to look at a painting and somehow be affected by it without reading the plaque," Barnatan told AFP.

"The spirituality translated itself to the music. So it's not linked to any religion as such; it's more the idea that religion is trying to channel a feeling of something bigger," he said.

- 'Floats in its own sphere' -

"Quartet for the End of Time" was written for piano, violin, cello and clarinet -- the four instruments available to Messiaen at the sprawling Stalag VIII-A prison camp in eastern Germany.

Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the Philharmonic, said that Messiaen mastered a way to communicate "a kind of passion that is completely non-sexual" and showed his striking originality.

"It's a very weird piece of music. It is like nothing else that came before or after. It seems to float in its own sphere," Brey said.

He said that the Temple of Dendur carried a special musical significance due to its proximity to Central Park -- within earshot of birds, whose singing Messiaen so meticulously studied.

The full Philharmonic will on Thursday put on another of Messiaen's signature pieces, "Turangalila-symphonie," a landmark in the development of modern music.

With touches from classical Indian ragas and use of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, "Turangalila-symphonie" broke away from traditional Western rhythmic structure and helped set the course for the post-World War II serialism movement.

The symphony premiered in 1949 at the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein, who later came to the New York Philharmonic.

Messiaen was also a mentor to Pierre Boulez, another musical giant who would lead the Philharmonic. In a very different direction, Messiaen gave lessons in Paris to Quincy Jones -- best known as the producer behind Michael Jackson.

The guest conductor for "Turangalila-symphonie" will be Esa-Pekka Salonen, a leading contemporary composer.

Salonen said he spent time with the French composer shortly before his death and found in his apartment no music other than Messiaen's own and no book other than the Bible.

"His music sounds like that," Salonen said in a statement. "It appears out of nowhere and doesn't follow any established laws of composition."
US expands Laos warning after attacks on tourist route

The United States issued a new travel warning for Laos on Monday after the latest shooting attacks against traffic on a road much used by international tourists.

Last month, Washington had already warned travellers to avoid the southeast Asian country's Xaisomboun province after roadside attacks left three dead.

Now the warning has been extended to Road 13, a major route between Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, two of the country's most popular tourist destinations.

Travellers have been warned to avoid Laos after a series of roadside attacks Laurent Fievet (AFP/File)

It cites "the unpredictable nature of the violence and the lack of official information regarding possible motives or a Lao government response."

These mystery gun attacks have killed one and injured nine, the State Department added, stressing that violence is also continuing in Xaisomboun province.

US embassy staff are banned from Road 13 from Kasi in Vientiane province to Phou Khoun junction in Luang Prabang province, 50 kilometers (31 miles) away.
Mali court rejects treason charge against Keita

Mali's High Court on Monday rejected an attempt by a civil society collective to have President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita face a charge of high treason.

A group of associations filed the complaint against Keita last week to the court, which is competent to judge the country's leaders if accused by the National Assembly of misconduct in office.

The Biprem collective -- the Popular and Pacific Intervention Block for the Reunification of Mali -- accused Keita of "high treason and calamitous management" of the country.

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita gives an interview during the UN conference on climate change COP21, in Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, on December 1, 2015 Loic Venance (AFP/File)

Biprem also accused the president of reneging on a promise made at his 2013 investiture to "guarantee Mali's territorial integrity" amid widespread ongoing insecurity.

Mali's vast, desolate north continues to be beset by violence, having fallen under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

A landmark peace agreement was reached last year between the Mali government and Tuareg-led rebels, but jihadist violence remains a threat.

"The High Court has rejected the document," a court official told AFP. The decision was also published in a High Court document.

The court said it considered Biprem's complaint against Kaite as merely a "tract" and added that "these associations are not entitled" to bring such a case.

It added to accept a case would require the support of two-thirds of national assembly lawmakers.

Biprem's announcement that it was filing a complaint last week sparked controversy in Mali as intellectuals and a politician cited as members or signatories denied having any part in it.

They included writer Seydou Badian Kouyate, who was a minister under Mali's first president Modibo Keita.

"I categorically deny it. I'm not a member of Biprem and I did not sign the document. I do not see why my name is mentioned," Kouyate told AFP on Monday.

Biprem is headed by Lassine Diawara, a journalist and supporter of Amadou Aya Sanogo, an army officer who led a 2012 coup against then president Amadou Toumani Toure.
Trump or Cruz? Republicans face up to growing dilemma

With Donald Trump steaming ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and Ted Cruz consolidating his second-place status, the party establishment is facing up to the real possibility of having to embrace what some consider the lesser of two evils.

That could mean backing Cruz -- the ultra-conservative Texas senator once reviled by fellow Republicans as a "wacko bird" eager to shut down the US government -- at the expense of Marco Rubio, the establishment hopeful who is lagging in third place and facing calls to give up.

Senator Lindsey Graham summed up the growing Republican dilemma in this most unpredictable of nomination contests on Sunday when he told NBC's Meet the Press that there was "some hope with Ted, no hope with Donald" in a general election.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the media during a press conference on March 5, 2016 in West Palm Beach, Florida Rhona Wise (AFP/File)

"If Ted's the alternative to Trump, he's at least a Republican conservative," said Graham.

"If Donald Trump's the nominee, the Republican party will get killed, will get creamed, we'll deserve it," warned Graham, a hawkish Republican who shelved his presidential campaign in December after failing to gain traction.

Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul who has never held elected office, kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race for the White House on Sunday and Cruz emerged as his strongest challenger in weekend primaries.

It capped a stormy week in which panicked Republican grandees trained their big guns on Trump, who has galvanized disaffected voters with an anti-immigrant, anti-free trade campaign filled with insults, attacks on minorities and mockery of the political establishment.

Trump now has 384 delegates to 300 for Cruz and 151 for Rubio. John Kasich has 37 delegates.

What has been an at times ill-tempered and deeply personal contest could yet plunge into deeper acrimony: there is a chance that no candidate will rack up the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the Republican convention in July.

That would mean a contested or "brokered" convention, a scenario that could turn chaotic, especially if establishment figures seek to prevent delegates from coalescing around Trump.

- 'Not the real deal' -

When a candidate emerges from the Republican primaries with a majority, convention delegates do little more than rubber-stamp the voters' choice. But when no candidate secures an outright majority, delegates have the final word on the choice of nominee.

In three-quarters of US states, the delegates who travel to the Republican convention to represent, say, Trump are picked among party activists without input from the candidate.

Delegates are told how to vote on the first nominating ballot. But after that, if voting goes to a second round and beyond, most are free to make their own choice -- and potentially reshuffle the deck.

That is how -- in a scenario party leaders still say is unlikely -- Trump could head to the convention with a lead in the delegate count and still lose the nomination.

The 2012 Republican White House nominee Mitt Romney let loose on Trump last week, branding him "a phony, a fraud," signaling what promises to be the opening salvo in a sustained party campaign against Trump.

Romney has yet to throw his weight behind any candidate, but should do so after March 15, the next major round of voting in the primary race.

Cruz, Kasich and Rubio were all "true Republicans," he told NBC on Sunday.

"They've demonstrated over time that they share conservative values. There's some differences on policy or on tactics to implement policy, but I'd be very proud having any one of them at the top of the ticket.

"Donald Trump on the other hand is someone who represents something entirely different. And in my view is not at all the real deal.

"This is a guy who pretends to be one thing and is something else entirely."

The next date on the electoral calendar is Tuesday, when Michigan and Mississippi have Democratic and Republican primaries.

Republican-only nominating contests also are being held that day in Idaho and Hawaii.

Trump has called for Rubio to end his presidential bid and dismissed the Romney-led attack on him.

"I would love to be able to take on Ted one on one," Trump said in Florida, minutes after winning in Kentucky on Saturday. "That will be easy."

Cruz also urged Rubio and Ohio Governor Kasich to drop out, arguing that the anti-Trump vote will be split as long as they remain in the race.

"If we're divided, Donald wins," he warned.

Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Hopeful Ted Cruz speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference 2016 at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, outside Washington, March 4, 2016. Saul Loeb (AFP/File)
Flowers left at Reagan Library following first lady's death

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP)  The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum was closed Sunday following the death of Nancy Reagan, but a steady stream of mourners stopped by the main entrance northwest of Los Angeles to snap photos, leave flowers and pay respect.

Jonathan and Renee Kritzer and their four young children toted small American flags as they looked out over the manicured hilltop property in Simi Valley.

"I had tears in my eyes when I heard she died," said Kritzer, who said he turned 18 just in time to vote for Ronald Reagan when he ran for a second term in 1984. "We try to teach our children to be humble, to care about others, to be humanitarians. That was Nancy Reagan."

Amy Patterson places flowers at the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library with her granddaughter Maddie Patterson, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Simi Valley, Calif. Former first lady Nancy Reagan died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press. She was 94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Mrs. Reagan, her husband's closest adviser and fierce protector, died Sunday morning at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She was 94.

Officials decided to shut the library and museum  usually open seven days a week  and postpone the Sunday opening of an exhibition of historical and religious objects from the Vatican.

Flowers and notes of remembrance were left near the main entrance. Flags over the U.S. Capitol were lowered to half-staff Sunday evening in honor of Mrs. Reagan, and officials at the library planned to follow suit.

Sharon Hirtzer and her husband, Joe, were visiting California from Chicago and had planned a trip to the library before learning of Mrs. Reagan's death.

"I was just really sad," said Sharon Hirtzer, as a small crowd of well-wishers gathered near the front gate. "She was a great lady and had so much class."

Hirtzer said Mrs. Reagan, often resplendent in designer dresses, brought glamour to the White House. Though the First Lady was occasionally criticized for her spending habits, Hirtzer said that never bothered her.

"She was always very elegant," said Mark Schnose, who made the trip with his wife Barbara from San Bernardino County. "She wanted to portray the US in a positive light to foreign dignitaries."

But Schnose, a psychologist, said he'll remember most Mrs. Reagan's outspoken support for Alzheimer's awareness when the former president was diagnosed with the disease after leaving office. She "set a model for how we love and care for" those with Alzheimer's, he said.

Schnose was among several mourners who pointed out the former first lady's advocacy for causes near to her heart  especially the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, but also foster grandparenting, breast cancer awareness, stem cell research and background checks for gun owners.

Others remarked about the Reagans' mutual devotion over 52 years of marriage.

Wendy Armstrong, a docent at the Reagan Library, said she used to love seeing the Reagans hold hands.

"Their love story was like none other," she said.

Flowers sit atop the sign at the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Simi Valley, Calif. Former first lady Nancy Reagan died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press. She was 94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

A pedestrian passes by the sign at the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library where some visitors laid flowers, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Simi Valley, Calif. Former first lady Nancy Reagan died at 94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Security guard Doug Wiley tells Andy Hall that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is closed, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Simi Valley, Calif., after former first lady Nancy Reagan died at 94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Andy Hall, of Simi Valley, Calif., takes a picture as he pays his respects at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Simi Valley. Former first lady Nancy Reagan has died at 94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Monday, March 14

Today is Monday March 14, the 74th day of 2016. There are 292 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1558 - Ferdinand I assumes title of Holy Roman Emperor without being crowned by the Pope.

1689 - Convention Parliament meets in Scotland, and William and Mary are proclaimed King and Queen of England.

1757 - British Admiral John Byng is executed for neglect of duty resulting in loss of Menorca.

1794 - American Eli Whitney receives a patent for the cotton gin.

1840 - Constitution in Rome is promulgated by Pope Pius IX.

1844 - Carlos Antonio Lopez sworn in as first constitutional president of Paraguay.

1900 - U.S. Congress ratifies the Gold Standard Act.

1917 - China severs diplomatic relations with Germany in World War I.

1923 - U.S. President Warren Harding becomes the first chief executive to file an income tax report.

1939 - The Republic of Czechoslovakia is dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation.

1951 - United Nations forces recapture Seoul during the Korean War.

1964 - A jury in Dallas finds Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in November 1963.

1965 - Israel's cabinet formally approves establishment of diplomatic relations with West Germany.

1973 - United States relaxes embargo on arms shipments to Pakistan and India.

1976 - Egypt's President Anwar Sadat asks Parliament to cancel treaty with Soviet Union, charging that Moscow failed to provide arms that had been promised.

1988 - Iran and Iraq unleash missiles on each other's capitals as so-called "war of the cities" erupts.

1992 - The warring parties in Croatia pledge to cooperate to end the civil war ahead of the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force.

1998 - India's Congress party appoints as its president Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of assassinated prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

1999 - Afghanistan's Taliban Islamic group and opposition factions agree in principle to create a coalition government and end decades of fighting.

2002 - Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics that comprise the Yugoslav federation, sign an accord to restructure their ties and formally drop the name Yugoslavia.

2007 - A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visits North Korea for the first time since the country kicked inspectors out in 2002, a significant first step toward renewed relations. IAEA officials say North Korea is committed to nuclear disarmament.

2011 - The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv says it is "deeply concerned" by Israel's plans to build hundreds of new homes in the West Bank following a deadly attack on a settler family, calling Israeli settlements "illegitimate" and an obstacle to peacemaking.

2012 - President Barack Obama and British Prime Minster David Cameron say for the first time that NATO forces will hand over the lead combat role to Afghanistan forces next year as the U.S. and its allies aim to get out by the end of 2014.

2013 - Pope Francis puts his humility on display during his first day as pontiff, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself in a decidedly different style of papacy than his tradition-minded predecessor who kept to the Vatican.

2014  A Paris court delivers France's first-ever conviction for genocide, sentencing a Rwandan former intelligence chief to 25 years in prison over the 1994 killings of at least 500,000 people in the African country.

2015  U.S. officials say the Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by the end of the year, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops, includijng many into the 2016 fighting season.

Today's Birthdays:

Casey Jones, U.S. railroad engineer (1864-1900); Maxim Gorky, Russian novelist (1868-1936); Albert Einstein, German-born physicist (1879-1955); Michael Caine, English actor (1933--); Quincy Jones, U.S. music producer (1933--); Wolfgang Petersen, U.S. director (1941--); Billy Crystal, U.S. actor/comedian (1948--).

Thought For Today:
Former AP reporter recalls Nancy Reagan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP)  Nancy Reagan seemed alarmed in the fall of 1988 when she saw me staking out the multimillion-dollar Bel-Air estate that became the post-presidential home for the former president and first lady.

The president was delivering a speech that evening at the Century Plaza Hotel and I was tipped that Mrs. Reagan was stopping to look at the gated home at 666 Saint Cloud Rd. (She later had the devilish number changed to 668.)

After a half-hour in the home, the gates swung open and the Secret Service-driven station wagon pulled away, with Mrs. Reagan giving me a smile and wave.

FILE - This December 1986, file photo shows first lady Nancy Reagan holding the Reagans' pet Rex, a King Charles spaniel, as she and President Reagan walk on the White House South lawn. The former first lady has died at 94, The Associated Press confirmed Sunday, March 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)

Years later, while she led me through the refurbished Ronald Reagan presidential suite atop the Century Plaza, Mrs. Reagan confirmed the 40th president was crouched down in the station wagon that day. She wanted him to see where they would be living but didn't want him seen.

It was typical of the close control she had on her beloved husband, and her wariness of the media.

The post-White House years for the Reagans were my responsibility. It was a heady assignment for someone who had joined the Navy in part because of the film "Hellcats of the Navy," which starred the Reagans.

While touring the special Reagan suite at the Century Plaza, Mrs. Reagan was thrilled to see a video of that film playing on a TV. She told me the president loved to stay in the suite (he later had a post-presidential office in the high-rise next door) and Reagan would often make paper airplanes and toss them off the balcony.

From the minute they moved back to California, Mrs. Reagan guarded their privacy. In all the years I covered her, we never had an extended conversation. It wasn't her style to let outsiders into their world.

Mrs. Reagan would occasionally let down her guard. Once, there was a gathering of former first ladies at an Indian Wells fundraising dinner for the Betty Ford Center, and I watched as Mrs. Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Mrs. Reagan and Barbara Bush waited for the arrival of then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was late because of an important floor vote in Washington.

Mrs. Reagan grew more impatient as the hours went by. Finally, she looked at me and tersely said: "I'm starving." I offered to get her something but she demurred.

During Betty Ford's funeral in Palm Desert years later, Mrs. Reagan was on the arm of former President George W. Bush at the end of the service and she tugged hard and scolded, "Slow down." I'll never forget Bush's sheepish expression.

In 1992, I was the only reporter at the Reagan's Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara County when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, stopped for a visit. The Reagans were proud of their adobe retreat and hundreds of acres with horses, a lake and towering oak trees.

Mrs. Reagan smiled when Gorbachev shook his head in disbelief upon seeing his onetime Cold War adversary had his own Chevron gas pump next to the tack house. She had a similar prideful look when she stepped off a military helicopter on the aircraft deck of the new USS Ronald Reagan, which has a mini-museum honoring the president.

Mrs. Reagan was the gatekeeper of the Reagan legacy, showing up year after year for Ronald Reagan Presidential Library board meetings, dignitary speeches and special events while her husband's Alzheimer's disease progressed. Whenever I asked about the president, she would only say, "He's fine."

She was his caretaker for a decade until his death in 2004. The memory of her sobs and kissing her husband's casket before it was lowered into the grave are etched in my mind.

When I retired in 2013, Mrs. Reagan sent me a letter. She noted I had been present for many of the high and lows of her life and her husband's, and she thanked me for my professionalism. She wished me "all the success and happiness" in whatever life had in store.

And, then still an arm's length away, she signed it "sincerely" Nancy Reagan.

___

This story corrects the spelling of Rosalynn Carter's name.
Indonesia leader calls on Muslim world to unite on Palestine

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesia's president on Monday urged a summit of Muslim nations to be part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than part of the problem.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who heads the most populous Muslim nation, said the entire world is concerned by the deterioration of the situation in Palestine and criticized what he called Israel's "unilateral and illegal policies."

Officials from 57 countries are meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, for a special summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that is focused on Palestine and Jerusalem. The Middle East quartet  consisting of the U.N., Russia, U.S. and European Union  and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are also represented.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the start of their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, March 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

"The OIC should be part of the solution, and not part of the problem," Jokowi said in opening remarks to the summit. "If the OIC cannot be part of the solution to Palestine, then the OIC becomes irrelevant."

Israel says a recent surge in violence is the result of a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. Palestinians say it stems from frustration from nearly a half century of Israeli military rule.

For decades, international efforts have failed to work out a lasting comprehensive agreement on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Jerusalem, borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security arrangements.

Talks ground to a halt three years ago, and efforts to revive them have stalled, particularly over Palestinian demands that Israel announce a freeze in construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which they claim as part of a future state along with Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country doesn't waver in its belief that what Palestine needs is independence and the right to determine its own affairs.

"The complexity of the problems continues to emerge in the Middle East, but the condition of Palestinians has always been a concern for Muslims in the world. Resolving the Al Quds issue can create peace in the region," he said, using a Palestinian name for Jerusalem.

Among the leaders at the Jakarta meeting is Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes allegations linked to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Indonesia is not an ICC member state.

Participants pose for photographers during a photo session at the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, March 7, 2016. Participants in the front row are, from left, Jordanian Prince Hassan bin Talal, Gambia's Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy, Oman's Chairman of State Council Yahya bin Mahfgouz Al-Mundari, Yemen's President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Sudan's President Omar al Bashir, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani, Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, front row eighth from right, and head of states, ministers and members of delegates pose for photographers during a photo session at the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, right, talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the start of their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, March 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Sudan's President Omar al Bashir, center, confers with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, as Yemen's President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi looks on as they prepare for a photo session at the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, front row right, joins other participants, first row from left, Yemen's President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Sudan's President Omar al Bashir, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and second row from left, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi for a group photo session at the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Palestinian issues in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Taliban suicide bomber kills 11 outside Pakistani court

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a court in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing 11 people, police said.

The blast in the town of Shabqadar also wounded another 15 people, said police official Ali Jan Khan. Two policemen and a policewoman were included among the dead, he said.

The attacker tried to enter the court premises where police stopped him, said another police officer, Saeed Khan Wazir. The bomber opened fire at the officers and started running toward the courtrooms where a large number of lawyers and their clients were present, he said. A policeman began fighting the attacker, who then detonated his explosives, Wazir said.

Volunteers carry an injured man to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Mar. 7, 2016. A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a court in a northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing many people, police said. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban and calling itself Jamat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility. The local Taliban branch or its allied militant groups have been waging a war against the state for over a decade, killing tens of thousands of people.

The town of Shabqadar is located in the Charsadda district, where four suicide bombers from a Pakistani Taliban-linked group killed 21 students and teachers on Jan 20.

The town sits on the edge of the Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where two Pakistanis working with the U.S. Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar were killed by a roadside bomb while on a mission to eradicate drug cultivation on March 1. That attack was also claimed by Jamat-ul-Ahrar.

The court bombing was an attack on the judiciary which gives verdicts against God's divine laws, said Ahrar's spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan in a statement emailed to an Associated Press reporter.

It was a revenge for the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri who was executed last week for the 2011 killing of a provincial governor.

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Associated Press writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Islamil Khan, Pakistan contributed to this report.
Tunisia bloodied: 53 dead in clashes near Libyan border

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Exceptionally deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers left at least 53 people dead Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fears that violence from Libya could destabilize the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn Monday and fighting continued past nightfall. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defense ministers traveled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said on Wtaniya television that the attack was an Islamic State attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border. No group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting.

Tunisian police officers take positions during clashes with militants in Ben Guerdane, 650 km away from Tunis, Monday, March 7, 2016. At least 45 people were killed Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya in one of the deadliest clashes seen so far between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers, the government said. (AP Photo)

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and reiterated the U.N.'s commitment "to stand with the people of Tunisia as they confront the scourge of terrorism and work to preserve the gains of the revolution," his spokesman said.

At dawn Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press. A night curfew was ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The attack and ensuing fighting left 35 attackers, seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those killed.

Corpses lay in the street and gunmen hid in homes as darkness fell, gunfire sporadically ringing out, according to resident and local journalist Raoudha Bouttar.

Another witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of repercussions from the attackers, said the gunmen spoke of creating a caliphate and "liberating" the town.

Tunisian forces have repeatedly clashed with extremists on the borders of Libya and Algeria in recent years, but Monday's fighting was unusually bloody. Tunisia has been as a model of relative stability for the region since an uprising five years ago ushered in democracy and inspired Arab Spring protests against dictatorships across the region.

An uprising in neighboring Libya led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, but since then the country has fallen into chaos, allowing the Islamic State group to take control of several cities. The divided country is ruled by two parliaments: an internationally recognized body based in the eastern city of Tobruk and a rival government, backed by Islamist-allied militias, that controls the capital, Tripoli.

Tunisia is especially worried about the IS presence in Libya after dozens of tourists were killed in attacks in Tunisia last year. IS extremists claimed responsibility for those attacks, and Tunisian authorities said the attackers had been trained in Libya.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.

France's foreign ministry condemned Monday's attack and identified the gunmen as "terrorists coming from Libyan territory."

"This attack just reinforces the urgent need for a political solution in Libya," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tunisia was targeted because of its "exemplary democratic transition."

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group. Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following a Feb. 19 U.S. raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the French statement said.

Defense Minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected to arrive Monday in Tunis to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video surveillance system of its border with Libya.

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Associated Press reporter Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

Tunisian police officers take positions during clashes with militants in Ben Guerdane, 650 km away from Tunis, Monday, March 7, 2016. At least 45 people were killed Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya in one of the deadliest clashes seen so far between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers, the government said. (AP Photo)

Tunisian police officers take positions during clashes with militants in Ben Guerdane, 650 km away from Tunis, Monday, March 7, 2016. At least 45 people were killed Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya in one of the deadliest clashes seen so far between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers, the government said. (AP Photo)
Tibet's governor praises plans for 2nd railway line to Lhasa

BEIJING (AP)  Tibet's governor said Monday that a second railway to the capital will help bring higher incomes and better infrastructure to China's Himalayan region, despite concerns about potential harm to the region's fragile ecology and threats to its Buddhist cultural identity from Chinese migration.

First announced last week, the 1,800-kilometer (1,120-mile) line would link Tibet's capital, Lhasa, with the western Chinese metropolis of Chengdu with an estimated travel time of 13 hours.

Losang Jamcan, the governor of the Chinese-ruled territory, said during a meeting of Tibetan delegates to China's National People's Congress that Tibet's regional government considers the project important to improving living standards.

Chinese paramilitary policemen check protest flyers scattered by a petitioner, center, after she throws over a traffic lights at a junction near Tiananmen Square during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday, March 7, 2016. Thousands of delegates from across the country are in the Chinese capital to attend the annual National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

"When built, we'll see even more economic benefits, even more prosperity," Losang said at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual legislative session. "So we really do place a lot of emphasis on this railway."

The second railway would complement a 1,956-kilometer (1,215-mile) line that opened in 2006 and crosses passes as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet).

The train has brought a major increase in both tourism and trade. With a population of just 3.2 million  91 percent of whom, China says, are Tibetan or members of other minority ethnic groups  Tibet last year recorded visits from 20 million tourists, a 29 percent rise from the previous year.

Padma Choling, a senior Tibetan official and head of the regional legislature, dismissed concerns from overseas Tibetan groups and others about the impact of the second railway, whose construction start date has yet to be announced.

"It seems that every time we build a railway or something, there are worries about the environment and such. Rest assured, Tibet's environment is well protected," Padma said.

Along with facilitating trade and tourism, the existing railway to Tibet has cemented Chinese control over the territory, which was occupied by Communist forces in 1950.

China claims Tibet has been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, although many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity.

Padma also reiterated China's opposition to any invitation to the exiled Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory. Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen is considering inviting the highest-ranking figure in Tibetan Buddhism to visit in his capacity as a religious leader, although China regards him as a separatist and tirelessly seeks to undercut his standing as a figure of veneration.

"We are resolutely opposed to all his foreign travels," Padma said.

Beijing blames the Dalai Lama and others for inciting violations and a wave of self-immolations among Tibetans and says it has made vast investments to develop the region's economy and improve quality of life. The 80-year-old spiritual leader says he opposes all violence, but warns that Chinese rule is eroding Tibet's unique Buddhist culture.
Opposition to all things Obama at heart of GOP splintering

WASHINGTON (AP)  Republicans can blame their united stand against President Barack Obama for their party's splintering.

Conservatives' gut-level resistance to all things Obama  the man, his authority, his policies  gave birth to the tea party movement that powered the GOP to political success in multiple states and historic congressional majorities. Yet contained in the movement and its triumphs were the seeds of destruction, evident now in the party's fracture over presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

Obama's policies, from the ambitious 2010 law overhauling the health care system to moving unilaterally on immigration, roiled conservatives who decried his activist agenda and argued about constitutional overreach. "Quasi-socialist," says Tea Party Express.

FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Republicans can blame their united stand against President Barack Obama for the break-up of their party. Conservatives gut-level resistance to all things Obama, the man, his authority, his policies , gave birth to the tea party movement that powered the GOP to political success in multiple states and historic congressional majorities. Yet contained in the movement and triumphs were the seeds of destruction, evident now in the partys fracture over presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Republicans rode that anger to majority control of the House in 2010 and an eye-popping net gain of 63 seats as voters elected tea partyers and political outsiders. Four years later, the GOP claimed the Senate, too.

For all the numbers, though, Republicans were unable to roll back Obama administration policies or defeat the Democratic president in 2012, further infuriating the GOP base.

Now the party of Abraham Lincoln is engaged in a civil war, pitting establishment Republicans frightened about a election rout in November against the unpredictable Trump, who has capitalized on voter animosity toward Washington and politicians.

"There would be no Donald Trump without Barack Obama," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. No fan of Trump, Graham argued that resentment of Obama plus his own party's attitude toward immigrants are responsible for the deep divide and the billionaire businessman's surge.

Mainstream Republicans are hard-pressed to figure out a way forward with Trump, who has pledged to build a wall on the Mexican border, bar Muslims from entering the United States and equivocated over former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's support. The candidate has assembled a growing coalition of blue-collar workers, high-school educated and those craving a no-nonsense candidate.

"I think they are at a loss to try to reconcile this nihilist wing of the Republican Party with conservative principles," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.

The health care fight proves illustrative.

The disaffected Americans embracing Trump echo the angry voices that filled town halls in the summer of 2009 as fearful voters taunted lawmakers over efforts to overhaul health care. Obama and Democrats were undaunted, pushing ahead on a remake of the system despite unified Republican opposition.

In January 2010, thanks to tea party backing and conservative outrage, Republican Scott Brown won a special election in Massachusetts, claiming the seat that liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy had held for 47 years.

That sent people a message that "if you could win in blue Massachusetts, we could win in my state," said Sal Russo, co-founder and chief strategist of Tea Party Express. "That changed the movement from a protest movement to a political movement."

Three months later, in March 2010, Democrats rammed Obama's health reform through Congress as mobs of protesters chanted outside the Capitol. Not a single Republican backed it.

"Completely partisan," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

That November, the tea party propelled Republicans shouting repeal health care to victory, among them Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky. They defeated establishment GOP candidates more likely to compromise in Washington. Dozens of other tea party candidates captured House seats; many were making their first foray in politics.

Losers in 2010 were some of the moderate and conservative Democrats who had backed the health care law.

Along with Obama's re-election in 2012 came another group of congressional tea partyers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The movement's strength ran headlong into Washington reality: Obama was president and Democrats still controlled the Senate. Efforts by Cruz and House conservatives to torpedo the health care law led to a 16-day, partial government shutdown in 2013.

Republicans triumphed a year later, capturing control of the Senate and knocking out some of the more moderate Democrats such as Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Arkansas' Mark Pryor. In the House last year, they toppled House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, a victim of his pragmatism.

Expectations among uncompromising conservatives were sky-high. So was the disappointment. Obama's health care plan remained the law of the land.

"It definitely led to a wave in 2010 that gave us the majority, and then, what have we done since then," said Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla. "That's our responsibility to show what we have done since then, in spite of this president."

Trump has tapped into voter frustration even though he's not considered tea party. At the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, made clear that their man was Cruz.

Still, Republicans recognize the power of his candidacy and the ramifications.

"The American people are fed up," said Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., one of a handful of Trump backers in Congress, "and if elected officials don't realize it, we'll be out of jobs."

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Matthew Daly and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2016 file photo, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans can blame their united stand against President Barack Obama for the break-up of their party. Conservatives gut-level resistance to all things Obama, the man, his authority, his policies , gave birth to the tea party movement that powered the GOP to political success in multiple states and historic congressional majorities. Yet contained in the movement and triumphs were the seeds of destruction, evident now in the partys fracture over presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Biden vows US, allies will 'squeeze the heart' of IS on trip

AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates (AP)  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden began a Mideast tour Monday vowing that the United States and its allies would destroy and "squeeze the heart" of the Islamic State group, while thanking both American airmen and Emirati troops.

Biden spoke before hundreds of airmen as jets roared down the runway at Al-Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi, a main launching point for operations in Syria and Iraq targeting the Islamic State group.

The Emirates is one of the most important U.S. military and political allies in the Persian Gulf. It is also a major commercial hub that includes the business-friendly port city of Dubai.

Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President talks to the U.S. military personnel next to his wife Dr. Jill Biden at a Air Base in United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Flanked by an F-22 Raptor and an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, Biden applauded Emirati authorities for their "stepped up and expanded" role in the anti-IS campaign.

"You capture the images that provide us with intelligence we need to target the enemy to protect our forces," Biden said, as unarmed drones sat and taxied on the runway outside near radar planes and refueling aircraft.

"You control the skies of Iraq and Syria. As a matter of fact, you all control the skies in the whole damn world," Biden added to cheers from the gathered airmen.

The seven-state Emirates federation, which includes the Gulf commercial center of Dubai, is one of the largest oil producers in OPEC. It hosts regional offices for numerous American companies in industries including aerospace, energy, technology and hospitality. Dubai state-owned airline Emirates is the largest operator of Chicago-based Boeing Co.'s 777 wide-body jet.

Biden's remarks, however, did not touch on the worries of Emiratis and Saudi Arabia over regional Shiite power Iran. Tensions between allied Sunni Arab countries and the Islamic Republic have been high since January, when Saudi officials executed a Shiite cleric and protesters later overran two of the kingdom's diplomatic posts in Iran.

Saudi Arabia and the Emirates also are involved in a war in Yemen against Shiite rebels there who have received Iranian support, raising fears of a regional war. This has drawn some support away from the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State militants.

Late Monday, Biden met with Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is scheduled to meet with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is the federation's vice president and prime minister, on the trip as well.

Despite the regional challenges, Biden struck an upbeat tone, applauding the U.S. troops' sacrifices while vowing to destroy the Islamic State group, which he dismissed as "criminals and cowards."

"We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they can't continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world," Biden said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

The Emirates is the first stop on a regional tour that will also take in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His wife, Jill, is accompanying him.

The trip will include talks on U.S. economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said.

Biden is not expected to offer any new initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he travels to Israel and the West Bank. The White House has said it does not believe either side has the political will for reviving the peace process as the last year of President Barack Obama's administration winds down.

Earlier Monday, Biden visited Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, pausing outside to remove his black dress shoes in keeping with Islamic custom.

He examined a wall in the ornate mosque bearing the 99 names of God written in Arabic before stepping outside to wave at visiting tourists kept a short distance away.

Accompanying Biden on the mosque tour was its director-general, Yousif Abdallah Alobaidli, and Minister of State Reem al-Hashimi.

Biden also visited Masdar City, a government-backed clean energy campus on the capital's outskirts, taking a few moments to talk to Shefaa Mansour, a student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studying at the affiliated Masdar Institute.

He later looked at a model of a desalination plant, something crucial to the Emirates, which experts warn may run out of groundwater in the next 15 years. Emirati Minister of State Sultan al-Jaber handed him a bottle of water made at the plant.

The vice president looked at it, then smiled.

"Now make sure I'm still standing," he said. "Watch what happens when I take the first sip. I'm more energized."

Biden took a drink, paused for a moment and added: "Do you need a partner? I'm out of a job soon."

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Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap.

Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President talks to the U.S. military personnel at an Air Base in United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, center, visits Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President talks to the U.S. military personnel at an Air Base in United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. Biden and his wife Jill arrived in the United Arab Emirates early on Monday on the first leg of their Middle East tour. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President, centre, points to one of the Masdar City employees as Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber UAE minister of state and the chairman of Masdar City, 3rd left, looks on during his first day tour in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a Middle East tour Monday, vowing that the United States and its allies would "squeeze the heart" and destroy the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President, 2nd left, listens to an Emirati guide during his visit of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 7, 2016. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a Middle East tour Monday, vowing that the United States and its allies would "squeeze the heart" and destroy the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
EU, Turkey hope to get breakthrough migrant deal by March 17

BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union leaders hoped early Tuesday they reached the outlines for a possible deal with Ankara to return thousands of migrants to Turkey and said they were confident a full agreement could be reached at a summit next week.

After months of disagreements and increasing bickering among the 28 EU nations, French President Francois Hollande said that "the summit has created hope that the refugee question can be dealt with through solidarity in Europe, and efficiency in cooperation with Turkey."

All eyes centered now on March 17 and the start of a two-day summit to finalize the commitment and clinch an iron-clad deal which the leaders hope would allow for a return to normalcy at their borders by the end of the year.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right, walks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, as they leave an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. European Union leaders said early Tuesday they reached the outlines for a possible deal with Ankara to return thousands of migrants to Turkey and said they were confident a full agreement could be reached at a summit next week. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Turkey said it would be willing to make greater efforts to contain irregular migration. "The truth is that Turkey came to the summit with attractive proposals, and I believe that surprised many," said Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras.

EU President Donald Tusk said that after a week of shuttle diplomacy in and around Turkey, "we have a breakthrough now."

During 12 hours of negotiations, Turkey insisted that any agreement would require Europe to advance Turkey's long-delayed hope of joining the bloc. As an additional step, Turkey said it expects EU nations to ease its visa restrictions on Turkish citizens within months.

Turkey, home to 2.75 million refugees chiefly from neighboring Syria, surprised EU counterparts Monday by demanding a much more funding beyond the 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) already pledged. "Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davatoglu told reporters in Brussels.

Davutoglu did not disclose how much money Turkey was seeking but he said that the funds would only go to Syrian refugees. "Not one euro will go to Turkish citizens. Every penny will be spent for Syrian refugees."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that "we do have the basis for a breakthrough which is the possibility that in future all migrants who arrive in Greece will be returned to Turkey." The sides will now reconvene at a two-day summit starting March 17.

For its part, the EU sought to gain stronger commitments from Turkey to take back refugees who have reached European shores and ease a crisis that has left an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 souls encamped in the wintry cold on the Greece-Macedonia border.

"To stop refugees arriving in Greece, we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande said. Even though many saw the outlines of a deal, it was still too early to clinch it.

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of failing to provide enough of the already pledged funds. He also criticized Europe for refusing to accept asylum seekers more readily, linking that policy to needless deaths as thousands opt to cross illegally by sea from the Turkish coast to offshore Greek islands.

"We are not sending them. They are going by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea," Erdogan said in a speech.

Turkey is seeking a new EU commitment to take Syrians and other high-percentage refugee applicants via safe travel routes, such as at the land border between Turkey and Greece, to reduce drowning deaths in the Aegean Sea.

Overshadowing the summit diplomacy is Turkey's questionable human rights record. On Friday, Turkish police stormed the headquarters of an anti-government newspaper to enforce a court order placing the paper and its sister outlets under new management. Police spent the weekend using tear gas and water cannons to quell street protests.

Hollande said that EU cooperation with Turkey should not be interpreted as European acceptance of Turkish rights restrictions. "The press must be free everywhere, including in Turkey," he said.

Of immediate concern was the plight of people stuck at Greece's northern border with non-EU member Macedonia, which for the past year has been one of the most popular routes for asylum seekers to reach central Europe via the Balkans. Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach Germany, Sweden and other preferred destinations.

Macedonia now has effectively sealed off that route, a position backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary. Cash-strapped Greece has struggled to cope with the rapid buildup of humanity.

Those camped on the border vowed Monday to press on into Europe, regardless of what diplomats decide in Brussels.

"Whatever it takes, we will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed," said Lasgeen Hassan, a Syrian Kurd who hopes to reunite with relatives already in Germany.

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Associated Press reporters Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, and Elena Becatoros on the Greece-Macedonia border contributed to this report.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, second left, waves as he leaves an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. Turkey on Monday demanded more money from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders appealed to Ankara to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Council President Donald Tusk, front right, shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, front left, during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Monday with Turkey to discuss the current migration crisis. At back left is Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila and back right is Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos. (AP Photo/Francois Walshaerts)

French President Francois Hollande gestures while speaking during a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. European Union leaders said early Tuesday they reached the outlines for a possible deal with Ankara to return thousands of migrants to Turkey and said they were confident a full agreement could be reached at a summit next week. (AP Photo/Francois Walshaerts)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is reflected in the roof of his car as he leaves an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. Turkey on Monday demanded more money from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders appealed to Ankara to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Tents of refugees and migrants stand next to a refugee camp at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. At a summit in Brussels European Union leaders on Monday sought to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (AP Photo/Eldar Emric)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center, speaks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, and European Council President Donald Tusk prior to a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Monday with Turkey to discuss the current migration crisis.(Emmanuel Dunand, Pool Photo via AP)

A migrant walks by the fence separating Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, shakes hands with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Monday with Turkey to discuss the current migration crisis. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)

A migrant wipes his eyes holding a German flag at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, March 6, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks out of her car window as she arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Monday with Turkey to discuss the current migration crisis. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

People wait in queues to receive food distributed by non-governmental organizations at the Athens' port of Piraeus where over 2,000 stranded refugees and migrants stay at the passenger terminal buildings and their tents, on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders will be looking to boost aid to Greece as the Balkan migrant route is effectively sealed, using Monday's summit as an attempt to restore unity among the 28 member nations after months of increasing bickering and go-it-alone policies. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A child plays with a cardboard box at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, March 6, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, take part in a rally demanding to be allowed to cross the border to Macedonia, at the Athens' port of Piraeus on Sunday, March 6, 2016. While thousands arrive in Greeces main port of Piraeus from the islands, about 13,000-14,000 people remain stranded in Idomeni, at the Greek-Macedonia borderline, with more arriving each day. The refugee camp has overflowed, with thousands pitching tents among the railway tracks and in adjacent fields. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
Clinton, Sanders tangle on economy in Democratic debate

FLINT, Mich. (AP)  Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tangled aggressively on economic issues in a Democratic presidential debate over trade, Wall Street influence and more.

Clinton accused him of turning his back on the auto industry and Sanders countered in the Sunday night debate that Clinton's friends on Wall Street had "destroyed this economy."

It was a marked change in tone for the two Democrats, signaling Sanders' increasingly difficult effort to slow the momentum of the party's front-runner. Both candidates frequently interrupted one another and accused each other of misrepresenting their records.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, left, and, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argue a point during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

"Let's have some facts instead of some rhetoric for a change," Clinton snapped at Sanders at one point.

"Let me tell my story, you tell yours," Sanders shot back at another. "Your story is voting for every disastrous trade amendment and voting for corporate America."

More than once, Sanders chafed at Clinton's interruptions, saying, "Excuse me, I'm talking" or "Let me finish, please."

Their disagreements were clear, but still the debate's tone was nothing like that of the Republican debate in Detroit just three days earlier, a four-way faceoff that was marked by a steady stream of personal attacks, insults and even sexual innuendo. The Democrats' faceoff, in comparison, was a more civil, if heated, affair.

Clinton said that while she and Sanders have their differences on policy, "compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week."

Sanders chimed in, "We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health and when you watch these Republican debates you know why."

Both had a good laugh at that.

Each made a case for being the best candidate to defeat GOP front-runner Donald Trump in a November matchup.

Clinton said she's gotten more votes than Trump in the primaries, and predicted that his "bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well on the American people."

Sanders declared: "I would love to run against Donald Trump," adding that polls show "Sanders vs. Trump does a lot better than Clinton vs. Trump."

Sanders, who argued with considerably more edge than in past debates, pounced early when Clinton spoke about a need to keep jobs from shifting overseas.

"I am very glad that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue," he said, then went on to criticize her past support for trade deals that he maintained had "disastrous" consequences.

Clinton, too, took the offensive early on but more often found herself fending off Sanders' criticism.

In her most pointed thrust, she said Sanders had voted against a 2009 bailout of carmakers, adding, "I went with them. You did not. If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking 4 million jobs with it."

Sanders countered that the money for the auto industry was part of a larger bailout package for Wall Street, adding, "I will be damned if it was the working people of this country who have to bail out the crooks on Wall Street." He referred to the overall package as "the Wall Street bailout where some of your friends destroyed this economy."

Ultimately, President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to provide $23.4 billion for the auto industry from the federal bailout money for the financial sector.

The debate started on a conciliatory note, with Clinton joining Sanders in calling for Michigan's Republican governor to resign over his handling of the Flint water crisis.

An emotional Sanders said he felt "literally shattered" by the toxic tap water in Flint and renewed his call for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign.

Clinton, who had not previously made that call, added emphatically: "Amen to that," and then said that Snyder should "resign or be recalled."

Snyder quickly tweeted that "political candidates" will be leaving Flint and Michigan in a few days after the state's primary but he is "committed to the people of Flint."

In the race for the Democratic nomination, Clinton has at least 1,130 delegates to Sanders' 499, including superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

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Benac reported from Washington. Associated Press writer David Eggert in Flint and Hope Yen and Lisa Lerer in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/nbenac

Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton walks on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., arrives on stage during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argues a point as Hillary Clinton looks on during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton argues a point as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reacts during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Trump grabbing white, born-again Christian voters

NEW YORK (AP)  The list of prominent evangelicals denouncing Donald Trump is growing, but is anyone in the flock listening? The bloc of voters powering the real estate mogul through the Republican primaries is significantly weighted with white born-again Christians.

As Trump's ascendancy forces the GOP establishment to confront how it lost touch with so many conservative voters, top evangelicals are facing their own dark night, wondering what has drawn so many Christians to a twice-divorced, profane casino magnate with a muddled record on abortion and gay marriage.

John Stemberger, a Trump critic and head of the Florida Family Policy Council, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, said many evangelicals have changed. Litmus tests that for so long defined the boundaries for morally acceptable candidates seem to have been abandoned by many Christians this year, he said, no matter how much evangelical leaders try to uphold those standards.

FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2016, file photo, Pastor Joshua Nink, right, prays for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as wife, Melania, left, watches after a Sunday service at First Christian Church, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The list of prominent evangelicals denouncing Trump is growing, but is anyone in the flock listening? The bloc of voters powering the real estate mogul through the Republican primaries is significantly weighted with white born-again Christians. As Trumps ascendancy forces the GOP establishment to confront how it lost touch with so many conservative voters, top evangelicals are facing their own dark night, wondering what has drawn so many Christians to a twice-divorced, profane casino magnate with a muddled record on abortion and gay marriage. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

"Evangelicals are looking at those issues less and less. They've just become too worldly, letting anger and frustration control them, as opposed to trusting in God," Stemberger said.

Trump has won the support of one-third of self-identified born-again Christians across the dozen or so states that have held GOP contests and where exit polls were conducted. In eight of the presidential primaries, he won more evangelicals than Ted Cruz, a Southern Baptist who has made appeals to conservative Christians the core of his campaign, according to polling.

"We're leading with evangelicals all over the country," Trump said Saturday at a rally in Wichita, Kansas. "Leading big, because they don't want to vote for a liar. You have lying Ted Cruz. ... He holds up the Bible and then he tells you exactly what I didn't say."

Trump is a Presbyterian who has said he has never sought God's forgiveness for his sins, botches Bible references and, on a recent campaign visit to a church, mistook a communion plate for a donation plate.

Critics insist exit polls have overstated Trump's share of evangelical support, arguing that many voters identifying themselves as "born again" in primaries are only nominally Christian.

An October survey from the Public Religion Research Institute backs this view. In the poll, white evangelical Republicans and those leaning toward the GOP who attended religious services weekly were far less likely to support Trump than those who attended infrequently.

"There's a form of cultural Christianity that causes people to respond with 'evangelical' and 'born-again' as long as they're not Catholic, even though they haven't been in a church since Vacation Bible School as a kid," said the Rev. Russell Moore, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore was an early and vocal opponent of Trump.

Trump's biggest evangelical endorsement of the race  from Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, who said the billionaire businessman "lives a life of loving and helping others."  reflected the rift among Christians and even within the university itself. Trump only got 90 of nearly 1,200 votes cast in the university's precinct in the Virginia GOP primary last Tuesday.

In remarkably public criticism, Mark DeMoss, a Liberty board member and longtime adviser to the school's founder, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., called the endorsement a mistake.

"My concern, thinking about evangelicalism and Liberty University, is more about a style and a behavior and a demeanor and a vocabulary that you can't find any support for in Scripture," said DeMoss, who had advised Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns. "I think the potential damage  and time will tell if there was real damage  was an erosion of trust in the school."

Yet it's not clear whether conservative Christian voters are paying attention. Trump's candidacy has revealed a distance between evangelical leaders and rank-and-file Christians similar to the one coming to light in the GOP. "The laity has its own attitudes and impulses," Anderson wrote.

While Moore and others are urging Christians to evaluate candidates using the Bible, many evangelicals are using other criteria, such as seeking a candidate who can protect them from the Islamic State group, liberalism, growing secularism among Americans and economic insecurity for the country and their families. The Public Religion Research Institute found that white, working-class evangelicals are more than twice as likely to support Trump than are evangelicals with a college degree.

The Rev. Carl Gallups, a Southern Baptist pastor from Milton, Florida, who gave the invocation at Trump's Pensacola rally last January, said he has had many conversations with fellow conservative Christians about making a pragmatic choice in favor of Trump.

"I tell them, if you are not thoroughly satisfied with what you might interpret the depth of his faith might be, then the next thing we must look at is the candidate who will best preserve your First Amendment rights and allow you to express your Christian faith," Gallups said. "We're not electing a priest, a pope or a pastor. We're electing a president, a CEO, a commander in chief. I'm not perfectly happy with Donald Trump either, but I'm a realist."

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AP News Survey Specialist Emily Swanson in Washington, and Associated Press writers Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee, Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

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Follow Rachel Zoll on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/rzollAP

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The list of prominent evangelicals denouncing Trump is growing, but is anyone in the flock listening? The bloc of voters powering the real estate mogul through the Republican primaries is significantly weighted with white born-again Christians. As Trumps ascendancy forces the GOP establishment to confront how it lost touch with so many conservative voters, top evangelicals are facing their own dark night, wondering what has drawn so many Christians to a twice-divorced, profane casino magnate with a muddled record on abortion and gay marriage. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2015, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The list of prominent evangelicals denouncing Trump is growing, but is anyone in the flock listening? The bloc of voters powering the real estate mogul through the Republican primaries is significantly weighted with white born-again Christians. As Trumps ascendancy forces the GOP establishment to confront how it lost touch with so many conservative voters, top evangelicals are facing their own dark night, wondering what has drawn so many Christians to a twice-divorced, profane casino magnate with a muddled record on abortion and gay marriage. (AP Photo/Willis Glassgow, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2014, file photo, the Rev. Russell Moore, left, director of the Southern Baptists Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, leads a discussion during the group's national conference, in Nashville, Tenn. "Theres a form of cultural Christianity that causes people to respond with 'evangelical and `born-again as long as theyre not Catholic, even though they havent been in a church since Vacation Bible School as a kid, said Moore, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Moore was an early and vocal opponent of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
The Latest: More work needed on EU migrant deal with Turkey

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Latest on the migration crisis as leaders from the EU and Turkey meet in Brussels (all times local):

0:48 a.m.

Luxembourg's prime minister says that European Union and Turkish leaders have ended talks aimed at tackling the refugee emergency but that more work is needed to finalize an agreement.

A woman holds the hand of a toddler walking on a railway track at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said in a tweet early Tuesday that EU Council President Donald Tusk "will take forward the proposals and work out the details with the Turkish side" before the next EU summit on March 17.

The EU has been trying to persuade Turkey to take back thousands of migrants and do more to stop others leaving for Europe.

But at a summit in Brussels, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu demanded more money, a quicker easing of visa rules and more progress on Turkey's long-delayed EU membership talks.

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11 p.m.

Greek authorities say they want to move the bulk of the estimated 14,000 migrants stuck in a sprawling tent city on the border with Macedonia to camps elsewhere.

But Deputy Defense Minister Dimitris Dritsas has ruled out using force, saying instead that officials will ask people to travel voluntarily to camps still under construction.

More than 36,000 people seeking asylum in other parts of Europe are stuck in Greece, more than a third of them near the Greek border village of Idomeni.

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10 p.m.

Hungary says it will veto any plan to resettle asylum seekers directly from Turkey to EU countries in a setback for a European Union summit seeking a deal on how to deal with the migrant crisis.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said earlier at Monday's summit that he expects any deal to include new EU commitments to accept refugees from Turkey, rather than force them to take dangerous sea crossings to Greece.

But the spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Hungary would veto any such EU commitment.

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8:30 p.m.

Hungary is planning to cut cash and other subsidies for asylum-seekers, reduce the individual space they are allotted in detention centers to the size given prison inmates and scrap measures assisting their integration.

The government said Monday in draft legislation posted online that it wants to bring the rights of refugees in line with the rights of Hungarian citizens. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee advocacy group, however, says the real aim is to make it more difficult for those granted asylum in Hungary to stay in the country.

Other proposed measures include cutting from two months to one month the time those granted asylum can stay in reception centers and reducing their eligibility for health care services from one year to six months.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban says a large influx of Muslim immigrants will destroy Hungarians' lifestyle and endanger Europe's Christian culture.

In 2015, Hungary granted asylum or other kinds of protection to 508 people.

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7:40 p.m.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country must conclude a new agreement on migrants with the European Union because "the wave of refugees has increased tremendously in the last months."

Turkey is already home to 2.7 million refugees, Davutoglu told reporters during a visit to NATO, and "hundreds of thousands" more are currently on the Syrian side of the border.

"They are in a very desperate situation, and we are very worried whether there could be new waves of refugees," he said.

At an EU summit Monday, Davutoglu said he presented Turkey's proposals to discourage new migrants from entering Turkey, improve the living standard of existing refugees, and strengthen Turkish-EU ties  "not only on illegal migrant issues," he emphasized, "but also on all challenging issues," including Turkey's longstanding bid to join the EU.

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6:30 p.m.

Dozens of men, women and children have held a sit-down protest on the railway tracks running past the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, calling on European leaders meeting in Brussels to open the borders.

Frustrated refugees in Idomeni have occasionally blocked freight trains from passing down the tracks for hours, but Monday's protest was more symbolic in nature as no train was passing and a Greek television station had also set up a marquee with a live camera position on the track beside the protesters.

As night fell, the protesters braved rainfall, holding up banners made of sheets and chanting "Germany, Germany" and "Mama Merkel," referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel whom they see as sympathetic to their plight.

About 13,000-14,000 people are stranded in Idomeni.

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6:20 p.m.

Two aid groups say they have rescued 68 African migrants from a disintegrating plastic boat that was sinking off the Libyan coast.

Another boat in the area remains in distress, according to a statement from Doctors of the World, or Medecins du monde, and SOS Mediterannee.

The groups said they were alerted to the sinking boats by maritime authorities in Rome, and safely rescued 68 people aboard the first boat. The youngest person aboard was 14.

No casualties were reported, though one man suffered a severe foot injury and several were suffering from hypothermia or shock, the statement said. The migrants  from Senegal, Gambia, Mali and Sierra Leone  were taken onto a special Doctors of the World aid ship that can hold 500 people.

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6:10 p.m.

France's government says a hotline is going to be set up to help local businesses in Calais that are suffering amid the migrant crisis.

About 500 Calais residents and merchants have demonstrated on the streets of Paris around the Elysee Palace to draw the attention to their economic difficulties.

The new hotline will help small business owners to get tax relief.

Thousands of migrants are camped out in the Calais region, hoping to sneak across the English Channel to Britain. The protesters claim that the situation has badly damaged local businesses' activity.

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4:55 p.m.

The head of the European Parliament says that Turkey has asked for an additional 3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) from the European Union to help it deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders seek more help from Ankara to stem the flow of refugees across the Aegean.

Diplomats also said that EU leaders at Monday's summit were faced with additional Turkish requests to speed up visa liberalization and better conditions for membership talks.

And they said Turkey was also looking for a deal under which it would be able to send refugees to Europe for people it takes back from Greece.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said that a "further request of the Turkish side for additional money  3 billion euros  are in the debate, are in the discussion."

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4:35 p.m.

Interior ministers from Hungary and Croatia say they are reopening three railway crossing shut last year to stem the flow of migrants and refugees into Hungary.

Sandor Pinter of Hungary and Vlaho Orepic of Croatia said the crossings at Murakesresztur-Kotoriba, Gyekenes-Koprivnica and Magyarboly-Beli Manastir would reopen Monday.

The crossings were shut as Hungary built fences on its borders with Croatia and Serbia and diverted migrants toward Slovenia and Austria.

The fences have succeeded in stopping most migrants on their way to Germany and other western destinations from entering Hungary, though the number of migrants caught by Hungarian police across the border with Serbia has been increasing over the past weeks to a high of 248 people on Friday.

During the September-October peak, 6,000-10,000 migrants were reaching Hungary each day.

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3:10 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the European Union of failing to deliver a 3 billion euro ($3.3 billion) fund promised to the country to help it deal with its influx of refugees.

In an address to women trade-unionists, Erdogan said he hopes the prime minister can return from the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels Monday with the money.

Erdogan also criticized European nations for their unwillingness to take in refugees as well as their demands on Turkey to halt the flow of people.

He said: "We are not sending them, they are going (to Greece) by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths."

He went on to denounce what he said were Western nations' indifference toward women and children who were "massacred" by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

Erdogan said: "Why do those who cause a stir over the videos that the (Islamic State group) posts on the Internet for show, ignore the innocent children and women massacred by Assad's state terror?"

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2:05 p.m.

Hungary's prime minister says that Europe should shut its borders to migrants and not let anyone in without registration and permission.

Speaking Monday upon his arrival to an EU summit in Brussels, Viktor Orban said that any plan to resettle people from Turkey or Greece would only add "fuel to the fire" and cause even more people to come.

Orban said that Hungary wouldn't participate in any resettlement plan and that "nothing should be done without the closing of the borders."

He also said that Ukrainians should be given EU visas exemptions before any similar deal with Turkey, which is being offered billions of euros (dollars) in refugee aid, fast-track EU membership and an easing of visa rules to win its support for efforts to stem the migrant flow.

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1:55 p.m.

The European Union's foreign affairs chief is insisting that Turkey heeds the call to adhere to fundamental democratic rights and freedom of expression after authorities seized Turkey's largest-circulation newspaper following government criticism.

Turkish authorities stormed the headquarters of the Zaman newspaper to enforce a court decision to place it and its sister outlets under the management of trustees. The move sparked two days of protests which police dispersed using tear gas and water cannons.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said before a migration crisis summit with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday that Turkey must "respect the highest standards when it comes to democracy, rule of law fundamental freedoms starting from the freedom of expression."

The leaders of France and Belgium also insisted on guarantees for media freedom.

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1:45 p.m.

Cyprus' foreign minister says Turkey must take back economic migrants who aren't entitled to international protection.

Ioannis Kasoulides says "it is obvious" that "more than 50 percent" of migrants now on European soil aren't from war-torn Syria whose citizens need such protection.

Kasoulides said after talks with his Bosnian counterpart Monday that these economic migrants "found an easy route to fly to Turkey" from where they can enter Greece in hopes of reaching Germany and other wealthy northern European countries.

European Union leaders on Monday will press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded.

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1:30 p.m.

Bosnia's foreign minister says his country has made preparations to deal with an influx of migrants trying to make their way to northern Europe in case the main Balkan route shifts further south.

Igor Crnadak says an "entirely new route" could open for migrants trying to reach European Union member Croatia through Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia after the main, more northerly Balkan route has effectively been closed.

Crnadak said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Monday that Bosnia can help a "certain number" of migrants pass through the country, but "we're not in a position to even discuss letting some of them stay."

He said Bosnian authorities could close the country's borders, but this hasn't been discussed yet.

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1:20 p.m.

Tensions are high among the more than 13,000 migrants who are stranded at the Greek-Macedonian border as they await a decision at the EU summit in Brussels that could determine their fate.

Hassan Sheikho, a Syrian refugee who is one of the first in line to cross into Macedonia, says "the whole world will be in chaos," if "they don't take all the people here and settle us down."

He urged leaders Monday to "solve the crisis in Syria and we'll go back, otherwise, make your decision and we'll be ready."

Cold weather, unhygienic living conditions and limited supplies of food and water are already putting pressure on the refugees and other migrants at the camp in Idomeni. Now they may also need to face the possibility of the Balkan route ahead being shut for good.

UNHCR spokesman, Babar Baloch, told the AP that for most of the refugees at the camp, there hasn't been much movement anyway. He said they "need an answer, a quick answer."

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1:00 p.m.

About 150 migrants have abandoned a squalid, mud-filled camp in northern France to move into wooden sheds with access to showers and other facilities built by Doctors Without Borders.

The move is part of efforts to improve conditions for thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa who have converged on northern France in hopes of sneaking across the English Channel to Britain.

The aid group's spokesman, Samuel Hanryon, says three buses brought about 150 migrants from the camp in Grande-Synthe to the new site Monday. Hundreds more are expected to arrive in coming days from the camp, which currently houses about 1,050 people including 74 children.

A small number of the new arrivals had travelled from a camp in the nearby city of Calais, where authorities are evacuating a tent camp that had become a flashpoint in Europe's migrant crisis.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, built the new 2.5 million-euro site, including 4-person sheds and access to toilets, kitchens and electricity.

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12:55 p.m.

Greece's government says it's planning to build shelters at nine new sites to cope with the rising number of migrants who have been stranded in the country after the introduction of border restrictions by countries further north.

A government statement Monday said the new sites, providing a total of 17,500 places, are mostly near Athens and in central Greece.

Dimitris Vitsas, the deputy defense minister, said 16,000 of those places should be available by the end of the week and could be used to provide alternative accommodation for the roughly 14,000 people who are camped out in Idomeni by the Macedonian border.

He said the government also plans to move people out of Piraeus, the country's busiest port where some 3,000 are currently staying, by the end of the week.

Greece's armed forces have built most of the country's refugee shelters at disused military bases.

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12:40 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she expects "difficult negotiations" at the European Union summit with Turkey on the migrant crisis.

Merkel said her aim is to reduce the number of migrants entering illegally "and not just for a few countries, but for all countries  that means for Greece too." Refugees and other migrants have been piling up in Greece since nations on the Balkan route, used by hundreds of thousands of people, imposed border restrictions.

Merkel said Monday that there needs to be a "sustainable solution" that involves protecting the EU's external borders, and "that can only be done in cooperation with Turkey."

She said she hopes to "move a step forward" but that will require tough negotiations.

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11:30 a.m.

Turkey's prime minister says he hopes that a summit with European Union leaders on Monday will mark a turning point in relations as the EU seeks to stop migrants heading to Greece.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Brussels that the meeting is as focused on Turkey's future EU membership as on the refugee emergency.

He said "Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well."

Davutoglu expressed hope the summit "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations."

The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece. It has offered Turkey billions of euros (dollars) in refugee aid, fast-track EU membership and an easing of visa rules to win its support.

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11:15 a.m.

Hundreds of Calais residents are heading to Paris to protest against the negative impact of the migrant crisis on the local economy.

Ten buses carrying about 500 people, most of them working in local businesses, left the northern French port city on Monday morning to meet with Finance Minister Michel Sapin and representatives of French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee palace later in the afternoon.

The protesters claim that the large number of migrants in the makeshift camp known as the Jungle has badly damaged local businesses' activity. David Sagnard, a member of the delegation traveling to the French capital, said the protesters want to be granted lower tax rates for their businesses "to boost economic activity and employment."

Most of the migrants living in the area are trying to sneak across the English Channel to Britain.

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10:50 a.m.

Britain's defense secretary says Prime Minister David Cameron will urge European leaders to make good on funds to help Turkey deal with the refugee crisis.

Michael Fallon told the BBC on Monday that Cameron will urge other EU leaders to deliver on millions of euros (dollars) in pledges. Fallon says Europe has promised the money and the coast guard there "needs to be strengthened and we need to do as much as we can to help Turkey."

Britain has pledged to back a NATO operation meant to provide information about smugglers to halt their actions. Fallon says the amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay will use an onboard helicopter to provide data on smuggling routes. The information will be passed to Turkish authorities to intercept migrants attempting the crossing.

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10:25 a.m.

Police are patrolling a square in central Athens to prevent migrants from setting up camp there after the site was cleared at the weekend.

Hundreds of people, mostly from Afghanistan, had been sleeping rough at Victoria Square in the center of Athens since border restrictions and closures were imposed by Austria and several Balkan countries last month.

Early Monday police were instructing those reaching the square to seek refuge at one of several shelters set up around the capital, while municipal workers were cleaning the area, using pressure hoses.

Refugees and other migrants have continued to travel to Greece from nearby Turkey despite the border closures, with 2,480 arriving Sunday, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

Some 34,000 migrants are currently stranded in Greece  with about a third of that number camped out in increasingly difficult conditions at the Greek-Macedonian border.

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10:15 a.m.

Greece's prime minister is urging his European Union partners to finally put long-agreed migrant plans into action, as thousands of people wait on the country's border with Macedonia.

Arriving for talks with EU leaders in Brussels Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Monday that "rules are for all, and everybody has to implement our common decisions."

He told reporters that "if there are agreements that are not implemented there were not agreements at all."

EU leaders agreed in September to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy over two years. As of March 3, fewer than 700 people had been relocated to other European countries.

Tsipras said that Europe must "have a credible relocation process."

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10:10 a.m.

Thousands of refugees stranded on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia are anxiously awaiting news from a European Union-Turkey summit that could determine their fate.

The leaders are expected to declare the main Balkan migrant route closed Monday, after Macedonia, backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, limited border crossings to a trickle.

Although the flow into Macedonia has slowed, some people are still getting through. Greek authorities said 337 people crossed between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday.

One Kurdish Syrian family said they were determined to cross and be reunited with the rest of the family in Germany.

"Whatever it takes. We will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed, we have nothing to go back to," said Lasgeen Hassan, 59, from Al Qamishli.

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10:05 a.m.

France's foreign minister says Europe must reach a deal with Turkey over how to handle the influx of migrants and must rethink its own system of open borders.

In an interview Monday with FranceInter radio, Jean-Marc Ayrault said the European Union's system of open borders wasn't set up to deal with a major migration crisis and must be reformed.

He said that will entail protecting the EU's outer frontiers, dividing up newcomers who have the right to asylum, helping Greece and reaching an accord with Turkey. Those two countries on Europe's outer edges are struggling to cope with hundreds of thousands of migrants hoping to reach a better life in the north.

EU leaders are holding talks later Monday with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

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9:40 a.m.

European Union leaders have started arriving in Brussels to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded.

The leaders are expected to declare the main Balkan migrant route closed Monday, after Macedonia, backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, limited border crossings to a trickle.

Ahead of the summit in Brussels, some 14,000 people were camped in Greece at the Macedonian border hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

The leaders are set first to hold talks at 1130 GMT with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

A draft statement prepared for their talks says they will ensure "comprehensive, large scale and fast-track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection."

A migrant girl shields herself from the rain while waiting in a line for food rations at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Wooden sheds built by Doctors Without Borders are lined up in a new migrants camp in Grande Synthe, outside Dunkirk, northern France, Monday, March 7, 2016. About 150 migrants have abandoned the squalid, mud-filled Grande Synthe camp to move into wooden sheds with access to showers and other facilities. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

Migrants arrive at a new camp with wooden sheds built by Doctors Without Borders in Grande Synthe, outside Dunkirk, northern France, Monday, March 7, 2016. About 150 migrants have abandoned the squalid, mud-filled Grande Synthe camp to move into wooden sheds with access to showers and other facilities. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

A migrant carries tree branches for fire near the razor wire surrounded fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A boy plays with a Spiderman doll next to the razor wire around the fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A migrant walks by the fence separating Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A child plays with a cardboard box at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, March 6, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants mob a truck bringing donated firewood at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, March 6, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is reflected in the roof of his car as he leaves an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. Turkey on Monday demanded more money from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders appealed to Ankara to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from setting off for Europe. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban joins a lunch meeting of EU leaders and the Turkish prime minister at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, center, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, right, during a lunch meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila, left, arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (AP Photo/Francois Walschaerts)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, takes her seat during a lunch with other leaders at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, takes her seat during a lunch with other leaders at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov waves as he arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (AP Photo/Francois Walschaerts)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016. European Union leaders arrived in Brussels Monday to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Bloomberg decides against third-party bid for White House

NEW YORK (AP)  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that he will not run for president, citing a concern that his independent bid would hand the White House to Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

The billionaire, who has spent months mulling a third-party run that would have roiled this year's already extraordinarily unpredictable presidential campaign, made his decision official through an editorial posted on the Bloomberg View website.

Bloomberg, in ending his third and likely final flirtation with a White House run, wrote that a three-way race could lead to no one winning a majority of electoral votes, which would send the race to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives  and, therefore, to one of the GOP front-runners.

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2015, file photo, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during the C40 cities awards ceremony, in Paris. Bloomberg, the billionaire former three-term mayor of New York City, has decided against mounting a third-party White House bid in 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

"That is not a risk I can take in good conscience," Bloomberg wrote.

Bloomberg was blistering in his critique of Trump, currently the GOP front-runner, saying the real estate mogul has run "the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people's prejudices and fears."

He was similarly critical of Cruz, saying the Texas senator's "pandering on immigration may lack Trump's rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme."

Bloomberg acknowledged that he and Trump had been on "friendly terms" and that he had twice agreed to be on Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice." But the former mayor said Trump's campaign "appeals to our worst impulses."

"We cannot 'make America great again' by turning our backs on the values that made us the world's greatest nation in the first place," Bloomberg wrote. "I love our country too much to play a role in electing a candidate who would weaken our unity and darken our future  and so I will not enter the race for president of the United States."

Bloomberg made only an oblique reference to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and did not endorse a candidate. His aides indicated that Bloomberg may at some point offer an endorsement and use his wealth to try to influence the race, but cautioned that no decisions had been made.

The former three-term mayor  who had indicated he would spend $1 billion of his own money on the campaign  had set a mid-March deadline for his team of advisers to assess the feasibility of mounting a run, believing that waiting longer would imperil his ability to complete the petition process needed to get on the ballots in all 50 states.

He had taken some initial steps, cutting a mock TV ad, preparing to open campaign offices in Texas and North Carolina  states with early ballot access deadlines  and having aides begin to vet possible vice presidential candidates, including Michael Mullen, the retired admiral and former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Aides to Bloomberg, the 74-year-old Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat-turned-independent, believed the dominance of Trump among Republicans and the rise of Sanders amid Democrats had opened a centrist lane for a non-ideological, pragmatic campaign.

Their own polling suggested Bloomberg had a viable path to the needed 270 electoral votes if Trump and Sanders were the nominees, though that projection included some remarkably optimistic predictions for Bloomberg, including winning Tennessee and Georgia and tying Sanders in the senator's home state of Vermont.

But as Clinton racked off a string of recent victories, Bloomberg  known largely outside New York for his crusades against guns and Big Soda, positions likely unpopular with Republicans nationwide  grew worried that he would siphon more support from her than Trump, ensuring that part of the mayor's carefully managed legacy would be that he helped give Trump the White House.

If Clinton won the Democratic nomination, Bloomberg's aides believed he had enough support to send the race to the House  but not to win there.

Clinton said Monday during a town hall in Detroit that she had "the greatest respect for Michael Bloomberg" and that she looked "forward to continuing to work with him."

Sanders, meanwhile, said it was Bloomberg's decision but he was concerned "on a broader scale" that only billionaires like the former mayor believe they can run for office.

Spokeswomen for Trump and Cruz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One of the richest people in the United States, estimated to be worth $38 billion, Bloomberg has previously toyed with presidential runs, but concluded ahead of the 2008 and 2012 campaigns he could not win.

The founder of the financial news and information provider Bloomberg LP, he was a political novice when he launched an unlikely bid for mayor in 2001.

He is largely a social liberal  he fought for same-sex marriage in New York and is pro-abortion rights  and implemented a number of health reforms in New York City, banning smoking in public places and instituting calorie counts on menus.

He has also become one of the nation's most vocal proponents of gun control, using his fortune to bankroll candidates across the country who clash with the National Rifle Association. But liberals have found fault with his cozy ties to Wall Street and his unquestioned support for the New York Police Department, which drove down crime during his tenure but engaged in tactics that a federal judge later ruled discriminated against minorities.

After leaving office, he returned to running his company, which posted $9 billion in revenue last year, and continues to run his foundation. He gave away more than $500 million in 2015.

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Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lisa Lerer in Washington contributed to this report.
AP Investigation: American company bungled Ebola response

WASHINGTON (AP)  An American company that bills itself as a pioneer in tracking emerging epidemics made a series of costly mistakes during the 2014 Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africa  with employees feuding with fellow responders, contributing to misdiagnosed Ebola cases and repeatedly misreading the trajectory of the virus, an Associated Press investigation has found.

San Francisco-based Metabiota Inc. was tapped by the Sierra Leonean government and the World Health Organization to help monitor the spread of the virus and support the response after Ebola was discovered circulating in neighboring Guinea in March 2014. But emails obtained by AP and interviews with aid workers on the ground show that some of the company's actions made an already chaotic situation worse.

WHO outbreak expert Dr. Eric Bertherat wrote to colleagues in a July 17, 2014, email about misdiagnoses and "total confusion" at the Sierra Leone government lab Metabiota shared with Tulane University in the city of Kenema. He said there was "no tracking of the samples" and "absolutely no control on what is being done."

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2014, file photo, healthcare workers load a man suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus onto an ambulance in Kenema, Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota Inc., an American company given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in the Ebola outbreak, was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Tanya Bindra, File)

"This is a situation that WHO can no longer endorse," he wrote.

Metabiota chief executive officer and founder Nathan Wolfe said there was no evidence his company was responsible for the lab blunders, that the reported squabbles were overblown and that any predictions made by his employees didn't reflect the company's position. He said Metabiota doesn't specialize in outbreak response and that his employees stepped in to help and performed admirably amid the carnage of the world's biggest-ever Ebola outbreak.

"Metabiota's team worked tirelessly, skillfully and at substantial potential danger to themselves to assist when most of the world was still ignoring the problem," he said in an email. "We are proud of our team efforts which went above and beyond the call of duty."

Wolfe said some of the problems flagged were misunderstandings  and that others were planted by commercial rivals.

The complaints about Metabiota mirror the wider mismanagement that hamstrung the world's response to Ebola, a disease that has killed upward of 11,000 people. Previous AP reporting has shown that WHO resisted sounding the alarm over Ebola for two months on political, religious and economic grounds and failed to put together a decisive response even after the alert was issued. The turmoil that followed left health workers in Kenema bereft of protective equipment or even body bags and using expired chlorine, a crucial disinfectant.

WHO said Metabiota was well-placed to help when Ebola broke out in West Africa because of its expertise with Lassa, a related disease. The agency declined to give any detail about how it dealt with the complaints from senior staff about the firm or the status of their current relationship.

In Sierra Leone, Sylvia Blyden, who served as special executive assistant to the country's president in the early days of the outbreak, said Metabiota's response was a disaster.

"They messed up the entire region," she said. She called Metabiota's attempt to claim credit for its Ebola work "an insult for the memories of thousands of Africans who have died."

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"THE VIRAL STORM"

Wolfe, a swashbuckling scientist sometimes described as the Indiana Jones of virology, has focused his company's work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In his book, "The Viral Storm," Wolfe writes that his work is aimed at hunting down "the first moments at the birth of a new pandemic" to prevent its global spread.

With a doctorate in immunology and infectious diseases from Harvard, Wolfe, 45, has found some serious backers. Metabiota and its nonprofit sister company Global Viral have received millions in funding from USAID, Google and the Skoll Foundation, among others. The Department of Defense alone has granted more than $18 million worth of contracts to the firm, federal records show.

In the early months of the outbreak, with WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thin on the ground, Metabiota said it stepped in to help at the request of the Sierra Leonean government.

An account posted to its website says Metabiota provided "critical support" in the earliest days of the outbreak, organizing training, jointly running Sierra Leone's Ebola laboratory, assisting with outbreak logistics and producing daily reports for the government.

Messages saved to ProMed, a mailing list for outbreak watchers, are upbeat, describing Metabiota's tests and how it was teaching Sierra Leoneans how to set up Ebola isolation wards. On May 12, senior Metabiota scientist Dr. Jean-Paul Gonzalez said preparedness work had "ultimately protected, or at least uniquely prepared, Sierra Leone."

But there were already reports of suspected infections in the country and, within weeks, the virus tore through Sierra Leone, overwhelming the hospital in Kenema where Metabiota shared the 700-square-foot (65-square-meter) lab with Tulane.

To some at Tulane, which had a long-established research project at the lab, Metabiota's missteps were predictable. The two groups worked side-by-side in an uneasy relationship that observers said sometimes tipped into open conflict.

Tulane microbiology professor Bob Garry questioned whether Gonzalez was the right person to teach Sierra Leoneans how to protect themselves from Ebola. In 1994, the French researcher was at the center of a safety scare at Yale University after he accidentally infected himself with the rare Sabia virus and didn't notify officials there for more than a week. The university put more than 100 people under surveillance and ordered Gonzalez to take a remedial safety course. Garry said that should have raised a red flag.

"Do you really want the person who infected himself with hemorrhagic fever going around explaining to people how to be safe?" he asked.

Gonzalez referred questions to a Metabiota press representative, who said in an email that the incident happened more than 20 years ago and that Gonzalez has extensive lab safety experience.

But Garry also faced questions; the WHO emails obtained by AP complaining about the Kenema lab are as critical of Tulane as they are of Metabiota.

Garry acknowledged mistakes but said they were understandable given the chaotic circumstances.

"We didn't have the personnel and the infrastructure that was needed to handle the onslaught of cases that were coming," he said. "We were doing the best we had with what we had there."

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"THEY WERE AT WAR"

As the death toll mounted in July, scientists from WHO, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about what Metabiota and its Tulane colleagues were doing at the Kenema lab, according to the emails obtained by AP and interviews with those on the ground at the time.

When Gary Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada, double-checked some of the facility's work in mid-July, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and identified up to five people wrongly diagnosed with Ebola, among them a worker with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Kobinger told AP in a telephone interview that the misdiagnoses he caught suggested many more had gone unnoticed.

"If you detect two, three, four, five, how many are out there?" he said.

The mistakes were doubly dangerous in a country where many mistrusted international workers, who were suspected of spreading Ebola deliberately, said Bertherat, the WHO outbreak expert. Attempts to reassure a jittery public could be "totally ruined if the population does not trust anymore in the diagnostic of the medical teams," he wrote in an email.

Bertherat proposed two fixes for the problematic lab: WHO could either train Metabiota and Tulane staffers, or close down the facility and transfer all testing to another lab. He told his boss on July 18, 2014, that shutting down the shared lab was the "more prudent" option.

Five days later, Geneva-based WHO staffer Pat Drury emailed the agency's chief, Dr. Margaret Chan, with criticism of both Tulane and Metabiota, referring to their shared facility as two labs.

"Both labs do not meet international standards for Biosecurity," he said, adding that "several patients have been wrongly tested positive."

Metabiota founder Wolfe said "we did wonderful lab work as far as I'm concerned." Errors in the shared facility stopped once "other groups" were pulled from the testing and, in any case, he noted that Metabiota tested over 1,800 samples. Even if any mistakes were made, he said the error rates were well within ranges seen elsewhere.

Wolfe did not name the "other groups," but documents and interviews show Metabiota and Tulane blamed each other.

"On the surface, they were collaborating," Kobinger said. But in reality, "they were at war."

U.S. health official Austin Demby, who was sent to evaluate the lab's work at the request of the CDC and Sierra Leone, said initial diagnostic tests carried out by Metabiota and Tulane clashed as often as 30 percent of the time. Errors raised the risk that the virus could be spread further by sending infected patients home or confining otherwise healthy people to infectious Ebola wards.

In a July 21 email to CDC and State Department officials, Demby put the blame at Tulane's door, saying Metabiota's tests were always closer to the mark and that Tulane's "add no real value to the diagnosis." But Tulane's Garry said Metabiota's staff stirred confusion by not following protocol.

Wolfe said that was "simply false."

The lab's set-up also was worrisome. Used needles littered the place, according to a worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because the worker was not authorized to speak to the media. Demby said in his email that the lab lacked an ultraviolet light for decontamination and didn't have enough space to process blood samples safely.

"The cross contamination potential is huge and quite frankly unacceptable," he wrote.

Tulane pulled the plug on its tests soon thereafter and the lab's results improved. Kobinger credited Metabiota researcher Nadia Wauquier  "the hero of that whole gang"  with tightening procedures, but eventually the company was relieved of its testing duties and the CDC took over. Both Tulane and Metabiota say they stepped aside voluntarily.

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"THEY ARE SENDING WRONG MESSAGES"

Outside the lab, the training touted by Metabiota unnerved some fellow responders.

Anja Wolz, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, told AP in an interview that she saw Metabiota workers enter the homes of suspected Ebola patients without protective gear and without decontaminating themselves before leaving high-risk areas.

"They didn't even have chlorine with them to wash their hands," she said, adding that Metabiota project coordinator James Bangura told her they didn't need the critical disinfectant.

"I didn't go inside the Metabiota lab," she said. "I refused to go because I had already seen enough."

In a telephone interview, Bangura denied flouting safety measures.

Aid workers also complained that Metabiota employees including Bangura and a Ugandan consultant hijacked the outbreak response in Kenema, which was supposed to be directed by WHO.

Metabiota staffers "are systematically obstructing any attempt to improve the existing surveillance system and there are a lot of improvement(s) needed," WHO Ebola coordinator Philippe Barboza said in an August 8, 2014, email. The next day, he argued that WHO should pull its outbreak staff from Kenema so they wouldn't be tarred with Metabiota's failures, writing he was "very concerned of the potential reputational risk for WHO."

British disease expert Chris Lane echoed Barboza's concerns. In a message to Barboza, he lamented that "much good work was achieved prior to the arrival of the Metabiota field staff."

Barboza and Lane declined comment on the arguments. Metabiota officials acknowledged the dispute but downplayed it.

"It is inaccurate to suggest a major conflict between WHO and Metabiota," Wolfe said, noting that Bangura was awarded a Sierra Leonean presidential silver medal for his Ebola efforts.

Nevertheless, the disagreement was serious enough that Metabiota said it fired the consultant and pulled Bangura from Kenema.

The consequences went beyond office politics. In one email, Barboza said 1 million euros in funding proposed by the International Rescue Committee was being held up because the donors wanted "a clear WHO leadership."

Some responders said one of the most disturbing mistakes Metabiota employees made was misreading the epidemic.

Wolz, of Doctors Without Borders, said she recalled a meeting in the early summer as cases began multiplying "when I said that the outbreak was completely out of control." She said Metabiota responded, 'No, we know where we are, everything is OK.'"

Kobinger, the Canadian scientist, said Bangura would interpret temporary dips in the number of cases to mean that the outbreak was dissipating. He said he couldn't fathom that reasoning given the number of Ebola-positive samples pouring into his own lab in nearby Kailahun.

Though Bangura said he did not personally make any estimates, Kobinger said Bangura told him in July that the outbreak would be over in "two or three weeks."

Any suggestion Metabiota wrongly forecast the Ebola epidemic is rejected by Wolfe, who once wrote that his career is focused on creating systems "that can accurately detect pandemics early, determine their likely importance, and, with any luck, crush those that have the potential to devastate us."

Wolfe told AP that his company couldn't be held responsible for the predictions of employees seconded to Sierra Leone's Health Ministry.

"We didn't make forecasts. We loaned individuals to the ministry," Wolfe said. "So the notion that somehow it's a Metabiota forecast is simply completely inaccurate."

Fellow responders may not have grasped the distinction. On Aug. 11  just three days after WHO had declared the crisis a global emergency  Metabiota employees presented a slideshow to an Ebola task force. Next to a bar chart showing a slowdown in cases were the words: "The outbreak is stabilizing."

WHO data specialist Mikiko Senga wasn't persuaded.

"This is the kind of report we get from Metabiota epidemiologists," she emailed colleagues from the presentation. "They are sending wrong messages. The outbreak is clearly not stabilizing."

It was only in the second half of August that Kenema numbers began falling and, even then, the virus was merely moving to more populated areas.

Nearly two years after the virus was first discovered circulating near its border, Sierra Leone still is not officially Ebola-free.

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"THEY MESSED UP ON EBOLA"

Despite doubts about Metabiota's performance, Wolfe's firm has largely been congratulated on its work in West Africa. In December 2014, it won a European Union grant to help validate new tests and treatments for the disease, something a company official said was in recognition of "the critical contributions our team has made in supporting the current outbreak."

In 2015, the company raised some $30 million in investment from four U.S. investment firms intended to "support Metabiota's efforts to further develop and deliver epidemic risk management worldwide," according to a press release.

Even WHO has publicly credited Metabiota for its work during the outbreak. Months after Senga, one of its employees, complained privately about Metabiota's optimistic predictions in Kenema, she wrote a sunnier account on WHO's website.

"The fact that they were already there helped a lot," she wrote in a post called "Ebola Diaries." Tulane and Metabiota employees already being established in Kenema "made our case investigations and contact tracing work a lot easier," she wrote.

Senga declined comment when reached by AP.

Guillaume Lachenal, a medical historian at Paris Diderot University who has followed Metabiota's work in Africa, said it was indecent of the company to claim Ebola as a success story.

"They messed up on Ebola. That can happen," he said. "To make a success story out of their Ebola response, that's quite something."

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Satter and Cheng also reported from London. Krista Larson contributed to this report from Kenema, Sierra Leone. Lisa Leff contributed from San Francisco.

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Online:

Behind the AP's investigation: Leaked emails and other documents about the 2014 Ebola crisis:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/botching-ebola/index.html

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Metabiota: http://metabiota.com

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Satter can be reached at: http://raphae.li

FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2015, file photo, a nurse walks past an ambulance at a facility shared by U.S. epidemic research firm Metabiota Inc. and Tulane University at the government hospital in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that in the early months of fighting the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Metabiota was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

FILE- In this Aug. 11, 2014, file photo, a health worker cleans his hands with chlorinated water before entering an Ebola screening tent at the government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota Inc., an American company given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in the Ebola outbreak, was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Michael Duff, File)

In this Sept. 18, 2015 photo, Metabiota Inc. founder Nathan Wolfe speaks during an interview at his offices in San Francisco. Wolfe has focused his company's work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In the early months of the Ebola outbreak, Metabiota was one of the first to assist the Sierra Leonean government with disease surveillance, training and lab testing. Within a few months, scientists from the World Health Organization, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about the quality of Metabiota's work. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In this photo taken Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, Metabiota Inc. founder Nathan Wolfe speaks during an interview at his offices in San Francisco. Wolfe has focused his company's work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In the early months of the Ebola outbreak, Metabiota was one of the first to assist the Sierra Leonean government with disease surveillance, training and lab testing. Within a few months, scientists from the World Health Organization, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about the quality of Metabiota's work. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In this photo taken Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, a sign in a hallway at Metabiota Inc. in San Francisco advertises the company's mission. The company tries to identify and monitor emerging epidemics around the world and was given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in Sierra Leone in the early months of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. An Associated Press investigation found that Metabiota was criticized for committing one blunder after another - misdiagnosing patients with the virus, feuding with other responders and offering rosy predictions about the course of the epidemic that proved wrong. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo, Tulane microbiology professor Bob Garry poses for a photo in the laboratory of the J. Bennett Johnston Health & Environmental Research Building in New Orleans. Garry was among the scientists who voiced concerns about the quality of the work of Metabiota Inc., an outbreak monitoring company which was given crucial disease-fighting responsibilities in Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola epidemic. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, Gary Kobinger works in a mobile laboratory set up by the Public Health Agency of Canada in Mweka, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the agency, was among the experts who examined the work done by Metabiota Inc. and Tulane University at the government laboratory in Kenema, Sierra Leone, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. After double-checking some of the facility's work, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and said that as many as five or more people were wrongly diagnosed with Ebola. (Christopher Black/World Health Organization via AP, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, Gary Kobinger works in a mobile laboratory set up by the Public Health Agency of Canada in Mweka, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the agency, was among the experts who examined the work done by Metabiota Inc. and Tulane University at the government laboratory in Kenema, Sierra Leone, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. After double-checking some of the facility's work, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and said that as many as five or more people were wrongly diagnosed with Ebola. (Christopher Black/World Health Organization via AP, File)
Bloomberg decides against third-party bid for president

WASHINGTON (AP)  There will be no battle of the New York billionaires in the 2016 presidential race.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that he will not run for president as an independent candidate  a move that would have roiled this year's already extraordinarily unpredictable presidential campaign.

Bloomberg's announcement came on the eve of Tuesday's Michigan primary, the first nominating contest in a big industrial state. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both favored in a primary that should offer clues about how the candidates will fare in important Midwest contests to come. Also on tap for Tuesday are primaries for both parties in Mississippi, and Republican contests in Idaho and Hawaii.

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2015, file photo, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during the C40 cities awards ceremony, in Paris. Bloomberg, the billionaire former three-term mayor of New York City, has decided against mounting a third-party White House bid in 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

Bloomberg, who had spent months mulling a third-party run, made his decision official through an editorial posted by the Bloomberg View, writing that he believes his candidacy would likely lead to the election of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

"That is not a risk I can take in good conscience," the 74-year-old billionaire wrote.

Bloomberg was blistering in his critique of Trump, currently the Republican front-runner, saying the billionaire real estate mogul has run "the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people's prejudices and fears."

He was similarly critical of Cruz, saying the Texas senator's "pandering on immigration may lack Trump's rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme."

He acknowledged that he and Trump had been on "friendly terms" and that he had twice agreed to be on his reality TV show "The Apprentice." But the former mayor said that Trump's campaign "appeals to our worst impulses."

"We cannot 'make America great again' by turning our backs on the values that made us the world's greatest nation in the first place," Bloomberg wrote. "I love our country too much to play a role in electing a candidate who would weaken our unity and darken our future -- and so I will not enter the race for president of the United States."

Bloomberg made only an oblique reference to Clinton and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders and did not endorse a candidate.

Trump has maintained his grip on the Republican field, with Cruz emerging as his strongest competitor. Trump's rise in particular has sparked discussions among the party establishment about blocking the real estate mogul in a contested convention or perhaps supporting a third-party candidate who could keep him from the White House.

Florida Sen. Mario Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have one last chance to emerge as viable alternatives. Their home states vote on March 15 and offer winner-take-all caches of delegates that could revive sagging candidacies. Kasich is also hoping to get a boost with a better than expected showing Tuesday in Michigan which neighbors Ohio.

Rubio does not plan to leave Florida until after next week's primary. Campaign officials concede it will be virtually impossible to stay in the race without a home-state win, but have expressed confidence voters will move toward him as primary day draws closer.

Cruz aides are making noise about taking on Rubio in his home state, hoping to block him from winning so Cruz can move to a head-to-head race with Trump. Cruz's campaign announced plans to open 10 offices in the state and has said the senator will hold events there this week.

In the race for the Republican nomination, Trump has 384 delegates to the party's national convention to Cruz's 300. Rubio has 151 delegates and Kasich 37, with 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.

On the Democratic side, Clinton has 1,130 delegates and Sanders 499. Including superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

In their latest debate Sunday night in Flint, Michigan, Clinton and Sanders clashed over their records, with the former secretary of state defending her Wall Stree ties and the Vermont senator fighting off accusations that he opposed a 2009 bill that provided billions of dollars to bail out the auto industry, the mainstay of Michigan's economy.

The results from Michigan and Mississippi will offer clues about whether Sanders is making any progress in expanding support beyond his devoted followers in the under-30 crowd, and making any inroads in the overwhelming support that Clinton has enjoyed with black voters.

Clinton's surge in the Democratic race has given her a firm grip on the lead for the Democratic nomination, which factored in Bloomberg's decision that concludes his third and likely final flirtation with a White House run.

The former three-term mayor  who had indicated he'd have spent $1 billion of his own money on the campaign  had set a mid-March deadline for his team of advisers to assess the feasibility of mounting a run.

Those close to the process said Bloomberg had believed the dominance of Trump among Republicans and the rise of Sanders amid Democrats had opened a centrist lane for a non-ideological, pragmatic campaign. But Bloomberg aides say that path is now blocked with Clinton emerging as the likely Democratic nominee.

Bloomberg grew worried that his candidacy would siphon more support from Clinton than Trump, ensuring that part of the mayor's carefully managed legacy would be that he helped give Trump the White House.

In this photo provided by Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg speaks during a visit to Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2014, for a Citylab event and Los Angeles office visit. Since returning to the financial information company that bears his name, Bloomberg has presided over two years of robust expansion and record profits, all while laying the groundwork for his second departure, whether that's to retirement in 10 years or a presidential campaign in 10 days. (Ted Soqui/Bloomberg via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs a campaign button during a rally in Concord, N.C., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., shakes hands at a campaign rally in Tampa, Fla., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, calls upon his supporters get out the vote during Mississippi's primary Tuesday, during a campaign stop in Florence, Miss., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
MH370 families' painful choice: Demand answers or move on?

BEIJING (AP)  Nearly every day, the retired factory worker goes to the airline office, riding a series of buses across Beijing to hand-deliver a letter. And nearly every day, the letter says the same thing.

"Tell us the truth, and get our loved ones back to us."

Once she hands over the letter, Dai Shuqin gets back on the bus and goes home, back to a small apartment where boxes hold copies of hundreds of letters she has delivered over the past two years, all begging for news on her sister and four other relatives who vanished when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014. There were 239 people on board.

In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, Dai Shuqin, who lost her younger sister and the younger sister's extended family when the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared nearly two years ago with 239 people on board, reacts as she talks to journalists about her experience at the office of Malaysia Airlines in Beijing. Nearly every day, Dai goes to the Malaysia Airlines office, hand-delivering a letter that nearly always says the same thing: Tell us the truth, and get our loved ones back to us. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Most of the passengers on the plane, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, were Chinese. So across China, dozens of families are still wrestling with how  or if  to accept that their relatives are dead. Investigators believe the Boeing 777 crashed in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean, killing everyone on board after flying far off course and running out of fuel. But they have only theories to explain exactly what happened, or why. Only one confirmed piece of plane wreckage has been found, a battered, rowboat-sized wing part that washed up on an Indian Ocean island about eight months ago.

What can you do when you don't know what happened to people you loved?

Some of the grieving families have filed lawsuits, including 12 families who did so Monday. Some have accepted cash settlements with Malaysia Airlines in exchange for agreeing not to file suit. Many are still debating what to do.

And some, like Dai, find their only solace comes in believing that their relatives are still alive. Somewhere. Somehow. As a result, their lives are now consumed by demanding answers from an airline that has few answers at all.

"People say we are nuts," said Dai, a 62-year-old woman whose younger sister was on the flight, along with her sister's husband, son, daughter-in-law and grandson. "But for us, we have the feeling that our loved ones are still alive."

Officials "just tell us all the passengers are dead. We don't accept that. If they tell us the truth, or give us a convincing explanation, then we'll stop coming here every day."

She does not care if her quest looks impossible.

"I can't sleep and I can't get over this," Dai said.

Her apartment has few decorations beyond a large world map stuck to one wall. A folding metal table is covered with copies of letters sent to the airline.

"I have no other ways to handle this. ... Going to Malaysia Airlines every day gives me a bit of relief, and I feel I am doing something for my sister."

Many relatives believe the real story of MH370 has been hidden from them. They disagree on what may have happened, debating theories and trading facts and rumors. But few believe they know the entire truth.

That suspicion is heightened in China, where widespread censorship and the official control of access to information has led to a general sense among Chinese that what they see in the media, or hear from the government, is not to be trusted. This widespread cynicism foments a quiet if deep-seated anger, and a willingness to accept conspiracy theories.

Kelly Wen, who runs a furniture store, is desperate to move on, to find a way to start her life again after her husband disappeared with the plane.

But she remains overwhelmed by the loss.

"My family is still in the shadow of the MH370 accident," said Wen, a 31-year-old Beijing resident with a 5-year-old son now left without a father. "I can't work like I did before because there are too many issues I need to handle in my family. But I do hope I can gradually walk out of the accident and go back to work."

With the second anniversary approaching, Wen increasingly believes she needs to make up her mind about what to do.

"I need to decide whether to accept compensation and reach agreement with Malaysian Airlines or file suit in court," she said.

She and some 80 other relatives of MH370 passengers went together to meet Malaysia Airlines staff in late February to get updates on the situation. From the start, it did not go well. Outside the airline office were nearly two dozen policemen in case there was trouble.

When they left, few of the relatives were satisfied.

They had come with detailed questions about the status of the search and the investigation. Wen wanted to see security video of passengers boarding the aircraft. The search is expected to end in June, plane or no plane, and they wanted more details on that decision.

But no security video was released, she said, and little new information emerged. Few of the relatives have faith in the official investigation, which was set up by Malaysia and includes experts from Malaysia, Australia, China, Britain, the U.S. and France.

"We hope we can have a third-party, independent investigation when they stop search-and-rescue in June," she said.

After the meeting, about 10 members of the group ate lunch together in a nearby restaurant.

"This kind of gathering is very important for us," said Wen. "We are already so helpless. If we don't gather among other relatives, we will feel even more lonely," she said.

Dai, however, doesn't think much about moving on. For the foreseeable future, her life is about delivering the letters that she and other relatives have signed.

A year ago, her only daughter had a baby, her only grandchild. Now, her daughter wants Dai to look after the little boy.

But Dai says that won't happen. Going to the airline office takes up too much of her time.

___

Sullivan reported from New Delhi. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ByTimSullivan.

In this Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 photo, relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 talk at a restaurant near Beijing Capital International Airport after meeting with Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing. Almost two years after the passenger plane went missing, relatives in China are still wrestling with how - or if - to accept that their relatives are dead. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, Dai Shuqin, who lost her younger sister and the younger sister's extended family when the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared nearly two years ago with 239 people on board, pauses during an interview at her home in Beijing. Nearly every day, Dai Shuqin goes to the Malaysia Airlines office, hand-delivering a letter that nearly always says the same thing: Tell us the truth, and get our loved ones back to us. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In this Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 photo, Kelly Wen, left, whose husband was aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, has lunch with other MH370 relatives at a restaurant near Beijing Capital International Airport after meeting with Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing. Almost two years after the passenger plane went missing, relatives in China are still wrestling with how - or if - to accept that their relatives are dead. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 photo, relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 talk at a restaurant near Beijing Capital International Airport after meeting with Malaysia Airlines representatives in Beijing. Almost two years after the passenger plane went missing, relatives in China are still wrestling with how - or if - to accept that their relatives are dead. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 photo, Kelly Wen, whose husband was aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, pauses while speaking during an interview at a restaurant near Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. Almost two years after the passenger plane went missing, families of the passengers in China are still wrestling with how - or if - to accept that their relatives are dead. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, Dai Shuqin, who lost her younger sister and the younger sister's extended family when the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared nearly two years ago with 239 people on board, talks to journalists near a pile of letters at her home in Beijing. Nearly every day, Dai goes to the Malaysia Airlines office, hand-delivering a letter that nearly always says the same thing: Tell us the truth, and get our loved ones back to us. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, Dai Shuqin, who lost her younger sister and the younger sister's extended family when the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared nearly two years ago with 239 people on board, cries as she talks to journalists about her experience at the office of Malaysia Airlines in Beijing. Nearly every day, Dai Shuqin goes to the Malaysia Airlines office, hand-delivering a letter that nearly always says the same thing: Tell us the truth, and get our loved ones back to us. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
The Latest: Hogan sex video trial ends for the day

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  The Latest on the civil trial between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and the popular website Gawker (all times local):

5 p.m.:

Trial has ended for the day in former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan's privacy lawsuit against Gawker over a sex video.

FILE -In this Tuesday, March 1, 2016 file photo, Terry Bollea, known as professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, watches potential jurors at the Pinellas County Courthouse, in St. Petersburg, Fla., as jury selection began in his case vs. Gawker Media. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday, March 7, 2016, in the civil trial between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and a popular news website. (Scott Keeler/The Tampa Bay Times via AP, Pool, File)

After Hogan had been cross-examined for about an hour, Judge Pamela Campbell told the jury that court was over for the day.

Monday was the first day in the civil case brought by Hogan against the news website Gawker.

Hogan's cross-examination will continue Tuesday morning in St. Petersburg.

Hogan, a former pro wrestler who appeared on TV and in movies, is suing Gawker for $100 million for publishing a video of him having sex with his then-best friend's wife.

3:40 p.m.:

Former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan says he was "completely humiliated" by the publication of a video showing him having sex with his then-best friend's wife.

Testifying Monday in his privacy lawsuit against the Gawker website, Hogan said he did not authorize the tape to be made or authorize Gawker to publish it. Hogan said when he realized that his then-best friend, radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, was involved in making the tape, he began shaking uncontrollably.

Earlier, Hogan testified that he initially thought it was a joke when Clem said his wife wanted to have sex with Hogan. He testified that the Clems had an open marriage.

Hogan is suing Gawker for $100 million for publishing the sex videotape.

2:45 p.m.

Pro wrestler Hulk Hogan says he initially thought it was a joke when his best friend said his wife wanted to have sex with Hogan.

Testifying Monday in his lawsuit against the Gawker website, Hogan said his friend, radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, told him in a phone call that his wife Heather wanted to have sex with him. Hogan said he treated it as a joke, but the couple  who he said had an open marriage  kept bringing it up repeatedly.

Hogan testified that when he and Heather eventually did have sex, her husband handed Hogan a condom. Hogan said he felt something was wrong, and he asked if they were being taped. He said Bubba denied it.

Hogan is suing Gawker for $100 million for publishing a resulting sex videotape.

1:46 p.m.:

Pro wrestler Hulk Hogan has taken the witness stand in his privacy trial against Gawker over a sex videotape.

For a good half-hour, Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, testified Monday about his early days as a wrestler, including how he struggled to make money as a young man, slept in his car and was previously called "Super Destroyer" before a promoter suggested the name Hulk Hogan.

At one point, Hogan even used his deep performance growl in the courtroom while explaining his wrestling persona.

Hogan is suing Gawker for $100 million.

A six-member jury will determine whether Gawker violated Hogan's right to privacy when it published a video of the former professional wrestler having sex with his best friend's wife.

Hogan says the video was made without his knowledge.

___

12:20 p.m.

A lawyer for the New York-based website Gawker says the media company has a right to address uncomfortable subjects, reject spin by celebrities and tell the truth.

Michael Berry told jurors Monday during opening statements in a civil trial in St. Petersburg that Gawker doesn't know who sent the video of wrestler Hulk Hogan having sex with his then-best friend's wife.

He acknowledged Gawker broadcast one minute and 41 seconds of the 30-minute video in 2012, including around nine seconds of sexual content.

Berry says news of the video, including screen shots, was on other gossip sites before Gawker published it. He added that Hogan even talked about the video's existence on national television and radio shows.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker for $100 million

___

11:15 a.m.

An attorney for wrestler Hulk Hogan told jurors that Gawker "crossed the line" when posting video of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan having sex with his former best friend's wife.

In opening statements on Monday morning attorney Shane Vogt told the six jurors and three alternates that Gawker officials knew it was wrong to post the video in 2012. He says the New York-based website invaded Hogan's privacy for profit.

Vogt says Hogan didn't know he was being filmed.

The attorney told jurors Hogan will take the stand during the trial. Hogan is seeking damages for emotional distress and for invasion of privacy.

Lawyers for Gawker are expected to address the jury shortly.

_____

9:40 a.m.

Jurors in St. Petersburg are hearing opening statements in a civil case between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and the popular website Gawker.

On Monday morning, Judge Pamela M. Campbell told the jury of six plus three alternates that Hogan is claiming invasion of privacy.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker for $100 million for publishing a sex tape of him and the wife of a Tampa radio personality. Hogan, who is also claiming an intentional infliction of emotional distress, says the tape was made without his knowledge.

Hogan is wearing all black, along with a plain black bandanna.

Gawker founder Nick Denton is also present.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

___

8:10 a.m.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin in the civil trial between pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and a popular news website.

Proceedings will start Monday morning in a St. Petersburg courtroom.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing Gawker for $100 million for publishing a sex tape of him and the wife of a Tampa radio personality.

A six-member jury will determine whether Gawker violated Hogan's right to privacy when it published the video of the former professional wrestler having sex with his best friend's wife. Hogan's attorneys say it garnered 7 million views.

Hogan says the video was made without his knowledge.
Refugees stranded in Greece await news of their fate

IDOMENI, Greece (AP)  While European leaders struggled Monday for a unified approach to the refugee crisis, tens of thousands of people affected by their decisions were left stranded in Greece, with countries along the migrant trail gradually tightening border controls to staunch the northward flood.

The restrictions along what has become known as the western Balkan route has left about 13,000-14,000 people stuck on the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, and more than 36,000 people in the financially stricken country.

The European Union held a summit meeting Monday with Turkey to try to halt the flow of thousands of refugees and migrants coming from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands, whose proximity has made the country the preferred route into Europe.

A woman struggles with a plastic cover during a rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

But while European leaders haggled in Brussels, a punishing thunderstorm turned much of the overcrowded Idomeni camp into a sea of mud. Conditions are deteriorating in the camp, which was set up only for about 2,000 people, and crews are struggling to maintain hygiene.

More people have arrived each day, and hundreds of small tents from aid organizations have sprung up in and around the camp, spilling into fields and onto nearby railway tracks and a train station platform, with nowhere to go.

Until a few months ago, Idomeni was a transit camp where people would stay for a couple of days before continuing northward. But Macedonia began tightening the controls late last year, saying other countries farther up the line  Serbia, Croatia and Austria  were doing the same.

First the route was closed to people considered economic migrants, with only those from countries affected by war  Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan  allowed to cross. Then, in November, the Afghans were stopped, too.

Ever more stringent restrictions have appeared since then. In recent days, Macedonia began denying entry to Syrians and Iraqis whose registration papers from the Greek authorities had been signed in black ink, rather than blue.

On Sunday, Macedonia allowed in only people from cities deemed to have been affected by war, meaning those from Aleppo, for example, could cross, but not those from Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The restrictions have led to occasional protests by frustrated refugees who stage sit-down protests on the railway tracks, blocking freight trains.

Even though there were no trains Monday, dozens of men, women and children sat on the tracks holding banners, waving a German flag and chanting, "Germany, Germany," and "Mama Merkel," referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom they consider sensitive to their plight.

"We are protesting because of the Macedonians and because we know all of their imports are coming from the sea on these railway tracks," said Syrian Abdul Rahman, "and I, for one, if the train comes here, I will die on these railway tracks if (the Macedonians) don't open the gate at the border."

Macedonia has said it can only take in as many people from Greece as Serbia will allow to enter from Macedonia. Serbia has severely restricted the flow in recent days.

This has led to about 1,500 people being stuck on the Macedonian-Serbian border  630 Afghans and the rest Syrians and Iraqis.

The largest bottleneck in Europe is in Idomeni, where those in the growing tent city say they had no choice but to flee their homes and seek the safety of Europe, with the dream of reconstructing their lives.

"We were stuck with a decision," said Hala Haddad, a 19-year-old English literature student from Syria's battered city of Homs, traveling with her parents, older sister and younger brother. "Would you rather stay in your home and die, or leave without a home? We chose to live."0

The International Rescue Committee aid group said in a statement on the Brussels summit that closing European borders without offering safe alternative routes will benefit only the people smugglers.

IRC head David Miliband said the EU "cannot seal off its borders without offering safe and legal routes to refuge, effective relocation for refugees already in Europe, and better aid for Syria's neighbors."

"Europe's response needs concerted and coordinated action, not a race to the bottom," Miliband added.

___

Khaled Kazziha in Idomeni and Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, Macedonia, contributed.

A migrant girl shields herself from the rain while waiting in a line for food rations at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A woman holds the hand of a toddler walking on a railway track at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants wave a German flag chanting "Mama Merkel" at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants wait by the border gate between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A boy untangles a Spiderman doll caught in the razor wire around the fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A migrant walks by the fence separating Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants wait by the border gate between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A migrant carries tree branches for fire near the razor wire surrounded fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A child plays with a cardboard box at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, March 6, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A migrant boy plays with a plastic sheet on a windy afternoon at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A child wears a plastic cover during rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A boy plays with a Spiderman doll next to the razor wire around the fence between Greece and Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A migrant girl shields herself from the rain while going to wait for a food ration at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Migrants wave a German flag chanting "Mama Merkel" at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Monday, March 7, 2016. Greek police officials say Macedonian authorities have imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the border, saying only those from cities they consider to be at war can enter as up to 14,000 people are trapped in Idomeni, while another 6,000-7,000 are being housed in refugee camps around the region. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Poet-activist Sonia Sanchez subject of new documentary

NEW YORK (AP)  When a team of documentary makers first suggested a movie about her life, Sonia Sanchez resisted.

"We come from that generation of being in the civil rights movement. And you never celebrate yourself. That's the first thing we learned. It's about the movement and people so you never really talked about yourself," the poet, playwright, teacher and activist said recently during an interview at a midtown Manhattan hotel.

But Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon kept asking and Sanchez, spirited as ever at 81, finally relented, if only because her children encouraged her to share what she had learned and how she survived. "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez" airs Tuesday night on World Channel's "America ReFramed" series. The 90-minute film includes interviews, archival footage and tributes from such artists as Questlove, Mos Def, Ayana Mathis and two who have since died, Amiri Baraka and Ruby Dee.

FILE - In this Dec. 29, 2011, file photo, Philadelphia poet laureate Sonia Sanchez looks on as Mayor Michael Nutter makes remarks during a news conference in Philadelphia. When a team of documentary makers first suggested a movie about her life, Sanchez resisted. But she eventually changed her mind, in part because her children thought it was a good idea to reflect on her life, what she had learned and how she survived. "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez" airs on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, on World Channels "America ReFramed" series. The 90-minute film includes interviews, archival footage and tributes from such artists as Questlove, Mos Def and Ruby Dee. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

"Having seen Sonia Sanchez 'perform' her poetry, and experiencing the power of her onstage presence, we knew that she would be an electrifying subject for a documentary," Attie and Goldwater said in a joint statement.

Sanchez's life amazes even her. She has published more than a dozen works of poetry, children's books and other literature. She was a leader of the Black Arts Movement, the artistic wing of the Black Power movement in the 1960s and '70s. She is a pioneer of African-American studies. She has clashed with the Black Panthers, been harassed by the FBI (for teaching W.E.B. Du Bois among other "subversives"), arrested at protest gatherings and, after overcoming a childhood stammer, cheered by audiences worldwide.

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but moved to Harlem a few years later after the death of her mother and grandmother. A graduate of Hunter College, Sanchez also studied poetry at a workshop run by New Yorker poetry editor Louise Bogan and helped form a writers workshop in Greenwich Village.

By the 1960s she was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and had met one of her most important influences, Malcolm X. More than a foot shorter than Malcolm X, Sanchez remembers approaching him after a speech he gave and sharing some candid thoughts.

"I got right behind him and I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and he didn't see me," she recalled with a laugh. "And he looked down and smiled, and he said, 'Yes?' And I said, 'Mr. X, I don't believe everything you said.'

"And he looked at me. He had the most beautiful, quiet eyes of any human being on this earth. And he smiled down, with his eyes, and said, 'One day, you will, my sister.'"

Sanchez sees the poet as a "creator of social values" and the performance as a renewal of ancient rituals: She sings, chants, whispers, clicks her tongue and shouts. Her breakthrough, she remembers, came on a winter's night at Brown University in the early 1970s. After she read for an hour and a half and thought she was finished, a student requested "a/coltrane/poem," in which Sanchez mimicked Coltrane's saxophone with such lines as "''screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeCHHHHHHHHHHH."

She had never read the poem out loud.

"And I said, 'Here goes nothing.' Really. And I started reading. But as I got into it, I had enough memory (Sanchez murmurs), hmmm, hmmm, of Coltrane at that particular time that I was able to almost fuse my voice to become what he was doing," she explained.

"And there was this silence. And I figured, 'God damn it, Sonia, you blew it.' And then they all stood up en masse and started stamping their feet and clapping."

Hip-hop artists look up to her, but Sanchez acknowledges she didn't immediately take to the new music. She remembers coming home from work and hearing the "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" of her kids' rap records. One day, as she was drinking a cup of tea, she asked them who they were listening to.

"And they said someone by the name of Tupac Shakur, and I dropped my cup and it broke, because I knew his mother, and she was in the (Black) Panther party, and I knew him as a little boy," she said, adding that she couldn't understand his lyrics because he spoke too fast.

"And my children were so annoyed with me, they actually said, 'We have trouble understanding you. You speak so fast.'"

Along with her writing career, Sanchez has been teaching for 50 years, most recently at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she now lives. She remains friendly with many former students, some of whom turn up in unexpected places.

In 2006, during the Iraq War, Sanchez and some peers organized the "Granny Peace Brigade." They entered a military recruitment center in Philadelphia and asked to enlist. Authorities soon arrived.

"They sent this former detective who comes out to these things. He came out said, 'We're going to handcuff you behind the back.' And we said, 'We're not trying to escape.' Then he came back and said, 'We'll handcuff you in front, so maybe it won't hurt so much.' And we said, 'We're still not trying to escape,'" Sanchez recalled.
The Latest: Cruz asks for Michigan help to block Trump

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on campaign 2016 (all times Eastern Standard Time):

12:15 a.m.

Ted Cruz is urging Republican voters in Michigan who aren't behind Donald Trump to back his campaign, contending he's the only one who can defeat front-runner Trump and keep him becoming the party's nominee.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign rally Monday, March 7, 2016, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

The Texas senator made a last-minute, late-night campaign stop in Grand Rapids on the eve of the state's primary.

Cruz says he understands that voters are angry, but they shouldn't take out their frustration by voting for Trump. He says Trump's campaign contributions to Democrats have funded "Washington corruption" for decades.

Emerging as Trump's strongest competitor, Cruz has accumulated the second-most delegates. He's criticizing Trump for saying in last week's GOP debate in Detroit that he is "flexible" on policy positions.

9:30 p.m.

Donald Trump is repeating his vow to work to boost Christians' political power if he's elected president as he makes his final pitch to Mississippi voters.

The GOP front-runner says, "Christianity is being chipped away."

He says that if Christians could band together, they'd be the country's most potent lobby.

Trump says regulations that limit the political activity of pastors and others who lead tax-exempt organizations "shut Christianity down." He adds that Christians are "really being silenced and we can't let that happen."

Trump was speaking at a rally in Madison, Mississippi.

Republicans in Idaho, Michigan and Hawaii will also be voting Tuesday.

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9:05 p.m.

Marco Rubio's campaign is sending an automated phone call to voters in which Mitt Romney urges Republicans not to vote for Donald Trump.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee says in the robocall that he's "convinced" that Trump would lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton in November's general election. He reiterates his recent criticism that if Trump becomes president, "the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished."

The calls went to voters in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, the four states holding GOP contests Tuesday.

Romney doesn't urge a vote for Rubio. Instead, he asks listeners to vote for "a candidate" who can defeat Clinton and "who can make us proud."

Besides Trump and Rubio, other Republicans still in the race are Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

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8:40 p.m.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump embraced his flair for the dramatic Monday evening when he had his motorcade drive onto the spotlit field of a Mississippi high school football stadium after delivering a speech inside the school's auditorium.

Trump had been scheduled to hold a rally at Madison Central High School at 7 p.m., but instead began nearly 90 minutes early after the room reached its 2,500-person capacity not long after doors opened.

Meanwhile, thousands of people denied entry were ushered into the school's giant football stadium, where Trump's speech was shown live on the stadium's Jumbotron.

Shortly after he finished his speech inside the auditorium, Trump got into his motorcade and drove over to the stadium, where he made a dramatic second entrance.

Trump waved from his SUV window as the cars partially circled the field. He then drove off into the night.

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8:20 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is asking Michigan primary voters for their support, but also looking ahead to November.

"The sooner I could become your nominee the more I can begin to turn my attention to the Republicans," Clinton told about 850 people gathered at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit Monday night.

The night before the Michigan primary, Clinton stressed her commitment to supporting manufacturing, a recurring theme for her in Michigan. And she repeated her campaign promise to "knock down barriers," pledging to boost wages, improve schools and fight racial injustice.

"We have work to do and I am excited about doing it," Clinton said.

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8 p.m.

John Kasich is criticizing Hillary Clinton for saying Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder should resign over the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.

Campaigning in Snyder's state, Kasich says Clinton's remarks in Sunday's Democratic debate that Snyder should resign or be recalled are "the definition of gall." He's suggesting Clinton is hypocritical without offering specifics.

"Of all the people in the world to call on someone to resign," Kasich says, adding, "we'll get to that in the fall."

Snyder is not endorsing anyone in Tuesday's Michigan primary, but Kasich has defended the Republican governor's response to the Flint water crisis on several occasions.

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6:41 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says she has the "greatest respect" for Mike Bloomberg, just hours after the former New York City mayor announced he'd not launch an independent bid for the White House.

The Democratic presidential front runner says she looks "forward to continuing to work with him and finding ways he can continue to show leadership.

Her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is taking a harsher approach during the same Fox News town hall in Detroit.

Sanders says he's concerned "on a broader scale is Mr. Bloomberg is a billionaire." Sanders adds that it's "a bad idea for American democracy" that only the wealthy believe they can run. He reiterated his promises to revamp the campaign finance system.

They spoke hours after Bloomberg announced he would forego the 2016 race.

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6:19 p.m.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is endorsing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president.

The Cruz campaign announced the endorsement Monday, which comes the day before Mississippi votes in the presidential primary. Forty GOP delegates are at stake.

Bryant says in a statement that "It's time for Republicans to join together and unite the party for the good of our state and our nation."

Cruz is trying to position himself as the only Republican who can defeat front runner Donald Trump. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich also remain in the race.

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5:56 p.m.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is dismissing Ted Cruz' momentum in the state ahead of the March 15 primary on which Rubio has staked his presidential campaign.

Rubio says Cruz has had a good week mostly because of the states that have voted, particularly Kansas and Louisiana, that have been won by social conservatives like Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have won in the past.

He says, "These are the states that were tailor-made for the kind of campaign (Cruz) is running." Rubio adds that the upcoming slate "gets a lot tougher" for Cruz and better for the Florida senator. "We feel good about the long-term prospects," he said. "We just gotta do it."

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5:05 p.m.

Billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg says he's decided against mounting a third-party bid for the White House.

Bloomberg has spent months mulling an independent campaign. He made his decision official on Monday in a column posted on company's BloombergView website.

A Democrat-turned-Republican-turned independent, Bloomberg had set a mid-March deadline to make a decision about running so as to have enough time to make all 50 state ballots.

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5:00 p.m.

Ted Cruz is telling Mississippi voters that it's easy to talk about making America great again but it's more important to understand the principles on which the country was founded.

The day before Mississippi's primaries, Cruz stood on a table and spoke to more than 200 people at a catfish restaurant in Florence, a blue-collar suburb Jackson. The room's wallpaper was black-and-white photos from the Andy Griffith Show. A 110-foot cross dominates the parking lot of the restaurant that's built to look like a barn.

Cruz won rowdy applause by saying he will protect gun owners' rights, eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and nominate strict constitutionalists to the Supreme Court.

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4:55 p.m.

Marco Rubio's campaign says Donald Trump is flip-flopping on his characterization of the Florida senator, attacking Rubio as "corrupt" after praising him four years ago as a possible vice presidential pick.

The campaign's comments come in response to a Trump campaign advertisement rolled out Monday. The ad attacks Rubio as a "corrupt, all-talk, no-action politician." It is also packed with accusations of loose spending by Rubio, attacks that came up during the 2010 Senate race in which Rubio faced then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rubio campaign spokesman Joe Pounder said the attacks in the ad were "false" and questioned why Trump was bringing them up now.

"These attacks didn't even stop Trump himself from saying Mitt Romney should pick Marco as his vice president just two years later," Pounder said.

Pounder referred to a Trump tweet from 2012 in which the billionaire tells Romney that he should consider Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell as vice presidential picks. "Really good men doing a really good job," Trump tweeted about the trio. Christie, who ended his presidential bid earlier this year, has endorsed Trump. McDonnell is appealing a 2014 public corruption conviction.

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3:50 p.m.

Donald Trump is attacking Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on his home turf in a new television advertisement, the Trump campaign says.

A minute-long version of the Trump ad concludes, "Marco Rubio: Another corrupt, all-talk, no-action politician."

The new commercial is airing as Rubio, the state's freshman senator, is expected to arrive in his home state and stay for a heavy schedule of campaigning. Rubio considers Florida a must-win contest and has trailed Trump in some recent polls. The Florida primary is March 15, and early voting has been underway for weeks.

Trump has hit Rubio for missing Senate votes and lately has called for him to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination.

This is the first Trump ad to go after Rubio. Other Trump commercials have focused on Ted Cruz, including one that calls him the "worst kind of Washington insider, who just can't be trusted." That ad has aired mostly in South Carolina, where Trump topped Cruz, and in the Texas senator's home state, where Cruz prevailed on Super Tuesday last week.

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3:11 p.m.

John Kasich is telling a crowd in Michigan that he shouldn't have answered a question in last week's debate about whether he'd support Donald Trump if he wins the GOP presidential nomination.

Pushed by a self-identified Democratic voter to retract his potential support for Trump, Kasich said he "shouldn't have even answered the question" because he plans on "being the GOP nominee, not Donald Trump."

The Ohio governor reiterated his debate comments that Trump sometimes "makes it difficult" to support him. Kasich declined to engage on the questioner's comments that Trump and his supporters are racists and bigots.

Kasich is also defending his comments in the recent GOP debate that gay people who are denied services should find another business who will serve them rather than suing. The same voter is comparing Kasich's position to black people being barred from sitting in whites-only sections of diners.

Kasich says states shouldn't pass new laws until they are absolutely necessary. Referencing the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage, Kasich says, "let's just let everybody take a deep breath and see if we can get along and use common sense."

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2:50 p.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says those in the GOP who are advocating an "anyone-but-Trump" approach to derail Donald Trump's presidential primary hopes won't be successful.

Christie said Monday his experience has been that those who are only against something and not for something usually are ineffective.

He says he believes the stop-Trump movement in the GOP "will fail, " adding that "If they want to be for one of the four remaining candidates, do what I did: be for one of the four remaining candidates."

The governor made his comments at an elementary charter school in Newark.

Christie dropped out of the GOP presidential primary race last month and has been the only candidate in the field to endorse Trump, who leads the race for delegates.

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2:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton stopped by a Michigan chili dog eatery Monday  and took lunch to go.

Clinton visited Yesterdog in Grand Rapids Michigan, where she bought six chili dogs for her team and some locally made cheese curls.

The longtime local spot, decorated with vintage signs and photos, specializes in chili dogs. Clinton bought the "Ultradog," which is topped with chili, cheese, ketchup, mustard, onion and pickle.

Clinton was gifted a hat, but did not put it on. She posed for photos with the staff and customers and called out "I hope you vote tomorrow," as she headed out the door.

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2:15 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says the FBI's legal battle with Apple over an encrypted iPhone amounts to a difficult public policy dilemma.

Clinton told a small group at a technology company in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday that there's "got to be some way to protect the privacy of data information," but also a way to "follow-up on criminal activity and prevent crimes of terrorism."

Federal authorities want Apple's help in bypassing iPhone security features so they can attempt to unlock the encrypted phone. Apple and other tech companies have objected, arguing that the government essentially wants Apple to create a "back door" that could make all iPhones vulnerable to hacking.

Clinton said the "real mistrust between the tech companies and the government right now is a serious problem that has to somehow be worked through."

Clinton also questioned if there was a way to get this information "without opening the door and causing more and worse consequences."

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2:14 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says that if she is the Democratic nominee she hopes that Bernie Sanders will support her "the way I supported President Obama when I dropped out."

Clinton spoke to a small group gathered at a technology company in Grand Rapids, Michigan Monday. Asked about how to motivate Sanders supporters in a general election, she recalled her efforts to get Obama elected in 2008.

She said she and Obama ran in a, "really tough primary," which Clinton lost. She recalled that she had "a lot of passionate supporters who did not feel like they wanted to support then-Senator Obama." Clinton said that from then to Election Day, she worked hard and this year "would hope to be able to enlist Bernie" to enlist his supporters in her campaign.

Clinton also stressed her commitment to continuing to work on issues that Sanders has stressed throughout his campaign, like income inequality, saying that they both "are in vigorous agreement that we've got to take these issues on."

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1:40 p.m.

Protesters are interrupting Donald Trump in North Carolina.

Teams of law enforcement and security officers removed more than a half-dozen groups of people who interrupted the businessman's rally in Concord, North Carolina. Before Trump even took the stage, a group of more than a dozen young people, clad mostly in black, were escorted out of the building after linking hands and standing to the side of the stage.

The final two people escorted from the arena held three fingers in the air in a kind of salute. One of the men had on a yellow emblem reading, "Stop Islamophobia."

Trump paused at each interruption as his supporters simultaneously booed the protesters and cheered on law enforcement. "Go home to mommy," he said, as one man was removed. "Let her tuck you in bed."

Trump spent much of his time on stage discussing trade and his ability to create jobs, including here in North Carolina, where his Trump National Golf Club sits about an hour from the arena where he spoke Monday. He also led the crowd in a pledge to cast their votes for him on March 15.

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1:16 p.m.

Bernie Sanders is accusing Hillary Clinton of mischaracterizing his position on the federal government's 2008 bailout of the auto industry on the eve of Michigan's presidential primary.

The Vermont senator says at a Monday rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that he voted in 2008 for the rescue of the auto industry in the Senate when it was a stand-alone issue and not included in a bailout for Wall Street. The Senate measure ultimately failed and President George W. Bush approved more than $13 billion in federal aid to the automakers.

Clinton accused Sanders of opposing the auto bailout during Sunday night's presidential debate in Flint, Michigan. The state is home to the U.S. auto industry.

Sanders says Clinton is on the defensive because of his criticism of her for supporting bad trade deals, leading her to "say things that are just not quite correct."

He says he will "make no apologies" for not voting to "bail out the crooks on Wall Street whose illegal behavior and greed brought this economy into the worst downturn since the 1930s."

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1:03 p.m.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he thinks comments by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump damage U.S.-Mexico relations.

The Republican presidential frontrunner has pledged to build a wall along the two countries' borders. He has also said Mexican immigrants bring crime and drugs to the U.S. and that many are "rapists."

Pena Nieto said in an interview with the newspaper El Universal published Monday that he condemns Trump's remarks.

Nieto says it appears to him that Trump's comments "hurt the relationship we have sought with the United States."

But the Mexican president says his country will try to work with whoever is elected U.S. president.

Pena Nieto until now has avoided direct comments on Trump, and said he would be "absolutely respectful" of the U.S. political process.

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12:52 p.m.

John Kasich is telling Michigan voters he has the tenacity and experience to make real change in Washington.

Kasich tells an audience at a community college in Monroe, Michigan, that, "to make things better, you have to step on toes, there are no two ways around it."

The Ohio governor has been making the case that he understands the anger and anxieties of Donald Trump supporters. But Kasich says that unlike the GOP front runner, he also understands how to fix the country's problems.

Kasich is using that same persistence in his long-shot bid for the GOP presidential nomination. A strong showing in Michigan's Tuesday primary and a win in his home state of Ohio on March 15 are critical to his ability to continue in the race.

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12:50 p.m.

Protesters are being removed ahead of a Donald Trump rally in Concord, North Carolina.

The group of about a dozen young men and women, all clad in black, filed down to the floor of an arena on Monday and linked hands, forming a line to the side of the stage where the businessman planned to speak. Law enforcement officers spoke to the group, which ultimately filed out, some with one fist raised in the air.

Another group of a handful of men and women was similarly escorted out a few minutes later.

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12:40 p.m.

Donald Trump is spending some of his biggest money yet on campaign ads ahead of winner-take-all contests next week in Florida and Ohio.

He plans to spend about $2 million on Florida TV commercials and $1 million in Ohio by March 15, the day of the vote, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. Trump's campaign has also reserved about half a million dollars in TV time in Michigan, where voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

Overall, Trump - a master of free publicity - is on track to spend about $15 million in the primary race, CMAG shows. That's a few million dollars less than Rubio, who has won far fewer contests than Trump, and a few million dollars more than Cruz, who so far has been Trump's closest competitor.

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11:30 a.m.

The latest count of absentee and early voters in Florida is showing that more than 571,000 Republicans have already cast their ballots for next week's crucial winner-take-all primary.

Just over 1 million Floridians have cast their ballots, according to University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith, who tracks and analyzes early voting data. So far, he says, GOP voters outnumber Democratic voters by about 109,000.

Among Republicans, said Smith, 86 percent are white and 11 percent are Hispanic. Among Democrats, 68 percent are white, 19 percent are black and 10 percent are Hispanic.

Florida is a closed primary, meaning only party members can vote in their respective primary.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally Monday, March 7, 2016, in Madison, Miss. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives at a campaign rally in Sanford, Fla., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton orders lunch at Yesterdog, Monday, March 7, 2016, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich shakes hands after speaking at a rally at the Monroe County Community College, Monday, March 7, 2016, in Monroe, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, speaks at the FOX News town hall at the Gem Theatre, Monday, March 7, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., checks a sign on stage at a campaign rally in Tampa, Fla., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
NY police officers honor former colleague killed in Texas

NEW YORK (AP)  Hundreds of New York City police officers lined Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in a farewell salute Monday to a former NYPD colleague who was gunned down in Texas.

David Hofer, an officer in the Dallas suburb of Euless, was celebrated at a memorial Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Mourners including NYPD officers in dress uniform and officers from several North Texas cities prayed before his cremated remains.

A Euless police officer had carried the cherry wood box with Hofer's ashes bearing his name to the altar, near some daisies and a sign that read, "Blue Lives Matter."

Marta Danylyk, second from right, arrives for the funeral mass for her fiancee, Euless, Texas, Police Officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Hofer's fiancee, Marta Danylyk, a native of Ukraine, wept quietly, sitting close to his mother, Sonja, and his father, Helmut.

"He went to Texas to make a good life, but once you put a shield on your chest, you're always in danger," Pat Lynch, head of New York's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said after the service.

The 29-year-old Brooklyn native was killed Tuesday while responding to reports of shots fired in a Euless park. As he and his partner approached, the gunman opened fire, mortally wounding Hofer. His partner returned fire, killing the assailant that authorities suspected was high on methamphetamine.

A New York University graduate, Hofer spent five years working in New York's Ninth Precinct in the East Village. He left two years ago for Euless, whose police department has welcomed several former NYPD officers to its ranks.

Hofer recently bought a house with his fiancee. He had proposed to her in uniform, devising a surprise plan while she rode with him in a police vehicle, friends told The Dallas Morning News.

He pretended to respond to a report of a suspicious van. Instead, friends and family leaped out of the van as he dropped to his knee and asked for her hand.

On a sunny Monday morning in New York, the lone bagpiped sound of "Amazing Grace" rang over Fifth Avenue as Hofer's remains were carried out of the cathedral, the seat of New York's Roman Catholic archdiocese.

Monsignor Robert Ritchie, who presided over the Mass, summed up Hofer's life in three words from the pulpit: "Respect, honor, love."

Marta Danylyk, second from left, arrives for the funeral mass for her fiancee, Euless, Texas, Police Officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

An honor guard with the Euless, Texas Police Department arrives for the funeral for colleague David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Marta Danylyk arrives for the funeral mass for her fiancee, Euless, Texas, Police Officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Police officers leave the funeral for Euless, Texas police officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

A police escort, right, leads the funeral procession for Euless, Texas police officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, following the service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Police officers with the Euless, Texas Police Department attend the funeral for colleague David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Members of the New York Police Department arrive for the funeral for Euless, Texas police officer David Hofer, Monday, March 7, 2016, at St. Patricks Cathedral in New York. Hofer was killed Tuesday, March 1 while responding to reports of shots fired in a park. Hofer was a 2008 graduate of New York University who served in the NYPD for five years before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Polygamous leader to stay jailed in food stamp fraud case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A polygamist sect leader accused of orchestrating a yearslong, multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud will remain behind bars as he awaits trial, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting testimony from family and friends who said he would not flee because he cares about his followers.

Lyle Jeffs is accused of defrauding the federal government of taxpayer funds and depriving needy people of food, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead said. Those allegations cast doubt on the testimony from Jeffs' sister, Mary Musser, who called him a nurturing, involved father who is admired as a spiritual leader in the twin polygamous towns on the Utah-Arizona border, the judge said.

Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations of the group, whose leaders have been indicted on allegations of diverting at least $12 million worth of federal benefits. They instructed followers to buy items and give them to a church warehouse or use food stamps in sect-owned stores without getting anything in return, prosecutors say.

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2015 file photo, Lyle Jeffs leaves the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City. Prosecutors are expected to ask a federal judge in Utah Monday, March 7, 2016, to keep polygamist leader Jeffs behind bars as he awaits trial on allegations of food stamp fraud. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

The hearing offered a glimpse of how defense attorneys may counter the government's case, which marked one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years. It came the same day a federal jury in Phoenix found the polygamous towns violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them basic services such as police protection.

In Salt Lake City, federal public defender Kathryn Nester said Jeffs is being treating unfairly due his religious beliefs. She said Jeffs is not dangerous and has deep connections to the community that is the base for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

"To get up and abandon it would be completely out of character," Nester said. "He's spent his whole life caring for these people."

Jeffs' sister and Edwin Barlow, a member of the town council in Hildale, Utah, chuckled and scoffed at prosecutors' suggestions that Jeffs would use aliases, disguises, secret rooms, bunkers and weapons to elude authorities.

Those are some of the tactics his brother, imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs, used during the mid-2000s before he was caught, authorities say.

"Lyle Jeffs does not respect this court's authority," prosecutor Robert Lund said. "At a minimum, Lyle Jeffs believes there are higher authorities that he answers to other than this court."

Jeffs is one of 11 sect members indicted in the food stamp scheme and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have released other suspects but are fighting to keep three other top leaders besides Jeffs behind bars.

In the scheme, followers would scan their food stamp debit cards at church-run stores, leaving the money with the owners, prosecutors say. Leaders are accused of funneling money to front companies.

Defense witnesses portrayed the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, as a normal, law-abiding community hurt by government involvement.

Church member David Richard Barlow said Lyle Jeffs "has always told us to tell the truth."

But half-brother Wallace Jeffs, who left the sect many years ago, said the judge's ruling was "a great step in finally protecting the children of the FLDS, who are really the victims.
Colombia fines Uber for providing unauthorized taxi services

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Colombia has fined the app-based taxi service Uber for providing unauthorized transportation services.

The South American country fined Uber the equivalent of $140,000 Monday for failing to comply with local transportation regulations.

Uber responded in a statement saying it's been relentlessly hounded in Colombia for exercising constitutionally protected rights, but would continue to operate in the country.

Uber offers services in 11 Colombian cities. It is widely seen as a safer alternative to hailing a cab off the street.
Frustrated GOP lawmakers weigh move to impeach top judges

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Republican lawmakers in Kansas, weary of conflicts with a judiciary that has been pushing for more school spending, are beginning to act on a measure to expand the legal grounds for impeaching judges.

The move is part of an intensified effort in red states to reshape courts still dominated by moderate judges from earlier administrations.

A committee in the GOP-controlled Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would make "attempting to usurp the power" of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment.

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2015, file photo, justices take their seats to hear oral arguments in a judicial funding case before the Kansas Supreme Court in Topeka, Kan. Republican lawmakers in Kansas are beginning to act on a measure to expand the legal grounds for impeaching judges. The move is part of an intensified effort in red states to reshape courts still dominated by moderate judges from earlier administrations. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)

Impeachment has "been a little-used tool" to challenge judges who strike down new legislation, said Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, a sponsor of the measure. "Maybe it needs to be oiled up a little bit or sharpened a little bit."

The proposal has considerable support in a Legislature in which Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 3 to 1. Nearly half the Senate's members have signed on as sponsors. It's unclear whether its novelty could complicate passage.

The serious consideration of the measure, though, signals the exceedingly bitter political climate in the state.

Since Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP supermajorities won control of the statehouse in 2010, conservatives have passed a steady stream of bills cutting income taxes and spending, expanding gun rights and restricting abortion.

The state Supreme Court has issued rulings to force increased spending on public schools, citing a constitutional requirement that schools be adequately funded, and threatened last month to shut the schools this fall if lawmakers don't comply. The court also has overturned death sentences in capital murder cases and is reviewing a case that could toss out abortion restrictions.

"I believe the court has a tremendous problem with overreach," said Republican Sen. Mitch Holmes, one of the impeachment bill's sponsors.

Callie Denton, executive director of the state trial lawyers' association, said Kansas is "really ground zero" for conservative antagonism toward the courts. Legal groups like hers fear Republicans will be motivated to initiate impeachment proceedings if the bill passes.

"We're taking it very seriously," Denton said.

Four of Kansas' seven Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who served from 2003 to 2009, and two by her predecessor, Bill Graves, a moderate Republican. Only one was appointed by Brownback.

Replacing the justices through elections is difficult in Kansas because they don't run in contested races. Instead, they face a "retention election" every six years, remaining in office unless more than 50 percent of voters vote against them. No justice has ever been voted out.

Conservative groups are expected to mount a major effort to vote out four of the Supreme Court justices on the ballot this fall. But critical lawmakers also hope to make impeachment a tool.

Currently, the state constitution allows impeachment only for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. No public official has been impeached since 1934.

In other states, conservative groups are spending heavily in contested judicial elections. Two Arkansas Supreme Court candidates were defeated last week after two groups spent more than $850,000 on broadcast ads targeting them; one was a sitting justice seeking to become the chief justice.

Brownback and GOP lawmakers already have tried unsuccessfully to change how the justices are selected and to cut the judiciary's budget.

"The attacks on the courts in Kansas have definitely been coming faster and more furious than in other states," said Debra Erenberg, spokesman for Justice at Stake, a Washington-based group promoting judicial independence. "It just seems like the Legislature has been throwing everything it can think of at the courts."

___

Online:

Text of impeachment bill: http://bit.ly/1QC8vN3

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 file photo, Kansas Supreme Court Justices prepare to hear arguments in a capital murder case during a session in Topeka, Kan. Republican lawmakers in Kansas are beginning to act on a measure to expand the legal grounds for impeaching judges. The move is part of an intensified effort in red states to reshape courts still dominated by moderate judges from earlier administrations. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)
Brazil's house speaker faces ethics investigation

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress was officially notified Monday that he will face an investigation by the chamber's ethics council, giving him 10 days to present a written defense.

The council voted last Wednesday to proceed with an investigation into claims that Eduardo Cunha lied to Congress over his use of secret Swiss bank accounts, but until now the speaker had refused to accept the notification arguing that he was busy with meetings.

Cunha told a parliamentary inquiry last March that he had no foreign bank accounts, but Swiss authorities subsequently revealed that Cunha, his wife and his daughter all held accounts in the country. The speaker has insisted that they are trusts of which is the beneficiary rather than personal accounts.

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies President Eduardo Cunha attends a plenary session of the National Congress, in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, March 3, 2016. The speaker faces new efforts Wednesday to strip him of his office or put him behind bars. Six of the Supreme Court's 11 justices voted to allow criminal proceedings against Cunha for allegedly participating in the sprawling corruption scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which ran for over a decade and in which billions in bribes were allegedly paid. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Cunha also faces charges of corruption, tax evasion and money-laundering in Brazil's Supreme Court over accusations he took $5 million in bribes as part of the kickback scheme centered around Petrobras, the state-run oil company.
Turkey appoints trustees to opposition-linked news agency

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  A Turkish court has ordered a news agency linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top foe placed under the management of trustees, days after a similar ruling led to the takeover of Turkey's largest-circulation newspaper, Zaman, and sparked two days of protests.

The state-run Anadolu Agency says the court in Istanbul on Monday appointed three trustee managers to run Cihan News Agency, which, like Zaman, is linked to a movement led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accuses the movement of attempting to topple the government.

Court officials could not immediately be reached.
El Salvador to investigate another ex-president

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP)  El Salvador's supreme court ordered an investigation on Monday against former President Tony Saca for alleged illicit enrichment.

Saca held office from 2004 to 2009 for the rightist Nationalist Republican Alliance.

The court ordered that five bank accounts linked to Saca and his wife be frozen. It also ordered the temporary seizure of several properties linked to the ex-president.

FILE- In this Oct. 6, 2008, file photo, El Salvador's President Tony Saca speaks to the press after a medal ceremony for soldiers of the Cuscatlan battalion's X contingent for their service in Iraq, in San Salvador. The Supreme court of El Salvador has ordered on Monday, March 7, 2016, an investigation against former president Tony Saca for illicit enrichment. (AP Photo/Luis Romero, File)

It said Saca had not clarified the origins of $5 million of the $6.5 million in assets he acquired during his time in office.

Saca, a former radio sports announcer, declared his fortune at $3.6 million when he took office. Five years later, it had grown to $13.1 million.

The court also issued a ban on stock transfers between Saca and his relatives in several media companies in which the ex-president is allegedly involved.
St. Vincent probes killing of German tourist aboard yacht

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP)  A German man has been killed aboard a yacht in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent, and authorities say they have detained one person.

Police Superintendent Ruth Jacobs told The Associated Press on Monday that the unidentified suspect is being questioned but has not been charged.

She said 48-year-old Martin Arnold Griff was shot early Friday while aboard a yacht in southwest St. Vincent. She said another man and the yacht's captain were injured.
US judge seals Harper Lee will

MONROEVILLE, Alabama (AP)  Famously private in life, "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee is keeping her secrets even in death.

Judge Greg Norris signed an order last week to seal Lee's will from public view, according to court records available Monday. Lawyers for Lee's personal representative and attorney, Tonja Carter, had asked for the will to remain private and Lee's heirs and relatives agreed to the request, according to the court filing.

"As the Court is no doubt aware, Ms. Lee highly valued her privacy," the lawyers wrote. "She did not wish for her private financial affairs to be matters of public discussion. Ms. Lee left a considerable legacy for the public in her published works; it is not the public's business what private legacy she left for the beneficiaries of her will."

Carter represented Lee for several years and once practiced law with the writer's sister, Alice Lee.

In a two-page order issued a week ago Monday, Morris wrote that he agreed there was a threat of public intrusion and harassment for Lee's heirs. They and Lee's next of kin have a right to inspect the contents of the will and accompanying file, but no one else does, he wrote.

The judge ordered that a label be put on the file stating, "UNDER SEAL: DO NOT ALLOW PUBLIC INSPECTION."

Lee grew up in the southwest Alabama town of Monroeville, which she partly used as inspiration for the setting of her classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" and a second book published last year, "Go Set a Watchman."

After spending decades mostly in New York, Lee lived the final years of her life at an assisted-living facility not far from the old courthouse that served as a model for the set in the movie version of "Mockingbird."
Sanders: Clinton mischaracterizing stance on auto bailout

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP)  Trying to make a stand in Michigan, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that Hillary Clinton was being disingenuous when she asserted that he opposed the auto bailout that rescued carmakers General Motors and Chrysler from oblivion during the economic crisis.

Sanders sought to defend his record ahead of Tuesday's crucial Michigan primary and blunt the former secretary of state's momentum in the Democratic presidential contest. The bailout of the U.S. auto industry by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama remains popular in Michigan, the home of the U.S. auto industry, and has been credited with preserving the Midwest's manufacturing base.

"Secretary Clinton went out of her way to mischaracterize my history as it relates to the 2008 auto industry bailout," the Vermont senator said during a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan. "Let me be as clear as I can: There was one vote in the United States Senate on whether or not to support the auto bailout and protect jobs in Michigan and around this country. I voted for the auto bailout."

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, March 7, 2016, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Sanders was referring to a December 2008 vote in which Michigan's Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, pleaded with fellow lawmakers to provide a $14 billion lifeline to GM and Chrysler, which were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at the time.

Sanders and Clinton both voted in favor of the bill but it failed to clear the Senate, prompting Bush to announce about a week later that the federal government would step in with $17.4 billion in federal aid to help the carmakers survive and restructure. The bailout provided $13.4 billion at the end of the Bush administration with the last $4 billion contingent on the release of the second installment of the Wall Street bailout funds.

In Sunday night's debate, Clinton declared that Sanders "was against the auto bailout. In January of 2009, President-elect Obama asked everybody in the Congress to vote for the bailout. The money was there, and had to be released in order to save the American auto industry."

She added: "I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference." Clinton's campaign began airing a radio ad in Michigan on Monday with a similar message.

Clinton was referring to a Jan. 15, 2009, vote in which the Senate considered a motion to block the release of the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package. Both Bush and Obama, then the president-elect, had urged Congress to release the second $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

The effort to block the funds was led by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, and the measure was defeated by 45 Democrats, including Clinton, and a handful of Republicans. Sanders, who opposed the Wall Street bailout, voted with Vitter's side to block the money.

"What I did not vote for  and make no apologies  is to bail out the crooks on Wall Street whose illegal behavior and greed brought this economy into the worst downturn since the 1930s," Sanders said in Kalamazoo.

Keith Hennessey, who served as Bush's director of the White House National Economic Council at the time, said that while Clinton's comments during the debate were technically correct, he said she "misleads Michigan voters and others who supported the auto loans. She is playing semantic games in an attempt to create a policy difference where none exists."

But Clinton's campaign noted that the vote paved the way for an additional $4 billion to the auto companies. Stabenow told MSNBC following the debate that the January vote was critical for the industry. "We had to have that pass and so she's absolutely right and she was there with us every step of the way," said Stabenow, a Clinton ally.

Clinton's tactics offer parallels to a strategy that Obama used against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Romney opposed Obama's decision to pour billions into the industry to restructure GM and Chrysler and Obama repeatedly reminded voters in Ohio and other Midwest battlegrounds that he had saved auto jobs during his first term while Romney had opposed the bailout.

Sanders trails Clinton by nearly 200 pledged delegates  and even more when non-binding super delegates are included  and is trying to upset the former secretary of state in Michigan in Tuesday's primary. He hopes a strong showing in Michigan will help him in contests next week in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Florida and narrow the gap against Clinton in the chase for delegates.

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Thomas reported from Washington.
GOP candidates claim Reagan mantle, but forget his words

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Nancy Reagan spent decades protecting the legacy of her husband, but some of President Ronald Reagan's famous political advice appears lost among the White House candidates who embrace him as a guiding light.

It's known as the 11th Commandment: Thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican.

The former first lady's death Sunday in Los Angeles closed the Reagan era at a time when crude insults, appeals to extremism and locker-room braggadocio have shaped the party's 2016 presidential primary, a clashing image with the sunny "Morning again in America" theme Reagan employed as a candidate a generation ago.

FILE - In this July 18, 1985, file photo, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, wave from windows of his hospital room at the Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The former first lady has died at 94, The Associated Press confirmed Sunday, March 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)

The 40th president didn't author the advice about restraint on the campaign trail, and he didn't always follow it to the word, but he recognized the GOP needed to avoid infighting that could lead to a splintered party and a November defeat.

A former California Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, coined the phrase in the mid-1960s to tamp down bickering between political factions in Reagan's first run for governor. A similar split between conservatives and moderates contributed to Barry Goldwater's defeat in the 1964 presidential election.

In his autobiography, "An American Life," Reagan wrote of his campaign for governor: "It's a rule I followed ... and I have ever since."

Reagan recognized that the Republican Party was not going to win unless the sides united, biographer Lou Cannon said.

Donald "Trump has blown this up and all the others have piled in. One could argue this would be a good time to restore it, but it isn't going to happen in this election," Cannon said.

"It's hard for me to see how they cannot pay a price for it," he added.

Nancy Reagan's death "reflects the symbolic passing into history of the markers established by the former president for campaigns to have certain standards which should never be breached," former Reagan campaign aide and speechwriter Kenneth Khachigian said.

"It seems like a bad dream to turn on the debates and hear the degrading dialogue," Khachigian said in an email, describing the campaign as "heartbreaking."

Since Reagan's death in 2004, Republican presidential candidates often claim to be his rightful heir, hold him up as a patron saint or outline proposals they say he inspired.

Ted Cruz calls himself the first true conservative running for president since Reagan and has promised to employ a "Reaganite" approach. Jeb Bush, now out of the campaign, called his tax-cut plan "Reagan-inspired." And Trump has alluded to Reagan's political shift  the former actor was once a Hollywood Democrat  to defend his own conservative makeover.

Reagan's depiction on the presidential campaign trail can often be at odds with the record.

Reagan is seen as an apostle of lower taxes, but during his years as governor, from 1967 to 1975, he supported what was then the largest tax increase in California history. Cutting deals with Democratic leaders in Congress, he slashed and raised taxes during his White House days.

Reagan never presented a balanced budget to Congress. A 1986 law he signed established a one-year amnesty program for people who entered the U.S. illegally and had been in the country at least four years.

In recent days, the Republican presidential campaign has become increasingly foul-toned, as candidates and the Republican establishment look for ways to slow Trump's momentum.

Former nominee Mitt Romney called the front-runner "a phony, a fraud" inclined to "absurd third-grade theatrics." In response, Trump called him a failed candidate. Trump repeatedly refers to Sen. Marco Rubio as "little Marco," while Rubio has called Trump a con man. Cruz has called Trump "part of the corruption in Washington."

The boorish spectacle of the race dismayed many visitors at the Reagan library in Simi Valley. Reagan's efforts to broaden and unify the party are commemorated at the hilltop site, where Nancy Reagan will be buried beside him Saturday. The GOP candidates may attend her funeral.

"With what's going on now with the Republicans, I'm hoping they can learn about class and tact from Nancy Reagan," said Jonathan Kritzer of Moorpark, a Los Angeles suburb. "They're tearing themselves up out there."

Sharon Hirtzer said she hopes the former first lady's death "puts the focus for the Republican Party on the greatness of Ronald Reagan."

"The level of the rhetoric has been extremely negative," the Chicago resident said of the candidates.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Weber in Los Angeles and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Who's an outsider? GOP establishment fears loss of standing

WASHINGTON (AP)  Republican leaders in Washington have spent years casting tea party allies and hardliners in Congress as merely a restive minority, a fringe element to be tolerated.

Now, with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz rising to the top of the 2016 GOP presidential primary, those party leaders are confronting the possibility that they may be the outliers.

One by one, Washington's favored candidates have dropped out of the White House race. Those who are left  Marco Rubio and John Kasich  face long odds and sudden-death primaries in their home states next week. In private conversations and public newspaper editorials, talk of a historic splintering of the GOP centers on the prospect of the establishment, not the insurgents, dissolving or breaking away.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

"Something important is ending. It is hard to believe what replaces it will be better," Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, wrote in a Wall Street Journal column.

Republicans have long grappled with a divide between party leaders and grass-roots supporters. Recent presidential elections papered over the fissures rather than resolved them, with Republicans sending centrist candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney into the general election even as the GOP electorate became more conservative.

Leaders expected the 2016 election to follow the same pattern. Money flowed toward former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents, who seemed to embody the spirit of inclusiveness GOP leaders called for after Romney's staggering lack of success with minority voters in 2012. Even when Trump shook up the race last summer, more traditional Republicans confidently predicted his appeal would be short-lived.

But Trump has maintained his grip on the GOP field, with Cruz emerging as his strongest competitor. As establishment favorites like Bush have dropped out, Trump and Cruz's share of the vote has increased. In a diverse array of states, from Maine to Georgia to Nevada, they've carried more than 60 percent.

"It's a weird election year," said Trent Lott, the former Mississippi senator who is backing Kasich. "Depending on how this election turns out, the party may be different."

To some Republicans, that would be welcome.

"For the party to fix itself, you need to destroy the establishment lane," said Michael Needham, head of Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy group that has pushed for ideological purity among GOP elected officials. "The party that we'll see 10 years from now is going to share a lot of Trump's willingness to speak truth to power, to not be cowed by political correctness."

Trump's rise in particular has sparked discussions among Washington Republicans about blocking the real estate mogul in a contested convention or perhaps rallying around a third-party candidate who could keep him from the White House.

After flirting with an independent run, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that he would not take that step. He concluded that doing so could make it easier for Trump or Cruz to win the presidency.

"That is not a risk I can take in good conscience," Bloomberg said in an online post.

Rubio, of Florida, and Kasich, of Ohio, have one last chance to emerge as viable alternatives. Their home states vote on March 15 and offer winner-take-all caches of delegates that could revive sagging candidacies.

Rubio does not plan to leave Florida until after next week's primary. Campaign officials concede it will be virtually impossible to stay in the race without a home-state win, but have expressed confidence voters will move toward him as primary day draws closers.

But with Florida's easy access to absentee and early voting, more than 571,000 Republicans have already cast their ballots. With about 2 million people projected to vote, that's at least one in four Florida GOP voters who can't be persuaded to change their minds.

Still, campaigns and outside groups are spending heavily on the air in Florida.

The major Republican advertiser is Conservative Solutions PAC, an outside group backing Rubio. The organization has plans to spend more than $4 million on television from March 1-15, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. American Future Fund, Club for Growth Action and Our Principles PAC are also on deck to spend a combined $4 million attacking Trump before the primary.

Trump's campaign is spending about $2 million on ads in Florida, as well as $1 million in Ohio, CMAG shows.

Cruz aides are making noise about taking on Rubio in his home state, hoping to block him from winning so Cruz can move to a head-to-head race with Trump. Cruz's campaign announced plans to open 10 offices in the state and has said the senator will hold events there this week.

On Sunday, an outside group backing Cruz uploaded to YouTube several 30-second videos knocking Rubio as "absent on defense" issues and in the pocket of billionaire sugar industry leaders.

The attack ads are ready-made for television. But as of Monday, the group, called Keep the Promise I, had not reserved any Florida airtime, according to CMAG. Cruz's campaign also has no Florida commercial time yet.

___

AP writers Sergio Bustos in Miami, and Julie Bykowicz and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

FILE - In this March 4, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign stop at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. For years, Republican leaders cast GOP hardliners as merely a restive minority. But with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz soaring, the GOP establishment now faces the prospect that it's the actual outlier. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Republican establishment fears loss of standing

WASHINGTON (AP)  Republican leaders in Washington have spent years casting tea party allies and hardliners in the U.S. Congress as merely a restive minority, a fringe element to be tolerated.

Now, with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz rising to the top of the 2016 Republican presidential primary field, those party leaders are confronting the possibility that they may be the outliers.

One by one, Washington's favored candidates have dropped out of the White House race. Those who are left  Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich  face long odds and sudden-death primaries in their home states of Florida and Ohio next week. In private conversations and public newspaper editorials, talk of a historic splintering of the Republican centers on the prospect of the establishment, not the insurgents, dissolving or breaking away.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., Monday, March 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

"Something important is ending. It is hard to believe what replaces it will be better," Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, wrote in a Wall Street Journal column.

Republicans have long grappled with a divide between party leaders and grass-roots supporters. Recent presidential elections papered over the fissures rather than resolved them, with Republicans sending centrist candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney into the general election even as the party's electorate became more conservative.

Leaders expected the 2016 election to follow the same pattern. Money flowed toward former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents, who seemed to embody the spirit of inclusiveness Republican leaders called for after Romney's staggering lack of success with minority voters in 2012. Even when Trump shook up the race last summer, more traditional Republicans confidently predicted his appeal would be short-lived.

But Trump has maintained his grip on the Republican field, with Cruz emerging as his strongest competitor. As establishment favorites like Bush have dropped out, Trump and Cruz's share of the vote has increased. In a diverse array of states, from Maine to Georgia to Nevada, they've carried more than 60 percent.

"It's a weird election year," said Trent Lott, the former Mississippi senator who is backing Kasich. "Depending on how this election turns out, the party may be different."

To some Republicans, that would be welcome.

"For the party to fix itself, you need to destroy the establishment lane," said Michael Needham, head of Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy group that has pushed for ideological purity among elected Republican officials. "The party that we'll see 10 years from now is going to share a lot of Trump's willingness to speak truth to power, to not be cowed by political correctness."

Trump's rise in particular has sparked discussions among Washington Republicans about blocking the real estate mogul in a contested convention or perhaps rallying around a third-party candidate who could keep him from the White House.

After flirting with an independent run, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that he would not take that step. He concluded that doing so could make it easier for Trump or Cruz to win the presidency.

"That is not a risk I can take in good conscience," Bloomberg said in an online post

Rubio and Kasich have one last chance to emerge as viable alternatives. Their home states vote on March 15 and offer winner-take-all caches of delegates that could revive sagging candidacies.

Rubio does not plan to leave Florida until after next week's primary. Campaign officials concede it will be virtually impossible to stay in the race without a home-state win, but have expressed confidence voters will move toward him as primary day draws closers.

But with Florida's easy access to absentee and early voting, more than 571,000 Republicans have already cast their ballots. With about 2 million people projected to vote, that's at least one in four Florida Republican voters who can't be persuaded to change their minds.

___

Associated Press writers Sergio Bustos in Miami, and Julie Bykowicz and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

FILE - In this March 4, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign stop at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. For years, Republican leaders cast GOP hardliners as merely a restive minority. But with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz soaring, the GOP establishment now faces the prospect that it's the actual outlier. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Moonpig apologises after Mother's Day complaints

Moonpig has apologised to dozens of customers who complained about deliveries of Mother's Day cards and flowers.

The online greeting card and gift firm was bombarded with complaints about gifts that were damaged, late or failed to arrive.

Among the complaints posted on social media were photos of flowers with wilted leaves and snapped stems and a smashed vase.

Moonpig was bombarded with complaints on Twitter

One customer claimed their mother took delivery of a flower box to find it was empty.

The company spent Mother's Day answering the stream of complaints on Twitter and Facebook before reportedly attributing the problems to "an issue" with a supplier.

Michael Blair wrote to Moonpig on Twitter: "OMG ! Flowers just arrived for Mum - broken, ripped, dead, disgusting! And no card til Monday either!"

Becky Peters, from Newport, South Wales, tweeted: "@MoonpigUK two years in a row you have disappointed me, you've lost a customer. Don't advertise your cards to be delivered on Mother's Day if they're not going to arrive."

Helen Palmer tweeted a photo of a sorry-looking bouquet and a damaged vase along with the comment "#unhappy Mother's Day".

Jakeyjelly tweeted: "@MoonpigUK ordered my Mother's Day flowers and got the card but no flowers in sight absolute disgrace!" alongside a photo of an empty box.

In adverts ahead of Mother's Day the firm said it would take orders for gifts until 2pm on Friday and flower orders up to 4pm on Saturday.

Flowers and plants were supposed to arrive between 8am and 9pm over the Mother's Day weekend, the company said.

A spokesman for Moonpig told the BBC: "We can confirm that an issue with one of our suppliers has delayed the delivery of flowers to some of our customers this weekend.

"We know how important Mother's Day is and we have apologised to and compensated all customers who have experienced a delay.

"We've been working hard to put things right and by the end of Mother's Day almost all orders have been delivered. We hope our customers accept our sincere apologies."

Other customers were more positive about their service from Moonpig, whose personalised greeting card service accounts for a major share of the UK online market.
Jared Payne's return gives Ireland coach Joe Schmidt a selection headache

Jared Payne's return to full fitness after hamstring trouble will hand Ireland boss Joe Schmidt a selection conundrum for Saturday's RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy.

Reigning champions Ireland are winless after three matches and chasing two closing victories to avoid slipping from title-holders to also-rans.

Payne missed Ireland's 21-10 England defeat but could return for Saturday's Dublin clash with the Azzurri if head coach Schmidt fields the 30-year-old alongside regular centre partner Robbie Henshaw.

Jared Payne, right, missed Ireland's 21-10 England defeat but could return for Saturday's Dublin clash with Italy

Ulster battering ram centre Stuart McCloskey impressed alongside Henshaw in a new-look midfield at Twickenham however, leaving Schmidt weighing the balance between victory at all costs and broadening his options.

"We'll see what happens, obviously Jared gives us another option in the midfield and he's a quality player," said Ireland wing Andrew Trimble, assessing the merits of both fit-again Payne and McCloskey.

"I have played with Jared for a few years now at Ulster.

"Obviously you have got two contrasting styles between Jared and Stu, so it's just what sort of rugby Joe wants to play.

"But there are plenty of options there anyway."

Flanker Tommy O'Donnell suffered a stinger injury to his shoulder in Munster's 26-5 Guinness Pro12 win over Newport Gwent Dragons on Saturday.

Ireland were hopeful the 28-year-old would be back in full training on Tuesday, but added the uncapped Munster back-rower Jack O'Donoghue to the training squad as cover.

Test rookie McCloskey held his own on the unforgiving Twickenham stage despite Ireland's second loss of the tournament, to add to their 16-16 draw with Wales.

The two-time champions are already out of the title race, leaving boss Schmidt free to experiment with new combinations and plan for the future, should he so wish.

The ultra-competitive Kiwi will not countenance Ireland finishing a lacklustre tournament in anything other than style however, leaving any changes at a likely minimum.

Schmidt has himself branded his first-choice centre pairing of Henshaw and Payne a "manufactured midfield" in the past, with Connacht's Leinster-bound midfielder Henshaw a more natural 13 but operating primarily at 12 to date.

McCloskey's physicality allowed Henshaw to slot into the outside centre berth for the Twickenham clash, with the pair almost conjuring an impressive breakaway try.

Now Ulster wing Trimble has backed 23-year-old provincial team-mate McCloskey to continue acclimatising to Test match level if handed another opportunity this weekend.

"In typical Stuart style, in a big step up like that at Twickenham against England, he stepped up very well, and took it in his stride," said Trimble.

"He is very confident and knows what he's capable of producing on the pitch.
Teenager guilty of killing Bailey Gwynne in 'trivial' school dispute

A teenager who stabbed a school boy to death during a "trivial" row has been convicted of culpable homicide.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, died from a knife wound to the chest in a fight at Cults Academy in Aberdeen on October 28 last year.

A 16-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted fatally stabbing Bailey but had denied murder.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, died from a single knife wound after a fight at Cults Academy in Aberdeen on October 28 last year (Police Scotland/PA Wire)

A jury at the city's High Court took less than two hours to convict him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide after a five-day trial.

The killer was also found guilty of two other charges of having a knife and knuckledusters at the school.

He is being held in custody and will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on April 1.

There was audible sobbing in court after the verdict was delivered, and the room was told two families had been destroyed by October's events.

Emotions were high during the trial, which saw a teenage witness break down as he gave details of the fight and the accused himself start crying at one stage.

During evidence, it emerged that Bailey - a hard-working fifth year pupil with four young brothers - suffered a major loss of blood after receiving the single stab wound to the heart.

The court heard that on the day he was stabbed, Bailey had missed out on a lunchtime trip to the local supermarket as his friends forgot to tell him about the plan.

He was in a corridor with a group of boys and, after refusing a second biscuit to one, made a remark about him getting fatter.

Accounts of the fight differed between witnesses but the jury heard that Bailey, who was on his way out of the corridor, turned round and squared up to the youth after he made a comment about his mother.

They both were said to have thrown punches and two onlookers said Bailey had him in a headlock before he pulled out a knife.

A post-mortem examination revealed he died as a result of a "penetrating stab-force injury to the chest" which went directly into the heart.

The killer told police as he was handcuffed "it was just a moment of anger".

He later told officers: "I didn't mean to but I stabbed him."

The jury heard from a friend of the accused that he had shown him a knife a day or two before the fatal incident and the teenager "thought it was something cool to have".

In his speech to the jury, prosecutor Alex Prentice QC described the row as a "silly, trivial fight between two school boys" but told the jury: "Bailey Gwynne had no chance."

But defence QC Ian Duguid said the case centred around an incident which happened "in the blink of an eye" within 30 seconds.

Once the verdict was delivered, judge Lady Stacey told the killer: "You have been convicted of a very serious charge."

She deferred sentencing to allow for the preparation of background reports.

Mr Prentice told her the teenager's lawyer contacted the Crown two days after the incident to indicate that he wanted to plead guilty to culpable homicide. But the Crown decided that was "not acceptable" at the time and the plea was rejected.

Mr Duguid said: "There are two families that have been destroyed by these events."

Bailey's family left court without commenting.

Aberdeen City Council has announced it is to hold a review of Bailey's death to "identify any lessons that can be learnt to inform future practice".

Detective Superintendent David McLaren, lead officer for the north area of Police Scotland's major investigation team, thanked the pupils and staff at Cults Academy who tried to save Bailey.

He said: "The death of Bailey Gwynne has had a massive impact on his family, friends, fellow pupils and staff at Cults Academy.

"The details of the case have caused shock within the local community and further afield across the whole of the country."

He also paid tribute to Bailey's family, and said: "Today won't bring their son back, the pain of not having Bailey around will last for a very long time."

Gayle Gorman, director of education and children's services at Aberdeen City Council, said: "Bailey Gwynne should never have died in this way. He was a 16-year-old boy with his whole life in front of him. We will not forget him.

"The trial may have ended but for those involved, the process of moving forward now begins."

The scene outside Cults Academy in the days following the death of pupil Bailey Gwynne
Fiji to meet Australia in Vegas sevens final

March 6 (Reuters) - Reigning World Series champions Fiji ended the impressive run by hosts the United States as they advanced to the final of the Las Vegas Sevens on Sunday with a 21-14 victory in the last four at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Fijians were typically brilliant on the counter-attack as Jasa Veremalua, Vatemo Ravouvou and Pio Tuwai crossed the line for tries, and the Pacific Islanders survived a late U.S. fightback despite having two players sin-binned.

Danny Barrett and the lightning-fast Perry Baker scored for the United States who reached the semis by beating giant-killers Kenya 26-14 in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Fiji will face Australia in the final to be played later on Sunday, the Wallabies having battled past fellow sevens heavyweights South Africa 14-12 in a see-sawing encounter where their opponents paid a steep price for dirty play.

South Africa struck first when speedster Seabelo Senatla crossed the line early on to lead 5-0 but Australia benefited from a penalty try in the second half after Springbok Rosko Specman shoulder barged Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper into touch.

Though South Africa again went ahead when captain Kyle Brown crashed over the line from close range, Australia were awarded another penalty try after Specman illegally blocked Ed Jenkins on a last-gasp counter-attack.

Cooper, who made his long-awaited sevens debut for Australia in pool play earlier this week, made no mistake with the conversion to put his team through to the final.

The Las Vegas event is the fifth stop on the 10-tournament World Series circuit. The teams then head to Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and London over the coming months.
EU looks to Turkey to end migrant crisis, uneasy over rights

By Alastair Macdonald and Francesco Guarascio

BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - EU leaders sit down with Turkey's premier on Monday seeing a glimmer of hope for an end to the refugee crisis that has divided Europe but troubled by having to seek favours from a government that scorns their ideas of human rights.

With tens of thousands of migrants hoping to reach Germany stranded in Greece by closing borders, the summit will formalise the closure of the Balkan route out of Greece, diplomats said, while pledging help to Athens and seeking assurances that Turkey will, with NATO naval back-up, bar the sea to people smugglers.

The leaders in Brussels are likely to tell Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of concerns about rights after the Turkish government seized control of a critical newspaper. But EU officials said they will also be anxious not to alienate Ankara just as hopes are rising of a solution to the crisis.

Fellow EU leaders, long bitterly divided over how to end chaotic movements that have put Europe's Schengen free-movement system in jeopardy, will also assure Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of help housing those now stranded in Greece who hope to follow the million that found refuge in Germany last year.

An EU endorsement of recent border closures by Macedonia, Austria and other countries on the route north from Greece will be accompanied by a renewed commitment to revive plans to relocate asylum claimants around the EU, diplomats said.

A draft EU agreement will declare that the "West Balkan route is closed", although diplomats added that the statement was likely to go through considerable redrafting.

NATO said on Sunday a new naval force secured approval for operating in Turkish and Greek waters. That will lend force to a deal with Turkey to take back migrants halted in its waters and those who reach Greek islands but fail to qualify for asylum.

Meeting Davutoglu two days after his government seized control of Zaman, Turkey's top-selling newspaper, EU leaders are torn between anger at Ankara's action and fear of derailing Turkish willingness to stop migrants sailing for Greece.

European Council President Donald Tusk, the former Polish premier who will chair Monday's talks, had barely left a meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and declared cautious optimism on the migrant crisis when police seized the newspaper.

"It's a slap in the face," one senior EU official told Reuters after EU envoys met in Brussels on Sunday evening.

RISKING ALL ON TURKEY

Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, said: "Using Turkey as a 'safe third country' is absurd ... Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency."

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces regional elections next Sunday that will pass judgment on her much criticised decision to open the door to Syrian refugees last summer, is keen to see a three-month old deal with Ankara start working fast. She met Davutoglu in Brussels late on Sunday.

Germany has been pushing for resettlement of thousands of Syrian refugees from the more than two million in Turkey. But diplomats say that is unlikely to be discussed in detail by other EU leaders until they see flows from Turkey are falling.

Over a weekend that saw at least another 18 people drown in the straits, Turkish police mounted a raid on a beach opposite Lesbos. Reuters journalists saw them stop some 120 migrants from leaving and arrest at least two from a migrant-smuggling gang.

However, some 30,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and 2,000 to 3,000 more arrive daily. Tsipras, struggling with an economy blighted by the euro crisis, has called for urgent help and insisted Greece will not become a "warehouse of souls".

EU officials believe that signs Europe's external border in Greece is being brought under control can ease resistance from some in the Union to a plan to relocate asylum seekers from Greece to other European countries - a scheme that has seen barely 300 people move from Greece over the past few months.
South Korea, U.S. begin exercises as North Korea threatens attack

SEOUL, March 7 (Reuters) - South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a U.N. Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The joint U.S. and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of "the non-provocative nature of this training" involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by the North.

North Korea's National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would "realize the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification", in response to any attack by U.S. and South Korean forces.

"The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the U.S. and its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves," the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North's KCNA news agency.

The North, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The threat on Monday was in line with the usual rhetoric it uses to denounce the drills.

The latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for its nuclear test and satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.
Hungary, Factors to watch, March 7

BUDAPEST, March 7 (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 - Prelim Jan industrial output (0800)

BUDAPEST - Feb government budget balance (1500)

IN THE REGION

POLAND - PKO BP to release Q4 results

ROMANIA - Debt managers tender 300 million lei worth of July 2027 treasury bonds

POLAND - Foreign reserves (1400)

IN THE NEWS REUTERS

Slovak PM Fico wins election but faces tough task to form majority

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico won Saturday's parliamentary election, nearly complete results showed, but gains by opposition parties including the far right will make it very hard if not impossible to form a new government.
Suicide bomber kills at least eight at Pakistan court

By Jibran Ahmad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 7 (Reuters) - A suicide attack at a court compound killed at least eight people in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks in areas around the volatile Mohmand tribal area.

Senior police official Sohail Khalid told Reuters that three police personnel were among at least eight people killed, and 27 others were wounded in the blast.

Saeed Wazir, another police official, said that the attacker targeted the court building in the town of Shabqadar.

"The suicide bomber was trying to enter the judicial complex and he blew himself up when the police stopped him," said Wazir.

Eyewitnesses described a huge explosion at the scene.

"We were sitting with a lawyer when a huge explosion took place in the sessions court," said Gohar Khan, a local police official who was at the scene.

"The army and other law-enforcement agencies have arrived and cordoned off the area. The injured are being shifted to nearby hospitals."

Television footage run on Pakistani news media showed widespread damage and the charred remains of at least two vehicles at the scene.

Shabqadar, located about 150kms (90 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad, is adjacent to the Mohmand tribal area, which has seen several attacks in recent days.

On March 1, a remote-controlled roadside bomb targeted a convoy of vehicles travelling in Mohmand, killing two Pakistani employees of the United States Consulate in nearby Peshawar.

About two weeks earlier, on Feb 18, Taliban gunmen killed nine Pakistani paramilitary personnel in two separate attacks on checkposts in Mohmand.

Both earlier attacks were claimed by the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has been waging an insurgency against the Pakistani state since 2007, in a bid to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Militants attack Tunisian forces near Libyan border, 53 killed

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS, March 7 (Reuters) - Dozens of Islamist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday, attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 53 people, including civilians, the government and residents said.

Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.

Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack.

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."

It was not clear if the attackers crossed the border, and no group immediately claimed responsibility. But it was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government has feared as it prepares for potential spillover from Libya, where Islamic State militants have gained ground.

Since its 2011 revolt to oust ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has struggled with Islamist militancy at home and across the border. Militants trained in jihadist camps in Libya carried out two attacks last year in Tunisia.

"This attack was an unprecedented, well-organised. They wanted to try to control the Ben Guerdan region and name it as their new Wilaya," President Beji Caid Essebsi said, referring to the name Islamic State uses for regions it considers part of its self-described caliphate.

Soldiers killed 35 militants and arrested six, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with 11 soldiers.

Troops also later discovered a large cache of rifles, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades in Ben Guerdan, a security source said.

"If the army had not been ready, the terrorists would have been able to raise their flag over Ben Guerdan and gotten a symbolic victory," said Abd Elhamid Jelassi, vice president of the Islamist party Ennahda, part of the government coalition.

REGIONAL JIHADISTS

More than 3,000 Tunisians have gone to fight with Islamic State and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago, Libya has slipped into chaos, with two rival governments and armed factions struggling for control. Islamic State has grown in the turmoil, taking over the city of Sirte and drawing foreign recruits.

Tunisian jihadists are taking a lead role in Islamic State camps in Libya, Tunisian security sources say.

Tunisian forces have been on alert for possible militant infiltrations since last month, when a U.S. air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Islamic State militants at a camp near the border in Libya's Sabratha.

Western military advisers are starting to train Tunisian border forces to help better protect the frontier with electronic surveillance and drones and authorities have built a trench and barrier to help stop militants crossing.
France says seizure of Zaman newspaper by Turkish authorities "unacceptable"

PARIS, March 7 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister said on Monday the decision by Turkish authorities to seize control of the country's largest newspaper was "unacceptable" and went against European values.

""It's not acceptable. We can't want to get closer to European standards and not respect the pluralism of the media. It's obvious and we've said it clearly to the Turks," Jean-Marc Ayrault told France Inter radio.
Africa's Fastjet warns of more turbulence, shares almost halve

By Esha Vaish

March 7 (Reuters) - Fastjet Plc, an African budget airline, warned its results for the year would be well below market expectations, adding further turbulence as it second-largest investor seeks to oust Chief Executive Ed Winter.

The Tanzania-based airline's shares, listed in London, fell as much as 45 percent to a record low of 36.04 pence on Monday before recovering some lost ground.

Fastjet said it no longer expected to be cash flow positive in 2016, citing challenging conditions in the domestic aviation market.

Operating from Tanzania and Zimbabwe, Fastjet has offered "no frills" flights to undercut larger carriers, seeking to copy the discount model pioneered by European airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair.

However, the airline has struggled in the face of tough conditions in Tanzania, its home market where most of its fleet is deployed.

Expansion in into Zimbabwe last October has added to challenges, causing Fastjet to issue two warnings on 2015 revenue and announce plans to cut capacity and costs.

Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo said the Tanzanian economy has stagnated for longer than expected following an election late last year.

"We now forecast a $20 million loss in 2016, compared with a $1.4 million profit previously," Khoo wrote in a client note, putting his target price and rating on the company under review.

The airline did not detail its results warning.

Last week, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the easyJet founder whose private investment vehicle easyGroup holds 12 percent of Fastjet, said it was seeking a shareholder meeting to oust the CEO.

Haji-Ioannou said costs were too high for an airline with six planes.

Fastjet said it had $20 million in cash available at the end of February. It said this would be enough to meet operational requirements but it may raise further funds this year.
EU welcomes bold Turkey plan to stop migrants, defers decision

By Humeyra Pamuk and Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS, March 7 (Reuters) - European Union leaders welcomed Turkey's offer on Monday to take back all migrants who cross into Europe from its soil and agreed in principle to Ankara's demands for more money, faster EU membership talks and quicker visa-free travel in return.

However, key details remained to be worked out and the 28 leaders ordered more work by officials with a view to reaching an ambitious package deal with Turkey at their next scheduled summit, on March 17-18.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron among others hailed the surprise Turkish proposal at an emergency summit in Brussels as a potential breakthrough in Europe's politically toxic migration crisis.

More than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond have flooded into the EU since early 2015, most making the perilous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece, then heading north through the Balkans to Germany.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told EU leaders that Ankara was willing to take back all migrants who enter Europe from Turkey in future, including Syrian refugees, as well as those intercepted in its territorial waters.

"With this game-changing position in fact our objective is to discourage illegal migration, to prevent human smugglers, to help people who want to come to Europe through encouraging legal migration in a disciplined and regular manner," he told a news conference after the summit.

In exchange for stopping the influx, he demanded doubling EU funding through 2018 to help Syrian refugees stay in Turkey and a commitment to take in one Syrian refugee directly from Turkey for each one returned from Greece's Aegean islands, according to a document seen by Reuters.

He also asked to bring forward EU visa liberalisation for Turks to June from end-2016 and to open five more negotiating chapters in Turkey's long-stalled EU accession process.

The EU leaders agreed to the earlier target date for visa-free travel provided Ankara meets all the conditions including changing its visa policy towards Islamic states and introducing harder-to-fake biometric passports.

They left open how much additional aid they would provide for refugees in Turkey and made only a vague reference to preparing for a decision on opening more areas of membership talks - a particularly sensitive issue for Cyprus.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chaired the summit, said the outcome would show migrants that there was no longer a path into Europe for people seeking a better life.

"The days of irregular migration to Europe are over," he told a joint news conference with Davutoglu.

Merkel, who requested the special summit to show results before regional elections in Germany next Sunday, said: "The Turkish proposal is a breakthrough, if it is implemented, to break the chain from getting into a boat to settling in Europe."

Desperate to end the influx of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others, EU leaders brushed off warnings from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that the EU should not shut its doors and should be willing to take in hundreds of thousands more refugees from Turkey.

Davutoglu said the summit showed how indispensable Turkey was for Europe, and Europe for Turkey.

At a preparatory meeting with Merkel and Rutte on Sunday night, he demanded double the 3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Diplomats said Merkel and Rutte pressed hard for a deal on the Turkish plan but met resistance from central European states opposed to taking refugee quotas, as well as from Greece and Cyprus which have conditions for the Turkish accession talks.

Three days after the Turkish government seized the best-selling opposition newspaper Zaman, the leaders said they had discussed the situation of the media in Turkey with Davutoglu.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he had insisted on a reference to media freedom in the final statement.

USE FORCE?

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, one of several central European leaders who has resisted pressure to accept a quota of refugees, said the Turkish proposal, if honoured and implemented, would be a big step toward solving the migrant crisis.

The EU leaders pledged to help Greece cope with a backlog of migrants stranded on its soil and welcomed NATO naval back-up in the Aegean Sea to help stop people smugglers.

Merkel refused to endorse border closures by Austria and Balkan neighbours that have stranded over 30,000 migrants in Greece, but the statement noted: "Irregular flows of migrants along the Western Balkans route have now come to an end."

The German leader, facing a possible political backlash in three regional polls over her welcoming of the refugees, said the question of Turkish EU membership was "not on the agenda today" but strategic cooperation with Ankara was in Europe's vital geopolitical interests.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the bloc must speed up the process of relocating asylum seekers from Greece to other EU countries as promised last September. EU states have so far taken in only a few hundred of a promised 160,000 people and central European countries have rejected the whole principle.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had begun patrols in the Aegean to support efforts to locate migrant boats, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey to patrol in the waters of both NATO states.

"NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," he told a joint news conference in Brussels with Davutoglu.

"We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency, Frontex, and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, adding that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean.

Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters.

Britain's Cameron said he was sending a naval force to the Aegean to join the NATO force even though Britain is outside the Schengen zone of passport-free travel and has refused to take any share of the migrants from Europe.

While Cameron stressed Britain would take no part in any common EU asylum policy, further migrant chaos could damage his efforts to win a June referendum and keep Britain in the EU. ($1 = 0.9122 euros)
PRESS DIGEST- Canada-March 7

March 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's official visit to the White House this week should result in a new border pact that will remove a series of barriers hindering the flow of travellers and trade while improving security, says Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.(http://bit.ly/1X6kWkp)

** In a new paper called Augur: Mining Human Behaviors from Fiction to Power Interactive Systems, a group of Stanford University computer science researchers revealed that they used the Wattpad "corpus" - a collection of almost two billion words (or 600,000 chapters) written by regular people - to help a computer understand the world around it. The team intends to make the program they built, Augur, into an open-source tool that other researchers can build on.(http://bit.ly/1ROFfla)

NATIONAL POST

** Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president - and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease - has died. She was 94. (http://bit.ly/1QFn5zM)

** The son of a former Ottawa cleric who encouraged Libyans to "take part in jihad" was reportedly killed in an armed clash with government forces in Benghazi over the weekend. The death of Owais Egwilla, described as a former Ottawa university student, was announced on social media accounts affiliated with Libyan fighters.(http://bit.ly/1W2HlPn)
Hungary, Croatia reopen railway border crossings -agency

BUDAPEST, March 7 (Reuters) - Hungary and Croatia will reopen three railway border crossings that have been closed since the middle of last year because of the migrant crisis, the state news agency MTI reported on Monday citing the two countries' interior ministers.

There were no immediate details about when the crossings would reopen and whether the opening was to be permanent.

Crowds of migrants entered Hungary through the crossings of Murakeresztur-Kotoriba, Gyekenyes-Koprivnica and Magyarboly-Beli Manastir on the way to Germany last year.
China says new Tibet railway project will not harm environment

BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - Tibet's environment will not be damaged by the construction of a second railroad linking the remote area to the rest of China, the region's deputy Communist Party boss said on Monday.

Tibet is a highly sensitive spot, not just because of continued opposition by many Tibetans to Chinese control, but because of its strategic location next to neighbours India, Myanmar and Nepal.

Critics have expressed concern over the environmental impact of the first railway to Lhasa, opened in 2006, which passes spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands and reaches altitudes as high as 5,000 m (16,400 ft) above sea level.

"The ecological environment of Tibet will not be harmed," Padma Choling, the vice party secretary of Tibet, told reporters on the sidelines of the annual parliament meeting.

"The railway will be well built under the condition of environmental protection. That is for sure. You can't just say, 'Don't build it'."

China announced plans on Saturday to build the railway linking the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the southwestern city of Chengdu as part of a new five-year development plan.

Exiled Tibetans and rights groups also say the first railway has spurred an influx of long-term migrants who threaten Tibetans' cultural integrity, tied to Buddhist beliefs and a traditional herding lifestyle.

Chinese officials say the new railway link will bring development to Tibet and the government consistently denies any rights abuses or cultural disrespect there.

India, which had a brief border war with China in 1962, has looked on warily as China has built roads, railways and airports in Tibet, fearing they could be used to hurry troops to the border in a crisis.

Padma Choling rejected such concerns.
Jamaicans hope to ease grip of violence by ending gender stereotypes

By Rebekah Kebede

KINGSTON, March 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Be tough. Don't have feelings. Be a man and fight!

Such are the messages drilled into Jamaican boys at an early age that have helped push the island nation's murder rate up 20 percent last year to a five-year high, according to a campaign trying to stem the violence by fighting gender stereotypes.

The campaign, the Next GENDERation Initiative, aims to reach and teach young people living in the nation that is gripped by violent crime that has frustrated its economic development.

Nearly everyone charged with violent crime in Jamaica is male, one in five women have experienced violence by a partner and one in three children has witnessed severe acts of brutality, the campaign says.

Hoping to dispel gender stereotypes that propel and perpetuate violence, the partnership of the government, international organizations and community groups has assembled resources with such items as educational videos and role-play scripts for common scenarios.

The materials were released this year to be integrated into the curriculum of the nation's secondary schools, while an accompanying public education campaign uses social media, with some 4,500 followers on Facebook.

"WOMEN, THEY NEED TO KNOW THEIR PLACE"

One role-play script for students depicts two brothers arguing about joining a gang, while in another, a young woman confronts her mother, who does not want to talk about her daughter's rape by a cousin.

"For many in Jamaica, to be a man means to be dominant, tough, never back down. And for women, they need to know their place, watching their looks and serving their men," says the narrator in one campaign video.

Randy McLaren, a musician, poet and actor who heads up Articulet Edutainment, a company that helped craft some of the campaign materials, said the aim was to help young people open up.

That is particularly true for boys and young men who feel like they need to bottle up their feelings or act out, he said.

"They need safe places where they can talk and address these things without being ridiculed or feeling like less of a man. All the gains that we have had in terms of empowering our young females would amount to nothing, almost," he said.

From a very young age, McLaren said, boys learn to "man up," get physical and fight.

Many Jamaican boys take those messages to heart, which can prove to be fatal when they make the fateful decision to prove their worth by joining a gang.

Gang-related activities are reported to be the primary motive for three-quarters of all the murders in Jamaica, according to Next GENDERation.

The machismo that fuels gang violence also feeds a scourge of violence against women.

Ideas that women should be subservient, that a woman who suffers domestic abuse deserves it or that a rape victim is to be blamed are prevalent.

Catcalling and unwanted advances, both commonplace, contribute to a culture that sweeps graver sexual violence under the rug, said Cordia Chambers-Johnson, a gender specialist with Jamaica's Citizen Security and Justice Program.

One in eight Jamaican women has been forced to have sex against her will at some point, and seven out of eight knew their attacker, according to the Next GENDERation campaign.

Half of the nation's rape victims report that the attack occurred before they were 10 years old, and 75 percent said it happened before they were 30.

Perpetrators of sexual violence are often young also, with 57 percent of men arrested for rape under age 30 and most between 16 and 20, according to 2007 statistics, the most recent available.

Part of the problem is that both Jamaican men and women either condone or do not speak out about violence and sexual assault against women, Chambers-Johnson said.

She said she has facilitated role playing about domestic violence that has sparked conversation and change attitudes.

But the battle is just as much about seemingly minor, everyday issues such as making it safe for women to walk down a street without being harassed, Chambers-Johnson said.
Foreign governments press Saudi Arabia on workers' delayed wages

By Katie Paul, Marwa Rashad and Karen Lema

RIYADH/MANILA, March 7 (Reuters) - Foreign governments are pressing authorities and executives in Saudi Arabia to ensure that local construction firms make delayed salary payments to thousands of workers, a sign of pressure on the kingdom's economy due to low oil prices.

Since late last year, the Saudi government has responded to shrinking oil revenues by clamping down on state spending to curb a budget deficit running at about $100 billion annually.

This has squeezed construction firms in the kingdom; as they have received less money from the government, they have in some cases delayed paying wages to thousands of their foreign workers. Some employees have not been paid for months.

About 10 million people, largely from south Asia, southeast Asia and other parts of the Mideast, work in Saudi Arabia. Most of them do low-paid jobs in sectors which Saudis spurn, such as construction, domestic service and retailing.

Countries taking up the cause of the unpaid include the Philippines. In Manila, Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told Reuters on Monday that the Philippine embassy in Riyadh was contacting Saudi authorities to resolve the issue.

Baldoz has assigned her official in charge of workers' welfare to tackle the issue. "I am deploying ... a fact-finding mission headed by Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad to meet with the workers, employers and competent authorities," she said.

In recent weeks, the French ambassador to Riyadh sent a letter to the chief executive of Saudi Oger, one of the country's biggest builders with about 38,000 employees, asking him to resolve the cases of French staff who had not been paid for four months, a diplomatic source said.

Bangladeshi diplomats said they had contacted major Saudi construction firms to discuss wages that had gone unpaid for over two months.

In a brief statement to Reuters, the Saudi labour ministry said all private sector companies were obliged to pay salaries on time and that it would impose sanctions against firms which were late. It did not elaborate, or comment on individual cases.

An executive at Oger said his company, like others, had been affected for several months "by the current circumstances which resulted in some delays in fulfilling our commitments to our employees".

Oger has adopted a recovery plan which will enable it to resume payments from March, the executive said, without giving financial details. He declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The squeeze on the construction sector has become a major issue for the business community in the kingdom. Last month Abdulrahman al-Zamil, president of the Council of Saudi Chambers business association, publicly asked King Salman to ensure that the government paid the companies.

At some companies, including Oger, hundreds of unpaid foreign workers have halted work and staged public protests to demand their wages, industry sources said - rare in a country where demonstrations are prohibited.

WORKERS

Foreign workers flocked to the kingdom when oil prices were high and its economy boomed, but as the outlook has darkened since late last year, some companies - particularly in the construction sector - have begun cutting staff.

People with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last November that Saudi Binladin Group, another top building firm, planned to cut about 15,000 staff in one wave. Binladin did not reply to requests for comment.

Delayed payments to foreign workers, because of bureaucratic inefficiency and cash shortages, have long been an occasional feature of the construction industry in the Gulf.

But the Saudi spending clampdown since oil prices dropped has made the situation much worse. The finance ministry has cut advance payments to firms doing state building work, the government has awarded fewer contracts, and its payments to companies for work already done have slowed.

In absolute terms, the state does not lack money to pay its debts; it still has nearly $600 billion in overseas assets. But austerity controls imposed on government departments have slowed approvals for payments and their disbursement.

The government has not disclosed a figure for the amount of money it owes the companies, but industry executives estimated privately that it could total hundreds of millions of dollars; one executive suggested at least several billion dollars.

Some executives said they had been informed by authorities that the government intended to pay its debts by the end of this month. Others were sceptical, however, saying such undertakings had been made and broken repeatedly in recent months.

According to documents seen by Reuters, representatives of unpaid workers, the Saudi labour ministry and Binladin, as well as a local police representative, reached an agreement designed to resolve pay disputes after workers staged public protests in Mecca earlier this year.
Iron ore boost for mining stocks helps Britain's FTSE off lows

By Alistair Smout and Kit Rees

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Gains for the mining sector after a surge in the price of iron ore helped Britain's blue-chip stock index off its lowest levels on Monday, and a rise in Old Mutual shares also lent support.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 17.03 points or 0.3 percent at 6,182.40 points by the close, following a three-week-long rally which has seen the index gain more than 8 percent.

Monday's drop was broad-based, with all sectors, bar the materials sector, finishing in negative territory.

The sector reversed early losses to end up 4.4 percent at its highest level since October after iron ore prices surged 20 percent to an eight-month high on expectations that Chinese steel mills are planning a short-term output boost.

Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto each rose between 5 percent and 7 percent.

South Africa-orientated life insurance company Old Mutual was among top individual gainers, surging 6.9 percent to hit a three-month high and posting its best day since December 2011.

A media report on Saturday said the company was planning a 9 billion pound break-up which could trigger a takeover battle for its various operations.

"Being (an) African-based organisation ... this emerging markets sell-off and the currency routs over the last six months put some real pressure on them, and unfortunately they're being pushed into a situation where they have to act and actually look at some disposals to shore themselves up," Charles Hanover Investments advisory investment manager, Jonathan Roy, said.

"The market's really responding to the decisive action from the board," he said.

Old Mutual said it was considering all options available to it under the strategic review announced in November, but had not yet made any decision on the review process.

Among fallers, InterContinental Hotels Group was down 1.9 percent after Citigroup downgraded it to "sell" and expressed caution on the European hotels sector as a whole.

"Expectations of European economic recovery, sector M&A and reasonable (mid-cycle) valuations have kept us positive on the hotel sector ... but with increasing signs of a slowing global economy a clearer trend is emerging," Citigroup analysts said in a note.

Randgold fell 3 percent after Morgan Stanley cut the stock to "equal weight" from "overweight".
Iran's president praises ex-leader Khatami, defying media ban

By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

DUBAI, March 7 (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Monday praised a reformist predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, for helping reformists and moderates to triumph in February elections, defying a media ban on any mention of the ex-leader who championed detente with the West.

Rouhani and his allies made big gains in Feb. 26 elections to parliament and a clerical body that will elect the next Supreme Leader, though the conservative Islamic establishment retains decisive power in the country.

Like Khatami before him, Rouhani faces stiff resistance from conservative hardliners to his efforts to open up Iran to the outside world and to push for political and social reforms.

Iran's media are banned from publishing the name or images of Khatami, who was president from 1997 to 2005. But Khatami, still one of Iran's most popular politicians, managed to publish a five-minute video on social media before last month's elections that are credited with swinging the balance in favour of the reformists and moderates backing Rouhani.

"No one can silence those who served the nation," Rouhani told a crowd on Monday in Khatami's home city of Yazd in central Iran, referring to the former president as his "dear brother".

His remarks, broadcast live on state television, drew prolonged cheers from the crowd.

Iran's Interior Ministry has not yet published a final list giving the affiliation of the new lawmakers in parliament, but the results in Tehran and other major cities show the legislature will be more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani.

BAN

The opposition website Kalemeh said on Saturday that security agents had not allowed Khatami to leave his house to attend the wedding of the daughter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, an opposition leader under house arrest since 2011.

On Sunday, in his first news conference since the elections, Rouhani denied there were any new restrictions on Khatami.

Asked about the media ban on Khatami, Rouhani said: "It's a complete lie that the National Security Council has banned the publication of anyone's photo. The National Security Council has no such directive and if anyone claims otherwise, he is breaking the law."

But the spokesman for Iran's judiciary promptly reacted to Rouhani's comments and said the ban was still in place.

"Khatami's media ban is a judicial order ... Whoever violates it will be prosecuted," Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

"Rouhani is either too busy to remember the details of the case or he is joking."

Under Khatami's successor as president, hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served from 2005 to 2013, Iran's ties with the West deteriorated sharply over the country's nuclear programme.
U.S. strikes al Shabaab training camp in Somalia, more than 150 killed

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - The United States launched an air strike in Somalia that killed more than 150 fighters with the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab following U.S. intelligence on preparations for a large-scale militant attack, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The Saturday strike, using both manned aircraft and unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones, targeted al Shabaab's "Raso" training camp, a facility about 120 miles north of the capital Mogadishu, the Pentagon said.

The U.S. military had been monitoring the camp for several weeks before the strike and had gathered intelligence, including about an imminent threat posed by those in the camp to U.S. forces and African Union peacekeepers, officials said.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James described the strike as "defensive" in nature.

"There was intelligence ... these fighters would soon be embarking upon missions that would directly impact the U.S. and our partners," James told reporters.

Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the targets were U.S. forces and African Union fighters in Somalia, but declined to offer additional details.

Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the United States believed the threat was "imminent" and that the fighters were poised to soon depart the camp.

Al Shabaab could not be reached for comment.

Somalia's Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer said the Somali intelligence agency had provided information about the camp to the United States in the run-up to the attack.

"There has to be intelligence on the ground for this to happen. Our intelligence had helped," Omer told Reuters.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

The group, whose name means "The Youth," seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.

Al Shabaab was also behind deadly attacks in Kenya and Uganda, which both contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Omer said the U.S. drone strike was a major blow to al Shabaab.

"Instead of al Shabaab attacking civilians, it was a military target that was hit and there was a high success rate," Omer said.

Davis said as many as 200 fighters were believed to be training at the Raso camp at the time of the strike and expressed confidence there were no civilian casualties.

"Their removal will degrade al Shabaab's ability to meet the group's objectives in Somalia, which include recruiting new members, establishing bases and planning attacks on U.S. and Amisom forces there," Davis said.

He added that no U.S. forces on the ground participated in the strike, the largest in recent memory against the militant group, in terms of the number of fighters believed killed.
U.S. top court reverses Louisiana death row inmate's conviction

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a Louisiana death row inmate's 2002 murder conviction in the beating death of a 16-year-old pizza delivery boy, saying prosecutors withheld evidence that could have buttressed his claim of innocence.

The court sided with Michael Wearry, who was found guilty in the 1998 murder of Eric Walber in Hammond, Louisiana, about 45 miles (72 km) east of Baton Rouge. Prosecutors now must decide whether to re-try Wearry.

Information that raised questions about the credibility of a key prosecution witness, a jailhouse informant, was among the evidence that prosecutors were found to have withheld.

The Supreme Court took the relatively unusual step of reversing an Louisiana state court without hearing oral arguments. Cases are decided using that procedure when a lower-court ruling is considered to be counter to Supreme Court precedents.

Two of the eight-member court's conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented from the ruling.

Wearry, 22 at the time, said he was 40 miles away (64 km) at a wedding reception when the murder took place. Walber was a high school student and part-time pizza delivery boy. His body was discovered lying face down alongside a gravel road with extensive head wounds and a skull fracture.

The unsigned ruling said that some of the evidence withheld by prosecutors could have changed the outcome of Wearry's trial. The prosecution case was based in part on the testimony of the jailhouse informant. Police records showed that other inmates had cast doubt on the informer's credibility but prosecutors withheld that information.

"Beyond doubt, the newly revealed evidence suffices to undermine confidence in Wearry's conviction," the court said, adding that the evidence that was used to win his conviction "resembles a house of cards."

In a dissenting opinion, Alito conceded that prosecutors should have disclosed the information but said that "whether the information was sufficient to warrant reversing petitioner's conviction is another matter."

The court is one member short following the Feb. 13 death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Spain's king gives political parties time to end divisions

By Angus Berwick and Marta Ruiz-Castillo

MADRID, March 7 (Reuters) - Spain's King Felipe decided on Monday not to open a new round of one-to-one talks with party leaders to give them more time to reach a coalition deal, although so far they are unwilling to bridge their divisions as a potential new election looms.

After Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez failed to win enough support on Friday, parties have until May 2 to reach a parliamentary majority and form a government or the lower house will be dissolved and a new election will be called.

Sanchez won the support of only 131 members of the 350-strong parliament, with the opposition of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party (PP), anti-austerity Podemos and five smaller parties scuppering his pact with newcomer Ciudadanos.

Although businesses and investors have so far remained calm about the deadlock, a new election would raise the risk that Spain's uneven economic recovery might be impaired by lost months of political leadership.

The king's office said in a statement he would postpone formal talks with leaders, which he has held twice since a December election when Spaniards deserted the two traditional parties to vote for newcomers.

But with the clock ticking there are few signs that parties are willing to move from their entrenched positions in the negotiations that have often boiled over into vitriolic attacks.

Rajoy, in Brussels for EU talks on refugees, said a new election would be "ridiculous," and repeated that Sanchez should join the PP in a coalition of centre left and centre right, which the Socialist leader has rejected.

"I will call Mr Sanchez and if, as has been the case so far, he does not want to see me, evidently I will not be able to do anything else," he told reporters on arriving.

Sanchez hopes to persuade Podemos to join his "government of change" and the upstart party's leader, Pablo Iglesias, who is holding out for an alliance solely between leftist parties, said on Monday he would reopen talks between the two.

But Iglesias has said an agreement with Sanchez is only possible if he abandons business-friendly Ciudadanos, something strongly opposed by many Socialist politicians.
Turkey's Zaman vows to continue as opposition newspaper in German exile

By Oliver Ellrodt

BERLIN, March 7 (Reuters) - Turkey's top-selling newspaper Zaman plans to continue publishing as an opposition daily in Germany after it was taken over by the state in its home country, the editor-in-chief of Zaman Almanya (Zaman Germany) said on Monday.

Turkish authorities seized control of Zaman on Friday in a widening crackdown against supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of President Tayyip Erdogan. Zaman has been affiliated with Gulen.

"As of today we are printing a version of Zaman that has nothing to do with Zaman there (in Turkey) because it has been forcibly taken over by the state," Sueleyman Bag told Reuters TV in an interview.

Monday's edition of Zaman Almanya bore a black front page with the headline: 'The constitution is abolished'. That stood in stark contrast to the paper published in Turkey, which on Sunday dropped its criticism of the government and published flattering stories about Erdogan.

"We will print an independent newspaper. We still have not addressed the question of how we do that. This is a new challenge for us," Bag added.

Zaman Almanya currently has 14,300 subscribers to its print edition in Germany, home to three million people of Turkish origin.

The top story on its online edition featured a picture of a veiled woman pressing her hand against her bleeding face outside the newspaper's offices, which were raided on Friday by police who used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters.

Rights groups and European officials have criticised the seizure, saying it infringes on press freedom in Turkey, an EU candidate country. Ankara rejects such charges, saying a legal process is underway to investigate illicit financing of what it describes as a "Gulenist terror group".

German politicians have joined the criticism of Turkey's move.

"He who wants to join the European Union must support freedom of expression, freedom of the press and must tolerate criticism," said German Green Party chief Cem Oezdemir, who was born in Germany to Turkish migrants.

But the EU also needs Turkish cooperation to help tackle a migrant crisis which has seen more than one million people, many fleeing wars in the Middle East, pass through Turkey to Europe to seek asylum.
NY judge dismisses attempt to block Canada-born Cruz from state's ballot

By James Odato

ALBANY, New York, March 7 (Reuters) - A New York judge on Monday dismissed a challenge to Canadian-born Ted Cruz's eligibility to run in the state's Republican presidential primary election next month, saying the challengers had missed a key deadline for filing.

Two New York residents, Barry Korman, 81, of Manhattan and William Gallo, 85, of Manhasset, Long Island, on Feb. 19 filed the petition to block Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, from getting onto the April 19 ballot, saying his birth in the Canadian province of Alberta makes him ineligible to be president.

State law requires that a petition challenging eligibility be filed within three days of when a candidate files to be placed on the ballot. Korman and Gallo filed their petition more than two weeks after Cruz filed his paperwork to get on the ballot, the judge said.

Weinstein said at an earlier hearing that the case could cause "chaos" if it went ahead.

The case was one of several similar challenges to Cruz's eligibility to run for the White House - including suits in Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Illinois suit was dismissed last week on a technicality. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly brought up questions about whether Cruz meets the constitutional requirement to be president.

The Constitution says that to be president, a person must be a "natural-born citizen" of the United States.

Cruz has argued that he is eligible to run because of his mother's U.S. citizenship, and many legal experts say it is unlikely any judge in the United States would block his presidential bid. Cruz's father is a Cuban immigrant.
U.S. Congressional delegation will accompany Obama to Cuba - sources

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - A delegation of up to about 20 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will accompany President Barack Obama when he travels to Cuba this month, U.S. congressional sources said on Monday.
Lawmakers to go to Cuba with Obama, who mulls more trade moves

By Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will be accompanied on his historic visit to Cuba this month by up to 20 members of Congress, and is also considering further measures to ease travel and trade restrictions around the time of the visit, U.S. sources said on Monday.

Details were being worked out, but congressional sources told Reuters the White House hoped the delegation would include Republicans as well as Obama's fellow Democrats, to underscore bipartisan support for his moves toward normal relations with the Communist-ruled country.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has been one of his party's leading proponents of easing the embargo restrictions, said there was "a good chance" he would join the trip. A spokesman for Flake later confirmed he would be going.

Congressional aides and sources outside the government who were consulted on the matter said timing was still uncertain, but the administration could roll out more changes to travel, trade and banking rules before or during the March 21-22 visit.

"They will unveil a regulations package as it gets closer to the trip, further easing of travel, and further commerce and trade (changes)," said one person familiar with the discussions.

Obama's aides are considering regulatory changes to make it easier for individual Americans to visit Cuba as long as they qualify for 12 authorized "people-to-people" categories of travel, the sources said. Until now, most have been allowed to visit Cuba only on group tours or to see family on the island.

The White House is also weighing possible revisions and clarifications of how the dollar can be used in trade with Cuba, a person familiar with the discussions said.

The White House said on Feb. 18 that Obama would visit Havana on March 21 and 22 in another step toward ending decades of animosity between the former Cold War foes. It will be the first visit to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president since 1928.

News of Obama's trip prompted sharp criticism from some members of the Republican-controlled Congress, where there is strong opposition to normalizing relations with Havana, mostly from Republican lawmakers.

ELECTION COMPLICATIONS

Some Republicans want more normal relations with Cuba, as do most Democrats. But the issue is complicated on Capitol Hill because two senators vying for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both Cuban-Americans, strongly oppose Obama's policy shift.

Obama said the trip would help accelerate changes in Cuba since he and President Raul Castro announced moves to restore ties in late 2014. Administration officials hope it will give Washington more leverage to make progress on opening business opportunities for U.S. companies.

Opponents say Obama has demanded too little from Havana, particularly in the area of human rights, to end the embargo imposed in 1960. The administration believes that moves to loosen the embargo would help meet its goal of benefiting the Cuban people.

Obama has used his executive powers to ease some trade and travel restrictions since announcing his new Cuba policy 15 months ago. Some major U.S. airlines have begun asking regulators to approve routes to Cuba.

So many lawmakers are expected to make the trip that the White House is arranging a separate aircraft to transport them, congressional aides said.

"As the president has done on past trips, he has invited a group of senators and House members to join him on his upcoming trip to Cuba. Further details on the members' travel will be available closer to the departure date," a White House official said on condition of anonymity.

Analysts said establishing U.S.-Cuban business relationships would make it difficult for the next U.S. president to roll back Obama's policy changes after he leaves office next January, if a Republican opponent of the policy wins the election.

Businessman Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate, told the Daily Caller in an interview published in September that he supported the Obama administration's opening with Cuba.

But the embargo cannot be lifted without Congress' approval and Republicans say that will not happen while Obama is president.
Israel's Netanyahu declines offer to meet with Obama -White House

By Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an offer to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House later this month and canceled his trip to Washington, the White House said on Monday.

Netanyahu's decision to nix his U.S. visit marked the latest episode in a fraught relationship with Obama that has yet to recover from their deep differences over last year's U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran, Israel's arch foe.

The White House said the Israeli government had requested a Netanyahu meeting with Obama on either March 18 or 19 and that two weeks ago he was offered a March 18 encounter.

"We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, and we were surprised to first learn via media reports that the prime minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit," White House spokesman Ned Price said in an emailed statement. "Reports that we were not able to accommodate the prime minister's schedule are false," he said.

The White House has announced Obama's plans to be in Havana on March 21 and 22 for a historic visit aimed at moving closer toward normalized relations with Washington's former Cold War adversary.

There was no immediate word from Netanyahu's office about the cancellation, which also comes as the two close allies are struggling to negotiate a new 10-year, multibillion-dollar defense aid agreement for Israel.

Israel's Channel 10 TV, citing unnamed Israeli sources, said Netanyahu's decision to scrap the trip appeared to be motivated by reluctance to be perceived as interfering in the U.S. presidential election campaign, should any candidates seek to meet him in Washington.

Netanyahu also saw little to show for such a trip, given that the new defense Memorandum of Understanding is "far from being agreed yet," Channel 10 said. Several Israeli media quoted Israeli officials as saying that no appropriate time could be found for the meeting before Obama's departure for Cuba.

Netanyahu had been expected to visit Washington this month not only to see Obama but to address the annual conference of the leading U.S. pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. In the past he has sometimes spoken to the group via satellite.

The prime minister made a speech to the U.S. Congress last March criticizing the then-emerging Iran nuclear deal and was denied a meeting with Obama during that visit in what was widely regarded as a diplomatic snub.

But the two leaders met at the White House in November and sought to mend ties.

In recent months, differences over defense aid have underscored continuing tensions over the Iran deal.

Netanyahu and his aides suggested in February if Israel were unable to reach an accord with Obama, it could wait for the next president to secure better terms. Current U.S. defense aid to Israel, worth about $3 billion annually, expires in 2018. The two sides are seeking an extension before Obama leaves office in January 2017.
New Delhi: Engineering exports to as many as 19 out of Indias top 25 destinations have seen a sharp dip in January, with Malaysia alone recording a plunge of about 90 per cent. Out of 33 engineering products, 22 recorded contraction.

The level of distress for Indias engineering exporters can be gauged from the fact that the drop in several key destinations has crossed 50 per cent (in January) while in the case of Malaysia, the fall has been above even 90 per cent, almost evaporating the market, for January 2016 over the same month last year, said Engineering Export Promotion Council of India.

Engineering exports plummeted 28 per cent in January to $4.82 billion from $6.70 billion in the year-ago period. It is getting quite bad. Look at Malaysia, one of the top 25 destinations for our exports. For January, 2016 the shipments there plummeted to mere $78.22 million from a sizeable $830.88 million a year ago. When close to a billion dollar disappears from a single market in just one of the sectors, the depth of the problems can be gauged, said EEPC India, chairman T.S. Bhasin.

Likewise, the analysis shows that engineering exports to UAE, the second largest market destination after the US, dropped by more than half in January to $484.12 million from $ 991.17 million year-on-year. To the Middle-East and West Asia region, which has been witnessing its own serious problems because of a significant downturn in the crude oil prices, Indias engineering consignments dropped by 43.88 per cent, said EEPC.
The study conducted by an US intelligence agency claimed that the Nazi leader loved to see women defecating while standing on top of him. (Photo: AP)

Berlin, Germany: An awful revelation made by a top secret spy dossier claims that Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany's Nazi party, had a disgusting passion for 'poo sex'.

According to a report in the Mirror, the German Fuhrer had a liking for an unusual type of sexual activity - poo sex. The study conducted by an US intelligence agency claimed that the Nazi leader loved to see women defecating while standing on top of him.

This hideous revelation comes in wake of the recent claims that Hitler was born with a deformed micropenis and had only one testicle. The reports claimed that Hitler never led a normal sex life due to his deformity.

Read: Hitler's embarassing secret out, medical records throw light on his sex life

However, the reports also claimed that the fascist leader's personal physician Theodor Morell had prescribed him some drugs that would boost his sex life with his long time companion and wife Eva Braun.

Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun. (Photo: AP)

An intelligence report filed by Dr Langer revealed that the fascist leader was a coprophiliac, meaning someone with an interest in using poop for sexual excitement.

And if that wasn't hideous enough, the report also claimed that Hitler had allegedly performed this gross sexual act with Geli Raubal, his niece, who later went absconding.

German fascist leader Adolf Hitler and his niece Geli Raubal. (Photo: YouTube Screen Grab/ AP)

Reports also suggest that Ernst Rhoem, a Nazi military officer, had presumably said that Hitler loved 'pleasant girls' adding that 'the Fuhrer liked to watch girls in the fields while they pooped.'

During a night with a German film star, Renate Muller, he forced her to kick him while he lay on the floor, according to reports.

Muller was later found dead under mysterious circumstances.
Yemeni security forces gather outside an elderly care home after it was attacked by gunmen in the port city of Aden. (Photo: AP)

Aden: An Indian priest missing after an attack on a care home run in Yemen is being held by the assailants, likely militants from the ISIS, officials said Sunday.

Yemeni authorities have blamed ISIS for the Friday attack on the refuge for the elderly operated by Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity in main southern city Aden.

According to our information, the extremists who attacked the elderly care home in Aden have kidnapped priest Tom Uzhunnalil, a 56-year-old Indian, who was taken to an unknown location, a Yemeni security official said. We are aware that no group has yet claimed the criminal attack... But information points to the involvement of Daesh, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

New Delhi said it will spare no efforts to rescue Indian priest Father Uzhunnalil. Sources said Father Uzhunnalil is a priest at a church in Aden and was visiting the care-home when the militants struck and subsequently abducted him. Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have an embassy there. But we will spare no efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

The minister noted that though there was no Indian embassy in Yemen, there was a camp office in Djibouti. She also said it was confirmed that one Indian had been killed in the attack and not four as was initially believed.

Gunmen stormed the refuge killing a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other employees, officials said. Four foreign nuns working as nurses were among those killed.

The Vatican missionary news agency Fides identified the nuns as two Rwandans, a Kenyan and an Indian, adding that the mother superior managed to hide and survive while an Indian priest was missing. The internationally recognised government in war-torn Yemen is grappling with both an Iran-backed rebellion and a growing jihadist presence.

The Vaticans secretary of state Pietro Parolin has said Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of this act of senseless and diabolical violence.

Al Qaeda and ISIS have stepped up attacks in Aden, targeting mainly loyalists and members of a Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels and their allies since March 2015. Al Qaeda distanced itself from the mass shooting Friday, saying it was not responsible.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has declared Aden to be Yemens temporary capital as Sanaa has been in the hands of rebels since September 2014.
Islamabad: At least 17 people including three policemen were killed and more than 30 wounded on Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Pakistans Charsadda district in a court compound.Police said the incident occurred inside a district court compound in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda.

A police official said the suicide bomber was attempting to enter the district court when intercepted by the security personnel, prompting him to blow himself up.

The attacker fired shots before exploding himself up. The bodies of the victims have been shifted to the hospital, he added. Hours after the attack, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistans splinter group Jammatul Ahrar claimed responsibility, saying it was revenge for Mumtaz Qadris execution.

The groups spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan in a statement said, We are responsible for the attack on the district court.
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Scores of residents from across the capital are urging President Pranab Mukherjee to not attend the closing ceremony of the Art of Living event to be held along the banks of Yamuna.



People from all walks of life have written letters to the president, appealing him to not be a part of the three-day festival, which they believe is destroying the riverbed.



The three day event, World Cultural Festival, will be held from March 11-13 on the Yamuna floodplains to mark 35 years of Art of Living and lakhs of followers are expected to attend.



The event has been in controversy after a petition was filed by environmental activist and convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) saying that the organisers are undertaking construction activity and the vegetation has been removed. The matter is sub-judice.



More than 20 days back I was going to Noida via DND and saw construction happening over there and was really amazed by the mammoth structure coming up on the active floodplain. Then I got to know about the event. This is one place my son and I visit for bird watching and I noticed that birds have completely vanished from there after they have flattened the area, said Nikhil Kapoor, a doctor by

profession.



He had written an individual letter to the president few days ago highlighting his concerns.



Once such a big function happens on the banks, it will open the possibility for other such big functions in future and the president should not support this, he said.



Please I request you to nip this evil right at the bud because if this is not stopped here then the damage control measures will all be a bigger waste, his letter read.



Similarly, Bharti Chaturvedi, director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, has also written to the president urging him not to lend legitimacy to the festival.



This ecosystem is as good as Corbett Park and the event is a violation of it. Moreover it is a breeding season for birds and due to the construction, their habitat has been destroyed. We have thus written to the president that as the head of the state, he should not lend legitimacy to something which is profoundly wrong, she said.



The letters have been sent by students, environmentalists, retired government officials, doctors, and scientists.

DH News Service
In a replay of their high-voltage march to Shani Shingnapur temple, women activists today headed to the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in a bid to break the ban on entry of female devotees into its sanctum sanctorum but were stopped and detained by police at a village about 80 km away from the shrine.





The activists under the banner of Bhumata Brigade who numbered between 150 and 175 and led by its chief Trupti Desai were stopped at Nandurshingote village by rural police from proceeding to Trimbak town in Maharashtra's Nashik district where pilgrims had gathered in large numbers on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival.



They were detained under various sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, a senior police officer said.



Located 30 km from Nashik town and 160 km from Pune, Trimbak town has been turned into a fortress in view of the country-wide terror alert and also because of the huge flow of devotees.



Desai had left Pune earlier in the day trooping nearly 150-175 activists in vehicles as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the "garbhagriha" (sanctum sanctorum) of the ancient temple which houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.



Before setting out, she made a plea to Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.



"Since the Chief Minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today and will be allowed to enter the 'garbhagriha'," Desai, who chose the occasion of Maha Shivratri to resume their campaign, told PTI.



"On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Women's Day and on the day of Maha Shivratri," said Desai before setting out to Nashik.



Desai and her activists were stopped from proceeding to Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednanagar district on January 26 when police detained them at a village 70 km away from the shrine.



Nashik Rural Police had tightened security around the temple to avoid a face-off with deployment of addtional forces and barricades putting up barricades.



Opposing the campaign, certain local outfits like Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila mandal, Purohit Sangh and others have came together threatening to stop the activists if they sought to breach the prohibited area.



As per tradition followed since past many years, women are not allowed in temple's garbha-grih for worship while men are allowed for an hour between 6 am to 7 am in the morning, but wearing sovala (a silk dhoti) for offering pooja to Lord Shiva.



Desai had stirred a national debate on gender bias at various temples across the country with her attempt to enter the inner platform (chauthara) at the Shingnapur temple where women are traditionally not allowed to worship.



The rights group's march on Republic Day, joined by over 400 women, was stalled by police stopping the marchers at Supa village, 70 km away from the shrine.



A mediation effort by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also failed to end the deadlock on the issue with Desai refusing to accept the 'Tirupati model' of darshan that would keep both men and women away from the inner sanctum which houses a rock idol of Lord Shani.



According to Kailas Ghule, member of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust, the bar on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.



Women, however, can have 'darshan' from outside the core area.



He said men too are not allowed into the core worship area for an hour between 6 and 7 AM on all days.



As per tradition, only men are allowed entry into the area where the main 'linga' is placed, that too by adorning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).



Seeking to give a scientific angle to the practice, they said there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.



Meanwhile, temple premises witnessed a flutter earlier in the day as a sadhvi sought to enter the area where women are banned.



Sadhvi Harisiddha Giri of Juna Akhada was stopped from entering the inner sanctum of the temple there by local women and members of the Devasthan trust, a police official said.



The sadhvi then sat on a fast outside demanding that women be allowed to enter the place.



"I am representing all women of the country (requesting) to allow us entry into the temple's 'garbha griha' (sanctum sanctorum), but as per tradition women are not allowed to enter it," she said.


Their build-up campaign has been nothing short of spectacular and inaugural champions India would be the firm favourites to be the first two-time trophy winners when the ICC World Twenty20 gets underway with the qualifiers, here tomorrow.





The Tournament-proper will begin March 15 when India take on New Zealand and the qualifiers before that will fill in two slots for the Super 10 stage.



The opening day double-header in qualifiers features games between Zimbabwe and Hong Kong besides a Scotland- Afghanistan clash. Both the matches will be played here.



The other teams in the qualifying round are Ireland and the Netherlands.



The top two teams from the qualifiers will join India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies in the Super 10 stage, which will be played alongside the women's event from March 15-28.



Although Sri Lanka are the defending men's champions, they hardly seem to be an intimidating force having endured a 1-2 loss as recently as in February, to India.



On the contrary, 2007 champions India are looking like an unstoppable force which will be further galvanised by the passionate support from its adoring home fans.



The Asia Cup triumph, during which Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men did not lose a single match, is the latest confidence- booster that the Indians received heading into the big event after victories over Australia and Sri Lanka in the run-up.



India are in Super 10 Group 2 along with 2009 winners Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and a yet-to-be-decided qualifier.



India will launch their campaign in Nagpur against New Zealand on March 15 before they go head to head with Pakistan on March 19. Their other matches will be against a qualifier in Bengaluru on March 13 and Australia in Mohali on March 27.



Even though they are placed in a tough group, India are expected to make the semifinals given the stupendous form the team is in coupled with the distinct home advantage.



Sri Lanka have been placed in Super 10 Group 1 along with South Africa, West Indies, England and a yet-to-be-decided qualifier. Their will open their title defence against the qualifier in Kolkata on March 17, and play West Indies in Bengaluru on March 20, England on March 26 and South Africa on March 28.
Linking the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar issues with rights of the marginalised, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of "crushing" the weak and the poor who demand their rights.





He also said Union ministers and BJP leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him but they should not "crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak."

"Tribals from Bastar met me today. They said they are facing atrocities in Chhattisgarh's Bastar and that they are being threatened and crushed.



"Country will not benefit by beating and threatening people. You pressurised Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, here you are pressurising Kanhaiya and our students," the Congress Vice President told reporters here.



He alleged that wherever the poor is seeking rights, "be it farmer, dalit, tribal or small trader --small traders came to me -- wherever a weak person is raising voice, NDA government, Modi government is trying to crush it."



These people are the strength of India and no one will benefit by crushing them, he said.

"If you have to take action, do it. Those who break law, take action. But by crushing, threatening and beating the poor won't help the country," Rahul said.



In an apparent reference to Modi's remarks in the Lok Sabha that "some people age but do not mature", Rahul said the PM and his Cabinet colleagues are free to attack him. "Modi attacked me personally. His party colleagues are attacking me personally on a daily basis," he said.



Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently took a dig at the Congress Vice-President over his Lok Sabha speech and said "the more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know  when will he know".



"As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity," Jaitley had said in a Facebook post reacting to Gandhi's remarks that Prime Minister Modi does not consult his senior ministers on policy issues.



"Do as much personal attacks as you want. But don't crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak. Hit me as much you want. Attack me as much you want. Speak for as long as you want to, but don't hit the poor people of the country," Rahul stressed.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of the controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning here this Friday.





"The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances," an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said here today.



Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.



While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.



The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.



The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release 'enzymes' into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgement is expected tomorrow.



The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.



"This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information," the petition said.



Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.



It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.
In a major setback for liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) today barred him from accessing USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with State Bank of India is settled.



DRT, allowing SBI plea, restrained Diageo from disbursing the money for now and set March 28 as the next date of hearing.



SBI had sought DRT's intervention in seeking the lenders' first right on the USD 75-million payout from Diageo to Mallya as part of deal last month.



Under the deal Mallya was to step down as chairman of India's top spirits company United Spirits Ltd in a settlement with its new owner, Britain's Diageo. Mallya was to settle down in London after the deal.



SBI had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallya's arrest and impounding of his passport, it approached DRT seeking action against him for defaulting on loans.



DRT in its order restraining Diageo from disbursing USD 75 billion, said the amount has been attached pending disposal of original application.



It directed Mallya and the companies concerned to disclose the details of the terminal agreement.



The order came hours after Mallya said he was in talks with banks for a one-time settlement of debt that his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes.



In a statement late last night, he had also stated that he had no plans to run away from his creditors.



SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover Rs 7,800 crore. SBI had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. Since January 2012, the loan was not serviced.



Other 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.



Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter while PNB had followed suit last month to declare him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters.



Diageo was to pay Mallya USD 40 million immediately and the balance in equal installments over the next five years.



The deal also absolved Mallya of all liabilities over alleged financial lapses at the company founded by his family.



After the deal with Diageo plc, Mallya, 60, resigned with immediate effect as Chairman of United Spirits Ltd, which the British firm bought in April 2014.



United Spirits, maker of McDowell's No.1 whiskey and Romanov vodka, had sought his resignation after an internal inquiry found he diverted funds to other companies under his control. Mallya has denied any wrongdoing.



Mallya, who took over United Breweries Holdings or UB Group from his father in the 1980s, had last month signed a global five-year "non- compete, non interference and non solicitation" agreement with United Spirits. He was to take on a ceremonial title as founder emeritus of the Diageo unit.



He started Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 but it was grounded in 2012 amid mounting debt.



DRT had on March 4 reserved its orders on the application by SBI seeking the lenders' first right after hearing arguments by both sides.



Delivering the order today, it said: "The defendant (Mallya) temporarily shall not draw the amount mentioned in the present application till disposal of original application as sought by the applicant banks."



It also added: "Diageo plc, Diageo Netherlands and USL shall not dispense the amount to Mallya or any of his agents, nominee or asignee till the disposal of the original application. Amount mentioned in IA is attached.



"The defendants, Diageo plc, Diageo Netherlands and USL are directed to furnish details of the termination agreement arrived between them."



Under fire, a defiant Mallya had yesterday rubbished the charge that he was an "absconder" and said he was making efforts to reach a 'one-time settlement' with banks through additional payments to the lenders.



Denying that "personally" being a "borrower or judgement defaulter", he had flayed the "disinformation campaign" to paint him a "poster boy" of all bad loans.



Questioning the "wilful defaulter" tag by some banks, he had also hit out at them, alleging that they didn't go after borrowers who "owe much more than the amount allegedly owed by Kingfisher Airlines".

Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 7,800 crore to the consortium led by SBI, which had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the airline.



Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank and Dena Bank.



Last year, SBI declared Mallya as wilful defaulter while Punjab National Bank had also declared him, his group holding company United Breweries Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters last month.



As part of the deal, Diageo said it would pay USD 40 million immediately to Mallya with the balance being payable in equal installments over the next five years.



It will also absolve Mallya of all liabilities over alleged financial lapses at the company founded by his family.
Delhi Police today arrested Adarsh Sharma, the man who claims to be president of Purvanchal Sena which had announced through posters a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who "shoots" JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.



"Sharma has been arrested under charges of defacement of public property, abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery," a senior police official said, adding investigation is underway and more charges can be added in the case.



Earlier in the day, Delhi Police had detained Sharma for questioning at a police station in New Delhi district.



On Saturday, posters announcing Rs 11 lakh reward for shooting dead Kumar were seen stuck on a wall near Press Club of India and bus stops and metro stations in New Delhi district.



The poster said "whosoever shoots JNU Students' Union president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena".



The posters carried the mobile number and name of Sharma. On the same day, the police registered a case of defacement of property and questioned one person, who was allegedly involved in sticking the posters on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The other sections were added later in the FIR.
Scotland Yard today warned that Islamic State terrorists were planning "enormous and spectacular" attacks on western countries as part of the dreaded terror outfit's strategy to broaden its focus.





Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, who is also the UK's national head of counter- terrorism, told reporters that Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists were broadening their focus to target western lifestyles.



"In recent months we've seen a broadening. Much more plans to attack western lifestyle, and obviously the Paris attacks in November," Rowley said.



"Going from that narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state to something much broader. And you see a terrorist group which has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks  not just the types that we've seen foiled to date," he said.



Scotland Yard noted that the number of terrorism-related arrests hit record levels last year  339 arrests in England, Wales and Scotland, which is the highest yearly figure.



This marked a 57 per cent increase in the last three years, compared with the previous three, Britain's largest police force said. It also marks an increase in women and families among those arrested, around 14 per cent were female and 13 per cent were aged 20 and under and nearly four out of five were UK nationals.



"You see a terrorist group that whilst on the one hand has been acting as a cult to use propaganda to radicalise people to act in their name. You also see them trying to build bigger attacks," Rowley said.



"That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalisation, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh (ISIS) are resonating with some individuals," he said.



He said the ISIS was encouraging supporters who had received military training in Syria to enter northern Europe to stage attacks. It also emerged at the briefing that psychologists are being deployed to work with counter-terrorism units because of increasing concern that people with mental health problems were being radicalised. "Having that insight is critical," Rowley said.



He also confirmed that the number of trained firearms officers across the UK had been increased in the wake of the attacks in Paris last year in which over 120 people were killed.
Flamingoes inhabit shallow brackish lakes, mudflats and saltpans, where the salinity is often higher than that in the sea, thus making it an inhospitable place for many other animals. However, some tiny creatures like certain algae, shrimps, molluscs thrive in these shallow waters. Flamingoes with their specialised beaks suitable for filter feeding, feed on these small life-forms. Two species of flamingo are found in India  Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and Lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor). Both these species are resident birds of India and breed mainly in the Flamingo City in the Great Rann of Kutch of Gujarat and disperse to other locations in the country in winter. However, according to bird experts, some Lesser flamingoes might be migrating from Africa.





Lesser flamingo is considered a near threatened species in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In India, majority of its population is found in Gujarat. They are also found in good numbers at Sewri and Bhigwan in Maharashtra and at Pulicat Lake in Andhra Pradesh. Smaller populations of Greater flamingoes are widely distributed from Okhla Bird Sanctuary situated on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border to Kanyakumari, the southernmost district of mainland India. This species is classified as a least concern species in the IUCN Red List  meaning its survival is not threatened as of today.



Birds of a feather...Although there is no official record, birdwatchers and environmentalists say that the flamingoes started coming to Mumbai in large numbers since the 90s. No studies have been conducted to find out the reasons for their visits, but experts suggest that it could be due to increased disturbances in the flamingo habitat in Kutch and/or expansion of area under mudflats around Mumbai. Another theory is that increase in pollution in Mumbai has led to increase in algal population in water bodies around the city, providing more food for the bird. For more than two decades now, flamingoes have been regularly visiting Sewri Mudflats and the Thane Creek area in Mumbai and also the water bodies along Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai.



The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the BirdLife International have identified Sewri Mudflats as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The BNHS, in collaboration with the Mumbai Port Trust, has launched a five-year programme in 2014 for conservation of flamingoes. Mangrove restoration, studies on flamingo population, creation of awareness and development of capacities of local communities, students, teachers and the masses for conservation of flamingoes are the main aspects of the programme.



Besides this, the BNHS has also been conducting an annual Flamingo Festival for more than a decade to generate awareness and interest about flamingo conservation among general public.



Notification of the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary in August 2015 is a noteworthy initiative by the Maharashtra government for conservation of flamingoes. Spread over 1,600 hectares between Airoli and Vashi bridges, on the western bank of Thane Creek, the Sanctuary will be managed by the Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit of the Mangrove Cell of the Forest Department. The study for assessment of biodiversity including flamingoes in the sanctuary area has been taken up by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History and will be completed next month. In the meanwhile, regular patrolling is being carried out in the sanctuary and fortunately, there have been no reports of poaching of flamingoes in the area, said N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forests, Mangrove Cell, Mumbai. He also informed that the Forest Department has planned to develop a biodiversity centre on the Navi Mumbai side of the sanctuary.



This centre will allow people to hire boats to go look at flamingoes, he added.Yet the future doesnt bode well for these flamingoes. The foundation stone for a multipurpose cargo port was laid in December 2015. Touted to be developed in multiple phases, the port will have a ship building and repair yard and a thermal power plant. Location of these activities is alarmingly close to the newly notified sanctuary and such disturbances are likely to cause serious threat to the survival of these birds.



Also, Maharashtra government is aiming at beginning the work of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project in 2016. It is a proposed 22-km road bridge connecting Mumbai with Navi Mumbai. The bridge will begin in Sewri, South Mumbai and cross Thane Creek north of Elephanta Island and will terminate at Chirle village, near Nhava Sheva. State agencies have claimed to have taken all the environment mitigation measures, but there are speculations among birdwatchers and environmentalists that with the commencement of MTHL construction work, a lot of disturbance will be created in and around the bird habitat, consequently affecting the number of flamingoes visiting Sewri mudflats.

Poaching of flamingoes in Uran tehsil close to Navi Mumbai made the news in 2014. Last year, a couple of injured birds were rescued, again in Uran; they had either accidently hit high tension cable wires or were harmed by poachers. The list seems endless. It is high time the policy makers, government agencies, developers and even the common man take concrete steps to conserve flamingoes, otherwise Mumbai will lose this majestic bird very soon!




Tata Motors has signed an agreement with Bharat Forge and US-based General Dynamics Land Systems for the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoDs) future infantry combat vehicle (FICV) programme.





Tata Motors will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge as a partner, while General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its much proven expertise in combat vehicle platforms, the Indian auto major said.



Tata Motors will play on its strengths related to design, development and integration of mobility platforms, while Bharat Forge will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths.



General Dynamics proven expertise, as SOSI (a system of systems integrator) in various integrational programmes, will bring in the required competency enabling Tata Motors, the lead integrator, to offer a truly indigenous solution for this Make programme, Tata Motors said. The FICV, to be developed under the Make Category, is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle, for infantry men to keep pace with new advancements in weaponry system and will replace the Indian Armys fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP series armed vehicles.



Through this partnership, we will be better positioned to help the country realise its Make in India vision, for the first completely indigenised combat vehicle, Tata Motors executive director Ravi Pisharody said.
Thousands of litres of coconut water generated in temples and desiccated coconut mills is literally going down the drain, though the precious liquid can be used to make nata de coco, a foodstuff which is in demand in West Asia.





At least 3,000 litres of coconut water is estimated to be generated every day in temples and mills which release it into water bodies and pollute them. A professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) here has developed a technology to convert this water into nata de coco which is a chewy, jelly-like food product that can be served as biosweet in ice creams, fruit preparations like cocktails and salads.



Prof B Narayanaswamy, who teaches agricultural microbiology, said the technique converts coconut water into nata de coco through solid fermentation by adding ingredients such as pure bacterial cellulose, sugar syrup and added natural flavour.



Native flavour can be added to nata de coco to boost the sales. Non-food products can also be produced from coconut water, he said.



Setting up a plant to process 100 litres of water requires an investment of Rs 5 lakh and the business can be expanded depending on the scope. Though people feel the product is not saleable in Karnataka, it is in demand in several West Asian countries which import it from the Philippines. Narayanaswamy said that a lack of awareness about nata de coco was the reason behind poor response. People dont know that it provides an exciting business opportunity, he said, ruefully. Jobless men can start the business as the raw materials are available free of charge because disposing them is a headache for mills and temples. The professor said that his two-decade-long effort in popularising the technique in Karnataka had evoked poor response as neither the government nor the temple managements wanted to adopt the technique to make byproducts and make money. He said he had met government officials, especially in the Muzrai Department, appealing them to set up coconut water-processing plants as temples generate 5,000-7,000 litre of coconut water but their response was discouraging.



He said he was willing to guide if jobless people were ready to start nata de coco business.


The Forest Department has started evaluating its works, projects and schemes by roping in retired Principal Chief Conservators of Forest (PCCFs), private organisations, researchers, sociologists and civil engineers. It wants to know which projects have failed and which are doing well.





The Central government has directed all states to assess their works. The Forest Department has many projects, the most important of which is plantation. It spends around Rs 300 crore on plantation and about Rs 80 crore on wildlife projects. Preliminary investigation shows there is 80 % success rate in roadside plantation on highways. But in dry zones like Ballari, Vijayapura and Bagalkot, co-operation from people and other departments has been tepid. Through evaluation, we will know where better to spend the funds, Additional PCCF (Evaluation) K N Murthy told Deccan Herald.



The department also spends on schemes like distribution of seedlings and LPG cylinders, setting up of nurseries, rainwater harvesting, building homes and tribal welfare. Murthy said that it could reduce funds to the Vana Samarthane scheme under which Hindu mutts plant and conserve saplings, besides special component plans like beekeeping and supply of bamboo poles for making homes. Schemes like soil conservation and species plantation can be improved, he said but added that a better picture would emerged only after evaluation.



The agreement on evaluation was signed in December 2015 and the work started in February 2016. But the groundwork will start only in June 2016 and the report will be ready by September-end. To ensure faster processing, an Android app has been designed for teams to update the data.



During the tendering last year, NGOs and research organisations from Dharwad, Mumbai, Kalaburagi and Bengaluru formed teams with six people each  retired forest officer, soil conservationist (retired water shed or agricultural officer), civil engineer (retired or trained), sociologist, statistician and attendant. These teams will cover all 14 circles in Karnataka, including urban and rural areas.



The Forest Department did the first evaluation of six projects in 2012: Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, First Finance Commission, National Afforestation Programme, Bamboo Mission, Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plan.



This was done after the government set up the Karnataka Evaluation Authority to assess the projects funded by the State and the Centre. The committee was formed after the Central government introduced an evaluating policy asking for internal evaluations and schemes funded by it across all departments in 2011.
The eve of Womens Day became an occasion to honour women who have made a difference to society.



On Monday, the Lisa School of Design celebrated a womans brave rationality in busting myths, anothers efforts to remove taxation on Braille papers and yet anothers kind heart for adopting several street children as her own.



Thejashree Hulikal was in class four when her father asked her to walk barefoot on glass pieces to bust a myth. She is the daughter of Hulikal Nataraj, popularly known as a miracle buster.



Thejashree is a student of agriculture and wants to reach out to the masses, who fall prey to self-styled godmen and their stunts. There are so many people out there who believe in magic and go by blind beliefs. I want to help them out of it, she said. The young girl braved a night alone at an abandoned government hostel in Dharwad to disprove rumours of a haunting ghost in the building.



When I went there, I was told that a woman had died there a few weeks ago and that her soul continued to haunt people. I spent a night there to prove that there was nothing of that sort and that there was a political motive behind it, she said.



Another student who was honoured on the occasion was Chandana Chandrashekar from Mount Carmel College. She approached Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to have the import duty on Braille papers removed.



Her request was forwarded to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who made the announcement in the Union budget. Aloma Lobo, who has become a foster mother to several street children in Bengaluru was also honoured on the occasion. She opened her home to many abandoned children.


While admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) quota are underway, the fate of schools that are not receiving any RTE applications remains uncertain.





A principal of a private school in Kammanahalli with 50 children and functioning in a rented building said: We have been recognised by the government and were allotted five seats under the RTE quota this year and three seats last year.



However, we got no admissions under this quota, probably due to our poor infrastructure.



The RTE Act prescribes certain minimum infrastructure requirements in schools like a building, classrooms, a library and separate toilets for boys and girls. The State government has its own set of guidelines for starting schools like minimum land, registration fees, etc. Yet many schools without these facilities continue to function.



Last year, 237 schools in the State received no RTE applications. As many as 45 schools in Kalaburagi district had not received any RTE applications while 36 schools in Bidar district drew blank when it came to RTE applications. Officials claim that parents shunned these schools mostly due to poor infrastructure.



K Anand, director, Primary Education, told Deccan Herald: Private schools that fail to get admissions and applications under the RTE would be asked to close down, he said.



How can they ask us to shut down? We are running the school with our own resources. We are not breaking any rules, but on the contrary, providing service to those who need such schools, said a principal of another school in Devarajeevanahalli that did not get any admissions under the quota, last year.



V P Niranjan Aradhaya, faculty member at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), said the government should take serious note of this and ask such schools to comply with RTE norms immediately. The government should send inspection teams to ensure compliance by such schools, he added. He said parents cannot be compelled to send their children to such schools although it was the responsibility of the department to ensure all schools comply with norms laid down by the competent authority. Parents not sending their children to such schools is a kind of referendum on the condition of such schools, he said.
Strong stench welcomed morning walkers at the Ulsoor lake on Monday. The malodour was of the fish that died in the lake since Sunday night and up to Monday morning.



The foul smell of the dead fish floating in the water body soon spread throughout Ulsoor area, much to the discomfort of the residents. The development did not come as a surprise though. The people say this was bound to happen, given the fact that sewage was entering the lake unchecked and that the civic agencies cared two hoots for it. Experts attributed the death of fish to the shortage of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water body, due to its contamination.



The sudden death of fish on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday is a setback for efforts by some of the departments that projected the lake as a prime tourist destination of the future, especially with the proposal to create a floating restaurant there. Conservationists point a finger at the officials concerned for not taking enough steps for the protection of the lake, spread over an area of 50 hectares.



The water colour was changing and the stench was overpowering. It was brought to the notice of officials of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). But they did not care. The stench is so unbearable that it will take months for it to subside, Maheshwar, a resident of Ulsoor, said.



However, the departments concerned have launched the clean-up act in the lake on a war-footing, so that there is no threat of outbreak of an epidemic.



Dr C S Ananth, assistant director (south) of the Fisheries department, said sewage was entering the lake from upstream channels. Local fish breed Punitius Ticto, besides Katla and Common Carp were among those found dead in the lake.



Officials of the BBMP, BWSSB and the KSPCB took stock of the situation in the afternoon. KSPCB chairman Lakshman said there could be many causes for the death of fish in the lake. Water samples have been collected and a report on the exact cause will be released in 72 hours, Lakshman said.



Legal action will be taken against offenders. The pH level was checked on Monday morning and it was normal, at 7, he said. We have asked for copies of the agreement between the fisheries department and the contractors in charge of maintaining the lake. This is to know at what intervals the lake is cleaned and identify deviations, if any. It seems that the level of DO is less in the lake. Excessive fish breeding could be another reason, Lakshman said.



Over a year ago, civic agencies were instructed to construct sewage treatment plants (STPs) at Ulsoor lake and other lakes in the City. They were told to keep a check on them regularly, but that does not seem to have happened, the KSPCB chairman said. A meeting with heads of all the departments will be held and their explanations will be recorded. No stone will be left unturned to resolve the crisis, he added.



Lakshman has issued directions to officers to check the water quality levels in all the lakes on a war-footing and prepare a report, in the wake of summer. The High Court has taken note of the contaminated lakes and asked the KSPCB to submit a detailed report in this regard.










A mentally challenged man reportedly swallowed a gold chain after stealing it from a nurse at McGann Hospital here on Monday.





The man, Abhishekh, 30, a resident of Aldur, Chikkamagaluru district, was brought to the hospital in an ambulance after he was attacked by villagers at Basavapura in Shivamogga taluk when he tried to rob a woman of her gold chain.



Once in the hospital, he is said to have snatched the gold chain of a nurse treating her and then swallowed it. The hospital staff managed to retrieve the chain from his mouth, but the pendant remains in his stomach.



The Doddapete police have registered a case and are investigating it.
The Outer Ring Companies Association (ORRCA) has proposed a common bus system along the busy outer ring road to reduce traffic congestion. Under the system, employees of different companies along the road share a bus instead of using their individual vehicles.



ORRCA president Poornaprajna told Deccan Herald that the common bus system concept (CBS) is not new and has been running successfully in Hinjewadi, Pune, for the last one-and-a-half years. We just want to replicate it here, he said.



He explained that transport vehicles of various companies are not fully utilised. For example, there are many companies in north Bengaluru, and each have their own transport vehicles. They all travel in the same direction with 30-40% of the seats vacant. Under the CBS, this transport vehicle will be shared by employees of other firms. However, for this, the transport departments permission is needed. Poornaprajna said there is no need to introduce new buses and the system can work with the existing BMTC, private or company buses.



He said they will hold a meeting with the traffic police department and then a proposal will be tabled before the transport department. Once the permission is granted, we plan to introduce it on a pilot basis this month with one or two companies and start a full fledged service in six months, he added. This service is planned for those working between 8 am and 6 pm. It is not meant for night shift employees, especially women, where security is a concern and they need to be dropped home. The buses will pick up and drop people at common bus stops and from there employees will make their own arrangements. It will not operate a fixed hours, but will have periodical and flexible frequencies.



The financial modalities are still being finalised. ORRCA is planning to provide passes of Rs 1,000-1,200. There will also be monthly, quarterly or six-month passes, with incentives for employees. Forty companies and around a lakh employees are members of ORRCA.



Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem said he is aware of the proposal and said they were working out the modalities with them. He said that though it was a good concept for reducing traffic on the ORR, it is for the transport department to clear it.




A student of BSc second year, she was reluctant to marry someone, who had not even cleared 10th standard and had also voiced her opposition to the wedding to her parents though without success.





Firm on her decision, she devised another plan. She flew the coop while on way to the house of her in-laws with the groom.



According to the police sources here, Ranjana (name changed), a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district, about 250 kilometres from here, had been married to Deepak Kumar (name changed) , a resident of state's Jaluan district on Friday.



Sources said that Ranjana, who was pursuing B.Sc from a local college in Balrampur, was unwilling to marry Deepak as the latter had quit his studies after failing to clear 10th standard.



Ranjana's parents, however, went ahead with the marriage, which was solemnized on Friday.



The wedding party, which had arrived at Balrampur on Friday, left for Jalaun on Saturday evening. The bride, groom and the groom's brother were in a car while the rest of the wedding party was travelling by bus.



On the way, Ranjana made the car stop before her college saying that she had to discuss about the examination schedule with the teachers. She went inside and returned after about 45 minutes, sources said.



As the car approached the state capital, she once again asked the groom to stop the car stating that she had to answer the call of nature. The groom, however, said that he would have the car stop at some secluded place.



Ranjana went out to `answer the call of nature', when the car stopped a few kilometres away from the Lucknow airport, but never returned. A search was made by the wedding party but she was not found.



A report was lodged with the police, which also launched a search operation in the nearby areas but she could not be traced.



Police officials, who spoke to Ranjana's parents, apprehended that she might have deserted the groom as she wanted to pursue her studies. The wedding party had to return to Jalaun without her.




In a major crackdown, the Bengaluru Urban district authorities raided 19 illegal sand manufacturing units in two villages of Mylasandra and Yelenahalli in Begur hobli of Bengaluru South taluk and seized them recently.





During a survey of an illegal layout in the Begur hobli, the district authorities chanced upon these sand units and raided them. District officials said in Mylasandra village, four units in survey number 18 were being run by Yesu Kumar, Ramesh Muniyappa and Andanappa and two units in survey number 74/3 were operated by Muniyallappa, Selvaraj and Ramappa. While four units in survey number 85 belonged to Amulraj, Bhogappa, John Abraham and Damodaran, two units in survey number 87 were run by Gopi and Kodathi Ramesh. Four units in survey number 107 belonged to Nagaraju, Naveen Raj, Pillappa and Modhal Mutthu while two units in survey number 88 were owned by Balaraju and Murthiraj. In survey number 44 of Yelenahalli, Dopanahalli Muniraju and Manjunath Reddy operated one sand mining unit.



The authorities swooped down to these units with the help of Electronics City police, taking the owners by surprise. Fearing action, the owners of these sand manufacturing units escaped.



They destroyed the water tanks, sheds, concrete platforms for washing the excavated soil to convert it into sand and dry it later.A revenue officer said these units were set up in a close proximity to each other. These were the lands granted by the district authorities only for agriculture but the owners turned them into filter sand manufacturing units.
A 20-year-old youth was beaten up by his girlfriends father and brother, when he went to meet her near her house at Chamundeshwari Nagar in Hebbal on Sunday night.





The police said that the victim Kumar, 20, a resident of Papanna Block, was working as a promoter with Airtel company. He is currently undergoing treatment in Baptist Hospital and is said to be out of danger. The girls father and brother Vinod have been arrested.



Kumar was in a relationship with a PU student for the past six years. Recently, Vinod, who checked her mobile phone, discovered this. Vinod warned her and Kumar was told that he should not talk to her or see her, police said.



On Sunday, around 11 pm, the girl called up Kumar on his mobile phone and asked him to come near her house, as she wanted to discuss about their marriage. Kumar obliged.



The girls father, who could not find her in the house, went looking for her and found his daughter talking to Kumar. He dragged both of them to his house and locked up Kumar in a room.



The girls father and Vinod thrashed Kumar black and blue and threatened to kill him if he tries to talk to her again, before letting him go, police said.



A bleeding Kumar was rushed to a hospital and the police were informed. Kumars mother lodged a complaint against the girls father and Vinod.A case has been registered and investigation is on.


The Jnanabharathi police have arrested three men and seized 518 kg of Red Sanders from them.





Syed Ashfaq Mehdi, 25, Syed Saddam, 25, and Mohammed Fazal, 45, are the suspects.

On Friday night, the beat police came across a motorcycle with a huge sack on it.



Saddam and Fazal who were on the motorcycle abandoned the vehicle and took to their heels. The police chased them down some distance away. On inspecting the sack, they found that it was filled with pieces of Red Sander, weighing more than 10 kg.



The duo was taken to the police station and interrogated. Saddam and Fazal said they had brought the precious wood from a godown in Channapatna.



On Sunday, a team of police went to the godown, arrested Mehdi and seized around 500 kg of Red Sanders. The trio said that they were trying to find a prospective buyer for the precious wood in Bengaluru.



They are being questioned to ascertain where they got the wood from.


A 33-year-old autorickshaw driver committed suicide by consuming poison near Rajajinagar in northern Bengaluru on Sunday evening. He was upset that his wife had deserted him.





Police said that Shivakumar went to Rajajinagar by his auto-rickshaw and parked it by the roadside and consumed poison. Several passengers tried waking him up but in vain. Around 10 pm, a passerby noticed Shivakumar lying inside the auto-rickshaw and frothing from the mouth.



He alerted the public and Shivakumar was shifted to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. His family members, who were informed, told police that he was upset after his wife quarrelled with him and went to her parents house and refused to return. They said that he would come home drunk every night and create a ruckus.



Woman hangs herself



In another incident, a 25-year-old woman committed suicide at her home in Railway Colony in Jnanabharathi, west Bengaluru. Police said Shruthi had married a cab driver, Santhosh, around eight years ago and they had a four-year-old daughter. Recently, they had separated due to family issues. Shruthi and her daughter were living with her mother.



On Sunday around 8 pm, Shruthi locked herself in her bedroom. After a couple of hours, her mother knocked on the door but there was no response. When she peeped through the window, she noticed Shruthi hanging from the ceiling.



Neighbours and police broke open the door and shifted her body for post-mortem. Her mother said she was upset after being separated from her husband and this could have prompted her to take the extreme step, the police said.
President Pranab Mukherjee has decided not to attend the Art of Living Foundations world cultural festival scheduled to begin here from March 11, amid a controversy over holding of the three-day mega event on the flood plains of the Yamuna.



Though there was no official statement from the Presidents office, PTI quoted a Rashtrapati Bhavan official as saying, The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances. The President had earlier consented to attend the valedictory ceremony of the mega cultural festival scheduled on Sunday.



Being organised under the aegis of Sri Sri Ravi Shankars Art of Living Foundation, the gala event has hit a road-block with an environment activist Manoj Mishra recently filing a petition before the National Green Tribunal seeking an order to stop the holding of the event on Yamuna flood plains.



In his petition, Mishra pleaded the tribunal for imposition of exemplary fine on the government agencies including the Delhi Development Authority for granting its permission and the Art of Living Foundation for damaging the environment and their non-compliance of the orders of the tribunal.



The tribunal is expected to pass an order on Mishras petition on Tuesday, even as preparations for holding of the three-day event by its organiser were on full swing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the festival on March 11.



According to PTI, the Indian Army, which has already built a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna for the upcoming cultural festival, is likely to build one more such bridge to ease movement of lakhs of people to be making a beeline to the venue to participate in the event.



A separate bridge has been erected by the public works department. Lakhs of people are expected to turn up. There is a question of law and order and also fears of stampede. Permission has been granted by authorities concerned to host the event. If a permission has been given, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is run smoothly," the news agency quoted a defence sources as saying.



Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the defence secretary to look into the issue, it added. While organisers of the event are expecting participation of over 3 million people in the festival, a committee appointed by the NGT recently recommended imposing of a fine of Rs 120 crore on the Art of Living foundations, observing that the construction work for the festival caused environment damages on Yamuna floodplains.



In an interview to a television channel, however, Sri Sri Ravishankar described the committees report as completely biased, saying the Art of Living Foundation should be rewarded for organising such an event.


Even as Gujarat continues to be on high terror alert since Saturday, after Pakistan National Security Agency shared information of probable intrusion of 8-10 terrorists into the country through Gujarat, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) is learnt to have captured 18 Indian fishermen.



The interception of three Indian boats with the fishermen aboard took place in the Arabian Sea off Jakhau coast in Kutch late Sunday night.



The boats were captured near the International Maritime Boundary Line, National Fish Workers Forum Secretary Manish Lodhari said on Monday. It may even be five boats but we are awaiting confirmation from Pakistan, he added. Ironically, the Pakistan government had released 86 Indian fishermen from it's custody on Sunday for allegedly violating it's territorial waters over time.



With their latest capture, the Pakistani Maritime agency has so far captured 63 Indian fishing boats with more than 570 fishermen from near the Gujarat coast since October last.



Meanwhile, security agencies in the state continued to remain on high alert on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Monday, based on intelligence inputs that 8-10 fidayeens from the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba had sneaked into Gujarat. The teams of the National Security Guards (NSG), sent by the Centre, too were deployed and armed policemen were seen manning innumerable posts across the state.



Amid the terror alert and tight security arrangements, large numbers of devotees on Monday thronged Shiva temples across the state, including two of the 12 Jyotirlingas at Somnath and Nageshwar, to offer prayers on Mahashivratri.



Security was on the highest alert at all the important temples across the state, including Somnath, Dwarka, Nageshwar in Devbhoomi Dwarka, Dakor and others, which have been converted into virtual fortresses. The NSG guarded the famous Somnath temple situated on the western coast of Gujarat.



Sources at Gir Somnath said that though some of the cultural programmes at the temple were cancelled, traditional rituals on Mahashivratri were performed as usual.



Traditional Palkhi Yatra was taken out and Maha Arati was attended by thousands. According to police reports, no untoward incident related to national security has been reported from the state. The police is patrolling and carrying out search operations across airports, railway stations and other important places in major cities.




Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed the security situation in the country following inputs that 10 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) sneaked into India through Gujarat.



The review came as the country was celebrating Shivratri and the inputs suggested that the terrorists may target temples. Singh chaired the high-level meeting during which top officials briefed him about the measures taken by security forces across the country to avert any possible terror strike.



Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma attended the meeting among others.Four teams of National Security Guards (NSG) have taken position in different locations in Gujarat. They could be deployed to any place in case of an emergency, official sources said.



Singh directed officials to beef up security in strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats. He wanted a fool-proof arrangement in all crowded places, sources said.



The input about 10 terrorists was shared with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval by his Pakistan counterpart Naseer Khan Janjua. However, Indian authorities are yet to trace them.



An alert has been sounded in Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. Security was tightened at major temples in Delhi and other cities, amid the terror alert.



Patrolling around temples, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places like metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus has been stepped up, officials said.
Leaving the R K Pachauri episode behind, The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) now plans to open up two new campuses to generate trained manpower on green issues.





We are planning to open up two new campuses at Guwahati and Hyderabad and approached the University Grants Commission for approval, Leena Srivastava, vice-chancellor of Teri University said here on Monday on the sidelines of the university convocation.



Srivastava confirmed that former Teri chief R K Pachauri, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment by two former Teri employees, would not be attending the convocation.



The tainted environmentalist had to drop out after some of the Teri university students objected to his presence and refused to accept their degrees from his hand.



Currently, the executive vice-chairman in the Teri governing council, Pachauri is on leave as one of the harassment cases is being heard by the board. Srivastava, a Teri veteran, is also a member of the council.



Srivastava said the university was in talks with the Karnataka government that offered a piece of land to the institute. But as the land was encroached, the project is stalled for the time being. Asked about the other two campuses, she said the doctoral programme in Guwahati could roll out soon from a rented space as Teris own physical infrastructure was likely to come up by 2018.
Germany is set to help India turn Kochi, Coimbatore and Bhubaneshwar into smart cities as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet project to build 100 such cities across India.





Senior officials of Germany and India on Monday discussed bilateral cooperation in Smart Cities Programme in New Delhi on Monday. Germany is committed to helping India make a success of its Smart Cities Programme, State Secretary Gunther Adler of the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety said in New Delhi. He said that Germany would contribute to Indias Smart Cities Programme  particularly to projects in Kochi, Bhubaneshwar and Coimbatore. Germany wants to support the ambitious Smart Cities programme. Here, the German Building Ministry also supports German companies that want to cooperate intensively with Indian partners in order to assist Indian cities in implementing their plan, said Adler, who is currently on a two-day-visit to India.



Adler led the delegation from Berlin in the second meeting of the India-Germany Working Group on Urban Development in New Delhi on Monday. He was also joined by Berlins envoy to New Delhi, Martin Ney, and other senior German officials. The Indian delegation was led by Madhusudan Prasad, Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development, and Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Adler also had a meeting with representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi. Germany is an ideal partner in Indias endeavor to create smarter cities. We are very strong at smart planning for urban centres. We have developed the technologies to make life in cities easier, said Ney.



Ney also noted that Germany had already been engaged in various fields related to Smart Cities  such as sustainable urban mobility, water and waste-water management, renewable energies and energy efficiency.
Matriculation or the school leaving certificate is a valid proof of age, but it does not mean a Higher Secondary School leaving document could not be used for the purpose, the Supreme Court has held.



Higher Secondary School leaving certificate is also proof of age, the SC has ruled, expanding the age certificate criteria. Earlier, a school leaving certificate or secondary school certificate was considered as age proof.



No doubt, certain documents are specified in the eligibility criteria which would be accepted by the Corporation (authorities) as proof of age. In case, a copy of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate can be accepted as proof of age, it does not even strike to common sense as to why the copy of the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate, duly attested, cannot be accepted as proof of age, a bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.



The apex court clarified the legal position while allowing an appeal filed by Hina against a Bombay High Court order, which rejected her plea for allotment of retail outlet or petroleum or diesel dealership on the ground she submitted higher secondary certificate instead of secondary school certificate as criterion for age.



It is seen from the eligibility criteria, even an affidavit was sufficient as proof of age. Be that as it may, in case, the copy of the secondary school leaving certificate meets the requirement of the eligibility criteria, we fail to understand as to how it makes a difference in case the school leaving certificate is of the Higher Secondary School, the bench said.



The court allowed the appellant for participation in the selection process for the dealership while clarifying that it has not amended the criteria.




Mumbais oldest and Asias second largest red-light district, Kamathipura, is all set to transform into a modern township with its tennents, landlords and other stakeholders agreeing for the facelift plan.





The neighbourhood is divided roughly into 14 lanes, each according to the ethno-linguistic backgrounds of the sex workers residing there. Originally christened Lal Bazaar, it acquired its current name after Kamathis or workers from Telangana.

The tenants have agreed for the development plan, Mumbadevi Congress MLA Amin Patel told Deccan Herald on Monday.



The landlords have also endorsed the plan to transform the place into a proper township with schools, colleges, playgrounds, hospitals and other amenities, he added.



Despite nestling between some of the citys poshest localities like Malabar Hill, Colaba, Worli and Mazgaon, Kamathipura did not undergo any major development for decades due to its red-light tag.



However, Patel said the project would transform lives of the 7,000 tenements and 30,000 residents of the neighbourhood.



It is a big project, the need of the hour for the seamless development of south Mumbai, Patel said.



Armed with a feasibility report from renowned project management consultant Sailesh Mahimtura, Kamathipura Landlord Association (KLA) is all set to float a global tender inviting interest to develop the 40-acre neighbourhood at the heart of the city. Each residents have asked for a 525 square feet houses with all modern amenities.



In 1992, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded 50,000 sex workers here, which came down to 1,600 in 2009 and has further dwindled to a mere 500 currently.



Safed Gully (White Lane), the busy street in Kamathipura reputed to have housed European prostitutes, is evidence of the neighbourhoods early notoriety for flesh trade. The street has since been renamed Cursetji Shuklaji Street.

The citys first venereal disease clinic was opened in 1916, and was taken over by BMC in 1925.


Leadership vacuum and disillusionment appears to be taking hold of the Maoists as official figures revealed a steep hike in the number of ultras surrendering before the police.





According to a home ministry data, the first 45-days of the year saw 201 Maoists laying down their arms. For officials, these numbers are very encouraging as they believe if the trend continues, there would be a record number of Maoists surrendering during the year.



According to details placed before Parliament last week, till February 15, the biggest was in Chhattisgarh where 173 Maoists laid down their arms. This accounted to 87.5% of the surrenders.



Maharashtra witnessed 18 surrenders this year while Odisha saw six till February 15. On Monday, another 39 Maoist supporters, including seven members of the armed militia and 12 village committee members, surrendered in Odishas Malkangiri.



Last year, there were 570 surrenders across the country with Chhattisgarh topping the list with 323. In 2014, there were 676 surrenders with Chhattisgarh again topping the list with 413 such cases.



Officials feel that there is a churning in the Maoist circles and the figures from Chhattisgarh is an encouragement to pursue the ultras through a proactive rehabilitation policy.



If we can offer attractive rehabilitation policy, we can certainly ensure surrender of a large number of Maoist cadres, said an official in the home ministry. At present, a surrendered higher-ranking Maoist leader gets Rs 2.5 lakh, and middle and lower-level cadres Rs 1.5 lakh as an immediate grant, besides Rs 4,000 per month for 36 months.



The additional incentives given for surrender of weapons range from Rs 10 to Rs 35,000 per weapon, depending on the type of weapon surrendered, from a Light Machine Gun to a Rocket Launcher.


Under attack from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit back saying he and the BJP can attack him as much as you want but asked him to desist from crushing the weak and the poor.





Interacting with the media after meeting tribals from Chhattisgarh, Rahul accused the Modi government of suppressing the voice of tribal people in Bastar region of the state.



Linking the issue of tribal rights with that of Dalits and the youth, the Congress leader said the Modi government was trying to crush the people who were raising their voice against them. Be it farmers, Dalits, tribals or small traders, wherever a weak person is raising voice, NDA government, Modi government is trying to crush it, Rahul said accusing the government of suppressing the voice of Dalit student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad and Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU.



The Congress leader dared Modi and his government to take action against him. Modi attacked me personally. Everyday his party leaders attack me personally. Launch as many personal attacks as you want. But, do not hit the poor people of this country, he said. A group of tribal people from the Bastar region met Rahul with complains of atrocities allegedly committed by police personnel on them. A senior Congress leader said the tribal people narrated how their womenfolk were raped and molested by security personnel carrying out anti-Naxal combing operation in the Bastar region.
Indias consulate at Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan may be shifted to another location within the city itself in order to protect it better from future terrorist attacks.



The recent series of attacks on its missions in Afghanistan prompted India to upgrade security of its embassy in Kabul and its four consulates in the war-torn country  in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.



Salim Khan Kunduzi, Governor of Nangrahar province of Afghanistan, recently proposed shifting the Consulate General of India (CGI) in the provincial capital Jalalabad to a more secure location within the city itself. During a meeting with Indias ambassador to Afghanistan, Manpreet Vohra, in Jalalabad last week, Kunduzi also offered a more secure place to shift the CGI to, officials told Deccan Herald in New Delhi.



The CGI is at present located at Ilaka No 2 in Habibabad in Jalalabad. New Delhi will study the proposal and is likely to send a team of officials to Jalalabad for a security assessment of the newly offered site before deciding on shifting the CGI.



The proposal came after the latest terror attack on the CGI in Jalalabad on March 2 last. None of the officials of the CGI suffered any serious injury. But three people  a policeman and two civilians  were killed and 19 others were hurt when the terrorists blew themselves up after the Afghan National Police personnel thwarted their bid to enter the CGI.



Preliminary investigation by the National Directorate of Security of Afghan Government revealed that the terrorists had crossed over from Pakistan to Afghanistan to carry out the attack.


Beleaguered head of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya suffered a double blow on Monday.



First, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) barred him from accessing Diageos $75-million (Rs 515 crore) severance package till the loan default case with State Bank of India is settled.



Second, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case of money laundering against him for defaulting on a Rs 900 crore loan taken from IDBI. In its bid to recover over Rs 7,000-crore loan from Mallya, a consortium of 17 lenders led by SBI last week moved four applications before the DRT seeking Mallyas arrest, impounding of his passport, lenders first right on Diageos $75-million payout package and getting full disclosure of his assets in the country and abroad.



At a jam-packed DRT court hall in Bengaluru, Judge C R Benakanahalli said: Defendant number 3 (Mallya), temporarily shall not draw amount mentioned in the present IA (interlocutory application) till disposal of the Original Application (OA), as sought by applicants banks in the present IA.



The judge added: Diageo company/defendant number 7 and the United Spirits, company shall not temporarily disburse the amount to defendant no 3/his nominee/his assignee or agents etc, temporarily till disposal of the OA. Till disposal of present OA, amount mentioned in the IA as sought by the applicants banks stands attached. The next hearing will be on March 28.



A case was registered by the EDs Mumbai zonal wing based on an FIR by the CBI. The ED initiates money laundering probe in Kingfisher case on the basis of FIR filed by CBI on the basis of IDBI Bank complaint in loan case, the agency tweeted.



Sources said the ED is likely to summon Mallya soon for questioning. The ED would look into the overall financial structure of Kingfisher Airlines and the documents it has collected from authorities concerned and IDBI.



The CBI registered the case after a preliminary enquiry last year into the allegations of IDBI Bank giving loan to the crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines by overlooking negative credit ratings and net worth.



The issue came to light after the CBI arrested Syndicate Bank chairman and managing-director S K Jain on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for increasing the credit limit of some companies in violation of banking rules.



The CBI had booked Mallya, director of Kingfisher Airlines, A Raghunathan, chief financial officer of the airlines, and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR stating that the loan was sanctioned in violation of credit limit norms.



The ED will be looking into the proceeds of crime that would have been generated using the slush funds of the loan fraud.




Gender disparity is glaring in the State police force. Though there are a good number of women sub-inspectors and inspectors, only one police station in the State has a woman Station House Officer (SHO).



All the 900 odd police stations are headed by male sub-inspectors and inspectors except the Gangammanagudi station in Bengaluru which is led by Inspector Mary Shailaja. Though the recruitment and training module for male and female officers is the same, women officers hardly get the opportunity to function as SHOs. In police commissionerates such as Bengaluru, the SHO of a police station is an inspector and in the districts it is sub-inspector.



The only solace for women officers is that women inspectors are heading traffic police stations in Bengaluru. While women IPS officers are appointed as SPs of districts, women sub-inspectors and inspectors have been denied an opportunity to head the police stations.



When Deccan Herald spoke to top brass of the State police as well as retired IPS officers about the disparity, they came out with varied opinions. Retired DGP Jija Hari Singh said: There are women who would like to take up the job. But unfortunately very few were made inspector of Law and Order, that too for a short period. The post of an inspector comes with huge tasks and tremendous challenges.



Firstly, women have to face tough competition from their male counterparts, who are highly preferred. Secondly, being a SHO requires the instinct to deal with various circumstances. Thirdly, men are preferred for the post considering their physical strength.



Jija, who has a PhD on Womens Empowerment in Karnataka police department, said a mindset still persists that women cannot handle challenging situations. Women in police department are often given jobs with less risk factor. Being an inspector is not an easy job, as they will have to deal with the situation inside and outside the police station.



A woman officer, who had served in Bengaluru, said: A woman becoming an SHO has its own pros and cons. Several illegal deals which take place in police stations, especially land deals, will be curbed, as approaching a woman officer and bribing her is difficult. On the other hand, it is a bit risky when a woman has to deal with rowdies. This is where the physical strength comes into picture and obviously we are weaker. Also, women have more family commitments which prevent them from taking up such posts.



Bengaluru Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said: We would love to see women as inspectors of L&O station. But, we should also look into the number of women officers of that particular rank available for posting. These days women achieve glory in every field and I am sure they can do a good job as inspectors.


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
The U.S. Supreme Court may be nearing a decision on whether to hear a case brought against Colorado by two neighboring states over marijuana legalization.

Supreme Court justices were scheduled to meet privately Friday to discuss the case, which was filed in 2014 by the attorneys general in Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The justices wont have decided at the meeting whether to upend legalization in Colorado, as the lawsuit requests. Instead, the justices must decide first whether even to take up the case.

Their decision could be announced as early as Monday. But Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver who specializes in marijuana law and who has followed the lawsuit closely, said there are no guarantees the justices even got around to talking about the case Friday. The court twice before had scheduled to discuss the case at conferences, only for the discussion to be pushed back.

We just dont know whats going on behind the scenes, Kamin said.

In the lawsuit, Nebraska and Oklahoma ask the Supreme Court to overturn Colorados system for licensing marijuana businesses, which was part of the states 2012 initiative that legalized cannabis. The neighboring states argue the commercialization allowed in state law impermissibly conflicts with federal law, and they say marijuana flowing across Colorados borders has created a burden for them.

Colorado officials defended the laws legality  saying it doesnt negate the federal governments ability to criminalize pot. The Obama administration also urged the Supreme Court not to take the case.

Because the case involves a dispute between states, the lawsuit was filed directly to the Supreme Court. Four justices must vote in favor of hearing the case for the court to take it. If that happens, it starts a likely years-long process of filings and arguments before a final decision is reached.

Kamin said it is unclear what impact the death of Justice Antonin Scalia will have on the case. At a speech in Boulder a couple of months before the suit was filed, Scalia seemed to support its general argument.

The Constitution contains something called the Supremacy Clause, he said about marijuana, referencing the provision that says federal law tops state law when the two are in direct conflict.

Kamin said the Supreme Court may shy away from taking big cases while operating with only eight justices.
Guatemalan operator Tigo has signed an agreement with international aid organisation Oxfam to continue to distribute aid using mobile money to people in the areas of the country that are the most affected by malnutrition.

Oxfam, an organisation that pioneers technology solutions, has chosen Tigo Money to use its secure system and the network of authorised agents to deliver funds to aid such communities. Oxfam funds are used to cover basic needs of food and shelter for the most impoverished families. The agreement extends the cooperation that started in December 2012 when Oxfam distributed funds via Tigo Money to families who lost their homes due to the earthquake in San Marcos.

Tigos General Manager, Luis Fernando Valladares Guillen, said: At Tigo Money we really appreciate that an organisation such as Oxfam has chosen us as a channel to reach poor families in a fast, safe, and accessible manner thanks to our large network of authorised agents throughout the country. We are certain that through our experience, technology, services, and great enthusiasm to help our fellow Guatemalans we will meet and surpass expectations.

From the beginning of this alliance through October 2013, Oxfam sent more than 2.25 million Guatemalan quetzals (282,000 USD) through Tigo Money, aiding 1,700 families with funds for food aid in the Territorial Region of Chiquimula, one of the worst affected by drought and child malnutrition in Guatemala.

Oxfams programme co-ordinator in Guatemala Ivan Aguilar commented: It is always important to explore new technologies and new services that can allow Oxfams humanitarian work to have effect. Tigo money offers us the possibility to get our service to communities that are most vulnerable  the communities where we work.

Through this new system the beneficiaries of Oxfam aid can obtain financial aid in an immediate and safe manner. Additionally, recipients in remote areas gain access to a formal mechanism of money transfer without having to rely on proximity to a traditional bank.

Tigo and Oxfam are now planning a System of Emergency Reaction which will allow them to organize the delivery of aid within 48 hours to people most affected by the natural disasters that frequently devastate the country. Tigo and Oxfam are also finalizing details to start an aid project for poor communities in the region of Baja Verapaz.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, the President and Chief Executive of international telecommunications and media company Millicom, the firm behind the Tigo brand, said: I am delighted that we have been able to support Oxfams vital humanitarian work in Guatemala. In an age where technology is transforming all our lives, it is so important that it serves people who stand to benefit most.
Ericsson VP of Sustainability, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald discusses the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter, launched earlier in 2015, with Developing Telecoms.

The GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter outlines shared principles of commitment and a series of aspirational collaborative actions to demonstrate the support of the mobile industry to communities and other stakeholders in disaster situations. Ericsson is one of a number of heavyweight industry players committed to supporting the Charter. Developing Telecoms spoke to Ericssons VP of Sustainability, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, to discuss the vendors extensive background in the field of disaster relief.

Mobile networks and the connectivity they provide are a lifeline for those affected by natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies. The number of these crises and their impact is growing. Between 2004 and 2014, an estimated 1.8 billion people were affected by natural and complex disasters.

Mobile networks facilitate both access to information and coordinate assistance with Government, NGOs and the international humanitarian community before, during and after disasters. In recognition of their crucial role, mobile network operator (MNO) members of the GSMA have defined and committed to a set of shared principles in the spirit of supporting and enhancing humanitarian connectivity - the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter.

How has Ericsson been involved in the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter and how do you anticipate the companys role in the Charter developing in the future?

Ericsson has been involved in humanitarian and disaster response for 15 years. We have provided vital connectivity support to more than 40 disasters in over 30 countries. We have longstanding relationships with UN organizations leading disaster response like OCHA and World Food Programme, so we were a natural partner to consult with when it came to the connectivity charter. We are not an operator as such, therefore we are not a signatory, but we were one of the primary contributors to the development of the charter. We have also been involved in the business consultations that OCHA has been running for humanitarian response more broadly. For example, we hosted a Business Consultation for OCHA in Sweden in April 2015. The consultation was attended by 42 representatives from the private sector, the international humanitarian community (including UN, NGOs and academia) and the governments of Finland, Norway and Sweden. The consultation was part of a series of thematic, regional and national business consultations led by OCHAs Private Sector Section leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, in May 2016. This consultation was a bit broader than the connectivity charter, but still important and indicative of the future direction of humanitarian response.

What contribution do you believe an industry based charter will make to improving crisis management?

Industry-wide collaboration will provide better consistency and hopefully result in more immediate responses to people in need. Establishing guidelines and routines will enable more efficient and effective response that will help to better leverage the capabilities of mobile in disaster. It is also an opportunity for the owners of critical infrastructure to play a significant part in ensuring the re-establishment of vital connectivity during and post-disaster.

What are the most important ICT contributors to lessening the impact of crises?

The most important contributors would be proven technology and competent, trained people. People need to be trained both in the technology to be deployed, but also in handling disasters as such. With our program Ericsson Response, we put a lot of focus on competence development and capacity building, together with our partners. No one is deployed into an emergency situation without the proper training, routines etc.

A longer version of this interview is available in Developing Telecoms Connected Citizens Special Report. This 40+ page downloadable report is available free of charge. The report discusses the background to the launch of the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter and looks at the ways in which the approach to crisis connectivity is changing, with interviews and articles from major players including Ericsson, Ooredoo, Inmarsat, UNICEF and others.

Click here for the free download of Developing Telecoms Connected Citizens Special Report.
Big Data can improve the response to humanitarian crises by enabling earlier detection and distributing warnings to potentially affected groups.

Data services like Mobile Money are also transforming response, according to the World Food Programmes Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski.

These findings were revealed during a panel discussion on Humanitarian Connectivity and the Mobile Industry which took place during Mobile World Congress 2016. Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO, South Asia at Axiata Group, one of the signatories of the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter, outlined Axiatas four stage national plan for improving mobile operators responses to humanitarian catastrophes and crises.

Stage 1 covers early detection. Axiata believes that installing sensors to monitor tsunamis following earthquakes can save lives, citing the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, in which an estimated 230,000 lives were lost in 14 countries. Since 2004 sensor coverage been greatly extended in the region and the operator believes that the impact of subsequent tsunamis has been reduced as a result.

Having a large network of sensors which automatically transmit data back to a central data processing location provides a far more detailed and wide ranging picture of an unfolding disaster than human observation. Data from a wide range of different locations can be processed and co-ordinated much faster to provide a more accurate picture of the seriousness of the situation and to predict where the impact will be greatest. Small differences in local topography can make a huge difference to the impact of an earthquake or tsunami.

The means operators can move to Stage 2 of the national plan - early warning - significantly earlier than was possible before big data. Moreover, the entire early warning process can be automated with SMS, USSD, email and voice alerts all triggered by the system. Saving even a few minutes in the warning distribution process can make a huge difference to the number of people who survive a crisis.

Stages 3 and 4 of the plan - early response and post disaster recovery can also benefit from a wide range of big data applications. The benefits flowing from the use of big data are even greater in these areas because, as Elaine Weidman-Grunewald of Ericsson reminded us, man made problems hugely outweigh natural disasters when it comes to humanitarian disasters.

Jacob Korenblum of Souktel reminded everyone that Even though communities are affected by crisis, people are still people, they are still mobile users, they still have the same needs and desires that someone sitting in this room has. They want to listen to music, take photos, do social, in fact its a way of coping with the crisis surrounding them.

A striking example of how mobile technology is transforming humanitarian crisis response was provided by Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski of the World Food Programme (WFP). Where in past disasters, responders such as the WFP needed to focus on sourcing and delivering food supplies, with population movement tracking provided by mobile technology and big data analytics, it is now possible to locate the places where food supplies are available and to deliver messages directing people to them.

Moreover, WFP is able to provide the means for people to purchase available food supplies themselves with mobile money, rather than going through the process of purchasing food on behalf of stricken communities and delivering it to them. The dual benefits of this data and communications driven strategy are that it reduces dependency and encourages communities to be proactive in the recovery process, while increasing the numbers of people and the speed at which WPF is able to help.

The use of big data raises concerns over privacy, data security and data sovereignty. Addressing these concerns particularly in an emergency humanitarian crisis, underlines the importance of planning and preparation. It is essential to ensure that both governments and data regulators are involved along with operators in disaster preparedness planning.

One of the key developments in humanitarian connectivity during the last year was the adoption by the UN Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) of the ETC 2020 Vision. The ETC 2020 Vision fundamentally changes the focus and priorities of humanitarian connectivity from the provision of communications services for responders, to include also the provision of services for governments and, crucially, for those directly affected by crises.

The significance of this can't be overstated. The ETC 2020 Vision is a formal recognition by the United Nations of the central role of mobile network connectivity in enabling faster and more effective allocation of resources and facilitating the recovery processes during crises. Put simply, if you get mobile networks working as a priority, people are better able to help themselves and find solutions to their problems, they need less outside intervention and assistance, and the impact of crises and catastrophe is reduced.

It is clear from the discussion that there is a great deal of work to be done to achieve the objectives outlined in the ETC 2020 Vision. Network resilience is easy to talk about but there are many complex issues to be addressed. Key among these according to both Telefonica's Eduardo Puig Aznar and Axiata's Wijayasuriya is energy to power equipment at every stage of the communications process. Renewable energy - solar and wind - provides a much higher degree of network resilience according to both operators. New technology may also help build in network resilience. 5G promises better latency, higher capacity and lower energy requirements than older network infrastructures.

Aid today is not limited to safety, warmth and shelter, food and water. As anyone who works in a refugee camp will know, after these the next most important thing in people's lives is the ability to communicate - which in reality means their mobile phone. Among the very first questions that refugees today ask in any humanitarian crisis, conflict or natural disaster, is where can I charge my phone, what network can I connect to, and what's the wifi password.

The significance of this for the mobile industry cant be underestimated. The products and services the mobile industry delivers and the thing it provides - the ability to communicate and to access information wherever you are - is up there alongside food and water, shelter and safety in its value to people's lives. As an industry we should be proud of the fact that we are able to provide the technology that makes this possible as well as conscious of the responsibility that it places on us.
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.
Patients with type 2 diabetes have muscle weakness in more areas of the leg than previously thought, according to new research.

It is well known people with diabetes can suffer from muscle weakness of the lower limbs, such as the calf muscle, which increases the risk of falling.

In this new study, researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University assessed muscle strength in 20 patients with type 2 diabetes. They were measured for severity of neuropathy, intramuscular noncontractile tissue (IMNCT), and vitamin D deficiency. The participants were then matched with 20 healthy control subjects matched by age, sex and BMI.

Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, the researchers found that people with diabetes had an increased amount of intramuscular fat in the lower leg muscles. This was due to an infiltration of fat within muscles that inhibited diabetic participants from producing muscle force relative to the muscle size.

This increased fat meant that type 2 diabetes participants had significantly reduced knee extensor strength, reduced muscle volume of both knee extensors, and substantial muscle weakness further up in the leg, including the quadriceps.

Patients with diabetic neuropathy had significantly less knee extensor strength than those without, but no significant differences were observed in knee extensor volume and ankle strength. Additionally, no muscle differences were found among patients with or without vitamin D deficiency.

Professor Neil Reeves, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biomechanics at Manchester Metropolitan University, explained: This muscle weakness with diabetes has important implications, meaning that patients may find everyday tasks more difficult and struggle to meet the demands of some tasks, thereby initiating a negative cycle of reduced activity, which negatively affects their diabetic condition.

Therefore, people with diabetes not only have smaller muscles capable of producing lower forces, but their lower leg muscles are also infiltrated by fat, which causes a further reduction in the force that can be produced, compounding their weakness.

The findings appear in the online journal Diabetes Care.
The new BBM will be more convenient and fun, says BlackBerry.

Remember BBM, the messenger we were all hooked on to before WhatsApp came along and literally took everyone's attention away? Well, for those of you who are still loyal BB users, there may be some good news on the horizon.



BlackBerry has announced, via a blog post, that the company is planning to revamp the once popular messaging platform BBM. The news comes in light of a decision by WhatsApp to withdraw support from BlackBerry, Nokia, Android 2.1 & 2.2 and Windows Phone 7.1.

With the revamp, BlackBerry aims to make BBM "more convenient and fun". The company also reiterated its commitment to the BB10 platform and said that its is working with developers to "bring apps to consumers and enterprise fans." The company also states that it is actively exploring alternatives for BlackBerry users once support of WhatsApp Messenger for BBOS and BlackBerry 10 ends in late 2016. The company has clarified that those using the Android powered BlackBerry Priv will not be impacted by the WhatsApp withrawal.

As far as new BBM features are concerned, the company stated, "Were evolving group and multi-person chats. Were making BBM Protected an even better messaging solution for security-conscious organisations. Were giving you ever more privacy and security by allowing you to control previews. Were also working to make BBM more convenient and more fun."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of USA sent a Titanium-encased hydrophone to Challenger Deep, the deepest point of Mariana Trench, and the audio sounds scarily dark.

The Earth, even after millions of explorations and studies, remain to be a playground of mysteries. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States Department of Commerce carried out an exploration in Challenger Deep, the deepest valley on Earth, sitting deep inside the mysterious depths of Mariana Trench. The surface of Challenger Deep is one of the deepest and darkest areas at a depth of 36,000 feet, filled with mysterious creatures that may even hold cues to life varieties yet to be discovered.

At such depth, one might usually expect life to be quiet, but that is not how it is. The deep, deep valley is interspersed with tectonic plate shifts, earthquakes that may not even relay its effects to the surface, and creatures that perennially reside within the deeper depths of the ocean, at atmospheric pressures of about 16,000 pounds per square inch. The NOAA team waited for 23 days until withdrawing the hydrophone from the bottom echelons of the ocean. The results it obtained were far from silence and peace, echoing the noisy, turbulent depth of the ocean. It also has a haunting quality to it, making for scary bits of audio if you listen to them in the middle of the night. The excerpts were hosted on SoundCloud by Maddie Stone, author at Gizmodo. Hear them out.

1. A magnitude 5 earthquake rumbling across the ocean floor:

2. The wail of a Baleen Whale echoing near the Deep:

3. Calls of other creatures in the depth:

4. A distinct cry of a whale:

5. A ship propeller passing by above the Deep:
In a note to clients on Monday the ratings agency said its move was based on expectations that BP's leverage will remain within the guidance for the ratings at a time of lower oil prices. Fitch assumes Brent to average $35 per barrel in 2016, before recovering to $45 per barrel in 2017, $55 per barrel in 2018 and $65 per barrel in the long term.

Fitch noted: Based on these [oil price] assumptions we expect BP's funds from operations (FFO) net leverage to peak at 3.7x, before settling at around 2.6x in 2017-19, well below our negative rating action trigger of 3x.

BP recently announced plans to reduce its capital expenditure to the lower end of $17bn-$19bn in 2016, from $22.5bn in 2014 and $20.2bn in 2015. In addition, the company has made a commitment to reduce operating expenses by $7bn per year up to 2017, after having achieved $3.4bn savings in 2015.

We believe that in a deflationary cost environment these cuts are moderate compared with those announced by more upstream-focused US companies, and should allow BP to maintain at least stable production through the cycle, Fitch commented further.

Overall, the agency views BP's operational profile as strong. Although BP has undergone selective disposals in upstream and downstream since 2011, it remains a leading global integrated O&G producer. Its 2015 upstream production of 2.26m barrels per day (including equity affiliates other than Rosneft) trailed that of Royal Dutch Shell, but was ahead of Total.

BP's diversification into downstream operations supported its earnings in 2015, and Fitch expects it to be an important stabilising factor, even given lower refining margins in 2016.

Finally, the agency said the $18.7bn preliminary agreement announced in July 2015 settles the vast majority of legal claims related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Macondo) in the Gulf of Mexico, including the Clean Water Act penalty and Five Gulf States claims, was a positive development.

While the deal remains subject to a final court approval, which is expected in March 2016, the payments will be spread over 18 years, with around $1.1bn to be paid a year, i.e., a reasonable outflow assuming roughly $18bn in pre-capex cash flow from operations that we expect the company to generate per year in 2016-19. The settlement gives BP considerable flexibility to navigate the current oil price downturn, Fitch concluded.
Digitimes Research: US FCC to open up STB market; Korea vendors less interested in 3D TV

Observing the OTT/TV market in February, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to make the set-top box (STB) market more open, allowing consumer electronics players to improve their competitiveness, while Korea-based TV brand vendors are shifting their focuses away from the 3D TV market.

FCC tried to open the STB market previously with CableCard, but do not achieve solid results. This time, the FCC is demanding cable service providers open up their channel information to allow consumer electronic players to develop TVs or STBs that can display channel listings from different service providers.

With the move, consumer electronics players will be able to enhance their competitiveness with a better user interface or added functions, and give consumers cheaper and better product choices. However, Digitimes Research expects cable service providers to boycott the proposal using technical methods.

At the same time, Korea-based LCD brand vendors reportedly are moving their focuses away from the 3D TV market in 2016. Digitimes Research believes Samsung will continue to keep 3D technology in its LCD TVs, but will no longer provide expensive 3D glasses to consumers since Samsung's Shutter Glass 3D technology only added a little cost.

LG Technology uses Pattern Retarder technology for 3D effects and the larger the panel, the higher the cost. Adding 3D into its high-end models could put related models at a disadvantage against competitors, but for small-size models, the technology may benefit the Korea-based vendor, Digitimes Research noted.

Content from this article was part of a complete Digitimes Research Chinese-language report that has not yet been translated into English. If you are interested in an English version of the report or wish to receive more information about the report, click here to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Digitimes Research also provides quarterly tracking services for market sectors such as China Smartphone, China Smartphone AP, Taiwan ICT and Taiwan FPD. Click here for more information about Digitimes Research Tracking services.
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.
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Portfolios are created by algorithms and managed by computers, an approach that has not been tested in a recession or severely stressed market.



By KEN SWEET

AP Business Writer

PHOENIX  Computers help us decide what route to take to the grocery store, who to date, and what music to listen to. Why shouldn't they also decide how we invest?

Younger investors, particularly those born in the early 1980s to late 1990s known as millennials, are increasingly adopting apps and what are known as robo-advisers to make their retirement decisions for them. In the last year Betterment, Wealthfront, Acorns and others have brought in several billions of dollars in assets that used to be handled by traditional brokerages or wealth advisers.





. . .
McConnell Reserve group becomes wing

The 931st Air Refueling Group was designated as the 931st Air Refueling Wing March 5. An official ceremony to celebrate the designation is scheduled here April 30.



The wing designation also establishes the 931st Operations Group, the 931st Maintenance Group, and the 931st Force Support Squadron. This same authorization includes two new air refueling squadrons at the base, the 905th and 924th Refueling Squadrons. This action will result in the growth of nearly 400 personnel to meet the needs of the newly designated wing.



Col. Mark. S. Larson, 931st ARW commander, said he views the ceremony as an opportunity to showcase the new wing, congratulate his Airmen on their hard work in achieving this historic milestone, and thank the local community for their long-time support in this endeavor.



"The designation as a wing is a testament to the excellence of our Reserve Airmen both past and present," he said. "At the same time, this would not have been possible without the continued resolve of our elected officials and the support of our local community leaders."



The 931st ARW will be the first Reserve unit to fly and maintain the new KC-46A Pegasus tanker.



According to the official Air Force fact sheet, the KC-46A is intended to replace the U.S. Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers which have been the Air Force's primary refueling aircraft for more than 50 years.



The KC-46A will provide more refueling capability and increased capacity for cargo as well as aeromedical evacuation. The KC-46A will provide aerial refueling to Air Force, Navy, Marine and allied nation aircraft.
Veteran politician and former MEP, Pat the Cope Gallagher has failed in his role to secure the Fianna Fail nomination for the role of Ceann Comhairle in the 32nd. Dail.

The Dungloe man made no secret of his desire to receive the nomination from his party and had canvassed party members mounting a strong campaign since his election.

However, the party voted to select Kildare TD Sean O Fearghail who will be proposed by Micheal Martin . There was no result of the actual vote declared.

O Fearghail won a Dail seat on his fifth attempt, at the 2002 general election, when he defeated the sitting Fine Gael TD (and former leader) Alan Dukes. At the 2007 general election he topped the poll and was elected on the first count. He was re-elected at the 2011 general election and again last week.

It is understood that Sinn Fein will also be proposing Caoimhghin O Caolain

Speaking to the Democrat,Gallagher said, Of course I am disappointed but I just get on with these things - its off to Belfast now to talk to Randox who are the biggest employers in the Rosses.

I felt I would have been transfer friendly in a bid to take this position and despite clouded suggestions to the contrary, I would not have been ignoring my constituents back home in Donegal - in fact the opposite. I feel I would have been able to achieve more.
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.
There are many challenges facing small businesses and, with the New Year well underway, now is a good time to start addressing these head-on in order to build a stronger business.

Whether you are a small enterprise just starting out or a mature business looking for additional growth, there is no shortage of challenges that will affect your ability to grow. However, these conditions can be overcome if owners invest the time and effort into planning for the future to realise new growth potential.

To address this need, BDO has highlighted five of the biggest challenges that organisations should consider if they want to succeed in 2016.

1. Cash flow

One of the biggest concerns for many small businesses continues to be cash flow, with the time it takes to receive payments playing a major role in how well companies can meet their ongoing expenses.

Fortunately, in the months leading up to the end of 2015, there had been some improvement with receipt of payments according to research from Dun & Bradstreet. The company found that invoice payment times had plummeted considerably, with the average invoice currently settled within 45 days of being issued. This compares to 56 days recorded in the first quarter of 2014.

While this is an improvement, small businesses will still need to watch their cash flow, especially into the New Year. The holiday period can slow B2B payments, with many companies facing a slow start to the year.

Planning ahead and carefully managing cash flow can help to ensure that these concerns dont affect a companys longer-term viability.

2. Digital Strategy

The ever-growing digital realm is continuing to reward organisations that have a comprehensive digital strategy while also making it harder for organisations that arent investing in this area to gain traction.

2015 saw the introduction of mobile friendliness to Googles website ranking algorithms, and with good reason. Devices like tablets and smartphones are fast becoming the devices of choice for consumers and are increasingly common in business.

The division between those businesses that have a strong digital strategy and those that dont will become clearer in 2016. Staying ahead of developments, like the growth of mobile devices, will ensure that companies manage this trend effectively.

3. Innovation

The drive to become more innovative has certainly increased for Australian businesses. As the pace of change within the economy has grown, organisations are forced to find new processes and opportunities to unlock growth potential.

While small businesses are proving to be incredibly innovative  accounting for 90 per cent of the countrys research and development spending according to the Reserve Bank of Australia  smaller firms are still less likely to engage in innovation than larger firms.

However, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, its report found that small businesses are becoming more innovative, with lower barriers to entry in many sectors making it easier for businesses to break new ground.

Taking advantage of R&D grants is an obvious step in the innovation process if your business is eligible.

4. Succession planning

Succession planning is an issue for companies of every size, with businesses looking for new ways to ensure they have people in place to cover key responsibilities.

Family businesses, in particular, are struggling to plan for the future, particularly in relation to senior roles and preparing for the next generation. This was underscored by figures from the Family Business Institute which found that only 30 per cent of family businesses last to a second generation, while a mere 3 per cent operate to the third generation or more.

In 2016, small businesses should seriously consider how they will plan for the future in areas like succession and business continuity.

5. Overseas expansion

Business growth can no longer be limited to Australia alone and many are now looking for new opportunities overseas. While many small businesses might feel they are too small to consider engaging with international markets, falling trade and investment barriers mean this is an increasingly appealing option.

Towards the end of 2015, the Federal Government entered into a number of key trade agreements. The deal with China has complemented further agreements with Japan and South Korea that are already in force.

Earlier in 2015, the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation released a report into the overseas markets that are considered the most appealing to the countrys businesses. Top of the list for international trade was China, with 13 per cent of respondents expecting the country to be the main area of revenue growth over the next two years. Other high-ranking countries included Indonesia (6 per cent), the UK and India (both 5 per cent). Further results found that 71 per cent of companies are already exporting to a market that has a free trade agreement in place with Australia.

Overseas expansion may well be the key to future competitiveness.

The importance of planning

While these five issues all play a major role in business success, they can all be addressed if businesses put the effort in now. This means taking the time to plan ahead and to seek professional advice to ensure they arent left in a difficult financial position.

By taking these steps now, business owners will see a much smoother start to 2016 and set their business up for long-term success.

About the author:

This article was written by Steve Fimmano, BDO National Leader, Private Clients.
ECB Forum on Central Banking

The future of the international monetary and financial architecture

Sintra, Portugal, 27-29 June 2016

The third annual ECB Forum on Central Banking will focus on The future of the international monetary and financial architecture, a key topic of debate among economists and policymakers.

The ECBs President, Mario Draghi, and Princeton Professor, Alan S. Blinder, will open the event with dinner speeches.

Sessions and panels

During two days of sessions and panels, approximately 150 central bank governors, academics, financial journalists and high-level financial market representatives will exchange views on current policy issues and discuss the chosen topic from a longer-term perspective.

Young economists poster session

A preselected group of PhD students conducting research in the fields of economics or finance will present their key findings in the form of digital posters. A selection committee composed of senior ECB staff and top external academics will select the winning paper/poster. Conference participants will be able to contribute to the final selection by rating the posters anonymously online. The winning paper will be announced by the ECB President in a brief ceremony at the end of the Forum.

Participation is by invitation only.

For more information, please visit www.ecbforum.eu
Facebook has been preparing to push personalized ads through its Messenger app, according to a report last week in TechCrunch.

The company will allow brands to send their own marketing materials through the popular chat app, suggests a leaked document apparently intended for Facebooks advertising partners.

The changes could go into effect during the second quarter of the year.

Its not clear what the ads would look like. Companies might be able to use the system to deliver video and graphical content that would detail their offerings to consumers. They also could use reminders to prompt purchases, announce new products and services, send notifications of flash sales, and provide links to sale items.

Down to Business

Instead of sending a stream of ads after people in Messenger, Facebook will leave the matter between users and brands. Brands will have the ability to send ads only to users who have initiated conversations with them, a claim thats backed up by the launch of a URL: fb.com/msg/.

Businesses would tag their Facebook usernames to that end of that URL, and that would serve as a link to chats between companies and customers. Its an expansion of Facebooks efforts to facilitate customer service exchanges on its networks, doing so in a private chat rather than on a public page.

That just might be a lucrative way for Facebook to monetize Messenger, according to Karma Martell, president ofKarmaCom.

If Facebook can insert itself as a bridge to better and faster customer service, they will stand to make a fortune, she told the E-Commerce Times.

They could have hit on a value add-to-customer ad sales holy grail. It could be an amazing brand loyalty and brand-building tool if it is beta tested with a short list of brands and power users, tweaked and then rolled out, Martell said.

Ad Avoidance

Standing in the way of the plans success is a phenomenon that has curtailed the profits of websites: ad blockers and advertising avoidance in general, according to Jennifer M. Grygiel, assistant professor of communications/social media at theS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

At this point, most people will have had several bad experiences with advertising in social networks, she told the E-Commerce Times. Facebook needs to be conscious of this and get it right out of the gate. Otherwise, there will be a lot of backlash from users.
CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday took Apples battle with the FBI directly to the public, penning an open letter in defense of the companys resistance to a court order mandating it to create a way to access data in the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorists.

A federal magistrate issued the order because the high level of encryption built into the device had impeded the FBIs investigation.

Cook called for a public discussion of the issues surrounding Apples objections to the demand, noting that the FBI was asking Apple, in essence, to create a backdoor that would unlock an encrypted iPhone.

That type of technology could threaten the privacy of all iPhone users, he argued.

The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake, Cook wrote. Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.

Tool to Thwart Terrorists

U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino shootings, introduced legislation calling on technology companies to assist the government by preventing terrorists from using social media and other technologies

Apple should comply with the judges order to develop a means for unencrypting the San Bernardino shooters iPhone, she said, joining a chorus of agreement among government and law enforcement officials.

The U.S. Attorney should be able to fully investigate the San Bernardino terrorist attack that killed 14 Californians, and that includes access to the terrorists phone, Feinstein said.

I understand there are privacy concerns, but in this case the phone is owned by the county  which has consented to a search  and there is a valid search warrant, she pointed out.

The problem appears to be that such a technological solution likely wouldnt be limited to a single use.

Essentially, the government is asking Apple to create a master key so that it can open a single phone, said Kurt Opsahl, deputy executive director and general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And once that master key is created, were certain that our government will ask for it again and again, for other phones, and turn this power against any software or device that has the audacity to offer strong security.

Dangerous and Unconstitutional

The order is unlawful, unprecedented and unwise, said American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Alex Abdo.

The Constitution does not permit the government to force companies to hack into their customers devices, he told the E-Commerce Times. Apple is free to offer a phone that stores information securely, and it must remain so if consumers are to retain any control over their private data.

The government request sets a dangerous precedent, Abdo suggested, because if the FBI can order Apple to create a means to access the encrypted data on a customers device, any repressive government around the world could have the same expectation.

The ACLU is aware of at least 70 instances in which the government has used the All Writs Act to get Apple to unlock older phones, he said, noting that Apple had the software to help people who forgot their passcodes.

However, with the newer versions of iOS, Apple does not have that capability, Abdo noted.

The ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get additional information on the earlier government requests.

Fight For the Future has scheduled a protest for Feb. 23, asking iPhone users and civil liberties advocates to rally at Apple Stores across the country.

Governments have been frothing at the mouth hoping for an opportunity to pressure companies like Apple into building backdoors into their products to enable more sweeping surveillance, said Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future. Its shameful that theyre exploiting the tragedy in San Bernardino to push that agenda.

The group, which in 2014 rallied for Net neutrality in 20 U.S. cities, has launched a Facebook page calling for supporters to protest the court order and support Apples fight against the FBI demand.
A Brazilian judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Facebook Regional Vice President Diego Dzodan, one day afterBrazilian police placed him under arrest forWhatsApps failure to produce messages the government believed relevant to a drug ring investigation. Judge Ruy Pinheiro concluded the execs detainment amounted to coercion, according to press reports.

Judge Marcel Maia ordered the arrest on Tuesday, after WhatsApp failed to comply with requests by police and the court to produce messages created in the app.

We are disappointed that law enforcement took this extreme step, WhatsApp said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Matt Steinfeld.

WhatsApp cannot provide information we do not have, the company maintained. We cooperated to the full extent of our ability in this case, and while we respect the important job of law enforcement, we strongly disagree with its decision.

Facebook Chagrined

Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, expressed chagrin over the arrest.

Were disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure of having a Facebook executive escorted to a police station in connection with a case involving WhatsApp, which operates separately from Facebook, the company said in a separate statement Steinfeld provided to TechNewsWorld.

Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have, it added.

This isnt the first time WhatsApp has been in hot water in Brazil where, according to The Guardian, its been the most popular app download for the past two years, and is used by about half of the countrys 200 million people. In December, the app was shut down for 48 hours for twice failing to comply with court orders for information.

It was brought back online after public outcry and intervention by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg considers Brazil a crucial market for Facebook, according to a New York Times report. He was part of a small group of Silicon Valley executives who met in July at Stanford University with the countrys president, Dilma Rousseff.

No Chilling Effect

Although wrangling with domestic or foreign governments can be unsettling for companies, its unlikely to deter anyone from using their wares.

These cases arent always very high profile, and they tend to blow over very quickly and people have short memories when it comes to this stuff, said Jan Dawson, chief analyst atJackdaw Research.

These things tend to have a fairly minimal effect on how much people change their behavior, he told TechNewsWorld.

Governments strong-arm tactics have not had much impact on the way high-tech companies do business overseas, Dawson said.

It hasnt happened enough for it to be an issue. On rare occasions like China some companies have pulled out, he noted.

Google is not very active in China partly for that reason. Other companies like Facebook havent been very active there either for the same reasons, Dawson continued.

These companies dont participate in those markets where conditions are particularly egregious, he added, but for the most part, they carry on business as usual.

Apple Trap

In one sense, WhatsApp and Facebook find themselves in a situation similar to Apple and its tussle with law enforcement over accessing data on iPhones, noted Jadzia Butler, a privacy, surveillance and security fellow at theCenter for Democracy & Technology.

Much like the Apple case, theyre in a situation where because theyve created such a secure device, they cannot give law enforcement what theyre asking for, she told TechNewsWorld.

Its not even an issue of conflict of laws, Butler said. Its an impossibility.

Conflicts between law enforcement and high-tech companies are going to increase in the future because of encryption, she added.

Even if law enforcement has possession of the information it wants, theyre not going to be able to look at it, Butler said, so law enforcement is going to have to adapt all over the world to changing technology.
Laws usually are established after interpersonal or business activities collide with the real or perceived rights of others. After parties with different positions fight about whos right and whos wrong, legislatures create laws to solve the legal issues raised, and courts enforce them or create their own (Miranda rules, for example).

Many of the laws from the past, however, do not make sense when applied to e-commerce. From time to time, I write columns about various laws that dont make as much sense as they did way back when. This column addresses antitrust laws that make sense when selling traditional goods, but fall short in the e-commerce environment.

First, a little history about antitrust laws. Back in the 1800s, the U.S. and state governments created antitrust laws because of the total control companies exerted over certain industries, such asrailroads, oil, steel and sugar.

Under federal and state antitrust laws, the government or competitors can sue to stop anticompetitive behavior. U.S. and state antitrust laws were used to break up AT&T in 1982 when it was in the landline business, but Ma Bell got back together as it morphed with the advent of the Internet and use of cellphones. Today, we see antitrust laws being applied to brick-and-mortar businesses such as the proposed merger of Staples and Office Depot.

U.S. vs. Microsoft  Antitrust Applied to Software

In 2000, there was a long trial against Microsoft for antitrust violations related to its software marketing activities. The U.S. and a number of states wanted to break Microsoft into five companies for its control of a part of the software market.

The governments brought the case because, among other things, Internet Explorer was alleged to control the browser market since it was packaged as part of the Windows operating system. That made entry and maintaining market share complicated for competitors, even though any Windows user could load competing browsers. AOL was a major proponent of that claim.

During the trial, AOL purchased Netscape (a major browser at the time) for about US$5 billion. Interestingly, for many years AOL was a dominant Internet business and even purchased Time Warner. Natural market forces have since greatly diminished AOLs market power.

The court found that Microsoft unlawfully tied its Web browser to the Windows operating system, but the Department of Justice settled during the following appeal, so Microsoft was able to continue incorporating its browser into Windows.

Another aspect of the case was that Microsoft limited its APIs, or application programming interfaces, to favored partners. The effect was that selected competitors were not able to provide software that worked with Microsofts operating system, because without the APIs, companies could not create software that would operate with Windows.

Ultimately, the judge hearing the trial ruled that Microsoft did violate antitrust laws. He restricted certain market activities and required that Microsoft make its APIs freely available so that any company could write software that would work using Windows.

While the judge did not break the company into five businesses as the government had advocated, to avoid future claims that it would violate any antitrust laws, he also ordered Microsoft to report to the U.S. government regularly before releasing products for years following the trial.

EU vs. Microsoft

Antitrust laws are not limited to the U.S. The EU sued Microsoft for anticompetitive actions, alleging that it forced every Windows customer to use only Internet Explorer. The browser competitors complained to the EU antitrust authorities.

The result was that Microsoft agreed to create an option when implementing a new version of Windows that randomly offered a number of competing browsers for customers to select. That appeased the EU.

Googles Monopoly in the Cloud?

The issue with Microsofts browser was that it was packaged and included with the Windows operating system, which competing browsers claimed was anticompetitive. However, was that concern justified, since any Windows customer could load a competing browser? Did the antitrust cases actually give Google Chrome and other browsers the opportunity to compete and overtake their competitors, which eventually caused the demise of Internet Explorer?

Google controls an estimated 90 percent of the search engine business in the EU and about 67 percent in the U.S. Is that anticompetitive? Many competitors have complained that Google must be using anticompetitive methods or it would not have that kind of market share.

However, free search services offered by Google are  well  free, and no one is holding a gun to the head of the consumers requiring them to select Google  certainly not Google! So how do antitrust laws apply to Google as a search engine leader? Good question. I suggest that antitrust laws do not apply. However, until the pending claims in the EU against Googles search engine are resolved, it is too soon to know.

Some search engine competitors in the U.S. and elsewhere suggest that Google manipulates search results for pay, and as a result, the results are not natural. There is no proof of that, and since all search engine algorithms are the secret sauce of the search engines, no one really knows how the results are cooked and presented to consumers. That information likely would remain secret even in litigation since it is Googles trade secret. Nonetheless, even allegations of this sort do not sound like antitrust, since consumers are free to select any search engine.

The Frightful 5

In January, The New York Times identified Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft as the undisputed rulers of the consumer technology industry in anarticle titled Techs Frightful 5 Will Dominate Digital Life for Foreseeable Future. The article included these observations:This gets to the core of the Frightful Fives indomitability. They have each built several enormous technologies that are central to just about everything we do with computers. In tech jargon, they own many of the worlds most valuable platforms  the basic building blocks on which every other business, even would-be competitors, depend.These platforms are inescapable; you may opt out of one or two of them, but together, they form a gilded mesh blanketing the entire economy.Probably no would question the market power of the Frightful 5, but what about any anticompetitive behavior?

Do Antitrust Laws Apply?

Microsoft and Google, two of the five, offer myriad services, including cloud and operating systems. They have competitors in each space and do not control the markets, so it is hard to see whether antitrust laws would apply.

What about Amazon, Apple and Facebook? Do you think they are violating any antitrust laws? Lets look at each.

Amazon sells products galore, as do hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of other e-commerce enterprises. Amazon also boasts the largest cloud business in the world, but there are a number of other major cloud vendors, including IBM (SoftLayer), Rackspace and Google.

Apple has a significant market share for the cell and tablet markets, but it also has significant competition from Googles Android-based products. From a computer manufacturer and operating system perspective, Apple has major competitors, including all the Microsoft/Intel-based companies such as Lenovo, HP and Dell.

Of course, Facebooks dominance in the social media world is unquestioned, but why and how consumers select Facebook does not fit squarely into antitrust law violations, and there are serious competitors in the social media market.

Antitrust actions may be threatened, so we can watch to see how this play out, and time will tell how the courts rule.

The Future

Antitrust laws will be in place to protect consumers in various industries, and maybe the Frightful 5 will be targets.

However, the future of anticompetitive behavior in the e-commerce space is merely speculation. For all we know, some or all of the Frightful 5 may not even exist in 10 years. Remember the past market power of AOL, MySpace and BlackBerry, which have seriously diminished. Microsoft is abandoning the name Internet Explorer and has created a new product.

Perhaps the Frightful 5 may not be so frightful in a few years.
The World Evangelical Alliance has at its International Leadership Forum in South Korea has expressed support for peace in divided Korea, championing women and girls in the Church and seeking to build bridges with other faiths.

(Photo: World Evangelical Alliance) Bishop Efraim Tendero, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, during its International Leadership Forum 2016 meeting in Seoul Korea no March 4, 2016.

The alliance's forum issued a statement on March 5 from Seoul in which it noted the WEA leadership was invited to attend the National Prayer Breakfast with South Korean President Geun-hye Park.

There Bishop Efraim Tendero, Secretary General of the WEA, offered a prayer on behalf of the alliance.

"Korea is the only nation that is still divided and the pain felt by its people and the separated families on both sides are difficult to describe in words alone," Tendero noted.

"It is our hope that God will make possible what seems impossible to man: to grant peace and an end to the division of the Korean peninsula."

Hosted from Feb. 29 to March 4 by the Christian Council of Korea, WEA's national member body, the ILF2016 consisted its international council, executive leadership, heads of regional evangelical alliances, heads of select national evangelical alliances, commission and initiative directors, and leaders of global partner organizations.

"After the cancellation of the General Assembly in 2014 that was to be hosted in Seoul, our coming to Korea allowed us to connect again with our member CCK and church leaders," Tendero said.

"We have strengthened our relationship with the people of a nation that has been richly blessed by God and in response has sent out over 20,000 missionaries into the whole world."

The annual gathering brought together some 90 leaders from 40 countries to strengthen partnership across organizational and geographical boundaries in key issues facing the Church today.

After the meeting WEA noted that women and girls make up half of the population of the world, "yet the Church is at times still more influenced by cultural rather than Biblical views on the role of women.

"The focus group will now 'create and promote a practical guide for the WEA and its constituency to engage, equip, encourage and mobilize men and women to be champions of women and girls in the Church, so that the WEA reflects a vision for how women can equally contribute to Church and society for the sake of the Gospel.'"

On intra-faith and inter-faith relations, the WEA explained that it is as one of the three world church bodies, serving some 600 million evangelicals.

"For many years, the WEA has held dialogues, seeking to build bridges of understanding while recognizing the differences of faith and values of the various faith bodies.

"The group focused on developing language that is understood in the widely differing contexts around the world as well as addressing specific issues concerning the relationship of the Church with people of other or no faith," the WEA said.
Developing new software for K-12 schools. Investing in hot ed-tech startups. Donating tens of millions of dollars to schools experimenting with fresh approaches to customizing the classroom experience.

All are part of a new, multi-pronged effort by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, to use their massive fortune to reshape public education with technology.

We think that personalized learning makes sense, Zuckerberg told Education Week in an exclusive telephone interview last week. We want to see as many good versions of this idea as possible get tested in the world.

In December, the couple announced they will eventually give 99 percent of their Facebook sharesworth an estimated $45 billionto a variety of causes, headlined by the development of software that understands how you learn best and where you need to focus.

The move set off seismic rumbles in both education and philanthropy.

First, it signals a major shift away from the long-dominant philosophy behind the national movement to improve education, which focuses on expanding charter schools, using standardized-test scores to hold educators accountable, and weakening the influence of teachers unions. In 2010, Zuckerberg closely aligned himself with such strategies, giving $100 million to a top-down effort to remake the struggling school district in Newark, N.J. Six years later, that work is widely regarded as a failure, and Zuckerberg is charting a new path.

The result is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, a limited-liability corporation that also embodies a major shift underway in the philanthropic world. Like a handful of other Silicon Valley tech billionaires, Zuckerberg and Chan decided against establishing a traditional foundation, choosing instead a more flexible organizational structure that allows for a mix of philanthropic donations, for-profit investment, and political activity.

For rich donors, the upside is more levers to pull when trying to change the world. For everyone else, the downside is that these new structures further blur the lines between business and philanthropy and partly circumvent the regulations that have governed charitable giving for decades.

Zuckerberg said he and Chan are committed to openness and will eventually streamline what is now a messy network of overlapping organizations.

Observers from the fields of education, technology, venture capital, and philanthropy are paying close attention.

Its hard to tell exactly what these new donors emerging from the tech sector are doing, because so much is in flux and theyre not very transparent, said David Callahan, the founder and editor of the digital news outlet Inside Philanthropy. But any time super-empowered people with lots of money try to influence how the rest of us educate our children, we have a right to know what theyre up to.

What Is Personalized Learning?

In the world of K-12 educational technology, personalized learning generally means using software and other digital technologies to tailor instruction to each students strengths and weaknesses, interests and preferences, and optimal pace of learning.

The ed-tech sector has been focused on the notion for roughly half a decade. While companies have generated hundreds of products and a smattering of new school models are showing promise, there is little large-scale evidence that the approach can improve teaching and learning or narrow gaps in academic achievement.

Many in Silicon Valley, including Zuckerberg, dont seem to mind.

We dont know for certain that its going to work, he said. All we can really hope to do is provide an initial boost and try to show that this could work as a model, and hopefully it gets its own tailwind that carries it towards mainstream adoption.

Twelve years and 1.6 billion users after he first launched Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, Zuckerberg now controls a tangled web of overlapping entities through which he can provide that boost.

Start with the company itself. In 2014, Facebook assigned a team of its employees to work with a California charter school network known as Summit public schools. Together, the engineers and educators are developing a digital platform called the PLP, short for Personalized Learning Plan. Some observers describe the effort as akin to a law firm doing pro bono legal work, and Zuckerberg stressed that Facebook doesnt have any business plans attached to the project.

But Facebook and Summit have also made clear they hope to eventually make the PLP available to every K-12 school in the country, and their contract leaves the door open for Facebook to commercialize the tool in the future.

Zuckerberg and Chan are also at the helm of two intertwined charitable-giving entities: a donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, created with donations of Facebook stock valued at around $1.5 billion, and Startup:Education, a nonprofit that now receives most of its money from that fund. Startup:Education now guides all the couples education-related grantmaking.

On the venture-capital side, meanwhile, is Zuckerberg Education Ventures, an LLC that has invested more than $25 million in for-profit ed-tech companies.

And at the top of the pyramid is the newly created Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which could eventually serve as a central (and very, very large) pool of capital for the other entities, whose efforts it will help coordinate.

Zuckerberg acknowledged in the March 1 interview that the structure is confusing, and said he and Chan will likely rationalize and rebrand some or all of the various entities over time.

In the meantime, outside experts describe the couples giving network as murky.

This web of entities, each with a different legal form and different transparency requirements, makes it very hard to follow what each organization is doing and to understand their collective impact, said Sarah Reckhow, an assistant professor of political science at Michigan State University who tracks philanthropic giving in education.

Tangled Web of Interests

Silicon Valley is home to other tech billionaires who have taken a similar approach.

Among the most prominent: eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who describes his Omidyar Network as a philanthropic investment firm, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, whose Emerson Collective focuses heavily on education issues.

Zuckerberg and Chan have cited those organizations as models and have co-invested with each.

One reason that connection is of interest, said Michigan States Reckhow: Emerson Collective has given substantial sums to influence elections by funding political action committees, ballot initiatives, and local school board candidates in California, Colorado, and a handful of other states.

Should Zuckerberg and Chan follow a similar pattern, its not hard to imagine a scenario in which:

A local school district receives philanthropic support via Startup:Education.

That district is also governed by board members who have been lobbied by, or received campaign contributions from, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The district and board must decide whether to adopt software developed by Facebook or an ed-tech company in which Zuckerberg Education Ventures is invested.

They are definitely setting up a model where [Zuckerberg] can push on multiple sides of an issue, Reckhow said.

A representative from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said that the couple hear concerns and are committed to being open about the work.

Zuckerberg himself described as far-fetched the idea that his philanthropic work in education is intended to benefit Facebook, pointing to the variety of companies he is supporting and his commitment to put any earnings from for-profit investments back into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives mission.

Some experts are similarly untroubled.

Corporate foundations have always been supportive of their parent corporations business interests, and this country has always permitted people to express themselves anonymously about public policy issues, said Harvey P. Dale, the director of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law at New York University. Its a conflict of interest, but conflicts of interest are ubiquitous.

New Crop of K-12 Donors

In the world of education reform, meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Chan are also part of a changing of the guard.

For more than a decade, more-established philanthropic organizations such as the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation have aggressively pushed different elements of a collective agenda of change that featured charter school growth, business-style management, and test-based accountability, sometimes in close concert with federal policymakers.(The three foundations help support some coverage in Education Week.)

Now, though, the Facebook founder is at the fore of a new crop of young donors who made their fortunes in technology and are looking to draw on that background as they seek to improve public schools.

The emerging shift mirrors Zuckerbergs own trajectory, said Callahan of Inside Philanthropy.

In 2010, he allied himself with the usual suspects, and he got burned in a big way, Callahan said, referring to a whole-district transformation effort Zuckerberg bankrolled in Newark.

I think he feels now that kind of top-down approach has run into a buzz-saw of community opposition without really producing big, systemic changes, and hes evolving into a different kind of funder, Callahan said.

The larger shift underway isnt neat or simple: The Gates Foundation, for example, also supports education technology, and Zuckerberg is adamant that the charter schools he helped fund in Newark are paying dividends, saying thats one part of his prior strategy on which he is now doubling down.

But it is clear that Zuckerberg and Chan are now focused on two new types of efforts, both of which diverge sharply from their work in Newark: supporting innovators who are pioneering tech-heavy school models with a focus on personalization, and responding to the needs of local district-managed schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In part, the couples evolution reflects a larger uncertainty in the K-12 sector. Key allies and levers of change for the education improvement push of recent years are no longer in place: President Barack Obama will soon be out of office, longtime education secretary Arne Duncan is no longer at the U.S. Department of Education, and Congress last year overhauled the nations flagship K-12 law, loosening federal control over the state accountability systems that provided leverage for Newark-style measures for over a decade.

Also a factor is the influence of Chan, a practicing pediatrician who once worked as a classroom teacher.

Her signature education initiative to date, for example, is the establishment of a free private school that will operate in conjunction with a local community health center in East Palo Alto, Calif.a move that observers say reflects Chans focus on meeting the needs of individual students and families.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that orientation as an important counterbalance to his own inclinations.

Im used to building products at Facebook that hundreds of millions of people use, he said. For this [philanthropic work in education], you do need to know the specific communities, and you need to know the teachers and the students.

Judged on the Results

Not everyone, though, is buying Zuckerbergs hubris-to-humility narrative.

Silicon Valley is rife with investors and donors who believe that a broken public education system just needs them and their technologies, said Trace Urdan, a senior analyst with Credit Suisse and a longtime observer of the K-12 ed-tech market.

Because they have successfully disrupted other industries and sectors, Urdan said, such donors and investors tend to believe they can do the same in K-12, despite often having a limited understanding of how school systems actually work.

I think about Zuckerberg in that same vein, Urdan said. Im not persuaded hes gotten all the way down in the weeds of the issues yet, and I havent seen anything that suggests hes got a coherent plan or approach.

Undoubtedly, $45 billion will afford Zuckerberg and Chan plenty of opportunity to figure it out as they go. The couple has also been clear that they see their new philanthropic direction as a long-term effort, expected to play out over decades, with plenty of listening and learning along the way.

But the skepticism of K-12 veterans such as Urdan, the reality that the jury is still very much out on personalized learning, and the concerns raised over the ways in which the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative maximizes the couples influence while minimizing the checks and balances to which they are subject all add up to a big question:

Why should educators and parents trust Mark Zuckerberg to get it right this time?

There are no guarantees, the new face of philanthropy in education said.

At some level, you just have to do the things you believe in and make sure they get a shot, Zuckerberg said. Ultimately they will be judged on the results.
As he watched his $100 million donation to the Newark, N.J., public schools go primarily to consultants and contentious labor battles, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg received some advice from his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan.

Shes like, You know, I dont think that you can make any more investments before you actually go and teach students yourself,  Zuckerberg recalled in an exclusive telephone interview with Education Week.

The billionaire took the sentiment to heart, leading a weekly after-school entrepreneurship class at a K-8 school near Facebook headquarters for two months in 2013. Three years later, Zuckerberg and Chan have embarked on what he calls v2 of our education work. Now, the couples education focus is two-fold: understanding and responding to the needs of San Francisco Bay Area schools, and supporting innovators around the country who are pioneering new approaches to personalized learning.

The work will be supported via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, created in December with a commitment of Facebook stock valued at an estimated $45 billion, and via a tangled web of other entities the couple had already established.

Its a big shift, with far-reaching implications for public education, philanthropy, the ed-tech sector, and more. Following are highlights from Zuckerbergs March 1 conversation with Staff Writer Benjamin Herold.

Key lessons from Newark?

The approach in Newark, Zuckerberg said, was lets have a controlled project in one place with good people and try to do a whole lot of different things. That meant pushing for a new teachers contract, closing under-enrolled district-managed schools, opening new charters, and paying huge sums to consultants with big ideas for transforming the 40,000-student system into a portfolio of different school models.

The success of Newarks new charters is a point of pride, Zuckerberg said. Now, he intends to double down on that strategy, but with a focus on charter networks that are working on new approaches to personalized learning.

We felt like we could have a bigger impact helping to grow that, rather than some of the other models like KIPP or Success Academy, which we also want to support, and are more focused on discipline and a very rigorous setting, Zuckerberg said.

Overall, though, the takeaway from Newark, he said, was that he and Chan want to just go in the opposite direction from the approaches they previously took on many issues.

Two of the biggest: listening to communities and working with teachers.

Our work [in Newark] really put us into this tough negotiation with the unions, Zuckerberg said. Going forward, what wed like to do is work more in partnership with them rather than against.

Why personalized learning?

The model just intuitively makes sense, Zuckerberg said.

He cited as influences on that belief the work of California charter network Summit Public Schools, the nonprofit NewSchools Venture Fund, and students in that entrepreneurship class he led. Zuckerberg also said hes encouraged by the results of a recent study by the RAND Corporation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, (the Gates Foundation helps support some coverage in Education Week) which found early signs of promise at dozens of personalized-learning focused schools around the country.

But the Facebook CEO acknowledged that theres not yet any independent, large-scale research to show personalized learnings effectiveness.

The point of philanthropy is to try new ideas and be the research-and-development [arm] for the public, Zuckerberg said. We want to make sure that [personalized learning], which seems like a good hypothesis and approach, gets a good shot at getting tested and implemented.

Why is your organizational structure so confusing?

Establishing an LLC, or limited liability corporation instead of a charitable foundation gives him and Chan more levers to pull, Zuckerberg said.

Just constraining yourself to only nonprofit giving cuts off a lot of good options, he said. I believe that companies can do a lot of good stuff in the world. Maybe Im biased, because I run Facebook.

But Zuckerberg acknowledged the messiness that has resulted from the various other entities that he and Chan have established in recent years. All of the different pieces of thisthe nonprofit, the venturewell probably just kind of rebrand over time to make it clear that its all one thing, Zuckerberg said.

Are you going to donate to elected officials and political campaigns?

Theres no specific plan right now. Were not active in the current election, Zuckerberg said.

Does Facebook need to get into the K-12 market?

Not really, Zuckerberg said, noting that students are already big users of the social-networking platform, as well as communications apps the company has acquired, such as Instagram and WhatsApp.

That said, Facebook does have something to gain by having its engineers involved in education, he said.

Theres this very big competition for talent in the technology industry, Zuckerberg said. People want to work at companies they believe are doing good things, and where they can learn new things.

Many are concerned that aligning your business, venture, philanthropic, and political interests will give you too much influence, with too little transparency and oversight.

I understand why people would have questions, and my hope would be that wed earn trust over time as people see how we operate, Zuckerberg said.

Still, he said, any assumption that the amount of effort that we put in on the philanthropic side is going to influence any outcome for Facebook seems pretty far-fetched.

Are you worried that youll pour millions into personalized learning, only to be stymied by the same structural barriers you encountered in Newark?

I think certainly over time, in order to reach the fullest scale we think this [approach] can potentially reach, we will need to help solve additional barriers as well, Zuckerberg said. But for now, he said, theres plenty of room for growth, and plenty of demand from schools and educators.

Its just like any other idea in any sector, Zuckerberg said. If the investments we make are good, then people will want to make more like them, and if theyre not, then people will do other stuff.

The perception is that youre focused on systems and your wife is focused on meeting the individual needs of students and families.

I think the caricature is probably broadly accurate, Zuckerberg said. Im used to building products with Facebook that hundreds of millions of people use. For this [philanthropic work in education], you need to know the specific communities and you need to know the teachers and the students.

Why should people trust you to get it right this time?

Zuckerberg said he faced similar skepticism when trying to launch Facebook, and the concerns observers are raising are not unique to education.

At some level, you just have to do the things you believe in and make sure they get a shot, he said. Ultimately they will be judged on the results.
'Joe Biden can have them': Mastriano vows to bus migrants to Delaware
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.

05:00, 22 OCT 2022
May sentence date for prisoner who tried to stab guard

A serving prisoner who tried to stab a prison guard as he was escorting him to his cell will be sentenced in May.

33-year-old Christopher Mccluskey appeared before the Court of General Gaol Delivery at Douglas Courthouse last week.

He's already pleaded guilty to one charge of affray after lunging at the officer on September 9th last year brandishing a makeshift knife.

The court was previously told Mccluskey had "no remorse" about the pre-planned attack and said he'd "do it again" if he had the opportunity.

Social enquiry reports have been requested before he's sentenced on May 9th.
Re: Investment fund Quote: Horatio Gonzales thanks for the reply FMF.

I'd like to pick your brain a little more on fundsmith if you agree.

I have cash in hand in EUR that I had planned to invest into fundsmith. Their pushback made me rethink/question my plan. If i invest EUR with fundsmith.eu will they just convert it to GBP anyway & apply their own in house rate & then it gets further converted to the purchase currency whatever that may be for the fund component shares?



Instead, should I just convert my EUR to GBP with currency fair or similar & have it sent to their GBP fund instead. I may be splitting hairs here or maybe not.



Further, whether I decide with EUR or GBP capital I am considering placing my lump sum with them & dripping it inot the fund over the next 12 months to average out the volatility of the Brexit on fx & also on component stocks of the fund.



You mentioned benefits to some investors of the fund being administered from Luxembourg, can you explain this please. Is it due banking privacy or absence of a bilateral tax agreement with some countries?



Appreciate your opinion/thoughts on the above points FMF.



H.

The euro fund is quoted daily in euros so there won't be any conversions to 

The volatility of the  is completely irrelevant, if it collapses the fund will grow by roughly the same amount, it's not holding much cash



Before the statutory definition of UK residence, my solicitor advised me not to hold any UK assets, so I only invested in non UK asses for 15 years. I suspect some funds may describe themselves as ex UK but might want to invest in Fundsmith. The fund investments are USD/GBP/EURO/CHF in that order, so I doubt they convert to  for the hell of it.The euro fund is quoted daily in euros so there won't be any conversions to The volatility of the  is completely irrelevant, if it collapses the fund will grow by roughly the same amount, it's not holding much cashBefore the statutory definition of UK residence, my solicitor advised me not to hold any UK assets, so I only invested in non UK asses for 15 years. I suspect some funds may describe themselves as ex UK but might want to invest in Fundsmith.
Re: EU gives Greece deadline on borders Quote: marton So then Erdogan give his ISIS mates Turkish passports and here they come



Some newspapers are claiming Orban, the Hungarian leader, has vetoed the whole deal - rumoured that Cyprus will also veto



Maybe this situation really will destroy the EU



Til Erdogan is in his grave, Turkey should not be admitted into the EU under any circumstances.



Meanwhile, yesterday in Athens, the Greek people were collecting goods in Syntagma Square for the refugees.



Quote: 10,000 Greeks donated a mountain of goods for refugees, while rich EU countries seal their borders. http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/201...their-borders/



Then you read this news from today...



Quote: Euro zone finance ministers should agree on Monday to send representatives of Greece's lenders to Athens to finish a review of Greek reforms, paving the way for new loans and debt relief talks, Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Monday. http://www.reuters.com/article/euroz...-idUSB5N14401R



So, we have the EU wafting billions under the nose of a lunatic in an effort to make a problem go away (has shades of the Iran-Iraq war and certain folk buddying up with Saddam).



Then we have the people of a debt-ridden EU nation doing all they can to help the refugees, largely because they remember the lessons of their parents and grandparents, and because of a little thing called 'Filoxenia'.



And finally we have the EU finance ministers flying out to Athens today and threatening to pull the rug out from them even further.





Where the hell is the logic in this?





And let's remember that Greece didn't ask, beg or blackmail their way into the EU. They were invited. The biggest mistake Greece made was accepting the invitation. And he wants accelerated admission to the EU. With his human right record? With another shining example of how he views the freedom of the press this weekend? This is blackmail and should be treated as such. The EU needs to learn that you can't always just throw money at a problem to make it go away.Til Erdogan is in his grave, Turkey should not be admitted into the EU under any circumstances.Meanwhile, yesterday in Athens, the Greek people were collecting goods in Syntagma Square for the refugees.Then you read this news from today...So, we have the EU wafting billions under the nose of a lunatic in an effort to make a problem go away (has shades of the Iran-Iraq war and certain folk buddying up with Saddam).Then we have the people of a debt-ridden EU nation doing all they can to help the refugees, largely because they remember the lessons of their parents and grandparents, and because of a little thing called 'Filoxenia'.And finally we have the EU finance ministers flying out to Athens today and threatening to pull the rug out from them even further.Where the hell is the logic in this?And let's remember that Greece didn't ask, beg or blackmail their way into the EU. They were invited. The biggest mistake Greece made was accepting the invitation.
The nanny, who played a big role in the end of Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani's marriage, is pregnant, according to reports.

Wedding Bells Possibly In Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton's Future?

Mindy Mann, the nanny who had a three-year affair with Rossdale, which was discovered when another member of the couple's staff discovered texts and nude photos on a family iPad, is pregnant, according to an Instagram photo posted by her sister, Nicole.

#auntynoodle @cayla_black @mindy.hope A photo posted by @nicolejennifermann on Feb 25, 2016 at 1:37pm PST

"#auntynoodle," she captioned an image of herself and another woman bending down in front of Mindy's cupped belly, where her hands are seen framing her small bump.

Gwen Stefani Dishes On Blake Shelton 'Popping The Question'

According to The Daily Mail, the nanny is expecting a boy, and though she has not cut off all contact with her former employer, Rossdale is not believed to be the father, as Mann is dating a snowboarding instructor named Spencer Gutcheon. However, she has not publicly revealed the identity of her baby's father.

The news comes after Rossdale was spotted having lunch with Mann in Hollywood just last week and was also spotted at the daycare center she works at late last year.

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that his ex-wife could be dealing with some big drama of her own from new beau Blake Shelton's own ex, Miranda Lambert.

Reports claimed over the weekend that Lambert is allegedly trying to trash Shelton and Stefani's plans to wed in a $2 million ceremony, and is even trying to find a way to block it from happening because Stefani is trying to "steal her style."

Since their divorce, Lambert has moved on in a romance of her own, with musician Anderson East.
Orange Is the New Black star Laura Prepon has had to deal with the pressures of staying skinny for decades.

Will 'Orange Is the New Black's Sophia & Gloria's Relationship Ever Be Repaired?

Prepon, who plays Alex Vause on Orange Is the New Black, spoke with The Hollywood Social Lounge recently about her various health battles and the pressure to be thin in Hollywood.

"When I was a child I lived in Europe but when I came back from Europe I really started developing all of these kind of autoimmune things," she explained. "I developed this thing called Hashimoto syndrome, celiac's disease, I was highly allergic to dairy and wheat. I would have an adverse effect to it. I was always inflamed, I had no energy I wasn't assimilating nutrients, I was always hungry. And I went on this constant, basically 15-year journey."

How Will Alex Treat Piper For Dismissing Her Paranoia On 'Orange Is the New Black'?

She spoke of going to various doctors over the years and getting put on all sorts of pills and supplements, all while she was in the public eye.

"So I would have this pressure of being on camera and I had the best job in the world and I'm literally living my dream and I was stressed out every day about my weight and I would go to different fittings and leave in tears because the stylist is like 'you don't fit into these clothes, this is what we have, I don't know really know what to do, you need to lose weight.' I would literally leave crying. At a young age I was told I had to lose 30 pounds, and this is like a pressure in our industry."

Orange Is the New Black has celebrated women of all shapes and sizes since its inception in 2013. The show has often been praised for its diversity and willingness to show all types of women.

Orange Is the New Black season 4 is scheduled for release on Friday, June 17 on Netflix.
A new kind of target: Low-information journalists pile on conservative prosecutor By Rachel Alexander

There are plenty of abuses by prosecutors in the justice system, and I've written about many of them. Many of these political witch hunts come from the Department of Justice, which has become more politicized than ever under the Obama administration. Former Congressman Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) is now sitting in prison due to a politically motivated DOJ prosecutor with close ties to Janet Napolitano. With the public's heightened awareness of politically motivated prosecutors, the left has ironically figured out how to use state bar prosecutors to target conservative prosecutors. They are having some success because attorneys are terrified of speaking out against state bars, which can retaliate by disciplining them and destroying their careers. Naturally, conservatives in the law tend to be attracted to the law and order career of prosecution. State bars have a massive amount of power. This is due to the way most of them are structured; they have all the regulatory powers of a government agency, yet are not subject to open meeting laws and public record requests because they're ostensibly private. They're essentially granted a monopoly over the legal profession, and don't need to perform very well since they have no competition and everything is secret. This becomes a problem when conducting disciplinary trials; between the cozy relationship that exists among left-leaning bar prosecutors and bar disciplinary judges, and the lack of a jury trial, many attorneys can't get a fair trial  the old judge, jury and executioner adage. When the left wants to politically target an attorney, but has a weak case that would never stand in a regular court of law, state bars and their accommodating disciplinary judges are useful tools. Last June, I wrote about a conservative district attorney in Texas who was unfairly disbarred, Charles Sebesta. The death penalty was becoming unpopular in Texas, and Sebesta had obtained a murder conviction of a black man, Anthony Graves, who was sent to death row. The defense claimed that Sebesta had withheld evidence, and the Texas State Bar disbarred him. It didn't matter that the evidence appeared pretty overwhelming that Graves was guilty; witnesses testified that they heard Graves discussing the crimes in jail with a co-defendant. Nor did the evidence appear to show that Sebesta had even withheld evidence. Sebesta appealed the disbarment, and when the disciplinary board of the Texas State Bar denied his appeal last month, low-information writers piled on. Articles popped up with titles like, "The racist prosecutors who run U.S. courts," "Sebesta's statement on Graves' exoneration is pathetic," "Charles Sebesta's new hobby: conspiracy theories" and "Prosecutors Are Almost Never Disciplined For Misconduct." Sebesta's side of the story, which is all laid out on his website, was ignored. Fortunately, conservatives are starting to make some inroads into dismantling the death grip that state bars have over attorneys. Eighteen states do not have a mandatory bar. In 2013, Nebraska successfully removed attorney regulation and discipline functions from the state bar association's oversight and put it under the state supreme court. The court "stripped the mandatory obligation of the organization to its bare bones, leaving the bar to seek voluntary dues for nongermane' activities and programs." Legislation passed in the Arizona House last week that is now headed to the Senate, which would begin dismantling Arizona's mandatory state bar. It has a history of targeting conservative attorneys, and Arizona is a right-to-work state, so it makes no sense that attorneys are required to be part of what is essentially a union. The Goldwater Institute is currently litigating a lawsuit representing an attorney challenging the mandatory nature of North Dakota's bar, on the grounds it uses members' dues for political purposes. An attorney in Washington state filed a lawsuit last year challenging that state's mandatory bar. There is some justice already. One of the defense attorneys who represented Graves, Robert Bennett, has now been disbarred himself. A judge found that "Bennett kept money he should have returned from a 2011 retainer of $50,000 then strung out litigation for years by repeatedly trying to appeal the final judgment." Bar prosecutors only asked for a two-year suspension, but the judge thought his misconduct was so egregious that she disbarred him. Bennett helped Graves file a grievance against Sebesta pro bono. Graves received $1.4 million in compensation from the state of Texas over the prosecution and incarceration. But where is the sympathy for the six black victims who lost their lives? Some of their relatives were outraged that Graves was set free. Apparently, they were inconveniently in the way of the spin to get rid of the death penalty, just like Sebesta. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. Home
"A Coming Political Revolution," a "Champion" of the People, and "a Future to Believe in"? Be careful what you wish for Debra Rae

Industrial Age America's unprecedented economic revolution is fast fading under a new revolutionthat of global socialism. Then again, it's not so new. On 17 August 1945, an English writer Eric Arthur Blair, commonly known as George Orwell, published Animal Farm whereupon he painted a utopian vision inspired by German economist Karl Marx. An allegory about life in the Soviet Union, Orwell's narration tells the story of disgruntled Manor Farm animals owned by the Jones and mobilized by a pig called Old Major, whose dream of a future world featured freedom and equality for all. There's no mistaking it. It's a big idea: restructuring into a new order, or paradigm, whereby animals are drawn together in common cause as one animal family, one farm community with a common destiny founded on universal rights, justice, and a culture of peace. Can someone shout, "Amen!"? Broadly bantered about today, the word "socialism" remains ever elusive. To quote Hillary Clinton, "Part of diplomacy is to open different definitions of self-interest." To that end, Old Major would agree, "It's necessary to take things away for the common good." Whereas increasing numbers of Americans outwardly embrace the ideology, others scoff at the notion that U.S. policies under progressive policies smack of raw socialism. Alexis de Tocqueville explained that democracy and socialism have one word in commonequality. Whereas democracies seek equality in liberty, socialism seeks it in level-the-field restraint and servitude. Arguably, Orwell's farm allegory speaks of the latter every bit as directly to America's political landscape today as it did to the Soviet Union of Orwell's day. Culture of Victimization Visionary pig Old Major narrowed the root of all the animals' problemsnamely, greedy humans who alone bear blame for meager rations and paltry stalls. Whereas toiling animals are producers, the businessman, investor, administrator, and/or owner are but parasites that siphon off the system by oppressing workers. Major's charge was to wage a moral and political war of sorts against policies of greed enacted, in today's terms, by billionaires and corporate leaders on Wall Street. Toward ensuring dignity in an egalitarian super-status for the mass proletariat, Major advanced Animalism, distinguished by unity in thought and reflected in the collective. Culture of Entitlement Without listening to a word of what Major was saying, the cat purred contentedly throughout the rousing speech. It was noticed that, when work was to be done, the cat couldn't be foundnot until mealtime, that is. In Orwell's world, whether weak or strong, clever or simple, all farm animals were brothers. Despite voting both sides of an issue, the well-fed cat convinced fellows of his good intentions by purring affectionately for the milk and cream due him. To protect the simpleminded from being led astray by pesky facts, strong, clever community organizers arose among the farm animals. The hard work of leadership fell naturally upon the cleverest of animals, the pigs. Comrade Pig Napoleon (aka Protector of the Sheep Fold) rallied animals for a better future on the heels of change they could believe in. Toward fundamental change, hope, and transformation, animals united with one voice, together chanting, "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" Culture of Intimidation The "have-nots" became cannon fodder in what, over time, appeared to be a damaging collectivist experiment, but no worries. A self-appointed cadre of experts determined what was real, right, and true; then, codified principles of self-rule into non-negotiable, science-by-consensus precepts. Had they found the right arguments, several comrades might have protested. But then, why bother? Unfashionable opinions were seldom given fair hearings. "Settled science" was settled, no questions asked, and "animal lives matter." Period. Each comrade increasingly surrendered personal freedom of thought and speech for some inexplicit construct heralding the common good. Any vague sense of uneasiness was smoothed over by spontaneous, swelling chantsi.e., "Animal lives matter!" "Main Street, not Wall Street!" "Yes, we can!" Culture of Nepotism Once human masters were overcome, leaders of the revolution changed so drastically that they amended foundational commandments to make life easier, not for all animals, but for the executive family of pigs whose elevated service justified protecting their self-interest. Were they not, after all, superior? Before very long the key commandmentnamely, "all animals are equal"was adjusted to, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." By redistributing farm resources, pigs concentrated wealth and, therefore, power into their own hands. It became apparent that the farm had grown wealthier without making the animals other than pigs and dogs any richer. In providing milk and apples for themselves, pigs defended need for that privilege: Brainwork on behalf of comrades warranted enriched nutrition. In joining the revolution, the farm animals' expectation had been a society set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak. In the race to obliterate power-without-controls over the human-centric farming enterprise, animals failed to understand that their efforts were destined to become steppingstones for bureaucratic burdens and regulations, coupled with invasion of privacy and wealth confiscation. Bravely, Snowball (himself a pig) refused to compromise animal equality for the sake of self-interest and greed. When Snowball courageously stood for sacrificial principles of Animalism, Napoleon criminalized and, then, eliminated himfor the common good, of course. Culture of Liberal Monism There was no part of the farm irrelevant to the collective anymore. Fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, thus discouraging comrades from speaking their minds. Some clever animals secretly mused that this was not what they had hoped and toiled for, but none harbored thoughts of rebellion or disobedience in that skilled thought police discerned even a hint of rebellion through a look in the eyes, an inflection of the voice, or an occasional whispered word. Working-class horses, Boxer and Clover, suspected something funny was going on with the pigs, but naive trust in Napoleon's good intentions blinded them to ways they were being exploited. As sheep blindly followed, so did they. Each committed to accept the leadership of President Napoleon and to remain faithful, work hard, and carry out orders. Compliant comrades rationalized that they were far better off than they had been in the previous administration. "We shall overcome" became the state-approved message of their collective march.



All embraced the central slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." Despite hardship, animals dreamed of Sugar-candy Mountain, where in the sweet by-and-by they would rest forever from all labor. Until then, each existed solely to serve the collective good. While work was strictly voluntary, any animal absenting himself from itexcept, purr-haps, the catwould find his rations reduced by half. Together, farm animals sang Beasts of England three times oververy tunefully, but slowly and mournfully. Downside of Championing the Coming Political Revolution At long last, while huddling together, amazed and terrified, the animals observed a world turned upside-down at the hands of their cleverest of comrades, now majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side-to-side. With authentic equality traded in for an elitist ruling class, demanding of the masses harder labors and worse pay, the utopian dream had, for them, morphed into a nightmare. Just at that moment comrades might have uttered some word of protest, familiar chants commenced and escalated for five full minutes without stopping. By the time the sheep had quieted down, the chance to utter any protest had passed; and the Pig-in-Chief had marched commandingly into his big, white house. Creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it was impossible to say which was which. The oppressed and the oppressor were one and the same. Alas, to make a long story short, the masses turned against each other and inevitably forfeited the better future for which they once fought collectively. Moral of the Story There emerges always an "Old Major" whose dreams and vision ultimately fashion an elitist leader to be obeyed, even feared. As Old Major, Bernie Sanders champions "A Coming Political Revolution"; and, in tandem, Hillary Napoleon Clinton barks, "Everyday Americans need a champion. I want to be that champion." Especially in an election year rife with stirring campaign slogans, we best remember that, when righteous leaders are in authority, the people rejoice; otherwise, they mourn. In 1832, Noah Webster published his history of the United States in which he warned, if citizens neglect their duty by allowing unprincipled rulers, public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men and women; and the rights of citizens will be violated or disregarded. "If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness," Webster added, it must be because its citizens have neglected the divine commands. Moreover, they've failed to apply the plumb line of truth. The moral of our story (and Orwell's) is simple: Be careful what you wish for. Debra Rae is a regular contributor to The Intellectual Conservative and this publication.  2016 Home
Where was the 'fire in Romney's belly' four years ago? By John W. Lillpop

Four years ago, those of us who put our hope and faith in Mitt Romney to put an end to the devastation heaped upon America as a result of the first-term wanderings of Barack Obama were sorely disappointed when the election cycle ended with The One allowed to continue his anti-American crusade from inside the Oval Office for yet another four years. Another fateful four years that would see the US Constitution and rule of law ignored and blithely sabotaged by the very person elected to protect and defend the same from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Another four years in which the terrorist state of Iran would be rewarded for global terrorism in a ridiculously- foolish Agreement that allowed the malicious Mullahs to pursue nuclear weapons and earn $150 billion for doing just that! Back in 2012, defeating the dreadfully-flawed Barack Obama seemed almost too easy. His woeful policies had made the world and America's homeland less safe, all but destroyed the American Dream, replaced the world's finest health care system with a hodgepodge of Marxist folly which the American people were, and still are, bitterly opposed to, and made a shambles of America's stature as the preeminent superpower in the world. Barack Obama seemed to be on a fast track for involuntary return to Hawaii: America had suffered four years of muddled Marxism and willy-nilly nothingness, and was ready to say, "Enough is enough!" As the November 2012 election loomed, the prospects for a revival of the American spirit seemed good: Romney performed well in the first presidential debate and seemed to be gaining traction among the American people. Then for some inexplicable reason, Mitt Romney stopped being a vigorous opponent of the Obamazation of America, and instead became a poster child for the "deer-in-the-headlights" candidate who has suddenly lost the passion and rage needed to prevail in the live-or-die blood sport of American politics. Romney became the altogether too nice' candidate, unwilling or unable, to seal the deal against the reprehensible Marxist Barack Obama! Romney's weak surrender to Barack Obama in the final days of the 2012 campaign, in a situation that should have led to Obama's abrupt ouster, remains a colossal mystery and major disappointment to patriotic Americans. It is both sad and revealing to contrast Romney's dreadful performance in 2012 to his brutal, merciless dismantling of Donald Trump on March 3. In his anti-Trump tirade, Romney went the extra mile to discredit Trump as a fraud, liar, and wholly unacceptable candidate for the US Presidency. It was a particularly personal and vicious attack against a fellow Republican that is without precedent in American politics. Given the intensity and strength of Romney's anti-Trump tirade, one cannot help but wonder: Where was Romney's ferocity and passion in 2012, and would America be a stronger, safer and more prosperous nation today if Romney had used similar passion and rage in his battle against Barack Obama four years ago?  2016 John W. Lillpop Home
Two words that would seal Trump's deal for me

By Michael R. Shannon



I am well aware Donald Trump isn't a conservative. What's more, I've seen no indication that he's interested in adopting a consistent constitutionally conservative philosophy. He's the personification of the "random walk" brought to politics.

But none of that matters.

For our purposes we don't need James Madison. The fact that Trump's background is closer to that of Ashley Madison is entirely irrelevant to the tremendous service he can perform for conservatives.

What Donald Trump understands is winning and winning's corollary: Getting even. And that's why he's the perfect candidate to give conservatives a real chance of achieving our greatest victory in the last 50 years.

And that's where two words become crucial for my vote: Term limits.

If Trump adds term limits to his signature issue of immigration, then I'm instantly a Trumpista. Term limits is another perfect issue for Trump and his eclectic assembly of voters who are fed up with a selfserving, unresponsive and corrupt political establishment.

Marco Rubio (RAmnesty) might claim to be a unifier, but Trump really is. Republican and Democrat leadership in both the House and the Senate are completely united in their hatred and utter contempt for Trump and his supporters.

They would sooner get in a hot tub with Mullah Omar than invite the average Trumpista to a townhall meeting.

Last week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (RWeasel) said Republicans will drop Trump "like a hot rock" if he's the nominee and the gopherlike McConnell gave them permission to run negative ads attacking their own presidential candidate! For the first time in history instead of fleeing a sinking ship, establishment rats are advocating mutiny.

President Trump will owe these cravens absolutely nothing except retribution.

That's why he's the ideal candidate to make term limits an integral part of his campaign. Term limits is an issue with overwhelming support in the electorate that's been blocked by chairwarming incumbents for decades. If his first two fights with the beaten establishment are ending illegal immigration and turning incumbents into refugees his popularity will skyrocket.

Conservatives have never had an advocate for term limits in the Oval Office. Past presidents were more concerned with making nice with Congress so it would pass their legislative initiatives. Trump would have a better chance asking Iran for a tour of its nuclear bomb plant than he would have getting cooperation from this Congress, so he loses nothing by advocating term limits.

The amendment would be perfect if it included a threeyear lobby ban on retired officeholders or any member of their staff. In a single stroke Trump will have ended the incestuous Congresstocrony pipeline on Capitol Hill. But I'll settle for just term limits. A maximum of 12 years in the House and Senate combined.

In a single stroke, being elected to Congress will stop being the first step toward a lifetime of sucking the public teat. Instead those 12 years can be the capstone to a career spent in business or some other occupation outside politics.

Please spare me the crocodile anguish over "losing all those years of experience." Here are the top three longestserving Republican members of the House and Senate:

Rep. Don Young 43 years Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner 37 years Rep. Harold Rogers 36 years Sen. Orrin Hatch 39 years Sen. Thad Cochran 38 years Sen. Charles Grassley 39 years

Two hundred and thirty-two years of spending and expanding government wrapped up in six eminently forgettable politicians who all happen to hate Trump.

Just imagine the splash Trump would make with these two issues. Republicans at all levels would finally see how using a vigorous, consistent message can bring incredible pressure to bear. Trump can simply point out to voters that if eight years are enough for him, why are McConnell and his ilk so angry about getting 50 percent more time?

Once the amendment hits the states it's all over for perpetual incumbency. Voters in many states already have term limits and the ones who don't still hold Congress in contempt.

Please, Donald, make my dream come true. Just say the words.

Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!).
Trump's most taxing questions By Mark Alexander

Recently after being pummeled in the 10th GOP primary debate, Donald Trump demonstrated once again that he is the undisputed media master. As the mainstream media (MSM) prepared to devote the day's news to the beating Trump took from Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz (both of whom defeat Trump head-to-head), the most "establishment" of establishment candidates stepped up to endorse Trump. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose own campaign fell flat, joined Trump at a rally and threw his weight behind the pro-promoter, effectively diverting attention from the previous night's debate. Christie, in an opportunistic bid for an attorney general appointment, declared, "Always beware of the candidate for public office who has the quick and easy answer to a complicated problem. ... I just don't think that [Trump] is suited to be president of the United States. ... We do not need reality TV in the Oval Office right now. [The presidency] is not a place for an entertainer. ... Showtime is over. We are not electing an entertainer-in-chief. ... [If you vote for Trump] we could wind up turning over the White House to Hillary Clinton for four more years." Wait, that's what Christie said before he endorsed Trump. But now he has pledged allegiance to Trump, declaring, "The best person to beat Hillary Clinton in November ... is undoubtedly Donald Trump." "Undoubtedly"? Reputable polls consistently show Trump to be the only remaining Republican candidate who loses to Hillary in a head-to-head matchup. Trump knows how to work the media as well as he does a crowd. But as I wrote in "The Trump Freight Train," Caveat Emptor: "Virtually none of his adoring media has devoted any bandwidth challenging Trump's long list of prevarications  at least not yet. And the list keeps growing. If Trump sews up the Republican nomination, the mainstream media will stop appeasing and start tearing him apart ahead of the general election  they will eviscerate him. And there is so much to hang around Trump's neck that the barrage will be relentless until the last general election vote is cast." Mark my words: There's a bottomless pit of Trump material that hasn't YET been aired, and Democrat opposition research teams will hand it all over to their MSM enablers as soon as Trump wraps up the Republican nomination. Over the last eight months, I have devoted a few columns to the Trump phenomenon and the danger he poses to something far more important than the Republican Party  Liberty. I have assessed the Trump attraction, his "New York values," his inexcusable diversionary tactics of playing the "9/11 Card" and the "Veterans Card," and have asked, "If Trump is the answer, what is the question?" But beyond that critical analysis, there is the deadly serious issue of Trump's tax returns  which he has perennially resisted releasing. Every Trump supporter should be asking one question: What is my preferred candidate trying to hide? Trump has refused for years to release any verifiable tax information, particularly anything that might reveal his actual net worth or the organizations he supports. He has implied that it's just too complex and too long for us rubes, or blamed lawsuits, ad infinitum... In a recent debate, Trump claimed, "I want to release my tax returns but I can't release it while I'm under an audit." He added (with a straight face, no less) that he's being audited "because of the fact that I'm a strong Christian." Both of those assertions are false. It's worth noting that he and other candidates did file some information with the Federal Election Commission last July, but that information is so broad as to be meaningless and does not begin to provide insights into who and what Trump has supported in recent years. Notably Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio released profile tax returns for the last five years, which provide much more detail than the FEC filings. They challenged Trump to do the same. The pressure to stop evading the tax return requests made news again, when former presidential candidate Mitt Romney pushed for the release of Trump's tax records from recent years because voters "have a right to know if there's a problem in those taxes before they decide." Romney, who reluctantly released his own records in 2012, insists that the billionaire's failure to disclose tax returns suggest he's hiding something. "I think we have good reason to believe that there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes," declared Romney. "I think there's something there. Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay or perhaps he hasn't been giving money to the vets or the disabled like he's been telling us he's been doing. And the reason I think there is a bombshell in there is because every time he's asked about his taxes, he dodges and delays and says, 'Well we're working on it.'" Trump responded with his standard scorched-earth rhetoric: "Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope! I'm going to do what Mitt Romney was totally unable to do  win!" The question of Trump's net worth may account for some of his evasion because he has crafted his entire persona around his billionaire image. He's based his campaign on two central claims: He's rich and he's a populist. The polls prove the latter, but he is very defensive about any encroachment on the veracity of the former. Trump is so sensitive about his billionaire image that in 2011 he launched a $5 billion libel lawsuit against a New York Times reporter who dared suggest that Trump may not be worth as much as he insists he is. That reporter, Tim O'Brien, wrote in his book, "TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald," that "[t]hree people with direct knowledge of Donald's finances, people who had worked closely with him for years, told me that they thought his net worth was somewhere between $150 million and $250 million. By anyone's standards this still qualified Donald as comfortably wealthy, but none of these people thought he was remotely close to being a billionaire." Trump insisted that his reputation was severely damaged by O'Brien's claim, but he lost both the original lawsuit and his appeal. According to the New Jersey Superior Court: "It is indisputable that Trump's estimates of his own worth changed substantially over time and thus failed to provide a reliable measure against which the accuracy of the information offered by the three confidential sources could be gauged. ... The materials that Trump claims to have provided to O'Brien were incomplete and unaudited, and did not contain accurate indications of Trump's ownership interests in properties, his liabilities, and his revenues, present or future." During the case, Trump refused to allow the court to review his tax returns, which would have put to rest the question of his net worth. Fortune Magazine, which annually rates the wealthiest Americans, noted the difficulty they have in assessing Trump's wealth: "That difficulty is compounded by Trump's astonishing ability to prevaricate [emphasis added]. No one is saying Trump ought to be held to the same standards of truthfulness as everyone else; he is, after all, Donald Trump. But when Trump says he owns 10% of the Plaza hotel, understand that what he actually means is that he has the right to 10% of the profit if it's ever sold. When he says he's building a '90-story building' next to the U.N., he means a 72-story building that has extra-high ceilings. And when he says his casino company is the 'largest employer in the state of New Jersey,' he actually means to say it is the eighth-largest." (That was before Trump's bankruptcies...) So, it's obvious that Trump will go to great lengths to avoid any third-party assessment of what he claims to be worth, and he'll suppress any other assessment that does not fit his altered reality. He declared, "One of the things I'm gonna do if I win, is I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles we can sue them and win lots of money." But while the speculation about his wealth may seem trivial to some, what cannot be seen as trivial are the questions of who and what Donald Trump has supported with all that wealth over the last five years. Romney might be onto something when he suggests, "Perhaps he hasn't been giving money to the vets or the disabled like he's been telling us," but I think this goes much deeper. We know for example, because federal law requires access to annual filings by 501-C3 entities like the Trump Foundation, that he's sent at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation, but over the last five years he only sent $57,000 to veteran support organizations. Some veterans groups are calling Trump out for using them as political pawns  or as I noted previously, playing the "Veteran Card." Republicans and conservatives should ask, has Trump supported groups opposing the Second Amendment or other leftist assaults on Liberty? We know for a fact that he's personally supported Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other loathsome leftists. That said, here is my open letter to Donald Trump, as sent to his campaign last month: Mr. Trump, I understand you are very protective of your tax returns because they may indicate a discrepancy between your claimed and actual net worth. Though I believe you should release full tax returns, I am not requesting evidence of your net worth. However, there is important information in your tax returns, which will speak volumes about your political views, and I believe those whom you have asked to support you deserve to better understand those views. I am, therefore, asking you to release this most basic documentation for each of the last five years: Net income and Federal and State taxes paid. A full listing of all C-3 and C-4 donations and contributions. This information may be certified by an independent accounting firm of your choosing. Sincerely,

Mark Alexander Of course, Trump won't respond, and he won't release any of this basic information. In effect, his tax return evasion is a proxy Fifth Amendment assertion of his right against self-incrimination. In the final analysis, will it make any difference to Trump's loyalists? As I have written regarding the "Obama Effect" on Republican voters, "Seven years of Obama's repressive regime has fomented despair, division and delusion among the ranks of Republican voters  so much so that they some are willing to take leave of their senses and join a cultish movement with a self-promoting charlatan at its head. History is replete with examples of such movements, and the tragic result  the suppression of Liberty." So confused are some Republicans that they no longer can distinguish between "conservative" and "establishment" candidates. And I believe it's likely that some of Trump's primary voter support is coming not from Republicans but from Clinton crossovers, who want to ensure Trump is her opponent. Political pundits have noted the low primary Democrat turnout  that's because they have been turning out for Trump! After his Nevada victory, Trump said two things that jumped out at me. First he declared, "We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." And then he added, "When others drop out, I will pick up more. Sad but true." These two statements are perhaps the most truthful words he has spoken in this campaign cycle. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post. Home
Prejudices obstruct the rights of women worshippers.

The struggles by groups of Hindu and Muslim women to lift bans on entry into some places of worship have been in the public limelight over the past year.

In 2007, the Indian Young Lawyers Association had soughtdirection from the Supreme Court to strike down the ban on entry of women between 10 and 50 into the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala. The media coverage of a recent round of these hearings has fuelled interest and controversy even as the Bhumata Brigade began an agitation in mid-2015 demanding that women beallowed into the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. More or less at the same time, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, which has filed a petitionbefore the Bombay High Court to demand entry into the mazar of the Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai, stepped up its campaign.
Survey reveals how much pocket money Aussie kids are earning

New data reveals gender pay gap reversed when it comes to pocket money...
Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), the nation's only nonprofit dedicated exclusively to cell and gene therapies for cancer, is delighted to announce the recipients of its 2016 ACGT Young Investigator Grants. These grants are awarded to help the researchers build upon earlier research and take them to the next level in cancer treatment, setting the stage for possible clinical trials. While ACGT funds research into all forms of cancer, this year's recipients from the University of California, Los Angeles, Duke University Medical Center and Yale Cancer Center represent the future of cancer research specifically leukemia/lymphoma, melanoma and blood cancers.

This year's grant cycle brought in a record 115 scientific applications for the ACGT Young Investigator Grants, the most in ACGT's 15 year history. ACGT's highly competitive grants have been funding breakthrough cancer research scientists such as Dr. Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Michel Sadelain at Memorial Sloan Kettering, for their work successfully treating leukemia through gene therapy, which have been touted in recent national documentaries on cancer aired on PBS and HBO. ACGT has funded more than $25 million in cancer research.

This year's Young Investigator Grantees are:

Yvonne Chen, MS, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Eradicating Leukemia/Lymphoma with Immunotherapy

Dr. Chen is using CAR-T therapy, with a focus on proteins that bind to a specific disease marker known as CD19 found in advanced leukemia and lymphoma patients. Because of this marker, conventional treatments have been ineffective. Several clinical trials have shown that CD19 CAR-T therapy achieves positive outcomes, but there are still questions on the optimum parameters for success and too often studies depend on trial and error. Dr. Chen plans to further research the technique to better understand the biochemistry and to refine the screening method in order to ensure even more consistently high outcomes.

Dr. Chen's interest is the development of synthetic biological systems with applications in health and medicine. She brings to her research interdisciplinary skills learned in academic training and professional work experience in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as advanced studies in immunotherapy and systems biology. She earned an MS and a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, and held postdoctoral positions at Seattle Children's Research Institute, Washington, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

Brent Hanks, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

A Vaccine for Melanoma Using Immunotherapy

Melanoma has been steadily increasing in recent years and despite improvements in diagnosis and early stage treatment, metastatic cancer patients have less than a 10% prognosis for recovery. Dr. Hanks is studying pathways that block the immune system's ability to destroy cancers. These fundamental pathways, which are present in many cancers, inhibit potent dendritic cells that would otherwise open the door to an immune system attack. This research has identified a fatty acid transporter that plays a crucial role in this process and the possibility of a drug intervention that will shut down the barrier to treatment. Based on these findings, and laboratory research, Dr. Hanks has proposed to engineer a vaccine that will genetically silence the inhibitor so the body's natural killer T-cells can do their job. ACGT grant funding will support further testing to confirm the effect of the transporter, with the intent to develop a vaccine treatment primarily for melanoma.

Dr. Hanks has dedicated the last decade to research in the fields of tumor immunology and immunotherapy. He served as Fellow and Resident at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, after earning an MD in Medicine and a PhD in Cancer Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He has published extensively and has received numerous awards for his work.

Samuel G. Katz, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

Using RNA to Kill Blood Cancers

Great progress has been made in harnessing a patient's own immune cells to attack blood cancers. A particularly effective alternative is to harvest the patient's T-cells [killer white cells] and reprogram them to recognize the cancer as a threat. Once returned to the body, these reprogrammed cells use a dual-action protein known as a chimeric antigen receptor [CAR] that first recognizes the tumor and then attacks. Most protocols use retroviruses to alter the cells, but the new proteins might also attack healthy tissue. Dr. Katz's research instead employs RNA, which directs the cells to attack only the cancer and has the added advantage of minimal side effects. In addition, RNA reprogramming is more transient, meaning that after conclusion of treatment, RNA and derivative proteins return to their normal state, which further minimizes possible side effects.

In addition to research, Dr. Katz teaches genetic, biochemistry and cell biology techniques to better provide patient care. He earned his MD in Medicine and a PhD in Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Division of Medical Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts, and served his residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and his post-doctoral fellowship at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, both in Boston.

Barbara Netter, ACGT co-founder and president noted that, "2016 marks a big change in cancer research in that gene and immunotherapy are being heralded as breakthroughs which scientists have been searching for since the early 1970's when the 'war on cancer' was launched." "It's exciting to see the depth and promise of what these scientists are developing and ACGT is proud to be able to fund them at this pivotal time."

Mrs. Netter added that, "Funding scientists studying cancer gene and immunotherapy hasn't always been so widely popular and, in fact, many organizations declined to fund this type of research until results were proven. ACGT has long believed that the cure for cancer resides in the genes and proudly supported gene and cell research into finding effective treatments for cancer."

To learn more about the ACGT Young Investigator Program, visit acgtfoundation.org.

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About Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT)

Established in 2001, ACGT is the nation's only non-profit dedicated exclusively to cell and gene therapy treatments for all types of cancer. One hundred percent of contributions go directly to research. ACGT has funded 49 grants in the U.S. and Canada since its founding in 2001 by Barbara Netter and her late husband Edward, to conduct and accelerate critically needed innovative research. Since its inception, ACGT has awarded 34 grants to Young Investigators and 15 grants to Clinical Investigators, totaling more than $25 million in funding. ACGT is located at 96 Cummings Point Road, Stamford, Connecticut 06902; 203-358-5055. To learn more, visit acgtfoundation.org or join the ACGT community on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at @acgtfoundation.
March 7, 2016 (Washington, D.C.) - American University School of Communication's Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) announces new research on the rise of the nationwide Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The study "Beyond the Hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice," coauthored by AU Communications Professor Deen Freelon, examines how social media drove the biggest push for racial justice the US has seen in decades.

Videos, images, and stories of violent encounters between police and unarmed Black people circulated widely through news and social media in the summer of 2014, galvanizing public outrage. This media activism fueled the rise of Black Lives Matter (BLM), a loosely-coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality.

BLM ignited an urgent national conversation about cases of excessive police force against minorities and police killings of unarmed African American citizens. Deen Freelon and his co-researchers, Charlton D. McIlwain, associate professor of media, culture and communication at New York University and Meredith D. Clark, assistant professor of digital and print news at the University of North Texas, researched the online media tools credited with transforming the hashtag into a household phrase and influential national movement.

"BLM hubs were successful in projecting their anti-brutality messages through various nonactivist networks; in criticizing the media harshly for their portrayal of anti-black police brutality; and in educating some audiences rather than simply preaching to the choir," the report concludes.

The study examines the movement's uses of online media in 2014 and 2015. Researchers analyzed three types of data: 40.8 million tweets, over 100,000 web links, and 40 interviews of BLM activists and allies. The following findings are a result of an extensive Twitter, web network and hyperlink analysis:

The Birth of a Movement

Although the #Blacklivesmatter hashtag was created in July 2013, it was rarely used through the summer of 2014 and did not come to signify a movement until the months after the Ferguson protests.

In the early days, #Blacklivesmatter was only one of several popular hashtag slogans along with #HandsUpDontShoot, #NoJusticeNoPeace, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, and #Justice4All, among others. Unlike many of its competitors, #Blacklivesmatter was one of the few widely-used hashtags to articulate the issue in explicitly racial terms.

#Blacklivesmatter was not widely used until November 24, the day St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullough announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown. The previous day, the hashtag appeared in 2,309 tweets; but on that day, the total soared several orders of magnitude to 103,319.

Social media posts by activists were essential in initially spreading Michael Brown's story nationally.

BLM Social Media Strategy

Protesters and their supporters were generally able to circulate their own narratives without relying on mainstream news outlets.

Activists used digital tools to generate alternative narratives about police violence to counter the so-called neutrality of the mainstream press.

Activists managed to spread their messages much further than ever before by appealing to the moral sensitivities of non-activists such as celebrities, politicians, online humorists, and ordinary citizens who in turn endorsed and shared the activists' posts with their followers.

The primary goals of social media use among our interviewees were education, amplification of marginalized voices, and structural police reform.

Evidence that activists succeeded in educating casual observers came in two main forms: expressions of awe and disbelief at the violent police reactions to the Ferguson protests, and conservative admissions of police brutality in the Eric Garner and Walter Scott cases.

BLM Twitter Communities

There are six major communities that consistently discussed police brutality on Twitter in 2014 and 2015: Black Lives Matter, Anonymous/Bipartisan Report, Black Entertainers, Conservatives, Mainstream News, and Young Black Twitter.

The vast majority of the communities we observed supported justice for the victims and decisively denounced police brutality.

Black youth discussed police brutality frequently, but in ways that differed substantially from how activists discussed it.

According to the report, BLM borrowed many of its digital tactics from prior movements, including the development and independent distribution of new issue narratives, media criticism, systemic critiques, and enlisting well-known endorsers. One of the most substantial differences between BLM and its predecessors has to do with the nature of police brutality as an issue. Unlike wealth or income inequality, police brutality is concrete, discrete in its manifestations, and extremely visual. Hashtagged full names and other digital memorials remind the public of the irreplaceable losses felt by the victims' families.

In sum, "this report showcases how Black Lives Matter and related movements have used social media tools to broaden conversations about the general capacity of online media tools to facilitate social and political change," the report states. "Our BLM interview participants were asked about the kinds of social changes they wanted to see as a result of their online activism; the primary type of desired outcome was policy change."

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American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world.
A BLOOD test may be able to sound early warning bells that patients with advanced melanoma skin cancer are relapsing, according to a study* published in the journal Cancer Discovery today (Monday).

Scientists from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute studied the DNA shed by tumours into the bloodstream - called circulating tumour DNA - in blood samples from seven advanced melanoma patients at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

In this early work they found they could see whether a patient was relapsing by tracking levels of circulating tumour DNA. And they found that new mutations in genes like NRAS and PI3K appeared, possibly causing the relapse by allowing the tumour to become resistant to treatment.

Most melanoma patients respond to treatment at first but their cancer can become resistant within a year. It is hoped that these approaches will allow doctors to use circulating tumour DNA to tailor treatment for individual patients to get the best result.

Around 40 to 50 per cent of melanoma patients have a faulty BRAF gene** and they can be treated with the targeted drugs vemurafenib or dabrafenib. But for many of these patients the treatments don't work, or their tumours develop resistance after a relatively short time. When this happens these patients can be offered immunotherapy drugs including pembrolizumab, nivolumab and ipilimumab. Detecting this situation early could be key to improving their care and chances of survival.

Around 14,500 people are diagnosed with melanoma and more than 2,100 people die from it every year in the UK ***. Professor Richard Marais, lead author and Cancer Research UK's skin cancer expert, said: "Being able to spot the first signs of relapse, so we can rapidly decide the best treatment strategy, is an important area for research. Using our technique we hope that one day we will be able to spot when a patient's disease is coming back at the earliest point and start treatment against this much sooner, hopefully giving patients more time with their loved ones. Our work has identified a way for us to do this but we still need to test the approach in further clinical trials before it reaches patients in the clinic."

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "One of the sinister things about melanoma is that it can lay dormant for years and then suddenly re-emerge, probably as it escapes from the control of the body's immune system. Being able to track cancers in real time as they evolve following treatment has huge potential for the way we monitor cancers and intervene to stop them growing back. There's still some time until we see this in the clinic but we hope that in the future, blood tests like these will help us to stay one step ahead in treating cancer."

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The research was funded by Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust.

For media enquiries contact Emily Head in the Cancer Research UK press office on 020 3469 6189 or, out of hours, on 07050 264 059. Notes to editor:

* Girotti et al. Application of sequencing, liquid biopsies and patient-derived xenografts for personalised medicine in melanoma. Cancer Discovery.

** http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4306428/

*** Number of new cases diagnosed and number of deaths from malignant melanoma (ICD10 C43) in the UK in 2013 About the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. We support bright minds in science, the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education, public engagement and the application of research to medicine.

Our investment portfolio gives us the independence to support such transformative work as the sequencing and understanding of the human genome, research that established front-line drugs for malaria, and Wellcome Collection, our free venue for the incurably curious that explores medicine, life and art. http://www.wellcome/ac/uk About the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute

The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute is a research institute within The University of Manchester, and is core-funded by Cancer Research UK. Research at the Institute spans the whole spectrum of cancer research, from programmes investigating the molecular and cellular basis of cancer to those focused on translational research and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. 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.
Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a novel mechanism that could be used to protect the brain from damage due to stroke and a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, including sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

Neena Singh, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology at the school, has spent much of her career studying the role of metals such as iron, copper, and zinc in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. She has previously reported that some of these metals are regulated by the brain's normal prion protein, called PrPC. Her goal is to identify common pathogenic processes in neurodegenerative diseases that could lead to the development of a new generation of treatments.

In her latest study, published in The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Singh and post-doctoral research fellow Ajai K. Tripathi, PhD, studied a byproduct of hemoglobin called hemin that is released from red blood cells during stroke and is toxic to neurons. Other scientists have reported that PrPC is upregulated in damaged tissue following stroke, and protects the tissue from further damage.

It was this finding that got Singh and her group interested in how PrPC protects neurons from hemin-induced toxicity. In a series of elegant experiments, Singh said they found that hemin binds to PrPC on many diverse cell lines. What was surprising was that the interaction between hemin and PrPC actually up-regulated hemoglobin synthesis in hematopoietic and neuronal cells. "Neuronal hemoglobin may be endowed with similar biological functions that are found in red cells, and is likely to improve neuronal survival by supporting their metabolism," explained Singh.

In addition, hemin and PrPC form a complex, resulting in the removal of hemin and reducing the amount of PrPC available for conversion to the PrP-scrapie form. The latter is responsible for scrapie in sheep and goats and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Treatment with hemin has been shown to delay the onset of scrapie in experimental models. This study suggests that in addition to reducing the generation of PrP-scrapie, hemin protects neurons by inducing hemoglobin synthesis. "The hemin-PrPC interaction therefore reveals a unique function of PrPC that is likely to impact the therapeutic management of cerebral hemorrhage and CJD."

This synergy may play a role in other brain diseases as well. Dr. Singh said that altered levels of neuronal hemoglobin have been reported in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and dementia with Lewy bodies. "We think that manipulation of neuronal hemoglobin may provide an effective method of improving neuronal survival," said Dr. Singh. "Further studies are necessary to explore viable options that take advantage of PrPC and hemin in this process."

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About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation's top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes -- research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism -- to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report, "Guide to Graduate Education."

The School of Medicine's primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is affiliated additionally with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.
It's happened to many of us. We eat at a restaurant with less than ideal hygiene and come down with a nasty case of food poisoning.

Foodborne illness afflicts 48 million people annually in the U.S. alone; 120,000 individuals are hospitalized annually, and 3,000 die from the illness. In fact, one out of every six Americans gets food poisoning each year. And many of these sufferers write about it on Twitter.

Computer science researchers from the University of Rochester have developed an app for health departments that uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence to identify food poisoning-related tweets, connect them to restaurants using geotagging and identify likely hot spots.

The team presented the results of its research at the 30th Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in February. The project was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Intel Science and Technology Center for Pervasive Computing.

Location-based epidemiology is nothing new. John Snow, credited as the world's first epidemiologist, used maps of London in 1666 to identify the source of the Cholera epidemic that was rampaging the city (a neighborhood well) and in the process discovered the connection between the disease and water sources.

However, as the researchers showed, it's now possible to deduce the source of outbreaks using publicly available social media content and deep learning algorithms trained to recognize the linguistic traits associated with a disease - "I feel nauseous," for instance.

"We don't need to go door to door like John Snow did," says Adam Sadilek, a researcher who worked on the project at the University of Rochester and who is now at Google Research. "We can use all this data and mine it automatically."

Testing the app in Las Vegas

The work presented at AAAI described a recent collaboration with the Las Vegas health department, where officials used the app they developed, called nEmesis, to improve the city's inspection protocols.

Typically, cities (including Las Vegas) use a random system to decide which restaurants to inspect on any given day. The research team convinced Las Vegas officials to replace their random system with a list of possible sites of infection derived using their smart algorithms.

In a controlled experiment, half of the inspections were performed using the random approach and half were done using nEmesis, without the inspectors knowing that any change had occurred in the system.

"Each morning we gave the city a list of places where we knew that something was wrong so they could do an inspection of those restaurants," Sadilek said.

For three months, the system automatically scanned an average of 16,000 tweets from 3,600 users each day. 1,000 of those tweets snapped to a specific restaurant and of those, approximately 12 contained content that likely signified food poisoning. They used these tweets to generate a list of highest-priority locations for inspections.

Analyzing the results of the experiment, they found the tweet-based system led to citations for health violations in 15 percent of inspections, compared to 9 percent using the random system. Some of the inspections led to warnings; others resulted in closures.

The researchers estimate that these improvements to the efficacy of the inspections led to 9,000 fewer food poisoning incidents and 557 fewer hospitalization in Las Vegas during the course of the study.

"nEmesis has proved to be a useful tool for quickly and accurately identifying facilities in need of support, education, or regulation by the health department," says Lauren DiPrete, senior environmental health specialist for the Southern Nevada Health District.

"Adaptive inspections allow us to focus our limited resources on the restaurants with problems," says Brian Labus, a visiting research assistant professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas's School of Community Health Sciences. "The sooner we find out about a problem, the sooner we can intervene and keep people from getting sick."

The research received an Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence award at AAAI as one of the best deployed applications of AI with measurable benefits.

"Adaptive inspections are significantly more effective and can make a real dent in the statistics," Sadilek said. "This case shows how you can use public data to improve public health."

Not only that, the approach can be applied to a range of other public health problems.

"This happens to be restaurants, but the method can also be used for bedbugs," he says. "Similarly, you can look what people tweet about after they visit their doctor or hospital. We're just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible."

nEmesis serves as an example of how researchers can leverage social media users as a kind of distributed sensor network, where each person observes and reports on some aspect of the world, according to Henry Kautz, director of the Institute for Data Science at the University of Rochester and the principal investigator on the NSF-funded project that developed the app.

"Each report is very noisy, but the aggregate results can be reliable," Kautz says. "The approach can be used for health, environmental protection, public safety and many other applications."

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During this season of El Nino influenced Pacific storms, NASA has been analyzing the storms that brought rain and snow to the U.S. West Coast.

NASA's RapidScat instrument spied tropical-storm-force winds in a weather system affecting the Pacific Northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada on Sunday, March 6 and Monday, March 7. NOAA's GOES-West satellite provided an infrared look at the clouds associated with the system that blanketed the U.S. West Coast.

In addition, NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) precipitation product added up the large rainfall totals that the west coast received from Feb. 29 to early March 7 as the latest system was bringing more rain and snow.

RapidScat is a scatterometer instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station. It measures surface wind speeds and direction over open waters of oceans. Images from RapidScat data are made into images at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the mission is managed.

On Sunday, March 6, 2016 from 2 to 4 p.m. EST (1900 to 2100 UTC), NASA's RapidScat instrument measured the surface winds over the Eastern Pacific Ocean that are associated with the low pressure area that neared U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada. RapidScat measured sustained surface winds near 46.9 mph (21 meters per second/75.6 kph) along the eastern and southern quadrants of the low pressure center. Those winds were affecting coastal areas of British Columbia, including Vancouver Island. Winds of that strength also extended along the coast of Washington State.

On March 7, NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an infrared image that showed the clouds associated with that low pressure area along the coast of the Pacific from the Northwest south to northern Baja California, Mexico. The low was centered near the border of Oregon and California and the associated cold front stretched to southern California. The image was created at NASA/NOAA GOES Project Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

At 10 a.m. EST, strongest sustained winds near 18.6 mph and gusting to 24.2 mph (30 kph gusting to 39 kph) appeared along the west central coast of British Columbia, Canada. Prince Rupert Airport, located on Kaien Island, Prince Rupert is a transportation hub. It is located about 800 miles (1,287 km) north of Vancouver.

Further south, the winds were not as strong. At 10 a.m. EST the Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia, Canada reported light rain with winds from the east-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph). Seattle was reporting rain with sustained southerly winds near 10 mph and gusts to 21 mph. In Portland, Oregon the winds were from the south-southwest at 8 mph.

On the southern end of the system the associated cold front has triggered many warnings an advisories from the Los Angeles to San Diego area. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles calls for heavy rain, heavy mountain snow, thunderstorms, very strong and gusty winds and flooding to the area on March 7. Along the coast, gale force winds are expected to affect the coastal waters. High surf will create very hazardous conditions in and near to the surf zone.

Current warnings and advisories include a Winter Storm Warning, High Wind Warning, Flood Advisory, Wind Advisory, Gale Warning and High Surf Advisory.

In San Diego, the advisories include a High Surf Warning, Coastal Flood Advisory,

High Surf Advisory, Wind Advisory and a Beach Hazards Statement. Heavy rain, thunderstorms and hail are in the forecast. Winds are forecast from the west from 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.

NOAA's National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center (WPC) in College Park, Maryland, noted in the forecast discussion issued on March 7 at 2:25 a.m. EST that the storm system brings a continuation of rain and mountain snow to the Pacific region. Thunderstorms are also possible. WPC said that "Heavy snow is possible in areas of higher terrain, including the Sierras, San Gabriels, and the San Bernardino Mountains.

Additional snowfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches are possible in these areas. Snow will also spread into the Great Basin by later today as the system moves inland.

Northern California has been especially hard hit with heavy rainfall and strong winds being reported. Rain and snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains may help to alleviate the long-lasting California drought.

An analysis of total precipitation from February 29 to March 7, 2016 was done at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, using data collected by IMERG, which creates a merged precipitation product from a Global Precipitation Measurement mission constellation of satellites.

The analysis showed heavy rainfall that occurred near the California and Oregon border over that eight day period. Rainfall totals for this period were estimated by IMERG to be over 8 inches (203 mm) in some areas.

For updated forecasts and warnings, visit the National Weather Service page at: http://www.weather.gov.

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The sole secondary mirror that will fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was installed onto the telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on March 3, 2016.

The Webb telescope uses many mirrors to direct incoming light into the telescope's instruments. The secondary mirror is called the secondary mirror because it is the second surface the light from the cosmos hits on its route into the telescope.

Before its launch, engineers must build and test the telescope rigorously to ensure it survives its launch and its trip one million miles out into space. The James Webb Space Telescope is too large to fit into a rocket in its final shape so engineers have designed it to unfold like origami after its launch.

That unfolding, or deployment, includes the mirrors on the observatory, too.

The secondary mirror is supported by three struts that extend out from the large primary mirror. The struts are almost 25 feet long, yet are very strong and light-weight. They are hollow composite tubes, and the material is about 40-thousandths of an inch (about 1 millimeter) thick. They are built to withstand the temperature extremes of space.

Unlike the 18 primary segments that make up the biggest mirror on the Webb telescope, the secondary mirror is perfectly rounded. The mirror is also convex, so the reflective surface bulges toward a light source. It looks much like the curved mirrors on the walls near parking garage exits that let motorists see around corners. The quality of the secondary mirror surface is so good that the final surface at cold temperatures does not deviate from the design by more than a few millionths of a millimeter - or about one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair.

The powerful primary mirror of the Webb telescope is designed to gather the faint light from the first and most distant galaxies. The Webb telescope has 21 mirrors, 18 of which are primary mirror segments working together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror. The primary mirror was completed when the 18th and final segment was installed on Feb. 4, 2016 at NASA Goddard.

The secondary mirror and all of the mirror segments are made of beryllium, which was selected for its stiffness, light weight and stability at cryogenic temperatures. Bare beryllium is not very reflective of near-infrared light, so each mirror is coated with about 0.12 ounces of gold to enable it to efficiently reflect infrared light (which is what the Webb telescope's cameras see).

The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and optical system design. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation, a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope.

The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed and study planets around distant stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

For more information about the Webb telescope, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/webb or jwst.nasa.gov

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HOUSTON -- (March 7, 2016) -- Cancer cells are well-known as voracious energy consumers, but even veteran cancer-metabolism researcher Deepak Nagrath was surprised by their latest exploit: Experiments in his lab at Rice University show that some cancer cells get 30-60 percent of their fuel from eating their neighbors' "words."

"Our original hypothesis was that cancer cells were modifying their metabolism based on communications they were receiving from cells in the microenvironment near the tumor," said Nagrath, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice and co-author of a new study describing the research in the open-access journal eLife. "None of us expected to find that they were converting the signals directly into energy."

The results were part of a four-year study by Nagrath, his students and collaborators at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and other institutions about the role of exosomes in cancer metabolism. Exosomes are tiny packets of proteins, microRNA and nucleic acids that cells emit into their environment to both communicate with neighboring cells and influence their behavior. Nagrath, who directs Rice's Laboratory for Systems Biology of Human Diseases, found that some cancer cells are capable of using these information packets as a source of energy to fuel tumor growth.

Nagrath's team specializes in analyzing the unique metabolic profiles of various types of cancer.

His work is the latest in a series of discoveries about cancer metabolism that date to German chemist Otto Warburg's 1924 discovery that cancer cells produce far more energy from the metabolic process known as glycolysis than do normal cells. The Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the "Warburg effect" led scientists to believe, for decades, that all cancers were dependent on glycolysis. Nagrath's lab and others have shown in recent years that the truth is far more complex: Each type of cancer has a unique metabolic profile. Nagrath's work aims at better understanding those profiles and their role in cancer metastasis and drug resistance, and he ultimately hopes to use the knowledge to develop more effective cancer treatments.

In a May 2014 study, Nagrath and colleagues found that highly aggressive ovarian cancer cells were glutamine-dependent and that depriving the cells of external sources of glutamine -- as some experimental drugs do -- was an effective way to kill late-stage ovarian cancer cells in the lab. And a December 2014 study found that ovarian tumors coax adult stem cells into providing key metabolites they need to grow.

The exosome study began four years ago based upon a growing realization that exosomes might play a role in regulating cancer metabolism.

"A growing body of evidence suggests that exosomes can facilitate crosstalk between cancer cells and other types of cells that are nearby in the microenvironment that surrounds the tumor," said Hongyun Zhao, the first author of the eLife study. "Some studies suggested that exosomes harbored the potential to regulate cancer cell metabolism, but most research had focused on the exosomes that were produced and emitted by cancer cells themselves. We decided to look at the exosomes of stromal cells, a type of cell that is commonly found in the tumor microenvironment, and see if stromal exosomes were influencing the energy consumption of cancer cells."

Zhao's first experiments involved growing cultures of stromal cells, extracting their exosomes and exposing them to cancer cells, which were then monitored for metabolic changes. Nagrath said the tests suggested that the cancer was fueling itself by consuming amino acids directly from the exosomes, and a series of monthslong follow-up tests had to be conducted to rule out other possibilities.

"Our results show that not only do exosomes enhance the phenomenon of the 'Warburg effect' in tumors, but exosomes also contain 'off-the-shelf' metabolites within their cargo that cancer cells use directly in their metabolic processes," Zhao said.

Nagrath said some of Zhao's follow-up tests also suggest possible new treatment regimes. For example, in some tests, Zhao exposed cancer cell cultures to drugs that were known to block the uptake of exosomal signals. The tests, which showed that the cancer cell's metabolic activity dropped significantly, helped prove that the tumors were using the exosomes as fuel. The fact that four of the drugs used in the tests -- heparin, cytochalasin D, ethyl-isopropyl amiloride and choloroquine -- are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for other uses suggests that they may also be useful as chemotherapeutic agents, Nagrath said.

"Disruption of the exosomal metabolic adaptation of cancer cells could provide a novel therapeutic avenue for exploitation," he said.

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The research was supported by Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology via the John and Ann Doerr Fund for Computational Biomedicine.

Additional co-authors include Lifeng Yang, Joelle Baddour, Abhinav Achreja and Thavisha Tudawe, all of Rice; Vincent Bernard, Tyler Moss, Elena Seviour, Anthony San Lucas, Hector Alvarez, Sonal Gupta, Sourindra Maiti, Laurence Cooper, Prahlad Ram and Anirban Maitra, all of MD Anderson; Juan Marini of Baylor College of Medicine; and Donna Peehl of Stanford University.

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/03/0307_NAGRATH-grp07-lg-21z2q2p.jpg

CAPTION: Rice University researchers found that some cancer cells get as much as 60 percent of their fuel from eating exosomes, tiny communications packets emitted by neighboring cells. The team includes (from left) Lifeng Yang, Deepak Nagrath, Joelle Baddour, Abhinav Achreja and Hongyun Zhao.

(Photo by Tommy LaVergne/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/03/0303_NAGRATH-dn-lg-1gcf4hu.jpg

CAPTION: Deepak Nagrath

(Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/03/0307_NAGRATH-hz19-lg-1b9u2s1.jpg

CAPTION: Hongyun Zhao

(Photo by Tommy LaVergne/Rice University)

The DOI of the eLife paper is:

10.7554/eLife.10250

A copy of the paper is available at: http://elifesciences.org/content/5/e10250v1

Related research from Rice:

Cancer uses abdominal stem cells to fuel growth and metastasis -- Dec. 2, 2014 http://news.rice.edu/2014/12/02/cancer-uses-abdominal-stem-cells-to-fuel-growth-and-metastasis/

Glutamine ratio is key ovarian cancer indicator -- May 5, 2014 http://news.rice.edu/2014/05/05/glutamine-ratio-is-key-ovarian-cancer-indicator/

Liver metabolism study could help patients awaiting transplants -- March 3, 2014 http://news.rice.edu/2014/03/03/liver-metabolism-study-could-help-patients-awaiting-transplants-2/

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceUniversity.
Almost every second woman suffers from a bladder infection at some point in her life. Also men are affected by cystitis, though less frequently. In eighty percent of the cases, it is caused by the intestinal bacterium E. coli. It travels along the urethra to the bladder where it triggers painful infections. In "Nature Communications" researchers from the University of Basel and the ETH Zurich explain how this bacterium attaches to the surface of the urinary tract via a protein with a sophisticated locking technique, which prevents it from being flushed out by the urine flow.

Many women have already experienced how painful a bladder infection can be: a burning pain during urination and a constant urge to urinate are the typical symptoms. The main cause of recurrent urinary tract infections is a bacterium found in the normal flora of the intestine, Escherichia coli. The bacteria enter the urinary tract, attach to the surface and cause inflammation.

The teams of Prof. Timm Maier at the Biozentrum and Prof. Beat Ernst at the Pharmazentrum of the University of Basel, along with Prof. Rudolf Glockshuber from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics at the ETH Zurich, have now discovered how bacteria adhere to the urinary tract under urine flow via the protein FimH and subsequently travel up the urethra.

Intestinal bacterium adheres to the cell surfaces with the protein FimH

The pathogen has long, hairlike appendages with the protein FimH at its tip, forming a tiny hook. This protein, which adheres to sugar structures on the cell surface, has a special property: It binds more tightly to the cell surface of the urinary tract the more it is pulled. As strong tensile forces develop during urination, FimH can protect the bacterium from being flushed out.

"Through the combination of several biophysical and biochemical methods, we have been able to elucidate the binding behavior of FimH in more detail than ever before", says Glockshuber. In their study, the scientists have demonstrated how mechanical forces control the binding strength of FimH. "The protein FimH is composed of two parts, of which the second non-sugar binding part regulates how tightly the first part binds to the sugar molecule", explains Maier. "When the force of the urine stream pulls apart the two protein domains, the sugar binding site snaps shut. However, when the tensile force subsides, the binding pocket reopens. Now the bacteria can detach and swim upstream the urethra."

Drugs against FimH to combat urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections are the second most common reason for prescribing antibiotics. Yet, in times of increasing antibiotic resistance, the focus moves increasingly to finding alternative forms of treatment. For the prevention and therapy of E. coli infections, drugs that could prevent the initial FimH attachment of the bacteria to the urinary tract could prove to be a suitable alternative, as this would make the use of antibiotics often unnecessary.

This opens up the possibility of reducing the use of antibiotics and thus preventing the further development of resistance. Prof. Ernst, from the Pharmazentrum of the University of Basel, has been working intensively on the development of FimH antagonists for many years. The elucidation of the FimH mechanism supports these efforts and will greatly contribute to the identification of a suitable drug.

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Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have captured unique images of problem-solving in action by tapping into the minds of mice. The study shows rapid rewiring in the frontal brains of mice after they learn by trial and error.

Using advanced microscopy techniques, researchers found that when mice used new strategies to find hidden treats during a foraging task, they showed a dramatic resculpting of their frontal lobes.

"We are excited because these are the first pictures of live rewiring in the brain at the synaptic level that capture a trace of this higher-order form of learning," said study senior author Linda Wilbrecht, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley.

The findings, to be published in the journal, Nature Communications, provide compelling evidence in favor of "active learning," an approach that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving in schools and workplaces.

While time-lapse movies have documented brain restructuring during motor, sensory and fear-conditioning tasks, "Visual evidence has been lacking for the more complex, cognitive, strategy-based trial-and-error learning that helps us grow each day at school and at work," Wilbrecht said.

"These data push us towards greater recognition of how multiple dimensions of learning, particularly active learning, may be sculpting our brains," she added.

Wilbrecht and study lead author Carolyn Johnson, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, sought to investigate how rules, defined as "learned relationships between cues, actions and outcomes," are encoded in the brain.

"We know rules are in there somewhere, and we wanted to get a glimpse of how they might be established and stored in the neural wiring," Wilbrecht said.

The researchers focused on the "orbitofrontal cortex," the brain region highlighted in the famous case of Phineas Gage, an American railroad construction foreman who survived an accident in which an iron rod shot through his frontal lobes.

Before the injury, Gage was known as a polite man who followed rules. After his accident, he became a rule breaker and nonconformist.

For the study, UC Berkeley researchers tracked daily changes in the synapses of the orbital frontal cortices of mice as they learned new rules. They did so by having mice explore various strategies to find Cheerios that were hidden in bowls of wood shavings scented with either licorice, clove, thyme or fruit. The rules for how to find the Cheerios changed on a daily basis.

For example, on the first day of the experiment, the mice learned that the scent of licorice would lead them to a Cheerio hidden at the bottom of a bowl, but they received no other clues.

"They had to discover the rule that led them to a Cheerio using trial and error," Wilbrecht said.

Mice carried out the foraging task in the morning, and brain changes were recorded in the afternoon. Using a technology known as 2-photon laser scanning microscopy, researchers took pictures of the growth and pruning in the brain circuitry of long-range axons, conduits for electrical signals that connect neurons in the frontal lobe's executive centers.

The mice who puzzled out the new rules on a daily basis showed dramatic changes in the wiring that broadcasts information from the orbitofrontal cortex.

"Importantly, these changes scaled with each animal's trial-and-error strategy and experience, suggesting they reflect each animal's intellectual growth," Wilbrecht said.

By contrast, mice who received Cheerios freely without having to navigate rules showed no uptick in brain circuit remodeling.

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UC Berkeley researchers Hannah Peckler and Lung-Hao Tai are co-authors of the study.
Like an albatross scanning for pods of squid in a vast ocean, molecules on solid surfaces move in an intermittent search pattern that provides maximum efficiency, according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.

While this behavior had been proposed theoretically, CU-Boulder researchers have made the first experimental observations of this phenomenon, providing a gateway for potential improvements in fields ranging from medical diagnostics to chemical production.

"Cutting-edge technologies like lab-on-a-chip devices and biosensors rely on molecules quickly and effectively interacting with the targets they're seeking," said Professor Daniel Schwartz of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. "By better understanding exactly what's happening at the molecular level, we can enhance or engineer technologies that operate faster and more efficiently. Possible outcomes might include a more robust response to disease markers, a less wasteful technique for commercial chemical production or any number of other advances."

The research, conducted by Schwartz and Jon Monserud, a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, was recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

In nature and society, everything from predatory animals to submarine-seeking ships has developed search strategies where slow, localized searches alternate with long, non-searching movements to explore vast areas where targets are sparse, Schwartz said. When prey is abundant, a simple random walking method is a better way to make connections.

Researchers wondered if molecules would behave the same way.

To examine the theory, researchers used single-molecule tracking to directly observe the search process of DNA on surfaces decorated with complementary DNA and witnessed periods of slow motion punctuated by fast hops through an adjacent liquid phase.

By measuring how long it took for each molecule to find its target, researchers determined that the tiny particles were indeed using the same intermittent-flight foraging techniques as a shark hunting for prey or a honeybee seeking nectar. This strategy allowed them to find targets more than 10 times faster than they would have using a simple random walk search.

"It's an incredible coincidence that molecules are exhibiting the same counterintuitive methods that animals and humans have evolved or chosen to use," said Monserud. "We can exploit this coincidence to improve a wide range of technologies."

In the medical field, for example, detection tests for scores of diseases rely on biomarkers such as antibodies or mutated DNA reacting to probe molecules on surfaces to inform doctors of the presence or severity of a malady.

The researchers demonstrated that molecules searched more quickly on hydrophobic surfaces, indicating that developers of DNA biosensors could benefit from tailoring their diagnostic products to have more water-averse surfaces. The findings may result in quicker diagnoses, individually tailored healthcare, and potentially, better outcomes for patients.

The findings could also optimize industrial production to reduce energy, time, materials and costs. In many industrial processes, raw materials are converted to fuels, pharmaceuticals or personal care products through chemical reactions, then separated from the remaining waste. Both the reactions and purification processes require molecules to scan surfaces and bind to targets through the same intermittent searching behavior.

"In a sense, our findings help explain why these technologies surprisingly work as well as they do," Schwartz said. "But additionally, developing this understanding can potentially help us design even better technologies since, until now, people have always assumed that molecules searched in a different manner."

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A pioneering new strategic research center, that will aid health professionals design bespoke physical activity and exercise plans to improve the everyday lives of young people with cystic fibrosis, has been launched

A pioneering new strategic research centre, that will aid health professionals design bespoke physical activity and exercise plans to improve the everyday lives of young people with cystic fibrosis, has been launched.

The ground-breaking research centre, which comprises an international team of experts led by the University of Exeter. was announced on Saturday, March 5, 2016. It will be led by Professor Craig Williams in conjunction with Dr Alan Barker, both from Exeter's Sport and Health Sciences department. The project will also involve collaborators from the University of Toronto and Sickkids Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL, and the Universities of Swansea and LaTrobe, Melbourne, Australia.

The world-leading specialists have received a grant of 750,000 from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to develop a comprehensive strategy which would allow those living with the debilitating condition to be given tailored activity and exercise regimes.

Although there is no cure for cystic fibrosis, there are a range of treatments available to help manage its effects, including physiotherapy and physical activity and exercise. However, at present there are no definitive guidelines on the type and intensity of activity and exercise that would suit each individual.

The research centre will aim to develop a series of recommendations and guidelines to assist health professionals determine the right blend of activity and exercise that will be most beneficial on a case-by-case basis.

Professor Williams, who specialises in Paediatric Physiology and Health and is Director of Exeter's Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre said: "Adolescence is characterised by a marked decline in physical activity participation, particularly in girls and is known to track into adulthood. This reduction can have long-term consequences for people with CF, including reduced lung function, health related quality of life and aerobic fitness, which is a key predictor of patient mortality. We know that the promotion of physical activity and more formal exercise training are two ways in which people with cystic fibrosis can manage their condition, but they are still often underutilised.

"The difficulty can be that while each individual will need different levels of exercise, it is not always easy to recommend what that will be. This centre has some of the world's leading experts in the field and will help clinicians determine what the type and in what context activity and exercise can be recommend.

"We are confident that this research will fill in some of the gaps that exist in treating cystic fibrosis, and so have a truly positive impact on the day to day quality of life of so many people."

Cystic fibrosis is a life-limiting inherited condition caused by a faulty gene that controls the movement of salt and water in and out of cells. This causes mucus to gather in the lungs and digestive system and creates a range of challenging symptoms.

More than 2.5 million people in the UK carry the faulty gene, around one in 25 of us -- most without knowing. More than half of the cystic fibrosis population in the UK will live past 41, and improved care and treatments mean that a baby born today is expected to live even longer.

Keith Brownlee, Director of Impact at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust said "Being physically active has important clinical benefits for cystic fibrosis, including improved lung function, aerobic fitness and lung clearance. It also brings psychological and social benefits such as improved self-confidence, socialisation and self-esteem. Despite this knowledge there is limited evidence in this area and as such, we're delighted to offer the University of Exeter this grant to explore the benefits of activity further and look forward to sharing the results."

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A round of funding to support research on the emerging Zika virus was announced this week by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at the University of Liverpool.

Zika virus, which was first identified in humans in Africa in the 1950s, is the cause of a current widespread outbreak in South America. Its rapid spread has resulted in an estimated 15 million cases so far, with 4 million predicted across the continent by the end of the year. In February the World Health Organisation declared Zika a 'public health emergency of international concern.'

The HPRU, which is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, Public Health England and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, has made 100,000 of pump-priming funding available to researchers to help kick-start Zika virus projects. The first round of awards is supporting eight projects ranging from improving diagnostics, clinical studies of the disease complications, understanding the disease mechanisms, and the spread of the virus by mosquitoes.

Professor Tom Solomon, Director of the HPRU, said: "There are major funding calls coming from the Medical Research Council, British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, European Union, Wellcome Trust and others. However, it was clear to us that small amounts of immediate funding would prove really useful, for example by getting researchers together to develop larger proposals, getting hold of essential reagents and starting preliminary studies."

Professor David Heymann who chairs the HPRU's Scientific Advisory Board added: "There are clearly a number of very important public health issues to address, and how they are addressed will require better understanding the relationship of this Zika outbreak to the neurological events that appear to be associated. This rapid response from the HPRU is helping to catalyse important research addressing some of the key questions."

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Notes to editors:

The National Institute for Health Research

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. The NIHR is the research arm of the NHS. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. The NIHR plays a key role in the Government's strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research. Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For further information, visit the NIHR website.
Agriculture in parts of sub-Saharan Africa must undergo significant transformation if it is to continue to produce key food crops, according to a new study published today in Nature Climate Change.

The study shows that maize, beans and bananas are most at risk from climate change.

The research is the first to allocate timeframes for changes in policy and practice in order to maintain production levels and avoid placing food security and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers at risk.

Study lead author Dr Julian Ramirez-Villegas from the University of Leeds, who is working with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), said: "This study tells where, and crucially when, interventions need to be made to stop climate change destroying vital food supplies in Africa.

"We know what needs to be done, and for the first time, we now have deadlines for taking action."

The study examines region-by-region the likely effect of different climate change scenarios on nine crops that constitute 50% of food production in sub-Saharan Africa.

While six of the nine crops studied are expected to remain stable under moderate and extreme climate change scenarios, up to 30% of areas growing maize and bananas, and up to 60% of those producing beans are projected to become unviable by the end of the century. In some areas transformations will need to take place as soon as 2025.

Transformation could mean changing the type of crop grown in the area in question, improving irrigation systems, or in extreme circumstances, moving away from agriculture altogether.

Co-author Professor Andy Challinor, from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, said: "Agriculture needs to be flexible as it responds to climate change, and this study shows where and when transformations will be needed. The study predicts that within the next decade many maize- and banana-growing areas of sub-Saharan Africa will not be suitable for those crops.

"Banana imports from sub-Saharan Africa to the UK have more than doubled since 2001, showing that this issue has implications well beyond Africa's borders. The places in which crops are grown will need to alter as climate changes. The key is to plan for those changes."

Given that solutions such as breeding improved crops can take a minimum of 15 years to complete, the authors stress the need for immediate action.

Co-author Dr Andy Jarvis, who leads CCAFS research on Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices, said: "It can take decades to adjust national agricultural development and food security policies. Our findings show that time is running out to transform African agriculture.

"This will require not only increased funding but also a supportive policy environment to bring the needed solutions to those affected. We also need to ensure that the needs of women and marginalised groups are built into adaptation policies, to ensure they can be successfully implemented."

Adaptation strategies will vary greatly across sub-Saharan Africa, given the highly different local contexts. Extensive research by CCAFS is already informing African governments and policymakers on the technologies and policies that can successfully help farmers to adapt to climate change in these countries.

For example, in Uganda, intercropping banana with coffee has been found to raise incomes by 50% and builds resilience to climate change impacts. In Senegal, climate information services are now available to more than 7 million rural people, via SMS and radio broadcasts, helping them make better farming decisions. And across the entire region, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa initiative has benefited 30-40 million people in 13 African countries by raising their maize yields.

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Further information

The study, "Timescales of transformational climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan African agriculture", is published in Nature Climate Change on 7 March 2016: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2947

For interview requests for Dr Julian Ramirez-Villegas or Professor Andy Challinor, please contact Sarah Reed, Press Officer at the University of Leeds, on +44 (0)113 343 4196 or email s.j.reed@leeds.ac.uk

For interview requests for Dr Andy Jarvis, please contact Liz Sharma at Marchmont Communications on +44 (0)7963 122988 or email liz@marchmontcomms.com

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 31,000 students from 147 different countries, and a member of the Russell Group research-intensive universities. We are a top 10 university for research and impact power in the UK, according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and positioned as one of the top 100 best universities in the world in the 2015 QS World University Rankings. http://www.leeds.ac.uk

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research centers who are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. http://www.cgiar.org

The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) - a member of the CGIAR Consortium - develops technologies, tools, and new knowledge that better enable farmers, especially smallholders, to make agriculture eco-efficient - that is, competitive and profitable as well as sustainable and resilient. Eco-efficient agriculture reduces hunger and poverty, improves human nutrition, and offers solutions to environmental degradation and climate change in the tropics. With headquarters near Cali, Colombia, CIAT conducts research for development in tropical regions of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. CIAT is the lead center of CCAFS. http://www.ciat.cgiar.org

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), led by CIAT, brings together the world's best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science and Earth System science, to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and tradeoffs between climate change, agriculture and food security. http://www.ccafs.cgiar.org
PHILADELPHIA - Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are twice as likely to be granted protection if their application is supported by medical documentation of torture, writes Jules Lipoff, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues in the March 7, 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

"Physicians are uniquely able to help victims of torture and trauma secure asylum status by providing a comprehensive evaluation," write Lipoff and co-authors Jenna M. Peart, MD, of Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver and Elisabeth H. Tracey, fourth-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine. "Physicians should directly and empathetically elicit a detailed history of any trauma and ask about the origin of all exam findings."

The United Nations' Convention against Torture forbids countries from transporting people to any country where there is reason to believe they will be tortured. As a signatory to the treaty, the United States grants asylum to individuals who demonstrate a credible fear of persecution in court.

When appropriate, forensic medical evaluations may be used to corroborate episodes of trauma. Asylum-seekers who receive medical evaluations along with legal support have success rates of 79 to 89 percent compared to the national average of 37.5 percent, suggesting that the medical assessments have a substantial effect on the application process.

"In some cases, a forensic medical evaluation may mean the difference between an individual securing legal status and being forcibly returned to a country in which they face persecution and torture," say the authors in their letter to the editor.

Examples of findings during medical evaluations which could substantiate allegations of torture include scars compatible with whipping, an injury to the arms known as brachial plexus palsy causing significant loss of function, and bone fractures. The authors note that in one group of asylum- seekers, 69 percent had scars on their head and neck, 10 percent had scars on their genitals, seven percent had broken bones, and six percent had burn marks.

In the United States, official asylum evaluations comprise an oral history, physical exam, and review of records. Physicians record their findings in a medical affidavit, including thorough descriptions, photographs, and/or drawings. The affidavit is submitted as corroborating evidence in court. On occasion, the physician may also testify as an expert witness.

Noting that physicians can be trained to perform forensic evaluations in short courses and offer this service on a volunteer, part-time basis, the authors write that "physicians should consider this unique opportunity to defend human rights." Furthermore, Lipoff and colleagues "encourage all physicians to appreciate the far-reaching effects of these traumas on all victims of forced migration."

The Penn Human Rights Clinic, a medical student-run clinic dedicated to providing psychiatric and physical evaluations of survivors of persecution seeking asylum in the United States, provides such training. The program was founded in 2012 as a collaboration between Physicians for Human Rights and medical students and physicians at Penn.

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Peart was a co-founder of the clinic and graduated from the Perelman School of Medicine in 2015.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania(founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 18 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $373 million awarded in the 2015 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2015, Penn Medicine provided $253.3 million to benefit our community
Since the financial crisis, across Europe, job security has been reduced

EU states have increased labour market flexibility by weakening employee protections

Bailed-out Eurozone countries have come under significant pressure to introduce labour market reforms

New research from the University of Sheffield has found that across the EU there has been a significant shift towards weaker job security and employment support since the global financial crisis.

Analysis of data from 19 European states by researchers at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) shows that governments across the EU have increased labour market flexibility by weakening and removing employee protections, but have not increased support to help people back into the labour market.

Professor Jason Heyes, co-author of the report, said: "In post-crisis Europe there has been a significant policy shift towards a more liberal model of weaker job security and increased labour market flexibility. This is a continent-wide trend and the UK is at the forefront.

"Britain's highly flexible labour market used to be an outlier in Europe but now other countries' systems are looking more like ours."

He added: "Across European Union states it has become easier to lay-off workers, adult training and education provision is declining, and social security systems are being restructured with greater conditionality and 'workfare' approaches to benefit entitlements."

The report identifies a European-wide trend, but finds that the most dramatic shifts have been in southern Eurozone countries that have received financial bailouts.

Dr Thomas Hastings, co-author of the report, added: "The 'European Social Model' of strong employee protection and state support to help people back into work appears to be unravelling. No country bucks the trends of moving away from this model.

"Austerity economic policies are being prioritised over social policies, and this is seen most clearly in the southern states of Spain, Portugal and Greece where the Troika has demanded strict reforms."

The report's findings raise serious questions about the viability of the EU's 'flexicurity' agenda which underpins the European Commission's social policy and labour market programmes.

Flexicurity is based on the idea that modern labour markets should be flexible but should also offer strong support and security for workers.

Professor Heyes said: "Unless the European Commission and national governments start to remake the case for flexicurity then the prospects for its implementation across Europe look gloomy. However, this would require governments and the Troika to reverse their commitment to austerity and there are no signs that this is at all likely."

Today's publication is co-authored by Jason Heyes and Thomas Hastings and is the third publication in a new series of SPERI Global Political Economy Briefs.

Through this series SPERI will present the expertise of its academic researchers and enable SPERI to influence and contribute to public debates on major contemporary global political economy issues.

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To view the report, visit: http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Global-Brief-3-Where-now-for-flexicurity.pdf

Notes to editors:

Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute

The Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) is an academic institute based at the University of Sheffield. The institute aims to bring together leading international researchers, policy-makers, journalists and opinion formers to develop new ways of thinking about the economic and political challenges posed for the whole world by the current combination of financial crisis, shifting economic power and environmental threat.

For more information, visit http://speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/ or follow @SPERIshefuni on Twitter.

The University of Sheffield

With almost 26,000 of the brightest students from around 120 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities.

A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.

In 2014 it was voted number one university in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education and in the last decade has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.

Sheffield has five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.

For further information, please visit http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/

For further information please contact: Hannah Postles, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 222 6292 or email h.postles@sheffield.ac.uk
As followers of the ELNs work will know, we have been conducting research into close military-military and military-civilian encounters between NATO countries and partners and Russia over the last two years. (1) Between March 2014 and March 2015 alone, we logged over 60 dangerous incidents in the Euro-Atlantic area. We are pleased that this work is profiled in the newly released Munich Security Conference Report 2016, (2) because our contention has been and remains that, against the backdrop of wider mistrust and tension in the NATO-Russia relationship, the ongoing incidents have the potential to trigger a major crisis between a nuclear armed state and a nuclear armed alliance. More specifically, if additional crisis avoidance mechanisms are not put in place, more recent assertive Russian military activities, coupled with reassurance measures adopted by NATO in response, will increase the risks to stability in Europe. Anyone who doubts the potential consequences should reflect on the wider diplomatic and economic ramifications of the Turkey-Russia shoot-down near the Turkey-Syria border in November 2015.

That there is a gap that needs to be filled should be beyond doubt. There is today no agreement between NATO and Russia on how to manage close military encounters. Instead, an incomplete patchwork of bi-lateral Cold War era agreements exists between some NATO countries and Russia but not others.

To be precise, at present, eleven NATO countries have bi-lateral agreements with Russia to prevent incidents at sea (IncSea). These eleven countries are: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Portugal and Greece. (3) All these IncSea agreements are modelled on the original US-Soviet 1972 Agreement on the Prevention of Incidents on and over the High Seas and contain commitments by the signatories to refrain from provocative naval activities that could lead to a serious confrontation. Referencing relevant provisions of the International Maritime Regulations and the International Code of Signals, the agreements include specific instructions for keeping a safe distance from naval vessels of the other party and agreed measures to ensure caution in terms of speed of manoeuvres when in the vicinity of vessels of the other party. They further contain provisions on when and how to communicate each partys intentions and clear commitments to avoid undertaking actions that could cause embarrassment or danger to the naval forces of the other side.

In addition to the 11 IncSea agreements, three other agreements on managing potentially dangerous encounters exist. One is the US-USSR (now Russia) Agreement on Preventing Dangerous Military Activities (DMA) signed in 1989; the second is the Canada-USSR Agreement on Preventing Dangerous Military Activities (DMA) from 1991, and the third is a similar Greece-Russia DMA signed two years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As with the IncSea agreements mentioned earlier, these agreements contain provisions committing both sides to exercise caution and restraint.

Unlike the IncSea agreements however, the DMAs contain wider provisions for managing potential confrontations.

The DMAs call for the exercise of great caution and prudence when operating near the national territory of the other party. They apply to all armed forces of the Partys to the agreement, whereas the IncSea agreements cover only naval and some naval aviation assets. The DMAs also broach territory not touched on by the IncSea agreements. For example, they contain restrictions on interference with the command and control systems of the other party. They allow for the creation of Special Caution Areas (SCA) in which each party would exercise, as the name implies, special caution. And the agreements commit each party to ensure that any forces it has operational in an SCA would establish and maintain military to military communication with the forces of the other party.

These agreements are all worthwhile but they are not enough. Our contention is that their limited scope and nature now poses a serious risk to security in the Euro-Atlantic area.

First, as far as we know, Special Caution Area provisions have hardly ever, if ever, been used.

Second, it is obvious, but not insignificant, that the agreements in place involve only 11 NATO countries, leaving the remaining 17 NATO members completely outside of the arrangements in place. Of particular note is the fact that Turkey is not one of the eleven. A Turkey-Russia agreement may have been irrelevant in the context of a direct Turkish political decision to shoot-down Russian aircraft infringing Turkish airspace, but the exact circumstance surrounding the incident are not publicly known. At a minimum, what can be said is that if there had been an agreement both in place and honoured, Turkish attempts to contact the pilots of the downed Russian warplane would have involved not only broadcasts in English but the use of pre-arranged signalling codes on pre-arranged channels. The chances of avoiding the incident could only have been increased.

Third, none of the agreements currently in place covers activities taking place under direct NATO command. For example, there is no agreed mechanism to manage encounters between Russian aircraft and aircraft participating in the Baltic Air Policing mission (BAP), which extends over an area where many of the recent close encounters have occurred.

Furthermore, no other existing multi-lateral arrangements contain provisions relevant to the management of military encounters in the Euro-Atlantic area. In the Vienna Document, for instance, only Clause 17 includes instructions on how to respond to incidents, with no provisions on how to manage them in real time. There are no such provisions in the Open Skies Treaty either. The latter only gives instructions for responding to aviation accidents involving observation aircraft on the territory of an observed Party.

Under these circumstances, it is clear that the military-military crisis management mechanisms currently in place in the Euro-Atlantic area are insufficient to manage the ongoing close military encounters. NATO Secretary General Stoltenbergs call for a modernisation of the rulebook of European security is a welcome public recognition of the military reality in Europe.

So what can be done?

In August 2015, the Task Force on Cooperation in Greater Europe, initiated by the ELN, urged members of NATO to develop, as a matter of urgency, a Memorandum of Understanding with Russia to manage dangerous incidents. (4) The Task Force argued this memorandum should be modelled on a US-China agreement signed in November 2014.

NATO member states should now task the appropriate NATO authorities, either the Secretary General or SACEUR, to undertake the necessary exploratory steps to achieve this. A NATO-Russia Memorandum could extend the military activity currently covered to include activity taking place under NATO command. Its development should also presage a major review of the terms and current operational status of all existing bi-lateral deals to ensure they are upgraded and made fit for current conditions. And a NATO-Russia deal could also provide an umbrella framework and model within which to extend the number of bi-lateral agreements in place to all NATO countries and NATO partners and Russia.

It is now clear to everyone that since the end of the Cold War, the NATO-Russia relationship has not developed into a fruitful partnership. That reality should not preclude productive cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Both NATO and Russia have a strong interest in avoiding inadvertent war. New arrangements to manage ongoing close military encounters in the Euro-Atlantic area should be developed as a matter of urgency.

(1) Full list of the incidents available here. See also Thomas Frear, Lukasz Kulesa, Ian Kearns, Dangerous Brinkmanship: Close Military Encounters Between Russia and the West in 2014, European Leadership Network, November 2014, available here.

(2) The full report can be accessed here. Some details on the ELNs work can be found on page 27.

(3) The texts of some of these agreements can be accessed here.

(4) Task Force on Cooperation in Greater Europe, Avoiding War in Europe: How to Reduce the Risk of a Military Encounter Between Russia and NATO, August 2015, available here.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
Editors note: In his new book Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton not only updates the argument from his groundbreaking Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985) but also presents a powerful new critique of Darwinian evolution. This article is one in a series in which Dr. Denton summarizes some of the most important points of the new book. For the full story, get your copy of Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. For a limited time, youll enjoy a 30 percent discount at CreateSpace by using the discount code QBDHMYJH.

The revolution associated with the field of evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology) has brought with it the revelation that underlying the development of all organisms is a set of highly conserved gene circuits and integrated developmental modules that guide and constrain phylogeny without regard for the immediate adaptive needs of species. This new knowledge poses a widely acknowledged challenge (and indeed self-evident challenge) to Darwinian evolution.

And it has also undermined completely the previous neo-Darwinian mechanistic view of organisms as analogous to contingent assemblages of LEGO blocks. According to the Darwinian model, organisms are infinitely plastic additive functional assemblages which can be changed  LEGO block by LEGO block  from one shape to any other conceivable novel shape bit by bit without any significant constraints. On the contrary, all the evo-devo evidence suggests that there are deep and profound developmental constraints that work against such infinite pliability.

The new conception of organisms arising from the discoveries of evo-devo might be termed the Transformer model. Just as in a childs Transformer toy action figure, the number of forms that can be reached by combining the basic parts in different ways is severely limited by the shape and properties of the component building bricks. The finite set of forms that can be assembled is prefigured into the basic properties of the constructional units. One might view the constraints imposed by the building units in a Transformer set (unlike LEGO bricks) as being analogous to those imposed in living things by the highly conserved toolkit components and developmental modules.

Consequently, pigs will never fly  not only because of functional constraints (far too heavy!), but because of deep internal structural constraints in the way a pig is put together, which greatly restrict the available paths that adaptive evolution can take. On this view, the major novelties actualized during evolution could only have occurred if they were compatible with the pre-existing inner developmental logic of the organism, analogous to prefiguring of the Transformer components for a specific set of forms.

In other words, development rules! Or, more precisely, what rules is the collective constraints of toolkit elements, developmental pathways, and modules that underlie the ontogeny of every class of metazoan organisms.

Although there are some dissenters,1 the existence of highly conserved developmental genetic mechanisms, gene circuits, and so forth restricting the paths of evolution has led to the widespread adoption of what might be termed a new constraints paradigm among many evo-devo researchers, who acknowledge that the deep logic of development is bound to restrict the direction of variation and hence evolutionary change along limited paths.2 But what is really radical about the constraints paradigm is that the constraints restrict the paths of evolution without any regard for immediate adaptive function.3

The notion of deeply shared non-adaptive internal causal factors channeling evolution in such a manner is certainly heretical. It is small wonder that, as Gerd Muller and Massimo Pigliucci concede, many leading biologists feel that evo-devo presents challenges to the received theory so substantial that no reconciliation with the classical framework [Darwinian, incremental functionalism] is at all possible.4

References:

(1) Hopi E. Hoekstra and Jerry A. Coyne, The Locus of Evolution: Evo Devo and the Genetics of Adaptation, Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution 61, no. 5 (May, 2007): 995-1016; see also Lindsay R. Craig, Defending Evo-Devo: A Response to Hoekstra and Coyne, Philosophy of Science 76, no. 3 (2009): 335-344.

(2) Wallace Arthur, Evolution: A Developmental Approach; Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, What Darwin Got Wrong (London: Profile, 2010), Chapters 2, 3, and 4; Gunter P. Wagner, Homology, Genes, and Evolutionary Innovation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).

(3) Ron Amundson, The Changing Role of the Embryo in Evolutionary Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 8.

(4) Gerd B. Muller and Massimo Pigliucci, Extended Synthesis: Theory Expansion or Alternative? Biological Theory 5, no. 4 (2010): 275-276, 275.

Image credit:  Oleksiy Mark / Dollar Photo Club.
The exchange4media Group held the annual Pitch CMO Summit on March 4, 2016 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The presenting sponsor of the event was Dainik Bhaskar and it was powered by Colors.

The Pitch CMO Summit is organised by Pitch, the marketing magazine of the exchange4media group and is spread across cities. It is a gathering of the best minds in the business of marketing. The agenda of the summit each year revolves around marketing in the present context and discussions focus on how best to market to the Indian consumer in this dynamic environment.

The event saw some of the top minds in the industry discussing different facets of advertising and marketing in todays changing world. The Pitch CMO Summit also felicitated some of the top CMOs in the industry currently on the basis of their contribution over the course of last year.

Sandeep Kaul, Chief Executive (Personal Care) at ITC, shared his thoughts on the new responsibilities in front of brand managers in his address on the topic 'Changing Face of Brand Experience'. He spoke about new paradigms that are being seen in the brand experience journey---- media clutter continuing unabated, top-end consumers fighting back with various ad avoidance measures and fragmentation running amok.

"Every time one has an opportunity to interact with knowledge and statistics, there is a lot we do not understand," he said. He took some examples to highlight the tremendous potential and challenge in India----Uttar Pradesh has the population of Brazil and the GSDP of Nepal, he said, while Maharashtra has the population of Japan and the GSDP of Vietnam.



"Everybody has a lot of something but no state has everything. This is a unique challenge for not only marketers but people as a society," he said. He also pointed out that there has been a paradigm shift since we have been experiencing deflation (of around 8 per cent) which means that brands have to sell more volume. On the subject of discount, he said, "Discount is not the only answer for the nation and the public. If we make more in India, we also need to sell more in India."



He gave the example of the NCV equation that is used in ITC ---- Newness, Conversations (not monologue) and Value (not price). He asked the assembled audience to innovate with simplicity. According to him any product should have three qualities; it should be relevant, unique and should be something that people can talk about. "We need to relook at our structures and relationships. All our layers are slowing us down as there are a lot of people involved in decision making," he said. He also stated that brands should look at their partnerships with agencies to create an eco-system where talent thrives. "Engaged teams lead to engaging brands," he said.



On the digital and content front he opined, "Digital allows you to talk different language with different people, creating a brand purpose. The time has come for content managers rather than brand managers. We are no longer in ownership of our content. The brand manager's role is more about curation. Engaging in the new era is all about multiple touch points."

Following Kaul's presentation there was a short Q&A with Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO Madison Media & OOH at Madison World.



Sakhuja asked Kaul how a brand could go beyond the functional payoff to an emotional payoff and how does one achieve this with authenticity. To this Kaul replied that if the brand does not come across as genuine then it will come across as conceited. He opined that it was also better to keep the objectives limited.



Pointing out that the current audience is attention deficit; Sakhuja enquired how the balance between reaching a few immersively to reaching more through advertising could be achieved. Kaul admitted that any strategy has to include a bit of both. He felt that engagement can be multiplied and magnified through media.



To a follow-up question on multimedia and integrated plans, Sakhuja opined that even though everyone talks about these, the majority of the budgets end up going to TV. Kaul agreed that it was a paradox. In his opinion brands tend to start investing on TV since their peers are. On digital, after a point when they realize that the promise of everything being measurable on digital medium is not true, they tend to move back to TV, which is a medium that they at least understand something about. This leads to diversion of majority of budgets to TV by the end of the year.



"It is up to technology to help us achieve it. The will is there, but can we have meaningful conversations? That we have to see," he said on being asked whether brands have the capability to have multiple conversations with customers. He also opined that brands need to trust in themselves a little more and be willing to take risks at times. "We have to learn how to jump off the cliff. Every time we might not know the height of the cliff," he suggested.

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Royal Enfield, part of the Eicher group has overtaken Harley-Davidson in terms of market share and has posted a 33% hike in profits compared to its international rival in 2015.

On the racing track Royal Enfield might not be a worthy competitor for Harley Davidsons power; however, the story is different when you compare the sales figures of these two leading bike manufacturers.

It must be mentioned that in 1990, Royal Enfield collaborated with Eicher Group and merged in 1994. In 2000, Royal Enfield considered shutting shop but the Eicher board agreed to give the Royal Enfield more time and continue productions.

And 16 years later the scenario has changed. Royal Enfield, part of the Eicher group has overtaken Harley-Davidson in terms of market share. It had previously exceeded the sales volumes of Harley-Davidson last year.

We make a comparison between the two on a few parameters and see how they fare:

Marketing Approach :

Royal Enfield  In 2009, the average age of a Royal Enfield buyer was around 45 years, which has now come down to about 26 years. Royal Enfield does not boast of huge advertising budgets, rather they have systematically promoted their brand organically through in-store and customer experience and by organising unique events around the brand.

Harley Davidson - According to a recent Harley-Davidson study, in 1987 half of all Harley riders were under age 35. Now, only 15% of Harley buyers are under 35. Harley-Davidson attracts a loyal brand community, with licensing of the Harley-Davidson logo accounting for almost 5% of the company's net revenue. In India over 150 experiential events were held in 2013 alone to promote the Harley-Davidson lifestyle. The second India H.O.G. Rally and India Bike Week 2014 witnessed 1,200 proud Harley owners riding together from across the country to Goa.

Making their presence felt in numbers:

Royal Enfield  Their official website claims they sell few bikes in California and exports contribute about 4,000 units a year. They export to some of the developed markets like United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia. In total Royal Enfield is present in around 50 countries around the world. In August 2015, Royal Enfield Motors announced it is establishing its North American headquarters and a dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the intention to offer three bikes, the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Continental GT 535 Cafe Racer as they feel this engine size represents an underserved market

Harley Davidson - Harley-Davidson manufactures its motorcycles at factories in York, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Manaus, Brazil; and Bawal, India and markets its products worldwide. At present, the Company has 13 authorized dealerships in India.

Revenue and sales:

Royal Enfield - Royal Enfield Revenues shot up 44.6 percent to Rs 3,316.6 crore in quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 2,294 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal on robust sales growth in two-wheeler as well as commercial vehicle business.

Royal Enfield had posted higher volumes when compared to Harley-Davidson, a near 33 percent hike in profits.

Profit was expected at Rs 264.3 crore on revenue of Rs 3,287 crore. Operating profit was seen at Rs 510.8 crore and margin at 15.5 percent for the quarter, according to analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Harley Davidson  Harleys bike volumes were growing in single digits as compared to the double digit growth for Royal Enfield by the end of 2015.

The dealers felt the pinch as they saw a drop in sales.

Dealers worldwide sold 88,931 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the second quarter of 2015 compared to 90,218 motorcycles in 2014.

In the U.S, dealers sold 57,790 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the quarter compared to sales of 58,225 motorcycles in the previous year.

Harley-Davidson has currently sold over 12,000 motorcycles in India since 2010 and has grown in double digits. It currently operates 21 dealers in India and clocks 6,000 members as part of the Harley Owners Group.

In international markets, dealers sold 31,141 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles during the second quarter compared to 31,993 motorcycles in the previous year.

Through six months, Harley-Davidsons 2015 net income was $569.7 million on consolidated revenue of $3.50 billion.

Royal Enfield surely has long waiting periods for their bikes but the enthusiasts dont seem to mind. The ride for the customers as well as the manufacturer seems to be a smooth one as of now.

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Our Research team bring you the latest on the pound sterling (GBP) in relation to the Russian Ruble, Japanese yen and the Turkish Lira.

The Bank of England (BoE) has become embroiled in a row over its stance on the EU referendum after Eurosceptic MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Governor Mark Carney of being Pro-EU, weakening GBP.

Rees-Mogg accused Carney of speaking only of the risks of leaving the EU, not those involved in remaining a part of it, when he appeared before Parliament today; Carney accused Rees-Mogg of having a selective memory.

Here are the latest FX rates for your reference:

On Saturday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.872

The GBP to EUR exchange rate converts at 1.146 today.

The live inter-bank GBP-TRY spot rate is quoted as 21.022 today.

The pound conversion rate (against russian rouble) is quoted at 69.692 RUB/GBP.

FX markets see the pound vs japanese yen exchange rate converting at 166.939.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 22nd Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

Oil Prices Should be Good for Ruble?

A rise above US$40 per barrel should have been welcome news for the RUB, however fears that the commodity rally is premature and wont last have kept the Russian asset weak.

Goldman Sachs have suggested that there is not enough of a deficit in supply to sustain the current price appreciation, claiming the market needs more time to reform in order to make a permanent recovery.

Anticipation of a production freeze being agreed at meeting this month has seen oil shoot towards $40 per barrel, strengthening RUB, but many are arguing that a production freeze is an empty gesture.

Russia and Saudi Arabia, who have already agreed to freeze production, are producing near capacity anyway, with some commentators suggesting that the deal to place a ceiling on production is an empty show, motivated by factors other than the desire to increase oil prices.

Ahead of a key speech from Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, Japanese Yen exchange rates were trading sideways last week.

This was due to heightened risk-appetite being offset by fears that the central bank will look to cut the negative overnight cash rate further.

Analysts at Hong Leong Bank predict that risk-appetite will be muted this week, with a number of upcoming risk-correlated economic events, but traders will favour the US Dollar over the Japanese Yen.

Hawkish Kuroda sees Japanese Yen (JPY) Exchange Rates Climb, but Will the Uptrend Last?

Earlier during the Asian session Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda announced that he has no further plans to ease monetary policy. Although he did reiterate that he would be willing to use stimulus measures if necessary, the Japanese Yen advanced versus a number of its major peers in response.

According to analysts at Hong Long Bank, however, the JPY uptrend will not be long-lasting as they expect traders to favour the US Dollar as the safe-haven asset of choice this week.

Though we anticipate risk-off sentiment to build going into various risk events next week, we believe that USD will still be favoured, thus we are bearish on JPY. We currently set sights on USDJPY dipping to as low as 112.80, but caution that this is a strong support level that has potential to bounce the pair higher to 115.54. As long as USDJPY stays below 115.54, downside bias should prevail and likely to carry the pair lower going forward; otherwise, we expect the next leg higher to take aim at 117.38.

Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Gained Last Week thanks to Corrective Trading.

Last week saw the British Pound make a significant recovery versus the Euro and the US Dollar. This was thanks to corrective trading as traders feared the selloff following the announcement of the EU referendum data was overdone.

As last week drew to a close, however, corrective trading showed signs of abating. With a complete absence of domestic data to provoke changes, the Pound is likely to see movement in response to market volatility and any political developments regarding the EU referendum.

With that said, analysts at Hong Leong Bank still feel that there is room for further corrective appreciation. Whats more, HLB analysts argue that the sell-off of European majors as the European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting approaches will boost demand for the British Pound.

We maintain a slightly bullish bias on GBP against USD, lifted by continued recovery from recent Brexit sell-off and by likelihood of increasing sell-off in European majors as ECB meeting approaches. GBPUSD recapturing 1.4080 has put it on a firmer track towards 1.4330, above which the next aim is at 1.4636 though we doubt that bulls will be strong enough to test this level next week. On the flip side, declines will be blocked by 1.4080-1.4100 range.

Turkish Lira (TRY) Exchange Rates Predicted to Struggle on Geopolitical Upheaval

Last week the Turkish Lira endured a mixed-faring as emerging market assets were supported by news of policy easing from the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC), but geopolitical tensions and a BBB- Fitch rating weighed on demand.

Fitch Ratings gave Turkey a BBB- sovereign rating, the lowest investment grade rating. They did note that Turkeys outlook was stable, but geopolitical uncertainty could damage growth as demand for the Lira dampens.

The current migrant crisis is putting a lot of pressure on the Turkish government as EU officials ask for stricter controls. Turkey claims that being a member of the European Union would help solve the refugee crisis, but officials have shown reluctance to include Turkey in the EU for a long period.

Turkey joining the European Union is a strategic objective  its being going on for decade, Cem Isik, Turkeys deputy ambassador to Britain told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. For years the EU was reluctant to take on Turkey as a member state because it didnt want problems relating to Iraq and Syria at its border  now you can see how short-sighted that was.

Russian Ruble (RUB) Exchange Rates Extend Recovery as Oil Prices Rise

Having been one of the worst performing currencies in 2016, thanks to low oil prices and geopolitical tensions, the Ruble made a marked recovery last week. Even US inventories data, which showed oil stockpiles had vastly eclipsed expectations, wasnt enough to offset oil price gains for any sustained period.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank are positive on the Ruble outlook, noting that it is one of the most undervalued currencies on the market. This suggests that the Ruble appreciation has some way to go yet irrespective of sanctions, oil prices and recession.

Geopolitics continues to be a sore spot for investors, however, with Russia juggling multiple confrontations. The latest news of a captured Ukrainian pilot is one of many tensions weighing on investor confidence.
An uptrend in oil prices saw the Canadian Dollar to pound exchange rate strengthen as Brent crude hit a three-month high.

Canadian dollar fails to benefit from best oil prices in 2016.

Brent crude oil price today has broken above $40 per barrel. Bank of Canada may cut interest rates to weaken the CAD.

As well as speculation of another rate cut, there are now rumours that Ontario may attempt to hand out money to its citizens in order to boost spending, news which hasnt helped Canadian dollar (CAD) weakness.

The tactic, known as helicopter money, has been theoretical until now, although Finland and Switzerland are also believed to be considering the practice.

A surge in commodity prices, with Brent crude breaking above US$40 on Tuesday, has so far failed to boost Canadian Dollar exchange rates today.

CAD advanced earlier in the week and economists have posited that this new strength may force the Bank of Canada (BOC) to cut interest rates again.

The latest Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index has seen another fall, taking it further below the 12 month average of 55.1, although the Canadian Dollar remains strong on todays high oil prices.

The number of people who described their job as secure has seen the biggest monthly drop in a quarter, with the index falling -1.6 points to 51.8, while the proportion of those believing their jobs to be not at all secure rose 7.7%, up from the previous months 6.4%.

Brent oil prices hit their highest level in 2016 on Monday when they rose above US$39 per barrel, strengthening Canadian Dollar exchange rates.

The international benchmark has gained 40% on its lowest level in January, after spending weeks struggling to break above US$35 per barrel.

Oil at a three-month high has seen a rally in stocks as well as in the Canadian Dollar, which made mild gains against the majority of currencies on Monday.

Before we continue with the news, here are today's latest FX rates for your reference;

On Saturday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1

At time of writing the pound to pound exchange rate is quoted at 1.

The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.13 today.

Please note: the FX rates above, updated 22nd Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.

Brent may have strengthened, but Canadian Dollar gains were kept small thanks to concerns over the oil market in general.

Fears that crude could be experiencing a temporary rise rather than a permanent recovery are controlling Canadian Dollar gains today.

Many investors appear to be hanging their hopes on a successful meeting between members and non-members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due to take place in March, to discuss a freeze in production.

However, Kevin Norrish, a Barclays analyst, warns that OPECs production freeze policy is far from certain to succeed. The market is well aware that the countries that have so far signalled support for the policy are mostly producing at close to capacity.

Brexit concerns weighed on Pound Sterling exchange rates on Monday after a controversial claim by the Chambers of Commerce director.

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), sparked a row on Monday after telling reporters at a BCC conference that Britain would be better off outside the EU.

The comments, made the previous Thursday, directly contradict the BCCs commitment to remain impartial during the referendum campaign and on Monday some expressed anger that the Director Generals comments didnt accurately represent his members, 60% of whom oppose a Brexit.

The BCC were refusing to comment on rumours circulating on Monday that the Director General had resigned or been suspended, but the story still caused a drop in Pound Sterling, with the Leave campaigners considering Longworths comments a coup.

USD Strong: HSBC sees Better than a 50% proposition of June Rate Hike

Monday saw a recovery after the initial disappointment of Fridays wage growth figures weakened the US Dollar and quashed hopes of a rate hike.

However, Pantheon Macroeconomics points out that part of the reason for the low wage growth figures could be that the survey was conducted before the 15th of February, with the 15th of the month often being payday for those who get their wages semi-monthly.

Sentiment seems to be leaning back towards a potential rate hike, with Kevin Logan, Chief US Economist at HSBC, saying It's probably a better than a 50 percent proposition that they will raise the rates in June.
#expeditioncruising . Home to the famed Horizontal Falls and described by legendary naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough as on...
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  If genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned, consumers could expect higher food prices.

There would also be a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land, according to a recent Purdue University study.

Ag economists Wally Tyner, Farzad Taheripour and Harry Mahaffey wanted to know the significance of crop yield loss if genetically modified crops were banned from U.S. farm fields, as well as how that decision would trickle down to other parts of the economy. The study was funded by the California Grain & Feed Association.

This is not an argument to keep or lose GMOs, Tyner said. Its just a simple question: What happens if they go away?

Lower yields

The economists gathered data and found that 18 million farmers in 28 countries planted about 181 million hectares of GMO crops in 2014, with about 40 percent of that in the United States. They fed that data into a Purdue-developed model, GTAP-BIO, which has been used to examine economic consequences of changes to agricultural, energy, trade and environmental policies.

Eliminating all GMOs in the United States, the model shows corn yield declines of 11.2 percent on average. Soybeans lose 5.2 percent of their yields and cotton 18.6 percent.

Spiral

To make up for that loss, nearly 250,000 acres of forest and pasture would have to be converted to cropland. Greenhouse gas emissions increase significantly because with lower crop yields, more land is needed for agricultural production, and it must be converted from pasture and forest.

In general, the land use change, the pasture and forest you need to convert to cropland to produce the amount of food that you need is greater than all of the land use change that we have previously estimated for the U.S. ethanol program, Tyner said.

Some of the same groups that oppose GMOs want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the potential for global warming, Tyner said. The result we get is that you cant have it both ways. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, an important tool to do that is with GMO traits.

Higher commodity prices

With lower crop yields without GMO traits, commodity prices rise. Corn prices would increase as much as 28 percent and soybeans as much as 22 percent, according to the study.

Consumers could expect food prices to rise 1-2 percent, or $14 billion to $24 billion per year.

In the United States, GMOs make up almost all the corn (89 percent), soybeans (94 percent) and cotton (91 percent) planted each year. Some countries have already banned GMOs, have not adopted them as widely or are considering bans.

Tyner and Taheripour said they will continue their research to understand how expansion of and reductions of GMO crops worldwide could affect economies and the environment.

If in the future we ban GMOs at the global scale, we lose lots of potential yield, Taheripour said. If more countries adopt GMOs, their yields will be much higher.
Farmers and agents can now log in to the Rural Payments Service to begin the application process for the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced today (7 March 2016).

Claimants can check and change their personal and business details, including keeping email addresses accurate and up-to-date.

New for 2016

Farmers and agents can also now view and transfer land and entitlements in the Rural Payments Service here.

RPA Chief Executive Mark Grimshaw said: We have developed the Rural Payments Service for 2016 so its now possible, for the first time, to see and transfer land and entitlements online.

Going online and checking details early means information should be updated in time to show on 2016 BPS online applications, which will be available in mid-March.

Id also like to remind farmers there will be help and support for anyone who needs it throughout the BPS 2016 application window.

Apply from mid-March

From around mid-March onwards, farmers and agents can complete their declarations and confirm all information before submitting their completed application online.

Anyone who applied for the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) online in 2014 will be sent all they need to apply online for BPS in 2016. Those who did not apply online in 2014, will receive a paper form but they can contact the Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301 to set up their online application if they wish.

Support available from the RPA

All the latest information on how to apply for BPS 2016 online can be found at GOV.UK/rpa/bps2016. This includes the 2016 scheme rules. Farmers and agents have said they would find how to apply online guidance helpful so RPA will be making this available for all.

Further support is available from RPA this year through useful How to videos. Farmers and agents can find step-by-step guides on transferring land, transferring entitlements and a general overview of how to apply online.

The application deadline for BPS 2016 claims is midnight on 16 May 2016.

BPS 2015

As at 29 February, over 71,700 farmers (over 82% of all eligible claims) had received their BPS 2015 payments, bringing the total paid out for the 2015 scheme to 1.13 billion.

The RPA has been keeping farmers up to date on when certain types of claims would be paid and this latest batch of payments includes some to those claiming on common land and some to those subject to inspections.

Almost all eligible farmers will receive their payments by the end of March with a few thousand of the more complex cases taking slightly longer, as they did under SPS.
Suspension expected to start March 20

By Diego Flammini

Assistant Editor, North American Content

Farms.com

PotashCorp is scheduled to reduce production at its mines in Allan and Lanigan, Saskatchewan for about a month, beginning March 20.

We are opting to achieve these curtailments through the use of maintenance shutdowns, which do not require temporary workforce layoffs, the company said in a press release. We estimate the curtailments will reduce our 2016 production by approximately 400,000 tons.

One of the reasons for the reduction in production is a weaker global fertilizer market. Fertilizer has fallen from about $900 per ton in 2008 to less than $300 per ton.

This isnt the first time PotashCorp has suspended production at some of its facilities.

In January, the company indefinitely closed its mine in Picadilly, New Brunswick. The closure resulted in about 430 jobs being lost.

In 2015, the Allan, Lanigan and Cory mines were shut down and expedited the closure of its mine in Penobsquis, near Sussex, New Brunswick.
Tom Vilsack says labeling program would help with consumer concerns

By Diego Flammini

Assistant Editor, North American Content

Farms.com

In the debate over whether or not there should be a national GMO labeling program in the United States, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack offered support for such an initiative.

At the Commodity Classic in New Orleans on March 4, Vilsack said that Congress needs to act swiftly to establish a national GMO labeling program to prevent individual states from coming up with their own GMO labeling rules.

The labeling bill would need 60 votes to pass; Vilsack said hes confident the bill would receive the required support and President Obama would sign off on the legislation.

Congress needs to act, and they need to act in the very, very short term, he said according to Hoosier Ag Today. Its going to be important to avoid the kind of chaos that could ensue if we have 50 different states developing their own labeling requirements, or individual companies deciding to establish their own individual companys label requirements.

If the national GMO labeling bill isnt passed by July, Vermont would be the first state in the United States with its own labeling laws.

Vilsack said all parties involved with food production need to launch an educational campaign to help calm the concerns of consumers when it comes to GMO crops.

Im here today to say very unequivocally they are safe to consume, he said. There is no risk associated with them and we need to make that clear to the consuming public.
High school football scores, live updates Week 10 in Fayetteville

Cumberland County high school football scores and North Carolina live updates from Week 10 of the NCHSAA 2022 season in the Fayetteville area.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority Wednesday banned a former trader at Deutsche Bank AG from the UK financial services industry for lacking honesty and integrity following his guilty plea for fraud in the United States.

Michael Ross Curtler pleaded guilty in October 2015 in federal court in New York City for his role in a conspiracy to manipulate Deutsches U.S. Dollar LIBOR submissions.

Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority or FCA, said Curtler has admitted engaging in dishonest conduct in making USD LIBOR submissions. Dishonesty must disqualify him from UK financial services.

LIBOR  the London Interbank Offered Rate  is critical to financial markets. A huge number of investments and trades are linked to LIBOR, including some commercial and consumer loans, savings rates, and mortgages.

The FCA has fined eight firms a total of 758.4 million ($1.07 billion) for misconduct relating to LIBOR.

It previously banned two individuals for LIBOR offenses  Lee Stewart and Paul Robson.

In January, a jury in London acquitted six defendants of manipulating LIBOR.

The Serious Fraud Office alleged that all six conspired with Tom Hayes to influence the submissions of panel banks in the Yen LIBOR setting process.

Hayes  a former derivatives trader at UBS and Citigroup  was convicted after a trial last year and sentenced to 14 years in prison. An appeals court later reduced his sentence to nine years.

The SFO charged a total of 19 defendants in the case. Some are still awaiting trial.

In the United States last year, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted two former London traders for Rabobank of rigging LIBOR.

Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, both UK citizens, face up to 30 years in prison.

The FCA said Wednesday that Curtler worked for Deutsche between 1993 and December 2012.

From 2000 to 2012, he traded several financial instruments tied to USD LIBOR. He sometimes made Deutsches USD LIBOR submissions.

The submissions were supposed to reflect only the rate at which Deutsche perceived it could borrow USDs in the London interbank market.

Other Deutsche traders asked Curtler to alter his USD LIBOR submissions to benefit their trading positions and the individual traders.

The FCA said,

Mr Curtler made alterations to the USD LIBOR submissions consistent with these requests. Mr Curtler also solicited requests from traders and changed his USD LIBOR submissions accordingly.

Curtler is now waiting to be sentenced in the United States. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

_____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
Two military regiments are battling over having Prince Harry as their honorary colonel.

Prince Harry

The 31-year-old royal - who retired from the British Army in 2015 after 10 years - is being sought by both the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines to act as a ceremonial figurehead.

A source told the Sunday Express: "At the end of the day the Board can only present options to HRH. The decision ultimately rests with him."

Meanwhile, it has been claimed that there is concern that the prince has not yet "decided what he is to do with the rest of his life following his retirement from the military.

The insider said: "Prince Harry has done brilliantly with the Invictus Games and raising awareness of veterans' issues, but there is concern that he hasn't decided what he is to do with the rest of his life."

However, a Kensington Palace spokesman said: "Prince Harry's voluntary work at London District's Personnel Recovery Unit is ongoing.

"Supporting the military community will be a permanent feature of Prince Harry's royal and charitable duties for the rest of his life."
Prince William and Duchess Catherine took their children skiing in the French Alps over the weekend.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The royals enjoyed a getaway with Prince George, two, and Princess Charlotte, 10 months, their first holiday as a family of four, where the kids enjoyed playing in the snow.

A message on the Kensington Palace Twitter page read: "This was their first holiday as a family of four and the first time either of the children have played in the snow."

The ski trip coincided with the nuptials of the couple's friends Olivia Hunt and Nicholas Wilkinson at Temple Church in London, which Prince Harry attended.

William and Olivia dated during his first year at the University of St Andrews and remained good friends after their split, with Olivia even attending his own nuptials to Catherine in 2011.

Friends were puzzled by William and Catherine's missing the wedding, with a source telling the Daily Mail: "Prince Harry was there, along with most of William and Kate's friends. Their absence was really striking."

However, their absence can now be explained by their secret ski holiday.
The daughter of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was "disappointed" when she met her new baby brother.

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel

The 38-year-old princess and husband Prince Daniel welcomed their second child, Prince Oscar, into the world last week but their four-year-old daughter Princess Estelle was upset that he had his eyes closed when she went to visit him at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

Urban Ahlin, the Swedish parliamentarian told Svenskedam: "Princess Estelle was incredibly proud and excited about her new brother but she was a little disappointed that he had his eyes closed all the time, and couldn't see the drawings she had made."

Victoria and Daniel, who got married in 2010, were initially planning to welcome their little one at Hala Palace via a home birth, but they seemingly changed their minds.

Nevertheless, Prince Daniel witnessed his little son being born and later left the hospital to address the press.

The couple announced they were expecting their second child back in September, but decided to remain tight-lipped on the tot's sex until the birth.

However, the princess joked Estelle wasn't interested in having either a little brother or a younger sister to play with.

She quipped recently: "What she really wants is a hamster!"
Textiles is among several Pakistani items that is in high demand in Iran, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Senior Vice President Almas Hyder has said after his return from a six-day visit to Iran.Hyder said that Iran has a higher requirement of Pakistani textile products including T-Shirts, Denim jeans and home textiles. There is a need to form a textile delegation comprising leading companies, as soon as possible, he said, according to a press release of LCCI.

Textiles is among several Pakistani items that is in high demand in Iran, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Senior Vice President Almas#

The Iranian side wanted that the agreed gas pipelines between Pakistan and Iran should be connected soon. The Iranian power companies can provide 5000 megawatt electricity to Pakistan which roughly cost $1.5 billion to connect electricity to eliminate load shedding from Pakistan, the LCCI Senior Vice President added.Iranian gas can solve much of Pakistan's energy crisis that has sent the textile industry reeling in recent years.He said Iran wanted to enhance their trade with Pakistan by up to $5 billion. In this regard, necessary steps should be taken by the Pakistani side, Hyder said. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
In a shot in the arm for Bangladeshi jute industry, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hsa announced that jute production and jute will be considered as agri-products.She made the announcement at an award function honouring different organizations and individuals for their contribution in implementing the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act-2010 on Sunday, according to Bangladeshi newspapers.The PM also inaugurated a three-day Jute Goods Fair-2016.

In a shot in the arm for Bangladeshi jute industry, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hsa announced that jute production and jute will be considered as#

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Textiles and Jute Ministry Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Jute Minister Md Emaz Uddin Pramanik, State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed had earlier in their speeches demanded that jute be accorded the status of an agricultural product.Chowdhury said the government could not subsidise jute products as jute did not have a status similar to that of agricultural products.Following their calls, Hasina said, I would like to announce that we will consider jute and jute products as agricultural products.The prime minister emphasised the need to increase the production and use of jute goods."We have to ensure diversified use of jute considering the economy of both farmers and mill workers as well as its environment friendly aspects. Bangladesh still has immense opportunity to earn huge foreign exchange from jute, called our golden fibre,"she said.The prime minister assured announcing new wage commission to raise the wages of the workers of the mill and factories keeping consistency with the new pay scale of the civil servants.She said jute is an important agricultural item of Bangladesh which has long been neglected despite being one of the major foreign exchange earning sector with huge potentials of diversified use. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Moody's Investors Service has lowered the outlook on China's government credit ratings to "negative" from "stable", citing governments' weakening of fiscal metrics and rising contingent liabilities.The rating agency attributed the change in outlook to three major factors: rising government debt in large and rising contingent liabilities on the government balance sheet; a continuing fall in reserve buffers due to capital outflows; uncertainty about the authorities' capacity to implement reforms to address imbalances in the economy.

Moody's Investors Service has lowered the outlook on China's government credit ratings to "negative" from "stable", citing governments' weakening of#

The first driver of the negative outlook on China's rating relates to the government's fiscal strength which has weakened and which Moody's expects to diminish further, albeit from very high levels.The second driver relates to China's external vulnerability. China's foreign exchange reserves have fallen markedly over the last 18 months, to $3.2 trillion in January 2016, $762 billion below their peak in June 2014.The third driver concerns institutional strength. China's institutions are being tested by the challenges stemming from the multiple policy objectives of maintaining economic growth, implementing reform, and mitigating market volatility. Fiscal and monetary policy support to achieve the government's economic growth target of 6.5 per cent may slow planned reforms, including those related to state-owned enterprises (SOEs).Moody's said Chinese government debt has risen markedly, to 40.6 per cent of GDP at the end of 2015, from 32.5 per cent in 2012. It expected a further increase to 43 per cent by 2017, given an accommodative fiscal stance. The agency expects debt affordability to remain high as large domestic savings will continue to fund government debt.Moody's kept the Aa3 rating for Chinese government bonds unchanged, given China's fiscal and foreign exchange reserve buffers remain sizeable.It provided a silver lining to the negative rating, saying that it could revise the rating outlook to stable if government policy was likely to succeed in balancing competing priorities and thereby arrest the deterioration in China's fiscal metrics and reduce contingent liabilities, most likely through effective restructuring of SOEs in overcapacity sectors.Conversely, Moody's could downgrade the rating if it observed a slowing pace in the adoption of reforms needed to support sustainable growth and to protect the government's balance sheet. Tangibly, this could happen if debt metrics weaken, contingent liabilities increase, or progress on SOE reform stalls. Sustained capital outflows or a marked tightening in capital controls without tangible progress on reform implementation would also be consistent with a downgrade of the rating, it said. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
In an exercise to boost the textile sector, the Odisha government plans to set up an integrated textile park in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 70 crore, the Business Standard has reported."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)", the newspaper quoted an official of Idco (Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation), the land acquisition arm of the state government, as saying.

In an exercise to boost the textile sector, the Odisha government plans to set up an integrated textile park in Bhadrak district with an investment#

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. The park is expected to house about 22 apparel manufacturing units.The project cost will be funded through a mix of equity or grant from the ministry. According to SITP guidelines, the Central Government's 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 integrated textile park. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
HON MINISTER ROSY AKBAR - STATEMENT AT THE 2016 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS





"Theme: Make it Happen: Pledge for Parity"

Suva, FIJI: As we commemorate the International Womens Day today, the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation would like to remember all the Fijian women and children and especially those have been affected by the cyclone Winston.Our hearts and prayers, particularly goes out to those who have lost their family members. However, we strongly believe that this has not dampened the Fijian spirit, to work together as one nation, one people to rebuild our great nation.Women are the significant agents of change in our families and communities; it is their hard work and commitment that builds the strong foundation for the future of their family and that of the nation.All around the world, International Women's Day represents the most significant day in our calendar, as we are reminded of the contributions of our mothers, daughters and sisters in building their homes and communities.Fiji joins the rest of the world in recognizing the achievements of women and addresses the challenges they face whilst maximizing on the opportunities to uplift their lives. The national theme for this years celebration is, Make it Happen: Pledge for Parity.As we all join hands to celebrate this day I urge all stakeholders, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Civil Based Organizations and both local and international partners to provide their support and work with the Fijian Government in the Rehabilitation and Recovery process of the families, particularly keeping in mind that there are still women and children out there who need our assistance.And we also take this opportunity to thank all the individuals, organisations and donors agencies who have generously provided their support and assistance during this critical time.As we commemorate 2016 International Womens Day, the key message that needs to reach every home and community in Fiji, is that partnership between men and women is the foundation for establishing peaceful families and a strong nation.Its about males and females working in collaboration for sustainable development for an environment that we will leave to our children and future generations.My humble plea to the all the families is to please work together with women in your communities. Particularly at a time, when Fiji perseveres to recover from the devastating impacts of cyclone Winston.The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will continue to persevere in its efforts to reachout to women and children and families to provide the much needed support to restore their happiness and livelihood.On behalf of the Fijian Government and the people of this nation I wish all the women a very prosperous and wonderful, International Womens Day celebration 2016.
Sanjay Dutt is out of the jail and many Bollywood celebrities visited the actor's house to meet him. Even superstar Shahrukh Khan took out time and met Sanjay, late night at his residence. But strangely, his best friend Salman Khan did not make any efforts to meet him. And you will be shocked to read that the reason behind this, is none other than Ranbir Kapoor!

According to spotboye.com, Salman Khan is upset with the fact that his good friend Sanjay Dutt has allowed the makers to cast Ranbir Kapoor in his biopic.

Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Some Unseen Candid Pics Of Sanjay & Salman



Talking about the same, a source told,"There's a difference between 'finalised' and 'getting ready to shoot', and the biopic's script got completed only recently. They might sort this out sooner or later, but at the moment Salman is definitely not pleased with RK playing Dutt in the Dutt biopic"

OH WOW! Katrina Kaif Praised Deepika Padukone, Here's Why...

Also, both Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan attended a wedding in Mumbai recently but Salman Khan left the venue before Sanjay Dutt arrived at the function. When Sanjay Dutt was released from the Yerwada jail, it was reported that Salman Khan is throwing a party for his friend at his farmhouse but recently, Sanjay denied it and said there was no party and these are just rumours.

We all know, Salman Khan is not too fond of Ranbir Kapoor as many people say that his ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif left Sallu, for the Barfi actor. However, Katrina and Salman chose to remain friends even after the break up.

Well, only time can tell the truth behind these rumours!
This incident that had taken place during the shoot of Rajinikanth's Enthiran may give you an idea about Kalabhavan Mani's acting prowess and the admiration he demanded from top directors like Shankar.

After missing his flight to Chennai, Kalabhavan Mani, who had to join the likes of Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai for a shooting schedule had called up Shankar to inform about his misfortune.

It is even said that Mani requested Shankar to go ahead with the shoot by replacing him with some other actor. But Shankar was in no mood to let go of an artist like Mani and so asked him to board the next available flight.

After reaching Chennai, Kalabhavan Mani was almost placed in an embarrassing situation, after learning that both Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai were waiting for him to commence the shoot.

Such was his acting calibre and no wonder entire Kollywood is mourning his death at the moment.

Suriya had posted, "#kalabhavanmani Respects to a great performer! A Good friend. Will cherish time spent with him! Rest In Peace sir."

Khushboo wrote, "Very sad 2 hear tat #KalabhavanMani is no more.. super talented actor of malayalam cinema.. he ws jus 46.. v r losing too many talents off late."

Madhavan said, "Oh God.. Heart broken to hear about a talented actor and ever smiling awesome Human being KalaBavan Mani. Such a loss sir. RIP."

Radikaa Sarathkumar tweeted, "RIP kala bhavan mani, shocked to hear of his sudden demise. A great talent gone too soon."

Sarath Kumar posted, "Heartfelt condolences to the family of actor Kalabhavan Mani. May his soul rest in peace."

Prashanth said, "The multi talented versatile actor Kalabhavan is no more. Starting off in comic roles, Mani went on to feature in lead, villain and character roles as well. My deepest condolences to his grieving family. What a loss to the Indian film Industry. May his soul rest in peace."

Music director Ghibran wrote, "Shocked & saddened to hear about the sudden demise of #KalabhavanMani . Worked with him in Papanasam, A Great Talent, RIP."

Prasanna said, "Extremely shocking to know the demise of #KalabhavanMani . Was a fantastic actor superb entertainer & more of all a great human being. RIP."

Simran tweeted, "Down to earth Actor #KalaBhavanmani passed away ..# RIP . Deep condolences to his family ...."

Raai Laxmi posted, "Yet another sad news n a big loss to the industry versatile actor #KalabhavanMani is no more with us #shocking !Life is so fragile  #Rip."

Karunakaran wrote, "One of my Favourite multi talented Artist RIPKalabhavan Mani Sir very shocking and disappointing to hear this news."

Robo Shankar tweeted, "RIP a versatile actor who conquered every cinema fans. Never be forgotten #KalabhavanMani."

Also Read: Arch-Rivals? Now A Cricket Match Between Team Thala Ajith & Team Ilayathalapathy Vijay!
LONDON, HONG KONG and RZESZA"W, Poland, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Two months ago, G2A Co-founder and CMO Dawid Rozek, announced that G2A would be working together with Gaming for Good to help children from all around the world. Dawid said: "Now is the time to help, to show that G2A, Gaming for Good and Save the Children together, can and will make a difference." G2A and Gaming for Good announce 'Humanitarian Emergency All-Out Response Team (HEART).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160305/340764 )



Only 8 weeks after the inauguration of the Humanitarian Emergency All-Out Response Team (HEART), Ethiopia was affected by the worst drought in 50 years. This catastrophe poses an urgent threat to millions of mothers and children in the region. The number of Ethiopians in critical need of food assistance has skyrocketed from 3 to 10 million in just one year.

"It is time to act. It is time to show how big the hearts of gamers really are," said Dawid Rozek.

G2A is directly supporting this cause with donations to Save the Children, as well as providing Gaming for Good with a customised solution for online payments from across the globe through G2A Pay. More than 100 payment methods are being used within G2A Pay and contributors can choose from amongst them to make a donation. https://pay.g2a.com/

"Join us and the community of over 1500 streamers who are raising funds for Ethiopia. Simply visit: Gaming for Good (https://www.GamingForGood.net/), chose your streamer and make a donation, or start your own stream and engage your community. It's up to us to show how fast and how many children we can reach," said Bachir 'Athene' Boumaaza.

Save the Children is an international non-governmental organization that promotes children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries. Save the Children is working closely with the Government of Ethiopia, other NGOs and UN agencies to get to Ethiopia's children who are in urgent need of our help and support. http://www.SavetheChildren.org/Ethiopia

For a full list of Avengers: Click me! Visit: http://www.SavetheChildren.org/Ethiopia, https://www.GamingForGood.net/, http://www.G2A.com.

See the movie of Athene asking for support: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVtDWjMTX-I

Author: Jacqueline Purcell - jpurcell@G2A.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) said Sunday that President and Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz plans to return to those roles on a full-time basis on March 14, 2016 and resume all of his duties and responsibilities at that time. United Airlines said in January that Oscar Munoz, the company's president and CEO, underwent a heart transplant operation and was in recovery. A transplant was considered the preferred treatment and was not the result of a setback in his recovery. The company today noted that Munoz has already been participating actively in all major corporate decisions and meeting frequently with employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders during his recovery. Henry L. Meyer III, Non-Executive Chairman of United's Board of Directors, said, 'The Board is confident in the strength and potential of United's business - and very pleased that Oscar will be returning to the roles of President and Chief Executive Officer on a full-time basis. We would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to Brett Hart for his superb leadership as acting CEO.' 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.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Destatis releases factory orders for January in the pre-European session on Monday at 2:00 am ET. Germany's factory orders are forecast to drop 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in January, following a 0.7 percent fall in December. Ahead of the data, the euro held steady against its major rivals. As of 1:55 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.7741 against the pound, 1.0925 against the Swiss franc, 1.0994 against the U.S. dollar and 124.95 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - March 07, 2016) - Every year, major leaders in performance marketing within the online community travel to Las Vegas, NV, to attend LeadsCon. The latest conference, scheduled for March 15 - 17, 2016, will bring together more than 5,000 influencers and attendees to the Venetian Luxury Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Speakers will include businesses, potential customers, and marketing veterans. On behalf of the brand repair and reputation management industry, IC Media Direct will join other major companies at the event. See your Online Reputation Report now, by visiting http://www.icmediadirect.com

Since 2007, LeadsCon has showcased a conference that allows companies to meet and discuss topics to gain a new understanding of Vertical Media (those in a particular industry), online advertising, and Lead Generation. It attracts premier firms including Zillow, LexisNexis, Facebook, Google, and other companies specializing in the fields of advertising, social media, customer service, and sales. All elements of the diverse industry have overcome radical changes with the expansion of Internet, with clients and companies quickly losing control over what can be written about them online.

The 2016 LeadsCon summit aims to tackle issues that businesses face in the ever-changing marketplace. One example which the conference is discussing in-depth is the future of YouTube. Several panels will consider how video and other platforms are driving advertising growth and lead generation campaigns for specific businesses and the broader industry as a whole. In its 20-year history, IC Media Direct has been able to evolve and adapt to the various needs of consumers through Internet activity, allowing its high-quality services to benefit hundreds of clients. The firm's perfected method of re-establishing a positive online presence for individuals has helped people build a status online that best matches their offline personas. In line with the conferences' theme, representatives from the agency will be available to discuss online advertising and reputation repair, and explain how they can control branded search results.

Founded in 1996, IC Media Direct pre-dates Google and has evolved alongside industry trends, thereby offering the latest strategies and methods for managing online reputation of businesses and individuals. Their extensive knowledge of SEO and online reputation allows them to offer 100% control over search results on Google and comparable search engines. Based in New York and Washington DC, IC Media Direct delivers reliable progress-driven online reputation management services in today's technology-driven society. Repeated attendee at industry conferences including LeadsCon, Affiliate Summit, Leadership Forum New York, and ad:tech, IC Media Direct is a proud supporter of several non-profit organizations, including the Jewish National Fund, the American Jewish World Service, and the AJC Global Jewish Advocacy. To see your Online Reputation Report, visit http://www.icmediadirect.com

IC Media Direct -- PR and Marketing News: http://icmediadirectnews.com

IC Media Direct -- Reputation Management -- Attends SES Conference in Miami: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstories/ic-media-direct-reputation-management-attends-ses-conference-in-miami/ar-BBqeGwJ

IC Media Direct -- Reputation Management -- Addresses Online Marketing Trends for 2016: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ic-media-direct-reputation-management-054119771.html

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/3/7/11G086331/Images/IC_Media_Direct_-_Reputation_Management_-_To_Atten-569964a61b2db1f79c3c3e988ce4a0ed.jpg

Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QHOeY8qAM

Contact Information

ICMediaDirect.com

TEL: 1.800.595.0821

www.ICMediaDirect.com

pr@icmediadirect.com
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- Management of Sirios (TSX VENTURE: SOI) announces partial results of gold assays from diamond drill hole #40 on the Cheechoo property in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Quebec. As announced on last February 9, this drill hole intersects a biotite schist over 36 metres (true width unknown). The section with visible gold yielded 2.12 g/t Au over 11.5 metres between 315.5 m and 327 m including 3.05 g/t Au over 6.4 m with a highest grade of 6.13 g/t Au over 1.2 m. A section containing all the biotite schist yielded 1.27 g/t Au over 39 metres between 295 m and 334. In addition, a yield of 2.88 g/t Au over 3.2 m was obtained between 346.9 m and 350.1 m. For the moment, assays results are only available for the last section of drill hole #40 between 287 m and 355.4 m; this section yields in total 1.0 g/t Au over 68.4 metres.

Nine drill holes (#42 to 50) were completed in an area between 0.5 to 1.5 km north-west of the known gold halo of 1.1 km delineated in its north-west region by drill holes #15 to 30. Visible gold was observed in three drill holes (#42, 47 and 48) at the proximity of or at the geological contact between tonalite and meta-sedimentary rocks. Presence of gold is now, thus, confirmed at more than 1 km north-west to the known gold halo. In drill holes #47 and 48, new mineralogical assemblages were observed in meta-sedimentary rocks and in tonalite, which are marked by geological alteration with diopside, garnet, brown tourmaline, chlorite and black quartz-tourmaline veinlets.

A map showing the localisation of drill holes is available at the following link: http://sirios.com/files/carte-2016-03-07.jpg

2016 Convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)

The convention is underway this week until March 9th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Sirios will present the most recent results on Cheechoo on March 8th and 9th at booth 3105B of the Core Shack. Anybody interested are also invited to come and meet the representatives of Sirios at booth 2910 of the Investors Exchange.

For more information concerning Sirios at the convention, please visit the website of PDAC:

http://www.pdac.ca/convention/programming/investors-exchange

http://www.pdac.ca/convention/programming/core-shack

The CHEECHOO gold project is located in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Quebec, 800 km north of Montreal and less than 10 km from the Eleonore gold mine of producer Goldcorp that has just begun production. This world-class deposit contained 4.03 million ounces of gold and 4.10 million ounces of inferred gold mineral resources (Source: Press release of Goldcorp, March 28 2014). In 2012, Sirios concluded an agreement with Golden Valley Ltd. regarding ownership of CHEECHOO allowing it, to upon completion of certain obligations and counterparts, increase its current interest to 100% (press release dated December 9, 2013). Sirios is the manager of the project.

Assay quality control

NQ-caliber drill cores of current campaign were sawed in half, with one half sent to a commercial laboratory for analysis and other half retained for future reference. A strict QA/QC program was followed by integrating blanks and certified reference materials to the drill core samples, all of which were prepared by IOS Services Geoscientifiques inc. of Chicoutimi, and assayed for gold by fire assay and atomic absorption finish (AA24) by the ALS Minerals laboratories in Val d'Or, Quebec. Samples grading more than 3 g/t were re-assayed by fire assay with gravimetric finish. (GRA22). Samples with visible gold were assayed by pyro-analysis with metallic sieve (SCR24)

This press release was prepared by Dominique Doucet, P. Eng., President of Sirios, Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

Contacts:

Dominique Doucet

President

(514) 510-7961

(514) 510-7964 (FAX)

ddoucet@sirios.com

www.sirios.com



Christian Guilbaud

VP. of corporate development

(514) 813-7862

(514) 510-7964 (FAX)

cguilbaud@videotron.ca

www.sirios.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- San Marco Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMN) ("San Marco" ) and GlobeTrotters Resource Group Inc. ("GlobeTrotters") are very pleased to announce that they have agreed to jointly initiate a state wide effort to generate and acquire new high potential and overlooked mineral targets in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

GlobeTrotters is a private British Columbia company operating in Peru by generating and staking new projects, mainly focused on porphyry style targets. GlobeTrotters' management applies a unique set of filtering algorithms to large scale sets of Landsat, ASTER and other remote sensing media followed by rigorous ground proofing to select and stake the highest potential targets, many of them previously unrecognized and untested. Since 2011, GlobeTrotters has built an outstanding set of early stage projects in Peru, optioning several to larger companies. One new porphyry discovery has already resulted from the targeting campaign and GlobeTrotters continues to add to its project portfolio and work with major mining companies.

Like Peru, Sonora's generally arid climate, extensive outcrop exposure and well understood stratigraphy lends itself to the application of remote sensing tools to rapidly and efficiently generate targets for follow up ground proofing and, if warranted, acquisition.

Richard Osmond, GlobeTrotters CEO stated, "Mexico, and Sonora State in particular, has the combination of accessibility, rock exposure, high metal endowment and transparent tenure system that makes it an ideal location for the application of our targeting techniques on a broad scale. Target generation is only half the story, however. To truly succeed, a discovery program requires efficient ground proofing by personnel experienced and comfortable in the region that can quickly focus on and acquire the highest potential target areas for further work. San Marco brings those attributes to the program and I'm confident that we can quickly generate a large number of new targets."

Robert Willis, San Marco's CEO commented that "we've seen what GlobeTrotters has been able to accomplish in a short period in Peru, finding outstanding targets and attracting the interest of several large companies to areas that have, in some cases, seen virtually no historic exploration. I'm very confident that Richard and his crew can take the same approach to the state of Sonora and meet with similar success. San Marco will then take the target set and apply our local knowledge and boots on the ground follow-up to winnow the list down to the highest potential areas for staking. The mining sector needs new targets and the combination of the talents of San Marco and GlobeTrotters will help find them."

The companies have agreed that GlobeTrotters will acquire the necessary imagery and data files for the State of Sonora and carry out analysis, filtering and initial target selection. San Marco's personnel will carry out ground-proofing and, where warranted, stake or otherwise acquire tenure to protect the highest priority areas with follow up input and further target focusing by GlobeTrotters. San Marco will hold a 100% interest in properties acquired as part of the collaborative effort and will grant GlobeTrotters a 2% NSR on San Marco's interest.

GlobeTrotters will be attending this year's PDAC Conference and will be available in Booth 2416B on March 8th and 9th to answer questions about its current Peruvian holdings. San Marco's CEO Robert Willis will also be available at the booth to discuss this new Sonora targeting initiative.

About San Marco

San Marco Resources Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company with a portfolio of three promising projects in mining-friendly Mexico, including the Cuatro de Mayo Project in Sonora State on which the Company is currently active (www.sanmarcocorp.com).

San Marco maintains a strategic project generation program focused on high-calibre, low-cost acquisition opportunities in the Northwestern Mexico. The Company has a committed management team with extensive experience in Mexico and a proven track record of building shareholder value.

About GlobeTrotters

GlobeTrotters Resource Group Inc. is a privately held company incorporated in 2009. The company is focused on acquiring low-cost, low-risk base and precious metal opportunities in emerging world class mineral belts throughout the Americas with a primary focus in key mineral belts in Peru.

National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

The technical information contained in this document has been verified, and this news release has been approved, by San Marco's CEO, Robert D. Willis, P. Eng. a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Forward Looking Information

Information set forth in this document may include forward-looking statements. While these statements reflect management's current plans, projections and intents, by their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the control of San Marco Resources Inc. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. San Marco's actual results, programs, activities and financial position could differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

San Marco Resources Inc.

Robert Willis, P. Eng.

CEO

Cell: 604-813-2606

rwillis@sanmarcocorp.com



GlobeTrotters Resource Group Inc.

Richard Osmond, P. Geo.

CEO

604-466-0425

Cell: 604-813-2606

rosmond@globetrottersresources.ca




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- TransCanada Corporation (TSX: TRP)(NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) today announced plans to terminate its Alberta Power Purchase Arrangements (PPAs). This termination affects the Sheerness, Sundance A and Sundance B PPAs.

"The agreements contain a provision that permits the PPA buyers to terminate the PPAs if there is a change in the law that makes the agreements unprofitable," said Bill Taylor, TransCanada's executive vice-president and president, Energy. "We have made the decision to exercise this right."

Unprofitable market conditions are expected to continue as costs related to CO2 emissions have increased and they are forecast to continue to increase over the remaining term of the PPA agreements. The company expects the termination will improve cash flow and comparable earnings in the near term.

As a result of its decision to terminate the PPAs, the company expects to record a non-cash charge of approximately $235 million pre-tax ($175 million after-tax) which represents the remaining net book value associated with the company's original investment in the PPAs.

"The company does not view this action on the PPAs as a full retreat from the Alberta power market," added Taylor. "TransCanada has a robust gas-fired cogeneration business totaling 438 megawatts at four sites. These low cost and low CO2 emitting gas units are expected to perform well even in today's market environment."

Investment opportunities remain in the Alberta power market and are expected to begin with new wind projects and later with the need for gas-fired power capacity required to replace retiring coal-fired plants. TransCanada filed a public submission to the Alberta Government last fall offering suggestions on how to create the right investment environment for renewable energy projects and thermal resources needed to maintain reliability in the province.

ABOUT TRANSCANADA

With more than 65 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and liquids pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates a network of natural gas pipelines that extends more than 67,000 kilometres (42,000 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with 368 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns or has interests in over 13,100 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America's largest liquids delivery systems. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. Visit TransCanada.com and our blog to learn more, or connect with us on social media and 3BL Media.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This publication contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "intend" or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TransCanada security holders and potential investors with information regarding TransCanada and its subsidiaries, including management's assessment of TransCanada's and its subsidiaries' future plans and financial outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TransCanada's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made and as such are not guarantees of future performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this news release, and not to use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. TransCanada undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to the Quarterly Report to Shareholders dated February 11, 2016 and 2015 Annual Report filed under TransCanada's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

Contacts:

TransCanada Media Enquiries:

Mark Cooper / Terry Cunha

403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859



TransCanada Investor & Analyst Enquiries:

David Moneta / Stuart Kampel

403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522






MIDLAND (dpa-AFX) - German chemical giant BASF SE (BFA.L, BASFY.PK) is reportedly considering making a takeover bid for peer EI DuPont De Nemours & Co. (DD) or DuPont, according to media reports. DuPont, in December 2015, agreed to a merger with Dow Chemical Co. (DOW).



BASF, the world's biggest chemicals company, has reportedly been working with advisors since last year to consider a bid for DuPont, but has not yet made a formal offer. However, shares of BASF are down more than 1 percent in Frankfurt on Monday amid concerns that a bidding war for DuPont could turn expensive for BASF.



BASF, in late February, reported a sharp decline in its fiscal 2015 profit reflecting weak sales performance due to sharply lower oil prices.



An acquisition of DuPont will provide BASF with more profitable businesses such as food ingredients and enzymes as well as the world's second-biggest producer of seeds such as genetically-modified corn. DuPont is the world's second largest seed company after Monsanto Co. (MON).



In early December, DuPont and Dow Chemical said their boards of directors have unanimously approved an agreement for an all-stock merger of equals. The combined company, with about $130 billion of market capitalization, will be named DowDuPont.



Initially, DuPont and Dow will merge their agriculture, material science and specialty products businesses and subsequently pursue a tax-free spin-off into three independent, publicly traded companies in 18 to 24 months after closing of the merger.



However, if either DuPont or Dow walk away from the merger, they will be required to a pay a break-up fee of about $1.9 billion.



In February, Switzerland-based crop chemicals firm Syngenta AG (SYT) said that China's state-owned China National Chemical Co. has offered to acquire the company for over $43 billion in cash. The deal is the biggest-ever acquisition by a Chinese company.



In Frankfurt, BASF's shares are down 0.63 euros or 1.00 percent to 62.65 euros.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Stock Exchange Release

Talvivaara Mining Company Plc

7 March 2016

Talvivaara's Auditor's Report for the financial period 1 January - 31 December 2015

The Auditor's report for the year ended 31 December 2015 to the Annual General Meeting of Talvivaara Mining Company Plc is the following:



The following document is an English translation of the Finnish auditor's report.

AUDITOR'S REPORT

To the Annual General Meeting of Talvivaara Mining Company Plc

We were engaged to audit the accounting records, the financial statements, the report of the Board of Directors and the administration of Talvivaara Mining Company Plc for the period 1 January - 31 December 2015. The financial statements comprise the statement of financial position, the income statement, the statement of changes in equity, the cash flow statement and notes to the financial statements.

Responsibility of the Board of Directors and the Managing Director

The Board of Directors and the Managing Director are responsible for the preparation of financial statements and report of the Board of Directors that give a true and fair view in accordance with the laws and regulations governing the preparation of the financial statements and the report of the Board of Directors in Finland. The Board of Directors is responsible for the appropriate arrangement of the control of the company's accounts and finances, and the Managing Director shall see to it that the accounts of the company are in compliance with the law and that its financial affairs have been arranged in a reliable manner.

Auditor's Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements and on the report of the Board of Directors based on conducting the audit in accordance with good auditing practice in Finland. The Auditing Act requires that we comply with the requirements of professional ethics. Because of the matter described in the Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion paragraph, however, we were not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion.

Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion

As described in the report of the Board of Directors in paragraph "Provisions and other items recognised based on restructuring programme", Talvivaara Mining Company Plc recorded a provision of EUR 203.4 million in year 2014, which was the full amount of its guarantee liability.

As described in the same paragraph, Talvivaara Mining Company Plc decided to leave the provision on the balance sheet in 2015, even if there are facts and circumstances which may lead to the unrecognition of the provision in the future. Reasons for possible unrecognition of the provision are discussed in the paragraph.

We were not able to verify the existence or nonexistence or the value of the liability originating from the guarantee.

Disclaimer of Opinion

Because of the significance of the matter described in the Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion paragraph, we have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion on the financial statements and the report of the Board of Directors.

Helsinki, 7 March 2016

PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy

Authorised Public Accountants

Juha Wahlroos

Authorised Public Accountant

Enquiries

Talvivaara Mining Company Plc Tel +358 20 7129 800

Pekka Pera, CEO

Pekka Erkinheimo, Deputy CEO

Talvivaara Auditor's Report 2015 (http://hugin.info/136227/R/1992372/733248.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: Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtio Oyj via Globenewswire



HUG#1992372


BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- The Honourable Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, will be meeting with Canadian seafood industry representatives and provincial and territorial counterparts at the 2016 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts.

Minister Tootoo will hold a media availability/teleconference about Canada's efforts to showcase our fish and seafood industry and its importance to the Canadian economy, as well as efforts to expand market access.

Minister Tootoo will be joined by Ruth Salmon, Executive Director of Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance and Michelle Boudreau, President of Fisheries Council of Canada.

Date: Monday, March 7, 2016 Time: 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Location: Room 207, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

NOTE: All media planning to participate in the teleconference are required to pre-register by calling 613-990-7537 or emailing Media.XNCR@dfo-mpo.gc.ca before 1:30 p.m. (EST).

Pre-registered media are requested to call-in 15 minutes prior to the start of the teleconference.

Follow us on Twitter @DFO_MPO throughout the Expo using the hashtag SENA16 for the latest pictures and information.

Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Follow DFO on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO

Contacts:

Ingrid Nielsen

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

613-668-7702

Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca



Mike Murphy

Director of Communications

Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

613-992-3474




After encouraging signs within the solar PV industry and the renewables energy industry as a whole in 2015, SolarPower Europe is calling on the continent to show its leadership credentials and raise the renewable energy target set at the COP21. Last year saw a resurgence of the PV industry in Europe, but to fulfill SolarPower Europe's lofty ambitions more needs to be done, including, possibly, the introduction of regulatory frameworks that value flexibility. A global target was set at the COP21 in Paris, to limit the global temperate increase to 1.5C degrees. To achieve this, the EU set a renewable energy target of 27% to be achieved by 2030. However, Oliver Schaefer, President of SolarPower Europe, doesn't believe that this is ambitious enough to keep the global rise in temperate limited to 1.5C degrees and wants the European Commission, Member States and European Parliament to do more. He said "We have therefore unanimously agreed to call for a renewable energy target of 35% to be achieved by 2030. The European Union must review the targets ...

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.
DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- O.penVAPE, the world's largest cannabis brand, in partnership with TGIG, a Nevada medical cannabis enterprise with a state-of-the-art production and cultivation facility, has begun producing and distributing O.penVAPE's best-selling CO2 extracted cannabis oils.

Denver-based O.penVAPE licenses products and manufacturing services in the medical and adult-use cannabis industry. Through its network of licensees in nine states and Jamaica, it is the largest extractor of cannabis oil in the United States.

Demetri Kouretas, CEO of TGIG, said its valuable relationship with O.penVAPE will make it possible for patients to obtain cannabis oil processed through CO2 extraction, a pure and safer form of cannabis oil. His company has begun wholesaling O.penVAPE products to current operating dispensaries and plans to make O.penVAPE products available to all of southern Nevada's 48 dispensaries by the end of the year.

"Employing the science and technology that O.penVAPE has perfected, we are manufacturing superior cannabis oil for customers who have been requesting a way to ingest cannabis in safer measured doses," Kouretas said. "We researched partnerships with other manufacturers and selected O.penVAPE because we share with O.penVAPE's leaders similar views about access to medical cannabis. We simply got along well."

Chris Driessen, Chief Business Development Officer of O.penVAPE, said TGIG is one of two Nevada enterprises that have entered into licensee agreements with O.penVAPE. TGIG holds four Nevada state licenses, making it possible for them to cultivate cannabis, produce O.penVAPE cannabis oil, and distribute and sell cannabis flower and O.penVAPE products. Per Nevada law, TGIG's license covers the southern portion of the state, which includes the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Mesquite, Laughlin and Clark and Nye counties.

"This strategic partnership makes our premium products available to medical cannabis patients who are residents of Nevada," Driessen said. "With our national reach and more than 42 million visitors to Las Vegas alone, we are particularly excited about the reciprocity in license which allows medical cannabis card holders from any state to legally purchase cannabis here."

Kouretas said that his business's growth will allow him to create at least 20 new cultivation and manufacturing jobs this year. TGIG has already produced O.penVAPE RESERVE pure-oil offering and O.penVAPE strain-specific CO2 extracted oils in 250 mg cartridges. These products are now available at Inyo Fine Cannabis, 2520 S. Maryland Parkway, Ste, 2, Las Vegas NV 89109; Euphoria Wellness, 7780 S. Jones Blvd., Las Vegas NV 89139 and The Grove, 1541 E. Basin Ave., Pahrump, NV, 89060.

About TGIG

TGIG is a vertically integrated medical marijuana enterprise that has brought together a team of experts who bring an extensive depth of knowledge in myriad industries, such as medical and horticultural, as well as culinary and the cannabis oil industry, and is applying this experience to its operation. TGIG operates a state-of-the-art cultivation and production facility and is dedicated to curating its selection of strains so it can offer patients a high-quality alternative.

About O.penVAPE

With products in over 1,100 dispensaries nationwide and in Jamaica, O.penVAPE has established itself as the leader within the cannabis industry. O.penVAPE appreciates a mutually beneficial relationship with its network of affiliates who are licensed to sell O.penVAPE cannabis oil-filled cartridges, vaporizer devices and other related products. Licensees in Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Connecticut employ O.penVAPE's Organa Labs technology to manufacture cannabis oil through CO2 extraction. Now cannabis enthusiasts, as well as medical marijuana patients, have broader access to a pure, safer and more consistent product. O.penVAPE's leaders ardently support cannabis legalization in order to provide better alternative-medicine. Please visit www.openvape.com.

Media Contact:

Ann Dickerson

(303) 319-4331

Email Contact





Lynn Purdue

(702) 241-5809

Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

SureWerx (formerly JET Group), a leading supplier of professional tools, equipment and safety products for workers across North America, announced today the appointment of Chris Baby as Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. Baby previously held the position of President & Chief Operating Officer of the JET Group.

"As our company continues to undergo significant transformation, there is no better person to lead SureWerx into its next stage of business legacy than Chris Baby," said Robert Blair, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SureWerx. "Chris is a proven leader who has inspired confidence in all the stakeholders at SureWerx, while increasing the breadth of our product offering, managing several acquisitions, recruiting a number of seasoned executives, and positioning the company in North America on a more solid and resilient platform with which we can go forward confidently and aggressively."

Since joining the company in 2009, Chis has spearheaded major strategy and technical developments, most notably his leadership in implementing a highly successful five-year strategic plan to expand the Company and product offering throughout North America. Chris currently serves as Director on the SureWerx Board as well as a Board Director for the FIOSA-MIOSA Safety Alliance of BC. He previously served as General Manager for Canfor-LP and Weldwood of Canada, respectively.

"SureWerx is a company that is making significant advances in the Industrial and Automotive Aftermarket segments to bring professional tools and safety equipment to workers across North America and around the globe. I'm honored to continue to lead our company into the future," said Baby. "I'm extremely optimistic about the opportunities ahead and will work with our skilled team of SureWerx employees to accelerate our current momentum of expanding our offerings into new strategic markets, while at the same time pursuing complementary acquisitions that augment our growth. We want all of our distributor partners and the end users of our products to experience tangible value for the products and services we offer and we will continue to enhance that proposition vastly over the coming years."

For more information about SureWerx, please visit http://surewerx.com.

About SureWerx

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, SureWerx is a leading supplier of professional tool, equipment and safety products for workers. SureWerx markets its products in Canada under the JET, Strongarm, ITC, STARTECH, Pioneer, Ranpro, PeakWorks, and Sellstrom brands, and in the United States under the American Forge & Foundry, Pioneer, Ranpro, PeakWorks, and Sellstrom brands. SureWerx offers an unparalleled access to its brands through its partner distributor network servicing the industrial, construction, safety, and automotive aftermarket in North America. SureWerx is owned by Penfund, one of Canada's oldest independent private equity firms. For more information, please visit us at www.surewerx.com or www.surewerx.ca.

To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160307-SureWerx_Chris_Baby.jpg.

Contacts:

SureWerx

Bill Jeffery

SVP Corporate Development

604.523.7634

bjeffery@surewerx.com




QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 03/07/16 -- Petrolia (TSX VENTURE: PEA) regrets to announce the resignation of Board Member Albert Wildgen. Mr. Wildgen joined the Petrolia Board of Directors in 2007. Over the last 9 years, the wisdom, international perspective and vast experience of Mr. Wildgen have enriched in a lasting manner the reflections of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Wildgen left the board for personal reasons. Petrolia would like to thank Mr. Wildgen for his dedication and commitment to the company and wishes him well in his future personal and professional endeavours.

About Petrolia

Petrolia is a junior oil and gas exploration company which owns interests in oil and gas licenses covering 16,000 km2 (4 million acres), which represents almost 23% of the Quebec territory under lease. The closing of a partnership on Anticosti Island has led to the creation of Anticosti Hydrocarbons L.P., a limited partnership in which Petrolia holds a 21.7% interest. In order to carry out the project's operations, Petrolia Anticosti Inc., a subsidiary of Petrolia, was designated project operator. Petrolia is a Quebec company whose objective is to develop oil from here, by the people here, for here. Petrolia has 80 345 195 shares issued and outstanding.

Disclaimer

Certain statements made herein may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or the future economic performance of Petrolia and carry known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may appreciably affect their results, economic performance or accomplishments when considered in light of the content or implications or statements made by Petrolia. Actual events or results could be significantly different. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Petrolia disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Alexandre Gagnon

President and Chief Executive Officer

418-657-1966

agagnon@petrolia-inc.com



For Interviews

Jean-Francois Belleau

Director of Public and Governmental Affairs

418-657-1966

jfbelleau@petrolia-inc.com




Bilbao, Spain-based bank BBVA acquired Holvi, a Helsinki, Finland-based online business banking service.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The acquisition will enable BBVA to expand its portfolio of digital businesses to complement its overall transformation process.

Founded in 2011 and led by Johan Lorenzen, CEO, Holvi provides entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses with a range of business services as well as traditional banking through its online platform. Features include an online sales platform, an invoicing facility and a cashflow tracker.

It is an authorized payment institution licensed and regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland (FIN-FSA).

Following the deal, the company will continue to be run as a stand-alone business, and there will be a two-way flow of knowledge, ideas and support between Holvi and BBVA.

For BBVA, the acquisition represents a follow on milestone in its strategy to improve its digital expertise and capabilites. In 2015, the bank took a strategic 29.5% stake in Atom, a mobile-only bank, and acquired West Coast user experience firm Spring Studio. In 2014, it had purchased big data and cloud-computing startup Madiva Soluciones, and Portland, Oregon based Simple.

It is also an investor in new venture capital partnership Propel, which is looking to invest in fintech startups.

FinSMEs

07/03/2016
Culture Amp, a people analytics platform for data-driven insights on employee engagement and company culture, closed $10m in Series B funding round.

The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Ilya Fushman, General Partner at Index Ventures, will join Culture Amps board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to advance analytics features on the platform, and finance the expansion into the U.K. and Europe, with an office opening in London this month.

Founded in 2011 by Didier Elzinga, Doug English, Jon Williams and Rod Hamilton, Culture Amp provides innovative companies with a people analytics platform that use data to drive culture, engage, onboard and exit employees, etc. The company, which has offices in Melbourne, San Francisco, New York and London, serves Greenhouse, Slack, Namely, Airbnb, Etsy, Eventbrite, Pinterest and Warby Parker.

FinSMEs

07/03/2016
Victory Park Capital (VPC), a Chicago, IL-based investment firm focused on private middle market debt and equity investments, promoted three investment professionals, as well as made three new hires.

The promotions include:

 Gordon Watson, Partner, who helps oversee direct private debt and equity investments in the specialty finance sector. Based in New York, Watson joined VPC in 2014 and has 10 years of experience investing in a diverse range of alternative investments for middle market companies.

He was previously a portfolio manager centered on distressed debt at GLG Partners, a London-based hedge fund manager. He joined GLG after it purchased Ore Hill Partners, a credit-focused hedge fund, where Watson served as a partner.

 Harsh Patel, Principal, who is responsible for making investments in middle market companies with a focus on specialty finance opportunities outside the U.S. Based in London, Patel has 10 years of experience in alternative investments. Previously, he was responsible for sourcing, structuring and managing a multi-billion dollar portfolio of credit and non-correlated investments at Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Patel also worked in the EMEA Credit Trading Group at Citigroup, focusing on distressed and special situations.

 Karrie Truglia, Principal, who oversees VPCs debt capital markets activity with a focus on strategic portfolio financings.

Based in New York, Truglia joined VPC in 2015 and has more than 15 years of experience in global and domestic financial services organizations. Previously, She spent eight years with Citigroup, where she was director of global securitized products, offering strategic, solution-oriented advice for key relationship banks, specialty finance and financial services companies.

Truglia also held management positions at Bear Stearns & Co., Assured Guaranty and BMW Financial Services.

The three new associates joining the VPC team are:

 Sarah Ishman, Senior Associate. Based in the New York office, Ishman is a former fixed income and commodities associate at Morgan Stanley.

 Katie Kissell, Business Development Associate. Based in the Chicago office, Kissell is a former senior business development associate at Aurora Investment Management.

 Christie Lacy, Marketing Associate. Based in the Chicago office, Lacy is a former senior marketing associate at Aurora Investment Management.

FinSMEs

07/03/2016
New Delhi: Apollo Tyres will invest up to $600 million (about Rs 4,000 crore) next fiscal to enhance capacity at its plants in India and abroad.

The company, which today announced its foray into the two-wheeler market, will start rolling out tyres from its upcoming plant in Hungary by January 2017.

"We plan to spend around $500-600 million as part of our capital expenditure in the next fiscal on our two plants in Chennai and Hungary," Apollo Tyres Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Kanwar told PTI.

He further said the company is doubling the capacity of its Chennai plant to 12,000 truck and bus radials (TBR) a day from 6,000 earlier.

Commenting on the company's foray into the two-wheeler segment, he said it is a part of a move to offer a complete range of products for the automotive industry.

Initially, the company will sell its Apollo Acti series of tyres for motorcycles and scooters in the aftermarket.

"Today, we are selling all types of tyres except two-wheelers. The Indian two-wheeler industry has been growing and it was time that we entered the segment," Kanwar said.

The Indian two-wheelers category is growing at around 8.5 percent. The company said as per estimates, there are about 120 million two-wheelers in the country.

Elaborating on the company's strategy for the two-wheeler segment, he said, "initially, we will focus on the aftermarket and gradually build up."

When asked about expectations from the category, he said it's too early as competitors like MRF, Ceat and TVS have been in the market for a long time.

"We are, however, confident of doing well in the two-wheelers segment considering our brand equity. We entered TBR late in 2008 but we are leaders today. Similarly, we entered passenger cars in 1999-2000 and are among top two players," Kanwar said.

In the first phase, Apollo Tyres will offer two-wheeler tyres which are "coverage oriented", followed by performance-oriented range in the second phase.

The company has outsourced production of the two-wheelers tyres in South India.

"Depending on the demand and growth of volumes, the company will decide where it will manufacture the two-wheeler tyres on its own," the company said.

The company is looking to sell 5 lakh two-wheeler tyres per month over the next two years that would translate roughly into 10 percent of the market share.

In the next five years, the company plans to offer both bias and radial tyres and attain a market share which will be close to a leadership position.

PTI
Bengaluru: In a damage control exercise, beleaguered industrialist Vijay Mallya on Sunday blamed the media for spoiling his reputation and sought to clarify why his dream airline Kingfisher failed.

"The past few days have witnessed a near hysterical campaign in the media directed against me," the 60-year-old flamboyant tycoon said in a statement.

Accusing the media of indulging in sensationalism, he said he felt the time had come to clarify his position in order to avoid relentless attack on his reputation.

"I have always lived an honourable life and the calumny notwithstanding, shall continue to do so. As to the allegations in media, all I can say is I hope some sobriety and sense will prevail and truth not held a hostage to TRPs."

Recalling that Kingfisher was launched in 2005 on the basis of a viable business plan vetted by SBI Capital Markets and international aviation consultants, Mallya admitted that despite every effort, the airline was an unfortunate commercial failure caused by macro-economic factors and then government policies.

"The truth about Kingfisher Airlines and its financial stress due to external factors has been reported by State Bank of India (SBI) to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in their letter dated 31 January, 2012," he said in the statement.

Mallya's statement comes ahead of the Debt Recovery Tribunal's order on the four interlocutory applications (IAs) the SBI moved on 2 March, seeking his arrest, impounding his passport, disclosure of his assets in India and abroad and first claim to the $75 million deal he had signed with British liquor major Diageo plc on 25 February for resigning as chairman of its Indian arm United Spirits Ltd (USL). The tycoon also said he would move to Britain to be with his family.

When the tribunal reserved its order on Friday and posted it for hearing on Monday, the SBI filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court as a lead bank of a consortium of banks, seeking the same relief it sought from the tribunal. On this, the court issued notice to Mallya and others for a response by this week.

A consortium of 17 state-run and private banks loaned funds of Rs.7,800 crore to Kingfisher, a public firm, but these loans were secured by blue chip securities.

After the airline's closure in 2012, the banks and their assignees recovered an aggregate of Rs.1,244 crore from sale of pledged shares since April 2013, he said.

In addition, an aggregate of Rs.600 crore is lying deposited in the Karnataka High Court since July 2013 and Rs.650 crore of United Breweries Holdings has been deposited there since early 2014, being sums realised from proceeds received by the UB Holdings from sale of shares in United Spirits to Diageo in July 2013.

"Thus, the aggregate cash recovery/security available is Rs.2,494 crore," Mallya claimed in the statement.

IANS
GENEVA 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 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 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)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday arrested Adarsh Sharma, the man who claims to be president of Purvanchal Sena which had announced through posters a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who "shoots" JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.

"Sharma has been arrested under charges of defacement of public property, abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery," a senior police official said, adding investigation is underway and more charges can be added in the case.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Police had detained Sharma for questioning at a police station in New Delhi district. On Saturday, posters announcing Rs 11 lakh reward for shooting dead Kumar were seen stuck on a wall near Press Club of India and bus stops and metro stations in New Delhi district.

The poster said "whosoever shoots JNU Students' Union president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena".

The posters carried the mobile number and name of Sharma. On the same day, the police registered a case of defacement of property and questioned one person, who was allegedly involved in sticking the posters on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The other sections were added later in the FIR.

PTI
The revelation by Defence Minister Mohan Parrikar on 4 March that he discovered India was paying the US Department of Defence for new weaponry, even though $3 billion which had earlier remitted was lying forgotten in a Pentagon account is not a small matter. Ministry of Defence had reportedly put the said money in a Pentagon account for weaponry that was to be bought under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS). It is not clear as to when the money was paid by India considering that procuring equipment through FMS has been on for past several years especially since US opened up FMS sales in immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

$3 billion is not a small amount considering that INS Vikrant, Indias indigenously built aircraft carrier launched in August 2013 was at a cost of $7.7 billion. Moreover, $3 billion by todays reckoning amounts to Rs 20,100 crore. Parrikar mentioned that this money lying with the US Department of Defense was not earning any interest  obviously nil for India but sure it would have earned interest for the US where the money was lying. Parrikar referred to the lapse as because of ill-management or lack of attention to this account and indicated that this $3 billion had accumulated over a period of time.

Parrikar further said that he drew on this account in the current year saving money from the capital budget, which Ministry of Defence returned to the finance ministry, adding that during 2015 this account has come down to $1.7-1.8 billion since Ministry of Defence must have paid nearly Rs 6,000 crore from this account for committed liabilities. He further said, We have saved almost $700-800 million in foreign exchange." The Ministry of Defence and finance ministry can be happy about all this, but it should be very apparent that the armed forces have been made suckers all along and their modernisation remains major casualty. Even $1.7-1.8 billion remaining in the above account in not small; some Rs 11,390 to 12,062 crore.

A former Vice Chief of the Army while in service was told by his friend in Defence (Finance) that they are required to submit a quarterly report from the very beginning of the financial year (FY) as to how much of the defence funds they would be able to surrender at the end of the FY. That is why crores of rupees is surrendered year after year from the Defence Budget while the forces are holding equipment that is 50 percent obsolete. While there was big furore over Gen VK Singhs, then Army Chief to prime minister Manmohan Singh on criticalities in the Army, public would be unaware that such letters have been written by many Service Chiefs including Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee in the past. Yet despite criticalities, year after year crores of rupees from the defence allocations are surrendered every year. Isnt it criminal that these $3 billion were lying with the US while our forces were starved for equipment? Besides, FMS route being the fastest, how could this amount be forgotten, or was this by design?

Talking of criticalities, take the example of bullet proof jackets in the army. Past several years one has heard about 1,86,000 being imported but nothing has materialized, mainly because the Ordnance Factory Board under DRDO has not been able to produce any worthwhile bullet proof jacket. Interestingly, a media report of 2015 revealed that many of our private companies are exporting bullet proof jackets and even helmets to more than 230 forces in over 100 countries including British, German, Spanish and French Armies, plus police forces stretching from Japan in the East to the US in the West. Why cant Service Chiefs have the authority of making emergency purchases with troops continuously engaged in counter insurgency operations, and when Army Commander Northern Command purchases such bullet proof jackets under his Special Financial Powers, duly cleared by the IFA, why does the IFA object? When will we break the mafia.

Ironically, the Ministry of Defence surrendered Rs 6,000 crore (official figures) of the defence allocation on 31 March 2015. How much will be surrendered on 31 March 2016 is anybodys guess considering that in January 2016, Ministry of Defence was struggling to exhaust its modernisation funds with almost 40 percent of its capital budget unspent; as much as Rs 37,355 crore of the capital modernisation budget of Rs 93,675 crore. Non-finalization of procurement of Rafale and BAEs M777 howitzers contributed towards this but these are recurring narratives every year.

When General Charles de Gaulle became president of France in 1959, France was militarily weak. What de Gaulle ensured was that the Defence Budget of France remained greater than 2 percent and touching 5 percent of the GDP, resulting in France emerging as a militarily strong nuclear power. That trend has continued with current French military expenditure standing at 5.4 percent of the GDP. In India, though the Long Term Integrated Procurement Plan (LTIPP) is based on a hypothetical 3 percent of GDP, defence allocations have never really touched that mark. Even post the Kargil Conflict and public exposure to massive equipment shortages in the Army, the one time high 1999-2000 Defence Budget allocation was made at 2.41% of the GDP. However, there has been a downslide since then, not to talk of the thousands of crores of Rupees that were surrendered by MoD annually by the UPA barring an odd year.

The just announced Defence Budget 2016-2017 is the lowest ever since the 1962 war. The India First commitment of the present government is unquestionable but how is the Defence Budget allocated and how is the long term integrated procurement plan (LTIPP) chalked out in absence of a National Security Strategy, without defining National Security Objectives and without a Comprehensive Defence Review? This vital anomaly in Indias defence setup cannot be resolved unless the higher defence structures of India are remodeled and military professional brought into the MoD and the defence industrial complex.

The Parliaments Standing Committee on Defence had noted in April 2015 that such under-spending leads to a situation where the preparation of Defence Forces are nowhere near the target. The Committee called for a non-lapsable and roll-on allocation fund for 5-10 years for defence equipment. Such a non-lapsable fund, administered by experts with strict controls on timelines, would reduce bureaucratic hurdles and be more attuned to practical realities. Even during UPA I, Jaswant Singh as defence minister had recommended that the unspent funds of defence budget must be allowed go into the next financial year.

The Parliaments Standing Committee on Defence recommendation for a non-lapsable and roll-on allocation fund for 5-10 years for defence equipment must be followed through by the government. There is also the vital need to clear the quagmire of the previous regime by addressing the issues mentioned above.

The author is a retired Lt Gen of the Indian Army.
By Neerad Pandharipande & Kishor Kadam

A tablet on the second floor of the Bombay High Court recalls one of the most famous criminal cases held there and pays tribute to the convict-freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The tablet Tilak's statement after his conviction in a sedition case: In spite of the verdict of the jury, I still maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destinies of men and nations; and I think, it may be the will of Providence that the cause I represent may be benefited more by my suffering than by my pen and tongue.

Nearly a century later, the legal provision of sedition continues to be a point of controversy in India. While it was then invoked to deal with slogans of poorna swaraj, it is now invoked to deal with slogans of azadi, whether from India or within India.

As per the Indian Penal Code, sedition has a very wide definition which lends itself to multiple interpretations  Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

As a result, states appear to differ widely in their interpretation of what constitutes sedition. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that an overwhelming majority of cases under this section are from just two states, Bihar and Jharkhand. The two states account for as many as 34 out of 47 sedition cases across the country in the year 2014. Several major states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu did not see any cases of sedition during this period.

The judiciary, too, has had differing interpretations of the controversial provision. The Delhi High Court, while granting bail to JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, said that the thoughts reflected in the slogans allegedly raised by the students cannot be claimed to be protected by freedom of speech. The court said that the students enjoy freedom of expression only because our borders are guarded by the armed forces.

On the other hand, in a highly publicized case, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi had been booked for sedition. In response to a plea challenging the case against Trivedi, the Bombay High Court said, A citizen has a right to say or write whatever he likes about the government so long as he does not incite people to violence., an article in The Hoot said.

Two prominent cases from the pre-independence era also reflect the varied ways in which sedition could be interpreted. An analysis on the Bombay High Courts website of the sedition cases against Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi pointed out that while Tilaks writing was guarded and cautious, Gandhis writing was more open and strident. However, Gandhi was treated with restraint and respect, while the judges remarks in Tilaks case were intemperate, the article noted.

So, while the anti-national label is used with increasing frequency and vociferousness, it could be relevant to look at the history of the sedition clause which is being used as a legal measure in such contexts. The judicial history of the provision suggests that there is much disagreement over what it means in reality.
New Delhi: The government wants to have a say in recommending names of candidates for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court, with the draft Memorandum of Procedure prepared by it favouring a role for the Attorney General at the Centre and Advocates General in states in the exercise.

The MoP is a document which guides the collegium in appointment of judges.

If the Supreme Court accepts the draft, then effectively the government can also suggest candidates as the AG is the top law officer appointed by the government.

In the appointment of judges to the high court, all the high court judges as well as the respective Advocates General of the state will be free to recommend their candidates, the draft says. This would mean, the state governments can also recommend candidates through their Advocates General.

While the draft MoP has been finalised by a group of ministers headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, it is likely to undergo changes before being sent to the Chief Justice of India for approval.

The draft also states that any dissent note to a recommendation of the collegium to appoint or elevate a judge should be mandatorily shared with the Executive.

This point has been incorporated based on the judgment the Supreme Court delivered last year on ways to make the collegium system more transparent.

The draft also says upto three judges in the Supreme Court should be from the Bar.

The government has decided not to bring the collegium appointments under RTI ambit as it apprehends it could lead to a flood of applications from aspirants and "interested parties" seeking file notings and other details.

According to the draft MoP, evaluation of judgments delivered by a high court judge during the last five years and initiatives undertaken for improvement of judicial administration should be the yardstick of merit for promotion as chief justice of a high court. At the same time, it also suggests that seniority should also be kept in mind.

The document stresses on the need for merit as a major yardstick for appointment of judges.

Another suggestion is that a high court should not remain without a chief justice for more than three months.

Some of the issues highlighted by the draft MoP are transparency in the appointment process, eligibility criteria, a permanent secretariat for the collegium and a process to evaluate and deal with complaints against candidates.

The government and the judiciary are learnt to be on the same page on the issue of a permanent secretariat for the collegium.

PTI
Chennai: A day after the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps for securing the immediate release of all 64 fishermen and 77 boats in Lankan custody.

"I request your personal intervention to issue directions to the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities and secure the immediate release of our 64 fishermen and 77 fishing boats still in Sri Lankan custody," she said in a letter to Modi.

"May I request you to accord the highest priority to this issue," she said.

Stating that the apprehension of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy continued unabated, she said 29 fishermen and their four fishing boats were apprehended by them in early hours of yesterday in two separate incidents.

In the first incident, nine fishermen on board a mechanised fishing boat, from the Rameswaram fishing base, were apprehended and taken to Thalaimannar in the neighbouring country.

Fifteen fishermen on board two boats and five others on board another boat from Threspuram in Tuticorin District were taken into custody and taken to Kalpitiya, in Sri Lanka, she said.

"The right to life and livelihood of Tamil Nadu fishermen who carry on fishing in the traditional waters of the Palk Bay is being infringed upon by the Sri Lankan Navy's recurrent actions of apprehension, attack and harassment of the innocent fishermen," she said.

She reiterated that India's sovereignty over Katchatheevu, an islet in the Palk Strait ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, should be restored.

PTI
Pune: In a replay of their high-voltage march to Shani Shingnapur temple, women activists on Monday headed to the famous Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik in a bid to break the ban on entry of female devotees into its sanctum sanctorum but were stopped and detained by police at a village about 80 km away from the shrine.

The activists under the banner of Bhumata Brigade who numbered between 150 and 175 and led by its chief Trupti Desai were stopped at Nandurshingote village by rural police from proceeding to Trimbak town in Maharashtra's Nashik district where pilgrims had gathered in large numbers on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival.

They were detained under various sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, a senior police officer said.

Located 30 km from Nashik town and 160 km from Pune, Trimbak town has been turned into a fortress in view of the

country-wide terror alert and also because of the huge flow of devotees.

Desai had left Pune earlier in the day trooping nearly 150-175 activists in vehicles as part of her plan to push for entry of women into the "garbhagriha" (sanctum sanctorum) of the ancient temple which houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.

Before setting out, she made a plea to Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis to make sure that their members are not

detained on the way, as the authorities did during the earlier campaign.

"Since the Chief Minister had supported us on the Shani Shinganapur issue, we hope that we are not stopped today

and will be allowed to enter the 'garbhagriha'," Desai, who chose the occasion of Maha Shivratri to resume their campaign, told PTI.

"On this auspicious day, we feel that the local administration will allow us inside the inner chamber of the

temple and if we are restricted, it would be an insult to women on the eve of International Women's Day and on the day of Maha Shivratri," said Desai before setting out to Nashik.

Desai and her activists were stopped from proceeding to Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednanagar district on 26 January when police detained them at a village 70 km away from the shrine.

Nashik Rural Police had tightened security around the temple to avoid a face-off with deployment of additional forces and barricades putting up barricades.

Opposing the campaign, certain local outfits like Mahila Dakshata Samiti, Sharada Mahila Mandal, Purohit Sangh

and others have came together threatening to stop the activists if they sought to breach the prohibited area.

As per tradition followed since past many years, women are not allowed in temple's garbha-grih for worship while men are allowed for an hour between 6 am to 7 am in the morning, but wearing sovala (a silk dhoti) for offering pooja to Lord Shiva.

PTI
Rajamahendravaram: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday tore into Congress over disruptions in Parliament and asked the opposition party to desist from using Parliament as a platform to settle "political scores" instead of a forum to discuss issues concerning development of country.

"If you want to play politics, choose a state (for electoral fight). BJP is ready to pick up the challenge," Shah said, addressing a huge public meeting organised by the state BJP unit in the Arts College grounds in Rajamahendravaram on Sunday evening.

"Is Parliament for debates or slogan-shouting? Is it for development or to settle political scores," the BJP chief said.

"If you have to settle political scores, jump into the electoral battlefield. BJP workers don't fear anyone. Do do haath kar lenge (lets fight)," Shah said.

He asked Congress to let Parliament be a forum for development, "one that leads the country on the path to progress".

"Let Parliament be a forum that enhances the countrys prestige," Shah added.

Lashing out in particular at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for calling the sloganeering in JNU as "freedom of speech", Shah asked the crowd could slogans like "Bharat tere tukde honge...Bharat teri barbaadi tak jung jaari rahegi..." be called freedom of speech.

"Is it freedom of speech or anti-national?" he asked.

"One of the biggest achievements of the NDA government was to fully secure the borders of the country. Today, no one can dare to behead our soldiers (on the borders) and carry them away. They know it is Narendra Modi government...NDA government...that is ruling India," the BJP chief said.

Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu, AP state unit BJP president and MP Kambhampati Hari Babu, former Union minister Daggubati Purandeswari and others were present.

The BJP president asked the party workers to visit villages to strengthen the party in the state.

Shah thanked the people of Andhra Pradesh for helping NDA win 17 Lok Sabha seats out of 25 in the state.

The BJP president said the Opposition is "misinforming" the people about the various government measures taken in the last one and half year and highlighted the various initiatives of the Modi-government for development of Andhra Pradesh.

He said the Central government has provided schemes worth over Rs 1,40,000 crore for the state since it came to power, besides bringing in amendments to implement the multi-purpose irrigation project  Polavaram Project.

The BJP president also credited the Modi-government for according the project a 'national project' status and said it is a lifeline of the state, specially Rajamahendravaram region.

He extended all support to the project, saying "whatever needs to be done, the Central government will do" but said "if someone says that the entire cost of the project would be given in just a single budget then he is misinforming the people".

Highlighting the initiatives of Centre, he said the Modi-government has selected every village of the state in the pilot project to provide round the clock electricity by 2019, besides providing funds for various projects like national highway, international water way and Pradham Mantri Awas Yojana, among others.

Shah said the Modi-government has given the list of their initiatives in the last one and half years and asked Congress to tell the people what they have done in last 60 years.

PTI
Actor Anupam Kher, who has been vociferous on the debate surrounding intolerance in the country, pilloried former Supreme Court Justice Asok Ganguly, who raised doubts regarding the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013. At a recent event in Kolkata, Kher said it was very sad that a former SC judge should call the apex courts judgment wrong (video below).

I am shocked and ashamed and saddened by what you said, Mr Ganguly, Kher said. Its so sad that youre calling the verdict of the SC wrong, being a judge yourself. Its a matter of complete disgrace that you were hounded by the press and you were intolerant of them when there was a case against you. And today, you say what happened at JNU was right. Its absolutely unpardonable that instead of condemning the protests taking place at JNU, you are saying the SC was wrong.

Speaking at the same event, Ganguly had earlier said, I am saying as a (former) judge the way the execution took place  his clemency petition was rejected on February 3 and the execution took place on February 9. This is wrong. He had the right to challenge it. Family members have the right to be informed about it. The human right is there as long as the noose is not tightened around the neck, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)
Baghdad: Iraqi officials say the death toll from Sunday's suicide truck bombing south of Baghdad has climbed to 61.

A police officer said Monday that among the dead were 52 civilians, while the rest were members of the security forces. Another 95 people were injured in the attack that targeted a security checkpoint at one of the entrances to the city of Hillah, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

The officer said that eight other people were still missing.

A medical officials confirmed casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in an online statement.

AP
Patna: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for allowing his erstwhile election strategist Prashant Kishore to take up political role with Congress despite being his Advisor on policy and programme implementation.

"Why does not the Chief Minister make Kishore his political advisor or minister so that the latter should have freedom to take up political role with the JD(U) or Congress by removing him from the post of an advisor (policy and programme implementation) with the rank of cabinet minister?" Modi said.

Noting that a bad precedent has been set wherein an individual occupying position in the government now plays active role in politics, be it in the JD(U) or Congress, the former deputy chief minister asked Kumar to review the role of his former election strategist and allot him work either in the capacity of a political advisor or (as) advisor on policy and programme implementation.

If needed, the Chief Minister has the discretion to make Kishore a minister in his government so that he could assist Kumar politically and extend similar services to the Congress or other parties, the senior BJP leader said.

Regarding Kumar having given a dominant role to his trusted aide in formulation and implementation of government policies, Modi claimed this move has sent a wrong signal to the Bihar bureaucracy whose morale has been badly hit by Kumar's dependence on his erstwhile election strategist.

PTI
The Maharashtra government has formed a high-powered committee under chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya aimed to ensure proper implementation of MoUs signed during the 'Make in India' week in Mumbai. The state government had hosted the MII week from 13-18 February in the megapolis, along with Department of Industry Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Government of India.

Pre-empting an opposition attack during the Budget session of the legislature this week, the Maharashtra government on Saturday said it has formed a high-powered committee headed by Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya to ensure that the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed during the Make In India Week fructify. On Thursday, Firstpost in an exclusive story revealed how the Fadnavis government's showpiece MoU for housing for poor is a rehashed dud.

The formation of the committee was announced days after the Opposition raised serious questions on the lack of transparency of the MoUs. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik had alleged that one MoU with the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) on affordable housing was inked by the government only to inflate the investment numbers.

Malik said the Congress-NCP government headed by Ashok Chavan had inked a similar MoU with MCHI in 2010 for constructing 5.69 lakh affordable houses in five years in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, but the MoU lapsed in February 2015 without a single house being built. The value of this MoU is Rs 1.10 lakh crore, which in turn means that around 15 per cent of the Rs 8 lakh crore investment announced by the chief minister is fake, he had alleged on Thursday, warning that the NCP will take up the issue when the budget session of legislature opens on 9 March.

Replying to NCP's charge, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government has a policy to follow up each and every MoU.

"I am not aware of what was signed in the year 2010, but if at all it (the MoU) was signed, it shows that the erstwhile (Congress-NCP) government had the habit of signing fake MoUs and do nothing (about it). Our government has a policy of following every single MoU signed," Fadnavis said while speaking to mediapersons.

As part of the event, the Maharashtra government inked 2,594 MoUs entailing investments of Rs 7.94 lakh crore which could possibly generate employment for over 30 lakh people in the state. A total of 2,097 MoUs were signed with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and large industries, and 20 in the skill development sector.

The rest of the MoUs were across various sectors including manufacturing, information and technology, animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC), textile, food processing, auto and auto components, defence and energy. To give an impetus to infrastructure, MoUs were also signed for industrial infrastructure, housing, railways, ports, and agriculture sectors, claimed the government.

Kshatriya said that apart from the high-powered committee, there will also be some sub-committees which will report to it on the progress of the MoUs. "We will decide the modalities about MoUs, as there were over 2,500 MoUs and it is not possible for the high-powered committee to take a review and monitor all of them. So we have decided to bifurcate MoUs on the basis of expected investment and the jobs generated," he said.

"The large MoUs in terms of investments and jobs will be handled by the high-powered committee, while the rest will be taken care of by the sub-committees and also by the principal secretaries of the concerned departments, under the high- powered committee," Kshatriya said.

He said that some smaller MoUs can also be delegated to the CEO of the MIDC or the secretary to the industry department and there will be 4-5 levels of classification of MoUs, as per the amount and expected employment generation, as both criteria are important.

State Industries Minister Subhash Desai on Friday said that the government would form a task force to ensure that at least 75 to 80 per cent of the MoUs fructify as actual investments. Speaking at a CII function, Desai told reporters that the government was aware that MoUs often remain on paper and do not get converted into actual investments. Therefore, the government was planning to set up a task force to monitor and ensure that the MoUs translate into actual investments, he said.

With inputs from PTI
The interim order of Bangalore Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) on Monday, preventing Vijay Mallya from withdrawing his $75 million (Rs 500 crore) from Diageo, on a case filed by State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender in the 17-lenders consortium to Kingfisher, is a minor relief for the bank, but no way a victory.

Nor does the interim order show the intent of judiciary to act with a sense of urgency in the interest of minority shareholders (who constitutes 91.46 percent shareholders of KFA) in the country and the lenders, which have Rs 7,000 crore at stake.

The DRT is meant to be a special court for swiftly dealing with resolution of cases of large defaults as the name suggests. Hence, despite having all the evidence why the court postponed the hearing of the case by another 21 days to March 28 is quite surprising  after all this delay. Another question is why banks woke up to taking tough measures against Mallya so late.

The fact is that the Kingfisher is a four-year-old NPA case for banks. There are investigations on Mallya by various agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. At least two banks have classified Mallya as wilful defaulter. In this context, further delay in this case is against the interest of minority shareholders of the company, who have already suffered a lot.

Mallyas lawyers argument (also mentioned in Mallyas statement) that their client is a small fry among other defaulters is a joke. If someone who owes Rs 7,000 crore to 17 large banks is a small fry, then who are the big ones? Similarly, Mallyas remarks that media has been hysterical in targeting him too lack any sense.

After all, despite having the ability to pay back (Mallyas personal wealth in shareholdings of various companies, as on 4 March 2016 is Rs 7,068 crore), Mallya has defied the whole system for nearly half a decade, drawing flak even from RBI governor for publicly flaunting his wealth. He is a Rajya Sabha member. The ED too has registered a money laundering case against him and SBI has sought his arrest in court. Is Media supposed to ignore this case?

As per the reports, the DRT has only postponed the Rs 500 crore pay to Mallya, not cancelled the payment. The Rs 500 crore is only a fraction of the Rs 7,000 crore Mallya owes to banks. Banks wouldnt benefit much if they settle for a one-time payment with Mallya, who has been already classified as a wilful defaulter. A borrower is classified as wilful defaulter if lenders are convinced that the borrower doesnt have the intent to pay back. Also, Mallyas case includes possible diversification of funds and financial irregularities, for which the ED wants to question him.

Even at this stage, if Mallya had the intent to pay back, he would have offered Rs 500 crore to banks as a gesture. According to reports, SBI had moved for different applications to Bangalore DRT including Mallyas arrest, impound his passport and claiming the first right on Rs 500 crore.

There is no clarity why the DRT has merely postponed the case to another date (with all evidence in place) and merely imposed a temporary ban on withdrawing the money. One of the major reasons for banks' inability to recover money from large corporate defaulters is the long, painful, archaic judicial process in this country. Remember, even in the case of United Bank, which later had to take a U-Turn after imposing wilful tag on Mallya, the industrialist had cleverly used the judiciary against the bank on technical grounds.

The short point is there is no reason why DRTs Monday order can be seen even as a partial victory for SBI or other lenders. Its only a small relief. The DRTs approach only shows the poor state of preparedness of Indias judicial system to deal with cases of large defaults.
Ben Guerdane: Tunisian forces fought off fierce attacks from jihadists near the Libyan border on Monday, killing 28 extremist fighters in clashes that also left seven civilians dead.

Ten members of the security forces were killed in the fighting in the border town of Ben Guerdane, which President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an "unprecedented" jihadist attack.

It prompted authorities to close the frontier and order a nighttime curfew.

In statements broadcast on state television, Essebsi said the assault was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and vowed to "exterminate these rats".

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to prevent the large number of its nationals who have joined the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Libya from returning to carry out attacks at home.

The jihadists have taken advantage of a power vacuum since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 to set up bases in several areas of Libya, including the Sabratha area between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

The government said that an army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane came under attack in coordinated pre-dawn assaults.

Six members of the National Guard, two policemen, a customs official and a soldier died in the fighting, the defence and interior ministries said in a joint statement.

Six wounded militants were captured, the defence ministry said.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead civilians.

An AFP correspondent reported that schools and offices in Ben Guerdane were closed and troops had taken up position on rooftops across the town.

Residents were being urged to stay indoors even before the 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) start of the nighttime curfew.

Jihadist presence growing

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia, the correspondent said.

Authorities said ground and air patrols along the border would be reinforced.

Prime Minister Habib Essid ordered the defence and interior ministers to head to Ben Guerdane to oversee operations against the jihadists.

"Tunisia is on the path to victory against these groups," government spokesman Khaled Chaouket said on state-owned Wataniya TV.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Troops have been on alert in the border area following reports that militants had been slipping across since a US air strike on an IS training camp in Libya on 18 February killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

At least four of the five militants killed in last week's firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in a bid to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said.

"Suspicious movements had been reported since the Sabratha strike and there was a feeling that IS was looking for revenge," said Hamza Meddeb, a researcher for the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

"It was only a matter of time and there were strong clues that Tunisia would be a target," he added, mentioning the possibility of "sleeper cells" in the country.

Deadly attacks by IS on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre (125-mile) barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating.

US air strike

February's US strike on the IS training camp outside Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the strike probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

Western governments have been increasingly alarmed by the growing IS presence in Libya just 300 kilometres (185 miles) across the Mediterranean from Europe and have made contingency plans for intensified military action.

Rival administrations which have vied for power since mid-2014 are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to facilitate the fight against the jihadists.

Handfuls of US, British and French special forces have already been reported in Libya.

A contingent of around 50 Italians is about to join them, Il Corriere della Sera reported last Thursday, citing a classified order signed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last month.

Britain announced last week that it was sending a team of around 20 soldiers to Tunisia to train troops patrolling the border with Libya.

Thirty Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse last June.

And last March, jihadist gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

According to a UN working group on the use of mercenaries, more than 5,000 Tunisians have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups, many of them in Libya.

AFP
BRUSSELS Turkey offered the European Union greater help on Monday to halt a wave of migrants into Europe in return for more money, faster membership talks and quicker visa-free travel for its citizens, but EU leaders said they needed more time to consider the plan.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the 28 EU leaders that Ankara was willing to take back all migrants who enter Europe from Turkey after a set date, as well as those intercepted in its territorial waters, diplomats said.

More than a million asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond have flooded into Europe since the start of 2015, causing huge political and humanitarian strains.

In exchange for stopping the influx, Davutoglu demanded a doubling of EU funding through 2018 to help Syrian refugees stay in Turkey and a commitment to take in one Syrian refugee directly from Turkey for each one returned from Greece's Aegean islands, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

He also sought to bring forward visa liberalisation for Turks to June from late this year and to open more negotiating chapters in Turkey's long-stalled EU accession process.

An emergency EU-Turkey summit, originally due to last half a day, was extended to give Davutoglu a chance to present the new ideas that went beyond Ankara's commitments so far.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's chief of staff said on Twitter that good progress had been made in the difficult talks and "a breakthrough during this night is possible".

However, another EU official said several leaders, taken by surprise by the initiative, were unable to agree to such far-reaching steps at such short notice, insisting on more time to consider them.

"Several countries really like the idea but cannot accept a deal tonight because of the very short preparation time. They will welcome the higher ambition but they can't nail down all the points today," the official said.

"There are some clarifications needed. We will work on it intensively in the coming days," he added.

Desperate to end the influx of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others, the EU leaders sent the text back for redrafting. They were to meet Davutoglu again to discuss them over dinner, an EU official said.

"Our aim is to go further with game-changing ideas," a spokesman for Davutoglu told Reuters, describing the Turkish proposals on a full halt to movement in return for direct resettlement as a plan to "end the tragedy in the Aegean".

At a preparatory meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Davutoglu demanded more than the 3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. One source said Ankara was seeking 20 billion euros.

Davutoglu said on arrival that the summit showed how indispensable Turkey was for Europe, and Europe for Turkey.

"Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well. Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU," he said.

Diplomats said Merkel and Rutte pressed hard for a deal on the Turkish plan but met resistance from central European states opposed to taking refugee quotas, as well as from Greece and Cyprus which have conditions for the Turkish accession talks.

The EU official said leaders were willing to bring forward visa liberalisation to June provided Turkey met a string of requirements, including changing its visa policy towards Islamic states and introducing harder-to-fake biometric passports.

Several leaders voiced concern that the offer of increased cooperation coincided with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to European values. The Turkish government seized best-selling opposition newspaper Zaman last Friday.

EU sources said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was prepared to block any summit statement unless a reference to media freedom was included.

USE FORCE?

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner highlighted the tough mood in central Europe when asked whether the EU should use force to close its frontiers to migrants.

"If necessary, we must set such an example to show that a border is really a border. Naturally, we should be careful to use means that do not endanger lives," he said in an ATV interview.

The EU leaders pledged to help Greece cope with a backlog of migrants stranded on its soil and sought assurances that Turkey, with NATO naval back-up in the Aegean, would stop people smugglers from putting migrants to sea.

There were continued splits among EU leaders at the summit, with Merkel resisting pressure to endorse border closures by Austria and Greece's Balkan neighbours that have stranded over 30,000 migrants in Greece.

The German leader, who faces a possible political backlash in three regional elections on Sunday against her welcome for the refugees, insisted on the emergency summit to show voters the EU is acting to resolve the crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the bloc must speed up the process of relocating asylum seekers from Greece to other EU countries as promised last September. EU states have so far taken in only a few hundred of a promised 160,000 people and central European countries have rejected the whole principle.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had begun patrols in the Aegean to support efforts to locate migrant boats, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey to patrol in the waters of both NATO states.

"NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," he told a joint news conference in Brussels with Davutoglu.

"We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency, Frontex, and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, saying that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean.

Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters.

Near the Greek town of Idomeni on the border with Macedonia, where 13,000 migrants are stranded in a squalid tent camp meant for 1,500, a 13-year-old boy was electrocuted trying to climb onto a goods train on Monday. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Husam, a 39-year-old decorator from Homs in Syria, told Reuters: "I want to beg the European leaders not to close the borders. Please let us pass. It is my only hope to provide security for my children. Please don't kill our only hope."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sending a naval force to the Aegean to join German and Canadian warships in the NATO force assisting the Greek and Turkish navies.

Though Britain is outside the Schengen zone of passport-free travel and Cameron stressed it would take no part in any common EU asylum policy, further migrant chaos could damage his efforts to win a June referendum and keep Britain in the EU.

(Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Robert-Jan Bartunek, Renee Maltezou and Robin Emmott in Brussels and Kylie Maclellan in London; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Paul Taylor; Editing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher, Larry King)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Nancy Reagan, the former actress who was fiercely protective of husband Ronald Reagan through a Hollywood career, eight years in the White House, an assassination attempt and her husband's Alzheimer's disease, died on Sunday at age 94.

The cause of death was congestive heart failure, said a spokeswoman for the Reagan presidential library. She died at her Los Angeles home.

"She is once again with the man she loved," her stepson Michael Reagan wrote on Twitter.

Reagan became one of the most influential first ladies in U.S. history during her Republican husband's presidency from 1981 to 1989.

Her husband, who affectionately called her "Mommy" while she called him "Ronnie," died in 2004 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's, the progressive brain disorder that destroys memory.

As news of Nancy Reagan's death spread, tributes poured in from Washington to Hollywood.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and first lady Michelle Obama said Nancy Reagan redefined the role of first lady.

"Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House," the Obamas wrote in a joint statement on Sunday. "She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice."

Former first lady Barbara Bush said she and her husband, former President George H. W. Bush, who was vice president under Reagan, took comfort in knowing Nancy Reagan would be reunited with her husband, the late president.

The Hollywood glitterati weighed in on social media, many of them grieving the passing of an icon they remembered having grown up in the Reagan era.

"I sat near #Nancy Reagan once and felt like a teenager seeing one of my idols. She was a BOSS," wrote actress Elizabeth Banks of "The Hunger Games" fame.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who like Ronald Reagan rode his Hollywood fame to the governor's office in California, said on Twitter that Nancy Reagan was "one of my heroes."

CANDIDATES CONVEY SYMPATHIES

Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination, from businessman Donald Trump to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, also conveyed their sympathies. The ghost of Ronald Reagan, who remains deeply popular among Republican voters, has hovered over the campaign as in previous years, with party candidates vying to claim the mantle of Reagan's legacy.

A Republican debate in September took place at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, with an Air Force One jet providing a memorable backdrop.

Nancy Reagan will be buried next to her husband at that library. The public would have a chance to pay their respects prior to the funeral service, with details to come shortly.

Nancy Davis was a Hollywood actress during the 1940s and 1950s and married Reagan, a prominent film actor, in 1952. She then served as first lady of California during her husband's stint as California governor from 1967 to 1975 before moving into the White House after his decisive victory over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Her most publicized project as first lady was the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. After her husband developed Alzheimer's disease, she became an advocate for discovering a cure.

She was diminutive and publicly soft-spoken, but Nancy Reagan's strong will, high-tone tastes and clout with her husband made her a controversial figure during his presidency.

As Reagan's wife, political partner and adviser, she became one of America's most potent first ladies, alongside the likes of Franklin Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, Woodrow Wilson's wife, Edith, and Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary.

"I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated," she said in 1985. "I talk to people. They tell me things. And if something is about to become a problem, I'm not above calling a staff person and asking about it. I'm a woman who loves her husband and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare."

Tiny and frail in her later years, Reagan devoted her time to caring for her ailing husband at their home in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel Air enclave. She was always a stickler for protocol and detail and stoically presided over the former president's weeklong funeral and celebration of his life in June 2004.

'I FORGOT TO DUCK'

One of her most trying times as first lady came when John Hinckley stepped out of a crowd outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981, and fired six shots toward the president, striking him in the chest. A .22-caliber bullet punctured his lung and nearly entered his heart.

"Honey, I forgot to duck," he told her at the hospital.

Some critics lambasted Nancy Reagan as a meddlesome "dragon lady," derided her anti-drug campaign and ridiculed her for consulting an astrologer to schedule presidential events.

President Reagan called this view of his wife "despicable fiction," saying in 1987: "The idea that she is involved in governmental decisions and so forth and all of this, and being a kind of dragon lady - there is nothing to that."

The reputation was established during her husband's time as California governor and followed her to Washington. She was first accused of being a vacuous spendthrift interested chiefly in renovating and buying new china for the White House, lavish entertaining, her designer wardrobe and the like, then portrayed as a cunning manipulator of policy and people.

Advocates of the latter view saw her influence as virtually unlimited in such matters as the dumping of presidential advisers, efforts to get a nuclear arms accord with the Soviet Union and her husband's decision to seek a second term in 1984.

Some Reagan-watchers said reports of Mrs. Reagan's influence were exaggerated and that it was merely the protective concern of a loving wife.

She frequently clashed with President Reagan's chief of staff, Donald Regan, who lambasted her in a 1988 "tell-all" book after he was ousted from the White House during the chaos of the Iran-Contra scandal in 1987. Regan disclosed that she had used astrology to decide the timing of presidential speeches and trips, and even her husband's 1985 cancer surgery.

"Virtually every move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House chief of staff was cleared in advance by a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise," Regan wrote.

James Baker, who served as White House chief of staff during Reagan's first term, took a different view, telling PBS in 2011: "If there was one person who was indispensable to Ronald Reagan's political success, it was Nancy Reagan."

In a statement in Sunday, Baker said Nancy Reagan was "her husband's closest adviser, his constant protector, and most importantly the love of his life."

Nancy Reagan acknowledged she had the ear of her husband.

"In most good marriages that I know of, the woman is her husband's closest friend and adviser," she wrote in her 1989 memoir, "My Turn." "... But however the first lady fits in, she has a unique and important role to play in looking after her husband. And it's only natural that she'll let him know what she thinks. I always did that for Ronnie and I always will."

Ronald Reagan was known for penning innumerable letters to his wife. In one, he stated: "I more than love you, I'm not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I'm waiting for you to return so I can start living again."

'RONNIE'S LONG JOURNEY'

The former president's Alzheimer's struggle made Mrs. Reagan a campaigner for broader human embryonic stem cell research, a stand that put her at odds with many Republicans.

"Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him. Because of this, I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain," she said before his death in 2004.

Some critics dismissed her "Just Say No" efforts as simplistic but she became America's most visible anti-drug crusader at a time when the crack cocaine epidemic was raging.

In 1988, she addressed the U.N. General Assembly, saying the United States must do more with tougher law enforcement and anti-drug education efforts and should stop blaming the poor nations that produce most of the narcotics used by Americans.

"We will not get anywhere if we place a heavier burden of action on foreign governments than on America's own mayors, judges and legislators. You see, the cocaine cartel does not begin in Medellin, Colombia. It begins in the streets of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and every American city where crack is bought and sold," she told the General Assembly.

After leaving the White House, she created the Nancy Reagan Foundation to continue her anti-drug campaign. The organization helped develop the Nancy Reagan Afterschool Program in 1994 aimed at drug prevention and life skills for youth.

Mrs. Reagan had her left breast surgically removed in October 1987 after a cancerous tumor was discovered.

She was born Anne Frances Robbins into a crumbling marriage in New York on July 6, 1921. Her car-salesman father deserted the family soon after, and her mother, actress Edith Luckett Robbins, resumed her show business career two years later.

In 1929, her mother married Loyal Davis, a neurosurgeon. Nancy came to adore him, even taking his name, and the doctor was believed to have had considerable influence on his eventual son-in-law's shift from Democrat to Republican years later.

After graduation from elite Smith College, she worked as a nurse's aide, then began a stage career in New York. Starting in 1949, she had an eight-year career in films including one - "Hellcats of the Navy" (1957) - co-starring with Ronald Reagan.

She often took supporting roles but had starring roles like one in the 1953 B-movie "Donovan's Brain" about a scientist who kept the brain of a dead millionaire alive in a tank.

Ronald Reagan divorced another actress, Jane Wyman, in 1948. They had a daughter, Maureen, and adopted a son, Michael.

At the time, Ronald Reagan headed the Screen Actors Guild. Davis was stunned when an industry newspaper published a list of communist sympathizers and her name was included (it turned out to be a reference to another actress of the same name). She sought out her future husband for assistance.

During the early years of the Cold War, Hollywood blacklisted - refused to employ - numerous people accused of holding communist views, ruining many careers and lives.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan got married in 1952 and had two children together - Patti Davis, an actress, and Ron Jr., who pursued careers in ballet and television.

She is also survived by her brother, Richard, according to the Reagan presidential library.

(Reporting and writing by Will Dunham in Washington; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Karen Brooks, Megan Cassella; Editing by Bill Trott, Diane Craft, Jeffrey Benkoe and Howard Goller)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
With the Democratic presidential nomination in sight, Hillary Clinton late Sunday sought to repel sharp attacks from party rival Bernie Sanders, while training some fire on Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

"Donald Trump's bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well on the American people," Clinton said in a sometimes testy debate with Sanders sponsored by CNN in Flint, Michigan.

"I will do whatever I can as the Democratic nominee to run a campaign you'll be proud of," she said. "I don't intend to get in to the gutter with whoever they nominate."

Nine months after launching her presidential campaign, Clinton appears close to securing her party's nomination, despite a spirited and stronger-than-expected challenge from Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist.

Sanders has won a string of state-wide nominating primaries over the weekend, including in Nebraska and Kansas on Saturday, and won Sunday's party vote in Maine.

But thanks to Clinton's victories and strong second place showings, she maintains a two-to-one lead in the number of nominating delegates.

After three months of voting, a general election between Democrat Clinton and Republican Trump seems increasingly likely.

"As of last night Donald Trump had received 3.6 million votes, which is a good number," Clinton said, remarking on the mogul's shock electoral success.

But, she added: "There is only one candidate in either party who has more votes than him, and that's me."

Gov. Snyder 'should resign'

In a chaotic election year that has seen outsiders tap voter unease, Clinton will not be taking anything for granted, not least Sanders.

Ideological differences between the two candidates were thrown into sharp contrast in the debate, held in a town where lead-tainted water has poisoned thousands of children.

Clinton and Sanders both criticized Michigan's Republican governor Rick Snyder, who they said should resign or be recalled from his post for neglecting Flint.

More than 8,000 children in 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.

"The governor should resign or be recalled and we should support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that," Clinton said, adding that federal funds should be released to help Flint residents.

Sanders said he had been "shattered" by visiting the city and meeting citizens.

"It was beyond belief that children in Flint, Michigan, in the United States of America in the year 2016, are being poisoned. That is clearly not what this country should be about."

Sanders said that Snyder "should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible. He should resign."

Snyder, writing on Twitter, blamed the crisis on "a failure of government and all levels that could be described as a massive error of bureaucracy."

He also noted that the candidates will soon leave Michigan. "They will not be staying to solve the crisis," he said, adding that he was "committed to the people of Flint."

Cause of Michigan's woes?

There was less agreement, however, on the causes of Michigan's economic woes, a key issue as the state goes to vote on Tuesday.

Seeking to draw contrast, Vermont senator Sanders hit the former secretary of state hard for her pro-trade policies and accused her of taking cash from Wall Street, as well as the fossil fuel and pharmaceutical industries.

"Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of the disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America," Sanders said to cheers.

Clinton shot back, accusing Sanders of voting against the bailout of the auto industry, which is a major employer in Michigan.

That prompted a feisty exchange.

"I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference," Clinton said.

Sanders suggested that Clinton was talking about a "Wall Street bailout where some of your friends destroyed this economy."

"Excuse me, I'm talking," Sanders said sharply as Clinton tried to interject.

"If you are going to talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders," she said.

The tone eventually grew more civil, allowing both Democrats to compare their debate to a Republican debate last week that descended into allusion about penis sizes.

"Compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week," Clinton said.

Sanders joked that both had vowed if elected to invest more money in mental health, "and when you watch these Republican debates you know why."

AFP
Florida senator Marco Rubio has won the Republican primary election in Puerto Rico, US television projections have said, in a White House race still led by billionaire Donald Trump. Rubio, 44, had a comfortable lead in the US commonwealth in the Caribbean, according to CNN and NBC on Sunday.

Residents of the island have US citizenship but cannot vote in the presidential election if they are Puerto Rico residents. Still, they take part in the primary process.

Rubio had about three quarters of the votes, the projections showed, which should hand him the 23 party convention delegates in play. Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants who grew up in Las Vegas and Florida, has been struggling in the presidential race, and his campaign was in urgent need of some good news.

If confirmed, this would mark just the second outright win for Rubio, who had earlier won Minnesota on Tuesday. Trump has kept a firm grip on his lead in the Republican race, and called for Rubio to end his presidential bid. Senator Ted Cruz has emerged as Trump's strongest challenger in weekend primaries with mixed outcomes.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, extended her frontrunner status in the Democratic contests, though Senator Bernie Sanders showed he is still in the race with a pair of victories. Clinton and Sanders competed in Maine's nominating contest on Sunday and faced off in a televised debate in Flint, Michigan, just two days before a crucial primary in the delegate-rich northern industrial state.

PTI
The Hague/New Delhi: Marshall Islands on Monday moved the UN's International Court of Justice in The Hague against India accusing it of failing to halt the nuclear arms race, evoking a sharp reaction from India which has written to the ICJ saying Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) provisions cannot be extended to it as a legal obligation.

The tiny South Pacific state began legal proceedings against India at the United Nations' highest court, as part of cases against three of the world's nuclear powers  India, Pakistan and the UK  in a bid to infuse new life into disarmament negotiations.

"The Republic of the Marshall Islands has instituted proceedings at the International Court of Justice against all nuclear weapon states, including India, contending breach of customary law obligations on nuclear disarmament flowing from Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"Government believes that given our consistent and principled position on the NPT, to which India is not a party to, NPT provisions cannot be extended to India as a legal obligation. India has written to the ICJ denying this contention and reiterating India's position of principle on

nuclear disarmament," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in New Delhi.

Hearings of the ICJ in this regard are to take place shortly, he added.

The Marshall Islands filed cases against all nine nations that have declared or are believed to possess nuclear weapons: the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. But only the cases against the UK, India and Pakistan got to this preliminary stage as the other six declined to take part, according to the Marshall Islands' legal team.

Cases against Pakistan and Britain will start on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

The Marshall Islands aims to shine a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat, its lawyers and representatives said Monday, as they remembered apocalyptic scenes after US-led tests in the 1950s.

"Several islands in my country were vaporised and others are estimated to remain uninhabitable for thousands of years," Tony deBrum, a Marshall Islands government minister, told the court.

He remembered in particular the "Castle Bravo" test of 1 March, 1954, which he witnessed as a nine-year-old while fishing with his grandfather in an atoll, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the blast's epicentre.

"The entire sky turned blood red," deBrum recalled when US scientists exploded a hydrogen bomb, with a force 1,000 times stronger than the device dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

"Many died, or suffered birth defects never before seen and cancers as a result of contamination."

Judges at the International Court of Justice are holding a series of hearings over the next week-and-a-half to decide whether it is indeed competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan.

A third hearing against Britain, scheduled to start on Wednesday, will be devoted to "preliminary objections" raised by London.

The Marshall Islands alleges that despite their suffering, the world's nuclear powers have failed to comply with the terms of the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

They were "not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament."

Britain has signed the NPT, but not India and Pakistan.

The hearings are starting just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Friday ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, causing global concern.

Pressure to cut arsenals

The Marshall Islands had sought to bring a case against nine countries: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States.

Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons.

And the ICJ has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan because they already recognised the ICJ's authority.

Despite not having signed the NPT, India and Pakistan had an obligation under "customary international law" to negotiate and eventually reduce their nuclear arsenals, Majuro's lawyers insisted.

"Contrary to the obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament... India's conduct includes the quantitative build-up and improvement of its nuclear arsenal," deBrum said.

India's representatives declined to comment Monday and are to argue their case on Thursday, with follow-up hearings next week.

In 1996, the ICJ in another case issued a non-binding advisory opinion in which it urged the world's nuclear powers to negotiate and reduce their nuclear stockpiles.

But two decades later, very little progress has been made to cut the nuclear threat, observers attending the case told AFP.

The Marshall Islands therefore decided to sue the world's nuclear heavyweights as "it has a particular awareness of the dire consequences of nuclear weapons," it said in court papers.

Between 1946 and 1958 the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands including Bikini atoll, deBrum told the ICJ's judges.

"The Marshall Islands is on the right side of history... so there's a good chance that they will prevail," said Jacqueline Cabasso of the Western States Legal Foundation, a California-based anti-nuclear organisation.

"We don't know what's going to happen, but it will no doubt put some pressure on those states" to reduce their stockpiles, she added.

With inputs from agencies
ALBANY, New York A New York judge on Monday dismissed a challenge to Canadian-born Ted Cruzs eligibility to run in the state's Republican presidential primary election next month, saying the challengers had missed a key deadline for filing.

Two New York residents, Barry Korman, 81, of Manhattan and William Gallo, 85, of Manhasset, Long Island, on Feb. 19 filed the petition to block Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, from getting onto the April 19 ballot, saying his birth in the Canadian province of Alberta makes him ineligible to be president.

State law requires that a petition challenging eligibility be filed within three days of when a candidate files to be placed on the ballot. Korman and Gallo filed their petition more than two weeks after Cruz filed his paperwork to get on the ballot, the judge said.

Weinstein said at an earlier hearing that the case could cause "chaos" if it went ahead.

The case was one of several similar challenges to Cruz's eligibility to run for the White House - including suits in Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Illinois suit was dismissed last week on a technicality. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly brought up questions about whether Cruz meets the constitutional requirement to be president.

The Constitution says that to be president, a person must be a "natural-born citizen" of the United States.

Cruz has argued that he is eligible to run because of his mother's U.S. citizenship, and many legal experts say it is unlikely any judge in the United States would block his presidential bid. Cruz's father is a Cuban immigrant.

A lawyer for the objectors, Roger Bernstein, said "an appeal is likely."

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Peshawar: At least eight people were killed and 15 others injured on Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a court in this northwestern Pakistani city, police said.

The incident occurred in a lower court of Shabqadar tehsil bordering the volatile Mohmand area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to police in Charsadda district, the suicide bomber detonated his vest inside the court premises, killing eight people including a policeman and wounded 15 others.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body.

The casualty figure could also increase further. The blast occurred when scores of people were present in the court premises. The injured are being rushed to hospital. Security forces and police cordoned off the area and started an investigation.

, Mar 7 (PTI) At least 17 people were killed and 30 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded court in Pakistan's restive northwest, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer's Islamist assassin.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside the district court's compound in Shabqadar Bazaar of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. At least 17 people, including two policemen, were killed while 30 others were wounded in the attack, offcials said.

The Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was carried out to avenge the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, killer of Taseer. Qadri was hanged last Tuesday at a Rawalpindi jail after his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Security and emergency teams reached the blast site and sealed the area. A probe was immediately launched into the assault, Dawn News reported. Shabqadar tehsil is close to Mohmand tribal region, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants were said to have carved out strongholds.

Shabqadar is some 30 kilometres west of Charsadda, where militants attacked a university on January 20 in an attack that left 21 people, mostly students, dead. At the time of the explosion, the courts were crowded after a break over the weekend.

The police said the bomber was intercepted but managed to explode his vest wrapped around his body. 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. Qadri's execution triggered protests by thousands of Islamists who called it a "black day".

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.

PTI
Seoul: South Korean and US troops began large-scale military exercises on Monday in an annual test of their defences against North Korea, which called the drills "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

South Korea said the exercises would be the largest ever following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month that triggered a UN Security Council resolution and tough new sanctions.

Isolated North Korea has rejected criticism of is nuclear and rocket programmes, even from old ally China, and last week leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons in the face of what he sees as growing threats from enemies.

The joint US and South Korean military command said it had notified North Korea of "the non-provocative nature" of the exercises involving about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said it had seen no sign of any unusual military activity by North Korea, but Seoul's spy agency said it would hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to check readiness against cyber attack after detecting evidence of North Korean attempts to hack into South Korean mobile phones.

North Korea's National Defence Commission said the North Korean army and people would "realise the greatest desire of the Korean nation through a sacred war of justice for reunification", in response to any attack by US and South Korean forces.

"The army and people of the DPRK will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the US and its followers' hysterical nuclear war moves," the North Korean commission said in a statement carried by the North's KCNA news agency.

North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as it is officially known, routinely issues threats of military action in response to the annual exercises that it sees as preparation for war against it.

The U.S. State Department said the United States took North Korean threats to use nuclear weapons seriously and urged Pyongyang to halt provocations.

"(We) again call on Pyongyang to cease with the provocative rhetoric, cease with the threats and quite frankly, more critically, cease with the provocative behaviour, the actual conduct, that has led to yet another round of international sanctions," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a regular briefing.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was opposed to South Korean-US military exercises as a way of pressuring North Korea but said Pyongyang's reaction was also unacceptable.

"The development of the situation on the Korean peninsula and around it is causing a growing concern," the ministry said in a statement that called on the parties involved to show restraint.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing was "deeply concerned" about the exercises and added: "We urge all sides to keep calm, exercise restraint and not escalate tensions."

The latest UN sanctions were drafted by the United States and China as punishment for North Korea's recent tests.

China though has been alarmed by discussions between South Korea and the United States on possible deployment of a new US anti-missile system to South Korea.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries began formal talks on Friday on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, which China sees as a threat to its strategic deterrence.

Reuters
Hilla: A truck bomb exploded at a crowded checkpoint outside the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Sunday, killing at least 47 people, officials and medical sources said.

Faleh al-Radhi, the head of the security committee at Babil provincial council, said "the attack was carried against a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hilla."

A doctor at Hilla hospital put the number of people killed by the blast at 47, including around 20 members of the security forces, and said at least 72 people were also wounded.

Radhi and police officers confirmed the casualty toll, the heaviest from any car bomb attack in Iraq this year.

Officials said the vehicle was a truck packed with explosives and was detonated after being pulled over by checkpoint security as it tried to enter Hilla.

Pictures posted on social media showed vast destruction around the checkpoint, where cars are usually bumper-to-bumper at that time of day, queueing to be checked by security personnel.

A doctor at Hilla hospital said at least 11 of the wounded were in a very serious condition.

The Islamic State group, which carries out nearly all such attacks, has not had fixed positions south of Baghdad since security forces and allied militias began their fightback against the jihadists in late 2014.

A March 2014 suicide bombing at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Hilla, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the capital, killed 50 people and wounded more than 150.

When Iraqi forces began their counter-offensive against IS in late 2014, securing the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, south of Baghdad, was a priority.

The jihadist group has been losing territory in Iraq for almost a year. In the most recent operation, Iraqi forces are retaking areas west of the city of Samarra.

In the cities the group retains control over, internal tension appears to be on the rise and the lack of supplies is taking its toll.

Observers have warned that, as their self-proclaimed "caliphate" shrinks towards extinction, IS fighters are likely to revert to their old guerrilla tactics and ramp up suicide car bomb attacks on civilian targets.

AFP
Lahore/New Delhi: The 87 Indians, mostly fishermen who were freed by Pakistan on Sunday, will return home on Tuesday after the issuance of travel documents by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Earlier, an official of the Pakistan Rangers had told reporters that it has handed over the 87 Indian nationals who were released from a Karachi jail after over two years detention.

However, Indian officials in New Delhi said the intimation about their release was given at a very short notice and though it was a case of "verified nationality" they need to be given documents to cross over to India.

Meanwhile, the Rangers also maintained that since the official who was to "debrief and record their (Indians) statements" was not present at the Wagah Border, the handing over will happen on Tuesday.

Pakistan's leading charity Edhi Foundation spokesman Younis Bhatti told PTI that it has been asked to provide food to the Indian nationals.

"We are told that the Indian nationals could not cross the border because the official concerned was not present at Wagah to debrief and record their statements," he said.

The Indian nationals were freed from the Landhi Jail in Karachi on Sunday. They arrived in Lahore by a train on Monday morning.

"After releasing 87 Indians, we now have a total of 457 more (Indians) in the prison, and most of them are fishermen arrested for territorial violation," Jail's deputy superintendent Shakir Shah said.

PTI
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Ringing Bells, the maker of the Freedom 251 smartphone is continuing its fall in the pool of controversies. Advantage Computers (Adcom) has announced that it is planning to take a legal action against Ringing Bells.

The company launched Freedom 251, Indias cheapest smartphone priced at Rs 251 last month where it distributed prototypes to the media attendees that were actually Adcom handsets, according to Adcoms founder and chairman Sanjeev Bhatia. Ringing Bells, President Ashok Chadha told IANS that they only gave Adcom handsets as samples to a section of the media and the real Freedom 251 will be a new product with all promised features.

Sanjeev Bhatia, Adcoms founder and chairman told IANS,

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 Adcoms brand name or subsequently we face any other kind of losses. 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 havent been able to evaluate their pricing policy as we sold the handsets at Rs.3,600 per unit (to Ringing Bells)

This is not the first controversy that raises a number of questions about the authenticity of Ringing Bells and its business model. The companys Noida offices were found shut last week over the recent issue of land ownership with the Noida Authority. Prior to this, the company was accused of alleged fraud by Cyfuture call center over non-payment of dues and abrupt termination of the service. Moving, on Department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) Secretary Amitabh Kant cleared that the Freedom 251 is not a part for Make in India or Digital India initiative.

source: 1, 2
Rajan Anandan, Googles Managing Director for South East Asia and India has said that the company is initiating talks with telecom operators in India to pilot its Project Loon initiative, according to a latest report from the Economic Times.

Project Loon is Googles program where it beams high-speed WiFi internet via balloons down to remote areas in developing countries. As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using 4G LTE. Google first started testing the Wi-Fi-beaming high-altitude balloons in June 2013, when it launched 30 balloons from New Zealands South Island.

We cant do a Loon pilot without partnering with a local telco. Were talking to a number of them, Rajan told the publication. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also mentioned how important Project Loon is for India during his visit to the country in December last year. Earlier in January this year, the Indian Government gave Google green signal to pilot Project Loon in the country.

Rajan however said that the government has been very supportive with this initiative. Although the report does not mention any specific telecom companies it says that Google is currently in talks with local telcos such as BSNL as it looks to pilot the program in India. However, at present there is no information about the specific timeline when Google will pilot the service in the country. It will be interesting to see how this initiative will fan out.
An odorless version of the divisive stinky fruit durian has been introduced in Thailand. This new type of durian is believed to be a branch of the popular Mon Thong... Read More
A recent study found a controversial suggestion that changes the way you drink alcohol. The report showed that taking alcohol drinks moderately, up to 6 drinks a week, may actually improve blood flow. This leads to further links of lower risks in getting heart-related diseases.

The risk gets tripled if you increase the consumption, let say, 20 to 30 drinks in a week. Cardiovascular expert, Dr. Elizabeth Mostofsky, explains the first reaction after drinking is the increased blood pressures. The findings proved that it's the immediate effects of alcohol drink that causes the clot. However, within 24 hours, it is said that only heavy drinkers pose higher risk of getting cardiovascular disease. According to Mostofsky, drinking in moderation reduces the tendency of blood clotting.

The benefits of beer are backed with scientific researches. According to CNN, beer has more vitamin B nutrient and protein than wine. Plus, it contains phosphates, calcium, iron and fiber - which make beer good for the bones and the only alcoholic beverage to give you plenty of health benefits.

Washington Post reported a theory found by researchers that alcohol improves the blood circulation in women. Women who abstained from alcohol drinks have more risk of cognitive function declines.

The long term effect on regularly drinking beer in moderate amounts appears to increase the good cholesterol level. The evidence suggests light alcohol consumption because this range reduces the stroke risk. However, for heavy drinkers, it is associated with the stroke risk. Neurologist from Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Larry B Goldstein, advises men to consume not more than two glasses per day whilst women are limited to a glass per day.

Apart from the scientific facts, beer can be your liquid alternative to replace water or broth when creating a masterpiece in the kitchen. It's time for beer to get the credit, don't you think?
Shauna Lee Bennett, mom of three year old girl kid was arrested for abandoning her child and endangering the life of kid by allowing the child to wander outside on its own in Lubbock, Texas.

The reports from the Lubbock, Texas, Police, said that the police got a call from the owner of the apartment complex, where Bennett lives, about a girl child left alone.

The police arrived at the apartment complex following the complaint.

When the police reached the reported place, they found the child wandering on its own around the apartment.

The girl child was found in an extremely dirty condition. The body of the girl child was fully covered with red bumps and reflected a condition of least hygiene, according to The Daily Meal.

The child was complaining about hunger lots of times seeing the police and made a weird demand by asking, "I need a Beer". This bizarre demand alarmed the police.

When the police arrived in to the apartment of Shauna Lee Bennett, 42 years old lady, the mother of the 3 year old girl child, there was no response at all.

The door to the house was left open. So following no response from inside the home, the police went inside the house. The lady was sound asleep when the police entered the house. She said she has no idea where her daughter was at that time, according to Fox 34 News.

The police report written by the officer said, "As soon as I entered I was overwhelmed by the filthy state of the apartment. There were piles of dirty and moldy dishes on the counter, stove, and sink. There was trash on the floor and counter. There were cockroaches absolutely everywhere. The kitchen was in no way sanitary or functional. I had probable cause to believe that [the little girl] had not been fed, washed, or provided with any type of general medical care or treatment for an unsafe amount of time."

The child is now placed in Child's Protection Services. Bennett is held in Lubbock's detention centre with a bond amount of $15,000.
It's a cardinal rule in advertising: if you're going to boast of your product's size, you should darn well make sure that it lives up to the hype!

Subway has finally settled its case with regard to the size of its Footlong sandwiches. The court has approved the settlement agreement earlier this week. The settlement agreement provides that Subway will measure its sandwiches to make sure it is in fact 12 inches. Furthermore, Subway has agreed to enforce compliance inspections. This is to ensure that all store outlets are compliant with the terms of the agreement. In Subways' released statement, they say "We have redoubled our efforts to ensure consistency and correct length in every sandwich we serve." They add further "Our commitment remains steadfast to ensure that every Subway Footlong sandwich is 12 inches at each location worldwide."

The case initially began in 2013 when an Australian customer of the sandwich chain posted on social media a photo of the inadequately sized sub that he purchased. This eventually opened the floodgates for suits from people from across the globe particularly, in the U.S., to file their own separate cases. A consumer fraud class-action suit was eventually filed against Subway because of its advertised $5 Footlong sandwiches being short of 12 inches. This class-action suit initially accused Subway of its awareness that its Footlong submarine sandwich is not 12 inches, because sandwich prices are set at the corporate level then sent down the line to the individual franchises. It was further alleged that Subway is purseposefully defrauding its customers by selling the then "$5 Footlongs" (the Footlongs are currently priced at $6).

The settlement agreement has been in the works as early as two years ago. As for the settlement figures, Subway has agreed to pay the plaintiff's attorneys $525,000 for legal costs. With regard to the plaintiffs, the 10 people who represent the class-action will receive $500 each. Other members of the action will not be receiving anything in from the settlement agreement.
Did you know that a lot of the food you can find in the supermarket nowadays was actually invented exclusively for soldiers, and not for public consumption?

It's true. Goldfish crackers, ready-to-eat guacamole, canned goods, deli meats, and energy bars-their origins can all be traced back to the military.

Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, the author of Combat-Ready Kitchen: How The U.S. Military Shapes The Way You Eat, says in her new book that a lot of the packaged or processed food that are stocked in shelves of supermarkets began as Army science experiments. They were initially intended to form part of the combat rations for our soldiers. We have the military to thank for most advancements in food-preservation.

Take a look her interview:

How do products from Army experiments end up on shelves in the supermarket?

Most people don't realize that the military has a policy to get the science that it uses for rations into the public's food. The reason is military preparedness. This dates back to a policy that was made after World War II, which is designed to make sure both the military and its supporters can be ready at a moment's notice to convert over to producing rations or to create consumer products that they might be substituted in their stead. The key point here is that companies don't generally invest in basic and applied food science. What the Army is looking at is the big questions in food science. There are not many other places interested or able to do the research, so the Army guides the direction of food science.

Give us an example of a food technology unique to the U.S. military.

There's something called high-pressure processing. It's not so much a surprise, but a wonderful example of how the Army organizes itself. They pick a topic, decide to pursue it and organize a team to solve the problem. The issue was finding new ways to preserve food, and HPP came out of that.

HPP is the application of a tremendous amount of pressure to food. The example I usually give is: Picture 20 minivans on a single penny. [The force applied] is that extreme, and what that does is it kills any bacteria that may be in the food.

The important thing here is that along the way, companies took the technique and began applying it to their own products. Many of the single-serving fresh juices use this [method] - it's a way to sterilize juice without losing the flavor. Ready-to-eat guacamole uses HPP, and so do many salsas. The big one is Hormel. In the mid-2000s, it applied the technique to deli meats. This whole line of deli meats now says no preservatives on the label, and that probably means it was produced with HPP.

Can you give us a sneak peek on what the Army might come up with next?

One thing they're working on is shelf-stable pizza. What I mean by that is the vision of the future is really a place where we don't need refrigeration. This pizza could just be left in your pantry for a long time, like as long as you leave [canned goods].

They're also working on shelf-stable sandwiches, wraps and bagels. In fact, it seems like the military is moving to a system where they want to reduce or eliminate regular hot meals like breakfast, lunch and dinners. Instead, they'd just provide day-long grazing options for soldiers. I think we could definitely see this affect the consumer market in the future.
After a hard day's work or a grueling week at the office, you just want to relax. You can always throw back a cold one or just enjoy a reinvigorating day at the spa. In a new spa that has opened in Oregon, you can do both. The beer spa has come to the land of the free.

Hop in the Spa is America's first beer spa. Owner Mike Boyle has set up shop in Sisters, Oregon. Oregon is the home to some of the best craft beers around the country so it's only apt that a beer bath movement starts from there too. Mike tells Vice that initially, he was a wine drinker rather than a beer drinker. He tells them that his inspiration for opening the spa all started from to a vehicular accident he was involved in. He states "I had a bruised ego but I didn't get hurt."

Mike provides "... my doctor suggested that I go to a massage therapist. I found one on Craigslist and during the massage, she was talking to me about marketing-which is my background-and asked if I could help her develop a product to sell for her clients." A week after having the discussion with his masseuse, he went to Scandinavia for a business trip and a friend of his who just went to a beer spa in Prague brought him back a brochure. Mike learned about the medicinal properties of hops and from here on, he went around hop farms around the Northwest learning to drink beer. He adds "I pitched it to Deschutes (a brewery in Portland) and now I have a strategic alliance with them."

Beer spas are quite normal in Czech Republic. It should not come as a surprise since the Czech not only invented the pilsner; they also have a very strong beer culture. The most famous beer spa in Prague is by Chodovar brewery. The bath and beer on tap costs somewhere around 80 (around $110) per person.

According to Mike, "[a] standard, hour-long soak session is $75 per person." They also offer a couple's soak that's inclusive of your choice of drink and appetizers for $295. They also allow you to choose the hop varietal you can soak in. Here are other available services that Hop in the Spa offers.
Apparently, there is a current food trend, a long running one, that most people are probably unaware of. Thanks to a massive and constant information campaign by health and nutrition experts, almost all people in this planet are now aware that fruits and vegetable are the healthiest, most nutritious food option available. However, what most people do not know is that fruit and vegetables are not as nutritious as before. Of course they are still healthy; they just do not pack as much nutrients as they did decades ago.

According to an article by Marco Torres writing for Wake Up World, fruits and vegetable have been steadily declining in nutritional contents for the most part of the 20th century. Torres based this statement from a 2011 study made by Donald Davis, University of Texas biochemist at that time who is now retired. Davis compared nutrients between fruits and vegetables harvested in the 1950 and those harvested in 2009 and found an unsettling discovery:

1. Vitamin C decreased by 15%

2. Iron decreased by 15%

3. Vitamin B2 decreased by 38%

4. Calcium decreased by 16%

5. Protein decreased by 6%

6. Phosphorous decreased by 9%

Similar studies in the past have shown the same results such as Anne-Marie Mayer's study in 1997. Others have expressed similar concerns with this trend which includes a Scientific American article, Organic Consumers article and Cheryl Long writing for Mother Earth News.

Possible Causes

What could have caused this steady and alarming depletion of nutrients in recent harvests? All articles blame modern farming methods as the main reason for this decline in nutritional content.

1. Quantity over Quality approach - Farmers choose crops that are high-yielding to maximize profits. Since these crops grow at such fantastic rates, they can't absorb nutrients from the soil fast enough, resulting in a dilution of nutrients, according to Torres.

2. Depleted Soil - Another reason for the decreasing nutrient content in fruits and vegetable is that there is lesser nutrient found in the soil for the plants to absorb. Modern farming methods, such as fertilization and irrigation seem to decrease soil quality which inevitably result to a nutrient-deficient harvest.

3. Crop Choice or Highly Selective Cultivation - There are actually varieties that are naturally more nutritious but are not cultivated. According to Torres, there are wild dandelions that contain seven times more phytonutrients than the spinach but it is the spinach that was given "superfood" status. A species of apple that contains 100 times more phytonutrients than those found in the supermarkets as well as a purple potato that has 28 time more anthocyanins, a cancer-fighting compound, than the common potato. In short, poor choice of plant species to cultivate. With the introduction of GMO crops, it becomes even worse.

How to add Nutrients Back

The next logical question would be what can be done? How can the depletion be reversed? Scientific American's answer is simple; "the key to healthier produce is healthier soil". The land must be given time to restore and this can be done by alternating fields between growing seasons. In addition, chemical pesticides and fertilizers must be abandoned in favor of organic means. Consumers can likewise pitch in by supporting farmers earnest in growing organic crops.

Mother Earth News writer Cheryl Long agrees to all the solutions offered by Scientific American. In addition, Long emphasizes that when consumers buy or grow their crops, they must choose heirloom, non-hybrid, lower-yielding varieties because they are more nutrient-dense.

In the meantime, it would be wise to take nutritional supplements to augment the decreased nutrient one gets from vegetables and fruits these days.
Last week, Italian lawmakers voted on a draft legislation that apparently aims to prevent olive oil fraud. However, olive oil produces throughout Italy are unhappy over the government's move, as they fear that the new decree would malign the reputation enjoyed by Italian extra-virgin olive oil.

While members of both Houses of the Italian Parliament endorsed the decree on Tuesday, they advised the government to ensure that criminal law prevails over executive bans, for instance simple fines, if a commercial fraud it detected. The ruling has been returned to the government for drafting a final version, New York Times reported.

According to the report, the new draft legislation aims to legalize fines for all fake olive oil as well as their origins. For instance, a counterfeit olive oil would mean when a manufacturer declares that its oil is 100 percent Italian extra-virgin olive oil, but in reality, it contains olive oil imported from other countries.

This aspect of the decree has caused widespread resentment among olive oil producers, farming groups as well as lobbyists, who apprehend that it would upspring criminal proceedings with fines up to 9,500 roughly $10,300). According to them, such fines are too flippant and certainly inadequate to prevent fraud, generating millions of euros.

Although the Italian government claims to work for promoting 'made in Italy,' in reality they are trying to decriminalize adulterated olive oil," another NTY report quoted Nicola Fazzi, director of the Colli Etruschi cooperative, established in 1965, as saying. Even Colomba Mongiello, a lawmaker in Italy who has been pressing for changes in the draft legislation, said that everyone related to olive industry in the country has been opposing the decree since it was drafted.

In an email, Mongiello wrote that since the priority of the government is to promote genuine 'made in Italy' products, there should not move to be lax against fraud or counterfeiting. She suggested stringent punishment against anyone found guilty of damaging the country's image abroad.

Meanwhile, the commissions in both houses of the Italian Parliament also endorsed more stringent sanctions on fake labeling and recommended that the decree should have provisions to enforce a six-month production ban on repeated offenders.

In fact, Italy witnessed a sharp rise in olive oil fraud in 2015 following a poor harvest, coupled with invasion by olive oil flies that led to widespread olive tree disease.
Denmark has recently opened a supermarket that is the first of its kind, and people are lining up outside its doors. WeFood recently opened in Copenhagen and it is selling food normally destined to go to trash.

The foods that WeFood have for sale are those that would have otherwise been thrown out either due to the food being past the expiry date or because of packaging damage. According to The Local Denmark, WeFood offers for sale a variety of foods such as bread, fruit and vegetables, dairy, meats, frozen goods, and dry foods. Prices are 30 to 50% cheaper than normal supermarket prices.

The market was the charity project of NGO Folkekirkens Ndhjlp (DanChurch Aid). Per Bjerre from DanChurch Aid said at the opening of the market "WeFood is the first supermarket of its kind in Denmark and perhaps the world as it is not just aimed at low-income shopper but anyone who is concerned about the amount of food waste produced in this country." He adds further "Many people see this as a positive and politically correct way to approach the issue."

The store is being run by volunteers. NPR reports that the proceeds of the market are being used to support anti-poverty initiatives in other parts of the world.

The former Danish food minister Eva Kjer Hansen, has showed support to endeavor before she stepped down from her position. She said "It is ridiculous that food is just thrown out or goes to waste. It is bad for the environment and it is money spent on absolutely nothing. A supermarket like WeFood makes so much more sense and is an important step in the battle to combat food waste."

Food wastage is such a big problem across the world. In America alone, an estimated 20 pounds of food per person goes to waste every month. That's 40% of the total food produced in the country that doesn't get eaten.
Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has been responsible for a series of terror attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Reports of killings and abductions have reached thousands and the number of people getting displaced from their homes has already reached millions.

In one of the group's latest attacks, New York Times report that Boko Haram has a new objective - they are rounding up food instead of people. They are suffering from a food crisis that they have mostly created.

According to the governor of the Far North region of Cameroon, Midjiyawa Bakari, "They need food. They need to eat." "They're stealing everything." He adds.

Due to the terror that the group has spread within the region, farmers are leaving their homes and farms to seek safety and shelter. Markets are closed because there's no food to sell. If there were any food to sell, people have been scared off by the string of suicide bombings.

Associated Press reports that according to the military and a civilian self-defense fighter, dozens of emaciated-looking Boko Haram members begging for food have surrendered in Northeast Nigeria.

According to a senior officer, seventy-six people including children and women gave themselves up to soldiers in Gwoza, about 100 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram. Many more want to surrender according to a civilian self-defense fighter who helped escort the detainees.

The Nigerian military has employed tactics to cut the group's supply line. According to military spokesman Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar "Their supply routes are blocked." "They're hungry." He adds.

According to the State Department review, it estimates that Boko Haram has stolen at least 4,200 cattle in Cameroon. In one attack, the group stole a dozen bicycles, wheelbarrows, and 150 small animals like sheep and goat. They also kidnapped six people to help heard the animals back into Nigeria. The review also said that the hunt for food is partly the reason for the group pushing deeper into Cameroon.

Boko Haram was declared the deadliest of all terror groups in 2014 even more so than the Islamic State. In 2015, Boko Haram has allied itself with the Islamic State.
The Supreme Court of the United States or SCOTUS has made important life changing decisions with regard to American lives. Not surprisingly, the SCOTUS has majorly contributed to the some of the most interesting facts about the food and drink that are being enjoyed in the country. We take a look at a few of the curious ways the SCOTUS has had its hand in American food and drink.

Tomatoes Are Vegetables - Nix vs Hidden (1893)

Ever wonder why people are confused as to whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables? Botanically speaking tomatoes are fruits. But the Supreme Court in this case ruled officially that tomatoes are to be considered as vegetables for tax purposes. The Court decided this was because of tomatoes' common use. Tomatoes were principally used as part of the main course like other vegetables were, unlike other fruits that were generally part of the dessert.

Age Limit for Drinking - South Dakota vs Dole (1984)

21 years old is wasn't the minimum drinking age for the U.S. three decades ago. In fact, the drinking age used to vary per state. This all changed when the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was passed. This piece of legislation mandated the withholding of 5 percent of the transportation budget of any state that doesn't enforce the 21 years and above drinking age. South Dakota's minimum drinking age was set at 19 years old at the time. South Dakota files suit and lost in a 7 to 2 decision. The Court found that the legislation was in pursuit of "general welfare" which met the legal requirement of reasonable means in its implementation.

Wine Delivered at Your Doorstep -Granholm vs. Heald (2004)

In 2004, the SCOTUS ruled that states favour in-state wineries at the expense of out-state wineries. Prior to the ruling, some states allowed in-state wineries the shipment of alcohol directly to consumers within the state but restricted out-state wineries from doing the same. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled this was economic discrimination. But the ruling only implies that states can't have varying shipment rules for those wineries in-state and out-state. It's either they allowed both or didn't allow both at all. In fact, Michigan validly banned shipment all together.

Pomegranate Blueberry Juice that's 99% Apple and Grape juice -POM Wonderful vs Coca-Cola (2014)

POM Wonderful was a company that sold pomegranate blueberry juice that they called POM Wonderful. Coca-Cola announced that it was releasing its own version of the pomegranate blueberry juice. Now the interesting thing about all this is that the juice that Coca-Cola sold contained 99% apple and grape juice and 0.5% pomegranate and blueberry. POM Wonderful filed a false advertising case under the Lanham Act against the soft drinks giant Coca-Cola but a district court ruled that POM Wonderful can't. They said that Coca-Cola was in violation of the Food and Drug Cosmetics Act and only the FDA can file a claim for violations under such Act. The Court of appeals ruled the same but the SCOTUS declared both lower courts incorrect in an 8-0 decision. It said that the two Acts complement each other and POM Wonderful can't be barred from filing the case.
In many ways, it's a battle of old versus new. For the former, we have incumbent credit card giant American Express (AXP -1.67%), a company that is still based on the traditional swipe-to-pay credit card transaction, complete with a fixed credit card station.

In the opposite corner is Square (SQ 1.47%), a 21st-century creation with a core business that also consists of processing credit card buys. The modern twist is that Square uses a proprietary reader that plugs into a smartphone or other mobile device.

American Express has been a mainstay among finance industry investors for decades -- it's a longtime core holding of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, for example. By contrast, Square is a newcomer, having hit the market in an IPO late last year.

Both companies would very much like to be your credit card processor of choice. As far as investors are concerned, though, which of the two is more deserving of a buy?

AmExclusive no more

Neither stock is an investor darling just now. AmEx is still reeling from being replaced last year as the exclusive credit card brand accepted at popular retailer Costco Wholesale, not to mention its departure as the co-branding partner for Costco cards.

That was a painful blow, as the retailer's business comprised around 20% of AmEx's total loan book. Compounding that, airline JetBlue also ditched AmEx as its co-branded card partner around the same time.

The company is trying to make up for those losses by signing up new partners. It's had some success, inking a co-branding deal with big-time brokerage Charles Schwab and winning acceptance for its cards to be used for purchases at Wal-Mart's warehouse outlet chain Sam's Club.

But you don't get over the sudden elimination of 20% of your loan book overnight. With the looming demise of the Costco deal (which officially expires next month), AmEx suffered declines in both net revenue and bottom line in its fiscal 2015. The former totaled $33 billion, 4% below 2014's result, while the latter fell 12% to $5.2 billion.

The immediate future doesn't look much better; stripping out the gain from the pending sale of the legacy Costco co-brand portfolio to Citigroup, AmEx anticipates profitability will again decline in fiscal 2016.

Squarely in the red

Square hit the market in one of the flashier IPOs of 2015, but its stock hasn't burned brightly since. It's down by about 10% from where it closed at the end of its first trading day.

Like many young tech companies, it's posted a sharply rising top line, but deepening net losses. That's because costs have been increasing faster than revenue; they were almost 350% higher in fiscal 2014 (the latest fiscal year reported by the company) than in 2012, while top line grew by 318% across that stretch of time.

When it first arrived on the scene, Square seemed fresh and revolutionary -- finally, small merchants and street corner vendors could easily accept card payments.

But technology moves quickly, and these days Square is far from the only solution in town for such businesses. PayPal Holdings, for one, has a reader of its own, and private companies like North American Bancard provide similar goods. More competition is sure to follow; this is not exactly a high barrier to competition.

Square has labored mightily to get its hooks in complimentary segments like big retailing -- securing a card-processing deal with Starbucks, most notably -- and small business lending.

But the Starbucks deal has been a consistent money-loser, and those other lines face plenty of competition from a slew of better-positioned, more experienced rivals.

Ringing up a winner

For me, neither of these stocks offers outstanding value just now. But of the two, AmEx has a stronger core business by far and better prospects for long-term growth. The company will get over the recent business losses eventually, and on the way it should continue to post a profit as it ever does.

We should also keep in mind that AmEx pays a dividend. At a yield of 2.1% on the current stock price it's nothing to dance and sing about, but it at least puts some money into the pockets of shareholders. The same can't be said for Square, which isn't in financial shape to make such a payout, and very possibly never will be.

So if forced to choose between the two, I would pick American Express -- with reservations, however, as I think the company will be in recovery mode for some time.
In 2010, Saudi Arabia signed on to the single biggest foreign arms contract in U.S. history. The deal's exact size is in flux, as it keeps expanding to accommodate new weapons that the Saudis want to add to their shopping list. But when all's said and done, this arms deal could range anywhere from $30 billion to $90 billion in size.

If that sounds to you like a lot more money than one single desert kingdom should be able to afford to spend on weapons, consider this: Saudi Arabia is currently the fourth-largest weapons buyer in the world. With $80.8 billion invested in defense in 2014, Saudi Arabia was outspent only by the Russia, China, and the United States. And Saudi Arabia is just one country in the oil-rich, and constantly warring, Middle East.

A red-hot market in the desert

Here in the U.S., defense spending plummeted 19% between 2010 and 2015. But over in Saudi Arabia, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, show a 78% increase in defense spending between 2010 and 2014, the most recent year on record.

And Saudi Arabia wasn't alone. Across the length and breadth of the Middle East, SIPRI data shows similar spending surges among Saudi Arabia's neighbors. Tiny Bahrain, for example, grew its defense spending 70% from 2010 to 2014. Oman's arms purchases were up 96%. Iraqi spending on its military nearly tripled in size -- up 266%!

Clearly, if you're in the defense business, this is the business you want to be in -- selling weapons to the Middle East.

Who's who in the Middle East

It's been a good six months since we last checked in on how America's various big defense contractors are doing at capitalizing on this crucial export market. It's high time we take another look, and see if the pole positions have changed. Luckily, most of the major players have now filed their full-year fiscal 2015 financial statements, giving us good data on the winners and losers.

Here's how they stack up, based on the latest data from S&P Global Market Intelligence:

Company Percentage of All Revenues Sourced From... Middle East Increase All International Increase Raytheon (RTN) 14.8% 230 bp 30.8% 530 bp General Dynamics(GD 2.17%) 8% 270 bp 26.1% 540 bp L-3 Communications(LLL) 1.9%* 60 bp 24.4% 580 bp Lockheed Martin ND ND 20.7% 360 bp Northrop Grumman ND ND 14.2% 370 bp

What these numbers mean

There are a couple of broad conclusions we can draw from this data. Most notable is the fact that the relative positions have not changed. Six months ago, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) led the pack, getting the largest share of its revenues from Middle East arms sales -- and this remains true today. Back then, General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) were also emphasizing this market, and they still do.

What has changed is that all three of these companies -- and presumably, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well, although we can't tell for sure because they do not break out their sales by region in this way -- are growing their Mideast businesses. In each of the three cases for which we have granular data on Mideast arms sales, these businesses have expanded -- and the expansion is both rapid and significant in size. All three companies "moved the needle" appreciably during just six months' time.

All three companies, incidentally, also appear to be growing their international businesses in general, and not just in the Middle East. And they're moving faster to take advantage of international opportunities than are rivals Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

The upshot for investors: If you're looking for companies capable of dodging the downturn in U.S. defense spending, and nimble enough to take advantage of opportunities to grow their businesses abroad -- these are three good stocks to watch.
During an interview with the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney, former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie discussed Donald Trump's stance on the use of waterboarding and torture to gain intelligence from terrorists.

Higbie said he wouldnt have a problem torturing terrorists as long as Trump has his back as president.

Right now we have these guys chopping your heads off putting them in shoe boxes and mailing them home. If we are unwilling to be as ruthless as our enemy, we have already lost this war, he explained.

Higbie discussed why he believes torturing is in line sometimes.

The thing that the U.S. soldier is very good at, and we are trained very well to do it, is we separate who we are from what we do. And the American soldier in the interest of safety, they join the military to kill people, to kill bad guys, to save America. Torturing is in line with that, I believe. I think there are some limits to it and I dont think its necessary for all things, but sometimes it is.

He also argued that Americans were the only side abiding by morality clauses.

When you have these morality clauses where were the only side abiding by any rules, we have one hand tied behind our back. You know, the American public is happy saying oh no were better than that, but the fact is if the American populist is better than that, we as soldiers on the battlefield are losing our lives because of that morality stature.

As for how others in the military feel, Higbie said A lot of us are on the same page as me.

There are some people who have a moral objection to it Im sure. But guess what? The military might not be the place for them. The fact is we need to understand that these guys are willing to do anythingtheyre burning people, theyre drowning people, theyre cutting peoples heads off, Higbie stated.

We need to have maybe not that type of lethality, but definitely something that makes them say hey, wait a minute. If I get captured Im going to tell them everything because theyre going to waterboard me or torture me.
Image source: United Continental.

Airline giants United Continental Holdings , Delta Air Lines , and American Airlines Group have all posted impressive share-price gains in recent years, and favorable conditions in the industry have conspired to bring huge profits to the industry. In particular, United Continental has benefited from a combination of new revenue from baggage fees and other ancillary charges as well as reduced expenses on fuel. Yet over the past year, investors have gotten nervous about the sustainability of the airline industry's upward movement, and they've left United Continental stock largely unchanged since early 2015. Let's look at three reasons United Continental stock could fall from current levels.

Labor issuesUnited Continental has run into some recent difficulties in contract negotiations with key labor groups, and the impact on worker morale remains to be seen. According to the latest updates from the United Negotiations website, the airline has made progress with the machinists and aerospace workers union, but the technicians union voted against a proposed agreement and will require further negotiations. Pilots ratified a contract extension, and dispatchers reached a tentative agreement with the airline. Flight attendants met for mediated negotiations back in January, having reached tentative agreements on certain issues while leaving others unresolved.

Labor discussions can be difficult, but the challenge United Continental faces right now is how to share its profits in a way that won't become problematic if the industry turns. More importantly, if poor results in negotiations lead to a drop in profits, shareholders could send the stock lower in response.

A jump in fuel costs United Continental has watched its earnings climb dramatically as a result of the plunge in jet fuel prices. Those costs have continued to come down throughout 2015, and the positive impact on United Continental's bottom line has been sizable. Annual spending on aircraft fuel dropped more than 35% to $7.52 billion in 2015, which was down about $4.15 billion from the previous year. If you note that United Continental's operating income was $5.17 billion, you'll realize that fuel savings made up about 80% of the airline's bottom line last year.

Yet energy prices can rise as quickly as they can fall, and if they do, higher costs could have a lot of downward pressure on earnings. One reason why earnings multiples for shares of United Continental, as well as Delta and American, are so low is that investors already anticipate some declines in net income when fuel returns to more normal levels. Nevertheless, a quicker than expected rise in fuel costs could hurt earnings even more, and the stock could fall in response.

Heightened competitionUnited Continental has a reputation for lagging behind fellow major airlines Delta and American. In particular, the company has suffered from a profitability gap, sporting margins that in some cases were substantially lower than those of United's peers.

In 2015, United Continental closed the gap considerably, using its fuel-cost savings and other factors to bring pre-tax margins to 11.9%. That was within 2.5 percentage points of Delta. However, its guidance for early 2016 suggested that margins could start falling again because of reduced passenger unit revenue. By contrast, Delta expects widening operating margins, the net result of which would be to make the profitability gap even larger than in the past.

One big challenge for United is that traffic to and from its Houston hub is especially sensitive to energy-market conditions. That gives it a competitive disadvantage during times of weakness for the energy sector. Investors hope that United's margin issues will prove to be seasonal and fleeting in nature and that the airline will improve its performance as 2016 progresses. If that doesn't happen, though, disappointed investors will likely respond by bidding down the stock.

United Continental has a history of doing well, but recent share-price performance has been subpar. If these issues go against the airline, outright declines in the stock price are quite likely.

The article 3 Reasons United Continental Stock Could Fall originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has the following options: long Jan. 2017 $35 calls on American Airlines 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.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) may be an acquisition target as investors lose faith in longtime CEO Kenneth Chenault.

Sources at AmEx tell the FOX Business Network that Chenault's increasingly tense relations with the companys board and possible departure--is now fueling speculation among bankers that the company may seek a deal with an outside suitor that would settle the succession issue and give a boost to the companys sagging stock, which has lost 27% over the past year.

One possible suitor, according to bankers, is Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) which is looking to build out a credit card business of its own. Wells declined to comment; a spokesman for AmEx said the company is not for sale.

Chenaults efforts to revive the beleaguered credit-card issuer are falling flat. Just last month, he rolled out a $1 billion cost-cutting plan which has failed to impress Wall Street.

While the notion of a takeover is being discussed by bankers, inside AmEx company officials confirm that Chenault is on increasingly thin ice and could be removed as CEO. Chenault is 64, so the AmEx board just may allow him to retire before naming a replacement. The AmEx spokesman had no comment on Chenaults standing with the companys board and possible departure.

#BreakingNews $AXP insiders say CEO Ken Chenault on thin ice sparking possible sale speculation we discuss 340pmedt @FoxBusiness  Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) March 7, 2016

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) is the largest shareholder in both Wells Fargo and American Express, as tracked by Thomson.

AmExs real problems began last year when warehouse retailer Costco (NASDAQ:COST) unexpectedly decided to sever its 16-year relationship with the company, instead choosing to partner with rival Visa (NYSE:V). Reports suggested Costco executives wanted more favorable fees.

During Januarys fourth-quarter earnings report, Chenault cited merchant fees among several reasons for the companys poor financial results.

Since Costcos defection, others have followed suit as noted by FOXBusiness.com last month. JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) ditched AmEx last year after 10 years for an agreement with Barclays (NYSE:BCS) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA). The companys partnership with Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT) is in limbo after the hotel company was acquired by Marriott (NASDAQ:MAR) which partners with Chase (NYSE:JPM).

Additionally, AmExs invitation-only Black Card, known formally as the Centurion Card, may also be in the throes of a decline, as deep-pocket users also chase more favorable fees.
If you can't compete on price or service and have a reputation for not treating consumers well, then a rival that's making plans to come to one of your markets represents a disaster of the highest order.

That's why AT&T is pulling out all the stops in Louisville, Ky., in an attempt to stop Alphabet's Google from gaining access to its utility poles to speed up the rollout of Google Fiber. The wireless carrier and Internet service provider filed a lawsuit to stop a new rule, which the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government has passed, from going into effect.

The ordinance, "One Touch Make Ready," would allow multiple providers to use the city's utility poles another company manages. That would let Google, which has identified Louisville as a potential market, enter the city without having to build as much infrastructure. Of course, that would speed the process for Google Fiber and would give consumers more choice.

AT&T, as you might imagine, doesn't agree with the new rule and has filed a lawsuit, which TV station WDRB posted on its website, trying to stop the ordinance. Alphabet/Google Fiber, of course, thinks the suit is without merit and posted its own response.

Source: Google Fiber.

What is AT&T suing over?In a statement to a local business news publication, AT&T defended its position and explained why it took the issue to court.

"Louisville Metro Council's recently passed 'One Touch Make Ready' Ordinance is invalid, as the city has no jurisdiction under federal or state law to regulate pole attachments," AT&T said in a statement to Louisville Business First. "We have filed an action to challenge the ordinance as unlawful. Google can attach to AT&T's poles once it enters into AT&T's standard Commercial Licensing Agreement, as it has in other cities. This lawsuit is not about Google. It's about the Louisville Metro Council exceeding its authority."

Pole attachments are generally allowed under the current system, but the new rule makes the process easier, requiring less back and forth between companies. For example, the ordinance would allow Google, or another provider, to access the poles without notifying AT&T. The company objected to that provision strenuously in its lawsuit:

Basically, the new ordinance doesn't require new providers to tell AT&T they're accessing the poles if doing so isn't likely to have customers notice or to result in outages. That provision would speed Google's launch and bring residents another choice faster.

What is Alphabet saying?Chris Levendos, directorof national deployment and operations for Google Fiber, expressed his support for the ordinance, which, as he noted in a blog post, the council passed unanimously. He said he believed the "One Touch Make Ready" would speed the process of getting high-speed fiber Internet service to citizens there, and he expressed his company's "disappointment" over the AT&T lawsuit.

"Google Fiber stands with the City of Louisville and the other cities across the country that are taking steps to bring faster, better broadband to their residents," he wrote. "Such policies reduce cost, disruption, and delay, by allowing the work needed to prepare a utility pole for new fiber to be attached in as little as a single visit -- which means more safety for drivers and the neighborhood."

He explained that the new rules would allow the work to be done by a team of contractors that the pole owner itself has approved, instead of having multiple crews from multiple companies working on the same pole over weeks or months.

"One Touch Make Ready facilitates new network deployment by anyone -- and that's why groups representing communities and fiber builders support it, too," he wrote.

Who will win?It's worth noting that AT&T has its own plans to offer fiber service in Louisville and that the company would gain an advantage in doing so if it can be first to market. AT&T's lawsuit looks to be an attempt to stall a rival, as the company did ask for an injunction against One Touch Make Ready.

The company has also put itself in conflict with the city's mayor, Greg Fischer, who took to social media to object to AT&T's actions.

"We will vigorously defend the lawsuit filed today by ATT; gigabit fiber is too important to our city's future," he wrote.

Ultimately, it seems unlikely that AT&T will prevail even if it wins the court case. You can't fight progress with stall tactics forever, and the best move for AT&T -- and the residents affected -- would be to compete by offering a better fiber product than Google. It's also never a good idea to poke at Alphabet, because it seems likely that this lawsuit, which has galvanized support for Google Fiber in the area, will move the market from the list of cities it's considering to the ones it plans to enter.

The article Here's How AT&T Is Fighting Google Fiber's Expansion Plans originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. He probably needs to eat more fiber. 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.
Image source: Microsoft.

What happened?Software giant Microsoft has announced that it is launching a new version of its popular SQL server software for Linux. This will bring a consistent data platform across multiple operating systems and provide greater flexibility to customers, according to Microsoft cloud exec Scott Guthrie.

Does it matter?In no uncertain terms, bringing SQL to Linux is a massive strategic shift for Microsoft, although not entirely unexpected considering the company's broader shift under CEO Satya Nadella. The relatively new CEO has already made cross-platform support for Microsoft's software and services an underpinning of his "cloud-first, mobile-first" strategy. This idea is also reinforced by Microsoft's recent acquisition of Xamarin, a tool for cross-platform app development.

Nadella has noted that providing the server operating system is no longer the most important piece of the puzzle. It's all about the data now, and Microsoft needs to expand on the ways that it can help enterprise customers store, access, and analyze all that data. In broadening its horizons, Microsoft will also put more pressure on Oracle , which leads the market for database software and also supports Linux.

The article Instant Analysis: Microsoft Announces SQL Server on Linux originally appeared on Fool.com.

Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Oracle. 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: Microsoft.

Hey, big spender.

At a time when Silicon Valley start-up valuations are starting to cool, the major tech giants are going on a shopping spree. Private company tracker CB Insights recently outlined some M&A trends over the past few years, and Microsoft has seen the biggest strategic shift in its acquisition strategy under CEO Satya Nadella. The software giant scooped up 18 companies last year, according to the data.

Image source: CB Insights.

That's more than any of its peers, including Apple and Alphabet.

When Redmond outspends Silicon ValleyApple acquired 11 companies in 2015, while Alphabet purchased 16. Alphabet has always been rather acquisitive in its never-ending quest for moonshots, and Apple has also ramped up its acquisition activity under Tim Cook.

But Nadella is making the most notable push with acquisitions. This might be because he's keenly aware of Microsoft's relatively weak position in certain markets like mobile, and it's a faster way to strengthen the company's inroads when it doesn't make the operating system or the device. Among the more notable mobile-related acquisitions were apps like Acompli (since rebranded as the new mobile Outlook), Sunrise, Wunderlist, and SwiftKey, among many others. (Microsoft provides its acquisition history here, so feel free to peruse for yourself.)

Apple appears ready to increase its own rate of acquisitions, even as the Mac maker has been acqui-hiring talent predominantly in virtual/augmented reality over the past year. In a recent interview with Fortune, Cook said that Apple usually acquires a company every three to four weeks on average. That translates into 13 to 17 acquisitions per year. That's slightly more than CB Insight's data suggests, but it's also possible that Apple was able to quietly make some purchases that no one caught wind of (even if that's rare these days).

Some unicorns have lost their hornsWhile the public markets have been pulling back so far this year, 2015 was kind of a tough year for start-up valuations. You've probably heard all the talk about "unicorns" and how some of them have fallen from grace. CB Insights also separately tracks downrounds, which are funding rounds where the private company earns a lower valuation than the prior round. This also include if the company was acquired or goes public (such as Square) for a lower valuation than the prior private valuation. There have been 56 downrounds since 2015.

Fluctuations in private valuations have some important impacts. First off, employees can get burned very badly if they've been compensated with pricey private stock, pay a hefty tax bill based on lofty prices, and then their company gets acquired for a substantially lower valuation. That's what happened to former unicorn Good Technology, when BlackBerry purchased it for $425 million. Good Technology had previously earned a $1.1 billion valuation.

But those lower valuations can present an opportunity for larger would-be acquirers. For instance, Cook noted that asset prices have been declining across the board, but Apple always continues to invest in innovation even during downturns, since you can get more bang for your buck. He added, "Some of our greatest innovations and products were born in a period of challenge."

As far as Microsoft is concerned, shares have soared under Nadella as investors buy in to his vision, which just so happens to include a lot of acquisitions.

The article Microsoft Corporation Is Scooping Up Startups Hand Over Fist originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Apple. 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: Pictures of Money via Flickr.

Although things have calmed a bit, investors endured the worst two-week start to a new year in recorded history in 2016. After a small rebound, the broad-based S&P 500, which is arguably the best measure of U.S. business health, is still down more than 3% on the year.

For some investors, this poor start has induced panic: They are either scrambling for the exits, or quickly looking for alternative places to put their money that could help protect their capital if the stock market takes another turn lower. Those alternatives include U.S. Treasuries and CDs, both of which are yielding well below their historic rates. In other words, investors could be set up for long-term disappointment if they consider turning their backs on stocks just because of a little near-term turbulence.

Cash is the key How can investors protect their capital and potentially outperform during a stock market correction or bear market? One smart move might be to invest in companies that are sporting huge cash balances. Although it's still up to each company to use its cash wisely, a healthy cash and investment position can act as a buffer that prevents a business's valuation from declining too badly when conditions around it get rough. Presumably, companies that have a lot of cash also tend to invest freely in organic and inorganic growth, and in many instances, they pay dividends as well.

But, which companies hold the most cash and investments? Based on year-end fiscal data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, these five names are rocking the highest combined cash and investment totals:

Apple : $216.1 billion

: $216.1 billion Microsoft : $113.8 billion

: $113.8 billion Alphabet : $77.1 billion

: $77.1 billion Cisco Systems : $60.4 billion

: $60.4 billion Oracle : $54.4 billion

Collectively, these five companies have $521.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, currently in their coffers. Here are some fun things you could do with $521.8 billion:

Buy iPhone 6s for more than 800 million people;

Purchase more than 19.7 million base-model Ford F-150s, the most popular vehicle in the U.S.;

F-150s, the most popular vehicle in the U.S.; Cover the U.S. federal budget deficit for one year;

Buy everyone in the world a tall Starbucks coffee every day for more than five weeks;

coffee every day for more than five weeks; Pay off the mortgages of more than 3.1 million American households.

It's worth noting that these companies also have debt on their balance sheets, but in every instance, their cash far exceeds their debt load. Additionally, it's very likely that these companies are carrying some of their cash in foreign countries to avoid the taxes they'll have to pay when they repatriate their profits.

What these cash giants have in commonUltimately, it's no secret why these five companies are cash kings. Let's take a look at some of the common themes that make these businesses potentially great investments.

Image source: Pixabay.

1. Dominant market shareIf there's one characteristic shared by many of the above companies, it's industry-leading market share. For example, Alphabet subsidiary Google is a giant in desktop and mobile advertising, and its mobile operating system, Android, is hands-down the most popular global OS.

Google's share of the search market in October stood at nearly 64% per comScore, more than three times higher than No. 2 search engine Bing. In terms of global OS market share, Android locked up almost 85% of the market based on data released by Gartner. Add in Apple's iOS and you'd have 97.8% of all global OS market share. This dominance affords Alphabet's Google some incredible pricing power that it uses to generate healthy profits.

Image source: Flickr user Karlis Dambrans.

2. A leading brandAnother key point is that many of these companies are highly valued brands because the public can't wait to get its hands on their products. Apple would be the best example of this, with consumers still lining up around the block anytime Apple releases a new gadget, be it a smartphone, tablet, or Watch.

In 2015, Interbrand named Apple its most valuable brand in the world for the third consecutive year, a testament to the loyalty consumers continue to show the brand. Companies with strong brand value tend to extract healthy margins from their loyal customers, and they also benefit from free word-of-mouth advertising.

3. High-margin products and servicesA third common theme (which builds off the prior point) is that these companies tend to generate very high margins from their products and services. Having a strong brand and dominant market share can definitely help push margins higher.

Image source: Microsoft.

For this example, I'd highlight software developer Microsoft, which benefits from its legacy of dominance as the king of operating systems for desktops and laptops. VentureBeat noted in October 2015 that Windows maintained a ridiculous 90.4% market share as the preferred desktop and laptop OS, compared to just 8% for Mac OS and 1.6% for Linux. This high share has helped push Microsoft's trailing 12-month operating margin north of 28%.

4. Cutting-edge innovation Finally, companies like Cisco Systems and Oracle are benefiting from next-generation innovations. For both of these companies, we're talking about the emergence and evolution of cloud-computing. This means taking advantage of enterprise customers that are looking to build or expand their data centers, or residential customers who could benefit from technology in their homes vis--vis the Internet of Things.

Image source: Cisco Systems.

For instance, Cisco announced in May 2014 that it was planning to spend $1 billion to offer cloud-computing services. Furthermore, estimates from Cisco suggest that public cloud and private cloud compound annual growth could hit 44% and 16%, respectively, between 2014 and 2019, with global IP traffic more than quadrupling over that same timeframe. Needless to say, this is a major growth opportunity for Cisco.

The same innovation is being observed in middleware and cloud infrastructure play Oracle, which had also previously leaned heavily on its enterprise hardware to drive growth. In Oracle's second-quarter report, which was released in December, the company announced constant currency cloud sales growth of 31%, including robust 39% growth in cloud software-as-a-service. Software-as-a-service is particularly attractive since it leads to juicy margins, and SaaS customers also tend to be quite loyal.

The point? Investing in companies with a lot of cash on hand can be a smart move in a volatile investing environment. These may no longer be the market's most exciting businesses, but boring business models are often very profitable regardless of how well or poorly the U.S. economy is performing.

The article These 5 Companies Collectively Have $521 Billion in Cash and Investments originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, Ford, and Starbucks. It also owns shares of Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems and Gartner. 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.
U.S. equity markets ended the session mixed amid a rally in global oil prices.

Competition for DuPont

Shares of BASF, the worlds biggest chemical company by sales, dropped on Monday after Bloomberg reported the company is working with banks and advisers to evaluate the possibility of a bid for DuPont (NYSE:DD).

If BASF moves forward with an offer, it would fly in the face of an agreed-to merger deal last year between DuPont and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW). The takeover is a proposed all-stock, $130 billion transaction. The two companies have agreed to merge, and then break apart into three separate entities.

Shares of DuPont were up about 2% in recent action.

China Slashes Growth Target

The worlds second-biggest economy said over the weekend it slashed its 2016 growth target from 7% to between 6.5% and 7%. The announcement came in a two-hour speech by Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, at the opening of the National Peoples Congress Saturday. Li gave a nod to the rough waters the nation has navigated in terms of economic growth, and its effect on global markets and economies.

This is the crucial period in which China currently finds itself and during which we must build up powerful new drivers in order to accelerate the development of the new economy, he said.

The news helped Chinas Shanghai Composite index rally during the session, to finish up 4.84%.

Oil Prices Rise

Global oil prices paced up on Monday morning, as Brent, the international benchmark, hit a three-month high following a rally in Chinas equity markets overnight.

West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 5.43% to $37.87 a barrel, while Brent gained 5.42% to $40.80 a barrel.

A portion of the gains could be attributed to U.S. energy companies cutting oil rig counts for the eleventh-straight week to the lowest level December 2009.

United Continental

The parent company of United Airlines (NYSE:UAL) announced its chief executive, Oscar Munoz, will return full-time to the airline carrier in one week on March 14. Munoz will resume his role after suffering a heart attack in October and a heart transplant in January.

The company also announced appointments of three independent board directors as certain current directors will step down. United Continental Holdings also said it will name a fourth member in the near term.

The new members include James Kennedy, former chief executive of T. Rowe Price Group; Robert Milton, former chairman and CEO of ACE Aviation Holdings; and James Whitehurst, chief executive of Red Hat.
A Boeing plane in flight. Image source: Alcoa.

What:Alcoasaw its stock price advance a hefty 22.5% last month. It's still down around 7% for the year, but what drove the big one-month jump?

So what: The real story at Alcoa is its pending breakup into an aluminum maker and a specialty parts company. And there was some good news on this front last month: The company reached an agreement with activist investor Elliott Management that should help pave the way for the planned breakup. But that wasn't the only good thing that happened at Alcoa.

Alcoa also inked a deal with Boeing to supply parts for that airline manufacturer's 777X, 737 MAX, and 787 Dreamliner aircraft. These are some of Boeing's newest planes and position Alcoa well for the future. Indeed, once Boeing picks a supplier, it's loath to change -- in other words, Boeing and Alcoa are teaming up for the long haul, and this isn't the only deal the two have together. Moreover, for Alcoa, the Boeing deal is further proof that its moves on the specialty parts side are paying off.

But there was also some positive news on the aluminum side of things. This business has been retrenching for years in the face of falling commodity prices. However, in February, aluminum prices moved higher. That isn't to suggest that Alcoa's legacy business is out of the woods yet, but the metal's price advance certainly won't hurt anything.

Now what: If Alcoa popped up on your screens because of the swift one-month move, don't get too excited. The story is still a long-term one that involves breaking itself in two, probably later this year. There are a lot of moving parts, which this monthly gain helped to point out. But if you take the time to dig into the big story, you might find you still like Alcoa's prospects -- even if February's big gain doesn't really change that tale too much.

The article Why Alcoa Inc.'s Shares Rose Over 22.5% in February originally appeared on Fool.com.

Reuben Brewer 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.
One of Iconix's several dozen brands. Source: Iconix

What:Shares ofIconix Brand Group Inc were up 19% as of 11:33 a.m. EST Monday after the company secured a $300 million term loan fromFortress Investment Group.

So what:Iconix stock has been battered over the past year as the company has found itself in the middle of an accounting scandal, forcing it to revise years' worth of financial statements.

Last year also saw the surprise resignation of its CEO, COO, and CFO in the wake of unscrupulous accounting for its joint venture transactions. At its nadir in January, the stock had fallen 90% from its peak in 2014. However, investor confidence has started to rebuild as a new CEO, John Haugh, entered the fold last year and the investment giantBlackrockpurchased 2 million shares of the company, which owns brands like Joe Boxer, Candies, and Danskin. As a result, the stock jumped 31% last month.

Now what: The $300 million term loan is the latest vote of confidence in Iconix's future, and will allow the brand management company to pay off another loan coming due in June. In the press release announcing the loan, Iconix CFO Dave Jones said, "With the refinancing path for the 2016 converts (convertible loans) now in place, we look forward to a continued focus on our core business; including the growth of our worldwide brand management platform."

With the BlackRock investment, new CEO, and now the term loan, the market seems to believe the worst of accounting scandal is over for Iconix. Although it has not completed the financial restatements, the company did say its 2016 guidance would be unaffected by the restatement, and management expects an adjusted EPS for 2016 of $1.35-$1.40. Even after Monday's jump, the stock trades at a P/E multiple of just seven. As the company repairs its business, I'd expect the stock to continue to move higher.

The article Why Iconix Brand Group Inc Stock Soared Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Jeremy Bowman 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.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is doubling down on his hometown state by vigorously campaigning there all this week. Over the weekend, Rubio had a disappointing showing on Super Saturday with third and fourth place finishes. He won the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday, his second win of the election season, but it hasnt done much to boost his standing.

Seriously Puerto Rico will not provide any momentum for Marco Rubio, but the thing about this Republican race is that it is so weird; We have never seen anything like it before, said Stephen Craig, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

If Rubio cant win Florida, he is dead meat. The question is whether winning Florida would be enough.

According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, Rubio trails Trump by 16% in Florida, with 28% support from likely Republican primary voters compared to Trumps 44%.

Before the winner- take-all primary on March 15, GOP candidates must win the Tuesday presidential contests in the states of Hawaii, Mississippi, Michigan and Idaho.

Craig says there are no indicators at this point that suggest Rubio cant turn the race in a new direction, however with the shift to new battleground states, he says Ohio Governor John Kasich could be more of a threat to him than [Texas Senator] Ted Cruz.

In a new Monmouth University poll, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump ranks first place among Republican primary voters in Michigan with 36%, while Cruz and Kasich are vying for second place. Cruz has 23%, close behind is Kasich with 21% and Rubio comes in fourth with 13%.

In a recent American Research Group (ARG) poll, however, Governor Kasich pulls ahead of Trump in Michigan. The survey conducted March 4-5 shows Kasich with 33% compared to Trumps 31% support among GOP primary voters in the Great Lakes State. This is a dramatic shift from the February poll, where Kasich had 17% compared to Trump with 35%.

Lets wait and see if Kasich can emerge in the Midwest, and certainly with Ohio coming up he could have a chance, said Craig. If Trump wins Michigan that will set him up well for March 15.

On Sunday during a campaign rally in Idaho Falls, Rubio asked the crowd of nearly a thousand people for their help on Tuesday.

Its crunch time here. I need to win, said Rubio. He went on to tell supporters he is the conservative candidate that can actually win the presidency: Im the only one left who can unite us.

As the Rubio campaign zeroes in on the Sunshine State, Craig says there is no guarantee for a home state advantage or that Rubios strong endorsements will actually help.

Florida is definitive; If Rubio loses I dont see how he has any credibility if he cant win in Florida. If he does win in Florida, I still dont think he has much unless he wins one of these big states somewhere else, said Craig. Florida Republicans want their vote to count so if he looks like he is dead meat, why waste your vote on him?

Rubio was scheduled to hold a rally in Tampa, Florida Monday at 5 p.m. ET.
Women with asthma who are undergoing fertility treatment may take much longer to conceive than peers without the respiratory disorder, a small Danish study suggests.

Researchers followed 245 women with unexplained infertility who sought treatment to help them conceive. With asthma, half of them took at least 4.6 years to conceive, compared to about 2.7 years without asthma.

Several studies have linked asthma to reproduction-related problems in women, the study team writes in European Respiratory Journal, though the connection is poorly understood.

"Despite subfertility often being seen clinically in asthmatic women, a causal relationship between asthma and subfertility has never been established," lead study author Dr. Elisabeth Juul Gade of Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen told Reuters Health.

"We showed that asthma has a negative influence on fertility as it increases time to pregnancy and possibly reduces birth rate, especially above 35 years of age," Gade said by email.

While the study doesn't prove asthma causes infertility, the findings suggest that women with asthma should take steps to manage symptoms before trying to conceive and also consider starting their families at a younger age when they may not have as much difficulty getting pregnant, Gade said.

To explore the link between asthma and infertility, Gade and colleagues followed women between ages 23 and 45 who had difficulties getting pregnant, including 96 women with asthma and 149 women without the condition.

At the start of the study, the women were 36 years old on average, and generally had a healthy body weight.

The women received a variety of fertility treatments, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. They were followed for at least 12 months, until a successful pregnancy, the end of treatment or the conclusion of the study.

In addition to the longer timeline to conception, women with asthma also had lower success rates. About 40 percent of the asthmatic women achieved pregnancy compared to about 60 percent of the women without asthma.

Among women experiencing what's known as primary infertility, when they have not yet given birth to any children, about 54 percent of asthmatics and 66 percent of women without asthma conceived during the study.

With what's known as secondary infertility, when women have one child then struggle to conceive again, roughly 55 percent of the women in both groups conceived during the study.

One limitation of the study is that some conception timelines during fertility treatment relied on women to report on when they had intercourse, which can make the data less reliable, the authors note. It's also possible the results might not be representative of a broader population of women because the high cost of fertility treatments may have limited participation to more affluent women who could afford this intervention.

Asthma causes systemic inflammation in the lungs and it's possible this irritation may affect other organs and mucus surfaces of the body such as the inside of the uterus, Gade said.

More research is also needed to determine whether asthma might affect the development of ovum, or egg cells, in the early stages of reproduction, Gade said. This might lead to difficulties with implantation.

It's still unclear exactly how asthma treatment might influence the connection between this disease and infertility, Gade noted.

"We know that well-treated asthma is of importance for the pregnant woman and the unborn child, but we have not been able to show whether well-treated asthma is important for fertility," Gade said. "However, we believe it is, as a large degree of inflammatory control is present when a patient is well-treated."
While breathing fresh, clean air can boost productivity, sleep and overall health, not everyone can live in the great outdoors and its difficult to know just how clean the indoor air in your home or office is.

Since most people spend about 90 percent of their time inside, having poor indoor air quality could affect your health and the health of your family membersespecially during winter.

Low dry humidity in the winter can make asthma worse and children who have dried mucosa can acquire some nasal infections easier, Dr. Robert G. Lahita, chairman of medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey, told FoxNews.com. Heating ducts that have mold and spores in them can make respiratory symptoms worse in the winter when hot air is blowing through them. Dry air can also exacerbate some illnesses and can be a problem as well.

Different sources of air pollution in your home could include paints that release lead or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carpets that harbor dirt, dust mites, and fungus and even nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves, but these arent the worst culprits, Lahita said.

In the winter the biggest issue is carbon monoxide poisoning, with emergency medical services we see a few of these every year-- it is from faulty heaters, cooking without ventilation or fireplaces, he said.

Every room in your house could be susceptive to some form of an air pollutant, but now there is a new device and app that says it can help you breathe easier by tracking air quality.

Awair is the first smart air quality device that monitors, analyzes and provides feedback to improve the air you breathe. The device collects data such as indoor temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, fine dust particles and VOCs. It analyzes the data in real-time and gives an Awair score on a 0 to 100 color-coded scale, 0 being the worst air quality.

The goal for the user is to keep five green dots. As soon as you see other colored (amber and red) dots show up on top of the green dots, your environment is getting off the healthy ranges whether it being temperature, humidity, CO2, VOCs, and dust, Ronald Ro, the CEO and co-founder of Bitfinder Inc., the makers of Awair, told FoxNews.com.

Based on your air score, the monitoring gadget will send personalized alerts and advice to the user via its corresponding Awair mobile app. When air conditions are harmful, like when a bedroom has a high carbon dioxide level, it will send a notification to the user and advise them to open up a window through the app. The app also provides Mayo Clinic message cards that give relevant information and recommendations for ways to keep your indoor environment healthy.

If you already have a smart device system for your home, Awair is working on partnerships with several connected devices like Nest thermostat and other smart appliances so you can manage the air quality in your home or office when you're not there.

The Awair app is free to download, but each device costs $199 dollars.

For more information go to GetAwair.com.
Nancy Reagans passing is a time to celebrate a life fully lived and for reflections of a life that made a difference in womens health and more particularly breast cancer awareness, detection, treatment and cure.

Mrs. Reagan was a breast cancer survivor and like fellow First Lady and survivor Betty Ford decided to share her diagnosis and treatment publicly to lessen the stigma and shame that for too long surrounded breast cancer in America.

She knew that by sharing her own story she would empower others to engage in self-examination, learn about their family histories and seek professional screening, advice and care.

In October 1987, Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater told the nation that it was during a routine mammogram (an X-ray of the breast) that a suspicious lesion in Mrs. Reagans breast was detected. Thereafter a biopsy was made, followed by a modified radical mastectomy.

He went on to say that the cancer, just seven millimeters in diameter, was about the smallest doctors can detect on a mammogram. Laboratory tests made on it and other tissue removed in the surgery showed that the cancer was a common form that had not spread to other areas of the breast or to nearby lymph nodes.

The White House was very forthcoming in releasing Mrs. Reagans health information to the public  a move which no doubt gave hope and valuable information to women in America and all over the world.

The New York Times gave extensive coverage to Mrs. Reagans illness and the papers reporting turned out to be a powerful educational tool.

A good example of this was an article on October 18, 1987 by Lawrence K. Altman who reported the following:

Pathologists who examined frozen sections of the cancer identified it as one within a duct in a mammary gland and said it had not invaded any other area of the breast. The type of cancer is known as a noninvasive intraductal adenocarcinoma of the breast, a White House statement said. The statement described the cancer as 'concentrated in an identifiable area of the breast.'

"Doctors generally cannot feel with their fingers a cancer that is smaller than one centimeter in diameter. It is estimated that it takes five years for a cancer to grow to that size from a single cell. But doctors can detect smaller cancers through mammograms.

The White House's description strongly suggests that Mrs. Reagan's cancer was one that could be discovered only by mammography.

...

The fact that Mrs. Reagan's cancer was caught early was considered a very good sign by doctors not connected with her case.

Dr. Samuel Hellman, physician in chief at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said in an interview that ''the big message is'' that Mrs. Reagan's cancer ''is a very favorable lesion.'"

President Reagan visited the first lady on the day of her surgery and joked to his wife,

Honey, I know you dont feel like dancing. So, lets hold hands. This remark was typical Reagan and signaled to the nation that she was doing just fine and everything was going to be ok.

Mrs. Reagan was a supporter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the organization I created in 1982, long before her own diagnosis. And, after her diagnosis and treatment in 1987, I was honored to present Mrs. Reagan with the prestigious Betty Ford Award from the Susan G. Komen Foundation for her own efforts to educate and advocate for breast cancer.

Mrs. Reagan saved lives by sharing her own personal story with others.

Like her husband, Nancy Reagan was a national treasure who is now reunited for eternity with her Ronnie, forever residing in that shining city on a hill.
Prepare for another year of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected Wednesday that the deficit for 2012 will run $1.1 trillion, the fourth year in a row the shortfall will exceed $1 trillion.

The projection is down a bit from an earlier estimate pegging the deficit this year at $1.2 trillion.

The report also warned that a new recession is likely if an ongoing stalemate over tax and spending cuts continues between Democrats and Republicans.

In its annual summertime report, the budget office said Wednesday that letting decade-old tax Bush tax rates expire and sweeping spending cuts occur in January -- which will happen without congressional action -- "would lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession."

If that happened, the economy would contract by 0.5 percent -- a gloomier projection than the budget office made earlier this year when it envisioned slight growth under that scenario. Unemployment would rise to around 9 percent by late next year if the standoff persists, the analysts said.

The budget office's latest warning came amid a presidential and congressional election year in which neither President Obama nor congressional Republicans have shown any signs of giving ground in their protracted battle over taxes, spending and the budget. The lethargic economy and massive federal deficits are top-flight issues in this year's campaigns.

Obama wants to renew expiring tax cuts for everyone except individuals earning over $200,000 and couples who bring in above $250,000. Republicans are demanding that all tax cuts be extended. The two sides also have made no progress over how to prevent budget-wide spending cuts from taking effect. These automatic cuts were sat in motion by the failure of lawmakers last year to reach a bipartisan debt-reduction agreement.

Letting the tax rates continue and preventing the spending cuts from taking effect would leave a deficit next year of just over $1 trillion. If the reverse occurs, the shortfall would be $641 billion -- in effect sucking roughly $400 billion out of a U.S. economy that is already struggling.

Though continuing the tax rates and blocking the spending cuts would produce higher economic growth over the next two years, "it would reduce output and income in the longer run and is ultimately unsustainable," the budget office warned.

It also envisions an economy recovering at only a modest pace the rest of this year, growing at an annual rate of 2.25 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Obama campaign co-chairman who's helped the president's re-election team raise hundreds of thousands of dollars has a political interest on the side -- Paul Ryan.

Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, contributed $10,000 to the Republican running mate's political action committee in June, federal records show.

The bipartisan approach to political donations isn't anything new for Benioff. Over the years, he's given to both the Democratic and Republican national committees, as well as the George W. Bush presidential campaign and several Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

But the contribution to Ryan, who was picked nearly two weeks ago as Mitt Romney's running mate, is striking, considering the prominent role Benioff has assumed for team Obama.

Aside from being a campaign co-chairman, he's also a prolific "bundler" -- somebody who raises lots of money from other donors and then gives that money to the campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Benioff has raised more than $600,000 for the campaign.

He also hosted a $35,800-a-person fundraiser for Obama at his San Francisco home last year.

Benioff declined a request for an interview with FoxNews.com.
Two new polls suggest Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate may not have moved the meter much in the persistently close contest between him and President Obama.

Surveys by AP-GfK and The Wall Street Journal/NBC News out Wednesday show Obama slightly ahead, with the dynamic looking much as it did several weeks ago.

The AP-GfK poll showed 47 percent of registered voters in support of Obama, with 46 percent backing Romney. That's not much changed from a June AP-GfK survey, when the split was 47 percent for the president to 44 percent for Romney.

After just over a week on the campaign trail, Ryan has a 38 percent favorable rating among adults, while 34 percent see him unfavorably. Among registered voters, his numbers are slightly better -- 40 percent favorable to 34 percent unfavorable. Ryan remains unknown to about a quarter of voters.

The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed a similar dynamic. The survey out Wednesday showed Obama leading Romney 48-44 percent, about where the race was a month ago. The margin of error was 3 percentage points, in the poll of 1,000 registered voters taken Aug. 16-20.

Voters were closely divided on the question of Ryan. Twenty-two percent said the Ryan choice made them more likely to back Romney, while 23 percent said the opposite. More than half said it would make no difference in their vote.

Romney put the 42-year-old conservative chairman of the House Budget Committee on the ticket Aug. 11. Like the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the AP-GfK Poll was conducted Aug. 16-20.

Romney and Ryan will be crowned as the GOP presidential and vice presidential nominees next week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. The Democrats hold their convention the following week in Charlotte, N.C.

The closely locked contest reflects deep partisan divisions across the country.

Among true independents in the AP-GfK poll, those who say they do not lean toward either party, the share of undecided voters is declining, with each candidate picking up new support at about the same pace. However, Romney maintains a small advantage with the group, with the backing of 41 percent of independents to Obama's 30 percent. Some 21 percent still say they support neither candidate.

Among all voters, 23 percent are undecided or say they have not yet committed to their candidate.

Registered voters split about evenly between the two candidates on whom they'd trust more to handle the economy, with 48 percent favoring Romney and 44 percent Obama. They are also about evenly divided on who would do more to create jobs, 47 percent for Romney to 43 percent for Obama. Among independent voters, Romney has a big lead over the president on handling the economy -- 46 percent to 27 percent.

Obama holds a clear edge among voters on handling social issues such as abortion, 52 percent to 35 percent, and a narrow one on handling Medicare, 48 percent to 42 percent. Medicare has grabbed a lot of attention as an issue lately, with Ryan's proposals to partly change the program drawing criticism from Obama and other Democrats.

Of those who said Medicare is an extremely important issue, 49 percent say they plan to vote for Obama and 44 percent for Romney.

Michelle Obama remains more popular than her husband. Sixty-four percent of adults view her favorably and just 26 percent unfavorably, although that's down from 70 percent favorable in May. Ann Romney's favorable rating is mostly unchanged since May, with 40 percent viewing her favorably, 27 percent unfavorably and nearly a third declining to say.

The poll involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,006 adults nationwide, including 885 registered voters. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9, while it's 4.1 points for registered voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fresh off a series of weekend victories in state caucuses, Bernie Sanders turned up the heat on Hillary Clinton at Sundays debate in Flint, Mich., sharply challenging her economic credentials and suggesting her gun control stand would ban guns in America. But the Democratic front-runner fought back, blasting him for voting against the auto bailout, dismissing him as a one-issue candidate and hitting him once again for his stance on guns.

The Vermont senator reached back to the 1990s as he went after Clintons support for disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA. His rhetoric was notably more pointed and, reflecting the tension in the race, Sanders even cut her off at times as she tried to speak over him.

Excuse me, Im talking, Sanders snapped, during one feisty exchange on the economy.

But Clinton pushed back, and defended the countrys economic progress during her husbands administration.

If were going to argue about the 90s, lets try to get the facts straight, she said, touting the jobs and income growth that came with the era.

Sanders also tried to cast Clinton as soft on climate change, while declaring he unequivocally does not support fracking. Clinton maintained she has the most comprehensive plan to combat climate change.

The clashes came after Sanders won the Maine Democratic caucuses, adding to wins the night before in Nebraska and Kansas  by far the most successful two days of his campaign.

But Sanders remains significantly behind in the race for delegates, with Clinton having won more  and more valuable  state contests, as well as enjoying the overwhelming support of so-called superdelegates. Sanders is looking for a game-changer as the race heads next to states like Michigan this coming Tuesday, and Ohio and Florida the week after that.

Sanders cited his most recent wins at the end of Sundays debate, in arguing he would be the better candidate to go up against Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

He began to joke hed give his right arm to run against the billionaire businessman and then cited polls saying, Sanders versus Trump does a lot better than Clinton versus Trump.

But while Sanders said hes exciting working-class and young voters, Clinton pointed to the raw numbers.

Theres only one candidate [in either primary campaign] who has more votes than [Trump], and thats me, Clinton said. I will look forward to engaging him.

With the CNN-hosted debate held in Michigan, the states economic and crime problems were front and center.

On gun control, the two candidates sparred sharply, with Clinton using the Sandy Hook massacre to make a point about holding gun makers responsible for crimes  and Sanders arguing that position would effectively mean an America without guns.

The dispute started when Sanders defended his past support for a bill to help protect gun manufacturers and sellers from lawsuits. He said if gun sellers and makers are held liable in many of these cases, What youre really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America.

Clinton countered that no other industry in America has absolute immunity, and invoked the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

The Democratic rivals were most heated when talking about their respective records on the economy. Sanders went after Clinton over what he called disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA.

She countered by pointing out he opposed the auto industry bailout. He tried to describe it as the Wall Street bailout, and got a little feisty when she started to speak over him.

Excuse me, Im talking, he said. Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement.

Clinton then called him a one-issue candidate. And on the auto bailout, she said, If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking 4 million jobs with it.

My one issue is trying to rebuild a disappearing middle class. Thats my one issue, Sanders said.

Meanwhile, at the top of the debate, Clinton and Sanders momentarily set aside their differences, to lament the plight of the people in the host city of Flint, and call for the governors resignation over the toxic water crisis.

Sanders said theres blame to go around but Republican Gov. Rick Snyder should resign.

Clinton echoed the remarks, saying, Amen to that.

The governor should resign or be recalled, she said, while also calling on the federal and state governments to send more money to the city.

The citys water crisis started when the city switched to the Flint River in 2014 while under a state-appointed emergency manager. While the state has taken much of the blame, officials with the city and federal government  as well as the state  have also resigned.

Clinton faced Sanders on the debate stage as she fights to shake her lone primary rival, who keeps notching just enough primary and caucus wins to keep his campaign alive, and a threat to her bid.

Sanders rode to victory in Maine in part on a huge turnout  Sanders beat Clinton by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1. The turnout was so big Sunday that some voters had to wait in line for more than four hours in Portland.

The victory gives Sanders a total of three victories over the weekend to Clintons one, in the Louisiana primary.

The results from Maine Sunday aren't binding, but will be used to select a slate of delegates to the state convention, where national delegates will be elected. Maine will send 25 delegates and 30 superdelegates.

On Super Tuesday last week, Clinton won seven states to Sanders four. She maintains a sizeable delegate lead  which before the Maine contest stood at 1,121 to 481. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

But Sanders, even by winning lower-profile contests, has managed to at least demonstrate lingering weaknesses in the front-runners campaign as he draws an enthusiastic response in the grassroots-driven caucus states. Sanders sees upcoming Midwestern primaries as a crucial opportunity to slow her momentum by highlighting his trade policies  though Clinton has led in the polls in Michigan.

Geographically, were looking good, Sanders said Sunday on ABCs This Week. We have a path.

Sanders acknowledged his campaign has yet to connect with African-American voters, which hurt him badly in his South Carolina loss last month to Clinton.

However, he told ABC, I think youre going to see those numbers change.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Republicans have a rare opportunity to control the White House and Congress come January, but a win by either of the partys top presidential candidates  Donald Trump or Ted Cruz  hardly guarantees a GOP revolution in Washington.

For a Republican president to usher through a sweeping first-term agenda, hed have to get along with Congress. And the jurys out on whether that would happen.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., already have sniped with Trump and Cruz as the outsider candidates have climbed atop the GOP presidential field, threatening to dismantle the Washington establishment that they embody.

Trump and Ryan, in particular, tangled last week  albeit obliquely enough to leave open a window for working together  after Trump initially declined to disavow support from ex-Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

This party does not prey on peoples prejudices, Ryan said during his weekly Capitol Hill press conference, in remarks directed at Trump. We believe all people are created equal in the eyes of God and our government. This is fundamental. And if someone wants to be our nominee, they must understand this.

That same day, McConnell said: Let me make it perfectly clear, Senate Republicans condemn David Duke and the KKK and his racism.

However, when asked what hed do if the nominee were Trump, Ryan nevertheless said: I will support the nominee.

Trump, whose primary selling point is that hes a practiced and effective negotiator, predicts that if hes the nominee and if he wins in November, hell be able to work with Congress just like hes worked with countless other negotiating partners.

After winning seven states in Super Tuesday balloting last week, Trump addressed the questions at a press conference where he acted more like Trump the GOP nominee, than Trump the primary candidate.

I'm going to get along great with Congress, the billionaire businessman said. Paul Ryan, I don't know him well, but I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him.

But he added a blunt warning: And if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price, OK?

As for the KKK controversy, Trump has since disavowed the support and brushed off the criticism.

The last time Republicans controlled the House, Senate and White House was from 2003 through 2006, during the George W. Bush administration.

While Trumps controversial proposals, shifting positions and crass rhetoric have rankled some in party leadership, Cruz has diplomatic challenges of his own on Capitol Hill.

Cruz, a freshman Texas senator, has been at odds with GOP congressional leadership practically since he joined the Senate -- most notably for orchestrating the unpopular 2013 partial government shutdown over funding ObamaCare that voters blamed on Republicans.

Trump would have a much tougher time than Cruz, Joe Desilets, a Republican strategist and managing partner at 21st &Main, said Monday.

He pointed out that Cruz is not the preferred candidate among most members of Congress -- but he still has a history of working with the establishment, particularly on domestic policy, and that members know exactly where he stands on issues.

With Trump, no one actually knows, Desilets said.

On Thursday, Ryan acknowledged that Trump had reached out and that he was pleased with the effort, while making clear hes trying to brief all four GOP candidates about his agenda and remains neutral in the primary race.

Ryan's office said Monday that the speaker has also spoken with Cruz.

Ryan also reiterated his five-point agenda that focuses on national security, balancing the budget, growing the economy, replacing ObamaCare and trying to restore the Constitution.

I can only hope and assume our nominee will want to enact the bold conservative agenda that were offering, he said. Its something everybody running for president should easily support.

Texas GOP Rep. Bill Flores warned about battling against the angry-electorate energy that Trump would bring to Washington.

If we dismiss the national sentiment out there, we do it at great peril, he told The Washington Post.

Still, Ryans at-hand struggle to get the GOP House conferences most conservative members to agree with a bipartisan spending bill, which includes roughly $30 billion in spending, suggests the Tea Party-aligned Cruz might be more challenging than Trump as president.

"Do you want another Washington deal-maker who'll do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties?" Cruz asked at a debate last month in South Carolina.
The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.

Navy SEAL teams don't have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This weapons carousel undercuts the "train like you fight" ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.

Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.

U.S. military officials said they were looking into the issue.

Sharing rifles may seem inconsequential. It's not. The weapons, which are outfitted with telescopic targeting sights and laser pointers, are fine-tuned to individual specifications and become intensely personal pieces of gear.

"They want their rifles," Hunter said. "It's their lifeline. So let them keep their guns until they're assigned desk jobs at the Pentagon."

The problem isn't a lack of money, according to Hunter. Congress has frequently boosted the budgets of special operations forces in the years since the 9/11 attacks, he said. Rifles also are among the least expensive items the military buys, leading Hunter to question the priorities of Naval Special Warfare Command, the Coronado, California, organization that oversees the SEALs.

"There is so much wasteful spending," he said. "Money is not reaching the people it needs to reach."

Combat rifles can cost up to several thousand dollars depending upon the type of weapon and quality of the sights and other attachments. But the M-4 carbine, the standard combat rifle used by the military branches, cost less than $1,000 each when bought in bulk, according to Defense Department budget documents.

Hunter wrote last month to the Naval Special Warfare Command's leader, Rear Adm. Brian Losey, about the alleged weapon shortage and also asked him for a full accounting of how the command's budget was spent last year. Losey has told Hunter to expect a reply by Wednesday.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top officer at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, and Losey's superior, told Hunter last week that he is aware of the congressman's concerns. "We're certainly running that down," Votel said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

Votel added that heavily used rifles need to undergo maintenance and that may be contributing to the perception of a shortage. But "we'll certainly take immediate action," Votel said, if it's determined the combat readiness of the SEALs is being degraded.

One of the SEALs who contacted Hunter blamed a slow, penny-pinching bureaucracy that rarely seeks input from the service members who use the gear, according to a brief excerpt of his comments that the congressman's office provided to The Associated Press.

Delays of as long as three to four years paralyze the acquisition system, the SEAL said. Once an item has finally been approved for purchase, new and better gear may be available, triggering the same lengthy screening process to see if it's worth getting instead.

Ammunition also is in short supply for training, the SEAL said, because the bulk of it is being used for combat missions.

Hunter also questioned whether the expense of expanding the size of the special operations forces could have left too little in the budget for weapons.

To meet heavy demand, the number of active-duty troops assigned to Special Operations Command, which includes SEALs, Army Green Berets and Rangers, and Air Force combat controllers, has grown dramatically during the past decade  from more than 33,600 to 56,000. There are 2,710 SEALs.

The budget for Special Operations Command is $10.4 billion and the Obama administration is proposing a $400 million increase over the current total for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

In his Feb. 17 letter to Losey, Hunter also said he's received reports that the command is slow to settle official travel claims due in part to money shortages. This can cause personal and professional problems for SEALs, who hold high-level security clearances, he said.

Service members who hold U.S. government travel charge cards are ultimately responsible for any late fees, interest and accrued balance on the card. So if the government fails to quickly process a voucher, the service member might have to pay out of pocket or face an overdue bill. A lapse in payment could be forwarded to a credit agency, Hunter said, and that could result in a SEAL being declared ineligible to hold a clearance.
President Obama said he once had the opportunity to meet with former first lady Nancy Reagan, and she could not have been more charming and gracious to him and Michelle Obama when he came into office.

The president spoke about the former first lady on Monday after meeting with financial regulators and advisers. Earlier in the day, he had ordered flags on federal buildings to be flown at half-staff in her memory.

Obama said it's well documented the extraordinary love that she had for former President Ronald Reagan and the comfort and strength she provided him in hard times.

Obama said he has been lucky to have an extraordinary partner in his life as well. He knows how much she meant to the president and country as a whole.

"He was lucky to have her, and I'm sure he would be the first to acknowledge that, so she will be missed," Obama said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, asked whether Obama would attend the funeral, said officials were waiting until funeral arrangements for the former first lady are settled before determining who will represent the White House at the service.

Reagan died Sunday at the age of 94
The super PACs behind Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are preparing to blitz the airwaves in Florida ahead of the states make-or-break primary next week  with Cruzs allies striving for a knock-out punch in Rubio's home state, and the Florida senator fighting to stay alive.

Keep the Promise I, the group backing Cruz, unveiled a suite of new attack ads and videos that hit Rubio on his voting record, corporate welfare and other issues.

As first reported by Politico, the ads will be targeted in Florida, and potentially beyond.

Meanwhile, the pro-Rubio super PAC Conservative Solutions is out with its own ad in Florida touting the senators Florida story.

Send America Floridas best, the ad says, promoting Rubios national security strength and saying he has a vision to lead a new generation of conservatives.

The Cruz allies' anti-Rubio blitz, though, poses yet another headache for the Florida senator, who has vowed to win his home state  and by most accounts needs to in order to survive past March 15  but is trailing badly in the polls to front-runner Donald Trump.

Trump and Cruz both have tried to nudge Rubio out of the race. But Rubio insists he can make up the polling gap in Florida and notch a big win next week  when all the delegates in the state will go to the winning candidate.

Its crunch time now, Rubio told voters Sunday in Idaho, which votes Tuesday. I want to win.

Rubio has won the Minnesota caucuses and, on Sunday, the Puerto Rico GOP primary, a tally that pales in comparison to the number of states and delegates won by Trump and Cruz. While Rubio is trailing Trump in Florida in most polls, Cruz is polling far behind in third place, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Cruzs aligned super PAC hopes the new ads can close that gap.

"We had so much fun winning Sen. Cruz's home state by 17 points, we thought why not repeat that in Sen. Rubio's home state? Kellyanne Conway, heads Keep the Promise I, told Politico.

Its unclear whether Cruz could make up that much ground in the state  but the ads threaten to hold down Rubios numbers just as hes trying to catch up to Trump.

One of the ads calls Rubio absent on national defense, citing his voting record.

Another blasts him for seeking support for big sugar in Washington, and calls him the king of corporate welfare.

Rubio is keeping most of his firepower focused on Trump. According to the Miami Herald, Rubios aligned super PAC also is spending big on TV ads largely attacking Trump. According to the Herald, the pro-Rubio super PAC is spending at least $6 million on TV ads as the candidate focuses on Florida.

Trump, meanwhile, is fighting hard to keep his lead in Florida and aims to knock out Rubio with a win next week.

I would like to face Ted, Trump told Fox News on Sunday, suggesting Rubio should step aside. I would prefer it. It cleans it up. Either way, it will be interesting. Florida is going to be, Michigan is going to be interesting coming up.

Rubio is focusing his energy and resources in Florida in the days ahead. Hes holding a rally in Tampa on Monday, followed by another in Sanford, Fla.

Amid doubts about his staying power, Rubio tweeted: I've been the underdog before. It didn't stop me then, and it won't stop me now.
A pattern is starting to emerge that holds both promise and peril for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump:

Trump does better in open primary contests where members of either party can vote, while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tends to do better in "closed" contests limited only to registered Republicans.

The pattern could lend credence to Cruzs claim that hes the consistent conservative in the race, and continue to pose challenges for Trump as more closed contests  including the critical Florida primary  loom on the election calendar.

But if Trump indeed is being boosted by crossover voters, it suggests hes a stronger general election candidate than Democrats give him credit for.

Trumps got crossover appeal, said Christopher C. Hull, former chief of staff for Cruz backer and Iowa Rep. Steve King.

To date, Trump has won a dozen contests, seven of which were open to voters regardless of party affiliation  and two of which have a hybrid system. He has won only three contests that were limited to registered Republicans  Nevada, Kentucky and Louisiana. (His victories in the latter two states were relatively tight.)

By contrast, five of Cruzs six victories came in closed or semi-closed contests. The only exception was Texas, his home state.

Hull, president of the D.C.-based public affairs firm Issue Management Inc., who previously worked with an arm of a pro-Cruz super PAC, said this speaks to the kinds of voters each candidate appeals to. Cruzs supporters are conservatives, and Trumps supporters are populists, he said. Some of [Trumps supporters] are Reagan Democrats, some of them are Perot independents.

But he said even though Cruz may be drawing in the grassroots conservatives, Its good to have crossover appeal. He said Trumps performance in the open primaries bodes well for his competitiveness in a general election.

Trump likes to boast hes growing the party beyond its traditional base, bringing in Democrats and minorities and other groups who might not normally support a Republican candidate.

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! he tweeted after his Super Tuesday wins last week.

Still, Democrats  in public, anyway  doubt Trump, with his inflammatory rhetoric and controversial proposals, could truly build a big-tent campaign.

At Sundays Democratic debate, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders claimed theyd relish the opportunity to run against Trump in November, with Sanders even joking hed give his right arm.

There may be another factor at play, though, in the contests thus far  and that is Cruz is performing better in the smaller, caucus states where organization matters most.

Republican strategist Adam Goodman, with The Victory Group, told FoxNews.com he thinks the results so far are a reflection of organization.

Cruz is very well-organized. I think he came into this campaign with a strong investment in social media and on-the-ground troops, and I think that pays off especially in caucus states and smaller states, he said. Donald Trump maybe is a lot of things, in his campaign as well, but his campaign will not be written about in the record books as having the most organized effort in America.

The upcoming primary calendar, though, doesnt necessarily favor one type of contest over the other.

Two states are holding closed Republican contests on Tuesday, Hawaii and Idaho. But another two are holding open contests, Michigan and Mississippi. And while Floridas primary on March 15 is closed, the contests in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri are open.

Meanwhile, the other two Republican candidates are fighting to notch their own wins wherever they can.

Marco Rubio, who has only won contests in Minnesota and Puerto Rico, is banking on a victory in his home state of Florida but has been trailing Trump in the polls there. John Kasich, the Ohio governor who mounted a very short-lived presidential campaign in the 2000 race and has yet to win a contest this cycle, is vowing to win in his home state as well.

Even as Trump and Cruz dominate the contests, it is unclear whether anyone could gain the necessary 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the July convention. As of Monday, Trump has 384 delegates; Cruz has 300; Rubio has 151; and Kasich has 37.
Archaeologists digging in the Givati parking lot at Jerusalems City of David have found two 2,500-year old seals. Unusually, one of the seals belonged to a woman, making it an extremely rare find.

Archaeologists found two seals bearing Hebrew names in a large structure built of stone blocks that dates to the First Temple period.

Related: Archaeologists discover ancient winery, bathhouse at Jerusalem construction site

Finding seals that bear names from the time of the First Temple is hardly a commonplace occurrence, and finding a seal that belonged to a woman is an even rarer phenomenon, explained the researchers, in a statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority.



The seals belonged to Elihana bat Gael, a woman, and Saaryahu ben Shabenyahu, a man. Experts believe the building where the seals were found served as an administrative center.

Related: 7-year-old finds 3,400-year-old figurine in Israel

Seals such as those found in Jerusalem were used to for signing documents and frequently inlaid as part of a ring the owner wore. Elihanas seal is made of semi-precious stone, and contains the mirror-writing of to Elihana bat Gael, inscribed in ancient Hebrew letters. Additionally, they confirmed that Elihanas father's name is also on the seal, which dates back 2,500 years.



Although there is very little additional information on Elihana, expert Hagai Misgav, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the retention of her fathers name indicates that her social status came from her original family rather than her married family.



Related: A new chapter in the story of Joan of Arc's ring

It seems that Elihana maintained her right to property and financial independence even after her marriage and therefore her fathers name was retained; however, we do not have sufficient information about the law in Judah during this period, said Misgav, in the statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Jay Pasachoff has taken off to a tiny island in Indonesia made famous by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace while Mike Kentrianakis is a grabbing a coveted seat aboard an Alaska Airlines flight headed to Honolulu.

While they are in different parts of the world, both men are motivated by the same desire  to catch a glimpse of Tuesdays solar eclipse.

It is set to occur from 8:38 p.m. to 8:42 p.m. A total eclipse will witnessed in parts of Southeast Asia including Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean and a partial eclipse upwards of 70 percent will be visible in parts of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and America Samoa.

Related: Total solar eclipse, supermoon, equinox: Fridays celestial triple play

Each time is like going to the seventh game of the World Series with the score tied in the ninth inning, said Pasachoff, the chairman of the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Solar Eclipses who was leading a tour group that will watch the eclipse from the island of Ternate, an island where Wallace penned his famous 1858 essay on evolution by natural selection.

Much of the excitement around the eclipse is in Indonesia, where many islands will go dark. Hotels have been booked since 2014, eclipse watchers Sam Huang, and local festivals are being organized across the sprawling island nation to celebrate the occasion.

I look forward to watching the moon slowly cover the sun and seeing the sky grow darker and darker until I am able to see the stars and planets, Huang, who is traveling to the island of Palu from the Philippines to watch the eclipse, told FoxNews.com. I've heard its almost a supernatural experience, and of course hearing the reactions of everyone around me will be fun to experience.

Related: Sundays rare supermoon eclipse: What you need to know

Kentrianakis, who is the solar eclipse project manager for the American Astronomical Society, has booked seat 6F on Alaska Airlines Flight 870 to watch the solar eclipse at about 36,000 feet. After hearing from intrepid eclipse-chaser Joseph Rao last fall that flight 870 would be in the right place at the wrong time for the eclipse, the airline said it agreed to reschedule the flight so it would depart 25 minutes later.

I must say being a veteran eclipse chaser I'm a little nervous about this one. Why? I've never viewed a total solar eclipse from an airplane, said Kentrianakis, who says he and his fellow passenger will be the only Americans not leaving the United States to view the eclipse.

Related: How to watch the 'ring of fire' solar eclipse online

Having seen nine total solar eclipses on the ground all across the world, I don't know what to expect, he told FoxNews.com. From what I hear it's quite spectacular seeing the entire shadow of the Moon sweep across the skyscape and envelope the plane into darkness. I can't imagine it getting more dramatic than that.

And if you can't see the eclipse first hand, there will be plenty of options to see it live on the web. NASA TV will broadcast it live while the Slooh Community Observatory is streaming the eclipse.



An eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun.

When the moon's shadow falls on Earth, observers within that shadow see the moon block a portion of the sun's light. During totality, the sun appears to have a wispy white halo, offering ground observers a rare direct view of its atmosphere or corona, normally kept out of sight by the intense brightness of the solar disc.

This one is considered especially significant because it is lasting for several minutes. Eclipse range from zero to seven minutes and the next one, which takes place across the United States on Aug. 21, 2017, is expected to last about 2 minutes and 41 seconds.

For scientists like Pasachoff, a total eclipse offers a rare chance to directly observe the interactions between different layers of the sun's atmosphere, known as the photosphere, chromosphere and the solar corona.

Related: Faeroe Islands and Svalbard get ready for total solar eclipse

Its shape changes all the time so we only get these high resolution glimpses for two or three minutes every year or two, Pasachoff said of the corona.

If you were a heart surgeon and somebody told you that you had to go to Indonesia to look into a human heart for two minutes and then somebody told you two years later you had to go Africa for another two minutes, there would be no question, he said. You wouldnt be asking why bother going back.

An eclipse also gives scientists the opportunity to study coronal mass ejections, where bubbles of gas burst forth from the sun's corona and sometimes head to Earth. In the worst case scenarios, they can spark solar storms which can knock out communication networks and disable satellites.

Every eclipse is different because the Sun goes through an 11 year sunspot cycle and there are big eruptions that come out of the sun  some of which hit the earth and can zap billion dollar satellites, Pasachoff said, who will be observing this eclipse with a series of telephoto lens and a small telescope. We want to know about these eruptions and how fast they go and how to predict them.
Toyota is developing innovative technology to improve mobility and independence for blind and visually impaired people.



The Project BLAID initiative involves the design of a wearable u shaped device. The device will be worn around the shoulders and aims to fill in the everyday gaps visually impaired users experience using canes, dogs and GPS devices.

Related: Holy Braille: Scientists developing Kindle-style tablet for the blind

The wearable technology will provide the user with information about their surroundings and help them identify everyday indoor items such as escalators, stairs and bathrooms, according to Toyota.



The company says that built-in cameras will detect the users surroundings and the device will communicate information using speakers and vibration motors.

Related: Ambitious 'Free Electric' bike project brings energy to poverty-stricken areas

We believe we have a role to play in addressing mobility challenges, including helping people with limited mobility do more, said Doug Moore, Manager, Partner Robotics, Toyota, in a blog post on the company's website. We believe this project has the potential to enrich the lives of people who are blind and visually impaired.

Users will be able to interact with the device using voice recognition technology and buttons. Toyota added that it will eventually add mapping, object identification and facial recognition technology.

Related: New tech gives US helicopter pilots 'Superman-style' vision

As part of the project, Toyota is inviting its employees to submit videos of common indoor landmarks. The videos will be developers to teach the Project BLAID device to better recognize the landmarks.




Attorneys for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl said Saturday they may seek a deposition from presidential contender Donald Trump or call him as a witness at a legal proceeding, saying they fear his comments could affect their client's right to a fair trial.

Bergdahl's attorney Army Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt asked Trump in a letter dated Saturday for an interview to discuss the Republican's comments about Bergdahl, who faces military charges after walking off a post in Afghanistan in 2009. The letter sent to Trump's New York office by registered mail says the interview would determine whether they will seek to have him give a deposition or appear as a witness at a legal hearing.

"I request to interview you as soon as possible about your comments about Sergeant Bergdahl during frequent appearances in front of large audiences in advance of his court-martial," Rosenblatt wrote in the letter on U.S. Army letterhead.

Defense attorney Eugene Fidell said Trump's statements could affect Bergahl's right to a fair trial. He added in an email to The Associated Press that the statements "raise a serious question as to whether he has compromised Sgt. Bergdahl's right to a fair trial."

A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond to an email and a phone call seeking comment.

Fidell had previously asked publicly that Trump cease making comments about Bergdahl such as Trump's comment in October that the soldier was a "traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed." Fidell has also said previously that Trump gave incorrect information about rescue efforts for Bergdahl during public speeches.

Bergdahl faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, a relatively rare charge that carries a punishment of up to life in prison. His trial had been tentatively scheduled for the summer, but legal wrangling over access to classified documents has caused delays.

Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, walked off his post in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and was released in late May 2014 as part of a prisoner swap, in exchange for five detainees in Guantanamo Bay. The move prompted harsh criticism, with some in Congress accusing President Barack Obama of jeopardizing the safety of the country.

He was arraigned in December but has yet to enter a plea.
Police in Dallas said they were investigating whether human remains found under a bridge Sunday were linked to a hairstylist and mother of three who vanished more than two months ago.

Marisol Espinosa, 34, disappeared in December after colleagues said she never showed up for work. Police said they soon recovered evidence including a phone case and purse in her Chevy Tahoe. The SUV turned up nearly three miles from her home, in the parking lot of an apartment building.

Two people looking for stray dogs reportedly found the remains on Sunday in the same area where people had been searching for the mom. The body was partially clothed, according to Fox 4.

The area around the bridge has a reputation for being a dumping ground, The Dallas Morning News adds.

Espinosa's family soon arrived at the scene, but investigators said they could not immediately identify the body.

Police said her ex-boyfriend, Faustino Valdez, was the last person to see her.

Click for more from Fox 4.
A fierce fire roared through a boarding house in Atlanta early Monday, collapsing the house in on itself and killing six people, authorities said.

The victims included four men and two women, Atlanta Fire Rescue spokesman Cortez Stafford said. Their names were not immediately available. Stafford the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.

Fire crews were called to the house on the city's northwest side about 5 a.m. Monday. When they arrived, the blaze had already spread through the roof and throughout the building, making it impossible for firefighters to reach some areas of the home, Stafford said.

"We got on scene and did the best job we could to try to get inside -- there was just too much fire," he told reporters at the scene. He said the single-level structure with a basement had "collapsed in on itself."

Fire crews raced to the rear of the home to try to get in but discovered there was no exit there, Stafford told WXIA-TV.

Five of the victims were found in the rear of the home and one was found in a front bedroom, he said.

There were two space heaters in the home, which always ran because it was cold in the house, said Jannett Ragland, who said she was at the home in the early morning hours before the fire. One space heater was in the front of the house, and one was in the back, she said.

The owner of the home allowed people to stay there when they needed to, said Kimberly Wise, a neighbor.

With the six deaths, there have now been a total of 39 fire deaths in Georgia this year, said Glenn Allen, a spokesman for the state fire marshal.
This could lead to a pretty severe case of sibling rivalry.

A judge stepped forward as the big winner of a $291 million Powerball jackpot Friday, while his brother scored $7 in the same drawing.

Fortunately for Bob Stocklas, the Florida Lottery printed out an oversized check for him, too, in the amount of seven dollars and zero cents.

It's not clear how he plans to spend his big prize. His brother, James, a judge from eastern Pennsylvania, bought his jackpot-winning ticket while on vacation.

The judge tells The Morning Call of Allentown he returned to Pennsylvania and didn't check the ticket until Friday morning, while eating at a diner. He said he began shaking when he realized he'd won, and bought everyone breakfast.

The judge purchased the lottery ticket with two other people. They immediately flew to Florida in a private jet to claim their winnings. They'll each get about $40 million after taxes.

James Stocklas retired as a judge several years ago, but he continues filling in. He says he'll return to the bench next month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Hendrick Motorsports airplane made an emergency landing early Monday morning because smoke was discovered in the cabin.

The plane was returning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and made a fuel stop in Oklahoma before taking off again to return to North Carolina. Roughly an hour later, the plane was forced to land at Memphis International Airport in Tennessee.

Team spokesman Jesse Essex said there were no injuries and the plane wasn't carrying any of its drivers.

A second plane in North Carolina was sent to Memphis to retrieve the team members.

Ten people were killed in a 2004 crash of a Hendrick plane traveling to a race in Virginia. Among those killed in that crash were Rick Hendrick's son, brother, twin nieces and key Hendrick employees.

Hendrick broke a rib and his clavicle in 2011 when a plane he and his wife were on lost its brakes and crash-landed in Key West, Florida.
Trustees and alumni at a presitigious Ohio college are turning up the heat on the school administration, which has so far taken no action against a nutty professor who believes Jews were behind 9/11 and the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in France.

The Board of Trustees at Oberlin College demanded answers in a statement posted on the school's own website, with Chairman Clyde McGregor blasting "rhetoric and composition" Professor Joy Karega for anti-Semitic online postings.

These postings are anti-Semitic and abhorrent, McGregor said in the statement. We deplore anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry. They have no place at Oberlin.

As an Oberlin alumna, I can tell you that the vile anti-Semitism now on full public display before the nation has festered on the campus for decades.  Michelle Malkin

These grave issues must be considered expeditiously, he continued, adding that the school and faculty must "challenge the assertion that there is any justification for these repugnant postings and to report back to the Board.

On Monday, Oberlin officials released a joint statement with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, AJC Cleveland, the Anti-Defamation League Cleveland Region and the Cleveland Hillel Foundation, which met with Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov and his senior staff.

In a welcoming atmosphere, we discussed, openly and candidly, the potential implications of a professors personal views on classroom activity and student intimidation, the statement reads. We also discussed our shared respect for academic freedom."

The groups also announced that college is following procedures already in place to deal with the matter.

A school spokesman told FoxNews.com that no action has been taken as of yet.

Nothing has been changed since we posted the board statement, he said.

The latest stance from Oberlin brass was a stark departure from the initial response.

In a short statement released in February, officials for the school stated that they respected Karega's right to express her views.

Oberlin College respects the rights of its faculty, students, staff, and alumni to express their personal views, reads the statement. Acknowledgement of this right does not signal institutional support for, or endorsement of, any specific position.

Last week, Krislow released a statement defending academic freedom.

The screenshots affected me on a very personal level. I am a practicing Jew, grandson of an Orthodox rabbi. Members of our family were murdered in the Holocaust, Krislow said in his open letter. As someone who has studied history, I cannot comprehend how any person could or would question its existence, its horrors, and the evil which caused it.

I am also the son of a tenured faculty member at a large research university he also said. My father instilled in me a strong belief in academic freedom. I believe, as the American Association of University Professors says, that academic freedom is the indispensable quality of institutions of higher education because it encourages free inquiry, promotes the expansion of knowledge, and creates an environment in which learning and research can flourish.

The offensive posts go as far back as January 2015, when Karega posted an image of an ISIS terrorist pulling off and Mask with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the caption, FRANCE WANTS TO FREE PALESTINE? TIME FOR A FALSE FLAG

The non-tenured professor also claimed in another post that the Islamic State is not Islamic, but rather a CIA and Mossad operation, writing "theres too much information out here for the general public not to know this.

She also once claimed that Israeli and Zionist Jews orchestrated the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Karegas social media screeds on Facebook are just the latest in a string of incidents perceived by many as anti-Semitic on the famously liberal college campus.

As recently as January, some 200 Oberlin College graduates signed an open letter to the northern Ohio school, blasting what they called a hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty on campus. The critics charged that the Boycott, Divest from, and Sanction Israel movement on campus has morphed into raw racism.

"Several student organizations at Oberlin have assumed the role as the mouthpiece of the BDS movement, which claims to be a defender of Palestinian rights, but whose inflammatory language falsely portraying Israel as an illegitimate, colonialist and murderous regime demonstrates that its primary goal is to demonize the Jewish state," reads part of the letter.

Conservative columnist and Oberlin alum Michelle Malkin said anti-Israeli rhetoric has long been in fashion on the idyllic campus.

As an Oberlin alumna, I can tell you that the vile anti-Semitism now on full public display before the nation has festered on the campus for decades, Malkin tells FoxNews.com. Despite its professed commitment to tolerance and diversity, the left-wing faculty, administration, and much of the student body have embraced Israel-bashing and Jew hatred as a feature, not a bug, of an Oberlin education.

Malkin said it is troubling that school has not taken any action.

The waffling and spinelessness of Oberlin's president Marvin Krislov is also no surprise, she says. He and other tenured radicals are much more comfortable manufacturing fake hate crime and hate speech outrage than they are with dealing with the real deal.

Karega posted a final statement on Facebook Saturday, saying she was done talking about the issue.

I will no longer be making any statements concerning my situation at Oberlin, she wrote in her post. We have reached a point where it is time for me to defer to my legal counsel.
Police in Vicksburg, Miss. said they were investigating whether the shooting of a driver Sunday was linked to Rafael McCloud, the capital murder suspect who broke out of prison last week.

The driver's silver 2014 Honda Accord was stolen before an officer on patrol found the 52-year-old man face-down in a parking lot, police said. Paramedics rushed the driver to the hospital in critical condition, The Clarion-Ledger reports.

When asked whether McCloud was involved, Vicksburg police chief Walter Armstrong said, "It's still too early to say." He added that investigators found no evidence at the shooting scene, and the victim was in such bad shape that he initially couldn't talk to them.

The manhunt for McCloud, 34, entered its sixth day Monday. Local, state and federal officers combed abandoned buildings in Vicksburg and followed tips, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

McCloud escaped from the Warren County Jail early Wednesday using a homemade shank to waylay a jail employee and force him to give up his pants and jacket, Pace added.

Early Thursday morning, police found the pants on the site of an abandoned hospital where ghost hunters in 2015 found the body of 69-year-old Sharen Wilson. McCloud was arrested and indicted on murder and rape charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Local authorities offer a $7,500 reward for McCloud's capture, urging residents to phone in tips but stay away from McCloud.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Authorities say a man has been fatally shot by Rochester police after he pointed a shotgun at SWAT team members during a standoff.

Police say one of their snipers shot the man at 8:50 a.m. Monday, more than four hours after officers were called to a neighborhood along Lake Avenue for a report of a man armed with a shotgun.

Residents received an automated phone call around 6:30 a.m. Monday telling them to remain in their homes. An armored vehicle was used to remove residents of an apartment building from the scene.

Police say the 49-year-old man was killed when he pointed his gun at officers. No other details have been released.
Police say an Israeli man was stabbed multiple times in the West Bank, the latest in months of near-daily Palestinian assaults on Israeli forces and civilians.

Spokeswoman Luba Samri says the man wounded Friday is in critical condition. She says the initial investigation indicates it was "most likely" a Palestinian attacker.

Palestinian attacks since mid-September have killed 28 Israelis. At the same time, at least 166 Palestinians were killed, most of them said by Israel to have been attackers. The rest died in clashes with troops.

Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, compounded on social media sites that glorify and encourage attacks. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli rule and dwindling hopes for gaining independence.
The shifts on board the ship are punishing: 12 hours on, 12 hours off, seven days a week, for a month straight  though pingpong and poker during the downtime help break up the monotony. But for the American man who designed a sonar device being used in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, spending nearly six months at sea searching for the plane was something of an honor.

With that honor has come the weight of responsibility  for the families of the 239 people on board the vanished plane still desperate for answers. Now, with the search of a remote patch of ocean off Australia's west coast drawing to a close and the plane's wreckage proving stubbornly elusive, Jay Larsen is among those feeling the pressure.

"I think there is some tension building as the end of the job comes nearer," says Larsen, whose Whitefish, Montana-based company built one of the devices scanning a mountainous stretch of seabed where the plane is believed to have crashed nearly two years ago. "Everybody wants to find this thing, including us."

Larsen has been involved with the hunt from the beginning, when marine services contractor Phoenix International Holdings hired his deep-water search and survey company, Hydrospheric Solutions, to provide the sonar equipment used on board the search vessel GO Phoenix. The Malaysian-contracted vessel participated in eight months of the hunt until June last year.

Most recently, Larsen and his team flew to Singapore to load their sonar device onto a Chinese ship, the Dong Hai Jiu 101, which has just joined three other vessels scouring the southern Indian Ocean for the plane. He then traveled on board the Dong Hai to the west Australian city of Fremantle, and, after ensuring the sonar and his team were ready to go, bid them adieu last month as they set out for the search zone 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) to the southwest.

Larsen's company has a crew of eight people on the Chinese ship who are tasked with running the sonar system  or "flying the fish," as he puts it. That "fish" is actually a 20-foot (6-meter) long, 5-foot (1.5-meter) wide, 3.5-ton bright yellow behemoth called the SLH ProSAS-60, which is dragged slowly behind the ship by a cable.

The device hovers just above the seabed as it scans a patch of ocean floor 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) wide, sending data to computers on board that process the information into images.

The black-and-white, near-photo-quality pictures that pop up on the screen resemble the surface of the moon. The imagery, produced by synthetic aperture sonar, is higher quality than conventional sonar, Larsen says, giving him confidence that his team won't miss the debris field if they drift over it.

The job can be grueling. Larsen was on board the GO Phoenix at the start of the underwater search  from September 2014 to February 2015  breaking only to return to shore once a month for fresh supplies, and flying home once to the U.S. for the holidays.

"It almost ruined my head, my brain, my heart, my marriage, but we got it going," he says.

On board, two teams of three people work alternating 12-hour shifts every day, a job that requires close attention and coordination. One of Larsen's employees sits at the controls flying the sonar, while a navigator sits beside him looking at upcoming terrain to warn him of obstacles. A third staffer sits in a nearby seat providing a backup set of eyes. Another team member pops in occasionally in case anyone needs a break.

The work is both monotonous and intense; there are long stretches where nothing happens, until bam  a massive mountain in the seabed suddenly appears in front of them. The sonar could be destroyed if it hits a rock wall, or it could get hopelessly stuck on something and languish forever on the ocean floor, which reaches depths of 6.5 kilometers (4 miles).

"It's that whole cliche of hours of boredom interspersed with moments of terror," Larsen says. "Some of the terrain out there is just incredible, these mountains and trenches and stuff that we're trying to get every last look into to make sure we don't miss anything. So the more daring we are, the better in terms of the imagery  but the consequences are real. ... It's a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment and we don't want to lose it."

Larsen's team must work closely with the crew to ensure the vessel is maintaining the right speed so the sonar doesn't sink to the bottom.

Those on board also must grapple with the region's notoriously brutal weather. The team can operate the sonar in up to 4-meter (13-foot) swells, but anything bigger forces them to pull up the gear so it isn't damaged. Maneuvering the massive device out of the water when the waves are big is tricky, as it can swing violently from the crane as the ship rocks. Well-planned choreography by more than a dozen people is required to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

The first month Larsen's team was on the hunt, they were in a constant state of alert, expecting the plane would quickly be found. As time passed, some of that anxiousness waned and the job became more routine. But they've never given up hope that the aircraft will be spotted, even though there's just 30 percent of the 120,000 square kilometer (46,000-square-mile) search zone left to check.

"It literally could be any minute, we could look up and see debris on that screen," he says.

When Larsen's team isn't on duty, they burn off energy at the ship's gym, watch movies, read and play poker, pingpong and somewhat contentious rounds of Monopoly. But often, they prefer to retire to their rooms for much-needed solitude. Most people share a room with one other person, but work opposing shifts so they get the space to themselves.

The Dong Hai crew is planning to stay in the search zone for 38 to 42 days at a stretch before returning to port for supplies. It's a tough assignment, but Larsen didn't have any trouble wrangling volunteers.

"Everybody wants to be on the MH370 search," he says.

The job comes with some perks, such as the novelty of being the first humans to lay eyes on much of the underwater terrain. The seabed in the search zone is so remote that it had never even been mapped before the hunt for Flight 370 began. In that sense, the search has proven thrilling, though Larsen is conscious of the larger goal.

"There are 239 families out there, so it's hard to be like, 'We're excited! This is awesome!'" he says. "But at the same time, we're really proud right now to be a part of the search because it's a huge effort and I hope to bring resolution to those families. And that's really the thing that drives us all is, 'Put a lid on this thing. Let's get this done.'"
A gunman shot three men, one fatally, at a signage business in a suburb of Australia's largest city Monday, beginning a six-hour standoff that ended with the gunman's death and the rescue of three people from the building.

A heavily armed tactical response team stormed the building shortly after 5 p.m. local time (1 a.m. EST). They found the 33-year-old gunman dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, New South Wales police spokesman Mark Brett said.

Police also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Brett said. It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the shooter or had been hiding the whole time while they waited for the standoff to end.

The drama began at approximately 10:45 a.m. local time Monday (6:45 p.m. Sunday EST), when the initial shooting was reported in an industrial area of Ingleburn, about 25 miles from Sydney. Authorities said one man died at the scene, and two other men were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper identified the deceased shooting victim as 43-year-old Michael Bassal. The paper also reported that the two wounded victims were Bassal's brothers, but their names were not immediately given. Brett said one of the wounded victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body.

Witnesses from nearby businesses say they heard five gunshots ring out. Streets were shut down around the area and workers in nearby offices were told to stay inside and keep away from windows.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Brett said. He would not say how long the suspected shooter had been dead, or say whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the standoff. Brett also declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a "long-arm weapon."

Click for more from News.com.au.
An American man has been arrested in connection with the death of his girlfriend in a Mexican resort town, the country's federal police said Sunday.

The suspect was identified by Mexican authorities as 59-year-old John Loveless. His hometown was not given. A police statement said Loveless was detained at the Cancun airport before he was to board a flight to Atlanta.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City confirmed the death in Playa del Carmen of an American citizen it identified as Tamra Turpin, but also would not give her hometown. It offered condolences and said it was providing consular assistance in the case. The embassy also said it was aware of reports that a U.S. citizen had been detained, but referred further questions to Mexican authorities.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that Turpin was from Union, Mo., a town about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. She was 36 years old.

Turpin was found dead Wednesday in a condo the couple had rented, and a forensic examination concluded she died of asphyxia by strangulation.

Turpin's cousin and sister told the Post-Dispatch that she had known Loveless for about a year, and the two had taken other trips together. The woman's relatives said Loveless had told them Turpin had been taken to a hospital the day she died after suffering seizures. He claimed she was released, but "still wasn't right", then died at the hotel later Wednesday morning.

"We were in shock," said Turpin's cousin, Julie Burr. "I never expected anything like this."



Turpin's sister, Jodie Mills, said Turpin had suffered a disability after being in a car accident during her teens. The injury, which was not specified, prevented her from working.

"She was a wonderful, sweet girl," Mills told the Post-Dispatch.

The family has set up a gofundme account in an effort to raise the $8,000 needed to bring Turpin's body back from Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
An Indian Catholic priest was abducted by militants when they attacked a retirement home in southern Yemen last week, killing 16 people including four nuns, a charity group established by Mother Teresa said Monday.

Missionaries of Charity spokeswoman Sunita Kumar said in Kolkata that Father Tom Uzhunnalil was handcuffed and taken away by the attackers when they stormed the retirement home in Aden.

They destroyed the chapel and the center, Kumar said.

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said there was no information about the priest's current location or status.

After they entered the retirement home, the gunmen moved from room to room, handcuffing their victims before shooting them in the head. Kumar said two of the killed Catholic nuns were from Rwanda and the other two were from India and Kenya.

The Indian embassy in Yemen was closed but its office in Djibouti was trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the Indian priest to secure his release. "We will spare no efforts to rescue Father Uzhunnalil," Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter.

There were around 80 residents at the home at the time of the attack. 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 and Yemen's Al Qaeda affiliate have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south. Al Qaeda controls several southern cities while IS 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.
A proposal to ensure pork remained part of the food on offer in public canteens as well as schools and kindergartens failed to pass the parliament in a northern German state, according to English language German news site The Local.

Lawmakers in Schleswig-Holstein who supported the plan argued that pork had been removed from menus across the region in order to conform to Islamic customs. Germany has seen an influx of Muslims among the refugees streaming in from Syria and other wartorn parts of the world. Devout Muslims are forbidden from eating pork.

More and more canteens, kindergartens and schools are taking pork out of their menus so as to cater for religious custom, Christian Democratic Union parliament leader Daniel Gunther said.

But many in opposing parties mocked the measure.

Vegetarians, vegans and Muslims are in a Holy Trinity: taking over power in Schleswig-Holstein canteens, Social Democratic Party deputy leader Ralf Stegner wrote on Twitter.
The number of Muslim converts who are risking prison or death by secretly worshipping as Christians in Irans house church movement has grown to as many as 1 million people, according to watchdog groups.



The London-based Pars Theological Center is training at least 200 Iranian Christians to become the next generation of Iran's church leaders, the Christian Post reported.

The persecution of Christians has persisted in Iran since the 1979 rise of the countrys theocratic Shiite Muslim government -- with Christians facing the threat of death, lashing and torture. About 100 Christians currently remain imprisoned under Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's rule.

In 2010, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country's underground house churches threaten the Islamic faith and deceive young Muslims.

"If they want to sing, they have to sing very quietly or not sing at all."  Observer of Iranian "house" churches

Despite the crackdown, there is now a growing movement of Christians in the Islamic Republic. Groups like Open Doors USA estimate around 450,000 practicing Christians in the country, while other estimates record more than 1 million Christians in Iran.

"Pars sees this as a real chance to train agents of change who would transform the Iranian society from the bottom up by fostering a grassroots development of the values of Jesus in an Iranian style," a source close to the center told the Christian Post.

"It is not anti-Iranian," the source said. "It's an Iranian movement. It's a great, great number of Muslims turning to Christ."

The source also said that Iranian house churches consist only of about four to five members -- due to the threat of detection -- and that they are forced to their place of gathering every time they meet.

"If they want to sing, they have to sing very quietly or not sing at all," the source told the Post.

While Iran has released high-profile Christian pastors from captivity -- most notably Iranian American Saeed Abedini -- other Christian ministers still languish in the country's prisons.

Pastor Farshid Fathi has been locked up in Irans notorious Evin prison since December 2010 for what the American Center for Law and Justice describes as practicing his Christian faith.

After bowing to international pressure, Iranian authorities are starting to avoid charges that appear to be based on a persons faith, according to the ACLJ. In Fathis case, his Christian activity was framed as being criminal political offenses by the court.

The regime in Iran equated his activities as actions against national security, based on evidence the pastor unlawfully distributed Bibles printed in Farsi, Iranians' language.

Another Christian minister, Pastor Behnam Irani, is serving six years in Ghezal Hezar prison for alleged actions against the state, after he preached to a group of converted Christians in a house church as well as sharing his faith with Muslims.

But the widespread persecution hasn't stopped groups like Pars from expanding the Christian movement within the Islamic Republic.

The center, which was founded by Rev. Mehrdad Fatehi in 2010, works closely with several Iranian house church networks. About 70 percent of Pars' students live in Iran and are trained within the country, according to the Christian Post.
Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah quit their jobs and spent their life savings to reach Europe, only to find crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather. Now back home in northern Iraq, they describe their quest for a better life as a disaster.



They each spent some $8,000 on the trip, much of it on smugglers, only to get stuck in asylum-seekers' camps in Germany and Sweden for months on end, where they say they were given very little food or money.



"It was very bad," Omar, 25, said of the German camp. "Honestly, we were starving there. We ran away because of hunger. They gave us only cheese and tea, and our weekly allowance was 30 euros."



They decided to try their luck in Sweden instead, but that didn't work either.



"When we arrived there, it was winter. It was freezing. They put me in a room with three Syrians. I couldn't speak Arabic and they couldn't speak Kurdish. We were communicating like deaf people," Omar said. After trying Germany one more time, they gave up.



"We said to each other, let's go home. It's better than anywhere else," he said.



Many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees heading to Europe have no choice but to brave such hardships because they hail from places gripped by war, where their lives are in danger. But Omar and Abdullah come from Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which has been largely spared from fighting with ISIS.



They are among what experts say is a growing number of refugees who are returning home because of the difficulty of finding housing and employment in Europe.



Some 70,000 Iraqis joined the tide of refugees seeking a better life in Europe last year, according to the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration. The Iraqi Refugees Federation, a local NGO, says the number may be twice as high, with some 40,000 coming from the Kurdish region.



But as winter set in last year, the number of people applying for repatriation with the IOM began to grow, from 100 people a month since the start of the year to 350 in September, 761 in October and 831 in January 2016.



"It is very hard to know what the total numbers are because many of them are returning independently and they blend in with other travelers," said Sandra Black, the Iraq communications officer for the IOM. "But the numbers are significantly increasing."



That may come as welcome news to European countries that have opened their doors to refugees fleeing conflict but say economic asylum-seekers should stay where they are. It's also an indication of the mounting difficulties refugees face in Germany and Sweden, which together took in more than a million refugees last year.



"They come back for lack of hope for getting residency in Europe, lack of job opportunities, slow family reunification, and for not finding the housing and living opportunities that they were hoping for," Black said.



"The increasing number of arrivals has created massive pressures on the immigration system in Europe. Applications take longer, and so some of them give up."



Maurizio Albahari, an anthropology professor at Notre Dame University who studies migration to Europe, said a number of European countries are "actively seeking to discourage asylum-seekers from staying, at least indirectly."



He said they do so by making family reunification a more lengthy and difficult process and by having long processing times for newly arrived asylum-seekers.



Of the 4,305 Iraqis who received IOM assistance to return in all of 2015 and January 2016, a third returned to the Kurdish region.

The largely autonomous region is safe, and itself has been a major destination for refugees. But the war, along with plunging oil prices, has taken a heavy toll on the local economy.



Omar had worked as a day laborer in restaurants and supermarkets, while Abdullah had driven a taxi, which he sold to help finance his trip. They say their decision to migrate was mainly driven by peer pressure.



"I saw that everybody was leaving and they were saying, `It's like this and that (in Europe).' But when I went there it wasn't like that at all," Omar said.



"Life in Europe is really hard," Abdullah said. "You have to wait. And we couldn't wait. We couldn't wait because we were so attached and loyal to our land, our families, to our mothers and relatives. And honestly, Europe and a residency card are not worth leaving your family and risking your life for."



Soran Omar, head of the human rights committee in the Kurdish regional parliament, said their experience is not uncommon.



"We told the deputy speaker of the German parliament, who was here recently, that even the people displaced from Fallujah and Ramadi were living in better conditions here in Kurdistan than the refugees in Germany now," he said.



But he said the greater exodus from the region shows no sign of slowing down.



"A lot of people may be coming back. But the opposite current is much, much bigger," he said. "People here have nothing to lose. We think this year will be the year of migration."
More than 150 al-Shabaab fighters were killed as they stood in formation at a graduation ceremony, a U.S. official said Monday.

The strike, which used manned and unmanned aircraft, targeted a terrorist training camp in Raso, Somalia. Raso is located 120 miles north of the capital city of Mogadishu.

The airstrike was done in "self-defense," Air Force Secretary Deborah James said at a news conference.

The camp, which held up to 200 fighters at a time, was preparing to conduct a large scale attack against U.S. and African forces sometime in the future, according to Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.

The attack occurred near the end of that training, Davis said, but he did not reveal how the U.S. military made that determination.

There were no indications of civilian casualties, Davis said.

The camp had been under close observation for two weeks before the strike, according to Davis.



Data curated by FindTheData

We struck the camp and destroyed it, he said.

The State Department declared al-Shabaab a terrorist organization in February 2008 and the terror group has launched numerous large-scale attacks in the years since.



Al-Shabaab terrorized the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi killing 67 in 2013 and the group killed 147 university students in neighboring Kenya in April 2015, singling out Christians during the massacre. That attack occurred at Garissa University College, 200 miles east of the capital city of Nairobi.

A U.S. drone strike in March 2015 killed Adan Garar, an al-Shabaab leader tied to the Westgate mall attack.

In 2014, President Obama announced the head of al-Shabaab, Ahmed Abdi Godane, had been killed in an American drone strike.

The State Department had a $7 million bounty on his head.
Two French girls who ran away to be ISIS brides after becoming radicalized were saved from their deadly misadventure Sunday after classmates alerted police and touched off a national search.

The girls, identified as Israe, 15, and Louisa, 16, were planning to go to Syria to join the terrorist army, authorities told France 24. Other European teens that have run away to join ISIS have ended up dead, including some who were executed for trying to escape.

One of the girls was already suspected of radicalization and was under surveillance, a public prosecutor told reporters. She had been placed in a group home and banned from leaving the country. On Saturday morning, we also enacted a travel ban on the second girl.

Authorities moved quickly to circulate photos of the pair on Twitter after classmates in Annecy alerted authorities Friday evening. The classmates initially tried to stop the two at the Chambery train station, according to reports.

It is not easy to break this cycle she has been sucked in by it.  Mother of French teen runaway

The circumstances of their return were not immediately clear, although their parents made a televison appeal to the girls to have them return home.

Israes mother Nadia told Le Parisien newspaper her daughter had tried to run away to Syria two years ago at age 13.

It is not easy to break this cycle she has been sucked in by it, Nadia told the newspaper. She wanted to go to Syria to help children and serve a good cause.

French intelligence services say 81 French minors have left for Syria, including 51 girls. In December, a 16-year-old girl ran away from home to join ISIS, but was caught before she could leave the country. Weeks later, another girl who had been put into a de-radicalization program after plotting to bomb a synagogue was caught trying to flee.

In a case that made international headlines last year, three British high school girls went to Syria to become ISIS brides. They initially maintained some contact with family, and told of ending up in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. By July, two had been married to ISIS militants, but earlier this year, their families said they had lost contact with them.

In another highly publicized case, two Austrian teenagers dubbed "poster girls" for ISIS fled their homes for the caliphate in 2014. The teens, Samra Kesinovic and Sabina Selimovic, have both reportedly been killed. Selimovic was reportedly killed in fighting in December 2014, while Kesinovic was beaten to death for trying to escape, according to reports in Austria that cited a Tunisian woman who escaped from Raqqa.

At the time of their disappearance, the Austrian teens left a note for their families saying, "Dont look for us. We will serve Allah and we will die for him."
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All Finns grow up familiar with the sauna bathing experience. My own earliest visit to the sauna was a scary one: a hot dark petrol-smelling affair in my uncle's temporary tent sauna.

A traditional sauna that is heated by burning chopped birch smells different from the small electric saunas many of us have in our flats. In the summer we can use a vihta, whips made of fresh birch twigs to enhance the effect of the heat. The aromatic smell of birch lingers in the mind.

The so-called loylytuoksu has been entering our saunas in recent years. Loylytuoksu is an aromatic essence you add to your bucket of water before tossing the water onto the heated stones. Many of these essences try to replicate the birch aroma. The Finnish sauna brand Rentosauna (relaxed sauna) offers also aromas of tar, eucalyptus, Lapland Berries and Winter Spices to ones evening sauna.

I have wondered many times how brand new baby-Finns react to their first visit to the sauna. It is true that in the old days this was the only warm, clean place to give birth to a baby. I assume that the temperature was not 100 degrees Celsius and Daddy was not throwing water on the hot stones at the time!

The arrival of my own first baby girl was a long grim journey that fortunately ended in total bliss... and not in a sauna but in Tampere General Hospital in central Finland.



Tampere City Hall

My baby was born in December, and it took six months before she had her first sauna. In early June in the summer cottage I carried her to our ancient black smoke sauna. Needless to say the dark hot space  although not as hot as it would normally be  scared the little girl into crying and wriggling in my arms!

But back to the general hospital. I was feeling rather shaken afterwards.

I will never forget my sister, the brand new auntie, arriving with a large bar of chocolate and a blue-and-silver bottle of Yves Saint Laurents Rive Gauche EdT created by Michael Hy in 1970 and launched in 1971.

The combined sensation of the two gave me such a jolt of joy: I will survive!

Im not sure if my sister thought of me as independent and quintessentially metropolitan, as the fragrance was advertised in those days, but the optimistic EdT really picked me up and fortified my soul.

Theres no way my sister would have known that I love the scent of vetiver  I dont think I knew it myself then. Perhaps she had walked through the Tampere Stockmann department store on her way to the university and spotted Rive Gauche there.

The freshness of aldehydes together with the warmth of the bouquet of rose, jasmine and geranium freed my mind to escape the hospital ward and the horrible pink night gown and fly out to the world: theres more to come in my life!

I was saving my EdT for other special occasions. But when I did wear it, I felt grown up and confident. And I did get compliments on my fragrance. So perhaps the mild unscented Finland was getting ready for something wilder!

I have been unfaithful to many of my beloved fragrances. The same happened with Rive Gauche. Other things happened in my life.



Eeva-Helena and Marlen work together

in 2011 for Anna Magazine

Then in 2004, when I began to work as beauty producer for a womens magazine, perfumes arrived in my professional life. I started getting invitations to perfume launches and quickly learned: vetiver yes, patchouli no.

That insight led me to return to Rive Gauche. The vetiver was still there, but like in life in general, you cannot recreate your younger years. The fragrance had somehow faded. Or had I?

Im interested in finding out what is the motivation of a manufacturer when they decide to revamp a perfume. What is the success rate in doing that? And does the success depend on the receivers age?

Perhaps the younger consumers expect different things from a classic perfume.

I wonder, do people from other cultures have similar scent memories connected with having children? Did you grow up with the scent of the Turkish hammam or Japanese onsen, for example? It would be fascinating to hear your memories!

To be continued...

Read other articles in this series HERE.
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CPR Cell Phone Repair Continues Network Expansion with New Franchise Store in Conway, SC

Independence, OH - February 19, 2016 - (PR.com) - CPR Cell Phone Repair, the largest and fastest growing retail mobile device repair franchise network in North America, is pleased to announce the opening of a new store in Conway, SC. CPR Cell Phone Repair congratulates Keith Walter on the opening of his franchise store in Conway and warmly welcomes him to the network.

Walter stated, As a long term resident of Conway, I am delighted to be offering CPR Cell Phone Repairs services to the local community. Customers continuous need for fast and convenient repair services makes this franchise a great business decision.

Conway, is just a short drive from nearby Myrtle Beach, one of South Carolinas most popular beach resort areas. Known as the Grand Stand, this popular vacation destination attracts over 14 million visitors each year. Nearby Conway is a charming and historic town that benefits from its proximity to Myrtle Beach. Conway has been recently revitalized by the renovation of the Riverwalk area that features numerous shops and restaurants and is located along the scenic Waccamaw River. In addition to major services, retail businesses and tourist attractions, Conway is also home to Coastal Carolina University, Horry-Georgetown Technical College and the North American Institute of Aviation.

South Carolinas beach region is clearly booming and is an ideal location for a new CPR store. Keith Walter joins CPR with over 20 years of retail management experience. We are delighted that Keith will be providing CPRs top quality repairs and customer service to the Conway community, added Josh Sevick, CPR President.

CPR Cell Phone Repair of Conway is located at 117 Rivertown Boulevard, Unit C, Conway, SC 29526.

To learn more about the stores full range of electronic device repair services, call 843-772-0159.

Please contact via e-mail at repairs@cpr-conway.com.

For further information, visit the website: http://www.cellphonerepair.com/Conway-sc/

About CPR Cell Phone Repair

Founded in Orlando, Fla. in 1996, CPR Cell Phone Repair is the fastest growing wireless technology franchise in North America and operates over 225 locations internationally. As a pioneer and leader in the electronics repair industry, CPR offers same-day repair and refurbishing services for cell phones, laptops, gaming systems, digital music players, tablets and other personal electronic devices. CPR was named an Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500 (2016) ranking and earning a top brand on the Inc. 500, CPR continues to lead the mobile device repair industry. For more information about CPR Cell Phone Repair and franchise opportunities, visit http://www.cellphonerepair.com/ or call 877-856-5101.

SOURCE CPR Cell Phone Repair

Contact:

Shari Kosec

Director, Onboarding and Franchisee Relations

CPR Cell Phone Repair

skosec@cellphonerepair.com

216-674-0645 x616



Lauren Davies

CPR Cell Phone Repair, Social Media

ldavies@merrymtg.com

###

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Cold Stone Creamery Teams Up With Reeses To Create New Peanut Butter Ice Cream Flavor And Creation

Nothin but Peanut Butter Cup Creation in Stores Now

March 03, 2016 // Franchising.com // Scottsdale, Ariz.  Ice Cream and Reeses Peanut Butter Cup lovers wont want to miss the newest flavor at Cold Stone Creamery (www.ColdStoneCreamery.com). As of, March 2, 2016, Cold Stone Creamery locations nationwide will be serving the new Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, made with real Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

What could be better than the combination of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream? said Kate Unger, senior vice president of marketing for Cold Stone Creamery. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are one of our most popular mix-ins, so we know customers are going to love this one-of-a-kind flavor and like all of our superpremium Ice Cream flavors, the new Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream is made fresh in every store and hand-crafted in small batches to ensure the very best in quality and taste.

Cold Stone Creamery will be serving up this indulgent ice cream flavor and Creation, Nothin But Peanut Butter Cup, from March 2  April 12. 2016.

*Promotional Creation:

Nothin' but Peanut Butter Cup  Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, Reeses Peanut Butter Sauce and Fudge

About Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery delivers the Ultimate Ice Cream Experience through a community of franchisees who are passionate about ice cream. The secret recipe for smooth and creamy ice cream is hand-crafted fresh daily in each store, and then customized by combining a variety of mix-ins on a frozen granite stone. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Cold Stone Creamery is a subsidiary of Kahala Brands, one of the fastest growing franchising companies in the world with a portfolio of 18 quick-service restaurant brands. Cold Stone Creamery operates approximately 1,500 locations in over 27 countries.

About Made Fresh

In Cold Stone Creamery locations across the world, our ice cream is hand-crafted in small batches  one flavor at a time. We start with the highest quality cream, sugar and flavorings to make our ice cream fresh in the back of each of our stores. This small-batch process ensures our customers receive the richest, creamiest, most delicious ice cream when they visit Cold Stone Creamery.

For more information about Cold Stone Creamery, visit www.ColdStoneCreamery.com.

For more information about Kahala Brands, visit www.KahalaBrands.com.

SOURCE Cold Stone Creamery

Contact:

Jessica Benedick

Cold Stone Creamery

480.362.4837

jbenedick@kahalamgmt.com

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Penn Station East Coast Subs Celebrates St. Patricks Day With Reuben Sandwich

Reuben Will Be Available At Monthly Special Price For March 17 Only

March 07, 2016 // Franchising.com // MILFORD, OHIO - Penn Station East Coast Subs, the fast-casual restaurant known for its grilled, made-to-order sub sandwiches, hand-squeezed lemonade and fresh-cut fries, is celebrating St. Patricks Day with its Reuben sandwich, featuring slow-roasted corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and optional Thousand Island dressing.

This year, the Reuben will be available at the monthly special price on March 17 at all restaurants. Customers will be able to get a six-inch Reuben sandwich, fresh-cut fries and a drink for approximately $7.99 (prices vary by location).

With our slow-roasted corned beef and fresh sauerkraut, our Reuben sandwich is a perfect way to honor the Irish and celebrate St. Patricks Day, said Craig Dunaway, president of Penn Station East Coast Subs. We thought it would be fun to give customers a holiday deal on the sandwich this year, which is why were offering it at the monthly special price on St. Patricks Day only.

Cincinnati-based Penn Station East Coast Subs features grilled sub sandwiches  including the chains renowned Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich  and cold deli sandwiches made to order with high-quality ingredients on hearth-baked bread. The menu also includes fresh-cut fries, hand-squeezed lemonade and chocolate chunk cookies baked daily in the restaurant. Penn Station offers eat-in dining, carry out and catering.

About Penn Station East Coast Subs

Founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1985, Penn Station serves a variety of grilled and cold deli sandwiches made to order with high-quality ingredients on freshly baked bread. The menu also includes hand-cut fries, hand-squeezed lemonade made throughout the day and chocolate chunk cookies baked in the restaurant. Penn Station was named the best sandwich chain in the Nations Restaurant News 2015 Consumer Picks survey.

Penn Station has more than 300 locations in 15 states including Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. All but one location is franchised, and Penn Station has a better-than 99.9 percent success rate with only two store closings over the last 30 years. As a franchisor, Penn Station is known for its outstanding profitability and return on investment.

Projections call for the opening of 25 restaurants nationwide in 2016. Penn Station is targeting Kansas City, Atlanta, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Virginia and Dallas for franchise expansion. For more information, visit www.penn-station.com.

SOURCE Penn Station East Coast Subs

Media Contact:

Caitlin Thompson

513-659-1183

Caitlin@caitthompson.com

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PizzaRev Honored with 2016 Restaurant Neighbor Award

March 07, 2016 // Franchising.com // Los Angeles  PizzaRev is the proud recipient of the 2016 Restaurant Neighbor Award from the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (CRAEF). The Restaurant Neighbor Award celebrates outstanding charitable services performed by restaurant operators throughout the U.S.

The 31-unit fast-casual pizza franchise has donated more than $150,000 to schools, charities and other local organizations in the communities it serves. Most notable is PizzaRevs Pay What You Want fundraiser, held as part of the grand opening of each new location. On grand opening day, guests choose the price they pay for their pizza, and 100 percent of donated proceeds benefit a designated local non-profit.

We are honored to be recognized by the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation for our efforts to positively impact the communities that we call home, said PizzaRev co-founder, President and COO, Nicholas Eckerman. Giving back to our neighbors is at the core of our business and we look forward to expanding out philanthropic efforts as we open PizzaRev restaurants in new markets across the country.

For the past 19 years, the Restaurant Neighbor Award has recognized the impact restaurants and entrepreneurs have made on their local communities. PizzaRev is one of five recipients of the California award and the company is a finalist for the National Restaurant Associations Restaurant Neighbor Awards.

We work with the best restaurant and hospitality companies in the world, CRAEF Executive Director Alycia Harshfield said. These awards are well deserved and represent the generosity and diversity of our industry. Each award winner enriches their community in meaningful ways and we are proud to honor them.

About PizzaRev

PizzaRev is a "build-your-own" fast-casual pizza concept that has reinvented the way America eats its favorite food. Guests are empowered to fully customize a personal-sized 11" pizza for one price. Homemade dough options, flavorful sauces, all-natural cheeses, and more than 30+ artisanal toppings, everything is on display at PizzaRev and assembled right before your eyes. The pizzas are then fired in a 900-degree, stone-bed oven which produces a thin and crispy Roman-style pizza in just three minutes. Los Angeles-based PizzaRev was founded in 2012; the executive team possesses a combination of Fortune 500 operating experience and high-profile restaurant management.

PizzaRev is currently franchising and announced a strategic partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings in 2013. The company currently operates 31 locations with more than 150 additional franchises under development across Mexico, Washington, D.C. and 16 states: AZ, CA, CO, GA, MA, MN, NE, NJ, ND, NV, NY, OH, SD, TN, TX and UT.

Visit www.PizzaRev.com for the latest company news and location information. You can also find PizzaRev on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram.

About the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation

CRAEF has awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarships and grants since its inception in 1981. CRAEF works to enhance education and training programs within the hospitality industry. ProStart is a two-year program designed to prepare high school juniors and seniors for exciting careers in foodservice.

SOURCE PizzaRev

Media Contact:

Monica Rutkowski

Director of Marketing & PR

(805) 418-5606

Monica.rutkowski@pizzarev.com

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Wag N Wash Natural Food & Bakery Reports Record-Breaking 2015, Expects Continued Growth in 2016

March 07, 2016 // Franchising.com // DENVER  Wag N Wash Natural Food & Bakery, a full-line specialty pet retail and grooming destination for dogs and cats, reported record-breaking success in 2015 and is starting 2016 off with ambitious development plans.

Between a handful of development deals that have already been signed and those they plan to sign in the coming months, Wag N Wash expects to open 5-6 new stores across the country by the end of the year. There are currently nine locations open and operating in Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota.

We had our strongest year since launching the franchise opportunity in 2006 and anxiously look forward to carrying the momentum into 2016 and beyond, said Jef Strauss, co-founder of Wag N Wash. As we grow our national presence, our primary goals remain to continue supporting our existing franchisees, while concentrating on our more ambitious effort on developing new and existing markets.

In 2015, the Colorado-based pet franchise debuted outside of its Southwest core, opening a new store in Minnesota, and the development team oversaw the signing of six deals that will develop nine new stores throughout Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Strauss expects all of these stores to open in the next 24 months and attributes the increased interest in the franchise opportunity to the unique experience and concept that Wag N Wash provides to dogs, cats and even their humans.

Advertised as somewhere you can wash em, feed em and spoil em all in one cool place, Wag N Wash offers a community for pet enthusiasts to come, find quality goods and services for their pet companions, and simply be pet people. Among the stores offerings are various brands of all-natural pet foods for dogs and cats, high-end supplements, grooming and washing facilities, and cool toys. In addition, an in-house bakery, rare in the pet store market, offers treats such as Liver Bites, Pumpkin Ravioli, Poochie Sushi and a variety of pies, cakes and muffins using human grade ingredients.

Our focus on strictly natural, healthy food, treats, supplements and other products not only showcases the fastest growing sub-segment of the pet industry, but portrays us as a dog and cat health food store, promoting the healthy lifestyle and its growing brand appeal, said Strauss.

The average investment to open a Wag N Wash franchise is approximately $400,000. This includes the franchise fee of $40,000, store build-out costs, training expenses, first three months of rent, furniture, signage, computer equipment, inventory and supplies, initial advertising and grand opening costs, three months of living costs and other expenditures. Wag N Wash also offers three-unit and five-unit agreements to select and qualifying candidates.

Company plans also call for awarding another 10-12 franchises in 2016.

For more information about the franchise opportunity, visit www.franchise.wagnwash.com.

About Wag N Wash Natural Food & Bakery

Founded in 1999 and franchising since 2006, Wag N Wash Natural Food & Bakery is a full-line specialty retail destination for cats and dogs that has created a community for pet enthusiasts to come and be pet people. With a mission to recognize, promote, and foster the positive impact that companion pets and their humans have on each other, Wag N Wash provides the full experience  fresh dog treats baking in the oven, natural food, high-end supplements, full service grooming and self-wash facilities and cool toys. Today, there are nine Wag N Wash locations throughout Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota. For more information, visit www.franchise.wagnwash.com.

SOURCE Wag N Wash Natural Food & Bakery

Contact:

Michael Misetic

Managing Partner

(O) 847.239.8171

(M) 773.680.9023

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Nicholas L. Bollmann, 30, passed away Wednesday, March 2, 2016.

Nick loved being a daddy and was the best at it. He enjoyed riding dirt bikes and having a cold beer with great music blasting. Nick was a proud U.S. Army veteran. Rest Easy. Hard in the paint.

He is survived by his Amora Gabby and their son, Nicholas L. Bo Bollmann Jr. of El Paso, Texas; his daughter, Ella Grace HenselBollmann of Fredericksburg; parents Mike and Linda Bollmann; and siblings Gary, Kim and Kristy.

A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m Tuesday, March 8, at Covenant Funeral Service, Fredericksburg.

A memorial service in celebration of Nick's life will be held in El Paso on Saturday, March 19, by his El Paso family and brothers and sisters of the U.S. Army.
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Jose Soriano Photography Introduces Solutions For Improving Professional Image

The company is on a mission to help people make a better first impression by investing in a professional headshot, reports JosesOriano.com.

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Industry statistics note major decisions are made about an individual within the first seven seconds of meeting or seeing a stranger. Within that instant, a decision is made about a person's trustworthiness, competence, likability confidence and even knowledge.

With this in mind and to help business men and women put their best face forward, Jose Soriano Photography recently introduced their head shot services to clients who would like to improve their professional image and enhance their advancement opportunities.These professional headshots can be taken in a studio or on location at the client's office or the place of their choosing and will be appropriate for a variety of professional uses.

Jose Soriano, the owner of the company and an experienced Commercial Photographer, stated "As the saying goes, a person doesn't get a second chance to make a first impression. Whether they are applying for a dream job or hoping to get a huge contract for their business, the first impression isn't made when they shake hands with someone. It's made when that person sees their picture in their application file or on their website or social media profile. Although some people may not realize it, having a professional headshot created by an expert photographer makes them or their business look more trustworthy and professional and gets them closer to getting the job or landing the deal they have been hoping for."

Jose Soriano and his team have many years of experience helping people create the perfect headshot. Taking into account the purpose for the headshot, they can help people make the decision between having the shot taken in a studio with a solid background and professional attire or in a more relaxed environment with a more varied backdrop. He'll also give clients solid advice on what to wear and ensure that their headshot looks extremely professional but still inviting to the audience who will see it.

As Soriano continues, "It's clear that having a professional image does matter. Whether a person is an artist or a lawyer, it's important for them to leave a good impression on everyone they come in contact with. When people make the investment in a good headshot, it's also an investment in themselves, and we are proud to help our clients get the maximum return on that investment."

Those who are interested in hiring a commercial or Editorial photographer for their next professional project can contact Jose Soriano Photography at http://josesoriano.com.

About Jose Soriano Photography:

Jose Soriano is a self-taught commercial and editorial photographer with over 8 years of experience in the business. In the near decade that he has been a photography professional, he has worked with start-up businesses and top commercial brands in Spain, Venezuala, and Canada to help them achieve their visual goals. With a love for pursuing new and challenging experiences and a desire to help his clients succeed, Jose Soriano's mission is to craft his client's ideas into amazing photographs that satisfy them beyond their expectations.

For more information about us, please visit http://josesoriano.com

Contact Info:

Name: Jose Soriano

Organization: Jose Soriano Photography

Address: Calgary, Alberta, T3R0S5

Phone: 4034002544

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/jose-soriano-photography-introduces-solutions-for-improving-professional-image/106174

Release ID: 106174

For more information visit r



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Forecast Report on Dysmenorrhea Global Clinical Trials Review, H2, 2015- Market Overviews, Research, Trends, Demands: Radiant Insights

Radiant Insights, Inc has announced the addition of the "Dysmenorrhea Global Clinical Trials Review, H2, 2015" report to their offering.

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Clinical trials, a part of research study, are conducted by running supervised tests. The main aim of these trials is to bring about an overall improvement in patient care and health. The trials help to determine effectiveness and safety of novel medical procedures, devices and drugs. They also give an understanding of risks and side-effects associated with the product being tested. While certain side-effects are mild and harmless (e.g. headache), others could be life-threatening. Hence, their analysis is extremely essential.

Browse the Full Global Dysmenorrhea Market - Global Scenario, Industry Outlook, Share, and Industry analysis, Size, Trends and Forecast, at - http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/dysmenorrhea-global-clinical-trials-review-h2-2015

Clinical trials are often divided into phases with each phase serving a distinct objective. The first phase generally assesses safety, identifies a harmless dosage range, and evaluates possible side effects on a small number of patients. Once this is declared successful, the second phase is initiated. In this phase, the trial's safety and effectiveness is further analyzed by repeating it with a bigger patient pool. In the third phase, the patient group is expanded even more and results are compared with the best treatment in existence. The fourth phase often examines risks and side-effects in the long run.

Browse All Reports of This Category @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/pharmaceuticals-and-healthcare

Dysmenorrhea, when translated literally, means 'difficult monthly flow'. It is a medical term to describe pain during menstruation. While most women experience mild abdominal cramps on the first or second day of their period, a few may go through severe pain. Dysmenorrhea is of two types - primary and secondary. While primary dysmenorrhea is a normal phenomenon, secondary dysmenorrheal is indicative of a disorder in a woman's reproductive organs.

Commonly prescribed treatments for primary dysmenorrhea include administration of analgesics, hormone medications, oral contraceptives, etc. Another important treatment type is transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS). Secondary dysmenorrheal necessitates diagnosis and treatment of the underlying cause.

Request a Sample Copy of this Report @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/dysmenorrhea-global-clinical-trials-review-h2-2015#tabs-4

The market for dysmenorrhea global clinical trials is categorized into the following regional segments - Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Central and South America. Some drugs currently under trial for dysmenorrhea are meloxicam, potassium diclofenac, microgestin 1/20, Shandong Danshen-Jiang-Fu Granule, Ibuprofen, Mirena, etc. It has been observed that OBE002 - the first orally active prostaglandin F2a antagonist doesn't result in side effects associated with NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) treatment of preterm labor.

Hadasaah Medical Organization, Laboratorios Andromaco S.A., Bayer, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Nobelpharma are a few trial sponsors in this field.

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/dysmenorrhea-global-clinical-trials-review-h2-2015

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/forecast-report-on-dysmenorrhea-global-clinical-trials-review-h2-2015-market-overviews-research-trends-demands-radiant-insights/106196

Release ID: 106196

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Management Team of Online Home Wares Retailer Trekked Great Wall of China for Charity

Chris and Paul from thehomefusioncompany.co.uk, an online retailer of home wares, toys and stationary are pleased to have completed their trek in aid of Chestnut Tree House Hospice.

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The Home Fusion Company is an online retailer Based in Arundel, West Sussex. The company specialises in the sale of household items that cannot always be found on the High street.

On their about page The Home Fusion Company say, "We aim to supply the many household items which we all need but can't always find in the high street. We pride ourselves on great customer service and great prices! " See the below video to learn more about The Home Fusion Company:

The company moved to a building with 2500 square foot of warehouse space in October 2012, due to their expanding product range and business The Home Fusion Company is currently looking to expand and move to another, bigger premises. The company have recently opened a new shop in the West Sussex town of Littlehampton. The Home Fusion Company are also modernising their website, their new mobile friendly site is now live.

The owner and founder of The Home Fusion Company, Chris Harris has just completed a trek of The Great Wall of China in aid of Chestnut Tree House Hospice. Chris completed the challenge with The Home Fusion Company's warehouse supervisor, Paul.

Chestnut Tree House Hospice is the only children's hospice in Sussex, the charity cares for life-limited children and young adults aged 0-19 and provides support for their families. On his justgiving page Chris says, "Chestnut Tree House Hospice only receives 7% government funding, which means they rely on the generosity, help and support of the local community and individual fundraising events such as the China Challenge." At time of writing Chris had raised 117% of his target and is still accepting donations.

Chris said he and Paul both enjoyed the challenge, "Paul and I trekked the Great Wall for 8 days, a fantastic and demanding challenge covering thousands of steps up, down and along the wall. We trekked over watch towers, mountains and battlements, knowing that each step would help raise funds for this great charity really spurred us on!"

Now that they have finished their challenge Chris and Paul will be preparing for the New Year and are currently very busy shipping products sold in their January sales.

For more information about us, please visit http://homefusiononline.co.uk/

Contact Info:

Name: Chris Harris

Organization: The Home Fusion Company

Address: Unit C4, Ford Airfield Industrial Estate, Ford, Arundel, West Sussex BN18 0HY

Phone: 01903 716500

Video URL: https://youtu.be/ycYBLiJ7bRw

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/management-team-of-online-home-wares-retailer-trekked-great-wall-of-china-for-charity/106208

Release ID: 106208

For more information visit r



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Martin Rigney, a former financial adviser, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and forgery offences and will stand trial at Derby Crown Court in April next year.

Mr Rigney, who was director of Derbyshire-based Topps Rogers Financial Management, appeared at Derby Crown Court on Friday morning (4 March) and pleaded not guilty to 19 counts, eight of fraud and 11 of forgery.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between October 2003 and January 2012 and relate to investments in a Polish property fund.

The 66-year-old of Rivelin Valley, Sheffield, is alleged to have created false signatures on investment forms and transferred money to funds on behalf of his clients without authorisation, at a cost to his clients of 200,000.

The fraud charges allegedly involved Mr Rigney making fund switches into units of the Channel Islands listed Curzon Capital, now City Life, Poland Geared Growth fund for himself.

A trial, due to last four weeks, has been set for April 24 next year. A court official said this was due to the time estimate and when parties will be available.

Mr Rigney was released on bail.

Formerly of Great Hucklow, near Buxton, Mr Rigney had given no indication of plea when he appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates Court on 5 January this year.
March and April mean bonus season for the investment industry. For those selecting funds, this aspect of the annual asset management cycle is usually only relevant because of the coterie of managers who tend to up and leave shortly afterwards.

But recent developments suggest the Investment Association was right to warn last year that asset manager pay is becoming an increasing source of reputational risk for the whole sector.

Because while last week did bring a reprieve for the industry in the form of the Bank of England fighting back against European proposals to cap bonuses, it also saw two high-profile figures put under the spotlight.

One of these resides in senior management, a group who are already very familiar with such scrutiny: Michael Dobsons move from chief executive to chairman at Schroders was accompanied, in amongst it all, by a near-doubling in the latter positions salary. Its the fund managers themselves who could face closer examination in future, however.

Look at the dispute between Richard Pease and former employer Henderson for a clue as to how this may develop: court filings reportedly claim Mr Pease was entitled to 50 per cent of his funds annual charges while at the firm. Make no mistake  direct disclosure is on its way

Context may be relevant here, given that Henderson was desperate to keep New Star managers on board at the time it negotiated terms with Mr Pease. Weve already had evidence of Mr Peases ability to drive a hard bargain via the unusual sight of the manager taking his European Special Situations fund with him when he set up Crux Asset Management last year. The new claims are eye-opening nonetheless.

In the coming weeks well also get the now-traditional headlines about M&G bond manager Richard Woolnoughs annual pay packet. This, too, is not directly disclosed  the figure is found in Prudentials annual report but is not officially attributed to a specific employee.

Make no mistake though  direct disclosure is on its way. The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive means multi-asset managers running non-Ucits funds will shortly see their pay disclosed in annual reports. Further down the line, Ucits V rules mean these portfolios will soon face similar demands.

Discussing pay in the UK has always been a bit of a social taboo. But the changes arent just notable for the way theyll challenge that dynamic. As these measures come through, I imagine well start to see a lot more examination of the rationale behind remuneration.

Its not difficult to imagine how managers getting paid in relation to asset growth, rather than performance, produces all kinds of conflicts of interest. Greater disclosure is also likely to resurrect the question of how well-placed asset managers can be in stewarding other firms remuneration policies.

Fund managers may not like snooping on salaries, but more rigorous disclosure would be justified if it prompted a greater focus on these issues.
Chancellor George Osborne has dropped plans to overhaul pension tax relief in next weeks Budget, with one estimate putting the cost to HM Treasury of the aborted shake-up at 1.5bn.

In a widely reported climb down, a Treasury source said it was not the right time to make proposed changes that could have encouraged lower earners to save more for retirement, after Mr Osborne faced heavy criticism from some Conservative MPs and parts of the pension industry.

Self-invested pension provider AJ Bell has estimated uncertainty created by the floated plans has cost HM Treasury 1.5bn in additional pension tax relief, as savers poured billions of pounds into pensions in fear of reliefs being curtailed or abolished.

Andy Bell, chief executive of AJ Bell, said: This re-affirms my long held view that trusting politicians to make significant policy decisions on pensions tax relief is like trusting a troop of foxes to babysit a brood of chickens. This re-affirms my long held view that trusting politicians to make significant policy decisions on pensions tax relief is like trusting a troop of foxes to babysit a brood of chickens.

Two alternatives to the current system of upfront tax relief at savers marginal rate were being considered under the mooted plans.

Upfront relief would have been scrapped in favour of a Pension Isa with tax-free pension withdrawals from aged 55, or a new flat rate of tax relief introduced, which would have helped those earning less than average and hit the wealthier core of Tory voters.

Mr Bell said the pension saving public would be better served by an independent Pension Commission with a mandate to manage UK pension policy and provide certainty and confidence to savers.

National IFA, pensions and employee benefits consultancy, the LEBC Group, welcomed an end to the speculation about changes to pensions in this years Budget, branding the plans ambitious given the industry was still dealing with the introduction of pension freedoms last April.

But Jack McVitie, chief executive of LEBC, said he hoped the government would revisit ways to get more people saving towards a pension.

He said: We are keen to participate in further debate about how to extend access to long term savings to a greater number of people and tax reforms may have a part to play in that.

Former JP Morgan investment banker Michael Johnson has branded higher rate tax relief on pensions an utterly ineffective use of taxpayers funds.

In a note for think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, written before reports of the chancellors u-turn emerged, he said:[Post-pensions freedoms] the Treasury is exposed to an unaffordable tax arbitrage.

Those approaching the age of 55 flip existing savings into pension pots to collect tax relief, only to then take out the 25 per cent tax-free lump sum at 55 and draw down the other 75 per cent in a controlled manner, over time, thereby minimising their tax liability.
Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weeklys experts can help. Here Sam Kirkham, partner at accountant Albert Goodman, explains the value of IHT reliefs.

Q. I am an ageing farmer with no family and want to do less farm work or perhaps retire. However, my advisers say I need to keep farming to reduce the inheritance tax liability on my death. Please advise.

Farming land yourself provides generous reliefs from inheritance tax (IHT) through both Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).

IHT is the tax paid, at a rate of 40%, on the value of assets owned on death and can result in very substantial tax bills. However, no IHT is due on the first 325,000 (the nil-rate band or NRB) of any estate.



Sam Kirkham, partner, Albert Goodman



APR and BPR reduce the value of the assets chargeable to IHT by either 50% or 100%, depending on how the business is structured and how the farm is owned.

APR is only available on the agricultural value of property that is occupied for the purposes of agriculture  for any further relief reliance is then placed on BPR.

These technicalities mean it is often beneficial to be farming land in-hand rather than renting the farm out.

See also: Should a farm business trade as a limited company?

Many farmers assume and rely on APR being available to them, but there are numerous pitfalls:

1. Land let on a tenancy granted before 1 September 1995 may only qualify for 50% relief.

2. Where property is no longer occupied for the purposes of agriculture  for example, a farm shop, horse livery yard, campsite or a renewable energy project  APR will not be available.

3. Where the property is used for the purposes of agriculture but the market value is more than agricultural value  for example, land or buildings with development potential  APR is only available on the agricultural value.

4. For BPR to apply on points 2 and 3 above, the relevant assets must be used in the owners business and that business must be wholly or mainly a trading business  if it is mainly letting out properties, BPR will be denied.

HMRC is more frequently challenging farming arrangements when land is farmed under the terms of a grazing agreement, contract farming or share-farming agreement.

If HMRC successfully argues that the terms of the agreement and/or the activities performed by the parties mean the landowner is not farming, the landowner will need to have owned the land for seven years to obtain APR and BPR will not be available. Furthermore, APR would be denied on the farmhouse.

Achieving APR on farmhouses is problematic and complicated. Each case depends on the individual circumstances, including who occupies the house, what they do in relation to the farm and what the characteristics of the house in relation to the land are.

In the last budget an additional NRB for the family home was announced. This will apply to one property which was a residence of the deceased and where it is passed on death to direct descendants.

The relief will initially be set at 100,000 in 2017-18, rising to 175,000 by 2020-21.

However, there will be tapered withdrawal of this additional NRB for estates with a net value of more than 2m and there will be no benefit for those with no children or grandchildren, or who do not leave the home to direct descendants.

Therefore to benefit from this additional NRB, families will need well-researched plans drawn up and then, where appropriate, reflected in revised wills.

For those wishing to semi-retire and to continue to be actively involved in the management of the farming, a well-structured and recorded farming arrangement with another farmer could still be effective in preserving their farmer status for tax.

Those wishing to fully retire should consider gifting assets which currently qualify for APR and BPR, but would become chargeable after retirement and consequent loss of farmer status  for example, land and buildings with development potential, the farmhouse and other non-agricultural assets.

Timing of such gifts and ensuring the donor ceases to use or enjoy the benefit of the assets after the gift are crucial.

The donor would need to survive seven years after the date of gift for the assets to fall out of the IHT net, other than if the recipient of the assets continues to farm and use the assets in their business, whereby relief may still be available.

Do you have a question for the panel?

Outline your legal, tax, finance, insurance or farm management question in no more than 350 words and Farmers Weekly will put it to a member of the panel. Please give as much information as possible.

Send your enquiry to Business Clinic, Farmers Weekly, RBI, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.

You can also email your question to fwbusinessclinic@rbi.co.uk or post it on the Farmers Weekly website.
East Yorkshire farm machinery importer Manterra has added a bale-wrapper to its growing stable of machinery from Polish maker Unia.

Called the Twister, the firms round bale wrapper joins a range that includes ploughs, spreaders, cultivators and discs.

The Twister has a pilot box control panel, two 750mm film feeders with automatic tension control, a bale unloader and two film racks.

See also: Manterra launches Unia trailed fertiliser spreader

Manterras founder, farmer and agronomist Andrew Manfield said: The Unia Twister has performed consistently well throughout Europe since its launch in 2014 and with a price of 9,495, it is ideally suited to UK growers who are looking for an affordable, hard-working machine.

Founded in 1882, the Unia Group is said to be central Europes leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery and employs 1,350 people at its five manufacturing sites in Poland and France.

It produces 25,000 machines a year and exports to more than 60 countries.
A new anaerobic digestion (AD) plant will be built in the Republic of Ireland to help process poultry manure from Northern Ireland, with help from a government loan worth nearly 10m.

The Northern Ireland Executive launched its Sustainable Use of Poultry Litter project in 2012, with the aim of finding solutions to the countrys poultry manure problem.

It produces some 275,000t of litter each year, but can spread little on the land for fear of phosphorous pollution.

And the sector has big plans for expansion  Moy Park announced in 2013 it would build up to 400 new poultry sheds in the country.

See also: Latest on government support for renewable energy investments

The Glenmore Project Costing 23m, part-funded by a 9.3m loan from the Northern Ireland Executive

Able to process up to 25,000t of poultry litter every year

Will generate almost 4MW of electricity, and a fertiliser byproduct

As such, the devolved government earmarked 15m-20m to find sustainable ways to manage the growing litter problem. Of six initial tenders, this is the first to win funding.

The Glenmore Project will be based in Ballybofey, County Donegal. It has planning permission and environmental permits in place, and will receive a 9.3m loan from government.

It will be built by Williams Industrial Services, a specialist firm from Mallusk in County Antrim.

The total build cost is expected to be about 23m, and the plant is scheduled to start taking waste from March 2017.

When operational, it is expected to take up to 25,000t of poultry litter from Northern Ireland, and generate almost 4MW of renewable electricity.

Growth at risk

NI enterprise minister Jonathan Bell said: The poultrymeat sector is a significant contributor to the local economy.

The litter produced, however, presents a significant environmental challenge which could put the growth of the sector at risk.

Agriculture minister Michelle ONeill added: We are committed to helping our agrifood sector grow in ways that are commercially and environmentally sustainable.

With 6,000 people working in the poultry sector, it has been a top priority for my department to find new ways to use poultry litter. Such innovative and sustainable processes will allow the sector to flourish and meet the requirements of the EU Nitrates and Water Framework Directives.
Story Highlights 94% of Hawaii residents say their area is good for minorities

At the low end of the list, 74% of West Virginians are positive

These attitudes are related to actual minority population in states

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Ninety-four percent of Hawaii residents say their city or area is a good place to live for racial and ethnic minorities, the highest of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Other states in which at least nine in 10 residents have a positive view of how hospitable their state is for minorities are Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Virginia, New Mexico and Arizona.

These results come from a Gallup 50-State poll conducted from March-December 2015, with at least 500 residents in each state. The full results for each state are shown at the end of this story.

Statistical analysis shows that attitudes about minorities are clearly related to the actual demographic makeup of the states. In particular, the seven states whose residents are most positive about the environment for minorities all have above-average minority populations. Hawaii -- the most prominent example -- has the lowest percentage of non-Hispanic whites (23%) of any state in the union according to census data, meaning over three-quarters of that state's residents identify their race as something other than white, or identify their ethnicity as Hispanic. Less than half of the residents of two other states -- New Mexico and Texas -- are non-Hispanic white, and both of these states are above average in residents' positive attitudes about minorities.

Residents of West Virginia are least likely to believe (74%) that their place of residence is good for minorities. Other states with a below-average percentage positive about the climate for minorities include Missouri, Wisconsin and Arkansas. West Virginia's population includes relatively few minorities; the census classifies 93% of the residents of the Mountain State as non-Hispanic white, the third highest of all states. Missouri, Wisconsin and Arkansas all have above-average white populations as well.

Despite state-level differences in these attitudes, residents of all 50 states are generally positive that their place of residence is a good place for minorities -- as was the case in Gallup's initial 50-State poll in 2013.

State-by-state differences in Americans' attitudes about the climate for racial and ethnic minorities have been quite stable over the past three years. The top three states on this year's list -- Hawaii, Alaska and Texas -- were also the top three states in 2013. And three of the four states that are lowest on the 2016 list -- West Virginia, Missouri and Arkansas -- were at the bottom of the list three years ago.

Implications

Americans generally remain positive about their local city or area as a place for racial and ethnic minorities to live, as was the case two years ago, and residents in states with the most minorities tend to be the most positive. In states like Hawaii and Texas, non-Hispanic whites are themselves a minority group, with well over half of state residents identifying their race and ethnicity as something other than non-Hispanic white. This makes it perhaps not surprising that these states' residents would say their state is a good place for racial and ethnic minorities. But even in states whose residents are mostly non-Hispanic white, clear majorities say they believe their state is a good place for minorities.

Additionally, it takes only a few individuals to create a hostile situation for minorities, even if most residents of a state perceive themselves as welcoming and positive. Seventy-six percent of Missouri residents, for example, say their state is a good place for minorities. That leaves plenty of Missouri residents who perceive their local area as having a poor environment for minorities -- some of whom may live in and around the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, or are responding in terms of the racial unrest in that city.

Many Americans may feel it appropriate to indicate that they view their area positively on this measure, and other research shows that non-minorities are typically more positive about race relations than minorities themselves. In addition, although the measure reviewed here is quite positive in general, a long line of social science research shows that self-reported attitudes about race do not always predict actual behaviors.

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.

Learn more about how the Gallup U.S. Daily works.


If you have ever dealt with audio recording, whether character voice acting for a game or a voice-over for a video, then you probably noticed that it is not cheap. It is important to do everything right the first time in order to reduce additional costs. The same thing applies to the localization of audio: every error is multiplied by the number of languages. In this article, we will share some tips on how to interact with recording studios and localization services, how to optimize and accelerate the process, and how to reduce the risks as well as the costs of audio localization. It does not matter whether you are ordering these services from Alconost or from another company  knowledge of all the following pitfalls will stand you in good stead.

Captain C-3PO by Jeff Nickel

1. Project Formatting Matters

The proper formatting of the script ensures a smooth and problem-free recording process. One best practice is to format the script in the form of a table, where each row corresponds to a single audio file.

We at Alconost are sometimes faced with situations where a customer only wants us to record narration in a foreign language, and they leave it to themselves to synchronize the audio narration with their video. In this case, the customer must work with audio recorded in a language they do not know, and we for our part must do everything possible to simplify this task for the customer:

- When transcribing we ask the editor (a native speaker of the source language) to mark the timing (indicating what phrase should be said at what second) and to break the text into segments (for example, each scene occupies a separate cell in the table). The transcription itself is a process of "lifting" the text from the original recording, that is, of converting the spoken text into a written one;

- When translating we ask the translator (a native speaker of the target language) to preserve the original layout (so that it is clear how each part of the original corresponds to a respective part of the translation);

- When recording we ask the narrator to break the recording down into scenes (e.g., the recordings for each new scene are stored in a separate file).

2. Create a List of Characters and Describe their Personalities

If you need several voices, create a list of characters and briefly describe them, including their name, age, gender, and other characteristics. This will help the audio recording studio to provide an adequate selection of narrators for the roles, to ensure that there are enough voice actors given the different languages, and to avoid mistakes such as recording a female voice instead of a male one or vice versa. Incidentally, the gender of the character does not have to match the gender of the narrator: professional voice actors with a wide creative range can successfully voice tomboy girls and respected ladies, for example.

Describe the character's personality in order to allow the voice actor to present the character in the best possible way. For example:

Character A: male, 40 years old, good-natured, simple-minded (farmer), "one of the guys." He is friendly towards his own (though he doesn't horse around), and he is curt to outsiders (though he stops short of being outright rude). He has a powerful voice, though it is not harsh. Normal rate of speech.

Or:

Raccoon character: high-pitched, child-like voice, but laughs and makes snarky asides in a husky voice. His rate of speech is very fast, but it must always be intelligible. He must have five kinds of laughter (good-humored, malevolent, hysterical, demonic, and loud laughter), and three kinds of exclamations of fright.

It is ideal when the customer's assignment includes a screenshot or video clip depicting the character.

Melancolia by Kristina Alexanderson

If the voice actors could have the opportunity to listen to the recordings of their characters in any other languages, this would be plus. Any clarifications are welcome: "not as fast as in the reference clip," "just like in the example."

What if the Narrators Ignore My Descriptions of the Characters?

If the voice actors are unclear about a certain point, they will either ask you questions (this is the best option, but the need to exchange questions and answers can make it harder to keep to deadlines) or make a decision at their own discretion (what they think is right). In the second case, if it turns out that you do not like the version the narrator decided on, though the formal criteria have been satisfied, your complaint will be about something that was not stipulated in advance. In this case you may have to pay for another recording, although voice actors will often try to accommodate the customer's request.

3. Limit the Number of Voices

Often people want to spend less money on the localization of an audio recording than on the original audio. Since voice actors usually have high minimum rates, so limiting the number of voices is a good way to reduce costs. For example, just two professional voice actors, one man and one woman, may be all that are needed to provide the voice-overs for a video featuring 12 different interviewees.

4. Avoid Audio Files that Feature Multiple Characters

Ideally, the audio recording process should be simple and fast. The assignment should be provided with sufficient detail. The voice actors record their parts, and the recordings are checked by linguists who are native speakers and cleaned of any extraneous sounds and noises (such as the turning of pages). The recordings are split into files, and the files are named according to the assigned specifications.

When you have a single audio file that contains several voice actors, everything becomes much more complicated. Since voice actors always record their files in isolation from each other, the audio files are divided and recombined during the final stages of the process. This increases the risk that something will go wrong. After all, the engineers who edit the files are hardly familiar with all the foreign languages in which the recordings are made.

5. Prepare a Pronunciation Guide

If you read the text aloud, you will soon realize that some words are pronounced differently. This is especially true of abbreviations. Foreign languages make the task even more difficult.

Some rules of pronunciation are generally accepted, but others must be determined by the company itself. Your studio should study the script and make a list of all the words whose pronunciation may present discrepancies. Translators and editors should clarify any difficult points before recording.

If a recording should have a time limit, then Captain Obvious suggests that the voice actor should be warned about this in advance.

6. Leave Space in Your Video

If you are familiar with localization, then you probably know that English is one of the most compact languages. If we were to translate the same text into Russian, it would increase in length by 10%, and if we were to translate it into French or Spanish, then it would increase by 20%.

If you cannot change the length of your video, then it will be hard to speed up the localized audio to match the video without accelerating the rate of speech or reducing the length of the original text. Both of these options can make it more difficult for your audience to comprehend your video. Moreover, the text or action in a particular frame may not match the sense of the localized audio. This is particularly problematic for videos that would cost lots of money to lengthen or edit.

Therefore, the best option would be to leave a little extra space in your original video: add pauses of a few seconds where this is possible. This will simplify and speed up the localization process. We at Alconost always try to adapt the word length to the necessary length of the phrases when translating or editing a text for our customers. This is how we are able to avoid unnecessary pauses or undue haste in our voice-overs.

7. Provide Plenty of Source Materials

You will most likely be asked for them. In any case remember: you must provide samples of the original audio if you want the voice-over to be done in the style and tone of the original.

When it comes to video, make sure that you have the source video: this way you can slightly slow down or speed up the scenes when localizing so that the animation matches the rate of speech of the voice artist in the new language. It is desirable in this case that the narrator's voice be separated from the music and sound effects in the sound track so that you can simply adjust the placement of the sound effects as you move the animations.

And one more thing. When it comes to video, often the on-screen captions must be localized in addition to the text read by the voice artist. If you want to translate them as well, you will make this task easier for the service provider if you submit the video source files as well.

8. Ensure that the Script and the Video Match Each Other Exactly

This is particularly important when it comes to videos. The voice-over usually corresponds to the written script, but often changes are made to the video clip at the last minute. This is how inconsistencies crop up between the audio and video tracks. Carefully check the final video.

9. Select Professionals Who Speak Foreign Languages and Have Experience in Audio Localization

Often texts that are to be recorded are translated by the author's friends, the author him- or herself or by translators who are not native speakers of the target language. All of this provides reason to consider that you should allow a native speaker to proofread your text before recording the voice-over. Indeed, some voice actors may even refuse to provide a voice-over if they see that a text in their own language is not grammatical. Voice artists may offer their own proofreading services, and they may be better than nothing. However, ideally it is worth it to recruit your own editor (a native speaker of the target language) to proofread a text that has been translated by a non-native speaker. If the quality of the translation is poor, or if the sense of the original has been changed or lost in the translation, then it may be better to order editing instead of proofreading services (when the text is edited, it is compared to the original).

Working with foreign languages adds complexity to the entire audio recording process. Localization of audio requires the utmost care when recruiting voice artists and ensuring that they are able to work well with each other, drafting scripts, determining recording techniques, and linguistic testing of the final product. For example, if you entrust an Asian language localization project to a studio that mainly translates into English, you risk discovering in the final product that a Korean voice artist was used instead of a Chinese one, phrases were cut off in mid-sentence, or other inconsistencies occurred due to lack of knowledge of the target languages.

When you select a service provider to localize audio, make sure that they employ voice artists and editors who are professional native speakers of their working languages, have years of successful experience working in this market, and have received feedback from satisfied customers. The team here at Alconost is ready to help you with your localization projects to ensure that they are localized to high quality standards, even if the project should involve less common languages.
The postscript of 38 Studios' 2012 downfall continues to play out, as the Securities and Exchange Commission has now levied fraud charges in federal court against both the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation and Wells Fargo Securities over the $75 million in bond funding that brought 38 Studios to Rhode Island in the first place.

The filing alleges 38 Studios execs told the RICC (then known as the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, or EDC) and Wells Fargo that they needed at least $75 million to develop its planned MMORPG, condenamed Copernicus.

According to the SEC, these lenders only signed over about $50 million to 38 Studios, holding the remainder in reserve. Notably, they did not inform loan investors that 38 Studios needed the full $75 million to complete its project, thus allegedly defrauding them.

"We allege that the RIEDC and Wells Fargo knew that 38 Studios needed an additional $25 million to fund the project yet failed to pass that material information along to bond investors, who were denied a complete financial picture," reads an excerpt of the complaint filed by the SEC today.

While 38 Studios released Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning (pictured) in 2012, it went bankrupt before it could finish its Copernicus project. Emails sent by a former 38 Studios exec (and used in court as evidence) suggest some of the studio's high-ranking members knew the studio would not have enough money to finish the project.

On top of that, the SEC is alleging that Wells Fargo failed to inform bond investors about nearly $400,000 in compensation it received in a deal with 38 Studios. This was in addition to $50,000 plus fees that it did disclose it would receive as part of the deal, which seems to suggest Wells Fargo knowingly double-dipped without telling investors it was doing so.

"You may also want to point out the cross-sell was big here too. [Corporate Investment Banking] advised the company on the equity side," wrote Wells Fargo dealbroker Peter Cannava in an email to colleagues the day this deal closed. "They received fees as well so a good deal for the firm across platforms."

These alleged shady business dealings are well in line with the sort of backroom dealmaking that allegedly took place to put together the financial deal that brought 38 Studios to Rhode Island in 2010. Though the state of Rhode Island's lawsuit against the stakeholders of that deal is still ongoing, some partial settlements have been reached.
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, which issued $75 million in bonds for Curt Schillings 38 Studios, is now facing federal charges. The organization and underwriter Wells Fargo have been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors.

$50 million of those bonds was given directly to 38 Studios in the form of a loan, with the remainder held to pay expenses and create an emergency reserve fund. The issue, according to the SEC, is that investors were not provided with key information, namely that 38 Studios required a minimum of $75 million to complete its first game.

The SEC also alleges fraud, claiming that a key banker on the deal, Peter Cannava, failed to disclose a side arrangement with 38 Studios. This created what the SEC deems to be a conflict of interest that should have been disclosed to investors. Also named are former REIDC executives Keith Stokes and James Michael Saul.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the first and only game from 38 Studios, was released in February 2012. The company began to fall apart shortly thereafter as Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafees administration disclosed that the developer failed to make anticipated payments on its loan.

A settlement was signed in 2014 paying out $2.4 million to investors. These funds were paid out of the reserve contingency created during the initial bond offering. The SEC investigation has been ongoing since September 2013.

[Source: SEC via VentureBeat]

Our Take

The SEC investigation clearly gave the agency enough to allege wrongdoing. The possible conflict of interest, failure to disclose material details, and ultimate accusation of fraud are hefty charges. Penalties could be disgorgement (repayment of ill-gotten gains) and additional civil monetary compensation.

Intent to commit fraud is not necessary under the section of the securities law cited in the SEC document (sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3)). In other words, the penalties here will likely be monetary and not result in jail time.
News & Notes

Don Yarbrough has consolidated his practice to one location. Yarbrough now sees patients needing general or bariatric surgery at Samaritan Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery Institute.

In addition to weight loss and bariatric surgery services, Yarbrough cares for patients with a variety of general surgery issues, including colon and rectal disease, hernias, GERD, hiatal hernia and other conditions.

Samaritan Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery Institute is in the Cascade View Medical Office Building at 3517 N.W. Samaritan Drive, Suite 100, in Corvallis. Further information is available at 541-768-4280 or samhealth.org/WeightLoss.

Officers and Directors

Town & Country Realty recently announced that principal broker Christine Hauser has been appointed to the Benton County Planning Commission.

Hauser is one of nine members of the commission, and will serve a four-year term.

The commissions role is to make recommendations for the Board of Commissioners regarding proposed amendments to the countys land-use and development regulations; make decisions on quasi-judicial land use matters; and, in its capacity as the Committee for Citizen Involvement, assist the commissioners with development and evaluation of the countys Citizen Involvement Program related primarily to land-use planning.

People on the Move

Oregon State Credit Union has hired Amanda Brenneman-Brown, named the 2013 Next Top Credit Union Executive, as its director of community education.

Chief Operating Officer Rhonda Heile-Brown made the announcement in January.

Brenneman-Brown comes to Oregon State Credit Union from the Northwest Credit Union Association, where she has been program manager since May 2014. She earned the international title of Next Top Credit Union Executive during her years as a business development officer at MaPS Credit Union in Salem.

Brenneman-Brown is a graduate of Corban University in Salem and has continued her education toward completion of a masters degree in business administration in nonprofit management from Corban. She was one of only two recipients of a Distinguished Graduate honor at Corban, for her work against human trafficking. She is also adding credit union industry education from the Credit Union Executive Societys CEO Institute at The Wharton School and Cornell University.

Take a Bow

The Oregon Seed Associations Scholarship Committee recognized two men as recipients of the Kent Wiley Jr. Fellowship during its mid-winter meeting, held Jan.12 in Salem.

Both recipients are Corvallis residents and attend Oregon State University.

Pete Berry is pursuing a doctorate in crop sciences, and received a $900 award. He earned a bachelor of science degree in plant science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is working on a thesis on brassica residue under varied cultural practices. After receiving his doctorate, Berry hopes to keep doing research in international agriculture development.

Receiving a $400 award was Blake Kerbs. While attending the University of Idaho, Kerbs spent summers working for the Bureau of Land Management, using his rangeland landscape ecology knowledge. Once he earned a bachelor of science degree, he enrolled at OSU to study weed science while pursuing a masters degree in crop sciences. Kerbs is working on research in dryland winter wheat crop lands, trying to find controls for scouring rush through changes in field preparation and/or chemical products to help protect crops.
F.Y.I. is a community calendar. To accommodate demand for the print edition, we ask that items be brief and include time, date, place, address, admission cost and a contact number for publication. Inclusion of items is at the discretion of the Gazette-Times. Further information is available at 541-758-9524 or jane.stoltz@lee.net.

Assistance

TUESDAY

Emergency food boxes, by appointment, North Corvallis Ministry Center, 5050 N.E. Elliott Circle. Appointments: 541-220-1040.

AARP TaxAide, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Corvallis Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler Ave.; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Corvallis Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave. Certified counselors will prepare and e-file tax returns for low- and moderate-income taxpayers of all ages, free of charge. Appointments: 541-602-5829.

Emergency food boxes, 1:30 to 4 p.m., St. Vincent de Paul Society Corvallis Conference Food Pantry, campus of St. Marys Catholic Church, 501 N.W. 25th St. No appointment needed. A thrift store is in the same building; proceeds help support the pantry. Information: 541-757-1988, ext. 317.

Stone Soup dinner, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., McLean Hall, First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave. Free meal for those in need.

Classes

TUESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., First Congregational United Church of Christ, 4515 S.W. West Hills Road. At 9:30: Linda Brewster presents Remember Kewpie? At 1:30: Bill Robbins presents Monroe Sweetland: A Man for All Seasons. Information: 541-737-9405 or admin@academyforlifelonglearning.org.

Strength and Endurance, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Recreation Room, North Star Manufactured Housing Community, 2601 N.E. Jack London St. Full-body, gentle, effective. Cost: $20 per month, or $4 drop in; first class free. Information: 541-754-6554.

Chair yoga, 3 p.m., Live Well Studio, 971 N.W. Spruce Ave. Suited to those with medical or physical limitations. By donation. Information: 541-224-6566 or www.livewellstudio.com.

Events

TUESDAY

Infant Story Time, 10 a.m., Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave. For children from birth through age 1.

Little Listeners Story Time, 10:30 a.m., Monroe Community Library, 380 N. Fifth St., Monroe. All ages.

Dont Worry, Be Happy, 3 to 5 p.m. or later, Old World Deli, 341 S.W. Second St. Join in games; bring your favorites or just show up at any point. Fragrance-free, please. Information: 541-752-0135.

An Evening with Novo Veritas (Betsy and Spencer), 6:30 p.m., Whiteside Theatre, 361 S.W. Madison Ave. Novo Veritas is a brand-new health and wellness venture.

Fundraisers

TUESDAY

Annual Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence Spaghetti Dinner, 5:30 to 7 p.m., First Congregational United Church of Christ, 4515 S.W. West Hills Road. All proceeds will go to support CARDVs work to end sexual and domestic violence in Benton and Linn counties. Tickets: $10 to $20; $5 for children 12 or under; www.cardv.org/spaghetti or at the door.

Government

TUESDAY

Benton County Board of Commissioners, 9 a.m., the Corvallis Depot, 700 S.W. Washington Ave. Goal-setting meeting.

Corvallis City Council, 3:30 p.m., Madison Avenue Meeting Room, 500 S.W. Madison Ave. Work session.

March 2016 Listening Tour, 5:30 p.m., the Clubhouse at Adair, 6097 N.E. Ebony Lane. The Benton County Planning Division and the Public Health Department are gathering public input on marijuana land-use regulations for the county.

Corvallis Historic Resources Commission, 6:30 p.m., downtown fire station, 400 N.W. Harrison Blvd.

Health

TUESDAY

Monroe Family Medicine, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 610 Dragon Drive, Monroe. Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid accepted. Information: 541-847-5143.

Rapid HIV testing, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave. Free testing and counseling. Information: 541-740-0405.

Opportunities

The Altrusa Club of Corvallis needs donations of jewelry for its May 7 jewelry sale fundraiser. Donation boxes for your unwanted new, used, vintage, fine or costume jewelry are at Blackledge Furniture and all three branches of Citizens Bank. Information: 541-740-8282.

Organizations

TUESDAY

Running and walking group, 5:45 a.m., Corvallis High School track, 1400 N.W. Buchanan Ave. Information: 541-754-0441 or www.hotvrunners.com.

Disabled American Veterans, 11 a.m., Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 584, 1469 Timber St. S.E., Albany. No-host lunch. Willamette Chapter 17 and auxiliary meeting, 12:30 p.m. Information: 541-259-5593.

Philomath Rotary Club, noon, Peace Lutheran Church, 2540 Applegate St. Cost: $10 for lunch; no charge for first-time guests.

Corvallis Bridge Club, 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m., Heart of the Valley Bridge Center, 1931 N.W. Circle Blvd. Sign up 20 minutes before game. Partners/information: 541-740-1072 or www.corvallisbridge.org.

Rotary Club of Corvallis After Five, 5:15 p.m., downstairs, Tommys 4th St. Bar & Grill, 350 S.W. Fourth St. Information: 503-559-0971.

Corvallis Meditation Community, 5:30 p.m., 3311 N.W. Polk Ave. Information: 971-218-6798 or rasalila2@yahoo.com.

Corvallis Community Choir, 7 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, 2945 N.W. Circle Blvd. Newcomers welcome; no audition; no experience necessary. Cost: $50 per term. Information: 541-740-6068 or nonandjay1@gmail.com.

Gospel Choir, 7 p.m., social hall, College United Methodist Church, 1123 Main St., Philomath. Information: 541-929-2412.

Heart of the Valley Astronomers, 7 p.m., Scott Zimbrick Memorial Fire Station No. 5, 4950 N.W. Fair Oaks Drive. Topics: the transit of Mercury on May 9, the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. Information: www.hvaastronomy.com.

League of Women Voters of Corvallis, 7 p.m., Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave. Topic: issues in post-secondary education. Panel discussion moderated by Tony Van Vliet, including Bob Brew, Debbie Colbert, Michael Green, Dave Henderson and Larry Roper.

Society for Creative Anachronism, 7 p.m., Avery Park Boy Scout Lodge, Southwest Allen Avenue. Information: 541-754-2372 or rudesheim@juno.com.

North American Truffling Society, 7:30 p.m., Room 2087, Cordley Hall, 2701 S.W. Campus Way. Roo Vandergrift of the University of Oregon will present Diversity and Ecology of the Fungal Genus Xylaria in Ecuador.

Support groups

TUESDAY

Support group for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Information: Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence hotline, 541-754-0110.

Alcoholics Anonymous:

7 a.m., noon, Room 11, First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave.

6:30 p.m. (open meeting), basement, New Life Fellowship, 1412 Applegate St., Philomath.

7 p.m., Alsea Community Library, 19192 Alsea Highway.

7 p.m., Crossroads Christian Fellowship, 2555 N.W. Highland Drive.

Information (24 hours): 541-967-4252 or www.aa-oregon.org.

Narcotics Anonymous, noon, 7:30 p.m., Room 11, First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave. Information (24 hours) 877-233-4287 or www.lblna.org.

Caregivers Support Group, 1:30 p.m, meeting room, Benton Hospice Service, 2350 N.W. Professional Drive. Information: 541-757-9616.

Memory Loss Support Group, 1:30 p.m., Cline Room, Corvallis Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler Ave. For caregivers and family members of those with memory loss. Information: 541-753-1342.

Support Group for People with Memory Loss, 1:30 p.m., conference room, Corvallis Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler Ave. Information: 541-757-7806.

Family Support and Education Group for Children with Developmental Disabilities and Autism, 5:30 p.m., Grace Lutheran Church, 435 N.W. 21st St. Dinner and youth activities. Information: 541-740-6306.

Grief Realization and Education Group, 6:30 p.m., conference room, Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House, 4600 Evergreen Place S.E., Albany. Peer support for parents who have experienced the death of a child of any age. Information: 541-829-9102.

Alanon, 7:30 p.m., Room 12, Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, 333 N.W. 35th St. Support group for families and friends of alcoholics. Message center: 541-967-6262.

Mens Support Group, 7:30 p.m., 1975 S.E. Crystal Lake Drive, No. 131. Information: 541-752-6261.
A weekly collection of random thoughts while providing newspaper coverage and from my travels around Philomath.  Brad Fuqua, editor

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2: You cant go wrong with a Dr. Seuss classic on Read Across America day, an annual event organized by the National Education Association. Ive covered this event at three different schools now in three different states. Of course, one of the fun aspects of the event is giving the children an opportunity to wear their Cat in the Hat hats.

On the subject of The Cat in the Hat, I love the story about how the book came to be written. In 1954, a published report on illiteracy among children concluded that they were not learning because the books were boring. William E. Spaulding of Houghton Miffflin, a book publisher, compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognize.

Spaulding asked childrens author Theodor Geisel to cut the list down to 250 words and then write a book using only those words. Less than a year later, Geisel (which is the real name for Dr. Seuss) completed The Cat in the Hat using 236 of the words.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2: While chatting with Melissa Goff about the latest on the school mascot issue, she mentioned an assembly that the high school had planned later that morning on the R word. Although I had an interview set up in the hour prior to that event, I was able to still make it over to the school on time and I was glad to make it.

Daniel Jarvis-Holland, a 16-year-old with Down Syndrome, was one of the speakers and it was great to see his enthusiasm on stage. Hes already had an array of great life experiences, including appearing in a Reese Witherspoon film, Wild, the true story of a woman who went on a 1,100-mile solo hike as a way to cope with personal tragedy. Several scenes were shot in Oregon and Jarvis-Holland made it into the movie as an extra.

I was also impressed with Rachel Esteve, a 23-year-old woman who is pursuing a college degree. She had planned to do a dance number but the Philomath High auditorium sound system was experiencing problems. Near the end of the program, she went ahead and danced without the music. That took a lot of courage in my book.

FRIDAY, MARCH 4: During last months city council meeting, Philomath Mayor Rocky Sloan mentioned that motorists need to be careful on Highway 20 between Corvallis and Albany. Sloan serves on a transportation committee that likely had information on the highways statistics.

Last week, the mayors words came to mind when my wife and I were nearly in an accident at the highways intersection with Granger Avenue. Two vehicles were directly in front of me and both got into the turn lane to take a right onto Granger. After they got into the turn lane, our vehicle continued forward on Highway 20 and passed on by. But all of a sudden, a vehicle appeared in the road while making a left from Granger onto the highway. I hit the brakes and swerved to the right to avoid a collision.

Ill never approach Granger in the same way again with cars in that turn lane. I guess they obstructed the view of the oncoming traffic and they thought the coast was clear. They were wrong and it couldve been a bad accident.
President Buhari Declares: Nigeria Is Now Part Of The Islamic Coalition Of Saudi Arabia

kacylee at 7-03-2016 08:18 AM (6 years ago) (f)







President Buhari during his recent interview with Al Jazeerah, said Nigeria has joined the Islamic Coalition against terrorism being championed by Saudi Arabia.

We are part of it because weve got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are Islamic. So, if theres an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism, he said When asked whether Nigeria joined the coalition during his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia recently, Buhari said yes.

Buhari queried the position of some Christians in Nigeria who have opposed Nigeria joining the coalition. He wondered why such Christians had not gone to fight Boko Haram in the North or militants in the South.

President Buhari during his recent interview with Al Jazeerah, said Nigeria has joined the Islamic Coalition against terrorism being championed by Saudi Arabia.We are part of it because weve got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are Islamic. So, if theres an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism, he said When asked whether Nigeria joined the coalition during his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia recently, Buhari said yes.Buhari queried the position of some Christians in Nigeria who have opposed Nigeria joining the coalition. He wondered why such Christians had not gone to fight Boko Haram in the North or militants in the South. Why cant those Christians that complained go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militancy in the South. Its Nigeria that matters, not the opinion of some religious bigots, he said

On whether he was trying to change the religious identity of the country, Buhari noted: How can I change the religious identity of Nigeria? No religion advocates hurting the innocent and just because the Muslims are the ones that claim to be Boko Haram and they are killing innocent people whether in the church, in the bus or in the market place, then I will just sit and look at them because I too am a Muslim? Islam is against injustice in any form.he said Why cant those Christians that complained go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militancy in the South. Its Nigeria that matters, not the opinion of some religious bigots, he saidOn whether he was trying to change the religious identity of the country, Buhari noted: How can I change the religious identity of Nigeria? No religion advocates hurting the innocent and just because the Muslims are the ones that claim to be Boko Haram and they are killing innocent people whether in the church, in the bus or in the market place, then I will just sit and look at them because I too am a Muslim? Islam is against injustice in any form.he said

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 7-03-2016 08:18 AM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero

charisVEC at 7-03-2016 08:28 AM (6 years ago)

(m) I see...Hmmmmmmm,,dats d change...dats d president of a country cal nigeria..iSsokay Posted: at 7-03-2016 08:28 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac I see...Hmmmmmmm,,dats d change...dats d president of a country cal nigeria..iSsokay Reply

willythezkid at 7-03-2016 08:35 AM (6 years ago)

(m) He's gud move...I wis we her free for tirroer...theys kill mucs pipu on her county

Posted: at 7-03-2016 08:35 AM (6 years ago) | Newbie He's gud move...I wis we her free for tirroer...theys kill mucs pipu on her county Reply

Donchijoz at 7-03-2016 08:37 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Change change change. Change oooooooooo naija Posted: at 7-03-2016 08:37 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming Change change change. Change oooooooooo naija Reply

slimmygal at 7-03-2016 09:08 AM (6 years ago)

(f) Good move from mr president, all d bad eggs should be cracked out. Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:08 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Good move from mr president, all d bad eggs should be cracked out. Reply

Floxitext at 7-03-2016 09:11 AM (6 years ago)

(f) I see Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:11 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming I see Reply

blacdiamond at 7-03-2016 09:16 AM (6 years ago)

(f) THIS MAN! I CNT UNDERSTAND YR MOVES,WHT ARE U AIMING FOR THIS COUNTRY?ARE BAC FOR REVENGE OR U ARE BACK TO HELP NIGERIA GROW? I SAID IT THT DAY THT THIS SIGNING U ARE SIGNING EVERY WHERE WE ARE ONLY GOING TO HEAR SHITS THT U HV SIGNED,AND IS TRUE! I SUPPORTED U BT NW I CAN'T WAIT FOR UR ERA TO PASS.IS A WASTED VOTE. SHOULD WE SAY THE MUSLIMS ARE BIGOT? HUASA CATTLE FARMER THT IS NW USING BRAIN FOR MILLIONS OF NIGERIANS. Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:16 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming THIS MAN! I CNT UNDERSTAND YR MOVES,WHT ARE U AIMING FOR THIS COUNTRY?ARE BAC FOR REVENGE OR U ARE BACK TO HELP NIGERIA GROW? I SAID IT THT DAY THT THIS SIGNING U ARE SIGNING EVERY WHERE WE ARE ONLY GOING TO HEAR SHITS THT U HV SIGNED,AND IS TRUE! I SUPPORTED U BT NW I CAN'T WAIT FOR UR ERA TO PASS.IS A WASTED VOTE. SHOULD WE SAY THE MUSLIMS ARE BIGOT? HUASA CATTLE FARMER THT IS NW USING BRAIN FOR MILLIONS OF NIGERIANS. Reply

blacdiamond at 7-03-2016 09:21 AM (6 years ago)

(f) IS SAUDI ARABIA THE ONE FIGHTING BOKO HARAM LAST WEEK? WHERE THEY THERE TO HELP WITH SOLDIERS? YOU THINK U ARE FOOLING US OR DECEIVING US?YR ERA WILL SOON PASS. WE ONLY SUPPORTED U BCOS JONATHAN WAS A WEAK OPPONENT WE DIDN'T WANT HIM AGAIN, NT TO VOTE FOR U WE WOULD HV EVEN VOTED FOR MR IBU, Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:21 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming IS SAUDI ARABIA THE ONE FIGHTING BOKO HARAM LAST WEEK? WHERE THEY THERE TO HELP WITH SOLDIERS? YOU THINK U ARE FOOLING US OR DECEIVING US?YR ERA WILL SOON PASS. WE ONLY SUPPORTED U BCOS JONATHAN WAS A WEAK OPPONENT WE DIDN'T WANT HIM AGAIN, NT TO VOTE FOR U WE WOULD HV EVEN VOTED FOR MR IBU, Reply

blacdiamond at 7-03-2016 09:22 AM (6 years ago)

(f) IS SAUDI ARABIA THE ONE FIGHTING BOKO HARAM LAST WEEK? WHERE THEY THERE TO HELP WITH SOLDIERS? YOU THINK U ARE FOOLING US OR DECEIVING US?YR ERA WILL SOON PASS. WE ONLY SUPPORTED U BCOS JONATHAN WAS A WEAK OPPONENT WE DIDN'T WANT HIM AGAIN, NT TO VOTE FOR U WE WOULD HV EVEN VOTED FOR MR IBU, Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:22 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming IS SAUDI ARABIA THE ONE FIGHTING BOKO HARAM LAST WEEK? WHERE THEY THERE TO HELP WITH SOLDIERS? YOU THINK U ARE FOOLING US OR DECEIVING US?YR ERA WILL SOON PASS. WE ONLY SUPPORTED U BCOS JONATHAN WAS A WEAK OPPONENT WE DIDN'T WANT HIM AGAIN, NT TO VOTE FOR U WE WOULD HV EVEN VOTED FOR MR IBU, Reply

blacdiamond at 7-03-2016 09:27 AM (6 years ago)

(f) YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS LIKE HUASA PEOPLE U HV IN THE NORTH? DNT WORRY ENJOY THIS LAST CHANCE WELL COS U WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN TILL U DIE. THIS CHANGE IS BCOMING SOMETHING ELSE TO NIGERIANS. Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:27 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS LIKE HUASA PEOPLE U HV IN THE NORTH? DNT WORRY ENJOY THIS LAST CHANCE WELL COS U WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN TILL U DIE. THIS CHANGE IS BCOMING SOMETHING ELSE TO NIGERIANS. Reply

blacdiamond at 7-03-2016 09:28 AM (6 years ago)

(f) YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS LIKE HUASA PEOPLE U HV IN THE NORTH? DNT WORRY ENJOY THIS LAST CHANCE WELL COS U WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN TILL U DIE. THIS CHANGE IS BCOMING SOMETHING ELSE TO NIGERIANS. Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:28 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming YOU THINK WE ARE FOOLS LIKE HUASA PEOPLE U HV IN THE NORTH? DNT WORRY ENJOY THIS LAST CHANCE WELL COS U WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN TILL U DIE. THIS CHANGE IS BCOMING SOMETHING ELSE TO NIGERIANS. Reply

botlex at 7-03-2016 09:35 AM (6 years ago)

(m) I just hope you ain't trying to indirectly make us an Islamic country. Posted: at 7-03-2016 09:35 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac I just hope you ain't trying to indirectly make us an Islamic country. Reply

gogoman at 7-03-2016 10:10 AM (6 years ago)

(m) mumu carry soilder go fight for another country when BOKO BOYS dey kill una for house Posted: at 7-03-2016 10:10 AM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero mumu carry soilder go fight for another country when BOKO BOYS dey kill una for house Reply

emma4love3 at 7-03-2016 10:32 AM (6 years ago)

(m) yes international relations and diplomacy is

what he has apply...we need to the fight against

those evil people.... Posted: at 7-03-2016 10:32 AM (6 years ago) | Hero yes international relations and diplomacy iswhat he has apply...we need to the fight againstthose evil people.... Reply

dareper at 7-03-2016 10:34 AM (6 years ago)

(m) There is more to this that this aboki.suya is not telling us. Posted: at 7-03-2016 10:34 AM (6 years ago) | Hero There is more to this that this aboki.suya is not telling us. Reply

Fran6ixfox at 7-03-2016 10:41 AM (6 years ago)

(m) this man this man..OK na Posted: at 7-03-2016 10:41 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac this man this man..OK na Reply

Mykie010 at 7-03-2016 10:55 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Ironically Islamizing Nigeria, which has been part of his agenda..I only blame weak Jonathan for making a mess of the presidency, that was why u are smelling that seat Posted: at 7-03-2016 10:55 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Ironically Islamizing Nigeria, which has been part of his agenda..I only blame weak Jonathan for making a mess of the presidency, that was why u are smelling that seat Reply

Oworen25 at 7-03-2016 11:27 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Is this the change you wanted to bring to us please let us know Posted: at 7-03-2016 11:27 AM (6 years ago) | Hero Is this the change you wanted to bring to us please let us know Reply

raynebee at 7-03-2016 11:34 AM (6 years ago)

(f) wetin this one de talk again Posted: at 7-03-2016 11:34 AM (6 years ago) | Hero wetin this one de talk again Reply
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Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Galaxy S6: 5 Differences and 5 Similarities! Features oi -Ankit

Samsung is launching their flagship S7 and S7 edge smartphones in India on March 8. With the previous-gen Galaxy S6 being a runaway hit in India - when it comes to the Android ecosystem - it is certain that the Galaxy S7 will create a lot of buzz, starting next week.

SEE ALSO: 11 Apps All Indians Must Have on Their Phones

While you wonder whether to buy the next Samsung flagship or settle for the cheaper alternative, here are 5 differences and 5 similarities between the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6.

DIFFERENCES

Battery capacity

Samsung has decided to silence critics by removing all the flaws that came with their Galaxy S6. The biggest complain was the poor battery life. The company has gone ahead and put in a decent 3,000-mAh battery under the hood of the Galaxy S7. Much higher than the 2,300-mAh of the Galaxy S6, the battery is claimed to be highly promising with several reviewers reporting whopping 8 hours of Screen on time.

Processor

Samsung has decided to reconcile with old partner, Qualcomm, and is bringing back the Snapdragon series back onto their Galaxy S7. Well, sort of. While the Western markets will get the latest Snapdragon 820 chipset in their retail Galaxy S7 units, the Asians (including India) will be getting the one with Exynos 8890 processor running the internals. This does not mean that performance will take a hit as Exynos processors have been widely acclaimed for great multitasking capabilities.

Camera

The camera on the Galaxy S6 has been claimed to be one of the best on any smartphone launched in 2015. Anyway, Samsung decided to go with a complete overhaul and has now increased the pixel size and changed the sensor on the Galaxy S7. Coming with a 12MP rear camera sensor that has Phase Detection Auto Focus, OIS and an aperture of f/1.7, Samsung is looking to take over the little competition that it got from the guys at Apple.

Water Resistance

Yet another nail in the coffin, Samsung made sure that their latest flagship device is durable and long lasting. Adding IP68 certification on the Galaxy S7, it translates to the smartphone being completely dust-resistant and partially water-resistant. The Galaxy S7 can be submerged safely in upto 3 feet of water, for upto 30 minutes at a stretch.

Expandable storage

A boon for multimedia users, expandable storage is now a feature on the new Galaxy S7, something that was missing from the Galaxy S6. With numerous customers complaining about the absence of a MicroSD card slot, Samsung has finally heard their pleas and added one. Another 128 gigs, allowing for much more space to store all your audio, video and image files in, can now expand the smartphone's data storage.

SIMILARITIES

Display and screen size

Samsung had shifted to a compact 5.1-inch display size on the Galaxy S6 and the experiment seemed to have been so successful that the company went with the exact same screen dimensions this time around, with the Galaxy S7. Also, with rumors pointing towards 4k screens on the new flagships but Samsung decided to retain the earlier Quad-HD (2560x1440 pixels) display. This is also a smart move from Samsung as lower resolutions mean better battery performance. Also, there is currently no need and demand for extremely high-resolution displays.

Similar storage options

Starting with 32GB, Samsung set sort of a precedent last year by rejecting Apple's strategy of a 16GB base model in this day and age. With the Galaxy S6 having internal storage models of 32/64/128GB, the Galaxy S7 also follows suit with just two variants - 32 and 64GB. Ditching the 128GB option this time, the company has good reasons to do that with expandable storage coming back with the Galaxy S7.

User Interface

A big weakness of Samsung's flagship smartphones has always been their heavy software. While some like the overall feel and extra features of TouchWiz UI, most hate the fact that it leads to a lot of bloating and lag after frequent usage intervals. Although stock Android isn't expected on a Samsung device in the near future, the company is surely trying to amend their user interface as much as it can. With a streamlined UI, the Galaxy S7 has the latest TouchWiz UI running on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Build Material

Keeping the design and other such elements similar, Samsung has also retained the build materials on the Galaxy S7. The revamp on the Galaxy S6, last year, was so revolutionary for Samsung that the industry saw their smartphones as being sleek and beautiful, something Samsung hadn't been associated with in recent times. To maintain what the consumers loved, the company has once again gone with a combination of glass and metal on the new Galaxy S7, providing it with yet another streamlined unibody design.

SEE ALSO: Women's Day Specials: Get Upto Rs.8000 Off on Mobile Phones And Laptops

Pricing

The pricing on the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the same (a bit lower, actually) in the US and European markets, where it has been announced as of yet. With it being a good move overall to not inflate the prices, we need to wait and watch what Samsung has in store for the Indian markets on March 8, 2016.

Best Mobiles in India
Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 6, 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

Fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted six strikes in Syria:

-- Near Al Hasakah, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun, an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL vehicle bomb, and suppressed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Manbij, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building, two ISIL vehicles, and an ISIL anti-air artillery piece.

Strikes in Iraq

Fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Bayji, a strike suppressed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Hit, two strikes struck an ISIL improvised weapons factory and an ISIL weapons storage facility.

-- Near Kirkuk, a strike destroyed three ISIL bulldozers.

-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Mosul, two strikes struck an ISIL weapons production facility and destroyed an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED).

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL frontend loader.

-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed an ISIL fighting position and suppressed an ISIL heavy machine gun position and an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

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 terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Afghanistan to be Daesh graveyard: President Ghani

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 3:3PM

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani says the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has been defeated in the militant-riddled eastern parts of the war-ravaged country.

Speaking at the opening of parliament, Ghani said that Afghan military forces have cleared some regions of Daesh terrorists in Nangarhar Province.

'Afghanistan will be their graveyard,' the president said in an address broadcast live on national television.

The remarks come as Afghan forces have claimed victory following a three-week long operation in the Achin and Shinwar districts of Nangarhar.

Operations against the militants included airstrikes to destroy militant hideouts and a radio station that was broadcasting Daesh recruitment messages across Nangarhar Province.

Afghan forces say they have killed at least 200 militants in the offensive across the troubled region.

Afghan Army Lt. Col. Sharin Aqa, a military spokesman, has said that the operation was aided by local residents who set up checkpoints to help maintain security in their villages.

'The aim of the operation in Nangarhar was to root out IS (Daesh) from the area,' he said.

Achin and Shinwar are among a number of districts in the remote mountainous regions that were overtaken by Daesh loyalists in recent months.

Daesh has recently gained a foothold in Afghanistan, particularly in Nangarhar Province bordering Pakistan.

Afghanistan, parts of which have long been considered a bastion of Taliban, has recently been seeing the emergence and limited expansion of Daesh. Nangarhar, in particular, is one area where Daesh has visibly gained a foothold.

The group is also using a sophisticated social media campaign to woo local Taliban and other militants.

On June 16, 2015, the Afghan Taliban militant group warned Daesh ringleader, Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, against "waging a parallel insurgency in Afghanistan."

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. Although the 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.

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US declares Venezuela a 'threat', renews sanctions against Caracas

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 3:2PM

US President Barack Obama has renewed an executive order that declares Venezuela a threat to the US, extending sanctions against the South American country for one more year.

In renewing the measure, Obama said on Thursday that the situation in Venezuela constituted an 'unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States' and that he was declaring a 'national emergency' to counter that threat.

The Obama administration first issued the executive order against Venezuela in March of last year, which provoked a storm of controversy inside the country and a backlash throughout Latin America.

Following last year's decree, Obama ordered sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials, whose economy has been battered by the steep drop in global oil prices.

Venezuela has condemned the measure as a sign of Washington's perpetual hostility towards the Latin American nation.

The National Emergencies Act is a tool American presidents possess that allows them to impose sanctions on a country under certain circumstances that go beyond what Congress has approved.

The executive order also authorizes the US Treasury Department to impose additional sanctions on those found to have committed either 'actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions' or rights violations against persons involved in anti-government protests, the White House said.

US presidents have declared about 53 states of emergency since Congress passed the National Emergencies Act in 1976. The state of emergency forms the basis for most US sanctions against Iran.

The declaration would expire if the president expressly terminated the emergency or did not renew the emergency annually.

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Armed men kill 12 in Central African Republic

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 5:50PM

Gunmen have killed a dozen villagers in the Central African Republic in the first violent incident since Faustin-Archange Touadera took office as president this week.

Local officials said on Sunday the attacks took place in three different villages near the central town of Bambari and were likely linked to livestock theft or inter-ethnic disputes.

Bambari has seen numerous attacks in the last year despite the presence of United Nations peacekeepers.

The UN designated the city a weapons-free zone last September, but the Seleka rebels and the anti-Balaka militia continue their armed presence in the town.

Touadera has pledged to focus on peace and disarmament in his government.

The constitutional court confirmed former mathematics professor Touadera's victory on Tuesday following a run-off election on February 14, setting the stage for him to be sworn in later on March 25.

The CAR has been hit by turmoil since 2013, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group that had toppled the government in March that year.

In December 2013, France deployed military forces to the CAR, a former French colony, after the UN Security Council gave the go-ahead to sending troops to the country.

However, violence has not ended. According to the latest UN estimates, the conflict in the CAR has internally displaced 399,000 people and forced more than 460,000 to flee to neighboring countries.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced in late January that the three-year crisis in toll has taken a huge toll with half the total population facing hunger.

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2,100 US forces arrive in South Korea for joint drills

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 5:6PM

About 2,100 US troops have arrived in South Korea to hold a joint military exercise that is likely to stir more tensions in the Korean peninsula, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his military forces to prepare for using nuclear weapons.

According to US Marine officials, accompanying the troops in the war games are the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard and the amphibious dock landing ships Ashland and Germantown.

The annual exercises, slated to begin on Monday, include two parallel annual drills - Key Resolve and Foal Eagle - and involve over 300,000 South Korean troops and 15,000 US personnel.

During the exercise, American and Korean forces will also carry out amphibious operations for disaster relief, said Marine Corps spokesman 2nd Lieutenant Joshua Hays.

Pyongyang regularly condemns the joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul as rehearsals for war against North Korea.

The North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and launched an alleged satellite the next month.

In response, the UN Security Council passed its harshest sanctions against Pyongang that was drafted by the US.

The adoption of the new embargo prompted North Korea's leader to order the country's nuclear arsenal to be prepared for use at any time and the military to be in "pre-emptive attack" mode over growing threats from enemies.

"Things could get dicey in the next couple months," Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, DC. "We are already seeing North Korea starting to issue threats: If the US does not stop these exercises or doesn't cancel these exercises, North Korea may take appropriate action."

On Thursday, South Korea said the North has fired six projectiles into the sea about 150 kilometers (90 miles) off the South's coast.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned that 'if North Korea launches a provocation, we must respond with stern punishment to clearly show the price North Korea has to pay and our determination to protect our nation.'

South Korea and the US are discussing details of a possible deployment of THAAD, an advanced US missile system, to counter possible threats from Pyongyang.

North Korea accuses the US of plotting against Pyongyang leaders and wants America to dissolve its military command in the South, where thousands of American troops are stationed.

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Egyptian forces kill 22 militants in Sinai Peninsula

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 9:42AM

Nearly two dozen Takfiri militants have reportedly been killed when Egyptian army forces carried out two separate operations against their positions in the country's restive Sinai Peninsula.

Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said AH-64 Apache combat helicopters targeted three terrorist hideouts south of the border town of Rafah, located 340 kilometers (211 miles) east of the capital, Cairo, on Saturday, leaving 17 members of the Velayat Sinai militant group dead, Arabic-language Ma'an news agency reported.

Separately, Egyptian military commando forces, better known as Sa'ka (Thunderbolt) Forces, raided a militant base south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid, situated 334 kilometers (214 miles) northeast of Cairo, engaging the extremists holed up inside the base. Five Takfiri terrorists were killed in the fierce exchange of gunfire with Egyptian forces.

Egyptian security personnel and army forces also mounted a joint operation south of the city of el-Arish, situated 344 kilometers (214 miles) northeast of the capital, arresting 67 suspects, including five militants.

In another development on Sunday, at least two Egyptian police officers were killed and three others injured when a roadside bomb explosion struck their armored vehicle south of Sheikh Zuweid.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the act of violence yet. Security forces have launched an investigation into the attack.

Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014, following a deadly terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 33 soldiers.

Over the past years, militants have been carrying out anti-government activities and deadly attacks, taking advantage of the turmoil caused in Egypt after democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013.

Velayat Sinai terrorists have carried out most of the attacks, mainly targeting the army and police.

In November 2014, the group pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.

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Israel planning new war on Lebanon: Report

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 7:43AM

The Israeli regime is seeking to launch a new war on Lebanon in the wake of Saudi Arabia's recent decision to cut its multi-billion-dollar aid to the Lebanese army, a report says.

The Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper said on Saturday that American officials, whose names were not mentioned in the report, have warned Beirut that the Tel Aviv regime is planning to launch another war against the Arab country.

The Americans told the Lebanese "not to give Israel an excuse to start a war," al-Akhbar said, adding that the US officials had been informed by their Israeli counterparts that the regime is interested in attacking Lebanon, particularly in light of Saudi Arabia's strategic shift in policy.

Last month, Riyadh said it had suspended USD 3 billion in military assistance to the Lebanese military 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 move also followed victories by the Syrian army, which is backed by fighters of Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah, in its battle against Takfiri terrorists fighting to topple the government in Damascus.

Hezbollah should be pressured not to make any move that would "lead to a replay of the events of 2006," the newspaper quoted American sources as saying.

According to al-Akhbar, the Saudi decision to suspend military assistance and the consequent move to declare Hezbollah a "terrorist organization" have "whetted Israel's appetite" for conflict with the resistance movement.

Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, lost their lives during the 33-day war in the summer of 2006.

On both occasions, Hezbollah fighters gave befitting responses to the Tel Aviv regime's acts of aggression, forcing the Israeli military to retreat without achieving any of its objectives.

The Tel Aviv regime has resorted to an intelligence and psychological campaign against Hezbollah to compensate for its fiascos in the two wars on Lebanon.

In addition, Israel violates Lebanon's airspace on an almost daily basis by sending spy drones, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.

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Slovakia's Fico Begins Coalition Talks After Election Setback

March 06, 2016

by RFE/RL

Slovakia's leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico has begun talks to form a new government following legislative elections that left his Smer-SD party significantly weakened.

With 99 percent of the vote counted from the country's March 5 elections, Smer-SD is expected to gain 49 seats in the 150-seat parliament, down from its previous 83 seats. The liberal Freedom and Solidarity party came in second, picking up 21 seats, followed by the conservative OLANO-NOVA party with 19.

The neo-nazi Slovak National Party will return to the legislature after a four-year absence, picking up 14 seats on the strength of about 8 percent of the vote.

In all, eight parties will be represented in the new parliament, making the task of forming a new government extremely difficult.

'It is true that the results that have been reported are very complicated,' Fico told journalists on March 6. 'At the same time, this [complexity] confirms that our political system is very dynamic. We will probably need to work with a huge number of political parties that will be represented in the National Council of the Slovak Republic.'

Freedom and Solidarity Party leader Richard Sulik said that 'any coalition' with Fico's party is 'out of the question.' He added, however, that a coalition with the nationalist parties is also 'unacceptable for us.'

Fico, whose country takes over the European Union's rotating presidency in July, is strongly antirefugee and has vowed to 'never bring a single Muslim to Slovakia.'

He has also been critical of Western sanctions against Russia.

Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said the success of the National Party means 'the perception of Slovakia in Europe will be complicated.'

'We have elected a fascist to parliament,' he added.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, TASS, and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/slovakia-elections-fico/27592084.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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NATO to Expand Activities to Territorial Waters of Greece, Turkey

Sputnik News

21:22 06.03.2016

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the NATO's efforts aimed at helping both Ankara and Athens to cope with human trafficking and criminal networks, fueling the ongoing migrant crisis.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  NATO will expand the activities of its ships deployed to the Aegean sea to the territorial waters of both Greece and Turkey to help them in tackling illegal migration, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday.

On February 11, defense ministers of the 28 NATO member states decided to send alliance's naval ships to the Aegean Sea to monitor the flow of migrants between Turkey and Greece.

'NATO took swift decisions to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea to support our Allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the EU's border agency FRONTEX, in their efforts to tackle the migrant and refugee crisis. NATO ships are already collecting information and conducting monitoring in the Aegean Sea. Their activity will now be expanded to take place also in territorial waters,' Stoltenberg said, as quoted in a press release published on NATO website said.

Stoltenberg added that the alliance's efforts aimed at helping both Ankara and Athens to cope with human trafficking and criminal networks, fueling the ongoing migrant crisis.

The EU states are currently struggling to deal with a refugee influx, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Frontex recorded more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into the bloc in 2015. Greece is the main transit route for refugees coming across the Aegean Sea from Turkey.

 Sputnik

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Egypt, French Navies Launch Joint Exercises in Mediterranean

Sputnik News

21:16 06.03.2016

French navies will take part in Egyptian naval and aviation exercises in the Mediterranean sea, named 'Ramses-2016', according to the Arab Republic of Egypt's Defense Ministry.

CAIRO (Sputnik)  The French and Egyptian navies launched naval and aviation exercises in the Mediterranean, the Arab Republic of Egypt's Defense Ministry said Sunday.

The 'Ramses-2016' drills would span several days and be held in Egypt's territorial waters, the ministry's representatives told reporters.

They noted that the FREMM Tahya Misr ('Long Live Egypt') multi-purpose frigate, which entered service with the Egyptian Navy in mid-2015, will take part in the joint exercises.

Paris and Cairo signed a contract in October 2015, paving way for Egypt to purchase two Mistral-class helicopter carriers originally built for Russia. The agreement was reached after Paris officially terminated the $1.3 billion deal with Moscow.

 Sputnik

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Nigeria Army to Pay for Education of Slain Soldiers' Children

by Peter Clottey March 06, 2016

Nigeria's army said it would pay for the education of at least four children for each solider killed in the counterinsurgency fight against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in parts of the country's north.

The army's sponsorship, officials said, would include paying the school fees for the children from primary level until they complete tertiary levels of education.

While welcoming the announcement, Nigerians have also urged the army to ensure the slain soldiers' families do not face challenges to access the plan through corruption or incompetence, which they say often permeate state institutions.

Nigerian military spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said the army had established an insurance policy for the soldiers to ensure the families they leave behind are properly taken care of.

Welfare plan

"We have a welfare scheme for both officers and soldiers of the Nigerian army, especially for their dependents or next of kin in the event of inevitable unforeseen [death]. For instance, if the soldier is injured or ultimately lose their life, his family will be adequately taken care of apart from the routine administrative we have,' Usman said.

'We also have a group life insurance and we have provisions for sponsorship for at least four children of the deceased officer or soldier, right from the primary school, secondary or high school and of course tertiary institution," he said.

Usman made the remarks following the army's announcement that it had made significant progress in the counterinsurgency fight against Boko Haram in the militants' hideout in the Sambisa Forest.

He said in the "notorious" part of the forest, several militants were killed and others captured. Those captured are providing intelligence, Usman said, adding the army is acting on in a bid to end the insurgency.

"Just yesterday, one Musa Abdullahi was captured by our troops, and of course he gave insight about some of the atrocities being committed. We were able to recover quite a number of equipment and weapons," Usman said.

'These guys are unrelenting'

"These guys are unrelenting and with each coming day they come up with new strategies. For instance, they tend to use even communication gadgets to set up booby traps apart from the normal improvised explosive devices they bury on the ground. But our troops are up to the task,' he said.

Usman added Boko Haram is also contaminating the source of water in the communities where they have been routed out.

Local media reported that Boko Haram militants have resorted to selling cattle to generate funds for their insurgency.

Usman confirmed the reports, adding that it shows the army's continued pressure on the militants has forced them to abandon their regular sources of income, which includes taxing people who reside in communities Boko Haram previously controlled.

"Initially, they were having a field day ... but as we closed onto their respective supply routes, denying them freedom of action, freedom of movement and of course freedom of their source of logistics supply they've devised several other means using a third party, either by way of trading some goods and maybe animals. ... And that is what led to the closure of some of the markets, because the markets acted as meeting points for some of them," Usman said.

"With each passing day we get intelligence and information and we act on it,' he said. 'I can rest assured, confidently, that in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria, we are gaining tremendous success and in no distant time, we can beat our chest and say, 'Yes peace and stability have come to stay in our country."

But critics said President Muhammadu Buhari's government has yet to defeat the militants who continue to launch attacks on civilians, even after the government said it had technically defeated the Boko Haram militants.

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Slovak Ruling Party Loses Parliament Majority, Despite Electoral Win

by VOA News March 06, 2016

Slovakia's leftist ruling party will begin negotiations Sunday with smaller political parties in an attempt to form a coalition government after losing its parliamentary majority in Saturday's elections.

With nearly all the votes counted, Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer-Social Democracy party won nearly 30 percent of the vote, securing 49 seats in the 150-seat parliament, losing its secure majority of 83 seats in the previous government.

The pro-business Freedom and Solidarity party came in second with about 12 percent of the vote, securing 21 seats.

Fico campaigned on a strident anti-immigrant platform, aligning Bratislava with Poland and Hungary, who are opposed to a European Union plan to evenly distribute refugees who have poured into the continent fleeing Syria, Iraq and other war-ravaged countries, creating Europe's biggest migrant and humanitarian crisis since World War Two.

Fico's victory comes as Slovakia prepares to assume the EU's rotating presidency in July.

Among the smaller parties who won seats in Saturday's elections is the extreme right nationalist Our Slovakia, which took 8 percent of the vote.

Party leader Marian Kotelba is a neo-Nazi sympathizer who has expressed strident views against Slovakia's Roma minority.

Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.

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OPLAN 5015 [Operation Plans]

The new military strategy, Operations Plan (OPLAN) 5015, called for a prompt response to a North Korean attack with a preventive strike on the North's core military facilities and weapons as well as its top leaders. It differs sharply with the old OPLAN 5027, which is based on retraction, realignment and striking back. The new plan was signed by South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Choi Yoon-hee and Combined Forces Commander Curtis Scaparrotti in June 2015.

OPLAN 5015 focuses "on bolstering the capabilities for striking the headquarters" including the scenario of making a prompt attack on the headquarters and communication facilities of the DPRK. OPLAN 5015 consolidated OPLAN 5029 for the event of DPRK internal contingency, OPLAN 5027 in preparation of all-out war, and a peacetime OPLAN in response to local provocation. The OPLAN 5015 is also known to encompass plans against asymmetric aggression such as TBM/WMD and cyber warfare.

USFK regularly reviews and updates operations plans to ensure our readiness to respond to regional threats and crises. The combined ROK-U.S. operations plan continued to evolve to enhance readiness and strengthen the ROK-US Alliances ability to defend the Republic of Korea and maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula. While it continues to train and man its conventional force, North Korea remains focused on improving its asymmetric capabilities: nuclear weapons, long-range ballistic missiles, and cyber programs.

North Korea special forces couldpotentially disrupt selected US-ROK operational plans in times of war or crisis, including ROK Army mobilization, US Noncombatant Evacuation Operations, and staging, onward movement, and synchronization of deep, close and rear defenses.

Asahi Shimbun reported that the plan deals with surprise military provocations by Pyongyang through the use of its special forces. An anonymous top military officer caused a stir in August 2015 when he told a Korean newspaper that the plan contained preemptive "decapitation" of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The new plan was said to adapt to changes in the security environment by focusing on making a swifter and more energetic military response than the previous OPLAN 5027, incorporating the concept of a preemptive strike. With North Koreas localized provocations becoming more frequent, there was an increasing risk 2of escalation. OPLAN 5015 articulated ways to respond to these threats with US-ROK combined forces and, in the event of escalation, to respond to the threat of North Koreas missiles and nuclear weapons.

The reported content of OPLAN 5015 was not without problems. Although the new plan reportedly focused not on a full-blown war but on limited warfare, a preemptive strike can escalate from a small skirmish into a large-scale war. It is hard to understand how the Korean troops would play a leading role while should a war start, Korea would not have military operational control. If that meant Korean soldiers would mostly engage in ground warfare while the US military provided naval and aerial support as some experts alleged, some South Koreans said the plan needed to be reconsidered.

OPLAN 5015 was a follow-up measure to the Strategic Planning Guidance (SPG), which the US Secretary of Defense and the South Korean Defense Minister agreed to during the 42nd US-ROK Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in October 2010. In March 2013, the military announced it had drawn up plans for US and South Korean forces jointly responding to localized provocations.

The operation plan outlined how US and South Korean forces would operate during the outbreak of war or some other crisis. By the end of 2015, the two sides would draw up detailed instructions for each echelon and their subordinate units according to the new operation plan.

Cho Sang-ho, a Defense Ministry official tasked with structural reform of the military, said 27 August 2015 that the South Korean military will take the lead in developing concepts of asymmetric strategy that are superior to those of the North Korean military and mentioned psychological warfare, information superiority, the ability to make precision strikes, and a decapitation strike.

The commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) asked on 11 September 2015 for joint probes with South Korea into the leakage of the new OPLAN 5015 to the media. The request from the USFK Commander, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, was disclosed during a parliamentary audit session when Cho Hyun-Chun, the chief of the Defense Security Command, responded to a lawmaker's question about the media coverage of the 5015 operation plan.

Defense Minister Han Min-Koo also said at the parliamentary session on Thursday that during a meeting with Scaparrotti in August 2015, the US commander raised a complaint over the media reports. Han added, however, that an investigation had already been started by South Korean authorities before Scaparrotti made such comments.

Military leaders and lawmakers on the ROK National Assembly Defense Committee quarreled for weeks over making public the new Korea-US military operational plan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff seemed willing to report part, if not all, of the plan to the Assembly committee. The MND spokesperson stated 05 October 2015 that the specific contents of OPLAN 5015 could not be revealed and that a limited version that reveals what is determined to be relevant was reported. National Assembly members raised their opposition against this decision ROK JCS is not properly reporting information that is required for proper inspections and budget planning.

After a meeting 07 October 2015, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties expressed dissatisfaction with the military's superficial report, citing the rule that exempts obligatory reporting of military information that is important for national security.

The JCS and Defense Ministry were concerned about possible leakage of its contents, based on prior experience. The major points of OPLAN 5015 had already been reported by local and foreign media outlets, including Japan's Asahi Shimbun, which said the new plan included concepts of limited war, or guerilla warfare, rather than a full-scale conflict.

Following the October 2015 meeting between President Obama and President Park, in which the two countries recommitted to a comprehensive and global Alliance, senior defense officials met in November 2015 at the 40th ROK-US Military Committee Meeting (MCM) and the 47th ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). At the 47th annual Security Consultative Meeting on 02 November 2015 in Seoul, the two sides warned that any North Korean aggression or provocation is not to be tolerated.

They approved and agreed to implement a new concept to detect, disrupt, destroy, and defend (the 4Ds) against North Korean missile threats. The 4D Operational Concept relies on South Koreas Kill Chain, an integrated system for tracking and carrying out preemptive strikes on North Korean missile sites.

KEY RESOLVE and ULCHI FREEDOM GUARDIAN are annual, computer-simulated command post exercises that focus on crisis management and the defense of the Republic of Korea. FOAL EAGLE is an annual field training exercise to ensure operational and tactical readiness. In August 2015, USFK and PACOM integrated for the first time the Korea-based ULCHI FREEDOM GUARDIAN exercise and PACOMs PACIFIC SENTRY command and control exercise.

Some sources claim that OPLAN 5015 was included in the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise in 2015. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises running from 06 March 2016 through 30 April 2016 were the largest in scale since Pyongyangs torpedo attack on the South Korean corvette Cheonan in 2010. The 2016 exercise will involve more than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 U.S. troops and simulate previously unattempted strategies. The Key Resolve portion of the exercise included OPLAN 5015. This is the first time for it to be carried out in a Key Resolve exercise.

Pyongyang wasted no time putting forth a spiteful responses. The National Defence Commission of the DPRK issued a statement on 07 March 2016 "The situation is getting ever more serious as the enemies decided to stage the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle 16 joint military exercises by the way of fighting an actual war involving the thrice-cursed 'beheading operation' aimed to remove the supreme headquarters of the DPRK and 'bring down its social system' pursuant to the extremely adventurous OPLAN 5015."

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Hassan Abdallah al-Turabi

Hassan Abdallah al-Turabi was a prominent Sudanese Sunni Muslim, who advocates an Islamic state and was critical of Western secularism. Hassan al-Turabi was seen as the man who introduced Sharia in Sudan. During an active political life of some 50 years, he was imprisoned or held under house arrest on several occasions. Those periods of detention have been interspersed with periods of high political office. A legend in his own time, Turabi, or rather his views, tended to attract rather more attention with him out of office. Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi was one of the more consequential Sudanese thinkers of recent times. His long-running power struggle with his erstwhile ally President Omar al-Bashir continued until Turabi's death.

Western-educated, fluent in both French and English, Turabi saw himself as a man with a mission. Turabi was married, and had a son. His brother-in-law, Sadiq al-Mahdi, was a former Sudanese prime minister, leader of the Ansar religious sect and president of the Ummah Party.

Hailing from a family steeped in Islamic jurisprudence, his father being a judge [others say a Sufi Muslim sheikh], Turabi always prioritised Islam over racial, ethnic and tribal identity. Born in the eastern Sudanese city of Kassala in 1932, Turabi received an Islamic education before he earned his Masters at the University of London (1955-57) and PhD from the Sorbonne, Paris (1959-64). He married into perhaps the most important religious-political family in Sudan -- his wife Wisal was the sister of former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadig Al-Mahdi.

In the elections of 1965, the Islamic Charter Front (ICF), a political party that espoused the principles of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin), received only an insignificant portion of the popular vote. But the election roughly coincided with the return from France of Hasan al-Turabi. Early in his career and immediately after his graduation from Khartoum University, Faculty of Law, in 1963, Turabi joined the Islamic Charter Front, the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Rising quickly in the ranks, in 1964 the suave and articulate Turabi became the secretary-general of the ICF [renamed the Islamic National Front (NIF) in 1985]. From the inception of his political career, he stressed the liberal, progressive and open-minded nature of Islam. He championed women's rights -- authoring The Position of Women in Islam in 1973, a radical treatise in Islamist discourse at the time.

Turabi methodically charted the Brotherhood and the NIF on a course of action designed to seize control of the Sudanese government despite the Muslim fundamentalists lack of popularity with the majority of the Sudanese people. Between 1964 and 1969, Turabi was the secretary-general of the Islamic Charter Front, a political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood that advocated an Islamic constitution and opposed communism. Following the 1969 coup that brought General Ja'far al-Numayri to power, he spent six years in custody before escaping to exile in Libya for three years.

In 1979, as President Numayri sought rapprochement with Islamist leaders, Turabi was appointed attorney general. While he was attorney general, a liberal politician and theologian Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was put on trial for apostasy - abandoning religious belief - and executed in January 1985. Many Sudanese believed Mr Turabi was behind the president's introduction of certain aspects of Sharia (Islamic Law) and the replacement of the Council of Ministers with a Presidential Council. Shortly before the 1985 coup that overthrew President Numayri, Turabi was sacked, tried for sedition with other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and imprisoned. After the coup, he dissolved the Islamic Charter Front and reorganised it into the National Islamic Front (NIF). The NIF's strong finances and support among graduates helped the party to third place in the 1986 elections. Turabi was appointed minister of justice and attorney general in May 1988, and minister of foreign affairs in December 1988. He also served briefly as deputy prime minister in 1989 before relinquishing all four posts when the NIF refused to endorse a peace agreement drawn up by the government and the SPLA, which advocated secularism in the south.

Although he was imprisoned with other political figures following the 1989 coup that brought to power President Bashir, Turabi was soon released and given a crucial role helping the new government to fashion its policies in accordance with Islam.

By the fall of 1989, Ussama Bin Ladin had sufficient stature among Islamic militants that Sudanese political leader Hassan al Turab, urged him to transplant his whole organization to Sudan. Turabi headed the National Islamic Front in a coalition that had recently seized power in Khartoum. Bin Ladin agreed to help Turabi in an ongoing war against African Christian separatists in southern Sudan and also to do some road building. Turabi in return would let Bin Ladin use Sudan as a base for worldwide business operations and for preparations for jihad. While agents of Bin Ladin began to buy property in Sudan in 1990, Bin Ladin himself moved from Afghanistan back to Saudi Arabia.

Turabi captured the Zeitgest of Sudan and much of Muslim Africa in the early 1990s with his radical Islamist posturing. In 1991, he founded the Popular Arab and Islamic Congress (PAIC), an annual event that grouped together militant Islamist leaders from around the world. As secretary-general of the PAIC, Turabi played host to the leader of Al-Qaeda, which was based in Sudan in 1990-96 -- a time when Turabi was at the pinnacle of his political career. Delegations of violent Islamist extremists came to the meetings of the Popular Arab and Islamic Conferences from all the groups represented in Bin Ladin's Islamic Army Shura. Representatives also came from organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Turabi sought to persuade Shiites and Sunnis to put aside their divisions and join against the common enemy.

To protect his own ties with Iraq, Turabi reportedly brokered an agreement that Bin Ladin would stop supporting activities against Saddam. Bin Ladin apparently honored this pledge, at least for a time, although he continued to aid a group of Islamist extremists operating in part of Iraq (Kurdistan) outside of Baghdad's control.

Not until 1998 did al Qaeda undertake a major terrorist operation of its own, in large part because Bin Ladin lost his base in Sudan. Ever since the Islamist regime came to power in Khartoum, the United States and other Western governments had pressed it to stop providing a haven for terrorist organizations. Other governments in the region, such as those of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and even Libya, which were targets of some of these groups, added their own pressure. At the same time, the Sudanese regime began to change. Though Turabi had been its inspirational leader, General Omar al Bashir, president since 1989, had never been entirely under his thumb. Thus as outside pressures mounted, Bashir's supporters began to displace those of Turabi.

Following the 1996 elections to the new National Assembly, Turabi was elected speaker. In 1999, Turabi became the secretary-general of the National Congress (NC) Party, which evolved out of the NIF under the leadership of President Bashir.

In December 1999, President al-Bashir declared a state of emergency and disbanded the National Assembly two days before it was to vote on a constitutional amendment that would have reduced presidential powers. The disbanding of the National Assembly reduced the power of the Parliamentary Speaker and chairman of the ruling political party, Hassan al-Turabi. President al-Bashir suspended articles of the constitution and suspended the political activity of Hassan al-Turabi. On 24 January 2000, President al-Bashir formed a new government and in May 2000, he froze all activities of the ruling political party.

The political rift between the president and al-Turabi became more apparent in June 2000 when al-Turabi launched his own opposition political party called the Popular National Congress, and sought to challenge President al-Bashir, accusing him of trying to separate religion and the state.

On 21 February 2001, Hassan al-Turabi and senior members of his Popular National Congress Party (PNCP) were arrested by security forces after the PNCP signed a memorandum of understanding with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). They were charged with threatening national security and the constitutional order. Al-Turabi was detained in a maximum security prison, held in solitary confinement and denied visitors. A committee set up by the Ministry of Justice to look into possible charges against al-Turabi recommended two criminal charges - inciting hatred against the state and sedition. Both crimes are punishable by death or life imprisonment under the Criminal Act.

In October 2001 President al-Bashir dropped charges against al-Turabi and the senior members of the PNCP that had been arrested in February 2001. The senior members of the PNCP who had been arrested were released, but Al-Turabi was not released for security reasons.

He was arrested in March 2004 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government after signing a controversial deal with the separatist SPLA rebels fighting for greater autonomy for South Sudan. The coup accusations and his arrest came only months after his release from custody in October 2003 when he had spent 32 months in detention.

Turabi was arrested in March 2008 after saying President Bashir should surrender to the International Criminal Court. The court issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir in 2008 for war crimes in Darfur, charges the president denied. The National Intelligence and Security Service said that Turabi, was not detained over his request that President Al-Bashir face ICC charges, but instead because of Al-Turabis recent contact with leaders from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), to which Al-Turabi was allegedly providing financial and logistical assistance in order to create a military coup in Darfur.

On 30 October 2009 the Sudanese government lifted its ban on an opposition party and freed the party's prominent leader, Hassan al-Turabi, who had been in detention for more than a year. Sudan's long-running state of emergency was also lifted in most areas of the country.

Turabi was arrested a month after the country's first multiparty elections in 24 years. He had denounced the national elections as fraudulent. A group of security officers arrived at the home of Hassan al-Turabi 15 March 2010 and took away the head of the opposition Popular Congress Party. Authorities also raided the printing house of the party's daily newspaper Rai al-Shaab and confiscated all its copies.

On 17 January 2011 Sudanese security forces arrested a top opposition leader who suggested the country is ready for a Tunisia-style uprising. Family members of Hassan al-Turabi said security agents came to his Khartoum home and took him into custody. At least eight members of Turabi's Popular Congress Party were also arrested. Hassan Al-Turabi was released from jail a few months later.

Sudanese leader Hassan al-Turabi was hospitalised 05 March 2015 after falling unconscious in his office. Hassan al-Turabi is in critical condition after what was described as a heart attack. Turabi died 05 March 2016 of a heart attack at the age of 84. Hassan al-Turabi was buried 06 March 2016 in a cemetery east of the capital, Khartoum, following a funeral attended by thousands of mourners.

The influential al-Turabi was known fondly as The Sheikh by his followers and as a cunning demagogue by his detractors.





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US May Use National Guard Cyber Operations Against Militants

by VOA News March 06, 2016

The U.S. National Guard's cyber unit may join the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.

'Units like this can also participate in offensive cyber operations of the kind that I have stressed we are conducting, and actually accelerating, in Iraq and Syria, to secure the prompt defeat of ISIL, which we need to do and will do,' Carter said, using an acronym for the group.

'We're looking for ways to accelerate that, and cyber is one of them,' he added.

Carter visited the National Guard Cyber Unit at its base Friday in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington. He noted the squadron was not currently engaging in offensive cybermissions.

Ongoing campaign

But the defense secretary said in the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State group, there is a need to "make it clear that there is no such thing as a state that is based on that ideology."

As part of that effort, Carter said he would not rule out cyber operations to work on an offensive strategy to try to disrupt the Internet outreach operations of the militant group.

Since it was formed back in the late 1990s, the cyber unit has focused solely on defensive cybersecurity efforts, National Guard officials told the Seattle Times newspaper.

The National Guard's cyber unit is a 101-person team of part-time soldiers, most of whom have full-time jobs in the tech industry at companies such as Microsoft and Google.

Beneficial work

"Using National Guard units for such work made sense because it allowed the military to benefit from private sector cyber experts," Carter said.

'It brings in the high-tech sector in a very direct way to the mission of protecting the country,' he added, 'And we're absolutely going to do more of it.'

The U.S. National Guard is a reserve military force, composed of military units of each state, the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

The majority of its soldiers and airmen hold civilian jobs full time while serving part time as National Guard members.

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China Punished About 280,000 Officials in Anti-Corruption Campaign in 2015

Sputnik News

14:57 06.03.2016(updated 15:29 06.03.2016)

According to Chinese ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog, in 2015 more than 280,000 Chinese officials were punished for corruption and other breaches of law.

BEIJING (Sputnik)  Chinese authorities punished more than 280,000 officials for corruption and other violations in 2015, local media reported Sunday, citing the ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog.

At least 200,000 officials were handed light disciplinary punishments, while about 82,000 were given severe disciplinary punishments and faced major demotions, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

The CCDI was created to fight corruption and other abuses within the ranks of the Communist Party of China (CPS). The watchdog conducts internal investigations before deciding whether to hand the case over to the judicial authorities.

After assuming office in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping initiated a large-scale campaign to secure discipline and to fight corruption, primarily targeting high-level officials in the CPC, the armed forces and state-run enterprises.

 Sputnik

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Newspapers Reject UNSC's 'Resolution on Sanctions' against DPRK

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, March 6 (KCNA) -- Leading newspapers here Sunday resolutely reject the UN Security Council's 'resolution on sanctions' against the DPRK.

Rodong Sinmun in an article says that the satellite launch by the DPRK is not an issue to be discussed by others as it is a legal and just measure.

It goes on:

The U.S. and some other countries are running the show at the UNSC, conniving at the launch of satellite or inter-continental ballistic missiles of those countries kowtowing to them but disallowing the satellite launch for peaceful purposes by those countries incurring their displeasure.

The U.S. and its followers wantonly violated the independent right to space development of a sovereign state recognized by international law. This outrageous hostile act indicates that the U.S. strategy of hostility toward the DPRK has reached its height.

But the U.S. is seriously mistaken.

The DPRK has manufactured and launched satellites with its own efforts and by its own technology.

More satellites of Juche Korea would be put on their orbits no matter what others may say and the DPRK will demonstrate its might as a satellite manufacturing and launching state in the future, too.

Minju Joson in a commentary says that the DPRK will remain unfazed by any 'sanctions', stressing the U.S. and other big powers and their followers would be fully accountable for the grave catastrophic consequences to be entailed by the 'resolution on sanctions' against the DPRK. -0-

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North Korea slams US-South Korea military drills

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 3:19PM

North Korea has slammed the upcoming US-South Korea joint military drills, saying Washington will be held accountable for "igniting war" on the Korean peninsula.

Some 300,000 troops from South Korea and 15,000 American forces will participate in the annual drills scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Seoul and Washington say the military exercises are defensive in nature but North Korea describes them as rehearsals for an impending war.

On Sunday, Pyongyang condemned the drills in a statement and said the country is ready to respond to any possible aggression from South Korea or the US.

'We have cutting-edge attack methods to beat up the US mainland at anytime and from anywhere. Also we have diligently developed and deployed Juche (self-reliant) weapons in the era of the Workers' Party of Korea, which enables us to fire strong artilleries," said the statement read by North Korea's KRT television anchor.

'If a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, the US will be held accountable for igniting the war by mobilizing their massive strategic means and war hardware here, regardless of who mounted a preemptive attack,' it added.

On Friday, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal prepared for use at any time and the military to be in "pre-emptive attack" mode over growing threats from enemies.

The order came a day after the UN approved its harshest sanctions crafted by the US against the impoverished nation, marking a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula.

Kim said the situation had become very dangerous following the adoption of the sanctions, which came just days ahead of joint military drills by the US and South Korea.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket last month carrying a satellite. South Korea, other neighbors and Washington denounced the launch as a missile test.

North Korea accuses the US of plotting with its regional allies to topple the government in Pyongyang. The country bills its nuclear capabilities as a deterrent against hostile US policies.

Pyongyang also wants Washington to dissolve its military command in South Korea, where the US has thousands of troops.

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India's Gujarat on high alert over militant infiltration concerns

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 9:51AM

India has deployed elite security forces to Gujarat amid concerns over the infiltration of a group of militants from Pakistan into the country's westernmost state, police say.

Gujarat police chief P.C. Thakur told AFP on Sunday that security has been stepped up at all major installations in the coastal state.

"A team of NSG (National Security Guard) arrived in Gujarat last night following the terror alert. The state has been put on high alert," he said.

The development came after Pakistan's National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, that some 10 militants had entered Gujarat.

The Gujarat Home Department has issued a notification, asking all top police chiefs to return to duty immediately and report any suspicious activity. Television footage showed Indian security personnel frisking visitors outside public venues.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Thakur said authorities feared that members of Pakistan-based militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) may have crossed through Gujarat's Kutch district, which has a land and sea border with Pakistan.

India blames LeT for the November 2008 terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, which left 166 people dead.

Nine of the gunmen were killed during the four-day assaults. The only surviving assailant was executed in India in November 2012.

The Pakistani government has announced a ban on LeT.

Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was rocked by religious riots which killed more than 1,000 people, most of them from the minority Muslim community, back in 2002.

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Dozens killed in multiple explosions across Iraq

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 11:10AM

Scores of people have been killed in a series of terror attacks across Iraq as violence continues unabated in the Arab country, Iraqi media report.

A huge car bomb blast that targeted a police checkpoint in Iraq's central province of Babil on Sunday left at least 60 people dead while over 65 others suffered injuries.

A separate bombing hit a military base in an area in the town of Abu Ghraib, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, killing two Iraqi soldiers and injuring five.

An explosion in the town of Saab al-Bour, located approximately 29 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of the capital, left two people dead.

There were no immediate claim of responsibility for the acts of violence. However, Iraqi officials usually blame such attacks on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since Daesh Takfiri militants began their march through the Iraqi territory in June 2014.

Army soldiers and Popular Mobilization units have joined forces and are seeking to take back militant-held regions in joint operations.

According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 670 Iraqis lost their lives last month while 1,290 others were injured.

The UN mission added that the number of the civilians killed stood at 410, and the number of civilians injured was 1,050. Violence claimed the lives of 260 members of the Iraqi security forces while 240 others sustained injuries.

A large number of the fatalities were recorded in the capital, Baghdad, where 277 civilians were killed and 838 others wounded.

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Ban highlights Algeria's 'great progress' while raising alarm on situation in Libya

6 March 2016  Visiting Algeria for the second time as United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon today said great progress has been made in the country since terrorist attacks in 2007 devastated UN Headquarters in Algiers, while underlining "alarming" developments in Libya that could amount to war crimes.

"My first visit to Algeria was very painful," the UN chief told reporters at a press conference in the capital, alongside the country's Minister of State and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ramtane Lamamra.

In December 2007, a car bomb destroyed UN offices in Algiers, killing 17 UN personnel as well as many Algerian citizens. More than nine years later, Mr. Ban praised the country's President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for progress made under his direction, and noted that what he has learned about "rahma" politics, meaning "pity," has impressed him.

"Instead of letting themselves be divided by terrorists, Algeria united in solidarity," he highlighted. "History has shown many times that any violent strategy against terrorism that isn't based on the respect for human rights is doomed to fail. Respect for human rights is both a moral obligation and a tactical advantage."

The Secretary-General also noted that he and Minister Lamamra discussed their "deep concern" regarding the situation in Libya.

"There is alarming information coming from Libya about grave acts that could amount to war crimes," Mr. Ban warned. "All external actors need to use their influence to appease the situation. If things don't improve on the political front, the humanitarian crisis will worsen and threats to people's security, including attacks by Daech [ISIL], will multiply and expand."

In addition to thanking Algeria for hosting UN-led talks on Libya, he also welcomed the country's engagement towards Mali, for its role as one of the main mediators of the peace process.

Turning to the issue of Western Sahara, Mr. Ban recalled his visit yesterday to the town of Tindouf where he met with refugees who have been suffering for generations due to the ongoing regional conflict. He reiterated that no real progress has been made in negotiations towards a "just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution, based on the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

"I am deeply saddened by this humanitarian tragedy," Mr. Ban said. "The world cannot continue to neglect Sahrawi refugees. They're hoping for the support of the region, the UN, and the international community. We must act."

Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, the UN chief today planted a tree of peace. He also spoke at a foreign ministry symposium after meeting with President Bouteflika. Speaking at a press conference following the encounter, Mr. Ban said he was encouraged by the adoption of a revised constitution on 7 February, and insisted on the importance of investing in Algeria's "dynamic and determined" youth.

He is expected to visit the headquarters of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) located in Laayoune, Western Sahara.

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Over 300 Russian Communication Troops Hold Drills in North Ossetia

Sputnik News

16:29 06.03.2016(updated 16:42 06.03.2016)

According to district's press service, over 300 troops with Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) communications brigade concluded special tactical training exercises in the internal Russian republic of North Ossetia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Over 300 troops with Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) communications brigade concluded special tactical training exercises in the internal Russian republic of North Ossetia, the district's press service said Sunday.

'More than 300 soldiers took part in the exercises and about 100 units of special equipment were deployed. The signallers deployed mobile field command posts, communications centers, and used the 'Andromeda-D' radio relay communication station mounted on the Kamaz vehicle and unified radio stations mounted on BTR-80,' the SMD said.

The military communications troops trained to organize connectivity on shortwave and ultra-shortwave radio stations in field conditions, and provided video conferencing with the use of advanced equipment, the district specified.

 Sputnik

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Full Speed Ahead! Russian Warship Sets Sail for Mediterranean Mission

Sputnik News

16:02 06.03.2016(updated 16:32 06.03.2016)

The Russian guided missile destroyer Smetlivy has left the country's southwestern port of Sevastopol for the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Smetlivy destroyer of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet has departed from the country's southwestern port city of Sevastopol and is headed for the Mediterranean, where the warship will be on a mission.

According to the statement, the Smetlivy is due to join Russia's naval force in the region on March 7.

Currently, more than 15 Russian warships and other vessels are carrying out security-related missions in the Mediterranean, including those pertaining to providing logistical support to a Russian Aerospace Forces unit in Syria as well as to the Syrian Army.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Russian Navy's Mediterranean task force, which includes warships from the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Northern and the Pacific Fleets, may be joined by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in the summer of 2016.

 Sputnik

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Shelling in Syria's Aleppo kills 14, injures 40

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 7:24PM

Terrorist militants have fired a barrage of mortars and rockets into a busy market in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, leaving at least 14 people dead and 40 more injured.

State-run news agency SANA said on Sunday the attack by 'terrorists' occurred in the Kurdish-dominated neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, which has been targeted by shelling despite a US and Russian-brokered ceasefire that took effect February 27.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition group that monitors the conflict, said more than 70 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Sheikh Maqsoud.

The Observatory said the shells were fired by militants, affiliated with the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham Salafist movement with close ties to Turkey, and Daesh.

Kurdish fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been engaged in heavy fighting with anti-Damascus militants in recent months.

Turkey has been slammed for supporting anti-Damascus militants with funds, training and weapons.

The ceasefire has caused a sharp drop in violence in much of Syria and has largely held despite sporadic violations and mutual accusations of breaches. The US and Russia are now looking to convince the two sides to return to UN-brokered peace negotiations in Geneva next week.

In a telephone conversation Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry gave 'an overall positive assessment of the progress toward securing the ceasefire in Syria, which is being generally observed and already has led to a sharp decrease in the level of violence,' the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Although much less aid than anticipated has gone into besieged areas since the ceasefire started, the diplomats noted 'significant improvement' in humanitarian access.

They stressed the need to avoid delaying the start of the Geneva negotiations.

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Disillusioned Volunteer Says Syria A Battle For War Booty, Territory

March 06, 2016

by Luljeta Krasniqi Veseli and Charles Recknagel

Ideals give way to disillusionment easily in Syria, where foreign militants who go with ideals of helping the Syrian population often find themselves embroiled in battles between rival groups for plunder and territory instead.

Arben has seen that firsthand.

The 27-year-old Kosovar Albanian, who spent 10 months in Syria before returning home, also says he saw goodwill turn to hostility among civilians caught up in the conflict zone as abuses mounted and noncombatants increasingly feared the ranks of foreign-born militants like him.

Speaking recently to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, the grandson of a Kosovar imam says videos from the conflict persuaded him to go to Syria in May 2013.

But he says that he soon found his idealism about combating the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapsing amid turf wars between powerful rival commanders.

'Each of them wanted to have his own territory,' he says. 'Children and women were not spared. No one was safe.'

Arben, not his real name, will not divulge exactly where he was located in Syria or with which group. He says only that he was near Aleppo. The city, Syria's second largest, has been the focus of fierce fighting between regime troops and a loose coalition of rebel groups that includes units from the secular Free Syrian Army, the Al-Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, and the fundamentalist militant group that has claimed to set up a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State (IS).

Arben says the hard-line Islamist Al-Nusra Front and IS were among the most brutal of the groups toward civilians.

'Al-Nusra would take the wives of those they had fought against' once they seized an area, he says. 'They also robbed the houses.'

He says such abuses sickened him. At the same time, he notes, they frightened civilians to the point that no one trusted any foreign volunteers, including himself.

'In the beginning, when I went [to Syria], everybody was greeting us,' he recalls. 'But later, they were looking at us differently. They were scared of us.'

Back in Kosovo since the middle of 2015, Arben is one of an unknown number of his countrymen who have traveled to Syria to take part in its civil war. Newspapers in Kosovo estimate the number of those who have gone in the hundreds, with most recruits attracted to the conflict after turning to radical Islam.

Arben's path was different. He says he became interested in Syria due to his own experiences during the Kosovo conflict of 1998-99. During the conflict, the forces of the then-president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, drove hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo as Belgrade sought to quash a separatist rebellion.

'I experienced the war as a child in Kosovo and terror offensives as well, so I wanted to offer humanitarian help to the small children and families [in Syria],' he told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.

Religion, he says, was not his foremost concern. At the time, he says, he attended his local mosque for prayers but not on a regular basis because was busy working in an Internet cafe.

When he first arrived in Syria after being smuggled across the Turkish border, he was pleased. He was initially assigned by the group he joined to activities like 'fixing refugee camps, schools, and [doing] clean-up,' and felt he was helping the Syrian people.

'But after that we started to train every morning,' he says. 'We were prepared to give humanitarian aid and military aid. We were trained to use AK-47s, and I attended the training but I did not participate in combat.'

He says that he was not sent to the front line because he was 'still new and inexperienced.' But there was fierce fighting in the area around him, including suicide bombings in schools and mosques. He says the bombings were to terrify local populations into submission as rival warlords' expanded their power.

Arben says he counts himself lucky to have gotten out after 10 months. But to leave, he first had to overcome the suspicions of his group that he was deserting them. He says he lied to his superiors that his parents were sick and begged to be allowed to return home to care for them.

Since returning to Kosovo, Arben says he has broken off all contact with his group in Syria.

Asked if he would go again, he shakes his head.

'Never. I regret I was there,' he says. 'Since I came back, I don't want to hear anything about Syria and I never look at those videos anymore.'

He adds, 'I am surprised that there are people interested in [joining] this fight, even women. It has nothing to do with Islam.'

Written in Prague by RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel based on an interview by Luljeta Krasniqi Veseli, an RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondent in Kosovo

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kosovo- disillusioned-volunteer-syria-war-booty- territory-islamic-state/27592144.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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Daesh Hunts for Elders, Local Leaders Joining Syrian Truce

Sputnik News

18:57 06.03.2016(updated 19:03 06.03.2016)

Daesh terrorists are taking efforts to capture elders and administration leaders of towns, field commanders of 'moderate' Syrian opposition, who had signed ceasefire agreements in order to set the ceasefire regime back, according to the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) militants launched a hunt for elders, administration heads and opposition leaders, who have joined Syrian ceasefire in order to disrupt truce, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation said in a newsletter published Sunday.

'ISIS militants are taking efforts to capture elders and administration leaders of towns, field commanders of 'moderate' opposition, who had signed ceasefire agreements in order to set the ceasefire regime back,' the newsletter published in English on the website of the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It was added in the statement that the governors of country's Idlib and Latakia provinces held working sessions on the issues concerning stabilization in the settlements, which had been previously liberated by the government troops.

The Russia-US brokered ceasefire was backed by the Syrian government and dozens of opposition groups on the ground. The Daesh and the Nusra Front (outlawed in Russia) are not part of the truce.

 Sputnik

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Russian Reconciliation Center Records 15 Ceasefire Violations in 24 Hours

Sputnik News

18:41 06.03.2016(updated 18:57 06.03.2016)

Over the past 24 hours the cessation of hostilities in Syria was violated 15 times, according to the Russian reconciliation center.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The ceasefire between government and rebel forces in Syria has been violated 15 times over the past 24 hours, with four injuries sustained in rebel shelling, the Russian reconciliation center said in a daily newsletter published by the Ministry of Defense on Sunday.

'Over the past 24 hours the cessation of hostilities was violated 15 times (11 in Damascus, one each in Hama, Daraa, Idlib). Four people were injured under the shelling by illegal armed groups in residential neighborhoods and divisions of government forces in Damascus,' the center noted.

'The negotiations with the leaders of six armed groups in Damascus, Daraa, Homs provinces are in progress. Thirty applications to join a ceasefire are already signed with the leaders of the armed groups,' according to the newsletter.

It was added in the newsletter that the preliminary agreements to join ceasefire had been reached with the elders of the six settlements in the province of Damascus.

The reconciliation center underscored that neither the Russian Aerospace Forces nor the Syrian Air Force conducted strikes on opposition armed groups expressing readiness to join the ceasefire in effect since February 27.

The Russia-US brokered ceasefire was backed by the Syrian government and dozens of opposition groups on the ground. The Daesh and the Nusra Front (outlawed in Russia) are not part of the truce.

 Sputnik

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Nusra Front Terrorists Shell Turkey to Provoke Return Fire

Sputnik News

17:56 06.03.2016(updated 18:03 06.03.2016)

The Nusra Front terrorists shelled Turkish territory several times from Syria to provoke return fire from Turkish armed forces, the head of Russia's reconciliation center said Sunday.

HMEYMIM (Sputnik)  Lt. Gen. Kuralenko added that Daesh amassed near Turkey's Nusaybin city.

"On March 6, 2016, Jebhat al-Nusra repeatedly fired mortars at Turkish territory near the village of Metishli. The terrorists' actions are aimed at provoking retaliatory fire by the Turkish military and its units' engagement in Syria, which will inevitably lead to the disruption of the peace process," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko said.

"According to our information, the terrorists are preparing an attack on the town of Qamishli, located on Syrian territory and populated by the Syrian Kurds," he stressed.

Kuralenko added that little-known Jund al-Malihash militant group fighters obstructed road links in Daraa province between the Nahteh and Hirak settlements.

"At the same time they stop cars with civilians and threaten them with violence because of the refusal to participate in military operations," he said.

 Sputnik

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Spring Cleaning: Syrian Army Crushes Terrorists in Latakia Province

Sputnik News

14:13 06.03.2016(updated 14:34 06.03.2016)

Amid a ceasefire arrangement that has restored calm to much of Syria and the promise of Aleppo regaining access to electricity, the Syrian Army and the country's National Defense Force have continued a joint offensive against terrorist groups in the western province of Latakia, media reports said.

A swath of strategic areas has reportedly been liberated by the Syrian Army and the country's National Defense Force (NDF) in the northeastern mountains of Latakia Province in western Syria.

During the latest offensive, the Syrian troops managed to drive the remaining terrorists from their positions at Latakia's border with Idlib province, according to the Iranian news agency FARS.

Government forces additionally retook a number of key sites along the Aleppo-Latakia Highway (M-4 Highway), in an advance that paved the way for the Syrian Army to reach the hilltops overlooking the strategic city of Jisr al-Shughour, located in the southern part of Idlib province.

The offensive came just a few days after the Syrian Army and the NDF liberated several strategic villages and a strategic height in Latakia province.

In separate development, Russian warplanes conducted a series of airstrikes on Daesh positions in the eastern part of Homs province in central Syria.

The aircraft destroyed a whole array of Daesh targets, including the terrorists' oil smuggling route to Turkey located near the ancient city of Palmyra, according to FARS.

Earlier, the Syrian forces launched an offensive against Daesh terrorists southeast of Homs province, liberating the strategic village of al-Bayarat, sources said.

In February 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2268, endorsing the Russia-US agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria, shortly before the ceasefire came into force on February 27.

The cessation of hostilities does not apply to designated terrorist organizations operating in Syria, including Daesh and the Al-Nusra Front.

Adding to the Syrian Army's anti-terror effort is Russia's ongoing air campaign which was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Daesh and Al-Nusra Front targets in Syria at the behest of President Assad.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in turn that 'Russian aircraft are not performing strikes in those regions where a willingness to cease fire and to start negotiations were expressed.'

 Sputnik

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'1992 consensus' recognized as key to cross-strait peace: MAC

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/06 13:06:23

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) Taiwan has reaffirmed that the '1992 consensus' and 'one China, different interpretations' are the key to institutionalized talks and interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait after Chinese leaders made similar remarks stressing Beijing will adhere to the consensus as a political foundation.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the Cabinet-level agency responsible for China policy, made the reaffirmation in a statement released late Saturday, in which it also explained that the core of the consensus is to reflect the sovereignty of the Republic of China.

'The mainland should face up to the cross-strait reality of separate rule, so that it can truly respect and understand Taiwanese people's feelings and views,' the MAC statement said.

Only with such an attitude can cross-strait relations be developed pragmatically in the future, it added.

The MAC statement came after Chinese President Xi Jinping () and Premier Li Keqiang () made clear China's Taiwan policy in Beijing Saturday, the first day of an annual session of the National People's Congress.

Joining representatives from Shanghai during the session, Xi warned against Taiwan independence, and said that China's policy toward Taiwan is 'clear and consistent, and it will not change with the change in Taiwan's political situation,' according to a report by the Xinhua news agency, Beijing's mouthpiece.

Xi was referring to the victory of Tsai Ing-wen () of Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party in the presidential election in January.

'We will adhere to the 1992 Consensus as a political foundation, and continuously advance the peaceful development of cross-strait ties,' Xi was quoted as saying in the Xinhua report.

Tsai and her party do not recognize the '1992 consensus,' which the Kuomintang government says is a consensus reached in talks held in 1992 that there is only one China, with each side free to interpret its meaning.

Xi said the consensus clearly defines the nature of cross-strait ties and is the basis for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations in the long term.

He also said that 'we will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form,' Xinhua reported.

Li for his part also made a statement reiterating China's consistent stance on cross-strait ties when delivering a working report for 2016 to the fourth session of the National People's Congress.

He said China will safeguard its national sovereignty, while at the same time using a softer tone to describe the two sides of the Taiwan Strait as being 'as close as one family.'

On Sunday, Chen Deming (), president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), called Xi's remarks against Taiwan independence 'a complete statement,' which he said is necessary in this 'critical phase' of cross-strait ties.

China has never changed its discourse on the '1992 consensus' or its basic political stance, Chen said in response to media questions before attending the second-day session of the National People's Congress.

He said Xi's statement on Saturday 'lets the people of the two sides of the strait clearly know our political bottom line.'

The ARATS is an intermediary body founded by Beijing to handle cross-strait affairs with Taiwan in the absence of formal ties.

(By Chen Chia-lun, Lawrence Chiu and Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/J

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China will not make direct contact with DPP: Beijing negotiator

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/06 15:08:24

Beijing, March 6 (CNA) China will not make direct contact with Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) unless the party changes the Taiwan independence clause in its party platform, the top Chinese negotiator with Taiwan said Sunday.

Chen Deming (), president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), made clear Beijing's stance toward Taiwan's ruling party-to-be when answering media questions before joining the second-day session of the National People's Congress.

Asked whether there are other communication channels between China and the DPP, which had a landslide victory in both the presidential and legislative elections in January, Chen said that the mainland's attitude toward the DPP is 'clear and consistent.'

The mainland 'will not contact (the DPP) directly' until such time that the latter changes the Taiwan independence clause in its party platform, Chen said.

Asked if he will visit Taiwan before May 20 -- when President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (), who doubles as the DPP's chairwoman, will assume office as president of Taiwan -- Chen replied that for the time being, he has not thought about the issue.

'I will wait and see how things progress,' he said.

ARATS is the intermediary body founded by Beijing to handle cross-strait affairs in the absence of formal bilateral ties.

Speaking of the controversial issue of trade in goods between the two sides of the strait, the negotiator said that talks on the planned cross-strait trade-in-goods agreement have been completed.

The reason the agreement has not been signed so far is that Taiwan's legislature has not passed a draft cross-strait agreement supervisory act, Chen said.

On a proposal brought up in the session of the National People's Congress to build a cross-Taiwan Strait high-speed rail line, Chen said more time will be needed before the two sides of the strait can begin to discuss it.

'There is a problem regarding the political willingness between us,' said Chen.

In terms of engineering technology, China has the ability to construct a large-span bridge for a high-speed rail, as well as the funds required for such a project, he said.

Taiwan for its part has the advantage of possessing related techniques, he went on, noting that if the two sides can cooperate with each other, they can easily resolve the challenges of such a project, such as ensuring supplies of water, electricity and natural gas.

But there is a problem of willingness between Taiwan and China, therefore 'we have to patiently wait and see until the time is ripe for discussion,' Chen said.

(By Lawrence Chiu and Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/J

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Military police accused of illegal search of civilian's home

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/06 21:03:24

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) The Military Police Command said Sunday that a recent investigation into an illegal online sale of classified government documents was legal, after it was accused of searching the seller's home without a warrant.

The seller's daughter said in an online post a day earlier that their home was searched a fews days ahead of the 228 anniversary because her father possessed some documents related to the White Terror rule of the Kuomintang.

The documents were seized and her father was taken away for questioning, according the post, made under the moniker of 'spicy chao tien pepper.'

The post turned out to be a big story Sunday, becoming headline news in the United Evening News, followed by denouncing of the military by the opposition parties.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Liu Shih-fang (), who is also convener of the Legislature's Foreign (Affairs) and National Defense Committee, said an agenda has been set for March 9 in which all people concerned, including leading defense and military police officials, will be required to report to the lawmakers.

The Military Police's top political warfare officer, Hsieh Ming-te () said Sunday that the father of the accuser, surnamed Wei, was acting illegally in the first place when he tried to sell classified documents online.

'During our investigation (into the illegal sale), we did not search his home. The Military Police did not pay him any money in exchange for his silence on this matter,' Hsieh said.

The documents in question were in fact related to communist Chinese spies and confessions they made after they surrendered themselves to the government in the 1960s and 1970s, according to Hsieh.

As for the so-called 'hush money,' the Ministry of National Defense explained that it did indeed offer NT$15,000 (US$460) to Wei 'as a reward for his cooperation' in investigating how the documents were leaked. Wei refused to take the money.

The MND defended the Military Police Command's probe as completely legal.

'The Military Police investigators got in contact with Wei, who admitted possessing and selling the leaked documents, and signed his consent to having his home searched. In fact, the MPs just went to his home to ask for the documents,' the process of which was video-taped for proof, said the MND.

It said it has asked the military police command to send all relevant files on the investigation to prosecutors.

DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling () demanded to know on what basis the military were able to ask a private citizen to sign a 'voluntary consent to being searched.'

Chen Ting-fei (), a DPP caucus whip at the Legislature, ridiculed the MND, asking if 'Taiwan has returned to the days of martial law?'

DPP spokesman Yang Chia-liang () denounced the Military Police, accusing it of 'abusing its power and infringing on a citizen's human rights.'

He demanded that the MND explain itself and punish those found to be not doing their jobs properly.

Legislator Hsu Yung-ming () of the New Power Party said his caucus has asked senior Military Police officers to explain the matter the following afternoon.

The People First Party's legislative caucus also criticized the Military Police for 'lacking in rule of law education.'

'Even if it is legal to search a private residence in this case, it is not reasonable,' said the PFP caucus in a press release.

'We must not allow any poisonous traces from authoritarian rule to remain in our democratic society,' said Lee Hung-chun (), the PFP caucus whip.

Lawyer Tseng Yi-sheng () frowned at the military investigators' launching of a probe without consent of prosecutors in the first place.

'I cannot comprehend why the Military Police did not request prosecution leadership in probing the case. They were simply too careless,' Tseng said.

(By Chen Yi-wei, Sophia Yeh, Wen Kui-hsiang, Hsieh Chia-chen and S.C. Chang)

ENDITEM/J

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Beijing not to permit Taiwan split from China: President Xi

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 6, 2016 8:1AM

Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned Taiwan against any independence drive, saying Beijing will never give the self-ruled island nation permission to break off from the mainland.

Xi made the remarks during a meeting with Shanghai delegates to the opening session of the annual National People's Congress in Beijing on Saturday.

"We will resolutely contain 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities in any form, safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of the nation being split to happen again," he said.

The Chinese president further said Beijing's policy towards Taiwan was consistent, adding it "will not change along with the change in Taiwan's political situation."

The comments seemed to be directed at Tsai Ing-wen and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that secured a landslide victory in Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections in January.

Tsai defeated Eric Chu, candidate of the pro-Beijing Kuomintang (KMT) party, which has ruled Taiwan since 2008.

She will assume office in May, replacing Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who signed a series of key economic deals with Beijing.

Tsai has vowed to maintain the "status quo" with China and focus on economic issues. However, the president-elect has refused to endorse the "one-China principle," which underpinned eight years of improved relations between the former civil war foes.

China and Taiwan are separated by the Taiwan Strait in the western Pacific Ocean. They split in 1949 following a civil war, but Beijing still regards the island as part of its territory.

"Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," Xi added.

On Saturday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also pledged to fight any push by Taiwan to formalize its split from the mainland.

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LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 7, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - World Patent Marketing, a vertically integrated manufacturer and engineer of patented products, announced that they have been conducting a high level security upgrade, with the assistance of IT Specialist Hudson Navarro of HNL Corp. Hudson has dealt with digital security issues for; FedEx, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, First State Bank, Trac, Broward County, Miami/Dade County, and the City of Miami.

"Navarro is the best there is," said Scott Cooper, CEO and Creative Director of World Patent Marketing. "His experience in Colombia, where he had to protect highly sensitive information from a ruthless crime network is invaluable. I was impressed with his discretion and his ability to do this sensitive work without interrupting our ongoing operations. Due to his work, we have earned the confidence of very high placed governments and business enterprises and will be expanding our work with them on their most sensitive projects."

The security upgrade was conducted in secret and very few people in the company were aware of Navarro's project as the work was being done. Navarro engaged in numerous war gaming scenarios, traveling to a number of foreign countries while he tested the resilience and integrity of the World Patent Marketing security system. The company's communications, research and customer management systems were able to withstand his most sophisticated attacks.



Cybercrime is on the rise throughout the world. Even the United States Social Security system was recently hacked, resulting in the compromise of nearly 22 million individuals identities.

For a company that operates internationally like World Patent Marketing, secure internet connections are absolutely necessary to daily operations. World Patent Marketing has been working with highly sensitive information, and the nature of their government and business partners made the security audit and upgrades a high level necessity. Due to Navarro's exemplary work, the company's information systems achieved the highest possible security rating.

"Ideas are valuable," said Jerry Shapiro, Director of Manufacturing for World Patent Marketing. "And we have many of the best ideas in the country, right there in our offices. We can't risk a breach."

Navarro was brought to Florida from Colombia, to tackle difficult security issues in information systems. He has unique experience in handling sensitive security issues in a country ripped apart by the drug wars, money laundering and civil war. Navarro is one of the most talented men in his field currently operating in the United States. His work for World Patent Marketing was invaluable.

ABOUT WORLD PATENT MARKETING

World Patent Marketing is an innovation incubator and manufacturer of patented products for inventors and entrepreneurs. The company is broken into eight operating divisions: Research, Patents, Prototyping, Manufacturing, Retail, Web & Apps, Social Media and Capital Ventures.

As a leader in patent invention services, World Patent Marketing is by your side every step of the way, utilizing our capital and experience to protect, prepare, and manufacture your new product idea and get it out to the market. Get a patent with World Patent Marketing and the company will send representatives to trade shows every month in order to further advocate for its clients. It is just part of the world patent marketing cost of doing business.

World Patent Marketing Reviews enjoy an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and five star ratings from consumer review sites including: Consumer Affairs, Google, Trustpilot, Customer Lobby, Reseller Ratings, Yelp and My3Cents.

World Patent Marketing is also a proud member of the National Association of Manufacturers, Duns and Bradstreet, the US Chamber of Commerce, the South Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and the New York Inventor Exchange.

Visit the worldpatentmarketing.com website and find out how to patent an invention. Contact us at (888) 926-8174.

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/worldpatentmarketing/Cybersecurity/prweb13242830.htm
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - March 7, 2016) - East Africa Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:EAM) ("East Africa" or the "Company") wishes to announce that, further to the news release dated October 27, 2015 and December 10, 2015, the Company has completed the execution of the Definitive Agreement with an arm's length private exploration and development company (the "Developer") to develop East Africa's Magambazi project in Tanzania.

As outlined in its June 15, 2015, news release:

Under the terms of the letter agreement, the Developer will:

pay East Africa US$1 million in cash for a 100% interest in the Handeni property, which includes the Magambazi project, and all properties owned by East Africa in Tanzania (the "Assets") - US$0.5 million on completion of the Definitive Agreement (US$200,000 received) and US$0.5 million within twelve-months of the Effective Date (March 7, 2016);

pay East Africa approximately US$1 million in cash for the book value of the camp, equipment and other assets within twelve-months of the Effective Date (March 7, 2016);

convey to East Africa the right to receive a 1.6% Net Smelter Royalty on production, capped at US$1.8 million;

convey to East Africa the right to acquire a gold stream equal to 30% of the life of mine gold production from all of the Assets;

issue treasury shares of the Developer that is expected to represent 9.9% of the Developer's outstanding shares. The Developer intends to list on the London Stock Exchange's AIM and expects to issue such shares to East Africa before the listing; and

offer East Africa a seat on the Board of Directors of the Developer and a seat on the Management Committee of the Magambazi project.

The transaction will provide East Africa with the right to purchase 30% of gold produced during mining operations established at any of the Assets, for a per ounce payment equal to the lesser of: (i) production cost plus 15% based on the Developer's historical and budgeted production costs, and (ii) the prevailing market price for gold.

Further, the Developer will provide a completion guarantee under which, if within 48 months of the effective date the project fails to produce a minimum of 8,000 ounces of gold in any quarterly period, the Developer will pay East Africa an advanced cash payment of US$592,000 for every quarter after 48 months from the effective date that 8,000 ounces of gold is not produced.

East Africa will have a right of first offer and a right to re-acquire the properties if commercial production is not reached in four years from the effective date or if the project is abandoned.

The transaction will not close until the Company receives the final payment of US$1.5 million and obtains in-country approval. Until that time East Africa is entitled to the terms of the letter agreement outlined in this news release. East Africa will not be required to contribute to capital or exploration expenditures with respect to the construction and development of any of the Assets.

East Africa's President and C.E.O., Andrew Lee Smith commented, "This is a significant step forward for the Magamabzi Project and clears the way for development to begin in Tanzania, the Company can now focus all of its efforts towards the advancement of our assets in Ethiopia."

Insurance Payment

Further, East Africa is pleased to announce the Company has received the final insurance payment of CAD$450,000 in settlement of the East Africa's costs related to a BCSC Notice of Hearing (see news release date August 8, 2013).

The BCSC hearing was focused primarily on whether the infill drill results constituted a "material change" and therefore were required to be disclosed immediately. The BCSC panel agreed with the Company's position that the infill drill results were not material and that the Company acted appropriately in granting certain stock options prior to the disclosure.

About East Africa Metals

The Company's principal assets and interests include both the 70%-owned Harvest polymetallic VMS exploration Project, which covers approximately 116 square kilometres in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, 600 kilometres northnorthwest of the capital city of Addis Ababa, and the Adyabo Project, covering 264 square kilometres immediately west of the Harvest Project. The Company owns 100% of the Adyabo Project. East Africa now has mineral resources defined at both projects in Ethiopia and continues to test priority targets.

More information on the Company can be viewed at the Company's website: www.eastafricametals.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo., CEO

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including information with respect to the terms of the letter agreement, the timing and amounts of payments, the expected completion dates for due diligence and approvals, the structure of the proposed transaction and the listing of the Developer's common shares on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should" or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: the negotiation of a definitive agreement reflecting the anticipated structure and timing outlined herein; delays with respect to required payments and regulatory approvals; results of the due diligence review; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations, as well as those risk factors set out in East Africa's management's discussion and analysis for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, East Africa's listing application dated July 8, 2013 and Tigray Resources Inc. Management Information Circular dated March 28, 2014.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the terms of the definitive agreement reflecting the anticipated structure and timing outlined herein; completion of satisfactory due diligence; the timely receipt of all required payments and regulatory approval; the price of gold; the demand for gold; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa 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. 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 information. The Company does not update or revise forward-looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, 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 the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 7, 2016 / GB Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: GBL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of 67,854,547 new common shares (the "Placement Shares") in the share capital of the Company (the "Share Capital"), at a price of C$0.055 per Placement Share for gross proceeds of C$3,732,000 (the "Placement").

A.B. Aterra Resources Ltd. which taken together with its related companies (together, "Aterra") is an existing significant shareholder of the Company and an insider within the meaning of the rules of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), is proposing to subscribe for 12,285,455 Placement Shares and will, upon completion of the Placement, own an aggregate of 225,749,097 common shares of the Company representing 46.47% of the Share Capital.

The Placement Shares will represent an increase of approximately 14% in the enlarged Share Capital and approximately 13.2% of the fully diluted enlarged Share Capital. The Placement Shares will be subject to a four-month hold period from the date of issuance. Application will be made for the listing of the Placement Shares on the TSXV. Closing of the Placement is subject to due diligence by investors and the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Placement for expenses and development of the Company's Farim phosphate mineral property, to meet the Company's financial obligations and operational commitments and to fund litigation involving GBM Minerals Engineering Consultants Limited.

Aterra is a "related party" to the Company under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") by virtue of its existing shareholding being in excess of 10% of the Share Capital. Accordingly, the Placement is a "related party transaction" under MI 61-101. The Placement is exempt from (i) the formal valuation requirements under Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsections 5.5(g) of MI 61-101 and (ii) the minority approval requirements under Section 5.6 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.7(1)(e) of MI 61-101because the board of directors of the Company, acting in good faith, has determined, and at least two-thirds of the Company's independent directors, acting in good faith, have determined, that the Company is in serious financial difficulty, that the Placement is designed to improve the Company's financial position and that the terms of the Placement are reasonable in the Company's circumstances.

The Company anticipates it will file a material change report less than 21 days before the closing of the Placement. This shorter period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as the Company required the proceeds of the Placement immediately.

Luis da Silva, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, comments:

"Following the recent capital restructuring, this latest private placement is a demonstration of our continuous efforts to raise financing and we are extremely pleased to have a new institutional investor such as JP Morgan Asset Management UK Limited. This diversification of the shareholder register along with further support from existing shareholders should strengthen the Company's position as we prepare to raise the development finance that is sought for Farim."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Luis da Silva

President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Luis da Silva

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: + 1 (604) 569-0721

Angel Law

Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

Telephone: +1 (604) 569-0721

ABOUT GB MINERALS LTD.

On September 14, 2015, the Company announced the results of, and filing on SEDAR, of a new feasibility study on its Farim phosphate project entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report On the Farim Phosphate Project" (the "2015 Feasibility Study").

The Farim phosphate project is located in the northern part of central Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, approximately 25 kilometres south of the Senegal border, approximately 5 kilometres west of the town of Farim and some 120 kilometres northeast of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, on a 30.6 km2 mining lease license granted by the Government of Guinea-Bissau to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, GB Minerals AG, in May 2009. The Company also holds a production license in relation to the Farim phosphate project.

The Farim phosphate project consists of a high grade sedimentary phosphate deposit of one continuous phosphate bed which extends over a known surface area of approximately 40 km2. It is estimated to contain measured and indicated resources of 105.6 million dry tonnes at a grade of 28.4% P2O5 and additional inferred resources of 37.6 million dry tonnes at 27.7% P2O5. The measured and indicated resources include 44.0 million dry tonnes of reserves based on a 25 year mine plan at 1.75 million tonnes per annum ("mtpa") of mine production at the following run of mine grades: 30.0% P2O5, 2.6% Al2O3, 41.0% CaO, 4.7% Fe2O3, and 10.6% SiO2. The phosphate ore will be beneficiated for a final phosphate rock concentrate production of 1.32 mtpa at a 34.0% P2O5 grade at 3% moisture.

The 25 year mine plan also assumes a beneficiation process that involves scrubbing (both drum and attrition) followed by particle sizing to remove the fraction under 20 m. This new beneficiation process will result in a 34.0% P2O5 product grade, mass recovery of 75.5% and 78.4% P2O5 recovery confirmed by a pilot scale test on a one tonne sample that took place in May 2015. After passing through the process plant, the final production of phosphate concentrate, based on 1.75 mtpa of run of mine feed, will be 1.32 mtpa. The life of mine operating costs are approximately US$52.13 per tonne of final concentrate. The initial capital cost for the project is estimated at US$193.8 million and does not include owner's costs which amount to US$11 million and include items such as project insurance, resettlement and owner's team costs. Owner's costs have been included in the financial analysis.

For additional information, please visit us at www.gbminerals.com.

QUALIFIED PERSON

The Company's Qualified Person is Dan Markovic, P. Eng., Project/Study Manager at Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd., who has reviewed and approves this press release. Mr. Markovic is independent from the Company.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information in this news release relating to the Company is forward-looking and related to anticipated events and strategies. When used in this context, words such as "will", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "intend", "target" and "expect" or similar words suggest future outcomes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, but may not be limited to the amount of proceeds raised by the Placement, the Placement and the closing of the Placement, the use of proceeds and the business plans, statements or information relating to the anticipated development activities of the Company, the Farim Project (including the quantity and quality of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates), the potential to upgrade inferred mineral resources, the ability of the Company to develop the Farim Project into a commercially viable mine and the proposed new plans relating thereto regarding operations and mine design, estimates relating to tonnage, grades, recovery rates, future phosphate production, future cash flows, life of mine estimates, expectations regarding production and estimates of capital and operating costs. By their nature, such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as actual results could differ materially from the plans, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward-looking information, either as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason.

Disclosure herein of exploration information and of mineral resources and mineral reserves is derived from the 2015 Feasibility Study. Information relating to "mineral resources" and "mineral reserves" is deemed to be forward-looking information as it involves the implied assessment based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral resources and mineral reserves can be profitable in the future. Such estimates are expressions of judgment based on knowledge, mining experience, analysis of drilling results and industry practices. Valid estimates made at a given time may significantly change when new information becomes available. By their nature, mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates are imprecise and depend, to a certain extent, upon statistical inferences which may ultimately prove unreliable. If such estimates are inaccurate or are reduced in the future, this could have a material adverse impact on the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to inferred mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource as a result of continued exploration.

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

SOURCE: GB Minerals Ltd.
TSX.V Symbol (DMI)

KELOWNA, BC, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - Diamcor Mining Inc. (TSX-V.DMI / OTCQX-DMIFF), (the "Company") announces the results of rough diamond tenders and sales for the Company's fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2016 from its Krone-Endora at Venetia project in South Africa (the "Project").

In an initial tender and sale held in January, the Company sold 3,697.33 carats of rough diamonds, for gross proceeds of US $542,540.43, resulting in an average price of US $146.74 per carat. In the second and final tender of the current fiscal quarter completed on February 29th, the Company sold 3,199.17 carats of rough diamonds, for gross proceeds of US $485,834.09, resulting in an average price of US $151.86 per carat. This brings the combined rough diamonds tendered and sold during the fiscal quarter to 6,896.50 carats, generating gross proceeds of US $1,028,374.34 for an average price of US $149.12 per carat. The price per carat realized during the tenders were consistent with Company expectations. Rough diamonds tendered and sold in the second tender were the result of rough diamonds recovered and delivered for preparation prior to a February 3, 2016 cut-off date. Rough diamonds recovered after February 3 and until March 31, 2016 will be recorded as rough diamond inventory on-hand for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.

The fourth fiscal quarter rough diamond tender and sale results represent a ~49% increase when compared to 4,619.11 carats tendered and sold in the Company's Fourth fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2015, and a ~22% increase in gross revenues when compared to US $842,420.21 gross revenues reported in that same prior period. Of particular note during the current fiscal quarter, a 12.78 carat special rough diamond and a 7.50 carat rough diamond were recovered utilizing the new Tomra XRT sorting unit recently deployed at the Company's Project. These rough diamonds sold for US $4,747.47 per carat, and US $4,152.00 per carat respectively.

Rough diamonds tendered were the result of the continued processing of material in the +1.0mm to -26mm size fractions, along with initial limited processing of material from various larger size fractions during the period. The combined efforts currently underway are designed to support the continued advancement of objectives consistent with the recommendations of the updated NI43-101 Technical Report ("Updated Technical Report") filed by the Company on April 28, 2015, and to aid the Company in arriving at initial production decisions for the Project. The recovery of all rough diamonds to date are incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing exercises performed at the Project. The above-noted testing exercises and incidental recoveries do not form part of the Updated Technical Report and therefore no general grade, price, or quality determination is intended by the Company at this time due to the nature and purpose of the processing of this material.

About Diamcor Mining Inc.

Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publically traded junior diamond mining company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol V.DMI, and on the OTC QX International under the symbol DMIFF. The Company has a well-established operational and production history in South Africa and extensive prior experience supplying rough diamonds to the world market.

About the Tiffany & Co. Alliance

The Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world famous New York based Tiffany & Co., to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project at then current prices to be determined by the parties on an ongoing basis. In conjunction with this first right of refusal, Tiffany & Co. Canada also provided the Company with financing to advance the Project. Tiffany & Co. is a publically traded company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TIF. For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com.

About Krone-Endora at Venetia

In February 2011, Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. On September 11, 2014, the Company announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. The deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with an average total depth of less than 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine.

Qualified Person Statement:

Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. Dean H. Taylor

President & CEO

Diamcor Mining Inc.

DTaylor@diamcormining.com

Tel (250) 864-3326

www.diamcormining.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Diamcor Mining Inc.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 7, 2016) - Strongbow Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SBW) ("Strongbow" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Teck Resources Ltd. ("Teck") to purchase Teck's royalty interest on the Mactung and Cantung projects located in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Highlights

The Mactung Royalty is a 4% Net Smelter Returns Royalty on the Mactung tungsten project, which is located approximately 390km northeast of Whitehorse, Yukon, and approximately 790km west northwest of Yellowknife, NWT. The Mactung project straddles the border between Yukon and NWT. One half of the Mactung Royalty may be purchased by the property owner (to reduce the royalty to 2%) at any time for $2,500,000.

The Cantung Royalty is a 1% Net Smelter Returns Royalty related to the Cantung tungsten project, which is located in western NWT, approximately 390km east northeast of Whitehorse, Yukon, and approximately 720km west of Yellowknife, NWT.

Subject to the TSX Venture Exchange's approval of the transaction, Strongbow will pay $1,500,000 to Teck on closing of the acquisition, and make a further $1,500,000 payment to Teck on the earlier of a development decision at Mactung or re-commencement of commercial production at Cantung.

Richard Williams, President and CEO of Strongbow states, "We are extremely pleased with this transaction, which represents the first step in our plan to build a strategic metals company, with a focus on high quality assets located in supportive mining jurisdictions."

About Mactung

The most recent historic technical report for the Mactung Project was a feasibility study commissioned by North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd. titled "Amended Technical Report on the Mactung Property", dated April 3, 2009, and amended April 30, 2010, the report was authored by eleven Qualified Persons, with Mr. Honorio Narciso, P. Eng (Wardrop Engineering Inc) as lead QP, and Mr. Peter Lacroix P. Eng (Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates) responsible for the mineral resource estimate.

The historic mineral resource estimate contained in the most recent historic technical report used the Kriging method and a block cut-off grade of 0.5% WO 3 , and reported an Indicated Resource of 33Mt grading 0.88% WO 3 , plus an Inferred Resource of 11.9Mt grading 0.78% WO 3 . The resource estimation procedures are considered appropriate for this type of deposit. Additional drilling is required to advance the resources from Inferred to Indicated and Measured, and a new feasibility study is required to demonstrate the project's economic viability.

Strongbow has not conducted sufficient work to classify the historic mineral resource estimate as a current mineral resource estimate and Strongbow is not treating the historic resource estimate as a current mineral resource estimate.

The deposit is currently owned by the Government of NWT, whose intention is to sell the asset in order for project development to proceed.

About Cantung

Cantung was an operating tungsten mine until 2015, when the owner of the mine, North American Tungsten Corp (NATC), entered CCAA proceedings.

The most recent historic technical report for the Cantung Project was commissioned by North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd when Cantung was still an operating mine. Titled "Technical Report on the Cantung Mine, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated September 19, 2014, the report was authored by Mr Brian Delaney, P. Eng, and Mr. Finley Bakker P. Geo, Mine Manager and Technical Services Superintendent at the Cantung Mine, respectively.

In the historic technical report, historic Probable Mineral Reserves were reported as 1,818,000 tons grading 0.81% WO 3 . The historic Probable Mineral Reserves were calculated using a 0.5% WO 3 cut-off grade, and a minimum mining width of 15 feet.

The historic Probable Mineral Reserves were a sub set of the historic Indicated Mineral Resource which reported 3,839,000 tons grading 0.97% WO 3 , using the same 0.5% WO 3 cut-off grade. An additional historic Inferred Mineral Resource estimate reported 1,370,000 tons grading 0.8% WO 3 using the same 0.5% WO 3 cut-off grade.

Additional drilling is required to expand the resource prior to a decision to restart mining operations at Cantung.

Strongbow has not conducted sufficient work to classify the historic mineral resource estimate as a current mineral resource estimate and Strongbow is not treating the historic resource estimate as a current mineral resource estimate.

Line of Credit

Osisko Gold Royalties ("Osisko"), a significant shareholder of Strongbow, has agreed to provide Strongbow with a $1,500,000 non-interest bearing line of credit to complete the royalty acquisition. Repayment of the loan is due upon any sale of the Mactung project by the Government of the Northwest Territories and is secured by the Royalties.

Repayment of the loan is by conveyance of the Royalties to Osisko at Osisko's election at any time after the sale of the Mactung project by the Government of the Northwest Territories, or in cash under certain other circumstances.

The line of credit agreement and the completion of the royalty acquisition are both subject to receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval.

The loan from Osisko will be a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as a result of Osisko holding 27.3% of the Company's outstanding common shares. Related party transactions require a formal valuation and minority shareholder approval unless exemptions from these requirements are available. Strongbow is relying on the exemption from the formal valuation requirement in section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 (as a result of its shares being listed on the TSX Venture Exchange) and the exemption from the minority approval requirement in section 5.7(f) of MI 61-101 (as a result of the transaction involving a loan without any equity component).

Qualified Person

Richard Williams, P.Geo. (BC), President & CEO of Strongbow and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard D. Williams, P.Geo

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to statements with respect to Strongbow's plans, the estimation of a mineral resource and the success of exploration activities. 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 receipt of regulatory approvals, the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to general economic and market conditions; closing of financing; the timing and content of upcoming work programs; actual results of proposed exploration activities; possible variations in mineral resources or grade; 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; changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations. Although Strongbow 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. Strongbow undertakes no obligation or responsibility to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
/THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES./

VANCOUVER, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - Eco Oro Minerals Corp. ("Eco Oro" or the "Company") (TSX: EOM) announces that the Company has formally notified the Government of Colombia (the "Government") of the existence of a dispute between Eco Oro and the Government under the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Colombia (the "Free Trade Agreement").

The dispute has arisen out of the Government's measures and omissions, which have directly impacted the rights granted to Eco Oro to explore and exploit its Angostura Project. The measures and omissions that have affected Eco Oro include (without limitation) the Government's unreasonable delay in clarifying the limits of the Santurban Paramo and whether it overlapped with the Angostura Project and its persistent failure to provide clarity as to Eco Oro's right to continue developing its mining project in light of further undefined requirements and later as a consequence of the Constitutional Court's decision of February 8, 2016, which has broadened the prohibition of mining activities in paramo areas.

Eco Oro remains open to continue amicable discussions with the Government with a view to the prompt settlement of this dispute. Absent an acceptable settlement with the Government during the next six months, Eco Oro has the option of submitting the dispute to international arbitration and seeking a declaration of a breach of the Free Trade Agreement and monetary compensation for the damages suffered due to that breach.

Company Profile

Eco Oro Minerals Corp. is a publicly-traded precious metals exploration and development company with a portfolio of projects in Colombia. Eco Oro has been focused on its wholly-owned, multi-million ounce Angostura gold-silver deposit, located in northeastern Colombia. Eco Oro is committed to further advancing the Angostura Project in a socially and environmentally responsible manner that will be beneficial for all stakeholders.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release are "forward-looking" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. They include statements with respect to the Company's dispute under the Free Trade Agreement, the Company's ability and plans for advancing the Angostura Project and future announcements relating thereto. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and other contingencies. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others, the timeliness and success of regulatory approvals, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, as well as other risk factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Annual Information Form dated March 26, 2015, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE Eco Oro Minerals Corp.
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Mar 7, 2016) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:BEX) ("Benton" or "the Company") and its joint venture partner Nordmin Engineering Ltd. ("Nordmin"), are pleased to release the results of a positive preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") for their Cape Ray Gold Project, located approximately 20km northeast of Port aux Basque, Newfoundland. The results of the PEA include a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") at a 7% discount rate of $48.4 million with a pre-tax internal rate of return ("IRR") of 29% and a post-tax NPV at a 7% discount rate of $32.6 million with a post-tax IRR of 24%.

The PEA is based on the mineral resource estimate completed by Sibley Basin Group Ltd. in the National Instrument 43-101 report dated April 29, 2015 entitled "Mineral Resource Estimate Technical Report For The Cape Ray Property,04,41,51 and Windowglass Hill Deposits, Isle aux Morts Area, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada" and amended in this report.

Highlights from the PEA, with the base-case gold price of $1,200 (U.S.) per ounce and an exchange rate of $1.25CDN/USD, are as follows (all figures in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated):

Pre-production Capital is $47.3 million with a contingency of $4.7 million included within the initial Capital. Pre-production is for a 2 year period.

Sustaining Capital of $33.7 million for the Life of Mine ("LOM").

Pre-tax NPV(7%) of $48.4 million and internal rate of return of 29%.

Post-tax NPV(7%) of $32.6 million and internal rate of return of 24%.

Pre-tax Net Revenue of $88.4 million over 6 year LOM.

Post-tax Net Revenue of $63.4 million over 6 year LOM.

Positive Cash-flow is realized in year 3.

1,700,000 tonnes of mill feed averaging a combined 4.6 g/t gold and 4.8 g/t silver.

Mill operates at average tonnage of 851 tonnes per day.

Total production of 250,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver.

Gold recovery of 97% and Silver recovery 45%.

Stephen Stares, President and CEO of Benton stated "the receipt of a positive PEA demonstrating strong economics over the life of mine is a major milestone for Benton. We see numerous opportunities to further enhance the economics through additional studies and exploration with a high probability for resource expansion and good potential for new discoveries across the property. We will now focus on advancing the Cape Ray project toward prefeasibility through additional exploration, environmental permitting and further studies."

Benton recognizes that this is an undeveloped area of Newfoundland. As such, protecting the environment is of great importance. To facilitate the development of a sustainable project, Nordmin has experts on staff to complete the necessary studies required concerning environmental monitoring, assessment and permitting matters.

The Company has initiated work towards firming up costs and preparing a Feasibility Study. Apart from environmental baseline studies, hydrology monitoring, flora and fauna studies. A NI 43-101 technical report for Cape Ray PEA will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days.

The reader should be cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature. It contains inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the results of the PEA will be realized.

Resources:

All of the economics are completed on indicated and inferred categories of the resource model. A cut-off grade of 4.0 g/t Au was used for underground resources and a cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t Au was used for the open pit resources. Resource estimates by deposit are listed below:

RESOURCE SUMMARY TABLE

04 DEPOSIT 41 DEPOSIT 51 DEPOSIT WINDOWGLASS HILL DEPOSIT INFERRED INDICATED INFERRED INDICATED INFERRED INFERRED AU AG AU AG AU AG AU AG AU AG AU AG GRADE TONNES GPT GPT TONNES GPT GPT TONNES GPT GPT TONNES GPT GPT TONNES GPT GPT TONNES GPT GPT 0.6 1,331,097 2.02 3.75 2,059,760 2.83 9.93 232,760 2.17 6.71 905,156 2.15 7.33 983,759 4.63 11.02 1,514,199 1.54 8.76 0.8 1,220,154 2.15 3.85 1,772,765 3.17 10.62 169,583 2.71 8.22 735,224 2.49 8.36 928,103 4.87 11.44 1,127,417 1.83 9.48 1.01 1,096,627 2.29 4.00 1,581,188 3.45 11.07 134,903 3.18 9.49 599,051 2.85 9.58 881,482 5.08 11.82 877,534 2.09 10.14 1.2 984,138 2.42 4.13 1,410,827 3.74 11.55 117,978 3.48 10.27 498,597 3.21 10.73 838,890 5.28 12.16 694,534 2.35 10.90 1.4 836,136 2.62 4.42 1,273,227 4.00 11.94 106,963 3.71 10.84 426,380 3.53 11.73 799,519 5.48 12.48 552,501 2.63 11.69 1.6 680,161 2.88 4.82 1,155,823 4.25 12.37 97,733 3.92 11.15 373,791 3.82 12.62 760,542 5.68 12.83 444,250 2.90 12.49 1.8 574,034 3.10 5.09 1,038,834 45.40 12.98 89,269 4.13 11.61 336,303 4.05 13.32 725,920 5.87 13.10 365,259 3.16 13.33 2.0 490,396 3.30 5.47 930,198 4.85 13.71 81,375 4.35 12.07 302,182 4.29 13.98 690,669 6.07 13.42 305,357 3.41 14.08 2.2 411,807 3.53 5.85 841,751 5.14 14.26 76,302 4.50 12.31 274,250 4.52 14.60 655,381 6.28 13.72 257,749 3.65 14.98 2.4 347,016 3.76 6.34 764,046 5.43 14.78 70,910 4.66 12.70 249,805 4.74 15.22 621,350 6.50 14.01 222,371 3.87 15.75 2.5 304,813 3.94 6.78 726,744 5.58 15.03 68,629 4.74 12.89 238,936 4.84 15.50 606,042 6.61 14.13 206,256 3.98 16.09 2.6 272,374 4.11 7.17 700,947 5.69 15.20 66,189 4.82 13.07 228,963 4.94 15.77 591,693 6.70 14.26 191,873 4.09 16.47 2.8 222,008 4.43 7.84 652,207 5.92 15.53 62,266 4.95 13.36 210,307 5.14 16.37 559,808 6.93 14.53 166,365 4.30 17.13 3.0 170,315 4.90 8.98 605,827 6.15 15.80 57,064 5.14 13.70 192,414 5.35 17.05 530,013 7.16 14.86 144,715 4.51 17.97 3.2 138,662 5.30 9.93 567,427 6.35 16.02 52,661 5.31 13.96 176,880 5.54 17.64 501,003 7.39 15.15 126,326 4.71 18.83 3.4 121,113 5.59 10.50 540,623 6.50 16.21 48,950 5.46 14.26 162,730 5.74 18.20 473,252 7.63 15.44 109,267 4.93 19.61 3.6 105,354 5.90 11.07 514,907 6.65 16.45 46,425 5.57 14.52 149,492 5.94 18.84 446,350 7.88 15.72 94,985 5.15 20.34 3.8 94,125 6.17 11.75 491,399 6.79 16.64 43,270 5.71 14.76 137,558 6.13 19.47 423,668 8.11 15.99 81,718 5.38 21.32 4.02 84,920 6.41 12.11 463,477 6.97 16.93 40,599 5.83 15.02 125,852 6.34 20.05 397,190 8.39 16.34 70,325 5.63 22.22 4.2 77,166 6.65 12.68 435,363 7.15 17.23 36,568 6.02 15.53 114,298 6.57 20.72 375,684 8.63 16.62 61,350 5.85 23.00 4.4 67,209 6.99 13.22 406,965 7.35 17.41 31,515 6.29 16.22 103,926 6.79 21.38 354,236 8.90 16.93 54,929 6.03 23.53 4.6 59,552 7.31 14.11 385,300 7.51 17.63 28,373 6.49 16.75 94,068 7.03 22.22 336,002 9.13 17.19 47,503 6.27 24.68 4.8 53,401 7.61 14.77 360,835 7.70 17.86 24,208 6.80 17.54 85,961 7.25 22.94 318,654 9.38 17.47 40,645 6.54 25.91 5.0 51,149 7.73 15.06 338,525 7.89 18.04 21,140 7.07 18.21 78,074 7.49 23.65 299,162 9.67 17.79 37,247 6.69 26.54 5.2 47,516 7.94 15.76 316,826 8.08 18.28 18,757 7.32 18.93 71,636 7.71 24.45 284,962 9.90 18.05 32,660 6.91 27.21 5.4 39,462 8.47 17.33 297,586 8.26 18.40 16,775 7.56 19.52 66,982 7.87 24.93 270,019 10.15 18.35 28,740 7.13 28.05 5.6 35,543 8.80 18.20 278,706 8.45 18.66 15,379 7.75 19.94 61,189 8.10 25.52 252,751 10.47 18.65 25,555 7.33 28.72 5.8 33,330 9.00 18.76 262,126 8.62 18.82 14,334 7.90 20.36 56,298 8.31 25.97 240,130 10.72 18.94 22,685 7.53 29.39 6.0 27,792 9.61 20.17 244,511 8.82 19.05 13,732 7.99 20.61 52,606 8.48 26.49 228,521 10.96 19.23 19,356 7.81 30.67

Open Pit Cut-Off Grade Underground Cut-Off Grade

CAPE RAY COMBINED OPEN-PIT AND UNDERGROUND MINE KEY ECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS AND RESULTS

Unit Value Total mineralized rock mined kt 1,700 Gold grade g/t 4.6 Silver grade g/t 4.8 AuEq grade g/t 4.62 Gold recovery % 97 Silver recovery % 45 Gold price US$/oz 1,200 Silver price US$/oz 14 Payable gold metal oz 250,000 Payable silver metal oz 260,000 Total net revenue $m 378 Total capital costs (Project and Sustaining) $m 84.9 Overall Operating costs (total) $/t 120.3 Overall Operating costs (AuEq) US$/oz AuEq 647.6 Payback period years 3 Pre-tax cumulative net cash flow $m 57.6 Pre-tax NPV (7%) $m 48.4 Pre-tax IRR % 29 Post-tax NPV (7%) $m 32.6 Post-tax IRR % 24

Capital and operating costs:

The Cape Ray Project has been envisioned as a combined open-pit and underground mining operation. Open-pit and underground mining are anticipated to be completed by contract mining companies. The equipment will be supplied by the contractor that is awarded the work.

Grid electrical power will provide the majority of the electrical power to the project over the life of the mine. The work force is expected to come from the Isle aux Morts area for the operation of the Mill. The rest of the workforce will be the responsibility of the contractor.

TOTAL CAPITAL COST ESTIMATE:

Capital Expenditures Sustaining Capital Expenditures by Deposit $ Pit 41 555,774 U.G. 04 16,526,047 Windowglass Hill 3,149,475 U.G. 51 9,617,191 Other Ore (41 U.G. / 51 Trench) 3,840,438 Pre-Production Capital Permitting 2,718,306 Road Work 649,332 Overburden Removal 495,000 Surface Infrastructure - Open Pit/Mill 2,523,675 Ore and Waste Pads (3) - Mine & Mill 440,000 Dewatering/Trench/Sumps 275,000 Processing Plant 30,800,712 Tailings 3,520,000 Surface Equipment 825,000 Water Treatment Plants/Testing 2,035,000 Power Distribution to Mill 1,155,000 Working Capital 550,000 Engineering for Capital 802,224 Mine Closure (Paid by Asset Sales) 4,400,000 Total Capital Expenditures 84,878,174

Production and Processing:

Operations for the Cape Ray project is planned to have combined Open Pit and Underground Mining. Each deposit will be campaigned separately with use of contractors. The initial estimated mill feed will be 502,902 tonnes from 41 Deposit open pit operations. The underground mining operation at the 04 Deposit will produce 479,299 tonnes.

Once the 41 Deposit is completed, there will be a small underground resource below the pit containing the remaining potentially economic ore. The second open pit operation will produce 328,288 tonnes from the Windowglass Hill deposit. The 51 underground deposit will commence after the 04 Deposit is completed and will produce 347,144 tonnes.

The process plant includes conventional crushing, grinding, gravity, and whole ore cyanide leach. A gold and silver dore will be produced on site. Process reagents will be removed from the plant tailings prior to placement in a tailings management facility.

Mining Costs:

Cash Cost Summary Cost (C$) millions C$/tonne Overall Global Mining Costs $205 $120 Open Pit and U.G Mine Costs $160 $94 Processing Costs $45 $26.4 G & A $0.8 $0.5

Qualified Persons and NI43-101 Disclosure:

The designated Qualified Persons for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") have reviewed and verified that the technical information contained herein is accurate and approves of the written disclosure of same.

Qualified Person Company Alan Aubut, P.Geo Sibley Basin Group Geological Consulting Services Ltd.

About Benton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:BEX)

Benton Resources Inc. is a well-funded Canadian-based junior with a diversified property portfolio in Gold-Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements.

Clinton Barr (P.Geo.), V.P. Exploration for Benton Resources Inc., is the qualified person responsible for this release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

Stephen Stares, President

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

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: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. 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. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.
Wattleseed creme brulee and chocolate madeleine at French Saloon. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen

Where and what we're eating right now, plus the essential bookings to make for your immediate dining future.

French Saloon

Level 1, 384 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9600 2142, frenchsaloon.com



Not as French as you expect. Even better than you hoped. And while everything you'll love about French Saloon is already "A Thing"  tight steak menu, curious drinks and exceptional wine dining snacks  the European Group just does it better. Go often, stay long.

Read: the full review

Ibla



256 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, 03 9416 2898, iblamelbourne.com.au



There's a pizza topped with frankfurts and french fries at this sweet little Italian joint that's snuck into Fitzroy with very little fanfare and a whole lot of snap. There's Peroni on tap and chef-owner Emilio Tiesi earned his stripes at Caffe e Cucina and can make the excellent gnocchi to prove it. But really: Sicilian stoner food for the win.

Read: the full story

Bar Liberty

234 Johnston Street, Fitzroy barliberty.com

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A sommelier from Attica. The kitchen team from southern-fried-chicken-meets-fine-food diner Rockwell and Sons. If that doesn't spell trouble to you with a capital hangover, you might not be ready for Bar Liberty, where you might be eating XO pipis with fried gluten sticks, or soft GLT sandwiches, with gribenes (chicken skin crackling) standing in for bacon.

Embla



122 Russell Street, Melbourne, 03 9654 5923, embla.com.au



We're pretty in love with the new city-based wine bar by team Town Mouse. You'll file the wine list under esoteric but the clarity and simplicity of Dave Verhuel and Peter Cookley's cooking  chunky terrines and pickles; a crisp loaded with cultured butter and anchovy; a crackling-skinned half chicken that's the best the city has ever seen  makes this a bar of the people.

Read: the full review

Lawyers Guns and Money



505 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Congee: it's what's for breakfast. Lee Ho Fook's Victor Liong is currently to be found looking rightfully smug about the excellence of his chicken congee at his new Asian-flavoured cafe in the city. Also tired. The operation is currently working on a limited menu until the gas booster is fixed, but that broken rice porridge is all you need. Get your bowl amped with Chinese doughnuts (fried bread), crisp wontons and the ultimate condiment of century egg with fried shallots and green onions (Chinese schmaltz), with its sulphuric nature neutered through gentle cooking. It's $8 to start plus add-ons.

Pretty Mama



Watertank Way, 220 Spencer Street, Melbourne, prettymama.com.au There's Milawa chicken on the Brazilian grill and Caribbean rum in your glass. Could this new joint kick-start a Tiki restaurant revolution? Perhaps. The credentials are definitely impressive with Michael Cotter, of Po Boy Kitchen, co-masterminding it with ex-Der Raum and Brooks bartender Shae Silvestro, who's shaking the cans, and ex-Cobb Lane chef Clinton Gresham firing the birds and plantain chips. Read: the full review

Book it

IDES



92 Smith Street, Collingwood, 03 9939 9542, idesmelbourne.com.au

Coming soon (March 16  the Ides of March) to the old Lee Ho Fook/Semi-Permanent site on Smith Street, Peter Gunn is giving his ragingly popular pop-up dining concept a solid home. The budget is tight, but he's got Grant Cheyne on design (he responsible for Neil Perry's Sydney Rockpool fitout) and Kappo sommelier Raffaele Mastrovincenzo will run the floor and the $55 wine match. Gunn's plan is to serve six courses ($110) of his technique-heavy contemporary cooking.

Igni



2 Ryan Place, Geelong, 03 5222 2266, restaurantigni.com

Everyone expected chef Aaron Turner's return to serious dining to be good  the chef-owner of Loam (RIP) helped make that venue The Age Good Food Guide's Regional Restaurant of the Year 2012. In Geelong, he's reunited much of the Loam team to deliver a menu that's fuelled by fire and coals and doesn't just rotate by day  it's tailored to each table. Nowhere should be higher on your dining dance card right now. Mark our words. Start your engines.

Nora



156 Elgin Street, Carlton, 03 9041 8644, noramelbourne.com



Kiss Nora's charcoal tarts goodbye. The high-concept Thai-inflected Carlton cafe, where your chilli omelette is cooked sous vide and hot chocolate implodes like a death star, is becoming a tasting-menu-only restaurant on March 10, following a year of successful Friday night dinners.

Tim Ho Wan



206 Bourke Street, Melbourne, timhowan.com.au

OK, so you can't book, but you can at least brace yourself for the kind of elbow-sharpened queues that Sydney faced when their branches of this Michelin-starred dumpling house opened last year. We've waited a long time for ours, but March 16 is the day when all delicious hell will break loose in a hail of baked pork buns and dumplings.

Read: the full (Sydney) review
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Academy's goal is workforce readiness

Cathy Ballard of the Concho Valley Workforce Development Board will speak about "A Certified Work Ready Community" at the March monthly meeting of the Desk & Derrick Club of San Angelo.

A team composed of city, county, industry and workforce development leaders is participating in an academy to establish the San Angelo area as a Certified Work Ready Community, and Ballard will talk about the progress being made to achieve that goal.

The meeting will be Wednesday at San Angelo Country Club, 1609 Country Club Road. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m., and the meeting begins at noon.

Members and guests are welcome. The cost is $16, cash or check only, and includes lunch. Reservations must be made by Monday. Contact Kelly Clifton at 325-942-2237 or kelly.clifton@angelo.edu.

Trails director talks customer service

A speaker from the Texas Fort Trails program will lead a business brown bag training session on customer service from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 15 in the San Angelo Visitor Center's River Room at 418 W. Avenue B.

The session is free of charge and is sponsored by the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce, the Angelo State University Business Development Center and The Business Factory. The presenter will be Margaret Hoogstra, executive director of Texas Forts Trail.

Attendees bring their own lunches. To make a reservation call 325-655-4136.

Class to take look at financial statements

The Angelo State University Small Business Development Center will host the training event "Understanding Financial Statements" at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The cost of the session is $20.

The class will cover how to understand financial statements and use them in determining how to make changes that increase profits and overall success. Attendees will learn how to read basic financial statement formats such as balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements, in addition to analysis tools such as break-even points and ratio analysis to learn more about a business.

The speaker will be David Erickson, director of the Small Business Development Center and a certified business adviser.

Advance registration is requested. To find out more about this program or to register, call the ASU-SBDC at 325-942-2098 or register online at www.sbdc.angelo.edu.

Start on a workplace handbook at clinic

The Angelo State University Small Business Development Center will host the 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's certified human resources 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.

The speaker will be Deirdre Pattillo, 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.

Direct service from Midland to Phoenix

American Airlines started daily direct service from Midland International Airport to Sky Harbor International in Phoenix last week.

The regional jet service leaves Midland at 12:45 p.m. daily, the city of Midland announced March 2.

"MAF welcomes American Airlines' service to Phoenix," said Director of Airports Justine Ruff. "Through this new hub in Phoenix customers will have simpler access to destinations to the West and beyond."

The lowest return fare available on American's website for two weeks out was $374, operated by the American Eagle affiliate Mesa Airlines. Flight duration is approximately two hours.

Driller reports 70 active rigs in U.S.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. reported that for the month of February the company had an average of 70 drilling rigs operating in the U.S. and four rigs in Canada.

For the two months ended February 29, 2016, the company had an average of 74 drilling rigs operating in the United States and four rigs in Canada.

According to the firm's website, 17 of those rigs were working in West Texas.

Pathology group OKs Shannon lab

Shannon Medical Center's laboratory has been awarded accreditation by an internationally recognized inspection group.

The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) awarded accreditation to Shannon based on results of a recent on-site inspection as part of the CAP's accreditation programs.

The Shannon Medical Center lab is one of more than 7,700 CAP-accredited facilities worldwide. The U.S. federal government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, begun in the early 1960s, as being equal to or more stringent than the government's inspection program.

Inspectors examined the laboratory's records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years.

CAP inspectors also examined laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and record, and overall management.
Saying John Kasich was an "action hero" who "kicked some serious butt" in Washington before, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed him Sunday for a return engagement."We need John Kasich to now take charge and be at the White House," said the former bodybuilder, who was in Columbus for his namesake sports festival.A campaign rally attended by several hundred behind Wells Barn at Franklin Park Conservatory kicked off an intense effort by Kasich to win his home state in the March 15 primary.The former congressman told the crowd "we're going to do well" in Tuesday's Michigan primary, "and then we're coming here.""I think it's important that in Ohio we not only send a message to the country but we send a message to the world that positive efforts in politics and not name-calling, sliming or big suggestions about how you're going to fix things, that a positive message and raising the bar for our kids will win in this country."Kasich trailed Donald Trump by 5 points in the latest poll of Ohio. But state Republican Chairman Matt Borges said the Ohio GOP is mounting an effort similar to the one that helped sweep the governor to a historic re-election victory in 2014. Several volunteers were recruited at Sunday's event to make calls and help the Kasich ground game.Speaking before Kasich and Schwarzenegger arrived, former Congresswoman Deborah Pryce said, "This isn't an anti-Trump rally. It is an anti-Democrat rally, because we all know that John Kasich is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton." If Kasich fails to win Ohio, his campaign likely is over.Later, in Toledo, Kasich's bus rolled into the SeaGate Convention Centre before hundreds of people munching on campaign-provided Tony Packo's chili dogs.Kasich asked -- for a third time -- for their votes. "Why don't we straighten this whole election out and let the governor of Ohio ascend to the White House, okay?" he asked to cheers.The governor was asked if he could explain his reasoning behind not releasing his income tax returns prior to 2008 -- returns that would have reflected full years of earnings from his position in a two-man Columbus office with Lehman Brothers, the failed investment firm that went bankrupt with $22 billion more in debts than assets."No, I can't. We do pretty much what everybody else has done," Kasich replied. Told he was incorrect, he said, "I'm not going to waste my time with that. We released seven or eight years of tax returns. We had your (Dispatch) people come in when I was running (for governor) in 2010 thinking I got some big payout which I never got, so that's silly."A pair of GOP presidential hopefuls from the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio, of Florida, and Ted Cruz, of Texas, released tax returns dating to 2000 and 2006, respectively. Former candidate Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, released 33 years of returns. Trump has declined to release his returns, saying he is under an IRS audit.
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."For the third time in a little over a year, the Supreme Court has stepped in to preserve women's ability to get the constitutionally protected health care 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 women's rights, health and lives across the U.S."She was referring to the court's 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 Friday's order, the court said putting the Louisiana law on hold was "consistent with the court's action granting a stay in Whole Woman's Health v. 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 state's 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 judge's 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," said Kathaleen Pittman, administrator of Shreveport's Hope Medical Group for Women, in reaction to the Supreme Court's 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.The two other clinics, in nearby Bossier and Baton Rouge, will now be performing abortions again. But "it's not over by any means," Pittman said.Mississippi also has a law requiring doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. It threatened to close the state's 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 likely be handed down in late June.
The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday dismissed motions and petitions in a lawsuit seeking to ban same-sex marriage in Alabama.But in an unusual move, the justices filed 170 pages of opinion on the dismissal, much of it taken up with heated and angry critiques of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges last June, which struck down existing bans on same-sex marriage in the states."Obergefell conclusively demonstrates that the rule of law is dead," Associate Justice Tom Parker, an outspoken social conservative.The Alabama Policy Institute (API) and the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), later joined by Elmore County Probate Judge John Enslen -- sued to block the issuance of same-sex marriage last spring after a federal judge overturned the state's 1998 law and 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The Alabama Supreme Court halted same-sex marriage licenses in March of last year but asked for new briefs in the case after the Obergefell ruling. The plaintiffs had asked the court to affirm their March ruling."We're disappointed," said Eric Johnston, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "What I had hoped was this court would affirm its decision, which would have required further review by the U.S. Supreme Court. They did not do that."Most Alabama probate judges began issuing same-sex marriage licenses after Obergefell. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore tried to stop the practice in January, but most continued to do so, citing the U.S. Supreme Court decision.The decision featured several unusual characteristics. Moore, who recused himself from the cases after ordering probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples last February, rejoined it and wrote a concurrence that was mostly a scathing attack on Obergefell, with subheads like "The Military Analogy: The Duty to Disregard Illegal Orders" and "The Fallacy of Judicial Supremacy." Moore called the decision "the corrupt descendant of the Court's lawless sexual-freedom opinions."The Chief Justice, repeating arguments he has made in the past, maintained Alabama's 1998 law and 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage remained in effect, despite the high court's ruling and the Alabama Supreme Court's decision."The Court's (Obergefell) opinion speaks repeatedly of homosexuals being humiliated, demeaned, and being denied 'equal dignity' by a state's refusal to issue them marriage licenses," Moore wrote. "The majority seeks to invoke the grief, sorrow and compassion associated with a Greek tragedy. Riding a tidal wave of emotion, the ensuing tears and pathos then suffice to fertilize a new constitutional right nowhere mentioned in the Constitution itself."Moore also argued that the Obergefell decision only affected the plaintiffs who brought it, justifying the argument in part with quotes from Abraham Lincoln."Unless, as Lincoln taught, the 'evil effect' of Obergefell is limited to the parties in that case, the people 'have ceased to be their own rulers,' having surrendered their government into the hands of a majority on the United States Supreme Court," Moore wrote.Groups supporting LGBT rights criticized Moore's opinion. In a statement, Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, renewed SPLC's calls for Moore to step down."The people of Alabama deserve a chief justice who understands the rule of law, who understands that he is not above the law, and who understands the proper role of state and federal courts," the statement said.Associate Justice Greg Shaw, who wrote last year API and ALCAP did not have standing in their case, strongly criticized Moore's interpretation of the relationship between federal and state courts, and wrote that the idea that Obergefell was limited to the plaintiffs was "silly." In a footnote, Shaw wrote that Lincoln was not "a lower court judge.""Further, I would be hesitant to cite President Lincoln as an authority for the idea that the states can rebel against the federal government," he wrote.Other justices critiqued the Obergefell ruling. Associate Justice Mike Bolin wrote that the Obergefell ruling could "emasculate" the marriage license system in the state while suggesting same-sex marriage could be "re-evaluated and re-examined in the future."Associate Justice Glenn Murdock argued the U.S. Supreme Court tried to change the fundamental meaning of marriage in its ruling."Marriage is what it is," he wrote. "No less so than any naturally occurring element on the periodic table."Shaw, who wrote that he was "no apologist" for the U.S. Supreme Court, said the federal courts take precedence."Is it seriously to be suggested that a decision by the Supreme Court of Alabama issued on its own volition can override the decision in a federal court action where the parties are under the jurisdiction of the federal court?" he wrote.Moore rejoined the opinions by saying that the Obergefell decision introduced a "new issue" that allowed him to write on the case, and cited an earlier ruling from Shaw in the matter. But Shaw wrote that he had to "take the unusual step of disassociating my prior words from his current position," writing that Moore's orders on probate judges created the situation that led to the API/ALCAP lawsuit and that judges should heed "the appearance of impropriety."
(TNS) -- They feel them in the little city of Cushing, where a web of pipelines and giant oil storage tanks makes the area a crucial international hub  and vulnerable. They feel them in the time-capsule town of Guthrie, where plaster is cracking in storefronts built in the 19th century. And they feel them in rural Fairview, where cows get loud when pastures move beneath them.This last one, I thought the building was coming down, said Jason Levings, 29, speaking outside the Fairview feed store where he works and which, he was grateful to note, was still standing. It was intense.More than five years after Oklahoma first experienced a startling increase in earthquakes linked to the disposal of huge volumes of wastewater created by hydraulic fracturing for oil, the state continues to shake and the number of strong quakes is increasing. In 2009, there were 20 quakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher, according to the United States Geological Survey. Last year, there were 890. In 2009, no quake measured 4.0 or greater. Last year, 30 did.Yet even as many Oklahomans track seismic data on their smartphones and struggle to sleep through the long, rumbling nights, there has been one notable location where people rarely seemed rattled. That is here, in the state capital, where the oil industry holds so much sway that for decades drill rigs have extracted crude from directly beneath the Capitol building.A Democratic state lawmaker, Cory Williams, said in an interview: They own the place.Now, however, after quakes have shaken the homes of some top elected officials  and those of the worried constituents who vote for them  the state is taking new steps to address the problem, even as critics say it is too little, too late.Last month, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, asked oil producers operating in the northwest part of the state to reduce by 40 percent the amount of wastewater they dispose of deep underground.Scientists say natural faults in the area are being stirred by billions of gallons of water injected deep into the ground after it is used for hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Water and chemicals are used to break oil and gas free from rock formations. A large amount of the water returns to the surface and, under federal law, must be disposed of in a way that does not affect freshwater supplies.Also last month, the speaker of the Oklahoma state House, Jeff Hickman, a Republican who represents Fairview, sponsored a bill that clarifies that the commission has the power to take enforcement actions  not just to politely ask the industry to change.And late in January, Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican who only last summer acknowledged the connection between earthquakes and oil production, announced that she would direct $1.4 million in emergency funds to the commission and to the Oklahoma Geological Survey to hire more staff and improve technology and monitoring equipment.As quakes increasingly have been felt in more urban areas, they have led to fear, frustration and larger crowds at town hall meetings.More than 500 people attended a recent public meeting on earthquakes at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.The environmental activist Erin Brockovich spoke, as did a Sierra Club official and a lawyer who is building a class-action lawsuit against the oil industry for personal property damage.The Sierra Club is also suing energy companies on grounds that they are endangering public health and the environment.Write your story, Little Rock, Ark.-based lawyer Scott Poynter wrote in a letter to people attending the meeting. Describe the events that you and your family have experienced with the earthquakes. This case will take years, and you will need the story to refresh your memory. Also, it will help me keep everyones problems straight.Richard Morrissette, a term-limited Democratic state lawmaker not previously known for being active on the issue, announced to the crowd that he planned to run for one of the three commission seats in the fall election. Among his promises: to fight for the repeal of a bill the Republican-controlled Legislature passed last year to prevent local governments from ordering moratoriums on wastewater injection wells.The Legislature took away your rights, said Morrissette, whose district is on the south side of Oklahoma City.That prompted cheers from a crowd that grew raucous at times. Edmond, where the meeting was held, is one of the wealthiest areas of the state, and many of its residents have become more vocal as quakes have crept closer and grown stronger.On Feb. 13, a quake northwest of Fairview, about two hours away, registered a magnitude of 5.1, making it the third-strongest quake in the states recorded history. The strongest was in 2011. The second-strongest was in 1952; and scientists now say it, too, may have been induced by nearby oil production.Whats changed is the earthquakes have come back, and theyve come back to an area where the people know how to make noise, said Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. They have the money. They have the power.Skinner said he is weary of hearing that the commission is in the pocket of the industry, that it is ignoring science and that it should order a moratorium to stop all disposal wells. The first and second are not true and the third would not stand up in court, he said, because of the challenge of directly linking specific disposal actions to specific quakes.We have broad correlations but we dont have specific correlations, he said.
(TNS) -- You know when you reach the top of a skyscraper and feel it swaying in the wind? Or those vibrations you feel as you drive over a suspension bridge?Those movements hold energy that Ryan Harne, an assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State University, hopes to one day harness.The goal is to convert that energy into clean power. The small vibrations don't produce enough energy to power a house, but they could power sensors on pipelines, bird-tracking devices or something the size of a pacemaker.While those things require little energy, replacing batteries or running electrical lines to them can be risky, costly or impractical. "You're talking microwatts in some cases," Harne said.It's not exactly a new technology. Researchers have been studying how to capture that kind of energy for decades, using it in some cases to power sensors on bridges and piers. In those cases, the very things that can damage the structure also can power our ability to sense it."You have this broad-band spectrum (of movements and vibrations)," Harne said. "The question is, how do you develop a device that is very sensitive (to capture that energy)?"Scientists at Virginia Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities have long studied capturing this kind of energy. At Virginia Tech, they've figured out how to harness energy from ocean waves and railroad tracks. At MIT, they have studied how best to capture energy created from small vibrations similar in scale to what Harne is studying.When Harne was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, he and his colleagues studied how tree movements created energy. When breezes hit, trees sway slightly at their trunks and even more in big branches. As branches get smaller toward the treetops, they vibrate even more in the wind.Harne thought there had to be a way to recreate that phenomenon and capture energy created by small vibrations. "The intent is to look at nature and, you could say, be inspired by its structure. But I would say learn from it," he said.In a paper published Feb. 17 in the Journal of Sound and Vibrations, Harne describes the prototype he and his colleagues built in Michigan. It's a treelike structure complete with a trunk and branches. When something forces it to move, a piece along the branches captures that energy.Harne came to Ohio State about eight months ago and brought the prototype with him. Now director of the OSU Laboratory of Sound & Vibration Research, Harne said he is continuing to work on the technology in hopes of building it into something with practical applications. His lab has a proposal for funding.He and others acknowledge that there will be challenges to putting the technology into practice.Lei Zuo, a professor at Virginia Tech said although he has found various ways to harness that energy, turning it into electricity on a scale large enough to be useful is difficult. "It's tricky," Zuo said.He said Harne's research "should be encouraged," and that the key eventually will be getting the technology to a place where it is useful worldwide.Harne knows that and said the technology will need to turn energy from vibrations into something that outperforms batteries or electrical line transmissions.To do that, he will have to develop new tools to predict how energy captured from vibrations performs. But he's optimistic."We have things that don't add up," Harne said. "We need greater understanding as to how to put these biologically inspired mechanisms to work."
Illinoisans are lucky to have a businessman at the helm of its state government. Gov. Bruce Rauner understands the power of technology. He is the main reason why I decided to plunge back into public sector. I saw a vision which can turn around my adopted home state of 18 years. In my first meeting with him after I started, he told me he knows that technology has the power to fuel Illinois transformation. I had been traveling around the globe, working with Mayors, Governors and Prime Ministers, in my previous role related to Internet of Things and Smart Cities. It is extremely important to have visionary leadership at the top that understands the value technology brings to government efficiency and economic growth.I started bringing all agency CIOs (80+) together every two months. At the first formal meeting, I invited the Governor to share his vision with us. For some CIOs, working with the state for 30+ years, it was the first experience to see a sitting Governor addressing states technology leadership. His presence as well as his insights signaled that it is not business as usual.We regularly bring outside leaders into our meetings to get fresh ideas, best practices and lessons learned. At the same meeting where the Governor addressed agency CIOs, we also heard from the Orbitz (now acquired by Expedia) CEO Barney Harford. They conduct 5,000 website experiments-a-month to see what the customer wants. Barneys statements were in perfect alignment with Governors vision and insights.Governor and I have attended many meetings with private sector leaders together. He is always extremely engaged, taking notes and asking right questions. When he addressed a gathering of CIOs of Midwests $1B+ corporations, he was on point and requested the private sector to step up and support our transformation. He gets it. His 100% executive support for technology transformation has enabled the speed at which we are moving forward. While technology is the fuel for transformation, his executive leadership and guidance are essential ingredients for our success so far.More later.
India drags US to WTO over work visas

New York: India has dragged the US to the top global trade arbiter over a dispute on temporary working visas, the World Trade Organisation said on Friday.

India has filed a complaint against the US for imposing increased fees on certain categories of temporary work visas for the US and limits on their numbers, a move that has hit Indias export-driven IT outsourcing firms, reports the BRICS post.

A WTO statement said India has alleged these measures appear inconsistent with commitments that the US has made by treating persons from India working in sectors such as computer services less favourably than US citizens.

The US had 10 days to respond to the request, which will go to the Dispute Settlement Body if India and the US cannot come to a satisfactory agreement.

The US Congress in December doubled the cost of sponsoring workers under short-term H1B and L1 visas, and spurred concerns of future curbs on IT workers sent overseas by US companies before the US presidential election.
IT Staffing & Services Owners meet in Virginia - TODAY

USA: ITServe Alliance is happy to invite all the IT Consulting & Solutions Business owners to its DMV (DC/MD/VA) Chapter Kickoff on March 04th 2016 at Waterford, Fair Oaks at 06 PM.

This is an opportunity to meet over 200 CEOs, RSVP is mandatory.

ITServe Alliance is a largest association of IT Services organizations. The alliance is the voice of all prestigious IT companies functioning with similar interests across United States.

Through the years ITServe has evolved as a resourceful and respected platform to collaborate (STARTUPS / PROJECTS/ JOB BOARD / HOTLIST) and initiate measures in the direction of protecting common interests and ensuring collective success.

Inviting the prospective members and company owners Shashi Devireddy President of ITServe Alliance said, This will be a landmark event and will host key industry leaders. Our political affairs team invited Hon. Congress woman Barbara Comstock as chief guest and Maryland Delegate Aruna Miller.

We also invited Rajeev Sharma, a technology leader from HUD to speak about potential opportunities to do business with HUD. This will not only facilitate current company owners but also startups to network with thought leaders. I welcome one and all.

Speaking on the occasion President - Elect Satish Nannapaneni, said We are expanding in all the key territories and DMV (DC/MD/VA) chapter is very strategic location for us. Sheela Murthy, prominent immigrant attorney will be speaking about current issues employers are facing. We are working with DMV core team that has put lot of efforts in planning this event, I am confident attendees will benefit to a great extent from this event. We are looking forward for a great kickoff.

Event details:

RSVP Link: http://www.itserve.org/meetid?id=SLA84PXJ4E

Date: March 4th, 2016

Time: 6:00 - 10:00 PM (Cocktail & Banquet Included)

Venue: Waterford at Fair Oaks

12025 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway

Fairfax, VA 22033

Attire: Business Formal (Suite)

Chief Guest:

* Hon. Congress Woman Barbara Comstock, 10th District of Virginia

Speakers:

* Sheela Murthy from Murthy Law Firm

* Aruna Miller, Maryland State Delegate

* Rajeev Sharma, Enterprise Architect, U.S. Department of H.U.D

* Puneet Ahluwalia, 1st Vice Chairman, Fairfax Republican Committee

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS / MAIN FOCUS:

* Networking & Knowledge Sharing

* Immigration issues

* Marketing & Networking Seminar

* Updates from experts on policy changes

* Continuous education in areas of interest to members

* Identification of emerging trends and possible investment opportunities

RSVP Link: http://www.itserve.org/meetid?id=SLA84PXJ4E

It is our constant endeavor to provide a common platform where business practices can be safeguarded and strengthened by the wealth of shared knowledge among various IT software development and consulting companies.

We want to guarantee the highest return on your investment and maximize the advantages provided by our organization with a positive attitude and holistic methodology. We look forward to meet all the business owners.

About ITServe Alliance (www.ITServe.org): ITServe Alliance is an association of IT Services organizations. The alliance is dedicated to providing its member organizations with a platform to collaborate and initiate measures that would contribute to protecting their interests and ensuring collective success.

Press note released by: IndianClicks, LLC
Think Digital Launches Test My Interview

Hyderabad: Aiming to make students battle ready to face the tough challenge of corporate job interviews, Think Digital has launched Test My Interview, a platform that evaluates students preparedness for job interviews and assists them in becoming job-ready.

Available both in online and offline modes, Test my Interview, offers practice interviews prepared by interview experts and in synch with the current practices adopted by top Corporates. This makes www.testmyinterview.com an ideal platform for final year students of professional courses to get evaluated before attending a job interview.

Elaborating on the concept, Madan Reddy, Managing Director of Think Digital Services, said: Test My Interview has been designed to help individual students, professional institutes and corporate as well. Colleges can exploit the rich experience of interview experts who designed the evaluation interviews and score high in student placements. On the other hand, this process saves precious time and resources for coporates by providing them with a ready pool of trained and evaluated candidates.

Test My Interview gauges candidates based on their knowledge of the subject as well as the interview skills.

We then send a detailed report to the college about the candidates which the management can use to identify additional training needs of individual students, Reddy said.

The initial response to Test My Interview, Reddy said, has been positive with over 15,000 students from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha taking the practice interviews.

Think Digital is in talks with multiple corporate to assist them in their hiring process. Test My Interview has been designed with inputs from corporate executives. That positions us well to undertake the task of initial screening through Test My Interview. For corporate, this would reduce time and costs expended in selecting new hires. We hope to announce new partnerships soon, Reddy said.

Founded in 2015, Hyderabad-based Think Digital Services provides technological consultations; outsourcing work and talent search for corporate.

For further information, contact: Sudarshan D, Vartika PR, Mob: +91.81250 71566
'Guntur Talkies' Review: Strictly For Adults

Film: Guntur Talkies

Rating: 2.5/5

Banner: RK Studios

Cast: Siddhu, Rashmi Gautham, Naresh, Mahesh Manjrekar, Shradda Das, Shyamala, Raghu Babu and others

Dialogues: Siddhu and Praveen Sattaru

Cinematography: Ram Reddy

Editor: Dharmendra

Music: Sricharan Pakala

Producer: Raaj Kumar. M

Written and directed by: Praveen Sattaru

Release Date: March 05, 2016

Popular TV anchor Rashmi Gautham's sizzling songs and hot stills of 'Guntur Talkies' were released as part of the movies promotions and it has created huge interest among the youth.

Rashmi Gauthams sexy youtube song has brought lot of buzz to the movie. Lets find out about its merits and demerits

Story:

It is a simple tale of two petty thieves going wrong in their act. Giri (Naresh) and Hari (Siddhu) work in a medical shop as labourers in a small town. They get meager amount of money for their work. In the night, they do petty chori for extra income.

Siddhu lusts for his neighbors sister (Rashmi), while Hari is a sex-starved man. One day they steal five lakhs and a small doll without their knowledge. Two dons Jackie (Mahesh Manjrekar) and Revolver Rani (Rashmi) are after them. What happens next is forms the post-interval drama.

Actors Performance

Entire film is focused on lust of hero Siddhu and Rashmi Gautham. The latter is teasing the former with her suggestive clothes and expressions. She is so sexy in the film and has done a song in a very bold manner.

Rashmi Gautham sets mens fantasies on fire with her act. Other than teasing with her hot looks and dressing style, she has no substance to her character.

Siddhu has looked like a cheap petty thief. His looks and acting are perfect to the character. As a guy whose wife is eloped and craving for some fun in life, Naresh is first class.

Mahesh Manjrekar comes in the second half but he evokes some good laughs with his double meaning dialogues. Shradda Das has failed to make any impact.

Technical Excellence:

Cinematography by Ram Reddy is neat. The movie is completely shot in original locations on streets in small towns. The locations and atmosphere are authentic.

Highlights:

Rashmi Gauthams sexiness

Some comedy dialogues

Nee Sontham song shot on Rashmi and Siddhu

Drawbacks:

Cheap language

Excessive use of expletives

Adult content

Constant use of the word bum (in Telugu)

Low taste of comedy

Analysis:

Guntur Talkies was advertised as adult crime comedy. True to the promotions, the movie has adult content with no-holds barred dialogues, skins shows and love making scenes.

Movie begins with Naresh mouthing the word bum (read in Telugu) constantly. Throughout the movie you hear the word in every stage for every situation of life. This is the first time that a Telugu movie had that word uttered nearly 20 or 30 times.

In Hollywood movies, such words and usage of F word is routine and now director Praveen Sattaru brings it to Tollywood.

The movie is basically crime comedy but he has focused more on the lust of the hero. In the first half, he is shown is having an affair with neighbor aunty. Next he is shown lusted by a don called Revolver Rani played by Sraddha Das who rapes him constantly.

She calls him and forces him to have sex five or six times daily. There is also scene that she ties him to bed posts and puts power to his nipples and shown that they are burnt and she gets satisfaction. Such crass are the scenes.

And next it is shown he is lusting for the neighbor auntys young sister (Rashmi ) who has come from Kadapa. The hot tease Rashmi does here would definitely make young guys go in frenzy.

Added to that there is a scene, where Naresh reads a sex magazine loudly in bathroom which lasts for five minutes.

Till interval scenes like these and some petty crime act run on. Post interval there is some story but again it runs on double meaning dialogues.

Overall, the director has tried to present a crime comedy to attract a section of audiences who can enjoy such tease by heroine Rashmi and unabashed use of adult language.

For general audience, the episodes look very cheap in taste. Even in most scenes Nareshs acts seem downright silly. Also nothing happens in 60 percent of the movie except these silly acts.

This is director Praveen Sattarrus attempt to get a success by hook or crook. His film Chandamama Kathalu won a National Award earlier.

All in all, Guntur Talkies is low-standard comedy that can be enjoyed by a section of audience for its sexual tease.

Bottom-line: Has Nothing But Rashmis Tease

Click here for Telugu review
'Kalyana Vaibhogame' Review: Romantic Family Entertainer

Movie: Kalyana Vaibhogame

Rating: 3/5

Banner: Sri Ranjith Movies

Cast: Naga Shourya, Malavika Nair, Raasi, Aishwarya, Anand, Raj Madiraj, Tagubothu Ramesh, Dhanraj, Mirchi Hemanth, Snigdha and others.

Music: Kalyan Koduri

Cinematographer: G.V.S Raju

Editor: Junaid Siddiqui

Action: Dragon Prakash, Panther Nagaraju

Dialogues and Lyrics: Lakshmi Bhoopal

Producer: K.L.Damodar Prasad

Story, Screenplay & Direction: B.V. Nandini Reddy

Release Date: 04 March 2016

Nani starrer 'Ala Modalaindi' was a sensational hit. The movie not only made Nani a star, but it also brought name to its debutant director Nandini Reddy and the production house Sri Ranjith movies.

After delivering a debacle with her second film Jabardasth, she has come up with this Kalyana Vaiboghame teaming up with the crew and production team of Ala Modalaindi. Hence the movie raised expectations.

Does she make this movie as good as her first film? Lets find out.

Story:

Gaming software expert Shourya (Naga Shourya) plans to settle in the USA, just to avoid the marriage proposals his parents are bringing. After much persuasion by his mother, he accepts to see Divya(Malavika Nair), who is a doctor. She doesn't want to get married either. They hit off well in their first meeting but agree to tell their parents they didn't like each other in the hope that their parents might postpone marriage plans. But they land getting more alliances. Tired of seeing so many proposals from their parents, they plan to get married to each other first and later seek divorce and tell their parents they don't get along well. They get married but their plan goes completely wrong. What happens next?

Artistes Performances:

After 'Oohalu Gusa Gusalade', Naga Shourya has come up with a believable performance. He has looked so comfortable playing this young role. He has pulled it off quite well.

As Naga Shourya describes in the film that Malavika Nair's beauty average she isn't a beautiful girl but suits perfectly to the role of a young girl who doesn't like to play the traditional role of wife.

Yesteryear's leading actress Raasi in the role of mother is good. She doesn't speak much in the film but expresses with her eyes.

Pragathi and Aishwarya have done a bit of overacting but Anand as Malavika's father and the actor who performed as Naga Shourya's father are very dignified.

Tagubothu Ramesh and Ashish Vidyardhi who had done major roles in 'Ala Modalaindi' have appeared in cameo roles in the end.

Technical Excellence:

Cinematography is cool. Music by Kalyani Koduri is mixed bag. Some songs are too slow but they are in sync with the storyline. Editor is too liberal in cutting the runtime. The movie needs lot of trimming.

Highlights:

Cute romantic scenes

Family bonding

Sentiment scenes

Chemistry between the lead pair

Dialogues

Drawbacks:

Inexcusable lengthy runtime

Not so good entertainment

Unconvincing track of Shourya and the American girl

Analysis:

Director Nandini Reddy had shown so much freshness in narration in her debut movie "Ala Modalaindi". There isn't much freshness in story and screenplay of "Kalyana Vaibhogame" but she has exhibited the same sincerity, coolness factor, and good romantic thread. And moreover, she has added sentiment scenes too.

The conflict point in the story is nice. A guy doesn't want to step into the web of marriage but destiny has different plans and now he has to live with the girl who is also seeking divorce. This marriage of convenience forces them to fall in love. Should they listen to their heart or the mind. This has been explored by Nandini Reddy perfectly albeit too heavily.

Straight away Nandini Reddy takes us to the main story without wasting much time. Hero and heroines seeing different kind of alliances is funny.

Jokes like a kid asking why the two of them are sleeping in two separate rooms while their parents sleep in a single room are comical. Naga Shourya explains that they are Telugus, while the kids parents are Punjabi, so Punjabi couple sleep in same room he tells. Such jokes and some emotional dialogues are convincing.

In the second half, Malavika Nair getting jealous of presence of the other girl and she teasing him reminds the same episode in "Gunde Jaari Gallanthainde".

While the movie has good romantic scenes and family sentiments, one biggest inexcusable aspect of the movie is its runtime. Nearly 158 minutes of length with many scenes are dragged on without much purpose. If tighter editing was done, the film would have been even better.

Though the chemistry is good between the lead pair, the love scenes between them are less and are told mostly through songs which have diluted the effect. The portion of an American girl is also dragged on and on.

All in all, "Kalyana Vaibhogame" is a good romantic drama with decent performances and nice emotional sequences.

Bottom-line: Cute Romance
MIM To Ravela's Rescue

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Minister Ravela Kishore Babus son, Sushil has been booked for harassing a woman in Banjara Hills.

Though the cops initially tried to get him off the hook, the media entered the scene and created a huge spectacle. And conveniently for the Telangana government, Sushil happens to be an AP Ministers son.

The attempts of the AP Minister to seek help from the Telangana government were in vain. They saw this as yet another opportunity to score points against their Andhra counterparts.

And the cops have made it clear that Sushil is an AP Ministers son and the writ of AP does not run in Hyderabad. Had it been a Telangana Ministers son, would they have let him off?

Anyway, as a final measure, Kishore Babu has approached MIM for help. The lady who filed a case is from the minority community and therefore the services of MIM have been requisitioned to bring about a compromise. Ina few days, everything will be back to normal.
Veteran Gade, too, ready to join TDP

There is no place for ethics, commitment, loyalty and values in politics. All that one finds is pure selfishness among the politicians of these days.

What is surprising is that even those at the fag end of their political career are also giving up their moral values and are ready to jump the fence to join profitable parties.

Take for instance, veteran Congress leader Gade Venkat Reddy. He had served the party for several decades, holding several important posts and positions. He was considered to be a man of integrity.

After the bifurcation, Gade virtually remained in political oblivion. But, now, he is also ready to join the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh to secure his political future.

The old man from Prakasam district is learnt to have sent feelers to TDP president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that he would join the party, if given an opportunity. And Naidu reportedly gave him the green signal.

What is surprising is that even before he got the opportunity to join the TDP, Gade has begun attacking the YSR Congress party leaders for making hue and cry over alleged land scam in the Amaravati area.

He said there was absolutely no truth in the allegations that the TDP leaders had purchased huge extent of lands in the capital region, after getting the information that it was going to be the future capital.

Well. Gade has proved he is no exception in the murky politics!
Three US Department of Energy-funded research centersthe BioEnergy Science Center (Oak Ridge National Laboratory); the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (University of WisconsinMadison and Michigan State University); and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) ( earlier post )reported the disclosure of their 500 th invention.

Created in 2007, the Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) work together to address the most significant challenges standing in the way of affordable, sustainable and scalable advanced liquid transportation fuels. In their focus on producing biofuels from cellulosic biomass (i.e., wood, grasses and the inedible parts of plants), the BRCs are developing a portfolio of new bio-based products, methods and tools for use in the biofuels industry.

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Director Tim Donohue credits the BRCs continued success to its multidisciplinary research model, which brings together a diverse group of experts, including ecologists, economists, engineers, plant biologists, microbiologists, computational scientists and chemists.

Enabled by a broad range of genome-driven research methods, the BRCs technologies represent a variety of approaches to different bottlenecks in the current biofuel pipeline. Some technologies focus on improved ways of breaking down biomass for conversion into fuel, some on engineering plants with the characteristics most advantageous for biofuels, and still others on creating co-products that can help make advanced biofuels economically viable. That variety, however, does not represent a lack of focus.

BioEnergy Science Center Director Paul Gilna points to the 500 invention disclosures as proof of the BRCs progress, focusing on the role the BRCs are playing in creating a broad knowledgebase for future biofuels technologies.

Joint BioEnergy Institute Chief Executive Officer Jay Keasling praised the pioneering efforts of the BRCs and their role in envisioning a future in which cellulosic biofuels provide transformative advantages.

BRC research is supported by the US Department of Energys Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has awarded Comet Biorefining, Inc. a grant of C$10.9 million (US$8.2 million) for the construction of its advanced bio-based chemicals plant. Located in Sarnia, Ontario, the plant will use proprietary conversion technology to transform corn stover, an agricultural residue, into high-purity dextrose sugar. ( Earlier post .)

Comets technology enables sugars to be produced cost-competitively with corn or sugarcane-derived dextrose, the conventional raw materials for todays biochemical production. Comets facilities may be built on a small scale that enables flexibility to locate production close to biomass supplies, reducing transportation costs.

As a building block for bio-based solutions replacing petroleum-based products, Comets dextrose sugar will help reduce Canadas greenhouse gas emissions.
A SWAT action initiated by the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation and local law enforcement resulted in an accidental raid on an unrelated home in Green River.

According to the Green River Police Department, members of the countys joint SWAT team and DCI agents served a warrant at an undisclosed address on Fir Street.

Tom Jarvie, Patrol Lieutenant for the GRPD, said a house not related to the operation was accidentally targeted. Jarvie said a joint media release will be issued regarding the operation and steps they plan to take to avoid mistakes in serving warrants. He said the...
GREENSBORO  Former President Bill Clinton spoke at Elon University School of Law on Monday, urging residents to vote for wife Hillary in the North Carolina primary next week.

The president spoke for nearly an hour, addressing a wide range of policy issues and repeatedly referring to Hillary Clinton as the best change-maker Ive worked with in my life. He praised her experience and commitment while imploring audience members to use their votes to keep a Democrat in the White House.

This is a big election, Clinton told the hundreds of people packed into the law school library. If youre a Democrat or a progressive, we cannot afford to give the other party  given the state of their debates  the Congress, the White House or the Supreme Court.

Clinton lauded his wifes proposal for making college more affordable, a system where low-income students can receive more financial aid while higher-income families pay more in taxes to help offset the cost.

That plan, Clinton explained, would be more effective than the universal free tuition proposed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

It will keep college costs down, he said. If you just pay for tuition, you will encourage people to charge more for tuition. But if you do debt-free graduation instead, itll help a lot more people.

The former president also praised his wifes ability to work with Republican legislators.

She never got anything done in Washington that didnt also have Republican support, he said. The fact that the Republicans have attacked her so relentlessly for three years ... hasnt bothered me a bit. Thats what they do to people they dont want to run against. She will be fine if you stay with her.

Several hundred law students and residents came to hear Clinton speak, lining up outside the school hours before the event. Some were hardcore supporters whod already decided to vote for the former U.S. Secretary of State, but others were still weighing their options.

Im undecided between the Republicans and the Democrats for the first time ever, said Sheila Brady, a registered Democrat who attended the rally with her husband. Im frustrated with the way things are going. But on the other hand, were scared of Trump.

Clinton spoke in Raleigh before coming to Greensboro and appeared in Charlotte later Monday. The Republican National Committee denounced his stops in the state, noting that neither Clinton had won in North Carolina before.

What her campaign forgets is that North Carolinians have already rejected Clinton and her husband three times before, Kara Carter, a spokeswoman for the RNC, said in a statement. No amount of spin will change the fact that voters dont trust Hillary Clinton.
The evenings menu. Photo: Liz Clayman/2016 Liz Clayman

The instructions in the anonymous email were only somewhat clear: When I got to the warehouse in Brooklyn, I was supposed to walk around back, through the parking lot, and up the loading-dock stairs. I did just that and was promptly greeted and escorted through a back door, down the hall, up a flight of stairs, down another hallway, then around yet another corner. Finally, though, I arrived at the tiny dining room and makeshift kitchen where I and about 20 other guests would eat a clandestine marijuana tasting menu put together by one of New Yorks most well-known cooks of Filipino cuisine.

The highly secretive nature of the meal was necessary, of course, since weed is what you might call barely legal in New York State. Possession of less than 25 grams is a ticketed offense, and the states new medical-marijuana program has some of the toughest restrictions in the entire country. In plenty of other places, though, the increased legality has led to a growing movement of talented chefs treating the plant like any other culinary ingredient: In Denver youll find cannabis-cured lox. Celebrated pastry chef Mindy Segal is working on THC-enhanced brittle bars, granola, and a ready-made drinking-chocolate mix. Sinsemil.la, an underground supper club, dubs itself New York Citys first underground marijuana fine-dining experience. Bostons cannabis-dinner scene includes shrimp stews, deviled eggs, biscuits, and fried green tomatoes.

That list also includes New York Citys Miguel Trinidad, the chef and founding partner of Maharlika and Jeepney, and Doug Cohen, who were hosting the Brooklyn dinner I attended. They were promoting their new edibles company, 99th Floor, a product line  touted as chef-curated hard candies  that will launch in California dispensaries next month. The dinners, though, are more than promotional tools. To start, snagging an invite is almost impossible. No tickets are sold, no money is exchanged, and you cant make a reservation. You have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone. Venture capitalists sit next to jewelry designers, magazine editors next to television producers, and CEOs next to bed-and-breakfast owners. As I take my own seat in the candlelit room, 90s hip-hop plays in the background, and I notice the delicate flatware and rubber-stamped place cards.

Chef Miguel Trinidad. Photo: Liz Clayman

A dropper for cannabis extract. Photo: Liz Clayman

While the event was BYOB, guests were greeted with a medicated aperitif. Photo: Liz Clayman

Trinidad, meanwhile, creates his own canna-oils and cannabutters to use while cooking and, like a weed sommelier, curates the meal based on the strain he has to work with. The food changes with each dinner, but Trinidad makes sure that the strain of bud is the meals focal point. On this night, its Hawaiian Kush. Working with Filipino ingredients has given me an appreciation for attention to singular ingredients, Trinidad explains. The strain is the star, and I want to make it shine in the dishes I create. Each dinner is different. You will find both Pinoy and Latino flavor profiles throughout most of our dinners.

While sourcing transparency is usually paramount for high-end, ingredient-worshipping chefs, nobody will say where tonights supply of Hawaiian comes from, for obvious reasons. Even still, I have to wonder why Trinidad and Cohen are willing to go on the record with me and risk blowing up their spot. They point out that even though pot is still against the law in New York, recreational use is already legal in Alaska, Colorado, D.C., Oregon, and Washington State. And hemp, marijuanas non-psychoactive cousin, is featured in everything from salad bowls to body lotions. Even in New York City, its not uncommon to see (or smell) people smoking on the street. Its definitely a cultural shift in perception, Cohen says. My family, my wifes family, everyone knows we do it. We know its not bad.

The point of hosting the private dinners, Cohen explains, is to continue to push that cultural shift, and to reframe the way cannabis is perceived. Food is such a beautiful way to do it, he says. If we can show beautifully plated, incredible-tasting food cooked with cannabis as an ingredient, that responsible adults can enjoy themselves eating, its pushing that conversation in that direction.

The first course of Trinidads dinner is a creamy tomato soup, topped with a blue-cheese crostino and basil oil. (The blue cheese is medicated with two milligrams of canna-oil, and theres almost no trace of marijuana flavor.) The next course is a Greenmarket salad topped with a medicated citrus dressing. Again, the pot flavor is muted, but by the time the third course comes out  bright beet risotto medicated with cannabutter, topped with onion cream, Parmesan, and nasturtium  people are looking around, smiling, starting to feel the effects.

The first course: medicated tomato soup. Photo: Liz Clayman

The salads citrus vinaigrette is medicated with three milligrams of canna-oil. Photo: Liz Clayman

Gorgeous beet risotto. Photo: Liz Clayman

The lamb is cooked Photo: Liz Clayman

Nothing on the menu is like the weed-infused food people cook in their apartments or dorm rooms. The point isnt (only) to get stoned. Instead, Trinidad wants to educate people about proper dosing and demonstrate what happens when someone with technical know-how is doing the cooking. The food is delicious, but even if the offerings dont reek of pot, the high soon becomes very apparent. Its a smoother, calmer, all-over body high, without the headache or paranoia that sometimes comes with edibles. I barely have three sips of alcohol during the meal but feel (pleasantly) a few drinks deep all night long.

The dinners final savory course is a rack of lamb, cooked sous-vide with canna-oil. On the side, peas and potatoes come tossed with cannabutter and canna-oil lamb jus. For dessert: sticky date bread pudding with three milligrams of cannabutter, Earl Greyinfused toffee, and lemon whipped cream. Much better than brownies.

As the meal ends, everyone thanks Trinidad and leaves full, happy, and totally stoned. And finding our way out of the building is even more difficult than it was getting in. Alas, until haute cannabis cookery is legal, dinners like these will have to stay in the back alleys of Brooklyn. Cohen, though, hopes they ultimately do serve a larger purpose. As members of the cannabis community, its our job to shift the conversation and battle the stereotypes, he says. This is one of the ways we plan to do that.
Maybe not as loathed as you thought. Photo: Burger King

Burger King introduced grilled hot dogs last month after its parent company panicked and realized it had to do something with all those Oscar Mayer hot dogs it now has lying around. In a press release announcing the menu addition, the fast-food chain proudly proclaimed that it would become the largest seller of grilled hot dogs, setting the bar relatively low for what it expects out of the dish. If you were to judge the dishs success by the public response, which has not exactly been kind, you might think the hot dogs are already a huge failure. The New York Posts Steve Cuozzo described his dog in no uncertain terms as a disgusting disgrace and a culinary calamity, while Eaters Robert Sietsema wrote that his was overcooked, oddly textured, lavished with a seemingly irrational mixture of condiments. Amateur food critics have been similarly harsh:

Got a 'hot dog' from Burger King tonight. Tasted just like it looked...like sadness & despair. pic.twitter.com/NTNoyyzj73  Steve Umstead (@SteveUmstead) March 2, 2016

You gotta either be weird af or just don't care about life anymore to eat a hot dog from Burger King  Tajh (@TajhSanders) March 7, 2016

Youd been wrong, though, as Burger Kings plan to take over Americas hot-dog market is apparently succeeding. Despite the backlash and customers social-media threats to ban friends from their lives for eating the hot dogs, the CEO of Burger Kings largest operator, Carrols Restaurant Group, claims theyre selling like hotcakes. Describing the response as overwhelming, he says theyre selling 80 to 120 hot dogs per store per day  and the only marketing so far has been through social media. This does not bode well.

[NRN]
Samsung Pay is still touring the world map - it launched in South Korea, then arrived in the US where it now covers over 70% of US credit and debit card market. Pay is launching in China this month, then the UK and Spain, Australia, Singapore and Brazil too. In Russia, Pay will launch alongside the Galaxy S7.

The service reportedly lost $16.8 million its first year under Samsung (the Korean giant acquired LoopPay for $229 in February 2015). This is on $4.12 million in net sales generated by the service. It has $23.6 million in debt and its net worth stands at $10.5.

Samsung says the service is worth a lot more, though, for the value it adds to its Galaxy smartphones - currently Samsung Pay is supported by the S6, S6 edge, Note5 and several Galaxy A phones, soon the new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge star duo too.

The company also thinks highly of MST - the magnetic stripe emulation, which is both unique and valuable in the US, since the country is behind on new chip-protected credit and debit cards. Bloomberg reports Samsung Pay is growing faster than Apple's service, which had a head start.

Samsung sees Pay and things like Gear VR as avenues to generate revenue after the initial hardware sale. It's not just about making a cut on sales through Pay either, industry insiders think Samsung can mine purchase data to use it for marketing, R&D and more.

Source




Haiti - Dominican Republic : IOM coordinate Haitian returns





Friday, nearly 170 Haitians in irregular migratory situation, living in the Dominican Republic, especially in the area of Santiago, have returned voluntarily to Haiti. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in coordination with the Dominican Government, helped vulnerable Haitian migrants to return to their home communities in the north of Haiti.



Our compatriots in several buses and trucks carrying their moves, crossed the bridge of Dajabon between the two countries at 10:00 am, day of the binational market in the municipality.



"We are satisfied with the work that IOM done because it is making a great contribution to solving a problem that is becoming increasingly difficult due to the mass migration of undocumented Haitians in the neighboring republic," said the Director Lorenzo Paul of the relief organization and human rights in Haiti.



Recall that between June 2015 and December 2015 129,000 Haitians in irregular migratory situation have already returned to Haiti repatriated by authorities or voluntarily https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16326-haiti-social-more-than-129-000-haitians-have-left-dr-in-8-months.html



During this period, on average, for each Haitian repatriated by Dominican authorities, nearly 8 Haitians have chosen to return "voluntarily" in Haiti.



In January 2016 this ratio was significantly reduced to 1 repatriated for 2 voluntary return, with a significant monthly increase of number of Haitians repatriated by Dominican authorities https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16583-haiti-dr-more-than-7-000-haitians-back-to-haiti-january-2016.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





The PHTK and its allies would plot against President Privert ?

Friday, Dextra Fritz Gerald, the Spokesman of the platform "Rel patriyotik" accused the PHTK and its allies in Parliament in both houses of wanting to block the ratification of the general policy of the Prime Minister named. He is convinced that this is part of a plan against Jocelerme Privert whose long-term goal would be to prevent him from forming a government to dismiss him at the end of his term and replace it with a man of their political tendency.



The Collective of elected mayors impatient

Saturday, the Collective of elected mayors (according to preliminary results of the elections of 25 October 2015) of five departments of the country, met in Cap Haitien announced the "Nou paka tan'n" operation and demanded strict respect for the agreement of February 6, providing the final announcement of the results of municipal elections on March 6, 2016...



Towards a Commission evaluation and verification of election ?

Friday, the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert reiterated its determination to establish an electoral Commission of evaluation and verification of last two elections, to respond according to him "to the will expressed by all sectors he says he met in the early days of his presidency." A Commission that continues to divide as it is not part of the commitments contained in the text of the political agreement signed on 6 February. President a.i. Privert indicated that his cabinet is currently working on the terms of reference and mission of this Commission...



President Privert confident that the General Policy of the PM will be ratified

On Friday, President a.i. Jocelerme Privert said hea was confident, after having met Thursday the majority group in the Senate and the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, that the Prime Minister named will get a majority vote of confidence in both houses, to provide the country with a government that has the confidence of the legislature. Reiterating that it is not a vote of ratification of the Prime Minister, but a ratification vote of his statement of General Policy.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Joey Martin Feek, age 40, went home to meet her Savior Friday, March 4th, 2016, around 2:30pm, in her native hometown of Alexandria, IN. A current resident of Pottsville, TN, with her husband, Rory, Joey was surrounded by family and close friends at the time of her passing. Now, Rory Feek has returned back to his own home in Tennessee with their two year-old daughter Indiana.

Posting a photo of himself on Instagram, the picture (see above) finds Indiana on the shoulders of Rory as they visited their horses in Tennessee.

Rory writes: "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 [Heidi and Hopie]. It's hard for me to imagine being there without Joey, but at the same time... it is where she wants us to be," Rory wrote. "It's where she will be..."

"She's 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," he added. "Joey will still be with us. Everywhere."

"So if it's okay, I'm gonna close, wipe my tears and pack our bags to hit the road headed south," he concluded. "She's already got a head-start on me."

According to the Owens Memorial Services website, Joey will be laid to rest in a private service at the Feek family cemetery, though a date has not yet been specified.

In November, Rory revealed in a post to his blog, This Life I Live, that Joey had already made requests about how and where she wanted to be buried.

"And find a good spot in the family cemetery in the field behind our house, where we put your mama's ashes last year ... with room enough beside my headstone for you to join me someday ... in God's time," Rory wrote of Joey's wishes.

Tags : rory feek joey feek joey feek latest joey + rory feek joey feek funeral joey feek cancer joey feek illness rory feek latest joey feek update joey + rory feek latest
On October 21 last year, Pastor Kong Hee with 5 other church leaders were found to be guilty of misappropriating S$24 million church funds. Kong is the senior pastor of Singapore's mega church City Harvest Church. $24 million in church funds were funnelled into bogus investments that funded the singing career of the pastor's wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun. Later, a further $26 million was used to cover their tracks.

The six faced varying counts of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts. A maximum cumulative sentence of 20 years can be imposed on the accused, in addition to a fine. Kong and Lam were found guilty of three charges of criminal breach of trust. Tan Ye Peng, Chew and Wee were convicted of six charges of criminal breach of trust and four charges of falsifying accounts. Sharon Tan was found guilty of three charges of criminal breach of trust and four charges of falsifying accounts.

Afer lodging an appeal, the appeals of six City Harvest Church will be heard over five days, from Sep 19 to Sep 23 this year. Both the prosecution, which called the sentences "manifestly inadequate", and the six convicted filed their appeals last year.

The six were convicted on Oct 21 last year, and sentenced on Nov 20 to between 21 months and eight years' jail, over charges of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.Senior pastor Kong Hee, the founder of the church, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for criminal breach of trust, while former board member Chew Eng Han was given a sentence of six years and senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, five years and six months.

Serina Wee, former finance manager for the church, was handed a five-year jail term, while John Lam, the former secretary of the church's management board, was sentenced to three years' jail. Former finance manager Sharon Tan received the lightest sentence of 21 months' jail.

The five-day hearing will be presided over by Justices Chao Hick Tin, Chan Seng Oon and Woo Bih Li.

Tags : kong hee city harvest church kong hee latest kong hee news city harvest church appeal kong hee appeal
Published on 2016/03/06 | Source

Dramas on Monday and Tuesday are being reset. SBS "Six Flying Dragons" has been in the lead all this while but it's near its end and so will the MBC drama "Glamorous Temptation". KBS 2TV drama "Moorim School" is closing a week ahead of time and all the ground-wave broadcasting stations are being reset.

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- Proven original "Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho"

The new KBS 2TV drama "Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho"is based on a popular web-toon. A successful lawyer named Jo Deul-ho falls to the ground after reporting on the corruption of the prosecutors and starts a second life as a lawyer. The drama deals with daily laws through funny episodes and the characters are also unique. In the role of Jo Deul-ho who is hard to understand and is a great speaker, is played by Park Sin-yang. This is his first drama in 5 years. "Moorim School" failed terribly but thanks to that, "Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho" is starting off a week early.

Jang Yeong-cheol and Jung Kyung-soon are back. They are the writers of the new MBC drama "Monster - 2016" which is the story of a man's revenge after everything is taken away from him. There is romance within the ugly scene of realty and the two star writers are going to put it all out there. This drama is a 50 part drama and it is one of the most anticipated dramas of the year.

The new SBS drama "The Royal Gambler" is the Joseon version of the drama "All In". The story starts with a prince born between Sook-jong (Choi Min-soo) and his concubine in just 6 months, being abandoned. This prince Dae-gil (Jang Keun-suk) grows to be a gambler and puts his life on the line for a battle with Yeong-jo (Yeo Jin-goo). This drama is the most fancy one out of the three ground-wave dramas. It's a historical drama and the casts are made up of Hallyu stars

Jang Keun-suk and Yeo Jin-goo as well as Lim Ji-yeon, Jun Kwang-ryul, Choi Min-soo, Yoon Jin-seo and more.
Published on 2016/03/07 | Source

Actor Song Joong-ki's heartwarming good deeds have been discovered.

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According to the official blog of Korea Childhood Leukemia Foundation, Song Joong-ki has been donating since 2011 constantly.

Song Joong-ki's agency humbly admitted, "Song Joong-ki wanted to do good deeds quietly so he has been donating steadily without revealing it to other people".

According to the blog, thanks to Song Joong-ki's private support, over 10 children with cancer received treatment. Even during the time Song Joong-ki was serving military, he used his personal money to donate tens of millions of won.

Song Joong-ki participated in Yellow Ribbon Campaign to support pediatric cancer patients in 2011 and that was the beginning of his relationship with the foundation. Song Joong-ki later donated all of the rice wreath collected at his screening events as well as the entire commission earned from his narration for the award-winning documentary, 'Tears of the Antarctic'. He also donated KRW one hundred million through UNICEF to help child victims of Nepal earthquake during he was serving military.

Song Joong-ki is currently starring as Captain Yoo Si-jin in KBS 2TV's 'Descendants of the Sun', which is his comeback drama after he was dismissed from the mandatory military duty.
Published on 2016/03/07 | Source

On the first episode of tvN's new Monday & Tuesday drama, "Pied Piper", Joo Seong-chan (Shin Ha-kyun) solved a hostage case in South Asia.

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Joo Seong-chan was dispatched to solve a hostage case occurred in South Asia. When the boss of the criminal gang saw the money handed over from Joo Seong-chan, he angrily claimed, "It doesn't like more than only one portion".

Joo Seong-chan said, "This is the maximum that the company could accommodate. I'll try to persuade the company if there's anything else you want other than cash and goods".

The gangster aimed his gun Joo Seong-chan on the head threatening him, "I can just kill you here and eat up the money". Joo Seong-chan confronted, "Why can't you shoot me then? It's because you're a businessman. If you just kill me here and take the money, then it's the end of your business. People will know clearly that you'd kill your negotiator and take the money. Who would want to do a business with you next time".

Joo Seong-chan's calm negotiation skills under the extreme circumstances added more tension to the storyline.
Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

20:37, 21 OCT 2022
h more businesses taking a data-driven approach to identifying talent, increases in productivity and profitability have inevitably followed suited. This is according to Brandon Rigoni, associate director for selection and development at Gallup, and Bailey Nelson, writer and editor at Gallup.



Following Gallup analysis, when firms hire the top 20% most-talented candidates for a role, there is a 10% increase in productivity, 10% decrease in turnover and 25% decrease in unscheduled absences. This is topped by a 30% increase in profitability.



However, both Rigoni and Nelson say that poor recruitment methods could be undermining the effectiveness of interviews driven by big data analysis.



When state-of-the-art predictive analytic models are used correctly, they can identify potential. But they can never make candidates more talented, they wrote. For leaders, this means that a lack of focus on the recruiting phase can produce a less-talented candidate pool.



Honing the recruitment process to effectively target the right candidates can be achieved through a combination of two different methodologies.



Use data analysis for recruiting



Big data is for recruiting, too. Targeted, data-driven recruiting, complemented by scientific interviews, is vital to a hiring strategy that positions companies for long-term success, Rigoni and Nelson said.



Because recruitment is basically a numbers game, employers should examine candidates for identifiable characteristics that predict their chances of success. This is something companies can do very early in the recruitment process, they explained, a long time before anyone has even been interviewed.



Form a set of clear expectations



Employers should also have a very clear, consistent idea of what they are looking at throughout their recruiting strategies, Rigoni and Nelson said.



Setting crystal-clear role expectations for employees at all levels is one of the most important elements of creating an engaged and productive workforce.



According to Gallup data, employees are 8.5 times more likely to be engaged at work if their manager helps them set performance goals.



Setting the right expectations for recruiters not only encourages employee engagement, it also increases recruiters effectiveness, they added. For example, if a company rewards recruiters for filling roles quickly rather than for finding applicants with the right talents for success in a role, that company risks recruiting and hiring less-talented employees.
bal fast food chain, McDonalds, has announced it will be opening 250 new outlets across China. As this effort requires the recruitment of 13,000 additional employees, HC Online asked McDonalds about how it was managing this dramatic increase in staff numbers.



Large recruitment is not a new thing for McDonalds China, a spokesperson for the firm said. By the end of 2015, McDonalds had around 2,200 restaurants in China with 120,000 employees.



The company puts a large focus on employing young people, they added. In fact, 66% of its workforce was born after 1990. This high percentage has been driven by McDonalds people propositions and recruitment approaches aimed at the younger demographic.



We believe in youth and are dedicated to giving them more trust and opportunities, the spokesperson said. We also encourage more companies and society as a whole to open doors for young people.



Every year, the firm holds National 520 Recruiting Day in the week of 20 May. During this time, McDonalds invites job seekers to explore the companys different stores. As well as providing a better understanding of job duties and company culture, candidates can make smarter career choices as a result.



McDonalds is also heavily invested in mobile recruiting, the spokesperson said.



Since 2013, weve developed a recruiting app plus tailor-made functions for recruiting on WeChat  Chinas largest social media platform  to help candidates easily submit their resumes and find out about us.



Lastly, McDonalds has established a cooperative partnership with local universities to position the firm as the young professionals best job. It also regularly sends invitations to high potential schools.



As additional managers will be required to take care of the 250 new stores, McDonalds has a number of training programs on offer to fast-track these individuals into leadership roles.



We often say that McDonalds is not only a store but a school equipped with a comprehensive training system. Crew can not only get professional training but life-long skills and knowledge here, the spokesperson said.



The current training program includes a 90-day orientation for new hires as well as various matching training plans for employees at different levels.



We also have worlds seventh Hamburger University in Shanghai and 10 training centers in key cities with more than 60 fulltime trainers.



In 2015, McDonalds China trained over 7,000 employees for a total of 266,000 hours in key areas of store operation and leadership.



Of course, Chinas unique people landscape presents a number of challenges for McDonalds especially during these times of high recruitment.



We are facing increasingly fierce competition for talent in China, the spokesperson said. So we continue to increase investment in people branding, recruiting and training which differentiates us from our competitors.



With the launch of a new people proposition in 2015, McDonalds is creating an innovative and engaging store culture drive by its youthful workforce. Additional programs such as the student-targeted program, Student Store, build trust and provide additional opportunities for staff, the spokesperson added.
As all good HR directors know, leadership transformation starts at the top.



And having a leadership development program can help support the development of a strong and coherent company culture that supports the strategic direction of the business.



Paul Landy, Chief Officer Human Resources & Internal Communications at QSuper talks about what transformational leadership means to him and the importance to organisations.



Transformational Leadership to me is about enabling people to achieve a purpose, Landy told HC Online.



Transformational Leaders create positive organisations where they set high expectations for people to achieve, they walk the walk and demonstrate to their people that they can achieve great things and get satisfaction from their work, he says.



Landy says a great resource for leaders is the book Systems Leadership: Creating Positive Organisations



I have encouraged many others in my HR team and Executive team to read this book, which describes how people come together to achieve a productive purpose and how to design organisational systems to allow for this, Landy says.



The book helped me map out how to create systems within the organisation that allows this transformation, he says.



HR has a key role to play by providing the backbone and organisational structure to encouraging and facilitate strong leadership within the business.



HR facilitates the creation and setup of systems in the organisation that allows transformational leadership to take place, Landy says.



Similarly, transformational leadership enables the creation of effective systems that influence how an organisation is designed.



When HR is not a clearly established and mutually supportive partner with others in the transformation, organizations tend to struggle, Landy says.



The key to garnering support from business leaders for a transformation program is to demonstrate the benefits from an employee and company perspective, he says.



For HR teams, they need to spend time working in the business with the Leaders to better understand their individual operations and drivers,



You need to listen broadly and take time to understand the playing field at all levels - understanding the connectivity points across the business and the big levers to pull will result in not only great results for an organisation but also our people.



Paul Landy is a guest speaker at the upcoming National HR Summit on 6-7 April 2016.


Call it a case of paws and effect.

After being orphaned in the wilds of Idaho, two sibling cougar cubs have found a new home at Grandfather Mountain in Linville, N.C.

The duo  a brother and sister  was found, along with another male sibling who passed away prior to the move, on an Idaho mans property in January, emaciated and searching for food.

We dont know what happened to their mom, said Christie Tipton, chief animal curator for Grandfather Mountain. They were found wandering around a neighborhood, looking for food, because they arent big enough to successfully catch their own.

Before taking them into custody, Idaho Fish and Game determined the cougars had been orphaned and were unable to fend for themselves in the wild. Shortly thereafter, Tipton received a call from a contact with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, who knew the mountain was seeking new cougars for its environmental wildlife habitats.

We heard about these guys, and we were lucky enough to be able to give them a home, Tipton said.

The mountain was also lucky enough to have friends in Bob Wilson, philanthropist, pilot and vice chairman of Kemmons Wilson Companies, and his wife, Susan.

The Wilsons, full-time residents of Memphis, Tenn., and part-time residents of nearby Jonas Ridge, are not only helping financially to support renovations to the mountains cougar habitat, but also granted Grandfather use of their private plane to retrieve the cubs.

Theyve been so generous to Grandfather Mountain, said Jesse Pope, executive director of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, the nonprofit organization that oversees the Linville-based attraction. They love the mountain, and they made this possible, providing the plane and pilots to fly us out there and back.

When Jesse called, informing us of their locating some cougars for their habitat, we thought being a part of the transfer would be a great idea, Bob Wilson said. We own a Pilatus PC-12, which is the perfect airplane for the transfer. I called two of my flying friends, Don Peterson from Kansas and Charlie Huggins, who flies with me, and they immediately signed on to help out. We all were proud to be a part of making it happen.

The Wilsons are also nature enthusiasts, and the cougars offered a prime opportunity to share that sense of wonder with others.

Our love for Gods creatures by helping others understand nature and how our world exists were our driving forces, Wilson said. The Lord has blessed Susan and me with the financial ability to help others, and this is one way we can accomplish it.

According to Pope, the flight home was uneventful and enjoyable.

The cubs didnt like it when wed go near them, Tipton said. Lots of hissing and spitting when we were next to them, but when given their space, they were sitting there as cool as can be. They handled it really, really well.

The travelers landed at Foothills Regional Airport in Morganton in the late afternoon of Friday, March 4, before completing the final leg of their journey to Grandfather Mountain.

Upon arrival, they were released into temporary living quarters for quarantine, pending the results of a health check conducted by the Idaho state veterinarian. Tipton said the big cats appear to be in good health, about 7 months old, with the male weighing in at 48 pounds and the female at 32.

However, it could be three to four months before theyre seen by the public, as renovations to the habitat must first be completed.

Weve never had a clawed cougar in the habitat before, Tipton said, so were going to raise up the rock walls, cut down a few trees and upgrade a holding area to the side of the habitat.

The habitat is currently home to Aspen, a 12-year-old, 134-pound Western cougar. Due to their age difference and other sharp, retractable factors  the cubs have claws, while Aspen does not  its unlikely the three will be placed in the habitat together, but rather rotate their time there.

The cubs must also grow accustomed to an altogether different sort of animal  humans.

Theyre very nervous, and theyve had very limited human contact, Tipton said. It could take a while before theyre used to being around people, maybe more than the three to four months we are anticipating. It all depends on how quickly they come around.

When they do, Pope is confident itll benefit visitors and the cougars, alike.

Its going to be exciting to have a couple more animals there, especially for the cats interaction, he said. For their mental health, it will be very good for them. Cougars are a spectacular part of our natural history, so were really excited to continue telling the story of their niche in our ecosystem. They enhance our educational programming, enhance the visitor experience and provide a glimpse into the natural flora and fauna that have historically called Grandfather Mountain home.

To see a video clip of the cougars arriving in their new home, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzO3rE1Qrfo.

For more information, call (828) 733-2013, or email [email protected].

The not-for-profit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. For more information, call (800) 468-7325, or visit www.grandfather.com to plan a trip.

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When it comes to weight loss, salmon probably isnt the first food you think of. Many people eat
COBAN, GuatemalaPablo Morenos passion for cardamom began in his childhood, when his parents grew it near their home. As he learned more about the spices unique flavor and health benefits, he began to ask himself, Why are we exporting all our cardamom? Why dont we use it?

Guatemala exports more cardamom than any other country in the world, but it is a virtual unknown in the national cuisine.

Cardamom was brought as a seed 100 years ago from India, Moreno said. The curious thing is, 100 years have passed, and still no one knows how to use cardamom in Guatemala.

Morenos passion for cardamom and its place in Guatemala has led to a lifelong role as an evangelist for the spiceat one point, he was an adviser on cardamom for Guatemalas Ministry of Agriculture.

Cardamom seeds displayed at Kardamomuss Restaurant in Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatamala.



Currently, Moreno is a volunteer adviser for a Heifer International Guatemala project, which is helping cardamom farmers earn higher prices. Moreno is providing Heifer Guatemala staff with valuable information on improving the genetic quality of the plant through breeding as well as insights into the domestic and international markets. He is also trying to find new avenues for the spice by experimenting with ways to incorporate cardamom into products like toothpaste and air fresheners.

Other, much more edible tests are carried out at Morenos restaurant, Kardamomuss. You can probably guess the restaurants theme.

The cardamom tea is my favorite (at the restaurant), Moreno said. Also pancakes with cardamom. Eggs with cardamom. Well, everything is with cardamom. Thats the idea.

The goal of Kardamomuss is to introduce Guatemalans to the distinct flavor of cardamom. In addition to a menu full of expertly prepared cardamom dishes, the restaurants store sells a number of delicious cardamom-infused products, like cookies and marmalade.

Some day, Moreno would like to see Guatemalans consume at least 5 percent of the countrys cardamom production.

Exterior of Kardamomuss Restaurant in Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatamala.



Were trying to expose people to cardamom as a tribute to small cardamom producers in this region and the country, to let people know what they are doing, Moreno said.



If youre ever in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala, make sure to grab a fantastic meal at Kardamomuss. You can find it at:

3ra Calle 5-34, Zona 2

Contiguo a Casa Dieseldorff

Coban, Alta Verapaz

Tel: (502) 7952-3792

Email: kardamomussfusioncoban@gmail.com
Helle expressed her concerns about the difficult negotiations after several affiliate unions of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK)  including the 230,000-member Service Union United (PAM)  announced that they have rejected the settlement brokered by labour market bosses last week.

Finland could slide into a crisis if labour market organisations are unable to find an agreement on the so-called social contract, warns Minna Helle, the National Conciliator.

The situation is disconcerting, she tweeted on Saturday. I hope everyone remains patient. An agreement is preferable to the crisis we would face if the social contract fell through.

The executive board of SAK is expected to discuss  and effectively decide the fate of  the settlement on Monday.

SAK will review the deal on Monday. No one should jump to conclusions. We have to assess the reasons and measures to solve the situation as well as how to proceed, Lauri Lyly, the president at SAK, tweeted on Friday.

Erkki Tuomioja (SDP), an ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, gauged that the preconditions for reaching an agreement have improved after the Government substituted coercion for conciliation.

It is possible that an agreement could have been found months ago had it not been for the Government's attempts to bully and dictate. The Government seems to have smartened up, he writes on Facebook.

There are deep-rooted reservations in the labour markets, and no one can market the agreement by claiming that it will pull the Finnish economy out of the mud, let alone improve the position of employees. There are better alternatives, but they would not be realised even if the agreement fell through. It is also difficult to see how a failure to reach an agreement could improve the conditions in Finland and the position of employees.

Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) reminded on Saturday that if an agreement cannot be reached, the Government will have to weigh up other measures to improve the employment situation.

I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror three years from now, if we fell short of the employment target. There's no plan B, if the [social contract] falls through, he said in an interview on YLE TV1.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Jussi Nukari  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Lyly revealed that the executive board of SAK has voted 145 in favour of the settlement.

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) has given its tentative approval to the newly-found settlement on measures to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic industries, its chairman, Lauri Lyly, declared at approximately noon on Monday.

Service Union United (PAM) was one of the affiliate unions to vote against the settlement, while the Finnish Construction Trade Union cast a blank vote on grounds that it has already adopted measures similar to the ones set forth in the so-called social contract.

The provisions laid out in the settlement will therefore be integrated into union-specific collective agreements. If the union-specific negotiations prove successful, the social contract is to be finalised by the end of June.

The negotiations won't be easy from the viewpoint of any union, reminded Lyly.

The negotiations, he added, will now commence in the trade unions that have approved the settlement. As for the others, I can't say.

Lyly also estimated that the negotiations will affect roughly 80 per cent of all employees.

The stance of the affiliate unions opposing the settlement remains unclear, according to him. While it is theoretically possible that they will change their position on the issue in the course of the spring, Ann Selin, the chairperson of PAM, estimated that something radical has to happen for PAM to approve the social contract.

The proposal would introduce detrimental changes to low-paid, female-dominated sectors, she explained.

Lyly also lauded the determined efforts of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) to facilitate the process. Sipila has declared, for example, that the settlement does not meet the conditions for carrying out the tax concessions promised by the Government but that a satisfactory, moderate wage settlement could create the preconditions for the concessions.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Petteri Paalasmaa  Uusi Suomi

Source: Uusi Suomi
Stubb stated in his address to the party faithful in Hameenlinna on Saturday that the National Coalition is the party that safeguards education as the bedrock of society while commending Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (NCP) for her efforts as the Minister of Education and Culture.

Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League, has expressed his bewilderment with the assurances given by Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister of Finance, that education remains a top priority for the National Coalition.

I only have one question: why are there more cuts in education than in any other social sector? Niinisto asks on Facebook.

The Government, he points out, is about to reduce spending on education by several billions of euros and slash financial aid for students by 25 per cent. He also draws attention to an assessment by the Trade Union of Education (OAJ) indicating that as many as 10,000 educators will lose their jobs as a result of the cuts.

When your actions contradict your words, the public will only be left with a feeling of deception. The National Coalition must re-consider either its actions or words. Its obsessive mantra to reduce debt is currently taking precedence over all political substance, says Niinisto.

Finland cannot afford to pursue such short-sighted policies.

The Government should call off the cuts in education spending because they will erode the equality of education and the future of Finland, according to Niinisto.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Former GOP chair endorses Baldwin for Senate

Related Stories

Calling her a "dependable fiscal and social conservative and strict Constitutionalist," Mike Scruggs, chairman of the Henderson County Republican Party from 2011 to 2013, has endorsed Lisa Carpenter Baldwin for the Republican nomination for the 48th Senate District seat that seven-term incumbent Tom Apodaca is vacating after his current term.

"Lisa Carpenter Baldwin has been a hard-working active Republican and is a dependable fiscal and social conservative and strict Constitutionalist," Scruggs writes. "She is strongly pro-life and a defender of our Second Amendment gun rights.

"As a mother of four children, she believes in and supports strong Biblical and family values. She wants to replace Common Core educational standards with our own rigorous academic standards to give North Carolina's children a firm foundation to build their future. Like most parents, she wants North Carolina to nourish a growing economy with strong growth in jobs and opportunity.

"She is a strong supporter of public safety and will insist that North Carolina's existing immigration laws be enforced rather than ignored. She will not be beholden to any special interests and will insist that the common good of all the people should be the guiding principle of North Carolina public service.

"Lisa Baldwin is a very bright, persistent, and courageous lady. Her four years on the Buncombe School Board proved her to be a relentless and often hard-fighting advocate for sound academic and administrative policies. She has many accomplishments, and In 2012 received the John Locke Foundation's James K. Polk Award for leadership in public service."

Baldwin has an undergraduate degree from UNC Greensboro and has a masters in economics from the University of Maryland and has served as an economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The National Museum of Ireland removed all rhinoceros horns from exhibition due to concerns about thieves

Rhino horns worth more than 1.5m will be incinerated by the Revenue Commissioners.

Revenue have confirmed their plans to destroy the eight rhino horns, despite footing the bill for keeping them in a high-security location for the past six years.

The revelation comes after a gang of Irish Travellers, with links to a worldwide criminal network, were found guilty in Britain of a multi-million-euro rhino-horn heist and stealing priceless Chinese artefacts. Rhino horns are highly prized in Southeast Asia, where they are falsely believed to have the ability to cure cancer and enhance virility.

Hoof

This has led to their value increasing on the black market  they are worth more than their weight in gold, even though their chemical composition is not much different than a horses hoof.

Rhino horn trading is illegal, but lucrative. A horn can fetch up to 200,000 on the black market. The value could be higher in Vietnam, where horns are used for medical purposes and as an aphrodisiac.

The National Museum of Ireland removed all rhinoceros horns from exhibition (inset), due to concerns about thieves.

The eight horns in the care of the Revenue were confiscated at Shannon Airport in 2010 following an anti-smuggling operation. At the time, their value was 492,000  but their black market value has soared since then.

Poaching to feed the illicit trade has further endangered a species that is already under extreme pressure from loss of habitat and armed conflict.

Revenue have made various attempts to offload the rhino horns over the years. They were offered to the National Museum of Ireland  but the National History division refused to put them on display because of the risk they would attract criminal gangs.

In September 2014, the museum authorities wrote to Revenue, suggesting the destruction of the horns and to make this known to the public, so as to deter their sale on the black market.

A Revenue spokeswoman said that the cost of storing them in secret for the past six years had been minimal.
It's not too late to solve the mystery of missing US student Annie McCarrick. That's according to a former garda diver who searched for her in 1993.

Ms McCarrick was 26 when she went missing in Dublin after leaving her Sandymount home.

The last known sighting of the young woman was in the popular Glencullen pub Johnnie Foxs on March 26. Its believed she was in the company of an unidentified man who has never come forward.

The New Yorkers remains have never been found, and it has since been claimed that the chief suspect in her case was never questioned.

Tosh Lavery  one of the first recruits to the garda diving unit which was established in the 1970s  searched for her in the weeks following her disappearance. Now retired, he heads a group called Searching for the Missing and he still hopes answers will emerge in Annies case.

Id say we might [find out]. The thing about age is that somebody knows something and you could have someone in a nursing home, with a family or grandchildren, that might say something, he said.

Mr Lavery said that the search for Ms McCarrick was extensive. There was a large amount of searching, but there was very, very little information.

Annie left her apartment, got on a bus, and went out toward Stepaside  and thats all we were getting except maybe the odd sighting report, he said.

Theory

Mr Lavery said that he never bought into the theory that convicted rapist Larry Murphy may have had something to do with the disappearance of the American woman.

Because Larry Murphy and the six girls were missing in Leinster, they were all pointing the finger at Murphy  [but] Larry Murphy does not go on dates, he said, making reference to the man with Annie when she was last seen.

Retired detective sergeant Alan Bailey claimed in his book Missing, Presumed that a member of the Provisional IRA may have been responsible for her death, after telling her too much on a night out.

It is believed that the man left the country with the help of the IRA before he could be interviewed by gardai.

The 23rd anniversary of Ms McCarricks disappearance will take place this month.

Unsolved missing person cases can torture families, said Mr Lavery.

Through his work, Mr Lavery has witnessed the devastation that an unsolved case can have on family members. Missing people is a desperate cancer because you dont know what happened, he said.

People will always wonder, no matter how long it goes on, Are they being harmed?.
Vicky Dempsey, the former partner of gangster 'Fat' Freddie Thompson, is said to have no involvement in crime Photo: Courtpix

More than 50 women have been linked to the dangerous mobs involved in the bitter gang war between the Hutch mob and Christy Kinahan cartel.

A special investigation by the Herald has established that over 30 of these women are linked to the gang associated with feud murder victims Gary Hutch and his uncle, Eddie Hutch Snr.

Gardai have also established the identities of more than 20 women who have links to the Kinahan gang, which is suspected of murdering Gary and Eddie Hutch Snr.

In recent weeks, a number of the women have been warned by gardai about threats against their lives because of their relationship with male gang members.

It is understood that women linked to both factions have been given official warnings from gardai.

Sources have revealed that the age profiles of the women involved range from girls in their mid-teens to great-grandmothers in their 70s.

We can reveal:

 Among the women that gardai have established are linked to the Hutch mob are the mother and girlfriend of one of the suspected Regency Hotel gunmen. He is believed to have been one of the criminals disguised as a garda and armed with a deadly AK-47.

 One north inner city woman, who has been identified as an associate of the Hutch gang, is said to have a pathological hatred of gardai. Another woman aligned to the Hutch gang is a serial shoplifter.

 Gardai have identified that senior cartel member Daniel Kinahan is involved in a relationship with a woman who was closely associated with notorious north city drug dealer Michael Micka Kelly. He was shot dead in a machine gun attack in 2011.

 Detectives have been monitoring Fat Freddie Thompsons former partner Vicky Dempsey (35)  but they are satisfied that she has no involvement whatsoever in the deadly feud.

Since the shocking murder of gangster David Byrne in the Regency Hotel over four weeks ago, gardai have mounted a number of special operations to ensure the safety of the women, many of whom have no involvement in crime.

Brutal

It has emerged that women associated with the Hutch mob are under the greatest threat. This follows the brutal slaying of Eddie Hutch Snr on February 8, indicating that the rival faction were prepared to target anybody with the surname Hutch.

With this in mind, detectives have drawn up a special safety plan in relation to the dozens of women who have connections to the gangs. This means that gardai are aware of their addresses and the vehicles they use and who exactly they are related to or in a relationship with, a source said. Thankfully, no women have been targeted in this feud so far. A big reason for this is that gardai have been constantly monitoring their safety.

A lot of the armed check points, which have been visible in the city over the past number of weeks, have been concerned with that, a source said.

Prominent women that have been identified as being linked to the Hutch mob are the mother and girlfriend of an assassin who is suspected of being involved in the Regency attack on February 5. The man was part of the six-man kill squad which stormed the hotel  he was one of the fake gardai armed with an AK-47.

He is also the chief suspect in the botched murder attempt on Kinahan gang member Liam Roe at the Red Cow Hotel last November. He is also suspected of involvement in the murder of Paul Kavanagh last April.

A number of women linked to the Regency Hotel hitman who dressed in drag have also been identified by gardai. This man was photographed fleeing the hotel with a handgun and dressed in womens clothing with a wig and make-up.

A number of the Hutch mob women have criminal convictions, including for shoplifting and theft offences. One woman has a deeply personal hatred of gardai due to a previous tragic incident.

On the other side, gardai have identified that Daniel Kinahan is now in a relationship with a woman closely associated with one of the countrys most psychotic criminals Micka Kelly. Kelly, who was known as The Panda, was shot dead by Vincent Ryans IRA faction near her home in September, 2011. Vincent Ryan was shot dead as he sat in his car in Finglas a week ago  his murder is being linked to Mr Big, an associate of Kelly.

Kinahan and this woman are understood to meet both in Dublin and Spain. Their relationship has confirmed deep connections between the Kinahan mob and a major drug gang based in north Dublin.

It is believed that they have been an item for a number of months and Daniel is known to shower the glamorous woman with expensive gifts.

Gruesome

Micka Kelly was linked to a number of gruesome murders before he was shot dead.

Sources said that gardai have been monitoring Fat Freddie Thompsons former partner Vicky Dempsey (35).

The mother-of-one is of interest because of her relationship with Thompson and also because of the serious links that her brother, Karl Dempsey (37), has to the Kinahan cartel.

Despite her associates links to major organised criminality, Vicky always tries to stay out of it all, according to a source.

Sources say gardai do not have the same opinion of a number of other women who are strongly linked to the cartel.

Unlike most of the women linked to the Hutch gang, many of the [Kinahan] cartel women are more flashy and seem to enjoy far more lavish lifestyles than women from the other grouping, who mostly live in north inner city flat complexes and have relatively frugal lifestyles, a source said.
ABINGDON, Va.  Local 4-H members hammed it up on Friday evening in Abingdon when their cured ham projects sold for thousands of dollars during the 2016 Washington County 4-H Ham Curing Auction.

The bidding process began following a breakfast buffet --- country ham and scrambled eggs, of course  served to the 4-H families and bidders representing businesses in the region.

All 15 of the hams were purchased as donations by local businesses to show their support of the local 4-H program and the youth involved in the educational project.

The highest bid of the night for a student-cured ham went for a whopping $2,000, cured by seven-year-old Chloe Campbell, a second-grade student at High Point Elementary.

A total of $13,000 was raised from all of the hams during the live auction conducted by auctioneer Mike Anderson at the Barns at Chip Ridge in Abingdon.

This is wonderful. Im so excited, I may not sleep tonight, said Crystal Peek, Washington County Extension Agent, 4-H, who said the money from the auction exceeds what was needed to finish creating a $25,000 college scholarship endowment for the countys 4-H members.

Peek said the scholarship project will be supported by money raised by the ham-curing auctions for the past five years.

We want to be a financial support to our 4-H students who have worked hard throughout their 4-H careers, said Peek. These scholarships will offer financial help to students attending college.

Eleven-year-old Samantha Dale said shes enjoyed participating in the ham-curing project for the past three years because its taught her what her grandparents had to do to preserve their food. Its interesting how the ingredients work with each other to create a good flavor, she said.

Other 4-H members participating in the ham-curing auction are Hannah Barker, Haylee Barker, Cole Harlow, Seth Harlow, Ashli Linkous, Jesse McCall, Laken Minnick, Burgin Peek, Brayden Self, Jaime Self, Kassidy Slaughter and Kendall Sullin.

According to Washington County Extension Agent Phil Blevins, the green or fresh hams used for the youth projects were purchased from Virginia Tech, and each of the hams weighed less than 20 pounds.

During the past few months, Blevins taught the 4-H members, whose ages range from 7 to 17, how to pack the fresh or green hams in a combination of salt, sugar, and hot pepper flakes  a traditional Virginia curing method.

Through a partnership with Kevin Campbell, owner of the Barns at Chip Ridge, the 4-H members were allowed to store their hams in walk-in coolers at his farm. After eight weeks, the members took the hams home where they hung them in low-humidity and cool areas until it was time for judging at the Washington County Fair in September where the hams received scores on confirmation, trimness, appearance and aroma.

Each participating 4-H member was allowed to sell at auction one of the two hams they cured, reserving the best one for the auction.

The students also were required to give speeches about their experiences curing hams, and to document what they have learned in project books.

Its a long process, but a valuable learning experience for our youth, said Peek.

Carolyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer in Glade Spring, Virginia. Contact her at news@washconews.com.
WASHINGTON -- When you're buying a house, don't you want an experienced set of eyes checking out the closing papers for errors and potential overcharges?

Of course. But under the new federal real estate settlement procedures that took effect late last year, an unexpected problem is taking shape: Many lenders and title companies are refusing to provide copies of the final closing documents to real estate agents representing home buyers. That, in turn, is threatening to jeopardize one of the traditional services agents perform for their clients  scrutinizing closing statements for inaccuracies that could cost them money or delay the settlement unnecessarily.

Yet in a recent internal survey of members across the country, the National Association of Realtors found that 54.5 percent of agents reported they had experienced difficulties obtaining the Closing Disclosure form used under the new federal rules, and that half of these agents detected errors when they finally reviewed them. The errors included incorrect fee charges, commission splits, taxes and failure to include seller concessions to the purchasers, among others.

In some cases, when Closing Disclosures had to be changed and re-issued  triggering a mandatory three-day waiting period for the purchasers and delaying the settlement  sellers have balked and even canceled sales. Eric Post, principal broker at BHGRE Realty Partners in Portland, Oregon, told me "we've had some situations where this caused the termination" of entire deals because the delay "wasn't acceptable" to the sellers.

Dan Galloway, an agent with Redfin in the Washington D.C. area, said under the previous system, agents routinely received a copy of the HUD-1 closing form, which summarized the costs and credits for both the sellers and buyers in one document. Typically the HUD-1 was prepared and delivered by the settlement or title agent or attorney closing the transaction. Now lenders are solely responsible for preparing and delivering the Closing Disclosure, the replacement for the HUD-1, directly to the buyers. Lenders are often reluctant to deliver it to any party not expressly designated in the government's rules. The rules are silent about sharing a copy with the buyers' realty agent. Lenders also cite federal consumer privacy regulations that they feel constrain them from providing a Closing Disclosure to a realty agent because the document contains "non-public" personal information. Though title, escrow and settlement agencies typically are local, frequently the lender is located hundreds or thousands of miles away and may not be adequately informed about local real estate tax practices, transfer fees and other charges.

As a result, lenders' Closing Disclosures now commonly contain errors  Galloway says "the lion's share" of them have one or more mistakes. Emily Vaile, regional manager for BHGRE David Winans & Associates in Dallas, agrees. "Errors are happening all the time," she said in an interview. "Maybe half" of Closing Disclosures contain them, she estimates  some minor and clerical, some consequential. If there's something that's inconsistent with the sales contract in the Closing Disclosure, "it may be obvious to the agent," she said, but be totally missed by the buyers, whose heads are spinning with all the last-minute details of getting ready to move.

When realty agents can't obtain their clients' Closing Disclosure from the lender, they often turn to the title or settlement agent. But title agents may not be willing to share it with them either because of their own federal privacy concerns. Some lenders also prohibit title and settlement agents from sharing the Closing Disclosure with realty agents.

So where's this all headed? Some title agents have begun using workaround solutions that provide realty agents the information they need, including a customizable "settlement statement" from the American Land Title Association that itemizes all the fees and charges that the buyers and sellers must pay during the settlement process. It includes no personal information that violates privacy rules but allows agents to counsel their clients and report transactional data to the local multiple listing service.

Bottom line for you: Be aware of this issue and discuss it with your agent and the title company you choose. Alternatively, short circuit the whole controversy by handing over a copy of the final settlement disclosure to your agent immediately after you receive it from the lender. Ask for a thorough walk-through of the closing items and their accuracy.

Get the most out of that extra pair of eyes.

Ken Harney's email address is kenharney@earthlink.net.
Monk parakeets have habit of showing up in unexpected places

What do birders miss when they look back on some of the avian potential lost before Americans became more protective of their wildlife? Obviously, we lament the loss of birds like the ivory-billed woodpecker or the great auk. Losses of bird life in the Hawaiian islands have been staggering. We also lost tiny birds  dusky seaside sparrow and Bachman's warbler  that would have gone unnoticed by most people.

I'm confident we mourn the loss of some of the most abundant birds to ever roam the continent. One such bird was the now-extinct Carolina parakeet. Many people don't realize that North Amer-ica was once home to its own species of parakeet. A few individuals  all that remained of once massive flocks of colorful, noisy native parakeets  made it into the 20th century. The last specimen died in the Cincinnati Zoo on Feb. 21, 1918. Although not declared officially extinct until 1939, the population of the Carolina parakeets crashed suddenly and for reasons still not fully understood.

For instance, large flocks of these birds still flew free until the final years of the 1800s, but in the first decade of the 1900s, these flocks disappeared. The survivor at the zoo was named Incas, and this male Carolina parakeet died a year after his mate, who had been named Lady Jane by the zoo's staff.

The only other native parrot  the thick-billed parrot of the American southwest  no longer flies north of the Mexican border. An attempt to re-introduce this parrot to Arizona in the 1980s ended in disappointing failure.

To look for parrots in the United States, one usually needs to travel to Florida. The Sunshine State has become a place to find exotic wildlife, from pythons to caymans, as well as a multitude of unusual birds that have escaped from captivity and now find the warm climate of Florida suitable for a feral existence.

When it comes to parrots, however, there is one species, perhaps tougher than its kin, that has expanded its range across the country. Called the monk parakeet (or quaker parakeet in the pet trade) this bird is not a native species, but it has proved tenacious in making itself at home in such far-flung locations as Delaware and Michigan, as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island. These green beauties have even made themselves at home in New York City. The monk parakeet has also established colonies in Canada's British Columbia.

Closer to home, these parakeets have also established colonies in Virginia and North Carolina, although I cannot confirm any such attempts in Tennessee. I recently got to see my first monk parakeets in the wild after learning on the Facebook page Carolina Birders that a pair of these parakeets has been found in Newland, North Carolina. Being only about a 20-minute drive from Roan Mountain, Tennessee, it was not difficult for me to make two trips to Newland to look for these two birds, which are residing at an electrical sub-station. I failed to find them on my first trip on a rainy, windy day. When the weather improved, I tried again on Feb. 19 and was successful. I saw the parakeets seated on their nest, perched on wires and visiting a feeder at a home near the sub-station.

The origin of feral monk parakeets in the United States dates back to the 1960s when birds brought from their native Argentina for sale in the pet trade escaped and subsequently thrived in various locations in the country. In researching this bird, I discovered that in North Carolina there are known colonies in Wilmington and Charlotte. Perhaps the pair in Newland are individuals ex-panding from those colonies. Monk parakeets are most abundant in Florida, but these birds have been found in numerous states, from Texas and Ohio to New Jersey and Delaware. These parakeets have also established feral populations in Europe in Belgium, Spain and Great Britain.

The origin of "monk" for this bird's name is believed to stem from the gray-colored swath of feathers found on the bird's breast, throat and forehead. The rest of the bird's plumage is a bright green in color. The monk parakeet also has an orange bill. The birds are comparable in size to a mourning dove.

Monk parakeets differ from most other parrots, which are almost exclusively cavity-nesting birds. Monk parakeets form nesting colonies and use twigs and branches to build large, bulky nests. Even a single pair of monk parakeets can build a substantial nest. A colony of these nesting birds usually builds a nest featuring several compartments. The pair of parakeets in Newland have already build a large nest among the transformers of an electrical sub-station. The industrious birds create some large stick structures, and nests weighing 90 pounds have been found.

In the wild, these sociable birds form large flocks. In captivity, the monk parakeet can be taught an extensive vocabulary of words. The monk parakeet can live 20 to 30 years, with captive birds usually living longer than wild ones.

I was thrilled to see this pair of monk parakeets, but it also made me somewhat wistful for what might have been. It would be wonderful to have native parrots still flying free. The extinct Carolina parakeet ranged throughout the eastern United States, including the states of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. If only the dawning of a more environmentally aware age had arrived slightly sooner, the Carolina parakeet might have been saved along with species like the California condor and whooping crane. This native parakeet, if it had endured, might today be considered an ordinary backyard bird.



Bryan Stevens lives near Roan Mountain, Tennessee. To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Stevens on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more. If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO CLEAN UP VIRGINIA BATTLEFIELDS AND HISTORIC SITES

(Washington, D.C.)  Virginia volunteers will team up with the Civil War Trust to help clean and restore 21 landmarks as part of Park Day, a nationwide effort that includes more than 125 historic sites in 29 states. Thousands of volunteers will gather at sites across the country as Park Day celebrates its twentieth year on Saturday, April 2, 2016.

Volunteers interested in participating in Park Day are encouraged to contact the individual sites listed below. Activities range from raking leaves and hauling trash to painting signs and planting trees. Some sites will provide lunch or refreshments to volunteers, and a local historian may be available to describe the parks significance. Volunteers will also receive T-shirts.

Starting times vary at each site. Virginia volunteers may sign up at the following locations:

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Appomattox, 8:45 a.m.

Contact: Alyssa Holland at alyssa_holland@nps.gov

Volunteers will help with fence painting and repair. Drinks will be provided.

Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park, Leesburg, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: John Lewis at jlewis@nvrpa.org

Activities will include trash pickup, cleaning park signage, debris removal and mulching. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Battle of Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 10:00 a.m.

Contact: Drew Gruber at drewagruber@gmail.com

The Williamsburg Battlefield Association will remove trash, trim undergrowth and add signage to the center of historic Williamsburg battlefield. Coffee and donuts will be provided.

Brandy Station Foundation, Brandy Station, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: Richard Deardoff at deardoff@comcast.net

Clear the trail to Kellys Ford on the Rappahannock River and clean up the St. Stephens Church remains and cemetery.

Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park, Bristow, 8:00 a.m.

Contact: Bill Backus at bbackus@pwcgov.org

Volunteers will assist with trail restoration, mulch spreading, general cleanup, brush removal, fence construction and repair and raking leaves in the 10th Alabama cemetery. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Middletown, 8:00 a.m.

Contact: Eric Campbell at eric_campbell@nps.gov

Park Day volunteers will work on the 19th Corps Trench Trail, including brush cutting and trail maintenance work, which will allow the existing trail to be expended to twice its current length. Drinks will be provided.

Cedar Mountain Battlefield, Culpeper, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: Diane Logan at dianewlogan@gmail.com

The Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield invite volunteers to beautify Cedar Mountain Battlefield by picking up trash, improving interpretive trails, cleaning markers and cutting back brush and fallen trees. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Gaines' Mill Battlefield, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Mechanicsville, 10:00 a.m.

Contact: Lindsey Kellogg at lindsey_kellogg@partner.nps.gov

Work on a newly acquired piece of Gaines' Mill battlefield. Cut invasive brush from an important historic viewshed and remove trash and debris from the woods. An interpretive program will be offered on the site and its history.

Historic Sandusky, Lynchburg, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: Greg Starbuck at info@historicsandusky.org

Volunteers will help with painting, yard work, cleaning and light maintenance. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Jeb Stuart Birthplace, Stuart, 9:30 a.m.

Volunteers will assist with cleaning trails, picking up trash and tree limbs, raking leaves and cleaning buildings. Light foods and drinks will be provided.

Kernstown Battlefield, Winchester, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: David Jenkins at djenkins0849@outlook.com

Seal the newly constructed building that houses restrooms and a meeting room, and paint the artillery building. Pizza and drinks will be provided.

Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, 8:30 a.m.

Contact: Henry Elliott at henry_elliott@nps.gov

Work projects will include trail maintenance, invasive plant control, fence construction and trash pickup.

Mine Run Battlefield, Locust Grove, 8:30 a.m.

Contact: Matt George at mgeorge@civilwar.org

Volunteers will clear the trail of leaves and downed limbs, clean interpretive markers along trail, clear invasive saplings, and pick up trash along the roadway. Drinks will be provided.

Mt. Zion Historic Park, Aldie, 10:00 a.m.

Contact: Tracy Gillespie at tgillespie@nvrpa.org

Spruce up the landscape and historic structure of the 1851 Old School Baptist Church, site of a Civil War hospital in June 1863 and a cavalry battle in July 1864. Rake leaves, clear brush, mulch and clean signage. Volunteers will learn the history of the site, and light food and drinks will be provided.

Newport News Park, Battle of Dam No. 1, Newport News, 10:00 a.m.

Contact: Lindsay Carroll at lcarroll@nnva.gov

Volunteers will spread mulch, rake leaves, maintain trails, clean signs and pick up litter. Food and drinks will be provided.

Pamplin Historical Park & the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, Petersburg, 9:00 a.m.

Contact: Chris Banchero at cbanchero@pamplinpark.org

Participants will perform selective clearing on historic Confederate fortifications. All participants are invited to join a pre-dawn tour of the battlefields, starting at 5:00 a.m. Water and light breakfast will be provided.

Petersburg National Battlefield, Petersburg, 8:30 a.m.

Contact: Richard Hotchkiss at richard_hotchkiss@nps.gov

Volunteers will help with trash pickup, trail maintenance, painting, sign cleaning, and general maintenance. Drinks will be provided.

Rector's Crossroads, Atoka, 1:00 p.m.

Contact: Rich Gillespie at rgillespie@mosbyheritagearea.org

The Mosby Heritage Area's Park Day event will include an introductory program showcasing Rector's Crossroads, with a short tour of the 1801 Caleb Rector House, where John Singleton Mosby's 43rd Virginia Cavalry was formed on June 10, 1863. Light food and drinks will be served, followed by a cleanup of the Rector House grounds, the crossroads and a piece of the 1860s turnpike through the village.

Trevilian Station Battlefield, Louisa, 8:30 a.m.

Contact: Kathy Stiles at 1earlyhouse@gmail.com

Trim and clear brush, paint Custer headquarters exterior and clear trails. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Virginia Museum of the Civil War, New Market, 9:30 a.m.

Contact: Troy Marshall at marshalltd@vmi.edu

Volunteers will help VMCW staff with ongoing maintenance projects around the park and work to preserve historic views with brush clearing. Light food and drinks will be provided.

Wilderness Battlefield, Locust Grove, 9:00 a.m.

Pick up trash and debris along the road, clean up visitor shelter area and paint the historic Ellwood house foundation and part of the maintenance barn. Light food and drinks will be provided.

The Civil War Trust is the largest and most effective nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation of Americas hallowed battlegrounds. Although primarily focused on the protection of Civil War battlefields, through its Campaign 1776 initiative, the Trust also seeks to save the battlefields connected to the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. To date, the Trust has preserved close to 43,000 acres of battlefield land in 23 states. Learn more at Civilwar.org.
Journalism is having a moment at the movies.

Days after the journalism procedural "Spotlight" won best picture at the Academy Awards, Paramount is releasing "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," a comic drama about war reporting with Tina Fey as a rookie corre-spondent finding her way.

Fey plays Kim Baker, a 40-something New York TV producer summoned to a meeting of "unmarried, childless personnel" to consider a three-month assignment embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Three months becomes three years, 2004 to 2006, as Baker evolves from clueless newbie to savvy reporter, navigating the country's repressive cultural norms and the off-the-clock lifestyle of drunken debauchery shared by her expatriate colleagues.

Longtime Fey collaborator Robert Carlock ("30 Rock," ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") based the screenplay on former Chicago Tribute reporter Kim Barker's memoir "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

If "finding yourself" in your 40s is a cinematic cliche, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is guilty. And it will surely be criticized for casting white actors as key Afghan characters. But the film offers a fresh look at the adrenaline-laced lifestyle of war correspondents and a timely criticism of TV news. And it delivers some laughs, too.

Fey's Baker is sorely unprepared for her new circumstances. It's like she's even lost her New York smarts when she takes out a wad of American cash on a busy Kabul street. She forgets her headscarf and barges into places where women aren't allowed.

Her translator, Fahim (Christopher Abbot), tries to protect her in the field, while fellow journalist Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie) guides her through the rowdy ex-pat social scene.

As Baker adapts to her new cultures, she develops a professional relationship with an Afghan official, Sadiq (Alfred Molina, always outstanding), and a romantic one with fellow reporter Iain (Martin Freeman). Both test the limits of how far she's willing to go for a story.

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" ("WTF," get it?) may be more drama than comedy, which suits the subject matter. Many of the laughs come from subtitles translating the local language Baker inevitably misunderstands. Others come from Fey's bumbling and Col. Walter Hollanek's (Billy Bob Thornton), no-nonsense intolerance for such behavior.

Ultimately, Baker faces two challenges in the film: the farfetched one of rescuing her boyfriend from Taliban kidnappers, and the more realistic one of not finding an audience for news from what one soldier she interviews describes as a "forgotten war, capital F, capital W."

"Everyone loves the troops," a TV producer tells Baker, but no one wants to see them on TV anymore.

As newspapers have closed and news conglomerates grown, realistic portrayals of the people who gather news are critical to the survival of journalism as a democratic institution. Like the HBO documentary "Jim: The James Foley Story," ''WTF" explores what motivates war correspondents, that pursuit of adrenaline and truth. Like "Spotlight," which follows four investigative reporters uncovering the Catholic Church's child-molestation scandal, "WTF" shows the tenacity characteristic of reporters on any beat.

So let journalism have its moment, "WTF." Oscar and Tina Fey are fine representatives.

>> Three stars out of four. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," a Paramount Pictures release, is rated R by the Mo-tion Picture Association of America for "pervasive language, some sexual content, drug use and violent war images."
Cases of whats being referred to as super lice  regular lice that have become resistant to over-the-counter treatment -- have not been reported in the Mountain Empire, according to local school and health officials.

The resistant lice have been reported in at least 25 states, including Virginia and Tennessee. Local health department officials say that the active ingredient in widely recommended over-the-counter treatments includes permethrin, which lice have become resistant to over the years.

The best treatment is inspection, removal of lice from hair using over-the-counter products, and killing lice in the home. The current policy of the Centers for Disease Control for how to handle lice cases in schools is to send children who have active lice home for treatment. They can return when there are no longer live lice, even if there are still nits, which are eggs.

Dr. Stephen May, director of the Sullivan County Regional Health Department, said when OTC treatments dont work, different chemicals need to be used, which are usually by prescription and can be expensive.

He compared lice resistance to bacteria becoming resistant to several antibiotics. The term super lice, May said, is an overstatement and shouldnt cause panic because it just means that the lice have become resistant to common over-the-counter treatments  not that they are more aggressive or different from regular lice.

Theyre still the same lice, May said. They cant jump; they cant leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Officials with Bristols two school systems, Washington County schools in Virginia, and Kingsport and Sullivan County schools in Tennessee say they have not had any cases of super lice. However, they all said that lice in schools are commonly recurrent. Each has similar lice policies  send children home who have live lice for treatment and allow them to return when there are no longer live lice.

The lice policies for all of the local school systems can be found on their websites.
Doctors warn of local increase in RSV, other viral illnesses

"This spreads quickly, and it takes the vigilance of an entire community to protect children," local pediatrician says.
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What is the mandate that society gives to a health ministry? Is it to provide some level of clinical care and limited financial support after people get very sick or to keep people as healthy as possible for as long as possible? The duties of a modern state require it to provide both health protection and illness care, with greater investment in the former. However, health ministries often tend to see the latter as their main task. It is not surprising, therefore, that the finance ministry sees a few disconnected benefactions to sick people as evidence of a health-friendly Budget. How can it project a big picture plan for health financing when the draft National Health Policy is lying untouched for over a year?

We must thank the finance minister for some good things he offers for health, both within that sector and through other sectors. Increased investment in pulses production signals an overdue recognition that the scarcity and high prices of these protein sources are depriving millions of Indians, especially children, of essential nutrition. The pledge to provide clean cooking gas and electricity to all villages dovetails well with the prime ministers call to the affluent to surrender their gas connections in favour of the poor. Universal access to clean energy will help free millions of women and children from the kitchens curse of indoor air pollution from solid fuels, and reduce the threat of several associated diseases. While the sight of the finance minister wielding his (t)axe on cigarettes is welcome, the absolute immunity that beedis continue to enjoy makes his claim of shielding health from tobaccos harm sound untenable.

Read | Indias shrinking health budget

Within the health sector, what catches the eye is the fillip to dialysis centres across the country. It certainly will help many patients with a chronic kidney disease. However, where is the vision to strengthen primary health services for an early detection and effective treatment of high blood pressure and diabetes? Failure to do so will result in ever-growing numbers of persons seeking dialysis and cardiac repair, when many of them could have been effectively protected from reaching an advanced stage.

In 2008, Thailand included dialysis in the programme of universal health coverage on grounds of equity even though it did not meet the cost-effectiveness criterion. While professional groups argued for hemodialysis, the less expensive option of peritoneal dialysis was chosen for government funding and trained nurses have been providing this service even at patients homes. At each stage, the decisions were guided by health technology assessments (HTAs).

The choice of health technologies to be prioritised for government funding is guided, in many countries, by a formal process of HTA, which combines evidence of clinical effectiveness with considerations of comparative cost-effectiveness, affordability and equity. In Britain, this function is performed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which guides the National Health Service. In Thailand, the HITAP (Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Programme), an autonomous arm of the ministry of public health, performs this role. In India, we do not have any institution that provides such analytic support to the health ministry, which in turn should appropriately advise the finance ministry. Ideally, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) should establish a multi-disciplinary expert group analogous to NICE or HITAP. Recent cuts in the budget of the ICMR do not bode well for that.

Who will bear the cost of recurrent dialysis and on what scale? The cost of supporting dialysis rose from 0.2% of the Thai health budget in 2008 to 3.4% by 2012. Thailand launched a massive programme screening for hypertension and diabetes to provide effective early care that can curtail the demand for dialysis and contain escalating health care costs. Such coupling of preventive and palliative care has not been strategically signalled in our Budget.

Read | NHAM is the next logical step after NRHM

Lowering financial barriers to accessing health services and providing financial protection against health care-related impoverishment are the objectives of the Universal Health Coverage, to which the government is committed. Will the proposed insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh per family meet these objectives? While the poor will have greater access to hospitalised care, insurance will not cover the cost of outpatient care and drugs, which account for 70% of out-of-pocket expenditure. Jan Aushadi stores will help increase access to low-cost generic drugs for the middle class but will they assure unimpeded access to essential drugs for the poor?

The claim that the insurance programme will reduce catastrophic financial shocks due to hospitalisation is only partly true, since the over-limit in-hospital costs and post-hospitalisation expenses will be out of pocket. More important, the cumulative burden of recurrent expenses on common ailments and continuous spending on chronic conditions are what drain the health and savings of many Indians. Insurance does precious little for that. Weak primary care services will land more people in hospitals and health care costs will progressively escalate beyond the reach of government budgets.

A universal insurance scheme for acute hospitalised care will succeed only if it is part of an integrated system that seamlessly connects essential basic services for disease prevention and early clinical care with referred advanced care when needed, and ensures efficient follow-up on return to primary care. In essence, it calls for the marriage of an expanded National Health Mission and all government-funded health insurance schemes to create an integrated system of service provision and financial protection. When will that happen? Why is the urban health mission still on the drawing board? Will the central insurance scheme compete with or assimilate the state-funded health insurance schemes, which selectively target hospitalised care? Some questions to ponder, as we prepare for the Budget of 2017.

(K Srinath Reddy is president, Public Health Foundation of India. The views expressed are personal)
There were many smiles in the Lok Sabha last Wednesday when Trinamool Congress leaders went out of their way to help the Congress.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay pleaded with the Speaker to allow a Congress leader to speak. Saugata Roy took out the rule book to oppose a debate on the Aircel-Maxis scam that allegedly involves former UPA ministers.

Until Thursday evening when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi came to the central hall of Parliament to have a 20-minute tete-a-tete with Communist Party of India(Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Delhis rumour mill was on an overdrive.

A tacit understanding between the Congress and the CPI(M) in the West Bengal polls was no secret but the sudden push from the Trinamool to mollycoddle the Congress left political observers perplexed.

This scramble for allies- even by a party whose victory is said to be a foregone conclusion- betrayed jitters in all camps in the run-up to the assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. As the campaign gathers steam, some states are witnessing a political churn on the ground in terms of shifting preferences and loyalties on the part of voters, making the stakeholders nervous.

After an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland Peoples Front (NPF), BJP leaders believed they were well on course to create history by forming the government in Assam.

A pre-poll survey, conducted by IndiaTV-C Voter last week, however, predicted a hung assembly. Although Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front is expected to eat into the Congress minority votebank- constituting over one-third of the electorate- the ruling party sees the Muslims consolidating behind it.

They (Muslims) know that we the only party that can keep the BJP out of power. We have also told them how sections of the BJP and the AIUDF are in cahoots, Gaurav Gogoi, Congress MP and son of chief minister Tarun Gogoi, told HT.

If there is erosion in the AIUDFs Muslim support base and the Congress manages to retain its sway over some sections of tribals, the BJP may find the going tougher than it expected.

In West Bengal, the survey predicted 156 seats for the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the 294-member assembly.

As per the partys own assessment, an understanding between the Congress and the Left could restrict the AITCs tally to around 180 seats. It would still be a convincing victory for Mamata Banerjee, but its far short of her earlier assessment of over 210 seats.

And, that explained the sudden push by the Trinamool to try to wean the Congress away from the Left. Besides, as per the assessment in the Mamata camp, Congress voters are less hostile to the Trinamool than the Left. The overt display of camaraderie between the Congress and the AITC in Parliament was also meant to send a subtle message to these voters.

In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is predicted to dislodge the Congress-led UDF government. Interestingly, this is one state where the Congress wants the BJP to do well. If the BJP eats into the Lefts largely Hindu votebank, the Congress may hope to romp home in a state where Muslims and Christians constitute 45% of the population.

For instance, the BJPs alliance with the newly-floated BJDS (Bharat Dharma Jan Sena), founded by Ezhava leader Vellapally Natesan, is likely to affect the Left more than the Congress. Since backward Ezhavas form the backbone of the CPI(M), the alliance is likely to cut into its vote share in some pockets of southern Kerala, says political commentator Sunnykutty Abraham.

In Tamil Nadu, chief minister J Jayalalithaa is precariously perched. She is said to have an edge over the rival DMK-Congress alliance, but the equations may change if filmstar-turned-politician Captain Vijayakant responds to the DMKs overtures. On its own, his party DMDK may not win more than a handful of seats, but with his 5% vote (in 2014 Lok Sabha election)- 8 per cent in 2011 assembly poll- he can add zing to the side he gravitates to.

She still has the edge, though she would not be able to sweep like last time, said political commentator, Prof Ramu Manivannan of Madras University. If DMDK joins the DMK-Congress alliance, the fight would become keener, he said.

(With inputs from KV Lakshmana in Chennai and Ramesh Babu in Thiruvananthapuram)
The BJP-led NDA government may soon ink a draft agreement with the Arabinda Rajkhowa-led United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) in mid-March.

The agreement, much on the lines of the Naga Peace Accord signed on August 3, 2015, is likely meant to bolster the BJPs footing ahead of the assembly elections in Assam scheduled to begin next month.

The Ulfa leadership has been invited again to New Delhi for a meeting on March 14  close on the heels of a round of talks between an Ulfa delegation and Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on February 29. There is a possibility that a draft agreement may be signed, a source told HT.

Neither Union home minister Rajnath Singh nor his deputy Kiren Rijiju could meet the Ulfa leaders on February 29 because of their preoccupation with the Union Budget. It was also for the first time that Anup Chetia, the organisations general secretary who was brought in from Bangladesh recently, took part in the ongoing talks with the government.

Hailed as a landmark agreement, the August 3 accord with the NSCN (Isak-Muival faction) has also been panned by critics who, attacking the non-transparent nature of the signing, say the pact had little to offer in terms of a final resolution of the Naga issue, which is yet to be signed.

Sources told HT that the framework agreement with Ulfa may also list out already agreed points  like provision of an Upper House for the state assembly, update of the National Register for Citizens, etc.

Contentious issues like granting Scheduled Tribe status to six indigenous communities are expected to be left out as a committee headed by a joint secretary from the home ministry has already been set up to recommend the modalities for granting of the reservation like protecting the interests of existing tribes and safeguarding the political interests of the indigenous people.

The six communities are Koch Rajbongshi, Moran, Motok, Ahom, Sootea, Chutia and the Adivasi (Tea Tribes).

The draft agreement may impact the forthcoming polls as these six communities  demanding ST reservation at least for a decade  together represent more than 40% of the states population.

Granting ST status to these communities will render Assam a tribal majority state and would entitle it to special safeguards, which under present circumstances, might be the only way out to resolve the states problems arising out of reported large-scale immigration from nearby Bangladesh which has already hit Assams demography.

If granted reservation, the number of assembly seats reserved for tribals is expected to jump from the existing 16 to about 85-90 in the 126 seat-state assembly by way of fresh delimitation of assembly constituencies.
A 26-year-old merchant navy officer from Bhopal has been missing from his vessel in African waters in mysterious circumstances from the intervening night of March 2-3. The vessel was on way to Mozambique from Vadinar port in Gujarat on February 22.

Sandeep Kumar Yadav had joined the Mumbai-based The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limiteds vessel MT Jag Pushpa as a trainee electrical officer (TEO).

Yadav was reportedly in touch with his elder brother Bhupendra till February 22 midnight after which the vessel set sail. On March 3, around 3 pm, my father (Nandaram) got a call from the shipping companys head office in Mumbai and was informed that Sandeep is missing from the vessel. A letter was also sent by the company to inform us about his disappearance, Bhupendra told HT.

According to MT Jag Pushpa captain and Yadavs roommate onboard, the youth was last seen sleeping in his cabin on March 2 night. On March 3, around 6 am when the crew assembled on ships deck for routine counting, Sandeep was found missing.

Bhupendra accused the company of trying to make the incident seem like a suicide. There was no reason for Sandeep to commit suicide and he has left no suicide note or ever spoken of any problem to us or his friendsThere is a possibility that Sandeep may have witnessed something illegal happening on the ship, after which he was killed him to suppress the incident. As the vessel was on international waters it had no CCTV cameras, which raises doubts on the management of the ship, Bhupendra said.

The family has been told that the case will be investigated by the shipping ministry.

Assistant vice president of fleet personnel department of the shipping company, Pradeep Correa said their official will reach Mozambique in two days to collect facts about incident and collect statements of the crew present on the vessel. The facts will be handed over to the officials of shipping ministry of India which will then investigate into the case, he said.
Be it the bygone era or the present times, fairer sex has always managed to get their fair share of success by exhibiting certain traits and inspiring the lives around. On International Womens Day, Hindustan Times draws up a list of ancient Roman women characters who etched their legacies and their stories have been told and retold time and again.

Find out which Bollywood actors resemble these strong-minded women and also which one of them you relate to:

Lucilla, The fighter: She was the princess of Rome and can be seen as a strong independent woman in the movie Gladiator. On sensing that her kingdom is being threatened, she carefully hatched an assassination plot, albeit the plan was a fiasco, she emerged as one mighty lady in spite of the incessant debacles.

(HT Photo )

Talking about diligence, leaving behind ones comfort zone and facing the crisis situation with grace and dignity, we wish to make note of the Bollywood star Katrina Kaif. This British-Indian beautys debut movie Boom was a flop yet she remained and gradually carved a niche for herself in the industry. Coming all the way from from London to Mumbai, learning a new language and then climbing the ladder of success is certainly a fighter characteristic. The trait that keeps us intrigued is her never giving up attitude and standing confident and tall.

So, if you are anything like her, risking your comforts, not caring about the initial failures and standing tall with a never say no attitude, you are the present day Lucilla.

Hortensia; The orator: She was blessed with ability to articulately convince the masses with couple of words. This lady swayed the whole Rome and convinced a male dominant political party to exempt women from the war taxes. (Well, girls, if anyone of you is disgruntled with the budget, you may try her skills.)

(AFP)

When talking about the oratory, how can we not mention the Bollywood diva Deepika Padukone. Ever heard her talk? The boldness, class, attitude and the sheer conviction that she emits in her words garner all the attention from everyone alike. The poise, the softness, the pitch, the mesmerizing dialogue delivery- everything about her oratory makes us listen to her over and over again.

Thus, if your paralanguage and communication skills are more than enough to grab attention and convince people with the melodious voice, then you are the contemporary Hortensia.

Porcia Catonis; The Genius:

Daughter of Cato and second wife of Brutus, she is the classic example of beauty with brains. In the ancient days when wars were a regular affair and womens lives were not very easy, this lady was complimented by her husband that she might be weakened by her natural physical differences, but she was no way lagging behind the men folk on the mental fronts.

Beauty coupled with brains reminds us of Alia Bhatt. This Bhatt handles all the social media stories with elegance and tact. Given her age, she reacts constructively to all the negative comments showered at her and no wonder she has attained so many feats despite the tough competition in the industry. It definitely makes her the ultimate genius, considering her age with childlike attitude and her amazing career graph

So, if you have a flawless skin, doll like features, cuteness to die for topped with a bright brain, you are the modern day Portia Cartonis.

Livia Drussilla; The First lady: She was an opinionated woman who took the role of modern day first lady. Having said this, she was her husbands strength and represented him and his family in almost all the events with poise and dignity. Family was a priority, despite being an established and super successful woman herself.

(AFP Photo)

After careful consideration, we felt that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has similar virtues. A former Miss World, a leading global face and yet she strikes a perfect balance amongst her roles as a star, a wife, daughter in law and a mother. She represents the Bachchan clan on every occasion like a pro.

You are Livia Drussillla, if you have a successful career and yet you give priority to your family and carry all the entrusted responsibilities impeccably and with utmost grace and still succeed in all dimensions.

Dido; The Ambitious: This fiercely independent lady is known for questioning things because of her inquisitive perspective. She was passionate about almost everything, be it on a professional or personal level. An ambitious soul, she had the finest qualities that a true legendary woman possesses.

(REUTERS)

When penning down the ambitions, how can we forget Priyanka Chopras hardworking bent of mind? This Quantico star is working day and night without considering to put a full stop on her tightly packed schedule. Working on the continuous spree, she has once again emerged as one of the leading ladies of the industry.

If you are ambitious, workaholic, iconoclastic, rational and fluent, you are the ultimate Dido.

Find out which ancient Roman beauties you resemble and which renowned Bollywood diva you can relate with. Be proud of being a woman and celebrate it with elan this Womens Day.
Apart from being the hub of all things political, Delhi is fast becoming the capital for film shoots as well. In the last few months, a slew of films, including Aamir Khans Dangal and Shah Rukh Khans Fan, have been shot in the Capital. Now, actors Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi are shooting in the city for their next.

Sridevi is working with her husband Boney Kapoor for a woman-oriented film. My immediate film is with my wife. She will star in the movie. It will be a woman-oriented subject but very different from English Vinglish, Boney Kapoor was quoted as saying in a recent interview. The crew is stationed at Film City, Noida.

Read: Dangal shooting stalled after Aamir Khan collapses on sets

After Piku and the yet-to-be-released Shoebite, actor Amitabh Bachchan will be teaming up with Shoojit Sircars production for Eve and its shooting has commenced in the Capital. The film will be directed by National Award winner Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary and will also see actor Taapsee Pannu in an important role.

Read: Shah Rukh Khans DU visit turns ugly after protests

The 73-year-old took to Twitter to make the announcement. And in Delhi now, with grown beard for role of new project that starts tomorrow.. he wrote. So Shoojit produced film starts in Delhi by tomorrow and as is wont the anxiety has begun. Always without fail it arrives in throngs of apprehension (sic), he also wrote on his blog. As per sources, the actor is shooting in Chattarpur.

T 2166 - And in Delhi now, with grown beard for role of new project that starts tomorrow .. pic.twitter.com/6yWCgEVgeI  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) March 6, 2016

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Kareena Kapoor Khan has always wanted to become a Bollywood actor. Luckily, she never had to look beyond her family for inspiration. While her sister, Karisma Kapoor, was a successful film star long before Kareena made her acting debut, the actor has, on many occasions, credited her mother, Babita, for giving up her whole life for her children.

After Kareena got married, she found another idol at home, in the form of her mother-in-law, veteran actor Sharmila Tagore. This International Womens Day (March 8), Kareena tells us more about the three most important ladies in her life.

On her mother, her confidante and friend

Kareena with Babita: The mother-child relationship is one that you cant put into words.

For me, my mother is like God. She is, literally, the person I pray to. She is the sunshine and the oxygen in my life, says Kareena, adding that it is her mothers courage and constant support that has made her who she is today. She has done everything for my sister and me. She is a true woman of substance. All I know is that I cant live without my mother. The mother-child relationship is one that you cant put into words, says Kareena.

Also read: Im not complaining about getting paid less, says Kareena Kapoor

On idolising her sister

Kareena with Karisma and niece Sameira: If Lolo (Karismas pet name) has said something, then its like the gospel truth for me.

Shes my older sister, but I think I kind of bully her sometimes. I fire her, and I also give her advice. But eventually, shes the person I have grown up aspiring to be. Even the way she conducted herself back in the 90s  she was a very private actor  was inspiring, says Kareena, adding that it is Karismas simplicity that sets her apart. Her simplicity is her beauty and charm. Thats why, all her life, everyone around her has bullied her. But everyone who is a part of my life knows that if Lolo (Karismas pet name) has said something, then its like gospel truth for me. And what I admire the most is the dignity with which she has conducted her life, her career, and single-handedly brought up her children, despite a lot of media stress, in terms of her marriage, she says.

Read: Priyanka is amazing, but Hollywood is not for Kareena Kapoor

On finding a friend in her mother-in-law Sharmila Tagore

On mom-in-law Sharmila Tagore: Even today, her beauty is breathtaking.

She is the ultimate actor in the film industry. Shes a living legend. I also look up to her for the way she has lived her life and brought up her three children. She has been an amazing wife and mother. I aspire to strike that balance in my life, says Kareena, adding, Even today, her beauty is breathtaking. I sometimes stare at her and wonder, Wow; someone like her truly exists. The actor says she considers herself blessed to have got such a mum-in-law. She has worked all her life. So, thats something I admire the most. And shes not been very insular in this industry. She has her own life. Shes always travelling, giving talks. Shes also been the perfect homemaker, even at the peak of her career, says Kareena.
A couple of months ago, Aamir Khan tweeted in support of Sunny Leone, when her appearance on a controversial televised interview was making headlines all over. At the time, Sunny Leones heart had dropped to see a star of his stature speak out for her. Sunny, I wil b happy 2 wrk wid u. I hav absolutely no problems wid ur past, as the interviewer puts it. Stay blessed.Love .a (sic), he had tweeted. Recently, Aamir did so again, when he said during a TV interview that if Sunny wants to work in the film industry and create a space for herself, she should be supported. Here, she talks about meeting Aamir, and more.

Read: Sunny Leone and Uday Chopra just got into a plank off fight

I think Sunny conductd herself wid a lot of grace & dignity.I wish I cud hav said the same abt the interviewer (1/2) https://t.co/TDDHOlbOUL  Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) January 20, 2016

Sunny,I wil b happy 2 wrk wid u.I hav absolutely no problems wid ur "past", as the interviewer puts it.Stay https://t.co/jX4V3wULJ8.a.2/2  Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) January 20, 2016

Aamir has supported you on a public platform once again. How does it feel?

Honestly, I never expected someone of his level to be so supportive of me. He is one of the nicest and most humble people I have met. When you hold someone in such high regard, and then one day, they reach out to you in such a great manner, its nothing less than a dream come true. To him, I can only say, Thank you a million times.

Read: Priyanka Chopra praises Sunny Leones anti-smoking short film

Does getting backed by a star like him motivate you?

Of course it does. I look up to Aamir and respect him immensely. I am really grateful that so many Bollywood actors had commented in my favour (at the time of the interview). I didnt expect it at all. It felt great to see that people were, and still are, on my side.

Read: Aamir Khan meets Sunny Leone for lunch in Delhi

You met Aamir recently in Delhi. How was it?

He has been the first one (from the film industry) to welcome me and my husband (Daniel Weber) into his personal space. He spoke to us for a long time. I will always be thankful for his hospitality (smiles).

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The Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case on Monday against Vijay Mallya while a tribunal said he cannot touch the Rs 515 crore he got from selling a liquor company as troubles mounted for the tycoon.

The ED case is based on a CBI probe into alleged willful default by the high-flying owner of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines on a Rs 900-crore loan in conspiracy with IDBI Bank representatives.

Officials suspect senior bank officials received kickbacks worth crores for clearing the loan proposal and paying the money. The ED, the finance ministrys enforcement wing, will now probe the roles of individuals who processed the loans and the reasons why procedures were not followed.

The Debt Recovery Tribunal barred British alcoholic beverages giant Diageo from paying Rs 515 crore as a severance package to Mallya who quit the chairmanship of its Indian company, United Spirits Ltd, last month, till the case against the liquor baron is decided. The DRT will hear the matter again on March 28.

Read: Mallya cant access Rs 515 crore received in Diageo settlement for now

The development comes at a time when Indias banking sector, dominated by about two-dozen state-run lenders, has been bruised by its highest bad-loan ratio in years as lagging economic growth hit companies abilities to service debt.

The United Spirits board last year asked Mallya to resign after an internal investigation spearheaded by Diageo found he diverted funds to other companies under his control, charges that he denies.

Banks owed money by Kingfisher Airlines have demanded first right to the Diageo cash, arguing that they were left with unpaid debts worth Rs 7,000 crore when the company collapsed more than three years ago.

The State Bank of India, which leads the consortium of lenders, declared Mallya once known as The King of Good Times for his flashy lifestyle and lavish parties a wilful defaulter last month. A wilful defaulter is one who uses borrowed funds for purposes other than it was meant for.

Mallya faced flak after he threw a two-day party in December to celebrate his 60th birthday with Enrique Iglesias serenading the guests. Former Kingfisher Airlines employees wrote an open letter this month, blaming him for the grounding of the carrier and damaging the countrys reputation in the aviation industry.

Read: ED registers money laundering case against Vijay Mallya, IDBI officials

The SBI and others have also appealed to the Karnataka high court that the businessman be arrested and his passport impounded.

The DRTs order is not a final one. It is only a temporary order and it is yet to decide the claims of the banks led by the SBI that they have the first charge on the Rs 515 crore receipts under the exit package, said Manoj Kumar, managing partner of the corporate law firm Hammurabi and Solomon.

Mallya said he had initiated talks with banks for a one-time settlement of the money owed by the airline. He also said he will not run away from lenders.

(With agency inputs)

Read: Wont abscond from India, negotiating deal with banks: Vijay Mallya
Tata Motors has signed a strategic agreement with Bharat Forge and US-based General Dynamics Land Systems for Indias Rs 50,000-crore Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme.

Tata Motors, the countrys largest commercial vehicle maker, will lead the consortium with Pune-based auto component maker Bharat Forge as the partner. General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its expertise in the combat vehicles business.

Defence needs partners with long-term commitments to develop products and solutions through multiple generations of evolution. This partnership will position us well to help the country realise its Make in India vision through the development of the first completely indigenised combat vehicle, said Ravi Pisharody, executive director, commercial vehicles, Tata Motors.

The FICV is a high-mobility armoured battle vehicle for ferrying infantry men. It will replace the armys fleet of 2,610 Russian-designed BMP-series armed vehicles in operation since 1980.

Working with the countrys largest automotive manufacturer will help develop new directions for both companies and address future requirements of the Indian armed forces, said Baba Kalyani, chairman and MD, Bharat Forge.

Last year, the army had issued expression of interest to 10 firms for the FICV programme. Apart from the Tatas, Mahindra & Mahindra, the Ordinance Factory Board, Titagarh Wagons, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Defence (formerly Pipavav Defence), Rolta India were also eyeing the project.
The consolidation exercise among public sector banks may not be an easy one with unions and employees voicing their concerns.

Barely two days since finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the proposal to have strong banks rather than numerically large numbers, unions have threatened to resort to strikes if the process is kicked off. According to unions, if the governments plan was to avoid large number of banks, why did it issue licences to companies to set up payments and small finance banks?

The consolidation exercise could bring down the number of public sector banks to about six from the current 27, banking sources had earlier told HT.

Issues such as mergers of weak banks, chalking out a career path for the chairmen of the merged banks, cultural fitment of lenders will also have to be dealt with, analysts said, even though the government seemed confident of the merger exercise.

Addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the second edition of the Gyan Sangam  a two-day offsite for public sector banks and financial institutions  on Saturday, Jaitley had said that consolidation in the banking sector was discussed at the meeting, and bankers themselves have suggested that an expert group should be set up soon to look into the issue. The panel will closely work with the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to identify the right matches for consolidation. The BBB is set to be put in place by April 1, 2016.

The main problem that public sector banks is facing today is that of rising non-performing assets (loans that do not yield returns).. how will this get resolved by merging banks? The focus should be on recovery while ensuring that no further slippage is allowed, CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association, told HT.

Around 800,000 people are currently employed with different public sector banks.

There is no need to merge banks and even if this (issue) had to be discussed, all stakeholders need to be taken into confidence and no unilateral decision will be supported, said Ashwani Rana, vice-president, National Organisation of Bank Workers, an affiliate of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

NPAs for scheduled commercial lenders have crossed `8 lakh crore, and almost all banks have seen their profits drop sharply during the last quarter, especially with the Reserve Bank of India asking them to clean up their balance sheets by March 2017.

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NEW DELHI

Hidden behind the shops of the famous Adhchini market on Sri Aurobindo Marg is an 800-year-old dargah. The board outside the mausoleum of Mai Sahiba, the mother of the 14th century Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya often goes unnoticed amid the hullabaloo of the market. The adjoining colony that came up a few years ago dwarfs the tomb. Today, one reaches the Adhchini dargah after maneuvering the maze of the colony.

Old timers recall that the dargah would be visible from Mehrauli when the surrounding area used to be a farmland. It was known as Sarai Namak.We used to travel by bullock carts and this road led to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The tomb used to shine like a pole star, but it is now lost amidst these concrete structures, said Syed Aamir Ali Nizami, in charge, Dargah Sharif.

Buried in her own house, Hazrat Mai Sahiba Bibi Zulekha passed away in 1250, long before her son came to be known as a great mystic. The dargah committee is geared up to celebrate 779th Urs of Mai Sahiba from March 9 to 11. The dargah will be decorated with roses and qawwals from all over the world will offer their prayers in an overnight recital of love songs to mark the death anniversary of the great woman. The three-day celebrations will begin with special prayers. Vegetarian food and Mai Sahibas favourite dishes, chanaa and aloo pulao known as tehri, will be distributed among devotees.

The shrine is visited by hundreds of devotees especially women following a belief that Mai Sahiba cannot bear the sorrow of women and bestows her blessings on them. Wednesdays are considered to be Mai Sahibas worship days and every week more than 5,000 devotees come here. The dargah has a covered verandah and a mosque, which has a framed picture of Kaaba and houses the tomb of Mai Sahibas daughter Bibi Zenab and two of her closest caretakers, Hoor and Noor.

It is that on the 29th of every month of the Islamic calendar when the moon is new, Hazrat Nizamuddin would visit his mother and offer prayers. He used to reside at Chilla Sharif behind Humayuns Tomb and Yamuna flowed alongside his abode. They would sit and talk for hours, said Nizami, one of the doctors at the dargahs charitable trust.

After Mai Sahiba was widowed at an early age, she brought her son to Adhchini for his education. There were days when the family had nothing to eat. On the days when the son was starving, Mai Sahiba would tell him that they were Gods guests. Nizamuddin Auliya was overwhelmed by the spiritual nourishment which was more fulfilling than food. When will we be Allahs guest again? he would often ask his mother.

Nobodys prayers go unanswered at Mai Sahibas dargah. This place is of historical relevance as well as has a great architectural value and yet it has disappeared in the hustle bustle of the city. People should be encouraged to visit this hidden marvel, said Suhail Ali, a devotee from Adhchini.
The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a man who put up posters offering a reward of Rs 11 lakh for shooting JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

The police earlier questioned Adarsh Sharma -- who said he was the president of Purvanchal Sena -- in connection with a case registered over sticking posters announcing the reward.

Sharma has been arrested under charges of defacement of public property, abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery, a senior police official said, adding more charges can be added later.

The poster, spotted at the Press Club of India and other places in New Delgi, said whosoever shoots JNU Students Union president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena.

The posters carried the mobile number and name of Sharma.

Read: Shoot Kanhaiya Kumar, get a reward of Rs 11 lakh: Posters in Delhi

Sharma said on Saturday he had faith in the judiciary but wants to deliver quick justice.

We want the traitor dead. He has insulted mother India and raised anti-national slogans. We have faith in the court but it takes a long time for a judgement to come. We want to ensure there is a quick decision and hence, we have announced this prize money of Rs 11 lakh to be given to whosoever kills him, he told Hindustan Times.

Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president, was arrested on February 12 for allegedly raising anti-national slogans inside the campus during an event to mark the third anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Gurus hanging on February 9.

With PTI inputs

Read: Man who offered Rs 11 lakh to shoot Kanhaiya has Rs 150 in bank
The Indian Army, which has built a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna for the Art of Living Foundations upcoming World Culture Festival, is likely to build one more to ease movement of lakhs of people who are expected to attend the controversy-ridden mega event.

The development came even as there was criticism from some quarters, including the social media, about using the army to build the floating bridge for such an event.

Lakhs of people are expected to turn up. There is a question of law and order and also fears of stampede. Permission has been granted by concerned authorities to host the event. If a permission has been given, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything is run smoothly, a defence official told PTI.

Read: President Pranab Mukherjee not to attend Art of Living event in Delhi

They said the organisers had approached the defence ministry seeking six such bridges but the army was asked to erect only one. A second bridge has been erected by the PWD.

Instead of private contractors, Indian army soldiers are constructing the pontoon bridges for Sri Sri's event! pic.twitter.com/1zfFLr4BKC  santhosh kottayi (@kottayimavoor) March 5, 2016

The Delhi Police has now given a report saying that there are fears of stampede and hence the army might build another bridge, the sources said, adding that a minister from the Delhi government has also written to the ministry highlighting the need for such bridges.

The source said defence minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the defence secretary to look into the issue. During his interaction with the army, the force wondered whether their personnel should be used to help a private event.

Indian Army tasked to build floating bridge for Art of Living event  Crazy!!  Yusuf (@YusufDFI) March 7, 2016

The minister was of the view that since permission has been granted, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure everything was fine. The army, which has the expertise, was asked to step in keeping the larger good of people in mind, the sources said.

Read: Art of Living event along Yamunas floodplain creates controversy

They added that the army has been used during Kumbh Mela and even the Commonwealth Games.

Told that the event has come under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, sources said the army is only helping people and it is up to the concerned authorities to grant permission or withdraw it.

President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend the festival in the wake of controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning Friday.

Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

While the organisers of the function expect lakhs of people to attend the function, concerns have been raised by experts about the damage to the environment that may be caused as the three-day event was being held on flood plains of the river in east Delhi.

Read: Art of Living didnt inform about scale of event at Yamuna plains: DDA

The National Green Tribunal is hearing a petition which has claimed that the organisers will release enzymes into 17 drains that flow into Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgment is expected on Tuesday.
Tucked away in the bylanes of Nizamuddins market area, watchmaker Javed Khan sits on the wooden rickety stool in his small shop. As Khan tries to open the dial to fix the hands of an old watch, he makes sure that the delicate metallic strap remains intact. What is unique about this 60-year-old man is that he possesses more than 100 antique Swiss watches. Some of them are automatic and others are hand winding machines that became out of production around 1970s.

Javed Khans shop in Nizamuddin stocks some rare Swiss watches with automatic self-winding mechanism that dates to the 30s. Khan not only collects these watches but also repairs and sells them. While most of his customers are foreigners especially the ones from Thailand, Khan feels that Indians have also started acknowledging the value of antiques and approach him mostly for repair work.

I started at a time when it was impossible to live without watches but today people dont care as they have mobile phones that have replaced things of sentimental values like watches. Now only the rich and the educated are crazy about antiques and they are the ones who value them, said the watchmaker.

Khan belongs to an educated family. He left school after eighth grade to chase his passion for watches. He was fascinated to learn the trade after he saw his tenant working late nights repairing watches. In three to four months, he became an expert and got his first job at the age of 16.

I would hide my school bag and go to his repair shop while my parents made futile efforts to send me to school. I was adamant as a child and they too saw my passion for watches, said Khan, who lives in Okhla.

For decades, Indians who wanted foreign watches either bought them abroad or patronised smugglers. Swiss watches too found a way to enter India under cover but the 1975 Emergency saw a ban on all such imports consequently adding to the antique value of the Swiss watches that were suddenly much more in demand.

I used that opportunity. Before 1970s, I was like any other watchmaker in town but it could be said that I cashed in on the ban and started working with collectibles and rare watches. As Swiss watches went out of production, they became antiques, said Javed.

A quick glance at Khan who rests his frail stature comfortably on his wooden chair could hardly suggest that he belonged to a family of nawabs of Rampur and is presently the only supplier of Swiss-made old watches. People from Lucknow, Aligarh, Pune and other parts of the city make an occasional visit to his shop to glance at rare Swiss brands like Nino, Henri Sandoz, Titoni, Favre-leuba, Titus, Roamer and even Rolex and Omega with automatic self-winding mechanism that date back to 1930s. Royal white pocket watches painted in silver are amongst his most prized possessions.

People say that I am a nawab, but repairing all these watches, sitting in this box-sized room, do I look like a nawab? Most people started devaluing watches with the advent of mobile phones in 2000 and that is when I became relevant by collecting bygones. I am a nawab of antique watches, said Khan while unpacking one of the HMT Citizen Japanese watches.

Priced three times less than the original showroom cost of the watch, one can grab a deal starting from as low as Rs 800 which can even go up to Rs 45,000.
President Pranab Mukherjee will not attend a festival being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living in the wake of a controversy over holding the three-day cultural function on the Yamuna flood plains beginning.

The President cannot attend the function due to unavoidable circumstances, an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Monday.

Mukherjee had earlier agreed to attend the valedictory ceremony on Sunday.

While the organisers expect lakhs of people to attend the function, which beings on Friday, concerns have been raised by experts about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.

Read: Art of Living didnt inform about scale of event at Yamuna plains: DDA

The Art of Living foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from around the world.

The National Green Tribunal, which looks after the environmental issues, is hearing a petition which has claimed the organisers will release enzymes into 17 drains that flow into the Yamuna for cleaning the river. A judgement is expected on Tuesday.

The three-day event will be held from March 11-13 on the west bank of Yamuna to celebrate 35 years of The Art of Living foundation.

Read: Art of Living event along Yamunas floodplain creates controversy

This proposed activity would be in blatant violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, since it is, basically, introducing foreign elements into the river, without any scientific study or information, the petition said.

Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains.

It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.
Bangladesh is not a country that is at peace with itself. It is by no means alone in that respect in the region  Nepal and India are, for instance, experiencing a lot of churning currently around issues of identity. Bangladeshs fiercely partisan political culture lends a particular urgency to the nations culture wars.

The two major political parties, the ruling Awami League and the BNP, have been at loggerheads for decades and have starkly different readings on various issues including history and social policy. One issue of concern for policymakers has been rising religious extremism which has manifested itself in the many attacks on minorities, including Hindus and Buddhists. There have also been high-profile murders of atheist bloggers.

Read | Bdesh court upholds death sentences for Huji leader, associates

Dysfunctional politics is unlikely to usher in change  and hence it is particularly heartening that the Bangladesh Supreme Court has decided to hear a petition that challenges Islams status as the countrys official religion. The courts decision is crucial as it can arrest the majoritarian dynamic in Bangladeshi society.

A court ruling striking down the 1988 constitutional amendment that made Islam the state religion would be the impetus to enforce equal treatment of all religious communities, in a diverse nation where 85-90% are Muslims and about eight per cent are Hindus, in addition to other minorities. Right now, the country is reconciling contradictory language in the Constitution: Article 12 says the principle of secularism shall be realised by eliminating the granting of political status in favour of any religion while Article 2A declares the state religion to be Islam (even as it asserts that the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of other faiths).

A state religion marginalises other communities and deprives society of the chance to deliberate its future collectively. Defining personal identity purely in relation to religion also restricts the freedom of individuals to adhere to no faith.

Read | Bangladesh tribunal sentences 2 more to death for 1971 war crimes

The experience of Bangladesh and Pakistan shows that introducing majoritarianism through legislative and policy instruments ultimately undermines social cohesion. It is a lesson that India should not forget.
The fate of commissions of inquiry into riots in India runs to a predictable pattern. They either become political weapons in the hands of different parties, are pushed into the background to be used now and then or are quickly moved to a dusty shelf. And so the course taken by the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission of inquiry into the Muzaffarnagar riots in UP in 2013 comes as no surprise.

For a start, it has become an easy political bait as the Commission absolves the local political administration of any blame. The Akhilesh Yadav government, it says, was not responsible for the fateful riots in which at least 62 people were killed and 60,000 rendered homeless.

Read | Muzaffarnagar riots probe finds no lapse by UP govt, blames police

The claims and counter claims about responsibility began almost as soon as the riots subsided. Now, after much meandering, the Commission has said that it was a local intelligence failure and police and administrative lapses that led the riots to spiral out of control. And top Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has added his bit by saying that it was also the responsibility of the local media, which exaggerated the reporting of the riots. His logic is inexplicable when he says that in America pictures of dead bodies and bloodshed cannot be shown.

There can be no doubt that the Akhilesh Yadav government must bear responsibility for the manner in which a skirmish was allowed to escalate into such horrifying riots, and also why it was so tardy in its efforts to provide succour to the victims. The Centre cannot also wash its hands of the issue. In fact, while the homeless were herded into makeshift tents in the dead of winter, the state government held filmy soirees and people like Azam Khan undertook study tours abroad. The BJP has leapt into the fray, accusing the SP of tarnishing its image, the Congress has accused the SP of playing politics and trying to save its skin and so the blame game goes on.

The effect of such political buck passing and the fact that it is only local officials and mysterious intelligence failures which have been responsible for so much havoc mean that many of the perpetrators will never be brought to book. This really undermines public faith in such commissions of inquiry.

They do not seem to be time-bound and are ultimately a waste of the taxpayers money. The fate of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Bhiwandi riots and countless more are still embroiled in controversy. The latest one will only add to public disillusionment with the method of enquiries into instances of mass violence.
Taking the toll of student suicides to 16 in Madhya Pradesh this year, Jyoti Kevat ,14, a student of Class 9 of Shaskiya Kanya Vidyalaya, took her life on Sunday afternoon.

Two Class 12 students yielded to expectations of their parents and took their lives in separate incidents on Saturday.Their suicide notes have mentioned that the decisions were taken because of fear of not passing in Physics and English examinations respectively.

Apart from questioning the role of school authorities, teachers and parents in these incidents, lack of a suicide prevention helpline is to blame for the worsening scenario. The only helpline launched by Spandan, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 2014 in collaboration with Indore police, is inactive.Over 1.5 lakh NGOs operate in MP.

Cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Secunderabad, Pondicherry, Kolkata and Pune have dedicated suicide helplines.

Read more: Class-9 student commits suicide after poor result

Psychiatrist Ruma Bhattacharya says, A suicide helpline can be of real help when one thinks that this is the end of ones life. Then, someone can talk them out of this and defeat the heat of the moment. Mood disorders are very rapid in adolescents. If even one life is saved by a helpline, it is worth the cause.

However, Jeevan Aadhar, a helpline launched under the National Health Mission in 2013 to address issues of teenagers, has made its services available for 24 hours after the rise in suicides from March 3.

Till now, we have dealt with 147 cases and were able to stop them from committing suicide. All of our staff are trained, said Dr Preeti Mathur, coordinator of Jeevan Aadhar, which can be contacted on 1800-233-1250.

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A protest by students of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has forced the Delhi government to rollback a fee hike on Sunday.

Students of various colleges protested outside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals residence on Sunday, demanding that the fee hike order be withdrawn. Soon, Kejriwal announced in a tweet that he will ensure that the fee is not hiked.

Learnt that fees of all IP Univ colleges have been hiked. Students agitated. My dear students, pl dont worry. I hv asked Edu dept to roll it back. Study well. Best wishes 4 ur exams, (sic) Kejriwal wrote on Twitter.

The students had held a similar protest outside the IP University on Friday.

The 18 colleges affiliated to the university has already put up the notification for the proposed hike from the retrospective effect, said Saket Bahuguna, ABVP national media convenor, who led the protest on Friday.

The fees had been hiked by a maximum of 24% among various colleges of the university.

A notification was issued last month by Director (Higher Education), Shiv Kumar, about the proposed fee hike based on the recommendation of the state fee regulatory committee set up by the Delhi government on February 1, 2013.

Read more: IP University starts admissions for 31,000 seats

However, the university said that the order was yet to be notified and colleges and institutions could hike the fee only after the notification.

University is in the process of notifying the fee revised structure so that the same can be implemented in a uniform manner and meanwhile no college should initiate any action for charging of enhanced fee, said the university in a statement.

There are about 106 privately-owned colleges/institutions affiliated to the IP University.
Gurgaon will host the states first two-day business event -- Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016 -- starting Monday. The centre and state governments are likely to make significant policy announcements, sign memorandums of understanding worth crores and launch new projects over the two days.

Twelve countries China, Czech Republic, Japan, Republic of Malawi, Mauritius, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Peru, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Tunisian Republic -- will be partners in the summit. Leading entrepreneurs from multinational firms will also participate. The summit is jointly organised by Haryana government and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

On the eve of the summit, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched an e-rickshaw service, Smart E, with a fleet of 50 vehicles. The number will increase to 500 in the next six months and 1,000 by the year-end. The rickshaws are equipped with integrated CCTV cameras, GPS tracking and digital metering app.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley will be the chief guest at the inaugural session. CM Khattar will deliver the key note address. Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu, Union minister for urban development Venkaiah Naidu and Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan will address the businessmen.

Sources said Khattar may announce a renewed solar energy policy on Monday. Entrepreneurs expect Arun Jaitley to make announcements related to the tax on Employees Provident Fund.

Haryana industries and commerce minister Capt Abhimanyu will make a presentation on the state.

Entrepreneurs who will attend the event on Monday include Adani groupss Gautam Adani, DLFs Rajiv Singh, Godrej groups Adi Godrej, Chinese industrialist Wang Jianlin, Bharti groups Sunil Bharti Mittal, Hero Motocorps Pawan K Munjal, Videocon groups Venugopal Dhoot, ITC groups YC Deveshwar, Hondas chairman Kelta Muramatsu and Medanta Medicitys Dr Naresh Trehan.

Mahindra groups Anand Mahindr will participate in the event through video conferencing.

Chinas Wanda Group will invest `60,000 crore in the states infrastructure over the next four years. Gurgaon based form GLS Films in collaboration with a Chinese firm will set up a turnkey project -- Aseptic Packaging -- to provide an edge to the market of packed fruit juice and dairy products at the total investment of over `150 billion.

CII, KPMG and Facebook are national, knowledge and social media partners for the event.
Several leading entrepreneurs participated in the two-day Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016 that kicked off on Monday through a mobile video conferencing technology.

Infosyss co-founder NR Narayana Murthy addressed the audience from Bengaluru and Mahindra groups Anand Mahindra participated from his Mumbai office using a new technology -- Beam Smart Presence.

Pepsi chief executive officer Indra Nooyis recorded message, sent from the company headquarters in New York, was also played during the inaugural session. Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present at the session.

The technology--Beam Smart Presence -- allows users to move about while engaging in a video conference. It allows to break free from the conference room and offers face-to-face interaction.

It comes as a small screen mounted atop a pair of poles that are attached to a motorised, wheeled base. Referred to as Beam, it can be moved using arrow keys on a laptop, receiving constant audio/video feed from the surroundings. The Beam is attached to a front-facing camera and a set of microphones.

Murthy used Beam for delivering a 2.27-minute message and Mahindra addressed the audience for 3.82 minutes. Nooyis video footage was 1.82 minutes long.

With the use of this exciting technology, Beam, I seem like modern days Sanjay (from the Mahabharat), able to see and communicate with you from a far distance. In the Mahabharat, a minor character Sanjay, apparently with wonderful eyes, enabled Dhritrashtra to see the battle in Kurukshetra. He described it even though they were sitting far away in Indraprastha, Anand Mahindra said.

I thank you (Haryana government) for this innovative technology and for setting it up for me. Its the very ability of Haryana and its people to innovate and combine tradition with technology -- a Haryana hallmark, Mahindra said.

The Haryana government also used Geo referencing technology using specially installed online digital boxes. It helped investors locate the vacant industrial and commercial plots that they want to buy.

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Priyanka Chopra, Nana Patekar and Irrfan Khan have reportedly agreed to voice Kaa, Shere Khan and Baloo in Jon Favreaus Jungle Book, which will be dubbed in Hindi upon its arrival in India. The film, which stars India origin Neel Sethi as Mowgli, will be releasing one week ahead of its international release here.

Jungle Book could not have found a better star than Priyanka to replace the soft, seductive Kaa, as voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Priyanka will be back with her ABC show Quantico on Monday, she is shooting for Baywatch in Florida and her Jai Gangaajal released on Friday in India. Indias most famous export also took time to make a stunning red carpet appearance at Oscars, appear on TV and trump Jimmy Fallon and dub for Jungle Book.

Read: Freida Pinto to play Mowglis adoptive mother

Another international star who will be on the Hindi voice cast is Irrfan. The Jurassic World actor will be playing Baloo, voiced originally by Bill Murray. We would love to see him sing Bare Necessities, the good life anthem that Murray has sung in Jungle Book.

The global franchise gives me a great opportunity to be a part of childrens film which I have been wanting for a long time. And yes, I couldnt be happier to dub for Baloo, and more than me my younger ones grin for Baloo made it worth while, Irrfan told IANS in a statement.

Nana Patekar is back as Shere Khan. Patekar had earlier voiced Mowglis arch nemesis in the dubbed 90s TV show, Jungle Book, on Doordarshan.

Read: Jungle Book trailer has Mowgli in a darker, thrilling world

Others who are a part of the dubbing cast include Shefali Shah and Om Puri. Shefali Shah will be Raksha, the wolf, portrayed by Lupita Nyongo in the Hollywood film. And Om Puri will play Bagheera, who is voiced by Ben Kingsley originally.
Taking the defence of mistaken identity, Abu Jundal alias Zabiuddin Ansari has moved an application before a court that he was falsely implicated by the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Jundal, an alleged Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, is also an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case and was one of the handlers in the Karachi control room in 2008.

Aashif Naqvi, Ansaris advocate, on Monday filed an application before the special MCOCA court stating that accused arrested is not Zabiuddin Ansari and there is no evidence brought by the prosecution to show that he is the same person. Ansari had earlier taken the same defence in the 26/11 terror attack case, which is being conducted before the Mumbai sessions court.

A native of Maharashtras Beed district, Ansari was arrested after his deportation from Saudi Arabia in June 2012 by the Delhi police, who claimed he is Jundal. Meanwhile, the ATS arrested him in connection with the Aurangabad arms haul case in 2012 as accused No. 22.

The trial in the arms haul case is at the stage of final argument, with the prosecution having already closed their case. Ansaris advocate claimed that he had, on several occasions, told the court about his mistaken identity.

In written arguments submitted on Tuesday, the defence alleged that the prosecution had not proved his identity. No identity confirmation is done of Ansari, neither has any test identification parade been conducted. The confession statements refer the name as Jabi Ansari but there is no corroboration to these confessions, reads the written submission.

Naqvi further said that the prosecution failed to substantiate their case with necessary evidence.

But special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade claimed there was enough evidence to prove Ansaris identity and that all of it had been placed before the court.

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Youth may be the leitmotif in political discourse nowadays but that hasnt diminished the relevance of ageing patriarchs VS Achuthanandan, 93, and M Karunanidhi, 92. Speculation about their succession plans has been on for long but they have shown little inclination to hang their political boots.

They remain indispensable to their parties, the CPI(M) and the DMK, as Kerala and Tamil Nadu head to the polls. The DMKs first family has been witnessing an intense feud, especially between Karunanidhis sons Stalin and MK Alagiri. But, thats not the only reason for Karunanidhi to hang on at this age. He remains the most credible and popular face of the party.

Unlike Karunanidhi, Achuthanandans path to becoming Kerala CM if the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front comes to power is strewn with uncertainties.

But Achuthanandan is no stranger to such odds and to making the rigid ideological framework of his Marxist party look malleable.

In 2006, the CPI(M) politburo had reversed its decision (usually such decisions are cast in stone) and made him the CM. This time, there are many claimants to the post from the CPI(M), including his rival and party politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan.

Achuthanandan has many advantages other than his ability to stay as fit as a fiddle. He remains hugely popular  perhaps the most popular politician in the state  despite always fighting his battles in the party alone.

He cunningly reinvented himself from the image of a disruptor within the party to someone who has a messianic zeal to fight all that is wrong. The shrewd comrade hails from the Ezhava community, a backward community that is a mainstay of the CPI(M) in Kerala. The BJP wooing this community will further strengthen his bargaining power within the party. Achuthanandan may or may not become the next CM but the next CPI(M) CM of the state will be elected on his terms.

Karunanidhi commands certitude. If his party comes to power in Tamil Nadu, there hardly exists any question over who would be the CM. He spends close to 10 hours at the party headquarters daily and almost single-handedly picks his candidates. He might be wheelchair-bound, but his speeches studded with poetry leave followers spellbound.

Karunanidhi chose his younger son MK Stalin as his successor  much to the chagrin of Alagiri. Stalin is steering the party campaign. Talks are on for Alagiri to return to the DMK fold, but there is no denying that there is no replacement for the patriarch. The DMK, in alliance, must win the election to regain its political significance.

Age, it seems, is no bar for the two veterans. Those who harp on demographic dividends might struggle to explain their popularity.

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As parties get ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP president Amit Shah will announce his team on Monday while the Congress remains mum on its organisational reshuffle.

The BJPs team of national office bearers is not expected to go through any big change though.

Shah is unlikely to go for a major overhaul. Most of the old faces will be retained but some new names will definitely be added, a source said.

Since being re-elected to the top party post on January 24, Shah is required to constitute a new team of office bearers and a national executive body of the party.

These include a maximum of 13 vice presidents, nine general secretaries and 15 secretaries.

Of the seven serving general secretaries  Ram Madhav, Bhupendra Yadav, Kailash Vijayvargiya, P Muralidhar Rao, Saroj Pandey, Arun Singh and Anil Jain  Shah is likely to drop two.

The party is also expected to appoint a new president to its youth wing.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha is currently headed by three-time MP Anurag Thakur and may be taken over by Poonam Mahajan, an MP from Mumbai and daughter of late BJP minister Pramod Mahajan.

The women wing will also get a new chief following the appointment of its chief Vijaya Rahatkar as the chairperson of the womens commission in Maharashtra.

Appointment of some state unit presidents is also likely; junior minister for railways, Manoj Sinha is being considered to head the party in Uttar Pradesh.

Shahs announcement will precede the partys national executive meeting here on March 19-20.

Over at Congress however, sources say vice-president Rahul Gandhi is planning a major rejig.

The new team is expected to be a mix of young and the experienced as Gandhi attempts to address the unrest among the old guard.

An organisational reshuffle in Congress has been long overdue, with the last one taking place in June 2013. Party sources say Gandhi has almost finalised his new team, but the announcement is expected only after the assembly elections in the five states this April-May.
One is a fiery and outspoken leader. The other is soft-spoken and weighs his every word. But despite their contrasting styles, both have emerged as big headaches for the BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state of Gujarat ahead of state elections next year.

Hardik Patel, 22, the leader of the Patidars, wants quotas for Patels. Alpesh Thakor, 39, on the contrary heads a conglomerate of OBC organisations that are opposing reservations for Patels.

Patels account for about 12-14 percent and OBCs some 24 percent of Gujarats 6 crore population. Their demands are exactly the opposite of the other but given that they resonate among many, chief minister Anandiben Patel has a difficult balancing act to do.

Both Patels and the OBCs form the core of the BJP support base in the state. It is the hold over these communities that gives the BJP an edge over the Congress in northern Gujarat belt, including Mehsana, Banaskantha and Patan districts, and the Saurashtra peninsula.

Maintaining the ruling partys hold over both the communities without displeasing the other is proving to be a challenge. Stung by reverses in the rural belt in last years local body elections, the chief minister has sought to extend an olive branch to Hardik. She sent Porbandar MP Vithal Radadiya as an envoy to meet Hardik in a bid to resolve most of the issues and differences. Earlier in September, the government announced a first-of-its-kind scholarship package for upper-caste students.

But placating Hardik and the agitated Patel community is proving to be tricky. Alpesh has threatened to uproot the BJP if the government succumbs to the Patidars demand. His OSS (OB, SC, ST) Ekta Manch is unwilling to share the 27% OBC quota with influential castes like the Patidars, prompting political observers to say that the Gujarat government is under siege by two rising young leaders.

The BJP government is caught between these two leaders. What is the cause of worry for the BJP is that Alpeshs stir, which gathered momentum post the Patidar stir, threatens to unite the OBC, SC and ST, says political analyst Achyut Yagnik

Their rise to political prominence has been phenomenal. Hardid supplied mineral water to business houses in Ahmedabad before he took over the reins of the Patel agitation. Alpesh was a small-time Congress leader who contested and lost a panchayat election in 2009. He left the Congress in 2011 and soon metamorphosed into a leader of the OBCs, heading the OSS Ekta Manch  an outfit of all the 146 communities listed as OBC, SC and ST in Gujarat.

At the height of the Patel stir, Hardid addressed rallies attended by no less than 5 lakh people. Alpeshs rallies at some places drew close to 2 lakh people. Their mass appeals have pitted two key vote banks of the ruling BJJP against each other.

For the first time in 30 years, the BJP has found itself in a fix. If it tries to keep the Patidars happy, the OBC vote will drift away and vice versa. The challenge before it is to find a mid way before the assembly elections in December 2017, says political analyst and journalist Jwalant Chhaya.

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The Union home ministry will make necessary corrections in its reply to a question in Parliament on the Naga agreement, said a ministry spokesperson.

The Congress on its Twitter handle had posted a Press Information Bureau (PIB) report published on August 3, 2015, which said that PM witnesses the signing of the historic peace accord between the Government of India and Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).

In the same tweet, the party posted a written reply by minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on March 1 in response to questions (a) and (b) in the Lok Sabha, which says, Government of India has not signed any Naga Accord in recent years.

But the answer further adds,A framework agreement was signed on August 3, 2015. It lays down the broad principles within which the final agreement would be worked out.

The reply given to Parliament will be corrected as per the due procedure, said the spokesperson.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had questioned the government on the accord asking where is it?

The page that they saw had some old draft and is not our official version. I have got our version checked and as per that we have done a framework agreement with the NSCN. This will work as a guiding principal for the final solution between India and Naga people, ANI quoted Rijiju as saying.

Rijiju said the tweet by the Congress was incorrect.
From the governments plan to merge 27 public sector banks into just six to the terror alert sounded in the country after reports of 10 militants sneaking into the state, here are the stories you need to keep track of today.

Terror alert on Shivratri: Heavy security at Somnath, Kashi Vishwanath

Devotees passed through eight security checks and security personnel on horseback patrolled the beach near Somnath temple in Gujarat on Monday amidst a nationwide alert for possible terror strikes at religious places.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet top officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and R&AW on Monday to discuss the security scenario following Pakistani national security adviser Naseer Khan Janjua informing his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about 10 militants sneaking into Gujarat from Pakistan.

Read the full story here.

Man who offered Rs 11 lakh to shoot Kanhaiya has Rs 150 in bank

The Purvanchal Sena president, Adarsh Sharma, who announced a bounty of Rs 11 lakh on the head of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, has only Rs 150 in his bank account, police said.

Sharma, who lives a rented accommodation at Rohini, also owes rent for several months, an official privy to the investigation against him.

Read the full story here.

Government may merge 27 public sector banks into just six

With public sector banks under pressure to tackle their dismal bad loan scenario, consolidation is the way forward, and this could bring down the number of lenders to about six from the present 27, participants in the recently-held Gyan Sangam, a retreat for chiefs of public sector banks and financial institutions, told HT.

The time frame for the mergers will ensure there are no disruptions, the sources said. As banks are short-staffed, a downsizing would not be required, they said.

Read the full story here.

Amit Shah to announce new BJP team, no word on Congress reshuffle

As parties get ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP president Amit Shah will announce his team on Monday while the Congress remains mum on its organisational reshuffle.

The BJPs team of national office bearers is not expected to go through any big change though.

Read the full story here.

Quantico to reset each season but Priyanka will always be the focus

Priyanka Chopras international TV series Quantico has returned with the second part and now its creator and show-runner Josh Safran says the shows storyline will hit the reset button every season with Chopras role as the focal point.

ABC handed out 15 renewals on Thursday, including Quantico. And Safran spilled some beans about whats coming up in the series while talking to variety.com.

Read the full story here.
The Purvanchal Sena president, Adarsh Sharma, who announced a bounty of Rs 11 lakh on the head of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, has only Rs 150 in his bank account, police said.

Sharma, who lives a rented accommodation at Rohini, also owes rent for several months, an official privy to the investigation against him.

A native of Begusarai in Bihar, Sharma went underground soon after a case under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act was registered against him at the Parliament Street police station. The case was registered after pamphlets signed by him were found pasted in New Delhi which said that the Sena will give Rs 11 lakh to the person who will kill Kanhaiya. Section 107 (abetment) if Indian Penal code was added to the case on Sunday.

Read | Shoot Kanhaiya Kumar, get a reward of Rs 11 lakh: Posters in Delhi

Investigators said the Purvanchal Sena chief switched off his mobile phone and severed all communication with his family members, relatives and friends.

The police are sending a team to Sharmas hometown in Begusarai to apprehended him for interrogation in the case. More charges are likely to be pressed against Sharma in the case after his interrogation, said police. Raids are also being conducted at his possible hideouts in Delhi-NCR. His local friends and associates were also being questioned to ascertain his whereabouts.

A police team on Sunday visited Rohini and spoke to his landlord and other residents and collected information about him. Some neighbours told police that Sharma used to brag that he was a very influential person, having links with some top right-wing leaders, said the officer.

Read | Kanhaiya Kumars message was in the delivery

He did not have any regular source of income and for livelihood he mostly depended on money borrowed from his friends. He would often take money (Rs 100 to Rs 500) from people on the pretext of getting their work done at the local police station or civic agencies offices using his influence, said another officer.

The pamphlets that surfaced near the Press Club of India and other public places close to the Parliament on Saturday had the name of Purvanchal Sena, an organisation that claims to work for people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Whoever shoots JNUSU president and traitor Kanhaiya Kumar will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh from the Purvanchal Sena, the posters in Hindi read. When contacted on Saturday, Sharma had told HT, We want the traitor dead. He has insulted mother India and raised anti-national slogans. We have faith in the court but it takes a long time for a case to be decided. We want to ensure there is a quick decision.

Sharma had claimed that Kumars house was just 10 kilometres away from his house in Bihar. Our land does not produce such anti-nationals. This is why I have decided to do this, he had said.

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Thousands of people offered prayers in Shiva temples under tight security on Monday as the Centre put out a multi-city alert for possible strikes at religious places by a group of terrorists believed to have sneaked into the country.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh met top officials of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) in the wake of an input by Islamabad about the possible infiltration of 10 terrorists from Pakistan.

While police discovered an abandoned boat off the Koteshwar coast in Gujarat, it was not clear if any terrorist has landed on Indian soil.

Officials said security has been tightened at religious places like Somnath Temple in Gujarat and Kashi Vishwanath in Uttar Pradesh in view of the Shivratri celebrations on Monday.

Security measures have also been enhanced in Capital Delhi where the Parliament session in on.

Tier two cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panaji have been alerted about possible attacks besides Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Bangalore, officials said.

In Somnath, devotees passed through eight layers of security and policemen on horseback patrolled the beach near the temple where the Centre deployed a team of the crack National Security Guards (NSG).

Apart from Somnath, security has also been beefed up at two other Shiva temples at Bhavnath and Nageshwar, said Gujarat director general of police PC Thakur.

Bhavnath is located at foothill of Mount Girnar, where several lakh sadhus from across India come together to mark Shivratri.

Police said details of SIM cards sold in the last two months are being scanned by a joint team of anti-terrorist squad and crime branch. 10 people have been detained for questioning.

IANS quoted an official as saying in Lucknow that heavy security has been put in place at important Shiv temples in Uttar Pradesh and special security checks were in place at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

Read: Terror alert: Heavy security cover at Kashi Vishwanath temple

Vigil is also being maintained on big and small temples in places like Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Faizabad, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh, the official said.

Police was keeping a close eye on the kanwarias  Shiva devotees who carry holy Ganges water for offering at temples -- as there was an apprehension that they may be targeted by terror outfits.

Bhagwan Swarup, inspector general in-charge of law and order said as part of the multi-city alert, district police chiefs have been asked to carry out checks at crowded places.

In Delhi, a meeting of the top brass of police was held following which all deputy commissioners were instructed to heighten vigil in their districts.

Police presence and patrolling around temples which were teeming with devotees, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places like metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus, which witness very high footfall, has been stepped up, a senior official said.

Security personnel have also been deployed across Delhis crowded markets while they checked vehicles and frisked visitors at religious sites.

The Pakistani NSAs tip-off is being cited as an unprecedented action by Islamabad at a time when New Delhi has linked any progress in peace talks with its neighbour with action against anti-India militant groups said to be behind the January attack on an Indian air base in Punjabs Pathankot district.

A senior NSG officer told HT that though the threat is limited to Gujarat, an alert has been sounded across the country, leaving nothing to chance. Security sources said dangers posed by a group of 10 attackers, who can divide themselves into at least five teams, cannot be brushed aside.

(With agency inputs)
Devotees passed through eight security checks and security personnel on horseback patrolled the beach near Somnath temple in Gujarat on Monday amidst a nationwide alert for possible terror strikes at religious places.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet top officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and R&AW on Monday to discuss the security scenario following Pakistani national security adviser Naseer Khan Janjua informing his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about 10 militants sneaking into Gujarat from Pakistan.

While an abandoned boat was discovered off the Koteshwar coast, it was not clear if terrorists managed to land on Indian soil.

The IB on Sunday issued a nationwide alert over the possibility of terrorist strikes on Shivratri, which is being observed across the country.

Read | Terror alert: 4 NSG teams in Gujarat, one to guard Somnath temple

Apart from Somnath, security has also been beefed up at two other Shiva temples at Bhavnath and Nageshwar, said Gujarat director general of police PC Thakur.

Bhavnath is located at foothill of Mount Girnar, where several lakh sadhus from across India come together to mark Shivratri.

At the Somnath temple attacked and looted by invaders several times over the centuries  devotees are going through eight security checks before allowed into the sanctum sanctorum, officials said.

Apart from 1,000 Gujarat police men, the temple located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, the government has deployed a team of elite NSG troopers.

Police said details of SIM cards sold in the last two months are being scanned by a joint team of anti-terrorist squad and crime branch. 10 people have been detained for questioning.

Security personnel on horseback were also patrolling at the beach that surrounds the temple from three sides.

IANS quoted an official as saying in Lucknow that heavy security has been put in place at important Shiv temples in Uttar Pradesh and special security checks were in place at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

#Visuals from Varanasi: People queue up to offer prayers at a temple on #Mahashivratri, say 'here since 1 am' pic.twitter.com/FNI0zGG1J4  ANI (@ANI_news) March 7, 2016

Vigil is also being maintained on big and small temples in places like Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Faizabad, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh, the official said.

Police was keeping a close eye on the kanwarias  Shiva devotees who carry holy Ganges water for offering at temples -- as there was an apprehension that they may be targeted by terror outfits.

Watch | Ganga Aarti performed at Haridwars Har Ki Pauri on Mahashivratri

Police was keeping a close eye on the kanwarias  Shiva devotees who carry holy Ganges water for offering at temples -- as there was an apprehension that they may be targeted by terror outfits.

Read | Delhi on high alert after report of Pak militants sneaking into Gujarat

Security personnel have also been deployed across Delhis crowded markets while they checked vehicles and frisked visitors at religious sites.

The Pakistani NSAs tip-off is being cited as an unprecedented action by Islamabad at a time when New Delhi has linked any progress in peace talks with its neighbour with action against anti-India militant groups said to be behind the January attack on an Indian air base in Punjabs Pathankot district.

A senior National Security Guard (NSG) officer told HT that though the threat is limited to Gujarat, an alert has been sounded across the country, leaving nothing to chance. Security sources said dangers posed by a group of 10 attackers, who can divide themselves into at least five teams, cannot be brushed aside.

The sharing of intelligence by Pakistan coincided with a BSF patrolling team discovering an abandoned boat  allegedly from the neighbouring country off Gujarats Koteshwar coast on Friday.

Nothing suspicious was found on the vessel but it was the fifth such recovery in three months.

An alert was also sounded at the Pathankot base while police carried out searches nearby amid reports that a telephone call was made to Pakistan from a neighbouring village.

The siege of the air force station in January derailed proposed talks between the foreign secretaries, with India making it clear that the possibility of dialogue hinged on Islamabad clamping down on those behind the attack.

(With agency inputs)
Smarting from an electoral defeat in the 2014 general elections, the Opposition  especially the Left parties  are hatching conspiracies to tarnish the image of the NDA government, said Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani on Monday.

Addressing a workshop organised by NGO Society Against Conflict and Hate (SACH )  attended by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), she said the recent controversies involving students of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were examples of political vendetta against the BJP government, which came to power with a brute majority.

According to a source present at the workshop closed to the media, the minister, who is under fire for her ministrys handling of the students issues, lashed out at the Left parties for being nervous about their eroding ideological and political space and being unable to come to terms with the election results.

The minister spoke about the Oppositions strategy to tarnish the image of the government and mount attacks on her. She said the Left is particularly agitated as their political and academic space in universities is shrinking. Since they are unable to take on the BJP electorally, they are resorting to conspiracies, the source said.

Irani, who put up a spirited defence of the government following the uproar over the Centres alleged role in abetting the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in HCU and slapping charges of sedition against students in JNU, has been accused of misleading Parliament.

The Congress too has moved a similar motion in the Lok Sabha, alleging Irani misled the House on Vemula and JNU issue.

But the minister has remained unfazed. On Monday she dug her heels in and reiterated that her statement asserting that Vemulas body was not handed over to the police for over 24 hours after he committed suicide is backed by a documentary proof.

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Pakistan has not responded to Indias request for a joint probe of the tunnel detected inside its territory five days ago even as Pakistan Rangers visited the site on Sunday evening.

We were expecting their response but it has not come till now. We have sent the proposal as their understanding on this issue between two countries. We are awaiting it but cant force them, said BSF IG (Jammu frontiers) Rakesh Sharma.

According to sources, the Pakistan Rangers visited the site of the tunnel for a few minutes though they did not hold any meeting with the BSF on the issue.

They visited as per the rules of the border management between the two countries but didnt meet any senior official, said a BSF official, adding they were in regular touch with the Pakistani Rangers and expected a positive response. We have given then documentary evidence. They dont have any other option besides the joint probe, the official said.
The rare Pakistani alert of a possible attack by the Lashkar-e-Taiba during Shivratri has opened up possibilities for counter-terror cooperation but security experts believe it is too early to describe the development as a game changer.

Senior serving and retired security officials agreed the warning from Pakistan was unprecedented, especially in light of troubled efforts by the two sides to improve coordination and cooperation on counter-terrorism in the past.

Its not a game changer but its certainly a very good development. It could be the beginning of many possibilities, said AS Dulat, a former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, Indias external intelligence agency.

The NSAs are in communication and talking, even if its on the phone, and theyre even sharing information...But its not a game changer, when we play together, then it can change.

Baqir Sajjad, the diplomatic correspondent of Pakistans influential Dawn newspaper, described the intelligence-sharing as welcome, saying it could help in bridging the trust deficit and enable the countries to jointly deal with the menace of terrorism.

But how things move from here would depend a lot on how India reciprocates and assists Pakistan in dealing with its terrorist problem. One should remember that this isnt something unprecedented, (Former prime minister) Benazir Bhutto had helped India with crushing the (Khalistani) movement, he told Hindustan Times.

Pakistans national security adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, who has been in regular contact with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval since November, conveyed information about a potential strike on religious sites and gatherings by the LeT on Saturday.

Read: Multi-city terror alert: Shivratri being observed amid tight security

This prompted the mobilisation of thousands of police personnel and specialist units of the National Security Guard in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Sources said the alert from the Pakistani side did not mention specific targets but was too important to be ignored.

Adding to concerns was the discovery of five abandoned fishing boats off the Kutch coast in the past three months, the latest on Friday night. This immediately brought back memories of the sea route taken by the 10-man LeT team that targeted Mumbai in November 2008.

Rana Banerji, a former special secretary of the RAW and an old Pakistan hand, said, This sort of cooperation is certainly new. It hasnt happened before and needs to be taken seriously. It has probably happened because the Pakistani NSA is a person close to authority.

Read: Terror alert: Delhi Police steps up vigil on Mahashivratri

India and Pakistan have tried in the past to cooperate on fighting terrorism, which was one of the eight topics under the erstwhile composite dialogue launched in early 2004. The two sides also formed a Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism that facilitated some sharing of intelligence. However, most of these efforts involved civilian officials from the Pakistani side and never led to much.

Janjua, who was appointed NSA in October, is a retired general who has the ear of Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif. His meetings with Doval, including secret talks last year in Bangkok, facilitated back-to-back visits to Pakistan by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Read: Disturbing inputs about terror attack at Shivratri: Army commander

More indications of increased cooperation in counter-terrorism emerged in the wake of the January 2 attack on Pathankot airbase by members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed. Unlike in the past, Pakistan did not deny Indian accusations about the involvement of the JeM.

Though no groups or individuals were named in the First Information Report filed by Pakistani authorities over the Pathankot attack, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz has admitted that one of the Pakistani phone numbers that were called by the attackers was found to be active in the JeMs main centre in Bahawalpur.

But the jury is still out on whether Pakistan has turned a corner or if the terror alert was aimed at pushing forward efforts to revive stalled talks between the two sides.

We need more time to assess things  how constant is the change or whether the Pakistani side is playing safe, Banerji said.

Our past experiences have not been very good, the sharing of information led to dead ends. This change could have been because of circumstances, international pressure or Pakistans internal threat assessments. Its still early days.

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Apart from working out how many men attacked the Pathankot air base, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also trying to verify several eyewitness accounts which purport that an unidentified man was seen running towards the barracks of the airmen where the alleged fifth and sixth attackers were suspected to be hiding.

Investigators have come across some eyewitness accounts that suggest a person was seen running towards the barracks and then he just disappeared. The said person was sighted before the NSG mounted an assault on the barracks to flush out the attackers, a home ministry official said.

He added, We are baffled by this claim as the whole air base was cordoned off with multi-layered security. It was simply not possible for anyone to breach the cordon. So far, investigators have not found any corroboratory evidence that can confirm the eyewitness accounts.

A day after neutralising four terrorists on January 2, the security forces suspected the presence of some more attackers in the barracks. After more than 30 hours of firing, only a few pieces of flesh without any bones were found from the ground floor of the barracks where at least two attackers were suspected to be hiding.

The federal anti-terror agency has sent the pieces of flesh for forensic examination to see if they contain any human DNA. The report of the analysis is awaited.

So far, the NIA has managed to establish that at least four attackers entered the air base on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. They made calls to their Pakistani handlers, some of which were intercepted by Indian security agencies. The intercepted calls make it clear that the attackers entered India from near Bamiyal village in Gurdaspur district on December 30, said sources.

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Police detained a group of 40 women planning to break a centuries-old prohibition on the entry of female devotees into the sanctum sanctorum of the Trimbakeshwar temple in Mahrashtras Nashik district on Monday.

Marching under the Bhumata brigade banner, the women set off from Pune to enter the Shiva temple on Mahashivratri despite stiff resistance from the temples trustees and local villagers.

The outfit was led by Trupti Desai, who made an attempt to breach an identical ban at the Shani Shingnapur temple in Mahrashtras Ahamednagar district on Republic Day but was stopped by police.

Read: Women activists march to Trimbakeshwar temple to protest entry ban

Where are achhe din promised by government. Why is chief minister not intervening? asked Desai. The police have insulted the women of the state.

This is the latest in a series of similar attempts across the country that has sparked a debate on religious traditions that bar female devotees from entering the inner chambers of shrines, sometimes for reasons of pollution.

The temple is located some 30 kilometers from Nashik and is a major Lord Shiva shrine, containing one of the 12 jyotirlingas  devotional objects representing the deity.

The political establishment has been dragged into the debate, with Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar saying the issue could be resolved by dialogue.

Our democratic set up allows everyone to put up their sides. When two sides disagree on certain things, the issue can be resolved by dialogue, said Mungantiwar, during his visit to Trimbakeshwar temple.

Police had deployed 300 personnel at Nandur, around 130 kilometers from the temple, to stop the women.

We have detained some women considering the law and order situation. These women will be released after due procedure, said police official.

The temple trust has backed the ban and called the womens attempt a stunt.

At a time when the intelligence agencies have issued security alert to various religious places, the stunt by Bhumata brigade will only add burden on police here, said woman trustee of the ancient temple.

But the state commission for women supported the initiative.

In our culture, equal status has been given to both men and women this is the same for worshipping gods also. The women can worship god as men do. We feel that society must work in accordance with this and provide equal opportunity to all, said commission chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar.

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Security was tightened at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi for the Mahashivrati festivities on Monday, following intelligence inputs that religious venues across the country could be targeted by terrorists.

Security personnel from various agencies  including paramilitary forces, provincial armed constabulary jawans and the state police  were deployed at the spot to prevent any untoward incident during the event, which attracts thousands of Lord Shiva devotees to the temple town every year. The main deity at the Kashi Vishwanath temple is Lord Vishwanath, meaning ruler of the universe.

The entire area  comprising Dashawamedh, Lahurabeer, Maidagin, Laxa, Nai Sarak and the adjoining ghats  have been divided into five zones and 23 sectors for effective policing. Six additional superintendents of police, 13 deputy superintendents of police and several inspectors have been deployed across the sector.

Quick response teams were kept on stand-by, and police personnel were asked to be additionally vigilant in the Dashashwamedh area. Besides personnel from the anti-terrorist squad, a team of divers was also deployed in the area as a preventive measure. The entire area has been turned into a fortress. Additional personnel have also been called from adjoining districts. We have also installed closed circuit television cameras across the area, said Dy SP Alok Jaiswal, Dashaswamedh circle officer.

Read: Multi-city terror alert: Shivratri being observed amid tight security

Security has also been tightened at other prominent religious centres  including Baba Kaal Bhairav temple, Maa Durga temple and Sankatmochan temple  in the city. The Kashi Vishwanath temple on the premises of the Banaras Hindu University has also been put on high alert.

The Centre has put out a multi-city alert for possible strikes at religious places by a group of 10 terrorists who were believed to have sneaked into the country. Trains passing through Varanasi were searched, and police have been instructed to question people who look suspicious. Security personnel have been deployed at all the three railway stations in the area.

Nearly 1.2 lakh devotees had offered prayers to Lord Vishwanath till Monday noon.

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Two Indian sailors were killed and three others injured when an Oman-based shipping vessel caught fire off the Yemen shore, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Monday.

The minister identified the deceased as Mahesh Kumar Rajagopal and Deepu Lathika Mohan. The injured people have been admitted to a hospital in Salalah, Oman, she added.

Tweeting her condolences, Swaraj said that Indian missions in Djibouti and Oman were providing all possible assistance.

The minister, in another tweet, promised to rescue a Catholic priest from Kerala who was abducted by unidentified gunmen during an attack on an old-age home run by Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity on Friday. An Indian nun was among the 16 people reportedly killed in the incident.

Read: Islamic State militants behind Indian priests abduction in Yemen

Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have (an) embassy there. But we will spare no effort to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil, Swaraj said.

She said that Sister Sally, another nun from Kerala, was safe and would be evacuated today itself.

Yemen is in the throes of a civil war between two factions  Houthi forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Aden-based government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi  laying claim to the countrys administration. Terror groups such as the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda are also taking advantage of the volatile situation, causing largescale casualties to life and property.
Police were hunting for three brothers of a Samajwadi Party MLA on Monday after one of them allegedly gunned down a man in Uttar Pradesh while the others helped cover up the murder.

Officials said the main accused, Annu Paswan, killed Jairam Yadav in a fit of rage last week after their vehicles brushed each other in Gonda district.

While Annu fled from the spot, his brothers, Pappu and Angad, went home in another car, which they allegedly smashed to show that they were attacked, said authorities.

The accused, who have been charged with murder, are brothers of Balrampur Sadar MLA Jagram Paswan from the states ruling party.

Yadavs friend, Sohbat Lal, informed authorities who seized the accuseds vehicles.

Superintendent of police Pradeep Kumar Yadav said eight teams are looking for the trio and raids were carried out at Gonda, Balrampur and state capital Lucknow.

Protesters blocked the Lucknow-Gonda highway on Monday, demanding arrest of the accused and compensation for the victims family. They dispersed after police promised action.
Nearly 150 women, led by activist Trupti Desai, marched to the Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik on Monday to protest against a rule forbidding the entry of female devotees into its inner sanctum.

Desai said she was confident they wont be detained because the police and chief minister were supportive of their movement. We hope to create history today by entering the sanctum, she added.

The Bhumata Brigade, a womens rights group that had earlier led the protests at Shani Shinghnapur temple, organised the march led by Desai.

Read: Shani temple row: Shrine authorities, activists hold talks

Supporting the initiative, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women batted for equality among both the sexes in religious matters.

In our culture, equal status has been given to both men and women this is the same for worshipping gods also. The women can worship god as men do. We feel that society must work in accordance with this and provide equal opportunity to all, commission chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told ANI, demanding that women be allowed inside the temple.

Read: Trupti Desai: The woman spearheading Shani Shingnapur protest

The temple trust maintained that the ban was based on an age-old tradition, and claimed that no objection has ever been raised in this regard. What Desai and the other women are doing amounts to a mere publicity stunt. At a time when intelligence agencies have issued a security alert to various religious places, this will only add to the burden of police personnel guarding the temple, said a woman trustee of the religious establishment.

The ancient Trimbakeshwar temple, located 30 km from Nashik city, is a major Lord Shiva shrine containing one of the 12 jyotirlingas  devotional objects representing the deity.
A four-year-old girl, daughter of a hawker, was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Mankhurd on Monday morning. Her body was found in the bushes near Yashwant Chavan Maha Marg in Chikuwadi. The police are yet to identify the accused.

According to the police, the child went missing around 11pm, when her mother was selling puffed rice on a road near Mankhurd station. The CCTV footage shows the child playing in the station area till 11pm, said NH Shaikh, senior inspector, Mankhurd police station. According to the police, the girls father is mentally ill, and the mother provides for the family. The girl has a sister and two brothers.

Busy with work, the mother was unaware that her child wasnt around. A few hours later, when she was about to wind up, she realized the girl has gone missing. After looking for the girl in the area, the family lodged a complaint with the local police station.

Around 9.15am, the childs body of the victim was found in the bushes in Chikuwadi. The girl was strangled with her clothes, said an officer.

The police have formed teams to arrest the man.

The childs body was sent to Rajawadi hospital for post-mortem, which confirmed she was raped before being killed.

The accused has been booked under sections 363 (kidnapping), 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, along with the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012.

Girls cousin too went missing last year, hasnt been found yet

The aunt of the four-year-old girl from Mankhurd, who was raped and murdered on Monday morning, told HT that her five-year-old daughter, too, went missing on July 26, 2015, and is still to be found.

I was at home when I learnt the girl has gone missing. Since the time my five-year-old daughter went missing, I am extra cautious with my other children. I used to always ask my sister to be careful, the aunt said.

I am shocked with the incident. We were looking for her through the night. In the morning, the police told us her body has been found near the highway. We hope the police find the culprit at the earliest, said the aunt.

Meanwhile, the girls sister suspects her mothers regular client may have taken the girl away on the pretext of giving her chocolate. I suspect a man, who came to our stall daily and would take her out sometimes on the pretext of giving her chocolates, may have a role to play in it. I have told the police about it. They are now looking for him.
A fixed monthly salary, vehicles to drop them home and the right to choose working hours  bar dancers in the state could avail of all this and more once the new law, Maharashtra Regulation of Dancing Places and Bars, 2016, regulating dance bars is passed.

After the Supreme Court last week struck down six of the 26 norms proposed for obtaining dance bar licences, Maharashtra has decided to bring in fresh legislation to regulate dance bars. According to sources, the state home department plans to impose stricter norms to contain obscenity and vulgarity, which the SC accepted was within the purview of the state, and put the onus of safety of the dancers onbar owners.

The state government plans to table the draft of the proposed bill in the budget session starting March 9, although the officials are not sure if they will be able to do it, considering it would need the opinion of legal experts and senior police officers.

The bill has a provision for monthly salary, which will have to be fixed by bar owners, and the dancers will also get salary slips. Although their shift ends at 1.30am, the law will give the dancers the right to choose their work timings if they feel unsafe at night. Maintaining a record book with entries of shift timings and giving identity cards to the dancers will be made mandatory. The draft has provisions to curb exploitation of the dancers, said an official from the department. The legislations passed earlier were to ban dance bars, but now the plan is to allow bars to function by laying out conditions related to location, working conditions and hours.

The officials in the department feel in the absence of the six norms, controlling obscenity would have become tough. We dont want dance bars in their old obscene form. The provision for CCTV cameras, partitions between stage and customers and ban on concealed cavity rooms were made in that direction, said an official.

Elaborating on the draft bill, Dr Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary, home department, said, We will not allow exploitation of women in dance bars. The new law will plug the loopholes in the existing system to check vulgarity and obscenity.

The officials feel the bill may not be tabled anytime soon. We plan to consult a battery of legal experts, including the counsel representing the state in the apex court. We have also asked the director general of police and police commissioners of major cities for their opinion. This time, we want to make it fullproof, unlike the amendment in 2014, so it does not get challenged. The process may take a few months, said an official from the department.

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Activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student of wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alliance partner in the Punjab government, will hold a protest against drug menace outside the Vidhan Sabha on March 15.

ABVP national executive council members interacting with media person on Monday. (HT photo )

Talking to the media at a press conference on Monday, Punjab ABVP former secretary Ashutosh Tiwari said students body activists from across the state would protest outside the Vidhan Sabha against the governments failure to check drug menace. He said the successive state governments, including the present SAD-BJP government, have failed curb the drug mafia.

He said the ABVP would also demand resumption of student elections in educational institutions in Punjab, which were banned in the 1980s.
Taking the Plunge

Neha Sharma, 29, decided to visit Mauritius all by herself. Neha is a bank employee and when her colleague told her about the white sandy beaches and scenic beauty of the place, she decided to take the plunge and let wanderlust take her to Mauritius.

Neha (HT Photo )

I was 25 at the time and just decided that I want to travel. I had been to places like Indore and Hyderabad on my own for professional training but this was totally different, says Neha, who is now happily married and visited Mauritius once again with family.

Travelling in India is very different from travelling in a developed country abroad. I dont think I could travel to Goa all by myself but perceptions are slowly changing and it is not unusual for women to travel solo for pleasure, shares Neha.

Escape into the unknown

Born and brought up in Chandigarh, (25) went to Leh-Ladakh to find peace and escape from the urban hustle and bustle.

Nishtha (HT Photo )

I was sick of my busy lifestyle, hectic schedule, strict work deadlines and practically having no time for myself. I finally decided to go on a trip and what could be a better place for an adventurous person like me than Leh-Ladakh, shares Nishtha. It wasnt easy for Nishtha to convince her father, but gradually he agreed and let his daughter find her own calling.

No men allowed

Richa Walia, 29, a software engineer from Chandigarh, decided to visit Goa with two of her close friends. The Goa trip was amazing. We were three gals and we explored the beaches, long drives, food and much more, remembers Richa. It was a tough job for Richa to convince her parents but somehow managed to do so. She feels that one cannot guarantee safety anywhere, especially in India, but that should not stop one from living your life, doing what you want, just because you are a girl.

Richa (HT Photo )

Divya Negi, 23, a student of mass communication, is a regular traveller. My friend and I love exploring new places and learning about new cultures, says Divya. She has been to Rishikesh, Dharamsala, Manali and Kolkata with her close friend.

Divya Negi (HT Photo )

For the parents, you will always remain a kid. My mother knows about my trips and all she says is Take care of yourself while convincing dad is a little more challenging, smiles Divya. She feels that when it comes to a girls getaway, society suddenly becomes concerned. But times are changing and women are breaking stereotypes.

Asees, 27, fondly remembers her trip across seven cities spread over four states. As a student of architecture, she took the trip to learn about southern architecture.

Asees (HT Photo )

My close friend and I started the journey from Chandigarh to New Delhi, Pune, Kolhapur (discovering the art of manufacturing silver jewellery and leather shoes), Sawantwadi (interacting with the queen of Sawantwadi and rediscovering the lost game of rare handmade cards played by kings in olden days), Goa (retracing the footsteps of Vasco da Gama), Chennai and finally Kochi (rediscovering the ancient Indian martial arts). It was simply amazing, says Asees.
For a long time, it was believed that the family business must always be handed over to a son or another male member in the family. But, times have changed. And to a certain extent, so have mindsets. Daughters are said to share a close bond with fathers. And when they join hands to pursue their professional goals, the bond gets even stronger. Hindustan Times takes a look at daughters who have successfully carried their fathers dreams on their shoulders by joining the family business.

We dont need to imitate men/A legacy in publishing

Who: Monica Malhotra Kandhari, senior director

Age: 44

Educational Qualification: B.Com (honours)

Monica Malhotra

Sonica Malhotra Kandhari, director

Age: 36

Educational Qualification: MBA (finance); program in leadership development (PLD) from Harvard Business School

Father : Ashok Kumar Malhotra, founder of MBD Group that is into publishing

Based out of: New Delhi

Born in Jalandhar, both Monica and Sonica studied from Jesus and Mary College in New Delhi. They are married into the same family and handle the publishing business together.

Monica: It was simply ingrained in me since childhood to join Papa in his business.

I was very impatient to do so because I wanted to learn it the practical way. Its ironical that we are into publishing but I was not keen on my studies. As a result, I started young and joined the business at the age of 15 and a half. I was always inquisitive to know how different scenarios are handled in business by my father. We are taking forward our fathers legacy. He was a visionary, so our constant endeavour is to improvise solutions offered to students. We had gone online in 2009 and are making applications besides coming up with an English language lab. We have also stepped into e-learning, m-learning, skill development, 3-D learning. When I started, the scenario was quite different and the idea of a woman joining her fathers business was uncommon. I invested a lot in learning the skill; starting right from making books to working in the factory. My father would always say learn the trade rather than learning the tricks of the trade.

If you know your work, people will take you seriously. Be it a man or a woman, one has to prove ones mettle. We dont have to imitate men, we have to be original. I have to multitask a lot because I am also a mother to two teenaged boys. Both of us sisters are married into the same family and we both look upto each other when it comes to work or handling family issues.

Sonica: I was completely opposite to Monica. Our father never pushed us or forced his decisions upon us. It was natural that we both wanted to join Papa in the business. I was different from Monica in the sense that she wanted practical knowledge and I was fond of studying. I specialised in finance and also took a sabbatical to go to Harvard. Our father was our role model. Infact, I feel that the woman of the house or the mother sets the value system. We have been brought up in such a liberal environment by our mother that we hardly feel the difference between a man and a woman. Our mother trained us to balance family and work efficiently. I am very particular about not taking calls when Im spending quality time with family. Its just my time with my people.

Women can achieve whatever they aspire to/An artists daughter

Who: Gagandeep Kaur, managing director, Gary Arts

Age: 44

Based out of: SAS Nagar

Educational qualification: Masters in English and education

Father: Abninder Singh Grewal, artist

Business: Making statues and murals by using various materials like fibre glass, polystone, metal and marble.

Gagandeep Kaur

Taking on a legacy of art inherited from your grandmother is not an easy task. Art requires a free imagination and constant innovation. But Gagandeep Kaurs childhood passion for art has stood her in good stead. I grew in a creative environment and so imbibed it from my father. My father, an artist, was always keen that I should join him and would say My daughter is my pillar, like I have two sons. Ive been involved in art since childhood, says 44-year-old Gagandeep.

She further adds, Since my father was handling the entire work alone, I would assist him and we grew close while working together. My husband, being an armyman, would be posted in remote areas and that was when I would return home to assist my father.

Her father wanted to hand over the entire responsibility to her and wanted to pursue social work and photography, that were his passions.

She says, But we had no inkling of what fate had in store for us. My father was diagnosed with blood cancer and passed away in 2013. I got majorly involved in the business even when he was around. He would proudly say, My daughter is doing even better than me.

She recalls, I joined the business about six years back in 2010. I cant say that I knew I would be joining the business, but he always encouraged me to do creative work.

Hailing from Nabha in Punjab, Gagandeeps father shifted to Chandigarh for his childrens higher studies. Initially, he had started the work of making murals and statues as a hobby and later expanded his passion into a business.

Gagandeep adds, We have our factory in SAS Nagar and we hardly have any marketing or networking strategy. We function through word of mouth.

Referring to managing between family and work, she says, I keep a balance between family and work and also take out time for my kids. I have a son and a daughter. I also travel a lot for work but I manage to strike a balance between work and home.

Gagandeep says women can achieve whatever they aspire to. All that one needs is passion and support from family. She adds, I was a teacher initially, travelling along with my husband who is in the army.

Talking about her work, she says, We work on normal clay, take a cast and then make it in fibre. We have no barriers on size. We have a 40 feet-long mural installed at the international airport in SAS Nagar.

Keep developing your skill set/Queen of textiles

Who: Suchita Jain, executive director, Vardhman Spinning and General Mill

Educational qualification: Masters in commerce

Suchita Jain (HT Photo )

Based out of: Ludhiana

Father: SP Oswal, chairman and managing director, Vardhman Group (textile manufacturer and exporter)

Vardhman is a billion dollar company, a leading textile manufacturer and exporter of yarns, fabrics, sewing thread and acrylic fibre. A business like this requires immense technical knowledge along with marketing and managerial skills. So how did Suchita Jain achieve it all?

I was just 22 when I joined the business and at that time, about 20 years back, there were not much women in business. I never felt awkward as it came from within, says Suchita, adding, There is just one key to success in any field and that is passion. You must have junoon for whatever you do.

Her fathers strong platform of over 50 years in this business prompted her to join in. Its a legacy that Im privileged to take further. Currently I am closely associated with my father and working on strategic direction, reviews, growth plans and setting the future vision.

The company exports yarn to around 40 countries and the production is spread out in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and employs more than 28,000 people.

In all these years, I have seen women becoming a force to reckon with. We have 1,000 woman employees in our MP location. We have also provided them with hostel facilities, she says, adding, I personally feel that one should keep developing ones skill set. It is imperative that girls pursue a career in whatever interests them.

Suchita has two daughters Saumya and Sagarika. Both were very young when she joined the business. I would juggle between work and family but got adequate support from my husband and family members. My husband always encouraged me. Now my girls are grown up so I can dedicate more time to the business.

Who: Sandeep Riat (Minnie), managing director

Age: 34

Educational qualification: Business management graduate

Based out of: Ludhiana

Father : Manjit Singh

Business: Akal Springs Ltd, a business of manufacturing auto components

Sandeep Riat

Pitch me against a man, if I lose I wouldnt mind/One-woman army

I would pray give me this much that I can get my younger brother and sister educated and God gave me in abundance.

Sandeep Riats, fondly called Minnie, story is heartwrenching. For a woman who once lost everything, she now confidently and single-handedly manages her fathers business. She is perhaps the only woman in Asia who is into manufacturing automobile parts. Once bankrupt, the family went through a tough phase with bankers knocking at the door and jewellery and property sold off. To make matters worse, Minnies father died an untimely death leaving her with a debt-ridden company. But all hope was not lost. Company workers stood by the young girl and helped her turn a debt-ridden company into a successful business with a turnover of more than 45 crore.

I was just 22 when I officially joined my father, who was initially not very keen on me taking on the business that was suffering a lot of losses. Destiny had something else in store for her and that was to make a name in the male bastion and become a successful businesswoman.

Minnie says, I started working with my father as an intern for about three months which strengthened our bond.

Minnie, during her internship, got to know that her father was under heavy debt and that he was being cheated by his partners. He separated from his partners soon after and Minnie went on to finish her last semester of business management.

She recalls, Dad called me and my sister to join the business in 2002. We were going through a tough phase then. Our property and jewellery were sold off and there was a lot of pressure from banks. My father could not take the pressure and died of a cardiac arrest and brain haemorrhage in 2004.

Minnie not only took on her fathers business but also took care of her two sisters and a brother. Her sister had also joined the business but later got married and went abroad. Coming from an affluent family, no relative came forward for support and Minnie was hell-bent on giving the business a last shot.

I sold off a portion of my fathers property and floated Akal Impex Company. My company staff stood by me, even though I had no money to pay their salaries. We worked hard and installed more machines, built our capacity and found more customers, installed new chains and soon started gaining the confidence of big companies.

She adds, I personally feel managing a house is far more difficult than running a company. Minnies company currently has a turnover worth `45 crore and by next year she says it will cross the 100-crore mark. Minnie feels women should get over the fact that they are women. Women get equal opportunities so why do they want different or special treatment.

Not keen for woman category awards, a headstrong Minnie says, Pitch me against a man, if I lose I wouldnt mind but I can compete with the opposite gender. Recipient of the Punjab Government Parman Patra in 2013 for contribution in business, she has a factory in Ludhiana, two offices and over 350 workers. I kept setting different benchmarks and deadlines for myself and will continue to do so.

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Kanhaiya Kumar, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students Union, is likely to visit Hussainiwala in Ferozepur district on March 23 to pay homage to martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on their martyrdom day there.

Kanhaiya has been in the headlines ever since he was booked for sedition for alleged anti-India slogans raised by some as-yet-unidentified people on the campus of the premier university in Delhi. A National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala marks the location where the three freedom fighters were cremated on March 23, 1931, on the banks of the Sutlej river, after being hanged by the British.

After the Punjab leadership of his party, All India Students Federation (AISF), a wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), made a request to the central leadership, Kanhaiya has expressed willingness to visit the place. While Kanhaiya could not be contacted for direct confirmation, the national president of AISF, Syed Vali Ulla Khadri, told HT, I have talked to him on this and he has expressed his willingness to take part in the event to mark the martyrdom of the freedom fighters.

But the organisation is concerned about the security of the firebrand student leader in view of recent threats to him.

Khadri said they would seek security for Kanhaiya for the visit from the Punjab government and if the state government agrees we will lay out the visit plan.

Leftist student and youth organisations will be holding the event collectively. Activists of the AISF, All India Youth Federation, Students Federation of India, Democratic Youth Federation, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Youth Federation, Punjab Students Federation, All India Students Association and Radical Youth Association, are among these.

Paramjit Singh Dhaban, state president, Sarb Bharat Naujawan Sabha, also said that Kanhaiya desires to pay homage to martyrs at Hussainiwala so we have invited him. He will address a rally too.

(Inputs from Gaurav Sagar Bhaskar, Ferozepur)

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Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal will visit the family of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder, the late Kanshi Ram in Punjab on his birth anniversary on March 15. The same day, BSP supremo Maywati is also in Punjab for a party rally.

This will be the AAP chiefs second visit to the assembly poll-bound state which has a sizable Dalit population, in a fortnight. The BSP founder was born in Pirthipur Bunga village in Rupnagar district of Punjab.

He has been invited by the family of Kanshi Ram and villagers of Bunga. So, he will be visiting them on March 15, Rams birth anniversary, said an AAP leader. The elections in Punjab are slated for early next year. The AAP has four MPs, all from Punjab, though two remain suspended from the party over disciplinary issues.

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: Kejri, Maya to cross paths on March 15

Must 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. (with HTC inputs from Chandigarh)
The fourth anniversary of Pride walk by the LGBTQ community started from Panjab University Student Centre on Sunday to finally end at Sector 17.

At the walk, members of the LGBTQ community that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer individuals/identities celebrated - publicly and proudly - the diversity of gender and sexuality that marks their lives.

Indeed, one was reminded of the words of poet Faiz as one looked at the parade.

Speak, for your words are free; Speak, for the words are still yours; Speak, for the truth is still alive; Speak, all that you wish to speak, go the poets words.

We celebrate the gains we have made towards our collective dignity. However, our celebration is also part of a protest against continuing discrimination against transgender, lesbian, gay and intersex and queer people. Protections for transgenders remains poorly implemented even as Section 377 remains a blight on our laws, said Dhananjay Chauhan, president, Saksham Trust, an NGO that works for the interests of the LGBT community.

He added that in their everyday lives too, many of them remained fearful of being ourselves in homes, schools workplaces, hospitals and the public spaces of our city.

A street play in progress on the theme of discrimination against the LGBT community at Panjab University on Sunday. (Karun Sharma/HT Photo)

This year more than ever, we march in solidarity for a whole range of freedoms that are under threat. Intolerance and violence towards Dalits, Muslims, women, advocates of free speech, rationalists and those voicing dissent, surrounds us, he said.

He added that queer freedom was inseparable from a broader culture of respect for dissent and different. Many movements have stood by the queer struggle in the past, we stand by them today, they said.

Their demands

* Enactment of comprehensive anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, class, caste, religion, tribe, ability, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation.

* Effective implementation of the provisions of the Supreme Court judgment in NALSA versus Union of India on the rights of trans people.

* Stringent action against violence against minorities and the silencing of freedom of expression and dissent

* Repeal of Section 377 (unnatural offences, sex against order of nature) of the Indian Penal Code.
Despite the Supreme Courts order to give lecturer grade to the Sankrit teachers holding acharyas and shastris ((degrees in Sanskrit literature), the Punjab education department has failed to act on the apex court order, even after six months of the judgement.

On September 1, 2015, the bench comprising justice MY Iqbal and C Nagappan had put the teachers of the Sanskrit colleges on par the with the lecturers and hence the right to receive the pending salary as per the grade.

Nigam Saroop Shastri, a teacher who had fought this battle for 28 years to get justice for Sanskirt teachers, says he would file the contempt of the court case.

Nigam, who was associated with the Nabha Sanskrit College -- established in 1890 by the grant received from Maharaja Hira Singh -- is also aggrieved by the fact that the government had failed to protect the heritage college from going into oblivion due to ambiguous reasons.

The heritage college, set up at old heritage Quila as a private Sanskrit school, was taken over by PEPSU government in 1955 and further upgraded to college level in 1972 with the efforts of president awardee late Sadhu Ram Shastri. Thereafter, the college was shifted under ambiguous reasons to the building named Ashiyana (custodian departments property), a place near the new bus stand. But this land was falsely turned into a private property in papers and the government was charged with the rent for the college. However, later in an inquiry appealed by Nigam Saroop, the deputy commissioners office cancelled the intkaal.

In 1980s, the state government came up with the notification to merge the Sanskrit college with the Punjab Institution for Oriental and Indian languages (then a government institute of classical and modern Indian languages) in Patiala.

Meanwhile, the acharyas and shastris (degrees in Sanskrit literature) at the government Sanskrit institutions of Patiala and Nabha, who were being transferred to schools in 1980s, filed a petition, demanding to be considered equivalent to the college teachers. Another petition was filed against the merger notice in 1992.

Meanwhile, the teachers were shifted to the institutes of Patiala, but Nigam Saroop refused to join and kept pursuing the case of the Nabha College. But the college was demolished under the political influence even though there was stay orders on the issue, with the excuse of development and re-establishment. The then health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla had raised the issue in Vidhan Sabha session in 2003, to which the then higher education minister Mohan Lal had answered equivocally.

However, the state won the case in high court in 2011. Aggrieved with the non-cooperation from colleagues and refusal from the lawyers to fight his case, Nigam debated over the review case in the high court. I was mocked that I am the only grief-struck teacher whereas no one else had any issue. But justice Ak Sikri lauded saying only one person is enough to stand against injustice, said Nigam.

Amidst financial issues, Nigam took the case to the Supreme Court, which provided the lecturer cadre to acharyas and shastris. However, Nabha and Indian culture lost the college, which could have been upgraded to a university level today, highlighting the lackadaisical approach of the government towards the uplift of the heritage language. The teachers are still struggling to receive the benefit of the Supreme Court judgement, said Nigam.
Sikh preacher Baljit Singh Daduwal was finally released from the district jail on Sunday here after documents regarding his bail reached the local authorities. He was in judicial custody since November 11, 2015. He was arrested in a sedition case registered after organisation of radicals Sarbat Khalsa at Chabba village in Amritsar on November 10, 2015.

The Punjab and Haryana high court had granted him bail on February 17 but before he could walk free, he was arrested by Makhu police that took him on production warrants on February 19 in connection with another FIR. The sessions court in Ferozepur approved his bail in that case on Saturday and paved way for his release.

United Akali Dal president Bhai Mohkam Singh and a large number of Daduwals supporters gathered outside the jail to welcome him at the time of his release. Before leaving for his village, he thanked all those who stood by him and other jailed leaders who he said were falsely implicated in the sedition case.

We did not do anything that amounted to treason. More distressing is the fact that a government, which claims to be Panthic, misused the sedition law against Sikhs, he said, demanding that all other leaders should also be set free. The police should be told to terminate the FIR which was registered at the behest of the ruling party, he added.
Postgraduate Government College For Girls, Sector 11

Womens Day is a special day in this college and will be celebrated over two days. We will begin with a health awareness programme on March 8 and have planned a talk by one of the leading doctors on Downs Syndrome. Following this, we have a whole series of events spread over two days, including lectures on women empowerment, says Anita Kaushal, principal of GCG 11, adding, Being a woman, I want young girls to come forward and be aware of all that is happening around as this is the need of the hour and this awareness should not only be confined to academics, she says.

Government College For Girls, Sector 42

The college celebrates womanhood throughout the year. It has a womens cell and a gender equity and non-discrimination society under which they conduct gender training workshops. We look into reproductive health as well as the emotional health of young women and have a tie-up with a non-government organisation called Sanjh Jagori and conduct various workshops, says Jyoti Seth, head of department, sociology and coordinator of the society. The college plans to organise a small event for the faculty on Womens Day since students have exams.

MCM DAV College For Women, Sector 36, Chandigarh

The college will mark the day by honouring 20 girls from the city who have achieved remarkable heights in different fields. This is being done in collaboration with the State Aids Control Society in association with state National Service Scheme cell, education department, Chandigarh administration and Yuvsatta. We will honour these women to encourage other such young women to empower themselves. We aim at overall societal development rather than just looking at one or two aspects of development, says Bikram Singh Rana, state liaison officer (NSS), Chandigarh administration.
A Madurai court has issued summons to Tamil filmstar Rajinikanth and others asking them to appear before it tomorrow in connection with a suit filed against his film Linga on the charge that its storyline had been stolen from another script writer.

The Additional District Munsiff Court Judge also summoned K R Ravirathinam (plaintiff), film producer Rockline Venkatesh, B Ponkumar, Director K S Ravikumar and the General Secretary of South Indian Film Writers Association directing them to appear on Tuesday.

The Judge said the Madras high court had last month directed him to complete the trial in the case within April 30 next and hence asked them to appear before his court tomorrow.

Passing orders on a petition by the film producer seeking transfer of the case to another court on grounds on prolonged delay in the trial, Justice V M Velumani of the high court had directed the Munsiff court to conclude the case within April 30.

The matter pertains to an allegation by plaintiff Ravi Rathinam of Madurai that his script was stolen by the makers of Lingaa.

He had moved the high court which in December, 2014 ordered the producer to deposit a sum of Rs 5 crore by demand draft and another Rs 5 crore by way of bank guarantee before releasing the movie.

The producer complied with the court order as he needed to release the movie immediately and appealed against it in the Supreme Court which on March 20, 2015, directed him to furnish only Rs 1 crore as bank guarantee and also ordered the trial court to dispose the suit within six months.

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A man who police say fatally shot one person and wounded two others inside a western Sydney business was found dead inside the building after a six-hour standoff on Monday.

Heavily armed police moved into the sign-making business after spending hours positioned around the factory in an industrial area of Ingleburn, a suburb 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Sydney.

Once inside, they found a 33-year-old man dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, said New South Wales police Detective Inspector Mark Brett.

Police also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Brett said. It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the shooter or had been hiding the whole time while they waited for the standoff to end.

Police were called to the business after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found three men suffering gunshot wounds. One 43-year-old man died at the scene, and two others were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Brett said. He would not say how long the suspected shooter had been dead, or say whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the standoff.

Brett declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a long-arm weapon.

One of the shooting victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body, Brett said.

The standoff brought the suburb of Ingleburn to a standstill throughout the day. Staffers at nearby businesses were told to stay inside and roads were blocked off in the area.
China is strongly opposed to the Dalai Lamas visit to Taiwan, an official said on Monday amid reports that Taiwanese politicians were planning to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader to the island country claimed by Beijing.

A senior official from the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) voiced his opposition to the visit at a news conference during the National Peoples Congress (NPC) or the annual parliament session.

The Dalai Lama  branded a separatist by China  is based at Dharamshala in India. He last visited democratic Taiwan in 2009, during the rule of outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma allowed the Tibetan leader to visit the country but did not personally meet him.

Since then, the Dalai Lamas entry to Taiwan has been refused several times. That might change after President-elect Tsai Ing-wen takes over in May and reports have indicated the Dalai Lama might visit Taiwan around the time of the countrys National Day on October 10.

Such a visit would have China fuming.

We strongly oppose anyone who is in power (in Taiwan) to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island, said Padma Choling, chairperson of the standing committee of Tibets regional peoples congress.

Everyone clearly knows what kind of person the Dalai Lama is, he said. The Dalai Lama must give up his secessionist stance and stop all activities to split the motherland.

Choling, also an NPC deputy, said Chinas attitude is consistent.

The Dalai Lama had congratulated Tsai after she won the election earlier this year, calling the victory remarkable. He was quoted by Reuters as saying, It is indeed encouraging to see how firmly rooted democracy has become in Taiwan.

It is a model and source of inspiration to those who aspire (to) freedom and accountable leadership.

Chinas opposition to the visit came after President Xi Jinping warned against Taiwans independence at a NPC meeting over the weekend. We will resolutely contain Taiwan independence secessionist activities in any form, Xi told legislators.

We will safeguard the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity, and never allow the historical tragedy of national secession to happen again, he said. Our policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change along with the change in Taiwans political situation.
Foreign diplomats have expressed alarm about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior US officials.

Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trumps statements, said three US officials, who all declined to be identified.

As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world, said one of the officials.

The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico.

US officials said it was highly unusual for foreign diplomats to express concern, even privately, about candidates in the midst of a presidential campaign. US allies in particular usually dont want to be seen as meddling in domestic politics, mindful that they will have to work with whoever wins.

Read: Trump exploiting fears, like Hitler did: Ex Mexican President

Senior leaders in several countries -- including Britain, Mexico, France, and Canada -- have already made public comments criticizing Trumps positions. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel branded him a threat to peace and prosperity in an interview published on Sunday.

Trumps campaign did not respond to requests for comments on the private diplomatic complaints.

Japans embassy declined to comment. The Indian and South Korean embassies did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Mexican government would not confirm any private complaints but noted that its top diplomat, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, said last week that Trumps policies and comments were ignorant and racist and that his plan to build a border wall to stop illegal immigration was absurd.

The foreign officials have been particularly disturbed by the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes that the billionaire real estate mogul has pushed, according to the US officials.

European and Middle Eastern government representatives have expressed dismay to US officials about anti-Muslim declarations by Trump that they say are being used in recruiting pitches by the Islamic State and other violent jihadist groups.

Read: Mexican ex-prez calls Trump crazy, uses F-word to slam wall idea

On December 7, Trumps campaign issued a written statement saying that he was calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on.

Trump subsequently said in television interviews that American Muslims travelling abroad would be allowed to return to the country, as would Muslim members of the US military or Muslim athletes coming to compete in the United States.

There are also concerns abroad that the United States would become more insular under Trump, who has pledged to tear up international trade agreements and push allies to take a bigger role in tackling Middle East conflicts.

European diplomats are constantly asking about Trumps rise with disbelief and, now, growing panic, said a senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

With the EU facing an existential crisis, theres more than the usual anxiety about the US turning inward when Europe needs US support more than ever.

Another of the senior US officials said the complaints are coming mostly from mid-to-low ranking diplomats  described as working level - rather than from the most senior officials.

The responses have ranged from amusement to befuddlement to curiosity, the official said. In some cases, weve heard expressions of alarm, but those have been more in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment as well as the general sense of xenophobia.

Read: NBC fires White House hopeful Donald Trump for insulting Mexicans

More than a hundred Republican foreign policy veterans pledged this week to oppose Trump, saying in an open letter that his proposals would undermine US security.

A lot of questions

On Tuesday, General Philip Breedlove, the United States top military commander in Europe, said that the US elections were stirring concerns among Americas allies.

I get a lot of questions from our European counterparts on our election process this time in general, said Breedlove, who did not mention Trump by name. And I think they see a very different sort of public discussion than they have in the past.

While not confirming the content of private diplomatic contacts, some foreign officials acknowledged their governments concerns about Trump.

Read: Trump is terrifying and I hate what he stands for: Hillary Clinton

A British official noted that in January, Prime Minister David Cameron said: What Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat the extremists more difficult.

Read: British MPs call Donald Trump buffoon, wazzock, but no UK ban

A Chinese official referred to a statement last week from Chinas foreign ministry spokeswoman. Asked whether China was concerned about Trumps proposal to place high tariffs on Chinese goods, Hua Chunyin declined to comment on specific candidates. But she said I want to stress that China and the United States have major responsibilities in maintaining international political and economic stability.

Representatives of other countries publicly attacked by Trump, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam either had no comment or did not respond to requests for comments.

Several American foreign policy experts said foreign diplomats have complained to them as well.

All foreign diplomats Ive talked to are amazed at the Trump phenomenon and worried about it, especially in the Middle East and Europe, said Elliott Abrams, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank who handled Middle East affairs at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2009 under then-President George W. Bush.
Desperately looking for a victory to stay in the US presidential race, Senator Marco Rubio won the Republican primary in Puerto Rico on Sunday, only his second so far.

And Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Maine, bringing up his tally of states to eight, and clashed fiercely with his only rival Hillary Clinton at a debate in Michigan.

Rubio, a first-time Senator from Florida, is the Republican party establishments last hope of stopping frontrunner Donald Trump, who has the party in complete panic.

But he has performed indifferently to poorly in the nominating contests so far  winning only the one in Minnesota before Sunday, and is already facing calls to drop out.

Ted Cruz, another first-time Senator, has emerged as the chief alternative to Trump after winning two of the four nominating contests on Saturday, adding to four from earlier.

Read | Cruz emerges top Republican contender against Trump

Trump remains way ahead of them, winning 12 of those contests so far, and leads Cruz 35.6% to 19.8% in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls.

A panicky party establishment is going all out to try and deny him the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination.

Party patriarch and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney called Trump a fraud and a conman in a blistering attack last week, and other party leaders have followed up.

Rubio is the man who, according to them, can potentially rally anti-Trump, but he has failed to live up to expectations, and Cruz, on the other hand, is pushing hard for that mantle.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio shakes hands with his supporters at a rally in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on Saturday. (AP)

And he may well win it, despite scoring only marginally better than Trump with the establishment, if Rubio fails to win Florida, his home-state, in the March 15 primaries.

On the Democratic side, Sanders, who is trailing Clinton 498 to 1,129 in the delegates count (winner needs 2,383), attacked her support for free trade agreements.

The exchange got testy at times, with Sander angrily snapping at Clinton to not interrupt him, something that he hasnt done before, and it was widely noted.

Excuse me, Im talking, he said to her during an exchange on Wall Street bailouts (government help during the 2008 financial crisis).

Four states hold their nominating contests on Tuesday.
Donald Trump is not afraid of Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who eviscerated him in a speech last week, and let the audience know at a rally in Michigan Sunday.

And Hillary Clinton took care to tell people at the partys presidential debate in Flint, Michigan, also on Sunday, it was her idea to hold it there to focus attention on the citys water crisis.

The battle for delegate-rich Michigan, part of Americas Rust Belt, called so after abandoned factories of this once dominant industrial region, is well and truly under way.

Both Republicans and Democrats hold their primaries in Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday. And Republicans are also holding their primary in Idaho and caucuses in Hawaii.

Trump leads the Republican field in Michigan, which has 57 delegates, by a wide margin, 38.5% to his nearest rival Ted Cruzs 20.5%, and that may explain his confidence.

Michigan is Romneys home-state. His father, George Romney, was once governor of the state, and his niece Ronna Romney McDaniel chairs the state unit of the Republican party.

But the audience at the rally were with Trump.

This guy Romney came out yesterday, Trump started, greeted by boos from those who could tell what was coming, according to a report in The Washington Examiner.

The hatred he has, the jealousy, the hatred, its hard to believe. More boos followed reportedly. You guys should like him, right? Trump said. And there were some more boos.

Deport Romney, yelled a man in the audience.

Thank you, said Trump.

Loser, yelled a woman near the Examiner reporter.

Romney ripped into Trump, the party frontrunner, last Saturday, just hours ahead of a Republican debate, calling him a fake a fraud and a conman, not fit for the White House.

The Republican leadership is in a state of panic over Trumps growing grip on the nomination, which they fear, could cost the party both the White House and Congress.

But Trump looks set to take Michigan, Mississippi (40 delegates), where he leads nearest rival Cruz 41% to 17%, and Idaho (32 delegates), where he is ahead of Cruz 30% to 19%. No polls were available for Hawaii.

In the Democratic race, Clinton is way ahead of Bernie Sanders in both Michigan and Mississippi, and by a wide margin, which could explain Sanders aggression at the Sunday debate.

US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 7, 2016. (REUTERS)

Michigan, the big prize with 147 delegates for Democrats, has Clinton leading Sanders 58.6% to 38.2% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls for the state.

And keen to retain the advantage, Clinton told the audience at Flint, which has been hit by a drinking water crisis, she wanted the debate to focus attention on their problem.

Sanders aggressively attacked Clinton, snapping at her a few times, equally eager to cut her lead and close the growing gap in the count of delegates, between him and the frontrunner.

Clinton is also set to win Mississippi (36 delegates), and big, 62.5% to 18.5% in the average of polls, according to an aggregate of polls by RealClearPolitics.
Turkey on Monday demanded an additional 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis as EU leaders appealed to Ankara to take back thousands of migrants and prevent others from heading Europe.

Turkey  a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria  is an indispensable EU partner in trying to dissuade people fleeing conflict or poverty from taking to makeshift boats and making the short but often-dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea.

To avoid refugees from arriving in Greece we have to cooperate with Turkey, French President Francois Hollande said as he arrived for the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, the leaders said they will pursue comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection.

But Turkish leaders upped the ante on Monday, demanding the additional funds by 2018, on top of 3 billion euros the EU had already pledged to help Syrian refugees in the country, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said. Turkey also made requests to ease visa rules by June instead of the end of the year.

In another demand, Turkey wanted to be able to send Syrian refugees to the 28-nation EU as they take people back who have made the crossing into Greece. The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea. NATO ships are also set to help patrol the sea between Greece and Turkey, easing the load on Turkeys military-run coast guard.

A child plays with a ballon in a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni. (AFP)

Turkey says this summit is as much about its thwarted EU membership ambitions as Europes inability to manage the refugee emergency. The membership talks have dragged on for a decade and Ankara is looking for improved negotiating conditions.

Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks will be a success story and a turning point in our relations.

North of Greece, Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans, allowing just a trickle of people through. The move  backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary  has ratcheted up pressure from the other side as Greek authorities dont have enough shelter for those who are stranded.
North Korea on Monday threatened pre-emptive and indiscriminate nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises.

In a statement issued hours before the drills began, North Koreas powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an all-out military counter-offensive.

Describing the exercises as nuclear war drills aimed at undermining North Koreas sovereignty, the statement said the Supreme Command of the Korean Peoples Army was ready to launch a pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike in response.

The indiscriminate nuclear strike... will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea), said the statement carried by the Norths official KCNA news agency.

Targets would include operational American bases on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere in Asia, as well as the US mainland.

South Korean troops stand atop K-55 self-propelled howitzers during an annual exercise in Paju, near the border with North Korea, on Monday. (AP)

If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas of flames and ashes in a moment, the statement added.

The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the Norths recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response.

Participation in the joint exercises  known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle  has been bumped up this year to involve 300,000 South Korean and around 17,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets.

The threat comes just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the countrys nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby, in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.

South Korean Marine amphibious assault vehicles move to a landing ship (centre) in the southeastern port of Pohang on Monday after South Korea and the US kicked off their largest-ever joint military drills. (AFP)

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.

In Seoul, the defence ministry cautioned the North against acting out its bellicose rhetoric.

If North Korea launches a provocation, our military will respond sternly and mercilessly, ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told reporters.

Pyongyang has long condemned the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises, which stretch over nearly two months, as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.
Ladies, a new study has found that a female libido drug called Flibanserin might not solve your sex problems, but could make you too sick to even think about sex. Those of you who expected that the female version of Viagra could expand your sexual experiences actually need to be careful - female Viagra may bomb your health instead.

Researchers led by Dr. Loes Jasper found that nearly 6,000 women who took the drug did not report any significant benefit. It could drive a woman to achieve just about half of "one satisfying sexual encounter in a month."

Women who tried it seemed to be four times more likely to be sleepy and dizzy after ingesting it, twice as likely to be nauseous and 60 percent more fatigued, according to Jasper. She explained that one in three women have admitted to experiencing side-effects.

The Food and Drug Administration had not passed the drug a couple of times, but then reversed and approved it last year. Activists had slammed the rejection as being "sexist and not based on scientific data."

But the FDA approval too got its share of criticism. Viewpoints cannot be passed off as "science," as that would only harm pre-menopausal women who are undergoing hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) said.

The drug had been first intended to be an anti-depressant but soon got drawn to treat post-menopausal women with HSDD. This disorder, which is supposed to affect about 10 to 40 percent of women, indicates a "lack of desire or fantasies for sexual activity that isn't caused by factors like medication, mental disorders or relationship stress."

However, experts point out that while female viagra has been said to control brain receptors, it does not solve any problems and only makes women queasy and dizzy. The advantages are negligible, and the side-effects of "sleepiness, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea" have undercut the very purpose of the treatment.

Dr. Tage Ramakrishna, the chief medical officer of the company Tageant, which owns Viagra, said that the new study has "less statistical weight" than random trials. But Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, the director of PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University, who examined the link between drug companies and medical practice asked: "An additional half a satisfying sexual encounter a month - is that meaningful? I think only the women can answer that, but perhaps they already have with their lack of enthusiasm for getting prescriptions."

The study was published in the Feb. 29 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine,

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At a time when women are an intrinsic part of the work force, especially in developed nations, talking about periods or menstruation is still not welcome. A Bristol company has proposed to change this.

Coexist, located in Bristol, is creating a "period policy" for its staff.

"I have managed many female members of staff over the years and I have seen women at work who are bent over double because of the pain caused by their periods. Despite this, they feel they cannot go home because they do not class themselves as unwell. And this is unfair. At Coexist we are very understanding. If someone is in pain - no matter what kind - they are encouraged to go home. There is a misconception that taking time off makes a business unproductive. Actually it is about synchronising work with the natural cycles of the body," said Bex Baxter, one of the directors at Coexist, which employs 24 people, out of whom seven are men.

Her observation that women undergo pain during the menstrual cycle is corroborated by the NHS, which found that up to "90% of menstruating women experience pain and discomfort during their period. One study of more than 400 women with period pain found symptoms were moderately painful in around 20% of women, and severe in 2% of cases."

Menstrual leave has existed in Japan since the 1940s and currently exists in parts of China, South Korea and Taiwan.

The Coexist menstruation policy will be created during the Pioneering Period Policy: Valuing Natural Cycles in the Workplace seminar, which will be led by Alexandra Pope and seeks to "educate, empower and inspire organisations to explore menstruation and other natural energy cycles."

Baxter explained that as part of the policy, it will not be compulsory for women to take leave during their periods.

"Also, it is not mandatory, women do not have to take time off on their periods if they don't want to. I was talking to someone the other day and they said if it were men who had periods then this policy would have been brought in sooner. But we just want to celebrate and start talking about menstruation in a positive way, rather than the negativity which has shrouded the cycle," Baxter added.

During the forthcoming seminar, the "period policy" and the ways to implement it will be worked out with employees of Coexist and other attendees.

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Scientists are hoping to use new DNA technology to replicate a species of Ice Age lion that existed at least 12,000 years ago in Siberia, using two remarkably well-preserved cave lion cubs that were discovered last year on the bank of the Uyandina River in the Abyisky district of Siberia.

The two cubs, known as Dina and Uyan, are the best-preserved specimens of this long-extinct feline species, and they may be the key to better understanding this species that disappeared after the Pleistocene era (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago).

The frozen cubs were discovered by a group of researchers who had been searching the region for mammoth tusks. Dr. Albert Protopopov, head of the mammoth fauna studies department of the Yakutian Academy of Sciences, explained in an interview at the time that in comparison to "modern lion cubs, we think that these two were very small, maybe a week or two old. The eyes were not quite open, they have baby teeth and not all had appeared."

The cloning project draws on expertise from Russian and South Korean scientists at the Joint Foundation of Molecular Paleontology at North East Russia University, in the city of Yakutsk. The scientists will extract samples from one of the cubs for the cloning procedure, while the better-preserved one will be kept in a museum, Protopopov explained.

However, there has been some conflict between the Siberian and Korean researchers about the size of the samples. Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, who has also worked on cloning mammoths and whose previous stem cell research faced controversies, wanted a large section- part of a skull or leg- but this was resisted by Protopopov's team, who wants to preserve the Ice Age kittens for potential research developments.

"We intend to keep it for the future," Protopopov said. "The methods of research are constantly being improved, about once a decade there is a mini-revolution in this area. So we will do everything possible to keep this carcass frozen for as long as possible."

He elaborated: "The dispute arose from the fact that the researchers, as always, want to be completely sure and take more tissue, and I can understand them. But the lion is not fully preserved and there are not so many tissues. We have planned other studies, so it is important to preserve the original morphology of the remains. Such disputes are normal in all studies, and in the end we came to a compromise."

A thorough autopsy on the cubs is scheduled for this year.

About the size of a modern-day Siberian tiger, the cave lion is one of the biggest known feline predators of the Ice Age. It made its way from Africa to Europe about 700,000 years ago and gradually spread throughout most of North Eurasia, ranging from the British Isles to the Yukon in Canada.

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The research ship Okeanos Explorer recently found a very unusual octupus very deep in the ocean. That 8-limbed cephalopod is ghostly white -- lacking pigment. It is also different in several ways from those the ship's scientists have seen before, and may be an entirely new species.

The discovery took place on the ship's first operational dive of the 2016 season, on February 27. The vessel, which belongs to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was looking at depths of more than 4,000 meters, northeast of a location in the Hawaiian Archipelago called Necker Island, or Mokumanamana.

This was the idea: To bring back basic information on whether Necker Island is related to Necker Ridge, which is a thin feature that runs for more than 400 miles and sticks out beyond the United States' current exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The researchers wanted to gather geological samples from the ridge in order to see if they are made up of the same minerals and other materials as samples from Necker Island. A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) called Deep Discoverer also conducted a survey of the biological groups in the same area.

The ROV at 4,290 meters was crossing a flat, rocky area dotted with sediment, when it ran across a distinctive octupus on a rock. It was so different, actually, that it was dissimilar from any in published records and was biding its time at the greatest depth known for an octupus of this size and general description.

Octupuses in the deep seas are known to be in two groups: (1) finned, or cirrate octupods (another name for octupuses), known as "dumbo" octupods because of their ear-like fins. They also have cirri (slender filaments) that are like fingers and are related to the suckers on their arms or (2) incirrate octupods, which have neither fins nor cirri and look a good bit like octupuses that live in shallow water, which are those we've all seen more often.

The octupus which the ROV captured in detailed images on that first dive was an incirrate. It also had suckers in a single series on each arm, rather than in two lines. Most unusual of all, though, it did not have any pigment cells, known as chromatophores. Those are typical of cephalopods in general. It has a ghost-like appearance. Also, it wasn't especially muscular.

This octupus is almost definitely undescribed and a unique species, and might not be a member of any described genus.

Octupuses of the cirrate, or dumbo type, have been known to live at depths of more than 5,000 meters. But incirrates have been reported at no depths greater than 4,000 meters.

After the ROV returned the images and NOAA research scientist Michael Vecchione analyzed them, he reached out to colleagues Louise Allcock (who is on a British research ship near Antarctica right now) and Uwe Piatkowski (who is from Germany). All three agreed that the octupus was unusual and that it was found at a depth record for incirrate octupods.

At the moment, the three scientists are considering combining the new finding with some other observations about very deep-ocean incirrate octupuses taken by a German ship in the eastern Pacific and submitting it for publication in a journal.

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales

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In response to China's alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran, the United States Commerce Department has announced that it will be imposing strict sanctions on Chinese telecom giant ZTE.

The restrictions, which are set to take effect starting Tuesday, are not exclusive to the Chinese company, as the export limitations also apply to any corporation that is shipping U.S.-manufactured products to ZTE Corp. in China.

The Chinese government is not pleased.

In an angry protest over the United States' decision, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed its discontent, stating that the U.S. is stoking tension between the two countries once more. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei even went so far as to state America's decision runs the risk of damaging trade between the two superpowers.

"China is opposed to the U.S. citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese enterprises. We hope the U.S. stops this erroneous action and avoids damaging Sino-U.S. trade cooperation and bilateral relations," he said.

Analysts have stated that America's decision to impose export restrictions carry a risk of stoking tensions between the U.S. and China, especially within the world of information technology. Apart from this, other Chinese companies might also retaliate against U.S. firms, using the same strategy.

Nevertheless, the U.S.'s announced export restrictions have already affected the Chinese telecom giant significantly, at least from a financial standpoint. Due to the possible fallout from the announcement, ZTE has opted to suspend the company's shares during Monday's trading in Hong Kong.

ZTE has become the center of controversy since 2012, when a Reuters report alleged that the telecom giant had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars' worth of hardware and software to Telecommunications Co. of Iran, which, of course, was against U.S. policy.

Though a probe by the Commerce Department followed the report, ZTE has maintained that everything the company is doing is within the scope of the law. The telecom giant has also maintained that it has been cooperating with the investigators since the probe started.

With the latest development, however, tensions have once again risen. If any, the U.S.'s announcement has asserted the present administration's uncompromising stance regarding the export of American-made products.

In a lot of ways, the ball is now in China's court.

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New research suggests China's carbon emissions may have peaked in 2014, years earlier than the country pledged.

As part of its commitment to curb the impact of global warming, China promised to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by "around 2030" at last year's global climate change conference in Paris. Therefore, the latest report suggesting the country has peaked earlier than expected may raise concerns that existing targets are too easy and should reexamined.

China is one of the world's leading carbon dioxide emitters. The study, led by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the London School of Economics, argues that if China's emissions have not already peaked, then they are very likely to do so within the next decade.

Slowing the country's carbon emissions is a result of reduced economic growth and government policies making renewable energy sources available and enforcing a low-carbon path to reduce the wide spread air pollution in China's major cities. If current trends continue, it would indicate the country's emissions have already peaked, authors Fergus Green and Nicholas Stern explained, adding that the 2030 peak was a very conservative estimate.

"It is quite possible that emissions will fall modestly from now on, implying that 2014 was the peak," the report said, noting that recent data already showed that China's emissions fell in 2015. "If emissions do grow above 2014 levels ... that growth trajectory is likely to be relatively flat, and a peak would still be highly likely by 2025."

However, the country's representatives disagree. In response to the report, China's senior climate change envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said the country's emissions had not peaked in 2014 and were still growing, defending China's 2030 target as reasonable.

China may face pressures to establish tougher targets if it becomes clear that existing goals are in fact too easy, according to U.S. climate change envoy Todd Stern.

"It will be up to the Chinese Government whether they increase their target," he said, "but there will obviously be a lot of international opinion looking forward to additional measures - whether it is China or anyone else."

The recent climate report was published in the journal Climate Policy.

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By employing the same kind of ultrasound imaging technology used on pregnant women, scientists from the University of New England and University of Miami have found a less invasive way to study the reproductive biology of female tiger sharks.

Compared to previous methods involving the dissection of presumably pregnant sharks, which ultimately kills the animals, researchers have preformed in-water ultrasounds on live tiger sharks ("Galeocerdo cuvier") at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas - a site known for its year-round abundance of tiger sharks.

Ultrasound technology gives researchers the opportunity to survey the animal's abdomen and look for the presence of embryos in female sharks. They also took blood samples for hormone analyses to further investigate the reproductive status or maturity of females.

"Using the same ultrasound imaging technology used on pregnant women, we discovered Tiger Beach was important for females of different life stages, and that a high proportion of tiger sharks were pregnant during winter months," said James Sulikowski, a professor at the University of New England's Department of Marine Science, in a news release.

Marine predators such as sharks have faced drastic population declines, as the fishing of pregnant females has a significant impact on the health and viability of both local and regional populations.

For instance, female tiger sharks give birth to between 10 and 80 pups at a time. The gestation period usually lasts for 14 months on average; however, pups can remain inside their mother for up to 16 months. Adult females are generally ready to start mating when they are about 8 years old. Therefore, populations can be greatly impacted if a pregnant female were to be killed, and no babies were born to ensure the survival of the subsequent generation.

"Our data suggests that Tiger Beach may function as a refuge habitat for females to reach maturity as well as a gestation ground where pregnant females benefit from calm, warm waters year-round that help incubate the developing embryos and speed up gestation," added study co-author Neil Hammerschlag, a research assistant professor at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.

Tiger Beach is located within the Bahamas Exclusive Economic Zone, where shark fishing has been banned since 2011. Therefore, researchers suggest the relatively high shark populations seen in the Bahamas sanctuary, compared to other parts of the Caribbean, may in part be due to the increased protection of mature and gravid females.

"It is crucial for marine biologists to understand their behaviors to provide information for resource managers to effectively protect and manage them," said Hammerschlag.

Their study was recently published in the Journal of Aquatic Biology.

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A late-stage study for a brain cancer vaccine has been discontinued, Celldex Therapeutics Inc. announced Monday.

The drug manufacturing company said the results from a preplanned independent analysis found that the vaccine, Rintega, did not appear to boost a patient's survival rate from glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) any more than standard chemotherapy did.

The Data Safety and Monitoring Board's analysis reported that the overall survival rate in patients recently diagnosed with GBM, who were being treated with Rintega in the Phase 3 ACT IV study, was not significantly higher than the survival rate seen in the control group that involved standard chemotherapy treatment.

The experts stated that the Phase 3 results were consistent with the findings from the Phase 2 studies that had reported survival rates at 20.4 months for the Rintega group and 21.1 months for the control group. Based from these findings, the board recommended the company to end the study.

"We are extremely disappointed for patients that the ACT IV study was not successful," Anthony Marucci, Co-founder, president and CEO of Celldex Therapeutics, said in a press release. "On behalf of Celldex, I want to express our gratitude to the ACT IV investigators, patients and families who participated in this trial. While this is certainly not the desired outcome, we remain steadfast believers in the power of immunotherapy to transform the future of cancer treatment."

GBM is the deadliest and most common form of brain cancer that affects fewer than 200,000 people within the United States per year. The tumor, which grows and spreads very quickly, can lead to symptoms that include headache, drowsiness, seizures, nausea, blurred vision and personality changes. There is currently no cure for the disease, but treatments, such as chemotherapy and surgery, can help.

Rintega, which is a part of a class of drugs that works by triggering the immune system to recognize and attack cancerous cells, was developed to target a specific genetic mutation that can be found in roughly one-third of all GBM cases.

Celldex currently heads seven clinical trials. The company stated that it expects to report the results from many of these trials over the next three to 18 months.

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The first thing that should pop into anyone's head when they hear the term "supercookie" is, well, a massive cookie. This begs the question why Verizon is paying a $1.35 million fine to settle a probe by the Federal Communications Commission over its usage of such cookies with customers - which shouldn't be all that bad unless they were allergic.

As it turns out, "supercookies" aren't the massive and delicious baked goods that one would expect to find at your grandmother's house, rather supercookies, otherwise known as unique identifier headers (UIDH), refers to ad targeting technology which tracks the websites visted by phones on a network.

"Consumers care about privacy and should have a say in how their personal information is used, especially when it comes to who knows what they're doing online," FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in a statement. "Privacy and innovation are not incompatible."

The probe into Verizon's use of supercookies began in 2014, with the FCC trying to determine whether the company failed to adequately protect customer privacy and failed to reveal to customers that their online habits were being monitored.

The FCC's investigation found that Verizon Wireless began inserting UIDH into consumer Internet traffic as as early as December 2012 up through 2014 - a violation of a 2010 FCC regulation on Internet transparency.

Though aware of the issue, Verizon didn't allow customers to opt out of the tracking until March 2015 when several U.S. senators raised concerns about the practice.

However, the problem with supercookies is that they weren't just used without a person's permission. but they also overrode customers' privacy settings they set on web browsers and it was impossible for people on Verizon's network to disassociate themselves from them, meaning that those who had the cookie ran the risk of being permanently tracked by a website or third-party advertiser. Thanks to this quality, some referred to the UIDHs as "zombie cookies."

Verizon had already been working on options it offers customers, but the settlement pushes those options one step further. In addition to allowing customers to opt out of the supercookie tracking program, customers who choose to opt in are able to determine who gets to see their information - a remedy to the "zombie cookie" situation.

For its part, Verizon said its decision to settle reflects its efforts in the past year to give customers more options in regards to its supercookie monitoring program.

"Verizon gives customers choices about how we use their data, and we work hard to provide customers with clear, complete information to help them make decisions about our services," Verizon spokesman Richard Young said. "Over the past year, we have made several changes to our advertising programs that have provided consumers with even more options. Today's settlement with the FCC recognizes that. We will continue to give customers the information they need to decide what programs and services are right for them."

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The emergence of peer-to-peer platforms, collectively known as the "sharing economy", has enabled individuals to collaboratively make use of under-utilized inventory via fee-based sharing. Consumers have so far enthusiastically adopted the services offered by firms such as Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and TaskRabbit. The rapid growth of peer-to-peer platforms has arguably been enabled by two key factors: technology innovations and supply-side flexibility. Technology innovations have streamlined the process of market entry for suppliers, have facilitated searchable listings for consumers, and have kept transaction overheads low. Supply-side flexibility is another hallmark of these platforms: Uber drivers can add or remove themselves from the available supply of drivers with a swipe on an app, and similarly other suppliers can readily list and de-list the selection of goods or services they have on offer.

In our work, we focus on the impacts that these peer-to-peer platforms have on incumbent firms, specifically focusing on the case of Airbnb, a provider of travel accommodation and a pioneer of the sharing economy. With Airbnb having served over 50 million guests since it was founded in 2008,1 and a market capitalization eclipsing $30 billion,2 we hypothesize that Airbnb has a measurable and quantifiable impact on hotel revenue in affected areas. Our hypothesis is that some stays with Airbnb serve as a substitute for certain hotel stays, thereby impacting hotel revenue, and that this impact is differentiated: by geographic region, by hotel market segment, and by season. Incumbent firms, despite both facing higher fixed costs and offering less personalized products than peer-to-peer platforms, have only recently started to take competition from platforms like Airbnb as a serious threat. For example, hotel executives have publicly issued largely dismissive statements regarding competitors like Airbnb, arguing that these peer-to-peer platforms are either a niche market or that they target complementary market segments from that targeted by hotel chains. Interestingly, Airbnb appears to also espouse this latter view: according to Airbnb, in many cities, over 70% of Airbnb properties are outside the main hotel districts, 3 suggesting complementarity of their offerings.

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The members of Hotel Brokers International, the real estate industrys oldest, most experienced network of hotel brokerage specialists, have elected their 2016-17 Board of Directors. The HBI board of directors is comprised of eleven officers/directors elected from the general membership during the organizations 57th Annual Meeting held recently in Las Vegas. The following persons begin their Board Terms in March:

President: Diana Alt

Diana Alt is an Associate Broker with Las Cruces, New Mexico-based Scoggin Blue LLC, and has managed the brokerage firms Dallas office since 2002. She has been involved in the hospitality industry since 1989. Prior to Scoggin Blue, Diana was with Hotel Management magazine. With her years of professional experience in the hospitality industry, Diana easily makes contact with top executives and decision-makers of hotel companies, hotel owners, franchise, financial and management companies as well as REITs and others interested in buying and selling hotels. Diana has her B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Texas in Arlington.

Vice President: Tony DeGeorge, CHB

President, founding partner and principal broker of Greene, Canfield, DeGeorge, Ltd. in Clearwater, Florida, Tony has been actively involved in hotel brokerage since 1981 and has been directly involved in the listing, marketing and sale of hundreds of hotels including dispositions for corporations and REITs as well as individuals. His impressive transaction resume includes the sale of an array of hotel property types including everything from select-service airport hotels to beach-front resorts. As a former hotel owner-operator, Tony has first-hand knowledge of hotel operations, cash flow management and marketing. He earned his Certified Hotel Broker (CHB) designation in 2000 and is a three-time past president of Hotel Brokers International; serving on the organizations Board of Directors for 20 years.

Treasurer: Steven B. Blue, CHB

Steve Blue is the sole owner of Scoggin Blue LLC  a real estate brokerage company with offices in New Mexico and Texas specializing exclusively in selling hospitality real estate since 1959. Steve has been in hotel/motel asset value assessments and direct marketing of hotel/motel properties since 1979. Prior to joining the firm, Steve received a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree from New Mexico State University in 1976, and subsequently managed several Texas-based hotels. Since 1979, he has personally generated direct sales in excess of $200 million. Steves strengths include asset value assessment, sales, management and operations.

Secretary: Jennifer B. Church, CHB

Jennifer Church is president of Milmark Hotel/Motel Investments, LLC  a full-service hospitality real estate investment and consulting firm, licensed in Wisconsin. Jennifer has nearly 12 years of professional experience in hospitality real estate sales, and she has continuously been recognized for outstanding hotel sales performance  named Rookie of the Year in her first year and most recently Top Sales Producer in her region. Prior to serving as President of Milmark, she served as the firms Director of Sales when she earned designation as a Certified hotel Broker and was awarded three of the four top honors in her CHB Class. Jennifer previously worked as Director of Operations & Services at the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association (WH&LA)  one of the largest lodging associations in the country. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Wisconsin  Stout and earned her Masters in Public Administration from the University of North Michigan.

Directors:

Richard Ehmer is president and principal broker of The Ehmer Group  a full-service hospitality real estate investment and consulting firm located in San Francisco, California. Richard has nearly 30 years of experience in the marketing and negotiating of commercial real estate transactions including the closing of more than $1,500,000,000 in hospitality transactions. Prior to founding The Ehmer Group in 2010, Richard enjoyed an impeccable career stretching over 25 years with Marcus & Millichap and was a founding member of the National Hospitality Group at Marcus & Millichap where he served as a First Vice President and Senior Director of the National Hospitality & Gaming Group. Richard also served as Managing Director of the NAI Global Hospitality Group, where he assisted in the formation and management of a network wide brokerage platform.

Steve Quintana is president of HawksView Hospitality, a full service brokerage firm based in the Denver suburb of Lone Tree. Steve specializes in hotel asset investment, valuation, marketing and transaction. Prior to founding HawksView Hospitality, Steve worked with a national commercial brokerage firm. He holds an undergraduate degree in business management and is an entrepreneur who owns businesses and real estate.

Steve Ferrarini is vice president and associate broker of ProCom Lodging Brokers, Inc. located in Paso Robles, California. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Loma Linda University (presently La Sierra University) in Riverside, California. Before joining ProCom Lodging in 1991, Ferrarini was a loan officer for an established Southern California full-service mortgage broker, arranging both conventional and "hard-money" loans. Prior to being a loan officer he served as a Client Services Representative for a financial planning firm. He received a California Real Estate Salesperson's License in 1988 and a California Real Estate Broker's License in 1995. In January 2001 he received his Certified Hotel Broker (CHB) designation, and is the recipient of numerous awards for hotel brokerage.

Michelle L. Kennedy is a partner and principal/designated broker of Crystal Investment Property, LLC  a boutique specialty brokerage solely focused on serving the needs of hotel owners and investors in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Michelle has a 20-year background in administration, real estate and legal education, contracts, and operations management for regional commercial real estate firms. Michelles focus with Crystal Investment Property, is primarily on operations oversight, transaction management, marketing coordination and general back-office systems.

Kathryn Seo, vice president of Lodging Brokers Network, Inc., has spent the last ten years in the hotel and real estate industries. Her career in hospitality real estate includes working for an international hotel brokerage firm and holding acquisition and development roles at two of the major boutique hotel companies, most recently Kimpton Hotels. For the five years prior to joining LBN, Kathryn led due diligence efforts on acquiring boutique hotels, and has valued hundreds of hotels and inns across the country. In the most recent two years, Kathryn has earned and been awarded HBIs top individual sales achievement award  Salesperson of the Year. Kathryn holds a degree in Real Estate Finance from Cornell University.

Dick Lopez, CHB, is president of Lodging Brokers Network, Inc. located in Napa, California. Dick obtained a real estate license in 1971 and became a broker in 1973. He began his career in lodging brokerage in 1994 and founded his lodging company in 1992. Lopez is a past president of Hotel Brokers International and earned his designation as Certified Hotel Broker (CHB) in 1996. He is one of only six individuals in California that currently hold this designation.

H. Brandt Niehaus, CHB, is president and principal broker of Huff, Niehaus & Associates, Inc., a full-service hotel real estate brokerage located in Louisville, Kentucky. Brandt began his career in commercial real estate in 1983 and has focused exclusively on hotel real estate investment since 1988. He has successfully transacted the sales of hundreds of hotel properties from limited-service independents through full-service luxury hotels representing sellers in conventional sales as well as lender-owned transactions for banks and institutions. A consistent top sales producer, Brandt was named Broker of the Year in recognition of his record-setting sales performance in 2014. Brandt, a three-time Past President of HBI, holds the professional designations of Certified Hotel Broker (CHB), Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). Brandt earned his Bachelors and MBA in Marketing from the University of Kentucky.

Founded in 1959, Hotel Brokers International members lead the industry in hotel real estate sales. HBI hotel brokerage specialists have successfully negotiated nearly 10,500 hotel real estate transactions and consistently account for the largest share of all select-service and economy hotel sales in the United States. The organizations database currently comprises more than 100 property listings and the HBI website attracts more than 55,000 monthly site visitors. Founder and host of the popular Hotel Investors Marketplace Webcast, HBI also developed the Certified Hotel Broker professional designation program. In addition to hospitality real estate advisory services, HBI offers affiliate membership to professionals in allied fields, including franchising, lending, appraisals and investment services. For more information about HBIs hotel listings or to become a broker or affiliate member, visit www.hbihotels.com.

Contact:

Glenda J. Webb

Managing Director

Hotel Brokers International

+1.816.505.4315

gwebb@hbihotels.com
Yesterday, Kevin Gates stopped by DC radio show The Fam in the Morning. Gates began the interview addressing recent statements that some took to be controversial, as, during a radio interview last month, he seemed to point blame on the victim in incidents of police brutality and voiced his support for the sentiment All Lives Matter, instead of the movement that focuses just on Black Lives. Amid defending his comments, which he ties in to his wider spiritual beliefs, he revealed that his recent album, Islah, outsold Rihannas Anti. At least thats what certain Apple employees told him during a visit to one of the companys offices.

In mentioning his album sales, Gates is adamant that he couldnt care less about where his album made its chart debut. The album is, what, No. 2? asked Gates rhetorically, referring to Islahs Billboard debut for the week ending Feb. 4. When I went to Apple they was like, No, its really No. 1.'

Rihannas Anti was leaked on TIDAL on January 27, and she soon decided to give away 1,000,000 free downloads of the album. It became available on other online music stores on January 29, the same release date as Gates Islah. The same day, Anti was certified platinum by the RIAA, but it was soon reported that Samsung preemptively purchased 1,000,000 copies of Anti, hence all the free giveaways upon the albums release.

No, but Kevin, Samsung paid for Rihannas CDs, and thats not fair, Gates continued, relaying the words of a female Apple employee.

Due to its early release, Rihannas chart debut came a week before Kevins, though Antis first placement was shockingly modest: No. 27. However, the initial chart only accounted for less than half a week of sales and did not include any of the free album downloads. The next week, Anti racked in over 172,000 units and rose to No. 1, one spot ahead of Gates Islah, which moved approximately 112,000 units.

There has not been any information suggesting Nielsen included Samsungs pre-bought albums in Antis second-week sales, though it remains confusing how exactly Billboard configured its streaming numbers. And, of course, Apple is a competitor of Samsungs, but regardless if its No. 1 or No. 2, the numbers for Gates debut album are outstanding. Though he doesnt seem to be particularly impressed:

I said, Maam, I wouldnt care if mine was in the 100th place.

Watch his full interview with The Fam in the Morning below.

Kevin Gates
Rising acts you should be keeping an eye and ear on

Irish altpunk trio Good Friend have said their Irish Goodbyes and relocated to Newcastle, where they are working on their forthcoming debut album Ride The Storm.

This venture across the Irish Sea was one born of necessity. According to frontman Adam, We just felt like our music would go down better over there. The move spawned a lot of material, and Good Friends upcoming album is based on their own struggles.

Despite now being based on Tyneside, the bands roots are still evident, with songs like The Return of Fionn and the Fianna taking their inspiration from old Irish mythology. All of those stories really intrigued us and the messages are still valid today, notes Adam.

On the musical front, acts like The Clash and Biffy Clyro inform Good Friends raucous punk aesthetic. Id like to believe that were staying honest to the message of the punk movement, says Adam, while putting our own twist on it.

For Good Friend, 2015 was all about writing their new album; 2016, on the other hand, will be all about gigging it. The band will perform their first headline show in the O2 Academy in Newcastle in March.

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As they seek to make inroads in the UK, the band retain a fondness for Irish audeinces: Everyones very conservative at gigs over here, whereas back home you get a load of voices shouting back at you.

SEE: Good Friend play a free gig at the Eglantine, Belfast on March 17

HEAR: The Return of Fionn and the Fianna on the compilation Paper+ Plastic: Welcome to the UK, available for free download on alreadyheard.com

Check out The Return of Fionn and the Fianna below.
After some significant intra-day volatility over the course of the last few sessions, on Friday Medical Marijuana Inc (OTCMKTS:MJNA, MJNA message board) managed to rein things in a little, even if it closed red. By the bell MJNA was nearly 4% down, at $0.036 per share.

The company is still doing its best to keep everyone glued to their screens, putting up a neverending stream of press releases. Since we last covered MJNA, not three weeks ago, the company published six separate announcements. This sort of dedication has to count for something, right?

It's not like the market is responding particularly favorably to any of that. By now traders have got used to MJNA using press releases much like a celebrity uses Twitter and announcing every little thing, but in the world of pink sheet stocks, where official filings are few and far between, this is probably still better than complete radio silence.

With MJNA spending the last couple of months bouncing up and down within the three-to-four cent range, it's safe to say many are waiting for the due annual report before they make a bigger move. The biggest highlight that may have caught the eye of investors is in one of the recent PR headlines, announcing MJNA's Kannalife may explore a possible IPO in what is termed the near future. Obviously, this sort of information is not much of a lead, especially coming from MJNA, who has been claiming plans to go fully reporting and uplist to the QB tier for years now.

The annual report is due in just over three weeks. If the figures derived from MJNA's supposedly most valuable asset  Kannaway LLC, are still as underwhelming as they were in the last quarterly, where Kannaway had a negative bottom line of $532 thousand, the company might need to do an even better job of getting everyone awfully excited about its export of CBD products to Mexico and Brazil to cling onto its chart position.
It will be sixth time lucky for USA Restaurant Funding Inc (OTCMKTS:USAR). At least that's what some investors reckon. In December, the pink sheet company announced that it will be changing its name and business plan for the sixth time and since then, USAR has been among the hottest penny stocks out there.

The run started when the ticker was still in triple-zero territory, but right now, after a 25% jump on Friday, it's sitting at just under $0.02 per share. And all this because of a few press releases.

Some of them sound more like promotional materials rather than PR articles: they're all full of optimistic projections and they lag behind in terms of details. Despite this, investors apparently like what they hear. They like the new partnerships, they like the new smart home vision, and they're completely ignoring the numerous red flags around the company.

They don't care about the figures in the latest report, for example. The financials look like this:

cash: $2 thousand

current assets: $17 thousand

current liabilities: $142 thousand

quarterly revenues: $140 thousand

quarterly net loss: $3 thousand

Investors couldn't be bothered about the failed business adventures over the years and they certainly don't seem interested in the sloppy reporting techniques USAR's management team uses.

The USA Restaurant Funding name was put in place in November 2014, for example, but the certification at the end of the Q3 of 2015 report says that L. Scott Horne (a person who is presented as President and Director) has reviewed the financial statements of South American Properties (USAR's previous name).

There are some other peculiar things about USAR's filings. They say, for example, that the company was incorporated in Nevada, yet if you search the name at Nevada's Secretary of State's website, you won't be able to find it.

When it comes to the share structure, the lack of clear information is downright shocking. The statement for Q4 of 2014, for example, says that the number of issued and outstanding shares on December 31, 2014 stood at just over 142 million, yet, according to the latest report, it was hovering around 41 million on the same exact date (no reverse splits were carried out last year). By September 30, the O/S count had grown to 503 million, but the members of the management team decided not to bother telling potential investors why.

Should future shareholders have this information? You'll be the judge of that.
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Aflac Appears on Fortune's List of 100 Best Companies to Work For Company Celebrates 18 Consecutive Years on the Premier List for Workplaces

Posted by Press Releases on Monday, 03-07-2016 7:57 am

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COLUMBUS, Ga., March 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leader of voluntary insurance sales at the work site in the United States, announced today it has been named one of FORTUNE magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For. This is the 18th consecutive year Aflac has appeared on this prestigious list, continuing the Georgia-based company's record of the longest number of consecutive years appearing on the list in the insurance industry. Aflac finished at No. 50 on the 2016 list.Aflac was selected out of hundreds of companies vying for a place on this year's list. The selection process for applicant companies opting to participate includes an employee survey and in-depth questionnaire about their programs and company practices. Great Place to Work then evaluates each application using its unique methodology based on five dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. Creators of the list's methodology have found that when employees consistently trust the people t...

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Heartland Dental Holds Continuing Education Event at University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry Dr. Rick Workman, Heartland Dental Founder, speaks on dental school initiative

Posted by Press Releases on Monday, 03-07-2016 6:43 am

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Effingham, IL (PRWEB) March 03, 2016Heartland Dental, LLC, the largest dental support organization in the country, recently partnered with the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry to hold a Dr. Leadership workshop on campus, as well as meet with dental students.Education has always been a key element of Heartland Dentals vision and mission. We seek to help supported dentists advance themselves by supporting programs such as the Dr. Leadership course and other offerings, Dr. Rick Workman explained. We are able to extend that vision even further when we partner with amazing dental schools such as the University of Oklahoma. These initiatives help us showcase what we do and why we do it to the next generation of dentists.The Dr. Leadership workshop took place on January 30th, 2016. This hands-on workshop helped Heartland Dental supported doctors in the region advance their clinical knowledge, learn real world protocols with state-of-...

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Insurance Relief Wins Inaveros 2016 Best of Staffing Diamond Award For Client Satisfaction and Best of Staffing Talent Satisfaction For Fourth Consecutive Year Insurance Relief, part of the PrideStaff group of companies, announced they were named as o

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Fresno, CA (PRWEB) March 04, 2016Insurance Relief, part of the PrideStaff group of companies, announced they were named as one of Inavero's 2016 Best of Staffing Client Diamond Award Winners, for achieving the highest client service quality scores for five or more consecutive years. Insurance Relief also received Inavero's Best of Staffing Talent Award for the fourth consecutive year, for providing superior service to job seekers.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, as well as the permanent and temporary employees theyve helped find jobs. On average, talent of winning agencies are 50% more likely to be completely satisfied with the service provided compared to those placed by non-winning agencies. Clients of winning agencies are, on average, nearly three times more likely to be completely satisfied with the servic...

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Adapted from DRIVEN BY DIFFERENCE: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity (AMACOM; hardcover; February 17, 2016) by David Livermore The decision to adopt and implement an innovation is typically made by those higher in the hierarchy than the innovations targeted users. This raises a barrier that is particularly relevant to implementing across cultures. The targeted users might not be convinced they really need the innovation, particularly in egalitarian cultures like Australia and Israel, or among Millennials, where resistance to management mandating a new change may be even more of an issue. Reluctance might be a result of skepticism, an unwillingness to change, or simply a sense that management doesnt really get it. But management often tells staff members that they need to adopt the innovation anyway. Utilize the diverse ideas and perspectives to think about how the innovation can best be developed and implemented. Forecast what types of resistance may occur and highlight the diversity of input that was utilized for developing the innovation. Use your fusion team to come up with different implementation plans for different users. Some personalities and cultures have a disposition toward viewing anything new suspiciously. This can be particularly true in certain professional cultures. Faculty are often socialized all throughout their academic careers to look for gaps and insufficiencies in existing research or in stude...
A companys culture is an important aspect of a persons work life. One important question people ask in interviews is, Whats the company culture like? The moment a potential employee walks into an office or work sight, they immediately start assessing the atmosphere, the people and how they might fit in. Companies lose $11 million annually to employee turnover. Money spent hiring and firing employees can be greatly decreased by implementing programs that improve wellness, provide training or learning experience, or flexible schedules. The happier the employee, the more likely they are to stick around for the long haul. As a potential employer, its important to understand how your current employees feel about the work climate and what they want. Take notes from the top five innovators in company culture including Google. What makes their company cultures unique? What can you do to make your company culture better? What is the big deal about company culture anyway? Incorporate Massage, who created the infographic, provides companies with in office massage programs to help employees relax and take a break from the stresses of work and life. Check out their infographic to learn all about company cultures. For the full version of the infographic, check http://www.incorporatemassage.com/blog/the-culture-of-company-culture-infographic LE Author Bio Amelia Wilcox is the Founder and CEO at...
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Alt. Migration Min Mouzalas says must be prepared for more refugees [02] Two ferries with more than 700 refugees arrive at Pireaus on Monday [01] Alt. Migration Min Mouzalas says must be prepared for more refugees Alternate Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas referred to the condition of thousands of refugees that are stranded in Greece, in his address on Sunday to SYRIZA Central Committee. Mouzalas said that a huge effort has been done in the last period during which 850,000 refugees and migrants passed from the country and reiterated that we must be prepared for a large number of refugees adding that for the time being the effort focuses on where these people will be temporarily hosted. He also said that the refugees must understand that this way is closed. Referring to Europe he said that "we had a bad time but not because it is our fault" and said that Greece needs economic support. He clarified that Greece's will is the money to be channeled to the national planning because "those who come to work here will use the country's infrastructures". [02] Two ferries with more than 700 refugees arrive at Pireaus on Monday "Ariadni" ferry with 571 migrants and refugees docked at Piraeus port on Monday morning. "Blue Star 2" is expected to arrive to the port later in the day carrying 157 refugees and migrants from Dodecanese islands. Sunday night, "Nisos Mytilene" ferry also docked at the port of Pireaus carrying 229 refugees and migrants from Chios, Mytilene and Samos. The port authorities have offered four passenger stations and the warehouse for the hosting of the more than 3.000 refugees who had arrived last week. A prefabricated house has already been set from the Regional Unios of Pireaus to operate since Monday morning as centre for the coordination of the urgent needs of hosting the increasing number of refugees. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras has a series of contacts ahead of EU summit [02] High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Avramopoulos welcome the modalities of their cooperation in the Aegean [03] Greece hosts 33,320 refugees, Migration Management Centre says [04] 337 refugees crossed the Greek-FYROM buffer zone in 24h [01] PM Tsipras has a series of contacts ahead of EU summit Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday will have a series of contacts in Brussels ahead of the EU summit later in the day. At 9.15 am Tsipras will meet the Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, at 10.00 am. At 10.30 am he will meet his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and at 11.00 the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A meeting of the EU member states has been scheduled around 15.00 (local time), following the EU-Turkey meeting. The Greek prime minister is expected to reiterate the need to meet the terms of the EU agreements on the refugee issue and put pressure on Turkey to speed up the readmission procedures. [02] High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Avramopoulos welcome the modalities of their cooperation in the Aegean "We welcome that Frontex and NATO reached a common understanding today on the modalities of their cooperation in the Aegean Sea," High Representative Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy Federica Mogherini and EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said in a joint statement. These operational modalities will maximise the effectiveness, ensure consistency and complementarity of the FRONTEX operation "Poseidon Rapid Intervention" in the area and the efforts of NATO's support activities, they said. According to the joint statement, the decision of NATO to assist in the conduct of reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings in the Aegean Sea is an important contribution to international efforts to tackle smuggling and irregular migration in the Aegean Sea in the context of the refugee crisis. [03] Greece hosts 33,320 refugees, Migration Management Centre says A total of 33,320 refugees are currently in the Greek territory, according to the data of the Coordinating Centre for the Management of Migration. 6,211 refugees are on the islands with the majority of them on Lesvos (3,550), Chios (1,422) and Samos (489) while 27,109 people are on the mainland (8,000 at Idomeni, 3,400 at Herso, 2,200 at Piraeus, 3,570 at Elliniko, 2,136 at Diavata, 2,797 at Nea Kavala, 1,050 at Polykastro and 1,423 at Schisto. [04] 337 refugees crossed the Greek-FYROM buffer zone in 24h A total of 337 refugees managed to cross the Greek-FYROM buffer zone over the last 24 hours. According to police, more than 12,000 refugees have been stranded at the camp at Idomeni. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Merkel speaks out against closure of Balkan route [02] The refugees problem is the result of Europe's reluctance to implement common desicions, says Alt. Migration Min Mouzalas [01] Merkel speaks out against closure of Balkan route German Chancellor Angela Merkel will ask not to include the phrase referring to the closure of the Western Balkans route in the final conclusions of the summit, as it would justify Austria's actions, a European official said in statements to ANA-MPA. The same source said that although the Austrian position was prevailing until yesterday, coordinated opposition reactions from the European Commission, German Chancellor Merkel and the Greek government appears to have changed the negotiation basis. Therefore, the main priorities are for Greece to continue the construction of hotspots, NATO and Frontex operation in the Aegean Sea to bring results, Turkey to accept the readmission of undocumented migrants before June 1 and a refugees relocation process from Turkey to start. [02] The refugees problem is the result of Europe's reluctance to implement common desicions, says Alt. Migration Min Mouzalas Europe should implement the common decisions on the refugees and stop being a victim of extreme right and xenophobic voices that exacerbate the problem, Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas on Monday said in an interview with Swiss-Italian Radiotelevision RSI. "The borders are closed and the whole problem is created because of the EU, which instead of materializing its own decisions has become the victim of unilateral actions. These actions which, on the one hand it strongly condemns and on the other hand cannot confront. And I am referring to the voices of some countries like Austria and those of Wisegrad", stressed Mouzalas. "The only solution EU can offer is the solution we agreed in the beginning of the crisis", which is the immediate allocation of refugees directly from Turkey, after the completion of a thorough identification of all refugees, said Mouzalas. "Of these three steps, the only one that is completed for now is their identification in Greece. What happens now is that we identify them and they remain in Greece," he concluded. As for the role of Turkey, the Alternate Minister said that the Turkish factor is "from the beginning a part within the problem. The flows begin from its territory." In his interview the minister stressed that Greece efforts focus on resolving the problem within its territory, but also to follow the basic principles of Europe. "We are trying hard to solve the problem created inside our territory and our effort is according to the common decisions and we hope that Europe will maintain the character it has since its birth. As a gynaecologist, I can assure you that the character cannot be changed. I think Europe will be exactly as it was born. The Europe of Enlightenment, of Romanticism and not the Medieval Europe." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Debt relief talk to start in April, institutions to return to Athens on Tuesday [02] ND leader: Greece should take lessons from Cyprus on implementing bailout [01] Debt relief talk to start in April, institutions to return to Athens on Tuesday BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/C. Vasilaki) - The heads of the institutions will return to Athens on Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the talks taking place at Monday's Eurogroup said. The same sources said that Eurozone finance ministers were informed by Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem that talks on debt relief for Greece will start on April. [02] ND leader: Greece should take lessons from Cyprus on implementing bailout Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that Greece should take lessons from Cyprus on how to correctly implement the measures of its bailout program, following a meeting with the leader of the Democratic Rally party, Averof Neofytou, in Nicosia. "It's a particularly important day for Cyprus, as today's Eurogroup will confirm the country's exit from the memorandum after three years of systematic effort," Mitsotakis said in joint statements to the press. He continued to say that, unlike Cyprus, Greece "is still in the grip of a third program, from which it is not expected to come out soon", adding that it is therefore "extremely important to take lessons from Cyprus and see what our Cypriot brothers did correctly and most importantly, how they implemented consistently a program by telling the truth to people, how they created a bipartisan consensus on necessary reforms and how they achieved fiscal consolidation without increasing taxes." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-07 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Greece pushing for refugee, migrant resettlement through Turkey [02] Foreign investors raised share in ASE capitalisation in February [01] Greece pushing for refugee, migrant resettlement through Turkey BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/M. Aroni)  Greece is pressuring at the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels for a solution that will include returning refugees and migrants from Greece to Turkey, on the condition that it they will be directly resettled to EU countries, government sources said on Monday. According to the same sources, the Visegrad Four (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland) are disagreeing with the return of Syrian refugees to Turkey, claiming it is not a safe third country. The Greek government criticized this stance, saying its "hypocritical", as these countries are not accepting refugees, do not cooperate for any solution and at the same time they're closing the borders, the sources said. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is asking for a decision on the refugee crisis to be taken tonight, saying that if there isn't, then the Balkan route should reopen to allow refugees to continue their journey. The Greek side is also saying that if the "Plan A" is not accepted  the return of refugees and migrants to Turkey  then we must go to "Plan B" which entails returning only migrants to Turkey. [02] Foreign investors raised share in ASE capitalisation in February Foreign investors raised their participation in the capitalisation of the Athens Stock Exchange in February to 59.6 pct including the participation of Hellenic Financial Stability Fund - while excluding HFSF participation their share rose to 62.3 pct from 61.8 pct in January. Foreign investors were net buyers in February, with capital inflows totaling 38.05 million euros, while Greek investors were net sellers with capital outflows amounting to 38.16 million. The value of transactions reached 1.275 billion euros in February, down 10.3 pct from January, and down 56.8 pct compared with February 2015. The average daily turnover was 60.73 million euros in February, down from 74.84 million in January and down from 155.43 million in February last year. The number of active investor codes rose to 21,159 in February from 17,556 in January (but down from 38,527 in February 2015). The market's capitalisation was 31.15 billion at the end of February, down 8.6 pct from a month earlier, and down 31.8 pct from February 2015. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Home Depot is planning to hire nearly 6,000 people across Canada, most of them on a single day this week.

The worlds largest home improvement retail chain will be holding recruitment events this Wednesday, March 9, at store locations across the country. A few stores' events will be held March 16.

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The retailer plans to hire nearly 2,700 people in Ontario and another 850 in British Columbia alone, as part of an annual campaign to ramp up hiring ahead of the busy spring home improvement season. Across all of North America, the retailer is looking for 80,000 new workers.

The number of Canadian hires is up from last year, when the companys spring recruitment drive aimed for 5,500 new workers, but still lower than the 6,300 the company hired the year before that.

Canadian retail sales have been under pressure in recent months, due mainly to the slowdown in oil-producing provinces.

While many of the jobs on offer are seasonal, Home Depot says about half of the staff it hires in these recruitment drives end up staying with the company.

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Americans looking for refuge from a potential Donald Trump-led apocalypse should consider "lovely" Cape Breton, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

At a global town hall hosted by The Huffington Post Canada on Monday, Trudeau was asked what he would do if the Republican candidate won and implemented his immigration policies, which include banning Muslims from entering the U.S. and building a wall at the country's border with Mexico (and making Mexico pay for it).

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Justin Trudeau isn't saying Americans should flee their country, but he's also saying Cape Breton is pretty awesome. (Photo: Tim Fraser/The Huffington Post Canada)

"Answering hypotheticals ... is not something that politicians should do," Trudeau said. "The fact is, Cape Breton is lovely all times of the year and if people do want to make choices that perhaps suit their lifestyles better, Canada is always welcoming and opening."

Watch the full town hall here.

Trudeau's comment comes as the Nova Scotia island is racking up interest from Americans looking to flee a Trump presidency.

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Cape Breton's rise to fame south of the border started after a website called "Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins" was launched, touting the benefits of living there.

The website's creator says he's received hundreds of emails from Americans making serious inquiries about moving to Nova Scotia.

The spotlight on Cape Breton only grew after CNN sent a team to ask residents what the island could offer Americans looking to escape a potential Trumpian wave.

With files from The Canadian Press

Also on HuffPost

Justin Trudeau: The Global Town Hall See Gallery
There may be a Russian flag planted on a seabed below the North Pole, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says everybody knows the pole belongs to Canada.

Trudeau made the tongue-in-cheek response when asked if the Kremlins claim to the polar region holds any merit. The Liberal prime minister said though Russian President Vladimir Putin isnt automatically wrong  that doesnt mean his Arctic claim is right, either.

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Im sure there are Americans who would point to Alaska as the closest point to the North Pole, and the Danes do the same to Greenland. And so forth, Trudeau said during a global town hall hosted by The Huffington Post Canada in Toronto on Monday.

He added that the hot-topic issue of Arctic sovereignty is one that wont be decided by politicians, but ultimately by scientists and international experts.

I trust science, Trudeau said, slipping in his own take on Putins claim to a region increasingly growing in geopolitical significance.

And from what Ive seen of the science I think hes wrong.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a global town hall Monday with The Huffington Post's Althia Raj and Howard Fineman.(Photo: Tim Fraser/HuffPost Canada)

With Canadian oil production being curtailed due to plunging prices, securing claim to a region believed to hold an estimated 13 per cent of the worlds undiscovered oil is proving to be increasingly attractive.

Increased military presence by both Canada and Russia, including the launch of expeditions searching for Arctic shipwrecks, are the latest in a line of passive-aggressive actions the two countries have conducted in recent years.

In 2007, Putins former envoy to the Arctic Artur Chilingarov even subscribed to an archaic land-claiming tradition and descended 14,000 feet below the North Pole to plant the countrys flag on the seabed.

In his declaration, Chilingarov wrote off Canadian claims to the Arctic as no more than ambition.

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Russian adventurer and Duma deputy Artur Chilingarov holds a Russian flag upon his arrival in Moscow on Aug. 7, 2007. (Photo: Natalia KolesnikovaAFP/Getty Images)

It was a reaction to Canadas announcement it was submitting its own claim to the North Pole with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. But despite the $117 million Canada spent mapping the area in contention, a decision may come down after Trudeaus time in office. According to The Verge, the UN body may take upwards of a decade to make a decision.

Trudeau: I havent ruled out building a Cobra Command bunker

Though Trudeaus predecessor, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, famously struck a hardline stance against Putin by telling the Russian president to get out of Ukraine  relations between the two countries have seemed to opened somewhat since Canadas change in government.

Trudeau was a recipient on a list of world leaders who received a new-year message from the Kremlin last year. This, after vowing to Canadian voters that he would be the kind of leader who would stand up to the bully that is Vladimir Putin.

Now four months into his four-year term, Trudeau still has much headway to make in his own foreign policy ambitions to restore and evolve Canadas reputation on the international stage.

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I havent ruled out building a Cobra Command bunker in the Arctic to defend against the Russians either.

During the town hall, the Liberal prime ministers responded to a hypothetical question if he has any plans to send Canadian troops abroad for future combat missions, he said future decision will be examined on a case to case basis and made a G.I. Joe reference.

I havent ruled out building a Cobra Command bunker in the Arctic to defend against the Russians either, he said.

His handling of foreign policy remains to be a work in progress. Despite being the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau  one of the countrys most famous prime ministers  he has yet to possess the same political tact in his handle of military- and geopolitically-sensitive issues.

A year before he was elected to the countrys highest office, Trudeau prompted guffaws from critics over his choice of words suggesting Canada should opt for a humanitarian mission in Iraq than trying to whip out our CF-18s and show them how big they are.

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The White House is set to host Trudeau for a state dinner on Thursday  the first time the U.S. has done so for a Canadian prime minister in two decades.

The Arctic is a topic on the two leaders agendas, but likely in the context of climate change than sovereignty.

Also on HuffPost:
The wife of Eagles co-founder Randy Meisner is dead after shooting herself in the head by accident, according to authorities.

Lana Rae Meisner, 63, was found dead Sunday by police at the couple's San Fernando Valley home, the Associated Press quotes a news release.

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According to investigators, Lana Meisner lifted a rifle from a storage case when another item inside hit the trigger, which caused the weapon to fire.

Sources told TMZ that earlier in the day, she had called 911 to report domestic violence, saying her husband was waving a BB gun and "acting erratically."

Although Randy Meisner left The Eagles in 1977, the couple has been in the news quite a bit recently.

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A judge ordered round-the-clock supervision for the now-69-year-old last July after he allegedly threatened to kill everyone at an Encino, Calif. hospital with an AK-47, according to The New York Daily News.

The musician's friend, James Newton, had filed papers seeking a conservatorship with him and his lawyer alleging the former Eagle was mentally ill, suffering from addiction, and that his wife was in denial about his health.
ballyscanlon via Getty Images African American man hiding his face

Canadian sperm banks are in short supply of locally sourced product. Only five to 10 per cent of donated sperm is actually from within our borders. The rest is imported.

Experts point to the contradiction surrounding the fact that Canada doesn't pay its donors. In 2004, the Parliament of Canada passed legislation called the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which makes it illegal to purchase sperm or advertise to purchase it. Anyone who does could face a $500,000 fine or 10 years in jail.

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However, it's perfectly legal to import sperm from countries like the U.S. where donors are paid. "This is a double standard that needs to end," Dr. Alfonso Del Valle, of Toronto's ReproMed told CBC Radio's Jim Brown of "The 180."

Just last year, a lawsuit by an Ontario couple put a spotlight on U.S. screening of sperm donors. Mothers Angela Collins and Margaret Hanson used sperm from a Health Canada approved U.S. bank to have their child.

They chose the American donor based on his profile, which said he had an IQ of 160 and an incredibly impressive education. However, they later discovered he is actually a felon who dropped out of college and has schizophrenia.

Weve put ourselves in a really lousy position where we are completely dependent on other countries for our imported gametes, Toronto fertility lawyer Sara Cohen told the Toronto Star. Third-party reproduction is a reality. There are a lot of people who need donor sperm, and we need to worry about that within our country. We need to make sure we are doing what we can to have a healthy supply.

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Shortfall

So how many sperm donors do we have in Canada? Fifty-one, according to a Calgary Herald article. They all live in the Greater Toronto area and most of them are Caucasian. With only eight Asian, two African Canadian and zero Aboriginal donors, diversity is an issue.

Its very challenging to recruit donors. We try our best, Kyle MacDonald, who also works for ReproMed, told the Toronto Star. There is still a need for donor semen, and as a result units do have to be brought in. It would be nice if we didnt have to look outside of Canada to help build Canadian families.

One in five Canadian couples experience fertility issues. But they aren't the only ones interested in sperm donation.

Increasingly, single women are deciding to go-it alone when having children and lesbian couples are looking to conceive. In total, about 5,500 Canadians are in need of sperm donations.

Complicated System

Potential Canadian sperm donors also face an onerous system. Unlike the Hollywood portrayal, donating sperm involves more than a clinic, a cup and some porn. Donors go through screenings, which include multiple appointments, questionnaires, blood work, samples and physical exams.

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For all this, they are reimbursed for their expenses -- if they submit all their invoices.

Dr. Del Valle would also like to see a streamlined system that makes donation a lot easier. He says that today's donors "feel vilified. Even though they wish to come in and provide a gift, they still have to go through this very cumbersome exercise of providing receipts and so on."

Awareness

According to a 2011 report from Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, we need a media awareness campaign to increase sperm donation in our country.

Under ideal conditions used in the best-case analysis, an altruistic sperm donation program could be achieved, the report reads. However, considerable effort would have to be made to create a significant increase in the awareness of the program and change in societal behaviour towards sperm donation.

Viking Babies

One country that isn't lacking in local sperm supply is Denmark. This Scandinavian country of 1.5 million people has about 1,000 men donating on a weekly basis. They have so much sperm, in fact, that they export most of it.

What's their secret? Donors certainly aren't doing this to get rich. In the U.S., donors receive $125 per sample, however, Danes get about $45.

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Some say altruism is the key to the Dane's excess semen. Ole Schou, the founder of Denmark's Cryos International, the world's largest sperm bank, told Vice: "In Denmark, we share everything."

"If I can help someone to achieve their dream of having children, then I would like to do it," a 25-year-old Danish donor named Kristian told The Guardian. "I believe in karma, and I come from a broken home. I think if you have considered having a child enough that you're contemplating insemination, then you have put more thought into it than most parents."

ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will be a frank voice in the Middle East, even if that means criticizing a friend and ally in Israel.

Trudeau made the remarks Monday at a global town hall hosted by The Huffington Post Canada, dedicated entirely to foreign policy. Paul Darlaston, a HuffPost reader, asked the prime minister why he appeared unwilling to differentiate his government from the past Conservative leadership by calling out Israeli actions that "block the peace process."

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a global town hall Monday, hosted by The Huffington Post Canada.(Photo: Tim Fraser/HuffPost Canada)

Trudeau said one need only tune into question period to see how opposition Tories are already accusing the new government of not being as supportive to the Jewish state.

He said the position of his government is more in line with Canada's "traditional approach" to Israel and the Palestinians.

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"Israel is a friend, Israel is an ally, Israel is a country that has values and an approach on many, many issues that are very much aligned with Canadians values," Trudeau said.

"But, at the same time we won't hesitate from talking about unhelpful steps like the continued illegal settlements. We will point that out. We will continue to engage in a forthright and open way because that's what people expect of Canada."

"There are times we disagree with our friends and we will not hesitate from pointing that out."

Trudeau suggested that true friendship does not mean unequivocal support  something that could provide a glimpse of his wider approach to global affairs.

"There are times we disagree with our friends and we will not hesitate from pointing that out. There are times we agree with our friends and will stand with them," he said. "And there are times we will disagree with our friends, but we will stand by our friends. We've all had that friend we've had to do that for."

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The prime minister speaks during a global town hall as moderator Althia Raj looks on. (Photo: Tim Fraser/HuffPost Canada)

Althia Raj, HuffPost Canada's Ottawa bureau chief who moderated the town hall, asked if Canada's staunch support of Israel at the United Nations  something the Trudeau government has continued from its predecessors  might hurt a future bid to win a Security Council seat.

Trudeau said that UN votes singling out Israel aren't an effective or helpful part of international discourse. That position isn't going to change now that Liberals are in charge, he said.

"The demonization, the de-legitimization or the double standard that's often applied to Israel is not helping reach the two-state solution of a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state alongside a peaceful, democratic Israel," Trudeau said.

UN member states will judge Canada on how consistently and responsibly this country engages with the world, he said.

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Canada sending 'the right signal' on Iran

Trudeau was also asked about his government's decision to lift some sanctions against Iran and start the process of restoring diplomatic relations that were severed by the past government of Stephen Harper. Conservatives have blasted the move as irresponsible, and have suggested it sends the wrong signal to a dangerous country.

"I think Canada is sending exactly the right signal," Trudeau answered, adding that Canada still needs to engage with nations that represent a threat to global or regional security.

"You need to have opportunities to put pressure, to tell them where they're going wrong, to tell them how to start going right," he said.

"You don't get to do that by crossing your arms and shouting indiscriminately and hoping they hear."

The prime minister called the nuclear deal hammered out by P5+1 countries  China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany  an "excellent step" to curb Iran's nuclear ambition. But there's more work to be done to address the country's state sponsorship of terrorism and oppression of human rights.

"You don't get to do that by crossing your arms and shouting indiscriminately and hoping they hear," he said.

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Trudeau also reiterated his desire to see to see Canada's embassy reopen in Tehran, but said that re-establishing relations with Iran is a long process that is just beginning.

Liberals' ISIS mission probably riskier,' PM says

The prime minister also addressed Canada's retooled mission against the so-called Islamic State and the controversial, $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

On ISIS, Trudeau offered that the Liberal plan to end the bombing campaign and triple the number of Canadian troops on the ground training Kurdish forces was the best possible contribution to the fight.

"What if everybody else decided to stop bombing and focus on training?" Raj asked. "What makes us so different that we get to opt out and they don't?"

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Canada halted its bombing mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in February. (Photo: Canadian Press)

Trudeau said Canadians have always been "extremely courageous" about stepping up in the face of conflict.

"And when you actually look at the risk profile, it's probably riskier to have someone on the ground, even far from the front lines in the Middle East, then over flying at 5,000 feet in a multi-million dollar aircraft," he said.

When asked if he would be open to engaging in airstrikes against ISIS in Libya, Trudeau said such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Saudi arms deal signed under Tories

HuffPost reader Sandra Currie noted in a question to the prime minister that Canada is selling military vehicles to "one of the worst countries in the world for human rights." She sought a commitment from Trudeau that he would prevent such deals in the future.

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Trudeau repeated that that the Saudi arms deal was signed under the previous government, and said that Liberals would set a "terrible precedent" by ripping it up now that they are in power.

He said his government would be transparent going forward and live up to Canada's responsibility not to sell arms to countries that have a high risk of using them against their own people.

Also on HuffPost
Susan Walsh/AP U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stand up following their bilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila, Philippines, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

During a panel discussion in which I participated last week in Washington D.C. on Prime Minister's Trudeau's upcoming visit, I couldn't help but think back to June when, as noted in HuffPost, the PM was the only candidate to devote substantial time to the relationship. That was more than just a signal for the Trudeau campaign; it was a good indicator of how we wound up with a state dinner and a suddenly brighter future for North America.

During the talk in D.C., it was clear that amongst the lobbyist and government relations crowd at the talk, there appeared to be a heightened sense of anticipation for this visit; above what one would normally expect for a run of the mill head of state visit.

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The difference with this visit seems partially to be pent up demand. In addition to the usual, 'clean slate' with a new head of state, it's been a while since we've had a visit by a Canadian PM where anyone expected something productive to come from the meeting.

There was also a widespread sense that this window of opportunity, that is now suddenly wide open, has a short shelf life of at best 315 days until Obama leaves office.

And this is good news for Canada with Trudeau as PM.

We have a US president who is well into thinking about his legacy and who has evinced a remorseless willingness to stick it to the US congress in order to check things off his bucket list. The extreme polarization in D.C. rules out compromise and encourages rather than disciplines the President's willingness to go the executive action route, something that will disappear with a new occupant in the White House. Arguably, the only real brake ln the President's willingness to use executive orders would be worries over hurting democrats running for the Senate or house. Barring that, anything that infuriates the Trump-istas is an action without cost and one that may actually help rile up the democrat's base.

If the PM is still looking for a gift to take to the White House, a nice fountain pen and a few bottles of ink would be appropriate.

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This US president, at this point in his trajectory, now suddenly has a potential new ally, fellow traveler, or more succinctly, a potential new 'bestie' to help him out on the now front-and-centre legacy project that is is his final 300 days in office.

That Trudeau has managed to get relations with Mexico back on track makes this change in Canada all the more important for Obama. While having an energy and environment accord with Canada is nice, if one is thinking 'legacy' then a "hemispheric accord" has a much better ring to it. Mexico has been a leader, verbally at least, on climate change issues in North America and the Mexicans have spent the past couple of years waiting for some sing of life and interest in "North American" projects from the other two amigos.

Suddenly, the pieces are falling into place for the upcoming North American leaders summit, which Canada is hosting likely early this summer to matter.

In that regard, the meeting in D.C. may be more of a strategic opportunity to build for the upcoming leaders' summit this summer. The real outcomes from the March D.C. trip may not appear until then.

What else to expect? Why not an agreement on softwood lumber or an extension of the ban on bringing new actions that runs for twelve months after the expiry of the old agreement and is set to run out this fall? While this is something that will not be announced next week the upcoming visit could be an opportunity for quiet assurances about a future pact. The softwood lumber agreement is, after all, another example of an executive action or something where the authority to get it done resides with the President, as I was reminded on my trip to D.C. by a former US official who worked on the last agreement.

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A quick sampling of 20 congressional districts that the Southern Pine Forest Association thinks important shows just over half are held by republicans but more interesting only 5 of the 20 appear to be competitive races. The mill operators tend to have ownership on both sides of the border so no votes lost there. But, those who use lumber, workers in the housing and contractor industries, tend to be heavily Latino/Hispanic meaning likely to be democratic. Low prices on lumber means lower prices for housing inputs, which should translate into more demand and more jobs. What was true back during the last softwood dispute is more true today thanks to the huge rise of the US Latino/Hispanic population. In Canada we tend not to realize that every month in the US 50,000 to 60,000 US born Latinos/Hispanics turn eighteen and become eligible to vote. The demographic numbers for Trump supporters, on the other hand, are declining.

The political cost of a new agreement versus potential gains from shoring up and motivating the Latino vote in key swing states such as Nevada would seem to argue decisively in favour of the President going ahead.

A new agreement, aka promoting growth in the home building industry, jobs for Latinos/Hispanics and cheaper homes for everyone, would be an awfully nice message for democratic candidates, and a potential VP candidate from Texas, to have as a key part of their stump speech this fall.

Almost as nice as it would be for the Prime Minister as an addition to his soon-to-be-written "What have I done since getting elected last year" speech.

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But, for whatever comes out of this visit and the leaders' summit this summer, the clock is ticking. Once a new president and congress take office it's going to be a while until, or depending on the US election outcome, if, it opens again.
Darryl Dyck/CP

Ottawa might wish to consider softening the rhetoric on the purported irreversibility of the $15-billion military export contract with human rights-pariah Saudi Arabia. The more it continues to assert that "what is done is done" in the face of obvious red flags and unresolved questions about the authorization of the deal, the more it backs itself into an increasingly untenable corner.

It appears that the Trudeau Liberals prefer to commit to more stringent, transparent military export controls in the future, as long as this particular deal can proceed under its veil of secrecy. Transparency can inform subsequent contracts, seems to be their position, just not this one.

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But this is no ordinary deal. It represents the largest transfer of military goods in Canadian history, and the equipment is going to one of the worst human rights violators on the planet. This combination makes for the perfect test case of Trudeau's promises of change, openness and principled government.

Only weeks ago, Global Affairs Canada seemed to veer from its irreversibility line when a spokesperson conceded that the department could consider suspending or cancelling existing permits, should relevant reports emerge. The point is, reports relevant to this deal emerge regularly.

So far in 2016, much information has been presented that should influence government deliberations about the best way forward. It is unimaginable that Global Affairs Canada is not aware of the following:

On January 2, Saudi Arabia summarily executed approximately 50 individuals, including a high-profile Shia cleric, increasing regional tensions and earning widespread international condemnation.

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On January 12, prominent human rights lawyer Samar Badawi was arbitrarily arrested and questioned about links to a Twitter account campaigning for the release of imprisoned human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair. Her brother, imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website for public debate; his wife lives in Canada.

On January 27, a leaked report of a United Nations-mandated panel revealed "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilian targets "in violation of international humanitarian law" by the Saudi-led coalition in neighbouring Yemen.

On February 5, a Nanos Research poll found that a majority of Canadians asked about the Saudi arms deal ranked the protection of human rights over job creation.

On February 25, in a non-binding vote, the European Parliament overwhelmingly supported an arms embargo of Saudi Arabia.

On February 27, the Associated Press reported that a court in Saudi Arabia had sentenced a 28-year-old man who admitted to being an atheist and refused to repent to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes.

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On February 28, respected former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler called on Trudeau's government to reconsider the deal: "We should not sell arms to a country that engages in a persistent pattern of human-rights violations." Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy had previously said, "The degree of oppression against women and dissidents in Saudi Arabia is becoming almost epidemic."

On February 29, an Angus Reid survey indicated that fewer than one in five Canadians believe that sticking by the deal with Saudi Arabia is a good decision.

While the information above covers just two months, the contract with Saudi Arabia is projected to last at least 14 years. How long is Ottawa prepared to skirt legitimate questions about the human rights implications of this deal?

Questions about the dubious eligibility of Saudi Arabia as a recipient of Canadian-made military equipment have been raised for over two years.

Ottawa has pointed to the need to uphold contractual obligations in regard to the Saudi arms deal. But it defies logic and credibility that there are no provisions for suspension or termination under any circumstances.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion has said that Canada would "probably" face penalties, were it to back out of the deal. Asked for clarification, Global Affairs Canada claimed it is bound by commercial confidentiality to say no more. Oddly, it seems that while Canada would break the terms of the contract if it revealed those terms, Saudi Arabia is not breaking them by committing gross violations of human rights.

Questions about the dubious eligibility of Saudi Arabia as a recipient of Canadian-made military equipment have been raised for over two years. Yet two successive governments have failed to address the most basic question: how can the authorization of this deal be consistent with the human-rights safeguards of Canadian export controls?

If a satisfactory response exists, it would clearly be in the government's interests to articulate it. The most plausible answer: the deal is simply not consistent with Canadian export controls. But a strong rationale does exist for the government to review the authorization of this contract and address valid questions about its human rights implications.

The exit strategy for the Trudeau government is remarkably straightforward: Adhere to applicable arms control norms and regulations.

Abide by current domestic export controls, whose applicability to the Saudi arms deal is beyond dispute. Adopt the norms of the international Arms Trade Treaty, which Canada intends to join soon and which will subject Canadian arms deals to even greater scrutiny. This position gives Ottawa a solid, legitimate framework on which to justify its handling of the Saudi arms deal going forward.

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Polls indicate that most Canadians would support a review of this deal, and strict adherence to domestic and international norms would be a compelling argument in favour of such a review. So there is, in fact, a politically sound exit strategy from the Saudi arms deal quagmire inherited from the previous government--should Ottawa find itself needing one.
World Vision

Mother Bareaa, her husband, Hisham, and their daughters Sedra and Judi, couldn't wait to connect with other Syrian families. World Vision Photo

I recently finished reading the book Room on which the Academy Award-nominated film was based. In it, a mother raises her young son under unthinkable circumstances: a tiny room in which they were both held captive.

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As I closed the book, I was left with a sense of awe for what "Ma" had somehow managed to provide for her little boy Jack during five years in captivity. The mother had almost nothing to work with and unimaginable cruelty and deprivation to contend with.

But Ma used all of her resources, her love, her patience, and her creativity, to raise an intelligent, compassionate child with an unshakable sense of his worth. Jack eventually emerges from the room with the capacity to embrace the world and prevail.

Meeting mothers from Syria

I had much of the same feeling last Saturday, but this time, the mothers were real-life and standing right in front of me. They had all recently arrived from the Middle East having escaped Syria, and had come to a giant play date organized by World Vision and the Mennonite Central Committee for their families.

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Photo/World Vision

In some ways, the play date had a lot in common with a typical Canadian party. There were craft tables, face painting, and a bouncy castle. How many times have I stood talking with moms at similar events, while our children played? But in other ways, Saturday couldn't have been more different.

I met Manal (top right) and her family shortly after they arrived at the playdate. The way daughter Bayan (right) ran for the bouncy castle, you'd never think she spent a year-and-a-half in a refugee camp! World Vision photo

Many of the families knew very little English, so spoke with me through translators. Some had been in Canada only a couple of weeks. Others had been here longer, but hadn't met any other Syrians in the towns where they're living. The mothers greeted one another with a sense of immediate recognition, even if they'd never met before. For in a way, they knew one another already.

The wonder of mother Bareaa

Bareaa's name means "a wonderful thing," and the name fits. I've never met a woman so generous with her warmth, her smiles and her hugs. Despite the cruelty and deprivation she's endured, Bareaa was so quick to see and feel the joy that she could see all around her. And do everything that she could for other Syrian refugee mothers and their children.

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"Sister, I came today because I wanted to meet other Syrians," Bareaa, told me. "I want to help them with anything they need. My sponsored family gave me so very much -- and I want to give some to others."

Beyond thanking and hugging any Canadian she spoke with, Bareaa was looking out for the other Syrian children at the play date.

"All of the children are happy and smiling," she said, her eyes filled with joy. "I can see that they are doing well."

Bareaa's girls, Judi and Sedra, made a new friend on Saturday, Jubilene of Toronto. World Vision photo

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Because the play date was a happy event, I didn't want to spoil things by asking painful questions. But as the children ran and played together, I found myself looking over at the mothers, watching them.

Some of the moms in the room may have clutched their babies while running from gunfire and bombing. Others may have prayed as they spent months living in a tent wondering what possible future lay ahead for their children. And without a doubt, every woman in the room used all of her resourcefulness to keep her children warm, fed and comforted.

"Bravo, sister. I honour you. I would do anything to take away some of the pain that you've experienced. And I know that I'll never understand what you carry around inside."

Many of the women carry memories that their new friends in Canada may never be able to understand. Bareaa shared one story.

"When we were in the crowds, leaving, we saw one woman running with a cushion," she tells me. "She was carrying a cushion." I kept listening, curious. Of all the things to bring with her during a sudden exodus, why did this mother choose a cushion? I soon realized I was processing this story as someone who's never experienced the shattering effects of war.

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"She thought she had grabbed her little boy," explained Bareaa, her warm eyes filling with tears. "She looked up suddenly and said to us 'It's not my son!'"

I needed to step away for a while, and pull myself together before returning to the party.

My message to Syria's mothers

I didn't get to tell the mothers at the party everything that I wanted to. And there are thousands of Syrian mothers living in Canada whom I'll never meet at a play date.

Here's what I want to say to each one of them:

"Bravo, sister. I honour you. I would do anything to take away some of the pain that you've experienced. And I know that I'll never understand what you carry around inside."

"But your children -- they're so beautiful. And you've used all of your resources -- your love, your patience, and your creativity -- to keep them alive and healthy. You've taught them when there was no school and comforted them when there was nothing comforting to say. You've made 'home' in camps, tents, and on the side of the road."

"I will do whatever I can, through my donations, through my prayers and through my writing, to help carry your children to safety and happiness."

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This International Women's Day March 8, please join me in thinking of Syria's mothers.

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Tetra Images via Getty Images Teenaged girl looking away from mother

"My child's doctor won't talk to me", is a common refrain of many parents who have a seriously mentally ill child, whether that child is 14 or 40. So why do so many psychiatrists and allied mental health professions refuse to talk to family members?

Excluding family from a patient's care is contrary to the Canadian Medical Association's Code of Ethics, that urges physicians to "....be considerate of the patient's family and significant others and cooperate with them in the patient's interest". The Canadian Medical Protection Agency (CMPA), which has a mandate to "...protect the professional integrity of physicians and promote safe medical care in Canada", suggests doctors, "communicate openly, sensitively, respectfully, and professionally with the patient and family".

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The term "circle of care" refers to the team of healthcare providers who support an individual's mental and physical health. In the field of mental health, this may include psychiatrists, psychologists, family doctors, social workers, case workers, and other health professionals.

For many with a serious mental illness, like schizophrenia, their family is a critical component of their "circle of care". Many parents care for their mentally ill child well into adulthood, providing emotional and financial support, as well as monitoring for signs of illness, ensuring medication compliance, and encouraging regular psychiatric follow-up.

For many families, providing support is highly stressful and exhausting. In one survey of 362 Torontonians who care for a person with schizophrenia, 65 per cent said they rarely or never have enough time off from care giving to enjoy their own activities. Yet parents often feel they are treated as interlopers by mental health providers, unwelcome to participate in discussions or decisions regarding their loved one.

Linda and Dave's 35-year-old son has schizophrenia. He lives with his parents at the moment but has had lengthy periods when he has lived independently. They have always supported Tom's wellness, driving him to his psychiatrist appointments, watching for signs of illness and reminding him to take his medications. They have repeatedly advocated for him, to help him access mental health care in the community, especially if he's acutely ill.

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Tom had been living with a friend and was under the care of a community mental health team. Recently, Tom forgot to pick up his medication and within days he had escalating psychotic symptoms, including loud and aggressive auditory hallucinations. He threatened his roommate, he stopped eating and he was upsetting neighbours with his unusual behaviour. The roommate called Dave, who took Tom to hospital.

When Tom was discharged from hospital weeks later, he had to move back to his parent's home because his roommate refused to let him return. Linda and Dave hoped to get him a new independent living situation quickly, but before long the tell-tail signs of psychosis started to creep back, and he again required an urgent hospital admission. It was only then that his parents learned that Tom had been discharged from his mental health team. He was supposed to see his family doctor to monitor his illness and treatment. The trouble was no one had bothered to tell Dave, Linda or Tom's family doctor!

Tom's parents have tried to be included in his "circle of care" since he was diagnosed in his late teens. They are adamant they have no wish to attend all of his appointments or to know their son's personal information, like his sexual history. However, when they know he is getting sick, they'd like to be heard. And if he's discharged from a community mental health team or hospital, they'd like to be informed, especially if he's moving into their home.

Not every patient is fortunate enough to have a loving, engaged and supportive family that wants only wellness and independence for their child.

So why wouldn't mental health professionals want to talk to these families? Too often it is due to a misguided sense of the rules regarding confidentiality. Sometimes mental health care teams are over-extended and don't want to deal with the expectations of family members. Some still hold the damaging and completely discredited belief that families cause schizophrenia. Excluding family from important decision-making discussions leaves them frustrated and demoralized and is often not in the patient's best interest.

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When a patient consents, there is no barrier to sharing appropriate information with their family. However, in a situation where a patient lacks insight, represents a risk to themselves or others, and refuses to consent to allow information to be shared, the risks of harm should outweigh the right to confidentiality.

An excellent 2015 article argued that,

"... legal and ethical duties to maintain confidentiality must be balanced against the duty to ensure the safety and well-being of patients and their families...clinicians should endeavor to promote the best interests of their patients even in situations that do not involve a risk of physical harm to self or others."

To avoid an ethical dilemma at a time of acute crisis, doctors should ask for consent to speak to a family when they first engage with a patient. If a patient were to refuse, it's important to explore why and to explain the value of including their family. Judgment must be exercised, and patients reassured that sensitive personal information will remain confidential.

Mental health care providers must establish a more inclusive, reasonable approach and include supportive families within the circle of care. They must negotiate with patients and their families if they want to achieve the best outcomes.

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Winslow Productions via Getty Images USA, New York State, Cows in barn

Nearly two years after Mercy for Animals (MFA) went public with an undercover investigation into Canada's largest dairy farm, charges have finally been laid against the company, Chilliwack Cattle Sales, located in British Columbia. Seven of its employees are set to appear in court in April.

MFA's footage shocked the entire country. The video shows farm workers violently hitting cows and using chains and tractors to lift sick animals by the neck. Injured cows with open wounds were shown to be left without veterinary care. Wounded cows suffering from open wounds we left without veterinary care.

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One may wonder why the abuse exposed at Chilliwack cattle farm is any less severe, barbaric or cruel than similar acts involving pets.

Before rejoicing that justice will finally be done, let's carefully examine the case. Despite the voluntary and brutal nature of the alleged acts, charges were laid under the British Columbia Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act -- not under the Criminal Code. Why does this matter? Criminal charges are much more serious because they carry the risk of a criminal record and up to five years in prison. In contrast, offenders under the provincial act only face a $75,000 fine and a maximum of two years imprisonment.

This is no minor administrative detail. If the victims had been cats or dogs, there is no doubt that criminal charges would have been laid. Last month, an Ontario man was sentenced to two years in prison under the Criminal Code for tying up a dog with electrical tape. In 2014, another man was sentenced to imprisonment for beating his dog, Breezy; an act the judge ruled to be "deplorable, barbaric and cruel." One may wonder why the abuse exposed at Chilliwack cattle farm is any less severe, barbaric or cruel than similar acts involving pets. What would it take for cows, pigs and hens raised on industrial farms to be protected by the Criminal Code?

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Beyond this double standard that farm animals are the victims of, the problem remains that the abusive practices that lead to prosecution are not even necessarily the worst. Common industrial agriculture practices, despite their inherent cruelty, are perfectly legal. We don't need an undercover investigation to know that a large number of dairy cows spend their life chained, suffer from being separated from their calves shortly after birth, endure inflamed udders and bleeding hoofs, and inevitably end up at the slaughterhouse.

In our society focused on productivity and profit, cows are treated as milk making machines for their entire, shortened lives. Yet there is widespread consent amongst experts that cows are as intelligent and sensitive as cats and dogs. In other words, the problem is not only the extreme abuse exposed every time an undercover investigation is conducted, but also generally accepted industry practices. The thought of our pets going through what is merely normal for farm animals is the stuff of nightmares, yet we accept it as normal for cows, pigs and chickens. It is not only in court, but also on our plates, that we must challenge this unjustifiable double standard.

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tuk69tuk via Getty Images Canada flag brick wall background

For over two centuries Canada has enjoyed an excellent relationship with the United States. Each year, without fail, Gallup polls put us at the top of the list of countries that Americans view most favorably. There have been some bumps along the way, but for the most part we've remained trusted allies.

In response to my recent blog about some of America's most vehement critics of President Obama, one commentator legitimately asked why as head of the Association for Canadian Studies I felt the need to write about it. "In Canada", the commentator added, "we have far too much of an obsession with American domestic issues."

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When some may think it's best to mind their own business when a very close friend is about to make a really bad decision, I believe it's important to let them know. With the strong possibility that the highly divisive Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for the United States presidency, it is often out of friendship that many Canadians feel compelled to share their concerns with their neighbours to the south. After all, as friends, we don't want walls between us.

Canadian uneasiness over Trump is reflected in a recent Angus Reid Foundation survey which reveals that some 55% support the removal of Trump's name from buildings in Toronto and Vancouver.

Residents of those cities are considerably more favorable to dropping his name. In the same survey, some two-thirds of Canadians disagree with Trump's statement calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" These same Canadians contend that Trump's statement is "bad for society" because it encourages fear and hatred of Muslims. Sadly, about one-third of Canadians take the opposite view saying Trump is good for society because he's bringing "politically incorrect" topics into public discourse. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dump-trump-name-from-towers-canadians-tell-pollsters-1.3371299).

It's wise for elected officials to be prudent when it comes to relations with their US counterparts. It is not surprising that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he'll avoid commenting on the candidacy of Trump during his forthcoming visit to the White House. Apparently, the Prime Minister doesn't like to get involved in other's domestic politics. When asked last year about the idea of suspending Muslim travel, Trudeau said he didn't want to comment on American politics, but stands against the politics of fear, division, intolerance and hatred. Should Trudeau reiterate the comment during the State visit it will inevitably be seen as a criticism of Trump.

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The same restraint was not practiced recently when representatives of the US Congress held hearings about Canada's resettlement plan for 25,000 Syrian refugees. The committee's top Republican, Ron Johnson, described the plan as a "...a pretty significant ramp-up" and wondered whether short cuts might be taken. Leading US Democrat Tom Carper countered that "... we should support our ally Canada in doing the right thing in the most secure manner possible." The Canadian government was invited to participate in the hearing, but declined, citing the historical precedent of avoiding that partisan chamber. Still, Canadian Ambassador the United States, Gary Doer issued a note to the committee asking them to "rest assured that no corners, including security screening, are being cut in order to achieve the government's objectives."

As regards certain political decisions made by one's neighbors, sometimes your business is their business.

America's choice of President has important global ramifications and as their northern neighbor and closest friend it might be irresponsible to be indifferent to such fundamental choices. Sure it is a decision to be made by American voters and the consequences are mostly theirs to bear. As repugnant as many of us might find Trump we'll need to respect their choice. But, in the interim, it doesn't mean that Canadians should be prevented, if they so desire, from forcefully giving their opinion.
shutterstock sex education

Reading this article , I was reminded of an interview I had done on a national radio program last spring. I guess it's time to revisit this discussion.

The article above explains the dilemma for (heterosexual) boys:

"...while boys crave closeness, they are expected to act as if they are emotionally invulnerable. Among the American boys I interviewed, I observed a conflict between their desires and the prevailing masculinity norms - if they admit to valuing romantic love, they risk being viewed as 'unmasculine'."

The writer encourages sexual health educators to teach boys about emotional intimacy; but there is a distinct difference between emotional intimacy and love. One can certainly have one without the other. Let's be frank. Adults know full well that we don't have to be "in love" or in a committed relationship to enjoy the pleasures of sexual intimacy. And one can have emotional intimacy in a casual sexual relationship to which one would not necessarily apply the "love" label.

The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality has published numerous articles on casual sexual relationships (CSRs). This article identifies four types of casual sexual relationships: One Nights Stands, Booty Calls, Fuck Buddies, and Friends with Benefits. Despite the apparent crudeness of the terms, these are indeed intimate relationships, which hopefully include the basic requirements of good communication, honesty and respect.

Sex educators need to acknowledge the reality of CSRs rather than insist on a societal ideal. In the early days of sexual health education, we used "love" as part of the discussion of heterosexual pairings leading to commitment and babies. "When a man and a woman love each other..." etc. For sex educators, in the same way that we have sought to be broadly inclusive in terms of gender and orientation, we need to avoid upholding a hierarchy of intimate relationships with marriage at the pinnacle.

Not so very long ago, lesson plans abounded with examples of the difference between infatuation and love. No doubt these classes evolved from educators' fear of talking about pleasure: we were afraid it might lead to early, risky experimentation. But what would be the point of raising the question of "love" with children having their first crushes who are just discovering the pleasure of holding hands or enjoying that first kiss? With older adolescents, at what point in the discussion of the sexualization of relationships would we then introduce the notion of love?

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The article insists that we talk with young people about feelings. And we do. We want them to be able to evaluate whether they feel happy and satisfied in their relationships. We encourage them to ask themselves: Do I look forward to seeing my partner? How do I feel when we are together? Does my partner treat me the same when we are alone as when we are in public? On the whole, do I feel happier because I am in this relationship?

Not all feelings measure up to the standard set by romantic notions of love.

Let's teach young people about emotional and sexual intimacy.

What we really need to teach young people are the bases of healthy relationships; viz., integrity, honesty, respect, fairness and good communication. These are, after all, the values that we hope will inform their relationships. Depending on the individuals, all of these qualities may be found in CSRs as well as long-term committed relationships. Moreover, we can teach them the prerequisites of sexual activity - consent, safety and pleasure - which are also rooted in equitable, clear communication.

Let's teach young people about emotional and sexual intimacy, so that when they are ready to engage in more sophisticated sexual activity, they are able to be present, find connection, take risks, experience erotic intimacy, communicate their desires, explore and be authentic. After all, aside from asexual people who may only want to experience emotional intimacy, the rest of us also want our sexual desires to be fulfilled.

It is important to point out that many people in battered relationships are in love, albeit a love that is based in a power imbalance. This tie is particularly hard to break. Not only do women find it difficult for complex reasons to leave their male abusers but the dynamic also holds true for same gender partners. We may think we can change the person or control the situation, but it is no exaggeration to say that the scenario may also escalate into murder. As Maya Angelou said of jealousy,

"Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening."

So let's teach young people about equitable relationships, and offer them the skills to seek happiness in their relationships, whether they consider themselves to be in love or not.

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jarun011 via Getty Images Syringe with drugs for epilepsy treatment

It's difficult for those with chronic medical conditions to be dependent on prescription drugs but that becomes unbearable when they also have to worry about their drug supplies running out. There is a world wide shortage of many drugs which governments are seemingly doing little to alleviate. The current Canadian crisis is impacting those with epilepsy and many with bipolar disorder. Health Canada's response appears to be callous disregard.

By way of background, when a new drug is brought to market, the company is given a patent so that they can recoup the cost of development. That patent lasts for 20 years at which time generic pharmaceutical companies can copy the compound, have it approved by the regulatory body (Health Canada in Canada) and sell it.

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Now, here is the kicker. The copy does not have to be the exact same as the original but can vary between 80% and 125% for the active ingredient. While this variance seems huge, the actual difference is only 5% according to experts. If you are prescribed a generic for the first time and/or are needing to take that for an extended period, this won't matter. If you've been on one generic and have been stabilized or on the brand name for a long time and its supply runs out, an equal dose of another version may not work as well. This problem was explored by Dr James Aw in the National Post and on CTV News for the asthma drug Ventolin

According to Suzanne Nurse of Epilepsy Canada, "There have been an unprecedented number of drug shortages in Canada in recent years, including multiple shortages of epilepsy medications. Seventy-four percent (17 out of 23) of the drugs used to prevent seizures have been affected by shortages."

These drugs prevent seizures and, in many cases, are also used as mood stabilizers for people with bipolar disorder. I first learned of the problem from Lembi Buchanan in Victoria who is chair of the Alliance for Access to Psychiatric Medications part of the Best Medicines Coalition. Her husband is on divalproex sodium for bipolar disorder (brand name Epival) and they found out that their regular pharmacy had run out. They were able to find supplies nearby but that source is running out too.

All forms of divalproex sodium are running out and it will be months before there are supplies available. Dr Jacalyn Duffin of Queens University in Kingston, Ontario operates a website that she set up and maintains herself to deal with drug shortages and she includes a section on the impact these shortages have on people. It is her assessment that there are about 800 drugs in shortage in Canada, mostly generic. The list is available at Drug Shortages Canada which was set up by Health Canada in 2015.

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The original intent of the drug reporting database was that it was to be mandatory that companies report shortages but that has not happened according to Epilepsy Canada. Conservative Health Minister, Rona Ambrose, promised that companies with shortages would be "named and shamed" but that has not happened. Companies with shortages could also be fined but, again, that has not happened.

When I first asked Health Canada about the Epival shortage, Andre Gagnon their spokesperson, replied that when shortages occur, Health Canada works with all involved to solve the problem. He added that the problem with Epival had been resolved and that the "supply is believed to be adequately managed through the allocation strategy that has been put in place." That was not completely accurate as their own database showed shortages that would not be resolved till much later in the year.

When I challenged that, he replied that "Apotex and BGP Pharma have indicated that their products are on backorder. Apotex is expecting resupply of their product, Apo-divalproex, on April 30, 2016. BGP Pharma is expecting resupply of Epival on July 22, 2016." He added that "according to information provided by the company the supply of Teva-divalproex is being made available to the Canadian market. Supply is being managed by the manufacturer. The company has indicated that recent shipments were released in February and additional supply dates are estimated for March and April."

He then reiterated that "At this point in time, supply is believed to be adequately managed through an allocation strategy that has been put in place. Health Canada will continue to closely monitor the situation."

However, Suzanne Nurse told me in an e-mail that "I strongly disagree that supply of divalproex sodium is being adequately managed. It's not remotely close to being adequately managed. Pharmacies are unable to get supply and patients are unable to get their prescriptions refilled. People who rely on this drug are at risk. Immediate action is needed to resolve this shortage."

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As for Teva, she said they "revised their resupply estimates on drugshortages.ca today (March 4). I don't know if they released new product today and these are revised estimates for the next batches? Or if the resupply dates are being pushed back? From the information provided on the notification website it appears that the dates have been pushed back, since there's nothing to indicate that any inventory of Teva-Divalproex was shipped this week. This update from Teva Canada Ltd. along with the revised estimates from BGP Pharma this week for all strengths of Epival (resupply date July 22) would suggest that this situation is going to impact an even greater number of people."

Why these shortages exist at all is debatable and Dr Duffin provides 14 possible reasons on her website. She did tell me that the shortages worldwide are mostly generic and that it would make sense for name brand companies, once the patent expires, to lower their prices to the level of generics and continue to sell at that lower price rather than compete with the lower priced generics. Or, she suggested, the Canadian government should set up its own generic company (Pharmacan) to manufacture and ensure an uninterrupted supply of essential drugs.

Regardless, Dr Jane Philpott, our new Liberal Health Minister, has her work cut out for her to resolve this issue.
Jan Stanishek via Getty Images Canadian flag

It was May 10, 1534, early in the 16th century, when a little squadron of "first immigrants" set foot on "Canadian" soil in an expedition mission. The new arrivals consisted of two small vessels, with crews amounting to about one hundred and twenty men, led by the Frenchman Jacques Cartier (or Quartier), a mariner originating from the small French seaport St. Malo, who arrived off Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland.

Kanata, or Canada, meaning "village" or "settlement," became the newly discovered land for the Europeans, mainly the French and the English. As the years passed, French migrants started flooding into Canada, settling in colonies and enhancing the power of what was then considered "the new France." The second wave of "immigrants" came after the British conquest in the 18th century. Thousands of English speaking settlers arrived to reside in "Canada."

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A couple of years after the Confederation, under the reign of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, Canada issued its first Immigration Act of 1869. The main objectives of the act were to ensure the safety of immigrants and protecting them from being exploited. Throughout the years, the nation of Canada, as we are aware, became a land of immigration, a home to millions of people from different lands, ethnicities, cultures and religious beliefs. Every new comer that has settled in Canada in the last few hundred years and those who will settle in the future share one common name: "immigrants."

Canada, proudly, was the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy.

A land that houses millions of citizens on its soil, all from various backgrounds, definitely searches for some sort of inclusive concept that brings all their varieties under one accepted human model. The people who have settled since the French arrival in the 16th century strived to have the uniqueness of their identities protected, their dignities respected and their civic rights valued and not violated.

Multiculturalism, as a comprehensive communal doctrine, came to be the right answer for the nation of Canada to create its unique, coherent and inclusive society which guarantees equality, freedom, fairness and reverence to all its citizens. The various cultures, religious doctrines, social values and ethnicities merit equal respect. For the most part, Canadian origins are from every corner of the world, reflecting a wide range of cultural environments that carry a collection of values and doctrines. Having the rights of aboriginals, the natives of Canada and all other citizens in mind, multiculturalism becomes the precise recipe of a healthy country.

In 1971, Canada officially adopted multiculturalism as "an inclusive citizenship" policy. This policy was enhanced in 1988 by the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. The Act was designed to create equality, before all authorities and at all levels, for all citizens with respect to their differences and origins. It emphasized that discrimination was prohibited by Canadian laws and regulations. All citizens are entitled to the protection of their identities and beliefs. Canada, proudly, was the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy.

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There are voices, now and then, which object to multiculturalism as a social formula. These anti-equality calls are considered by many to be coming from either people who may be racist by nature, for electoral political reasons, or from those who believe that they are supreme over certain other citizens. Needless to say that the wide majority of Canadians believe in, support and enjoy the bounties and rewards of multiculturalism. All "immigrants" that landed in Canada starting from Jacque Cartier until now, enjoy the livelihood of peace, harmony, freedom and fairness amongst all citizens.

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The remaining few Europeans who still think were a conservative bunch this side of the Channel would have had to reconsider if theyd tuned into BBC Breakfast just before 7am this morning.

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The programme was broadcasting a segment on the all-female Yorkshire Rows, and one inadvertently revealed a bit more than intended.

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During a clip of the rowing four at sea, the camera panned down and briefly showed one talented oarswoman Helen Butters naked from the waist down.

Whoopsie on the high seas

Viewers didnt miss the moment, soon taking to social media to discuss the lack-of-wardrobe malfunction. While many said it was a bit much to see on the TV at breakfast time, several others admitted rewinding the segment just to check.

Lest the stunning sporting achievements of the Yorkshire Rows be overshadowed by this accidental boating blooper, we should add the ladies form a tireless squad, who have successfully rowed the Atlantic and broken a world record while they were about it.

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The Yorkshire Rows set a Guinness World Record as the oldest all-female crew to cross an ocean when they arrived in English Harbour, Antigua, on February 25, 67 days and five hours after leaving La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

They were competing in the 3,000-mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

The crew members told Breakfast hosts Dan Walker and Louise Minchin that being naked was all part of the job, because clothes got soaked and took so long to dry there was no point in covering up

Yorkshire Rows are a team of 4 working mums, united by one dream to cross the finish line in Antigua, bringing glory to Yorkshire by breaking the world record for being the oldest crew (male or female) to row any ocean. As they all have full time jobs and 2 children each, it takes a lot of planning and management to be able to fit in all the training, courses and fund raising! In addition, they also want to raise as much money for their chosen charities at the same time. The teams aim is to inspire others, particularly people who are pulled in so many different directions, and also children (especially our own) that with effort, team work and application anyone can do anything.
Aimie Adam, a survivor of the Dunblane massacre, broke down on national television this morning as she said she "feels sorry" for gunman Thomas Hamilton.

"I sometimes feel a bit sorry for him, but not in a good way," she told Good Morning Britain. "It must have been a horrible life for him to have to feel like he needed to do that."

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Just five years old at the time, Aimie was shot twice in the leg and hid in a cupboard to escape being killed by Hamilton.

Describing that day she said: I dont actually remember that much of the day. I just sort of remember the outlines, I remember it being really cold and getting ready for PE so I had my tights on underneath my gym shorts and I remember queueing up to go into the PE hall. Then I dont actually remember him walking in or opening fire or anything it just sort of happened. And then I dont know, I must have just realised that there wasnt something quite right. I kind of felt a bit strange, a bit, it was like weird and it was quite smoky in the room.

Aimie Adam was five when she was shot

Aimie crawled into a cupboard in the PE hall to escape the gunmen. She said: I must have known there was something wrong because I remember my right leg trailing behind me, so I kind of knew but I obviously didnt know I had been shot because when you are five you dont really know what that means.

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Speaking about the effect the shooting has had on her physically, Aimie said: So I have no movement in my right leg from the knee down or feeling. It damaged the sciatic nerve obviously from the bullet in my spine. I walk with a drop foot because I cant move it properly. My foot is also quite a bit smaller than the other one just because it hasnt really grown since the accident, just with the sciatic nerve and things being damaged.

And on the psychological effect of being involved in Dunblane, she said: I just feel like its just part of my life, so it sort of feels like the normality for me. Everybody is like, wow I can't believe that happened but to me it just feels like its normal but I suppose it is really quite a surreal thing to have happened to you.

When asked what her thoughts were about the gunman Thomas Hamilton, Aimie said: I feel bad for him that he felt his life was so terrible that he had to ruin other peoples lives, because he did. I hate him but hes gone and he cant ruin anyone else's life so I suppose thats a good thing out of it.

She continued: I cant let something like that beat me because if I did I probably wouldnt be sort of the person I am just now, hes probably made me the way I am, stronger.

Aimie is now studying mental health nursing at university. When asked whether her choice of subject was partly to understand the motivation behind Hamilton, she said: Oh yeah definitely, its definitely one of the reasons that I did choose to do it - I think its so interesting. I always want to know the reason why people do these horrible things, what they were thinking.

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Eighteen months after Dunblane, Britain banned all handguns, Aimie revealed her message to other countries who havent got gun control. She said: I just dont understand why history keeps repeating itself, I dont see the reason why people should carry guns with them or why they should just have them in their handbags. It devastates people's lives, I dont see why they need to use them.

Speaking about how she felt when she heard about the Sandy Hook massacre in America which was very similar to Dunblane. She said: It was a really tough time because I think it was the first time that it had happened to babies as well so it took me by shock. It brought back all those memories from all those years ago, so I was just completely horrified that this wasnt going to happen in Britain but in America it is still happening.

Lorraine Kelly who covered Dunblane as a reporter said: Aimie is incredible, she is so, so brave and she spoke so eloquently and I think it just brings it all back to everyone. I cant believe it is twenty years and my thoughts obviously are with everyone who has been affected by this.

She continued: Its the worst thing I have ever had to cover, it was absolutely horrific and really difficult for everyone I think. It was one of those stories where it just affected everybody so, so much we all wanted to help, we all wanted to try and do things and as you said at least it led to a change in the law.

"And every single time, and it happens time and time again, you see it happening in America and you just think when are they going to come to their senses, how many children have to die before they actually change the law, it doesnt make any sense.
What if we told you that distressing memories could be wiped away by moving your eyes from left to right, over and over again?

While it might sound like something out of a modern day Sci-Fi film, there is a very real therapy - available on the NHS - which helps people deal with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression and stress, in this way.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories.

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During a typical session, a client will be asked to target a particularly distressing memory. They will then be encouraged to move their eyes from left to right.

The therapy has been used to treat people who have gone through incredibly traumatic events - including a PTSD sufferer who was on the same carriage as a 7/7 bomber and the mother of a murder victim.

Dr Robin Logie, chartered clinical psychologist and former president of the EMDR Association in the UK and Ireland, explained to the Mail Online that moving your eyes helps to reduce a person's emotional reaction to an event.

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"You are more able to evaluate and process it in a detached way," he said.

You might be thinking it sounds a lot like hypnotism, but according to the EMDR Association it isn't.

"Even though you are moving your eyes during EMDR you will remain conscious AND in control at all times. EMDR cannot be done against your will," the site explains.

So how does it work?

When a person is involved in a distressing event, they may feel overwhelmed and their brain may be unable to process the information like a normal memory.

As the EMDR association website explains: "The distressing memory seems to become frozen on a neurological level."

When a person recalls a distressing memory, the person can re-experience what they saw, heard, smelt, tasted or felt, which can be intense.

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By alternating left-right stimulation of the brain with eye movements, patients can stimulate the "frozen" information processing system.

During the process, the distressing memories seem to lose their intensity so that the memories are less distressing and seem more like 'ordinary' memories.

Currently, EMDR is available on the NHS. It also forms compulsory training for Ministry of Defence mental health personnel on the front line.

Dr Adam Simon, chief medical officer at PushDoctor.co.uk, said: "EMDR is one of the recognised treatments for PTSD.

"In essence, its not all that different from other forms of psychotherapy, where the distressing event is recounted and associated with relaxation exercises to try and desensitise the bodys reaction to that distressing, or stressful, event.

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"However, in this case, the relaxation exercises are replaced by rapid eye movement, which are similar to those found during the deep, dream-inducing REM sleep.

"The aim is that in recreating this experience, the effect of the traumatic event will be reduced to the point that the patient can cope with it far more easily."

Dr Helen Webberley, the dedicated GP for Oxford Online Pharmacy said that pushing distressing thoughts to the back of the mind can be "very damaging".

"Repressed memories can manifest as dreams, nightmares and flashbacks. They can interfere with daily activities for many years and often the person has no idea what is holding them back."

She continued: "Traditional counselling is useful when the person knows what it is that is bothering them, but when the issue has been suppressed or hidden, then counselling and psychotherapy may not identify the problem.

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"Clinical hypnotherapy and EMDR have been shown to be very useful in some cases, and have really helped a lot of people uncover these issues that have been stored away in the subconscious mind.

"However, as with all therapies, we must make sure that the therapist is fully qualified and competent to carry out the treatment, and is fully regulated with a professional body and has the right amount of supervision."

Dr Nitin Shori, the medical director of the Pharmacy2U Online Doctor service and a working NHS GP, added that the technique is not necessarily suitable for everyone.

"Your GP can advise about other types of psychological therapies too, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy," he said.

[Tap on the picture below to launch slideshow]
When you're staring into a dark abyss in which President Donald Trump is a reality, it's understandable you'd want to make a stand.

71-year-old grandmother, Suzanne Carpenter, has done just that, joining Twitter simply to voice her horror at the unfolding political situation in the US.

I am a 71 year old grandmother who joined Twitter just to be able to tweet #NeverTrump   Suzanne Carpenter (@suzmalaca) February 28, 2016

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Even her grandson is getting involved.

Even my 1 yr old grandson agrees #NeverTrump Watch his video making fun of #Trump 's hair https://t.co/CxNnMrIb67pic.twitter.com/rMBZ07KdHf  Suzanne Carpenter (@suzmalaca) February 28, 2016

Her proclamation has garnered phenomenal support with over 45,000 retweets and counting.

Carpenter isn't the only person worried about Trump. Google saw a surge in people asking "How to move to Canada" after his Super Tuesday wins.

Comedian Adam Hills fronted a drive on his show 'The Last Leg' to help Canadians build a wall to keep them out.

He explained: If I was Canada Id be worried, because theyre going to face an influx of refugees - and they are harder to look after than any other refugees because they need way more food.

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Plus Americans dont speak basic English, they carry more guns and they refuse to assimilate with other cultures.

Thats why we here at The Last Leg have decided to help Canada build a wall.

We would like everyone in the world to pledge a brick to help keep Americans in America.

And to do it, weve set up a website.

Enter the Bricking It For Canada campaign, which has the support of Alan Carr, Phil Jupitus, Jack Dee and even Monika from the Cheeky Girls, complete with Brickstarter to help the country build their wall.

On Friday evening, the site crashed repeatedly as people tried to pledge their support.
Holly Willoughby broke down in tears on Mondays This Morning (7 March) as she interviewed the parents of an autistic teen who has been sectioned.

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The presenter could not contain her emotions as she spoke to Robin and Isabelle Garnett, who have said that their 15-year-old son, Matthew, is being held like a prisoner in a psychiatric ward.

Holly Willoughby broke down on 'This Morning'

The couple have recently started a petition, calling for NHS bosses to release Matthew from a psychiatric intensive care unit, allowing him to move to a specialist unit instead.

Rob and Isabelle struggled to cope with the teens autism, ADHD, anxiety, and other mental health difficulties, and he was detained under the mental health act in September 2015.

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As Isabelle called for "action" from the minister in charge of health, Mr Alistair Burt MP, Holly broke down, telling the couple: "It's just an incredibly sad, when you rely on the system at the most difficult time in your life and you just want to do the best for your son. And the best you can do is out of your control."

Holly was upset about the story of an autistic teen who has been sectioned

Explaining the situation further, Isabelle said: "It's absurd, absurd. It's insane, forgive the pun, that the nearest possible unit that can help my son is in Northampton. That there is no specialised unit for children with ASD in the South East of England.

"The most densely populated area of the UK. It is absurd. Why?"

Hollys co-host Phillip Schofield read out a statement from an NHS spokesperson, which said: "We have every sympathy with Matthew and his family, we understand this is a difficult time.

"It has been confirmed that he will be moved to St Andrews where he will be able to receive specialist care that he needs, we anticipate this will happen in weeks but we can't confirm a date at this point."

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Isabelle and Robin Garnett spoke of their son's plight on 'This Morning'

However, while this seemed like good news, Isabelle was not impressed.

We were told that in September 2015, she said. You will understand why we can't believe that until it happens. Sorry I don't mean to be angry.

She continued: "He is a human being and he is being stripped of his rights, I have been stripped of my mother's rights and I can't even take my son to A&E to get his cast on.

"I cannot even see where my son sleeps, he has been imprisoned for six months without treatment or appropriate care or without assessment even and Mr Burt I would like to meet with you, so I can share my son's story."

This Morning: Most Memorable Moments See gallery
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses a TUC rally at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in Scotland.

Jeremy Corbyn has warned his MPs to stop sniping at his leadership and get behind the Labour party and its members in the coming May elections.

In a showdown with his critics at the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meeting in the Commons, Mr Corbyn declared that the constant attacks were undermining party unity in the run-up to town hall, London, Scottish and Welsh polls.

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Aides said afterwards that he had drawn a line in the sand over recent backbiting and the mainstream PLP had rallied round to condemn personal attacks on him and others.

The gathering took place amid a growing expectation among some Labour MPs that there will be a leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn this summer if the party goes 'backwards' in the May elections.

During the tense 70-minute meeting, MPs once more vented their concerns over issues such as Mr Corbyns perceived lack of engagement in the EU referendum In campaign - and he faced palpable anger from women MPs over his recent remarks backing the decriminalisation of prostitution.

Other MPs said the Shadow Cabinet needed to get more in touch with working class communities, while one raised the issue of Mr Corbyns own poor personal poll ratings.

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And one former minister told HuffPost UK that the pleas from the leader and the spin from his aides was a clear pre-emptive attempt to blame moderate critics of the leadership for any poor poll results in May.

Fiona Mactaggart

Several women MPs queued up to criticise Mr Corbyn for his remarks to students last week in which he called for more civilised treatment of prostitution.

Fiona Mactaggart told Mr Corbyn it's not a trade, it is exploitation", while Sharon Hodgson and Stella Creasy also said his remarks showed a misunderstanding of the nature of prostitution.

Ms Hodgson was particularly scathing, telling her leader that she and others had spent years working on the prostitution issue and he could not talk off the cuff "as an individual anymore".

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"Prostitution is not productive. The only 'product' of the 'sex trade' is an orgasm for a man. That's not productive, that's not 'work'," Ms Hodgson said.

Ms Creasy pointed out that 50% of the women in prostitution started under 18 and the majority were substance abusers. She said that his remarks implied that men were not capable of equal and healthy relationships with women.

Ms Creasy also asked the Labour leader to back compulsory sex and relationships education in schools to prove that men's relations with women were 'based on consent, not cash', but did not get a reply.

At one point, Mr Corbyn said "we need to learn the lessons of Germany and the Netherlands", but former Home Office minister Ms Mactaggart banged her fist in fury, saying "No we don't!"

One MP told HuffPost: "Jeremy looked pretty startled at that". The Labour further infuriated those present by referring to prostitutes' "workers' rights". "You can't say incendiary things about prostitution, and policy, and then tell everyone to stop sniping at you," the MP said.

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But Dawn Butler offered some support to Mr Corbyn by backing a campaign by the English Collective of Prostitutes to stop penalising clients of sex workers. "A few eyebrows were raised when she said that, as she's chair of the women's PLP," one MP told HuffPost.

Shadow Communities Secretary Jon Trickett

Last week, several Labour backbenchers lambasted Shadow Communities Secretary Jon Trickett over his strategy for the local elections campaign ahead of May 5, with some labelling him Trigger from TVs Only Fools And Horses, and others comparing his presentation to The Monty Python Show.

On Monday night, Mr Corbyn leapt to the defence of his colleague, at one point raising his voice to tell his MPs: hes working flat outlet's work with Jon and get behind Jon". He even joked that Mr Trickett's attempt to use a slide-show powerpoint presentation last week was not a success, saying "let's not do that again".

One MP said afterwards that Mr Trickett had now appeared to change his line from last week, when he had said he was 'confident' about Labour's chances in the May elections. Tonight he said instead that things would be 'difficult' in England, Scotland and Wales.

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Liz Kendall repeated her point that Labour should be winning more than 400 seats in the English council elections if it was behaving like a normal Opposition.

The Labour leader, who revealed that he would hold a Shadow Cabinet meeting on Tuesday in Dagenham in honour of the equal pay pioneers to mark International Womens Day, urged his colleagues to pull together in coming weeks.

He said that we wont always agree but there was something exciting about extending democracy in the party, and the doubling of party membership in the past year had to be mobilised effectively.

Barry Sheerman

Veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman seized on Mr Corbyns perceived lack of enthusiasm for the EU In campaign. "Without the Labour machinery to get the vote out, we will lose! he shouted. Jeremy I beg you, get out there and show some passion to win the referendum.

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Former shadow Europe minister Emma Reynolds asked her leader when he would finally make a speech on European policy.

Wes Streeting said that he wanted to tell Mr Corbyn to his face that the main 'divisions' in the party were self-inflicted by the leadership's decision to revisit Trident policy and his decision to talk about the sovereignty of the Falklands.

Other MPs backed the leadership, however, and one shadow minister told colleagues to end the criticism because although the party was outgunning the Tories on the streets, the splits in the media were damaging on the doorstep. Shadow Ministers Louise Haigh and Rebecca Long-Bailey both offered their strong support for Mr Corbyn.

Some MPs felt that the leadership had galvanised its supporters to speak out, with MPs like David Anderson and Ian Lavery expressing support.

But one critic said there had been a Freudian slip when Mr Corbyn blurted out The Tories are strong er  they are not strong they are divided.

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Mr Corbyn answered each of the questions and summed up by saying that he wanted to continue his open style of leadership to encourage debate but only if a respectful manner. He twice pointed out that 500 people had turned up to a Labour party meeting in Lewisham.

Speaking after the meeting, a Labour spokesman said: Jeremy Corbyn faced down his critics.

The mainstream of the PLP asserted itself. There was clear support for a more united approach as being necessary for Jeremys leadership, the Labour party as a whole, the elections that are coming up, the European referendum campaign. Clearly there was a sea-change in the atmosphere of the PLP.

That clearly represented the centre of gravity of the meeting. There is support for Jeremy throughout the PLP and that clearly was demonstrated tonight. It has been less the case in some previous meetings where the minority who are not really prepared to accept the results of the democratic election last autumn have been very voluble. That clearly turned today.

One of the things that was demonstrated tonight was that those people who struggle to accept the results of the election last autumn. They clearly dont represent majority and mainstream opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party either.

The Labour spokesman conceded that Mr Corbyn had not harangued his colleagues and had delivered his message in his own way.

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Hes polite, hes respectful and he made it absolutely clear that this kind of backbiting and sniping from a minority in the Labour Party was not acceptable in its form or direction.

That was clearly responded to by the MPs. The people who raised points did it in a much more tempered way than on previous occasions.

"They were responding not only to Jeremys own lead but also to the fact that their own members in their own constituencies are totally fed up with this public rowing, sniping, often in an anonymous way through the media. And I think that a clear line has been drawn in the sand tonight.
Two men are being sought by police after a teenager was stabbed in a "frenzied attack" in Lambeth.

Police and paramedics were called to Brixton Road near to Oval tube station on Monday, February 29 at 5.30pm following reports that a person had been assaulted.

A 17-year-old had been stabbed and was taken to hospital. He has since been discharged.

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Police are trying to trace these men after a teenager was stabbed in Lambeth

Police said that the two men involved in the stabbing are believed to have carried out another attack at Tennessee Chicken Shop, in Brixton Road, shortly before.

Both suspects are black, believed to be in their teens and wearing black clothing and dark hooded jackets.

The male that stabbed the victim was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and was about 5ft 11ins tall.

Police are asking those in the takeaway shop to come forward with any information.

Detective Inspector Ian Kenward of Lambeth CID said: "This was a frenzied attack in which a knife was used to inflict life threatening injuries on a teenage male.

"I have no doubt that the perpetrator intended to cause serious harm to the victim.

"Police will do everything in their powers to bring the offenders to justice.

"We are appealing for help from the public to assist in identify those involved. We are grateful for any assistance that you may be able to offer."

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A 14-year-old who is campaigning to stop Tesco from selling eggs from caged hens has rallied more than 88,000 people to support the cause, yet the supermarket giant has failed to change their policy.

Lucy Gavaghan, from Sheffield, started a Change.org petition after writing letters to stores was not successful.

"I thought that a petition may be able to create the impact needed to make a company like Tesco change their ways," she told HuffPost UK. "I think that animal welfare and commercial treatment is a really important issue and I know that many others share this view."

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Gavaghan is the proud owner of five hens, two of which used to live in commercial barns, and one which was rescued from a colony cage - also known as "enriched cages".

Although Tesco does sell free range eggs, the company also stocks eggs from hens living in these cages. In 2012, the EU banned the keeping of hens in battery cages, however the industry now just puts more hens in larger "enriched" cages. In these cages, hens often only have floor space which amounts to little of the size of an A4 piece of paper.

Enriched cages are only around 50cm bigger per hen - equivalent to the size of a beer mat.

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Gavaghan says the response she has seen from Tesco - who said in 2013 it was "committed to high animal welfare standards" and clarified it supported "British egg producers, all of whom have invested large amounts of capital to ensure they conform to new EU legislation on higher welfare 'enriched' cages" - is inadequate.

"The response they have given doesn't go very far as to justifying the problems of caged and barn farming," she says. "I think that eventually the only form of egg farming in the U.K. should be free range and organic. It offers increased welfare standards and gives the hens much more freedom than either caged and barn farming. Free range is definitely the way forward."

Eventually, Gavaghan hopes to end caged and barn farming in all supermarkets in the UK.

"The petition to Tescos is a first step to achieving higher welfare standards for all hens."

She adds: "I have been amazed at the amount of support the petition has had, and the amount of signatures it has gathered in the short time it has been online. I'm so grateful to everyone who has signed and shared."
The head of the search effort for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 believes the rest of the aircraft will be found by July, if not before.

Martin Dolan, who is chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, has been leading the search effort since the plane disappeared from radar with all 239 souls on board on 8 March 2014.

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An optimistic-sounding Dolan told the Guardian: Its as likely on the last day [of the search] as on the first that the aircraft would be there.

The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion is seen on low level cloud while the aircraft searches for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean

Weve covered nearly three-quarters of the search area, and since we havent found the aircraft in those areas, that increases the likelihood that its in the areas we havent looked at yet.

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As the second anniversary of the disappearance of the Boeing 777 approaches, Dolans team is scouring the desolate waters of the Indian Ocean 1,800km off Australias west coast.

He added: Weve still got some serious area to cover, including some areas in the assessment that are highly prospective for finding the aircraft, and the aircrafts very likely there.

Officials collect a piece of plane debris on the French island of Reunion

Well cover those very thoroughly and I hope our next conversation is going to be about how we found the aircraft.

Speaking to the Associated Press, he said: Our best estimate back then was that it would take up to two years. We were hoping wed do it more quickly than that. But we knew this was potentially a long game and we planned for the long game.

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By late June or early July, crews are expected to finish scouring the 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 - to the dismay of relatives who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

The location of the flaperon would be consistent with the theory that the plane crashed within the search area, with Dolan confirming that analysis of ocean currents proved the part could have drifted to the island.

The hypothesis is supported supported by oceanographer Dr Simon Boxhall of the University of Southampton.

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Oceanographer Dr Simon Boxhall

Last year he told the BBC: It fits in perfectly. If the plane did indeed go down off the south west coast of Australia then the Western Australian currents will have taken the wing north, it would have then caught up with what we call the southern equatorial current.

A fast-flowing current would have pushed it towards Madagascar and it would take about 15 to 18 months for any sort of debris at the surface to appear somewhere like Reunion.

Reunion is a very small island, very remote, but it sort of sits slap bang in the middle of this fast flow."

When asked if he believed further plane parts would be found, he replied: We would expect it, we were almost waiting for debris to start appearing. The route the debris would have taken goes across a very unpopulated part of the ocean and Reunion is really the first sort of island that these things hit.

"Much of it will appear along the coast of Madagascar, if there is much debris left and then of course it carries on round in a big gyre a big sort of anti-clockwise roundabout and it could spend the next 100 years going around in that gyre. So we would expect to start seeing parts of debris in this area.

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Robin Beaman, a marine geologist at Australia's James Cook University, said there is precedence for large objects travelling vast distances across the Indian Ocean. Last year, a man lost his boat off the Western Australia coast after it overturned in rough seas. Eight months later, the boat turned up off the French island of Mayotte, west of Madagascar - 7,400 kilometers (4,600 miles) from where it disappeared.
The fortune of Patricia Brooker, known to TOWIE fans as Nanny Pat, was split equally between her five children in her will, it has been reported.

Britains oldest reality star sadly died in December of last year, at the age of 80, and details of her final wishes have now been revealed.

According to The Mirror, her fortune came to just over 437,000, which was divided between her five children, including Carol Wright, the mother of reality stars Mark and Jessica Wright, who co-starred with her in TOWIE over the years.

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Nanny Pat

Nanny Pat was one of the only TOWIE stars to have been in the show since its launch in 2010, even starring in the first episode, where she dished out love advice to her grandson, Mark, who was in an on-off relationship with Lauren Goodger at the time.

Following her debut, which was only meant to be a one-off appearance, Nanny Pat went on to become a viewers favourite among TOWIE fans, thanks to her straight-talking advice, her love of dressing up and, of course, her infamous sausage plait.

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Nanny Pat and Jessica Wright attending a film screening in 2011

Off the back of the show, she even released a memoir, Penny Sweets And Cobbled Streets, which detailed her childhood growing up in Essex.

Back in December, a statement from the Wright family read: Sadly our amazing, courageous and beautiful Nanny Pat passed away this morning after a short illness.

We are overwhelmed by sadness, and the whole family ask for privacy at this horrible time.

Tap the photo below to open the slideshow...
David Cameron has announced that a Royal Navy ship will join Nato attempts to tackle smugglers bringing migrants across the Aegean Sea - but he may have misunderstood what the vessel will actually be doing.

The Prime Minister hailed Britain's involvement in the mission: "Its an opportunity to stop the smugglers and send out a clear message to migrants contemplating journeys to Europe that they will be turned back. Thats why the UK is providing vital military assets to work with our European partners and support this mission."

The front page of The Independent backed up this idea, claiming the RFA Mounts Bay ship was dispatched "to turn back migrants", while the Metro wrote: "Royal Navy ships will be sent to turn back boats".

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The Independent's front page

But Cameron's description of the Nato mission's work, which he said would help "smash" trafficking gangs that help migrants cross the Aegean, seems to have been contradicted - by Nato itself - after its Secretary General said the ships won't be turning around, or even intercepting, any boats.

"The purpose of Nato's deployment is not to stop or push back migrant boats," Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Sky News reports that it understands the mission will only carry out "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance."

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"It can share intelligence gathered with the EU border force, Frontex, but crucially, its mandate does not include interdiction - it cannot prohibit migrant boats from crossing from Turkey to Greece," the broadcaster reports.

The RFA Mounts Bay

The operation is aimed at tackling traffickers themselves - which could prove difficult for ships to carry out as they rarely leave the land. Instead, they often cheaper journeys to migrants in exchange for them driving the boats.

Stoltenberg said the aim of the mission that Britain is joining is "to help our allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the European Union, in their efforts to tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks that are fuelling this crisis."

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the RFA Mounts Bay will use an onboard helicopter to provide information for the Turkish coastguard about the routes being used by smuggling gangs, giving the Turkish boats a better chance of intercepting people attempting the perilous crossing to Greece.

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The Huffington Post UK contacted Downing Street for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

The amphibious landing ship, which carries a Wildcat helicopter as well as Royal Marines and medics, is expected to start operations in the coming days, joining naval vessels from Germany, Canada, Turkey and Greece as part of Nato's first intervention in the migrant crisis.

Cameron says he hopes to 'smash' the smugglers

Two Border Force cutters will also join the operation, along with a third boat - the chartered civilian vessel VOS Grace - which is already in the Aegean, the Press Association reports.

Mr Fallon said: "The primary mission is to build up a proper picture of the smuggling routes. Obviously if there are migrants at sea, the law of the sea dictates that the nearest vessel must pick them up. But the first thing is to build up a picture of these routes and to start breaking the smugglers' business model.

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"Smugglers are making money out of people drowning now. We've had several hundred drowned this winter, several thousand drowned this year, and what's essential is to work out where this people smuggling is done from and then to get a policy in place of returning people, which in the end will stop people making this very dangerous crossing.

"We have to put a stop to this because otherwise we are going to see more lives lost and more misery."

Mr Fallon said Turkish coastguards and Greek authorities were becoming "overwhelmed" by migrants coming not only from Syria but also from Afghanistan, Pakistan and further afield.

And he said that a key to stemming the flow will be to return more of the migrants to Turkey after their arrival in Europe.

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"What's not happened so far anywhere in Europe is that people haven't been returned," he said. "Once they start being returned then there is less prospect of people paying money and smugglers making money out of what is a very dangerous crossing."

Around 1,800 migrants a day arrived in Greece in February, with more than 116,000 migrant arrivals across the Aegean already this year.

Downing Street said that at the EU summit Mr Cameron will call for work on breaking the link between people getting on a boat and being able to settle in Europe by "smashing" trafficking gangs and increasing the rate at which illegal migrants are sent back.
The five things you need to know on Monday March 7, 2016

1) MISSES DOUBTFIRE

Its not so much Project Fear as Project Doubt that the In campaign is deploying in the EU referendum. Scaring the hell out of people misses the real target, which is to just plant a seed of doubt that voting Leave is a leap into the unknown. Polls and focus groups show that the great mass of undecideds - particularly risk-averse women voters - have real concerns about what Out would look like.

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Boris set out a buccaneering case on Marr yesterday declaring it would be wonderful outside the EU. But he stumbled on single market and failed to rebut Wolfgang Schaubles points that the UK would either have to pay or take migrants to stay in it. For all the talk of a special, British deal that is unlike Norway or Switzerland or Canada, the Outers have yet to say what that deal really will be.

As for Boris, his performance got a real kicking from fellow Tories, with Ruth Davidson tweeting that his bumble-bluster, kitten smirk, tangent-bombast routine was failing to cut through. While Nick Soames (surely that account is a spoof??) declared Boris was floundering on the detail because the dear old thing isn't a Leaver.

In the Sun, Trevor Kavanagh is unimpressed with Boris too. "This was the moment for a forensic response from the leader of the Out campaign. Instead Boris disappeared in a cloud of waffle." He points out Boris faces the Treasury select grilling soon and will have to 'up his game' if he's to do the Wembley Arena BBC event. I note that Trevor also has a scoop buried away in his column - that a Brexit Cabinet minister is set to resign soon in protest at Project Fear and the curbs placed on them.

2) BRUSSELS OUTS AND TURKEY

Today sees the emergency EU summit on migration in Brussels and the main issue is whether Turkey will get a deal that meets its demands to help curb a second wave of migration from Syria to Europe.

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David Cameron is doing his bit, offering a Royal Navy amphibious ship (its not really a warship) and helicopter capability to tackle the people smugglers. Many suspect this is his quid-pro-quo for the deal he got on British EU reform demands last month. The Times has a leaked summit document suggesting the UK will be forced into deploying all available means to combat the migrant flows. Some worry that its still very difficult indeed to stop these boats getting out of Turkey waters on their way to Greece.

As part of its own Project Fear, the Leave campaign knows that the spectre of mass migration (if refugees become EU citizens theres nothing to stop them coming here) is a key weapon in the EU referendum. Both Nigel Farage and David Davis also this weekend warned Turkey could take another step closer to becoming a member of the EU.

They may seize too on the FTs splash that Brussels wants to centralise asylum claims across Europe. But the European Commission in London has slammed as fabrication newspaper claims that the EU will control our borders.

3) P-HELL-P

Jeremy Corbyn will be at the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight and the PMQs tables will be turned as he faces questions from John in Barrow or Jess in Birmingham over a range of topics that have concerned his own MPs.

Ahead of International Womens Day, the Labour leader will be quizzed over his off-the-cuff remarks about decriminalising prostitution. One MP tells me the sisters are on the warpath and I suspect Corbyn will have to clarify his remarks to make clear he was talking about sex workers rather than their clients - and that hes not proposing a change in policy. Other MPs are uspet that Corbyn undermined the partys EU In campaign day last weekend by attending a CND rally rather than hitting the streets for Alan Johnson.

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But just as explosive could be the readmission of leftwing union leaders Mark Serwotka and Matt Wrack to the party (as revealed by HuffPost). Whip Conor McGinn last night tweeted his fury at a Guardian interview Serwotka gave in which he said no obstacles should be put in the way of activists who wanted to deselect their MP. Serwotkas attack on the Labour government, plus Corbyns own attacks on New Labour for the financial crisis, could well be raised too. Some MPs were none too impressed with the latest local election campaign ad and slogan - and dont forget May is Corbyns first national electoral test among the Labour (and other) voters - rather than Labour members.

Rachel Reeves has a speech today. Yvette Cooper had one the other day. Dan Jarvis has one on Thursday. Unease is in the air.

Writing for HuffPost today, Gloria de Piero and Kate Green say the best thing women can do on Womens Day is spend three minutes registering to vote online.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch Donald Trump get his supporters to swear an oath that they will vote for him in Florida. Another extraordinary moment in an extraordinary campaign.

4) PRE-BUDGET RETORT

We are in full pre-Budget mode this week and the lobbying by many groups appears to be working. No10 wants the Treasury to make this a risk-free event that wont hack off key voters in the run up to the EU referendum, and George Osborne appears to be finally realising now is not the time for too-clever-by-half wheezes on tax reform. (Conor Burns all but admitted that on the Westminster Hour last night).

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So after yet another Treasury U-turn (on radical pensions reform), we could get a partial climbdown over pay to stay plans for market rents for council tenants.

One daft minister sparked speculation that there could be a fuel duty hike, when they told the Sunday Times: The simplest way to raise cash is to put 2p on petrol. Prices are so low at the moment that people will hardly notice the difference. The Telegraph reports that Jason McCartney will meet Treasury minister Damian Hinds tomorrow to lobby against such a plan. Just as relevant, surely motorists champion Rob Halfon would have to quit as a minister if there was a fuel duty hike?

Lots of Tory MPs are expecting a nice bit of tax relief for their voters with a raise in the 40p tax threshold. But will he impose fresh spending cuts to pay for it, a move that would impress some Conservatives but alienate floating voters.

The Suns Harry Cole had a corking exclusive today that Osborne plans to announce a bid to eradicate homelessness. Richard Gere (who plays a homeless man in a new Hollywood movie) met local government Ministers Greg Clark and Marcus Jones last week. Lets see what is actually pledged but it shows Osborne is keen on boosting the Cameroon brand to keep all those ex Lib-Dem and Labour voters mopped up last May.

5) I-SCREAM SUNDAY

Exactly a week before his Budget, Osborne is facing a possible Tory rebellion on Wednesday over his plans to relax Sunday trading laws. Never forget the Governments working majority is just 17, and some 23 Tories have signed up to join David Burrowes campaign to block the move, with PPSs and others set to abstain.

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The SNP however are crucial in the arithmetic. Labour suspects the 56 SNP MPs will abstain and effectively allow a Government victory as part of a shady deal over financing for the Scottish government. The SNP meets trade unions today for a crunch meeting. George may have the numbers in the bag, but could signal a watering down or delay to the plans to kick it all off into the Lords.

For even if the Commons backs the changes, it could be the Lords where they face serious delay. Bishops were furious at the plans being snuck into the Enterprise Bill after the Lords stages and crossbenchers. But in both Houses, the Lib Dems could surprise people: they are actually in favour of the Sunday trading relaxation - because it means devolution. Tim Farron is on ITV's The Agenda tonight, maybe he'll expand on that as well as other topics.

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Victoria Derbyshire has shared her delight at completing her chemotherapy treatment, in an emotional new video.

The BBC news presenter, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last July, has been filming a video diary throughout her battle with the disease, and her latest one marked a big milestone.

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Victoria Derbyshire has finished her chemo treatment for breast cancer

Victoria admitted that she couldnt stop crying after finishing her last bout of chemo, arriving home to greet her sons from school.

"I'm home and I'm happy and I can't stop crying, which is mad, she said.

"When it was over, the drugs had stopped going into me through the IV drip ... I think I felt in shock, I couldn't really speak.

"Which is not like me, as you'll have gathered.

"Now I just want to see my boys... and have a cuddle and have a celebratory tea and get on with the rest of my life."

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One of her sons could later be heard arriving home, shouting: "Happy end of chemo mummy. No more chemo!"

Victoria has been sharing her experience with cancer in a video diary

In one of her previous video diaries, Victoria shared an inspirational message from her hospital bed, explaining that she had undergone a mastectomy, ahead of the chemotherapy treatment.

Praising the healthcare professionals who cared for her, Victoria said: The NHS staff have been awesome. Im completely in awe of them. They are so inspiring and so caring and I feel so grateful to them.

When I woke up from the anaesthetic I did cry because it was just a relief. The malignant tumour in my right breast is gone.

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Watch Victoria's latest cancer diary in full here.

Tap the picture below to launch slideshow...
This year Easter will fall on the final weekend in March.

Good Friday will be on 25 March, Easter Sunday on 27 March and Easter Monday on the 28th.

Good Friday and Easter Monday are Bank Holidays, meaning a four day weekend for many of us and most schools will break until 10 April.

Easter, also known as Resurrection Sunday, celebrates the rising of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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The Resurrection of Jesus, St Peter's Basilica, Rome

Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead three days later on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday also marks the end of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and penance.

Not all Christians observe Easter Sunday however, with Quakers believing the events celebrated should be kept in mind throughout the entire year.

Jehovahs Witnesses believe the festivals are based on pagan customs and religions.

Another integral part of Easter is of course eggs. You can decorate them, you can roll them, you can hide them and most crucially, you can eat them.

For Christians, the Easter egg is symbolic of the resurrection of Christ. In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches dye the eggs that to represent the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross.

Easter occurs in the final weekend of March in 2016

The shell represents the sealed Tomb of Christ and cracking the shell represents his resurrection from the dead.

The Easter bunny is pagan in origin, with the animal representing a symbol of fertility signifying spring and new life. (And now mass cocoa-based consumerism!)

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We Scots don't have the best reputation when it comes to what we put into our bodies. It is said that smoke too much, take too little exercise, and that what most of us eat and drink would make our French and Italian comrades wince. When Scottish food and drink comes up in conversation the jibes about tonic wine, unspeakable parts of animals crammed into sausage skins, and deep-fried Mars Bars are never too far away. Even though the Scottish Government did some excellent work throughout 2015 with its Year of Food and Drink programme to promote the best we have, the spectre of mockery still abides. However, when considering any reputation it is important to keep in mind the prescient words of Mark Twain who said that we can "give a man a reputation as an early riser, and he can sleep 'til noon."

I reflected on these words of the Huckleberry Finn author on Saturday evening as I made my way into Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms for the North Hop Edinburgh Festival. I also realised just how true they are. There I was, in a nation infamous for its awful food and drink, surrounded by the very best in both. The Assembly Rooms is a palatial venue with carpets thick enough to lose your children in and gorgeous chandeliers hanging from every available inch of ceiling. It is a venue perfectly suited to stuffy lawyers and political party conferences. However, on this occasion the ultra-luxury of the George Street venue was hilariously juxtaposed with hay bail seating, rickety wooden tables, and the hoodie and beard uniform worn by most of the menfolk in attendance. Tonight, I said to myself, the foodies and drink-buffs are doing things their way.

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And rightly so, because the products speak for themselves!

As a foodie and somewhat of drink I found myself in as close to nirvana as a cynical young skeptic could be. I stopped by to see the fine folks from the Borders-based Tempest Brew Co. who provided me with a sample of their Marmalade on Rye, a decadent jammy and spicy tipple with a superb olfactory experience. Furthermore, it provided an excellent accompaniment to the finely crafted chocolates created by Stacy Hannah, aka Ms Sugar Wings, who manages to combine bacon, cashew and caramel into a treat so sublime that it borders on indecent.

I carried on to the slick and professional stall laid out by Six Degrees North, a firm specialising in brewing in a Belgian style. I note upfront that I am normally not a fan of Belgian-style wheat beer - I usually find it to have a plastic taste and an offensive, aggressive mouthfeel. Their HopClassic forced me to reconsider that opinion. Also worthy of a special mention are the gents at the Drygate Brewing Co. whose Ax Man Rye IPA is to the taste buds what the guitar solo in Sweet Child of Mine is to the ears.

The word limit I have for these entries prevents me from being able to mention, by name, every delicious drop I sampled that evening as I moved from stall to stall; but the reader ought to rest assured that the bounty did not stop at the treasure listed above. Let's just say that I capped the evening off with a plate of the best brisket burnt-ends I've ever tasted (and I worked in Texas for a summer), complete with Irn-Bru BBQ sauce courtesy of Reekie's Smokehouse.

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However, it would be remiss of me to omit mention of my own personal highlight of the evening. If there is one brand that I would urge you to try then it would be the East Lothian-based Thistly Cross Cider. Their stall was tucked into an intimate corner of the main room where their friendly staff combined a superlative knowledge of their craft with a passion for what they do - and of course a top-notch set of products. They had several options available but two stuck out as their superstar players. First, their original Thistly Cross cider, a true masterclass in what good cider ought to taste like and a must for anyone who, like me, was been put off the idea of cider by something served to them in a warm plastic bottle in their youth. It is crisp, balanced, and gently warming but lacks the metallic, obnoxious and overpowering flavour of other ciders. I also recommend their Strawberry variant - of the same high standard but with the luxurious, almost decadent, addition of strawberry juice. Sublime!

As impressive as the food and drink at the North Hop Edinburgh Festival was; the mood was the most intoxicating thing to imbibe in the room. At a time when other industries seem to be struggling; the craft food and drink industry bristles with a relentless and refreshing optimism. Every person I spoke to that evening answered my question on the future of the industry in the same way; things are good now and they're only going to get better. It seems that with the increasing role of the Internet in our lives people are informed and are therefore more discerning as to what they eat drink; and Scotland is at the forefront of satisfying this new type of demand. There is genuine belief that the dominance of mass-market lager, uninspiring junk food and the other things that have contributed to Scotland's unfortunate and undeserved gastro-reputation will come to an end.
The Lib Dems have a good track record on fighting for tenants against wrongful evictions. Sarah Teather successfully pushed for legal protections against 'revenge evictions' when we were in Government, to stop tenants losing their home if they asked for safety repairs to be done.

We got that law passed despite determined attempts from Tory backbenchers to keep the power firmly in the hands of landlords.

Now there is another opportunity to protect tenants. The Government is attempting to give landlords the power to evict tenants on the basis that they have 'abandoned' the property, if they have not paid rent for eight weeks or responded to three notices. If those conditions are met, the landlord could reclaim possession within 12 weeks.

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This change could be exploited by unscrupulous landlords with vulnerable tenants who will be in danger of becoming homeless, as the charity Shelter has been arguing. Landlords could use the abandonment procedure as a pretence to carry out illegal evictions, being able to start the process for eviction after just four weeks of rent arrears.

Or it may lead to unintentional evictions, where someone is taken ill or suddenly called away to care for a relative and is unable to respond to notices.

If that person pays their rent in cash or their housing payment benefit payment is disrupted, they could easily get into arrears while they are away and could be mistakenly assumed to have abandoned their property.

Perhaps the worst element is that this particular type of eviction will be taken out of the county court process, and so will lack any oversight. The Government say a landlord must put a final note to the tenant in a "conspicuous" place. But no-one will check whether a landlord has done that.

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In a small number of cases, landlords may find their home abandoned and wish to reclaim it so they can let it out to someone else. But the percentage of private renting households this relates to, according to their own figures, is just 0.04%, just 1,750 tenancies out of 4.4 million. Existing laws already work, Sections 8 and 21 and something called "implied surrender". This new measure is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

This new change on abandonment goes against the flow of other parts of the Housing and Planning Bill which strengthen protections from rogue landlords. The abandonment section of the bill is clearly designed as a sweetener to landlords, reducing protection of the most vulnerable tenants, and it should go.

Our strong team of Lib Dems fighting the Bill in the Lords will continue to put pressure on the Government to do this. With homelessness rising at an alarming rate, more unnecessary evictions are the last thing we need.
What is sustainable travel? Is it a style? A fashion? A movement? A result of travelling unsustainably? Are we better off just not travelling?

We'd reduce our carbon footprint, we wouldn't damage these local communities and fragile environments BUT we wouldn't learn...we wouldn't be able to help...we wouldn't be able to contribute to their economy...and we wouldn't be able to make a difference!

Unfortunately it only takes a small minority to cause this damage and whilst we've all contributed over the years, due to a lack of education and knowledge, we now know what the effects are and how we can make a difference. To be sustainable is to meet the present needs of the community but to not compromise the needs of future generations. If we continue to travel the way we do, with ignorance and a lack of understanding, these places wont be there for our next generation. So it's important that we understand the impacts of our travels, our carbon footprint, our effect on local cultures, our contribution to their community and the effects on their economy.

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Holidays for many people are about over indulging, spoiling themselves, eating more, spending more and sleeping more. Is this because it's a break from their regular routine and they're using this time as a break away from the 'norm'? Most probably yes but is this at the cost of other people's lives and futures? Could we achieve more? A restful break, a great 'holiday', an insightful experience and help other communities?

Easily....

There is no one more than my Mum that loves the sun and this year she went on her first holiday, which involved no beach, no sundeck and no sun bathing. She went to Vietnam and Cambodia for a cultural, sightseeing tour and said it was one of the best holidays she's ever been on. This is someone that holidays for sun, she has always travelled for one reason and that is to sunbathe and as a result all she has gained is several forms of skin cancer. Yet, this year she went on a trip that had culture, education, travel, enlightenment, and community awareness, and came back more enriched than ever. She learnt about their history, their traditions and the difficulties that they face, which has resulted in them giving back and making a difference.

So there is a great example of a restful break, an insightful experience and helping other communities.

Our contribution to sustainable travel can be as little as an alternative mode of transport, a half-day cultural sightseeing tour, reusing a towel during your stay, turning off water in between brushing your teeth or using local providers...All of these help and the more we talk about it, the more we can make a difference!

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The other end of the spectrum is 'volunteering' - to actively contribute towards the issues that these local communities face and to leave the environment in a better condition than when you arrived. These kind of volunteering opportunities vary drastically, incorporating both community and conservation based programmes, from: conserving endangered species to protecting stray dogs'; or building local schools and offering your services, and skills, to help.

Some may travel to develop themselves and gain vital experience in a chosen career path or for study programmes and cultural awareness, so the main purpose of their trip is to be involved in 'these' kind of programmes. But, if that is not your intention you can still travel sustainably and contribute with little change to your regular itinerary. A few things you may want to consider:

-Does your accommodation have a sustainability policy?

-Are you using a local operator for tours & excursions?

-Do you understand the local culture & traditions?

-Are you aware of any issues that the local community face?

-What threats are there to the native species? Can you help?

-Are you buying/eating/drinking local produce?

-Is your money going into the right pockets?

The financial gains into the local economy are so important and making sure that your money goes to the right place makes such a difference. For example, don't give street money to young children or street beggars as most of the time they're part of much larger syndicate and don't see the money, so you're just adding to the issue. Instead offer food and drink but make sure the item is open and can't be re-sold.

My biggest gripe is when people travel so far and then order food as if they were in their local cafe. Firstly, if this is you - you're crazy, as trying and experimenting new cuisine is most of the fun and usually so much tastier, especially if you're from the UK. Plus by trying local produce you'll be contributing to their local economy, the farmers, the fisherman, the citizens that make these places so special. And...use local guides and operators for any tours, and excursions, as generally these will also be local people that have been trained to offer this service, as opposed to large-international-corporate-companies that take jobs away from the communities, and send money into the pockets of their international investors.

Aside from the financial perceptive, the rest is down to you, to do a little research and make sure you understand where you're going. With Google at our fingertips, it takes seconds to learn about new places, their culture, their history, their traditions, the issues they face and how you can help.

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Travel Safe ;}
The Feminist Library is under threat of closure, ironically at the start of Women's History Month, but we are fighting strong. I am the Writer in Residence at this unique resource in a central London building just off Waterloo that was opened 30 years' ago specifically to house community, grassroots and minority organisations.

The collection holds 7,000 books and over 1,500 pamphlets, posters and ephemera, capturing in detail the surge of the Women's Liberation Movement to present day. Since I have been there last year, I have opened pages of rich material from emerging and well-known writers of fiction, poetry and fact.

I've had some of the most stimulating conversations with the 30-strong team of volunteers who have shaped and run the library, and wondered from where co-founder Gail Chester gets her unbridled energy and drive. It is an intergenerational community, uplifting and inspirational. It previously won an award to train librarians and some of those women on that scheme have gone on to post doctoral work, and work professionally as librarians and archivists in major institutions. It has a culture of sharing knowledge and is genuinely friendly, welcoming of everyone. For me, what makes it yet more unique is the combination of its international profile, which sees researchers from Japan, Europe and the States, for example, with its use as a low cost resource for local communities. It doesn't try to be overly branded nor oil its wheels with slick professionalism. It is activist, independent and untamed.

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But Southwark Council have seen differently and are hiking our rent to over double the amount. This is a well-known trend. In another borough, five public buildings are private gyms. Elsewhere, academic institutions are penthouse flats. This is short sighted and leaves a cultural vacuum for future generations. What we are creating is a legacy of buff bodies and great views, seen from top-to-bottom tinted glass, but zilch identity, history and sense of belonging. Fine, if you are a bit privileged demographically speaking, you might be able to piece some semblance of history from mainstream pickings, although don't think you will receive anything other than a mediocre message flatlined by Google. If you are wanting to think for yourself, however, claim your identity, or piece together a different story, then you are quite frankly, screwed. Money, in this instance, will not buy back cultural heritage, which is priceless.

This is the fight and we are doing well. We presented a petition at the Council during their budget meeting with nearly 15,000 signatories from around the world. That number is going up every single day. We have messages of support from high profilers: the novelists Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood and feminist icon Gloria Steinem, as well as messages of support from the thousands who have used the Library or taken part in events and meetings there over the years. On the same day as World Reading Out Loud Day, we staged a political demo where 100 women read out from their favourite feminist texts outside the Council's offices. It was a stirring and powerful night. As a result of this pressure, the Council have extended our eviction deadline: at Christmas last year, we were given the news of the rent increase and given until end of February this year. After our negotiations fell through, we were given just three weeks to get out; and now, due to the tremendous response, we have to the end of April. We are all working round the clock.

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My writing at the Library is aiming to record this upheaval and uncertainty, piece by piece, with urgency. In standing together, in doing this vital work, we are showing that feminism, with its legacies, tensions and brilliance, not only works now, but will work for future generations.

What we really need now to safeguard this resource is money. We set up the Emergency Fund where people can donate and, really, anything will have a massive impact. We are thankful to those who have so generously given, and we ask others to consider giving what you can. This is so urgent, whether it is a monthly commitment, or a one-off: large or small. Please donate here: http://feministlibrary.co.uk/support/donate/
Growing up in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic city, mixing with different races was an everyday part of life. It wasn't until I moved primary school, to an all white (I was the only black girl in my year) school, I realised that being black and female I may have hurdles to jump growing up. That, and being called the stereotypical racial names associated with my ethnicity, I questioned whether my experiences in my teenage and adult years would be riddled with stereotypes and perceptions.

If you walk down the high street in many UK cities, you are likely to encounter people who look different to yourself. Black, White, Chinese, Indian, Arab and Eastern European, you may not even bat an eyelid if you see a woman who is of a different race to you, speaks a different language and wears traditional clothes; multi cultural and multi-diverse Britain is rapidly growing. Unfortunately for black women cultural diversity stops on the high street, this is not reflected in influential areas of British life.

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Take a look at the three biggest soaps on television: Coronation Street, Eastenders, Emmerdale, only Eastenders actually feature key storylines by black actresses, the other two soaps do not even have black female characters, which is surprising, especially for Coronation Street as this soap is supposed to be based in Greater Manchester, an ethnically diverse area. And whilst there are several American programmes where black women have a prominent and leading role (Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Being Mary Jane), the same can not be said here in the UK and the likelihood is that this will not occur in the UK in my lifetime.

If you visit your local newsagents, all those beautiful glossy magazines with stunning women on the front cover, how many black faces do you see gracing the covers? Being specific, how many Black British female cover models do you see? They are few and far between, with the usual Caucasian and European features being the ideal standard of beauty. Although there have been a couple of stunning Black British supermodels that have graced magazines covers, there is a long way to go for black features; the wide broad nose, full thick lips and natural afro hair to be fully accepted in the mainstream beauty industry. I'm not sure how many black models walked the runway during the recent London Fashion Week, but having read a couple of blog posts, it appears to be the usual, tall, straight haired white and Caucasian featured models that made the pick, the ideal standard of beauty which seemingly we all must aspire to be.

What does this say to young black girls growing up in a supposedly multi-cultural society, am I not beautiful enough? Should I change my ethnic nose? I must straighten my hair and attempt to make my full lips look thin. This perception to what is beautiful can be damaging to young black girls, it basically says in order to be considered to be beautiful, and I must look a certain way.

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And it's not only on our TV screens or the world of fashion, there appears to be a lack of prominent roles for black women in business. Cecila Anam, Karen Blackett and Sharon White, President of the Royal College of Nursing, Media-Com Chief Executive and OFCOM chief executive are names that you may not be familiar with but the number of black females in prominent roles are few and far between. Being black and being a female makes you have to work twice as hard to have to achieve in the world of business. In fact, even if you reach the success of Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Council, you still may be mistakes for a cleaner; this speaks volumes in society on our perceptions of black women.

Whilst there are more opportunities and better experiences for black women today (compared to my parents and grandparents generation), there is still a long way to be fully accepted into British society. Will there ever be a true representation of black women on British TV, or women with my features on the cover of magazines, or leading women in business that do not have to face the double jeopardy of being a woman and black, I'd like to think so. If we continue to raise the lack of diversity as an issue, than change can happen, hopefully not in the too distant future.
Lupita, who was sat behind the actor as the drama unfolded, said she "knew as soon as it was over that I was going to be a meme.
It didn't take long for the debate on Britain's future in or out of Europe to reach the beaches of Dunkirk. French politicians are warning that if the UK votes to leave the EU, then migrants currently living in makeshift camps outside of Calais and Dunkirk will be moved across the Channel. This isn't scaremongering, it's what they believe. Even President Hollande has warned that there will be consequences if Britain walks away from the EU.

The refugees in the camps want to come to England, and people living in northern France want them to leave. They are only there because of the agreement that UK Border Force officers can enforce our frontier controls in France. Currently both governments work closely to provide strong security measures on our borders. We also share EU intelligence systems which provide information on wanted criminals, missing persons and people who have already made asylum claims in other countries. If Britain decided to go its own way, we would risk losing access to this information. France may also decide that if we want to create new border controls for the UK outside of the EU, then we can enforce them in our country rather than theirs.

The truth is that the UK can vote to leave the EU, but we can't abolish it. We would still have to work with Europe on a whole range of matters. Outside of the EU, the idea that Britain would have taken back control would be an illusion. We could have less secure borders, and in return for full access to the EU's free-trade single market, would have to accept the free movement of people, pay into the EU and comply with its rules and regulations.

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For example, the net contribution paid by Norway for access to the single market is approximately the same per head of population as the UK's. According to an independent report commissioned by the Norwegian government, even though it is outside of the EU, 75% of its legislation is derived from Brussels. Another independent report in 2014 looking at Iceland's accession negotiations for membership of the EU showed that it already transposed into its own laws approximately two thirds of all EU legislation.

If the UK opted to stay outside of the single market, then we would most probably have to accept that services would be excluded from any free trade agreement, and tariffs might be applied to certain goods. If the UK left the EU without negotiating an alternative trade arrangement, World Trade Organisation rules would require the EU to impose the same external tariffs on us that it applies to other non members, except those with which it has preferential arrangements. This would mean tariffs being applied to a range of UK goods, for instance there is a 10 per cent tariff on car imports and 36% on dairy products. In such circumstances, the EU would have no choice but to apply these to the UK. Canada has negotiated a free trade agreement with the EU, but it has taken seven years and excludes financial services, an area that would be vital to the UK.
Gibraltar wants to remain in the European Union even if the United Kingdom voted to leave. Gibraltar can please itself. Nowhere is compelled to be a British Overseas Territory.

If Gibraltar wanted to become independent and apply for EU membership, then no one could stop it from doing so. Spain would veto that application itself. But that is a whole other matter.

Tony Blair wanted to give Gibraltar to Spain in order to ease what was always his own fanciful progress to the Presidency of the EU. In May 1940, Churchill had been all ready to give Gibraltar, among several other places, to Mussolini.

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The territories that the so-called "Greatest Briton" had been prepared to cede to the man whom he had called "the greatest living legislator" had also included the ones inhabited by the white settlers in Kenya and Uganda.

Fascist rule might have suited the Happy Valley set down to the ground. But whether or not it would have done so was of no interest to Churchill. Not very long afterwards, Britain did simply walk out on them. Under a Conservative Government, of course.

The "kith and kin" populations that Britain has at some point just upped and left behind, almost (if almost) always after having very recently fought wars in order to hold onto them, are collectively larger than the No vote in the Scottish independence referendum.

Those populations are much larger than the Unionist vote in Northern Ireland, and enormously larger than the population of the Falkland Islands, which pretends for British television that it is all-white when it no longer is.

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It is common for a colonial possession to be far larger and more populous than its colonial possessor. Such is now the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Falkland Islands. They are the colonial power, and we are the colony.

The question is how long we are prepared to put up with that, before we exercise our right of self-determination and assert our independence from somewhere that has never been part of the United Kingdom, any more than The Gambia has ever been part of the United Kingdom.

Great swaths of the earth fought for Britain in the two World Wars, and a huge proportion of the global population is anything up to nine generations removed from these Islands.

What the Falkland Islanders currently have is not self-determination. It is other-determination. The rest of us have to expend our blood, potentially, and our treasure, very much more than potentially, merely because they say so.

Thus, we have the most expensive empire in history. The cost of defending one of the British Overseas Territories, the only one that needs it and the tenth most populous of the 11 that have permanent populations, is greater than would be the cost of declaring them all independent, including the restored Chagossians, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.

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Why not do that? There would be no need to ask them. Like teenagers, they would get to be consulted when they started putting money in the pot.

St Helena, where I was born and from which the whole of my mother's family originates, would have had its airport, and a great deal more besides, a very long time ago under that arrangement.

Although, having spent most of my life in County Durham, I quite understand that well over 200 million, for the benefit of quite so few people, sat ill alongside the communities that had gone to the wall for the want of far less pubic investment.

Further south, if a billion a year did not include enough to provide for the defence of 4,700 square miles, then the 2,932 inhabitants of those square miles would not deserve to be defended.

This would also free us of the national shames that are the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. The first two have currencies pegged to the US dollar, which itself circulates freely in Bermuda. The US dollar is the only legal tender in the second two.

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St Helena is neither a tax haven, nor does it cost anything to defend. Yet nor have its people enjoyed full British citizenship continuously. Although they do hold it again now; Blair did at least reverse that aspect of Thatcherism.

We left India a mere two years, to the day, after VJ Day. That had nothing to do with whether or not the people there wanted us. It was because we could no longer afford both an empire abroad, and the progressive measures for which our people were crying out at home.

We left people behind in India, and almost everywhere else that we left for the same reason. That never bothered us for one second.

There is no question of forcing places or their inhabitants into Spain or Argentina. But there is absolutely no obligation on Britain to keep them merely because they wish to be kept. That obligation simply does not exist.

If Gibraltar did not want to be part of Spain, or the Falkland Islands did not want to be part of Argentina, then it would be Gibraltar's responsibility to keep itself out of Spain, or the Falkland Islands' responsibility to keep themselves out of Argentina.

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No one in the United Kingdom had a vote in the referendum in Gibraltar in 2002, or in the referendum in the Falkland Islands in 2013.

Yet that latter, at least, was deemed to keep the taxpayers of the United Kingdom under an enormous obligation, up to and including the loss of life if necessary. On the votes of 1,513 people.

But even the 1,517 people who voted are not the only people with rights, although they alone enjoy their rights without the concomitant responsibilities.

Instead, declare all of the British Overseas Territories independent, including the restored Chagossians, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds. Or, rather, declare the United Kingdom independent of them.
In 2013, my husband and I took a holiday in Southern Spain. It was a very belated 'cash-in' of a week in a timeshare that my sister had gifted us for our wedding.

It was a pretty special time as this particular holiday was also to mark my having just left my corporate job.

The previous year, my mother died unexpectedly at age 57. She and I weren't always close, but the one thing she taught me was to live a life of adventure and never settle for what is 'expected' of you. She was an explorer and a traveller and even when she was taken ill, she was working on a tall ship in the South Pacific.

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Clearly her message had an effect on me, as here I was, having quit a very well-paid corporate job to become an entrepreneur!

We left our Son, Jack, with relatives, and jetted off to enjoy some quality time and relaxation before the next chapter of our lives commenced.

As we stepped off the plane in to the warm mediterranean air at Malaga, little did we know that this holiday was going to become more than just a week of sun, sea and sangria.

We spent the week chilling on the beach reading, sitting at cafes in the plazas (town squares) watching and listening to the hustle and bustle, enjoying tapas and delicious wines and really getting Andalucia coarsing through our veins.

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We agreed that 'someday' we'd love to 'retire' to this place.

We got home and as you'd expect, reality of having no salary and a new business to make a success of took over. We talked often of our magical week in Spain but it became a pipe dream.

In the following Spring, we had friends visit from Australia. We were talking about our dreams of travel and told them all about this place we had fallen in love with. Kyle had just read The Four Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss, and told me if we had itchy feet, this was the book to read and handed it to me.

After they left, I dove straight in. And I couldn't put it down. I read chapters to Leon in bed at night (whether he wanted to hear them or not). One rare sunny afternoon we took a picnic to the park and I read more of the book to him. And when we got home, we booked a ferry to Spain!

This time was a 'mini-retirement' as Tim calls it in the book. We were going for 3 months. And we had a lot of organising to do.

We sold our physical (fitness bootcamp) business, before we went and knew it would be boom or bust with our 1 year old online business.

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And we did it. And we had the time of our lives. Our relationships flourished, our business had the best 3 month period we had had EVER, and we fell in love all over again with Andalucia.

Heading back on the ferry on 1st October, we knew a part of our hearts would remain in Spain forever.

Believe it or not, we didn't plan to make the permanent move straight away - there were so many other places we wanted to see in the world. We started thinking about the next trip. But the reality of the drudgery of England soon set in! For our family, we knew we were not meant to be here. One cold, wet and dark November day, Jack returned from school soaked to the bone and thoroughly miserable, uttered the words "I wish we were back in Spain" and the deal was done.

8 weeks later (with a 4 week stint in Hawaii in between - tell you about that some other time!), we were back on that ferry!

The journey to calling the Axarquia home (the region just to the east of Malaga where we now live) was pretty plain sailing. With the exception of a few question marks over our choice to allow Jack to self-school from our family, we have settled in to Spanish life with ease and flow.

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Here, we've learned to live a simple lifestyle. Before moving here we sold all of our stuff and only came with what we could fit in (or on!) the car - and that included 3 adult-sized human beings and our two pug-dogs - so didn't leave a lot of room for much else!

That process of 'thinning out' our stuff was eye opening. You don't realise how much stuff you have accumulated until you have to get rid of it all! The truth was that we had so much 'stuff' and most of it we hadn't touched in years. We had collected material possessions as a substitute to having experiences. We had all the gear (the best dinnerware, the clothes, the cars etc) but no idea about what life is really all about.

The term "life is short" has become a mega-cliche. We say it, but I'm not sure most of us fully appreciate what it means. I thought I knew and believed that I lived life that way until my mother died so young and I was faced with my own mortality. I was reminded again when I lost my grandfather last month.

None of us is guaranteed a tomorrow, and we only get this one, precious life to live. We put off our big goals and dreams for another day. Too often that day never comes. We listen to our self-limiting beliefs or the voices of negative people. We let our doubt and fear hold us back from an amazing life.

Just recently my sister and I got chatting to a group of retirees. At the time she worked for the local government and despised her job. She was working for the paycheque, so that she could pay the mortgage each month. I was trying to encourage her to take a different course (after all, it worked out fine for me!), and the people we were talking to vehemently disagreed - advising her to stick it out for the pension and THEN she can do what she loves....

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But what if (god forbid) she were to suffer the same fate as our mother... She would spend her life doing something she hated, for a retirement that she never reached.

(I am pleased to say she celebrated her final day in that job last week!)

We collect cars, houses, electronics, and other 'stuff' to fulfil us instead of embracing the life we really want. Moving to Spain taught me to let go of all that shit, and to appreciate the simple things in life, like people, experiences and nature.
One of my twin boys is completely head-over-heels about hedgehogs. He was born in Mexico, and his love affair with Britain's best loved prickly creature was evident a few months after a parcel from 'Grandpa in England' arrived. Sandwiched between a few other books, it contained the children's classic, 'Peace At Last', by Jill Murphy. One small sentence, '"SNUFFLE, SNUFFLE," went the hedgehog.', transformed our lives forever. A collection of cuddly hedgehogs grew, the space on the shelf occupied by books featuring hedgehogs expanded, friends sent us Youtube links to cutesy heggie videos, my little hedgehog lover dressed as his favourite animal for two Halloweens running, his 4th and 5th birthday cakes were chocolate hedgehogs... and... we even appealed over social media to arrange a visit with someone owning an African pygmy hedgehog (who happened to have a prickle of newborn baby hedgehogs)!

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Once he heard that we were to be visiting England in the spring, all he wanted was to witness a 'Hedgehog Howdedo'. Just in case you are not familiar with the spectacle, please allow me to explain. The Hedgehog Howdedo is that time in spring, when all the hedgehogs snuffle out of their winter hibernation and meet up amongst the daffodils, as described in the children's book, 'Hedgehog Howdedo' by Lynley Dodd.

As I like to say, I love to water the big dreams, so with a little investigating we discovered Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, which, as good luck would have it, has a visitor centre.

With close to 30 years experience of taking in wildlife casualties, and treating over 200,000 patients, Tiggywinkles provides an essential service to injured birds and wild animals. Britain has an amazing gift in being home to such wondrous creatures; badgers, foxes, bats, deer, toads, moles, swans, owls and, of course, hedgehogs. The list goes on and on... and on. It is a heartbreaking fact that every year in Britain, over five million of these fantastic creatures are injured as a direct result of their encounters with humans and our human world. However, the British people are known for their empathy towards our beloved wildlife, and so places such as Tiggywinkles exist where people can bring in the injured. At Tiggywinkles they are treated completely free of charge and then, through a controlled programme, are safely released back into the wild.

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We visited Tiggywinkles in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, to meet some of the fortunate patients and those people that help care for them. Upon arriving, we met Sue, a fan and devoted member of the Tiggywinkles team. Three excited children made our reason of visit clear from 'Hello', and a smiling Sue lead us to where we would meet our first British hedgehog, Betty.

One member of our young trio (yes, the five-year-old boy that dressed as a hedgehog for Halloween) had accumulated a wealth of hedgehog facts and was eager to demonstrate his knowledge to hedgehog-handling Sue. She was marvellous in listening to and agreeing with all that was related, but what really impressed that little hedgehog lover was all the additional information Sue had to offer him. He clutched his own not-so-spikey, but cuddly toy hedgehog close to his chest, Armer. Armer was given his name since he "liked being in arms and ate almonds". I loved the fact that it also nodded to the protective coat all hedgehogs wore and that it meant "to love" in Spanish (amar).

Since it was time for Betty to snuffle off into her heggie house, we were invited to visit the other residents of Tiggywinkles and explore the grounds. We took a moment to soak in the joy of meeting Betty, then proceeded to browse the extensive collection of heggie related curiosities. We then headed to the viewing window into the hospital, visited foxes in their enclosures and kites in their aviary. What superb work and safe spaces the centre provides to all these animals in need of help.

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In need of some refreshment we headed into the lovely village of Haddenham, for a bite to eat, a stroll and then spent some time with the ducklings at the pond in front of the village church. There we told the story of when we met an English hedgehog and said, "How'd you do?".

To find out more about the work of this outstanding wildlife hospital and details of how you can visit them, please visit www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk

For more scribblings from Harmeet, she blogs at ~ www.fiveinthebed.com ~ Five In The Bed
The phrase 'sweatshop labour' conjurs up images of factory settings in far away lands with row upon row of machines operated by young women, all working long hours for poverty pay to earn profits in the millions for the western garment and shoe companies they stitch for. You might think of factory disasters, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in which over 1,130 workers were killed or the 2012 Ali Enterprises factory fire where 254 workers lost their lives. But you probably won't think of a woman, we will call her Jyoti*, sitting bent double on the floor of her home, hand stitching leather uppers for shoes to be sold on UK high streets.

Stitching just one pair of uppers could take her up to one hour. For this work she will earn, if for example she is one of the thousands of women homeworking in the leather shoe industry in India alone, the equivalent of less than 10 pence per pair of leather shoes. This is back-breaking labour-intensive work that requires the precision of hand stitching instead of a machine. The work often leaves women with health issues and complaints such as hand numbness, eye strain, back problems, and skin rashes from chemicals used to dye the leather are all commonplace, and unlike their factory counterparts, homeworkers have no health insurance to allow them to seek medical attention.

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The maximum Jyoti can stitch in one day is 16 pairs, earning her under 1.60.

Although cost of living differs, this is simply not enough to cover her basic needs. A kilo of rice alone costs her 43 pence. Jyoti earns well below a minimum wage, let alone a living wage, yet "whether we like it or not, we have to stitch. It is our only means of livelihood" she said. As a married woman with young children at home to care for, she combines her long hours stitching with unpaid domestic work, taking care of the home, children and her elderly parents. Given the entrenched gendered division of domestic work, for many homeworkers like Jyoti stitching leather uppers for shoes offers her the only opportunity for paid work that also allows her to maintain her family responsibilities, so cutting out homeworkers from the supply chain is not the answer.

The shoe industry is an immense global business, with over 24 billion pairs produced last year alone, equating to three pairs of shoes made for every single person living. The UK is a key part of this industry as one of the largest footwear markets in the world with, on average, each person in the UK buying five pairs of shoes per year.

Homeworking in the shoe industry is not confined to India, instead there is a global workforce of women, often from the lowest social strata or caste, working from their homes across the world, from Bulgaria to India, Portugal to North Africa.

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Uniting these women are: poverty wages, well below those of their already low factory counterparts; extreme job insecurity, they have no contracts and are employed on a daily basis; lack of any recognition or benefits, such as health insurance or a pension, that are afforded to factory shoe workers. "We completed the work we got yesterday. We may or may not have work tomorrow. There is no job security." said Sumitra, a homeworker from Tamil Nadu in India. They are a hidden workforce, providing both the low-cost labour and the flexibility so sought after in the footwear industry.

This is the invisible underside of global shoe production. An ugly sole stitched from the exploitation of homeworkers, and one which remains unseen by consumers and often even by the brands themselves.

As shoe consumption continues to rise, it is vital that we stop the exploitation and poverty trap that women homeworkers find themselves in. The answer is not the knee-jerk reaction that some brands may advocate of banning homeworking from their supply chains. This would result in homeworkers losing their jobs and the meager income they currently rely on, leaving them desperate and with no social security net to catch them. In fact, such a response may not even be possible, as homeworking is an established part of the supply chain and this may push the practice further into the shadows, thereby leaving homeworkers even more vulnerable to unscrupulous agents who take a cut of their pay: "We cannot negotiate with the middleman because the middleman knows many people who really need and want a job. So if I negotiate for one rupee or two rupees...They will give (the work) to some other area" Runa.

There is a lack of transparency that runs through the shoes industry that enables exploitation on this scale. For change to truly happen brands need to publicly map their supply chains, to acknowledge homeworkers as key part of their production workforce, and to ensure that their rights are respected and that they are paid a living wage. They must do this through publicly sharing social audit reports and due diligence efforts. They must do this to ensure that women like Shanti face a better life: "We have nothing. That's why we know this is employer exploitation. We have no other way. That's why we are involved in this (work). If I had any other income, I definitely wouldn't do this".
So this Labour spat over the decriminalisation (or not) of prostitution: it is tempting, as always, to sigh and say 'Jeremy Corbyn really doesn't help himself, does he?'. In this case, though, I'm not sure it's that way round. After all, he is within his rights to give a personal opinion in response to a question from a member of the public, especially one consistent with his support for Amnesty International's position on prostitution. (Whether he elaborated on it is unclear, because predictably the press have only reported The Controversial Thing What He Said, but nobody could accuse Amnesty's stance of being poorly considered.)

As the press gleefully reported, he was immediately attacked by 'angry female MPs', every reporter conveniently ignoring all criticism from male MPs to portray this as a straightforward battle of the sexes. Mind you, it wasn't the media that made it about gender in the first place, was it?

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Enter Jess Phillips, hashtag shedding a tear because Corbyn is a man who 'says we should decriminalize a known violence against women'. This introduction of gender politics is deeply unhelpful. Even if we accept the genderisation of the discussion itself on the basis that most of the victims of prostitution are women, Corbyn's gender is irrelevant - it is entirely conceivable that a man (especially this man) can advocate for women's rights, and in any case the Amnesty view is championed by women and women's groups alike. To portray Corbyn as a chauvinist with no respect for women's dignity is pretty low and more than a little disingenuous.

Equally disingenuous, or just plain ignorant, is reacting as though Corbyn doesn't care about violence against women, portraying him as a champion of the sex trade and confusing decriminalisation with legalisation. The Women's Equality Party have even put out a statement which insinuates that Corbyn was 'advocating the sale of bodies for sex', a hugely reductive leap of non-logic.

The sad thing is that these angry Labour MPs don't recognise that, on this, they are genuinely all on the same side. Corbyn has aligned himself with a proposal grounded in a desire to protect the vulnerable, and whilst they disagree over the proposed solution, they might at least give Corbyn the credit for raising the discussion and engage in a more sensitive, sophisticated way.

(Oh, and the shadow cabinet member who said Corbyn should 'go and join the Green party' can piss right off: this debate is not served by you attaching your political prejudices to it, and since you're the one taking them anonymously to a right wing newspaper, consider that perhaps you're the one in the wrong party.)

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Prostitution is an emotive issue, but for that very reason politicians must be wary of letting their emotions cloud their ability to reach objective conclusions, particularly in the absence of a party line. Nobody doubts Harriet Harman's commitment to women's rights, but her conflation of abuse with her distaste for prostitution confuses the issue; Corbyn shares her desire to protect women, so her objection to his description of prostitution as 'an industry' seems a bit petty when you consider that industry and exploitation are hardly mutually exclusive. Fine, we can stop calling it an industry if you like, but that won't stop it being one a dictionary definition sense, and it won't solve any problems.

And whilst it is a legitimate point of view to consider all prostitution exploitative and degrading, however consensual, that is a different discussion. An important discussion, but a more broadly ideological one with opinions (indeed, feminist opinions) on both sides. It would be disastrous to confuse that debate, with all its grey areas, with the clear cut need for legislation that protects the victims of categorical abuse such as coercion, sex trafficking and child prostitution; the so-called Nordic model (decriminalisation of the sellers and criminalisation of the buyer) is an attractive solution to those who are morally opposed to prostitution full stop, but it may not be the solution that best helps the vulnerable (in fact, the Amnesty proposal is supported by 60% of organisations working with sex workers, of which, conversely, only 4% support the Nordic model).

None of which is to say whether Corbyn is right or wrong, it is simply to ask, can you just sit down and talk about this, please? I mean, talk to each other rather than to the Telegraph or the whole of twitter? If you really care about these vulnerable women, men and children, then instead of spoiling for the fight that the media have predictably turned into the main story, acknowledge that you are unified in your beliefs that the current law doesn't work, that criminalising victims doesn't help and that you want to do something about it?

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Charles McQuillan via Getty Images

As Chair of Abortion Rights, I recognise the opportunity that International Women's Day gives us to celebrate achievements, highlight inequalities and give solidarity to other women. It's a day that should rightly be celebrated for all the achievements that woman have collectively added to our society and today I think its right to be talking about abortion.

Those of us campaigning for women's liberation know the importance of equal pay and for equal representation of women on committees, in decision making roles and to be visible as women. The ability to control our body and feel safe from violence underpins all of these achievements.

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Next year Abortion Rights will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised abortion in certain circumstances and ended - at least for those who lived in England, Wales and Scotland - the desperate backstreet abortion option. This law was hard fought for and we recognise how important it is for women and society 50 years on.

For the twelve years before the Act, abortion was the leading cause of maternal mortality in England and Wales. The cause, in 50% of illegal cases was sepsis - which is how Savita Halappanavar died in hospital in Galway in Ireland in 2012.

Now, at least in most of the UK, abortion is part of our social landscape - 1 in 3 women will have at least one termination in her lifetime.

However, in the north of Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland there are two different legal scenarios where women are still having to collectively push back against the laws that prohibit them from control over their own bodies. These restrictive laws are affecting women who live in Ireland profoundly.

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The Republic of Ireland recently held elections and we noticed that the #repealthe8th hashtag gained huge momentum on social media and had a massive effect on national politics, no doubt as a result of the reaction to the tragic death of Savita in 2012 which saw demonstrations in Dublin of 20,000 people against a confusing legal situation that effectively sees women as vessels to incubate babies.

For the first time, all political parties in Ireland had to have positions on the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution, which enshrines the equal right to life of the 'mother' and the foetus. In different ways, Fine Gael (promised to hold a citizen's assembly to decide if a referendum should take place), Labour (promised late on to have a referendum to repeal the amendment) Sinn Fein (had the position to repeal the 8th through referendum). Only Fianna Fail held out against holding a referendum to allow Ireland to vote on this issue.

In the north of Ireland women are being arrested for purchasing and using abortion pills, despite this being one of very few options available to them and extremely common. We don't believe women just over the water from us are criminals, those who are paying the same taxes as us in England, Wales and Scotland, but are denied the right for a free, legal, NHS abortion. And we note that the Court of Human Rights recently passed judgment that in cases of rape and incest, the government is in breach of women's human rights.

We know that many women travel to London, Liverpool and Livingston for an abortion and pay between 500-2000 a time. In 2014 3,735 women and girls travelled from Ireland to the UK for abortion services and from the north it was about 800. This figure had been going down, probably because of access to abortion pills, but we are concerned about the availability of this since the recent court cases.

From my position here, I offer solidarity to women in Ireland; Abortion Rights organises protests outside the Irish embassy and awareness raising activities to highlight the need to travel. This is a political problem for the people of Ireland and the north to solve, but in the meantime we will raise awareness of this injustice.

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We can't run these vital campaigns on our own, we don't get the support that the antis do from well financed churches or other bodies, we rely on many little contributions from ordinary people that recognise that this campaign is vital. Make it your International Women's Day pledge to join Abortion Rights today.

Next year will be a big year for Abortion Rights and we want to tell the stories of ordinary people who set out to legalise abortion and then defend it against attacks to the time limit and many other challenges. Please get in touch with us if you have a story to tell pre-67 or if you took action afterwards to defend the law.
Empowered Women Fight Poverty

It's nearly 100 years since the UK government passed the Representation of the People Act 1918 and over 150 years since women's suffrage started. The 8th March is International Women's Day, yet in 2014 the World Economic Forum predicted that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender equality. While the last hundred years have seen considerable progress, women across the world should not have to wait until the end of this century to achieve gender equality.

This is an issue that cuts across rich and poor countries and is a Pandora's Box of injustice. There are just 22 female CEOs in the Fortune 500 and less than 10 per cent of executive directors of FTSE 100 companies are women. According to the Global Poverty Project, "women make up half the world's population and yet represent a staggering 70 per cent of the world's poor. We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death. From poor education to poor nutrition to vulnerable and low pay employment, the sequence of discrimination that a woman may suffer during her entire life is unacceptable but all too common".

One thing is clear to me, and drawing on my experience as a Commissioner for Racial Equality for the UK government and as a core adviser on improving inclusion within London's Metropolitan Police, equality doesn't just happen because of good will or fine intentions. It takes a combination of principle, rational and emotional belief in equality, and a relentless commitment to seek practical steps to improve inclusivity.

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The Economics of Gender Equality

Women produce half of the world's food and work 70 per cent of the world's working hours, yet earn only 10 per cent of the world's income and own less than 1 per cent of the world's property.

Gender equality is more than a matter of social justice. When women have equal access to education, and go on to participate fully in business and economic decision-making, they become a catalyst to fight poverty. Their increased earnings improve household incomes and the well-being of children which subsequently helps reduce poverty for future generations.

According to the OECD, when more women work, economies grow. If a truly global movement to ensure women's empowerment and equality is the panacea to ending poverty, what are some of the roadblocks?

There are significant legal and legislative changes needed to ensure women's rights are upheld and cherished around the world. While a record 143 countries guaranteed equality between men and women in their Constitutions, another 52 don't. In fact, in many nations gender discrimination is still evident in legal structures and social norms.

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Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls - is a key enabler to overcome this historical injustice. In order to meet the Goal, significant actions will be required and laws changed. For example, there are still 26 countries that differentiate between men and women through statutory inheritance laws. This exposes women to greater vulnerability to poverty and food insecurity, and limited or no access to resources and credit, making them increasingly dependent upon men to secure a livelihood.

Furthermore, gender differences in laws affect both developing and developed economies. Almost 90 per cent of 143 economies studied by the OECD have at least one legal difference restricting women's economic opportunities. Of those, 79 economies have laws that restrict the types of jobs that women can do, and husbands can prevent their wives from working in 15 economies.

Climbing the education mountain

Structural changes allowing women access to business, property, inheritance and safe jobs are vital, as well as ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health. Another crucial solution is education. Furthering women's and girls' education contributes to higher economic growth. Increased educational outputs account for about 50 per cent of the economic growth in OECD countries over the past 50 years. Of this, over half is a result of girls having had access to higher levels of education and achieving greater equality in the number of years spent in school.

Since 2000, the UN with the rest of the global community, have made gender equality in primary education a central tenant to ensure women are able to contribute fully to their communities both economically and socially. More girls are now in school compared to 15 years ago, and most regions have reached gender equality in primary education. The impact? Women now account for 41 per cent of paid workers outside of the agricultural sector, compared to 35 per cent in 1990.

This is a great achievement, but there is still a mountain to climb. According to the UN, 9.5 million girls will never set foot in a classroom compared to 5 million boys. If this trend continues, by 2020, we can expect almost 16 million girls aged 6 to 11 to be denied the chance to learn to read and write.

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Since 2009, KPMG has supported the Millennium Village Project (MVP) in Pemba, Tanzania. The MVP is designed to help sub-Saharan rural communities end extreme poverty by working towards improving health, ensuring gender equality and fighting diseases. Since 2009 we have invested over $2m in health, education and infrastructure. Most critically, however, we have empowered women and girls with improved educational and livelihood opportunities.
To be honest, we weren't looking forward to the Dunstane, a boutique hotel in Edinburgh. We hadn't stayed there before, but being up in Edinburgh for the wonderful Storytelling Festival we'd spent three nights in the city centre and had got used to walking everywhere. The Dunstane was - OMG! - all the way out in Haymarket, a bus ride away! How would we cope?

To make matters worse, we would have to check out of our previous hotel on Sunday morning to move our car and then throw ourselves on the mercy of the Dunstane long before it was officially time to check-in. It was raining, and Edinburgh's one-way system seemed reluctant to let us go. It was only as we drove along Albyn Place for the third time in the pouring rain that my wife spotted the right-hand lane we needed to be in to escape the clutches of the city. It was therefore a fraught and bedraggled pair who turned up at the Dunstane seeking succour.

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And succour we received. Our room wasn't quite ready but if we cared to sit in the lounge and have a cup of coffee while reading the Sunday papers, they'd concentrate on getting it ready for us. It's amazing how relaxing it was, when we'd been racing round the city from event to event.

Which, pretty soon, we would be again, but not before we admired our amazing room, complete with a four-poster bed. Ours was just a regular room, nothing special, and we saw some of the rooms at the front of the hotel also boasted four-posters when we caught a glimpse inside. We also appreciated the fact that there were two easy chairs, not the one that many hotels provide which have you arguing over who gets to sit in it. There was also a good-sized table to work at, and classy period-style furniture in this Victorian town house that has been converted to combine a classic feel with a contemporary style.

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But what about getting into the city? In truth it couldn't have been easier. There was a bus stop almost outside, and regular buses going to Princes Street and elsewhere in the city. We bought a day pass when we boarded, and that was that. One day we caught the number 31 and it took us all the way to the south of the city where we'd arranged a tour of the Pickering's Gin Distillery.

There was no shortage of Scottish gins in the Dunstane's cool Stane Bar, either, though they specialise in whiskies with over 70 on the list. These included both Highland Park and Scapa whiskies from Orkney. The hotel's owners are from Orkney and the corridor leading to the bar is lined with fascinating historical photos of the island, and we enjoyed Orkney produce in the hotel's Skerries Restaurant which specialises in Orkney and other Scottish cuisine. Starters included Orkney seafood chowder and a deliciously different beetroot-cured pave of Orkney salmon, with main courses such as Orkney crab risotto, slow-cooked belly of Ayrshire pork and Orkney rib-eye steak. Having recently sampled steak on Orkney itself, I knew just how tender and tasty it is, and it was worth discovering the Dunstane just to know about the Skerries Restaurant.

It was hard to leave the Dunstane in the end, but it was also easy to leave too. Turn right out of the hotel and in ten minutes you're on the Edinburgh Bypass, or at Edinburgh Airport. Meaning, of course, next time it'll be easy to find the Dunstane and let the bus deal with Edinburgh's traffic.

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Location

The Dunstane is in the Haymarket area, on the western edge of the city centre. It's a handy 10-minute walk from Murrayfield, if you're going to Edinburgh for the rugby, and a 10-minute bus ride to Princes Street and the heart of the city.

The Dunstane

4 West Coates & 5 Hampton Terrace

Haymarket

Edinburgh EH12 5JQ

Tel: +44 (0131) 337 6169

Photos

All photos (c) Donna Dailey.

The Author
Every day, on my way to work in Gaza City, I see tens of thousands of students going to schools and colleges and I often ask myself the same questions. What future is awaiting these young people? What options do they have?

Some 70% of the population of Gaza is below 25 years old. This young generation is living in one of the most densely populated places in the world, with the world's highest unemployment rate. There is also scarcity in almost every aspect of life: water, electricity, land, resources, access to health, education, safety and limited access to the outside world. What chance do they have?

The extremely challenging living conditions for the 1.8 million people living here affect everyone, but the impact on children and young people is devastating. And families living in chronic poverty are powerless to improve the situation for their growing children.

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In 2012 the UN warned that by 2020 Gaza may no longer be "liveable" due to the lack of potable water and an inadequate sanitation system that further deteriorated during the 2014 conflict. Today 95% of our water is regarded as unsafe for drinking without treatment, as it has become increasingly polluted with sea water, nitrates, pesticides and sewage.

Belal, a young man from Gaza, graduated in engineering with honours in 2012, and the highest grades in his year. Fuelled by his academic success, he pursued work and further study but he could not take up a scholarship that was offered overseas because of the war in 2014. At the age of 27 his most cherished dreams were dashed and his bright hopes were dimmed.

Opportunity and access to employment are not only about a salaried position but about restoring self-esteem and dignity for young people who have been denied access to a normal life throughout their childhoods and now in their adult lives. They are boiling on the inside, with nowhere to put their energy, and reflections of this stress are showing as physical illnesses and psychological and social disorders.

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The restrictions our young people face have been happening for as long as I can remember. But the blockade of Gaza, now in its tenth year, is taking its toll on the youth who have so much energy to share with the world. Last year the figures for youth unemployment were as high as 60%, among the highest in the world. The lives of a whole generation are being blocked and stunted at every turn.

Like the rest of the world, I am following the terrible situation of the people in Syria. The suffering they continue to endure as they make the perilous journey to find a better life is heart-breaking. Yet it is even more devastating to witness on a daily basis how the restrictions here are ruining the lives of even the most ambitious and high achieving young Gazans.

These young people in this forgotten land have so much energy and talent to offer the world. They do not want to be beneficiaries of aid and welfare and yet they consistently lose opportunities because they live in a land with the gates locked to the outside world.

Islamic Relief is one of the agencies concentrating their efforts on alleviating the suffering of people by improving health and education provision and creating income generation projects, where possible.

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Yet there is only so much that can be done to support children and youth in this restricted situation. When one recent job creation opportunity was advertised for 500 people, 29,000 applications were submitted. There are thousands of young men and women like Belal who are desperate to work and contribute to the world. While young people across the world are enjoying their rights and freedoms, the basic rights of access to health, education and opportunity have become merely dreams for most of the children and youth of Gaza.

How can we make sure that Gaza's young generation is not forgotten when the world community is working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals?
I feel some empathy with people who knock uninvited at our door. I've done it enough myself when canvassing as a politician.

In my opinion it takes considerable bravery to walk up to someone's home unannounced and attempt to engage them in conversation. For that reason I try to provide a polite and friendly response to anyone who has chosen to call at our door.

Even if I don't want them there. Even if I disagree with them fundamentally.

This admiration hasn't stopped me trying to get rid of them of course. Religious callers being the most challenging.

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My mother told me always to tell them we were catholic. "They know catholics can't be swayed from their belief so will leave you alone," was her sound advice after my first teenage encounter with a Jehovah's Witness on our doorstep. That helpful piece of advice came only after I'd spent 45 minutes trying to escape the conversation. Thanks Mum.

Once I became more assured in my sexuality I would also tell them I was gay. This on the basis that most would immediately identify me as a follower of the Anti Christ and would go away. However, many viewed my sexuality as a challenge. It just meant they tried a bit harder and in one case kept coming back.

So then I tried combining the two. I was gay AND catholic. That must surely send my evangelising callers running, I thought. No. They now viewed me as an even greater challenge. The ultimate test. The prospect of tackling a really hopeless case. I offered them the potential for extra Godly Gold Stars should they prove successful.

I held on to that thought when, on Saturday morning, there was a knock at our front door.

The knock came at an unfortunate moment. I was home alone with our five year old daughter and just out of the shower.

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Our daughter got to the door first. Dressed in her ubiquitous Saturday morning attire of flowing Disney Princess Dress and sparkly party shoes.

A smartly dressed middle aged couple stood on the doorstep. Pamphlets in hand. Fixed smiles and determined, evangelical fervour in their eyes.

Leaning forward slightly, the man smiled sweetly at our daughter.

"Are your Mummy or Daddy at home?" he asked in a saccharine voice.

Our daughter is many things, foremost amongst which she is confident. And truthful.

"I have two Dads!" She answered with determination.

The male Jehovah's Witness had clearly not expected this answer and blinked slightly, casting a sideways glance at his female colleague as if to confirm that he had not misheard our daughter's response. A momentary awkward silence followed.

Our daughter decided to fill it.

"And I have Princess Panties!" She declared, lifting her voluminous Princess Dress to show the couple her new Cinderella themed underwear as confirmation.

By this point the couple on our doorstep were beginning to look unsettled. I felt I'd better intervene and made for the door.

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"Ah!" The clearly relieved Jehovah's Witness saw a way out of the awkward conversation with a five year old, "here's your Daddy?" He proffered a leaflet proclaiming 'God's Word' above a painting of a halo like sunrise.

Our daughter remained on the path of truthfulness. "One of them," she said. "This one's bald, the other one is a VERY busy and VERY important doctor!"

"She's right," I said. "Although my husband is out just now."

Now both Jehovah's Witnesses were blinking rapidly. Looking from me, to our daughter and then back to me again. "Dads?" The man said, his smile changing from confident to quizzical.

Our daughter took this to be a sign that the poor people on the doorstep were somehow confused and needed a clearer explanation. She decided to spell things out as if speaking to an imbecile. "I have TWO DADS" Then a flourish in my direction. "This is the BALD ONE".

The rapidly blinking Jehovah's Witnesses were now completely outside their comfort zone. "Ah, well, would you like a leaflet?" The gentleman said, his female companion already backing away.

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"I don't think so, thank you though," I said. "I'm gay you see...oh and catholic."

"Two Dads! Two Dads! Two Dads!" Sang our daughter happily.
If we look at the conversations happening around equality in 2016, much discussion abounds on the business case for being LGBT-friendly. There is research which indicates that employees who come out of the closet are 30 per cent more productive; why wouldn't organisations want to encourage this? But the diversity and inclusion debate goes far beyond commercial or workplace concerns in Western, cosmopolitan cities like London and New York.

There are still 76 countries globally where a person can be jailed for their sexual orientation or gender identity. In some of these regions, they are in danger of receiving the death penalty. "You can't even begin to talk about the business case if there's not a rights foundation," says Shauna Olney, Chief of the Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch of the International Labour Organisation.

Robert Biedron, the first openly gay mayor in Poland, says he is sceptical of supranational institutions like the European Parliament. "There is no one binding international treaty or convention around the world concerning LGBTI people," he says. "There is the European Convention on Punishment for Road Traffic Offences, the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, but there is nothing for LGBTI people."

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Olney also believes that the lack of any universal declaration of human rights is something which urgently needs addressing. She offers evidence that a change in law can positively influence behaviour, citing bumps in perceived acceptance of gay people in Croatia following the introduction of same-sex marriage, and in Luxembourg after an openly gay man became prime minister. "Laws and politicians matter," she says.

But outside of government, what can companies do? When doing business abroad, organisations must choose to adopt one of three models: "When in Rome," wherein the company acquiesces to all local laws and customs; the "embassy" model, where local employees operate within the company as they would in the US or UK; and finally the "advocate" model, where the organisation has an immovable set of values. "We have a responsibility to look at our own values and live them," says Claudia Brind-Woody, VP and MD of Intellectual Property Licensing at IBM. She describes IBM as "mostly advocate," but acknowledges that the safety of employees is paramount and so sometimes they have to settle for being an embassy.

Bisi Alimi is an activist who fled persecution in Nigeria and now lives in the UK. To Alimi, the embassy model is not enough; the way he sees it, the head of a Western corporation can command the attention of a president or prime minister of an oppressive African nation, and he believes that companies with the wealth and desire to do business in these countries also have a responsibility to foster change.

"It's simple capitalism," he says. "To make profit, you need people. To get people, you need change." He cites Nigeria's natural beauty is a giant untapped source of tourist revenue, and also predicts that changing laws around homosexuality will mean less of a "gay brain drain," which will in turn boost Nigeria's economy further, as has already been seen in South Africa. "Activism is a selfish thing for me," he says. "I want to take my husband back to my country... I have to work hard to make home a safe place for him."

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Of course, as human rights activist Nadia Zabehi points out, governments in many of these countries are far from secular, and the criminalisation of homosexuality is often dictated by sharia law. That isn't something that can be solved by someone at BP or Shell picking up the phone. In many regions, effecting change is going to be a painfully slow process. "Cultures hold values and symbols dear," says actor and campaigner Omar Sharif Jr, who was also forced to leave his home country of Egypt. "In the West, that's the legalistic language of the constitution. In the East, the language is moralistic."

Moad Goba, an LGBTI refugee mentor, acknowledges that there are certain leaders who would rather see their country starve than accept financial aid if it comes with conditions regarding equality. But she also believes that reshaping perceptions has the power to ultimately influence politics. "Changing hearts and minds often results in a change of law," she says, urging companies who want to help to communicate with people living and working in these regions, to find out what they can do rather than making unilateral decisions.

And what if you truly believe your employees won't be safe? Is it practical to simply withdraw your business from a hostile country if you don't agree with its laws? Sharif thinks so. "Don't try to work around it, don't try to message around it; do the right thing," he says. "Your business will prosper in other places."

An especially high profile example of this is the decision made by Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, to block a loan to clinics which he deemed would further endanger already-vulnerable LGBT people living in Uganda. "It's not about making a political stand, but looking at principle," says Kim. "If we are supporting an institution which endangers people, we have to say no."

On the other side of the fence is Sir Martin Sorrell, who believes that an altogether more pragmatic approach is best. He suggests, in retrospect, that leaders like David Cameron and Barack Obama might have been wise to take the opportunity to sit down with Vladimir Putin instead of refusing to attend the Sochi Winter Olympics.

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"Quiet diplomacy works better than brazen head-to-head controversy," he says. "They do listen, they do learn, and they can change."
As EU leaders sit down today to a summit with Turkey to negotiate how to cope with the biggest immigration crisis the continent has seen for decades, desperate deals are likely to be made.

But while Merkel and company discuss with Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu the ins and outs of a 3million deal to stop the flow of asylum seekers from Turkey to EU countries, and repatriate others, Turkish leaders may feel they are immune from any pressure to moderate their attacks on media freedom at home.

Turkey's agreement is essential to the migration deal, and so it will be feeling the power of its elbow, and expecting little fallout from European leaders on its recent and on-going crackdown on journalists who attempt to report inconvenient truths.

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Last Friday's court seizure of Zaman, a large newspaper group which had the temerity to cover stories the current leadership would rather they didn't, is just the latest in a long line of moves by Turkish President Erdogan and Prime Minister Davutoglu to silence their media critics. Protestors turned out in thousands over the weekend to show their abhorrence for this latest twist in Turkey's slide into authoritarianism, facing tear gas and rubber bullets shot into the crowds by police. By Sunday, with its new imposed editorial team in place, Zaman newspaper was publishing pro-government stories.

The takeover of Zaman was just the latest attack on media who dare to question or criticize the current state of affairs in Turkey. Foreign journalists are not being granted permits to cover the country, and others are being arrested.

But in the current climate with EU leaders desperate to work with Turkey on tackling the refugee crisis, Erdogan and Davutoglu may believe they have immunity from any significant European pressure. They may also feel a tiny bit smug that this union of countries, which have so long denied Turkey the right to be a member, is now coming to them cap in hand, desperate for their help.

Turkey is increasingly a dangerous place to be a journalist, and to report what you see. It is also increasingly difficult for foreign correspondents to get in.

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Index on Censorship's Mapping Media Freedom project, which reports on attacks on media freedom across the continent, has recorded the deaths of 15 journalists in Turkey since July 2014. Seven of those were in 2015, and already there have been two this year.

Gulsen Yldz, a journalist working in Ankara for Tarim TV, was killed on 18 February. She was among 28 people who died during a terrorist attack, according to a MMF report.

On 11 February, Nazm Dastan, a journalist for Dicle News Agency (DIHA), which reports in Kurdish, was arrested in Gaziantep on charges of spreading online propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which the Turkish state lists as a terrorist group. On the next day, he was brought to testify in court and then taken to jail.

On the same date, Feyyaz Imrak, also a journalist for Dicle News Agency (DIHA), was arrested along with 16 others on charges of being members of the PKK. Police searched his home and confiscated his reporting equipment and notes.

Imrak appeared before a criminal court 15 February to hear the charges against him, and is currently being held at Antalya Prison, pending trial.

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In another report to the MMF project, which is run jointly with Reporters Without Borders and the European Federation of Journalists, in February Turkish authorities rejected a permanent press accreditation application from Silje Rnning Kampester, a correspondent for Norway's Aftenposten. No reason was given for the rejection.

The authorities also detained Claus Blok Thomsen, a Danish journalist working for Denmark's daily newspaper Politiken, at the Istanbul airport, barring him from entering the country. The journalist was seeking access to report on refugees at the Turkish-Syrian border.

According to further reports, when Thomsen identified himself as a journalist, police forced him to open his phone and computer, undermining the confidentiality of his sources. He was then detained in a cell overnight and put on a plane to Copenhagen the next day. He was reportedly told to not try re-entering Turkey.

Media freedom is at the heart of any democracy. A freedom to report different sides of the same story. And a freedom to criticise government policies. Turkey increasingly feels like it is steadily sliding towards secrecy. EU leaders must put media freedom on any negotiating table, and not abandon the right of Turkish people to be free to know what is happening in their country.

Rachael Jolley is the editor of quarterly Index on Censorship magazine, which has been publishing censored writers for 43 years. Index has launched a petition calling on Turkey to reverse its decision to seize the Zaman newspaper here

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Land tenure is one of the challenges we face when helping families access decent housing. And even a greater challenge for women. Their right to own property are more limited than the rights enjoyed by men. As a result, we see that women cannot get credit, use financial services and other resources.

The terms "tenure" and "property rights" usually mean the ability to use and control land or property. It is all about relationship between people -- as individuals or groups -- and property. It may be based on written policies and laws or on unwritten customs and practices. These rules determine who can use what property, for how long, and under what conditions.

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Over the past decades, women in Tajikistan have started to assume a greater role in our society. For example, almost 60 percent of those employed in the agricultural sector are women, based on data from FAO. In some regions, women head almost 40 percent of the families. This is partially explained by the 1992-1997 civil war. UN estimates that around 20,000 women were widowed during that period and the number of families headed by women grew substantially.

However, despite significant breakthroughs, women's employment is often limited to seasonal, unskilled and poorly paid jobs. And their income is only 60 percent of men's earnings. And the property rights situation is even more complex. By law, men and women have equal rights to land use and property. In theory, women can own land, inherit family property or sell it. However, theory and practice are worlds apart.

Traditional and religious factors, which have gained prominence recently, influence relations between men and women, especially in rural areas. Tajik society tends to be patriarchal. Men control the distribution and the use of land and property as well as the distribution of profits from its sale.

For example, one can see very often in rural areas that property certificates and deeds are issued to husband's parents and brothers. If a woman's husband dies, she has no legal right to that property. And no one questions this tradition.

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On the other hand, joint property acquired during marriage is often registered not to the husband's name but to his relatives, his father or even grandfather. Since neither the wife nor her husband are included into the allotment certificate, a woman cannot apply for a loan and receive credit by herself. Or own any part of the property when her marriage ends.

It's high time we change things and bring theory into reality. However, this requires shifting traditional beliefs and behaviors in our society. Let's hope that we can see it happen.

Habitat for Humanity is launching a Solid Ground campaign with the aim to draw attention to the often overlooked role of land for housing. You can find more information at solidgroundcampaign.org.
As a woman the most common form of violence you are likely to face is domestic violence.

New research from ActionAid, launched ahead of International Women's Day, reveals the horrific reality that globally five women every hour die at the hands of a partner or family member. That's one woman every 12 minutes.

If nothing changes, domestic violence will have taken the lives of half a million women by the year 2030.

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Violence against women is a global issue, a violation of a woman's fundamental human rights and one which threatens the lives of millions of women every day, with women living in poverty often at greater risk.

In the UK charities like Women's Aid are doing incredible things to tackle issues of violence. In the rest of the world, it's the work of women's rights organisations that are vital in bringing an end to violence against women and girls.

Last month, I traveled to Myanmar to meet some of the women who are leading the fight against violence.

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"If there is violence in the house the world is not peaceful. If you get peace in the home you will see there is peace in the world."

Thuzar Tin is the leader of the Women's Federation for Peace (WFFP), which she set up in 2009 when she noticed rising violence against women in her community after a devastating cyclone.

We met at her home in Yangon where her makeshift office was set up. Women frequently arrive at her organisation having been beaten by their husbands, They often have little knowledge of their rights.

Although in poverty, many are not allowed to work by their husbands and so are financially dependent. Thuzar and her volunteers train the women in their rights as well as to sew and make soap, empowering them to demand the freedom to set up their own small businesses and generate their own income. They also provide psychosocial counselling and legal support.

As I was there I was struck by how many women saw domestic violence as almost normal, the trainings being given to women are often the first time they're hearing that they have a right not to be beaten.

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As for many women's rights organisations in Myanmar, the Women's Federation for Peace's most pressing challenge is that they are chronically underfunded. She told me: "Everyone here is passionate about this work, but we need funds to survive."

Her group is part of the Women's Organisations Network which consists of over 30 small, grassroots organisations that are working together to support women in Yangon. Without funding, these organisations are in danger of closing, leaving the women in their communities with little to no viable options for support and nowhere to turn.

Not only are these organisations often the first, and most important, source of support for women in crisis, they are also vital drivers of women's movements, pushing for change over time. Evidence shows that the work of strong, independent women's rights organisations is the single most effective way to address violence against women and girls.

ActionAid's new briefing Fearless Women and Girls - leading the way, transforming lives highlights the enormous funding gap for women's rights organisations in developing countries. It calls on the Government to commit to boosting the proportion of aid going directly to women's groups working on the frontline. ActionAid is recommending at least 70 million over the next three years to be taken from the existing aid budget.

In Myanmar, domestic violence threatens the lives of women every day and the awful reality is that globally the killing of women by their partners or family members is so common that it rarely makes headlines.

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Violence against women is so ingrained in our global society that we have almost become accustomed to the statistics that surround it.

But behind every statistic is a real woman, a woman who has lost her life, or suffered violence because she is a woman.

We have a moral duty to speak out and stand with these women. We must show the government that providing vital funding for them is not a choice, but a matter of responsibility.
This Tuesday, March 8, communities across the world will celebrate International Women's Day, a campaign highlighting the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women globally. With the World Economic Forum recently extending the predicted date that gender equality will be achieved by nearly 40 years (from 2096 to 2133), it's particularly poignant that this year's campaign theme is #PledgeForParity.

One of the leading barometers for global gender parity is the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index, which measures a number of factors such as women's reproductive health, empowerment and labour market participation. Currently lagging in 130th place on this Index, and in the bottom twenty countries, is India. But things are changing.

India is at a pivotal point in its history. As the world's fastest-growing economy, internet access across India is rapidly increasing and, by 2017, it's expected to become the second largest smartphone market on the planet. With the dual effect of enhanced access to digital solutions helping to improve women's health and wellbeing, combined with support for the rise in entrepreneurship, the stage is set for a movement to address the gender imbalance.

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At the forefront of this movement is a growing host of remarkable local digital innovators. Over the last three years, Nominet Trust's quest to find new and inspirational social tech projects for our NT100 showcase has shone a light upon three mobile technology initiatives in India. All led by incredible female entrepreneurs, they are not only radically improving the daily lives of women, but also forming part of a more significant movement towards gender parity.

New beginnings for maternal health

The Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) uses mobile phones to deliver vital health information to new and expectant mothers, supporting programmes in India, Bangladesh and Africa. According to MAMA, India accounts for 17 per cent of global maternal mortality, 27 per cent of global newborn mortality and 25 per cent of global child mortality - the largest share of any country. However the ubiquity of mobile phones has made possible the introduction of a knowledge-sharing service for young, under-served women, often with low literacy levels, with the aim of reducing often preventable deaths.

In 2014, MAMA launched a programme in the Mumbai slums, partnering with ARMANN, an NGO founded by urogynecologist, social entrepreneur and TEDx speaker, Dr Aparna Hegde. Known as mMitra (mitra literally meaning 'friend' in Hindi), the digital service sends free pregnancy and child health information to pregnant women and new mothers twice each week, in a language and at a time of their choosing. Information is sent via SMS or as a recorded message, and explains the developmental stage of a child throughout pregnancy and the baby's first year of life. Mothers therefore understand the expected developmental milestones and can identify and seek treatment for potential health issues before they escalate. Within the first few months alone, mMitra had 50,000 subscribers. MAMA hopes to take the programme to scale across India.

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Hard life, early death

Diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) can have particularly severe consequences for Indian women during their reproductive years. TB is one of the top five causes of death for adult women aged 20-59 and India has the highest number of TB sufferers globally, with 220,000 total deaths in 2014 according to the World Health Organisation.

Once again, however, a determined female entrepreneur is helping to combat the issue. Operation ASHA, an NGO based in New Delhi, was co-founded by inspirational professor and surgeon, Dr. Shelly Batra. In partnership with Microsoft Research, she developed an innovative, portable biometric tracking system called eCompliance that has taken TB treatment to the doorsteps of rural communities and slum dwellers across India.

eCompliance aims to improve successful completion of TB patients' full treatment regimen, reducing the default rate that is contributing to the rise of new, drug-resistant, strains of the disease (MDR-TB). Limited resources and infrastructure mean that health professionals struggle to track their patients comprehensively. As a result, India has the highest prevalence of MDR-TB of any country in the world. Operation ASHA uses fingerprint recognition and SMS messaging to ensure patients are adhering to their treatment regimens. At each clinic visit, both the patient and the healthcare worker scan their fingerprints, medication is dispensed and the treatment is recorded in the system's database. If a patient misses a dose, an SMS message alert is sent to the patient and healthcare worker. The digitisation of the patient records also enables accurate reports to be produced and allows targeted counselling to be provided.

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There are now over 130 community centres in India with eCompliance terminals, and over 220,000 visits have been logged. The default rate for patients on the programme has been reported in the BMJ Open as an amazingly low 3.2%, compared with 11.5% at other South Delhi TB treatment centres. The model has now been rolled out in Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Kenya and Uganda.

Empowering women by creating safe public spaces

A survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India found that 92 per cent of working women across many cities felt insecure, especially at night. One project that aims to empower women by encouraging them to tell their harassment stories is Safecity, a mobile and online community founded by Elsa D'Silva, who was herself inspired by the success of other crowd-mapping initiatives.

Shortly after the now infamous gang rape of a medical student on a Delhi bus, Elsa devised the idea for women to use a phone app to map hotspots of abuse. Talking to The Guardian, she says: "That was when everything lined up and I said to myself: Safety and security need to be urgently addressed. Until then, not many of us were even talking about it actively or openly enough, including me. It was that rape that really got me thinking more actively ... then I started to remember the various incidents that had taken place in my own life." Her personal silence broken, D'Silva began to talk to friends: "I realised that every one of them had a story to share, but until then we had never really spoken about it."

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Safecity also aims to use the data it collects to inform future urban planning, for example highlighting areas which currently have little or no street lighting. Elsa hopes the project will encourage the Indian government to improve legislation on gender equality by creating a louder voice for women's safety and rights. Already, over 4,000 stories have been collected on Safecity from 50 Indian cities.
Last Thursday we saw the first primetime debate in the House of Commons on 'gangs and serious youth violence'. We both attended a short summit held the morning of the debate, in order to brief MPs on what could really make an impact and reduce violence in our city. The outcome of the debate was a unanimously passed motion, calling on the Government to establish an 'independent, all-party commission, involving wide-ranging consultation to identify the root causes, effect of and solution to youth violence'.

When we refer to youth violence we are talking about children and adolescents perpetrating severe violence against one another, sometimes resulting in death. In 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron declared an all out 'war on gangs' and the policy written to address youth violence since then, seems to believe that if we eradicate the 'gang', we will end youth violence. The problem is, not all incidents of youth violence are gang related. As highlighted by "(Re)thinking Gangs", a report by Runnymede Trust, "The 'gang' provides a potent shortcut to understanding youth conflict, offering Hollywood style images of urban chaos and random violence... in the place of more complex explanations exploring the realities of this phenomenon and the social, economic, political and cultural conditions of its emergence'.

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Gangs are the product of a society that is economically unjust, fragmented and materialistically driven. James Gilligan, in his book Violence: Reflections on Our Deadliest Epidemic, stated that poverty is the deadliest form of violence. Therefore, we must begin to understand the problem as a whole because youth violence cannot be understood in a vacuum which does not take into account violence in other forms. Gangs are not new. Gangs are not exclusively young. Gangs are not inclusively black and the racialised nature of the term is highly problematic.

We believe that if stopping youth violence is the change we truly want to see, we must change the way we think about it.

One of the biggest issues we both have encountered when working with young people, in the prison system and in the community, is the amount of trauma that they have experienced. Now the problem with trauma is that most people do not understand it; those suffering from trauma cannot just choose to get over it, especially if they do not realise anything is wrong. You also need to know that we all experience trauma differently and just because something doesn't affect you badly, doesn't mean that it wont affect me.

When childhood trauma goes undetected or untreated, that child may grow up reenacting that trauma over and over again in order to master it. A lot of what we deal with in our day-to-day jobs, is working with young people who are being violent in order to regain some kind of control over their lives and emotions, most doing so unconsciously. The trauma does not have to be one big experience, it can be very small experiences that happen over and over again. Remember trauma is different to everyone.

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So let's think for a moment; what if we (as a society) started to see gangs as groups of young people attempting to gain control over their lives or had better understanding that young people who feel like they have no control over their lives gravitate to others that share their experience. What could we do to support these young people and help them gain more control over their destinies?

This is a very complex issue and not everyone will agree with the points made but it is vitally important to share a different perspective with the reader, one not often spoken about, so we can all start working on developing the solutions for a less violent society.
In 1877, Naftali Herts (Herz) Imber (Galicia, 1856 - New York, 1909), a young man in his early twenties, authored a Hebrew poem called "Our Hope". The pioneers in Palestine liked the poem, and from the beginning of the 20th century the first two stanzas of the nine-stanzas-poem became the anthem of the Zionist Movement (called "The Hope"). When the State of Israel was founded in 1948 "The Hope" became its national anthem, but only in 2004 it became the anthem of the State of Israel by legislation.

Naftali Herts Imber

The author of the poem, after travelling in Europe, immigrated to Palestine in 1882. He published articles and poems expressing appreciation to the Jewish pioneers. In 1887 he went back to Europe and in 1892 he came to the US, where he married a physician (who was a convert) and got divorced. In his last years Imber lived in the Lower East Side in New York, he was sick and poor and at age 53 he died from kidney illness due to his drinking. He was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in New York, and in 1953 in Israel, in accordance with his wish. Imber is not recognized as a significant contributor to Hebrew literature.

Israelis have debated if the anthem should be changed or replaced or not. Here is "The Hope":

As long as in the heart, inside

A soul of a Jew still yearns

And toward the end of the East, onward

An eye gazes toward Zion - Our hope is not yet lost,

The two-thousand-year-old hope,

To be a free nation in our country,

The country of Zion and Jerusalem.

The Western Wall

"The Hope" says that as long as the soul of the Jews yearns to Zion, our hope to be free people in Zion has not been lost.

The melody of the anthem was written by an agricultural worker in Palestine, Shmuel Cohen, who was clearly influenced by a popular Moldavian melody about farmers who accelerate their oxen as they travel by wagon. There are, however, musicologists who argue that part of the melody was composed by a Rabbi in Spain at about 1400.

Various arguments have been presented for and against replacing the anthem. Those who are for replacing the anthem or changing some of it, state that it is written in a kind of accentuation (Ashkenazi) that is not used in the Hebrew vernacular anymore. Its style is outdated, "archaic", and it should be refreshed or replaced. Some also say that the music is not innovative, and certainly not completely original. The poem mentions the soul of the Jew in the masculine form, how about the Jewish woman? In the anthem, Jewish hearts yearn for the East - Israel is in the east for Jews in Europe, but this neglects the Jews for whom Jerusalem was in the West, such as Iraq and Syria. The anthem suits a Jewish national movement from East Europe that looks west bound and desires the Israeli state, but not the people who are already free and independent in Israel. The hope to be a free nation in Israel that is expressed in the poem has been fulfilled already. There are many Hebrew poems that are better suited to be the anthem, they are applicable to every person, regardless of religion, race and gender. "The Hope" does not suit the multi-cultural world in which we live. There are countries that have modified their anthems that Israel can be inspired by. For some, even simply Imber's lifestyle (for example, his abuse of alcohol) justifies changing the anthem.

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Those pro-change point out that the anthem expresses the yearning of the Jews - that constitute now about 75% of the Israeli population - to return to their land, it does not express the minorities in Israel - Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, and Cherkessk. It is essential to make some changes in the anthem so that the minorities in Israel can feel that they are a part of it, for example, replacing the line "the soul of a Jew yearns" with "the soul of the Israeli yearns". Israeli minorities deserve an anthem that can help them to identify with their state. There are also those who claim that it would be good a progressive social step to add to an entire additional national song with which minorities in Israel could identify.

Those who object to changing the anthem are against changing the national symbols of Israel. Israel is a Jewish state and the Jews live in it with head held high and their anthem expresses this fact. The minorities don't have to identify with the anthem, only to respect it. There are nations whose anthems include harsh utterances that the relevant minorities do not like, yet they do not consider replacing or modifying their anthems. The Jewish people chose "Hatikva" as their anthem and the government does not have the right to change it. There is one anthem for the one country the Jews govern. With this anthem on their lips Jews went to the gallows, fought their way to come to Israel, and currently express their love to their land; suggesting to change it is ridiculous. The minorities in Israel should internalize that it is a Jewish state, they would affirm.

The most challenging disputes are those in which both sides have highly emotionally charged arguments, and this one certainly has plenty of that.

You may listen to the Moldovan song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adTjy-TIW_Q

You may listen to the Israeli anthem
Michael Bloomberg wont run for president, raising speculation that he will run for president. On this day in history, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, which forever revolutionized the way Ted Cruz scares people about Marco Rubios amnesty plan. And were entering the Life Alert portion of the primary, both in that a number of candidates have fallen and cant get up, and that theyre all making strong plays for old people in Florida. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, March 7th, 2016:

Howard Wolfson shared a would-be Bloomberg campaign video with the Times and it's even more boring than the former mayor.

WHITE HOUSE'S SCOTUS SHORTLIST - Amy Goldstein, Jerry Markon and Sari Horwitz: "The White House is considering nearly a half-dozen relatively new federal judges for President Obamas nomination to the Supreme Court, focusing on jurists with scant discernible ideology and limited judicial records as part of a strategy to surmount fierce Republican opposition...Based on interviews with legal experts and others, including some who have spoken in recent days with Obama administration officials involved in the vetting process, the president is leaning toward a sitting federal judge to fill the vacancy -- and probably one the Senate confirmed with bipartisan support during his tenure. These insiders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, noted that the administration is winnowing its list of candidates -- but that it could add more. The candidates under consideration include two judges who joined the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2013, Sri Srinivasan and Patricia A. Millett; Jane L. Kelly, an Iowan appointed that year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit; Paul J. Watford, a judge since 2012 on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; and a lower-court judge, Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed in 2013 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia." [WaPo]

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@MrT: I mourn the death of First Lady Nancy Reagan, who was Very Special to me.

SURELY THIS WILL DAMAGE THE TRUMP BRAND - Foreign diplomats complaining Mark Hosenball, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick: "Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials. Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified. 'As the (Trump) rhetoric has continued, and in some cases amped up, so, too, have concerns by certain leaders around the world,' said one of the officials. The three officials declined to disclose a full list of countries whose diplomats have complained, but two said they included at least India, South Korea, Japan and Mexico." [Reuters]

MIKE LEE IS KINDA PULLING A JIM BUNNING ON THE FLINT BILL - Sen. Mike Lee doesn't think the U.S. Congress needs to get involved with the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The Utah Republican is preventing a vote on bipartisan legislation that would help cities get loans for infrastructure repairs if they face similar conditions. "The only thing Congress is contributing to the Flint recovery is political grandstanding," Lee said. "The people and policymakers of Michigan right now have all the government resources they need to fix the problem."...Democrats have heaped blame on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who has apologized repeatedly. In January, Democrats proposed $600 million in direct assistance to Flint, but have since negotiated with Republicans on a $220 million measure that would make loan credits available to any city facing a water emergency. A spokeswoman for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the Republicans who worked on the measure for weeks, said Monday that the senator is still negotiating. "Inhofe is working to address concerns from all parties involved and to find a responsible path forward for this fully paid-for solution, which allows all states to seek a loan to help their communities that are facing dangerous repercussions from aging water infrastructure," she said. [HuffPost]

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DELANEY DOWNER - Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters didn't like Bernie Sanders' response to her question about lead pipes during Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate in Flint. But she really didn't like Hillary Clinton's response. "I hated Hillary Clinton's answer," Walters, 38, told The Huffington Post on Monday. "It actually made me vomit in my mouth." Walters, an early whistleblower in the Flint water crisis, had asked whether as president, Clinton and the Vermont senator would promise to require public water systems in the United States to remove lead pipes. Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders did not give direct answers. Instead, Clinton proposed getting rid of all lead sources, including paint and dust, within five years. "We will commit to a priority to change the water systems and we will commit within five years to remove lead from everywhere," Clinton said. To Walters, five years is an unacceptable timeline. [HuffPost]

Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

CRUZ TO PROVE THAT HE HAS FRIENDS THIS WEEK - But is it good for the Cruz? Yes. Elaina Plott: "Ted Cruzs colleagues may loathe him, but they seem to have found somebody else they dislike more. With the prospect of Donald Trumps nomination looming over the GOP, Cruz is set to unveil endorsements from more than four senators this week, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Until now, Cruz had failed to earn the endorsement of even a single Senate colleague, a fact Trump and other presidential rivals have been quick to use against the Texas freshman. But as many senators see Marco Rubios prospects dimming, some are beginning to make peace with Cruz, convinced that hes the only candidate who can stop Trump. If Rubio cant clinch his home state of Florida on March 15, yet more may come forward to back the devil they know." [National Review]

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CRUZ LOOKING TO DESTROY RUBIO IN FLORIDA - Shane Goldmacher: "One of Ted Cruzs super PACs says it is aiming to take out Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida.

And the super PAC has prepared an array of new attack ads hitting Rubio -- on sugar subsidies, on his tax plan, on amnesty and on national defense -- with plans to air them in the Sunshine State. 'We had so much fun winning Sen. Cruzs home state by 17 points, we thought why not repeat that in Sen. Rubios home state?' said Kellyanne Conway, the Republican strategist who heads Keep the Promise I, which created the ads." [Politico]

TRUMP DOING GREAT HISPANIC GOTV - Hispanics really do love him [for energizing them to engage in our democratic institutions thereby infusing them with the satisfaction that only comes from being a good citizen]! Julie Preston: "Over all, naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach 1 million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years." [NYT]

HOW RUBIO JEB!'D - Somewhere, in some GOP office or campaign HQ, there's a PowerPoint presentation that has a bullet point that says "Fewer Dick Jokes." Ed O'Keefe, Robert Costa and Paul Kane: "Party leaders, donors and other supporters of Rubio portray a political operation that continues to come up short in its message, in its attention to the fundamentals of campaigning and in its use of a promising politician. The failures have all but doomed Rubios chances of securing the GOP nomination, leaving him far behind Trump and Cruz in both delegates and states won'They have no infrastructure,' said Scott Reed, who is unaffiliated with any campaign but serves as the chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 'His campaign hasnt been able to keep up with his candidacy. . . . They dont have the operation in the states to help him get over the top. He should be a finalist going all the way to California, and hes not'" [WaPo]

Nothing spells success quite like "failed vice presidential candidate who can't win his home state" - "Earle Mack, a Brooklyn-born businessman and former ambassador under President George W. Bush, is the major force behind a 'super PAC' that is attempting to draft the Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and speaker of the House, as the partys presidential nominee. Mr. Mack said in an interview that he would spend up to $1 million on 'The Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan,' which was formed last week, but has kept its backers secret until now. Mr. Ryan has disavowed the group, which is plowing ahead anyway." [NYT's Maggie Haberman]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some cats opening doors.

COMFORT FOOD

- The most hard-won advertisement in history.

- Bruce Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" over 41 years.

- One day, science will make human whack-a-mole the only way rich people can differentiate themselves.

TWITTERAMA

quinnbowman: Trump's new anti-

Rubio ad zooms dramatically on photo of US House floor when talking about the Senate

@MEPFuller: You know someone has bucks when you google their name and the first autofill is "net worth."

@dylanlscott: Whenever I go on a Gannet website, I feel like Im under attack.

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
When you start your Monday with good news and a delicious breakfast, it can lead to a great day. So weve partnered with Jimmy Dean to bring you the top feel-good stories happening across the country, perfect for sharing with family and friends. They remind us that together, we can make the world a better place.

If You Need A Reason To Celebrate

Join Keys the cat in commemorating, well, everything, with an enthusiastic, paws-in-the-air celebration! Keys photo went viral after being shared on Imgur this past weekend. Her human, Peter Mares, told The Huffington Post that she seems to enjoy her Internet fame, accepting treats as rewards for posing for the camera.

If Youre Worried Kids These Days Got No Respect

Meet Amelia Meyer. The 8-year-old brain cancer patient had one wish to be granted from Make-a-Wish Missouri. Instead of choosing that coveted trip to Disney World, she put her community first and asked to help clean up the parks of Kansas City -- which she did, along with hundreds of volunteers, last Saturday.

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If You Love A Good Comeback

Get inspired by the monarch butterfly population, which has increased dramatically over the past year after dwindling to a scary number in 2013. The monarchs return to its winter grounds in Mexico City last October has sparked a huge population growth, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says we now have the capacity to save the North American population.

If All Those Bullying Headlines Make You Sad

Know that there are many students who share compassion for their classmates. Take the fifth-graders at Mark Bills Middle School in Peoria, Illinois, for example. Several students have been giving up their recess once a week and replacing it with an American Sign Language to better communicate with a deaf classmate.

If Youre Scared Of A Tech Takeover

Take a note from Chick-fil-A. The fast food chain is reminding us what really matters at dinnertime (besides food) with an innovation they call the cell phone coop. To prevent restaurant patrons from staring at their screens, any party who keeps their silenced cellphones inside the cardboard coop for the duration of their meal wins free ice cream cones for dessert.
MIAMI, FL - MARCH 01: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) greets the crowd during a rally at Ronald Reagan Equestrian Center at Tropical Park on Super Tuesday night event in Miami on March 1, 2016 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by John Parra/WireImage)

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." -- Abraham Lincoln

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On March 15, Marco Rubio will run out of Florida voters to fool. Today he is looking forward to a day he expects: "Marco Rubio is Florida Country." In fact, as he looks inwards, he and Republican state officials will have to question a tenet of Florida's GOP majority: that voters don't care, don't know about, or are indifferent to Big Sugar's control by proxy of property values and taxes.

The secret handshakes between the state GOP and Big Sugar concern water policy. In 2014 the Tampa Bay Times documented secret hunting trips paid for by US Sugar Corporation to the King Ranch in Texas. Only Republican legislators were invited to partake by private jet, luxury accommodations, free wine and booze and what else. It wouldn't be a big deal today, but for historic January rainfall that sent a tidal wave of water pollution across the thresholds of mainly GOP voters at the wrong time of year.

Today in Florida, the GOP's mismanagement of Florida's water resources is a silent version of Flint, Michigan.

No issue more clearly connects voter anger at the GOP hierarchy than Big Sugar's lockdown of politics in Florida. It is classic insider-dealing: two billionaire families (Fanjuls/ Flo-Sun and Florida Crystals and the descents of Charles Stuart Mott who control US Sugar Corporation) control outcomes of property values and businesses owned by millions of residents and visitors.

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Marco Rubio is the Florida elected official most clearly connected with Big Sugar. Take a look at the text of the following encounter between Rubio and a protester in Martin County -- Republican voter country -- on June 20, 2014.

As Senator Rubio arrives at the entrance to a public meeting hall, the crowd erupts, "Save Our Rivers!", sick and tired of waterways turning into sewage sumps for Big Sugar's pollution. He stops to speak to a protester.



River Warrior: You have to show up, you haven't been here enough, man. We've been trying to get you involved. Rubio: We've been involved in the issue. We are fully up to date on what is happening and all the work that's been going on. And of course ... the ultimate solution would involve the Central Everglades Planning Project. River Warrior: Are you willing to stand here in front us today and say you won't take Big Sugar money? Rubio: Well, this is more complicated than that. (Crowd erupts) There's more than just that. You have to recognize there are residential issues involved. Agriculture? No, agriculture is an important part of our state. They need to be part of the solution as well.

Here is the meaning of what Rubio claimed and continues to claim. The Central Everglades Planning Project began in recognition that significant additional water storage marshes needed to be constructed in order to handle stormwater runoff from sugar fields to avoid damaging rivers, estuaries, property values and businesses on both Florida coasts. But in 2014, Big Sugar thwarted plans by Floridians and by Congress to get CEPP, as it is called, into the long-term budget for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Floridians were furious on three counts. First, that the industry had stopped up a plan that had the support of the Congressional delegation from Florida. Second, that Rubio did nothing about it. And third, and most damningly, CEPP had already been neutered by Big Sugar so that the lands that would be added to water cleansing marshes was insignificant compared to the need.

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When Marco Rubio told the protester in Martin County that "agriculture needs to be part of the solution", what he left unsaid -- but understood by the angry crowd -- is that in Florida, Big Sugar dictates the solution.

It was an easy lie for Rubio. In 2010, his Senate victory had been mortgaged to a massive influx of campaign cash from the Fanjul/Flo-Sun/Florida Crystal's fortune. Their goal: to stop the acquisition of 187,000 acres of lands offered to the state by its competitor, US Sugar Corporation. Unsurprisingly, the Fanjuls are now Rubio's most numerous family campaign contributors. (See: "Choosing Winners and Losers: Marco Rubio picks Big Sugar over rivers, clean water, and you")

If 187,000 acres of US Sugar Corporation had been purchased by the state -- a plan negotiated by Rubio's competitor for the 2010 Senate election, Charlie Crist -- Florida would be on the way to the ultimate solution of the stormwater problem that has turned both Florida coasts and tourism-related businesses into sacrifice zones for Big Sugar. So Marco Rubio has truly been hoist by his own petard.

Historic rainfall in January caused the state's largest water body -- Lake Okeechobee -- to overfill. In the distant past, floods would have emptied over the rim of the lake to the Everglades and to Florida Bay ninety miles south. Now, sugar is grown on 450,000 acres between the Lake and the Everglades. Because farm runoff is too dirty to be injected directly into the River of Grass, state water managers and the federal partner, the US Army Corps of Engineers, caused 60,000 gallons per second to spew into coastal estuaries, and from those estuaries down both the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.

Back in 2014, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that secured a funding source for the Florida legislature to buy Big Sugar lands south of Lake Okeechobee. Since that time, Florida's GOP legislature has actively obstructed the will of voters expressed through Amendment 1.

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Big Sugar and its allies who control the South Florida Water Management District stubbornly contend that buying additional sugar lands for pollution-cleansing marshes isn't necessary. To this effect, they have launched wave after wave of expensive, taxpayer funded PR campaigns. Most recently, one of Big Sugar's mouthpieces, Representative Matt Caldwell, recommended using Amendment 1 funds to fill gaps in the general budget.

This time, it is citizens organizing on social media; on blogs, Instagram and Facebook.

and

and individual activists. This isn't "divisive chatter" or a few environmental groups, as claimed by Big Sugar. Video clips and citizen reports, bypassing traditional media, are being viewed by voters hundreds of thousands of times.
Pearson Shareholders Resolution

To the Company Secretary, Pearson PLC: We the undersigned, being 100 members holding shares in the Company on which there has been paid up an average sum, per member, of not less than 100 per member,

Hereby require you, in accordance with section 314 of the Companies Act 2006, to give to members of the Company entitled to receive notice of the next Annual General Meeting notice of the following resolution, being a resolution that may properly be moved and is intended to be moved at that meeting, and to circulate to members receiving that notice a copy of the annexed statement with respect to the matters referred to in that resolution:

The Resolution: THAT the Board of Directors of Pearson PLC immediately conduct a thorough business strategy review of Pearson PLC including education commericalization and its support of high stakes testing and low-fee private schools and to report to shareholders within six months.

Supporting Statement: We believe that Pearson PLC ("Pearson" or the "Company") is suffering a crisis of confidence precipitated by a confused business strategy. The evidence is presented by our reaction to the share price, which at the last Annual General Membership Meeting (AGM) held on 24 April 2015, was trading at approximately $20.68. On 15 December 2015, Pearson stock sold for roughly $10.70. This represents a drop in price of over 40% in only seven months. This significant drop in share price calls into question the board's efforts to address the lack of confidence in the Company. We believe that the current strategic business plan has failed to produce the profits or the potential for profits that investors need. Therefore, it is time that Pearson conducts a business strategy review. We urge you to vote FOR this resolution.
Young woman sleeping on bed in student dorm, head resting on books

Today, I rolled out of bed around noon. When I say rolled, I don't mean to suggest that I lazily peeled back the covers, got dressed, and began my day. I mean I barrel-rolled onto the floor. I mean I wiped off last night's mascara, put on a cleaner pair of sweatpants, and started typing. It was ugly, but it was effective. Coming into my second semester of college, "ugly, but effective" has become my mantra. Staying up until 3 a.m. studying for a 10 a.m. test - it's not pretty, but it gets the job done. Sure, you hear the occasional horror story about a friend of a friend who slept through all his midterms...let's observe a moment of silence for his GPA. Between school, work and social life, college students pretty much live from one espresso shot to the next. This is routine for many students, an integral part of the college experience they don't tell you about in orientation: "Welcome to the University of Whatever, where the health of our students is among our...top 50 concerns?"

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To an extent, it would be unfair to blame colleges for this. The mentality of secondary education today is not the same as it was in the past. We do not study for the sake of learning, but for the sake of career-building. We get good grades to justify getting absolutely wasted on the weekends. College is a series of all-nighters, interrupted by midnight booty calls ("U up?") and having all your papers due the same week. I do not place the blame on colleges for this - they did not create hormones, nor did they make analyzing Marx and Engels' "The German Ideology" so frustratingly dense. In that respect, it is not the fault of our colleges that students, frankly, are not sleeping.



"Since students are unable to skip class, work, or meals, they choose to cut into their sleep schedule."



At the same time, it is impossible not to blame colleges for this. For one thing, the workload placed upon students is exceedingly challenging. Between attending class, work shifts, and tending to basic needs like eating and sleeping, there are few hours left for studying. A professor assigning 80 pages of reading over the course of two nights might seem reasonable, but couple that with a paper due for another class, a lab, a presentation, and 15-workbook pages on Chinese characters. The course load can be more than a little overwhelming. Since students are unable to skip class, work, or meals, they choose to cut into their sleep schedule.

It is also important to consider what options are made available to students in the way of staying healthy. For example, the school that I attend has a free health center available to all students. That said, it is also infamous for its understaffed counseling services. My school is one of hundreds that deals with this problem. This is an especially worrisome note given that, according to a recent study by the American College Health Association, mental health problems for college students are on the rise; 33 percent of students surveyed reported feeling severe depression last year and nearly 55 percent reported "overwhelming" anxiety. Now more than ever, there is an increased pressure to succeed - the only thing rising faster than the competition for jobs after graduation is the cost of college tuition, an investment that students obviously want to see a return on. The result is a combination of stress and poor health habits, leading to mental health problems. The college system is consistently failing to provide its students with the help they need, while increasing the demands placed upon students. About the only thing we, as students, have the power to change is how we choose to approach it.

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"Your GPA doesn't define you any more than your fraternity affiliation does. Your body and your mental wellbeing are infinitely more important than your grades."



To those who are applying college as well as my fellow undergraduates, I would like to share this important lesson that I am only recently beginning to grasp myself: you need to chill out. Go to sleep. Stay in for once - it won't kill you. While in truth this is not necessarily the college experience I, along with so many others, had expected, it is nonetheless a positive one, so long as one is able to see past the allure of having a Starbucks on campus and friends with fake ID's. The workload is huge - much more than high school - and a few (dozen) late nights are bound to happen in the name of getting that degree, but don't let that become your life. If you're going to lose sleep, make sure it's worth it. Your GPA doesn't define you any more than your fraternity affiliation does. Your body and your mental wellbeing are infinitely more important than your grades.
The National Institute of Mental Health is currently looking for a new Director. The person selected will have enormous influence on the future of psychotherapy research and practice.

The first question to be asked about psychotherapy is whether it is effective? According to reports of therapists during the first half of the 20th century, the answer was a clear yes. However, by the 1950s, mental health professionals began to question whether or not the therapist's say-so was sufficient evidence of clinical effectiveness. It was around that time NIMH began funding important research showing how talk therapy was indeed effective in dealing with many different mental disorders and problems in living.

Unfortunately, psychotherapy research has been sadly reduced and is under threat of extinction. In the late 1980s, there was a sea change at the NIMH, moving away from a broad biopsychosocial to a reductionistic neuroscience model.

Things got even worse in 2001, under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Insel, the then new Director of NIMH. The biomedical model of understanding and treating psychological problems became even more explicit in grant funding decisions.



Under Insel's leadership, the NIMH took the stance that mental disorders and psychological problems could be understood as simple diseases of the brain. He redirected almost all NIMH funding to research aimed at discovering the fundamental biological indicators of mental disorder and new drug solutions.

Studying the brain would provide "exciting opportunities for drug discovery and development.


Traveling to Cuba was never something I ever considered, even though both sides of my family have their roots there. Growing up as a Cuban-American during a time when there was nothing but tension and hostility towards Cuba made me feel like I should never go there, and well, also the fact that it was illegal for me to anyway. I think my mom once even told me that if I tried to go to Cuba, they would "take my passport away and make me a slave".

For the most part, all I knew about Cuba was that Fidel Castro was evil, that I wasn't allowed to go there, and the bits and pieces of memories that my grandmother would repeatedly reminisce about. I still regret being young and naive, and not asking her to hear more about her life in Cuba when she was still here, but I think she knew I'd eventually want to know, because she wrote it all down and hid it in a place where she knew it wouldn't be found until after she was gone.

I found the journal wedged in between her old black and white photo albums of her early life in Cuba, after she passed away. The first page was dated on my fourth birthday, which meant she had kept it hidden for over twenty years. The memories were both happy and sad, and all together incredible to discover so much about my roots.

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I don't think my grandmother would have ever in a million years thought I'd ever be able to or want to go to Cuba; so I wonder how she'd react if she knew I was one of the first U.S. citizens to legally travel there, and that I used her journal as a guide to discover her past.

Since I still have family in the tiny, lesser-known town of Santiago de las Vegas, and I just barely qualified as being second generation related to them, I was able to get a Family Visit Visa for entry to Cuba.

I didn't believe I was actually going to go to the town my grandparents grew up in until I was directing my driver in broken Spanish past the park I had read about and seen photos of my grandmother at in the 1930's. Like most of Cuba, it looked like nothing had changed, and driving through it in the classic 1950's Rambler made me feel like I had just time traveled back to Cuba in its prime days. Except for the fact that everything was falling apart.

I wasn't surprised at all to see my elder second-cousin waiting for me in the doorway of her home, a typical trait of any Cuban relative. But I was surprised at how emotional it was to meet her and my other second-cousin for the first time, both of which had only ever seen me in photographs. There was a bit of a language barrier with my gringo-Spanish and their complete lack of English, but I was able to use my grandmother's journal to help explain where I wanted to go, but not before they immediately made me Cuban coffee and home-made guava paste snacks in the hundred year old house my cousin was born in.

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Finally we set off, slowly, since my cousin had to stop at all of her neighbors houses to say hi and brag that I had come to visit from the United States. Everyone looked at me like I was a mythical creature that didn't exist, or a ghost that had re-appeared from the past when American's used to frequently travel to Cuba. The homes were small, colorful, and attached to one another in rows. They were also all mostly decrepit, which is unfortunately a result of Communism. There were people everywhere, and the occasional classic car or horse drawn carriage would pass, making me feel like I truly was back in time.

Our first stop on the time traveling tour, was the elementary school my grandmother wrote about that she attended in the 1920's. She had written that they were extremely poor, and would be jealous of the kids who got to bring lunch to school. They were eleven siblings living in a two bedroom house, with only enough money to eat. She had written that despite being poor, they felt like they were the richest people in the world, because they had fruit trees in the yard that they could eat whenever.

The next stop was to the house my grandmother grew up in that my cousin used to live in before the Communist regime took over and relocated many people. I had definitely envisioned it a lot differently, mostly in the sense of size. She told me that the avocado tree in the backyard had been there since my grandmother was born, and if you look at the photos of then and now, you can see it in the yard.

Next we time traveled to the 1930's when my grandmother was a teenager, and went to the park in the middle of the town where girls would go to "meet boys". They would walk in opposite directions and pass each other to take a look, then sit on a bench and wait for them to come up. She said that was also a way to tell if they were clean or not. The only boys I saw in the park when I went were way too young for me, but still really cute! This was also around when my grandmother met my grandfather, but at the time she said he was too young and poor for her to date. She also wasn't ready to settle down and get married like most girls her age.

So in the 1940's, she left the tiny town of Santiago de las Vegas, to go live in the then-thriving city of Havana, while my grandfather set off to fight for the U.S. in World War II. I of course did my fair share of experiencing the "good life" in Havana like my grandmother had while I was in Cuba. I went to the Malecon like she did, had mojitos at the Hotel Nacional, and even went out dancing at the infamous Tropicana.

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Although Cuba was the place to be in the mid 1940's, Europe was not, and my grandfather ended up becoming a Prisoner of War. He escaped of course, because he's awesome, and when he came back to Cuba they both fell in love and moved back to Santiago de las Vegas. They then went to the U.S. and spent the next ten years trying to make it there as immigrants, while traveling back to Cuba often to see their families.

So the next time travel stop in Cuba was to 1955, to the church in Santiago de las Vegas where my mother was baptized. When I went inside they were having a service, so I tried to nonchalantly sneak a photo of the alter that's in the old photo of my mother before sneaking out. That's about as far as she writes about in the journal, she leaves a lovely little cliff hanger saying that it's up to my mother to tell me the rest.
The future health and health care of Latinos and other Americans will be in good hands. Listening to comments and questions from young Latinos attending a recent panel discussion on "The State of Hispanic Health in America," I was encouraged and inspired. These mostly college-aged students represent our nation's future leaders, and what I saw and heard and experienced gave me tremendous hope.

They were engaged, interested in learning, and interested in leading. The panel was part of the four-day United States Hispanic Leadership Institute conference held annually in Chicago. The conference attracts participants who will help govern our cities, schools, states and nation and who will be health and health care decision makers.

On the panel, I talked about healthy behaviors to achieve ideal cardiovascular health. I also told the participants something they probably knew but that I wanted to make sure they heard, that education is the key to many of the things we consider important - a good job, good health, a good life. The evidence is clear. Education is key for a population to realize its best health. Graduating from high school may be the single most important health factor for individuals and populations.

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Having a regular doctor or other primary care provider is another very important factor for optimal health. So, we must do a better job of reaching Latinos, many of whom are busy living their lives, making ends meet, and not receiving messages that, frankly, could be better targeted at Latinos in the first place.

That is why the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women campaign is so crucial. This year we are encouraging Latinas to schedule a well-woman visit with their health care provider to take control of their health, particularly their heart health.

Cristy Marrero, editorial vice president for Hola USA, a print and online publication, is co-hosting the Go Red For Women media luncheon in Miami on March 9. At the event, members of the Hispanic media will discuss the No. 1 combined killers of Latinas - heart disease and stroke.

"Bad eating habits, childhood diabetes, obesity and everything that triggers heart disease amongst us keeps me up at night," Marrero said. "It is my responsibility to serve as a microphone for the amazing message AHA's Go Red For Women is committed to deliver."

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The audience of young adult Latinos and Latinas in Chicago was interested in careers in the health and health-related professions. They heard that the Latino community carries a significant burden of risk factors for premature cardiovascular disease and diabetes, a disease that, in addition to its own challenges and complications, also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. They heard that Latinos are less likely to have health insurance access to evidence-based, health promoting and lifesaving primary care. They heard that Latinos are less likely to have fully benefited from the value of clinical preventive services. And they heard that America needs more Latino clinicians and researchers.

I spoke to the participants as a Latino physician who has cared for patients and is a senior level leader in a national organization and as a Latino who they might see themselves in. I spoke to the participants as a Latino who went from high school in the United States to college to medical school and beyond.

The two other panelists were also Latino physicians. By the end of the workshop, it was clear they saw the three of us as role models and possibly as mentors.

And that has tremendous value for their future, their health, and the health of all they touch. The future looks bright.
CD: We've worked with the community on feedback and features to build. They have helped drive the roadmap.

KS: I've been engaging with our community in our App Forum, reviewing every single feature request that is submitted via our App Survey, and personally responding to all emails that are sent in about the App. So very involved, I want to be sure that our App is a reflection of what our community wants to see. Some of the top ideas from the community that we are investigating include:

The incorporation of the Discogs Inbox (integrated messaging). We could potentially integrate Wantlist notifications so that app users can segment their Wantlist and receive push notifications for when their "most wanted" Wantlist items are listed in Discogs Marketplace. This would give Discogs app users first chance to snag a marketplace deal before another buyer beats them to it.

A VinylHub integration. There are so many game changing ways a VinylHub integration could make discovering new record shops when you're traveling an easy and interactive experience! I'm traveling around Asia this month, and VinylHub has been such a great resource to inspire me to check out different shops as I travel around!

The ability to quickly start a database submission using your phone's camera.

Reverse Image Search for album covers and vinyl record center labels. This feature would allow Discogs app users to use their cell phone's camera to search for releases via related images from across the full Discogs image database. It's a fun problem to work on, but very difficult to get right. There are so many different types of album artwork, and some don't have artwork, so the only thing we have available for those is usually labels, and there is often low cardinality in those images. But it's an exciting challenge that we hope we can get right in the future!
Elisa G. had her period when the immigration detention center in Arizona where she was confined locked down her entire housing unit for three days. She appealed to an immigration officer for more sanitary pads and a chance to take a shower. The officer gave her only two pads -- not enough. Without anything else to use, she told Human Rights Watch, "I had to just sit on the toilet for hours because I had nothing else [I could] do."

Elisa's story is a small part of a much bigger issue. Millions of women around the world lack access to adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene, with a negative impact on their lives.

Everyone needs water to survive. Yet, women and girls have particular biological needs for water, sanitation, and an enabling environment for good hygiene--such as clean and sufficient water for childbirth and post-partum care or to manage menstruation--that require accommodation for women and girls to realize their human rights.

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When schools lack private bathrooms and sanitation facilities, girls may need to go home to manage their menstruation, losing instruction time. Girls' inability to manage these needs adequately and with dignity, coupled with the fear of leakage and embarrassment in front of classmates, means some girls simply don't attend school while menstruating. They risk falling behind their male counterparts, with potentially lasting effects on future education and career opportunities.

Women and girls who are forced to flee their homes due to conflict or natural disaster face similar struggles. Often temporary shelters and displacement camps lack private and safe facilities to bathe, use the restroom, or manage their menstrual hygiene. This leaves them vulnerable to harassment and gender-based violence.

Around the world, women are often expected to take responsibility for fetching water and cleaning house. In many cultures, women and girls are expected to collect the water and empty the latrines, and the task of collecting water keeps some girls out of school. In Kenya's Turkana valley, Human Rights Watch spoke with girls who walk several kilometers each day to reach a dry riverbed where they dig for water to transport back to their school in 25-liter jerry cans. When water becomes scarce and sources dry up, women and girls are the ones who must adjust their routines and dedicate time to finding new sources, even if that means losing hours that could be spent in school or working.

Contaminated and unsafe water, even when abundant, often creates more chores for women and girls as they devote valuable time and energy to protect their families from illness. In Neskantaga, a First Nations community in Ontario, Canada that has been under a "boil water" advisory for two decades, a young mother described the hour-long process she undergoes daily to wash bottles in a way that reduces the risks of contamination for her 4-month-old infant with a rare heart condition.

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Similar situations play out millions of times a day around the world. Good hygiene practices such as washing hands regularly and bathing -- including during menstruation -- can stave off debilitating diseases and even save lives, but 650 million people in the world lack access to safe and clean water, and one in three people don't have access to a toilet or latrine.

Everyone has a human right to water and to sanitation. As we strive toward gender equality on March 8, International Women's Day, it's crucial for governments not to ignore the particular ways in which pervasive difficulties getting access to water and sanitation affect women and girls. Gender equality can't be achieved unless governments recognize and address these issues. So many women and girls are missing out on fulfilling their potential awaiting government action -- or like Elisa, sitting on the toilet for hours because there is nothing else they can do.

Annerieke Smaak is a senior women's rights associate at Human Rights Watch.
It doesn't take much to recognize that the banter heard from last Thursday's Republican presidential debate would have been better suited for a middle school boys' locker room -- not a nationally broadcasted debate. Egged on by Donald Trump's taunts, 16.9 million viewers watched as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich fumbled to discuss issues of domestic and foreign policy. While Cruz and Kasich attempted to brand themselves as candidates who could unify a party falling apart under a potential Trump presidency, it was clear to all that the debate reflected a grade-school level of discourse that was exemplified by this following Ted-Cruz-Rubio exchange.





Cruz: Donald, please, I know it's hard not to interrupt. Try.

Trump: It's not what you said in the op-ed.

Cruz: Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Trump: I am, 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?

Trump: I really hope we don't see yoga on this stage.

Rubio: He's very flexible, so you never know.

Given the state of the Republican debates, it seemed natural to expect some decency from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during Sunday night's Democratic debate. And while Sunday night's debate swiftly touched on topics of racial justice, environmental degradation, water politics and gun control, a joke on mental illness made by Sanders revealed that ignorance could exist on both sides of the political spectrum.

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In a pointed jab at Republican candidates, Sanders joked that Republican debates were further proof that America needed to invest in improving mental health. "We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health," he said. "And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to address the mental health."

Cringe.

Clinton laughed, the audience laughed and even Sanders himself laughed, but for many Americans, Sanders' trivializing comparison between the Republican debates and people who live with mental illness reflected the same juvenile discourse found in his opponents. While joking about the state of the Republican party, Sanders stigmatized mental illness -- a serious issue that he claims to be a champion on -- by using it as a punchline to prove the stupidity of the Republican debates. While Sanders' supporters claim that he is the most progressive leader in the presidential race, in light of his joke, we must account for how the language of his ableist comment perpetuates dangerous myths about people who live with mental illness. Twitter responded to Sanders' joke with anger:

@SenSanders @BernieSanders As someone who's suffered my whole adult life w/mental illness, seeing you use it as a cheap joke is very sad.  R. Thomas (@ShadowPraxis) March 7, 2016

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Also, joking about mental illnesseven against Republicansshows that @BernieSanders is out of touch re: mental health. #DemDebate  Abraham Lim (@realabrahamlim) March 7, 2016

Insinuation that bigotry and hate are products of mental illness and not conditioning? I thought you were better than that @BernieSanders  Dr. Gobbo (@GladSuspenders) March 7, 2016

What made Sanders' joke about mental health particularly alarming is how out of touch it is with his outspoken record on mental health. For the majority of his campaign for president, Bernie Sanders' appeal for American youths jaded with politics has primarily been about his consistent record on many progressive issues -- especially mental health. When Sanders announced his single-payer health plan last January, he called for a "revolution" in how the American health care system treats people with mental health issues.

"When we talk about addiction being a disease, the secretary [former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need, when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal health care with mental health a part of that."

It seems natural that Sanders would be cognizant of using language that is inclusive and resists the dangerous myths typically associated with mental illness in the media. But, when Sanders joked about Republican candidates suffering from mental illness, he was using the same rhetoric and language used by the NRA spokesman Wayne LaPierre, when he argued that the United States should create an "active national database of the mentally ill." As LaPierre argued, people who suffered from mental illness were egotistical, violent and seekers of "wall-to-wall attention" and "a sense of identity that they crave, while provoking others to try to make their mark." He continued, "A dozen more killers, a hundred more? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation's refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?"

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LaPierre's dangerous myth about people with mental illness being violent, egotistical and attention seeking almost directly parallels Sanders' rhetorical comparison with the Republican candidates -- most notably Trump. But comparing Republican candidates to Americans who suffer from mental illness does those who live with mental illness an injustice. His careless joke only served to marginalize a minority who is already misunderstood and stigmatized.

Those who propagate dangerous myths of those living with mental illness being violent ignore the fact that people with mental illness are more likely to be inflicted by violence and are increasingly becoming a target of police brutality. In fact, only about three to five percent of violent acts in the United States are carried out by people with mental illness. Despite this miniscule percentage of violence, investigations of police conduct in New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon show that in handling people with mental illness, police exert excessive force leading into violence. A research report called "Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms" published in the American Journal of Public Health, noted that at least half of the people shot and killed by the police in Maine "suffered from diagnosable mental illness." And furthermore, a health reported released by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that police officers are biased and affected by this myth. It said that many police "still subscribe to the notion that mental illness equates to violence and thus, personal risk to the police officer."

Needless to say, when Sanders' dangerously categorized the Republican party's antics as a symptom of mental illness, he was unknowingly following a tired, ableist script that was funded, pushed and regurgitated by the same establishments that Sanders seeks to eliminate. Language matters when discussing issues of mental health. While Sanders' record on progressive issues is notable, he isn't immune from criticism. We should all expect his language, actions and jokes to be consistent with his politics -- and far from the real joke of the Republican debates.
Image: Stock Photo. FreeImages.com/Griszka Niewiadomski

A particularly despicable way of punishing dissidents during Soviet times was committing them to insane asylums.

In those institutions, perfectly sane dissidents were surrounded by real lunatics, including many prone to violence; were abused by asylum staff; and were often forced to take drugs that actually did damage their mental health.

The possibility of being confined to a mental institution made even the most committed dissidents think twice about expressing themselves. It was one thing to be imprisoned, or even subjected to physical torture, for your views. It was quite another to risk coming out of an insane asylum with forever-diminished mental capacity, never to live normally again.

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Many in the Soviet Union hoped that the empire's demise in 1991 would bring an end to trumped-up psychiatric punishment.

And for a time, this seemed to be the case.

But the pernicious practice made a comeback about 15 years ago, and is increasingly being used to punish political opponents, whistleblowers, journalists, and those with non-mainstream religious views.

As with many of the harmful trends in the former Soviet Union, the country leading the resurgence in psychiatric punishment has been Russia.

But an Internet search of the subject turns up examples in other ex-Soviet countries, including Kazakhstan, Belarus and Uzbekistan. And it's a safe bet that psychiatric punishment is occurring in other countries whose examples have simply never made the news media.

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The use of psychiatric punishment against political dissidents in Russia surged after opposition groups held nationwide demonstrations in 2012 to protest their contention that President Vladimir Putin stole his re-election.

One of the dissidents became an international cause celebre.

In 2013, a Moscow court ordered Mikhail Kosenko to indefinite detention in an asylum for his role in an anti-Putin protest in the capital in May of 2012.

Prosecutors, who asked for his confinement, accused him of assaulting a police officer during the demonstration, although the officer testified he didn't recognize Kosenko.

"The court has come to the conclusion that at the time the action was committed by Kosenko ... he was in a state of insanity," Judge Lyudmila Moskalenko ruled anyway.

Human-rights activist Alexander Podrabinek, who wrote a book about the Soviet Union's use of psychiatric punishment against dissidents, responded to the ruling by saying: "This is a clear case of a return to punitive psychiatry (against dissidents) in Russia. This is the first such clear and obvious instance in the post-Soviet period."

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When Belarusian political dissident Syarhey Kavalenka went on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment in 2012, authorities first force-fed him, then put him in an insane asylum.

The hunger strike was attracting journalists' attention at home and abroad, embarrassing the country's leaders. It was much harder for journalists to keep tabs on Kavalenka once he was in the sealed confines of a psychiatric hospital. Plus, the confinement sent a scary message to all others considering dissident activities.

Although psychiatric punishment has yet to surface in some former Soviet states, it's increasing prevalence in Russia -- the nation that sets the tone for the region -- means dissidents elsewhere must be concerned about its return. This includes beaten or imprisoned opposition figures such as Smbat Hakobian in Armenia and Shukhrat Kudratov in Tajikistan. An example of psychiatric punishment being used against whistleblowers as opposed to dissidents is the case of Lyudmila Popkova, chair of Russia's Presidential Administration Labor Council.

When Popkova learned that an apartment belonging to the Presidential Property Office had been transferred to the name of an accountant on her staff, she filed a formal complaint with the Presidential Administration.

She was fired two days later, and the administration then filed a trumped-up embezzling case against her.

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The prosecution asked -- and a judge assented to -- Popkova being placed in a psychiatric hospital for 30 days for "evaluation."

"I wouldn't advise anyone to go through it," she said. "You enter a state of shock" from being placed "in a ward with the mentally ill, with drug addicts, with alcoholics."

One of the first journalists to face psychiatric punishment in Russia -- Andrei Novikov -- was targeted for addressing a sensitive subject in 2007: Putin's brutal Chechnya policy.

Two doctors who examined Novikov before he was committed found nothing wrong with him, the international journalist-protection organization Reporters Without Borders said.

But a psychiatric commission assembled at prosecutors' behest found that Novikov displayed "anti-social behavior" and "maladaptation."

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Kazakhstan has used psychiatric punishment against those with non-mainstream religious views.

One is Alexsandr Kharlamov, a 65-year-old atheist.

He spent time in jail and a psychiatric hospital in 2013 after being convicted of violating a law against inciting religious hatred.

There was "no incitement of religious enmity," he said. "I criticized all religions -- I didn't choose just one."

Journalists following Kharlamov's case noted that Kazakhstan trumpets its ethnic and religious tolerance, while going after many of those who do not practice the country's two main faiths: Islam and Russian Orthodox Christianity. The oppressed include many Protestant denominations -- such as Baptists -- that are prevalent in other countries.

Whether you're a political dissident in the former Soviet Union, a person who wants to expose corruption, a journalist who hopes to foment change by criticizing the system, or someone who wants to practice non-mainstream religious beliefs, you're in danger of seeing the inside of an insane asylum these days for challenging the system.

Those who hoped to see an end to Soviet-era psychiatric punishment have been forced to acknowledge -- sadly -- that it's returned with a vengeance.

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Miro Studio Recreation

This week is Art Week in New York City, with a myriad of art fairs. The Art Show, organized annually by the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), is the nation's longest running fine art fair. The Art Show takes place at the historic Park Avenue Armory at Park and 66th Street (be sure to look up, down and all around the armory as it has interesting artwork, architectural details and unique lighting in its own right) and runs through Sunday. Admission from The Art Show and proceeds from the Gala Preview benefit the Henry Street Settlement, one of New York's leading social service, arts and health care organizations. The Armory Show, a much larger event of national and international galleries with more than 200 exhibitors also runs through Sunday and is at Pier 92 and 94 (12th Avenue and 55th Street). The fair is in two sections, the Contemporary section is on Pier 94 with 149 dealers and the Modern section, art from the first two-thirds of the 20th century, is on Pier 92.

I have been attending both The Art Show and The Armory Show for many years and to me it seems that The Art Show has become more like the Armory Show in that there are more contemporary New York galleries exhibiting at The Art Show. I was pleased to see a number of very nice Edward Hopper watercolors at The Art Show but I think my favorite booth of both shows was the historically accurate reconstruction of Miro's studio in the Modern section of The Armory Show which included twenty-two paintings and drawings dating from the years Miro was working in the studio. As an artist I am very interested in the process, and it was very informative to see Miro's brushes (not the originals but copies), the paints and colors he used and the other objects that were in his studio in Mallorca. It helped me to have a greater appreciation of his work seeing the materials he used to produce them.

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Miro's paints and brushes

Another of my favorite booths was Thaddaeus Ropac's "The Space Age", a group show. Personally this booth reminded me of my NASA experience as I have been commissioned four times by NASA to execute paintings of The International Space Station, The Columbia Tribute Painting (both on exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center and The Columbia Tribute commissioned as a response to the Columbia tragedy), the x-43 and The Discovery Shuttle Return to Flight. My painting of the x-43 was in a 12 museum Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, "NASA Art/50 Years" that concluded at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
I was 18 years old when the war on Iraq started in March 2003. I vividly remember till today the shock and fear after the United States declared to the world its intent to invade Iraq. At the beginning I couldn't believe that it will really happen, and that leaders of the world will somehow prevent it, but then it did happen. Along with my family and neighbors I felt that we are not safe and that the US could just invade any country it wanted.

When September 2001 attacks happened our hearts were with America and we could understand why the US had to attack Al Qaeda and Taliban. But we could not understand what Iraq had to do with the September events and the real reason behind the American invasion especially that no relation could be found between Saddam Hussien and Al Qaeda, nor weapons of mass destruction were found upon the claim of US officials at the time. The narrative changed by time, and the reason for the invasion became "liberating people of Iraq". But then we saw the horrible pictures of tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison and the human rights abuses by coalition forces in Iraq. People in the Middle East were convinced that the US invaded Iraq for oil and oil only. The anti American sentiment was - understandably - on the rise.

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13 years have passed, Iraq is now a failed state. I can't argue that Saddam was a tyrant and that people of Iraq deserved a better leader, but this change could never be brought by an invasion from a foreign country. No single country should be able to make decisions about the future of another country unilaterally or else why there should be an entity called the United Nations?

America wanted to remove Saddam and it did, but it did not have a plan for what should happen next which resulted into a political vacuum, moreover the implementation of the de-Ba'athification process negatively impacted thousands of Iraqis. There is an Egyptian proverb that says: "If you can't handle the demons, don't wake them up". The invasion awaken the civil war that no one till today is able to handle.

On daily basis we get to hear the bad news on what is happening in Iraq. My heart ache for the Iraqi people who were victims of this invasion, yet I feel the same for the young American soldiers who were brought to die on foreign lands for a purpose that did not really serve their own nation.

"I heard (US) soldiers speak with contempt about the Iraq people for living in "mud huts", wearing "man dresses" and giving "man kisses"; about how being in Iraq felt like being on Planet of the Apes or the bar scene in Star Wars".



"The soldiers viewed themselves as liberators and were angry that Iraqis were not more grateful for their liberation. When I arrived, one of the questions put to me was "What do we need to do to be loved?" I told them that people who invaded other people's countries, and killed people who were no threat to them, would never be loved".

Those two excerpts are from a book titled "The Unraveling" by Emma Sky. Sky was the representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk in 20023 and then the political advisor to the US General Odierno from 2007-2010. I believe the two quotes perfectly explains lots of things about the American involvement in Iraq.

Americans often ask: "Why do they hate us?". It is not that people in the Middle East hate you as Americans, they just hate your foreign policy.

Nowadays, the United States is determined to fight terrorists of Daesh "ISIS" in Syria and Iraq, but ISIS is not the enemy of America alone, it is the enemy of the Middle East and the whole world and so it becomes imperative that we all should go into this fight together, yet I do not see us fully united. When we watch the news and we see that many Americans support the racist rhetoric of Donald Trump or that a teen was stabbed because he spoke Arabic in the street this means something is very wrong. Painting all Muslims with the same brush will alienate an important ally in the fight against terrorism and again the US will find itself carrying on a mission that should never be done unilaterally.
On March 20, citizens of the Republic of Congo will vote in the country's next presidential election. But, this election can hardly be called democratic in an increasingly authoritarian nation. While there are ten opposition candidates, there is little doubt that incumbent President Sassou Nguesso will assume power for a third term. The media and U.S. government have been virtually silent regarding these early elections, originally expected to occur in July 2016. However, if history has taught us anything, the media and the U.S. government should have their eyes on the Republic of Congo to prevent an election marred by fraud and violence. To begin, Sassou Nguesso's regime is rife with corruption. Last October, he succeeded in securing a constitutional change that permits him to run for a third consecutive term. Sassou Nguesso has already ruled for nearly three decades, making him one of Africa's longest-serving leaders. While Congo's electoral commission claimed 92 percent of people voted in favor of the referendum, both the opposition and State Department spokesperson John Kirby characterized the process as one of violence and intimidation. At least four people were killed by the government's security forces and several opposition leaders were placed under house arrest. This outcome is strikingly similar to Congo's previous presidential election in July 2009. Sassou Nguesso allegedly won 78 percent of the vote. However, NGOs cited significant human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests, rape, lack of transparency, and widespread corruption. Indeed, Sassou Nguesso's entire near-three decade reign has been characterized by a disregard for human rights. Last year, Freedom House deemed Congo "Not Free," citing violations of civil liberties and political rights. The country ranked 146 out of 167 countries and territories on Transparency International's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index. The people of the Republic of Congo not only deserve realization of their human rights, but also freedom from violence. Though often overshadowed by neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo has suffered from on-and-off violence and political unrest since its first civil war in 1993. Refugees, such as my friend Daphne, have been forced to flee their homes, vying for spots in camps and nearby cities. If you were lucky like Daphne, you might have even snatched one of the few spots in the United States. Despite the continued violence, refugees from neighboring countries are flooding across Congo's borders in pursuit of relative safety. As of December of last year, the UNHCR reported 20,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, 17,650 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 8,100 from Rwanda, and 460 from various other neighboring nations. When accounting for asylum-seekers and additional persons of concern, numbers total over 49,000 people who have come to Congo seeking safety. This highlights the second reason we must turn our eyes to Congo's March 20 election. Congo is not just responsible for it's own people's safety. It is responsible for the safety of more than 49,000 other human beings. Electoral violence and an increasingly authoritarian regime are not the path to human rights and welfare. We need observers on the ground and attention by the U.S. government and the media to ensure a truly fair and free election process. Lastly, it is worth emphasizing that Congo is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's major oil producers. In fact, Congo's primary export to the United States is oil and the two countries ratified a bilateral investment treaty in 1994, encouraging and protecting U.S. investment. However, Congo's state oil company is controlled by the president's family and his advisors. Recent reports have indicated that the company has been used to siphon money to Sassou Nguesso's cronies. The United States has an opportunity to economically pressure the Republic of Congo into free and fair elections - perhaps even without Sassou Nguesso's participation. Will the U.S. government seize the opportunity? It doesn't appear likely. The U.S. government has its plate full. The Syrian conflict continues despite an attempted ceasefire. The so-called "Islamic State" appears to have shifted tactics, now advocating attacks on the West. Relations with Iran, Russia, and Cuba all require attention. However, there is no need for collapse in Congo. The Republic of Congo is a fragile state, but its stability can still be salvaged. The United States government and media can begin to help Congo by raising awareness about Congo's March 20 presidential election. It is time for real free and fair elections in the Republic of Congo. It is time for implementation of the freedoms guaranteed by Congo's constitution. And perhaps, it is time for a change in leadership after three decades.
International Women's Day is a time when we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world. It's also a time when organisations, including Womankind Worldwide, make a rallying cry to ensure that the momentum for change in women's rights and gender equality continues. The fight is not over yet.

In 2016, the challenges women face to take on leadership roles, particularly in politics, are still substantial. Despite the fact that women's rights activists have been campaigning for greater representation since the 19th-century, women still represent less than one quarter of political figures globally (22%) and there is not enough being done to change this. When women's voices aren't heard in decision making, the deep-rooted causes of gender inequality and discrimination remain.

This International Women's Day, Womankind, which works in partnership with women's rights organisations around the world, is launching research conducted in Afghanistan, Ghana, Nepal and Zimbabwe, focussed on women's political participation and what works to get more women into politics and public life.

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The research found that the absence of safe spaces for women, lack of economic empowerment, low literacy levels and strong cultural traditions are all key obstacles to women having a voice, but that women's groups and women-only safe spaces can help women find the confidence and gain the skills to take on leadership roles in their communities and, in some cases, run for elected office.

Evidently, all of these countries provided very different contexts but, despite these differences, the value of the safe spaces was felt by all of the women across all countries; they are important for building women's confidence, self-esteem and agency. Women meet other women, learn, share, make friends and start to do things together. These spaces also enable women to feel empowered to take action to address problems in their communities and many are inspired to contest leadership roles, or take on greater responsibilities in their community



In Afghanistan, the creation of safe spaces by our partners has given women the confidence to participate at district meetings, including speaking out against policies and projects put forward by men which didn't support women's rights. In Ghana and Zimbabwe, women said that their new learning and confidence had enabled them to talk to their husbands or brothers about, for example, the use of farming land, or how to raise girls and boys equally. In Nepal, safe spaces enable Dalit women to work together to challenge caste-discrimination.

Women's rights organisations are fundamental to the creation of safe spaces for women and are the missing link between the local and the national. As demonstrated in our recent research, they are able to galvanise participation at the local level whilst also advocating for change to national governments. Women's rights organisations also understand the political contexts and the fine balance between pushing for radical change without placing the women they work with, and for, at further danger.

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There is currently increasing attention to issues relating to women and girls from development actors, which Womankind welcomes. Private foundations, international and national NGOs and bilateral donors have all expanded their focus on women and girls. Despite this focus, women's rights organisations are not able to tap into these funding opportunities.

Offering more support and long-term, flexible funding to locally-based women's rights organisations is essential to the provision of safe spaces and increasing women's participation and leadership in politics.



To raise awareness of women's participation in politics, Womankind has created an app for International Women's Day, highlighting the many hurdles women face to find a voice in their communities. Find out more about the Suffragette Roulette app, the new research and the support Womankind provides to women's rights organisations, by visiting the Womankind website.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 20: A supporter waves a Cuban flag in front of the country's embassy after it re-opened for the first time in 54 years July 20, 2015 in Washington, DC. The embassy was closed in 1961 when U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties with the island nation after Fidel Castro took power in a Communist revolution. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to embark on an historic visit to Cuba, the future of the communist-ruled island is the subject of widespread speculation. Some observers are hoping that the ongoing shift toward capitalism, which has been occurring very gradually under Raul Castro's direction, will naturally lead Cuba toward democracy. Experience suggests otherwise.

In fact, economic liberalization is far from a surefire route to democracy. Nothing better illustrates this than the world's largest and oldest autocracy, China, where the Chinese Communist Party maintains its monopoly on power, even as pro-market reforms have enabled its economy to surge. A key beneficiary of this process has been the Chinese military.

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The belief that capitalism automatically brings democracy implies an ideological connection between the two. But the dominance of the CCP -- which currently boasts 88 million members, more than Germany's total population -- is no longer rooted in ideology. The party, represented by a cloistered oligarchy, endures by employing a variety of instruments -- coercive, organizational and remunerative -- to preclude the emergence of organized opposition.

A 2013 party circular known as "Document No. 9" listed seven threats to the CCP's leadership that President Xi Jinping intends to eliminate. These include espousal of "Western constitutional democracy," promotion of "universal values" of human rights, encouragement of "civil society," "nihilist" criticisms of the party's past and endorsement of "Western news values."

Democracy and communism are, it seems, mutually exclusive. But capitalism and communism clearly are not -- and that could be very dangerous.

In short, communism is now focused less on what it is -- that is, its ideology -- and more on what it is not. Its representatives are committed, above all, to holding on to political power -- an effort that the economic prosperity brought by capitalism supports, by helping to stave off popular demands for change.

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The story is similar in Vietnam and Laos. Both began decentralizing economic control and encouraging private enterprise in the late 1980s, and are now among Asia's fastest-growing economies. Vietnam is even a member of the incipient 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the one-party state remains entrenched, and continues to engage in considerable political repression.

Things do not seem set to change anytime soon. In Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung, the reform-minded prime minister, recently failed in his bid to become general secretary of the Communist Party, the country's supreme leader. The 12th National Congress re-elected the incumbent, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Beyond providing sufficient material gains to keep the population satisfied, capitalism strengthens a communist-ruled state's capacity to increase internal repression and control information. One example is the notorious "Great Firewall of China," a government operation that screens and blocks Internet content, creating a realm of politically sanitized information for citizens. China is the only major country in the world whose official internal security budget is larger than its official national defense budget.

In the face of China's current economic turmoil, control of information has become more important than ever. In order to forestall potential challenges, China's leadership has increasingly muzzled the press, limiting, in particular, reporting or commentary that could adversely affect stock prices or the currency. Xi has asked journalists to pledge "absolute loyalty" to the CCP, and closely follow its leadership in "thought, politics, and action." A state-run newspaper, warning that "the legitimacy of the party might decline," argued that the "nation's media outlets are essential to political stability."

The marriage of capitalism and communism, spearheaded by China, has spawned a new political model that represents the first direct challenge to liberal democracy since fascism.

Clearly, where communists call the shots, the development of a free market for goods and services does not necessarily lead to the emergence of a marketplace of ideas. Even Nepal, a communist-dominated country that holds elections, has been unable to translate economic liberalization into a credible democratic transition. Instead, the country's politics remain in a state of flux, with political and constitutional crises undermining its reputation as a Shangri-La and threatening to turn it into a failed state.

Democracy and communism are, it seems, mutually exclusive. But capitalism and communism clearly are not -- and that could be very dangerous.

In fact, the marriage of capitalism and communism, spearheaded by China, has spawned a new political model that represents the first direct challenge to liberal democracy since fascism: authoritarian capitalism. With its spectacular rise to become a leading global power in little more than a single generation, China has convinced autocratic regimes everywhere that authoritarian capitalism -- or, as Chinese leaders call it, "socialism with Chinese characteristics" -- is the fastest and smoothest route to prosperity and stability, far superior to messy electoral politics. This may help to explain why the spread of democracy worldwide has lately stalled.

Obama's impending Cuba visit should be welcomed as a sign of the end of America's inapt policy of isolation -- a development that could open the way to lifting the 55-year-old trade embargo against the country. But it would be a serious mistake to assume that Cuba's economic opening, advanced by the Obama-initiated rapprochement, will necessarily usher in a new political era in Cuba.

Earlier on WorldPost:


Image source: PhotoDune

For successful business professionals, entering a long-term rehab program is an incredibly difficult and emotional decision for many reasons. There's a deep fear of shame and failure, worries about how rehab may affect loved ones, and, of course, genuine concern for how rehab may impact a successful, thriving career. While these are certainly legitimate concerns, the truth is that entering rehab is typically the best decision an individual will ever make. Acknowledging addiction and being open about the need for help is an incredibly courageous move.

As the supervisor of an employee who enters treatment, it's important to meet this decision with compassion and support. It's also natural to have a host of conflicting feelings about your employee entering rehab. Understanding how to constructively address these concerns -- and questions from curious coworkers -- is essential to supporting your employee during treatment and protecting his or her privacy, in accordance with workplace regulation.

While I'm familiar with the challenges of addiction treatment in the workplace, I'm by no means an expert. I reached out to the team at Beachway Therapy Center, which offers long-term treatment programs for business professionals, in order to better understand how to navigate the challenges of long-term rehab for employees and their supervisors.

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Understanding Your Legal Responsibilities as an Employer: ADA, FMLA, and Privacy

It's natural to experience a confluence of emotions around an employee's decision to enter treatment. As a supervisor, you may feel frustrated, angry or disappointed in how the employee has underperformed on the job or let his team down. You may also feel relief that your employee is finally getting much-needed help, or worry about how he or she will cope after rehab. You need to put these feelings aside, however, and understand your legal responsibilities in the workplace.

Yes, you can fire an employee if his or her performance has declined because of drugs or alcohol abuse. You also have the right to test you for drugs and fire you for drug use. However, once an employee announces that he or she is seeking treatment, you cannot fire them for this decision. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of life, including the workforce. This act defines what qualifies as a disability to include individuals who struggle with substance abuse, including alcoholism and drug addiction. Title I of the ADA covers equal employment opportunities and benefits for individuals with disabilities. While ADA does not protect individuals who are actively using drugs from being fired, the act does protect individuals who seek treatment from being fired.

Secondly, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also protects your employees from job loss while they are receiving treatment. FMLA allows eligible employees to take an unpaid leave of absence for up to 12 weeks within a 12-month period.

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Finally, understand that your employee is entitled to privacy about his or her decision to seek treatment. Yes, break room gossip is inevitable. But if your employee does not want to make her treatment decision public, you cannot disclose any details about this treatment program. Remind your employees about the need to respect their coworker's privacy. SAMHSA is a good resource for learning more about the importance of employers maintaining confidentiality regarding any information they receive about an employee's addiction or treatment program.

Setting Up a Return-to-Work Agreement

A return-to-work agreement (RTWA) is a written document codifying an employer's expectations for an employee who has completed alcohol or drug treatment. The Beachway Therapy Center team recommends that employers set up an RTWA with any employee who leaves for treatment. An RTWA is an important accountability document that clearly outlines expectations for the employee following treatment, including any future drug testing requirements that could lead to a fireable offense. Here's a great RTWA sample to get you started from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Bottom line:

The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recommends a minimum of 90 days (or longer) for most treatment programs due to the lower relapse rates associated with longer treatment programs. However, 90 days is a long time to be away from the workplace. When your employee does return, a lot may have changed: new clients, new workflow systems, and new employees. While it's not your responsibility to ensure your employee stays sober after treatment, by welcoming your employee back and taking steps to ease the reintegration process, you can help set your employee up for success. Finally, don't hold your employee's addiction struggles against him. People in recovery can be a workplace dream come true. Stay open minded and watch your employee thrive.

___________________
Full disclosure: The Crash Detectives, my own book on the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, will be published by Penguin in September. This may have colored my perception of Richard Quest's new book, The Vanishing of Flight 370. Then again, maybe it really is a rehash of CNN's original undisciplined coverage.

Quest, CNN's business correspondent, is best known for his out-sized personality and his "say anything" interview style. But in the book he has produced for Penguin Berkley and timed to the second anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia 370, all his insouciant charm is gone. Without that, Quest's ego wears thin long before the reader gets to the book's vanity snapshots section.

The photo inset features Quest with Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, (2 of these) Quest with Malaysia defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Quest with Malaysia's aviation boss Dato Sri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Quest with MH-370 passenger advocate Sarah Bajc, Quest with fellow CNN staffers; Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo and best of all Quest with MH-370 pilot Fariq Hamid.

Wait a minute, Quest with Fariq Hamid ?

Why yes. The most interesting tidbit in Quest's retelling of the MH-370 story and CNN's coverage of it is that sixteen days before the Boeing 777 inexplicably flew into the South Indian Ocean, Quest and a CNN camera crew were in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. Astonishingly, the pilot in the right seat on that flight was 27-year old Fariq Hamid, who very shortly would be the first officer of MH-370.

No one knew of course what was soon in store for poor Fariq and the 238 others on MH-370, but credit Quest with recognizing that allowing a television crew into the cockpit might have not have been the best idea considering that young Fariq was still receiving initial operating experience on the triple 7.

"I wanted the footage badly, but I also knew I didn't want an incident on my hands," Quest writes. "So I gingerly asked Captain Liu whether it was wise for us to be putting Hamid under more stress by filming his landing the plane. My hope was that Liu would decide to land the aircraft himself."

But it was no deal. Fariq did the landing at Kuala Lumpur. Quest got his footage and afterwards the reporter posed with Fariq for a selfie on the pilot's cell phone.

This is a fascinating tidbit and a weird coincidence of which I was not aware until Quest's book arrived on my doorstep last month, I probably missed it because when I was in Malaysia working for ABC News, I rarely saw CNN's coverage.

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What I do know about how CNN handled the disappearance of MH-370 comes mostly from the eye-rolling of fellow journalists and aviation geeks.

If I missed anything else significant, Quest's book presents a near play-by-play of the action at the Atlanta-based news network.

What many saw as the network's non-stop, talking-head heavy obsession with every non-development was "the antithesis of the era of prepackaged, formulaic news coverage," according to Quest. "It was why twenty-four-hour news had been invented," he writes. "Here the viewer was being invited to see firsthand the process by which raw news is analyzed and brought into perspective."

Right about now, you are wondering why I meandered from the ostensible subject of the book - MH-370 - to bring up CNN's coverage. Well, that's because the author takes a similarly bifurcated path. While the book purports to be about the disappearance of the plane, "The True Story of the Hunt for the Missing Malaysian Plane" is the subtitle, Quest's book is equal parts a retelling of what we've learned over the past two years and a justification of the way CNN went all out to "own the story."

Unfortunately for the reader, Quest does not present anything new or make a convincing argument why it is a good thing for a news network to abandon coverage of all other world events to pay obsessive attention to just one.

So Quest's book disappoints on a number of levels, but one slip up is most telling, especially coming from a reporter as well-versed in the aviation industry as Quest unarguably is.

Before MH-370, Quest claims "No commercial plane that had ever crashed did so without leaving a trace."

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In fact, over the past century, a number of flights have vanished never to be seen again. There's the loss of the Hawaii Clipper in July 1938 and the mysterious disappearance of an Indonesian commuter flight in 1995 and a half a dozen others in between.
It has taken me a couple of decades to properly understand the deep-seated presence of inequality in my life. I grew up in Malta, a small and young island-nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. I was always told by my family how lucky I was to be born in a safe place, how my grandparents' generation lived through the horrors and hungers of WWII, and how we now had everything that we always desired. We had food. We had social programs. We had free schooling. We had our own nation. Apparently, we had everything.

Yet, as I grew up I thought more and more about my presumed fortunes. Surely I was fortunate. I knew other kids who struggled in worse financial conditions. My father worked in a factory and held a second job painting houses. We made do for a while, but that was it.

Many years later and now living in the US, I can better comprehend the many fallacies that surrounded me and still surround me. We are in the midst of an election cycle that often feels existential. One side uses religion as a supposed answer to every un-Christian suggestion that these candidates come up with. From characterizing certain immigrants as criminals to suggesting that a nation should close its doors to refugees from one of the greatest conflicts in the Middle East, none of these candidates have a plan to better the lives of many of their low-income supporters. Instead, they use bigotry and racism to feed the anger of many, while the unmentionable GOP front runner claims that he is loved by all races.

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Despite the obvious widening gap between rich and poor, the right refuses to recognize their blatant promotion of inequality. It is dishonest in so many ways. They tell their supporters, many of whom have long been sliding into poverty, that the rich will eventually make everyone else rich. Yet they never answer the basic question: how?

The left is not without its fault. It appears stuck in a struggle of different proportions. Will the left ever admit the fundamental importance of tackling head-on inequality? Why do our two candidates quibble between a $12 and a $15 minimum wage? That is a superficial debate. It should be a ten-year plan of this nation, a real attempt to diminish it and not simply another issue to pander for votes. Inequality is pervasive and crosses many lines (wealth, gender, race, etc). It is an urgent condition that has been left to grow for way too long.

Human nature is often dominated by self-interests.

As an archaeologist by profession, let me give you an example of our human past. If we return momentarily to Malta, albeit around five thousand years ago, we would see an archipelago dotted by massive monuments that dwarfed adjoining small villages. These monumental structures were used for rituals and built collectively by communities. They were not simple to construct. Most of the masonry weighed well over a ton. More impressively, these stones were moved and lifted into place with simple devices. One could almost look at such monuments and delight oneself at the site of human working cooperatively together. How impressive is human ingenuity and creativity? Instead, once completed, these structures were cordoned off for the most powerful community members. Not everyone was meant to walk into these places, which harbored important rituals and restricted knowledge. These peoples' lives required their labor for constructions that eventually kept them outside of the monuments. Their need to subsist and work towards their survival was additionally pressured by social obligations.

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As a reader you might ask yourself: "why would anyone permit such unfavorable conditions? why cooperate when your gains are limited?" These questions bring us back to our own present settings. All of us work towards certain goals (employment, financial security, caring for others, sending children to college), but we rarely challenge the settings within which we conduct ourselves. In the meantime, we have allowed inequality to permeate our lives so deeply that some of us are scandalized at the thought of others demanding an overturn of unfavorable conditions. Others quibble on what inequality is and how far should we go in trying to end it.

Instead, we should take a deep look at our past to see how our global human history is riddled with the cautionary signs of inequality. Too often ideology has allowed individuals to act in despicable manners or accept unfavorable conditions. Ultimately, some gain while others lose. The problem in our own era is that those who are gaining are a significantly small portion of a wider populace. They control the reins of ideology. They use cheap ploys, like scandalous claims, or else they use us to appeal to the anger of disillusioned individuals. Their antics keep us from realizing a simple truth: inequality is a by-product of self-interest. It is a thousand times easier to look out for number one than to strive for fairness.

In light of all this, the debates in the political arena regarding inequality are not enough. We should demand our political leaders, most of whom come from lucrative financial backgrounds, to empathize with our fellow man, woman, and child. We should demand proposals/policies based on a collective improvement. We should not allow our leaders to simply address inequality because a series of polls are tracking the current mood of the voters. It should instead be a moral imperative because too many have struggled and will continue to struggle.
The March 3rd Republican Debate was a debacle. The two hours I spent watching it are lost to me forever -- but maybe there's an upside.

I live for politics. The primary season in a Presidential election year is catnip. My entire day is scheduled around town halls, debates, interviews and everything I'm capable of digesting in each 24 hour news cycle.

The above being said, I would gladly have watched an episode of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" had it been aired last night.

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What's my point?

I was angry at myself for not turning the debate off. It's as if my eyes and ears were temporarily traumatized as I sat trance like and watched potential future Presidents embarrass themselves and our nation while making a mockery of presidential debates.

The domestic and international implications of March 3rd's circus were incredibly detrimental. North Korea's Kim Jong-un stated that nuclear weapons need to be "ready to use." This pronouncement was purportedly made in response to UN sanctions.

However the actions of this unstable and dangerous leader may also have been powered by his concern upon hearing irrational and inflammatory statements made by politicians, one of whom might become the leader of the free world.

Can we afford childish behavior to stoke the fire of fear among the world's foremost terrorists, dictators and despots?

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America is fast becoming an Oligarchy because of our citizen's indifference and politician's lust for unequivocal power. We sit by as politicians from both parties sell out our nation to the highest bidders -- or should I say lobbyists.

Bernie Sanders may be one of the few exceptions. I admit to being an ardent supporter of this most unlikely of presidential candidates.

America is viewed by our allies as being potentially unstable and unreliable.

Debates like Wednesday's are a danger to the security of our nation.

Mainstream Republicans and conservatives find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

It's a conundrum for them to find leaders to support. Perhaps the main reason is that all the candidates with the exception of Donald Trump (and he is certainly some sort of an exception) and John Kasich refuse to walk across the aisle and work with their peers.

Worse yet the candidates have transformed "negotiate" and "compromise" into dirty words. Much like Republicans demonized the term liberal so many years ago. These terms are now viewed as weakness.



Rubio and Cruz have pledged to overturn virtually every initiative that has been passed these last eight years. As they link Hillary with President Obama they overlook the fact that he was elected not once but twice (for eight full years -- SCOTUS) and ignore the state of the union when Obama took office succeeding George W. Bush.

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It's ironic considering Republican's standard bearer Ronald Reagan took pride in working together with all members of Congress no matter how strong their differences.

One can certainly find fault with a number of President Obama's programs and with current legal challenges Hillary Clinton faces. However the manner in which they are attacked hopelessly divides our nation and sends conflicting and concerning messages to countries around the world.

They are equally as harsh, unforgiving and insulting to each other as well.

I couldn't tear myself away from what would appear comical if it weren't so frightening and potentially devastating to our country. I would have been better advised to wish for an electrical blackout so no one could see or hear the debating clowns.

I choose to use the metaphor of a blackout because the disruption of our electrical grid is perhaps the greatest terrorist threat to America's security. Yet all the debaters do is talk about a wall, sending immigrants back to their native lands and other responses to what is surely not the greatest threat to our nation's sovereignty.

The Republicans spend far more debate time denigrating each other than proposing well thought out alternatives to the policies against which they rail. One has to wonder how whoever is elected will find a road map to establishing rapport with their colleagues.

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The Republican contenders insult their constituents by dumbing down their message and telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to know.

It's a risky game to be playing and the cost in terms of moving our nation forward domestically while simultaneously fostering international peace and security is incalculable.



The unintended consequences of the debate which on the surface appeared to be a low class burlesque show are enormous. The stakes are so high.

I'm not a genius, yet as I sit and watch then ponder the debates I try to convince myself I can come up with a variety of solutions to the challenges we all face.

At one level I know I'm kidding myself. On the other hand I suffer from just enough self aggrandizement to believe I can make a contribution. It's one of the reasons I write articles like this.

I'm not a politician or journalist. I have nobody of influence's ear. However you never know when something you put out will ignite a spark somewhere and perhaps resonate with just one individual in a position to pass a good idea along.

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My hope is that the sharing of thoughts will contribute in some small way to help foster a revolution of creativity and solutions by people from all walks of life and political orientation. Once you get constructive thinking and dialog going it spreads like wildfire.

The Republican debates are not dialog but dangerous diatribe that is inflicting incalculable damage while serving to "emasculate" our country.

We live in perilous times. When suicide bombers and terrorists of every shape, kind and size listen to Republican's debate they are not moved by the "tough talk." In fact the reverse is true. Any pundit will tell you the candidate's trash talk and rhetoric serves as an aid in terrorist's recruitment efforts.

After watching and observing both parties one thing is painfully obvious. Whatever one's political leanings the Republican debates are dangerous.

The Democratic candidates are debating issues and not indulging in character assassination.

The Republican candidates are fomenting a virtual civil war among our citizens. We're more polarized than ever. Our nation can't afford this.

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Let's work together and keep open lines of communication. We need to respect each other's views and not look for ways to be divisive. Let us unite a brotherhood of all that will move America forward as we navigate the perilous waters in which we find ourselves.

My fellow citizens, I encourage each and every one of you to contact your party leaders and let them know in no uncertain terms you want to elevate the level and quality of discourse as we strive to reconcile our different outlooks and find common ground.

In the meantime I will sit through countless hours of political posturing and ratings motivated network programming tripe in the hope that I see or hear something I can share with all of you. I'm greatly appreciative of The Huffington Post's commitment to providing a forum for the expression of free speech.

A special note to Millennials. My generation is getting older. But we aren't dead yet! Let's all communicate and work toward the common good. Progress has been made but we haven't begun to achieve a fraction of all that you deserve.

We'll keep working at it. But remember you will inherit this great nation and it is you who must carry the torch forward. It won't always be easy but you have the power to be a force for change. Use it!

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A final message to my fellow progressives. We all hope Bernie Sanders will become the 45th President of The United States. It may or may not happen. If it does great! If it doesn't then we are just as guilty as the purveyors of hate and symbols of systemic rot if we abandon the system.

Whoever becomes the next President will need support from everyone. No matter which party prevails we will always disagree on individual issues -- sometimes even with those who share many of our values. We can protest civilly and make our views known.

But in the end we must work together to create a better, kinder more humane country and world.

If we absent ourselves from the process we ensure that our children and grandchildren will inherit a country that is worse off than when we were young and its shepherds.

Let us all commit right now to make the USA the greatest country in which to live as we enjoy and share the bounty of the richest nation in the world!

On a personal note, if every US citizen with the means will donate $5 towards eradicating poverty we will be able to hold our heads high. I challenge you to visit any appropriate website right now, make a contribution and bask in the warm glow of helping out someone in need. Thank you for reading this article!

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"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."
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 6: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign press conference event at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, FL on Saturday March 05, 2016. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

We are now in truly uncharted waters. Last week, on Super Tuesday, Donald Trump won across all demographic groups. He won by thirty points in liberal Massachusetts, and twenty points in deep south Alabama, making the choice of Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee perhaps the only thing that Massachusetts and Alabama have agreed on since Appomattox Courthouse.

While much was made of Trump's stumbling, attenuated disavowal of the endorsement by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, voters -- particularly those in my native state of Massachusetts -- simply did not seem to care. Republican leaders, on the other hand, have been particularly exercised by what appeared to be Trump's flirtation with the KKK.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan voiced the rebuke expressed by many across his party. "If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln."

Starved of attention and struggling to assert himself into the political debate, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney chimed in, tweeting out that the "coddling of repugnant bigotry is not in the character of America."

But for the seriousness of the issue, watching GOP leaders reaching for the moral high ground would have been comical. After all, the coddling of repugnant bigotry is not only in the character of America, it has been a core political strategy of the GOP for the better part of thirty years.

The coddling of repugnant bigotry used to be the purview of the Democratic Party. The party of Thomas Jefferson was, of course, also the party of slavery and Jim Crow and states' rights -- all those things that for so long the Grand Old Party stood against. The Republican Party remained the party of civil rights, right up through the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, for which it provided nearly unanimous support, while the Democratic Party was riven with dissent and the southern wing of the party stood firmly with its segregationist traditions.

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Then, in the wake of his narrow victory over Hubert Humphrey in 1968, President Richard Nixon seized the moment to entice alienated southern white Democrats from their ancestral political home to the Republican Party. The appeal to those voters was explicitly racial; with its embrace of the segregationist south, the GOP set aside the mantle of the Party of Lincoln, it compromised its core principles of limited government and individual liberty, in favor of the progeny of Jim Crow.

Nixon's Southern Strategy and Ronald Reagan's ensuing outreach to white working class "Reagan Democrats" honed the GOP appeal to the racial and cultural resentments that abounded in the 1970s and 1980s in the wake of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protests and the broader cultural upheaval of the 1960s. They transformed the nation's political landscape. The last time a Democrat won a majority of the white vote was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

While the GOP and the conservative movement rallied over the ensuing decades around Ronald Reagan's lofty language about liberty and freedom, the core election day get out the vote strategy became rooted in the leveraging of voter resentments and fears. Ronald Reagan political strategist and Karl Rove running buddy Lee Atwater described the nakedly racial nature of the Republican tactics in a 1981 interview: "You start out in 1954 by saying, 'n--ger, n--ger, n--ger.' By 1968, you can't say 'n--ger'... so you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.... You follow me -- because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than n--ger, n--ger."

The coddling of repugnant bigotry was a gift of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the modern GOP. It underpinned Richard Nixon's language around law and order. It was the purpose behind Ronald Reagan's folksy anecdotes about welfare queens driving Cadillacs and "big bucks" buying T-bone steaks with food stamps. Then came the Willie Horton ad in 1988 and the smearing of John McCain for miscegenation in 2000. Then there were the voter referenda in 2004 defining marriage in state constitutions, used to drive up anti-gay evangelical white vote. And the racial slurs of Barack Obama go without saying; the photos of Obama as an African witch doctor; Rush Limbaugh's celebrated playing of "Barack the Magic Negro." And, of course, there was the birther movement.

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The protests of Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and others notwithstanding, the coddling of repugnant bigotry has been integral to the success of the modern Republican Party. It was the price Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan paid to rebuild the power of the GOP in the electoral college, and all it cost the party was its soul.

Echoing Scarborough's outrage, long-time GOP political consultant Ed Rogers wondered out loud. "Was he trying to send a signal specifically to the Southerners he thinks are racist when he initially would not disavow the KKK? I always resent it when Northerners like Trump think of Southerners as naturally racist. But so far, it doesn't appear that Trump is being penalized for having made that assumption. It's all very discouraging."

When I asked a senior GOP campaign operative on one of the presidential campaigns what he thought of Scarborough's and Rogers' indignation at the notion that racial tactics were still salient in today's new south, he replied simply, "clearly Joe and Ed don't get out enough. Once you are outside the cities, not much has changed."

Voters in Massachusetts and Alabama -- worlds apart culturally and politically -- both ranked "tells it like it is" as the most important characteristic in the person they chose to vote for. One underpinning of the Trump phenomenon is the view across the electorate that their political leaders are not being straight with them, and Paul Ryan's words provide a case in point: "There can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals." They were noble words, but it was all malarkey. Everyone knows that there are games and evasion in politics. Everyone knows that political parties prey on people's prejudices. People are not stupid, they are just tired of politicians treating them as if they are.
People demonstrate against former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Paulista Avenue in dowtown Sao Paulo on March 4, 2016. Brazil's powerful Lula da Silva lashed out at prosecutors Friday after he was briefly detained by police as part of a probe into a massive corruption scheme. During a defiant press conference shortly after being freed, Lula, 70, said the decision to take him forcibly into custody for questioning about links to a corruption network at state oil company Petrobras amounted to 'judicial authoritarianism.' AFP PHOTO / Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP / Miguel Schincariol (Photo credit should read MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL/AFP/Getty Images)

As soon as she was re-elected, President Dilma Rousseff promised that those found responsible in the Petrobras corruption scandal would not go unpunished. She declared that "no stone will be left unturned" in the investigation.

During the 2014 election campaign, Rousseff praised the work of the Federal Police, which has full autonomy in its investigations. "Swept under the carpet, corruption will stay hidden, until it is investigated," stressed the president. "We always give extreme freedom to the Federal Police in all their investigations."

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This freedom, once celebrated by the executive power, is currently tormenting the Labor Party.

After nearly two years of Operation Car Wash, which is an investigation into corruption at the state-run oil company Petrobras, the Federal Police raided former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's home on Friday, March 4. The raid happened only a day after Senator Delcidio Amaral released a statement to the prosecutors tying Rousseff and Lula to the Petrobras scandal.

The public prosecutors have said that Lula played a major role in the Petrobras scandal.

"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. There is evidence that the crimes enriched him and financed electoral campaigns and the treasury of his political group," the prosecutors said in a statement.

As Dilma promised a year and a half ago, she is leaving no stone unturned!

The Brazilian people have many questions regarding Lula's involvement in the Petrobras corruption case.

Did the former president know about this scheme? He had previously denied any involvement in another scandal -- the Mensalao. And what about the Petrolao scandal? According to Delcidio, Lula knew about that one.

What are the origins of the R$ 30 million that fueled the Lula-owned LILS Palestras and the Lula Institute? Did part of the amount, which was paid by contractors currently under investigation by Operation Car Wash, come from the Petrobras coffers?

Why does the former president insist that the small farm of Atibaia is not his family's, if he has visited the location 111 times since 2012, and he stores several of his belongings there, along with paddle boats named after his grandchildren?

Why did Odebrecht, a construction company involved in the scandal, bankroll R$ 700,000 in renovations at the small farm that Lula denies belonging to him?

Is the triplex apartment in the Solaris Condo in Guaruja, on the Sao Paulo coast owned by Lula or by the contractor, OAS? Despite the former president's denial, why did the janitor, the building's manager, the doorman and the company's engineers tell the Federal Police that Lula's family was always in apartment 164-A?

Where did the R$ 1 million, which paid the OAS for the renovations and luxury furniture for the rooms and kitchen of 164-A, come from? Are the business contracts with Petrobas the source of all this money?

Did Lula know that his friend, a rancher by the name of Jose Carlos Bumlai, arrested by the Federal Police last year, said that the Labor Party's debts from the re-election campaign were paid off with money from Petrobras?

What's Lula's answer to Delcidio's claims, which accused the Labor Party member of bribing Petrobas executive Nestor Cervero, who is also in jail, to cover up Bumlai's story?

The former president needs to answer all these questions, among others from the Federal Police, prosecutors, his constituents, and from all Brazilians.

If Lula fails to answer these questions, it will be extremely difficult for Brazil to believe that, as the former president had previously claimed, there is "not a more honest living soul in the country."
Greece's coverage by the international media outlets has been inversely related to the country's size. Indeed, the roughly 10.5 million population of this Southeastern European country has generated a significant volume of publicity in the last seven years. This publicity unfortunately reflected the country's failures rather than its successes -- namely, an economic crisis without precedent in modern Greek history, which has cost the country more than 25 percent of its GDP so far, along with significant levels of unemployment. Lately, a second crisis has emerged, reflected in the faces of thousands of refugees arriving on Greece's shores, seeking a safer future for their families and themselves.

Three bailout packages have been signed between Greece and its lenders since 2010, but the economic crisis remains to this day unresolved. Nonetheless, it is my firm belief that the Greek problem has not been properly captured and described even by expert audiences, that the roots of the problem are different than those typically discussed. And by that, I mean that Greece's woes have been mostly institutional rather than economic -- or, more explicitly, that the state of the Greek economy was the symptom, not the disease.

Institutions have been thoroughly discussed as a predictor of long-run growth in the academic literature, notably in the works of Fukuyama or Acemoglu and Robinson. Inclusive institutions are still a goal for Greece, not a given. And this is where the reform process should have been targeted, and it wasn't. One relevant example of a prominent institutional failure is the state of the media landscape in Greece, an industry which is essential not only on economic grounds, but for the proper functioning of a country's democracy.

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Media has been badly regulated in Greece for decades. The discussion on media reform in Greece -- a country where the issue of media influence in politics has been at the forefront of political debate traditionally -- has opened in the last months. Nonetheless, it is my take that this discussion is starting in a manner which does not take into account the broader context in which it is being conducted.

Unfortunately, it is quite often that the domestic political discourse tends to disregard the international context in which it takes place. In reality, the discussion regarding reforms to the media landscape is one where national specificities are being encapsulated in an international discussion, where the political and the regulatory are adversely affected by the technological, where the forces of "creative destruction" and innovation are the dominant factors of the equation.

If my experience with 24MEDIA, or my involvement with digital media more broadly, has taught me something, it is that the properly defined boundaries between the different media -- the walls between them -- have collapsed. They have been superseded by life itself. Even in the recent past, in advertising, for instance, one knew that there had to be a different approach for radio, a different for television, for the internet, for newspapers. In reality, today, as citizens, we have become consumers of the same news item through different means, which are battling in equal terms for a piece of our attention, for a few seconds of our time either on the radio station we listen to in the morning while driving the car, or on the internet through our mobile devices, or by surfing the net on our office desktops, or on the 9 o'clock news on television. As media, we are now called upon to compete with traditional brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola or Apple, for a percentage of the consumer's available span of attention.

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In what way can we ultimately achieve the "marriage" between advertising and content with the aim of achieving the best results? And how crucial is the role of social media? One way is the method of personalization, using a custom-made approach and increased personal targeting of content. For example, during Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, the Democratic Party's databases -- like Catalist -- were matched with data from social media, consumer data, and information obtained from the campaign volunteers themselves, in order to compile a comprehensive mapping of the electorate, which dramatically exceeded the information provided by polling results, along with their accuracy. Media such as the NY Times -- at the time via Nate Silver and his algorithms -- monitored this development from the very beginning, and to a significant extent, they managed to emulate it. This discussion is gradually opening up in Europe as well, and the privacy laws of the EU will soon have to evolve.

In Greece of course we are faced with additional hurdles, those of an economy in depression, of an unregulated media sphere -- for TV, the radio and the Internet -- but also of drastically diminished advertising budgets, which have adversely affected the media sector. Nonetheless, the quote about the Chinese character for "crisis" -- that it is expressed by two characters, one of which depicts threat and the other opportunity -- is quite known by now. It is time for us to begin capitalizing on the opportunity and not to let the crisis go to waste. We need to render Greece a creative policy and business laboratory in order to restore growth and put our people back to work. And we have been dramatically late in advancing solutions for this, generally across the Greek economy but also specifically in what concerns the domestic media scene.

More explicitly: although in Greece we often talk about the "establishment" and the "status quo," anyone who has managed in reality to advance in this country, and I dare say in any country, comes to realize that there is no such thing as a "establishment" or a "system," in the sense in which those who are outside of the arena imagine it to exist and operate. The "establishment" is something else. It is the way in which the leaders of a sector or a country conduct their business, their modus operandi, the rules by which they operate and their culture. And in this sense Greece is in a dire need of an overall change of system, generally but also specifically with respect to its media. And in fact, immediately.

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In a recent opinion article at the Guardian, columnist Emily Bell wrote that the concept of the publisher in its traditional sense is over, that it reflects the values and the technologies of yesterday. It is obvious that by that she did not mean that the process of publishing content is over itself. She was referring to the degrees of freedom that a publisher has over the content managed by his or her organization. This is what we more explicitly describe as "political influence" of the publisher. The most significant decisions however, must increasingly be taken at the device level -- as showcased by Apple's recent judicial battle with regards to the security of its devices -- at the carrier level, and even at the platform level.

A few days ago, a UK phone company (Three) decided to block ads from all of its webpages viewed by its subscribers. Mobile advertising still only constitutes a small part of such companies' total revenues; however it is a piece of the pie that is constantly growing. I do not know if this policy will be contested by the relevant EU regulating bodies -- it may very well be so -- however it gives us a taste of what is really at stake in this sphere.

To conclude, we increasingly need 360 organizations which can combine the different elements of messages and trigger different experience. Therefore, in this sense, and to the degree in which we are slightly lagging behind in Greece, as a broader media sector we must have our ears open and bring about a shift. This shift refers to how we, ourselves, will choose to act in relation with the state. Will we seek a narrow income-focused approach based on the traditional terms of influence? Or will we try to contribute to the construction of a serious institutional framework, consistent with international developments, which will bring about smart regulatory policies for each technological medium? Is the issue at stake here just the outcome of another game? Or perhaps is it the establishment of healthy rules to a game that is constantly changing, in an arena which is, in itself, unstable? Such questions, in my opinion, should prove rhetorical in the time to come. And media reform should prove to be a crucial parameter to the overall national reconstruction effort, and, specifically, a positive one.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 10: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) poses for photographs with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (R) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in in the Strom Thurmond Room at the U.S. Capitol November 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama a day earlier when the two leaders talked about fighting terrorism, the conflict in Syria and healing their rift over the Iran nuclear deal. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

America is practically bankrupt, yet Israel remains a multi-billion dollar dependent. The U.S. can't afford to continue subsidizing well-off nations, no matter how friendly. And Israel, which spends heavily both to expand state regulation and occupy Palestinian lands, doesn't need American support.

The Middle East is in flames, but Israel appears relatively secure. Argued Paul Scham of the University of Maryland's Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies: "It may seem counterintuitive, or even downright strange, but Israel's geopolitical position is probably stronger now than at any time in the country's history." Israel greatly overshadows any potential adversary.

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Nevertheless, there may be no more politically sacrosanct expenditure in Washington than the annual payment of $3.1 billion to Israel. That's more than $350 to every Israeli man, woman, and child. As of last year, total U.S. aid came to $124.3 billion. There have been billions of dollars in loan guarantees as well. But few on Capitol Hill worry about the aid's purpose or efficacy. Even many avowed fiscal conservatives want to appear to embrace Israel while seeking the Christian Zionist vote.

But America's annual payment soon may run as high as $5 billion a year, with the extra dollars offered to pacify Benjamin Netanyahu, who attempted to block the nuclear accord with Iran. President Barack Obama appears determined to make peace with the Israeli government, for which most of the Republican presidential contenders promised to do even more, irrespective of America's interests.

Most of the aid goes to Israel's military. However, money is fungible. Since security is Israel's first priority, that government would find the necessary resources even without U.S. support. The latter allows Israel to shift scarce resources elsewhere. A few years ago Yarden Gazit of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies warned that "the Government of Israel's reliance on the American taxpayer sets a negative example which acts to encourage a culture of dependence."

One consequence is artificially inflating the size of the Israeli state. Gazit explained: "Without this aid, it stands to reason that the government would be forced to reduce the public sector in size, through defense budget cuts, restricting and increased efficiency in other frameworks. This would direct many more resources toward the private sector, which would be motivated to seek creative and growth-oriented solutions, involving personnel, financing, as well as land and other resources currently held by the government."

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Israel's economic record is mixed. Israel displays world-class entrepreneurial vigor in some areas but retains old-world collectivism in others. In 2013, the last year for which figures were available, Israel was ranked 39th in the world for economic freedom. It did well in sound money, free trade, and credit market regulations. It was middling with legal system and property rights. But it rated poorly in size of government, business regulation, and labor market regulation

To Israel's credit, it has improved significantly over the years. In 1980, for instance, Israel was ranked just 99th in the world. Progress has been slower but still real in recent years. Nevertheless, JIMS has pointed out how government policies involving unnecessary regulatory barriers and high taxes continue to harm Israeli citizens, who in recent years have vigorously protested the high cost of living. Unfortunately, like less prosperous Third World states, Israel faces less pressure to adopt economic reforms when foreign transfers mask policy failures. Indeed, foreign funds directly subsidize oversize government.

Even worse, U.S. cash effectively underwrites Israel's occupation of the West Bank and attempt to colonize that area through settlements. Had Israel seized empty land in the 1967 war keeping the territories would have been understandable. But Israel also grabbed people. Subjecting them to almost a half century of rule without economic or political rights could not help but result in injustice and resentment. The settlements greatly exacerbate this problem, creating a privileged class in the West Bank with special access to land, water, roads, and subsidies. These special benefits extend "to virtually every aspect of life in the West Bank," noted Human Rights Watch. Palestinians are treated as second class human beings with essentially no rights vis-a-vis settlers, who strike their Arab neighbors with virtual impunity.

Settlers, a mix of religious who believe the land to be given by God and secular drawn by government subsidies, defend their presence as aiding Israel's security. However, complained Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni: "The settlements are not providers of security, they are consumers of it. Roads are paved with billions of our tax money under the premise of security--but in reality they serve a handful of homes." Moreover, the settlers' presence increases official repression of Palestinians -- special roads and checkpoints are maintained for Israelis living in the West Bank, the security barrier encloses Palestinian lands to protect settlements, land and water are appropriated for Israeli colonists.

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Of course, the abuse of Palestinians doesn't excuse recent violence against settlers. Murder is no answer to even persistent mistreatment and discredits the Palestinian cause. Palestinians have been ill-served by malicious leaders and violent militants alike. But the Netanyahu government should not be surprised at Palestinian hatred boiling over. American ambassador Daniel Shapiro recently condemned the fact that "Israel has two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank--one for Israelis and another for Palestinians." Shapiro added, reiterating U.S. government policy: "continued settlement growth raises honest questions about Israel's long-term intentions," and termed "Israeli settlements activity as illegitimate and counterproductive to the cause of peace."

In fact, HRW has published a new study on how companies tied to settlements, doing business with or in the latter, contribute to "violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses." Such offenses are most likely to occur in four areas, argued HRW: "discrimination; land confiscations and restrictions; supporting settlement infrastructure; and labor abuses."

Unsurprisingly, it is expensive to enforce the occupation and subsidize the settlements. In 2013 the group Peace Now found that settlements received money or services from the ministries of agriculture, education, housing, industry and commerce, interior, transportation, and water, as well as the public works department and settlements division. These programs cost the state of Israel several hundred million dollars annually.

Exactly how much is difficult to assess, and pro-settlements parliamentarians block transparency. Knesset (and Finance Committee) member Elazar Stern complained that "Funds are hidden. Clauses are lumped together so that you vote on an item that is justified and then they slip it in." Tzipi said "Money meant to boost construction is given under the table with no transparency or oversight." As of 2010 the Macro Center for Political Economy estimated that Israel's government had spent about $17 billion on the settlements. These outlays continue and, in fact, are up sharply under the Netanyahu government.

The overall cost of maintaining military control over millions of people is even greater, though some of the expense in effect has been subcontracted to the Palestinian Authority. Shlomo Swirski of Israel's Adva Center noted that occupation costs were relatively low until 1987. However, while the Palestinians cannot win a conventional battle, "their very readiness to return to the battlefield, again and again, to express their desire for independent national life has, since 1987, become a constant threat to Israel's political and economic stability." Include settlements subsidies and the first four decades of the occupation are thought to have cost around $50 billion.

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Unfortunately, perpetual conflict imposes an economic price as well. The Macro Center's Ruby Nathanzon complained: "There's a terrible distortion, an enormous economic cost in addition to the huge military burden." A 2015 study by the Rand Corporation figured that reaching a two-state solution would provide a nearly $200 billion economic boost for both Israelis and Palestinians over the next decade. In contrast, a return to violence would cut the Israeli GDP by 10 percent by 2024, and constrict the smaller Palestinian economy even more. Noted Rand: "In most scenarios, the value of economic opportunities gained or lost by both parties is much larger than expected changes in direct costs."

While the U.S. has made some deductions from loan guarantees for money spent on the settlements, that isn't nearly enough. Washington should stop providing support that in effect is used to hamper Israel's private economy and, more important, colonize the West Bank, which makes peace increasingly difficult if not impossible.

Even some Israelis question the value of U.S. aid. Gazit warned that "a good many people do not appreciate the real costs of America's assistance to Israel." First, the money is linked to aid to Egypt and Jordan. Neither seems likely to threaten Israel but the latter needs to be prepared for any eventuality. Egypt, especially, does not need the high-tech toys the generals spend Americans' money on. Ending this aid would eliminate a potential threat to Israel as well.

Moreover, U.S. funds are conditioned. This means that Israel often must purchase American weapons and raw materials even if cheaper, better competitors are available. Israeli firms lose economies of scale and export sales, since foreign governments often look to see what weapons the Israeli military is using.

Finally, U.S. funds create a direct incentive for overspending in the defense area. Warned Gazit: aid irrespective of Israel's needs "leaves the system with no incentive to become more efficient." Israeli officials admit that American money reduce the pressure on Israel to trim unnecessary military expenditures.

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It's been an ugly couple of months at Suffolk University.

Margaret McKenna, a respected two-institution university president, foundation leader and civil rights advocate, agreed to step down in eighteen months after a very public battle with a faction of Suffolk's trustees, led by its outgoing chairman, Andrew Meyer.

As part of the deal, Mr. Meyer will also end his chairmanship after completion of his term this spring.

The deal has not, however, diminished the "he said/she said" public spectacle, largely carried out on the pages of Boston's daily newspapers.

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Mr. Meyer released a memo defending the Suffolk Board's actions after charges by Ms. McKenna that the Board had failed to update its by-laws, contribute financially to the level that they should be expected to as trustees, and devote enough attention to increasing diversity at the University.

Mr. Meyer wrote: "The board has taken its governance responsibilities seriously and has worked diligently to craft a final set of new by-laws in which we can all take great pride." In late February, he also released an additional five-page memo on why the by-laws have taken several years to update.

In his memo, Meyer elaborated further on the level of their annual financial contributions, noting that "many of us have personally contributed tens of thousands, and some hundreds of thousands, of dollars to the university." The concern is additional fall-out from a charge that Ms. McKenna had not met the Board's fundraising targets set for her.

Until this point, there's not much new news beyond some standard finger pointing. But it's also the moment when the story gets interesting. And most significantly, perhaps, it's also where the problems in university governance become most clear at Suffolk.

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Among the Board's accomplishments, Mr. Meyer cited their oversight in the hiring of the first female law school dean, who is of Jamaican descent, as well as a female provost, a female chief financial officer, and an Asian-American female dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. He noted that of the Board had 21 male and 7 female members, including two people of color.

The story gets more detailed as Mr. Meyer continues. On behalf of the Board, Mr. Meyer took credit for six years of budget surpluses, high sale prices for downtown real estate once owned by Suffolk, and an on-time completion of new academic buildings.

Heck, who even needs a president and senior administrative staff? Or, for that matter, why worry about the faculty's role in governance? The point is that Mr. Meyer's trumpeting of Board accomplishments is a damming statement as much about what Boards should not do.

Boards have three critical responsibilities. They set program goals and provide high level oversight, serve as financial stewards, including but not limited to approval of an annual budget, fundraising goals, and endowment distributions, and hire, nurture, and replace the president, as necessary.

It is not the responsibility of the Board to hire senior staff and create budget surpluses through effective administrative management. It is not the duty of the Board to negotiate (although it can approve) land sales or complete new buildings on time and on budget. Presidents, and the senior staffs of their choosing, manage the enterprise. That's why universities employ them in the first place.

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The explanation for the by law change delays only adds head-scratching additional nuance. In the second memo, prepared by E. Macey Russell, the former chairman of the Suffolk board's by-laws committee, Mr. Russell explains that the Board has researched other by laws, hired two consultants, and revised more than five drafts that contained almost 20 changes. Ms. McKenna's arrival as president understandably delayed consideration, as did differences among trustees on the by-law changes themselves.

Mr. Russell wrote: "Often there were genuinely different perspectives expressed and communicated in a collaborative and good faith spirit, such as trustee term limits, age limits, and officer selection processes." The examples provided suggest that the heat generated in the by-law discussions was mainly about how the trustees would continue to relate to Suffolk through their Board work. There is not much light on whether the Board's by law working group understood how by-laws should provide oversight in shared governance beyond the trustee's squabbling about their roles.

Translated from board speak through legal interpretation into American English, Suffolk University is dysfunctional, beginning at the highest levels of governance. NEASC, the regional accreditor, must step in, perhaps with some active assistance from groups like the Association of Governing Boards in Washington.

The University must commit to governance that defines duties and responsibilities, and respects faculty, administrators, and trustees who have critical roles to play. This is not an endless legal debate about "what if's" that delay and obfuscate the need for change.


Pauline Burlet in a still from Road to Istanbul, photo Roger Arpajou

Many of the films at this year's Berlinale redefined the meaning of parenthood for me and Rachid Bouchareb's Road to Istanbul was first on my list of must-watch among them. To say that I was not disappointed is an understatement.

I find that there is a leitmotif running through three-time Oscar nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb's work. It's the idea that peace is fragile, no matter how idyllic the setting of your life, there could always be something threatening to invade it, to destroy the status quo.

In Road to Istanbul, Bouchareb takes that concept further and catapults it into today's headlines. A daughter, Elodie (played by Pauline Burlet, The Past, La Vie en rose) who is drawn into the dark world of Daesh, and a mother, Elisabeth (played by Astrid Whettnall, In the Name of the Son, Yves Saint Laurent) who leaves her beautiful countryside home in Belgium to find her. It could be a chapter out of Anna Erelle's In the Skin of a Jihadist, a book I read last summer which has drilled a deep hole in my sense of security, as a journalist but especially as a woman.

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But even more eerily, Bouchareb tells a story we are hearing a version of every day in the media -- the characters change, the nationalities shift back and forth, but the outcome sadly remands the same. Through social media, young men and women are getting drawn into a world of deceit, lies and ultimately despair. Falling into the fangs of Daesh, the Islamic State, ISIL, or however we wish to call the movement, is just the horrible ending to this cat and mouse game we are all playing on Facebook, Twitter, through Skype and with Instagram. And from the point of no return, let Bouchareb's film be a cautionary tale that there is no turning back.

Bouchareb is a hero of mine, I find his way to tell stories very relevant and as one of my favorite prophets, I was eager to interview him. I finally had the chance to in Berlin, where Road to Istanbul premiered, in the Panorama Special section.

His films not only change his audiences but the world. The release in 2006 of Days of Glory (Indigenes), his second entry to the Foreign Language Oscar race, contributed to the partial recognition of the pension rights of soldiers from former French possessions by the French government.



Astrid Whettnall in Road to Istanbul, photo by Hassen Brahiti

Bouchareb co-wrote this extraordinary story deeply rooted in what has become unfortunately all too ordinary these days with Olivier Lorelle, Zoe Galeron and Yasmina Khadra. As I watched the film I realized there were thousands of questions I wanted to ask the French-Algerian filmmaker, and would never have a chance to, due to festival junkets' time constraints. But thankfully, because of a perfect storm created by his great publicist, the filmmaker's own generosity, and the private venue of his hotel room where we conducted the interview, allowed for quite a few insight and plenty of his wonderful wisdom.

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As a man, Bouchareb delivers his answers in a wonderfully peaceful way, yet his words speak of war and destruction always awaiting to invade our lives. I felt a storm brewing just beneath his calm demeanor but one that he keeps perfectly bottled up for his films, so he can let it explode onto the big screen in front of his audiences, who, if like me, will never know what hit them at the end of Road to Istanbul.

If I could make up my own rating system, I would give Road to Istanbul a thousand and one stars.

Why do you think many of today's youth are drawn to an organization like ISIS?

Rachid Bouchareb: I think we are in need to make a sort of sociological investigation into our youngsters in our societies. What is happening really to the young generations? We perceive that they are very fragile, they experience this feeling of loss, of not having references but we need to actually ponder on that and try to give answers to the question of why is that? Why are they in that state? With my ending, what I wish for as a viewer is that a new relationship begins, one with dialogue, with an exchange, with trying to envision the future in a different way, that's what a parent should do with a child in that situation, that's what I would do.

Your ending is interesting because I watched the film and took something away from it, as a westerner, non-Muslim, yet a girl friend of mine who is Muslim saw something else in how you end it. Where do you stand, without giving too much of the story away?

Rachid Bouchareb: I think the ending of the film is open to all directions and as you said each of us can read different things in it. It's just open, there is a suspense there, and it can go all different ways, but I wanted it to be like that. That's the reality of those events in fact. When fathers and mothers go to look for their children something changes deep down in their own relationship. I don't have any answers actually, to the questions that are raised in the film.

My concern with this film was to look closely and to side with this mother who finds herself somehow totally unequipped and shocked by the fact that her daughter made these choices. She's just concerned with finding her. I met many of these parents like her and their main wish is to find these children again and bring them back and to try and rebuild the relationship as it was in the past.

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What are your thoughts about finding peace, or finding a solution to this issue?

Rachid Bouchareb: Chaos is everywhere and war is everywhere and it's never-ending. You can't think you can escape that because it catches up with you. The only way we can sort of try to solve the problem is if we work together to be able to live in a situation with no violence and never-ending peace. There is no escape for any of us, it can hit you anywhere.

I think that peace should be a subject taught in schools. From primary school children should be taught peace at least four hours a week, so it somehow rubs off on them. They have to grow up with it, so that peace can become a second heart in the bodies of the younger generations. We believe in the importance of teaching, transferring our knowledge and are now discussing ecology and having an environmentally friendly attitude as a learning subject in school, peace is exactly the same and we should promote those heroes who fought for peace at the cost of their lives. There are so many.

Are you a parent?

Rachid Bouchareb: Yes.

How do you help your own children through this difficult time in our history?

Rachid Bouchareb: I talk to them a lot, now I think when you have a child and they are eighteen, nineteen, twenty, you can't say "I'm out of the world." You need to stay in contact and to try to understand where they are, but a parent can never anticipate the choices of a child. There are boundaries in terms of control of your own children. There is a moment when they have to take their lives in their own hands and you can no longer control them. So there is a part of mystery that you can't anticipate, when an abrupt change can happen. You just try to be a parent as best as you can. The new generations are building a new world, so it's up to them.

If you could choose one message your audience should walk out with from your film?

Rachid Bouchareb: I think the most important message in the film is for parents or wanna-be parents is to think about their relationship with their own children. To change their minds, in a way, about the fact that they must have a permanent contact with their children, especially in our world that speeds up so much.

They should devote more time, this is what I hope they will feel when they walk out of the theater.
U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has reopened the health care debate by urging America to adopt a system more like that of other wealthy countries. In Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate in Flint, Michigan, he said, "When we talk about Europe and their pluses and minuses, one thing they have done well that we should emulate ... is guaranteed health care for all people."

He pointed out that even though the U.S. is the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, we spend far more per capita than the UK, France and other advanced countries. Yet, even though he's right to think that we need a health care system more like those in Europe, his platform is under attack, not just from the right, but also from the left. Here is why I think his critics are wrong.

What to call it?

Sanders says he wants a health care system like those of other wealthy countries -- one that provides better results at a lower cost than the one we have. Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted term that covers all such systems as a class.

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Sanders calls his plan "Medicare for All," but that is misleading. As we will see, his proposal -- at least the brief version posted on his campaign Web site -- differs from Medicare in some important ways. It also differs from many of the systems in other countries that he admires most.

Liberals tend to call Sanders' plan a "single-payer" system. That is correct, in that Medicare for All would in fact be a system under which a single agency would directly pay health care providers with funds from the government budget. However, many of the best health care systems of other wealthy countries are not single-payer systems in that sense.

The U.S. ranks last in the fund's overall evaluation of health care, despite having by far the largest per capita expenditures.

Their plans are surprisingly diverse. Some, like those of Germany and France, funnel payments through multiple independent insurance funds. Others, including those of the UK and Canada, are more decentralized than the "single payer" label suggests. None of them covers 100 percent of national health care expenditure.

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Conservatives describe the health care systems of Scandinavia, Germany, France and other wealthy countries as "socialized medicine," but that term doesn't uniformly fit, either. Socialized medicine suggests something like the U.S. Veterans Administration health care in the U.S. -- a system that not only features a single payer, but one in which doctors are salaried government employees and hospitals are government-owned. That description, too, fails to capture the diversity of foreign health care systems, where we find a kaleidoscopic mix of salaried and fee-for-service doctors; for-profit, private not-for-profit, and state-owned clinics and hospitals; and both unified and decentralized payment mechanisms.

We could stick with "high-performing health care systems of other wealthy countries," but that is too long-winded. For this post, I will shorten that to Euro-style health care, despite the obvious problem that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan also fit the pattern in many respects.

Enough with terminology. Let's turn to Sanders' critics, starting with those on the right and then moving to critics on the left.

Conservative Myth #1: The U.S. already has the world's best health care system.

Many conservatives think, or at least pretend to think, that the U.S. already has the best health care system in the world, or at least that it did before the advent of Obamacare. Senate leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker John Boehner are both on record as having said so. A survey from Harvard University, taken not long before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, found that 68 percent of Republicans (but only 32 percent of Democrats) thought the U.S. health care system was the world's best. To support that belief, conservatives often note that world leaders like former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Jordan's late King Hussein and the Shah of Iran have all sought health care in the U.S.

Unfortunately, hard data do not support that optimistic view. One of the most detailed recent comparative studies of health care systems in wealthy countries comes from the Commonwealth Fund. The following figure shows its ranking of eleven health care systems along with data on expenditures per capita (evaluated at purchasing power parity to avoid exchange rate distortions):

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The U.S. ranks last in the fund's overall evaluation of health care, despite having by far the largest per capita expenditures. The Commonwealth study is not the only one to have reached that conclusion. This earlier post discussed other rankings that agree.

Conservative Myth #2: European health care saves costs only by severely rationing care.

The second conservative myth is that Euro-style health care achieves lower costs only by employing a degree of rationing that would be unacceptable to Americans. Here, for example, is David Brooks, writing in the The New York Times:

Sanders would create a centralized and streamlined system. His approach would also, as in Europe, reduce the rate of medical progress, increase the rationing of care, increase the wait times for patients, induce many doctors to retire, and centralize decision-making.

In a recent televised debate, Presidential candidate Ted Cruz put it even more bluntly:

Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing.

Canada is Exhibit A for many who make the rationing argument. Consider, for example, this explainer video from Vox, titled "What is Single-Payer Health care?" After noting that such a system could save administrative costs, the narrator says, "But there's a catch." The catch is said to be longer waiting times and other limits on services, illustrated by a graphic showing that waiting times for health services are longer in Canada than in the U.S.

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Most wealthy European countries do better than either of their North American peers when it comes to rationing by waiting and still manage to spend less.

Detailed data from the Commonwealth Fund report show how unfair the charge of rationing is, especially when based on a comparison with Canada. Of the 11 countries covered in the survey, the U.S. ranks last overall, and Canada is next to last. One of the main reasons for Canada's poor performance is its poor record on measures of rationing, where it has the lowest ratings of the countries surveyed.

48 percent of Canadians reported an emergency room waiting time of over two hours (11th place) compared with 28 percent in the U.S. (7th place) and 14 percent in New Zealand (1st place).

38 percent of Canadian doctors reported that patients had difficulty getting specialized tests like MRIs (10th place) compared to 23 percent in the U.S. (7th place) and 3 percent in Switzerland (1st place).

18 percent of Canadian doctors reported a wait of four months of more for elective surgery (9th place) compared to 7 percent in the U.S. (6th place) and 1 percent in the Netherlands (1st place).

To compare the U.S. with Canada in terms of rationing by waiting, then, is to make a sub-par system look better by comparing it with one that is truly terrible. Most wealthy European countries do better than either of their North American peers when it comes to rationing by waiting and still manage to spend less.

Instead of rationing by waiting, the American system practices rationing by cost. Relatively few private plans, whether employer-provided or individual, give free access to a full range of providers, drugs and services. Most middle-class insurance plans steer their members toward hospitals and doctors who are in a preferred provider network and drugs that are on the company's preferred list. The uninsured often find themselves rationed out of anything but emergency services by high prices.

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The burden of rationing by cost shows up clearly in the Commonwealth study:

37 percent of Americans reported that they did not fill a prescription, skipped a test or treatment, or failed to visit a doctor when ill -- the worst of all countries. In Canada, the figure was 13 percent, a respectable 4th.

28 percent of Americans reported that their insurance company denied payment or paid less than expected for treatments they received, the worst of all countries. In the top-ranked countries, Norway and Sweden, the figure was 3 percent.

What is more, the pressure toward rationing by cost is intensifying. A recent New York Times article describes the situation in these terms:

Once emblematic of everything wrong with health insurance, the health maintenance organization is making a grudging, if somewhat successful, comeback. But its reputation for skimping on care has so tainted the plans that the insurers and companies resurrecting them have gone through innumerable steps to try to avoid using the term H.M.O. ... Despite the stigma and many failed efforts, insurers say they are eager to push a revamped version that revives many of the same features that restrict choices as a way of lowering costs.

In short, far from achieving their cost savings through rationing, European systems provide more timely care with fewer people skipping needed services for economic reasons.

Liberal critics focus on cost

Unlike conservatives, liberal critics, by and large, approve of Sanders' Medicare for All plan in principle. They instead focus their criticisms on its cost.

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The most widely publicized critique comes from Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University. As this discussion explains, Thorpe estimates that Sanders' plan would be almost twice as expensive as the candidate claims. Instead of leaving most middle-class households better off, Thorpe claims the Sanders plan would make 71 percent of households worse off, when the taxes needed to fund it fully are set against savings in health care costs.

I find Thorpe's analysis disingenuous. The problem is that he construes Sanders' plan in a naively literal way that makes it very different from the health care systems of Europe as they actually operate.

European systems provide more timely care with fewer people skipping needed services for economic reasons.

The first difference concerns just who pays for what under high-quality, low-cost Euro-style systems. When many Americans think of European health care, they assume that the government pays for everything, providing a broad range of services at no charge to the consumer. That is not strictly true.

The following chart, reproduced from a 2015 report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, shows that in other wealthy democratic countries, governments do pay a larger share of health care costs than in the U.S., but they do not by any means pay for everything. The government share of total health care expenditures ranges from nearly 90 percent in Sweden and the UK to around 75 percent in Switzerland, compared with a little under 50 percent in the U.S.

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The reasons for the substantial private health care expenditures vary from one country to another. Most countries expect copayments for some, if not all, services and medications. In many, people purchase private insurance to cover services not provided in the government's basic package -- private hospital rooms, for example. Some countries do not fully cover dental and vision services. (However, most Euro-style systems have special mechanisms in place to shield low-income families from some of these cost-saving measures.)

One of the reasons that critics like Thorpe come up with such high cost estimates is that they take at face value the version of the Sanders plan that is found on his campaign Web site. That version promises to "cover the entire continuum of health care, from inpatient to outpatient care; preventive to emergency care; primary care to specialty care, including long-term and palliative care; vision, hearing and oral health care; mental health and substance abuse services; as well as prescription medications, medical equipment, supplies, diagnostics and treatments."

I do not think we have to take that language literally in estimating the cost of translating Sanders' political aspirations into a specific program for implementation in the real world. The very fact that Sanders describes his plan as "Medicare for All" suggests that a final version is likely to include deductibles and copayments similar to those in Medicare as it now exists for seniors. Nor would we need all of the features of the Web site version of the plan in order to meet Sanders' often-repeated goal of equaling the quality and cost performance of other countries.

The hard part lies ahead

It is easy to criticize a campaign slogan and to inflate the cost of ambitious aspirations. Liberal critics, who ostensibly share Sanders' aspirations, ought to put their energies into the hard part -- filling in the details that would allow the U.S. to equal the cost performance of the best Euro-style health care systems without loss of quality.

Including Medicare-style deductibles and copayments would go a long way toward closing the gap between Thorpe's estimates of the costs of Sanders' health care plan and the candidate's own estimates, but it would not entirely close it. There are many other problems to deal with.

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To date, Sanders has focused on two sources of potential cost savings. Administrative costs are one. Sanders' campaign website does not give an exact estimate of savings, but Sanders' policy director Warren Gunnels reportedly estimates that administrative savings from his plan would reduce total health care spending by 13 percent. Thorpe says it would save 4.7 percent. If we split the difference, the savings would be a little under 9 percent.

But reducing per capita health care spending to the level of the Netherlands (the most expensive after the U.S. among the eleven covered in the Commonwealth study) would require U.S. spending to fall by 33 percent. To get to the level of the UK (the least expensive of the eleven) would require a 60 percent cut. So, even viewed optimistically, administrative savings are just a start.

A single government payer would have more bargaining power.

The second major saving claimed by the Sanders team comes from lowering the price of prescription drugs. Total prescription drug expenditures in 2014 came to an estimated $297 billion, a fraction less than 10 percent of total health care costs, on prescription drugs. Cutting that in half -- a truly heroic accomplishment -- would still save only another 5 percent of total health care costs.

So, beyond prescription drugs and administrative costs, where would the additional 20 to 40 percent saving come from that would be needed to bring U.S. health care costs down to the level of the best performing Euro-style systems? There are only two possible sources: cuts in quantity of services or cuts in prices.

Cutting quantities is not as easy as it sounds. To be sure, there are some areas where the U.S. does seem to provide excessive services or procedures. For example, the U.S. rate for Caesarian sections is reportedly about 30 percent, more than double that of the Netherlands (13 percent) and nearly double that of Finland, Sweden and Norway (all close to 17 percent).

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On the whole, however, as health care economists like Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt note, the quantity of health care services provided in the U.S. is actually lower than in other advanced countries. It does not seem realistically possible to cut service quantities further while extending health care coverage to the 13 percent of Americans who remain uninsured, even under the Affordable Care Act, and to do so without any loss in quality of care.

Prices are the "elephant in the room," says Reinhardt. Medical prices in the U.S. are reportedly 60 percent higher than in an average of 12 other high-income countries. For individual procedures, the differences are often greater. For example, an appendectomy that cost $7,962 in the U.S. cost $2,943 in Germany and $3,739 in Finland. What is more, the prices of services like an MRI or colonoscopy, can vary by a factor of two, three or more even with in a city.

Worst of all, says Reinhardt, "Fees in the private health care sector have been jealously guarded trade secrets among insurers and providers of health care." That makes it impossible for consumers to shop around for the best price, as Forbes writer Kate Ashford found from personal experience when she tried to find the best deal on an MRI. In practice, it can be difficult or impossible for consumers to shop for medical care the way they would for a set of snow tires.

The present trend toward mergers and consolidations demonstrably pushes up prices.

Liberal critics don't even pretend to address the problem of health care prices. The widely cited Thorpe study simply assumes that prices under the Sanders plan would be an average of the prices now paid by private insurers and the modestly lower prices now paid by Medicare.

The day after a Sanders inauguration, his health care team would have to get to work on tackling the elephant in the room. Unfortunately, there is no single solution to the problem of high U.S. health care prices. Instead, the problem would have to be approached one piece at a time. Coordinated bargaining for lower prescription drug prices is just a start.

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Lowering the prices charged by the most expensive hospitals to those charged by the most effective ones would help -- and no, they are not necessarily the same hospitals. A single government payer would have more bargaining power. Greater transparency in pricing would help, too. So would greater competition among hospitals. The present trend toward mergers and consolidations demonstrably pushes up prices.

Another reason for the higher cost of U.S. health care services are higher earnings of physicians. U.S. doctors earn considerably more than their European counterparts do, even when we adjust fees for differences in expenses and cost of living. But changing compensation practices for American doctors would not be easy without other, more far-reaching reforms. For example, making higher education tuition-free, as Sanders has proposed, following the policies of many European countries, would reduce the burden of student debt with which American doctors begin their careers. And less adversarial systems to deal with malpractice claims free European doctors from a major cost item while giving them less incentive to practice unproductive defensive medicine.

The bottom line

It is hard not to conclude that Sanders is right to think that America needs a health care system more like those in Europe. True, his Medicare for All plan is still more aspirational than operational, but what do other candidates offer? Hillary Clinton proposes building on Obamacare, but there is nothing in the byzantine complexity of the Affordable Care Act that makes it easier to solve any of the cost and price problems we have discussed, and many things that make it harder. Republican candidates have a field day enumerating the problems of the ACA, but offer only the vaguest suggestions of what they would offer in its place.

So I say, better to go with someone who has the right aspirations and hope his team can work out the details as they go along. Otherwise, we are stuck with the health care mess we have, or with a worse one.

Follow Dolan's blog at www.economonitor.com.
By Sasibai Kimis

A weaver in Cambodia spins dyed yarn in preparation for weaving.

Photo credit: Shan Lin Szetho for Earth Heir

In 2011, when I met weavers in the villages of Cambodia who could no longer make a living, and mothers whose children were "adopted" by traffickers posing as good Samaritans, I began to think about how local people in rural communities could potentially expand their opportunities. This eventually led me to found Earth Heir, a social enterprise that creates and preserves our collective cultural heritage - the body of skills and experience possessed by artisans the world over - whilst improving livelihoods and bridging the craft, art and fashion worlds.

The artisan sector is estimated to be the second largest opportunity for rural employment after agriculture in many parts of the world, meaning it has significant potential for poverty reduction. I learned this heartening bit of news in 2015, during a visit with the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise, as I traveled the U.S. on an Eisenhower Fellowship. I had been aware that the textile and garments industry is the second largest polluter of water sources after agriculture, but here was a promising fact that further validated Earth Heir's mission.

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The craft sector has often been viewed as requiring development assistance and subsidies, begging questions of whether hand-craftsmanship is indeed worthy of investment for economic growth. Most artisans, especially women in rural economies, work on crafts while also working in agriculture, and caring for their families. However, a circuitous route to market filled with complex challenges that hinder the making and selling of artisanal products means they have been forced to rely on external third parties. The emergence of ethical intermediaries who seek to empower artisans and create fair market access, eventually enabling them to become independent entrepreneurs, is facilitating artisans' entry into the formal economy and consequently the economic growth and wider prosperity of communities and nations.

Weaving on a cotton hand loom in Cambodia, an area that can use ethical intermediaries to empower, not exploit.

Photo credit: Shan Lin Szetho for Earth Heir

The multivariate and essential nature of crafts has made their definition and categorization a challenge for stakeholders working to grow the sector. The challenge of a singular definition underlies the highly fragmented nature of the craft sector, with wide disparity in terms of the stakeholders involved, the types of goods produced, raw materials used, degree of mechanization, designs, degree of dependence or independence of the artisans, among other variables. A UNESCO/International Trade Center Symposium with delegates from more than 130 countries adopted a useful definition of artisanal products in 1997 that lends itself to the pluralistic experiences of how, why and what a piece of craft is.

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USAID has also helpfully defined several categories of artisanal goods based on price segments: where the lower end of the market consists of inexpensive souvenirs (charity purchases) and handmade goods mass produced in small factories, while the other two categories are traditional crafts of high quality in the mid-to-high-end segments, and contemporary designer pieces which utilize traditional techniques and are considered luxury items.

Sasibai Kimis discusses design attributes with an indigenous Mah Meri weaver in Malaysia.

Photo credit: Andre Raposo for Earth Heir

In the course of our work, we identified a tension between wanting to reach a larger group of artisans by pursuing the low cost, high-volume model, versus wanting to empower artisans by focusing on products that are well-made and transform consumer perceptions of craft from kitschy trinkets to pieces they can value and invest in. Globalization and mass production have brought a rising wave of appreciation for hand craftsmanship, customized experiences and the more conscious consumption that artisan goods represent. Much like the Slow Food movement, Slow Fashion advocates that we minimize the social, health and environmental costs of what we wear, use and buy. The direction is toward a new pattern of consumption that invests in people and the environment, is considerate of materials and production processes, and prefers products that are made to last, are recyclable or biodegradable.

It may not be feasible to consistently pursue the highest level of positive impact and lowest level of negative impact in the goods that we buy, but awareness and conscious consideration of our decisions to buy and why we choose to buy is the first step towards buying less and buying well. Just like we may want to know where some tomatoes were grown, global advocates, such as Fashion Revolution, encourage consumers to question the provenance of their clothes.

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The ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative and other similar programs are bridging the gap between traditional crafts and fashion. This brings handmade goods into the mainstream, where a consumer could potentially buy the product even without knowing the story or social cause behind the goods. Consumer choices at this point are made not because they are feeling charitable and make a pity purchase, but because the product is beautiful and they want to have it.

This, then, is where Earth Heir hopes to be an agent of positive change in the Malaysia and the ASEAN craftsmanship sector - by championing, empowering and enabling artisan organizations to reach their full potential. We are all heirs of this Earth and in the words of Leonardo DiCaprio: "Let us not take this planet for granted."

Sasibai Kimis is an ex-banker turned social entrepreneur who founded Earth Heir, a company focused on celebrating the heritage of craftsmanship, social justice and sustainability. Sasi is a 2015 Eisenhower Fellow, a premier global network of leaders from all sectors working to better the world.
Today, we celebrate the extraordinary progress and accomplishments of women around the world.

Perhaps the most profound stories, however, are the one emanating from the most unlikely places, the nations of the developing world.

In places where billions of women still eke out a living and care for their families amid extreme poverty, one can find examples of transformation that are startling in both speed and breadth.

The story is unfolding in governments. Sub-Saharan African nations, for example, have historically had very patriarchal societies. Today, women make up roughly 40 percent of the parliamentarians in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Senegal. In Rwanda, an astounding 64 percent of the parliamentarians are women.

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In Latin America, three nations--Nicaragua, Ecuador, Mexico, and Bolivia--all have more than 40 percent female representation in the lower legislative assemblies.

By comparison, these levels are roughly double the global average and the U.S. level. Developing nations have, at least on this metric, leapfrogged advanced economies ranging Canada, Finland and Norway to The United Kingdom, Germany and France.

It is worth noting that--in the United States, at least--women now hold the CEO slots at several of the leading development and aid agencies for the first time in history, so voices for empowering women are being heard more clearly in the executive branch than ever before both at home and abroad.

In far too many countries, women never get a foot on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, much less have opportunities for economic leadership.

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As reported by the World Bank Group last year, women still face a wide range of job restrictions in 100 countries, including prohibitions barring them from certain types of factory jobs (41 nations), prohibitions against working at night (29 nations), and an inability to obtain employment with the permission of their husbands (18 nations).

Tragically, regions that have some of the highest unemployment rates, the Middle East and North Africa, restrict women most.

Yet there are promising chapters in the economic story of developing nations, too. Phenomenal steps forward in women's access to finance are now underway in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

In Kenya, for example, women are now slightly more likely than men to have a mobile cellphone for conducting financial transactions. Several connectivity initiatives, including some by the Obama Administration, now aim to make such parity the norm across ever more developing nations.

In recent years, both the developed and the developing world have begun to appreciate just how much economic value is lost by holding women back, regardless of the origin and early trajectory of their lives.

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A series of studies--including those from blue-chip organizations such as McKinsey and Credit Suisse--evaluated the gender composition of corporate boardrooms and found that companies which include women on their boards have better financial performance than companies that exclude them.

Likewise with the research from female-led hedge funds, where the evidence in favor of women's leadership mounts.

Women-owned or women-run hedge funds have beaten the industry average on a 1-, 3- and 5-year basis, and since 2007 outperformed non-female peer funds by 59 percent to 37 percent.

Given those facts and how critical job creation is today's economy, it is disappointing to find that less than five percent of Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs. It is not just women CEOs who are missing out because of biases. Employees and shareholders are worse off.

The coming years clearly look brighter than ever for women. Legal and institutional barriers will most likely continue to fall. Education and income will continue to rise. Still, it will be extremely hard to change deeply ingrained perceptions.

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Ancient proverbs and metaphors about women's contributions are becoming more and more popular. "Women hold up half the sky," and so forth. Maybe it is time to find a forward-looking metaphor, one that fully captures the vastness of their true potential.

Perhaps we should think of women as the ultimate in renewable energy.

Regardless of sun, wind, water or place, they adapt, connect and deliver results around the clock.

When we invest in them, we achieve both direct returns, and better results for our people and planet. They are more inclined to take a view that straddles two and sometimes three generations.
The assassination of Honduran indigenous environmental leader Berta Caceres, in her home as she slept, has shaken human rights communities worldwide. The co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) was a tireless crusader for indigenous land rights. Her stand with the Lenca indigenous communities of Honduras in their struggle against the Agua Zarca Dam along the Gualcarque River earned her the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015. But, as many have sadly pointed out, even this high profile award did not protect her from the death squads that operate under the nose of the local police assigned to protect her.

In Honduras the cold-blooded murder of indigenous, environmental and peasant activists has returned as the coercive tool of choice for the voracious land grabbers and dam developers empowered by the coup that ousted the democratically elected Zelaya government.

According to the New York Times,

"Since a 2009 coup in Honduras, journalists, judges, labor leaders, human rights defenders and environmental activists have been assassinated in targeted killings, with their murders often going unsolved. Twelve environmental defenders were killed in Honduras in 2014, according to research by Global Witness, which makes it the most dangerous country in the world, relative to its size, for activists protecting forests and rivers."

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(Widely condemned by Latin American governments, the 2009 coup was quietly accepted by the United States. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was quick to recognize the new Honduran regime.)

The assassination of Berta Caceres is an act of terrorism.

The point of terror, of course, is to immobilize people with fear. It is used to send a message to the peasant and indigenous communities being brutally displaced by the expansion of sugar cane, palm oil and soy plantations, by dams and by land speculators. The message is simple: do not resist.

The message of terror is not just for Hondurans but for the millions of rural communities in the Americas struggling to stay on their land, trying eke out a livelihood and avoid the perils of migration. The powerful forces of international capital are speaking very clearly to them: you are expendable.

The message is also for international advocates of environmental protection, human rights, indigenous rights, food sovereignty and even agroecology. It is offhanded: you are irrelevant.

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Bertha Caceres was awarded the Goldman Prize to inform the international community of the environmental destruction and human rights abuses of the Agua Zarca Dam. The Prize also hoped to help protect her life by raising her international profile. In this it failed, not because the Prize didn't help insulate a brave leader from violence, but because COPINH and the Lenca peoples were actually successfully mobilizing local and international support to stop the dam.

Terror paralyzes. It silences and it divides. It pulls a veil over the intentions behind the act itself, allowing the real criminals to proceed with impunity. Leaders like Berta Caceres have shown us that to stand up to terror is to confront the entire structure of terror--from the perpetrators and accomplices to the vested corporate interests and halls of state.
At the beginning of the month, I was lucky enough to attend the New Work Summit, a New York Times conference at Half Moon Bay hosted by Charles Duhigg, Adam Bryant and Jenna Wortham. We got a sneak peek of Duhigg's new book, Smarter, Better, Faster which is a must read for those who want to be more productive in business and in life.

The conference brought together thought leaders from around the globe to discuss the future of work. While there were many interesting discussions, ideas, dialogues, and debates, I was struck by one general theme. To be successful in business today and in the future, companies need to ensure that they create a culture where diversity of thought thrives. This is not easy work, and none of it will really take hold -- and here's the thing -- without building strong relationships throughout the organization.

Here's just a sampling of the incredibly thoughtful ways some high-octane leaders are creating a world where employees are related enough to commit to their organizations, and feel safe to bring their best selves to work. It is those companies that will ultimately be the most successful. And inspiring.

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Richard Plepler, Chairman and CEO of HBO talked about his focus on creating a culture where people can take risks. "Leaders need to liberate people from the day-to-day work and task them to think originally -- and be compensated whether it works out or not. That is what builds a culture of trust." Plepler gave an example of how the award winning show Girls was created. A young employee saw Lena Dunham's experimental film, Tiny Furniture, and brought it to Plepler and a few other executives, saying, "You must see this. I think this girl is reflective of something important in my generation. I think she has a voice." The fact that she felt comfortable to do this at age 22 reflected the power of the HBO culture.

Amy Cuddy, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and author of Presence shared her wisdom that, "being present liberates others to be present." This idea came from an interview she conducted with actress Julianne Moore wherein Moore described what she does when another actor is not "present" for a scene. She said, "I ask the person questions until he or she feels seen by me. Then something magical happens and there is lift off." When people are able to show who they really are at work, trust builds. And trust enables people to bring their most powerful selves to different situations.

Adam Bryant, New York Times Corner Office columnist, shared his CEO "User Manual" as a tool to build relationships between leaders and their teams. "When you hire a new employee, you are a silhouette." Over the next six months, the new hire finds out your leaderships style, likes and dislikes and the best way to work together. The "User Manual" enables leaders to shorten that learning curve and build strong relationships from the get go.

Ellen J. Kullman, the former Chairman Woman and CEO of Dupont talked about how to take a well-established company into the modern age. To ensure diversity of thought, she made a "generational change" to her staff to encourage new techniques and ensure a culture where it is safe for people to disagree. As a leader, she doesn't put her voice first unless she has to. She listens and then speaks. Kullman also invests time meeting with people in small groups to build relationships and get a "real" sense of what is going on in the organization.

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Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and Pat Wadors, Senior Vice President, Global Talent Organization at LinkedIn spoke about the importance of building relationships with people with different personality types. For instance, introverts are being asked to perform their jobs in a world oriented toward extroversion. Organizations need to create an environment where both types of people can give voice to their ideas. This is where Pat comes in. As part of LinkedIn's Quiet Revolution program, Pat holds intimate round table discussions with introverted leaders to build camaraderie and an understanding that they are supported by the LinkedIn culture. How affirming is that?

JJ Abrams, Director and Founder of Bad Robot also talked about building a culture where people feel safe speaking up. He told a story about a group of employees who spoke up to him recently about a project that they didn't feel was "just right." JJ listened, re-shot a number of scenes and made it right. "I tell people that a project may not always get changed by your feedback, but sometimes it will. These employees felt safe -- going into the my office (the CEO) without repercussion." On Monday, after the show aired, he celebrated their efforts.

Ursula Burns, CEO and Chairwoman of Xerox, described how a core value of Xerox has always been "terminal niceness and kindness." Because of the longevity of the company, employees have literally grown up with each other and want to be kind, which does not mean they are always smiling and looking happy. It means that employees can be "real" with each other and have constructive discussions. And to do that, employees have to build up their relationships.

These CEOs and thought leaders run businesses that vary in size, industry, geography, scope, mission, and reach. In spite of the differences, they all talked about the importance of strengthening relationships with people in order to build strong, diverse cultures that will allow for growth and innovation.

Adam Bryant ended the conference sharing his thoughts on questions CEOs should ask when hiring. These were questions designed to get to know more about a potential hire than what's on their resume; who is this person, really, and how will they will fit into the culture? Isn't this what leaders should really be asking?

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Here are a few:

What is the core of your DNA in just one word?

On a scale of 1-10, how weird are you?

If time, money and talent were not part of the equation, what would you do?

Outside of work, what do you do two standard deviations better than anyone else?

And my personal favorite:

What kind of animal would you be and why?
Photo: Gates Foundation

As we look at how to achieve gender equality on International Women's Day, Dr Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, highlights one area in which lack of parity harms women's health.

I come from Italy, where people love to eat and share meals with family and friends. It is an aspect of my home culture that I cherish.

Cooking and enjoying food are universal activities. However, cooking for pleasure in a safe environment is, unfortunately, anything but universal.

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Millions of women - and it is mostly women - cook on stoves or fires that fill the room with thick smoke from polluting fuels such as wood, dung and coal. This poses an enormous risk to health. Imagine yourself in a room where 400 cigarettes are being smoked every hour and you will get some idea of the exposure to harmful emissions.

Household air pollution: a gender issue

International Women's Day this year is themed around parity. In a world where women are vastly overburdened with exposure to household air pollution from polluting and unhealthy home energy sources, this is a highly gendered issue that demands global attention.

The effects of exposure to household air pollution are horrendous. For women in low- and middle-income countries, it is the single leading environmental health risk and a main cause of noncommunicable diseases like strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and heart disease. More than 60% of all premature deaths from household air pollution in 2012 were among women and children.

New WHO report upwardly revises estimate of unclean household energy use

The problem is even more serious than we thought. A new World Health Organization report on household energy, out later this month, will upwardly revise the estimate of people who mainly cook with polluting fuels from 2.8 billion to 3.1 billion, or 43% of the global population. The report - Burning Opportunity: Clean Household Energy for Health, Sustainable Development, and Wellbeing of Women and Children - will also present new evidence on the health risks associated with fuels used for heating and lighting, including the first estimates of the wide-scale use of kerosene, a very polluting and health-damaging fuel.

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Household reliance on polluting fuels is intertwined with other development themes, not least climate change - where the same polluting fuels that cause household air pollution also release greenhouse gases. These links are reflected across the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include specific goals and targets around health for all, climate change, gender equality and clean energy and technologies that protect health.

SDGs and Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health

Clearly, household air pollution is not an issue for the health sector alone. Health professionals need to work with other organizations and individuals from across society to understand the problem, allocate resources and develop plans to tackle it. The new Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health (2016-2030) provides a blueprint for the kind of integrated multi-sector effort required, taking inspiration and indicators from the SDGs.

Whatever approaches are taken, they must address the fundamental issue of gender inequality. As well as suffering much more than men from household air pollution, women and girls in low-income countries also pay more with their time and effort. A World Bank study of village transport in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia in the early 1990s showed that women worked almost three times longer than men transporting firewood, water and other household essentials - usually with their own hands, heads and backs - and carried four times the volume.

This has serious implications for women's rights and life chances, because many girls are out collecting firewood and water while their brothers are at school. Burning Opportunity will present new findings on this and related areas.

Health researchers need to dig deeper into the links between household energy and gender inequality. This will help us understand how some communities switch successfully to clean energy, and a more equal share of tasks such as cooking and collecting fuel, while others are slow to change.

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We also need more detailed information about the use of polluting fuels and the health benefits of clean alternatives. To obtain this new information, WHO is working with partners to improve global monitoring of fuels and technologies used for cooking, heating and lighting, and the amount of time women and girls spend collecting fuel and preparing meals.

Progress is possible

I have painted a grim picture of ill health and unrelenting toil for millions of women and girls worldwide, but progress is possible. Countries, such as India, Indonesia and Ethiopia, which have invested in new forms of clean energy for cooking, heating and lighting, and made them widely available at affordable prices, are already transforming the health and well-being of their citizens, and greatly reducing the burden on women. However, they must also invest in social change, because attitudes that confine women to the home are perhaps the greatest barrier to progress against household air pollution.

Is universal access to clean energy too much to ask as we celebrate International Women's Day? You can be sure it would greatly ease the health burden of household air pollution borne by the women of the world.

Read more about International Women's Day, household air pollution climate and gender parity on the WHO website: www.who.int/life-course/en/.
I would like to explain to my friends who are not Asian-American why it is so annoying to be asked where you are "really" from. This message is for people who are open to persuasion, committed to equality, and interested in interacting with real individuals instead of simple stereotypes. As I do this, I know that I will be successful only to a limited extent. Some strangers will persist in their disrespect, showing that it is intentional and not merely negligence.

I am not the only one who makes this objection. Almost all Asian-Americans, who would call themselves by that name, have been exasperated by the same experience. The concern we have is about civil rights, not etiquette.

Here is where I am coming from, literally and figuratively. I'm from Detroit. Yes, that's right. And I'm proud of the Motor City. My roots are in the magnificent wreck that it remains. I would not be who I am if I had other origins.

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It is true, and I suffer no embarrassment about it, that my parents were immigrants from Taiwan. They are ethnically Chinese. They came separately more than fifty years ago. After retiring, my folks returned to Taiwan and then spent a stint on mainland China, but they ultimately found their way back to the United States. When my mother passed away, my father had no doubt that her final resting place would be in America, because that is where her children belong.

When I am asked, as all of us are, where I am from, I reply without hesitation. I'm from Detroit -- the nation's heartland. I have visited Taiwan, but I have never lived there. I did not journey "back" to China until well into adulthood, and I am sure I could not make a living there. The culture within which I am comfortable is on this side of the Pacific Ocean, not the other side -- although I am at ease over there, too. My patriotic allegiance is clear enough to me: in the event of conflict between China and the United States, I am on the side of my homeland -- and it is obvious to me anyway, what is that homeland.

I am a native. I have no accent -- well, we all have accents, only some more "normal" than others, and I can pass the telephone test. I attend church. I don't know what else I can do to establish my bona fides; my efforts ironically become excessive, and what is earnest can be mocked.

Yet standing in the line at the movie theatre, attending a reception before a fancy dinner, meeting potential new colleagues on a job interview, I continue to be prodded. I can talk about the Detroit Tigers baseball team and their 1984 World Series winning season all I want. (My nephew gave me for Christmas last year a pair of cufflinks with their old English "D" logo.)

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The familiar follow up, accompanied by furrowing of the brows by those irate with my impertinence or a laugh by those who don't take me seriously, is, "Yes, yes -- but where, where are you really from?"

The additional of the one word, its emphasis, is much more than the interlocutor realizes. It is a statement that I am a liar, a fraud, not a real American.

"Oh, come on," I can hear someone interject, "Don't be hypersensitive and politically correct."

Before I elaborate, here are the caveats.

There is nothing wrong with being from Taiwan or China. There is nothing wrong with saying that either. Depending on the context, my relatives would reply either Taiwan or China.

It's wonderful that people want to learn about difference. They want to establish a relationship. All of us are curious. We want to place people within our geography of experience. We want to situate ourselves, vis a vis one another: perhaps without being aware of it, we are getting at whether we have had contact with "your people" and hence should we trust you.

The reasons Asian-Americans -- which includes people who are assimilated as well as those who are adopted -- take offense at what feels like an interrogation are the same reasons anyone else would. Imagine if after declaring what your name was, someone said, "tell me about your racial background; you know, your ancestry, your heritage."

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Most people would object. Even if the query appears friendly, it is uninvited and hence unwelcome. It's an intrusion, rejecting a person's identity and turning them into a representative of an ethnicity. I am not here as a guide to the Great Wall or what to order at dim sum. Small talk tells us more than what is on the surface. The subject -- not weather, but how come the Chinese don't respect intellectual property rights -- is prompted as if we were following a script.

The problem is that only some of us are challenged. A white person, Anglo, not "swarthy," is accepted for what he is. The inequality is troubling. On occasion, when a well-meaning bigot (a term I use deliberately) tries to excuse this phenomenon of treating Asian-Americans as perpetual foreigners, he makes it worse. He is puzzled, why someone with an Asia face would be surprised to be taken for a tourist. He says it is only probabilities at play; there are so many Asians who have just arrived after all. He reveals the assumptions at work. "American" means "white." (Likewise, Latinos whose families were on the land before it was annexed are deemed aliens.)

What is worse is what seems innocent turns out, all too often, to be anything but. When I decline to divulge my bloodline, the reaction is not amicable. "Where are you really from" starts the sequence of stereotyping. It is a prelude, to establish the basis for the claim that Asians cannot be trusted. It leads to exclusion, internment, and hate crimes.

We are wary, because we end up on the receiving end of the command to "Go back to where you came from!" Historically, what has been said about Asian Americans is that we cannot be; we are an oxymoron. Today, Asian Americans are suspected to be spies.


Juan Carlos Ruiz, a prominent activist that helped organized one of the key immigration reform marches in Washington DC, died on March 3rd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to family members, he died of natural causes. Mr. Ruiz worked mainly with the immigrant community throughout the nation, and his work and activism took him all over the country, helping organize those communities. In 1996 he attended the first national march in Washington for equal rights for immigrants, and later helped organized a subsequent march. He was a fixture on the immigration front, appearing at local and national TV and radio programs advocating for immigrant rights. At the local level, he organized groups, founded organizations, and trained new leaders. He was particularly critical of increasing Latino voter turnout in places where the Latino population was growing, working closely with national groups, like LULAC, and NCLR.



For a few years, Mr. Ruiz moved to Washington DC, where he worked with the Council of Latino Agencies, and was the Executive Director of the DC Latino Action Coalition, an organization he helped establish with the late Angel Luis Irene. In recent years, he had settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he founder the Latino Carnaval Parade and Street Festival.



Juan Carlos Ruiz was originally from Huancayo, Peru and studied Psychology at the National University of Federico Villarreal. In his native Peru, he headed efforts against the communist guerilla insurgent organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). With mounting death threats for the work he was doing in Peru, he sought political asylum in the US in the early 1990's. In the US, he continued his activism, and in 1999, than Wisconsin Congressman Thomas M. Barrett recognized him in the US House of Representatives for having earned the nation's most distinguished citation for community health leadership: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Community Health Leadership Award.
Is business success a winning qualification for being president?

A 40-something acquaintance, a smart techie and recent immigrant tried to convince me the other day about what he saw as ideal qualities that Donald Trump had for being president of the U.S. and de facto the most powerful person in the world. It boiled down to one compelling factor: Trump has an impressive record as a successful businessman.

The argument is widely used. It goes like this: First, Trump has been so successful in business that he is not only a billionaire, he can use his business acumen and managerial skills to run the administration far more efficiently than any career politician. Second, Trump has so honed negotiating expertise as an experienced businessman that as president he can make winning deals with Congress, with Mexico, with Russia, with China, you name it. And, third, my acquaintance said: "I have watched him perform for years. He is frank, not politically correct."

That, of course, forms the core of Trump's campaign message and it has apparently won over a wide range of citizens despite the discomfiting political incorrectness of the candidate's tone. Trump may be a hate-monger, a nativist and a misogynist, but he is smart because he has been successful in business. He would, therefore, be an ideal chief executive of the nation. Really?

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Having worked closely with a couple of extremely savvy media billionaires in a past incarnation as a newspaper editor, I have doubts about any assumption that smartness in business automatically translates into suitability for top leadership in public service. Trump's controversial track record as a businessman, whether he is in fact as successful as he claims, is not the issue here. It's that business and government are different worlds. They often cooperate and often come into conflict. Sure, a businessman can be a smart president. But smarts in business may not be enough for anyone to lead a democratic nation, especially one as diverse and globally consequential as the US.

The business of business is indeed business. An ability to generate optimum returns on capital on a sustained basis endears business leaders to company boards or, as the case may be, to a proprietor's family and friends. The decisive qualifier is financial results, not public goods.

The system on the whole works well in a market economy. Profits for the firm can generate positive public results by way of jobs and beneficial socio-economic outcomes of goods and services. But public service is not a business's driving motive. Profit is.

The world of public service is rather different. The quality of goods and services generated through effective, or otherwise, public policy for the general citizenry is what makes or breaks a leader through public accountability. Leadership in public service, certainly in the post of president of the most important nation on earth, cannot be measured in financial statements.

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Thus, negotiating deals in the private sector to secure best financial outcomes for a business bears little resemblance to negotiating political and economic agreements, domestically or internationally, within a system of constitutionally decreed checks and balances that necessarily restrain a head of government's power. A company head has a generally friendly board of directors and perhaps auditors to deal with. A head of state leads the executive branch but has to contend with two other branches of government, the judiciary and the legislature. It requires more than just business skills.

Not that a smart businessman can never make a great president. But if you glance through a list of past 20th century U.S. presidents who are regarded as reasonably successful or at least charismatic, you won't find one whose primary claim to success before becoming president was in business. Not the two Roosevelts, not Truman, not Eisenhower, not Kennedy, not Reagan, not Clinton. The two names you might come up with if you have to make a point are George W. Bush and Herbert Hoover and neither was any shining example of a successful president. And there's the example of Italy's former prime minister and media mogul Silivio Berlusconi whose blustering swagger matches Trump's.

The third point my acquaintance made in favor of the candidate's seemingly obvious executive skills, however, may be crucially important to understanding the Trump phenomenon. The man presumed to be the real Trump has been "seen" on television displaying a powerful, no-nonsense personality while hiring and firing people. It is an illusion. But illusion critically influences public perception of a personality who is acting for the masses in the role of a man in charge. Such a person's disdain for political correctness, which others see as a distressing lack of politeness and decorum, becomes a sign of authenticity.

In fact, Trump's real skill as a businessman is in branding. Throughout his business career he has made his name into a personal brand that sells. You don't think of his enterprises or hotels when you hear of Donald Trump. His name is his triumphant brand. Now in the glaring light of television and social media driven politics, Trump the brand is what counts, not the Republican party he claims to represent nor does conservatism and the near-absence of detail in his policy proposals matter; Trump the decider can do it. He has the name. It'll all be great again.

Gautam Adhikari is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The views expressed here are the author's personal.
The Syrian crisis has been widely publicized in recent months and not so long ago, the UK, Norway, Germany and Kuwait held a conference in London along with the United Nations to address the ongoing situation. The main aim of this was to raise funding in order to meet the immediate needs as well as needs in the long-term of those affected. After raising over $11 billion (including $5.8 billion to be used in 2016 and $5.4 to be used over the next four years), the conference can be seen as a success and the NGOs, governments and non-profit organizations now have sufficient spending to plan for the time ahead.

It wasn't just money that came out of the conference though as it was decided that an invitation would be sent to Syrian activists in addition to representatives from the Syrian civil society so that they have an opportunity to present their vision and experience in order to address the problems being encountered. This was an important step as it shows that Syrian activists and members of civil society are being respected and are gaining credibility as they will be able to help the crisis with Syrian thoughts and solutions. The many world leaders are finally showing that they understand the problem and are willing to seek advice on how the crisis can be solved.

The situation in Syria is always evolving and what has struck me in recent weeks is the tone being used by Syrian activists across the world. The founder and CEO of Sawa for Development, Dr. Rouba Mohaissan, was a prime example of this. Having been based between the UK and Lebanon working with Syrian refugees since 2011, she spoke with world leaders with sophistication, a fluent accent, and confidence. There wasn't even a hint of looking for sympathy, just honesty in how their lack of action has affected the situation. Her speech was strong having shouted statements such as "end the violence, ensure accountability and access to human aid". Dr. Mohaissan addressed a number of issues including humanitarian aid, heath, education, women empowerment and more before asking for safe routes to Europe to be made available. Perhaps the most poignant statement of all was "speak to us, not about us" as she asked for the civil leaders to be at the head of change, not just an invitation to discuss.

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The statement from Dr. Mohaissan really showed that her and her colleagues alike can really have leverage and power when it comes to solving daily challenges experienced by Syrians. For example, she spoke with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and asked for help to relieve the financial constraints and he agreed. Would a world leader have agreed if it was an opposition leader asking or even less likely the Syrian government? I doubt it.

She presented herself in a professional manner, spoke in a language that was understood by all and clearly had an effect on proceedings. She touched on issues like education, women empowerment, access to decent world and more, and that resonated well as they were topics that were important issues in their own countries. It really did show that she and her partners are credible and can help in providing achievable solutions.

There is now a new breed of Syrian activists as many began working during the war and what differentiate them from politicians and opposition leaders is having less interest in politics and historical conflicts ; and more interest in humanitarian issues and solutions. Syria is at the forefront of their thinking, not how the government stands and where it will be in the future. They are trusted more as they have higher ethical standards, something that has been lacking in Syria in recent times and can really have a positive impact in a war-torn environment. This new breed of Syrian activists have proven to be the best chance of saving valuable lives, ensuring the well-being of humans and getting resources to those in need and hopefully in the future building Syria again.

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They have call it "revenge of the plebs": masses of traditionally apathetic citizens, mostly blue-collar workers or the underprivileged, becoming politically ignited and supporting populist politicians. The phenomenon gains traction all across the western world. In the US Donald Trump has caught the media and political elites off guard; seemingly coming from nowhere, with rhetoric that purposely deconstructs every semblance of political correctness, he's on his way to become the next President of the United States. In Great Britain, the referendum on whether to exit the European Union or not unleashes waves of dormant nationalism and xenophobia. There is not a single country in the EU without a growing part of the electorate supporting eurosceptics, populists, and nationalists. "Plebs" have had enough of the ruling elites; they demand a catharsis of political life, and are numbersome enough to get it.

But what does this really mean? And what does it have to do with AI? Western democracy is based on a political idea that, in many ways, originates from Plato, the Athenian philosopher who in 5th century BC penned a very influential book called The Republic. In that book Plato suggested that the best political system is one where the wisest and best should rule. He broadly defined that ruling elite in terms of individuals who possess the necessary knowledge to run the affairs of the State, but also the moral integrity to be fair and selfless. He did not support hereditary office: the ruling "best" could come from all strata of society as long they complied with the high moral and educational standards that were necessary. Plato's politics have had a tremendous influence in Western political thinking. They seem to uphold a reasonable tenet: that the affairs and decisions of government should be reserved for those who are morally and intellectually superior. Interestingly, Plato used the term "philosophers" to describe those ruling elites. The word 'philosopher' means 'the one who is in love with wisdom'; and in today's context it would mean scientists, engineers, economists and technocrats in general, anyone with the expert scientific knowledge that is necessary to run a government effectively and equitably. It makes sense. Why shouldn't we trust the running of our government to those with the appropriate skills and moral integrity to act impartially and unselfishly?

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Where Plato's argument fails is in the fallibility of human beings. As history and experience have consistently demonstrated, any human with the power to run other people's affairs will most certainly place the continuation of that power as his or her top priority, well above the greater good. Ruling elites, once installed, will do everything to remain in power. Democracy will therefore always have a natural tendency towards the collusion of elected officials and the rich. Unless it is disturbed by popular uprisings, like the one we witness today.

But what if those Platonic philosophers were not fallible humans, but infallible intelligent machines? What if their morality was neutral, and their intellectual ability several orders of magnitude higher than any human? Shouldn't we let those benevolent, hyper-intelligent machines rule our world? After all, in the decades to come humans will become increasingly dependent on AI systems to run vital functions of their everyday personal, social, and economic life. Why not politics as well?
After seeing the latest 2016 campaign debates that were filled with even more attacks, insults, and down and dirty humor, I thought of another traditional fairy tale that highlights the frustration of those who feel put upon and exploited by those who are more powerful. In this case, they just hope the offending person will just go away, so they can get their house back in order - in this case, the Republican house.

Now with the three remaining Republican candidates joining together to get rid of Trump, what would be more fitting than the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," where Trump is Goldilocks with his blonde hair, while Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich are the remaining three bears. In the traditional story, the three bears -- Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear -- come home to see their cottage has been ransacked, and they discover the intruder, Goldilocks, sleeping in their bed, whereupon Goldilocks flees, and the bears are happy they have their home back. Which seems to be exactly what the three remaining candidates want. Goodbye, Trump. Just go away. Then, the three candidates and the Republican Party are happy again.



In this case, the original story, which was part of British folklore, was first published in 1837 by Robert Southey, a British writer and poet. He called it "The Story of the Three Bears," and it was about a little bear, middle-sized bear, and huge bear, who live in a house in the woods, and they each have their own porridge bowl, chair, and bed. Significantly, while they are out for a walk in the woods, an intruder who enters their house is an old ugly woman, who is considered impudent, bad, foul-mouthed, and deserving of a stint in the House of Corrections, which sounds like some of the accusations leveled at Trump. But eventually, the old woman was turned into a pretty little girl in 1849, when Joseph Cundall published his Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children, and after twenty more years, the girl became known as Golden Hair and finally Goldilocks in Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes, published in 1904.

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But however you slice and dice it, this description of the old foul-mouth intruder or girl with the golden hair seems to perfectly fit Trump based on his behavior and yellow mop of hair.

The story seems a perfect fit, too. As the popular story of Goldilocks goes, after she knocks upon the house in the forest, which might be compared to the Republican Party, she finds no one home. She knocks and when no one answers, she walks right in -- just like Trump did when he announced his candidacy. Then, she sees three bowls of porridge on the table, finds the first one too hot, the second one too cold, and the third one just right, which might be like Trump deciding on his strategy, as he first insults some Mexican immigrants as rapists, insults Megyn Kelly and other women, and finds that his attacks on Muslims and deporting illegal immigrants are just about right.

Then, as the story continues, after Goldilocks eats up the three bears' breakfasts, she walks into the living room and sees three chairs. She finds the first and second ones too big, but when she sits down in the smallest chair, it breaks into pieces -- just like what seems to be happening to the Republican party.

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After that, feeling very tired, Goldilocks lays down to rest, but she finds the first bed too hard, perhaps like Ted Cruz; the second bed too soft, perhaps like Marco Rubio; and then she lays down in the third bed and finds it very comfortable. Perhaps think of John Kasich, trying to be the adult of the remaining candidates. Then, she falls asleep.

That's when the bears come back. You might consider the big bear like Ted Cruz, who's full of anger and bluster; the little bear, like Marco Rubio, sometimes called "Little Rubio" by Trump; and the medium-sized bear, as John Kasich, since he's tried to navigate a middle course and stay calm, while all around him is uproar and fury.

In any case, after the three bears confront Goldilocks together, she screams for help, jumps up, runs out the door back into the forest, and never comes back to the home of the three bears. And that would seem to be the outcome the three Republican bears would like: To have Trump leave their Republican Party home for good.
FLINT, MI - MARCH 06: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) speaks during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate with candidate Hillary Clinton at the Whiting Auditorium at the Cultural Center Campus on March 6, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Voters in Michigan will go to the polls March 8 for the state's primary. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton is the only Secretary of State to delete 31,830 emails, from her own private server and without government oversight. Thus, we haven't seen all her emails yet. In fact, there are over 30,000 emails that the FBI or Bryan Pagliano might have been able to access, but none of us will see these emails. Tim Black offers a brilliant analysis of the Pagliano breakthrough, from an IT perspective, in this segment of Tim Black TV.

So, when you read those wonderfully titled articles about what we've learned from 55,000 pages of Clinton's emails, remember that over 30,000 were deleted; without government or third-party oversight.



Thankfully, Democrats have one person named Bernie Sanders who can type, and save an email, using government networks and without an FBI investigation.

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As the only Secretary of State never to use an @state.gov email address, Hillary Clinton is also the only Secretary of State to use a private server exclusively. As Yahoo states, "Clinton acknowledged in March that she exclusively used a private email account and private server from 2009 to 2013 while secretary of state, opting against a government account despite official recommendations."

Sorry Hillary supporters, nobody in State Department history has ever used a private server exclusively, or completely circumvented a State.gov email address.

As for the spin regarding over-classification, Americans aren't allowed to see the 22 "Top Secret" emails on Clinton's server because they've been classified correctly. As I state in this YouTube segment, bring home Edward Snowden and free Chelsea Manning if America's intelligence community has an over-classification problem. As it is, Hillary Clinton's entire email saga has made a mockery of our intelligence community.

In addition to the 22 "Top Secret" emails the public isn't allowed to see, that Clinton's campaign believes is an example of over-classification, Clinton is the only government official ever to use a private server exclusively for work and personal correspondence.

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Furthermore, it doesn't matter what the corrupt officials in Bush's White House did, their behavior shouldn't be the standard by which we judge Clinton. I state my views of Dick Cheney and how he destabilized the Middle East in this Ring of Fire segment, but the days of "Bush was worse" are over.

Therefore, there's one question that all Americans, especially Hillary supporters, should ask.



Why?



Why did Hillary Clinton need to use a private server exclusively?



I ask why Clinton needed this server in my latest YouTube segment, and I'm especially interested in learning why from Hillary supporters.

The answer could very likely lead to Hillary Clinton's indictment, which would then automatically lead to a Bernie Sanders nomination and Bernie destroying Trump by 8 points in the general election.

On CNN, Lt. General Michael Flynn stated that Hillary Clinton should "drop out" of the presidential race and states "If it were me, I would have been out the door and probably in jail." I mentioned Lt. General Flynn's views on the FBI investigation during my latest CNN appearance.

In regards to the unique aspects of the FBI's email investigation, POLITIFACT states "Although some former secretaries of state occasionally used personal emails for official business, Clinton is the only one who never once used an @state.gov email address in the era of email."

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Thus, asking why she's the only Secretary of State who refused to use an @state.gov email address is not only relevant, but vital to understanding the severity of the FBI's investigation. As Dan Metcalfe states in POLITICO, "Hillary's Email Defense Is Laughable...I should know--I ran FOIA for the U.S. government."

Saying others did worse also can't explain the fact 100 FBI agents have worked on the case, especially since there's never been a presidential candidate in American history linked to an ongoing FBI investigation.

Yes, there are unique aspects of this story, and no amount of spin can erase the facts, or the reality that the FBI could call for the indictment of Hillary Clinton in early May.

Therefore, what were the reasons Clinton needed to act in such a manner?

Most likely, Brian Pagliano knows why Hillary Clinton needed to circumvent government networks, and I explained in a recent article why Pagliano's immunity is so important to this election.

Ultimately, if there was any reason other than convenience, then some laws were broken, because political containment and utility can't justify putting classified information on a private server. Retroactive classification is irrelevant; try putting a retroactively classified document, or a Top Secret document, on your computer and see what happens.

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In all sincerity, if Hillary supporters at The Daily Beast and Daily Banter can enlighten us, that would be greatly appreciated. Any thoughts on why Hillary needed to circumvent government networks?

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes "the odds are pretty high" that Iran, China, or Russia may have hacked Clinton's server.

Edward Snowden says it's "ridiculous" to believe Clinton's emails were safe. In fact, the latest spin about security logs ignores the fact that these logs could have been tampered with, or the fact that hackers could have hacked into Clinton's server without any record on these logs.

Hackers already tried to break into Clinton's private network, as stated in a POLITICO piece last year titled Clinton server faced hacking from China, South Korea and Germany:

Hillary Clinton's private email server containing tens of thousands of messages from her tenure as secretary of state -- including more than 400 now considered classified -- was the subject of hacking attempts from China, South Korea and Germany...

In addition, Russia-linked hackers tried to access Clinton's emails five times. Also, Computer World states Hillary Clinton's email system was insecure for two months.

Regarding the over-classification spin by the Clinton campaign, there are 22 "Top Secret" emails nobody can see, and they're classified correctly. Most importantly, many of Clinton's emails were "born classified," or classified from the start, as stated by the Reuters:

This sort of information, which the department says Clinton both sent and received in her emails, is the only kind that must be "presumed" classified, in part to protect national security and the integrity of diplomatic interactions, according to U.S. regulations examined by Reuters. "It's born classified," said J. William Leonard, a former director of the U.S. government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). Leonard was director of ISOO, part of the National Archives and Records Administration...

Sorry, can't use over-classification as an excuse. There was intelligence on Clinton's server that should never have been on the server in the first place.

Then, of course, there's the issue of cloud servers. Even the employees at the firms storing Clinton's information on cloud networks "feared a cover-up."

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Regarding this controversy, it would be perfectly fine for Bernie Sanders to bring up the FBI investigation in future debates, although he's refrained from doing so thus far. To say that Hillary Clinton would make an FBI investigation associated with Bernie Sanders an issue, would be the understatement of the century.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton was a "Pro-Gun Churchgoer" who called Barack Obama "elitist and out of touch." Regarding Clinton's 3 a. m. ad against Obama, Harvard's Orlando Patterson wrote in The New York Times that it contained a "racist sub-message" and "the ad, in the insidious language of symbolism, says that Mr. Obama is himself the danger, the outsider within." Also in 2008, ColorofChange.org president James Rucker stated "Senator Clinton's race-baiting must end today...She is sowing division and making the outrageous claim that white voters won't vote for a black candidate."

Finally, while Bernie might not ask Clinton why she had the server, the answer will make him president. Hillary Clinton was the only Secretary of State since the invention of email never to use a State.gov email address, and the reasons why she used a private server exclusively will lead to Bernie Sanders winning the Democratic nomination, and destroying Donald Trump in the general election.

In May, get ready for the media pundits and Hillary supporters to make the case for rallying around Hillary Clinton, despite indictments by the Justice Department. However, they'll have to answer the question I ask in my latest YouTube segment. If you can't answer that question without doubting Hillary Clinton's judgement or wisdom, then vote for Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Lung cancer advocates from every state fight for more cancer research funding during American Lung Association's first ever LUNG FORCE Advocacy Day

Fifty-five years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress and said, "I believe we should go to the moon." It was a call to humankind. And it inspired a generation of Americans to pursue science and innovation, where they literally pushed the boundaries of what was possible, took risks and made history. It's time to push the boundaries again.

President Obama launched the "Moonshot" initiative to eliminate cancer as we know it, placing Vice President Joe Biden in charge. The American Lung Association is going all in as a proud supporter of this effort, and I cannot think of a more worthy or impactful cause than to defeat cancer.

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At the American Lung Association, I see firsthand how devastating cancer can be for both patients and loved ones. As the leading cancer killer of both women and men, lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates - close to half of all women diagnosed with lung cancer will not survive one year. I also have witnessed the dedication of the healthcare and research communities in supporting patients, but additional early detection methods and treatment options are desperately and urgently needed to save lives. To make this a reality, the American Lung Association has made supporting lung cancer research a top priority.

Nearly two years ago, the American Lung Association launched LUNG FORCE, an initiative to defeat lung cancer and rally Americans to raise their voices in support of a cure. And on the heels of the historic "Moonshot" announcement, the Lung Association is building on this momentum and taking our cause to Capitol Hill during the first ever LUNG FORCE Advocacy Day. And we're not doing it alone, we're bringing our shared message to Washington, D.C., alongside LUNG FORCE Heroes - people whose lives have been personally impacted by lung cancer.

Together, on March 16, the Lung Association will join LUNG FORCE Heroes from all fifty states to urge Senators and Representatives to move forward with robust and sustained federal funding increases for the National Institutes of Health, so there can be better treatments and early detection for people with lung cancer. The Lung Association is pushing to increase the 2017 NIH budget to at least $34.5 billion. This will help us meet our goal of increasing federal lung cancer research funding to at least $450 million by 2020 up from $362 million today.

I'm personally inspired by the "Moonshot" effort, and more than ever, I'm moved and motivated by the LUNG FORCE Heroes who bravely share their stories to raise awareness about lung cancer, and I'm honored to join them on Capitol Hill on March 16. Together, leading up to LUNG FORCE Advocacy Day, I encourage everyone to join us in advocating for lung cancer research with your members of Congress. Together, we can defeat lung cancer.

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By Charlotte Partow, Harvard Class of 2019

In his final state of the union, President Obama declared that, "The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia." The most notable age-old showdown in the Middle East, that between Sunnis and Shias, is no better exemplified than by the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Or is it? At the JFK Jr. Forum this past Monday, February 29th, Bernard Haykel, Director of the Institute for Transregional Studies at Princeton, and Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Associate of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, proposed alternative reasons for the decades-long "soft power" conflict which has escalated due to their proxy war in Yemen, Iranian domination of Iraq, and most recently, the Iran nuclear deal.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have different roots for their ill will towards one another. Wahhabi Sunni Islam is the key cornerstone of the Saudi state and culture; therefore, Saudi Arabia can only frame the roots of its conflict with Iran in religious terms. When Iran exports its Shia ideology throughout the region using the Alawite Assad regime, Hezbollah, the Shiite population within Iraq, and now the Houthis in Yemen, it is perceived as a fundamental threat to the foundation of Saudi Arabia's existence. Iran, on the other hand, has varied reasons for its grievances with Saudi Arabia. Vitriol towards Saudi Arabia, for its Arab ethnic makeup, Wahhabi society, and Western-oriented foreign policy, is a fundamental principle of the Iranian Revolution, Sadjadpour explained. Additionally, Persian cultural chauvinism feeds into the superiority 2500-year-old Iran feels over Saudi Arabia, founded not even one century ago.

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The United States should examine the roots of this rift in order to determine who their natural ally should be in years to come. In an interview, Sadjadpour explained that, "In Iran there's a sense that if the country were to be governed by a system that reflected popular views, it would be much more liberal than the status quo government, and there would be more overlapping interests between the U.S. and Iran. So I certainly think it's plausible to say in two or three decades that we can see a United States that has more common interests and is more aligned with Iran than Saudi Arabia..."

The biggest takeaway from the heightened tension in the conflict is the opportunity to shift away from Saudi Arabia and develop stronger ties with Tehran, continuing with President Obama's strategy. While Iran is not a viable partner right now, they offer the strongest foundation for a nation-state in the region, a unique quality that no other American ally can provide. Sadjadpour ended the interview by emphasizing that, "Iran is a nation-state which has 2500 years of history; people have a very strong Persian identity which can be totally distinct from their Muslim identity. You have Iranians who are totally secular, you have Iranians who are Jewish, Bahai, Christian, who still feel a strong attachment to Iran and feel a strong Iranian identity, whereas in Saudi Arabia, you have a nation-state with less than a century of history and whose identity is inextricably linked to being Muslim." A core value of the United States is freedom to and from religion; implicit in this right and liberty is the fact that we do not rely on religion to unite us as a nation. Rather, our principles, history, and culture serve as the basis for the strength of our nation-state. While Iran and Saudi Arabia are still stuck in the rut of religious rule, only one of these nations shows potential to remain without religious law as the justification for its existence. The United States is a secular nation whose society is held together by something greater than a 2,000 year old text; it's about time this was reflected in our Middle East policy.
In 1964, Kitty Genovese was on her way home from work in New York City when she was attacked, raped, and eventually killed by Winston Moseley. The New York Times subsequently reported that thirty-seven neighbors had witnessed and heard her attack -- that Moseley had left her bleeding on the entrance of her building and driven away, before coming back to stab her repeatedly and then rape her -- but nobody had intervened or called the police.

Why?

Well, this is called the "bystander effect" -- it's basically the term for individual unwillingness to help someone in distress when there are other witnesses present. It became a prominent topic of discussion in psychology following what happened to Kitty Genovese.

While the details of the New York Times story have often been called into question -- with some insisting that the number of witnesses was inflated, and others claiming the number was actually higher, closer to fifty-- one truth still remains about that night:

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Kitty was killed. People heard her dying. And nobody intervened.

There are many social psychological phenomena that describe just that -- the human transference of responsibility to others. We see it in action every day. Psychologists like Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram put these aspects of human nature to the test, with interesting and often vilified results.

Their experiments show that there are many reasons that people fail to react in these situations. We hope that perhaps another witness will do something. When nobody does, we feel somehow justified in our inaction, and we also don't want to be the outlier -- the squeaky wheel in a potentially dangerous situation. And sometimes, we even chalk it up to ignorance -- we don't know what's happening, it's none of our business, why should we get involved...?

The problem with bystander effect is that it doesn't just happen in public situations with a clear victim and an obvious attacker. It happens all the time with societal issues that we continue to ignore, and even with personal problems that we refuse to fix.

When I started my project, Craigslist Confessional, over a year ago now, the person who spurred me into action was a homeless man who stood in front of the building where I worked -- every day -- rain or shine. I often brought him food or something to drink, but what changed my perception of everything was the day I stood with him. I watched the people as they passed us by:

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Most completely ignored us -- even as Joe shook his cup of change. Some made an effort to distance themselves physically from us. A few shot us a dirty look. And one -- maybe two -- gave him a kind smile.

We stood there for an hour and hundreds of people must have passed us by.

And what are the excuses that we recite to absolve ourselves from the guilt of having ignored a man who has nowhere to sleep tonight, and can barely make enough money to feed himself?

He's probably going to spend it on drugs and alcohol. Oh, I have my own problems -- you don't see me begging for help. He probably makes tons of money from others. She is fine, she just doesn't want to work hard and pull herself up from her bootstraps. Everyone is in charge of his own destiny -- whatever he did to end up here, it's his own fault. Why should I spend my hard-earned money on someone who won't appreciate it and feels that I/society owes her something?

Nobody wants to deal with issues, precisely because they are issues. They are difficult to confront, and often turning the blind eye is not only easier, but a part of self-preservation. Not many people can stomach seeing the world as it is -- unfiltered, untagged, raw, beautiful, but oftentimes vicious.

And unfortunately, we do the same thing to the people we love most -- we pretend we don't see what's often right in front of us.

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In the last year, I've heard from alcoholics and drug addicts who have told me about how they managed to "hide" their addiction from their families -- who have told me of loved ones who flat out denied their problem -- who refused to speak of it, or who actively pretended that everything was peachy keen.

I've heard from victims of incest who -- years after the abuse -- told their family of what had happened to them, and were called liars. Or worse -- their story wasn't met with surprise, or anger, or feeling at all -- because the family had known or suspected all along.

And when met with the apathy of others, we start to become apathetic ourselves, and towards ourselves.

I've met people who have privately suffered with an eating disorder, or anxiety, or depression, or addiction, or PTSD...and myriad other diseases that fall into the realm of "personal." Do you know what they all have in common? They haven't told anyone about it.

It's so easy to become a bystander to your own issues -- to hope that maybe someone else will deal with it or it will go away on its own, to feign ignorance, to think that it's not such a big deal -- well, everyone has her sob story.

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And to protect ourselves from the ever-watchful and quietly judgmental eye of the world, we pack the easy and happy narratives into our public persona, and we banish all the gritty and difficult things to our private realm. For many of us, these two seldom intersect, and it's often only in very particular situations, and with very special people. What results is a feeling of alienation -- from your true self (whomever that may be), from your peers, from society, and from the world itself.

This phenomenon -- the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility -- it's not constant, it's not linear, and it certainly doesn't apply to all of us in every situation.

But I've seen it in action in the past year. I've seen the resulting apathy. I've seen the damage it does. And I've met people who have bravely shown me the scars.

So, if you see something, say something. Be brave. Make it awkward. Make it difficult. Make it weird for everyone. But whatever you do, don't just stand there. Don't grin and bear it. Don't pretend you don't see. Your courage could save someone's life.
With Donald Trump as the nominee, Republicans are highly certain to win the presidential election on November 8, 2016. Trump will defeat Hillary Clinton with 87 percent certainty, and Bernie Sanders with 99 percent.

These forecasts come from the PRIMARY MODEL.

It is a statistical model that relies on presidential primaries and an election cycle as predictors of the vote in the general election.

Early primaries are a leading indicator of electoral victory in November. Trump won the Republican primaries in both New Hampshire and the South Carolina while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders split the Democratic primaries in those states.

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What favors the GOP in 2016 as well, no matter if Trump is the nominee or any other Republican, is a cycle of presidential elections. After two terms of Democrat Barack Obama in the White House the electoral pendulum is poised to swing to the GOP this year. This cycle, which is illustrated with elections since 1960, goes back a long way to 1828.

In a match-up between the Republican primary winner and each of the Democratic contenders, the model predicts Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent of the two-party vote. The model says he would defeat Bernie Sanders by 57.7 percent to 42.3 percent.

For the record, the PRIMARY MODEL, with slight modifications, has correctly predicted the winner of the popular vote in all five presidential elections since it was introduced in 1996. In recent elections the forecast has been issued as early as January of the election year.

Presidential elections going back as far as 1912 are used to estimate the weight of primary performance. It was in 1912 that presidential primaries were introduced. That year the candidate who won his party's primary vote, Woodrow Wilson, went on to defeat the candidate who lost his party's primary vote, William Howard Taft. As a rule, the candidate with the better primary performance, as compared to his or her strongest rival, beats the candidate with the weaker primary performance. For elections from 1912 to 2012 the PRIMARY MODEL picks the winner, albeit retroactively, every time except in 1960.

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For elections prior to 1952 all primaries were included. Beginning in 1952, only the New Hampshire Primary has been used, as a rule. South Carolina has been added to gauge primary performance this year. Hillary Clinton enjoys strong support in a large group of voters, African-Americans, who are few in numbers in New Hampshire. Her combined performance in New Hampshire and South Carolina gives her a higher primary score than Sanders. As a result, in the general election Clinton fares less badly against Trump than does Sanders.

An earlier forecast, which garnered much notoriety, predicted a Trump victory over Clinton with 97 percent certainty. That prediction was made before the Democratic primary in South Carolina was held and relied on polling reports for that state. Clinton wound up beating Sanders by a much bigger margin than was indicated by pre-primary polls. Still, the model says it is 87 percent certain that Trump will defeat Clinton in November.

It is possible, of course, that the Republican Party will not nominate Trump as its presidential candidate. If the nomination were to go to Marco Rubio instead the PRIMARY MODEL would predict:

The model is 86 percent certain that Hillary Clinton will defeat Marco Rubio. Clinton would get 52.4 percent and Rubio 47.6 percent of the two party vote.

According to the model, Ted Cruz or any other candidate (except Trump) would fare the same way against Clinton.

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In the event that the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton, while the GOP nominates Marco Rubio, the PRIMARY MODEL would predict:
For the Muslims, Christians, Jews and followers of other Abrahamic faiths that make up over half the world's population, the founding gender myth is that of Adam and Eve. In the beginning, man is created in perfection, but in order to enjoy the companionship of woman he had to give something up. Some scriptures are particularly specific of the nature of Adam's sacrifice, describing the creation of woman from a "crooked rib."

And how did Eve repay Adam for his sacrifice? By leading him to the fall from grace. From the very beginning then, women are not only subordinate to men - their humanity is somehow lesser than that of man, being as they are just a little piece of him - and they are not to be trusted with responsibility.

This was the story about women I heard the most growing up, as I'm sure it was for millions more women. The potency that the story of Adam and Eve retains in our shared cultures cannot be underestimated. In so many cultures the authority that men hold over women - their mothers, their sisters, their wives, their daughters - is justified by traditions dating back to Adam and Eve.

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It is against this orthodoxy that the global women's movement has had to struggle. Despite the huge progress that has been made, when we look at the current situation for women it is clear that much structural discrimination still remains. Fifty-five years since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister, there are only five serving woman heads of government. Fifty-three years after the United States passed the Equal Pay Act, women still earn just 79 for every dollar their male counterparts earn.

To look at many of the totemic positions in global politics, it is difficult to argue that glass ceilings are a thing of the past. The European Commission has never been led by a woman, while in the US a woman has still never even won the nomination for either the Republican or Democratic parties, let alone served as president.

While women's participation in political and diplomatic life still seems more a matter of 'firsts' than sustained, equal representation, the value of seeing a woman breaking the mold should not be underestimated. Later this year, world leaders will have the opportunity to establish a particularly important first when they elect the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Since its creation in 1945, the UN has been led by eight different people, with these leaders hailing from nearly every corner of the globe. The current Secretary-General comes from East Asia, his predecessor from West Africa, while the others have come from Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East & North Africa, and South America. The diversity of its leadership has however not stretched to gender, and the poor representation of women is a problem that affects the UN from top to bottom.

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As the most important international body in conflict prevention and resolution, the representation of women at the UN is absolutely critical. The evidence shows that not only are women disproportionally affected by the adverse impacts of conflict, but that peace processes which include women women are in fact more likely to succeed in bringing lasting peace.

Improving the participation of women in diplomacy is not then a trivial issue, it is quite literally a matter of life and death.

The UN recognizes the particular way in which conflict affects women, and the need for greater representation at all levels of conflict prevention and resolution. Fifteen years ago it agreed a resolution that aimed to address these issues and provide greater protection for women in conflict, as well as ensuring that they had a greater role in diplomacy and peace processes.

Despite this agreement, women remain sidelined - globally they make up less than one in ten of participants in peace processes. Resolutions for greater participation remain just fine words and aspirations until they become concrete actions.

This is why, on International Women's Day, I am joining with women across the world in demanding that the international community demonstrates their commitment to gender equality in a tangible way. Women make up more than half of the world's population, yet when they look at the United Nations, they do not see an institution with a leader like them. So much of the power of the UN comes from its symbolism - it is an organization born out of the most destructive years of the 20th century in the hope that disputes could be resolved at the negotiating table and not on the battlefield. The symbolism presented by women's exclusion from its top-tables is just as powerful, and it sends a message that states can pick and chose which anti-discrimination resolutions they should take seriously.

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An experience that is common to the lives of women everywhere is looking to authority and seeing the face of a man staring back, whether it is her father, her husband, her boss or her leaders. That is why electing a woman as United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) would represent such an important change.

The UN's member states have it in their power to smash this glass ceiling, and prove that women cannot go on being excluded from the decisions that affect them. I will not believe that the UN is an institution that truly values equality until I can say that there has been a UNSG like me. Find out more about the campaign for greater women's participation in diplomacy and a woman leader of the UN at facebook.com/UNSGlikeme
Let's talk about the past, and let's talk about the present. Let's talk about racist terrorism, the Ku Klux Klan, and segregation. Let's talk about progressives and right wingers, and the Democratic and Republican parties. Finally, let's do it truthfully. Okay?

Speaking of truth, we didn't get a whole lot of it from Donald Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord during his exchange with fellow CNN contributor Van Jones earlier this week. They began by discussing Trump and his failure to immediately denounce former KKK grand wizard and longtime white supremacist David Duke. Let's focus here, however, on Lord's completely false presentation of the history of the KKK.

JONES: The Klan is a terrorist organization that has killed -- LORD: A leftist terrorist organization. [snip] JONES: What difference does it make if you call them leftists? They kill people. They don't play games with that. LORD: You're right. You don't hide and say that's not part of the base of the Democratic Party. That has been -- they were the military arm, the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party, according to historians. For God sakes, read your history. [snip] JONES: The Klan kill people by race.... LORD: And they did it -- they did it to further the progressive agenda. Hello? JONES: That is, first of all, so absurd. LORD: It is not absurd. JONES: The Democratic Party of the south of the old days was a racist party. And you are correct, sir. They were a violent party. You were correct, sir. LORD: How do you think we got Woodrow Wilson elected? (CROSSTALK) JONES: Hold on a second. That's not the Democratic Party of today. So, what are you talking about that for? You play these games -- LORD: It is the Democratic Party of today. The Democratic Party of today divides by race.



There's a lot to unpack here. First, we're to going to explore--by taking a serious, sober look at history--what an absolute load of crap Lord's claims are. Second, and more importantly, we're going to look at how those claims are not simply the ravings of a Trumpeter--someone whom the GOP establishment rejects. Those claims, in fact, reflect standard Republican talking points.

All of the false history Jeffrey Lord presented was simply buildup to allow him to make his final, most false claim: "It is the Democratic Party of today. The Democratic Party of today divides by race." To say that the Democratic Party today is the same organization, espousing the same ideals as the organization which did rely on Klan terrorism to disenfranchise black Republican voters in the Jim Crow South--is, as Van Jones rightly said, "absurd."

While we can't use the full range of today's issues to judge the relative progressivism of parties in the post-Civil War era (think marriage equality, for example), we can certainly say that the Republican Party--which then actually was the Party of Lincoln--was the more progressive party on fundamental issues of justice and equality, while the Democrats were the conservatives who fought against racial equality at every turn.

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Lord also mentions Woodrow Wilson. We know a lot more about Wilson's racism thanks to recent protests at Princeton University. He was a leading progressive in his time and, like many in that movement, he held despicably racist views. Worse, he used his power as president to act on them.

However, the real progressive in the 1912 presidential election was Teddy Roosevelt, who ran as the nominee of the Progressive Party and ran to Wilson's left. He was more progressive on economics as well as racial issues (a low bar to clear on the latter, to be sure). Remember also that he ran a third-party campaign after the Republican Party rejected him. I know I'd have voted for Teddy over Wilson in that election.

Either way, the idea that the racism of Woodrow Wilson--or the terrorism of the KKK, or Southern Dixiecrat support for segregation for that matter--has anything to do with today's progressives or Democrats is as ridiculous as saying that because Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson owned slaves, Barack Obama is the leader of a pro-slavery party, or that slavery was a "leftist" institution.

What's really important here isn't that a Trump supporter is making these kinds of statements, but rather that they represent what Republicans across the board have been doing for years, namely connecting contemporary progressivism with past racism espoused by old-time Democrats. We have elected officials like Republican State Senator Stephen Martin of Virginia claiming: "The fact is that both the KKK and Planned Parenthood are creations of the Democratic Party."

Additionally, we have the National Black Republican Association emphasizing the Klan and its Democratic Party ties, as well as conservative talk show hosts like Wisconsin's Dan O'Donnell doing the same. The point is, Jeffrey Lord was far from the first to do so. Oh, and is anyone surprised that Rush Limbaugh defended Lord, both on Trump and on his claims about the KKK and Democrats?

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More broadly, we have Kevin Williamson, a major conservative polemicist who serves as roving correspondent for National Review--they put out a whole issue of anti-Trump essays under the banner "Conservatives Against Trump" if anyone remembers or actually read it. In 2012 Williamson published a National Review cover story in which he made a similar historical argument to that of Jeffrey Lord. Jonathan Chait does a terrific job demolishing Williamson here.

Let's look at how Mona Charen, also at National Review, flat out lied about historical facts:

The Democrats have been sedulously rewriting history for decades. Their preferred version pretends that all the Democratic racists and segregationists left their party and became Republicans starting in the 1960s. How convenient. If it were true that the South began to turn Republican due to Lyndon Johnson's passage of the Civil Rights Act, you would expect that the Deep South, the states most associated with racism, would have been the first to move. That's not what happened. The first southern states to trend Republican were on the periphery: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. (George Wallace lost these voters in his 1968 bid.)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed on July 2. Two weeks later, the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater--a staunch opponent of the Civil Rights Act--for president. Charen is completely wrong. The states that were "first to move" were in fact the five Deep South states (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) that went for Goldwater in November 1964, four months after the Civil Rights Act passed. Every other state in the country other than Goldwater's home state of Arizona went for LBJ. Do you think that says anything about how Republican opposition to Civil Rights helped them win white Southern racists, Ms. Charen?

If Charen wants to claim she's talking about Southern states that voted for Eisenhower in the 1950s or even Nixon in 1960, then we can counter by looking at which states were really "first to move," i.e., the ones who rejected the Democratic Party in 1948--after Hubert Humphrey helped lead it to adopt a pro-civil rights plank--and, because the Republicans were also on record in their platform as favoring civil rights, had no interest in voting Republican either that year. What was a segregationist to do?

Luckily for them, Strom Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat or "States' Rights Democrat" on an openly segregationist platform, declaring: "I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." He won exactly four states in 1948. Anyone care to guess which ones? Four of the same five Goldwater won in 1964. Oh, and Thurmond himself switched from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1964, precisely to back Goldwater. Are you getting this, Ms. Charen?

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Last summer, the great Heather Digby Parton dug even deeper into this Republican muck on racism. In addition to her terrific research and analysis, this quote sums up the matter quite well:

Even the trolls know that many millions of people who used to vote for Democrats switched parties after the various civil rights acts were passed in the '60s under a Democratic majority. While they deny there was ever such a thing as the "Southern Strategy," and pretend that racist appeals for votes never happened, that's also a documented fact and they know that too. But just because conservatives are clearly playing games, it doesn't lessen the insult to African Americans when they make these inane claims. After all, if Democrats are the "real racists," then 95 percent are [sic] African Americans must be very dumb indeed.

Without question, if I were alive in 1870 I'd have been a Republican, and I suspect most progressives feel the same. Then, the Republicans were the good guys--because they were progressives, and the Democrats were the conservatives. If Republicans tomorrow suddenly espoused the ideals we progressives hold dear, and Democrats in turn embraced conservative ones, I'd become a Republican in a heartbeat. I'm not a progressive because I'm a Democrat, I'm a Democrat because I'm a progressive. You'd think Jeffrey Lord would understand this.

In fact, I'm sure he does. But he's just trying to confuse the issue and distract from the real one, which is whether Democrats or Republicans today are doing more to fight for racial justice and equality. Let's be clear that Democrats could do better--all of us, as individuals, could probably do better.

Beyond that truth, we must push back against the constant lies issued by Republicans en masse--and this goes beyond Jeffrey Lord or even Trump--about the KKK, racism, and progressives. They lie about the past in order to stop our country from moving in a more progressive direction going forward.


John McDaid's Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse, installation view, "Electronic Literature: A Matter of Bits," Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden

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Artists' Documentation of Enter:in' Woodies

As the punning title suggests, this thoughtfully installed exhibition is concerned with the interplay between materiality and virtuality, content and form, and meaning and sensory perception. Given the imminent arrival of commercially viable virtual reality and augmented reality, it is not surprising that not only are the ways we think, write, and read changing, but also how we physically interact with computer technologies. One of my favorite examples of this is Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse's Between Page and Screen, a series of poetic letters between two lovers, P. and S., that requires both a paper book printed with glyphic black and white geometric shapes and a computer to be read. Staring into a real-time web camera feed of herself, the user maneuvers the page for the website's augmented reality reader. This is not a simple task. If the page is not in the right position, the letters can appear backward or fall apart before the reader can decipher them. Like love, the piece asks the reader to fit her body onto an other's, in this case, a hybrid of old and new media. Another delightful example is Jose Aburto's "Grita", in which the user must shout into a lit box to make the words of the poem appear on the monitor. As soon as the user stops, the poem disappears. The work makes the user aware of the affective power of her voice. In the hush of the gallery, those unintelligible sounds hang in the air far longer than the text on the screen.



Installation View of Jose Aburto's "Grita"

According to philosopher Villem Flusser, it is gesture, a "formal and aesthetic" movement, which translates affective states of mind into symbols. According to Flusser, our gestures are changing. With the growing recognition that there is no "transcendent intellect" or "absolute knowledge," the gesture of searching (for meaning or knowledge) is shifting from "a digging down for reasons" to an examination of aesthetic qualities of things and an exploration of how humans respond to their environment as both subjects and objects. In keeping with this idea, many works in the exhibition privilege the formal qualities of text and language (prosody, the movement and appearance of letters and words across the screen, and simple legibility or lack thereof) over meaning. One of the best is Nick Montfort's generative poem "Taroko Gorge" which, with its open source code, has inspired multiple remixes also on display. With an economy of words, Montfort employs repetition coupled with constant change to mirror the flow of water through the canyon. In this exhibition, the piece is slyly installed as a projection on the floor of the gallery, an intervention which "naturalizes" the original vertical flow of the poem. Another playful example is Jason Lewis and Bruno Nadeau's app- based Poems for Excitable Mobile Media, the P.o.E.M.M Cycle which employs different user gestures to communicate the meaning of the poems. For instance, gently tapping on the screen in the "The World Was White," a poem that intimately describes three-friends' drive through a wintry landscape, causes a word or phrase, in shades ranging from black to light grey, to appear then slowly melt away into the white background.

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Screen View, Nick Montfort's "Taroko Gorge"

In addition to works exploring machine-body interface, visitors will also find examples of more conventional computer-based multimedia pieces including my own Queerskins (with Cyril Tsiboulski). The standout is Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro's app PRY, a lyrically written piece that allows utilizes the iPad's gestures to allow users to look through the main character's eyes and to access the personal "thoughts" of this Gulf War veteran returning home with PTSD. Another interesting piece that combines documentary and fiction is Hazel Smith, Will Luers and Roger Dean's Motions which examines human trafficking. It begins with white text on a black screen: "You are on a train and it is taking you to a destination, but you don't know what that destination is" paired with the sound of airplanes taking off. Luers' images, grainy banal video loops and static images of the everyday, are especially effective in giving users a sense of the un-extraordinary yet highly personal nature of rape and slavery in the global economy. It is only Hazel Smith's erudite voice and overtly poetic language that disrupts the illusion, bringing the user back to the reality that she will likely never be in the position of the nameless person on the train.

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Trailer for Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro's PRY

Perhaps my favorite piece in the show is John McDaid's Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse (1992). The work, which purports to be the contents of Art "Buddy" Newkirk's literary estate, is creatively installed by Robert Emmons in a mock circa early 1990's study complete with cheap wooden desk, Nirvana poster, floppy disk games and cassette tape recorder. Sitting at the desk, listening to amateur acoustic rock songs from Uncle Buddy's band, The Reptiles, whilst perusing a dizzying array of ephemera archived on the old Mac, I was overcome by a deep affection for this work. Perhaps it was nostalgia, but I felt that something was different about this D.I.Y. mess of a project-- it just seemed so wonderfully human.


Installation by HOTTEA

Ross Martin, a former poetry doyen, now Viacom Executive Vice President of Marketing, Strategy & Engagement-- builds bridges between the corporate world and the artist's expression, rendering beauty and thought to the lobby of Viacom.

After attending a few of Viacom's art installation previews, I wanted to know more, so I asked some questions people from either universe would like to know. I sincerely hope that more corporations follow Viacom's lead; to integrate other worlds with voices awaiting to be seen and heard in corporate lobbies, staircases, elevators, wherever...Increasing our awareness of how the science of aesthetics effect our everyday lives. Since our society sometimes seems estranged from organic, unique, real time experiences, it is important for people to take a moment to smell the roses before turning on their computers and getting on conference calls. As for artists-- expression is everything and appreciation is a fragrance everyone loves.

How did you get started creating these shows for Viacom?

We launched Art at Viacom a year ago to curate immersive conceptual design experiences in our offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and around the world. Viacom is a creative community that thrives on artistic expression. It's been incredible to see how deeply the thousands of people who work here have embraced the idea of collaborating with fine artists, using our own work-space as a platform for amplifying their work.

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How do you pick your artists?

At first, we relied on colleagues across the company to recommend artists they love. Once we began reaching out to the artists, we were blown away by their response. They come to visit and see our space, then they share their creative vision with us. In 2015, we launched our first big exhibition, "Flowers: Inside Out," by British artist Rebecca Louise Law. Artists from around the world saw it and began contacting us. Rebecca really set the bar high; she inspired people.



Installation by Rebecca Louise Law

Art at Viacom brings our employees that much closer to a diverse range of artists, all working across different mediums. I can speak for my colleagues when I say we really enjoy discovering and supporting artists together as a creative community. It's a team effort, we're always looking for great talent.

Usually, I'll be in the elevator or our cafeteria or one of our lounges, and someone will come to me and ask, "Hey, have you heard of this artist who just did this thing in Tokyo?" It usually starts something like that.

We give artists a unique platform for their work, and we also design a deeply collaborative, creative process with each artist that includes how they'll work with and involve our employees in their exhibit.

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Installation by HOTTEA



What are the financial perimeters for these shows?

We work in service of creative ideas, and we won't stop until we've done everything we can to empower creative people to bring their vision to life. We favor projects you're less likely to discover in a traditional gallery or museum space, work that challenges our own assumptions and provokes us to think differently. We champion artists who connect with our creative culture, who dive in and get to know the incredible people and work that goes on here.

Does the artist write up a proposal?

Yes, each artist spends time in our space, and they get to know the unique culture of creativity and innovation at Viacom. They embed themselves, they get to know us, and that informs and inspires their work. They propose projects that reflect their creative vision. We encourage our artists to try something they've never done before, to stretch themselves in new ways. That leads to fresh, provocative work.



How many shows per year do you do?

We go big with at least 4 large-scale installations a year. Each one's different and wildly intricate, so we approach projects with a very fluid schedule to accommodate the entire creative process.

Last year we welcomed Crystal Wagner with her winding, plastic and wire creation titled "Wild Efflux." Before that, Rebecca Louise Law had her first U.S. show with us - a floral, overhead suspension of 16,000 flowers called "Flowers: Outside In." We kicked off 2016 with the Emmy award-winning artist, HOTTEA. His massive yarn installation, called "Telephone," is his most ambitious project to date. There's still so much more to come, this year.

That said, Viacom has a collection of thousands of works of art, collected over the past 30 years. Much of it hangs in our offices around the world, and we love it. Soon we will be announcing a partnership between Art At Viacom and the new Viacom Lab, a project that will for the first time catalog and make it all available for people to search, discover and experience themselves.

What is the time frame for the installation to be up?

We showcase the work of our artists in residence for a couple of months each. Timing is also determined by the installation and the materials used - for example for Rebecca Louise Law's installation we used fresh flowers so that impacted the length of the show.

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Installation by Rebecca Louise Law

Do artists solicit you?

For the past three installations, we reached out to artists we admired and thought had a trans-formative quality that would work well within our space and our creative culture. Lately, we've been excited to hear from artists around the world who want to work with us, and Art at Viacom continues to build momentum.



What has the buzz been like when shows open?

We've received such a powerful response to the program both internally and publicly. It's amazing to see the look of surprise and delight when people experience a new project for the first time.

The biggest surprise, though, is how attached we all become to the installations. For example, people loved Crystal Wagner's installation so much, we kept it up a month longer than we'd planned. Then, Crystal came back and carved a large section of her piece and moved it to its permanent home on the 7th floor of our Times Square office.

People were so blown away by Rebecca's flower installation, she returned from London to curate dioramas in glass displays that we sent to our offices around the world for permanent display.

How much of the space are they given to use?

We work with each artist to understand what they want to create and the space they need to create it. From our entrances, lobbies, the visitor's center and more, there's ample space across multiple floors to work with. Partnership is key to the design process and determining the spaces to activate in, because we are creating art in the heart of a fully functioning office building with thousands of employees.



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Do you have any advice for other companies who would consider presenting art projects?

My advice would be to let the artists be who they are and don't be afraid to experiment. The only way to figure out the best way of presenting art, especially within a corporate space, is simply to be open to trying new things.
Much has been written about the Colorado Democrats' proposal to remove a hospital fee from TABOR restrictions, freeing up about $370 million for highways, schools, and other government projects that lack funding.

But one question that hasn't been explained fully is, why the near-unanimous opposition by Republican state lawmakers to the proposal? Unanimity that may be cracking, but still.

The question flashed out from a recent Colorado Independent article, in which a spokesman for conservative Americans for Prosperity, backed by the Koch brothers, emphasized that last year 307 lobbyists were on one side of the debate over the hospital provider fee, and only a single lonely group was on the other. That would be AFP.

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How did AFP pull this off, particularly when the business community, normally home base for the GOP, favors the hospital fee and is aligned against Republicans on this issue?

You wouldn't expect all Republican legislators to jump in the laps of business groups, given the issues at play and AFP, but this level of separation from establishment business interests?

The business support has been chronicled best bythe Denver Business Journal's Ed Sealover, who wrote one article listing business organizations that signed a letter in support of the Democrats' plan for the hospital provider fee. The organizations:

Action 22

Associated General Contractors

Aurora Chamber of Commerce

Club 20

Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry

Association of Colorado Realtors

Colorado Competitive Council

Colorado Contractors Association

Colorado Springs Forward

Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance

Colorado Wheat Growers Association

Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

Progressive 15

South Metro Chamber of Commerce
This week the United States European Command and Israel held joint exercises. A big part of the mission was to test the reliably of Israel's three tiered missile defense shield. The Arrow is set up to stop long range missiles, like the type in Iran's massive ballistic missile arsenal. Magic Wand is a newly operational system that will stop mid-range missiles, like the kind Hezbollah is pointing at Israel from Lebanon and probably Syria as well. Then there's the famous Iron Dome which takes care of more than 95 percent of short term missiles fired by Hamas and its friends in Gaza.

It takes a lot of coordination, technology and smarts to link these systems and to attach them to radar that can now track any incoming projectile from 500 miles away.

That's just one of the many complex accomplishments taken on by members of a very secretive IDF unit called Talpiot. That unit is profiled in a new book by Jason Gewirtz, an executive producer for CNBC. The book, the first about this special unit is called "Israel's Edge: The Story of the IDF's Most Elite Unit - Talpiot." (Gefen, Feb. 2016). It's a terrific book and a must read for Israel fans and military buffs alike.

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Talpiot was created by two professors who were horrified, like many in Israel, by the Yom Kippur War. In 1973 Israel was attacked from the north by Syria and from the south by Egypt simultaneously. Israel made some grave errors in the years between the 1967 war and the Yom Kippur War in intelligence and in technology. Israel failed to innovate in those inter-war years and it failed to piece together many crucial pieces of intelligence. France, Israel's main weapons supplier at the time suddenly cut Israel off while the Soviets poured new weapon technology into the Arab nations.

After the war was over Professors Felix Dothan and Shaul Yatziv proposed a new program designed to tap into Israel's smartest and most creative young minds. Their idea was to create an army unit where students would learn to fight - but learn to think first.

In 1979 the first Talpiot class began with just 25 students. Cadets for this unit were told when they were drafted, three years was too short of a time for this program. They'd have to enlist for ten years.

In order to make it work, the army partnered with Hebrew University to teach the young cadets physics, mathematics and computer science. They were given three years to complete their degrees. It should be noted that the same amount of coursework takes four years for gifted students not in Talpiot to finish.

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Members of this unit aren't just taught to think - they're taught to think and learn fast.

While studying members of Talpiot are also sent to train with each and every unit in the IDF from the artillery to tank units, to the infantry, to the navy and air force to learn how each unit does its job.

After a few years, Talpiot commanders started adding new requirements to their list for candidates. They didn't just want the brightest students, they wanted soldiers who could learn together and work together as a team... and young men and women that could lead teams. Finding the right candidates for this unit is now seen as so important it is given top priority by IDF recruiters, even above finding the fighter pilots of the future.

At the end of their first three years the men and women in this unit would then be asked to take their combat and academic training and combine them to help invent and improve all of the weapons in the IDF's arsenal. During their next seven years of service Talpiots become military research and development experts. Missile defense is high on their list of responsibilities. But they also work to develop new tools for cybersecurity. Talpiots have led the way on this new global battlefield. Talpiots have also been very active in space, developing new satellite systems and high altitude, high resolution cameras that can be used to shoot images that then go to Israel's intelligence services to help them see what Israel's enemies are up to.

These soldiers have had an impact on every weapon and communications system used by the IDF and every tool used by Israel's intelligence community.

In many cases, after going into research and development, members of Talpiots hunger for the field and they are encouraged by the Ministry of Defense to do so. The thinking is nobody knows what a warrior needs more than a warrior himself.

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Several have gone on to flight school, and then flew F16s in combat. Others have commanded naval ships. Others go on to lead elite ground troops. One member of Talpiot even took his computer science, mathematics and physics courses and designed a shoulder fired missile that can knock out enemy tanks. He then became the leader of an elite ground unit that is capable of infiltrating enemy lines, finding a hiding place and popping out at the exact right minute to use the missile he created to destroy enemy tanks before they even get into a battle. Pretty impressive.

After their ten years in the army, about a third of Talpiot graduates stay in the IDF, usually in research and development roles. A third go into the academic world to teach while the other third go into business. Talpiot graduates have created some of Israel's most impressive companies including CheckPoint Software which keeps the internet as safe as possible for customers and Compugen which helps drug companies find innovative and individual cures for patients battling hundreds of diseases.

Talpiot has been tasked with keeping Israel a generation ahead of a rapidly strengthening and technologically capable Iran making this book extremely timely. The unit also has to help Israel stay ahead of the United States and other large countries with strong militaries as those countries often supply Israel's enemies with advanced weapons and military technology.

This first of its kind book about this once secretive but prolific group truly sheds light on an army unit that has had more on an impact on Israel than any other. The list of accomplishments that Talpiot has under its belt is simply remarkable and the accomplishments of the men and women from this unit after leaving the army is the envy of every country in the world and Jason Gewirtz has been able to capture it all in his book.

There's something in here for history buffs, military watchers, people interested in technology and education, and of course anyone interested in Israel and the Middle East.

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Bride and Groom holding hands at the altar as the minister oversees the reading of the vows. The wedding is taking place in New York city's High Line Park

Another day, another controversial religious freedom bill. This time it's Georgia state lawmakers who are making headlines for proposing new protections against penalizing those who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds. These measures are similar to those introduced in at least seven other states including last year's legislation in Indiana that garnered substantial national attention. The new measures in Georgia differ from previous attempts in their approach, focusing specifically on opposition to same-sex marriage and not broad religious protections. But one thing that has remained the same across all these proposals is the media's confounding coverage of clergy rights.

A frustrating pattern emerges when examining how major news sources cover this type of legislation. The most recent offense can be found in the New York Times within their article about Georgia's bill: "At first, the State House unanimously approved a measure ensuring that clergy members could not be compelled to solemnize a marriage that conflicted with their religious views. But a sweeping rewrite in the State Senate left lawmakers weighing the far more controversial protections." This statement, which is indeed true, is simply given this brief mention before moving on to other aspects of the proposal. The problem is, it's missing some important context--this part of the bill isn't "controversial" because it's already the law of the land.

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Clergy are presently protected by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. They are free to refuse services to anyone who does not meet their moral or denominational criteria. A state grants religious leaders the right to perform legally recognized marriages, but it does not compel them to do so. Think about it: would a Rabbi be forced to marry two Christians or be penalized because refusal would be religious discrimination? Of course not. Most of us can also think of instances where a particular religious body chose to exclude a betrothed couple because of an issue such as a pervious divorce, disagreement about baptismal rituals, or objections to interfaith marriage. While these issues would face discrimination laws if they were raised within a private business, places of worship understandably operate under different rules.

The right of clergy to turn away those who they don't wish to marry was firm before Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage in all fifty states, and nothing in the Supreme Court ruling changes that for today. No clergy should be forced to officiate a marriage that they don't want to officiate--but no one is arguing that they should. Journalists writing about part of a new bill or amendment that would "protect clergy" without explaining that they are already safeguarded only serves to promote misunderstanding.

There are plenty of religious freedom issues that have real-world implications and no easy answers. A church would never be forced to make their sanctuary available to everyone, but what if they have a separate recreational center that is publicly rented out for heterosexual weddings? Can the Internal Revenue Service revoke the tax-exempt status of a religiously affiliated college if they offer married opposite-sex students housing but refuse the same accommodations for married LGBT students? It is clear that the future will bring contested decisions about where religiously affiliated nonprofits should draw the line between discrimination and free religious exercise.

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The passing of Nancy Reagan, who spearheaded the 'Just Say No' campaign as first lady, provides an opportune moment for reflecting on the failures of the War on Drugs and need for a changed approach at a time when news headlines are warning of a growing heroin "epidemic."



Nancy took up the anti-drug crusade in 1983 after she had received bad press for spending taxpayer dollars on fancy White House china. Starting at an elementary school in Oakland, California, the 'Just Say No' campaign resulted in the formation of 10,000 nationwide clubs which sponsored public parades, telephone hotlines and a national walk against drugs. Nancy also appeared on popular television shows like Different Strokes and Punky Brewster which integrated anti-drug themes into the episodes.

The 'Just Say No' crusade was as much political as anything else. Ronald Reagan made his political career attacking the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s, which had adopted drug use as a symbol of rebellion. The War on Drugs was very much part of a conservative ideological offensive designed to restore the climate of conformity and patriotism of the post-World War II era and eradicate the 1960s movements and progressive changes they ushered in.



A major problem with the 'Just Say No' campaign was its promotion of a universally demonized conception of drugs, including of marijuana, which was falsely branded as a gateway drug that would inevitably lead to harder drug use. Scientific American reported in 2014 that studies showed students need a much more nuanced education and that students in 'Just Say No'-style programs were as likely to use drugs as students who were not.

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Nancy was herself known to issue bombastic statements about drugs that discredited the credibility of her voice. She once for example characterized casual drug users as "accomplices to murder." Feeding off this kind of rhetoric, others went so far as to call for the "beheading of drug dealers" (William Bennet, drug czar under George H.W. Bush) and "shooting of casual drug users" (LAPD chief, Daryl Gates). In 1986 and 1988, Congress passed billion dollar anti-drug bills mandating urine testing for all federal workers and establishing harsh mandatory minimum sentencing regulations, which resulted in the mass incarceration boom that is now widely condemned. Reflecting the prevailing political climate which Nancy did so much to shape, Senator Claude Pepper (D-FL) said that "we're close to the point now where you could put an amendment through to hang, quarter and draw drug dealers."

Under the terms of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, possession with intent to sell five grams of crack, a drug primarily of inner-city blacks, carried a mandatory five year sentence, compared to 10 to thirty seven months for similar amounts for cocaine, the "champagne drug of the rich." The discrepancy has resulted in what Michelle Alexander referred to as the "new Jim Crow" in which African-Americans have been forced to bear the brunt of the nation's imprisonment binge.



In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a national security directive identifying drug production and trafficking as threats to American security. This led to ramped up financing of the military and police forces of regimes targeting so-called "narco-guerrillas" and terrorists who were blamed for the bulk of the drug supply entering the United States. The latter term helped justify a merger of U.S. counter-narcotic and counter-insurgency operations which contributed to marked human rights abuses. Supply rates were little affected all-the-while as the CIA supported right-wing military officers in Central America, for example, and mujahidin drug traffickers in Afghanistan who used drug proceeds to finance counterinsurgency and terrorist activities. Nicaraguan Contra operatives were even found to have smuggled drugs into the United States through Mena Arkansas, under the nose of then Governor Bill Clinton, as part of clandestine operations which Nancy helped her husband cover-up.



In an important study on the War on Drugs, sociologists Craig G. Reinarman and Harry G. Levine noted that the drug issue in the 1980s served as a "godsend to the political right," as it enabled them to blame an array of social problems on "deviant individuals and then expand the net of social control and imprison those people for causing the problems." Forgotten, Reinarman and Levine said, "are the failed schools, the malign welfare programs, the desolate neighborhoods, the wasted years." The War on Drugs ultimately helped to transform American society from a welfare state to a police and prison state in which individual civil liberties have been eroded, and foreign policy was continuously militarized.

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Whatever personal qualities and grace she may have brought to the White House, Nancy's legacy is connected to her signature crusade. Her passing provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the failed governmental priorities of the past, and to in turn advance more steadily towards a future in which kids are given grounded scientific information about drugs, addicts are not stigmatized, and in which drugs are treated as a public health problem and not one requiring military solutions.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the media during a press conference on March 5, 2016 in West Palm Beach, Florida. / AFP / RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

To the racists who love Donald Trump, here's what I think about you:

In election year 2016 it's brains and compassion versus hatred and ignorance. Because let's face it, being racist is ignorant. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's the truth. The majority of us now understand that in order to survive as a race, the human race, we need to come together. Racism isn't allowed. Because it makes no sense and it's been proven. In his book titled The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea, Anthropologist Robert Wald Sussman writes:

Given current scientific data, biological races do not exist among modern humans today, and they have never existed in the past. Given such clear scientific evidence as this and the research data of so many other biologists, anthropologists, and geneticists that demonstrate the nonexistence of biological races among humans, how can the "myth" of human races still persist?



And whether Donald Trump wants to admit it or not, he is taking advantage of your ignorance.He is manipulating you with the goal of winning the White House. You may feel as if he has given you a voice. Guess what? We don't want to hear your voice. The South lost, slavery isn't coming back. The issue of race is no longer arguable, we are all equal. It's been proven.

Trying to argue your point based on false truths and ignorance and your inability to evolve past the idea of racism is a losing battle. That thing you're so passionate about isn't even real. You are basing your hatred solely on the color of someone else's skin and the religion they follow. The color of the skin and their religious denomination don't change the fact that they are the same as you and I, they are Homo sapiens sapiens. They are human. You're out, you've been left behind, your argument is moot.

Racism is something our society invented in order to group people together based on ethnicity, based on language, based on their religion. Biologically, there is no such thing as race. In her article Science: There Is No Such Thing As Race, journalist Tresha Barrett quotes Bill Nye:

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If a Papua New Guinean hooks up with a Swedish person all you get is a human. There's no new thing you're going to get. You just get a human. Japanese woman jumping the African guy, all you get is a human. They're all humans. So this is a lesson to be learned. There really is, for humankind there's really no such thing as race. There's different tribes but not different races. We're all one species.

Racism only exists in your mind. You can change your mind. Racism is wrong. Black people are human. Muslim- and Arab-Americans are human. Hispanics and Latinos are human. By being racist, you are being ignorant. This is an undisputed fact.

The South will never rise again. Why are you still fighting for racism? And why are there so many of you?

Up until now, when it comes to racism, we've essentially been living in a Don't Ask Don't Tell society. As human beings who know better, we kept our mouth shut when we heard you saying racist things and acting in racist ways, we figured we couldn't change your mind because it's past the point of repair. Because of that silence from those who oppose you, your racism still lives in your heart. You haven't given your brain the correct information to cure you of the affliction that you suffer from. You've been fully indoctrinated to the dark side. We figured, 'well as long as they keep it to themselves we can agree to disagree.' After all, who are they hurting except themselves?

But now you feel emboldened to wave your confederate flags around, and shout at human beings you don't agree with. The Illegals, the Muslims, the Blacks. You can't be allowed to spread your hate. You can't be allowed to infect the minds of your children with your ignorant ideas. That's child abuse.

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You pound your fists and chest-bump when Trump acknowledges you. Finally someone agrees with your backwards ideology. Donald Trump isn't going to bring your confederate flag back. We're not going to build any wall around this country. It's not Trump that scares me. It's you. His fervent follower.

Many fans of Donald Trump are angry, violent and "poorly educated." And they are armed to the teeth. Are we scared? You're damn right we are. Because we know what you are capable of. Angry men and women at his rallies screaming at people, assaulting protesters, pushing them around.

I'm not going to apologize for calling you out for being an idiot, standing for ridiculous causes like racism, too stupid to educate yourself about what's really going on. You don't even have to go to college, just google it. The internet is an amazing tool.

I can't stop you from being racist. All I can do is fight for what I believe in, and that is a society that accepts everyone. A society where race doesn't even come into the equation. We are all the same. Again, It's been proven. I know you don't like what I'm saying. But you have to understand, racism isn't something we can just 'let it slide' on.

That's why Trump can't be allowed to win. The fact that he is even this close is a dark stain on this country. And regardless of anything you can say about Donald Trump that makes sense to you, the fact that he is a racist that doesn't even realize what he is doing and saying is racist, which describes most racists I know, is reason enough to never vote for him. It's not Trump I'm scared of. It's you.

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As I travel around the country discussing my new book The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and meeting with people from all walks of life, I hear a great deal of discouragement over the U.S. presidential election. So I try to encourage people to look at the positive side and see what we can affect. Here are a couple of key points:

1) The extreme divergence between the left and the right indicates that a huge segment of our population is very dissatisfied with the current system. I call this the Death Economy, one based on wars, fear, debt and the destruction of our Earth's resources. This unsustainable economy is failing us on a global level.

2) Although the next president will be important symbolically, it's essential to recognize that his or her powers are very limited. For example, we used to think that one of the most influential things the president could do was to appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices. Even that is in serious question now as many Republicans say they will not even consider an Obama nominee.

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All of us must understand that we the people have the real power. Governmental systems, including most of our elected officials, are controlled by the global corporations who finance their campaigns and offer them lucrative consulting jobs if they lose or decide not to run for office. However, these global corporations are dependent on us, you and me, to buy their goods and services, invest in them, and support them through our tax dollars and government policies. So, during this election year, please commit to taking action, regardless of who is elected.

For more on our government systems and specific ideas on how you can act now, read my recent blog posts "Vote and Then Act in Favor of Democracy" and "Take Action in the New Year."

What you and I do every single day counts. There is a perceived reality that this Death Economy is the only reality. The truth is that revolutions have always occurred when people alter their perceived reality. In the 1770s, there was a perceived reality that the British army was invincible. When people changed that reality and understood that the British could be defeated by American farmers and hunters who stood behind trees and fired at the ridged lines of British troops, everything changed.

We are at one of those moments today. We are faced with a serious crisis as the rhetoric gets worse and political parties seem irrelevant. You and I need to understand the power that we have--each of us as individuals and as a community. So yes, vote in this next election but also realize that no matter who is elected, we must do our part every single day. We must convince the corporations that depend on us to move from a Death Economy based on fear, doubt, and the destruction of resources to a Life Economy based on regenerating destroyed environments, cleaning up pollution, and alleviating the causes of desperation and terrorism.

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It isn't so much about who next sits in the Oval Office or even changing the mechanics of economics. It is about changing the ideas, the dogmas that currently drive politics and economics: debt and fear, insufficiency, divide and conquer. It is about moving from ideas about merely being sustainable to ones that include regenerating areas devastated by agriculture, mining, and other destructive activities. It is about We the People taking control. It is about a revolution in consciousness and actions. It is about making the transition from a Death Economy to a Life Economy.
Phyllis Tickle would have been 82 on March 12. Instead, we are almost six months out from the day she died at home in Tennessee. By most accounts, Phyllis was one of the most important figures in the history of late twentieth century Christian spirituality.

An event in November 2007 best captures the impact of her life. She was then 73, and standing at a podium. She wouldn't remain behind it for long, however. She never did, but moved around a dais, taking it as her responsibility to make the most of the moment she'd been given. She learned that from her father.

She was dressed in a worn, dark, wool skirt, a plain, nondescript blouse, and an old, gray wool jacket. Back in the 1990s at Publishers Weekly, where she founded the religion department, her boss once said as they sat together in the downtown Manhattan offices, "That's the fourth time I've seen you wear that. You need to buy some new clothes." Phyllis did, then, but she was from east Tennessee. She began as a poet, a mother of seven, the wife of a rural country doctor, an academic, and a playwright. When not in the media spotlight (or even when she was) her clothes were usually designed to go unnoticed.

On that day in November '07 she was giving "the talk," as it was known for years, about seventy minutes in length: "What Is Emergence?" This was before the punctuality, polish, and fussiness of TED talks. People didn't come to hear precision from Phyllis. They came for wide-ranging analysis, a global take on what was going on in the religious world, including her entertaining digressions, which were often as well-rehearsed as the core content. She was the Sunday general session speaker at the National Youth Workers Convention, sponsored by evangelical-leaning Youth Specialties, in the Atlanta Convention Center. The roster was strong that year, what with Shane Claiborne and Rob Bell on the docket, as well. Herself a left-leaning Episcopalian, Phyllis seemed to fit comfortably in most any crowd of religiously sincere people.

In the talk, she ranged from new science to ancient philosophy to the latest fads in social media, to elaborate, explain, and exemplify the radical speed with which First World Christians were experiencing Emergence. She made it clear that any religious professional within earshot should not only realize the sea-changes they're trying to stand in, but the responsibility they have to help others navigate the same. The Holy Spirit was surrounding them, she explained, in the midst of what often felt disruptive and chaotic. The future was awaiting creative, inspired responses to essential change. For a decade after leaving Publishers Weekly, which she did in 2004, Phyllis lectured to more people than any other woman in North America, with the possible exceptions of Sisters Helen Prejean and Joan Chittister.

In her audience that night were thousands of youth leaders, clergy, and church professionals. Many of them experienced revelatory moments. Some explained hearing Phyllis as like a puzzle being put together to explain what had already happened in their lives or their church. Many used words like "awestruck" and "beautiful" to express what this septuagenarian had to say about faith. Phyllis was a couple months away from turning her final manuscript in for what would then become her magnum opus on the subject, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why.

From the moment The Great Emergence was published, in 2008, it infuriated academics. One simply cannot distill that much history, philosophy, and theology into 160 pages, let alone make it that entertaining! they quietly stewed. But readers were grateful.

Fifteen years earlier, as a journalist, she'd reported on how books were becoming "portable pastors" to help explain the rise of popularity of the spirituality category in publishing--and, by unfortunate converse, the drop in annual church attendance. Her own series, The Divine Hours, made the fixed-hour prayer of the church accessible and popular to hundreds of thousands of people within a few years' time, providing evidence to the theory. So did her work as popular historian and sometimes evangelist of the Emerging church.

On this occasion in Atlanta, Phyllis explained that the days of scriptural authority as the guiding principle for churches were behind us. The faith is more complicated than ever before. Martin Luther's sola scriptura resulted in 40,000 denominations and the "every man and his Bible" principle, dear to evangelicals, simply no longer holds. The future is looking for new foundations. To some, this was unsettling, to others, it was deeply upsetting.

So enraged was one middle aged man that as Phyllis left the stage to a standing ovation, he jumped from his front row seat. In itself, this wasn't unusual; many in the room had seen Phyllis speak before and she was always engaged with audience members after a talk. She had "fans" and no one was better at Q&A. Also, she was the author of many books and many people carried them to her talks to get them signed.

This night was different. As people were standing and cheering, and Christian rock music began throbbing through large speakers for transition, few actually heard the exchange between Phyllis and the unidentified man.

"Shame on you for denying the authority of scripture!" he yelled at her. He pointed a finger in her face and it looked for a moment as if he might pick her up and throw her to one side. He was also intentionally blocking her exit.

Phyllis responded with a conciliatory Southern cool, "Oh, no sir. If you didn't hear me support the authority of the Bible in all of this, I'm afraid I miscommunicated."

But he grabbed her arm, and shouted again.

She had two designated "handlers" that day. It was their job to ensure people didn't impede her too much in making it from event to another, and to get her back to the airport for her flight out of Hartsfield International. They both jumped to their feet. One of them pulled the man away from Phyllis, while the other body-shielded her down the aisle toward a rapid exit. Later, one of them wrote on his blog, "I told the guy, 'Didn't your mom ever teach you anything?!'"

Phyllis had struck a nerve that day. This would happen often, but never again quite so physically. Millions of Christians were unprepared to hear that Christendom was falling, or had fallen, and were trying still to speak with their old authority and hegemony from the rubble. With wisdom, wit, humor, and humility she encouraged Christians of all denominational backgrounds to understand the past and face the future.

Phyllis died on Tuesday, September 22, at 81. Diagnosed with stage four lung cancer several months earlier, she had entered hospice in early September. A memorial service took place a month later, but there was really no need for a funeral, since she and her husband, Sam, who had died at the beginning of that year, donated their bodies to medical research. Wasn't that so like her, that there was nothing left to inter?
Arte Grafitti en Barrio Canas, Ponce, Puerto Rico, en apoyo al preso politico Oscar Lopez Rivera y condenando su encarcelamiento

Oscar Lopez Rivera is a political prisoner who at 74 years of age has served 34 years in American prisons, 12 of them in consecutive solitary confinement, because of his ideas. Sentenced to 55 years for seditious conspiracy in 1981 and an additional 15 years for conspiracy to escape in 1987, Lopez Rivera has never been convicted of a violent act.

His only idea, overarching as it is, is the independence of Puerto Rico. His continued incarceration today, as the nation ponders the ills of disproportionate criminal sentencing, can only be justified by gross punishment and retribution.

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Why else keep a 74 year old man whose release is supported by Nobel Peace Prize recipients Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchu and Mairead Maguire, among thousands of others, behind bars for this long? Punishment - that enduring characteristic of American exceptionalism, plain and simple -- is the only justification.

For our sake, President Barack Obama, please release him. Now.

The two consecutive criminal sentences totaling 70 years, shout out disproportionality thereby reflecting this country's illogical and unnecessary criminal justice policies -- which the Obama administration is trying to correct. Equally important, because Mr. Lopez Rivera is widely considered to be unjustly sentenced for his political beliefs and his advocacy for the independence of Puerto Rico, his continued incarceration is inconsistent with this nation's values.

Seditious conspiracy in 1981 really had no parallel in the nation's courts since it appears that at that time the only persons even accused of the crime were exclusively persons advocating for Puerto Rican independence. Thus, 55 years for that conviction - where Mr. Lopez Rivera has already served 34 -- is disproportionate especially considering that he was never convicted of any violent crime or crimes that caused injuries to others.

His 1987 conviction for conspiracy to escape also belies any fair notion of just sentencing upon receiving 15 consecutive years of imprisonment far more than any other members of the conspiracy. Again, Mr. Lopez Rivera was not convicted of actually escaping or even actually attempting to do so.

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The facts and circumstances of his conspiratorial acts were all part of the public record when President William Clinton offered Mr. Lopez Rivera executive clemency in 1999, noting that the sentences were "out of proportion." Mr. Lopez Rivera chose not to accept the offer in light of the terms of the offer for his other co-defendants -- but that has nothing to do with fair sentencing.

In fact, the best practices of sentencing reform in the modern era were recently highlighted by the National Research Council of the National Academies in 2014 in "The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences."

That body of academics concluded that incarceration in America should be balanced by four guiding principles:

1. Proportionality (criminal offenses should be sentenced in proportion to their seriousness);

2. Parsimony (the period of confinement should be sufficient but not greater than necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing policy);

3. Citizenship (the conditions and consequences of incarceration should not be so severe or lasting as to violate one's fundamental status as a member of society); and,

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4. Social Justice (prisons should be instruments of justice and their collective effect should be to promote, not undermine, society's aspirations for a fair distribution of rights, resources and opportunities).

When applied to a 74-year-old man who has spent nearly half of his life imprisoned for his political beliefs, these principles underscore how unjust this case really is. The sentences, as noted above, are patently disproportionate and given that Mr. Lopez Rivera spent 12 consecutive years in solitary confinement they go beyond any sense of justice.

The sentences are also well beyond frugality or parsimony; belie any sense of the value of citizenship given Mr. Lopez Rivera's age and his life expectancy; and run counter to any modicum of social justice. Under these principles his sentences serve no value except, at best, retribution and we should be well beyond that debilitating and corrosive mind-set in modern sentencing reform.

The Obama administration knows better. It has been steadfastly advocating for sentencing reform of late. The President visited a federal prison, an historic and welcome first, while simultaneously speaking to the scourge of racial profiling, and addressing juvenile justice on the one hand, and enduring collateral consequences, on the other. The growing support for the release of Mr. Lopez Rivera has unified each of the major political parties in Puerto Rico who along with clergy, unionists, activists and elected and community leaders have made his cause well within the mainstream.

Moreover, such a request is not outside the propriety of the power of the executive since granting presidential clemency for prisoners who advocate for Puerto Rico's independence is not a complete rarity. President Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and William Clinton have all done it.

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Instead, what America has in Oscar Lopez Rivera is a beacon of freedom and a symbol of what needs to be rectified at the earliest possible moment in order to restore our standing in the world community and to make palpable the very criminal justice and sentencing reform that has wisely guided this administration.

In addition to the support Lopez Rivera receives from Nobel laureates it was President Obama's memorable speech in South Africa in 2013 at the commemoration of the life of Mr. Mandela that raised real hopes for his release. The President spoke of Mandela's activism for freedom, inspiring both him and the whole world and then he spoke of Mandela's reconciliatory outlook: "It took a man like Madiba to free not the prisoner, but the jailer as well ... to teach that reconciliation is not just a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth."

I personally met with Oscar Lopez Rivera in his prison in Indiana in 2015 as part of a delegation of three attorneys, including his own, the incomparable Jan Susler. Lopez Rivera held no rancor, and was the picture of peace and benevolence. His mind was clear and spirit intact. His return to his cell that day as I exited the visiting room was an affront to everything I have learned about justice in our country.

Should President Obama commute his sentence it will not only free Oscar Lopez Rivera, but also the very system that unjustly jails him.

_______

Sources

Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 13, No. 3-4, 2000-2001, 226-227 (Letter from President Clinton to Congressman Henry Waxman.

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Administrative Office of the United States District Court, Sentences Imposed Chart For Year Ended June 30, 1981 (Washington, D.C.), p. 145.

Federal Criminal Case Processing, 1980-87, Addendum for 1988 and Preliminary 1989: A Federal Justice Statistics Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1990), p. 17.

Herbert Koppel, Time Served in Prison: Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1984).
Who is worthy of redemption? Do criminals deserve a second chance? What about murderers?

Shaka Senghor explores these questions through his own life experience as documented in his memoir Writing My Wrongs. At 14 years old, Mr. Senghor ran away from home to escape his abusive mother. Being a teenager, he had little survival resources and often went long periods of time without food or adequate shelter. When he was approached by crack dealer offering him work, it was impossible not to be seduced by the quick money and the fast lifestyle. Unfortunately, he underestimated the dangers of the drug trade; among the many consequences that came along with his career choice, the most life altering was undoubtedly when he was shot.

Full of fear and paranoia, Mr. Senghor purchased a gun himself. After 16 months of owning the gun, he shot and killed someone during an altercation over a drug deal. At 19 years old, Mr. Senghor was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 17-40 years in prison.

Within his first six weeks of imprisonment, Mr. Senghor writes he "had witnessed everything from rape and robbery to murder." Filled with rage, resentment and fear, Mr. Senghor became vicious, which not only led him to the top of the prison social hierarchy, but also got him assigned to solitary confinement for a total of seven years, four of which were served consecutively. Most people had written him off as a "lost cause."

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But fate had other plans for Mr. Senghor. Five years into his sentence, he received a letter from the godmother of the man he had killed. In the letter, she had asked him to tell her what happened the night of the murder. Mr. Senghor was taken aback by the request, but responded to her letter honestly, knowing that he, at the very least, owed her some closure. She responded two weeks later. "She said that she forgave me and encouraged me to seek God's forgiveness," Mr. Senghor recalls, "and I took her words to heart."

Mr. Senghor eventually began his own arduous journey of forgiveness and empathy, much of which occurred through journaling. "Within the lined pages of my notepads," Mr. Senghor writes, "I got in touch with a part of me that didn't feel fear whenever something didn't go my way-a part of me that was capable of feeling compassion for the men around me."

While on this path to emotional wellness and understanding, Mr. Senghor also took the opportunity to educate himself by visiting the prison library every opportunity he got. He started reading literature from great African American writers such as Donald Goines, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Assata Shakur, and George Jackson to name a few. "My reading of Black history gave me a sense of pride and dignity that I didn't have prior to coming to prison," Mr. Senghor explains.

Photo credit: Alain McLaughlin

With the rise of his self-confidence as a Black man along with his own exponential emotional growth, Mr. Senghor was becoming more and more dedicated to being a better person. However, the social expectations in prison would often force him to compromise on his new resolve. As he puts it in his book, "I was growing in my consciousness, but the gravitational pull of prison life was overwhelming."

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One of the most intense examples of this conundrum was when his old bunk mate asked Mr. Senghor, who had recently transferred prisons, to do him a favor: "He said that a guy who had molested his son and niece was at the prison I was in, and he wanted me to take care of it." Mr. Senghor continues, "I was conflicted. I had stopped using violence as a way to solve problems. I was tired of the madness of prison and all of the street codes, and all I wanted to do was move on with my life." However, in order to survive in prison, Mr. Senghor was expected to engage in these types of conflicts or risk some form of retaliation; either way, he would be forced into a violent situation.

One has to wonder how anyone is supposed to not only survive in this type of environment, but then successfully reintegrate back into society? This question is particularly important considering that 95% of all state prisoners will be released from prison at some point.

When Mr. Senghor finally received parole, an officer predicted that he would only last 6 months outside of prison. Since his release in 2010, Mr. Senghor has graduated from the M.I.T. Media Lab fellowship, taught at the University of Michigan, and given a thought-provoking TED Talk. Today, Mr. Senghor continues to travel across the country to continue this conversation about prison reform. He also frequently visits prisons to inspire inmates and assure them that, even though the cards are heavily stacked against them, there is hope.

While Mr. Senghor has succeeded against all odds to become a positive force in the world, one has to wonder why we aren't making it easier for prisoners to redeem themselves? As Mr. Senghor writes, "you can't change a person for the better by treating him or her like an animal. The way I see it, you get out of people what you put into them."

This brings us back to the original question: who is worthy of redemption? Is Mr. Senghor? He did, after all, kill someone. During his first parole review, Mr. Senghor talked about his plans after prison, specifically about the book he wanted to publish and the work he wanted to do when we was out. Before he could finish discussing these plans, the parole board officer curtly interrupted, "That's cute that you have books, Mr. [Senghor], but it doesn't take away from the fact that you picked up a gun and decided to use it to kill someone."

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When I was shot in the head by a sniper in Iraq, my old life ended. But my new life didn't really begin until I wrote about it.

Before I was sent to Iraq with the Marines in the summer of 2006, I was a successful lawyer. I was also unmarried, although I had met Dahlia in my Spanish class in Argentina a few months earlier, and our budding relationship resulted in marriage two years later.

Everything changed after my injury. My military career was essentially over; my professional path irrevocably changed. Even my personal life changed forever, as I had to adapt to my new normal, including significant disabilities. And Dahlia was seriously affected also, as she set aside her dreams to help with my recovery.

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I have talked about my experiences a lot. First, with my wife, then with medical professionals, my family and friends, and finally as a public speaker.

I've been fortunate to speak at a number of major corporations in my new career as an inspirational speaker, TED lecturer and veterans advocate. In my talks about what businesses can learn from military leadership, I often reflect on my recovery and the lessons I have learned.

After the talks, members of the audience ranging from top executives to junior staffers who were in the back of the room have told me how much it meant to hear my personal story, encouraging me to write it down.

At first, it seemed like that would be easy. After all, these are stories that I've told and retold dozens of times in all kinds of situations. But writing them down seemed so final, even when a particular chapter went through multiple revisions in the editing process.

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I realized as I wrote the book that just as we are always changing, so are our memories. Each time I told my story, it changed a little.

At first, I emphasized the negative parts: how close I came to death, how devastating my injury was. As I recovered, I learned to emphasize the positive parts: the Marines who put their lives on the line to save me, how supportive my wife was. And finally, I learned to tell my story so that it could help others, focusing on the universal lessons in it about struggling to overcome hardship.

My personal story is just part of the book, My Battlefield, Your Office. I also included a lot of things I've learned in my career about military leadership, how businesses work and what the two can learn from each other.

But writing those sections may have helped me the most. The process was therapeutic, helping me consider every aspect of my injury and recovery. And those reflections in turn helped me connect with other wounded warriors going through the same issues.
The GOP has forever been the party of law and order, of protecting American gun rights, of water boarding terrorists, and ultimately of standing up for what is right. They have always been tough on crime, painting Democrats as "soft" (i.e. flaccid or not erect). Recently they called the Democratic leadership - particularly President Obama - weak negotiators, as in the Iran agreement.

But, as with homophobic and family values congressmen, we again see that the accuser is in fact the person who should be accused. Now the accusers of weakness in others are the weakest of all. Members of the Republican establishment that stand up to Obama by saying "no" can't even stand up to each other.

Mitt Romney sharply attacked Donald Trump the morning of Thursday night's presidential debate. He called Trump "a phony, a fraud." He continued to say that Trump's "promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University." Romney then said that on foreign policy, Trump is "very, very not smart."

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His attacks were relentless and pointed. By contrast, Cruz and Rubio seemed like frat boys when they attacked Trump. Thursday night devolved to discussions of penis size.

So, are Cruz and Rubio as sincere as Romney in their criticisms? I think not - absolutely not. They essentially called him a con artist and liar, but eventually said that if Trump were the party's nominee they would actually support him.

I am reminded of Tim Robbins' play Embedded when two reporters covering Iraq were discussing President George W. Bush. One said, "I know he's a liar, but I trust him."

So where does that leave us? We are left with self-proclaimed stand-up men who don't stand up. Is it because they won't or because they can't? Does party loyalty trump, as it were, genuine patriotism? Maybe "little Marco" and "lying" Ted should just go out and play.

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The Republican Party has been decimated and even humiliated by Trump. Twitter personality bwdone2017 anticipated their meltdown six months ago when he tweeted, "Barack Obama turned the GOP into nothing more than a lunatic cult, and all he had to do was to be black."

So, how is the title of this blog "Invictus (1875) Invalidated (2016)" relevant? Here is the final quatrain, and you can draw your own conclusions:
President Barack Obama visits the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images)

"As Muslim Americans...your entire community so often is targeted or blamed for the violent acts of the very few....No surprise, then, that threats and harassment of Muslim Americans have surged. Here at this mosque, twice last year, threats were made against your children. Around the country, women wearing the hijab...have been targeted."

-- President Barack Obama, February 3, 2016, Islamic Society of Baltimore

President Obama made headlines last month when he made his first visit to a mosque and spoke in support of the Muslim community. He made a special point to acknowledge the unique risk that Muslims in the United States face, and he specifically underscored the harassment and risk faced by Muslim women wearing headscarves. The president's speech was a strong symbol of support for the Muslim community.

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But actions speak louder than words.

While the president denounced the fact that the "entire community" is often blamed for the "violent acts of a very few," military practices and law enforcement policies under his administration have inherently reinforced the notion of collective guilt and upheld a system that targets Muslim women.

A recently re-published military policy paper typifies how the president's words -- no matter how strong -- don't always align with his administration's policies and practices, especially when it comes to countering violent extremism (CVE).

As Murtaza Hussain at The Intercept explains, the paper issued by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory includes a section written by a self-identified former extremist Tawfik Hamid, "A Strategic Plan to Defeat Radical Islam." Hamid puts forth a collection of unproven, though familiar, theories about what causes violent extremism, including the idea that increased religiosity is a predictor of extremist violence. But he takes it a step further and says Muslim women who wear headscarves are advancing "passive terrorism."

Hamid allows that "many Muslim women are peaceful people," but, he writes, "I have observed that, over the last few decades, terrorism was preceded by an increase in the prevalence of the hijab." He also argued that sexual deprivation as a part of the "hijab phenomenon" also leads to violent extremism.

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Responses to Hamid's unsupported claims were swift and sometimes hilarious. Some social media users pointed out that Muslim women are not the only ones who cover their heads. Others posted pictures of headscarf collections and sarcastically wondered which color would be the most "dangerous" to wear. A picture of a "passive terrorist" cat in a pink headscarf even made the rounds.

But Hamid's musings -- and the military's recognition of them as sound advice -- are far from funny.

The Air Force turned to Hamid for help "identifying at risk populations" and "to develop appropriate strategies for countering or defeating violent extremism." The spectacular clash of Islamophobia and misogyny in the chapter didn't prevent the military from publishing it -- twice.

Again, Muslim women are at once blamed for the existence of extremist violence and targeted by it.

In recent years, there has been some discussion about the role of women in developing CVE programs. Do we, as Muslim women, especially Muslim mothers, have a special or inherent responsibility to prevent terrorism? Or, as others have argued, are Muslim women being used to to advance a motherhood trope that unfairly holds us accountable for failings in the communities they're expected to care for?

As these questions are posed and debated, Hamid's paper demonstrates how Muslim women's behavior, dress, or actions -- or our mere presence -- are blamed for violent extremism.

Much has been said about the interpersonal harassment and violence directed toward Muslims, people believed to be Muslim, and Muslim women in particular. Women who wear headscarves risk anti-Muslim attacks in rising rates in the United States across Europe. It makes sense: We are easy to spot and, similar to a lot of gender-based violence, attackers assume we won't fight back.

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But the focus on interpersonal harassment and hate violence alone ignores how the government helps creates the environment that fuels anti-Muslim hostility. This focus also obscures the ways that programs like CVE in its current form institutionalize anti-Muslim discrimination.

CVE sets out to identify and then police behaviors and even thoughts that might lead to violent extremism. The programs are often aimed at educators and students, and teach them to identify changes in political attitudes, more frequent trips to the mosque, new facial hair, and, apparently, headscarves, as signs of a potential problem. Is it any wonder, then, that anti-Muslim bullying in schools is on the rise? Or that attacks against Muslim women in headscarves and Sikh men in turbans continue to happen?

There is still a lot we don't know about CVE programs, which is why at least two lawsuits have been filed to find out more. But what we do know is disturbing, and this re-released paper certainly doesn't help quell concerns about threats to civil liberties and constitutional rights.

In Hamid's world, passive terrorism exists when people "do not conduct terrorist attacks," but "fail to denounce them," becoming a threat to "free societies."

But to help foster a truly free society, it is time government drop biased training resources, disclose more information about current CVE programs, and make Obama's words actually ring true.


Giving is an ancient impulse. Way back in 347 B.C. Plato donated his farm to support students at the school he had founded. It is also a widespread impulse. Even people who have very little money are eager to give, and feel good when they do. Among households with annual income under $25,000, close to four out of ten still give charity to others in a typical year. (These and may other intriguing facts about giving are available in the book I've just published--The Almanac of American Philanthropy.)



The book Breaking Night tells the true story of a neglected girl and the kind people who intervene to help her succeed in spite of her horrendous upbringing. "What was most moving about all of this unexpected generosity," writes the now-grown child, "was the spirit in which people helped. It was something in their moods and in their general being...how they were smiling, looking me right in the eyes."



She describes a woman named Teressa who came up to her and said, "Since I didn't have any money to help you out, I thought I couldn't do anything for you at all. And then last night, I was doing my daughter's laundry, and I thought, how silly of me, maybe you had laundry I could do for you." Every week for the remainder of the author's time in school, Teressa picked up dirty clothes and returned them clean and folded, taking great pleasure in this little thing she could do to help.



Lots of research shows that this is a common phenomenon. In a 2008 paper published in Science, three investigators gave study participants money, asked half to spend it on themselves, and the other half to give it to some person or charity. Those who donated the money showed a significant uptick in happiness; those who spent it on themselves did not. Other academic work has shown that offering aid to others can actually make the giver healthier--lowering blood pressure, stress, illness, and mortality. In his book Who Really Cares, economist Arthur Brooks cites studies showing that Americans who make gifts of money and time are more likely to prosper and be satisfied with life than non-givers who are demographically identical.



A 2014 book by two Notre Dame social scientists, called The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose, combined national surveys with in-depth interviews and group observations. It concluded that "the more generous Americans are, the more happiness, health, and purpose in life they enjoy. This association...is strong and highly consistent.... Generous practices actually create enhanced personal well-being. The association...is not accidental, spurious, or an artifact of reverse causal influence."



The researchers conclude with a simple observation. "People often say that we increase the love we have by giving it away." In this, they write, "generosity is like love."
If Hillary Clinton activated her "firewall" in the past week of presidential primaries, black women are a key component of it. Black voters voted overwhelmingly for Clinton in Democratic primaries across the nine states where race data is available, and the proportion of black women casting ballots for Clinton was even greater than the proportion of black men, based on exit polls reporting race by gender data. Gender gaps--the difference between women's and men's support for the winning candidates--range from two to nine points among black voters in primaries in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Most significantly, Clinton has won more than 85 percent of black women's votes in each of these states.

Clinton's support among black women voters is even more significant since they have turned out at the highest rates of any race/gender subgroup in the past two presidential elections. More than 70 percent of black women voted in 2012, out-voting white women (65.6 percent), white men (62.6 percent), and black men (61.4 percent). Based on the available exit poll data from the Democratic primaries in 2016, black women continue to make up a larger proportion of the Democratic electorate than black men.

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Clinton's support among black women has been key to her ability, thus far, to reassemble the coalition that elected Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Just look at the past week's primary results. Last Saturday, Clinton won 89 percent of black women's votes in South Carolina, a state where 78 percent of black women voted for Obama in 2008. Clinton won 93 percent of black women's votes in Alabama, the same state where she won just 18 percent of black women's votes in 2008, when Obama won 81 percent of black women. In Georgia, Clinton won 86 percent of black women's votes on Tuesday, compared to just 12 percent in 2008. (Obama won 87% of black women's votes there in 2008.). Clinton won 86 percent and 85 percent of black women's votes in Texas and Virginia respectively on Super Tuesday, states where she won less than 20 percent of black women's support just 8 years ago. (Obama won 82 percent and 86 percent of black women's votes in Texas and Virginia, respectively, in 2008.)

Despite the dominance of support for Clinton, black women voters are not monolithic. Generational, ideological, and regional differences--among others--influence the policy priorities and perspectives of black women voters, as do the experiences they bring to--and value most at--the ballot box. Too often, the strong majorities in black women's support for any given candidate yield conclusions that their votes come en masse, making it all too easy for their influence to be overlooked and their support to be taken for granted.

That risk is particularly great as we move on to the general election. In 2008 and 2012, 96 percent of black women voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama. Regardless of which Democrat wins the nomination this year, there is no indication that black women--or black voters overall--will shift their allegiance to the Republican party. But even if that assumption of Democratic loyalty is true, there is no guarantee that enthusiasm, engagement, and turnout will match that which proved so valuable to Obama's election and re-election. Already, the overall turnout numbers in the Democratic primaries are lower than those in 2008, while turnout on the Republican side is exceeding 2008 numbers by significant margins. The mobilization of voters in the primary and general election will matter when it comes to who votes on Election Day.

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Black women's voices have figured prominently in recent weeks on the Democratic primary campaign trail. Five black mothers of slain children traveled across states with Hillary Clinton, while former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner and legal scholar Michelle Alexander have publicly supported Sanders and questioned Clinton's commitment to black America. Will these voices, and the conversations in which they are engaged, continue beyond primaries in demographically-rich states for black voters? Even more importantly, how do black women voters ensure that these conversations continue and deepen to yield substantive policy plans and positions to which any Democratic nominee can be held accountable?

Black women's voices need to be heard and addressed in the remaining primary debates and beyond when nominees are selected in July. Harnessing the power of black women's votes means leveraging enthusiasm in advance and boosting turnout in November to ensure that candidates feel compelled to address the issues of greatest importance to black women on the campaign trail and in office. Importantly, black women don't just mobilize themselves; they organize their communities and bring others to the polls with them.
As the race narrows around a likely Donald-Hillary fight, Republican elites have lamented that there may be another President Clinton come 2017. Betting markets agree. Hillary Clinton boasts a 68% likelihood of being the next president, while Trump has a slim 19%. Every other candidate is at 3% or less.

Despite these odds of a Democratic three-peat, Senate Republicans have stuck to their argument that the next president, and not President Obama, should appoint the new Supreme Court justice.

"If Hillary is elected, and certainly if there's a Democratic Senate, the Republicans would be much better off with a moderate nominee now," said Harvard constitutional law professor Lawrence H. Tribe in an interview with James B. Stewart. "That's a rational way of looking at it."

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But waiting until 2017 to fill the court vacancy is indeed a rational, if cynical, stance for Republicans.

As Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza remarked on a recent Meet the Press, each presidency has "one big swing," one fight in which to spend the political capital of their election. And, Todd notes, "if your first hundred days is dominated by a Supreme Court fight, in [this] environment, you will get nothing else done."

With that in mind, Republican obstruction makes political sense. Whether approved under a lame-duck President Obama or a newly elected President Clinton, the new justice would vote with the court's liberals. With more 5-4 splits than ever, neither appointer-in-chief could pass up the opportunity to shift the court's balance.

However, waiting until 2017 puts a steeper price tag on the appointment. President Clinton would have to spend her "one big swing" on the nomination battle, while President Obama would get a legacy-defining appointment on the cheap.

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Unless politics magically becomes less polarized over the course of an election year, that rationale isn't likely to change.

Of course, individual Republican senators may break ranks if voter anger over the court vacancy threatens their own reelection chances, as some early polling indicates. It's a particularly tough cycle for the GOP. Of the eight seats in serious contention, six are Republican-held. And five of those are in presidential battleground states, where scorched-earth tactics will have down-ticket effects beyond whatever impact a Trump nomination holds.
The United States has always prided itself on lending a helping hand to its citizens in trying times. Throughout our history, when Americans have fallen on hardship, our safety net has stepped in to provide temporary help to those who need it. When I walked into USDA on my first day in 2009, the United States was in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in our history. Record numbers of people suddenly found themselves and their families in dire circumstances without enough income to make ends meet or put food on the table. At that time of great need, millions turned to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help them ease their hunger.

Since Secretary Vilsack invited me to join him at USDA as Under Secretary of Food and Nutrition Consumer Services (FNCS), not only have we helped to bring America back from the brink of a second economic depression, we have also worked to institutionalize more opportunities and pathways directed at helping states assist consumers and expand direct access to healthy and affordable food.

Seven years later, a stronger economy is helping slow and reverse the trend of rising participation in SNAP. From its peak rates during the Great Recession, as families and communities begin to rebuild, participation in SNAP has dropped by over two million participants -- and that's the way the program is designed.

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With our tremendous reach, the federal government is charged with implementing laws in the most efficient and effective way possible while working with private, state and local entities to ensure we are addressing and responding to regional differences as needed. It truly does take a village to tackle child hunger -- and the strong advocacy and voices of our partners have helped carry us as far as we've come.

Throughout my time as Under Secretary, I have always heard that the agencies within FNCS, the Food and Nutrition Service and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, have a reputation among federal agencies of being good partners with states -- I take great pride in that reputation. In particular, our staff across the country continues to work with schools and districts to ensure they have the tools, training and assistance they need to meet the updated healthier food standards implemented under the historic and bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The statistics show it's working.

Today, over 97% of schools are meeting the standards and over 50 million children are benefiting from a healthier school food environment. We're helping schools learn from one another in order to make positive strides toward providing financially sustainable healthy school environments with strong student participation.

And students are embracing the healthier meals. I keep a photo in my office of some young ladies I met in a New Orleans elementary school that had to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. I had the pleasure of having lunch with these bright young students and I was so enthralled by the stories they were telling me that I wasn't eating my lunch. Well, toward the end of the lunchtime one of the students turned to me and said "Sir, if you aren't going to eat your broccoli, can I have it?" As I've visited schools across the country, I've seen time and time again that young people are choosing to eat healthy, whether it's taking an extra apple from the sharing table or enthusiastically choosing locally-grown kale from the salad bar.

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Under this Administration, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a program that serves about half of all babies born in the US, has undergone the first science-based food package changes in decades. Not only are these changes helping the program be more effective at preventing health related illnesses in pregnant women, infants and children, but according to the Government Accountability Office, every dollar spent on prenatal WIC participation is also saving us $3.50 in health care costs.

And, at a time where government cutbacks were prevalent, USDA committed to investing in staff and resources in FNCS to make it the most effective agency it can be, ready to serve people who need it, in the ways they need it most. We've invested in progressive new efforts like SNAP Employment and Training programs that seek to help participants build comprehensive skill sets and match them with the well-paying jobs they need to move off the program. We've rolled out digital services like SuperTracker and ChooseMyPlate.gov to reach a larger audience of people with helpful nutrition information whenever they need it. And we've protected taxpayer dollars by initiating aggressive new tactics to investigate illegal activity in SNAP and remove bad actors from the program, resulting in a significant reduction in trafficking.

As a state commissioner for nearly 30 years, the bulk of my career has been spent in state government. During this time, I have served as Director of State Health and Human Services departments in Maine, Oregon, and in Iowa - the latter under then-Governor Vilsack. People often ask me, now that you're on the federal side, what's the biggest thing you've learned. And to that question, my response is, "Where you live makes a difference." The truth is, we can make laws at the federal level to protect the nutrition safety net and ensure access to health foods, but whether or not that law is embraced at the local level--whether it's fully availed by the local leaders--makes all the difference in our ability to reach consumers with the assistance they need.

In the last year of this Administration, I am committed to keeping up our work to ensure states and local partners have the tools they need to reach their constituents so that we can continue to see more of the positive changes that we've seen in the last seven years. We are also working to take stock of what's working and how those programs can reach more people who really need them. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished in seven years, but our work here is far from done.
The Blog Bernie Sanders: Compassionate Liberalism vs Selfish Vainglory

We are already in the midst of a status quo pushing us towards greed, selfishness and apathy towards the less fortunate. Don't stay home when the primary arrives at your state, get out and vote. And feel the Bern.
College--to the naked eye, it seems like a dream. Being away from your parents, parties every night, and having the power to choose what classes you take and when you take them are just some of its many perks.

The media portrays college as the ticket to freedom. However, it omits the trials and tribulations that students go through during school and the mental health issues that many college students struggle with.

[caption width="640" align="alignnone"] College is a time of fun, freedom, and tremendous stress. If you need help, seek it! (Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library/Flickr)[/caption]

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In my freshman year of college I attended school in Georgia. This was a lot for me, being 14 hours away from my home in Maryland. At first I was excited about being away, sleeping in as long as I wanted, and working toward my dreams. However, after a couple of months I found myself unhappy for no apparent reason and sitting in my room for hours with the lights out. My way of coping was watching Netflix and sleeping.

It wasn't until I had a nervous breakdown that I realized that this was not the type of environment I needed to be in. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't seek help. Thankfully, I found a better situation; I'm one of the lucky ones.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness did a study on college campus and found that:

One in four students has a diagnosable mental illness

40% do not seek help

80% feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities

50% have been so anxious they struggled in school

Poor mental health on college campuses is not a claim, it is a crisis. Many students begin to feel the stress of college weigh on them and experience things like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction, and even suicide. Students come in with high expectations of how college will be and are disappointed.

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Sadly, this was the case for honor roll student and track star Madison Holleran, who was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. On January 17, 2014, Holleran killed herself by jumping off a parking garage a mile and a half from campus. She was one of five Penn students to die by suicide in a six-month period.

Many blamed the suicides on the competitive nature of college and the lack of mental health services for students. A year after her death, Holleran's family released her suicide note to People Magazine.

In her letter, Madeline apologized repeatedly and disclosed how she didn't know who she was anymore. She went on to explain that she loved her family deeply and desperately wanted peace from her pain. According to the article, she had confessed to her sister that she struggled with juggling her school work, her social life, and running track.

People Magazine titled their article "Perfect Student, Shocking Suicide."

While the four years of college may be the best time of some people's lives, they may also be four years of financial and mental torture. Collegemagazine.com did an article on the top 10 most stressful colleges in America. The list is from least stressful to most:

10. University of Pennsylvania

9. Northwestern University

8. Washington University in St. Louis

7. Cornell University

6. New York University

5. Wake Forest University

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3. Tulane University

2. Stanford University

1. Harvard University

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Since Madison's death, the number of college students seeking help for mental health is slowly increasing. In its 2015 annual report, the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State University released data showing that that year, 100,736 students nationwide sought treatment for mental health. Students have increasingly reports self-injury, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts.

Although efforts are being made to combat this mental health epidemic, there is still a lot to be done. The best thing that we as a community can do is to raise awareness among current and future students. By doing this, we will be able to promote the advantages of seeking help and teach students that there is no shame in wanting help. Taking care of our mental health is extremely important because it allows us to be the best version of ourselves and empowers us to reach our full potential.
Pennsylvania Ballet cast of Angel Corella's Don Quixote (photo Alexander Iziliaev)

Philly is dance central for the first two weeks in March with a slate of troupes representing a wide spectrum of dance companies in performance all over town. It starts with Pennsylvania Ballet's new production of Don Quixote at the Academy of Music and across town with the always dynamic ballet fusion of Dance Theatre of Harlem at Annenberg Center.

DonQ is standard repertoire for many ballet companies, but this is the first time Pennsylvania Ballet is mounting it. The production is choreographed by artistic director Angel Corella and based on the Marius Petipa's 19th century original at the Bolshoi Theater, with Ludwig Minkus's score. Corella famously performed the lead danseur role of Basilio at age 19 in American Ballet Theater's production and reprised his performance on dance stages all over the world throughout his career.



Corella's choreography will lace the impeccable old world classicism with Spanish folkloric dance and authentic flamenco. The production will showcase Corella's artistic imprimatur and ballet forward approach he has made on the company.

In re-imagining the ballet, Corella is attending to every aspect of his production including shopping for authentic clothing. "I was in Barcelona this summer and I found this shop with Spanish traditional articles to make it authentic," he said in an interview last month "If we're talking creating a new look for the company, this couldn't be better, out of the expected repertoire," Corella said.

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The story depicts one of Don Quixote's adventures with Sancho on his quest for love and truth. These characters are so well known that "you also have to be careful that it doesn't become caricature. It has to look real, technically sharp and sensual, without going too far," he noted.

Corella arranged for the most lavish sets- on loan from the San Diego Opera- that feature fully constructed Spanish villas and battlements. Because of the ballet's size, this is the first time PB has mounted this ballet and all the full company will be on stage, with rotating leads. Star guest dancers include choreographer Matthew Neenan (former PAB principal) and Charles Askegard from New York City Ballet as DonQ and Colby Damon (BalletX) as Sancho. Neenan commented that Corella has, among other things, has the large ensemble cast is not decorous, they are "in motion" in character pantomime at all times.

Aside from Quixote's quest, the main love story is a beautiful and comic romp between Basilo and Kitri, a part that has been danced by prima ballerinas worldwide for generations. Audiences got a preview of their chemistry in the electrifying central duet danced by new PAB principals Mayara Pineiro and Arian Molina Soca that left the audience panting for more.



Pennsylvania Ballet's Don Quixote runs March 3-13 - go tohttp://www.paballet.org for more information

The Dance Theatre of Harlem returns to Philly

Dance Theatre of Harlem on tour (photo courtesy of DTH)

After a company shut-down in the 2000sThe Dance Theatre of Harlem re-emerged in 2012 and started rebuilding their presence on the international dance scene. The company was founded in the late 60s by the legendary New York City Ballet principal dancer Arthur Mitchell, who broke racial barriers on the dance stage in the 50s. In recent years, Virginia Johnson, former DTH principal has brought to bring company back to the same artistic and technical standard that Mitchell established.

They return to the Annenberg Center with their program African Roots, American Voices with three dynamically different ballets- . Christopher Huggins ballet "In The Mirror Of Her Mind" and Ulysses Dove's "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven: Odes to Love and Loss" and Robert Garland's "Return"

In a phone interview from New York this week, choreographer Robert Garland said that working with Johnson and re-establishing the company has been "wonderful and truly inspiring."

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"Virginia has taken up that baton and carried it forward with these dancers...in a very short amount of time recreated a cohesive group that would be able to work together as a new Dance Theatre of Harlem company, but to be able to integrate the artistic level and specificity of the past company," Garland said. The new generation of DTH dancers has been performing the full range of previous repertoire of ballets- from George Balanchine's signature classic like "The Four Temperaments" to works by many of today most cutting edge choreographers.

"Return" mixes ballet vocabulary with the women on point with "vernacular dances, African American social dances" scored in part to the iconic music by James Brown and Aretha Franklin. The choreographer wanted also to return to "to the incredible artistry of this music."

Garland grew up in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Dance and a former dancer for both Philadanco and DTH. Garland has choreographed works for Britain's Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet and ABT, as well as many pieces for Dance Theatre of Harlem. He has created solo works for dance superstar Misty Copeland, the first African American principal dancer at American Ballet Theater.
With remarkable clarity and touch of envy, Mitt Romney describes Republican Party front-runner Donald Trump as "a phony, a fraud." Romney also affirms that "I understand the anger Americans feel today." Others have argued that the people, mostly white males, voting for Trump are "angry." The prototypical angry white male supporting Trump has been identified as the one "who didn't go to college," who feels voiceless, who lives in areas with "racial resentment," who frowns upon "immigrants," and who is threatened by "non-whites." Add to this white male anger some strong animus against the rights of women, against respect for sexual minorities and persons with disabilities.

The "angry white male" as a social and political phenomenon is not new by any stretch of imagination or polling data. It started with the massacres of Native Americans. Years ago, the phrase "angry white male" associated with American whites entered the Oxford Dictionary, though as a "derogatory term." In 1970s, Archie Bunker in "All in the Family" made it upright and hilarious to be angry white male. Ronald Reagan brought style and syrupiness to the concept whereas Justice Scalia injected juristic venom to the causes championed by angry white male. The neocons, mostly white-shirted white men, advocated lawless international savagery arguing that mighty (white) America has turned soft on Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, supporting torture, Guantanamo, renditions, advocating aggressive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, but advising hands-off from genocides in Congo and Rwanda.

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The invective against "political correctness" is another invention of the angry white male to promote bigotry against vulnerable groups, made vulnerable by none else but the angry white male.





Who invented the theories of inferiority of African Americans? Writing on the eve of the American Civil War, Thomas Cobb, an angry white male from Georgia, writes a phony and fraudulent "comprehensive theory" to argue that white children are superior to "negro children." In 1857, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, an angry white male, argues "most fraudulently" that the children of African Americans, free or enslaved, could not be the citizens of the United States.

Who interred innocent Japanese Americans? Franklin Roosevelt, a presumptively angry president, issues an executive order authorizing military commanders to intern Americans of the Japanese descent. Obeying the orders, white military commanders order Japanese Americans, men, women, and children, to leave their homes and report to military relocation centers. In 1944, Supreme Court Justice Black, not an African American, writes a "phony" court opinion to uphold the executive order as a lawful military imperative. In 1945, President Harry Truman, angry with the Japanese, orders the dropping of nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Who denied American women the right to vote? After establishment of the United States, almost all state legislatures, populated by white males, had passed affirmative legislation to deny American women the right to vote. In 1807, the New Jersey state legislature repealed the state law that had previously allowed women to vote. In 1875, the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, a white male, upholds "the right of suffrage to men alone" sanctifying the separation between citizenship and suffrage, requiring a tedious constitutional amendment for women to obtain suffrage. Retrospectively, it appears to be no less than a constitutional "fraud" that even American citizens, as white women were, could not vote unless specifically permitted by white males holding state machinery.

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The angry white male has been fighting to dismantle affirmative action derogatively associated with favoritism and incompetence. A popular fable has been constructed that affirmative action provides jobs to women and non-whites who are otherwise incompetent and even "unqualified." This anger is founded on a questionable presumption that whites are smarter than non-whites, a "phony and fraudulent" theory that has been employed to justify colonialism, segregation, discrimination, and monopolization of power. Ironically, the same angry white male is shocked when Asians win state and national math competitions and the East Indians beat white Americans in English spelling bee contests.

Politically, the anger that Mitt Romney refers to is directed against President Obama, the first non-white male to govern from the White House. Despite many questionable policies, including drone warfare and assassination of Americans, President Obama has served well. He did not slip in a Monica Lewinsky under his desk. He did not fabricate evidence of weapons of mass destruction to invade Iran, something he could have easily done had he listened to angry white males. Obama inherited a basket-case "terror economy" initiated by George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, the angry white males, who turned "phony" insane over the 9/11 attacks and unleashed "shock and awe" military atrocities against millions of innocent citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq. Many Americans will be delighted to see these angry white males prosecuted for war crimes.



By all counts, angry and not-so angry white males are doing pretty well in America. They are still running the show and calling the shots, sometimes from behind brown and black frontage. They head corporations, universities, state and local governments. They are disproportionately represented in academia, investment banks, and positions of privilege. I have lived in America long enough to see how incompetent and vindictive some angry white males are. I also know first-hand how angry white males think highly of themselves -- style without substance.


Amy Hagstrom Miller leaves the Supreme Court

The sun is bright in the sky, providing a scenic backdrop to the stark marble fortress of the Supreme Court. Flags at half-staff, in honor of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, ripple on either side. A dense crowd of people packs onto the sidewalk below the steps, clapping and yelling when the master of ceremonies shouts encouraging words. It's mostly women here, of all generations, many wearing identical purple hats, an apparent symbol of solidarity.

Signs are everywhere, some asserting familiar messages: "Protect Abortion Access", "Keep Clinics Open", "I stand with Whole Woman's Health." Some are more political: "I'm a feminist, I have a vagina and it votes," "Republicans Want a Government Just small Enough to Fit Inside Your Vagina," and "Mind Your Own Uterus," this one accompanied by a little drawing of what's meant to be a uterus, but which could be mistaken for the crude outline of an animal head. And one of the more clever: "Don't Mess with Access," superimposed on the state of Texas. In lieu of a sign, one woman holds up a knitted pink uterus the size of a guinea pig; a paperclip twisted in the shape of a tiny hanger attaches to its side. Groups from Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the ACLU, and the National Abortion Federation huddle together in common cause.

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We have traveled from all over the country to show our support for a woman's right to choose. Inside the building, lawyers for The Center for Reproductive Rights engage in high-stakes legal arguments that challenge recent Texas restrictions on abortion. Outside the court, just down the steps from the imposing facade, a no-less charged-up crowd of pro-choice advocates adopt a more primitive tone: We bellow and roar to remind the nation's power brokers -- the presidential candidates, the House Select Committee, the Supreme Court Justices -- that the law must ensure women's sovereignty over their own bodies. We're paying attention -- and we vote.

Various luminaries appear on the podium to address the crowd and make clear what's at stake with this Supreme Court decision. If the 2013 Texas law -- known as HB 2 -- is allowed to stand, the severe limits it imposes on abortion clinics will likely be adopted by other states, denying more women access to abortion, especially the poor and disenfranchised. Democratic Senator Patty Murray from Washington state, Senator Mazie Hirono from Hawaii, and Candy Straight from Republican Majority for Choice, take turns addressing the demonstrators. A phalanx of sober cops stands directly behind them, eyeballing the crowd, ready to lunge. There's a little commotion up front, and we can see that a loud-mouthed anti-abortionist who had made his way towards the podium is quickly surrounded and escorted away -- a security risk, no doubt, and certainly a nuisance. The cops move him to the fringe of the demonstration.



A demonstrator holds up a knit uterus

The anti-abortionist crowd grows in size and volume. A man with a mic is calling out to his fans, trying to muffle the pro-reproductive rights supporters. Everyone turns and looks to find the culprit, to scowl at him. He leads a chant, "pray to end abortions." Then, "abortion is murder." No barricade separates the hostile tribes, and the tension is palpable. Groups of young men carry signs with pictures of hacked-up babies, while a woman at the podium encourages demonstrators to "hug your abortion provider!" A couple of protest newbies engage in a heated argument, mistakenly believing they'll be smart enough and persuasive enough to change the other's mind -- or maybe just itching to fight. Meanwhile the larger crowd defending abortion rights calls out intermittently, "no more Roe!" and then "stop the sham!"

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The crowd shivers while other speakers rally the crowd: An employee at the Women's Reproductive Health Center yells out that the Texas law is medically unnecessary, a regulation crafted to trap abortion providers. "These laws end safe abortion!" she yells. Reesa Roberts, a former physician's assistant at Planned Parenthood, now at the National Abortion Federation, tells the crowd that she "spent every day making sure women are safe." Ohio Reprehensive Teresa Fedor echoes these themes. My friend and travel partner reminds me that in Ohio, Republican Governor John Kasich, the sole grown-up among the Republican presidential candidates, defunded Planned Parenthood in that state. So long to him, too.

Standing for hours on frigid concrete seeps into our bones, and we bow out for 20 minutes to warm up at the closest Starbucks. The spot turns out to be a satellite demonstration, full of thawing protesters still wrapped up in purple, still holding signs. Everyone is exceedingly polite, holding doors and smiling conspiratorially. There's a sisterhood among the pro-uterus crowd.

Once we return, the crowd has thinned some; relentless cold has weeded out the less resolute. Now the master of ceremonies calls out, "stop the sham!" and demonstrators chime in. Another rallying cry: "Hey hey, ho ho, HB 2 has got to go." Then, out of nowhere, a roar erupts and the crowd claps and points at the figures descending the long steps of the Court. There, a woman in purple -- a brilliant contrast to the white marble all around -- waves to all of us. It's Amy Hagstrom Miller, the President and CEO of Whole Woman's Health, the clinic in Texas that's challenging the law. Leaders from the nation's top pro-choice organizations trickle out behind her. Forty-five organizations, I later learn, submitted amicus briefs -- "friend of the court" filings -- to support the Center for Reproductive Rights, the advocacy group that brought the case before the court.

Nancy Northrup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, addresses us first. We made the case to the justices, she said, so that our daughters and granddaughters will have the same dignity as we have. "Forty years after Roe, we are here to affirm the right of women to make decisions for herself -- for her health, her family, and her future," she says. Stephanie Toti, the senior counsel there, steps up behind her: "Women shouldn't have to go to court to get their essential health care, and to have their Constitutional rights protected." Louise Melling from the ACLU, also fresh out of the court, is next: "This court is going to see that this law is a sham. This law cannot stand." NARAL head Ilyse Hogue asserts that the Texas law is not grounded in medicine, but rather politics: "This is a clash of world views," she says. On one side, there are women who want to control their own destiny. The other side wants to impose its narrow ideology on women.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, sleek and fearless at the podium, rallies everyone: "We will not let Texas women go back in this country!" she says. Women there and in Louisiana are suffering because legislators are finding clever ways to limit reproductive rights. This will not stand, she says. "There is not a single woman in this country who wants her daughter and granddaughter to have fewer rights than she has." The crowd roars, stifling the peeps from the anti-abortion crowd. "Don't give up the fight!" she hollers.
March 8 is International Women's Day -- a time to stop, reflect, appreciate and champion women around the globe. Women are leaders, professors, engineers and farmers, they are core to human existence. Women also make up make up significant majorities of the world's poorest populations and produce more than half of the food that is grown, yet their voices are rarely heard when decisions are made on biodiversity and the environment.

For many women, biodiversity is the foundation of their livelihoods, their cultural beliefs and even their basic survival. In addition to the obvious ecological services that biodiversity provides, collection and use of natural resources is of critical importance. Women around the world predominate as wild plant gatherers, guardians of biodiversity, plant domesticators, herbalists and seed custodians. Often however, the indivisible link between women and biodiversity goes ignored or undervalued.

Although nature is important to all humankind, women and men rely on it in diverse ways, have differentiated knowledge about it, and unequal access to and control over natural resources. For example, 15 states in India adopted forest protection resolutions that restricted firewood collection within the programme for Joint Forest Management. As a result, women had to walk an average of 10 kilometres to gather firewood in non-restricted areas. Failing to adhere to restrictions resulted in severe penalties -- with women accounting for 90 percent of the people punished.

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Recognizing women's roles as primary land and resource managers is central to the success of biodiversity policies, however data shows us that in many places this is not occurring. For instance, in recent IUCN Environment and Gender Index (EGI) analysis, women comprise only 31.6 percent of focal point positions to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), a global agreement addressing all aspects of biological diversity. Additionally, acknowledging the roles and needs of both women and men within national reports and management plans is key to effective inclusion and, therefore, effective conservation, sustainable use, and management of protected areas -- but keywords relating to gender equality were mentioned in only 16 percent of Ramsar Convention National Reports and only 1 percent of World Heritage Convention State of Conservation Reports analyzed, leaving much to be desired in terms of gender equality in regards to wetlands and protected areas.

IUCN's Global Gender Office (GGO) is committed to addressing these types of data gaps, as well as facilitating gender-responsive polices and initiatives by assisting countries in strengthening their capacity to address gender considerations in conservation. For example, a partnership was established between IUCN and the CBD, to review, train, provide guidance and convene stakeholders on mainstreaming gender into Parties National Biodiversity strategies. In Mexico City this past February, over 65 women and men working on issues related to gender and biodiversity in Mexico came together to share experiences and provide input into the development of a gender-responsive National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). We believe that this kind of innovative work, and by building the capacity of countries and relevant partners, both women and men will be equally taken into account in biodiversity conservation efforts under the CBD, and the full and effective contributions of women will be encouraged.

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In Zambia, where GGO recently engaged in the process to develop a Climate Change Gender Action Plan (ccGAP), women are acknowledged as having indigenous knowledge in the management of agricultural and forest systems and preservation of the plant genetic material for many indigenous and local food crops. For example, Zambia included references to women in its 2014 3rd National Report to the CBD, noting gender as a cross-cutting issue. In its second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2025), women are noted as stakeholders, and the need for addressing gender is likewise noted. It is encouraging to see issues of gender equality and biodiversity being highlighted not just at the international stage but also at national and local levels -- and ensuring women have equal opportunities as programme stakeholders and beneficiaries will be a critical next step to implementing these valuable commitments.

Biodiversity is fundamental to human existence -- for both women and men, young and old. The problems we face in conserving and sustainably using the earth's resources are too immense and too complex to be solved without the full and active participation of women. Efforts must be increased to involve women in biodiversity policy and planning, ascertain their access to resources and services, and ensure benefits are equitably shared among all stakeholders. To move towards gender equality in the biodiversity sector, it is essential that better gender-specific data is collected and shared, as exemplified by the EGI NBSAP data. This will raise awareness on the potential wealth of women's contributions to conservation and sustainable natural resource management, ultimately leading to a more just and sustainable world for all who inhabit it.

To learn more about GGO's work, or to explore further issues related to gender and the environment, please visit the GGO website and follow us on Twitter.

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WOMAN CARRYING THE WORLD ON HER SHOULDER

To the living memory of Berta Caceres. Courageous woman, environmental defender, feminist, mother and inspiration to many.

You might ask: feminism and climate change? Young feminism for climate justice?

Grassroots experiences are steadily shifting our awareness of climate change, from an abstract phenomenon of carbon levels and future impacts to an ever-more tangible, multi-layered issue that is bringing together all kinds of social, environmental and economic struggles.

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We are increasingly recognizing and exposing that climate change is not about carbon emissions alone, but about an economic and political system that churns out emissions to keep its cogs turning and its growth unabated. The same system that, despite its capacity for generating financial wealth, has maintained and exacerbated poverty and inequality in its various forms.

The Justice/Feminism Nexus

As climate justice advocates, we recognize the root causes of the climate crisis: that as we take from the earth to produce and consume, we also take resources, lands and rights from others to enable this process. The changing climate resulting from this exploitative process further increases disparities, as its impacts hit vulnerable populations -- who have done the least to contribute to this crisis- the hardest. And among those at the frontlines of climate impacts are the bodies, lives and livelihoods of women around the world -- particularly rural and indigenous women.

Women are half of the world's population, yet it does not surprise that our voices and perspectives continue to be undermined and silenced due to gender-based violence, stifling gender roles, persistently unbalanced political leadership, and continuing economic inequalities between men and women. In the face of climate change, this gendered inequality of rights, resources and power is expressed most glaringly in stark differences in death rates and vulnerability to natural disasters, particularly of women in rural areas and living under poverty thresholds.

It is Africa's more than 500-million peasant and working-class women that carry the burden of immediate and long-term impacts of both fossil fuels extraction and energy production, and the false solutions to the climate crisis, including corporatized renewable energy. This is because of the patriarchal-capitalist division of labour, our greater responsibility for agricultural production and social reproduction of families and communities, and our structural exclusion from decision-making."

The Paris Agreement

As feminists for climate justice, we witnessed and denounced how the Paris climate talks (COP21) last December, hailed by media and world leaders as a historic summit and a diplomatic success, failed to adequately address both justice and gender concerns and solutions. Except for two brief mentions of gender regarding capacity-building and adaptation, gender equality, human rights and indigenous rights are limited to the preamble of the agreement, with unclear binding or operational value -- that is, largely decorative. Though gender was mentioned multiple times in earlier drafts thanks to delegate and constituency advocacy, and despite an increased recognition of gender linkages within the UNFCCC over recent years, the Paris agreement is by-and-large gender-blind. Even by purely numerical criteria, gender inequality remains a trait of the climate talks, as about one in three delegates is a woman, as is one in ten heads of state.

The agreement further removes us from climate justice by allowing developed countries to shirk their fair shares: despite "efforts pursued" to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, voluntary pledges put us on a path to a 3 degree warmer world. As commitments are not forced to increase in ambition until 2023, by which time we will have likely met our 1.5 degrees emissions budget, the threat of relying on dangerous and so far non-existent techno-fixes and market schemes is all too real. Furthermore, tangible financial support for most vulnerable countries continues to be a question, as about one fourth of what is needed has been promised, and even less actually delivered - without which effective climate action cannot be taken on.

Feminist Activism on Climate Beyond Paris

Despite its unjust outcome, COP21 was a space ripe for feminist climate activism, and climate justice movement-building moments. Civil-society organized events such as Feminist Trade Union Day, Indigenous Women's Day and Young Feminist Day, as well as activities held during the UNFCCC official Gender Day, helped bridge diverse constituencies and issues, and strengthen international alliances. Multiple actions, demonstrations and interventions calling for climate justice, fair shares, and gender-just solutions, and focusing on cross-cutting issues such as militarization -a top source of emissions not included in any national mitigation commitments- galvanized groups and caught media attention. The political moment also gave space for the creation of new activist groups, from LGBTI pour le Climat (LGBTI for the Climate) to the Young Feminists for Climate Justice, the latter acting primarily as a safe space for young women activists to share experiences and stories from their struggles and efforts for justice.

For many it is clear that the UNFCCC is an increasingly exhausted and limited arena for change. Spaces for movement building are, however, multi-fold, and in diversity lies strength. In a post-COP21 context, further consolidating our movements implies the multiple feat of 1) not losing sight of the incremental progress we can still push for within UN-hosted platforms; 2) using what we can of the Paris agreement to hold governments accountable, as just days and weeks after COP21 governments ignored all lip-service done to climate ambition by giving out new oil permits and signing the TPP; and 3) at the same time, pushing our narrative and actions much beyond the UNFCCC. The latter implies a "soul-searching" task that we must collectively take on to release our movements from the constraints of diplomacy in an unequal, fossil-fuelled world.

From a climate justice perspective, addressing the root causes of the climate crisis also requires tackling social inequalities and eradicating forms of oppression that movements can also reproduce, including gender inequalities. This includes honoring the fact that the frontlines inhabited by women around the world are not just lines of crisis, but also frontlines of change. Local and national fights against fossil-fuel infrastructure, one of the most well-known of which is the successful campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline, are in many lesser-known cases around the world led by women whose bodies and territories are at the frontlines of extraction impacts, even when subject to sexual violence and repression.



"Neither the earth nor women are territories for conquest" (Source: mal-educadx)

To join and support these struggles, an important step is to transcend the narrative of woman as victim. In addition, we must be wary of essentialisms that place women and men in so-called "natural" categories and roles. This means, for example, rejecting attempts to solely task women with "taking care" of climate change, adding to women's "triple burden" of reproductive, productive and community caretaking. Ultimately, we must all take on and share roles and perspectives on care-taking, if we are to face the climate crisis and ensure the survival and wellbeing of our communities.

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A Youth Movement Rising

Young women and young feminists are in many regards leading the way and engaging in increasingly intersectional and gender-aware forms of advocacy. Though socially constructed age barriers both within and outside of movements for justice remain -at times leading to a marginalization of youth insights and concerns-, youth groups globally are engaging in critical, transformative activism for climate and environmental justice.

In the coming months, we can strengthen and grow the Young Feminists for Climate Justice network, both through online exchange and collaboration, and in gatherings and forums for advocacy such as the 60th Commission on the Status of Women, the AWID Forum, the Women Deliver Conference, UNFCCC inter-sessionals, the Allied Media Conference, the IUCN World Conservation Congress and other local, national and international convergence spaces. Making spaces to get together as young women and young feminists to discuss our roles and experiences in climate advocacy, environmental activism and feminist movements is key; as is having platforms and tools to deepen our understandings on the linkages between social and environmental issues. Networks of exchange across borders enrich our local actions, struggles and initiatives.

Let's honor the endurance, commitment and courage of all peoples fighting for their health, livelihoods, environment and communities, and standing up against the climate crisis globally. Let's also acknowledge that there is much left to do, including facing the challenge of weaving increased solidarity and collaboration between environmentalists, feminists and justice advocates; to reconstruct our societies based on justice and respect for all people and our planet.

To further engage in young feminist activism on climate justice: click here to join the Young Feminists for Climate Justice Facebook group and here to join the mailing list.

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An interview with breathwork pioneers Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg



It's among the most important physical functions our bodies perform--we do it about 20,000 times a day--and still, somehow, most of us get it wrong. Breathing properly is a secret health weapon rarely spoken of by mainstream physicians or mental health practitioners. Yet nothing could be more vital. "If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be to learn to breathe correctly," says Andrew Weil, MD, a well-known pioneer in the field of integrative medicine.

Eastern traditions have long extolled the importance of chi or prana--the life forces associated with breath--and science is finally catching up. "Medicine is just recognizing the importance of energy to health," says Richard P. Brown, MD, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. "And our most critical source of energy is oxygen."

For the past 30 years, Brown has been a lone voice in the psychiatric wilderness calling for attention to breath work research. He has authored over 80 scholarly articles (half of those with his wife, Patricia Gerbarg), and published numerous books on subjects ranging from integrative approaches for the treatment of anxiety, depression, mood disorders, cognitive and memory impairments, Attention Deficit Disorder, sexual dysfunction, to medical illnesses, schizophrenia, and substance abuse. A longtime practitioner of yoga, meditation and martial arts, he created a workshop called Breath Body Mind that combines berath and movement practices from yoga, chi gong, coherent breathing, and open focus meditation.

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Patricia Gerbarg is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry, New York Medical College who, along with her husband, lectures on natural treatments, including herbs, nutrients, and mind-body practices at the American Psychiatric Association Meetings and many other conferences. Dr. Gerbarg practices Integrative Psychiatry, combining standard and complementary treatments. Her research focuses on mind-body practices for reducing the effects of stress and trauma, particularly in survivors of mass disasters, including the Southeast Asia Tsunami, 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, war in Sudan and Rwanda, Gulf Horizon Oil Spill, and veterans.

These forward thinking, humanitarian doctors took time out of their busy schedules recently to talk to me about the most commonly misunderstood (and important) habit in our daily life.

MM: Can you explain the connection between the breath and stress and negative emotions?

DG: There's a reciprocal relationship between breath and emotions -- every emotion is accompanied by a different breath pattern, so for example, when you're excited, your breathing is rapid. It's possible to change how you feel and even how your mind is working by slowing down to a gentle pattern of four to six breaths per minute. This has a calming effect on the emotions while enhancing attention, clarity, and mental focus.

MM: This is just from breathing?

DB: Just from breathing. We have found that breathwork is useful even with extreme psychological trauma. We have worked with male patients who had been quite violent. If they were not violent to others, they had very disturbing suicidal thoughts. After three or four sessions, I asked them what changes they were experiencing in their lives and they told me, "You know, I don't have these thoughts of wanting to hurt people or myself. I can go down the street and I just feel so much freer instead of being tortured by these thoughts that I couldn't stop, and that my medication didn't stop." I found the same thing with veterans who were troubled with post-traumatic stress disorder and terrible anger and suicidal thoughts. I've taught doctors in different VA centers simple breathing exercises that could stop suicidal thoughts within a couple of minutes. I believe the foundation of our healthcare is to take care of ourselves and do things that can empower us to be stronger, healthier, more resilient, and more connected to others. There are many kinds of powerful breathing practices that can make us feel more connected to ourselves and to other people. I find we're all more disconnected from each other these days, and with breathing, wherever you are, you're just more fully aware of what's going on around you--and inside you.

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MM: Why has the breath been ignored in Western treatment paradigms? Something so simple that can help so radically?

DG: We are an action-oriented society. When Eastern health practices were transplanted to Western cultures, much of the wisdom of breath practices was lost because many of these practices were considered to be too sacred, secret, or powerful to teach westerners. Also, in our action-oriented point of view, breathing is too quiet or subtle. It seems like we aren't doing anything. Movement is overvalued and breathing isn't even on the radar.

MM: What are the most common mistakes that people make with breathing.

DB: When you watch babies or animals like cats, they breathe in a really beautiful way. But as we grow up and we have to learn how to survive and fight to succeed, our breathing, becomes dysfunctional--it's too shallow, or it's too hard, or too tense--and it's pretty easy to change this. Proper breathing is very smooth, continuous, gentle and effortless. When people have been stressed, it stops and starts and it's a lot of work because the muscles are so tense. Some people have more trouble on the in breath, while others have more trouble with the out breath, and some people have trouble with both. If someone is nervous or worried, their breathing is shallow or too fast and more in the chest than in the belly. Some people may hold their breath on and off without realizing it. Often people will hold their breath for a moment when they stand up or sit down--or when they're scared.

DG: Most of the time we're breathing too fast because we're in some degree of stress, and this contributes to imbalances in the stress response system and has other negative health consequences.

MM: What can we do right now to get better in terms of our breathing, our anxiety and the sort of waking up effect that you're talking about?

DB: You can do some movement, which helps you relax and get physical stress out of the body. One of the kinds of breathing I teach is a sophisticated form that was developed by Russian Orthodox monks. It was passed down through the ages from person to person. And it is never too soon to start. There's interesting data that kids at around eleven or twelve years old are very stressed out, and they're beginning to develop severe anxiety and depression, which correlates with substance abuse in their twenties and severe mid-life depression. So starting early, around the age of ten or eleven can be beneficial.

MM: Dr. Gerbarg, please tell me about your work with trauma victims in Sudan.

DG: One of our students who had been doing the breath work for several years asked if she could teach some basic practices to survivors of war and slavery in South Sudan. She found it was easy for them to learn, and it gave them some relief in just minutes.

She asked Dr. Brown to go to Sudan with her to teach groups of recently liberated slaves, who had been held in extremely abusive captivity--some for 10 or more years. They had only 20 minutes to teach breath and movement to a group of 200 liberated slaves just arriving at the clinic who were exhausted by their long journey on foot to freedom. But once they followed his lead, they began to loosen up, and then laugh and hug one another. Two days later, Dr. Brown taught a group of 400 survivors with the same effect. He also gave a group of women who had been doing the practice for two years some more advanced healing techniques, and now this core group of women are teaching in the surrounding villages and at a nearby orphanage.

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MM: What would you like people to do to help themselves--and further the awareness of these methodologies? Where can we begin? (With our medication practitioners and with our own breathing practices)?

DG: The best way to have a deep experience is to go to a two-day Breath~Body~Mind Workshop. However, for those unable to attend in person, there is a book and CD set called The Healing Power of the Breath published by Shambhala. It teaches the basic breath practices with some gentle movements to reduce the effects of stress and rebalance and improve energy, mood, sleep, mental focus, relationships, and performance.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

What it is: Breathing that involves expanding the belly, which gives the lungs room to take in more oxygen.

How it can help: Improves circulation; eases stress-related and anxiety disorders; speeds recovery from chemotherapy.

How to start:

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place one hand just below your rib cage and the other on your upper chest.

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2. Breathe in slowly through your nose so that your stomach pushes against your lower hand.

3. As you exhale through pursed lips, tighten your abs and let them fall inward. (Throughout inhalation and exhalation, the hand on your chest should remain as still as possible.) Do this exercise three times a day for five to ten minutes, then gradually increase that amount. With enough practice, you should begin to breathe this way automatically.

Alternate-Nostril Breathing

What it is: A yogic technique designed to promote relaxation.

How it can help: Reduces blood pressure; may have an anti-obesity effect; boosts cognitive function on spatial tasks.

How to start:

1. With your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left nostril.

2. Now close your left nostril with your pinky and ring fingers, release your thumb, and exhale slowly through your right nostril.

3. Keep the right nostril open, inhale, then close it; open the left nostril, and exhale slowly through the left. That's one round. Start with three rounds, and add a round each week until you are up to five. Then practice whenever you're feeling stressed out.

The Bellows Breath

What it is: An exercise aimed at increasing alertness.

How it can help: Provides a boost in energy comparable to the high you feel after a workout.

How to start:

1. With your mouth closed, inhale and exhale quickly and evenly through your nose. Aim for three in-out cycles per second, but stop after 15 seconds on your first attempt.

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DORAL, FL - MARCH 06: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes an appearance prior to the start of play during the final round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral Blue Monster Course on March 6, 2016 in Doral, Florida. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Republicans long ago lost their moral authority to claim the mantle of Lincoln. Since Lyndon Johnson, they have bitterly divided the country with code phrases and vivid metaphors like "welfare queens" to exacerbate the racial divide. After all, President Johnson knew the South would be lost to the Democratic party for at least "a generation" with the passage of the civil rights legislation and 50 years later the South is more solidly Republican than ever.

All these code words and intimations about "urban crime" and "welfare cheats" have morphed into a candidate who no longer disguises his racial antipathies. The appeal to racism is no longer subtle or cloaked in symbolism like when Reagan made a campaign speech about "state's rights" in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a backwater where four civil rights workers were killed in 1964, or when George W. Bush opened his campaign for president at Bob Jones University where interracial dating was banned.

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With the presidency of Barack Obama, the alienation and disenfranchisement of the angry white male voting base constituting the Republican party's electorate has festered. A black president, changing demographics, wage stagnation and the legalization of gay marriage have served to undermine the old order in which white males, particularly those without a college education, felt some hegemony. There seems to be no place left for them to go besides coalescing around a candidate who demonizes Mexican immigrants as "criminals" and "rapists."

When two men in Boston beat up a homeless man while shouting pro-Trump, anti-immigrant sentiments, Trump retorted: "I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate. They love this country, they want this country to be great again." It is left to Donald Trump to explain how the beating of a homeless man contributes to the greatness of America. Very recently, Trump clumsily failed to distance himself from David Duke and other white supremacists who have flocked to his campaign like a moth to a flame.

However, among his followers Trump is immune to criticism. The more anger and vitriol he employs the better. He himself has said he could "shoot someone and not lose voters." He is the Teflon Don! His policies seem to shape shift resulting in no lose of support. Most recently, he backtracked on his advocacy of torture by saying he would respect international laws that govern the use of torture after initially proposing that he would bring back "waterboarding" along with "much worse."

He even brought his phallus into the discussion at the last debate. No topic is too salacious or too graphic to be deemed as unworthy of mention during a presidential debate. The Republican party is devolving before our eyes. It is no longer not only anti-intellectual as it has been at least since the presidency of George W. Bush, but now moronic and sophomoric as well.

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Yet his angry base stands tall. Their existence is reaffirmed by a former Democratic Party-leaning billionaire who would not give them the time of day during a chance encounter in everyday life. I mean, how much contact could Trump possibly have with the common man anyway given his chauffeured limousine rides or his trips in his eponymous jet? It only remains to be seen if the recent attacks on his business enterprises like Trump University where "students" paid huge fees to be served pablum or other businesses, such as his failed airline shuttle, will hurt him. Likely not!

Alas, Trump is a Frankenstein monster of the Republican party's own creation. The party establishment, it's elite, like former Presidential contender Mitt Romney and Karl Rove have done their best to explain the consequences of a Trump candidacy, but his persona defies characterization by anyone other than the self-aggrandizing, megalomaniacal billionaire himself.
Like many Americans, I thought the Donald Trump phenomenon would have faded by now. Now that it is very likely that Trump could be the Republican nominee in November, I feel obligated to share my concerns about Donald Trumps ability to be Commander In Chief.

Donald Trump, if elected, would be the 12th POTUS who did not have military service prior to being elected. While military service is not a prerequisite to be Commander In Chief, respect for the military, and those who served amongst its ranks should be. When Donald Trump called Senator, and war hero John McCain a loser for being captured as a POW, he lost any hope he had of getting my vote.

Words hurt, and words matter to most people, but they don't matter to Trump. Calling John McCain a loser for being shot down and captured is a place most decent people know not to go. I have never seen a presidential candidate rewarded for his insults, arrogance and lack of humility like I have witnessed for Trump over the past few months.

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It is one thing to speak your mind; it is another to do so with reckless disregard for other people. Trump doesn't care what he says, or who what he says offends; if you think America is a polarized nation now, imagine what it would be like under a Trump presidency?

As Commander In Chief, you cannot litigate, attack or insult every person, group or country that doesn't agree with you, or see things the way you do. Trump is relentless when it comes to providing viscous and at times juvenile responses to critics of his ideas, policies, or character.

Trump is not intellectually or ideologically suited to lead the United States military. A responsible Commander In Chief does not tell the world he will authorize torture and target terrorist families; even if he is considering it, which is Trump's most fundamental flaw -- his mouth. Words do have consequences.

The next Commander In Chief will have extremely difficult foreign policy issues to address with when they take office next January: ISIL, an unstable Middle East, Russian aggression, and North Korea's obsession with acquiring nuclear weapons just to name a few. Dealing with the aforementioned matters will require a great amount of patience and skill from the next Commander in Chief.

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Donald Trumps ascension to party frontrunner has the Republican Party in total disarray. We should have seen this coming. When a political party continually feeds red meat in the form of hate, and intolerance to angry mobs, chaos and infighting are unavoidable. Last week Mitt Romney was the latest prominent Republican to overtly attack Trump and his record; there will surely be others.

When Donald Trump was asked about comments made by former CIA/NSA Director Michael Hayden about changing torture laws, and the legality of targeting terrorist families. Trumps reply was "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." Trump has since reversed some of his thinking on torture, but his initial response is what has so many military people and others concerned.
Hispanic voter voting in polling place

With media coverage of the Republican presidential primary reaching a fever pitch, tens of thousands of voters in major upcoming contests may find their biggest issues lost in the shuffle.

Republicans in 10 states are set to cast their ballots between March 8 and 15, including key delegate-rich areas like Michigan and Florida. But analysis of petition data from Change.org shows that for many in these influential states, the political conversation doesn't reflect their top concerns.

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To get a clearer picture of the conversations people are having, I analyzed the most-signed petitions in several key upcoming primary states over the past six months Let's break down the data and see what conversations the campaigns are missing in a few major states: Florida, Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio.

Mississippi - Voting March 8

Mississippi's top five petitions are dominated by demands to protect the Mississippi state flag, which became a hot topic in the wake of the June 2015 mass shooting at South Carolina's Emanuel A.M.E. Church. Nearly 15,000 people signed a petition urging Mississippi's political leaders to defend the use of the Confederate Flag on their state banner. Another rallied 22,000 supporters of the Mississippi state flag.

While media coverage of Confederate iconography debates wound down months ago, Mississippians are still actively rallying around petitions to their leadership. How will residents respond to candidates who decline to engage on an issue so prominent among Mississippians?

Florida - Voting March 15

Florida's petitions are as diverse as its population, offering candidates multiple avenues to engage directly with citizen interests. 24,000 people have signed a petition urging Florida to enact the "Pastor Protection Law," which would grant an exemption from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies to local clergy. Religious freedom bills are increasingly popular among conservative petitioners.

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Floridians are also rallying behind a 20,000 signature petition to allow open carry of firearms statewide, a trending national issue. But amidst these strong conservative statements is a confounding fact - rounding out the top petitions in Florida is a call for former Daily Show host Jon Stewart to moderate a presidential debate. Are Floridians showing their sense of humor?

Illinois - Voting March 15

Illinois is the focus of several campaigns' Midwestern strategies, and its most popular petitions reflect its unique position geographically and ideologically. 22,000 people in Illinois have called on Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to legalize medical cannabis. Another petition addresses state support for the Early Intervention Program, an Illinois program that provides resources to families with disabled children. With the focus tightly on state issues, can candidates crack the code and connect with Illinoisans where they live?

Ohio - Voting March 15

Ohio's unique blend of social and fiscal conservatism is on display in its most prominent petitions. More than 52,000 people have joined a petition calling for mandatory drug testing for all Ohioans receiving public assistance. As with all of the petitions mentioned here, the conversation kicked off by natives of the Buckeye State has become a major but rarely covered aspect of retail politics in Ohio.

Justice issues are also on display among Ohioans, with 16,700 demanding mandatory life imprisonment for any offender convicted of killing a police K9 unit. Petitions calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood and supporting concealed carry laws have garnered thousands of signatures and comments. Will Ohio's strong conservative petitions change the outlines of the Republican presidential contest?

What it All Means

After a split decision in four Super Saturday contests, the remaining candidates seek to recast the narrative of this presidential contest. But there is another way: candidates can and should engage with petitions that residents in important primary states have self-selected as important to their community and their values.

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Hundreds of petitions from Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi reflect a yearning by people all across America to raise their voices on issues that matter to them. It's up to candidates and the national media to turn those passions and voices into dominant themes in the ongoing Republican race for the nomination.
Last week I published a post praising the Pope for encouraging a more moderate stance about contraception and allowing the use of birth control to prevent pregnancy in areas of the world where the Zika virus has taken hold. The 'thing' that story was missing was an actual representation of what that would look like - would there be church leaders strategically stationed on the corners of poor neighborhoods in Brazil passing out contraception? Immediate action is necessary, but by the time the church is done arguing over the Pope's controversial statements, huge numbers of women worldwide will have become pregnant while infected with the Zika virus.

So, how about that real world example I mentioned? Pay close attention to the work of a non-profit organization called DKT International, one of the largest private providers of family planning and reproductive health services worldwide. In a news release distributed on March 1, DKT announced that the organization is passing out free contraception and providing Zika education and awareness in the regions of the world most affected by Zika,

"Thousands of DKT employees are working in-the-trenches to inform, educate, and provide contraceptives to those living in even the most remote regions of the world to help prevent the Zika virus, unwanted pregnancies, maternal deaths and unsafe abortions," said Chris Purdy, CEO of DKT International. "As access to digital and mobile technology and social media becomes more prevalent in the developing world, we now have efficient ways to reach rural, underserved, and generally hard-to-reach populations."

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DKT health initiatives related to the Zika virus are currently taking place around the world in an effort to educate citizens and provide access to contraceptives, and include:

The Brazil Health Ministry advised Brazilians to delay their child conception plans during the Zika outbreak. In response, DKT Brazil donated 500,000 condoms and distributed them during Carnival. In addition, they launched a social media campaign to include a video on Zika prevention featuring Jairo Bouer, MD, a sexual health educator influential among youth in Brazil.

Use of social media this past month has allowed DKT to reach more than 850,000 people in countries like Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Guatemala, providing accurate and timely information on how to identify a possible Zika infection, what actions to take and how to prevent and postpone pregnancy.

DKT has donated 15,000 Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) to Mexico, focusing on the State of Chiapas, one of the most Zika affected areas. They are also supplying condoms to Chiapas to prevent pregnancy.

The Mexico City Ministry of Health and DKT are discussing a 7,000 IUD donation to the Community Health Centers that work closely with their main program, "The Doctor at Your Home," among other services providing prenatal care to low-income women. DKT also provides educational materials for their prevention campaign that utilizes social workers dressed in DKT/Mexico City uniforms at Metrobus stations to disseminate information about preventing teen pregnancy and promoting condom use.

The current Zika outbreak emerged in Brazil and is now exploding across Latin America and the Caribbean. The virus is reportedly responsible for a huge increase in microcephaly, a congenital condition that causes devastating birth defects in which babies' brains do not develop normally. Severe microcephaly causes children to be born with very small heads and brains and can cause a range of other health problems depending on the severity of the microcephaly. Problems these children face can include seizures, developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, feeding problems, hearing loss, and vision problems.

A case emerged in Texas recently that pointed towards the virus' spread through sexual contact, which may have prompted the Pope to respond to an immediate need for prevention through contraception. Even thought the main culprit for Zika appears to be the mosquito, the idea of delaying pregnancy through contraception seems critical in areas where the virus is progressing (along with Dengue and Yellow Fever), particularly in areas where there are large amounts of standing water, largely a result of a recent El Nino event that brought massive downpours to Brazil.

According to Purdy, "the ability to communicate broadly with large numbers of people about the dangers of Zika and the importance of using condoms and where to get them has the power to significantly change the current reproductive health landscape."
I was finally in bed at 3 a.m. trying to fall asleep when I got the email:

"CONFIDENTIAL -- ACADEMY AWARDS Opportunity"

I opened it immediately.

"Exciting news! Lady Gaga has invited you all to join her on-stage at the Academy Awards to stand together as she performs her Academy Award-nominated song 'Til It Happens to You.'"

I was invited to participate because the documentary The Hunting Ground -- for which the song was written -- had featured my activism and personal experience with sexual assault. I was overwhelmed with emotions:

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1. It had been a dream of mine since I was a child to attend the Academy Awards. I was a child actor, joined the Screen Actors Guild around age four, and watched the Oscars every year. Although this was not how I imagined it happening, this was a dream come true.

2. I have been a huge fan of Lady Gaga since 2008 when her music first came out and I dressed up as her for Halloween.



Nastassja dressed as Gaga in 2009

3. All I have been hearing about the Academy Awards is #Oscarssowhite; in fact I have participated in tweeting and tumbling about #Oscarssowhite since one of the things that infuriates me the most as an independent media creator is the way the media celebrates hetero-white mediocrity while erasing or tokenizing the rest of us.

4. While The Hunting Ground brought a lot of attention to the issue of sexual assault, its depictions of survivors' stories felt tokenizing and upheld stereotypes of rape that alienate many survivors. How would this performance be any different?

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I debated whether or not I should go; whether my appearance within this performance would also be tokenizing and uphold the idea that the Oscars and media depictions of rape are "more diverse" than they often are. My parents told me I was being ridiculous; obviously I had to go. And the reality is that I wanted to give myself this experience, but not to let my expectations get too high. I was excited that my fiancee was also invited to attend and thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have together.



Nastassja and fiancee Lea Roth at the Academy Awards

Upon arriving at Dolby Theater a few days before the show for our first rehearsal, I saw a large crowd of people, and found out there would be 51 of us participating. I saw friends, people I knew online but had never met in person, activists and artists I had admired from afar, and friendly strangers. There were men, women, genderqueer and trans* people of many races. I was shocked. It wasn't until we were all in one room waiting for rehearsal that it really hit me that this was the largest group of survivors I had ever been around. Our backgrounds and experiences were diverse in a way that felt authentic and pluralistic, not tokenizing. Yet there was almost an immediate sense of understanding.

As I got to know the different survivors I was astounded by their passion, empathy and brilliance. What united us all were experiences of violation and the willingness to speak up about it. What was most powerful was that we made few assumptions about anyone else's experience. The context and unique betrayals surrounding each survivor's experience are their own, but the themes of trauma, and trust; healing and the many forms of activism were where we found plenty of common ground. I didn't feel judged, or questioned. And that means a lot. Multiple people asked me what gender pronouns I go by (they, them, theirs by the way). To me, meeting these survivor activists, getting to know them, and bonding (including getting matching tattoos!) was the highlight of my weekend.



Nastassja pictured back left, with Lady Gaga and the other survivors from the performance

There were also moments of tension, like the numerous times people working on the performance or the show referred to the group as "ladies" or "girls" despite our continued protest that these labels did not represent us as a group, and honestly made many of us uncomfortable. I don't think people even realized what they were saying, and although some tried to shift their language, it was obviously awkward and unnatural. They were very affirming and supportive of us (much more so than many administrators at our universities), but I bring this up to say that this language is the norm when discussing sexual assault. With this, a crime of power implicitly becomes a "women's issue." This contradiction manifested in my life when I started doing activism around sexual assault, and another black campus activist confronted me saying I was dealing with a "white woman's issue" despite the fact that women of color are twice as likely to be assaulted. Even when Vice President Joe Biden made his speech and spoke to us afterward he continued to use this gendered language, as well as implying that all perpetrators are men. That "boys" and "guys" take advantage of "girls" and "ladies." But both my partner and I were assaulted by women. And while I think an analysis of masculinity is necessary in discussing rape culture, I think simplifying language that implies one universal rape narrative distances far more survivors than it unifies.



Nastassja on stage at the Academy Awards



LGBTQ students are twice as likely to experience sexual violence than heterosexual students. Rates of domestic violence are also higher within the LGBT community, but less reported. Narrow legal definitions used in some universities and states make it particularly difficult for queer and gender non-conforming survivors to seek justice; from defining only vaginal penetration as rape to directly excluding same sex assault. This is why the gendered language was so triggering as it was used over and over again. It is this framework that makes it harder for us to come forward or be believed.
"'Do not go into Iraq. Do not attack Iraq'... I said it loud and clear, 'You'll destabilize the Middle East.'" So the ever-prescient Donald Trump recently recalled of his role in the months before the Bush administration launched its invasion of Iraq. An apparently committed anti-war activist in the lead-up to that conflict, he proudly reminded American voters about how he had "fought very, very hard against us... going into Iraq."

I thought my memory might be faltering, so I went back to TomDispatch's 2003 coverage of that moment to look for any mention of Trump leading an antiwar march or speaking at a demonstration. Had he been spotted holding a candle at a peace vigil at Trump Plaza? Had it all just slipped my mind?

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The evidence for any of this? Nada. So I broadened my search, checking out mainstream coverage of that moment when millions took to the streets in cities across the globe to protest the coming invasion and there, too, it was the same story. I found, for instance, reports of eight million or more people protesting the coming war on February 15, 2003, but not a single Trump sighting. Nor did he seem to have played a role in any of the other major demonstrations from that bygone era.

That's not to say that Trump kept mum on the war. "Are you for invading Iraq?" shock-jock Howard Stern asked him in September 2002. Trump's reply: "Yeah, I guess so." And one day into the March 2003 invasion, he told Fox News's Neil Cavuto that it was looking like a "tremendous success from a military standpoint." Wall Street, he prophesied, was "just gonna go up like a rocket, even beyond, and it's gonna continue and, you know, we have a strong and powerful country and let's hope it all works out." A day after that, though, Trump could indeed be found speaking out emphatically on the war -- or, rather, on his contribution to countering possible home-front malaise. "War is depressing, but something like the Miss USA pageant is positive and brings you out of that funk," said the co-owner of the upcoming Miss USA beauty pageant.

Later in March 2003, Trump did finally term the war "a mess." In September, he said, "I would have fought terrorism, but not necessarily Iraq." In November, however, he noted that while "more and more doves" were coming forward, Bush needed to stay the course and the next month he assured Cavuto that toppling Iraqi autocrat Saddam Hussein had been "a huge day for our country," adding, "we have to win." In fact, it evidently wasn't until April 2004 that Trump publicly and unambiguously stated: "Iraq is a terrible mistake."

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What if The Donald had begun his anti-war "activism" in 2002 or early 2003 instead of a year into the conflict? Might he have helped send even more protesters into the streets and might that have made a difference? Could committed activists, even a fervent billionaire casino capitalist, have helped turn the tide? Can disruptive social movements change the world or are we better served by take-it-slow, Trumpian-speed, wait-a-year-or-more-to-speak-up, incremental change? Mark and Paul Engler make a case for the former, arguing in their new book, This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century, and in a recent TomDispatch post, "Three Times When the World Broke Open - and Two When It Might Again," that supposed pragmatism often stands in the way of genuine progress. Their analysis of past protest movements and uprisings suggests that the grand slogan of Paris, 1968 -- "Be realistic, demand the impossible" -- is actually remarkably sage and sober advice for those interested in affecting change.
"You and I have been created for greater things. We have not been created to just pass through this life without aim. And that greater aim is to love and be loved ~Mother Teresa."

Vatican news reports Pope Francis' emotional admonition of "diabolical" attacks carried out by radical Islamist assassins who executed 15 innocent people including four Mother Teresa Nuns while these beloved "Missionaries of Charity" were selflessly caring for the forgotten poor, sick and dying. This Aden home opened by Mother Teresa in 1992, the last Christian place in this Muslim country for helping mentally retarded children, elderly and dying people. It is also reported that the only priest left there, Father Tom Uzhunnalil from India, was kidnapped from the chapel within the home. He offered daily Mass and prayed with the Sisters. On Sacred Heart of Jesus Friday, March 4, the perpetrators deliberately and strategically went from room to room executing the victims by shooting them point blank in the head including the nuns, the workers, the sick, the dying and the disabled. Evil of this nature can only be described as "diabolical," but humans have the primary responsibility.

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Silence Is Dangerous

Declaring these victims of hate and malevolent desire for power "martyrs of Christianity" the Holy Father grieved and lamented over the "apathy and global indifference" by the media, political leaders and good people of the world. He asked why is this treacherous story not on the front page of newspapers and "breaking news" on televisions. Making people wonder, why Is President Obama quiet? There has been more interest in the size of Trump's hands firing up social and mainstream media than these innocent people being targeted and executed by the wicked hands of radical Islamist assassins. Where is the decent human concern and outrage? The only possible good outcome for media and leaders to downplay this shocking news is that the immoral and perverse gangsters are not being glorified. But why the silence from righteous Muslims?

Hardened Hearts Attack Loving Hearts, "Forgive Them Father, They Know Not What They Do!"

Just as this gentle, good "man of faith" was devastated and disheartened by the evil attacks in Paris taking defenseless innocent life, Pope Francis lamented this act of heartless violence with a deep sense of hopelessness for humanity. This vile strike is likened to serpents attacking God's special forces of good in this world. These vipers arrived telling the trusting nuns they were coming to visit their mothers at the home for elderly. The Qur'an states: "Thenceforth were your hearts hardened: they became like a rock and even worse in hardness (Surah 2:74)."

This demonic-human act on Mother Teresa's nuns and the people they serve is deeply personal for Pope Francis as it is for all who know these religious sisters in communities globally and their holy work, including myself and our family. The Pope's loving heart and the hearts of all good people are innately united with the loving hearts of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity which are spiritually connected to the loving and merciful Hearts of Jesus and Mary. I know from experience with these nuns that while they are mourning the loss of their sisters and the Yemeni people they cared for, at the same time they are praying for the attackers. Hard example to follow, but it is the Jesus Way!

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Strategy for Good Conquering Evil: Peace Through Strength and Reconciliation

My dear Muslim friend, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, also loved Catholic nuns. She too was educated by them, in her predominately Muslim country. Benazir, like these sisters, was gunned down on December 27, 2007 by radical Islamist assassins. She wrote in her book "Reconciliation, Islam, Democracy and the West," that good people of all faiths must unite and work for good to conquer evil, only then will good prevail. Benazir's mother was Shiite from Iran and her father, also former Prime Minister of Pakistan was Sunni. He was executed by his successor desiring power, illustrating the strategy is exercised.

Interesting to note, the modern executions of Christians and Muslims undertaken by nefarious radical Islamist groups mirrors the 12th/13th century power grab strategy of "The Ismaili Assassins" using murdering terror as the tactic to be relevant for financial gain and to accomplish their goals. In "The Assassins" by Middle East expert Bernard Lewis, it is written, "The connection between the medieval Assassins and their modern counterparts are striking: The Syrian-Iranian connection; the calculated use of terror; the total dedication of the assassin emissary, to the point of self-immolation, in the service of his cause and in the expectation of heavenly recompense." Lewis advises that a notable difference from medieval times to today is the chosen victims targeted for execution were more often rulers, leaders and major religious functionaries of the existing order more than the ordinary people. Lewis further notes that in modern times targeting anyone deemed an apostate to their Islamic view is marked to be assassinated. Hence, the heartless execution of nuns and co-workers and kidnapping of a priest in a "Christian" hospice helps fulfill the goal for a strictly Islam- under Sharia Law nation.

Is The Holy Father Vindicating CEO Trump's Rhetoric?

Pope Francis clearly understands the historic significance of a medieval strategy attempting to destroy the world as we know it, and the need for all good people to unite to stop the violence. The Pope calls for change of hearts for human transformation. GOP Presidential Frontrunner Trump on the other hand calls for change of will and revised terms of engagement. Historically both paths are necessary for victory. Jesus taught to love enemies, turning the other cheek, standing ground. But Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel of Matthew, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (of truth) Mt.10:34." Jesus directed humanity to choose sides, "good or evil." And, "good" He taught is the only path to peace, security and salvation.

History Repeats Evil with Complacency and Cowardice

The "lassez-faire" attitude in hardened hearts of nations and people is pervasive and disturbing. The Pope and concerned people hold that the media and the human race is becoming more and more insensitive to daily world news reports of slaughter, destruction and suffering. Christians are taught, "Those who do nothing about sin and evil, help the sin and evil to prevail. One who is silent when there are those around him in sin becomes a partaker with them (Ephesians 5:7)."

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Remembering victims of The Holocaust in Europe, The Killing Fields in Cambodia or the Nanjing Massacre in China helps us realize people with hardened hearts perpetrating acts of evil must be held accountable in this world and the next. But we are also informed in Sacred Scripture, that those who observed and turned a "blind eye" to evil will answer on Judgment Day, or in some faith traditions attain "bad karma" by complacency and cowardice. In The Qur'an, it states in Al Hadid, "For those who give in 'Charity', men and women, and loan to Allah a beautiful loan, it shall be increased manifold (to their credit) And they shall have besides, a liberal reward (Surah57:18)." Clearly, execution and kidnapping as a "reward" for performing "Charity" is not in keeping with this Islamic teaching. But the teachings in The Qur'an are contradictory, arguably providing selective direction for what is preferred by individuals as Allah's will and cover for committing cowardice acts.

"I Thirst"

The tragic news about this murderous attack of the Missionaries of Charity came to me by text from a priest who also knew Mother Teresa personally, even celebrating Mass with her in Rome. Every chapel of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity across the globe has the poignant words of Jesus next to The Crucifix, "I Thirst." Mother said that Jesus thirsts for the hearts and souls of humanity. Father Higgins recently celebrated 51 years as a Catholic priest helping families across America. He heard the news from a mutual friend who learned about it on Croatia news reports. Amazing that we had to find out through Croatia such an important story, germane to our own national security interests. America is focused only on political infighting amongst presidential candidates and occasionally what's going on in the Kardashian world. My reaction to the attacks was similar to when I received a call from Fox News on September 5, 1997 informing me of Mother Teresa's passing and requesting my comment, I cried and cried and cried. Overcome with sadness, I called the Missionaries of Charity in Los Angeles to share grief with the sisters nearby who help pregnant unmarried women and their babies. The names of the nuns who were murdered are, Sister Marguerite and Sister Reginat from Rwanda, Sister Judith from Kenya, and Sister Anselm who we knew from India. She like all of the M.C. sisters was a "living saint." They are all clones of Mother Teresa, overflowing with love for God and humanity.

I have never felt anything like it before until being in their holy presence. It's overwhelming, humbling and inspiring! Recalling the many trips made with family and team members to support the amazing work of these dedicated nuns, brothers and priests, inspired me to write about them, honoring the passing of these brave souls to Jesus. We visited M.C. homes across India, Mexico, Cuba, Cambodia, Grenada, Costa Rica, Israel and across America from Los Angeles to the Bronx, St. Louis to San Francisco and many more places of grace.

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"What The World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love"

So many incredibly beautiful stories to share in a future treatise, but for now I feel compelled to remember one that hopefully opens eyes and hearts for people thirsting to love and to be loved. The Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity is in Calcutta. We were blessed to spend time with Mother Teresa there. Her nearby home for abandoned children, Shishu Bhavan, is where we met young Sister Charmaine. She joined the convent in her teens and had no formal medical training. Yet doctors from the best hospitals around the world came to learn from her the formula for hopeless cases of preemie babies surviving and thriving, becoming healthy babies and children. This joyful, brightly smiling nun in her blue and white sari, held a tiny, tiny baby that fit in the palm of her hand and she fed the baby with an eye dropper. She then placed the one-pound infant, like a baby chick, under a light warmer and most importantly she held, cuddled and sang prayers to the happiest gift from God.

In other words, the compassionate Sister simply loved the baby with all her heart- for life! Most of the babies brought to her by the police were providentially rescued from botched abortions or had been abandoned in the gutters by desperate mothers. After they are cared for by these loving nuns, they are adopted by loving Indian or international families without children. When thinking about Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, especially the four young nuns who sacrificed their lives in Yemen loving everyone there, the inspirational lyrics sung by Dionne Warwick came to mind. "What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of. No, not just for some, but for everyone."

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for Father Tom and us.
Donald J. Trump's penis, size unknown, has reared its head as a political issue. On Thursday night, during yet another GOP presidential primary debate, the party's leading candidate debated the size of his penis with rival Marco Rubio before an audience of millions. Mainstream media channels such as NBC strained to cover the controversy with a straight face. Loud voices on social media complained that American politics had hit a nadir. "This is an all time low," complained one twitter-user. "Our founding fathers rolling over in graves."



"Look at those hands, are they small hands?" Trump said, "[Rubio] referred to my hand -- 'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee." (Wikimedia Commons)

Rather than roll over in their graves, our founding fathers would be more likely to roll their eyes at this latest episode of a phallic tradition in American politics with which they were all too familiar. No less a figure than Thomas Jefferson got caught up in penis politics not once, but twice, during his storied career. Jefferson entered the lists for the first time in 1785, with the publication of Notes on the State of Virginia, the only full-length book that he produced during his lifetime. The Notes began as a response to a series of questions posed in the midst of the Revolutionary War by Francois Marbois, Secretary of the French delegation at Philadelphia. Jefferson used the queries as an opportunity to repudiate a leading French naturalist, the Comte de Buffon, and to reassert American virility.

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Buffon hypothesized that the American climate had a deleterious effect on fauna and flora, causing Old World transplants to shrink over the generations spent in their new environment. Jefferson countered Buffon's claims by giving examples of the great sizes that American buffalos and beavers reached. But his most urgent concern was to combat the implications of Buffon's theory for American masculinity. "Hitherto," Jefferson explained, "I have considered this hypothesis as applied to brute animals only, and not in its extension to the man of America, whether aboriginal or transplanted." But, Jefferson noted, Buffon's theory did not except humankind. It was Buffon's belief that Native Americans were feeble, and had "small organs of generation." According to the French naturalist, Native Americans were indifferent to women because "they have little sexual capacity." Logic dictated that the same would become true for Europeans who made America their home. Not true, Jefferson insisted, declaring that the Native American was "neither more defective in ardor, nor impotent with his female." Far from being a simple matter of hurt feelings, Jefferson's defense of American penis size made an important political point: Americans were man enough to fight Great Britain for their independence and succeed. Far from impotent, the national body had a well-endowed member. The new nation deserved French aid to win the war.

The next time Jefferson entered into the penis politics of the founding era, his own reputation was under attack for excessive, not deficient, virility. Following election to the presidency in 1800, Jefferson unwisely chose not to give a job to the scurrilous newspaper editor James T. Callender, whom he had previously hired to besmear his political opponents. Callender retaliated by writing in the Richmond Reporter that the president had fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings. The resulting scandal generated one of the most scurrilous political cartoons of America's founding era.

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The image, titled "A Philosophic Cock," pictures Thomas Jefferson's head attached to a rooster's erect body, replete with an engorged wattle shaped like a pair of testicles. Beside the Jefferson-cock stands a hen topped by the head of a mixed-race woman, intended to suggest Sally Hemings. Printed by an anti-Jeffersonian publisher, in the Federalist redoubt of Newburyport, Massachusetts, the cartoon sent a political message that Jefferson's lack of restraint over his penis, expressed in his sexual relations with an enslaved woman, made him unfit for the presidency.

As Jefferson's own phallic forays prove, Thursday night's GOP debate was not the first time, and it certainly won't be the last time, that American leaders have taken part in penis politics. Long before the American Revolution, the metaphor of the body politic analogized the health of the state to the health of its leader. Even earlier, the fertility cults of the ancient world idolized the erect penis as a symbol that would bring good harvests. Perhaps the only new aspect to the penis politics of the 2016 presidential campaign is the possibility that a candidate without a penis may win the contest for the first time.

The penis politics of Thursday night's debate are not a new low in American politics. The ascendant candidacy of Mr. Trump is.

Rachel Hope Cleves is professor of history at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She specializes in early American history and has written about the history of same-sex marriage and about American reactions to the French Revolution. Her most recent book is Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America (Oxford University Press, 2014). You can follow her on twitter @RachelCleves.

This post originally appeared on Notches: (re)marks on the history of sexuality, a blog devoted to promoting critical conversations about the history of sex and sexuality across theme, period and region. Learn more about the history of sexuality at Notchesblog.com

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Ditch the paperback and lounge chair for one of these off-the-beaten-path beach adventures.



Inn at Newport Ranch.

Newport Ranch

Perch over the Pacific at the Inn at Newport Ranch, the ranch part is meant literally: the new luxury property is part of a 2,000-acre working cattle operation, one that just happens to abut 50-foot cliffs plunging into the Pacific near Mendocino. Since this is cowboy country, start the day off with a hearty western omelet, then run, mountain bike, or ride horseback on 30 miles of trails built from a network of old logging roads. Return for an evening soak in the rooftop hot tub as the sun dips into the ocean, then enjoy the ranch's homegrown vegetables and local Dungeness crab for dinner. There's an inn with three guest rooms, but you should splurge on the entire Sea Drum House, with four bedrooms and a private deck overlooking the sea. From $300; theinnatnewportranch.com.

Jamtara Wilderness Camp

Farmers In parts of central India have slept in the open on elevated platforms for decades, to guard their crops from sloth bears, chital stags, and the occasional Bengal tiger. At the new Jamtara Wilderness Camp, founder Amit Sankhala turned that tradition on its head, with an outdoor four-poster bed that can be reserved by guests on clear nights to welcome nocturnal wildlife encounters. The camp's focus on wildlife tourism has provided surrounding landowners with the incentive to protect rather than scare off the native animals. Sankhala has conservation in his genes--he's the grandson of Kailash Sankhala, the famed naturalist who helped establish the first tiger reserves in India--and he set his three-acre camp just outside 183,000-acre Pench National Park's less traveled northern boundary. That means your chances of seeing a tiger in the wild--there are estimated to be 55 in the park--have never been better. Centered near a sprawling banyan tree, the main camp's ten luxe tents have wooden floors re-purposed from old sailing ships and are outfitted with writing desks salvaged from the Supreme Court of India. Guests explore a different kind of wild India here: activities range from a game drive through a forest full of leopards and stags to lazing on a chaise next to the infinity pool listening to a Malabar pied hornbill. Rest assured that the day will close with a sundowner.

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Photo by: Sarah Pitts

Lawrence, Kan.-Voters in five states and Puerto Rico hit the polls this weekend in a blitz that rivaled Super Tuesday last week.

But clarity about who the eventual nominees will be for the Republican and Democratic parties continued to be murky. Kansas pulled off an Oklahoma, garnering a large voter turnout and awarding delegates to Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders.

A Wichita Eagle article earlier in the week suggested Kansas would become the new Oklahoma, at Saturday's caucuses.

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Although Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump led in the polls leading up to the day of the caucus, which was also the case in Oklahoma, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders emerged as the winners in the sunflower state.

Oklahoma and Kansas relationship goes beyond simply being neighbors, both have similar racial and socioeconomic populations and a similar urban/rural area split.

Millennials in Kansas, like those in the sooner state, seemed to be "feeling the bern."



Photo by: Andrew Clark

Zora Janney, 20, student at the University of Kansas said her ideals closely align with Sanders'.

"If I didn't vote for him and didn't come out today I would be sort of like letting myself down," she said.

Fredrick Closs, IV, 34, was one of many who changed his party affiliation on Saturday from Independent to Democrat. Closs was inspired to vote for Sander's after going to one of his rallies.

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For 21-year-old Lane Frazier, a history student at KU, Sanders' policies on education and healthcare hit close to home. Frazier had kidney problems and owed more than $1,000, despite having health insurance. He will be graduating in May with more than $30,000 in debt.

"Bernie is the candidate who cares the most about the common person," he said.

Sadie Barbee, 18, a first-time voter, changed her party affiliation to vote for Sanders' and agrees with his policy on education.

"He's wanting to make it work so that our generation can go to college, even those who can't afford it," she said.

Matthew Eagle,18, said he turned out to vote because it's important.

"I want to be a part of politics, and making sure everyone cares about who is running the country, because they represent us," he said.



Photo by: Andrew Clark

Marci Francisco, State Senator for District 2 of Kansas, witnessed a huge turnout in voters to the Democratic precinct in Lawrence, Kansas. "Almost double the number of people. Great to see the crowds," she said.

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She plans to ask the Kansas Democratic Party to consider caucusing by house district, so that more precincts are added.

Dagen Reed, 23, a behavioral science student at KU, a first time caucus-goer decided to caucus because he wanted to be part of the change .

"If you want a revolution you gotta participate "
For some reason no reporter, no debate moderator, no one, has asked Ted Cruz (R/TP-TX) whether in his legal opinion President Barack Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen, qualified to be President of the United States.

It is an important question. And, all the other Republican leaders and candidates should be asked that question as well.

Why? For Cruz, if he cannot form an opinion, or says he does not think so, Cruz's entire case for eligibility goes up in smoke. Cruz claims that being born in Canada to a mother who is a United States citizen qualifies him. President Obama's mother was a United States citizen. Even Trump has never disputed that. Her father fought in World War II. If Cruz believes place of birth is irrelevant, just the US citizenship of one of one's parents, then he must say that Obama is eligible to be President.

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He must also then say that birtherism, and specifically Donald Trump's, was a fake, phony, useless exercise. He should then be asked why he never stood up to denounce it.

But, the importance of this question goes way beyond Ted Cruz's ambitions. Republican leaders have been silent on birtherism, providing legitimacy to the racism that infects their party, threatening to destroy it, or the United States, depending on the results of the November election. If Republicans believe Cruz is their remaining chance to stop Trump, they have to assert his legitimacy, and thus they must publicly acknowledge Obama's.

Republicans cannot cleanse themselves of their racist base with one act of contrition. But, it is a start.

The irony is so thick, one can cut it: for Ted Cruz to be the "great white hope" to stop Trump, they will have to start by accepting the legitimacy not only of the first black president of the United States, but the first person of color to rule any white majority country in history.
I recently sat down with Jim Ireton, former Mayor of Salisbury, who is running against Andy Harris (R-MD) the current Congressperson in Maryland's 1st Congressional District. The District encompasses Carolina, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester counties. Additionally, the district includes parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties and is considered a Republican stronghold.

Friends who live in the 1st District suggested Ireton's battle against Harris as an allegorical David vs Goliath fight. Poor kid who got an education and tried to make the world a better place by helping his neighbor's vs. Koch Brothers, Club for Growth and Pharmaceutical Companies. Ireton, a Democrat, recently received support from three prominent Somerset County elected officials including Crisfield Mayor Kim Lawson, former Mayor Percy "P.J." Purnell and Princess Anne Town Commissioner Garland Hayward. Purnell, who served as mayor of Crisfield during Hurricane Sandy, said "Harris never once called to offer support after the superstorm that devastated the city and other waterfront areas of Somerset County. He later came to Crisfield along with then-Gov. Martin O'Malley to view the storm damage, but Purnell said it was only a photo opportunity. He came that day for pictures."

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Ireton was born in 1970 in Salisbury; grew up in tough conditions relying on family and hard work to succeed. He has three older sisters and was brought up by a single mother. He moved to Pocomoke while in high school and was elected Senior Class President, class of 1988; his career as an activist had begun. He attended Salisbury University earning a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. He began his teaching career at St. Francis Catholic School; was first elected to the Salisbury City Council in 1998; earned a Masters of Arts in Education degree from Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2003 and worked for Wicomico County public schools since 2006. In 2009 he was elected Mayor of Salisbury.

Ireton has always been involved in community work. He was the first Wicomico County Neighborhood Congress Chairman and the Johnson's Lake Neighborhood Association Treasurer. In April of 2010, Ireton was named a Public Policy Conflict Resolution Fellow by the University of Maryland's School of Law. As Mayor, Ireton served as 2nd Vice President of the Maryland Mayor's Association; on the Legislative Committee for the Maryland State Education Association; on the Board of Directors for the Wicomico Education Association and on the Wicomico County/University of Maryland Extension Service Advisory Board.

He is proud of his success as Mayor of Salisbury. He named the first woman police chief, and women to positions as Public Works director and Code Enforcement director, all firsts in the city's history. He worked with DNR to remove abandoned barges from the North Prong of the Wicomico River. He is able to claim success revitalizing downtown with more people living, working and shopping in downtown Salisbury than in the last 30 years. He also claims credit for lowering Salisbury's violent crime rates to levels not seen since the early 1990's.

When I asked how he sees his role as a congressperson he said "I am running to serve the people of the District and will work every day 24/7 to help make life better for them and their families." Ireton understands a big part of the role is working with leaders at the state and local government level to move forward projects people want and need. He told me he supports Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver's proposal to have the county provide free tuition to Wor-Wic Community College for graduates of Wicomico County's high schools. He emphasized he is committed to being "A strong voice for Ocean City and beach reclamation working with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) to support the Water Resources Development Act, the legislation that funds the Army Corps of Engineers."

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When I asked him about the environmental issues facing the Eastern Shore he responded "I am an environmentalist and am committed to working with the farmers of the Eastern Shore. I understand the issues of the family farm and am committed to 'ending the debates' pitting Eastern Shore farmers against environmentalists." He added "I propose we work with farmers to create closed-loop systems that make the family farm sustainable - with litter creating fuel and electricity. I have seen first-hand these technologies that create fuel and energy - and that is solely where the state focus should be. I am committed to inviting Congressional colleagues to visit farms in Maryland's 1st District on the cutting edge of dealing with animal waste such as the Murphy Farm in Rhodesdale - Using BHSL technology to create electricity and fuel from chicken manure; and the Kilby Farms in Rising Sun - Using anerobic digestion to create fuel from cow manure. The District can no longer afford Harris who voted against help for farmers two years ago when voting against the $950 billion farm bill due to 'ideological concerns'."

Ireton is passionate about the issue of healthcare saying "Andy Harris wants to take away healthcare from 60,000 Marylanders on the Eastern Shore by repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) even though Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has told him twice (Ireton's words) 'to shut up about it'." He added "I support the ACA and changes needed to reduce premiums and high deductibles. I will work to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs. But we can no longer afford Andy Harris who has voted more than four dozen times against the ACA without offering any other options. Currently tens of thousands of people on the Eastern Shore have health insurance and access to healthcare they didn't have before the ACA was passed. The District's young people can stay on their parents' insurance until they are twenty-six; you can no longer be discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition; and women are no longer paying higher insurance premiums simply because they are women; all things Andy Harris has voted to end."

On the issue of civil and human rights Ireton believes there is more work to be done. "Even with laws being passed increasing the civil and human rights of women, the LGBT community and African Americans our culture hasn't caught up with the law. Women still don't earn equal pay for equal work and we find ourselves fighting racism and homophobia. We can't rest until every person has the right to live with equality, safety in their homes and communities, and achieve their God-given potential."

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*This article first appeared in Foreign Policy on March 4, 2016.*

Yet another viral story in India has sparked discussion about India's "intolerance," a word that has recently dominated national headlines. The world has watched closely as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two other students were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and sedition for their roles in a campus protest over the execution of a convicted terrorist suspect. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has upped the ante by allowing police to file charges against key Indian opposition leaders who have supported the students or criticized the government. The list of leaders included the Congress Party's Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Sitaram Yechury.

These unfolding events represent a crisis for Indian democracy and raise many pressing policy issues. But at their core is something much simpler: the tension between fear and openness. When democratic values are threatened, India's citizens have consistently shown a willingness to push for openness. This courage in the face of fear is the key to moving forward.

The air in New Delhi has grown thick with the politics of fear. The decisions to charge both students and high-ranking opposition leaders under a colonial-era sedition law are extraordinary. The government's official explanation is that the campus protesters and their defenders are "anti-nationals" who advocate for or abide threats to India's integrity. In the days immediately after Kumar's arrest, Home Minister Rajnath Singh fixated on a seemingly implausible connection between the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the students protesting at JNU.

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The link in that bizarre chain? A tweet, apparently from LeT leader Hafiz Saeed in support of the protests, which has since been exposed as a fake.

Some students at JNU were surely shouting provocative slogans that might discomfit or offend certain listeners. That risk is inherent in a wide range of speech. Were some of the statements incitements to violence? It doesn't appear so, particularly in the case of Kumar's speech, but this fundamental legal question has been almost entirely obscured by the Indian government's wild accusations. Ironically, it is the government's indiscriminate resort to the "anti-national" epithet that has sparked violence and threatened to drown out measured discussion.

Other factors compound the sense of official impropriety. For example, there are questions about whether videos showing JNU students shouting certain slogans were doctored, adding another data point to a growing trend of image manipulation. Heedless of these warning signs, the Indian government has doubled down on its rationale for the arrests as the social atmosphere grows uglier.

The tension between this urge to whip up fear and the countervailing push toward openness is a useful entry point into the most relevant policy and legal questions. Here are a few of them.

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The first issue: How committed is the Modi government to safeguarding civil liberties and social space for non-violent dissent? The developments at JNU raise serious questions about the depth of that commitment at the highest levels. Modi's avoidance of the matter reflects his preference for a hands-off approach to civil liberties issues that spark controversy. It makes a mockery of his trademark rhetorical boldness and his pledge back in May 2014 "to take all of you together to run the nation." Instead, the JNU debacle looks like a cynical ploy to create a release valve for widespread national frustration, including over the government's inability to respond decisively to the terrorist attacks at Pathankot in January 2016. Improving India's counterterrorism preparedness and capabilities would be a show of strength; a witch hunt for "anti-nationals" is not.

The second issue concerns India's vision for its youth and education system. India's system of student politics should be a place for rich explorations of identity. Instead, it is often steeped in cynicism, corruption, and paralyzed by the status quo. On the one hand, the close link between national parties and their student affiliates means that Indian university politics, at its best, is defined by a sense of urgency, civic activism, and robust debate on pressing issues. On the other hand, when politically motivated arrests rock a campus, it is clear that a fully permeable membrane between campus and party politics exposes students to great personal risk. What is the right balance?

Third, and relatedly, how does India ensure that its laws further, rather than stifle, democracy and dissent? University campuses ought to be open environments where opposing and even offensive ideas thrive. JNU has always embodied that ethos, and it has always been a polarized and polarizing place. These sedition charges highlight the flaws in India's legal, political, and cultural approach to deciding when speech is dangerous and punishable, and when it is just a provocative part of a flourishing, confident democracy.

All of these are important and tough issues, and the key to navigating them lies in the responses to the recent, high-profile episodes of "intolerance" in India. Many of these reactions have demonstrated a core conviction that binds the United States and India as "natural allies": openness is far more compelling than fear.

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Consider what happened when Aamir Khan, a Bollywood star who expressed concern about India's growing intolerance in the wake of violence against Muslims, was attacked as an "anti-national." A campaign quickly took shape to support him and his right to speech, and to defend what should have been unimpeachable: his Indianness. When rationalist academic M.M. Kalburgi was killed (as is widely supposed) for his views on idols and Hindu rituals, Indians of all stripes - religious and nonreligious - came forward to honor his memory and defend his right to his life's work. When Rohith Vemula, a Dalit graduate student at the University of Hyderabad, killed himself and left a suicide letter that sparked a furious debate about caste discrimination and student politics, champions of inclusion sprang up from familiar and surprising places.

And now, as the JNU controversy mushrooms, defenders of openness are again resisting the politics of fear and opportunism. Student protests have sprung up all over the country. There has been an outpouring of commentary in favor of free speech and dissent from across the political spectrum, showing that the incidents resonate far beyond university halls. The government crackdown has backfired, demonstrating only that JNU is precisely what the university has always believed itself to be: a symbol of the vitality of Indian democracy.

The news from New Delhi is a reminder that India must urgently confront many challenges that will define the contours of its democratic future. These debates need to acknowledge that while national security is always a critical imperative, it cannot be the sole driver of the search for a solution. As the exchanges of rhetoric and fists grow more heated, it is important to recall that Indians have, time and again, demonstrated the path forward on controversial issues involving core social and political values.

In the context of the JNU controversy, commenters have often quoted Rohith Vemula's letter. One passage, in particular, stands out: "The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind."

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The persistent reduction of individuals to identity labels is the hallmark of a democratic system unable to properly balance the politics of fear. Recent protests by members of the Jat caste group are another reminder - in a very different context - that India's political institutions must better address citizens' fears. Although many Indians are making clear their rejection of repressive and divisive politics, fixating on a single word like "intolerance" or "dissent" obscures the opportunity to address what lies at the heart of these incidents.

The ongoing policy debates will move slowly and produce imperfect solutions. They will also be accompanied by more ugly distractions. But if they are animated by the belief that India is a place where the scale tilts toward openness, rather than fear, then that conviction will be embodied not only in the courage of so many Indians, but also in the country's formal institutions.
Hi, my name is Sara Gottlieb, and I am a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley, where I study topics at the intersection of psychology and philosophy.

And as a researcher, I'm particularly interested in scientific and religious explanations. So my work tries to better understand what are the individual differences and personality characteristics that will lead certain people to become very religious, and other people to become very scientifically-minded. Or, what are the circumstances under which people are led to value scientific explanations versus religious explanations.

So through this research, I feel like I've actually gained a deep appreciation for some of the ways in which religious people and scientifically-minded people are actually quite similar. And this is something that I feel is overlooked in the current science and religion debate.

So for me, the unifying theme between science and religion is awe. And awe is a really just a profound, deeply transformative, moving, emotional experience. And most of us can probably recall some very important awe experience that we have had.

But what psychology tells us is that awe actually has two central characteristics. The first is called "vastness," and this is just being in the presence of something large or something great, either metaphorically or physically. So in the physical sense, you can feel awe standing at the Grand Canyon and looking at the vastness of the landscape, but one can also feel awe in response to somebody in great power or somebody you admire deeply.

But the other characteristic of awe, and the one that I find most interesting in the current context is called "accommodation." So imagine that you're looking out into space and space is just so large and you can't understand the limits of our universe. Then we have to revise what we know of the world to make sense of something new. And that accomomdation, that revision, of our existing mental schemas, this response to what we don't know, is a very important aspect of awe.

And what I think is important about this is that even though awe has traditionally been thought of and studied in a religious or spiritual context, that feeling of connectedness to the world around us, that just feeling of there being something more, that's often felt in response to science, as well.

And this is something that has been confirmed for me by everyday practice. As a scientist, I'm trained to ask questions. I go to work every day and I ask, "Why?" I look at the data we have, and I look at what it can explain, and I look at what it can't explain, and I think about the limits of my knowledge, I think about how amazing and profound the human mind is, and other aspects of science are, as well.

And to me, awe is often felt in response to those things. There's a lot that science can't explain. There are a lot of things I don't understand. And asking questions on a daily basis has led me to confront those inexplicable things on a quite daily basis.

So for me as a scientist, I often feel that deeply moving sense of awe, just in response to my work. And I think when we consider science and religion, it's important to consider that there are some important emotional experiences -- awe being one of them -- that is central to both science and religion.
There's the ever-impatient saying, TUT TUT; the oh-so-delectable TUT-TI FRUTTI; the musical term TUTTI; the merry Olde English folk game TUT ball, precursor of our national pastime. And then of course there's our old pal King TUT.

Tired of red carpets, awards shows, insulting debates, boring Town Halls, and droning political pundits? Check out the newest incarnation of the Egyptian boy wonder at The Discovery of King Tut exhibit (www.tutnyc.com). Well, maybe he's not so new.

Ok, so I don't know much about history ... and sure don't know much about Egyptology. But lately I've learned a thing or two about the famous boy pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who ruled from 1332BC - 1323BC, roughly 30 centuries ago. Who can think back to yesterday, much less 3,000 years ago? All I remember from school trips to the Museum of Natural History was this:

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Egypt is filled with pyramids and feisty pharaohs. And oh yes, teen-age rulers. After all, Cleopatra was a mere adolescent when she took the throne. Her brother Ptolemy XIII was 11. Guess England copy-catted with Mary (Queen of Scots) Stuart, a sweet 16-year old ruler. And Tutankhamun was only 19 when he reached his untimely death.



The Discovery of King Tut, Premier Exhibitions

Photo Credit: Mia Berman

But those Egyptians sure might have taught our current politicians a thing or two about poise, patience, and penmanship. After all, the art of reading, writing, and hieroglyph-ing took tremendous talent...and time. They might have influenced today's teens to stop texting and use some face-to-face time. More tongue-ing, less thumbing. They could have taught our political leaders to stop whining, quit memorizing mantras, and start revering priceless things like the stars, moon and sun...



Hieroglyphs. Tomb of Ramses 6 Valley of Kings

www.icias.com



Okay, so I do remember a few details. Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His tomb was discovered in the Valley of Kings. He is colloquially referred to as King Tut.

Tut. Sounds simple. One syllable. Tut-ally symmetrical. And inspirational. After all, in the literary classic Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin clucked, "Tut tut it looks like rain." And our old friend Dr. Seuss uses it in Horton Hatches an Egg in imploring an elephant to temporarily sit on a nest so Mayzie can get a break:

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"Tut, tut," answered Mayzie. "I know you're not small

But I'm sure you can do it. No trouble at all.

Just sit on it softly. You're gentle and kind.

Come, be a good fellow. I know you won't mind."

But way before all that literary, there was King TUT.

Recently there's been a lot of hooplah over a possible discovery that might place Queen Nefertiti in the tomb with the King. I've checked out Dr. Nicholas Reeves' hypotheses and Dr. Zahi Hawass' scientific mummy project, CT scans and all. But after wading through scads of statistics gleaned from historians, librarians, Egyptologists, archaeologists, philologists, gemologists, and meteorologists...and finally, the fascinating "first replica" exhibit: The Discovery of King Tut, at midtown Manhattan's Premier Exhibitions space, I've come up with this most profound statement, so listen up:

What's definite is that nothing is definite.

Look, I went to an Ivy League school, but even my rather curious, questioning brain can't fathom all the 411 about Tut and the discovery of his sealed tomb. Who knew that it takes 70 days to mummify? Or that there are over 1,000 artifacts in the current (Discovery of King) Tut-o-sphere. In today's lingo, I'd say it's huge.



Artifact Replica Falcon Necklace

The Discovery of King Tut, Premier Exhibitions

Yup. There's everything in this first Tut replica exhibit from the mummy's golden fingertips to gilded cedar shrines, chariots to castanets, ebony thrones to leopard skinned stools, falcons to fetuses.



Portable Shrine with Anubis figure, The Discovery of King Tut, Premier Exhibitions

It's all about rituals, from reincarnation to worship of Sun God Ra and Osiris, god of resurrection. The tomb (miraculously preserved for 3,000 years) contained shrines of solid gold, weighing over 200 pounds, decorated with divine cobras to protect the contents. And then of course, the Piece de Resistance: the 24-pound gold and lapis lazuli mask protecting King Tut's head.

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Replica of King Tut's Golden Mask, The Discovery of King Tut, Premier Exhibitions

Check out Tut's gilded coffins, housed snugly inside each other, nesting-doll style (think Russian porcelain dolls within dolls) , then lowered into a heavy, rectangular sarcophagus of red granite and yellow quartzite. Let's not forget the corners, adorned with relief carvings of protective goddesses Isis, Nepthet, Selket, and Neit.

Nested fetus coffins



Dig It! Carter, the Cairo-practor

Here's what we've got: one young Tut kid king rivaling boy wonder Michael Jackson; one persistent archaeology buff named Howard Carter (sort of a 1920's starving artist), obsessed with the pursuit of King Tut's tomb until the ultimate discovery in November, 1922; one long hot trek from the excavation digging site to Cairo; one race car nut-turned-philanthropist -- George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon (think George Soros or Bill Gates) who, after a racing car accident traveled to Egypt, met Carter, and became his sole benefactor, financing the excavation in Thebes -- until the funds ran out. Enter Harry Burton, one eager archivist/photographer, and we've got ourselves a Tut-A-team!



Howard Carter, recovery of Tutankhamen treasures, Carter #254

Photo Credit: Harry Burton



Crated artifacts en route to Cairo Museum, along the Nile River

Photo Credit: Harry Burton



Lord Carnarvon (George Herbert)

Photo Credit: Harry Burton

The Drama of Tut-O-Rama

Yup. We've got ourselves one pop culture phenomenon of Egypt-o-mania, from the striped headdress to the gold leaf coated replica of Selket, the goddess who guarded the shrine containing the pharaoh's organs; one semi-cult of Tut-maniacs intrigued by the rituals, the reverence, the razzma-TUT-tazz of it all.

Tut-mania started in the late 70's in the states and peaked in 1978 at NYC's Metropolitan Museum, the last stop of the epic Treasures of Tutankhamun six-city American tour. (That exhibit contained 55 real objects from Tut's tomb, straight from the Museum of Cairo). The line of "Tut-maniacs" extended from the museum's entrance on 82nd Street down 5th Avenue to 59th street. Paparazzi shadowed the celebs who attended, including Liz Taylor, Robert Redford, Nancy Reagan, and Andy Warhol, Patty Hearst (shortly before she was whisked off to jail) and Cher.

Comedian Steve Martin did a memorable King Tut routine with original lyrics like How'd you get so funky? Even hip-hop dance took up the cause with Tutting (a style of popping your hands and arms at right angles in sync to the beat) that originated from the choreography of 1970's funk band King Boogaloo Tut.

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Iconic 70's band Earth Wind & Fire 's peak coincided with the American Tut tour, and their record album covers for I Am and All 'n All were inspired by Egyptian Tut-esque themes. And for mystery and intrigue, Rapper NAS had a major mishap when the designers used a clay mold to replicate Tut's golden mask for his own album art. Some residue of clay mistakenly got stuck in his nostril, blocking his breathing momentarily.



Earth Wind & Fire All 'N All album cover

Shsei Nagaoka, artist

Tut: from Watergate to Bloomingdale's

On his last overseas trip to Egypt (1974), former President Richard Nixon befriended President Anwar Sadat. The White House administration helped divert the focus off of Watergate with the signing of an agreement to allow the King Tut treasures to travel to America. Wa-Tut-ergate?



Richard Nixon and Anwar Sadat, 1974

Photo Credit: Rene Burri

In Golden 20's Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks attended an elaborate exhibit created for movie theater mogul Sidney Grauman's Egyptian Theater, a gaudily romanticized tribute to Egyptian art and architrave, with stones, scarabs, pillars, and sphinx heads. In the 1970's, Bloomingdale's touted a line of Tut-inspired linens, home decor, and accessories, with I   New York spelled out in hieroglyphics. Margaux Hemingway wore a hieroglyph-imprinted dress to a celebrity wedding in Beverly Hills. More recently, Spike TV broadcast Tut, the mini-series, starring Ben Kingsley.

Pharaoh Photo Finish

Harry Burton, a photographer on loan from the Metropolitan Museum, brought Carter's discoveries in the Valley of Kings to life, vividly documenting the archaeologist's excavation. He was there with "Team Tutankhamun" when Carter first entered the tomb with his infamous candle and glimpsed "everywhere, the glint of gold." Images of jewels, artifacts, and figurines popped up, as well as headlines about "TUT-ANKH-AMEN." Sounds like a rather exotic end of a prayer, don't you think?

Just when you thought you'd be way too weary to wander through corridors of tombs, chambers and mummified beings, Surprise! It's none other than Museum Hack, created to assist those of us who squint and crawl our way through dark museum exhibits, getting cranky and seeing red.

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Back on Track with Mark Lach & Museum Hack

Bopping along the Discovery trail, I found the mesmerizing Tut exhibit -- skillfully designed by Rainer Verbizh -- filled with eye-popping trivia, life-size tombs and masterfully reproduced memorabilia, down to the precious detail of Tut's grandma's lock of hair. I glided through, listening to a most inspiring and synchronistic audio tape, presented by the gracious guides at the start of the two-floor loop. Kudos to both Verbizh and Mark Lach, Creative Director, Premier Exhibitions (which includes the charming Saturday Night Live exhibit), for an artful blend of the space's whimsy and wonder. Alas, even the most passionate and eager sphinx wanna-bees amongst us get a tad weary.

I joined an otherwise bleary-eyed tour group, and yes, I was stunned. The kids were wide-eyed. Museum Hack (www.museumhack.com) is a genius concept to make museums fun. Their philosophy? "People are people," regardless of what century. Their special formula to fight museum fatigue is "subversive and non-traditional." They've conquered the unconquerable -- what no other parent, teacher or guide has managed to do. Museum Hack puts an end to boring tours, endless exhibition dioramas, plaques and verbiage. Museum Hack performs "MUMMY RAP" lyrics about Tut and his tomb, bringing dust and death back to life. They make ancient history scintillating, describing identifiable stuff, from make-up to mistakes.

Museum Hack is reverently irreverent. Team members toss out fun facts, much easier to absorb than abstract theories. I for one learned that coal and malachite, used for make-up, were alkaloids, which prevented infections from the Nile river floods. Museum Hack translated the famous "curse," a string of bad luck in the archaeological dig, into "bad things happen to dig people." Bex, Harry and Evan used that famous children's origami paper fortuneteller game to link each tour group member to one of the King Tut characters.



Credit: Kimberly Mathison

They also gave us the dirt on the famous King Tut mask. Apparently workers handling the delicate artifact accidentally knocked off the long braided beard, then glued it back on rather sloppily. Just can't get quality labor these days. How'd we ever get those pyramids built?!



King Tut kitsch with Mia Berman at Premier Exhibitions store

BFF's Kim, Chloe & Cleopatra

Nope, there was no tv or Keeping up with the Kardashians, but cheek and lip color were a must for the Egyptians, just like today's 21st century teenagers and millennials. The colorful green eye paint and black kohl appeal to all ages. Museum Hack passes around the malachite, so we can touch and feel the sparkly green stone used for cosmetics. Their m.o.? Bring the obscure back to reality with tidbits about family, friends and eyeliner.

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O.C.D. - Obstinate Compelled & Determined aka Obsessive Collector & Discoverer

Indeed, Howard Carter was obsessive about his search. He started at age 17 and King Tut died at 19. Perhaps he identified with his intriguing subject's age. He rose to become Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt but his career was cut to the quick. Against all odds (lack of funds and intensive heat), he persevered. Despite a slew of bizarre mishaps (a cobra killed his canary, for one) and superstitious signs of negativity, he pressed on.

Mortality & Spirituality

These young Egyptian royals and their peeps didn't seem to search endlessly for the meaning of life. They weren't desperate to find a guru, a yoga group or a Zen monastery. They already had their spiritual mentors like Aten, the sun God, and Ka, the spirit force of the deceased. The funerary culture was essential to sustain KT, the eternal spirit. Amongst the burial rituals, the Egyptians used red jasper amulets to guarantee smooth sailing into the afterlife, protected by Isis, mother-goddess of magic, wisdom, and life. Falcon plumage ensured cosmic protection in the form of the avian sky god Horus.

A Gory Story of Glory

Let's face it. Morbid makes an impact. The Discovery of King Tut teaches us that poor boy Tut might have met an untimely, rather unpleasant, violent end.



King Tut's skeleton (replica), The Discovery of King Tut

Splinters were found in his skull which might indicate a treacherous attack, along with a knee injury and possible malaria infection. Routine mummification included the use of resin, removal of his entrails--cut from the navel to the left thigh--and an empty skull. Some of Tut's vital organs are contained in "coffinettes" in the tomb, which makes The Addams Family look like The Sound of Music.

Far, Phar-aoh Ahead of Their Time

3,000 years ago the Egyptians seemed more advanced than today's scientific experts. They could have been professors, nutritionists, pharmacologists or micro-biologists. Just ask Dr. David P. Silverman, curator of the original Treasures of Tutankhamun and University of Pennsylvania Curator-in-Charge of the Egyptian Collection. According to Dr. and Professor Silverman, the medical texts describe some pretty sophisticated stuff. They indicate a knowledge of holistic as well as scientific methods of treating symptoms. No doctors' prescription pads, I imagine. But "they used honey -- a good source of keeping away infections...they ate days' old bread, which we associate with mold...(it's) practically penicillin...and they knew about contraceptives."

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As for career options? They could have chosen cosmetology or dermatology. There was no SPF # in Egyptian suntan lotion, as far as I know. But the soot in kohl helped prevent damaging effects of sun glare on their eyes. Way ahead of Revlon or L'Oreal, the Egyptians were savvy in skincare, creating a remedy for burns by mixing mixed cheek and lip stain; and improving skin with red natron, northern salt and honey. No wonder the medical world took the name Mt. Sinai -- the sacred Egyptian site -- as one of the most prominent hospitals in New York City.

Riddle of the Sphinx - What's Certain is Uncertain

Furthermore, as Dr. Silverman explains, the Egyptians considered the healing effects of foods, minerals and cosmetics as much magical as medical. So who said science was exact?

Ok, dare I say it? Professor Silverman, in his massive wisdom of the World of Tut, seems a reincarnation of the sphinx itself. Like the fluidity of the Nile, he states that "everything in Egyptology changes." Theories rise and set like the sun. Even after the 2010 DNA analysis of the two mummified stillborn children, it's definite that there are no definites. They may, or may not, be related. They may, or may not, be his daughters. One of two older female mummies may, or may not, be Queen Nefertiti. And, to make things more complex, Nefertiti may have changed gender and become King for a short while, under another name. Trans-gender roles were common; in one theory, she was the obscure pharaoh Smenkhkare, and may have ruled with Akhenaten in traditional royal male clothing. Once again, ahead of their Tut-ankhamen time.

Sarcophagi & Stylists - Fashion Week at the Nile

Fast forward to February 2016, and perhaps these Egyptians could have been consultants for Fashion Week, considering their intricate designs, patterns, stripes, and use of color...and of course, their sophistication with cosmetics. Beauty was a sign of holiness. Face, cheek and lip makeup used the red ochre from clay washed and dried in the sun. Henna, a naturally occurring plant, was used by the ancient Egyptians to paint their nails, and dye their hair.

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Tom Ford? Valentino? Vintage Chanel? Hotsox? Nefertiti has been discovered to have worn men's clothing -- way ahead of George Sand, Gertrude Stein and Diane (Annie Hall) Keaton.

Manolo Blahnik, eat your heart out. The golden sandals that adorned the royalty's feet were elegant...and I don't really think Queen Nefertiti had much need for 6" heels.
When I established my first law practice, I relied upon a short-term loan to start the firm. At the time, this was the only avenue available to me. Now, as a member of Congress, I look back and recognize how vital that funding was to jumpstarting my long career in public service.

In an effort to ensure that others like me have continued access to payday loans, states such as Florida implemented regulations that make the industry more accountable to both consumers and legislators. The Florida approach is a model for other states that seek to achieve a balance between consumer protection and vital access to credit. It was forged by working with all parties involved in this issue including consumer groups, lenders, and even the U.S. Department of Defense. Dorene Barker, a lobbyist for Florida Legal Services, an advocacy group that led the fight against predatory lending, observed in 2001 when the Florida bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support that, "this is going to protect consumers" and further expressed her support stating: "I'm really pretty excited about it. I think we've come up with a way to keep people from being caught in the debt trap."

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I am an original cosponsor of a bipartisan piece of legislation that seeks to build off of the progressive Florida model on a national level. H.R. 4018, the Consumer Protection and Choice Act would establish rules that must be incorporated into state laws governing payday loans. These requirements include launching a database and background checks, preventing consumers from acquiring new loans if previous ones are outstanding, limiting interest fees to no more than 10 percent of a loan, and placing a cap of $500 on loans. If a state law does not meet the specifications of the bill, then federal regulations will govern short-term lending in that locality.

Considering the importance of H.R. 4018 to ensuring the safety of consumers and viability of a critical industry, I find the recent criticism over my colleague, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's support of the legislation bewildering. The Florida payday model has been protecting consumers for 15 years, and Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz was one of the chief scriveners of this legislation when she served in the State Legislature. That is why reports of criticism from Florida consumer groups of the Congresswoman's support for the Florida model are perplexing, especially given their positions in favor of the compromise bill when it passed.

I acknowledge that some people have been harmed by small lenders. Yet, such cases are far more common in areas that lack the tough standards present in Florida. It was Wall Street that caused the financial crisis, not payday loans. Further, those who claim to have consumers best interest at heart would be wise to silence their criticism of this bill that takes important steps to protect consumers including a 60 day grace period, if payment cannot be made on the assigned date and required financial counseling.

Put simply when the electricity is cut off, the water is turned off, the car payments are due, and the rent must be paid - poor people cannot go to big banks for a loan. They cannot even go to community banks for a $350 loan. They go to payday lenders. Threats to eliminate this industry are direct threats to the ability of American citizens to make ends meet and get ahead.

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Last month, I received a letter from a constituent in Sunrise, Florida, who is a single mom trying to survive on a salary as an administrative assistant. She expressed her fear of not having access to short-term credit if she needed help covering bills, putting gas in the car, or buying groceries. If the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), moves forward with implementing the current rules they have proposed, it would put 70 percent of the industry out of business. What, then, may we expect if a majority of those currently providing short-term, small-dollar loans are forced to close their doors? In Florida, thousands of jobs across the state will be lost. But perhaps even more troubling, Floridians who use these services will be left with few legal options.

Financial protection comes in many forms, and we must ensure that meaningful and robust safeguards exist to prevent predatory lending practices. Both Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz and I want to ensure that our constituents, and people across this nation have access to short-term credit they need and are protected. To quote a June 15, 2015 editorial by Professor Jeffrey H. Joseph of The George Washington University School of Business, that appeared in the Tampa Tribune, "The CFPB's quest to eliminate payday loans and other short-term lending options will leave low-income Americans with few legal options to turn to when an emergency expense arises. That's hardly providing 'financial protection' to the Americans who need it most."
As a husband, father and president of a faith-based organization, I have the privilege of being surrounded by strong women at practically all times. At home, my wife and my daughter challenge my ideas about... well, most things, from my views on current events to how I manage the mystifying array of technology required simply to watch the evening news on television. At work, not only are our heads of operations and programs both intelligent women, but like most non-profit organizations and especially faith-based ones, over half of our staff and Board of Directors are as well. There seems to be no shortage of empowered women around me. However, as President of Episcopal Relief & Development I am all too aware that is not the case around the world. The pursuit of true gender equality takes commitment and effort from both sides*, and the question often comes up: what is men's role in this?

The Episcopal Church in Liberia has an answer. Recognizing that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a persistent and preventable cause of harm to women, which affects their physical, emotional, social and economic health, they resolved to use their leverage as a trusted and widespread institution, to address this issue. The Church in Liberia already has many programs that empower women economically, but now they are specifically engaging men and boys in examining the root causes of SGBV and dismantling them.

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In one part of the program, through an interfaith collaboration, priests and imams analyze religious texts that can help or harm the cause to end violence against women. They challenge themselves and others to use the Bible's and Qu'ran's messages of peace and understanding to challenge socially ingrained attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate SGBV. In another part of the program, Christian and Muslim male youth leaders discuss how social and cultural norms on gender roles disempower both men and women. Questioning assumptions enables faith and youth leaders alike to arrive at a new vision of equality - one where nothing has been taken away from them, such as masculinity or power, but where both men and women are empowered to move forward together.

A global epidemic, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. And because this issue touches every geographic area and socioeconomic level, large-scale and collaborative efforts are needed in order to bring the attention and action needed, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals.

From the faith perspective, church leaders in both the pulpit and the pews are in a unique position to bring awareness, support and education to congregants and the wider community. Many centers of faith have the power to change violent behavior and practices, especially when we can collaborate with local government, social service providers, youth coalitions and other community groups; it's an enormous opportunity and privilege.

In 2013, Episcopal Relief & Development co-founded the US-based We Will Speak Out (WWSO) coalition, which brings diverse faith groups and other leaders for social action and advocacy together to end all forms of violence against women and girls. The first stage has been to end the silence that has cloaked the issue across communities, but particularly within faith communities. We partner with regional leaders and grassroots organizations to engage men and women through a series of social and economic programs and initiatives, grounded in the spiritual belief that transformation is possible. The next stage underway involves education and awareness around SGBV within the faith and wider community.

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Women's voices are critical to the change we seek, especially those who have endured and survived violence. However, bringing an end to SGBV and building a just world must also include men speaking out and becoming advocates for change. That's why on Monday, March 14, 2016, we will be casting a bright light on men of faith who are championing this cause in their communities.

In a parallel event to the 60th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW60) that convenes in New York, March 14-24, We Will Speak Out will bring together an international, interfaith, and intergenerational panel of men to share their wisdom, commitment, and first-hand experiences of how they are engaged in the critical process to end violence against girls and women. Engaging Men of Faith to be Champions in the Fight to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence will be moderated by Jimmie Briggs, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Man Up Campaign.

It's our hope that by highlighting the voices of men seeking to confront the issues of abuse against women, and supporting them to challenge violent attitudes in their own communities we will together positively impact the lives of women and girls.

Please take the time to share how you or your community are addressing Gender-Based Violence in the comments below.

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Images in blog: First, men and women gather after activities around SGBV. Second, Christian and Muslim men gather to discuss SGBV. Third, women wears hat to raise awareness about SGBV. Fourth, a small community gathers to discuss SGBV.

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Photo: Stanford University

Looking across the calm, smooth Atlantic waters from the docks of the small island town of New Shoreham, Rhode Island, it may be hard to tell, but preparations are well underway for the nation's first offshore wind farm to begin operating here before the year ends.

Last fall, wind developers laid five foundations for the turbines that will spin in the Atlantic Ocean, three miles southeast of Block Island and east of Long Island.

Last week, officials held the latest in a series of community meetings to discuss the action expected in the months ahead. At the moment, the focus is preparing the way for the 20-mile cable that will distribute power from the DeepWater Wind turbines to the mainland.

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"We've talked about this project for a while, and now we're going to start impacting the island. We're almost ready to put shovels in the ground," said Kathryn Cox-Arslan of National Grid, the company who's installing and will operate the cable, according to the Block Island Times.

Block Island is perfectly suited for offshore wind. The turbines are located in a renewable energy zone designated by the state of Rhode Island several years ago.

As Slate contributor Daniel Gross has pointed out, the project is also in the environmental and economic self-interest of Block Island. Because the community isn't connected to the mainland grid, right now its electricity comes from burning diesel that's ferried to the island - a dirty, disruptive, and expensive way to get power.

By contrast, the wind turbines will create plenty of pollution-free energy right where it can be used on the island, plus additional electricity that's contracted to be sold and distributed on the mainland. As Gross explained: "In essence, the wind farm will displace the diesel generators at about the same price, create new infrastructure, and funnel emissions-free power into Rhode Island's larger grid."

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Offshore wind and Block Island are a match made a heaven. But the island isn't so unique. Many of the circumstances that make offshore wind so perfect for Block Island are also true up and down the Atlantic Coast.

The potential for offshore wind is virtually limitless, and developing just a fraction of it could power all the households of New Jersey and South Carolina combined.

A third of the U.S. population lives on the Eastern seaboard, right where offshore wind power could be easily delivered and at times when it is needed most: afternoons, summer heat waves, and winter cold snaps.

Wind power would help offset dirty energy up and down the coast just as it will in Block Island. The projects already in development off the East Coast could avert 9.3 million tons of the carbon pollution fueling the climate crisis, not to mention all smog and soot pollutants that threaten our health. Furthermore, if East Coast states go big on offshore wind as part of a comprehensive plan that ramps up energy efficiency and other renewables, they can avoid costly investments in fossil fuel infrastructure that will lock in pollution for decades.

Just as Rhode Island officials did for the waters off Block Island, the Obama administration's "Smart from the Start" initiative is working to designate areas up and down the East Coast suitable for offshore wind development, with the aim of building community support on the front end for responsibly-sited turbines.

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And while electricity prices are not as high everywhere on the coast as they are on Block Island, they can be volatile. As more regulations controlling carbon are adopted, they'll also go up. In fact, a 2014 study found that New England consumers could save 2 percent on their bills if the areas designated for offshore wind were developed and added to the region's energy portfolio.

How can the rest of the East Coast catch up to Block Island? It all comes down to forward-thinking policies at the federal and state levels.

We need the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management to continue its leadership on offshore wind through programs like the Smart from the Start Initiative.

We need Congress to extend tax incentives for offshore wind power investments until after 2022, when most offshore wind projects are expected to come to fruition.

And we need governors and state leaders to make clear and bold commitments to offshore wind, just as Rhode Island has; and encourage more long-term power-purchase agreements for offshore wind projects, just as the Massachusetts House is poised to propose.

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This is the year of Trump, and a few people have asked me about historical precedents. Actually, to be blunt, they pleaded, "Has it ever been this bad?"

Let's start with nasty presidential elections. There are really two prime examples since the Civil War, 1928 and 1896. The first I've discussed before. Al Smith, the Democrat's nominee, was the first Roman-Catholic to run for our highest office from a major party, representing immigrants and the emerging cities. As a result, he ran into a firestorm of attacks and lost badly. The Daytona Beach school board distributed to every child a card to bring parents: "We must prevent the election of Alfred E. Smith to the Presidency. If he is elected President, you will not be allowed to have or read a Bible." Photos of the construction of the Lincoln Tunnel were standard campaign flyers, with the caption that these were evidence of the secret tunnel being built between Rome and Washington to bring the pope over. For some the threat was immediate. A Klan speaker in Manchester, IN alerted his audience about the Pope's imminent arrival: "He may even be on the Northbound train tomorrow! He may! He may! Be warned! Prepare! America is for Americans!....Watch the trains!"

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Less well known, and more relevant to 2016, is what happened in 1896. For decades the Democratic Party had been run by a coalition of Southern planter and Northern industrial elites. But a new wing had been mobilizing in the farm belt, consisting of poor farmers who were, like some whites now, dissatisfied with the country and with their declining incomes and status; this was a true grass roots revolt. They proceeded to dominate the convention, and after his path-breaking Cross of Gold speech, chose William Jennings Bryan as their nominee.

As today with Republicans, there was rebellion in party ranks. David Bennett Hill, patrician senator from New York, the home of Wall Street, was asked if he was still a Democrat. With language that may be used again this year he replied, "I am a Democrat still. Very still."

Even more, pubic institutions and figures denounced Bryan in tones not part of the usual political discourse, just like today's rancorous debates. One New York newspaper headlined that they had consulted "an eminent alienist" (i.e., a doctor studying disturbed persons) about Bryan and headlined their article about the candidate, "Paranoid or Mattoid?" Theodore Roosevelt, then New York's Police Commissioner, claimed that Bryan and his party were "plotting a social revolution and the subversion of the American Republic." Teddy continued, "As regards the essential principles of government," the Bryanites were "in hearty sympathy with their remote skin clad ancestors who lived in caves and fought one another with stone headed axes and ate the mammoth wooly rhinoceros." One paper polled the inmates at Sing-Sing prison and found that these felons endorsed the farmer's representative. Bryan lost his election too.

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As to third parties, in 1948 there were actually four, giving Americans more serious choices than any other time in the twentieth century. Besides Harry Truman for the Democrats and Thomas Dewey for the Republicans there was Strom Thurmond representing the Dixiecrat Party and Henry Wallace on the Progressive Party ticket. This was no joke, either. Thurmond carried four states and got 1,175,930 popular and 39 electoral votes. Wallace took no states but was backed by 1,157,328 voters.

The real marker, however, is 1912, when the greatest split in modern political history occurred. Rebuffed by the Party establishment, Teddy Roosevelt summoned his followers and stormed out of the Republican convention that year. Assembling a coalition of reformers in a Chicago hall, he stood in front of figures like Jane Addams and thundered, "We Stand at Armageddon and We Battle For the Lord!" At the end of the meeting, they joined together and sang "Onward Christian Soldiers". Although the formal name was the Progressive Party, early on a reporter asked Theodore if he was up to the task of a national, insurgent campaign and the great man replied that he was as "fit as a bull moose," thus providing their popular nickname.

Teddy was one of the most formidable politicians of any era and he gave better than he received, actually beating the regular, Republican candidate by a substantial margin, despite his third party status. Even though William Taft was the incumbent president that year, in seven states he actually got fewer votes than the Socialist Party's Eugene Debs. At one point Taft wrote, "I think I might as well give up as far as being a candidate is concerned. There are so many people in the country who don't like me." On that, at least, he was right.

Regarding problematic conventions, before this year and the possibility of a Trump-inspired floor fight, the Dems seemed to have a lock on these. In 1924 it ran to 103 ballots, still a record and in a quest for mercy, hopefully one that will last forever. And in 1968 they had riots, tear gas flooding downtown Chicago, and a U.S. Senator speaking at the podium on national tv denouncing the "gestapo tactics" of the police.

What is completely unprecedented this year is the total unpreparedness of the Republican front runner. Other than generals, two presidents had never run for any elected office before seeking the highest office, Taft and Herbert Hoover. But both had held significant cabinet posts, and many historians claim Hoover was actually the most important federal official in the country during the 1920s, given the weak presidencies of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. This is the first time in recent history someone with literally no governmental experience whatsoever has gotten this far.

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In many ways the real predecessor to Trump's campaign is the Joe McCarthy episode in the 1950s. First, like the New York realtor, McCarthy massaged his record. He began his career while a Marine during World War II. Assigned to non-combat duties, McCarthy had himself photographed in the rear of a grounded dive bomber while he fired 700 rounds into the air, then claimed he had fought off Japanese planes and was known as "Tail Gunner Joe."

As U.S. Senator from Wisconsin he traveled down this path of manipulating truth, much like Trump and his false claims. McCarthy attributed to the Secretary of Agriculture a quote the man never said and when questioned, replied he didn't give "a tinker's damn" what the man had actually uttered.

As Trump has created Mexican and Muslim threats, during the Red Scare McCarthy simply invented villains where none existed. In one of the cases he presented to Congress, the actual FBI investigation which McCarthy claimed to be using, read as follows: "This employee is with the Office of Information and Educational Exchange in New York City....There has been no investigation. (C-8) is a reference. Though he is 43 years of age, his file reflects no history prior to June 1941."

Here is how McCarthy described this evidence on the floor of the Senate: "This individual is 43 years of age. He is with the Office of Information and Education. According to the file he is a known Communist. I might say that when I refer to someone as being a known Communist, I am not evaluating the information myself. I am merely giving what is in the file."

McCarthy also resembled the realtor by using innuendo to smear opponents. Donald Trump does not come out and say Barack Obama is not an American or that Ted Cruz is Canadian. He is just raising the question. In similar fashion, the Senator or one of his fellow Red-hunters would refrain from bluntly calling someone a Communist, but glibly point out that their target was "Communistically inclined".

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Above all, McCarthy, like Trump, never defended, always attacked. Rather than clarifying a position, he always belittled the questioner. One of his targets was a China correspondent named Haldore Hansen, whom Joe referred to a person with a "mission to communize the world." Referring to a memoir Hansen had published about his exploits overseas, McCarthy described it as "a book which sets forth his pro-Communist answer to the problems of Asia a clearly as Hitler's Mein Kampf set forth his solutions to the problems of Europe," claims which flabbergasted the author, publisher, and anyone who had ever read the volume. When asked the name of the book McCarthy replied that he didn't know, he would look it up. Joe denounced the "egg-sucking phony liberals" who held "sacrosanct those Communists and queers" who had sold China into "atheistic slavery". Also, much like The Donald, he referred to himself in the third person ("McCarthy will not bend...."). At least he never referred to his polls (which were quite high).
When you study investment management in business school, one of the first things you discuss is the following hypothetical: Take 1,024 investment managers. At the beginning of the year, randomly choose 512 of these managers to send out letters to prospective clients predicting that the stock market will rise that year; the other 512 will send out letters predicting that the stock market will fall.

At the end of the year, take the 512 who were randomly correct, divide them in two again and repeat the exercise: 256 predicting an up market and 256 predicting a down market. At the end of 10 years, you are down to one person who has "called" the market for ten years running. Everyone thinks that he is a genius. But he isn't. He is just a random survivor. Hence the name for this fallacy: "survivorship bias."

Think of this the next time you hear Trump mouthing off about being a "world class businessman." The world of real estate, where Trump has made almost all of his money, is particularly prone to survivorship bias. The more volatile the underlying process, the more pronounced is the effect. And nothing is more volatile that real estate, particularly leveraged real estate in a major city (like New York). This is exactly the field where Trump has played out his career. Nearly half of his wealth is tied up in buildings within a four-mile radius of his extravagantly tasteless apartment in the Trump Tower.

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As I pointed out before, Trump was bankrupt in the early 1990s. This was a time when the gods of chance randomly assigned him the losing bet. He was saved in that episode through his and his father's political connections, his father's money (which he used to pay off some of his more aggressive creditors) and the old truism: "Borrow $100 and you have a banker. Borrow $1 billion and you have a partner." Still, in the world of investment analysis, this is known as a "100% drawdown," and it is usually taken as a big red flag.

Others have approached Trump's business career from another perspective. The Economist has recently run an article that, among other things, analyses Trump's investment performance. Using data from Forbes magazine's annual rankings of the wealthy, which is certainly a more accurate picture of Trump's opaque holdings than anything that Trump claims, The Economist finds that his investment performance has been mediocre at best. Going back to 1985, the first year that Trump appeared in the rankings separately from his father, and indexing his wealth versus the S&P 500 or Manhattan real estate generally, Trump would today be either 1.4 times as wealthy (if he sold everything in 1985 and reinvested in random properties in Manhattan) or 2.8 times as wealthy (if he reinvested in the S&P 500).

Matt Levine, one of the sharper knives in the BloombergView drawer, did a review of the Trump-versus-index analyses that was a little more favorable to Trump, pointing out how assumptions-dependent they are.[1] But still the overall conclusion is the same: The claim that Trump is some kind of business genius is far from proven.

The sad thing is that, if you point out the fallacies, shallowness and inconsistencies of Trump the political candidate to one of his supporters, the single most likely response you get is: "If he didn't have smarts/good judgement/good advisors/good character/etc., then he could have never gotten to where he is in the business world." Actually, this may not be true. He may just be a survivor.

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FLINT, MI - MARCH 06: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate with candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) at the Whiting Auditorium at the Cultural Center Campus on March 6, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Voters in Michigan will go to the polls March 8 for the state's primary. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

I have always supported the most progressive candidate in the presidential race, every race. Most times I have not endorsed them but have promoted them and their ideas to the rival more centrist candidates who then became our better suited nominee. This election cycle it has has been inspiring to watch Senator Sanders bring ideas to the forefront and push the whole Democratic Party to recognize the importance of issues that otherwise might have been overlooked. That was the reason why we spoke last week, to discuss the issues that we both care about, and to see how we can continue to uplift marginalized voices across the country.

I have a profound respect Senator Bernie Sanders and the campaign he has built, full of enthusiasm from a new generation of Americans. I applaud the idealism of the younger generation who grew up with nothing but 9/11 and student loans and the great recession. I respect their desire to break with the past that has been so unkind to their generation. As we enter the homestretch of the primary season, we still need the energy of the Bernie Sanders campaign, as it makes our party stronger. My personal politics are even to the left of the platform that Bernie Sanders stands on today, so keep pushing forward the ideals of the Vermont Senator, as it will only make us a more progressive nation. I will continue to champion those who feel left out of the political process and I will always fight for a government that represents the people, and not the corporations. I was on the front lines of Occupy Wall Street and I know that corruption in Washington from lobbyists, business people and special interest groups have brought our democracy to a standstill. It needs to be re-started and although I believe Senator Sanders has great ideas, I believe that Secretary Clinton has great ideas combined with the experience to get the job done.

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That is why I proudly endorse Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States. I have known and worked with Secretary Clinton for over 20 years. Inspired by her determination to reverse the Rockefeller Drug Laws in New York State, I hosted a Hillary at my home when she was first running for the U.S. Senate. I once took her as my "date" to the Congressional Black Caucus Ball in Washington and spent the whole night listening to her discussing and supporting meaningful legislation with its members. I know for a fact that Hillary will fight with every thing she got to reverse the cancerous growth of our prison population -- the single most pressing issue facing black and brown communities today.

(And, yes, I'm aware that it was Bill Clinton's Violent Crime Control Act that ignited that growth. I also remember that the bill's intention was to decrease urban violence, that it enjoyed widespread support in the black community, and that it was backed by a solid number of black Democrats -- and by Bernie Sanders. No one predicted then that the law would be enforced in such a way as to incarcerate a generation of black men.)

Hillary's first speech of her campaign was about criminal justice reform, and I am proud that she has made it a centerpiece of her platform. She continues to impress me during this election season with her insightful ideas on how to make America's economy strengthen and how to uplift all Americans, regardless of race, gender, color, sexual orientation or religion.

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This year's International Women's Day theme envisions a world with true gender equity by 2030 and asks government leaders to address the challenges holding girls and women back from their full potential. At the top of each leader's list should be maternal mortality, which causes 800 women to die each day from entirely preventable causes. For a variety of reasons such as difficulty accessing quality healthcare or essential drugs, 99 percent of those deaths occur in developing nations.

Yet, if you believe that maternal mortality is an issue that doesn't affect women in the U.S., think again.

The U.S. is the only developed nation where the maternal death rate is actually rising!

This upward trend means that this leading nation is now in the company of such impoverished places as Afghanistan, El Salvador, and South Sudan.

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Here's what these escalating numbers look like on a smaller, more understandable scale:

Two women die every day from pregnancy-related causes.

Some parts of America have maternal mortality rates as steep as Sub-Saharan Africa.

Pregnancy complications are the 6th most common cause of death among women age 20 to 34.

How could this be happening? Why are American women 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their counterparts in other developed nations like Britain and Japan?

Here are 3 reasons you may not be aware of:

1. Like women in developing nations, women here also face a range of barriers preventing them from obtaining prenatal care. In rural areas across the U.S., hospitals and clinics are few and far between while those serving low-income communities, particularly in urban settings, are often overcrowded and understaffed. And those who are on staff may be overworked or simply unqualified to provide skilled care. Thousands of women are uninsured and those who are eligible for Medicaid receive fewer prenatal care visits at one of the ever-diminishing hospitals and clinics that still accept the low Medicaid reimbursement.

2. America's healthcare is crippled by chronic racism. A report by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) shows that over the past 50 years, black women who gave birth in the U.S. were approximately 4 times as likely to die as white women!

Latina women in California aren't fairing much better. If a Latina has a complication like preeclampsia, for instance, she is 8 times more likely to die than a white woman with the same condition (a black woman with preeclampsia is 10 times more likely to die).

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That same national study by the ARHP on black-white and Mexican-white racial disparities shows that of the five medical conditions that are common causes of maternal death and injury in America (preeclampsia, eclampsia, obstetric hemorrhage, abruption and placenta previa), black and Latino women did not have a higher prevalence of these conditions, as some healthcare professionals will tell you.

They were simply more vulnerable to low standards of healthcare and discrimination. Black women in the study were 2 to 3 times more likely to die than the white women who had the same complication while Latina women faced a higher risk of complications like postpartum hemorrhage than white women due to medical neglect.

3. No matter a woman's race, doctors and nurses routinely preempt "pregnant women worries" by assuring mothers-to-be that their bodies will naturally do what they are programmed to do, that women have been giving birth since the dawn of time, that they must trust in Mother Nature. If a woman happens to suspect something might be going wrong - doesn't Mother Nature also kill! - she is more likely than not to be ignored or dismissed by the very people who are in charge of her care.

In fact, since 1998, during the same period that saw a rise in maternal mortality, the U.S. also experienced an unprecedented 25% hike in near deaths. Between the years 2004-2005, close to 70,000 women almost died in childbirth in America.

This means that 1 woman every 10 minutes almost dies in America from childbirth - a reprehensible fact given that the U.S. spends more than any other country on healthcare and the highest hospitalization costs are related to pregnancy and childbirth, some $86 billion a year.

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So what's a girl to do?

Giving birth shouldn't cost women their lives.

Celebrate women today by getting in touch with your local congressional representatives on the issues that matter to you, advocating that:

Quality health care is provided equitably to all women, free from racial and ethnic discrimination.

The U.S. Government require all hospitals in all states to collect and review data on maternal mortality to develop and disseminate recommendations that lead to fewer deaths.

Hospitals and doctors develop and implement standard sets of approaches for treating the top three common childbirth emergencies (embolism, hemorrhaging, and preeclampsia).

Women often know when something is wrong. Rather than dismissing "pregnancy worries," doctors and nurses need to take a woman's anxiety seriously.

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Worldwide, 1 woman dies every 2 minutes from pregnancy-related complications. And for every woman who dies, approximately 20 others suffer serious injuries, infections or disabilities.

In the U.S., 1.7 million women give birth each year and more than one third of them experience some type of complication that adversely affects their health.

I don't know about you, but 2030 seems too far away to prevent women from dying of largely preventable causes!

Let's celebrate International Women's Day by taking the necessary steps to begin saving women's lives today.
Mexico is incredibly rich in culture, vast landscapes, archaeological treasures, dramatic nature, food and of course that (in)famous Latino passion. There's a lot to see, however if you're traveling with a time limit you might as well see the very best Mexico has to offer.

1. Baja California Sur - Todos Santos & La Paz

One of Mexico's 83 "Pueblos Magicos" (government classified "magical towns"), Todos Santos lies on the coast about an hour's drive north of Cabo San Lucas. A cultural and artisanal village, it offers writers retreats and showcases colourful art and craft shops in its centre.

Off the coast of nearby city La Paz lies the uninhabited Isla Espiritu Santo. Boat trips allow you to visit this UNESCO protected animal lover's paradise. Home to an abundance of sea creatures like whale sharks, sea lions and stingrays, it also hosts one the worlds most beautiful beaches, Ensenada Grande.

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2. Copper Canyon

Longer and deeper than Arizona's Grand Canyon, the "Barrancas del Cobre" is made up of six copper-hued canyons. The scenic El Chepe train runs through the mountain home of the indigenous Tarahumara communities and provides several hop off points to explore the canyon. Find a cosy ranch to stay at and immerse yourself.

NB: Travel warnings are always in place for this part of Mexico. Stay off the roads at night and don't trek without a guide, however DO NOT discount this incredible part of Mexico.

3. Mexico City

Love her or hate her, this city needs to be experienced. La Zona Rosa, La Condesa and Roma are the cities gay, bohemian and hipster areas, perfect for restaurants, bars and boutique shopping. Eat a street side taco, see Frida Kahlo's house in bohemian Coyoacan, and marvel at the city's historic centre around the Zocalo.

Do not miss the ruins of pre-Columbian Teotihuacan 30 miles north-east of the city. Mount the fully intact "Pyramid of the Sun" for a stunning bird's eye view over all that remains of the once bustling city.

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4. Guanajuato City

Colonial houses painted in vibrant colours cling to a mountainside in a narrow valley. UNESCO World Heritage status listed Guanajuato was once a silver mining town and is best explored by foot. A great place to buy beautiful arts and crafts and eat, drink and be merry for a few days.

5. Oaxaca City

Oaxaca (say: Wa-Ha-Ca) city is the culinary centre of Mexico. Try one of seven types of mole or if you're game, "chapulines" (fried grasshoppers). Wash it down with a Oaxacan hot chocolate or if you prefer something stronger, Mezcal. Food is central to everything that happens here, so cafes, restaurants and street stalls sit between the colonial house lined streets. Visit nearby historic site Monte Alban and the villages along the way offering demonstrations in their crafts like basket & fabric weaving and wood work. On the way don't miss the calcified waterfall of Hierve el Agua.

6. Oaxacan coast: Mazunte, San Agustinillo, Zipolite

Mazunte is a beachy village on Oaxaca's south coast. Home to the National Mexican Turtle Centre, it's a great place to observe turtle breeding, see whales, dolphins and manta rays. Put your feet up and relax in one of the many eco hotels hugging the coastline.

Neighbouring and quaint San Agustinillo offers just a handful of small beachside cafes and accommodation options. For a completely alternative and rustic experience, head to nearby Zipolite where fire twirlers and makeshift beachside bars are the way of life. The beach town is an old hippie settlement that has caught on with free thinking tourists. It feels miles away from any type of civilisation. You can come here anytime you like, but you might never leave...

7. Palenque and the jungle of Chiapas

One of Mexico's greatest historic sites is Palenque, a must for history fanatics. Located deep in the Mexican jungle you can explore it for a day or three if you dare to go deeper. An adjacent museum showcases many artefacts from the site. Palenque town is 10 minutes drive away and has many accommodation options. If you prefer a "hippy commune" experience, try El Panchan only 5 minutes drive to the ruins. Accommodations here are rustic and built directly in the jungle.

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8. Valladolid, Yucatan

Another "Pueblo Magico," the Spanish colonial influence in this charming town is strong with colourful houses lining the cobbled streets. It's proximity to popular tourist site Chichen Itza also make this an attractive spot to stay. The Yucatan peninsula is well known for its spectacular sinkholes or "cenotes", which make for very fairytale-ish swimming opportunities. Valladolid has three within biking distance from it's centre (Dzitnup, Xkeken, Suytun).



9. Holbox Island, Quintana Roo

This little hideaway is located 95 miles north of Cancun and a 30 minute ferry ride from the mainland across a shallow lagoon. With no roads and no cars you won't need more than swimwear, a sarong, a pair of sunglasses and a hat. Choose a boutique cabana on the beachfront or go for lower budget options towards the centre of the island.

Want lunch? Head to a little palapa (thatched roof huts) on the beach, order a cold beer and fresh ceviche on plastic chairs with your feet in the sand.

June to September is Whale Shark season. An intense density of plankton in the water where the gulf of Mexico meets the Caribbean attracts hundreds of the creatures. Fishing, snorkelling, kiteboarding and bird watching are also options for those that really can't resist the deck chairs calling.

10. Tulum, Quintana Roo

Mexico's most scenically located ruins are perfectly placed on the beach front of Tulum's Caribbean blue waters. Boutique style accommodations adjacent to water make it a perfect place to unwind and relax. You can spend your afternoons with fish tacos and cerveza (beer), or dine on world class cuisine and sip on cocktails. Either way, the sunsets are spectacular.

Buen viaje!

Sandra Shakespeare is a freelance writer and blogger, a traveller and a foodie.

She blogs at www.sandrashakespeare.com

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United States presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders may differ on many things, but they are unanimous in their feeling that the United States should not be the world's policeman and that America's allies should not get their defense on the cheap from American taxpayers.

Whether or not Trump and Sanders ultimately win their Party's nomination is not as important as the fact that their views represent a large and growing part of the U.S. electorate.

For the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, this is a perfect storm.

NATO was established in 1947, when the United States, Canada, and ten European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty that committed the United States to the defense of Europe from the Soviet Union. A quote by NATO's first Secretary-General is now the stuff of legend. When asked what the Alliance was for he famously said that NATO is meant to keep the Russians out, the Germans down and the Americans in, referring to America's historic wariness for getting entangled in European power politics and global alliances.

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Less well known is another quote: this one by NATO's second Secretary-General, Dwight Eisenhower, who, in his remarks upon assuming the Alliance's command in 1951 extolled NATO, but warned that the NATO project will have failed if U.S. troops remain in Europe after ten years.

But, 65 years after Eisenhower's remarks over 60,000 U.S. troops remain in Europe, and 3,000 - 5,000 more, with their armored equipment, are headed there at a further cost to Americans of $2.8 billion a year.

General Eisenhower knew that America was the only Western country that could serve as Europe's shield as the Europeans rebuilt their shattered economies after the destruction of the Second World War. But he also knew that with America's financial and military support, it would not take long for Europe to again become an industrial powerhouse. American companies could then start trading again with a newly rebuilt Europe, and Europeans would have the resources to take care of their own defense.

Rebuilding Europe with American aid and European ingenuity was a noble vision that was realized, many times over through the European Union, the richest grouping of countries in the world. The EU collectively has the world's biggest single market, largest Gross Domestic Product and share of world trade, and a modern infrastructure that puts the creaky American roads, bridges, airports and railroads, to shame.

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In only one aspect do the Europeans lag behind. Even though they collectively spend around $300 billion on their defense, they still cannot defend themselves. This is a lot of money to spend on defense, especially given the European lack of interest in assuming a global security role. By comparison, the U.S defense budget prior to 9/11, was around $390 billion, which was then sufficient to project U.S. military power everywhere on earth.

The trouble is the Europeans have not melded their militaries and defense -- industrial base as they have other sectors of their economy. The result is a plethora of duplicate weapons programs and military organizations that consume Europe's defense funds, but have left Europe without the ability to defend itself, even against enemies that the Europeans should be able to fight with one hand behind their backs.

For instance, during the 2011 war against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, the European members of NATO ran out of ammunition in a week, and could well have been trounced by a middling power if the US had not gone to Europe's assistance, at a cost to the American taxpayers over a billion dollars.

But why should the Europeans make the hard decisions necessary to streamline their defense sector when Uncle Sam, the self-professed Leader-Of-The-Free-World has given them a defense credit card with no spending limit? They can have their cake and eat it too: not pay for their own defense while spending on social and infrastructure programs that Americans can only dream about.

Every few years an American Defense Secretary appears in Europe, scolds the Europeans, warns them to develop a stronger defense establishment before the American Congress gets tired of paying for Europe's defense.

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The Europeans put up with this periodic tongue lashing, appear embarrassed, promise to change their ways, but never do. Why should they? They know that after all is said and done, America will always be there to fill in for the Europeans' lack of commitment to defend their own borders, in return for being known as the Leader-Of-The-Free-World!

The trouble is, two of the leading U.S. Presidential candidates have caught on to this charade, and the American people are not far behind. I suspect, what has become a perpetual American commitment to defend an ever richer Europe, is about to end.

Can anything be done to end this commitment in an orderly manner? I believe there is.

A new U.S. President will assume office in January 2017. He or she should invoke General Eisenhower's sensible quote, and give fair warning to the Europeans that within ten years the United States will remove all its troops from Europe; more than enough time for the Europeans to pool their considerable resources to create a Europe-wide defense structure. And as a way to show seriousness of purpose, the new U.S. President should immediately turn over all key NATO positions to Europeans. Then, the United States should follow through and begin an annual draw-down its forces from Europe, perhaps a tenth of the total every year.
United States Capitol Rotunda. Senate and Representatives government home in Washington D.C.

More than three decades ago, I had the opportunity to do a junior year away program offered by Smith College in Washington, DC. Along with a dozen other students who were part of the Jean Picker Program, I spent a summer and a semester interning on Capitol Hill. I didn't get credit for the internship itself, but took a political science seminar in the evening and wrote a long paper at the end, which enabled me to return to college in the spring with enough credits to graduate on time. My experience with the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, as it was then called, was transformative. I attended Senate hearings, drafted floor statements, and was trusted to sketch out ideas for legislation. I found great role models in the staffers I worked for and discovered that many had law degrees. I came back to the Senate Labor Committee after law school, and can trace literally every job I have had since then to that first internship. Not only did it better prepare me for a career, but the experience also laid the foundation for my ongoing commitment to service.

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Today students have many more options for off-campus learning experiences. They can study at another university in the U.S. or abroad. A growing number of higher education institutions offer co-op experiences where students receive credit, and often pay, for work in their field. And today, the opportunity exists for a select few to spend a year in service -- helping others while gaining real-world experience.

Unfortunately, the service year experience is too often disconnected from higher education. These experiences are seen as somehow distinct from the traditional academic and professional path, as opposed to being integrated into the fabric of our higher education institutions. However, a handful of pioneering schools have realized the power that an immersive learning experience has on students. Tufts University is piloting a "1 plus 4" option, where students have the opportunity to spend a year in service before they begin their freshman year. Tulane offers a "4 plus 1" option, where students can do a year of service in New Orleans after graduation. These universities have made service a priority by emphasizing that it is a part of education, not distinct from it.

Next month, I'm greatly looking forward to participating as a judge in the second annual Service Year + Higher Ed Innovation Challenge at the Aspen Institute in Washington DC. The Challenge encourages all post-secondary institutions to propose creative ideas for connecting a year of service to academic credit- encouraging students to progress towards on time graduating while preparing them for the workforce and a life of engaged citizenship. Service Year Alliance, in partnership with Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service, is sponsoring the Challenge, inviting postsecondary institutions to develop credit-bearing service year experiences. For the second year in a row, the Lumina Foundation is sponsoring a total of $100,000 in prizes for the winners. Those interested in applying can still apply through March 11 at sychallenge.org.

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Last year, three postsecondary institutions won the Higher Education + Service Year Innovation Challenge that took place at the Aspen Institute. In the private university category, Drake University won $30,000 for its Engaged Citizen Corps program for select freshman to support Des Moines's economic and community development, earning 24 credits and $8,500 for the 9 month, 32 hour per week experience.

In the public university winner category, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth also won $30,000 for its Community Health Work Advocate! Navigate! Educate! Program that offers a service year to train students as Community Health Workers. The students will receive tuition waivers and academic credit.

And while it may be challenge for community college students to serve far from home, Miami-Dade College Changemaker Corps, which won the prize for the community college category as well as the audience choice award, for a total of $40,000, helps to solve a problem that may plagues many colleges: student retention. The Changemaker Corps Peer Mentoring program recruits former foster care youth enrolled at the community college to work with 20 other former foster youth who are students, helping them navigate the unfamiliar world of financial aid, course registration, and other challenges. Launched in 2015, this program offers academic credit for coursework associated with the service year experience as well as professional development for the Changemakers.

At a time when higher education institutions are under scrutiny for the employability of their students, service year opportunities can be a win-win. Not only do communities benefit from the contributions of students, but the students themselves find motivation and meaning in their experiences. They, like I did, may find their life's work. More than 350 employers have pledged to hire service year alums and research shows positive correlations between service-learning and career choices, as well as the improvement of academic performance, critical thinking skills, leadership, and racial understanding. Longitudinal studies of AmeriCorps members similarly show higher levels of community engagement than a matched comparison group who applied to, but did not serve.
The Koch Brothers, by Joseph Acker

A study published last year found white-collar criminal prosecutions to be at a 20-year low in the United States. Meanwhile, mass incarceration is at an all-time high, with the United States having the highest percentage of prisoners worldwide.

Artists Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider (you may remember them from the Edward Snowden statue they erected in Fort Greene Park) commissioned portraits of people they thought should be behind bars for their new CAPTURED project. They asked inmates whose crimes ranged from retail theft to murder to draw and paint heads of large corporations associated with human rights abuse, environmental degradation, conspiracy, murder and fraud.

The duo found the inmate-artists online through Ebay and Facebook, choosing skilled ones who specialized in portraiture, often getting work through their families. The inmates were chosen not just for their talent, but for their particular crimes, as the crimes of the artists correlate with the crimes of the corporate heads they rendered. The artists were given background information on their chosen CEOs and compensated for their work. For each of the twenty-nine portraits, a side-by-side chart compares the crimes of both the artist and the CEOs.

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Former CEO of Dupont Ellen J. Kullman, by James Vidales

CEO of Pfizer Ian Read, by Joseph Sharrow

Chairman of the Nestle Group Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, by Charles Listo Vera

With these portraits, CAPTURED puts a face to corporate criminality, dispelling the idea that corporations are inanimate entities immune from the law. While legally corporations enjoy many of the same rights as citizens, individuals within the corporation are often not held liable.

On their website, Greenspan and Tider state:

"Corporations frequently commit crimes any average person would be imprisoned for. These corporate crimes devastate our environment, economy and society, yet the companies committing them often get away with only paying a settlement. These payouts do little damage to a corporation's bottom line and are practically baked into their budgets. The cost of doing business. Captured shines a light on these crimes masquerading as commerce. Through the use of art made by people in prison, this project imagines the highest levels of corporate leadership being personally responsible for their companies' illegal actions.

Money, power and political influence allow these companies, and their leaders, to not just break the rules, but make the rules. They are "untouchable." On the opposite end of society's spectrum lies another "untouchable"-the incarcerated- who even after paying their debts to society are often treated as unworthy. The artistry displayed within this project may help viewers see the incarcerated as more than one-dimensional criminals and remind them a prisoner is also a person. They may also remind us a corporation is not a person. A corporation has no conscience. It cannot repent or truly pay for its crimes."



Greenspan and Tider chose their CEO subjects based on the leadership of companies accused of the most egregious crimes, such as Nestle's history of child labor abuse and profiteering off water shortages. Though all of the CEOs held their titles when the project first began, some have since stepped down.

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9/26/2014 by Sahar Jalayer, Iran

On September 26, 2104, police stopped several student buses from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College en route to a protest in Iguala, Mexico. A confrontation ensued, and six students were killed, 25 were wounded, and 43 were abducted by police and later handed over to the Guerreros Unidos Cartel.

Eight weeks after the disappearance of the 43 students, artist and activist Francisco Toledo sent out a call to universities and museums for original poster art in response to the tragedy. Over 700 entries came in from countries such as Iran, Spain, China, Greece, Denmark, Lebanon, Cuba, and Argentina. From those, 43 designs were selected for the "Carteles de Ayotzinapa" exhibition at the Museum of Tolerance in Mexico City.

You Cannot Bury the Truth by K. S. Helinska, Poland

43 Muertos o Desaparecidos? by Daniela Ochoa, Mexico

Ayotzinapa Faltan 43 by Tiago Seixas, Portugal

cuarenta y tres by Laia Jou, Spain

These posters journeyed to Los Angeles last week. "Ayotzinapa: A Roar of Silence" is now on view at SPARC in Venice until March 27 and will travel throughout Los Angeles through June 10. SPARC, Art Division, Self Help Graphics, and The Center for the Study of Political Graphics all collaborated for the exhibit, and coordinated a series of protests, screenings, and lectures to memorialize the 43 missing students.

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At SPARC, 43 kites bearing the victims' faces will hang beside the posters, along with artist Yolanda Guerra's handmade quilt that has portraits of the missing students embroidered in its squares. In the center a saying reads: "Ayotzinapa: They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds."

There will be a protest walk on March 27 from SPARC to Art Division. On that day, 43 students will be uninstalling the exhibit themselves. All participants will pin an image of one of the missing students to their shirt, and walk, bus, or metro onto the next location, as a procession.

"If we do act as performance piece, others can join. It will be reminiscent of the 43 students on the bus," says visiting SPARC curator Marietta Bernstorff. "It is to keep the memory of the young men alive."

SPARC will also screen VICE's news documentary "The Missing 43: Mexico's Disappeared Students," and "Witness 43," a film by Michael Nyman.

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SPARC's mission is to empower communities through public art and provide a space for conscientious dialogue.

"Art is a very powerful tool. It impacts society permanently. Once you see an image, it is there with you forever. It is very important, particularly now when there are young men and women of color being killed by police, and with the upcoming elections," says Bernstorff.

Historically, the political poster has been an effective design tool for enacting social change, evidenced from Soviet propaganda posters of the early twentieth century to Shepard Fairey's 2008 Barack Obama "Hope" poster.

"One line, one image, can really get to the viewer, and that's what's important, to leave the viewer with something to think about," says Bernstorff.

Self Help Graphics will also stage "43: From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson," which will reflect on larger themes of police brutality, incorporating 43 original artworks that respond to either the kidnapping of the Mexican students or the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

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Bernie Sanders lost Massachusetts by 1.8% of the vote. While this was a virtual tie, the media reported it as a win for Hillary Clinton. And to be fair, it was... slightly. They get to report that Clinton won Super Tuesday 7 to 4 instead of winning 6 to 5, which looks less like a sweep and more like a squeaker. The thing is that it is certainly possible and maybe even probable that had Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Sanders prior to Super Tuesday that might have shifted the balance enough to give Bernie that slight victory. Of course we can never know for sure, but such an endorsement certainly wouldn't have hurt Sanders.

Only Warren knows why she has decided not to endorse either candidate despite sharing Sanders' priority of regulating Wall Street. The thing is that Florida Representative Alan Grayson did endorse Sanders prior to Super Tuesday and presumably raised a great deal of money from Sanders supporters in the process. That's really the key factor in politics... raising money.

Sanders supporters have already shown that they are willing and able to compete with SuperPAC money through small donations to the candidate they support. Grayson is almost certainly benefiting from this, and there is no reason why Sanders supporters can't use this tactic as leverage to not only support Sanders even further, but to also build a strong progressive movement within congress.

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There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton has most of the Democratic Congress and Senate endorsing her. There are a variety of reasons why. For one thing, the Clintons are incredibly powerful in Washington and, if a politician supports her, they will likely be rewarded. On the other hand, if a politician opposes her, they will almost certainly be punished later.

Money matters in politics, and politicians need donors. Many progressives donate to various political campaigns, and this can be and should be used as leverage. Maybe Sanders supporters should start sending the message that they will stop supporting various politicians unless they endorse Sanders. We can also reward politicians who do stand up to the establishment by making a donor list. If you endorse Sanders, Sanders supporters will donate to you with the kind of reliable strength we donate to Sanders. If you are running for office, endorsing Sanders could mean a huge boost in small donations. We can build a progressive revolution within Washington and within State and local governments as well.

There are still a lot of states left in this primary season, and it is time to build a progressive revolution. Win or lose, we need to know where our elected officials stand. Are they with the establishment or are they with the working people? Bernie Sanders has inspired hard working Americans to donate a continual stream of small donations to his campaign. This strategy has proven to be even more effective in raising money than SuperPACs. We need to use this strategy to help Sanders win endorsements and to get this progressive revolution started. We can become citizen lobbyists and wield the power of the people.

The Clintons may be powerful in Washington, but they aren't more powerful than all of us together. Could you imagine what would happen if large numbers of Sanders supporters from all over the country donated just $27 to a particular Senate campaign? It could give that candidate a huge bump. A small primary challenger who signs on to our progressive revolution could very quickly become the nominee, and we could replace a "Blue Dog" Democrat with a strong progressive. Or maybe we could sway a conservative Democrat to become more progressive on these issues that matter to us.

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On the state level, just a few dollars from large numbers of Sanders supporters from around the nation could really give a candidate a massive advantage. We can turn state governments progressive and address issues on the local level. This strategy won't just build the Democratic Party; it would build a strong progressive Democratic Party. Plus, it will give Bernie Sanders a better opportunity to get his message out to more Americans... including (but not limited to) those Americans in the remaining states that have not yet voted in the primaries and/or caucuses.

This strategy would not just help Sanders, but would also help the Democratic Party and the progressive movement, and in so doing, it would help working Americans across the nation. Because every American deserves the right to tuition free public higher education. Because healthcare should be a right for all people, and no one should have to go bankrupt because they get sick. Because the for-profit prison system is unjust and too many minorities are targeted by the justice system and often punished unequally. Because it is time for Americans to fight back against the top one percent's control of the political process to favor their interests instead of the interests of everyday, working Americans. The progressive revolution is about to begin!
In 2008, the Brazilian administrative district of Paragominas had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon. By 2010, it had turned itself around and become a template for "Green Municipalities" across Brazil. Since then, efforts to replicate the success have yielded mixed results and generated valuable insights into what it takes to slow deforestation in the Amazon.

This is the second in a series of stories examining the emergence of Brazil's Green Municipalities: what they can achieve, what they can't, and what must happen for them to succeed. Click here to follow the series on Ecosystem Marketplace.

Mayor Adnan Demachki was clearly shaken as he offered his resignation to the citizens of Paragominas, in the Brazilian state of Para.

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It was late November, 2008, just days after the loggers torched city hall in a dramatic rebuke of his "Green Municipality" program, which was designed to ween this sparsely-populated municipality off the charcoal business that was destroying its forests.

"I'd been re-elected just over a month earlier, on October 4," Demachki recalls. "But at that point, I felt that if the Green Municipality program wasn't going to work, then I had nothing to offer."

The leaders of 51 different organizations had come to the charred remains of city hall, and the majority - the farmers' union, the workers unions, the trade guilds, and the merchants associations - still backed his plan.

Demachki implored them to sign a "Letter of Apology" to the nation, reiterating the terms of the pact they'd all made eight months earlier to end deforestation in the area, but the loggers and charcoal-makers balked. After hours of debate, Demachki pulled a second letter out of his pocket.

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"I had decided that if I didn't have unanimous support for the program, I should resign," he says - and that's just what he offered to do.

But after seeing his letter of resignation and sensing he was serious, even the loggers and charcoal-makers signed the apology and recommitted themselves to the municipality's Pact Against Deforestation.



Consumer giants like Unilever and Marks&Spencer have promised to source materials from states and regions that slash deforestation, but slowing deforestation requires buy-in at every level of society. In this series, we examine Brazil's efforts to create "Green Municipalities" that attract business by conserving nature. Part One - The Difficult Birth Of Brazil's First "Green Municipality" covers the genesis of the first Green Municipality: Paragominas, which slashed deforestation in two years. Part Two - Brazil's Green Municipalities: What Works? What Doesn't? Why? shows how the Paragominas experiment played out on the ground and began spreading across the state of Para.

Part Three - Scaling Up (not yet published) examines the state's efforts to codify the lessons of Paragominas.

"That particular moment was a parteaguas, literally a 'parting of the waters' or critical crossroads," says Paulo Amaral, Senior Researcher from Imazon (Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia, the "Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon"), a nonprofit research organization that promotes sustainable development and had been instrumental in getting the Green Municipality program off the ground. "We needed to remain steadfast in the path Paragominas was moving towards, or we would have suffered a massive setback."

Instead of a setback, the municipality continued to slash its deforestation rate -- from 8,000 square kilometers in 2004 to less than 2,000 in 2015 - -becoming in the process a template for the "Green Municipalities" initiative that was launched across the entire state of Para in 2011, as well as similar initiatives in the neighboring states of Mato Grosso and Rondonia.

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But is it replicable?

Francisco Fonseca, Coordinator of Sustainable Production at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), thinks so -- but that doesn't mean it's easy.

"The most important thing that happened at that moment was the emergence of a coalition that included an open-minded mayor with a very active role in sustainable development, a union leader who organized farmers to get registered on the CAR (the Cadastro Ambiental Rural, or "Rural Environmental Registry") and persuaded them to accept the new environmental model called 'Zero Deforestation', and the organized civil society that included merchants, farmers, ranchers, soy producers, and also the timber sector," he says.

Hanging In The Balance: The Future of a Forest

Governance and Community

Practically everyone we spoke to gives Demachki - or at least the local government - high marks for executing the turn-around.

"Paragominas is an organized municipality with high transparency in government and no fantasy workers on the payroll," said one local businessman, speaking on condition of anonymity. "That's not always the case down here."

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Ian Thompson, Conservation Director of TNC's Brazil Program, also has high praise for the Paragominas government, but concedes that good governance comes in part from a solid local tax base built on agriculture and bauxite mining.

"Paragominas has big investors from the mining companies, and their royalties made it possible for the government to run programs that improved the social situation and education," he says. "That's part of the package that makes these changes easier, but only because the benefits were moved to the people, and to investments that bring jobs."

Demachki says credit lies with the local community itself.

"Basically, everybody agreed to find a path, and maybe that's the point," he says. "Even the loggers knew that their activities were illegal and unsustainable."

Justiniano Netto, who's charged with replicating Paragominas' success across Para, says that lesson isn't lost on state authorities.

"The mayor (Demachki) got his people to make a 'Local Pact Against Deforestation', and that's a cornerstone of our state-level program as well," he says. "Our role at the state level is to standardize the criteria and coordinate the incentives."

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Demachki says he supports the state's effort -- as long as it's more carrot than stick.

"You cannot transform a society with determination that comes from the outside -- from Brasilia, or from Belem (the state capital)," he says. "If you want to break a paradigm, it has to be broken by the local people."

And that means tailoring the program to local communities, says Vasco van Roosmalen, who heads Brazilian NGO Equipe de Conservacao da Amazonia (ECAM).

"Every municipality is different," he says. "Not everything that worked in Paragominas will work everywhere, but most of it will."

His organization is helping indigenous people access carbon finance to slow climate change by saving endangered forests and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), and he sees the Green Municipalities concept as a tool for reducing the external pressures on indigenous territories.

"One of the key lessons is that this level of change is possible," he adds. "Now we need to focus on making it happen throughout the Amazon."

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To do that, you first look at how the program evolved in Paragominas.

2009: A Year of Carrots...

The first full year of Demachki's program was a bountiful one for Amazon conservation, in part because foundations and international aid agencies were beginning to seed REDD programs ahead of the Copenhagen climate talks. The Amazon Fund, for example, had just launched with $20 million from the Norwegian government, and money was flowing directly into regional programs through USAID, the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative, the British Embassy, the Anne Ray Charitable Trust, the Moore Foundation, and others.

It's also the year that mining giant Vale created the non-profit Fundo Vale to "connect institutions and initiatives for sustainable development," and one of the fund's first actions was to help Imazon and TNC support the Paragominas initiative and replicate it in other blacklisted areas like Sao Felix do Xingu -- a frontier territory with completely different dynamics from those in Paragominas.

It was, as we will see, to have different results as well.

...and Sticks

2009 is also the year Greenpeace unleashed its "Slaughtering the Amazon" campaign, which aggregated research from hundreds of NGOs into a massive indictment of US and European companies that purchased beef from the Amazon.

The pressure group also turned its attention to the soy sector, resulting in moratoriums on both beef and soy from high-deforestation areas and the imposition of "TACs", or Termos de Ajuste de Conduta e Acoes Civis (Conduct Adjustment Agreements), which are akin to out-of-court settlements between the government and companies that damage communities.

As a result, food processors and retailers who'd never shown an interest in sustainable farming suddenly wanted to at least know whether trees had been chopped to supply their beef and soy. For tens of thousands of ranchers and farmers, the CAR was now both advantageous and frightening.

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For a introduction to the CAR and its role in the Green Municipality program, see Part One of this Series: "The Difficult Birth Of Brazil's First 'Green Municipality'"

The Calculus of Farmer Fears

Brazil's Forest Code is one of the most environmentally progressive on the planet, but until President Inacio "Lula" da Silva took office in 2003 and appointed Marina Silva as his minister of environment, the code had been poorly enforced.

It requires farmers in the Amazon to keep at least 80% of their forest intact, meaning they can only farm on 20% of their land -- unless they are in a "consolidated development area" that had been aggressively settled before much of the laws kicked in. In that case, under the new law, landowners could have chopped up to 50% of their forestland by 2008 and not face a penalty. If they had gone above 50%, farmers would have to restore part of the land or arrange an offset with another landowner who had preserved more than his 80%.

The problem is that, because of previous lax enforcement, farmers and ranchers had no idea if they were in compliance or not, and they feared that getting on the CAR would expose them to massive fines.

Understanding Among Friends

To get farmers registered, Demachki brought in experts from across Brazil -- including the former governor of Para, an environmental economist named Simao Jatene. As governor, Jatene had simultaneously reduced rural conflicts in Para and put 7.8 million hectares of forest under protection. In 2009, he was building a platform for the 2010 gubernatorial election; and, not surprisingly, it would focus on sustainable development.

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Among the NGO partners, Imazon and TNC fit together like yin and yang: Imazon knew how to deliver remote sensing information to government, and TNC knew how to apply this to land management and help nervous farmers join the CAR.

"Our forte is working with the private sector, and in Brazil, that usually means soy farmers," says TNC's Thompson. "When we began work in Paragominas, we didn't have a strong private drive, but we had a very strong governmental drive."

Fortunately, Mauro Lucio, the president of the Paragominas Rural Farmers Union (SPRP), understood the risk calculus and invited TNC to set up shop in their offices.

"From the start, they introduced us as people who were expert in the code, so they knew we weren't environmental police, but rather people who can answer your questions about the CAR, and who will maintain confidentiality, because we're here to help you get into compliance," says Thompson -- who also recalls the moment it almost all went off the rails.

"We were sitting in the farmers union office, and there was a farmer waiting there with some documents," he says. "Then someone from the local government came in and said something to the effect of, 'Now, with CAR, we can levy fines on the right people and hold them responsible for their actions.'"

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The farmer folded his documents and left.

"He started telling people it was a trap, and everything stopped right then," says Thompson.

In what Thompson describes as an "all hands on deck" response, all the partner organizations -- from the NGOs to the municipality to the farmers' union -- hit the phones, and soon prosecutors from the state and municipal level were brought in to state clearly and on-the-record, in front of rolling cameras and smart phones, that the CAR registration drive wasn't a trap to fine people, but a way to help everyone get into compliance.

"The basic idea was that, prior to 2008, the rules weren't clear, so if you're found to have exceeded the allowance in that period, the government would work with you -- maybe arrange someone with excess forest to lease you some -- but if you cleared the land after 2008, you'd be in trouble," says Thompson. "We wanted them to understand the obligations they had under the new law, but also to make sure they didn't have unwarranted fears."

While TNC engaged the large landowners, Imazon targeted the smaller ones and also provided the technical analysis underlying the whole project.

"We started producing monthly deforestation reports, and the Municipal Environmental Secretary team went to the properties to make sure that what the satellite images were showing was accurate on the ground," says Amaral. "It was a very effective monitoring process, and it supported discussions with the local society about the challenges and the benefits of Paragominas getting off the [Black] List."

From Soy to Beef

Despite its extensive work with soy farmers, TNC didn't have experience with cattle ranchers -- and Thompson feared that could become a problem.

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"Soy production is, quite frankly, easier to track than cattle are," he says. "After all, soy doesn't have legs."

Anticipating that some ranchers would end up with a "forest deficit", meaning they'd have to restore a portion of their land, the NGOs asked the University of Sao Paulo to pilot a restoration project. Farmers' union boss Lucio, meanwhile, secured funding for intensification programs to help ranchers get more meat from the same amount of land.

"Up to then, ranchers had expanded their herds by chopping their forests," says Demachki. "With intensification, they could expand their herds by managing them better -- by growing vertically instead of horizontally -- and it was important to demonstrate that."

Imazon and TNC learned just how important that was when they started testing the program in other blacklisted municipalities.

Sao Felix do Xingu: Same Approach, Different Outcome

With Paragominas now going better than anyone expected, Fundo Vale offered to help the NGOs expand their efforts into four other municipalities -- among them Sao Felix do Xingu.

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"Sao Felix is an active frontier, while Paragominas got on the black list because it was created with a five-year horizon," says Thompson. "We took the same approach in Sao Felix as we had in Paragominas -- looking for alliances with locals, mainly in the private sector, offering to help them get off the Black List, to get on the CAR -- but the unions weren't interested, and Ibama was cracking down hard on the region."

The first meeting, he recalls, drew a few dozen curiosity-seekers, but the next one drew hundreds of angry protesters.

"It was an ugly, near-riot situation," says Thompson. "They didn't know us, didn't trust us, didn't want to hear us."

Meanwhile, Simao Jatene announced that he would once again run for governor of Para -- on an environmental platform that included the creation of a statewide "Green Municipalities" program designed to replicate the Paragominas success across the state.
Republican Presidential candidates Ted Cruz (R) and Donald Trump spar during the Republican Presidential Debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. / AFP / Geoff Robins (Photo credit should read GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images)

The Republican Party is imploding. As political debates devolve into clashes over hand size and manhood, the party has watched its chances of winning in November slip away. Republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections, and they are looking anxiously at adding to their streak this year. I can't predict what will happen to the party, but I can suggest that it will need to move through the three stages of political grief before it can once again be competitive on the presidential level. They are, in fact, the same stages that the Democratic Party worked through following Hubert Humphrey's loss to Richard Nixon in 1968.

Stage 1: Denial

Defeat inevitably produces calls for ideological purity. After Humphrey's loss, "new politics" advocates clamored to push the party further to the left, claiming that Humphrey had been too wishy-washy on Vietnam and unwilling to advocate for a dramatic increase in social spending. They wanted the party to appeal to young, poor and minority voters.

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What they failed to recognize was that the Democratic Party was running on only the fumes of the Roosevelt revolution. Enormous demographic changes, particularly white migration to the suburbs, the expansion of the middle class, and the emergence of divisive cultural issues, had fragmented the old Roosevelt coalition. As the social and political analyst Ben Wattenberg pointed out at the time, most Americans were "unyoung, unpoor, and unblack." Despite these obvious warning signs, "new politics" reformers gained control of the party in 1972 and nominated liberal South Dakota senator George McGovern , who went on to lose in a landslide to Nixon.

Today, the Republican Party is experiencing the same pressure for ideological purity. The "Tea Party" is the conservative version of the "new politics"--ideological purists who are willfully oblivious to reality. In politics, demography is destiny, and it is obvious to just about everyone that the only way that the Republicans remain viable is to appeal to the fastest growing segments of the population--socially liberal young people and culturally diverse recent immigrants, especially Hispanics. Older white men and religious conservatives cannot sustain the party, except perhaps, in off-year congressional elections. But Tea Party activists force candidates to pledge fidelity to the holy trinity of conservative social issues--opposition to abortion, gay rights, and immigration. To paraphrase Wattenberg, most Americans are not anti-abortion, anti-gay, or anti-immigrant.

Until Republicans stop denying the new political realities, they will continue to lose presidential elections.

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Stage 2: Battling

Once enough party leaders emerge from denial, they must revive the battle for the heart and soul of their party. After 1972, Democrats spent two decades trying to redefine their party. Primaries usually involved titanic struggles over competing visions of what it meant to be a Democrat. In 1980, Senator Ted Kennedy, hoping to keep alive the party's liberal tradition, challenged the incumbent president of his own party. In 1984, former Vice-President Walter Mondale faced a spirited challenge from Colorado senator Gary Hart, who tried to appeal to independent voters with his message of "new ideas." Four years later, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson battled technocrat governor Michael Dukakis for party control. Each contest presented primary voters with dramatically different visions of the future of their party.

Once they work through their denial, Republicans will need to present candidates with broader ideological range. This year, all the party candidates, with the possible exception of Rand Paul and John Kasich, have been tripping over themselves for the title of "most hardcore conservative." There are big differences in style and temperament, but little in substance, which is why Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been sparring for months over the tiniest nuances of their hard line anti-immigration policies. They all claim to be heirs of Ronald Reagan, without realizing that the "Great Communicator's" legacy has become a burden. Reagan created an alliance between traditionally market-oriented Republicans and Moral Majority evangelicals. That coalition worked in the 1980s, but as social values have evolved, the religious right's stranglehold on the party has limited its ideological flexibility. We will know that the Republican Party is back when it finds a candidate who is as different from Ronald Reagan as Bill Clinton was from Franklin Roosevelt.

3. Acceptance

In 1992, after two decades of intense internal warfare, the Democrats redefined their party's identity with the nomination of Bill Clinton. The Arkansas governor became the first Democratic nominee to articulate a post-Roosevelt vision for the future. He advocated a chastened liberalism, one that recognized the limitations of government power while also acknowledging that Washington had a positive role to play in American life. Clinton advocated positions that would have been unimaginable a decade earlier, promising to be tough on "law and order" and to "end welfare as we know it." In doing so, he appealed to traditional Democratic constituencies while making inroads into suburban communities in the North, and large swaths of the South, that the party had not won since 1964.

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Employers love business school graduates. That's not just a wild claim: 96% of employers globally polled by the Graduate Management Admission Council in January 2016 said that hiring such graduates creates value for their companies.

But that most-sought-after of business qualifications, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), is not above criticism. It has been accused by some of not meeting the needs of a changing market.

In this tough economic and political climate it's important to question whether business schools should be doing something differently.

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After the crisis

During the 1990s, for instance, the MBA program developed by US universities supported rapid re-industrialisation in that country. The idea behind degree was to increase efficiency and smooth the production cycle.

But things have changed. In 2001 McGill University professor Henry Mintzberg famously said that MBA programs were labouring under irrelevant curricula.

Nine years later, and following the global financial crisis, Harvard Business School scholars Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick G. Cullen wrote that executives and deans had identified a number of gaps in MBA teaching, largely in areas like risk management, internal governance, the behaviour of complex systems, relations between business and government and socially responsible leadership.

Importantly, the authors noted a distinct lack of introspection and a heavy concentration of greed. Students, they write, are typically overconfident of their own abilities. If astute financial management is to occur outside the classroom, better self-knowledge is critical.

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Know thyself

The issue of self-knowledge is key. One of the chief critiques levelled at MBAs today is that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction: they concentrate too much on leadership and personal development and too little on the nitty-gritty of administration.

But, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, this is a very necessary addition to the educational menu.

Much of the contemporary thinking following the collapse of Enron and the economic meltdown of 2008 has required a more abstract analysis and - dare one say it? - a philosophical turn of mind to explore its origins. These crises were not merely financial in origin. Many of the initial wrong turns were ethical or could have been averted by more accurate self-assessment.

All of this is particularly relevant in the context of emerging markets. Countries' economic and political challenges cannot be solved by skills alone. These skills will need to be applied empathetically, introspectively and innovatively.

The South African example

I am the director of the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business in South Africa. There is a sense here that our business schools have not done enough to provide the management and leadership that's needed to make the country work. How can this be addressed?

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Warren Bennis and James O'Toole, writing for the Harvard Business Review, have this to say about business schools:

In fact, business is a profession, akin to medicine and the law, and business schools are professional schools - or should be. Like other professions, business calls upon the work of many academic disciplines. For medicine, those disciplines include biology, chemistry, and psychology; for business, they include mathematics, economics, psychology, philosophy, and sociology.

So if business schools are to evolve, they must use what we at the Graduate School of Business call "full-colour thinking": a spectrum of analysis that covers leadership and management responsibility from all angles.

Those of us in the field all agree that a key purpose of an MBA - or any business qualification - is to learn to run companies effectively. But this on its own is no longer sufficient.

Writing for Forbes.com, leadership and management expert Steve Denning argues that

Business schools should be equipping graduates to be leaders of the 21st-century organisation that operates in a complex environment, where innovation and responsiveness to customers and society are key ... Forward-looking business schools should join together in generating textbooks and courses that reflect an updated view of management ... [and] the ranking of business schools by the Financial Times and others should include a criterion that reflects practical relevance, vitality and impact.

More than just skills

South Africa requires more than just the skills to administer: it needs the knowledge and wisdom to administer with a purpose - being accountable and contributing to a better world for future generations. The country's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his 2016 budget speech that effective leadership is essential to progress.

Business schools across Africa are really taking the question of impact to heart. The Association of African Business Schools, for example, has initiated an accreditation system for the continent that is designed to sit alongside the sought after European and US accreditation models. Through this process, the association is encouraging schools to focus on what is relevant to the African context by measuring impact and relevance rather than just output.

Many schools are already starting to shift their curricula to be more relevant to their context. The UCT's Graduate School of Business, as an example, has redesigned its MBA curriculum for 2016 with a much greater focus on values and inclusive business.

After all, a business school is much more than just an MBA school. Do we want to leave our world merely well administered, or do we want to leave it in overall good health?

Walter Baets, Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership and Director of the UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

By: Jamie Bogert

As the youngest of 12 children, Anna Marie Hahn always ached for more. Born Anna Marie Filser in 1906 Germany, she yearned for another doll or slice of bread with her supper, more attention from her hardworking parents. Yet as a young woman, Hahn found something else to fill this void--money. And she'd do anything to get her hands on it.

At the age of 22 Hahn claimed to have had an affair with a Viennese physician, though later investigations showed no such doctor under the name she provided. From this alleged relationship she bore her first and only child, Oskar.

Her family, scandalized by the event, swiftly made arrangements with relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio to take her. In 1929 Hahn made her way to America, leaving her dear son in Bavaria with her parents. It wasn't long before she met fellow German immigrant and telephone operator, Philip Hahn, and the two soon married in 1930. Hahn returned briefly to Germany to retrieve her son, and set out for a normal family life in Cincinnati.

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Normal, however, was never one of Hahn's strong suits.

Though the family did well running two bakeries in the German district of Cincinnati, Hahn grew bored with the mundane working hours and meager earnings. So she resolved to take matters into her own deadly hands.

Not long into their marriage, Philip suddenly fell ill. He went to the hospital at the behest of his mother, and to Hahn's curious objection. While Philip ultimately survived the mysterious sickness, his marriage to Anna did not.

Free from her bakery duties but shackled by the mounting debts of a gambling habit, Hahn turned to the seemingly honorable position of a live-in attendant for elderly men. While she had no prior experience as a caregiver, Hahn charmed her way into the position and soon initiated her deadly plan.

A master chef of potions, Hahn stealthily poisoned each of her clients, tallying up more than ten murders in the span of five years. Her spree began with Ernest Koch (also named Ernst Kohler), a spritely man with no medical concerns, who unexpectedly died on May 6, 1933. Curiously, the man felt compelled to bequeath his house to Hahn shortly before his death.

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From there the list goes on. Albert Parker, a retired railroad man, was Hahn's next victim. She borrowed money from Parker, but when he died the I.O.U she had signed mysteriously vanished. When Jacob Wagner died he willed a generous lump sum of $17,000 to his beloved "niece." While caring for George Gsellman, Hahn hustled a whopping $15,000 from him before his death.

Though Hahn was careful with her murders, always covering her tracks and never drawing too much attention to her deadly side job, there was one rare survivor. George Heiss grew suspicious of his health care attendant when she brought him a sloshing mug of root beer one afternoon. When Hahn left the room, Heiss noticed the flies that came to sip from the drink--they promptly fell dead before him.

Sure that his fate would be the same Heiss dismissed Hahn. Sadly, he never informed the police of his suspicions--sending the murderer back on the streets and straight to her next, and final, victim.

Perhaps her most elaborate plan yet, Hahn convinced George Obendoerfer to visit Colorado in the summer of 1937, ostensibly on a trip with her son. The man dropped dead in their hotel room shortly after arriving. Hahn made off with a $5,000 paycheck for a job well done. Suspicion arose, however, when Hahn offered to cover the cost of the funeral. The odd behavior led to an autopsy showing high levels of arsenic in Obendoerfer's body.

READ MORE: 9 Notorious Female Serial Killers

Detectives waited in Cincinnati for Hahn's return with arrest warrants in hand. After searching her home, one detective commented that they found "enough poison to kill half of Cincinnati." Hahn was eventually arrested and while her charges were great, she played the part of innocence well. From her clean attire to her neatly done hair, Hahn stood strong against the accusations--even as evidence grew and she was put on trial for murder in the fall of 1937.

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Hahn's nonchalance gave way when the jury took less than 3 hours to decide her guilt, offering no recommendation for mercy. The jury only realized later what a historic moment this would be for Ohio. Not offering recommendation for mercy meant that she would automatically be sentenced to death, making Anna Marie Hahn the first woman to be executed in the state.

On November 10, 1937 Hahn was brought before Judge Bell who formally sentenced her to death by electrocution. She maintained her innocence even as the Judge announced her execution.

As the fateful day drew near, Hahn pleaded with anyone who would listen--though very few were interested in showing her mercy. On December 1, Hahn was transferred to the Ohio State Penitentiary. While her attorneys delayed the impending execution by bringing the case to the Supreme Court, Hahn's fate was sealed when the Court ultimately refused to block the death sentence.

On the evening of December 7, 1938, Hahn entered the execution chamber. She was strapped into the chair. With the words of the Lord's Prayer still on her lips and Father John Sullivan, the prison chaplain, by her side, the switch was thrown. Anna Marie Hahn's body writhed as electricity coursed through it. At 8:13pm she was pronounced dead.

Oddly enough, in her final hours of desperation, Hahn left behind letters written to her attorney fully confessing her crimes, her confusion as to why she committed them, and her deep concern for the fate of her son, Oskar. With the detectives and many others satisfied by the confession, they sold the letters to the Cincinnati Enquirer under the condition that the money be wired to a trust fund for Oskar.

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The promise was kept. Oskar eventually settled into a foster care family in the Midwest, lived a fairly normal life, and served in the Navy during the Second World War.
By Charlotte Florance

International Women's Day is a celebration of the great successes of women throughout world history. It's also a time to reflect on the challenges that so many continue to face in the developing world today and the power of extraordinary resilience. It's the work of organizations such as Sari Bari in India, Mamafrica in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and The Root Collective in Guatemala that prove that with education, skills training, and economic opportunity, some of the world's most vulnerable women have a chance to improve their and their families' lives..

Today, according to the World Bank's consumption-based threshold, an estimated one billion people around the world live on less than $1.25 a day. Research shows, however, that women and girls tend to be disproportionately affected by extreme poverty. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), women and girls are more susceptible "to extreme poverty because they face greater burdens of unpaid work, have fewer assets and productive resources than men, are exposed to gender-based violence (GBV), and are more likely to be forced into early marriage..." This reality is not limited to those in extreme poverty; globally, women are disproportionately affected by war, disease, and slavery. Yet, many argue that investing in women is the safest bet to ending extreme poverty.

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Wide-ranging research indicates women are wise spenders; they invest in their children's futures by improving nutrition, health and educational opportunities. Women who control their household income are more likely to keep their daughters (and sons) in school and for every year a girl is in school it boosts her earning potential by 10-20 percent.

In India, the Global Slavery Index estimates there are some 14 million people in modern slavery, this estimate includes "inter-generational bonded labour, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and forced marriage." India is home to a third of the world's child brides, and about half of Indian women were married before they turned 18. Child brides are more common in rural areas where young girls are 48 percent more likely to be married before they turn 18.

One organization, local TO THE MARKET partner, Sari Bari, is working to make a dent in these statistics with commercial sex-workers in Kolkata, India. Kolkata is home to 22 red light districts and 60,000 women commercial sex workers. Sari Bari was created to give women in Kolkata choices, for both those women already in the sex trade and those vulnerable to it. Sari Bari provides women with a safe and healthy workplace, educational opportunities, and new skills training. The women of Sari Bari produce beautiful Kantha products. Many of the women at Sari Bari have been trafficked and the dignity of safe and meaningful work at Sari Bari helps restore these women and helps to give them a the life they deserve.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that has been plagued by violent conflict for more than 20 years, women face immense challenges. Rape and sexual violence against women continue to be used as weapons of war Eastern Congo. According to The Guardian newspaper, in South Kivu in Eastern Congo local health clinics report some 40 women are raped everyday. The violence has eroded entire communities and left women and their children stigmatized and abandoned by their families. Mamafrica, a local TO THE MARKET partner based in Bakavu, DRC, is trying to rebuild a community for women who have been displaced or abandoned as a result of the conflict. By teaching women handicraft skills and providing them with a safe work environment, along with a wide-ranging pyscho-social and physical health care program, Mamafrica women are cultivating a community of survivors.

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In Guatemala, a 36-year long civil war and now gang violence has ravaged the country. Women and families, in particular, have paid the heaviest price. During the civil war, many families had loved ones go "missing," and some 200,000 men and women ''disappeared'' or were kidnapped during the conflict. The World Bank estimates 58 percent of Guatemalans live in extreme poverty and 90 percent of the country's indigenous population lives on an income that is lower than $1.25 a day. The Root Collective, a local TO THE MARKET partner, is looking to change these figures by empowering local weaving cooperatives of indigenous women in the Guatemalan highlands and connecting these women with cobblers in some of the most economically distressed urban areas of the country. The results are a value-added economic proposition, beautiful shoes, and sustainable employment for youth and women in Guatemala.

International Women's Day is an important reminder about the challenges that many women face all-around the globe, as well as a celebration of the resilience and strength of women everywhere. Empowering women through economic opportunity leads to women having choices and control over their decision-making. She who controls the purse makes the choices--which means children often go to school longer, get better healthcare, and eat more--creating a healthier, better educated, and more prosperous society. Christine Lagard, head of the International Monetary Fund put it simply, "women's empowerment is not just a fundamentally moral cause, it is also an absolute economic no-brainer."
Fine cuisine is alive and well in the school lunchrooms of France. The menu includes lamb tajine, veal, crepes, organic veggies, pate and organic bread. Oh, yes -- and a cheese course.

In his hilarious, up-tempo and deeply subversive new movie, Where To Invade Next, schlumpy, flag-bedecked Michael Moore invades foreign countries populated by Caucasians whose names he can mostly pronounce in hopes of finding real-life solutions to Americas most intractable problems.

As the invasion proceeds and the dominoes fall, Moore steals the best ideas from each country he conquers.

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They include tuition-free college (Slovenia and Germany); seven weeks of paid vacation and guaranteed maternity leave (Italy); universal health care and an effective antidrug program based on decriminalization (Portugal).

From Norway, Moore swipes the idea of basing prisons on rehabilitation rather than revenge.

Where To Invade Next: See the Official Trailer

In Iceland, he steals the defining features of the countrys school system, which is rated the best in the world. They include equitable funding, little or no homework, short school days, and plenty of time for discovery and play.

Moores takeaways are pretty mouthwatering to a country struggling with downward mobility and loss of social cohesion, violence, mass incarceration, drug abuse, soaring college costs and underfunded schools that serve gloppy, toxic lunches.

Cassoulet - Lunchroom Fare in French Schools Photo Cuilheim

Nowhere is the contrast between the way things are done in Europe and the way theyre done in the U.S. more pointed than when Moore invades a French school lunchroom and sits down with kids who are eating a meal that would be classified as gourmet in the U.S.

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It starts with Coquilles Saint-Jacques (sea scallops), continues with a hot entree, veggies and salad, and ends  this being France  with a cheese course.

Sigh.

The kids are sweet and unknowing. Moore offers them a Coke he has smuggled into the cafeteria, but it's a hard sell. When he shows them pictures of mystery-meat school lunches in the U.S. they react with a mixture of doe-eyed horror and pity.

In the past, Moores critics have accused him of oversimplification. But the facts on the ground bear him out, as I learn while exploring the French school lunch program.

To get a close-up look, I seek out Bordeauxs Deputy Mayor Emmanuelle Cuny in June during a press trip to cover Vinexpo, the tony wine trade show in capital of Aquitaine.

Madame Cuny, Bordeauxs school nutrition czar, advances the crazy notion that kids should have time to eat and that school lunch should be pleasurable. It sounds totally quaint and impossibly idealistic. But she means it. As the conversation continues, I start to feel like I'm in a parallel universe.

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Remembering the baloney sandwiches, chocolate milk and Fritos of my youth, I venture a question, pretty sure I know the answer in advance: Are kids allowed to buy snacks or bring their own lunch to school?

"Kids should have time to eat and school lunch should be pleasurable."

Cunys smile masks a slight wince. Our children are not allowed to bring sandwiches and chips to school.

La junk-food doesnt stand a chance in French schools. Soda is banned. Vending machines are forbidden in lower school, kids drink water with lunch and nobody asks, Do you want to super-size that?

Bordeaux's School Lunch Czar, Emmanuelle Cuny

Photo O. Panier des Touches

As the discussion proceeds, it becomes clear that we're in a sloppy joe-free zone here. Fair enough. This is France. But how far do the French really take their love of food? After all, were talking school lunchrooms, not Michelin-star restaurants.

Pretty far, says Cuny, 48, who oversees 21,000 meals a day, all prepared at SIVU, an immaculate central kitchen, which also serves senior centers. I meet staff in charge of day-to-day operations and am impressed by their devotion to the cause of the table.

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We talk about ingredients. The bar is high and parents expect a lot, Cuny says. Maybe thats because food is so important in our country, she adds.

Ya think?

It starts with bread. What I hear is skull-flattening. It would be unimaginable in the U.S.

We serve fresh bread every day, Cuny says as if its the most normal thing in the world.



10 Local Bakeries Supply Fresh Bread to Bordeaux Schools Every Day

Photo Boulangerie Madalozzo

Were not talking flabby industrial-grade loaves. Were talking classic French bread with structure and a real crust, the kind youd imagine eating with pate and a glass of Bordeaux.

We dont get into the details, but I imagine the logistics must be the work of a master. The SIVU team has networked ten local bakeries to handle the task.

Together, they supply bread to every one of the nearly 100 schools in the city within a few hours after it comes out of the oven  every day, week in and week out, all during the school year.

40 percent of all the food served in Bordeaux schools is organic. Fried food and hamburger-based dishes are rare.

Cuny is justifiably proud that a full 40 percent of all the food served in Bordeaux schools is organic. Fried food and hamburger-based dishes are rare. Farm-to-table is in, and 70 percent of the vegetables come from the immediate region.

Local chefs build meals based on ingredients like organic chicken, controlled regional lamb that is traceable to the farm where it was raised, certified Atlantic salmon, seasonal vegetables, organic fruit and dairy from the region and traditional cheeses from various parts of France.

On the Menu in March: Chicken with Leeks and Cream, Vegetable Flan, Organic Fruit and Artisanal Cheese

What does Cunys team do with all these wonderful ingredients? To get a fix on what kids are actually eating, you have to drill down to the level of the individual school menu.

Take Thiers Elementary School in the citys Bastide neighborhood, a random pick from among Bordeauxs 98 neighborhood schools. Look at whats on tap for the next three weeks, and prepare to be dazzled.

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Starting March 1, students at Thiers will be dining on dishes like Emince de poulet (organic chicken from Perigord with herbes de Provence), carrot salad with garlic and parsley in vinaigrette, pork saute with leeks in a pepper cream sauce, and organic apples for the fruit course.

Poor kids -- theyll also be suffering through risotto with vegetables, crepes au fromage, couscous, vegetable flan, lamb tajine, cabbage salad in a mustard vinaigrette and the legendary blanquette de volaille, made with leeks, vegetables and cream. Non-pork alternatives are also available and vegetarian options are becoming more and more popular.

Cur Cendre for the Cheese Course

Photo www.treasuresofeuropetours.com

Dairy and cheese selections at Thiers elementary school during March include fairly conventional fromage blanc, organic yoghurt and your basic Rondele.

But there are also stand-out cheeses. This month they include the ash-veined Cur cendre from Livradois, and Comte AOP, a designated-origin cheese from the Franche-Comte region. Really?

Taking the French Fries Out of France

Whats not on the menu says as much about the difference between school lunch in France and the U.S. as what is on the menu.

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Take French fries. The kids at Thiers elementary school will only get them once in the next three weeks  probably a disappointment, but policies like these are why young people in France weigh less than kids in the U.S., where some schools serve French fries every day, diabetes is soaring and childhood obesity is pandemic.

And the one day breaded fish is on the Thiers school menu in the next three weeks it will be a sustainably-sourced filet, certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, not a preformed minced fish patty, which is common in the U.S.

"If you're from the land of Velveeta and fish sticks, school lunches in Bordeaux look pretty exceptional."

Menus at other schools in Bordeaux this month are just as diverse. Thats probably why the citys school nutrition program has an 80-percent satisfaction rating among parents and why Bordeaux scored near the top in an independent national survey of school lunch programs three years ago.

High School Cafeteria Chef

Photo Departement Oise

"It's time to eat like a local. Sign me up," I think to myself. If you're from the land of Velveeta and fish sticks, school lunches in Bordeaux look pretty exceptional. Were in the epicenter of French wine country where eating is an art form and food and drink are valued above all else. Maybe that's why the school meals here rock.

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But, as I learn as I delve further and look beyond the Aquitaine, Bordeaux is far from the exception. France has developed savvy nutrition standards at the national level. Local governments of all political persuasions support them. Planners and school chefs take them seriously. Theres major buy-in up and down the country.

Beyond Bordeaux

Five-and-a-half hours north of Bordeaux, in Mormant, Thierry Grasset, the chef at the local high school, College Nicolas Fouquet, echoes the same sentiments you hear in Bordeaux and everywhere else.

"We struggle every day to demonstrate that its possible to serve food where 75 percent of the ingredients are fresh, produced locally and the meals are prepared the same day theyre eaten, he says, in a local report.

Grasset prefers the name "school restaurant" to cafeteria, which speaks volumes. He plans meals with balance and variety in mind. Menus include hake with a shrimp, mussels and white wine sauce, cauliflower, Merguez sausage and lentils, ratatouille, veal and onions with sauteed vegetables, crudites and the occasional pastry. He only serves French fries once every four weeks.

Paris: Poor Schools Don't Equal Bad Food

The more I learn, the more I realize how deeply school lunch is anchored in the social contract. There is such fundamental consensus about its importance that the French find a way to fund it -- even in metro regions where municipal budgets are stretched and a host of social problems compete for money.

This is amply evident in Paris where kids have access to breakfast and good-quality lunches at schools across the city, even in areas with high unemployment, large immigrant populations and intergroup tensions.

135,000 meals are served every day. And whether its a rich neighborhood or a poor neighborhood, meals are a special time of discovery and pleasure, insists city hall.

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The 19th Arrondissement, on the northeast periphery of Paris, is the citys most impoverished and racially divided neighborhood, so it might be safe to assume that schools there are lowest on the food chain.

Endive: Ever Seen it in a School Cafeteria in the U.S.? Photo francebleu.fr

But kids in the 19th district have a place at the table, and the elementary schools there rocked the nations most recent school nutrition survey, scoring 19.1 points out of a possible 20. Mysteriously, the 7th Arrondissement, which is the citys richest, only scored 15.7 out of 20.

The school lunch program in the 19th Arrondissement faces its own challenges and its far from perfect -- for example it doesnt offer as many organic choices as schools in other districts.

But despite this, when you drill down to the individual menu level its pretty clear that elementary school kids in the 19th district are eating food thats superior to, and more varied than, fare served to students in many schools in the U.S.

What School Kids in the Poorest Neighborhood of Paris Are Eating

Take the month of March. While dystopian lunchrooms across the U.S. are serving up chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs, fish sticks, mystery-meat chili and fruit cocktail this month as they do throughout the entire school year, kids in Pariss 19th district will be enjoying bistro-worthy fare that is inventive and balanced.

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Whats on the menu?

This month, schools in the 19th will be serving veal with hunters sauce, salmon, soy steak with basil and tomatoes, sustainably-sourced pollock with lemon sauce, organic cauliflower and organic carrots, lentils, spinach gratin, veal au jus, organic couscous, and lamb with curry sauce.

There will only be two ground beef dishes on the menu all month and the bread will be made from organic wheat.

And dont forget, mes amis: This is going down in the poorest neighborhood of Paris.

It doesnt stop there. Late in the month, school chefs are planning a special theme day spotlighting the cuisine of northern France.

School Menu: Leek Tart with Morilles Cheese

Photo Caisse des ecoles 19 Paris

The menu will star a classic Flemish leek tart made with an artisanal cheese, called Maroilles. It also includes potato salad, chicory with croutons and a waffle dessert with chocolate and Chantilly cream.

The salad side of the equation is no less astonishing. Can you imagine your kids school serving Batavia leaf lettuce salad with Tomme sheep's milk cheese and olives? What about salade de fruits frais? How about escarole with Emmental? Or endive with Mimolette cheese, croutons and vinaigrette a lorange?

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Can you imagine your kid's school serving Batavia leaf lettuce salad with Tomme sheep's milk cheese and olives?

These are some of the salad choices that are on tap for lunchrooms in the 19th Arrondissement this month. For the cheese course it will be Comte, Coeur de nonette, organic Camembert and Cantal.

If Pariss poorest schools can serve food like this, why cant we?

Checking in a delivery of fresh vegetables at a Paris school kitchen

Photo Camille Bosque

While Paris lunchrooms are certainly making a strong showing, school lunch programs in other parts of France are pushing the envelope even further -- probably because they have better funding and smaller populations to serve. Many are offering more variety and a higher percentage of organic ingredients.

Local sourcing is the wave of the future. With the support of county governments, schools in many outlying regions are beginning to connect with local farmers through Manger local (Eat local) initiatives that are sourcing as much as possible from suppliers in the immediate area.

In some regions this is creating markets where there were none, leading to new opportunities for small-scale farms. In addition, advocates think students will value local agriculture and feel more connected when they know the food theyre eating is from the local farmers.

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County nutritionists in Alpes de Haute-Provence underscored the local connection:

Did you know that the apples and pears you eat come from Volonne, that the lettuce comes from Manosque, some of the yoghurt from Selonnet, the organic spelt from Vacheres, the organic vegetables from La Brillanne, the organic sunflower oil from Pierrerue, pasta from Montfuron, lentils from La Breole and that the meat comes from farms in the Alpes de Haute-Provence?

A message like this may be lost on first-graders. But older kids are likely to be more receptive as they begin to grasp the politics of food and appreciate the ideas behind manger local.

Terroir in the Lunchroom

Diversity, local sourcing and organics are growing to be hallmarks of the French school meals program. Emphasis on regional cuisine is another one.

When schools can source the right ingredients, theyre not shy about offering terroir-driven artisanal dishes as part of the lunchroom repertoire, even including earthy iconic dishes like foie gras, duck, confit, kidneys and other specialties.

Native cuisine like this is more common in regional centers and smaller towns in the hinterlands, where traditional ingredients are available and local dishes are prized.

Some kids have all the luck. Trelissac schools serve dishes like brandade de morue, sardines and anchaud de porc, a swarthy pork confit.

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Lapin a la moutarde - Rabbit in mustard sauce

Photo Wikimedia

Caen includes cassoulet on its menus and students in Besancon get fricassee de lapin a la moutarde (rabbit fricassee with mustard sauce). Isere schools serve tripe Caen style and Montignac puts rillettes du Mans, an intense pork pate, on the menu.

Fare like this is not served every day and chefs know to balance it with less caloric offerings. Its obviously not for the faint of heart, but schools are using it to expand the palette of choices and expose kids to regional culinary heritage.

Meals for the Many

The French continue to tweak their school lunch program. Legislators have mandated cuts in salt, sugar, ketchup and mayonnaise. They're calling for fewer sauces, fewer fried foods and even more vegetables.

But the bar is already pretty high. And as Bordeaux, Mormant, Pariss 19th district and lunchrooms across the country are demonstrating every day, its clear by any measure that French schools are providing top-class meals to the children in their care.

"French egalite is alive and well in the lunchroom."

If good-quality school lunches were only available in some regions of France but not others -- or if they were only accessible to the countrys one-percenters and not the middle class and poor -- it would be easy to dismiss the program as a culinary training ground for the entitled few.

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But in no way is France's school lunch program a bastion of privilege and the country's schools are not in the business of training snobs. French egalite is alive and well in the lunchroom. The school lunch program is not only high quality, its democratic and it benefits everybody.

With this type of investment in good taste, its no wonder nearly everyone in France knows what really good food is and delights in it. And, as Michael Moore shows us, its an idea worth stealing.

Slideshow: School Lunch as if Taste Mattered -- What French Kids Are Eating

Slideshow: School Lunch This Month See Gallery

Tom Conrad writes about taste, travel, antiques, design and history at

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in September, a small-group

to under-the-radar breweries in Germany in the fall of 2016 and a

Slide Show Pictures: Veronique Pagnier, Jlastras, Boolier, JPS68, Corinne Binet, BamboO, puamelia, Flickr, Pixabay

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First Lady Nancy Reagan gestures during an interview with the Associated Press, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1989 at the White House. As Mrs. Reagan prepares to leave the pomp and pageantry of eight White House years behind her, she says she wants to be remembered for her work against drug abuse. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)

Nancy Reagan, the former first lady and widow of President Ronald Reagan died on Sunday in California at age 94. Front pages around the world are remembering her life. The stories all talk about the powerful love between Nancy and Ronald and her impactful role as first lady. When highlighting her advocacy, one of the first things that often pops up is her starring role in President Reagan's embrace and amplification of the war on drugs. Nancy's "Just Say No" campaign became her signature issue and a defining legacy for both her and her husband.

Having spent the last 16 years working at the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that believes the war on drugs is a failure and drug use should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal issue, Nancy and Ronald Reagan bring up a lot of emotions for me. While the press often talk about their strength, love and optimism, I see two people who are most responsible for our country's mass incarceration and destruction of millions of people's lives.

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Richard Nixon officially launched the drug war in 1971, but his war was modest compared to Reagan's war. Reagan's presidency marked the start of a long period of skyrocketing rates of incarceration, largely thanks to his unprecedented expansion of the drug war. The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law violations increased from 50,000 in 1980 to more than 400,000 by 1997.

Who can forget Nancy Reagan sitting in classrooms and all over our television sets with her simplistic "Just Say No" campaign? It was during this time that the DARE programs were implemented in schools across the country, despite their lack of effectiveness. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, who believed that "casual drug users should be taken out and shot," founded the DARE program, which was quickly adopted nationwide.

The Reagans' "war at home" was not only ineffective, it was disastrous. Upon taking office in 1981, Reagan shifted drug control resources from health agencies to the Department of Justice. It was under Reagan's guidance in 1986 that the worst of the federal mandatory minimum drug laws were passed into law. These laws included the crack sentencing guidelines that meant that someone possessing just 5 grams (two sugar packets) worth of crack received an automatic 5 years in prison. These laws filled our prisons for decades with low-level drug users.

The irony is that Ronald Reagan's own daughter developed a cocaine problem, but I don't imagine the Reagans pushed for her to serve 5 years in a cage for her addiction. No, it was African Americans, who despite using drugs at similar rates as whites, were targeted by law enforcement and incarcerated at grossly disproportionate rates.

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Ronald Reagan's harsh drug policies not only led to exploding prisons, they blocked expansion of syringe exchange programs and other harm reduction policies that could have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from contracting HIV and dying from AIDS.

While Ronald and Nancy Reagan were demonizing people who use drugs at home, their foreign policy objectives included funding the Contras in Nicaragua who played a role in flooding Los Angeles and other cities in the United States with crack cocaine.

While the press attention being given to Nancy's passing obviously mentions Nancy's passion around young people and drugs, the coverage often doesn't do enough to contextualize the Reagans' radical escalation of the drug war. We don't hear enough about the exploding prison populations that continue today to bankrupt our state budgets. We don't hear enough about the war on science and public health that led to so many people contracting HIV - even though the evidence was and still is clear that providing access to syringes does not increase drug use and helps save lives. And we don't hear enough about the militarization of our country, from cops in the schools to SWAT teams routinely breaking down doors.

While Nancy and Ronald Reagan are no longer with us physically, the public hysteria that they whipped up and the draconian, zero-tolerance drug policies that were implemented in the 1980s, are still alive and kicking today.

Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
If you're like me, your dinner table, water cooler and social media conversations this week included Chris Rock quotes, primary predictions and a good bit of debate about what's not working  in government and politics, but also in schoolrooms, courthouses and communities.

For the record, I think comedian Chris Rock did a good job as host of the Academy Awards. His was a tough assignment, and his use of humor as critique helped millions of people join the conversation and begin to grapple together with issues of institutionalized racism. While I respect the choice some celebrities made to boycott the Oscars by staying home, I applaud the artists who showed up, stood up and spoke out  in Hollywood and almost 2,000 miles away, in Flint, Michigan, where film directors Ava DuVernay (Selma) and Ryan Coogler (Creed) organized the Justice for Flint concert and fundraiser to raise money and awareness about the crisis involving the water supply.

As the Oscars aired, an impressive group of artist-activists including musician Janelle Monae, actor Jesse Williams, artist Ledisi, comedian Hannibal Buress and legend Stevie Wonder were with families in Flint  showing up, standing up and speaking out about the tragedy there, and inviting more of us to join that effort, too. On Twitter, #JusticeforFlint was trending at the same time as the Oscars, as supporters donated from across the U.S. to help local families.

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Whether they spoke out at the Oscars in Hollywood or stood up with residents of Flint, these celebrities showed up as activists addressing disparities in opportunity and access  and they were heard. You may not agree with everything they said, and they didnt all agree with each other, but they acted together as members of a community to make a difference. And this week, amid much political debate and too much divisiveness, these artist-activists were points of light for me.

Each day, I meet people like them who are troubled by an issue and who do more than just single out whats wrong. These people take action and become points of light in lives and communities across the country and around the world. This year, Points of Light  the worlds largest organization dedicated to volunteer service  will mobilize millions of people in more than 250,000 service projects in 30 different countries. Their efforts will include 30 million hours of direct volunteer service worth more than $635 million, and an overwhelming majority of them will also use their voice and influence, their vote and civic participation as well as their time and talent to tackle tough problems, both immediate and systemic.

These individual points of light know that making Flint a better place is about more than just fixing the water supply  just as ending homelessness is about more than the roof over ones head, and eradicating poverty is about more than handing someone money. Volunteers all over the world know that improving lives means building strong, safe, healthy, participatory communities where everyone has access, opportunity and a role to play in building  and defining  the common good.

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A gorgeous Saturday on Larimer Square, you'd almost think it was springtime and lucky girl that I am, I got to sit down with two of Buntport Theater Company's smarty-pants collaborators, Erin Rollman and Brian Colonna. The subject of our conversation should be their new show 10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products, but swiftly veers to mythological 80's bands, creative clusters and the beautiful Denver actress, Diana Dresser.

Joining in in this eggy-bagel-sandwich of a morning is musician/author/muse, Miriam Suzanne, whose book in a box, Riding SideSaddle inspired this current offering. Suzanne moved to Denver, identified Buntport as kindred spirits and managed to squidge her way into working with the group soon after. Her dark, indie trio, Teacup Gorilla, provided theatrical soundscape for the ReTriplicate performances, inspired by the Clyfford Still Museum Repeat/Recreate exhibition and now she's moved front and center. 10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products is the opener, adapting, supplementing and riffing on themes introduced in Suzanne's non-linear , "open source" Riding SideSaddle tale, written on 250 index cards to be read in no particular order.

Following a group of friends that resist order, category and completion, this play weaves myth and storytelling with every day rituals. It is about people deeply in love, suffering loss, celebrating strangeness, all while they pluck their eyebrows. It is about the Greek myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, who are merged into "one being of both sexes" and about what we see when we look in the mirror. Oh, and the whole thing is underscored by a three-piece band standing in the bathtub.

The soul of the piece lies in the gender-blending love and acceptance that flows like water through these relationships. Sometimes narrative, other times abstract, and always metaphoric, the longing for what we miss in another brings forth the best in ourselves as we gain and lose in our most intimate moments.

After a nine-month hiatus to focus on different kinds of creative endeavors- a book on collaborative writing, among them- Buntport Theatre Company returns for their fifteenth season and three back-to-back original shows...because apparently, they missed the joys of summer stock. As a writer, I'm insanely jealous of Buntport's talents, asking about their process in hopes I could channel my inner voices into a collaborative style of my own. "It's always the same" says Rollman. "We get together for a pitch session to see who's thought of something interesting-", "And then we Google it", bumps Collona. Once a topic is chosen, they go their separate ways to research and write singularly, sending their individual offerings to Erin who edits it into a kind of first draft cohesion. "That's where we start the rehearsal where we rewrite, reshape and revise. A lot", she continues. "When it comes to casting, we start with 'anyone want to play something specific?' and fill in around that. Usually it becomes clear who should take which role." (I can't imagine this happening in many other groups.) Which brings us back to Diana Dresser... "We started working on a different piece with Di, which kind of fell apart. It's back to the morphing kind of thing our shows go through. We've always performed as ensemble so having Diana Dresser and Denver actor, Michael Morgan joining us in 10 Myths is a great and different kind of stretch for us. I'm sure our way of working's been a bit different for them, too."

10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products is the first full-length show of Buntport's 15th Season, followed by a one-person-piece about a museum guard called

The Rembrandt Room, where Erin Rollman goes solo. The ensemble comes together again for the third installment, Greetings from Camp Katabasis, an epic exploration of descent and ResussAnnie. Don't ask, just get your tickets. Because when Buntport Googles, people listen.

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If you take a glimpse at media coverage or think tank reports in past few years you will notice that unfortunately we don't fall short of issues related human security and human rights. In fact it is a matter of discussion and debate all across the world which will never cease to end. Think about it, so far there are around 9 million Syrians who have fled their homes, according to UNHCR there are around 3,321,761 refugees who have migrated to neighboring countries of Syria, 1117,010 refugees are yet waiting their registration.

Another serious issue is of climate change which according to Guardian is causing the death of nearly 400,000 people a year and costing the world more than $1.2 trillion, wiping 1.6% of global GDP. Lastly, we cannot afford to ignore the ongoing tension and after math of Ukrainian Crises, ISIS Threat, Arab Spring, War in Iraq and Afghanistan which has consumed lives of innocent children and families. Certainly, given this status quo in certain parts of the world, we should be thankful and fortunate enough to live where we don't get to see these conditions. However, we just can't afford to ignore the facts and merely continue with our sympathies without challenging our own mindset and ideology in order to bring solutions to the most complex humanitarian issues.

The status quo as of now, US & Europe are having bitter time with Russia. ISIS continues to terrorize and victimize nation states and has caused a stir in international community, the tension and conflict in Middle East is yet to see the daylight of peace. These issues are directly or indirectly linked with NATO and transatlantic community and their capacity to bring solutions to them. It is here we witness the paradoxical nature of humanitarian issues. For example , US has been at the forefront in its war against terrorism and promoting democracy in middle east, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan , but still after several years of war we are yet to witness peace and democracy there. On the other end, the US continues to face its own national issues related to Gun Shootings at Campus and the most recent racist issues. The US and Russia standoff didn't helped to resolve the Syrian conflict which continues to devastate Syria. The EU, known for its peace and stability faces severe criticism from Greece, and Portugal who are at the forefront of bearing austerities. It is important to recall the incident of June 11, 2013, where the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced the closure of ERT, Greece's public broadcaster, after 75 years of continuous operation which has sparked a major controversy in Greece thus challenging the nature of democracy at its very source. The EU member states are dealing with their own internal issues related to religious intolerance, unemployment, immigration and inclusive growth. And therefore verily in such crisis the member states lose their credibility where they by themselves have been incapable to solve their own internal affairs and have been dealing with the external affairs with a fixed mindset. Solutions from fixed mindset come in various forms such as massive investment or economic sanctions, austerities, military action, embargo, heavy taxation etc. Their impact could be dangerous, what we are witnessing now is the spillover effect across continents causing migration, unemployment, social unrest and civil war due to which generations are at stake. I am sure that any head of the state must have come across the famous quote of Mandela

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"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Through this quote Mandela explicitly contends that verily we have been treating the effects and outcomes of problems but we are not treating the root cause of it. Thus the challenge for us collectively is that How do we resolve this? How can we bring solutions to this?

Sustainable Leadership as a leadership paradigm

Albert Einstein noted that

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

Here Einstein is hinting us to step up our vision and take a new route to resolve issues. It is here I believe member states have to develop flexible mindset in dealing with issues and have to develop an overarching vision of leadership and its impact. We call it as Sustainable Leadership (SL). Einstein rightly stated "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it".

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Thus considering this approach in our context of international affairs, as a concept per se "Sustainable Leadership" is deeply rooted in decision making which is based on human consciousness rather than following the traditional diplomatic line of thought. SL fundamentally challenges the conventional leadership paradigm and their short sightedness; on the contrary SL presumes that leadership should have a positive intergenerational impact.

In response to extremism and growing intolerance and bias amongst religions, SL encourages to embrace and understand diverse religions, their common message and thereby promote interfaith dialogue. From the core, a member state or a leader exercising SL would pursue an approach which is holistic in nature and focused in uplifting the quality of human life by promoting the dialogue, innovation and unbiased interest in bringing forth the solutions. Every problem has a cause and effect and therefore, thus SL compels leaders to reflect on their own values and resolve the cause of problem rather than treating the effect of the problems. SL is rooted in following the fundamental principles of human values and therefore it is not prejudiced against one or the other form of functioning of member state. On the contrary it offers the flexibility to adapt the situation by guarding the fundamental values of every society and culture. Take the example of Bhutan, and its role in pioneering the concept of Gross National Happiness rather than focusing on GDP, another example is of Akhilesh Pillalamarri who challenges the concept of democracy in his article Why Monarchies Are Still Relevant and Useful in the 21st Century. Likewise we have many more examples which have been tested but still they await implementation.

What we need is a consensus from member states, to act collectively in unified spirit rather than acting under the diplomatic pressure. These are barely few examples which challenge the conventional paradigm of transatlantic community; there is no dearth of ideas and solutions. The key now is in the hands of member states whether they will single handedly or together will create a new boundary and redefine our expectation by surpassing traditional paradigm
Remezcla talked to Diego Luna about directing Mr. Pig during the Sundance Film Festival. They tagged along to his premiere screening and took him on a ski lift ride the next morning. He shared his fears about filmmaking, the joy that sharing his art with an audience brings, and why he thinks his daddy issues make it into all his movies.

Featuring a road trip to a lush Puerto Vallarta beach and starring Maya Rudolph, Danny Glover, and an enormous hog, Mr. Pig is a touching portrait of a regretful father reconnecting with his daughter.

During a particularly intimate post-screening Q&A, Luna revealed to a Sundance audience the heartbreaking reason why he's so close with his father. "My mother died when I was two years old; that's why I have so many daddy issues. And that's why my relationship with my dad is so strong."

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Read more here and watch the video below to follow Diego Luna's emotional journey to the world premiere of his fourth feature film as a director.
[We Are Interconnected Beings]

From August 26, 2014 to December 18, 2014, I toured Americas, Asia and Europe, holding 115 question and answer sessions in 111 locations. During a question and answer session at Princeton University, a student wanted to know how Buddhist teachings can help with environmental issues.

"When Dr. Matt introduced you, he mentioned about your environmental work. I would like to hear about how you think Buddhist teachings are valuable for dealing with environmental issues and global warming."

In general, there are two different views of how we perceive the world. The first view is that all beings exist independently, that the world is a collection of independent beings. From this perspective, life and death of one being is unrelated to the life and death of another.

The second world view is that all beings, rather than existing independently, exist in relation to other beings. For example, let's use a hand with five fingers. From a narrow view, we can only see one finger at a time; each of the five fingers exists independently. However, from a wider view, we can see that the five fingers are connected to each other, even though each finger is different from one another.

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Buddhism views that everything in the world is interconnected. When Buddha gained enlightenment, it was the realization that interconnectedness is the true nature of all beings. We are not only connected to other people, but to the air through our breathing and to the universe through light. Thus, severing these interconnections means death for all beings.

Therefore, these interconnected relationships should be symbiotic. In the case of the environment, if humans want to develop nature, they need to do so within nature's ability to recover. Conversely, if nature is developed beyond its ability to recover, all beings will eventually be destroyed.

While overdevelopment of nature may seem beneficial to humans from a short term perspective, eventually there will be long term consequences that will harm humans. Thus, the most important Buddhist value is to respect all living things and not carelessly harm or destroy them. I believe that environmental problems can only be resolved when we adopt the Buddhist world view that all beings are interconnected.
2016 is shaping out to be a big year for the United Nations. Not only is the race for the next Secretary General underway, but 6 out of the 10 UN human rights treaty bodies will experience leadership transitions. Additionally, several UN Special Procedures, and many of the tribunals and bodies that make up the international and regional justice systems, will also gain new appointments.

But while questions regarding the gender of the next UN Secretary General are reverberating in the press, we have not taken similar efforts to talk about the severe under-representation of women in international tribunals and bodies.

Inspired by the call to build a 50-50 Planet by 2030, we should use this International Women's Day to do exactly that: let's talk about gender parity in international justice.

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In our globalized world, decisions made at an international level impact our daily life, the functioning of our communities, and the relationship between our nations. We trust international bodies with decisions that we care about, including how we protect the environment, how we deal with migration and refugee situations, how we regulate trade and how we define the scope of our human rights. It should seem obvious that women, who make up more than half of the world's population, should not be absent from these decisions.

Yet, current data shows this is in fact the case: women are woefully underrepresented in these important spaces. For example, in its 70 years of existence, the International Court of Justice has had only four female judges out of 106; the Human Rights Committee, the oldest UN Treaty Body, has 18 members and only 5 are women; 19 of the 52 UN Special Procedures have never been held by a woman, including those in charge of Freedom of Expression, Torture, Racial Discrimination and Health. The International Criminal Court, a tribunal with a sophisticated selection process that takes gender into account, recently regressed from parity to having a third of women. Clearly, more needs to be done not only to achieve equal representation, but also to sustain it.

Equal representation matters

International Women's Day reminds us of our human right to equality. The UN Charter, the Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other instruments, protect the right of women not to be discriminated against and mandate states to promote equality, including in international representation. That alone should compel us to seek a 50/50 representation in international bodies. But there also other compelling reasons: diversity and equal representation of women lends greater depth, breadth and legitimacy to decisions made by institutions. One need only to look at the impact that gender diversity on corporate boards is having on the corporate world.

Additionally, women of diverse backgrounds have different experiences, and with it, they bring perspectives that enrich the debate and lead to better justice. Who can forget Judge Navanethem (Navi) Pillay's role within the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. As the only woman judge at the time, Ms. Pillay was responsible for developing jurisprudence that defined rape and sexual violence as genocide. Likewise, Judge Elizabeth Odio is praised for her role in defining rape as torture at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

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Bearing these reasons in mind, a group of people concerned with improving international justice created GQUAL, a campaign for gender parity in international representation. GQUAL was launched with a Declaration that highlights three strategies. The first one is to get Governments to pledge to nominate and to vote for international positions considering gender parity. The second one is to work with international bodies and organizations to develop standards, guidelines, and mechanisms so that selections processes promote gender equality and diversity. The third strategy is to generate more debate, by promoting research and global advocacy. This pathway to a more equal representation in international bodies has been supported by more than 800 distinguished women and men, including Vice-presidents, Foreign Ministers, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and an array of international jurists, academics, lawyers and activists.

GQUAL is one voice among many blazing a trail for greater representation of women across different areas of life. This also falls within the post 2015 sustainable development agenda, since sustainable development goal 5.5 is about achieving gender equality, with an understanding that promoting women's equal participation in all aspects of human life is not only an obligation, but also a fundamental solution to the inequalities of our world.

As we celebrate International Women's Day, we should think on all the pictures that need to be changed so that women achieve equal representation. Getting to 50/50 in international bodies, hopefully before 2030, is an achievable goal that can take us a long way.

Let's #ChangethePicture
"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." These profound words of Ayn Rand, who gave us such powerful novels like 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged', epitomizes the spirit of womanhood.



There is nothing in this world or even in space that is beyond the grit and determination of women. On this International Women's Day it is with great pride as well as awe that I would like to write about 5 adventurous women explorers and their daring exploits who have left their footprints on the sands of time and are a source of inspiration to men and women for posterity.

This post is dedicated to all the women of the world without whom the world itself would have not existed.

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Gertrude Bell



Born in 1868, in England, Gertrude Bell blazed a trail of her own, she travelled extensively over Europe, Middle East and Asia at a time when such bravado was unheard of. She was a writer, traveler and an archaeologist who was fluent in the Arabic and Persian languages. She shared her travel experiences with people back in Britain through her prolific writings and correspondence. She was a colleague and contemporary of T.E.Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Gertrude's contribution to the emergence of the modern Iraqi state and the National Museum of Iraq is well known and acknowledged. A biopic based on her life, starring Nicole Kidman has been released last year.

You can watch the official trailer here.

Nellie Bly



Nellie Bly's life is the stuff that movies are made of, full of adventure, fearlessness and grit. She was an American journalist, born in 1864 as Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman but famously known by her pen name of Nellie Bly. She rose to fame with her expose of the deplorable and brutal conditions in a women's mental asylum. Pioneering what we now call as investigative journalism, Nellie went undercover and entered the asylum as a mentally ill patient and spent ten harrowing days there and documented here findings and experiences in a report which was later published as a book titled; Ten days in a Mad-House

Not the one to sit still, in 1889 Nellie, inspired by the book 'Around the World in Eighty days', by Jules Vernes, set sail from New York on the Augusta Victoria on a journey that would cover 24,899 miles! She travelled through England, France, Sri Lanka then known as Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. 72 days later she was back in New York after circumnavigating the globe! A world record at that time.

One can only say, What a woman!

Osa Johnson



Today there is no dearth of traveling couples who travel together, document their experiences and share with others through their blogs and other social media, and that includes yours truly!

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But just imagine a couple travelling the globe together and sharing their experiences in the early part of the 20th century!

That is exactly what Osa, born Osa Helen Leighty in 1894 did along with her husband, travel photographer, Martin Johnson.

The American couple dared to go where no man had, to faraway lands , and they came back with incredible experiences, photographs and documentaries. One can gauge the intensity of the daring adventures that she was part of through the titles of some of the documentaries they released which include, "Among the Cannibals of the South Pacific", "Headhunters of the South Seas", "Jungle Adventures", etc..

Osa Johnson has etched her incredible life in print through an autobiography titled, "I Married Adventure".

Today, there is a museum known as Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas.

The Walt Disney Company was the first to license Johnson films from the museum for its various projects.

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Junko Tabei



It was the summer month of May in the year 1975. A group of women calling themselves JWEE(Japanese Women's Everest Expedition) were camping at 6,300 metres, when an avalanche hit them. The camp was devastated and the women buried in the snow. Junko Tabei was one of them, she was unconscious under the snow for six minutes till she was frantically dug out by her life saver Sherpa guide.

Twelve days later on the 16th of May, 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to ever set foot on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.

This Himalayan achievement of Junko Tabei was not easy, she and her fellow expedetioners fought against surmounting odds including shortage of funds. To save money they used recycled car sheets to sew water proof pouches and outer-gloves, they bought goose feather from China to make their own sleeping bags.

Junko Tabei's feet have conquered Mt. Fuji in Japan as well as the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.

Not one to rest on her laurels this indomitable woman climbed the Puncak Jaya in Indonesia on 28, June, 1992 to become the first woman in history to complete the Seven Summits which means she has climbed the highest mountain peaks of each of the seven continents!

Today 76 year old Junko Tabei is the Director of Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan and she has a dream, a dream to climb the highest mountain peak in every country!

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Arunima Sinha



The train sped along on its way, oblivious to what was happening in one of its compartments. A young sportswoman who was on her way to Delhi from Lucknow to write an entrance exam for a job in the CISF, was valiantly battling a gang of thieves who were trying to snatch her gold chain and bag. Suddenly she felt a powerful shove and the air whizzed past her, she had been thrown out of the running train! She landed on a parallel track and lay motionless and still, suddenly she realized with horror that a train was rushing towards her, with a superhuman effort she tried to fling her body away from the path of the approaching monster, but the train ran over her leg and thankfully sweet oblivion took over.

When she came to, she was on a hospital bed and had lost one of her legs which had to be amputated.

Still under medical treatment, this brave woman thought of the unthinkable, she resolved that one day she would climb Mount Everest!

On 21, May, 2013, barely two years after the horrendous train incident, this brave woman set foot on Mount Everest.

The first female amputee to do so!!

Meet Arunima Sinha, the brave-heart from India.

Arunima's aim is to climb the highest peak of all the continents. She already has Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Kosciuszko and Aconcagua under her belt.

This brave woman is a living inspiration to millions of men and women, her book "Born Again on The Mountain" was launched by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. She was also awarded Padma Shri, a civilian award by the Indian Republic.

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These real stories of real women who have blazed ahead in quest of their goals and pushed aside all barriers and obstacles with a will and power that borders on the superhuman, are indeed a constant source of inspiration to all.

Who are the Super Women who have inspired you?

Who is that one daring woman whose life shines like a beacon in front of you? Let us know in the comments.
Barring cataclysmic developments, Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee. The election dynamics and delegate math are clearcut. A lot of media coverage will try to spin up more of a contest than there is, because that is the nature of the media these days. But to win the White House, the former secretary of state will need to incorporate the democratic socialist appeal of Senator Bernie Sanders even as she creates space in a new governing coalition for some moderately conservative Republicans alarmed by their party's slide into anti-Enlightenment neo-fascism.

Paradoxically, Hillary is at once at risk of losing the general election to a rampaging Trumpist populism and in reach of winning a smashing victory.

Even with three weekend wins in the overwhelmingly white caucus states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine, admirers of Bernie Sanders have to acknowledge the obvious: Hillary Clinton has a powerful and strengthening grip on the Democratic presidential nomination. In the all-important count of delegates to the Democratic national convention, the former first lady essentially matched Sanders's three weekend caucus victories by garnering delegates in those states and winning a smashing 71-23 victory in the Louisiana primary election. And she already had a big lead overall. She is nearly 200 delegates ahead among those won in the contests so far and over 600 delegates ahead counting the party's super-delegates. As she learned from Barack Obama in 2008, who had a lesser lead at this point, if a campaign holds form it is very hard verging on impossible to make up a significant gap once it is established.

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Hillary has beaten Sanders in every state with major non-white populations, the key to any Democratic victory in the fall. While he is strong in caucus states, where activists hold disproportionate sway, she's won every higher-participation non-Vermont primary state other than New Hampshire and Oklahoma. That includes Massachusetts, the biggest state in Sanders's New England stronghold.

In fact, she has won all of the larger states contested so far. That's something I expect to continue in looming primaries in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida.

There should be an intricate two-step in store for Clinton and Sanders, in which he achieves his fundamental goal of establishing a powerful progressive wing of the Democratic Party beyond identity politics and she achieves her goal of a productive presidency.

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Sanders took a very powerful shot in the first three contests -- Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada -- last month and nearly shattered Hillary's hold on the Democratic nomination. But it didn't quite happen. As expected, Hillary held form in February, barely, and that, barring cataclysm, is that. (Given how far he's come, Sanders would be foolhardy not to hang around in the event of a Clinton disaster.) Yet Sanders can and should have an outstanding run ahead, winning more states and garnering very large numbers of national convention delegates in the process.

Team Sanders brings huge assets to the table in any accommodation with the Clintons, not least a literally history-making online fundraising capability and the ability to draw both large crowds and an enthusiastic new generation of young activists.

In the new politics of discontent, Republicans have slid into the neo-fascism implicit in their long stoking of the resentments of their "base" voters while Democrats increasingly look toward democratic socialist solutions to our corrupt political system, hollowing economy, and massive inequality. A number of Sanders's particulars may be off, but the reality is, due to present economic trends and future technological likelihoods, we will either have more socialism in our future or more feudalism.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and the neo-fascism that is Trumpism presents a clear and present danger both to Democratic hopes and America's future. With the prospect of the first woman president falling rather flat -- a woman in power hasn't proved a panacea elsewhere in the world -- the advent of Trumpism can help solve Hillary's problem of apparently lacking a mission beyond self-advancement.

But it won't be at all easy. When Trump got away last summer with the baldest sort of personal hypocrisy in claiming John McCain wasn't a war hero -- Trump himself is a chicken hawk Vietnam War draft dodger -- I became convinced of his ability to slide through what would ordinarily be terminal political events.

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Yet the danger of Trumpism provides the Clintons with an opportunity to bring together seemingly antithetical constituencies in the form of emerging democratic socialists and moderate conservatives who all believe in the Enlightenment values of America's Founders. Both Trump and his principal challenger, ultra-rightist Ted Cruz, have clearly rejected the Enlightenment world view of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and George Washington. (Marco Rubio? Who knows what that chameleon really thinks? Not that it matters, since his phoniness has doomed his candidacy. John Kasich? Obviously far too sane and knowledgeable for the devolution GOP.)

Policy wonk Hillary has already presented a programmatic element around which she can begin knitting a new alliance of left, center, and right; i.e., her call to bring back massive US corporate funds parked offshore for entrepreneurial and innovative investment in America.

The overall dynamic would be not unlike that pursued by Jerry Brown as he won his second term as Governor of California in a landslide, at once embraced by the likes of Cesar Chavez and Tom Hayden (whose Nation article two years ago prefigured the Sanders ascendancy), Steve Jobs and Bob Noyce, and Howard Jarvis.

Hillary Clinton has a great opportunity here. Trump's gross irresponsibility, which is nonetheless more likely to lead to victory than the extremism of Cruz's ultra-conservative orthodoxy as it is based on incendiary populist appeal -- after the fashion of the fascist model -- makes it unnecessary for Hillary to make potentially dangerous promises to win right-of-center support. Potentially dangerous promises, that is, like more ill-advised interventionism to win over some neoconservatives upset by Trump's very much after-the-fact denunciation of the Iraq War, who seem to be poking their noses under the Clinton tent.

To avoid adding to her underlying image problem, all of her moves need to be conceptually coherent and organic with her persona. I know, I know, which persona is that? The one we are presumably going to become very familiar with, naturally.

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The Bank Whistleblowers United's third weekly lemons award is made jointly to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Fannie Mae (with a dishonorable mention to the federal judiciary). The award goes for these entities' indifference and even hostility to whistleblowers. On September 6, 2008, the FHFA placed Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship in conjunction with the largest public bailout in global history. Fannie and Freddie failed in an orgy of fraudulent mortgage loans.

Fannie had suffered enormous losses in the early 2000s from a variant of "accounting control fraud." Some of these frauds were brought to the attention of the public and the FHFA's predecessor agency (OFHEO) by a Fannie Mae whistleblower, Roger L. Barnes. The Washington Post reported:

Two exhaustive investigations have backed up Roger L. Barnes's allegations that Fannie Mae's financial statements could not be trusted and that accounting managers manipulated numbers to meet rising earnings targets.

Naturally, Barnes experienced retaliation that destroyed his career at Fannie Mae, though he was the person doing everything right according to the law and Fannie's own policies. Fannie's regulators forced out its CEO and CFO in response to the securities fraud. Paragraph 2 of the SEC complaint against Fannie Mae for securities fraud explicitly charged that the purpose of the fraud was to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to Fannie's officials.

At the end of 1998, senior management manipulated the Company's earnings in order to obtain bonuses they would otherwise not have received...

Fannie's early forms of accounting control fraud that were addressed by the SEC's complaint led to regulatory restrictions on growth that shifted Fannie's new senior managers towards a new form of accounting control fraud using liar's loans that caused losses so large that Fannie failed. (Freddie was also sued by the SEC for accounting control fraud at the same time as Fannie and its new managers reacted in the same fashion as Fannie's new managers and produced the same kind of failure.)

In these circumstances, one might have thought that Fannie and FHFA would do everything possible to encourage whistleblowers by rewarding them rather than retaliating against them. One might even be tempted to board a flight of fantasy and believe that the courts would act zealously to protect whistleblowers at Fannie. Alas, given that this a Whistleblowers' lemon award, the perceptive reader has already guessed that a mere $189.5 billion pubic bailout of Fannie and Freddie would not cause a fundamental change in their senior managers or the FHFA's senior managers.

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Fannie is continuing to retaliate against whistleblowers during the conservatorship. Fannie's managers are continuing to prevent whistleblowers from even going to court to secure relief when they are the victims of retaliation. The courts are allowing these abuses, designed to intimidate whistleblowers, and barring whistleblowers at Fannie who are retaliated against from being able to have their day in court. This is occurring even though the Dodd-Frank Act sought specifically to bar this abuse of arbitration clauses that Fannie's managers used for the purpose of intimidating whistleblowers.

In Taylor v. Fannie Mae, the court acknowledged that Dodd-Frank had deliberately amended the prior whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which had allowed employers to force whistleblowers to give up their normal rights to have their claims of retaliation heard in court.



While Sarbanes-Oxley claims were arbitrable at the time the law was originally enacted, the recent Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in July 2010, amended Section 1514A to prohibit arbitration of Sarbanes-Oxley claims. 18 U.S.C.  1514A(e)(2) ("No predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable, if [it] requires arbitration of a dispute arising under this section."). As the defendants are attempting to enforce a dispute resolution policy over a Sarbanes-Oxley claim, the question before the Court is whether the Dodd-Frank Act applies retroactively to arbitration agreements that existed prior to July 2010.

Note that the Congress and the President in signing the Dodd-Frank Act had the benefit of years of experience with Sarbanes-Oxley's effort to protect whistleblowers from retaliation. They realized, correctly, that corporate frauds were using arbitration clauses to aid their ability to silence whistleblowers through intimidation. They determined that this was terrible public policy that caused horrific losses to our nation.

Fannie should not have to be ordered by Congress not to deny its whistleblowers the right to go to court to vindicate their legal right when Fannie executives unlawfully retaliate against the employees. But even if Fannie's leadership failed to do so, the federal government (FHFA) is the conservator of Fannie and Freddie. The federal government as conservator has all management powers over Fannie and Freddie. It is outrageous that the FHFA has stood by while Fannie's managers have (1) continued to violate the law, (2) illegally retaliated against the whistleblowers who have tried to warn their superiors and the public of Fannie's continuing crimes, (3) and invoking the arbitration clauses to deny the whistleblowers' their right to protect their rights in the courts - the very arbitration clauses that Congress declared unlawful because they were used to intimidate whistleblowers and put our nation at risk. We have seen the catastrophic harm that the frauds led by Fannie and Freddie's senior managers caused and how critical a service Fannie's whistleblowers have provided to us.



The Bank Whistleblowers United is a strong supporter of the WARN Act to protect whistleblowers from retaliation that was introduced last week by Representative Cummings. We urge the public to support the adoption of that Act.
NEW DELHI -- In a recent debate on intolerance, actor Anupam Kher left no doubt about his support for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre, and his deep admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but he also called for the arrest of BJP leaders Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Prachi, who regularly make remarks which are hurtful to Muslims.

While speaking at the The Telegraph National Debate on intolerance, held in Kolkata over the weekend, Kher said that people like Adityanath, a BJP lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, and Prachi, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, should be jailed.

"There are some people in the party who talk nonsense. Whether it is Sadhvi or Yogi, they should be jailed, they should be scolded, and they should be thrown out of the party," he said in the debate, which is being shared widely on the web.

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In December, Adiyanath said that the growth in the countrys Muslim population was a threat.

In November, Sadhvi said that Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan is a "Pakistani agent."

While his colleagues Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan spoke out against rising intolerance in the country, Kher remained staunch in support for the Modi government, and attacked those with a contrary opinion of unnecessarily shaming the country. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India, last month.

During the debate on intolerance, Kher accused the Congress Party of hypocrisy, and said that he would vote for its Vice President Rahul Gandhi if he became one-tenth of the man Modi is.

If you can tolerate that person then you can tolerate anything in the world," he said.

Kher said that only the rich and famous are talking about intolerance.

This is a no debate. The rich and the famous are talking of intolerance. If you ask a man on the street, they wont talk about intolerance. All they want is food two times a day, the actor said.

Those with champagne in a glass are only talking about it. Are you living in India or America?" he said.

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Kher said that his support for the BJP had nothing to do with wife Kirron Kher, who is the BJP lawmaker from Chandigarh. I have been married to Kirron Kher for 30 years. I do not need to prove my loyalty to her by supporting the party, he said.

Kher concluded, My friends, this is a great country. Lets tolerate the intolerance of these people."

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"I, along with other female students ,was physically attacked and harassed in the university campus on midnight of 19-20th November 2015 in the presence of the Proctor of the University. Despite the fact that I sent a complaint to the VC, the university administration has not yet constituted any inquiry committee or initiated any action against the culprits. The Proctor continues to hold his post: no questions have been asked of him.

The harassment continues in various forms. They are now raising questions on my admission. I have been admitted here as a PhD scholar for nearly two years now: why these questions all of a sudden? I fear that they will find some false grounds to cancel my admission and hence remove me from my post of President. These are all attempts to silence me. I request you to carry my voice forward and build pressure on the university admin to be accountable." Richa Singh wrote in the letter.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 2: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressing the post budget interactive session with representatives of Indian Trade and Industry Associations (FICCI, CII & ASSOCHAM) at Vigyan Bhavan on March 2, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Facing flak for proposing a tax on employee provident fund withdrawals, finance minister Arun Jaitley said he will spell out the final decision on the matter when he replies to the debate on Budget in Parliament. After Budget 2016-17 proposed taxing 60 per cent of the withdrawal from employees' provident fund (EPF) on contributions to be made after April 1, the government hinted of a partial rollback. (Photo by Virendra Singh Gosain/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

When Kanhaiya Kumar was released on bail after two weeks at the Tihar jail, the first thing he did was to go back to the place where it all began -- the churning campus of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University. In a heartfelt speech, Kanhaiya said, "We are not seeking 'azaadi' (freedom) from India. We want 'azaadi' within India."

Kumar's speech gripped a nation, even overshadowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in Parliament. On Sunday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the BJP was engaged in an ideological battle with the JNUSU president, and that the student leaders posturing after his release from jail was a victory for the party.

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"We have won. Those who were once shouting slogans for dividing the country are now raising slogans of Jai Hind and waving the Tricolour after their release from jail," Jaitley said in his address at the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha national convention.

"Some people want to hold an event to commemorate Yakub Memon and some to commemorate Afzal Guru. Slogans were raised for breaking up the country," he added.

Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 on sedition charges after anti-national slogans were allegedly raised at an event in the JNU campus held in memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. He was later sent to judicial custody for two weeks.

However, Jaitley's victory proclamation seems premature.

Kanhaiya, as evident in his speech, stood his ground. If one is to compare the two speeches-- the one before he was arrested and the one after--there's only one conclusion: Kanhaiya didn't back out.

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In the speech before his arrest, Kanhaiya was unabashedly critical of the Modi government. But we hear him repeatedly swearing faith in the constitution.

Taking a dig at the Congress, Jaitley also said it was the misfortune of this country that Congress leaders went to these people to express sympathy.

"The Congress had always been against those wanting to break up the country through the last 100 years of struggle between nationalist and anti-national forces, Jaitley said in his attack against Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP leader also cited several instances from history to prove that it is the historical tradition of communist forces to divide the country by speaking against the country's interest.

Whenever this country faced any challenge, the basic confrontation has been between nationalist forces and communist ideology. When Gandhiji was leading the freedom struggle, then the communist leaders of this country said that Gandhiji represented feudalist forces. When Gandhiji raised the slogan of Quit India, the communist party of that time completely opposed the freedom struggle. When Independence came, their ideology was that we dont believe in democracy. Hence, communist ideology was that we will divide the country by violence and seize (power)," he said.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Yemeni security forces gather outside an elderly care home after it was attacked by gunmen in the port city of Aden, Yemen, Friday, March 4, 2016. Unidentified gunmen stormed a retirement home run by Catholic nuns in the southern city of Aden on Friday shooting more than a dozen people to death, including several Indian nuns, Yemeni security officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Wael Qubady)

Gunmen who killed at least 15 people in an old people's home in Yemen last week also kidnapped an Indian priest, officials said on Sunday, as Pope Francis condemned the attack and the "indifference" of the world's reaction to it.

No one has claimed responsibility for Friday's incident in which four gunmen posing as relatives of one of the residents at the home burst inside, killing four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard.

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Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter that an Indian national identified as Father Tom Uzhunnalil had been "abducted by terrorists in Yemen". She said officials in neighbouring Djibouti were trying to ascertain his whereabouts to secure his release.

Officials in the southern Yemeni city of Aden confirmed that the priest had been kidnapped and said authorities were investigating the attack. It sparked widespread condemnation, including from the Pope and the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which called it an act of terrorism.

Pope Francis called the nuns "todays martyrs" because they were both victims of their killers and of global indifference.

"They do not make the front pages of the newspapers, they do not make the news. They have given their blood for the Church," he said in his Sunday message to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.

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"They are victims of the attack by those who killed them but also victims of indifference, of this globalisation of indifference. They dont matter," he added, departing from his prepared text.

International aid groups have pulled most of their foreign staff from Yemen but continue to operate on a reduced basis through local employees.

Aden has been racked by lawlessness since Hadi supporters, backed by Gulf Arab military forces, drove fighters of the Iran-allied Houthi group from the city in July last year.

The Yemeni government has repeatedly promised to restore security to the city but has so far had little success.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Indian navy aircraft carrier INS Viraat sails during the India-US joint naval exercise in the Arabian Sea, India, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005. Nearly 12,500 Navy personnel from India and the United States have begun joint exercises this week focusing on anti-terrorism operations, search and rescue missions. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

NEW DELHI -- One sailor was killed and three others were injured after a fire broke out onboard India's soon to be decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Goa. The ship reported an incident of a stream leak and a "minor fire" on one of the its boiler rooms late in the afternoon yesterday, a navy spokesperson said.

While he claimed that the incident was quickly brought under control, four sailors sustained injuries while combating the fire.

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One of them, Chief Engineer Mechanic Ashu Singh was critical, having suffered smoke inhalation, the spokesperson said.

He was shifted to the Naval Hospital in Goa where he suffered a cardiac arrest and died, the official said, adding the other three are "under treatment and out of danger".

"Prima facie, it appears some insulating material in the boiler room caught fire from heat due to the stream leak. Investigation is underway," the spokesperson said.

'Viraat', one of the two aircraft carrier that India is operating, is expected to sail back to Mumbai soon. Earlier in the day, family members of the navy personnel visited the aircraft carrier, which will be decommissioned soon. The navy said the fire incident happened when the ship had earthed the Goa harbour after the sortie.

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"All the families had disembarked and the ship was in the process of shutting down the missionary including the boiler," the navy officer.

INS Viraat had first served the British Navy for over 30 years, before being bought by India. It was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 after undergoing extensive refit. The ship, which also saw action in the Falklands War and was India's sole carrier for over a decade, attended the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in February.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 4: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar having interaction with media persons at his guides residence at JNU Campus on March 4, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Kanhaiya Kumar was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court after spending 20 days in jail. Kumar was arrested on February 12 on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy after alleged anti-national slogans were raised on the JNU campus on February 9. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The Delhi Police on Monday arrested the man who offered a reward of Rs 11 lakh for shooting Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Adarsh Sharma, who claims to be the president of a little known organisation called Purvanchal Sena, had put up around 1,000 posters across New Delhi offering Rs 11 lakh as reward to anyone who kills Kanhaiya Kumar.

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Pretty shocking poster near Press Club offering reward for killing of #KanhaiyaKumarpic.twitter.com/UTysrGTZ43  Rezaul Hasan Laskar (@Rezhasan) 5 March 2016

Sharma has been arrested under charges of defacement of public property, abetment of offence punishable with imprisonment, public mischief, criminal intimidation and forgery, a senior police official said, adding more charges can be added later.

The poster, written Hindi with Sharmas name and mobile number at the bottom, was spotted at different places in New Delhi. Whosoever shoots JNU students union president and seditionist Kanhaiya will be rewarded Rs 11 lakh on the behalf of Purvanchal Sena, it said.

Sharma said though he had faith in the judicial system of the country, he put up the posters because he wanted to deliver quick justice. However, it turned out that Sharma did not have more than Rs 150 in his bank account and had been defaulting on payments including his rent.

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We want the traitor dead. He has insulted mother India and raised anti-national slogans. We have faith in the court but it takes a long time for a judgement to come. We want to ensure there is a quick decision and hence, we have announced this prize money of Rs 11 lakh to be given to whosoever kills him, he told Hindustan Times.

Kumar, who was granted an interim bail last week, was arrested on February 12 for allegedly raising anti-national slogans inside the campus during an event to protest against the 2013 hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

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Atul Tater via Getty Images An Indian woman praying with folded hands.

NEW DELHI -- If Muslim men can have four wives then why not women, asked a judge in Kerala, while declaring that personal laws followed by Muslims are heavily biased towards men, and religious leaders reinforce male dominance.

Only Muslim citizens can legally enter polygamous marriages in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is now in power, has advocated replacing religious laws with a Uniform Civil Code which would govern all citizens of the country.

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Speaking at a public event on Sunday, Justice B Kamal Pasha, 59, said that religious leaders rule in favor of men to preserve male mastery over women, and he also questioned they are qualified to give such rulings.

Religious heads should do self-introspection whether they are eligible to pronounce one-sided verdicts. People should also think about the eligibility of persons who are pronouncing such verdicts, Pasha said, the Hindustan Times reported.

While Muslims are legally allowed to marry in India, data reveals that men from other religious community enter to more polygamous and bigamous marriages.

A government survey in 1961 revealed that polygamous marriages were highest among adivasis, and then Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus, with Muslims at the end.

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In 1974, a government survey found Muslims to account for 5.6% of all bigamous marriages and upper-caste Hindus accounting for 5.8%.

Pasha spoke in favor of a Uniform Civil Code because personal laws denied women equality.

"Personal law is loaded with discrimination. Besides denying equality, it also denies womens right to property and other issues, he said.

Last year, the Supreme Court also said that personal laws of different religions, which govern matters like marriage, divorce, alimony and property, were creating too many problems, and probed the Modi government about introducing a Uniform Civil Code in India.

In their ruling on October 16, Justices Anil R. Dave and Adarsh Kumar Goel asked that a Public Interest Litigation be registered to examine whether "discrimination" suffered by women under Islamic laws violates fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution and international conventions.

Women would have to fight for the equal rights because even the Supreme Court didn't want to get involved in the highly explosive Uniform Civil Code issue, Pasha said.

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Even the highest court is a bit reluctant to interfere in this. Women should come forward to end this injustice, he said.

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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.
The Music Startup Meltdown  And its going to get worse before it gets any better

After a strong year for music tech investments in 2015, things have gotten much tougher for music and music tech startups. The money tree is bearing less fruit and the sexiness of music startups has faded. But its going to get even worse before it gets any better, says Cortney Harding.

photo: Ted Reiderer

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By music industry and music tech consultant Cortney Harding, author of How We Listen Now: Essays and Conversations About Music and Technology.

In Hemingways The Sun Also Rises, Mike Campbell is asked how he went bankrupt. His reply (gradually, and then suddenly) has been widely quoted since the book was released, but the next line is almost more pertinent to the current situation. When asked what brought it on, he says Friends. I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.

For a while, every music startup had a lot of friends. There were countless events and parties being hosted and blogs dedicated to covering the latest and greatest offeringsnot to mention a whole industry of consultants who sprung up to shepherd startups through the industry. And they all had creditors, too  VCs who saw dollar signs and glamour, and were willing to take risky bets.

It was unsustainable, of course, and at a certain point it had to crumble. I watched it gradually fall apart starting last year, with startups unable to raise additional rounds or even get off the ground. The tipping point for me was a job ad that I saw a few weeks ago from a U.K. live music startup called ConcertFlow. It was for a senior level position that required experience and ended on this note:

Basically, theyre asking people to work for free and go into debt in order to do it. Theyre not the first company to do this, or even the first in the space  for a while in the early days, Pandora employees worked for free, and if they stuck around, they were rewarded. But that was in a vastly different climate, long before the digital music sector took shape, and this job posting shows a lack of understanding of the current circumstances facing startups. And theyre not the only ones  I talked to a friend who is taking an unpaid leave of absence from his music startup because they are running out of money. Another friend who consults for startups is owed money by three of his four clients and is pretty sure hell never see it.

Rhapsody is losing $3 million a month, according to a report in Music Business Worldwide, and while Spotify continues to raise money, it has yet to go public. Deezer canceled a planned IPO last year. A source told me about an emerging streaming startup that thought it had millions in the queue ready to go, only to be told by the people doing their fundraising that oops, it wasnt coming through after all. Drip.fm recently announced it was shutting down, and while YouTubes acquisition of Bandpage might have seemed like good news at first, it came to light that they sold for a third of what they had raised. Hyped streaming service Tidal just lost two more executives and has struggled to stay relevant and add significant numbers of paying users. And thats just the tip of the iceberg  I put together a list of twenty more examples I could have included before deciding which ones to keep.

What happened? Just a few years ago, the world seemed full of promise  there were music hack days everywhere you turned, big music tech conferences once every few months, and startups without revenue models were pulling in millions in VC funding. A quick glance at the 2013 MIDEM 30 music startups to watch list reveals many have met a sad fate  18 of the 30 no longer seem to exist at all. Others still have a web presence but havent posted anything new in years, or are zombie startups running out the clock, or never even launched. Only a few have actually grown into real businesses.

Now, thats par for the course in startups, and really in most businesses. But up until now the rotating door of companies was spinning  you could easily move from startup to startup without much disruption. But now all the VC money that was greasing the doors has dried up, and people are stuck  theres just nowhere to go. Music startups seem to have hit an especially high brick wall.

photo: Ted Riederer

The space was enormously frothy before the meltdown, cluttered with plenty of companies that developed music products for nonexistent customers. Everyone was trying to do the same thing  think of the number of music startups that hit the market that were essentially the same (music discovery, for instance, or curated playlists, or social sharing) save for one or two tweaks. Music startups attracted a lot of people who had no understanding of the market and frankly saw it as an opportunity to have fun, meet some famous people and hot girls, and then make a quick buck when they were acquired for millions by Apple or Google. Everything they know about the big, mean major labels they learned from watching VH1s Behind the Music and reading stories by tech bloggers with no understanding of the music business.

Secondly, almost everyone overestimated how much the music industry hadbeen disrupted by Napster. Major labels still wield an enormous amount of power, and can easily stop a startup in its tracks if they want. I talked to a label exec after Turntable.fm (remember them?) raised money in 2011, and he laughed about how much they underestimated the industry, and its uncanny ability to read Techcrunch stories about big funding rounds and ask for just that amount of money for licenses. To this day, I still hear music startup founders say that a lawsuit is the new handshake, a phrase coined after Napster that has been proven to be false time and time again.

For a while, all a startup needed was one major to sign on before the others followed suit. Now, SoundCloud has two of the three signed up, with Sony holding out. Major labels have also started turning down licensing opportunities from even major players who have the cash  theyd rather keep the market small and let the companies they have equity in win the day. The way we access music might have changed from the nineties, but that might be about it.

Startup founders also overestimated just how much music matters to the average person. When you love music, you surround yourself with similar people, and that creates a confirmation bias  everyone wants to share playlists and discover new bands just as much as you and your friends! But really, they dont. The average consumer is happy to listen to the radio or Pandora, see a few concerts or a festival once a year, and leave it at that.

Founders also overestimated the amount of money in the indie music space. While theres certainly a layer of unsigned bands with professional aspirations, many more of them are just playing music for fun, or to meet people and be part of a community. They take it seriously, up to a point, and might release music and tour and want to cover costs, but they also know its a hobby and passion and will never be a viable living.

Being in the middle of the music startup meltdown right now is terrible, full stop. Its never fun when people lose jobs and companies close, and its going to get worse before it gets better, and the next few quarters are going to reveal even more turmoil in the sector. But its not like the internet is going to be turned off for all time; plenty of startups rose out of the web 1.0 collapse, and just as many good ones will come in the future (even in the midst of the downturn, startups like Jukely, Crowdmix, Vadio, and Patreon were funded and are moving forward).

What this does mean is the music startups have to be ten times better, and smarter, and more focused on profit than they were before. In the long run, the space might be smaller, but itll be better, with more fully-realized products. We just have to hold on tight as we pass through the eye of the storm first.

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Top executives at global insurance company Zurich received lower rates of compensation in 2015 its annual accounts show. With profits under pressure from higher claims, especially from its Asian markets, the insurer slashed pay for its top management team from U$55.4 million in 2014 to $22.6 million last year (headcount was one person lower at 12 executives.)The firms chief executive, Martin Senn, was paid $2.52 million a cut of more than two-thirds from his 2014 compensation. Senn left the firm suddenly in December and new CEO Mario Greco begins his new role Monday.In a recent report by Deloitte, regulatory changes were seen as the largest short-term disruptor to the global insurance industry. That is certainly the case in the UK where the financial regulator is imposing a sharp rise in fees on the sector. The Prudential Regulatory Authority is proposing to raise its industry charge for ongoing regulatory activities by an average of 4.7 per cent, but the cost to general insurance companies is set to jump by 7.7 per cent.In a statement, the International Underwriting Association says it is disappointed by the regulators decision. IUA Director of Market Services Chris Jones, said: Substantial increases of this size are a major concern for London Market companies. Regulatory costs in the UK are already high in comparison to other European countries and this further rise will affect our industrys ability to attract inward investment.Over the past four years, the overall fee increases imposed on general insurers in the UK for conduct regulation have been in excess of 50 per cent the IUA says.The body which provides mandatory errors and omissions insurance coverage to real estate brokers in British Columbia has appointed a new chairman. Scott Veitch, managing broker of Century 21 Veitch Realty in Creston will head the Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation.Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska has suffered a large loss from its participation in the Affordable Care Act. The insurer lost $31 million in 2015 on higher claims and lower federal support. Chief risk officer Jerry Byers says it may take two or three years to return to break-even. He told the World-Herald that the loss was a financial punch in the stomach.Byers pointed to the federal risk corridor program which was only 12.5 per cent funded by Congress. He says that the insurer would have recorded a $17.3 million pre-tax gain in 2015 had the program been fully funded.
"We need to talk about insurance the way we want to hear about it," says insurance educator
India vs Pakistan Weather Forecast, T20 World Cup 2022: Rains Delay Training, Flood Alert in Melbourne on Match Day

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T20 World Cup: 'Even if They Lose to Pakistan....'-India Great Says Things Looking 'A Lot Better' in India's Group

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Kenny Zulu Whitmore

Herman Wallace

Herman

Zulu is a true warrior, Panther, a servant of the people. He has fought a good battle, for so long, unrecognized, unsupported! --Robert Hillary KingABOUT ZULU:I am. I have been enslaved in one of the most brutal and bloodiest prisons in the USA, Angola, LA, the "last slave plantation". Framed for a murder I never committed I have been in solitary confinement for over 30 years now.....In December 1973 I was arrested on frivolous charges and held over for a magistrate hearing where a bond would be set. While awaiting my court appearance I found myself in a cage right across from a black man who struck me as a fearsome revolutionary. It turned out to be. I was impressed with his words of wisdom, which enabled me to better understand the treatment and condition of my community by the police. I felt honored just to have been in his presence. There were others on the unit, but all you could hear was the voice of. We talked all through the night after he learned why I was arrested. He explained that if my concern was to protect the people, my only route of doing so would be to educate myself of the political Kingdom and then organize the people to effectively challenge the ill that cripple the people. I realized my speaking out against drug dealers and police brutality alone would be viewed as a personal war and wouldn't achieve anything.Herman told me he and others had established a chapter of the Black Panther Party in Angola, to fight against prison corruption. I gave him all my information because what he spoke of was what I needed in my life. I dare say it was my first true political education. The next day I learned he was there on trial for the death of a prison guard. At that time I believed he didn't stand a chance. In the mean time history has proven I was wrong. However, instead of focusing on his trial, he had many questions about community service and conditions. I ended up giving him my name and address. He told me he was officially making me a member of the Angola Chapter of the Black Panther Party. I was very honored but I had no idea what this man expected of me. But I knew about the Panthers and so I went back to the community with the idea of organizing the community against illegal drug trafficking.On February 19, 1975 I was arrested again. This time charged with two counts of armed robbery of a Zachary shoe store. In June of 1975 all charges were dropped after both victims argued with the judge that I was not the person who did this crime. But I still couldn't go free...Kenny Zulu Whitmore,86468 D/Hawk - 4LLouisiana State PrisonAngola, LA 70712
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Violet Ezirike Chinelo Agom-Eze

While adjudicating a dispute between an international oil company and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) recently held that where there is a conflict between an agreement and statute, the provisions of the statute prevail. Although this was a positive decision for the foreign company, it nevertheless highlights the negative impact the lack of clarity in Nigeria's tax regimes could have on foreign investment.

The case in question emanated from a conflict between the provisions of the Modified Carry Agreement (MCA) executed between an international oil company and a government agency and the provisions of the Petroleum Profits and Tax Act (PPTA) in the interpretation of deductions of capital allowances. The MCA provides that approval of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should be obtained before any deductions of capital allowances. In contrast, the PPTA allows for deductions without prior approval. The position of the law as espoused by the TAT appears to be at variance with the position of the FIRS, which puts equity interest over economic interest in calculating petroleum profit tax.

An earlier decision of the TAT (Gazprom v. FIRS) addresses the fundamental issue of the clarity of tax regimes. In the instant case, the issue surrounded the registration and charge of tax by the non-resident company with a contract to perform services for a Nigerian company. In interpreting section 10(2) of the Value Added Tax Act, the TAT held that the non-resident company is only required to register and charge VAT where it carries on business in Nigeria. It was further held that since the subject was a contract to perform services for a Nigerian company the same did not apply and reverse charges could not be imposed.

The disposition of the TAT to provide clarity to a complicated tax regime is a vote of confidence in the adjudication of tax related issues. Nonetheless, it is pertinent to consider the prolonged effect of unclear tax laws on foreign investment as this lack of clarity could act as a barrier to entry when companies are unable to ascertain future costs. In countries like India and Cambodia, the unclear tax rules are currently affecting tax returns and hindering possible foreign investment. The Nigerian government must therefore take implicit cues from these matters and establish a clear single stream tax policy, particularly in light of the economic instability facing the nation.

Violet Ezirike and Chinelo Agom-Eze
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Frances Bastille Day, the countrys national holiday commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the attack on The Bastille. The Bastille is a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. Many people in France associated it with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy in the late 1700s. On July 14, 1789, troops stormed the Bastille. This was a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution. Fete de la Federation was held on July 14, 1790. This was a way to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France.

The fight against terrorism has become a global issue unifying countries and strengthening security measures to protect its people  such measures and struggle of government working with various entities will soon be seen in the latest thrilling action film against terrorism in Bastille Day. Starring this years Screen Actors Guild Awards double winner Idris Elba, who won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Beasts of No Nation) and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries(Luther), Elba takes on the role of a former CIA agent who embark on an anti-terrorist mission in France.

James Watkins directs the engrossing and mind-blowing Bastille Day written by Andrew Baldwin where a young American artist Michael (Richard Madden) living in Paris and a washed-up CIA agent Sean (Elba) who are thrown together and tasked with diverting an imminent attack on the city.

On the eve of Bastille Day, a young French woman, Zoe Naville (Charlotte Le Bon), slips across Paris with the intent of planting a bomb to make a radical political statement but means to kill no one. At the last moment, she decides that she cannot commit this violent act. Michael Mason, an American artist and pickpocket, steals Zoes bag, keeps what he can use and throws the rest away into a garbage bin next to a busy Metro stop.

At the same time, inside the ultra-secure CIA Station in Paris, Sean Briar, an agent brought in from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq in the wake of a mission that has gone terribly wrong, struggles to adjust to his reassignment as a desk-bound data analyst : a misfit real warrior in a world of cyber counter-terrorists. When the bomb goes off, Michael becomes the only suspect. Briar is determined to find him and bring him into custody before the French authorities do. From then on, Briar, Michael, and Zoe will be bound together in a 24-hour suspense ride across the city, in a frantic attempt to expose a conspiracy of chaos and greed that only they can prove.

Bastille Day opens very soon this April in cinemas nationwide in the Phils. from Axinite Digicinema.

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some happy things

i have found myself cancelling plans left, right and centre this week, thanks to a quick-moving head cold that took over my whoooole life mid-week, rendering me totally useless by the end. i sat through work coughing every - oh, i'm not even exagerrating here - five seconds of the day. all over my stuff. all over my colleagues. and the cough wasn't even fulfilling! it was dry and tickly, and i wasn't able to get aaaany respite from it at all; all the coughing did was give me a headache. not ideal. especially as i'm off to italy this week; typically, i'm always sick right before i travel, so this was always going to happen... right? but, with all the coughing, there has still been happiness! like:





leap day treats | a day that only comes around every four years only means one thing: calories that don't count! so when the opportunity to eat burgers with | a day that only comes around every four years only means one thing: calories that don't count! so when the opportunity to eat burgers with aunty sally was presented to me on monday, there was very little getting in my way. burger mondays need to always be a thing!





sunny skies ahead | this week has been best for nailing down holiday plans. bex and i are planning a few quick jaunts around the kingdom over the next few months, and then when mama arrives in august, we're off to ireland for a week too! i've been putting finishing touches on those plans, while counting down the days until the first ~actual holiday of the year: italy with charley! ermergerrrd there's nothing more satisfying than holiday planning. is there? no! there's not!





the 1975 | bex and i have had tickets to see the 1975 for a couple of months now. i worked from home on friday after a number of colleagues suggested they might kill me themselves if i came into work and made them all sick again, so it was the first time i'd left the house all day. i felt rouuugh, man. my body ached, my nose ran, my stomach muscles hurt from all the coughing and sneezing, but we'd had ~tickets. and, the fresh air would do me good... or so i was told. i met bex at | bex and i have had tickets to see the 1975 for a couple of months now. i worked from home on friday after a number of colleagues suggested they might kill me themselves if i came into work and made them all sick again, so it was the first time i'd left the house all day. i felt rouuugh, man. my body ached, my nose ran, my stomach muscles hurt from all the coughing and sneezing, but we'd had ~tickets. and, the fresh air would do me good... or so i was told. i met bex at cabana in brixton where we ate our body weight in wings and caipirinhas, before heading over to the academy... where we were met with an incredible line, ~full of teenagers rearing to get into the hipster convention that we'd obviously accidentally got tickets to instead. honestly! i don't watch telly, i don't do youtube, i don't watch music videos. i didn't know what i was in for: the most hipster gig i have ever been to. and the worst part: i fucking fit in! i was getting compliments from all the dark-rooted, silver-footed, retro-wearing kids, planting me firmly in the same basket as them in their eyes: a fucking hipster! not only that but we were the oldest in the room by a good ten years, and genuinely we asked a ticket lady where we could sit down in between sets. ahhh we have fun, us ageing hippies. for what it's worth, the gig was really good, and the lighting show was the best i've ever seen. possibly a strange thing to say about a show, but it was really good and worth a shout out.





five a day | my landlady is away for a few weeks, and so i've taken the opportunity to actually put the kitchen to good use again. over the weekend i cooked up some fresh banana and fruit pancakes, a raspberry smoothie, some thai fish cakes with (my fave) asparagus - amongst other things (pizza, but i didn't cook that, so), and feel like i've finally got my cooking mojo back - hurrah! it's perfect timing, as i can't eat another salmon stir fry for as long as i live. i need quick and easy recipe ideas, so hit me with them!




Press Release: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2016 Article IV Consultation with Belgium

Press Release No. 16/93

March 7, 2016

On March 2, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation1 with Belgium.

The recovery is expected to continue at a modest pace in the near term, driven primarily by private consumption, supported by continued low energy prices. However, downside risks loom large, including from the slowdown in emerging markets, financial volatility, and geopolitical stress.

In its first year in office, the new government has taken important steps to promote competitiveness, job creation, and fiscal sustainability. Key reforms enacted include pension reforms, a suspension of wage indexation (saut dindex), and a tax shift reducing the labor tax wedge. The sixth reform of the state has brought a further devolution of responsibilities, greater tax autonomy for the regions, and a gradual rollout of a revised funding and transfer system.

Notwithstanding recent reform progress, major challenges continue to weigh on Belgiums economic prospectsincluding high public debt and severe labor market fragmentation. The fiscal gains made in previous decades have been reversed since the crisis, and the public debt-to-GDP ratio has returned to triple digits. The pace of consolidation since 2010 has been much slower than in other euro area countries, as public spending continued to grow faster than GDP until recently. With the deficit hovering around three percent of GDP, fiscal sustainability is tenuous and sensitive to potential macroeconomic shocks. And while private employment is beginning to recover, there is entrenched high unemployment and inactivity among certain groups, including the young, the low-skilled, and immigrants from outside the European Union.

Executive Board Assessment2

Executive Directors commended the authorities for the recent reforms, including wage moderation, the tax shift away from labor, and the recent pension reform, which should support job creation and significantly reduce the projected increase in the economic cost of aging. Looking ahead, Directors considered that high public debt and structural rigidities pose challenges to the outlook and that risks are tilted to the downside. They noted that in order to build buffers against future shocks, the focus should be to bring down public debt while nurturing the recovery and social cohesion. On the structural side, efforts are needed to address labor market fragmentation and further strengthen the financial sector.

Directors concurred that the governments ambitious goal of reaching structural fiscal balance by 2018 would require substantial additional measures. To minimize the drag on growth, fiscal consolidation should be primarily expenditure-based and underpinned by high quality structural measures. In particular, Directors saw scope for making public spending more efficient, including through well-targeted reductions in public employment, enhanced means-testing in social spending to better protect the most vulnerable, and improved budgetary control across all levels of government. On the revenue side, Directors recommended more efficient taxation of wealth and real estate and phasing out of generous tax exemptions.

Directors agreed that addressing the severe labor market fragmentation through a comprehensive and inclusive jobs strategy is essential to boosting growth prospects. They encouraged further efforts to reduce the labor tax wedge for the low-skilled, improve education and training, and strengthen incentives toward active labor market participation. These employment policies should be complemented by steps to remove barriers to geographic mobility, promote competition, and reduce the administrative burden on companies.

Directors shared the view that Belgiums financial sector is generally healthy, and maintaining its soundness will be important to ensure resilience against shocks. Banks business models should continue to adapt in the context of a protracted low-interest environment. Given the strong growth in mortgage lending, Directors recommended vigilance and proactive supervision, including consideration of targeted prudential measures to limit overexposures of vulnerable borrowers.

Belgium: Selected Economic Indicators (201316) 2013 2014 2015 2016 Est. Proj. Output (change in percent) Real GDP growth 0.0 1.3 1.4 1.4 Domestic demand -0.7 1.7 1.6 0.8 Foreign balance (contribution to GDP growth) 0.7 -0.3 -0.2 0.6 Employment Employment (change in percent) -0.4 0.3 1.0 0.7 Unemployment (percent) 8.4 8.5 8.4 8.2 Prices (change in percent) Inflation 1.2 0.5 0.6 1.6 General government finances (percent of GDP) Revenue 52.7 52.0 51.2 50.8 Expenditure 51.4 51.0 50.3 49.7 Fiscal balance -2.9 -3.1 -2.8 -2.6 Public debt 105.1 106.7 106.2 105.9 Money and credit Credit to the private sector (change in percent) 5.7 5.3 6.5  3-month treasury bill interest rate (percent) 0.0 0.0 -0.2  Balance of payments (percent of GDP) Current account -0.2 -0.2 0.9 1.4 Foreign Direct Investment 0.9 2.6 2.8 3.0 Exchange rate (change in percent) Real effective exchange rate 3.6 0.5 -8.7  Sources: Haver, Belgostat, and IMF staff projections.

Belgium: Selected Economic Indicators (201316) 2013 2014 2015 2016 Est. Proj. Output (change in percent) Real GDP growth 0.0 1.3 1.4 1.4 Domestic demand -0.7 1.7 1.6 0.8 Foreign balance (contribution to GDP growth) 0.7 -0.3 -0.2 0.6 Employment Employment (change in percent) -0.4 0.3 1.0 0.7 Unemployment (percent) 8.4 8.5 8.4 8.2 Prices (change in percent) Inflation 1.2 0.5 0.6 1.6 General government finances (percent of GDP) Revenue 52.7 52.0 51.2 50.8 Expenditure 51.4 51.0 50.3 49.7 Fiscal balance -2.9 -3.1 -2.8 -2.6 Public debt 105.1 106.7 106.2 105.9 Money and credit Credit to the private sector (change in percent) 5.7 5.3 6.5  3-month treasury bill interest rate (percent) 0.0 0.0 -0.2  Balance of payments (percent of GDP) Current account -0.2 -0.2 0.9 1.4 Foreign Direct Investment 0.9 2.6 2.8 3.0 Exchange rate (change in percent) Real effective exchange rate 3.6 0.5 -8.7  Sources: Haver, Belgostat, and IMF staff projections. 1 Under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country's economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board. 2 At the conclusion of the discussion, the Managing Director, as Chairman of the Board, summarizes the views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country's authorities. An explanation of any qualifiers used in summings up can be found here: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/misc/qualifiers.htm.






NHCP Celebrates 145th Medical Corps Birthday

Camp Pendleton, California - Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton staff members celebrated the 145th birthday of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps with a cake-cutting ceremony March 3.

The Medical Corps was established in 1871 by the 41st U.S. Congress to provide medical care to U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps personnel aboard ships and shore stations, as well as on the battlefield.

During the event, members from the Nurse Corps, Medical Service Corps, Hospital Corps and Dental Corps read letters from their leaders thanking the Medical Corps for their contributions to Navy Medicine and wishing them a happy birthday.

In his birthday message, Vice Adm. C. Forrest Faison III, U.S. Navy Surgeon General, said, "to everyone serving in our Medical Corps, I want to thank you for your sacrifice, your steadfast dedication, compassion, and selfless service as you care for those who need us most. Happy 145th birthday!"

No matter where sailors and Marines may serve, the Navy Medical Corps is there to ensure the health and well-being of the fighting force.

Today more than 4,000 active duty and reserve doctors serve with the Navy throughout the world providing exemplary care.

Medical Corps officers are part of more than 63,000 Navy Medicine personnel that provide healthcare support to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, their families and veterans in high operational tempo environments, at expeditionary medical facilities, medical treatment facilities, hospitals, clinics, hospital ships and research units around the world.




Corporate social responsibility: Good for the bottom line, but doesnt wash away a firms sins

Notre Dame, Indiana - 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 firms performance.

Frank Germann, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dames 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, its 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.
A better 3D camera with clear, graphene light detectors

Ann Arbor, Michigan - A camera that can record 3D images and video is under development at the University of Michigan, with $1.2 million in funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation.

While other 3D cameras are currently on the market, the new design should be smaller and able to achieve higher resolutions.

3D cameras are useful for a variety of applications including 3D movie filming and, eventually, virtual reality. While 3D films are currently made using multiple cameras to reconstruct each frame, this new type of camera could record in 3D on its own. Images and video recorded by 3D cameras might one day be projected as hologramsalthough projection is a different challenge entirely.

In photography, 3D images enable users to decide the depth of focus after taking the photograph. Attached to microscopes, a 3D camera can image cells and tissues for more accurate analysis of biopsies and medical cultures, as well as for fundamental research. 3D video recording could give robots depth perception and eventually lead to a bionic eye.

"When the light hits the detector inside a camera, it can come from different directions, and this spatial information can be used to reconstruct 3D images," said Zhaohui Zhong, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

"Normally, that information is lost because the detector only measures intensity," he added, which is why 3D images made with traditional recording methods must be constructed from multiple shots.

One-shot 3D cameras available now rely on a micro-lens array to divert the light after it has been focused by the main lens. This array of smaller lenses essentially tears up the picture to recover the directional information from the rays of light, and then the camera's software reconstructs the image along with the depth information.

The designto be developed by Zhong and colleagues Theodore Norris and Jeffrey Fessler, both professors of electrical engineering and computer sciencedoes away with the micro-lens array. Instead, their camera will record the light as it passes through a series of transparent light detectors.

"The microlens approach involves an inherent trade-off between resolution and the ability to refocus or resolve depth," Norris said. "Our stack approach enables more information to be acquired without losing image resolution."

This method works because objects at different distances from the lens will come into focus at different points inside the camera, the researchers say. Objects will appear brightest where they are most in focus. Using this principle, it is much easier for the computer to reconstruct the images. The faster processing makes it possible to produce high speed and high-resolution video.

The concept is simple, but the challenge is making those transparent light detectors, they say. Typically, the detector needs to absorb as much light as possible to give the most detailed image. However, a material called graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms, can be fashioned into a highly sensitive light detector that allows much of the light to pass through.

"Ordinarily, you want the light detector to absorb as much light as possible for high sensitivity, to produce a clearer picture," Zhong said. "Graphene detectors can offer very high sensitivity, so you don't really sacrifice the clarity by making them transparent."

The team is considering an SLR-sized camera to begin with, but Norris thinks it may be possible to squeeze 3D-camera capability into a smartphone.

Norris is also a professor of applied physics. Fessler is also a professor of applied physics, biomedical engineering and radiology.
Bioengineers design cells that die if they leave the confines of their capsule

Durham, North Carolina - Duke University researchers have engineered microbes that cant run away from home; those that do will quickly die without protective proteins produced by their peers.

Dubbed swarmbots for their ability to survive in a crowd, the system could be used as a safeguard to stop genetically modified organisms from escaping into the surrounding environment. The approach could also be used to reliably program colonies of bacteria to respond to changes in their surrounding environment, such as releasing specific molecules on cue.

The system is described online February 29, 2016, in Molecular Systems Biology.

Safety has always been a concern when modifying bacteria for medical applications because of the danger of uncontrolled proliferation, said Lingchong You, the Paul Ruffin Scarborough Associate Professor of Engineering at Duke University.

Other labs have addressed this issue by making cells rely on unnatural amino acids for survival or by introducing a kill switch that is activated by some chemical, You said. Ours is the first example that uses collective survival as a way of intrinsically realizing this safeguard.

In the experiment, You and his colleagues engineered a non-pathogenic strain of E. coli to produce a chemical called AHL. They also modified the cells so that, in high enough concentrations, AHL causes them to produce an antidote to antibiotics. When the population of E. coli is dense enough, the antidote keeps them alive, even in the presence of antibiotics that would otherwise kill them.

The researchers then confined a sufficiently large number of the bacteria to a capsule and bathed it in antibiotics. As long as the E. coli remained inside their container where their density was high, they all survived. But if individual bacteria escaped, they were quickly killed off by the antibiotic.

While this specific example would not work in general environments without the antibiotic present, You says that the experiments are a proof of concept. The concept can be applied to other circuits that can implement collective survival in one or multiple populations.

In general, this concept does not depend on the use of antibiotics, said You. There are multiple directions we are hoping to follow with this platform. Were using non-pathogenic E. coli, but we hope to demonstrate that the same concept can be established with a probiotic strain of bacteria.

We can imagine programming probiotics that can respond to changes in their environmental conditions, said Shuqiang Huang, a postdoctoral associate in Yous lab. That response could include delivering proteins or chemicals to modulate the microbiome.

Another way to take advantage of the technology would be to insert a contained population of bacteria that could help the body respond to intruders.

We want to program cells to respond to signals produced by pathogenic bacteria, said Anna Lee, a graduate student in Yous lab, who plans to pursue this line of research for her doctoral thesis. We could inhibit their virulence and attack them at the same time.

This is the foundation, said You. Once weve established the platform, then we have the freedom to introduce whatever proteins we choose and allow these cells to engage in many different applications.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (CBET0953202), the National Institutes of Health (R01GM098642R01GM110494), the Army Research Office (W911NF1410490) and a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship.
Surgeons dont often acknowledge how unusual their profession is, according to psychologist Barbara Wren, who led the roll-out of the innovative Schwartz Rounds in UK hospitals. Niamh Mullen reports.

The high-stress nature of surgeons work means they have to be able to disconnect from their emotions, but this strength is also associated with a reluctance to seek help when the pressure becomes too much.

Barbara Wren, Consultant Psychologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, said the most resilient people were able to switch on and off as they needed, but when they faced burn-out, exhaustion, illness or marriage breakdown, they could lose that ability to cope.

It is such an odd thing to do to cut people up. I used to see patients [surgeons] who would tell me about their day and I would say to them: Do you not realise nobody else is going home having seen someone bleed to death? It is quite an unusual thing to do and so to do it you have to be able to detach, Wren told IMT, after a presentation as part of a session on Supporting Surgeons at the RCSIs recent Charter Day Meeting.

Schwartz Rounds

She led the introduction of the Schwartz Rounds at the Royal Free Hospital more than five years ago, which is a monthly, evidence-based forum for all staff to come together to discuss the emotional and social challenges of caring for patients. It involves the presentation of a case and group reflection on the impact of that case on individuals.

The concept originated at the Schwartz Center in Boston, when healthcare attorney Ken Schwartz was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer despite being only 40 years old and a non-smoker. During his 10-month illness he came to realise that what mattered most was the human connection between patients and their caregivers. He founded the Schwartz Centre in 1995, days before his death. Today, more than 375 US institutions have implemented the Rounds.

In 2009, the Royal Free Hospital and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were chosen by the Kings Fund to pilot the programme in the UK. The pilot was successful and the roll-out was taken over by the Point of Care Foundation. More than 120 trusts and hospices in the UK are now contracted to run Schwartz Rounds.

Emotionally challenging

A typical Round sees a panel of four or five staff members discuss a single case they found emotionally challenging, before staff in the audience share their own experiences of similar cases.

Wren said the UK model was much more informed by psychology than the US model and focused more on the psychological processes facilitated and storytelling. Any staff member can present, from cleaners, to porters, trainees to surgeons. It is very democratic. It takes the hierarchy out for an hour. Your experience is as important as mine, mine is as yours, regardless of where we sit in the pecking order, she explained.

One session she recalls focused on a patient I will never forget, where a nurse, medical director, surgeon and porter all talked about a patient who had stayed with them.

She recounted the story of a transplant surgeon who had a candidate waiting for an organ. He got a call to say they had a donor and told the recipient family he would be able to operate that night.

He is a very nice specialist. He is very honest. He said he thought: I am at the peak of my powers, all my training is with me, I am amazing, Wren said.

But the donor was a child and just as the surgeon completed the operation a teddy that the parents had tucked in fell to the floor.

This teddy fell on to the ground and he just realised that this child was dead and it was the teddy they had since they were a baby, she said, adding that the surgeon had to gather himself privately after the procedure.

That is a good example to me of how surgeons have to be able to disconnect because you cant be crying every time it happens, Wren added.

Human factors

RCSI Dean of Professional Development and Practice, Prof Sean Tierney, said Schwartz Rounds were something that could be done in Ireland. He said medical schools were now interested in the humanities and their relevance to clinicians and the Colleges Human Factors Programme also touched on the issue of developing such insights.

Surgeons are not renowned for being insightful, reflective individuals, yet if you think about what they do, in terms of operative procedures, we are very aware of the impact those things have on people. We have all had to deal with patients who have had unsatisfactory outcomes from procedures and the impact that has.

No surgeon is more aware of that than when you have to go and tell people that their lump turns out to be cancer or their cancer has turned into a colostomy or a mastectomy, or their foot injury is going to turn into an amputation, Prof Tierney said.
The Irish Medical Council (IMC) has in recent years seen several cases of doctors referred to a Fitness to Practise (FTP) Inquiry for failure to meet mandatory professional competence (PC) requirements, it has emerged.

Non-compliance with the scheme may see doctors referred to a Fitness to Practise Inquiry, and we have seen several of these in recent years, the Councils Chief Executive Bill Prasifka said, citing a recent case study of a doctor censured and fined 500 for failure to comply.

This, in our view, is something that is easily avoidable and if doctors remain mindful of their duty to continuously improve, complaints and inquiries should not arise. It is a doctors personal responsibility to demonstrate that they are fulfilling their statutory duty, and we in turn must take action if this is being ignored.

The Chief Executive added that the development of the PC system, and particularly arrangements for doctors in the General Division of the medical register, were a priority for Kingram House in 2016. We have been actively engaging with postgraduate training bodies, indemnifiers and employers with a view to looking at how our respective processes can ensure effective monitoring systems are in place, he said.

The current year for PC requirements ends at the end of next month (April 30), and Prasifka took the opportunity to remind all members of the medical profession to make sure their continuing professional development (CPD) activities were logged and recorded in advance of that deadline.

In the case used to illustrate the cost of PC non-compliance, the doctor was the subject of an annual audit by the IMC in November 2012. They had failed to complete their CPD for the preceding year due to extenuating family circumstances and the Council had agreed to re-audit her the following year instead.

However, in November 2013, the doctor failed to respond to emquiries from the Council over the course of a year.

She also failed to respond to the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC) in November 2014.

The FTP Committee, after hearing from the doctor who attended the Inquiry, found her guilty and fined and censured her.

lloyd.mudiwa@imt.ie
Publishing monthly statistics on safety and performance in maternity units could risk patient confidentiality and lead to monthly media scandals, according to the Master of the National Maternity Hospital.

Following the publication of the first set of statements for the three main Dublin maternity hospitals for December 2015, Dr Rhona Mahony told Irish Medical Times that isolated monthly figures were not meaningful.

You could have one month where you have a perinatal mortality of zero as we did in December. You might say, God, Holles Street is great. Then the next month you might have a perinatal mortality rate of six, and think Holles Street is a nightmare.

The statements provide the rates of perinatal mortality, caesarean section and induction as well as information on major obstetric events.

Despite the concerns, the December statements on the whole are quite consistent across the three hospitals. Three babies died in the Rotunda Hospital out of a total of 734 births. One died in the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital from a total of 702 births, while perinatal mortality at Holles Street was zero from 780 births.

There were two major obstetric events  such as eclampsia, uterine rupture, peripartum hysterectomy and pulmonary embolism  in the Rotunda, one in Holles Street and none in the Coombe.

The masters did not want monthly data published because in the event of a maternal death  data for which is not yet included in the statements  or a perinatal death, for example, there could be a risk to patient confidentiality.

Master of the Rotunda Prof Fergal Malone said he was concerned about the potentially inappropriate comparison of data between different hospitals that had different patient populations.

As a national tertiary referral centre, the Rotunda accepts referrals from all over the country of the most complex mothers and babies, whose healthcare needs and outcomes cannot be summarised in a simple table of statistical observations.

He added that some of the proposed measures of outcomes did not reflect patient safety and amounted to reporting of events that had no clinical importance whatsoever. Without appropriate clinical context, such measures may in fact have the opposite effect to provision of transparency and public reassurance, he suggested.

The caesarean section rate was 9.56 per cent lower at Holles Street than the Rotunda. However, Dr Mahony said the month-to-month data was not relevant and that in 2015 it was up at around 25 per cent for the year.

Prof Malone said the Rotunda used the Robson Classification Criteria to categorise all caesarean sections. A monthly report is produced on the breakdown of the classifications for consideration by the hospital and all caesarean sections carried out are appropriate under the criteria, he said.

See more at Monthly safety data will lead to monthly scandal  masters

niamh.mullen@imt.ie
Video of AP 'Rocket Man' Lighting Firecrackers Using Cigarette in Mouth Goes Viral Again
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On its 21st birthday, The Independent Bath Literature Festival was in celebratory mood, demonstrated most clearly in the writers' room where a keg of cider had been stationed, either to steel an anxious author's nerves before taking to the stage, or to celebrate after a successful event.

The festival kicked off with Pat Barker talking about her new novel, Noonday. She revealed that her acclaimed trilogy had been picked up by the BBC  perfect timing to coincide with the centenary of the First World War  only to be dropped again. Surprisingly there were many questions asking her to compare Billy Prior, hero of her Regeneration trilogy, with a A Streetcar Named Desire's Stanley Kowalski. Surprising, that was, until it emerged an A-Level class was in, hoping she could do their homework for them.

Brexit was on the lips early on with a debate pitting In-ers Vince Cable and Professor Christina Slade against Out-ers Sir William Cash and Kate Hoey. A show of hands at the beginning and end revealed that some changed their minds, but only to become more confused. Sebastian Faulks revealed he had not made up his mind, saying that while he voted with the big boys in the 1970s, he said his inner hooligan was pushing him to siding with the leavers.

Gloria Steinem packed out Bath's Forum and was met with rapturous applause from the audience, who had come from all over the country to hear the feminist campaigner speak. Later that day was a racy session about women and the ageing process, in which Arlene Heyman thrilled the audience with her eye-watering descriptions of sex among the older generations.

The Abbey Hotel provided much of the after- show parties and had drawn up a suitably literary cocktail list. From Lime and Punishment, pretty lethal with its dose of absinthe, to Tequila Mockingbird and Prime of Miss Gin Brodie, they kept speakers and viewers well oiled for the duration of the festival.

The festival saw a range of speakers rule themselves out of signing up to reality shows. Strictly Come Dancing will not be seeing the talents of Joan Bakewell or Janet Ellis, while The Great British Bake Off will not tempt Marian Keyes into the kitchen.

AC Grayling talked of an overlooked century, the 17th, and how it shaped the modern mind, and going further back Daisy Dunn brilliantly resurrected Catullus for the audience. She compared him to a Hoxton hipster, pointing out that he played down his wealth, partied hard and made witty flirtation into art. I haven't yet met a modern man who measures up to him, she added.

Iris Murdoch's letters revealed the philosopher and Booker Prize-winning author as a secret rock chick, who not only frequented Rolling Stones gigs but thought the Beatles should be made Poet Laureates.

The actress Carol Drinkwater talked of her experiences working with Larry Olivier, and Tom Sperlinger told of his extraordinary time teaching English literature in the occupied West Bank of Palestine, including teaching Romeo and Juliet.

In among the wealth of literary walks Brian Blessed roared and heaved, and Deborah Moggach cast aspersions on the film sequel to the adaptation of her book The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Jamie Cullum, a favourite of the Bath audience, talked of his literary aspirations via his magazine The Eighty-Eight, and made his true feelings on the film Whiplash known. From a jazz perspective, he was not a fan.

There was a riotous Literary Death Match, in which authors went head to head for the ultimate prize of being the first Bath champion, which in the end went to Paul M M Cooper, after the tie-breaker went down to a question about James Joyce. Victors and vanquished repaired to the bar after to argue over the results.

Tracy Chevalier was the big name author to visit on Friday and revealed that her new book, At the Edge of the Orchard, was a take on Little House on the Prairie gone bad. The same night Ben Miller spoke of his book The Aliens Are Coming!, and he suffered the dubious privilege of being the only author to receive a heckle from a Geordie gentleman who was clearly refreshed and failed to make much sense.

Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Show all 5 1 /5 Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Clarice Lispector Complete Stories (translated by Katrina Dodson) Clarice Lispectors stories have now, finally, been collected in English, so that we can read all the major works that have made her a legend in Brazil. The stories bring out the heat and passion of everyday characters and everyday lives, including teenagers becoming aware of their sexual and artistic powers, middle-class women with the daily concerns of home and love (or lack thereof), animals, and children. Lispector was born in 1920 into a Jewish family in the Ukraine and brought to Brazil as a child, when her family fled the pogroms. The author of varied and dazzling works, it is perhaps for her stories, such as Love and Family Ties, she is most adored. Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Paulo Scott, Nowhere People (translated by Daniel Hahn) Driving home through Sao Paulo one night, Paulo, a well-heeled law student and democracy activist, passes a figure at the side of the road. A n indigenous, Guarani Indian girl stands in the heavy rain. When Paulo elects to give her a lift to her familys roadside camp, their fleeting encounter will have far-reaching repercussions. Scott conjures a society riven with race and class divisions, still seething with anger at the now fading hopes raised during the countys awkward transition to democracy Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Tatiana Salem Levy, The House in Smyrna (translated by Alison Entrekin) A light-footed and subtle novel that doesnt skirt lifes sorrows (love gone wrong, disease, death). The protagonist, who suffers from a mysterious and debilitating illness, is the granddaughter of a Sephardic Jew who left Turkey for Brazil. When her dying grandfather gives her the key to his house in the ancient city of Smyrna, Turkey, she sets out on a quest, retracing her familys history across continents and reviving with every step. Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Michel Laub, Diary of the Fall (translated by Margaret Jull Costa) The narrator of Diary of the Fall is marked by his complicity in a childhood prank at his Jewish private school which left the schools only Catholic boy badly injured. Meanwhile, his father wrestles with his own memory as it is unpicked by A lzheimers, and his grandfather, an Auschwitz survivor, spends his final years jotting down fictionalized memories, so determined is he to forget the reality. Notable for the restrained power of its short paragraphs, this novel tackles guilt, class and racism in a fresh and moving way. Five of the best Brazilian writers, past and present Milton Hatoum, The Brothers (translated by John Gledson) Set in a Lebanese immigrant community in the A mazonian city of Manaus, The Brothers is the story of the identical twins Yaqub and Omar, their mutual jealousies and their familys disintegration. It conjures up the sights, sounds and smells of the Amazon as well as the experience of a Lebanese family in a setting very different to the one in Raduan Nassars Ancient Tillage, but one equally prone to strong passions. Hatoums novel was, in fact, first read by Nassar, who was a mentor to Hatoum years before the novel appeared.

The last day of the festival included women under 30 talking about feminism and Daphne Selfe, the world's oldest supermodel at 87, giving her style tips. The comedy play Austentatious thrilled the Jane Austen-loving Bath audience, as did Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Turner on Call the Midwife, and who once pursued an MA in medical studies.

Sunday marked the end of artistic director Viv Groskop's three-year reign. The much-loved chief was waved off with a raucous party in Igloo, a new venue under the Abbey Hotel, where the drinking and revelling went on until the very early hours followed by teary farewells. A suitable end to a week-long 21st. 
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In a dingy room in a Ugandan slum, the list of the dead makes sombre reading. August was particularly bad, with seven foreigners perishing in a particularly gruesome way.

Isaac Nabwana, a self-taught film-maker, has killed off more than 20 white actors at his makeshift studio in Wakaliga in Kampala over the past six months. Western fans of the directors Tarantino-style productions have come seeking a slice of the action  and ended up taking part.

All of them die, Mr Nabwana says. Its Wakaliga versus the rest of the world.

Tucked away in a courtyard at the end of a dirt track, Wakaliwood is tricky to find. The entrance to the tiny studio is behind a clothes line, and the helicopter, a feature of so many Ramon Production films, lies idle under a tarpaulin.

It is here that Mr Nabwana, 43, has assembled a motley collection of actors, craftsmen and technicians to make films for anywhere between $2 and $200 a production. I dont even call it low-budget, he laughs. We have no budget.

In the decade since Mr Nabwana started, he has taught himself everything. His early experience came through music videos, where he developed an interest in his true passion: movies.

A poster for Tiger Mafia

I wanted to do action, but everyone said you need a lot of money for that, he says. He ignored the advice and plucked out talented students from his brothers kung fu classes to shape them into movie gangsters, high kicks and all.

A welder was brought on board to fashion scrap metal into everything from an attack helicopter to the moveable tripod that holds the camera. A machine gun, complete with rotating barrels, is made from an old motorcycle engine.

The big break came with Who Killed Captain Alex?, a gory action film that attracted a surprise following in the US and elsewhere. Like many of Mr Nabwanas films, it features shooting, gallons of fake blood (condoms filled with food colouring taped to actors chests) and dubious special effects.

For all its imperfections, it started to get noticed. The film was uploaded to YouTube in 2010 and, eight months later, Mr Nabwana got a call from a friend in the Ugandan film industry. He told me: Its selling like hot cakes. It had half a million views.

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Among those who saw it was Alan Hofmanis, a New Yorker who immediately booked a flight to Kampala. Around 40 seconds into it, I decided: Im coming to Uganda, he said in an interview with the BBC last year. I realised what Im looking at makes no sense  but its complete genius.

He wasnt alone. Around 200 foreign fans descended on the slum last year, and some of them found themselves cast in forthcoming films, including one in which all the white guys are eaten alive by cannibals.

Ronald Kazibwe, 28, who played the lead cannibal, recalls it fondly: I enjoyed it because I got to eat people.

Overseas fans have also helped to raise funds, introducing Mr Nabwana to crowd-funding platforms such as Kickstarter to raise the money for his next film. None of the actors or crew is paid. Instead, they sell DVDs door to door, which cost 3,000 Ugandan shillings (62p) each, and pocket around half the proceeds in commission. Cheap pirated copies undercut the market within weeks.

Like any aspiring film-maker, Mr Nabwana has his dreams: perhaps a real studio with proper equipment. Whether his films would retain their character if they went mainstream is difficult to judge. For now, he says, it is enough to make films. Movies are for me like a friendship, he says. I dont do it for the money, I do it to communicate.
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A joke Chris Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars in 2016 has resurfaced after Will Smith hit him during the latest ceremony.

During the ceremony, Rock made a joke about Smiths wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, while he was presenting an award.

Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, cant wait to see you, Rock said, in seeming reference to Pinkett Smiths shaved head. Last year, Pinkett Smith announced she had shaved her head after being diagnosed with alopecia.

Smith, who went on to win Best Actor for King Richard, walked onto the stage and hit Rock, before returning to his seat and shouting: Keep my wifes name out your f***ing mouth.

Immediately after, Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry could be seen speaking to Smith, with the actor sharing going on to reveal what Washington had said to him after the incident during his winners speech.

Rock has a history of making quips at the expense of Pinkett Smith. In 2016, when he presented the ceremony that had been boycott due to its lack of diversity, Rock said: Jada [Pinkett Smith] boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihannas panties. I wasnt invited.

He also said: Its not fair that Will was this good and didnt get nominated. Its also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West!

Discussing the joke the following week, Pinkett Smith told X17: Hey look, it comes with the territory but we gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep it moving.

She continued: Theres a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff in our world right now. We gotta keep it moving.

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Will Smith punched Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars (AFP via Getty Images)

After Smith hit Rock in the arm at the 2022 Oscars, the comedian, appearing unsettled, said: Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me.

Earlier in the ceremony, Regina Hall  who was hosting the ceremony alongside Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes  poked fun at Smith and Pinkett Smiths marriage. The couple could be seen laughing in response.

Elsewhere, Schumer drew gasps from the crowd following a joke she made about Leonardo DiCaprio and his girlfriends.

Find the full list of winners at the 2022 Oscars here.
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The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeares 13th play, was an immediate hit with audiences, and has been globally popular ever since.

It is the archetypal story of forbidden, young passion crushed by customs, punitive rules, adult intransigence and tribal or clannish hostilities.

Through human history, doomed love has been a recurrent theme, in art, literature and myths.

Hero and Leander, Pyramus and Thisbe, Cathy and Heathcliffe and many other hopeless paramours are immortalised in the west. In Arabia the star-crossed lovers were Leila and Mahjnu, and in the Punjab, beautiful, wealthy Heer and farmers son Ranja.

Recommended Read more Five Shakespeare puns ruined by modern English

My mother told me these two stories often when I was a child. Trapped in a loveless marriage, she felt that these characters lived the true, heroic life. She turned me into a hopeless romantic. That must be why I fell in love with Shakespeare as soon as I started studying and performing in his plays at school. For he truly understood the heat, light and darkness of subversive desire .

I am currently making a series for BBC Radio 4 on Shakespeares plays, about couples who breach the walls between races, faiths and separate worlds. Romeo and Juliet rebel against other barriers: family loyalties and inherited rancour. They reach out, touch, kiss and make love  and so must die.

I played Juliet when I was in my teens, in a school play. That production, in 1967, which brought race into the mix, led to indescribable pain and loss and made me the person I am today.

Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Mrs Patrick Campbell at the Lyceum in 1895 (Getty)

I was born and raised in Uganda, then part of the British empire. It was a beautiful and damned place. The vegetation was lush and green, fruits dangled and fell from trees, birds sang, wild creatures roamed free. But racial hierarchies and crude prejudices spoiled that paradise.

The colonial power created a social pyramid: whites at the top, browns in the middle and blacks in the pits, disrespected and exploited by those above them. We went to separate schools and hospitals, did not socialise. I never saw a single Asian-black couple or child.

After independence in 1962, structural apartheid was dismantled, but attitudes proved harder to shift. Black children started showing up at our Asian school, as did British and American freethinkers.

One of them was drama teacher Joyce Mann, who now lives quietly in Shropshire. She saw our divided lives and decided to produce a version of Romeo and Juliet in which the Montagues were black and the Capulets were brown. She used the stage to make a point. And what a point it was. I got the part of Juliet; John Abwole, black and gorgeous, was Romeo.

As we rehearsed, life and art merged. I both played and felt Juliets bold sexuality. At first John and I found it hard to touch and kiss  prohibitions get deep into the psyche. Then we went for it hungrily, breaking taboos.

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

My Asian boyfriend was playing Tybalt. He was revolted by my wantonness, the eagerness and ardency with which I touched black flesh. The fights between him and Romeo soon turned real. A bigger play was playing out within this school production. Audiences sensed the significance of what they were watching.

The school arts department won a British Council prize and I was awarded a scholarship to study at a drama school in London. Elated, I arrived home to find the extended family gathered, looking grim as if someone had died.

They turned to me with burning eyes and I knew I was in deep trouble. Some of the men beat me up  I still have marks. My mother wept and said I had shamed them all by touching a black man. The envelope informing them of my scholarship was torn up. My father said nothing. But then he didnt speak to me till the day he died.

I have never been able to watch this play without sobbing for hours afterwards. I think they are tears for my unforgiving dad and perhaps for what could not be between me and John.
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For my thirteenth birthday an aunt bought me a record of Olivier being Hamlet and Henry V. These performances appealed to contradictory aspects of my nature - the warrior itching to lead his people into battle, the morbid solitary in a billowing white shirt, musing on corruption. To this day I hear the haunting persistence with which Olivier interrogated the gravedigger, How long will a man lie i the earth ere he rot? A question of such dread quietude it seemed to reverberate through time and space, forever fearing the answer. Later, when I saw the film, it was Olivier challenging the skull of the one-time jester Yorick to make a fine lady laugh at the prospect of her dissolution that taught me what comedy was about.

Hamlet is the greatest of all meditations on death, though the word meditation does scant justice to the plays bitter exuberance. So lets put it another way and say that Hamlet himself is the greatest ever comedian of mortality. Olivier addresses Yoricks skull as if hes whispering of love, half expecting a reply; other actors have played the scene ventriloquially, with Yorick as the dummy. Both interpretations work, for Hamlet does speak from both sides of the grave, now as a person so alive he cannot think except jestingly, and cannot jest without seriousness  cannot cast a thought into words without seeming to reinvent language itself  now as one who has imagined lying wordless and worm-eaten in the earth with such vividness that he is able to bring back first-hand report of its desolation.

The play begins with a literal visitant from the grave  thats if we can call a ghost literal  Hamlets father, come to charge his son with a paradoxical duty: to find the will, the life, the purpose to exact a revenge, but in exacting that revenge to be on the side of death. This must be the mouldiest ghost in all literature; you can smell his decomposing cerements in his words. Dont go near, we want to say to Hamlet. The question has already been asked: is the ghost a spirit of health or a goblin damned, and the one thing we do know is that he is not a spirit of health. But does that mean he is lying, that his brother did not murder him and steal his wife, or can he be telling the truth and still appal us? Can the truth be putrescent?

There we have the great issue of the play. Not only who or what to trust, but the onerousness of living dutifully when duty can suck the very pith from life. Its a mistake to think of Hamlet as rendered inactive by thinking too much. Never still, never physically or intellectually confined to a single space, he is the most active character in Shakespeare, a man we get to know in every incarnation, as son, as friend, as scholar, as clown and madman, as lover (albeit a sardonic one), as conversationalist, as actor, and yes, as murderer when the opportunity presents itself. The contradiction Hamlet cannot resolve is irresolvable except at great human cost: if to live vividly is to live chaotically, relishing all thats unexpected and contradictory, then to live in an ordered way, righting wrongs, settling scores, putting the times back into joint, is not to live at all.

In the end, all vibrancy spent, he claims a resolution. Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what ist to leave betimes? Let be. An exquisite resignation to fate that dodges the eternal argument between life and death by giving up on life. A triumph for the stoic philosopher maybe, but a defeat for the comedian.

Shakespeare at a glance: Hamlet

Laurence Olivier as Hamlet (Getty)

Plot

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark: the king has been killed; his brother, Claudius, has taken on his throne and his wife, Gertrude. The kings ghost urges his son, Hamlet, to avenge him. The task tests Hamlets mental stability. His attempts to establish the truth include a play-within-a-play depicting his fathers murder; Claudiuss reaction reveals him as the killer. Botched attempts at revenge result in the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and, eventually, Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet; the troubled princes behaviour also drives Ophelia to suicide.

Themes

Mortality; unintended consequences; the near-impossibility of taking correct decisions.

Background

Written around 1601; first recorded performance: 1602, with the part of Hamlet probably played by Richard Burbage. Most stage idols since have seen the part as the ultimate challenge: Henry Irving, Donald Wolfit, Laurence Olivier (above), John Gielgud, Peter OToole, and Kenneth Branagh are among those who have attempted to make it their own.

Key characters

Hamlet: doubt-tormented prince, forced into choices which his complexity makes impossibly difficult for him.

Claudius: ruthless plotter without whom Hamlets would have no motive for his actions.

Ophelia: innocent collateral damage of Hamlets madness and others scheming.

Top lines

Frailty, thy name is woman! Hamlet condemns his mother, Act 1 Scene 2.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be...

Fatherly tips from Polonius, Act 1 Scene 3.

Though this be madness, yet there is method int. Polonius, of Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2

What a piece of work is a man! The prince reflects on his fellow humans, Act 2 Scene 2

To be, or not to be, that is the question...

Hamlet as he contemplates mortality in the most famous of all soliloquies, Act 3 Scene 1

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Gertrude comments on Hamlets play-within-a-play, Act 3 Scene 2

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio...

The prince reflects on mortality again, this time in a graveyard; Act 5 Scene 1

The rest is silence. Hamlets last words, Act 5 Scene 2.

Echoes

Sigmund Freud wrote extensively about the play, which he saw as embodying key themes of psychoanalysis. Tom Stoppard wrote an entire play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, about two minor characters. Ophelia is the central character in Jim Morrisons Ode to L.A.

Luke Barber
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Before watching this, I was guilty of boiling down the refugee crisis to a series of headlines and images  over-crowded dinghies submerged in the sea; a dead child on the beach; long queues in the snow; tents in the mud; grey-faced world leaders  but I hadn't put it all together.

Identical twins Chris and Xand Van Tulleken did that for viewers very effectively here and the result was an eye-opening hour, mostly as bleak-feeling as the leaden grey skies over the camps and checkpoints they visited  but it was an important insight into the very complex situation the world is facing.

The doctor brothers were in Europe to help out the medical teams and to show us the migrants behind the headlines. So they were on the beaches of Lesbos, in Athens, in the freezing Balkans, in Berlin and in Calais and Dunkirk to explain were people were coming from  Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan  and where they hoped to go.



Brothers in arms: Chris (left) and Xand van Tulleken visit The Jungle in Calais (Tammy Hale)

The ailments they treated were heart-breaking souvenirs from each step of the diverse journeys. There was frostbite from walking for days in freezing temperatures and inadequate footwear, sea urchin spikes in feet from the scrambles to the beach, broken limbs from altercations with police in the camps, and psychological problems from the sheer hell of it all. They were health issues that any one of us would be unlucky to suffer from, but for the migrants we saw that this was becoming the new normal.

Thank you for caring, said one, words that made us realise, if we were in any doubt, just how dehumanising it all was.

Only in Germany was there a glimmer of hope. Chris visited the converted Tempelhof airport, built by the Nazis, now transformed into an efficient shelter. We are lucky, we get to visit this historical place for free, said one good-humoured bloke.As Xand and Chris reconvened in the Kabul Cafe in The Jungle in Calais, it was only the medical problems the normally upbeat brothers had solutions for. I've never felt more lucky in my life said Xand. I think all viewers would have shared that sentiment.
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Despite middle-of-the-road reviews, the intergalactic space shooter Destiny sold over $500 million worth of software in its first day of release, almost purely on peoples intrigue, eagerness and mounting media hype.

Theres a similar expectancy for Tom Clancys The Division. Already, parallels are being drawn between the two franchises - both are online-only shooters, both are original franchises and both went through very long development periods - yet The Division is so much more intriguing.

Unlike Destiny - which had little-to-no plot except shoot everyone else - The Division has both a solo campaign and is grounded in realism, a phrase the developers have used at least a hundred times in this hour-long press conference.

Instead of being all-out warfare, The Division begins mid-crises, just days after a virus sweeps through New York City thanks to a biological outbreak released on Black Friday via bank notes. The city is cordoned off, and the government send in a division of soldiers to keep the peace and find out just what happened that day.

A cliche plot yet the delivery is exquisite; the experience of running through a city filled with vigilantes, not knowing if another online player is going to turn on you or help is both a thrilling and unique experience.

When you consider that many current online games encourage mindless run-in-and-shoot-everything tactics, this blurred line between ally and enemy brings in an interesting dynamic that has barely been explored before.

However, there is still the appeal of a modern-day shooter, it is just not as dumbed down as some of its contemporaries. Its easy to understand how players racked up over 600 million minutes of play time in the closed beta.

With huge excitement for The Division having built over the last three years, it will be interesting to see if Ubisoft can deliver the rounded package Bungie failed to with Destiny. Having racked up a few hours both on my own and with a group, it's looking more and more certain players wont be let down by what could become the biggest release of the year.
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Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email and the use of @ on computers, has died aged 74.

An electrical engineer and computer programmer, Tomlinson devised 'elecltronic mail' on the precursor to the internet, the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network).

Here are just five ways his main creation has revolutionised our lives:

1) A steady decline in the numbers of letters

There has been a 47 per cent reduction in letters sent via the US Postal Service between 1990 and 2014 - from 268 billion letters a year to 141 billion letters.

In 2010, letters sent through the Royal Mail in the UK had fallen to 68 million, the lowest level in 15 years - Telegraph reported.

2) The introduction of @ into our lives

Previously used in accounting to represent "at the rate of", Tomlinson co-opted the @ as the link between the user name and the host domain.

Since this 1971 innovation - the @ has become the short form of at in various forms of electronic communication, such a Twitter and texts.

3) Instant messaging

Email led the way to easier and more accessible forms of non-verbal communication such as MSN Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat.

Films such as "You've Got Mail" show how email and instant messaging were intrinsically linked early on in the email revolution.

Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths Show all 10 1 /10 Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387223.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387224.bin Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387225.bin Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387226.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387227.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387228.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387229.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387230.bin Getty Images Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387231.bin Read this or die! Dispelling some classic email myths 387235.bin Getty Images

Most millenials spent their teenage years using forums including MSN Messenger to chat to friends and (attempt to) develop romantic prospects.

4) Working from home

With the use of a telephone and an email account, millions of people have been able give up the commute to work from the kitchen table.

By 2014, 4.2 million UK workers (13.9 per cent of the workforce) work from home - BBC reports.

This figure includes those who nominally work from home but spend the majority of their time visiting clients elsewhere.

5) No escape from work

The rise of the work phone and the 24-hour nature of email means employees can be reached at all hours by managers and clients.

In 2013, the German Ministry of Labour felt forced to ban managers from emailing and calling subordinates out of hours to prevent them burning out.
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E-cigarettes have rapidly risen in popularity in recent years and are now the subject of heated debate as to whether they are effective in helping smokers quit tobacco or whether they are actually making smoking attractive to young people. Are they a way for Big Tobacco to protect its profits in markets where smoking is declining and lure people back into nicotine addiction or are they just a fashion that will quickly lose its appeal?

Given that vaping has been around for barely a decade and studies into the long-term effects take time, we cannot answer these questions with certainty yet. The benefits of e-cigarettes' continue to be debated  and the potential risks to non-smokers and young people remain under-explored.

This makes it difficult to make recommendations, but politicians across the world are nonetheless having to decide what to do. The latest country to confront this question is Scotland, where the parliament has just voted to ban under-18s from using e-cigarettes. One of a raft of restrictions, this imposes the same age limit as for traditional cigarettes, bringing Scotland broadly into line with England and Wales. Was it the right thing to do?

Different countries have taken different approaches to vaping. Canada has technically made sales illegal, though regulation remains largely unenforced. While regulation across the US is mixed, San Francisco has just raised the minimum buying age from 18 to 21 years.

In some European countries,  among them Bulgaria, Ireland and Poland  sales and advertising are unregulated. In May, however, new EU regulations will impose standardised quality control on liquids and vaporisers across the union as well as requiring disclosure of ingredients in vaping liquids and child-proofing and tamper-proofing for liquid packaging. They will also restrict cross-border advertising. Wales meanwhile looks likely to extend its restrictions by introducing a ban on e-cigarettes in public places.

Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests  but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty

The ayes and the noes

In the run up to the vote on the new Scottish Health Bill, opponents and supporters of e-cigarette regulations fiercely debated which approach was the most sensible. Opponents usually argue that vaping is less harmful than traditional cigarettes and effective in helping smokers to quit. They want minimal restrictions on availability and complete freedom for advertising, promotion and the use of e-cigarettes in public. Restrictions, they argue, might prevent smokers from switching to safer alternatives and reduce the chances of curbing tobacco consumption.

Supporters of regulation say that children and young people need to be protected from using products which imitate smoking and from developing nicotine addiction. They also favour regulation to ensure product safety and quality. They advocate a precautionary approach until there is evidence that e-cigarettes do not undermine our recent successes at controlling tobacco.

As well as banning sales to under-18s, the new Scottish laws require retailers to ask for proof of age when selling to someone that looks under 25 (similar to alcohol). They ban the sale of e-cigarettes from vending machines, make it an offence to buy on behalf of someone under 18, and require retailers to put their names on a product register. Scottish ministers will also have the power to further restrict or prohibit advertising and promotions in future.

Tighter shackles, please

While the evidence about the risks of e-cigarettes is likely to remain unclear for several years, the Scottish parliament can at least say it is doing what the country wants. A large majority of respondents backed regulation in the consultation of 2014, including representatives of health bodies, local authorities, charities, academics and members of the public. As well as supporting a ban on sales to under-18s or adults buying e-cigarettes on their behalf and preventing young people from seeing advertising and promotions, respondents also widely endorsed restricting the use of e-cigarettes in public places.

The Scottish publics desire for these kinds of rules is also reflected in research I co-published that looked at debates about e-cigarettes in the UK media and found that supporters of regulation greatly outnumbered opponents. I have also been involved in a new study, which investigates the views of UK adolescents on regulation. We found they have a very sophisticated understanding of the advantages and disadvantages. While aware of the potential benefits of e-cigarettes to smokers  including those teenage smokers who want to quit  young people overwhelmingly support strong e-cigarette regulation. This includes restrictions on sales to minors, marketing and the use of e-cigarettes in public places.

The reality is that, until the jury returns, it makes sense to trust the public to reach a view from the best information on e-cigarettes that is available. Even if current regulations were to end up looking disproportionate in years to come, no one will be able to accuse the Scottish government of ignoring peoples concerns and taking public health issues lightly. In a situation where no one really knows what to do for the best, regulation which restricts access and promotion to young people looks like the best policy.

Heide Weishaar, Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Almost half of the worlds population have them, but periods remain a taboo subject across the world.

Recent campaigns have sought to cut away the shame surrounding menstruation, from calls to stop taxing tampons as luxury items to a study revealing the 5,000 slang words used to describe the monthly cycle which highlight worldwide embarrassment.

Charities argue that while many believe that periods are trivial or should be kept private among women, keeping the bodily function shrouded in mystery and shame is in fact dangerous.

On International Womens Day, here are six ways that attitudes towards periods affect women around the world.

UK

More than 316,000 people have signed a petition calling for sanitary products, including tampons and pads, to no longer be taxed as luxuries.

They are classed as such because of EU laws to standardise tax.

Periods are no luxury. You can opt-in to extravagance. You cannot choose to menstruate, reads the Change.org petition.

The pressure the campaign has placed on the Government prompted Chancellor George Osborne to debate the issue during the Autumn Statement in 2015.

Laura Cortyon, who started the petition, recently told The Independent that having Mr Osborne say the word tampon in Parliament was progress in itself.

Russia

Some three quarters of women in Russia do not feel they were taught adequately about menstruation as girls, a survey of nearly 90,000 women from 190 countries by the menstrual app Clue found.

A further 86 per cent of women and girls said they would hate to talk to a male classmate about periods.

In 2013, a Russian politician was accused of sexism for suggesting that women should be given two days leave a month when they were on their periods.

Mikhail Degtyaryov, of the populist LDPR party, argued that: During that period, most women experience psychological and physiological discomfort, the Mail Online reported.

A company in Bristol has recently adopted a similar policy. The firm argued that women who experience extreme pain should not feel ashamed to call in sick.

India

Savitaben Patel, CEO of Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and Assistant Project Manager, Nilam Solanki (R) check the quality of low cost sanitary pads made by members at their facility (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/GettyImages)

Myths and taboos surrounding periods mean that women who are menstruating can be restricted from preparing certain foods, temples, touching other people according to The Menstrual Hygiene Day campaign.

Such attitudes mean that 70 per cent of girls do not know what menstruation is when they start their periods, according to a survey by the organisation of 747 girls across the country.

In terms of GDP per capita, India is one of the top 50 poorest nations in the world, according to World Bank data.

Many women are unable to obtain sanitary products, with 88 per cent using fabric, rags or sand to soak up their menstrual blood. This situation is worsened by the fact that 130 million of Indias households do not have toilet facilities, making it difficult for women and girls to find privacy.

Period euphemisms around the World Show all 8 1 /8 Period euphemisms around the World Period euphemisms around the World Germany 'Erdbeerwoche': translates as 'strawberry week' iStock Period euphemisms around the World France 'Les Anglais out debarque' or 'The English have arrived' referring to past wars with England and possibly the British army's red coats Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Brazil 'Eustou Com Chico' or "I'm with Chico' in reference to socialist Chico Mendes and possibly his gruesome assassination in the late 80's Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Finland The Finnish affectionately refer to periods and pms as 'Hullum Lechman Tauti' or 'mad cow disease' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World The United States Though there are many varied terms, a popular americans commonly refer to periods as 'Aunt Flo' iStock Period euphemisms around the World China In China you may hear 'its little sister to come in' iStock Period euphemisms around the World Denmark 'Der Er Kommunister i Lysthuset' or 'There are communists in the funhouse' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World South Africa A famed colloquialism for a period in South Africa is 'Grannys stuck in traffic' iStock

Uganda

Negative attitudes towards periods also affect girls education. Ugandan girls miss 24 days of 220 days at school each year because they cannot afford to buy mainstream sanitary products.

One 15-year-old girl from the western Ugandan town of Kasese, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Menstrual Hygiene Day campaigners that buying sanitary pads is very hard because of the countrys struggling economy.

Not everybody can even get enough money to buy a cotton wool or tissue paper and using a cloth we always fear because it may fall off while with friends.

Instead, banana fibres, old clothes, wood, sand and soil, handkerchiefs, underwear or polythene bags are used.

However, the campaigners say that great progress is being made across the country to empower and educate women about periods, as the use of sanitary products such as menstrual cups are becoming more widespread.

USA

A recent worldwide survey revealed that women in the US report feeling ashamed and embarrassed about their periods. The poll by Clue found that over 30 per cent of American women did not feel comfortable speaking to a male family member about their period.

However, President Barack Obama has criticsed the tampon tax in the UK. He said in January 2016: "I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items. I suspect it's because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed."

Japan

The son of Jiro Ono said women should not make sushi due to their periods (Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)

Yoshikazu Ono, the son of famous Japanese sushi chef Jiro Ono, drew attention to attitudes towards periods by saying that women cannot be sushi chefs because of their periods.

He told The Wall Street Journal: To be a professional means to have a steady taste in your food, but because of the menstrual cycle women have an imbalance in their taste, and thats why women cant be sushi chefs.

A group of women in Japan have tried to combat this attitude, by opening what is believed to be the first sushi restaurant staffed entirely by female chefs.

Yuki Chizui, who manages Nadeshiko Sushi in Tokyos Akihabara district, told The Guardian: Its all about having the confidence, said Chizui. The hours are long and the work can be physically tough, so thats why some people believe women are not up to it. If they want it badly enough, they can overcome the sexism.
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A senior executive of the French energy giant EDF has resigned because the company refused to postpone building of the Hinkley Point power station in Somerset which is supposed to keep the lights on in Britain in the next decade.

Thomas Piquemal, financial director of EDF, pulled the plug last week after the company refused to delay the project for three years until technological and financing problems were sorted out.

It is now expected that EDF, 85 per cent owned by the French state, will take its much delayed decision to push ahead with the 18bn project early next month. At their summit in Amiens last Thursday, the French President Francois Hollande and the Prime Minister, David Cameron restated their commitment to a project, which is supposed to generate seven per cent of the UKs electricity by 2025.

EDF shares fell by 8 per cent at the opening of the Paris bourse on Monday when the company confirmed that Mr Piquemal had resigned last Thursday  the same day as the Franco-British summit. One of his assistants, Xavier Girre, has been appointed as his interim replacement.

An internal report to the EDF board warned last month that it would be impossible for technical reasons to complete the two new generation nuclear reactors at Hinkley within the nine year timetable. The report also suggested that the project could be financially disastrous for the struggling French company, despite a commitment by the UK government to pay double the market rate for Hinkleys electricity.

Although China has agreed to invest Pounds 6.2bn in Hinkley Point, EDF has failed to find other backers leaving it responsible for two thirds of the cost. Problems with the building of similar high pressure water reactors in Finland and Normandy have led EDF unions and senior executives to recommed a three year delay  until a new genberation of technology become available.

The new nuclear power stations in UK Show all 4 1 /4 The new nuclear power stations in UK The new nuclear power stations in UK 260428.bin Getty Images The new nuclear power stations in UK 260429.bin Reuters The new nuclear power stations in UK 260430.bin Getty Images The new nuclear power stations in UK 260432.bin Getty Images

Mr Piquemal is reported to have made a last ditch attempt to win a three years delay last week and resigned when the EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy, insisted on going ahead next month.

Paris and London are reported to have applied intense pressure on EDF to stand by the project, despite doubts about the compay's own finances.

The British government would face huge embarrassment if Hinkley Point, intended as the first of three new mega power stations, was abandoned or postponed. In October last year, China agreed, amid much fanfare in London and Beijing, to invest Euros 8bn (Pounds 6.2bn) in the project.

In September, the Chancellor George Osborne said Hinkley Point was a central part of the governments strategy to make sure the lights stay on.

The current generation of nuclear power stations are coming to the end of their life. Thats going to create a very big hole in our base electricity supply unless we do something about it, he told a House of Lords committee.


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Facebook is handing out share bonuses of 280m to its staff by 2018 to offset the amount of tax it has to pay on profits.

The bumper bonuses amount to an average of 775,000 for each employee in the next two years.

The revelations in the Sunday Times come after an overhaul of Facebook's tax structure for "greater transparency" was found to add little or nothing to Facebook's tax bill.

Facebook said it would change its policy so that revenues from its largest UK advertisers, which include Tesco, Sainsbury's and the advertising giant WPP, would not go through Ireland, so that the company paid taxes on those profits in the UK.

But George Osborne may not see a penny from Facebook for several years because of arrangements including 21.4 million in tax relief and plans to pay staff bonuses that will cut the amount of profit that is liable for tax.

One estimate said that Facebook could pay as little as 4 million a year in tax to HM Revenue & Customs.

Facebook paid 4,327 in corporation tax in 2014, despite its huge operations in the the UK. That amounted to less than the amount of tax paid by the average UK worker.

Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Show all 10 1 /10 Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Bill Gates - $75 bn The creator of Microsoft is worth $78 billion. He has topped the list for 17 out of the past 22 years - though his net worth shrank by $4.2bn (3bn) to $75bn (53.7bn). Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Amancio Ortega - $67 bn The Spanish business who set up the Zara chain of high-street shops is worth $67 billion. REUTERS/ AP Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Warren Buffet - $60.8 bn Warren buffet is the world's most successful investor. Forbes rates him as being worth $60.8 billion. Getty Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Carlos Slim Helu - $50 bn Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom magnate, is this years biggest loser with a fortune of $50 billion, down from $77.1 billion last year. Getty Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Jeff Bezos - $45.2 bn Amazons Jeff Bezos moved up to the fifth from the fifteenth spot last year; his net worth increased to $45.2 billion. Getty Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Mark Zuckerberg - $44.6 bn The biggest gainer on the 2016 list is Mark Zuckerberg , whose fortune is up $11.2 billion for a total net worth of $44.6 billion. He is the sixth richest in the world. Getty Images Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Larry Ellison - $43.6 bn The American entrepreneur has a fortune of $43.6 billion Bloomberg Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Michael Bloomberg - $40 bn Michael Bloomberg, whose media and financial empire has created a personal fortune of $40 bn, is said to be willing to spend up to $1bn on a presidential campaign AP Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Charles Koch and David Koch - $39.6 bn Charles Koch, along with brother David Koch of Koch Industries are joint sixth and are valued at $39.6 billion. Forbes top 10 richest billionaires in the world Liliane Bettencourt - $36.1 bn Liliane Bettencourt is the heir to the LOreal empire Getty Images

It has signed up to new agreements to pay UK corporation tax at 20 per cent on revenue generated by sales from those big advertisers, which is higher than the 12.5 per cent it would be taxed in Ireland. Facebook said in a statement that it felt this arrangement would priovide greater transparency.

"The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales," Facebook said.

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.
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Norway has taken money from its sovereign wealth fund for the first time since it was set up in 1996.

Local newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv said that 6.7 billion kroner, or $780 million, was withdrawn pay for public spending.

Norway usually pumps 200 billion kroner into the account every year. The reversal of fortunes is a signal that the low oil price is taking its toll on the country's finances.

The fact that oil revenues would become too small to cover the government budget deficit was assumed from the beginning, Paal Bjornestad, a state secretary in the countrys Ministry of Finance, told the Wall Street Journal. Due to low oil prices, this came earlier than expected, but there will still be an inflow to the fund.

The sovereign wealth fund is also called a rainy day fund because it contains reserves of money that can be used when regular income is disruped or decreased.

The biggest oil and and gas and non-oil and gas sovereign wealth funds in the world

Source: SWFI (SWFI)

Norway's sovereign wealth fund contained 7 trillion kroner at its peak thanks to skyrocketing oil prices, which hit over $100 a barrel in 2008. That's the equivalent to $150,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

Bjornestad said that it should continue to grow as long as returns outpace government spending, which has a limit of 4 per cent of its value - equal to its long term average returns.

Norway is not the only oil-reliant nation to turn to its sovereign wealth fund to plug the gap in oil revenue. Will the oil price tumbling from more than $100 in mid-2014 to scrape $30 a barrel in more recent weeks, oil exporters are looking for ways to stop swelling budget deficits. Pinching from the rainy day fund has become one popular option.

Russia has reportedly spent 44 per cent of its reserve fund, while Kazakhstan plans to take almost half of its National Fund to try and keep down the government's deficit in the next three years.

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.

Meanwhile Libya needs the oil price to be somewhere around $207 a barrel to balance its budget. Libya has lost one third of foreign currency reserves worth $120 billion after the fall of Moammar Gaddafi in 2012.

"Sovereign wealth funds were put in place for a rainy day," Omar Khattaly, head of the Libyan Investment Authority's $5 billion real estate and hotel portfolio, told Institutional Investor.

"And for many of these governments, the rainy day has come."
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The wife of Eagles founder Randy Meisner has died after accidentally shooting herself in the head at the couples home in Los Angeles on Sunday night, police said.

Lana Rae Meisner, 63, appeared to have been reaching into a cupboard that contained a rifle when another object moved and struck the trigger, leaving her dead from a single gunshot wound.

There was an accidental discharge of the firearm, LAPD spokesman Gus Barrientos told the New York Post . It was completely accidental, there is nothing indicative of a murder, homicide or a suicide... Its a weird accident, thats all I can say.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

Earlier on Sunday, police had responded to a call from Mrs Meisner reporting a domestic disturbance, but officials said Mr Meisner, 69, had been cooperative throughout and was in a different room of the house when the rifle discharged.

Mr Meisner was not injured in the accident, but was reportedly transported to hospital earlier today. A founder member of the Eagles, he played bass for the band until he left in 1977. He and Lana Rae were wed in November 1996; her death comes just months before their 20th anniversary.

In January, another former Eagle, guitarist and songwriter Glenn Frey, died due to complications from pneumonia, arthritis and colitis.
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Two former NHS nurses have been captured on camera offering to inject Botox illegally as part of a BBC investigation revealing the alarming scale of the uncontrolled cosmetic business operating beyond the law.

Both men were struck off the nursing register for other misdemeanours but they have continued to hold Botox parties across the West Midlands, according to BBC Ones Inside Out.

The revelations highlight the need for better regulation of the non-surgical cosmetic industry which experts have warned is a crisis waiting to happen because of the lack of consumer protection and licensing, and the rise in unscrupulous practitioners.

One of the former nurses, Jonathan Henk, who calls himself Jonny Botox, offered to inject a reporter posing as a customer in her own kitchen, telling her that he has been a nurse for 26 years when in fact he was struck off in 2012 for having sex with a vulnerable patient when he was a psychiatric nurse, the BBC alleged.

Mr Henk has never held the nursing qualifications needed to prescribe any drugs, including Botox, which is a prescription-only medicine used to relax the facial muscles involved in skin wrinkling, the corporation said.

One of Mr Henks customers, a 52-year-old woman from Tamworth called Diane, complained about the treatment she received from him.

I had headaches on the night and for a couple of days after. It felt like someone had put an axe in my head.Im devastated, I trusted him to do treatment on my face, she said.

Reporters for the programme spoke to ten former patients who said they were unhappy with the treatment they received from Mr Henk. They complained of being left in pain, and some had swollen foreheads after the injections.

When the BBC interviewed Mr Henk, he admitted that he should not have prescribed Botox  which is a criminal offence if the prescriber is struck off or unqualified  and said that some customers had complained that it had not worked.

I only know one person who was really unhappy.If they are unhappy with the service and they want a refund, thats fine, Mr Henk told the BBC.

The second nurse, James Kearsey, is suspended from the nursing register for hiding a conviction of assault from his hospital bosses, the programme alleges. He was also caught on camera offering the BBC reporter Botox injections at his home clinic in Stourbridge.

Although some nurses can prescribe Botox legally if they have the necessary prescribing diploma, they are not legally allowed to do so if they lack the qualification or if they have been struck off the nursing register.

The BBC alleges that Mr Kersey illegally prescribed Botox, which he stores at his home. He has repeatedly refused to respond to requests for a statement or interview from the programme makers, the BBC said.

The BBC repeatedly approached James Kearsey in writing and then in person but hes refused to comment on the allegations, said a BBC spokeswoman.

Rajiv Grover, former president of the British Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said Botox can only be given to someone on prescription, although it can actually be administered by anyone without medical qualifications.

If they are struck off, they are breaking the law if the prescribe it. If they are not a suitably qualified medical professional, its a criminal office, Dr Grover said.

In addition to Botox injections, which are supposed to eliminate unwanted wrinkles, the other uncontrolled area of cosmetic treatment is the injection of dermal fillers, which are supposed to fill out the fatty areas of the skin lost through ageing.

As things stand at the moment, my dog has better protection in law than patients undergoing dermal-filling treatment, Dr Grover said.

Jackie Smith, the chief executive of the Nursing Midwifery Council, said: "As Mr Kearsey is currently temporarily suspended from the register, he should not be undertaking any activity that would be done by a registered nurse, including prescribing medicines.

"In relation to Mr Henk who has been struck off the register, he should not be claiming to be a registered nurse or undertaking any activity that would require him to be on the professional register, including prescribing medicines. To do so is a criminal offence. We have asked the BBC to provide us with further information so that we can consider whether we need to report this serious allegation to the police.

A Government review on the cosmetic industry published in 2013 pointed out that non-surgical treatment  namely Botox injections and dermal fillers  is largely beyond any regulations or control.

In fact, a person having a non-surgical cosmetic intervention has no more protection and redress than someone buying a ballpoint pen or a toothbrush, said Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS Medical Director, in his foreword to the 2013 report.

It is estimated that the business of cosmetic surgery and other non-surgical interventions is worth about 3.6bn a year, much of which is almost entirely unregulated, Sir Bruce said.

Inside Out, BBC One, 7.30pm
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International Womens Day has marked the plight and achievements of women for more than a century, with the first informal observance held in 1909.

Since then it has developed into a formally recognised day by the UN and is celebrated around the world.

There are various reasons it has become the celebration it is today, and it continues to grow every year.

When was it first set up?

Socialists first put forward the idea of advancing womens suffrage through a day to mark womens enormous contribution to humankind.

An annual international womens day was first organised by the German socialist and theorist Clara Zetkin along with 100 delegates from 17 countries in March 1911.

Turkish women shout slogans during a rally to mark International Womens Day in Ankara, on March 8, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images)

The event was marked by more than one million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, with hundreds of demonstrations across the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Why was it set up?

When it first began, women were demanding that they be given the right to vote  which they received in Britain in 1918 but just last year in Saudi Arabia  to hold public office and to be given equal employment rights as men.

Today, when only a fifth of parliamentary seats are held by women and only 19 heads of state out of a possible 196 are women  only seven more women than 20 years ago  there is much progress still to be made.

The number of female cabinet ministers has at least tripled between 1994 and 2014  but remains low compared to men, at only 17 per cent.

The proportion of women who hold political representation roles compared to men

Women are also predicted to face another 118-year wait for the gender pay gap to close, with only 55 of the 500 richest people in the world being women.

The new agenda, which is meant to build on the unfulfilled Milennium Development Goals, has a stand-alone goal just for the empowerment of women and girls as a core means of tackling economic underperformance, global overpopulation and poverty worldwide.

It also celebrates the achievements of women throughout history.

Women make up just 55 of the 500 richest people in the world

In some countries, the day is a national holiday and sisters, grandmothers, mothers, women and partners are given presents to mark it.

Is it still needed?

Aside from the older motivations surrounding political office and the pay gap, there is also increasing awareness of the disproportionate amount of abuse women suffer at the hands of others.

An estimated 120 million girls and women under the age of 20 have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts  around 10 per cent.

The proportion of women or girls under 20 who are known to have been forced into sexual activity  with the majority going unreported

A huge majority of cases, which often involved partners and relatives, also go unreported  and convictions for rape remain very low in Britain alone.

More than a third of women worldwide have also experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, with this being most common between a womans teenage years and menopause.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of a billion more women are in the global workforce today than a decade ago, but they are only earning what men did in 2006, according to the World Economic Forum.

And one in 10 married women are not consulted by their husbands on how their own cash earnings will be spent.

What does the United Nations say about International Womens Day?

Ban Ki-moon, the former UN Secretary-General, said he had been on a personal campaign to promote women and ensure their democratic representation in parliaments across the world.

We have shattered so many glass ceilings we created a carpet of shards, he said.

Now we are sweeping away the assumptions and bias of the past so women can advance across new frontiers.

This article was originally published in March 2016 and has since been updated
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A group calling itself the New IRA has claimed responsibility for a Semtex bomb attack that injured a prison officer in Belfast, according to reports.

The 52-year-old, a married father of three, required surgery after an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving on Friday morning.

Four people including a woman have since been arrested.

In a statement to the BBC the dissident republican group reportedly said the officer was targeted because he was involved in training other guards at HMP Maghaberry, near Lisburn.

A spokesman said the officer was one of a number on a list of potential targets and the attack arose from a dispute over the treatment of dissident Republican inmates.

The group claimed to have used the plastic explosive Semtex and a commercial detonator in the attack.

Following the blast, police commanders expressed fears that it could be the first of a number of dissident republican attacks to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.

In separate incidents on Saturday, officers found two viable explosive devices in residential streets in west Belfast.

The blast happened in the Hillsborough Drive area off Woodstock Road, a predominantly loyalist area in the east of the city, just after 7am on Friday.

The victim, a long-serving officer based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast who works as a trainer for new recruits to the NI Prison Service, had just left home to drive to work. His condition has been described as stable.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said on Sunday: "Detectives investigating the attempted murder of a prison officer in Belfast on Friday 4 March have arrested four people: three men aged 34, 41 and 45 and a female aged 34.

"They were detained in the Belfast area this evening. They are currently being questioned at a police station in Belfast."

PA
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Women can expect to make 300,000 less than men over the course of their careers, according to new research.

The news came as The Times reported that women in the department run by Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan are paid almost 2 an hour less than men.

Figures drawn up by recruitment company Robert Half -- ahead of International Womens Day on Tuesday -- showed men were paid an average of 5,732 a year more than women, the Guardian reported.

Recommended Read more Patricia Arquette lost jobs because of stance on gender inequality

Over a career of 52 years, the average man would make about 298,000 more than the average women.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of womens organisation the Fawcett Society, said: The gender pay gap becomes a significant lifetime pay penalty.

The gap widens for older women and becomes a significant pensions gap in retirement. The impact of having children means that as mens careers take off womens often stagnate or decline.

Their salaries never fully recover. We have to make it easier for men to share care, create flexibility first at work and open up more senior roles as quality part-time jobs.

Katy Tanner, director at Robert Half UK, said employers who wanted to attract the best staff should address the situation.

As in-demand candidates continue to be in the drivers seat, employers are needing to offer competitive remuneration and benefits packages above industry averages, she said.

International Womens Day provides a platform to highlight the importance for rewarding all employees fairly on the basis of their contribution to the organisation, than their gender or indeed any other point of difference.

Meanwhile The Times reported that women in Ms Morgans department earned an average of 20.54 an hour, compared to 22.30 for men.

She has recently announced plans to name and shame firms that do not pay women the same as men.

Lucy Powell, Labours shadow education secretary, said: This is deeply embarrassing for the education secretary who is also the governments lead equalities minister.

If Nicky Morgan is unable to tackle the gender pay gap in her own department for women and equalities, what can she do?

However a Department for Education spokesman said the current Government had gone further than ever before in tackling the gender pay gap.

Only last month we unveiled a raft of measures requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap and we are extending that duty across the public sector, he said.

We have a world class civil service that is increasingly equal and more diverse than the majority of British employers.

He said the departments gender pay gap had fallen in recent years and there had been an increase in the number of women employed in senior roles.
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Disaffected Labour MPs  along with Tories left isolated by their partys split over Europe  will be able to apply for financial backing from a new 6.5 million fund if they stand as independents at the next general election.

With Blairite MPs increasingly worried about their future prospects under Jeremy Corbyn, and Conservatives in the Commons forecasting bitter divisions to follow Junes EU referendum, a new pressure group, the Charter for a Free Parliament (CFP), plans to hold primary elections for independent candidates in every UK constituency.

The primaries will be open to anyone, including sitting MPs who have been deselected by, or chosen to leave, their current parties. The winners will have their campaign costs underwritten.

Recommended Read more Tories banked more donation money than all other political parties

A reclusive Scottish multi-millionaire industrialist, regarded as being on the right of UK politics, is the main money man behind the ambitious scheme to give 10,000 to 600 independents to fund an effective challenge to mainstream candidates in every constituency.

He is understood to want to keep a low profile until the CFP is formally launched next month, although other business figures have also agreed to help fully fund the project.

Lord Digby Jones, a former trade and investment minister in Gordon Browns government, has given the CFP his backing, claiming it will raise the level of public debate and highlight something rotten at the centre of our democratic system.

Lord Jones, a former director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), claimed the project will encourage voters to select their MP by ability, rather than just political affiliation.

There are hundreds of constituencies across the UK where you could put up a sheep in red or blue and it would get in. This is a first step to ending such a state of affairs,  he said.

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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The co-founder and campaign director, Martyn Greene, told The Independent Most MPs enter parliament with the intention of implementing positive reforms. The more talented and well-intentioned they are, the more frustrated they end up. Their primary duty is to their constituents, but few dare defy party whips.

There are currently no independent MPs in the House of Commons, but it is hoped that the growing public dissatisfaction with Westminster politics, and the bitter divisons within the two biggest parties, could encourage high-profile figures to stand as independents in 2020.

The full-scale abandonment of Blairite principles in a Labour manifesto driven by Mr Corbyns supporters, could see centre-leaning Labour MPs either abandon ship, or be pushed out in brutal de-selection battles.

Equally, the emotionally-charged and now open-wound debate in Conservative ranks over Europe, will inevitably lead to some Tory MPs unable to remain loyal to whoever leads the party into the next general election.

Previous attempts to unify the political power of independent voices have failed  including the Independent Network founded by the former BBC award-winning reporter, Martin Bell. Known as the man in the white suit, he represented Tatton as an independent between 1997 and 2001.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats withdrew their candidates in the 1997 poll in a plan directed by the former Number 10 spin-doctor, Alastair Campbell.

Mr Bell stood as an independent again in 2001, but did not win.

Under the CFP plan, each UK constituency will select a maximum of six would-be independent candidates who will take party in a US-style primary contest.

The online voting platforms, Vote-England and Vote-Scotland, will help facilitate the contests.

All applicants, regardless of previous party affiliations, will have to sign up the code of conduct for elected representatives that were drawn up by Mr Bells Independent Network in 2009.

These include the Nolan Principles of selflessness, integrity, openness and accountability, as well as a promise to be guided by considered evidence, freedom from the control of any political party, making transparent decisions, resisting abuses of power and patronage, and allowing the public open access to expenses and other costs.

Those who take part in the primary contests must agree not to stand against the eventual winner. All candidates will be asked to help crowd-fund the winner who will fight the seat.

Mr Greene, who said the electorate were often reduced to listening to snake oil salesman, promised : Our campaign is about making sure that the views and aspirations of the electorate are woven into the fabric of parliament rather than being used for point scoring or electoral bribery.

Lord Jones, who will be the central political figure at the CFP launch in mid-April, said : Advisers come straight to Westminster from university; they are often selected for a constituency they know little about; they do what the whips tell them, and one day they become a cabinet minister. Theyve done nothing other than operate in the goldfish bowl of Westminster.

Famous independents

Martin Bell

(Getty)

After an award-winning career as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, covering wars from Vietnam to the Middle East and Northern Ireland, Bell was seriously wounded by shrapnel while reporting from Bosnia. In 1997 he left the corporation, and stood against resident Tory MP, Neil Hamilton, as the anti-sleaze candidate in Tatton, Cheshire. And won. The Channel Four drama, Mr White Goes to Westminster, was based on his political career.

Dr Richard Taylor

As a hospital doctor, Richard Taylor worked as a registrar in London, and later as a consultant at Kidderminster General. His close association with the hospital included being chairman of its league of friends, and serving on the committee set up to save key departments. In 2001 he stood for parliament on the sole ticket of restoring the threatened accident & emergency unit. He defeated the junior Labour minister, David Lock, and was re-elected again in 2005. He stood again in 2015, but came fourth. The closed A&E department was never re-opened.

Dick Taverne

(Getty)

In the 1970s, Taverne was a Labour MP and served as a Treasury minister. But he became unhappy at the way his party was progressing in opposition to Ted Heaths Conservative administration. He resigned his seat, forced a by-election, and stood as an independent candidate. And won. The victory was brief. He lost at the 1974 general election. His success however showed there was an electoral appetite beyond the two main parties  and idea that helped shape the birth of the SDP in 1981. Taverne joined the Liberal Democrats after the Liberals merged with the new party. He was made a peer in 1996, sitting in the Lords as a Liberal Democrat.
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Theresa May refused to attend a debate in Parliament designed to scrutinise one of her most controversial changes to immigration rules, The Independent can reveal.

The Home Secretary has been urged to rethink a 35,000 pay threshold for skilled migrant workers that could see tens of thousands of teachers, charity workers, NHS staff and tech entrepreneurs deported from Britain if they fail to make enough money.

The debate was held in Westminster Hall on Monday after more than 100,000 people signed an online petition expressing anger at the measure, which Labour has called ill-considered, destructive and discriminatory.

Recommended Read more Meet the skilled workers Theresa May wants kicked out of Britain

Despite being named personally in the petition, Ms May did not attend the debate and instead sent junior minister Richard Harrington, with James Brokenshire busy with another engagement.

A source admitted it might seem strange Ms May was sending Mr Harrington in her stead  given his unrelated portfolio as the minister for Syrian refugees.

But when asked why the Home Secretary was unable to attend in person, a Home Office spokesman said: We dont comment on what she is or isnt doing at any given time.

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Mondays debate represented the first time MPs were given the chance to scrutinise the 35,000 threshold for non-EU workers, which was pushed through without a Commons vote as part of a raft of changes to immigration rules in 2012.

If uncontested, it will come into effect next month  and campaigners say it could cost the Treasury more than 500 million in lost economic contributions.

Labours immigration spokesman Keir Starmer, who attended the debate, has previously said his party has real concerns over how key industries would be affected by the threshold.

Under the news rules, overseas workers who have lived in the UK for five years will have to prove they will be paid the new minimum threshold in order to stay in the country.

Those who fail to demonstrate earnings of more than 35,000 will be denied settlement in the UK and will face deportation.

The Stop35k campaign, whose members set up the original petition on the Government website, says it understands the desire to reduce migration  but argues that a 35,000 minimum salary across all industries is far too high.

Shannon Harmon, a spokeswoman for the group, said it was troubling that Ms May was refusing to engage with the debate.

She told The Independent: 'It is unfortunate that Theresa May will not attend in person after so many thousands of people have spoken out against one of the Government's most uneconomic policies.

Richard Harrington is a fantastic public servant as minister for the Syrian immigration crisis, but his choice as the Minister to respond to this debate illustrates a distinct lack of understanding by the Government of the issue.

She said: This policy will cost the UK hundreds of millions of pounds the Government keeps telling us they can't afford. It will displace valuable workers, and the fact that Theresa May is not willing to engage is extremely concerning.

For more information on the people who face deportation if the 35,000 threshold is introduced, click here. The debate is being streamed on the Parliament website here.
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MPs have lambasted Theresa Mays proposed 35,000 pay threshold for skilled migrant workers as a ludicrous and simplistic measure during a Parliamentary debate scrutinising the divisive change to immigration rules.

The debate was held at Westminster Hall on Monday after more than 100,000 people signed an online petition against the measure, which could lead to thousands of teachers, charity workers and NHS staff being deported from the UK if they fail to meet certain financial requirements.

Many of those in attendance raised concerns over the security of the nursing profession's place on a list of occupations exempt from the thresholds.

Tier II skilled workers in Shortage Occupations will be exempt from the threshold, and nurses have been provisionally placed on the Shortage Occupation list, pending review by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

However, SNP MP Stuart McDonald raised concerns about how long nursing would remain on the list in light of a recent increase in the number of non-EU people entering the profession.

If removed from the Shortage Occupation list this labour would be lost, Mr McDonald told the debate, adding this worrying stop gap answer for the NHS is not sufficient.

Labours Keir Starmer also addressed the concerns saying the threshold could lead to very serious skill shortages for our economy.

The SNPs Kirsten Oswald, who called the measure "simplistic" and "crude", queried how long nursing would remain on the exemption list, also commenting there had been nothing said to the teaching profession regarding exemptions.

Mondays debate was the first time MPs were able to analyse the 35,000 threshold for non-EU workers, which was pushed through without a Commons vote in 2012.

It is due to come into effect next month and will mean overseas workers who have lived in the UK for five years must prove they will be paid the new minimum threshold of 35,000 in order to stay in the country.

Other concerns raised in the debate included fears the threshold did not take into account varying wage levels across the UK, with Ms Oswald pointing out those working in London were often paid higher salaries than those in other parts of the country.

Tommy Sheppard, SNP MP for Edinburgh East, said the "ludicrous" measure did not take into account regional variations in the UK and would further imbalance the UK economy.

Ms May was criticised for failing to attend the debate, instead sending junior minister Richard Harrington in her absence.

Many condemned the lack of MPs present at Westminster Hall, which was attended by seven SNP MPS, three Tory MPS and two Labour MPS.

The Stop35k campaign, whose members set up the original petition on the Government website, said in a statement following the debate: We urge the Government to reconsider the implementation next month, and give the MAC an opportunity to complete a thorough assessment of suitable pay thresholds across jobs and geography in the UK.

We will continue to campaign to have the policy re-evaluated and ultimately changed so it delivers a fairer deal to Tier 2 migrants and the UK as a whole."
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A US drone strike has killed 150 suspected al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia, the Pentagon announced on Monday.

The strikes were conducted by manned and unmanned aircrafts on Saturday against the Raso Camp, 120 miles north of Mogadishu, where the al-Qaeda affiliated terror group supposedly built a training facility.

"The fighters who were scheduled to depart the camp posed an imminent threat to US and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces in Somalia," Pentagon officials said in a statement.

US defense officials had been monitoring the camp for several weeks and said that more than 200 fighters were planning attacks against US and African Union forces.

"We continue to assess the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate," the statement read.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the mission is exactly the kind of counterterrorism strategy the president has laid out."

However, Earnest added that the Obama administration is unaware if the airstrikes had injured or killed any civilians in the area, USA Today reports.

Avoiding civilian casualties is a very, very high priority, both for moral reasons, but also because terrorist organizations like al-Shabab will just use that for recruiting purposes."
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It was a photograph that for many summed up that there is nothing more natural than a woman breastfeeding her baby.

Indeed, after Margaret Bradford was photographed feeding her daughter during the middle of a Bernie Sanders rally, the Vermont senators campaign tweeted the image, saying nobody should be stigmatised for feeding their child in public.

The photo inspired the hashtag #BoobsForBernie and new mothers across the US have shared images of themselves and their children.

Hi Ellen DeGeneres!This past week my daughter and I got to attend a U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' rally. While there,... Posted by Margaret Ellen Bradford on Wednesday, 2 March 2016

But not everyone felt that way. In message posted on Facebook, Ms Bradford said that while she had received lots of supportive messages since the picture was taken at Barberton, Ohio, there had been hate mail as well.

While there, she got hungry like babies do, she wrote, adding that she was not aware she was being photographed at the rally.

Honestly Ive cried three times already from some of the hateful messages Ive received, telling me my daughter should be taken or that Im just an uneducated lowlife hick.

Public breastfeeding has been a divisive issue in recent years. In 2014, a mother in Beverly Hills claimed that she was escorted to a bathroom while shopping at a department store while breastfeeding. And in Beaverton, Oregon, a group of mothers staged a nurse-in at a restaurant to protest a breastfeeding mom who was asked to cover up.

CNN said that breastfeeding rates in the U.S. are rising, according to the 2014 Breastfeeding Report Card from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 79 per cent of babies born in 2011 were breastfed. Southern states had lower rates of breastfeeding than the national average, coming in at 65 per cent. States such as California, Oregon, Washington had breastfeeding rates above 90 per cent.
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A woman who was kidnapped, raped and abused at the age of 13 has opened up to a British audience about her ordeal.

Alicia Kozakiewicz was held for four days by her kidnapper, former computer programmer Scott Tyree, at his home in Virginia.

She now works to promote child safety online and is also campaigning to have an eponymous law passed in all 50 US states, which aims to secure funding for child protection services.

Ms Kozakiewicz explained she was a frequent internet user in 2001, mostly using it to play games and chat with friends.

There was one guy, a boy who I thought was around my own age, that I didn't know, and he was into all the things that I was into, Ms Kozakiewicz wrote in the BBC magazine.

While aware of stranger danger, in the early days of mainstream internet access it was not a concept associated with the World Wide Web, she says.

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He listened to what I had to say day and night, giving me advice," she said.

"He was somebody to complain to and to get comforted by over the eight or nine months before my abduction.

On New Years Day 2002, he convinced her to leave her family home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and meet him on the streets close to her home.

Online grooming is very effective, said Ms Kozakiewicz.

Tyree, then aged 38, proceeded to kidnap her and drove five hours to his house in Herndon, Virginia.

Ms Kozakiewicz described what happened after he took her into the basement, saying: He then removed my clothing and looked at me and said, This is going to be really hard for you. It's OK, cry.

After that he put a locking dog collar around my neck and dragged me upstairs to his bedroom and raped me.

He chained me to the floor with this dog collar next to the bed. I was raped and beaten and tortured in that house for four days.

She tried to fight with her captor when she could, but was further beaten.

Ms Kozakiewicz believed the fourth day of her capture would be her last.

He said I'm beginning to like you too much'," she said.

"'Tonight we're going to go for a ride. I knew he was going to kill me.

Despite her resolve, she said she began to lose all hope.

I thought, He's going to kill me, but I'm not going to go down without a fight and maybe I could win? But then I realised that I'd already lost many times.

Tyree fed her for the first time before leaving for work that day. Ms Kozakiewicz said she remains convinced she would have been killed that evening.

He'd already kidnapped a child, he'd already done unspeakable things to me, why would murder be something that he couldn't do?," she said,

However, before Tyree returned from work, Ms Kozakiewicz was rescued by FBI agents, whom she describes as my angels.

They cut the chain from around my neck and helped me up," she said.

"They set me free. They gave me a second chance at life.

Tyree was later sentenced to 19 years and seven months in jail.

Alicia Kozakiewicz, far right, now speaks across America to educate people to the darker side of the internet (Getty) (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Ms Kozakiewicz, soon to graduate and be married, now works to educate children on the dangers of online exploitation through her group The Alicia Project.

She is also campaigning with advocacy group Protect to pass Alicias Law, which ring-fences money to law enforcement to fight child exploitation, in every state in the country.

She said: Whether you're held captive for four days or abused by somebody you love for years, or molested for 15 seconds on a bus, it's your experience and your pain that defines it, not the length of time and not what actually occurred.

Rape is all about power and control, and love never is.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this piece, you can call the Samaritans for free on 116 123. In an emergency always dial 999.
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During CNNs Democratic Debate on Sunday night, Hillary Clinton made a promise that she may not be able to keep.

Both Clinton and Bernie Sanders were asked by a LeeAnne Walters, the 37-year-old activist and mother of four who helped expose the man-made water crisis, if they would make a promise to remove all lead service lines from public water systems during their first 100 days of elected office.

While Sanders promised that every service line would be tested in the US during his presidency, Clinton took her response a bit further.

I want to do exactly what you said. We will commit to a priority to change the water systems, and we will commit within five years to remove lead from everywhere, the former secretary of state promised.

The goal seems unrealistic being that the Environmental Protection Agency released a 2013 report saying that it would cost $384 billion to improve Americas drinking water infrastructure by 2030.

In addition to their water supply, 24 million American homes were built with lead paint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Marco Rubio has won the Puerto Rico primary.

The Florida senator received 71 per cent of votes in the US territory, the Associated Press reports, marking his second win following his first victory in Minnesota on Super Tuesday.

The numbers are overwhelming, Jennifer Gonzalez, chairwoman of Puerto Rico's Republican Party, told the news agency. This primary in Puerto Rico... will demonstrate that the Hispanic vote is important.

As Rubio managed to gain more than 50 per cent of the vote, he takes home all 23 delegates from Puerto Rico.

His rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz had previously called on Rubio to drop out of the four-man GOP race after poor showings in prior contests. Trump leads Republicans with 384 delegates, Cruz holds 300 and Rubio now holds 151 delegates.

Rubio was the only Republican candidate to campaign in Puerto Rico as voters in the territory are not eligible to vote in presidential elections. They do, however, participate in each partys nominating process.

The Rubio campaign now hopes that the Hispanic vote will translate into a win in his home state as the Florida primary is set to begin March 15.

Rubio still trails badly in the delegate count. Trump has 384 delegates, Cruz has 300 and Rubio has 151 delegates.
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Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, has revealed he will not enter the presidential race as he fears it would be easier for Donald Trump to win if he did so.

Mr Bloomberg had revealed earlier this year he was considering running as a third party candidate because he was unimpressed by both Mr Trump, and the stumbles of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Yet the 73-year-old said he feared a three-way race could lead to the election of a candidate who would imperil the security and stability of the United States - namely Mr Trump.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the media during a press conference (AFP/Getty)

Mr Bloomberg called the tycoons presidential run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on peoples prejudices and fears.

Writing on Bloomberg View, part of an extensive media empire he owns, Mr Bloomberg said: Over the last several months, many Americans have urged me to run for president as an independent, and some who dont like the current candidates have said it is my patriotic duty to do so. I appreciate their appeals, and I have given the question serious consideration.

He added: As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience.

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

He said he was alarmed by Mr Trumps threats to bar Muslim immigrants from entering the country and to initiate trade wars against China and Japan, and he was disturbed by Mr Trumps feigning ignorance of David Duke, the white supremacist leader whose support Mr Trump initially refused to disavow.

In December, Mr Bloomberg commissioned a poll to see how he would compete with Mr Trump or Ms Clinton, but the polls results have not been disclosed.

In both 2008 and 2012, Mr Bloomberg conferred with advisors and commission polls to assess his chances of making it to the White House, only to decide against a run.

While there have been third party or independent candidates before  businessman Ross Perot ran in both 1992 and 1996, and activist Ralph Nader has stood in numerous elections  no independent candidate has ever been elected to the White House.

We cannot make America great again by turning our backs on the values that made us the worlds greatest nation in the first place, Mr Bloomberg said in a he said on Monday.

I love our country too much to play a role in electing a candidate who would weaken our unity and darken our future - and so I will not enter the race for president of the United States.
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A former missionary from Oklahoma has been found guilty of sexually abusing children in Kenya.

Matthew Lane Durham, 21, was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Monday as he begged the judge for mercy.

Judgment from God is central, not the judgment of man, Durham said in an Oklahoma City courtroom on Monday, according to Reuters. I do not fear Gods judgment.

Acting US Attorney Mark Yancey said that Durham took advantage of his position as a ministry volunteer to sexually assault the children, who were both male and female between the ages of 4 and 10-years-old.

The significant sentence imposed today will remove the threat of any other children being exploited by him. However, the innocence of the child victims cannot be restored and their lives will never be the same, he said, according to KWTV.

It is our hope and prayer that his conviction and lengthy sentence will someday bring them some comfort and peace.

After Dunham completes his prison term, he must spend his life on supervised release and must register as a sex offender. He's also been ordered to pay $15,863 in restitution.
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Hillary Clinton is confident she will beat Donald Trump in the US presidential election this November because his bigotry, bullying and bluster are not going to wear well on the American people.

Speaking at the end of the Democratic presidential debate both Ms Clinton and Bernie Sanders said they were confident they were going to win the race to the White House over the Republican frontrunner.

Ms Clinton - who is leading the primary contest against Mr Sanders - said she had already won more delegates than Mr Trump.

Mr Sanders said he would love to run against Mr Trump and said several opinion polls show him faring better against him than Ms Clinton.

During the debate in Flint, Michigan - where residents are suffering from a water shortage after the citys supply was contaminated - the candidates frequently interrupted each other and accused each other of misrepresenting their records.

"Let's have some facts instead of some rhetoric for a change," Ms Clinton snapped at Mr Sanders at one point.

"Let me tell my story, you tell yours," Mr Sanders shot back at another. "Your story is voting for every disastrous trade amendment and voting for corporate America".

Both Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders say they can beat Donald Trump (Getty Images)

But Ms Clinton noted the debate was markedly more civil than the final Republican debate which the CNN subtitles simply described as unintelligible yelling at one point.

The former secretary of state said although she and Mr Sanders disagree on policy, voters should "compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week".

Ms Clinton and Mr Trump look set to become their respective parties nominee after they both decisively pulled ahead following primary contests over the weekend.

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

Mr Sanders won the Maine, Kansas and Nebraska caucuses but Ms Clintons win in the much larger Louisiana primary race cancelled out his gains.

Meanwhile, although Mr Trumps rival Marco Rubio took all of the 23 delegates on offer at the Puerto Rico primary after taking more than 50 per cent of the vote, the billionaire reality star is too far ahead following Super Tuesday for it to make much of a difference.

Mr Trump also took Louisiana and Kentucky over the weekend whereas his other main rival Ted Cruz took Kansas and Maine.

Additional reporting by AP
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As the Communist Party surges ahead in efforts to form a cult of personality around President Xi Jinping, the Chinese had yet to know: For whom does Uncle Xi shed his tears?

It was a question answered in an article circulated across China which recounted all four times Mr Xi has claimed to have cried. The most recent event took place in 1985, which raises the possibility that Mr Xi has not exercised his tear ducts in more than three decades.

Those moments, the article suggests, give a glimpse into the man Mr Xi has become.

The first occasion was his sisters passing. She died during the Cultural Revolution, when Red Guards reportedly persecuted her to death (this is the official account, but a historian told The New York Times last September that her death was probably a suicide).

The second was a drawn-out farewell to the rural Shaanxi province, where he lived from 1969 until 1975, when he left for Tsinghua University in Beijing. The 16-year-old Mr Xi travelled to the region to learn from the farmers, forming profound friendships.

My body departed then, but I left my heart there, the article quotes Mr Xi saying.

 Xi Jinping has a pint with David Cameron GVs

The next tear-jerker concerned his relationship with the writer Jia Dashan, for whom he wrote a 3,200-word tribute after his death in 1997. But the crying took place more than a decade before that. The pair became close friends while Mr Xi was an official in Hebei province, meeting for long talks after dark. In order not to disturb the guards late at night, one man would stand on the others shoulders to open and close the government propertys tall gates.

When Mr Xi left in 1985 to take up a position in Fujian province, they both wept.

The final cited cry was revealed during a public event in 2014. In 1969, he recalled, his teacher read an article describing the exemplary Party cadre Jiao Yulu. The teacher cried as he read, prompting Mr Xi and his classmates to follow suit.

Just as the article promised, Xi Jinping has cried for family, for friends, for heroes.

The Washington Post
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The death of an elderly care home patient is being investigated after he was found with foreign objects inside him.

The man, only known by his surname, Wong, was admitted to the United Christian Hospital in Hong Kong with vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties.

Mr Wong, who was also said to be suffering from mental health problems, had low blood oxygen and blood pressure levels, the South China Morning Post reported.

When staff at the hospital stated treating him they found numerous foreign objects in his anus.

The incident took place in February; but the broader details have only recently emerged.

The care home where he was resident is also likely to be investigated but has issued a statement denying involvement.. The SCMP

Our employees definitely do not know how, or have the expertise or skills, to be able to put foreign objects far up into a [patients] anus, the Cambridge Nursing Home told the SCMP.

The establishment, in Kwun Tong district, has been investigated by police before, the SCMP reports, although no illegalities have been proven.

A staff member at a different branch of the same company was last year found guilty of common assault after hitting a patient.

The incident came to light after another patient recorded the incident on her smartphone.

Also last year, video recorded at the same care home showed patients having to undress and wait outdoors before being taken to an indoor shower area.

In response to the second allegation, the co-founder of the home, Irene Luk Ngai-Ling, said that one worker had been sacked and others reprimanded.

She told SCMP in 2015: "We have been teaching [the staff] for a decade at all meetings, and even require them to make pledges [to treat the residents properly], but those [staff] are really hopeless."
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Islamic State militants have reportedly released a new video calling on millions of Muslims in Russia to kill apostates in the country using a rope or a knife, while vowing to attack President Vladimir Putin.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the video has been released by the Northern Caucasus branch of Isis across social media channels and shows a Russian news report about a car bombing in the Dagestan province last month that killed two police officers.

The groups deputy emir, Abu Yasser, reportedly calls on brave brothers and the millions of Muslims in Russia to join together and seize a territory where they will be able to implement Sharia law.

He reportedly tells those who cannot travel to Isis to target the apostates wherever they are, using a rope or a knife.

Yasser then claims that Allah has given us this iron missile, indicating a large artillery shell he is kneeling next to, and reportedly threatens to use it to attack President Putin by adding, and we will use it against the Taghut [apostate] Putin and his friends, the dogs.

The video ends with the apparent execution of a man the militants claim is a Russian spy.

Isis militants executed more than five Russian nationals in the North Caucasus in December last year that were reportedly accused of spying. Months previously Russian officials claimed to have killed eight suspected militants linked to Isis and had been killed by Russian troops near Chechnya.

At the time, officials estimated over 1,000 Russian nationals had joined Isis.
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North Korea has threatened to turn Washington and Seaol into "flames and ashes" and warned of "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against if the two allies go ahead with joint military drills on Monday.

The announcement, described as a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice", was made in a statement by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army on Sunday, AFP reports.

More than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 US troops are expected to take part in the drill, which is thought to be the largest ever joint military exercise.

The exercises, which begin on Monday and will last until 30 April, are intended to caution North Korea against nuclear incitements, South Koran defence minister Han Min-koo is reported as saying.

The drills will begin days after 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, causing security tensions to increase.

 UN slams sanctions on North Korea

North Korea has responded by saying it was preparing nuclear weapons and firing short-range nuclear weapons into the sea.

In a statement, the country's National Defence Commission said in a statement: "If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment."

On Thursday, hours after the UNs decision, the country fired six short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast, South Korean officials said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use "at any moment".

Military analysts, however, have cast doubt over the countrys ability to put nuclear warheads on its missiles, according to the BBC.

The US and South Korea opened talks on Friday over the deployment of the US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea  a move fiercely opposed by North Korea, Russia and China, according to AFP.
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Journalist Paul Sheehan has been suspended from his position at The Sydney Morning Herald after writing a rape story which has since been discredited.

Mr Sheehan wrote an article titled 'The Horrifying Untold Story of Louise' containing claims by a woman known as Louise that she had been raped and beaten by 'Middle Eastern Men'. It was published on 22 February but later retracted after its content was heavily criticised.

A number of the claims were found to be inaccurate or unsubstantiated. The woman had claimed that she reported the alleged attack to New South Wales police six months after it took place but had been told by a police officer that her complaint could not be acted on because it was too late and she lacked evidence. No such record of a complaint has been recorded.

Mr Sheehan has since admitted that he: failed to test that claim adequately.

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. 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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. 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According to ABC Australia, the newspapers Editor In Chief Darren Goodsir conducted a review of the column and found that it contained: unacceptable breaches of fundamental journalistic practice. He says that Mr Sheehan has been suspended until further notice.

Mr Sheehan has apologised for the article and admitted that a number of key elements of the piece had not been verified and could not be substantiated. He said: Nobody but her knows what happened, and although I was given a considerable number of details about her experiences that were credible, I acknowledge that there was not enough definite information to justify writing the story.

He apologised to NSW Police for creating an: impression of police indifference towards this alleged crime.
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A gunman who killed one person at a sign-making business in western Sydney has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

On Monday morning, police from New South Wales responded to reports of a shooting at the Inline National Signage factory in Ingleburn.

Police found three men with gunshot wounds upon arrival. A 43-year-old man died at the scene and the two others were taken to Liverpool Hospital for treatment.

A stand-off between the police and the gunman then ensued for around six hours. Three people had been inside the building for the duration of the stand-off but they emerged on Monday afternoon unharmed. The gunman was found dead inside the building.

The incident on Monday brought the whole area in Ingleburn to a standstill.

After arriving at the industrial site, heavily armed officers surrounded the sign-making building and closed off nearby roads.

During the stand-off, Detective Inspector Mark Brett told a news conference that the operation was at a delicate stage.

He added that tactical operations unit negotiators were working at the scene.

A man, who was not the gunman, was arrested for allegedly hindering the operation.

At around 5pm, police entered the building and found the 33-year-old gunman with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Detective Inspector Brett.

He added that he had been using a long-arm weapon.

Officers then exited the building with the three people. It was not clear whether they had been held hostage by the gunman or whether they had been hiding.

Additional reporting by PA
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Fabien Picardo, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, has waded into the latest row with Spain over the Rocks sovereignty, saying Madrid could pounce if the UK votes to leave the European Union in Junes referendum.

Spains centre-right government and Mr Picardos administration have clashed on regular occasions over sovereignty and other issues.

The latest round began last Friday when Spains Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, gave an interview in which he said we would be talking about Gibraltar the very next day, if Britons vote to withdraw from the EU on the 23 June.

This is exactly the type of attitude that we have come to expect from Snr Margallo and it no doubt pervades so many others of his mindset, said Mr Picardo. It usefully sets out the danger that those who choose Brexit potentially create for Gibraltar if there is also a Partido Popular [Mr Garcia-Margallos centre-right party] government in Spain in the future. This is as vivid an illustration as possible of that.

Reinforcing the point that Mr Garcia-Margallo remains in his job in a caretaker capacity after Decembers inconclusive Spanish general election, a statement issued by Mr Picardos government added: The declared intent of the caretaker Foreign Minister of Spain to bring the question of Gibraltar to the fore in the event of the UK and Gibraltar leaving the EU confirms the analysis that has already been made. It is safer and more secure for Gibraltar to remain in the EU in order to deny Mr Margallo the opportunity to pounce on us.

Dave Brown on Europe Show all 9 1 /9 Dave Brown on Europe Dave Brown on Europe 4 March 2016 Boris Johnson campaigns for Brexit Dave Brown Dave Brown on Europe Dave Brown on Europe 15 January 2016 Chris Grayling hints that he will campaign for Britain to leave EU Dave Brown on Europe 21 October 2015 ECB prescribes more Quantitative Easing Dave Brown on Europe 13 October 2015 Cameron seeks an EU re-negotiation as ex M&S boss announced to lead Dave Brown on Europe 30 June 2015 Greek ATMs close as Tsipras fails to get a bailout deal from Merkel Dave Brown on Europe 6 February 2015 Merkel and Hollandes send Putin a peace proposal for Ukraine Dave Brown on Europe 28 June 2014 Cameron defeated in vote for new EU President Dave Brown on Europe 17 May 2014 Farage makes his position on Europe clear

Mr Picardo has been an advocate of the UK and Gibraltar staying in the EU and in the past has warned that Brexit might encourage Spanish claims over Gibraltar.

The row is just the latest between the two men. Speaking to The Independent last November, Mr Picardo said Mr Garcia-Margallo was lying when he claimed in another interview that Madrids policy towards Gibraltar was beginning to bear fruit.

The Foreign Office in London has made it clear that Gibraltars sovereignty is not up for discussion, regardless of the Brexit referendum.

That has not stopped others reacting excitedly to Mr Garcia-Margallos comments. Julia Reid, a Ukip MEP who speaks on Gibraltar for the party, said they sounded more like an old communique from Buenos Aires, rather than a new one from Madrid.

Gibraltar has nothing to fear. Any move for the outpost, which is as British as Britain itself, would be repelled, she said. And even if Britain votes to leave the EU, it doesnt make any difference. Gibraltar will still be British territory and thats that.

The referendum takes place just three days before Spaniards are expected to go back to the ballot box in another general election.

Mr Garcia-Margallos PP party emerged from the December ballot with the most seats but fell well short of a majority. After months of coalition talks, it has become apparent that widespread corruption allegations against the PP have made alliances with other parties impossible.
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A teenager in Ireland who had consensual sex with a female the same age as him is reportedly facing charges of statutory rape.

The boy, who is 16, is reported to suffer from mental health issues and is in state care. The legal age of consent in Ireland in 17.

He appeared in Naas District Court, County Kildare, last week accused of criminal damage charges dating to April 2015.

But the teenager is now charged with having sex with the girl at social event in County Dublin while on bail for the existing counts of criminal damage.

Defence solicitor Arthur Dennehy told the court the girl had informed her parents about the consensual sex when she returned home from the event, the Journal reported.

Her parents reacted by calling the gardai (Irish police) and filing charges against the boy.

Judge Desmond Zaidan said of the boy: Someone has to guide him and be firm, someone has to give him love. His parents have let him down.

 Economy tops election agenda in Ireland

Judge Zaidan also read from a report which said the accused suffers from a borderline personality disorder which affects his intellect and has a profound effect on his vulnerability to a negative peer group.

He is easily taken advantage of and needs the protection of the state, Judge Zaidan said.

The judge also told the state solicitor he had serious concerns for the welfare of the accused and that he did not think the boy understands what is going on.

The teenager has been remanded on bail over the criminal damage charges.

A court case is expected in Dublin soon in relation to the statutory rape charges, the Journal reports.
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It was all smiles as Turkeys Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, arrived for Monday's summit and declared that co-operation was the key to a successful migration deal. Behind the scenes, however, a tug of war was under way.

As well as wrangling over the amount of money committed to Turkey, Ankara and the EU are engaged in a quiet battle over how to use the cash. Turkey wants the freedom to spend it through its own agencies. The EU is reluctant. The tussle threatens to add a fresh glitch to the precarious deal.

Turkey is home to some 2.5 million people who fled the war in Syria. The money from Europe is meant to improve living conditions and ease the burden of further arrivals. But it is unclear if any of the funding will go to Turkey directly.

Turkeys government disasters agency, Afad, has submitted a proposal to the EU over how cash should be used. Sources at the agency say it has suggested building schools, health clinics and sewage systems. It also wants to improve facilities at camps controlled by the government, and to strengthen the coastguard.

Negotiations are still under way, but the proposal is at odds with the public message from the EU. It announced last week that the first funds will go to the World Food Programme and a school project run by the European Commission.

In graphics: Refugees in the EU Show all 3 1 /3 In graphics: Refugees in the EU In graphics: Refugees in the EU Refugees in the EU (Maximise window for full graphic) In graphics: Refugees in the EU Refugees in the EU (Maximise window for full graphic) In graphics: Refugees in the EU Refugees in the EU (Maximise window for full graphic)

Johannes Hahn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, told the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah that Brussels wanted to collaborate with Turkey but money would be managed by the EU. He said the EU liked to work with UN agencies because they have the infrastructure, people and everything else already there.

This is not how Turkish officials see it. Turkey has the important experience to allocate resources for Syrians effectively, said an Afad source. Another senior government official said it was only natural for Turkey to have a say in how to allocate funds.

The argument is not solely about money. It is also about pride. Turkish politicians lurch between courting their European counterparts and pretending to be uninterested in them. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would relish having forced Brussels to double its money from 3bn to 6bn.

Turkey is proud of its record in hosting refugees and likes to accuse Europe of being both patronising and hypocritical. At a time when Mr Erodgan faces criticism for deteriorating freedom of expression and rule of law, his decision to accept so many Syrians is one area that few will criticise.

Nonetheless, much work is needed to build a long-lasting future for Syrians. Though conditions in the camps have won praise, most Syrians live in rented housing. Many have no access to healthcare or education. Ministers recently announced plans to allow them to work, but it is unclear when this will come into force.

Many challenges lie ahead. Syrians here need to be comfortable and happy enough not to look towards Europe. That is the EU deals central purpose. But if Europe and Turkey cannot agree how best to support them, the signs are not good.
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An African Catholic priest says he has resigned from his parish in a Bavarian town because he had received numerous death threats and was told to get off to Auschwitz after he tried to speak up for the rights of war refugees in Germany.

Olivier Ndjimbi-Tshiendes resignation was the latest incident in a growing wave of abuse and violence directed against migrants and refugees in Germany. It followed big gains by the recently formed xenophobic Alternative for Germany in local elections at the weekend.

Father Ndjimbi, 66, who is Congolese, took up his ministry at St Martins church in the small suburban town of Zorneding, east of Munich, in 2012. He used his sermon on Sunday to tell shocked parishioners that he would be leaving his post in April.

You cannot imagine what I have experienced here, he told a Munich newspaper. The pressure is too great and I am tired.

The priest said he had received numerous written and verbal death threats and hate mail, including a letter that advised him: Off to Auschwitz with you. He said he was warned by a local resident: Well get you after early evening Mass.

 Border bottleneck: Thousands of refugees trapped in Greece

The hate-mail campaign followed a bitter public row about the more than one million refugees who have fled to Germany during 2015. It involved Father Ndjimbi and local members of Bavarias ruling Christian Social Union, which is a sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkels ruling conservatives.

The dispute erupted after Sylvia Bohrer, who until recently was the local chair of her party, described the refugees as invaders. Father Ndjimbi expressed his outrage at the description. But his criticism merely served to anger other CSU politicians, including Ms Bohrers deputy, Josef Haindl, who described the priest as unser Neger  which translates as our nigger or our Negro,

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

Both Mr Haindl and Ms Bohrer were obliged to resign from their party posts after their outbursts. Father Ndjimbi said he had received no apology for the comments. Mr Haindl was reported to have told party colleagues that he never used the word. He was not available for comment on Monday.

A CSU spokesman said he bitterly regretted Father Ndjimbis resignation and blamed psychopaths for the death threats and racist abuse he suffered. The CSU is strongly opposed to Ms Merkels open-door refugee policies and has demanded border controls.

Father Ndjimbis resignation coincided with major gains for another of Ms Merkels opponents in local council elections in the state of Hesse at the weekend. The AfD, which last month called for the shooting of illegal refugees at Germanys borders, secured 16 per cent of the vote in the normally staid conservative town of Wiesbaden. The party also notched up double figures elsewhere in the state.

With recent polls showing that 81 per cent of Germans think Ms Merkels government has lost control of the refugee crisis, the AfDs performance is expected to be mirrored in key elections in the states of Baden-Wurttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and east Saxony-Anhalt this Sunday.

Last month, protesters in eastern Germany blocked the path of a bus carrying refugees and their children. There have been more than 200 attacks against refugee targets over the past 12 months.
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In the vast swathes of Russias steppe near the border with Kazakhstan, six light-brown horses traipse the snow-covered fields as a security unit watches over them, providing protection from poachers and intruders. With spiky manes and a stocky build, they are Przewalskis horses, the species being reintroduced to their original habitat after 20 years of extinction in the wild.

First born in the south of France before travelling by plane to Russias Orenburg nature reserves, the six are all that remains of the original 10 expected to make the flight across Europe to their new home. Four of the horses refused flat out, said Rafilya Bakirova, director of the reserve that hosts the Orenburg programme, Russias flagship reintroduction project for the species. Their wild nature was understood immediately, she says, after the four stubborn horses began to fight so fiercely that serious damage to their health was feared.

The reserve spans more than 16,500 hectares, making it the largest continuously protected piece of virgin steppe in Russia, according to horse expert Tatyana Zharkikh, who directs the reintroduction programme. Scientists and conservationists hope to see the number of Przewalskis horses in Orenburg eventually swell to 100.

They are quite happy, Ms Zharkikh told AFP. They are not afraid of wind, snow or cold. If the Przewalskis horse has enough food, it is practically invincible. Last summer, four Przewalskis horses were successfully returned to the steppe in Mongolias southern Gobi desert region.

Only 2,000 Przewalskis are left alive (AFP)

Przewalskis horses, named after the Russian explorer who first described them scientifically, Nikolai Przewalski, were once native to China and travelled freely across the wilds of the Eurasian steppe covering Russia, Mongolia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. But they were driven to the brink of extinction after Przewalskis 19th-century discovery of the species led to an increase in their appeal. Many were killed or captured and taken to zoos across the world, while others were displaced by human land use. Of the 2,000 Przewalskis horses left in the world today, only 300 live in the wild, having been part of reintroduction programmes first.

20 years of the horse being extinct in the wild as a result of hunting, capture and habitat loss

Their greatest threat, today, however, is not capture but genetic dilution. While the Orenburg project ultimately aims to have Przewalskis horses roaming free in a borderless nature reserve, for now this poses too high a risk.

If Przewalskis horses breed with domestic horses, they produce fertile hybrids, which has the potential to quickly adulterate the species and undo the work of the project. So, organisers have decided first to place the horses in a fenced-off area to stabilise the population and fend off the risk of losing their gene pool.

Even a few hybrids can cancel out all conservation efforts. Whats the point of protection if they are just cute shaggy-haired horses rather than a species? Ms Zharkikh said.

There is a secondary benefit to the programme. Conservation of Russias steppe has long been a concern for ecology institutes across the region, who fear the ecological repercussions of species extinction. In steppe ecosystems these animals contribute to their recovery, said the head of the World Wildlife Funds Central Asian programmme, Olga Pereladova. If horses are not grazing in the steppe it deteriorates because vegetation is not trampled; overabundance of grass can cause fires.

The push to reintroduce Przewalskis horses to their original habitat was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2011, who called the revival a fascinating project given their extinction in the wild. During his term as the countrys prime minister, Mr Putin personally supervised three projects for the conservation of rare animals, including the Amur tiger, beluga whale and polar bear.
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Twenty-five people have been killed after a boat carrying refugees from Turkey to Greek sank in the Aegean Sea, Turkeys coastguard has said.

Fifteen people were rescued after the boat capsized near the Turkish resort of Didim, the state run Andalu Agency reported.

At least three children are believed to be among the dead, according to Dogan news agency.

The incident occurred following reports that Macedonian authorities have set new restrictions on Syrian migrants trying to cross the land border from Greece.

Macedonian border officials are now believed to be barring some Syrians from entering unless they can prove they are from cities at war.

The curbs mean people from cities such as Aleppo, Syria can enter, but those from the Syrian capital of Damascus or the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are being stopped.

Medics take care of a rescued migrant at a local hospital in the Aegean resort of Didim, Turkey AP (AP)

A UN refugee agency official in Macedonia has criticised the decision.

Ljubinka Brasnarska, UNHCR senior external relations assistant in Macedonia, said: This is not all right. Everybody from Syria who came needs international protection.

This decision could be taken only by other competent international bodies, not by border authorities," she said, adding she couldn't explain the latest move.

The developments come a day before a summit between the European Union and Turkey to discuss the crisis, which has seen more than 1 million people reach Europe last year.

A Turkish Coast Guard boat and medics are seen with rescued migrants at the port of Didim, Turkey AP (AP)

Most refugees and migrants entering the EU have been doing so by taking small inflatable dinghies from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands.

Greece has urged Turkey to stop the boats from leaving its shores.

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.

On Saturday, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, governor of a northern border region of Greece, said at least 13,000 people were now gathered at the frontier waiting to cross north into Macedonia, the BBC reports.

Mr Tzitzikostas urged for a state of emergency to be imposed on the border, which could help the delivery of aid.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
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Maan al-Habi, a Syrian living in the foetid Idomeni border camp between Greece and Macedonia, was unequivocal. He would not be taken back to Turkey.

I survived all this to get here, with my wife and child, said the 36-year-old from Damascus. I will not go. I can see there will be trouble. Lots of the younger men here will not go.

As night fell on Monday, the mood in Idomeni was getting bleaker. Storm clouds again threatened to turn the camp at the start of the so-called Balkan route to northern Europe into a rancid mud bath.

Everyone wanted to know whether the rumour that they were all being sent back to Turkey could be true.

And still, the Macedonian border guards appeared impervious to all and any documents. The border remained closed to those seeking to travel further into Europe.

Food queues appeared longer than the days before, and the pungent smell of a refugee camp seemed stronger. The sense of desperation and despondency was new.

Many officials from non-governmental organisations told The Independent they fear the situation might become violent if migrants at the sprawling camp were told the border was closed and were ordered back to Turkey.

One senior aid official, who asked not to be named, said: Safety will become an issue and we might have to pull out.

 Border bottleneck: Thousands of refugees trapped in Greece

In Idomenis village square, a local Greek woman got out of her car and immediately migrants, mainly young men, surged around her before she could hand out the food she had brought them to eat.

A fight broke out between two men over a loaf of bread. The woman was then crammed violently against her car as she tried to give away more food from the boot. The scene was repeated a few hundreds yards away on the main track into the heart of the camp.

Children in a camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, where thousands of migrants and refugees are stranded (AFP)

Around six miles south from the Macedonian border, Unicef has constructed tents to house 800 or so migrants in the grounds of a motorway service station. The rumours of a total closure of the Balkans route, or admission into Macedonia only for Syrians from certain cities, were on everyones lips here as well.

Inside the petrol-station cafe was Donaa Mohamad, 26, a translator who fled from Deir Ezzor in Syria, because Isis killed both her parents.

She asked if people from Syria would still be let through the border at Idomeni. Showing her passport, she asked if it will be sufficient to get her into Macedonia. It was impossible to say.

Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Show all 15 1 /15 Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to break a Greek police cordon in order to approach the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees flee tear gas fire by the Macedonian police, after trying to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to break a Greek police cordon in order to approach the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees in the northern Greek village of Idomeni approach the Greek-Macedonian border as they try to enter Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Macedonian riot police officers stand next to part of the border fence brought down by protesting stranded refugees and migrants during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees break an iron fence and throw stones from the Greek side of the border as Macedonian policemen push them back, near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A girl cries as she flees clashes during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees try to broke an iron fence from the Greek side of the border as Macedonian police stand guard, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees and migrants in the northern Greek village of Idomeni approach the Greek-Macedonian border as they try to enter Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A man helps children to run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at a group of refugees who tried to push their way into Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A woman carries a child on the Greek side of the border as they run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at a group of refugees who tried to push their way into Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A woman falls as refugees with their children run away after Macedonian police Getty Images

Sitting next to her was a man who said he was from the so-called Isis capital, Raqqa.

He said he was not let across on Monday and agreed when it was pointed out that if people fleeing the heart of the caliphate cannot enter mainland Europe it will be near impossible for others.

It will be very, very hard, if they force me to go back to Turkey, the man said.

I did not feel safe there. I will have no hope, added Ms Mohamad.

Amer Haj, 25, was standing outside, on the petrol-stations forecourt. He too asked whether the border was to be closed. Like others at this smaller camp, he retreated the six or so miles from Idomeni to escape the squalor. He said many migrants had not been able to shower for a month. But still he was thinking of going back to Idomeni to try again before the border is closed.

Back at Idomeni, the smoke from fires lit by families to cook and keep warm was so thick dozens of people needed medical attention. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) doctors had to treat a two-year-old girl for breathing difficulties and smoke inhalation.

There are thousands of children in the camp who are inhaling smoke that could cause serious damage to their lungs," said Cristian Reynders, a senior MSF co-ordinator at the Idomeni camp.

The Greek government said it would send primary care teams to the camp by tomorrow to help.

But were not solving the underlying problem, said Mr Reynders. There are 13,000 people living here in mud, and what they need is some compassion.
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Turkey and the EU are squabbling over the terms of a deal to help ease Europe's growing refugee crisis.

At a summit in Brussels, the European Union's 28 leaders offered Turkey 6bn as they desperately try to send back thousands of refugees and end an influx of more than a million people since early 2015 fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by The Associated Press, the EU said it will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection".

It is thought they have agreed to give Istanbul 6bn over the next three years, twice that offered in November.

Turkey, which is home to around 2.75 million refugees already, raised the stakes in response, demanding accelerated membership talks and faster visa-free travel for its 75 million citizens.

One source said Ankara was seeking 20bn, rather than the 3bn offered by the EU.

And although Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu insisted the country was "ready to work" with the EU, messages from Turkey have been mixed with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is not at the summit, refuting claims Turkey is encouraging the migration of refugees from its own borders to Europe and accused Europe of failing to deliver money that it had previously promised,

"We are not sending them. They are going (to Greece) by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths," Mr Erdogan said.

They promised to give us 3bn, four months have passed since then, Erdogan said. The prime minister is in Brussels right now. I hope he returns with that money.

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.

The draft proposal of an agreement between the two sides was seen by Reuters on Monday and sets out the following committments:

Turkey will:

1) Readmit expeditiously all irregular migrants crossing into the Greek islands from Turkey without prejudice to Turkey's current commitments under international law. This readmission process will be for a temporary period and only for humanitarian purposes.

2) For that purpose, station, in agreement with the Government of Greece, adequate number of immigration and liaison officers in the established "Irregular Migration Monitoring Units" mainly in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos to help facilitate processing of readmission cases.

3) Effectively implement all appropriate administrative and legal instruments to serve above stated purposes, including in the bilateral arrangements that will be put in place in agreement with the Government of Greece.

4) Effectively cooperate with the EU as well as the UNHCR to ensure expedited resettlement in spirit of burden sharing of Syrians to the EU member states, based on the formula of "for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU member states."

5) Effectively implement projects, submitted by Turkey and decided upon by the Refugee Facility Steering Committee; and cooperate with the EU member states in any joint endeavour to establish humanitarian safe areas inside Syria.

The EU will:

6) Evacuate completely refugees from the Greek islands and readmit only those, who crossed into the islands after a date to be determined.

7) Cover the cost incurred [in the Readmission process.]

8) Referring to Point 5 of the EU-Turkey Statement of 29 November 2015, instead of October, Adopt and implement a relevant EU Council Regulation to realize the lifting of visa requirements for the Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone, by latest end of June 2016, based on an accelerated roadmap, dedicated support and in conjunction with the Readmission Agreement.

9) Effectively and expeditiously resettle Syrians from Turkey based on the formula referred to in Article 4 to balance on a monthly basis, and cooperate with Turkey in any joint endeavour to establish humanitarian safe areas inside Syria.

10) Prepare for the decision on the opening of new chapters (the accession of Turkey to the EU)

11) Expedite and facilitate the transfer and disbursement of the Refugee Facility for Syrians and decide upon an additional facility of Euro 3 billion until the end of 2018.

12) Review progress jointly with Turkey on monthly basis, including on mutually agreed appropriate locations.

Earlier in the day, German chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker tried to change the wording of an EU statement declaring the refugee route through the Western Balkans is "closed".

They argued for the route to remain open for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and not be declared closed, German news channel NTV reported.

A draft EU statement, seen by Reuters, said: Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed.

Martin Schultz, president of the European Parliament, appeared to support their stance.

According to The Guardian, he said: I dont believe that this is a summit in which doors will be closed. I hope that we can find a sensible and humanitarian solution for refugees who desperately need our protection.

EU leaders are holding a key summit with Turkey, aimed at preventing a repeat of last summer's influx of refugees.

Turkey insists it maintains an "open door" policy towards Syrians, but human rights groups say only those with serious or urgent medical conditions have been allowed to cross in the last year.

David Cameron told reporters Britain has "an absolutely rock-solid opt-out from these things so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe".

He added: "We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have."

Additional reporting by PA
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It is only when I momentarily pass out from altitude sickness at 4,818 metres that it first occurs to me how isolated my destination is. I have just crossed the peak of Ticlio pass  the highest road in the Peruvian Andes  in what could be Lima's least roadworthy Nissan Sunny. And yet, a 13-hour drive into the central Amazon rainforest awaits. Morning becomes dusk; tarmac turns to rubble; and, eventually, the road simply stops at the ramshackle jungle town of San Martin de Pangoa. It could well be the last place on earth where you would expect a revolutionary feminist movement to be taking root. Here, a full day's drive from the cosmopolitan influence of Lima, catcalls and street whistles are as much a part of daily life as the tuk-tuk beeps and the wild howls of prowling street dogs. And that isn't the half of it; girls get married and give birth at 14, and more than 60 per cent of women admit to having suffered domestic abuse.

But it is here that I have come, with Peruvian translator James (My parents were big fans of James Bond, he tells me), to meet a group of women who are leading a project with potentially global ramifications. Made up from members of a local coffee co-operative, Codemu is a collective of local women, founded in 2009 to tackle inequality by promoting female leadership, improving family nutrition and encouraging self-esteem through workshops. Its real area of success, though, has been in farming.

Nicknamed the pantry of Peru, Pangoa is blessed with rain, humidity, rich soil and a jungle heat that rarely sinks below 22C, meaning that the surrounding area is awash with pineapples, cocoa, bananas, coffee and ginger  much of which makes its way to Britain. If there is anywhere a farmer should thrive, it is here. But in a region where the majority of women are employed in agriculture, female farmers earn almost 50 per cent less than males, account for 75 per cent of the adult illiterate population, and own less than 25 per cent of the land.

To tackle the issue, Codemu has formed an unlikely alliance with the independent Yorkshire coffee roasters Taylors of Harrogate. Together, they have launched Esperanza, a blend with the audacious remit of sourcing only beans grown by Pangoan women. It's a simple idea, inspired by a similar initiative in Nicaragua in 2001, but it's remarkably effective: the premium paid by Taylors of Harrogate for these beans has already transformed the lives of almost 100 local female farmers through a misture of education, entrepreneurial grants and training .

One of those already benefiting from the project is 42-year-old smallholder Norma Valderrama, who with the help of Codemu has managed to do the unthinkable in rural Peru: buy her own land.

My past is very typical of this region, she tells me, via James. My husband was an abusive alcoholic and was never around much. Like most women round here, I played a very submissive role in the relationship. I worked extremely hard in the fields but had little control over the management of the farm or finances. On top of this, I was expected to do all the domestic work; I have given birth alone twice on the farm  the nearest hospital is more than an hour away  and both times, I had dinner on the table that same afternoon.

Norma Valderrama: Thanks to Codemu she has managed to buy her own land (Jonathan Gregson)

But Norma's circumstances changed 20 years ago, when she began selling produce at a local market without her husband's knowledge. Two years later, she had saved enough money to leave him and swiftly put a deposit on her own plot of land. Since then, with psychological, technical and financial support from Codemu, Norma has developed the land into a 12-hectare coffee and banana plantation, which supports not only her and her two children but also a small legion of local workers.

Before I bought my own land, I was completely reliant on my husband, she adds. Women in Peru are not expected to have their own opinions, to express emotions or to have a say in the day-to-day running of things. It's humiliating and degrading. But now, I'm completely independent and have learnt to respect myself.

The lack of access to land, equipment and money faced by female farmers such as Norma is by no means limited to rural Peru. And the problem is increasingly identified as a global issue with consequences that go far beyond gender discrimination. Women account for an estimated two-thirds of the world's 600 million livestock keepers and make up 43 per cent of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. In some coffee-growing regions, the number rises to 80 per cent. Yet while the role of women is clearly crucial in food production, this rarely translates into an equal share of income. In Asia, Africa and Latin America women own less than 20 per cent of agricultural land; and where women do own farms, their plots are generally smaller and around 25 per cent less efficient than those held by men  not because women are less skilled but because they have less access to education and investment and, by extension, to essential equipment and materials such as seeds and fertilisers.

Inspired by the success of women such as Norma, Codemu is encouraging some of its other members to launch their own businesses  a solution that not only generates an additional stream of income but also gives women greater autonomy from their husbands. Embracing the idea is coffee grower Abdulia Carhuallanqui, whom I meet in San Martin de Pangoa's bustling women's market, held in the town's central square every Saturday.

Several years ago, I was encouraged by other members of the women's committee to start contributing to the market, she says. At the time, all the other women sold fruit and vegetables; there was no cooked food. So I thought to myself, why not sell what I make best: tamales, a type of corn dumpling filled with ground corn, chicken, black olives and red pepper, all steamed inside a banana leaf. Fortunately, it's become really popular: on the first day, I sold 50 portions, and I now sell almost 300 every weekend.

Still, she adds, Although the conditions here are excellent for growing coffee, that doesn't mean it is completely free from disease. And when disease does strike, it can wipe out an entire crop. But I now have a back-up income. I'm not only more self-sufficient than I used to be, I have more income for my family, better business skills, and more self-esteem. What's more, my daughter is now following in my footsteps: she's started learning to farm and is making and selling her own food at the local market. One day, she'll be a businesswoman , just like me.

Harvesting coffee beans Jonathan Gregson (Jonathan Gregson)

At a moral level, the case for reducing gender discrimination is obvious, but the issue goes further than debates around equality. With almost 50 per cent of the world's economically active women reporting agriculture as their primary source of income, the issue is affecting the health and economies of entire nations. According to Farming First, a coalition of 180 farming organisations, if women were given access to the same resources as men, they would achieve the same yield levels, boosting total output in developing countries by between 2.5 and 4 per cent. This additional yield could reduce the number of undernourished people in the world by 150 million.

But gender inequality in farming isn't just imited to developing countries. In the UK, women constitute 41 per cent of the agricultural workforce (compared with more than 50 per cent in Lithuania and Latvia) and yet own just 24 per cent of large farm holdings. Although it is hard to reconcile with our 21st-century lives, this is largely thought to be a hangover from feudal farming practices, where agricultural land was nearly always passed on to male heirs. The tradition is largely upheld by the false premise that agriculture is a business best suited to well-built males. (Just think of the uphill struggle of Far from the Madding Crowd's Bathsheba Everdene as she tries to cut a deal at the grain exchange; Thomas Hardy's fiction was true to life, and little has changed since the 1870s.)

Although the UK doesn't yet boast its own Codemu-like collective, it does have a growing army of women who are doggedly determined to make a career in farming. In 2012, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the number of female farmers in the UK had risen to 23,000, up by 6,000 in the space of a year. A decade previously, the figure was almost negligible. Meanwhile, one of Britain's most respected agricultural universities, Harper Adams, has seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of its female students since 2012.

Many recent female graduates cite the organic farmer Helen Browning as their inspiration. In 1986, Browning became one of the country's first high-profile female farmers when she took over her father's 1,350-acre holding, which she later transformed into an award-winning organic farm. She has since become the Soil Association's chief executive and in 1989 was appointed OBE for her services to farming.

Because of agriculture's macho image and the age-old tradition of handing land down to sons, the work carried out by female farmers has never really been fully recognised, she says. Women have always been there in the background but they haven't had their name on the chequebook. So when I took over my father's farm, there was a lot of gossip from male farmers and I really had to prove myself.

Fortunately, the new generation of female farmers coming through now don't face the same barriers I did. They're confident, hard-working and progressive, and in many ways are a damn sight better than the blokes. They tend to be drawn to more innovative ways of farming, particularly organic; and they are less caught up with what I call 'big-toy syndrome' and are more focused on running the show. But most importantly, they're generally more effective communicators than men and are better at dealing with customers. Men recognise this quality, and they respect it.

Organic farmer Helen Browning Martin Phelps (Martin Phelps)

Should we be encouraging more young women into the industry, then? Absolutely, she says. It's not an easy sector to work in: you're not going to make a lot of money, and it's a lot of hard graft. But if you love food, animals and being outdoors, it can be the best career in the world. It's flexible, too. Yes, we work quite long hours, but you choose when you want to work, meaning you can juggle work and motherhood without any of that dreadful maternity leave business.

The benefits young female farmers can bring to the industry have not gone unnoticed. One of those welcoming the shift is Tim Wilson, the 57-year-old owner of the Ginger Pig chain of butchers. Considered one of Britain's best heritage livestock farmers, Wilson has grown his empire to encompass seven central London shops and 3,000 acres of pasture across three farms in North Yorkshire. His cuts are served in some of the country's finest restaurants. His crowning glory, however, is East Moor Farm, near Wykeham, where an all-female team rears highly prized heritage breeds of longhorn, shorthorn and Galloway cattle. Overseeing the farm is local 27 year-old Hayley Freer, from nearby Malton.

Traditionally, people went into farming because that's what their parents did, Freer says. But that's changing; neither of my parents work in agriculture  my dad is a plumber and my mum works for a pet-feed company. As for me, I studied psychology at Leeds University. However, about four years ago, I had a change of heart and decided I wanted to be a vet, and started volunteering at the Ginger Pig. After that, they offered to take me on part time so I could balance the job with veterinary studies. But I enjoyed the farming side of things so much that I decided to go full time. I'm now in charge of a herd of 120 pedigree cattle and oversee everything from feeding to calving.

Do I encounter prejudice? No, not really, and when I do, I just laugh it off. We recently received a call from an old-boy farmer whose truck was stuck in the snow. When I arrived in my tractor to pull him out, he told me he'd rather slide down the hill backwards and die than have a woman tow him home. He was being deadly serious. Fortunately I don't often receive comments like that. Tim [Wilson] has been particularly supportive. He even believes women are more intuitive, empathetic and better able to tell when an animal is getting ill, she laughs. And I'd have to agree.

It may be more than 6,000 miles from Malton but back in Pangoa I find a similar strain of resilience. Norma's husband recently returned to the family home. I said he could return under three conditions, she explains. Number one: you sober up. Number two: you stop being violent. And number three: I am now the man and you are the woman. After seeing the success I had made of my farm and the life I had built for me and my children, he agreed to all three. And he's turned his life around. My dream is for more women to be as strong as I have been, because there are so many others who won't speak up. My message to them is: take control of your share of the land. That way, you can shape the future of your country  and maybe even the world.
Gender-Neutral Restrooms Editorial Cartoon by Glenn Foden



On Firday, Daugaard caved to those lobbyists and vetoed a bill (H.B. 1008) that passed with overwhelming support from both chambers of the state legislature. The bill would have prevented biological males who identify as girls from using girls restrooms or locker rooms in public schools, but it also would have required local school officials to make reasonable accommodations for such students.



Instead of a winner-take-all approach favored by the left, the bill created a win-win outcome for everyone. It protected the privacy and safety of all students, and it created new accommodations for transgender students.



Ask yourself: Why do we have girls locker rooms and boys locker rooms in the first place? We have sex-specific restrooms and locker rooms not because of gender identityhowever one defines itbut because of biology.



Men and women have bodily differences, and thats why we have mens rooms and ladies rooms. Its not about gender identity, but biologyand protecting privacy related to our bodies.



So the South Dakota bill continued the bathroom policy weve always had in America while also creating obligations for local schools to find reasonable accommodations for transgender studentsbiological males who identity as females and biological females who identify as males.



But LGBT activists attacked the state. And big businesses threatened boycotts. South Dakota was being accused of 



The



This is an extreme position, out of step with the majority of Americans, and utterly inconsiderate of the concerns of the non-transgendered community. And Daugaard gave in to it.



Remarkably, the governor justified his veto by claiming that the bill would undermine local control and impose statewide standards. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The bill respected local control while ruling out one, and only one, bad option: boys in girls locker rooms and bathrooms.



If this bill undermined local control, it can only be because Daugaard thinks local schools should be able to allow boys in girls bathrooms. Or, to put it another way, he thinks local schools should be able to require girls to undress in front of, or be exposed to, boys who identify as girls in showers and locker rooms as a condition of going to school.



Daugaard claimed that the bill removes the ability of local school districts to determine the most appropriate accommodations for their individual students and replaces that flexibility with a state mandate. Again, though, this is false.



The bill specifically required local schools to find reasonable accommodations for transgender students. The bill mentioned three examples of reasonable accommodations explicitlysingle-occupancy restrooms, unisex facilities, and faculty locker roomsand it left lots of room for teachers and principals to work out tailored solutions that would be sensitive to everyones interests.



In closing his veto statement, the governor claimed that the bill would expose local school districts to lawsuits from transgender students in an area where no such liability exists today. Again, the governor is wrong. If a school creates any reasonable accommodation short of full and unfettered access to the bathroom of ones choice, those lawsuits will come. And now local schools wont even be able to point to the state law in their defense.



The nation is primed for yet another clash in the culture warthis time over school bathroom policy. The South Dakota legislature gave the entire United States an example of principled leadership on how to defuse controversy and craft public policy that creates good outcomes for everyone.



Daugaard likewise had an opportunity to show courage and do the right thing by signing the bill. He could have stood up to the special interest lobbyists and the cultural cronyism of big business, but he caved. He could have protected the rights and interests of all children in South Dakota. Instead, he said hes fine with boys in girls locker rooms.

-------------

Glenn Foden is an editorial cartoonist and commentator for The Daily Signal.

Tags: Gender-Neutral Restrooms, schools, South Dakota, Governor, Dennis Daugaard, no problem, boys in girls locker rooms To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks! by Glenn Foden : South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, officially has no problem with boys in girls locker rooms. Theres no other way to say it. Special interests and big businesses effectively lobbied the governor to veto a good bill because of the threats they made. Welcome to cultural cronyism at the bathroom.On Firday, Daugaard caved to those lobbyists and vetoed a bill (H.B. 1008) that passed with overwhelming support from both chambers of the state legislature. The bill would have prevented biological males who identify as girls from using girls restrooms or locker rooms in public schools, but it also would have required local school officials to make reasonable accommodations for such students.Instead of a winner-take-all approach favored by the left, the bill created a win-win outcome for everyone. It protected the privacy and safety of all students, and it created new accommodations for transgender students.Ask yourself: Why do we have girls locker rooms and boys locker rooms in the first place? We have sex-specific restrooms and locker rooms not because of gender identityhowever one defines itbut because of biology.Men and women have bodily differences, and thats why we have mens rooms and ladies rooms. Its not about gender identity, but biologyand protecting privacy related to our bodies.So the South Dakota bill continued the bathroom policy weve always had in America while also creating obligations for local schools to find reasonable accommodations for transgender studentsbiological males who identity as females and biological females who identify as males.But LGBT activists attacked the state. And big businesses threatened boycotts. South Dakota was being accused of  transphobia  for reaching this commonsense compromise. As the bill reached the governors desk for his consideration, the head of the Human Rights Campaign warned that history will not treat kindly those who support this discriminatory measure.The official policy of LGBT activists is that boys who identify as girls should have unfettered access to girls bathrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities. They believe that anything less than full access to the bathroom and locker room of their choice is transphobic, a denial of civil rights and equality.This is an extreme position, out of step with the majority of Americans, and utterly inconsiderate of the concerns of the non-transgendered community. And Daugaard gave in to it.Remarkably, the governor justified his veto by claiming that the bill would undermine local control and impose statewide standards. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The bill respected local control while ruling out one, and only one, bad option: boys in girls locker rooms and bathrooms.If this bill undermined local control, it can only be because Daugaard thinks local schools should be able to allow boys in girls bathrooms. Or, to put it another way, he thinks local schools should be able to require girls to undress in front of, or be exposed to, boys who identify as girls in showers and locker rooms as a condition of going to school.Daugaard claimed that the bill removes the ability of local school districts to determine the most appropriate accommodations for their individual students and replaces that flexibility with a state mandate. Again, though, this is false.The bill specifically required local schools to find reasonable accommodations for transgender students. The bill mentioned three examples of reasonable accommodations explicitlysingle-occupancy restrooms, unisex facilities, and faculty locker roomsand it left lots of room for teachers and principals to work out tailored solutions that would be sensitive to everyones interests.In closing his veto statement, the governor claimed that the bill would expose local school districts to lawsuits from transgender students in an area where no such liability exists today. Again, the governor is wrong. If a school creates any reasonable accommodation short of full and unfettered access to the bathroom of ones choice, those lawsuits will come. And now local schools wont even be able to point to the state law in their defense.The nation is primed for yet another clash in the culture warthis time over school bathroom policy. The South Dakota legislature gave the entire United States an example of principled leadership on how to defuse controversy and craft public policy that creates good outcomes for everyone.Daugaard likewise had an opportunity to show courage and do the right thing by signing the bill. He could have stood up to the special interest lobbyists and the cultural cronyism of big business, but he caved. He could have protected the rights and interests of all children in South Dakota. Instead, he said hes fine with boys in girls locker rooms.------------- Posted by Bill Smith at 2:05 PM - Post Link
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Saudi Arabia is executing people at a "frightening" rate, campaigners have warned, after it emerged the kingdom had killed its 70th prisoner of the year bringing the total number to almost half that of 2015.

Alaa al-Zahrani, who was put to death in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, was found guilty of killing fellow Saudi Abdullah al-Sumairi with a rock to the head, the interior ministry revealed in a statement published by the Saudis official state news agency SPA.

Several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide placed the figure at 157 last year, with beheadings reaching their highest level in two decades.

Saudi Arabia does not release annual tallies, though it does announce individual executions in state media throughout the year. Most people beheaded in the oil-rich kingdom are beheaded by sword.

Speaking to The Independent, Amnesty International UKs Head of Policy and Government Affairs Allan Hogarth said: The death penalty is always cruel and unnecessary, but the Saudi justice system lacks evens the basics of a fair trial system and its truly frightening that its courts are sentencing so many people to death.

"For too long Downing Street has bent over backwards to avoid offending the Saudi royals," <p>Allan Hogarth, head of policy at Amnesty International</p>

With death sentences imposed after deeply unfair - and sometimes secret - proceedings, with defendants often denied a lawyer, and with courts regularly convicting people on the basis of confessions extracted under torture, Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of justice and dozens of people are paying with their lives.

Its time that strategic allies like the UK started speaking out about this shocking state of affairs. For too long Downing Street has bent over backwards to avoid offending the Saudi royals. Saudi Arabias human rights record is utterly appalling and the UK government should say so.

The kingdom came under intense criticism at the beginning of the year when it executed 47 people for terrorism offences in one day, including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Show all 8 1 /8 Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Abdullah al-Zaher Abdullah al-Zaher was arrested at the age of 15 for attending a protest and he is was the youngest in a group of juvenile offenders put on death row Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Abdullah al-Zaher Previously held alongside fellow juvenile offender Ali al-Nimr, whose case sparked outrage around the world, Abdullah has now been moved to solitary confinement at a new facility and could be beheaded at any moment Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Abdullah al-Zaher His family and lawyers believe he was forced to sign a document without knowing its contents, and which later was used as a confession in the closed trial against him Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Ali Mohammed al-Nimr Ali Mohammed al-Nimr faces imminent beheading and crucifixion for crimes he reportedly committed as a child Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Ali Mohammed al-Nimr The UN has issued an urgent call for Saudi Arabia to halt his execution but a Saudi court has upheld the sentence of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, the son of a prominent government dissident, despite growing and high-level international condemnation Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Ali Mohammed al-Nimr Mr al-Nimr, who was arrested in 2012 for his participation in Arab Spring protests when he was just 16 or 17 years old, could now be put to death at any time Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Dawood al-Marhoon Dawood al-Marhoon was 17 year old when he was arrested for participating in an anti-government protest Juveniles on death row in Saudi Arabia Dawood al-Marhoon After refusing to spy on his fellow protesters, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer

Mr al-Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that flared up in the Saudis oil-rich Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalisation. His execution led Yemens Houthi movement to mourn him as a holy warrior.

Despite condemning the executions earlier this year as deeply deplorable President Francois Hollande awarded his nations most prestigious award to the heir to the Saudi throne, Prince Mohammed bin Naif on Friday.

 Cameron on arms trading with Saudi Arabia.mp4

The Crown Princes visit to the Elysee Palace actually took place on Friday 4 March, the same day as Mr Hollande held talks with Angela Merkel about how to cope with the refugee crisis.

But while Ms Merkels trip featured in a number of videos and photos posted online by the Elysee social media team, any reference or evidence of the Saudi delegation was conspicuously absent.
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Syrian activists say media reports of a popular uprising against Isis in Raqqa are false.

It has been reported that 200 Isis militants had switched sides to fight against their former comrades, securing at least five neighbourhoods in the city and replacing the black flag of Isis with the Syrian national flag.

"About 200 Syrian militants of Daesh took the side of residents of Raqqa, which forced the terrorists to organize roadblocks at the entrance to the city," one source told Sputnik, the Russian government's news agency.

However, the reports are false according to Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), a group of citizen journalists reporting on life under Isis.

"It's not true what the Syrian TV is saying about clashes between Isis and the people inside the city of Raqqa," a tweet from the RBSS official account said.

"The city of Raqqa was calm today and the weather is dusty."

 Syrian army tightens grip on Aleppo

Raqqa is considered to be the de-facto capital of Isis in Syria. It has been under their control since August 2014.

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, are opening the front towards the Isis stronghold, having captured positions around Aleppo.
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Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union in order to help solve the Syrian refugee crisis happening on its borders, the country has said.

Cem Isik, Turkeys deputy ambassador to Britain, said the country being barred from the EU had contributed to the international migration problems.

The country has been an official candidate for EU membership since 1999, with negotiations about accession launched in 2005  but progress has been very slow.

Turkey joining the European Union is a strategic objective  its being going on for decades, Mr Isik told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

For years the EU was reluctant to take on Turkey as a member state because it didnt want problems relating to Iraq and Syria at its border  now you can see how short-sighted that was.

Mr Isik was asked whether Turkey was blackmailing Europe into letting it join the EU. He said: Turkey is not blackmailing Europe but its disheartening to see that Europe only remembered Turkey after the migrant crisis last summer.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has been accused of having authoritarian tendencies

Millions of refugees and migrants are passing through Turkey, which has opened its southern border with Syria for humanitarian purposes.

Turkey has allowed refugees to transit through its territory to move towards Europe  with president Erdogan last month threatening to use buses to send more people to the EU.

Sitting on the edge of the Syrian conflict zone, the country home to three million refuges but says aid promised by the EU to help care for them has not yet materialised.

Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Show all 15 1 /15 Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to break a Greek police cordon in order to approach the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees flee tear gas fire by the Macedonian police, after trying to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to break a Greek police cordon in order to approach the border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees in the northern Greek village of Idomeni approach the Greek-Macedonian border as they try to enter Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Macedonian riot police officers stand next to part of the border fence brought down by protesting stranded refugees and migrants during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees try to bring down part of the border fence during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees break an iron fence and throw stones from the Greek side of the border as Macedonian policemen push them back, near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A girl cries as she flees clashes during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni Reuters Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees try to broke an iron fence from the Greek side of the border as Macedonian police stand guard, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Stranded refugees and migrants in the northern Greek village of Idomeni approach the Greek-Macedonian border as they try to enter Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A man helps children to run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at a group of refugees who tried to push their way into Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A woman carries a child on the Greek side of the border as they run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at a group of refugees who tried to push their way into Macedonia AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February Refugees run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas AP Refugees break through Macedonia border fence in February A woman falls as refugees with their children run away after Macedonian police Getty Images

The latest call to join comes amid an outcry in Europe over a crackdown on press freedom by the countrys Government which is expected to delay accession even further.

This weekend the European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Turkey was jepordising its future in the EU with the authoritarian policy.

Martin Schulz, the European Parliament President, also warned that the Government takeover of the Zaman opposition newspaper was yet another blow to press freedom in the region.

The deputy ambassador however defended his Governments actions.

When you look at who is in prison for whatever purposes you will see there are people in there for murder, people in there for espionage, he said.

A map showing the movement of refugees from Syria towards Turkey's border

Long-standing roadblocks to Turkeys accession include refusing to recognise the Republic of Cyprus, which is an EU member state, poor relations with Greece, and the consistent opposition of Germany.

The strong role the army plays in the countrys constitution and the fact most of the country is in Asia has also been subject a subject of concern.

Britain has however long supported Turkey accession to the EU. In 2010 David Cameron said he was angry at the slow pace of negotiations.

A European Union without Turkey at its heart is not stronger but weaker... not more secure but less... not richer but poorer, he said at the time.

The previous Labour government also backed Turkish accession.

Turkey has a fast growing population of 75 million, making it almost as large as Germany and bigger than Britain or France.

It would be the second largest EU member state and likely shift the balance of power in Europe.
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The young black bear was blissfully oblivious of the two wolves as it ambled aimlessly across the Lamar Valley. The wolves were keenly aware of the intruder in their territory, though, and, quicker than you could say picnic basket, they were on the bears heels, sending it scurrying 20ft up the nearest pine tree.

Our nature guide, Owen, thought this was probably the bears first season without its mum, so it was still learning the ups and downs of life in Yellowstone. The whole scene had played out in the national parks animal-rich Lamar Valley. Here, in late spring, the wildlife goes into overdrive as new babies arrive, making for a soul-searing vista of epic landscapes populated by roaming herds of bison, elk, pronghorn sheep, and mule deer. You might also be lucky enough to come across harder-to-spot species like black and grizzly bears, moose, red fox, lynx, and grey wolves, the latter of which were successfully reintroduced to the area 20 years ago and are now the Holy Grail for wildlife watchers.

The wide, ice-carved valley churns with bison at this time of year and, with virtually no man-made structures in sight  thanks to the 1870s visionaries who petitioned Congress to create the worlds first National Park (the National Park Service celebates its centennial this year)  it provides a window on to another epoch, a reminder of natures claim to the planet we share.

Our seven-day tour started in West Yellowstone, one of the parks main gateways, with a gentle introduction to the vastness within along the rock-strewn slopes of the Madison River Valley, where boulders the size of small houses had crashed down in ages past. From there, we gravitated to Mammoth Hot Springs, with its other-worldly travertine terraces, eternally bubbling and steaming in the multi-coloured background.

This proved the perfect base from which to explore the Lamar Valley in the company of Owen, our guide from the education- focused Yellowstone Association. In the two days we spent with him, my wife and I explored the regions unique tectonic nature, its ice-age history, the dazzling geographic variety, and its flora and fauna. And, oh, the fauna! Baby bison by the dozen nuzzled at patient mothers; indolent elk rambled outside our hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs; a pair of week-old osprey chicks vied for their parents attention in a tree-top nest; and families of Canada geese lazed alongside the rivers.

Thanks to Owen and his high-powered binoculars, we learned how to interpret the landscape before branching off on our own, driving to different vantage points around the Greater Yellowstone area, an ecosystem four times the size of Wales. We spotted beavers and otters; bald eagles and red-tailed hawks; bighorn sheep and mountain goats; and, on one memorable occasion, a family of moose protecting their newest member as they came down to the Gros Ventre River to drink at dusk.

After a drive through the stunning panorama of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone  a 24-mile chasm riven through the soft rhyolite by the Yellowstone River, which produces two violent cascades, the 109ft Upper Falls and 308ft Lower Falls  we descended to Teton Village, in the shadow of the awe-inspiring Teton Mountains. Here, where daredevils ski the precipitous peaks in winter, a burgeoning summer business is building around the 200-plus miles of hiking and biking trails through the park that provide extensive wildlife viewing opportunities.

 Yellowstone's grand prismatic sping is beautiful

In Grand Teton National Park, which forms the lower part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, we enjoyed an early-morning wildlife safari with guide Kurt Johnson, a naturalist, author, and photographer, who pointed out several beaver dams (Beavers hate the sound of running water and try with all their might to stop it, was one of his gems). He also introduced us to a rare great grey owl, and the stirring view of the Teton Mountains, mirrored in a silver pond as the morning sun struck the snowy peaks.

Travel By Numbers: US national parks Show all 4 1 /4 Travel By Numbers: US national parks Travel By Numbers: US national parks 354672.bin AFP/Getty Images Travel By Numbers: US national parks 354677.bin AP Travel By Numbers: US national parks 354678.bin AP Travel By Numbers: US national parks 354679.bin RexFeatures

As always there were bison. Zoologists estimate there were up to 60 million of these great shaggy beasts across North America prior to European arrivals, then the hunters took their terrible toll until barely 1,000 remained, including only two dozen in Yellowstone. Now there are 4,900 in the national park, and to see the Lamar Valley today is to witness that timeless spectacle in all its glory.

In the ethereal dusk of our final evening, we spotted a herd of 12 elk, led in majestic single file by a huge bull, taking his herd to who-knows-where but revelling in the wide-open freedom of a landscape that treasures its wildlife  and provides the perfect backdrop for us to enjoy it.

Getting there

The gateway airports to Yellowstone National Park are Cody and Jackson in Wyoming; Bozeman and Billins in Montana; and Idaho Falls in Idaho. America As You Like It (020 8742 8299; americaasyoulikeit.com) offers a seven-night fly-drive to Yellowstone from 1,595pp, including Delta flights from Heathrow to Bozeman via Salt Lake City, car hire, one night at the Best Western Grantree in Bozeman, and six nights at the Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone NP.

Staying there

Hotel Terra, Jackson Hole (001 307 201 6065; hotelterrajacksonhole.com). One-bed suites from $299 (214), room only.

Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone NP (001 307 344 7311; yellowstonenationalparklodges.com) standard rooms from $208 (149), room only.

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, standard rooms from $140 (100), room only (001 406 552 1657; usparklodging.com/yellowstone).

Visiting there

The Yellowstone Association (001 406 848 2400; yellowstoneassociation.org) offers guided tours, nature programmes, group hikes and other activities year-round. A private guide, for up to five people, costs $560 (400) a day.

Kurt Johnson (001 307 739 4010; wildthingsofwyoming.com) charges from $130 (93) per adult and from $95 (66) per child under 13 for half-day wildlife safaris, including coffee, soft drinks and snacks.

More information

Yellowstone National Park: nps.gov/yell

visittheusa.com
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This year marks the 400th anniversary of the naming of Cape Horn, the point where the Atlantic and Pacific meet, at the tip of South America. In 1616, the southernmost headland of Tierra del Fuego was named by two sailors after their hometown of Hoorn in north Holland.

A number of mainstream lines offer two-week round South America cruises between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso (the port for Santiago) in Chile. On a March day, cruising with Celebrity Cruises (0845 456 0523; celebritycruises.co.uk), I experienced a calm sea, with albatrosses soaring and a clear view through binoculars of Cape Horns lighthouse. Holland America Line (0843 374 2300; hollandamerica.com) and Princess Cruises (0843 374 2402; princess.com) also cruise around the Horn with fares starting at about 1,200pp excluding flights.

Rare opportunities to go ashore at Cape Horn are offered by Chilean line Australis (00 34 93 497 0484; australis.com). Landing is by rubber Zodiac to clamber up the basalt rock to boardwalks crossing the bleakly beautiful, tiny Cape Horn Island.

On a one-week cruise youll also visit spectacular Glacier Alley and Wulaia Bay, where Darwin landed from the Beagle in 1833. Cruises departing from November to March when the weather is best, on luxury ship Stella Australis from Punta Arenas in Chile, cost from US$3,781pp (2,701) including excursions and drinks but not travel to the ship.

The centenary of Ernest Shackleton saving his entire crew when their ship Endurance was crushed by ice in Antarctica also falls this year. He and four shipmates arrived on South Georgia in 1916 after a perilous 800-mile journey in a tiny lifeboat, and from there organised the rescue of the rest of the men who had been stranded on Elephant Island for four months.

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Most expedition cruises to South Georgia (where Shackleton is buried) spend only three days there, but One Ocean (00 351 962 721 836; oneoceanexpeditions.com) has a South Georgia in Depth cruise, which gives you eight days to explore.

The 14-day voyage departs 15 October from Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, sailing aboard polar vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov from 7,652pp in a twin cabin. The cost includes flights from Punta Arenas to Stanley (flights from the UK can be arranged), through Swoop Antarctica (0117 369 0696; swoop-antarctica.com).
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You could describe it as the one asylum policy to rule them all. As things stand, each EU member state can choose who to grant refugee status and who to turn away. So, in 2015, Malta took a liberal view (accepting 84 per cent of all applications), but Poland, part of the truculent Visegrad group, was far stingier (accepting just 15 per cent).

Thats how a loose, federal-asylum system works.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. Yesterday it was revealed that the EU plans to assume control of asylum applications, in what would  by any yardstick  be the most-dramatic transfer of sovereignty since the euro.

Under the proposal, a central European office will decide whether, for example, an Eritrean deserves to be given shelter in the EU. If the answer is yes, Brussels would also then determine where that person should be placed  could be Germany, could be the Czech Republic.

I am one of those people who still believes that a central authority sharing out asylum-seekers across the bloc represents the best way forward.

We want Brussels to act as the strongman. And our case goes like this: whatever EU leaders claimed at yesterdays summit, it is unlikely that Turkey will in reality take back thousands of migrants from Greece. Nor would it be a good bet to trust the Turks to close their borders to Syrians trying to leave for Europe.

So, more refugees will arrive (the number now making it into the EU is 10 times higher than it was at the same time last year), and there are already thousands too many languishing in countries, like Greece, that cannot provide adequate shelter.

Spread these people out, we say. The short-term, economic burden will be repaid in the long-term. Carping about cultural barriers should not be dismissed out of hand, but one Krakow residents vague sense of discomfort does not outweigh a fugitive from Aleppos right to protection.

That is the theory, but a bead of sweat breaks the brow making the case for it today. A far-less invasive attempt to share asylum-seekers across Europe, via a quota system, has floundered. Just 700 of 160,000 have been transferred out of Greece and Italy. And the same thing which is stalling that scheme would likely stall this one  a lack of buy-in from eastern European states. It would require treaty change to get through, and Victor Orbans Hungary is not about to let that happen.

Yesterday I spoke to Sergei Stanishev, president of the left-leaning PES, the second biggest party in the European Parliament. He was bullish about the need for more Europe in this crisis, but hazy on the detail of how to serve it up. With the bloc as divided as it is, frankly I do not see how the EU can draw more powers for itself.

And there is a significant risk to making the proposal for centralised asylum now. Britain would have an opt-out (rock solid, in the words of David Cameron). But if the system does come into force, it will mean the UK is stuck with the asylum-seekers who make it into the country, and cannot send them back to, say, France, if that is where they first registered. The whiff of an EU power-grab will send the Brexit camp into a feeding frenzy.

If the European Commission thinks that the prospect of depriving member states of the right to set their own asylum policies could never be enough to tip the balance of the British referendum, they are wrong. If it believes the urgency is such that reforms cannot wait to be proposed until after the referendum, that is brave, but perhaps a little foolish.

All too easily this could end up with the worst of both worlds: Britain pushed towards leaving the EU, and no common asylum policy to show for it once the dust has settled.
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As a frequent contributor to Todays Zaman, the English-language edition of Turkeys largest daily newspaper Zaman, I was shocked by the Turkish governments takeover on Friday of the Feza Media Group. Apart from Zaman and Todays Zaman, this group includes the Cihan News Agency, a magazine and a publisher.

But it should not have come as a surprise. Since the inappropriately named Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, there has under its leader and now president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, been a regression in individual rights, including freedom of expression and press freedom. While Erdogan claimed over a year ago that nowhere in the world is the press freer than in Turkey, his actions clearly belie his words.

Reporters Without Borders has in its 2015 World Press Freedom Index ranked Turkey as 149 out of 180 countries, which is an improvement on the three previous years, when it ranked 154. However, this was due to the conditional release of 40 imprisoned journalists, who nonetheless continued to face prosecution. Turkeys situation as a whole - when you consider such areas as cyber-censorship, lawsuits, dismissals of critical journalists and gag orders  actually worsened.

Journalists and media organisations have been physically attacked. Ahead of last Novembers elections last year, a mob with alleged connections to the AKPs youth branch attacked the offices of Dogan Media Group in Istanbul in September, which houses the secular daily Hurriyet, its English-language edition Hurriyet Daily News and another daily Radikal.

In October, Ahmet Hakan, a Hurriyet columnist and TV talk show host, was attacked by four men outside his home after leaving the studio.

Fridays assault on Zamans offices followed the same pattern as Octobers police raid on the offices of the Koza Ipek Media Group, which owned two newspapers and two TV stations. The court-appointed trustees have just closed both the TV stations and the newspapers.

Turkeys Scarlet Pimpernel, the whistleblower Fuat Avni, who has predicted the AKP governments moves with uncanny accuracy, tweeted on Thursday that President Erdogan had ordered the takeover of the Feza Media Group with the definite intention of silencing Zaman. After the Constitutional Court ruling which freed two journalists, Erdogan has made it clear he has no respect for the rule of law in Turkey, although the freedom of the press is safeguarded by several articles of the constitution.

The background to Erdogans frenzied actions is the probe into government corruption launched by Istanbul prosecutors and police in December 2013. Erdogan called this probe a judicial coup masterminded by a reclusive imam, Fethullah Gulen, resident in Pennsylvania.

The Gulen movement, which promotes interfaith dialogue, is believed to have some five million followers and controls a network of schools and universities in more than 100 countries. It also has many followers in the Turkish judiciary and police.

Consequently, Erdogan set about a purge of thousands of police officers and hundreds of judges and prosecutors. This witch-hunt has also extended to the civil service. A recent circular issued by the Prime Ministry calls for civil servants to be dismissed from their positions if they are suspected to be members of illegal structures and organisations disguised as legal ones.

Erdogans Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has even accused all three opposition parties represented in parliament of being illegal political parties disguised as legal.

The witch-hunt includes media groups as well as businessmen suspected of being members of what the AKP government calls FETO (The Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation). Ironically, it was Gulens cadres that helped Erdogan come to power - but after the revelations of widespread corruption in AKP circles, Gulen has become Erdogans arch-enemy.

There are rumblings of a split in the AKP, where former prominent members might form a new party to challenge Erdogans domination.

In the meantime, as Turkish novelist Elif Shafak wrote last week, a climate of intimidation and paranoia dominates the country  a country which is under the thrall of what opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called a tinpot dictator.
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The departure of John Longworth as CEO of the British Chambers of Commerce has underlined the depressingly low quality of the EU referendum debate.

Inevitably, those who support his view that we should leave the EU regard his resignation as an attack on free speech, whereas, in reality he resigned because he went against the BCCs decision to remain neutral.

We can be absolutely sure that Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and others would have called for Mr Longworths head if he had come out in favour of staying in, citing the very reasons they are currently choosing to ignore.

Unless we move the tenor of discussion on from petty-minded, fact-free point scoring, we run the risk of putting off the very people who need to vote in this referendum if we are to stay in the EU: the young and the politically unengaged.

Ian Richards

Birmingham

D M Loxley (letter, 7 March) refers ironically to three benefits of EU membership: VAT, food dating and the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

VAT does have weaknesses but is generally considered to be fairer and easier to collect than its predecessor, purchase tax. More countries are moving from a sales tax to VAT.

Use by dates on perishable items are just information which you can act on or ignore. But they do give the consumer some redress against a retailer selling food that is no longer fit to eat.

It is not a requirement of the EU to take part in the EAW. The UK opted out in 2013 and in 2015 opted back in because there are so many advantages, including extradition times reduced from a year to 48 days.

Since 2009, 57 child sex suspects have been extradited from the UK, 86 rape suspects and 105 for murder. In the same time the UK has been able to extradite back to face justice 63 child sex suspects, 27 rape suspects and 44 murder suspects. Many of these would have escaped justice without the EAW. I am not aware of anyone being falsely extradited due to identity theft.

As with most arguments from the Brexit camp they either miss the point or only tell half of the facts.

Brian Dalton

Sheffield

Boris Johnsons claims about lack of sovereignty of our Parliament are not legally correct

Section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 provides that all future UK law shall be interpreted in the light of the law emanating from the relevant European Community (now European Union) Treaties. This gave direct effect to European law into UK law and included that all subsequent Acts of Parliament were subject to European law (with notable exceptions including criminal law and tax-raising powers).

This was, as stated by Boris Johnson, a voluntary ceding of sovereignty to Europe. Crucially however, the British Parliament retains fundamental sovereignty over the law of these islands for the simple reason that Parliament enacted s.2 of the European Communities Act and Parliament can, at any time, repeal this section, thereby removing the force of all EU law over us at a stroke.

Therefore, whatever the outcome of the forthcoming referendum, our Parliament is and remains sovereign.

George Hepburne Scott

Barrister,

Temple, London EC4

Refugee crisis baffles moral pygmies

Your editorial Sealing the deal (7 March) is right to refer to the current plan to stem the flow of migrants, block the progress of those already in Europe, and return many to Turkey as a wheeze. In the face of a historic movement of people, driven from their homes by war, poverty and hopelessness, our national leaders in the European Union have, with one or two exceptions, behaved like moral pygmies.

The response to the needs of desperate people has been a massive failure of compassion and basic efficiency in the immediate provision of basic physical requirements. It has fallen to the kindness of citizens of many countries to try and fill this gap, but they lack the resources to be effective.

No doubt the problem is complex, but there is no need for people to freeze in the open air or suffer a lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation while the powers that control their destinies wrangle about what they are unwilling to do.

British leaders are among the most heartless, refusing to consider reuniting refugees in the French camps with relatives already in Britain.

Sierra Hutton-Wilson

Evercreech, Somerset

The smokescreen of David Camerons statements about taking in vulnerable children from countries neighbouring Syria does nothing to hide the reality that the many children who have a legal right to enjoy sanctuary in the UK are being left in Calais. The inhumane bulldozing of the Jungle camp makes the plight of these children ever more desperate.

The Government should condemn the actions of the French authorities rather than colluding in the destruction of one of the few rays of hope people in this desperate situation have: hope and compassion brought by many British volunteers who have provided shelters and other facilities in the camp.

We wholeheartedly support the system of buddying set up by Juliet Stevenson, Jude Law and others and commend them for demonstrating the solidarity and compassion that our government has failed to offer.

We also call on the Government to meet the requirements placed on it by international law and EU policy, namely: to accept responsibility for those with family members or other ties in the UK; to establish joint registration centres within the Calais and Dunkirk camps, staffed by trained legal caseworkers; and to issue guidance to caseworkers on the proper implementation of the Dublin procedure.

Natalie Bennett

Leader, Green Party of England and Wales

Baroness Jenny Jones

Jean Lambert MEP

(Green, London)

Caroline Lucas MP

(Brighton Pavilion, Green)

Molly Scott Cato MEP

(Green, South-West England)

A long road to Bethlehem

The letter from 300 of psychologys top brass (2 March), calling for their planned conference in Jerusalem to be moved elsewhere, made me think of a better venue, namely the beautiful, newly built convention centre seven miles away in Bethlehem.

If such a decision were made, can I suggest that those who can fly to Tel Aviv, get the shuttle to Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, on the Israeli-only road, then a bus to the check point to go through the Wall and into Bethlehem.

A further understanding of the Palestinian situation could be had by undertaking the return by the way that virtually all Palestinians have to: across the Jordan River and home by way of Amman.

Many may be concerned for their safety, but after a career that has encompassed business in virtually all Arabia, I have felt more at home in the West Bank than elsewhere. It would help them to understand the patience, restraint, and positive outlook of the Palestinians.

Peter Downey

Bethlehem-Bath Links, Bath

I was surprised to see a letter from Pamela Manning (5 March) questioning Israels democratic status. Israel is a parliamentary democracy with universal suffrage for all citizens, regardless of race, religion, or sex.

It is the only democracy in the Middle East. By contrast, no national elections have been held in the Palestine Authority since 2006.

Stephen Lewis

Salford

How to pay for affordable homes

As developers grab more and more greenfield land and wriggle out of building true low-cost homes, with the plea that they are not viable, yet show increases of 30-40 per cent in profits, perhaps it is time for an excess profits tax.

This could be used to fund the building of the social and truly affordable homes needed, and also to regenerate the brownfield sites upon which they refuse to build.

Ian McKintosh

Ottery St Mary, Devon

A litter-free lane, thanks to the Queen

Even though a paid-up member of Republic, with a neighbour I have litter-picked a three-mile stretch of country lane between my village and the next, as part of the Clean for the Queen effort. We collected eight loads of rubbish, mainly plastic bottles. I encourage everyone to do the same and rejoice that finally there is some purpose to the monarchy.

Patrick Cosgrove

Chapel Lawn, Shropshire

What a daft rule about punctuation!

Your report (7 March) that the Department for Education has stated that exclamation marks can only be used in sentences beginning with How or What surprised me.

I frequently use exclamation marks to indicate irony. I must remember not to in future, particularly as I didnt do a degree in English but studied science instead, so am unable to write a coherent sentence!!! Oops.

Patrick Cleary

Honiton, Devon
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Its always horrible when people lose their jobs. But, sometimes, the hard truth is that redundancies can represent a victory for public policy. A plastic bag manufacturer in Lancashire last week went bust, at a cost of 40 local jobs. A manager for Nelson Packaging blamed the 5p levy on plastic bags, introduced by the Government in England last October.

That is exactly the sort of thing ministers and environmental campaigners, if they were honest about it, wanted to happen. Discouraging demand leads to less supply. And that has to mean, indirectly, fewer people employed to make plastic bags.

Yet whats rather curious from an economic perspective is just how sensitive demand for plastic bags has been to this levy. Or, to use the economic jargon, how price elastic it has proved.

When chancellors add pennies on to the price of tobacco or alcohol at Budget time, we dont see big falls in the publics consumption of such items. Yet Tesco has said the use of plastic bags by its shoppers is down by as much as 80 per cent since the 5p charge was introduced only five months ago. Thats very much in line with similar falls in bag usage in Northern Ireland and Wales when they introduced similar levies a few years ago.

Consider how often you go grocery shopping. Lets say thats once a week and lets imagine you do a big family shop requiring eight new bags. So that comes to 40p. Imagine you never reuse them. Thats a cost of around 20 a year. Every penny counts, particularly to families who are barely getting by.

However, thats still not a lot of money in the scheme of things.

Many people lose up to 200 a year by failing to switch to different bank with lower overdraft charges. Similar sums are lost by people who stick with the same energy supplier. Its likely some of the people who have changed their behaviour over the plastic bag tax have not moved to change bank or energy supplier, despite the potential saving being more than 10 times greater. Its likely that many of the people who have stopped taking new plastic bags would not stoop down to pick up a 5p piece left lying in the street.

Damn, I forgot to bring the bags, my wife will sometimes cry out when we reach the checkout and face the prospect of asking the assistant to pull some new plastic carriers out of a drawer for us. But she knows that the cost of those new bags isnt really going to make a difference to our overall household finances.

So whats going on? Psychologists have identified a zero price effect. When an item moves from free (zero) to 5p, it can be more noticeable than when, for example, the price increases from 40p and 45p - even though the absolute change is identical. The 5p levy might be small but it looms large in our minds.

Thats probably something to do with it. But theres something else too. Plastic bag use in the UK fell sharply between 2006 and 2009, with single-use bags falling from around 12 billion to 7 billion. This was largely thanks to a surge in public awareness of the environmental damage a result of various media reports and campaigns. That suggests an underlying desire among a significant proportion of the public to use fewer of them.

But usage bounced back up to 8.5 billion after 2009. It has apparently taken the 5p levy to break the dam of inaction and prompt a big shift in collective behaviour.

The 5p may not be financially significant, but its a regular prompt or nudge for people that wasnt there before. The mechanics are important. People have to make a choice: do we ask for a bag, or not?

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.

Would big signs above checkout counters urging customers to reuse bags (or to take out cloth ones) have had the same effect? Its hard to imagine so. There is probably an element of herding and even stigma too. If everyone is reusing bags, there is a social pressure to do the same. Do you really want to be the single environmental vandal in the shop?

Theres another sense in which this isnt only about the money. Supermarkets could technically keep the proceeds of the levy and use them to pad out their profits. But, under pressure from the Government and shoppers, they have instead pledged to give the cash raised to environmental charities. So this might be best viewed as collective social endeavour to minimise the overall use of plastic bags. Thats what those who deprecated the levy as an outrageous act of the nanny state  or another rapacious stealth tax imposed on a long-suffering population  missed. Its actually pushing at an open door. This is taxation by consent.

It is well established that price changes do influence consumer behaviour. When the previous Labour government temporarily cut the rate of VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent during the 2008 recession, researchers predicted a substantive increase in aggregate consumer spending, relative to where it would otherwise have been.

Yet there can be much more to human behaviour than robotic responses to price signals. Money might even have the opposite effects to what one might have imagined. Consider blood donations. Some evidence suggests that moving to a system of paying people to give donations would result in the overall numbers coming forward falling. The act of giving blood is viewed by many as altruistic and civic, something removed from the market. Turning it into a financial transaction for personal profit could mean these altruistic donors lose interest.

A sense of fairness also matters. There is a social science experiment called the ultimatum game in which two people are gifted a small pot of money. One person is then allowed to propose how to split the windfall. If the second person accepts the split, it is distributed as proposed. But if the second person rejects the proposal, neither gets anything. Logically, the second person should accept any split that means receiving a payment above zero. Its surely better to get something, rather than nothing, even if the other guy gets more. But in reality, anything significantly different from a proposed straight 50-50 split of the windfall tends to be rejected. People would apparently rather get nothing than feel insulted or exploited.

Financial incentives are powerful influences on our behaviour. But, as the curiously powerful plastic bag charge vividly demonstrates, they are by no means the whole story.
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Placing death on the front page of a newspaper is rarely done. In almost any circumstances, a decision to show a picture of a dead body so prominently is likely to divide opinion.

Last Tuesdays Independent devoted half of page one to a remarkable picture that showed a German yachtsman, Manfred Bajarot, whose corpse had been found in his listing boat off the coast of the Philippines. It was said he had been sailing the world for two decades, rarely seen or heard from by friends or family. The cause of his death was uncertain but the climatic conditions had resulted in the natural mummification of his body.

Several readers complained that we should not have used the picture, let alone place it on the front page where it was likely to be seen by children and passing shoppers. Some simply thought the image was distasteful; others felt its publication showed a lack of respect towards the dead man and his family. So, was it the right thing to do?

The photograph had been released by the Filipino authorities and was widely in circulation. There may not have been an overriding public interest in showing the image  the death of a reclusive sailor from another country isnt of vital importance. But the more critical question is whether publication by The Independent was insensitive to the mans family; and Im not convinced that it was, especially bearing in mind how extensively it had already been seen around the world. We did not present the image in a way that trivialised or belittled Mr Bajorats demise.

Indeed, on most occasions that newspapers choose to show images of death it is in the context of war or some other large-scale human disaster. On this occasion, the most likely explanation for Mr Bajorats demise was a heart attack; how mundane. As such, it was a death with which we can more easily identify, albeit that the situation of his discovery was unusual.

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Others may disagree, but to me there was a certain beauty in his preserved form. Far from publication being an act of disrespect, it felt more like a kind of veneration  and perhaps even a useful memento mori for those whose initial reaction was to turn away in horror at something that will come to us all.

Why we stand with Zaman

Whatever you may think about the editorial decision that led to the appearance of a mummified corpse on last weeks front page, at least we have the freedom to make that choice  and perhaps more importantly to pass judgement on all manner of things from politics to arts, and public policy to sporting performances. The British press remains thankfully removed from the control of politicians.

Not so the Turkish media, which is increasingly burdened by direct interference from government. Last week, the Zaman daily newspaper  a critical voice and thorn in the side of President Erdogan  was placed under the control of trustees following a court ruling. It has, in effect, been taken over by the state.

The development led to mass protests, although in truth it is only the latest in a long line of abuses against media freedom in Turkey. Despite its supposedly democratic status, an independent press has always been cautiously viewed by governments in Ankara  under Erdogans autocratic rule any pretence at tolerating a free media appears to have been dispensed with.

Press freedom is not a luxury in a democracy, it is a prerequisite. Anyone who cares about democratic values must stand by Zaman.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. About 200 terrorists have taken the side of the residents of Syrian city of Raqqa, who have been rebelling against Daesh jihadist group, Armenpress reports, a source told Sputnik.

On Sunday, residents of the occupied Raqqa clashed with the Daesh militants and flown Syria's flags in five neighborhoods of the city. The residents took to the streets in two neighborhoods, killing a number of Daesh militants.

"About 200 Syrian militants of Daesh [another name for Islamic State] took the side of residents of Raqqa, which forced the terrorists to organize roadblocks at the entrance to the city," the source said.

The city of Raqqa is the de facto Daesh capital and their major stronghold in Syria. It has been under control of the jihadists since August 2014. Currently the Syrian army, as well as the Kurdish militias are carrying out offensives to liberate the city from Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries, including the United States and Russia.
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I am a Liberal Democrat to the core. I believe that the rights we hold are universal and that people and nations always achieve more working together in harmony than they do apart.

So why have I come to believe that Britain should leave the European Union? Why would I challenge the sacred cow that is meant to bind together all those in my party?

Quite simply  because I am a liberal, a democrat and an internationalist. And what the European Union has become, contrary to the dreams of those of us who fought for our membership in the 1970s, is none of these things.

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At the core of our principles lies the belief that power should be held as close as possible to individuals and their communities and that those who wield that power should be accountable to it.

In the European Union, true power is held behind closed doors in the Council of Ministers, who make decisions away from the cameras and above the heads of voters. How can I continually advocate the devolution of power from Whitehall to local government, while applauding the transfer of power from our flawed but elected parliament to an unelected and unaccountable EU bureaucracy?

Some progressives argue that the EU forces us to enact regulations, from environmental standards to labour laws, that our elected representatives otherwise would not. However seemingly benign, this undermines the very principle of liberal democracy. We end up with no answer to the final two of Tony Benns famous questions to the powerful: To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?

Even if you like some EU regulations, however undemocratic, do we not have a responsibility to the rest of the world? Free trade has for the best part of two centuries been the liberal solution for peace and prosperity between nations. But inside the European Union, that principle ends at its borders. Why should African countries be forced to pay 30  60 per cent import tariffs if they want to sell cocoa products to British chocolate factories? Are they not entitled, especially given Europes terrible legacy of colonialism, to a fair deal and an equal footing?

Thousands of refugees are fleeing the Middle East and North Africa yet the free movement of peoples inside the European Union has in effect become a closed door to the rest of the world. Moving to Britain should be a question of the skills you can contribute and the values you share  not the passport you hold. Unshackled from the EU, I believe the nations of Europe and beyond will be far better served working to solve this issue together, rather than acting through a failed bureaucracy.

So with a heavy heart, in the upcoming referendum, I will vote to leave the EU and have joined with other party members and supporters to set up the Liberal Leave campaign group. I do this not in spite of being a liberal, but because I am a liberal.

Paul Keetch is a former Lib Dem MP
One of the country's most high-profile judges, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, has died.

Chief Justice Susan Denham described her colleague as "a man who had made great and courageous efforts on behalf of those who sought justice".

"He neither favoured nor feared any interest - and went about his work with great integrity, grit and dedication," she said.

The Courts Service said Judge Denham had "received the news with great sadness and shock" and her immediate reaction was to be mindful of the needs of Judge Hardiman's wife, Judge Yvonne Murphy and family.

The 64-year-old had been due to speak tonight at an event on the Irish language at NUI Galway along with President Michael D Higgins.

Judge Hardiman was born in Dublin in 1951 and educated at Belvedere College, University College Dublin and the King's Inns.

He was called to the Bar in 1974 and practised as a barrister for the next 26 years, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, an unusual promotion to the the highest court directly from the ranks of lawyers.

President Higgins described Judge Hardiman as one of the great legal minds of his generation.

"On the Supreme Court, Judge Hardiman has made an immense contribution to the development of Irish law. The depth and rigour of his legal analysis has been matched by the eloquence and clarity of his judgments," the President said.

"A strong voice on the court, he has been rightly recognised as a particularly passionate defender of civil liberties and of individual freedoms."

President Higgins described the late judge as a proud and patriotic Irishman, and a lifelong defender of the Constitution.

"His loss to Ireland and to law will be enormous," he said.

Among the high-profile cases Judge Hardiman ruled on was the lawsuit against the State taken by Frank Shortt, a Donegal publican framed for drug dealing by rogue gardai.

The Supreme Court awarded him 4.5 million euro in 2007 - doubling his compensation for miscarriage of justice after being jailed for three years.

Judge Hardiman said it was the worst case of its kind the State had been aware of.

"Mr Shortt was framed by gardai who, on all the evidence, bore him at first no personal ill will, simply in pursuit of an unscrupulous scheme to advance their careers," he said in his judgment.

Judge Hardiman also campaigned against the eighth amendment to the Constitution which banned abortion and was a founding member of the Progressive Democrats.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: "Adrian had a long and illustrious legal career and was one of the great minds of our time.

"As well as his enormous contribution to our judicial system, he had a love of our language, a huge interest in history and politics and was also a published writer and broadcaster."

Another high-profile case which Judge Hardiman ruled on was an unsuccessful attempt to force Portmarnock Golf Club to admit women members.

Last year, Judge Hardiman criticised a Supreme Court ruling which would allow the State to use unconstitutionally obtained evidence in a criminal trial.

He said it would give the Garda "effective immunity from judicial oversight".

In a speech in 2014 Judge Hardiman warned that the European Court of Human Rights may be exceeding its powers by taking on cases that have not been fully heard in member states.

He criticised its adjudication in the case of Louise O'Keeffe, after she asked the Strasbourg judges to rule on her claim that the State was " directly liable" for abuse she suffered in school.

The Supreme Court held a special sitting at 2pm in the Four Courts, leaving Judge Hardiman's seat empty as the Chief Justice paid a glowing and heartfelt tribute.

Judge Denham described her late colleague as a Renaissance man, an historian and a remarkable and engaging Joycean scholar.

"However, it is as a colleague and a friend that the members of the court will miss him," she said.

"His eloquence in conference, his depth of knowledge, his humour, but most of all his friendship, will be sorely missed by each member of the court."

Judge Denham said his profound knowledge of the law and fluency in expressing his views added immensely to legal jurisprudence in Ireland.

She highlighted Judge Hardiman's "concern for the protection of persons and their dignity" in judgments that found suspects have a right to legal advice before being interrogated by detectives.
The silhouette of Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., is seen as he exits the stage during the Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, June 8, 2015. Apple Inc. kicked off its annual developers conference in San Francisco, where the company will unveil a revamped streaming-music service, improvements to its mobile software and tools to speed up smartwatch application

Apple customers were targeted by hackers over the weekend in the first campaign against Macintosh computers using a pernicious type of software known as ransomware, researchers with Palo Alto Networks told Reuters on Sunday.

Ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of cyber threats, encrypts data on infected machines, then typically asks users to pay ransoms in hard-to-trace digital currencies to get an electronic key so they can retrieve their data.

Security experts estimate that ransoms total hundreds of millions of dollars a year from such cyber criminals, who typically target users of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Palo Alto Threat Intelligence Director Ryan Olson said the "KeRanger" malware, which appeared on Friday, was the first functioning ransomware attacking Apple's Mac computers.

"This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom," Olson said in a telephone interview.

Hackers infected Macs through a tainted copy of a popular programme known as Transmission, which is used to transfer data through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing network, Palo Alto said on a blog posted on Sunday afternoon.

When users downloaded version 2.90 of Transmission, which was released on Friday, their Macs were infected with the ransomware, the blog said.

An Apple representative said the company had taken steps over the weekend to prevent further infections by revoking a digital certificate that enabled the rogue software to install on Macs. The representative declined to provide other details.

Transmission responded by removing the malicious version of its software from its website, www.transmissionbt.com. On Sunday it released a version that its website said automatically removes the ransomware from infected Macs.

The website advised Transmission users to immediately install the new update, version 2.92, if they suspected they might be infected.

Palo Alto said on its blog that KeRanger is programmed to stay quiet for three days after infecting a computer, then connect to the attacker's server and start encrypting files so they cannot be accessed.

After encryption is completed, KeRanger demands a ransom of 1 bitcoin, or about $400, the blog said. (bit.ly/1Rvroxv)

Olson, the Palo Alto threat intelligence director, said that the victims whose machines were compromised but not cleaned up could start losing access to data on Monday, which is three days after the virus was loaded onto Transmission's site.

Representatives with Transmission could not be reached for comment.
Another week, another batch of company results. Results season is thrilling sometimes, when a big deal is announced, or a company unexpectedly issues a profit warning and the share price tumbles (business hacks love a bit of bad news).

Most of the time, though, results season involves a bunch of stock exchange announcements being dumped on the wire at 7am that contain little news or drama.

But this week promises interesting results from interesting companies from today onwards.

Irish Continental Group (ICG) - the owner of Irish Ferries - is first up this morning with its full-year results for 2015.

ICG had a very strong first half of 2015, with pre-tax profits rocketing more than 450pc to 14.9m.

Considering H1 is traditionally the weaker half of the year for ICG, the market is expecting a strong conclusion to 2016, with the company's shares up nearly 10pc since February 25.

Paddy Power Betfair presents its first set of results as one entity on Tuesday, while Grafton Group will also update the market on how things went for it in 2015.

Davy Stockbrokers, at least, are very bullish on Grafton's prospects. The owner of Woodie's DIY and Heaton Buckley building merchants, among many other brands, will have been boosted by the weakening of sterling, among other factors. Indeed, Davy analysts believe Grafton "represents the most attractive cyclical recovery story across our UK building distribution and DIY universe".

For the regular investor, Permanent TSB still holds an interest, albeit a morbid one at this stage, given the loss of value ordinary shareholders experienced once the property bubble collapsed.

Permanent TSB has always had the longest road to recovery of the surviving Irish banks, and there is little to indicate that this view will change with the firm's 2016 results, when they are published on Wednesday.

At its half-year report, Permanent TSB boss Jeremy Masding warned that what the bank called "congestion" in the UK market may hurt its ability to sell off what is left of its British home loans portfolio, which has a par value of around 2.4bn (3.1bn).

That, combined with the ongoing regulatory burden Permanent TSB faces, will probably more than offset any underlying improvement we see with the bank. PTSB has a ways to go yet.
The developers of the site where U2 recorded some of their best-loved albums have failed in their battle with Dublin City Council over a disputed Luas Red Line payment of almost 500,000.

Last year, Dublin City Council gave Hibernia Reit, which is headed by CEO Kevin Nowlan, the go-ahead for revised plans to construct a 50m mixed-use development on the Sir John Rogerson's Quay site adjacent to the former U2 studio site at Windmill Lane on the south side of the River Liffey.

The revised six-storey mixed-use plan for Sir John Rogerson Quay comprises of 13,700 sq metres in gross floorspace.

However, arising from a 2013 Dublin City Council contribution scheme for Luas Docklands, the City Council slapped a 472,878 bill on Hibernia towards contributing to the Luas line from Connolly Station to Point Square in the Docklands area.

However, Hibernia appealed against the condition demanding the 472,878 to An Bord Pleanala, describing it as "inequitable and unreasonable".

However, the inspector in the case has described the grounds of the Hibernia appeal as "implausible", stating that it would be unjust to allow Hibernia to avoid not paying the contribution.

As a result, the board has upheld the ruling to impose the 472,878 levy.
IRELANDS smartest building, the 60m One Albert Quay complex, was officially opened in Cork to serve as home to 500 workers and new global headquarters for a leading multi-national.

Tyco are anchor-tenants for the largest office complex ever built outside Dublin and its availability underpinned a 500 job recruitment drive in 2014.

One Albert Quay, built by John Cleary Developments (JCD), was also designed to include the cutting-edge new smart systems designed by Tyco.

Mr Cleary hailed the complex, located adjacent to Corks City Hall, as the smartest building in Ireland. High-tech computer systems allow the building operators to monitor a total of 12 different office functions.

These range from fire safety monitoring, security, asset tracking, energy efficiency, comfort levels, elevator operations, lighting systems and even smart parking for workers and guests.

Tyco has now located its global headquarters in Cork and more than 500 employees will be based at One Albert Quay. The firms general manager, Donal Sullivan, said such smart buildings are now critical to the future.

We are thrilled with the building, its a wonderful place to work and it acts as a talent magnet for Tyco and the region generally, he said.

We have deployed the best Tyco technology from around the world to make this a truly smart building.

We get the opportunity to use the building as a test-bed for future development and it acts as a demonstrator location of Tycos offerings to our global client base.

The building developer, John Cleary, said the complex represents a landmark in the type of facility that can now be offered to business clients.

It was a very exciting and sophisticated project to work on, he said.

It really is a building that we can all be very proud of. It also is a great endorsement for the building to have Tyco on board as the anchor tenant here in One Albert Quay.

Earlier this year, Tyco and Johnson Controls announced plans to merge and create a global leader in building products and technology, integrated solutions and energy storage.

The new Cork complex will be global headquarters for the combined firm. Tyco already employ 57,000 people across 50 countries worldwide.

JCD, which was founded 20 years ago, is currently working on a 50m commercial and retail redevelopment of the Capitol Cineplex city in Cork city centre.

Projects worth more than 350m are now underway in Cork including One Albert Quay, the 60m Cork events centre being built by BAM/Heineken on the old Beamish & Crawford site, the 3m facelift for Kent railway station, the 70m revamp of Pairc Ui Chaoimh GAA stadium, the 3.2m Irish Independent rugby stadium revamp and a 90m office complex at Albert Quay by Owen OCallaghan.
AirHelp said that its solicitors have sent 293 letters in recent weeks, 259 of them to Ryanair, 30 to Aer Lingus and four to CityJet. Photo: PA

A Dublin-based firm, AirHelp, which helps passengers process claims against airlines, has served Ryanair and Aer Lingus with almost 300 letters of legal action as it presses them to cough up compensation the company claims the carriers owe passengers for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights.

AirHelp said that its solicitors have sent 293 letters in recent weeks, 259 of them to Ryanair, 30 to Aer Lingus and four to CityJet.

AirHelp said it's pursuing claims under a specific EU regulation - EU261 - that it says entitles passengers to up to 600 in compensation if their flight is delayed, cancelled, or overbooked, and if the delay is not caused by extraordinary circumstances.

The firm says that of the letters it has recently sent, 84 of the cases have moved to proceedings and 30 are settled.

"We're holding the airlines accountable where the law states that compensation is due, and we hope the airlines will finally live up to their lawful obligations to passengers," said AirHelp Ireland country manager Brian Whelan.

But Ryanair insisted the figures provided by AirHelp are misleading.

"We recently received less than 80 letters from these people and most of their claims had already been settled or didn't qualify for EU 261 claims," said a spokeswoman.

"Any passengers with a valid EU 261 claim should submit it directly to Ryanair and avoid the costs of these unnecessary and expensive claim chasers," she added.

Aer Lingus declined to comment.

AirHelp claims to have hundreds more letters ready to be sent from its solicitors to the airlines in relation to the same issues.
The Rubicon Centre, an Irish business innovation hub, has signed a five-year contract with Enterprise Ireland to continue the roll out of its national entrepreneur development programme, New Frontiers.

The contract is said to be worth 2m in both direct and indirect funding.

The enterprise programmes has been running since 1998 with 269 businesses having participated in courses at the centre so far. The centre says that 75pc of all firms that participated are still operating today.

The new deal will support over 70 start-ups, which are expected to create in the region of 650 new jobs.

Martin Corkery, Enterprise Ireland's regional manager, said the firm was delighted to continue its relationship with the Munster-based Rubicon Centre.

"2015 was a record year for start ups with 105 new high potential start- ups , 47pc of which were outside of Dublin. The success of the programme to date is proof that the team in the Rubicon Centre are focused on the development of entrepreneurs and know what it takes to encourage and drive start up companies, taking them from ideas on a page to market."

Meanwhile Rubicon centre manager, Paul Healy, said that start-ups are a "powerful engine" for job creation and economic growth.

"2016 is set to be a momentous year as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the physical Rubicon Centre in CIT and we are doubly thrilled to retain the contract to roll out the New Frontiers Programme for another five years.

"We have learned so much from the entrepreneurs we have worked with over the past 18 years and it is them that have given us the edge in knowing what it takes to build great and sustainable businesses which can compete not just on the Irish market but on the world stage," Mr Healy said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. About 17,000 U.S. forces will participate in the joint military exercises with South Korea, according to United States Forces Korea.

The two exercises, "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle," will run until April 30. "Foal Eagle" will involve ground, air, naval and special operations forces from both militaries, USFA said. Armenpress reports, citing CNN.

North Korea warned it would make a "preemptive and offensive nuclear strike" in response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

The news was announced in a statement by the National Defense Commission of North Korea and published in the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"As the joint military exercises to be staged by the enemies are regarded as the most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK, its military counteraction will be more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike to cope with them," the statement read.

The Security Council voted last week to impose an array of sanctions against North Korea because of that nation's recent nuclear test and missile launch, both of which defied international sanctions. The resolution that brought about the sanctions aims to cripple the economic factors that fuel the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The North Korean news agency has blasted the sanctions as "unprecedented and gangster-like."

Discussions about new sanctions started after North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in January, its fourth nuclear test.

Then, in February, Pyongyang said it had successfully launched an Earth satellite into orbit via the long-range Kwangmyongsong carrier rocket.
Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers:

Irish Independent

* The deposit amount being used by buyers taking out a mortgage has shot up to 51,000.

Stark new figures from the banks show the value of the average deposit has risen by 38pc in a year from 38,000 to an average of 51,000 for Dublin buyers, figures uncovered by the Irish Independent show.

The banking data shows a deposit of 20,000 being used outside of Dublin by the end of 2015, up from 16,000 in 2014.

* Small businesses are looking for more and more credit from the banks, and the rate of refusal from lenders is shrinking as the economy keeps improving.

New figures from small firms lobby group ISME show that demand for bank credit among its members is increasing steadily. That is in marked contrast to the depths of the economic crash, when demand had collapsed and the crippled banking sector was widely criticised for refusing lending to profitable companies.

The latest 'Bank Watch Survey' from ISME found that 41pc of its members approached their banks for a loan between December and February. That compares to 35pc in the previous survey.

* A Dublin-based firm, AirHelp, which helps passengers process claims against airlines, has served Ryanair and Aer Lingus with almost 300 letters of legal action as it presses them to cough up compensation the company claims the carriers owe passengers for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights.

AirHelp said that its solicitors have sent 293 letters in recent weeks, 259 of them to Ryanair, 30 to Aer Lingus and four to CityJet.

AirHelp said it's pursuing claims under a specific EU regulation - EU261 - that it says entitles passengers to up to 600 in compensation if their flight is delayed, cancelled, or overbooked, and if the delay is not caused by extraordinary circumstances.

The Irish Times

* Ardagh, an Irish firm that makes cans and bottles for the likes of Heiniken and Coca Cola, has said its flotation plans remain on hold.

The company, which is headed up by Paul Coulson, confirmed that it would bid for factories that belong to two of its rivales, Ball and Rexam.

Ball and Rexam must sell some 12 plants in order for its proposed merger to go ahead.

* Enet, an Irish telecoms firm, is to bid for the Government's rural broadband scheme with the tenders for the scheme due to be awarded later this year.

Enet will be in competition with Eir, the company formerly known as Eircom, and Siro, the ESB-Vodafone joint venture.

The company is owned by a consortium of US investors including the $23bn-valued hedge fund, Oak Hill Capital.

* Under 15pc of the most senior executives in the retail sector are female, according to a new survey from European Supermarket Magazine.

The survey quizzed 150 of the biggest consumer brands and grocers across Europe and deemed women to be underrepresented at the top level in management.

In Ireland less than 9pc of the top management roles in the sector are occupied by women.

Irish Examiner

* The developers of the site where U2 recorded some of their best-loved albums have failed in their battle with Dublin City Council over a disputed Luas Red Line payment of almost 500,000.

Last year, Dublin City Council gave Hibernia Reit, which is headed by CEO Kevin Nowlan, the go-ahead for revised plans to construct a 50m mixed-use development on the Sir John Rogerson's Quay site adjacent to the former U2 studio site at Windmill Lane on the south side of the River Liffey.

The revised six-storey mixed-use plan for Sir John Rogerson Quay comprises of 13,700 sq metres in gross floorspace.

* Irish job protection has been criticised by a new report from the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute.

The report says that Ireland substantially reduced benefit spending as well as increasing the conditions to accessing the benefits over the course of the financial crash.

The institute found the trend to be Europe-wide with a shift towards weaker job security.

* A British exit from the EU, could damage both the European and global economies according to German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Should Britain vote to leave the EU it would take its second-largest economy out of the union.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has stated that he feels the country would remain better off by staying in the EU.
Attendees at the National Residential Property Conference, held at the RDS this week, were treated to a surprise visit from rugby great Paul OConnell who chatted with host Pat Kenny about his retirement, that injury and Irelands chances in the Six Nations Championship

One of the challenges for a vendor placing his or her property on the market is to decide which estate agent to engage. Most people usually ask a minimum of two agents to inspect their home. Some will engage more. I recommend no more than three. In many cases, if a vendor opts to ask three agents to give an appraisal, the three will be made up of two nationwide brands and one established independent local agent.

The property industry was regulated in 2011 and, nowadays, all agents must be licensed by law. This has helped to raise the standards and quality of professionals in the industry nationally. My experience over 25 years as an estate agent is that vendors tend to focus on two factors when choosing an agent - the fees, and the value being placed on the house.

A note of caution, don't base your decision on these issues alone. It may well turn out to be the case that the agent with the highest value or lowest fee is the right person for the job, however, there are other factors to be considered, including recent sales achieved by the agent and their online offering - 95pc of first-time buyers now find out about their first home online. Fish where the fish are, online.

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You could be misguided if you opt for the agent quoting the highest value. Ask them to justify their valuation with relevant local evidence to back it up.

Second, the fact that an agent is charging a smaller marketing fee or commission doesn't mean they are the best person for the job. They may be trying to increase market share or they may need to charge less for a reason.

Sales fees vary across the country, from as low as 1pc in Dublin, to 2.5pc in rural areas due to the huge difference in property values. No matter where your property is located, if a more expensive agent secures an additional 5,000 for your property, it will make the additional 500 they charge in fees look very insignificant.

My advice? Try to factor in all the above before deciding on who you engage.

Looking into the future

DURING the week, over 700 delegates made their way to the third National Residential Property Conference in the RDS in Ballsbridge, run as part of the INM Property Programme. This year's theme focused on the changing face of technology in the property industry and the huge impact it now has on property sales and transactions. The line-up of speakers included Enda Gunnell of Pinergy, Keith Lowe of DNG, Niall O'Grady of Permanent TSB, and Dominic Wilson of Pi Labs, with veteran broadcaster Pat Kenny hosting and a surprise visit from rugby legend Paul O'Connell.

We learned that, in the near future, the consumer will expect to carry out all aspects of their purchase or sale, finding a house, securing mortgage approval, placing an offer, signing the contract and servicing the property, via a smartphone.

However, the physical inspection of the property will remain. Buyers will always want to see, touch and experience their potential acquisition. According to Dominic Wilson, of Pi Labs, a UK-based venture capitalist group specialising in start-up property tech companies, the estate agency of the future will be a hybrid of the traditional combined with the ever-evolving online property technological facilities.

Election reflects two tier recovery

The results of the general election are consistent with what property folk from outside the main cities had been pointing to - a two-tier revival that wasn't being felt in the regions.

When the market started to rebound in 2014, it was clear that Dublin was initially benefiting from the upturn, with increases in residential values of up 30pc over a 15-month period. Regionally, the bounce was much less marked, however. Prices were coming from a lower base, so the effects have been less evident. Most political commentators agree that the outgoing government was not sufficiently in tune with the differing needs and challenges that still exist for voters outside the capital, hence the drop in support for the coalition.

With 6.8pc growth in 2015 and a further 5pc anticipated in 2016, Ireland is now one of the fastest expanding economies in Europe. But it's abundantly clear that the impact of the upturn is only being felt in our main cities and in the commuter areas servicing the capital.

So what is the likely outlook for the regions? It is likely that rural property prices will continue to experience single digit increases year on year for the foreseeable future.

Deja vu for first-timers

To date, most of the attention in relation to the amended deposit rules has focused on the initial 20pc deposit requirement. Another issue, however, which has become even more of a challenge for buyers, is the earnings capacity requirement (see Ronan Lyons column, page 9, for more).

The current Central Bank rules provide that lenders can only advance a maximum of 3.5 times their gross salary to 85pc of borrowers. So, take for example, the greater Dublin area and surrounding commuter counties where it's not uncommon for a typical three-bed starter home to cost 280,000. A working couple would need to be earning 80,000 a year cumulatively to qualify.

According to CSO figures, the average salary for an individual in 2015 was 35,600. Most potential buyers simply will not qualify for a mortgage unless they move further out from the capital where average values are lower.

Agents outside the M50 report that there now seems to be an element of deja vu, as first-time buyers, in an attempt to secure their first home, are again being forced to increase their commuting time. First-time buyers in the UK can source up to 4.5 times their gross income.

Let's be sensible and controlled in allowing those who can repay a mortgage to secure a mortgage. On a positive note, if the trend continues, it may just create a demand for some of the surplus houses built in out of the way places during the boom.
More than half a million quid in funding is up for grabs as part of the 2016 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) awards programme, which launches today.

SEI is looking for applications from "ambitious individuals with big ideas and the energy to address social problems on the island of Ireland".

The awards programme, which is backed by the conglomerate DCC, will provide 600,000 in development funding and support to nine "social entrepreneurs". SEI says this round of funding will bring the total funding provided by it to over 6.5m.

Previous recipients have tackled a wide range of social issues, from adult education and the provision of emergency services in rural areas to voter engagement and food waste. Former winners include CoderDojo, FoodCloud, Pieta House and Smartvote.

SEI chief executive Darren Ryan commented: "Just as entrepreneurs can drive change in business, social entrepreneurs can bring about real change in society. This year, we are calling on people all around Ireland to consider if their Big Idea has the potential to change Ireland. If so, we want to hear from them."

DCC CEO Tommy Breen said he "strongly believes" in the work carried out by SEI.

A series of roadshow events will also be taking place across the country as part of the awards programme.

Could business be for a Brexit?

Sometimes, having no government of sorts isn't a bad thing.

Here, we had to endure three weeks of electioneering and now weeks of negotiations between parties either desperately trying to hold on to power or trying to attain it.

In the UK, though, it's much worse - they have to endure three months of rows and disputes and fights ahead of the upcoming referendum on whether Britain should "remain or leave" in the EU.

London Mayor Boris Johnson is effectively leading the "leave" campaign and yesterday he was accusing the "remain" side of having engineered the suspension of John Longworth, the head of business lobby group the British Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Longworth's suspension got The Punt thinking about how something like that would play out in Ireland.

Would a body like IBEC suspend its chief executive for making comments around a referendum or election?

We doubt it, and we hope not.

Sometimes a lobbyist has to, y'know, lobby.

Building firms get night out

A host of construction-related businesses got out their best bib and tucker for the inaugural Machinery Movers Magazine Industry Awards, sponsored by AIB Finance & Leasing, at the Mount Wolseley Hotel in Co Carlow.

Winners of the company awards included Shannon Valley for demolition company of the year; Creagh Concrete for quarry company of the year; Atlantic Plant Hire won contract crusher of the year; Whelan Plant Sales won attachment dealer of the year; Shannon Valley won the gong for special construction project; while Vincent Dempsey Plant Hire won plant hire company of the year.

Swan Plant Hire won Irish rental firm 2016. Pat O'Donnell from Pat O Donnell & Co was handed the lifetime achievement award.

Awards were also presented to operators in the construction and quarry industry.

Winners of the operator awards included Paddy Patton for large excavator operator of the year; Gary Ryan won rockbreaker operator of the year; Vincent Troy was named mini excavator operator of the year, while Hugh Ryan won bulldozer operator of the year.

Martin McGuire won tipper truck operator of the year and Oliver Rigney took home the gong for wheeled excavator operator of the year.
Mark Hamill arrives at the world premiere of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles

Actors, from left, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Harrison Ford as Han Solo, appear in a scene from Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope"

Mark Hammill has finally addressed one of Star Wars' most enduring enigmas - Luke Skywalker's sexuality.

The 64-year-old actor has played the iconic role since 1977 and said Skywalker's sexuality is up for interpretation. The popular star, who is set to return to Ireland this summer to film Star Wars: Episode VIII, said he regularly receives fan mail from teenagers asking if the Jedi Master could be gay and that Star Wars: The Force Awakens producer JJ Abrams is open to exploring the possibility onscreen.

"I just read online that JJ is very much open to that. In the old days you would get fan mail," he told The Sun.

"But now fans are writing and ask all these questions, Im bullied in school... Im afraid to come out. They say to me, Could Luke be gay? Id say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer.

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"If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves."

Meanwhile, Disney Lucasfilm has reportedly selected Ceann Sibeal at the western tip of the Dingle Peninsula as a location for the next Star Wars movie and it is understood filming will take place over two weeks in May.
Yet another 1916 commemorative work of art; yet another revered and celebrated figure under the microscope. This time it's by Ann Matthews, an academic who has already written two books, Dissidents and Renegades, about Irish women and their part in the Rising and its aftermath. Her aim was to detach the women from what she sees as the isolationism of the feminist narrative, and place them in the mainstream so their reputations could sink or swim, as it were, without being either dismissed or idolised.

Her play, Madame de Markievicz on Trial, an in-house production at The New Theatre in Dublin, continues that theme.

The piece is more drama -documentary than play: there is no action as such, and the audience is addressed throughout. The text is based on witness accounts, memoirs, and official papers from the time, and is set in 1917, after Constance's release from prison under the amnesty for those arrested after the Rising, and during her incarceration for subsequent seditious speech-making.

A fictional Queen's Counsel conducts a "trial," in which he calls various witnesses to the Countess's life and work. They range from the aunt of the unarmed Catholic policeman she shot at point blank range on Stephen's Green during Easter Week, to the adoring and dazzled Helena Molony (the Abbey actor who also took part in the Rising) to Dr Kathleen Lynn, the feminist and humanitarian, to the young nurse who attended the dying policeman. The picture is built up relentlessly, if in a slightly stilted form: the story of her life "presented" in the form of questioning from prosecuting counsel.

And Constance Markievicz emerges as what can best be described as a total cow: stupid, arrogant, snobbish, posturing, insensitive and manipulative, a far cry from Yeats's lines about her and her sister Eva: "two girls in silk kimonos, both beautiful, one a gazelle." Until Easter Week, Constance merely "dabbled," her nationalist/republican involvement rather along the lines of that of Oscar Wilde's mother Speranza, who wrote bad drawing-room verse and equally bad political pamphlets from the comfort of a Merrion Square drawing room. Constance was very much the grande dame patronising the poor and under-privileged as she flitted through Dublin, although she did found and lead Na Fianna, a boy-scout type organisation with a deadly purpose: to indoctrinate and train the youngsters to become armed revolutionaries.

James Connolly appointed her to drive Kathleen Lynn around Dublin during the Rising, but such a menial task didn't suit Constance, and she abandoned Lynn (who was senior to her) outside Dublin Castle, and took herself off to Stephen's Green, where she assumed the rank of Lieutenant under Michael Mallin who was commanding the garrison.

Matthews also explodes the myth of the Countess distributing largesse to the Dublin poor: she lived on an inadequately tiny annuity inherited when her father died, but her straitened circumstances never caused her to waver in her contemptuous and authoritarian treatment of anyone she thought beneath her in status. But she did have, as Sean O'Casey was to point out, plenty of physical courage.

Barbara Dempsey plays the Countess and Neill Fleming the QC, and they both do well under Anthony Fox's clearly determined direction. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast, who carry little conviction and seem somewhat loose of accents, with Helena Molony, a child of the slums, sounding identical to the middle-class and educated Kathleen Lynn.

Madame de Markievicz on Trial will tour countrywide until April 18, and will also play a single performance at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris.
Prof Fergal Malone, Master of the Rotunda Hospital, Sabina Higgins and Anne M OByrne, head librarian at the hospital, at the opening of the Birth of a Nation exhibition yesterday. Photo: Photocall

Dublin's Rotunda Hospital has been the scene of thousands of births down through the years, and now, a new 1916 exhibition will show how the maternity hospital was instrumental in the 'Birth of a Nation'.

Sabina Higgins formally opened the exhibition which, for the first time, showcases the lives of a number of extraordinary medical women from 1916.

Through a series of never before seen photographs, diaries and specially commissioned video footage, the public will be introduced to the women of the Rising at the Rotunda, who went on to become important figures in Irish medical history.

Among them is Dr Kathleen Lynch, a member of the Irish Citizen Army who described herself to an arresting officer as "a Red Cross doctor and a belligerent", and Mary O'Shea, a midwife who witnessed the surrender of the Rising leaders on the grounds of the Rotunda.

'The Rotunda: Birth of a Nation' runs until March 31.
The PSNI have appealed for information

An investigation has been launched into the sudden death of a man in his Ballygally home, near Larne.

The man, thought to be aged in his 50s, was found dead in his Coast Road home on Sunday night.

The Fire Service were called as there were concerns carbon monoxide may have been to blame, however, their tests proved negative.

Several other people were checked over at the scene by the Ambulance Service.

Police said a post-mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of the man's death.

The Health and Safety Executive is investigating.

A spokeswoman said: "The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has been notified of a death at a property in the Larne area and is making enquiries. Our thoughts are with the family involved at this difficult time."
A convicted sex offender is running walking tours in a Northern Ireland town.

Davy Hall, 46, was convicted a decade ago of indecently assaulting a schoolgirl at a dinner dance.

Hall groped his victim during a dinner dance at a Templepatrick Hotel.

After he appeared in court he was sacked from his job teaching history at Parkhall College and was also booted out of the Ulster Unionist Party and Orange Order.

A history buff, he recently started holding 5-per-head educational tours around Antrim town centre during which he points out locations associated with the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion.

Unsuspecting Antrim DUP councillor Nigel Kells and who has innocently endorsed the tours on social media said yesterday: I know Davy, as we go to the same church. I also knew he had been sacked from his job as a teacher, but I didnt know why.

Ive only lived in Antrim eight years.

Hall said his walks have the full support of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council  a claim that is backed up by the fact they are being promoted as part of its Market in the Square event on March 19.

A number of Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors social media sharing of the tours highlight further political support.

Of course the council know about my background, and it has accepted that Ive moved on, Hall told Sunday Life yesterday.

The incident I was involved in occurred 14 years ago. Ive paid the price.

I lost my job and my career. Im trying my best to move on, he added.

Hall has a number of Saturday morning walking tours planned throughout March.

Writing on Facebook about being invited to take part in the council Market on the Square event he said: Delighted to have been invited by my local council to have my tour marketed as part of this event.

But Antrim residents who tipped Sunday Life off about Halls tours said they are unhappy that he has the endorsement of the local council.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. On the contact line of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan opposing armies the rival fired more than 1200 shots from different caliber weapons at Armenian positions during the weekend. In addition, the adversary fired two mortar projectiles (60mm) in the southern direction of the contact line.

As "Armenpress" was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the Defense Army troops mostly refrained from response actions and confidently continued carrying out their military duty.
AIB is seeking summary judgment against a husband and wife over alleged unpaid loans for around 5.5 million.

The money owed by company directors Oliver and Stephanie Kelly, of Rosbarnagh House, Torquay Road, Foxrock, Dublin, arise out of a number of loans advanced to them by AIB between 2003 and 2010.

AIB Mortgage Bank is seeking judgment of of 778,942 while AIB Plc is seeking 4.754m from them.

The bank says it issued a demand for the repayment of the loans in December.

It claims the couple have failed, refused or neglected to satisfy its demands.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern admitted the case to the Commercial Court today.

Lawyers for the couple had opposed the bank's application to have the case admitted on grounds including that AIB had delayed in bringing the proceedings.

Joseph Lyons, a manager in AIB's financial solutions group, said in an affidavit there had been in extensive discussions with the couple with a view to restructuring their borrowings between May and December of 2015.

AIB said it offered the couple terms, but its offer was not deemed acceptable by the Kellys.

A counter proposal offered by the couple was "not sustainable, " Mr Lyons said.

Matters also came to light during the negotiations that caused them concern, he said.

It was discovered a judgment mortgage of 1.5m had been registered against a primarily debt free asset of the Kellys by an employee or agent of theirs who had assisted them with their property portfolio over a 10 to 15 year period.

Mr Lyons said it had not been told of the proceedings, which issued in 2014, resulting in a judgement being issued in February 2015.

The Kellys did not dispute the action because they are in significant debt, he said.

The Kellys had asserted there was some money owing to the employee/agent but they disputed the amounts claimed, Mr Lyons said.

AIB was not satisfied with explanations it received in relation to this matter.

AIB was also advised the defendants are in the process of transferring part of their clothing business to Turkey. The resultant transfer of assets outside the EU remains a concern, Mr Lyons said.
The trial of an Irishman imprisoned in Egypt has been delayed for a 13th time.

The family of Ibrahim Halawa (20), who was arrested aged 17, have reported that the judge may make a decision on the case on June 26.

"The judge said that a decision will be made at the next hearing but as to whether he will be sentenced to death or life, we don't know," his sister Somaia told the Irish Independent.

"He hasn't considered any of the evidence or listened to the lawyers and this is the fair trial that the (Irish) Government are waiting on.

"I hope the next government puts Ibrahim as a priority and condemns what's happening to him," she added.

Mr Halawa is facing a number of serious charges, including murder, attempted murder and weapons possession alongside some 494 other defendants. He has denied all of the charges, which relate to a demonstration held in Cairo following the ousting of President Morsi by the Egyptian military.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said the latest delay caused him "deep concern".

"I want to reassure Ibrahim's family of my own and the Government's continued commitment to achieving our two objectives: to secure his return to Ireland as soon as possible and to ensure his welfare during his detention," he said.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International Ireland's director Colm O'Gorman said the new delay showed the "farcical" nature of the proceedings Mr Halawa is facing.
The forensic evidence given to the jury in the infamous Maguire Seven case was more compelling than the evidence used against a Dublin man accused of a gang murder, said a defence barrister at the Central Criminal Court.

Gary Flynn (31), of Rossfield Drive in Tallaght, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Seamus 'Shay" O'Byrne at Tymon Park North in Tallaght on March 13 2009.

During his summary of the trial's evidence defence counsel Giollaiosa O'Lideadha SC told the judge and jury that gunshot residue found on the cuffs of Mr Flynn's hoodie when he was arrested hours after the shooting did not prove he was involved.

He said the evidence of Dr Thomas Hannigan of the Forensic Science Laboratory was that it is possible for gunshot residue to transfer from one person to another. He said that the residue on Mr Flynn's cuffs could have come from people involved in the killing, who transferred it to Mr Flynn when they met up afterwards.

Referring to the Maguire 7, who were convicted due to nitro-glycerin found on their hands, he added that at least the prosecution in that case had an expert witness, who although he may have been lying, was willing to say that the presence of nitro-glycerin meant they must have handled explosives.

He said that in this case the prosecution's own witness, Dr Hannigan, had said that innocent transfer of gunshot residue is possible. He also pointed out that Dr Hannigan had said that car brake pads can create the same residue given off when a gun is fired.

Going through the State's case in the trial Mr O'Lideadha said each of the pieces of evidence could rationally be rejected by the jury. Part of the state's case, as explained by prosecuting counsel Alex Owens SC in his summary last Friday, is that Mr Flynn bought a top-up for a phone that has been linked to the alleged murder gang.

Mr Flynn was seen on CCTV buying the top-up at a Topaz garage on the Fortfield Road in Dublin less than two hours before the shooting.

Mr Owens said that Mr Flynn then got into a Primera car at the Topaz garage and traveled with the alleged gang to murder Mr O'Byrne. Mr Flynn was caught on CCTV again at Leisureplex in Coolock 30 minutes after the shooting with Eugene Cullen, who has already been convicted of murder in relation to Mr O'Byrne's death.

Mr O'Lideadha said the CCTV does not show Mr Flynn getting into the Primera at the Topaz garage. He said the jury must consider that he could have bought the top-up, handed it to Mr Cullen in the waiting Primera, and then made his own way to Coolock.

He added: "Gary Flynn was friends with Eugene Cullen and was with him before and after, but there is no evidence that he knew anything about the murder or that he participated in the murder."

Garrett O'Brien, who has been named in court as the man who shot Mr O'Byrne, has also been previously convicted. Mr O'Lideadha said it is possible that Mr O'Brien, having shot Mr O'Byrne, then met with Eugene Cullen who met up with Gary Flynn 30 minutes later at Leisureplex in Coolock and transferred gun residue to him.

"Does that alternative scenario give rise to a finding that is irrational?" he asked the jury.

Justice Patrick McCarthy began his charge to the jury, saying that they must act as judges of the facts in the case. He told them that the onus is on the prosecution to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and that there is no onus on the accused to prove anything.

Justice McCarthy will continue his charge to the jury of eight men and three women on Thursday. One of the jurors was discharged because he is unable to sit through the rest of the trial.
A former bus driver for a residential home for people with special needs has received a two year sentence for sexually assaulting a female passenger 16 years ago.

William Lynn (72), of Marewood Court, Sillogue Crescent, Ballymun, Dublin changed his plea to guilty during his trial after a video of the victim's interview with specialist gardai was played before a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

He had pleaded not guilty to ten counts of sexually assaulting the now 30-year-old woman in the vehicle and also at a private residence on dates between September 1998 and September 1999, while the woman was 13 years old.

Roisin Lacey BL prosecuting, told Judge Sarah Berkeley that the victim had cerebral palsy and operates her life on the level of a six or seven year old.

Counsel said the Director of Public Prosecution accepted the accused's plea of guilty to two charges of sexual assault on the bus. The man has previous convictions for road traffic offences.

Judge Berkeley described the offending as abominable and said that every sexual assault against a child was a most serious offence.

She said the victim had been entrusted into Lynn's temporary care on the way to the residential home.

She also noted that there had been an element of targeting and planning and that the victim continued to suffer.

Shane Costelloe SC, defending, previously outlined to the court his client's ill health and that he had attended a lung clinic at the Mater Hospital.

At a previous hearing, Judge Berkeley said the man's prognosis was a significant factor that must be taken into account.

She sentenced him to two years with the final 12 months suspended and ordered that he undergo two years post release supervision.

Garda Ronan Cogavin told Ms Lacey that the victim disclosed the abuse after she received a birthday card from the man on her 25th birthday.

She became visibly upset when the card was read out by one of her caregivers at her residential home and immediately made a complaint that she had been abused by the man.

Her mother was notified and she then made a complaint to the gardai.

The man was interviewed in February 2011 after he came voluntarily to the garda station but he totally denied the allegations.

The previous year the victim had been interviewed by specialist gardai. She said that the man had touched her breasts underneath her clothing and touched her private parts while he was driving her home to her family for the weekend.

The woman told gardai she had asked the man to stop doing it and hit him but he didn't listen to her.

A victim impact report was prepared by the woman's mother because she was concerned preparing such a report would be too upsetting for her daughter. The report was handed into court but not read out.

Mr Costelloe told Judge Berkeley that his client had also been charged with sexually assaulting the victim in a private residence but he had continually denied this and the DPP has accepted the two pleas he entered.

He asked the court to accept that although his client did not quite have an unblemished record, his previous convictions were nothing like those before the courts.

Counsel said the man was separated and had two adult children. He was currently living in a old folks home and was entirely dependent on the State pension..

Mr Costelloe said his client apologised for his behaviour and took full responsibility but he couldn't explain how he allowed himself to do it.

He has at times felt sucidial and is deeply ashamed of his behaviour. He accepts it was a gross breach of trust, Mr Costelloe told Judge Berkeley.
The State has lost a "colossus of the legal world" following the death of Supreme Court judge Adrian Hardiman, the Chief Justice has said.

At a special sitting of the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon, Ms Justice Susan Denham told the packed court she and her colleagues on the court had lost a "a good and true friend".

The Presidents of the Court of Appeal and High Court, Mr Justice Sean Ryan and Mr Justice Peter Kelly, joined the Chief Justice and the other Supreme Court judges to sit in memory of the late judge whose chair was left empty for the brief special sitting, which was televised.

Former Tanaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, a good friend of the late judge, was among the many senior lawyers and former judges who attended the sitting.

In the statement raed on behalf of the Supreme Court by the Chief Justice, she said the court had learned with great sadness of the death of Mr Justice Hardiman.

"The State has lost a coloussus of the legal world: a good and true friend has been lost by his colleagues on the court."

The statement said Mr Justice Hardiman had "a most successful career as a barrister, he was a leader at the Bar, was renowed for his extensive practice and great skill, including in cross-examination.

After 26 years of practice, the judge was appointed directly to the Supreme Court in 2000, it noted.

"Since that time, he has added greatly to the jurisprudence of Ireland in many important judgments. He has written expressing the view of a majority of the court and he has written trenchant dissents."

While this was not the time to analyse the great store of his judgments, two of those, DPP V Gormley and DPP v White, personified his concern for the "protection of persons and their dignity".

"His profound knowldge of the law, and his fluency in expressing his views, have added immensely to the legal jurisprudence of this state."

Mr Justice Hardiman, the statement said, was "a Renaissance man", a historian who spoke and wrote on many topics, including the trial of Rovbert Emmet and the 1916 Rising. He was due to give a lecture this Easter Monday on The 1916 Proclamation.

He was also "a remarkable and engaging Joycean scholar" who has written on many aspects of James Joyce and lectured at home and abroad, in riveting lectures, on "this great Irishman", the statement said.

"However, it is as a colleague and a friend that the members of the Court will miss him. His eloquence in conference, his depth of knowledge, his humour, but most of all his frtiendship, will be sorely missed by each member of the court."

The court also conveyed its "deep regret" to the judge's wife Yvonne and sons, Eoin, Hugh and Daniel.

Earlier on Monday, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Kelly, led the court in a minute's silence to mark the death of Mr Justice Hardiman and also extended condolences, on behalf of his colleagues, to the late judge's wife and family.
The scene of the murder of Thomas Horan in Ringsend, Dublin, in January 2014

A judge has been told that he should not have allowed a murder accused to change his plea from not guilty to guilty because he was suffering from panic attacks at the time.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt was hearing an application from the 28-year-old, who now wants to change his plea back to not guilty to murdering a mentally challenged man.

Kenneth Cummins of Ringsend Park in Dublin had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas Horan (63) at Cambridge Court, Ringsend on January 6, 2014. A post-mortem examination showed that he had head, neck and chest injuries consistent with a severe beating.

Mr Cummins went on trial at the Central Criminal Court last year, but four weeks into his trial he changed his plea to guilty and Mr Justice Hunt dismissed his jury.

His sister, Sabrina Cummins, was handed down a life sentence for the murder of Thomas Horan a week later.

Mr Cummins was back before the judge yesterday with an application to withdraw his guilty plea.

His barrister, Pauline Walley SC, said that it was a legal issue as to whether the plea should have been taken that afternoon or put off to the next morning. She said that the circumstances for the application to succeed had to be exceptional and that they were.

She noted that the judge was already charging the jury when her client had changed his plea and that his legal team had informed him that a manslaughter verdict was a possibility.

However, contrary to legal advice, Mr Cummins had said that he wanted to get it over with and get out of here.

She said that Mr Cummins had also been complaining of panic attacks, stress and a lack of medical attention at the time and that this was known to the court.

He was repeatedly asked to leave it to the next day, recalled the judge, noting that Mr Cummins had insisted with the help of salty language on doing it there and then.

He was blowing in and out of a paper bag, said Ms Walley.

No. He had it in his hand, replied Justice Hunt.

He added that Mr Cummins had been asked to sleep on it but, on five occasions, had declined.

Is it my job to act as a nursing maid? he asked.

Its your job to have a fair trial, replied the barrister.

A consultant forensic psychiatrist testified that Mr Cummins had told a doctor that he had been very upset the next morning when he was not being brought to court, saying that he had no recollection of the day before. Dr Paul OConnell said that he had also reported hearing the deceased mans voice.

He had reported that he had started having panic attacks on the first day of the trial and that he had associated them with being in a cell on his own all day without air.

The doctor gave evidence of Mr Cumminss deprived childhood during which he lived in more than a dozen foster homes and attended several schools.

Asked later about his change of plea, he had said that he had done life outside, thought that he would die young and that his quality of life would be better in prison.

Dr OConnell will continue giving his evidence when the hearing continues next week.
A travel agent convicted of stealing from a charity he founded for terminally ill children may avoid a prison sentence if he can repay the stolen money.

John, also known as Con, Murphy (66) of Church Road, Killiney, Dublin was convicted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last week after a two day trial and 42 minutes of jury deliberation. He claimed the charity, The Children to Lapland Appeal, owed him 68,000 at the time.

The charity was founded by Murphy in 1987. It raised money from donations to bring terminally ill children on trips to see Santa Claus in Lapland. Murphy also operated United Travel, a travel agents based in Stillorgan before it went out of business in 2012.

Murphy had pleaded not guilty to four counts of theft between June and July 2010 in the Dublin area totalling 18,643.

At a sentencing hearing today the court heard Murphy's family were willing to raise compensation on his behalf. The Children to Lapland Appeal has since been liquidated but Judge Patrick McCartan asked that enquiries be made about other suitable charities which may need the money.

Judge McCartan said that the money will be a significant factor in enabling me to take an attitude towards him that otherwise I may not be able to take.

He said any sentence must be a deterrent to other people in the accused's position that such mean spirited offences will be meet with custodial imprisonment.

However the judge said he would consider a defence application for a non-custodial sentence if the money was produced by March 16th.

The court also heard Murphy was now involved with a new charity, The Make It Happen Foundation, which also sends terminally ill children on trips away. As part of his bail conditions he was required to tell the directors of the foundation of the theft charges.

However when gardai made enquires with the foundation's directors they said they were directors in name only and that Murphy effectively ran the charity.

Garda Brian Daveron told Garrett McCormack BL, prosecuting, he began investigating the Children to Lapland Appeal after a complaint about how it was being run. He obtained court orders for access to the charity's account and Murphy's personal accounts.

He discovered four cheques had been written from the charity's account and lodged in Murphy's personal account.

During the trial Murphy's defence counsel claimed that the charity owed him money and it was normal for money to travel back and forth between the accounts. The prosecution characterised this position as The Father Ted defence. To quote Dermot Morgan, they're trying to say 'the money was simply resting in my account, Mr McCormack said.

In mitigation Patrick Reynolds BL, defending, said his client was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2010. Murphy currently lives with his sister who is also in bad health.

Mr Reynolds said it wasn't a sophisticated or covert crime. He also pointed out that some money went back from Murphy's account into the charity's account after the 18,000 was stolen.
Labour Party leader Joan Burton will insist that her surviving seven TDs vote for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on Thursday, despite growing unrest over the move.

A number of Labour TDs and senators, along with some in the wider membership of the party, are understood to believe they should abstain as voters did not give the Fine Gael leader a mandate to return as Taoiseach.

A source said there was a sense that Labour would be better to "end the charade" as voters had not given them a mandate to re-elect Mr Kenny as Taoiseach.

However, Ms Burton has argued that she gave a commitment to support his reappointment throughout the General Election campaign. She believes that Labour's TDs should honour that pact - but that all ties to Fine Gael would be severed after this week's vote.

Her spokesman told the Irish Independent it was "true to say there is some unease" in the party ahead of the Dail resumption.

However, he said they went to the electorate with an offer that was based strongly around their manifesto, but also on the fact they wanted to return the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition.

He said they view Thursday's vote in that context "and that vote alone".

"Once that vote is done, that would be it," he said, indicating that they might not support Mr Kenny for Taoiseach if there were subsequent votes in the coming weeks.

Although Mr Kenny will not have the numbers needed to be re-elected on Thursday, the support of Labour's TDs will be vital in order to keep him ahead of Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

If Mr Kenny were to be beaten by Mr Martin, it would almost certainly prompt other ministers to move against him.

Fine Gael now has 50 TDs compared with Fianna Fail's 44, and both parties are trying to woo support from Independents and others.

By adding Labour's seven TDs to his own 50, Mr Kenny is likely to be able to stay comfortably in front in the initial vote.

Sinn Fein, which has 23 TDs in the new Dail, is expected to nominate Gerry Adams.

Ms Burton's spokesman said the Labour Party was united in the view that they should not enter any negotiations on the formation of a new government.

Their ministers will continue to carry out their duties in a caretaker capacity after Thursday.

But once a new government is formed, they will switch to the opposition benches and reflect on how to rebuild the party.

"There haven't been any talks with Fine Gael about a new government," he said.
A rejuvenated Fine Gael led by either Leo Varadkar or Frances Fitzgerald would allow the party to change the narrative. Photo: Tom Burke

After all the jigs and reels of the past 10 days, we are no closer to anything. The Independents have had their egos stroked by Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin and largely came away uninspired.

They see one as a dead man walking whom even his own TDs don't want as Taoiseach, so there's no real reason why they should back him.

And the other is viewed as a born-again reformist who is a little bit too slick. The public might have succumbed to Micheal's charm but the Independents want more than a bit of feel-good factor.

The swings and roundabouts will continue over the coming days as Fine Gael and Fianna Fail try to steal a march on each other while being stuck in the election mud.

At the same time, there are two realities in Irish politics that everyone in Leinster House is trying to ignore.

The first is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will have to sit down and talk.

The fact they are trying to put it on the long finger is essentially optics because you won't find a single TD in either party who says it's not going to happen.

The second inevitability is that Enda Kenny's days as leader of Fine Gael are numbered.

When Independent TDs come away laughing at the desperate tone of your flirtations, it's over.

Fine Gael TDs are waiting in the long grass to see how the next few weeks play out, but Mr Kenny cannot and will not survive in the long-term.

Now a growing number of Fianna Fail sources say they would find it much easier to work with their Civil War rivals if the Mayo man was no longer commander-in-chief.

That's a strange request. It's the bottle of really expensive plonk that has been sitting on the hard to reach shelf for a very long time - but when you take it down there's a stale taste.

Fianna Fail would be able to claim to have ousted a Taoiseach, which in historical terms is significant - but what would they really gain from it?

Mr Kenny is holding Fine Gael back right now. Having rebuilt the party after the 2002 massacre, he is now an obstacle to a much-needed reinvention.

In his place, Mr Martin would most likely find himself battling with a rejuvenated party led by Leo Varadkar or Frances Fitzgerald. It would allow Fine Gael to change the narrative from election defeat to one about their first gay or first female leader.

The fact that no Independents are coming out to back either Mr Martin or Mr Kenny is not surprising - but the pace of the talks is worrying.

The sooner the two big parties accept that there won't be a government held up by non-party TDs and smaller groups the better.

Stop the merry-go-round for a second and consider that even if Mr Kenny convinced all 23 Independents in the new Dail to vote for him, along with the Social Democrats and the Green Party, he would arrive at 78 seats - one short of a coalition. Mr Martin would hit only the 72 mark.

So it all comes down to two simple questions: When will Fianna Fail decide it's time to talk to Fine Gael?

And will it be Mr Kenny that Mr Martin meets when that happens?

Until that happens and somebody makes a real move, we will continue to watch Independents strolling up Kildare Street with what Joan Burton called their shopping trolleys of demands.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. Famous actor Armen Dzigarkhanyans health condition is assessed as moderate. He was hospitalized on March 5, "Armenpress" reports, citing RIA Novosti .

The administration of Dzigarkhanyans theater informed on March 6, that the actor was taken from the intensive care unit to the general unit.

"He was taken to the general unit ... he is in a moderate condition," said the bulletin.
The Taoiseach has predicted that he will continue in the post for the foreseeable future as the post-election deadlock wears on.

Speaking to reporters on his way into an EU summit, he said that nobody was likely to secure a nomination as Taoiseach when the Dail meets on Thursday.

Well the indications are that nobody will be elected as Taoiseach on Thursday, he said. But clearly the fact of the matter is that the Taoiseach is elected by the Dail and obviously continues until that situation has changed.

He said he couldnt put a date on when coalition talks would be finished, but he said that nobody had the numbers to support a bid to lead the country and that he would take up the mantle until things were clear.

For me the work of government goes on, Mr Kenny said. I am prepared obviously in my capacity as Taoiseach to work for the formation of a government that the country deserves and that the people need, he added.

Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said that Irelands reputation may be damaged if coalition talks drag on.

On his way into a meeting in Brussels, Mr Noonan said that while there was no reputational damage to Ireland so far, prolonged coalition talks could take their toll on investor sentiment.

Obviously if a government isnt formed for a significant period then anxiety will begin to appear in the markets and will be expressed in bond prices, Mr Noonan said ahead of a meeting with his eurozone counterparts, where he was due to brief them on the outcome of the election.

Ireland intends to go ahead with a scheduled bond sale on Thursday, the same day as the Dail reconvenes to vote on nominations for Taoiseach.

But as no government is likely to be formed this week, Mr Noonan said Ireland may miss an end-April deadline to submit an annual budget update to the EU.

Whatever is in the spring statement will be the boundaries for the incoming government, and whoever is in the incoming government may want to participate in that, so Ill signal to the commissioners today that we may or may not make the end of April target, he said.

He wouldnt be drawn on the future composition of government, but when asked if he would like to return as finance minister, he said, Maybe.

I think the important thing now is to form a government in Ireland as quickly as possible. Thats whats is in the national interest, he said. The personalities are secondary to the national objective of having a government that reinforces confidence in Ireland and makes sure that we can continue with the very successful progress we have made, especially over the last two years, he said.

Mr Noonan also brushed off accusations that the incumbent government had caused confusion over the concept of fiscal space during the election campaign.

I dont think there was any confusion around fiscal space, its a complicated issue and anybody who looked at the figures knows that the figures that the Department of Finance had brought forward were the correct figures, he said. Those that said they werent correct didnt produce a shred of evidence to the contrary and everybody accepts now that they were the correct figures, he added.

He said the European Commission had signed off on the fact that there is 1.5 billion euros available to the incoming government, should they choose to use it.

He was referring to EU rules that allow a government some leeway in meeting their fiscal targets, amounting to 0.5pc of GDP.

Mr Noonan also said there would be extra money to invest in infrastructure next year when the government reviews the capital programme.

Ive said on innumerable occasions if I had the resources Id have invested more in infrastructure but I didnt have the resources, Mr Noonan said. As things change well invest more.
<a href='http://cdn-01.independent.ie/incoming/article34517044.ece/e54cf/binary/grap.png' target='_blank'>Click to see a bigger version of the graphic</a>

The leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are unlikely to secure the backing of any Independent TDs before this Thursday's vote for Taoiseach.

Both parties are resigned to the idea that Independents want to "hold us to ransom" and there won't be time to hammer out any concrete deal, despite days of phone calls and meetings.

Several Independents have told the Irish Independent they have no intention of losing the upper hand in negotiations by picking a side yet.

They intend to play Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin off each other in an effort to extract the highest price for their support.

Sources in the two main parties say that while initial contacts have been useful, they are not amounting to much.

Similarly, the Social Democrats and the Green Party are edging away from supporting an individual, believing the real talks won't begin until next week.

"The Socialist Democrats have said that this should be about policies than [totting] up the numbers," joint party leader Roisin Shortall told Newstalk Breakfast.

"The pitch that Social Democrats made was to set out a manifesto - we said very clearly that we will be campaigning on our policies".

"There is a unique opportunity in these weeks to do something really effective in reforming government. The Social Democrats are making proposals to other parties and Independents."

"Given the numbers that are there, I find it very hard to see a government without one of the main parties," she said this morning.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is due to attend an EU summit in Brussels today, meaning he will lose even more time.

Micheal Martin is due to meet members of the Independent Alliance today but can expect to be given a tough time.

Roscommon TD Michael Fitzmaurice has spent the weekend compiling a policy document on agriculture that he wants taken into consideration by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

"The bottom line is what's written on paper, what's guaranteed and what's sorted," he said, adding that lots of offers were flying around, but they were "pointless" at this stage. "It's like offering a holiday but not having a plane to go on," he said.

He also criticised Fianna Fail in relation to water charges, saying that they seem to have forgotten large sections of homeowners.

"Micheal Martin has said nobody will pay for water. There are 450,000 people on group water schemes and 190,000 with their own wells. Is he going to make sure he sticks by those words?" he said.

"He has forgotten about the big elephant coming behind him in the room."

Dublin TD Finian McGrath said there was "absolutely no way I'm voting for anybody this Thursday".

"Even talking to Enda Kenny you wonder, is this the right guy to be meeting with?'

"You were looking at him thinking, that's a man in trouble. He's under pressure," he said, echoing words by his colleague Shane Ross in a Sunday Independent column yesterday.

Mr McGrath said he would need guarantees on investment in the disability sector and the health services before giving his support to either man.

He noted that 30 beds had been assigned to help the overcrowding situation in Beaumont Hospital when 80 would be needed for a real impact.

"That's the nitty-gritty stuff we're talking about," he said.

Donegal's Thomas Pringle said he would not be supporting any deal that would allow Enda Kenny remain as Taoiseach.

He also confirmed that he had turned down an invitation to join the Independent Alliance.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar said yesterday he still favoured a deal with Independents and smaller parties over a coalition with Fianna Fail.

He said he would have "enormous difficulty" doing business with Mr Martin's party and it would be "a very big deal" for Fine Gael to go back on their pre-election promise not to.

"It's certainly not my favoured option," he said, adding: "We're very clear we don't want to cling to power."

There is a growing acceptance in Fianna Fail that some arrangement with Fine Gael will be needed, but sources insisted they will not support a Fine Gael government led by Enda Kenny, which will put huge pressure on the Taoiseach to consider his position in the coming weeks.

A source, who is close to Micheal Martin, insisted "too much water has gone under the bridge with Enda Kenny" for Fianna Fail to consider forming a government with him in charge.

"The election result showed people were not satisfied with how the country was going and Kenny was Taoiseach at the time. It's up to Fine Gael what they do with that," the source said.

However, there is a softening at senior levels of Fianna Fail on the idea of supporting a Fine Gael government headed by another leader.
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is lining up a close ally for the role of Ceann Comhairle in the new Dail, despite his claim that he wants to lead political reform.

The party's TDs will meet today to select a nominee for the position, even though the chairman will be selected by secret ballot for the first time.

Cork North-West's Michael Moynihan, a loyalist of Mr Martin's who has been close to him throughout his almost 20 years in the Dail, is emerging as the favourite ahead of Sean O Fearghail, Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher and Brendan Smith.

Several sources have told the Irish Independent the contest will come down to Mr Moynihan and Mr O Fearghail, but the former is likely to win out as he is seen as the one favoured by Mr Martin and the majority of new TDs, with whom he worked as chairman of Fianna Fail's National Constituencies Committee.

Sinn Fein is also putting forward an agreed candidate in the form of its longest-serving TD, Caoimhghin O Caolain.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has hit out at both parties, saying they are going against the spirit of the secret ballot.

"What's disappointing about that is that Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein have done exactly what they weren't supposed to do. They have appointed party nominees. That misses the point," he said.

"The whole idea of the new way of electing a Ceann Comhairle was that the Ceann Comhairle should not be a nominee of the Taoiseach or the government or any political party."

The row comes as Dublin Central Independent Maureen O'Sullivan is emerging as a dark horse with a real chance of being the first female Ceann Comhairle.

She is to meet her supporters tonight before deciding whether to allow her name go forward for Thursday's vote.

"Obviously, I'm thinking about it. I'll decide by Tuesday. The idea of being totally independent, never having had a party connection, and being a woman makes it an interesting one," she said.

Transfers

Ms O'Sullivan is likely to receive support from the Independent Alliance, the Green Party, AAA-PBP and a number of other Independents.

The vote will operate like a General Election using the PR-STV system, meaning that transfers will be crucial and this is where Ms O'Sullivan could win through.

Fine Gael has decided to allow any of their TDs who seek nominations from seven other members of the Dail to run.

Minister of State Michael Ring was touted as a contender but he told the Irish Independent last night that, having considered it, he decided the job would not be for him. "You can rule me out," he said,

Similarly, Fine Gael Louth TD Fergus O'Dowd, who had expressed an interest before the General Election, is now no longer putting his name forward.

The most likely name from the Fine Gael benches is now Wicklow TD Andrew Doyle.

Mr Ring also criticised Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein's approach, saying: "This is real Dail reform that they have been looking for but now they are obstructing it. At least Fine Gael have let us put our names forward and see what happens."

Fianna Fail's Robert Troy defended the plan for an internal party vote, saying the nominee would still need "to get support from across the political divide".
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have shunned Independent TD Michael Lowry, despite being desperate for votes ahead of the formation of the next government.

Sources in both parties have told the Irish Independent that while they would like his support, they cannot be seen to actively chase it.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin ruled out having the Tipperary TD as part of a coalition during the General Election campaign.

Sources said Mr Lowry was keeping his options open in relation to whom he might vote for as Taoiseach on Thursday.

In 2011, he backed Mr Kenny but weeks later the Fine Gael leader called for him to resign as a TD in the wake of the publication of the Moriarty Report.

It found that while Communications Minister in the mid-1990s, Mr Lowry conferred benefit on businessman Denis O'Brien, who had made or facilitated payments to Mr Lowry.

There was no finding that Mr O'Brien had benefited from those payments and Mr Lowry rejected the findings.

A Fianna Fail source said: "It would be too dangerous to go to Lowry."

A Fine Gael source agreed, saying: "He hasn't received a phone call and there isn't any move on that."
Gerry Adams: speculation that he may step down as leader. Photo: Tom Burke

Sinn Fein has ruled itself out of trying to form a government, despite Mary Lou McDonald's claim that a grand coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail would be "the stuff of nightmares".

The party won 23 seats in the General Election but now says it would be "a nightmare scenario" if it entered talks with either of the two biggest parties.

Newly elected TD for Waterford David Cullinane said there was "no good reason" why Fine Gael and Fianna Fail won't work together and his own party, Sinn Fein, didn't have a mandate to try prevent that.

He said he did not believe the two parties would deliver a fairer society, but insisted: "We don't have the numbers to form a government."

Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall accused Sinn Fein of "opting out" from trying to solve the impasse currently paralysing Irish politics.

Speaking on RTE's 'The Week in Politics', she said: "There are three big blocks there.

"There is Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein. There is an onus on them to work together to put in place a government that will stand the test of time, that will last at least a few years.

"Sinn Fein, to a large extent, are opting out of this."

Ms Shortall added that her party was willing to talk to everybody, but would need a series of guarantees on political reform before giving its support.

Mr Cullinan said Sinn Fein had fought the election on "radically different policies to both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael".

"We gave people a promise that we would not prop up Fianna Fail or Fine Gael because we don't believe they would provide a fairer society," he said.

"The two parties with the biggest number of seats and the two parties who are most compatible in terms of policy, in terms of what was put forward during the election campaign and generally, are Fianna Fail and Fine Gael."

Mr Cullinane added: "A nightmare scenario for the people, for Sinn Fein, would be, 'here we go again, a party that breaks its mandate'."

Health Minister Leo Varadkar said he could see "a lot of commonalities between the Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein positions".

He argued that Gerry Adams "wanted a government that got rid of the property tax and water charges and invested in local services and Fianna Fail is exactly in that policy space".

Meanwhile, there are fresh questions about the future of Mr Adams's position as president of Sinn Fein.

Speculation has been mounting for some time that he will step aside and this is now being fuelled by the widespread belief that he damaged the party's election performance.

Over the weekend, it was suggested that he may hand over the party leadership to the next generation within 18 months.

However, the party's deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald denied that there was any truth to the rumours.

"Gerry hasn't made any such statement about stepping down. It's a non-story," she said.
Enda Kenny is in Brussels to attend an emergency summit to tackle the migration crisis in Europe, where he is to raise the issue of a border crossing in northern Syria that he says could cause a further influx of one million people to the EU.

He said he received an update on the matter from Irish-run charity Goal, which transports humanitarian aid via the Bab al-Hawa crossing in north-western Syria.

Five hundred trucks a month go through there with humanitarian aid, of which Ireland is a main subscriber, Mr Kenny said.

There are one million beneficiaries involved in this crossing and if this is to close - and that seems to be imminent - that would mean that another million people would want to cross the border and seek refuge into Turkey and from there through to Greece, he said.

I intend to raise the matter here formally with the [Turkish] prime minister now.

Mr Kenny also announced that Ireland intends to send a second naval vessel to the Mediterranean sea to help with the humanitarian situation there.

EU leaders are discussing further concessions for Turkey - after agreeing 3billion in funding, visa liberalisation and progress on enlargement talks at a previous summit last November - to encourage it to take back migrants not entitled to international protection, and to keep people from travelling on to Europe in search of asylum.

Ireland will contribute 22m to the EU's 3bn euro package for Turkey, which will be paid out in four instalments over a number of years, Mr Kenny said.

The money will go towards helping to improve conditions for people living in refugee camps in Turkey.

But Some EU leaders are concerned about offering Turkey more concessions given its human rights record - particularly after the raid on the Zaman newspaper over the weekend, a publication that has been critical of the government in Ankara.

I would assume that any country wishing to join the European Union would want to adhere to European standards, Mr Kenny said. This is a matter of very considerable concern now for a lot countries.

He insisted that the root cause of the problem - the war in Syria - needed to be addressed in order to find a permanent solution to Europes migration crisis.

The crisis has reached breaking point, with EU countries from Sweden to Austria closing their borders after more than a million migrants arrived in the EU - mainly to Greece - last year.

The European Commission, intent on stemming the flow of people into the bloc, has proposed a new 1500-strong border and coast guard to reinforce the EUs external borders and is set to end a requirement - known as the Dublin regulation - for asylum seekers to be registered in the first EU country they enter.

The bloc is struggling to make a success of last year's relocation scheme for 160,000 refugees, 4,000 of whom are to be transferred to Ireland from hotspots in Greece or Italy.

And last week the Commission set aside an extra 700m to provide food, shelter and medicine to EU countries that have been hardest hit by the influx of migrants.

The symptoms of that root problem are being evidenced now in an overwhelming situation, an unprecedented situation within the EU, where for the first time you have humanitarian aid being supplied within the borders of the union, Mr Kenny said.
Grainne Golden with her sister Aisling, when the pair met Beyonce last year. Photo: James Connolly

Aisling Golden holds Mylah. The dog belonged to her sister Grainne, who died of cystic fibrosis. Her home in Sligo has become a shrine to Grainnes memory. Photo: James Connolly

The family of a 21-year-old woman who died from cystic fibrosis has vowed to campaign in her memory for a new drug to treat those with the illness.

Grainne Golden, from Sligo town, passed away at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin a fortnight ago, just days after slamming Health Minister Leo Varadkar, the HSE and pharmaceutical companies.

She was also one of 35,000 people who signed an online petition, begging the HSE to negotiate a deal for use of the 'game-changing' drug Orkambi.

Four weeks before she died, Grainne shared a link to the petition on her Facebook page and wrote: "We badly need this drug to be accepted. We are losing too many good people. I have cystic fibrosis myself and this drug can change my life.

"We all need this drug! To put a price on life is so unfair! Shame on Irish Government! And shame on Leo Varadkar."

Grainne's mother Terri, her sister Aisling and her boyfriend Rhys have vowed to campaign for the HSE to approve the drug - and for Joe Brolly's OptForLife organ donation campaign.

"She took away her oxygen mask to say her last words to us," said 23-year-old Aisling.

"That was typical of her. She was a fighter and fought all of her life for others too.

"She said, 'It's time for me to go now.' I thought she was coming home again, like she always did when she went to hospital, but she didn't come home this time."

Terri said: "Her last words to me were, 'Mummy, I can't do this any more.' She had given her all.

"She never saw herself as a campaigner, but she was.

"She would Skype other young people with cystic fibrosis and give them advice. We have the highest rate of cystic fibrosis in the world.

"Orkambi treats the gene which causes it and gives sufferers a real chance of life. Grainne was appalled at those who would deny her and others a chance at life."

Aisling said organ donation had to be part of the solution too.

"Joe Brolly was Grainne's hero. We need an opt-out system for organ donation. So many lives could be changed."

Grainne's boyfriend Rhys Carey said her death had left him traumatised.

"This drug could have added significantly to my Grainne's life and more memories that we could have shared together," he said.

"It's a question of money over human life and it's disgusting. It makes me physically and mentally sick," he said, adding: "I no longer have my soulmate."

A HSE spokesman said: "Orkambi is being considered under the national medicines pricing and reimbursement assessment processes. As the process is still ongoing the HSE cannot discuss potential outcomes or comment further at this time."
Gardai have stepped up their intelligence gathering on dissident republicans as they finalise their planning for the 1916 centenary commemoration events.

Both Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald assured the public today that their safety was the top priority at the programme of events, including the massive Easter Sunday parade through the streets of Dublin.

The minister said this was a very important year for the nation and one that should be enjoyed by everybody.

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She said there was always a security risk involved on such occasions but the gardai had no particular information in relation to any specific threat.

The minister and the commissioner were speaking at the Garda College in Templemore where a fourth intake of 99 recruits began training.

The first intake of a fresh batch of 600 recruits will join the college in April followed by another group in June, the commissioner said.

Asked about the latest outbreak of gangland feuding in Dublin, Ms O'Sullivan said organised crime activity had to be viewed in context with 22 gangland murders in 2009.

This dropped to only three murders last year, she added.

But she admitted there had been a resurgence in gangland activity this year.

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Over the past year, she said the gardai had re-organised their units dealing with drugs and organised crime and had made over 100 gangland arrests and seized over 24m worth of drugs and a very considerable quantity of firearms.

She added that the gardai had a proven track record in that particular area and worked closely with their counterparts in other jurisdictions to combat the gangs with international links.

The commissioner also disclosed she was seeking further talks with the Garda Inspectorate about their suggestion that there was a thousand gardai at headquarters in the Phoenix Park and suggested there were 250 in desk jobs that could be put on the frontline.

Ms O'Sullivan said they intended to ask the Inspectorate to help identify the jobs held by fully trained gardai, who could be released from them, and to also outline their definition of "frontline".

She also pointed out that there had been 41 reports published into the Garda Siochana since 2005 and these had produced over 700 recommendations.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The Monte Toledo oil tanker covered a voyage from Iran to Europe with a haul of one million barrels of crude in just 17 days, "Armenpress" reports, citing Bloomberg.

On Sunday, the tanker became the first to deliver Iranian crude into Europe since mid-2012, when Brussels imposed an oil embargo in an attempt to force the Middle Eastern nation to negotiate the end of its nuclear program. The ban was lifted in January as part of a broader deal that ended a decade of sanctions.

The 275-meter tanker started offloading its cargo into a refinery owned by Cia. Espanola de Petroleos, near Algeciras, a few miles from Gibraltar. By midday, the vessel had already pumped to shore about a fifth of its cargo.

In southern Spain, the tankers arrival was met with little fanfare. It was a quiet Sunday at the refinery, and for the workers, the Monte Toledo is just one of the eight or so vessels they expect to receive this month. By the time the refinery has taken in all the Iranian crude, another tanker from Algeria will be already waiting.

Around Europe, other tankers with Iranian oil are close behind the Monte Toledo. In February, 29 vessels loaded crude from the Middle Eastern nation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Of them, three are heading toward Europe -- the Eurohope tanker is sailing to Constanta, an oil port in Romania, and the Atlantas is on its way to France. Another one, the Distya Akula, is anchored at the mouth of the Suez Canal, and is likely to head into a Mediterranean port.

The Monte Toledo and its companions are the vanguard in the return of Iran into the European oil market. Petro-Logistics SA, a Geneva-based tanker-tracking firm, estimated Iran exported in February about 1.4 million barrels a day, up 350,000 barrels a day from the average 2015 level.

Although the increase falls short of the 500,000 barrels a day that Tehran had promised, there are signs that exports into Europe will pick up this month.

"It does take a while to get those fields back up," said Petro-Logistics director Daniel Gerber. "But I think theyre going to hit the increase of 500,000 barrels a day in March.

Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citigroup in London, agreed, saying that in addition to higher export volumes this month, more countries were buying.

"You see tankers going to Spain, Romania, Tanzania, France and the U.A.E. You got an uptick to India in February too," he said.

Still, hurdles remain. Lingering banking restraints mean some customers are finding it hard to transfer payments for Iranian crude and the National Iranian Oil Co. has offered to swap crude for gasoline to get deals done, according to local reports.

Iran will want to win back customers in Europe, where Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other rival suppliers stepped in after the embargo was imposed. Tehran also faces a rival unknown four years ago: the U.S. has started exporting crude and companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. are shipping American Crude into refineries in the Mediterranean.

Before the embargo Europe imported on average about 400,000 barrels a day of oil from Iran, according to the International Energy Agency. Cepsa alone was buying about 60,000 barrels a day. Total SA was among the biggest buyers and the French company is waiting to receive the Atlantas tanker later this month in its refinery in Le Havre. Other European top buyers in past, including Repsol SA, Eni SpA and Hellenic Petroleum SA, have yet to purchase any.

If all goes as Tehran has planned, the Middle Eastern country will boost its production back to the 3.6 million barrels a day it pumped in 2011. After the European embargo was imposed and the U.S. tightened other sanctions, Iranian oil production dropped to about 2.8 million barrels a day.
Friends of the victim, Tiffany and Pauric Keenan lay flowers at the spot where Patrick Paddy Mullally was fatally attacked outside the ParK View apartments in Harolds Cross. Photo: Tony Gavin

A father of one has died from a 'one-punch' assault as he attempted to intervene in an argument between a couple following his own retirement party.

The victim, named locally as Patrick 'Paddy' Mullally, was struck with a single punch during a fracas on the Harold's Cross Road in Dublin.

Investigating detectives were last night questioning a 45-year-old man in relation to the incident at Terenure Garda Station.

He has since been released without charge.

Mr Mullally (57) had worked at the Guinness brewery in the capital for over 30 years and was returning home from his retirement party in the city centre.

Friends described how the victim had stopped by in his regular pub, Peggy Kelly's, on the way home.

He left the pub shortly after 3am on Saturday and as he waited for a taxi became aware of a dispute between a couple outside the nearby Park View Court apartment complex.

Tragically, as the Good Samaritan attempted to defuse the situation, he was struck once by a male assailant, before falling to the ground.

However, he hit his head off the concrete kerb during the fall, which resulted in him suffering severe head injuries.

Emergency services were called and paramedics rushed to the location as the couple left the scene.

An ambulance transferred Mr Mullally to St James' Hospital, but he was pronounced dead in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Investigating detectives later arrested a 45-year-old man in relation to the incident.

A source described the victim as "a completely innocent party" who was only targeted "for doing the right thing".

"The deceased was a hard-working individual who was only attacked for trying to stop an argument between a couple. He was only hit with a single punch - sadly that is all it can take - but gardai are following a definite line of inquiry in the investigation," a source said.

Friends arriving at the scene of the tragedy described Mr Mullally as "a gentle giant" who enjoyed the company of his friends in his local pub.

"It is just absolutely tragic, he was such a great man. Always in great form, always friendly, it's just devastating," said Pauric Keenan, a friend of the deceased, who had been with him on the night he passed away.

"We were only in Peggy Kelly's with him on Friday evening, we left around an hour beforehand. To think something like this could happen to a man like Paddy is shocking," Mr Keenan added.

"I was only asking him what his plans were to keep himself busy after his retirement and now we're here, we can't get over it," said Tiffany Keenan.

Other friends of Mr Mullally as well as staff at the pub described him as a "gentlemen" who enjoyed frequenting the licensed premises "for a few pints of stout".

"He was a popular man in here and a close personal friend of mine. What happened shouldn't have happened, we're all still coming to terms with it," said one senior member of staff.
A dying nursing home resident was subjected to vile verbal abuse by one of his carers, according to a whistle-blower complaint made to the health watchdog.

The care home employee called the resident "a fat c**t", a former colleague told the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in an official complaint.

The same care worker is also alleged to have thrown water at another elderly resident with dementia, remarking: "That fairly shut you the f*** up, didn't it."

The shocking allegations are among 124 complaints received by HIQA in relation to nursing homes in the five months between June and October last year.

Complaint records released under freedom of information rules indicate significant issues remain in some nursing homes, despite a host of scandals in the past decade.

Key issues highlighted by whistle-blower staff, nursing home residents and their relatives include chronic understaffing in some homes and basic failures to ensure the safety of frail residents.

Several instances are cited in the complaints where residents received injuries in falls because they were left unattended due to inadequate staffing.

Another common complaint was that elderly residents were unable to understand foreign care workers due to their limited command of English.

Details of the complaints were released under freedom of information rules to Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd.

It is unclear to what extent the allegations have been investigated, as HIQA does not have the power to probe specific allegations.

However, complaints can trigger immediate inspections.

A spokeswoman said there were 56 single issues and triggered inspections in nursing homes last year.

HIQA said it could also take other courses of action, such as seeking assurances from nursing home operators or requesting internal investigations by nursing home providers.

If serious enough, complaints can also be referred to the HSE, the Ombudsman or An Garda Siochana.

In the case of the allegedly abusive care worker, a colleague who contacted HIQA said they had resigned in frustration after no action was taken when concerns were voiced to the nursing home's management.

The HIQA spokeswoman said she could not comment on this individual case, but said all situations where a crime may have been committed are passed to gardai.

Mr O'Dowd, who has been campaigning for improved standards in care homes for several years, said HIQA needed to clarify what action was taken in this case.

"What was alleged in this case was particularly appalling," he said.

"Inhuman treatment of a dying person was alleged here, which is absolutely unacceptable and a crime in my view. It should be investigated by gardai."

The TD said that whatever administration is formed in the coming weeks should make putting a stop to the abuse of the elderly a key part of their programme for government.

"This should be item number one on the desk of the new minister for health," he said.

Another care worker claimed they were sacked after raising concerns over staffing levels and hygiene in the home where they worked.

In another home, HIQA was informed just one nurse and two care assistants had to supervise 63 residents, even though most were considered high dependency.

In yet another home, it was alleged one nurse and one care assistant had to monitor two buildings.

Other complaints included an allegation that a bed-bound resident with bedsores in one home was left soiled and unwashed overnight.

In a separate home, it was alleged an elderly resident died from a fall after being left in the dark with no lights on following a dispute with their nurse.
'There have been 32 laboratory-confirmed deaths from the flu virus so far this winter, with most other patients dying from the B strain'. Photo: PA

The official death toll from swine flu this winter has risen to 20, with doctors and hospitals continuing to report outbreaks of the illness.

There have been 32 laboratory-confirmed deaths from the flu virus so far this winter, with most other patients dying from the B strain.

However, the true number of flu-related deaths is believed to be much higher as not everyone that dies with a flu-like illness is tested. They are also often a result of complications secondary to the patient's main underlying illness.

The flu is continuing to lead to hospitalisations and intensive care admissions, contributing to emergency-department overcrowding. It also contributed to higher than normal numbers dying in the first and last weeks of January.

These deaths are estimated by comparing deaths during this time with preceding time periods in spring and autumn.

The majority of these excess winter deaths are caused by the flu and diseases of the cardiovascular system, such as stroke and heart attack.

Ireland is not alone in being hit by swine flu. It is also the most prevalent form of the virus in most European countries.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said it has been responsible for a large number of severe cases, especially in intensive care units, with serious illness in at-risk groups and otherwise healthy young adults.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre in Ireland reported that flu activity in Ireland was at moderate levels in the week ending February 28.

There were 18 confirmed flu cases admitted to critical care units over the week and three outbreaks reported, mostly in nursing homes.
A homeless family with a terminally ill child had to sleep in their car for three weeks before they got emergency accommodation in a hotel, according to children's charity Barnardos.

The charity said the housing crisis was now widespread in Ireland, with thousands of children living in overcrowded, unsuitable and sometimes unsafe homes.

It said it was seeing cases of three generations of a family - sometimes consisting of eight or more people - all living together in a two-bedroom home.

Launching a new report, 'The Hidden Housing Crisis', Barnardos said its workers had witnessed first-hand the problems caused by a lack of good quality accommodation.

Expand Close June Tinsley, head of advocacy at Barnardos. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook

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It cited the case of a Cork family consisting of two parents, their three children, one of whom was terminally ill, who were forced to sleep in their car for three weeks as they waited for emergency accommodation.

The charity said many families believed that as soon as they became homeless, they would be given emergency accommodation, but this was often not so.

In another example, a Barnardos worker visited a family and saw a rat crawling across the kitchen counter of their home.

"The family have nowhere else to go and are too scared of a rent increase or eviction to complain to their landlord," reported Melinda Hughes, a project worker in Limerick.

June Tinsley, head of advocacy at Barnardos, explained that problems did not just exist for those in emergency accommodation.

"In addition to the 1,600 children living in that environment, we must add many thousands more who are living in overcrowded, unsuitable and sometimes unsafe homes, unable to move or demand better because they have no other options.

"While there have been some positive developments in housing policy in the past year, the reality is their impact is yet to be felt. The first job of any new government must be to take immediate action," she said.

Among the charity's recommendations are to link rents to the Consumer Price Index, to raise rent supplement rates and to provide modular homes immediately.
A garda stands outside the apartment in Killarney, Co Kerry. Photo: Domnick Walsh

The scene outside the apartment in Kerry today.

The post-mortem of an 11-month-old Polish boy who died in suspicious circumstances in Killarney last night will 'drive the inquiry', gardai have said.

The body of the young child was removed from his home today and a post-mortem is to be carried out this evening.

Investigating Gardai are now appealing for witnesses; they are particularly appealing to anyone who was in the vicinity of Park Place Apartments between 1pm and 6pm yesterday evening to contact them.

Local superintendent Flor Murphy said the post mortem findings will drive their inquiry.

"Yesterday evening at about six o'clock, gardai and emergency services came to an apartment here where they found the body of an 11-month-old boy," he said.

"Also in the apartment was a seriously injured male and that male was taken to Kerry University Hospital where he is currently receiving treatment.

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"The scene was immediately preserved here last night, the death was pronounced and the body of the young infant has just been taken from the scene where a postmortem will be conducted later this evening and that will dictate the progress and course of the investigations."

He also said Gardai will work in conjunction with Polish authorities to establish an inquiry.

"Like with any other investigation, we will be utilising all of our resources and avenues of inquiry and people with relevant skills and languages to progress the investigation."

The alarm was raised as the boy's mother returned from work to the town centre apartment at 6pm yesterday.

Upon her arrival she discovered the baby boy was not breathing.

Emergency services worked to save the infant but he was pronounced dead a short time later by a local doctor.

A man who had been caring for the boy, and who is said to be related to the infant, was also discovered at the scene with serious injuries.

He was rushed to Kerry University Hospital in Tralee and is said to be in a serious but stable condition.

His injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

Gardai investigating the circumstances surrounding the baby's tragic death wait to question the man about events at his home last night.

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Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster travelled to Kerry last night and visited the scene briefly.

She was due to return to the scene today to carry out further investigations before a post mortem was to be conducted in Kerry University Hospital.

The apartment is said to be the home of a young Polish family who are believed to be relatively new to the area.

The scene was sealed off last night and gardai maintained a presence throughout the night.

More local gardai visited the scene again this morning.

Locals spoke of the horror the incident has inflicted on the town.

Independent Councillor Donal Grady said Killarney has never seen such a tragedy.

It's a shock to the town and the people here in general.

My thoughts are with the mother of this poor young boy and if there is anything people here can do for her we will help her.

Never before have we seen a child die here in such circumstances.

Local residents will be interviewed by gardai throughout today as they try to piece together last nights events.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Killarney Garda Station 064-6671160, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Nancy and Ronald Reagan on their visit to Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, in 1984. Photo: Don Moloney

Nancy Reagan will be fondly remembered as the First Lady who graciously accepted flowers from a little girl, sipped Carolans cream liqueur and wrote letters to her hosts 30 years after visiting Co Tipperary.

Mary O'Farrell remembers President Ronald Reagan's visit to his ancestral home in Ballyporeen in 1984.

"One of my fondest memories is when our six-year-old daughter Laura had a poesy of flowers to present to Mrs Reagan when she arrived," she recalled, paying tribute to Mrs Reagan when she travelled to the birthplace of the President's great-grandfather Michael.

"Laura got a bit tired, we had taught her courtesy and all that, but when they came she said 'here, Mrs Reagan' and just handed them to her - and she took them so graciously.

"When they went outside to see the show that was being put on, I asked would I take the flowers and she said 'oh no, these are the first I've got since we came here'. We found her to be an absolute lady."

Mrs O'Farrell and late husband John owned the local pub, which was renamed after the President. The interior of the pub was later shipped to the Ronald Reagan President Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California where it was completely reassembled as one of the key exhibits.

At its opening in 2005, the O'Farrell's again met with Mrs Reagan, who had continued to write to them every Christmas.

"She spent 45 minutes talking about how much the President loved Ballyporeen. We were amazed," she added.

The late RTE presenter, Derek Davis, who covered the Ballyporeen visit, previously recalled how US officials - including the Secret Service - consulted as much with Mrs Reagan as her husband.

She advised on the menu for the State dinner and personally directed Presidential staff to liaise with the Irish authorities over the precise cooking of the meal - down to the amount of butter used in cooking the fish starter. She warned her husband's digestive system didn't respond well to overly rich and butter-laden foods.

She also was consulted about her husband's visit to Farrell's Pub in Ballyporeen.

After her input, it was agreed that President Reagan would drink a pint of Smithwick's Ale rather than Guinness - amid concerns the richness of a pint of stout might upset her husband's stomach.

"She was an amazing lady," said the late Councillor Con Donovan, who was instrumental in the 1984 Presidential visit.
A police officer near where the body was found at Mourneview Street in Portadown

Five people have been arrested after a man's body was found in a stream yesterday.

Police are investigating after the body of a man, believed to be eastern European, was discovered in the stream running behind Mourneview Street, Portadown, shortly after 11am.

A 35-year-old woman, a 30-year-old man, two 28-year-old men and a 17-year-old girl were being questioned at a police station in Belfast last night.

Forensic experts were searching a house in the Co Armagh area yesterday while police cordoned off part of the street close to where the body was discovered. A second address in the Portadown area was also searched by police as part of the investigation.

Police had spent Saturday night knocking on doors in the area showing residents a photograph of a missing man they were looking for.

Police believe the body recovered was that of the man they had been searching for.

The PSNI had recently issued a missing person appeal for a Lithuanian man living in Portadown.

A police spokesman said: "We believe we know who the man is, but we will not be confirming his identity until a formal identification has taken place and a post-mortem examination has been held."

Upper Bann DUP MLA Sydney Anderson described the news of the death as "very sad and disturbing".

"I am shocked to learn that a body was found in a stream on Sunday morning," he added.

"Police are currently investigating the circumstances of this death and I am aware that three men and two women have been arrested in connection to what has happened.

"I have been liaising with the PSNI throughout the day and ultimately the local community has been left very distressed and disturbed about this death.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the deceased. We now need to see a rigorous investigation being carried out to get to the bottom of this tragedy."

DUP councillor for the area Carla Lockhart said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased.

"It has been a shock to learn of this death. This is a very disturbing situation and one that has rocked the local community. The PSNI are appealing to anyone who has information to come forward to the police but assurances have been given that every effort is being made to deal with this matter sensitively."
The wife of a murdered Irish jeweller has spoken of the day she lost her childhood sweetheart when they were attacked by an armed robber in their own store.

Originally from Dublin, Bridget and Dermot O'Toole met when they were only six years old, first becoming dance parrners and later husband and wife in 1972.

They relocated to Australia shortly after the wedding and had three sons shortly afterwards: Christian, Trent and Dale.

"All the stars had aligned for us and we were just over the moon with our little family, we were exceptionally happy," Bridget told RTE 1's The Ryan Tubridy Show this morning.

"We got on like a house on fire...until the day he died we were inseparable, we spent every waking moment together."

But Bridget's world came crashing down in July 2013 when Gavin Perry entered their small jewellery shop, the Jewel Shed, in Hastings and stabbed her husband of 41 years to death.

Mr Perry had initially come into their family store with his girlfriend and an infant child looking to check the standard of some jewellery he had on his person.

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"He had a few items of jewellery including a pendant and he wanted to know if they were diamonds. He was very nice and there was no reason for us to be suspicious," Bridget recalled.

Bridget checked the jewellery, had pleasant exchanges with the couple, and they then left the store. It wasn't until 5pm later that afternoon that they next encountered Mr Perry.

We had started to wind because we close at 530pm when I heard the buzzer going.

"Gavin moved so fast and he was screaming so loud, he jerked something at me I thought it was a taser but it was a knife," said Bridget.

"It was only months later I started to understand why he went to stab me straight away. Dermot was right behind me so he wanted to stab me to get me out of the way so he could get to Dermot."

Mr Perry was armed with a 20 centimetre carving knife that he had stolen just minutes beforehand and stabbed Dermot twice in the chest while he trying to protect his wife.

He died at the scene despite efforts to save his life. His last words were: Call an ambulance. Ive been stabbed.

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Mr Perry pleaded guilty in 2014 to charges of murder, armed robbery and intentionally causing injury.

The court heard he been high on the drug ice and was on parole when he stabbed 64-year-old Dermot to death.

Murder in Melbourne is a hard-hitting new RTE documentary which airs tonight at 9.35pm looks at the murders of three Irish nationals living in the Australian city between 2012 and 2013.

The film opens with the killing of Dermot OToole, then chronicles the murder of a 30-year-old David Greene in 2012, and finally covers the murder of journalist Jill Meagher a few days after David's murder.

Murder in Melbourne tells their stories and looks at the parole system in Victoria to examine how failings there laid the foundations for these otherwise unrelated murders.
Police forensic experts examine the scene of an under-car bomb that exploded under a van and injured a prison officer in Belfast. Photo: Photopress

A young prison officer has pleaded with dissident republicans to halt their campaign of murder and destruction, saying: "Let me live in peace".

The man, who is in his 20s, describes in stark detail (see panel below) what it is like to spend each day in the shadow of terror.

He has spoken out after the bomb attack on a 52-year-old colleague in east Belfast on Friday.

In a statement to the BBC dissident republican group - which call themselves the New IRA - said the officer was targeted because he was involved in training other guards at HMP Maghaberry, near Lisburn.

A spokesman said the officer was one of a number on a list of potential targets and the attack arose from a dispute over the treatment of dissident Republican inmates.

Last night, the PSNI said three men and one woman had been arrested in connection with the attack. They were being questioned at a Belfast police station.

The injured officer, a married father-of-three, remained in a stable condition in hospital yesterday.

Police fear there could be further attempts to kill and maim members of the security forces in the lead-up to the centenary of the Easter Rising.

PSNI and prison staff and members of the military have been told to take extra precautions, with senior officers warning more attacks are "highly likely".

In a letter to this newspaper, a prison officer describes the reality of living with the dissident threat.

The officer, who has asked to remain anonymous, says he just wants to live in peace and for his girlfriend to know he will come home safe at night.

Telling the dissidents he is speaking as "one human to another", he urges them to consider the consequences of their murderous actions.

He writes: "I am begging each and every one of you, from one human to another, live in peace.

"I am not asking you to become best friends with a policeman, prison officer or soldier, in fact, you don't even have to like us, just please let us live in peace, let our partners know we will come home each night.

"It's only a job to me, so I can pay my bills, hopefully one day own a house and live a life of satisfaction and contentment. I don't believe I am asking for much. I am a human just like you."

The writer describes how he tries to lead a normal life with his girlfriend. He tells of their plans to settle down, buy a house and raise a family.

But he describes how they are both gripped by the fear that he could be targeted next.

Recalling the moment he heard about Friday's attack, he adds: "My girlfriend looked at me and her face was filled with worry. I knew what she was thinking.

"My stomach was in bits, but I couldn't show her that I was worried, or she would worry further, so I reacted with the usual 'That will never happen to me', along with a few other phrases that were an attempt at calming her down. The truth is, that it could have been me.

"As a young girl who isn't even out of her teenage years, who has no interest in what happened during the Troubles and just lives her life enjoying each day as it comes, she will now spend her time constantly worrying about my safety.

"Will it happen to her boyfriend? Is it fair of me to make her live her life that way? Am I taking away the opportunity for her to live a life of contentment, knowing that every evening I will call her and have a chat about our day, or will one day she get a call to say that I have been blown up attempting to go and do my day's work?"

The officer ended his letter to the dissidents by saying: "I don't believe I am asking for much. I am a human just like you."

Friday's victim works in Hydebank Wood Young Offenders' Centre in Belfast.

He was driving along Hillsborough Drive, off the Woodstock Road in east Belfast, when the device partially detonated.

He suffered leg wounds and remains in hospital after surgery.

A Belfast Health Trust spokeswoman said yesterday the officer remained in a "stable" condition.

Finlay Spratt, head of the Prison Officers' Association, said: "My information is that he is recovering in hospital.

"He was to have undergone surgery on Saturday and we are hoping he makes a speedy recovery and gets back to full health.

"He was supposed to have been suffering from shrapnel injuries to his legs, face and arm.

"He is a good officer and does a lot of work in the community outside the prison service, a lot of voluntary work.

"I know him well, he is a lovely lad, very approachable, very attentive to his work, he works at the college, training new staff. He was very active in the prison service. His wife is up at the hospital today, instead of perhaps being out with her husband on Mother's Day. It brings a stark reminder to us all that these idiots (terrorists) are out there.

"What do they hope to achieve? They are just bringing misery on families and people that work in the prison service.

"I have spoken to the officer's wife after the attack on her husband and certainly she was badly shocked as one might expect, but she is coping well, the family is very strong."

The murder bid came just three weeks before republicans mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, a landmark event in the battle for Irish independence from Britain.

The Prison Officers' Association said it fears a second murder bid is "imminent".

Last Friday, Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin confirmed another attack was "highly likely".

"I believe that there are people within dissident republican groupings that want to mark this centenary by killing police officers, prison officers or soldiers," he said.
Kim Jong Un with some of his general staff in Pyonyang.

'Gardai to quiz injured man over baby's death' is the front page story from the Irish Independent this morning which reports that an investigation has been launched following the suspicious death.

The alarm was raised by the childs mother around 6pm yesterday evening and emergency services were sent to the apartment complex in Killarney, Co Kerry.

The story covers the front page of many of the nationals this morning, with The Herald running with the side bar 'Gardai probe death of baby boy'.

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The lead story from this paper is '50 women linked to feud' as the females linked to the bitter gang war between the Hutch mob and the Christy Kinahan cartel have been warned by garda over their safety.

'Garda probe as 11-mth old baby found dead' is the lead from the Irish Daily Mirror while the Irish Daily Star runs with 'Cops probe baby death'. Both red tops also feature Conor McGregor's match defeat over the weekend on their front page, with the UFC fighter's resolution: "I'll be back".

The Irish Examiner leads with the upcoming vote for Taoiseach with the headline 'FG and FF likely to be shunned by small groups' as Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin have both been dealt a double blow in their rival bids to gain power.

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'FF leader unlikely to bridge gap with Kenny in Dail vote' is the angle taken by The Irish Times as the paper reports a gap of 13 votes between Kenny and Martin.

In world news, North Korea has threatened nuclear strikes on the US and South Korea, this time in reaction to the start of huge joint military drills by the two countries.

Belligerent threats have been a staple of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but they spike especially when Washington and Seoul stage what they say are annual defensive springtime war games.

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A gas leak at a coal mine in north-east China has killed 12 miners, state media reported.

The accident happened at a mine in the city of Baishan in Jilin province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have tangled aggressively in a Democratic presidential debate over trade and Wall Street influence.

Ms Clinton accused her opponent of turning his back on the car industry while Mr Sanders countered that her friends on Wall Street had "destroyed this economy".

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One man has been killed and two injured in a shooting at a business in western Sydney.

New South Wales police said they found three men with gunshot wounds after responding to reports of a shooting at a sign-making business.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. A United flight bound for Munich was forced to make an emergency landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Less than 1000 feet in the air and less than five minutes after take- off, trouble hit. Armenpress reports, citing ABC.

United Airlines says it was a bird strike that forced the plane to make the emergency landing at 6pm.



Denise Cooper, a seasoned international traveler, told Eyewitness News she sensed trouble.



"There was a strong vibration and then there was a rumbling from one of the engines. It was abnormal," Cooper said.
A bogus cab pulled over by Gardai at the weekend Credit: An Garda Siochana

Bogus drivers are rampant in the Irish taxi industry because the Government has washed their hands of the issue, claims transport chief.

The head of one of Irelands largest transport groups says until now only lip service has been paid to concerns about passenger safety when it comes to who is behind the wheel of a taxi.

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You can run it through a computer, or off your phone, and do yourself up some ready made identification.

Mr Roes allegation follows the arrest of a fake taxi driver in Dublin at the weekend.

The man, using a fake taxi sign and door stickers, was taking a female passenger home when he was pulled over by officers.

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The meter was running with a paying female passenger inside the cab who was totally unaware that the taxi and its driver were fake.

The incident has prompted calls for tighter regulation of the taxi industry, and is only the latest incident, according to Mr Roe, involving fraudulent drivers.

We had a meeting with [Transport] Minister Paschal Donohoe six weeks ago and, ironically, we brought up this issue [of fake drivers] at the meeting.

We showed him various confirmations of stories like this, and asked him to introduce legislation for ensure the safety of the public, as well as taxi workers.

Whats been happening with fraudulent and bogus drivers... [The Government]pays lip service to it with that app and then they walk away and the cancer spreads.

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Mr Roe said that many taxi drivers wanted tighter controls to be introduced, and that serious deterrents were needed to discourage bogus drivers.

Were looking for increased penalties for those impersonating taxi drivers  with a minimum prison sentence of at least 12 months and a fine upwards of 10,000.

He added: For us, its about safety aspect. Ive ten grandchildren and some of them are at that age now where theyre going out.

If theyre getting a taxi, and I cant get one of my friends to pick them up, I tell them to interview the driver to make sure he is legit.

Thats not something you should have to do in this day and age.
The strike at the chocolate manufacturers plant in Coolock, north Dublin, by members of the Unite and Siptu trade unions came to a temporary halt on Friday night following two days of pickets. Photo: Gerry Mooney

It could be after Easter before there is an outcome in the suspended strike by Cadbury workers, according to union representatives.

The strike at the chocolate manufacturer's plant in Coolock, north Dublin, by members of the Unite and Siptu trade unions came to a temporary halt on Friday night following two days of pickets.

Unions agreed to suspend the industrial action to facilitate talks with the Workplace Relations Commission in a dispute over the outsourcing of 17 jobs at the company's stores division.

The unions' negotiating committees will meet today and convene with shop stewards tomorrow before issuing a recommendation that will be put to members in a ballot during a consultation period that could extend past Easter due to the upcoming holidays.
As he beams happily in the arms of his adoring parents, beautiful nine-month-old baby Phoenix Wickremasinghe has no idea yet of the strength his mothers, Anne Marie Toole and Dil Wickremasinghe, have demonstrated.

Not for long though, as he will soon learn how their courage and willingness to publicly stand up and be counted gave hope to other same-sex couples who longed to be married and become parents. When Dil became pregnant, she and Anne Marie were subjected to vitriolic criticism and hostility from opponents of same-sex marriage and parenthood, but they dealt with it with dignity and fortitude. Many people credit their honesty and openness with helping to positively change attitudes and bring about change.

The gorgeously warm mental-health advocates have also overcome sexual abuse and depression, in Dil's case, and an eating disorder and anxiety in Anne Marie's, and went on to set up Insight Matters, which provides affordable psychotherapy, counselling and personal development guidance. Dil (42), who was born in Rome to Sri Lankan parents, is a TV3 Midday panellist and presenter of Global Village on Newstalk, which highlights social justice and mental- health issues.

Anne Marie (35) is from Meath, and she and Dil met at a mental health conference in 2010. As Dil is seven years older, they decided she would be the one to bear their first baby. "I saw the last bus coming, so I said to Anne Marie, 'We have to leg it,'" laughs Dil.

The women have been very open about conceiving their baby through IVF, using donor sperm at Clane Fertility Clinic. They chose a 'known' donor from Denmark, and will be able to use the same biological father for any future babies. Their children can contact him at 18 if they choose, and will do so with their mothers' full support. "I can see us in a cafe across the road sussing out this man coming to meet our kids one day," says Dil. "We'll appear nonchalant, but we'll probably be worried."

While the original plan was that Anne Marie will try to conceive the next child, Dil is feeling broody again, so who knows? They have even discussed becoming pregnant at the same time, but have to take into account that there are twins in Anne Marie's family, and the chance of having multiple births through IVF is also high. "We're like a Celtic Tiger home," says Dil. "We have two ovens, so we might as well use them both. We're exploring all options, but I'm leaning towards the idea that it's Anne Marie's turn to shine. I'll be delighted to be able to support her through pregnancy, as she did with me."

Phoenix is all the more precious because when Dil was 18 weeks pregnant, she started bleeding and it was feared she was having a miscarriage. While he was thankfully fine, sadly it was discovered that an empty sac was also present and a second baby or "silent twin" had been lost.

Dil and Anne Marie chose to have the baby at home via a private service called Neighbourhood Midwives, and were delighted with the service. They practised "gentle birth" training, which teaches you not to see the pain associated with labour as a threat, and as a result, Dil enjoyed her 24 hours in labour, where she watched a Madonna concert, ate curry and danced, before having a water birth.

"I guided the whole thing, and you'd swear I had given birth before because I was so confident and knew what to do," says Dil. "Anne Marie was amazing and was constantly with me, holding my hand and being so comforting. It was an absolute celebration and I tell women all the time that labour doesn't have to be this traumatic thing.

"It can be a positive, empowering and liberating experience, like it was for me. Phoenix was so calm and alert right from the start, and I call him my little Buddha boy."

They didn't know the sex in advance, and Dil and Anne Marie were delighted to have a gorgeous, healthy little boy. "It took a while to get used to there being a willy in the house," laughs Dil, who vehemently opposes gender stereotyping and has never fit the stereotype of what a woman should be anyway. "I was asking my friends, 'How do you wash it?'"

It may surprise some people to learn that both Dil and Anne Marie were hoping to breastfeed Phoenix, but it's actually perfectly possible for a woman to produce milk if she hasn't been pregnant, through the process of induced lactation. This involves using a breast pump before the baby arrives to stimulate milk production, but it's a process that takes time.

"It would have taken a good three months of pumping and expressing to get Anne Marie's mammary glands going, and although she tried, unfortunately time got the better of us," says Dil. "When Phoenix was born, Anne Marie cut the cord and the midwives put him on her chest while I was in the pool waiting to give birth to the placenta. He actually latched on to her first, so he knew she was his mother from the get go."

Anne Marie says that the reality of being a parent hit her after she walked the midwife to the door a few hours after the night birth. When she returned, an exhausted Dil and baby Phoenix were both sound asleep. "It was very surreal and a moment I will never forget, because I realised that it wasn't just the two of us any more," she says. "I couldn't sleep, and kept walking over to make sure Phoenix was still breathing, but it was wonderful."

For any set of new parents, it's common and completely normal for the partner who hasn't given birth to feel they're in a different place to the one who carried the baby. Initially, Anne Marie found it strange going back to work after three weeks, and then coming home and trying to understand what she had missed during the day.

"Someone said to me that Dil is the primary mother and I'm the secondary one, and that didn't sit well with me," she says. "I needed to understand that she is the primary caregiver to Phoenix and I'm the primary provider.

"There is a thing with roles initially where you can feel sensitive and think the other person has a much stronger connection with the baby, but Phoenix and I have a really strong bond. It was different to Dil's and it took time to understand that. He is beautiful, strong and gentle little soul, and is such a happy and content baby," she says.

"Phoenix has bonded with both of us equally," adds Dil. "Everyone says it must be easier with two women, but that is absolute horseshit. Men can be fantastic carers too, but society has created a notion that a man is less of a man if he is hands-on."

Little Phoenix was born on May 17, and he came a week early. His mums reckon he didn't want to miss out on being part of history, as his first family outing took place five days later, when they went to cast their votes in the marriage equality referendum.

"It was so emotional," says Dil. "As we put the ballot papers in, I kissed mine and Anne Marie kissed hers, as our hopes and dreams rested on those sheets of paper. Thank God it all went so beautifully. That Saturday, I went on my radio show as a guest to talk about the baby, and I proposed to Anne Marie live on air. She had no idea I was going to do it, but she said yes."

Anne Marie may have been surprised, but the guests who arrived for Phoenix's naming ceremony and blessing in December got an even bigger shock. After the blessing, the proud parents invited them back to their lovely Georgian home overlooking Mountjoy Park, above their practice, where they had secretly arranged caterers, a string quartet - and a wedding ceremony! Dil's pal and Best Man, comedian Steve Cummins, did a set to entertain the unsuspecting guests, while the women took Anne Marie's thrilled parents aside and told them they were getting married in ten minutes.

"Steve made the announcement that we were inviting our guests upstairs to our wedding, and we heard the gasps," Dil recalls. " They came up to the Discovery Gospel Choir singing, and it was amazing to have the people closest to us there celebrating both Phoenix and the love we share for each other." With two amazing mums already, baby Phoenix won't be short of wonderful, strong male role models either, including Anne Marie's dad and brothers. Dil is delighted that her own father recently came over from Sri Lanka to stay with them for a month, and developed a great relationship with the baby. This was particularly significant as there have been well-documented difficulties between Dil and her conservative family and they were estranged for several years.

The healing is a work-in-progress, she says, but the process will be continued when she and Anne Marie go to Sri Lanka in June with Phoenix to visit the rest of the family.

Meanwhile, the women are thrilled with their delightful baby son, and the fact that they have been able to get married and gain the security that this affords legally is the icing on the cake.

"It didn't take marriage to strengthen our relationship, but it has linked us core to core," smiles Anne Marie. "We are still the same people. but we're married now with a baby son and it's amazing."

www.insightmatters.ie

Global Village, Newstalk, Saturday 7-8pm
Victoria Beckham recently hit the Big Apple for New York Fashion Week. But there's another way to get your fill of fashion while visiting the city that never sleeps.

The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, on 7th Avenue and 27th Street, is the only museum in New York City dedicated solely to the art of fashion.

It has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th Century to the present. The exhibition, The Women of Harper's Bazaar, 1936-1958, will run until early April, and focuses on a pivotal time in the history of Harper's Bazaar magazine.

It explores the dynamic collaboration between Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow, fashion editor Diana Vreeland and photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who reinvigorated the magazine by combining their individual talents.

On display are personal letters, memorable fashion editorials and photos. fitnyc.edu/museum/

Smarter than your average suitcase

Bluesmart is a technology company that develops Internet-connected travel products. The Bluesmart Carry-On is the first suitcase to connect wirelessly to your smartphone so you can keep your belongings charged, tracked, locked and underweight.

A charging dock, with two USB ports, lets you power your phone up to six times, so you never have to crowd around an airport outlet again. You can also charge your tablets, ebooks, cameras, pencils or any USB-chargeable device.

A built-in tracker lets you know where your bag is, anywhere in the world, for free.

Also, a scale is conveniently built into the handle so you can just pick it up and it'll tell the app how much it weighs. The Bluesmart Carry-On costs approximately 350.

bluesmart.com

Sit back, and let the holiday begin

Club Med is considered the original all-inclusive resort, and was founded in 1950.

Sometimes an all-inclusive deal is exactly what makes a holiday extra-special - especially if you're travelling with children. Sunway is the main booking agent for Club Med in Ireland and offers 64 all-inclusive sun and ski resorts worldwide, including Marrakech.

Other destinations include Portugal, France, Sicily, Bodrum, Greece, Florida, Thailand, the Maldives and Cancun.

This is well worth knowing if you're currently considering travelling with babies, young children or teenagers.

You can expect direct flights to lots of resorts and short transfer times -plus lots of fun activities.

sunway.ie

Win over cabin crew in no time

Huffpost Travel has some tips on how to get your flight attendant to love you.

For starters, say hello during boarding. Getting boarded on time is one of the flight attendant's most stressful tasks. Don't make it harder on them by asking for things and have everything you'll want with you.

During the flight, plan ahead. Know what you want to order from the food trolley by the time it's at your seat. Remember, the menus are printed on most in-flight magazines.

Offer a flight attendant a confectionery treat, as many don't have time to get something to eat during their 12-hour day. Smile politely at them.

huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/30/flight- attendant-tips_n_7176592.html
He stood before the judge. He had been told to prepare himself for the prospect of prison. The judge was speaking: "It is a tragedy to see a successful young man from any profession standing in the dock of a crown court having pleaded guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and, more seriously, indecently assaulting a member of the crew."

On a flight from Tokyo to Heathrow in April 2002, Irish jockey Timmy Murphy got so drunk that he became loud, frightening crew members and other passengers. He was also accused of grabbing an air hostess by the leg and moving his hand up her skirt. He was sentenced to six months in prison.

"I couldn't refute it," Murphy wrote in his autobiography. "I had no right of reply. I couldn't remember what happened on flight BS901. An alcohol-induced haze had drawn a shroud over the ten hours following take-off. Ten hours from hell, by all accounts."

Paul McGrath reckons he had been walking the streets for close on 13 hours before he arrived at the door of a friend. He had no money in his pocket, he was hungry and dishevelled and in need of a bed for the night. He had nowhere else to go.

Earlier, he had walked out of Manchester Crown Court, remanded to appear at a later date, after pleading not guilty to affray. He had spent the night in a cell in Stretford Station after an incident outside the home of his ex-wife. McGrath had, he later admitted, hit a new low.

Murphy and McGrath are two Irish sporting heroes whose battle with alcohol has been played out in the full gaze of the public. They have spoken openly about the harm caused to those closest to them by their drinking and their battle to beat their addiction. It is a battle being fought every day, in every part of the country.

One person I know is lucky to be alive today. Another dear friend, whom I had known all my life, died tragically 14 years ago.

Apparently, almost three-quarters of Irish adults believe they know someone who drinks too much, and for over half of those people it's actually a person in their immediate family. As Murphy and McGrath so vividly portrayed when they opened up about their drinking, and as pointed out by Alcohol Ireland, family members, friends, colleagues and even innocent bystanders can be left to bear a huge burden.

This is the reality of the Ireland we live in. Drink casts a dark shadow.

The evidence is that although we consume less alcohol as a nation now than we did 15 years ago, we are still among the highest in the world when it comes to drinking, and harmful drinking.

According to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the number of deaths due to liver disease has doubled in the last 20 years. Furthermore, up to 1,500 beds a night in Irish hospitals are occupied by people with alcohol-related problems. The cost of alcohol to the Irish economy - in terms of treating alcohol-related illnesses (including mental illness), crime and public order costs, work-place absenteeism, and so on - has been estimated at 3.7bn a year.

Surveys show that we have an awareness of the problem, that the majority of people accept that levels of drunkenness and alcohol consumption are too high. Yet despite this, and despite the number of people whose lives have been adversely affected in some way by alcohol, Ireland remains a permissive society. We regale each other with stories of our drunken escapades, we celebrate our hangovers almost as a badge of honour, we welcome our new-born with a raised glass, we recall our dearly departed over a few drinks and we toast the milestones in between. And yes, many of us still eye non-drinkers on a night out with suspicion.

The debate around Ireland's alcohol problem has recently been more focused on introducing measures such as minimum pricing, banning high-profile sponsorship of sporting events by drinks companies and increased restrictions around the sale of alcohol. Experts say these will make a difference. But it is not as simple as price or availability - our relationship with alcohol is clearly far more complex. Still the question remains: Why do we drink so much?

Taking action to control the sale and promotion of alcohol is one thing, but we need to develop a greater understanding of what it is that drives this nation to drink.
It's that day of the year when we celebrate our mothers, so our reporter takes a look at some of the most famous mammies in the world

1 KIM KARDASHIAN

What gems will Kim pass on to the kids? Obviously, don't go to Portlaoise on your honeymoon would be right up there. And if you think that means Portarlington would be more in your line, then you're missing the point. But look, her kids will have so much to thank her for. (Hundreds of millions of things, says you, mad for the money.) They'll have the odd bone to pick with mom. Like, you could have given me the most recognisable surname in the world. Instead I'm called North West.

2 VICTORIA BECKHAM

Pop quiz, celeb spotters. What was Posh's maiden name? We'll laugh for a while if you say Spice, but you won't get any points. It was Adams, actually. That ended in 1999 when she took her husband's name after a big bash in Luttrellstown Castle. We were appalled that they used matching thrones. It's like they thought they were better than us, with all their money, good looks and successful careers. In fairness though, they might have had a point.

3 MADONNA

She recently engaged in a custody battle for her son Rocco with ex-hubby Guy Ritchie. Things got so nasty that she appeared to call Guy the c-word on stage in Nashville. Not the c-word that's the biggest possible insult you can give a celeb. She didn't say he was controlling. Madonna also posted a sad selfie on Instagram. She didn't actually look that unhappy. But then, a 57-year-old woman posting selfies on Instagram is sad enough as it is.

4 BEYONCE

She called her daughter Blue Ivy. (And you thought you were pushing out the boat with Sofia, Ferdia and Zach.) Blue Ivy will surely send a letter to her mom any one of these days. "Dear Mom, Thanks for giving me a name that makes me sound like a cheap and nasty aftershave from the 1980s. You know, the kind of one you'd buy Dad for Christmas if you couldn't get together the cash for a bottle of Old Spice. There is only one positive here. And it's that I'm not called Hai Karate."

5 KATE MIDDLETON

Her mother was an air hostess. She knew all about going up in the world, says you. Kate will be played by Louise Ford in a new Channel 4 sitcom about the royals, called The Windsors. Good luck to everyone involved. Mind you, it's hard to see how they're going to squeeze a few laughs out of an old duffer prone to racist gaffes and his son who talks to plants. And that's before you even get to Andrew. He'll probably get a spin-off, called The Windsor.
You might hate Monday, but you'll love our hand-picked selection of special offers... fresh every week.

299pp: St Patrick's Day on the piste

There's still time to ski! DirectSki.com has a seven-night package in Pas de la Casa, Andorra, from just 299pp. The price is down from 553pp, includes transfers, and is based on six sharing 2-star accommodation. 01 254-6300; directski.com.

299pp: Sunway's May Sale

Sunway has a five-day May sale running to midnight tomorrow, March 8. Deals include 3-star Bodrum packages from 299pp, 2-star Majorca from 359pp, and a 4-star family holiday in Menorca from 1,396. 01 231-1800; sunway.ie.

344pp: Seven nights in Rome

A good excuse to visit Rome is always welcome, and ITAA member J Barter Travel has flights plus seven nights at the 4-star Mercure Roma West Hotel from 344pp, or 1,448 for a family of four. 021 4851700; travelnet.ie; itaa.ie/offers.

449pp: Four days in Disneyland Paris

ClickAndGo.com has flights plus three nights at the 3-star Kyriad Disneyland Resort from 449pp, based on two adults sharing in April. The package includes four days theme park tickets, but not transfers. 01 539-7777; clickandgo.com.

1,099pp: All-inclusive in Mexico

Travelmood has return flights from Dublin plus seven nights all-inclusive accommodation at the 4-star Occidental Grand Xcaret in Cancun from 1,099pp. The deal includes transfers, with travel in May. 01 433-1063; travelmood.ie.

For the best hotel deals in our #MagicMonday destinations, and holiday hotspots all over the world, see hotels.independent.ie.

NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The fourth session of the research conference headlined Armenians crossing the line of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide organized by the Assembly of Armenians of Europe was facilitated by Dr. Raffi Bedikian and Yervand Khosrovian. The conference was mostly focused on legal-political procedures and prospects.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of Assembly of Armenians of Europe, co-chair of the Armenian Bar Association of France Verzhini Tyushe delivered a speech headlined Armenian claims under international law, first referring to the Co-ordination Council of Armenian organizations of France, then spoke about the opportunities and obstacles of raising Armenian issues in various international courts.

Afterwards, former President of the International Federation for Human Rights (F.I.D.H.), lawyer, specialist in international law, Raffi Kalfaian delivered a speech themed Genocide reparation, legal grounds and challenges, who explained in detail reparation methods, opportunities and conditions enshrined in the international law.

Raffi Kalfaian spoke about the necessity of individual and collective claims of Armenian belongings from Turkey, emphasizing at the same time that the issue of reparation can be proceeded irrespective of Genocide recognition by Turkey. He mentioned that the mentioned procedure needs cautious, prudence and full collaboration between Armenia and the Diaspora.
Premium

Billy Keane Opinion Even a dash to the Croke Park toilet wasnt enough to get rid of space invader who gave me Covid

I did the time, but there was no crime. Banged up I was, under house arrest after two red bars showed up on the Covid test. Im not too bad, thanks for asking. I have it down on a man who was nearly close enough to kiss me at the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Galway.
There is nothing like living in another country to get some life perspective. Especially one that is far poorer and less developed than your own.

Even more interesting is when that country is also going through national elections and the start of political change. To observe this close up is fascinating.

I am privileged to be currently living in Kampala, working with an inspiring charity, Hospice Africa Uganda, whose mission is to provide comfort and pain relief to thousands suffering from cancer, HIV/Aids and other life-limiting illnesses. It has been a real eye-opener for me. And truly humbling.

It is a well-worn cliche, I know, but living here for the last two months has made me appreciate all we take for granted in Ireland.

On February 18, the people of Uganda took to the polls in the presidential election. Just a week later, on February 26, the Irish people had their say as they voted on a new government.

The two countries are poles apart in terms of size, (Uganda has a population of 37 million), and economic and social development. It was interesting to follow both campaigns closely.

Long-time president Yoweri Museveni was seeking his fifth term in office and was determined to keep his grip on power, having already served 30 years as leader.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny headed into the election as the longest-serving TD, with 41 years' service and, despite the disastrous election for his party, he is still determined to hang on to power.

Election coverage was dominated in both countries by opinion-poll results and live TV debates. Uganda had its first ever live TV election debates. However, the main contender, President Museveni, refused to turn up for them!

Both countries are in a state of flux after their elections.

At home, we are in a post-election stalemate, with the make-up of the next government still very uncertain. It is looking increasingly like the 'unthinkable' might happen - a merger of the old enemies, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

Here in Uganda, President Museveni claimed victory, with more than 60pc of the vote. However, opposition leaders have rejected the results, alleging vote-rigging, bribery and widespread intimidation by the security forces. Some international observers have described the elections as inconsistent with international standards and expectations for any democratic process.

There is a lot of tension in the country with the main opposition candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change party, under house arrest and reports of over 200 other opposition supporters being detained. Polling day itself was badly organised, with some stations opening late or not at all. One Ugandan friend told me his truck was stopped by police on polling day and taken to transport ballot papers to polling booths. He had no choice but to hand it over. He saw ballot papers being loaded onto the truck but they were not sealed. The car was returned to him later that evening - minus the petrol!

Most Ugandans I have talked to in the last few weeks say they have no faith in the election process. They want change. With the highest youth population in the world (77pc of people here are under 30 years of age), they are yearning for the prospect of a good future. Without hope, jobs and a good life, this is a time bomb that is waiting to go off.

So, in the last two months, I have come to appreciate all we have at home.

Despite what you might think of our politicians, we do have an inclusive and open democracy. We all have the freedom to vote in elections that we can be sure are honest and fair.

Despite the economic crash and recession, we are still a very wealthy country. We have good-quality healthcare and education and a well-developed social welfare system. People are not starving. That is not the case here, where school fees and health services must be paid for. Malnutrition is a problem.

One statistic that shocked me is the fact that 95pc of people in Uganda who get cancer will not access chemotherapy, radiotherapy or oncology. There is only one radiotherapy machine for the entire population and that is often broken.

In my work, I have seen people with untreated cancers who have developed huge tumours as a result.

I have visited Mulago General Hospital, the national referral hospital and the biggest in the country. I was taken aback at the poor conditions and the overcrowding, with hundreds of patients, some clearly very ill, queueing in the open and in baking heat on the hospital campus. I had a glimpse of the inside of some of the wards. They looked dirty and chaotic, with people sitting on the floors eating food.

I had little patience during the Irish General Election campaign with people complaining about our health service and long waiting lists.

It is heartbreaking to see people here struggling to pay school fees for their children. Many kids of Hospice Africa Uganda patients don't go to school because their parents can't afford the fees as they are ill and unable to work.

I drive to work each day along a dusty, potholed road with no footpaths. This is not driving in the countryside but in the capital, the equivalent of going from Dun Laoghaire to Stillorgan.

The electricity supply often goes off. And you dare not drink water from the tap or even wash your teeth in it.

These are all the things I take for granted at home. So yes, a bit of perspective is a good thing.
When my novel, Asking For It, was first released, a friend phoned to congratulate me. She then said that she was glad I was highlighting the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption and she hoped any young women reading the book would come to the realisation that they needed to drink less if they wanted to ensure they didn't get raped.

It was an odd moment, but an incredibly revealing one. It had never been my intention for the reader to come to that conclusion. Rather, I had hoped they would see how Irish people often use alcohol as just another way in which to blame victims of sexual violence while simultaneously using it to excuse the behaviour of the perpetrator. However, time and time again, at events and book festivals and school visits across the country, I am asked the same questions - what can we do to stop young people from drinking so much? Surely I agree that alcohol is responsible for most of the sexual violence that happens in Ireland?

I can see why people think this. The permissiveness around the drinking culture here is astounding. To use a gross generalisation, a lot of Irish people drink to get drunk and this need for social lubrication is especially true when it comes to interacting with members of the opposite sex. When I lived in New York, I was asked out on dates on an almost daily basis - at the laundry, in the line at Starbucks, on the Subway. Yes. Men approached me and asked for my number when we were both sober. (The first time it happened I got such a fright I started giggling uncontrollably and my prospective suitor backed away slowly, a panicked expression on his face.)

This is something that just does not happen in Ireland without a great deal of vodka involved. Drinking is something that is deeply embedded within our national psyche, it is the touchstone of many of our social activities, and the statistics around sexual violence reflect that. The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland's Rape and Justice in Ireland study indicated that 74pc of all rape complaints involved alcohol, with 10pc of complainants admitting to being so inebriated that they were almost completely incapacitated. It's all too easy then to draw the conclusion that if women were simply to avoid drinking, then the rates of rape would decrease exponentially, but really, where do we draw the line? We tell women to drink less, we tell them to watch their glasses in bars to ensure they don't get spiked with date rape drugs, we tell them to avoid walking alone at night-time. Rape prevention programmes have traditionally been focused on teaching women how to avoid being raped but here's the problem - it's clearly not working.

Incidences of sexual violence are increasing year on year, and our obsession with policing women in order to stem the tide is only fostering a culture where victims of rape not only blame themselves, but are blamed by others for failing to adopt behaviours that could have helped guarantee that this didn't happen in the first place.

A 2008 study carried out by the Irish Examiner found that 41pc of Irish people believed that a woman was partially or fully responsible for being raped if she was drunk or had taken illegal drugs.

If you put this in the context of any other crime, it becomes increasingly bizarre. Imagine if your house was broken into while you were asleep and afterwards people felt unsympathetic because you had been drinking the same night; that as if somehow having six pints meant that you 'deserved' to be robbed. Or if we look at it from another angle, when people rush to defend someone who has been accused of rape by saying he was too drunk to know what he was doing, would we be so quick to excuse such behaviour if that man had committed murder? "Ah, come on, Johnny didn't mean to stab that man! He was just drunk.We've all been there. He's a good lad, really."

Besides the urgent need to enshrine a legal definition of consent in law that includes the understanding that anyone who is incapacitated with drink is incapable of giving consent and any sexual act that follows is therefore rape, there also needs to be a cultural shift around how we view sexual violence and a zero tolerance policy adopted towards the perpetrators.

It doesn't matter what the victim has had to drink or what they were wearing or how many sexual partners they've had previously or if they went home with the man in the question. It doesn't matter if the man accused was drunk and "didn't know what he was doing" - rape is always the fault of the rapist and the responsibility for the crime lies with them.

Louise's book 'Asking For It' is published by Quercus. louiseoneillauthor.com
The dust had hardly settled on the General Election when two of the most experienced politicians in the country conspired between them to stir the hornet's nest that is Irish Water and the contentious issue of water charges in general. If the intervention of Simon Coveney and Barry Cowen on national television last week is an example of how a putative new government comprising some arrangement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will work, then the heart sinks.

Opinion polls have informed us that the water charges issue, while still a running sore for a large section of society, was not central to the outcome of the election, and was certainly not as important to voters as an array of other, far more pressing matters which the new administration will have to face in short order.

Whatever their intentions, the intervention of Coveney and Cowen is likely to cause further harm to what is an already badly damaged utility company and the prospect now exists that the conflicting positions of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will lead to mass non-payment of water bills at least until a new government eventually contends with the issue. This is a matter of some regret and a source of understandable anger, not least for those who have dutifully paid the charge.

Last week's events have also highlighted the shortcomings in relation to Irish Water in that it was always a hastily cobbled together and ultimately unsatisfactory operation that was never fully accepted by a clear majority of the people. However, an opportunity now exists to finally put right these issues and allow the country to finally move on from the entire debacle.

The case for water charges, if not for Irish Water itself, has been well made. The public water and waste water system is hopelessly past its sell-by date and urgently needs to be upgraded. That will cost a significant sum, running into billions, which the Exchequer can ill afford when set against the health, housing and homeless crisis. Something has to give. A case can be made for a low flat charge to apply to all households until the new government consults widely and comes up with a solution agreeable to the vast majority.

In the past, economist Colm McCarthy has argued that an ingredient in public discontent has been the sheer accumulation of once-off charges and taxes, which have been a significant nuisance to a large proportion of people. The truth is people pay far more in VAT, universal social charge and income tax than they will ever pay for water or in local property tax, but they do not endure an avalanche of correspondence from the Government about form-filling, PINs, PPS numbers, much of it unaccompanied by a clear indication of how much money is being sought and how it will be spent.

The new government should consider, when the dust settles, the creation of a single, easy-to-use platform for the collection through monthly instalments of property tax, annual car tax, the television licence fee and all of the other charges related to the smooth running of a household, and then move on to deal with the far more urgent issues the electorate clearly wants resolved.
About three years ago, when her website Pippa.ie was just starting to catch on, Pippa O'Connor Ormond almost had a deal to become the face of a well-known cosmetic range.

It was very exciting, she says now, and it felt she was in a time of new beginnings. When Pippa told the brand that there was another new beginning in the offing, and that she was pregnant, things changed.

"They said they had decided to go in another direction," Pippa says now, over a breakfast of fresh fruit and a scone. "Maybe they thought I'd fall off the face of the Earth once I had a child. In fact, it was quite the opposite."

It was, indeed. Pippa O'Connor Ormond has never been busier than in the last three years, during which time she has not just transformed herself into a serious businesswoman, but also become a mother, lost her mother and, now, is set to become a mother for the second time. It has been non-stop and, to a great extent, it has been transformative.

Expand Close Pippa O'Connor Ormond wears Dress, River Island. Necklace, Melinda Maria, Arnotts. Photo: Kip Carroll. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Pippa O'Connor Ormond wears Dress, River Island. Necklace, Melinda Maria, Arnotts. Photo: Kip Carroll.

She is not the girl she was five years ago in her pre-wedding documentary. She's not even the relatively new mum she was a year ago, when I last interviewed her. There's a real sense, today, sitting opposite a five-months-pregnant Pippa, that she is all grown up.

Thanks to pippa.ie, she is, after all, one of Ireland's most watched, admired and emulated women, and the effect of that seems to be that she is very aware of how she portrays herself. She is her own brand, and she is careful of that. Also, she's just older and wiser. She has experienced love and loss and grown into being a wife and a parent and, Pippa says, that has mellowed her.

Pippa agrees she has done a lot of growing up since that documentary Brian and Pippa Get Married was on our TV screens. "I was young, I really was," says Pippa, smiling. "I was only 26 getting married, and so young and innocent and excitable, as you should be at 26. I was very different. I suppose I had a very different mindset then."

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Pippa is aware, too, that her profile was very different then. Her husband-to-be, Brian Ormond, was the TV personality, well known from his time on Pop Idol in the UK, You're A Star. "And I was just the model girlfriend," Pippa says.

She displayed an untapped talent on Brian and Pippa Get Married, though. The then 26-year-old Pippa had a self-ease that was engaging, and even when she was being headstrong, she was able to make it seem attractive. The flower archway that he said they couldn't afford, but she wilfully insisted on, was a case in point and turned out to be the most commented-on moment in the show.

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"Oh yeah," Pippa laughs, half embarrassed. "The flowers. But I still love flowers. I'd still do that to this day. Some things wouldn't change."

The idea of being "just" the model girlfriend must feel like a world away, though. These days, Pippa's a bit of a guru thanks to her website, pippa.ie. To say that it's a destination site for fashion, beauty and lifestyle tips is to undersell it, and to underestimate Pippa's appeal.

And Pippa's appeal is what it's all about. She is beautiful, but not intimidating. She is impeccably groomed, but wears mostly high street. She's someone that women think that they can almost emulate, and that is working for her.

After all, there are thousands of people doing these kind of websites, but not all of them click.

Pippa.ie doesn't just click, it earns Pippa a living, it launched her style-seminar Fashion Factories, it earned her a book deal and it made her who she is today. Which is a woman with a self-confidence that she never had while 'just" a model.

"I never strived to be a model," says Pippa, when I say that I never thought her heart was fully in modelling.

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"If you're going to take it seriously, you need to be in London or New York, but that was never going to be me. I wasn't tall enough, or had the right look, or all the things they tell you you're not.

"I always wanted to move to the next thing," she adds. "I was always asking people how would I do this or that, or be a stylist, or how would I be a TV presenter. I was always trying to move away from it a bit.

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"I just got a bit bored," Pippa concludes. "You turned up, you weren't there to speak or give an opinion or use your brain, you were just there to look the part, and that was it. And I found that kind of boring."

While she was pregnant with Ollie, three years ago, Pippa set up her website. She knew she had opinions and she knew she wanted to share them. She just wasn't sure if anyone wanted to hear them. They did, though. They loved the What I Wore section, where she itemised every garment of an outfit; they loved her make-up shortcuts and suggestions, and they loved accounts of her pregnancy and then her baby and her family life, which were just that bit more exciting and gorgeous than your average wife and mother's.

Very, very quickly, the site was a success, and tech types were advising her on how to get ads on to it, and how to actually earn a living from it. She had a small baby and a new business and it was very exciting, and out of that came the idea of her Fashion Factories, where she tours the country giving advice on clothes and style to Irish women of all ages.

Pippa can't say herself what her appeal is for the women who click on her site, who are clicking from all over Ireland and the UK, the US and even Australia.

"I went on one day and there was activity in Israel," she says. "Who is following me in Israel?"

Pippa concedes, however, that she strikes a balance that works for women. She's just the right side of perfect to be someone women can follow without feeling inadequate - though she might not exactly put it this way herself.

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"I suppose I am a little bit conscious of how I come across on the site, but I like to think I don't want to be too aware or trying to hard, either," Pippa says. "You know, I am who I am. I like a bit of luxury, I have my lovely bag [today with a monogram of her initials on the zip] but my boots are from Penneys. Even if I wasn't doing what I am, I'd still be very much a high-street girl."

Does she shop a lot now, I wonder.

"Yeah," she laughs. "Yeah. I always did, but a lot more now. I have way too much stuff."

I suppose you have to, I say.

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"Well," Pippa says, with a hearty laugh, "you could look and not buy. You could do your research without having to own every single thing." She justifies some of the buying by explaining that she needs a different outfit, from head to toe, for her Fashion Factories, of which there were 50 last year.

Pippa did her first Fashion Factory in the winter of 2014, having lost her mother a few weeks before. Her mother, Louise Mullen, died suddenly, without a chance for anyone to say goodbye, and Pippa was still in grief when she did the first Fashion Factory. "It seems weird now that I stood up so soon after and talked about stuff like clothes and make-up, but I just felt like there was no point in putting it off. It was always going to be difficult." And, she concedes, distraction helped.

Having Ollie was the making of her, as a woman of drive and ambition and ability, Pippa says, but her mother's death played a part, too. Both fostered a similar feeling in Pippa. If she could do this, if she could do new life and death, then she could do anything.

"Becoming a mother made me less self-conscious," Pippa says. "Now some people might say that becoming a mother does the opposite to them, but for me, it gave me so much more confidence in myself. Like, before, if someone wrote something mean about me, I'd have been in tears, but now I couldn't care less. They're not important to me. My family is important to me now. It's like, the less you care, the happier you are and the braver you are to do things.

Expand Close At her 2011 wedding, Pippa wore a Monique Lhuillier wedding gown. / Facebook

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Whatsapp At her 2011 wedding, Pippa wore a Monique Lhuillier wedding gown.

"People's opinions of me don't matter so much to me any more," she says, which is funny, because it is people's good opinion of her that has made her successful. Her whole career now relies on their good opinion, but it would seem that the less she personally needs it, the better their opinion is.

Her mother Louise was around and very much involved with Pippa's first pregnancy, and she misses her now, second time around.

"Yeah," says Pippa. "It's weird, since then, loads has happened to me. Some of the biggest changes in my life have happened since she has gone, and that's weird.

"Probably self-consciously I've thrown myself into work even more. I'm lucky that I enjoy what I do. If I'd been in a mundane job I didn't enjoy, I think a sudden death like that could send you the other way. I was just on the cusp of something and she went, and it was like, 'Oh, what am I going to do now?' But instead of it slowing me down, it had the opposite effect, and I threw myself into my work."

The website, Pippa said, was initially just something she did "for the craic". When she saw that people were taking it seriously, then she started taking it seriously too.

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"I think people didn't really know me before," she says. "Not properly. They knew me as this model and as 'Brian and Pippa', so it was definitely hard to break down a perception of me. I was lucky that, for whatever reason, women clicked with me. I suppose I was writing like I was having a chat, and people related to that. And then I started getting into talking about being a mum and a lot of people felt a lot in common with that."

The site was an easy thing to start when she was pregnant and then easy enough to work around a small baby and, still, Ollie is incredibly cooperative when it comes to her work. He comes with her to work a lot, he's in a creche part-time, and Brian is very hands-on with him.

"On a Monday and Tuesday, Brian will often take him off for the whole day," she says. "They'll go and visit [Ollie's] great-granny and stuff." Brian and she are very 50/50 with the parenting, Pippa says, though he will be much busier when his new show for TV3 starts. Win Your Wish List is a format that's already a hit in the UK, she explains, where it's presented by Shane Richie.

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Brian's great with her from a business point of view, but it's a source of pride to her that he's so good with Ollie, too. Brian was a father already when Pippa met him, to his daughter Chloe, who is now 16, but that isn't necessarily what makes him such a great dad. "You can have 10 kids and never get it right," says Pippa.

"Brian's amazing with kids and babies, he's just one of those people," she says. "He'd never be the kind of dad who'd say where's the vest or the sock or the nappy, like he was babysitting or something. Now, the child might not be very well dressed, but he'd take the initiative to do it."

The idea of being a good example of a working mother is important to Pippa. The women who follow her value that kind of thing, and she knows it.

"I'm not a good example of it today," says Pippa, "I haven't done a thing to my face and I've just blasted the hair, but that's because I'm going to the [photo] shoot."

Still, her idea of not being a good example of motherhood is different to most other women's. Her hair is clean and smooth, with no root regrowth, her skin is impeccable and her nails are an unchipped pale pink. That a woman should look any less well-tended is a bugbear of Pippa's, however.

"What I always say to the women in the Fashion Factories is that you always have the five or six minutes in the morning to make yourself look good," Pippa says. "Those are essential minutes to put on your face and have a shower. And once you have the knack of doing something really quick, then you can do it. There is no excuse for someone not to have their hair washed. Or to be in a sloppy tracksuit. It's going to take the same amount of time to put on a pair of nice jeans and some flat boots, so it's about making a conscious effort.

"And you know yourself that on the days you feel awful [those are the days] that you haven't washed your hair, or you're in your pyjamas working or with the kids; then you have a bad day. Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you feel crap? And people say, 'Oh, I'm only going down to the creche, who's going see me?' but it's not about that. It's about how you feel in yourself.

"I've done it," she adds, "but I don't do it any more. Because then I'm in a bad mood and I have a bad day, and it might sound superficial, but people underestimate the importance of beauty and fashion and what it does for us. I'm not saying you've to sit down and do a contoured face at seven in the morning, but everyone can put on a bit of tinted moisturiser and nude eyeliner and mascara, and that's that.

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"A lot of it is about having and making time for yourself. You sometimes have to be a little bit selfish. You have to look at your child and think, 'OK, I am going to let your auntie or your granny or your dad take you out on Saturday afternoon, and I can go and get my nails done.' It's OK to do that. It doesn't make you a bad mother. You have to do what you need to keep yourself sane. They're not going to die. The house isn't going to fall down. If you don't take care of yourself, you're no good to anyone."

At the age of 31, Pippa is coming mercifully early to this realisation. Some women come to it much later. Some come to it when it's too late. And some never arrive at it. But Pippa has grasped it and, good for her, she's hammering it home to other women too, and has acquired the sense of authority required to make them listen.

Having her second baby in May isn't going to shake that, either. Of this, Pippa is certain. "Is it an Irish thing or is it international?" she asks of people's desire to predict doom and gloom and the end of days once a baby comes.

When Pippa was expecting Ollie, everyone muttered about how that would be the end of all the going out and the working and all of that. It only made her more determined to do the opposite, Pippa says, and she did. She still has her good times - it takes her 20 minutes to do "the whole lot" face for a night out, since you ask - and she's working more, and more happily than she ever was.

She recorded an episode for the new series of The Restaurant for TV3 and she really enjoyed it, though it was harder work than she thought. Pippa laughs to admit that she kind of thought that she'd bring in her ideas and the chefs would help her to shape them and then, well, cook them for her. "It was much harder work than I thought it was going to be," she laughs. "But it was great fun, too."

Pippa is no Roz Purcell or Rosanna Davison in the kitchen, she concedes, nor in the area of exercise, which she hates and avoids. She would love to do more TV, and sees a gap in the market for a fashion and beauty show. A book is coming out in October. It's more substantial than the website tips and chat, Pippa says, and fleshes out just who she really is.

"I'm sure it will be different and more full-on," Pippa O'Connor Ormond says, "but people with lives busier than me, with multimillion-dollar companies, often have more than two children and they're doing fine. I suppose I'll look more tired and have more wrinkles, and a few more grey hairs, but so what? I'll just have to buy more expensive eye cream."

Maybe she will, maybe she won't, but whatever she does, there will be followers to applaud her for it.

Pippa O'Connor Ormond will be appearing on 'The Restaurant', TV3, Wednesday, March 9, at 9pm.

Photography by Kip Carroll; Styling by Liadan Hynes; Assisted by Claire O'Farrell; Hair by Michael Doyle, Peter Mark St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, D2, tel: (01) 478-0362, or see petermark.ie; Make-up by Vivien Pomeroy, see vivienpomeroy.com ; Photographed at Palmerstown House Estate, Johnstown, Co Kildare. Palmerstown House Estate is available for weddings, private functions and corporate and business events - for more information, tel: (045) 906-901, or email info@palmerstownhouse.com, or see palmerstownhouse.ie.
Colin Farrell arrives for the British Independent Film Awards at the Old Billingsgate Market in London, Britain December 6, 2015. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

Adele performs on stage at the SSE Arena Belfast on February 29, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Actor Colin Farrell with a mystery date to see Adele in concert at the 3Arena Dublin. Picture: John Dardis

You have got to hand it to actor Colin Farrell.

After being linked to a string of beauties over the years, the Hollywood heartthrob appears to have bagged himself another glamorous girlfriend, in the form of a mysterious brunette.

The 39-year-old is back in his native Dublin this week and enjoyed a Saturday night in the capital, taking in superstar Adeles concert.

The Castleknock native was joined by the slim brunette and a group of pals, including Bono and The Edge, as they made their way into the 3Arena.

Expand Close Colin Farrell arrives for the British Independent Film Awards at the Old Billingsgate Market in London, Britain December 6, 2015. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor / Facebook

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The True Detective star has been enjoying himself this week and has been spotted in a number of top restaurants around the city. Colin, who is based in LA, was first spotted out with the mystery woman last month.

Previously linked to some of the worlds most famous women, including Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie, Colin said last year that he hadnt dated anyone in four years. The clean-living star has two sons, James (12) and Henry (6).

He was in good company at the Adele gig with Hozier and Adele's boyfriend Simon Konecki also turning out, while Friday night's performance saw Amy Huberman and Brian O'Driscoll in attendance.
I try to get up at 8am, regardless of whether I've been working the night before or not.

I feel like I can get more done. I still live at home with my mum and two sisters in Rathfarnham. Generally, I get up when Mum is leaving for work. For breakfast, I'll have a pint of coffee and porridge. Everything has to be gluten-free. I can't say that I watch what I eat, but generally my cravings would be for healthy food. I'm very lucky with my figure. It's down to DNA because my mum has a slim build too.

While drinking my coffee, I have a look at social media for about an hour. I'm an Instagram person. I think it's brilliant, but I don't do an Instagram picture every day because I don't have the energy to put on make-up every day to take a nice picture. I post about two pictures a week. A lot of these are from the Miss Swimsuit USA International competition I did last October, where I came ninth out of 66 contestants. It was held in the Dominican Republic.

I follow a lot of people on Instagram. I like to look at a lot of interior-design stuff and travel blogs. My favourite thing is looking at pictures of places in the world where I want to go. I look at some models' Instagram pages too - mostly Australian models or girls based in LA. We all like looking at that lifestyle and wishing it was us. On Instagram, you can portray your life to be whatever way you want; however, it must be a lot easier if you're living in a sunny place and have money coming in.

Expand Close Miss NUI Maynooth - Rebecca Hanley pictured ahead of the final of Miss University 2015 which will take place at Dandelion in Stephens Green ,Dublin this Saturday 25th April. / Facebook

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My days can vary. I could be travelling into work - I do a few hours relief work in a preschool. I have a degree in early childhood teaching and learning. I used to do the preschool full-time but now I just do it once or twice a week, as I want to be free for modelling and promotions.

Also, I like to travel a lot. I work in a pub at the weekends. I do this work because it's easier to get time off. When I won Miss Bikini Ireland, I told them at the pub that I would be flying to the Dominican Republic the following week for Miss Swimsuit USA International, so I needed some time off. They were fine with that and just asked me to work the day after I returned.

I got into modelling because I was contacted through my Facebook page. That's the magic of social media. At the time, I was studying part-time for my degree in Maynooth and I was asked if I would enter Miss University. I talked to my mum about doing it and she said, 'What's the worst that can happen? That you don't get picked.' Just as I was finishing my thesis, I got a call to say that I'd been selected to be Miss Maynooth. I had never posed for photos before and I had to walk down the runway in club wear, evening wear and a bikini. It's second nature to me to walk around in a bikini as I go on holidays to Greece a lot and I go around the town there in my bikini.

I didn't place in the Miss University competition, but then, when I was away on holidays, someone liked one of my Instagram pictures. They asked me to enter Miss Bikini Ireland. It's a very modern occurrence. I had to fill out a questionnaire. They asked me if I had any insecurities about my body as a bikini model. I told them that my figure is quite boyish and I don't have any womanly curves. I didn't think about winning but I enjoyed the experience. I was thrilled to win Miss Bikini Ireland and, because of that, I had such fun competing in Miss Swimsuit USA International. The other girls were so lovely and I made some good friends. Also, I was in awe of their beauty.

We'd wake up in the morning and say, 'Ah, do we have to wear fake eyelashes today?' and then we'd be trying to stick them on each other. We helped one another swapping different false tans and exchanging hair-curling tips. As part of this competition, I won a trip to Vegas in July with 10 other girls. I think there will be some sort of industry party with producers and agents. It'll be amazing.

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When I started filming for Miss Bikini Ireland, I discovered that I lit up for the cameras. This was a surprise, because I thought I'd be nervous. I feel very comfortable and happy in front of the cameras. Who knows, some day I might end up being a TV host. Ideally, I'd love to be signed and go to the States because that's where the money is and where you'll make it. I don't know if there is a market for my look in Ireland because I fit into the niche of bikini and lingerie. I see possibilities for me in the States.

My big ambition is to be a Victoria's Secret model. When they do their fashion show, those models really present a personality. Prior to entering Miss Bikini Ireland, I was planning to move to Holland to do a master's degree in behavioural neuroscience. I could still do that later on, but right now I'd love to pursue modelling.

Recently, in the evenings, I've started going to the gym with my friend from college. I'm not one for exercise, but it's something to do, and you feel better afterwards. I'm not big on going out to clubs. Besides, I've always worked weekends in pubs. I don't have a boyfriend and men are nothing but trouble, in my opinion. There are times when I'd love to have a boyfriend, just someone to go on a date with, but I'm very unlucky. It just doesn't happen for me. I think a lot of men don't want to spend the time getting to know someone when they can click on some app instead and find someone a mile away. But this doesn't ruin my day. I'm not actively looking for a man. Sometimes people send me messages on Instagram, saying, 'Hey, what's up?' and asking me out. When I say thanks but no thanks, they often get aggressive and presume that I have a boyfriend.

If I've been working with children during the day, I usually go to bed very early because I'm wiped. At night, I'd read rather than watch TV. The last book I read was on psychology. I might look at some blogs too, but I must get back to reading novels.
Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding had a superhero twist. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Grace & Karl's Wedding. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, www.couple.ie

Karl, who knew Grace through mutual friends, says he had "always been mad about her".

When he eventually asked her out for drinks in Dublin's Temple Bar, a musician friend, Ian, decided to embarrass them with a song dedicated "to the newlyweds, Grace and Karl." Little did Ian know he'd be asked to play at their actual wedding ceremony four years later!

"I muttered 'Jesus Christ' when I saw Grace first for the date because she was so unbelievably stunning. She also took 45 seconds to devour a cheese fries from the chipper. I knew then she was the one for me!" laughs Karl.

He eventually popped the question at sunset atop a sand dune on a Wexford beach, before digging out the champagne he'd buried there earlier.

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The pair had a humanist ceremony with handfasting and compromised on a rustic theme with a superhero twist at their ideal venue of Tulfarris Hotel in Blessington, Co Wicklow.

Karl made the centrepieces and direction signs while Grace made handouts for the church. The bride found her dress at Tamen Michael, in Dublin, and the groom bought his suit on asos.com.

After their big day, Karl and Grace went to Disneyland Paris on a family holiday for a few days but in August they plan to enjoy their honeymoon on a Royal Caribbean cruise around the Greek islands.

* Words by Dee Finnerty. Photography by Ros and Anna from Couple Photography, visit couple.ie

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YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. Britain leaving the European Union would be like a prisoner escaping jail, London Mayor Boris Johnson has said, Armenpress reports, citing The Telegraph.

Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show Mr. Johnson hit out at the approach of the Remain camp, which has been criticized for its strategy dubbed by critics as Project Fear ahead of the in/out referendum on June 23.

The Mayor of London said: This is like the jailer has accidentally left the door of the jail open and people can see the sunlit land beyond.

And everybody is suddenly wrangling about the terrors of the world outside. Actually it would be wonderful. It would be a huge weight lifted from British business.

However Mr. Johnson left himself open to criticism by conceding that leaving the EU  so-called Brexit  could lead to Britons losing their jobs.

Asked if there would be a period people would lose their jobs, Mr. Johnson replied: It might. Well, it might or it might not and actually there are plenty of people who now think that the cost of getting out would be virtually nil and the cost of staying in would be very high.

Mr. Johnson disclosed that he decided to campaign for Brexit after Government lawyers rejected his wording on how to assert sovereignty of Parliament and UK courts over Brussels courts.

He had submitted a form of words in the days before the end of Mr. Cameron's renegotiation to Government lawyers.

He said: "The government lawyers said  [they] just blew up. And they, you know, they said this basically voids our obligations under the 1972 European Communities Act, it doesnt work, we cant  and that is, Im afraid, the reality."

Mr. Johnson insisted that Mr. Cameron's position would be secure even if the country voted to leave the EU on June 23 amid speculation he could be ousted from Number 10.

To the best of my knowledge there is not a single EU leader in the last 20 years who has had to step down as a result of a referendum, whether on Europe or not," he said. "I think the whole thing is a load of cobblers.

Mr. Johnsons appearance on the Andrew Marr program on BBC1 prompted comment on Twitter, with critics claiming that Mr. Johnson was interrupted twice as many as time as the Prime Minister on the same show a fortnight ago.

Mr. Marr denied he interrupted Boris Johnson too much, insisting that it felt like a being a fly heckling a steamroller, or twig trying to intervene with a waterfall.

Writing in his column in The Daily Telegraph, Mr. Johnson warned that the EU leaders wanted to merge European countries into a super-state.
Volunteers rush an injured woman to a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, following the bomb attack. (AP)

Eleven people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked the entrance to a court in north-western Pakistan, police said.

Another 15 people were injured in the blast in the town of Shabqadar on Monday, said police official Ali Jan Khan. Two policemen and a policewoman were among the dead, he said.

The attacker tried to enter the court premises where police stopped him, said another officer, Saeed Khan Wazir.

The bomber opened fire at the officers and started running toward the courtrooms where a large number of lawyers and their clients were present, he said.

A policeman began fighting the attacker, who then detonated his explosives, Mr Wazir said.

A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban and calling itself Jamat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility. The local Taliban branch or its allied militant groups have been waging a war against the state for more than a decade, killing tens of thousands of people.

Shabqadar is in Charsadda district, where four suicide bombers from a Pakistani Taliban-linked group killed 21 students and teachers on January 20.

The town is on the edge of the Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where two Pakistanis working with the US Consulate in the north-western city of Peshawar were killed by a roadside bomb while on a mission to eradicate drug cultivation on March 1. That attack was also claimed by Jamat-ul-Ahrar.

The court bombing was an attack on the judiciary which gives verdicts against God's divine laws, said Ahrar's spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan in a statement emailed to an Associated Press reporter.

It was a revenge for the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri who was executed last week for the 2011 killing of a provincial governor.
Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. Reuters/Stringer/Files

At least 45 people have been killed in Tunisia after extremists attacked a town near the country's border with Libya.

The interior and defence ministries said in a statement that the Tunisian government has closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack.

The statement says 28 "terrorists" have been killed in the fighting, seven civilians and 10 members of Tunisia's security forces.

The attack comes amid growing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya.

A 12-year-old girl was among the civilians who were killed.

Interior ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah earlier told The Associated Press the gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn on Monday in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Tunisia's fledgling democratic government is especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane and authorities are hunting several attackers still at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily-armed men in an hours-long gunfight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group.

Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on "precise information" of possible border infiltrations following the February 19 US raid on an IS camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defence minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.

Tunisia was targeted last year by three attacks that left 70 people dead and were claimed by IS. According to Tunisian authorities, the attackers had been trained in Libya.
Several people have been killed in clashes between Tunisian police and unidentified gunmen near the Libyan border, Tunisia's Interior Ministry has said.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya and after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah said gunmen attacked a police station and military facilities at dawn on Monday. He said security forces killed a large number of assailants.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three bodies had been taken to the hospital, including that of a 12-year-old girl.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia and authorities are hunting several attackers who are at large. The ministry urged residents to stay indoors.
Nancy and Ronald Reagan visited Ashford Castle in Co Mayo during their Irish trip in 1984

Ronald and Nancy starred in the 1957 film Hellcats of the Navy, their only movie together. Photo: Reuters

Former first lady Nancy Reagan places her hands on the husband Ronalds coffin at his removal in Washington in 2004. Photo: Getty

Nancy Reagan, the former first lady of the United States, arguably exercised more power than any other president's wife.

Operating under a public cover of wifely submission, she was the crucial influence over her husband's entire political career.

"If Ronald Reagan had married Nancy the first time round," James Stewart once remarked, "she could have got him an Academy Award."

As a politician, Reagan's appeal was that of an easy-going, uncomplicated, nice guy, whose forte was to bring common sense to bear upon the intractable problems of state. The image proved extraordinarily successful because in large measure it was based upon the truth.

But nice guys, by definition, do not possess the ruthlessness and drive required to secure the presidency. Nancy Reagan provided the intensity of purpose that clinched success.

Her determination to see her husband on the pinnacle of power had grown out of the insecurities of her youth and was pursued with a deadly combination of wariness and suspicion.

"Ronald Reagan trusts everyone and likes everyone," explained Nancy Reynolds, who handled public relations for the Reagans. "Nancy has a more discriminating antenna about people. She's seldom wrong. And if she feels someone is hurting him she'll speak out.

"She's a tiger at such moments, and thank God for it, because her husband never says No. She makes sure the sharks are kept at bay."

Similarly, on the campaign trail, she made quite sure that Reagan's aides were kept up to the mark. In the White House - particularly during the president's second term, when his faculties were clearly on the wane - her hostility meant political death and her penchant for firing people earned her the nickname of "Little Gun".

Her performance as first lady raised eyebrows. In private, she would hold her staff at bay with frozen stares; in public, she would fix her husband with a gaze of rapt, not to say imbecilic adoration.

Her devotion remained constant. "My life began when I married Ronnie," she said, "I think I would have died if I hadn't married him. He is my hero."

The sceptical remained unconvinced. They were also inclined to doubt the genuineness of Nancy Reagan's commitment to social causes.

They knew that she loved expensive clothes (and especially those that designers made for her gratis); and that she instinctively preferred the company of the super-rich.

As soon as she entered the White House, she carried out extensive redecoration and ordered a set of china costing over $200,000 - this at a time when the president was stressing the importance of restricting expenditure.

She never succeeded in creating a compassionate image.

She was born Anne Frances Robbins in New York on July 6, 1921. Her father, Kenneth Seymour Robbins was an insurance salesman, albeit from an old New England family. Her mother (nee Edith Luckett) pursued a rackety theatrical career independently of her husband.

By the time Nancy was two, her parents' marriage was virtually over. She was parked with a maternal aunt; in the summer she would visit her father in New Jersey.

Her parents divorced in 1928 and Kenneth Robbins remarried.

In 1929, her mother married Loyal Davis, an austere and forbidding Chicago neurosurgeon of tightlaced, unforgiving Republican views.

In 1938, Nancy Robbins was adopted by her stepfather and thereafter featured as Nancy Davis, making no effort to see her real father. The next year, she went to Smith College, where she continued to dabble in drama, then pursued an acting career.

Her mother knew Spencer Tracy, who managed to fix her up with a date with Clark Gable. Tracy also obtained a screen test for her at MGM and in March 1949 she signed a contract with that studio at $300 a week.

It was in 1949 that Nancy Davis first met Ronald Reagan, whose movie career was already in decline, but who had become president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Reagan had been previously married to the actress Jane Wyman, with whom he had two children.

Nancy Reagan recalled that she had known "right away" that Ronald was the man she wanted to marry.

Reagan, though, was involved with several other women and it was only after Nancy Davis became pregnant that, in March 1952, he married her. Their daughter Patti was born that October.

Meanwhile, Nancy Davis's career had been foundering.

Ronald Reagan's career was also at a low ebb in 1952, though he would be saved two years later by a lucrative contract to introduce General Electric Theatre on television.

By the time that their son Ronald 'Skipper' Reagan was born in 1958, the Reagans were becoming more closely involved with politics.

Though he campaigned as a Democrat for Nixon in 1960, he became a Republican - and a right-wing one - soon after John Kennedy's victory. Four years later, Reagan was the one bright spot in Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign.

Nancy Reagan was certainly behind her husband's decision to run for Governor of California in 1966. He won.

It was certainly difficult to strike a human spark from her in interviews. "She just drove me nuts," complained a journalist, Nancy Collins. "She just sits there with her legs glued together, her hands all white knuckles, teeth grinding and that face just a mask - no animation, no laughter, no spontaneity, nothing. She was awful, just awful."

Reagan made a cursory attempt at the US presidency in 1968, but was re-elected as governor in 1970, albeit with a reduced majority.

Nancy proved a formidable force in Reagan's campaign in 1976 to wrest the Republican nomination from President Ford and failure stimulated rather than quenched her ambition.

With the failures of Jimmy Carter's presidency, the Reagans enjoyed a relatively smooth passage to the presidency in 1980.

They had two children. Patricia ('Patti') decided in the 1960s that drug-taking and wild living were likely means to self-fulfillment and later changed her name to Patti Davis.

The younger, Ronnie, or 'Skipper', became a ballet star and later a TV host.

In later life, Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in 2004. During a seven-day state funeral, Nancy Reagan led America in mourning and at a sunset memorial service kissed her husband's coffin and mouthed the words: "I love you."

As she became increasingly frail, she withdrew from the public eye. Nancy Reagan is survived by her son and daughter and a stepson from her husband's first marriage.

Nancy Reagan, born July 6, 1921, died March 6, 2016.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Ted Cruz has seized on his victories on 'Super Saturday' to claim that he is the only man able to stop Donald Trump, as the Republican Party scrabbles to throw a spoke in the wheel of the New Yorker's political juggernaut.

Mr Cruz dealt his opponent a bloody nose on Saturday when he snatched victory in Kansas, a state Mr Trump had expected to win. In the end, the pair won two states each, with Mr Trump taking Kentucky and Louisiana and Mr Cruz adding Maine to Kansas to take more delegates overall than the frontrunner.

Mr Cruz was capitalising on his surge in momentum, urging his remaining rivals yesterday to drop out and rally behind his fightback.

"I think we will have a manifest uprising," he said on a political chat show. "If you want to beat Donald Trump, you've got to beat him at the ballot box and our campaign is the only campaign that has demonstrated it can do that."

The other two Republicans in the race, Marco Rubio and John Kasich, had poor performances, with Mr Rubio's hopes of being the establishment alternative to Mr Trump now lying in tatters.

A loss in Florida, his home state, which votes a week tomorrow, would effectively end his campaign.

Mr Cruz, a senator from Texas, heaped pressure on Mr Kasich and Mr Rubio to abandon the race.

"I'm having conversations with all sorts of people and we're seeing supporters of other candidates come joining us," he said. "They're recognising that their candidates are not in a position to beat Donald."

Mr Cruz added 64 delegates to his tally, while Mr Trump gained 49. Mr Trump now has 378 delegates to Mr Cruz's 295.

They're aiming for a tally of 1,237 that would remove the establishment's chance of taking the race to a contested convention and nominating an alternative candidate.

Mr Trump, in his victory speech in Florida on Saturday night, declared himself primed for a head-on contest between himself and Mr Cruz.

"I would like to take on Ted one on one," he said, ticking off a list of big states where he said Mr Cruz had no chance. "That would be so much fun."

But Mr Cruz, spearheading the Stop Trump campaign, said it was essential for the very soul of America that the billionaire businessman be defeated.

"Think about what presidents have meant in history," he said. "Think of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Think of FDR saying, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'

"I think people are asking themselves, 'How would we feel if our children came in repeating the words of the president of the United States if that president was Donald Trump?'"

Frontrunner

On the Democrat side, Bernie Sanders won in Nebraska and Kansas, while frontrunner Hillary Clinton took Louisiana. As expected, Mrs Clinton won the southern state comfortably, meaning she has at least 1,117 delegates to Mr Sanders' 477, including "superdelegates", members of Congress, governors and party officials, who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.

The next big contest will be tomorrow's primary in the industrial state of Michigan. Republicans in three other states, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, will also vote tomorrow.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Residents gather at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad Photo: REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

Scores of people were killed when a suspected Isil jihadist exploded a petrol tanker bomb in a city south of Baghdad, a worrying sign that Iraq's civil war may be moving into a new phase.

Initial estimates were that up to 60 people were killed and 70 injured when the rigged tanker exploded in the mainly Shia town of Hilleh, which is 110km from the capital and near the ruined ancient city of Babylon.

Isil posted a claim of responsibility on a website linked to the group, Amaq. "A martyr's operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilleh, killing and wounding dozens," it said.

The checkpoint, a nearby police station and several houses were destroyed or damaged, officials said. More than 20 police officers were said to be among the dead.

The bomb was triggered by a single suicide attacker. It was the second major bomb attack in a week, after a double suicide bombing hit a mobile phone market in the predominantly Shia working-class suburb of Sadr city in eastern Baghdad. The district has been a regular target over the last decade of Sunni jihadists intent on provoking sectarian conflict.

That attack killed more than 70 people the previous Sunday. There have been three other attacks this year which killed more than 20 people.

While car bombs are not new in Iraq, Isil last year was concentrating its forces on fighting for territory to expand its "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan will visit Brussels on March 9, in order to participate in the Armenia + 28 session in NATOs headquarters.

As Armenpress was informed by the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before the session ministers Nalbandian and Ohanyan will meet with NATO Secretary General Jans Stoltenberg.
Fewer than two in five people aged between 40 and 49 years old described themselves as either extremely or quite happy, compared with nearly half of thirtysomethings

People's happiness levels typically dip when they reach their 40s - but then start to climb again by the age of 50 and into retirement, a report has found.

The findings from insurer Aviva suggest the pursuit of happiness pays off with age.

Asked to describe their current level of happiness with life, fewer than two in five people (38%) aged between 40 and 49 years old described themselves as either extremely or quite happy, compared with nearly half (47%) of thirtysomethings.

But happiness levels start to bounce back for the 50- to 59-year-old age bracket, with 43% of people describing themselves as happy.

The research found that happiness levels steadily climb from 50 onwards, approaching and into retirement, with 51% of people aged between 60 and 64 described as happy, nudging up to 59% of 65- to 74-year-olds.

Two-thirds (66%) of people aged 75-plus describe themselves as happy.

Many people in their 40s find themselves in the "squeezed middle" bracket of having both dependent children and ageing parents to consider.

Aviva's findings also suggest that retirement has a big part to play in happiness. Retired people were twice as likely to be extremely happy than those who were still working, at 14% versus 7%.

People who had been retired for more than 10 years report even higher levels of extreme happiness, with 16% describing themselves as extremely happy.

And nearly two-thirds (62%) of current retirees feel their experience of retirement is better than they had expected.

Pensioners in the East Midlands were most likely to feel that their experience of retirement is better than they imagined it would be, with 68% feeling this way, according to the study of 6,000 people.

Retirees in Yorkshire and Humberside were the most likely to be comfortable enough not to worry about money, while those in Wales and London were the least likely, according to the findings.

One in 10 (10%) retirees in London said retirement was worse than they had imagined, marking the highest proportion of any region surveyed. On average, 7% of retirees feel their experience of retirement has turned out to be worse than expected.

Rodney Prezeau, managing director, consumer platform, Aviva UK Life, said that while it is reassuring to see that many of today's retirees find their experience has exceeded their expectations, the findings beg the question: "I s this a golden generation, unlikely to be seen again?"

He said: "Planning ahead and taking matters into your own hands is becoming ever more important to increase your chances of achieving a comfortable retirement."

Here is how the pursuit of happiness pays off with age, according to Aviva. The figures show the percentages of people described as extremely happy, followed by those who are quite happy, by age group:

:: 30 to 39, 9%, 38%

:: 40 to 49, 5%, 33%

:: 50 to 59, 7%, 36%

:: 60 to 64, 10%, 41%

:: 65 to 74, 12%, 47%

:: 75-plus, 17%, 49%
Police Tactical Group officers walk on a cordoned off street of an industrial section of Ingleburn, in suburban Sydney, Monday, March 7, 2016 as police respond to a shooting. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Police lead a handcuffed man away from the scene of a shooting in the western Sydney suburb of Ingleburn, Australia, March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Police officers are seen behind a road block at the scene of a shooting in the western Sydney suburb of Ingleburn, Australia, March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Dan Himbrechts/AAP

A gunman who killed one person and wounded two others inside a western Sydney business was found dead inside the building after a six-hour stand-off on Monday, Australian police said.

Heavily armed officers moved into the sign-making business after spending hours positioned around the factory in an industrial area of Ingleburn, a suburb 25 miles (40km) south-west of Sydney.

Once inside, they found a 33-year-old man dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, said New South Wales Police Detective Inspector Mark Brett.

Officers also found three other people hiding inside the building and escorted them outside, Mr Brett said. It was not clear whether they had been held inside by the gunman or had been hiding while they waited for the siege to end.

Police were called to the business after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found three men suffering gunshot wounds. One, a 43-year-old, died at the scene, and two others were taken to hospital for treatment.

Police do not know what prompted the shooting, Mr Brett said. He would not say how long the suspected gunman had been dead, or whether police negotiators had been in contact with him at any point during the stand-off. He also declined to specify what kind of firearm was used, beyond saying it was a "long-arm weapon".

One of the shooting victims was undergoing surgery, while the other had superficial wounds to the lower part of his body, Mr Brett added.

The siege brought the suburb of Ingleburn to a standstill throughout the day. Staff at nearby businesses were told to stay inside and roads were blocked off in the area.
Family members of passengers onboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that went missing in 2014, leave a building where Malaysia Airlines' Beijing office is at, after visiting the office to deliver their letters of demand in Beijing, China, March 7, 2016. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Twelve Chinese families whose relatives were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have filed a lawsuit in a Beijing court, one day before the deadline for pursuing litigation against the carrier.

The plane disappeared on March 8 2014, with 239 people - including 153 Chinese citizens - on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Under international agreements, families have a two-year window to sue following an air accident.

The group's lawyer, Beijing-based Zhang Qihuai, said the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is "to find out the cause of the accident and those who are responsible".

The lawsuit, lodged in a transportation court, also named Boeing and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce among the defendants. The court will decide if and where to hear the case.

Several relatives said they hope to use the case to obtain more information from the airline, which they said has not been forthcoming.

"If we lose this opportunity, it might become even more difficult" to obtain answers, said Zou Jingsheng, a professor whose 27-year old son, Ling Annan, was studying in Malaysia and was on the flight. "We will find out the truth through legal means, and we'll look into the responsibilities that Malaysia Airlines failed to fulfil."

After two years, the fate of the Boeing 777 remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. The Australian-led search effort is to continue until June, having already spent more than 130 million US dollars looking through a vast area of the Indian Ocean nearly 4 miles deep.

Investigators believe the plane flew far off course and ran out of fuel in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. One confirmed piece of wreckage has been recovered, a part of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island last year, and two other possible pieces have been found in the past week.

Victims' kin in China, Malaysia and Britain have urged authorities to continue to search until the plane is found.
European Council President Donald Tusk, front right, shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the EU summit in Brussels (AP)

Turkey has demanded an additional 3 billion euro (2.3 billion) from the European Union to help deal with the refugee crisis.

Turkey - a temporary home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, many from the conflict in Syria - is an indispensable EU partner in trying to dissuade people fleeing conflict or poverty from taking to makeshift boats and making the short but often-dangerous trip across the Aegean Sea.

"To avoid that refugees arrive in Greece we have to cooperate with Turkey," French President Francois Hollande said as he arrived for the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.

In a draft statement prepared for the talks, seen by The Associated Press, the leaders said they will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection".

But Turkish leaders have upped the ante, demanding the additional funds by 2018, on top of 3 billion euro the EU had already pledged to help Syrian refugees in the country, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said.

Turkey has also made requests to ease visa rules by June instead of the end of the year.

The country also wants to be able to send Syrian refugees to the 28-nation EU as they take people back who have made the crossing into Greece. The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea.

Nato ships are also set to help patrol the sea between Greece and Turkey, easing the load on Turkey's military-run coastguard.

Turkey says this summit is as much about its thwarted EU membership ambitions as Europe's inability to manage the refugee emergency. The membership talks have dragged on for a decade and Ankara is looking for improved negotiating conditions.

"Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations."

A planned news conference with Mr Davutoglu was cancelled after the Turks made new demands. They are expected to be discussed over a dinner, which was added to the summit programme.

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of failing to deliver on the refugee fund and criticised the Europeans for refusing to take in more refugees.

"We are not sending them. They are going (to Greece) by sea and many of them are dying. We have rescued close to 100,000 from the sea. Others are puncturing their boats and causing their deaths," Mr Erdogan said, in an address to women trade-unionists.

North of Greece, Macedonia has effectively sealed off the main route into the Balkans, allowing just a trickle of people through. The move - backed by Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary - has ratcheted up pressure from the other side as Greek authorities don't have enough shelter for those who are stranded.

Hundreds of thousands of people have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

An estimated 13,000-14,000 people waited at Greece's border with Macedonia on Monday hoping desperately to be allowed to cross.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, conceded that Turkey will need extra help if more migrants are sent back.

"We will need to bring relief to Turkey, and that means you have to be willing to take people in from Turkey" who are the most likely to qualify for asylum, he said.
A Labour MP has been accused of bullying her aide after she came out as lesbian.

Carolyn Harris, the MP for Swansea East, is said to have grabbed office manager Jenny Lee Clarke's hair, while a witness claims she heard a 'blood-curdling scream'.

Ms Clarke allegedly claims she was forced to take five weeks off work because the incident in November 2014 had left her shocked.

The 39-year-old also alleges that the hair-pulling was just a part of bullying that had started after Ms Harris discover the mother-of-one's sexuality.

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She told The Sun: "It was horrible  she kept pulling and pulling, I think my sexuality is the main reason for the attack."

Ms Clarke also claims that she was offered a new job if she forgot about the incident.

Local councillor Paulette Smith, 66, told the newspaper that she had witnessed the assault. "I heard a blood-curdling scream. I saw Carolyn pulling her hair. I thought she'd gone mad," she said.

Ms Clarke lost her job on January 28 and has since taken her case to employment lawyers.

Ms Harris has responded by saying the allegation is "manufactured" and that Ms Clarke was sacked for "gross misconduct".

A Labour spokesman added: "Carolyn vigorously denies this allegation. It is town hall politics from a little place in South Wales. It's a nest of vipers."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A teenage schoolboy has been found guilty of the culpable homicide of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne.

The victim died after his heart was punctured when he was stabbed following a "trivial" row at Cults Academy, one of Scotland's highest performing state schools, last October.

The killer, who cannot be named because of his age, denied murder and was convicted of the reduced charge of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter south of the border, at the end of a five-day trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.

Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, said in his closing speech that Bailey had no chance of survival after a silly, trivial fight between two schoolboys escalated dramatically when a knife was produced.

He said that members of the jury would have to have hearts of stone not to be moved by the emotion of the trial, but also asked why the assailant would carry a knife and a knuckleduster with him to school, adding: "This was a murderous attack because of the wicked recklessness of stabbing someone in the chest."

He told the court: "There was a stab wound to the heart inflicted by a lethal weapon that was routinely carried. It may be everyone in this room wishes they had the power to turn back time.

Expand Close Bailey Gwynne, 16, who died after being stabbed by another teenager at Cults Academy in Aberdeen. Photo: Facebook/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Bailey Gwynne, 16, who died after being stabbed by another teenager at Cults Academy in Aberdeen. Photo: Facebook/PA Wire

"If we could do that, what would we do? We would say 'get rid of the knife, school is no place for a knife'.

"This case demonstrates the dangers of carrying a knife. If you have a knife you have the ability to use it."

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Mr Prentice said he did not suggest the accused set off intending to kill Bailey Gwynne. But he added: "If he had not been carrying a knife the outcome of the conflict would have been a few bruises and perhaps a fat lip."

However, Ian Duguid QC, defending, said the jury was dealing with a "spontaneous event" which lasted about 30 seconds and while his client had shown extraordinary stupidity, the victim was the "aggressor" and had also been reckless in assaulting a fellow pupil.

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He said that to convict him of murder the jury had to decide he had the state of mind to measure up to a deliberate killer, despite delivering a single blow.

Mr Duguid said a "trivial" matter started the fight, but the accused was not a "fighting boy", adding: Of course, if he did not have a knife that day there would be a burst nose and a fat lip, but for who? Bailey Gwynne? I don't think so."

The court heard earlier that the row between the pair began with an argument over biscuits, which Bailey had with him at school. It then escalated when one of the boys called the mother of the other boy fat and a fight broke out.

The pupil who stabbed Bailey said in a police interview that he bought knives and knuckledusters on the internet because he did not fit in at school and thought it was "cool".

Det Supt David McLaren, of Police Scotland, said: "The death of Bailey Gwynne has had a massive impact on his family, friends, fellow pupils and staff at Cults Academy. The details of this case have caused shock within the local community and further afield across the whole of the country.

"The investigation into Bailey's death involved officers from the local policing division and from national specialist units. Whilst the circumstances around Bailey being killed are relatively uncomplicated, it is still difficult to comprehend that he died at school at the hands of a fellow school pupil.

"It is the senseless decision to take a knife into a school setting that has undoubtedly led to Bailey's death. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those pupils and teachers who tried their very best to save Bailey's life but as we have heard during the trial, he was beyond saving.

He added: "Those teachers and pupils have shown incredible strength over the last week whilst giving evidence during this trial.

"Finally, I'd like to pay tribute to Bailey's family. Today won't bring their son back, the pain of not having Bailey around will last for a very long time."

The guilty pupil was also convicted of having knives or "bladed instruments" as well as two knuckledusters "without reasonable excuse or lawful authority" on various occasions between August 19, 2014, and the day of the killing. He will be sentenced in April.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
European Council President Donald Tusk, front right, shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the EU summit in Brussels (AP)

The head of the European Parliament says Turkey has asked for an additional 3 billion euro (2.3 billion) from the European Union to help it deal with the refugee crisis.

Diplomats also said that EU leaders are faced with additional Turkish requests to speed up visa liberalisation and better conditions for membership talks.

And they said Turkey was also looking for a deal under which it would be able to send refugees to Europe for people it takes back from Greece.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said that a "further request of the Turkish side for additional money - 3 billion euro - are in the debate, are in the discussion".
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. EU sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian citizens, who the EU considers responsible for the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, will be extended without discussion on March 10, 146 individuals and 37 legal entities will remain in the list. As "Armenpress" reports, RIA Novosti was informed by sources in the EU.

"The decree will be approved on March 10, this matter will be included in the A (adopted without discussion) list of the session of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs. Three people were removed from the list because they are no longer alive, "said a diplomatic source in the EU, who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, the sanctions will be extended until September 15.

He also said that the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives will approve the extension of sanctions on the morning of March 9, also without discussion. The normative document has already been agreed by the working group.

In September 2015 the European Union extended individual sanctions until March 15, 2016, which aimed to "counter threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity and independence."
One of Iran's richest men has been sentenced to death for corruption after being accused of making billions by sanctions-busting for a previous regime.

Babak Zanjani, who once estimated his personal fortune at 12bn, was arrested in Tehran in December 2013 - four months after his ally, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left office as president.

Zanjani (44) has now been convicted of "fraud" and "economic crimes" and sentenced to be hanged, said a spokesman for the judiciary. He has also been ordered to repay "one fourth of the money that was laundered".

Zanjani was first arrested one day after Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, promised to target "privileged figures" who had "taken advantage of economic sanctions". His downfall is another sign that Mr Rouhani is trying to dismantle Mr Ahmadinejad's legacy and purge associates of the former president.

Zanjani was almost unknown until December 2012, when his name appeared on a European Union sanctions list. He was accused of being a "key facilitator for Iranian oil deals and transferring oil-related money".

Zanjani was then owner and chief executive of Sorinet Group, a Dubai-based conglomerate. The EU said that "some of its companies are used by Zanjani to channel oil-related payments".

During this time, Iran was subjected to an EU oil embargo and crippling financial sanctions. The countries that still bought oil from Iran often had no legal way of paying for shipments.

Western governments believed that Zanjani was arranging to sell Iranian oil and then channelling the payments back to Tehran via the web of companies in Sorinet Group, in breach of financial sanctions.

This would not have been an offence in Iran, but the authorities suspected that Zanjani was making handsome profits by keeping a large slice of the money. When he stood trial last year, he was accused of retaining $2.7bn (2.5bn) of revenues that should have been paid to the oil ministry.

For as long as Mr Ahmadinejad was in office, Zanjani appeared to be safe. Since the presidency transferred, however, Mr Rouhani and his ministers have denounced the corruption that flourished during the era when Mr Ahmadinejad was in office.

Last October, Iran's new oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, delivered a blistering speech condeming the "corrupt parasites" acting as middlemen in oil deals.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
European leaders stand accused of "selling their soul" as they hope to secure a deal today with Turkey for the "large-scale" deportation of migrants.

EU prime ministers will push Turkish leader Ahmet Davutoglu to end the perilous migrant sea crossings to Greece and accept the removal of tens of thousands of refugees gathered in the country. Dimitris Avramapoulos, the EU's migration commissioner, warned that Greece, already struggling with a build-up of 30,000 migrants, was expected to receive "another 100,000" by the end of March.

In the past fortnight, the flow of migrants leaving Greece to head to northern Europe has fallen to just a few hundred a day due to the effective sealing of the Macedonian border.

Macedonia tightened the pressure on Greece yesterday by allowing only Iraqis and Syrians through its border if they are from a city considered to be at war, such as Aleppo.

Under a deal sketched out with Turkey last year, its accession process to the EU would be re-energised and 3bn in aid awarded in exchange for curbing the migrant flow.

But the Turkish authorities have launched a new assault on civil society, which saw a leading newspaper taken over by the authorities last week over a perceived anti-government bias.

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the European Parliament's liberal bloc, said: "We should not sell our soul for a deal with a country simply because we are incapable of dealing with our problems."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Civilians and security forces at the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Hillah, south of Baghdad (AP)

The death toll from a suicide truck bombing south of Baghdad on Sunday has risen to 61, Iraqi officials have said.

A police officer said 52 of those killed were civilians, while the rest were members of the security forces.

Another 95 people were injured in the attack which targeted a security checkpoint at one of the entrances to the city of Hillah, about 60 miles (95km) south of the capital.

The officer said eight other people were still missing.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in an online statement.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence in the past month, with suicide attacks claimed by IS killing more than 170 people. Sunday's bombing was the third massive bombing in a little over a week against security forces and the country's Shiite majority. These attacks follow a string of advances by Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes, including in the western city of Ramadi.

The latest push could be seen as an attempt by IS to stage attacks deep behind the front lines in order to wreak havoc and force the government to overextend its forces. Hillah is in the country's mainly Shiite south, far from the front lines of the war against IS.
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By Frances Parrish of the Independent Mail

The Anderson School District 3 board of trustees has received 14 resumes for the superintendent position created by Mason Gary's resignation.

While most of them are from South Carolina, the resume that has traveled the farthest is from Ohio.

"We're really excited about the amount of interest and it's going to take time to look through all of the resumes," said school board Chairman Curtis Wiles. "We are a rural school district with a strong focus in agriculture and we want to find a good fit like Dr. Gary was."

Wiles said he is not surprised at the number of resumes so far.

"Anderson District 3 is a great place to work and there's a lot of positive attention to the progress we've made," Wiles said.

Wiles said he expects the board to evaluate the resumes and discuss a plan for interviewing candidates during the upcoming board meeting.

The board did not hire a third-party company to assist in the search for a new superintendent so all of the legwork will be done inhouse.

As soon as Gary announced his resignation, some local administrators announced their interest in the position, but the board decided to hold an open search and posted an online ad near the end of February.

"I want to make sure we do the right thing and not rush through the process," said board member Hugh Smith.

Gary resigned in late January after being named the deputy superintendent for the Greenville County School District. On Wednesday Harold Campbell will begin working for the school district as interim superintendent until June.

The next board meeting is March 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the District 3 administrative building on West Front Street in Iva.

Follow Frances Parrish on Twitter @frances_AIM
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The Russian leader informed the President of Egypt about the ongoing efforts in the context of implementing the Joint Statement of Russia and the United States as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group on the cessation of hostilities in Syria from February 27, 2016. Putin stressed that compliance with the ceasefire conditions is a key factor in normalizing the internal situation and alleviating the humanitarian situation. Armenpress reports citing the Press Service of the Kremlin.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed his high opinion of these steps and spoke in favor of an early start of the political process in the Syrian settlement under the UN aegis. It was agreed that Russia and Egypt will continue close cooperation in the framework of the International Syria Support Group.

The two leaders stressed the need to continue effective efforts to combat international terrorism, not only in Syria but also in Libya and Yemen.

Topical issues in Russian-Egyptian relations were also at the focus of the discussion. Putin and el-Sisi expressed their desire to further advance bilateral cooperation, including in energy and military technology.

The importance of creating all the necessary conditions for resuming Russian flights to Egypt and tourist exchanges was also stressed.

The presidents agreed to continue bilateral contacts at various levels.
Despite more women than men in Asia Pacific having tertiary education, there still exists a large gender gap that hinders women from achieving their full economic potential be it through participation in the workforce or presence in leadership positions, according to the latest MasterCard Index of Womens Advancement being released in the lead-up to International Women's Day.



In 12 out of 18 Asia Pacific markets, women outnumber men in university education gross enrolment rate, with New Zealand (141.8), Australia (137.5) and Thailand (134.5) taking the top spots. Significant progress has been made in Indonesia with enrolment in advanced education having grown from 87.2 in 2007 to 105.1 in 2016. However, educational attainment is not translating into workforce participation in many markets. More women than men are entering university in New Zealand, China and the Philippines, but women are still much less likely to be in the workforce.



Overall New Zealand ranked first (78.0), followed by Australia (76.0) and the Philippines (71.4). At the other end of spectrum, Japan (49.5), Bangladesh (45.5), Sri Lanka (44.3), India (38.0) and Pakistan (23.4) had Index scores indicating that much more can be done to achieve gender parity.



The Index measures the socioeconomic standing of women across 18 Asia Pacific markets and is comprised of three main indicators which are derived from additional sub- indicators: Capability (Secondary Education, Tertiary Education), Employment (Workforce Participation, Regular Employment) and Leadership (Business Owners, Business Leaders, Political leaders). The scores above show the proportion of women to every 100 men. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes.



Gender gaps in access to education have narrowed over the years, but we still have a long way to go before women across Asia Pacific are equally represented in business and politics. The lack of critical mass in womens representation and participation in the economy - coupled with the inadequate and inconsistent implementation of equality legislation - continues to be the biggest challenge for women and is reflected across all markets irrespective of the pace of economic development, said Georgette Tan, Group Head, Communications, Asia Pacific, MasterCard. Access is crucial to integrating female talent in the economy as women still dont have the same access to job opportunities or even social networks as men. A range of factors impacting the economic contributions made by women in the workforce also need to be addressed including country-specific socio-cultural factors, traditional beliefs, and government policies. Closing the gender equality gap and leveling the employment playing field would benefit not just women, but the global economy as a whole.



For the 10th consecutive year, New Zealand (78.0), Australia (76.0) and the Philippines (71.4) continue to have the highest overall Index scores.

 Apart from the top three markets and Singapore (70.0), all other markets in Asia Pacific had scores below the 70-point mark with Japan (49.5) and four South Asia markets  Bangladesh (45.5), Sri Lanka (44.3), India (38.0) and Pakistan (23.4)  among the lowest and only markets scoring below 50 points.

 Compared to the previous year, women in New Zealand made the most progress overall (78.0, up 0.7 points), followed by Japan (49.5, up 0.5 points), Nepal (62.5, up 0.5 points) and Bangladesh (45.5, up 0.4 points), while declines were recorded in Sri Lanka (44.3, down 0.7 points), Malaysia (52.7, down 0.4 points) which reached the lowest it has in five years, and also in China (66.3, down 0.2 points).



Of the three components, Capability remains the strongest indicator of Asia Pacific womens advancement towards gender parity for the tenth consecutive year with seven markets scoring 100 points (New Zealand, Philippines, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Nepal).

 With the exception of South Korea (86.6), the Capability index scores for all markets in the region are above 90.0.

 Women in New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines and Taiwan have consistently been on par or better represented in secondary and tertiary institutions than their male counterparts since 2007.

 Indonesia (99.1) and Hong Kong (98.5) continue to make positive steps towards greater educational attainment with their scores edging closer to parity.

 On the other hand, women in Pakistan (86.2), South Korea (86.6) and Bangladesh (89.3) have much fewer opportunities than men when it comes to secondary and tertiary education.



Womens progress in Employment remains broadly stagnant across Asia Pacific.

 Of the 18 Asia Pacific markets, New Zealand (91.4), Australia (91.0) and Taiwan (90.7) continue to be the most economically active with highest access to regular formal employment. They are the closest to being on par with their respective male cohorts in terms of Workforce Participation and Regular Employment.

 With the exception of Malaysia, women in developing markets such as Vietnam (90.2), China (83.2) and Thailand (80.4) are more likely to be working (formal or informal) than women in the advanced economies of Japan (69.6) and Korea (69.2).

 The low Employment scores for Japan and Korea suggest that the cultural bias against women working is fairly strong in these societies. However, this trend is anticipated to gradually change in the coming years with the governments in both markets taking steps to raise the level of womens participation in the workforce.



Leadership remains the weakest component in womens progress towards gender parity.

 New Zealand (51.9) and Australia (50.2) are the only two markets with more than 50 women business owners/ business leaders/ government leaders for every 100 male business owners/ business leaders/ government leaders. The Philippines is not far behind at 47.2 points.

 New Zealand saw the biggest increase in score from a year ago (51.9, up 1.3 points) while China (34.7), Malaysia (19.8) and Sri Lanka (13.1) recorded declines of 0.1, 0.6 and 0.7 points, respectively.

 Of the 18 Asia Pacific markets, women in Malaysia (19.8), Korea (19.5), Bangladesh (17.2), Japan (15.2), Sri Lanka (13.1), India (12.2) and Pakistan (3.5) continue to face tremendous hurdles in making progress in leadership in the business and political spheres.

 Notably, the Philippines (90.9) scores significantly higher than all other Asia Pacific markets for business leadership, with New Zealand (66.4) and Australia (56.9) trailing behind.

 Business ownership is the highest among Nepalese women (72.5), followed by Australia (50.7)  these are the only two markets with more than 50 women business owners for every 100 male business owners.



Scores are indexed to 100 males to indicate how close or how far women in each of the Asia Pacific markets covered by the research are to achieving socio-economic parity with men. A score under 100 indicates gender inequality in favor of males while a score above 100 indicates inequality in favor of females. A score of 100 indicates equality between the sexes. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.


Apollo Tyres is planning to invest up to $600 million (about Rs 4,000 crore) next fiscal to enhance capacity, according to reports.

The company announced its foray into the two-wheeler market.

Report says that the company will sell its Apollo Acti series of tyres for motorcycles and scooters in the aftermarket.

The Indian two-wheelers category is growing at around 8.5%. The company said as per estimates, there are about 120 million two-wheelers in the country.

Apollo Tyres Ltd ended at Rs. 170.35, up by Rs. 4.4 or 2.65% from its previous closing of Rs. 165.95 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 166.15 and touched a high and low of Rs. 171.6 and Rs. 165.15 respectively. A total of 3743229(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 8671.24 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 223.3 on 05-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 127.95 on 20-Jan-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 171.6 and Rs. 152.55 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 44.15 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 41.3 % and 14.55 % respectively.

The stock traded below its 200 DMA.
ICICI Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Haryana at the Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016.

As per the MoU, the bank will expand its branch network by setting up approximately 100 new branches across Haryana. The bank will also launch a Branch on wheels, a mobile branch with an ATM, to provide banking services to unbanked villages in the state. Further, the bank will setup a state-of-the-art branch at Haryana Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh.

Further, ICICI Academy for Skills, an arm of ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, will set up and operate a centre in the state to impart vocational training to underprivileged youth free of cost to help them earn a sustainable livelihood. The centre is expected to train nearly 900 youth annually.

Under this agreement, ICICI Bank and its group companies will invest in Haryana over the next three years by way of various credit instruments.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said: ICICI Bank is committed to partner with the government of Haryana in its endeavour to drive new growth opportunities, leading to economic progress. We are planning to significantly scale up our operations to support the next phase of growth in the state. This will include setting up of new branches, partnering with the government to offer technology-enabled banking solutions and setting up a skill centre to provide free vocational training to underprivileged youth.

ICICI Bank currently has an extensive network in the state with 166 branches and 512 ATMs, on December 31, 2015. The bank services its large customer base in the country through a multi-channel delivery network of 4,156 branches, 13,372 ATMs, call center, internet banking (www.icicibank.com), mobile banking, banking on Facebook & Twitter and Pockets by ICICI Bank, the countrys first digital bank.
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Vedanta Resources plc's (Vedanta) corporate family rating (CFR) to B2 from Ba2.Moody's has also downgraded the company's senior unsecured rating to Caa1 from B1.The outlook on all ratings is negative.RATINGS RATIONALE"The downgrade of Vedanta's ratings is driven by the low commodity price environment that will keep earnings improvement distant, and a slower correction in leverage metrics than initially anticipated," says Kaustubh Chaubal, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst.The rating actions also incorporate the refinancing risk that the company faces, in particular, in relation to its debt maturities during the financial year ending March 2017 (FY2017).The rating actions reflect Moody's view that there has been a fundamental downward shift in the mining sector, with the downturn being deeper and the recovery longer than Moody's had previously expected, resulting in increased credit risk and weaker credit metrics for Vedanta, as well as the global mining sector. Consequently, ratings need to be recalibrated to reflect the companies' expected performance over a more protracted challenging operating environment.Slowing economic growth rates in China materially impact the demand for base metals and prices globally. Even as the Government of India's (Baa3 positive) move to raise duties on imports of aluminum and zinc will raise selling prices in India, the impact will be modest.At the same time, the reduction in taxes on the production of oil to 20% ad valorem ($6-$7 per barrel at current prices) from INR4,500 per tonne ($9/barrel) will lower the cash cost of production by some $2-$3/barrel.However, the decline in oil prices has been so sharp that the reduction in taxes on production will have a muted impact on Vedanta's earnings.Vedanta's B2 CFR also reflects refinancing risks associated with its$2.67 billion debt maturities in FY2017. The company's FY 2017 maturities include $1.9 billion due in the April -- July 2016 period and the balance $0.77 billion due in the remainder of the year. While the company has so far secured financing for a part of these debt maturities, the absence of a completely executed refinancing plan keeps near term liquidity risk imminent.Moody's recognizes that on a consolidated basis Vedanta has large cash balances of $8.9bn although almost 90% of which is held at its two listed subsidiaries Hindustan Zinc Ltd (unrated) and Cairn India Ltd. (unrated).Furthermore, Vedanta's weak operating performance will result in a potential breach of some of its covenants in March 2016, requiring it to request that its lenders provide waivers and relaxations. While the company has confirmed that it has received lender approvals for waivers for the next covenant testing date on 31 March 2016 and relaxations for the periods beyond that date, the timely receipt of confirmations from its balance lenders is critical.The CFR also reflects Vedanta's exposure to volatile commodity prices, which has led to a sharp decline in its earnings and a deterioration in its financial profile.The CFR incorporates Moody's expectation that the weak commodity price environment will persist and delay any meaningful improvement in Vedanta's credit metrics, at least over the next 12 months. Absent any improvement in commodity prices beyond Moody's expectations, equity issuance which management has ruled out an improvement in leverage will remain contingent on the company's ability to continue to reduce costs and ramp up production.Moody's estimates that Vedanta's leverage will be around 5.7x at March 2016, up from 4.3x at March 2015, and Moody's estimate of 5.2x at 31 December 2015. Looking ahead, we expect production ramp ups, especially in aluminum in India and copper in Zambia, and the company's cost reduction initiatives to drive leverage correction towards 5.0x by March 2017, while remaining free cash flow positive.The negative outlook is based on our view that commodity prices will remain pressured by weakening global macroeconomic growth, especially in China, and despite Vedanta's low cash cost position, this will continue to pressure earnings and slower the pace of leverage correction. The negative outlook also incorporates the refinancing risk with respect to the group's FY2017 maturities and rising covenant pressure.A ratings upgrade is unlikely over the next 12-18 months, given that the ratings outlook is negative.The ratings outlook could return to stable if commodity prices recover,or if the company's profits recover close to previous high levels through cost saving initiatives.Metrics that could lead to a change in outlook to stable include adjusted leverage below 4.5x, EBIT/interest above 2.0x, and cash flow from operations (CFO) less dividends/adjusted debt above 12.5%, all on a sustained basis, while generating positive free cash flow.The timely completion of the merger of Vedanta Ltd. with CIL followed by a substantial debt repayment would also be key for a revision in the outlook to stable.Failure to complete the refinancing of its FY2017 maturities on a timely basis or a delay in obtaining covenant waivers or relaxations from its lenders would result in further downgrades.Fundamentally Moody's could consider downgrading the ratings if: (1) weak commodity prices persist, such that Vedanta's consolidated adjusted 12-month EBITDA drops below $3.5 billion, despite its efforts to ramp up shipments; (2) the company is unable to sustain and improve its cost-reduction initiatives, such that profitability weakens, with consolidated EBIT margins falling below 10% on a sustained basis; and/or (3) its financial metrics fail to improve from their current weak levels.Credit metrics indicative of a downgrade include adjusted debt/EBITDA in excess of 5.0x-5.5x, EBIT/interest coverage below 1.5x, or cash flow from operations less dividends/adjusted debt below 12.5%.An adverse ruling with respect to Cairn India Ltd's (CIL) disputed $3.2 billion tax liability would also exert negative pressure on the ratings. CIL is an independent oil exploration and production company in India, which is 59.9%-owned by Vedanta's subsidiary, Vedanta Ltd (unrated).Headquartered in London, Vedanta Resources plc is a diversified resources company with interests mainly in India. Its core operations are held by Vedanta Ltd, a 62.9%-owned subsidiary which produces zinc, lead, silver, aluminum, iron ore and power.In December 2011, Vedanta acquired control of Cairn India Ltd (CIL), an independent oil exploration and production company in India. CIL is a 59.9%-owned subsidiary of Vedanta Ltd.On 14 June 2015, Vedanta Ltd announced the proposed merger of Vedanta Ltd and CIL, in a cashless all stock transaction, subject to approvals. If the merger goes ahead as announced, Vedanta's shareholding in Vedanta Ltd will fall to 50.1%.Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Vedanta is 69.8% owned by Volcan Investments Ltd. For the year ended 31 March 2015, Vedanta reported revenues of $12.9 billion and EBITDA of $3.7 billion.
Vodafone India will celebrate the International Womens Day with a week-long celebration from March 7-11, 2016 to acknowledge and appreciate the vital role of women and their contribution in the organisation and society at large. The entire week will be dedicated to celebrating Diversity with several events focused on the theme of Pledge for Parity.

Vodafone India has over the years consciously worked to build an inclusive work environment that encourages diversity. It has also focused on increasing the representation of women in its around 13,000 strong countrywide workforce.

Speaking about Vodafone Indias approach towards building an engaging and inclusive work culture, Suvamoy Roy, Director-Human Resources, Vodafone India said, We are an equal opportunity employer. Our diversity journey is built on the foundation of creating an ecosystem that is attractive to women professionals and enables them to succeed at the workplace. Today, 21% of our work force are women and it is our ambition to take it 30% in the short-term. We are delighted to host a series of engaging initiatives to celebrate our women colleagues and their contribution to the workplace during this week.

CUSTOMER OFFERS

Kick starting the International Womens Week festivities is a unique VAS initiative that celebrates womanhood with VAS offer from a variety of offerings including fashion alerts from stylist Malini Ramani, cuisine and cooking related alerts from Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, daily pack of jokes, diet tips, learn English alerts etc. absolutely free of cost for a one month period.

WOMEN OF PURE WONDER

Vodafone is committed to helping women compete on an equal footing across India. On the occasion of International Womens Day, 8 March, the Vodafone Foundation will release the 3rd edition of its Women of Pure Wonder book that further reinforces this vision. The coffee table book showcases the achievements of 50 phenomenal women from rural and urban India for their vision to take the path less travelled, for their valour to redefine personal success and for their victory over personal odds and numerous social evils that plague our country to this day. Women of Pure Wonder features leading personalities across spheres of film, social activism, dance and business, such as Sooni Taraporevala, Justice Leila Seth, Shovana Narayan, Kirthiga Reddy and many more.
NDTV India

Deepika Padukone showed courage by opening up about her depression in media and earned everyones respect. Deepika talked about coping with depression and later she even launched her 'The Live Love Laugh' Foundation. This not-for-profit organisation is aimed at raising awareness about mental health in India.

Focusing on mental health and reducing the stigma around it, Deepikas organization aims at showing light to all those who have been stuck in the dark.

Now reports claim that Mexican Climber David Liano, who had set the record of being the first man to double summit Mount Everest from both the Nepal and Tibet sides will again scale worlds highest mountain, this time for Deepika! Yes, right.

David has teamed up with Deepika's Live Love Laugh Foundation in order to spread awareness about mental health.

Deepika is super-excited about the collaboration and she even tweeted about it:

1/2 David Liano will be climbing the Mount Everest & carrying The Live Love Laugh Foundation flag to support people fighting depression  Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) March 6, 2016

This stint will be for the sixth time and during his two-month long climb David has promised frequent updates to his fans and followers.

David also released a small note for Deepika which read:

Climbing Mount Everest is a huge challenge, but it doesnt compare with the tough times that people going through depression and mental illness can go through. I know first hand how difficult it can be for them. If you or somebody you know is suffering from depression, anxiety or stress please visit the foundations website for more information. Thank you for joining us on this adventure and please share this message. Remember #YouAreNotAlone!
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.

A representational image from Calaise Refugee Camp | Source: AFP

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.

The Independent has spoken to a GMC-registered doctor to whom the volunteers reported the incidents. He confirmed knowledge of the cases.

A representational image from Calaise Refugee Camp | Source: AP

Europol, the EU's 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 government's refusal to classify the camp as a humanitarian crisis is causing major child protection issues.

Representational image from Calaise refugee camp, source: AFP

"If I took one of the boys to the police and said 'I'm 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.

"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."

Representational image from Calaise refugee camp| source: AFP

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 children's 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 alternatie 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.

Representational image from Calaise refugee camp| source: AFP

"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'.
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. It is predicted that in 2016 Armenia's economic growth will continue to be slow: 2.5 %, due to Russia's economic decline and structural weaknesses. "The deteriorating external conditions, particularly in the context of Russias economic decline, GDP growth in 2015 slowed down by 3% , Armenpress "reports the World Bank mentioning in Armenia: monthly economic summary .

According to this source, the budget deficit (4% of GDP) is mainly covered through external debt. 2016 changes in the cost structure are due to the increase of appropriations in the form of subsidies to the economic sector. Earlier this year, the Central Bank lowered the refinancing rate to 10.25%. Overall, in 2015 stability was maintained in the banking sector, but the total volume of loans fell by 3.1%. The current account improved, due to the sharp decline in import volumes. Although the reduction of exports to Russia and the of remittances from Russia, the increase was more than expected, due to the impact of one-time factors such fruitful agricultural year and the launch of a new copper mine.

World Bank experts estimate that the economic activity index rose to 5.5% in January 2016 through tradable sectors (compared to the same period last year).
Canada's first Sikh Defence Minister, Harjit Sajjan, is an iconic personality not only in the political circuit of the country but also in India. And this fresh news from 'the oven' will make us Indians even prouder.

Sajjan's popularity has landed him a burger - seriously! The Defence Minister has now got a chicken burger named after him, called 'The Minister of National Deliciousness'. And just the sound of it is making us drool.

The Cannibal Cafe

The 45-year-old Minister of National Defence was recently spotted at a downtown Vancouver eatery, The Cannibal Cafe where he sampled the burger named after him.

National Deliciousness indeed! Tried my namesake burger at #Vancouver's @TheCannibalCafe and was not disappointed.  pic.twitter.com/2l0JOSIgFv  Harjit Sajjan (@HarjitSajjan) March 2, 2016

The cafe responded by sharing a picture of where he's seen enjoying his namesake burger.

The news was welcomed by one and all. People now can't wait to try out the burger that has been given the stamp of approval by the man himself. And those who have already tried it can't wait for another round!

@HarjitSajjan @TheCannibalCafe Should be called the Badass Burger!! :)  The Studly Farmer (@TSFx1) March 2, 2016

@HarjitSajjan @TheCannibalCafe I have tried it and it is mighty delicious!!!  Carrie Gray (@crrring1) March 4, 2016

Anybody flying to Canada be kind enough to send us a care package? Pretty please? :)
In a condemnable act of violence, 16 people were killed in a terrorist attack in an elderly home in southern Yemen. The dead also included four Catholic nuns who belonged to an order established by Mother Teresa, who is soon to attain sainthood.

cnm news

Witness accounts reveal that the gunmen entered the charity home set up by Mother Teresa, handcuffed the victims, and shot them in the head.

Pope Francis denounced the attack by calling it an "act of senseless and diabolical violence".

The terrorists entered the facility under the pretext of meeting their mothers. Among the four nuns who were killed, one was Indian, one was Kenyan, and the other two were Rwandan. Even though no terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the shootings, Yemeni officials are crediting the brutal attack to the ISIS.

Daily Mail

According to Pietro Parolin - the Vatican Secretary of State - Pope Francis "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. He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence."

AP

The spokeswoman for the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, Sunita Kumar that they were "absolutely stunned" by the horrific killings and added that "the Sisters were to come back but they opted to stay on to serve people" in Yemen.

Daily Mail

Yemen's civil war has divided the nation into two halves - the northern half that's under the control of the Shiite rebels and the southern region that's managed by Saudi Arabia-backed government.

And the situation has left the country vulnerable for blood-hungry terror groups such as the ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Follow us on states need to gear up to become best investment destinations arun jaitley

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday said states have to gear up in order to become best investment destinations.

Addressing the Global Investors Summit in Gurgaon, the Minister said it is the right time for reforms to attract investors.

He said if decision making is slow, investment will suffer. Mr Jaitley said amid global economic slowdown, India is able to maintain respectable growth rate.

He said the investors across the globe are looking at India because of higher economic growth, larger market and wider base of human resource.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar are attending the summit.

The two day event is being organised by the Haryana government in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry. China, Czech Republic, Japan, Malawi, Mauritius, New Zealand, South Korea, Peru, Poland, Spain, Britain and Tunisia are participating as partner countries.

Addressing the Summit, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu asked the investors to join Centre and states in transforming the cities of India.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to transform India. Mr Naidu also gave assurance that Real Estate Bill will be passed in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. He said two Haryana cities are already shortlisted under Smart Cities Mission and Gurgaon is also being considered.

Latest Business News
Follow us on to check black money flow rbi to share fdi related info with ib raw

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will share FDI-related information with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)  to check black money from entering the country.

The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes. The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.

The Cabinet Secretariat suggested that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) under the Finance Ministry should maintain a database of such entities and investments, a move which was later rejected, they said.

During the meeting of Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus, representatives of the IB felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that the RBI should share with the IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI, which actually enters the country, the sources said.

The FDI comes either through automatic route (which gets recorded by RBI) or through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which is responsible for processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for government approval.

Even after FIPB has approved a FDI proposal, concerned government agencies will not know whether the investment has actually come into India. The only organisation, which will know when the investment actually comes into the country, is RBI.

Hence, it was felt that they should form a database on it and share details with both IB and RAW, said a senior official in the Cabinet Secretariat, requesting anonymity.

The RBI has also been asked to consider displaying this information on its website, he said.

Latest Business News
Follow us on twitter taking down our accounts in fight against is anonymous

New York: As the micro-blogging website prepares to tackle terror-related tweets, online activists now claim that in the bid to stop Islamic State (IS) from using its platform to spread its hate agenda and recruits new members, Twitter has been shutting down accounts of those who actually report terrorism.

A hacker with Anonymous - a global network of activists and hacktivists - has now made such claims after Twitter suspended 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to IS, the Epoch Times reported.

You do realise if we all stopped reporting terrorist accounts and graphic images, Twitter would be flooded with terrorists, WauchulaGhost, an anti-terrorist hacker with Anonymous, was quoted as saying.

The Twitter account of WauchulaGhost was temporarily suspended in February this year and he is still not sure what happened to prompt the suspension or ensure its reinstatement.

I never received an email from Twitter, he was quoted as saying.

In a lawsuit filed against Twitter, a Florida-based woman Tamara Fields had alleged that the micro-blogging site breached the US anti-terrorism act by spreading extremist propaganda, which led to the killing of her husband in Jordan in a terror attack.

Twitter then announced that since mid-2015, it suspended 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS.

Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups. We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service, Twitter said in a blog post.

However, the hacktivists claim they are being targeted by Twitter which recently strengthened its rules regarding online harassment.

According to the Epoch Times report, several hackers' accounts have been suspended, including some of the main #OpISIS accounts, with the handles being taken down one-by-one or in groups.

The campaign #OpISIS is run by Anonymous to identify and report online terrorist activities.

According to a latest study by the US-based Brookings Institution, IS supporters may be operating over 46,000 active Twitter accounts.

The report found that Twitter and Facebook are the two main platforms used by IS supporters to spread their propaganda.

Baffled by a severe crackdown on its social media accounts in recent past, a self-styled hacking division of terrorist group Islamic State (IS) recently issued a video that threatens Facebook and Twitter CEOs with dire consequences if the

Latest Business News
Follow us on saif shares best chemistry with deepika while my pairing with shahid looks hot says kareena

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor is making to the headlines these days, all thanks to her forthcoming movie Ki and Ka' opposite Arjun Kapoor.

The movie portrays Bebo and Arjun in entirely different characters where Arjun is seen as a house husband and Kareena as the bread-earning wife.

The diva is quite popular for her straight forward nature and doesn't mind wearing her heart on her sleeves.

So recently when Bebo was quizzed about whom does her hubby Saif share the best chemistry with on-screen, the Heroine' actress stunned everyone with her reply.

Kareena surprisingly took the name of her arch enemy Deepika Padukone.

Yes! Kareena feels Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone share a great chemistry.

Saif has great chemistry with Deepika. They were great in Love Aaj Kal, Cocktail. It is not necessary that real life chemistry has to transform into reel life. And reel life does not necessarily be in real life. We are performing at the end of the day, Kareena told a leading daily.

Apparently when the diva was asked about her pairing with ex-flame Shahid Kapoor, Kareena replied in just two words Super Hot'.

Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor will soon be sharing the screen space after a long hiatus in their upcoming movie Udta Punjab'. The movie also features Diljit Dosanjh and Alia Bhatt in key roles.

Currently, Kareena Kapoor is busy promoting R.Balki's Ki and Ka' opposite Arjun Kapoor, which will hit the theatres on April 1, 2016.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on coincidence or planned ranbir kapoor makes quick exit as soon as salman khan enters party

New Delhi: The tussle between Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor is not new in Bollywood. Their relationship became worse after Ranbir started dating Salman's ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif. Since then, the two actors have never shared the screen space and neither did they show warmth at any of the public appearances.

Recently when Kat and RK parted ways, Salman was considered as the reason behind as before the break up news broke out Katrina was spotted with the Sultan' star.

Moreover, she also appeared at Salman Khan hosted Bigg Boss to promote her movie Fitoor'. Salman greeted and pampered Katrina well and the chemistry between the ex-lovers grabbed a lot of attention. It further infuriated Ranbir's hatred for the Bajrangi Bhaijaan' actor.

Now, he is doing very bit to avoid Salman Khan at all the events. As per the media reports, both Salman and Ranbir attended the wedding of the daughter of an industry biggie last night but didn't face each other.

Ranbir had clearly told his driver to alert him after he spots Salman entering the venue, said the report.

So, as soon as Salman entered the party with his family, Ranbir made the exit to avoid meeting the superstar.

Interestingly, Katrina and Ranbir, before their breakup, had ditched meeting Salman in similar fashion last year at Anil Kapoor hosted Diwali party.

Now, with Ranbir's latest demeanour, it seems he is not ready to bury the hatchet very soon. We wonder what Salman has to say about this.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on shah rukh s fan and salman s sultan to hit the screens together

New Delhi: Bollywood superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have always shared a unique bond which has been the talk of the tinsel town.

The actors who were once the best of friends turned enemies and went on for a cold war for quite a long time.

However, looks like the two Khans have decided to put their grudges at rest and are now indulged in the task of strengthening their bond.

SRK and Salman created a history on the sets of reality show Bigg Boss 9' after the two superstars shared the stage for the first time on Indian Television.

Ever since then, both King Khan and Sallu are often seen praising each other and flaunting there bromance.

In fact, recently, the Bajrangi Bhaijaan' actor praised the trailer of SRK's upcoming movie Fan' and also claimed that he is a big fan of King Khan.

While the Dilwale' actor was quite pleased with his new buddy's gesture and it looks like he too has decided to prove his friendship, amidst the ongoing reports of SRK's clash with Salman this Eid.

As per the recent buzz, SRK's Fan' and Salman's Sultan' will see the silver screens together.

No! Sultan' is not releasing in advance.

In fact, Shah Rukh Khan has decided to release the trailer of Salman Khan's Sultan' along with the release of his movie Fan'.

Yes! It's true. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh made the big announcement on his Twitter handle as he tweeted, Breaking News: #Sultan teaser to be attached to the prints of #Fan. #SalmanKhan #SRK #15April2016 #YRF #MammothExpectations #CountdownBegins.

This announcement has indeed raise the expectation levels for April 15, 2016, when the two superstars, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan will be seen on the silver screen together'.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on delhi on high alert over maha shivratri terror threat

New Delhi: The national capital has been put on high alert after security agencies voiced suspicion that the 10 terrorists, who may have entered India via Gujarat, have sneaked into the capital.

Police has stepped up security around temples, iconic buildings, malls and markets, and military installations in Delhi and NCR after an Intelligence Bureau alert that terrorists might strike today, on the occasion of Shivratri.

Security personnel also fanned out across crowded markets such as Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar, put up barricades to check vehicles at many places and frisked visitors to popular temples across the city.

A constant vigil was maintained near prominent malls, hospitals, schools and colleges.

Pakistan's NSA Nasir Janjua has alerted his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about 10 terrorists sneaking into Gujarat to attack a Ram temple, following which the state has been put on a high alert.

The latest warning from intelligence agencies also says the terrorists could be from Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The Special Cell and Crime Branch of Delhi Police have been briefed about the input separately, so that activities of gangs operating in and around the city and elements with suspected terror links can be monitored

The police are also ensuring that CCTV cameras at all places with high footfall, like popular markets in the city and metro stations are functional. Patrolling across the city has been intensified,

Security has been ramped up at major religious sites in Gujarat like Somnath Temple and Akshardham and in metro cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru

Vital installations across the metros like railway stations and airports are also being secured.

High alert in Uttar Pradesh :

Uttar Pradesh was also put on high alert on the occasion of Shivratri, following inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on the possibility of terror attacks at temples and religious places, an official said on Monday.

Heavy security was put into force at important Shiv temples and special security checks were in place at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

Special vigil was being maintained on big and small temples in places like Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and other important places, the official said.

Police was also keeping a close eye on the 'kanwarias' (devotees who carry holy Ganges water and walk bare foot to offer it to Shivlinga's) as there was an apprehension that they may be targeted by terror outfits.

Latest India News
Follow us on west bengal horror girl jumps from second floor to escape rape

Howrah: A 20 year old jumped from the 2nd floor of a building in an attempt to escape rape. The incident occurred in Liluah, Howrah district on Sunday evening.

The three accused are reportedly friends with the girl.

There she was given a drink which was spiked and those present in the house attempted to rape her. To escape this, she jumped off the balcony of the three-storied building and suffered serious injuries. Localites rushed the victim to the hospital where her condition continues to remain critical.

Meanwhile,all three accused have been arrested, will be produced before the local court here today. The accused have been booked under charges of molestation.

Latest India News
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. The regular ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan and its measures to escalate the situation on the front line are not conditioned by any strategy. Spokesperson of the President of the Artsakh Republic David Babayan told Armenpress about this, adding that the Azerbaijani authorities try to divert the attention of its own people by these actions.

Due to serious economic problems even domestic clashes occurred in Azerbaijan. That demonstrates that the economic growth recorded in the recent years was just a balloon. By escalating the situation on the borders Azerbaijan proves that it is a conventional terrorist state with un-constructive stance. In addition, the adversary tries to calm down its rage resulted by the defeats on international arenas, including the PACE, when the report of British Robert Walter titled "Escalation of violence in Nagorno Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan" was rejected, Babayan said, reminding that US Georgia state recognized Nagorno Karabakh by the 1580 resolution.

Referring to the possible visit of the OSCE Mink Group Co-chairs to the region, Babayan told that there is no such a visit scheduled for the near future.

On the contact line of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan opposing armies the rival fired more than 1200 shots from different caliber weapons at Armenian positions during the weekend. In addition, the adversary fired two mortar projectiles (60mm) in the southern direction of the contact line.

The Defense Army troops mostly refrained from response actions and confidently continued carrying out their military duty.
Follow us on mahashivratri celebrated with religious fervor across india

New Delhi: Mahashivratri is being celebrated with devotion and religious fervor across the country today. Since the Mahashivratri is being celebrated on Mondaythis year, it becomes even more auspicious for the devotees.

In Uttar Pradesh, devotees in large numbers are reaching Shiva temples in different parts of the state since early morning. Huge rush of people are expected in Varanasi where people have reached to offer jalabhishek of holy water and special prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also wished the country on pious occassion.

In Ayodhya, devotees are reaching Nageshwarnath temple to offer their prayers after taking holy dip in Saryu River. In Allahabad people in large numbers are taking holy dip at the confluence of Ganga and Yamunaat sangam and offering holy waters to various Shiva temples. AIR correspondent reports that the temples have been beautifully decorated with flowers.

AIR correspondent reports, large numbers of devotees are being seen in Shiva temples across the state since morning. People in large numbers are taking dip at sangam in Allahabad and in other holy rivers in different parts of the state.

Thousands of people are reaching Kashi vishwanath temple in Varanasi for jalabhishek to Lord Shiva and offering their special prayers. Devotees in large numbers are still waiting in the que at Kashivishwanath temple. Devotees are also reaching Nageshwarnath temple in Ayodhya and Baba Augharnath temple in Meerut to offer their prayers and holy water to Lord Shiva. Special security arrangements have been made in Varanasi on this occasion.

Latest India News
Follow us on celebrations beyond boundaries 125 indian hindus arrive in pakistan for maha shivratri

Lahore: In a development that counters the hostility witnessed in the recent past between the neighbouring countries, over 120 Hindu pilgrims from India arrived in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore to participate in the festivities of the revered Maha Shivratri celebrated on March 7.

The pilgrims will stay at Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore Fort, before leaving for Katas Raj temple.

Saddiqul Farooq, Chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) which looks after the temples and gurdwaras across Pakistan, and Pakistan Gurdwara Parbhandik Committee officials greeted the pilgrims at Wagah Border.

"125 Hindu pilgrims today arrived here from Wagah Border," Amir Hashmi, spokesperson of the ETPB, told PTI. The pilgrims will stay at Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore Fort before they leave for the historic Katas Raj temple in Punjab province's Chakwal distrcit, some 250 kilometres from here, on Monday to take part in the festivities.

While talking to reporters, the visiting Hindu pilgrims' leader Sateesh Kumar said the authorities here extended full cooperation to them. "We are impressed by the love of Pakistanis for us," Kumar said, adding that there should be cordial relations between both the neighbouring countries as their people wanted peace and prosperity in the region.

The pilgrims also chanted Pak-India friendship slogans at the Wagah Border. Farooq said on the special order of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the ETPB has ensured security, transport, boarding and medical facilities to the visiting Hindus.

"We will make sure that the visiting yatrees (pilgrims) enjoy their time here," Farooq said. He said the government would also ensure that the pilgrims would not face any visa related issues in the future.

Farooq said a special tour of old city of Lahore has been arranged for the visiting Hindus on their request.

Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the sixth night of the dark Phalgun (February or March) every year. It is believed that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati on this day.

(With inputs from PTI)

Latest World News
Follow us on north korea warns of preemptive nuclear strike at us

Pyongyang: North Korea on Monday warned of preemptive nuclear attacks against the US and South Korea if the two allies push ahead with joint military drills scheduled to begin Monday.

North Korea's national defence commission said in a statement carried by state media KCNA that the army and people of North Korea "will make military counter-action for preemptive attack" and "launch an all-out offensive" to cope with joint military drills conducted by South Korean and the US troops.

North Korea's military counter-action will be "more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike" to cope with the enemies' "most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK", the statement stressed.

The United States and South Korea are set to begin on March 7 what is described as their largest ever joint military exercises.

Military sources were quoted as saying more than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 American troops are to take part in the drills, which run until the end of April.

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo has said the exercises will be twice the size of last year.

Pyongyang has issued dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula.

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.

The National Defence Commission described the annual South Korea-US military exercises as "undisguised nuclear war drills" that threatened the North's national sovereignty, and vowed an all-out offensive in response to "even the slightest military action."

Latest World News
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets.

Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials.

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He took pity on the Japanese and fed and looked after them.

One Japanese travel writer has related an anecdote of a New Guinean chief, Karao (I am uncertain of the spelling) who was apparently a big man in the Wewak area during the war.

Your readers seem to be a fount of knowledge about Papua New Guinea and the Pacific War and I have a question to ask.

I HAVE been working on a project on Japanese travel writers accounts of Pacific War battle sites.

After the war, the Australian civil authorities put him on trial. They let him off because he was ill, but instead they executed his wife and child.

The author of the travelogue said Karao ended up living with a deep sense of guilt.

What raises my concern is that the travel writer did not identify his source of information and I am unable to establish the veracity of his claim and the details of the trial and the sentence.

If the case of Karao was true, I would imagine that it might be one of many  albeit an extreme one.

I understand that, in general, many Papuans and New Guineans who had assisted the Japanese during the war were subjected to hostility by the Australians.

The moral lesson the author drew from the incident was to remind us not to forget that the war involved Papuans and New Guineans, and that these people bore the brunt of both the Japanese and the Australians.

A handful of Japanese writers seem to use cases of Karao and the like to mitigate the extent of Japanese cruelty.

I will try to get to the bottom of this matter and would appreciate any leads to shed light on a page in WWII history that many Japanese have forgotten.

Dr Ryota Nishino is a lecturer in history at the University of the South Pacific.
Nigeria is a beautiful country blessed with some of the most stunning natural spots in the world. Often times, many Nigerians flock abroad looking for amazing resorts or tourist centres to cool off, but ironically there are very amazing tourist centres in Nigeria, that they could visit, but have no idea those kind of places exist. INFORMATION NIGERIA has put together 5 amazing natural swimming pool, a lot of Nigerians probably didnt know exist in Nigeria

Erin Ijesha (Olumirin): is a seven step waterfall in Osun State, Nigeria, and each step of the waterfall has a flowing fountain that marks the mystical nature of the place. The much talked about Erin Ijesha (Olumirin) waterfall is a popular tourist attraction in Osun State, Nigeria. According to Vanguard, Olumirin water fall, is the most visited tourist site in Nigeria today and as at November of 2014, from January to November the tourist site grossed 50,000 visitors. No other tourist site has had that level of patronage.

Ikogosi Spring: Ikogosi warm spring, tucked away in the rustic and serene town of Ikogosi-Ekiti, is one of the tourist attractions that this country could be proud of because of the history and myth behind the attraction. What is mysterious about the Ikogosi Warm Spring is the fact that, flowing side by side the warm spring, is another spring, a cold one.The warm and cold springs of Ikogosi originate from a close proximity, come to a meeting point, and flow onward together with each spring retaining its thermal identity.

Owu falls: is the highest and most spectacular natural water fall in West Africa, and is located in Ifelodun Local government area of Kwara State. The water fall stand as one of the symbol of nature which it existence is untraceable, but can only be appreciated and promoted by exploring. The water fall is 120m above water level and cascades 330 feet down an escarpment with rocky out crops to a pool of ice cold water below. The water falls is surrounded with a beautiful natural ambience and hills which makes sightseeing a memorable experience. The waterfall is characterized with fall of ice cold water, beautiful rocky part and walk ways, and evergreen surrounding.

Agbokim Waterfall: is situated about 17 kilometers from Ikom and 315 kilometres from Calabar in the Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State. It is quite near the Nigerian-Cameroon border. Its nearness to neighbouring Cameroon avails travellers and tourists a unique opportunity for cross-border experience. The waterfall is made up of seven streams which cascades over steep cliff, providing a seven faced falls. It is actually sits on the Cross River and descends in terraces, through the tropical rainforest. The rainforest in itself is scenic as it looks lush and green. The fall is also surrounded by steep hills and valleys which are enclosed in a rainbow-like atmosphere.

Gurara Waterfalls: is one of the famous tourist sites in Nigeria. Located in Niger State and close to FCT, the site is popular with foreigners and Nigerians who visit the recreational area to swim, have picnics and go bird watching. The Gurara Wateralls was reportedly discovered in 1745 by a Gwari hunter called Buba, as he was travelling from Zaria to hunt for animals.
JOHN K KAMASUA

WHEN I received a box containing 10 copies of Trickery at the Crocodile Pool, I was quietly thrilled.

I found out that the title of the book of short stories was taken from a story I had written for the 2015 Crocodile Prize for Childrens Writing.

Edited by Ben Jackson, the book is an impressive collection of short stories written by Papua New Guineans.

I had requested Keith Jackson for the copies to distribute to schools under a program funded by the Paga Hill Development Company.

It took me quite some time to deliver two copies to each of the schools.
With the war against corruption receiving the full attention of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, one Nigerian has shown her appreciation in the most unique way by donating her entire monthly pension in support of the campaign.

Mrs. Rose Arabameh Julius, a pensioner, donated her monthly pension of N10,000 to the anti-graft war.

Mrs. Julius donation was received on the presidents behalf by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to a statement he issued, Mr. Adesina said the pensioner, who retired as a cleaner from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, also promised to contribute N1,000 monthly from her pension towards the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

The statement quoted Mrs. Julius as explaining that she made the donation based on the conviction that President Buhari is a tested man of integrity, who can be trusted to restore the lost glory of Nigeria and drastically curb corruption in the country.

She was also said to have commended the Buhari administrations efforts towards ending the Boko Haram insurgency and rehabilitating the IDPs.

In his response, Mr. Adesina thanked the pensioner for her faith in the present administration, saying We have a pact with Nigerians to change things for the better and we are on the right track.

He added that President Buhari and his team are working tirelessly to revamp the economy, combat terrorism and curb corruption.
At least nine people were killed and 18 wounded in a suicide attack on Monday in the northwest region of Pakistan.

The bomber blew himself up outside a district court in the Shabqadar market area of Charsadda district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. Asfandyar Khan, a hospital worker, told Al Jazeera two women and a female child were among the dead.

Police said 18 people were also wounded in the explosion  with six in critical condition. The blast took place about 30km from the regions main city of Peshawar. Inspector Ali Jan Khan from the Shabqadar police station said the attacker was attempting to enter the court.

The suicide bomber was interrupted by two security personnel, which prompted him to blow himself up outside the court, he told Al Jazeera. Medical teams were dispatched to the scene, but the death toll is expected to rise, he said.

A splinter group of the Tehreek e-Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was a revenge attack for the recent execution of a former Pakistani commando who shot dead Punjab provinces governor in 2011. Slain governor Salman Taseer had sought to reform Pakistans controversial blasphemy laws.
On this day in 2010, Five hundred (500) people, mainly women and children were allegedly killed in overnight attacks in the three villages of Dogo Nahawa, Ratsat and Zot near the city of Jos. ..

Residents and local rights activists blamed the overnight attack on ethnic Fulani pastoralists. A military spokesman said security forces arrested twenty four (24) people, accused of stealing crude oil and illegally refining it. Security forces detained ninety five (95) suspects in the violence.

Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups and Muslim settlers from the north have repeatedly triggered unrest over the past decade. Meanwhile, Jos was already under a dusk-to-dawn curfew after clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs in January that year, which killed more than 400 people, according to community leaders.

 Also on this day in 2007, Atiku Abubakar was cleared to take part in the presidential poll, overturning a decision by the electoral commission to disqualify him.
Troops have intensified efforts of clearing remnants of Boko Haram terrorists in some hideouts in the North Eastern part of the country, the Nigerian Army has said.

Towards this end, soldiers of 121 Task Force Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade on Saturday carried out clearance operations at Dure district.

A statement by the acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, said during the encounter, troops met stiff resistance from the terrorists.

They, however, overcame and cleared Dure 1, Dure 2, Jango, Dibiye and other suspected Boko Haram terrorists hideouts within the general area of the district.

Three soldiers however sustained injuries as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device, IED. They were immediately evacuated for medical treatment and are in stable condition, the statement said.

Usman, a colonel, added that during the operation, troops killed several terrorists and recovered 2 hand held Motorola radios one of which was booby-trapped, materials for Improvised Explosive making devices and destroyed several grains storage facilities.

Simultaneously, another combined team of units under 26 Task Force Brigade based in Gwoza same day cleared Amdaga Makaranta and Amdaga Madachi of remnants of Boko Haram terrorists. During the encounter, two Boko Haram terrorists fighters were killed, he stated.

The statement noted that General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Brigadier General Victor Okwudili Ezugwu, disclosed that prior to the clearance operation, Dure 1 and 2 were Boko Haram strong holds in the mainland of Sambisa forest.

According to the statement, the operation further revealed the new and desperate strategy of Boko Haram terrorists; hiding their logistics especially grains for the rainy season in dugouts and the use of hand held radios primed with Improvised Explosive Devices as booby-traps.



The GOC assured that the Nigerian military is confident that God that gives victory, is helping the military to decode and frustrate all terrorists evil plans and machinations.

General Ezugwu further noted that it is the militarys determined objective to ensure that the menace of Boko Haram would be consigned to the dustbin of inglorious history in the annals of Nigerias corporate existence as a nation.

It is imperative to state that we shall not rest on our oars in implementing the directives of our indefatigable Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, to ensure that Boko Haram terrorists are completely defeated and their remnants are cleared wherever they may be hibernating, Ezugwu said in the statement.
I was moved by the essays poignant words and shared it with a dear friend. One with whom. For I felt Ms Lee, in articulating an indifference for distinctions between the various types of love, captured best our decade-long persistence at what has been, at worst, a tumultuous union.

The April 1961 meditation on the dimensions of love is a most decorous work from the author of the iconic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.

FOLLOWING the recent death of Harper Lee, her first essay contributed to Vogue magazine, Love  In Other Words, was edited and republished online.

Any act of love, howeverno matter how smalllessens anxietys grip, gives us a taste of tomorrow, and eases the yoke of our fears. Love, unlike virtue, is not its own reward. The reward of love is peace of mind, and peace of mind is the end of mans desiring  Harper Lee

I was moved by the essays poignant words and shared it with a dear friend with whom Ive stumbled through countless broken, repaired and restored versions of friendship.

I felt Harper Lee, in articulating an indifference for distinctions between various types of love, captured exactly our decade-long persistence with a tumultuous relationship.

In my youth, my friend represented the green light that entranced the lone figure of Jay Gatsby standing on his jetty at night. My friend was the first Papua New Guinean Id met who shared and sustained a devotion to literature and, with it, a restless harbouring of writing.

In spare moments, he and I would commit to paper our fears and hopes for our country. We wished that, through words, we would find others who shared similar sentiments and offered solutions.

Ultimately we desired to capture the attention of not only our countrymen but people beyond our borders.

As it turned out, PNG Attitude and the Crocodile Prize literary competition have been prominent in facilitating this wider reading of my voice.

Without a doubt, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Papua New Guineans lingering in the shadows waiting for a convincing signal that their voices are of importance.

But whether its lack of interest or an overwhelming lack of confidence maintaining this quandary, I unequivocally agree with a recent comment made by academic and writer John Kamasua that young people in the country do not appreciate the enormous power of reading and writing. And I feel immersed in that burgeoning despair - again.

Many people have succumbed to an overriding trend of confining their words to social media avenues, where grammar, comprehension and audience selection is at ones discretion.

So much so that any assumption that Papua New Guinean beneficiaries of a higher level of education can demonstrate eloquence in written expression should be tucked away and put to rest.

Perhaps temporarily tucked away. Victim-blaming stagnates progress and I wouldnt want to do that.

Perhaps, instead, the onus for an improved literature should be placed on the shoulders of the nations decision-makers who have failed to provide avenues for Papua New Guineans who, through written expression, articulate best their love for country and people.

But  lets face it  writing with the intention of shared viewing is extremely daunting. Particularly if steering clear of the echo-chamber of domestic mainstream media consumed by the PNG audience.

And so it is enticing to utilise the forum provided by PNG Attitude as a place where the breadth of subject matter, depth of debate and articulation of creativity and literary skill frequently produce flashes of brilliance.

Its enough to set any aspiring writer in contemplation mode. Permanently!

Tell me, what contributor to PNG Attitude doesnt agonise over each paragraph to ensure cohesion, vocabulary and clarity of expression? And thats after the piece has been submitted for publishing! Or perhaps its just me.

PNG Attitude showcases a plethora of high ability and it is my fellow Papua New Guinean writers of whom I am particularly fond and from whom I draw ideas.

Ive found a handful so far, but am aware that, over time, many more will influence and enhance the depth of my writing.

With the launch of Sean Dorneys The Embarrassed Colonist, an informative debate developed in The Interpreter; an online publication of the Sydney-based think tank, the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

Jenny Hayward-Jones summarised Mr Dorneys key argument as, Australia needs to acknowledge its colonial past in order to move to a deeper level of engagement with the Papua New Guinea of today.

Mr Dorney, a former long-serving ABC Papua New Guinea correspondent, coined the term embarrassed colonist because, he said, of our seeming reluctance to fully address our history in PNG and look rigorously at the consequences.

Australias blindness to its colonial past and the repercussions of this were critically examined in Phil Fitzpatricks Why dont Australians care about PNG? Is it the writers? and Max Uechtritzs  Plenty of great stories still to be mined in PNG - both of which present strong arguments for the mechanism imperative to bridging the gap identified by Mr Dorney and subsequent commentators.

Phil Fitzpatrick argues rightfully that a thriving literary culture so vital to fostering a national narrative is absent from Papua New Guinea. This is in turn may be attributed to Australias waning interest in its former colony.

Max Uechtritzs reference to an Australian media thats myopic in its approach to reporting about PNG reflects the undercurrents of apathy that are so evident.

A giant leap toward supporting, promoting and encouraging the growth of PNGs literary culture is imperative and required from Australia.

And Im not talking about vamping up the already concentrated efforts of 20-foot containers laden with second-hand books or child-focused library and resource centres.

It is established and emerging Papua New Guinean writers who must be supported.

What is required, as is encouraged in Australia, are designated spaces where Papua New Guineans are supported to cultivate and enhance their promising literary skills to (re)educate the former colonial administrator of how its presence in PNG impacted upon the countrys mood and matter to the present day.

Along with PNG Attitude, the Papua New Guinea Association of Australian has, for the past two years and again in 2016, recognised the significance of Papua New Guinean writers through its publishing program associated with the Crocodile Prize.

The same can be said of the PNG and Australian sponsors and supporters of the Crocodile Prize since 2011.

The PNGAAs annual pledge to print the Crocodile Prize Anthology is a sure indication to Papua New Guinean writers that their love of country and literature is supported by people who understand its importance for both PNG and Australia.

Unlike the two-person friendship mentioned at the outset of this essay, the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea embodies generations of individuals with whom rests questions and answers that might dispel the perceived ignorance and blindness often debated on PNG Attitude and recently written about by Sean Dorney.

If not developed and genuinely supported, the literary output of PNG writers will probably not contribute to the deeper level of engagement characterised by Max Uechtritz as six decades of colonial rule and a century of deep, genuine bonds will be a mere footnote in history.
The Lagos State Police Command has denied accusations that it took sides during the Mile 12, Agiliti crisis, describing the allegation as cheap blackmail.

The State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who insisted that he led the operation and not the Area Commander nor the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ketu as alleged, insisted that his men did their job devoid of sentiments.

Violence erupted in the Mile 12 area of Ketu last week following a bloody clash between Hausa traders and their Yoruba hosts. When calm was restored to the area by security agents, no fewer than 10 people were counted killed in the mayhem.

Some residents of Mile 12 market, Agiliti community, Maidan and its environs had in various interviews with journalists accused the police of taking sides in the violence.

Denying the allegations, CP Owoseni said: Mile 12 is relatively calm and the process of healing has commenced in terms of dialogue. 174 suspects were arrested and at the moment investigations and auditing are ongoing.

It was miscreants that were involved in that fight and not normal Yorubas or Hausas. Even when the fight was on, some Hausas hid Yoruba children in their shops, likewise some Yorubas hid Hausa people in their homes.

All those trying to play on ethnic or religious sentiments are using cheap blackmail. It is mere fabrication that police or security agencies took sides in that fight. We did our job there devoid of sentiments.

He also pegged the figures of suspects arrested at 174, adding that investigations were ongoing to ascertain their culpability.
Where's a good place to find a job in technology? Texas, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, and Washington are all strong players, but California continues to be tops for tech employment, often by a wide margin.

Industry group CompTIA's "Cyberstates 2016" report analyzed trends in the tech jobs field -- manufacturing, telecom, software, IT services, and engineering -- over the past year, broken down by state. California, with 1.15 million tech jobs, had a nearly two-to-one lead over second-place finisher Texas, with 585,600. New York, Florida, and Massachusetts trailed with 369,500, 311,800, and 294,600 respectively.

[ Navigate the modern hiring landscape with InfoWorld's special report, "The care and feeding of a rockstar developer." | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld's Application Development newsletter. ]

California also had the largest number of job postings in tech -- 152,700 in Q4 2015, leaving New York's 63,200 a distant second.

The amount of tech job growth in those states mapped closely to the rankings. California added 59,500 tech jobs last year, while second-ranked New York added only 15,500.

Wages between states were a little closer; California's average was $149,300, and the next highest, Washington, came in at $129,400.

California tech workers also make more than nontech workers from any other state, raking in 151 percent more than the national average. That said, the report doesn't discuss how the cost of living in each state offsets the wages offered, especially since many other cities outside of Silicon Valley offer thriving tech sectors.

The tech market in other states is evolving, though. California, for instance, wasn't the top state by tech sector employment change (up 5.5 percent); that distinction went to Utah, which jumped 8 percent over 2015. Oregon had the greatest total contributions to gross state production from tech: 23 percent, compared to California's 10.5 percent.

The District of Columbia boasted the largest number of women working in tech, with women comprising 39.5 percent of the workforce. Massachusetts led in percentage of the overall private sector workforce in tech, with 9.8 percent, although California wasn't far behind at 8.2 percent.
Much has been made of the big diversity challenges facing the tech sector. This problem has several dimensions. While some tech companies worry about having enough skilled STEM workers in an era when white men comprise a shrinking part of the labor force, others have an eye on the reputation of a sector that's often seen as hostile to women. A series of high-profile incidents in Silicon Valley have drawn media attention to this latter issue.

We've been tracking a rising of tide of grantmaking that focuses on diversity and tech. A number of these efforts involve women and girls, and dovetail with another thread of funding that we watch closely focusing on gender equity.

All this is the background for spotlighting the Vodafone Americas Foundation, which recently announced a new initiative to empower women and girls in the technology field, and to use technology to give women new ways to network, learn, build skills, and protect themselves.

In case you're not familiar with Vodafone, it's the second-largest mobile telecommunications company in the world, with a range of philanthropic activities underway, as we've reported. It's worth paying close attention, here, especially given the level of interest in using mobile technology to address social and economic challenges.



Related:

Currently, women only comprise 30 percent of the technology workforce at large tech companies. By providing more ways for women to learn tech skills, get STEM education, and move into leadership roles in tech companies, Vodafone is joining other global corporations like Coca-Cola and Walmart in pivoting toward womens empowerment in its grantmaking.

Vodafone Americas Foundation currently has three areas of grantmaking focused on sparking innovation, improving lives, and strengthening the global development sector. Now, with this fourth new grantmaking strategy, Vodafone will fund initiatives that leverage technology to improve education and opportunity for women and girls.

This is an area of funding that the Vodafone Americas Foundation has been involved in for a while now. The foundation has supported projects like Girls Who Code and TechGirlz, both of which are helping to bring more women into the tech field. With Girls Who Code, the foundation is funding efforts at bringing computer science education and exposure to one million young women by 2020. As we've written about here, Girls Who Code has many big supporters in the foundation world, including the Knight Foundation. It has also attracted other tech corporate foundation support, including from Verizon, Intel and Adobe. As we've reported, Google is another important player in the growing women's tech space.

Related:

TechGirlz is focused on providing middle school technology and education that engage girls in the tech sector and get them geared up for programming classes in high school. TechGirlz has also attracted funding from venture capitalist Josh Kopelman.

Through this grantmaking strategy, the Vodafone Americas Foundation will also partner with Internews, an international nonprofit working at the intersection of media, information, and development to ensure people are fully empowered with the information they need. With a grant from the foundation, Internews will launch a campaign called "Secure" to provide an online toolkit to help women prevent and recover from doxing, trolling, and other forms of online gender-based harassment.

All of this activity points to an increasing awareness among funders of the role that mobile technology can play for women in accessing education, economic opportunity, and security. At the same time, companies like Vodafone are increasingly aware of the needs and priorities of women, both as employees and as consumers. As a clear signal of its commitment to womens empowerment, in 2015, Vodafone became one of the first organizations in the world to set forth a mandatory minimum maternity benefits standard. Vodafone has also made a commitment to increase women in leadership roles to 30 percent within its company.
As a new week begins, investors await the looming Thursday announcement on further easing. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi faces a difficult balancing act as he manages expectations for further stimulus while grappling with limitations of monetary policy in the face of weakened global demand. If the bank chooses, as is widely expected, to further reduce the deposit rate and expand its quantitative-easing facility, the open question is how much of that stimulus will seep into the real economy versus the short-term impact on financial-asset valuations. So far, miniscule deposit and lending rates have not spurred as much flow of capital to the private sector as many had hoped. The most recent data on bank lending in the common-currency zone fell short of consensus forecasts for January, expanding by 1.4 percent versus the same month in the prior year, which was negative.

BIS says Chinas capital flight due to dollar debt payments. Fresh data from the Peoples Bank of China released this morning suggests that the pace at which capital is fleeing the worlds largest economy may be slowing. The $29 billion decline in foreign currency reserves brings outflows to their lowest level since June 2015. The news follows the release of a report Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland that concluded that persistent outflows of capital from China since 2014 were largely the result of companies paying down U.S. dollar-denominated debt in the face of appreciation of the U.S. dollar, rather than liquidation of assets to move capital offshore.

SoftBank to split into two separate companies. On Monday after markets closed in Japan, SoftBank Group Corp. announced it will formally separate into two publicly traded entities. One company will focus entirely on overseeing more than $80 billion in international investments in telecom and technology, including a significant holding in China-based Alibaba Group Holding. The new entity will also focus on increasing venture capital investments. The other company will contain SoftBanks domestic Japanese telecom franchise.

German factory orders better than expected. Deutsche Bundesbank factory-order data for January released this morning contracted by 0.1 percent for the month, a 1.1 percent gain versus the same month in January. The figures are stronger than forecast with consensus estimates among economists ranging from a decline of 0.3 percent to minus 0.5 percent versus December. Of particular note, was a jump in export orders from within the common-currency zone, suggesting that industrial demand for the region may be rebounding.

Kuroda says tax hike is no cause for panic. In a speech on Monday before the Yomiuri International Economic Society in Tokyo, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda presented an optimistic case for further policy action. The central bank head argued that there remains room for further quantitative-easing measures to be deployed if necessary and that excessive appreciation of the yen has been corrected. Critically, he also downplayed the potential impact of a sales-tax increase scheduled for April, stating that the economy is unlikely to suffer the setbacks triggered by the last hike in 2014.

Income tax overhaul in China. Among proposals put before the annual National Peoples Congress in Beijing this week will be one from the Ministry of Finance that will increase tax deductions for households. The changes will include allowances for child and elder care as well as mortgage payments. The proposal is a move to encourage consumption by the middle class in China. Separately, and much- anticipated, the NPC meeting also included an announcement of reduced gross-domestic-product targets for 2016 to 6.5 percent versus 7 percent for 2015.
Insurance is about information. Outside of the technology industry itself, few sectors are better situated to seize the advantages of so-called big data than insurance.

Such was the consensus of a panel presenting before the Property/Casualty Insurance Committee of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators during the groups recent spring meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Chaired by state Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Ind., the committee heard testimony from various insurance trade association representatives, a risk analytics expert, an insurance regulator and a consumer advocate. Though they differed in the details, each spoke excitedly about the opportunities presented by this emerging field.

Big data generally is understood to refer to the emerging ability of powerful computers to crunch data sets that previously would be unthinkably large and find patterns, trends and associations that wouldnt be obvious to casual observers. Applying the technology of big data to find credible linkages in human behavior and interactions with future claims offers the potential to completely revolutionize underwriting strategies and dynamic pricing models. While big data potentially offers some exciting new horizons for insurance, it simultaneously is raising concerns about regulators and legislators for its potential to be both disruptive and opaque.

Frank OBrien of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America observed that the industry has occupied itself with collecting risk-related information since its inception. These latest tools are thus best thought of as evolutionary, not revolutionary, developments. At bottom, should novel tools used to capture data be treated any differently than those that have been employed for hundreds of years?

OBriens assertion garnered nods of approval from the industry-heavy crowd. Yet while hes not wrong about the underlying purpose insurers hope to achieve, that point nonetheless obscures the hugely novel methodologies involved in incorporating big data into the business of insurance. The speed and persistence with which the industry is investigating new data-driven opportunities is sufficient evidence of this. The value proposition is enormous.

The challenge that confronts policymakers and regulators is how to differentiate among big-data approaches to identify those that might be problematic.

Wes Bissett of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America noted there is no single law that can hope to address all the various concepts included in the notion of big data. Birny Birnbaum of the Center for Economic Justice argued that insurance regulators must nonetheless adopt a broad approach to big-data concerns that includes a constantly updated list of the data employed by insurers. While his proposal was light on details, evoking skepticism from parts of the panel and audience, Birnbaum maintained that such a list would allow regulators and the public to ensure that data are not used for impermissible and/or discriminatory purposes.

Given that insurance is a highly regulated industry, its crucial for both policymakers and legislators to comprehend exactly what novel uses of data will entail. Yet insurers are stuck between the need to be transparent with the public  after all, nothing elicits cynicism like black box pricing factors  and the need to protect the competitive advantages that bespoke big data strategies provide.

At the panels conclusion, Rep. Lehman urged committee members to work with interested parties to bring forward concrete proposals for model legislation, which could be considered when NCOIL meets this summer in Portland, Oregon. Theres not yet any indication what kinds of models the committee might entertain, though a proposal concerning telematics (not limited to automotive technology) was endorsed by both Bissett and Birnbaum. Given the savings that deploying such technology could achieve, its as good a place to start as any.

Topics Legislation Data Driven
Massachusetts state lawmakers unveiled a bill that would regulate ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft with a requirement that drivers undergo rigorous criminal background checks but not fingerprinting.

The House Financial Services Committee on March 4 released its version of a bill, initially filed last year by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, which also sets new insurance and pricing guidelines for the companies.

The measure calls for a two-step background check for all drivers, the first to be conducted by the companies and the second by state regulators working in a new Ride for Hire Division created within the state Department of Public Utilities.

San Francisco-based Uber and other services would be required under the plan to carry a minimum $1 million of insurance coverage on each vehicle. The $1 million premium would kick in only when a passenger is in the vehicle or the vehicle is heading to pick up a passenger. The committee said similar insurance requirements have been adopted by 29 other states.

The bill also would keep in place until at least August 2021 a ban on the companies picking up passengers at Bostons Logan International Airport, a concession to the taxi industry, which has seen its business impacted negatively by the newer services.

We were presented with a challenge to allow for the expansion and growth of an industry while ensuring consumer protection and public safety, said Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a Boston Democrat who chairs the panel. We have accomplished that with this legislation.

Boston police Commissioner William Evans and some legislators have called for fingerprinting of all drivers, a requirement recently imposed on cabbies in the city.

The states secretary of public safety and homeland security, Daniel Bennett, said he and Baker did not ask for fingerprinting because of the sophistication of modern criminal checks.

Its a nationwide records check, said Bennett, who had not seen the House bill. Youre not going to immediately get your license to be a ride-share person.

At a Statehouse hearing last September, an Uber official said fingerprinting or other more stringent background checks would discourage people from signing up to drive for the company.

Under the legislation, people would be automatically disqualified from driving if they had committed any crimes in the past seven years involving violence or sexual abuse or other crimes such as drunken driving, hit and run, driving with a suspended or revoked license and felony robbery.

Ride-hailing services would be prohibited from ratcheting up prices during weather emergencies, a practice known as surge pricing, and state regulators would monitor them to ensure they dont set excessively high base fares.

The bill next goes to the full House for a vote.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Personal Auto Massachusetts


AMY CHAPMAN

ON Saturday 9 April, in association with the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery, the Wantok Musik Foundation will be launched in Papua New Guinea with a live concert at the Nora Vagi Brash Amphitheatre.

Wantok Musik Foundation, formed in Melbourne in 2006, records, releases and promotes culturally important music and arts from Melanesia as well as facilitating connections between Indigenous Australia and the Melanesian region.

The aim of the launch is to introduce the foundation and music label to PNG and provide a platform for promoting and preserving PNG cultures through music and the arts within the region and throughout the world.
Pool Re announced it has renewed the reinsurance cover purchased in 2015, for a further three years. The renewed cover, which now includes an additional layer, provides 1.95 billion ($2.8 billion) of commercial reinsurance compared with 1.8 billion ($2.6 billion) previously.

The placement further distances the UK government and taxpayer from any potential liability, but importantly, also protects scheme assets, thereby increasing the sustainability of the pool, Pool Re said.

The two-layer program, placed with a highly secure panel of reinsurers (which includes global re-insurers as well as its members) led by Munich Re and brokered by Guy Carpenter, mirrors the cover currently provided to Pool Re members, including chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear risks.

Im pleased to announce that Pool Re has bought an additional layer of reinsurance from the commercial market, above the cover that incepted last March, said Steve Coates, chief underwriting officer of Pool Re.

This is an important step which reflects an increasing appetite in the reinsurance market for UK terrorism risk and brings us closer to our continued goal of re-engaging global capacity in the provision of terrorism cover in Great Britain. It also further diminishes the UK Governments exposure and distances the UK taxpayers from any potential liability, he added.

We will continue to examine ways to secure more capacity from insurers and reinsurers, so as to increase the schemes resilience and to ensure that Pool Re only provides capacity that the market is unable to.

About Pool Re

Pool Re was launched in 1993 by the insurance industry in cooperation with the UK Government in the wake of the IRA bombing campaign on the UK mainland. A mutual reinsurer owned by its members, Pool Re is underpinned by the UK government, which will support Pool Re if it has insufficient funds to pay a legitimate claim. Pool Re pays a premium to the government for this guarantee and would repay the money over time if it ever used this facility.

Source: Pool Re

Topics Reinsurance
Current and former employees are suing Oshkosh Corp. subsidiary Pierce Manufacturing and calling for a jury trial in the case related to compensation.

Oshkosh Northwestern Media reports that the class-action lawsuit accuses the manufacturing company of operating an unlawful compensation system that shaved at least 10 minutes off of the employees wages each day.

The lawsuit claims the time was impermissibly deducted and should have been compensated as time and a half pay.

The employees are seeking overtime compensation, unpaid wages and liquidated damages from the Menasha-based company.

An Oshkosh Corp. spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation but said the policy is no longer in place.

Pierce announced last month that it would change its break policy and shorten shifts by at least 10 minutes.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Talent Wisconsin Manufacturing
New research has placed a spotlight on a gap between what Americans say about themselves and what they think about others when it comes to disability in the workplace and sports.

According to the research by The Hartford, a leading group disability insurance provider, most Americans in the national survey said they would want to work and stay fit if they became physically disabled, but fewer felt strongly that people with disabilities could be world-class athletes or as productive as employees without physical limitations.

Advances in technology and medicine, along with cultural changes, are helping to redefine what it means to be disabled, but this new research shows misconceptions linger, said Mike Concannon, executive vice president of The Hartfords Group Benefits business.

A majority (76 percent) of Americans said they would find a way to be productive after a physical disability, even if it meant training and taking a new job. However, only one in four (26 percent) felt strongly that people with physical disabilities could perform most jobs done by individuals without disabilities.

Additional key findings of The Hartfords Disabling Perceptions Survey:

50 percent of Americans feel strongly people with disabilities can be physically fit;

46 percent strongly agree physically disabled employees are as productive as workers without a disability; and

44 percent strongly agree people with physical disabilities can be world-class athletes.

The researchers suggest that the conflicting opinions found in the survey may stem from how Americans define disability. When asked what they consider a physical disability, survey participants top answers were paraplegia or quadriplegia (77 percent), loss of a limb (70 percent), and blindness/visual impairment (69 percent).

In todays highly competitive marketplace, the companies that attract and retain top talent will be those with diverse and inclusive cultures, up-to-date technology, and resources that support employees desire to enjoy active, productive lives, said Lindsey Pollak, The Hartfords workplace expert and best-selling author.

SXSW

Pollak will delve deeper into the death of disability at South By Southwest (SXSW), the annual film, music and technology festival in Austin, Texas. In a panel discussion on March 11, Pollak and U.S. Paralympic gold medalists Alana Nichols and Brad Snyder will discuss how technology, medical advancements, and demographic changes are leveling the playing field between athletes with disabilities and those without.

Snyder and Nichols are among a team of athlete ambassadors for The Hartford, which recently renewed its founding partnership with U.S. Paralympics, a division of the United States Olympic Committee dedicated to training elite athletes with physical and visual disabilities. The Hartford has supported U.S. Paralympic athletes for more than 20 years.

Inclusive Workplace

The Hartford commissioned the survey to understand perceptions of disability, as well as employers support of people with disabilities.

While Americans said they want to return to work after a disability, they were uncertain of their employers support of people with disabilities:

One in four (25 percent) strongly agree their employer provides an adequate level of accommodations to people with physical disabilities;

Only 23 percent strongly agree their employer is up-to-date on the technology that allows people with physical disabilities to work there; and

Just 13 percent strongly agree their employer actively recruits people with disabilities.

The survey highlighted Americans strong will to prevail, but also an opportunity for increased support of people with disabilities, said Concannon.

The Hartfords 2016 Disabling Perceptions Survey is a national survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 18 years of age and older. Questions related to employer accommodations for people with disabilities were only asked of consumers who are employed.

Topics USA Tech Training Development
The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) Education Foundation has honored five insurance and risk management students at the University of Texas at Dallas with scholarships and registration into the Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS) organization.

UT Dallas on March 5 was officially designated a GIS charter, which will allow the schools insurance and risk management students access to a vast array of job opportunities, networking and career counseling in the insurance industry.

The ICT Education Foundation provided funding for the new charter as well as additional academic funding and scholarships.

Tony Gonzalez, president of the ICT Education Foundation, said UT Dallas is quickly becoming one of the states top universities in producing sought after insurance and risk management graduates.

Since 2002, the Education Foundation has awarded $851,750 in scholarships and academic funding to 393 students at 11 Texas universities.

The five UT Dallas students receiving scholarships totaling $7,500 are: Thu Nguyen, Nathaniel Bjorge, Mohammed Ahmad, Nate Pham and Hieh Huynh.

Along with the scholarships, each student will have the opportunity to come to Austin to ICTs Mid-Year Property & Casualty Symposium on July 13 and 14. The students will be given a tour of the Texas Department of Insurance and allowed to participate in a speed interview and networking session with insurance companies who are seeking job applicants.

Source: Insurance Council of Texas

Topics Carriers Texas Training Development
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the city of Seattle over an ordinance that allows drivers of ridesharing apps Uber 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 Seattles 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 OBrien, 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 ridesharing 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 Somerville and Levine in San Francisco; editing by Grant McCool)

Related:

Topics Lawsuits USA
The owner of a Sacramento, Calif. construction company has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and workers comp insurance fraud.

The Sacramento Bee reported that 47-year-old William Alan Huffman entered his plea last week after being arrested in January.

The Sacramento County District Attorneys Office says Huffman falsely reported to his workers compensation insurance carriers that he had no or very few employees at Capital City Construction Co. During this time he paid his employees in cash and avoided paying the California Employment Development Department and insurance premiums.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Huffman will be ordered to serve one year in county jail, be on probation for five years, and to pay more than $303,000 in restitution.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 24.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Workers' Compensation Fraud Construction
Atlanta, GA, March 7, 2016  Mark Walker has joined Breckenridge Insurance Services wholesale brokerage division to oversee the market development efforts as SVP, chief market officer and casualty practice leader. Walker has nearly 30 years of insurance expertise and most recently opened and led the Peachtree Special Risk Brokers office in Charlotte, North Carolina as EVP, practice leader for the last 15 years.

Tracey Carragher, chief executive officer of Breckenridge Insurance Group commented, Mark is a force in the insurance world and is respected by carriers internationally. His experience in building diverse carrier capacity coupled with his passion for developing business and team members is a great addition to our organization.

Walker has a multi-line background including casualty, property and professional liability with extensive experience in the construction, real estate, manufacturing, hospitality and healthcare industries. He has worked in senior roles as an underwriter with USF&G and St. Paul; and in retail marketing and wholesale brokerage for Sedgwick, Aon and Willis.

Joining Breckenridge to lead both the market development and casualty practice efforts is a great fit for me. The impressive program and MGU resources along with the dynamic personnel at Breckenridge are an exciting platform to further grow our presence in the brokerage space, stated Walker.

Walker is located in the Charlotte, North Carolina offices of Breckenridge and can be reached at mwalker@breckis.com or 704.839.7116.

About Breckenridge Insurance Services:

Breckenridge Insurance Services is a national wholesale commercial insurance brokerage firm with more than three decades of experience in supporting agents and their clients. Focused on building long-term partnerships, the experienced brokerage group offers consultative services and quality carrier relationships and binding authorities for a variety of standard and hard-to-place specialty coverages. Breckenridge Insurance Services has eight offices across the United States and continues to strategically expand its team and presence to serve diverse markets with top-rated domestic and international carrier partners.

About Breckenridge Insurance Group:

Breckenridge Insurance Group, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is an international specialty wholesale insurance broker, program manager, managing general agent (MGA) and insurance services provider. The company offers access to diverse range of commercial insurance and financial services products to businesses and professional services firms in a variety of industries. The company serves independent insurance agents, brokers and legal and financial institutions throughout North America by way of Blue River Underwriters, OSC, Breckenridge Insurance Services, Breckenridge Elevation Authorities contract binding group and InSpecialty innovative insurance solutions. For more information, please visit www.breckgrp.com or call 630.945.3878. CA Insurance License #0G13592

Topics Agencies Insurance Wholesale Leadership
(Bloomberg) -- Marsh & McLennan Cos., the largest insurance broker by market value, hired former American International Group Inc. executive John Doyle as president.

Doyle will start April 15 and oversee Marshs global brokerage businesses, the New York-based company said Monday in a statement. Hell report to Peter Zaffino, chief executive officer of Marshs flagship unit.

Marsh is among companies such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that have sought talent from AIG as the insurer shrinks. Doyle, 52, started at AIG after graduating college and rose to lead commercial operations, one of the most senior positions. The company announced his departure as part of a series of management changes in December, along with the exit of Chief Financial Officer David Herzog.

I look forward to working closely with John to deliver superior value to our clients and to further distinguish Marsh as the industry leader, Zaffino said in the statement. Johns appointment is evidence of our continued commitment to having the most talented people and broadest capabilities to position Marshs business for the future.

Compensation Package

Marsh agreed to at least 20 takeovers in the past year, expanding as rival Willis Towers Watson Plc completed a more than $8 billion merger to gain scale and add consulting operations. Marsh CEO Dan Glaser is also an alumnus of New York- based AIG, as is Julio Portalatin, who leads Marshs Mercer division, which focuses on consulting.

Doyles compensation package was valued at $8.24 million at the end of 2014, according to the insurers proxy filing. AIG entitled him to a termination payout that could have reached more than $17 million if he was dismissed without cause, the document shows.
Item No "x x x. The elements of the crime of theft as provided for in Article 308 9 of the Revised Penal Code are as follows: (1) t...
E arrivata lufficialita, dopo una giornata di voci rincorrenti: per il triennio 2018-2021 sara lemittente Sky a godere dei diritti televisivi per trasmettere, in esclusiva assoluta, le partite non solo delle prossime edizioni dellEuropa League ma anche quelle della massima competizione continentale, la Champions. Un pacchetto da favola per il quale la tv satellitare di Rupert Murdoch avrebbe messo sul piatto unofferta giudicata piu congrua di quella presentata dalla concorrente Mediaset. A dare lannuncio dellaffare concluso e stata la stessa Sky che, in un comunicato, ha spiegato che il nuovo format sviluppato dalla UEFA ci consentira di portare ai nostri abbonati un prodotto rivoluzionario per il calcio europeo in Italia. Per la prima volta la UEFA Champions League e la UEFA Europa League saranno insieme in unesclusiva offerta integrata, che permettera agli appassionati di seguire fino a 7 squadre italiane, mai cosi tante prima dora, impegnate nelle sfide con i migliori club europei.

Sky: Rafforzata leadership

Anche il livello tecnico dellofferta sara altissimo ed e ancora lemittente a rivelare i dettagli: Continueremo a fare innovazione, trasmettendo le partite piu importanti anche in 4K HDR. Questofferta senza precedenti rafforza la posizione di Sky come leader della programmazione sportiva in Italia ed e anche un altro passo importante di sostegno al calcio italiano. Insomma, per i prossimi tre anni, sara unegemonia totale quella della satellitare sul calcio europeo, avendo mantenuto il pacchetto Europa League (gia sua esclusiva) e affiancandola a quello ancor piu appetibile della Champions League ad appannaggio Mediaset dal 2015 al 2018.

Sfida Serie A

Ora la sfida fra i due colossi delle trasmissioni sportive si spostera sui diritti televisivi della prossima Serie A, per la quale si e ancora in attesa di un nuovo bando che, come annunciato dal commissario della Lega, Carlo Tavecchio, avra le stesse caratteristiche del precedente, andato pero a vuoto: solo una delle offerte presentate per i cinque pacchetti, infatti, superava la soglia minima richiesta dalla base dasta. Niente di fatto, quindi, anche in virtu della stessa Mediaset che, in sostanza, ha disertato il bando (giudicato inaccettabile) non presentando alcuna offerta. La battaglia, anche in questo caso, sara sulle esclusive: del resto, dopo essersi vista scivolare via una componente importante come la Champions, sulla Serie A Mediaset dara sicuramente battaglia.
Si parla della sua presenza alla 76 mostra del cinema di Venezia, in programma dal 28 agosto al 7 settembre. L'attesissimo film The Pope di Fernando Meirelles con Jonathan Pryce nel ruolo di Bergoglio e Anthony Hopkins in quello di Ratzinger scandaglia una delle pagine piu sorprendenti e inedite di duemila anni di storia della Chiesa: la coabitazione in Vaticano di due pontefici. Storia e cronaca si incrociano, nella memoria di vaticanista. Per far luce su quanto accaduto nel crepuscolo del proprio pontificato, Benedetto XVI ha affidato la relazione sullo scandalo Vatileaks a tre cardinali ultra-ottantenni, quindi non piu elettori in conclave e fuori dalle logiche di unelezione pontificia. Cio significava consentire di indagare al massimo livello sulle responsabilita interne al Vaticano senza che le verita scoperte potessero entrare nella Cappella Sistina camminando sulle gambe di porporati inquisitori. A Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko e Salvatore De Giorgi, Benedetto XVI assegno lincarico di venire a capo della fuga di documenti riservati e il compito venne svolto in profondita. Subito dopo la rinuncia al pontificato, Joseph Ratzinger crollo fisicamente e si temette addirittura per la vita: era molto fragile, pur conservando una strepitosa lucidita mentale. Ma poi, dopo un paio di settimane, si riprese e torno a essere il formidabile maestro di dottrina, lo stesso che aiuto Karol Wojtyla in un quarto di secolo di pontificato. E che, abdicando, desacralizzo e demitizzo la figura del Papa, distinguendo in modo radicale e rivoluzionario la funzione dalla persona. Un gesto che probabilmente avrebbe potuto compiere solo un rigoroso teologo proveniente dalla terra di Lutero, grande accusatore dei mali del papato e della corte vaticana.

Armonia e ammirazione

Un gesto modernissimo che lascio in quel momento la Chiesa, e il mondo, spiazzati e senza parole - osserva il vescovo Giancarlo Vecerrica -. La motivazione fu certamente l'impossibilita di procedere nella guida della Chiesa per il venir meno delle forze con l'eta che avanzava. Decise cosi che, in futuro, avrebbe vissuto una vita da monaco, in contemplazione, e che avrebbe servito la Chiesa in altro modo, cioe pregando. Da qui la scelta di vivere nel monastero Mater Ecclesiae all'interno del Vaticano, immerso nei giardini dove spesso va a pregare. Riceve visite e continua a informarsi, a leggere. Prega e ascolta musica. Fortissimo il legame con il suo successore Francesco. Si sentono telefonicamente e si incontrano. In alcune occasioni pubbliche Bergoglio lo ha voluto accanto a se. Come all'apertura del Giubileo della Misericordia l'8 dicembre 2015, dove Ratzinger ha varcato la soglia, dopo Francesco, come primo pellegrino dell'Anno Santo. Francesco, sente molto vicino a se Benedetto e spesso si confronta con lui per alcune scelte importanti. Afferma padre Federico Lombardi, ex portavoce della Santa Sede e presidente della Fondazione Ratzinger: Il modo in cui il Papa emerito vive gli anni successivi alla rinuncia al pontificato corrisponde a quello che ci aveva detto, cioe vivere nella preghiera, nel ritiro spirituale e con estrema discrezione, fornendo il suo servizio di accompagnamento nella preghiera della vita della Chiesa e di solidarieta anche con il suo successore, proprio nella sua responsabilita e, tutto cio, in piena serenita. Francesco ha sempre detto di sentire molto il sostegno di questa presenza e di questa preghiera e, racconta padre Lombardi, di aver coltivato questo rapporto, a volte con delle visite, a volte con delle chiamate telefoniche, certamente con molti segni di familiarita, di rispetto e di attesa del sostegno spirituale.

Realta bella e inedita

La coabitazione di due papi, aggiunge Lombardi, e una realta inedita ma bella e consolante: tutte le volte che vediamo delle immagini di Francesco e il suo predecessore insieme e una grande gioia per tutti e un bell'esempio di unione nella Chiesa, nella varieta delle condizioni. Unarmonia e un'ammirazione testimoniate dal pensiero rivolto da Francesco al suo predecessore in occasione del suo 65 anniversario di sacerdozio. Santita, oggi festeggiamo la storia di una chiamata iniziata 65 anni fa con la sua Ordinazione sacerdotale, avvenuta nella Cattedrale di Freising il 29 giugno 1951  disse Jorge Mario Bergoglio -. Ma qual e la nota di fondo che percorre questa lunga storia e che da quel primo inizio sino a oggi la domina sempre piu? In una delle tante belle pagine che Lei dedica al sacerdozio sottolinea come, nellora della chiamata definitiva di Simone, Gesu, guardandolo, in fondo gli chiede una cosa sola: Mi ami?. Quanto e bello e vero questo! Perche e qui, Lei ci dice, in quel mi ami? che il Signore fonda il pascere, perche solo se ce lamore per il Signore Lui puo pascere attraverso di noi: Signore, tu sai tutto, tu sai che ti amo. E laugurio con il quale desidero concludere e percio un augurio che rivolgo a Lei e insieme a tutti noi e alla Chiesa intera: che Lei, Santita, possa continuare a sentire la mano del Dio misericordioso che La sorregge, che possa sperimentare e testimoniarci l'amore di Dio; che, con Pietro e Paolo, possa continuare a esultare di grande gioia mentre cammina verso la meta della fede!. Altrettanto suggestiva la risposta di Benedetto XVI: Santo Padre, cari fratelli, 65 anni fa, un fratello ordinato con me ha deciso di scrivere sulla immaginetta di ricordo della prima Messa soltanto, eccetto il nome e le date, una parola, in greco: 'Eucharistomen', convinto che, con questa parola, nelle sue tante dimensioni, e gia detto tutto quanto si possa dire in questo momento. 'Eucharistomen': un grazie umano, grazie a tutti. Grazie soprattutto a Lei, Santo Padre! La Sua bonta, dal primo momento dellelezione, in ogni momento della mia vita qui, mi colpisce, mi porta realmente, interiormente. Piu che nei Giardini Vaticani, con la loro bellezza, la Sua bonta e il luogo dove abito: mi sento protetto. Grazie anche della parola di ringraziamento, di tutto. E speriamo che Lei potra andare avanti con noi tutti su questa via della Misericordia Divina, mostrando la strada di Gesu, verso Gesu, verso Dio. 'Eucharistomen' ci rimanda a quella realta di ringraziamento, a quella nuova dimensione che Cristo ha dato. Lui ha trasformato in ringraziamento, e cosi in benedizione, la croce, la sofferenza, tutto il male del mondo. E cosi, fondamentalmente, ha traslato la vita e il mondo e ci ha dato e ci da ogni giorno il Pane della vera vita, che supera il mondo grazie alla forza del Suo amore. Alla fine, vogliamo inserirci in questo 'grazie' del Signore, e cosi ricevere realmente la novita della vita e aiutare per la transustanziazione del mondo: che sia un mondo non di morte, ma di vita; un mondo nel quale lamore ha vinto la morte. Grazie a tutti voi. Il Signore ci benedica tutti. Grazie, Santo Padre.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) is a big-box retailer and a wholesale warehouse club operating roughly 800 locations in North America, Asia, and Europe. It also has a major e-commerce operation. The company's warehouses offer low prices on a limited selection of both name brand and private label products, typically offered in bulk volumes.

Customers purchase memberships to access the warehouses and make purchases. Costco aims to offer lower prices than competitors by purchasing merchandise directly from manufacturers, limiting store hours of operation, and minimizing labor by storing merchandise on large racks above a vast, self-service warehouse sales floor.

Costco's core merchandise offerings include: foods and sundries, such as dry grocery, candy, freezer, deli, liquor, and more; non-foods, including major appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, automotive care, housewares, jewelry, and more; and fresh foods, such as meat, produce, service deli, and bakery. Costco also offers warehouse ancillary products and services, including gasoline, pharmacy, tire installation, and more.

The discount retailer also generates revenue through its e-commerce business and through membership fees. Costco's main competitors include discount stores such as Target Corp. (TGT) and Walmart Inc. (WMT), as well as big-box rivals like BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. (BJ). The company also competes with e-commerce retailers like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).

Key Takeaways Costco is a wholesale retailer selling discounted goods through membership warehouses and online.

Foods and sundries account for the largest share of revenue among all of Costco's merchandise categories.

The company's biggest market is in the United States.

Walmart plans to raise its starting wage for store workers to $17.50 in March 2022.

Costco's Financials

Costco announced in early March financial results for Q2 of its 2022 fiscal year (FY), the three-month period ended Feb. 13, 2022. Net income attributable to the company's shareholders rose 36.6% compared to the year-ago quarter. Revenue grew 15.9% year over year (YOY) to $51.9 billion. Operating income, which the company uses as a profitability metric for its individual business segments, increased 35.2% YOY to $1.8 billion.

The merchandise category that made the biggest contribution to Costco's revenue during its fiscal second quarter was foods and sundries, comprising nearly 38% of total revenue. Non-foods accounted for 29% of total revenue while fresh foods made up 13% of the total and the company's ancillary and other businesses comprised 18%. Membership fees accounted for about 2% of Costco's revenue.

In its quarterly filings for Q2 FY 2022, Costco noted that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on its business. However, it added that the impact was weakening. The company continued to face ongoing supply and logistics constraints, which continue to adversely impact certain merchandise categories.

Costco's Business Segments

Costco divides its business into three reportable segments: United States Operations, Canadian Operations, and Other International Operations. The company provides a breakdown of both revenue and operating income for these three segments.

United States Operations

The bulk of Costco's business comes from its operations in the United States, making this the largest of the company's three reportable segments. For Q2 FY 2022, United States Operations reported roughly $37.6 billion in total revenue, a 16.9% YOY increase. In the same time period, the segment reported $1.2 billion in operating income, a 42.7% YOY increase. In Q2 FY 2022, United States Operations represented 72% of Costco's total revenue and 65% of total operating income.

Canadian Operations

Though significantly smaller than its U.S. operations, Costco still does considerable business through its Canadian Operations segment. This segment reported about $7.0 billion in total revenue for Q2 FY 2022, representing a 16.9% YOY increase. Canadian Operations also posted operating income for the quarter of $301 million, a 33.2% YOY increase. For this quarter, Canadian Operations represented 14% of Costco's total revenue and 17% of the company's operating income.

Other International Operations

Besides the U.S. and Canada, Costco operates membership warehouses in Mexico, the U.K., Japan, Korea, Spain, Australia, France, China, and Iceland. It also operates in Taiwan through a majority-owned subsidiary. This group of countries is represented in the Other International Operations segment. For Q2 FY 2022, Other International Operations generated total revenue of about $7.3 billion, a 10.2% YOY increase. Other International Operations also posted Q2 FY 2022 operating income of $332 million, a 15.3% YOY increase. The segment comprises 14% of revenue and 18% of operating income.

Costco's Recent Developments

In late February 2022, it was reported that Costco was planning to raise its starting hourly wage for store workers to $17.50 in March. For other employees, such as supply chain employees, the starting wage could be as high as $28.50. A number of other large retailers in the U.S. are also raising wages amid strong sales and profit growth.


Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. Forbes puts the number of billionaires in the world at 2,668 in 2022. The wealthiest among them belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many of these billionaires are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.

They can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.

With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the richest can fluctuate with market valuations. For example, Elon Musk, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tesla (TSLA) and the richest person in the world, saw his net worth surge in 2021 thanks to the increase in the share price of Tesla Tesla shares rose nearly 50% in 2021. He currently owns 16% of the company. His net worth as of September 2022 was $241 billion.

In contrast, Meta Platforms (META) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg fell out of the top 10 in February 2022, when the company's share price plunged after a disappointing earnings report. Zuckerberg's net worth was reported to be $59.7 billion in September 2022.

Below are the 10 wealthiest people on the planet as of the same date, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All figures are current as of Oct. 4, 2022, unless otherwise stated.

Key Takeaways Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $241 billion.

Behind Musk is the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, with an estimated net worth of $151 billion.

Billionaires with the largest increases in their wealth in 2021 included Musk, LVMH Chair and CEO Bernard Arnault, and Google co-founder Larry Page.

Six of the top 10 billionaires made their fortunes in technology, with Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, and Reliance Industry's Mukesh Ambani being the exceptions.

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg dropped off the top 10 list in February 2022.

1. Elon Musk

Age: 51

51 Residence: Texas

Texas Co-founder and CEO: Tesla

Tesla Net Worth: $228 billion

$228 billion Tesla Ownership Stake: 15% ($99.3 billion)

15% ($99.3 billion) Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($46.9 billion private asset), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset), Twitter ($3.8 billion public asset), $17.8 billion in cash

Elon Musk was born in South Africa and attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor's degrees in physics and economics. Two days after enrolling in a graduate physics program at Stanford University, Musk deferred attendance to launch Zip2, one of the earliest online navigation services. He reinvested a portion of the proceeds from this startup to create X.com, the online payment system that was sold to eBay (EBAY) and ultimately became PayPal Holdings (PYPL).

In 2004, Musk became a major funder of Tesla Motors (now Tesla), which led to his current position as CEO of the electric vehicle company. In addition to its line of electric automobiles, Tesla produces energy storage devices, automobile accessories, and, through its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, solar power systems. Musk is also CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a developer of space launch rockets.



In 2020, Tesla shares soared 740% to propel Musk up the wealth rankings. In December 2020, Tesla joined the S&P 500, becoming the largest company added. In January 2021, Musk became the richest person in the worlda title he's held since then.



Image courtesy Getty Images/Saul Martinez.

In a Nov. 6, 2021 tweet, Musk asked his Twitter (TWTR) audience whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, framing the issue as a response to criticism of unrealized capital gains as a means of avoiding taxes. He proceeded to sell shares worth $16.4 billion over the remainder of 2021.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, cited a media report that Musk paid no income tax for 2018 to argue for the adoption of a wealth tax. "And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year," Musk responded on Twitter.



Thanks to the surge in Tesla shares in 2021 and private transactions boosting the reported valuation of SpaceX, Musk's lead in the global wealth rankings has continued to grow. His net worth hit a high of $340 billion in November 2021.

In April 2022, Musk began a campaign to take Twitter private, which culminated in a $44 billion buyout. Musk planned to fund the deal with $21 billion of his own capital. In the run-up to the buyout announcement, Musk sold 9.6 million shares of Tesla, valued at roughly $8.5 billion.

In July 2022, Musk decided to back out of the Twitter buyout. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the buyout to go through. Musk countersued the company but then reversed course and, in October 2022, declared he was willing to buy Twitter after all.

2. Jeff Bezos

Age: 58

58 Residence: Washington

Washington Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon (AMZN) Net Worth: $144 billion

$144 billion Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($121 billion)

10% ($121 billion) Other Assets: Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million private asset), and $14.1 billion in cash

In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. He had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstore to his former boss David E. Shaw, who wasnt interested.

Though Amazon originally started out selling books, it has since morphed into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun and is expected to overtake Walmart as the worlds largest retailer by 2024. Amazon's pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of its unexpected expansions, which include acquiring Whole Foods in 2017 and entering the pharmacy business the same year.

Bezos owned as much as 16% of Amazon in 2019 before transferring 4% to his former wife MacKenzie Scott as part of their divorce proceedings. In 2020, Amazons share price jumped 76% on the heightened demand for online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce giant, becoming its executive chair.

Image courtesy Getty Images/Alex Wong.

Bezos originally took Amazon public in 1997 and went on to become the first man since Bill Gates in 1999 to achieve a net worth of more than $100 billion. Bezos other projects include aerospace company Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he purchased in 2013), and the 10,000-year clockalso known as the Long Now.

On July 20, 2021, Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen completed Blue Origin's first successful crewed flight, reaching an altitude of more than 66 miles before landing safely. Bezos' wealth peaked at $211 billion in the same month.

3. Bernard Arnault

Age: 73

73 Residence: Paris

Paris CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)

LVMH (LVMUY) Net Worth: $141 billion

$141 billion Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($111 billion total)

97.5% ($111 billion total) Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($21.3 billion public asset), Hermes equity (undisclosed stake), and $8.9 billion in cash

French national Bernard Arnault is the chair and CEO of LVMH, the worlds largest luxury goods company. LVMH brands include Louis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.

Most of Arnault's wealth comes from his massive stake in Christian Dior SE, the holding company that controls 41.2% of LVMH. His shares in Christian Dior SE, plus an additional 6.2% in LVMH, are held through his family-owned holding company, Groupe Familial Arnault.

An engineer by training, Arnault first showed his business acumen while working for his fathers construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, taking charge of the company in 1971. He converted Ferret-Savinel to a real estate company named Ferinel Inc. in 1979.



Image courtesy Getty/Christophe Morin.

Arnault remained Ferinel's chair for another six years, until he acquired and reorganized luxury goods maker Financiere Agache in 1984, eventually selling all its holdings other than Christian Dior and Le Bon Marche. He was invited to invest in LVMH in 1987 and became the majority shareholder, chair of the board, and CEO of the company two years later.

4. Gautam Adani

Age: 60

60 Residence: Gurgaon, India

Gurgaon, India Founder and Chair: Adani Group

Adani Group Net Worth: $125 billion

$125 billion Adani Enterprises, Power. and Transmissions Ownership Stakes: 75% each ($72.4 billion)

75% each ($72.4 billion) Other Assets: 65% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone ($12.2 billion public asset), 61% of Adani Green Energy ($24.5 billion public asset), 37% of Adani Total Gas ($16.2 billion public asset)

Gautam Adani, the founder of Adani Group, surpassed Mukesh Ambani in March 2022 as the richest person in Asia. Adani, via his ownership of Adani Group, owns major stakes in six key Indian companies, including a 75% stake in Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions, as well as a 65% stake in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, 61% stake in Adani Green Energy, and 37% stake in Adani Total Gas.

The combined market capitalization of companies owned by the Adani Group is $238.4 billion (as of Sept. 6, 2022). Adani entered the power generation market in 2009 with Adani Power. Adani created Adani Enterprises in 1988 to import and export commodities. In 1994, his company was granted approval to develop a harbor facility at Mundra Port, which is now the largest private port in India.

Adani dropped out of college and previously worked in the diamond trade. Now, Adani has the largest port operator, closely-held thermal coal producer, and coal trader in India. In 2020, he purchased a 74% stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, India's second-busiest airport.

The billionaire was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1997. Adani was also in Mumbais Taj hotel during the 2008 terrorist attack.



5. Bill Gates

Age: 66

66 Residence: Washington

Washington Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft (MSFT) Net Worth: $111 billion

$111 billion Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.3% ($25.6 billion)

1.3% ($25.6 billion) Other Assets: Cascade Investment LLC ($51.8 billion public assets), $52.4 billion in cash



While attending Harvard University in 1975, Bill Gates went to work alongside his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop new software for the original microcomputers. Following this projects success, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year and founded Microsoft with Allen.

The largest software company in the world, Microsoft also produces a line of personal computers, provides email services through its Exchange server, and sells video game systems and associated game devices. It has recently invested heavily in cloud services.

Gates shifted from the company's CEO to the role of board chair in 2008. He joined Berkshire Hathaways board in 2004. He stepped down from both boards on March 13, 2020.

Bill Gates has much of his net worth in Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is a privately-held investment vehicle that owns a variety of stocks including Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private investments in real estate and energy.

Image courtesy Getty Images/Jack Taylor.

In 2000, Gates' two philanthropic organizationsthe William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundationmerged to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, still co-chaired by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates. Through the foundation, they have spent billions to fight polio and malaria. The foundation pledged $50 million in 2014 to help fight Ebola. As of 2021, the foundation had spent more than $1.9 billion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2010, alongside Warren Buffett, Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, a campaign encouraging the wealthy to commit to donating most of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Bill and Melinda French Gates divorced on Aug. 2, 2021. With the divorce, roughly $5 billion in equities was transferred to French Gates.

Bill Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the U.S. with over 268,000 acres.

6. Warren Buffett

Age: 92

92 Residence: Nebraska

Nebraska CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Net Worth: $98.2 billion

$98.2 billion Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 16% ($97.1 billion)

16% ($97.1 billion) Other Assets: $1.03 billion in cash

The most famous living value investor, Warren Buffett filed his first tax return in 1944 at age 14, declaring earnings from his boyhood paper route. He first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, becoming the majority shareholder by 1965. Buffett expanded the company's holdings to insurance and other investments in 1967.

Berkshire Hathaway is now a $705 billion-dollar market cap company, with a single share of stock (Class A shares) trading at more than $439,000 as of Aug. 5, 2022.

Widely known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett is a buy-and-hold investor who built his fortune by acquiring undervalued companies. More recently, Berkshire Hathaway has invested in large, well-known companies. Its portfolio of wholly owned subsidiaries includes interests in insurance, energy distribution, and railroads as well as consumer products.

Buffett is a notable Bitcoin skeptic.

Image courtesy Getty Images/Alex Wong.

Buffett has dedicated much of his wealth to philanthropy. Between 2006 and 2020, he gave away $41 billionmostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his childrens charities. Buffett launched the Giving Pledge alongside Bill Gates in 2010.

Now 92 years old, Buffett still serves as CEO, but in 2021 he hinted that his successor might be Gregory Abel, head of Berkshires non-insurance operations.

7. Larry Page

Age: 49

49 Residence: California

California Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)

Alphabet (GOOG) Net Worth: $93.6 billion

$93.6 billion Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($79.5 billion total)

6% ($79.5 billion total) Other Assets: $14.1 billion in cash

Like several of the tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page embarked on his path to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. While attending Stanford University in 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with the idea of improving internet data extraction. The duo devised a new search engine technology they dubbed Backrub after its ability to assess links to a page.

From there, Page and Brin went on to found Google in 1998, with Page serving as CEO of the company until 2001, and again between 2011 and 2019.

Google is the world's dominant internet search engine, accounting for more than 92% of global search requests. In 2006, the company purchased YouTube, the top platform for user-submitted videos.

After acquiring Android in 2005, Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008. Google reorganized in 2015, becoming a subsidiary of Alphabet, a holding company.



Image courtesy Getty Images/Justin Sullivan.

Page was among early investors in Planetary Resources, a space exploration and asteroid-mining company. Established in 2009, the company was acquired by blockchain firm ConsenSys in 2018 amid funding problems. He has also shown an interest in flying car companies, investing in both Kitty Hawk and Opener.

Shares of Google soared almost 50% in 2021, moving Page and Brin up the billionaire list. Page's net worth went from just below $52 billion in March 2020 to the current $98.7 billion.



8. Sergey Brin

Age: 49

49 Residence: California

California Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)

Alphabet (GOOG) Net Worth: $89.6 billion

$89.6 billion Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($75.4 billion total)

6% ($75.4 billion total) Other Assets: $14.2 billion in cash

Sergey Brin was born in Moscow, Russia, moving to the U.S. with his family when he was six in 1979. After co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998, Brin became Google's president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. He held the same post at the Alphabet holding company after it was established in 2015, stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.

In addition to its dominant internet search engine, Google offers a suite of online tools and services known as Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more. Google also offers a variety of electronic devices, including Pixel smartphones, computers, and tablets, Nest smart home devices, and Stadia gaming platform.



Image courtesy Getty Images/Tim Mosenfelder.

Brin spent much of 2019 focusing on X, Alphabets research laboratory responsible for innovative technologies like Waymo self-driving cars and Google Glass smart glasses.

He has donated millions of dollars to Parkinsons disease research, partnering with The Michael J. Fox Foundation.



9. Steve Ballmer

Age: 66

66 Residence: Washington

Washington Owner: Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Clippers Net Worth: $88.4 billion

$88.4 billion Microsoft Ownership Stake: 4% ($79.4 billion total)

4% ($79.4 billion total) Other Assets: Los Angeles Clippers ($3.16 billion private asset), $5.8 billion in cash

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 after Bill Gates convinced him to drop out of Stanford University's MBA program. He was Microsoft's 30th employee. Ballmer went on to succeed Gates as Microsoft CEO in 2000. He held the position until stepping down in 2014. Ballmer oversaw Microsoft's 2011 purchase of Skype for $8.5 billion.

Ballmer owns an estimated 4% of Microsoft, making him the software giant's largest individual shareholder. In 2014, shortly after stepping down as Microsoft CEO, Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion.

Image courtesy Getty Images/Steven Ferdman.

Ballmer lived in the same dorm and on the same floor as Bill Gates while the two attended Harvard University. The brotherly relationship between the two became strained when Ballmer started pushing the tech company into hardware, such as the Surface tablet and the Windows mobile phone, during his tenure as CEO.

10. Mukesh Ambani

Age: 65

65 Residence: Mumbai, India

Mumbai, India Owner: Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries Net Worth: $83.7 billion

$83.7 billion Reliance Ownership Stake: 42% ($84.2 billion total)

42% ($84.2 billion total) Other Assets: $410 million in real estate



Mukesh Ambani is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, the world's largest oil refiner and one of the world's most valuable companies.

The conglomerate was founded by Ambani's father, Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 as a textiles company and is now one of the leading segments of India's economy. Reliance's operations include oil and gas, petrochemicals, refining, retail, and media.

About half of Ambani's wealth is derived from his stake in Reliance, which amounts to 42% of the public company. He owns Antilia, a real estate complex in Mumbai that's worth $410 million. Ambani also owns the Mumbai Indians, a professional cricket team.

In 2016, Ambani launched a 4G phone network across India, netting more than 420 million subscribers, and is planning to launch 5G services.

The Bottom Line

If you want to get a little closer to making the richest billionaires rankings, you might need to become a technological innovator or luxury retail mastermind. Or you could keep it simple and focus on value investing.

It also wouldnt hurt to have been born to wealth. However, the greatest fortunes on this list started as good ideas that people with creativity, drive, and connections used to build some of the world's largest companies.
What Is Moore's Law?

Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years. The law claims that we can expect the speed and capability of our computers to increase every two years because of this, yet we will pay less for them. Another tenet of Moore's Law asserts that this growth is exponential. The law is attributed to Gordon Moore, the co-founder and former CEO of Intel.

Key Takeaways Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles about every two years, though the cost of computers is halved.

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel, made this observation that became known as Moore's Law.

Another tenet of Moore's Law says that the growth of microprocessors is exponential.

1:17 Watch Now: What Is Moore's Law?

Understanding Moore's Law

In 1965, Gordon E. Mooreco-founder of Intel (INTC)postulated that the number of transistors that can be packed into a given unit of space will double about every two years.

Gordon Moore did not call his observation "Moore's Law," nor did he set out to create a "law." Moore made that statement based on noticing emerging trends in chip manufacturing at Fairchild Semiconductor. Eventually, Moore's insight became a prediction, which in turn became the golden rule known as Moore's Law.

In the decades that followed Gordon Moore's original observation, Moore's Law guided the semiconductor industry in long-term planning and setting targets for research and development (R&D). Moore's Law has been a driving force of technological and social change, productivity, and economic growth that are hallmarks of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Moore's Law implies that computers, machines that run on computers, and computing power all become smaller, faster, and cheaper with time, as transistors on integrated circuits become more efficient.

Nearly 60 Years Old and Still Strong

More than 50 years later, we feel the lasting impact and benefits of Moore's Law in many ways.

Computing

As transistors in integrated circuits become more efficient, computers become smaller and faster. Chips and transistors are microscopic structures that contain carbon and silicon molecules, which are aligned perfectly to move electricity along the circuit faster. The faster a microchip processes electrical signals, the more efficient a computer becomes. The cost of higher-powered computers has been dropping annually, partly because of lower labor costs and reduced semiconductor prices.

Electronics

Practically every facet of a high-tech society benefits from Moore's Law in action. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and computer tablets would not work without tiny processors; neither would video games, spreadsheets, accurate weather forecasts, and global positioning systems (GPS).

All Sectors Benefit

Moreover, smaller and faster computers improve transportation, health care, education, and energy productionto name but a few of the industries that have progressed because of the increased power of computer chips.

Moore's Law's Impending End

Experts agree that computers should reach the physical limits of Moore's Law at some point in the 2020s. The high temperatures of transistors eventually would make it impossible to create smaller circuits. This is because cooling down the transistors takes more energy than the amount of energy that already passes through the transistors. In a 2005 interview, Moore himself admitted that "...the fact that materials are made of atoms is the fundamental limitation and it's not that far away...We're pushing up against some fairly fundamental limits so one of these days we're going to have to stop making things smaller."

Creating the Impossible?

The fact that Moore's Law may be approaching its natural death is perhaps most painfully present at the chip manufacturers themselves; as these companies are saddled with the task of building ever-more-powerful chips against the reality of physical odds. Even Intel is competing with itself and its industry to create what ultimately may not be possible.

In 2012, with its 22-nanometer (nm) processor, Intel was able to boast of having the world's smallest and most advanced transistors in a mass-produced product. In 2014, Intel launched an even smaller, more powerful 14nm chip; and today, the company is struggling to bring its 7nm chip to market.

For perspective, one nanometer is one billionth of a meter, smaller than the wavelength of visible light. The diameter of an atom ranges from about 0.1 to 0.5 nanometers.

Special Considerations

The vision of an endlessly empowered and interconnected future brings both challenges and benefits. Shrinking transistors have powered advances in computing for more than half a century, but soon engineers and scientists must find other ways to make computers more capable. Instead of physical processes, applications and software may help improve the speed and efficiency of computers. Cloud computing, wireless communication, the Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum physics all may play a role in the future of computer tech innovation.

Despite the growing concerns around privacy and security, the advantages of ever-smarter computing technology can help keep us healthier, safer, and more productive in the long run.



What Is Moore's Law? In 1965, Gordon Moore posited that roughly every two years, the number of transistors on microchips will double. Commonly referred to as Moores Law, this phenomenon suggests that computational progress will become significantly faster, smaller, and more efficient over time. Widely regarded as one of the hallmark theories of the 21st century, Moores Law carries significant implications for the future of technological progressalong with its possible limitations.

How Has Moores Law Impacted Computing? Moores Law has had a direct impact on the progress of computing power. What this means specifically, is that transistors in integrated circuits have become faster. Transistors conduct electricity, which contain carbon and silicon molecules that can make the electricity run faster across the circuit. The faster the integrated circuit conducts electricity, the faster the computer operates.
The General Electric Co. (GE), is one of the oldest industrial conglomerates in the U.S. It was founded by Thomas Edison in 1892, under the name Edison General Electric Company. By 2000, it had become the nation's largest company, with a market capitalization of over $600 billion.

GE has been a leading innovator throughout its history. Starting with Edison's first commercially-viable incandescent lamp, the company's earliest products included light bulbs, an electric locomotive, X-ray machines, and an electric stove.

But GE produces more than just electrical machinery, and the company was once a major player in the world of banking, plastics, computers, and even television broadcasting. Today, GE's holdings span the sectors of power, renewable energy, aviation, and healthcare. The company has been winding down in recent years through spinoffs and divestments, and currently has plans to split into three separate public companies in the coming years.

Key Takeaways The General Electric Co. (GE) is one of the oldest and largest industrial conglomerates in the U.S. It was founded by Thomas Edison in 1892.

Originally a manufacturer of electrical equipment, GE later branched out into diverse areas such as aviation, computers, plastics, banking, and even television broadcasting.

GE Research has been responsible for major innovations such as the first American jet engine, the first commercial nuclear powerplant, and the first synthetic diamonds.

Over the past decades, GE has sold or spun off most of its subsidiaries, with four remaining segments: GE Power, GE Healthcare, GE Renewable Energy, and GE Aviation.

By 2025, GE plans to spin off its healthcare and energy businesses in order to focus on aviation.

In the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31, 2021, the company posted a net loss attributable to its common shareholders of $6.8 billion, or $3.25 per share, on revenue of $74.2 billion. The company's market cap was $88.9 billion, as of the close of trading on April 25, 2022.

Below, we look at five of GE's major business segments.



GE Healthcare

Revenue (FY 2021): $17.7 billion

Profit (FY 2021): $2.97 billion

GE has been a healthcare innovator almost since its founding. As early as 1896, the company was building electrical equipment for the production of X-ray machines.

Today, GE Healthcare comprises one of the company's primary business segments. The unit specializes in medical imaging, patient monitoring and diagnostics, drug discovery, and more. It operates in more than 160 countries and employs about 47,000 people worldwide.

GE plans to spin off its healthcare unit into a separate public company in early 2023 while still retaining a 19.9% stake. The newly-formed company will be focused on precision health, an approach to healthcare that accounts for patients' unique genetic, behavioral, and environmental characteristics.

GE Power

Revenue (FY 2021): $16.7 billion

Profit (FY 2021): $0.7 billion

Even before founding General Electric, Thomas Edison had already created the first electrical grid in 1882. His company played a pivotal role in developing the technology to generate and distribute energy. Over the following decades, GE continued to lead in energy innovation, introducing the first commercial nuclear reactor in 1957.

The company now offers gas and steam turbines that use fossil fuels or nuclear power to produce electricity.

GE is also an old hand in the entertainment business. In 1926, one of GE's subsidiaries launched the National Broadcasting Corporation, better known today as NBC.

GE Renewable Energy

Revenue (FY 2021):$15.7 billion.

Profit (FY 2021): -795 million.

In addition to GE Power, the company has also branched out into alternative forms of energy. GE Renewable Energy is a major GE business segment, with over 400 gigawatts of installed capacity worldwide. GE is now the world's fourth-largest producer of wind turbines, and the company's generators produce more than a quarter of the world's hydroelectricity.

In the future, the company plans to combine GE Power, GE Renewable Energy, and its GE Digital business, which provides software that helps companies to analyze and optimize their operations. These three businesses will become a single business and will be spun off into a separate public company in early 2024.

GE Aviation

Revenue (FY 2021): $21.3 billion

Profit (FY 2021): $2.9 billion

GE has been a leader in developing aviation technology. The company built the first U.S. jet engine, the I-A, in 1941. In 1949, GE developed the J47, which would become the most-produced jet engine in history.

Today, GE Aviation designs and manufactures commercial and military aircraft engines, engine components, and electric power and mechanical aircraft systems. The unit also offers aftermarket services to support its products. GE will be a single aviation-focused company following the spinoffs of GE's other businesses in 2023 and 2024.

GE Capital suffered heavily in the 2008 Great Recession, due to its overexposure to commercial real estate and subprime lending. These losses prompted the company to shed most of its financial operations.

GE Capital

GE was once a major player in the banking and insurance industries, with half a trillion of total assets and over 35,000 employees worldwide in 2012. In fact, Money Magazine applauded GE Capital Bank for having the best savings account in the U.S. in 2013.

Starting in 2015, the company began to sell off most of its banking and finance arms. Over the following two years, Other parts were folded into other GE's other business arms, like health care or aviation.

However, there are still a few remnants of GE's financial empire, including GE Energy Services and GE Credit Union. However, revenues from GE Capital are no longer tallied as a separate business segment and are now reported under "Corporate."



What Companies Does General Electric Own? As of 2022, General Electric's operations are divided into four business segments: GE Power, GE Renewable Energy, GE Healthcare, and GE Aviation. The company plans to separate them into three distinct companies by 2025.

What Has GE Sold Off? Following the 2008 financial crisis, GE was forced to sell off many of its peripheral businesses to other companies. GE Plastics was sold to Saudi Arabia in 2007; GE Transportation was sold to Wabtec; GE Appliances was sold to Haier, and most of the company's financial operations were sold to Wells Fargo and other banks. The company also sold its last stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast in 2014.

Is General Electric Owned By China? No. In 2016 General Electric sold GE Appliances to Haier Group, a Chinese conglomerate based in Qingdao. This sale was misreported on social media platforms as a direct purchase of GE by China.

Does GE Still Own GE Capital? Although GE still owns the GE Capital name, it has sold most of its banking and finance operations to other companies. CEO Jeff Immelt announced in 2015 that the company would sell $200 billion of GE Capital's assets, except for those parts used to fund the core operations of aviation, energy, and healthcare. As of 2022, GE Energy Finance is the only division left of GE Capital.

The Bottom Line

General Electric was once the largest conglomerate in the United States, and the name GE is still nearly synonymous with American entrepreneurship and ingenuity. However, the company has shrunk in recent decades, as company leaders have spun off or sold many of the company's subsidiaries. Under current plans, GE will become solely focused on the aviation industry following the spinoff of the company's healthcare and energy divisions.
Which of John Hancock's funds are the top ones for retirement? Saving for retirement comes with many decisions to make, which can be overwhelming, especially if you are trying to ensure you have the right asset allocation and a diversified portfolio. There are thousands of investment options from which to choose.

Like many large investment firms, John Hancock, a unit of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, has funds that provide broad exposure to all the asset classes you should include in a retirement portfolio. The right mix of funds depends on your risk tolerance, your number of years to retirement, and your overall financial picture. The following funds offered by John Hancock are among the top choices in different asset classes to consider for your retirement portfolio.

Key Takeaways Large asset managers, like John Hancock, provide a variety of options that make it possible to have a balanced, diversified retirement portfolio with only a handful of mutual funds.

Choosing which funds best fit your retirement portfolio depends on your risk tolerance and time horizon.

Fund fees have an impact on returns so dont forget to factor them in.

Don't Overlook Fees

Before we get into the funds, first lets talk about fees. John Hancock, like all asset managers, operates its funds with different share classes. Each comes with a different fee structure.

Some of the classes have front-end loads; others have deferred loads or no loads at all.

All of the funds mentioned below are actively managed. If you decide to invest in one, remember to double-check which mutual fund share class you are investing in. Fees can have a big impact on returns.

Actively-managed funds typically have higher expenses than index funds, which are passively managed.

Types of Funds

U.S. Stocks

When investing in U.S. stocks you want to ensure that you are getting broad diversification across large, medium, and small-capitalization companies. In order to do this with John Hancock, you should consider the following funds.

The Fundamental Large Cap Core Fund (TAGRX) invests mainly in large-cap, growth and value companies. The Disciplined Value Mid-Cap (JVMAX) will provide exposure to mid-cap stocks, and the Small Cap Value Fund (JSCAX) to small-cap stocks. (All these funds have Class A shares.)

International Stocks

For international exposure, you can buy shares in the Disciplined Value International Fund (JDIBX), which invests primarily in large companies in developed countries. If you prefer to also add emerging markets to your portfolio, consider the Emerging Markets Equity Fund (JEMQX). (All these funds have Class A shares.)

Bonds

John Hancock has a good multi-sector bond fund that will give your portfolio exposure to government and corporate bonds in developed and emerging markets. This fund is the John Hancock Income Fund (JHFIX) and is designed, like its name implies, to produce ongoing income for investors. This fund is also Class A.

Asset Allocation

If you prefer just one fund for both bonds and stocks, you can consider one of John Hancock's asset allocation funds. The John Hancock Balanced Fund Class R4 (JBAFX) has a breakdown of about 60% stocks and 40% bonds and cash.

The Bottom Line

By exploring the options of a company like John Hancock, you can easily save for retirement without having to manage a large number of funds and still achieve diversification and the right asset allocation. Just remember to make sure you invest in the right share class for your needs.
Paul Lear, the site's manager, said Fort Ontario is a "symbol of endurance, hope and inspiration in a complex, rapidly changing technological world."

"On behalf of Fort Ontario supporters everywhere, and for those not yet aware of its significant role in world history, we are grateful to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for her efforts to recognize the service and sacrifice of our nation's military and families at the old army post from the French and Indian War to the War on Terrorism, and its unique role as the only emergency refugee shelter in the United States for mostly Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II," Lear said.

The House version of the bill was introduced in December by U.S. Rep. John Katko . U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna is a cosponsor of the measure.

Hanna, R-Barnveld, and Katko, R-Camillus, each represent portions of Oswego County.
Although they are considered risky investments, high-yield bondscommonly known as junk bondsmay not deserve the negative reputation that still clings to them. In fact, the addition of these high-risk bonds to a portfolio can actually reduce overall portfolio risk when considered within the classic framework of diversification and asset allocation.

Let's look more closely at what high-yield bonds are, what makes them risky, and why you may want to incorporate them into your investing strategy. High-yield bonds are available to investors as individual issues, through high-yield mutual funds, and as junk bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

KEY TAKEAWAYS High-yield bonds offer higher long-term returns than investment-grade bonds, better bankruptcy protections than stocks, and portfolio diversification benefits.

Unfortunately, the high-profile fall of "Junk Bond King" Michael Milken damaged the reputation of high-yield bonds as an asset class.

High-yield bonds face higher default rates and more volatility than investment-grade bonds, and they have more interest rate risk than stocks.

Emerging market debt and convertible bonds are the main alternatives to high-yield bonds in the high-risk debt category.

For the average investor, high-yield mutual funds and ETFs are the best ways to invest in junk bonds.

Understanding High-Yield Bonds

Generally, a high-yield bond is defined as a debt obligation with a bond rating of Ba or lower according to Moody's or BB or lower on the Standard & Poor's scale. In addition to being popularly known as junk bonds, they are also referred to as "below investment-grade." Low ratings mean that the company's financial situation is shaky. So, the possibility that the firm could miss making interest payments or default is higher than those of investment-grade bond issuers.

A bond classification below investment-grade does not necessarily mean that a company is mismanaged or engaged in fraud. Many fundamentally sound firms run into financial difficulties at various stages. One poor year for profits or a tragic chain of events can cause a company's debt obligations to be downgraded. Some of the top companies in the S&P 500 have suffered the indignity of having their bonds downgraded to "junk" status. For example, in 2019, Moody's downgraded the debt issued by automotive icon Ford to below investment-grade.

The opposite can also happen. The bonds issued by a young or newly public company may be low-rated because the firm does not yet have a long track record or financial results to evaluate.

Whatever the reason, being considered less creditworthy means borrowing money is more expensive for these companies. They have to pay more interest on their debt, the same way individuals with low credit scores often pay a higher APR on their credit cards. Therefore, they are called high-yield bonds. They offer higher interest rates because of the additional risks. 

Advantages of High-Yield Bonds

Higher Returns

As a result of the increased interest rates, high-yield investments have generally produced better returns than investment-grade bonds. High-yield bonds also have higher returns than CDs and government bonds in the long run. If you are looking to get a higher yield within your fixed-income portfolio, keep that in mind. The number one advantage of high-yield bonds is income.

Bankruptcy Protections

Many investors are unaware of the fact that debt securities have an advantage over equity investments if a company goes bankrupt. Should this happen, bondholders would be paid first during the liquidation process, followed by preferred stockholders, and lastly, common stockholders. This added safety can prove valuable in protecting your portfolio from significant losses, reducing the damage from defaults.

Diversification

The performance of high-yield bonds does not correlate exactly with either investment-grade bonds or stocks. Because their yields are higher than investment-grade bonds, they're less vulnerable to interest rate shifts. This is especially true at lower levels of credit quality, and high-yield bonds are similar to stocks in relying on the strength of the economy. Because of this low correlation, adding high-yield bonds to your portfolio can be an excellent way to reduce overall portfolio risk.

High-yield bonds can act as a counterweight to assets that are more sensitive to interest-rate movements or overall stock market trends. For example, high-yield bonds as a group lost far less than stocks during the financial crisis in 2008. They also rose in price as long-term Treasury bonds fell in 2009, and high-yield bond funds generally outperformed stocks during that market rebound.

The Bad Reputation of High-Yield Bonds

If they have so many pluses, why are high-yield bonds derided as junk? Unfortunately, the high-profile fall of "Junk Bond King" Michael Milken damaged the reputation of high-yield bonds as an asset class.

During the 1980s, Michael Milkenthen an executive at investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.gained notoriety for his work on Wall Street. He greatly expanded the use of high-yield debt in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which in turn fueled the leveraged buyout boom. Milken made millions of dollars for himself and his Wall Street firm by specializing in bonds issued by fallen angels. Fallen angels are once-sound companies that experienced financial difficulties that caused their credit ratings to fall.

In 1989, Rudolph Giuliani charged Milken under the RICO Act with 98 counts of racketeering and fraud. After a plea bargain, he served 22 months in prison and paid over $600 million in fines and civil settlements.

Today, many on Wall Street will attest that the negative perception of junk bonds persists because of the questionable practices of Milken and other high-flying financiers like him.

Risks of High-Yield Bonds

Default Risk

High-yield investments also have their disadvantages, and investors must consider higher volatility and the risk of default at the top of the list. According to Fitch Ratings, high-yield bond defaults in the U.S. fell to 1.8% in 2017. However, the rising level of corporate indebtedness around the world troubles many analysts and economists. High-yield default rates in the U.S. reached 14% during the last recession in 2009, and they are very likely to rise again during the next downturn.

You should be aware that default rates for high-yield mutual funds are easily manipulated by managers. They have the flexibility to dump bonds before defaults and replace them with new bonds.

How can you more accurately estimate the default rate of a high-yield fund? You could look at what has happened to the fund's total return during past downturns. If the fund's turnover is extremely high (over 200%), this may be an indication that near-default bonds are being replaced frequently. You could also look at the fund's average credit quality as an indicator. This can show you if the majority of the bonds being held are just below investment-grade quality at BB or B on the Standard & Poor's scale. If the average is CCC or CC, then the fund is highly speculative because D indicates default.

You should be aware that default rates for high-yield mutual funds are easily manipulated by managers.

Interest Rate Risk

Another pitfall of high-yield investing is that a weak economy and rising interest rates can worsen yields. If you've ever invested in bonds in the past, you're probably familiar with the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates. As interest rates go up, bond prices will go down. Though they are less sensitive to short-term rates, junk bonds closely follow long-term interest rates. After a long period of stability that kept investors' principal investments intact, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates repeatedly in 2017 and 2018. However, the Fed reversed course and cut rates in 2019, leading to gains across the bond market.

During a bull market run, you might find that high-yield investments produce inferior returns when compared to equity investments. Fund managers may react to this slow bond market by turning over the portfolio. That will lead to higher turnover percentages and add additional fund expenses that are ultimately paid by you, the end investor.

In times when the economy is healthy, many managers believe that it would take a recession to plunge high-yield bonds into disarray. However, investors must still consider other risks, such as the weakening of foreign economies, changes in currency rates, and various political risks.

Alternatives to High-Yield Bonds

Emerging Market Debt

If you're looking for some significant yield premiums, domestic junk bonds aren't the only asset in the financial sea. Emerging market debt securities may be a beneficial addition to your portfolio. Typically, these securities are cheaper than their U.S. counterparts in part because they have much smaller domestic markets individually. As a group, they account for a significant portion of global high-yield markets.

Convertible Bonds

Some fund managers like to include convertible bonds of companies whose stock price has declined so much that the conversion option is practically worthless. These investments are commonly known as busted convertibles and are purchased at a discount since the market price of the common stock associated with the convertible has fallen sharply.

Other Alternatives

Many fund managers are given the flexibility to include certain other assets to help diversify their investments even further. High-dividend-yield common stocks and preferred shares are comparable to high-yield bonds because they generate substantial income. Certain warrants also have some of the speculative characteristics of junk bonds. Another possibility is leveraged bank loans. These are essentially loans that have a higher rate of interest to reflect the higher risk posed by the borrower.

The Bottom Line

For the average investor, high-yield mutual funds and ETFs are the best ways to invest in junk bonds. These funds offer a pool of low-rated debt obligations, and the diversification reduces the risk of investing in financially struggling companies.

Before you invest in high-yield bonds or other high-yield securities, you should be aware of the risks involved. After doing your research, you may want to add them to your portfolio if you feel these investments suit your situation. The potential to provide higher income and reduce overall portfolio volatility are both good reasons to consider high-yield investments.
Learn how much you need to retire comfortably, and how to prepare for the "unexpected." Plan for everything from living expenses, to healthcare, to planning that trip you've always wanted to take.

Letter from The Editor

Our relationship with money has changed.



The pandemic accelerated a lot of those changes, but many of the forces were already set in motion over a decade ago. Investing apps and platforms, zero-commission trading, a historic bull market for stocks coming out of the Great Financial Crisis followed by record-breaking inflation, the emergence of cryptocurrencies, and the evolution of financial planning are just some of the forces that have reshaped the way we think, use, plan, save, and invest our money.

Our notions about retirement have changed, as well.

Younger generations are less likely to work at the same company their entire careers, collect a pension, and ease their way out of the workforce at the age of 65. We are living longer, and we need to be able to afford the lives we want to live when we stop working. For most people, retirement is not their end of work, but the end of being able to depend on a regular paycheck with benefits and a 401(k) match, if we were lucky enough to get one.

While over half of working adults in the U.S. are invested in the stock market, the average 401(k) balance for baby boomers and Generation X is only around $161,000 according to Fidelity. With the cost of living rising higher every year, and questions about the staying power of Social Security, the numbers just don't add up for most people nearing retirement.

There is no magic bullet solution to these problems. There are, however, some fundamental practices and approaches that younger adults and those approaching retirement, can focus on:

Financial awareness: Do you really know what it costs to be you?

Investing appropriately for your age: Are you too risky, or not risky enough, or well-balanced?

Balanced portfolio: Is the 60/40 portfolio still the answer, given the shake-out in the stock market?

Saving and budgeting in a world of rising prices: Inflation is not a bug in the systemit's a feature that we need to accept and incorporate into our personal budgets.

Planning and caring for yourself or family members: The cost of care keeps rising, but few are prepared for those bills when they come due.

Estate planning: If you can and want to pass along your savings to charity or the next generation, are your affairs in order?

Investopedia's special issue on retirement is our first foray into magazine publishing. We are honored to have been a go-to resource for millions of readers for the past 23 years, but we, like you, realize that the game has changed in retirement planning and investing. Therefore, we have dedicated those pages to laying out those changes and offering solutions that can help you change with the times.

Pick up your copy at your nearest retailer or buy now online. We hope you enjoy the issue and learn from it. The first step in financial awareness is to educate yourself, so let those pages help you get on the right path.


What Is a Bearer Share?

A bearer share is equity security wholly owned by the person or entity that holds the physical stock certificate, thus the name "bearer" share. The issuing firm neither registers the owner of the stock nor tracks transfers of ownership; the company disperses dividends to bearer shares when a physical coupon is presented to the firm. Because the share is not registered to any authority, transferring the ownership of the stock involves only delivering the physical document.

Key Takeaways Bearer shares are unregistered equity securities owned by the possessor of the physical share documents. The issuing company pays out dividends to owners of the physical coupons.

While bearer shares were often used internationally in Europe, South America, and other regions, many large corporations no longer use them and have transitioned to using registered shares.

The use of bearer shares has dwindled worldwide because they incur increased costs and are convenient instruments to secure funding for terrorism and other criminal activities.

How a Bearer Share Works

Bearer shares lack the regulation and control of common shares because ownership is never recorded. Bearer shares are similar to bearer bonds, which are fixed-income securities belonging to the holders of physical certificates rather than registered owners.

Bearer shares are often international securities, common in Europe and South America  although the use of bearer shares in these nations has dwindled as governments crackdown on anonymity-related illegal activity. While some jurisdictions, such as Panama, allow the use of bearer shares, they impose punitive tax withholdings on dividends issued to owners to discourage their use. The Marshall Islands is the only country in the world where the shares can be used without problems or extra costs.

Many large foreign corporations over the past decade or so have also chosen to transition to full usage of registered shares. Germany-based pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG, for example, started to convert all its bearer shares to registered shares in 2009, and in 2015, the United Kingdom abolished the issuance of bearer shares under the provisions of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.

Switzerland, a jurisdiction known for its emphasis on secrecy in banking transactions, has abolished bearer shares. In June 2019, the Federal Council of the Swiss government adopted a new Federal Act declaring the end of bearer shares, with the exception of publicly-listed companies and intermediated securities. All other existing bearer shares must be converted into registered shares.

In the United States, bearer shares are mostly an issue of state governance, and they are not traditionally endorsed in many jurisdictions' corporate laws. Delaware became the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of bearer shares in 2002.

Bearer shares appeal to some investors because of privacy, but the tradeoff is the increased costs associated with maintaining that privacy, including attorney fees and taxes.

Benefits of Using Bearer Shares

The only tangible benefit to be gained from using bearer shares is privacy. The highest degree of anonymity possible is maintained with respect to ownership in a corporation by a holder of bearer shares. Although the banks that handle the purchases know the contact information of the people purchasing the shares, in some jurisdictions, banks are under no legal obligation to disclose the identity of the purchaser. Banks may also receive dividend payments on behalf of the shareholder and provide ownership confirmation at shareholders' general meetings. Moreover, purchases can be made by a representative, such as a law firm, of the actual owner.

Bearer shares have some valid uses, despite their inherent detriments. Asset protection is the most common reason to use bearer shares because of the privacy they provide. For example, individuals who do not want to risk their assets being seized as part of a legal proceeding such as a divorce or a liability suit may resort to the use of bearer shares.

Disadvantages and Risks of Bearer Shares

The ownership of bearer shares often coincides with an increased cost incurred from hiring professional representation and advisors to maintain the anonymity that bearer shares provide. Unless the bearer shareholder is a financial and/or legal expert in these matters, avoiding the many legal and tax traps associated with bearer shares can be a difficult challenge.

Also, in a post-9/11 world in which the threat of terrorism looms heavily, part of the strategy to counter the threat is to cut off the sources of terrorist funding. Consequently, in a worldwide effort to deter terrorism funding, money laundering, and other illicit nefarious corporate activity, many jurisdictions have enacted new legislation that places very tight restrictions on the use of bearer shares or, has altogether abolished their use.

Bearer Shares Example

For example, the Panama Papers scandal extensively used bearer shares to conceal the true ownership of shares. The Panama Papers scandal was a leak of financial files that exposed a network of more than 200,000 tax havens involving high net worth individuals, public officials, and entities from 200 nations. It resulted in the reluctance of many banks and financial institutions to open accounts or have any associations with corporations or shareholders that deal with bearer shares. The choice of jurisdictions and financial institutions willing to deal with bearer shares has narrowed significantly.
Top News - Investor Idea

Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines

BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase.

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Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ: $MULN) Taps Former GM Executive John Schwegman as Chief Commercial Officer for Next Phase of EV Growth

BREA, Calif. - October 21, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today the hiring of John Schwegman as its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for Mullen's line of commercial vehicles.

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EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F)

Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space.

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Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses

NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore.

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French author Michel Houellebecq (pronounced Wellbeck) is becoming better-known in America. His novel "The Elementary Particles" (1998) achieved some notoriety with its portrayal of a society in an advanced stage of social breakdown. His writing has been criticized as overly graphic, but I think the author is simply holding up a mirror to society. A college course on the modern French novel today would probably start with 19th century novelist Honore de Balzac and finish with Houellebecq.

Houellebecqs latest novel, "Submission" ("Soumission" in French) is set in 2022. The far right party, the National Front headed by Marine Le Pen, is growing stronger and threatens to win the presidency in the coming election. The country teeters on the verge of civil war. Rescue comes in the form of a moderate Muslim politician, Mohammed Ben Abbes, who succeeds in forging a coalition between his own Muslim party, the moderate right and the socialists. The smooth-talking Ben Abbes, who was born in France and has attended all the elite schools, wins the election  and France transitions into an Islamic country!

Awash in all this is the antihero Francois, a 44-year old college instructor of literature who, after seven years, has finished his 800-page doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, and feels his life is mostly over: Ahead he sees nothing but aging and boredom.

One way to approach the novel is through the theme of modernity. But what is modernity? Well, Francois might serve as exhibit A.

Francois finds a new girlfriend  frequently a student  every year in September, and keeps her until the following September, when he meets someone else. He lives alone in a smoky one-room apartment, microwaving gourmet-sounding but tasteless meals. He is unpolitical and nonreligious. Usually depressed, he has few friends. He does have a more or less steady girlfriend, Myriam, whom he likes and who loves him, but Francois feels he would be bored quickly if they married. Francois is probably incapable of a mature relationship with an educated woman.

Other examples include an educated married couple, both with demanding jobs that reduce them to a frazzle. They struggle and fail to balance work, children and personal life. Worn down by their lives, they divorce and separate. The author seems to be saying that this is where the French Revolution, with its slogan of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," has ended up after the 233 years since 1789.

Menace is in the air as the presidential election approaches. Violence breaks out in parts of Paris. No one knows whats happening. Myriam announces she is leaving France with her parents for Israel, where they plan to settle. Francois is chagrined, but cant bring himself to propose. He switches his bank account to an English firm, and decides to leave Paris for the countryside. The atmosphere of his drive over strangely deserted roads is worthy of Stephen King.

Deep down, Francois has vague religious feelings. His thesis is a study of Joris-Karl Huysmans, a late 19th-century novelist who famously converted to Catholicism. Francois visits the Shrine of the Black Virgin in Rocamadour and tries life in a monastery. He leaves after two days because there is a smoke detector in his cell. His vague Christian yearnings are exhausted.

Francois returns to Paris to find a changed world. His school is now the Islamic University of Paris/Sorbonne. Francoiss colleagues  who are now all men  have had to convert to Islam to keep their jobs. They have taken Muslim wives (they are entitled to four). Francois, whose salary has been increased threefold, follows their lead. Conversion is simple. Islam is a good deal!

Women have been removed from any positions of importance in society, thus solving the unemployment problem. This is the beginning of patriarchy. "Islam" means submission: submission to God  and men  is the key to happiness.

Women quit wearing skirts and dresses for pants or form-hiding robes. Francois is fine with this. Patriarchy is, deep down, what he has always wanted. He can have an older wife to do his cooking, and a teenager for other needs, with no complicated emotions.

Most readers will not be convinced by Houellebecqs tale. Would the National Front passively accept the results of the election? Would French women accept these conditions? Are people really this fed up with modernity, and ready for Submission?

But "Submission" is a fascinating story, full of ideas and dark humor. There is a barbecue scene worthy of the one in Jonathan Franzens "The Corrections." But dont expect the movie version any time soon.
A secret adoption, a secret meeting, a secret mother: One Irish woman tells of the meeting with her birth mother she would be forced to keep a secret for over a decade.

In her memoir "An Affair With My Mother," Caitriona Palmer describes how for over a decade she would have clandestine meetings with her birth mother, who was too afraid to reveal her daughters existence.

At first, Palmer, 43, from Dublin, Ireland, went along with keeping the relationship a secret because she was so happy to finally be reunited with her mother.

Palmer, a mother-of-three, who was living abroad at the time of the reunion, told the Daily Mail: "I was coming over to Ireland to meet her, which enhanced the furtiveness of the affair.

"It was a very exciting time, like being in the first flush of love. I think we were both in love."

Read more: Winona Ryder discovers her Irish roots after ancestor's secret adoption

Fifteen years after their first meeting, Palmers birth mother, whose name she has changed to Sarah in the book to protect her privacy, is still unwilling to bring the relationship out into the open.

Palmer remembers when she first found out she was adopted.

"I remember that moment very vividly. I can almost reach out and touch the memory," she said.

"I always had an inkling I was special. My parents always told me that. I was officially told I was adopted on my sixth birthday.

"We were making the bed and my mother said she had something to tell me. We sat down on the bed and she reminded me it was my birthday and said she needed me to remember someone very special who was my birth mother.

"Her exact words were: 'We chose you especially to come and live with us, but before you were born another mammy carried you in her tummy.'

"She wanted me to remember this woman on my birthday and always pray for her. It came as a real shock to be told I was not of my parents.

"I was very intensely upset and wanted to cry, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I suppressed my emotions at that moment.

"But from that day on I would say I was grieving and I felt incomplete. I felt there was a missing part of me, and it formed my identity."

She continued to suppress her feelings as she got older.

"I was one of these immensely positive and cheerful people," she recalled.

"I spoke about being adopted frequently and maintained that it didn't affect me.

"In my early 20s, living abroad, I felt a greater sense of loss. At 24 I started making tentative steps towards contact, but I pulled back.

Read more: Plight of the illegally adopted highlighted by Irish filmmaker

"At 27 I was living in Bosnia working with an NGO exhuming mass graves. I was surrounded by dead bodies and grieving relatives. Now it seems silly but the 'aha moment' occurred there.

"I am careful not to equate what I was feeling with what these families were going through, but watching them trying to find their missing relatives made me realize I had to find that missing part of my DNA and that life is incredibly short."

In 1999, Palmer tracked down her birth mother through a Dublin-based agency.

"It allowed us to exchange letters and get to know each other," she said.

In her book, she writes of their first meeting.

"I can remember still, with great clarity, the terror of meeting, Sarah, for the first time  nausea, scanning the room for a wastebasket in case my stomach failed me, the sound of her footsteps as she approached the door.

Read more: The three brave Irish sisters who raised me in Brooklyn (PHOTOS)

"I remember, too, the intensity of our embrace, the cloying scent of her perfume, the softness of her velvety cheek, the scratchiness of her fake fur against my face.

"My first impression was that the coat made her look cheap, nothing like the goddess who had dominated my dreams. I smiled and soothed her tears. As I held her trembling frame, I felt like the parent in the room."

She recalled: "I was totally numb and in shock. The bonding came later for me."

Palmer learned that her mother was from a small town in Ireland where she was working as a teacher. Her boyfriend offered no support when she became pregnant. At the time, there was still a huge stigma surrounding unmarried mothers. Sarah gave up her job and fled to Dublin where a Catholic agency put her up in the home of a young married couple. Caitriona was born in April 1972, and two days later, she was given to a baby home in Dublin.

Sarah returned home and never told anyone, not even the man she would marry or their children, about the child she gave up for adoption.

"For Sarah, the secret was now so toxic, so enormous and all-encompassing that revealing it threatened to destroy her world."

Palmer said her birth mother was terrified that her husband would desert her and that their children would shun her.

"At our second meeting, she asked that I co-operate in hiding my existence  temporarily  from her family. I was eager to please and afraid of losing Sarah, so I agreed."

Palmer had imagined a different scenario.

"I imagined a whole family grieving my loss and a reunion with aunts and uncles and everyone celebrating my return.

"I imagined two worst-case scenarios  that she was dead or that she wouldn't want to meet me. I never considered that she had kept me a secret."

Palmer traveled home two or three times a year to see her mother; they communicated through letters in the meantime.

"We would meet at the Westbury [Hotel], in the center of Dublin. In previous years, for a birthday treat, I had taken my adopted mother to the hotel for afternoon tea.

"Now, in what felt like an act of treachery, I began arranging assignations there with my other mother. It felt like I was having an affair.

"It may seem peculiar or creepy to compare my relationship with my birth mother to an extramarital affair, but it is the only analogy that works. In my mind, Sarah was the married lover, I was her compliant mistress.

"She was very clear what the rules were. I could not call her at home. I didn't even have her address. I relied on a social worker to pass the letters on to her.

"She would call me from a payphone and I could hear the traffic outside and the coins dropping in.

"Everyone on my side knew about her. Everyone thought it was the most unusual thing they had ever heard."

Palmer said she started to feel angry, but she kept her feelings hidden from her mother

"Primarily, I did not want to lose her. And it's not in my nature to be demanding or confrontational. I've never been good at standing up for myself.

"So I was massively deferential to her and kept assuring her it was not a problem. But my patience started to run out when I had children.

"If I was not good enough to be brought out into the open then surely they would dilute the secret. But that did not happen."

Palmer advised her mother to see a therapist to deal with the issues that were preventing her from acknowledging her daughter.

The briefly cut off contact for a while, but then Sarah experienced a family crisis and Palmer wanted to support her so they resumed the relationship.

Palmer said she wanted another way to keep in touch, so Sarah agreed they could exchange emails and text.

When she asked her permission to write the book, Sarah agreed as long as she wasn't identified.

"After I got the book deal she was very supportive and we kept texting. But the last time I heard from her was Christmas 2014.

"I've been sending texts since then, but she doesn't reply. We never had an argument, but I think it's terribly difficult for her.

"I don't think her silence is malicious. I just think she is terrified. It makes this part of telling the story terribly difficult. I don't want to hurt her. I see the book as a love letter to her.

"I believe in love and compassion. My dad read my book and wrote me an email how proud they were and how compassionate it was."

Palmer believes Sarahs fear is a result of the way unmarried mothers were treated in Ireland and the shame and stigma surrounding it.

"They were punished for falling pregnant outside of marriage. I believe her actions are a result. Even now, she fears she will lose everything."

Palmer still has hopes that one day she will be reunited with her mother and that she will no longer be a secret.

"I always hope for that," she revealed. "I believe in maternal love and the bottomless depths. I remain optimistic, but I have to move forward with my life.

"I needed to get this story down on paper. I've never felt a compulsion like it. Now I've done it I hope I can move forward and be the best mother I can be and hope she comes around."

Read more: 40 children died in the Rising some with the taste of chocolate in their mouths

* Originally published in March 2016.
John Hume: Irish Peacemaker

Edited by Sean Farren and Dennis Haughey

You couldn't understate John Hume's enduring legacy in the North. Civil rights activist, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) and guiding light through the long decades of The Troubles, Hume vigorously opposed violence in all instances, which meant that, depending on where you stood, he was a either a principled figurehead or a deluded tool of the British state.

From the beginning his political rise was tied to the fight against political and economic oppression in Derry and the North as a whole. Hume got his start in the credit union movement, the first beach head in his lifelong quest to address the wider structural inequalities of his city and state.

From there on his course was set. His life was defined by his civil rights activism and, less remarked upon elsewhere but important here, by the unforgettably inspiring example of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the United States.

It was Humes talks with Gerry Adams in the 1980s, then a vilified figure censored in the press and on the airwaves, that led to the first stirrings of what would become the peace process. Those talks would ultimately lead to the Good Friday Agreement and an enduring political settlement that had eluded the North for decades.

Farren and Haughey's book is introduced by President Bill Clinton, who played his own vital role in bringing peace to the region, and is a reminder of how far the Nobel Prize winning Hume traveled from his origins.

Farren and Haughey give us a portrait in full, retiring the sainted effigy and emphasizing instead the skillful pragmatist. Hume had to deal with, and frequently mollify and appease, the British Government, the Ulster Unionists, militant Republicans, the Irish government, the president of the United States, the Senate and Congress. His work never ended.

Given the scale of the task before Hume, it was inevitable that it would tell on his health. For years bullets had been sent to him in the post. The family received threatening letters and phone calls, and at times they were warned by the security forces to leave the house because it had become too dangerous to remain. This aggression came from both sides of the political divide, but Hume never wavered.

In the North attitudes seem to harden rather than mature. For some Hume will always be the useful idiot who failed to understand that the armed struggle would lead to a more permanent political settlement. For others it was his deep resistance to this idea that made him the transformative politician that he was.

This complex and considered book is the most fitting tribute to his life and legacy yet published.

Four Courts, $35.

The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Hero Who Became an American Hero

By Timothy Egan

If Americans still don't understand the near genocidal history of British colonialism in Ireland they no longer have an excuse. Timothy Egan, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and celebrated New York Times columnist lays out the details of the eight century long enterprise with such lucidity and scholarship in his new book that even the ghost of Roger Casement would be dumbstruck.

If colonialism was the defining economic enterprise of the 19th century, Ireland was the laboratory where many of its worst excesses were enacted and studied. And the legacy of those excesses marked all who participated, from the titled aristocrats to the evicted or banished peasants.

Horrified by the Anglo Irish gentry and the British governments seeming indifference to the Great Hunger, Thomas Francis Meagher, the son of a wealthy family in Waterford, helped lead a failed uprising against British rule.

For his pains he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony for life, a fate worse than death for many. Meagher escaped, however, and within six months was being garlanded in New York City, where he was cheered as a revolutionary hero who had taken up arms to defend the Gael.

Meagher's experience of life changing oppression taught him valuable lifelong lessons. He stood opposed to anti-Catholic Know Nothing bigotry, he led the newly formed Irish Brigade into some of the most famous battles of the Civil War.

All the while he nurtured the dram of returning to Ireland with his battle hardened Irish American troops, on a mission to liberate the island from the British once and for all.

Egan has crafted a remarkable portrait of one of the most famous Irish Americans of the 19th century, and in the process he has painted an unforgettable portrait of the oppressed society that produced him.

HMH, $30.
Since it appears to me over here in the west that ye are virtually addicted to lists of 10 pieces of advice on about every subject under the sun, I have decided to create a 10 point list of my own to add to the archive.

This one is directed to all of you who are planning your first ever vacation in Ireland. I hope that at least some of you will find it to be helpful.

1. If you possess Irish blood it is most likely that the ancestors who brought it over to the New World with them all those years ago were born and bred in the poorer counties of the west, all the way along the coast from Donegal in the far north to Kerry. These were the good people who were hardest hit by the Potato Famine and who crammed the dreaded coffin ships.

Many Irish Americans down the years have told me how they experienced an almost eerie and surreal homecoming feeling when they first set foot in the territories from which their ancestors hailed. Accordingly, and since these regions are the most scenic and friendly areas of Ireland for all, I would recommend you try to reach them as quickly as possible during your vacation.

2. For this reason I would strongly suggest you have early words with your travel agent and ensure your flight takes you to Shannon, Cork, or Knock airports rather than to Dublin Airport on the other coast. Especially if your vacation is a short one, you will hugely benefit from this tactic. Dublin has its special charms, of course but, fundamentally, for many, it is just another European city.

3. Slow down your pace of life and living from the moment you first set foot on this small island. Take time to slowly savor where you are and what you are. Not doing this is the biggest mistake which many American novice visitors make.

I know it is quite possible to "do" Ireland, from the Mountains of Mourne to the Lakes of Killarney in a couple of days. I know that our travel distances, in your terms, are very short indeed.

But if you "do" Ireland in this way you cannot catch the real soul and substance of the place at all. It all becomes a blur.

Read more: How a South African photographer regained his sight in Ireland (PHOTOS)

4. Even in summer there is a lot of rain betimes. Often, especially along the coast and on the vaunted Wild Atlantic Way, it will only be a short, sharp shower, but that will drench you just as thoroughly as a downpour.

Invest in a medium weight hooded anorak or suchlike. There is also a lot of windy weather so avoid umbrellas because they will be blown inside out in seconds.

5. Our main roadways between cities and towns have improved sharply over the last 20 years, and there are many stretches of good motorways and dual carriageways.

In the most scenic areas, however, there is still a twisty maze of secondary roads which are not well signposted in many cases and which require very cautious driving.

6. DO NOT DRINK EVEN ONE PINT AND DRIVE!

Even one Guinness can put you over the legal limit and the Gardai are very active on this front. Either appoint a designated driver from amongst your group to avoid alcohol until day's end, or leave the car behind altogether for the day and enjoy climbing a mountain.

7. The best value for food in about every eatery in the tourist hotspots is available at luncheon periods rather than at dinner time later in the evenings. Lunches are often served until three or four o'clock in the evening, starting at noon, and the quality is good.

The standard and quality and variety of food on offer has improved dramatically in recent years. Tipping is normally optional rather than a requirement.

8. Be aware that because of the historic links between the two nations that American visitors are well-liked by the natives. This is a fact.

In this context it helps if you take aboard the reality that our background noises, both in town and country, are significantly lower than you may be used to. Accordingly you can converse at a lower volume than you need to use at home in a busy city and still be clearly heard.

9. You will almost certainly have a schedule for your trip, even if you are not trying to "do" Ireland in three days. Be ready, willing and able to abandon that schedule if you find yourself in some area  perhaps an ancestral heartland  where you experience that surreal feeling of being at home which I mentioned earlier.

10. Be prepared to be surprised at the number of Irish folk you will meet who know nearly as much about the U.S. as you do because they, in their lives, have been an element of one of the many waves of emigration which has been one of our realities always. Indeed, do not be surprised if, during their working stay in your country, they traveled coast to coast across the U.S. and visited more states than you have.

And enjoy it all!

Read more: A guide on moving to Ireland in case Donald Trump is elected
Disney are in talks for 10 more 'Star Wars' films following the success of 'Episode VII - The Force Awakens'.

The franchise has already planned five further movies, two trilogies and a hat-trick of spin-offs, and executives are reportedly discussing another quintet of the sci-fi motion pictures for after 2020.

A source said: "The success of 'The Force Awakens' has given executives much to think about.

"So many characters' back-stories and futures can now be brought to life. When these ideas came from George Lucas 40 years ago, technology was lagging behind. Now they can be turned around in a year."

'Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens' director J.J. Abrams - who won't be helming the upcoming eighth movie, handing over the reins to Rian Johnson - has admitted there are some "exciting" times ahead for fans of the franchise.

He told The Sun newspaper: "There are some really cool things being discussed. It is very exciting to see how it is being put together."

Of the solo 'Star Wars' movies being talked about, there is expected to be one made about Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was played by Sir Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor in previous movies.

McGregor was last year rumoured to be in talks with Disney about a possible trilogy of films based on the legendary Jedi Master.

What's more, Mace Windu - played by Samuel L. Jackson in 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace', 'Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones' and 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith' - could also get his own spin-off.

Last year, director A.J. Edwards admitted he was in talks to helm a 'Star Wars' movie based on the Master of the Order.

When asked by a fan on social networking service Reddit if there is any truth to the rumours he might be directing a future film in the franchise, he wrote: "Talking about it, not able to say a lot yet," and he added: "It will focus on Mace Windu."

The next two movies in the trilogy are due to drop in 2017 and 2019, while Han Solo and Boba Fett movies are expected in 2018 and 2020.

Spin-off 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' - which stars Forest Whitaker, Felicity Jones and Mads Mikkelsen - is to be released in December 2016.
Anglo Irish Bank considered taking over or merging with Irish Life & Permanent at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the trial of four bankers has heard.

Anglo's former Head of Finance, Willie McAteer (65) and the former CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey (aged 56), and two others are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to manipulate Anglo Irish Bank's balance sheets.

The interbank loans allegedly involved money being transferred by Anglo to 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.

ILP's former director of finance, Peter Fitzpatrick (aged 63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, John Bowe (aged 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 1 and September 30, 2008.

At the beginning of week nine in the trial Matt Moran, Anglo's chief financial officer at the time, told Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, that he had been offered immunity from prosecution by the DPP for anything that might arise in relation to Anglo Irish Bank.

He said that throughout 2008 he was involved in an ongoing project entitled Universe which was the potential merger of Anglo and Permanent TSB and ILP.

He testified that the potential acquisition of ILP would result in a more universal bank as Anglo was a more narrowly focused business bank than a universal type bank.

Anglo did not lend money to people in the form of residential mortgages while ILP and Permanent TSB did.

Mr Moran said that the merger would have created the third largest banking force in the State but it never came to fruition.

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
A judge has told a travel agent who stole from a childrens charity that he will consider not sending him to jail if he pays the money back.

Judge Patrick McCartan described what John Cornelius Murphy did as a mean-spirited offence and accused him of still not appreciating the seriousness of the crime.
AB InBev agrees to sell SAB Millers China market to Chinese government

Belgian beverage giant AB InBev says it will allow a Chinese Government owned company to acquire SABMillers Chinese beer business if AB InBev itself can acquire SABMiller.

AB InBev last week revealed it will allow China Resources Beer Holding Co. to purchase SABMillers 49 per cent interest in Chinese beer company CR Snow. China Resources Beer Holding has owned the other half of the company since 1994.

China Resource Beer Holding will be required to pay US$1.6 billion to take complete control of CR Snow.

The acquisition is however dependent on AB InBevs ability to acquire SABMiller for approximately US$108 billion. AB InBev says it is confident this acquisition will be approved and finalised before the end of 2016.

The agreement with China Resources Snow Breweries is conditional on the successful closing of the recommended acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev as announced on 11 November 2015, which itself contains certain regulatory pre-conditions and conditions, a statement from AB InBev said.

AB InBev is the largest beer company in the world and is responsible for over 200 beer brands. Some of its beers are sold in Australia through third-party distributors include Corona, Stella Artois and Budweiser.

SABMiller has an 89 per cent market share of the South African beverage industry. In

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is currently investigating the proposed acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev.
EU leaders are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the ongoing refugee crisis.

It comes after at least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to reach Greece, as Macedonian authorities imposed further restrictions on refugees trying to cross the Greek border.

With over a million people entering Europe last year, the situation this is officially the worst migration crisis since the Second World War.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an emergency summit of all 28 EU leaders aimed at tackling the ongoing and worsening refugee crisis; the Turkish government, represented by Prime Minister Ahmet Davatoglu will also be in attendance.

The main priority is stemming the flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe, with most arriving to Greece.

The EU will ask Turkey to provide better assistance to Syrians and Iraqi's within its border, thereby reducing the numbers wanting to flee.

The Greek government is also to demand an agreement for all EU member states to take their fair share of the burden.

Yesterday, the Turkish coast guard launched a search-and-rescue mission for other migrants believed to be missing from the accident, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The coast guard rescued 15 other migrants off the Aegean Sea resort of Didim, it added.

The dead included three children, according to the private Dogan news agency.

Meanwhile, Greek police officials said Macedonian authorities are only allowing those from cities they consider to be at war to cross the Idomeni border crossing from Greece. That means people from cities such as Aleppo in Syria, for example, can enter, but those from the Syrian capital of Damascus or the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are being stopped.

The developments come a day ahead of a summit between the European Union and Turkey to discuss the crisis.

Nearly all refugees and other migrants who enter the EU have been doing so by taking small inflatable dinghies from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands. With thousands of miles of coastline, Greece says it cannot staunch the flow unless Turkey stops the boats from leaving its shores.

Athens has also criticised Europe for not sticking to agreements to take in refugees in a relocation scheme that never really got off the ground.

"While Idomeni is closed for refugees and the flows from the islands, from the Turkish shores to the islands, remain, it must be perfectly clear that the immediate start of a reliable process of relocation of refugees from our country to other countries of the European Union is a matter of complete urgency," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in a speech to his party on Sunday.

"And this is exactly what we will seek in the summit on Monday. Not just the wording that this is urgent, but that it will begin immediately and with a large number."

While thousands arrive in Greece's main port of Piraeus from the islands, about 13,000-14,000 people remain stranded in Idomeni, with more arriving each day. The refugee camp has overflowed, with thousands pitching tents among the railway tracks and in adjacent fields.

The rate at which refugees are being allowed to cross had already been reduced to a trickle, with sometimes only a few dozen, or even nobody, being allowed to cross. Greek police said 240 people crossed between 6am on Saturday and the same time on Sunday morning.

The camp is beginning to take on a form of semi-permanence, with people realising they will be spending at the very least several days in the fields. As morning broke, women swept the earth outside their tents with makeshift brooms made of twigs and leaves. Men stamped on branches pulled off trees nearby to use as firewood for small campfires to boil tea and cook.

Throughout Sunday morning, dozens of local Greeks arrived in cars packed with clothes and food donations to distribute to the refugees. Many were mobbed as they arrived at the first tents, with men, women and children scrambling to receive whatever handouts they could.

The sheer numbers have overwhelmed the Greek authorities. Massive queues of hundreds of people form from early in the morning, with people waiting for hours for a lunchtime sandwich.

While Greek officials have tried to discourage more people from arriving, and no longer allow buses to drive to the Idomeni border, hundreds continue to arrive each day, walking more than 10 miles (15km) from a nearby petrol station where the United Nations refugee agency has set up large tents.

"We have been here five days, or six. Who remembers the days anymore," said Narjes al Shalaby, 27, from Damascus in Syria, travelling with her mother and two daughters, five-year-old Maria and 10-year-old Bara'a. Her husband and third daughter are already in Germany.

"All we do here is sleep, wake up, sleep. We get hungry, we wait in the queue for two hours for a sandwich, we come back, we sleep some more," said Narjes, who worries about her daughters.

"She's grown up sooner that she should have," she says of Maria, who is sleeping in the back of the family's small tent. "She's aged."
European Union leaders have sought to press Turkey to do more to stop migrants from entering Europe and to shore up support for Greece, where thousands of people are stranded.

The leaders are expected to acknowledge that the main Balkan migrant route is effectively closed, after Macedonia - backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary - limited border crossings to a trickle.

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty have used the route in recent months to try to reach preferred destinations like Germany or the countries of Scandinavia.

Ahead of the summit in Brussels, thousands of people waited by Greece's border with Macedonia hoping to be allowed to cross.

"Whatever it takes. We will go. We have nothing to go back to. Our homes are destroyed," said Lasgeen Hassan, who, with the rest of his Kurdish Syrian family, wants to reunite with relatives in Germany.

Arriving for early talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Greece's prime minister urged his EU partners to put long-agreed and long-delayed migrant plans into action.

"Rules are for all, and everybody has to implement our common decisions," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters. "If there are agreements that are not implemented there are not agreements at all."

EU leaders agreed in September to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy over two years.

As of March 3, fewer than 700 people had been relocated to other European countries.

In a draft statement prepared for the summit, seen by The Associated Press, the leaders said they will pursue "comprehensive, large scale and fast-track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection".

Turkey is home to an estimated 2.75 million refugees, most from Syria, and rights groups say that many are living in tough conditions.

Mr Davutoglu said he hopes the summit will mark a turning point in EU-Turkey ties. He said the meeting is as focused on Turkey's future EU membership as on the refugee emergency.

"Turkey is ready to work with the EU, and Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," Mr Davutoglu told reporters, expressing hope that the talks "will be a success story and a turning point in our relations".

The EU is desperate to halt the flow of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. It has offered Turkey 3bn in refugee aid, fast-track EU membership and an easing of visa rules to win its support.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Turkey will need extra help if more migrants are sent back.

"We will need to bring relief to Turkey, and that means you have to be willing to take people in from Turkey" who will probably qualify for asylum, he said.

Human rights group Amnesty International hit out at the leaders for using Turkey as a buffer to stop migrants, calling the move "a dangerous and deliberate ploy to shirk their responsibilities to people fleeing war and persecution".
A woman who stored improvised hand grenades, other explosive materials and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in her house has been jailed for three years.

Police confirmed that Heather Exley, 44, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court on Monday.

They said her hoarding of the explosives posed a clear danger to a residential area but they still do not know what her motivation was for storing the items.

The North East Counter Terrorism Unit said officers attended Exley's home in Penn Drive, Liversedge, West Yorkshire, in April 2014 as part of a drugs inquiry.

They found hundreds of rounds of ammunition - including cartridges, hollow point bullets and soft nose bullets - improvised hand grenades, partially constructed hand grenades, improvised detonators, the explosive PETN and other explosive material.

Specialists searched the house for a number of days following the initial discovery.

Exley was charged with 10 offences under the Explosives Act and three offences under the Firearms Act and pleaded guilty to all the offences in November last year.

Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: "I hope today's outcome at court sends a message to the public that the possession of highly volatile chemicals and explosives is not only extremely dangerous but is also likely to constitute a serious criminal offence.

"Exley had stored these chemicals and explosives in a house in a well-populated residential area and there is no knowing what might have happened had they been ignited, either accidentally or deliberately.

"It is still not clear what Exley's motives were for obtaining the chemicals, or possessing large quantities of ammunition without the appropriate certification.

"Whether it was a fascination with explosives and firearms, or her intention was more concerning, thankfully the items were removed before any further steps could be taken."
Early last week the European Commission released a statement which told of the Irish governments lacklustre approach to changing and improving regulations around in the country.

It also noted that there was a significant difference between regulatory conditions set down for multinationals within Ireland as compared with domestic home-grown companies.

SMEs are highly dependent on public funds for R&D which meant any downturn in the economy could spell big trouble for companies looking to access research finance.

Many friends within the SME sector, and the start-up scene in particular, have been putting on a brave face for a while now. Good news stories have masked the reality for business over the past few years so much so that other countries now look more attractive than ever before.

The UK has been on an aggressive path of attracting companies and start-ups for three main reasons.

Firstly, its economy is stagnating and it needs fresh jobs and companies to expand.

The second factor is an uncertain investment landscape.

The third is, of course, the looming Brexit decision.

Since the announcement was made that the nation would decide its relationship with Europe on June 23 there have been rumblings that the UK would face an economic meltdown should it leave.

The government wants the UK to be an attractive prospect for business, in or out of Europe.

Scotland, meanwhile, has long based its finances on the steady flow of oil and gas that it brings in from the North Sea.

With oil prices a fraction of what they were 18 months ago, it too is now looking to develop a more coherent business strategy and Irelands model of foreign direct investment has not gone unnoticed either. Watch this space.

So before we even leave our small area of western Europe we can already see that the competition is hotting up.

Several startup investment firms have already warned of an impending exodus of domestic Irish business if things dont change.

Several SME bodies have highlighted the risk of businesses opening offices just over the border where attractive UK incentives are on offer.

What we havent done effectively in Ireland is to create the pipelines necessary for a business to quickly and easily step up to the next stage of their business.

Domestic companies have to stop and wait for funding or meet out of date criteria in order to move to the next phase. That takes too much time.

The ability for serial entrepreneurs to invest, for employees to buy stakes in their own company, or simply to have a tax system that encourages entrepreneurs to succeed rather than the open discrimination which exists within the system is just the tip of an iceberg that goes much deeper.

Weve talked a lot about Irelands success in recent years and rightly so. However, it has papered over the cracks in a system that is not fit for purpose when it comes to SMEs and startups.

Other countries on our doorstep are now competitors and thats not even to mention the likes of Silicon Valley, New York or the numerous other innovation hubs around Europe.

For too long we have allowed ourselves to believe that we are one of the most competitive countries in the world for business. Its a con and we are very quickly being found out.

The reality is that we are nowhere near where we need to be and our loss will be our neighbours gain.
Two leading figures of the past generation, David Begg and Michael McDowell, will be competing against each other for NUI seats in the Seanad.

The two come from quite different ideological traditions. They would bring plenty of experience to a chamber where the quality of debate has not always reached the summit.

Mr Begg is a committed social democrat who served between 2001 and 2015 as secretary general of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He is an advocate of the Nordic model of governance and has just published a book entitled, Ireland, Small Open Economies and European Integration.

He has been variously described as intellectually gifted, articulate and unassuming and as a tough negotiator who once led the Communications Workers Union into a strike against their employer An Post.

Some critics consider him to have been a little too high-minded and removed from the daily grind of wage negotiation. He has been regularly taunted by Independent Shane Ross TD.

In 2001, Begg declared that he was a reformist, not a revolutionary. These days, his brand of constructive reformism is out of fashion.

Michael McDowell left Fine Gael in 1985 to join the newly formed Progressive Democrats in protest over the high levels of income taxation levied by the coalition government under Garret FitzGerald.

He cut his teeth in the Dail as Progressive Democrats finance spokesman though his political career after 1999 was spent first as attorney general, then as minister of justice.

In 2000, he looked back with pride on an economy that had rebounded on the back of tax cuts in a speech to Swords Chamber of Commerce.

In 1980s Ireland, the standard rate of tax was well over 35% and when you added in PRSI, it was over 40%.

Mr McDowell pointed to the combination of tax cuts and social partnership as the key twin engines of growth.

Under his comrade in arms Charlie McCreevy, the top rate of tax fell from 48% to 42% between 1997 and 2002 while the lower rate dropped from 26% to 20%. Then came the economic bubble.

Having taken part in coalition talks with Fianna Fail in 1989, Mr McDowell expressed horror at the larger partys reliance on civil servants for policy thinking.

Mr McCreevy failed to listen to his officials while Mr McDowells plan for hiving off bank regulation received the thumbs up. At the time, Mr McDowell argued that the process of deregulation has not gone far enough.

The Progressive Democrats man was, at least, consistent in pressing for reform of the legal system as justice minister, generating a strong reaction from among his fellow barristers and the judiciary.

His reputation for toughness on law and order overshadowed reforms which he presided over in the area of equality.

He also pushed strongly for mediation as an alternative to litigation while the commercial court came into being on his watch.

Mr Begg had to look on as the social partnership model imploded in the wake of the crisis, though the unions displayed pragmatism in accepting pay cuts under The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act.

This approach is now coming under strain in some areas as the hard left gains a larger foothold within the movement. Irelands well-earned reputation for industrial peace can no longer be taken for granted.

The former Congress head accepts that social democratic parties are under pressure. However, he says many anti-establishment parties including Sinn Fein have adopted many social democratic ideas. The former union leader cites a famous slogan of the German social democrats: As much market as possible, as much State as necessary.

He believes that the move towards European integration is not dead though it lost much backing following enlargement in 2004, a development that resulted in a dilution in the subsidies on offer to other member states.

His real concern is the way the plan for European convergence is being led by the pro-austerity faction of economists from Germany and he argues that the IDA has, if anything, too big a grip on industrial policy.

In his view, Enterprise Ireland has never developed out of the shadow of the IDA. The agency can play a strong role in ensuring the sort of balanced industrial development that Ireland lacks, he insists.

Mr Begg has visited countries such as Finland which in spite of its current difficulties has developed a well- embedded local technology sector.

He believes the State here can play a role in developing national champions. He does not believe, however, the current foreign direct investment model can be easily cast away. He remains a pragmatist.

Michael McDowell, meanwhile, is back on his charger, courting the student vote with the backing of former UCC historian John A Murphy.

The Dublin lawyer retains a strong interest in the economy while tempering his libertarian stances of old with a stress on the need for a balanced budget.

He has a healthy distrust of the Merrion Street mandarins, arguing that Finance Department officials still view entrepreneurs and the self employed as birds there to be plucked.

He would cut capital gains tax from its current 33% rate (having persuaded his old comrade, Mr McCreevy to cut it to 20% in the early years of the FF/PD government. Nowadays, he does not have a target rate.

Mr McDowell has commercial rates in his sight seeing them as a main factor behind business closures in towns.

Cuts here would be paid for by widening the base for local charges, but allowing for equity through the introduction of a UK-style banded system for properties. This would ensure that people in larger cities affected by surging values would be less affected.

He argues for a reform of local government with a greater role for elected representatives and a greater focus on control of spending.

As for his philosophy, he says he is no Godzilla. I see myself as a liberal reformist republican.

He did not back Lucinda Creightons Renua, in part because of its association with pro-life groups and US-style three strikes and youre out measures, and in part because of a 23% flat tax proposal which he views as unrealistic.

Mr McDowell has repositioned himself closer to the centre, but retains many of his core beliefs.

The returning prodigal has one unexpected champion.

In David Beggs view, he is an excellent potential candidate for the Seanad. You need to get that distillation of ideas.
At 9.1%, the rate of unemployment is too high. Governments dont create jobs. Sure, they can employ people in the public service, but thats not the same thing. Jobs are the remit of business and the markets that businesses serve.

Governments can promote an environment in which businesses can create jobs. In Ireland, we take that environment for granted.

Routine matters, like a stable legal system that secures property rights, are a given here, but not in other countries. Our third-level education system has been one of the unsung heroes of the countrys economic recovery in recent years.

High rates of taxation are often portrayed as stifling business. But aspects of the Irish tax system are favourable to new business and job creation.

This is particularly so when business is young and small, and the trick is to qualify for whatever tax breaks are available. The most useful of these is the ability to defer your income-tax liability in the first year you set yourself up as self-employed.

Self-employed people can choose to pay income tax either on an estimate of what they earn in the year, or on what they earned in the previous year. You can opt to pay no income tax in your first year of operation.

This is really a deferral of tax due, rather than having the tax forgiven, but it is one less thing to worry about when you strike out on your own.

New businesses also worry about having to account for VAT, but many startups dont have to register for VAT until theyre fairly well-established.

Broadly, you need to sell more than 37,500 in services, or 70,000 in goods, before VAT liabilities kick in. When they do, many small businesses can arrange to settle VAT liabilities with the tax office, either every quarter or every six months.

These are standard features of the tax system which are available to all taxpayers, but are of particular relevance to startups. They dont extinguish tax liabilities, but help with cash-flow. Cash-flow difficulties strangle a business faster than anything else.

There are also tailor-made incentives for startup businesses, one of which provides tax relief from income tax for long-term unemployed people starting a new business. Two other, special incentives for startups require the business to be incorporated; that is, established through a company.

The first of these is called SURE, an acronym for startup refunds for entrepreneurs. A new business owner can get back some of the PAYE he or she paid while a wage slave, by investing funds in their own new companies. At first blush, theres a lot about the idea to like. The terms and conditions are so restrictive, though, that only a few dozen entrepreneurs qualify every year.

The second company-related incentive is a corporation tax relief for the first three years for new companies, up to a limit that is linked to the number of employees.

This incentive isnt hugely popular either, again because of all the terms and conditions. The main snag is that it only works for trading companies; businesses that manufacture or buy and sell goods. Professional-services companies are excluded.

As tax reliefs, both the SURE and the corporation-tax holiday do more harm than good. Their existence blocks the introduction of useful tax incentives, because they reassure the political classes that something has been done for new business.

The big tax incentive for companies is the low rate of 12.5%. This doesnt amount to a reason to incorporate a business. Many entrepreneurs have been lured by the attraction of a 12.5% corporation tax rate, when compared to the going income tax rate of 40%, plus USC and PRSI.

The problem is how to get the money the business makes out of the company after incorporating the business. Salary and dividends paid out of the company to the owner all attract income tax.

As far as the taxman is concerned, the company you own is a taxpayer in its own right. No matter how you arrange matters, two taxpayers will nearly always end up paying more tax than one.

By all means, incorporate your business, but do it first and foremost for commercial reasons, rather than for tax reasons.

While the tax environment for startups in this country is relatively benign, there is plenty of room for improvement.

As long as unemployment rates stay unacceptably high, the pressure on government to make improvements should remain. OK, so I didnt really tell you how not to pay tax. But I did show you how it might be deferred for a year.
Capilano and Comvita enter into Manuka honey business venture

Australias biggest honey packer Capilano has entered into a 50:50 business venture with New Zealand honey producer Comvita to expand its Manuka (or Leptospermum) honey operations.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies was signed on 2 March 2016 and will see a number of honey producing apiaries opened in Australia.

Manuka honey comes from the Manuka tree which can be found in both New Zealand and Australia. It has been used for years by New Zealands indigenous Maori people to help treat sore throats, wounds and upset stomachs.

The honey has increased in popularity in recent years with people across the world learning about the honey.

Capilano said it decided to enter into the partnership with the desire to secure greater honey supply and grow its operations.

Comvita currently operates in Australia in a sales and marketing capacity and this joint venture will secure greater volumes of Leptospermum honey to be processed in Australia, to meet a growing global sales demand, Capilano said.

Australia and NZs biggest Manuka honey retailers

Manuka Health New Zealand

Manuka Health New Zealand was established in 2006 by CEO Kerry Paul. It is now one of the largest Manuka honey companies in the world distributing to 45 different countries.

The companys product list is extensive and includes oral care, skin care and shortbread biscuits.

Swisse

Swisse specialises in vitamins but has recently expanded into other health products including Manuka honey.

The company had its start in Melbourne in 1969 but 86 per cent of the company was acquired Chinas Biostime. Biostime owns a number of brands which specialise in infant formulas, pregnancy and infant nutritional supplements. Swisses CEO is Radek Sali who has been in the role since 2005.

Capilano

The company was established in Australia in 1953 by beekeeping brothers Tim and Bert Smith. Today it is headed by Managing Director Ben McKee.

Capilano did not start as a Manuka honey producer but has since gone into the trade acquiring one of Australias largest Manuka honey producers, Kirksbees Honey, in July 2015 for AUD$6 million.

Comvita

Comvita is a New Zealand honey producer established in 1974 by Claude Stratford and Alan Bougen. The company is now lead by Scott Coulter who was appointed to the position in October 2015. He has been with Comvita since 2003 starting as a sales and marketing manager.

Comvita sells is also wide ranging lozenges, royal jelly, skin care products and vinegars. It exports globally to companies including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, the US, the UK and Taiwan.
Beef sector manager Mark Zieg said China, one of the worlds biggest beef importers, is showing no signs of decrease in demand for Irish beef due to its proven excellent quality and traceability.

Although pork and chicken are the main meats in China, last year an estimated 467,143 tonnes of frozen beef were exported directly to China. The figures were based upon statistics from Chinese customs.

With a steadily growing population and a rising middleclass, the figures show Chinese consumers are eating more beef. Different culinary cultures are having an impact on the Chinese population as is movement within the country.

Bord Bias role over the last five to 10 years was to pave the way to open the market by studying and meeting customers, says Mr Zieg.

With the overall figures showing a rise in demand for better quality beef in China, Bord Bia predicts Ireland will continue to have a strong share in this market. With grass-fed cattle that are traced and monitored, Irish beef is know for its reliability and excellent standard. Bord Bias Shanghai office is actively promoting the quality of Irish meat.

The visit to Ireland in 2015 of premier Li Keqiang, Chinas Minister of Agriculture, was very beneficial in helping to communicate Bord Bias messages about the traceability and sustainability of Irish beef to the Chinese market. Meeting consumers of Irish beef and educating them on the production of the product helps build trust, says Bord Bia.

Meanwhile, Bord Bias Shanghai-based marketer Cathy Zhou says that, in spite of a slower economy, China will keep playing an important role in the beef market in 2016.

In the first half of 2015, only six countries were allowed export beef to China; Australia, Uruguay, Argentina, New Zealand, Canada and Costa Rica. By the end of 2015, Brazil, Hungary and Chile were added to the list of suppliers.

Market shares by country of origin will look considerably different by the end of 2016 with Brazil likely to edge out Australia as the principal supplier.

Additional countries and a reactivation of the grey channel in the latter months of 2105 led to oversupply and a weakening of prices.

However this situation is somewhat temporary and the market is expected to improve in 2016 but unlikely to return to the record levels achieved in 2014.

In 2015, Australia was the largest exporter to China followed by Uruguay. With a weaker economy forecast for 2016 it is estimated that Chinese imports will be influenced by price.

According to Rabobank although the grey channel has made the market volatile, the massive market will continue to offer sustainable opportunities for the rest of the world.
Many of the leading figures of the Easter Rising were relatively unknown in the years leading up to the event, owing to their own youth or late political development.

This certainly wasnt the case with Major John MacBride (1868-1916) however, as he was something of a household name in Ireland thanks to his participation in the Second Boer War (1899 -1902). He was part of a small band of uitlanders (Afrikaans for foreigners) which militarily-aligned with the Boers as they fought the British Empire, becoming known popularly as the Irish Brigade.

For many participants in the Irish revolutionary period, the war in South Africa was an important influence. Seamus Robinson, who would fight in the Easter Rising, recalled: Heavens! What thrills we got out of that great struggle. Bonfires in the streets on the news of a Boer victory, complete disbelief in Boer reverses! The Irish Boer Brigade! How we wished we were old enough to be with them.

John MacBride left Ireland in 1896 and travelled to South Africa, but it should be noted by that stage he was already a hardened Fenian, having taken the secret oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood at only 15.

By the late 19th century, there were some Irishmen travelling to South Africa in search of work, drawn to the goldmines and the tales of prosperity. MacBride himself claimed years later however the central factor in his decision to leave Ireland for South Africa was political, writing that shortly after the Jameson Raid, I resolved to go to the South African Republic as I knew that England had her mind made up to take the country, and I wanted to organise my countrymen there, so as to be in a position to strike a blow at Englands power abroad when we could not, unfortunately, do so at home.

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 Jameson Raid that MacBride referenced was an ill-fated and botched raid on the Boer Transvaal Republic orchestrated by mining magnate and governor of the Cape, Cecil Rhodes.

The Second Boer War formally broke out on October 11, 1899, following an ultimatum issued two days earlier to the British government by Paul Kruger, the Boer president, who had given the British 48-hours to withdraw from the borders of both Boer Republics, stating that failure to comply would result in a declaration of war.

In Ireland, an Anti-War movement quickly emerged, though in reality it could better be described as Anti-British. At one meeting in October 1899, a crowd of 20,000 listened as a letter was read from the mayor of Kilkenny, who proposed that two maxim guns be sent to the Boers with which they could defend themselves. One could be called Parnell, and the other Wolfe Tone.

By September 1899, a proposal for an Irish Transvaal Brigade was put to the Boer government and accepted. This Brigade was, in reality, led by John Blake, a maverick Irish American who had military experience in the US armed forces. Mayo radical Michael Davitt, who travelled to South Africa, remembered that Blake had a slight suggestion of Buffalo Bill in his general appearances.

MacBride was a hugely important figure in the Brigade however, and would assume control for a period when Blake was wounded in fighting. The idea of it being MacBrides Brigade is something that was fostered by the nationalist press in Ireland, in particular Arthur Griffiths United Irishman.

Griffith, a close friend of MacBride who had himself spent some time in South Africa, published poems and songs loaded with praise for MacBride, with one noting:

Revenge! Remember 98! And how our fathers died! Well pay the English back today, cried fearless John MacBride.

Another man who took his place in the Brigade was Tom Byrne, who would later fight in the Easter Rising.

While the Irish Brigade was numerically small, consisting of circa 300 men, it should be noted that in the region of 28,000 Irishmen fought in South Africa as members of the British forces. From time to time, these two bands encountered one another, for example at the brutal Battle of Dundee.

The participation of Irishmen on both sides of a foreign conflict led to some ridicule. One contemporary song joked that:

McGarry took OLeary, OBrien got McNamee,

Thats how the English fought the Dutch at the Battle of Dundee!

Ultimately, the Boers were defeated, and their two Republics subsumed by the Empire. One reminder of Irish participation in the war today is the Fusiliers Arch memorial at Dublins Stephens Green, erected to the memory of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the conflict.

It is telling that the monument was quickly rechristened Traitors Gate by some nationalist voices, giving insight into the divisive nature of the Second Boer War.

Donal Fallon is a lecturer and historian, and co-founder of the social history website Come Here To Me. He is the author of John MacBride in the 16 Lives series from OBrien Press, biographies of the 16 men executed after the Easter Rising.
Monday, March 6:

- Jennie Wyse Power was one of many visitors to the shop of Thomas Clarke, Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) Military Council member, at 75 Parnell Street in Dublin. The first president of womens organisation Cumann na mBan, her nearby restaurant and shop on Henry Street was the location where the Proclamation of the Republic was finalised and signed in the days before the Rising in Holy Week 1916.

- At 2 Dawson Street in Dublin, head office of the Irish Volunteers, those who visited included JJ Walsh, Edward Daly, and future signatories of the Proclamation, Thomas MacDonagh and Eamonn Ceannt.

- In early March, John Devoy in New York received a reply from Germany to his messages seeking arms for the rebellion in Ireland. It told him they could be brought to Fenit pier in Tralee Bay, and that Irish pilots should signal with three green lights from dawn of April 20, the Thursday of Easter week. But this was a day earlier than Devoy requested the arms to arrive. The Germans only promised 20,000 rifles, and not the 100,000 he had hoped for.

Tuesday, March 7:

- Countess Marckievicz was seen by police returning to Dublin. The night before, she gave a lecture at City Hall in Cork on the life of Robert Emmet, described by local police there as a very seditious utterance. But, they reported, it would have no effect as there were no persons present except Sinn Feiners and members of the Cumann na mBan to the number of about 350.

- An anniversary concert in memory of Emmet at Dublins Mansion House presented an opportunity for Clarkes Military Council counterparts  Sean MacDiarmada and Eamonn Ceannt  to meet. Also in the 1,000-strong audience were IRB Supreme Council member Diarmuid Lynch, and other extremists noted by Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) detectives were Volunteers founder Bulmer Hobson, Herbert Mellows, Piaras Beaslai, Thomas Hunter, John Neeson and John R Reynolds.

- Earlier in the day, MacDiarmada, Reynolds, Lynch, future Irish President Sean T O Ceallaigh and Sinn Fein founder Arthur Griffith were among those who met at 12 DOlier Street.

Wednesday, March 8

- Griffith, Edward Daly, Patrick Pearse, and others were seen visiting Clarkes shop on this date.

- Irish Volunteers headquarters received visits from Hobson, Mellows, Eamon de Valera, JJ OConnell, Michael OHanrahan, MacDiarmada, Ceannt and Pearse, among others also seen by police.

Thursday, March 9:

- Police recorded suspect Thomas Byrne in Cork exile JJ Walshs tobacconists shop in Blessington Street.

- Griffith, Beaslai, Pearse and Ceannt were seen by DMP meeting in Sackville Street, now OConnell Street, where the Proclamation would be read by Pearse outside the GPO just over six weeks later on Easter Monday, as the Rising began.

Friday, March 10:

- Clarkes shop was visited by, among others, Con Colbert and Edward Daly. All three would be executed for their roles in the Rising in less than two months.

Saturday, March 11:

- DMP detectives noted Tom Clarkes continued absence from the capital, while his shop was nonetheless used as a meeting place for Joseph McGuinness, William OLeary Curtis, Frank Fahy, Edward Daly and Sean MacDiarmada.

- Terence MacSwiney, vice-commandant of the the Irish Volunteers Cork Brigade, was in Dublin for the meeting of the Gaelic League council. The previous day, as controversy surrounded earlier proposals that Corks upcoming St Patricks Day Parade should include local British army regiments, he had suggested nationalist ideas should be encouraged in Irishmen serving with the army as they might be useful later.

Sunday, March 12:

John Devoys reply to the Germans was sent from their embassy in Washington to Berlin: Irish agree to proposition.

The sources for the information here include the following:

- Files from the Dublin Metropolitan Police Movement of Extremists files, held by the National Archives of Ireland. The original documents are digitised and available to view online: www.nationalarchives.ie (@NARIreland on Twitter).

- Original documents from the period, the Bureau of Military History witness statements given in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Military Archives timeline, which can be viewed at www.militaryarchives.ie @dfarchives)

- Royal Irish Constabulary Inspector general and county inspector reports held on microfilm in University College Corks Boole Libary Special Collections (@theriversideUCC)

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

Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy and independent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan joined the last of the weekly protests that for five years have put the tight-knit North Cork community on the map as home to a protest movement focusing on the bondholder bailouts that were part of a government policy that have so far cost the state 67.8bn in bank recapitalisation.

Diarmuid OFlynn wielded the small wooden placard that he used on Ballyhea Says Nos first march five years ago as he addressed the crowd gathered in the car park across the road from St Marys church. The first day we were out this was all we had, he said.

Founder of Ballyhea Says No, OFlynn ran as Independent Alliance candidate for Cork North West in the recent general election, winning just 2,159 votes. What the election campaign taught us  apart from the fact that Im unelectable, he joked, is that these marches have put Ballyhea on the map. Everywhere I went campaigning, people might not have heard of me, but theyve certainly heard of Ballyhea.

OFlynn said the weekly protests had served their purpose as an awareness-raising campaign and that the Ballyhea residents werent giving up the fight any time soon: We have a commitment from upwards of 30 TDs in the newly elected Dail that they will support a cross-party Dail committee to take this fight to Europe and were confident that that will happen.

It was events after 2011s general election that spurred OFlynn, a former hurling correspondent for the Irish Examiner, to nail together his placard and voice his anger at the Irish taxpayers liability for bank debt.

I thought we had a new government that was going to come in and take up this fight for us; I voted for them. Within days of being elected they turned around and said they werent going to burn the bondholders. It was then that I started making a few phone calls and started marching.

The rain spattered on a sea of umbrellas during the final march, and OFlynn wouldnt have it any other way. If we were here with the sun shining on us, that would not be representative of what weve gone through in the past five years so its fitting that its raining, he said. It was a sacrifice for a lot of people who gave up things to take part.

Pat Moloney, from neighbouring group Charleville Says No, said: Ballyheas way is that you stand up and you fight. You dont bend the knee to your so-called superiors in Germany and Europe. You stand up and you fight for yourself and for your kids like Diarmuid OFlynn did; he stood up, and got the rest of us to stand up.

Hurling the little streets against the great, as WB Yeats once wrote, would be a good way to describe Diarmuid OFlynns tactics, but for the fact that Ballyhea only has one street  the main Cork to Limerick road.

But their size hasnt stopped the Ballyhea locals from going to Frankfurt and nailing a Martin-Luther style list of demands to the door of the European Central Bank, as well as holding meetings with high-ranking EU and IMF officials. They have also garnered attention in the international press and been the subject of several documentaries.

Cars honked in support as around 200 protesters made their way quietly up and down a short stretch of the road in their village. Their numbers were swollen by supporters from spin-off campaigns in other communities; signs proclaiming Clonmel says No,Tralee Says No, and Fermoy Says No mingled with other more generalised anti-austerity campaigns and placards reading Banks must take their own losses.

Its very clear that its not the end of the issue, and not the end for Ballyhea Says No, Catherine Murphy said. She echoed Diarmuid OFlynns optimism that a diverse new Dail would be more amenable to taking political action on the issue. Therell be elements of the new Dail that will pick it up and run with it but it also needs to be picked up on at a European level as well.

Ballyhea residents Frances and Pat OBrien have attended the marches with their children and grandchildren regularly over the five years. Its our children and our childrens children that will be paying it back, Mrs OBrien said.

We could be selfish and say, Well be ok, but its the children of Ireland that will be paying it back. We might have stopped marching for now but well be waiting for the call from Diarmuid to do something and to back him up whatever way he wants.
Cattle and the caretaker had been cleared out from a farm of the Bowen-Colthurst family before the house was burnt.

However, the family had been boycotted ever since the murder of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington in 1916.
Vera Twomeys daughter Ava suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare but severe form of epilepsy that hampers sufferers cogitative development.

Despite being told that she would never walk or talk because of her diagnosis, Ava achieved both, and attends Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Ballincollig.

However, she requires round-the-clock care and monitoring due to the frequent severe seizures she suffers. There is no cure for Dravet syndrome, but Vera says seizures could be alleviated from medication called Epidiolex, which contains cannabidiol (CBD), which is derived from cannabis.

While the medication is not approved for sale or use in Ireland, it is available in Colorado and has undergone trials in the UK. Vera says that the effectiveness of the treatment varies from patient to patient, but that there are reported instances where treatment has seen sufferers who experience dozens of seizures a day reduced to a couple a month.

Having tried all medications approved in Ireland to no avail, the mother of four says she is desperate to see if the treatment can make a difference for her eldest child.

If I cant get what this child needs here Ill have to pick her up and bring her to Colorado, but I just cant do it, it would break up my family.

Our options would be to go there for 12 to 18 months for constant treatment, or go for three months, come back, and then head back over again.

Vera said Ava can suffer seizures that can set back her development, that skills she has learned can be lost.

She could pick up words, have a seizure and they would be lost again.

One of her first words was nice. She said it a couple of times, then suffered a cluster of seizures and then she did not say it again for another two years, Vera said.

Ava suffered her first seizure as a four-month-old baby, an experience that lasted 45 minutes. She now requires 24-hour monitoring. While the Twomeys avail of the services of a nurse for two nights a week, the rest of the time they use a video monitor to keep an eye on their daughter at night.

The example I use to explain it to people is a small child with a sore ear or sore throat that goes on for a few days, said Vera. You give them medicine but you need to keep an eye on them at night for three or four days, and it gets tiring. Life has been like that for us every night for the past five and a half years.

A spokesperson for the Health Products Regulatory Authority said, while cannabidiol is not a controlled drug according to the Misuse of Drugs Act, Epidiolex is not authorised for use in Ireland.
Laura ORegan, from Clonakilty, who is in her final year of her science education degree, was the winner of the Europe/Africa region, in Alltechs Young Scientist Competition, and will now compete at the global final at the multinational animal-nutrition companys One conference in Kentucky, this May.

Having already won 1,000 for making the final, the past student of the Sacred Heart secondary school, in Clonakilty, could get a fully funded PhD to continue her work, if she beats the other three contenders in the international final.

Ms ORegan, who wants to teach biology and chemistry in secondary school, entered a project entitled the Effect of Bone-derived Osteocalcin on the Early Calfhood Nutritional Control of Puberty in Bulls.

The project focused on the skeletal system, the male reproductive system, and how a bulls nutrition in the first few months of life can advance the onset of puberty. The study also examined the interaction of all three.

Ms ORegan said that the practical applications of the project would enable the artificial-insemination industry to advance the onset of puberty in bulls, allowing them to produce better offspring sooner.

She is looking forward to the trip to Kentucky.

It is so exciting. I entered and, to be honest, didnt think anything of it, she said.

I was in a lecture when I got the email telling me I was the regional winner and I was shaking. I couldnt believe it.

Ms ORegans research is part of a larger study funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Irish Research Council, and was supervised by Dr Sean Fair and Dr Eibhlis OConnor, at the University of Limerick, in collaboration with researchers in Teagasc and University College Dublin.

AllTech says its Young Scientist Competition is the worlds largest agri-science competition, and it holds regional competitions in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe, ahead of its grand final.
Its follows the revelation that one in six dental practices seeking HSE contracts in the last three years did not have equipment to filter out mercury from the dental amalgam used in fillings and stop it getting into the public water system. The Irish Examiner reported health officials feared this was a conservative estimate of the number of dentists practicing without amalgam separators given that those who sought public contracts had volunteered for inspection.

Association chief executive Fintan Hourihan said however, that while he had not surveyed his 1,800 members on the issue, he felt the concern was no longer warranted.
Inspection technology overview: what they do, how they can help you

Quality and compliance are everything in manufacturing, but more complex processes and faster production lines mean humans just cannot inspect for packaging errors, contamination and quality standards without impacting severely efficiency.

Purely relying on human inspection means problems may only be found well after they first appear, and countless contaminated products could have been produced in the meantime.

However, automation drives quality improvement through repeatable and reliable inspection, with automatic data capture to measure reject rates and alarm operators. So what do you need? Heres my guide to the inspection systems every manufacturer should know

Without automated inspection, brands run the risk of recalls, a damaged reputation and high costs. if you think recalls arent too much to worry about, check out how costly they really are, and again here.

For many businesses, automating inspection is the best solution. Inspection systems not only have a far higher detection rate than humans, but they are also able to streamline and improve your lines efficiency.

However, not all inspection technologies are made equal. So, the first step is to understand which inspection machinery will drive quality and process improvement while delivering the best return on investment (ROI). Thats even more important in light of the growing capability of techniques and equipment available.

So heres what I think you  and every manufacturer  should know:

VISION INSPECTION

What does it inspect?

Vision inspection is mostly used to inspect packaging integrity and product conformance, including:

Inspecting presence, position and formation of a code (date code, barcode,)

Validating label presence and position

Checking closures of tamper seals, correct caps by colour

Detecting packaging content and fill levels in bottles or jars

Sorting food and beverage products based on marking

Counting products

Why invest?

All-in-one vision systems are instrumental in identifying a wide range of quality issues  things that humans are unable to do reliably and consistently.

Certainly, vision systems have been around a while, but technology improvements mean they are faster, more robust and can handle a greater range of inspection tasks per camera. Todays cameras are also taking better and clearer images, which are necessary to identify defects. The better the image and software configuration, the less likely the vision system is to reject something falsely.

Another benefit is that manufacturers can tie a vision inspection system into automated processes to reduce production-line errors that could ruin an entire batch of goods. That alone could deliver the return on investment youre looking for. (You may find this article on 3 essential inspection technologies for FMCG interesting, and find out more about vision inspection.)

CHECKWEIGH

What does it inspect?

Checkweigh systems are used to reduce waste and overfill. Checkweigh systems can support weight compliance for two standards: AQS and non-AQS (UTML). Leading retailers have their own compliance requirements  such as the Woolworths WQA, where checkweighing is essential for Home Brand products, and highly recommended for all products. These typically sit at the end of the line, where they can precision weigh at required line speeds. If a product is overweight or underweight, the checkweigher will instantly reject the product by removing it from the line, and alert you to the issue immediately, so you can address it before producing thousands of out-of-spec products.

Why invest?

Checkweighers are best associated with compliance to regulations, but they can also boost your bottom line by reducing waste, tightening tolerances and ensuring more consistent products. By improving weighing precision, checkweighers are proven to provide an immediate contribution to productivity and profits. The more accurate your checkweigher, the more money you can save. So even with a packet of nuts, saving the tiniest amount of overfill could add up to massive savings over time.

Because checkweigh technology can help manufacturers detect issues with product overfill (or under-fill), you are able to correct the problem fast and save costs.

METAL DETECTION

What does it inspect?

Metal detection systems only inspect products for metal. They are ideal for inspecting dry products (think flour, salt, sugar) and frozen products, plus also give very good results on a wide range of other products. Metal detection systems sit towards the end of the line in most cases and check the final product.

Why invest?

One of the biggest culprits for food contamination today is metal and non-magnetic stainless steel. This is where metal detection technology is extremely effective. Unlike their predecessors, the advanced metal detection systems today can be configured to detect contaminants even within high moisture content.

However, metal detection systems come with a few issues. They can be affected by electrical interference and cannot handle aluminium packaging. Also, traditional metal detectors cannot inspect goods in tin cans or foil pouches or metalised film  an increasingly common packaging type in the food industry., so dont waste money on buying a metal detector that the supplier tells you will work for products in foil film. The development of X-ray metal detection technologies provides a solution. (Find out more about metal detection.)

X-RAY INSPECTION

What does it inspect?

Metal isnt the only culprit of food recalls. Glass, stone, rubber and other contaminants can make their way into the product. By evaluating density through the product and packaging, X-ray inspection equipment can identify these foreign bodies. Advanced X-ray inspection systems can perform in-line quality checks to:

Detect physical defects

Measure product mass

Identify missing or broken products

Inspect packaging seal integrity

Why invest?

Unlike metal detection, X-ray inspection is ideal for a wide range of packaging, especially in bottles, cans, jars, pouches and foils. Better yet, it can detect contaminants embedded right in the product and tell the operator where in the product the contaminant sits.

Over recent years, X-ray equipment has become a lot faster, making it ideal for high-speed production lines. This makes it a worthy investment for those processors who want to reduce contamination and protect against recalls.

However, these extra capabilities come at a cost  X-ray equipment is more expensive than metal detection. (You may find it interesting to compare metal detection with X-ray inspection.)

BARCODE SCANNER

What does it inspect?

Barcode scanners ensure barcodes are present and correct for use through the supply chain and with point-of-sale. They can inspect barcodes on cartons, pallets and individual items. Barcode scanners can be linked to databases using software to even check if the right barcode is on the right product.

Why invest?

By scanning a barcode on the line, barcode scanners help manufacturers drive greater profitability and productivity. Doing this on line, rather than at the end of the batch or shift, identifies errors in packaging or labelling immediately. The same system can be linked to a stock control system to increment products counts as the products are being made, so warehouse tallies are always up to date.

So thats my basic rundown on five different types of inspection equipment. To find out what the best inspection technology is for your production line, speak to our experts.

You may also find it interesting to read our free white papers on objective QA, automating your way to lean manufacturing, avoiding recalls and the benefits of integrating identification with inspection. Click on the link below to access our free whitepaper on lean manufacturing.

* Andrew Key is Matthews Australasias Product Manager for Inspection Technologies, with more than 25 years experience with packaging machinery, inspection technologies and ID technologies. Andrews career spans across organisations such as Alfa Laval and TNA, among others, helping manufacturers to effect process improvement using the latest technology from around the globe. In his current role, Andrew is constantly looking at cutting-edge technologies for Matthews customers to improve quality control.
Speaking to oral historian Maurice OKeeffe for the Irish Life and Lore 1916 Rising Oral History Collection, Eleanor explained how she only latterly learned the full extent of her familys involvement in the republican movement. Her mother, Rosalie Rice, who worked in the post office in Kenmare, would never tell you anything about her integral part in the IRB plans for communicating with Clan na Gael in the US.

On Easter Monday 1916, using the alias Kathleen McCarthy, 18-year-old Rosalie filed a telegram to her first cousins, [IRB men] Eugene and Tim Ring, at the Western Union cable station on Valentia Island which alerted America and the world that the Irish had risen. The coded message read: Mother operated on successfully today.

The pervasive domestic silence about the revolutionary period was not unique to Eleanor Burkes family. The testimony of the 240 descendants of participants in the Rising suggest Easter Week veterans shared with their children what they deemed suitable or worthy, but remained silent about those uncomfortable aspects of their revolutionary pasts which they felt, for various reasons, were better forgotten.

All the testimonies are individual and unique, but a pattern shows that humility and self-censorship were among the reasons for silence.

Eamonn Bulfin, for example, the Volunteer lieutenant who hoisted the green flag bearing the words Irish Republic over the GPO on Easter Monday, never told his daughter Jeanne hero stories, and Jack Shouldice, a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion in 1916, was a very quiet, modest, gentle kind of guy and not one for courting the limelight.

This resonates with historian Fearghal McGarrys observation that the Bureau of Military History witness statements were characterised by modesty rather than vanity or self-interest.

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

Like Rosalie Rice, many interviewees parents had been members of the IRB or Cumann na mBan and, as such, inculcated with the imperative of secrecy.

For some veterans, like Dan Holland, the continuity between insurrection and civil war meant there was a moratorium on talking about 1916. The fraternal conflict in which erstwhile comrades became bitter enemies literally traumatised Eamonn Bulfin and affected his willingness to discuss his experiences of 1916 beyond select anecdotes.

The social context in which the second generation grew up also influenced how memory was transmitted and received. In the deeply conservative Catholic Ireland of the 1940s and 50s, the family was defined by a strong, silent paternal figure and a mother restrained by restrictive gender roles.

In Risteard Mulcahys words, my mother, [Min Ryan] was like many of the women in 1916 who were quite political in their interests and in their attitudes, [but] once they got married they retired to the home and looked after the kids. Female activism and imprisonment  particularly during the Civil War  were subjects avoided in both the domestic and social spheres because, as Mary Dawson in conversation about her mother, Irish Citizen Army member Brigid Davis, observed, it was frowned upon  what women did at that time.

For some of the interviewees, the domestic silence was so all-encompassing that the discovery of their mothers participation in the revolutionary period was delayed, accidental, or even posthumous.

If the first generation subscribed to the expectations accorded to their gender, so too did their children. In many cases the male interviewees from the second generation struggled to reconcile the roles of mother and revolutionary.

Min Mulcahy (nee Ryan), who was educated in the Royal University of Ireland and a member of the Cumann na mBan Executive, travelled to Wexford with Eoin MacNeills countermanding order on Easter Sunday and was active in the GPO until the evacuation.

But she is firmly located in her sons memory as a devoted wife to Richard Mulcahy and in charge of what he called a fairly complicated household. The idea of revolutionary proactivity was incongruous with the ideal of 1940s motherhood.

The mid-20th-century masculine ideal was that of upright, dignified fortitude, so many second-generation interviewees used interchangeable phrases to denote emotional detachment when describing their fathers.

Colonel Joseph Lawless was described by his son Colm as a very strong man in every way and Dr Gearoid Lynch remembered his father, Fionan Lynch, Captain of F Company, 1st Battalion in 1916, as a a quiet man who was very contained. Thomas Derhams father Joseph, the garrison timekeeper in the GPO, was a straight backed man of honour.

The Rising was a topic reserved for discussion in the company of fellow veterans in the pub or around the card table. Many interviewees remarked on the fragments of information gleaned while eavesdropping on conversations between comrades.

The domestic silence together with the fact that, until the 1960s the history curriculum in schools stopped with the Act of Union meant that the revolutionary decade was in Nuala OFaolains words, an era hopelessly beyond imaginative reach. For their part, the sons and daughters, nieces and nephews demonstrated the very human impulses to put the record straight, to eulogise, exonerate, and commemorate.

The third-generation interviewees, children of the liberalised 1970s Irish society, are even more removed from the revolutionary period. That extra layer of distance, together with different cultural and educational experiences, means grandsons and granddaughters are generally more conscious of the periods complexities.

But theirs are a diluted version of the story, distilled through public memorialisation, collective memory and a vast historio-graphy. In many cases, children of the revolutionaries were sheltered from realities they could not understand; in others, they were traumatised by association or carried the burden of expectation.

Many felt it was their duty to build on the impossible ideals of the previous generation.

The grandsons and granddaughters are less conscious of the echoes of trauma in their childhoods and less concerned, as Thomas MacDonaghs granddaughter, Lucille Redmond, put it, with baton-handing. Their responsibility, as many of them see it, is to plumb the family archives to uncover the truth of their ancestors place at the fountainhead of modern Ireland. The centenary of the 1916 Rising offers an opportunity for them to tell their stories.

Helene OKeeffe is author of To Speak of Easter Week: Family Memories of the Irish Revolution, published by Mercier Press and supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht. The interviews on which it is based can be downloaded at www.irishlifeandlore.com

Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
The Merchants Quay Night Cafe in Dublin opened on January 21 last year and figures until the end of 2015 show that while almost 90% of users entered homelessness due to substance abuse issues or mental health difficulties, around one in 10 are among the new homeless, who have been priced out of rental accommodation in the capital.

Brenda Kane, the Merchants Quay Ireland Night Cafe project manager, said some clients are holding down jobs while using the service, which they see as a stop-gap until they can secure a rental property.

The figures from the night cafe  which does not have beds but which allows clients to sleep on mats  had 1,972 unique users in 2015 and 18,375 total referrals to the service, resulting in 16,104 allocations. Many of those clients are repeat users. In December, for example, 17 people spent more than half of all the nights in the calendar month at the night cafe.

The capacity of the cafe when it first opened its doors was 50, but that was expanded to 65 for the annual cold weather initiative, which continues until the end of April.

Ms Kane said the cafe has been operating at close to or at full capacity for much of the first year, with some drop-off in demand during the summer months and Christmas. In the first week of February this year, it had 385 visits, or 55 a night.

The cafe is limited to single people aged over 18, so does not cater for families.

The figures show that to the end of last year, 88% of the clients that stayed at the night cafe were male. The vast majority of those using the service were aged 25 to 45, while 12% of those who used it were under 25, and the same percentage were aged over 50.

Just under two thirds of all clients were Irish, while 15% were European and 20% were non-EU nationals.

The complex needs of those using the service were highlighted by the high number of people who were also availing of other support services offered by the Merchants Quay Night Cafe.

For example, 92% of those who used the cafe were also engaging with food and medical services, while 87% were engaging with case-management services, assisting them with accommodation applications, social welfare payments, or applying for a medical card. However, a smaller number of people have found accessed services including the night cafe because of a struggle to source accommodation in the rental market.

Ms Kane said: We do have a new breed of homeless. We do have some people presenting who are employed and using this as a stop-gap.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive is backing the night cafe and has assured the Merchants Quay Night Cafe that it will be funded up to the end of this year.

Hidden homelessness: 3
The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service says 4,696 asylum seekers and refugees were in direct provision centres at the end of 2015, a 7.6% increase on the number in 2014.

INIS said the increase was due to a rise in the number of asylum applications between 2014 and 2015 and noted the trend had been on a downward slide prior to that.

But the extra numbers being accommodated in the system comes just months after the Oireachtas Public Services Oversight Committee found it not fit for purpose and a Department of Justice working group made 173 recommendations to change the way it operates.

Sue Conlan, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, said despite the problems with the system being laid bare, it had actually become more entrenched as the States response to asylum seekers.

We had 34 centres before the two reports were published and now we have 35, so direct provision became more entrenched, which was very disappointing and its certainly a bit of a setback.

When direct provision was introduced in 2000, it was envisaged that asylum applicants would be in the system for a maximum of six months. Accommodation was basic and facilities limited as a result.

But half of those in the system last year had been there five years or longer and remain prohibited from cooking for themselves or taking on employment, receiving a weekly subsistence payment of 19.10 per adult.

Both reports found high levels of stress among residents and raised concerns about their long- term wellbeing, particularly among children.

A few of the working groups recommendations were adopted. Since last September residents in direct provision have been exempted from the prescription charge and since January, children have had their weekly allowance increased from 9.60 to 15.60, although the working group had wanted it trebled.

But the vast majority of the recommendations  including the key proposal that residents be allowed to work after nine months in the system  have not been acted upon.

Ms Conlan said changes could be introduced without extra cost. Even with the added pressure from the increase in asylum applications, I think we can still do it better and create a system that involves people having more control over their daily lives.

Separately, a case is being taken to the High Court today challenging the States refusal to grant child benefit to an Irish citizen child born in direct provision. Child benefit for children in the direct provision system was discontinued in 2004.
The growth in revenue from foreign tourists in 2014 was even more impressive  up 27% to 550m.

Figures published by Failte Ireland provide a breakdown on a county basis of the most popular destinations for both domestic and foreign tourists in 2014.

Cork was the second most popular destination in the Republic for overseas visitors after Dublin.

A total of 1,542,000 foreign tourists, more than a fifth of the 7.6m visitors to Ireland in 2014, visited Cork during their stay.

Tourists from the UK remain the key market for the sector in Cork, accounting for 39% or 609,000 of all overseas visitors with 539,000, or 35% from mainland Europe.

Dublin still dominates our tourism industry, with almost 4.2m (54%) of all overseas visitors in 2014 spending some time in the capital.

However, overall revenue from foreign tourists in Dublin declined by almost 2% in 2014 to just under 1.4bn, despite a 3% increase in actual visitor numbers.

Several other counties also suffered falls in tourist revenue notwithstanding rising visitor numbers, including Wexford where spending by overseas tourists was down 10%.

A Failte Ireland spokesperson said the likely explanation was shorter average holidays. Revenue is driven by length of stay which did drop marginally in Dublin in 2014 as well as the East and Midlands region.

Galway was the third most popular destination visited by 1,235,000 foreign tourists, followed by Kerry with 1,040,000.

Longford was the least popular destination for overseas tourists, visited by just 22,000 or 0.3% of the total.

All counties with the exception of Carlow, Louth, Meath, and Monaghan, recorded an increase in overseas visitors during 2014.

In terms of domestic tourists, 805,000 visitors stayed in Cork in 2014, an annual increase of almost 9% and the highest number since 2011.

Revenue from domestic tourists to Cork also rose by almost 18% to 154m.

Overall the number of Irish people holidaying at home rose 3.4% in 2014, up 243,000 to 7.35m. Associated revenue rose 6.6% to 1.46bn.

Failte Ireland said figures showed both visits and revenue from overseas and domestic tourists had recorded further increases in 2015.
Geoffrey Shannon told an audience of educators and lawyers, over the weekend, that the legislation on cyberbullying was not fit-for-purpose.

I do not think the law has caught up with the technology, he told a conference on education and the law at St Angelas College, Sligo.

Dr Shannon, chairman of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, said this issue was being dealt with under harassment legislation, but warned we need legislation that is fit-for-purpose, legislation that reflects the technology that now exists.

The new child-protection frontier was in this area of technology, he told the conference.

We know the physical challenges and the physical risks, but it is that online world that seems so remote and so innocuous, and yet has devastating consequences for children.

The child-protection expert called for a strong disciplinary response from schools to cyberbullying of children, whether they are children from the Roma community or from any foreign national community, or from the LGBT community.

Victimisation online takes on a different reality, because it follows the child outside of the school yard, he warned.

Mr Shannon also criticised the lack of inter-agency cooperation regarding vulnerable children, saying this was one of the issues where we continue to spectacularly fail our children.

He said professionals had not made that quantum leap, but it had to change.

All of the state agencies need to start talking to each other.

Having chaired the review into the 196 children who died in state care over a decade, he said this had given him a unique insight into the experiences of children in care.

I still carry with me the memory of many of these files, he said.

Stressing the importance of education in the safeguarding of children, he said that, having reviewed 500 children-in-care files and the treatment the children received at the hands of the State, he was struck by how many of these had dropped out of school.

Without proper investment in the education system, he said, there was a risk of young people being alienated and of ending up in a downward, irreversible spiral.

The reality was that many would end up in adult prisons  and at what cost to the State? he asked.

Maria Cambpell, a lecturer in education at St Angelas, expressed concern about the ability of the new Admission to Schools legislation to resolve widespread lack of integration in schools around the country.

She said white flight was an issue in many areas, where Irish parents were not sending children to local schools with an ethnic mix.

Ms Campbell pointed out that there are 20 schools where 80% or more of the school population are from immigrant communities, while 23% of schools have no non-Irish children.

We need to question and challenge that unequal distribution, she said.

There is a need to have these uncomfortable conversations at every level of society.

The lecturer said it was significant that in the recent election campaign this had not even been an issue.

Editorial: 10
Coveney will make a submission to An Bord Pleanala before the mid-week deadline, in relation to Indavers latest planning application for a commercial incinerator in Ringaskiddy, which has been made under the strategic infrastructure process.

Im very much opposed to it, Mr Coveney said. I think its not consistent with what were trying to do in the harbour area.

Since Indavers last, failed attempt to develop the incinerator, the State has invested hundreds of millions of euro in the harbour. It has developed the IMERC campus, a university-style research precinct, which is a collaboration between the National Maritime College, the new Beaufort wind-and-wave-energy research lab, and the nearby headquarters of the Irish Naval Service.

It is also spending millions on the remediation of the toxic waste dump on Haulbowline Island to transform it into a public park, and millions on the development of Spike Island as Irelands Alcatraz.

Mr Coveney said the state investment in Cork Harbour could top 500m over 10 years. There is going to be a lot of marine tourism, and marine leisure, as part of that campus over the next few years, he said.

I just dont think the Indaver proposal is consistent with that, and I think the site they are proposing to put a large commercial incinerator on isnt suitable, and isnt consistent with what is happening literally next door. Ministers dont normally put in objections to things, but, I think, given the time and political commitment Ive given to delivering really positive development around the harbour, the idea that we would be seeing a commercial incinerator being built next door undermines a lot of what weve been trying to do.

Indaver submitted a planning application to An Bord Pleanala last January, for a 240,000-tonne-per-annum waste-to-energy incinerator in Ringaskiddy. It has sparked outrage in the locality, and prompted a major protest march last Thursday.

Indaver says the proposed facility will treat household, commercial, industrial, non-hazardous and suitable hazardous waste, generating 18.5MW of electricity for export to the national grid.

The company said Ireland produces two million tonnes of residential municipal solid waste per year, and cant manage it. It said the State has become too reliant on the export of the non-recyclable residual waste, for incineration in Europe  a practice that is becoming more expensive.

This reliance on export outlets for the treatment of residual waste represents a loss in revenue to the economy, and a loss in the valuable energy resource in the waste, it said. It is also not sustainable and it is becoming difficult, and more expensive, to secure these outlets in Europe, it added.

The Southern Waste Region Management Plan, 2015-2021, supports the development of 300,000 tonnes of thermal-recovery capacity, or incinerators, for the treatment of municipal wastes.

Indaver said this waste plan also highlights the unbalanced national distribution of incinerators  they are all based in Leinster  and the Ringaskiddy project would address this imbalance. It also said the Ringaskiddy site is in an industrial and strategic employment area, and that it will spend up to 750,000 on amenity upgrades.
The agency had sought from the HSE the names of staff members who occupy senior posts at Tusla, but the HSE has failed to hand over the information.

Recent reports in the Irish Examiner, highlighting Graces case, led to the Government announcing a commission of investigation into the allegations of horrific abuse at the foster home and also the failings in care to 47 children and young adults.

Following an appearance by HSE bosses at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last month, Tusla requested details from the HSE as to the role of any of its staff in the scandal.

When the PAC raised issues about Graces care, and highlighted where staff who had dealt with her care now worked, the HSE delivered a redacted copy of a 2012 report on the matter to Tusla.

But it emerged yesterday that the HSE has failed to reveal the names of those involved to Tusla.

Tusla said an internal report sent by the HSE refers to the posts involved in Graces case but does not specify names.

Following the comments made by the HSE in front of the PAC, Tusla requested the names of any individuals involved in the case who are now working in Tusla. Tusla has not yet received a response from the HSE, the statement said.

The HSE said it is seeking legal advice before passing on the information requested by Tusla.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the HSE said: The Conal Devine and Reliance Reports, with permission of An Garda Siochana and in line with legal advice have been provided to Tusla.

The statement added that some additional information was sought by Tusla in recent days.

The HSE through its legal advisers is consulting with An Garda Siochana on whether the additional information can be provided.

The Tusla statement was given to RTEs This Week programme.

Allegations of savage physical and sexual abuse against a person in the foster care setting being raised in the mid-1990s, yet Grace remained in that setting until 2009 before legal steps were taken to remove her by a voluntary service provider.

Another woman, known as Ann, remained in the home until 2013.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman John McGuinness was scathing in his criticism of the HSE and its refusal to hand over the information to Tusla.

It is simply outrageous. The HSE seems to be sitting on its hands and has kept Tusla and the victims in the dark, he said.

None of it is satisfactory, how they have handled this matter. The continued redaction just shows the organisation is incompetent and is setting a very poor standard.

Mr McGuinness and his vice chairman, Fine Gael TD John Deasy, played a significant role in highlighting Graces case over many months.

Before the general election, following reports in this newspaper over the mishandling of an apology to Grace by the HSE, the previous government agreed to establish a commission of investigation once a scoping exercise is completed.

That review is currently being undertaken by Conor Dignam SC at the request of minster of state at the Department of Health which is expected to conclude around April.

The next Government is expected to formally approve the establishment of a Commission into the matter.

Yesterday, HSE director general Tony OBrien, in a statement, said he remains concerned as to how the giving of the apology to Grace was mishandled, which led to the PAC being misled.

He said a review is underway to ensure no such mistakes happen again.
Labourer Ganga Rai, 40, his wife Thulimaya, a cleaner, and their sons, Bikaash, 10, and Bishal, 7, were homeless for three months following the devastating Nepal earthquake last April.

However, money donated by the people of West Cork to Just-One, a charity for street children established by Declan Murphy, enabled the Rai family and eight other families to move into specially constructed bamboo-and-clay homes on a half-acre site leased by Just-One in the north-west of Kathmandu.

The Rai family was left homeless by the earthquake because the room they rented was damaged, says Mr Murphy. The new accommodation has transformed their lives.

Both boys attend school with the support of Just-One which helps about 80 children annually with the cost of uniforms, school shoes, books, and other charges which are often beyond their parents reach.

The 50,000 donated to the charity by the people of West Cork also allowed the provision of emergency food and sanitary support to about 1,000 people; the distribution of tankers of clean water to some 1,280 people; the distribution of replacement school uniforms, shoes, school bags, books and stationery items to some 970 students from seven schools, four of which were also provided with replacement books and educational games for their affected libraries; and the construction of longer-term shelters for three families.

Mr Murphy was visiting his family in Clonakilty when the earthquake struck on April 25 last.

There was this incredibly huge outpouring of generosity from all across West Cork. Within just six weeks after the earthquake, wed raised nearly 50,000.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, many of the families and the children we work with were left homeless. They stayed under bamboo and tarpaulin tents that we helped provide as a result of the support from West Cork.

Mr Murphy founded Just-One in 2004 after witnessing the plight of street children in Kathmandu. The charity supports them to return to their families and schools.

Seeing the children on the street and working in the tea shops was the impetus.

I got the idea to encourage schoolchildren in Ireland to help children in Nepal go to school, he said, adding that the organisation has helped children on the run from violence at home or from abusive employers.

We have residential transit accommodation for six children aged between seven and 12, boys only, where they stay while we trace their families and try to resolve whatever problems may have resulted in them ending up on the street.

Once theyre back home with their families we provide educational sponsorship for them and their siblings and follow-up visits to ensure our intervention is worthwhile,

said Mr Murphy, who now has a staff of 10 and an annual running cost of about 80,000.

Its daunting. The future sustainability of Just-One is by no means certain, but the incredible support that continues to come from West Cork is a huge source of hope to me and to the staff.

Visit www.just-one.org.
In my nationalist boyhood, one of my party pieces was declaiming Patrick Pearses oration at the grave of ODonovan Rossa. It never occurred to me that I should recite the 1916 Proclamation as an encore, despite Pearses significant input into the latter.

The 1915 oration is generally seen as a dry run for the Easter 1916 document, yet the two could hardly be more different. The oration is splendid nationalist rhetoric, personal and passionate, with its memorable Fenian dead climax.

The Proclamation, on the other hand, does not readily lend itself to off-by-heart recitation. It is a formal statement, a declaration of war, a repetitive assertion of sovereignty, very suitable for solemn incantation by army officers. It is also theatrically self-conscious, and in places verges on the ponderous.

In the years after 1916, imbued with the aura of martyrdom, the Proclamation was (and still is) seen as the seminal charter of independence and the wellspring of noble political values. More pragmatically, it is also a Fenian or IRB manifesto, the last in a sequence going back to the 1850s.

These documents had already proclaimed the Republic, now virtually established and had asserted the doctrine of equal rights. Indeed, much that is seen as innovation in the 1916 document had already been said  with the exception of the new reference to gender equality,  Irishmen and Irishwomen

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 James Fintan Lalor doctrine of public ownership finds expression in the 1916 assertion of the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland. However, the Proclamation is rather naive in stating that national sovereignty can never be relinquished except by the destruction of the Irish people. We have seen it given away in our time, financially and by international treaty.

On the whole, there is less to the Proclamation than meets the eye. There is little social content in the document and no cultural goal at all. A regrettable precedent is set by the inclusion of the ritual cupla focail and the exclusive dominance, otherwise, of English. This is all the more extraordinary given Pearses devotion to Irish language revival. The promise in the document of universal suffrage reminds us that the march of democracy is a feature of the UK as a whole.

The Representation of the People Act (1918) is part of our British heritage and is not a 1916-inspired development. Certainly, the tripling of the electorate at a stroke facilitated the triumph of Sinn Fein in the 1918 general election and its dominance in the new Dail Eireann.

Finally, for now, the assertion in the Proclamation that the Irish people had asserted in arms their right to national freedom and sovereignty six times in the last 300 years is nationalist propaganda and very bad history.

Is this being pointed out to our schoolchildren?

A knowledgable student of the decade of centenaries has suggested to me that the real ideological divide among nationalists was not that between Home Rulers and separatists, or pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty, or Republicans and Free Staters, but between Proclamationists and the rest.

For the Proclamationists, the Republic was born once it was proclaimed, and sanctified by martyrdom.

When a reorganised Sinn Fein published its constitution in 1917, its source of authority was declared to be  the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, Easter 1916. The first Dail Eireann, meeting on January 21, 1919, ratified the Republic, deeming it to be already in existence.

Henceforth, purists and irreconcilables would see all compromise settlements and agreements as betrayals of the 1916 sacred text and responsible for such evils as partition. Use of the holy name of republic for subsequent inferior arrangements (the Republic of Ireland Act, 1949, for example) could not be tolerated. The Republic, as established in 1916 must be restored.

People like Ruairi O Bradaigh, who defined a republican as one who gives his allegiance to, and seeks to restore, the 32-county Republic of Easter Week could be described as a hard Proclamationist.

Fianna Fail moved on in the 1930s from being  slightly constitutional but it remained uneasy in 1949 with the description of the 26-county State as a Republic. The party could be fairly described at that time as soft Proclamationists.

So can Sinn Fein today. While working the constitutional and institutional machinery of the State, its refusal to use the official descriptions of the partitioned states, points to its true allegiance. The 1916 Proclamation is core to our Republic... It is unfinished business.

Leaving aside the Proclamationist elite, it seems fair to say that the plain citizens of nationalist Ireland, though long since disenchanted with political rhetoric, regard the 1916 Proclamation as enshrining high values from which there has been a grievous falling away.

But though we frequently refer to the lofty ideals of the document, few of us take the trouble to read it seriously or understand its context.

For example, the most frequently quoted  and misunderstood  phrase in the Proclamation is that which refers to cherishing all the children of the nation equally. What was intended here, beyond any doubt, was an olive branch to unionists, a wistful aspiration to all-Ireland reconciliation and unity.

Yet the cherishing phrase continues to be misinterpreted almost daily  by taoisigh, former presidents, government ministers, and others; in short, by people who should know better. Sometimes it is invoked in the most comically irrelevant contexts, as meaning the ideal of social justice and equality, especially for the young of the species. Some of us have frequently pointed out this major error of interpretation but to no avail. Indeed, I have been recently taken to task for allegedly attempting to narrow the vision of the signatories.

I am now beginning to think that the Proclamation, like the Constitution, may well have a changing validity for successive generations and lives through its contemporary interpretations, irrespective of what the founding fathers meant.

John A Murphy is Emeritus Professor of History, University College Cork

The Constitution Project at University College Cork hosts a seminar next Monday evening, March 14, from 5.45pm to 7.30pm, titled Sovereignty since 1916: Has the Law fulfilled the Promise of the Proclamation? More information on speakers and themes are online at: http://bit.ly/1L1LtPj

Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
The good news comes as the festival prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year.

Cork Midsummer Festival will run over two weekends from 17-19 June, and 24-26 June, and on the summer solstice, June 21st.

This years landmark event will see a comprehensive programme including the award-winning Corcadorca theatre company who will stage their biggest site-specific production since 2008. Sacrifice at Easter by famed The Butcher Boy author Pat McCabe will take place at Elizabeth Fort on Barrack Street in Cork city.

The Arts Council has increased its funding to 105,000, the Cork City Councils Arts Office funding is 70,000 and Failte Ireland has allocated 18,000. The programme will include music, dance, performance and art along with a range of free and outdoor events.

Commenting on preparations for the 2016 event, Executive Director Lorraine Maye said: We are hugely appreciative to the Arts Council, Cork City Council and Failte Ireland for their fantastic show of support.

Exciting plans for this years Festival are already afoot and we can promise that this unique celebration of culture will stretch to all parts of the city, and will offer something creative and entertaining for every taste and budget.

Ms Maye continued, One of the Festival highlights is sure to be the spectacular Sacrifice at Easter, written in response to the 1916 centenary.

Priority booking for Sacrifice at Easter is now open for Festival Friends and Patrons at www.corkmidsummer.com, with tickets going on general sale from March 16th.

Corcadorca Theatre Company Manager Fin Flynn described the performance as a creative collaboration between Pat McCabe, director Pat Kiernan and renowned composer Mel Mercier, saying: Sacrifice at Easter is made possible by the support of Cork City Council and the Ireland 2016 office - a fitting event as the Corcadorca this year celebrates 25 years of making theatre in Cork.

The Festivals Artistic Curator Kath Gorman added We are delighted to have the innovative Corcadorca return for the 2016 Cork Midsummer Festival. We are really looking forward to this one-of-a-kind performance, along with the other new,exciting events and the return of well-loved Festival favourites. For now though, we are remaining tightlipped on all other events until we announce the Festival highlights later in March.

The Cork Midsummer Festival, which was hailed by the Lonely Planet as a Cork cultural highlight, has also retained its Chairperson Jane Anne Rothwell, and appointed two new board members. Fiona Kearney, Director of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, and Nik Quaife, Communications and External Affairs Director of the Irish Arts Center, New York, join Anne Clarke, Orla Flynn, Carla Manning, and Aidan Stanley on the board.

Speaking about the new appointments Ms Rothwell said: We are thrilled to welcome both Fiona and Nik to the board. Their experience and credentials in the arts world will help to make the 2016 Cork Midsummer Festival a truly memorable, not-to-be-missed event. The whole team is really looking forward to a marvelous Midsummer.

For more on Cork Midsummer Festival see corkmidsummer.com and follow @CorkMidsummer on Twtter.
Pronto e Fresco antipasto manufacturer enters into voluntary administration

Melbourne antipasto manufacturer Pronto e Fresco entered into voluntary administration last Wednesday after more than 15 years in business.

It is unclear at this stage why the business went into administration.

The company is one of Australias largest producer of antipasto foods including olives, semi-dried tomatoes and grilled vegetables. It wholesales to Australian supermarkets, caterers, hospitals, universities, restaurants and hotels.

The Pronto e Fresco website says it exports to New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
THE song, Up Went Nelson, by The Go Lucky Four, remained top of the Irish charts for eight weeks in 1966. It celebrated the destruction of Nelsons Pillar, on March 8 of that year. That was 50 years ago this week.

Lord Horatio Nelson had watched over the citizens of Dublin for 157 years, until an unauthorised IRA operation, named Operation Humpty Dumpty, had dispatched Nelson from atop his 121ft Doric column, down onto the capitals main street.

Nelson first appeared on the Dublin skyline in 1809 and became one of the citys architectural adornments. The statue was designed by Cork sculptor, Thomas Kirk, and was unveiled to the public on October 21 (Trafalgar Day), 1809. A committee of trustees, including Arthur Guinness, had financed its construction.

The pillar had 168 steps, with startling views from the top. Many Dubliners treated Nelson with indifference, whilst others appreciated the one-eyed, one-armed wonder standing aloft on OConnell Street.

Oliver Saint John Gogarty described it as the grandest thing we have in Dublin, but history caught up with Nelson.

After the 1916 Rising, OConnell street was in tatters, but, much to peoples chagrin, Nelson, by luck or design, got off lightly. He only suffered an injury to his face. The War of Independence also passed him by.

But attempts were made to even things up. In 1955, a group of UCD students barricaded themselves inside the pillar and attempted to burn Nelson from inside, using blow torches. Gardai arrived, but a crowd had formed to protect the students. The students got a telling-off, while the crowd sang Kevin Barry in support.

Nelson had become a landmark, a meeting place, a terminus for taxis and buses. Yet, this face of British imperialism, overlooking the nations capital, was an affront to nationalists.

The pillar was owned by trustees, and Dublin Corporation had pleaded with them to move it, to improve traffic management. Their petitions fells on deaf ears, because of legalities and costs, while many Dubliners opposed any plans to move Nelson to a less central part of the city.

Nelson had some powerful supporters, among them, Desmond Ryan, once secretary to Padraig Pearse, who said: Nelson had acquired squatters rights to his place in OConnell street.

As time passed, proposals were put forward in the hope of finding an acceptable compromise to the pillar dilemna. What, or who, could adorn the doric plinth, instead of Lord Nelson?

Among the proposals were: a winged figure, an eternal flame, Micheal Collins, Wolfe Tone, St Patrick, John F Kennedy, and, in a true sign of the times, the Virgin Mary.

On March 8, 1966, the debate came to an abrupt end. An IRA bomb went off on OConnell St, destroying the upper half of the pillar. It was no coincidence that the date marked 50 years since the Easter Rising. The army dispatched what remained of the pillar.

David Norris would later comment: It provoked the only recorded instance of humour in that lugubrious figure, the late President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera, who is said to have phoned the Irish Press, to suggest a headline, British Admiral Leaves Dublin By Air.

But, true to form, Nelson did not go silently into the night. Shortly afterwards, a theft took place from a Dublin Corporation storage shed. Nelsons head had vanished. Students from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), short of cash, had stolen it and leased it to an antiques dealer.

The head would later appear on stage with the folk band, the Dubliners, at the Olympia, and, bizarrely, in a ladies stocking commercial. Eventually, through a circuitous route, Nelsons head returned to its rightful owner.

Anna Livia stole Nelsons spot in OConnell street for a time; but Anna was replaced by the now symbol of OConnell Street, the Spire. Nelsons head now takes pride of place in the Gilbert Library, on Pearse St, Dublin.

Many Irish people will remember walking the 168 steps of the pillar to the viewing platform. Courting couples met at the pillar, buses and trams alighted there, revolution and war happened under it. Nelsons Pillar lives on in the folk memory of Dubliners, through stories, poems and songs.

As we remember the anniversary of Nelsons destruction, we leave the last words to The Go Lucky Four and their chart-topping lyrics of 1966: All along OConnell Street, the stones and rubble flew, As up went Nelson and the pillar, too.
Carne means meat, and valle means farewell presumably farewell to 40 days of fish suppers. Soon, the festivals of Easter will begin.

We will be home for Easter, and looking forward to a long, glorious Irish summer, if it happens. In a lifetime of travel, I have concluded that nowhere is more beautiful than Ireland, and few places as hospitable and friendly. Looking through photographs on my computer, I find myself amazed with the beauty of scenes I casually snapped. It was just another walk, just another view  but it was in Ireland and, most likely, breathtaking.

Ive written yards about Irelands beauty but, of course, have failed to capture the beauty as it exists. The words, if I get them right, may have a pleasing ring to them, but they are not the thing itself. Its loveliness is uncapturable. It changes with the light, from nanosecond to nanosecond. Great painters entrap it.

Light-entrapment is, perhaps, the most identifiable characteristic of great painting, and a standard by which great painting may be judged.

However, while, at the hands of a great painter, the magical light of a landscape, a bowl of flowers, a face, is captured, caught in stasis, it cannot ever be the same as it was then. The living light plays on the captured light and changes it.

In the landscape in Ireland, this is especially true and we may thank the gods of nature for it. Forty shades of green, and a country which, at all times of the year  not only in March  has many weathers. Nevertheless, I shake my head in wonderment at the beauty of the scenes which my camera, often set on automatic, captured. It is, as they say, eye-candy; the photographer cannot miss. And for the naked eye, Ireland, is visually worldclass.

Maybe being born in Ireland brought changes in light to my attention, the light on leaves, on water, on the sea, in alleyways, on car bonnets. When I was a teenager, I used to be able to tell the time of day without a watch. Of course, in Ireland, we live in light that is constantly changing, perhaps more than elsewhere  more than in, say, the skies over deserts or snowscapes, unchanging deep blue for hours at a time.

The sun breaks through the clouds; the clouds sweep over the sun; the mist becomes rain; the rain clears and everything sparkles. Seen thus, we can say truly that, on our native island, we live in many different worlds. This is no hyperbole. We all know that it is a different world when the sun shines and we view our surroundings standing out of doors, and when the rain falls and we have to see it through a window, sheltering inside.

To return to the Spanish ceremony of The Burial of the Sardine, the ritual may arouse some curiosity.

In the case of this island, a giant, papier-mache sardine is put on a podium and set fire to. On the nearby island of La Palma, a sardine effigy is exploded with rockets.

The sardines demise is part of the Carnaval, which has its origins in the Roman feast of Saturnalia. At Carnaval, the streets become a moving circus of parades and floats crowded with men and women half-dressed, cross-dressed or costumed like cabaret stars.

The carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is famed as one of the most magnificent in the world. Carnaval was banned for 40 years by the dictator Francisco Franco because he feared that its uncontrolled freedoms might engender revolution against his repressive state.

However, no sooner had he passed away than the dusty costumes were recovered from the attics and cellars where they lay hidden, and the Carnaval burst forth again.

It signals, too, the coming of spring which, indeed, it already here. Meanwhile I learn that at home the ravens are already nesting on the cliffs of the Seven Heads and the first celandine and primroses are in flower. Here, the wild aloe vera is blooming, and house leeks.

House leeks (Supervivium tectorum) are weird succulent plants, and have nothing to do with onions. Flowering bright yellow to deep purple, they grow on cliff faces, walls and the roofs of old, clay-tiled houses. Tectorum relates to roof; the ancient Romans grew them on roofs to protect them from thunderbolts. Where the leek comes from I dont know.
They have been found in an active underwater volcano, have attacked more people during 2015 than in any previous year, and a new global initiative has been launched to protect them. Although these magnificent creatures have survived for 400 million years, they are threatened as never before.

Kavachi, in the Solomon Islands, is one of the worlds most unstable marine volcanoes. There were major eruptions there in 2003 and 2007 and a minor one in 2014. Discharging hot acid into the ocean, the underwater cone is far too dangerous for divers to enter. Using robots to explore it, scientists found crabs and jellyfish living 50m below the surface. Most surprisingly, two species of shark and a stingray were filmed swimming inside the crater. One was the elusive Pacific sleeper shark, which had only been filmed on two previous occasions.

The other, the scalloped hammerhead, is a globally threatened species. Climate change is increasing the acidity of the worlds oceans. The discovery of sharks in such extreme conditions suggests that fish may cope better with rising acidity than was previously thought.

There were 98 unprovoked shark attacks on people during 2015, resulting in six fatalities. In 2000, the worst previous year on record, there were 88 such incidents. The statistics exclude cases where fishermen were bitten when handling captured sharks. The figures might suggest that sharks are becoming more aggressive but, according to the experts, there is no evidence of this; the increase in incidents is statistically insignificant.

As the human population increases worldwide, more and more people are swimming and surfing, so a rise in encounters with sharks is only to be expected. Also, with the increased use social media, confrontations are more likely to be reported.

Should we be afraid of sharks? According to the statisticians, you are more likely to be struck by lightning, or electrocuted by your toaster, than attacked by a shark. Jellyfish and bees present far greater threats to us. Nonetheless George Burgess, who prepares the Global Shark Attack File, recommends that swimmers avoid locations where fish congregate, as a hunting shark may bite a swimmer accidentally. Nor is wearing shiny jewellery advisable; it can gleam like fish scales. Sharks tend to attack solitary swimmers or surfers, so avoid entering the water alone.

Humans present a far greater threat to sharks than they do to us; about 100 million of them are slaughtered each year. Shark fin soup is a snob delicacy in Asian countries. More and more sharks are being caught to meet the increasing demand for it.

The unfortunate fish have their fins cut off and are thrown back into the sea to die a lingering death. Sharks and rays grow slowly, taking many years to mature. Each female produces relatively few young during her lifetime. With such a low reproductive rate, the current losses from fishing cant be replenished.

Sharks and rays are vertebrates like ourselves but we dont even know how many species there are; new ones are being discovered almost on a monthly basis. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists 1,038 species. An analysis presented to the Convention on Migratory Species meeting in Costa Rica in February, suggested that 24% of these are threatened with extinction. The common skate, found in Irish waters, is listed as critically endangered, while the porbeagle is deemed to be threatened.

A new Global Sharks and Rays Initiative, launched at the meeting, recommends the introduction of science-based fishery management schemes to protect sharks. Fishing gear, it suggests, should be modified to reduce by-catch mortality. Hotspot locations have been identified where active intervention is required. Only a global effort will prevent the extinction of the most threatened species.
AS US President Barack Obama prepares to embark on an historic visit to Cuba, the future of the communist-ruled island is the subject of widespread speculation.

Some observers are hoping that the ongoing shift toward capitalism, which has been occurring very gradually for five years under Raul Castros direction, will naturally lead Cuba toward democracy. Experience suggests otherwise.

In fact, economic liberalisation is far from a surefire route to democracy. Nothing better illustrates this than the worlds largest and oldest autocracy, China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains its monopoly on power, even as pro-market reforms have enabled its economy to surge.

(A key beneficiary of this process has been the Chinese military.)

The belief that capitalism automatically brings democracy implies an ideological connection between the two. But the dominance of the CCP which currently boasts 88m members, more than Germanys total population  is no longer rooted in ideology. The party, represented by a cloistered oligarchy, endures by employing a variety of instruments  coercive, organisational, and remunerative  to preclude the emergence of organised opposition.

A 2013 party circular known as Document No. 9 listed seven threats to the CCPs leadership that President Xi Jinping intends to eliminate. These include espousal of Western constitutional democracy, promotion of universal values of human rights, encouragement of civil society, nihilist criticisms of the partys past, and endorsement of Western news values.

In short, communism is now focused less on what it is  that is, its ideology  and more on what it is not. Its representatives are committed, above all, to holding on to political power  an effort that the economic prosperity brought by capitalism supports, by helping to stave off popular demands for change.

The story is similar in Vietnam and Laos. Both began decentralising economic control and encouraging private enterprise in the late 1980s, and are now among Asias fastest-growing economies. Vietnam is even a member of the incipient 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the one-party state remains entrenched, and continues to engage in considerable political repression.

Things do not seem set to change anytime soon. In Vietnam, Nguyn Tn Dung, the reform-minded prime minister, recently failed in his bid to become general secretary of the Communist Party (the countrys supreme leader); the 12th National Congress reelected the incumbent, Nguyn Phu Trng.

Beyond providing sufficient material gains to keep the population satisfied, capitalism strengthens a communist-ruled states capacity to increase internal repression and control information.

One example is the notorious Great Firewall of China, a government operation that screens and blocks internet content, creating a realm of politically sanitised information for citizens. China is the only major country in the world whose official internal security budget is larger than its official national defence budget.

In the face of Chinas current economic turmoil, control of information has become more important than ever. In order to forestall potential challenges, Chinas leadership has increasingly muzzled the press, limiting, in particular, reporting or commentary that could adversely affect stock prices or the currency.

Xi has asked journalists to pledge absolute loyalty to the CCP, and closely follow its leadership in thought, politics, and action. A state-run newspaper, warning that the legitimacy of the party might decline, argued that the nations media outlets are essential to political stability.

Clearly, where communists call the shots, the development of a free market for goods and services does not necessarily lead to the emergence of a marketplace of ideas.

Even Nepal, a communist-dominated country that holds elections, has been unable to translate economic liberalisation into a credible democratic transition. Instead, the countrys politics remain in a state of flux, with political and constitutional crises undermining its reputation as a Shangri-La and threatening to turn it into a failed state.

Democracy and communism are, it seems, mutually exclusive. But capitalism and communism clearly are not  and that could be very dangerous.

In fact, the marriage of capitalism and communism, spearheaded by China, has spawned a new political model that represents the first direct challenge to liberal democracy since Fascism: authoritarian capitalism.

With its spectacular rise to become a leading global power in little more than a single generation, China has convinced autocratic regimes everywhere that authoritarian capitalism  or, as Chinese leaders call it, socialism with Chinese characteristics  is the fastest and smoothest route to prosperity and stability, far superior to messy electoral politics. This may help to explain why the spread of democracy worldwide has lately stalled.

Obamas impending Cuba visit should be welcomed as a sign of the end of Americas inapt policy of isolation  a development that could open the way to lifting the 55-year-old trade embargo against the country.

But it would be a serious mistake to assume that Cubas economic opening, advanced by the Obama-initiated rapprochement, will necessarily usher in a new political era in Cuba.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research and fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Asian Juggernaut, Water: Asias New Battleground, and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016.
The decision is due later this year on whether to translate into Irish all EU documents and speeches in the European Parliament, Commission, and Council, where ministers and national leaders meet.

Irish has been one of the EUs official 24 working languages since 2007, but, partly due to a shortage of translators and partly because few use the language in Brussels and Strasbourg, it has a derogation until 2017, so not all documents are translated.

The incoming government may opt for another suspension. Otherwise, they may have a problem insisting the EU employs 180 Irish speakers, when the latest figures show that not one word of Irish was spoken by ministers in the Council meetings, while the number of minutes in the Parliament doubled  but to just an hour or two  thanks to Liadh Ni Riada

Summit will be pivotal for Merkel

The centre right controls EU politics to a large extent. It is represented by the European Peoples Party of which Fine Gael is a member.

FG has become an increasingly important member with the EPP losing its prime ministerial positions in country after country in recent years.

It is now down to six while the Socialist group has nine and the liberal ALDE group of which Fianna Fail is a member, has seven.

The others in the EPP are not very impressive  corruption-riven Bulgaria and Romania, an increasingly reactionary Hungary, little Cyprus.

However, it is saved by the figure of Angela Merkel, German chancellor.

Todays summit in Brussels will be pivotal for her as she desperately tries to strike a deal on reducing the number of asylumseekers. Its not sure what help non-Schengen Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be to her.

Call to double investment

Ibec, which represents Irelands business interests, gave the Government an 80% score in a pan-EU questionnaire on policies and EC budget recommendations.

Cutting income tax and benefits to long-term unemployed, active labour market strategy; and increasing R&D investment are all part of the governments agenda, Ibec confirmed.

It agreed with the commission that capital investment needs to be doubled to 4% by 2020.

Global homelessness on rise, says UN

The United Nations says homelessness is increasing all over the world, including in developed countries.

Their report mentions Ireland, where families with children are at increasing risk of homelessness, as parents are deprived of the income needed for housing, and because there is a shortage of affordable homes.

Families with children have become the fastest-growing homeless cohort, and some risk losing their children because of it. Globally marginalised groups are more at risk, because of discrimination, and homelessness exposes women to high rates of violence, including rape.

Homelessness among children and young people has reached crisis, not least among those raised in residential institutions.

Spain against citrus labelling

Some citrus fruits are treated with chemicals to make sure they dont go bad, look better and keep bugs at bay. But Spain  a big exporter of the fruits  doesnt want them labelled.

They say that because the chemicals  mainly 2-phenylphenol, an agricultural fungicide used for waxing lemons, oranges and mandarins  are safe to eat in limited quantities, consumers dont need to know.

The European Court of Justice disagrees and says, among other things, that since the limit for citrus fruit is 50 times higher than for other thin-skinned fruits, it is fair enough to inform the consumer.

UK food exports would cost more

We will still have to eat, whether we are part of the EU of not, say UK-based bankers, Investec.

Three-quarters of the UKs food and drinks exports are to the EU, with Ireland by far the largest importer. The main exports are salmon, chocolate, cheese and beef.

If the UK leaves the EU, their goods will cost more there, because they will be subject to tariffs, such as 122% for dairy and 182% for fruit and veg.

Irish food would be cheaper in EU countries than British goods  unless Dublin tries to do a special deal with London.

Cosmetics group challenges test ban

Three years after the EU enforced a total ban on testing cosmetics on animals, the European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients is testing it in the European Court of Justice.

The ban extends to all ingredients and products for sale in the EU no matter where the testing was carried out.

However, the industry has found another question. Three companies tested ingredients on animals outside the EU they say, to meet the regulatory standards of the Japanese and Chinese markets.

The ingredients are not used in the cosmetics that are on sale in the EU - but the companies want to know if they can in fact sell in the EU.

The court will give its initial opinion on Thursday week next and if the answer is no they could be prosecuted.

Vat regime gifts 60bn a year to gangs

Governments are gifting organised crime gangs with up to 60bn a year because the rules on Vat are so easy to use, says the European Court of Auditors.

They carried out a study on fighting cross-border Vat fraud and found that the battery of tools which the EU has to fight against fraud is not working properly.

Because exports of goods and services from one EU member state to another are exempt from Vat, criminals can evade the tax in both countries.

The result is a bonanza for the criminals, and a loss of revenue for the countries concerned and for the EU that collects a share also.

EU leaders need to tighten up the rules and better apply them across the board, the auditors say.
WE ARE the richest continent in the world  500m citizens  and seem not to be able to cope with one to two million refugees reaching our continent, says Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.

He and others warn that this is not just a tragedy for the thousands of women, men and children sleeping in the cold and wet on Europes borders, hungry, sick, even tear-gassed, as they pray to be let through.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, one of the charity organisations working in Greece and Italy, paint the picture: The winding road across the wheat fields near the Greek village of Idomeni is full of people shouldering large bags, carrying babies in their arms and putting one step in front of the other. The stream of people continues day and night, but only 150 people each day, on average, can continue their journey out of this place.

Mr Juncker warns that if the EU fails to cope with this humanitarian crisis, then the survival of the union is at risk, a union so carefully built up on humanitarian values, that has delivered greater equality in terms of wealth and human rights and the best chance of surviving the globalisation happening all around.

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, UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi warned, presenting a six point plan that he says is essential.

The points are in fact all part of the EU plan to deal with the tragedy, but despite the numbers arriving doubling every year, prime ministers of the member states are still dragging their feet and arguing about what to do.

The traditional method of moving the EU along is failing the refugees and Europes citizens. Persuading, pushing, taking the small steps the most reluctant are willing to tolerate has proved to be the only way of getting consensus. It usually produces policies that are enough to get by.

But they were found severely wanting during the euro and banking crisis, and now they are equally unfit to deal with the refugee crisis.

The migrant crisis is pitting countries whose governments are partly xenophobic  many from the newer EU countries  against the rest.

The latest news from Slovakia where the right wing government has lost support to a party promoting hate against foreigners, their own Roma and everyone else bodes ill for todays summit where its hoped to find a workable solution.

German chancellor Angela Merkel initially welcomed the influx. But other leaders were silent, showing no interest in dealing with the crisis. Except the most viciously reactionary among them, Hungarys Viktor Orban, who extended his views on keeping Hungary for the Hungarians, to keeping Europe for the Europeans.

His vision, promising such a continent, became the only policy decision agreed by the leaders.

Months have been wasted as the borders became the focus, but how do you stop a tide of desperate people fleeing for their lives, urged on and facilitated by a multibillion-euro smuggling operation, and countries like Turkey happy to see them move on?

The single big idea became Turkey  the country caught in the middle  hosting more than 2m Syrians, about 200,000 in UN camps but the majority fending as best they can in the cities and rural towns.

With the help of EU aid, Greece managed to close its land borders, but then the focus switched to the sea  the islands of Kos and Lesbos were swamped.

Greece initially refused to request help in case it would mean it could not push on these people to other countries. Because, under the unfortunately named Dublin Convention, the country where a person first lands must deal with them  either send them back if its safe to do so, or give them asylum.

Italy has long dealt with their influx from North Africa by moving them along and this worked as long as the numbers were not too great.

But the war in Syria changed all that, and last year 1.2m arrived. Suddenly Hungary became the country experiencing the biggest influx  few wanted to stay; the majority wanted to transit to Germany or Sweden, the two countries willing to take them.

Hungary shut its borders, and gradually other countries along the route have too  including Austria  now trapping them in Greece, creating as its prime minister said, a warehouse of souls.

Plans for countries to share the burden, taking small numbers of genuine refugees, has collapsed and looks like being buried.

Now the big answer is to send back all those that do not qualify  despite the fact that the vast majority come from war-torn Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Turkey is central to all this  despite the fact that for many Turkey is not a safe country.

The deal with Turkey  which EU leaders hope to finalise soon  is that it will stop the smugglers at the coast from launching the rubber dinghies and boats full of refugees, and it will take back those that make it through to the EU, including those picked out of the water by Nato vessels.

In exchange, the EU will provide 3bn to help care for the refugees in Turkey, agree to take refugees into Europe from its camps, and extend visa-free travel for Turks to include business people and students.

New money, 700m, has been earmarked to help Greece and other countries look after refugees who now, under Schengen rules, must be fingerprinted, identified, formally request asylum, and go to whichever country will take them. And that too is a problem as many countries do not want to take any.

The European Commission says all the blockaded borders must be lifted by December and believes, or hopes, that by then the flow across the Turkey border will be no more than a trickle, that everyone will be identified, allocated to a country or sent back if they are not entitled to asylum.

But not everyone believes this master plan will work. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament, is among them: The commission says we only have 10 days left to save Schengen but then proposes a set of measures which need 10 months to be implemented.

He is not wrong, but this package of shreds and patches seems to be the best they can come up with. But many fear the only outcome will be disaster.
Negotiation: theres going to be a lot of it. After the election there are numerous permutations of negotiating partners. Some are more serious than others. Enda may call Gerry Adams and say something like Look, I have to ask and Gerry will reply with I know and theyll both start laughing.

Eventually some combinations will get down to business, which is apt because negotiate comes from the Latin for not leisure which shows the Romans had their priorities right. They arent always right though. Coalition originates from grow together whereas in Ireland it means to be consumed in the fiery flames of public anger together

In advance of any negotiations you will hear talk of red line issues. This is the latest phrase to enter the bolloxological lexicon. It means the issues you wont negotiate on. But dont worry, thats just something you say in an election.

Speaking of Red Line issues, the Luas negotiations will go on also. The Luas unions have adopted an interesting tactic  strike on the strike-iest days imaginable. Maybe, by threatening to disrupt the 1916 commemorations, they were sending a message to preening Official Ireland that the big struggles of that historic era were as much about labour rights as about national self-determination.

Or maybe they just want their 10 grand. The problem for that kind of negotiating tactic is Luas workers running out of important days. If the threat of Easter strikes doesnt budge management, the only marquee days left as bargaining chips left are Black Friday, Dec 8 & The Rapture.

If anyone needs a loan of it, I have a self help book about the negotiation called Crucial Conversations  Tools For Talking When The Stakes Are High. Its the archetypal business management book. Obviously I havent read it, God no, but the cover is impressive. It has the serifed typeface you associate with books for people who work hard and play hard I dont need it. Im a lost cause. I cant even negotiate with myself. Mornings meant a battle between the two Colms who currently work at ORegantech.

The Colm 1 is go-ahead change management specialist, is looking to implement a programme of constant improvement and drive efficiencies through initiatives  like getting out of bed when the alarm goes off. But to get anything done hell need to convince The Colm 2 who works in Operations. He is a wiley oldtimer who has been with the company from the beginning, is unwilling to change and knows every trick in the book in order to avoid initiatives. He just wants to press the snooze button and wait for retirement.

But of course all that is moot now. My negotiating days are over. The effect of a new baby in a house is like the presence of the troika in the country. There is no bargaining power with someone who implies I dont care what you want. We are in a crisis. I have just pooed myself.

I would say thats almost word-for-word what Jean Claude Trichet said to the government. Theres no negotiating with that. Having caved in to her needs, I turn to Crucial Conversations for help and read aloud.

Difficult conversations are made easier if we can fill the pool of shared meaning which is the birthplace of synergy. You need to commit to seek a mutual purpose, before brainstorming new strategies. Only then can we fill the pool of shared meaning. And give birth to synergy

Wait! Shes asleep. Maybe theres some self help in this book after all.
The Turkish coast guard launched a search-and- rescue mission for other refugees believed to be missing, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The coast guard rescued 15 other refugees off the Aegean Sea resort of Didim, it added.

The dead included three children, according to the private Dogan news agency.

Meanwhile, Greek police officials said Macedonian authorities are only allowing those from cities they consider to be at war to cross the Idomeni border crossing from Greece. That means people from cities such as Aleppo in Syria, for example, can enter, but those from the Syrian capital of Damascus or the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are being stopped.

The developments come ahead of todays summit between the EU and Turkey to discuss the crisis.

Nearly all refugees and other migrants who enter the EU have been sailing on small inflatable dinghies from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands. With thousands of miles of coastline, Greece says it cannot staunch the flow unless Turkey stops the boats from leaving its shores.

Athens has also criticised Europe for not sticking to deals to take in refugees in a relocation scheme that never really got off the ground.

While Idomeni is closed for refugees and the flows from the islands, from the Turkish shores to the islands, remain, it must be perfectly clear that the immediate start of a reliable process of relocation of refugees from our country to other countries of the European Union is a matter of complete urgency, prime minister Alexis Tsipras said in a speech to his party at the weekend. And this is exactly what we will seek in the summit on Monday. Not just the wording that this is urgent, but that it will begin immediately and with a large number.

While thousands arrive in Greeces main port of Piraeus from the islands, about 13,000-14,000 people remain stranded in Idomeni, with more arriving each day. The refugee camp has overflowed, with thousands pitching tents among the railway tracks and in adjacent fields.

The rate at which refugees are being allowed to cross had already been reduced to a trickle, with sometimes only a few dozen, or even nobody, being allowed to cross. Greek police said 240 people crossed between 6am on Saturday and the same time yesterday morning.

The camp is beginning to take on a form of semi- permanence, with people realising they will be spending at the very least several days in the fields. As morning broke, women swept the earth outside their tents with makeshift brooms made of twigs and leaves. Men stamped on branches pulled off trees nearby to use as firewood for small campfires to boil tea and cook.

Throughout yesterday morning, dozens of local Greeks arrived in cars packed with clothes and food donations to distribute to the refugees. Many were mobbed as they arrived at the first tents, with men, women, and children scrambling to receive whatever handouts they could.

The numbers have overwhelmed the Greek authorities. Massive queues form from early in the morning, with people waiting for hours for a sandwich.

While Greek officials have tried to discourage more people from arriving, hundreds more come each day, walking more than 15km from a where the UN refugee agency has set up large tents.
It is fresh evidence that there is no quick end in sight to the bitter contest, and both men suggested other rivals should now quit.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won in Nebraska and Kansas, while frontrunner Hillary Clinton took Louisiana, another divided verdict from the American people.

Cruz, a Texas senator, claimed Kansas and Maine, and declared it a manifestation of a real shift in momentum.

Billionaire Trump, still the frontrunner in the hunt for delegates, took Louisiana and Kentucky.

In the overall race for Republican delegates, Trump led with at least 375 and Cruz had at least 291. Marco Rubio had 123 delegates and John Kasich had 33. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

Clinton had at least 1,117 delegates to Mr Sanders 477, including superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and there were 109 at stake on Saturday.

Establishment figures are looking frantically for any way to derail Trump, perhaps at a contested convention if no candidate can get enough delegates to lock up the nomination in advance.

Party leaders  including former nominees Mitt Romney (2012) and Senator John McCain (2008)  are fearful a Trump victory would lead to losses up and down the Republican ticket in Novemebr.

Everyones trying to figure out how to stop Trump, the real estate tycoon marvelled at a rally in Orlando, Florida, where he had supporters raise their hands and swear to vote for him.

Cruz suggested it was time for other Republican candidates to quit the race so that he could go one-on-one with Mr Trump. Trump said it was probably time for Rubio to drop out, after he finished no better than third in any of the four states.

In Maine, Cruz won by a comfortable margin.

On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Sanders won by a solid margin in Nebraska, and Kansas gave him a seventh victory so far in the nominating season.

Clinton, who has been doing well with African-American voters, had an easy win in Louisiana.

It was anger that propelled many of Trumps voters to the polls. Its my opportunity to revolt, said Betty Nixon, a 60-year-old Trump voter in Olathe, Kansas. She said she liked the businessman because hes not bought and paid for.

Overall, Trump had prevailed in 10 of 15 contests heading into Saturdays voting. Rubio had one win in Minnesota.

Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich both pinned their hopes on winner-take-all contests on March 15 in their home states.
The advertisements, airing across the mid-west, attacks Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based car parts company that merged with Irish-registered Tyco International in January.

The corporate headquarters of the merged company will be in Milwaukee. Tyco moved its registered address from Bermuda to Ireland in 2014. Ms Clinton, the Democratic primary frontrunner, described the move as an outrage and vowed that, if president, she would make companies pay a price if they walked out on America.

Johnson Controls said it will save 136m in taxes following the merger.

In the advertisement, Ms Clinton is filmed standing outside Johnson Controls Milwaukee headquarters.

Speaking directly to the camera, she says: This is Johnson Controls. When the auto industry was going under car parts companies like them begged the taxpayers for a bail out. But now the company is back on its feet, they are moving the company to Ireland so they can avoid paying taxes here at home. Its an outrage.

It is not the first time that Ms Clinton has raised the issue of tax inversion on the campaign trail, vowing she would do everything to prevent companies using the tax gimmicks, the shenanigans to evade their responsibility to support our country.

Her Democratic primary opponent Bernie Sanders is also strongly opposed to tax inversions.

Separately, Clinton launched on Saturday what the campaign describes as her Irish platform. It consists in large part of a retelling of Clintons connections to Ireland as first lady and as US senator, including her involvement in the peace process.

However, citing the widely quoted figure of 50,000 Irish undocumented, Clinton said she is committed to comprehensive immigration to keep families together. There is no mention in the platform of the use of Ireland as a favourite destination for companies wanting to lower their tax bills.
The broadcaster cited a statement issued by the National Alliance, a loose gathering of Shiite groups that controls the majority of seats in parliament, after a meeting with Abadi in the Shiite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.

The other blocs in parliament mainly represent the Sunni and Kurdish communities.
Many of those carrying her coffin on their shoulders through the dusty streets of La Esperanza were Lenca indigenous people for whose rights she had fought.

Drummers pounded out Afro-Honduran rhythms as mourners chanted The struggle goes on and on and Berta Caceres is present, today and forever.

Her four daughters and her ex-husband were among the procession.

Forgive me, Bertita, said Salvador Zuniga, Ms Caceres former husband. Forgive me for not understanding your greatness.

Ms Caceres, 45,had complained of death threats from police, the army and landowners groups. She was murdered early on Thursday by gunmen who broke into her home and shot her four times.

My mother died because she defended the land and rivers of her country, her daughter Olivia said.

Mexican human rights activist Gustavo Castro Soto was also wounded in the attack.

The authorities say two suspects have been detained for questioning.

According to the Goldman Environmental Prize, Ms Caceres waged a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the worlds largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam.

It said the project threatened to 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.
Asia Smuggled Weapons Seized in Thai Border Town

Thai authorities seize a stash of guns in Mae Sot suspected to have been bound for Burma.

Thai authorities seized a stash of smuggled weapons in the border town of Mae Sot over the weekend, arms which sources claim could have been bound for one of Burmas ethnic armies or for gangs operating in the area.

The weapons included ammunition, as well as ten M-16 rifles and seven AK-47 machine guns, models that are frequently used in the region by armed groups fighting against Burmese government forces. The guns in question reportedly belonged to a former police officer in Mae Sot.

Maj Saw Roe, a liaison officer with the Karen National Union (KNU) in Burmas Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot, said that he only learned of the seizure through Thai media and is not aware of a trade involving the smuggled weapons and the KNU.

It is hard to say whom the weapons were to be sold to, because we dont know the case in detail, he said. There are a lot of gangs on the border and these kinds of smuggled weapons are widely traded.

He also said that it is difficult to know whether the weapons were supposed to be sent to other ethnic armed groups. There are several other ethnic Karen armies operating near the Thai-Burma border, including Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), and KNU/KNLA (Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army) Peace Council.

Weapons smuggling across the Thai-Burma border was once common; the trafficking of drugs also remains well established at the Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing.
Burma Affected Locals Tell New Govt to Solve Old Problems at Dawei SEZ

Villagers affected by the Dawei special economic zone in Burmas southeast urge the Burmese, Thai and Japanese governments to solve project-related problems before pushing ahead.

RANGOON  Villagers affected by the Dawei special economic zone (SEZ) and deep-sea port in Burmas southeast are urging the Burmese, Thai and Japanese governments to solve existing problems related to the project before pushing ahead with its implementation.

At a public forum organized by local residents affected by the Dawei SEZ on Monday in Rangoon, local civil society groups bolstered that argument with calls for improved transparency on the 204.5-square-kilometer infrastructure project and greater public inclusion.

Since implementation began, the SEZ has affected livelihoods in 20-36 villages, in which 22,000 to 43,000 people reside, according to a 2014 report by the Dawei Development Association (DDA), one of the CSOs in attendance on Monday.

Progress on the SEZ in Tenasserim Division has been slow-going in recent years, but with a new government soon coming to power in Burma and Japanese support for the project secured last year, locals are concerned that development will accelerate in the months to come.

Saw Frankie Abreu, the director of the Tenasserim River and Indigenous Peoples Network (TRIP NET), said the new Burmese governments overall attitude toward economic development would be crucial in determining whether it would listen to the public or not.

Since its initiation in 2008, the project has faced criticism due to its potential environmental and social impacts. Its implementation has been delayed in part due to local resistance, but also difficulties in securing funding.

It is being backed by the Burmese, Thai and Japanese governments.

The CSOs on Monday highlighted impacts of the project that included loss of lands at the project site and due to related road infrastructure; skyrocketing land prices; negative effects on womens security; and locals loss of traditional livelihoods.

Su Su Swe, the general secretary of the Tavoyan Womens Union (TWU), said: Development projects should not damage the publics lives, but we still have witnessed human rights abuses  which were common under military rule, and still today.

Not only facing loss of livelihoods, some locals from Char Kham village, at the geographic heart of the project, have also faced imprisonment for attempting to protect their lands.

Hla Thein was one of three villagers imprisoned for one month in 2014 after he and two others refused to leave their fishing village in 2012. Prior to his imprisonment, Hla Thein endured a 12-month ordeal of repeated court appearances before a verdict was finally reached, his wife Aye Cho told The Irrawaddy.

Char Kham was a coastal village where locals had depended on fishing to earn a living for years, but had to resettle to nearby Htein Gyi village when the project began, in the process forcing some of the relocated to seek alternative livelihoods.

I wish I could be a fisherman again, recalled Hla Thein, who had caught fish in the sea for nearly two decades before changing to his current job as a day-laborer. He added that he had been able to support his wife and two children with his fishing job, but now everything has changed.

Even farther afield, lives too have been affected by the SEZs development. In Thabuchaung village, some 59 kilometers away from the main project area, villagers lost land as a road was paved to link-up the SEZ and deep-sea port. Despite compensation being offered in 2012, many of the affected refused to take it, said Saw Ke Doh, a Tabuchaung villager.
Burma ANP Leadership Publically Criticizes Partys Internal Divisions

Seven Arakan National Party executive committee members hold a press conference to highlight their dissatisfaction with recent actions of their party.

RANGOON  Seven Arakan National Party (ANP) central executive committee members held a press conference on Sunday in Rangoon to highlight their dissatisfaction with recent actions of their party.

ANP Lower House lawmaker Ba Shein, who was not at the press conference but spoke out in support of it, attributed the groups internal divisions to emotional volatility within the leadership, and urged them to instead engage in dialogue to overcome differences.

He cited the conferences purpose as to unveil to the public the reality of the ANP.

After winning a majority of seats in the Arakan State parliament in the 2015 general election, in January 2016 the party declared that it would not join any coalition with the countrys overall winner, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Rather, the ANP stated that it would stand as an opposition party unless it was allowed to form its own state government.

ANP vice chairperson Phoe Minn accused those who hosted the press conference of pushing for the disintegration of the party. He pointed out that although the ANPs statement on self-government had been public for two months, no official objections had previously been voiced.

According to official party procedure, the ANP will hold an investigation into the actions of the members who organized the press conference.

Our citizens will decide who was right or wrong, Phoe Minn said.

Others outside of the ANP have recently criticized what they see as apparent disunity within the ethnic Arakanese party. Voters are frustrated by the formation of divisions so soon after the election. The ink on my pinkie isnt even gone, wrote one individual on an online forum.

Several of the members who organized Sundays press conference were once members from the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), which later merged with the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) in 2014 to form the ANP in hopes of consolidating votes in the 2015 legislative election. The party was able to secure 45 out of the 77 state parliament seats it contested.

Success within the state parliament was once viewed as an important step toward the partys goal of getting an ANP parliament member appointed as the states chief minister.
Burma Htin Kyaw Tipped As NLD Presidential Nominee

An executive member of a Suu Kyi-led non-profit organization is being strongly considered as a presidential nominee by the National League for Democracy.

RANGOON  An executive member of an Aung San Suu Kyi-led foundation has been tipped as one of the presidential candidates to be submitted by the National League for Democracy (NLD) on Thursday.

Htin Kyaw is a senior executive with the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a non-profit health and education charity named for Suu Kyis mother. There has been speculation about his nomination for the post since the NLDs sweeping election victory in November of last year.

As the winning party, the NLD will make its presidential bids in Parliament on March 10. Aung San Suu Kyi, the party chairwoman, is constitutionally barred from the role by Article 59 (f), a clause that does not allow those with a foreign spouse or children to hold the presidency. Suu Kyis two sons hold British citizenship, as did her late husband.

There have been three meetings between Suu Kyi and Burmas military leaders since the election, but the military was not willing to amend or suspend the law.

Although the NLD has since been tight-lipped on those recommended for the presidency, inside sources report that Htin Kyaw, a 70-year old Mon-Burmese University of London graduate, is now high on the list.

Htin Kyaw is believed to one of The Ladys right-hand men; within the NLD he has built a reputation as a man of honesty.

Born in Rangoon as Dala Bana name he shares with a famous Mon warriorHtin Kyaw is the son of Min Thuwun, one of Burmas national poets. Politics is integral in the familys history: Min Thuwun was an elected lawmaker in the 1990 elections that also delivered a landslide victory to the NLD. Additionally, Htin Kyaws father-in-law, U Lwin, is one of the partys founding members.

His wife, Su Su Lwin, is a newly minted Lower House NLD lawmaker recently appointed as the chairperson for the chambers international relations committee.

Htin Kyaw is also a writer who pens under the pet name his dad gave himDala Ban. He published a book on his father in 2009.

A previous version of this story incorrectly described Htin Kyaw as an Oxford graduate. He graduated from the University of London, where he studied computer science.
Burma No Religion Sanctions Violence Against Women: Interfaith Leaders

Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim leaders speak out against gender-based violence and discrimination, calling for a change in community attitudes.

RANGOON  Religious leaders from four of Burmas major faiths have called for a change in community attitudes in order to end discrimination and violence against women and girls.

On Saturday, days before International Womens Day on March 8, religious leaders served as panelists at a discussion entitled Step up Action to End Discrimination and Violence against Women and Girls: Reflections from a Religious Perspective. The event was co-organized by UN Women and Religion for Peace (RfP) Myanmar.

Panelists included Dr. Tin Nwe of the Buddhist organization Ratana Metta; Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon Archdiocese; Al Haj Aye Lwin, the chief convener of Rangoons Islamic Centre; and U Hla Tun, the coordinator of the Hindu Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh.

No religion has teachings intended to discriminate against women, said the organizers and panellists, who highlighted how their respective religions call for the equal treatment of every human being, regardless of their gender.

Yet violence and sexual assault against women and girls is still prevalent, as well as discrimination against women in the workplace; participants in the discussion said that behavioral changes are key to ending these practices.

Out of more than 100 participants in the panel discussion, women made up the majority and were also joined by foreign diplomats. They emphasized the need for education to improve womens leadership at the decision-making level.

Myint Swe, chairman of Ratana Metta Organization and a panel attendee, said that womens capacity should be utilized beyond the household level.

Despite it being said that religions praise equality, there is discrimination in reality, Myint Swe said. We must change those attitudes. It is not an easy task, but we have to raise awareness that a woman should no longer seen as a baby-maker, a cook or someone to be locked in the house. If we keep [women] in the kitchen, our country will remain behind in development.

Ratana Metta is a member of the RfP coalition, which has worked to prevent conflict between different faiths, as well as for the social advancement of women and girls in Burma.

Dr. Than Nwe, of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commissions (MNHRC) Policy and Law section, told The Irrawaddy that a widespread campaign to raise awareness on the issue of gender-based violence and discrimination is much needed within Burmese society.

Like others who participated in the discussion, she said that a change in mens perspectives is crucial in order to educate and empower women.
Burma Parsing Prospects for Burmas Overshadowed VP

As eyes turn toward Naypyidaw and selection of Burmas next president, less attention has focused on the militarys choice for one of two VP posts.

RANGOON  This week, the Burmese peoples months-long wait to find out who their next president will be is expected to finally end.

On March 10, the Lower and Upper houses of Parliament as well as lawmakers appointed by the military are due to nominate three vice presidents, with one assuming the countrys top post. These names can come from among the ranks of newly seated lawmakers, but can just as easily be individuals from outside the legislature.

The trio will then be put to a ballot in a joint session of the bicameral assembly, with the winner of the most votes becoming Burmas next president. The runners-up will remain vice presidents.

Barring intraparty ructions that virtually no one is anticipating, the presidential candidates nominated by elected members of Parliaments two houses will have the blessing of the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD), which holds a super-majority approaching 80 percent of elected seats in both chambers.

Speculation in the months since Burmas Nov. 8 general election, which propelled the NLD into its king-making position, has focused on who from the party might get the nod. The most obvious candidate, Suu Kyi herself, is constitutionally barred from assuming the post, making possible stand-in candidates the subject of intense conjecture during the lengthy transition period that has followed the November poll.

Another possible scenario bandied about posits the NLD naming someone from an ethnic political party as a presidential candidate, the theory being that this would be in line with its stated desire to form an inclusive, national reconciliation government.

Less attention has focused on the militarys choice for its vice president.

The Burma Army maintains an important role in the countrys politics, despite the NLDs thumping election win last year. It controls three powerful ministriesDefense, Home Affairs and Border Affairsin addition to the Constitution reserving 25 percent of seats in the Union Parliament and regional legislatures to military representatives appointed by the commander-in-chief, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

The third presidential candidate, then, is Min Aung Hlaings to choose.

Brig-Gen Tint San Naing, a spokesperson for military lawmakers in the Lower House, told The Irrawaddy that the military would pick someone who could further the countrys development and has the required vision on matters of defense, politics, economics and administration.

Whoever we choose, it will be that kind of person. Only can [a candidate with] those four visions make the country secure and developed, he said.

While the NLDs intentions vis-a-vis the presidency have understandably garnered more attention in recent months, a handful of high-ranking generals have made their way to the fore of less common discussions as to who the military might choose as its man on the inside of an NLD administration.

Deputy commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Soe Win; commander-in-chief (Air Force) and special operations coordinator (Army, Navy and Air Force) Gen. Khin Aung Myint; retired Gen. Hla Htay Win; retired Gen. Thura Thet Swe; and retired Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo have all been tipped as potential presidential candidates. Rumors of late have had it that current Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe is also a potential contender.

A former lieutenant-general who was tipped to be selected vice president in 2012, Myint Swe was passed over to fill that unexpected vacancy, as one of his sons was an Australian national. Unconfirmed reports, however, say his son has since been reinstated as a Burmese citizen, which if true would remove that obstacle to his fathers nomination.

Other sources close to the military, on the other hand, expect the army chief to choose someone younger than him who is still in active service.

The commander-in-chief will consider someone his junior as seniority means a lot in the military. Thats why he will name someone who will listen to him, said Naing Ye Zaw, a retired lieutenant-colonel.

If that be the case, only two men from the list above are likely to be eligible: Soe Win and Khin Aung Myint, as active-duty generals who graduated from the Defense Services Academys 22nd and 20th intakes, respectively.

Min Aung Hlaing is a graduate of the elite academys 19th intake, while Myint Swe would be a nonstarter if the seniority criterion were borne out, given that the former lieutenant-general is four intakes senior to the current commander-in-chief.

Reporting to Whom?

The president takes precedence over all other persons in Burma, as per the Constitutions Article 58, a provision that would appear to imply vice presidential subservience.

The peculiar form of democracy enshrined in Burmas charter could complicate the hierarchy, however. Will a vice president from the ranks of the military, chosen by that institution for the VP post, answer to an NLD president or fall back on the chain-of-command dictates of Min Aung Hlaing?

This delicate dance between Burmas military and nascent civilian power structures is likely to be further complicated by another question hanging over the new government that will come to power in April: To what extent will an NLD president be able to influence and cooperate with the three powerful ministries controlled by the military?

During the five-year term of outgoing President Thein Seins government, the question was of little practical significance. The military-led and quasi-civilian camps were viewed as birds of a feather, given that essentially the entire administration came either from military backgrounds or the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Less clear-cut is how this dynamic will play out for the incoming Suu Kyi-led government. Whoever the NLD selects as president, Suu Kyi has already vowed to govern from above that individual, and the true nature of the NLD chairwomans relationship with the top brass is an open question.

Political commentator Yan Myo Thein posited that the militarys choice for vice president would be an individual willing to deviate from his civilian higher-up if deemed necessary.

Generally speaking, I dont think the military vice president will say yes to every case. When it comes to either military issues or reviewing military interests, there would be confrontations, he said.

Technically, vice presidents are not as powerful as the president, but their inclusion on the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), the highest authority in the Burmese government and responsible for the countrys security and defense affairs, could make a difference. On the 11-member council, civilian members, including the president, are outnumbered by military representatives, who hold six spots, including the commander-in-chief as well as the vice president appointed by him.

According to the National Defense and Security Council bill that was distributed to Upper House lawmakers in December, Article 14 of the draft gives the president no right to vote on council matters, except to cast a deciding vote in the event of a deadlock. The same article also says that the council must strive to reach a consensus in its decisions, and to accept a majority vote if a unanimous resolution cannot be reached.

They are taking the upper hand in the NDSC. Guess which side they will be on when it comes to military interests? said Yan Myo Thein.

Khin Zaw Win of the Tampadipa Institute, an independent think-tank in Burma, agreed that dealing with the military would be challenging for the incoming government, adding that the militarys choice for vice president was likely to face a dilemma over whose orders he takes.

As far as Im concerned, the incoming government should cleverly handle its relations with the military, for matters ranging from the vice president to NDSC to the three powerful ministries, by appointing someone as an advisor for their relations with the military.

He said that person should be either a serving or recently retried member of the military with a respected reputation and who clearly understands the Burma Armys current mindset as well as wants to see the country developed.

Asked whether Shwe Manna former general as well as ex-chairman of the USDP who was purged last year for his close ties to Suu Kyimight be the best candidate for the post, Khin Zaw Win said this was unlikely.

He has been appointed as the chairman for Parliaments legislative commission. Plus, he is not popular among the military personnel. But he could make a recommendation, said the director of the institute.

The NLD has experts on other issues apart from the Burmese military. If they have one [on military affairs], it would be very helpful, he added.

The Irrawaddys Htet Naing Zaw contributed reporting from Naypyidaw.
Burma Record Bust in Mandalay Nets $30m in Illicit Drugs: Police

Police in Mandalay say drugs and heroin precursor chemicals worth more than 36 billion kyats (US$29.5 million) were seized over the weekend.

MANDALAY  Police in Mandalays Pyigyidagun Township said drugs and precursor chemicals used in the production of heroin, worth more than 36 billion kyats (US$29.5 million), were seized over the weekend.

According to a law enforcement official from the Drug Elimination Police Force, three men were also arrested in connection with the seizure of methamphetamine tablets known regionally as yaba and a similar substance referred to as ice, heroin precursor chemicals and opium, with the contraband discovered at a compound in the Mandalay townships industrial zone.

The arrest is connected with the seizure of drugs and opium in Yangon [Rangoon]. The men we arrested in Yangon said they bought the drugs from Mandalay so we raided the compound and found these, said deputy police Col. Myint Aung from the Drug Elimination Police Forces Division 3.

Police are tying the Mandalay raid to drugs valued at more than 30 million kyats seized in Rangoons Mayangone and South Okalapa townships on Thursday of last week.

We also found ammonium chloride, sodium carbonate, ammonium hydroxide, hydrochloride and many other chemicals at the Pyigyidagun compound, which are believed to be used in the production of heroin. We are investigating to unearth more drug producers and traffickers, Myint Aung said.

Three vehicles found inside the compound were also seized. Police said drugs were being produced in the compound, the owner of which is being sought by authorities.

According to police, the seizure was the largest of its kind in Mandalay Division. The three men arrested at the compound are facing criminal charges for their alleged ties to the illicit narcotics uncovered over the weekend.
Burma Sustained Fighting as Burma Army Everywhere in N. Shan State: TNLA

The Taang National Liberation Army reports at least 16 recent clashes with the Burma Army, with the ethnic rebel group claiming to have killed dozens.

RANGOON  The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has reported at least 16 clashes over just the last week between its troops and the Burma Army, with the ethnic rebel group claiming to have killed dozens of the latters soldiers in the northern Shan State fighting this month.

Tensions in the area remain high amid a large-scale Burma Army offensive in territory claimed by the TNLA, leading to clashes that began on March 1. In the latest exchange of hostilities, fighting broke out at Kyaukme Townships Kyauk Phyu and Bar Lane villages on Monday morning.

Most fighting, in terms of duration, lasted less than one hour. But one fight yesterday nearby in Mong Yu village lasted three-and-a-half hours, Mai Aike Kyaw, a TNLA spokesman, told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

According to the TNLA, about 2,000 Burma Army troops have been deployed to the conflict zone, a territory that spans several townships in northern Shan State including Kyaukme, Kutkai, Namtu, Manton, Namhsan and Mongmit.

They [Burma Army troops] are everywhere. Our troops try to avoid them as much as we can, but our troops have to attack them sometimes as they come near to our base, he said.

Dozens of Burma Army soldiers were killed, while some members of the TNLA were also wounded in the recent clashes, according to the TNLA spokesman.

Among our troops, there were some wounded from the fighting, but no one was killed. Their side suffered high causalities on March 3 and 6. Dozens of them were killed, he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of civilians have been displaced in northern Shan State, with populations especially affected in Kyaukme Township, where more than 3,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled recent fighting between the TNLA and another ethnic armed group, the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S).

The two sides split last year over a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement that eight non-state armed groups signed in October. The RCSS was a signatory, while several other groups including the TNLA were not.

Fighting between the RCSS and TNLA first flared in late November and has persisted in the months since, prompting the Burma Army to enter the fray, ostensibly to quell the violence and bring stability to the region.

The Burma Army has 10 light infantry divisions, seven of which have been deployed in northern Shan State, according to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.), an ethnic media outlet.
Ethnic Issues Dateline Irrawaddy: The Major Cause of the Fighting Is Conflict of Interest

On this weeks edition of Dateline Irrawaddy, news crew members discuss recent fighting between Shan and Palaung ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State.

Thalun Zaung Htet: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy. This week, we will discuss the recent clashes in northern Shan State, and prospects for peace under a National League for Democracy [NLD] government. Irrawaddy news team members Ko JPaing and Ko Lawi Weng have joined me for the discussion. Im Irrawaddys Burmese edition editor Thalun Zaung Htet.

TZH: Both of you covered the clashes in February between the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South [RCSS/SSA-S] and the Taang National Liberation Army [TNLA] in Namhsan and Kyaukme in northern Shan State. What did you see?

JPaing: Fierce clashes broke out on February 7, and since then thousands of civilian victims have fled to Kyaukme. When I went to Kyaukme, I found that the number of displaced persons was increasing rather than reducing. The clashes started to ease on February 17 and stopped the following day. So the fighting lasted for 11 days. It is fair to say that this was the longest clash [weve seen] between ethnic armed groups.

I went by motorbike to Tawt San, Nyaung Bin Hla and Nyaung Maung villages in Kyaukme Township. Some villagers alleged that TNLA troops had set their houses alight and tortured them. The TNLA later denied those allegations. There were no [other] eyewitnesses.

Most of the clashes occurred on parts of the main routes linking the southern and northern parts of Shan State. Goods trucks were passing through the area at the time. The three villages I mentioned saw fierce fighting. SSA and TNLA troops are still deployed in those areas now.

TZH: As far as we understand, in the past, serious clashes only occurred between the military and ethnic armed groups. Between ethnic armed groups, there were only skirmishes. Ko Lawi, what do you think is the major reason behind these events?

Lawi Weng: I arrived in Kyaukme on February 17. I found mainly displaced Shan people sheltering in a monastery there. There were also Palaung [Taang] people. The refugees were a pitiful sight. As Ko J Paing has said, some refugees alleged that the TNLA had committed human rights violations.

The next day, I went by motorbike to a TNLA-controlled area. I arrived at Kyaukphyu village, where I found up to 2,500 TNLA troops from Brigade No. 2 stationed. I interviewed the brigade commander, Major Robert. He said the RCSS and the TNLA had co-existed in the region before the signing of the NCA.

TZH: The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.

LW: He meant that the RCSS had signed the NCA, while the TNLA had not. I then asked Major Robert why the clashes had happened. He said it was because around 300 RCSS troops had entered territory controlled by Brigade No. 2. After the entry, leaders of the two sides held a meeting, since this was the first time such a large number of RCSS troops had entered the area.

Major Robert said the RCSS could not give a strong reason for its troops entering the region. The clashes broke out after Brigade 2 stopped the trespassing troops, he said.

That was one reason for the fighting, but there is a second reason. The TNLA re-emerged in 2011. It existed long before that, but was not permitted to conduct activities by the former government. Meanwhile, Shan groups like the RCSS and the SSPP [Shan State Progressive Party] were active and levied taxes in the region. But now, the TNLA has taken control of certain areas. This has restricted certain activities of the RCSS, mainly the imposition of taxes and the conduct of businesses. The major cause of the fighting is conflict of interest.

Major Robert said Tawt San is a militarily and economically strategic site for the TNLA. Without it, it is impossible for the TNLA to conduct military activities and for Palaung people to do business. They have to have it. For this reason, the TNLA attacked. They thought the clash would not be so intense and large-scale. But fighting went on for 11 days, and spread to many places, and more than 3,000 people were displaced. So, they began to worry. On February 18, the TNLA retreated from Tawt San village and arrived in Kyaukphyu village, which filled up with their troops. I saw hardly any villagers there, and homes full of soldiers.

TZH: It is the people who suffer the brunt of clashes. This is February, the cold season. It is also exam season for basic education students. So, this has caused lots of trouble for locals. Ko JPaing, you spoke to victims. What are their needs?

JP: The number of victims had reached almost 4,000 by February 18. Many took shelter in 18 monasteries in Kyaukme. Volunteer groups and donors contributed rice, oil and other relief items. But they could not dispel the peoples fear.

Students ranged from those in the first grade to those who cannot now sit for their matriculation examinations, as the clashes happened just about a week before their tests were scheduled. In one monastery, I found students studying together for the exam. It was a pitiful sight. I learned from locals and teachers that pupils who are due to sit other exams will be given an automatic pass so they can move on to the next grade level.

TZH: The RCSS and the TNLA then formed negotiation teams to end the conflicts. However, we heard that clashes recurred on February 28.

Meanwhile, on February 17, an NLD lawmaker put forward an urgent proposal urging the NLD-dominated Parliament to help end the fighting in northern Shan State as soon as possible. The military representatives in Parliament also approved the proposal. It was accepted. Do you think that this will be able to influence events?

LW: I talked to Major Robert about the roles of Parliament, the Burma Army and the United Nationalities Federal Council [UNFC] in relation to the fighting. The TNLA is waiting to see how the parliament will intervene, and what role the [Burmese] military will take. The TNLA says that the military is behind the clashes.

TZH: They say the military is behind the RCSS

LW: The RCSS is based in the southernmost part of Shan State, near the Thailand border. How did they get to Kyaukme in northern Shan State? The TNLA alleged that the military brought [RCSS] troops [north] in trucks. Previously, the RCSS had only around 100 troops. Now have around 1,500 soldiers.

The TNLA said the clashes would end if the military adopted a neutral position and brokered the negotiations. Instead, the TNLA has alleged, the military has dispatched around 2,000 troops in around 200 trucks to clear the region. The clashes could become more intense. People are concerned that they will have to flee again.

Regarding the question of how this situation could be ended, negotiation is a must. The military has to demonstrate its impartiality. The UNFC should broker negotiations. Major Robert said the TNLA would wait and see what happens with these two [the military and the UNFC] and then make a decision. He said clashes would continue until the RCSS leaves the region. It is difficult to say what will happen.

TZH: To see good prospects for peace under the next government, the military should be impartial. If it pays heed to policies adopted by the NLD government at peace negotiations, the problems between ethnic armed groups could be solved, and there could be a greater chance of peace. If the military instead instigates clashes, the prospects for peace will not be good. Ko Lawi, Ko JPaing, thank you for your contributions.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.
An ancient city of two names, Inwapreviously Avasits in the center of Burma, a half hours drive from Mandalay city. For 500 years, the royal capital suffered numerous attempts at its destruction by competing kingdoms, some of which were successful. But it was not until the mid 19th century that the city was finally deserted, conquered not by a rival empire, but reportedly by multiple earthquakes.

The architecture of Inwa can now be explored by visitors from carts, pulled by oxen or horses, as well as by bicycle. Sites of note include the old city wall, the Mae Nu Brick Monastery, Bagaya Monastery, Thapyaydan Fort and the royal watchtower.
Monday, March 7th, 2016 (2:09 pm) - Score 891

The UK Labour MP for Dudley North, Ian Austin, has called on the Governments Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, to protect consumers after an 83-year-old customer of Sky Broadband was dubiously accused of sharing unlawful copies of The Company You Keep (TCYK) film over public BitTorrent file sharing (P2P) networks.

Last year we reported that copyright firm TCYK LLP had begun sending so-called Speculative Invoicing letters to customer of Sky Broadband (here), specifically targeting those that have been accused of the above act and with the goal being to bully subscribers into paying a large settlement fee (in this case 600) in order to avoid further court action.

In reality such court cases are usually too expensive to pursue and practically all of those that have been attempted tend to fail due to a lack of solid evidence. Indeed IP address based evidence is notoriously unreliable, not least because it can be incorrect and often fails to reflect that many people may share a single Internet connection (i.e. at best it only identifies the bill payer and they often arent the guilty party).

A good example of just how wrong such schemes can be comes via the example of an 83-year-old grandmother, Patricia Drew, who according to the Express and Star can hardly manage to even turn a computer on and off, let alone figure out how to share films over public P2P networks.

As Dave Drew, Patricias 59-year-old son, said: They have provided absolutely no factual evidence that she downloaded this film, yet the tone of the letters is very threatening. You can imagine that a lot of people would get scared into paying. The crazy thing about all of this is that by all accounts this company are operating within the law. They are threatening people with legal action, which in my mothers case at least is over a false accusation of wrongdoing, and causing a great deal of unnecessary worry.

Ian Austin MP added: Its a disgrace that elderly residents are being bullied into paying this firm compensation even if theyve done nothing wrong. Most people will find it incredible that 82-year-olds are being accused of using special file sharing programs to illegally download films. I want this firm to rethink its case against my constituent and the Government must take action to make sure consumers are not getting ripped off.

Sadly weve seen plenty of similar cases like this before and a number of related firms, such as the controversial ACS:Law, even ended up closing as a result of their unscrupulous behaviour. Meanwhile others, including several lawyers who worked for Davenport Lyons, have also faced fines and suspensions (here).

But sadly the practice continues because it only takes a few people to pay up in order for the model to make a profit and this is about money, not justice. If you know or believe yourself to be innocent of the allegation, then its best to discuss the matter with Citizens Advice before responding and read the Speculative Invoicing Handbook. Likewise if you want a solicitors help then Michael Coyle from Lawdit often assists.

A few years ago all of the countrys largest broadband ISPs agreed to a new Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme (VCAP), which will also send warning letters to those suspected of similar activity (here and here). But the VCAP letters contain no threats or demands for money and should only act as an education programme, yet so far we havent seen any letters being sent.
Monday, March 7th, 2016 (8:53 am) - Score 12,851

The seemingly endless debate about the pros and cons of advertising hybrid-fibre broadband connections as fibre optic has once again reared its head after a number of refreshed adverts for Virgin Medias cable network began promoting their service as optical fibre alongside pictures of what is clearly a copper core coaxial cable.

The situation is of course nothing new and has cropped up plenty of times before (examples here and here), although previously Virgin Media has been slightly better with their promotions and up until recently they were at least mentioning the use of coax cable on some of their ads (we praised them for that).

But today the new norm is for pictures of Virgins coax cable to be labelled as optical fibre, which is confusing because some ISPs actually do provide significantly faster pure fibre optic connections to homes and businesses (e.g. Hyperoptic, Gigaclear, B4RN).

Coax cables are metal and carry electrical signals, while fibre optic lines are made of glass or plastic and carry signals using laser light (the later method is generally much faster).

Next generation optical fibre. Illustrated with a copper coaxial cable. pic.twitter.com/nS44h3dyOc  David Cannings (@edeca) February 16, 2016

Dear @virginmedia this a coax cable not a fibre optic cable pic.twitter.com/yFsB8azICy    (@stuarthatto) March 3, 2016

By comparison Virgin Medias DOCSIS cable network is predominantly a Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC/N) style solution like Openreachs VDSL based fibre broadband products (note: weve yet to see an Openreach based ISP show a picture of copper twisted pair alongside a fibre optic claim), which only take the fibre optic cable to your local street cabinet and then use an existing copper or coax copper cable to your home.

However it should be said that there are a few minority exceptions. Even Openreach have some pure fibre optic (FTTP) lines (around 200,000 premises are within reach of those) and similarly Virgin Media are also deploying FTTP on a small scale, albeit alongside Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG) in order to make it compatible with their DOCSIS cable network.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) controversially allows hybrid-fibre broadband products to be promoted as fibre optic or fibre broadband (this is why we tend to put FTTC fibre broadband in speech marks or refer to it as hybrid fibre), which flows from an old February 2008 ruling that found in Virgin Medias favour and has since irritated proponents of the correct definitions.

At the time the ASA took the view that the coax element of Virgins network was only a small part of their fibre optic backhaul and thus the ISP was deemed to have been justified in describing their service as fibre optic, even though this sort of promotional flexibility could in theory also be applied to everything from ADSL2+ to Wireless networks and indeed it sometimes has (*cough* Fibre over Wireless *cough*).

Mind you the market of 2008 was also a very different one from today and rival FTTP/H services, particularly in the domestic connectivity space, simply didnt exist to any noticeable degree. Today there are close to 500,000 such premises being covered by related technology and this may rise to 1-2 million within the next few years.

So perhaps now would be a good time for the ASA to review their original decision in order to reflect how the market has changed, which is exactly what France did last year (here) and many of our readers supported their move. For a fuller perspective on this topic, see our article  Will the Real Fibre Optic Broadband Service Please Stand Up.

In the meantime no amount of moaning about the issue will change the fact that ISPs are officially allowed, for good or ill, to promote their services as fibre optic; even when the cable or radio link that connects to your home is not an optical one. We just have to live with that fact. Queue the usual battle of comment spam.

Lest we not forget that most people will continue to gauge performance by service speed rather than technical definition.
Rain has begun falling at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as a storm front moves southeastward into Flagstaff this evening.

The National Weather Service says the most intense burst of precipitation will last for about three hours as the front arrives. Rain will fall into the evening, followed by snow as the temperature in Flagstaff drops to 26 degrees overnight.

A high wind advisory continues until 8 p.m., and winds will continue gusty through the night. Snow accumulation of less than an inch is expected at 7,000 feet. Snowbowl can expect 3 to 5 inches at 11,500 feet.

Monday will see clearing skies before a second front moves through Monday evening and into Tuesday. Light rain will be followed by light snow Tuesday night, again with little or no accumulation.

Warmer weather will return starting Wednesday, with highs reaching the lower 60s on Thursday and Friday. Another fast-moving storm front is due in the region by next weekend.

9:40 a.m. Sunday Update: High winds, then rain, then snow

Winds gusting up to 50 mph will usher in the first of two storm systems to the Flagstaff region today through Tuesday.

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind advisory through 8 p.m. for much of Coconino County and areas east of Flagstaff along the Interstate 40 corridor and north along the Little Colorado River Valley.

Rain will begin this afternoon throughout much of northern Arizona, with thunderstorms possible. Light snow will develop after 8 p.m. down to 6,000 feet but little accumulation is expected in Flagstaff. The White Mountains could see 1 to 3 inches of snow.

Monday will see a break in the clouds before a second storm front moves in Monday night through Tuesday. Snow showers overnight will give way to rain on Tuesday as the high temperature reaches 47 degrees.

Unseasonably warm, sunny weather will return later in the week to Flagstaff, with the mercury reaching 63 on Thursday. Another storm front is in the forecast for next weekend with the forecast for snow accumulation still uncertain.
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016

Anyone who has created a website knows that registering the domain you want can be a very iffy proposition, especially if you want a .com extension. Its not uncommon to have to go to your third or fourth choice, because the first two are already registered. That problem may be resolved if we all start buying into the idea of forgoing the likes of .com, .org, and .net, and adopting the generic extensions that are becoming increasingly common.

If your Web presence has to do with one of the two major political parties, for example, what would you think of using the extension .democrat, or .republican? Rightside Group, a domain name services provider in Kirkland, Wash., is gambling that lot of people would love that idea.

Rightside owns the .democrat and .republican extensions (otherwise known as top-level domains, or TLDs), along with 37 other generic TLDs, from .engineer and .lawyer, to .software and .video. In a recent interview, Rightside CEO Taryn Naidu explained how all of this works, beginning with the process Rightside goes through to acquire a domain extension.

ICANN opened up a process several years ago in which any company could apply to own the new TLDs by paying a fee of $185,000 for each application, Naidu said, adding that Rightside has invested around $18 million in applying for 133 new extensions.

If youre the only one that applies for that extension, you go through the process and youre awarded that extension, Naidu explained. If more than one of you apply for it, ICANN basically says, You guys go figure out who owns it, and if you dont, were going to run a resolution process to decide who wins it. Thats basically an auction process.

Naidu said that so far Rightside has secured 39 new extensions and is working on resolution for 13 more. The company has driven about 450,000 registrations with those 39 extensions, which have been launched over a period beginning about 14 months ago. The most recent launch was that of .family, in January, which has driven nearly 6,000 registrations so far. Prices for registrations vary by extension, and average around $20, he said.

The ones where we have been successful, that have been really great for us, are things like .news, which we believe is one of the best extensions in the entire programthat launched last summer, and its closing in on about 70,000 registrations to date. It made over $1 million within the first couple of weeks of launching, Naidu said. We have .rocks, which was uncontestedwe paid $185,000 for it, and its driven over 60,000 registrations in about a year. In Q4 2015 we launched .live, and its really been embraced by the live streaming community.

Rightside has pursued a strategy of going after evergreen terms like .video and .news, and professions like .attorney, .dentist, and .lawyer, Naidu said. The other side we went after was areas with big addressable marketsthings like .democrat, .republican, .army, .navy, .airforce.

According to Naidu, Apple has started to become a user of these extensions.

With the launch of their Apple News product, they provision all the articles through the domain, Apple.news. he said. That was pretty exciting for us, with millions of eyeballs realizing theres a .news domain.

Amazon is a big user of the domains, as well.

They have domains like Funny.reviews, and Amazon.video, and they use those to go to specific segments of their site. So when you go to Amazon.video on your browser, itll redirect to their video library, Naidu said. But Amazon has also been a big applicant for new domainstheyve secured a portfolio of over 50 TLDsthings like .book and .kindle. Google has secured a pretty sizable portfolio of different extensions, as well. So for us, its been exciting to see the big e-commerce and Internet companies really believe in the program as consumers, as well as building extension portfolios themselves. These guys really have the ability to raise awareness.

Naidu said what Rightside loves about the new domains is that theyre so specific.

What were realizing with the Internet is its become easy to create content, but hard to discover content, he said. Think of the billboards out thereyou have three to five seconds to consume a billboard. It might show a phone number, but nobody remembers that in three to five seconds. So what we love about this is, it can show a memorable domain name, like Go to bestbuy.salesomebody can remember that, and navigate to that. Its also trackable by the advertiser, so they can track what their conversions are on traditional media.

Naidu noted that the Los Angeles Times is using the .video extension for its growing content library on YouTube, iTunes, Twitter and Facebook.

Instead of pointing you to [a long URL], they can point you to latimes.video, and redirect that to their YouTube channel, he said. So theres a way for them to have a consistent brand on the left of the dot, and utilize the specificity of these domains to have something more memorable for consumers to navigate.

As for its own website, Rightside uses the .co extension, not .com. I mentioned to Naidu that I found that surprising, because I have to think that a lot of people who hear about Rightside and want to check it out would type Rightside.com in their browser, which brings up one of those annoying notices you get when youre using the wrong URL:

Welcome to: allcreative.com

This Web page is parked for FREE, courtesy of GoDaddy.com

It seems to me a lot of people wouldnt bother to Google for the right URL after that, which potentially means lost business for Rightside. So why not just err on the side of caution and go with .com? It turns out the answer is pretty simple: Naidu said Rightside.com was already registered. Perhaps wanting to be consistent with Rightsides vested interest in convincing the world that its time to move beyond .com, Naidu played down the attractiveness of the .com extension for Rightside.

If .com had been available, we would have secured it, he said. Im not sure we would have used it as our main site, but we would have secured it, and probably pointed it to our main site.

Naidu said there are 120 million .com sites registered, so its hard to find your first, second or third choice. The availability issue aside, he said, a strategy of adopting complementary domains also makes a lot of sense.

For us, if you want to know more about our investor relations, you can go to Rightside.market, he said. If you want to know more about our blog and our content, go to Rightside.news.

To wrap up this portion of the interview, I asked Naidu if he could have one do-over since becoming CEO of Rightside, what it would it be. He said he couldnt think of one.

I think every bit of experience that you get is enhanced by the wins and losses that youve had. So I cant think of any do-over, he said. I love the team, I love the organization that weve built, I love the employee base, and I love what were doing. Give it time to watch this business develop, and youre going to see great things.

Naidu also addressed the challenges that Rightside faces in operating as a domain registrar in a world where spammers and malware producers are flourishing. Ill cover that in a forthcoming post.

A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant.
Mans work and womens work, can you describe the difference? Think about all the reasons there are tasks that fit into one or the other category. Then think about the IBM midrange community and why the ratio of men to women must be 10 to one, or even greater. Unbalanced? Obviously. Discrimination? Im not here to throw that bomb. Successful women in this business? Yes, there are many. Im going to mention just a few highly successful women from the IBM i community right off the top of my head: Alison Butterill, IBM i Product Offering Manager; Susan Gantner, highly regarded consultant and educator; Barbara Morris, lead RPG developer for IBM; Dawn May, senior technical staff member at IBM Rochester; Roxanne Reynolds-Lair, multiple COMMON/IBM Power Systems Innovation Award winner; Laura Ubelhor, consultant and president of the Southeast Michigan IBM i User Group; and Von Enselman, a consultant and proponent of recruiting more women to the IBM i community. Without a doubt there are many more that have succeeded in this profession, which leads to the question: Why arent there more? Recruiting more women into IT professions is still a still a beta project. Recruiting women to IBM i environments specifically is pretty much a new frontier. There are a few people exploring this frontier and Enselman is one of them. Shes determined to guide others. Women are an undiscovered resource that Enselman sees as an answer to a current and future workforce dilemma for IBM i shops and an opportunity to build gender equality in a field where the balance is way out of whack. The lack of women in the IBM i community is mostly a generational thing, Enselman said in an interview with IT Jungle last week. The Baby Boomers make up a big portion of the workforce in IBM i shops. The generation we are trying to attract to the IBM i community now is a generation accustomed to a better balance between men and women. In that era, not a lot of women sought jobs in IT. We are starting to see a better balance with Gen X, but the sharp divide still exists. The important thing in the IBM i world, however, is to attract Millennials in the right balance. Millennials are unlikely to go into an environment that is unlikely to be balanced. Theyve been taught to look for things like that. You can see a better balance when you talk to instructors at the college level who notice it in their classroom demographic. It is noticeable in the students that the COMMON Education Foundation is helping to bring to COMMON conferences. A recent report from Accenture illustrates how women are using digital skills to gain an edge in preparing for work, finding work, and advancing at workan advantage that will factor into the closing of the gender gap.

Enselman believes the next generation of IBM i workers must include many more women. And to bring IBM i to the attention of more women, she believes a mentoring program will become an important factor. She says STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, traditionally male dominated, are opening to women more so than in the past and that women who have already succeeded in the field are important to those who are considering technology as a career. Mentoring is a tremendous part of overcoming barriers. Im trying to raise the overall awareness of the dynamic knowledgeable women who have been in our industry and get the lessons of their experiences better known. This includes getting the word to the colleges that there are success stories and there are mentors, she says. Moving in this direction, she has taken on a leading role in the Women in IT Conference that has been run in conjunction with the annual Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professionals Spring Technical Conference hosted by the Milwaukee-based IBM i user group. The Women in IT Conference will take place March 14, one day ahead of the tech conference, which is March 15 through 17 at the Lake Lawn Lodge in Delavan, 50 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee. The Women in IT Conference does not require a registration fee. Its primary audience is anyone considering a career in information technology, but those already in the profession. With the conference just a week away, attendance is estimated at 100, with approximately 60 high school and college students. This conference has been a women-only event in the past, but this year it will be open to men as well. Enselman is hoping that men, particularly those in IT supervisory positions, will attend. Anytime a supervisor can hear more about the demographics of the people he or she is supervisingabout the way they think or interact at workwill improve the team interaction, she says. Theres not a specific IBM i perspective to the conference, but IBM i Product Offering Manager Alison Butterill will be the keynote speaker. Conference sessions are designed to include panel discussions and group interaction rather than a lecture-only format and many of the panelists have careers that are intertwined with the IBM i. What we are seeing in the i community are no longer the days when programmers sat in their own little section and didnt deal with the other business groups are coming to an end. IT has to interact with project managers and QA professionals and other business groups that have a lot of women in them. So the more we can be aware, as IT professionals, about gender issues and leadership issues, the better we can be prepared to integrate with other groups in our organizations, Enselman says. Although this is the only women in IT conference that reaches into the IBM i community, Enselman plans to package this event and adapt it for use with other local user group tech conferences. RELATED STORIES Theres Something Happening Here Education Foundation Airlifts Students To COMMON What Works For Women In IT Wisconsin Tech Conference Underscores Skills, Systems Modernization Butterill Brings Crowd To OCEAN Meeting COMMONs Fountain of Youth
Internet Australia (IA) has called for an urgent re-think on NBN urging the Australian Government Senate inquiry last Friday to just do it and deploy fibre.

The not-for-profit peak body representing Internet users was among some expert groups and individuals that gave evidence at the inquiry held in Canberra. In his opening remarks IAs CEO, Laurie Patton, summed up his organisations attitude by proposing that we follow the Nike principle  Just do it!

If the Internet is to reach its potential for good it is essential that we make it available to everyone. In the 21st Century to be without access to the Internet is like not having other basic services like water and electricity. The ability to participate in our digitally enabled future is a basic right of all Australians. Gaining employment and engaging in a wide range of community activities will increasingly require digital skills. We need to build our economic and social future around a connected world where everyone has access to the Internet and knows how to use it, Patton said.

In the past Internet Australia has argued the need for fast, ubiquitous broadband without publicly favouring a technological solution. However, on the basis of information now available  including evidence from New Zealand on reduced fibre network construction costs and news of NBNs low-cost fibre option  it has now called on the government to reassess urgently its commitment to the Multi-Technology-Mix (MTM) model.

IAs stance was that the it was short-sighted to look at NBN funding over the four-year budget cycle. This is our biggest infrastructure project since the Snowy Mountains scheme, and that was seen as a long-term asset build, which is what broadband is all about. It makes no sense focusing on the NBN cost as a lump sum, especially as no-one can agree on it anyway and it changes from year to year as technology and other factors reduce the construction costs. Even if copper is a little cheaper in the short term, it will add significant costs to the total long-term spend when we have to rebuild large sections of the network, replacing copper with fibre. Better to build what well soon enough need right from the start, Patton said.

One of the most significant revelations at Fridays Senate inquiry came from a representative of Chorus NZ, the countrys principal broadband provider. Under questioning from former Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, Chorus revealed that it has managed to reduce the installation costs for its fibre network by 29 percent.

This information came only a day after a leak revealed that NBN has itself been quietly trialling a new low-cost fibre system that uses thinner fibre optic cables combined with more flexible joints and other improvements.

Fibre-to-the-node was supposed to deliver broadband sooner and at a lower cost. We always knew that technology and improved implementation processes would gradually bring down the cost of fibre. It now looks like it might be coming very close to the same price as copper  especially if you take a long-term view on the investment, Patton said.

In addition to highlighting the need for fast broadband based on a fibre network, Internet Australias vice-chair, Dr Paul Brooks, told Senators that, "Increasingly, people are looking for upload speed, not download speed, especially if they relied on the Internet for their business operations.

Dr Brooks also explained that new technology using wave division multiplexing will allow for extraordinary increases in Internet delivery speeds using existing fibre, that simply cannot be matched by services based on copper wire. He pointed to places like Singapore and Hong Kong that are already delivering 10 gigabits per second to households.

This was backed up by comments earlier in the day from an academics group that pointed to the fact that fibre networks will continue to be upgradable long past the point where copper-based services will need to be replaced.

IAs chair George Fong, who is based in regional Victoria where he owns and runs an ISP, was ideally placed to explain the issues that confront customers when broadband becomes available in their area. NBN is due to arrive at his house ten days from now. However, Mr Fong has been fielding inquiries from confused consumers for many months now.

Expressing the concerns of many of his customers, Mr Fong said, People keep talking about cost. From a regional point of view, were not looking at that, were looking at the investment and the amortisation of that investment over 20, 30, 40, 50 years  Its a real problem when we see (such positive) changes on the ground as a result of this technology being rolled out.

Preparing for its appearance at the Senate inquiry, IA carried out a survey of its members last weekend.

There were only about 50 respondents, so we do not claim it to be scientifically rigorous but the results certainly match the anecdotal evidence that we regularly receive from our members, Patton said.

Asked about the current governments MTM model, which heavily relies on the Telstra copper telephone network, only four percent said they were satisfied, 16 percent were neutral, 47 percent dissatisfied, and 33 percent extremely dissatisfied  an 80 percent rejection of the MTM.

On whether NBN speeds would be sufficient for them and their customers' needs over next five to ten years, six percent answered yes, 78 percent said no, while 16 percent said, don't know.

The one-day inquiry was billed as an opportunity for the committee to secure technical advice from parties not previously consulted. It began with a roundtable where technology academics provided their opinions on the best approach for Australia to pursue. It was clear that the majority viewpoint from this group was that fibre was the only option that guaranteed the ability to keep up with international developments.

This view was vigorously supported by Senator Conroy, who participated by telephone from Melbourne. One of the participants contributions was momentarily interrupted when the Senators voice unexpectedly boomed from loudspeakers in the hearing room with the words: You do it once, you do it right, you do it with fibre.

Shortly after Fridays session, Senator Scott Ludlam posted on his Facebook page: "Internet Australia are the peak body representing users of the Internet. They're the people we should most be listening to about the NBN".
Egyptian Streets

Egypts vehicle manufacturer MCV will manufacture and export 60 double-decker buses to the United Kingdom, Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced on Sunday.

According to Kabil, the new line of vehicle manufacturing shows trust in the Egyptian industry from foreign markets.

MCVs factories produce 8,000 to 10,000 double-decker buses annually, of which 5,000 to 8,000 are exported to a number of countries, including the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Kabils comments came during a tour of industrial complexes in New Salahia and El-Obour cities, which also saw the minister launching a number of new factories in the area.

The new deal, which marks the first time for Egypt to export the buses London tourism is famous for, is a shift from Egypts prior dealings with public transportation manufacturing. In 2014, the Transport Authority announced that 600 buses would be supplied by the United Arab Emirates, with half of the fleet manufactured in the UAE and the other half in Egypt.
Australian and NZ ICT and telco, Visionstream, has appointed a new general manager to lead its Australian comms business after the previous GM decided to move overseas.

Visionstream reports that it has appointed Mark Norton to lead its Australian Communications business, with Norton now responsible for managing the companys wireless, fibre, Intelligent Infrastructure and ITS related operations across the country.

Norton has over 30 years experience in operational and functional management roles, and most recently held the position of General Manager Strategy and Operational Performance for Visionstream, driving the companys strategic direction as a Division of Ventia Pty Ltd.

Visionstream CEO, Richard Kelleway said: Mark brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the role, benefitting the business and our customers as we continue to grow and strengthen our operations across diverse markets.

Before joining Visionstream, Mark managed the Thiess Services Communications Business for two years and has held leadership roles with a number of large blue chip multinational services, manufacturing and contracting organisations.

Article continues below, please read on:

Norton himself added that: Visionstream is at the forefront of the ever changing ICT and telecommunications landscape. I look forward to challenging our business to consistently lead the market in providing innovative, customer-centric solutions.

Norton has replaced the previous GM of Australian Communications, Rupert Holloway, who we are told has made the decision to move abroad.

Why that decision was made isnt expanded upon, nor is Holloways destination, but it at least seems clear that both parties saw things differently, which presumably resulted in either side no longer sharing the same vision.

We wish Norton success in his new role.
An issue involving a primary competitor recently made public a new piece of large construction equipment. At first glance, the equipment looked like an exact copy of a model recently developed by Verizons customer. This was even more suspicious as the competitor hadn't traditionally produced this type of equipment. The first employee interviewed was the chief design engineer for the project. While interviewing him, it became clear that he was actively looking for employment elsewhere and he might not be employed by the victim much longer. A recruiter had contacted the engineer via LinkedIn, which led to them exchanging emails.

A digital forensic examination of the chief design engineers system and associated firewall logs provided evidence of a breach associated with the design plans, which were located on that system. A PHP (scripting language) backdoor shell was found on the system. There were also clear indications that the threat actors had located and copied the file containing the design plans.

It appears a recruiter had put malware on that engineers computer. Through attack profiling, it was determined that the likely threat actors were a Chinese hacking group that had long been suspected of being state funded.
Innovation takes time  and money, and people and resources. Thats why its common for a company to focus on core business activities and not build an innovation lab  a specific building or department dedicated to working on prototypes and fleshing out ideas.

Part of the issue is that it can be difficult to justify and quantify the budget involved. Is it a skunkworks project that will consume resources but not deliver any value? Is it a purely a showcase for engineering prowess, or will the concepts produce real products? For many IT leaders, its hard to overcome the stigma of an innovation lab as a financial drain.

Innovation labs are regularly knocked because they often dont have clearly defined links to specific business strategies or goals, says Charles King, an analyst with PUND-IT. But thats also the basis of their appeal. In essence, innovation labs create a safe space where an organization can explore unconventional, even radical ideas in hopes of inspiring changes or new opportunities that could enhance its business.

To find out the best reasons for having an innovation lab, CIO.com checked in with three large companies that have built or are in the process of building an innovation lab.

1. Lowes Innovation Labs

The well-known hardware chain runs an innovations lab (the plural on innovations is intentional) at their Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Its intended to show how retailing will work in the future.

One example: The lab designed and developed a 3D printer that will be used in the International Space Station. It created a robot, which operates in its San Jose Orchard Supply Hardware store, called OSHbot that greets customers (in English or Spanish) and performs product searches about 1,000 times every few weeks. A Holoroom is a virtual reality showcase that guides customers who are wearing VR goggles on how to do a home improvement project.

[Related: From bionics to magic, MIT Media Lab celebrates 30 years of innovation]

Kyle Nel, the executive director of Lowes Innovation Labs, says that every company needs to evaluate the problems facing a business now and in the future. Thats one of the reasons the company created the Holoroom. Not everyone understands how to install a new toilet or remove an old kitchen appliance, but VR can help educate new customers.

He says the company always seeks to understand the narrative for why the innovation is even needed and what it will produce. If it already existed it wouldnt be innovative, he says. If you arent facing challenges then you probably arent innovating enough.

Another key piece of advice is to find the right mix of employees to run the lab. That can be challenging because the staff will need a blend of technical skills and yet be comfortable with ambiguity. Theyve had to work hard to find the right internal sponsors for the lab, and also to link the work they are doing with what will actually work in the store infrastructure.

Having a group of folks focused on innovation can be far more effective but only if there is some kind of cross pollination otherwise you can have an independent group coming up with products that arent implemented and processes in search of problems, says analyst Rob Enderle with Enderle Group. There is a real art in balancing the groups independence with keeping it connected to the business. Too much connection and you dont get the innovation, too little and it becomes redundant.

2. IBM Research  Austin

Theres no question IBM is one of the best examples of how to build and maintain an innovation lab. At its Austin, Texas facility, director Kevin Nowka can even take you a tour using a robot that lets you video conference with him and walk around the lab. Some of their key innovations include early pilots of sensor networks for the Internet of Things, research on processor cores and an innovative email tool that lets you revise a message before its read.

Nowka says its important for any business to decide how they will fund the innovation lab, that it might not always be a revenue producer but will extend the capabilities of the company. He says you also have to identify the customer of the lab, whether that is other businesses who will partner with you (as is the case with IBM) or an actual end-user.

An innovation lab gives you the ability to test out and experience and experiment with new technologies and, more importantly, to find out how they will integrate with existing business processes or enhance them, says Nowka, explaining that this mad scientist approach is critical because you never know what might come out of a lab when you take highly disparate products  such as sensors and wireless networks  in the same environment.

He says its also important to identify the roles in a lab. You will need technical folks, but also people who can establish and build relationships with outside partners and plumber types who can run cables and do some of the physical work involved. He says building an innovation lab is like creating a jigsaw puzzle, but its often hard to know which pieces you need.

They key, he says, is to understand the scope  is it intended as a proof-of-concept for upper management, is it more for partners and customers to experiment, or is it more about creating something brand new? PUND-ITs King mentioned how quantify this is important because you have to know the outcome of the lab and what it will produce before ever building one.

[Related: Accenture invests in artificial intelligence R&D]

Research needs to stay in touch with production without having it interfere too much with real innovation, which often isnt pretty in its early stages, says Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates who covers IT trends. The housing problem is a balance between having research and production mingle freely and randomly, which sounds like a good thing, and letting researchers pursue their projects independently. The messaging, subliminal or otherwise, coming from production can be pretty distracting.

3. Autodesk Pier 9

This 35,000-square-foot creative workshop located in San Francisco is intended to blend the virtual software created at Autodesk with the physical world, says Greg Eden, the vice president of brand and communication. One of the projects involved creating a 3D printer called Ember as a way to show what is possible with 3D printing. They produced a model of the entire downtown San Francisco area (or 115 city blocks).

One of the most interesting differences with Autodesks Pier 9 is that it is not intended as a showcase for products. Eden says they already have showrooms at their corporate offices, so the 3D printer project was not intended as a way to see how their software works. He says its critical to the long-term success for any company within tech or outside of tech.

We can all list off the companies that have created amazing products and then managed their slow decline with dot releases after dot releases, making small incremental steps, he says. These spaces unlock the creativity for us but also for customers and the wider community

Interestingly, Eden says it is important for a company building an innovation lab to make sure they do not underestimate the value. Autodesk has been surprised by the interest in their facilities and are currently building new labs in Toronto and Boston.

Where you locate the lab is also key. Pier 9 is located close to Silicon Valley and downtown, and its easily accessible by light rail. Their Toronto lab will be close to the University of Toronto, and their Boston facility is in an emerging tech center (the new home of the GE headquarters).
Romania's highest court has approved the temporary extradition of a convicted hacker accused of breaking into the email and social media accounts of a Bush family member and U.S. government officials.

The court ruled Friday that Romanian national Marcel Lehel Lazar will be extradited to the U.S. for a maximum of 18 months to face charges brought against him there.

Lazar was indicted in June 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, accused of hacking into the email and social media accounts of high-profile victims including a family member of two former U.S. presidents, a former U.S. Cabinet member, a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a former presidential adviser.

According to the indictment, Lazar used the online aliases Guccifer and Micul Fum -- Little Fume in English. He faces charges of wire fraud, unauthorized access to a computer system, aggravated identity theft, cyberstalking and obstruction of justice.

While the indictment doesn't name the victims, Guccifer is known to have passed documents, pictures and information to the media that were stolen from the email accounts of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and several members and friends of the Bush family, including Dorothy Bush Koch, daughter of 41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush and sister of 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush.

Lazar was arrested in Romania in January 2014 for hacking into the personal email accounts of local public figures, including the former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service George Maior. In June that year he was sentenced to four years in prison for those offenses.

At the time the hacker was already on a six-year supervised release after receiving a three-year suspended prison sentence in 2012 for hacking into the email accounts of other Romanian celebrities.
Apple's head of software engineering took to The Washington Post's op-ed page Sunday to reprise many of the arguments the company -- and supporters -- have made to contest a federal court order that would compel it to help the FBI break into a passcode-locked iPhone.

"The encryption technology built into today's iPhone represents the best data security available to consumers," asserted Craig Federighi, vice president of software engineering at Apple, in a piece published by the newspaper yesterday. But "the FBI, Justice Department and others in law enforcement are pressing us to turn back the clock to a less-secure time and less-secure technologies."

One of those "others in law enforcement" was Cyrus Vance Jr., the District Attorney for New York County, who last week urged Congress to mandate that Apple revert to the security features of 2013's iOS 7. Vance has said that's necessary so investigators can extract data from the more than 200 iPhones his office possesses as evidence in a wide range of criminal cases.

Federighi objected.

"They have suggested that the safeguards of iOS 7 were good enough and that we should simply go back to the security standards of 2013. But the security of iOS 7, while cutting-edge at the time, has since been breached by hackers. What's worse, some of their methods have been productized and are now available for sale to attackers who are less skilled but often more malicious," Federighi said.

Apple is fighting a February court order that compels it to assist the FBI in gaining entry to an iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife, Tafsheen Malik, killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif. on Dec. 2, 2015 before they died in a shootout with police. The government has labeled the attack an act of terrorism.

The order would require Apple to create a customized version of iOS that would disable several security safeguards, then put the software on the device so authorities can bombard it with passcode guesses. The FBI has said it believes there is unique information on Farook's iPhone that will help its investigation.

Apple and its supporters -- 16 organizations, companies or groups of companies filed "friends of the court" briefs last week backing the firm's position -- have cited legal and constitutional arguments contesting the use of the All Writs Act. They have also contended that the creation of the FBI's tool would dampen enthusiasm for software updates, reduce the country's overall cyber security and unleash a flood of similar demands from authoritarian governments worldwide.

"If the U.S. government can demand these kinds of backdoors, other governments more repressive and less restrained than our own will surely demand them as well," wrote lawyers for the Center for Democracy and Technology in its amicus brief last week. "This danger will make our technological infrastructure weaker and more susceptible to foreign espionage and cyberattack."

"Once created, this software -- which law enforcement has conceded it wants to apply to many iPhones -- would become a weakness that hackers and criminals could use to wreak havoc on the privacy and personal safety of us all," echoed Federighi.

While the amicus briefs filed on behalf of Apple last week were filled with language best suited to legal and policy wonks, Federighi stuck to points that had a better chance of resonating with the general public.

"Security is an endless race -- one that you can lead but never decisively win," Federighi said. "Yesterday's best defenses cannot fend off the attacks of today or tomorrow. We cannot afford to fall behind those who would exploit technology in order to cause chaos. To slow our pace, or reverse our progress, puts everyone at risk."

The federal magistrate who ordered Apple to assist the FBI will hold a hearing March 22 before making her final decision on Apple's objections. Both the government and Apple are expected to appeal if she rules against them.

This story, "Apple exec argues against turning back the clock to 'less-secure time'" was originally published by Computerworld .
The Green Lane Riding Stables has been flooded with protests since the announcement that a path from Motspur Park is to be fenced off from parents who use it to take children to Green Lane Primary School and Beverley School.

But stables manager Lesley Bielecki said after taking over the lease on land owned by Merton and Sutton Cemetery Board three months ago, they had been instructed to close the path.
Good news, avid royal fans! Sweden has a new royal heir. According to the Royal Palace of Sweden, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have welcomed their second child, a son, on March 2.

When it comes to news about princesses and princes, curious royal subjects and avid followers alike are quite eager to know about the latest happenings on the lives of their royal idols. And just recently, Sweden welcomed the birth of Prince Oscar Carl Olof, who has a royal title of Duke of Skane, International Business Times reported.

"We share the Crown Princess couple's great happiness and Princess Estelle's pleasure at welcoming her little brother to the family," proud grandparents King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia said. "We wish them a wonderful time in peace and quiet and we very much look forward to seeing our grandchildren."

The newest Swedish heir was born on Wednesday at the Karonlinksa Hospital in Stockholm. Prince Oscar weighed eight pounds.

The birth of Prince Oscar was personally announced by her father, Prince Daniel. As of late, Crown Princess Victoria, her husband and their 4-year-old daughter Estelle are enjoying their moments with their latest bundle of joy at home.

"I have not had time to feel just yet how it feels to be a father of two," Prince Daniel said, Hello! magazine quoted. "But it feels good so far!"

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel were also congratulated by the princess' younger brother Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia, who are also expecting their first child next month, Daily Mail revealed. Victoria's younger sister Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O'Neill have also sent their well wishes on the birth of the royal couple's son.

Meanwhile, with the birth of Sweden's Prince Oscar, British royal couple Kate Middleton and Prince William are allegedly feeling pressured to have more royal babies. Celebrity Dirty Laundry even claimed that the Duke of Cambridge is forcing his wife for a third pregnancy.

The Swedish royals and their growing family have recently captured the world's attention. That's why, rumors have it that their British counterparts, Kate Middleton and Prince William, are feeling threatened by their popularity.

So, does this mean Duchess Kate and Prince William need to get pregnant too in order to reclaim the world's attention? With that all said, it seems that the world will see a royal competition soon.
Joseph Gordon- Levitt starring in the "Sandman" movie could not be happening. After years of waiting for the production of the movie to transpire, updates now detailed that the 35-year-old actor has dropped out of his role.

Gordon-Levitt recently announced via social media his move to cancel his engagements with the Neil Gaiman comic-based film. The "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" actor expressed that he could not see what makes the material "special."

"Recently, as you also might know if you like to follow these sorts of things, the sorta 'ownership' (for lack of a better term) of the Sandman material changed hands when Warner Brothers shifted the entire catalogue of Vertigo comics (an imprint of DC) to their subsidiary, New Line," he said, via the Pulse.

"And a few months ago, I came to realize that the folks at New Line and I just don't see eye to eye on what makes Sandman special, and what a film adaptation could/should be. So unfortunately, I decided to remove myself from the project. I wish nothing but the best for the team moving forward."

Gordon-Levitt's surprising departure from the movie might dull up the excitement of many fans waiting for the flick. But with regards to his exit, "Sandman" author Neil Gaiman relayed that his "respect" for the "500 Days of Summer" actor is unwavering.

The announcement of the production of the "Sandman" movie started in 2013. Gordon-Levitt together with Goyer were the people appointed to work on the movie. The movie was based from DC's Vertigo comics book of Neil Gaiman which run popularly from 1989 to 1996.

"Sandman" tells about the story of "Dream" or Morpheus who ruled the world of dreams. The comic book series that became a New York Times Bestselling book also involves other characters such as Destiny, Desire, Despair and Destruction.
A report released by the FBI in August revealed that over 7,000 U.S. companies of varying sizes have lost approximately $740 million plus in email attacks starting in late 2013.

Especially vulnerable are small companies which have no appropriate security checks for their banking accounts.

According to a December 2015 survey conducted by the National Small Business Association of business owners, cybercriminals have stolen an average of $32,000 from small businesses. Unfortunately, these businesses have no legal protection from bank account fraud the same way individual consumers have.

Individual consumers are protected from bank account theft by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act of 1978, but that law does not mention any protection given to businesses.

According to Doug Johnson, American Bankers Association senior vice president, the only protection a business can get is if it strikes a deal with the bank to secure its account.

However, the bank could forgo its accountability if the business has not complied with the security requirements imposed by its agreement with the bank.

The days of bank robbers physically robbing a bank for its loot are now over. The world has now seen the birth of cybercriminals using software/malware to access online bank accounts and steal millions of dollars.

"Now anyone can download a cyber Kalashnikov, a cyber getaway car and a cyber grenade from a myriad of sites," said Tom Kellermann, Trend Micro vice president for cyber security.

Software used by cybercriminals offer fully automated features that do not require hackers to manually transfer money from one bank account to another. This enables online thieves to stay hidden much more than they were able to in the past.

Cyber thieves are also able now to access whole servers which are designed to target individual banks. But the gravest dangers to legitimate bank account holders is that they will no longer have a clue that their funds were compromised until long after their money have been stolen.
Tom Hiddleston is of the sought-after British actors to date. His bonafide charm in the big screens will surely make him the great next "James Bond" actor after Daniel Craig. The 33-year-old "I Saw The Light" actor is allegedly eyed to play the iconic role in the next "007" films.

Telegraph detailed this unexpected possibility for the 33-year-old actor. When Hiddleston was asked about the chance of playing the iconic "James Bond" role, the actor didn't shy away in saying that he did account the opportunity to be "extraordinary."

Apart from this, the 33-year-old "Crimson Peak" star even noted that he is a certified fan of the British secret agent movie, and if he'd be given the chance he will also prepare for it physically.

"I simply love the theme tune, the tropes and the mythology. I love the whole thing," Hiddleston said from the outlet. "If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity."

"I'm very aware of the physicality of the job. I would not take it lightly." the 33-year-old actor even added.

Last Nov. 2015, Daniel Craig who was the recent star who portrayed the role of James Bond in the movie "Spectre," mentioned his desire to exit the movie franchise. After the news broke, news outlets quickly waited on who will be the next actor to play the iconic role.

Several names were mentioned including Idris Elba, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. Do you think Tom Hiddleston would be a good choice for the future "James Bond" flicks?






Zeid Raad al-Hussein, United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner says the United States officials "risk unlocking a Pandora's box" in their bid to compel Apple Inc to develop a software that will crack its iPhone's security features.

He is urging the U.S. officials to proceed with caution.

The UN chief of human rights gave his warning Friday in a statement regarding the possibility of "extremely damaging implications" on political dissidents, whistle blowers, journalists and human rights advocates. Zeid warned that this matter is "potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes" and cyber criminals.

His admonition came one day after several technology companies and human rights advocacy groups gave their unequivocal public support to Apple in its battle against the FBI.

It also echoed what these different groups have been saying that the government's demands will have a debilitating effect on digital privacy not only in the United States but for the rest of the world.

"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," said the chief human rights advocate in the U.N.

The FBI is using the courts to force Apple to develop a back-door solution so that a particular iPhone encryption can be cracked open. That notorious iPhone is said to be the property of a suspected San Bernardino, California terrorist that allegedly caused the death of 14 people.

Zeid stated that the situation is focused on where the "key red line" should be established so that people will be protected "from criminals and repression."

If the FBI wins in this case, a precedent would be set which could then make it impossible to completely ensure privacy all over the world, Zeid argued.
Land and Space Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin talks about commercial real estate and development. SHARE

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A proposed redevelopment of a Menomonee Falls shopping center to accommodate a new Fresh Thyme Farmers Market could include $1.2 million in village financing help.

The village would provide the cash through annual property tax payments generated by improvements at Colonial Plaza, a strip retail center at N89 W16895 Appleton Ave., near Roosevelt Drive.

Those payments would be made over 12 years, according to a proposed development agreement. The Village Board is to review the proposal at its Monday night meeting.

The payments would go to the shopping center's owner, Brookfield-based Colonial Appleton Avenue LLC, which lists Jimmy Rosen as its owner.

The agreement calls for part of the shopping center to be demolished no later than June 15, with construction of the new 29,050-square-foot grocery store beginning by July 15.

The improved portion of the site is expected to have a value of $7.58 million, according to the proposal.

Fresh Thyme would anchor Colonial Plaza, which includes a Planet Fitness among its larger businesses.

Fresh Thyme is a Downers Grove, Ill.-based chain that focuses on organic produce. It is opening its first Wisconsin store near downtown Milwaukee, at The North End apartment and retail development, this spring.

The company also has a store under development at Calhoun Crossing retail center, in Brookfield, and has proposed another market for Fox Point.

Fresh Thyme says its focus on produce and other fresh items, and smaller store size, differentiates it from Whole Foods Market Inc.
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Researchers in Denmark examined data from 1.5 million women between 1970 and 2011, finding evidence that new mothers who experience postpartum psychiatric disorders, including postpartum depression, have a higher-than-normal rate of suicide.

Writing in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a team of epidemiologists from Denmark and colleagues in the Netherlands and the United States reported that mothers with postpartum psychiatric disorders have a four times higher risk of death from natural and unnatural cause than mothers who have not experienced these disorders.

They also found that the women with postpartum psychiatric disorders faced roughly the same risk of mortality as mothers with psychological disorders unrelated to childbirth.

However, when all of the mothers with psychological disorder were examined, those whose disorders were related to childbirth were more likely to commit suicide in the first year after giving birth than were the mothers whose disorders were not related to childbirth.

"The suicide cases are very rare, but when they do happen they are, of course, very tragic. And it's not what people expect," said Trine Munk-Olsen, one of the lead authors of the paper. "The general belief is that a new mother doesn't take her own life, and that she ought to be enjoying motherhood, but the reality isn't always like that."

A recent Journal Sentinel story highlighted the problem of depression among new moms.
Workers construct a U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) at Marinette Marine Corp., in Marinette, Wis. Marinette Marine Corp. makes one version of the Littoral Combat Ship in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corp. Credit: Bloomberg

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The U.S. Navy is paying shipbuilders a profit for correcting defects from the builders, according to a new government report that cites multiple examples including a littoral combat ship built in Marinette.

That's despite guarantees that come with vessels costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the Government Accountability Office said in the report titled Navy and Coast Guard Shipbuilding.

On four ships with guarantee clauses in the contract, the government paid the shipbuilder 89% of the cost  including profit  to correct defects, according to the report.

"This means the Navy and the Coast Guard paid the shipbuilder to build the ship as part of the construction contract, and then paid the same shipbuilder again to repair the ship when defects were discovered after delivery  essentially rewarding the shipbuilder for delivering a ship that needed additional work," the report noted.

"Navy officials stated that the Navy accepts the cost of fixing deficiencies to lower the overall purchase price of its ships. However, this contracting approach results in the shipbuilder profiting from fixing deficiencies on a ship that it was initially responsible for delivering to the government in a satisfactory condition," the GAO said.

The report was not centered on littoral combat ships being built by Marinette Marine, in Marinette, and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

"The Navy and Coast Guard paid shipbuilders to repair shipbuilder-responsible deficiencies after delivery for most of the ships that we reviewed," the report noted.

However the GAO referenced two littoral combat ships, USS Fort Worth built in Marinette, and USS Coronado built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

The Navy spent $46 million, under a post-delivery agreement, to correct defects, complete ship construction, and assist with other tasks including tests and trials, the GAO said about Fort Worth.

Marinette Marine employs about 2,000 people building littoral combat ships designed for a variety of missions, including combat in shallow, coastal waters.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., through Marinette, has delivered three of the vessels to the Navy: USS Freedom, USS Fort Worth and USS Milwaukee, which was christened in Milwaukee in November.

Seven more of the warships are in various stages of construction in Marinette, while a different version is being built in Mobile, Ala.

In a statement Monday, Lockheed Martin said: "Each of the three ships delivered have met or exceeded Navy specifications for quality and performance prior to acceptance. The Lockheed Martin-led LCS team is executing the program within the Navy's budget and fulfilling its commitment to build 11 ships at a competitive construction price of approximately $360 million each. With each ship produced, the team is increasing efficiency and productivity."

Navy officials did not answer Journal Sentinel questions about the GAO report, which says shipbuilding problems aren't a new phenomenon.

"While Navy ships include complex and technically sophisticated systems, we noted, in November 2013, significant quality issues with the basic construction of some Navy ships. We found that some ship classes are routinely delivered with thousands of outstanding defects with the hull, mechanical, and electrical systems," the report noted.

In December, USS Milwaukee broke down at sea and had to be towed more than 40 miles to a Navy base near Norfolk, Va. Not long after, USS Fort Worth had a major mechanical failure in Singapore.

USS Freedom, the first littoral ship built by Marinette, has suffered several setbacks including a 6-inch crack in the hull, a failed gas turbine, problems with the jet propulsion system, and a leak in the port-shaft seal that caused flooding inside the vessel.

These kinds of problems, while troubling, are not unusual for ships of a new design, according to some experts. USS Fort Worth was the second littoral combat ship built in Marinette, following USS Freedom.

"The GAO complaint is justified when a shipyard is building the fifth or sixth vessel in a series. But on something as revolutionary as the littoral combat ship, you expect changes to be necessary," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va., policy research group that studies military matters.

"The Navy has always approached shipbuilding as a partnership with industry. And that means any cost required by rework needs to be shared between the government, which set the requirements, and the industry, which sought to execute them," Thompson said.

The GAO recommended that the Navy structure contracts so that shipbuilders cannot profit from correcting defects deemed to be their responsibility.

In some cases, defects have occurred on new ships where the design has barely changed since World War II, said Norman Polmar, who has been an adviser or consultant to three U.S. secretaries of the Navy and two chiefs of naval operations.

"To me, that borders on criminal," Polmar said.

Still, shipyards are feeling budget pressures, said John Rogers, a former Defense Department official and now president of Capstone National Partners, a Milwaukee consulting firm.

"The pressure on them to go out and squeeze every dollar they can is increasing," Rogers said.
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OnRamp, a Milwaukee-based forum for connecting start-ups, established corporations and venture capitalists, will hold its first event in Chicago  the largest-ever insurance technology conference in the Midwest, organizers said.

OnRamp Insurance Conference, which will be held at Soldier Field on March 31, is attracting from around the country executives of large insurers and start-ups eager to partner with them, said Sara Woldt, director of business development at gener8tor, which is organizing the event in partnership with Lightbank LLC.

"They see the value in bringing together this high-quality group of individuals to discuss their industry and how start-ups are changing their business model," Woldt said.

Organizers are expecting more than 200 attendees, including executives from AIG, American Family, Liberty Mutual, MassMutual and Northwestern Mutual, Woldt said.

The event will have two tracks, a traditional conference with panels and speakers, and a track where established companies have one-on-one meetings with start-ups to discuss potential partnerships.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a partnership with gener8tor on an OnRamp editorial product that includes Journal Sentinel entrepreneurship and technology news and blogs from the start-up community. Gener8tor is a curator on the blog portion.

Sponsors for the OnRamp conference include 4490 Ventures and Goldman Sachs. For more information or to register for the event, e-mail Sara Woldt at sara@gener8tor.com.
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REV Group Inc. will lease 5,000 square feet at downtown Milwaukee's Milwaukee Center office tower when it moves its headquarters here from Orlando, Fla.

The company, a privately held manufacturer of ambulances, firetrucks, buses, shuttle vans, motor homes and other specialty vehicles, will open its headquarters at the Milwaukee Center, 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., in the second quarter, said Steve Pape, of Greywolf Partners Inc., who brokered the lease.

REV Group chose the building based on its location, amenities and views from the 26th floor, Pape said Monday.

The company is led by Tim Sullivan, the former chief executive of Bucyrus International Inc. (now Caterpillar Inc.'s mining equipment division). Sullivan said in February that REV Group also plans to to have a second Milwaukee-area location, and could eventually bring manufacturing operations to Wisconsin.

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Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin
Police investigate at the scene of a triple homicide Sunday night near S. 92nd St. and S. Beloit Rd. Credit: Mike De Sisti

SHARE Miguel Arvelo speaks with his daughter, Tammy, and a police officer Saturday outside his south side Milwaukee home where Arvelo's wife and son were shot and killed. Tom Kertscher

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Milwaukee police released more details Monday about three shootings over the weekend that left six people dead, bringing the city's preliminary homicide total to 15 victims so far this year.

Police have identified suspects in all of the cases, including a triple homicide on Sunday on the city's southwest side. A woman and two men were pronounced dead in their home in a four-unit apartment building in the 3300 block of S. 92nd St. on Sunday night.

The victims in that case were identified Monday as Jesus R. Manso-Perez, 40; Phia Vue, 36; and Mai K. Vue, 32. A 39-year-old man who lived in the apartment was arrested, and two firearms  a rifle and handgun  were found at the scene, police said. Detectives continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Earlier Sunday, police were called to a homicide in the 3200 block of N. 30th St. About 3 a.m., police say, 23-year-old Tamecca A. Perry was shot by a 24-year-old woman who came to the victim's house to settle an argument. Perry was pregnant at the time of her death and the child did not survive, according to police.

Authorities continued to search for the 24-year-old suspect on Monday.

On Saturday, Hermalinda Arvelo and her 12-year-old son, Arturo, were shot and killed inside a home at S. 9th St. and W. National Ave.

Family members told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the victims were the wife and son of Miguel Arvelo. Police say the suspect was Carmen T. Arvelo-Schwingle, Miguel's adult daughter from a previous marriage.

Arvelo-Schwingle, 41, killed herself at McKinley Marina shortly after shooting the Arvelos, according to police.

As of Monday, 15 homicides have been recorded in the city this year following FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting guidelines, according to Milwaukee police. That total does not include two killings that authorities ruled were self-defense, nor does it include a negligent homicide.

It also does not include the death of Stephanie L. Myles, whose remains were discovered in February after the 18-year-old was reported missing in December 2014. A department spokesman said Monday although detectives are treating her death as a homicide, the cause and manner of death remain under investigation and she currently is not among the department's list of homicide victims.

At the same time last year, 22 homicides had been recorded.
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Milwaukee County supervisors and their political self-interests would be removed from the task of redrawing supervisory district boundaries after the 2020 federal census, under a redistricting committee plan recommended by the board's judiciary committee.

An independent panel of six retired judges would work with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to establish district maps so that incumbent supervisors are taken out of the process, Supervisor Steve Taylor said of the proposal.

Taylor and Supervisor John Weishan Jr., a co-author, are asking the board to adopt the plan at a March 17 meeting.

Federal law requires redrawing of district boundaries in response to population shifts documented in each once-in-a-decade census. The law mandates that districts represent nearly equal numbers of residents.

But a few controversies during the most recent redistricting in 2011 tainted the results, Taylor said.

So he turned to the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County for advice on alternatives to the highly politicized and incumbent-controlled process used in Milwaukee County, Taylor said.

One controversy swirled around the board's violation of the state open meetings law for lack of public notice in April 2011 when the board adopted a preliminary redistricting plan following the 2010 census. The Milwaukee County circuit judge who ruled that the board had violated state law declined to toss out its final plan.

Community organizations at the time slammed the board for acting too hastily and with little public review.

The Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of mayors and village presidents criticized the board for enacting a self-serving plan that was done without asking municipalities for input.

A few of those public officials said the 2011 plan appeared to have been done with an unspoken goal of eliminating the north shore district of Supervisor Joseph Rice, a conservative who wanted a significant downsizing of the board. The final plan cut the number of supervisors by one, from 19 to 18.

The state League of Women Voters organization is asking county boards to adopt independent panels for the work of redrawing supervisory districts, said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee attorney. She is chair of the local redistricting committee for the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County.

Winnebago and Dane counties have approved independent committees, Dugan said. "This is happening around the U.S.," she said.

Taylor said the Milwaukee County proposal opens the process to the public each step of the way.

Several community organizations and local municipal officials, as well as the Marquette University Law School and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Public Administration, would be given 60 days to comment on retired judges selected for the panel by the County Board chair, under the proposal.

The County Board would confirm appointments. Each panel member would be paid $5,000 as compensation.

Before the panel begins its work, the board must set the number of supervisory districts, according to the proposal.

The panel must schedule a minimum of four public hearings on district maps, in addition to its regular open meetings, as part of the proposal.

At the end of the process, a majority of the board must adopt district maps, as required by state law. The proposal, however, allows the board to reject up to three draft plans from the panel before stepping in to adopt its own plan.

Should the board reject all three draft maps from the panel, "the public would know why they didn't like it," Taylor said.

In an interview, ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ahmuty questioned why the proposal doesn't kick the responsibility to county circuit court if the independent panel strikes out before the board.

Taylor will discuss his plan at a March 14 meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council.




China and the Pacific: The View from Oceania is based on a conference held at the National University of Samoa in Apia from 25 to 27 February 2015. China's new role as an important diplomatic and economic partner of the island countries of the Pacific has attracted increasing attention, and some controversy, in recent years. The unique priority of this conference in Samoa was to give full opportunity for both Pacific voices to be heard on the subject and for productive engagement and discussion between Pacific island participants and those from China.

Samoas Prime Minister, China's Ambassador to Samoa, and leading politicians and academics from all around the Pacific islands region made contributions which are included in this book.





Topics covered include:

Changing Geopolitics: Is China replacing traditional partners?

Regional Security: How has China changed regional security?

Chinese in the Pacific: What is the role of Chinese communities in the region?

Development Cooperation: New opportunities and also a new aid environment?

Trade and Investment: What opportunities - and what challenges - have come with China's increasing economic engagement?

The conference was jointly sponsored by the National University of Samoa, the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, and Sun Yat-sen Univesity of Guangzhou.



Victoria University Press

for the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre

Price: $40.00

ISBN/SKU :9781776560530
Ben Arnold is worried that manure from a neighboring farm will contaminate his ponds and harm wildlife on his 20-acre property in Mequon. He is pushing authorities to take action to stop spreading practices that led to a fish kill last month. Credit: Michael Sears

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Mequon  On Jan. 31, Ben Arnold watched a river of tainted, melting snow from a neighboring farm meander across his property and flow into one of his ponds.

The invading water  some of it dark as coffee  contained animal waste that the farmer had been spreading on a hillside.

"The manure runoff has started," Arnold wrote in the first of a flurry of emails he sent to state, county and local officials asking for help. "This will really get bad over the next few days."

Arnold's problem underscores the often contentious and protracted process of managing and regulating manure in Wisconsin. With the onset of spring, authorities say, the potential for such troubles can grow.

A long gravel driveway off Pioneer Road leads to Arnold's home. A trio of icy ponds and acres of lifeless grass provide an early glimpse of the splendor to come.

But days after the manure entered his land, dead fish began floating to the top of the pond. Crows swooped in to dine on the frozen flesh.

So far this year, he's had manure drift onto his property twice. It's happened in past years, in late winter and early spring, and so far his complaints to the Department of Natural Resources, Ozaukee County and city officials have not produced a resolution.

Manure issues in Wisconsin have increasingly focused on the environmental effects of large-scale farms. Referred to as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, they often house thousands of cows. Farmers who own them must build facilities to store animal waste and adhere to planning documents spelling out how and where manure will be applied.

For many smaller farms, CAFO-type requirements aren't mandatory, although conflicts involving smaller livestock operations also occur.

"Water quality issues don't discriminate based on how many animals there are at an operation," said Tressie Kamp, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, a public interest law firm active on CAFO issues.

How and when the DNR gets involved in manure runoff cases can vary and can depend on the scale of problem, threats to public waterways and the potential of manure infiltrating wells or groundwater, said Benjamin Benninghoff, a water basin supervisor with the agency.

Benninghoff and others from the agency have made inspections of Arnold's property in recent weeks, taken water samples and will meet with the farmers  Michael and Brenda Kemp  on Tuesday.

If manure from the farm had tainted nearby Cedar Creek or the Milwaukee River, there would have likely been a quicker government response to contain the waste. The farmer probably would have been issued a citation or ordered to pay for the cleanup. It is illegal to spread manure that causes significant pollution of navigable waterways.

State regulations also allow authorities to take more decisive action in and near public waterways. But Arnold's 20-acre property is almost a mile west of the Milwaukee River.

After an earlier incident, Arnold was informed by the DNR in 2010 that his ponds  one constructed with the aid of public funds  did not meet the standard for a navigable waterway. And because he lives more than 300 feet from a stream or river, the DNR lacked the authority to put restrictions on manure spreading at the neighboring farm.

"There was not a DNR citation that I could issue," said Dan Nehls, a DNR conservation warden.

Last year, the DNR issued four citations to non-CAFO farms for animal waste violations  down from nine in 2014, records show.

The process has left Arnold frustrated, especially after he got back results of a well test from the state that showed that levels of total coliform in his well were bacterially unsafe. There was no evidence of E. coli, which is a marker for the presence of fecal matter, however.

If there was manure contamination in the well, the DNR would have had more authority to take action quickly, Benninghoff said.

"The process is ridiculous," Arnold said. "These ponds are more important than that stupid Cedar Creek."

Near his home, Cedar Creek and the Milwaukee River each are classified as impaired waterways because of excessive levels of phosphorus and polychlorinated biphenyls, a banned industrial pollutant.

Arnold, 65, is single and a retired shop teacher. He grew up on a farm in central Wisconsin and bought the property in 1978. He began restoring the land to native prairie about 13 years ago and estimates that he has spent $60,000 to $70,000 on it. Today, there are deer and coyotes, mink, turtles, frogs, double-crested cormorants, blue and green herons, white egrets, woodcock, belted kingfishers and at least four species of hawks that congregate on his property.

In a video produced for the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, Arnold trudged through acres of wildflowers and tall native grasses in high rubber boots.

"It's the most rewarding thing I have done in my life," he said. "I value it. I treasure it. It's a work of art, as far as I am concerned."

But his passion has ruffled feathers. After he cut invasive plants on a neighbor's property for a few years  with permission  a different neighbor has now forbidden such activity, Arnold said.

He hasn't spoken to the Kemps for years. Brenda Kemp denied that manure from the farm ever left the property, although DNR and Ozaukee County officials said they saw such evidence.

"I saw discolored water as a result of the manure," said Andy Holschbach, director of the Ozaukee County Land and Water Management Department. "No question where it came from."

Brenda Kemp said her family gets along with their neighbors, except Arnold, and she fired off a litany of complaints: angry verbal exchanges, a confrontation over construction of a fence and once Arnold lost control of a burn to control invasive species, causing the fire to spread to other properties.

"He doesn't like farmers  period," she said. "And he doesn't like them living next door to him."

The next step, according to state and county authorities, is to get the Kemps to adopt a nutrient management plan  a planning document that would detail manure-spreading practices to avoid runoff events and maximize manure's value as fertilizer. In some instances, the planning can involve construction of facilities to contain manure.

Typically, however, state regulations can't require farmers to do such work unless the state pays 70% of the cost and the farmer pays 30%.

Since 2010, money for planning statewide has tripled to $1.8 million this year, according to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

State funding for construction-related costs has fallen from $6.4 million in 2010 to $3.99 million this year, DNR figures show.

A year ago, Holschbach met with the Kemps about such planning. By spring, they opted against it.

Brenda Kemp said the farm uses little fertilizer and no pesticides. Manure replenishes the soil, she said.

"I don't want to take government money. Once they give you money, they own you. I don't want to be owned by them," she said. Later, she said that she and her husband have agreed to meet with authorities who want to inspect the property to evaluate the scope of the problem.

The hope is to work out a voluntary cost-sharing agreement. But Benninghoff said the DNR could order the Kemps to make the changes.

It's all taken far too long, said Arnold, who feels he's been victimized by his neighbor and the pace of the government response.

"If you want a healthy agricultural system, you need to have native habitat, too," he said.
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Enbridge Energy Co., which wants to expand pipeline capacity in northern Wisconsin, is drawing concerns because of the company's operating history of spills and other problems.

A new state report says the company has had 85 oil spills over the past decade, although most were considered small.

The Department of Natural Resources has released an environmental-impact statement on the project in Douglas County. It concluded that a spill of 500 gallons or more would have a "substantial" impact on water resources and endangered species and habitat, meaning leaking oil could remain in the environment for up to a year.

The report, more than 600 pages long, analyzes potential impacts of a 14-mile-long project that environmentalists say has statewide implications.

Enbridge is planning to construct two pipelines in Douglas County. The project requires the DNR to conduct the analysis.

A public hearing will be held in Superior on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. The DNR will also take written comments through March 25.

While comparatively short, the pipeline project is being closely watched because capacity from both lines would serve a separate line the company is considering that would travel the length of the state.

Enbridge owns the largest pipeline system in Wisconsin.

The company's possible expansion of its existing system from Superior to Illinois would represent more capacity than the Keystone XL pipeline. President Barack Obama rejected a presidential permit needed for the Keystone pipeline in November to move Canadian oil across the border.

On Thursday, nearly 200 people attended a forum near Marshfield on Enbridge's pipeline system, and paid special interest to a 42-inch line that would run the length of the state. An expansion would require more land and the acquisition of new rights of way, including in Marshfield.

"There's no way they are going to build these two pipelines and not build downstream," said Elizabeth Ward of the Sierra Club. "It's like building one half of the road."

Enbridge says it is involved in planning for expanding the Superior-to-Illinois line. But officials say that no final decision has made been. The Journal Sentinel reported in November that an Enbridge official told analysts the cost of the line could be $2.63 billion to $3 billion.

Ward said that she will testify in Superior that the DNR's analysis should also focus on the environmental effects of the longer line that would run the length of the state.

The Douglas County lines that would feed a possible pipeline expansion from Superior to Illinois are:

 A new 30-inch diameter line  called the "Sandpiper project"  with a capacity of 375,000 barrels of crude oil a day. The line would transport oil from fields in North Dakota and would pass through Minnesota first.

 A 36-inch pipeline that would replace an existing 34-inch line and would be capable of carrying 760,000 barrels daily. The "Line 3" project would carry oil from western Canada, and in Wisconsin it would run along the same route as the Sandpiper line.

Sandpiper is expected to cost about $2.6 billion for the entire 616 miles of construction to North Dakota. Line 3 is estimated to cost about the same for 364 miles in the United States, according to company and DNR documents.

Completion of the project has been pushed back from 2017 to early 2019 after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission required that an environmental-impact statement be completed before a separate process starts that would show the pipeline is needed.

Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little said in a statement that the company remains "fully committed to these projects."

In its environmental analysis on the pipeline in Douglas County, the DNR says that Enbridge has had five spills in Wisconsin from 2005 to 2015 between 500 and 5,000 barrels of oil. That included a 1,200-barrel spill in July 2012 near Grand Marsh in Adams County.

Enbridge paid $1.1 million to settle claims for running afoul of the state environmental laws during a pipeline construction project in 2007 and 2008.

In July 2010, a rupture sent 834,000 gallons of oil to the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The company has spent $1.2 billion on cleanup costs.

The DNR's report spells out Enbridge's safety and contingency planning in the event of spills. Since the Michigan accident, Enbridge has developed what it calls an "integrated contingency plan."

The planning includes more oversight and response by the company in the event pressure drops quickly  a sign that a spill might have occurred.

It would also use new methods to recover oil submerged in water. Also, the company says emergency response equipment and personnel are housed in numerous locations, including Superior.

Written comments to the DNR can mailed to: Jeff Schimpff (EA/7) Wisconsin DNR, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921; email DNROEEAComments@wisconsin.gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (left), a Republican, faces an election challenge from former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (right). Credit: AP

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For the third time in eight days, Democratic challenger Russ Feingold criticized Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson over trade.

Appearing Monday at Milwaukee Area Technical College, Feingold again called on Johnson to state a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal negotiated by President Barack Obama's administration and 11 Pacific-Rim countries.

Feingold opposes the deal while Johnson, a proponent of past trade deals, has remained undecided. The U.S. Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on the pact.

Johnson has said he needs time to talk to people who are affected by the issue.

"Why does he need all this time," said Feingold, who added that he read a version of the agreement online March 25 and that it became formally available in November.

"You get to wonder if he just doesn't want to tell us what his position is," Feingold said, adding that perhaps Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Johnson "want to keep this until after the election, a lame-duck session."

"You know, that's not doing your job. That's acting with your re-election in mind," Feingold said.

Feingold launched the attack on trade during a speech Feb. 29 in Madison, and picked up the theme again Friday in Eau Claire.

Last week, Feingold's campaign also went up with a radio advertisement that targeted Johnson on trade.

Brian Reisinger, a spokesman for the Johnson campaign, said in a statement, "Senator Feingold should have talked to Wisconsinites and read the final version of the TPP deal before condemning it; instead, he had a knee-jerk reaction after reading unofficial parts of the deal on the Internet when it was only available from WikiLeaks."

"Ron Johnson knows how to grow our economy, and he's doing the hard work of seeing how this complex agreement actually affects Wisconsin families, manufacturers, and small businesses before making a decision," Reisinger added.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has become a big issue in the Democratic race for president. Hillary Clinton was once a supporter of the deal that was then being negotiated while she was Secretary of State, but she has since come out against the current version of the agreement. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders opposed TPP, along with other trade deals.

Feingold said that he hoped Hillary Clinton "would stick to her opposition to the TPP. Frankly I will take her at her word that that will happen."

Feingold said on trade "it's a whole different game. The corporate powers no longer completely control the rhetoric on this. And the working people of the country are demanding that we no longer have these power trade agreements."
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 Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

A truck bombing in the largely Shiite city of Hilla killed 60 on Sunday, one of the worst terrorist attacks in that city. Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing, which killed and injured policemen at a checkpoint (though 3 dozen of the dead were civilians), underlines that Daesh is both a terrorist organization and a guerrilla movement attempting to hold territory. Hitting Shiite Hilla is Daesh revenge for having been pushed out of largely Sunni Ramadi.

Moreover, it appears that the Iraqi government and the Shiite militias supporting it may be about to take on another region, al-Anbar Province. The Arabic press says that leaflets are being dropped on non-combatants in al-Anbar calling on them to evacuate Daesh-held lands that Baghdad is eager to recover. The US and allies will provide close air support and do intensive bombing of Daesh positions.

The instructions said that residents should stock up on water, food and staples. They should avoid gathering in large numbers anywhere there are Daesh fighters.

The Baghdad daily al-Zaman (Time) says that the security forces are putting the final steps in place for the launching of a military operation to recover what remains of al-Anbar Province and to surround Mosul, and to end the Daesh presence in Salahuddin Province. The pamphleteering is said to be aimed at lifting the spirits of Iraqis living under Daesh control, and to reassure them that Baghdad fully intends to liberate Ninewah Province (i.e. Mosul).

While it is true that so far the regime has made little headway against Daesh in Mosul, this article suggests that the plan is first to take back Fallujah and Haditha in al-Anbar, gradually cutting Mosul off from its hinterland.

Kurdish Peshmerga actions north of Mosul are also helping cut that city off from smuggling routes in Syria.

Rumors are always swirling about these things, but it looks to me like a 2016 Mosul compaign is entirely possible.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

47 Killed in Iraq Suicide Attack
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IMEMC | (Via Alternative Information Center)  

Adalah unpacks 10 Israeli laws and bills with provisions liable to harm Palestinians and those who defend Palestinian rights.

Adalah: the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel released a summary of ten Israeli laws and bills that include discriminatory and/or anti-democratic provisions that are liable to severely harm the human rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians living in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as those who defend their rights.

The ten laws fall into two categories: a) legislation developed in response to the Third Intifada, i.e. since September 2015 b) legislation that undermines or criminalizes human rights organizations and the BDS movement.

The first category is by far the largest; Adalah identifies eight new Israeli laws or bills that have been developed since September 2015 and function or can be expected to function to criminalize Palestinians and/or strip them of essential legal protections.

The first three laws Adalah analyzes reflect the Israeli governments interest in severely punishing Palestinians convicted of a crime. First, Amendment 120 to the Israeli Penal Code imposes mandatory minimum prison sentences of two or four years on persons convicted of stone throwing or similar acts. According to Adalah, this law targets young Palestinians and dangerously undermines judges discretion in determining punishment. Second, is an amendment to the National Insurance Act, which allows Israeli authorities to withhold child welfare allowances from parents of minors convicted of a security offence  a charge almost solely leveled at Palestinian children. The third law, an amendment to the Youth Law, imposes fines on the parents of minors found to have offended the Israeli Penal Code. Adalah argues that the timing of this law (enacted on November 2nd, 2015) suggests that, in practice, it too will target Palestinian children and their families.

Adalah also points to worrying developments to the Israeli governments Stop and Frisk Law. Whereas prior to its current articulation, the police could only stop and frisk passersby if, in Adalahs words, there was a reasonable suspicion that he or she was carrying a concealed weapon or other object intended for use in criminal activity, now the police may search someone in case of reasonable suspicion that he or she is about to commit a violent act. Moreover, the law stipulates that if a district chief of police temporarily declares an area a stop and frisk zone, any person in the area can be stopped-and-frisked. This law was enacted recently, on February 7th, 2016.

Fifthly, Adalah points to Amendment No. 4 to the Criminal Procedure Law, which strips essential procedural safeguards from detainees suspected of committing security offenses by extending the permitted period of detention before security suspects are brought before a judge or meet with a lawyer. In specific cases, the law also allows for security suspects to be absent from some of their own legal hearings.

Adalah cites the Suspension of MKs Bill as another worrying development in the Israeli legal system. If approved, the bill would allow for a Member of Knesset (MK) to be ousted from the Knesset if a majority of 90 MKs deem an MK guilty of denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, and/or support of an armed struggle against Israel. The bill was developed in direct response to Palestinian MKs in the Knesset.

The last two bills identified by Adalah as drafted in response to the Third Intifada establish broad definitions of terrorism and incitement to terror. The Counter Terrorism bill is a lengthily piece of legislation that, along with mobilizing vague definitions of terrorism and terrorist organizations, strengthens the power of the Israeli police and security services to suppress protests and use interrogation techniques. The incitement to terrorism bill establishes incitement to terror as a special category within the states incitement laws, and, predictably, lowers the bar for what constitutes incitement to terror.

Finally, Adalah identifies two bills that target human rights organizations and the BDS movement. First, the NGO funding transparency bill requires NGOs receiving more than 50% of their funding from foreign governments to indicate that they are funded by foreign governments in a number of situations, primarily when dealing with the Israeli government. It also levels heavy fines against such organizations for failing to do so. Lastly, is the anti-boycott bill will ban people, non-citizens and residents who call for a boycott of Israel or represent entities that advocate for a boycott from entering Israel or any of the occupied territories.

For an in-depth analysis of these laws and bills read Adalahs full report.

Via IMEMC

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Related video added by Juan Cole:

AFP from last month: Leftwing Israel NGOs condemn harassment, death threats
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By: Paul Street | ( TeleSur |  

In a recent column opinion writer Roger Cohen notes that Europe is alarmed by Americas embrace of a latter-day Mussolini  namely Donald Trump.

What Democracy?

In a recent column the liberal New York Times opinion writer Roger Cohen notes that Europe is alarmed by Americas embrace of a latter-day Mussolini  namely Donald Trump.

Europe knows that democracies can collapse, Cohen writes, adding that Once lost, the cost of recovery is high. Cohen is right to suggest disturbing parallels between Trump and the onetime Italian fascist leader:

Trump retweets to his six million followers a quote attributed to Mussolini: It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheepTrump refuses to condemn David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who has expressed support for himViolence is woven into Trumps language as indelibly as the snarl woven into his features  the talk of shooting somebody or punching a protester in the face, the insulting of the disabled, the macho mockery of women, the anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican tirades.[all evoking] echoesof times when the skies darkened [over Europe].. after lost wars, in times of fear and anger and economic hardship, when the pouting demagogue appears with his pageantry and promises.

But what democracy is it exactly that might die in the United States? As is rarely if ever noted in mainstream U.S. corporate media news and commentary, a quiet progressive U.S. majority has long supported greater economic equality, increased worker rights, a roll-back of corporate power, and trade regulation.

Most Americans continue to favor real national health insurance on the single-payer Canadian model over corporate health insurance; large-scale government job programs over deficit reduction; a significant peace dividend to move federal resources from the giant Pentagon budget to meeting social needs; serious environmental regulation and protection over the destruction of livable ecology; and a significantly more democratic distribution of wealth and income.

The United States unelected and interrelated deep state dictatorships of money and empire go back long before Trump cam on the scene as a serious presidential candidate. They have always given a cold response to such popular sentiments: So what? Who cares?

Public opinion is pitilessly mocked by harshly lopsided socioeconomic realities and coldly plutocratic politics and policy in the U.S. America is mired in a New Gilded Age of savage inequality and abject financial corporatocracy so extreme that the top one percent owns more than 90 percent of the nations wealth along with an outsized portion of the nations democratically elected officials.

Over the past three plus decades, the leading mainstream U.S. political scientists Martin Gilens (Princeton) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern) reported in the fall of 2014, the U.S. political system had functioned as an oligarchy, where wealthy elites and their corporations rule.

Examining data from more than 1,800 different policy initiatives in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Gilens and Page found that wealthy and well-connected elites consistently steer the direction of the country, regardless of and against the will of the U.S. majority and irrespective of which major party holds the White House and/or Congress.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, Gilens and Page wrote, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.

As Gilens explained to the liberal online journal Talking Points Memo, ordinary citizens have virtually no influence over what their government does in the United States. Such is the harsh reality of really existing capitalist democracy in the U.S., what Noam Chomsky called RECD, pronounced as wrecked, with the liberal Democrat Barack Obama in the White House.

The Electoral Extravaganza

Consistent with Page and Gilens findings, public opinion is being badly mocked by the ongoing presidential election  the latest corporate-managed quadrennial electoral extravaganza to pass for democratic politics (supposedly the only politics that matters) in the U.S.

Under the reign of RECD, its irrelevant that the nominal socialist Bernie Sanders is the only one of the top presidential candidates actually and sincerely running in accord with majority public opinion on numerous key issues.

The people dont choose the nations ultimately viable presidential contenders: big money election funders (including self-funders like the billionaire Trump), major party officials, and corporate media managers do. And these elites have decided that Americans next November will have the choice between a thoroughly documented and longstanding fake-progressive corporatist and imperialist Democrat, Hillary Clinton, and the noxious, neo-fascistic nationalist Trump.

That verdict is clear from the results of yesterdays giant Super Tuesday primary elections held in twelve U.S. states. Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio can hang on a bit longer but the die is cast.

So what if the blustering real estate tycoon and television bully Trump stands to the right of U.S. public opinion? So does Mrs. Clinton.

The U.S. corporate media has been following The Donalds every preposterous and offensive word, tweet, and facial gesture while consistently downplaying Bernie Sanders huge rallies on behalf of progressive policies that the majority of citizens support. It is the bombastic, latter day Il Duce, Trump, not the calm and civilized New Deal liberal Sanders who has been designated as the authentic and populist alternative to the neoliberal corporatism of the Clintons.

Theres Another Politics

This is a good moment for American leftists to remember that, to quote Howard Zinn (writing against what he called the election madness that was engulfing the entire society, including in the left in early 2008), voting is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.

Presidential balloting is an especially bad surrogate for democracy when it takes place just once every four years under the thumb of media, election, and party systems rigged to guarantee business- and empire-friendly outcomes.

It is a good time also to recall two warnings I issued about a potential Sanders campaign in 2014. First, candidate-centered campaigns tend to soak up most of the political energies of their activist. Theres not much left for other and arguably more urgent tasks. (This is especially true for the absurdly lengthy U.S. presidential race, which begins at least 18 months prior to the actual election date.)

Second, we need to guard against the possibility that a deepened sense of popular powerlessness will be engendered when Sanders is compelled to tell his supporters (as he promised from the start) to vote for Hillary, a candidate who epitomizes much of what he claims to be against.

Progressives must not let Sanders inevitable defeat fuel the illusion that progressive, social-democratic policies lack majority support in the U.S. They should remind their fellow Americans that candidate-centered politics is not the sum total of all the politics that matters. Theres also the more imperative job of building a great grassroots social movement to organize mass worker and citizen action beneath and beyond the quadrennial electoral extravaganzas, whatever their outcomes.

Such a movement should include in its list of demands the call for an electoral system that honors the longstanding majorityS view that two big business and empire parties are simply not enough to capture to the actual spectrum of public opinion. That would be an elections and party system that is truly worthy of passionate citizen engagement.

Via TeleSur

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Related video added by Juan Cole:

Comedy Central: The Daily Show  Donald Trumps Fascist Week
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - March 07, 2016) - Forum Uranium Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FDC) ("Forum" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced on its 100% owned Highrock project, located approximately 15 km south of the Key Lake mine and mill site (Figure 1). An eight hole - 1,500 metre drill program will test several shallow, basement hosted uranium targets. The Highrock claims lie just outside the southern edge of the Athabasca Basin where high grade, basement hosted deposits such as Fission's Triple R deposit can be found at shallow depths. Infrastructure in the Highrock area is excellent and includes a nearby all-weather road and powerline to the Key Lake mill site, approximately 10km west of the properties.

Positive gravity survey results from earlier programs completed on the Highrock North and Highrock South claims identified a number of gravity lows, which may be indicative of zones of alteration, clay development and uranium mineralization along very strong electromagenetic (EM) conductors on the property (Figure 2). The combination of gravity low anomalies in conjunction with EM anomalies has proven to be a very successful exploration technique on Forum's Northwest Athabasca Joint Venture and in the discovery of the Arrow deposit by NexGen Energy Ltd.

Ken Wheatley, Forum's Vice President, Exploration stated, "This strong conductive trend, which we interpret to be the same basal graphitic unit that hosted the 200 million pound Key Lake uranium deposit, coupled with the quality of the gravity lows, make this area a high priority, near surface exploration target."

Ken Wheatley, P.Geo. , Forum's Vice-President, Exploration is the Qualified Person that has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

About Forum Uranium

Forum Uranium Corp. is a Canadian-based energy company with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. Forum has assembled a highly experienced team of exploration professionals with a track record of mine discoveries for unconformity-style uranium deposits in Canada. The Company has a strategy to discover near surface uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan by exploring on its 100% owned properties and through strategic partnerships and joint ventures.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard J. Mazur, P.Geo.

President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
See correction below IN BLUE: He said when he got to the fire the building was completely engulfed in flames. The ladders could not reach high enough to rescue the trapped people on the upper floors. One of his firemen friends was a wrestler. Dad called him a big bruiser of a fella. People were jumping out of the windows. They had fire nets like you may have seen before but they were not designed for high-rise jumpers. The bruiser tried to break the fall of a jumper and they landed on him and broke his back. He recovered but never fought another fire. They transferred him to the signal department and a desk job for the rest of his career.

March 7, 2016 UPDATE ON THE WINECOFF FIRE STORY

I had some of the details incorrect in my post above. I wish that I had recorded my dad's story of this fire so I would have the correct details on Bruce White. Quite by accident, I saw this article posted on Facebook by a retired fire fighter friend of my dad who maintains a site FB site dedicated to the Atlanta Fire department (Atlanta, old stuff, Atlanta Fire Department to 1970). This story written in May 1948 gives details that correct my narrative. Bruce was an Atlanta policeman and not a fireman. Here is the story of his injury and dedication to duty exhibited on that December night 70 years ago.

The Winecoff Hotel was built in 1913 was sixteen stories (numbered 1-15 as no 13 floor was used in those days). It had 195 rooms full to capacity with 280-registered guest. There were no fire escapesThe Atlanta Fire Department only had two 85-foot aerial extended ladders but the Winecoff was 150 feet high. . All floors fromeighth floor up had no escape except for making a sheet rope or jump. The elevators were inoperable and the fire consumed the stairwell.My dad was a fireman and fought the fire on that cold December might. Over the course of his career, he fought many fires but this was the worst of his career and he seldom mentioned it except to say when the subject came up, "Yea, I was there, it wasn't a pretty sight".After my mom passed away in 1999, dad and I would sit on his patio in Stone Mountain and I tried to get him to tell me some of his life stories. I recorded some but not all. He was not a drinker but in his later years, he enjoyed the Bartles & Jaymes fuzzy navel. I finally got him to tell me his experience of fighting the Winecoff fire.Dad said after they brought the fire under control they entered the building and started a floor-to-floor search. The higher they went up in the building the more damage they saw. He said he saw several people burnt in their beds without apparently knowing what happen. They were overcome with smoke before they could wake up.On the twelfth floor, they entered a room and he saw a woman and two kids hovered over the commode. They had tried to use the urinal to get fresh air while waiting for rescue. It never came.After telling me the story, he repeated his observation again. "it wasn't a pretty sight". Then without emotion or any change in his voice he said "Hoppy, get me another Fuzzy Navel".Dad was not a demonstrable man when it came to tragedy. He took it all in stride. I never saw him break except one time in my life when I had to tell him that my mom and his wife of sixty-seven years had died. It was the briefest of moments before he regained his composure and began his life without her. He was ninety three and lived another six years but the spark was gone.I guess that was how you dealt with things when you were born in 1906 and saw the great depression, two world wars, and had a father abandon you and his family before you were ten years old.
Fiat's new Tipo will become a new Dodge Neon for Central America, built in Turkey.

Export from the Tofas factory to Mexico will begin in the third quarter, Turkish journalist Okan Altan, who broke the news, told just-auto.

European engine and trim variations will not be much changed  only a Dodge grille and Mexican market requirements will be added.

Earlier research for just-auto's PLDB product had indicated the model would be sold with three grades: SE, SXT and SXT+, all powered by a 110hp 1.6-litre I4 engine and possibly sourced from Brazil's Fiat plant.

In Mexico, it will replace the Hyundai-based Vision sedan.
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Wake superintendent's new deal raises questions on salaries, terms

Wake board tries to tie the hands of future boards

The average NC school head's salary is higher than the governor's

We have been very pleased with [Merrill's] performance since he's been here. We think his work speaks for itself, but we're entering a part of the political season where the entire board is up for re-election. We're making sure that if a future board determines he needs to be released, it's for cause.

School superintendents' salaries soar

Are high salaries justified?

Superintendents whose tenure is associated with sizable, statistically reliable changes in student achievement in the district in which they serve, controlling for the many other factors that affect student achievement, are quite rare. When district academic achievement improves or deteriorates, the superintendent is likely to be playing a part in an ensemble performance which the superintendent's role could be filled successfully by many others. In the end, it is the system that promotes or hinders student achievement. Superintendents are largely indistinguishable."

"School Superintendents: Vital or irrelevant?"

Brookings Institute, September 2014

In recent weeks the Wake County School Board unanimously approved an amendment to Superintendent Jim Merrill's contract that would provide up to two years of severance pay - more than $560,000 - if he were to be fired before the end of his contract. The action raises two issues: how much school superintendents make and how accountable they are for their paychecks.First, it's hard to ignore the timing of the change, coming nine months before school board elections in which all nine seats on the Democratic-controlled school board are up for a vote. Does it mean superintendents should be above accountability from future school boards?Wake Board of Education Chairman Tom Benton made this board's motives clear when he recently told the (Raleigh) News & Observer:Translation?This isn't the first time the Wake Board of Education has engaged in such shenanigans. In 2009, months before the election, the Democrat-controlled Wake County Board of Education sweetened Superintendent Del Burns' contract by adding a provision requiring he be paid 18 months of severance pay if he were fired early.Let me point out, none of this is illegal. In each case, the superintendent and the school board negotiated a provision added to the superintendent's contract. The board approved it; everything was done above board.But are such actions good public policy?I don't know when it's ever good for one school board to tie the hands of future boards. In my view, the provision added to Merrill's contract seeks to usurp the powers and responsibilities of duly elected individuals. It's antidemocratic in the worst way. Maybe that's why the North Carolina General Assembly traditionally cannot bind future General Assemblies.The other question the Merrill contract extension brings up is pay. Superintendents are among the highest paid state employees in North Carolina.According to a 2013 WRAL review of superintendent contracts , the average superintendent in North Carolina made $156,000 in salary - not including perks - and oversaw a district of about 12,000 students. That average figure is nearly $14,000 a year more than the governor makes That's the average, too. Some superintendent salaries are as high as $275,000 and $280,000.Superintendents are responsible for ensuring students are learning and school districts run smoothly. No doubt these are important tasks. However, is the job really more important than that of the governor?Superintendents argue their job is 24/7. They are often responsible for mobilizing thousands of employees to meet lofty goals. And along the way the job comes with its share of criticism. All these factors contribute to high salaries - and high turnover.But don't those same reasons argue for greater accountability?That seemed to be what state Rep. David Lewis (R-Harnett) was thinking in 2013 when he saw lame duck Harnett County Commissioners and members of the Harnett County School Board approving contracts that would be difficult for newly elected board members to rescind. Lewis' legislation - which later became law (S.L. 2014-6) - required that in the seven-month window prior to elections, all hiring and contract changes for a county manager or school superintendent require unanimous approval by their respective boards to be approved. Of course, such a law might not stop all abuses. But it's a step in the right direction.Let's turn back to the question of pay.High pay for superintendents alone should invite heightened public scrutiny - even more so when generous severance packages and perks are part of their compensation packages, and when compensation seemingly has little connection to job performance.Superintendents' pay seems to be based largely on the fact that they sit atop the educational pyramid. We know good teachers and principals impact student achievement. Since teachers and principals ultimately report to the superintendent, the superintendent must also have a big impact on student achievement, right?Not necessarily. A Brookings Institute study of superintendents in Florida and North Carolina found scant evidence that an individual superintendent has much effect on a district's academic performance. According to the full report North Carolinians don't begrudge high salaries. But there are too many examples of superintendents who fail to improve a district yet still collect big paychecks. They may even be fired from one job only to surface at another and pull in another big paycheck.Jim Merrill has been superintendent of Wake County for almost three years. Over the last three years, SAT scores are flat and only 57 percent of students are deemed college or career ready. Most measures of academic progress fall in the fair to middling range. If parents or taxpayers are satisfied with the Wake Schools, why are students flocking in droves to private schools, home schooling and charter schools?The Wake County School Board approved a raise of $12,397 (added to a base salary of $275,000) for Merrill last fall. Board officials said Merrill's raise was based on his performance in meeting individual goals. Yet the school system declined to release just exactly what those goals are, saying they are part of an individual's personnel file - which is not a public record. This is another worrisome development. We're not asking for private information. We're asking for more disclosure on goals that affect the entire district.At the least, North Carolina needs to prohibit contract extensions that tie the hands of future school boards. Additionally, superintendent pay should be linked to job performance. If we had the two provisions, I seriously doubt we'd be having this discussion. Until there are changes, however, we need to keep asking the difficult questions.
Mr. Sanders does not want to nationalize the steel mills or the auto companies or even the banks. Like Mrs. Clinton, he believes in a mixed economy, where capitalist institutions are mediated through taxes and regulation. He just wants more taxes and more regulation than Mrs. Clinton does. He certainly seems like a regular Democrat, only more so.

RALEIGH Socialism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods ( Merriam Webster Dictionary ).What has always distinguished socialism from other ideologies that advocate for state-dominated economic decision-making (like progressivism and fascism), is that under socialism the government - often euphemistically referred to as "society," "the people," or the "collective" - actually owns the means of production. This is true for socialism in its dictatorial or totalitarian form, as is found in Cuba or Venezuela, or its democratic form, which may be best represented as established in Great Britain after WWII.Indeed what made Britain socialist during that period was its aggressive move to nationalize industries, which included iron, steel, rail, and health care, among others. It was not simply some belief in aggressively regulating business, which had already been tried (and failed) under Mussolini's fascism and Roosevelt's progressivism.This is why, in order for any political candidate to be a socialist, he or she must at a minimum give lip service to the idea that, if not immediately, at least in the long term, the nation's industries should be nationalized.So where does this leave Bernie Sanders's standing as a socialist? I would argue not very high. The "socialist" Bernie Sanders is not advocating the nationalization of any industry either in the short term or as a long-term ideal. (As an aside, a single-payer health care plan, which Sanders advocates, is not nationalization.) Nothing that he is proposing is outside of the standard mold of progressivism that dominates the Democratic Party. New York Times correspondent Josh Barro got it right last October when he wrote:If one were to put Bernie's proposals side by side with those of Mrs. Clinton, without knowing that he has described himself as a democratic socialist, there would be no reason to make any meaningful ideological distinction between the two candidates.I don't think that Sanders has gone as far as he has with the base of the Democratic Party because he is a true socialist. He is, in fact, playing on the ignorance of his supporters who like what they believe socialism stands for, i.e., some vague conception of justice and equality, with no real understanding of what it is.The reality is that what he has actually done, under the banner of socialism, is convince many Democratic voters that he can be relied upon to implement a traditional progressive agenda without compromise. If he were being honest about what socialism is and was calling for the nationalization of the computer industry, the cell phone industry, or the auto industry, I believe that he would be getting no traction at all.Ask any 20-something Bernie supporter if he or she thinks that Apple or Google should be run by a team of government bureaucrats or if YouTube or Twitter should be controlled by a new government department of social media. My guess is that they would be horrified at the thought. And even with all their support for "breaking up the big banks," it is unlikely that many of them would get behind a plan that would have their checking accounts held by the U.S. Treasury Department instead of their local BB&T.To be clear, I am not implying that Bernie Sanders' policies would not be as bad for the economy as his socialist label would suggest. Undiluted economic progressivism, which is a form of fascism, is in fact no better than socialism, either in its democratic or totalitarian form.They both entail total government control of economic decision-making and the use of property. The only difference is that progressivism and fascism maintain the facade of private ownership while socialism is more honest.
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.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us." - Pogo
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
This past week the Agriculture Committee voted to advance LR378CA, the Right to Farm Constitutional Amendment, to the full Legislature for debate. LR378CA is my priority bill.

The strong support of Nebraskas agriculture commodity groups, including the Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Corn Growers Association, Nebraska Soybean Association and Nebraska Pork Producers, as well as the Nebraska Rural Electric Association and Nebraska Cooperative Council, represent the value and support for pursuing constitutional protection for Nebraskas farm and ranch families.

Anti-agriculture groups have begun spreading misinformation regarding the Right to Farm. I must underscore several things that LR378CA does not do. LR378CA does not give farmers and ranchers carte blanche to do whatever they want or restrict local municipalities or zoning boards from establishing and enforcing community standards.

Every right is subject to reasonable restrictions, and LR378CA clearly allows legislative action to protect a compelling state interest. The initiative and referendum processes, critical mechanisms to provide a voice to Nebraskas second house, the people, remain fully intact. In addition, language developed working with the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environment Quality further specifies the ability of the state to protect and manage its vital water resources and to comply with federal environmental regulations.

Furthermore, a clause is included to keep intact all current statutes put in place by previous Nebraska Legislatures prior to Dec. 31, 2015.

LR378CA preserves the current state of operation and protects property rights for future generations.

The question has arisen regarding the protection of Nebraska farm families at the constitutional level, as opposed to the lower, less protective level of statute. The significance of Nebraska agriculture, economically and culturally, raises it to the level of inclusion in the guiding principles of our state.

Establishing this constitutional protection clearly codifies the role and significance of agriculture as the foundation and stabilizing force of Nebraska. Placing the right to farm only in statute, which can be amended with only 25 votes in the Nebraska Legislature, fails to provide adequate protection. The objective of LR378CA is to protect family farmers and ranchers and their property rights from the undue influence of advocacy groups who can drive legislation and regulation.

The Humane Society of the United States has already effectively pushed the passage of laws to restrict accepted farming practices in surrounding states. Statutory approaches to right to farm are simply ineffective.

In the era of term limits, institutional memory of senators within the Legislature has a finite span of eight years. It is for this reason that constitutional protection is so critical.

Few even recall that in 2008 LB1148 was introduced in the Legislature to ban the use of gestation crates for pigs. The bill was introduced by a Lincoln senator with little or no connection to agricultural production at the request of HSUS. The introducer stated to the Omaha World-Herald, I had no idea that this was such a big issue nationally, clearly unaware of the impact the legislation would have.

In todays era of social media misinformation and national lobbying efforts, it is dangerous to assume a similar bill would meet the quick fate of LB1148, which was withdrawn five days after introduction.

Since its adoption, the Nebraska Constitution has been amended 228 times. Since 1990 alone, 37 amendments referred by the Legislature and six referred by the initiative process have been adopted by the voters of Nebraska. Our constitution is a living document that reflects the priority of Nebraskas citizens. With regard to Nebraskas identity as a state and its role providing food to the nation and global community, there is no topic of greater significance than agriculture.

Constitutional Right to Farm already exists in North Dakota and Missouri, and the Oklahoma Legislature has placed the issue before the voters this November. As the national leader in crop and livestock production, Nebraska needs to provide a similar level of protection to our farm families to preserve Nebraskas place as a national and global leader.

If you have any questions concerning LR 378CA, contact my office at 402-471-2732.

Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell represents District 38 in the Nebraska Legislature. The district encompasses southwest Buffalo County and all of Clay, Franklin, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps and Webster counties.
Winter wont turn to spring for several weeks, but the fall campaign for president starts now. After Super Tuesday, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump can see clear paths to their parties nominations. True, the anti-Trump forces show faint flickers of life, but battle lines are already forming. And at this point, Clinton rates as the clear favorite.

Trump is a clever campaigner who has confounded conventional wisdom for months. He has a keen ear for the fears and phobias that trouble his supporters, and deftly exploits the economic and cultural shifts that leave them confused and frustrated.

Many Republican officials will support him, like Rep. Tom Marino, a third-termer from north-central Pennsylvania who told Politico that Trump enjoyed overwhelming support in his district.

Hes the man for the unprotected ... not the protected, not for the Wall Street people, not for the D.C. insiders, but for the hard-working taxpayers, Marino said.

The primaries have also revealed sizeable weaknesses that have long clouded Clintons ambitions. Shes done poorly with young people, white men and voters who value honesty and trustworthiness. Ongoing investigations into her email habits could produce new and damaging revelations. Still, Clinton starts with important advantages, and the first is the widening split in Republican ranks. A recent CNN poll showed that 1 in 4 Republican voters harbor grave doubts about supporting Trump in the fall.

Certainly some Sanders backers disdain Clinton, and might stay home in November. But the level of vitriol is far lower among Democrats, and their prospects for unity are much greater.

Few party loyalists believe Hillary is unfit to be president, for example. And on Super Tuesday, Clinton and Bernie Sanders barely mentioned each other, while Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio continued to hammer Trump and he blasted them back.

Clintons second advantage is that the Republican primaries have provided her with a vast store of ammunition, ready to fire against Trump. She doesnt have to call him a con man or a fraud or a liar; she can just show clips of Rubio and Cruz making those charges.

Other Republicans focus on Trumps biggest weakness: his unsteady and unreliable temperament. In fact, two GOP strategists floated ideas for an anti-Trump ad they described: We want voters to imagine Donald Trump in the Big Chair in the Oval Office, with responsibilities for worldwide confrontation at his fingertips.

Clintons third asset is demography. Barack Obama won the womens vote by 11 points (while losing men by 7 points). Hillary is already testing themes aimed at women voters, and theyre working: She won women by 32 points on Super Tuesday. Shes already demonstrated her appeal to black voters, and Trumps strident attacks on undocumented immigrants give her a clear shot at increasing her support among Latinos.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Republican from South Florida and the son of Cuban exiles, told The Wall Street Journal he could not face his two children if he backed Trump: I could never look them in the eye and tell them that I support someone so crass.

Thats why Clinton is the favorite. Too many Republicans wont be able to defend Trump to their children. Or trust him to keep them safe.
FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2016, file photo, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto gives the opening address to attendees of the annual IHS CERAWeek global energy conference in Houston. Pena Nieto compared the language of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump to that of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in an interview published Monday, March 7, and said it has hurt U.S.-Mexico relations. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
On Saturday, May 7, thousands of people will take part in the Kilkenny Darkness Into Light walk/jog, bringing with them, a message of hope.

The five kilometre event begins and ends at James Stephens Military Barracks and goes around the city centre.

The beneficiary is Pieta House, which runs a number of suicide and self-harm crisis centres.

It is an organisation that has been growing and growing as we, as a society, come to terms with mental illness and the impact it has on all our lives.

And in a few weeks time a new Pieta House centre will open in Waterford city, less than a half an hour's drive from Kilkenny city.

The importance of the Pieta Houses, which are attended by Kilkenny people on an ongoing basis, is that it provides a professional, face-to-face, free of charge therapeutic service for people in the acute stages of distress.

Since 2013, a total of 307 people from the Kilkenny area have been assisted directly on a one-to-one basis by Pieta House with many others receiving different types of assistance.

Last year Pieta delivered almost 50,000 hours of therapy which included Family Support. The number of clients in 2015 was 5,466.

The unique clinically-based model developed by Pieta House is used across all its centres spread around the country and on a number of third level campuses. Pieta Houses primary aim is to reduce suicide by helping people get through that critical phase when suicide becomes a plan rather than just an idea.

Darkness Into Light

Darkness Into Light is truly unique. The sight of thousands of people in yellow t-shirts walking and running towards dawn is simply extraordinary. The event has really turned into an awareness campaign loved by Irish people everywhere. Im encouraging everyone to get out and register, dont let this event pass you by, Joan Freeman, founder of Pieta House said.

Joan will be in Kilkenny for the launch of this year's event on Wednesday, March 23 in the Kilkenny Design Centre, courtesy of Kathleen Moran, with MC, Edward Hayden.

As in other years, Pieta House is asking those taking part to connect with others at the event.

Walkers/runners are encouraged to speak to the person beside them, tell a story or simply say hello, connect and acknowledge one another. Make your presence known.

Pieta House provides a professional, one-to-one therapeutic service for those who are experiencing suicidal ideation or engaging in self-harm. A doctors referral or psychiatric report is not required and the service is completely free of charge. Pieta Houses vision is to have a centre within 100 kilometres of everyone in Ireland and with the opening of a new house shortly in Waterford it will be even easier for Kilkenny people to get in touch. Register on-line @ dil.pieta.ie
Dan Batres | The Herald Mark and Karla Verbarendse walk along the driveway in front of their new Camano Island home last month. The couple is rebuilding the home at the site where an earlier arson fire set by the Earth Liberation Front destroyed their not-yet completed house.

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By Kaitlin Manry, The (Everett) Herald

CAMANO ISLAND The call came at 3:55 a.m. The woman on the other end of the line was crying.</p> <p>"I don't know how to tell you this, but your house is completely on fire," Karla Verbarendse remembers her future neighbor saying.</p> <p>She walked outside her rental home with her husband. They could see the sky glowing.</p> <p>"I said, 'No, God. Make it be the well house. Make it be the barn next door. Make it be anything but the house,"' Mark Verbarendse recalled.</p> <p>It wasn't.</p> <p>Flames swallowed the 9,000-square-foot house he had spent years designing for his family. Nearly everything was gone, from the slate roof shingles salvaged from a building in Pennsylvania to the fireplace hearth Karla's father had crafted from a maple log he had saved for more than 30 years. .</p> <p>The Verbarendses are rebuilding on the same 15-acre waterfront pasture where their home was destroyed in January. The Earth Liberation Front, an environmental terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the fire in a note spray-painted on a pink bedsheet found outside the house.</p> <p>"It's really disheartening," said Mark Verbarendse, owner of ENI, a site work and utility contractor. </p> <p>The FBI, Island County sheriff's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are still investigating the fire. The arsonist has not been caught.</p> <p>In the days after the blaze, Karla Verbarendse, a stay-at-home mom, grieved over the loss of the home. Mark Verbarendse planned.</p> <p>He bought a 2,200-square-foot manufactured home and moved it onto the property. Next came his family, several "No Trespassing" signs and two rowdy German shepherd dogs. </p> <p>Karla and Mark say they're not necessarily more fearful than used to be, but they are more guarded. Unplanned guests are no longer welcome. All visitors must have identification.</p> <p>The threat of ecoterrorism has led the Building Industry Association of Washington to encourage homebuilders to hire 24-hour security guards and install security cameras. In light of several arsons and attempted fires claimed by ELF, the association is offering a $100,000 award for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any ELF members who have sabotaged homes in Washington.</p> <p>"They've become more extreme, more strident and more determined to take their little war and bring it where everyone will see it," building industry spokeswoman Erin Shannon said. "Not enough people were paying attention when they spiked a tree or sabotaged logging equipment. But, by God, you burn down a home in an urban area, and people will pay attention."</p> <p>The Verbarendses' fire made ecoterrorism seem like a viable threat for Camano Island builder Darrel Potter. After 30 years in construction, he changed the way he selects projects and now avoids building on secluded lots.<
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You probably know about the big breaches. JP Morgan Chase. Home Depot. Target. Maybe you even read a few of those juicy emails between Sony executives bashing Angelina Jolie and Will Smith. I can imagine your reaction: "That's crazy, but what're the chances it happens to me or my little company?"

The chances are much greater than you think. In November, during a data breach and privacy law program in Chicago, I attended a session presented by Wesley Hsu, the executive assistant U.S. attorney who headed up the Sony investigation. Here a few statistics provided by Mr. Hsu that should open the eyes of anyone in business:

Every day, there are twice as many cybercrime victims as newborn babies;

There are 50,000 new victims each hour, 820 new victims each minute and 14 new victims each second;

The total number of estimated cybercrime victims over the past year is greater than the combined populations of the United States and Canada.

This is not a "them" problem or a "later" problem. This is your problem. And to understand the problem, you must first understand its origin. What do cybercriminals want? They want confidential information: credit card numbers; Social Security numbers; log-in passwords; corporate designs; etc. They want whatever you have that someone else might pay money to access/use.

For those of us not designing the next stealth fighter or mapping the human genome, the focus should remain on protecting employee/customer information. This means taking the time to consider how that information is stored, where it is stored and who is protecting it. If you have no answers for any of those questions, please stop reading this article and start asking for referrals for a good information technology (IT) consultant.

Since you are still reading, I will assume you have worked or are working on the basics. You are taking reasonable and necessary steps to protect employee/customer information. Now, what happens when someone steals said information anyway? It is "when" and not "if." There are simply too many cybercriminals in more than enough countries to stop all of them every time. So, while your internal efforts will help minimize and mitigate, there is no such thing as absolute prevention in a world where a teenager successfully hacked the CIA director's personal email.

The best way to prepare for eventual hacking should sound familiar. How do you manage risk associated with workplace injuries, catastrophic accidents, etc.? You find and buy good insurance. But do not be lulled into believing your standard commercial policy will provide adequate coverage in the event of a data breach. Pick up the phone, call your agent and make sure your company has cyber liability insurance. If you don't and they carry it, ask for a quote. If they don't carry it, find someone who does. And fast. Fourteen new victims each second -
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The leadership team at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office is in a bit of flux, with at least three of the key management positions - including the top two - yet to be filled on a permanent basis.

The situation was created by losses of key personnel, including the death of Oak Ridge Office Manager Larry Kelly a year ago and the departure of his deputy and successor, Kevin Hall, several months later.

Don Thress, the Oak Ridge Office's chief legal counsel, is currently the acting manager.

According to John Shewairy, the assistant manager for administration and former public affairs chief who is acting as the deputy manager at ORO, Thress will continue to serve as acting manager until the job is filled through the Department of Energy's competitive process.

"The selection of the permanent ORO manager rests with the Office of the Deputy Director of Field Operations for the Office of Science," Shewairy said via email.

"The selection process is ongoing."

The Department of Energy has reorganized its Oak Ridge operations in recent years, creating separate offices for the agency's different functions - Science, Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

That has made it more confusing, even by DOE standards.

The Oak Ridge Office has become a hybrid of sorts. Besides being responsible for the agency's 33,000-acre Oak Ridge reservation (outside of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex and the East Tennessee Technology Park), the office also manages the Integrated Services Center, which supports DOE labs around the country. The DOE manager also communicates and coordinates activities with other Oak Ridge offices.

As for the deputy position, Shewairy said the permanent ORO manager, once appointed, will make that selection.

Meanwhile, Shewairy said the position of assistant manager for safety and technical services is vacant.

But the process of filling that role is underway, he said, and DOE plans to close the advertising of the position on Feb. 22.

No other "key management positions" are vacant at this time, the DOE official said.

It's not clear if Thress will return to his position of chief counsel once DOE names the manager of the Oak Ridge Office. Wendy Bryan currently is serving in the top legal position.

Other leadership positions filled at the Oak Ridge Office include: Chief financial officer, Marcie Bischak; assistant manager for procurement and contracts, Jeff Burgan; and assistant manager for safeguards, security and emergency management, Pauline Douglas.

At the Helm: Morgan Smith became president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, effective Feb. 1.

CNS is the government's managing contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and its sister plant, Pantex, which is located near Amarillo, Texas.

In his message to employees, Smith said he believes his primary job is to support employees as much as possible "within the constraints of the business in which we work."

To do that, he said, he needs to understand the details of the work and the people.

"I've found that what works best for me is to interact with as many people as possible," Smith said, asking employees for their patience and assistance.

"My decision-making is based on two key tenets: do what is right for the country, and do what is right for employees. In my experience, if we do these two things well, we'll be successful in our work and find fulfillment in our jobs."
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Deadline approaching: The deadline to participate in the Green Business Recognition Program is March 18.

Tell us about the ways your company or organization is changing its practices to improve sustainability or be more environmentally friendly using our online form at GoGreenET.com.

Companies large and small as well as local nonprofits and community organizations are welcome to participate.

We'll feature the best responses in the Business Journal's annual Green issue in May.

Potential investment: Another manufacturer is reportedly eyeing sites in East Tennessee. According to the Kingsport Times News, an unnamed solar panel manufacturer is looking at Hawkins County's Phipps Bend Industrial Park and Bristol's Partnership Park 2 as part of its plan to invest $480 million in a new manufacturing plant that could bring 1,200 jobs. Additional options include four out-of-state locations and proposed development would entail one large campus-style plant with a 750,000-square-foot facility on 45 acres.

Kudos: Genera Energy CEO Kelly Tiller has been named one of the Top 100 People in the Advanced Bioeconomy by Biofuels Digest. Tiller is ranked No. 45 on the list.
MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL Several hotels in Farragut in 2013 on the south side of Interstate 40/75. On the left are Comfort Suites and Country Inn and Suites. On the right are Holiday Inn Express and Fairfield Inn and Suites.

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For years, folks in the Tennessee tourism business have fretted about incremental increases in hotel-motel taxes and a majority of members on a House committee that oversees local tax bills have informally agreed to do something about it in 2016.

House Local Government Committee Chairman Tim Wirgau, R-Buchannan, says the concern is that Tennessee is in danger of becoming the "No. 1 state in the nation" in taxation of tourists staying in a motel room. The concern that high taxes could dampen the otherwise thriving tourism industry is echoed by lobbyists and leaders of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, among others.

There's a comprehensive, Legislature-mandated study of the issue by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR).

Rental of a motel room is subject to both state and local sales taxes of up to 9.75 percent depending on local options, and local governments can levy additional hotel-motel tax, subject to the Legislature's approval. Typically, a county government can levy up to a 5 percent hotel-motel tax, and a city government can add another 5 percent. The total combined sales taxes plus hotel-motel taxes often can reach 19.75 percent.

That 19.75 percent is apparently the new informal maximum tax, as illustrated in a recent meeting of the House Local Government Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Dale Carr, R-Sevierville, with Wirgau as a member. In a February meeting, the panel had before it two local hotel-motel tax bills.

One (HB2041) was for the town of Dandridge in Jefferson County, seeking authorization for a 2 percent city levy on the 10 motels within Dandridge city limits. The increase meant a combined motel tax of 15.75 percent, well below what Carr called the new "unwritten policy." The Dandridge bill was unanimously approved and is headed for probable passage.

The second bill (HB2266) was for the city of Decherd in Franklin County. The county already has a 7 percent county hotel-motel tax - one of nine counties, says TACIR, that exceed the 5 percent county average.

The Decherd bill would have authorized a 5 percent city hotel-motel tax. A Decherd motel guest faces 16.75 percent in taxes and the new 5 percent tax would have meant a combined total of 21.25 percent if enacted - in excess of the unwritten policy. The bill died for lack of motion for passage in the subcommittee.

Carr and Wirgau say they may introduce legislation next year to make the unwritten policy a formal law, perhaps grandfathering in a couple of places - Kingsport and Johnson City, most notably, at a 21.75 percent total - that already exceed the informal cap, according to the TACIR report. Knoxville has combined levies at exactly the target maximum. Outside the Knoxville limits, where the city 5 percent tax does not apply, the motel tax total is 14.75 percent.

The TACIR review, dated October of 2015, may cast some doubt on the proposition that motel taxes mean fewer folks will rent a room.

According to the report, "Though increasing the total cost of a room, whether by increasing the price or by increasing taxes, can reduce the number of hotel stays, studies show that lodging customers overall are not very sensitive to higher prices. How sensitive customers are depends on other conditions, including whether the area is a tourist destination and whether there are hotels of the same class or status with similar amenities in a neighboring jurisdiction with lower lodging taxes. In the latter case, the difference in lodging taxes could hurt hotels in locations with higher tax rates. Even in those instances, however, the burden of lodging taxes falls mainly on customers, not on hotels, and the amount paid toward lodging taxes by customers is a very small component of total travel spending and has little to do with their choice of hotel."

Politically, hotel-motel taxes put legislators in a difficult position. On one hand, they have local folks seeking new revenue and, very often, the money is earmarked for tourism-promotion efforts. On the other hand, they face being accused of promoting tax increases by political opponents if they back the proposal.

Years ago, former Gov. Don Sundquist refused to sign any bill authorizing new local taxes after they were passed by the Legislature, somewhat famously declaring he was "irrelevant to the process" that involved legislators and local governments, not the state's chief executive. But instead of vetoing them, he let them become law without his signature.

Sundquist was aware that incumbent elected officials were frequently attacked in challenger political ads as supporters of tax increases for their involvement in such legislation.

One of Sundquist's gubernatorial predecessors, now-Sen. Lamar Alexander, was attacked in New Hampshire TV ads while running for president in 1996 for presiding over 60-something tax increases. The total given in the ads included the local hotel-motel tax bills he had signed. Alexander has said those ads were a factor in killing his presidential campaign.

Two years ago, the House Local Government Subcommittee adopted a policy of killing all local hotel-motel tax increases under chairmanship of former Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, who at the time was preparing to challenge Alexander in the 2014 Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Wirgau observed in an interview that Carr seemed to be playing politics then, understandably seeking to present himself as an anti-tax fellow, but without regard to the wishes of legislators trying to meet a local need for revenue in a specific situation.

For example, one of the bills summarily killed by the panel under Carr's leadership was presented by Rep. Shelia Butt, R-Columbia, for an increase in her hometown's hotel-motel tax with the goal of providing funds for helping with restoration and promotion of President James K. Polk's boyhood home in Columbia.

Last year, with Carr gone after a surprisingly strong showing against Alexander in the primary, the Butt bill was approved almost automatically. It's now law, and would be, too, under the unwritten 2016 policy, since the combined levies for Columbia and Maury County fall below the new informal ceiling.

The upshot seems that a handful of legislators have quietly adopted a pretty reasonable compromise between politics and policy considerations.

Should Carr, Wirgau or others decide to propose a bill to do the same thing next year, you can figure that much dithering would ensue. The local government lobby would object to new restrictions on local control, the tourism industry lobby would fret about opening the door to encouraging local governments below 19.75 percent to get their rates up to the maximum and tax-loathing legislators generally would fear being accused of somehow supporting taxes.

Maybe it would pass, maybe it wouldn't. But for the moment, remarkably, reason rules in an arcane policy matter with very few folks paying attention.
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By Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Dolly Parton will embark on her biggest North American tour in 25 years later this year. The tour will coincide with the release of her new album "Pure & Simple."

Parton will perform 60 concerts across the United States and Canada. Dates have yet to be announced. According to a press release from Parton's publicist, Webster & Associates, Parton will perform songs on the tour that "have not been heard live for decades."

"Pure & Simple" will be an album of new material, but will be paired with a companion disc titled "Dolly's Biggest Hits."

In addition, the TV movie "Coat of Many Colors," based on the true story of one of Parton's most beloved songs, will be released on DVD on May 3. The movie was seen by more than 15.8 million viewers, making the most-watched movie on network television in more than three years.

Details of Parton's tour are expected to be released soon.
Krista Leigh Smith, left, smiles after Campbell County Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton Monday, Mar. 7, 2016 appointed a special general sessions judge to hear her case. At right is her attorney Kristie Anderson. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

JACKSBORO, Tenn. - A Campbell County judge under criminal probe for ordering without legal authority a change in a charge against a Lafollette mother faces an accusation she lied from the bench and in a written ruling about the case.

A half-dozen jailers with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office stood at the ready Monday to testify General Sessions Court Judge Amanda Sammons ordered the charge against Krista Leigh Smith changed - a direct contradiction of Sammons' assertion in court and in a written ruling she never told jail staff to beef up the charge.

Knoxville attorney Charles C. Burks Jr., appeared on behalf of two of those CCSO employees, Corrections Officer Mercedes Williams and Cpl. Kathy Walden, and told the News Sentinel the two women "dispute" Sammons' version of events.

"They would testify those jail records on the change (in the charge) are accurate," Burks said. "They maintain she did what those records show she did."

The records, obtained in late January by the News Sentinel, show Sammons ordered jailers to boost a child neglect charge filed against Smith, for failing to buckle up her children, to aggravated child abuse, the toughest abuse law on the books. Sammons has labeled the records wrong and said the jailers are mistaken.

8th Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler last month asked for a special prosecutor to launch a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation criminal probe of Sammons' actions in the case. The News Sentinel confirmed Monday 3rd Judicial District Attorney General Dan Armstrong has been tapped to help the probe.

Smith's attorney, Kristie Anderson, last month asked Sammons to step down from Smith's case. Sammons refused and, over Anderson's objections, launched a defense of her actions in which she said jailers were wrong and a state Department of Children's Services worker partly to blame for her confusion over Smith's case.

Anderson appealed to 8th Judicial District Judge Shayne Sexton. Although the jailers were present to testify, Sexton did not hold a hearing. Instead, he asked Assistant District Attorney General Tom Barclay to confirm whether a criminal probe was indeed underway.

"That is correct," Barclay said. "It involves conduct in this case."

Sexton replied, "The court simply cannot allow the sessions court judge to handle any matters involving Ms. Smith while that investigation is pending."

He said it will be up to the state Administrative Office of the Courts to appoint a special judge to hear Smith's case.

Smith, 26, sat in jail two days, first under no bond, then under a $250,000 bond - unaware of any change to the charge she faced or why her bail was so high. Sammons then altered a record of the increase in Smith's charge by marking through it with a pen, those records show.

Caryville Assistant Police Chief Joseph Hopson stopped Smith's car Jan. 22 on U.S. Highway 25W when he said in a warrant that he saw "a small child unrestrained in the back seat." Hopson alleged Smith's other two children also were not belted in, with one sitting on a passenger's lap. He charged Smith with child neglect - a class E felony, the lowest level felony charge available under Tennessee law. A conviction carries a penalty range of one to two years.

Smith spent the rest of that night in jail with no bond set on the child neglect charge, records show. The following day, according to Campbell County jail records, Sammons phoned the jail and ordered the charge "changed to aggravated child abuse and neglect" and bond set at $250,000. That charge is a class B felony, known as "Haley's Law" - so named in honor of a horrific abuse case in Campbell County several years ago.

Smith spent another 24 hours in jail, according to the records, before Sammons appeared to arraign her. Jail records show Sammons then dropped the bond to $500, scribbled through the word "aggravated" but failed to change the Tennessee code citation for aggravated child abuse, and initialed the changes.

A judicial magistrate authorized the original charge of child neglect based on Hopson's account. Magistrates do not hear from defendants and base their charging decisions solely on the legal standard of probable cause.

A General Sessions Court judge is authorized under the law to change a charge only after hearing evidence from both sides in a case and making a determination - in open court and on the record - that the evidence presented supports a change in the charge. Sessions court judges have no authority to determine guilt in felony cases, only misdemeanors.

Sammons has come under fire for various judicial actions, placing children in the custody of the state Department of Children's Services without a request by the agency to do so.
Todd Cook, director of pretrial release for the Knox County Sheriff's Office, at the door to their alcohol monitoring program Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knox County has won a grant to develop a diagnostic tool to help alleviate jail overcrowding.

The county has been competing with other communities in the state to snare a grant, valued at up to $365,000, to cover the cost of developing, implementing and testing a pretrial release risk assessment tool to help judges gauge which citizens accused of crimes could be released pending trial without posting bond.

Late last month, the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs, or OCJP, announced Knox County and Davidson County had won the grant competition. The only thing left to do was garner signatures of support from the four major "stakeholders" in the justice system - judges, District Attorney General Charme Allen, Public Defender Mark Stephens and Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones. The judges, Allen and Stephens were immediately on board.

But Jones was reluctant to sign a commitment letter required for acceptance of the grant, Pretrial Release Director Todd Cook told the News Sentinel. Jones referred all questions about the grant to Cook.

At a meeting Friday, Cook confirmed Jones has now agreed to put his signature on a reworded letter that makes clear Jones will cooperate in the process of developing the diagnostic tool but will not be responsible for any release decisions that might be made as a result.

The Pretrial Release program headed up by Cook is under the umbrella of the Knox County Sheriff's Office, but only judges have the authority to order a defendant released before trial.

"We don't want to do anything to open the jail doors and let people out without supervision," Cook said in an interview conducted before members of the grant committee, including Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword. Sword worked with Jones to garner his signature on a document with which he felt more comfortable.

Jones has repeatedly complained to Knox County Commission about jail crowding, said Sword. Jones has been pushing a "Safety Center," to divert chronic alcoholics and the mentally ill from the jail, saying it would be more cost-effective than building a new cell block.

"Knox County has always been concerned about the overcrowding of our jails, so it's important we are doing everything we can be doing in that regard," Sword said.

The grant would fund up to $365,000 any costs associated with developing a computer-based diagnostic tool that would calculate how likely a particular arrestee is to show up for court and stay out of trouble pending the next court hearing. The judges, in turn, would use that predictive model to decide whether to release someone on his or her own recognizance with no conditions, release them under the auspices of supervision by Cook's department or to simply set bond. Sword said the judges would not be bound by the recommendations of the diagnostic tool and also pointed out it could predict whom among arrestees is a high risk and, therefore, should have a higher bond than usual.

"It will allow our judges more information when we make those decisions," he said.

Judges already make such decisions, now, but often without data-driven information. Sword said he believes Jones is concerned that he would be blamed if a defendant is released using the tool and then commits a crime. That concern, he said, is misplaced.

"The sheriff won't be making the decisions on who will be let out," Sword said. "The sheriff has never made those decisions. I understand the sheriff's concern it looks like he's sanctioning who is released."

Stephens spearheaded the effort to win the grant and said he was hopeful it will lead to fewer poor people, whom his office represents, being jailed simply because they could not afford bail.
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The newly-founded Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge will celebrate local Girl Scouts on Saturday, inviting troops and individual Scouts to the park for a day of hands-on activities.

Scouts will have the opportunity to earn aSecret City Heritage Badges, and anyone who is not a Girl Scout can earn a Manhattan Project Junior Ranger Badge.

The event will open with a ceremony at the American Museum of Science and Energy at 10 a.m. and close with a ceremony at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge at 3:30 p.m. Scouts wearing their uniforms will receive free admission for themselves and their families to both museums.

The event is part of National Girl Scout Day, marking the day in 1912 when founder Juliette Gordon Low registered the organization's first troop. The group has a long history in Oak Ridge, dating back to 1943 when Elsie Novy established the first local troop to help students feel at home in "the city behind the fence," according to the National Park Service.

Under secrecy, the Scouts were registered by first name only and listed Knoxville as their hometown.

During World War II, the Army requested that Troop 21048 helped organize the sale of 35,000 pieces of unclaimed laundry in Oak Ridge. The items had all been lost or misplaced, likely because so many people were using limited laundry facilities.

Proceeds from the fundraiser totaled more than $2,300 to be split between the Army and the Girl Scouts.

The National Park Service in November established the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, which is spread across three sites where the atomic bomb was built - Oak Ridge, Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.
SHARE DeAnn Bogus

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville officials have hired a new deputy director for the city's plans review and inspections department to help handle the workload that's come with a 23 percent uptick in building permits over the last year.

DeAnn Bogus, who previously worked for the Bechtel Power Corp., an international engineering and construction company, began her new job Monday.

She will earn $78,000 annually, according to city spokesman Eric Vreeland.

Among her first projects will be taking over the management of the form-based code districts, Cumberland Avenue and the South Waterfront. Those permits were previously handled by the office of redevelopment.

The plans review and inspections department has 42 employees - including inspectors, code enforcement officers and administration staff - charged with reviewing plans, permits, building inspections and other regulations.

In 2015, the city issued building permits for construction projects totaling $360 million in value, an eight-year high and $105 million more than the previous year. The uptick was mostly driven by large-scale commercial projects like the East Tennessee Children's Hospital addition and multifamily residential projects downtown and near the University of Tennessee campus, city officials said in January.

The influx in building permits meant the department had to be flexible with staffing, such as electrical inspectors helping with field inspection duties, Peter Ahrens, director of plans review and inspections, said at the time.

Ahrens said he expected the increase in building permits to continue for the near future.
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By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE - Police have identified the man who shot himself in the leg outside the Cheesecake Factory at West Town Mall Friday as a 23-year-old Knoxville resident.

Jacob Brumbaugh, of Knoxville, shot himself in the left leg with a Glock handgun, said Knoxville police spokesman Darrell DeBusk. Brumbaugh does have a gun carry permit, DeBusk said.

Police responded to the call of a man accidentally shooting himself at about 9:45 p.m. and found Brumbaugh lying in the restaurant parking lot.

Friends had applied pressure to the gunshot wound in attempt to control the bleeding and officers then put a tourniquet on the leg. Brumbaugh was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

More detail as they develop online and in Tuesday's News Sentinel.
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By News Sentinel Staff

UT launches African-American history lecture series

The inaugural Fleming-Morrow Distinguished Lecture in African-American History starts Thursday with a discussion about Constance Baker Motley, the first black woman appointed to the federal bench.

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, a professor at Harvard University, will speak about Motley from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in room 132 of the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Motley was appointed as a judge in the U.S. District Court in New York in 1966.

A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.

The new lecture series is named for Cynthia Griggs Fleming, a historian of the civil rights movement and the first black woman on the UT history faculty, and John H. Morrow Jr., a military historian and the first black faculty member and department head in the UT College of Arts and Sciences.

Fundraising to endow the series is ongoing and the funds will also go to two annual scholarships, one to a student studying African-American history and one to a student of military history.

UT housing to have Fainting Goat 5K

University of Tennessee Housing will have the second annual Fainting Goat 5K and fun run at 9 a.m. April 2.

Check-in is at 7:30 a.m. at Fred D. Brown Jr. Residence Hall, 1817 Andy Holt Ave. Housing staff and UT students are collaborating for the race that celebrates the Tennessee fainting goat. Race proceeds will benefit Heifer International.

Registration is $15 for UT students and $20 for the public with a deadline of March 18. For more information, visit http://bit.do/faintinggoat5k.

UT event welcomes admitted students

New Vol Roll Call is a traveling event where University of Tennessee alumni and admissions staff welcome students admitted to UT for fall 2016.

The series of events are this month and will be across the state as well as in Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., Charlotte, N.C. and Atlanta. This is the third year for the roll call events.
Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks at the Knox County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Feb. 27. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., takes a picture with supporters July 7 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Christian K. Lee) Donald Trump speaks at the Knoxville Convention Center on Nov. 16. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL). Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is interviewed by television host Sean Hannity on Feb. 26 in Nashville. (AP Photo/Sanford Myers)

By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON - The candidates campaigned. The voters voted.

And with Super Tuesday behind us, Tennessee's influence in the 2016 presidential election is pretty much over.

"That's the last we'll see of the presidential race," said Vanderbilt University political scientist Bruce Oppenheimer, who studies elections.

Barring some dramatic, unforeseen turn of events, Republican-red Tennessee will be safe territory for the GOP nominee this fall and will be largely forgotten as the candidates fight it out in battleground states like Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

"The way our system is set up, the presidential election is fought out in a handful of states. Tennessee is not one of them," said Anthony Nownes, a political scientist at the University of Tennessee.

Tennessee Republicans will send 58 delegates to the party's national convention in Cleveland in July. If there is a fight for delegates - as some party insiders looking to take down Donald Trump are banking on - the state could play a role in picking the party's nominee.

Otherwise, "we've had our input," Oppenheimer said.

Tennessee got its share of attention leading up to last week's Super Tuesday primaries.

All of the major candidates, except for Democrat Bernie Sanders, campaigned in the state in the final stretch before voters went to the polls.

Trump told a crowd inside a Millington Regional Jetport hangar that he's "got to win" Tennessee's primary. He did - by 14 points.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton appeared at church services in Memphis, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida campaigned in Knoxville, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich spoke at the Knox County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day dinner.

On the airwaves, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas dominated. Cruz and his "super PAC" spent more than $1 million on television advertising in Tennessee, with some of it devoted to attacking Trump.

Oppenheimer said Tennessee voters should not expect an onslaught of advertising in the fall, since the candidates will be focused elsewhere.

"We've seen all of the ads that we're going to see," he said.

Tennesseans shouldn't expect to see any more of the candidates either, unless they swing through the state to raise money, Nownes said.

"By and large, I think they're done," he said. "Moving forward for the next couple of months, they are going to focus most of their attention on the primaries and caucuses that have not been held yet. And in the general election, they're going to focus on the battleground states and pretty much ignore Tennessee like they have in past elections."

Tennesseans may not have much clout in the presidential race going forward, but they made their voices heard. A record 1.22 million people voted in the state's primary, topping the previous presidential primary record of 1.17 million set in 2008.

Possibly the biggest takeaway from last Tuesday's results: Trump's commanding victory - he carried 94 of the state's 95 counties - is further evidence that tough days may lie ahead for the state's moderate Republicans, Oppenheimer said.

Trump carried the day even though Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander both threw their support to Rubio, who came in third.

"If there's a message here," Oppenheimer said, "it's that the more moderate part of the Republican Party in Tennessee is going to have a hard time winning statewide primaries."

Michael Collins is the News Sentinel's Washington correspondent. His weekly Tennessee in D.C. column highlights Volunteer State lawmakers, causes and connections. Contact him at 202-408-2711 or michael.collins@jmg.com.
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Roane County authorities launched a drug recovery court last month, and Gov. Bill Haslam has included funding in his proposed budget for next year to expand this effective program to cover every county in the state.

Recovery courts are special courts or dedicated dockets within existing courts that focus on cases involving substance-abusing offenders. They offer these offenders a road to recovery rather than a ride to jail.

The program aims to address two vexing problems facing the state - drug addiction and jail overcrowding. The governor's commitment to funding alternatives to incarceration is admirable and should be shared by legislators and court systems across the state.

Tennessee's drug problem has reached epidemic proportions, Russell Johnson, the 9th Judicial District attorney general, and Public Defender Kim Nelson told the Oak Ridge League of Women Voters last week. There has been a 220 percent increase in drug overdose deaths in Tennessee since 1999. In 2014, the last year statistics are available, more people died as a result of overdoses in the state than ever before - 1,263, more than the number of students attending Central High School in Knox County.

The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service oversees the program. Commissioner E. Douglas Varney recently told the News Sentinel Editorial Board the governor's proposed budget includes an additional $1.3 million to increase the program's reach.

"We just can't keep throwing away so many people," Varney said.

In recovery courts, judges typically hold cases open so offenders can get treatment over a specified period of time. Offenders receive services such as counseling, supervision, drug testing and incentives for meeting recovery goals. If they successfully complete treatment, they can go free; if not, they go to jail.

In addition to staying drug-free, participants are to maintain or improve their employment status and homes, plus obtain more education or job skills.

According to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, recovery courts are effective. Eight in 10 people who go through the program stay out of legal trouble for at least a year after completing treatment. From 2013 to 2015, 81 percent got jobs or improved their employment status, while 28 percent of those who were homeless or living in a group home found their own residences.

Tennessee has 44 recovery courts, three mental health courts, three juvenile and family drug courts, and six veterans treatment courts. Varney said officials separate out veterans because they deal with unique issues and are eligible for veterans' benefits.

Knox County has three recovery courts. General Sessions Court Judge Chuck Cerny handles the Adult Recovery Court and the Veteran Treatment Court. Juvenile cases are handled by Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin.

Alternatives to jail such as recovery courts and the safety center being pursued by Knox County officials are humane, sensible and cost-effective ways to treat substance abuse. Under Haslam's proposed budget, non-violent drug offenders in every corner of the state could have hope for a better future.
1:14 p.m. March 7, 2016

U.S. General Reports Iraqi Forces Successes, Progress

By Cheryl Pellerin









Peshmerga soldiers rehearse urban tactical movement at a training base near Irbil, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2016. Peshmerga soldiers attend a six-week infantry basic course that will help improve their tactical knowledge to aid in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. There are six Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve training locations: four building partner capacity sites and two building specialized training sites. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Hurst.

Over the past nine months, Iraqi security forces have had significant successes and have made noticeable progress that will lead to the eventual defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the commanding general of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command for Operation Inherent Resolve said on February 23, 2016.



Army Maj. Gen. Richard D. Clarke, with responsibilities only in Iraq, briefed Pentagon reporters by video teleconference from Baghdad.



Clarke said that about 400 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have formed the nucleus of the ground effort in Iraq for more than nine months from their headquarters in Baghdad. Marines, Air Force, Navy and 20 different coalition nations also are helping with the mission, with more than 4,100 personnel, he added.





Three Main Missions



When he and members of his division head back to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in a couple of weeks, the general said, members of the 101st Airborne will take over three primarily missions: to train and equip the Iraqi security forces, to provide advice and assistance to Iraqi forces mainly at leadership levels, and to coordinate airstrikes in direct support of the Iraqi government.



The enemy is under simultaneous pressure here in Iraq as well as in Syria, and what we've seen are great victories in Sinjar and Ramadi and Beiji, Clarke said.



In addition to taking back those key towns, he added, there have been at least three significant attacks by ISIL -- two in Haditha, and one in Mosul in December -- where the enemy put concentrated forces against Iraqi security forces, who held their ground.



Clarke noted that the Iraqi forces have not lost any ground since May 19, when Ramadi fell to ISIL.





Destroying ISIL



Iraqi security forces and coalition airstrikes continue to destroy ISIL fighters, Clarke said.



For example, in the past two days we've had horrendous weather here, lots of rain, lots of clouds. Usually that's an opportunity for [ISIL] to attack, the general said. We've seen nothing. [ISIL] right now is pressurized to prioritize against over-extended resources in money, equipment and manpower.



In a summary of mission accomplishments, Clarke said the coalition has trained more than 16,000 Iraqi security forces and 4,000 Kurdish peshmerga forces. As part of the train-and-equip mission, he said, the Iraqi fighters receive advanced equipment, such as Humvees and mine rollers, which helps them defeat ISIL and boosts their confidence and will.



Two of the Iraqi army brigades that we've trained were directly involved in the fight in Ramadi, the general said. That's the 73rd and the 76th brigades.  As I talk to the Iraqi generals, [they] will say those are the two best Iraqi brigades in their army.





Police Training



The coalition has taken on training for the local and federal police, and Clarke said they have trained more than 2,000 police, with 1,000 more in training right now.



I want to give a big thanks to Task Force Carabinieri, who answered the call when we needed trainers back in June and continue to uptick the amount of trainers and  trainees that they can put through, Clarke said. The Italian Carabinieri Corps has a dual role as the nations police and armed forces, according to the organizations website.



The coalition advises and assists at multiple levels, the general said, including for the three-star Iraqi Ground Forces Command at command and joint operations command levels.





Advise and Assist



The coalition also advises five operations commands, including the Anbar operations command, a corps-level three-star command that was responsible for Ramadi, Clarke said.



The coalition has advisors in five Iraqi divisions, and with an army colonel they advise the Combined Joint Coordination Center in Irbil. Kurds and Iraqis who are beginning future operations planning man the center, he said.



Throughout our advise-and-assist mission  and with the full support of the Iraqi security forces, we show that this is one fight by one team, Clarke noted.





ISR and Airstrikes



To date, the general said, the coalition has flown more than 20,000 hours of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft flights that helped to develop the intelligence picture as the Iraqi forces planned and then recaptured Ramadi. In Irbil, the general said, the coalition helped peshmerga forces liberate Sinjar through airstrikes, cutting the vital Highway 47 between Raqqa and Mosul.



This [Iraqi forces have] enabled about 4,000 Iraqi-approved airstrikes that have been done in direct support of the Iraqi security forces providing direct assistance to those in the fight, Clarke added.



You can follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter: @PellerinDoDNews.



Published March 3, 2016
BMW's new electric vehicle, the i8, is displayed at the Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition at the KINTEX, a convention center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. / Yonhap



By Park Si-soo





Han Sang-yun

Head of sales Lee Jae-joon

Head of marketing

BMW Korea has elevated its status in the BMW Group with impressive sales records and introducing various innovative management methods. Korean talent has been the main growth engine for this success.

Based on its robust growth in the Korean market, it now seeks to nurture senior Korean workers as global talents.

The commitment is expected to make the company a role model for BMW's other overseas units in terms of sales, marketing, after sales service and other customer services, officials said.

BMW Korea has already shown outstanding performance under the leadership of CEO Kim Hyo-joon. He made Korea the German carmaker's eighth-largest market by sales last year.

In recognition, BMW opened its first driving circuit in Asia in Incheon, west of Seoul, in 2014. A year earlier, Kim was promoted to the position of BMW Group senior vice president.

The BMW Korea chief is currently looking for future leaders who can maintain the legacy and help power the growth of BMW Group.
















Something is killing chickens and ducks in China, and draining all their blood. This sounds suspiciously familiar to the claims people have made about the elusive chupacabra. Is it possible that the cryptid has now made it all the way to China, or is there a Chinese version of the creature as well?

Chinese villagers are searching for a mysterious bloodsucking predator that has killed more than 200 chickens and ducks, mainland media reports.



For the past week police and residents from the village in Pudong, close to the city of Shanghai, have been hunting for the culprit round the clock, the news portal Eastday.com reported on Saturday.



The predator has left behind just one tantalising clue  a muddy webbed four-toed footprint.



Villagers said the footprint was the size of five-year-old childs hand.



The unidentified predator has only sucked on the blood of its prey, rather than feeding on its meat, the report said.



Residents said many of their birds had died after being bitten during the evenings over the past week. Some rabbits that had been raised by farmers in the village had also died in the same way, the report said.

For the full article, click here
By Jhoo Dong-chan





Jung Soo-hyun

Hyundai E&C CEO Kim Wee-chul

Hyundai Engineering CEO

A consortium led by Hyundai Engineering has won a 3.6 trillion won ($2.93 billion) construction deal to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Al-Zour, 90 kilometers south of Kuwait's capital, Kuwait City.

Of the 3.6 trillion won deal, the nation's construction giant Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) accounts for 1.85 trillion won while Hyundai Engineering and the Korea Gas takes share of 1.7 trillion won and 20 billion won, respectively, a Hyundai E&C official said Monday.

Under the deal with the state-own Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Hyundai E&C, Hyundai Engineering and the government-run Korea Gas Corp. are expected to construct a re-gasification facility, which can process three billion cubic meters of gas every day, and eight 225,000-cubic-meters LNG storage tanks along with docking facilities near Al-Zour area.

Hyundai Motor's another affiliate Hyundai Engineering is expected to be in charge of the construction of the re-gasification facility while Hyundai E&C will build the eight tanks and docking facilities.

Trial operation and education over the facilities will be led by the Korea Gas Corp.

The construction period is expected to be 58 months and completed by 2020.

A Hyundai E&C official said that President Park Geun-hye's economic diplomacy in the Middle East greatly helped sign the construction deal.

"Due to decline in oil price and weakened purchase power in the area, the bidding in Kuwait had been delayed since 2014. President Park's visit to the Middle East including Kuwait in March 2015, however, did boosted our negotiation so that we could successfully finalized the deal," said an official.

Due to failing oil price, Korean companies' construction contracts in the Middle East halved last year with 16.5 billion dollars compare to the total construction deal of 31.3 billion dollars in 2014.

Experts expect this construction deal to be a turnaround that will encourage another contracts in the Middle East despite the weakened purchase power in the Middle East.

"This construction deal from Kuwait means great significance amid failing oil price and the following decline in demand in the Middle East," said Hyundai E&C CEO Jung Soo-hyun.

"Also, the synergy between Hyundai Motor group affiliates maximized the competitiveness in the bidding. We will continue to take a similar approach to upcoming biddings in the Middle East including construction market in Iran."
BMW Chairman Harald Krueger, left, and BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon speak during a meeting with the Korean media at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. / Courtesy of BMW Korea



By Park Jin-hai

Harald Krueger, chairman of BMW, chose to come to Korea this week rather than attend the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Krueger came here Monday as his first overseas destination this year to encourage and inspire BMW Korea Group.

He announced BMW's six-year consecutive global sales record hours before the international motor show began. "BMW Korea has played an important role in this success," he said during a meeting with some 20 local media outlets at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul.

"In only 15 years, sales have risen from less than 2,000 vehicles to more than 55,000 in 2015. In my eyes that is quite an achievement. Korea is now our 8th largest market," he added.

Established in 1995 as the first fully-owned subsidiary of a foreign automotive brand, BMW Korea marked its 20th anniversary last year. BMW remained the best- seller in the imported car segment here for the seventh year in a row last year.

"Customers in Korea are discerning and extremely brand conscious. So you can learn about future innovations here. If you are successful and No. 1 in this market, you're also No.1 in the world," he said.












By Kwon Ji-youn

Celebrities are reacting fiercely to an investigative program episode that stripped bare the realities of celebrity endorsement and sponsorship.

Actress Kim Min-jung posted on Instagram immediately after the episode aired on SBS Saturday: "It is my hope that the show does not do harm to actors who are working diligently in the field right now. But I thank the producers for shedding light on the realities (of celebrity sponsorship).

What's bad is bad. Money doesn't buy everything."





Actress Kim Ok-vin



Actress Hwang Seung-un also wrote on Instagram: "(Actresses) are forced to do things that are unreasonable but, at times, are deemed reasonable. The world is full of lies and deception, and I cannot change that. But will they find happiness when they reach the top by lying and deceiving?"












Lee Seung-hwan, third from right, in his Tokyo concert at Zepp DiverCity, Friday / Courtesy of Facebook



By Ko Dong-hwan

Singer Lee Seung-hwan held his first concert in Japan concert on Friday, earning high praise from the local press and the Japanese music industry.

Philippe Mesmer, a correspondent for French daily newspaper Le Monde and weekly news magazine L'Express covering Japan and Korea, was cited as saying Lee "delivered the best Korean music."

Mesmer added, that "Japanese experts agreed unanimously that his concert was a top-notch gig that perfectly represented Korea's mass culture."





/ Courtesy of Facebook



One executive at Yamano Music, a popular instrument dealer, said Lee was "charismatic yet cute," a style popular in Japan. Associates from Tokyo FM and TV broadcaster TBS said Lee's "emotional and powerful vocals mixed with exciting lighting and laser shows brought the audience into one crazy party."

The concert at Zepp DiverCity in Tokyo lasted two hours and attracted more than 1,000 people, including journalists and people involved in the Japanese music industry.

Lee, 50, debuted in 1989 with the album"B.C 603" and has been active since. His nicknames include "the little prince"  because of his looks that defy his age  and "the emperor of concerts" because of his reputation for giving great shows.
Lt. Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, left, commander of U.S. Seventh Air Force and deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea, announces a joint statement with ROK Air Force Operations Command Commander Lt. Gen. Lee Wang-keon in front of an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Four F-22s performed a flyover to demonstrate the power of the Seoul-Washington alliance. O'Shaughnessy said the U.S. maintains an ironclad commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea. / Joint press corps



4 F-22 Raptor stealth fighters dispatched here

By Jun Ji-hye

Joint military drills by South Korea and the United States are becoming more offensive-oriented, shifting the focus toward infiltration and preemptive strikes away from defense against North Korean attacks.

The changing objective of the joint exercises reflects worries that North Korea will never give up its nuclear ambitions. Recently, the allies displayed their strike power in response to the North's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and launch of a long-range rocket on Feb. 7.

On Wednesday, four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters performed a flyover at Osan Air Base, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, becoming the third U.S. strategic asset dispatched to the Korean Peninsula since January.

The allies are planning to apply their new joint wartime operational plan, dubbed Operation Plan (OPLAN) 5015, which reportedly includes a contingency for preemptive strikes against the North's key facilities, during the annual war game Key Resolve and the field training drill Foal Eagle, military sources said.

The annual drills are scheduled to begin on March 7 and will run until April 30.

The two nations signed off on OPLAN 5015 last June to replace OPLAN 5027 that was more oriented around defending the South.







During the drills, Washington will also exercise a prompt dispatch of its overseas armed forces, comprised of a variety of elements including the Air Force and Navy, to the peninsula, according to officials.

The naval forces of the two countries are also planning to hold the annual Ssang Yong (double dragon) amphibious landing training for marines and navy personnel early next month on a larger scale than usual.












By Choi Sung-jin



Faced with increasingly harsh reality, young voters in Korea, like their U.S. counterparts, are shedding their long lethargy and political apathy.



"It doesn't matter if political parties allocate a few more National Assembly seats to young people," Park Se-hun, head of "Joint Action of Students and Youth," told a local news agency. "If the parties intend to resolve young people's problems, politicians should first listen to the latter's voices."



In the run-up to the National Assembly elections on April 13, Park and other representatives of Korean universities formed "Joint Action" to call for the resolution of young people's problems.



"Contrary to the government's self-praise, for instance, few students agree that the Park Geun-hye administration has implemented its policy for half-price tuition as promised," said Park, who also leads the student council of Korea University, adding that less than half of students had benefited from the new policy. "Had the government listened to what students really wanted, it would not have done things this way," Park said.



Joint Action plans to put forth six major issues that need most urgent resolution in the upcoming parliamentary polls - the minimum wage, jobs, tuition, housing costs, self-reliance of universities, and students' participation in school operations.



"Any policy that excludes the voices of people who directly suffer from social contradiction is bound to fail," Park said.



The issues of rising school costs and dwindling jobs have squeezed the lives of students for some time, but the solutions are as remote as ever. In the case of college tuition, for example, politicians have promised, every four years since 2000, to halve it or restrict its increasing rate, but nothing has happened.



The current 19th National Assembly introduced the youth lawmaker system on proportional representation to appease young voters, but passed not a single law related exclusively to the younger generations' welfare, forcing some students to come forward to solve their own problems.



"It was a far cry from four years ago when students suppressed pent-up frustration vowing to struggle harder to break the deadlock through individual efforts," another student activist said. "That was also when a book like Youth hurts,' by a Seoul National University professor became a best-seller. Now, however, more books and columns call for young people to learn to be angry and act."



Joint Action plans to expand its organization to listen to more voices until the elections before finalizing its demands. It will also soon hold a news conference and a public rally.



"In order to solve the younger generations' problems, not just the Assembly but the entire society has to reach a consensus through intense debate," Park said. "Many universities will join forces to create a network, to provide a starting point for that process."




By Lee Kyung-min



The Ministry of Health and Welfare urged the National Assembly, Monday, to pass a revision to the Medical Law to strengthen punishment of doctors who re-use disposable syringes, before the provisional session of the 19th Assembly ends.



The move follows the discovery of hundreds of cases of hepatitis C because of the re-use of disposable syringes at a clinic in Wonju, Gangwon Province, and Dana Clinic in southwestern Seoul.



Under the revision, doctors who inflict harm by re-using disposable medical instruments will be deprived of their medical licenses immediately, and following a trial could face up to five years in jail or a fine of 20 million won ($16,000).



The ministry will also prevent clinics from closing before it can complete an epidemiological investigation to determine the cause of the infection, and punish those found responsible.



Currently, those suspected of re-using syringes are suspended for one month.



Under the revised law, doctors could face criminal charges for professional negligence resulting in injury.



Meanwhile, the ministry said it would pay for the treatment costs of patients infected at the Wonju clinic.



The announcement came after a doctor, surnamed Roh, 59 who was under investigation for re-using disposable syringes at his clinic, was found dead last Friday before he was due to face a second round of police questioning.



"We recognize the sudden predicament of such patients and we will have talks with municipalities to provide proper support," a ministry official said.



The ministry plans to cover treatment costs for now and to seek reimbursement after filing a civil lawsuit against Roh's family. If the family refuses to pay, a judge can allow Roh's property to be sold through public auction.



Earlier, the Wonju Community Health Center had asked the Korea Center of Disease Control and Prevention to pay over 6 million won per person for 245 patients who need immediate medical treatment.



According to the center, as of Monday, of 2,489 patients tested, 245 were confirmed to have the disease, up from 115, Feb. 10.



They were among the 15,433 patients suspected of being infected after receiving injections.




By Kim Se-jeong

Eight traditional markets in Seoul's central district, Jung-gu, will develop a single fashion brand within the next three years to attract foreign buyers and tourists.

Jung-gu District Office announced the plan on Monday and will contribute 5 billion won to help develop the area into the world's leading fashion market by 2018.

"It will be extremely important to have a single brand promoting the markets," said shop owner Lee Seong-yeol, a member of the association representing traditional markets in the district.

The project is part of the office's efforts to boost the district's traditional markets, which are losing customers to large-scale discount stores.

"We're hoping that our support will help to revive the markets," said district officer Kim Yang-sim.

The district's eight traditional markets have 15,000 shops specializing in various kinds of fashion items.

Tongil Market specializes in men's wear, while Shin Pyeongwha, Pyeongwha and Techno markets and Belpost specialize in women's apparel. Nampyeongwha Market specializes in bags and Dongpyeongwha Market hosts shops stocking brand clothes, while Dongwha Market sells buttons, needles and thread.

The public financial support will also help foreign buyers with accommodations and meetings. Language services will also be available. The markets will open a new website for online shopping.

To boost domestic sales, the markets will join the annual Grand Sale event, offering shopping discounts around tourist sites.

To liven up the area, the office will open a street for cultural activities. It will also develop a tour program, and shops and restaurants in the market will offer foreign foods to accommodate Chinese and Japanese tourists.
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, right, co-chairman of the People's Party and Rep. Kim Han-gil, head of the party's election planning committee, attend a party meeting in Seoul, Monday. Kim criticized Ahn for turning down an offer from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea to form an alliance for the April 13 general election. / Yonhap



By Kim Hyo-jin

Support for Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-chairman of the minor opposition People's Party, and his organization is rapidly eroding, with a general election scheduled for April 13. Moreover, Ahn appears to be losing control of the party after clashing with other leaders over a proposed alliance for the election.

The latest polls show the approval rating of the People's Party is at its lowest level  just one month after it was launched.

Ahn was pushed back to a single-digit fourth place for the first time on the list of potential presidential candidates from among rival parties while former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon ranked third.

While the party leadership is fragmented over a proposal made by the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) interim leader Kim Jong-in to form an alliance for the upcoming election, Ahn appears to be further losing members of his support base, according to political observers.

During a survey conducted by the local pollster Realmeter during the first week of March on 2,017 respondents, 11.5 percent supported the People's Party, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous week, widening the gap with the MPK that stood at 28 percent and the Saenuri Party at 43.7 percent.

The figure has taken a downturn since early February when the party was launched with an approval rating of 15 percent.

Of 11 potential presidential candidates from rival parties, Ahn ranked fourth with a 9.9 percent rating, following the MPK's former leader Moon Jae-in (21.3 percent) and ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung (17.8 percent), and former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (11.1 percent).

"While focusing on wooing more voters in Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces in a rivalry with the MPK, Ahn and his party fell short of gaining nationwide support," said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live.

"Centrist voters that Ahn aimed to target also lost interest, while the MPK's new leader Kim Jong-in actively removed the leftist image of the main opposition party."





Internal feud simmering

Yoon said that conflicts in the leadership of the People's Party over whether to accept Kim's proposal to form an alliance for the upcoming general election added an additional negative factor to its falling approval rating.

"The party is not viewed as an independent third party as self-claimed, while being swayed by the MPK's lead in preparation for the elections."

Just one day after Ahn rejected Kim's proposed alliance, Rep. Kim Han-gil, head of the party's election campaign committee, voiced a different opinion, showing discord in party's leadership.

"Our party should do whatever it takes to stop the ruling party winning enough parliamentary seats for a constitutional amendment," Kim said during a party meeting, Monday.

Rep. Chun Jung-bae, the party's co-chairman, took Kim's side, saying, "we should do politics not just for ourselves but for the people."

Ahn struck back, saying, "the decision not to join hands with the MPK was made after a general meeting and a Supreme Council meeting. It can't be changed by the opinion of few members."

Kim Jong-in, the MPK interim leader, asked Ahn last week to merge their parties to win against the ruling Saenuri Party in the April polls.
Kim Byung-kwan Pyo Chang-won



By Yi Whan-woo

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) picked Kim Byung-kwan, chairman of online game developer Webzen, and famous criminologist Pyo Chang-won as candidates to run in the April 13 general election, Monday.

Kim and Pyo were included among 15 MPK candidates who were given tickets to run in the elections without primaries.

Six of the 15 candidates, including Kim and Pyo, are non-career politicians. The two were recruited by Rep. Moon Jae-in when he was the party chairman.

The party made the decision in a closed-door emergency meeting in the morning, according to spokesman Kim Sung-soo.

The Webzen chairman will compete in the Bundang A district in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where his company is located.

Kim is viewed as the MPK's counterbalance to Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a CEO-turned-politician who recently founded the minor opposition People's Party

Ahn set up his own party after quitting the MPK predecessor, the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) in December in the wake of an internal power struggle with Moon.

Both Ahn and Kim Byung-kwan share common ground in their public image as self-made IT billionaires.

Ahn built his fortune as the founder of AhnLab, the country's leading antivirus software developer, before entering politics in 2012.

Raised in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, Kim Byung-kwan calls himself the "son of a poor farmer."

In April 2015, the estimated value of Kim Byung-kwan's tech-heavy KOSDAQ shares was 363.2 billion won ($302.06 million) while Ahn's KODAD stocks were worth 78.7 billion won.

Pyo, a former criminology professor at the Korean National Police University, will run in the Yongin D district, a newly-created constituency in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. He was born there.

Being critical of the conservative Park Geun-hye administration and ruling Saenuri Party, Pyo was among progressive-minded voters before joining the main opposition in December.

He serves on the party's emergency committee led by interim-leader Kim Jong-in.

The MPK said the remaining nine of the 15 candidates have been chosen in consideration of their capability as political heavyweights.

They include Kim Boo-kyum, a former three-term lawmaker, and Kim Doo-kwan, a former provincial governor in South Gyeongnam.

Kim Boo-kyum will compete in the Susung-A district in Daegu. Kim Doo-hwan will make his bid for a National Assembly seat in the Gimpo-A constituency, Gyeonggi Province.

Meanwhile, the ruling Saenuri Party also picked nine candidates who will run in the April elections without primaries. They include floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul and chief policymaker Rep. Kim Jeong-hoon.
A mourner pays respects to the late Huh Moon-do, who served in core government positions during the Chun Doo-hwan government in the 1980s, at a memorial altar set up at the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Monday. / Yonhap



By Kim Ji-soo



Former Unification Minister Huh Moon-do passed away Saturday. He was 76.

Born in Goseong, South Gyeongsang Province, Huh graduated from Seoul National University as an agricultural major and studied sociology at the Tokyo University's graduated school. He joined the conservative vernacular Chosun Ilbo in 1964, where he worked as its Tokyo correspondent.

Then he was tapped in 1980 by the government of Chun Doo-hwan, a former military strongman, to work as chief secretary to the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service. He then went on to serve in various government roles such as deputy minister for culture, presidential secretary for political affairs and the Unification Minister.

But Huh is known for his central role of forcibly integrating press units in Chun's government. The then-authoritarian government in November 1980 streamlined 64 press companies into 14 newspapers, three networks and one wire agency in November 1980. The measure led to massive firing of journalists.

In 2010, a special government committee ruled that the streamlining of the press companies in 1980 was the former military-strongmen-turned government's attempt to solidify power.

After Chun stepped down, Huh was questioned by the prosecution but was not persecuted. In 199, he was briefly appointed to head the Buddhist Broadcasting System. The union's protest led him to step down after six months.

He is survived by his wife Lee Soo-gyeong, and two sons and one daughter. The funeral is set for Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Feb. 23. China has been promoting simultaneous talks for denuclearizing North Korea and a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War. / AFP-Yonhap



Seoul's role in talks uncertain





President

Park Geun-hye North Korean leader

Kim Jong-un

By Kang Seung-woo



American diplomatic experts believe their country has changed its longstanding position about signing a peace treaty with North Korea  despite their government's repeated denials.

The Korean War started in 1950 and ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty, so the Korean Peninsula is still technically at war.

Talks for a peace treaty, which would formally end the war, are expected to remain a hot potato, along with North Korea's denuclearization.

For decades, the North Korean regime has called for a peace treaty with the United States, claiming that the treaty would reduce the tensions on the peninsula and end the nuclear arms race, but the U.S. government had given short shrift to the call.

However, an unsuccessful attempt to hold a secret meeting before the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test suggests that the United States is shifting from its hard-line stance.

The talks did not take place because North Korea declined the former's proposal to discuss its atomic weapons program; nevertheless, the failed attempt sparked speculation that the United States is stepping back from its denuclearization precondition for peace treaty talks with the North.

"It looks like the administration realizes that refusing to engage the North is a dead end policy. It still wants to set denuclearization at the center of U.S. policy, but it is showing more flexibility in addressing the North," said Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

U.S. Naval War College professor Terence Roehrig echoedBandow's view.

"The apparent change has come in making denuclearization a precondition. It is no doubt that the U.S. administration also realizes that North Korea will not voluntarily relinquish its nuclear weapons so that holding out denuclearization as a precondition means there will be no dialogue whatsoever," he said.

In response to a Wall Street Journal report last month about the United States' attempt to engage the repressive state, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel told reporters in Seoul on Feb. 26 that the country's original position has not changed.

However, the United States is still showing signs that it could hold talks with North Korea about the peace treaty simultaneous with denuclearization negotiations, which amounts to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's proposal to his U.S. counterpart John Kerry last month.

"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, Thursday.

Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York, said the U.S. government is reverting to the stance it agreed to on the Sept. 19, 2005 six-party joint statement that committed the "directly related parties" to "negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," parallel to negotiations on the North's denuclearization and political and economic normalization.

"It recognizes the reality that denuclearization cannot advance very far without a peace process in Korea that addresses North Korea's security concerns," he said.

While negotiating on new international sanctions on North Korea for its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, China proposed holding peace treaty negotiations with North Korea simultaneously with denuclearization talks as a way to defuse the heightened tensions on the peninsula.

Even after the U.N. adoption of the new resolution on Wednesday, the Chinese side continues to raise the issue.

"China does not want a nuclear North Korea anymore than anyone else. It also wants a stable North Korea. A peace treaty would recognize North Korea's right to exist  which the U.S. and South Korea do not currently accept  and remove the need for its nukes," said Robert Kelly, an international relations professor at Pusan National University.












North Korea on Thursday spewed out a barrage of bellicose statements against the United States, condemning upcoming joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.



Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's main newspaper, berated the U.S. for preparing for the Key Resolve command post exercise, denouncing it as maneuvers aimed at "decapitating" the North Korean leadership.



Seoul and Washington plan to conduct their largest-ever military drills starting early March, involving a series of strategic weapons. The planned exercise comes on the heels of Pyongyang's recent nuclear and long-range missile tests.



"The situation came to a point where (the joint drills) dare to target our revolutionary leadership," the newspaper said. "We cannot stand it anymore and the drills are evidently a declaration of war."



North Korea also threatened to "turn U.S. military installations in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. mainland into ashes" should the U.S. fail to come to its senses.













The North's menacing rhetoric came two days after the North's military warned of a "pre-emptive" strike against South Korea and the U.S. over any attempt to collapse the North's regime.



The Supreme Command of the North's military threatened to pre-emptively strike Cheong Wa Dae and U.S. bases in the Asia-Pacific as it criticized the allies' plan to stage the military exercises.



The newspaper also carried photos related to the 1950-53 Korean War and the North's seizure in 1968 of the U.S. intelligence ship "Pueblo," claiming that the North's past conflicts with the U.S. ended with "the U.S. surrender and apology." (Yonhap)
North Korea could respond to the new U.N. sanctions with military clashes with South Korea, cyberattacks, expulsion of diplomats of sanctions-supporting countries and even suspension of its own U.N. membership, a Russian expert said Sunday.



Georgy Toloraya, director of Korean Programs at the Institute of Economy at the Russian Academy of Science, made the prediction, saying Pyongyang's reaction to the sanctions resolution could be "harsh" as it came just a few months before the North holds a congress of the ruling Workers' Party in May.



"High-ranking North Koreans recently told this author that North Korean authorities may respond with 'benign neglect' -- essentially ignoring the new sanctions under the pretext that the DPRK has been surviving under such measures for years -- but Kim Jong-un may react forcefully to avoid the risk of backlash from conservative forces in Pyongyang," Toloraya said in an article carried by the website 38 North.



"Therefore, it is possible to expect new provocations, even some that may lead to limited military clashes on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's decision to launch several short-range missiles within hours of the UNSCR's adoption gives credibility to such assumptions," he said.



Pyongyang could also use "some untraditional measures," such as expelling diplomats who represent "guilty" countries that supported the sanctions, Toloraya said. Also possible are cyberattacks that may not even be traced back to the North, he said.



"Pyongyang could go so far as to freeze its U.N. membership, which would let it ignore any other measures by the UNSC," he said.



U.N. Security Council Resolution 2270, adopted last week in response to the North's nuclear and missile tests, are the harshest sanctions ever on Pyongyang. They include mandatory inspection of all cargo going in and out of the North, and a ban on the North's exports of coal, iron and other mineral resources.



Toloraya said the sanctions could erode Russia's relations not only with North Korea but also with South Korea as well due to Moscow's initial reluctance to fall behind the latest resolution.



"These measures will not speed up the resolution of the nuclear problem, which appears more intractable than ever," he said. "Yet if the current crisis eventually leads to nuclear discussions with North Korea, Russia could find itself in a weaker position at the resumed Six Party Talks -- or even face outright exclusion from a new negotiation format." (Yonhap)




North Korea threatened Monday to launch an all-out offensive against South Korea and the United States over their annual military drills in the latest warning amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.



"The army and people of the (North) will take military counteraction for preemptive attack so that they may deal merciless deadly blows at the enemies," the North's powerful National Defense Commission said in an English-language statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.



The commission also threatened the South, saying major South Korean targets are within the North's firing range and the North's nuclear strike means targeting the U.S. military bases in the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. mainland are always ready to fire.



"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the commission said.



South Korea and the U.S. are preparing to launch their largest joint exercise ever that will involve more than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 U.S. troops.

The North claims the joint military drills are a rehearsal for a nuclear war against it. Seoul and Washington have said such exercises are purely defensive in nature. (Yonhap)




Economic cooperation projects between North Korea and China were omitted from China's five-year economic plans, a document by Beijing's top economic planner showed Monday, an indication that may represent China's displeasure over Pyongyang's defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.



The document was presented by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament, on Saturday.



According to the document reviewed by Yonhap News Agency, there was no mention of North Korea in China's five-year economic projects with foreign countries.



With regard to economic projects in China's northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, the document proposed business projects with Russia, South Korea, Japan, Germany and Israel, but it stopped short of mentioning North Korea.



Last week, the United Nations adopted a raft of tougher sanctions against North Korea following the North's fourth nuclear test and rocket launch this year. The new U.N. sanctions came as a result of an agreement between the U.S. and China, North Korea's economic lifeline.



The Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, which border North Korea, have also scaled back their economic cooperation projects with the North, according to their documents published in January.



A diplomatic source in Beijing said the moves by the Chinese provinces were likely to be reflected by the Chinese central government's decision to join the new U.N. sanctions.



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)




President Park Geun-hye urged policymakers on Monday to take steps to ensure that U.N. member states can impose additional sanctions on North Korea to rein in its nuclear and missile programs.



The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution last week to punish North Korea for its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier in the year.



The tough sanctions are, among other things, meant to cut off North Korea's access to hard currency, which South Korea and other regional powers say are being used to bankroll Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.



"Now, what matters is to thoroughly implement the Security Council sanctions to make sure that North Korea will abandon its nuclear program and move toward change," Park said in a regular meeting with her top aides at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.



Park also asked top officials to closely cooperate with U.N member states in the implementation of the sanctions and to "continue to make efforts for bilateral and multilateral sanctions."



Her comments came as South Korea is preparing to slap its own punitive measures on North Korea on Tuesday.



The measures are likely to include banning the entry of vessels that have traveled through North Korea and blacklisting North Koreans and entities suspected of being involved in developing weapons of mass destruction.



South Korea has already pulled the plug on a factory park that it had jointly run with North Korea in the communist country's border city of Gaesong, a decision widely seen as Seoul's determination against the North's provocations.



South Korea has suspected that most of around US$560 million Seoul paid to North Korea through the joint factory park ended up supporting the isolationist country's nuclear and missile programs.



North Korea threatened to take military counteraction and go into a preemptive attack mode in response to the largest joint military drills being held by South Korea and the U.S.



The North claims the joint military drills are a rehearsal for a nuclear war against it.

Park also called on officials to thoroughly cope with any possible cyber attacks from North Korea and to make efforts for parliamentary endorsement of a bill meant to prevent cyber attacks.



North Korea has a track record of waging cyber attacks on South Korea and the United States in recent years, though it has flatly denied any involvement. (Yonhap)




Unilateral measures to be unveiled today



By Yi Whan-woo



The government today will unveil a list of additional North Korean officials and institutions that will be barred from trading with South Korean companies and banks, sources say.



South Korea will also freeze their assets here if there are any.



The measures are included in a set of the South's unilateral sanctions to be announced at 3 p.m. today to cut off the flow of cash into North Korea.



The North Korean figures and institutions subject to the South's own sanctions are separate from the 16 individuals and 12 entities blacklisted by the U.N Security Council in the latest resolution.



"The government's measures may not be so effective, considering North Korean individuals and entities may not have assets in the South and they do not have financial transactions with South Korean financial companies," a source said.



"But those measures will be meaningful in a way that the international community can take precautions. It is expected that other countries will take Seoul's measures into account and refrain from contacting targeted individuals and entities."



South Korea will also ban the entry of ships from other nations if the vessels have visited North Korea, or if the vessels are suspected of originating from the repressive state but are flying other countries' flags.



If imposed, the ban will be additional to Seoul's sanctions imposed on May 24, 2010 in retaliation for North Korea's sinking of the South Korean naval frigate Cheonan in March the same year.



Under the retaliatory measures, all North Korean-flagged vessels are prohibited from entering South Korean waters or making port calls here regardless of circumstances.



Meanwhile, speculation is growing that South Korea will scrap the so-called "Rajin-Hassan Project," a logistics project involving North Korea and Russia.



The project is aimed at importing Siberia-produced coal by transporting it by train between Russia's border town of Rajin and North Korea's port in Hassan and then loading the coal on to ships.



Before approval of the UNSC resolution Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, used its influence in the last minute to ensure that exports of Siberia-produced coals via Rajin would continue.



It is speculated Seoul's diplomatic ties with Moscow will deteriorate if the Korean government halts the project.



The latest U.N. resolution is aimed at putting further pressure on Pyongyang for carrying out its latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch recently in its development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).



Four of the 16 individuals were in charge of Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.



They included Ri Man-gon, who oversees development of military technologies as a director at the ruling Workers' Party.



The three others are Yu Chol-u, director of the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA), Hyon Kwang-il, a senior official at NADA, and Choe Chun-sik, who headed North Korea's long-range missile program in 2013.



They will theoretically be barred from travelling to any U.N. member state.



The 12 entities included North Korea's government organizations, such as NADA, the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry, the Academy of National Defense Sciences and the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which is in charge of intelligence operations.



Seoul is expected to add working-level officials under Ri's command as well as Room 39 and its officers.



Room 39, a secretive branch of the authoritarian regime, reports directly to Kim Jong-un about the use of money to develop WMDs.



It is suspected of running North Korean restaurants overseas and pocketing the wages of North Korean laborers who have been forcibly sent abroad, mostly as construction workers, to prop up the regime.




China's foreign ministry said Monday it was "very concerned" about the ongoing joint military drills between South Korea and the United States, saying it will not allow any trouble at its doorstep.



The annual military drills, which both South Korea and the U.S. say are defensive in nature and necessary to better cope with North Korea's aggression, come after the North's fourth nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year.



China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters that Beijing takes note of North Korea's harsh verbal threats against the military drills.



"China is also very concerned about the military drills," Hong said.



"China is firmly opposed to any action that cause trouble" on the Korean Peninsula, Hong said. "We will not accept any trouble-making behavior at our doorstep."



North Korea threatened pre-emptive and "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against the South Korea-U.S. drills.



Asked about the North's nuclear threats, Hong urged the "relevant parties" to exercise restraint. (Yonhap)




By Park Hee-jung

The poem "Youth" by Samuel Ullman begins:

"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;

It is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.

We grow old by deserting our ideals."

The United States is an innovative country that started from freedom. From Edison to Microsoft, from Apple to Google, from Facebook to the electric car manufacturer Tesla and high-tech industry, and furthermore, with recent developments in extracting shale oil, it continues to be innovative. New York City is the home of Wall Street, the center of world finance, a leader in the arts such as fashion and music, and the headquarters of many global companies. This geographically small city is surrounded with dynamic energy and vitality.

When I took a recent business trip to NYC in 2012, I noticed one difference from my previous visit. It was the presence of blue bikes everywhere. They are called "city bikes." There are now 12,000 city bikes in NYC, which can be used anywhere. The bike-sharing system in NYC is designed to address traffic congestion. The city recognized a social issue, traffic congestion, and tried to resolve it.

Making new value in the process of solving a social problem in an original and innovative way has been also called "social entrepreneurship." Another example of NYC's social entrepreneurship was the recent issuance to 8 million New Yorkers of IDNYC (ID for NYC residents). With this, NYC continues cultural innovation by providing numerous benefits to city residents including museums, zoos, fitness centers, theaters and cultural events among others. This was also mentioned by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the 2015 Young Leaders for UN Millennium Development Goals dinner I attended.

The flow of change is rapid everywhere. That's why it is difficult for the law keep up with the times. The wind of change is also blowing into the law school system of the USA, which has been run stably for more than 50 years. A voice of innovation is heard, claiming the expansion of the law school admission test from the previous LSAT (Law School Admission Test) to the GRE (Graduate Record Examination).

Like that, the domain of the law is also changing, forcing lawyers to adjust. Korea's law school system, which has just started, is in the midst of suffering. It has a long way to go. Even the USA, which is 50 years ahead of Korea, keeps innovating, seeking diversification in admission tests and changes to the bar exam.

Lately, Harvard University announced that its admission system would be extensively reformed. Noting that the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) can be optional, a university official stated that a revolution is needed in America's college admissions system. The gist of the Harvard Report is that a warm heart is more important than intelligence. It emphasizes the common good and mental attitude of a world citizen and above all, it declares it will give the highest admission precedence to students who contribute to their family and the community.

We are all in the same boat, in which we have to live together. This is the age in which sharing love, fruits and the future, and living together is innovation. Like the Doore community, a farmers' cooperative group, and the Saemaul Movement  the 1970s Korean style community development for a stable process in social change along with head-heart-hand-health  of our parents, I hope Korea will become such a culturally beautiful country, with its people knowing the importance of family and considering others as world citizens.
The Korean government issued a temporary license plate Monday for the nation's first self-driving car.



Hyundai's luxury sedan Genesis equipped with a high-tech driving assist system will be able to hit the road in six routes designated by the transport ministry.

The move is part of efforts to commercialize autonomous vehicles and develop driverless cars in the long term.

South Korea, a car-making power, pushes not to lag behind its global competitors in the promising field. Google and Telsa have so far taken the lead in the development of self-driving cars.



The Genesis prototype has a package of special devices, including cutting-edge GPS and high-tech sensors as well as apparatuses to allow it to stay within its lane and keep a safe distance from the car ahead.



At least two people are required to stay in the car during its test drive, ministry officials said, adding its license will hold good for five years. (Yonhap)


By Lee Min-hyung

Samsung Electronics is pushing ahead with its own smartphone upgrade program in a move to offset the lukewarm reception for its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which many feel came with "no surprises."

The company plans to launch a so-called "Galaxy Club" trade-in program in Korea this week. The service will operate globally.

The plan is part of efforts to increase customer loyalty. Samsung's main rival Apple has been running a similar campaign "iPhone upgrade program" since last year.

Galaxy Club users can buy the new devices on a two-year installment plan, and get a new Galaxy series next year without paying the remaining installments.

Insiders have expressed mixed reactions over Samsung's plan.

"The Galaxy series has relatively lower residual value, compared to iPhones," said a telecom industry source. "This will put more pressure on Samsung unless the company charges enough to customers who join the club."

Samsung Electronics has yet to unveil details about how it will run the program here.

A company official said, "We will soon unveil our specific plan for the Galaxy Club, but nothing has been confirmed as to when it will take place."

Expectations are that the company will announce its plan ahead of the two devices' official launch here on Friday. Samsung is expected to unveil its marketing strategy for the new trade-in program during the event.

There is a possibility that Samsung will team up with the nation's major mobile carriers  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  to attract more customers.

The three carriers remained cautious about revealing details for their partnership with Samsung, saying they would adopt a wait-and-see approach because Korean customers were relatively unfamiliar with such a trade-in program.

Another industry source said the key would be how Samsung offered enticing options for the program. Apple charges each iPhone upgrade program user $32.41.

"Galaxy Club's success will be determined by the monthly price for using the service," the source said. "Given the relatively weak residual value, Samsung may have to bear more of the burden to differentiate the program from Apple's."

But he said the company may gain an upper hand through the program, because it would come before the official launch of LG Electronics flagship smartphone G5. The device was a sensation at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, for adopting modular type slots that can be replaced with other camera or audio systems.

"Galaxy Club may help Samsung drive its sales if it receives favorable responses from customers," the source said.
In the heart of Los Angeles, CA is the city's premier luxury club overseeing a panoramic view of The Staples Center and L.A. Live.

At the Conga Room, event organizer Powerhouse will launch their first event of the year Club #7 on Thursday, Mar. 7 at 9 p.m.

With the launch of Club #7, it aims to be L.A.'s newest and hottest Asian night spot for the city's nightlife.

Emceed by Paul Kim and music by Peter Rocks and DenyKim, clubgoers are guaranteed to live up their Thirsty Thursdays with great vibes, four full service bars, and an Asian-influenced food and cocktail menu.

Not to mention, the event is free admission, meaning no cover at all. All you have to do is send out an e-mail to Powerhouse with up to five guests in your reservation.

For more information check out the event page on Facebook.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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If you're working in corporate America, chances are you've experienced your fair share of stress. Whether it's meeting deadlines, managing projects, or dealing with difficult co-workers, the workplace can be a breeding ground for stress. reducing stress from completing a project Once you've identified your triggers, it's important to take a step back and assess the situation objectively. LewiLink.com provides an in-depth article on reducing the stress from meeting deadlines at work. uoc khang inh la mot trong nhung trang Web hang au Viet Nam ve truc tiep cac loai the thao , nhu Bong a, Bong Chuyen, Bong Ro, chung toi cung cap cho ban nhung buoi xem bong tuyet voi nhat cakhia Kenh cua chung toi luon luon than thien voi tat ca moi nguoi, cung cap nhung tran au truc tiep cua Viet Nam va toan cau, voi video Full HD , ko lag ko giat, am bao cung cap cho ban nhung giay phut bong a tuyet voi nhat The city of Calgary is well served by the quality services offered by Image Line Painting. Since 2007 these painters in Calgary have provided interior and exterior painting services for a multitude of projects. This includes providing excellent customer services and a commitment to excellence in the Calgary painters community.
PRESS RELEASE

Oil Debt Blowout Will Get a Lot Worse Before It Gets Better for Wall Street

March 4, 2016 (EIRNS)American Bankers March 4 article on the Wall Street banks energy losses begins, Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better for the industrys oil lenders."

The American Bankers Association publication reports that the spikes in oil company bankruptcies are nothing yet:

"Cash-strapped oil companies have begun drawing down their revolving lines of credit, according to industry analysts. And that is a sign that a wave of energy-related bankruptcies is on the horizon.... They are drawing down credit with the goal of stockpiling extra cash, experts said. Reorganizing under Chapter 11 can be expensive, and having liquidity on hand can give a company a leg up in the process. Oil companies are trying to fund the bankruptcy.

The publication adds that the Wall Street banks seem in denial on the shale debt blowout. JPMorgan Chase, to give just one example of several they cite, has extended $44 billion in credit lines to energy companies, but has funded only $14 billion of that. They quote an arrogant JPM Chase CEO Jamie Dimon: "They are not going to pull it down, Dimon said. They dont need it." Other big bank CEOs make the same claim, but clearly American Banker thinks they will be proven foolish.

JPMorgan Chase does have a report out about why it now anticipates $3-4 billion in losses in energy in the first six months of 2016. Default activity increased notably in February," the report says,

"as eight companies defaulted totaling $9.3bn in high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. This months activity marked the highest number of defaults since nine companies defaulted in August 2009."

Further, the bank acknowledges,

"Recovery rates in 2016 are extremely low. For high-yield bonds, the recovery rate YTD is 10.3% [i.e., only 10.3% of the defaulted debt has been recovered by liquidating the companies capital assetsed.] which is well below the 25-year annual average of 41.4%. Final recovery rates in 2015 for [all] high-yield bonds were 25.2%, compared with recoveries of 48.1%, 52.7%, 53.2%, 48.6%, and 41.0% in full-years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010, respectively.... As for loans, recovery rates for first-lien loans thus far in 2016 are 24.5%, compared with their 18-year annual average of 67.2%."

These wholesale debt losses by Wall Street refer to "high-yield" or "junk" debt generally, not merely to shale or "energy" debt.
Harley-Davidson has added a third model to its growing S line of powerful street cruisers.

For those who can follow the alphabet soup Harley uses for its wide array of individual models, this is the FXDLS.

For everyone else, its the Low Rider S.

The companys designers call it a tall bike. Stylistically, it was inspired by Southern California bike culture and recalls choppers and bobbers from the 1960s, particularly the Billy Bike ridden by Dennis Hopper in the motorcycle road movie Easy Rider.

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New for 2016, the Low Rider S features high, narrow handlebars -- like the Billy Bike -- and a slender, chopped look.

Harley-Davidson director of styling Brad Richards said the design team stripped away everything that wasnt about performance. The Low Rider S doesnt carry a windshield, or saddlebags, but does feature Harleys best brakes, top of the line suspension, and strongest power plant, Harleys Screamin Eagle air-cooled twin cam 110 cubic inch engine.

That engine is said to make 115 pound feet of torque, which Harley says is 13% more torque than the standard Low Rider.

The new S will be in stores later this month and will retail from $16,699.

The Low Rider S joins two other recently debuted S models, both from the companys Softail line -- the Fat Boy S and the Softail Slim S -- and runs the same engine.

Unique to the Low Rider S are cast aluminum wheels in magnum gold, a color Richards said harks to the design style of the 1970s and 80s, and blacked out tommy gun mufflers.

Also in black are the headlamp, handlebars, mirrors, forks, engine covers and fenders.

The front wheel is fitted with ABS. Transmission is six-speed and belt driven. The Low Rider S is said to get 44 mpg.

Gassed and ready to go, it weighs 674 pounds. Like all Harleys it comes ready to dress in a wide array of accessories.

Richards stressed that the Low Rider S is another way for an American rebel to express his or her uniqueness.

Anybody can buy a sport bike and have a vanilla experience, but then you look like everyone else, Richard said. With a bike like this, its more about emotion.

The irony, of course, is that Harley-Davidson dominates American heavyweight motorcycle sales, generally selling around 50% of all over-600cc bikes sold every year -- more, in other words, than all other manufacturers combined in the heavy bike market.

The Low Rider S, Richards said, is also intended to attract a younger rider. This is essential for Harley, which is watching its core customer base age out of the powersports industry.

This is for a younger generation that wants to get into the brand, but doesnt want to get into their fathers or grandfathers brand, Richards said.

Richards, 47, is a career Ford designer who only came to the orange and black label about a year ago. But hes been a Harley enthusiast a lot longer. The avid collector has nine Harleys in his garage, representing model years from the 1930s to the 1970s.

The first new Harley hell ever own, he said, will be the Low Rider S he just ordered.

Twitter: @misterfleming
One of the most contentious exchanges at Sundays presidential debate between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton involved guns. The issue boiled down to Sanders 2005 vote in Congress to limit liability for gun sellers and manufacturers whose products get used in a crime.

As he has in the past, Sanders defended his vote by suggesting that the gun industry wouldnt survive the imposition of liability for the crimes of others. The issue, he said, was that if somebody who is crazy or a criminal or a horrible person goes around shooting people, the manufacturer of that gun should be held liable.... What youre really talking about is people saying lets end gun manufacturing in America. Thats the implications of that, and I dont agree with that.

What youre really talking about is people saying lets end gun manufacturing in America. Thats the implications of that, and I dont agree with that.  Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential candidate

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His stand won the praise of the National Rifle Assn., which tweeted Sunday night that Sanders was spot-on in his comments about gun manufacturer liability. He also garnered the condemnation of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which said in a statement Monday that he can either stand with American families torn apart by gun violence, or he can stand with the NRA.

The law at the heart of the debate is the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a measure championed by the NRA, which called its passage an historic victory. The bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush. Hillary Clinton, who then represented New York in the Senate, voted against it.

Would overturning PLCAA really end gun manufacturing in America? Thats highly doubtful. Before we examine why, lets look at the background to the law and where things stand on liability for gun makers.

PLCAA came before Congress at a time when gun makers had good reason to fear that the tide was on the verge of turning against them in court. During the 1980s, victims of gun violence had been bringing negligence cases, chiefly against retailers who had sold guns to unfit customers, such as intoxicated, visibly deranged buyers or those declaring their intention to shoot someone. Some lawsuits were successful.

The victims then trained their attention on manufacturers. A key moment had come in 1985 in Maryland, where the states highest court had upheld a judgment against the maker of a Saturday Night Special used to shoot a grocery store worker in the chest.

The guns were cheap, easily concealable and so inaccurate that they were useless for any legitimate activity, the court found; the manufacturer knows or ought to know that the chief use of the product is for criminal activity.

The gun lobby swung into action, and within a year the Maryland legislature passed a law overturning the strict-liability doctrine upon which the lawsuit was based.

The next wave of cases was brought by municipalities and other governmental bodies on the theory that the gun industry had created a public nuisance. The idea was that selling weapons into urban centers that created crime was a type of pollution, says Timothy D. Lytton, a gun regulation expert at Georgia State University law school.

The first major case was brought by Philadelphia under its then-Democratic Mayor Ed Rendell and was followed by about 30 more. The Clinton administration, after it threatened to join the case, reached an agreement with Smith & Wesson that the gun maker would restrict the terms of its retailers sales and to equip its products with safety features.

The nuisance theory got some support from Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Brooklyn, who ruled in 2003 in a case brought by the NAACP that the gun manufacturers were responsible for the creation of a public nuisance and could  voluntarily and through easily implemented changes in marketing... substantially reduce the harm stemming from the diversion of guns into the illegal market. Weinstein, who was known to be sympathetic to gun victims in such cases, threw out the lawsuit on technical grounds, but his massive 261-page ruling amounted to a blueprint for bringing a successful public nuisance claim against the industry, Lytton wrote later.

The NRA was again at work: 33 state legislatures passed laws giving gun makers immunity from such lawsuits. The effort culminated with the passage of PLCAA, which stopped the lawsuits dead. In the meantime, the NRA and other gun lobbies had mounted a devastating boycott of Smith & Wesson. The company was later sold, and its agreement with the government fell apart after George W. Bush was elected president.

PLCAA doesnt give gun manufacturers and sellers absolute immunity from lawsuits. There are a handful of exceptions, including cases in which the seller knew the gun would be used in a crime, the buyer was obviously unsuitable, the sale violated the law or the injury resulted from a manufacturing defect. The exemptions played into a jury award last October of $5.7 million to two injured Milwaukee police officers, who sued the store that sold the gun used to shoot them. At trial, it was shown that the store clerk couldnt be unaware that the 21-year-old buyer was acting as the straw buyer for an 18-year-old, who was with him in the store and picked out the gun.

Several Sandy Hook families are hoping to use another exemption known as negligent entrustment in a lawsuit against the maker of the Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle used by Adam Lanza in the bloodbath at their childrens school in December 2012. A state judge in Connecticut is due to rule any day on whether the case should proceed.

The plaintiffs argument is that the maker and seller of the gun, a scarcely altered knockoff of a military weapon, had to know that it was unsuitable for sale to anyone but military or law enforcement personnel. Instead it was marketed to civilian military wannabes with no legitimate use for the weapon, with pitches that lauded it as the uncompromising choice when you demand a rifle as mission-adaptable as you are and touted its military-proven performance.

What about Sanders contention that expanding liability for gun makers and sellers would destroy the gun industry in the U.S.? Lytton is skeptical. He argues that being saddled with greater liability would give manufacturers greater incentive to monitor the behavior of their retailers.

The theories being brought against the gun industry are primarily negligence theories, Lytton says. And there are many things the industry could do to satisfy the standard of care in a negligence claim and therefore not be liable. Industries police their distribution channels all the time to protect themselves from liability, and it doesnt drive them out of business  it just makes the industry less risky. The gun shop in the Milwaukee case, for instance, was notorious as a source of illegal guns; nothing would have kept manufacturers from cutting off its supply.

PLCAA arguably made the gun industry more dangerous by removing any incentive for manufacturers to pay attention to how their products get sold, and to whom. Sen. Sanders voted for a bill that had these exceptions to immunity, Lytton points out. So he did accept that there should be a certain amount of liability exposure in the gun industry. He just wanted to roll it back to the early 1980s.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see our Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.
Alfonso Ribeiro, who last year became the host of Americas Funniest Home Videos, has sold his longtime residence in Toluca Lake for $1.45 million.

A white picket fence stretches along the front of the 8,369-square-foot property, which includes a two-story Traditional-style house built in 1941, a two-car detached garage and a swimming pool.

The fresh-looking interiors are adorned with wood floors, recessed lighting and chair rails. A wide central hall opens to a family room, a formal living room and a dining room with a fireplace.

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The updated kitchen was featured on an episode of HGTVs Kitchen Cousins. A long cooktop center island, stainless steel appliances, a wine refrigerator and stone countertops are among the features.

Five bedrooms and four bathrooms include a princely master suite complete with vaulted ceilings, a fireplace, a step-up soaking tub and an expansive closet. A guest studio has a kitchen and another bathroom bringing the total living space to more than 3,900 square feet.

A putting green, patio space and an above-ground spa complete the grounds.

Ribeiro, 44, gained fame for his roles as Alfonso Spears in the 1980s television show Silver Spoons and as Carlton Banks on the 1990s sitcom The French Prince of Bel-Air. He replaced Tom Bergeron as the host of Americas Funniest Home Videos in 2015.

Public records show that Ribeiro bought the house a dozen years ago for $729,000. He sold because he bought another residence in Granada Hills.

Craig Strong of John Aaroe Group was the listing agent. Bruce McPherson of Sothebys International Realty represented the buyer.

Twitter: @LATHotProperty
The orchestra scene in Southern California is keen for refreshment. Guest conductors at the New West Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Redlands Symphony and the Long Beach Symphony are auditioning to be music directors. There are more young candidates than seasoned ones. More than ever, women are in demand as are musicians of color.

On Saturday night, it was Gemma News turn for a speed date in Long Beach.

A New Zealander, she is a 29-year-old former Dudamel fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, just like her fellow 29-year-old former Dudamel fellow and current L.A. Phil assistant conductor, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, who was a contender for San Diego until she snagged the City of Birmingham Symphony in Britain a month ago. Last year, New became music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic in Ontario, Canada. She is also assistant conductor of the New Jersey Symphony and heads the Lunar Ensemble, a new music group in Baltimore.

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There was little question Saturday that Long Beach could use a conductor like New. The orchestra is now in its second season since Enrique Arturo Diemecke unexpectedly and unexplainably stepped down after 13 years as music director. It is an orchestra that gives only six classical concerts a season and lacks musical direction. Its home, the Terrace Theater, while in a lively part of town, is too large and acoustically uninviting.

Without a musical vision, the programming is not on the whole imaginative, but News program was interesting and ambitious. Ensemble work was uneven, but when it was good, it was quite good. For every negative Saturday, there was a positive; for every disappointment, something of promise.

The big piece was Mahlers Fourth Symphony. No doubt this was happenstance that News mentor, Gustavo Dudamel, had Mahlers Third on the L.A. Phil agenda at the same time. The Fourth ends with a merry song about St. Peter in heaven that Mahler originally intended for the Third. But the earlier symphony had already reached epic proportions, so Mahler built a less ambitious lyrical symphony around that song.

To give her soloist, Elissa Johnston, something more to do than come in for a nine-minute movement at the end of the evening, New featured the well-known L.A. soprano in Samuel Barbers Knoxville: Summer of 1915" before intermission.

The Long Beach Symphony, conducted by New Zealander Gemma New, at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

For the first half, I sat in the orchestra section, and it was not an altogether happy experience. News clear and decided beat enforces her excellent rhythm purpose. She conducts more for the players and the music than to make a personal statement. Those are qualities ideal for contrapuntal Bach  the Overture to the Fourth Orchestral Suite was the curtain-raiser  and for a necessary unsweetening of saccharine Barber.

With the orchestra seated near the rear of the large stage, and the three trumpets and timpani off to one side in the back, the sound from my seat was muddy Bach soup. The celebratory flavor of the music was not lost, just the interest.

The interest in Knoxville is in how Barber longingly and discreetly handles a not obviously singable prose text. James Agee wistfully recalls a time and place and season when things went unsaid, but with the passage of time, the unspoken haunts, and now it is the fondness that becomes so hard to speak about. Every word needs to be understood, so that the amiable music can make its melancholy point.

But Johnston, while eloquent, required a near operatic manner to rise above the orchestra in this hall. No texts were supplied in the program nor projected on the stage. Barber soup is no more palatable than Bach soup.

For Mahlers symphony, I moved from my $85 seat to the $20 ones in the top balcony, which was nearly empty. Audiophiles will spend a small fortune on cables and other things to open up opaque sound in their stereo systems, to give a sense of presence and dimension. At Terrace Theater, you can accomplish the same by spending less money. The Mahler up there did not always sound like music being made in the same room as the audience, but you could hear the details, the balances. There was life to the sound.

Best of all, there was sonic sunniness. I suspect most of News efforts went into the niceties of ensemble rather than interpretation. Still, her way of enthusing was to enforce bracing contrasts and avoid at all costs any hint of Mahlerian schmaltziness.

Concertmaster Roger Wilkie lavished a delightful sourness on the mistuned fiddling Mahler asks for in the grotesque Scherzo. New kept the Adagio compellingly cool and clear-headed. Johnston did not project as well upstairs as downstairs, or maybe it was that the orchestra projected too well. Again, there were inexcusably no texts supplied.

Picking a music director after a single date tempts fate, and I could not quite sense the chemistry between conductor and an orchestra, which played dutifully some of the time and enthusiastically here and there. Clearly, Long Beach needs a new symphonic deal, and a New deal might be hard to pass up.

mark.swed@latimes.com
Broadway, hardly a bastion of diversity, has been starting to see the wisdom in this Hamilton"-rocked season of bringing new voices to the table.

Eclipsed, by the U.S.-born, Zimbabwean-raised Danai Gurira, represents the first time a Broadway play has been written and directed by and cast entirely with women. That these are black women makes this milestone only that much more remarkable.

The reward of a more diverse range of storytellers is a richer variety of stories, and Eclipsed, which stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo (12 Years a Slave), tells a harrowing tale of women and war in Africa that brings a new globalism to the comfortably parochial Great White Way. (And, yes, its about time to retire that old moniker.)

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This is one of two works in New York at the moment by Gurira, a playwright whose day job (acting) has already earned her fame. (Fans of AMCs The Walking Dead will know her as the katana-wielding Michonne.) Eclipsed opened Sunday at the Golden Theatre in a production directed by Liesl Tommy. And Familiar, a more conventional family drama by Gurira about immigration and assimilation, had its off-Broadway premiere last week at Playwrights Horizons in a production directed by Rebecca Taichman.

Eclipsed is the more ambitious of the plays. Heralded last year off-Broadway at the Public Theater and presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in a different production in 2009, the drama, set largely in a makeshift shelter at a rebel camp during the 2003 Liberian civil war, focuses on a community of women wrestling with disastrous choices of survival.

Its easy to miss Nyongo when she first appears onstage. Playing a 15-year-old girl whos been given sanctuary by two wives of a commanding general, she scurries about like a scared rabbit, darting under a tin tub whenever anyone threatens to enter the room.

Wife No. 1 (Saycon Sengbloh) and Wife No. 3 (Pascale Armand) want to protect this apparent orphan from the men in the camp. They know these warriors prefer young girls  Wife No. 3 taunts Wife No. 1 that shes getting a little long in the tooth  and they dont want to subject her at such a tender age to the sexual slavery they have come to accept as normal.

Gurira plunges us into the routines of these women. When theyre not submitting to the generals lust, they cook, clean, gossip and bicker.

Girl, whose name seems to be a casualty of war, has the advantage of some education. She reads to the women a book about Bill Clintons presidency, a melodrama that captivates them, especially when Monica, his No. 2" enters the story.

Nyongo radiantly conveys the brightness and vulnerability of this girl, whose unmistakable potential throws into somber relief her dim prospects. (I want to do sometin wit myself, be a doctor or member of Parliament or sometin, she says early on  heartbreakingly.) When shes given the designation Wife No. 4, she accepts her fate with as much relief as resignation. At least she has an identity.

The return of Wife No. 2 (Zainab Jah), brandishing a firearm and carrying a bag of rice, unsettles the women. This former wife left the shelter to be a rebel fighter. Shed rather be an accessory of male violence than a victim of it.

Looking for a new recruit, Wife No. 2 lures the newcomer to join her. Step by soul-deadening step, she initiates the girl into the rites of warfare  murder, bondage, plundering, justifying these acts with the doctrine of destroy or be destroyed.

The outline of Eclipsed is boldly delineated: Girl must decide which path she will take to survive and therefore which part of herself shes willing to let die. But the play unfolds episodically, in a series of scenes that can seem at points amorphous, especially in the second act.

The arrival of another character, Rita (Akosua Busia), a member of the Liberian Women Initiative for Peace who is looking for her daughter, presents the girl with a possible third option. Rita exhorts her to put down her weapon and come with her and the wives to a refugee camp. But with guns blazing in the distance, trust is hard to win.

The antagonist of Eclipsed is the hell that Liberia has become for women. But unlike Ruined, Lynn Nottages more Brechtian-inspired drama about Congolese sex workers whose lives have been similarly warped by war, Guriras drama occasionally meanders, losing momentum and character sharpness.

Tommys production, however, is exceptionally vivid. Clint Ramos scenic design and costumes lend the staging a modern urban sheen that reminds us of the global nature of contemporary Africa. Broken Chords original music and sound design and Jen Schrievers lighting help maintain the intensity of the drama even when the writing goes slack.

Jah brings a tremendous ferocity to her role of the female warrior. Menacing those around her with her small yet pugnacious build, shes like a gang leader whos never more dangerous than when someone is appealing to her murdered conscience.

Sengbloh and Armand allow us to empathize with their characters without underplaying their foibles. Busia endows Rita with a maternal power that is at once a moral fury.

This is an ensemble piece, not a star vehicle, but Nyongo cant help standing out even as the girl becomes a fully fledged member of this unenviable community of war-ravaged women. Her plight is terrifying, and Nyongo makes the tragedy achingly personal.

In many ways, Familiar, a play that comically explores what a high-achieving immigrant family renounced for American success, would seem an easier fit for commercial Broadway. Theres a wedding, a troublemaking visitor from the old country, snappy dialogue, lots of contrived liveliness and a big old secret that forces everyone to rethink their relationships.

Gurira first came to attention as a writer with In the Continuum, a performance piece she co-created with Nikkole Salter that looks at AIDS in two far apart yet not all that different communities, one in L.A., the other in Africa. In The Convert, Gurira explores colliding cultures and values in colonial Africa.

My disappointment with Familiar isnt that its lighter fare but that it seems like a playwriting throwback  an audience-pleaser thats all too willing to sacrifice subtlety for laugh track cackles. That Eclipsed is the Gurira play that made it to Broadway isnt just history  its a promising sign of the future.

charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

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Waving a big for sale sign, Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman touted a once in a lifetime opportunity presented by his plan to auction off a large piece of the storied Paramount Pictures movie studio.

It is a crown jewel out there, Dauman said Monday at Deutsche Banks Media, Internet and Telecom Conference in Palm Beach, Fla.

Viacom announced two weeks ago that it would sell a significant stake, or about 40%, of the Melrose Avenue film studio. Paramount is one of Hollywoods original studios, producing such culture-defining hits as The Godfather, Forrest Gump, Mission: Impossible and Transformers.

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Viacom would like to sell the stake in Paramount by the end of June. Dauman took a moment on Monday to make his sales pitch during the investor conference, saying the sale would produce a premium valuation for Paramount.

Observers have mentioned the possibility that a Chinese media company  or a tech giant such as Amazon  might be a preferred partner to invest in Viacoms Los Angeles film studio.

Dauman declined to name potential investors, but said a suitor could help Viacom with its objectives to expand internationally or in the digital space.

We are at a moment in time where we have the opportunity to marry those strategic opportunities with the right strategic partner, Dauman said. I feel very good about the kind of players we are talking to.

The sale comes as Viacom is in the midst of a leadership transition amid the deteriorating health of the companys 92-year-old founder, Sumner Redstone. Dauman took over as chairman of the company last month and quickly announced the sale of the stake in Paramount.

The New York media company has grappled with a depressed stock price over the last two years, and looming debts that must be paid for the company to maintain its investment-grade credit rating.

In addition, Viacoms core cable TV channels, including MTV and Comedy Central, also have stumbled in the ratings.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of an interest in Paramount would be used to pay down Viacom debt and look for business opportunities to drive our business, Dauman said.

He added that the company would use cash on hand to pay off a $350-million note due in April.

It will help drive Viacom forward and as well as bring out some of the value that is not being recognized, in this case in Paramount, Dauman said.

Cash-rich investors, such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, could give Viacom a much-needed infusion of capital to help expand the studios film and TV slate, analysts have said.

Paramount has lagged well behind rival studios owned by other major media companies, such as Walt Disney Co., NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox.

Dauman sought to focus potential suitors view through the windshield  not the rear view mirror, looking past the disappointing operating performance over the last couple of years, he said.

Paramount posted a $146-million operating loss in the most recent October-December fiscal. Viacom shares have been regaining ground in the last two weeks. In mid-day trading on Monday, shares were up 2% to about $39.50.

We are replenishing the cupboard, Dauman said. We have an iconic studio with a very high-quality library, which is continually being replenished by high-end films.

The Viacom chief also said he was confident that his team would be able to hammer out a new distribution deal with Dish Networks, one of the nations largest pay-TV operators.

Investors have been nervous about a potential stand-off between Viacom and Dish over a new distribution deal.

We are continuing our discussions with Dish, Dauman said. We have a long and strong relationship. I am very confident that we are going to get to a mutually beneficial outcome, and we will get to that point sometime in the next quarter.

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT

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Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna have not broken up, he said Sunday. They just want to keep things more to themselves.

Good luck with that, kids.

"Chy and I are not broken up we just feel like it would be a lot healthier for our relationship if we kept a lot more to ourselves.

"It's impossible to have a positive relationship with so much negativity from the media and outsiders and we would appreciate it if everyone respects that," the spotlight-avoider wrote, captioning a super-closeup of himself and his lady that may or may not still appear below, given Kardashian's penchant for frequently purging his social media accounts and starting fresh.

Chy and I are not broken up we just feel like it would be a lot healthier for our relationship if we kept a lot more to ourselves. It's impossible to have a positive relationship with so much negativity from the media and outsiders and we would appreciate it if everyone respects that -ChyRo  @blacchyna  A photo posted by ROBERT KARDASHIAN (@robkardashian) on Mar 6, 2016 at 8:09pm PST

Kardashian's declaration came in the wake of unnamed-sources stories Sunday that said the couple, who've been linked since mid-January, had broken up after a fight.

"They have had a great few weeks, but things got too serious too fast. They were spending a lot of time together and not giving each other enough space," one source told People.

Adding to the drama? After Rob declared his love for Chyna on Friday, there was a weekend burst of that house-cleaning habit we just mentioned, in which he nuked all pics and mentions of her from his social media and she did the same, according to Gossip Cop. Also, People said, she posted a picture of a woman reaching toward the camera, with the caption, "When you just get out of a relationship & your hoe friend welcomes you back into the World of Hoe."

(Now, those engagement-ring emojis around Chyna's name in Rob's "we're not broken up" posting do suggest "too much, too soon" wouldn't be an unreasonable conclusion. Also, Rob finally left sister Khloe Kardashian's home at the end of January, after years of living there, and reportedly moved into Chyna's casa. Do the math, and you'll see that looks like it happened after the two were a couple for only two weeks.)

Some backstory, briefly: Chyna, 27, real name Angela Renee White, has a child with and was formerly engaged to Tyga, 26, real name Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson, the on-off boyfriend of Kylie Jenner, who at 18 is Rob's 10-years-younger half-sister. It did not end well between Chyna and Tyga. Did we mention drama? Yeah, we did.

The sock-seller, who's been staying out of the spotlight for the last couple of years while struggling with his weight and health, bought a $2.3-million house in Calabasas last month  reportedly with some help from the family. Er, the family trust.

So maybe the stay at Chyna's is only temporary?

Follow Christie D'Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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Good morning. Its Monday, March 7, 2016, and heres whats going on in California.

TOP STORIES

Nancy Reagan transformed the role of first lady. During Ronald Reagans years in the White House, she was his closest advisor and greatest protector. At the time, she was criticized for her use of astrology and focus on glitz and glamour. But she is now remembered for her caring for Reagan during his long health battles and her careful stewardship of his legacy. Nancy Reagan died Sunday at age 94. Los Angeles Times

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Far from Porter Ranch, residents of another L.A. neighborhood face their own battle with industry. The Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington looms over their neighborhood, a skeletal Goliath of pipes, tanks, valves, boilers, stacks, columns and cracking units. It hisses, clanks, fumes and lofts its own clouds into the sky. Los Angeles Times

Was there a third shooter? The San Bernardino terrorist attack is just the latest national tragedy marked by a confusing narrative that echoes on. An examination of third shooter theories. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT & CLIMATE

Northern California got battered this weekend with rain and snow -- good news as the drought remains a huge worry. But Southern California is still waiting for its moment in the El Nino sun. Los Angeles Times

The snow is good news for ski resorts, which have struggled in recent years. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

The Beverly Center is about to become less of a fortress. A grand dame in Los Angeles retailing is placing a $500-million bet on food and sunshine. A sweeping renovation of the eight-story mall begins late this month and will feature skylights and a new, window-dotted exterior to open up what some consider a grim space. Los Angeles Times

With the opening of a new leg to Azusa, the Gold Line reached a rail milestone. It is now the countys longest light-rail line, stretching 31 miles through Pasadena, Highland Park, downtown Los Angeles and the cultural hubs of Chinatown and Boyle Heights. Los Angeles Times

Even after the Porter Ranch gas leak ended, some residents complain that Southern California Gas is failing to help. L.A. Daily News

The old -- and somewhat infamous -- Long Beach courthouse will be demolished Monday. Press-Telegram

L.A.s food truck scene has reached the bagel. Just call them the Yeastie Boys. LAist

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

First the Coastal Commission, now the Air Quality Management District. Steve Lopez probes the sudden pushback against aggressive environmental regulations in California. Los Angeles Times

The biggest battle between Democrats and Republicans in California this year might end up being in Fresno. Sacramento Bee

The number of Asian Americans seizing opportunities to work on the staff of elected officials at local, state and federal levels has expanded dramatically. And now its bearing fruit. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

In the wake of the knife discovery, informed speculation about how O.J. Simpson might have killed his wife and Ron Goldman. Was it a kitchen knife? New Yorker

Some law enforcement officials say criminals like iPhones over other brands because the encryption is so strong. Reuters

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

New video shows the lives of mountain lions in L.A. Dont get too close. KCET

If you side with Los Angeles in those L.A. vs. N.Y. comparisons, you might like this one. Buzzfeed

Why California needs more Latinos to visit our great parks and wilderness areas. Zocalo

A report finds that high housing prices are driving more people out of California. Curbed L.A.

Victims of last summers historic fires in Lake County are struggling to get back on their feet. SF Chronicle

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.
A new county report on Los Angeles Countys Central Juvenile Hall depicts it as a leaderless operation with unacceptable and deplorable conditions similar to a Third World country prison.

Some walls were covered in gang graffiti and filth that no one made an effort to wash away. Morale among staffers was at dungeon lows from a workforce that claims to be victims.

And young detainees were sent into isolation for reasons outside of department policy  in one case for exchanging food with another detainee, the report alleges.

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The report was written by Azael Sal Martinez, a volunteer probation department monitor who spent time incarcerated at juvenile hall as a teenager.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Martinez has since become a well-regarded Boyle Heights community leader. Supervisor Hilda Solis appointed him to the 15-member Probation Commission and asked him to report on the countys aging network of three juvenile halls and 18 camps.

His assessment of Central Juvenile Hall in Boyle Heights is the most withering by far.

Interim Probation Chief Cal Remington said he is investigating the reports findings and will have a public response on how to correct the problems soon. Clearly there are issues that I need to deal with, he said.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovichs spokesman, Tony Bell, said, We are investigating the serious allegations concerning staff accountability, condition of the facilities and the misuse of solitary confinement.

Supervisors voted in November to begin studying how to replace the more than century-old facility with a modern infrastructure.

In the meantime, the 200 young people housed at Central Juvenile Hall are sometimes placed in units with no running water except in staff bathrooms, Martinez wrote.

What cant be shaken is the stench emitting from the unit and rooms due to urinals broken, backed up, not cleaned and unsanitary, Martinez said. When the minors use the urinals ... the urine.. . splashed back on their shoes and pants.

It appears that no one cares. Staff does not know who is in charge and are quick to push the blame elsewhere, Martinez wrote.

The findings come at a time when the department is under increased scrutiny for the quality of its services. A county audit recently found that the average cost of incarcerating a youth has soared to $233,600 a year, significantly higher than other comparable jurisdictions across the country. Experts are struggling to understand the reasons behind the high cost.

Martinezs findings challenge the departments assertion that it is making progress in the halls.

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As recently as last year, former Probation Chief Jerry Powers celebrated when the county finally emerged from oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice for mistreatment of youths.

But Martinez wrote in his report that staffers are complacent and feel that there will be no accountability and everything went back to the way it has operated for years.

Cyn Yamashiro, a former Loyola law professor and member of the Probation Commission, said Martinezs report is being taken seriously.

Yamashiro said he could not speak for the commission, but he noted that Martinezs scrutiny of the departments use of solitary confinement extended out of a broader concern among juvenile justice advocates that the department has poorly documented when and how isolation is used.

In recent years, 19 states and the District of Columbia have ended the practice of isolating detainees younger than 18. New York City went one step further and banned solitary confinement for Rikers Island inmates up to age 21.

Remington said he expects Los Angeles County to follow suit within a year because of the public pressure to ban the practice.

It is obvious that no child should ever be put in solitary confinement for a minor infraction, and that the children in our custody have a right to humane treatment and basic sanitary conditions. I am troubled by the allegations in this report Solis said in a statement.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Follow @gtherolf

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

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High school can be a cruel place for an outsider. Students from High School Insider, a Los Angeles Times program where more than 100 Southern California schools contribute to High School Insider and post their stories on latimes.com, share what they would like to change for gay and transgender students and those with a disability. Read a selection of their stories below.

Don't freak out: It's just a toilet

Santee High Schools gay-straight alliance (GSA) launched a gender-neutral bathroom campaign called: Dont freak out! Its just a toilet. Kween Robinson reports that the GSA already has 400 signatures.

Many students on campus feel unsafe and unwanted in the gender specific restrooms we have now, Kween writes. A gender-neutral restroom is a place that anyone of any gender or gender identity may use. Gender-neutral bathrooms create private, individual space that are accessible to all people and are just as private as gender specific restrooms.

Many students on campus feel unsafe and unwanted in the gender specific restrooms we have now.  Kween Robinson

This gay young man is not your accessory

It is getting easier to be openly gay, especially in California, reports Adam Green (Champs). But he faces a unique set of challenges.

I went to an Orthodox Jewish, all boys middle school, where most people were either too sheltered or too ignorant to understand what it means to be a gay man, he writes, and I got teased and questioned a lot throughout those years.

Now, he says, people are more welcoming, but generally societys understanding of gay men lacks depth: We are people with ideas, thoughts, emotions, and capabilities; some of us are good, and some of us are bad; we are complex individuals just like you and the rest of the world. We are people. We are not a sexuality.

We are complex individuals just like you and the rest of the world. We are people. We are not a sexuality.  Adam Green

'I don't want any special treatment'

Brooke Pauley (Corona del Mar) knows she looks different from other kids when she runs, but she is tired of being misunderstood. Pauley was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy.

I dont want any special treatment, she writes. Its embarrassing to not be able to construct a 3D model like other chemistry kids, and no matter how often I do it, raising my hand and in effect saying, I cant do this, always seems like a cop-out. I dont want anyones pity. Im not even totally comfortable writing these words. I dont want to fly the flag for those with CP or disabilities in general. I hate that in many ways, my sister, who is two years my junior, has had to become the big sister.

I dont want anyones pity. Im not even totally comfortable writing these words.  Brooke Pauley

Interested in getting your school involved with HS Insider? Write to daniela.gerson@latimes.com for more details.

Twitter: @dhgerson
Though city policy calls for three bidders per competitive contract, the Los Angeles airport department has been awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in work to companies based on only one or two bids, according to a new audit released Monday.

The report by the city controllers office questions the effectiveness of competitive bidding practices at Los Angeles World Airports, the operator of Los Angeles International Airport, and calls for an overhaul of the agencys contracting procedures.

LAWA must scrutinize and reform its bidding processes, Controller Ron Galperin said. Otherwise we have no way of knowing whether we are getting the best value for our money, which is what the competitive-bidding process was created to ensure.

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Auditors did not conclude that the lack of bids is evidence of a rigged contracting process but said the findings merit much closer examination.

The review, conducted by KH Consulting Group for the controller, found that in fiscal year 2014-15, the airport department awarded $593 million in contracts for goods and services.

About 28% of the solicitations received only two bids and 30% had only one. The audit stated the contracts were worth about $356 million.

Construction contracts awarded during the multibillion-dollar modernization of LAX, the nations third-busiest airport, were not scrutinized.

The report noted that in some instances, the airport department was limited in its ability to obtain at least three bids per contract because the Federal Aviation Administration approves only one vendor for specific airport services or aviation products.

Nevertheless, auditors said there was room for improvement. They recommended that Los Angeles World Airports makes sure contract specifications were biddable, that there are enough qualified companies to bid on contracts and that the bids received are responsible as well as responsive to contract requirements.

Galperin said Monday that his office will review contracting and bidding procedures in other city departments.

When we saw these numbers, we thought that this is something we should look into across the board, Galperin said. The citys procurement processes might be unnecessarily complicated. Some people whose companies have done business with the city say they dont want to do it again.

Airport officials declined to comment in detail about the audit.

In a prepared statement, Deborah Flint, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, said the reviews findings provide a blueprint to help move the agency forward. Some of the recommendations, she added, have already been implemented.

At an event last month, airport officials met with almost 900 representatives from local, national and international companies and addressed future projects to improve ground transportation at LAX.

Potential business opportunities and contracting procedures were discussed. Airport officials said they hope the event will help attract a significant number of bidders.

In addition to the problems with competitive bidding, the controller concluded that the airport department is not prepared to handle increasing traffic congestion during the ongoing modernization of LAX.

Researchers noted that LAX handled a record 74.9 million passengers in 2015 and that an average of 75,690 vehicles per day entered the central terminal area, causing gridlock in and around the airport during peak travel times.

To accommodate the growth, the airport is planning $5 billion in projects to improve ground transportation, including an automated people mover to the terminal area and a consolidated car rental facility.

Also proposed are roadway improvements and an intermodal transportation center that will link to the people mover and Metros Crenshaw light-rail line, now being built.

The audit warned, however, that such large projects will greatly increase traffic and reduce parking in the terminal area during construction. Researchers concluded that the airport department has not adequately assessed the effects or how to mitigate them.

During the modernization, motorists at the airport will probably experience delays as parking structures are shut down, traffic lanes are closed and cars compete with construction vehicles for space.

Auditors said the department is not prepared to handle these problems and no one unit or official is responsible for coordinating the systems needed to keep traffic flowing.

The controller also concluded that LAX does not have enough staff to deal with increasing congestion, lacks resources dedicated to traffic engineering and might experience breakdowns in key services, such as assisting people with disabilities.

Traffic will get worse before it gets better, Galperin said. And any goodwill weve engendered with passengers will quickly go away if Los Angeles World Airports doesnt adequately address the traffic and parking problems.

Follow @LADeadline16 for transportation and aviation news

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Police in Anaheim shot and wounded a man who allegedly held two Subway sandwich shop employees at knife-point Sunday afternoon during an attempted robbery, authorities said.

When one of the two employees called police about 2 p.m., she was whispering and the emergency dispatcher could not decipher what was being said, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.

Officers responded to the Subway shop in the 1100 block of West Lincoln Avenue and found that two employees, both women, were being held at knife-point by a man. The knife was originally reported as measuring between 8 to 10 inches, Wyatt said. The officers radioed that a robbery was in progress.

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About 20 minutes after arriving, officers entered the Subway and shot the man an unknown number of times. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition but was later upgraded to stable condition. He is expected to survive, Wyatt said.

The incident was recorded by police officers body cameras. Officers did not use a Taser or less-than-lethal force before firing at the suspect, Wyatt said.

Neither woman was physically injured, but Wyatt said the ordeal was very traumatic.

They credit the officers with saving their life, Wyatt said.

The suspect was described as a 33-year-old man. His name was withheld. Investigators have not identified any prior relationship between suspect and the Subway shop or its employees.

It appears to be an armed takeover robbery. It doesnt look like a domestic relationship or that he was an employee, Wyatt said.

The incident is under investigation by the Orange County district attorneys office and the Anaheim Police Department.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
A woman driving a minivan painted to resemble Scooby-Doos Mystery Machine evaded Northern California police in a high-speed pursuit Sunday.

Sharon Kay Turman, 51, was driving a 1994 Chrysler Town & Country minivan when she outran Redding police just after noon, officials said.

The vehicle had been painted teal and green and bore the words The Mystery Machine  mimicking the Saturday morning cartoon van used to haul the famous Great Dane and his Mystery Inc. gang of amateur detectives Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy.

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Although the official Scooby-Doo website notes that the Mystery Machine is always ready to provide a quick getaway, Redding police were not amused.

You cant really get caught up in the cartoon because its a serious business, Redding police Cpl. Levi Solada said.

Turman was wanted on suspicion of violating her probation when officers spotted her about 12:50 p.m., he said.

When officers attempted to pull her over, Turman continued driving at high speed and began to show a blatant disregard for motorist safety, police said.

Officers ended the pursuit in the area of Buenaventura Boulevard and Highway 273 out of concern for public safety. During the chase, police said, Turman drove through a red light and nearly hit four cars.

The California Highway Patrol later reported seeing the minivan in a neighborhood just north of Anderson, police said. At that point, the Shasta County Sheriffs Office picked up the chase, and pursued it on Highway 273 to Interstate 5.

NEWSLETTER: Get essential California headlines delivered daily >>

Once again however, deputies were forced to call off the pursuit due to public safety concerns when Turmans Mystery Machine reached speeds of 100 mph in Tehama County.

Meanwhile, a CHP helicopter continued to monitor the minivan as it sped toward Highway 36.

Turman eventually abandoned the minivan in an area of northwestern Tehama County, police said.

Although her whereabouts remain unknown, Turmans minivan was recovered and impounded by police.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA

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Winter storm continues to wreak havoc in Northern California

A winter storm that brought several feet of snow to Northern California over the weekend continued to cause havoc Monday morning, prompting some school closures and delays for mountain communities along the Sierra Nevada.

Snow and treacherous road conditions forced the Pollock Pines Elementary School District in El Dorado County to close two schools. Other school districts delayed classes due to weather conditions.

The Lake Tahoe area received 3 to 5 feet of new snow over the weekend, said meteorologist Zach Tolby of the National Weather Service.

Most of the snow fell along the Sierra Crest, so areas such as Lake Tahoe didnt receive as much precipitation as forecasters expected, he said. That was likely because the winter storm was farther offshore than projected.

The storm began blanketing the area with rain and snow on Friday night into Saturday morning; severe weather resumed Sunday night. The California Highway Patrol shut down Donner Pass at Interstate 80 for a period Sunday due to blizzard conditions.

In Olivehurst just north of Sacramento, a female passenger was killed and a man was arrested after their car became submerged in floodwaters Saturday night, KCRA-TV reported.

Heavy rain in the area caused flooding along Highways 70 and 65, and authorities said Neng Yang, 55, of Sacramento drove the vehicle into the deep water. The car was fully submerged.

Yang was able to escape, but the 51-year-old woman was trapped and died, the news station reported. Yang was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Strong winds reaching up to 76 mph swept through portions of Northern California on Saturday night. Wind speeds topped at 67 mph in Chico and 53 mph in Sacramento.

In the Bay Area, the storm caused powerful surf reaching up to 15 feet Sunday, according to the weather service. Surf could top 19 feet by Monday night, forecasters said.

 Veronica Rocha
Ronald and Nancy Reagan were arguably the best president-first lady team in history. Certainly they were in our lifetimes.

As a team, they functioned in unison. Their talents complemented each other. They were interdependent. And, of course, they were deeply in love.

That doe-eyed stare of adoration at her husband while standing beside him in public was for real.

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She wanted to be next to him all the time, recalls political strategist Ken Khachigian, who wrote many of Reagans major presidential speeches. And he couldnt stand to be away from her.

Stu Spencer, who managed most of Reagans gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, says: She always called him Ronnie. He always called her Mommy.

They thoroughly enjoyed each other.

I covered Reagan up close for 20 years, including as The Times White House correspondent. One event was especially amazing for my late wife.

In 1984, we were invited to a state dinner for the Mexican president. My wife, Nereida, was wide-eyed and thrilled  but also sleepy as midnight neared. She had to teach school the next morning.

It was very bad form, however, to leave a White House dinner before the first couple retired upstairs. But Ronnie and Mommy  then ages 73 and 62  kept gliding and trotting all over the dance floor for hours after dessert, smiling and hugging. My wife marveled at that for years.

They were a great team, Spencer says. He had the belief system. She told him how to implement it. She was the personnel director.

There was only one criteria for her. Was this person going to work for Ronnies agenda or for a personal agenda.

The first lady had only one agenda  her husbands legacy.

She became known as the bad cop.

But Khachigian considers that a bad rap. She wanted him to be the best president ever, he says. I dont fault her for that. She had one constituent and that was him. She had good political sense.

Khachigian learned that when the first lady spoke, she usually was relaying the presidents view, not just hers.

He was often reluctant to scold anybody, to tell his staff he wanted something done differently, Khachigian says. He had that kindhearted way about him. He was tough in his beliefs and tough on [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev. But he couldnt be tough on his staff.

She could. She knew what he wanted, either through pillow talk or over dinner. And shed pass it along.

One example: After a disastrous first debate with Democrat Walter Mondale during the 1984 reelection campaign  when Reagan seemed old, overwhelmed and slow  Khachigian was summoned to the presidential cabin on Air Force One as it returned to Washington from Louisville, Ky.

The first couple was sitting together. Shouldnt his [next] speech be tougher? Khachigian remembers her asking. And he wants the next debate to be tougher. She was ticked off because he was ticked off.

The rest is history. We started kicking the crap out of Mondale, Khachigian says. That was the most fun he had in his entire campaign.

FULL COVERAGE: Former First Lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94>>

The first lady also complained that the staff had over-prepared her husband for the debate. No more. He went into the next debate relaxed and essentially finished off his challenger for good.

Reagan famously couldnt bring himself to fire anyone. Nancy considered it her duty to arrange a resignation.

One example was Interior Secretary James G. Watt, a public lands despoiler whom environmentalists hated. His fatal move, however, was banning the Beach Boys from the capitals 1983 Fourth of July celebration, claiming they attracted the wrong element.

Nancy loved the Beach Boys music. She and the president retaliated by inviting the Beach Boys to perform at the White House. Watt got the message and quit.

The most famous example of the first lady bouncing an aide was the forced resignation of White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan in early 1987. Regan had presided over the legacy-damaging Iran-Contra affair.

He started hanging up on Nancy, Spencer says. Get off my back and hanging up on her. You didnt do that to Ronald Reagans wife. I got called back there by Nancy. Weve got to talk. Weve got a problem.

Spencer went to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. The veep had a heart-to-heart with Regan. And he resigned.

Reagan occasionally might have seemed soft, but he was totally his own man.

Ronald Reagan did everything Nancy told him to do  if he agreed, the late Martin Anderson, a longtime advisor, once told me. Many times hed say no. I never saw any badgering by her. I saw a lot of holding hands.

Spencer remembers that the first lady got upset when Reagan called the Soviet Union the evil empire. She thought that was too nasty and got Spencer in a room with the president. She asked the strategist what he thought.

I said, Hes right. It is an evil empire. But '" Spencer says. Before I could explain the but, he cut me off. He said Thats enough. Whats for dessert, Mommy?

What Ronald and Nancy Reagan had together worked for them, the presidency and the country.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesSkelton

See the most-read stories this hour >>

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The U.S. Supreme Court in a victory for gay rights ruled Monday that states must honor adoptions by same-sex parents who move across state lines.

Citing the Constitutions full faith and credit clause, the justices in a unanimous opinion rebuked the Alabama Supreme Court for denying a lesbians right to visit the three children she had adopted and raised with her former partner in Georgia.

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Last year, a divided Supreme Court said same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry in every state. But to the surprise of gay-rights advocates, the Alabama Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Roy Moore said in September that the womans adoption decree from Georgia was void and would not be honored.

Without bothering to hear arguments, the justices reversed the Alabama Supreme Court in an opinion that spoke for the full court.

The Alabama ruling comports neither with Georgia law nor with common sense, the justices said. States may not disregard the judgment of a sister state because it disagrees with the reasoning or deems it to be wrong.

Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, said the decision resolves one of the key outstanding issues in the wake of last years marriage ruling. Everyone was waiting and watching for this case, she said. This should be the end of it now that the Supreme Court has weighed in.

While the courts conservatives dissented last year and said states should decide the marriage laws, they agreed Monday that the Constitution requires states to recognize legal judgments from other states.

As the court noted, two women denoted only as V.L. and E.L. were in a committed relationship from 1995 until 2011. With the help of a sperm donor, E.L. gave birth to a child in 2002 and to twins in 2004. V.L. formally adopted the children, and the two women raised them as parents.

But in 2011, the two women ended their relationship, and E.L., who moved to Alabama, denied the other womans right to visit the children.

When the Alabama Supreme Court denied V.L. parental rights to visit the children, the National Center for Lesbian Rights appealed to the Supreme Court.

Mondays ruling restores V.L.s full rights as an adoptive parent.

I am overjoyed that the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Alabama court decision, said the adoptive mother, V.L. I have been my childrens mother in every way for their whole lives. I thought that adopting them meant that we would be able to be together always. When the Alabama court said my adoption was invalid and I wasnt their mother, I didnt think I could go on. The Supreme Court has done whats right for my family.

Cathy Sakimura, the family law director for the NCLR, called the courts ruling a victory not only for our client but for thousands of adopted families. No adoptive parent or child should have to face the uncertainty and loss of being separated years after their adoption just because another states court disagrees with the law that was applied in their adoption.

On Twitter: @DavidGSavage

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In a speaking role lasting less than 10 minutes, Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped back into the political world Sunday, endorsing Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president.

The sentiment came as no surprise. The former California governor appeared at a private fundraiser for Kasich last fall in Beverly Hills and called into one of his New Hampshire town hall meetings last month. The two have known each other for years.

Still, the formal embrace was enough to draw several hundred people and a sizable contingent of reporters and television cameras to a park in Columbus, the state capital, for a chilly outdoor rally.

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Schwarzenegger, who was in town for the Arnold Sports Festival, a giant body-building and fitness extravaganza, said he first met Kasich as a candidate for Congress in the early 1980s.

When he came back to Washington, he kicked some serious butt, said Schwarzenegger, using the kind of language that  pre-Donald Trump  used to raise eyebrows. He was an action hero!

He praised Kasich, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, for helping balance the federal budget for a time in the late 1990s, and for stabilizing Ohios troubled finances as governor.

Right now, we need leadership like that in the White House, Schwarzenegger said. Theres so much work that needs to be done.

In his brief remarks, he also took a veiled poke at Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner who, as it happens, Schwarzenegger is replacing as host of The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.

Noting that he came to the United States as a poor immigrant and succeeded as an actor, athlete and politician  and that he made a lot of money  Schwarzenegger declared, This is the land of opportunity. It is the greatest nation in the world, no matter what anyone says out there.

The foray into politics was a rare venture for Schwarzenegger, who resumed his Hollywood career after leaving the governors office with middling approval ratings in January 2011.

Accepting the endorsement, Kasich wrapped Schwarzenegger in an enthusiastic hug. But it is unclear how much it can help at this point.

After finishing second in the New Hampshire primary, the governor lags far behind in the four-man Republican field. He has yet to win a state and is counting on a victory at home on March 15 to put him back into the race. Failing that, Kasich said, he will have no choice but to quit.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

Follow @markzbarabak for national & California politics.

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Two border towns run by a polygamist sect violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers, a jury decided Monday after a dramatic seven-week trial that included testimony from people who said they were denied basic utilities like water and harassed by the local marshals office.

The verdict in the civil trial could have far-reaching implications for the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Each is run by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and though town leaders had pledged improvements, trial evidence suggested they simply modernized their exclusionary practices instead.

U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland now will hear from the cities and Justice Department on what should be done to fix the violations. Such civil rights trials have been used to force change in police departments of major cities, but rarely has an entire city  including the mayors office  been the possible subject of federal oversight and management.

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In the case of Hildale and Colorado City, the burden would be spread between the neighboring cities.

The Justice Department alleged that the leadership of the towns is beholden to Warren Jeffs, the religions prophet imprisoned for life for child sexual assault. While the trial was unfolding in a Phoenix courtroom, federal agents arrested 11 people on suspicion of food stamp fraud in Hildale and Colorado City.

During the trial, the government alleged that leaders of the towns  which make up the 10,000-person church stronghold known as Short Creek  discriminated against nonbelievers by denying them water service and delaying police response to emergencies.

Because the government prevailed, police and government services could be handed over to a receivership that answers to the federal government, but the government hasnt said what relief it will seek.

Phoenix defense attorney Jeffrey Matura, who represented the towns with co-counsel Blake Hamilton, said before the verdict was read that he would be ready to explore all avenues of appeal if the jury found against the cities.

Hamilton and Matura said during trial that the towns were victims of a deep-seated desire by the U.S. government to extinguish the religion and its way of life. The cities and their shared water utility denied the allegations of discrimination and say they have distanced themselves from Jeffs.

During turbulent times in the last decade, when a then-fugitive Jeffs was hunted down, tried and convicted, the cities had different leadership and a different police chief. After investigations into their conduct, town police officers were decertified by the Arizona and Utah police registry agencies and then given government or church positions.

But since 2007, Hamilton said, no officers have lost their certification, and the current leadership of the towns collective police department is not accused of having done anything improper.

The sect is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the formal name of the Mormon Church, which banned polygamy in 1890, though plural marriages remained a custom through the 1930s, when Mormons began to excommunicate those who took multiple wives.

At the time, sect members seeking freedom to practice polygamy, which they believe guarantees their entry to heaven, founded Short Creek in response.

Today, Hildale and Colorado City operate as independent municipalities, each with a mayor and five-member town council, though most of the land in each is held by the United Effort Plan Trust, a sect-controlled fiduciary collective.

Hamilton and Matura were prepared for some of their witnesses to invoke their 5th Amendment rights and decline to answer questions, and told the jury as much in their opening statement.

But they could not have predicted the way those witnesses would respond to questions on the stand, nor the effect it would have on the jury, in particular the testimony of Joseph Steed Allred, mayor of Colorado City.

People walk along a street in 2014 in Hildale, Utah, a city once run by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. (Rick Bowmer / AP)

Allred took the stand Feb. 9, about halfway through the trial. In a series of dismissive replies about his multiple wives, their ages and his management of water utility finances, Allred may have served the prosecutions goal of forcing the sect to remain silent in the face of an opportunity to explain themselves.

Throughout the trial, jurors heard details of church security and the alleged harassment faced by newcomers and apostates.

New arrivals who were not sect members were tracked by surveillance cameras and from lookouts, their movements passed along on more than 30 radios spread around the compound, witnesses testified. And security forces in the towns grew from about 30 men in 2007 to hundreds six years later.

The security details photographed newcomers, tracked their movements and became intimately familiar with their routines, according to testimony.

Our goal was to somehow identify something that was going on with them, to see if we could get something over on them, former church security member Patrick Barlow testified. It was harmful. We were trying to figure out a way to get them to go.

nigel.duara@latimes.com

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Rubio vows come-from-behind win in Florida

Signs at Rubio rally in Tampa: pic.twitter.com/r6SuE11o8E  Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) March 7, 2016

Marco Rubio declared Monday that he will notch a come-from-behind win in his home state next week just as he won his U.S. Senate seat six years ago.

It always comes down to Florida, the Republican presidential candidate told several hundred people in a Tampa Convention Center ballroom.

He kept an upbeat tone at two campaign rallies Monday, departing from the acerbic taunts he has lobbed at Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, over the last week.

Conservatism is at its best not when its about fear, not when its about anger, Rubio said. Conservatism is at its best when its about principles and its about optimism.

But with Trump leading in statewide polls before the March 15 GOP primary, Rubio did sneak in a jab tailored to local tastes.

He linked the New York business mogul with Floridas former governor, Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned independent-turned Democrat who lost to Rubio in the 2010 Senate race.

Rubio called Trump one of the biggest contributors to Crist in that race.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Trump gave $4,800 to Crists Senate campaign. That was the maximum personal contribution allowed at the time.

The mention of Crist drew boos from the crowd and allowed Rubio to remind his supporters of how he surprised the Republican establishment when he beat Crist.

We were deep underdogs, dozens of points down, Rubio recalled.

Wil Nickerson, a travel agent from Spring Hill, echoed Rubios optimism.

Im feeling good, Nickerson said. I think were going to take Florida, I really do, especially after taking Puerto Rico. Itll stimulate a lot of the Hispanic population here in Florida, who have a lot of friends and relatives [who go] back and forth.

But John Bernstein, a longtime supporter, acknowledged Rubios presidential campaign may be on its last legs.

Therell be so much pressure on him to withdraw if he doesnt win Florida, said Bernstein, a chef in St. Petersburg. I think that probably would be the nail in the coffin.
Alabama was a battleground late last month for fundamentally opposed political forces. Im not referring to the states presidential primaries, but to the fight between Birmingham, whose city council passed an ordinance establishing a minimum wage of $10.10, and the state Legislature, which responded by enacting a law, signed by the governor, forbidding cities from setting any wage standards at all.

This kind of struggle between cities and states is becoming routine in our politically and geographically polarized times. Arizona passed draconian anti-immigrant laws while Phoenix directed its police not to hand over immigrant detainees to the feds for deportation. Cities in Texas passed prohibitions on the use of plastic bags, which the Legislature endeavored to repeal. Even in liberal California, while Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities have raised their minimum wage to $15, a bill increasing the state minimum to $13 has languished in the Legislature.

Never before in Americas history have the three levels of government [local, state and national] had such distinct political profiles.

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Government in all countries is naturally divided among local, state and national jurisdictions, but never before in Americas history have the three levels of government had such distinct political profiles.

Today, 27 of the nations 30 largest cities have Democratic mayors  the greatest partisan imbalance since the advent of the party system in the age of Andrew Jackson. Even cities in rock-solid Republican states have Democratic mayors. In deep red Texas, Democrats govern Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso.

States, meanwhile, have seldom been more Republican. The GOP controls the governors office and both houses of the legislature in 23 states, while Democrats can boast the same in just seven.

At the federal level, effective one-party control of the government has become a near-impossibility. Since Lyndon Johnsons presidency, no party has simultaneously held the White House and the House of Representatives while enjoying a filibuster-proof super-majority in the Senate (save in the first few months of Barack Obamas presidency, when the Democrats 60th vote was that of the mortally ill and understandably absent Edward M. Kennedy). So long as both parties were willing to compromise, the divided federal government could still function. Lately, however, lawmaking has been relegated to increasingly conservative states and increasingly liberal cities.

The rightward drift of states is chiefly a consequence of low voter participation by minorities and the young in mid-term elections, and the success of a well-funded conservative movement at winning control of the states. The leftward movement of cities, in contrast, is the result of an epochal influx of minorities and liberal millennials. Just as the great wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe transformed early 20th century cities, so the immigrants of recent decades, coming from Latin America, Asia and Africa, have also flocked to cities  and radically altered their politics.

From 1980 to 2010, the white share of the population of Los Angeles dropped from 48% to 29%; of New York, from 53% to 37%; of Dallas, from 57% to 29%; of Columbus, from 76% to 59%. Nationally, Obamas share of the vote in the 2012 presidential election outpaced Walter Mondales share in 1984 by 10.5 percentage points, but in Los Angeles, he outperformed Mondale by 26 points; in New York, by 20; in Dallas, by 24; in Columbus, by 27. Twenty-five years ago, six of Americas dozen largest cities still had Republican mayors; today, Republicans preside in just one.

Not surprisingly, its only at the city level that many of Obamas and the Democratic Partys signature proposals  raising the minimum wage, mandating paid sick days, requiring utilities to shift to cleaner power sources  have been enacted, and, in places such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, exceeded. Increasingly, however, its only in states where Republicans dont rule that this kind of municipal power exists.

This tripartite division not just of government but also of fundamental ideological orientation is Americas new political reality, and its likely to be with us for some time. Its hard to imagine what could reverse the leftward movement of cities, and unless Democrats can devise ways to get more of their supporters to the polls in midterm elections, Republicans will continue to dominate the states. The war between cities and states may be only just beginning.

Harold Meyerson is executive editor of the American Prospect.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
The Legislature showed some guts last week in standing up to the tobacco lobby and its political money.

It could have shown more, however, by mustering the courage to raise taxes on cigarettes, cigars and chewing crud.

Californias tobacco tax is among the lowest in the nation and hasnt been hiked since 1998  and then only by the voters, not the weak-kneed legislators.

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The national average state cigarette tax is $1.61 per pack. Californias is about half that, 87 cents. We rank 35th. New York is first at $4.35.

But give our lawmakers credit: They did the next best thing, even if it was a punt to local government. They passed a bill allowing counties to seek voter approval of a local tobacco tax.

The tax revenue could be used to help smokers kick the habit and treat their tobacco-related ailments.

The main purpose, however, is to discourage people from buying smokes, a strategy that works  and worries cigarette makers. Researchers have found that for every 10% increase in the cigarette price, theres a 4% reduction in use.

Lets put the rap on legislative fortitude in perspective: To pass any tax increase, a two-thirds vote is needed. Passing a bill that allows someone else to raise a tax requires only a simple majority, which Democrats can handle without buying off Republicans.

The local tax bill, by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), passed the Assembly on a 46-27 vote, far short of the 54 needed for two-thirds.

Tobacco is a poison, Bloom told me. We shouldnt even be debating this anymore. We should be doing everything to keep it out of the hands of young people.

It was a bad day for tobacco interests. The Assembly passed two other bills that could have even greater immediate impact.

One, by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), would raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.

Opponents argued it wouldnt be fair that someone under 21 could die for their country but couldnt smoke. So active military personnel were exempted.

The bill passed 49 to 25.

Hernandez says research shows that 90% of smokers begin puffing before age 21, and 80% before 18.

San Francisco last week raised its smoking age to 21. So have Hawaii and New York City.

But Im skeptical. Come on! We cant even enforce the age 18 limit. Kids get smokes at 14 or whenever they want.

Yes, argue the proposals advocates, but the 14-year-olds get their cigarettes from 18-year-olds. They wouldnt be close enough to the 21-year-olds.

Perhaps. But whats to stop the 18-year-olds from being supplied by those who are 21, and then passing them down to little sister?

The second big bill that passed makes total sense and is overdue. The measure, by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would regulate electronic cigarettes like tobacco. Their use would be prohibited everywhere cigarettes are banned: in restaurants, theaters and other public places.

These cute vapor devices are particularly appealing to minors, sold with yummy flavors such as chocolate, cotton candy and cherry  and usually laced with addictive nicotine.

The bill passed 52 to 21.

One Los Angeles study, Leno says, found that 9th-graders who use e-cigarettes are four times as likely to get hooked on tobacco.

Clearly, Big Tobaccos next move is to addict a new generation to nicotine, Leno says.

Three other anti-smoking bills also passed the Assembly the same day. One would close loopholes in the states smoke-free workplace laws. Another would require all schools to be tobacco free. The third would impose a state licensing fee on tobacco retailers.

Passage of the six-bill package earned kudos for Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) on her last day as Assembly leader. Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) takes over this week.

Last year, the tobacco lobby and its legislative minions stalled the bills in the Assembly after two key measures  raising the smoking age and regulating e-cigarettes  passed the Senate.

One reason is obvious: So far in this election cycle, the major tobacco companies have plied legislators with nearly $364,000 in campaign contributions, according to MapLight, which tracks political money. Of that, 83% has gone to Republicans  who make up only 35% of the Legislature  and 17% to Democrats.

Add the last election cycle to this one, and Big Tobacco has donated $894,000, 71% to Republicans and 29% to Democrats.

Most Democrats voted for the anti-tobacco legislation. Most Republicans voted against.

The Senate intends to approve Assembly amendments and send the entire package to noncommittal Gov. Jerry Brown this week. Unless.

Behind the scenes, Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) quietly is offering to negotiate with tobacco. If the industry were to allow the Legislature to pass a state tobacco tax, perhaps some of the package could be snuffed.

Then sponsors of a November ballot initiative that would raise the state cigarette tax by $2 per pack might be persuaded to withdraw their measure. That would save the tobacco industry upward of $100 million fighting the initiative.

And unions that are pushing it could plow their money into Democratic legislative races instead. Plus, there wouldnt be a tobacco tax on the ballot to complicate life for a union-sponsored extension of Browns soak-the-rich income tax hike.

Its all very complex. And unlikely. The Legislature has exhibited about all the courage it can against terrifying tobacco.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesSkelton

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Bernie Sanders made clear Sunday night that he is not about to ease up on Hillary Clinton in the interest of Democratic Party harmony  in fact, the Vermont senator seemed to be spoiling for a fight more than ever.

Clinton was repeatedly put on the defensive by her insurgent rival in a debate in Flint, where Sanders challenged her more personally and relentlessly than he has in previous matchups. If Clinton had hoped to use the nationally televised event as an opportunity to hone her attacks against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Sanders made that impossible. He would not be ignored.

As voters in Michigan prepare to cast ballots in their primary Tuesday, Sanders is looking to make a defiant stand in the Rust Belt, seeing the region as fertile territory for his brand of economic populism and for a comeback in a race in which he is in desperate need of a big upset.

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He mocked Clintons record on trade and Wall Street, casting her as a late  and opportunistic  convert to progressive economics.

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Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of the disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America, he said, singling out the North American Free Trade Agreement reached by President Clintons administration in the 1990s  which, Sanders said, erased tens of thousands of jobs in the Midwest.

In contrast, Sanders offered his own early opposition to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership under consideration by Congress.

I understood that these trade agreements were going to destroy the middle class of this country, he said. I led the fight against them.

Sanders spent much of the evening relitigating the Bill Clinton administration, which could ultimately prove ineffective. Sanders raised a number of landmark Clinton initiatives that liberals in the party continue to resent: NAFTA, welfare reform, the signature 1994 crime bill. But Bill Clinton is very popular with Democratic voters, most of whom remember the 1990s fondly as a period of rising wages and prosperity.

Clinton bridled at Sanders repeated attacks on decades-old policies, saying she was looking forward, not backward, and he should be too. But she also offered a spirited defense of her husbands record, noting the growth in job creation and rise in incomes.

The sparring between the two candidates is growing in intensity as polls show Clintons lead narrowing in a state that was once looked at by her supporters as an easy win. Sanders has been spending heavily in Michigan, and he is aiming to bounce off the momentum of weekend victories in Nebraska, Kansas and Maine into an upset.

But even as Sanders wins states, he still trails far behind Clinton in delegates, mostly because the biggest states are the most diverse, and Sanders has had trouble getting traction with minority voters. Clinton, for example, won overwhelmingly in Louisiana over the weekend, which offset the gains Sanders made elsewhere.

At the debate, Clinton forcefully defended her record on trade, saying she voted against the only multinational trade deal that was considered by the Senate during her time there, and touted her comprehensive plan of carrots and sticks to revitalize manufacturing in the Rust Belt.

And she hit Sanders hard on an issue that is deeply personal to Michigan voters: the bailout of the auto industry, which he voted against.

You were either for saving the auto industry or you were against it, she said. I voted to save the auto industry. And I am very glad that I did.

Sanders shot back that his vote was about not bailing out Wall Street.

If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy, he started to say, before Clinton interrupted, followed by lengthy shouting by both. Excuse me, Im talking, Sanders said.

Your story is ... voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America, he said.

In addition to his critique of NAFTA, Sanders steered the discussion back into the 1990s by raising the welfare reform legislation championed by Bill Clinton.

The poorest people of this country have become much poorer as a result of that, he said.

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Clintons rejoinder pointed to the limits of her husbands power in office.

Lets get the facts straight, Clinton said. That bill had a lot of provisions that were stripped out by George W. Bush, by Republican governors.

She said that had it been implemented as the Clintons hoped, the impact would not have been as harsh. But Clinton also made no apologies.

If we are going to talk about the 1990s, lets talk about 23 million new jobs, she said.

Sanders wasnt done.

In the 1990s, you know what we also did? he said. We deregulated Wall Street, which allowed Wall Street to begin destroying our economy.  You are right. A lot of good things happened. But a lot of bad things happened.

The two more often than not agreed in broad strokes on issues, particularly the water crisis that brought Flint into the national spotlight.

And at times during the exchange, both candidates put down their talking points and spoke in sometimes deeply emotional terms about race and religion.

They were challenged to confront their white privilege and explain blind spots when it comes to race.

I never had the experience that so many people in this audience had, Clinton said. I think its incumbent on me  to urge white people to think what it is like to have the talk with your kids, scared that your son or even daughter could get in trouble for no good reason and end up dead in a jail.

Sanders talked about confronting his shock over a black colleagues inability decades ago to hail a taxi in Washington because the experience was too humiliating, with the cabs driving by him because of his race. And he also spoke about working with activists from Black Lives Matter, who initially were skeptical of him but came to appreciate the effort he put into understanding their perspective.

When youre white, you dont know what its like to be living in a ghetto, he said. You dont know what its like to be poor; you dont know what its like to be hassled when you walk down the street, or you get dragged out of a car.

Sanders was asked about disappointment by some Jewish leaders that he tends not to highlight his ethnicity.

I am very proud to be Jewish, and being Jewish is so much of what I am, he said. Look, my fathers family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust. I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean.

And Clinton spoke in detail about the role faith plays in her political life.

I pray on a pretty regular basis during the day because I need that strength and I need that support, she said.

Sanders and Clinton also both condemned the poisoning of Flints water supply as a dereliction of duties by officials. Neither would say whether they thought Gov. Rick Snyder or others should go to jail, but Clinton for the first time joined Sanders in calling for Snyders resignation.

She also said the state and federal governments had the money to fix the problem.

The state of Michigan has a rainy-day fund for emergencies, she said. What is more important than the health and well-being of the people? It is raining lead in Flint and the state is derelict in not coming forward with the money that is required.

Despite their disagreements, the candidates noted the tenor of their race was in stark contrast to Republicans seeking their partys nomination for president. Sanders noted that both had called for investing money on mental health. And when you watch the Republican debates, he joked, you know why.

evan.halper@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com

Halper reported from Dearborn, Mich., and Memoli from Washington. Times staff writer Cathleen Decker contributed to this report from Flint.

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The Marine Corps is gearing up to airlift 1,185 desert tortoises from prospective combat training grounds to nearby terrain where they wont be crushed by military equipment.

One of the largest translocations of tortoises ever to be undertaken is expected to launch this month as mitigation for congressional approval to expand the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center by about 165 square miles, much of it prime habitat.

But there is concern that the $50-million effort will hasten the disappearance of federally threatened tortoises in Californias drought-stricken Mojave Desert, where the number of breeding adults has fallen by about 50% over the last decade, according to a recent survey by federal biologists.

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The region saw similar declines of adult tortoises from the 1970s to the 1990s. Studies of tortoise carcasses at the time revealed many causes of death: trampling by livestock, crushing by vehicles and diseases introduced by pet tortoises released into the wild. A large percentage of animals were shot.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

I wish the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would get some backbone and say it cant permit another tortoise translocation by the military, said Glenn Stewart, a biologist and member of the board of directors of the Desert Tortoise Council conservation group. The situation makes us feel like well have to write off Californias Mojave population.

Critics are concerned the $50-million plan to airlift 1,185 desert tortoises from prospective combat training grounds to nearby terrain could hasten the disappearance of tortoises in the drought-stricken Mojave Desert. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

William Boarman, a wildlife scientist and expert on the desert tortoise, said relocation is not a conservation strategy or a means of helping tortoise populations grow. It is simply a way of moving them out of harms way.

But Walter Christensen, head of environmental planning at the base, is optimistic. Weve learned a lot from past mistakes of others, he said. We wouldnt be doing this if we felt the desert tortoise wasnt viable in the Mojave.

Tortoise translocation has a dismal track record. The stress from handling by humans and then adapting to unfamiliar terrain renders the reptiles vulnerable to lethal threats, including predation by dogs, ravens and coyotes; respiratory disease; dehydration; and being hit by vehicles.

It also disrupts complex tortoise social networks and genetic lines linked for thousands of years by Mojave Desert kingdoms of trails, arroyos and hibernation burrows fringed with creosote. Those habitats are being irreversibly fragmented and destroyed by off-road vehicles, urban encroachment and development of utility corridors and massive green-energy facilities.

Critics point to the Armys catastrophic effort to move 670 tortoises from its National Training Center near Barstow in March 2008 to new homes in the western Mojave.

That $8.6-million project was suspended less than a year later because 90 translocated and resident tortoises in those areas died, many of them killed and eaten by coyotes.

The problem was linked to drought-stricken foraging grounds, which killed off plants and triggered a crash in rodent populations. As a result, coyotes, which normally thrive on rodents and rabbits, began feasting on tortoises, which are protected by state and federal Endangered Species Acts.

Other threats included respiratory disease, which was prevalent in the relocation area and transmitted to the newcomers.

Brian Henen, a biologist and head of the Marine Corps translocation effort, said the projects significant budget and commitment to monitor the health of the tortoises for 30 years demonstrates how much we care about this species.

Under the plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about 100 contract biologists will help capture 900 adult tortoises  most of them outfitted with radio transmitters  in the expansion area. The animals will be released in three sites on military property and nearby public lands.

An additional 235 juveniles raised in pens at the base until they are large enough to ward off birds that eat thin-shelled babies will also be relocated. The process will take an estimated two to four weeks to complete, officials said.

Their chances of becoming breeding adults, however, are not good.

From 2004 to 2014, 9,136 wild and pet tortoises were moved from a desert tortoise conservation center in Las Vegas to a federal translocation study site near Jean, Nev. Only 370 of them could be found during a survey conducted last year.

Things are obviously not fine  tortoise populations are not holding their own, said Linda Allison, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Since we are trying to recover the species, it is terrible that they are declining.

There is one place in the Mojave Desert, however, where the species is flourishing: the fenced Desert Tortoise Natural Area near California City, which has some of the highest known densities of the reptiles in the United States.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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Researchers are nurturing a growing suspicion that body mass index, the height-weight calculation that distinguishes those with normal healthy weight from the overweight and obese, is not the whole picture when it comes to telling who is healthy and who is not. Two new studies drive that point home and underscore that BMI offers an incomplete picture of an individuals health.

Fitness matters, as does fatness. And the BMI is an imperfect measure of both.

See the most-read stories in Science this hour >>

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In one study published Monday, researchers found that in a group of more than 1.5 million Swedish military recruits, men who had poor physical fitness at age 18 were three times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes in midlife than were those who had been highly fit on the cusp of adulthood. That effect was found independent of BMI, family history or socioeconomic status.

Muscle strength and, especially, aerobic capacity of males at age 18 were highly predictive of developing Type 2 diabetes in their 50s or 60s, the authors of the study found. Even men with BMIs that pegged them as normal healthy weight in their 50s or 60s were far more likely to develop diabetes if they had shown poor level aerobic conditioning and muscle strength at 18.

In a second study that tracked almost 55,000 Canadian adults, middle-aged and older people with low BMIs and those who carried a high percentage of body fat were most likely to die during a follow-up period of roughly seven years. All but 5,000 of the participants in the Canadian study were women.

The average woman with a BMI of 20  the low end of normal, healthy weight  was even more likely to die of any cause in the follow-up period than was the average woman with a BMI of 40  considered morbidly obese. And women with just 20% body fat (as measured by a precise gauge of bone density) were just as likely to die of any cause during the follow-up period as were women with 45% body fat.

On average, women having a BMI between roughly 26 (overweight) and 35 (well into the obese category) and body-fat composition between 32% and 38% were least likely to die of any cause during the study.

Both studies were published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Both articles are likely to help galvanize general-care physicians, who are expected to play a growing role in treating obesity, to recognize that in assessing a risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, its not enough to know a patients BMI.

Patients who fall into the normal healthy weight category are far from healthy if theyre flabby and out of shape, the studies suggest. And patients who are overweight or obese but who have a past and/or present record of physical fitness may be at less dire risk than has been warned.

The new studies suggest that these caveats about BMI are especially true for people as they age beyond their 50s and enter seniority, said Mayo Clinic cardiologist Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, who researches obesitys health effects. In the Canadian study and others that have raised whats called the obesity paradox, Lopez-Jimenez said its possible that older people who carry a few extra pounds are protected by having a reserve of excess weight they can afford to lose during an illness.

As the Swedish study suggested, when much of that extra weight is lean muscle mass and not fat, its less likely to disrupt metabolism and increase inflammation  factors that over time can boost cardiovascular risk.

At older ages I think we may really need to rethink whats a desirable weight, said Lopez-Jimenez. If it turns out that BMI between 25 and 30 [the BMI range that defines overweight] might actually be normal and protective in people this age, then we should not be labeling these people unhealthy.

For physicians who counsel obese older adults, said Lopez-Jimenez, the new studies also suggest that a focus on fitness might be the best use of limited time and effort.

Its much easier to make a person fit than to make a person lose 40 pounds, said Lopez-Jimenez.

Although obesity prevention and better nutrition remain societal imperatives, he said, physicians might do the most good by counseling obese patients to focus on improving their strength and aerobic fitness, whittling their waists to reduce cardiovascular risks and even measuring body composition so they can track changes in body composition that convert some fat to lean mass.

Maybe talk about that factor more than fat and fat alone, said Lopez-Jimenez.

Follow me on Twitter @LATMelissaHealy and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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At least 16 people, including two police officers, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up Monday at the gate of a judicial complex in northeastern Pakistan, officials said.

Senior police officer Saeed Wazir said the bomber was heading toward the main judicial compound in the town of Charsadda, about 15 miles from the city of Peshawar, where hundreds of litigants were present. Authorities said the death toll had increased from 11 to 16.

If the bomber had reached the main compound, then the death toll could have been three times higher, he said.

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The Pakistani Taliban, the outlawed militant group, claimed responsibility through a spokesman identified as Ehsanullah Ehsan. In a statement released to media outlets, he said that the judges had made decisions that contradicted the will of Allah and that innocent people were being executed.

The statement said the attack was carried out to avenge the execution of Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was executed in January for the murder of the former governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, in January 2011.

Officials said the bomber exchanged gunfire with guards before detonating explosives wrapped around his body.

Hospital sources said that after the blast, eight bodies were brought to the towns main hospital and 14 people were receiving treatment. One female police officer and three male officers were among the wounded.

The explosion caused damage to nearby buildings, and three cars parked in the compound caught fire.

The Pakistani Taliban has been engaged in a long-running insurgency against the Islamabad government. On Jan. 20, its militants claimed responsibility for a raid on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in which 18 students and teachers were killed.

Ali is a special correspondent.
The developers cheerful blueprint, touting a leafy suburban haven, greets returning camp residents as they trudge through the gullies of dense mud that grabs boots and devours dreams.

Live the city life  in the country! it promises, but the residential retreat planned for this clearing never came to pass.

These days, few squatting in the mire speak French or even notice the sign in a landscape that now resembles the muck of the trenches that lined this region during the Great War.

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England is the destination of the more than 2,500 mainly Kurdish migrants who have found themselves stranded here near the coastal port of Dunkirk, and as with the armies of old, it seems no nearer than when most of them arrived.

Stranded travelers bide their time in tents, abandoned trailers and makeshift abodes crafted of plywood and plastic tarps, gathering around wood fires and gas-cylinder heaters for warmth.

We are suffering here, says Mohammed Mardan, 32, sipping tea beneath a tent flap in the slashing rain. Outside the trailer that houses his family is a forlorn collection of teddy bears strung on a tree, now drenched and drooping beneath the leaden sky.

It spreads a little joy in this place, he explains.

The waterlogged despair this winter at makeshift camps across northern France is part of the escalating migrant crisis that is threatening to tear apart the European Union.

Razor wire, barricades, riot police and tear gas have failed to halt the flow of humanity from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa, now mostly entering mainland Europe via boats from Turkey to Greece.

Do not come to Europe, European Council President Donald Tusk warned potential migrants last week, though an estimated 2,000 new arrivals a day are disembarking on Greek shores and starting to make their way north. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is for nothing.

Thirty miles southwest of here, near the port of Calais, is a migrant shantytown that has come to be known as the Jungle  a surreal expanse of hovels and shops, mosques and churches, bars, discotheques and eateries that is home to more than 4,000.

While Grande-Synthe is somber and drab, the Jungle, powered by countless generators, rocks to a melange of African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Western beats, a vibrant if ramshackle subculture that has transformed the old port town.

But French residents and authorities, convinced that the migrant encampment is impeding cross-channel commerce and devastating the tourism industry, have had enough.

Recently, bulldozers accompanied by French riot police began demolishing a southern swath of the encampment, sparking clashes.

1 / 5 A childs feet sink into the mud at Grande-Synthe camp in northern France. Most of the migrants at the camp are Kurds who hope to go to England. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) 2 / 5 Dunya, 11, enjoys the warmth as her father, Sarwan Hussein, 33, and a friend try to heat some water for tea. They are Iraqi Kurds hoping to go to Scotland. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) 3 / 5 Lia Mardin, 4, and sister Dunya take shelter from the wind at the Grande-Synthe camp in France, where their mud-filled boots sit outside. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) 4 / 5 The Jungle camp outside Calais, France. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times) 5 / 5 French police patrol the Jungle outside Calais. Recently, authorities began bulldozing parts of the camp. (Liliana Nieto del Rio / For The Times)

The legions camped out along the French coast have little prospect of getting to England, just 20 miles or so across the slate-gray waters. The British government has made it clear it is not opening its doors.

So the majority  many of them middle-class professionals in their homelands, now stuck in grimy destitution  engage in a stultifying waiting game.

My dream is England, says Sarwan Hussein, who is staying at Grande-Synthe with his wife and four children. That is where we want to start our new life.

All appear to view Britain as something of a promised land. Most have never been there, though everyone seems to have a relative who made it  someone, as they often describe it, slinging shawarma sandwiches in Glasgow, running kebab joints in Leeds or hawking cellphones in East London.

En route to this wind-swept coast, many have passed on chances to apply for asylum in Germany or head north to Sweden, where governments are considerably more welcoming.

They have this image of England as some kind of paradise, said Shay Rojansky, a logistics worker at Grande-Synthe with Doctors Without Borders, the international charity that has helped install showers, toilets and provided medical aid here and at migrant way-stops across the continent. They all believe it.

There is a darker side to their predicament. Smugglers charge $5,000 or more for promised slots aboard vehicles bound for Britain. Shady and sometimes violent characters are said to run food and other concessions servicing the camps.

Almost every evening, young men from the marooned multitudes try to rush the entrance to the Eurotunnel that crosses beneath the English Channel from Calais, or stow away in trucks crossing the channel.

Some wind up falling off trucks or tumbling while trying to scale fences and walls. Few make it to the other side. Ambulances wail through the evening.

Ill try again once I get better, vows Sharam Hormani, 29, a barber and export-import entrepreneur from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk who broke his leg when he fell from a fence while trying to catch a ride. Iraq is being overrun by the militants. I dont see any hope at home.

The regional terrain has taken on a freshly fortified appearance along a coastal strip where hulking concrete bunkers built by occupying Germans during World War II still dot the shoreline. French police have erected cascading rows of glittering, steel-gauge fencing topped with barbed wire in a bid to slow the nightly onslaught on the Eurotunnel. Convoys of police reinforcements, many brought in from elsewhere in France and toting semiautomatic weapons, guard strategic choke points. The acrid stench of tear gas lingers in the air.

The French government is making converted shipping containers available for housing, providing clean accommodation, heat and shelter from the elements. But most here appear to have rejected them, many fearful that they will have to be fingerprinted to obtain the housing and then be forced to remain in France  thus dashing any chance, however remote, to get to England.

Instead, many of the Jungle residents recently displaced wind up moving to other camps like the one at Grande-Synthe, where conditions are far worse.

I just wish I had never left England to begin with, says Bahman Jundi, 40, an Iraqi Kurd of mountainous dimensions who was found playing dominoes with others inside a circus-style big-top tent at Grande-Synthe.

A half-dozen of the striped tents, donated by a British charity, soar from one end of the camp like fairy castles rising above the dystopian panorama.

Jundi, a former auto mechanic in Birmingham, is one of the few who has been to England. He shares with his Kurdish kin word of the myriad opportunities, stoking dreams of ample jobs and social welfare benefits across the channel.

Jundi left England seven years ago to rejoin his wife and three children in Iraq, hopeful that the U.S.-led toppling of former President Saddam Hussein would lead to stability and a robust economy. But it didnt work out that way.

Now, hes trying to get back to England, though he lacks legal papers.

I thought life without Saddam would be better in Kurdistan, Jundi said as he rose from the domino table and maneuvered his way onto a plywood boardwalk atop the sludge, his great bulk balancing precariously on the creaking planks. I was wrong. I wish I had stayed in England in the first place. Now we are all trapped here in this mess.

Special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Grande-Synthe, France, contributed to this report.

Twitter: @mcdneville
On a cold, blue winters day, Shaul Bassi stood shivering in the main square of an ancient Venetian neighborhood as he tried to explain how this was not just a ghetto, it was the ghetto.

The concept of the ghetto was born here in Venice, he said. And that is why we must never forget this place.

Set up by Venices rulers in 1516 on the site of an old metal foundry, and probably the first community in Europe to be segregated by religious belief, the neighborhood took its name from getar, a word in the Venetian dialect meaning to smelt.

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For the next 300 years, the Jews of Venice, about 5,000 in all, were forced to pay the salaries of the guards who locked them in from midnight to 5 a.m. and patrolled the canal circling the area.

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Bassi pointed to the eight-story houses crowded around the square  the tallest buildings in the lagoon city. They had to build higher and higher and squeeze in low-ceilinged apartments. It was like a beehive, he said.

This year, as the worlds original ghetto marks its 500th anniversary, Bassi is part of a group of Venetians fighting to raise 8 million euros (about $8.7 million) to restore three precious 16th century synagogues and a museum in the district, which lies yards from streets thronged by the citys tourist hordes but is rarely visited.

Millions live in ghettos around the world today, and we are trying to figure out what precious lessons can be drawn from our own experience here, said Bassi, 46, an English literature professor at the University of Venice.

Joining Bassi in the square, Venices chief rabbi, Scialom Bahbout, said that marking the anniversary could prove timely in the battle against anti-Semitism in Europe, which is reportedly on the rise.

The ghetto was founded on anti-Semitism  a sickness that hasnt gone away  and remembering it is important because it reminds us that after 500 years of trying to eradicate Jewish culture, not only are we are still here, but Jewish culture made it over the ghetto walls, he said.

Forced to work as money lenders, clothes sellers or doctors, Venices Jews were made to wear yellow caps if they ventured into the city by day, where prejudice was rife. In 1668, a special canal was dug around the outskirts of Venice to allow Jews to reach their cemetery without being subject to insults and stone throwing by Christians.

Bassi carefully went up a rickety staircase and entered one of the three small synagogues tucked away in residential buildings around the square to ensure a low profile.

The Jews were forced to use Christian architects to build the synagogues; they werent allowed to use their own, he said.

The ghetto, even Bassi acknowledges, is not a beautiful place, but the interiors of the synagogues are hidden gems, bursting with baroque and rococo carvings in wood and gilt. Campaigners like Bassi hope money raised can be used to make them fully accessible to visitors.

The number of synagogues that served different nationalities settling in the ghetto  five  points to an odd truth: Jews flocked to live there.

Elsewhere in Europe Jews were treated worse, and Venice to some extent was a safe harbor, said Paolo Gnignati, the head of Venices Jewish community. The city wanted them to come because they needed access to Jewish trading networks; it was good business on the part of the doges, he added, referring to the Venetian leaders.

In 1541, the ghetto was expanded to offer living quarters to itinerant Spanish and Portuguese Jewish traders. For the Jews, the ghetto was an acceptable compromise, Bassi said.

As Jews moved in, cultural and religious activity boomed behind the ghetto gates.

Bassi said that a third of all Hebrew publications in Europe before 1650 were Venetian and that in 1530, when Englands King Henry VIII was searching for Old Testament precedents to justify his divorce of Catherine of Aragon, he consulted with Venice rabbis.

By the next century, Jewish poet Sarra Copia Sulam was hosting a literary salon in the ghetto and being wooed by a Genoese monk who was fixated with her. Being trapped in the ghetto didnt block the imagination, it triggered it, Bassi said.

Over time, Gnignati said, Jewish and Venetian culture intermingled, proving that cultural identities are not immutable.

Money raised for the anniversary, about $2 million so far, will be used to restore and add space to the ghettos small museum for exhibits about the theatrical and artistic life of the area.

Fundraising has been masterminded by the preservation group Venetian Heritage, with support from fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, and is targeting possible benefactors in the U.S. An anonymous donor is about to give 3 [million] to 4 million euros, said Toto Bergamo Rossi, a well-connected Venetian Heritage activist.

Events marking the anniversary, including concerts and exhibitions, will begin March 29, the day Venice established the ghetto in 1516. For the first time, Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice, with Emmy-winning actor Reg E. Cathey playing Antonio, will be staged in the main square.

For Bassi, the play was a must, even though it gave the world the odious Jewish character Shylock.

Shylock is the most famous Venetian Jew and we cannot pretend he doesnt exist, he said.

The gates to the ghetto were finally knocked down in 1797 by Napoleon when he occupied the city, allowing Jews to live where they chose. A plaque in the square honors the 250 Jews who were taken from Venice to Auschwitz during World War II, never to return. Only about 500 Jews live in Venice today, and just a few in the old ghetto.

One ambition for the expanded museum is that it will host 40 silver crowns, shields and liturgical pieces that were recently found under a synagogue staircase in the ghetto after being hidden there from the Nazis in 1943.

We were deprived of our rights here, but we preserved our cultural identity, contributed to Europes identity and we are still here, Gnignati said. We can serve as an example to newcomers who want to participate in Europe while preserving their original identity.

Kington is a special correspondent.

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Tunisias government said Monday that 45 people have been killed after extremists attacked a town near the border with Libya.

The Interior and Defense ministries said in a statement that the Tunisian government has closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack.

The statement said 28 terrorists were in the fighting, along with seven civilians and 10 members of Tunisias security forces.

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The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told the Associated Press.

Frances Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as terrorists coming from Libyan territory.

This attack is just reinforcing the urgent need for a political solution in Libya, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the country was targeted because of its exemplary democratic transition.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three bodies,, including that of the 12-year-old girl, had been brought in after the attack.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane, and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Officials of Tunisias fledgling democratic government are especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group. Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on precise information of possible border infiltrations following the Feb. 19 U.S. raid on an Islamic State camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defense Minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.

Tunisia was targeted last year by three attacks that left 70 people dead and were claimed by Islamic State. According to Tunisian authorities, the attackers had been trained in Libya.
Between yoga jokes and website plugs, when a campaign trail-weary voice allowed him to, Marco Rubio fought for relevance, exploiting Donald Trump during Thursday's Republican debate.

The Florida senator shed his policy-focused campaign to continue far-reaching personal attacks on Trump that began during last week's 10th GOP debate of the election cycle. As Fox News moderator Bret Baier pointed out, Rubio shifted strategies because his tactics until now didn't fit his personality or campaign message.

Last week in Texas and on Thursday night in Detroit, Rubio plead with Republican voters to question Trump's candidacy. He urged Republicans to look at Trump's foreign policy strategy, his choice to hire undocumented workers over Americans and the pending litigation over Trump University, a now-defunct institution that brought about a class action lawsuit.

"This campaign for the last year, Donald Trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks," Rubio said. "He has done so to people that are sitting on the stage today. He has done so about people that are disabled. He has done it about every candidate in this race."

Rubio continued, "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."

The success of Rubio's strategy, one fit for a withering campaign, won't be clear until Floridians cast their ballots during the March 15 primary.

Moral Victories

Rubio is the election season's perennial third-place candidate.

His campaign found encouragement in the Iowa caucus and again following the South Carolina primary. Rubio argued that his Bible Belt consolation prize signaled future victories once the race got "down to two, three, or four people," but in the five-man contest on Super Tuesday -- with Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Ben Carson in the running -- Rubio again fell short.

Of 11 states, only Minnesota went in Rubio's direction. He earned delegates in six states and fell 1 percentage point short of earning more in two other states -- to earn delegates at all a candidate must meet a 20 percent threshold.

Nothing short of stealing five or six states from Trump could have cut into the real estate magnate's insurmountable lead. Rubio carries 110 delegates into Super Saturday. Trump has 319 delegates, 918 short of the necessary number to win the GOP's automatic nomination.

The Rubio campaign didn't have high hopes going into the March 1 primaries and caucuses. Rubio expected a poor showing. The silver lining, as Rubio put it, was that Trump didn't earn a unanimous victory.

"The bottom line from last night is it was supposed to be Ted Cruz's night. It was not," Rubio told Fox News on Wednesday morning. "Donald Trump, 65 percent of people who voted voted against him. That is the problem he has. He can never bring this party together. There will never be a time when our supporters will ask us to make way for Donald Trump."

Rubio's sole election night victory never looked more like defeat.

The Florida Vote

Beginning March 15, all Republican primaries are winner-take-all format. The candidate with the highest number of votes in Florida wins 99 delegates.

The homegrown senator should have the advantage, if only for his Cuban roots and the affinity he shares with the people of Miami. The Miami Herald has already given Rubio an endorsement, emphasizing that Republicans need to nominate a unifying candidate who can draw independent and left-leaning voters. New Mexico Gov. Susan Martinez plans on stumping with him on upcoming trips to Florida and Kansas.

"Marco Rubio is a compelling leader who can unite the country around conservative principles that will improve the lives of all Americans," Martinez said in a statement. "The stakes for our great country are too high - and the differences between the candidates too great - for me to remain neutral in this race. I wholeheartedly trust Marco to keep us safe and ensure a better tomorrow."

A Quinnipiac poll conducted between Feb. 21 and 24 found Trump to be an unstoppable force in Florida, carrying double-digits leads among conservatives who are non-college graduates, those under age 64, Evangelicals, men, women and members of the Tea Party.

Respondents, however, believe Rubio is the more electable candidate, saying he has the best chance of winning by a 54 to 28 margin.

"If Sen. Rubio can't win in his own home state, it is difficult to see how he can win elsewhere," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll. "Only registered Republicans may vote here, which raises the question of whether the flood of new voters Donald Trump seemed to bring to earlier contests will be able to participate in Florida."

Florida is the primary season's most coveted prize. There, the window for Rubio to challenge Trump's nomination either closes or remains cracked open.

Anything less than a victory may end Rubio's political career in the Sunshine State.
Former First Lady and accomplished actress Nancy Reagan died in her Los Angeles home on March 6. She was 94.

Several media outlets reported the wife of former Republican president Ronald Reagan died of congestive heart failure, according to her spokeswoman Joanne Drake of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"Mrs. Reagan will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, next to her husband, Ronald Wilson Reagan," Drake added in a statement. "Prior to the funeral service, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pay their respects at the library."

First Lady Asked That Donations be Made to Reagan Library

In lieu of flowers, the former first lady previously requested that contributions be made to the library. Ronald Reagan died in the summer of 2004.

Tributes Pours in

News of her death prompted President Obama to thank her for her "warm and generous advice."

He later added, "Our former First Lady redefined the role in her time here. Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives."

President Reagan was succeeded in office by George H.W. Bush, and on Sunday fellow onetime first lady Barbara Bush expressed her warmth and admiration for her.

"Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more," she said. "George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family."

When her husband was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981, she never left his side while he lay hospitalized. After the two left the White House and President struggled with Alzheimer's disease, she again served as his biggest protector.

Memorable Quote & Profile

In her official White House biography, she is quoted as reflecting, "My life really began when I married my husband."

Nancy Reagan was born Anne Frances Robbins in New York City on July 6, 1921. Under the stage name Nancy Davis, she starred in 11 films over a seven-year period commencing in 1949.

Over time, she met Reagan and shortly after the two costarred in the film "Hellcats of the Navy," they were man and wife. In 1966, he became governor of California and her life as the wife of a politician began in earnest.

"They had a codependent marriage that became a codependent presidency," CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said of their time in the White House, which commenced after he was elected in 1981.

"Ronald Reagan was the nice guy who liked to tell everybody how wonderful they were," Brinkley added. "She was the judge of character, and if she thought somebody didn't have her husband's interest in mind, she nixed them. You can't overestimate how important she was for the Reagan revolution and Reagan's eight years in the White House."

Nancy Reagan was also well known for her "Just say no" to drugs stance, which lead to her becoming a spokeswoman for various anti-drug campaigns.
Human remains were found in barrels containing acid in Mexico.

According to Mexico's local prosecutor's office, the remains could belong to at least three people.

"It's likely more than three people, we still need to study the contents of the bags," a Puebla prosecution source told AFP on Saturday (via RT). Police found 10 barrels and nine bags of human remains, including one of a man in his 50s.

The same source said that police discovered the barrels after an anonymous phone tip, AFP added.

Connections with Another Case

The prosecutor's office suspects that the case is related to a shooting that occurred on Tuesday in Cuautlancingo, an area in Puebla, AFP further reported.

According to the news outlet, at least a hundred hooded men appeared at an illegal cockfight den and killed two people and kidnapped at least 20 individuals. Local authorities have identified at least six of the gunmen, but they haven't found those who were abducted. The suspects are believed to be members of a criminal gang.

Consequences of the Drug War

Mexico has long battled drug cartels. One of the most publicized killings believed to be carried out by a drug gang is the Sept. 2014 disappearance of 43 students in the southwestern city of Iguala. Families of the victims believe that the drug gang was working with local police.

Last week, VICE News reported that cartel gunmen are targeting politicians and police in Mexico's Jalisco state.

Five police officers were recently murdered by gunmen in two separate shootings in Jalisco, the news outlet added. The first attack occurred on Feb. 24, when three municipal police officers were fatally shot in Tlaquepaque. The day after, the Tlaquepaque police chief and his deputy resigned fearing for their personal safety.

The second attack was in Guadalajara, where assailants murdered two state police officers in their car. On March 1, the mayor of Ahualulco, a small town in Guadalajara, survived an assassination attempt by gunmen, thanks to his bulletproof vehicle.

According to the study published by the journal Health Affairs last January, male life expectancy rates plummeted in all of Mexico's 31 states as violence related to drug wars escalated between 2005 and 2010, a period when the government implemented a militarized crackdown on organized crime.

Life expectancy for Mexican men is now slightly lower than 72 years, six months lower than in 2005, the study added. This has downplayed a decade of public health improvements in the country.
A cemetery in the small Texas town of Normanna has refused to allow a woman to bury her husband on its land because he was Hispanic.

Owners of the San Domingo Cemetery insist its long been their policy not to allow Hispanics or blacks to be buried on the grounds. Already grieving for her husband, Donna Barrera was shocked to learn news of the policy.

"I love my husband with all my heart," she said. "That was 44 years with him and then all of a sudden this comes out of the woodwork."

Owner Admits Little Chance of Anything Changing

Barrera maintains that she was directly told by the owner of the establishment there was no way her husband's remains could be buried there. Later, owner Jimmy Bradford defended the cemetery's policy.

"He wasn't supposed to be buried there, because he's a Mexican, or of Spanish descent, or whatever you want to say," he said. "That's what I told her and that's what we've been doing."

Grounds Reserved for People of Normanna

Bradford later explained the land was once owned by his great, great grandfather who requested that it only be used by the people of Normanna. It appears Bradford is totally committed to carrying out those wishes.

"Well, I guess if she tells Obama and he comes down here and tells me I guess I'd have to," he said of the only thing that may prompt him to reconsider. "Otherwise, no."

The incident marks the second time in as many months the issue of race at a cemetery has come up in the state of Texas. Just last month, the city council of Denton unanimously approved an ordinance that renounced a 1933 deed requirement at a city cemetery that limited burial plots to white bodies.

A 1948 Supreme Court decision also makes it illegal to enforce a "whites only" policy at a cemetery and outlaws racial covenants on real estate. National executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens Brent Wilkes vows he plans to refer this apparent violation to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"You can't discriminate on the basis of race," he said. "It is completely illegal and against the Constitution, and we intend to ensure that this cemetery is opened up. It's obviously very disturbing and disappointing. I thought it was something we buried 50 years ago."
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders received massive support from U.S. voters living in Costa Rica in this week's Global Presidential Primary, which brought him closer to becoming the Democratic Party's nominee.

One hundred and thirty U.S. voters residing in Costa Rica supported the Vermont Senator in the global primary, putting him ahead of Hillary Clinton, who garnered 58 votes.

Citing Democrats Abroad Costa Rica Chairperson Kathy Rothschild, the partial results left Clinton and Sanders to face head-to-head with Martin O'Malley, who earned one vote before dropping out of the race.

However, Rothschild clarified that these results only reflected votes collected from five polling stations from "Super Tuesday" on March 1 to March 5, Saturday.

How the Global Presidential Primary Works

Democrats Abroad is hosting the 2016 Global Presidential Primary, which allows democrats living in different countries all over the world to select the "2016 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States," as stated by Democrats Abroad.

Voting can be done in person or via remote ballot, which requires an absentee voter to download the ballot and return it for counting.

Members of the party who reside overseas are welcome to do so here. The organization also provided instructions on how to activate a member's account via their website.

The poll does not only selects a nominee for the Democratic Party but determines if a candidate is supported by a significant number of their members.

"Presidential candidates are awarded delegates at the Democratic National Convention in proportion to their support in a state caucus or the number of votes received in a state primary. Any candidate receiving 15% or more of the primary votes cast in a Democratic presidential primary will be accorded delegates," the organization explained.

Sanders and his Platform for Latin Americans

Sanders' platforms include a promise of "fair and humane" immigration policies that would acknowledge the rights of immigrants who contributed to the American society as stated by Sanders' personal website.

Proud to be a son of an immigrant himself, Sanders promises to put an end to the injustice in the country that had been particularly harsh on border-crossers.

During his stay as a U.S. senator, Sanders has already supported a number of immigration legislations that provide fair treatment for immigrants, including a law known as "The Fair Day in Court for Kids Act."

"Our immigration policies must be consistent with our historical commitment to provide protection and due process to those fleeing violence and persecution. We must stand up for the rights of the powerless and extend proper legal protection to children and other vulnerable immigrants," he said in a statement in February.
On the heels of Hillary Clinton's potential indictment regarding her emails, another pothole on the campaign trail of the Democratic Party's frontrunner results from legal charges thrown at her husband's way.

A Change.org petition is getting more attention, and supporters in the process, calling for the arrest of Bill Clinton after accusations of Massachusetts election laws' violation on Super Tuesday.

Sander's Supporters Call for Bill Clinton's Arrest

As of this writing, the petition has already raked in more than 110,000 supporters and just close to 40,000 petitioners short of the 150,000 target. Veronica Wolski from Chicago, Illinois initiated the petition, titled "Arrest & Prosecute Bill Clinton for Violation of Mass. Election Laws."

"This is a call for the immediate arrest of President Bill Clinton for clear, knowing and egregious violation of the campaign laws to swing an election in a significant way," the petition reads. "It could not be any clearer in the Massachusetts General Laws. Choosing the critical battleground state of Massachusetts, Bill Clinton should immediately be subject to arrest and prosecution."

Violation of the Massachusetts Election Law

According to the Massachusetts Secretary of State office, there are some activities that are banned during election day on the polling location and within 150 feet from the actual venue. These activities include solicitation of votes for or against, or any other form of promotion or opposition of, any person or political party.

Some of Bernie Sanders' supporters are claiming that Bill Clinton clearly violated the law when he attended a rally in New Bedford, just outside a polling place and when he actually went inside a couple of polling places in other areas.

The petition also cited the fact that the former U.S. president is not a registered voter in Massachusetts and does not have any business in a polling station during election day, unless if it was to further the cause of his wife's Democratic presidential nomination bid.

Clinton Spotted in Polling Places

Fmr President Bill Clinton and @marty_walsh Meeting election workers in West Roxbury #wcvb #SuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/BiHK3eGSoc

 Sera Congi (@seracongi) March 1, 2016

Former President Clinton, Mayor Marty Walsh greet kids at Holy Name Parish School in West Roxbury. @wbur pic.twitter.com/Q8dnfYCP2k  Daniel A. Guzman (@DGQuoVadimus) March 1, 2016

The former U.S. president has since denied the allegation through his spokesperson. But with images and videos surfacing in recent days that would prove otherwise, he could be facing a third degree Voter Violation Felony.

Secretary of State William Galvin said that his office has already gotten in touch with Hillary Clinton's camp regarding the issue.

"He had the right to go into the polling locations, and say 'Hello' to workers who were there. The issue is, you can't go inside and say, 'Vote for my wife,' or 'Vote for Hillary,'" Galvin said on Wednesday.
Chile-based lithium and potash producer SQM's entire holding is up for grabs.

Mining Minister Aurora Williams said on Sunday that the country is not opposed to a foreign takeover of SQM. In December, an indirect shareholder, Oro Blanco, encouraged buyers to issue an offer for its whole holding in investment company Pampa Calichera.

"Those are decisions to be made specifically by the company," Williams said in an interview through an interpreter during the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, or PDAC, convention. "In no way would we indicate to them or give our intentions as to how the company should be structured."

SQM's sale was pushed after Julio Ponce was forced to step down as the company's chairman last year due to two separate scandals. Ponce is the former son-in-law of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Oro Blanco holds about 88 percent of Pampa Calichera. Pampa Calichera, meanwhile, owns approximately 20 percent of SQM, a chief producer of lithium used in batteries. SQM is also a significant supplier of potash and iodine.

Who are the Potential Buyers?

SQM, which claims to be the largest lithium producer globally, is expected to attract many buyers because of its access to huge nitrate and lithium reserves located in northern Chile.

Among those believed to be setting its sights into SQM are China's CITIC CLSA Capital Markets and ICL Israel Chemicals. Williams said that any company conducting operations in Chile should follow environmental, safety and labor standards.

Demand for Lithium

Northern Chile's Atacama salt flat holds about 20 percent of the world's lithium reserves. The location was seen as the best and cheapest place globally to produce lithium back in 2014. The salt flat belongs to an area called "The Lithium Triangle," which sprawls along Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.

The rise of electronic gadgets has raised the demand for lithium. Lithium is used for devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and electric cars.

Williams also said that Chile will see a recovery of copper prices in 2018. Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, saw a decline in copper output in January due to the year-long collapse in prices that pushed miners to scale back.

Japan has put 90 percent of its investments in Chile's copper mining industry in 2014. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said that they want Chile to become Japan's entryway to Latin America.
United Airlines, once again, will have Oscar Munoz as its president and chief executive officer.

It was early in January when Munoz was hospitalized to undergo heart transplant surgery. Since then, he was on medical leave. Brett J. Hart, the airline's general counsel, is serving as acting chief to fill Munoz's role.

Munoz, 57, will return full-time on March 14, a day when United will hold a summit of its different labor unions, Bloomberg reported. The meeting was originally scheduled on Oct. 15, the day Munoz had a heart attack.

In a new video posted by United, Munoz told employees, "I cannot thank you enough for the incredible professionalism and commitment to your jobs that I've seen... I am energized by the momentum we have, now I'm ready to join you."

Munoz is participating in major decisions for the company and meeting with employees and shareholders even while he's on recovery. His efforts have solved some of the airline's problems.

United Airlines Facing Issues

J.D. Power's 2015 ranking labeled United's customer satisfaction as the worst among big North American airlines.

Some improvements, however, are being seen now that Munoz is CEO. The Chicago-based airline has reached a deal with its workers, such as finalizing a contract extension with its pilots union. Some issues still need resolving, though, as flight attendants continue to be divided between those who began with pre-merger Continental Airlines and those who started with pre-merger United.

Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told Bloomberg that United's situation has been improved with Munoz's arrival as CEO. His sick leave didn't hinder Munoz from effectively performing his duties to the company.

United's on-time arrival and cancellation rates have been developed and are no longer inferior to Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. In August, data from the U.S. Department of Transportation placed United at 10th place out of 13 U.S. carriers in on-time arrival rates. The airline's ranking reached no lower than sixth and sometimes outdid American.

"The board is confident in the strength and potential of United's business -- and very pleased Oscar will be returning," Henry L. Meyer III, non-executive chairman of United's board of directors, said in the statement quoted by the news outlet.

Strained Labor Relations

Munoz took over as CEO in September to boost morale after years of strained relations with its employees. He filled the position of Jeff Smisek, who stepped down during a federal investigation into United's relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Smisek, the former chief executive of Continental, was facing allegations that the airline had traded favors with the two cities.

Customers have criticized United's performance after its merger with Continental, according to a separate report from the New York Times. Angered passengers have complained of delays, computer issues and problems in its reservation system.

In February, it was reported that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters representing United maintenance workers and mechanics rejected the airline's final contract offer, prompting possibilities of a strike.

Yet with Munoz's comeback, United may be up for greater heights. To employees, he ends his return announcement, "Let's fly safe and take care of each other."
The Democrats just held their latest debate in Flint, Michigan, and as one might have guessed, it wasn't exactly cordial.

There may have been some fleeting moments during the debate where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders shared the same views, but the two were at odds for the most part.

Democratic vs GOP Debates

While the two Democrats have opted not to launch assault on the Republican counterparts and decided to just go after one another, the pair wasn't able to contain themselves from belittling the debates on the GOP side. Sanders and Clinton were on the same page, agreeing that Democratic debates are meatier and sensible.

"We have our differences and we get into vigorous debate about issue, but compare the substance of this debate with what you saw on the Republican stage last week," Clinton said to to the delight of the crowd.

"When you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to address the mental health," Sanders interjected.

The Two Held Contrasting Views

Clinton expresses her disapproval of Sander's position not to hold gun manufacturers legally liable. Sanders, meanwhile, criticized her for her support of past trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Clinton fired back by bringing up the issue on the auto industry bailout, which she said Sanders opposed and could have caused the industry's collapse and a loss of 4 million jobs. She also attacked Sanders on his opposition of the Export-Import Bank, but he counters that it only furthers the cause of big corporations.

Clinton reiterated that she got the more comprehensive plan when it comes to climate change. Sanders, on the one hand, has a firm stand against fracking, while Clinton said that there are few places in the country where fracking could be done.

One in Calling for Gov. Snyder's Resignation Over Flint Water Crisis

Clinton and Sanders empathized with the local residents in the Flint toxic water crisis, with Sanders calling for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's resignation, which was seconded by Clinton. "Amen to that," she said. "The governor should resign or be recalled." Clinton also urged both the state and the national government to allocate more financial resources into the city.

On Who Could Better Trample Trump

It seems like the recent string of wins has given Sanders a renewed sense of confidence as he argued that he would be the party's best bet against GOP's current frontrunner Donald Trump. The Vermont senator said that, "Sanders versus Trump does a lot better than Clinton versus Trump" based on polls.

However, Clinton refuted his rival's claims with one simple argument. "There's only one candidate [in either primary campaign] who has more votes than [Trump], and that's me," she said.

Ahead of the Maine polls, Clinton still has the big margin with 1,121 delegates as compared to Sander's 481. On the Democratic side of things, it's a race to 2,383 delegates for the nomination.
Puerto Rico Republicans used their sole vote in this year's presidential election to show overwhelming support for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Rubio took about 74 percent of the vote in Sunday's primary, winning each of the 23 delegates the U.S. territory offered. Republican front-runner Donald Trump placed second with 13.6 percent of the vote, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (nine percent) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (1.4 percent).

The Cuban-American senator was the only GOP candidate stumping in Puerto Rico.

"We continue to play the delegate math in this campaign, because we understand that this country is going to be a very different kind of primary, where the delegates are going to county," Rubio told reporters on Saturday. "That's why I'm here tonight in Puerto Rico, that's why we're going to continue to campaign in Florida."

Puerto Rico's Influence

Puerto Ricans can't participate in November's general election, but they can play a pivotal role in deciding who makes it as far.

The territory's 23 delegates are more than Vermont and just as many as New Hampshire. Exit polling information is scare but a CNN projection found each of the island's eight electoral districts - including the tourist district of San Juan - chose Rubio by an average of 73.8 percent. About 6,500 inmates are eligible to vote, but their selections won't be available until Wednesday.

According to the Pew Research Center, there is a disproportionate number of people leaving Puerto Rico for the U.S. mainland. The number of migrants coming to the U.S. reached 84,000 in 2014, compared to about 20,000 going the other way, thanks in large part to fears that the Puerto Rican government can't escape their worsening recession.

There are millions of Puerto Ricans now living in Florida. How this affects Rubio, and who is ultimately elected GOP presidential nominee, depends on how they vote in the Sunshine State's upcoming primary.

Rubio All-In on Florida

Sunday's win gives Rubio a total of two wins this election season, counting the Minnesota caucus he won on Super Tuesday.

Regardless, the Florida senator still trails Trump by 233 delegates. Momentum following strong showings in early primary and caucus states didn't translate to Super Saturday when Rubio didn't finish better than third place; he didn't win a single state and missed the delegate threshold in two of them.

Rubio's decelerating campaign prompted Trump and Cruz to argue that it's time for Rubio to drop out, the latter urging Rubio's supports if Republicans want a viable opponent to Trump.

Rubio, for his part, vowed to keep fighting.

"I've been an underdog before. It' didn't stop me then, and it won't stop me now," Rubio posted to Twitter on Sunday.
The thaw in United States and Cuba relations is a major step for both countries, but the business landscape is still a work in progress. Both domestic and foreign entrepreneurs are still gauging the opportunities available to them in the country and trying to find their place in the evolving social and economic community.

Domestic Businesses Emerging

Tourism in Cuba has flourished in the wake of the improving relations with the United States. Travel to the country has not only become easier but also cheaper due to the opening of regular aviation services between the two countries.

With the influx of tourists comes a new and upgraded income stream for the local community. However, people are still struggling, with regular state employees merely earning $30 a month and their living standards on the decline.

Also, the Cuban entrepreneurs or "cuentapropistas" are still finding their footing. According to author, sociologist and Baruch College professor Ted Henken, despite the steady rise in start-up companies from 150,000 to 500,000 in the last five years, the average businessmen are still starting to develop gradually because of the Communist suppression. According to Henken, businesses in Cuba remain a "struggle."

Foreign Investments Test the Waters

A host of companies are already eyeing Cuba as a fresh new market, but it is an opportunity that's not without its challenges. While the relations are thawing, the economic blockade is still in place and key Cuban officials are already calling for an end to the decades-old embargo to be lifted to open the door for U.S. businesses in their country.

"The blockade doesn't allow American companies to come freely to Cuba to make business; that's a problem," Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Cuba's minister of foreign trade and investment, explained during a conference at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, according to Voice of America. He also added that American businesses are welcome in Cuba.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at research institution Heritage Foundation, pointed out that Cuba's shaky credit history as a "bad borrower" will likely make American entrepreneurs think twice about operating in the country.

Aside from this, the Cuban government has been "bureaucratic." The officials are being apprehensive of the different businesses eager to enter its market and possibly affecting the political system in the country.

Co-chairman of the business consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group Carlos M. Gutierrez, who is Cuban-born, explained that the administration is still gauging what the intentions of the United States are, as well as determining "whether U.S. policy is designed to help the Cuban people or whether it is something more like a Trojan horse."
It wasn't some empty talk after all when Bernie Sanders proclaimed his victory if there would be a strong voter turnout. The senator from Vermont came out as the runaway winner in Maine after the Democratic caucuses held on Sunday, March 6, registered an "extraordinary turnout."

Sanders' Convincing Win Over Clinton

Sanders scored a victory over fellow Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton by a fairly large margin. He almost beat out his rival by two to one. With 91 percent into the completion of the voting, Sanders already tallied 64 percent of the votes as compared to Clinton's 36 percent.

"While many in our country's political and financial establishment would love to see our campaign go away, tonight proved once again that we are well on our way towards winning this Democratic primary," he told supporters in an email after the debate on Sunday.

The turnout was higher than what was expected, which even resulted in a queue of people as long as half a mile. Others even have to wait for hours for their turn to get inside the caucuses' venue. There were a good number of participants from the cities of Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Bangor and the town of Brunswick.

The Need for a Change in Voting Method

In line with this, the state's senator, Justin Alfond, assures the people that he would initiate a new legislation to change the local Democratic party's voting method from caucuses to primary elections in order to make the process more efficient.

"The awe-inspiring turnout meant too many had to wait in long lines to make their voices heard. We need to have a conversation, once again, about the best way to nominate our presidential candidates, and ensure the process is easy and accessible to all," Alfond said.

"We certainly regret that folks had to wait outside for so long but appreciate the enthusiasm," said Phil Bartlett, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, who admitted that the organizers were really surprised by the huge turnout.

The organizers even had to bend some rules like allowing those in the long lines to cast absentee ballots just to address the matter.

"It's outrageous. It seems like a ridiculous waste of time," said Isaac Santerre, 19, who had to wait for more than four hours just to cast his vote for Sanders in Portland. "The whole thing is frustrating to think they could hold a caucus in a small place like this."

The resounding victory in Maine puts Sanders on a roll after winning both the caucuses in Nebraska and Kansas, as well. He said that they now have the momentum and his campaign is just getting started.
Donald Trump may be having a comfortable lead over his intra-Party rivals, but he can't rest on his laurels judging the latest poll in Michigan.

Trump and Clinton are still leading by a good margin over their respective opponents, but both Clinton and Sanders have the upper hand in the general election contest, according to the NBC/WSJ/Marist poll. Clinton outpaces Trump 52 percent to 36 percent, while Sanders has it at 56 percent against Trump's 34 percent.

The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll was done from the period of March 1 to March 3. It involves more than 2,200 registered voters, 546 potential Democratic primary voters and 482 potential Republican primary voters. The polling period was conducted before and after retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson decided to drop out of the GOP's presidential nomination bid.

The GOP Numbers

The results of the poll in the GOP side showed the numbers heavily in favor of the real estate tycoon. He registered a 40 percent vote while Ted Cruz had 19 percent followed by Marco Rubio with 15 percent and John Kasich with 11 percent. Carson, meanwhile, had 9 percent at the last spot.

Breaking down the numbers, Trump has gotten the support of the majority from various demographic groups such as men, women, Republicans, independents, moderate GOP primary voters and conservatives.

Surprisingly, he also scored a slim margin over Cruz from the white evangelicals with his 30 percent compared to Cruz's 29 percent. Meanwhile, Cruz, as expected, secured the votes from "very conservative" GOP primary voters with 43 percent for him against Trump's 30 percent.

Rubio, on the other hand, lagged behind Trump and Cruz in the Michigan poll. While John Kasich only made it as far as the fourth, he is still hoping that the tides would turn for his favor.

According to the American Research Group, Kasich will finally make it on top and overtake frontrunner Trump. However, he better not get his hopes up too high and take the poll with a little grain of salt as the other polls show that the chances isn't as good as what he is hoping for.

Over at the Other Side

On the other hand, the 2016 Presidential Nomination: Battleground Tracker from CBS News showed that Hillary Clinton still has a comfortable lead over her counterpart Bernie Sanders. She scored 55 percent of the votes as compared to Sanders 44 percent.

The CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker is a panel study involving 1,415 interviews of Michigan's registered voters. The interviews were done online by online polling group YouGov. The numbers reflect that of the NBC/WSJ/Marist that show Clinton leading Sanders by 17 points among primary voters.
California lawmakers approved a package of sweeping tobacco-control bills that would regulate the manufacture and sale of electronic cigarettes, and make California the nation's second state to increase the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.

The lawmakers said that the bills will prevent young people from taking up smoking and forming a lifelong habit. Moreover, it will make much harder for teens to get access to tobacco because 18-year-old high school students could not be able to buy it for their underage friends.

As per Assemblyman Jim Wood, the bills would save the medical system in the outgoing years millions of dollars. Thus, it would save thousands of lives

"Adolescent brains are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of nicotine and nicotine addiction. 18-year-olds are much more likely to buy tobacco products for their 14-, 15-, 16-year-old friends," said Wood.

Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored the e-cigarette bill, stated, "Big Tobacco's assault on youth and taxpayers was dealt a major setback today when the Legislature came to the rescue of Californians. Tobacco-free habits save lives and billions of taxpayer health care dollars."

However, Republicans said that, the government should not restrict people's freedom to make their own decisions.

"I don't smoke. I don't encourage my children to. But they are adults, and it's our job to treat our citizens as adults, not to nanny them," Assemblyman Donald Wagner said.

Another Assemblyman Chad Mayes said that California believes in the ideas of individual liberty and in the freedom of choice. Thus, people can buy the products that they want even though it will cause them in danger. She concluded that lawmakers' action went beyond the basic ideals.

The age to purchase tobacco would remain 18 for members of the military.

Other bills approved by the assembly were:

a. Expand the ban on workplace smoking to include warehouses, gambling clubs, motel lobbies, covered parking lots and other public areas left out of a previous law;

b. Increase the tobacco-free campus law to include all areas of charter schools and public school facilities and offices;

c. Raise the licensing fee for tobacco retailers from a one-time $100 charge per location to $265 annually, and boost the annual fee for distributors and wholesalers from $1,000 to $1,200, to better cover the state's costs of enforcement.

The executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets said that the new change does not recognize that 18-year-olds are adults who are trusted with the responsibility to vote and serve in the military, and therefore can handle being responsible in their consumption of tobacco.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease and Prevention shared, "Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or 1 of every 5 deaths with more than 16 million."

California's Board of Equalization estimated that if the bill becomes a law it is expected to reduce U.S. industry sales by 43 million packs of cigarettes over the 2016-to-2017 fiscal years. At an average price of $5.96 per pack, that would equate to about $256 million in lost sales and would reduce California's excise- and sales-tax revenue by an estimated $68.4 million.

Following the cities of New York, Boston, Kansas, Evanston, similar legislation will be considered by other states, including Massachusetts and Illinois. Hawaii became the first to implement this kind of bill.
A Mississippi lawyer sued Governor Phil Bryant for flying the state flag, an emblem tantamount to hateful government speech against himself and African American residents of Mississippi's rights

Carlos Moore alleged that the current flag contains a Confederate emblem with a racial discriminatory purpose to subjugate African-Americans to second class status and promote the notion of white supremacy. Thus, his constitutional rights have been violated along with all African American citizens of the state.

Moore stated in his complaint, which was lodged before the jurisdiction of Southern Mississippi U.S. District Court, that time is of the essence for the removal of the current state flag from all public display on public lands and adoption of a non-discriminatory state flag. He also emphasized that there was a recent mass killing by a young white supremacist who was a Confederate battle flag sympathizer and militant. Mississippi is the only state that incorporates the Confederate emblem flag into its state flag.

Moore said that he invoked some of the same language from the Obergefell v. Hodges case, which the U.S. Supreme Court solidified to legalize same-sex marriage nationally.

"Such case is the law of the land, and if it applies to same-sex couples, and they've got the right to be respected; surely African Americans have the right to be respected too," Moore said in an interview.

However, Republican Bryant, who recently issued a proclamation naming April as Confederate Heritage Month, has said voters should decide whether to keep the flag used since 1894.

He said that he will rely on a landmark case filed in the mid-1990s in Georgia. A black resident of Atlanta sued over the design of Georgia's flag, which then displayed the same Confederate battle emblem that's still on the Mississippi banner.

In such lawsuit, it argued that the flag was racist because the Confederate emblem was added in 1956 to defy school desegregation rulings. U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans ruled in January 1996 that she would not make Georgia stop flying its flag because: "There simply is no evidence in the record indicating that the flag itself results in discrimination against African-Americans."

In a report by The Oregonian, House Speaker Tina Kotek stated, "After attempting again this week to reach out to leadership in both the Mississippi House and Senate, I now believe it is time for us to act. We should remove the Mississippi flag."

Constitutional law expert Matt Steffey said that there are some issues with Moore's legal claims.

"The 14th Amendment is not usually read to be concerned with symbolic matters, and the flag is by definition a symbol," Steffey said. "And while the lawsuit attempts to tie this to violence, at least in a courtroom, there's no way to establish that."
'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming science-fiction and horror-fantasy film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. It has been pushed back a month from its original release schedule but will commence filming in South Africa in May. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey have been confirmed as the film's main protagonist and main villain, respectively.

According to /Film, the new Stephen King live-action adaptation has been pushed back a month from its original scheduled release date for January 13 to February 17, 2017. This new schedule will pit the Sony's film against Universal's 'The Great Wall' starring Matt Damon and 20th Century Fox's 'Maze Runner: The Death Cure'. Director Nikolaj Arcel, known for his work on 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and 'A Royal Affair' is set to helm the film.

It was reported by Consequence of Sound that principal photography for Arcel's upcoming film will begin sometime in May in South Africa. Idris Elba of 'Beasts of No Nation' and Matthew McConaughey of 'Dallas Buyers Club' are confirmed to portray lead protagonist Roland Deschain and main villain The Man in Black, respectively. Although Elba's casting seemed controversial to die-hard fans of King's original bestselling series of novels, the author himself said that the gunslinger's race did not matter.

According to Superherohype.com, Abbey Lee of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' fame is set to play a yet unnamed female lead. Oscar-winning scribe Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner of 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' and Anders Thomas Jensen of 'The Duchess' have written the screenplay together with Arcel. Ron Howard of 'A Beautiful Mind' was initially set to direct the first film in the planned action-fantasy cinematic series but went on to serve as producer instead together with Goldsman, King and Brian Grazer.

Arcel's upcoming film will introduce the gunslinger Roland Deschain as he journeys through a barren landscape in search of the titular Dark Tower in order to help preserve his dying world. Deschain is the last living descendant of an ancient order of knights. In the original novels, Deschain allies with characters named Jake Chambers, Eddie and Susannah Dean and Oy and battles against villains The Man in Black and the Crimson King.

'The Dark Tower' is an upcoming science-fiction and horror-fantasy film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. It is scheduled to be released on February 17, 2017. It is the first film in a planned series of live-action adaptations of Stephen King's series of fantasy novels of the same name.
Lisa Madigan of the Illinois Attorney General's office wants to take legal actions against the state's natural resource agency which failed to follow the terms regarding tougher rules for coal mines.

Governor Pat Quinn's administration was the one who proposed the tougher rules against these coal mines. According to Fox 2 Now, these tougher regulations were a part of a broader reform two years ago. They followed the criticisms by environmentalist that the state Department of Natural Resources was too cozy with mining companies that it regulates.

These rules include the submission of early notification to citizens regarding applications and that mine permit applicants should be ready to answer any query at any hearings. But two years have passed and no rules were enacted and tend to weaken public participation as per Daily Chronicle.

According to Ann Spillane, Madigan's chief of staff, it is frustrating that the new rules are not yet in place. She added that it is time that the department stop the delaying of the implementation of the new rules to fully comply with the court's orders.

The director of the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, Jack Darin urged the governor not to delay it further. He added that while the court deliberates, Illinois cannot wait any longer to experience the benefits of clean energy to the community as per North American Wind Power.

Since the revisions of the tougher rules and regulations, the Illinois Coal Association filed a petition to the DNR to remove the banner rules to better accommodate the needs of the industry. This includes allowing only state hearing officers and not citizens to participate and ask questions at public hearings.

According to experts, the effect of these legal actions against coal industries threatens jobs in central and southern Illinois. The state has 15 pending request for new mines and these permit revisions can affect the renewal of mines that are already operating.
Oregon's minimum wage will increase to $14.75 in 2022, $13.50 in smaller cities and $12.50 in other rural areas. On Wednesday, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 1532 into a law. Oregon becomes the first state to do this in the country through a three-tiered system.

President Barack Obama commended Brown for the trailblazing legislation to increase Oregon's minimum wage. At present, the federal minimum wage is at $7.25. The U.S. president encouraged the congress to follow Oregon for initiating action to raise the minimum wage. He also said that at least the District of Columbia and 18 states had pursued to increase the federal minimum wage three years ago. Oregon is not the only state to increase the minimum pay above $10. It follows states such as Massachusetts, California and Vermont, according to The Guardian.

"I'm proud to sign into law my top priority of the 2016 Legislative session - raising the minimum wage," Governor Kate Brown said in a statement. She said the new law "is a path forward - so working families can catch up, and businesses have time to plan for the increase.

Meanwhile, Oregon's minimum wage has been challenged by several activists around the country. Some opponents claimed that the law is too slow to make a substantial change in the system. A group called "Oregonians for $15" headed by campaign manager Justin Norton-Kertson said that they are still weighing if they will go ahead with their own ballot measure that would increase minimum salary to $15 all across the nation, The Wall Street Journal claims.

"It is too low, and it is too slow; it leaves rural workers behind at a lower wage that is really not enough," Kertson said.

At present, Oregon's minimum wage is $9.25. Through the three-tiered system, the workers' pay would depend on where the location of their work. As reported by Business Insider, the system aims to seal the gap between the rural farming communities and the urban Portland. These two ends have been divided politically, economically and culturally for a long time. The first upsurge in salaries would take effect in July.

The first increase would set additional of 50 cents in Portland and small cities and 25 cents in rural areas. Apart from the critics, business groups have also expressed their dismay on Oregon's minimum wage increase. They said it would only bring more problems and uncertainties.
BMW unveils Vision Next 100 concept

Mar 7, 2016, 11:19am ET

The futuristic car reflects BMW\'s vision for an ideal autonomous vehicle.

BMW has revealed the Vision Next 100, a futuristic concept car that celebrates the company's 100th birthday.

As the name indicates, the concept represents BMW's glimpse into the next 100 years of automotive innovations. The company envisions a future in which drivers will desire a seamless transition between piloting the vehicle and enjoying autonomous operation.

Combining a coupe-like profile and the spacious interior of a sedan, the Vision Next 100 is designed to enhance both vehicle- and human-controlled operation. 'Boost' mode focuses on the driver but uses computers to indicate the ideal driving line, steering point and speed.

'Ease' mode transforms the interior, retracting the steering wheel and center console. Headrests turn to the side, while the seats and door merge to form a single unit that allows the driver and front-seat passenger to face each other and converse.

"If, as a designer, you are able to imagine something, there's a good chance it could one day become reality," said BMW design head Adrian van Hooydonk. "So our objective with the BMW Vision Next 100 was to develop a future scenario that people would engage with."

The car's styling appears to take inspiration from the i8 hybrid, though BMW's prophecies include no mention of what powertrain could propel such vehicles of the future.

BMW plans to send the Vision Next 100 on a world tour with stops in China, the UK and the US. Additional 'Vision' concepts will be unveiled for the MINI and Rolls-Royce brands at an event in London, while a BMW Motorrad motorcycle concept is slated to debut in Los Angeles.
Mar 7, 2016, 11:00am ET

Hyundai Genesis gets Korea's first autonomous plate

Genesis is the first to get the OK from the South Korean gov\'t.

The Hyundai Genesis sedan is the first vehicle to be officially approved for autonomous testing by the South Korean government.

The plate and corresponding license are actually more restrictive than they appear at first blush. The the car may be driven only on a half-dozen pre-approved routes; two people must be in the car at all times; and the license expires after five years.

The country's transport ministry plans to expand the approved list of routes later this year.

The license was presented to Hyundai executives by Korean Transport Minister Kang Ho-in at a ceremony held at Sejong City's government complex, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

Minister Ho-in was then given the opportunity to "test-ride" the experimental Genesis.

h/t Vishal. Photo by Brian Williams.
An Allentown man accused of fatally shaking his 2-month-old daughter was granted bail while he awaits trial.

Matthew Wolfe, 31, of the 1900 block of West Columbia Street, was being held without bail since his arrest in December on charges of third-degree murder and child endangerment.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Kelly Banach granted Wolfe bail of 10 percent of $150,000. Banach set conditions if Wolfe is released, including that he should have no contact with the child's mother, no unsupervised contact with minors, and he cannot own or possess any firearms.

Chief of Prosecutions Matt Falk said Wolfe was entitled to bail under the law, but his office requested a higher amount. A pretrial conference is scheduled for April 22, and the trial is scheduled for September, Falk said.

The baby died in 2013. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin previously said his office used the county grand jury to obtain certain documents for the case, and charged Wolfe thereafter.

Defense attorney Scott Wilhelm previously said the charges and arrest were a surprise to his client, and that Wolfe is innocent.

The couple were living together at the time the baby girl died, but separated soon after and had not had contact since then, Wilhelm said.

Prosecutors said the baby girl was brought to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill on Nov. 12, 2013, with multiple traumatic injuries to her body including brain hemorrhages, multiple rib fractures and leg fractures.

The baby was near death, and immediately taken to St. Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia. She was pronounced dead on Nov. 18, 2013.

An investigation found the baby was in Wolfe's care for most of the day at the family's home in the 1200 block of Forrest Road in Whitehall Township, and that she would have shown symptoms immediately from the abusive head trauma, Martin previously said. Doctors now prefer the term abusive head trauma instead of the term shaken baby syndrome.

The baby was seen by a pediatrician the day before and had no signs of injuries, prosecutors said, and the child's mother had fed her in the early morning the day she was injured and noticed no problems.

The baby's mother worked at St. Luke's Hospital, which is why Wolfe took the baby there, prosecutors said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Jose rosado

Former Allentown School District administrator Jose Rosado has reached a negotiated settlement with his old employer.

(courtesy photo)

The Allentown School District has reached a $135,000 settlement with a former administrator who sued, claiming he was retaliated against for speaking out about unfair treatment of minority students.

Jose Rosado, the district's former alternative education director, filed the federal lawsuit in January 2015. It accused the district of retaliating against him for raising concerns about how the district dealt with minority students it deemed disruptive and sent to an alternative education program.

He also claimed administrators tampered with the hearing process after he voiced his suspicions, leaving him no choice but to resign.

The school district has not admitted to any wrongdoing but its insurance company is paying Rosado $90,000 and his attorney $45,000 for legal fees, according to the settlement.

The district emphasized no tax dollars were spent to settle.

"(After mediation), the school district's insurance company decided to settle the case largely to avoid the cost of trial and the possibility of exorbitant fees to Rosado's lawyer," the district said in a statement." The decision to settle was the insurance company's, not the school board's."

The district will provide Rosado with a letter of recommendation and Rosado will drop all claims against the district.

Rosado said in a statement that he is pleased the settlement is not confidential and the record of the case is not sealed. He encourages the school board and public to review statements made during depositions and draw their own conclusions.

"Although I have accepted the negotiated settlement agreement, I steadfastly maintain that I did my job in an ethical manner and in compliance with Pennsylvania School Code," Rosado said.

The district suspended Rosado in May 2014, pending a termination hearing, accusing him of persistently neglecting his duties during the 2013-14 school year. Rosado, who also serves as the mayor of Fountain Hill, countered that he was being punished for speaking out against unfair practices, including placing students into alternative education without due process.

Rosado oversaw the district's alternative education programs at the William Penn and Jackson buildings, which housed about 250 middle and high school students. He claims that principals from other buildings routinely referred minority students to the alternative education program as disruptive students, despite failing to meet standards required for transfer.

Rosado said he would not accept students "being dumped into his program" without following state education standards and giving the students their proper due process, according to court records.

Superintendent Russell Mayo accused Rosado in November 2011 of interfering with student placements in the alternative education program, ordering him to transfer any students awaiting placement, according to court records. Rosado acquiesced and filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the lawsuit states.

It was after he raised concerns with state officials that the district retaliated and attempted to fire Rosado, court records indicate.

Following a four-month medical leave, Rosado said he was suspended upon his return to work and notified in July 2014 that the district intended to fire him. He claims he was denied a fair hearing before the school board when solicitor John Freund recommended to members the outside attorney the board hired to serve as a hearing officer.

In December 2014, the school board accepted Rosado's resignation effective March 20, ending the hearing process. But Rosado in his lawsuit claims he had no choice but to resign in order to protect his principal's certificate and ability to find another job.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A human trafficker who forced three women to prostitute themselves in Allentown is now facing decades behind bars, in one of the first sentences handed down under Pennsylvania's human trafficking law.

In recorded phone interviews from Lehigh County Jail, Issac Pearson spoke about the women in his "stable" and in his "palace," Judge Maria Dantos said on Monday.

"We'll send you to a different palace now," the judge said, before sentencing Pearson to 17 to 34 years in state prison, the maximum sentence allowed in the case.

Pearson again on Monday claimed he was innocent of the charges -- "I would never subject anyone to that -- and that he cared for the women. Dantos replied that if that's how Pearson cares for somebody, "then God help us all."

Addressing the lone victim who testified at Pearson's trial, Dantos said, "You were seen, heard and believed."

"You are strong ... you do not belong to him. Not as a person, not as a victim," Dantos said. "The future -- your future -- is yours."

The young woman read a poem in court that she wrote, describing how Pearson lured her via a "loving" relationship, only to later use drugs to create a "cycle of dependency."

"It is never OK to profit off of someone else's vulnerability," she said.

The 35-year-old Pearson was convicted of human trafficking and related charges, following his trial last month where he represented himself.

"He's going to be where he belongs -- behind concrete and bars," said Deputy District Attorney Robert Schopf.

Schopf said Pearson sold the women for sex, "seven days a week, man after man." The victim who testified at Pearson's trial was prostituted over a period of four months, Schopf said.

The prosecutor said Pearson's sentence was one of the first in the state under the revised state law on human trafficking. The changes were signed into law in 2014.

In February 2015, Allentown police set up a sting at the Royale Motel, 1117 N. Irving St., after viewing ads on backpage.com. Officers arrested two women after the pair agreed to have sex with an undercover officer for $200, police said.

The women reported a man named "Buddy," later identified as Pearson, took their photos, set up the ads on backpage.com, forced them into sex work and then took the money they earned, police said.

One of the women said Pearson sexually and physically assaulted her when she "disobeyed" him, police said.

Pearson was then arrested in March 2015 following a sting at the Rodeway Inn, 2115 Downeyflake Lane.

In that case, a woman met the undercover officer at a room in the motel, and agreed to have sex and perform a sex act for $80, police said.

After the woman was detained by officers, she told them she was required to give the money she earned to her pimp, "J," later identified as Pearson, police said.

Dantos noted that the probation officer who interviewed Pearson for the presentence report said he suffered from "narcissistic delusions."

Schopf called it textbook sociopathy, that Pearson was devoid of empathy and only thought of himself.

Pearson had the nerve "to ply women with drugs, sell them for sex, and then step back and say, 'I'm the victim,'" Schopf said.

In addition to his previous 13 arrests and eight convictions, Pearson racked up four misconducts while in county jail, Schopf said. The misconducts were for having a sharpened spoon and tobacco in his cell; written evidence of involvement with the Crips gang and calling a female corrections officer "baby" and making demands of staff, the prosecutor said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A homeless man is charged with defiant trespass after repeatedly returning to a Bethlehem laundry after being told not to return, city police said.

Lenwood Gibson (Courtesy photo)

Lenwood Gibson, 60, of Allentown, was found by city police at 12:34 p.m. Feb. 16 at the 3rd Street Laundry Mat, 110 E. 3rd St.

Owner Christopher Damico told Gibson not to return to the business on at least seven past occasions, spanning Jan. 26 to Feb. 16, according to court records.

Gibson was arraigned Monday before District Judge Nancy Matos-Gonzalez on a defiant trespass charge. The judge set bail at $25,000. In lieu of bail, Gibson was taken to Northampton County Prison.

The judge ordered Gibson stay away from the business, submit to random drug and alcohol testing and enroll in Pretrial Services. The judge allowed 10 percent of $25,000 bail if Pretrial Services approved it.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Come summer, diners at McCarthy's Red Stag Pub will be able to enjoy dinner and a brew or cocktail on the new patio.

The new outdoor dining space is part of owner Neville Gardner's four-phase transformation from Irish tea room to authentic Irish pub and whiskey bar.

Situated behind Gardner's Donegal Square Celtic gift store, the pub's address is 534 Main St. in Bethlehem buts its main entrance is on Walnut Street.

The brick paver patio sits adjacent to the main entrance, giving diners at view of Main Street without all of the hustle and bustle. It can seat about 35 people.

Granny McCarthy's tea room morphed in the fall of 2013 into a seven-day-a-week restaurant serving up Celtic favorites and more than 130 whiskeys.

"When we're done it will have a totally different feel," Gardner, who is from Ireland, said. "We are trying to make it much more authentic."

In the pursuit of authenticity, Gardner's redone the upstairs dining room to add a bar. Next, on his list is the first floor. He's drawing inspiration from the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast, Ireland, down to its snugs, which Gardner describes as glorified booths with walls and a door.

"Snugs are very popular in Ireland, Scotland and parts of the UK," Gardner explained. "In the olden days, you wouldn't have taken a woman into a bar because it would be unseemly and it wouldn't be good for the women's reputation."

Want to have one of our snugs reserved just for you tonight?? Retweet this to go in the draw. #FreebieFriday #VIP pic.twitter.com/hoowEnJlrl  Crown Liquor Saloon (@CrownBarBelfast) January 23, 2015

Visitors to the store or restaurant have likely noticed signs of the work. A facade refresh is underway on the exterior.

The store floor has been rearranged to allow for a pub expansion to build two handicap-accessible bathrooms.

Gardner plans to shift the pastry case and hostess stand to the right to make way for three snugs. He plans to put the snug project out to bid soon. He would love to see them installed some time in 2016.

Finally, the entire first floor will get a refresh with new floors and a much larger bar that runs perpendicular to the current bar.

"We are really starting to specialize in whiskeys, we have 130 now, and we will have more," Gardner said.

The goal will be to keep the second floor open while the first floor is remodeled.

Gardner has not abandoned his original plans to add rooftop dining but it's a very expensive addition.

"It's not that I am against doing it," Gardner said. "I can't afford to do it right now. I have to build the business up gradually."

Gardner is eager to open the patio up when the weather warms up but he is still awaiting Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board outdoor dining license approval.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
As motorists drive by, members of New Life Church say they're collecting cash to help homeless children, but they won't tell you where the homeless children are.

Nor will they tell you how much of their donations go to children and how much end up in their church coffers.

And there's not much local police can do about it.

The church members routinely show up on Easton-area streets, waving buckets in front of passing motorists while asking for cash. Some say they are too pushy and won't take no for an answer.

Easton police cited three of them Wednesday for walking into traffic to collect donations. They refused to tell reporters where they're from but admitted to police last week they're from Tampa, Florida, where the church is based.

The state vehicle code prohibits pedestrians from standing in a road while soliciting from vehicles. New Life members skirt that rule by promising to stay on the sidewalks, but have been seen breaking that rule after police leave.

State Rep. Robert Freeman said the members often stray into the streets. Lehighvalleylive.com photos make that clear. He called on local police to keep enforcing the law.

"You cannot go into the road. Those who are doing it have repeatedly done so," said Freeman, D-Northampton.

The fine for violating that section of the vehicle code is $5, however. Palmer Township police Chief Larry Palmer and Easton police traffic Lt. Matthew Lohenitz said members of the New Life Church check in with them when they plan to solicit.

The bucket solicitors have been warned to behave themselves, but there isn't much police can do short of watching them for hours and citing them when appropriate.

The Pennsylvania Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act exempts religious organizations from a registration requirement. So members of New Life Church don't have to disclose anything about themselves when they collect cash.

Freeman said it might be time to tighten the law. But state Sen. Lisa Boscola cautioned adding restrictions could make problems for legitimate charities.

What about Penn State students who frequently collect cash to support their THON fund drives for cancer research?

"We don't want to harm really good bona fide charities, because there are a lot of good ones out there," she said.

As with New Life Church, there's no guarantee when you hand over $5 at the Penn State THON drive that the collector will turn the cash over to the charity. Donors need to size up the collectors, ask questions and then decide whether to donate, officials said.

"You can't legislate common sense," Boscola said.

If you aren't comfortable handing over money to a person collecting on the street, send a check to a reputable charity, she said.

ON THE LOOKOUT

If you see members of New Life Church soliciting cash, send a text message to Rudy Miller at 484-280-7533 or email him at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Or, snap a photo or shoot a video with your phone and share it with lehighvalleylive.com. Make sure your vehicle is legally parked before you start snapping.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
A two-story medical office complex is proposed in Palmer Township behind the Embassy bank near the Wal-Mart store.

Supervisors Chairman Dave Colver said Anchor Health has proposed a 57,000-square-foot medical office complex on Corriere Road. Anchor hasn't disclosed any tenants for the property, he said.

The plans will go before the Palmer Township planning commission on Tuesday night.

Colver said Anchor got permission several years ago for a one-story office building, but scrapped them and came back with the two-story plan.

"It's generally the same," Colver said. Medical offices are allowed in that zoning district, Colver said.

The building would go up behind Embassy Bank and an Applebee's restaurant on the east side of Corriere Road. Wal-Mart is on the west side of the road.

Corriere Road was extended from Route 248 to Van Buren Road about two to three years ago to make way for the Palmer View development, which contains more than 300 apartments. Palmer View is comparable in size to the proposed Palmer Point development, Colver said.

Colver said tenants started moving in to Palmer View in the spring of 2015.

According to the Anchor Health Properties website, Anchor was founded in 1985 and manages more than 1.5 million square feet of "healthcare assets." The company has offices in Wilmington, Delaware; Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee; and Charlottesville, Virginia.

It tries to develop medical facilities that cater to consumers the same way retail centers cater to them, the site says.

A representative from Anchor Health didn't immediately return a phone call.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Upper Macungie Township police have charged a driver they say struck a pedestrian and fled earlier this year.

Upper Macungie Township police have charged a driver in connection with a hit-and-run crash that left a pedestrian critically injured. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

Police put out a call to find the driver following the Jan. 8 crash. A few days later, Emma Godfrey came forward.

On Friday, Godfrey, 25, of Orefield, was charged with accidents involving personal injury, failing to notify police of an accident involving injury and failure to stop and render aid.

Godfrey's preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 11.

Township police said Thomas Diehl was crossing Tilghman Street near the Lehigh Motor Inn to get to the Sunoco gas station at 5917 Tilghman St. when he was struck by a red Honda Accord.

Godfrey told officers she was driving west when she hit an unknown object, police said. Damage to Godfrey's 2007 Honda Accord was consistent with car parts found at the crash scene, police said.

Diehl, of Allentown, suffered critical injuries and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. He was treated and released.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The IWEA is urging Laois County Council to permit turbines in protected areas under exceptional circumstances, which a spokesperson claimed does not include the Slieve Blooms.

The Irish Wind Energy Association made a submission last December to County Hall on the new County Development Plan 2017 to 2023, asking them to make changes in favour of windfarms.

The association is urging Laois County Council to reclassify its zoning of areas suitable for wind farms in its new Wind Energy Strategy.

The WES 2011 states that there are no 'Strategic' wind farm areas in Laois and designates specific areas as ' Areas not open for Consideration.. We strongly urge the council to set out more clearly the methodology and evidential basis for these classifications. Such areas should be reclassified allowing for an exceptional circumstance provision in the CDP 2017, the IWEA say.

They say that future advances in technology could mitigate potential impacts on the environment.

The largest area in Laois that is zoned as not open for consideration, is the Slieve Bloom Mountains, a Special Area of Conservation.

Other smaller protected zones include the Rock of Dunamaise and the Windy Gap outside Stradbally.

No areas are zoned Strategic,or ideal for turbines.

However the council has zoned some small areas as preferred, and larger zones open to consideration.

Aa spokesperson for the IWEA says drawing any link to possible future windfarms on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, is inappropriate, because it is not mentioned in their submission.

Its not wind energy everywhere, its wind energy in the right places. Any planning has to be properly assessed in accordance with natura habitats. We are asking for clearer designations, that helps everyone, he said.

Asked if Laois should take a larger share of Irish windfarms, the spokesperson said There isnt a county by county breakdown. Different counties have stronger possibilities.

On the strong Laois resistance to windfarms, with national groups like Wind Aware Ireland based here, he said people are entitled to their views when they have concerns.

They might not have seen them up close, or have the full facts. We have information on windenergy.ie, and people can visit Mount Lucas in Offaly where there are walkways open 365 days a year, he said.

In their submission, the IWEA also wants specifics on how areas are zoned.

We strongly urge the council to set out more clearly the methodology and evidential basis it says..

It says protected sites should not be ruled out in the County Development Plan, but rather at development control stage.

While we advocate applying the precautionary principle to protected sites, the potential of such areas should not be automatically ruled out for wind energy development at a strategy level, the association said.

The wind industries also respectfully request that Laois County Council move its Wind Energy Strategy from the County Development Plan appendix, into the main document, giving it stronger statutory power.

The IWEA intend to make further submissions, and offered to meet the planners.

Ireland now has enough turbines to power over 1.5 million homes,with wind energy at times providing over half of the national electricity demand.

The country is now third in Europe for wind generated electricity, averaging 24 percent in 2015.

Less than one percent was from the only Laois windfarm in Gortahile.
A Portlaoise man has been remanded in custody after suspects in a robbery in Cork crashed into a garda vehicle on the Mountrath Road.

A Portlaoise man has been remanded in custody after suspects in a robbery in Cork crashed into a garda vehicle on the Mountrath Road.

At last weeks sitting of Portlaoise District Court, gardai successfully objected to bail in the case of Shane Anthony ODonoghue of 7 Old Knockmay Road, Portlaoise. He was charged with a theft and fraud offence and possession of stolen property on July 23 last.

Another youth from Dublin, who is a juvenile and cannot be named, was also before the court on similar charges and was granted bail.

Inspector Aidan Farrelly said the defendants were allegedly involved in the very serious traffic incident in which a garda vehicle was damaged. Following this, two garda members received treatment in hospital, Inspector Farrelly said.

Garda JP OBrien outlined the garda objections to bail in the case of ODonoghue due to the serious nature of the alleged offences and the sentence associated with these.

Garda OBrien outlined to the court that a vehicle was seen leaving the scene of a burglary in Cork. This vehicle was pursued and was eventually in a collision with a garda car in Portlaoise. Stolen goods were discovered in this vehicle and a garda member observed the defendant allegedly driving the vehicle.

During the bail application the defendants mother Hilda ODonoghue gave an undertaking to look after her son and ensure he stays at home. He is only 19, would you not give him a chance? she said.

However, Inspector Farrelly put it to Mrs ODonoghue - you cant exercise any control over him and said they had concerns that the defendant would not turn up in court.

On behalf of the defendant, barrister Darren Connolly said his client was looking for a chance, to turn himself around. The defendant would surrender his passport and stay with his mother and abide by any bail conditions imposed by the court.

He said it was open to gardai to bring the defendant back before the court should he come to their attention in the meantime.

He is adamant he wont let his mother down, he said.

Judge Catherine Staines refused bail and remanded the defendant in custody to appear in Cloverhill Court on July 30. The court heard that directions from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) are expected to be ready within the next six weeks.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has announced that Joe Dolan, proprietor of The Bush Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon has been elected as its new President for a two-year term.

A second generation hotelier with over 25 years experience in the hotel sector, Joe becomes the 36th President of the IHF, succeeding Stephen McNally.

His priority areas include tackling the high cost of doing business in Ireland; the restoration of investment by Government in tourism marketing and product development; and increased support for regional tourism.

Speaking about his objectives after his election Joe said, Tourism has made significant progress in recent years, in large part due to the hard work and perseverance of thousands of tourism businesses including hotel and guesthouse operators. An upturn in the global economy has also greatly helped as have a number of pro-tourism initiatives from the Government, such as the 9% VAT and zero rate air passenger tax.

However, continued growth cannot be taken for granted. Market conditions within our industry remain challenging, particularly outside of the larger urban areas and traditional tourism hotspots.

Were only at the start of a long journey and a lot more needs to be done to ensure sustained growth in tourism over the medium to long term, says Mr Dolan.

Serious challenges include the high cost of doing business in Ireland, particularly around Government controlled costs such as local authority rates. Significant additional investment is also required to support tourism marketing and product development  areas where funding has been significantly reduced since 2008.

I look forward to working with the next Government to ensure tourism remains at the heart of Irelands economic policy. We must work closely together if tourism is to reach its full potential for economic growth and employment, says Mr Dolan.

Our industry has a proven track record of job creation, having created over 33,000 new jobs since 2011. Given the right support, Irish tourism has the capacity to generate a further 40,000 additional new jobs over the next five years, which would be of tremendous benefit to the economy.

Joe's appointment has been welcomed by Ciaran Kelly from The Landmark Hotel who offered his best wishes saying, I wish to extend heartiest congratulations to Joe on his appointment as the new President of the Irish Hotels Federation.

Joe brings a wealth of knowledge to this appointment and is very well versed on the issues that face our industry and it's great to see a independent hotelier assume the role. This is recognition of Joe's years of involvement in the hotel business over the years. We work together in bringing conferences to Carrick-on-Shannon and with Joe at the helm he will be doing whatever he can to bring further business to the town and promote Leitrim as well as enhancing the Hotels Federation mandate in the coming years," Mr Kelly stated.
Berevan: Just because Kurds have shops in Turkey doesnt mean that they are completely integrated into society. There are many Kurdish villages in the south of Turkey that face daily attacks, where curfews have been established. In some cases, Turkish police enter the homes of civilians to kill them. At the end of the day, I wouldnt call that being brothers and sisters. And actually, when the leader of the pro-Kurdish party announced that he wanted peace between the Kurds and Turks, he was denounced as a traitor by the Turks. So I wouldnt call that a stable government where minorities can live in peace. Its propaganda. Erdogan is the first to call the Kurds traitors and terrorists, and hes also the first to fail to make the distinction between Kurds and Daesh. In fact, for everything he accuses the Kurds of doing, he is the one who does it.
I understand why people dislike targeted shortlists. I dont like them, in principle. To me, liberalism is all about giving people the greatest personal choice, and in an ideal world I wouldnt support them, which is what I said on the stage at autumn conference in 2014.

But we dont live in an ideal world, and thats why Im supporting the diversity motion at this Spring Conference.

The classic arguments just dont hang together any more. People say we need a level playing field. We do need it, but right now we dont have it  and our diverse approved candidate list proves thats not because underrepresented groups refuse to put themselves up for selection.

People think it will lead to tokenism, and god knows I dont want to be treated as the token woman. I know Im not a token, I know if I ran to be an MP it would be because I felt I was good enough to do it whoever I was up against, and I trust that any local party that had gone to the effort of selecting me would too, which is what really matters.

But I know plenty of people who treat me like Im a token for being young and a woman in the Lib Dems even without targets. They do it because young women in the Lib Dems are so uncommon (at least compared to young men) that were the proverbial unicorns  get a young woman in your event photo and youve hit the diversity jackpot. Why dont young women join the party that fought for fair parental leave and equal pay audits? Well, we know our lack of diversity drives away voters and potential members.

So why arent people getting selected if its not through their own choice? Even though the Lib Dems problem isnt (usually) overt sexism, racism, homophobia or ablism we all have unconscious biases. If selectors arent used to having women on a shortlist, they wont notice when there isnt one, and a list where women make up 50% of the list or more stands out as a weird anomaly  even though all-male lists happen quite often.

Why do I think the diversity motion will fix that problem? Because all the evidence suggests the short, sharp shock of targets like these changes attitudes, and that those changes are irreversible. Like the introduction of many more women to the UK parliament in 1997, or to parliaments in Sweden, Norway and Denmark under party targets, this policy has the potential to fundamentally alter not just the way the party talks about diversity, but the way it acts. All the evidence suggests after a few years of targets nobody will be asking if women could win a selection on merit: it will be an accepted fact. Once that shift has happened, we can get rid of the targets.

Other diversity efforts have been great for helping us find and support women candidates, but they havent had the drastic effect this motion could on attitudes party-wide. Weve been mentoring and supporting women candidates since the party was founded but it hasnt made a huge difference. In fact, diversity initiatives like mentoring are ideal for people who dont think the party needs to change: they get to pay lip service to diversity by voting for it, send the people involved off and let them get on with it, and you only have to hear about it once a year in a conference report. These great initiatives will continue if the motion passes, but it is the targets in this motion that will really get everyone engaged in changing how we do things.

So no, the motion isnt perfect, but then neither is the world we live in or the party we represent. This Spring conference, please vote to give us a real chance to change that.

* Alice Thomas is a member of the Federal Board and leads the FB Disciplinary Sub-Group. She is a solicitor based in Southwark who joined the Lib Dems in her hometown of Bromley & Chislehurst in 2006, just in time for her first by-election and has been campaigning ever since.
NUMEROUS failings were found at a Limerick centre for people with disabilities, following an announced inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), according to a recently published report.

On September 14, inspectors did a full review of a local Brothers of Charity centre and found 13 cases of non-compliance; nine of which were major. The centre was seen to be compliant in four areas, and was substantially compliant regarding records and documentation.

Of the major non-compliances, HIQA found that Brothers of Charity failed to ensure that residents were protected by the centres medication management.

The report stated that there were 16 medication errors recorded since the previous inspection in February 2015. Inspectors found that 50% of the errors were directly related to staff practices.

HIQA noted that while they reported errors, staff were not always vigilant when administering and recording the administration of medications.

One resident, according to the report, was given the incorrect dosage  double strength  of a medication on two consecutive nights by two different staff members.

Recent failures included the failure to give night sedation in the prescribed strength, and the incorrect labels, instructions and prescribed strengths were not attached to some medication. Staff did not identify these failings, the report stated.

HIQA added that there was no evidence to support the robust review of medication errors, to guarantee learning and protect residents from further errors.

In response to these findings, management told inspectors that the demands on staff due to a lack of resources and over-reliance on relief staff were contributing factors to these failings. In early December, Brothers of Charity said that they would review their medication policy, enforce monthly audits and record errors, by December 31.

Major non-compliances were also found in the staffing level of the centre. The report stated that Brothers of Charity failed to ensure that there were adequate staff resources to meet assessed needs of the residents.

There are six residents, three of whom have complex needs, according to the centre.

Only one staff member was allocated to this particular centre, and this staff member was sleepover staff, working 11pm to 7am shifts.

Inspectors found that there were staffing deficits, from 7am to 10pm, and that the sleepover arrangement was not sufficient to meet the increasing needs of residents.

Records also showed that the ratio of staff, of 1:6, may be too low to facilitate residents needs and made it difficult for staff to focus on all service users needs.

The centre, in July 2015, requested funding for additional support staff hours from the HSE, in order to support residents in the evening at weekends.

The report found that, based on a sample of three residents, inspectors were not satisfied that each plan accurately reflected each residents needs. The centre stated that this would be rectified by late February.

Inspectors noted that the centre failed to report injury records to HIQA. These included resident falls and incident where a resident had a bruise of unknown origin.

The incident report did not reassure inspectors that injuries of unknown origin including bruising were adequately and comprehensively investigated. There was a lack of clarity between the records and staff spoken with as to the exact nature of the falls sustained.

The centre has since made notifications to HIQA.

The centre was commended for its individualised supports and care, effective services, health and development, management, and its use of information.

Residents had access to monthly advocacy services, GPs and pharmacies. It was noted that staff welcomed complaints and that residents were listened to when complaints were made.

According to the report, residents had access to radio, television, telephone, magazines and literary classes.

The centre has applied for the registration of four additional beds to be accommodated in a separate house within close proximity to the inspected centre. The houses are in good state of repair and decorative order, the report stated.
IRISH Cement has formally applied for planning permission to transform the way it operates at its plant in Limerick.

The firm is seeking the go-ahead from Limerick City and County Council for a development which will allow for the replacement of fossil fuels through lower carbon alternatives at the Mungret plant.

The project will also allow for the use of other raw materials. In a move which will see 40 new roles created over the lifetime of the 10m plan, Irish Cement will burn rubber from used tyres at more than 1,400 degrees celsius.

This should allay fears of any impact on the environment, because due to the high temperature, the material will immediately become liquid, like lava, and set immediately.

It also solves the problem of used car tyres which are piling up around the country.

Thousands of tonnes of tyres will be ferried to the Mungret factory, along with shredded plastics which waste disposal companies cannot process.

As well as the new jobs it will create, bosses at Mungret Cement have said they expect the new development will secure the future of the 80 staff currently working there.

If Irish Cement's Mungret plan gets the green light, it will mean no more plants in Ireland will produce the material using fossil fuels.

As part of the development, the company is planning to construct a tyre storage area with a tyre handling/separation area, and an associated conveyer chamber.

The development will take place over an area of ten hectares within the cement factory.

Cllr John Loftus, Independent, has previously welcomed the development, saying: This is not limited investment. When you consider the other industries which have come and gone in Limerick, it is good to see Irish Cement is sticking around. They are being open, being transparent, and letting people know.

The making of cement involves the mixing of materials including limestone, slate, ore, ash and heating them to nearly 1,500 degrees.
A 36-year-old father of two has received a suspended prison sentence for his part in a scam to defraud an elderly woman of over 5,000 in Newcastle West.

Shane OBrien of 27A Woodfield Green in Newcastle West was one of three men who called to the 75-year-old womans home in November 2014 after she replied to an ad he had placed offering tree cutting services.

They agreed to do the work for 500. However, while he carried out the work, the two men who were with him demanded payment of 5,300 for the job. The woman went to the Credit Union and withdrew the money, which she then handed over to the men.

The matter was later reported to the gardai by the womans son.

The defendant had pleaded guilty to his part in the scam at a sitting of the same court in December. At that time the judge was told that the other two men involved had since left the jurisdiction. Evidence was also given that he had paid the money back in full to the woman.

Newcastle West court also heard that OBrien had 13 previous convictions, including for drugs offences, theft and road traffic matters.

After hearing the evidence on that occasion, Judge Mary Larkin described the scam as the lowest of the low.

This kind of crime is despicable. An elderly lady living on her own - imagine the kind of stress it caused her, the judge said.

At last weeks sitting of Newcastle West District Court, Judge Larkin was told that the defendant had since co-operated fully with the probation services.

She imposed a three month prison sentence which she suspended for two years on condition that he continue to engage with the probation services in a bid to secure employment or suitable training. The case was put in for review in September.
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A temple statue in Thailand of the demon Rahu, believed to cause eclipses by eating the sun or moon.

The first and only total solar eclipse of 2016 will roll across the sky this week. Total solar eclipses  when the moon's shadow blocks the sun entirely  are spectacular events, highly anticipated by astronomers, astrophotographers and casual spectators alike.

But it wasn't always that way.

The gradual darkening of the sun was once cause for alarm, linked to evil auguries or the activity of the gods. Throughout history, cultures around the world sought to provide context and explanation for eclipses, and like the eclipses themselves, the legends attached to the events were dramatic. [Sun Shots: Amazing Eclipse Images]

Left in the dark

This week's total solar eclipse will be visible from Indonesia and from the North Pacific Ocean early on Wednesday (March 9) local time, (late Tuesday, March 8, EST). During the celestial event, the sun is expected to be completely obscured for 4 minutes and 9.5 seconds.

Total solar eclipses occur when the moon's umbral shadow, the innermost and darkest part, is cast over the sun at a specific point during the moon's orbit: when it is close enough to Earth that the shadow completely obscures the sun's light. Witnessed firsthand, the effect is unsettling: The sky is gradually overcome by a creeping darkness that is jarringly out of sync with the familiar rhythms of day and night.

And for many ancient peoples, that meant one thing  trouble, said Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer and director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

The word "eclipse" is derived from the Greek term "ekleipsis," meaning "an abandonment," Krupp wrote in his book, "Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets" (Oxford University Press, 1992). And during an eclipse, when the sun "abandoned" people to the darkness, many responded with terror and anticipation of disaster.

Krupp detailed a 16th-century account of Aztecs in central Mexico written by a Spanish missionary named Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, who described people reacting to an eclipse with "a tumult and disorder."

"There was shouting everywhere. People of light complexion were slain [as sacrifices]," de Sahagun wrote, according to Krupp, adding, "It was thus said: 'If the eclipse of the sun is complete, it will be dark forever! The demons of darkness will come down. They will eat men.'" [The Surprising Origins of 9 Common Superstitions]

Krupp also relayed an account from ancient Mesopotamia, in which it was said that an eclipse heralded that "an all-powerful king would die," and that "a flood will come and Ramman [the storm and weather god] will diminish the crops of the land."

And in Australia, eclipses were viewed negatively by many  but not all  Aboriginal groups, "frequently associating them with bad omens, evil magic, disease, blood and death," said a study published in July 2011 in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. Medicine men and community elders would try to counteract an eclipse's evil portents by chanting, singing, and throwing sacred or magical objects toward the sun, the authors explained.

In this picture of a solar eclipse, the moon is beginning to move from its position in front of the sun. (Image credit: NASA)

Swallowing the sun

Many cultures attributed the sun's partial or total disappearance to hungry demons or gods with runaway appetites. Krupp detailed Mayan glyphs that hinted at a giant serpent swallowing the sun during an eclipse. Chinese and Armenian tales referred to dragons, while Hungarians claimed a giant bird was the culprit. The Buryats, an indigenous group in southern Siberia, blamed a giant bear, and the Shan people in what is now Vietnam described the sun-swallower as an evil spirit that took the form of a toad. [The 7 Most Famous Solar Eclipses in History]

For the Vikings, eclipses were caused by a sky wolf, whose name, Skoll, meant "repulsion." People would attempt to retrieve the temporarily stolen sun by making as much noise as possible, so as to scare the wolf into abandoning his meal, according to the 13th-century Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson, who wrote the book "Tales from Norse Mythology" (University of California Press, 2001).

And some of these sun-eaters took even more monstrous forms, Krupp recounted. Yugoslavians linked solar eclipses to a type of werewolf called the vukodlak, while western Siberia's Tatars told of a vampire that tried to swallow the sun and failed after burning his tongue. In Korea, the king of the "Land of Darkness" tasked his Fire Dogs with stealing the sun to brighten his gloomy domain.

In the ancient Indian poem "Mahabharata," the head of the demon Rahu  decapitated by the god Vishnu for drinking an immortality potion  pursued the sun that betrayed him, seeking to swallow it. But even when Rahu succeeded, it was only a matter of time before the sun re-appeared, passing through the demon's severed throat, Krupp explained.

Cosmic coupling

Other stories about eclipses assign a role to the moon in the sun's disappearance, according to Jarita Holbrook, a physics professor at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and editor of the book "African Cultural Astronomy" (Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings (opens in new tab), 2008).

"Mesoamerica and parts of Africa describe the sun and moon fighting during eclipses. Then there is the marriage of sun and moon among some of the North Americans. The marriage of sun and moon is often an act of creation in myths," Holbrook told Live Science in an email.

Holbrook explained that during the unfamiliar darkness of a solar eclipse, certain planets and stars could become visible, fueling myths that a cosmic coupling of sun and moon resulted in "births" of other objects in the sky.

"During the totality of a total solar eclipse, these bright points of light appear, only to disappear as totality ends," Holbrook said. "I can see how our ancient ancestors conceived of total solar eclipses as both a marriage and [a union] with the creation of stellar children."

Norse Mythology (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) $13.89 (opens in new tab) View (opens in new tab)

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
A mysterious, mile-long landing strip in the remote Nevada desert could be the home base for testing sensors on a top-secret fleet of drones, security experts speculate.

As seen in images from Google Earth, the asphalt landing strip is in Area 6 of the Yucca Flat test site, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northeast of the infamous Area 51 that has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. In Area 6, a handful of hangars with clamshell doors are clustered at one end of the airstrip, the Google Earth images reveal.

The area, which does not have a name, is fenced off and can be seen from the road by those touring the pockmarked Nevada National Security Site of Yucca Flat, where the military conducted hundreds of nuclear tests over several decades. [14 Strangest Sights on Google Earth]

While little is known about Area 6, the Yucca Airstrip is used by both the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, Darwin Morgan, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"They come here to test their own sensors," he recently said after evading questions from the newspaper about Area 6 for months.

Drone base?

Though officials with the government have been extremely reticent to reveal any details about the site, a few details have leaked out.

A 7,500-page tome on nuclear safety at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project includes a brief paragraph describing Area 6 as an "aerial operations facility."

The purpose of this facility is to construct, operate, and test a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles. Tests include, but are not limited to, airframe modifications, sensor operation, and onboard computer development. A small, manned chase plane is used to track the unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2008 report in the Yucca Mountain repository license application filed by government contractor Bechtel SAIC, which built the airstrip for $9.6 million.

The airspace above the strip is controlled, which reduces the risk of planes or satellites in space getting a detailed look at the surroundings. It also prevents the public from unintentionally stumbling upon the site, Morgan told the Review-Journal.

Based on its size, the hangars could house up to 15 MQ-9 Reaper planes, the type of drones used to perform reconnaissance, Tim Brown, an imagery analyst at the defense information website GlobalSecurity.org, told the Review Journal. The runway is too small for fighter jets or bombers, he added.

One possibility is that the remotely piloted planes do practice runs for reconnaissance work. Yucca Flat's high desert terrain echoes that found in the most remote regions of Libya, where Al Qaeda or ISIS operatives could be hiding out, he said.

If that's the case, the government may be testing out sensor arrays  essentially fields of hundreds of smartphone-type cameras that are mounted on planes such as the MQ-9 Reaper to take time-lapse photography. The idea is that anything out there that's moving could, in fact, be moved by a potential terrorist or bad actor, Brown said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Mr. Antonio P. Tamayo, 91, entered into his eternal rest Friday, March 4, 2016, in Laredo, Texas.

Antonio was born in Port Isabel, Texas on Jan. 17, 1925, the second oldest of ten children born to Jose Angel and Tomacita Tamayo.

Tony is survived by his wife of 69 years of marriage, Mrs. Guadalupe B. Tamayo; son, The Most Reverend James A. Tamayo, Bishop of the Diocese of Laredo; and daughter, Mrs. Mercy Barrera of Corpus Christi.

Tony is also survived by his grandchildren, Yvonne and Shawn Dick of Round Rock; Leslie Barrera of Houston; and Michael Barrera of Corpus Christi.

He also leaves behind his two great-granddaughters, Katie and Calleigh of Round Rock.

In addition, Tony is survived by his two sisters, Marta Michel of Baytown; and Lola Lodrique of Fort Worth.

He will be remembered by many dear relatives and friends.

The family is most grateful for all the prayers and support extended to our loved one and to our family.

The family will receive condolences Tuesday, the 8th of March 2016, at Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home, 4357 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christ, TX 78412; from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a Vigil for the Deceased and Rosary to be recited at 7 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, the 9th of March 2016, at 10 a.m. at St. Phillip the Apostle Catholic Church, 3513 Cimarron Road, Corpus Christi, TX 78414.

Rite of Committal and Interment will immediately follow the Mass at the family plot in Seaside Memorial Park, 4537 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated in Laredo, TX on Friday, the 11th of March 2016, at noon at San Agustin Cathedral.

You may express your condolences to the family and check service information online at: www.joejacksonfuneralchapels.com.

Arrangements in Laredo have been entrusted to the care and direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at Cortez, Laredo, TX 78040; (956) 722-0001.

Arrangements in Corpus Christi have been entrusted to Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home, 4357 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412; (361) 992-9411.
Connie Gerety-Quinn has not ruled out running for Fianna Fail again despite seeing her general election hopes fall short.

Mrs Gerety-Quinn, a first-time candidate, was eliminated on Monday after a recount left her 40 votes behind nearest rival and outgoing TD James Bannon.

The mother of three said she was terribly proud of the decision almost 4,500 people took to give her their first preference votes last Friday.

She admitted the past number of months had been a steep learning curve for her but one she was immensely proud of.

I am terribly proud of the vote I got with limited resources and against all the odds I feel it was a great endorsement by the people of Longford, she said.

Her reference to those challenges had a lot to do with the Carrickedmond native's initial nomination as a general election candidate last October.

The controvery surrounding her nomination has been well-documented at this stage.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of her electoral defeat on Monday evening, she admitted the fallout had hindered her chances.

Had I had that full support I believe I could have been pushed over the line not just today but maybe two days ago and that's regretful not for me personally, but for Longford, she confided.

I said all along this is not about personal egos, this is about Longford.

Ms Gerety Quinn, while cautious not to name names, likened the saga to climbing a ladder with someone hanging out of your legs.

I did have a baptism of fire and I did have a rough ride from start to finish but I have ran a very honest campaign and I have had really good, decent people row in behind me, she said.

I am terribly proud and I am so pleased the people did row in behind me.

And in a candid insight into the personal toll it inflicted, Ms Gerety Quinn played down assumptions that have been made over her own character.

A lot of people might have regarded me as a very strong person, she added.

I am not. I am not that person but I had a belief that there was a purpose to the decision I made and while that purpose may not be reflected today I believe it will in the future.

She also spoke at length about the catalyst for her eventual nomination - Ireland's newly-enforced gender quota laws.

It's anticipated that a record number of women will form part of the new Dail when it reconvenes next Thursday.

The National Womens Council of Ireland believes the quota system has already initiated change in the culture of political parties and the way they operate.

It's a debate Ms Gerety-Quinn linked to her own travails as a first time candidate.

It's all about belief in the candidate and I am really flattered that people have shown they have that belief in me.

The gender quota emerged because it was apparent that the culture within politics was not conducive to encouraging women.

I have seen that and seen how difficult it has been for me personally but also in terms of ensuring other areas like family, children are taken care of, she said.

There were messages of appreciation issued too.

Her husband, Joe, her three children and dedicated band of supporters were given special mention.

 I have had really, good decent people row in behind me. I am terribly proud and I am so pleased the people did row in behind me, she said.

She was full of praise for the man she said was behind her party's return from the political abyss - Micheal Martin.

As she explained her reasons for first joining the party, Ms Gerety Quinn said her motivations were stirred by what she believed was an ever deepening gulf between urban and rural Ireland.

A lot of people did feel, as I did, that there was a clear disconnect and that decisions were made on our behalf which certainly were not always to our better good. We have to bridge that divide, she said.

My strength in Fianna Fail increased considerably after they absolutely reached an all time low and I did see how energy could be injected back into it. I felt, as with anything, when you have reached the lowest point there is only one way you can go.

With work and a lot of effort put in by our leader Micheal Martin to keep the ship afloat at great personal cost, to that end he deserves to be acknowledged.

Her biggest regret, she lamented, was not the controversy that marred her nomination or her failure to secure election to the 32nd Dail, but the decision by 6,000 Longford voters to send their 'number ones' to Westmeath-based candidates.

 I think that is utterly awful, not for me, obviously, but for Longford, she remarked.

We are consistently talking about the lack of business and investment and opportunity and yet we have so many votes gone out of the county.

 I just think that beggars belief and it makes you wonder where is the loyalty, what is it all about? It is really people speaking out of two sides of their mouth that they could actually send so many votes out of Longford.

As for her own future aspirations, she talks of being a conduit for Longford should the county be left with no TD for the first time in its history.

Am I bitten by the bug? I suppose I felt I had purpose in putting myself forward initially and in standing my ground as well.
Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: March 07 2016

Suffolk County Police have arrested three people after they sold alcohol to minors at several businesses in Huntington Station last night.

Huntington Station, NY - March 5th, 2016 - Suffolk County Police have arrested three people after they sold alcohol to minors at several businesses in Huntington Station last night.



Second Precinct Crime Section officers and Community Support Unit officers conducted an underage alcohol sting operation at ten businesses on March 4 between approximately 8 p.m. and 12 a.m.



Some businesses were chosen in response to community complaints while others were randomly selected. Three of the businesses were found to be in violation of the law.



The following were arrested and charged with Unlawfully Dealing with a Child 1st Degree for selling alcohol to a minor:

Donis Rodriguez, 37, employed by Los Cercadillos Grocery, located at 184 Depot Road, Huntington Station.



Rehmen Qureshi, 41, employed by the One Stop Deli, 150 W. Pulaski Road, Huntington Station.



Angel Galloza, 22, employed by Papa Ningo Deli, 1888 New York Ave., Huntington Station. Galloza was also charged with violating the New York State ABC law for permitting on-premise consumption of alcohol without an appropriate permit.

All three were issued a Field Appearance Ticket and scheduled for arraignment at a later date.



The following seven businesses were in compliance:Compruebe Deli and Grocery, 1415 New York Ave., Huntington Station.

Mishael Grocery Corp., 1415 New York Ave., Huntington Station.

Yarys Deli, 74B E. Pulaski Road, Huntington Station.

Jennys Deli, 1044 New York Ave., Huntington Station.

The Grog Shop, 185 Depot Road, Huntington Station.

Citgo Groceries, 1181 New York Ave., Huntington Station.

One Stop Deli, 223 Broadway, Greenlawn

The operation was part of an ongoing effort by the Suffolk County Police Department to ensure compliance of laws pertaining to the sale of alcohol.
National & World News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: March 07 2016

1 in 4 catheter- and surgery-related HAIs caused by six resistant bacteria in long-term hospitals.

The CDC urges healthcare providers to take extra steps to prevent patients from getting antibiotic-resistant infections during their hospital stay.

Atlanta, GA - March 4th, 2016 - America is doing a better job of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), but more work is needed  especially in fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) latest Vital Signs report urges healthcare workers to use a combination of infection control recommendations to better protect patients from these infections.

New data show that far too many patients are getting infected with dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria in healthcare settings, said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. Doctors and healthcare facilities have the power to protect patients  no one should get sick while trying to get well.

Many of the most urgent and serious antibiotic-resistant bacteria threaten patients while they are being treated in healthcare facilities for other conditions, and may lead to sepsis or death. In acute care hospitals, 1 in 7 catheter- and surgery-related HAIs can be caused by any of the six antibiotic-resistant bacteria listed below.



That number increases to 1 in 4 infections in long-term acute care hospitals, which treat patients who are generally very sick and stay, on average, more than 25 days.

The six antibiotic-resistant threats examined are:

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae (extended-spectrum -lactamases)

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)

Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter

U.S. hospitals doing better at preventing most HAIs

The national data in this Vital Signs report, along with data from CDCs latest annual progress report on HAI prevention, show that acute care hospitals have achieved:

A 50 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) between 2008 and 2014. 1 in 6 remaining CLABSIs are caused by urgent or serious antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A 17 percent decrease in surgical site infections (SSIs) between 2008 and 2014 related to 10 procedures tracked in previous HAI progress reports. 1 in 7 remaining SSIs are caused by urgent or serious antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

No change in the overall catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) between 2009 and 2014. During this time, however, there was progress in non-ICU settings, progress in all settings between 2013 and 2014, and most notably, even more progress in all settings towards the end of 2014. 1 in 10 CAUTIs are caused by urgent or serious antibiotic-resistant bacteria.



The Vital Signs report also examines the role of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), the most common type of bacteria responsible for infections in hospitals. C. difficile caused almost half a million infections in the United States in 2011 alone. CDCs annual progress report shows that progress has been made in decreasing hospital-onset C. difficile infections by 8 percent between 2011 and 2014.

Along with the updated annual progress report, CDC released the Antibiotic Resistance Patient Safety Atlas, a new web app with interactive data on HAIs caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The tool provides national, regional, and state map views of superbug/drug combinations showing percent resistance over time. The Atlas uses data reported to CDCs National Healthcare Safety Network from 2011 to 2014 from more than 4,000 healthcare facilities.

CDC message to healthcare providers

CDC is calling on doctors, nurses, health care facility administrators, and state and local health departments to continue to do their part to prevent HAIs. The report recommends doctors and nurses combine three critical efforts to accomplish this:

Prevent the spread of bacteria between patients;

Prevent infections related to surgery and/or placement of a catheter; and

Improve antibiotic use through stewardship.

For clinicians, prevention means isolating patients when necessary, said Clifford McDonald, M.D., Associate Director for Science at CDCs Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. It also means being aware of antibiotic resistance patterns in your facilities, following recommendations for preventing infections that can occur after surgery or from central lines and catheters placed in the body, and prescribing antibiotics correctly.

CDC efforts, in addition to efforts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and state mandates for public reporting of HAIs, have all contributed to national progress in improving transparency, accountability, and quality related to patient safety.

The good news is that we are preventing healthcare acquired infections, which has saved thousands of lives, said Patrick Conway, M.D., M.Sc., Deputy Administrator and Chief Medical Officer at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The challenge ahead is how we help to prevent antibiotic resistance as well as infections. We are using incentives, changes in care delivery, and transparency to improve safety and quality for patients.

Congress has recognized the urgent need to combat antibiotic resistance. In fiscal year 2016, Congress appropriated $160 million in new funding for CDC to implement its activities listed in the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria. With this funding, CDC will fight the spread of antibiotic resistance by:

accelerating outbreak detection and prevention in every state;

enhancing tracking of resistance mechanisms and resistant infections;

supporting innovative research to address current gaps in knowledge; and

improving antibiotic use.

As part of the ongoing effort to improve patient safety, CDC and other federal partners will participate in National Patient Safety Awareness Week 2016, March 13 through March 19.
Local News, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: March 07 2016

Senate Candidate Joins Call to Limit Outside Income, Close the LLC Loophole, and Increase Transparency for Discretionary Spending.

Long Island, NY - March 7th, 2016 - Today, Assemblyman and former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky took the next step towards cleaning up Albany by signing the Clean Conscience Pledge.



The Pledge, unveiled by Common Cause New York, Citizens Union, and New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG), calls on Albany to significantly limit outside income, close the LLC loophole, and increase transparency to eliminate conflicts of interest in discretionary spending. To date, 17 State Senators and 9 Assemblymembers have signed the Pledge.



As the former lead prosecutor of the federal governments local public corruption unit, Kaminsky has made ending corruption in New York a central tenant of both his time in the Assembly and his campaign for Dean Skeloss former State Senate seat. Kaminsky has already proposed banning outside income, increasing oversight of local government contracting, imposing criminal penalties for corrupt politicians, and making it illegal to lie to a District Attorney investigator.



Even after multiple corruption convictions, Albany continues to resist reforms at every turn, said Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky.



Any candidate running to replace Dean Skelos has an obligation to push for simple reforms that will clean up New Yorks government. The taxpayers deserve honest, purposeful representation and an end to a government that looks out for the politically connected. Today, I proudly pledge to continue pushing these meaningful reforms because I will not rest until Albany politicians start working for the people, once and for all.



Corruption has a cost, Assemblyman Kaminsky continued. Corruption robs taxpayers of their hard-earned dollars, robs school districts of needed resources, robs roads and transit projects from critical funding, and robs our state of its honor. We can end corruption in New York, but it starts with taking tough, critical steps so that elected officials serve the taxpayers, and not themselves.



As of this date, Republican candidate Chris McGrath had not signed the Clean Conscience Pledge. In fact, McGrath, in previous statements, has made it clear that he opposed banning outside income and, if elected, plans to continue taking outside income, himself.



The 9th Senate District seat became automatically vacant upon Skeloss conviction in December on charges of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. The Special Election to replace Skelos will be held on April 19th.
School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: March 07 2016

Legislator McCaffrey attends Babylon Rotarys Dictionary Project Presentation.

Babylon, NY - March 7th, 2016 - Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) recently joined with members of the Babylon Rotary for their Dictionary Project breakfast and presentation. The event took place at Babylon Memorial Grade School, and was attended by Rotarians, elected officials or their representatives, teachers and 3rd grade students.



The Dictionary Project is a special cause that the Babylon Rotary advances due to their unwavering commitment to improving lives through education and civic involvement. Essentially, by putting dictionaries into the hands of young students, the Rotarians are equipping them with foundational tools that will last a lifetime.



The idea behind the Dictionary Project is simple, yet so important, said McCaffrey. The English language is not only complex, diverse and beautiful, but it is the key to future learning and success. The Babylon Rotary is doing something very special with this undertaking and I commend them greatly for it.



The Dictionary Project also serves as a way for the members of the Babylon Rotary to remember William E. DeLuca, Jr., one of its distinguished past presidents. Mr. DeLuca was a long-time educator and administrator in the Town of Babylon, thus dedicating the Dictionary Project in his name was deemed to be a fitting and thoughtful tribute. Likewise, each year, a special honoree is recognized for his or her contributions to community advancement.



This years honoree was William Bill P. France, who is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Strahl & Pitsch Inc., a prominent manufacturer of waxes located in the Town of Babylon. In addition to his contributions to the local business community and economy, Bill has been a member and supporter of the Babylon Rotary, and he was the benefactor of this years Dictionary Project.



Bill has been a fixture in the Town of Babylon for many years, said McCaffrey. I cannot think of a better example of a good citizen or a more deserving person for special recognition.



To learn more about the Babylon Rotary Club, visit their website. If you are interested in learning more about the background of the Dictionary Project, you can visit the organizations website.



About Legislator McCaffrey

Legislator McCaffrey represents Suffolk Countys 14th Legislative District which encompasses the Village of Lindenhurst, Babylon Village, the hamlets of West Babylon and North Lindenhurst, portions of Copiague, North Babylon, and Babylons barrier beach communities.



Pictured in Feature Photo (back row L to R): Rotarian Wayne Horsley (Long Island Regional Director of New York State Parks); Babylon Rotary Club President Mikel Hoffman; Rotary President-Elect Megan Aubin; Honoree William "Bill" P. France; Rotary Past President Gail Sullivan; Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey; Gordon Canary (Representing New York State Senator Phil Boyle); Babylon Village Mayor Ralph Scordino; and Program Chairman Frank Seibert. Front Row: Babylon Memorial Grade School Students.
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
Photo purportedly showing the TIP training children in weapons in northwestern Syria

Photos released by social media accounts linked to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a Chinese Uighur jihadist group that is part of al Qaedas international network, show the group training children in Syria. The photos are unconfirmed and undated, but the TIP is known to operate training camps for children in northwestern Syria.

The three photos show children, many of which are Uighur, attending a Sharia school ran by the group and participating in weapons training. Last September, the TIP released a video showing the training of what it called little jihadists. The children are shown posing with AK-47 assault rifles, attending Sharia classes, and partaking in weapons training. In July, the group first publicized a training camp in Idlib, which appears to be in the same area. Several of those photos depict the children learning how to operate AK-47s, sub-machine guns, and handguns. (See LWJ report, Uighur jihadist group in Syria advertises little jihadists.)

The TIP is not the only foreign al Qaeda ally in Syria known to train children. In December, the Imam Bukhari Jamaat (also known as Katibat Imam Bukhari), an Uzbek group in Syria loyal to the Taliban, released an 18-minute video showing the group training dozens of children. The children, who range from under 10 to mid-teens, are seen taking part in physical exercises and lessons on how to handle and fire weapons. (See LWJ report, Uzbek group in Syria trains children for jihad.)

The popular Saudi cleric Abdullah al Muhaysinis Jihad Callers Center also released a video last September showing native Syrian children training at a camp ran by the group. Muhaysini is closely tied to al Qaeda and the Al Nusrah Front. Additionally, the Chechen-led Junud al Sham, led by US-designated terrorist Muslim Shishani, is known to have ran training camps for children in the past. The Islamic State, which gets most of the media attention on its training of children, has also published several videos from many of its proclaimed provinces showing its cubs being trained for jihad.

Photos showing the children in the TIP-ran school:

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The US military announced that it launched an airstrike which targeted a Shabaab camp north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu on March 5. The US justified the strike on al Qaedas official East African branch by saying that fighters there posed an imminent threat.

The announcement was made today in a press release attributed to Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. According to media reports from Somalia, more than 150 Shabaab fighters were killed in the operation, but the numbers could not be independently confirmed. Cook said that manned and unmanned aircraft were used in the attack.

A Shabaab spokesman confirmed the attack but denied the group lost 150 fighters in the strike.

The U.S. bombed an area controlled by al Shabaab, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters. But they exaggerated the figure of casualties. We never gather 100 fighters in one spot for security reasons. We know the sky is full of planes.

The strike took place against the Raso Camp in the town of Raso in Bulobarde province. Raso is more than 100 miles due north of the capital of Mogadishu. The location of the camp serves as a reminder that Shabaab controls areas near Mogadishu that are far from the visible fighting further south.

Cook said the attacked was launched on March 5 in self-defense and in defense of our African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) partners. The camp was described as a a training facility, and the fighters who were scheduled to depart the camp posed an imminent threat to US and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces in Somalia.

The removal of these fighters degrades al Shabaabs ability to meet the groups objectives in Somalia, including recruiting new members, establishing bases, and planning attacks on US and AMISOM forces, Cook said in the release.

However, the true effects of the operation are difficult to gauge. The US and the Kenyan military have launched multiple airstrikes against Shabaabs military and top leaders. Most recently, in December 2015, the US said it killed Abdirahman Sandhere and two other associates in an airstrike. The US military described the death of Sandhere as a significant blow to al-Shabaab. The deaths of other senior Shabaab leaders, including the groups last emir and the two previous leaders of the Amniyat, Shabaabs intelligence service, were followed by similar proclimations by the military.

Shabaab has since proceeded to launch sophisticated ambushes on Kenyan and AMISOM forces in southern Somalia, and has regained control of several towns in the south since Sandhere was killed.

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.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
European Waterways Offers Whisky Trail Cruise

One that can truly be said to capture the spirit of a country is the company's Whisky Trail Cruise in the Highlands of Scotland aboard the hotel barge Scottish Highlander. Traveling along the Caledonian Canal, guests will visit at least three historic distilleries, each with its own remarkable history. Along the way, the hotel barge will glide across the scenic deep water lakes that include Loch Ness, past spectacular natural vistas, and visit some of the country's most famous castles and historic sites that have inspired many songs and legends.European Waterways' Whisky Trail themed cruise is perfect for single malt whisky enthusiasts, said Derek Banks, managing director of European Waterways. It's a unique opportunity for a group of like-minded travelers to get a true taste' of what made Scotland famous. Guests are also free to enjoy the many varieties of special whiskies available onboard the hotel barge.The 8-passenger Scottish Highlander evokes the ambiance of a Scottish country house, with subtle use of tartan furnishings. It cruises the Caledonian Canal between Fort William and Inverness, with guests being served the finest Scottish fare such as line-caught wild salmon, fresh scallops and locally-sourced saddle of venison  all skillfully prepared by the onboard Master Chef.Among the distilleries visited on the Whisky Trail is the Benromach Distillery near Forres, an intimate, family-owned business founded over 100 years ago. The tour includes a tasting of the classic Benromach Speyside single malt. Another private tour and tasting is provided at the Glen Ord distillery. Founded in 1838, it is the only remaining single malt Scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle. Also scheduled is a visit to the Dalwhinnie distillery, located in the spectacular Cairngorms National Park, where guests will enjoy the unique experience of tasting several aged single malts with a variety of matching chocolates.The distillery tours and private whisky tastings are the highlight of the cruise, but seeing the extraordinary diversity of wildlife and the expansive, natural views that frame the cruise route are all equally memorable experiences, said Banks. And, of course, crossing Loch Ness, it's advisable to have your cameras ready and the focus sharp  just in case Nessie makes an appearance!Rates for this 6-night, all-inclusive Whisky Trail charter cruise start at $31,500 for eight guests. The cruise is also available for individual cabin bookings on two departures in 2016, June 5 and October 2. Rates are from $4,090 per person, based on double occupancy.Visit website:
iPhone Pro Concept

Some interesting rumors have just emerged, indicating that Apple actually plans on launching a new iPhone this month.The news were first reported by the New York Times, which said that the famous company is actually going to launch a new iPhone, but also a new iPad, at the event that is set to take place in a couple of weeks.So, the report indicated that the tech giant was also willing to introduce a new iPad model, along with a smaller iPhone. The rumors were based on some statements of a person close to the tech giant, but its identity was not revealed.Other reports said that the tech company was also planning on introducing new Apple Watch accessories and software at the event to be held this month.When it comes to the upcoming iPhone's features, possibly called, it has been said that this will be a 4-inch phone that will actually come with all the features that can be found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S This includes the faster, but also great camera and the Apple Pay service, among other features. This device is said to be a replacement for the iPhone 5S, which was first released in 2013.This upgrade is said to address the iPhone fans who have refused to buy the iPhone 6 and prefer the more classic look of the iPhone.Some analysis have claimed that this might be a great success for Apple, with some even saying that it could represent an important percentage of the company's future sales.Other rumors indicated that Apple will also release this year a larger iPhone model. This device, iPhone 7 Plus, might actually be branded as the iPhone Pro.The rumors on this upcoming iPhone were first published by a Chinese website, which indicated that Apple was thinking at a new name, as it actually wanted to differentiate its larger iPhone from the smaller model.When it comes to the features of the bigger phone, it is rumored that the, but it will come with a thinner Lightning port and it will lack waterproofing.The rumor emerged after it has been claimed that the iPhone 7 Plus would actually be the only that will come with dual camera lens technology and Apple made the small change in its name to be able to differentiate the device.The dual camera that is rumored to come with the device is an impressive improvement that would surely mean a great quality increase in the image provided by the iPhone. Zoom detail and low light image capture would surely be improved.As imagined, everything is at the status of a rumor, so Apple confirmed absolutely nothing. However, there are only a few weeks left until we will find out if or which these rumors were true.So, some reports claimed that Apple's event will be taking place on March 21, when all these revelations will be made.
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Celebrity baby showers are just like normal baby showers - except they cost more than a house and the presents are insane.

Celebrity baby showers are just like normal baby showers - except they cost more than a house and the presents are insane. Yes, the joys of impending motherhood are probably just that little bit sweeter if you're a celebrity - because marking your pregnancy with a baby shower is a very big deal.

And whilst it's now de rigueur for the A-list to share photos of themselves chilling in their PJs at what looks like a chilled, low-key affair, we reckon behind the scenes it's an altogether different kind of party, and the rumours of extravagant gifts and privately hired super-venues are probably very true.

Here are celeb baby showers that you need to know about...

Emily Blunt (thrown by Charlize Theron)

Source: Instagram.com/TheAJZone

The Huntsman: Winter's War co-stars seemed to be having a blast this bank holiday weekend, as Charlize Theron threw a baby shower for Emily Blunt. Emily looked gorgeous in a flowing blue and white sundress, while Charlize went for a simple black ensemble with her hair tied back. Attendees included Charlize's mum, fitness coach AJ Johnson, and Emily's glam squad, with AJ posting this stunning picture from the party, writing, 'An afternoon of love, laughs and friendship celebrating #EmilyBlunt with hostess with the mostess @charlizeafrica #CharlizeTheron.' Chrissy Teigen And John Legend Chrissy and John threw a lavish baby shower over the weekend at a posh jewellery store in Soho, New York called Material Good. The couple ran with a royal theme, forgoing over-the-top venue decorations in favour of custom-made cookies with decorated with crowns and milk bottles. And how cute is that baby-mamma hat? We've also got Chrissy's take on being pregnant in our round-up of the most brutally honest celeb quotes about pregnancy. (And obvs she doesn't hold back).

Chrissy Teigen's SECOND Shower, Hosted By Kim Kardashian Because why have one celebrity-packed baby shower when you could have two? That's right, Kim Kardashian threw Chrissy a second shower over the Easter weekend and, of course, there was a photobooth on hand to capture the event.

Blake Lively Back in 2014, Blake announced her pregnancy on her now-defunct lifestyle website, Preserve, choosing to upload her carefully-curated baby shower pictures on there, too. 'Before experiencing the joy of 3am screams, seemingly impossible amounts of poop and having a favourite shirt covered in refluxthere are presents to open, onesies to dye, there is cake to serve, advice to be shared and all around celebration to be had' she wrote at the time. The autumn-harvest-cum-woodland themed pictures are impossibly stunning (we've come to expect nothing less from Blake) and the only thing that would make the pics even easier on the eye would be if her husband Ryan Reynolds featured too... Check out Ryan Reynolds quotes on being a Dad, too.

Gwen Stefani When Gwen was celebrating her third pregnancy in 2014, she chose the rather celeb-friendly Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles to host her blue baby shower. A-list guests included the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Richie, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Alba - who was snapped arriving with a huge diaper cake. Judging from the 'gram snaps, the decor was simple and elegant, with white roses placed around the room and blue-icing doughnuts and candy for the guests to snack on.

Victoria Beckham Back in 2011, when she was pregnant with her fourth child Harper, VB was unaware that she was even having a baby shower up until the last minute, as pals Eva Longoria and Ken Paves arranged the whole thing for her at the exclusive Le Petit Ermitage in L.A.. Sharing a photo of her pink, bridal-themed shower on Instagram, Vic also revealed that her celeb guests (Demi Moore and Nicole Richie, to name a couple) indulged in a toilet-paper-dress-making game. (We're confused too). We can only imagine what the gifts she received...

Kourtney Kardashian Seeing as Kourt is a Kardashian, it seemed only fitting that she opted for not one, but two breakfast-themed baby showers back in 2014 when she was expecting her third child, Reign. The fanciest, of course, was the one planned by her sisters in the exclusive Montage Beverly Hills hotel, and was inspired by Kourtney's all-time favourite movie, Breakfast At Tiffany's. The luncheon boasted gift-boxes containing mini-tiaras for all the guests, extravagant cream flowers displays the table, and even a cake in the shape of a stack of Tiffany boxes. Kourtney's second shower was a little more low key, (her sisters weren't in attendance) and she hired out American brunch restaurant IHOP, feasted on marshmallow-covered cakes with her friends made everyone turn up in their PJs. Check our gallery to see it.

Shakira Never one for an OTT party these days, Shakira announced her plans for a baby shower with a difference on her website by posting this cute-couple picture and writing: 'Hi everyone, Our second son is arriving soon and we would like you to celebrate with us by taking part in our World Baby Shower. This is more than a shower, it's a global movement to save lives. You can be part of it by buying an inspired gift from UNICEF. Inspired gifts are real life-saving items that are delivered to vulnerable children around the world.' Fans of Shakira and her husband Gerard Pique were then encouraged to buy a special gift to 'save a childs life' or host their own shower with a similar theme.

Hilary Duff Hilary had her sister Haylie to thank for her intimate baby shower that was held last year before baby Luca's arrival. The party was held in the mum-to-be's L.A.home, and looked like a chilled-out affair with just 19 of Hilary's closest friends and family, lots of cupcakes and even more flowers.

Fergie Back in 2013 Fergie had what looked like the best time ever, when her gay BFFs threw her an over-the-top, A-list-packed 'gayby' shower at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. Celeb guests included Fergie's old Black Eyed Peas bandmates, Jamie Foxx, and Kelly Osbourne, and judging from all the snaps on Instagram there was a celeb-packed photo booth onsite and lots of cocktails too.

Kim Kardashian For her second baby shower in 2015, Kim hosted a camp-themed sleepover with all her family, posting pics of her and and sisters (as well as North West) all clad in matching striped pyjamas and drinking hot chocolate. A very low-key affair for a Kardashian we think you'll agree, although Gigi Hadid, Serena Williams and Cara Delevingne later showed up in full-on glam wear, undermining the theme somewhat.

Drew Barrymore Back in 2014, Drew Barrymore was in a mood to celebrate after falling pregnant with her second child with hubby Will Kopelman, and who better to call upon than her A-list pals for a baby shower at her L.A. pad? Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz were all snapped in Drew's kitchen, with another 40 or so guests rumoured to have attended, all of whom enjoyed a back-yard party complete with professional catering and cocktails.

Can someone arrange our future baby shower in a similar fashion please? Anyone?
Femern A/S, a subsidiary of the Danish state-owned Sund & Blt Holding A/S, has today announced its intention to award a substantial contract related to the construction of a tunnel connecting Denmark and Germany to the Fehmarn Belt Contractors consortium including Van Oord. Besides Van Oord, the consortium includes Hochtief AG, Ed Zublin AG and Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. The total budget for the Fehmarnbelt link construction is DKR 45 billion (approximately EUR 6 billion) and the value of the contract to Van Oord is approximately EUR 300 million.



The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will connect Denmark and Germany and will be the world's longest immersed road and rail tunnel. The fixed immersed tunnel link across the Fehmarnbelt will be more than 18 km long and carry a four-lane motorway alongside a twin

track-electrified railway.



The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link tender consisted of four contracts: the tunnel north, the tunnel south, tunnel dredging and reclamation and the tunnel portals and ramps. The Fehmarn Belt Contractors consortium is the preferred bidder for the tunnel dredging & reclamation contract. The contract is conditional to obtaining the outstanding environmental permits that have yet to be issued by the German authorities. To the best of our knowledge, these permits are not expected to be issued before 2017.



The activity scope for Van Oord together with Boskalis includes the dredging of a tunnel trench in the seabed over a distance of 16 kilometers with the use of various types of dredging equipment including trailing suction hopper dredgers, backhoes and grab dredgers.



The dredged material will be reused to create a new recreational nature reserve area on the Danish side of the Fehmarnbelt. The consortium will also construct a new working harbour where the tunnel contractors will construct a tunnel fabrication yard where the tunnel sections will be cast before being floated out to sea for installation.


U.S. Ports: Investing in engines of economic development and American competitiveness

U.S. ports and our marine transportation system  and the hardworking men and women behind these operations  are essential drivers of the American economy. Every day, our ports and waterways handle millions of tons of domestic and international cargo, including food and agricultural products, petrochemicals and automobiles. In 2014 alone, $1.7 trillion worth of U.S. goods moved through our ports, representing 75 percent of imports and exports by weight.

But ports, like our highways and bridges, face challenges. As a country, we are investing too little, and as containerships grow larger and larger, more cargo must be unloaded into increasingly tight spaces. And ports face unique operational challenges as they move ever-expanding volumes of cargo between ships, trucks and rail lines. Today, not a single U.S. container port is in the top 15 container ports globally according to the Journal of Commerce. Expanding trade will continue to put pressure on the existing system, increasing congestion and threatening U.S. economic competitiveness; looking forward, the demand to move goods and raw materials on the U.S. transportation system is predicted to increase by 45 percent by 2040.

To support U.S. competitiveness in a global economy, it is essential that we expand, upgrade, modernize and maintain our maritime transportation infrastructure and strengthen our workforce. Thats why the Obama Administration has been working to identify opportunities to increase investment in U.S. ports. Recently, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced $800 million in available funding for the nations freight network and highlighted the opportunity for investments in 21st century ports. DOTs new FAST LANE program expands on the work of the Build America Transportation Investment Center, which has been helping ports around the country access Federal financing programs. Through seven rounds of funding, the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program has provided $524 million for 43 port and or marine highway projects in 24 states, helping to increase port efficiency and capacity.

Investments in ports dont only benefit trade. Ports are also integral to regional economies. They serve as hubs for transportation and logistics industries that want to locate facilities near strategic transportation centers. Today, ports support millions of American jobs in port communities and throughout the U.S. supply chain. These are solid, middle-class jobs that often come with the opportunity to join a union, an important way that workers can bargain for higher wages and better benefits, and also have a say in how the port operates and innovates.

To highlight the potential for ports to drive the U.S. economy, this morning we traveled to Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County. Tradepoint Atlantic is a major new industrial development on the site of an abandoned Bethlehem Steel mill. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Baltimore Bethlehem Steel mill was one of the largest steels mills in the world and employed tens of thousands of workers from Baltimore City and the surrounding counties. But over the past decades, the mill declined and eventually closed all together. Today, the site is showing new signs of life. Purchased by new owners in 2014, the developers are working with the local, state and Federal governments to transform Tradepoint into a center for the manufacturing and transportation and logistics industries, capitalizing on the regions strategic assets  like access to a deep water port, Interstate-95, major freight rail lines, and airports.

Tradepoint Atlantic is an example of how the Port of Baltimore is catalyzing economic growth in the Baltimore region and creating jobs. In the last few years, logistics, shipping and manufacturing companies have started to make investments in the zone around the Port. For example, Amazon has invested in a major new local facility near the Port, which has created more than 3,500 jobs. A new manufacturing firm, Blueprint Robotics, will open this summer and plans to employ more than 100 people in its first year. These new jobs build on the existing economic footprint of the Port, which supports 14,600 direct jobs and is responsible for $3 billion in combined wages and salaries.

Theres a significant opportunity for other communities around the country to use their ports to drive economic growth. Over the next five years, ports anticipate investing an average of $30 billion per year in new facilities and infrastructure. These investments can catalyze major economic development, especially if undertaken in close coordination with city and state governments and complemented by investments in public transportation and workforce development.

Port investments can also improve U.S. port capacity and efficiency. And, new authorities like those provided in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 signed by the President on February 24 will help U.S. Customs and Border Protection to more efficiently and effectively speed goods through ports, while preventing counterfeit and other goods that violate our trade laws from making it into the U.S. marketplace. These investments and efforts will help us take advantage of the leveled playing field and increased market access that will be enabled by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other Administration trade initiatives. We need to improve port efficiency now if we are going to maximize TPPs ability to create more port-related jobs and ensure that more Made in America exports are shipped around the world.

But the federal government cannot address port-related challenges alone. Thats why, during our visit to Tradepoint Atlantic, we held a meeting with leaders from ports, labor, shippers and retail companies from around the country to discuss how the Federal government can work collaboratively with stakeholders to build 21st century ports  and lay the foundations for sustained long-term growth.

Anthony Foxx is U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Tom Perez is U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Penny Pritzker is U.S. Secretary of Commerce.









Source: DOT Fast Lane Blog
PDMS Maritime has announced that it has been awarded a new contract to deliver its international ship registry and seafarer management platform (MARIS) to Maritime Cook Islands (MCI) Limited, the corporate administrators of the Cook Islands international ship registry.



MARIS will replace MCIs existing legacy systems to provide the registry with a new, modern and complete enterprise system which covers all the key aspects of their business including: registry, survey, seafarers and service operations.



The platform will also help the MCI to prepare for the IMOs mandatory audit scheme (IMSAS). From January 2016, the IMO will conduct audits in all its member states to determine the extent to which they give full and complete effect to their obligations under SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, Load Lines (LL), Tonnage and COLREG.



The picturesque Cook Islands, consisting of 15 Islands in the Pacific Ocean, hosts a fast-growing and commercially driven International Ship Registry. In the 12 months to September 2015, the registry achieved an impressive 17 percent growth rate. Their strategic investment in MARIS - a modern, flexible and powerful enterprise platform - will enable the registry to effectively deliver its future planned growth.



After evaluating options, MCI awarded the contract to the PDMS Maritime team based on: the flexibility and strength of their tried and tested MARIS platform; their knowledge of ship registry operations gained from over 12 years experience; and the underlying depth of business support provided by a 75 person strong technology company.



This new contract with the MCA continues to cement PDMS Maritimes existing position as a leading supplier of Ship Registry systems with other MARIS clients including: Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA); the Isle of Man Ship Registry; and the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI).
SSI members and key industry stakeholders work together to define tangible milestones across all areas of sustainability that must be collectively delivered by the industry to meet the SSIs 2040 Vision



London  7 March 2016 - The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), a pioneering coalition of companies from across the global shipping industry, today launched its Roadmap, a set of key milestones and priorities which must be met in order to create a sustainable shipping industry by 2040. The development of the Roadmap embodies the core attributes and values of SSIs membership in working together to evaluate and establish the tangible change that will be needed to create a sustainable industry.



This is a significant achievement and point of real pride for the SSI and its members, said Alastair Fischbacher, CEO, The Sustainable Shipping Initiative.



Our members have shown considerable commitment, as well as investing their knowledge and expertise to define a Roadmap, which truly encapsulates what needs to be delivered to create a more sustainable industry. There are many challenges ahead, but we have set a clear foundation from which to work from. I look forward to those from within the industry who are passionate about securing its future joining our existing members in working together to deliver against the Roadmap and achieving our Vision of a sustainable shipping industry.



Developed in line with SSIs Vision 2040 and Case for Action, the Roadmap provides a clear overview of the macro environment that a sustainable shipping industry will require by 2040. The six core areas that the shipping industry must work to implement are:



1. Proactively contributing to the responsible governance of the oceans.



2. Earning the reputation of being a trusted and responsible partner in the communities that shipping interacts with.



3. Providing healthy, safe and secure work environments, so that people want to work in shipping, where they can enjoy rewarding careers and achieve their full potential.



4. Instilling real transparency and accountability within the industry to drive performance improvements and enable better, sustainable decision making.



5. Developing financial solutions that reward sustainable performance and enable large scale uptake of innovation, technology, design and operational efficiencies.



6. Changing to a diverse range of energy sources, using resources more efficiently, and responsibly, and dramatically reducing greenhouse gases.



Within each of these areas, the Roadmap highlights the key defining factors that are central to achieving them. This includes regulation, governance, infrastructure, and emerging energy sources, as well as the critical milestones that chart a path to success by 2040.



The Roadmap is designed as a guide for the SSI and its members, and shared freely with the wider shipping industry. It is intended as a practical resource for companies and organisations to understand their present and future challenges, as well as the steps and milestones to shape their own sustainability strategies.



The Roadmap is available online. As a live, working tool, the SSI will be actively engaging further with the industry to periodically update the Roadmap based on progress that is made, and the industry landscape changes and evolves. This will be fed back into the tool and shared with the market.



Alastair Fischbacher concluded: Delivering the milestones in the Roadmap will take further commitment and desire by our members as well as the rest of the shipping industry. This is a dynamic document that will be updated and developed further with developments, and we hope that the Roadmap will be a unifying and interactive tool that will serve to drive more engagement and debate within the shipping industry. By informing, influencing and encouraging all organisations to actively change and operate in a progressive and more sustainable way the Vision 2040 can be achieved.


Above the Pacific Ocean, a UH-1Y Venom flew toward the Southern California coast. It maneuvered through the winding peaks and valleys as pilots and aircrewmen from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 flew to their next landing zone.



The pilot called into the Direct Air Support Center for the next reconnaissance mission. After confirmation, the helicopter touched down at the landing zone and aircrewmen hopped out to assist refueling.



On Feb. 24, 2016, pilots with HMLA-169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing performed reconnaissance and close air support training over the San Diego County area.



Training like this builds confidence in the junior copilots and allows the senior pilots [the instructors] to maintain the tactics and procedures for the squadron, building the next generation of UH-1Y pilots, said Capt. Ryan E. Williams, a UH-1Y pilot with HMLA-169 from Tallahassee, Florida.



In an effort to recreate an actual situation the aircrewmen may find themselves in, the evolution began with the senior pilot acting as a simulated joint terminal attack controller. They conducted a reconnaissance mission in which they gathered intelligence from a simulated enemy position, which may be useful for ground units to accomplish their mission.



One of the great things about the UH-1Y is we are capable of putting the aircraft into austere landing conditions, said 1st Lt. David W. Few, a UH-1Y Venom copilot with HMLA-169. We practiced setting it down in small zones, higher elevation zones, rocky areas and confined areas, not just for the pilots, but for the crew chiefs in the back to give the whole crew the experience of landing in different conditions.



Following the reconnaissance mission, the crew chiefs refueled and simulated troop insertion in a landing zone under fire.



We can shut the aircraft down and turn the engines off [and then fuel the aircraft]. Thats called cold refueling. What we did today was hot refueling. We can leave the aircraft running while we fuel, getting us ready to get back in the fight, said Few, a native of Tallahassee, Florida.



After inserting troops, the squadron provided a close air support mission, simulating fire superiority over the enemy.



The younger and senior pilots work together on scenario-based missions to keep us younger pilots on our toes, said Few. Having to adapt to different scenarios is the way we learn best and get the most out of our training.



The pilots fly the aircraft while the crew chiefs mission is to ride along and perform ground operations like refueling the helicopter, operating the aerial gun, or performing rescue operations.



The crew chiefs are an outstanding asset to the aircraft and it is important they are incorporated to make mission success a team effort, according to Few.



In 2014, the squadron was awarded the John P. Giguere award for their performance and their safety practices in the preceding year. The squadron for Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron of the year as well as the Pete Ross award for aviation safety.



Marines from HMLA-169 are scheduled to conduct joint training with the Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in March.





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Light Armored Reconnaissance Marines with Black Sea Rotational Force, Combined Arms Company, test their reconnaissance skills in a cold-weather environment during Exercise Cold Response 16 in central Norway, March 4, 2016.



Being a part of BSRF, we (Combined Arms Company) have the opportunity to participate in Cold Response 16, said 1st Lt. Grant McCloskey, a Light Armored Reconnaissance platoon commander with CAC. We had the chance to cross-train with the Norwegians in Rena. Our counterparts gave us essential tips and tricks on how to survive in this cold-weather environment.



By learning crucial cold-weather survival skills from their Norwegian counterparts, CAC Marines are able to apply those skills in a tactical environment when conducting route reconnaissance missions.



As a Light Armored Reconnaissance unit, we go out and scout the area, looking for the enemy, said Lance Cpl. Sanjay Lohar, a rifleman with BSRF. We go on patrols to ensure the area our implemented defenses cannot see is clear.



LAR is a mobilized reconnaissance unit that provides commanders with vital intelligence of the enemy by penetrating their lines and determining their strength, location and size. They set up defensive positions and push out patrols to establish forward observation posts in order to accomplish this mission.



Before Cold Response even started, my platoon occupied a piece of land on high terrain that overlooked the valley, said McCloskey. As soon as we occupied the area, we set up defensively and fortified our positions, pushing out four daily patrols and a night patrol to scout the enemy.



What we do as foot-mobile patrols is we can fill those gaps the LAVs cannot see, said Lohar. Our job is to scout the blind spots and clear the area if need be.



Norway provides a unique training environment and challenges the Marines to not only do their jobs well, but to excel in an extreme environment.



The training we received back stateside definitely prepared us for this, but the cold weather environment makes it challenging, said McCloskey. We can operate in any clime and place and when we are called to go, we can execute the mission and task at hand.



Exercise Cold Response includes 13 NATO and partner nations and approximately 16,000 troops. The exercise provides a platform to refine collective crisis-response capabilities and the opportunity to learn from NATO partners.





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The U.S. Marines kept their weapons trained on the suspect as they closed in on him in the parking lot of the embassy. One Marine cautiously approached the man to search him for weapons while the other Marines in the unit kept their weapons up, ready to engage the intruder and protect embassy personnel.



This active shooter scenario was just one part of a training exercise conducted at U.S. Embassy Lisbon, Portugal, Feb. 8-10, 2016. It allowed Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response  Africa Marines to gain proficiency in working alongside Department of State personnel during an embassy reinforcement.



This was an opportunity for a small element of the SPMAGTF-CR-AF Marines and trainers from the State Departments Diplomatic Security Service to come to Portugal and practice working with the U.S. Embassy and Portuguese officials in scenarios that simulate real-world crises by rehearsing the tasks associated with reinforcing an embassy during periods of civil unrest in other countries around the world. This exercise builds on an existing relationship that the U.S. Government and SPMAGTF-CR-AF has been developing in Portugal.



One of the main goals of the exercise was to provide an opportunity for the SPMAGTF-CR-AF Marines to integrate very closely with our embassy personnel, in case they have to respond to any of our embassies or consulates in a crisis, said Supervisory Special Agent Tanya Sears, regional security officer. We would be able to work with them very closely and figure out how best to keep everybody safe and secure in whatever type of environment we might face.



The Marines of SPMAGTF-CR-AF are outfitted and tasked to be a quick reaction force if an embassy on the continent of Africa had to be reinforced or even evacuated. That was the case in Tripoli in 2014 when Marines with SPMAGTF-CR-AF evacuated the embassy after the security situation deteriorated. This training provided an opportunity for Marines to practice conducting their mission set at an actual embassy for the first time in this rotation, and for the first time in Lisbon.



This is a unique experience for us because it allows us to train with different Marine elements as well as host nation counterparts, said Special Agent Daniel Arich of the Diplomatic Security Training Center The key part is watching these Marines respond to simulated attacks that we may face worldwide. Its critical for our development as an organization and for the Marine Corps to work together to be better prepared for these types of instances.



The embassy in Lisbon and the professionalism of the Portuguese forces provided a unique environment for the Marines to practice their proper tactics, techniques and procedures in a controlled and safe setting where they could improve their capabilities. This joint training between the U.S. Marines of SPMAGTF-CR-AF and the Portuguese security forces improved interoperability vital to maintaining both nations respective strengths.



Over the course of the last couple days we have been able to figure out exactly where we fit and where other Marines and the State Department fit, said Cpl. Zeith Horr, squad leader with SPMAGTF-CR-AF. I think in the future if we are to do this again the transition will be a lot smoother and well be able to start the training and go.



The goal of the training was to enable the Marines to be better prepared to protect U.S. citizens on the continent of Africa. It helped improve the ability of USMC and Portuguese forces to work together as a Crisis Response force. At the conclusion of the training U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, Robert Sherman was confident that the SPMAGTF-CR-AF Marines were ready and able to respond to whatever crisis may come their way.



We live in a dangerous world and my primary responsibility as a United States Ambassador is the safety and security of all people at the embassy, said Sherman. This exercise was very important so that we could learn from each other and better prepare in the event of a real crisis and I know I sleep better at night knowing that the SPMAGTF-CR-AF has our backs.





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Gold ETF Suspends Issuing Shares Due To Surge In Demand

Gold ETF, the iShares Gold Trust, had to stop issuing new shares in its $7.7 billion on Friday as a surge in investment demand for gold caught out the provider of the ETF and the worlds largest money manager, BlackRock Inc.

According to a statement from the company

Since the start of 2016, in response to global macroeconomic conditions, demand for gold and for IAU has surged among global investors, causing the ETF to expand its assets under management by $1.4 billion this year alone. This surge in demand has led to the temporary exhaustion of IAU shares currently registered under [law]. We are registering new shares to accommodate future creations in the primary market by filing a Form 8-K to announce the resumption of the offering of new shares, according to the statement. The ability of authorized participants to redeem shares of IAU is not affected.

Bloomberg further elaborated:

Investors had piled into the fund so fast that BlackRock didnt register in time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue more shares. The suspension means that the share price of the fund may deviate from the price of its underlying assets  the physical gold  until issuance resumes, probably within two or three business days, according to a person familiar with the matter. The misstep by New York-based BlackRock comes as providers of exchange-trade funds face mounting concern that the products may pose risks that investors arent always aware of. Cracks in the system were revealed on Aug. 24, when many equities didnt open for trading, yet the ETFs that hold them did, causing confusion among investors about their value.

One would suppose this would be something they would be monitoring more carefully, said Ben Johnson, director of global ETF research for Morningstar Inc.  ETFs hold a basket of assets that are rolled up into a single security that can be traded on an exchange. The ETF market has exploded in size, jumping 2 1/2 times in value since the end of 2009. Kara Stein, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner, last month expressed concern that the ETF market has become too difficult for retail investors to understand. I fear that the risk presented by some of these new products may not be fully understood by those who have invested in them, Stein said at a conference in Washington, speaking generally about new ETFs. Indeed, even plain-vanilla, equity index ETFs may present risks that are not always anticipated or fully understood, as evidenced by the events of Aug. 24.  BlackRock said that, even without new share issuance, market makers have a range of tools to meet investor demand, including using existing inventory.

This suspension does not affect the ability of retail and institutional investors to trade on stock exchanges, BlackRock said. Retail and institutional investors will continue to be able to buy and sell shares.

Gold ETFs have many unappreciated risks as we outlined from their inception. Risks from these created financial instruments include valuations, annual fees and expenses, counter-party risks as well as liabilities and responsibilities of the market participants such as the auditors and custodians.

Gold bullion is unique among asset classes as it is an asset class not dependent on the performance of auditors, management, corporations, financial institutions, banks, politicians and governments. Nor is physical gold dependent on the performance of trustees, custodians and or sub custodians.

Gold ETFs are fine for those wishing to take a speculative position long or short the gold market. However, for the majority of of investors and pensions they are likely not suitable. They should not be confused with owning physical gold coins or bars in allocated and segregated accounts. ETFs are quite high risk financial products while gold bullion is a proven hedging instrument and safe haven asset.

LBMA Gold Prices

07 Mar: USD 1,267.60, EUR 1,156.96 and GBP 896.13 per ounce

04 Mar: USD 1,271.50, EUR 1,158.67 and GBP 898.93 per ounce

03 Mar: USD 1,241.95, EUR 1,141.48 and GBP 882.24 per ounce

02 Mar: USD 1,229.35, EUR 1,131.53 and GBP 881.54 per ounce

01 Mar: USD 1,240.00, EUR 1,141.70 and GBP 886.09 per ounce



This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here.

Mark O'Byrne

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Police Chief Sean Dunn will present the Martinsville Police Departments annual report for 2015 to Martinsville City Council on Tuesday.

This will be the second such report presented to the council. In a phone interview Saturday, Dunn, who has led the police department since 2014, said he wants the department to present publicly early each year a summary of its activities during the previous year.

Dunn declined to discuss the report in-depth before he presents it to the council. However, he said it will discuss crime and crime trends in Martinsville, projects that the police department is working on and what the department hopes to accomplish in 2016.

The report will be presented when the council meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on the second floor of the municipal building on West Church Street uptown.

Also Tuesday, the city council will hear a report about GO Virginia, a new coalition aimed at fostering job creation and growth within the private sector statewide.

GO Virginia, formally known as the Virginia Initiative for Growth and Opportunity in Each Region, was formed by the Virginia Business Higher Education Council and the Council on Virginias Future.

According to City Manager Leon Towarnicki, the coalition favors state incentives that encourage collaboration among businesses, educational institutions and government in each region, providing a framework to implement business organizations and political leaders strategies to boost the private sector.

GO Virginia is embarking on a grassroots campaign to mobilize business and community leaders, education and government partners and citizens "to work for state policies that will help secure a future of expanding opportunity for all Virginians," Towarnicki wrote in a report in the councils agenda packet.

A key element of GO Virginia, he wrote, is the formation of 8-10 regional councils statewide. The councils are to be grouped based on similarities among regional interests such as the economy and transportation.

Towarnicki said the city council needs to inform the West Piedmont Planning District Commission of its preference for Martinsville being part of a GO Virginia council.

The city council also will:

nHear from Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce President Amanda Witt about the Community Business Launch project.

nHear a report from the citys human resources department about hiring trends.

nHear a report from the citys community development department about the Martinsville Architectural Review Board and the citys historic district designation.

nHear a report on city purchasing policies and procedures.

nConsider adopting on first reading an ordinance pertaining to plans to issue up to $10 million in bonds to help pay for improvements to a sewer line.

nConsider routine-type budget amendments.

nHear business from the floor.

At 6:30 p.m., the council will meet in closed session to consider possible appointments to local commissions and boards, consult with legal counsel and discuss potentially investing public funds where competition or bargaining is involved and, if the discussion was to be held publicly, the citys financial interests could be harmed.
Marcus Brinks, deputy commonwealths attorney for Patrick County, and James McGarry, who is in a private law practice in Martinsville, will be interviewed Monday by a state courts panel as a possible replacement for Edwin A. Gendron Jr. as General District Court judge for the 21st Judicial District.

Gendron retired Jan. 31. The 21st Judicial District includes Henry and Patrick counties and the city of Martinsville.

Del. Les Adams, R-Chatham, said Friday that the legislative delegation representing this area  Adams, Delegates Danny Marshall and Charles Poindexter, and Sen. Bill Stanley  "have invited two candidates to be interviewed, Marcus Brinks and Jim McGarry," by the Committee on Courts of Justice judicial panel on Monday.

The panel determines whether or not individuals are qualified for the judgeship they seek, according to The Virginia Division of Legislative Services website.

Adams said he anticipates the panel will present one name to the House and Senate as a recommended replacement for Gendron.

"The House of Delegates and the Senate vote separately, under a procedural resolution, and the candidate receiving the most votes in each house is elected to the vacant judgeship or new seat.The election does not require action by the governor," according to the Virginia Division of Legislative Services website.

Adams said he expects a judge will be elected by the General Assembly next week, because the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn Saturday.

Andy Hall, president of the Martinsville-Henry County Bar Association and deputy commonwealths attorney for Martinsville, said recently that five people threw their hats into the ring as candidates vying to succeed Gendron: Brinks; McGarry; Clay Gravely, Martinsville commonwealths attorney; Joan Ziglar, a former Martinsville commonwealths attorney; and Andrew Nester, Henry County commonwealths attorney.

Members of the MHC and Patrick County bar associations rated the five candidates as highly qualified, qualified or not qualified.

Hall has said: "I know all the candidates. They are all eminently qualified."

Adams said he, Marshall, Poindexter and Stanley have given careful consideration to each of the candidates, have each met the people individually, and have considered their resumes, applications and references.

Such things as competence, temperament, years of experience and types of experience are important factors when considering potential judges, Adams said.

Marshall, R-Danville, said it "was a consensus of Stanley, Poindexter, Adams and myself to move these two (candidates) forward. They both will have interviews and we will see what the committee has to say about them. We had great candidates for this part of the state."

Marshall and Adams declined to comment about why Brinks and McGarry were selected by the legislative delegation.

Poindexter, R-Glade Hill, declined to be specific about candidates being considered. "We have a very good field to choose from," he said.

Stanley, R-Glade Hill, did not return phone calls.

Stanley serves on the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, and Adams serves on the House Courts of Justice Committee, according to the General Assembly website.
This week Wellred Books publishes its latest title, China: From Permanent Revolution to Counter-Revolution by John Peter Roberts. The book is a thorough-going analysis of the revolutionary history of China  from the early 20century to the present era of crisis  aided by a wealth of research which cuts across the many historical distortions both of bourgeois academia and of the Chinese Communist Party. Here we publish the foreword by Fred Weston.

In 1949 the coming to power in China of the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong prepared the ground for the liberation of over half a billion workers and peasants from the yolk of landlordism and imperialism. By the mid-1950s not only had the basic task of the bourgeois democratic revolution been carried out  i.e. the abolition of landlordism, the end to colonial rule, genuine national unification and the establishment of the basic conditions for the development of capitalism  but capitalism itself had been snuffed out.

This development reconfirmed the basic idea developed by Leon Trotsky of the Permanent Revolution that the capitalist class in underdeveloped countries, having arrived late on the scene of history, was incapable of carrying out its own, bourgeois, revolution. It remained tied to the feudal landlords on the one hand and subservient to their imperialist masters on the other.

In the Russian Revolution the Menshevik position was that all countries had to pass through a democratic bourgeois stage before they could move towards socialism. This idea stated that a period of capitalist development was first required to build up industry and with it a modern working class. Only after such a period would it be possible to contemplate struggling for socialism. That explains why the Mensheviks sided with the Russian bourgeoisie and ended up in the camp of the counter-revolution.

The weakness in this idea was that it was based on a narrow national view of each country, which ignored the context of the global situation where the rise of powerful imperialist capitalist countries dominated the world market. This changed the conditions in which the fledgling nation al bourgeois classes could develop in the underdeveloped countries into modern capitalist ruling classes.

If Lenin and Trotsky had adhered to this view, they would not have insisted on all power passing to the soviets, i.e. to workers power, but would have sought an accommodation with a progressive wing of the Russian bourgeoisie and would have limited the workers organisations to being an opposition within a bourgeois-democratic set up.

The reason why Lenin and Trotsky did not go down this road is that they understood full well that in the conditions of Russia in 1917 this would not have been possible. Permanent Revolution, i.e. the revolution beginning as bourgeois-democratic but passing immediately to the socialist tasks under the leadership of the working class is what happened in Russia.

In spite of these essential lessons of the October Revolution, the Communist International under the leadership of Stalin reverted to the Menshevik outlook of stages; the first being the bourgeois revolution which would open up the possibility of capitalist development and only years later would this prepare the ground for the second stage, the socialist revolution.

It was this idea that explains the role played by the official Communist Parties in Spain during the Civil War, and in Italy and France at the end of the Second World War. The Communist Parties raised the illusion that a progressive bourgeoisie existed, whose task it was to develop society. The defeat of the Spanish workers in the 1930s and of the Italian and French workers at the end of the War is the price the working class paid for this erroneous idea.

By the time the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949 its leadership was steeped in this idea that after taking power the bourgeois-democratic stage would begin. That explains why Mao initially did not move towards the abolition of capitalism. He sought sections of the Chinese bourgeoisie with whom the workers and peasants could form an alliance.

This well-researched book by John Roberts provides source material which confirms that this was the perspective that Mao sought to act on post-1949. The problem Mao faced was that the Chinese bourgeoisie was not willing to oblige him in his perspective. The bulk of the Chinese bourgeoisie backed Chiang Kai-shek and fled with him as the Red Army advanced. Those that did remain tried to sabotage any attempt of the CCP to carry out genuine reform.

The key element in understanding how the CCP ended up abolishing capitalism in China is to be found in the fact that it had state power, i.e. the armed bodies of men were not the police and soldiers of a bourgeois state, but the Peoples Liberation Army, mainly a peasant army under the control of the Communist Party. This meant the old semi-feudal/bourgeois state had been smashed by the advancing forces of Mao.

This state attempted to reach a compromise with the bourgeois elements, but this failed to materialise, not due to any conscious move on the part of the Communist Party leaders towards socialism but because the interests of the peasants and workers were irreconcilable with those of the corrupt Chinese national bourgeoisie. Step by step Mao found himself having to take over the whole economy and by the mid-1950s China had become what we would term as a deformed workers state. By this is meant a state where the economic base of a workers state has been established, i.e. the expropriation of the landlords and the capitalists, state ownership of the means of production and centralised planning, but it is deformed because the workers do not hold state power directly, do not have control over the system as a whole.

Initially the planned economy proved to be enormously beneficial to the working masses of China. John Roberts highlights throughout this book the immense progress, for example, in the field of womens liberation, a key indicator in any revolution of the progress of working people in general. He also underlines the movements forward and the movements backwards in the winning of womens rights, in line with the general ebbs and flows of the revolution itself.

The abolition of capitalism in China under Mao was achieved in spite of his initial perspectives and not because of them. Mao found that in order to carry out even the most basic of reforms he had to move against the capitalists. But what came into being was a system that was governed and controlled by the bureaucratic caste at the helm of the state. In essence it was the same system that existed under Stalin in the Soviet Union, a tremendously progressive state owned planned economy, but which was doomed to crisis at some point in its development under the control of the bureaucracy.

The reasons for this can be found in Leon Trotskys Revolution Betrayed, an analysis of the Soviet Union in the 1930s, in which he raised the perspective of an inevitable crisis of that system, which would either lead to a movement of the working class to gain political power or, failing that, to a collapse of the system and a return to capitalism. With great foresight, Trotsky predicted that the forces of the bourgeois counter-revolution would come from within the Communist Party itself.

Trotskys predictions took several decades before they were proved correct. After the Second World War the Soviet Union was immensely strengthened. Its economy had expanded many times over and it had taken control of Eastern Europe. To its east the Chinese Revolution successfully put in place a system similar to its own. This was followed by the Cuban revolution and then the victory of Vietnam over US imperialism. Not only was the Soviet Union strengthened materially, but its authority within the working class internationally was also enhanced. The workers of the world felt that the Soviet Union was exporting revolution everywhere.

However, all this only served to hide the real process taking place. The Soviet economy, from the spectacular growth of the 1930s, was beginning to slow down and gradually ground to a halt and eventually in the 1970s it was close to zero. It was this that determined the eventual collapse and the chaotic return to capitalism post-1991.

In China, the move to abolish capitalism in the 1950s was not a conscious process, but was determined by objective factors. Once that process was in place, however, the rising Chinese bureaucracy became conscious of where they were going. In doing so, they also attempted to remove from the history books their previous positions in an attempt to show that all along Mao knew that his aim was socialist revolution, as John Roberts shows by comparing quotes in later versions of official party texts with previous versions.

The return to capitalism in the recent period also did not start off as a conscious choice but came on the back of the worldwide crisis of Stalinism and the difficulties China was facing internally. Initially, the policy adopted by Deng was similar to the New Economic Policy the Bolsheviks were forced to adopt in the early 1920s. In an isolated backward economy, with international socialist revolution having been defeated in the immediate period after World War One, Lenin understood that some concessions to market methods were necessary, albeit within the context of overall state control of the commanding heights of the economy and with strict control over foreign trade.

However, it is one thing for a relatively healthy workers state to adopt such policies, it is a completely different scenario when a privileged bureaucratic elite, standing above the working class, adopts the same policy. Trotsky explained that within the privileged bureaucracy eventually the desire would grow, not only to enjoy the fruits of their position within society, but also to be able to pass these onto their offspring, and that would only be possible by ceasing to be merely privileged administrators and becoming owners of the means of production. That is what we see taking place in China today.

This book provides much information on what really happened in the build up to 1949 and the period that followed. It shows how a Stalinist party, whose proclaimed aim was to achieve the first stage, bourgeois-democratic revolution, was forced in spite of itself to move very quickly to the second stage and abolish capitalism. This was a brilliant confirmation in practice of Trotskys theory of the Permanent Revolution, albeit in a deformed manner. The more recent return to capitalism, i.e. counter-revolution, also confirms Trotskys perspectives as developed in his classic The Revolution Betrayed. Thus the title, China: from Permanent Revolution to Counter-Revolution encapsulates the essence of 90 years of Chinese history and reveals what really happened.

Today China is a very different country to what it was in 1949. Powerful means of production have been developed and with it has come into being the biggest working class ever seen in history. But a capitalist China will inevitably be affected by the contradictions of capitalist production. Then the Chinese workers will seek an alternative and will begin by looking at their own past history. They will need to unbury the truth, which is covered in a mountain of official mythology, to do so. This book is part of that process of unburying.

Order your copy here
NORTHAMPTON -- After 15 months of construction and renovations, Click Workspace will soon open for business on Market Street.

Click, a co-working enterprise that acts as a temporary home-base for entrepreneurs, techies and creative professionals -- currently headquartered at 20 Hampton Ave. -- purchased the 9,000-square-foot building at 9-1/2 Market Street in Jan. 2015.

The company has set an opening date of April 1.

Click replaces the Antique Center of Northampton, which closed in Dec. 2015 after 28 years of business. The store housed booths for more than 20 antique dealers.

Click has set up shop in the building's first and second floors, as well as part of the basement.

The enterprise is hosting drop-in tours of the new space each Wednesday in March at 4 p.m., according to company director Erika Zekos.

"We are excited to grow our community, and that's already starting," Zekos said. "We will move in with a few new members."

The business incubator has 32 members now, but Click stakeholders say its fresh headquarters can accommodate triple that membership.

Co-working enterprises have become an increasingly popular concept, with an aim to boost innovation and collaboration in urban areas. The open-office spaces work best for entrepreneurs, writers, independent contractors, visual artists and other creative professionals, but can really be tailored to the needs of any career person, Click co-founder Lisa Papademetriou told MassLive in an earlier interview.

Click President Mary Yun said Click will also help fill downtown Northampton's lack of commercial business space, most of which is developing in the city's outer limits, away from restaurants and retail stores.

The 1930s-era brick building sits around the corner from both the bike trails and Union Station, where the Vermonter passenger line began service right around the time Click bought it. The line runs from Washington D.C., through New York City to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

"For all the entrepreneurs that are members of Click, going to and from New York and having people come to us for meetings is so much easier," Yun said.

Click is increasing its fees slightly to pay for higher rent, according to Zekos. Open space membership -- the most basic plan -- will now cost $195 a month, $20 more than the old price.

Membership benefits include access to social events, professional development workshops, exhibits, and networking opportunities; high-speed Internet; 24-hour key card access; a shared lounge with exercise equipment and a kitchen with a refrigerator, microwave and coffee; and regular office cleaning.

Papademtriou said the new location will also allow Click to become more embedded in Northampton's creative and nonprofit communities. That could mean periodically transforming the space into a nighttime music venue for local artists, as well as holding book events and workshops for writers.
GinnyHamiltonFullRez.jpg

Ginny Hamilton relieves peoples' pain and show them simple techniques to keep pain from returning.

(Submitted)

Ginny Hamilton, pain specialist, yoga instructor, reiki practitioner; private sessions by appointment at 140 Middle St., Amherst; classes at Hadley Yoga Studio, 234 Russell St, 2nd Floor, Hadley; and Serenity Yoga Studio, 15 College St., South Hadley

Years in business: Six

What do you offer and to whom? Though not exclusively, my students and private clients tend to be women over 50. Some are recovering from surgery or injury. Many are merely dealing with the aches and pains of aging. A significant portion of them are cancer survivors, coping with significant pain from the physical and emotional effects of treatment. I also target programs to busy moms carrying the pain of too much stress and too little exercise, rest and self-care.

Why? What motivates you? My specialty grows from my own lifelong experience of neck and shoulder pain. I had regular headaches, jaw and neck pain as a child, and was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 9. I started chiropractic at 12, and had corrective jaw surgery the summer I turned 19. Even so, my pain carried into adulthood. Seeking solutions for my own pain--and my curiosity about how bodies work--led me to study therapeutic yoga, Integrated Positional Therapy body work, reiki and other healing techniques. I've learned simple exercises I can do throughout my day to counteract the imbalances in my body and the pain they cause. Now, in my mid-40s, I teach others how to do the same.

What sets you apart? Many pain management techniques help with immediate pain but stop short of providing lasting solutions. I relieve peoples' pain and show them simple techniques to keep pain from returning.

What mark do you hope to make on your community? We accept pain as part of aging. But it doesn't have to be. Teaching simple self-care tools, I strive to ease suffering and restore wholeness.

Website:

www.ginnyhamilton.com

How people can contact you:

413-253-0949

ginny@ginnyhamilton.com

Voices of the Valley is compiled by Janice Beetle of Beetle Press in Easthampton, a PR and communications firm. www.beetlepress.com. To suggest a subject for this feature, email Beetle at janice@beetlepress.com.
Performance shot-Yesterday and Today.jpg

Yesterday and Today will perform on Friday and Saturday at CityStage in Springfield.

(Going Barefoot Inc. photo)

Nearly every Beatles fan has a memory to share about their favorite band, and many of those memories are tied into a particular Beatles song whether "Love Me Do" or "Hey Jude."

On Friday and Saturday at CityStage in downtown Springfield, fans will have a chance to have their stories heard and matched to the song that brings back special memories to them, when Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience, minus the wigs and other gimmicks, returns to Springfield by popular demand.

"I like referring to what we do as a grassroots Beatles show, a term that seems especially appropriate during this political season. People have been responding to the fact we don't wear wigs and to the fact that they control the show in every way, that we are a vessel for them as they pick the songs they want to hear and the stories that go along with them," said founder Billy McGuigan.

"We were told when putting the show together that there was no way people would share their personal memories with us, or that we could learn all those songs. But, here we are eight years into the show and the cool thing is that it is really starting to take off," he added.

In addition to Billy, the band includes his brothers Matthew McGuigan on vocals and bass, Ryan McGuigan on vocals and acoustic guitar, as well as Jay Hanson on lead guitar and vocals, Rich Miller on percussion, and Tara Vaughan, on vocals and piano.

McGuigan talked about three songs requested over the years and the memories they elicited for those requesting them:

"In My Life" - "This is a song sung by John Lennon from the 'Rubber Soul' album that really tugs at the heartstrings. We were performing in Florida and had a request for the song from a woman whose husband had just passed away within the past week or two. They performed it at his funeral and she wanted us to play it for her. There's just something about being trusted with the memory of a loved one, and I take that very seriously. You see these tears in their eyes and a flood of emotion and memories come over them, and that sticks with me."

"Rocky Raccoon" - "One of the more obscure Beatle songs performed by Paul McCartney on The Beatles' "White" album, was primarily a road trip song for this family out in the audience of grandparents, their kids, grandkids and maybe even some great-grandkids, who were all attending our show in Virginia together. You could see their faces light up when I mentioned their names and a flood of memories coming back to them. Once again, that affects me in a profound way and touches me deeply. My dad was one of the reasons we started this show. I've since lost my Beatle buddy, who passed his love of their music onto me. And it touches me to see the same thing happening with other families."

"She Loves You" - Among some of the older crowd, you often hear them talking about when they heard a particular Beatles song for the first time like 'I Want To Hold Your Hand,' maybe on the radio or watching their performance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' I had this guy come up to me after one of our shows to tell me that his mom called him into the kitchen, where they always kept their transistor radio on top of the refrigerator. He said she was standing there listening and moving to 'She Loves You' and, tearing up, saying that was a memory he would never forget."

Request cards will be available in the lobby of CityStage, where concert-goers can list their name, favorite Beatles song and why they chose it, such as a memory it brings back for them.

"Some people will stand when they hear their name read - and some may not - often adding more information to the short story they wrote on the cards," said McGuigan.

His own favorite Beatles song?

"For personal reasons, 'I've Got A Feeling' from the 'Let It Be' album is my favorite, but we don't get a lot of requsts for it," said McGuigan.

Is he still really as big a Beatles fan as he once was, collecting anything new that comes out?

"Yes, I'm like any real Beatles fan and was in line to buy their latest edition of 'The Beatles 1' greatest hits album featuring the promotional videos they made for their songs which have never been commercially released. But, what I'm still waiting for is a decent copy of their 'Let it Be' film on DVD," said McGuigan.

You and millions of other Beatles fans Billy.
Fifty years ago this week fire destroyed the 100-year-old Summit House on the top of Mt. Sugarloaf in South Deerfield. The fire could be seen from 30 miles away. Firefighters had difficulty in reaching the site because the unplowed summit road was still covered with winter snow. The building was a total loss.

Later in the week over 4,000 residents of western Franklin county had to be evacuated from their homes including all 900 residents of Charlemont after a freight train derailed in West Charlemont. Although the accident produced no leaks, it was decided to evacuate the area before righting a freight car carrying 55 tons of liquid chlorine.

Ten years later, President Ford and former Gov. Jimmy Carter won the primary election in Florida on their way toward their party's nomination for President.

These are some of the headlines you'll see from Page 1 of The Republican and its predecessors over the past fifty years for the week of March 6 - March 12. Each week I'll put together a slideshow of Page 1 images from selected years over the course of that week. We're starting with a look back at one, five, thirty, forty and fifty years ago, with Page 1s from each day of the week for those years.

The slideshow for March 6 - March 12 is embedded at the top of this article.

From the March 9, 1966 edition of The Springfield Union.

We'll also find some humor printed out on page one over the years. In 1966 'Dennis The Menace' could be found on the bottom of page one six days a week.

Five years ago a story about Stephen King's book 'Full Dark, No stars' which features Chicopee, Massachusetts in one of its short stories.

And a year ago, Westfield's Noble Hospital and Baystate Health announce the proposed affiliation of Noble and Baystate.

You'll find with looking through the slideshow, that while many stories come and go, many of the issues and topics that affected lives in the past, continue to have an impact on our lives today.

Copies of these and other stories can be found in the online archives. Links to the archives are at the bottom of the page at www.masslive.com/republican

The historic archive includes stories prior to 1989, and the Newsbank archive covers 1988 through the present day.


Connecticut Tribes-Casino

Kevin Brown, left, Chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council and Rodney Butler, right, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, host an historic signing ceremony, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, at the state Capitol in Hartford, Conn., formalizing their new casino venture north of the city.

(Lauren Schneiderman/Hartford Courant via AP)

MGM's legal battle against the state of Connecticut's efforts to build a third casino is now a two-front war.

MGM, whose Springfield casino project spurred Connecticut to pass a gaming act last year and consider developing a casino near the Massachusetts border to shield its gaming economy from competition, is working with the Schaghticoke Indian tribe to sue the state.

The company launched its own lawsuit against Connecticut's gaming act last year, arguing that it gives preferential treatment to the state's two current casino operators - the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes.

At a news conference today, the Chief of the Schaghticoke Tribe - which has a reservation in southern Connecticut but is not federally recognized - said he is partnering with MGM to fight the gaming act with a new lawsuit, according to the Hartford Courant.

"Without any competitive bidding or gaming study, Connecticut shut out the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and awarded to one pair of Native-American tribes the exclusive ability to develop a highly-valuable commercial enterprise," Chief Richard L. Velky said. "Under the Equal Protection clauses of the federal and state Constitutions, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation should have the same right to pursue this economic opportunity as anyone else."

The tribe's legal filings, filed in federal court, lists MGM's suit as a related case. Its legal argument also mirrors that put forward by MGM - that Connecticut's gaming law violates the Equal Protection and Commerce clauses of the constitution by giving the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes an unfair advantage in the development process.

MGM did not immediately return a request for comment. MMCT, the joint Mohegan-Mashantucket Pequot company currently seeking a site for the proposed third casino, lashed out against MGM in a statement.

"After weeks of not returning phone calls from reporters, Chief Velky finally revealed that his operation is being bankrolled by MGM," an MMCT spokesman said "This startling revelation - which according to the chief was a year in the making - should raise a red flag for anyone who is concerned about MGM's plan to steal jobs from Connecticut residents."

The gaming act, signed last June by Gov. Dannel Malloy, authorized only the Mohegan and Mashantucket-Pequot tribes to form a joint company and seek a new casino site. MMCT narrowed its field to three possible municipalities in late Feb: Hartford, East Hartford and Windsor Locks.

Connecticut anticipated a legal challenge to the law while it was being drafted, and the version signed by Malloy specifically did not authorize construction of a casino -- another act of the legislature is required for that to occur. But MGM and now the Schaghticoke tribe both argue in lawsuits that the act gives MMCT an illegal advantage in developing a commercial casino that will be on state land, not on either tribe's reservation.

The announcement casts new light on actions taken in recent weeks by MGM and by the Schaghticoke tribe.

In early Feb., the Schagticoke tribe created an LLC dedicated to pursing casino development, despite the gaming act's restriction of such companies to the Mohegan and Mashantucket-Pequot tribes. The Office of the Conn. Sec. of State mistakenly approved the company before realizing the error and reversing the approval.

The incident, at first, did not appear linked to MGM's fight against the gaming act. But it mirrors a tactic used by MGM in its lawsuit; MGM filed for casino authorization in Connecticut in July, was rejected by the state a day later, and used that rejection as an argument for why it has standing to sue over the gaming act.

In its lawsuit, the Schagticoke tribe says its LLC gambit was done for the same reason.

The state's rejection of their LLC "confirms and enforces the discriminatory intent and effects of the Act, which unconstitutionally excludes STN from the only State-approved pathway to plan and negotiate the development of a new commercial casino, though STN is ready, willing, and able to develop a new and innovative commercial casino," the lawsuit says.

MGM also funded a study released last week that found that Southwestern Conn. would be a better site for a third casino than the I-91 corridor. Those findings contradict the results of a Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot-funded study released last year, which found that a casino positioned to compete with MGM Springfield could save the state thousands of jobs and millions in gaming revenues.

In the new lawsuit, the Schagticoke tribes cite Connecticut's long-standing opposition to their federal recognition and statements by legislators opposing their development of a casino as evidence that the state has discriminated against them.

Connecticut has not yet responded in court to the new suit. But it has rejected similar arguments in legal filings seeking the dismissal of MGM's lawsuit.

The state has argued that the gaming act is in fact a regulatory burden on the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes, not an exemption, and any company could begin seeking a casino site in the state - while noting that the legislature still needs to pass a new gaming law before building any such casino would be legal.
LAWRENCE

 A Lawrence man was shot and later died of his wounds while a second man was treated for a gunshot wound and released from the hospital, a spokeswoman for the Essex District Attorney's Office said.

The Eagle Tribune reported that Carrie Kimball-Monahan told the press that the two were apparently shot Saturday morning when a large group of people gathered in front of a grocery store at 389 Broadway.

At approximately 3:45 a.m. Lawrence police responded to a report of a gathering crowd and the possibility of shots fired. Officers dispersed the crowd but found no evidence of gunfire.

Not long afterwards, two men arrived separately at the Lawrence Hospital emergency room suffering from gunshot wounds. One victim, a 23-year-old man, was admitted in critical condition while the second victim suffered only a minor wound. The first victim died of his wounds later that morning.

Lawrence police and State Police detectives attached to the District Attorney's Office are investigating the homicide.
John Wicks has played in front of a crowd of 40,000 at Lollapalooza in Chicago. Now hes taking on a more daunting challenge by entering Missoulas competitive coffee shop market.

Wicks, drummer for international touring band Fitz and the Tantrums, recently opened Drum Coffee on South Avenue. He said his obsession with coffee goes back to his first days trying to make it as a musician in the Seattle area, where he grew up.

DILLON KATO [email protected]

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/fitz-and-the-tantrums-drummer-opens-coffee-shop-in-missoula/article_71f1cfb8-c9fb-5879-8052-0d67b7beeba6.html
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.
The Food and Drug Administration issued de novo approval to SENSIMED, a Lausanne, Switzerland firm, to introduce its Triggerfish continuous eye volume monitoring system. The Triggerfish allows physicians to decide when is the best time to measure the intraocular pressure that changes throughout the day and single in-office tests may not be at all indicative of the actual changes going on inside the eye. The technology should allow for earlier detect of glaucoma before symptoms become apparent.

The system relies on an electronic contact lens that has a sensor built-in that detects fluctuations in the shape of the lens. A special antenna attached around the eye powers and communicates with the contact lens, grabbing readings that are then passed to a portable data recorder.

The system is worn for up to 24 hours and the gathered data is transferred wirelessly using Bluetooth to the physicians PC for review.

Some details from FDAs announcement:

The Triggerfish is indicated for use in adults age 22 and older under the direction and supervision of a health care professional. Clinical data supporting the marketing authorization of the Triggerfish included several studies of the safety and tolerability of the contact lenses and the effectiveness of the device measurement. The effectiveness of the device was demonstrated by showing an association between the Triggerfish device output and IOP fluctuation. The most common temporary side effects were pressure marks from the contact lens, ocular hyperemia (red eyes) and punctate keratitis (irritation of the cornea).

Product page: SENSIMED Triggerfish
by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, March 7, 2016

GABBCON (the Global Audience Based Buying Conference) launched last year, born out of a frustration with the lack of standards and shared vocabulary around audience buying for TV and video in particular, according to co-founder Gabe Greenberg, formerly of The Trade Desk and Delivery Agent. Greenberg, among others, felt the industry had moved at a glacial pace on the issue, and saw a need to address it.

GABBCON hosts conference events and meets regularly (as frequently as once a month via conference call, with sessions in between) to work on standards for audience buying. Its partners include heavyweights like DataXu, Hulu, TiVo Research, TubeMogul, AudienceXpress, CBS, Fox, Omnicom Media Group, IPG, IPONWEB, SpotX, Canoe, AdMore, AOL, Clypd, Neustar and iSpotTV.

Last week, the group held a one-day conference event in New York where speakers included a mix of agency, publisher and ad-tech execs like Shenan Reed, president digital North America, MEC; Dan Reiss, executive vice president of content partnerships at Turner; Doug Fleming, head of advanced TV at Hulu; Dave Morris, chief revenue officer at CBS Interactive; and Matt Spiegel, SVP/GM, data & technology solutions at MedialLink.

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Greenberg said that while the Interactive Advertising Bureau also has a working group on the topic, GABBCON is moving faster and with all stakeholders in the ecosystem: media buying agencies, ad-tech vendors, marketers, DSPs, SSPs , broadcast and cable networks, publishers and advertisers.

GABBCON last week came out with version 1.0 of its Automated Linear Broadcast Cross Device Standard or (ABCDs), which aims to arm the advertising and audience-based buying marketplace with a standard and recommended practice for buying of linear TV inventory and cross-device measurement. It took three months to come up with ABCDs.

The challenges in creating standards are steep. Each SSP has its own protocol, and theres very little similarity from one to the next. We want to align as people did around the open RTB standard, Greenberg told me.

One challenge is that TV cant be activated in real time -- but you can streamline buying, planning and optimization.

GABBCON is focused on taking deliberative and iterative steps. The TV industry may not be able to move at the pace of digital, Greenberg noted.

What can be automated in TV? For starters, inventory, in terms of whats available by schedule and day part. Also, show-level detail, audience data to better inform whos watching or may be watching, certain types of content, media planning and buying and optimization can all be automated. Thats exciting, right? And for some, its scary too. Hence, the focus on iteration.

Greenberg took pains to say that GABBCON isnt meant to be a closed group, but is open and collaborative. "The more input, the better. We want and ask for feedback.

The group is looking at APIs that SSPs have adopted to understand which pieces should be incorporated into a final version of an API, which will likely be released at GABBCONs next events, either in April (Chicago), or May (Rome).
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 6, 2016

It seems Google has created a way to serve exclusive content in its search engine query results, increasing the value to advertisers looking to connect with like-minded consumers. The content is uploaded directly to Google's cloud servers.

For Google, it's not about searchers searching to find exclusive content. It's about the content served in query results being exclusive to the search engine and not Bing, Yahoo, AOL, or any other sites. Exclusive content brings people back.

Late last year the engine began experimenting with its invite-only tool, Google Posts, by allowing 2016 U.S. presidential candidates to write, upload and post content directly on the Web without having to launch a Web site, upload content, and wait for it to index and serve up in search engine query results. Now that olive branch has been extended to businesses.

The exclusive content appears in "cards," similar to those that serve up in Google's mobile search app. No indexing from Web sites is required, which means that Microsoft Bing's crawlers cannot index the content and serve it up on Bing, AOL or any other partner network, making the posts exclusive to Google and its partner sites.

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"Currently the posts are not indexed, so they would not be visible to Bing," Mike Blumenthal, search expert, told Search Marketing Daily. "Whether that is a function of the test and wanting to make it less visible or a product 'feature,' we do not know."

Blumenthal says it appears that the posts go live instantly without delay, which implies that Google does not need to crawl the content for it to serve up in query results. This would make the posts the only exclusive content available to Google and its network partners.

"It looks like an elegant, simple SMB product that could be easily understood by small business and easily monetized," Blumenthal acknowledges, but says the potential for spam is so huge that he wonders how Google could really cope.

"Maybe they are figuring that these businesses could not say or do anything more stupid than the current crop of presidential candidates," he says. "If that is the case, then they underestimate the power of greed and ill advised self interest of which some businesses are capable."

Blumenthal first spotted Google Posts being used by a small business while searching for stores selling engagement rings in Buffalo, New York.

"The content shows up in a special unit, so it's not indexed," confirms a Google spokesperson. "Google hosts the content. The experiment began with political candidates, and now local businesses."

Searchers can share the posts from the search results page, but cannot leave comments or "like" them.

Once published, Google said the posts will appear in query results related to the specific content, and that they are shareable on social networks.

Similar to those on mobile devices in the Google app, the posts appear as "cards" that people can tap or swipe to provide more information.

Google markets the tool as a real-time communication publishing platform, and a podium to hear directly from the U.S. presidential candidates in real-time on google.com.

Monetizing Google Posts becomes easy if Bing and other search engines cannot access and serve the content.
by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 7, 2016

According to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study, looking at the areas where US CEOs and their designates plan to increase spending over the next year, 28% of respondents said they planned to increase advertising spending within the next 12 months.

And, some areas where respondents are not increasing as much spending. For example, research and development has seen a decline in respondents who plan to increase spending, from 15% in 2015 to 11% in 2016.

CEOs Planning Increased Ad Spending Next 12 Months Spending Category Q4 2015-Q42016 Advertising 28% Information technology 27 New product/service introduction 26 Geographic expansion 26 Marketing/sales promotion 23 Facilities expansion 19 Business acquisition 16 Research & Development 11 Internet commerct 9 Source: PwC/BSI Global Research, February 2016

The PwC US Total Retail 2016 survey findings uncover how retailers can compete in the race for relevance.

US Total Retail 2016 Key Findings

The 2016 PwC Total Retail survey this year confirms the imperative for relevance in relatively uncharted territory such as mobile commerce and online social communities, as well as in traditional retail and consumer mainstays such as brand equity and the in-store shopping experience.

The survey uncovered 6 key findings for retailers to leverage in the race for relevance, says the report. Shoppers reported that they want convenience at an affordable price. They want a trip to the store to be worth the effort, with trained employees to help sort through options. They want to feel an emotional connection with their favorite brand because it stands for the values they believe in. And they want to be part of a larger online community where they share ideas and aspirations.

1. Global Trends Set A High Bar For US Mobile Commerce

Only 26% of US shoppers say their mobile phone will become their main purchasing tool in the future while 59% of Chinese shoppers, 68% of Indian shoppers, and 36% of Turkish shoppers do. One reason for the lag in US mobile purchasing, is the lack of convenient mobile purchasing options, such as buy buttons and mobile wallets, commonly used in China, which allow consumers to move seamlessly between chatting about a product and buying it, all within a mobile app.

Mobile Commerce; Mobile Phone Main Purchasing Tool (% of Respondents) US China 2014 23% 55% 2015 26% 59% Source: PwC, February 2016

2. Digital Natives Lead The Mobile Commerce Charge

Born after 1980, digital natives grew up with technology at their fingertips, which makes them more facile with all things digital. No surprise then that millennials, aged 18-34, use their mobile device as a shopping tool far more than older shoppers, says the report. Almost 40% buy products online monthly while close to 30% shop online weekly.

Millennials (18-34) Online Shopping Frequency Frequency % of Respondents Daily 11% Weekly 28 Monthly 40 Source: PwC, February 2016

3. How Online Shoppers Define Value

When it comes to online shopping, Americans value convenience above all else: 58% of survey respondents say convenience is the main reason they shop online, with price a distant second at 32%. US Shoppers ranked innovative delivery options high on the list of their favorite retailers; from crowd sourced last-mile delivery or free shipping and returns, or delivery within hours of ordering a product.

Online Shoppers Tradeoffs Between Convenience, Price, Speed and Variety

Amazon.com marketplace: 230 million delivered in 3-4 days

Amazon com prime: 20 million with free 2 day delivery

Amazon.com fresh: 500,000 items same or next day

PrimeNow: 10,000 in 1-2 hours

Source: PwC, February 2016

4. Entice Me In, Then Keep Me Interested So Ill Stay

Respondents in the survey said the top two factors that enhance their in-store shopping experience are ease of checkout and sales associates with deep product knowledge .The ability to check other store or online stock quickly, and fast, simple login for in-store WiFi, are desirable but rank lower than human interaction with knowledgeable associates.

Consumers Want Experience Making Coming To The Store Worthwhile Experience % of Respondents Ease of checkout 46% Very knowledgeable sales associates 41% Ability to check alternate store stock quickly 32% Convenient Instore WiFi 23% Source: PwC, February 2016

5. Brand Trust Requires Continual Attention

The survey found that brand trust is among the top three reasons consumers shop at their favorite retailers. The analysis of 6,700 brands by PwC found that over the past 15 years, brands that are considered leaders by consumers have grown in value at nearly five times the rate of the average S&P 500 company. With new entrants popping up at a moments notice to eclipse established brands, brand trust is ever more in need of constant nurturing.

6. Social commerce: The power of community

Consumers have an appetite for social commerce, the fusion of online social communities with seamless purchasing capability. More than two-thirds of US respondents in the survey said social media influences their online shopping behavior, ranking reviews and feedback as their foremost activity, followed by browsing promotional offerings, and checking digital ads.

More than 2/3 of US consumers say social media influences their online shopping behavior:

40% reading reviews, comments feedback

37% receiving promotional offerings

26% viewing advertisements

To read the full PwC report, please visit here.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, March 7, 2016

The election cycle was in full swing over the weekend, with a flurry of primaries and caucuses over both days and a CNN hosted Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan yesterday evening.

Saturday saw Democrats pick their nominee in Nebraska, Louisiana and Kansas. Sunday, Democrats voted in Maine. The overall results tipped in Sen. Bernie Sanders favor, who won in Kansas, Nebraska and Maine. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won convincingly in Louisiana, which sported the highest delegate count of the four states.

Those contests were succeeded by a debate in Flint, Michigan, a state which holds primary contests for both parties on Tuesday. Mississippi will also hold primaries for both parties, and Republicans will caucus in Hawaii and vote in Idaho that same day.

The shape of the Democratic race, heavily influenced by the enormous support Clinton receives from super-delegates, is increasingly lopsided. Hillary Clinton has now surpassed the 1,000 delegate mark with 1,130, very close to half the number she needs to secure the nomination.

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Sen. Sanders lags significantly behind with 499 delegates. The path to the nomination for the Vermont Senator is narrowing, with especially poor results in Southern and African-American heavy states over the past two weeks.

However, there is little chance he drops out anytime soon. With more than $40 million contributed to the campaign in February, Sanders can keep campaigning and will continue to press Clinton on issues of inequality and trade, among others.

Clintons stance on trade, particularly international trade agreements, noticeably shifted after the Democratic base showed powerful aversion to the TPP and related TPA, a theme brought up in last nights debate.

While Sanders has poked his opponent on her movement on the TPP, he instead attacked Clintons support of NAFTA (signed by President Clinton) at the debate. In Sanders words, NAFTA, supported by the Secretary cost us 800,000 jobs nationwide, tens of thousands of jobs in the Midwest.

The Secretary wasnt fazed and sounded like a confident front-runner.

Some answers from Clinton, including a tedious one on fracking and a complete sidestep of the paid speeches debacle, sounded very general election-like. She had an illustrative response to a question on how she would approach a race versus Trump, and did her best to stay out of the mud when attacking Sanders.

The race would be close, if not for the 458-22 lead Clinton has over Sanders with super-delegates.

While the supedelegate system wont be changed this cycle, high-ranking Democratic officials, most notably House minority speaker Nancy Pelosi, have voiced opposition to the influence non-vote-based delegates have on the Democratic nomination process.
by Sara Guaglione , March 7, 2016

Michael Finnegan has been promoted to president of Atlantic Media, the company announced today. He previously served as COO.

Atlantic Medias position of president has been vacant since fall 2013, when Justin Smith left and headed to Bloomberg, where he is now CEO of Bloomberg Media Group.

While the position was vacant, Atlantic Media chairman and CEO David Bradley essentially stepped in to fill the role of president himself.

Finnegan has moved up the Atlantic Media ranks quickly; just six months ago he was promoted from CFO to COO.

In a staff memo announcing Finnegans new role as president, Bradley said that since Finnegans previous promotion six months ago, nothing has changed in my regard for the pure force of Michael's mind. Where I am evolving is in my view of its centrality to our work. Media is as intricate a strategy puzzle as I've seen in my, now-long, career.

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Finnegan told Publishers Daily that his priorities in 2016 are to continue the growth of the company and to stabilize our operations to ensure that growth is better locked down in an ever-changing media environment.

We are very enthusiastic about continuing to experiment with partners to bring our content to new platforms and audiences in ways that create sustainable business models, he added.

Finnegan said Atlantic Media will also be more focused on introducing their brands to broader audiences through greater international expansion, more of a focus on mobile devices, and increased experimentation with new content forms like video.

He said they want to continue to cultivate brand loyalty.

In a world of social media and content platforms, deepening a brand's connection with readers is critical for long-term success. Our events, paid content, information services and digital engagement initiatives will help support our loyalty goals to ensure that we are growing both in scale and engagement," he added.

Finnegan joined Atlantic Media in 2011 as director of business development and analytics. He brought data and analytics to the forefront of the Atlantic Media management decision-making process, as well as pursued distributed content. He built the business cases for the launch of new brands and constructed over 100 revenue and content partnerships.

For each of the past two years, revenues across the company grew 20% and are on track to achieve similar growth this year, according to the company. Flagship brand The Atlantic was recently named Magazine of the Year at the 2016 Ellie Awards. It is in its largest year of investment and growth.

Quartz, Atlantic Medias business brand, grew revenues by 84% and traffic by 65% in its third year in operation and expects to be profitable in 2016, the company stated.
by Ben Frederick @mp_benfred, March 7, 2016

Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA) announced the creation of a new position, SVP of programmatic.

Wade Rifkin, formerly of social data platform ShareThis, has been tapped to fill the spot. Rifkin will report to CCOA CEO Scott Wells.

The job will entail setting up partnerships with data providers and ad tech companies to expose CCOAs supply to buy-side advertisers, as well as defining the companys programmatic strategy.

CCOA has been moving its outdoor business into a convergence with digital for the past couple of years. Recently, it announced a new product called RADAR that would help marketers measure specific actions taken after exposure to an out-of-home ad.

Developing a compelling programmatic platform is an important part of our strategy to make out-of-home easier to buy and a more integral part of a brands purchasing decisions, stated Wells.

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Rifkin has established a track record in the programmatic space, working previously with ShareThis as their SVP of programmatic partnerships and with DigitalsLBI_US where he helped build their programmatic practice across the North America.

Before that, he held other positions in Digitas, as well as Wieden + Kennedy and Moxie Interactive.

Out-of-home companies have had their eye on programmatic for a number of years now, but it would appear 2016 may be the year that they actually get a handle on it.

According to data from Kinetic Worldwide, out-of-home ad spend grew 15% in 2015. However, there are a number of factors holding OOH back from being truly real-time, including audience data, and a lack of standardized industry data.
by Jess Nelson , March 7, 2016

The creator of the @ symbol and inventor of modern email, Raymond "Ray" Tomlinson, passed away on Saturday. He was 74.

Tributes for the American computer programmer have inundated social media and include some of the largest technology companies and executives, including Googles Gmail team.

Tomlinson is credited with implementing the first email program on the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) system in 1971. Initially funded by the United States Department of Defense, ARPANET was a precursor to the modern Internet.

Tomlinson introduced the @ sign to allow messages to be targeted to individual users on specific machines, effectively creating the first email. Before Tomlinsons addition, users could only write messages to others on the same, limited network.

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Within two years email became a standard of the US Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was born on April 23, 1941, in Amsterdam, New York.

Tomlinson had early exposure to the earliest computer technologies, and even participated in a program with IBM has an undergraduate student at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received his masters degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1965, having developed an analog-digital hybrid speech synthesizer as part of his masters thesis.

In 1967 Tomlinson joined Bolt, Beranek and Newman, a Boston-based technology firm (now BBN Technologies) that was experimenting with ARPANET.

Tomlinson's email program brought about a complete revolution, fundamentally changing the way people communicate," said the Internet Society, as part of Tomlinsons induction as an inaugural member of the the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012.

Tomlinsons legacy lives on in the more than 4.4 billion email addresses registered globally today. Over 205 billion emails are sent per day according to Radicati Group -- a number that is expected to increase to over 246 billion emails per day by 2019.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 7, 2016

Turkeys steady slide into authoritarian rule is proceeding apace.

On Friday, a court gave the government legal control of the countrys largest newspaper, Zaman. Police quickly descended on the newspapers offices in Istanbul, unleashing water cannons and tear gas against protesters gathered outside in an attempt to stop the takeover.

The move was broadly criticized by European governments.

No explanation was offered for the courts decision, but Zaman and a number of other dissident media orgs are linked to the Hizmet movement, led by an erstwhile ally of Erdogan, Fethullah Gulen. Gulen since split with the presidents APK party and publicly criticized him, causing Erdogan to accuse him and his followers of involvement in criminal conspiracies against the government and support for the Kurdish terrorist organization PKK.

Gulen lives in the Pennsylvania, and the U.S. government has refused to extradite him to Turkey.

The newspapers last free edition, published on Saturday, featured an all-black front page with the headline Constitution Suspended, referring to the governments recent moves to stifle free speech.

The first edition published under government control, on Sunday, carried a pro-regime headline about the success of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's public works program. The newspapers suspended English language editor, Sevgi Akarcesme, noted in a tweet, In less than 48 hours, the new admin turned seized Zaman into a propaganda piece of the regime in Turkey.

Suspended journalists from Zaman published their own alternative newspaper, Yarina Bakis (Look Toward Tomorrow), which carried news about the takeover and ensuing protests and police crackdown.

This is just the latest in a series of moves by the Turkish government to stifle Turkish news media.

Last fall, Turkish police raided the offices of a major Turkish conglomerate with media properties, Koza pek Holding, including the newspaper Sozcu, whose columnists all submitted empty op-eds to protest the raid in the newspapers print edition.

Turkish security forces have also arrested a number of foreign journalists who were covering anti-government protests on trumped-up charges of abetting terrorism. While the foreign journalists have been released, some of their local handlers remain in custody.
Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet and the University of Oulu in Finland have elucidated gene regulatory mechanisms that can explain how known genetic variants influence prostate cancer risk. The findings, published in the journal Nature Genetics , reveal widespread deregulation of androgen receptor function, a key player in prostate cancer.

The vast majority of the three billion base-pairs in the human genome are identical across individuals. Nevertheless, genome sequence variation that does occur in the population has a profound effect on an individual's predisposition for developing various diseases. In the case of prostate cancer, 100 regions of genetic variation have been identified through comparative genetic studies. Each have a small but significant influence on prostate cancer risk. Previous studies have demonstrated an association of these genomic regions with disease, but the molecular processes accounting for the disease association have not yet been uncovered for most of these 100 regions.

Using computational and statistical analysis, Thomas Whitington and colleagues at Karolinska Institutet devised a method for analysing the molecular processes at these genomic regions. The researchers identified mechanisms that can explain many of the known associations between genetic variation and prostate cancer risk. These discoveries were validated using molecular techniques by a research team led by Gong-Hong Wei at University of Oulu.

"In particular, we discovered that binding of physical complexes involving the androgen receptor, a key transcription factor in prostate cancer, is often disrupted by DNA sequence variation associated with the disease", says Thomas Whitington at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, one of the researchers behind the study.

Transcription factors are key molecular components of the cell that bind to DNA and affect the activity of nearby genes. The androgen receptor is a transcription factor that promotes proliferation and survival of prostate cancer cells. In the current study, the investigators found that binding of androgen receptor at these locations of genetic variation was frequently tumor-specific, and not present in normal prostate tissue.

"This work refines our understanding of how this molecular machinery is involved in disease processes", says Thomas Whitington. "An improved understanding of androgen receptor binding may in particular prove useful, as it's activity becomes pivotal during the treatment of late stage aggressive prostate cancer."

The research was conducted by scientists based at Karolinska Institutet, University of Oulu, and University of Cambridge. The work was co-supervised by Fredrik Wiklund, Johan Lindberg, and Gong-Hong Wei. Thomas Whitington and Ping Gao were co-first authors. It was funded by, among others, Cancer Research UK, the Swedish Cancer Society, a Linneaus grant from the Swedish Research Council, and The Academy of Finland.
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," was 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. "
Apps allow patients to share data with their doctor.

Many orthopaedic patients are eager to track and improve their health and progress before, during and after treatment. A digital fitness device, technology already owned by 1 in 10 Americans, provides a unique opportunity for patients to monitor their activity levels, medication use, weight, sleep patterns, rehabilitation progress, and other personal health data, ultimately empowering them to improve clinical outcomes, according to a study presented today at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

The study is the first to objectively review applications of these devices specifically for orthopaedic care. With consumer sales soaring, "fitness devices have the potential to transform orthopaedic care," said lead study author Claudette Lajam, MD, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. "If we can get people more involved in their care and help them get in better shape, then everyone wins--patients, physicians, and the entire health care system."

The study analyzed activity tracking, cost, interfaces, location of devices on the body, and other relevant features for 28 health devices named the most popular by top consumer tech magazines. The most common features were a pedometer (tracking distance traveled), in addition to monitors for heart rate, sleep and caloric intake, although many other features were available.

Dr. Lajam said data generated by fitness devices can be applied across different levels of orthopaedic care:

Non-surgical patients can track behavior, activity levels and medication use and alter these factors to lose weight and maintain the best possible function in their extremities.

Pre-operative patients can reduce risk for post-operative complications by reducing their weight, preventing diabetes through glucose monitoring, and identifying sleep disorders.

Post-operative patients can evaluate rehabilitation progress and surgical outcomes by measuring walking distances and stairs climbed, and alter physical therapy for better recovery.

If authorized by patients, this data also can be sent to their doctor and health care team, via apps that interface with Apple HealthKit, Google Fit, and Microsoft HealthVault and electronic medical record systems.

Dr. Lajam said that with heightened emphasis on patient engagement and accountability, devices are an easy way for patients and physicians to share and document long-term activity. The study did not recommend specific devices, determine treatments based on information, or assess accuracy of data produced by the devices.

"We urge developers of these technologies to work with surgeons, patients, payers and hospitals to create meaningful applications that optimize patient care," Dr. Lajam said.
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.

Share on Pinterest 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)

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."
AstraZeneca has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication in the US, expanding the use of Faslodex (fulvestrant) to include use in combination with Ibrance (palbociclib). The combination use is for the treatment of women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) whose cancer has progressed following endocrine therapy.1 Fulvestrant has been approved in the US since 2002 and in Europe since 2004 as a monotherapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with HR+ MBC whose cancer has progressed following antioestrogen therapy.

The oestrogen hormone receptor positive (ER+) form of breast cancer is the most common subtype, and is one of the key drivers of disease progression. Preclinical studies show that fulvestrant directly targets the oestrogen receptor (ER) by blocking and degrading the ER, helping to inhibit tumour growth.1,2

"The new Faslodex indication provides another important treatment option for patients, as described in the study, who progressed on or early after prior endocrine therapy. The data supporting combination therapy with Faslodex plus palbociclib showed a clear increase in progression-free survival in patients in the combination arm, as compared to Faslodex and placebo," said Dr. Dennis Slamon, Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Haematology/Oncology and Executive Vice Chair for Research for UCLA's Department of Medicine. The FDA approval of this new indication in the US for fulvestrant is based on data from the Phase III PALOMA-3 trial, which met the study's primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). The combination of fulvestrant 500 mg and palbociclib 125 mg resulted in a 4.9 month PFS improvement over fulvestrant and placebo, in women with HR+ HER2- advanced or MBC whose disease had progressed after endocrine therapy. Improvement in PFS was seen irrespective of menopausal status.1

"This new indication in the US is encouraging news for metastatic breast cancer patients," said Antoine Yver, Head of Oncology, Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca. "As a company we are committed to optimising the current standard of care in breast cancer. To achieve this, we are exploring combinations across different scientific platforms through ongoing research and evaluation."

The most common adverse reactions (>10%) of any grade reported in PALOMA-3 of fulvestrant plus palbociclib vs fulvestrant plus placebo included neutropenia (83% vs 4%), leukopenia (53% vs 5%), infections (47% vs 31%), fatigue (41% vs 29%), nausea (34% vs 28%), anaemia (30% vs 13%), stomatitis (28% vs 13%), headache (26% vs 20%), diarrhoea (24% vs 19%), thrombocytopenia (23% vs 0%), constipation (20% vs 16%), vomiting (19% vs 15%), alopecia (18% vs 6%), rash (17% vs 6%), decreased appetite (16% vs 8%), and pyrexia (13% vs 5%).1

About PALOMA-3

PALOMA-3 is a Phase III international, randomised, double-blind, parallel group, multicentre study of fulvestrant plus palbociclib versus fulvestrant plus placebo conducted in women with HR+/HER2- advanced or metastatic breast cancer, regardless of their menopausal status, whose disease progressed after endocrine therapy. The study evaluated 521 pre/postmenopausal women who were randomised 2:1 to fulvestrant plus palbociclib or fulvestrant plus placebo. Of the study population, 20.7% were either premenopausal (meaning they had not reached menopause), or perimenopausal (meaning that their bodies were making the natural transition toward menopause), and were therapeutically induced to become postmenopausal.1

Patients enroled in this study had a median age of 57 years (range 29 to 88). The majority of patients in the study were white (74%). All patients had an ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) PS of 0 or 1, and 80% were postmenopausal. All patients had received prior systemic therapy and 75% of patients had received a previous chemotherapy regimen. Twenty-five percent of patients had received no prior therapy in the metastatic disease setting, 60% had visceral metastases, and 23% had bone only disease.1

Fulvestrant 500 mg was given as two 5 mL injections, one in each buttock, on days 1, 15, 29 and once monthly (28  3 days) thereafter. Palbociclib was given orally at a dose of 125 mg daily for 21 consecutive days followed by 7 days off treatment. Patients continued to receive their assigned treatment until objective disease progression, symptomatic deterioration, unacceptable toxicity, death, or withdrawal of consent, whichever occurred first. Premenopausal or perimenopausal patients received goserelin for the duration of study treatment, starting at least 4 weeks before randomization and continuing every 28 days.1

About Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC)

MBC is the most advanced stage of breast cancer (stage four), and occurs when cancer cells have spread beyond the initial tumour site to other parts of the body outside of the breast. Since there is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, the goal of current treatment is to delay disease progression.3

About Fulvestrant

Fulvestrant is indicated in the European Union (EU) for the treatment of postmenopausal women with oestrogen receptor positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer for disease relapse on or after adjuvant anti-oestrogen therapy, or disease progression on therapy with an anti-oestrogen.4

Fulvestrant represents a hormonal therapy approach that targets the ER. The ER is a key driver of disease progression. Fulvestrant helps to slow tumour growth by blocking and degrading the ER.1,2 
Depression and anxiety, and not necessarily the use of antidepressant medication, are associated with lower pregnancy and live birth rates following in vitro fertilisation, according to a large register study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The findings are published in the journal Fertility & Sterility and can be of interest to clinicians treating infertility and for women with depression or anxiety planning to undergo fertility treatment.

Treatment with antidepressants has increased both in general and among women of reproductive age in the last few decades. In particular, the use of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, SSRIs, has increased. However, little is known about the effect of antidepressants on fertility and the ability to conceive.

The new study, including more than 23,000 women, is the largest so far assessing the association between depression, anxiety and antidepressants and the outcome of in vitro fertilisation, IVF. The investigators used anonymized data on all IVF procedures performed in Sweden from 2007 and onwards, extracted from the Swedish Quality Register of Assisted Reproduction. They linked it to information on depression, anxiety and antidepressant prescription dispensations from the nationwide Swedish Patient and Prescribed Drug Registers.

Of all women in the study, 4.4 per cent had a depression or anxiety diagnosis in the two years before the start of their IVF cycle and/or an antidepressant dispensation in the six months prior to the cycle start. The researchers compared the rates of pregnancy, live birth and miscarriage in these women to rates in women without a diagnosis or antidepressant dispensation.

"We found that women undergoing their first IVF treatment who either had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety or had dispensed an antidepressant had lower rates of pregnancy and live birth rates compared to women who did not suffer from these conditions or take antidepressants before beginning their IVF treatment", says first author Carolyn Cesta, doctoral student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "Importantly, we found that women with a depression or anxiety diagnosis without a prescription of antidepressants had an even lower chance of becoming pregnant or having a live birth."

SSRIs are the most common type of antidepressant prescribed in Sweden. In the large group of women in the current study taking SSRIs, there was no difference in pregnancy or live birth rates following IVF treatment. However, the small group of women taking antidepressants other than SSRIs, who had more complex cases of depression and anxiety, had reduced odds of pregnancy and live birth as well as an increased risk for miscarriage following their IVF treatment.

"Taken together, these results indicate that the depression and anxiety diagnoses may be the underlying factor leading to lower pregnancy and live birth rates in these women", says the study's principal investigator Anastasia Nyman Iliadou, associate professor at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

However, she cautions that since the study was not randomised the results could also be explained by unmeasured lifestyle and/or genetic factors associated with depression and anxiety.

The research was financially supported by the EU-FP7 Health program, the Swedish Research Council, the Strategic Research Program in Epidemiology Young Scholar Awards, Karolinska Institutet and the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health.
On February 26, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a board meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB),[1] one of the successors of the Soviet-era KGB. The purpose of the meeting was to review the outcomes of the service's work in 2015 and set its priorities for 2016. Putin - who, as a former KGB officer, addressed the FSB board-members as tovarishi ("comrades") and kolegi ("colleagues") - stressed at the meeting that "foreign intelligence organizations have stepped up their activity in Russia," and, more specifically, that external elements plan to intervene in Russia's Duma elections next fall. He clarified that any intervention in the elections will be regarded as a "direct threat to our sovereignty," and that "everyone should be aware that we will defend our interests with determination and in accordance with our laws."

Referring to the ceasefire in Syria, Putin noted that Russia is committed to ceasing hostilities against "those armed groups that declare their readiness to observe the ceasefire," while stressing that Russia will continue to target ISIS, Jabhat Al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations that are recognized as such by the UN Security Council. It should be noted, however, that on February 28, 2016, Saudi Arabia accused the Syrian regime and its ally Russia of violating the ceasefire in Syria.[2] According to Orient News, a Syrian media group owned by oppositionist Ghassan 'Aboud, on February 29 Russia bombed the city of Harbnafsa in the Hama area and on March 4 it bombed the city of Douma in the eastern Ghouta.[3] The rebel forces fighting in Douma belong to Jaysh Al-Islam, which the UN has not designated a terrorist organization.

The following are exerpts from an English transltion of Putin's address that was posted on the official Kremlin website:[4]



Russian President Vladimir Putin (Image: Kremlin.ru, February 26, 2016)

The Syria Ceasefire Does Not Apply To ISIS, Jabhat Al-Nusra Or Other Terrorist Organizations

"...We are here today to review the results of the Federal Security Service's work in 2015 and set the tasks for the upcoming period... To say a few more words about the Syrian issue, as you know, on February 22, Russia and the United States of America adopted a joint statement[5] on cessation of hostilities in Syria. The purpose of this document is to give impetus to the efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict, more precisely, to boost the efforts to find a political solution and put in place the conditions for starting the settlement process.

"Of course, we are fully aware that this will be a difficult and perhaps even contradiction-filled peace process, but peaceful settlement is the only possible way out of the crisis. We must put in place conditions for bringing a swift end to the bloodshed and then starting a full-fledged intra-Syrian dialogue with all constructive political forces taking part...

"On February 27, starting at midnight Damascus time, the Syrian armed forces, Russia, and the US-led coalition will not conduct hostilities against those armed groups that declare their readiness to observe the ceasefire. But let me stress that this ceasefire does not apply to ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, or other terrorist organizations recognized as such by the UN Security Council. We will certainly continue our resolute combat against these groups. I hope that our American partners will take the same position. This is what is reflected in our joint statement...

"It is important now to effectively seal off Russia's territory from these terrorists trying to enter from the Middle East or other regions, and act swiftly to identify and neutralize those who are involved in terrorist activities abroad. In this respect, Russia in general and its armed forces took timely action in starting our operations in Syria. Your work here in Russia itself also confirms this. Your efforts have put a stop to the activities of underground groups that were planning attacks against our country... I hope you will continue to work in this same spirit and prevent the actions of not only those who plan attacks, but also those who recruit our citizens to terrorist organizations and spread extremist ideology.

"We should tighten monitoring of the refugee flows coming into Russia or transiting onwards to European countries. In this respect, I want to add that this refugee crisis began long before Russia began its antiterrorist operation in Syria. At the root of this refugee crisis is the destabilization of entire regions of the world, especially the Middle East...[There] are refugees from Afghanistan. What have Russia's operations in Syria got to do with them? Their situation is totally unconnected to our operations. Our operations have one sole aim: to stabilize the situation in these countries and create conditions for people from these countries to be able to return to their homes..."

The FSB Must Prevent Any External Attempts To Intervene In The Duma Election

"The counterintelligence services have important tasks today. At the last board meeting, you recall that we noted that foreign intelligence organizations have stepped up their activity in Russia, and this was convincingly confirmed over the last year. Over this time, we put a stop to the activity of more than 400 foreign intelligence officers and agents, with criminal charges brought against 23 of these people.

"We need to ensure reliable protection of information on confidential activity and personnel in government organizations, military facilities, defense industry companies, the fuel and energy sector, and our leading research centers. We need to cut off all channels of access to confidential information.

"Colleagues, we will hold elections to the State Duma this autumn. All constructive political forces and parties want these elections to go ahead in full compliance with the law, in a spirit of fair and open competition, and hope their results will be objective and reflect the real mood and opinion of our country's people.

"The FSB and other agencies have the task of doing everything necessary to prevent the activity of those who attempt or might attempt to use nationalist, xenophobic or radical slogans to divide our society. Of course, you must also prevent any attempts from outside to intervene in our election and our country's political life. As you know, such methods exist and have been put to use in a number of countries. Let me say again that this is a direct threat to our sovereignty and we will respond accordingly.

"I read the regular documents you prepare, read the summaries, and see the concrete indications that, regrettably, our ill-wishers abroad are preparing for these elections. Everyone should therefore be aware that we will defend our interests with determination and in accordance with our laws.

"Our country's economic security is also very important...It is important to prevent any misappropriation of state funds...But we should all be well aware that the large sums, enormous resources, you could say, that the country is investing in its defense capability not just today, but for the future, must be reliably protected from swindlers and schemers.

"You should continue to give your attention to the question of ensuring our information security and neutralizing new threats emerging in this area. More than 24 million cyber attacks against Russian government official sites and information systems were registered in the last year alone. More than 1,600 internet resources that conducted activities harmful to our security, including terrorist and extremist activity, were shut down.

"It is clear that we need to improve the level of protection of our information and communication resources, especially those used for defense and national security needs, law and order, for our economic and financial system's stable functioning..."

Endnotes:
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

MEMRI's exclusive publication of the letter by Gazan ISIS fighter Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir, in which he complained to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi about the cooperation between ISIS-Sinai and Hamas, caused a stir among the organization's operatives in Sinai and its supporters in Gaza. (For the letter, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6334, Exclusive: Letter By ISIS Fighter To Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Reveals ISIS-Sinai's Ties To Hamas, March 2, 2016).

After MEMRI exposed the letter and published a comprehensive translation of its contents, ISIS operatives in Sinai accused Gaza-based social media activists of breaching internet security and promised to hold them accountable for their indiscretion.

Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir himself removed the letter from Justpaste.it and replaced it with a clarification, in which he did not retract his claims he had made in his letter but rather reiterated them. He wrote that he was sorry the letter had been widely distributed and used to defame ISIS. However, he was pleased that the issue had been brought to the attention of "concerned parties" in the organization, and expressed confidence that Al-Baghdadi would take care of the problem. Abu 'Abdallah also lashed out at the pro-ISIS media group Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya for criticizing him, and challenged it to disprove the truth of the letter's contents.

Posting A Screenshot Of MEMRI's Report, ISIS-Sinai Activist Slams Those Who Wrote And Disseminated The Letter

On February 29, 2016, a supporter of ISIS-Sinai on Twitter who calls himself Al-Muhajir (@almohajer_3bk) rebuked the author of the letter and those who had disseminated it - specifically the Tameh Al-Ghazawi Twitter account (@t4560xcvx), which was the first to post the letter but later removed it.[1] Al-Muhajir wrote that "the publication of lies, the spreading of false rumors, and neglect of the monotheists' security" are a mark of shame that will stick to all those who wrote the letter and spread it.

On March 3, he added: "The Tameh Al-Ghazawi account belongs to the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center.[2] The Center [will be held responsible for] participating in the dissemination of lies and false rumors until it issues a clarification about this."

Posting a screenshot of the MEMRI report about the letter alongside a screenshot of Tameh Al-Ghazawi's post, he wrote of Tameh Al-Ghazawi: "He is [like] the man who goes out of his house and tells a lie that spreads [beyond] the horizons. [For every illness there is cure] except for foolishness which tires whoever tries to cure it. Copies [of this post have been sent] to the Ibn Taymiyyah Center and to Tameh Al-Ghazawi."

The administrators of the Tameh Al-Ghazawi account replied on Facebook: "The strongest response to those who make shrill [complaints] is not answering them [at all]. Since they represent themselves only[3] - the caravan moves on..."[4]



Al-Muhajir's March 3 post features a screenshot of MEMRI's report on the letter

Al-Muhajir replied: "I do not expect any response from you, for you are merely a tool. My message is [addressed] to the one who is behind you, and both he and you know [what I'm talking about]. Rest assured, the matter will not remain like this [i.e., without a response]."

The Letter's Author: Had We Known The Letter Would Be Used To Defame ISIS, We Would Have Practiced Restraint

As stated, Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir removed his letter from Justpaste.it and posted a clarification in its stead. He wrote: "I published the letter on behalf of my brothers and in support of our oppressed brothers in Gaza. It was a form of sincere advice to the Caliph of the Muslims, and a as a public mention of evil by one who has been wronged [Quran 4, 148].

"However, we cannot allow it to be used as an instrument to defame the Islamic State. We renounce before Allah anyone who used our letter and our complaint to defame the Islamic State... I was astonished when the brothers told me that this webpage [i.e., the letter on Justpaste.it] had been viewed thousands of times. The tragedy is that Israeli websites have copied the words in order to defame the Islamic State. This is what we were afraid of. This is precisely why we wrote the complaint and the letter, so that the [Islamic] State will not be sorry when the matter develops and spreads, and after it grows and it becomes impossible to correct.

"For that reason [we] removed the [letter of] complaint... after we learned that... it had reached the concerned parties and after we made sure that the matter would be completely resolved, with Allah's permission, by the Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, may Allah protect him.

"I repeat and reiterate: the goal [of the letter] was to deliver the brothers in Gaza from the oppression and marginalization they are suffering, and put an end to the illegitimate ties with the Ikhwani [i.e., Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated] apostate Hamas movement. Had we known that the matter would be used to defame the Islamic State, we would have practiced restraint and advised our brothers [in Gaza] to endure the Sinai Province's transgression against them [i.e., its ties with Hamas], and we would not have opened the door for maligning the Islamic State. May Allah forgive the [Sinai] Province and pardon it, for it is responsible for everything that has happened, due to its odd, illegitimate deeds, first and foremost [the act of] betraying the people of tawhid [monotheism] in Gaza, abandoning them and establishing ties with [Hamas, which is] the enemy of Allah and their own enemy."

Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir concludes his clarification by lashing out at the pro-ISIS Gazan media group Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya, which rebuked him for publishing the letter: "Sadly, Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya took the stance of a deceiver who conceals the truth and covers up violations of the shari'a of which he is well aware... [Acts of] covering up [transgressions] and [spreading] propaganda are the complete opposite of supporting the Caliphate State. The matter goes beyond slandering me as an individual and accusing me and my migrant brothers [Gazans who went to Syria to join ISIS] of lies and fabrications... In short, I address Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya, who rushed to create a flashy poster to defame me and my brothers, the authors of the complaint, and say to you: If you are sincere in what you published in response to the complaint, then my brothers and I challenge you to a mubahala [a traditional verbal duel in which each side invites Allah to curse the party that is lying]..."
Introduction

In recent weeks, a deep crisis has developed in Lebanese-Saudi relations, to the extent that Saudi Arabia took punitive measures against Lebanon: halting a $4 billion aid package to the Lebanese security forces;[1] issuing a travel warning for this country, and taking a decision to expel Lebanese nationals from Saudi Arabia. In addition, on March 2, 2016 the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the council of Arab interior ministers both issued resolutions, initiated by Saudi Arabia, to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization.[2]

The crisis was triggered when Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who is close to Hizbullah, declined in two major Arab forums to endorse resolutions supporting Saudi Arabia and condemning Iran, in particular condemning the January 2, 2016 attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.[3]

This Lebanese position evoked fury in Saudi Arabia, prompting the kingdom to announce a "reassessment" of its relations with Lebanon and to cancel the aid package intended for Lebanon. The other Gulf countries, with the exception of Oman, immediately joined the Saudi position and took measures of their own against Lebanon. The Saudi anger at Lebanon was also expressed in the Saudi and Gulf press, which published dozens of articles that blamed Hizbullah for the Lebanese position and accused this organization of "hijacking" Lebanon and taking over its decision-making, and transforming it into a province of Iran.

The Saudi and Gulf measures against Lebanon evoked responses from the two rival political camps in the country: on the one hand Hizbullah and its political allies, who supported the position of Foreign Minister Bassil, and on the other hand the pro-Saudi March 14 Forces, who attacked Hizbullah and sided with Saudi Arabia. The tension between the camps was also reflected in the pro-Hizbullah press. Articles warned the March 14 Forces against taking measures that could lead to an explosion similar to what happened in Lebanon on March 7, 2008, when Hizbullah took over Beirut and other parts of the country by force of arms.[4]

These recent developments in Saudi-Lebanese relations are yet another round in the years-long struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for influence in Lebanon. The balance of power in this struggle has long been tipping in favor of Iran, mainly thanks to the considerable political and military clout wielded in Lebanon by its ally, Hizbullah, and also thanks to Iran's wide influence zone, which stretches through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, due to Iran's involvement in the Syrian crisis and the presence of its Revolutionary Guards forces in the area. For Saudi Arabia, Lebanon's failure to support the pro-Saudi resolutions - reflecting a further increase in Lebanon's inclination towards Iran - was a breaking point. This development prompted Saudi Arabia to withdraw its support from Lebanon, despite the harm this could cause to its allies there, the March 14 Forces.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia's hostility towards Hizbullah increased, due to the latter's security and military involvement in Bahrain and Kuwait, and especially its military involvement in Syria, which are part of the Saudi-Iranian struggle in the region. Recently, Saudi Arabia even accused Hizbullah of arming and training the Houthi rebels in Yemen and of helping them to stage terror attacks against Saudi Arabia. According to Ahmad Al-'Asiri, an advisor to the Saudi defense minister and the spokesman of the Arab coalition for the war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has proof that Hizbullah sent fighters to Yemen to train and assist the Houthis in their war with the Arab coalition.[5] Hizbullah's involvement in Yemen is seen by Saudi Arabia as a direct threat to its national security. By halting its aid to Lebanon, the kingdom may be trying to hurt Hizbullah at home by pressuring the Lebanese government and public to act against this organization.

Moreover, the current Saudi criticism is not confined to Hizbullah and its allies in Lebanon, including Foreign Minister Bassil, but also extends to Saudi Arabia's allies in this country, the March 14 Forces. Articles in the Saudi press accused the March 14 Forces, headed by the Al-Mustaqbal faction chairman Sa'd Al-Hariri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam, of capitulating to Hizbullah and failing to defend Saudi Arabia and Lebanon's Arab identity, out of fear. Saudi Arabia, it seems, holds its allies in Lebanon and in the Lebanese government responsible for the situation and demands that they change it. The revoking of the aid package - which includes $1 billion earmarked for the Lebanese internal security service, which is associated with Al-Mustaqbal leader Sa'd Al-Hariri - is one reflection of its ire. In addition, Arab coalition spokesman Ahmad Al-'Asiri explicitly called on Lebanon to stop Hizbullah from sending fighters to Yemen and Syria.[6]

Following Saudi Arabia's punitive measures, and especially after the OIC and the interior ministers' council designated Hizbullah a terrorist organization, the Lebanese government, and especially the March 14 Forces, found themselves in a difficult situation: Saudi Arabia expected them to side with it and take a stance against Hizbullah, but they feared taking measures that would anger Hizbullah and could harm Lebanon's internal stability. A reflection of this fear came on March 2, 2016, when Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, who belongs to the Al-Mustaqbal faction, Saudi Arabia's ally in Lebanon, refused to support Saudi Arabia's designation of Hizbullah as a terrorist organization. Machnouk's position naturally sparked angry responses from Saudi Arabia, and Machnouk returned fire, hinting that Saudi Arabia was responsible for Lebanon's current state by saying that the Arab countries had neglected Lebanon for years.

In recent days, the tension between Saudi Arabia and Hizbullah escalated even further, and Ahmad Al-'Asiri even hinted at the possibility of a military strike against Hizbullah, when he wrote on his Facebook page: "[Saudi Arabia] respects Lebanon's sovereignty over its territory, but if the need arises, we will target any organization that poses a direct threat to Arab national security, while coordinating [our actions] with the countries in which these organizations are located."[7] Additionally, on February 27 the Saudi television channel MBC aired a comical sketch about Nasrallah, which angered the organization and its supporters and sparked protests against the channel in the southern Dahiya of Beirut.[8]

To see a MEMRI TV clip of the sketch, click below:

This report reviews the Saudi-Lebanese crisis and the positions of the various sides.

Saudi Arabia Suspends Billions In Aid To Lebanon; Gulf States Expel Lebanese Nationals

On February 10, 2016, a senior Saudi source announced that the kingdom had decided to reassess its relations with Lebanon and to suspend a Saudi aid package of $4 billion intended for the Lebanese armed forces and internal security service. According to the source, these measures were a response to Lebanon's failure to support two resolutions against Iran that were endorsed by all the other Arab countries: a resolution taken at the January 10, 2016 Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, and another taken at the January 21, 2016 meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah. The Saudi announcement held Hizbullah responsible for Lebanon's failure to support these resolutions and accused it of taking over the decision-making apparatuses of the Lebanese state.

The two resolutions, initiated by Saudi Arabia, condemned Iran for the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad and accused it of interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries, of sparking sectarian conflicts, and of sponsoring terror. The resolution taken at the foreign ministers' summit also accused Hizbullah, along with other organizations, of involvement in terror in Bahrain. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, whose party belongs to the Hizbullah-led March 8 Forces, represented Lebanon in both meetings. According to him, the decision not to support the January 10 resolution was taken in consultation with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam, and stemmed from a desire to preserve Lebanon's national unity, since the resolution accused Hizbullah of involvement in terror in Bahrain. As for the January 21 OIC resolution, Bassil apparently took an independent decision not to support it, even though it did not include any reference to Hizbullah. According to Bassil, his decision was in accordance with the guidelines of the Lebanese government, which call not to involve Lebanon in any regional struggle.

Several days after Saudi Arabia's announcement that it was halting the aid to Lebanon, the crisis between the two countries deepened even further, as additional measures were taken against Lebanon by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait issued travel warnings for Lebanon and advised their nationals to leave this country. The UAE even announced it was reducing diplomatic representation in Lebanon to the minimal level. According to reports in the Lebanese and Arab media, Saudi Arabia also informed the employers of some 90 Lebanese nationals that their employees' work and residence permits had been revoked.[9] The Lebanese daily Al-Safir reported, citing sources in the Lebanese foreign ministry, that the UAE had also decided to expel more than 20 Lebanese workers, most of them from South Lebanon.[10]

The Lebanese press assessed that the Gulf states would take further steps against Lebanon, including: halting flights to and from this country; recalling ambassadors and sending diplomatic staff on leave; refusal to extend employment contracts for businessmen in Lebanon; expelling additional Lebanese workers from the Gulf states, and withdrawing Saudi accounts from the Central Bank of Lebanon.[11]



Iran taking over Lebanon (Al-Sharq, Saudi Arabia, February 26, 2016)

Saudi Press: Hizbullah Is An Iranian Agent That Has Taken Over Lebanon; The March 14 Forces Are Ungrateful

The crisis in Saudi-Lebanese relations was widely discussed in the Saudi government press, which supported the Saudi decision to suspend the aid package to Lebanon and called on the Lebanese government to reassess its relations with Hizbullah. The articles harshly condemned Hizbullah and called it an Iranian agent that has taken over the Lebanese decision-making apparatuses. They stated that Hizbullah is working to divide the Arab world and to implement the aggressive policy of Iran, which intervenes in the affairs of Arab countries and attempts to spark conflicts, crises and chaos in them. The articles also accused Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, and Michel 'Aoun, of selling out to the Iranians for a handful of dollars.

Several articles also harshly attacked the March 14 Forces, considered to be Saudi Arabia's traditional ally in Lebanon, claiming that its feebleness has enabled Hizbullah to take over Lebanon, and condemning it for not taking a firm stance against this organization and especially of failing to defend Saudi Arabia, which has helped it for years.

It should be noted that the press in other Gulf countries - Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait - also published many articles attacking Hizbullah.

Below is a MEMRI TV clip of recent statements by Gulf politicians attacking Hizbullah:

Al-Sharq Daily: Hizbullah Has Forcibly Taken Over Lebanon's Decision-Making For The Benefit Of Iran

An editorial in the Saudi daily Al-Sharq stated: "...Saudi Arabia took a sovereign decision to withhold the planned aid to the Lebanese army and security forces after an overall assessment of its relations with Lebanon. At the same time, Saudi Arabia stressed that it stands with the Lebanese people, regardless of sect...

"The positions taken by Lebanon - [a country] which the [organization] known as Hizbullah has taken over using its Iranian weapons and agenda - did not take into account the historic ties between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon or the Saudi positions that have supported the Lebanese in their economic and political crises. The terrorist Hizbullah militia, which is supported by the Iranian regime, did not take into account that Saudi Arabia is in the heart of any Lebanese who loves his country and his Arab environment...

"Lebanese politicians know full well that the Hizbullah militia has taken over their country and is attempting to transform it into a province subordinate to the Iranian regime."[12]

Al-Yawm Daily: Lebanon Must Reexamine Its Relationship With Hizbullah

Similarly, an editorial in the Saudi government daily Al-Yawm stated: "Undoubtedly, Saudi Arabia's decision to reassess its relationship with Lebanon and halt aid to it was a wise decision that serves the common interests of both countries, because Hizbullah is constantly striving to not only tear apart Arab unity, but also to weaken the Lebanese government... Hizbullah continues to reinforce Iranian policy, which the region's peoples oppose. This policy is undertaken openly in all countries of the region, in the form of Iranian rulers interfering in their internal affairs and attempting to spark additional conflicts and crises, start wars, and spread sectarianism among nations that are striving to end their political crises and return to the lap of Arabism. Hizbullah aims to thwart these efforts... Lebanese dignitaries are called upon today to reexamine their relationship with [Hizbullah], seeing that it sows destruction and corruption in South Lebanon and is close to dragging the countries of the region into additional tension and crises [by] implementing Iran's aggressive policy."[13]



Hizbullah in the ranks of "Iran's Revolutionary Guard" (Makkah, Saudi Arabia, February 25, 2016)



Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah as a caterpillar eating away at the Lebanese cedar tree ('Okaz, Saudi Arabia, February 21, 2016)

Saudi Journalist: We Counted On The March 14 Forces But They Failed; Harsher Measures Are Called For

Saudi columnist Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh, writing in the Saudi government daily Al-Jazirah, sharply criticized Free Patriotic Movement chairman Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, accusing them of acting as Iran's representatives. Al-Sheikh also did not spare Saudi Arabia's traditional allies - the March 14 Forces, headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the chairman of the Al-Mustaqbal faction Sa'ad Al-Hariri - who, he claimed, had failed to prevent the Persian takeover of Lebanon. He wrote: "...Lebanon is a country under Persian occupation. Their agent, Mullah Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Lebanese Hizbullah, is... the spearhead of the Persian Safavid takeover of Lebanon, and he is also the one who has been thwarting Lebanon's presidential elections for nearly a year and a half... He managed to take over Lebanon's diplomatic positions and place them at the service of the Persian imperialist policy in the Arab region... He does this by means of the Maronite Christian foreign minister, the representative of the [Michel] Aoun faction in the Lebanese government...

"I believe that the Lebanese understand only the language of force and determination, the [kind of] treatment they received at the hands of the Syrians when they occupied Lebanon. Had General Michel Aoun and his son-in-law [Bassil] expected such a firm decision [by Saudi Arabia], they would not have dared to throw themselves into the Persians' lap for a few million dollars...This obligates the Gulf [states], and not only Saudi Arabia, to adopt additional escalatory positions, especially considering that Hzzbullah is clearly a terrorist organization and considering that its record of training and financing terror organizations in the Gulf, not only in Saudi Arabia, is now as clear as day. We cannot work with a country where the terrorists have taken over the reins of power. The ruler in Lebanon is the [Iranian rule] of the jurisprudent, not the prime minister. The high commissioner of this Persian occupation is Mullah Hassan Nasrallah, the famous braggart who has made [Ali Khamenei,] the spiritual leader in Tehran, into the sovereign decision-maker in Lebanon. Tammam Salam's government is nothing but a failing municipal council... that allowed Mullah Hassan and Gebran Bassil... to take over the Lebanese decision-making...

"Therefore I unreservedly support any harsh decision - not in order to remedy what these politicians [Nasrallah, Bassil, Aoun and the March 8 Forces] have destroyed - but in order to save Lebanon and the Lebanese from the claws of the Persian occupation. This our last resort, especially after we relied for two decades on the Persians' opponents in Lebanese politics, and particularly on the Al-Mustaqbal faction, to take firm national positions that would save Lebanon and the region from a Persian takeover, but achieved no discernable political result. In fact, the leader [of the Al-Mustaqbal faction, Sa'd Al-Hariri,] conducts his activities by remote control from abroad, and is afraid to confront [the situation] in Lebanon from within Lebanon. He failed miserably in filling the vacuum that was created by Hizbullah's assassination of his father, and seems to be totally incapable of changing the shameful situation of Lebanon and the Lebanese. Therefore there is no choice but to stop the investments and take other harsh positions, including a ban on Saudis traveling to Lebanon... At that point the Lebanese will realize what a disaster Mullah Hassan [Nasrallah] has brought upon them, and then let Iran and its servants help [the Lebanese] and compensate them for their economic disasters."[14]



Lebanon severs itself from the "Arab consensus" (Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 21, 2016)

Saudi Columnist: The Pro-Saudi Lebanese Politicians Have Failed The Most Basic Loyalty Tests

Saudi columnist Hamoud Abu Talib voiced similar criticism in an article in the Saudi government daily 'Okaz, slamming the ingratitude shown by March 14 Forces politicians whom Saudi Arabia has supported: "Throughout its entire history and throughout the crises it experienced, Lebanon has always been Arab [in character], despite its internal sectarian, religious and cultural diversity... [However,] the history of Lebanon and its people was destroyed and besmirched by political wheeler-dealers in Lebanon, who surrendered its Arab character and its glory for the sake of [padding] their bank accounts. This [happened] after the turban-wearing [Nasrallah] from the Dahiya [Hizbullah's stronghold in south Beirut] began running Lebanon and ruling it by means of pawns that are falsely thought to be part of Lebanon's political history - and who sadly include descendants of leaders who maintained historic [ties] with Saudi Arabia. Who would have believed that [Lebanese Prime Minister] Tammam Salam, the son of [former Lebanese prime minister] Saeb Salam, would drag his feet in correcting a scandalous position that was expressed by the foreign minister in his cabinet [meaning Bassil], with an excuse that would embarrass even a fledgling politician. Who would have believed that even those [Lebanese] who are considered 'like family' would fail, or nearly fail, the most basic loyalty tests? Who would have believed that the Lebanese political positions that are currently being expressed against Saudi Arabia - which did not allow Lebanon to collapse even in the darkest times - are being promoted by 'official' Lebanese representatives?... Oh Lebanon, we will continue to love you and we will return to you, as we are obliged [to do], when you get rid of the mafia that is selling you out and revert to your glorious Arabic character." [15]

In a February 22, 2016 televised interview, Saudi Information and Culture Minister 'Adel Al-Toraifi called on the Lebanese to open their eyes and realize Hizbullah is taking over their country. Below is a MEMRI TV clip of his statements:

Responses In Lebanon To The Saudi Measures:

Hizbullah: Saudi Arabia's Suspension Of Aid To Lebanon Is A Failed Attempt At Extortion And Intimidation; We Will Not Remain Silent Over Saudi Crimes

Hizbullah said in a statement that Saudi Arabia had decided about a year ago, when King Salman was crowned, to suspend its aid package to Lebanon, and that the decision had more to do with the Saudis' financial situation than with Lebanon's failure to support the two resolutions at the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).[16]

Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah stated that criticism of his organization was aimed at intimidating and extorting it, but that such criticism "will not change our position, neither on the role of the state nor on its identity and regional policy."[17]

In a March 1, 2016 speech, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah reiterated these statements, and noted that the Saudi move was aimed at forcing the Lebanese government and other Lebanese political elements to pressure Hizbullah to change its position on Saudi Arabia, and especially to remain silent in light of what he called the Saudi massacres in Yemen: "Saudi Arabia wants the government and political forces [in Lebanon] to pressure Hizbullah to back down from its positions on Saudi Arabia... Saudi Arabia is carrying out massacres daily in Yemen as the world remains silent. But we cannot remain silent over such crimes... The Saudis are attempting to pressure the Lebanese to silence us, but we will absolutely not remain silent. We are at a point where we cannot remain silent.[18]

Hizbullah-Affiliated Daily: We Have Won And The Saudis Have Been Defeated In All Arenas

In a February 24, 2016 article, Ibrahim Al-Amin, head of the board of directors of the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hizbullah, attacked Saudi Arabia and said that its decision to halt the aid package to Lebanon reflected its defeat in regional issues, in light of the victory of the resistance axis: "The oppressive regime in the Arabian Peninsula can do as it pleases... Dust cannot obscure the picture... that shows that we have triumphed over its tyranny, oppression, usurpation, and injustice... Simply speaking, you [the Saudis] have been defeated, and you will yet drink the poison that you yourselves have prepared... You have failed in Syria and will be defeated there; you have failed in Yemen and you will be defeated there; you have failed in Palestine and you will be defeated there; and you have failed in Lebanon and you will be defeated here."

Taunting the Saudis, he added: "Do you [really] believe that suspending aid or lowering [your] level of diplomatic representation can defeat [the Lebanese people?]... Do you [really] believe that by harshly attacking the resistance in Lebanon, you can make excuses for the failure of your state?... Do you believe that the [Lebanese] workers that you are threatening to expel [from your country], who have not been paid in months, will believe your false claims that the resistance [i.e. Hizbullah] is responsible for [their expulsion]? Do you believe that some writers to whom you continue to feed table scraps can create public sentiment [in Lebanon] that will lead to [masses] filling the public squares and streets in order to please the senility, rashness, and madness [of the Saudi regime]?"

Al-Amin also stated that the Saudis were incapable of subduing Lebanon because their allies in the country are paralyzed: "What table do you want to overturn, and on whose head? With whose strength? To what end? Do you want to spark fitna [among the Lebanese]... and do you truly believe that anyone in Lebanon can upset the [political] situation again [as did the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri]?..."

He concluded by calling on the Saudis to hurry and get out of Lebanon: "If you believe that withdrawing your men and your funds from our country will bring you victory, then I urge you: Defeat us and leave our land and country, today rather than tomorrow..."[19]

Sa'd Al-Hariri: Loyalty To Saudi Arabia Means Loyalty To Lebanon; We Will Not Allow Lebanon To Become An Iranian Province

In contrast, the Al-Mustaqbal faction, led by former Lebanese prime minister Sa'd Al-Hariri, who is known for his support for Saudi Arabia, launched a media campaign against Hizbullah and against Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who also heads the Free Patriotic Movement and is an ally of Hizbullah. At the same time, Al-Mustaqbal began taking steps to mend relations with Saudi Arabia, hoping to please it.

Al-Hariri said in a statement that the Lebanese people were saddened by the Saudi decision to suspend aid to Lebanon, adding that that decision had come "in response to rash decisions [by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry] to withdraw from the Arab consensus and to place Lebanon's foreign policy in the service of a regional axis [i.e. the resistance axis]." Al-Hariri warned that such a policy could "eventually threaten the interests of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese living in various Arab countries who constitute an economic and social force" for Lebanon. He said: "The honor of the [Saudi] kingdom and its leaders is the honor of worthy Lebanese, who will not remain silent in light of the crime that has endangered the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese... If anyone believes that Lebanon will unwittingly [let itself] become an Iranian province, they are delusional, and are also toying with the fate of the state and making a decision to drag themselves and others into the abyss."

Al-Hariri concluded by appealing to the Saudis to reconsider their decision and take into account Lebanon's suffering, from the perspective of a protective "older brother." He also praised the generous financial aid that Saudi Arabia had provided to Lebanon for many years.[20]

In other statements, Al-Hariri called Hizbullah's verbal attacks on Saudi Arabia "unacceptable and unrepresentative of Lebanon and its policy," and accused Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement of removing Lebanon from the Arab consensus in order to back Iran.[21] He added that "loyalty to the kingdom means loyalty to Lebanon," and even circulated a petition of "sympathy for and loyalty to the Arab consensus," collecting the signatures of Lebanese citizens and politicians.[22]

At a February 21, 2016 conference, March 14 Forces leaders accused Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement of causing the rift with Saudi Arabia, underlined that they refused to turn Lebanon into an Iranian "victim," and demanded that the government clearly express the view that Lebanon should identify with the Arab countries and be part of the Arab consensus. Sa'd Al-Hariri also threatened that he himself would take steps if the government did not heed this demand, but did not elaborate further.[23]

Al-Mustaqbal Columnist: Saudi Arabia Is Warning The Lebanese That Their Country Could Become An Iranian Province

Al-Mustaqbal columnist Khairallah Khairallah wrote that the Saudi decision to suspend aid has made the Lebanese realize that their country could become an Iranian protectorate: "One day, it will be obvious that the Saudis have done Lebanon the greatest service of all - they called on the Lebanese to wake up and face reality... [and] to block the danger that Lebanon will become nothing more and nothing less than an Iranian protectorate. The measures [recently] taken by the Saudis are unprecedented in Lebanon-Saudi relations, and come after Lebanon has proven in a very real way that it has become nothing more than an Iranian colony. The best proof of this is that Lebanon's foreign minister, Gebran Bassil... is now a kind of Iranian foreign minister in every Arab, Islamic, or international forum."

Khairallah also pointed to another reason for Saudi Arabia's anger: "Lebanon has become a platform from which Iran can speak its piece, via its [Lebanon's] media or via its officials. Furthermore, Lebanon is now a base for Hizbullah-sponsored media outlets and television networks, whose entire purpose is to attack Arab countries," especially Saudi Arabia. According to him, the Lebanese government "should have long ago noticed the danger that the state could become an Iranian base" and taken a decisive stand against Hizbullah's verbal attacks on Saudi Arabia.

He concluded skeptically: "Can Lebanon react against Hizbullah - that is, against Iran? Are the Lebanese destined to submit to [Hizbullah's] policy of facts on the ground[?]... Lebanon is in an unenviable situation."[24]

Is The Lebanese Government On The Verge Of Dissolution?

In an attempt to assuage the Saudis' anger, the March 14 Forces demanded that the Lebanese government convene a special session on February 22 in order to issue a statement clarifying their support for Saudi Arabia. At the end of the session, the government released the following statement: "Being that the Constitution determines Lebanon's Arab identity and affinity; [and being that Lebanon] is a founding and active member of the Arab League and is committed to its treaties; and being that [Lebanon] and its Arab sisters maintain historic bonds of brotherhood; and in [a desire] to protect the supreme interest of the Lebanese republic [in a way] that protects Lebanese national unity, we hereby affirm our permanent stand alongside our Arab sisters and our support for Arab consensus on the collective issues with which Lebanon has always been concerned."[25]

It would appear that the Lebanese government had, with this statement, affirmed its support for the Arab countries and for the Arab consensus. However, Hizbullah representatives in the government demanded that it include terms such as Lebanon's "supreme interest" and "national unity," thus qualifying its support for the Arab consensus. With this addition, the statement now seems to imply that Lebanon's support for Saudi Arabia and for the Arab consensus is conditional - that is, it must not contradict Lebanon's national unity.

Additionally, immediately after the government issued its statement, Foreign Minister Bassil convened a press conference and said that the current debate in Lebanon revolves around the question of what comes first: Arab consensus or the country's national unity. According to him, "if we are forced to choose between national unity and Arab consensus then we will choose national unity."[26] These statements - which reiterate a preference to remain neutral in the Saudi-Iranian conflict in order to preserve national unity and not upset Hizbullah - encountered opposition from the March 14 Forces and their allies in government, particularly Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who said that Bassil's statements represented his own opinion only and not the government's official position.[27]

It should be mentioned that on the backdrop of the crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, the Lebanese press estimated that the Al-Mustaqbal faction - Saudi Arabia's ally in Lebanon - would take major steps in protest, such as withdrawing its representatives from the unity government, thereby transforming it into an interim government.[28] Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam even hinted at this, saying: "We might reach a point where we effectively find ourselves with an interim government. Resigning is an option not just for me but for [other] political forces as well."[29] A few days later, the daily Al-Akhbar cited sources at the prime minister's office who said that Salam had no intention of resigning.[30]

It should also be noted that Lebanon has gone two years without a president. In addition, the parliament is paralyzed and hardly convenes due to disagreements between the political forces, and the unity government, though crippled, thus remains the country's only functioning institution. Therefore, if the Al-Mustaqbal faction topples the government by withdrawing from it, this could paralyze Lebanon completely and plunge it into chaos.

Saudi Arabia Furious At Lebanese Government: Is Weak Position Proves Its Subordination To Iran

Two days after the Lebanese government's February 24, 2016 session, the Saudi daily Al-Yawm devoted its editorial to harshly criticizing its statement: "The Saudis and Arabs expected that the Lebanese government session two days ago would result in fundamental steps that would help liberate Lebanon... from the [current] situation, in which it is hijacked by a sectarian Iranian terrorist organization... However, the statement [it issued] only proves that the Lebanese government accepts Iranian dictates and that it clearly supports the position outlined by the Lebanese foreign minister at the Arab League and OIC... The Lebanese government has even begun to compete with the Iranians themselves over who takes a more extreme position, since [the statement] did not expressly condemn the Iranian attack on the Saudi embassy, [while even] Iranian President Rohani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had condemned it... The weak statement by the Lebanese government did not even address the problem that sparked the crisis between the [Saudi] kingdom and Lebanon. This proves that Hizbullah holds the reigns of Lebanese decision-making, and that Lebanese who pretend to weep over Lebanon's sovereignty and the independence of the Lebanese state should immediately confront Hizbullah and liberate their country from the Iranian occupation...

"If Lebanese continue their submission to Iranian militias, in ten years or so they will find themselves being banned from speaking Arabic and being forced to speak Farsi, and forced to show loyalty to the Rule of the Jurisprudent and chant its slogans. Those who refuse to surrender, from all sects and religions, will be expelled from Lebanon with the force of Iranian weapons, and be replaced with Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani militias such as the ones Hizbullah settled in Syria after the Syrians were expelled from their cities, homes, and fields..."[31]

Lebanese Interior Minister: Arab Countries Responsible For Lebanon's Current State

So far, it appears that the Saudi anger has not produced any change in the official position of the Lebanese government and of Saudi Arabia's allies in Lebanon. In fact, at a meeting of the Arab interior ministers' council, held on March 2 in Tunis, Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, who belongs to the Al-Mustaqbal faction, refused to support a Saudi-led initiative to designate Hizbullah as a terrorist organization. Support for such a designation would have placed the Lebanese government and the March 14 Forces in a difficult situation, for it would have inevitably led to the collapse of the government, in which Hizbullah is a member, and to chaos in Lebanon. Machnouk's decision may have also been motivated by fear of a harsh retaliatory move by Hizbullah.

Machnouk's position enraged Saudi Arabia even further. On March 4, the government Saudi daily 'Okaz published an article by Lebanese journalist Ziad 'Itani, in which he claimed that Lebanon's position at the March 2 meeting of the interior ministers' council was tantamount to "a second assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri." He wrote: "Yes, they [the Lebanese] killed Rafiq Al-Hariri. The first time was on February 14, 2005, when they blew up his motorcade with over a ton of explosives, and the second time was on March 2, 2016, when the Lebanese government refused, by means of its interior minister Nohad Machnouk, to designate Al-Hariri's murderers [i.e., Hizbullah] as terrorists."[32]

Machnouk, it appears, returned fire. In an interview two days later with the Saudi Al-Arabiya TV he made an unusual statement, placing the blame for Lebanon's current situation on the Arab countries, who, he claimed, have long neglected it. He said that "the Arabs' neglect of Lebanon for 30 years has led us to the current situation," and added: "The Arab decision to confront [Hizbullah] was born only a few weeks ago, while we have been doing so [i.e., confronting Hizbullah] for decades, sacrificing martyr after martyr, and this procession of Lebanese martyrs has not ended to this day."[33]

*E. B. Picali and E. Ezrahi are research fellows at MEMRI.

Endnotes:
MEMRI's exclusive publication of the letter by Gazan ISIS fighter Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir, in which he complained to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi about the cooperation between ISIS-Sinai and Hamas, caused a stir among the organization's operatives in Sinai and its supporters in Gaza. (For the letter, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6334, Exclusive: Letter By ISIS Fighter To Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Reveals ISIS-Sinai's Ties To Hamas, March 2, 2016).

After MEMRI exposed the letter and published a comprehensive translation of its contents, ISIS operatives in Sinai accused Gaza-based social media activists of breaching internet security and promised to hold them accountable for their indiscretion.

Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir himself removed the letter from Justpaste.it and replaced it with a clarification, in which he did not retract his claims he had made in his letter but rather reiterated them. He wrote that he was sorry the letter had been widely distributed and used to defame ISIS. However, he was pleased that the issue had been brought to the attention of "concerned parties" in the organization, and expressed confidence that Al-Baghdadi would take care of the problem. Abu 'Abdallah also lashed out at the pro-ISIS media group Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya for criticizing him, and challenged it to disprove the truth of the letter's contents.

Posting A Screenshot Of MEMRI's Report, ISIS-Sinai Activist Slams Those Who Wrote And Disseminated The Letter

On February 29, 2016, a supporter of ISIS-Sinai on Twitter who calls himself Al-Muhajir (@almohajer_3bk) rebuked the author of the letter and those who had disseminated it  specifically the Tameh Al-Ghazawi Twitter account (@t4560xcvx), which was the first to post the letter but later removed it.[1] Al-Muhajir wrote that "the publication of lies, the spreading of false rumors, and neglect of the monotheists' security" are a mark of shame that will stick to all those who wrote the letter and spread it.

On March 3, he added: "The Tameh Al-Ghazawi account belongs to the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center.[2] The Center [will be held responsible for] participating in the dissemination of lies and false rumors until it issues a clarification about this."

Posting a screenshot of the MEMRI report about the letter alongside a screenshot of Tameh Al-Ghazawi's post, he wrote: "He is [like] the man who goes out of his house and tells a lie that spreads [beyond] the horizons. [For every illness there is cure] except for foolishness which tires [whoever tries to cure it.] Copies [of this post have been sent] to the Ibn Taymiyyah Center and to Tameh Al-Ghazawi."

The administrators of the Tameh Al-Ghazawi account replied on Facebook: "The strongest response to those who make shrill [complaints] is not answering them [at all]. Since they represent themselves only[3]  the caravan moves on..."[4]



Al-Muhajir's March 3 post features a screenshot of MEMRI's report on the letter

Al-Muhajir replied: "I do not expect any response from you, for you are merely a tool. My message is [addressed] to the one who is behind you, and both he and you know [what I'm talking about]. Rest assured, the matter will not remain like this [i.e., without a response]."

The Letter's Author: Had We Known The Letter Would Be Used To Defame ISIS, We Would Have Practiced Restraint

As stated, Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir removed his letter from Justpaste.it and posted a clarification in its stead. He wrote: "I published the letter on behalf of my brothers and in support of our oppressed brothers in Gaza. It was a form of sincere advice to the Caliph of the Muslims, and a way of speaking out about the transgression of one who transgressed.

"However, we cannot allow it to be used as an instrument to defame the Islamic State. We renounce before Allah anyone who used our letter and our complaint to defame the Islamic State... I was astonished when the brothers told me that this webpage [i.e., the letter on Justpaste.it] had been viewed thousands of times. The tragedy is that Israeli websites have copied the words in order to defame the Islamic State. This is what we were afraid of. This is precisely why we wrote the complaint and the letter, so that the [Islamic] State will not be sorry when the matter develops and spreads, and after it grows and it becomes impossible to correct.

"For that reason [we] removed the [letter of] complaint... after we learned that... it had reached the concerned parties and after we made sure that the matter would be completely resolved, with Allah's permission, by the Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, may Allah protect him.

"I repeat and reiterate: the goal [of the letter] was to deliver the brothers in Gaza from the oppression and marginalization they are suffering, and put an end to the illegitimate ties with the Ikhwani [i.e., Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated] apostate Hamas movement. Had we known that the matter would be used to defame the Islamic State, we would have practiced restraint and advised our brothers [in Gaza] to endure the Sinai Province's transgression against them [i.e., its ties with Hamas], and we would not have opened the door for maligning the Islamic State. May Allah forgive the [Sinai] Province and pardon it, for it is responsible for everything that has happened, due to its odd, illegitimate deeds, first and foremost [the act of] betraying the people of tawhid [monotheism] in Gaza, abandoning them and establishing ties with [Hamas, which is] the enemy of Allah and their own enemy."

Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir concludes his clarification by lashing out at the pro-ISIS Gazan media group Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya, which rebuked him for publishing the letter: "Sadly, Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya took the stance of a deceiver who conceals the truth and covers up violations of the shari'a of which he is well aware... [Acts of] covering up [transgressions] and [spreading] propaganda are the complete opposite of supporting the Caliphate State. The matter goes beyond slandering me as an individual and accusing me and my migrant brothers [Gazans who went to Syria to join ISIS] of lies and fabrications... In short, I address Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiyya, who rushed to create a flashy poster to defame me and my brothers, the authors of the complaint, and say to you: If you are sincere in what you published in response to the complaint, then my brothers and I challenge you to a mubahala [a traditional verbal duel in which each side invites Allah to curse the party that is lying]..."
House of Cards is not just a drama series but it is also one of the most thrilling political depictions of the times we live in. It is full of pearls of wisdom and some other great strategic maneuvers that the politicians in the West make in order to chart out a successful career in politics. In India, however, politicians have much to learn from their western counterparts and so we list out ten of things that our politicians can actually learn from House of Cards.

1. Treat Those Who Work For You With Respect

 Netflix

This is something most of our politicians can learn from Frank Underwood. Treat your subordinates with respect and dignity or they might revolt against you, a lesson Kejriwal learnt the hard way after his IAS officers went on strike.

2. Be A Problem Solver

 Netflix

One of the most brilliant aspects of this series is watching Frank Underwood dish out superb strategies to flat-line his opponents. Strategise and surround yourself with problem solvers to mitigate risks. Rahul Gandhi, take note!

3. Appeal To The Heart, Not The Brain

 Netflix

Although Indian politicians are quite crafty when preaching to the public, sometimes they take it too far. Tall claims and 'Jhoomlas' won't take you too far.

4. To Improve Is To Change. To Perfect Is To Change Often

 Netflix

Either change or be ready to be wiped out entirely. Theres only one constant in todays age  Change and Manmohan Singh's tenure as the PM is a testament to that fact.

5. Do Not Start A War You Know Youre Going To Lose

 Netflix

Pick your battles and know when to bow out respectfully. Whether you are going head-on with Frank Underwood or Narendra Modi, you need to have sufficient fire power.

6. Theres No Better Way To Overpower A Trickle Of Doubt Than With A Flood Of Naked Truth

Never try and masquerade your shortcomings with patchy facts as Smriti Irani did. Come up with solid facts which precipitate any iota of doubt over your capabilties.

7. Generosity Is Its Own Form of Power

 Netflix

A seed of generosity delivers a root of loyalty like no other and the abuse of power discredits a man's character faster than anything else. Guess V.K. Singh can learn a thing or two when it comes to being generous in a position of power.

8. Understand That Nothing Lasts Forever

 Netflix

The grip of power is so strong that even the sanest of humans try and cling onto it till their last breath. Learn to let go because nothing lasts forever.

9. Stop Complaining And Get On With The Work

 Netflix

Politicians should not be at the liberty to complain and Frank Underwood knows that. When you are in a position of power, people expect you to bring about a change as ML Khattar understood after the backlash against him and his ministers.

10. Be Honest And Keep Your Personal Life Away From The Public Eye



 Netflix

Despite the upheaval in their personal lives, Frank and Claire never let it spill out in public  not unless they want to for political gains. Most of our Indian politicians will be better served if they can just separate their public life from their private dealings.

#StayImpatient to catch the World Television Premiere of House of Cards Season 4 exclusively on Zee Cafe on 12-13 March, 5PM onwards.
We wish we didnt have to break this news to you but it seems theres a group of American Hindus who firmly believe that Donald Trump is the best choice for the next US President. The group has begun a campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #HindusForTrump where they list their reasons for supporting Trump.

Here are some of their tweets 

Hindus are the most educated religious group in America (PEW Research). Could that be why so many USA Hindus support Trump?#HindusForTrump  Hindus For Trump (@USAHindus4Trump) December 16, 2015

This is why we support Trump - #HindusForTrump pic.twitter.com/ETTVkLydNe  Hindus For Trump (@USAHindus4Trump) March 6, 2016

Trump praises Modi, he has opened India up to investment. Trump #1 ally of Modi, India and Hindus. #HindusForTrumphttps://t.co/5dciJLEhZD  Hindus For Trump (@USAHindus4Trump) December 17, 2015

The groups cover image on Facebook shows Trump with a lotus depicted as the US flag and red and blue petals falling around the US President candidate. On Twitter, they say they are, American Hindus are model citizens, educated and industrious. We want a responsible nation where Americans are both safe and free.

 Facebook

There is a strong link between Narendra Modis election campaign to drum up support for Trump for the group as the last tweet shows. Some of the links shared by the group show PM Modis initiatives in helping the diaspora community.

 Facebook

Why anyone would support Donald Trump after watching John Olivers masterful takedown is beyond our thinking. If you havent seen that video, then here it is.

Watch it and forever be obligated to #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain.
Are you a peoples person? If you derive pleasure and positive energy out of interacting with people, whether close friends or complete strangers, a job that requires you to reach out to individuals is an ideal scenario. Being an extrovert is a great quality career-wise and you must make most of it. Here are the top 5 career options for extroverts.

Urban Planner

 Images Bazaar

An urban planners work involves planning for communal living in cities. Optimum utilisation of land and resources in accordance with laws requires an urban planner to interact with the members of the target communities. Urban planners have the liberty to translate their vision for city life in real that involves understanding people and their day-to-day needs.

Sales Representative

 Thinkstock

Selling a product isnt easy. But if you have a way with people, being a sales representative will be the best career option for you. While setting up appointments, meeting clients, demonstrating items and negotiating prices may seem like a difficult task to most, extroverts have an ability to enjoy and excel at such interactions.

Actor

 BCCL

Being in the spotlight is every extrovert mans dream. What better way to reach out to people than to become an actor? Most extroverts like an audience all to themselves and acting provides you just that.

Public Relations Specialist

 Images Bazaar

A PR specialists job circles around creating a buzz in the media about a certain company, brand, product or organisation. Attending parties, getting in touch with big-shots of the industry, writing press campaigns, strategy developing can be very exciting! If you are an outgoing person, you will definitely enjoy the constant company of people around you.

Counsellor

 Shutterstock

Being a counsellor demands you to be empathetic towards other people and wise enough to show them the right way. Its the noblest profession for those who are gifted with the ability to convince people and talk them through, see the best in them and show them the best possible way ahead.=

You may also like:

5 Best Careers For Introverts

How Introverts Can Make It Big In The Office

5 Simple Rules To Not Be An Introvert Anymore

Photo:  Images Bazaar (Main Image)
Our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world

For more than 130 years, we have brought hope to humanity through the development of important medicines and vaccines. We aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world  and today, we are at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals. We foster a diverse and inclusive global workforce and operate responsibly every day to enable a safe, sustainable and healthy future for all people and communities.
In the coming days, the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, will carry out visits to capitals of the European South, for meetings with his colleagues.



Mr. Xydakis will travel to Portugal  from Brussels, where he is today accompanying the Prime Minister to the EU-Turkey Summit Meeting  and, from there, to Italy.



These visits are being carried out within the framework of Mr. Xydakis European tour, which has so far taken him to Germany, Holland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden and Finland, for meetings with his counterparts.



The aim of these visits is to brief his counterparts on Greeces stances on issues of common European interest, including the refugee crisis.



Schedule of visits:



On Tuesday, 8 March, Mr. Xydakis will be in Portugal, where he will have successive meetings, in Lisbon, with Deputy Foreign Minister Margarida Marques; Interior Minister Constanca Urbano de Sousa; Portugals candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres; and Bloco de Esquerda MP Catarina Martins. He will also participate in a session of the Portuguese Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Regina Bastos, an MP of the main opposition party (PSD).



On Thursday, 10 March, Mr. Xydakis will be in Rome, where he will have successive meetings with the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister for European Affairs, Sandro Gozi, Undersecretary of Interior Filippo Bubbico, and the Deputy Foreign Minister competent for Greek-Italian bilateral relations, Vincenzo Amendola.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried that the refugee crisis might even break up the European Union, at least as we know it today, Mr. Minister?



N. KOTZIAS: The EU persistently promoted its enlargement. But it did not attend carefully enough to democratic processes and socially just deepening. In fact, over the past six years it has followed an austerity policy, guided by the doctrines of neoliberalism. Doctrines espoused by the leadership circles of New Democracy. The case of the EU changed from a plan for the peoples to a plan for the few and a plan of European bureaucracy. This allowed the emergence, initially, of economic nationalism and, later, in the era of the refugee crisis, an extreme right political nationalism. Both trends incline towards the dismantling of the EU, certainly giving rise to concerns.



JOURNALIST: Under what conditions would you consider a Europe of two or more speeds practicable?



N. KOTZIAS: During the crisis, despite our insistence to the contrary, a discussion on the future of the EU was not initiated. What kind of Europe do we want in the 21st century? How will this Europe be useful to its citizens and how will it respond to their democratic will? The result is that there are people who are bringing back the theory of a Europe of multiple speeds, as this theory was expressed in texts of 1992 and 1996, or they are playing with various thoughts like a small Schengen, an exit from a number of integration processes. These plans lead, in all likelihood, to the erosion of the EU.



JOURNALIST: How do you explain Austrias stance?



N. KOTZIAS: There are two Austrias. The one expressed by President Fischer, a friend of Greece and of European unification. Unfortunately, the statements of this first Austria do not appear that often in the Greek news media. And there is the second Austria; the one that appeals to some in New Democracy. This is the Austria seeking simplistic solutions to complex problems. The Austria that bows to the extreme right, that does not think in European terms, but in the terms of the Austro-Hungarian empire that dominated the Balkans in the 19th century.



JOURNALIST: There are some who allege that you exercise hardline foreign policy.



N. KOTZIAS: The defence of the interests and needs of the country and of European integration itself are too serious a matter to be dealt with through endless yielding and concessions. I seems that, to some, anyone who is a patriot and Europeanist is a hardliner. To me, what is really harsh is the policy of neo-servility and unconditional surrender of the country to foreign interests. There are those in New Democracy who consider hiding ones head in the sand to be the highest spiritual field of politics. They have their heads deep in the sand. They dont see anything around them and soliloquize that there is no Foreign Ministry. In this way, they also insult the diplomats and other personnel of the Foreign Ministry, believing that if you arent on TV all day, you arent practicing politics. It is their right to have their own routines and commitments.



JOURNALIST: New Democracy alleges that, through moves like the recalling of our Ambassador to Vienna, you are leading the country into isolation. Will you really continue in this way?



N. KOTZIAS: When, a short time ago, I recalled our Ambassador from Prague, I was pilloried by a large portion of the news media and a portion of the opposition. Then they fell silent. Because we all saw public opinion shaken in the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister humbly admitted, publicly, that Greece is not responsible for the economic crisis or the refugee problem. This was a major diplomatic success. But New Democracy didnt learn anything from that move. Based on the same thinking, they are saying the same things, and worse, regarding the recalling of our Ambassador to Vienna. But they are hushing up the public criticism subsequently leveled by the Austrian President at his government and the clearly differentiated stance expressed by a number of government figures, like the Defence Minister. All of these choices of ours  and many more that arent caught in the spotlight  bolster Greek diplomacy. Now, if New Democracy is annoyed at our standing up to forces that want to dissolve the EU, thats their problem.



JOURNALIST: And the isolation?



N. KOTZIAS: A year ago, they  along with the European extreme right  accused me of creating a problem by raising the refugee issue. Subsequently, they accused me of supposedly not raising it, and then they say that, because of the way of am raising the issue, I am isolating the country. Do they see as isolation the fact that the country is supported by the majority of global organizations and European powers? On the matter of the conduct of countries like Austria, we have the support of the UN, the Secretary-General himself. We have support from international organizations such as Amnesty International. Support from the European Commission and the European Parliament. From the majority of the EU member states. We recently had a meeting of Euromed countries, including Spain, Portugal, France, Italy. At this meeting, there was a unanimous decision to support Greece with regard to our stance on the refugee crisis. We are even supported by the Pope, the spiritual leader of the Austrians. All of these stances are hushed up, to the extent possible, by New Democracy media influence, so that they can then say we are isolated.



JOURNALIST: The prime minister has put the veto on the table at the Summit Meeting. Arent you worried that the country will be drawn into a clash with Europe?



N. KOTZIAS: The veto is a tool of European politics. It is provided for by the Treaties. We have already used it successfully a few times. The veto is an element of negotiation. A tool for promoting correct positions. It must be used prudently and without fear.



JOURNALIST: What do you think are the chances of the Cyprus issues being resolved within 2016? And what conditions does the Greek government set?



N. KOTZIAS: Cyprus is an independent republic and a member state of the EU and the UN. We do not intervene in the negotiations the Cypriot government is carrying out. We certainly support them. So, as Greece, we speak on matters regarding which our involvement is provided for by international and community law. On issues, that is, regarding the EU and the Republic of Cyprus., as well as with regard to the rights of the guarantor powers, in accordance with the London and Zurich agreements. The guarantees are an anachronistic, antidemocratic system the provisions of which have been violated, first of all, by the occupation of the northern section of Cyprus. An occupation that must end. Just as the guarantees system must end.



JOURNALIST: Under what conditions could FYROM joint NATO, Mr. Minister?



N. KOTZIAS: Through the implementation of the interim accord, which requires that our neighbouring country contribute to the proper resolution of the problem of its name and the ending of irredentism and any form of conduct associated with irredentism. Consequently, any discussion of FYROMs joining NATO entails the countrys meeting its obligations.



JOURNALIST: To what extent can the refugee issue impact our relations with our neighbouring countries? Are you worried, for example, about an international incident?



N. KOTZIAS: No, Im not worried about anything like that right now. At the same time, we need to be cautious, because certain third parties seem to think that the agitation of inter-state relations in our region doesnt create a problem. That is why those neighbours who put blind trust in these third parties will be making a big mistake. There will be repercussions. On the other hand, in the midst of difficulties, hope and conditions are created for more trust. This is the case, for example, in our relations with Bulgaria.



JOURNALIST: What is your assessment of the foreign policy stance of the new leadership of the main opposition party?



N. KOTZIAS: They feel that, as a government, we have achieved a great deal in this sector. This bothers them. They are looking to criticize us, but for the time being they are limited to personal attacks. It is no coincidence that, in the dispute between Austria and Greece, a number of New Democracy politicians supported the extremists in Vienna. Finally, they want a Greece tied to extreme neoliberal and conservative powers. This would be anything but good.



JOURNALIST: Do you think the effort to unify the space between New Democracy and Syriza can succeed, with the Democratic Coalition, Potami and other movements? And what would be the political physiognomy of such a space.



N. KOTZIAS: There are those who believe in such a unification. Others  special interests, in particular  dream of manipulating it. Some want to strengthen New Democracy. They are eager to get on the wrong boat, despite already having seen the film of its sinking. Finally, there are those who hope for cooperation with the forces of the current government. Allow me to make a more general comment: Efforts to create political organizations succeed only if they express the needs of society, and not personal egotism. That is, they fail when they express, one-dimensionally, the desire of former prime ministers and ministers to regain a role.



JOURNALIST: If the government loses its majority on the difficult measures, a new government under the current parliament, or elections?



N. KOTZIAS: You know that I respond to real questions, no matter how difficult they are. To the midsummer nights dream of special interests, what can I say? The government has a majority: democratic, constitutional, stable and determined.



JOURNALIST: The Syriza convention is coming up. Is Pratto, which you lead, talking about joining Syriza?



N. KOTZIAS: I respect and appreciate Syriza, and above all its charismatic leader and prime minister. We are working together effectively, to the countrys benefit. We, as Pratto, are moving ahead together with Syriza, maintaining our autonomy and distinctive characteristics. Besides, we have a unique political culture. This diversity we represent is an element of power for the countrys salvation government under Alexis Tsipras.



JOURNALIST: Might the presence of NATO in the Aegean, for the refugee issue, lead to the consolidation of Turkish claims, mainly in the grey zones? And what does our country need to watch out for from NATOs presence?



N. KOTZIAS: I think that NATO has to identify and eradicate illegal activities of the rings active in Turkey. Turkey, and its military in particular, showed a certain apprehension regarding this agreement, precisely because it does not lead to the strengthening or consolidation of Turkish claims. Of course, as there is always a battle for changes and amendments, one needs to be very measured, cautious and reticent.



JOURNALIST: With everything that is happening in our region, do you think that Turkey can step up its provocations in the Aegean?



N. KOTZIAS: The conflicts in Syria and Iraq  particularly the clashes with the Kurdish element  resulted in a de facto strengthening of the position of the military in Turkeys institutional system. I hope that the countrys politicians will keep them in line.
COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP (AP)  Kirk Chidester says he had distant relatives who fought for the South in the U.S. Civil War.

He sees the Confederate flag they fought under as a battle flag and part of U.S. history.

"You can't erase history," Chidester told the Jackson Citizen Patriot (http://bit.ly/1RvgYOk ) Saturday as he and about 30 other people gathered in a southern Michigan community to commemorate Confederate Flag Day.

The group carried various versions of the flag in a carpool lot in Columbia Township, southwest of Detroit.

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.

But Steve Panther, who organized the Columbia Township rally, said the gathering was meant to celebrate participants' Southern state roots.

"Since I was a little boy, I was taught the truth: Be proud of who you are and where you come from," Panther said.

Some passing truck drivers blew their horns to support those holding the flags, while some motorists yelled in opposition.

A similar rally was held Saturday at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania by the Sons of Confederate Veterans Gettysburg. The group said it was intended to honor Southern ancestors.

A counter-demonstration was organized by a Gettysburg College associate professor of history and Africana studies who said he wanted to offer a different perspective on the flag's meaning.

Police and park officers had to separate a few people as the two sides traded insults. There were no reports of trouble at the rally in Michigan.
Almost 100 people mostly from Haiti who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for...
compuware-building-43470762e805df0c.jpg

(File photo)

DETROIT - A highly visible space on the corner of Woodward and Gratiot Avenues didn't stay vacant for long.

Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services will announce on Tuesday a new tenant for the 4,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Olga's Kitchen.

Olga's left the space abruptly in September.

Bedrock's Executive Vice President, Dan Mullen, said in a September release that Bedrock was happy to relieve Olga's of its lease and outstanding debt.

"This move also opens ... prime retail space in the heart of downtown Detroit's new emerging, one-of-a-kind, urban shopping and dining district," Mullen said. "There is tremendous demand for unique, destination-like restaurants and retailers along Woodward Avenue..."

The restaurant sits on the same block as Brazilian steakhouse Texas de Brazil, and in close proximity to multiple downtown office buildings, lofts, stores and other restaurants.

It will be situated on the ground floor of One Campus Martius, a building that houses a large number of Gilbert employees.

The announcement is one in a series of similar announcements from Gilbert companies in the past week.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.
KALAMAZOO, MI - One of the cluster of Kalamazoo-area houses designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright is for sale in Galesburg.

After several years in disrepair, the Samuel and Dorothy Eppstein House, at 11090 Hawthorne Drive in Galesburg, is on the market for $455,000. That is far less than many Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and a big selling point for the house, says Realtor Fred Taber.

"It is the cheapest Frank Lloyd Wright home in the country that we can find," said Taber, a real estate professional with Jaqua Realtors in Kalamazoo. "Most are $700,000 or more. Some are in the millions."

The latter are usually larger Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses in places like Pleasantville, N.Y., Wausau, Wis., and Chicago, he said. Those built in the Usonian style, a usually smaller, simple, form-follows-function style that Wright developed in the late 1930s "run in the $600,000 to $800,000 range," Taber said. "Usonians are a little cheaper."

The Eppstein House, named for original owners, is a Usonian house. It uses lots of natural materials, has an open floor plan and large windows. It also employs such practical living features as radiant-floor heating and built-in shelving and cabinetry, which Wright helped popularize. But it was built without much storage space or a garage.

The Eppstein House has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,250 square feet of living space. Its living room has 10-foot-high windows to allow for natural light. They face north for a view into a natural valley and meadow. The living room has one of the dwelling's two floor-to-ceiling fireplaces and is centered in such a way that it serves the dining room and kitchen as well as the living room.

A 20- by 20-foot general-purpose room, designed to be a second living room for children to use when adults were entertaining, has the other fireplace. That room looks out onto a terrace with a view of a cement, in-ground swimming pool that was an addition to the property.

A radiant-floor heating system serves the main area of the house, including the living room, general-purpose room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.

The house is one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright houses built after a group of 12 Upjohn Co. scientists hired Wright to visit Kalamazoo in the late 1940s and draft architectural plans for them. They wanted houses they could build themselves or have someone help them build.

Samuel Eppstein was a research scientist for The Upjohn Co. Dorothy Eppstein worked in research labs at Upjohn and flew U.S. military aircraft in World War II as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. They had been married about six months when they and their fellow workers began collaborating to build houses.

Wright designed their houses in 1947. But of two residential communities he designed here, only eight Wright houses were built -- four in Kalamazoo and four in Galesburg.

Along with those in the Galesburg cooperative community, called The Acres, is a fifth residence that was designed by Wright protege Francis "Will" Willsey. Called the Gunther and Anne Fonken House, it utilized classic Wright principles and is historically significant for that and for being completed in 1959, the year Wright died.

Another selling point of the Eppstein House is its neighborhood.

The house, whose construction started in 1949 and ended in 1953, is located in The Acres, the only remaining neighborhood fully designed by Wright.

"It's a one-of-a-kind house in a one-of-a-king neighborhood," Taber said. "It's the only Frank Lloyd Wright-development of its kind because it didn't get overdeveloped."

He said Wright designed the 70-acre residential plat to accommodate 21 houses, each situated on one circular acre of land. That was intended to leave 50 acres of open, natural land for community use. But only five homes were built in The Acres.

Some say that was because the distance to Galesburg from Kalamazoo, where most of the prospective homeowners worked and lived, was cumbersome before the construction of Interstate-94.

That also caused some to favor the development of The Parkwyn Village in Kalamazoo's Winchell Neighborhood. It was a 40-acre cooperative community designed by Wright with 40 circular and semi-circular lots. Four FLW homes were built there adjacent to Asylum Lake, on Taliesin Drive (named for Wright's firm, Taliesin Associates).

Only four were built there, however. Residential lots in the area were sold and houses designed by other architects were built there over the years.

"All the other (Frank Lloyd Wright) developments, they ended up selling the other lots and they just didn't stick with the original plan, which was Usonian homes," Taber said. "In The Acres, they didn't.They didn't break up the platting. They left it just like it is."

As a result, each house in The Acres (also known as Galesburg Country Homes) and the neighborhood itself are on the National Register of Historic Places. An association of homeowners owns all the undeveloped acreage there -- wooded, hilly and beautiful land. And Taber said they have no intention to sell it, assuming that would threaten the area's historical significance.

At the $455,000 asking price, Taber said, the owner is not looking to make much, if any, money. The house has been owned by Matt Kane, a businessman and investor who lived in Indiana when he made the purchase about 20 years ago, but who now lives in Washington state.

The house has not been lived in for about 18 years, and Kane is rarely there. Over the years, it fell into disrepair. But Taber said Kane is interested in selling to someone who may want it as a primary residence; or, at the very least, someone who will make sure the house is properly maintained.

Taber said the house has required more than $300,000 worth of work over the past few years. That has included a new roof and lots of exterior work. That included the restoration of its hand-made concrete block and mahogany window frames and facia of the roof.

"Of all the homes in The Acres, it was in the worse condition," Taber said. But he said, "Now, it's got to be close to the best."

Taber said about 35 people attended a recent open house at the property. But many were there just to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house rather than buy one.

He said they included people from Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Ontario. While some said they made a special trip to see the house, others appeared to have diverted their travel plans from another location in order to include the visit.

Why do people like Frank Lloyd Wright homes?

"Mainly because of the historical significance," Taber said. "It's an historic home. There were only so many of them made. It's unique that they're in Kalamazoo."

"If it wasn't for group from Upjohn ... "

In a memoire that explained how they came to build the house, Dorothy Eppstein sad the true cost of the house was about $45,000, "Which came out of the salary from Upjohn's. In those days a Ph.D scientist made about $10,000 a year, Frank Lloyd Wright got paid a commission for the original part of the house, about $1,000, but not for all the subsequent building."

About Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright (June 8, 1867 - April 9, 1959) was the renown, Chicago-based architect who was instrumental in developing the Prairie School style of architecture, a quintessentially American style of domestic architecture that broke away from the European styles that most American copied to build their homes in the early 1900s.

His houses were typically low buildings with clean and broad horizontal lines, with overhangs and gently sloping roofs. They were designs that used natural and unfinished materials.

Wright also promoted the concept of organic architecture, designs that complemented the surrounding landscape. And he developed the concept of the Usonian home, the single-story precursor to ranch-style homes. They were usually small houses built with natural materials, flat roofs and large overhangs to facilitate natural cooling and solar heating.

MLive writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter at ajones5_al
HOLLAND, MI -- Julius "Juke" Van Oss was the talk of the town on Monday, and some listeners weren't sure he would have liked that.

"You can imagine how embarrassed he would be," one faithful listener said during a tribute to Van Oss on his radio show Monday.

More: Before Siri, we had Juke: A tribute to a true hometown radio answer man

The popular local radio show host, died Monday, March 7, at age 92.

Van Oss broadcasted his final daily call-in show Friday on WHTC-AM 1450, Holland's oldest radio station, where he spent his entire 64-year radio career - and all but one of those years on-air.

He was inducted into the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2009.

For more than a half-century, Van Oss was the host of "Talk of the Town" where listeners could buy and sell items, locate lost pets and vent about the latest world news.

In an industry taken over by foul-mouthed radio personalities and impersonal digital formats, Van Oss believed talk radio served an important function.

"'Talk of the Town' is sort of like ... people speaking over the back fence, " Van Oss told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive in 2006.

Van Oss was known for his homespun wisdom. He doled out humorous anecdotes, friendly advice and community news. Generations of listeners thought of him as the "voice of Holland." His peers referred to him as the "dean" of talk radio in West Michigan.

He interviewed local leaders who gave updates on happenings around the area.

Poodle bread

People still laugh about the one show that resulted in a request for a poodle bread recipe. A listener, who caught the tail end of a caller's inquiry on having a poodle bred dialed in with an on-air request. "Will you give me the recipe for that poodle bread?"

And then there was his beer fix for garden slugs that shocked a few of his listeners.

On Monday, listeners called in from as far as Detroit and Florida to share what Van Oss meant to them.

Holland Mayor Nancy DeBoer described Van Oss as an important presence in the community for years.

He was an icon, added U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland Township, who stopped by the station Monday morning to share his memories of Van Oss.

Van Oss didn't interview people on the air as much as he had a "friendly conversation" with guests, said Al McGeehan, former Holland mayor, who has filled in for the radio host over the years.

"He was a welcomed guest in many people's homes (every morning)," McGeehan said.

The daily interaction with readers kept him going, said Kevin Oswald, WHTC's general manager and a 30-year employees of the station.

Van Oss developed a reputation as a sort of radio version of Google. One reason: He usually had an answer for most listeners' questions because of a box he kept filled with notes and recipes. That "magic box" remains at the station, Oswald said.

Its contents will be a resource for the next host of "Talk of the Town." The show will continue in some form, Oswald said.

During his lengthy career, Van Oss spent more than dozen nights at the station in a sleeping bag during snowstorms so he wouldn't be late for his morning show. In the early years, he worked long hours.

Harry S. Truman was in the White House when Van Oss, a World War II veteran, joined the Holland station in 1951 as an equipment engineer. A year later, he was forced behind the microphone when the 6 a.m. announcer overslept.

'Started by accident'



"It started by accident ... and it has fascinated me ever since, " Van Oss said years ago. "That is what I liked to do, talking to people. And when people listen to you, it makes it all that much more enjoyable."

Listeners liked his deep and resonant voice, and his clear, concise but never rushed way of talking.

He and Bill Gargano began hosting "Talk of the Town", originally a 30-minute show aimed at housewives, in 1960. When Gargano left for a job outside of radio in 1981, Van Oss continued to host the popular show solo.

Over the decades, Van Oss interviewed thousands of people, from politicians to entertainers.

A highlight was in the early 1970s when crooner Tiny Tim performed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on the air.

One of Van Oss' deep interests and a frequent topic was politics, and he had local leaders and lawmakers on the show regularly to give updates.

Off the air, he served as village president of Saugatuck in the early 1970s and also was on the Saugatuck school board for 7 years. He also penned two books, "On (and Off) the air with Juke: A Memoir" and a cook book.

His morning ritual: Read the morning newspaper, then check favorite Internet sites and wire services for a joke of the day and animal stories to share with listeners if no one's lit up the phone lines of his call-in show.

"Every day is a challenge, I guess that's why I like it," he had said. "Except when the phone lines don't work. That's a killer."

Longest tenure

Although Van Oss had one of the longest tenures of any personality with a single station in the state, it isn't clear if he could lay claim to the "longest," according to the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C.

In Michigan, Van Oss' run is close to that of another Michigan broadcast legend, Bob Dyer, host of a morning show on Saginaw's WKNX-AM, who died in 2013 at the age of 85.

Van Oss' roots in West Michigan were deep. He grew up in the farming community of Graafschap, south of Holland, to second-generation Dutch immigrants. His love of radio began while growing up during the Great Depression. Every evening, the household went silent as the family listened to the radio for its news.

His life and career were detailed in the documentary, "The Story of Julius 'Juke' Van Oss," produced in 2005 by MacMedia as part of its West Michigan Biography series.

Van Oss was honored with about every civic award available, including grand marshal of the Tulip Time Volksparade.

He is survived by his wife, Norma, and his four children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.
dutch_baby_facebook.jpg

Taking a savory approach to Dutch babies can elevate this brunch staple to a lunch or dinner dish.

(Jessica Webster | MLive.com)

When I was 16 and living in The Netherlands, my parents took us to on a day trip to the beautiful walled city of Heusden in the southern part of the country. The city was established in the 13th century, and the restored remains of a regal castle and other medieval buildings and fortifications are still on view.

But ask me now, all these years later, what I remember best about the historic city of Heusden, and I will tell you all about the pancake restaurant on the main city square. De Pannekoekenbakker had a menu filled with hundreds of variations of delicious Dutch pancakes, but my favorite by far was the "Kaas, ui en champignons" (cheese, onion and mushrooms) pancake. I still crave it.

My dad has been talking a lot recently about Dutch babies -- sweet, poofy breakfast or dessert treats of German descent that are like the love child of a popover and a crepe.

Dutch babies, which are German (Deutsch) and not Dutch, are similar to Dutch pannenkoeken (following me so far?) in that they are eggier than their American counterparts and don't contain leavening agents such as baking soda.

Dutch babies are almost always served sweet, topped with powdered sugar. But what if I took a classic Dutch baby recipe and turned it into a savory brunch dish? What if I took the pancake of my dreams and made it even better?

The basic Dutch baby recipe is ridiculously easy. Just measure out some milk, flour, eggs and sugar into a blender, froth it up and add it to a very hot buttered cast iron skillet. Cook it in the oven until it browns, sprinkle some powdered sugar over it and go to town.

To adapt this to a savory recipe, I omitted the sugar and added a bit of salt and white pepper. For the filling, I simply sauteed mushrooms and onions with some fresh herbs and added them to the skillet before pouring in the pancake batter. I topped it all with some aged Gouda.

I used 18-month Gouda, which gave it a nice caramel, nutty flavor. A very young Gouda wouldn't give the dish enough flavor. Make sure to stay away from the generic red wax-covered Gouda for this recipe.

Mushroom, onion and Gouda Dutch Baby (adapted from a recipe on Food52.com)

8 tablespoons butter

1 medium sweet onion, diced

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

5 large eggs

1 1/4 cup whole milk

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 cup grated aged Gouda cheese

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a large sautee pan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium and cook for 2-3 minutes, until it has melted and foamed up. Add onions and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the herbs, then stir in the mushrooms and cook for another 3-5 minutes until they are browned and softened as well. Remove from the heat.

Put the eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper into a blender and blend them at high speed for about a minute. Stop, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, and blend for another 30 seconds.

Place the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter into a 12-inch cast iron skillet and put the pan into the oven. Wait until the butter is completely melted and bubbling, then carefully take the pan out and swirl the butter around to make sure the pan is coated.

Spread the onions and mushrooms on the bottom of the cast iron skillet. Pour the egg and flour mixture on top. Finally, sprinkle the cheese all over it and put it back into the oven for 20 minutes, until browned on top. The pancake will puff up as it bakes.

When finished, take the Dutch baby out of the oven. You can scatter more sage and thyme (or maybe chives) across the top if you desire. If you really want to be decadent, melt a tablespoon of herb butter on the top of the pancake as soon as it leaves the oven.

Serve hot, and enjoy.

Serves 4-6.
JACKSON, MI -- Within a period of two hours, Jackson native Tyler Oakley could be seen on CBS crafting a Swiss Army Knife and then on NBC chatting with Jimmy Fallon.

Oakley and fellow Michigander Korey Kuhl looked to separate themselves from the pack on the Friday, March 4 episode of CBS' "The Amazing Race." The fourth episode of season 28 brought the teams to Geneva, Switzerland where they had the choice between two different challenges.

Kuhl and Oakley -- "Team Torey" -- opted for the "work bench" detour, which challenged teams to craft a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife by correctly identifying and assembling the 27 pieces in exact order.

Ain't nothing in the world @tyleroakley and I can't build. #AmazingRace  Korey Kuhl (@koreykuhl) March 5, 2016

The "bench work" detour, which most of the teams opted for, called for teams to identify how many people can sit on the longest wooden bench in the world at once.

After assembling the watch or figuring out how many butts can fit on the world's longest bench at once, the remaining teams made it to the United Nations where they had to identify 10 flags from highlighted country. Only one member from each team was allowed to participate, and it was Kuhl, a Vandercook Lake alumnus, who represented Team Torey.

omg watching our partners do the challenge for SO LONG was stressful. the challenge took SO LONG #TeamTylerAndKorey pic.twitter.com/qABncnw8j1  tyler oakley (@tyleroakley) March 5, 2016

After this, teams had to make their way to Chamonix, France by making three different train connections while racing the other teams.

Following a brief foot race, Team Torey ended up where they started episode four; in second-place behind Team Frisbee.

With "The Models" being eliminated on the latest episode, only eight teams remain in the field.

The Jackson natives -- and best friends -- Kuhl and Oakley can be seen racing around the world at 8 p.m. each Friday on CBS.

Season 28 is now four episodes deep as Kuhl and Oakley compete for the $1 million cash prize. The contestants consist of Twitter, YouTube, Vine and other social media celebrities. Oakley and Kuhl combine for nearly 6 million Twitter followers.

"Team Torey" -- a combination of Tyler and Korey -- actively tweets along with each episode as it airs 8 p.m. each Friday on CBS.
MUSKEGON, MI - The St. Patrick's Day celebration will happen in early in Muskegon.

The actual holiday is on March 17, but several family-friendly activities will take place along the Lakeshore March 11 and 12; among the scheduled events are the annual parade through downtown Muskegon, an Irish party, 5k run and green eggs and ham breakfast.

The marquee event of the weekend is the St. Patrick's Day Parade which will begin at 11 a.m. on Fourth Street and Clay Avenue.

The route will continue east along Clay Avenue to Jefferson Street. The event is designed to celebrate Muskegon County's Irish heritage.

Families, organizations, fraternal groups, businesses, marching bands, churches and schools are all expected to march in the event which is sponsored by Hennessy's Irish Pub & Restaurant and the Greater Muskegon Jaycees.

"We're very pleased to again sponsor the 5th Annual Muskegon St. Patrick's Day Parade," said Nancy Hennessy, owner of Hennessy's Irish Pub & Restaurant.

"The parade has become an annual tradition in Muskegon, drawing hundreds of marchers and thousands of spectators, and this year, for our fifth parade, we're planning for even more marching units and spectators at the parade, and invite everyone in Muskegon County and West Michigan to participate."

The parade staging area will be in the parking lot between Fourth and Fifth Streets on Western Avenue.

There is no cost to participate in the parade but participants should bring non-perishable food donations to benefit the Food Pantry of Catholic Charities of West Michigan. Parade spectators may also make donations.

A taste of the Irish Music Fest

The weekend's events begin with the Michigan Irish Music Festival's annual Patrick's Party Celebration which begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Fricano Event Center in downtown Muskegon.

The party will feature live music and Irish beverages including Irish Fest Stout, Magner's Irish Cider, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream and Budweiser. In addition, Irish dancers will perform and a silent auction will be held. The party continues at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets are $6 at the door. Proceeds will benefit the Michigan Irish Music Festival.

Run like a leprechaun

The St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Shuffle 5K will take place at 9 a.m. on March 12. Runners are encouraged to wear Green, run in a kilt or dress up like a leprechaun. Top three costume contestants will get a prize.

The run will take place regardless of weather. All money raised will be used to try and get the downtown bike trail cleared this winter and the 2016 winter season. Registration fees are $20 and $25 with tech t-shirt



To register for the run, visit https://www.goracego.com/Search/event.aspx?id=35601.

I do not like them Sam I Am

The Greater Muskegon Woman's Club will host a green eggs and ham breakfast at its location at 280 W. Webster Ave., at 10 a.m. on March 12. Dr. Seuss characters will be on hand and attendees have the opportunity to go home with a Dr. Seuss book.

Cost is $15 for an adult and one child and $5 for each additional person. Reservations can be made by calling Barbara at 231-760-5757 by March 10.

The event will finish in time to watch the parade.

Brandon Champion is a journalist for MLive.com. Email him at bchampio@mlive.com and follow him Facebook and Twitter.
On this week's Ag Report on

, Ian McGonigal, senior vice president of regional sales at

, describes the local lender's work to bring new farmers into Michigan agriculture.

"We're seeing a wave of beginning farmers from all walks of life driving innovation, expansion and economic activity, and we're committed to helping them get started and grow," says McGonigal. "As an advocate for Michigan agriculture, GreenStone has been committed to helping farmers of all types and sizes for 100 years."

He notes that beginning farmers face unique challenges in an already uncertain profession. For example, access to capital and land can be a barrier to success, especially for new farmers who do not enter the business with opportunities to transition land from a family member or retiring farmer. Affordable access to credit is especially important for this segment of the farm population.

"Michigan agriculture remains a bright spot in our state's economy - employing one in four people in our state - and our strength is in our diversity," McGonigal says. "New and beginning farmers are a critical piece of the puzzle, and GreenStone Farm Credit Services is committed to being here to support them now and into the future."

You can hear this week's report here.

The Ag Report on

is brought to you by the

. It airs weekly on

and features voices from Michigan's growing agriculture sector.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Michigan supporters of Bernie Sanders are driving in from cities near and far, including Bay City, South Lyon, Trenton, Tecumseh, White Lake, and Mount Pleasant, to see the Democratic presidential candidate speak in Ann Arbor Monday night.

By early Monday afternoon, dozens of Sanders super fans already were lined up outside the Crisler Center, where a vendor was selling "Feel the Bern" T-shirts.

The earliest arrivers started showing up between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., several hours before the doors even open at 4 p.m.

Most of them are in their teens and 20s, including some high school and college students.

As they camped out in sunny warm weather, with temperatures in the high 50s, some ordered pizzas, some blasted music through a portable speaker, and some brought their own snacks and drinks to get through the day.

Some were students who walked over from Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School to attend their first political rally.

Sanders' stance on college affordability, climate change and helping the middle class were among the reasons fans said they're supporting Sanders, who is competing against Hillary Clinton in the state's primary on Tuesday.

Monday's rally includes a pre-concert featuring Nate Ruess of the band Fun and the Detroit-based band JR JR before the U.S. senator from Vermont speaks.

Watch the video above to hear what those at the front of the line for the rally in Ann Arbor had to say about Sanders.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
DETROIT, MI -- Detroit has been one of the most lax cities in Michigan regarding the enforcement of medical marijuana dispensaries, which are still illegal under state and federal laws.

With names like The Green Mile, House of Dank, Action Medz and Detroit Grass Station. at latest count there were an estimated 211 dispensaries operating throughout the city, nearly 1.5 per square mile.

The businesses make no effort to hide their intent, and police have left them to operate freely for the most part, despite a state Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that allows medical marijuana dispensaries to be declared a public nuisance.

There is pending legislation that could define and regulate dispensaries in the state.

The 2008 Michigan Medical Marijuana Act allowed caretakers to designate up to five medical marijuana patients for whom they could provide marijuana. The law did not address the possibility of retail sales.

Some of the pot shops have clearly invested large amount of capital into their entrepreneurial endeavors and buildings, but it could be all for naught with the implementation of strict zoning laws that ban shops throughout most of the city.

One group of dispensary and medical marijuana advocates, Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform, is fighting back. It filed a referendum last week that, if approved, could appear on August election ballots and reverse the zoning law that took effect March 1.

Detroit medical marijuana caregiver center eligibility map. All of the colored circles identify sections of the map where dispensaries would be in violation of the Detroit zoning laws that took effect March 1.

The referendum petition is currently being reviewed by the city Elections Department to determine if it is legal and the signatures are valid, says Elections Director Daniel A. Baxter.

As written, shops are banned from operating within 1000 feet of schools, arcades, parks, party stores, child care facilities, churches, public housing and other dispensaries. The city opened a 30-day application window March 1 and says it will begin enforcement next month.

As of Thursday, 113 businesses had applied for permits to become medical marijuana caregiver centers. A cursory look at the locations reveal most violate one or more of the new zoning limitations.

The city offers a mapping tool online for dispensaries to see if their location violates the new zoning limitations. More than 90 percent of the city map is covered with multitude of circles indicating a 1000-foot restricted area for one reason or another.

One applicant, Mind Right, is located at 17243 Mack in west Detroit. Typing in the address reveals numerous zoning location violations. "Location Ineligible," the city website says. It's within 1000 feet of "a controlled use location," Parkie's Liquor Shoppe; a child daycare facility, Moross Congregational Church and within a Drug Free Zone.

After checking about 10 addresses of applicants, all violated at least on aspect of the ordinance.

Weed in the D, a Loveland Technologies report

MLive spoke with employees and owners of eight dispensaries in the city, although none wanted their names published. The general consensus is they are operating now, but they don't know what will happen a month from now.

"Truthfully, we don't know," said one man from an east side shop. "It's just a waiting game."

And the city isn't being clear about the action it will take when the 30-day application window expires.



"If they're not eligible to open a medical marijuana care center, they can't apply," said Melvin Butch Hollowell of the Detroit Law Department. "If they continue to operate, and they're operating in violation of the ordinance, then they're operating at their own risk and are subject to enforcement by" Detroit police and the Building Department, or both.

"The city will reserve all of its options in regard to enforcement and actions that can be taken. Again, they are operating at their own risk."

Operating in violation of the zoning rules is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a $500 fine.

It's not clear how Detroit police plan to react, or if they will pursue additional criminal charges related to illegal drug sales.

"We're not commenting right now," Detroit Police Officer Shanelle Williams told MLive last week. "We just want to see how things are going to pan out with the businesses and licensing."

Matthew R. Abel, an attorney with the Cannabis Counsel, a marijuana advocacy group, said he's filed applications on behalf of at least five clients.

There are businesses out there with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into them, and the city may force them shut down if the referendum doesn't succeed, Abel said.

"It's good for some people who are eligible," Abel said. "It's not good for people who are in zones where hey are never going to get licenses."

Based on the city's medical marijuana caregiver center eligibility search engine, the latter part of Abel's statement applies to most.
FLINT, MI -- Chelsea Clinton and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver spoke with The Flint Journal after a Sunday, March 6, press conference at Mott Community College where the Flint WaterWorks initiative was announced to provide 100 jobs for Flint youth amid the water crisis.

In a one-one-one interview a few hours ahead of the CNN Democratic presidential debate at The Whiting Auditorium, Weaver and Clinton discussed the initiative that's being started with a $500,000 donation from J.B. and M.K. Pritzker to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

"One of the things that happened was I've been telling people after we did the emergency declaration (over the water crisis), Secretary (Hillary) Clinton reached out to us, her people came to see what was going on in the city of Flint," said Weaver.

With a community facing high unemployment and young people displaced around the city, Weaver said the initiative provides jobs including clean water delivery, providing access to healthy foods and nutritional information.

"I was talking with Secretary Clinton about this, and I was talking with her people and it made sense to her," said Weaver. "What made sense was to see young people have an opportunity."

Chelsea Clinton, who visited Hurley Children's Hospital last month and spoke with crusading Flint doctor Mona Hanna-Attisha, said it's important for everyone to care about what's happening in Flint and emphasized the issue is not political.

"When things like this happen in our country, in the 21st century, we all have a responsibility to stand in stewardship and to be of service to Flint," she said. "For my mother, she immediately reached out, she sent some of her policy team here."

That group has continued to ask what the city needs, what its leaders need, Clinton said, who called the issue a personal one for her family.

"We don't think that should be a unique feeling," she said of the being empathetic to the city's situation. "We think everyone should feel that way."

Clinton said the issues in Flint will last for decades, noting "this will be a multi-generational challenge, and we have to make that commitment to the community for today and the future." The need will exist for early childhood education, nutritional support and other services, she said.

Weaver said the city's situation is a "tragedy," while arguing, "if we don't take this and use it then we have failed the community for a second time."

After having met the people in the city, Clinton said, "It's important for Americans who haven't been able to come to Flint, haven't been able to see what 'Flint Strong' actually means, don't understand kind of Flint's resilience comes from its people, to recognize 'Flint Strong' isn't a motto, it's a reality," she said.
FLINT, MI -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders both called on Gov. Rick Snyder to resign as they met in Flint for the seventh Democratic presidential primary debate.

"That is clearly not what this country should be about," Sanders said. "I believe the governor of this state should understand that his dereliction of duty was irresponsible. He should resign."

Clinton agreed with Sander's comments and called on the governor to use the state's rainy day fund to assist the people of the city.

"As president, I would concentrate resources on this city for economic development," Clinton said.

Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said Snyder has taken responsibility for fixing the problems at the state level that allowed the water crisis to happen.

"He has a track record of getting things done and he's fully committed to getting this done in particular," Adler said.

The debate, hosted by CNN in partnership with MLive and The Flint Journal at Flint's Whiting Auditorium, is being moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and anchor Don Lemon joined as questioners.

It comes two days before the state's March 8 primary vote, which has seen increased campaign visits and television spots from both candidates.

Prior to the debate, former Flint Sen. Don Riegle announced his endorsement of Sanders as the pair met with media members.

During the meeting, Sanders and Riegle hammered Clinton on her support of free trade agreements that they say have cost Flint and the rest on the nation jobs. The Vermont senator also targeted Clinton for her vote in support of the Iraq war and deregulation of Wall Street.

He also announced his campaign has received more than 5 million contributions from individual donors.

"You don't have a right to buy an election because you are very, very wealthy," Sanders said.

The DNC announced the Flint debate, and three others in early February. The announcement came on the heels of state and federal officials' testimony to a U.S. House Committee on the city's water crisis.

Flint is in the national spotlight after elevated blood lead levels were discovered in some Flint children after the city changed its water source from Lake Huron water purchased from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in April 2014, a decision made while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

State regulators never required that the river water be treated to make it less corrosive, causing lead from plumbing and pipes to leach into the water supply.

Even though the city reconnected to the Detroit water system in October, local and state officials have warned pregnant women and young children against using the water unless it has been tested because lead levels continue to exceed what can be handled by a filter.

The city's water system is also being investigated for a potential link to a Legionnaires' Disease outbreak that left at least nine dead and more than 70 others ill.

During the campaign, both candidates have mentioned the city as an example of why the next president should prioritize improving aging infrastructure, and both have visited the city.

Clinton visited the city Feb. 7 to discuss the city's ongoing water crisis and promised to stand with the city in its ongoing efforts to obtain clean, safe water. She has also discussed the water issue during previous debates and penned an op-ed for MSNBC.

Sanders, who hosted his own town hall meeting in the city last month, has previously called for Snyder to resign over the city's water crisis.

Clinton currently has a 55 percent to 44 percent lead in Michigan, according to a poll released this week by CBS.

The debate began with a moment of silence in memory of former First Lady Nancy Reagan.
FLINT, MI -- The father of the 14-year-old critically injured in last month's Kalamazoo mass shooting asked the candidates during the Democratic presidential primary debate what they would do to combat gun violence.

Gene Kopf, whose daughter, Abigail, was shot during a shooting rampage that left six dead, asked Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during the Sunday, March 6, debate in Flint about gun violence and what could be done to prevent it. He said his daughter has a long recovery ahead but "is laughing and giggling."

Clinton touted the successes of the Brady Bill, saying its helped to keep guns out of the hands of millions who should not be able to possess them, but more needs to be done to close loopholes in certain types of firearms purchases.

She also called for an end to immunity granted to gun manufacturers and sellers, which she claims allows them to skirt accountability when they sell guns to individuals who should not possess them and limited the addition of features that could make guns safer.

Sanders agreed, saying instant background checks need to be expanded. He touted his D-minus rating from the National Rifle Association.

A GoFundMe page created for Abigail, of Battle Creek that her parents are using to report Abigail's progress as she recovers from the injury that nearly killed her, shared her continued improvement earlier in the day.

"The amount of support and generosity coming from all of you is phenomenal! Thank you. Your generosity is humbling!, the organizer of the page wrote. "Let's keep going and continue to support our warrior!"

Earlier today Abbie's parents shared on the page:

"She is laughing and joking. She laughed at bits of Harry Potter and even made political jokes with us. "

Abigail was with a group of women who had attended a theater event in Kalamazoo last weekend when a gunman approached them as they sat in their vehicles outside the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Texas Township.

Jason Dalton, 45, of Cooper Township has been charged with all of the shootings.

Killed were Mary Jo Nye, 60, and Dorothy "Judy" Brown, 74, both of Battle Creek, Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda, and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek, known as "Grandma Barb" to Abigail.

A father and son, Rich and Tyler Smith, were killed minutes earlier by the same gunman as they looked at cars in a lot just a few miles away. Earlier in the evening, Tiana Carruthers was shot several times in Richland Township.
The Central Bank has granted four new licences to foreign lenders following a second round of applications to broaden Myanmars banking sector.





Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, Taiwanese firm E.SUN Commercial Bank, South Koreas Shinhan Bank and State Bank of India will each receive a licence, according to an announcement from the Central Banks Licensing Committee on March 4.

The preliminary approval is valid for 12 months, during which the successful applicants will have to fulfill commitments made in their answer to the request for proposals sent out in December, the announcement said. The four banks also have to ensure functional banking operations from day one of their branch opening, and comply with requirements laid down by the Central Bank.

Daw Htet Htet Wint Aung, a senior official at Shinhan Bank, said her firm had signed an agreement with local lender CB Bank for corporate banking and was planning to provide financing for foreign investors.

Our bank is going to do as much as our customers want and as much as [we are] permitted, she said.

E.SUN Commercial Bank was the only successful Taiwanese lender out of eight applicants from that country, beating out several larger rivals. CTBC Bank, Mega International Commercial Bank, Taiwan Business Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank and Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank all applied.

Cathay United Bank, E.SUN Commercial Bank and First Commercial Bank were the three Taiwanese lenders shortlisted in the first international bidding round, held in 2014.





Banks from India had mooted the possibility of lenders from the same country combining forces to form one entity, which would require only one licence. But the Central Bank said it would not permit joint applications.

Successful banks will be expected to provide US$75 million in initial capital, a steep requirement that has dissuaded some lenders from applying.
The Shan State Farmers Network (SSFN) will ask the incoming National League for Democracy government to suspend companies gold mining operations





in eastern Shan State, which the organisation says have polluted local villagers water resources.

A decade of mining in the Loi Kham hills has left around 300 acres of fields unusable, according to a joint press release from the SSFN and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) published on March 3.

The two groups said they urge the incoming NLD government to implement federal reform to end Nay Pyi Taws unilateral power to grant mining concessions in ethnic areas.

Farmer Ma Nan Lar from Na Hai Long village in Tachileik township has lost 17 acres of land to gold mining. The silt from companies mining operations covers the creeks that local farms use for agriculture, the farmer said. Spoiled water sources have made farming impossible, and around two-thirds of farmers have left to find work in Tachileik town or across the border in Thailand, Ma Nan Lar said.

Local farmers who have lost land are requesting that the gold mining be suspended, creeks repaired and farmland returned to its original state, said the SSFN and local farmers. The farmers will also seek compensation from the respective companies whose operations have damaged land.





Companies operating in the area have made periodic compensation payments. On February 28, trucks belonging to three companies  Sai Saik Pyo Ye, Shwe Taung and Loi Kham Long  transported some 30 villagers to Tachileik town, according to the joint press release. There the villagers received compensation for 7 acres of land at rate of 12,000 baht (K407,928) per acre, according to Ma Nan Hla, an SSFN member. The joint release said the companies promised up to 3 million baht (K101 million) for the entire village.

There was no agreement between the companies and the other villagers or ward administrators, the press release said. Nan Hai Long locals said the companies had not told ward administrators about the compensation.

In July 2014, Shan State Minister for Mining and Forestry Sai Aik Pao ordered gold-mining companies in that area to halt operations and compensate local farmers, as toxic waste from the mines was destroying farmlands and harming villagers health.

But after paying compensation to the farmers, the firms resumed operations in early 2015, according to Ma Nan Lar.

Figures from local farmers and government officials for that round of compensation differ. Sai Aik Pao said the mining companies agreement with the farmers was for K6.6 million per acre and total compensation paid was K144 million.

A local farmer, however, gave higher estimates for the 2014 compensation. The companies paid no compensation in 2015, the farmer added.

Since the firms restarted operations in 2015 gold mining in Loi Kham has expanded, and another company  Shan Shweli  has recently started excavating, according to the joint press release.

The release also reported that the army guards the mines, which Ma Nan Lar confirmed.

Lone Sam, a 54-year old Nan Hai Long local, was shot in October 2015 after climbing a hill to view the mining operations, the release said. Three soldiers admitted shooting Lone Sam at Tachileik town court on January 14, but said that the villagers attacked first, the SSFNs Ma Nan Hla said.

There has been no date set for a further hearing, according to the press release.

Translation by Khant Lin Oo
The Ministry of Electric Power signed a wind power deal with China Three Gorges Corporation last week, said a MOEP official.





The two parties signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) for a wind turbine project in the Chaungtha area of Ayeyarwady Region, which will generate 30 megawatts of electricity, according to MOEP.

It is our first MoA in the wind power sector, said U Aye Hsan, director general of the Department of Electric Power under the MOEP. The company will proceed with a joint venture agreement process as the final step of the project.

China Three Gorges Corporation conducted a feasibility study of wind power potential in Chaungtha after signing a memorandum of understanding with the MOEP a few years ago, added U Aye Hsan.

It will take some time to start electricity generation from this project because the company needs to undertake investment and projection activities, he said.

The ministry has conducted a series of feasibility studies for other prospective wind power projects and has a long list of candidates.

There are 10 project areas in Chin State with the potential to generate a total of 1472MW, 10 in Rakhine state with the potential for 1484MW, five project areas in Ayeyarwady region with the potential for 478MW and two in Yangon region with the potential for 274MW, according to the MOEP.

The government aims to produce 2 percent of its electricity through renewable power in by 2020 and 9pc by 2030.
In Kawhmu, a rural township on the Southwest fringe of Yangon, real estate prices have risen as much as 30 times, according to residents.





The township is the seat of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy is preparing to take office at the end of this month.

Land prices have risen so high these days, and are rising day-by-day across the entire township, said U Kyaw Lwin Aung, a local real estate agent.

The land price for 1 acre near to a main road is now more than K35 million [US$28,400] compared with just over K1 million a year ago.

The townships popularity has soared since the November 8. 2015, election. Many of its residents say they believe Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will help the underdeveloped area by building roads and infrastructure.

Property speculators seem to have had the same idea and have come to the township in droves, wanting to buy a piece of the action.

Speculators are buying and selling property all along the main roads in Kawhmu township. In the fourth week of February, one speculator was able to sell his land  just 1 acre  for K50 million, though he had bought it two weeks before for K30 million, said U Kyaw Lwin Aung.





Another real estate agent in the township, U Myint Lwin, said activity in the township is bucking the general trend across the city. The market is so slow in Yangon, even in areas demarcated for new development projects. But here, everyone hopes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will help her constituency, he said.

The NLD leader won her parliamentary seat in Kawhmu in the 2012 by-election and represents the township in parliaments lower house.

However, while speculators are here daily, they are only interested in the main roads, not yet in the streets and within the villages, said U Myint Lwin.

Within the villages, even along the wider roads, prices have stayed low. New roads in the villages will increase the value of the land.

Kawhmu township is even less developed than townships on the border of Yangon and Bago because it is so far from the city and in the past was not connected by road to many other townships, said U Kyaw Lwin Aung. But a road linking Kawhmu to Twante township was built last year and new roads across the township are already under development. In the past, transportation was so difficult here. Now the main roads are concrete, though the village roads are still dusty.

From Kawhmu, the road to Yangon passes through Twante and Dala. For now, there is no bridge joining Dala to downtown Yangon. However, the government recently signed with South Korea to build a bridge, which is likely to be completed in five years.

Once the bridge is built, the journey between Yangon and Kawhmu will not take long, said U Kyaw Lwin Aung.

Despite the new roads, there are no plans to build projects or industrial zones in the township and most of the residents are farmers, said resident Daw Nge. The land is not good for planting and two-thirds of the land here cannot be cultivated, so many residents have left in search of opportunities elsewhere, she said.

Those who remain are hoping that an industrial zone or big projects can create jobs nearby. There is a lot of land here, and we hope garment companies or other industries will open factories, so that both women and men can find jobs, she said.

Kawhmu is one of 27 townships being developed under the World Banks National Community-Driven Development Project (NCDDP), which aims to give poor rural communities improved access to basic infrastructure services and to help the government to respond quickly to emergencies. Kawhmu township was among the worst-hit areas during Cyclone Nargis.

The World Bank has put $480 million toward the project, which eventually aims to cover more than 60 townships across Myanmar, and is providing technical support. The Minsitry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development is also working on the project.

Kawhmu will be developed under this project between November 2015 and 2019. For now, we are training residents to repair and build new infrastructure, said an official from the rural development department.

For the administrator of six villages in Kawhmu, U Myo Myint Maung, the project will help the area to develop.

Ten years ago, it took a full day to get to downtown Yangon because there were no good roads within the township, and it was extremely difficult to travel during the rainy season, he said. Three years ago, we were able to take public transport through Twante and Dala and then take the ferry across Yangon River.

Last year, after the new road was built, it takes just 30 minutes to get from Kawhmu to Hlaing Thar Yar township, he said.
To collaborate with the National League for Democracy or to oppose the partys unilateral government appointments  the question is prompting internal divisions within the Arakan National Party that are so severe it may be teetering on a split.





Initially, in January, the ANPs central executive committee vowed to stand against the NLD after it became clear that appointments to the Rakhine State government would be announced, rather than discussed and jointly decided. As the party with the most seats in the state parliament, the ANP felt it deserved to be consulted on the positions, or even to have the opportunity to form the administration itself.

But the NLD has increasingly made clear it will go it alone and dictate the hluttaw Speakers and chief ministers, despite the risk of alienating ethnic minority parties.

Forged two years ago from a merger between the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party and the Arakan League for Democracy, the ANP has since struggled to maintain cohesion, especially due to widespread perception that the RNDP was the dominant faction.

The former Arakan League for Democracy members are pushing back, alleging that in recent party statements they have been overrun by the RNDP.

In a sudden departure, former ALD members yesterday announced they are breaking from the ANPs stated objective to serve as an opposition bloc against the NLD. The defunct ALD had close ties to the NLD, and does not want to risk ruining its good graces. Members added that national reconciliation and a federal system must be prioritised.

The split from the party line was announced at a press conference in Yangon yesterday.

U Zaw Min, from the ALD faction, said the decision to oppose the NLD, made in January, was made without unanimous agreement. The RNDP strong-armed the decision, he said.





He added that the ALD felt that antagonism against the NLD was not in the Rakhine peoples best interest.

It doesnt mean that we are splitting back into the ALD and the RNDP, he said. However, it may become that we are one party acting as two, or we could continue as one party that makes all big decisions by coordinating, said U Zaw Min.

The ALD issued its own counter-statement yesterday, announcing it will not obstruct cabinet appointments made by elected members of parliament due to respect for the people who voted them into power.

Last month, ANP chair U Aye Maung said the NLD had laid the groundwork for a political crisis to erupt in Rakhine State. He blamed the NLD for creating divisions by nominating a member of the ANP as deputy hluttaw speaker without first consulting other party members. The NLDs personal politics approach created disunity inside our party, he said.

Another former ALD member said the ANP must jointly find a way to work with the NLD and overlook personal grievances.

The Rakhine people will suffer if the party carries on opposing cabinet appointments as suggested by the CEC statements, said U Myo Kyaw, an ANP CEC member from the ALD side.

He added that the ALD faction will also not follow the partys decision to exit an ethnic alliance. The break from the United Nationalities Alliance was made after a two-day emergency meeting at party headquarters and was ostensibly due to disrespectful treatment. Political analysts and sources within the party suggested it had more to do with retribution, however, since the ALD had been close with the UNA.

We will be continuing our alliance with the UNA and will not be following statements that have been pushed by only the RNDP side of the party, said U Myo Kyaw.

When the ANP merged it was considered a rare example of ethnic party cohesion  a collaboration that avoided vote splitting that doomed other ethnic minority parties throughout the country in the November 2015 election. The merger paid off electorally, but the fragile alliance appears increasingly ready to split.

U Tun Aung Kyaw, secretary of the ANP and a former RNDP member, told The Myanmar Times that the party must continue in accordance with its previous statements, which he described as being issued by the partys CEC and not just the whims of certain people.

He added that yesterdays press conference by ALD members was held by instigators looking to upset the party by driving a wedge. The conference was also held without the permission of the ANPs CEC and as such, the announcements should not be considered authoritative, he said.

The party wont put up with these conditions as they suggested, and there wont be any changes either, he said. We will continue in the future as we are.
More clashes have been reported in northern Shan State and Rakhine State between the Tatmadaw and ethnic Palaung and Rakhine forces. The fighting has prompted suggestions from the government side that it could be fighting a proxy war against more powerful armed groups.





Fighting between government forces and the Taang National Liberation Army have been reported in Mongton, Kutkai, Namhsam, Namkham and Kyaukme townships in recent days.

Mai Aik Kyaw, a spokesperson for the TNLA, told The Myanmar Times that there had been more than 20 skirmishes since March 1, including four yesterday.

Tatmadaw troops deployed very close to our troops  just 30 minutes walk from each other. Thats why fighting has occurred very often, he said.

He said the fighting was not taking place near settlements, so few people had been displaced. But he said many populated areas remained unsafe due to the possibility of a Tatmadaw offensive.

Fighting has also been reported in Rakhine State, where the military-run Myawady newspaper said Arakan Army insurgents ambushed Tatmadaw troops providing security for workers building a fence along the Bangladesh border.

Fighting broke out on February 27, March 1 and March 3, the paper said. Some Tatmadaw soldiers were killed, but it did not give details.





Last month, the Tatmadaw warned the TNLA and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South to pull back to their original territorial boundaries, following heavy fighting between the two armed ethnic groups that forced more than 5000 people from their homes.

The military said it would launch a clearance operation unless the armed groups withdrew, but so far has mostly held its fire.

Colonel Myat Min Oo, from a Tatmadaw committee set up to release true information, refused to comment on the fighting. He said journalists should read Myawady rather than ask him for information. However, Myawady is yet to report on the most recent clashes in northern Shan State.

The TNLA has reported a build-up of Tatmadaw forces in northern Shan State. It said 3000 were sent from Lashio to the front lines on February 27 and 28.

However, U Hla Maung Shwe, a senior adviser to the Myanmar Peace Center, said that the new forces were relieving others on the front line, and there had been no increase in soldiers.

Conflict continues between them at this time because there is a lack of trust, he said.

But he also suggested that more powerful armed groups were supporting the TNLA and the AA in their fight against the Tatmadaw.

He noted that the Kachin Independence Army has formed a new battalion in northern Shan State, while the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which is allied with both the TNLA and the AA, has reorganised its troops at Mone Koe in the Kokang region. He questioned how the AA and the TNLA were financing the expansion of their armed forces.

We need to think who is supporting these groups [the AA and the TNLA], how they get the money for their combat operations, he said.

During a meeting with local media on March 5, the head of the RCSS, Lieutenant General Yawd Serk, said his group was collecting proof to show that an organisation was supporting the TNLA in its recent clashes with his own forces.

He also criticised the KIA for expanding its forces in northern Shan State, describing it as insulting for the Shan people.

The KIA could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But state media also took aim at the Kachin armed groups alleged role in fomenting conflict, with yesterdays Global New Light of Myanmar reporting that the Arakan Army was formed at KIA headquarters in April 2009 with the purpose of conducting operations in their places of origin.
A health official on leave is causing a hold-up in the governments response to counterfeit hepatitis medication.





The Food and Drug Administration said is waiting for approval to clampdown on the distribution of fake pills in the wake of a World Health Organization alert sent out at the end of February.

We got information from the WHO and planned to respond quickly to this alert but we still do not have any permission from the health department of the Ministry of Health yet, Dr Theingi Zin, director of drug control at the FDA, told The Myanmar Times.

She said the FDA wants to issue a public alert about the drugs through state media outlets.

This is a really big issue because patients are buying and taking this medicine to help their disease but according to the WHO alert this medicine is fake, she added.

The WHO warned hepatitis C patients to avoid the drug brands Ledso and Dakavir. The medications were packaged in bottles that listed the manufacturer as a pharmaceutical company named PHARCO based in Alexandria, Egypt. The company denied making drugs under either name or in the combination of compounds listed on the bottles.

The WHO said it was notified about the falsified drugs by a local NGO, but would not disclose the name of the organisation. The local group had directly contacted the Department of Essential Medicines & Health Products at the WHO headquarters to report the presence of fake drugs in Myanmar.

Dr Theingi Zin said that neither the counterfeit medicines nor the Egyptian pharmaceutical company are registered with health authorities in Myanmar.





We think that if we check for this medicine at pharmacies we wont find it. We believe it is being distributed privately through doctors, so it will be very difficult to discover the medication, she said.

She added that the health authorities will have to approach healthcare professionals and large pharmacies to inform them about this fake drug and ensure they do not sell it.

When The Myanmar Times called the health department at the Ministry of Health about the plan to stop the fake drugs from circulating, an official said the relevant spokesperson was also on leave.
You can take a family out of Chin State, but you cant take Chin State out of the family, regional officials are finding. Villagers displaced following last years flooding of their homes in Hakha Lay are irate to find they have unwittingly been moved across the state border. Their new home is in Sagaing Region, according to land surveys.





Tonzang township, Chin State, was hit particularly badly by last Augusts flooding, when nine of its townships were engulfed in mud. The villages of Twilkhainzan and Hakha Lay were obliterated.

But they expected relocation, not banishment, they say.

Chin State Minister for Forestry and Mining U Kyaw Nyein said on March 4 that people from Tonzang have been housed alongside fellow flood victims not just from Tiddim township, Chin State, but also from Kalay and Monywa townships, which are in Sagaing Region.

The minister said land records officials from Nay Pyi Taw and Pyin Oo Lwin, two state or regional ministers for security and border affairs, the Chin State ministers for electric power and forestry and mining, and state police have all spent six days surveying the territory.

The villagers new home is located 5 kilometres (3 miles) from Hakha Lay village, which was but a stones throw from the border with Sagaing Region, he said.

While residents of Chin State insist that the place belongs to Chin State, U Kyaw Nyein, citing local land records, says it is part of Sagaing Region.





The villagers said they wanted to stay in Chin State. But the records say its in Sagaing Region. Sagaing or Chin, whats the difference? Chin had to move them, and Sagaing said theyd accept them. But the villagers insist theyre still in Chin State, he said.

On March 2, the villagers were asked to choose where they would like to live, so that they would be divided into two groups, a Sagaing group and a Chin group. Those who refused to sign might have to form a third group, he said, but did not indicate where they would be settled.

Religious leaders, including Buddhist monks and Catholic priests, had already accepted assurances from both Chin State and Sagaing Region governments that they would be looked after, regardless of where they chose to live, he said.

The Chin State government has promised to provide plots of 60 by 80 feet to those who decide to live there. The plots would be located in areas thought likely to be free from flooding, and not subject to water shortages, said the minister.

Translation by Kyawt Darly Lin
Police say a major drug bust in Mandalay over the weekend netted more than US$30 million worth of illicit substance, including heroin and Ecstasy. An anti-narcotics team arrested three alleged drug traffickers and seized heroin, opium, methamphetamine and precursor chemicals in a container truck and four cars.





An unnamed police officer was quoted by AFP as saying it was the biggest drug bust so far this year.

The Mandalay Region anti-narcotics team said the total haul included Ecstasy tablets printed with WY worth K6.7 million, over 24 kilograms of heroin, 15kg of opium solids, 82kg of ice methamphetamine tablets, 1150 gallons of chloroform, 2000kg of phenol, 550 gallons of ammonium hydroxide, 300 gallons of hydrocholoride, and over 3700kg of ammonium as well as ethanol, engine oil and empty gas tanks. Police also confiscated K16 million in cash hidden in the glove compartment of two of the cars.

Police said they made the K37 billion seizure in front of a house on the corner of San Pya and Mingala streets in Mandalays Pyigyitagun township.

The arrested people were running a serious drug business and are important people in the trade, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Myint Aung from the Mandalay Region anti-narcotic force. The amount of drugs we seized hit a new record high in Mandalay since the start of combating narcotic drug.

Myanmar is considered the hub of drug production for the region, with seizures in Thailand, Bangladesh and China all sourcing back. Myanmar remains the second-largest producer of opium in the world, but is also increasingly involved in the production of synthetic drugs like ice, according to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime.

In a record seizure last year, police netted $106 million worth of methamphetamine tablets in a single raid in Mingaladon township last year.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Farmers in four villages in Natmauk township, Magwe Region, are still waiting to receive compensation nearly six years after their land was taken. The 48-kilometre (30-mile) railway that runs over their fields in Magwe and Natmauk townships was built in 2010.





Though Myanma Railways paid compensation last October to farmers in 10 other villages in Magwe township, they say they were left out.

Other people received it. We are poor and we have to think of our future. We cant cultivate that land any more. If other farmers got compensation, why cant we? said farmer U Soe Win of Padauk Ngote village.

Land from Padauk Ngote, Tagundine, Inngone and Yarpyin villages was used for the Natmauk-Magwe railway, villagers told a press conference on February 28 in Magwe town.

We told Natmauk township general administration office and the Land Records Department about the case. They havent done anything so far, said Ko Zaw Min Htaik, one of the farmers leaders.

The farmers first demonstrated to back up their demand last June. We will keep on campaigning until we get it, in accordance with the law, said Ko Zaw Min Htaik.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Religious leaders from four major faiths in Myanmar called for an end to violence and discrimination against women during an International Womens Day debate in Yangon over the weekend.





The three-hour discussion was organised by UN Women and Religions for Peace, a Yangon-based interfaith group bringing together Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human rights violation in Myanmar, Jean DCunha, head of UN Women Myanmar, said in her opening address. [It] occurs as physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence in normal times and in crisis.

Violence against women is a major problem in Myanmar where public awareness about the issue is low and cultural norms, ignorance about their rights, and a lack of legal aid and counselling often prevent women and girls from speaking out.

Given the strategic reach and influence that religious leaders have in communities, their contribution to ending violence against women and girls is invaluable, Ms DCunha told The Myanmar Times.

U Myint Swe, who chairs Religions for Peace, said that violence against women occurred across all religions in Myanmar, even though none of the religious teachings provided a base for discrimination or violence.

Buddhist teachings do not have discrimination against women but yet these issues have occurred, as with other religions. We have deviated from the original teachings, he said.

Ms DCunha and U Myint Swe warned that conflict often worsens abuse of women. In Rakhine, northern Shan and Kachin states, higher rates of violence against women have been reported. Rights groups have regularly called for an end to violence against women in areas of civil strife, where they say rape is used as a weapon of war by government troops.





Discriminatory values and attitudes play out against women and girls in routine everyday life, and get exacerbated in crisis, be it disasters or be it conflict or be it emotional or psychological crises that men and boys may experience, Ms DCunha said.

U Myint Swe said, Especially in this time when we are building peace, we should have no violence against women in these [conflict] areas.

According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which was adopted in June, those who commit offences against women during civil war must face prosecution in the International Criminal Court. The government in power must also create truth commissions at the community level to uncover evidence about past incidents, and apologies must be given to victims.

Womens organisations in Myanmar, however, have reported repeatedly that when they try to help women in conflict areas file criminal charges against their assailants, the authorities refuse to accept the case if a soldier was involved.
Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition organised by nationalist groups against the death penalty verdict given to two Rakhine State natives.





Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers in Thailand in 2014.

The sentence sparked backlash in Myanmar, including protests in front of the Thai embassy, and even Senior General Min Aung Hlaing commented against the decision.

Nationalists collected signatures to demonstrate the extent of the public furor, and delivered the list of over 97,000 names to the Thai embassy in Yangon.

The counsellor of the embassy received the petition on March 4 and promised to deliver it to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and King Bhumibol Adulyadej, U Tin Oo, a member of the All Arakanese Student and Youth Congress (AASYC), told The Myanmar Times.

First, we tried to submit the petition via email, but they replied and told us to deliver it in person, U Tin Oo said. But when we came to hand it over, the ambassador was not seen anywhere. He [the counsellor] also requested we dont take a photo to make a record of the delivery.

The AASYC said it cooperated with Rakhine youth organisations to spread the petition, including the Rakhine Womens Organisation, the Arakan Renaissance Generation, the Arakan Youths Association of University and the Rakhine Student Union at Dagon University.

The petition was launched in December 2015, shortly after the Thai court declared its verdict. The petition was spread throughout Rakhine State and also to migrant workers in Thailand, U Tin Oo said. It was printed in three languages: English, Myanmar and Thai.





The youth groups plan to also send the petition to Myanmars president and to the British ambassador, pressing them to help achieve justice.

The defence team for the convicted Myanmar workers filed an appeal slated to be heard later this month. Much of the case rests on hotly contested DNA evidence. The defence lawyers say they have poured over 4000 pages of court documents and consulted with forensic experts in preparation to dispute the police claim that evidence showed a 100 percent DNA match.
The rush of foreign visitors wanting to see Myanmar before it changes exhibits a curiously misplaced mix of nostalgia and voyeurism. What some people think they want to experience is a place before the wave of 21st-century hyper-modernity has crashed over it.





The authentic Myanmar, in this view, is face powder and sarongs, rice curries and street typists, colonial colonnades and glittering pagodas, clapped-out Corollas and long lines of novices collecting their morning alms.

In fairness, there can be something magical in continuity. But there are also times to break from the past, especially when it was a period of such suffering. Recent experience for tens of millions of people in Myanmar comes with all sorts of problems.

Most obviously, there was the dominance of the military in political and economic affairs. The old Myanmar was one where a small group of senior army men organised an unflinching stranglehold. They kept the country poor, condemning the population to erratic and often lacklustre healthcare, education and other social services.

The military government decided the extent of public discussion, using intimidation and severe punishment to keep the people in line. In un-changed Myanmar there were still champions of free speech, but they were forced to operate in the shadows.

That was the only semi-safe place for different ideas about political organisation. Whether it was General Ne Wins isolated socialism or Senior General Than Shwes muscled-up nationalism, political ideology was dictated from on high. Too many brave people were locked up for merely hinting at alternative governance arrangements.

The democratic opposition, spearheaded since 1988 by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, caught the worlds attention for its righteous resistance. Lets not forget that the National League for Democracy has always been in the business of changing Myanmar.





It is strange that those I expect to welcome the surge of democratic success are sometimes uncomfortable with the wider revitalisation of society. I wonder whether the insistence on seeing Myanmar before it changes is not an ill-conceived affection for destitution and hardship.

But this is the big point. It is wonderful that Myanmars economy has been growing at something like 8 percent each year in recent times. My guess is that in certain neighbourhoods in the major cities, economic improvement is running much hotter than that national average.

This growth means that Myanmar citizens are rapidly shifting their horizons. The changes are all around us: miniskirts and burger chains, shiny new sedans and Facebook frenzies, real estate speculation and K-Pop imitations, cram school ambitions and media exposes.

Under the military, life may have been simpler: It was also grimmer, shorter and often sadder. Misplaced nostalgia for the old days misses the costs that came with long-term economic paralysis.

When Myanmar was a pariah it was cut off from the global financial system, doing any deal was a hassle; there were days when even street hustlers were reluctant to take soiled foreign currency. Inefficiencies piled up, all weighed down by low hopes for anything to get better.

And foreign visitors tended to stay away.

The notion that this system was worth preserving, and that today its remnants should serve as a tourist attraction, misses the desperation and depression that it caused.

The old system was a product of dire social and financial conditions, where peace was implausible, where families were torn apart by poverty, where children grew up too quickly.

Very few people voted in November 2015 for the resurrection of the old military system and the slim opportunities it could provide. Instead, Myanmars people want more of the options readily available to the rest of the world.

It all starts with personal and family aspirations. Just look around at the boom in education and it is easy to see the latent energy and creativity unleashed. Students who are currently making their way up through the ranks will not want to return to the system that their parents suffered through.

Before long their memories of a time before smartphone connectivity and mega-marts will fade. There will be more international brands, increased foreign investment and a general slide towards familiar, globalised ways of doing things.

Not everyone will be happy. Yet, in a democratic system, it must be up to Myanmars elected government to decide the scope of change.

So instead of lamenting the loss of what Myanmar once was, visitors should be prepared to embrace the nation it will become. It will be messy, contradictory, loud, unexpected and volatile. The point is that, in so many ways, it will be better than before.

This shift is an idea worth promoting to foreign visitors. Their curiosity will keep people in jobs and pay for much-needed infrastructure. Most important of all, their presence will reinforce the idea that there is no going back to entrenched military rule.

 New Mandala

Nicholas Farrelly is director of the Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University. His column appears in The Myanmar Times each Monday.
Smartphones. Theyre everywhere.

Thats obviously because theyre a great way to stay in touch, get some work done, enjoy media, and access information.

But their ubiquity comes with at least one downside. That is, as Nokia recently pointed out, that smartphones are the perfect platform for corporate and personal espionage, information theft, denial of services attacks on businesses and governments, and banking and advertising scams.

Indeed, smartphones now account for 60 percent of infections in the mobile network, with Android devices being the hardest hit, says Nokia, which recently released a report on the matter.

The 2015 Nokia Threat Intelligence Report, which monitored more than 100 million devices, also found some good news. That is that infection rates on mobile networks were down in the second half of last year, declining from 0.75 to 0.49 percent. That was attributed to the decrease in adware.

However, as you might expect in a report on security, most of the data unearthed was of a rather unpleasant  some might even say alarming  nature.

For example, for the first time since Alcatel-Lucent, which is now owned by Nokia, issued a report of this nature, iOS-based malware including FlexiSpy and XcodeGhost made the top 20 list. To give you a flavor as to why, we can tell you that such iPhone malware represented 6 percent of total infections in October of last year. Heres how this kind of thing works: XcodeGhost malware made its way into apps via a compromised software development kit Chinese developers were using to create legitimate applications sold through the App Store, which has since removed said app.

Elsewhere on the smartphone frontier, Android devices have fallen victim to ransomware like CryptoLocker, which first reared its ugly head in the Windows PC world. This kind of malware encrypts and locks data so smartphone users cant access it without paying the hacker a fee.

Thanks to its unique network view of traffic Nokia Threat Intelligence Lab (formerly Motive Security Labs) can detect for network operators a myriad of threats. These include, along with mobility threats, Internet threats detected on home networks.

Edited by Peter Bernstein
Praye and Andy Dosty

07.03.2016 LISTEN

Speculations that popular radio presenter, musician and DJ Andy Dosty will be joining the newly regrouped 'Praye' music duo to make it a trio seem to have been confirmed over the weekend in Kumasi at the Freedom Concert.

The regrouped Praye duo, made up of Praye Tintin and Praye Tiatia, staged an electrifying performance at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi and just when they had worked the entire stadium into a frenzy, they introduced Andy Dosty on stage to join them in performing their last song.

Andy Dosty appeared on stage wearing a Praye-branded T-Shirt and 'nailed' the performance with his new team as though he had rehearsed with them for years.

Though neither Praye Tintin nor Praye Tiatia stated categorically that Andy Dosty had officially joined the group, they said they brought him on stage to respond to popular rumours that he had joined the group.

The loud cheers and applause with which the crowd received Andy Dosty on stage were deafening and the group simply stole the show. They were arguably the best performers of the night.

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Andy Dosty has not hidden his wish to join the new Praye duo and his appearance on stage confirmed the suspicion of many.

Praye will this week release a song titled 'Kportor', its debut track after regrouping.
Tourism advocate, Paa John Bentifi Dadson is calling for a more effective engagement of local communities in the running of tourist attractions in the country.

Paa John Bentifi Dadson says this could also resolve the situation where the attractions deteriorate due to neglect by the state.

The deplorable state of some major tourist attraction was highlighted when the chief of Elmina pronounced a curse on any visitor to the Elmina castle.

The chief was livid over the failure of the Ghana Tourism Authority to renovate the decades old facility.

Mr Bentifi Dadson was of the view that a stronger local engagement could help resolve the challenge.

Engage the local indegenes as for that its the biggest thing that needs to be done because the people in the locality need to appreciate where you are coming from and it has to be above board he said.
Obour

07.03.2016 LISTEN

Musicians in Ghana have been advised to invest carefully as they ply their trade to forestall the challenges that arise due to inactivity when their careers taper off.

This advice was given by Charles Mensa, a financial management consultant at the Ghana Music Business Forum, as part of Ghana Music Week 2016 at the British Council Hall last Thursday.

In a presentation on the topic: 'Managing Your Finances', Mr Mensa mentioned that while at the peak of their careers, some musicians earn fabulous incomes, however, due to improper investments or no investments at all, these musicians blow their wealth and become virtual paupers by the time of their death.

Citing examples of musicians who have gone from grace to grass and others who had gone from glory to glory, he advised the musicians to be mindful of how they handle their fame and wealth.

Another speaker at the forum, Jonathan Cudjoe, the licensing officer for GHAMRO, charged musicians who are also composers to take a keen interest in the affairs of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO).

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Speaking on the 'Current State of Collection Management and Piracy in Ghana' he pointed out that GHAMRO was organising a series of interactions with music rights owners across the country so that they would be all on the same page in terms of issues pertaining to their rights as authors and composers of music.

On piracy, he said GHAMRO was taking steps with the appropriate institutions to deal with the scourge.

On her part, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Dzifa Gomashie, called on Ghanaians to celebrate their own, paying glowing tribute to the current leadership of MUSIGA, with Bice Osei Kuffour at the helm of affairs.

She also paid tributes to a number of Ghanaian stars, including Rocky Dawuni for his Grammy nomination, Reggie N Bollie for their success during the recent X Factor reality show and teenage prodigy Abraham Attah for his award-winning performance in 'Beasts of No Nation'.

The UNESCO rep at the programme, Carl Ampah, disclosed that the creative arts has a crucial role to play in national development, and called on practitioners to constantly hone their skills by taking advantage of such training opportunities that would be available to them.

Bice Osei Kuffour, aka Obour, reiterated MUSIGA's commitment to ensuring that Ghanaian musicians get their due and are adequately prepared through training to take advantage of the opportunities available to them, hence the decision to hold the Music Business Forum as part of Ghana Music Week (GMW) 2016.
Accra celebrated its maiden kenkey festival which showcased the different types of the favorite Ghanaian food.

According to the organizer of the event, Abena Magis, the event is about bringing together patrons of kenkey from all walks of life so far as you eat kenkey.

One is likely to find kenkey in any part of Ghana whether it is 'Komi' or Ga Kenkey, 'Amosima', 'Fanti dokon' or 'Fomfom'.

"We are coming here to celebrate one of Ghana's indigenous food. The idea comes from Nii Bavard's blogged article about Ghanaian kenkey and how it is not patronized. That got me thinking to organize a festival to celebrate everyone's staple food," said Magis.

She said they are considering to celebrate the festival annually.

Magis said, "What we seek to achieve is bringing together all the lovers of kenkey and portraying it to both Ghanaians and other nationals. It is to show to others that Ghanaians have a food we are proud since we don't have a national identity when it comes to food."

The organizers are looking at branding kenkey as a national food so anywhere in the world kenkey is mentioned kenkey people will recognize it.
Ben Guerdane (Tunisia) (AFP) - Heavy fighting for an army barracks in a Tunisian town near the Libyan border killed three civilians, three security personnel and 13 militants, medics and the defence ministry said.

A 12-year-old was among the civilians killed in Ben Guerdane, hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud told AFP, adding that two security agents were also among the dead.

The defence ministry said that 13 militants and a soldier were killed as troops thwarted the attack on the barracks.

Six militants were also wounded and detained, defence ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula told AFP.
Cape Coast, Mar. 6, GNA - Ghana is grappling with a situation where many of its natural resources are being destroyed by the operations of some so-called multinational companies.

Professor John Nelson Buah, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), who expressed these sentiments, noted that the degree to which multinational Companies respected and resolved ethical, social and environmental issues depended on the market community in which they operated.

At a public lecture organized by the UCC School of Business Studies, Prof Buah expressed concern was concerned that several agitations to have various anomalies addressed in the country have yielded no positive result or seen any improvement.

He advised the said companies not to stratify the market community, if they really wanted to respect ethical and environmental issues across board

They are also to make conscious efforts to prevent forced labor, provide workers with the needed protection and access to effective remedies and carry out due diligence to prevent and respond to the risk of forced labor.

A professor of Management Studies at San Jose State University in California, USA, Prof Anne Lawrence added her voice to the concerns by Prof Buah stressing that multinational companies operating in Ghana and the rest of Africa should take due consideration to ethical, social and environmental issues.

Speaking on the topic: 'Social, Ethical and Environmental responsibility in the Global supply chain', she urged them to ensure the protection of available natural resources in their quest to supply products to their customers.

Prof Lawrence said most multinational companies either lacked control over their supply chain or failed to report publicly on their due diligence measures and did not carry out systematic monitoring of their suppliers.

She warned that failure to address these issues might cost the companies millions of dollars and there is the need take full responsibility of their supply chain to safeguard their valuable brands and reputations.

She proposed to such multinational companies to from time to time needed to organize capacity building training for their suppliers as well as their business partners and set codes on common standards in order to have a shared value.

Citing numerous instances where companies have been sued and made to pay millions of dollars for not following ethical standards, the management professor advised supply chain managers to properly monitor the activities of their suppliers to make sure they adhered to the set codes and common standards.

GNA
Municipal Chief Executive for Asokore Mampong in the Ashanti region is appalled by the level of insanitary conditions in the Municipality and other parts of the country.

Alhaji Nurudeen Hamidan says though the assembly has done everything within its powers to help redeem the situation, there is general apathy especially towards the National Sanitation Day clean up exercise.

Speaking at the 59th Independence anniversary parade at Asokore Mampong, he chastised residents for choosing to dispose-off waste indiscriminately.

Alhaji Hamidan is unhappy at what he considers a norm for residents of all class to dispose-off waste indiscriminately with impunity; without regard to laid down environmental regulations.

Sanitation has become a major concern to all of us. Not only in this municipality but also in the country as a whole. Indiscriminate disposal of waste has become a norm rather than exception. People of all class wrongly dispose their waste with impunity.

To him, the practice should be blamed for the increasing filth-related diseases such as cholera as drains are choked with refuse.

Alhaji Hamidan told a well attended anniversary parade the assembly has done everything within its powers to maintain a healthy environment including the organization of the National Sanitation Day clean up exercise.

But that has been met with general apathy among residents.

As an assembly, we have done well in organizing the monthly clean up exercise. The general apathy by the general public towards the day is a big concern to all of us, worried Alhaji Hamidan said.

He wants the youth in the area to take charge of efforts to ensure cleanliness.

Awards were presented to deserving schools at this years Independence anniversary parade.

Whilst the Mighty Royals School topped the Basic Schools category, Sakafia Senior High School received awards in the SHS category.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Hamidan has announced the redevelopment of the Asawasi market which is expected to be completed at the end of 2016; construction of two police stations at Bobai and Parkoso as well as the asphalting of Zongo-OTEC and Asokore Mampong-Aboabo-Sepe Dote Junction roads. IThese projects and many others form part of efforts to upgrade the municipality.
Today marks the 59th independence day celebration of our country, Ghana. The people of Ghana and the Nations of the world celebrate and commemorate this special day. In light of the commemoration of this remarkable day, the National Executive Council and the entire PUSAG community wishes to salute all Ghanaians alive today, home and abroad a happy independence day. We pray for the best for the citizenry and the development of the Nation.

Fifty nine years ago, a leader rose up from the heart of our country. He was a visionary leader with the generations yet unborn at heart. He risked all he had for the betterment of our nation and he perfected the course of peace, liberation, justice and most of all the independence of Ghana. His name and deeds forever remains in the hearts of the citizens of this country. The PUSAG fraternity salute Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the veterans who led the people of the Nation to independence. Today, one cannot talk about leadership and skip Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of this country.

What lessons have today's leaders learnt from the selfless services Dr. Nkrumah rendered to the Nation and Africa at large? Leaders of today's Africa do not believe in ideologies that carries seeds of development for the people they lead instead, they are mostly particular and certain about winning elections.

PUSAG believes Leadership is essential when growth and change can be accounted for. As students leaders of PUSAG and future cooperate and economic managers, we model Dr. Nkrumah and the team who led Ghana to independence to excellence.

It is obvious that the challenges of this Nation is leadership. The rich Ghanaian soil is endowed with life that produces results in Agriculture and effect our economy. Gold and bauxite, diamond and manganese are found in our rich soil. Why was our Ghana today known as Gold Coast? Today, because of poor leadership and mismanagement, little to nothing is state owned in terms of proportions of these minerals.

It is disheartening to know that our cocoa production has declined in terms of quality and quantity and for this reason, the once leading producer of cocoa in Africa now imports cocoa. It is also apparent that, the country's independence is increasingly becoming meaningless as we are trapped in 'retrogression.'

Our republican status and reputation is another subject for some other day's discussion. Physical structures and facilities from colonial times have been the strength and backbone of our development. The country has suffered from different kinds of ailments including the popular "dumsor".

We are inspired by the leadership skills and experiences of Dr. Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela and the great leaders of the world who strived for development, fought for equality and raised the bar to a higher height: such M. Luther King Jr. We believe in excellence as far as the next generation of this country is concerned. On the 30th of January, 2016 we held a leadership summit at Islamic University College for our students in our constituents because we believe leadership should also be taught to perfection. We are the next line of Ghanaians who will stand to make a difference, challenge the status quo and raise the standards of leadership.

On this note, there is hope for the future and we want assure all Ghanaian youth to refrain.from social vices and rather take the future of this country into our hands, shaping it to suit our preferences.. We wish all Ghanaians a happy independence day celebration and pray that, leadership ailments, corruption and mismanagement would be eliminated from our lives and strive for peace and development.

Ayikoo Ghana

------Signed ----

Francis Kwabena Asante

Media Relations Director | PUSAG

+233 242677779

Richard Odame

National President | PUSAG

+233 243944302
06.03.2016 LISTEN

From Voice Of Reason:

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never willmen may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they getFrederick Douglas.

I want my country back!

Why are we forced to choose between the lesser of the two evils, every four years? The choices are always so pathetic, arent they?

What if a carpenter, factory worker, nurse, shopkeeper, student, clerk, or anyone with a vision backed by a desire to make a huge difference in the life of an average Ghanaian; had the same chance as the professional politicians to get to the parliament or become a president of Ghana?

What if a trade deals couldnt be passed unless workers, farmers, environmentalists, community leaders, and all others directly affected by the deal were sitting at the table negotiating as full partners with the corporate and government enlists pushing the deal? You might say,kwaku what if pigs can fly?

This is why we need someone with Donald Trumps chromosomes (with authenticity and business acumen) to shake and change things around.

Europeans cant stand him and he has promised to deport 11 million illegal immigrants in his country, but Americans still like himI wonder why!

Americans are galvanizing to Donald Trumps political bandwagon because of his impressive C.V. With his in-your-face tenacity that has made him almost everyones hero. He also gets under the skin of corporate giants, politicians, lobbyists, and the mediaanyone who has made life tougher for the millions of Americans who have had enough of the crap. He brings his wit and working- class voice to an American public which is desperate to save whats left of the American dream. His take- no prisoners attitude is brutally funny, insightful, irrepressible and irresistible.

Donald Trump is gaining political traction on the landscape of America, and there are more reasons for his momentum. Yes, his supporters dont have a defined common ideology. But, they have a unifying motivation a deep-rooted pervasive sense of anxiety about the state of the country. Theyre angry and frustrated at those they felt were encroaching on their way of life and ruining the country in the process

This isnt about whether hes going to do a better job or not. Its a political statement the voters want to make to the political establishment: were going to put somebody in there that you dont really like to shake things up because that is our choice to choose now.

To some American voters, Donald Trump is not afraid to get in the trenches and fight. Hes going to be politically bully and tell the establishment what he thinks. And, that is part of the attributes of a great leadership.

For one thing, hes filthy rich and he can never be bought. He also knows how to run legit businesses. Above all, his willingness to disregard political correctness makes the supporters feel hes saying exactly what they really feel about issues, but theyre afraid to say it in public .In a way, he represents their hopes, fears and frustrations. Isnt he the kind of person we need desperately in Ghanaian politics right now?

When are we going to get non- professional politicians who will represent our fears, hopes and frustrations and fight vigorously for us and Mother Ghana?

Every four years, Ghanaians literally drag ourselves into polling stations and vote for the lesser of the two evils

Maybe the reason the majority of Ghanaians dont votenot because they are not hungry to participate, but because every time they show up to vote there is nothing but crap left on the political menu. Theyre just tired of having to choose between the two evils on election days. How many times has the candidate you voted for turned around and done the opposite of what he or she promised?

Who among us in Ghana marches proudly into the voting booth on an Election Day thinking, I cant wait to vote for these great men and women of vision who are going to change things around? No one!

For whatever reasons, its impossible for a third party to make it on the ballot and get proper media coverageso the voter has nowhere else to go .However, there has to be a better way than every four years some of us are being forced to choose candidates we dont like and watch boring political advertisements and devote to activity that the majority of Ghanaians doesnt participate in.

In our part of the world, do the people in power really give a damn about folks like you anymore? Start with your own government-- the law makers down at your district assemblies, the executives in your regional capital, or those in the Parliament House in Accra. Do your opinions really matter to themor do they just go with the money?

That is just the government. At least with the government you get to vote every four years. But, the real power has been grabbled by the corporate executives and, lobbyists and campaign contributors, whose names are never on a ballot and, whose decisions affecting you are made in secret and whose butts you cant even find to kick.

This power has not only entrenched itself, but is tunneling into every aspect of our lives and culture. You see it anywhere you go. Its in our elections, at all levels, soiling them with its campaign cash and controlling what issues get discussed. Its in your food (do you remember the genetically modified food), water, air and your babies, classrooms and colleges.

Whether its the laws passed, the water your kids drink, the future of your neighborhood, or what is allowed in your news feed every day---we the people dont have much to say about it.

The funny thing is that a handful of men with limousine lifestyles sit in soft leather chairs up in faraway skyscrapers, deciding your future. They dont know you, wont ever visit your town or village, and dont give a ding as to how their decisions impact on you. Their values stop at whats good for their companys stock valuelook how our river bodies have been pollutedthanks to the mining companies!.

I think there is a big hole in Ghana today, that weve lost something that really matters to us as people of this great nation. I dont know about you but I want my country back ASAP. Probably you do too! But, who is going to bring it back for us? NPP? NDC? Corporate executives? Media pundits? I dont think so!

Can we count on anyone of those self-imposed socioeconomic exiles, who are tired of their host countries to deliver us from the hands of corporate elites? (fully abetted by the governmental elites?) Your guess is as good as mine!

Can we defeat a force that is this powerful and pervasive? Are you kidding me! Only if we keep on pushing. Im talking about using the human spirit .This spirits our natural democratic impulse that tells us to fight against no-good power that keeps shoving past us, stepping on our toes, telling us to get outta the way while its eating everything in sight.

Im talking about the spirit that crushed the Apartheid system in South Africa. The spirit was so strong that it pushed some members of congress to commit the acts of civil disobedience by getting arrested at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C

Maybe we can turn all this complaining into action. Action that can collect up our democratic powers piece by piece. Wouldnt that be something? Do we really have time? That would not be an easy task. Well, who says change comes in that easy?

Since the people have been neglected and disowned for so long, the question is: Can the peoples expectations be negotiated and their anger be contained when things fall apart?

You still want your country back right? Then get busy!!

Until we meet here again, stay tuned. Be strong, blessed informed and educated.

Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi (voice of Reason)
The menace confronting the people of Agogo with regard to the teeming presence of the nomadic cattle-rearing Fulanis on their land is a great cause for national concern. The problem which has, and continues to, culminate in deaths, rapes of married women, and deliberate arsonous destruction of farms, to the citizens of Agogo, should not be seen as theirs and theirs alone, to deal with. It should not be particularised to the land and the people of Agogo. However, it must be seen as a great menace of national concern, if not a verminous ticking time bomb to be sorted without further hesitation or else, it will explode with dastardly consequences to the entire nation.

Why should they be held not only as hostages on their own land but also, be killed, raped and beaten up with impunity, while the government meant to protect them, guarantee their safety and security, give a deaf ear to their desperate or tearful call for help?

Let the following be known to both the natives of Agogo and the entire citizens of the country.

1. That the people of Agogo in the face of the never-ending but rather intensifying lethal menace, have the right to defend themselves and their land in any way possible regardless of what form or shape it shall take.

2. That all responsible and duty-bound Ghanaians aspiring to ensure the safety, oneness and harmonious co-existence of all tribes and persons in Ghana must have their hands on deck to uproot the exterminable cancerous threat posed by the Fulanis to the law-abiding and peace-loving people of Agogo.

3. That the government must be compelled to not shun her duty to the people of Agogo but fulfils her obligations to them as enshrined in the Constitution  to guarantee protection and human rights to all citizens of Ghana.

Those of us who had lived, and continue to live, in villages, and do go to farm, can attest to certain actions of snakes that will make you dumbfounded. We do observe that when a snake e.g. a black cobra sees a human being, it begins to slither away at great speed. This is because it is scared. However, if you begin to obstruct it or chase it with intention to harm it or kill it, once it senses threatened, it will muster courage, turns around to face you, spits into your eyes or chases you to bite you. It will surely defend itself by attacking you in whatever way it feels convenient  spit into your eyes to cause you instant blindness or bite you to pump lethal venom into your body.

When you force a dog or a cat into a tight corner, it springs into action. It will make attempts to free itself by attacking you. You will end up running away for the dog or cat to regain their freedom.

The comparatively less intelligent animals have the instinct to fight to liberate themselves from perceived harmful situations, how much more the superior intelligent human beings? Whosoever will, should try it and will see how cats and dogs, although pets, do defend themselves when they are forced into tight corners and sense danger to their lives.

The late Russian President, Boris Yeltsin was very right when he said, "Every great nation on earth was built on the sweat and the blood of its people". This goes to explain that the people of every known great nation had to toil hard, wipe sweat off their forehead and, or had to fight both internal and external enemies to regain their freedom or to expand their territory hence becoming the great nations that we see today.

Our forefathers fought physical and mental wars to acquire the lands that they bequeathed to us.

By the above, I mean to tell the people of Agogo to learn lessons from the sterling attitudes of the mentioned animals when under threat, the people of the great nations and our forefathers as cited, in their bid to extricate themselves from the ongoing Fulani menace.

Nobody can help them better than they can help themselves. However, I am ready to lend my support to any serious cause of action they will take aimed at liberating themselves from the machismo, but criminal attitudes of the nomadic Fulanis.

The Fulanis are doing their cattle rearing business for the purpose of raising income to better their socio-economic circumstances. Why should their work and set goals be allowed to cause the deaths of innocent people or culminate in the raping of married women and the intentional destruction of the farms belonging to law-abiding citizens of Agogo and its environs?

The very people elected to ensure the safety, security and health of the citizens of Ghana, and by extension the people of Agogo, are themselves the owners of the cattle of which the Fulanis are only herdsmen. How will they help the people of Agogo to drive these Fulanis turned audacious killers away? They wont. Despite the great hue and cry about the danger they present to the people, the government and those powers that be, are still supportive of them.

Who has been providing them with the probably AK47 Assault rifles they have been using to gun down the people they have so far killed? You ask yourself, Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Reader.

I find the behaviour of the Ashanti Regional Police Commander DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye with regards to the Agogo issue a bit jumpy. Barely had the Agogo people issued a press statement declaring their bold intention to resort to self-defence to safe themselves from the criminal Fulanis should the government continue to look on with mouth ajar when DCOP Kofi Boakye threatened to arrest the Agogo MP and Ernest Owusu Bempa, both dynamic citizens of Agogo.

He was going to arrest them for encouraging the citizens of Agogo to take the defence of themselves into their own hands. This is outrageous! Does Kofi Boakye not have eyes to see or ears to hear what the Fulanis are doing to the people of Agogo? He should fell ashamed of himself; sitting down with his hands folded around the chest while strangers kill innocent citizens of Ghana.

No wonder that Nigerians, both in Africa and overseas and in workplaces do not have an iota of respect for Ghanaians. They see Ghanaians as stupid, weak and unable to defend themselves when unlawfully being maltreated. Going by the stance taken by DCOP Kofi Boakye while native Ghanaians are being killed unlawfully, is a Nigerian not absolutely right to insult the intelligence of the Ghanaian?

Look at how the Chinese in Ghana have wreaked, and continue to wreak, havoc, on the lives of some Ghanaians and our ecological system. They are destroying all our water bodies and lands in search of mineral resources in a very aggressive, selfish and inconsiderate manner, yet our security forces and the incompetent and visionless government are supportive of their activities. Their actions are of future disastrous consequences to Ghana as a nation, and Ghanaians as a people.

What can I do to help the people of Agogo in their dire need? Nothing? Oh, absolutely no! If anyone from Agogo can scan to me the court verdict granting them permission to remove the Fulanis from the Agogo land and other relevant evidential documents, I shall dispatch copies along with a letter to reputable international organisations, governments and Presidents to highlight the problem to them while at the same time seek their assistance to get President Mahama to deal decisively with the obnoxious situation.

I can be reached on [email protected]

Rockson Adofo
06.03.2016 LISTEN

Billionaire Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani has been sentenced to death for corruption, justice officials say.

He was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that he withheld billions in oil revenue channelled through his companies. He denies the allegations.

Zanjani, 42, was convicted of fraud and economic crimes, a judiciary spokesperson said at a press briefing.

One of Irans richest men, Zanjani was blacklisted by the US and EU for helping Iran evade oil sanctions.

Two others were sentenced to death along with him and all were ordered to repay embezzled funds. The ruling can be appealed.

In a separate development, a cargo of Iranian crude oil arrived at a Spanish refinery in San Roque on Sunday, the first delivery to an EU state since sanctions were lifted.

The Monte Toledo offloaded 1m barrels at the refinery belonging to Spanish oil company Cepsa.

Before the oil embargo imposed by the EU in 2012, one in every five barrels of crude Iran exported was sold to refineries in Europe.

Just a debtor

Zohreh Rezalee, a lawyer for Zanjani, told the BBC the verdict was politically motivated and an appeal would be lodged.

We believe that Babak Zanjani in this case is just a debtor, the lawyer said.

Downfall of a billionaire

Zanjani had acknowledged using a web of companies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Malaysia to sell millions of barrels of Iranian oil on behalf of the government since 2010.

Before his arrest, Zanjani had argued that international sanctions were preventing him from handing over $1.2bn still owed to the government.

.

But at his recent trial, prosecutors said he still owed the government more than $2.7bn in oil revenue.

He was taken into custody a day after President Hassan Rouhani ordered his government to fight financial corruption, particularly privileged figures who had taken advantage of economic sanctions under the previous government. Corrupt parasites

The trial, unusually, was held in public, AFP news agency reports.

In a 2013 interview with the BBC , Zanjani played down his political connections in Iran, saying: I dont do anything political, I just do business.

Zanjani has said he is worth about some $13.5bn.

For years things worked well for the businessman who appeared in photos with some high-ranking officials and was not shy of showing off his wealth, such as private jets and luxury cars, Amir Azimi of BBC Persian reports.

But when the local media started to report on his wealth, he came under the spotlight and under suspicion.

The death sentence could have wider implications for Irans economy, where many were involved in finding ways to avoid the sanctions, our analyst adds.

International sanctions on Iran were lifted in January after a watchdog confirmed it had complied with a deal designed to prevent it developing nuclear weapons.

Oil minister Bijan Zanganeh has urged foreign investors to avoid middlemen, whom he describes as corrupt parasites.

Zanjani was convicted of corruption on earth, the most serious offence in Irans criminal code.

Other wealthy individuals have been executed after being found guilty of similar charges.

In May 2014, businessman Mahafarid Amir-Khosravi was hanged after being convicted of embezzling billions of dollars.

-bbc




It has been 59 years now since Ghana's attainment of independence status on 6th March, 1957 which made the country a sovereign nation capable of governing itself. Yes! Dr. Kwame Nkrumah stated that in his Independence day speech, "new Africa is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all the black man is capable of managing his own affairs".

How have we been able to prove that point? Maybe "good" or possibly "not bad" could do as the answer to that question simply because as a nation, when better and best are available, good is not an option.

According to the WHO's definition, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Ghana is as healthy as the individuals in it, the citizenry, the stakeholders.

We are in a country where most people think that someone somewhere is responsible for making this nation and his/her home a better place. We are in a country where virtually no one can boost that the bank of justice isn't bankrupt; where throughout each sector, there is abetting or direct perpetuation of acts of bribery and corruption. A state where inwardly, there is a massive decline in morality but seen externally to be attribute of all persons. A state where helping one another to climb the ladder and to sustain a living is a vice rather than a virtue. We are in present day a country with individuals most of which Charlie Chaplin would describe as "think too much and feel little, love cleverness than kindness and gentleness; and have lost the way of life with greed poisoning the souls of many".

In a country that can metaphorically be described as vast ocean of material prosperity, many find it difficult to obtain their basic needs and live on a lonely Island of poverty.

It is left for you to decide whether Ghana is healthy or not.

As prisoners are granted amnesty to mark republic days, each citizen need to grant him/herself amnesty for most of our behaviors and thinking pattern because they imprison us, make us incapable of contributing to neighbour and national development, and retards all efforts to growth and nation building.

Right from the least to the highest person, Ghanaians need to be disciplined and selflessly dedicated to their responsibilities and leadership roles, and strive to leave a legacy wherever they find themselves. We should let peace, hardwork and honestly be our hallmarks and desist from all attributes that mar a society and a nation. Constructive criticism is what is needed in this country with possible solutions not any other kind of arguments that just create disagreement and confusion in our various platforms, homes, workplaces and in the nation at large.

Napoleon Hill has it that, "there is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy. It is the universal weakness of lack of ambition." Each stakeholder need to set a target towards this nation's development in any way, and work towards that so as to attain that desired inward joy and happiness of any successful individual.

Similarly, as His Excellency Dr. Kwame Nkrumah added in his independence day speech, "let us all remember that nothing can be done unless it has the purport and support of God". Ghanaians ought to pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance in all affairs especially in this present world where practices and activities hitherto considered unacceptable and not of human standard are being publicly and nationally declared as legal and a norm.

May we all embrace the words in the national anthem and proceed in truth and integrity to make our nation proud at least in our generation and those yet to come.

Blessed Independence Day.

Long Live Ghanaians!

Long Live our Nation!!

Long Live Ghana!!!

SAMPSON KAFUI DJONOR

[email protected]

0541 437 234

(A Biomedical Scientist)
As part of marking the independence of Ghana, there were a couple of Ghanaian celebrities who in a way of showing love and solidarity to their nation, Mother Ghana, graced the occasion.

The 59th Independence Day Celebration of Ghana was celebrated on the 6th of March, 2016 at the Black Star Square, Accra under the theme, 'Investing in the Youth for Ghana's Transformation'.

Prominent among the stars present at the Black Star Square included, Agya Koo, Kwaku Manu, Kyeiwaa, Mr. Beautiful, Papa Nii, Regina Adu Sarfowaa, Papa Shamo etc.

They were dressed in old colonial masters type of dressing in the same uniform just to take Ghanaians back to memories during the time when we were captives of the British.

Ghana attained her independence on the 6th of March, 1957 when the Big Six, led by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah fought tooth and nail to deliver Ghana, then Gold Coast from the hands of the British. It was from that time the name Ghana was given by Dr. Nkrumah

Kwaku Manu for example could hardly hide his joy since the historic day marks his birthday. He was born on the 6th of March, 1984, turning 32 .
06.03.2016 LISTEN

Ugonna Ukaigwe recently left the Coalition of the Right to information Ghana to Britain. Yet she is still closely linked to the coalition as she continues to provide useful information to Ghanaians on Freedom Of Information matters. She has sent a story on the positive advancement of FOI in Nigeria that will be very useful to us. In a news story by Sonala Olumhense of Daily Trust, a Nigerian court is said to have ordered the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to publish up-to-date information on recovered stolen funds since the return of civilian rule in 1999

The story said, Nine days ago, a Nigerian court ordered the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to publish up-to-date information on recovered stolen funds since the return of civilian rule in 1999. This changes everything.

The judgment is owed to the diligent and persistent search of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) for justice and accountability, which began with a simple Freedom of Information law request to the Accountant-General of the Federation in September 2011.

As I have repeatedly complained, the FOI law, which was enacted when President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, was never honored by that government.

It was a ruse, which was why the SERAP request was laughed at in the hallways and offices of Aso Rock. But it compelled SERAP, in December 2011, to take the matter to court. In February 2012, in a decision by Justice Steven Adah, the group received court approval to compel the federal government to disclose the information

When justice arrived four years later in February 2016, the Federal High Court in Lagos asserted that Buhari and his successor governments since 1999 must account fully for all recovered loot.

Justice Mohammed Idris asserted that governments since 1999 have breached the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability for failing to disclose details about the spending of recovered stolen public funds, including on a dedicated website.

It is important to take into account that in delivering this judgement, the court dismissed all of the objections of the federal government, and upheld those of SERAP.

The government had argued that SERAP lacked the locus standi to institute the action that the action was statute barred; and that SERAPs affidavit evidence offended the Evidence Act. It even argued that the FOI law having been enacted in 2011, did not apply to spending by governments since 1999.

Arrant nonsense, the court ruled in effect: Nigerians are entitled to know.

The court directed that the current governments publication of the report should include detailed information on the total amount of stolen public assets that has so far been recovered by Nigeria; what has been spent of the recovered assets; and details of the projects on which they were spent.

I repeat: This changes everything.

Agreeing with SERAP, the court declared that the failure or refusal of the government to disclose the detailed information about the spending of recovered stolen public funds since the return of civil rule in 1999, and to publish widely such information, amounts to a breach of the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability and violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.

This changes everything: for the government; the government of President Buhari; and for the press and the public.

First, let me concede that the government could decide to appeal the verdict. It is the natural instinct of governments, especially in rudimentary democracies such as ours, to advocate and advertise transparency in propaganda, but not in practice. It will be a historic surprise should the current Nigerian government not follow that tradition, and in doing so, actually find support in a higher court that is also afraid of the hygiene of its underwear.

Second, the government of Buhari came to power on the back of its proclamation of a determination to change things and the way things are done. No better script could have been written for it to demonstrate its true character than the one that has been penned by the federal court of Justice Idris.

If Buharis government abides by the verdict and swiftly publishes the report, it will earn respect for providing corroboration of its intention to honour the rule of law. Of greater and historic importance, it will establish a new standard for democracy in Africa. It will provide a true beginning for the war against corruption in Nigeria.

Third, I have always chided the Nigerian press and the public for not taking adequate advantage of the FOI law. SERAPs historic court triumph demonstrates the mouthwatering possibilities. In How to Use the FOI Weapon, on August 4, 2013, I drew attention to some of the cases that had been filed under this law, and wondered why more citizens and organizations were not taking advantage of it. If the press truly understands that its role is to reveal, not conceal, why is it not waving the FOI flag at every public door? I asked.

The FOI law is the Nigerian citizens most powerful cudgel yet, I said. Dear compatriot: You can scratch with it, lift with it, read with it, ask with it, listen with it, defend with it, attack with it, poke with it, lunge with it, strike with it, dig with it, plant with it, harvest with it, rip with it, puncture with it, yanga with it, lead with it, live with it. I wouldnt leave home without it.

The road to the future had been established, in my view, in June 2012 when the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Clerk of the National Assembly to quickly release to the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), details of the salaries, emoluments and allowances collected by national legislators between 2007 and 2011.

LEDAP had filed a suit in September 2011 after the Clerk ignored its FOI request for that information.

Justice B.B. Aliyu, overruling the objections of National Assembly lawyers, affirmed that every citizen was entitled to public information under the FOI; that the law permitted non-governmental organizations to demand such information; and that it was of public interest because it concerned public funds.

SERAPs loot recovery triumph is proof of this, and it reaffirms this right. It is a gift to every Nigerian. It provides fresh hope and manure for the Nigerian dream because it makes many other questions possible.

One of them: Abuja, the Nigerian original sin. This very young city has in one generation shamelessly become one of the worlds most expensive. Why? Because it was taken over and overtaken by the rich, mostly looters, before it was even discovered by the ordinary Nigerian.

The SERAP victory provides a trail to some of those false riches that came from the foreign loot culture. But it also provides new inspiration and energy for an armada of local loot investigations and recoveries.

For instance, the Lagos-Ibadan and Sagamu Benin Roads have been under construction forever under layers and layers of seedy contracts. Nigerian railways and airports have in recent years received an avalanche of Chinese loans that are reflected neither in our rails nor our airports. One government lavished between $10 billion and $16 billion in the electricity sector, and Nigeria is still in the dark. I have summarized some of these in various columns over the years.

If the unfolding office over the handling of certain public funds by former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki is anything indication, I forecast sad but welcome explanations of the darkness of our own doing.

Now, we get to see what President Buhari is really made of.

 [email protected]

 Twitter:@SonalaOlumhense

Source; Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

0244 370345/ 0274853710/0208844791 [email protected]/[email protected]
06.03.2016 LISTEN

All those waiting impatiently to experience transparency, accountability, and fairness in governance in Ghana will be happy to learn that parliament is ready to pass the Right to Information (RTI) law. MR Francis Ameyibor who reports for the Ghana News Agency dropped this good news from the Parliament of Ghana and circulated widely to all members of the coalition on RTI.

According the report, Work on the Right to Information (RTI) Bill, currently before Parliament is progressing steadily, and is expected to be passed before the end of the year. Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Majority Leader in Parliament, on Friday gave the assurance that the House was committed to working on the legislation.

He said the House had to carefully consider all the technical details and the proposed amendments carefully before proceeding to pass it.

Statements made to the effect that this honorable House is not committed to passing the bill are false, Mr. Bagbin said, on the floor of the House, as he presented the Business Statement for next week ending Friday, March 11, 2016.

Next weeks ending, will form the seventh, of the eight week first meeting of the fourth session of the Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic, before the Easter Recess.

Mr. Bagbin urged Ministers whose sectors were connected in one way or the other to the Bill to show up during the consideration stage of the bill to make their contributions in it.

He said the Bill has gone through a lot of metamorphosis, yet the volume of work on it is huge and requires more time.

According to the Majority Leader, the African Union had passed a resolution that all legislatures of member states had to pass the RTI legislations after which the various states would fine-tune the bill to suit their specific needs.

There were interjections from Mr. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, the Member of Parliament for Tema East, who said he had been questioned on a regular basis, and sometimes accused by his constituents that he, as well as all other members of the House were not prepared to pass the bill.

Mr. Edward Doe Adjaho, in response, said it was the responsibility of the member to explain to his constituents that the bill required careful scrutiny and that the volume of work on it was huge adding that the proposed amendments alone were 52 pages. The information on the intention of parliament to pass the RTI bill into law is refreshing. It would only help the people access information , it would also get government officials to sit up to do the right things, keep record of all transaction for the benefit of the government and people at all times.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

0244 370345/ 0264370345/0208844791 [email protected]/[email protected]
In a move to strengthen the supervision directorate of the Ghana Education Service in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district, the assembly on Ghana's 59th Independence Anniversary presented 8 motorbikes to the directorate.

The number brings to 16 motorbikes that has been given to the directorate since last year to enable circuit supervisors execute their mandate.

Presenting the motorbikes to the district director of education after the independence day parade on Sunday, Chief Executive of the district Alhaji Mumuni Dramani said the gesture is to aide the education execute its mandate of providing quality education to children in the area.

According to him, this will cover the 12 circuits in the district therefore making monitoring easy for circuit supervisors.

Alhaji Dramani added that, the assembly will extend further support in the form fuel in order to ease the burden on the directorate.

Recieving the motorbikes, the director of education in the district James Kala Ewuntomah, thanked the DCE for the gesture.

He pledged that he would monitor the use of the bikes to ensure its longevity.
REJECT ANTI-MEDIA BILL, FOI COALITION URGES STAKEHOLDERS

Ahead of Monday scheduled Senate Public Hearing on the anti-media Bill, the Freedom of Information Coalition in Nigeria-FOICN has called on all well-meaning Nigerians to join the crusade to kill the bill in the interest of the countrys democracy.

Chairman, Board of Governors of the Coalition, Walter Duru made the call while addressing newsmen weekend.

He described the bill as irresponsible and an attempt to gag the Press, warning that if allowed, will spell doom for the countrys democracy.

The bill is draconian, anti-media and anti-masses. Every Nigerian must stand to resist it. All stakeholders must come out en-mass to shoot down the Bill at the Public Hearing on Monday, 7thMarch, 2016.

The Frivolous Petitions bill, popularly referred to as anti-media bill is on its own frivolous and geared towards taking the country back to the dark days. It contradicts the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. It is either that those behind the bill have committed one atrocity and are afraid that it might be blown open soon, or they plan to secure this draconian law as a cover for a planned evil. This will not work.

He urged the National Assembly leadership to withdraw the bill in the interest of the nation.

Whoever does not want to be discussed in public should stay away from public office. This shows how insensitive our leaders are. Nigerians are hungry and the economy is going down by the day, as a result of poor leadership. How does this bill put food on the table of Nigerians? The focus now should be on legislations and steps that will improve the socio-economic well-being of the people; enhance security and check corruption and not this evil ploy. We have sufficient laws that regulate media practice. This bill is simply evil, he fumed.

The energy being wasted in this kind of unproductive bill should be invested in fast-tracking legislations like the Proceeds of Crime Agency, Whistle Blowers Protection, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters bills that hill help move the country forward and check corruption in the system.

The Frivolous Petition Bill seeks a two-year jail term for any person who makes allegations or publishes any statement or petition in the newspaper, radio or medium of whatsoever description against another person, institutions of government or any public office holder.

The Bill also prescribes that anyone or group of persons who sends any false text message or post false message on the social media against another person shall be jailed for two years upon conviction by the law court.

The bill tagged A bill for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and other matters connected therewith, sponsored by Senator Ibn NaAllah, APC, Kebbi South, compels petitioners to accompany petitions with sworn court affidavit, failure of which attracts a six-month imprisonment, upon conviction.

On the social media, the bill reads: Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media posts any abusive statement with intent to set the public against any person or group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for two years or a fine of N2,000,000.00 or both fine and imprisonment.

The bill said it shall be an offence for any petition to be submitted without a sworn affidavit from the law court.

The bill has generated public outcry since its introduction.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) must not channel its money through two scandal-ridden international commercial banks that are leading funders of the coal industry, say civil society groups at a meeting of the GCFs Board in Songdo, South Korea.

The groups say the GCF must reject applications for accreditation by big banks HSBC and CreditAgricole. Accredited entities are institutions approved to receive and manage GCF funds.

"The Green Climate Fund Board must reject HSBC and CreditAgricole. Creating new business for big banks with large fossil fuel portfolios and poor records on human rights and financial scandal would undermine the very purpose of the Fund, said Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S.

"To accredit HSBC and CreditAgricole is to short-change the vulnerable communities and the countries that the Fund is meant to directly benefit. There is no profit to be made in building the resilience of those adversely impacted by climate change. Public funds must be used to support local communities in developing countries, not to subsidize big banks, said Sam Ogallah of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

The GCFs mandate to work directly with developing country institutions is what makes it innovative, the groups say. Targeted funding will help to build skills and expertise in poor countries, allowing governments to better meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in their countries.

Accrediting HSBC and CreditAgricole would be inconsistent with both the Paris Agreement, and with upholding high human rights standards. Any private sector partner of the GCF must have a credible strategy in place to make its entire portfolio and operations consistent with keeping global temperature rise to no more than 2C, let alone well below 1.5 C, said Annaka Peterson of Oxfam.

The accreditation of these banking giants would jeopardize the reputation of the Green Climate Fund and expose it to unnecessarily high fiduciary risk. HSBC and CreditAgricole provided US$7 billion and US$9.5 billion, respectively, to the coal industry between 2009 and 2014, and their coal financing does not show a clear downward trend. Moreover, HSBC is deeply embroiled in massive financial scandal, said Yann Louvel of BankTrack.

A U.S. judge recently ordered the release of a report by an independent monitor overseeing the cleanup of HSBCs massive money laundering  the report is said to be so damning that it would provide a road map for criminals seeking to launder money and finance terrorism.

172 NGOs released a statement calling for the rejection of HSBC and CreditAgricole by the GCF. A copy of the statement can be found here.

Appended to the statement are annexes on the fossil fuel financing trends of HSBC and CreditAgricole, both of which fail to show a clear downward trend, while their renewables financing trails far behind their fossil fuel financing.
Ben Guerdane (Tunisia) (AFP) - Militants attacked a barracks in a Tunisian town near the Libyan border on Monday sparking heavy fighting in which three civilians, three security personnel and 13 militants were killed, officials said.

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week, as Tunisia battles a spillover of violence from its lawless neighbour.

A 12-year-old was among the civilians killed in Ben Guerdane, hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud told AFP, adding that two security agents were also among the dead.

The defence ministry said that 13 militants and a soldier were killed as troops thwarted the attack on the barracks.

Six militants were also wounded and detained, defence ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula told AFP.

Army units were deployed across the town and set up roadblocks on access roads.

Witnesses said troops were using loudhailers to urge residents to stay indoors. The defence ministry appealed for information on any suspect activity.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Troops have been on alert in the border area following reports that militants had been slipping across since a US air strike on an Islamic State group training camp in Libya on February 18 killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

At least four of the five militants killed in last week's firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in a bid to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said.

Deadly attacks by IS on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre (125-mile) barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating.

Last month's US strike on the IS training camp outside the Libyan city of Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the strike probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

Britain announced last week that it was sending a team of around 20 soldiers to Tunisia to train troops patrolling the border with Libya.

Thirty Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse last June.

And last March, jihadist gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

According to a UN working group on the use of mercenaries, more than 5,000 Tunisians, mostly aged from 18 to 35, have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups.
Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's leader Monday held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, with Jakarta defending having invited him to a summit of Muslim countries.

Bashir met President Joko Widodo and the Indonesian foreign minister briefly on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Jakarta.

Bashir regularly travels to Sudan's neighbours but goes on long-distance trips less frequently.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted him over war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009 and on genocide charges in 2010, all relating to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Members of the Hague-based ICC are obliged to arrest Bashir. Indonesia is not a signatory to the ICC.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir insisted that Indonesia was obliged to invite all leaders of OIC nations to the summit, including Bashir.

"OIC state leaders can come, and we treat all OIC members as state guests," he told AFP. "We can't just choose who we want to invite, and who we don't want to."

When asked about the war crimes accusations levelled at Bashir, Nasir responded: "We are not a member of the ICC so we are in no position to make the same accusations."

Bashir was due to visit Indonesia last year for a conference of Asian and African leaders, but cancelled at the last minute.

He visited China in September, where President Xi Jinping welcomed him as an "old friend of the Chinese people".

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of marginalisation.

It has left 300,000 dead and some 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, tries not to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs and has good relations with a handful of nations that have been ostracised by much of the international community.

The OIC meeting brought together representatives from 57 countries, and was focused on the issue of the Palestinian territories.

The OIC said in a brief statement that at Monday's talks, officials from Indonesia and Sudan discussed forming a joint business council, and how Sudan can support Indonesian investors.
Two children are injured with over 900 residents displaced after torrential rainstorm wreck havoc to residents of Yendi in the Northern Region.

The rainstorm that lasted for about hour is the first for the year.

The rainstorm according to officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) ripped off the roofing and raised to the ground 368 rooms in 91 houses.

According to Joy News' Hashmin Mohammed, victims of the rainstorm are temporary seeking shelter with family and friends.

Yendi Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Issah Zakaria who led a team of NADMO officials to access the extent of damage says he is overwhelmed by the level of the havoc the rainstorm has caused to properties.

Zakaria is appealing to well-meaning Ghanaians and other NGO's to come to the residents aid.

The MCE was also worried about residents use of sub-standard building materials to construct their houses.

More soon...

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim | Email: [email protected]
07.03.2016 LISTEN

An old Danish man is looking to be reunited with an old friend from Ghana, currently living in the Volta Region.

The Danish National, Mr Peter Schnsted, is urgently seeking to be in contact with his lost and long time pal, Mr. Edwin Agbemaiese.

Mr. Edwin Agbemaiese was born on February 19, 1951.

It was established from checks that Mr. Edwin Agbemaiese may be living in or around Akatsi, Volta Region. However, he might have moved since the last contact made to him was the year 2014, about two years ago.

Mr Peter Schnsted would visit Ghana from March 11-20. It would mean the world to him, if he got the chance to meet a life long friend.

NOTE: If found, Mr. Edwin Agbemaiese's contact details can be given to the Editor at ModernGhana, William Nana Yaw Beeko, ([email protected]) or to Mathias Sogaard, currently living in Accra through either Phone: +45-61686391 (WhatsApp)/0560320480 or on email [email protected]
Benjamin Boakye

07.03.2016 LISTEN

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) says that the shutdown of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah on March 20, 2016 could affect gas supply in the country contrary to claims by Ghana Gas Company.

Alfred Ogbamey, Communications Manager at Ghana Gas, recently told the media in Accra that we do not anticipate that the system will suffer any shortage in that we got enough storage that can last for sometime, depending on the goods in town as well. We also have a storage facility which has LPG and the condensate. Even on the day of the shutdown, it will take like three hours or more before the downstream side being the VRA will stop receiving gas from us. Therefore we do not anticipate that the 14 days period will cause any shortage.

However, Benjamin Boakye, Deputy Director at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), at a press conference on Wednesday, said the shutdown could reduce the country's generation capacity by some 500MW.

He also said the loading shedding was entirely not over contrary to claims by President John Mahama that the challenge had been addressed.

Current deficit

Considering that expected generation in 2016 amount to 580MW (220MW KTPP Project + 360MW Asogli Phase II), total available generation will be less than the projected peak demand of 2,600MW. This leaves us with a deficit, and coupled with lack of reserve margin of about 400MW.

The Energy Commission estimates that the medium term outlook for the power sector does not look good if planned generation investments are not realised.

ACEP therefore indicated that by 2020, power deficit plus reserve margin could reach 1,100MW.

It said given the history of delays in generation investments in Ghana, including the more recent projects  KTPP, TICO II Expansion and CENPower), it was important for government to be cautious about estimates and work hard to realize the promised 5,000MW by end of 2016.

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Going by the PURC's assertion that peak demand in Ghana stands at 1,700MW (lower than GRIDCo's average of 1,800MW), this means Ghanaians are consuming power by less than 300MW from the consumption in 2014.

'Dumsor' not over

According to Head of Research and Policy at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, Load shedding has been suspended because the economy has not yet recovered.

Dr. Ackah said businesses, which have gone under, are not consuming electricity, hence the assumed stability.

He also said VALCO, for instance, was receiving only 70 megawatts out of the 350MW it needs to be fully operational.

Dumsor can only be said to be over when the estimated demand of 2,600 MW is thereand a reserved margin of 25 percent which we do not have, Dr Ackah added.

By Samuel Boadi


07.03.2016 LISTEN

Ghana has a lot of positive things to celebrate; the lovely people, great hospitality and warmth, friendliness and commitment to the peace and unity of our nation.

We have a democratic government in place and we have held many peaceful elections. We have become role model for peace and democratic governance in Africa.

Kwame Nkrumah and the other leaders who demanded for independence had a lot on their minds. They thought that the country will achieve more if it liberated itself from the shackles of colonial rule. These shackles imposed by the British.

Kwame Nkrumah and the liberators resisted oppressors rule. They fought, mobilized people, shouted, screamed and asked for change.

They put pressure on the colonial masters and at last we were freed. Before Nkrumah, many wars were fought and many attempts were made to liberate tribes, groups and the country from foreign rule.

Kwame Nkrumah was not the first to fight for independence and he will not be the last.

Our forefathers did a lot to liberate us from colonial rule, a lot has been said about that and I am not going to repeat it. It is good to remind ourselves about the great things we did in the past and it is also better to forge ahead and look forward to the things we want to improve in the near future.

After independence, the story of fighting for ones' rights metamorphosed in different ways.

Politically, economically and socially, people continue to fight for other forms of independence. 59 years after independence people are still struggling to liberate themselves from painful cultural practices such as Trokosi and child marriage. Some women who are accused as witches and ostracized as others are prevented from living and working in their communities. Some of the witch camps are said to have been in existence for more than a century.

Research conducted by a nonprofit organization shows that 70% of residents in Kukuo camp (one of the many witches camp in Ghana) were accused and banished after their husbands died. We fought for independence from the British but these women are unable to liberate themselves from injustice, unfairness and inequities in their societies.

Our independence bought us freedom to manage our own affairs. This included the freedom to make sound economic decisions. Many people are still struggling for financial freedom  even Ghana as a state. That is about the single most important challenge facing many Ghanaians. And although we fought for freedom we don't seem to be free yet. We are still tied to the Word Bank, IMF, USAID, DFID and several Aid agencies. Can we ever do without them? I am sure we will, but I don't know when? Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence. Ghana must therefore be able to fight for financial and economic independence for its citizens.

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It's a pity that after almost six decades of independence, we cannot keep our cities clean. Our prime city, Accra, is engulfed in filth, plastic wastes and garbage.

Any country that values herself and her image will want to be described as dirty or filthy. Nonetheless, filth has engulfed us; our gutters are choked, our streets are unkempt, our garbage bins overrun and our land sites are overstretched. All our dump sites have been over used, and there isn't any available for future use. Environmentalists have warned that we are sitting on waste bombs which will explode very soon. We have to liberate ourselves from the bondage of filth and garbage as well.

Ghana is a tropical country. We have been blessed with good vegetation, however we are still not self-sufficient in food production. We used to be the number producer of cocoa, but not anymore. We still import many food stuffs, including vegetables and fruits: plantain, palm oil, apples and others.

The center of the Earth could be considered to be located at the geographic coordinates 0, 0, which is located just off the coast of Ghana's capital, Accra, making Ghana the country closest to the center of the Earth.

Isn't this something that can be marketed for tourism? Should we not take this natural asset and run with it? As a country we haven't done much to improve attract tourists or to improve our tourists sites. We have a ministry responsible for tourism but I am not sure whether we have made major gains after its creation. We can improve that.

One of the things Ghana must improve is timekeeping. Ghana has over the years become a country that does not respect time. There is absolutely no respect for time amongst a greater number of people. Our state events, national activities, social events and even personal ones do not start on time and this has become part of the Ghanaian culture. We call it Ghana Man Time (GMT) and not Greenwich Meantime but this should not be ignored. If there is one thing we must improve next year, it should be timekeeping.

It is however refreshing to note that a group of people have taken it upon themselves to drive a campaign that will push Ghanaians to respect time and be efficient. I will share some insight into this noble initiative in my next article.

We wish Ghana peace and prosperity in the coming years.
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Staff of MSC with the Chief Inspector at the forecourt of the repainted police station

Marketing Support Consultancy (MSC) Limited has repainted the police station at the Achimota Terminal in Accra.

The firm also provided new fans and bulbs and placed a new police station signpost at the forecourt and back of the building.

Emmanuel Samuelson Annang, Human Resource and Administration Manager, MSC, said the support to the police would go a long way to help them work effectively and also make the building visible and accessible to the citizenry.

The initial colour of the building made it difficult for people to identify it so we decided to repaint it in police colours which are blue, black and white, Mr Annang said.

He commended the police commander for allowing MSC to offer support to the station which he said would go a long way to help the community.

Chief Inspector Boakye-Yiadom Fraser, Commander in-charge of the Achimota Police Terminal, expressed appreciation to MSC for the kind gesture.

I am very grateful to them for the support. People in the community found it difficult identifying the police station before the painting, and this was because the initial painting was different.

But now that the building has been painted in the right colours and new signpost placed appropriately, it has made it easy for everyone in the community to identify it, he said.

Support For Dzowulu Special School

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The company in December last year also donated bags of cereal, rice, cartons of Milo and milk, gallons of oil, soft drinks, toiletries, biscuit and boxes of Indomie Noddles to the Dzowulu Special School.

About MSC

Marketing Support Consultancy Limited is a full service agency that undertakes both ad-hoc and continuous research.

It is also involved in survey design, fieldwork, analysis and interpretation of findings.

A Business Desk report


07.03.2016 LISTEN

CEO Manfred Takyi speaking to the media about the prospects of the company

Joy Industries Limited, producers of Joy Dadi Bitters and Joy Ointment, has announced plans to massively develop Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital into a tourism hub to help promote the region.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Manfred Takyi, who said this recently, indicated that the company will soon develop a canopy walkway and build a modern 5-star hotel and other tourist attractions on a 1000-acre land in Koforidua to make it the new tourism capital.

He said the new project will help provide hundreds of jobs to the idle youth in the region.

According to Joy Industries CEO, the company is presently providing 700 direct jobs to people and 10,000 indirect jobs to Ghanaians.

He said it was the aim of the company to become one of the leading beverages and herbal companies in Africa.

The CEO said by expanding and capturing the market in the West African sub-region and abroad, it will be helping to boost revenue for the government.

He therefore asked the government to give tax rebate, especially in import duties on raw material used in its production to enable it produce on a large scale and boost local mobilization of revenue for government.

We want the government to reduce tax on importation of alcohol, as well as other import duties to help promising local companies like us to thrive and provide jobs for Ghanaians and also help increase local revenue for government.

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Some of the alcoholic beverages that the company has introduced onto the market are Joy Twedie Bitters, Joy Twedie Ginger and Joy Dadi Lime apart from Joy Dadi Bitters, the flagship beverage.

The CEO asked Ghanaians to continue to patronise Joy products because they are purely medicinal.

He also announced that the company had set aside substantial amount of money to help the poor and the needy in the society as part of its corporate social responsibility for this year.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr


07.03.2016 LISTEN

President Mahama and Uhuru Kenyata in a hearty chart with opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo after the independence parade yesterday

President John Dramani Mahama has said that Ghanaians ought not to forget the struggles and sacrifices made by the country's forbearers to attain independence, calling for unity among Ghanaians.

According to the President, political differences should not divide the people.

We cannot encourage conversations and activities that are meant to discourage us, to divide us, to weaken our morale or limit our potential in this particular moment, he said.

He stated that the citizens gather each year to celebrate Ghana's Independence and that must not to be taken for granted.

The struggles and sacrifices that were required to gain us our liberty must never ever be forgotten, he noted.

President Mahama disclosed this while addressing a parade of school children and security personnel at the Black Stars Square in Accra to mark Ghana's 59th Independence Day celebration on the theme, 'Investing in the Youth for Ghana's Transformation.'

It was attended by the President of Guinea-Bissau, Jose Mario Vaz and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.

Also in attendance were Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur and his wife Matilda, former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the main opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The President also had a chat with Nana Addo and acting NPP Chairman Freddie Blay.

President Mahama stated that we are the ones that must ensure there is liberty in our land.

It our responsibility to safeguard our independence so that the nation that we leave for our children to inherit will also be peaceful and democratic We must bear in mind that in some years to come these children who marched here today will be depending on our attitudes and our actions.

President Mahama indicated that the successes and failures of Ghana belonged to the citizens because the country is for all of us and we can each choose to play a role, no matter how seemingly minor, in moving the nation forward.

He said although more work remained to be done in the face of differing political views on the best way to do that work, Ghanaians must use those discussions to strengthen who they are as one nation and find solutions to the challenges that confronted the nation.

President Kenyatta, in a speech, said the event offered an opportunity to take stock of what had been achieved and what needed to be done.

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Insisting that Ghana-Kenya relations dated back to the fifth Pan African Congress of 1945, the Kenyan President said Africa was making a deliberate shift to boost intra-Africa trade and that it was necessary to continue to work together to maximise trade between the two countries which continued to record steady growth.

President Kenyatta said that Kenya was open for business, disclosing that visa requirements between the two countries were non-existent while Kenya Airways had daily flights to Accra.

On terrorism, the Kenyan President said that terrorist attacks must not become the norm but the exception.

He stated that as we continue to cooperate and heighten our anti-terrorism efforts, let us remind ourselves of the challenges we must confront if we are to preserve the gains of our independence and the values of democracy.

President Kenyatta argued that the two countries must come together to defeat the enemy that was threatening the people of the respective countries.

He said peace and security were crucial in the economic growth of both countries.

Journalists Bussed In Truck

Apart from students who collapsed as a result of the scorching sun, the highlight of the event was when journalists climbed onto a tipper truck in order to carry out their task.

Journalists accredited to cover the event had the shock of their lives when they were asked to climb the tipper truck to be conveyed round the venue to take photos and videos of the President's inspection of the parade and lighting of the perpetual flame.

The pictures of the journalists in the truck went viral on social media, with people making critical comments.

Some of the journalists were angry at the gesture but still had to hop on the truck to get the job done.

Security personnel, according to some of the journalists, did not allow them to get close to some of the activities at the parade grounds.

The most dangerous part was when they had to get onto the truck with a ladder which looked extremely precarious.

[email protected]

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson


07.03.2016 LISTEN

A 64-year-old Ghanaian woman has been jailed for more than two years in the United States of America (USA) for smuggling heroin into the country.

Rose Amanor tried to smuggle the heroin hidden in dried salted fish (Koobi) into the US, but was caught last year by JFK International Airport customs agents in New York, according to Daily Mail.

A court in New York City sentenced Amanor to 27 months last Friday after prosecutors had pushed for a six-and-a-half years' imprisonment.

According to Daily Mail, The fishy smuggler was caught by officials at John F. Kennedy Airport with three kilos of heroin after an attentive customs agent singled her out for inspection upon her arrival last February on a flight from Amsterdam originating in Ghana.

Rose Amanor

The woman, who tried to excuse herself, blamed her son for coercing her to bring the heroin to the US, according to the Daily Mail, which also culled the story from Daily News.

I am asking you to have mercy on me so I can go home to my family and enjoy whatever time I have left with my family, the woman said through an interpreter.

But the judge also referred to incessant fish stories told to authorities.

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I find it totally incredible that Mrs Amanor didnt know what it was that she was doing, federal judge Eric Vitaliano said according to the Daily News.

It certainly was disrespect for the law, sitting in this courtroom and spinning this incredible tale under oath.

Amanor, who has been in custody for 13 months, had her request of a sentence of time served denied, and will be deported to Ghana upon her release from prison.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia

07.03.2016 LISTEN

Journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says if stripped of the propaganda, allegations that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo actively encouraged judgment debt payments are baseless.

He said the claims, made by the General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia (aka General Mosquito), were a rehash of palpably false claims designed to tarnish New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearers image.

Responding to Akufo-Addos 'real state of the nation address,' NDC scribe, Asiedu Nketia, accused the former Attorney-General of appealing for a judgment debt to be paid by the government to a private company.

Akufo-Addo had said, The president also omitted an important group of beneficiaries of his government over the last 8 years. These include Alfred Woyome and other beneficiaries of the 'create, loot and share' judgment debt brigade.

This was in reference to the 51.2 million fraudulent judgment debt payment to NDC financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

Reacting to the comment, Asiedu Nketia said, This is a man who made a passionate appeal for payment of judgment debt to the Great Cape Company despite the non-availability of documentation.

How can a man be opposed to judgment debt payment and plead for it to be paid at the same time? Such hypocrisy is unbecoming of someone seeking the High office of the President, he stressed.

But speaking on Joy FM and MultiTV's news analysis programme, Newsfile, Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku said Asiedu Nketias claims were complete fabrications.

There are some politicians out there who think people have short memories so they don't give a damn; even when the truth has been put out, they still proceed with the fallacies, the distortions and the lies, hoping that people will buy into it, he noted.

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Armed with letters, Mr. Baako explained that the claims that the NPP flagbearer appealed for judgment debt to be paid to the Great Cape Company whose local agent was Dr. Nat Tanoh, a brother of NDC guru, Goosie Tanoh, were false.

He read the letter dated 3rd October 2011 signed by Nana Akufo-Addo in reply to a September 20, 2011 letter by Dr. Nat Tanoh on a case which had its genesis in the Jerry John Rawlings government.

Dr. Tanoh's letter read in part, I'm by this letter humbly approaching you as well as appealing to you, honourable sir, to kindly assist us in the authentication of the attached letter of April 21, 2001, which you wrote during your tenure as Attorney-General of Ghana and honourable Minister of Justice.

In this regard, honourable sir, the Minister [of Finance] has made it abundantly clear that he would also be happy to act if he were in receipt of an affidavit or letter from your good self simply stating that you are indeed the author and signatory of the attached letter recommending the supplementary payment to Great Cape through the often mentioned letter though the often mentioned letter is not on a headed paper, Dr. Nat Tanoh's letter stated.

Mr. Baako explained that Dr. Tanoh was asking Mr. Akufo-Addo to authenticate a letter he wrote as A-G in 2001 recommending supplementary payment based on an earlier letter written by Obed Asamoah who was A-G in the Rawlings government.

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 20th September, 2011, requesting my assistance in the settlement of Government's longstanding indebtedness to Great Cape Company of Switzerland. I am somewhat disturbed by its contents, which have led to the unusual request contained in the letter. It is disconcerting to find that public records keeping has fallen into such straits that the files on this matter cannot be found either in the Ministry of Justice or in the Ministry of Finance. Be that as it may, it will be unconscionable on the part of Government if its own poor record keeping is used to defeat legitimate claims of its creditors. I have a vague recollection of the transaction, and can readily confirm that the signature on the letter ILD/SCR/002 dated 18th April, 2001, addressed to the Ministry of Finance, attached to your letter, is indeed mine. I know from your letter that such a confirmation will satisfy the Attorney-General to whom I am addressing a copy of this letter. I am also sending a copy of the letter to the Ministry of Finance. I hope this is satisfactory for your purpose, Mr. Baako quoted Akufo-Addo's letter of October 3, 2011.

Mr. Baako wondered how anybody could construe the contents of this letter as a passionate appeal for payment of judgment debt to the Great Cape Company despite the non-availability of documentation.

He further said based on the letter, Nana Akufo-Addo did not go out of his way to make any passionate appeal for payment of judgment to the Swiss company.

He also took issues with claims by Asiedu Nketia that the NPP had created civil society organisations such as IMANI Ghana and Centre for Democratic Development which manufacture reports on the basis of which government is unduly criticised.

The final thing I will say about Asiedu Nketiah and I have described him as an unmitigated communications disaster, were the things he said relative to IMANI Ghana and CDD. Incredible! Focus, deal with the issues, do a content analysis of what an opposition leader has said, why drag in other institutions? It is so incredible but sometimes it smacks of the arrogance that power comes with, he said.
07.03.2016 LISTEN

The speeches have been delivered. We have patted ourselves on our collective backs and we are about to move on. But we should hold on and reflect a bit on where we are. As Tanzania ' s Magufuli asked pointedly, "What are we celebrating?".

Barcelona can justly celebrate the treble they won last year and the one they hope to win this year. But Real Madrid cannot just celebrate the fact that they exist. Neither can Accra Great Olympics or Ghana. We have existed for just 59 years but a lot has happened in those years: Singapore has moved from third to first world and China has lifted over 300 million people from poverty.

When Nkrumah pledged that we would do in decades what had taken others centuries to do and show "that the black man is capable of managing his own affairs" he and all of us expected us to do better than we are doing. Here are a few questions to get us going:

1: Have we lived up to our potential?

2: Is Ghana currently on the right path?

3: Has the return of democracy benefited ordinary people?

4: Do our leaders care about people like you?

Where ever one looks-- in education, health, energy, jobs, tolerance, justice and national unity, we are short of where we need to be. And this is not just the fault of the current government. It is the result sustained bad leadership-- not just political leadership but also intellectual, religious and institutional leadership.

Today, the President justly recounted the pride we feel in the global achievements of our exceptional countrymen--like Kofi Annan and others. But seriously, can we truly measure our progress by the deeds of exceptional individuals? Was Africa and Ghana better off because Kofi Annan was UN Gen. Secretary? Aside from pride, could our progress be measured by Cardinal Turkson becoming Pope Turkson? Real progress for Ghana should be measured in how many mothers and children we save, how many children we educate, how many jobs we create, how equal we are before the law and how safe we feel in our individual lives.

May we bring Ghana closer to the ideal of our founding FATHERS--ALL OF THEM!

God bless Ghana.
Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong

07.03.2016 LISTEN

State Prosecutors wants more time to file their statement of case in respect of the suit filed at the Supreme Court by the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) over a new media content law by the National Media Commission (NMC).

According to Grace Ewoo, a state Attorney, the A-G had filed a notice for extension of time to enable it file its statement of case.

She explained that the state had filed their affidavit in respect of the matter on February 24, this year.

Thaddeus Sory who also represented the NMC, requested the court to give the Commission some days to file their statement of case.

Kweku Owusu Agyemang representing GIBA stated that he had no objection to the submissions of the AG and NMC.

The seven member panel presided over by Justice William Atuguba granted the request of the AG and the NMC, ordering them to do so within 14 days.

GIBA had also gone to Court to strike out a new law which requires media owners to seek content approval from the NMC before publication.

The GIBA wants the apex court to expunge the new law as being inconsistent with the 1992 constitution which guarantees media freedom.

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GIBA specifically wants the court to expunge regulations 3 to 12 and 22 of the NMC (Content Standards) Regulations 2015 (LI 2224) as being inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution which guarantees unfettered media freedom.

The regulations in contention basically require media owners to apply for content authorization, submit programme guide and content for approval and go by a set of rules stipulated by the NMC or in default pay a fine or serve between two and five years in jail.

Dissatisfied with the new regulations and what they said was their threat to press freedom, GIBA caused its lawyer to file a writ to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

It was seeking a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 162 (1), 162 (2), 162 (4), 167 (d) and 173 of the 1992 Constitution, neither the government of Ghana nor any state institution created under the 1992 Constitution, including the NMC, shall engage in acts or exercise any powers that are likely to amount to censorship, control and direction of the institutions of mass media communication in Ghana.

No institutions of mass media communication shall be criminally penalized for their failure to procure authorization for the content of their publication from the government or any state institution created under the 1992 Constitution, including the NMC, the GIBA reliefs said.

The applicant, that joined the A-G as the first defendant, is seeking a declaration that the said regulations 3 to12 and 22 of the NMC (Content Standards) Regulations 2015(LI 2224) in so far as their cumulative effect was to give the NMC the power to determine which content can be conveyed by operators on a public electronic communications network, amounts to censorship of the media and same contravenes articles 162 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution and is, therefore, void.

GIBA among others wants the court to declare that A public electronic communications or a broadcasting service amounts to control and direction over the professional functions of the operators and same contravenes and is inconsistent with Article 163 (4) and Article 167(d) and Article 173 of the 1992 Constitution and, therefore, void.

The independent broadcasters also want An order deleting, expunging or striking out regulations 3 to11 and 22 of the NMC (Content Standards) Regulations 2015( LI 2224) on the grounds that they are unconstitutional.

[email protected]

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson


07.03.2016 LISTEN

Accra, 3rd March 2016: After 2 years of investing heavily to improve on customer experience, Mobile Network Operator, Tigo, has unveiled its new brand identity, Live it, Love it in Accra.

In July 2014, the telecom operator took a bold decision to become the brand of choice for digital users in Ghana. This required a complete overhaul of its business model, to refocus on growth, long term sustainability and customer satisfaction.

In subsequent months, millions of dollars were then invested in various areas within the business to ensure the company is able to deliver on its Digital Lifestyle Agenda promise.

According to the CEO, Roshi Motman, her team has done incredible work to get this far.

We have invested millions of dollars in building a new stable and reliable network. Our network availability has improved dramatically within 1 year  customers should have an uninterrupted network experience to do whatever they want. We have completely changed our product range and introduced new products which we believe are perfect for todays digital savvy customer, she noted.

On the customer service front, she said Tigo, had significantly improved on their service levels from 11 to 80 percent in 1 year  about 80 percent of all calls that come to their new state-of-the-art Call centre are answered within 20 seconds.

She emphasized the new tagline Live it. Love it is not just an advertising slogan.

Its a new approach and a new direction for us. It reflects our ambition to be the most consumed digital service provider in the country and to make the internet, and all the amazing features it comes with, a way of life for Ghanaians.

On Tigos forward look, she said the company will focus on a range of products and services that will deliver more value to customers through data, Tigo Business and Mobile Financial Service (MFS).

About Tigo

Tigo started operations in Ghana in 1992 as the first Mobile Network Operator. It is part of Millicom International Cellular (MIC) which provides mobile, voice, data, cable television, broadband and financial services to over 50 million customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa and Latin America.

In Ghana it was launched under the name Mobitel and has since been operating for 24 years with a current subscriber base of over 5 million subscribers, representing 13.87% market share.

In 2002 it was rebranded to Buzz, and in 2006 it rebranded as Tigo to reflect the standard brand name within the Millicom Group.

Today it is a dynamic and highly visible brand, continuously active in driving digital inclusion among the youth in Ghana. It launched Tigo Cash in 2011 and has successfully brought banking to the unbanked. Tigo Cash is popular among the informal sector and populations in the hinterlands. It is renowned for its quick, safe and convenient service.

In 2015 Tigo made significant strides in enhancing its brand value. This is evidenced by various awards received, a total of 11 local and international awards including CEO of the Year at the prestigious AfricaCom Awards in Cape Town.
United Bank for Africa, UBA Group has appointed a new Managing Director in the person of Kennedy Uzoka.

He replaces Phillips Oduoza, who is to retire on 31st July - after two terms of leading the UBA Group.

Mr. Uzokas appointment takes effect from 1st August subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Kennedy Uzoka has most recently been leading the transformation agenda of the Bank, after returning from completing the Advanced Management Programme of Harvard Business School.The new Group Managing Director has over two and half decades of experience in commercial banking, strategy and business transformation.

Prior to his sabbatical at Harvard, Mr Uzoka served as Deputy Managing Director, UBA group and was also the CEO of UBA Africa, responsible for the Groups operations in 18 countries across Africa. Mr Uzoka is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from University of Benin and holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from University of Lagos.

The group also appointed Victor Osadolor as the Group Deputy Managing Director of UBA . Mr Osadolor brings a strong finance and risk background , having previously served as the Executive Director, Risk and Finance at UBA. Mr Osadolor also held the position of Chief Strategy Officer at Ecobank Transnational Incorporation.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants of Nigeria. He also holds the Advanced Management Programme Certificate from the Harvard Business School.

The Chairman of UBA Group Mr. Tony Elumelu said of both appointments:

Kennedy brings an extremely strong skill set and is ideally positioned to lead UBA in its next phase of growth. His most recent experience of managing the Groups increasingly important African business, is particularly relevant, as we all work to build one of the leading financial services franchises in Africa. I have no doubt that both he and Victor with their expertise and depth of business experience will ensure that the Bank is best positioned to deliver on its strategic ambition he said.
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Sunyani (B/A), March 7, GNA - Mr Eric Opoku, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister has stated that nation building needed the collective effort of all the citizenry to achieve the required impact.

'Nation building is a long and arduous task which can only be undertaken through collective effort,' he stressed, adding that, 'This effort must be anchored on unconditional love for our country, hard work and an immutable sense of patriotism and national unity'.

Mr. Opoku made the statement during an address of a parade to mark the regional commemoration of the 59th Independence Anniversary celebration of Ghana, held on Sunday at the Jubilee Park in Sunyani.

It was on the theme, 'Investment in the Youth for Ghana's Transformation'.

Mr. Opoku said the remembrance of the occasion, was a reflection on the struggles waged by our illustrious forefathers to wean us off colonial domination and, therefore, stressed the need for every Ghanaian to contribute immensely towards the development of the country.

'We must resolve to do everything possible and necessary to lend our quota to develop our nation so that we can leave it a better place than we met. It is our responsibility to keep the dreams and visions of our forefathers for a just and prosperous society alive,' he added.

Contingents of the security services that comprised the Military, Police, Fire Service and Immigration, 56 Primary, Junior, and Senior High Schools (SHSs), as well as representatives of the Ghana Hair Dressers and Beauticians Association and other trade unions participated in the parade under the command of Captain Kwadwo Koranteng of 3 BN in Sunyani.

Goodness Link Academy, Liberation Barracks and Sunyani Municipal Assembly Primary Schools took the first, second and third positions in the march past competition, while in the Junior High School level, Bahamia Islamic, High Street and Police Experimental followed in that order.

In the second cycle division, Twene Amanfo Senior High/Technical School, Sunyani SHS and Abesim Saint James SHS/Seminary also placed first, second and third respectively.

Each of the schools was presented with a book titled 'Brong-Ahafo in Focus' as a special award from the Regional Coordination Council.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Agona Nkwanta (W/R), March 7, GNA - The Ahanta West District Assembly in the Western Region has ordered the closure of all gambling centres in the area as part of efforts to make the youth to concentrate on their studies.

The District Assembly is putting in place a number of stringent measures in place to ensure that the youth in the District took education serious.

Mr Joseph Dofoyenah, the District Chief Executive, said this when he addressed a parade at the Stanford Bridge stadium, at Agona Nkwanta, on Sunday during Ghana's 59th Independence Day Celebration on the theme, 'Investing in the Youth for Ghana's Transformation'.

The DCE urged stakeholders, parents and guardians to support the Assembly to ensure the success of the exercise to help 'check the phenomenon which is diverting the minds of our school children from their books to gambling centres'.

Twenty-three first and second cycle institutions and voluntary organisations formed the parade to mark the celebration in the District.

It was attended by traditional rulers, security agencies, heads of departments, assembly members and some community members.

Traders such as sugar cane sellers and some comedians thrilled the audience by displaying their wares during the march past.

The DCE said the Assembly procured five motor bikes for the District Education Directorate to enhance effective monitoring and supervision by circuit supervisors to improve the standard of education in the District.

He called on parents/guardians to show keen interest in their wards' education and actively participate in the activities and programmes of their schools.

He also called for the strengthening of the School Management Committees in the basic schools.

For the District's youth to have gainful employment, Mr Dofoyenah said the Assembly was investing in them by sponsoring twenty of them including three females to the National Vocational Training Institute to train in various courses that would equip them in employable skills to make them marketable.

Touching on the impending presidential and parliamentary elections, the DCE called on all eligible voters to turn out in their numbers to exercise their franchise.

Mr George Kwame Aboagye, the Member of Parliament for the area, admonished the youth to set an agenda of improving their lot and work towards achieving it by refraining from social vices that could mar their lives.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Accra, March 7, GNA - Access Bank Plc, the parent company of Access Bank Ghana, has received an upgrade in its long-term Ratings to 'A' from 'A-' with a stable outlook by Fitch Ratings.

A global leader with operations across major cities and commercial centres in Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, China and UAE in credit ratings and research, Fitch Ratings upgrade of the Bank reflects the improvement in its creditworthiness over time relative to peers and to the best credits in Nigeria.

According to Fitch, banks will continue to face multiple threats in the course of 2016, particularly from tight foreign currency liquidity, worsening asset quality and pressure on regulatory capital ratios. However, Access Bank's Viability Rating (VR) is affirmed, as these risks are to a large extent already captured in the ratings.

The Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of the Bank remains on Stable Outlook as the rating is driven by its Viability Ratings (VR) and there is no expectation of any material change in the Bank's intrinsic creditworthiness.

The report further suggested that Access Bank's Support Rating Floor (SRF) of '4' reflects the authorities' unchanged ability and willingness to provide extraordinary support.

The agency believes that while there is a limited probability of external support, the authorities have a stronger ability to support the bank's local currency obligations if required.

The major strengths for scoring these improved ratings were attributed to Access Bank's size and franchise, strong risk management and solid capitalization.

Welcoming the news, the Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, Mr. Dolapo Ogundimu noted, 'This improved rating is another testament to the fact that we are indeed on the right path in becoming the world's most respected African bank by 2017.

'It also demonstrates our commitment to best practice in risk management and corporate governance and we believe that this will further boost the confidence of our customers and other stakeholders in our banking operations.'

Access Bank's major strengths, which underpin its long and short-term ratings, include its size and franchise, its strong risk management and the group's solid capitalization. The Bank's improved rating further reinforces its resolve to deliver leading innovative and differentiated products and services to its customers in its quest to become the world's most respected African bank by 2017. GNA
Tamale, March 7, GNA - Northern sector civil society organizations (CSOs) working under the Ghana's Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) Project have undergone a training to enable them to effectively execute the project.

The week-long training, which ended over the weekend in Tamale, was to strengthen the capacity of the 27 CSOs to monitor capital development projects of 50 selected district assemblies across the country.

Beneficiary CSOs included NORSAAC, Rural Media Network, Legal Resources Center, and Community Development Association.

Topics treated during the training included Procurement Processes at District Assemblies, Project Audit and Reporting, The Assembly Planning and Budget Cycle, Budget Monitoring and Power Analysis around Social Accountability.

The CSOs were each presented with a motorbike and a computer tablet to facilitate their work.

GSAM is a five-year (2015 to 2019) Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development to strengthen citizens' oversight of capital development projects to improve local government transparency, accountability and performance in selected 100 district assemblies across the country.

It is being implemented by a consortium of three organizations namely CARE International in Ghana, IBIS in Ghana and Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC).

Mr Clement Tandoh, Chief of Party of the GSAM Project, who addressed the closing session of the training, said citizens' participation in the selection and execution of capital projects of district assemblies would ensure quality of the projects, which would inure to the benefit of the people.

Mr Tandoh said if citizens participated and monitored the delivery of capital projects of district assemblies, they (citizens) would feel that they owned the projects and would, therefore, work to ensure the sustainability of the projects.

He said this would also end the suspicion of corruption by citizens against officials of district assemblies regarding projects delivery.

He, therefore, urged the CSOs to work hard to ensure the success of the project asking them to use the knowledge gained to train others including community members to effectively monitor capital projects of district assemblies.

Ms Kawusada Abubakari, NORSAAC's Focal Person on the GSAM Project said the training came at an opportune time and helped to clarify the roles of CSOs on the project making it easier to work on the field to ensure success.

GNA
Tamale, March 07, GNA - A health professional, Hajia Asana Sumani, has called for increased public education on breast cancer to deepen awareness for early report to the hospitals by patients for treatment.

This comes amid reports that the rate of cancer cases among young women was growing.

It is estimated that, 50-70 women out of every 100,000 across the nation, are suffering from the disease, something Hajia Sumani, described as troubling.

She was speaking at day's follow-up workshop organized jointly by the Department of Gender and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Tamale.

It provided the platform for trained women groups in the Northern Region to share experiences acquired from breast and cervical cancer activities they have been carrying out since their training, last year.

Hajia Sumani, who works with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), reminded women to ensure regular self-examination of the breast and to report any abnormality to the facilities for prompt treatment.

They should also visit the hospital at least every two years for their breasts to be properly examined.

She said everybody should be aided through education to overcome the myths and misconceptions they might be having about the disease.

That, she noted, was the way forward to save more people from dying from the cancer.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Abeadze Dominase (C/R), Mar. 7, GNA - Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe, Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, has called for effective collaboration between parents, traditional authorities, other stakeholders and teenage girls to address the increasing menace of teen pregnancy.

She said teen pregnancy was a development issue rooted in parental neglect, poverty, gender inequality and violence and there was the need to directly engage the victims and perpetrators to educate them on its consequences.

Speaking at a capacity building forum for adolescent girls in the Mfantsiman District on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), teen pregnancy and early marriage, she said teenage pregnancy has become a major national social and health concern.

The forum, organized by the Department of Gender in collaboration with the Central Regional Coordinating Council and funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), was on the theme, 'Empowering the girl child to prevent SGB, teenage pregnancy and early marriage'.

It was aimed at building the capacities of young girls on the effects and prevention of teen pregnancy, SGBV, and early marriage in the Region and to create in them the need to protect themselves.

Mrs Kpe said the Department of Gender in collaboration with DOVVSU, the National Youth Authority, Civil Society Organizations and other stakeholders were poised to introduce strategies to eradicate the menace.

She said strategies outlined by the Region to address the situation to include: engaging the communities at night to offer comprehensive education to school going teens as well as school drop outs in the communities.

The Department was going to intensify it education and also partner with local media organizations to put out a behavioral change adverts to educate the general public on the effects of teenage pregnancy, she said.

Mrs Kpe said though the Region has for the past three years been consistently ranked second in teenage pregnancy, it was being reduced gradually due to the strategies being put in place.

She said teenage pregnancy prevalence reduced from 15 per cent in 2013 to 14.8 per cent in 2014 and now stands at 14.4 percent.

The Ghana Health Service Report for 2015 revealed that more than 13,000 teenage girls got pregnant in the Central Region in the year under review.

Also, available statistics from the 2015 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICs) and the Ghana Demographic Health Survey Report 2011 put the Region as the fourth highest with child marriage prevalence rate in Ghana.

Speaking during the forum, Regional Coordinator (DSP) George Appiah-Sakyi said various laws that addressed SGBV in the country and urged SGBV victims and their relatives not to hesitate in reporting such cases to the police.

Mr Theophelous Tetteh Tuwor a resource person from Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), speaking on the laws of SGBV and the protection rights of children, urged parents to prioritize the needs of their children above other personal expenditures.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Cape Coast, Mar. 7, GNA - Mr Moses Foh-Amoaning, the Executive Secretary of the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, has said homosexual unions were unlawful and it is a criminal offense to engage in the act.

He said the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights in itself did not state any rights for homosexuals and emphasized that the Ghanaian constitution was also explicitly clear in respect to the Human Rights provisions.

He said this during one of its regional consultative meetings with traditional councils to draw attention to the growing threat of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual (LGBT) right activism in the country.

The coalition is a mix of Christian and Para Christian bodies, Muslim society and other entities aimed at ensuring the preservation of sexual and family values.

The meeting, which was attended by the clergy, Muslim leaders, school chaplains, opinion leaders and members of the Oguaa traditional council, was jointly organised by Emmanuel University and the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values.

It was on the theme: 'Uniting to combat the scourge of Homosexual (LGBT RIGHTS) Activism in Ghana, the Tripartite Strategy'.

Mr Foh-Amoaning, who is also a senior law lecturer at the Ghana school of Law, said homosexuality was a human weakness and legalizing it would mean elevating what was clearly a human wrong into human rights.

He said it cannot not be legally tenable simply because someone has a propensity to a certain sexual orientation for that orientation to be elevated into human rights and be protected by the law.

The law lecturer questioned why people were being prosecuted for engaging in sodomy, which is a similar sexual orientation, but homosexuals were not, saying so far as sodomy remained an offense, so should homosexuality.

He pledged the coalition's commitment to ensure that persons vying for any political office clearly state their position on the issue of homosexuality in this year's general elections.

'We cannot trust our politicians on all other issues because there have been several matters where this country has been sold off by our politicians, but on this issue of homosexuality, we would not allow our politicians to sell us off', he said.

Mr Foh-Amoaning said the attempt by the western world to force African countries to accept homosexuality was a form of neocolonialism aimed at enslaving the mindset of black people and challenged African leaders not to succumb to this undue pressure.

'Why is polygamy a criminal offence in the United States, but it is normal in Ghana, so what right has Obama got to tell us that if we criminalize homosexuality, we are against human rights. Is he not against human rights when he made polygamy a criminal offence in the US?'

He said there is no scientific, theological and legal or any psychiatric basis for homosexuality and for that matter Africa and the rest of the world must be courageous enough to speak against it.

He said the coalition believes that homosexuality is a human weakness and therefore would seek to provide a comprehensive solution to the problem and not victimize assault and kill those who engaged in it as it was being propagated by some people.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Apam (C/R), Mar. 7, GNA - The Gomoa West Ghana Education Service (GES) is liaising with the district assembly to close down all unregistered schools in the district.

Mr Emanuel Kwaku Glagoe, the Assistant Director in-charge of Supervision at the Gomoa West District Education Office, said this at a meeting with some proprietors of private schools in the district.

He expressed concern that in some of the private schools, the children are always seen outside the classrooms and urged proprietors of such school to change for the better.

Mr Peter Bright Amankah, the Gomoa West Director of Education, at another meeting with the proprietors of private schools, said establishing private schools are not the most fertile grounds for making money.

He expressed worry that in many instances private school proprietors do what pleases them without taking into cognizance what has been laid down for them.

According to the Director some private schools operate under wooden structures and charge exorbitant fees.

'The GES wants to do away with such mushroom schools and up-grade those that are operating well'.

GNA
Winneba (C/R), Mar. 7, GNA - Mr Francis Ayikwei Tagoe, the Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, has called on Ghanaians to be cautious in their utterances and actions during political party campaigns in order not to compromise the country's peace.

He implored the security services to enforce the Public Order Act to the letter.

Mr Tagoe said these when he addressed a parade of school children and voluntary organizations in Winneba to mark the 59th anniversary celebration of Ghana's Independence Day.

The theme for celebration was: 'Investing in the Youth for Ghana's Transformation'.

The MCE said this year is an election year, 'We cannot take this peace for granted'.

Mr Tagoe expressed concern that despite huge investment being made into education in the provision of infrastructure and facilities, the recent BECE results of some schools in the area was not encouraging.

Mr Tagoe urged the youth to take full advantage of this to acquire the best of education and the needed skills.

GNA
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Agona Swedru (C/R), Mar. 7, GNA - Mr Samuel Oppong, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has cautioned Ghanaians to be careful about choice of words during the partisan campaign period.

He said 'I would like to remind us all we are in an election year and we need to exercise a lot of patience so as not to infuriate others'.

Mr Oppong made this known when he addressed parade of school children, and a cross- section of people to mark 59th Independence Day anniversary celebration at Agona Swedru.

In all 29 private and public primary schools, 19 Junior High Schools and 6 Senior High schools took part in the parade.

Abork Preparatory School emerged as over all best in the march past in the basic level while Agona Swedru School of Business (SWESBUS) was adjudged the best in Senior High Schools.

The MCE appealed to Ghanaians to try as much as possible to bury any ethnic differences and see each other as one people with one destiny.

Mr Oppong urged the people of the country not to allow their political differences create enmity among them to ensure peaceful elections in the 2016.

'We should ensure that the peace and unity that have existed in this nation for several decades are maintained,' the MCE said.

He called on the political commentators and serial callers to desist from insults and rather show respect to each other.

Mr Oppong commended Miss Mavis Appiah, formerly of Blessed Assurance Preparatory School, who emerged as the best candidate in the Municipality in the 2015 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Mr Steve Amoah, Agona West Director of Education, called on the stakeholders in education to help promote quality education in the area.

Nana Kobina Botwe II, Adontenhene of Nyakrom Traditional Area and Swedruhene, chastised parents for neglecting their responsibilities to cater for their children.

He said it is better to educate your children to become responsible leaders than to spend on frivolous things.

GNA
Abuja (AFP) - A Nigerian court on Monday approved a request for prosecution witnesses to testify behind screens in the high-profile case of a pro-Biafra activist facing treason charges.

Judge James Tsoho said he agreed to the erection of screens shielding witnesses from public view because those giving evidence "must not necessarily be exposed to avoidable risk".

The witnesses will only be visible to the judge, lawyers and the three defendants, including Nnamdi Kanu, who runs the banned Radio Biafra and heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.

Kanu's arrest in October last year sparked a wave of protests across southeast Nigeria, including renewed calls for a separate state for the Igbo people indigenous to the region.

A previous unilateral declaration of independence sparked a brutal civil war from 1967-1970 in which more than one million people died, many of them from starvation and disease.

State prosecutor Mohammed Diri told judge Tsoho witnesses were ready to testify but would not do so until they had assurances about their safety.

"This is because they are already receiving threats from the associates of the defendant that they will deal with them (witnesses)," he added.

Diri also read a note which he said he received from Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services, which suggested Kanu's supporters were planning to seize him during the trial.

The case was adjourned until Wednesday but defence lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor told reporters outside court he would challenge the decision to erect screens at the Court of Appeal.

Kanu has become a figurehead for the revived pro-Biafra movement. He has pleaded not guilty to "propagating a secessionist agenda" with the intention to "levy war against Nigeria".

But last month he told AFP from jail where he is on remand that he was a "prisoner of conscience" and that the dream of an independent state would one day come true.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari told Al-Jazeera English television in an interview broadcast on Saturday that the country "would not tolerate" pro-Biafra protests.
Ben Guerdane (Tunisia) (AFP) - Tunisian forces fought off fierce attacks from jihadists near the Libyan border on Monday, killing 35 extremist fighters in clashes that also left seven civilians dead.

Ten members of the security forces were killed in the fighting in the border town of Ben Guerdane, which President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an "unprecedented" jihadist attack.

It prompted authorities to close the frontier and order a nighttime curfew.

In statements broadcast on state television, Essebsi said the assault was "maybe aimed at controlling" the border region with Libya, and he vowed to "exterminate these rats".

It was the second deadly clash in the border area in less than a week as Tunisia battles to prevent the large number of its nationals who have joined the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Libya from returning to carry out attacks at home.

The jihadists have taken advantage of a power vacuum since the NATO-backed overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 to set up bases in several areas of Libya, including the Sabratha area between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

The government said that an army barracks and police and National Guard posts in Ben Guerdane came under attack in coordinated pre-dawn assaults.

The defence ministry said at least 35 jihadists, six members of the National Guard, two policemen, a customs official and a soldier died in the fighting, the defence ministry said. Seven civilians were also killed.

Seven militants were captured, the defence ministry said.

Hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud said a 12-year-old boy was among the dead civilians.

An AFP correspondent reported that schools and offices in Ben Guerdane were closed and troops were posted on rooftops across town.

Residents were being urged to stay indoors even before the 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) start of the nighttime curfew.

- Jihadist presence growing -

As well as closing border crossings with Libya, authorities also closed the main road north to the rest of Tunisia, the correspondent said.

Authorities said ground and air patrols along the border would be reinforced.

Prime Minister Habib Essid, who will hold a press conference on Tuesday, ordered the defence and interior ministers to Ben Guerdane to oversee operations against the jihadists.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside the town in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.

Troops have been on alert in the border area following reports that militants had been slipping across since a US air strike on an IS training camp in Libya on February 18 killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

At least four of the five militants killed in last week's firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in a bid to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said.

"Suspicious movements had been reported since the Sabratha strike and there was a feeling that IS was looking for revenge," said Hamza Meddeb, a researcher for the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

Deadly attacks by IS on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 200-kilometre (125-mile) barrier that stretches about half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating.

- US air strike -

February's US strike on the IS training camp outside Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year's attacks, Noureddine Chouchane.

Washington has said Chouchane was likely among the dozens of militants killed, and that the strike probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

Western governments have been increasingly alarmed by the growing IS presence in Libya just 300 kilometres (185 miles) across the Mediterranean from Europe, and have made contingency plans for intensified military action.

Rival administrations which have vied for power since mid-2014 in Libya are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to facilitate the fight against the jihadists.

Handfuls of US, British and French special forces have already been reported in Libya.

A contingent of around 50 Italians is about to join them, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported last Thursday, citing a classified order signed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in February.

Britain announced last week that it was sending a team of around 20 soldiers to Tunisia to train troops patrolling the border with Libya.

Thirty Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse last June.

And last March, jihadist gunmen killed 21 tourists and a policeman at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis.

According to a UN working group on the use of mercenaries, more than 5,000 Tunisians have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups, many of them in Libya.
Paris (AFP) - France's ruling party on Monday called for a postponement of the March 20 elections in Congo, saying long-time leader Denis Sassou Nguessou was intimidating opponents and stifling democracy.

One of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Sassou Nguesso has served as head of state for nearly 32 years, and is seeking a third term after controversially changing the constitution.

The Socialist Party of President Francois Hollande denounced the "attacks on the freedom of expression" in the poll run-up and the "obstacles put in the way of the main rivals of President Denis Sassou Nguessou."

The party's national secretary Maurice Briand said the Congolese head of state had organised "surveillance of his main rivals and imposed a state of emergency which seems to be unjustified."

Briand urged the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union to use their influence to delay the polls.

Congo's new constitution was adopted following a landslide 'yes' vote in an October referendum that was boycotted by the opposition which denounced it as "a constitutional coup".

Before the changes, the constitution had stipulated a maximum age of 70 for presidential candidates and limit on the number of terms to two.

At 72, Sassou Nguesso was over the age limit and had already served two consecutive seven-year terms.

Hollande had urged the Congolese leader to "consult his people" on the proposed constitutional changes and after the referendum his office said the whole process had been severely flawed.

Congolese authorities last month detained a former army chief, Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, who is running against the president.
The Christian Council of Ghana is challenging Ghanaians to be collectively responsible for the future of Ghana.

The Council believes that after 59 years of independence the country has stood out as an example for peace and stability in the world.

General Secretary of the Christian Council Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong cautioned that the country will not move forward unless all Ghanaians get involved in the process.

As a people, we have had our ups and downs, our good times and bad times. But in all we can still thank God and congratulate ourselves for what we have been to achieve together, he said.

Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong said although the country is currently facing challenges, there is still hope.

He admonished leaders in various sectors of the country to rally support for a collective responsibility for the nations future progress.

No group of individuals, no political party, no ethnic group should give us the impression that some people are not needed. Everybody counts, Rev Opuni Frimpong said.

Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong said those at the helm of affairs in the country must be tolerant of other peoples views since that was the only way the countrys effort progress would become meaningful.
Geneva (AFP) - Democratic Republic of Congo's famous rape-care doctor Denis Mukwege will present a petition to the United Nations Tuesday demanding perpetrators of widespread, horrific sexual abuse in the country to be held accountable.

The petition, signed by nearly 200 organisations, will be handed over to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on International Women's Day, Thierry Michel, a Belgian director behind an acclaimed film about Mukwege said Monday.

"When a state is not taking its responsibility, the international community must step up," Michel told a conference in Geneva Monday.

The text, entitled "No to Impunity", demands among other things that the UN human rights office publish a long-secret list of 617 suspected perpetrators of rape and other serious human rights abuses in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003.

It also wants the UN to support the creation of a special court, made up mainly of international judges and prosecutors, to try suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country and calls for DNA to be systematically collected in rape cases.

"That could really help us determine who is behind all of these rapes," Mukwege told AFP on the sidelines of the Geneva conference.

Mukwege, known as "Doctor Miracle" due to his surgical skills and dedication to repairing the physical and psychological scars of women shattered by sexual violence, has since 1999 helped some 40,000 rape victims in the Panzi hospital he founded near Bukavu in conflict-riven South Kivu province.

Rival forces fighting for control of the vast mineral riches in eastern DR Congo have used mass rape for decades to terrorise the local population into submission.

- Raping babies -

"These rapes are a true strategy or war," lamented Mukwege, who describes horrifically violent sexual abuse, in which women's pelvises are smashed, intestines ripped, and foetuses sliced out of their pregnant mother's belly.

The 61-year-old gynaecologist, who won the prestigious Sakharov rights prize in 2014 and has repeatedly been tipped among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said the number of rape cases flooding into his hospital have diminished some as fighting has dwindled.

While he was treating 10 rape victims each day a few years ago, that number has fallen to below seven.

But today, victims are increasingly coming from areas not in conflict, Mukwege said, also voicing alarm that "a growing number of children, even babies," are among the victims.

"This is something we are very worried about," he said.

Over just a couple of years, a study showed thousands of children in the region had been raped, more than 200 under the age of five, he said.

He also warned that former child soldiers, who had been brainwashed by armed groups and forced for months or years to do horrifying things, were being enlisted into the army with no psychological support.

"People should not be surprised that (rape) has metastasised in our society," he said.
07.03.2016 LISTEN

Koforidua, March 07, GNA - A forum to discuss effective ways to cut out the bureaucracy and simplify the procedures for establishing businesses in the country has been held in Koforidua.

It was organized by the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) with support from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and the goal was to assist introduce a bill in parliament, which would substantially reduce the registration and licensing requirements.

The programme brought together parliamentary select committees, officials of some ministries and departments, and captains of industry.

Nana Osei Bonsu, Chief Executive Officer of the (PEF), called for the introduction of an electronic and internet platform for the registration and licensing of companies as well as the payment of the required fees.

He said it should be made possible for people to register or acquire license for their businesses without necessary having to physically appear at the offices of the agencies assigned these tasks.

That, he noted, would make it easier for all the agencies to have a data base of companies operating in the country.

He again recommended that, the licensing agencies should be empowered by law to retain fees paid by businesses to be used to upgrade the technology and tools, engage additional staff and run technical training to enhance performance.

Nana Osei Bonsu also suggested joint inspection by the mandated agencies to help reduce the disruption of businesses by multiple inspection and

He demanded greater involvement of the private sector in the fixing of user fees.

Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr. Ahmed Baba Jamal said whatever proposals made must be underpinned by the national interest and the growth of the economy.

Ghanaians have always known all the challenges confronting the nation and the solutions to these, he said, pointing out that, the difficulty was how to implement the solutions.

He said the expectation was that the various interest groups would consider the implications of what they were seeking to do on the nation's revenue generation effort.

Mr. Joseph Zaphenat Amenowode, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprise, said the involvement of the parliamentary committees in the discussions to give the parliamentarians an insight into the bill would facilitate its smooth passage.

He said he shared the frustrations that business operators went through to get their businesses registered.

Mr. Tony Sikpa, Chairman of Association of Ghanaian Exporters, said the bill could make the country attract more investors.

GNA
Accra, Mar. 7, GNA - Special Mothers Project, a non-governmental organization that advocates and helps in creating awareness about cerebral palsy has called on government to facilitate a national dialogue on the disease.

'Having a national dialogue about cerebral palsy will go a long way to help Ghana have a favourable policy especially for children with the condition,' it said.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Initiator of the Special Mothers Project, said this when she met with Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, Deputy Minister of Health, to discuss issues on the condition.

She said there is an urgent need for a favourable policy on cerebral palsy and more awareness needed to be created issues affecting such persons.

'The month of March has been designated as the Cerebral Palsy awareness month by civil society groups around the world, [but] in Ghana, very little awareness have been created on the disease.'

Mrs Awadzi expressed appreciation to the deputy Minister for granting her audience, and called on the media to show more interest in cerebral palsy issues.

Dr Bampoe pledged the Ministry's continuous support for the project, saying the Ministry of Health's doors are opened for further discussions.

GNA
Accra, Mar. 7, GNA - The Information Services Department (ISD) wishes to apologise to the President, HE John Dramani Mahama, and the people of Ghana for the misrepresentations in the Event Brochure of the impressive 59th Independence Day Parade at the Black Star Square.

A release signed by Mr Francis Kwarteng Arthur, the Acting Director of the ISD, said the Department, which authored the content of the brochure, accepts responsibility and wishes to unreservedly apologise for the development.

GNA
Kpale Xorse, March 7, (GNA) - The youngest and oldest persons to have died at Kpale Xorse in the Volta Region in recent memory were 56 years old and 108 years old respectively.

'People hardly fall sick or die here,' said Henry Johnson, Assistant Pastor of the local branch of Christ Apostolic Faith.

Kpale-Xorse, a wholly Christian community in the Ho-West District, founded in 1931 is a walking distance from Bame-Dzolokpuita and Kpeve junction beneath the Togo-Akwapim range of mountains.

Every member of that homogeneous community belongs to the Christ Apostolic Faith where faith healing rather than orthodox medical intervention is the norm.

The only breach of this culture was during the tenure of Captain George Nfodjo (Rtd), then Ho Municipal Chief Executive who took the community by surprise, had all children under five years immunized against polio while the community had congregated in the chapel with their children.

The community members link their good health and longevity to the adage 'cleanliness is next to godliness' combined with good eating habits in which fruits feature prominently.

The evidence is obvious to any stranger to that community because in Kpale-Xorse the edict regarding sanitation is Deuteronomy 23:12-14.

It says, 'Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you.

'Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.'

Being in sync with this biblical injunction, Kpale-Xorse wholly accepted the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) campaign, of the Ghana Government and UNICEF Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Within three months of taking up the CLTS campaign in 2012, Kpale-Xorse was declared Open Defecation Free and won a national award for being among the first five open defecation-free communities in the Volta Region.

The CLTS seeks to eradicate open defecation by encouraging households to have their own toilets and adopt the habit of hand-washing after visiting the toilet.

This was a campaign to kill the habit of endemic open defecation in the Volta, Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Central regions by 2020.

Volta Region has set a December 2016 target to be open defecation-free.

A team of officials from UNICEF, Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and a group of media practitioners visited Kpale-Xorse last Wednesday to verify whether they are keeping the torch of CLTS burning.

Healthy and hearty looking 72-year-old Madam Janet Abiwu, leader of the natural leaders on CLTS said over 80 per cent of households in the community has household-toilets with locally made hand-washing devices.

The team was impressed at the high level of the sanitation situation at Kpale-Xorse.

The opposite was however the case at Bakpe where there were said to be seven churches.

That community which has an open pit communal toilet admitted that they were still practicing open defecation.

They complained that there are more houseflies in the community now than before and their children also get sick very frequently.

They promised to construct household toilets by June this year using local materials.

The only decent toilet there was constructed for the Local District Assembly (DA) School by 'Pencils of Promise', a non-governmental organization.

GNA
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business Consolidation of banks may be what the economy needs: Experts Consolidation is part of a process to essentially create a more sustainable financial burden and eventually hopefully redefine relationship between the government and the nationalised banks, says Leo Puri, Managing Director of UTI AMC.
It takes some serious cojones  and no shortage of integrity  to stand up to the FBI. But Apple is proving its no pushover.

Youre probably aware of the ongoing clash between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In a nutshell, the FBI wants Apple to unlock the iPhone used by mass murderer Syed Rizwan Farook. Shes the psycho that went on a shooting rampage with her nutjob husband in San Bernardino in December, killing 14 people.

Apples chief executive Tim Cooks reply to the FBI was a resounding no.

Kris Sayce first wrote about Apples defiance in the Port Phillip Insider a few weeks ago.

Today the stalemate continues. According to Reuters, Apple and the FBI refused to back down in the battle over law enforcement access to iPhones at a Capitol Hill hearing on Tuesday.

It takes some serious cojones  and no shortage of integrity  to stand up to the FBI. But Apple is proving its no pushover. And the company has been joined by industry heavyweights Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, among others. The companies are filing a joint legal brief appealing a court order that would force Apple to create software to unlock the iPhone.

A bit of history

With the stoush between Apple and the FBI heating up, I did a little digging into the history of encryption.

Now youre probably familiar with the Enigma machine. Aside from earning a page in your high school history book, its been the topic of many a movie, most recently The Imitation Game.

The German invention was used by the Nazis in the Second World War to encrypt messages to their military commanders. The Enigma machines messages were considered unbreakable, as the Germans changed the cipher every day.

Eventually, as you know, the British managed to break the code, giving the Allies full insight into the Nazis plans.

That was in 1943. However, the history of encryption goes back a lot further than that. About 2700 years further, in fact.

From scytales to iPhones

While youve probably heard of the Enigma machine, you may not be familiar with the scytale.

Scytales were used by the Spartan military way back in 700 BC to relay sensitive information between commanders in the field. According to visual.ly,

Both the sender and the recipient had a wooden rod of the exact same diameter and length. To encrypt a message, the sender tightly wound a piece of leather parchment around the sticks and wrote a message on it. The unwound leather was sent to the recipient, who could only read the message once it was tightly wound around his own scytale. Anyone else would see disarranged letters with no meaning.

Primitive, but ingenious.

And it made me wonder, what would the Spartans tell the FBI if the Bureau demanded to know the exact diameter and length of their wooden rods? Ill let you fill that in for yourself. But knowing a bit about the Spartans, its probably not fit to print.

Fast forward 2,700 years and encryption has gotten a little more sophisticated. So sophisticated that one of the worlds most powerful intelligence organisations cannot breach it without a key from its creator.

Remarkable.

A Spartan scytale Apples iPhone 5

Source: Wikipedia Source: Apple

When it comes to all things tech, theres only one person I turn to. Thats right, our very own Sam Volkering, Editor of Revolutionary Tech Investor. I asked him for his take on the ongoing battle between the tech giants and the US law enforcement behemoth. Heres what he wrote back:

This is a good old fashioned Mexican standoff. But Apple has to win this. If they dont then a dangerous precedent is set. Initially the FBI will have access to known terrorists. Soon enough theyll use it for suspected terrorists. Then suspected criminals. Then everyone, because lets face it, anyone could be a terrorist right? This is quite possibly the turning point on whether George Orwells 1984 stays fiction, or becomes a scary and accurate foresight of the world as we know it.

I think Sams spot on. And having recently re-read 1984  if you havent read it, do  I can only hope Apple stands strong. Thats in line with what Kris wrote a few weeks back. Apple is right to contest the ruling. Whatever the situation, you can never trust the government to play by the rules. Once it has an opening, it will always want more

We received some positive feedback on that bold stance. Though not all of our readers agreed. Like this mail, from subscriber John H.

If anyone dear to you was killed or injured by these cretins, or there was a major loss of Aussie lives, do you reeeeelly think that youd be interested in the privacy issue, which in effect protects these guys? Really? These types of people will work the system anyway they can in order to kill and maim us in the name of poor old god, (Im sure gods impressed!!) and they will use every means to do it, even play on our outrage over the sanctity of privacy. Sorry but I dont buy the concept in instances such as this, and Id hazard the guess that if push came to shove and someone dear to you was a victim of their actions that youd indeed change your mind.

John brings up a good point. I cant speak for Kris, but if my daughter was a victim of Syed Loose-screw Farook I would almost certainly want Apple to cough up the key. I would also be first in line to push a plunger injecting her with a lethal chemical cocktail.

Yet thats precisely the kind of frontier justice that a proper government (small and for the people) is intended to prevent. If someone dear to you is directly affected by a crime, your emotions will cloud your judgement.

Just as we cannot support the concept of lynch mobs  no matter how deserving the lynchee  we cannot support the massive infringement of our privacy the FBI is attempting to orchestrate. Once that door is open, it will never be closed.

Now, Ill step off my pedestal and move onto something less divisive, though no less intriguing.

Artificial intelligence takes a seat with MasterCard

Yesterday I ran across the following article from CNBC:

MasterCard sales staff will begin using artificial intelligence (AI) systems to advise them on putting together and closing deals with potential clients The U.S. credit and debit card company has teamed up with U.K. start-up Rainbird Technology, which has developed the AI software to be trialed with MasterCards staff in Britain. Staff would talk to potential clients about their requirements for a product. They could then consult the AI system, which is software on a desktop that users can type into, and receive an answer about the next steps they should take in the deal Artificial intelligence is essentially a system that can continue to learn and carry out increasingly complex tasks autonomously. Often these systems are created solely using data. But Rainbirds solution is slightly different. It inputs actual human responses into the AI model as well as data in order to create the software In theory, the more that people use it, the smarter it will become.

As daunting as the concept of AI is  think Skynet  if used properly it could revolutionise the way we live. It wont surprise you that Sam Volkering was all over this story. When I emailed him about it, he fired back this reply.

You know somethings afoot when the worlds second largest payments processing company is turning to artificial intelligence to help boost its sales. Technically this isnt true artificial intelligence; this is machine learning, or cognitive computing. Its an example of the progression of how we interact with computers. In the past humans have always worked on computers. Now, with smarter machines and cognitive computing, were learning to work alongside machines. This is the next wave of computing, where we leverage automated systems and automated process to help us be better at our jobs. This isnt a machine coming along to do the job of humans (like most people fear) this is a harmonious relationship. If we can embrace the power of modern and future computing, we can accelerate the pace of technological change even further. These automated systems and cognitive computing will make companies like MasterCard better, smarter and more profitable. This is the power of modern technology. And its opening up some of the biggest profit opportunities Ive ever seen.

Speaking of big profit opportunities, few areas of the market offer a better potential for outsized gains than the tech sector. Of course not all tech companies succeed. With any investment theres always the risk of losing money. But with technological progress speeding up, the profitable opportunities are likely to grow.

Of course youve got to know where to look.

Sams been researching technology and the companies driving revolutionary innovations for 10 years now. And hes identified four key opportunities he believes will create what he calls a wealth eruption the likes of which weve never seen before.

He likens this to the PC revolution, the smartphone and internet era. And hes just completed a new report highlighting these four key opportunities, along with five wealth eruption stocks you can invest in today.

Now I read a lot of financial reports. A lot. But this one still has my head spinning. If Sams right  and I believe he is  these wealth eruption opportunities will unleash some of the most dramatic shifts in society since the discovery of electricity, the invention of the car, and the creation of the internet.

Thats all I can tell you now. But you can find out more from Sam directly, here.

Cheers,

Bernd Struben,

Managing Editor, Money Morning

Ed Note: The above article was originally published in Port Phillip Insider.

From the Port Phillip Publishing Library

Special Report: The biggest stock gains can come from the least likely places. While the ASX fell 9% in the 12 months to November 2015, one tiny, hated mining stock soared 1,200%. What seemed like an ugly, bad investment quickly transformed every $5,000 worth of shares into $65,000. This is the power of 10-bagger companies. Where will the next one come from? Read Greg Canavans special Crisis & Opportunity presentation to find out(more)
March 07, 2016 U.S. Central Command Promotes The War On Yemen Where Al-Qaeda Is The Only Winner Daniel Larison recaps the War on Yemen: The Saudi-led intervention has been going on for over eleven months, and in that time it has failed in all of its stated objectives. The Houthis have not been driven from the capital, the former president has not be restored to power (not that most Yemenis would want him there now anyway), and the intervention certainly hasnt produced the stability that the Saudis laughably claimed to be bringing.

...

Yemenis have been sorely deprived of basic necessities for almost an entire year thanks to the Saudi-led blockade, and the majority of the population is starving or at great risk of doing so. At least four-fifths of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. The countrys health care system has all but collapsed, medical facilities are coming under repeated attack (including repeated bombings by coalition aircraft), medicine and fuel are in short supply, and the lack of access to clean water has made the spread of disease much worse. Every problem Yemen had before the intervention has grown far worse than it was, and the countrys infrastructure has been wrecked by the coalition bombing campaign that the U.S. supports.

...

Since the Saudis and their allies started pummeling Yemen with indiscriminate bombing and the use of inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions last March, the U.S. has been reliably backing the Saudis in this unnecessary and indefensible war with weapons, refueling, and intelligence. The U.S. has helped the Saudis to whitewash and obscure their crimes, and the Obama administration has done this despite credible reports from multiple human rights organizations and the U.N. that the Saudi-led coalition is likely guilty of war crimes and possibly even crimes against humanity. The U.S. not only continues to whitewash the Saudi crimes but is still actively propagandizing and reinforcing the false Saudi claim that Iran is in cahoots with the Houthis. I have yet to see even one picture from the war in Yemen that shows any Iranian weapon or munition. There are lots of pictures though that show Houthis using weapons they pilfered from incompetent Saudi troops or their proxies. The Australian navy today captured a weapon smuggling ship in the Arab sea. They reported: The Australian Navy said that one of its ships patrolling the region, the HMAS Darwin, intercepted a small, stateless fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles off the coast of Oman when it made the discovery. On board they found more than 2,000 pieces of weaponry -- including 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles and 100 rocket-propelled grenades.

...

An Australian Defense Ministry spokesman told CNN there were 18 people of various nationalities on board the ship, but officials could not initially confirm that their identification documents were valid. Authorities believe the weapons were headed for Somalia based on interviews with crew members, but that information is preliminary and may change as the investigation continues, the spokesman said. Someone bought 2,000 old AK47s and some RPGs, maybe in Iraq or elsewhere in the Gulf, to sell them in Somalia. That makes sense. There is an ongoing civil war in Somalia and selling weapons there has little risk. But here is the U.S. Central Command making up nonsense about the Australian find: According to a U.S. assessment, the weapons were believed to be initially sent from Iran and were likely intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen, Lt. Ian McConnaughey with the U.S. Navy told CNN. U.S. Central Command is still gathering more information to determine the arms' final destination, McConnaughey said. There is zero evidence for that claim that these are weapons from Iran on their way to Yemen. Indeed the circumstances as reported by the Australians seem to make that unlikely. But the CNN report, from which the above is taken, is headlined Weapons seized by Australia may have come from Iran, intended for Houthis thus supporting the false Saudi claims. Yemen is flooded with weapons. The Saudi have several times dropped thousands of new weapons to their proxy forces in south Yemen. Many of those weapons were seized by the Houthis and those that reached the Saudi proxies were immediately sold off to the highest bidder. Every modern assault rifle one might think of is available in Sanaa's weapon markets. Why would anyone ship old AK47 to Yemen where even the poorest households already have better weapons? Remarks a Yemeni analyst: Hisham Al-Omeisy @omeisy So Iran sent 1989 low grade AK47s & 100 RPGs to a #Yemen already flooded w/ better AK47s & RPGs! What am I missing? And another one: Haykal Bafana @BaFana3 2nd time the US is claiming that Somalia-bound arms are "Iran weapons to Houthis Yemen" delivery. Almost as if DC is prodding Saudi Arabia. The war in Yemen can not be won by the Saudis or their proxies on the ground. The mercenary company Blackwater/Xe had been hired to provide a battalion of foreign fighters. These tried to capture Taiz from the Houthis but were routed. They were pulled out after taking too many casualties. Now the Saudis spend another $3 billion and hired Dyncorp to provide more cannon fodder. There is no way the Saudis or their mercenaries can win the war and no sane reason to give them any further support. Banks have stopped to certify letters of credit for food imports to Yemen and those few ships which still come to Yemen have to pay huge bribes to be allowed to unload. The famine in Yemen will intensify over the next months. More people will die. Meanwhile Al-Qaeda is occupying more and more land in south Yemen and is winning the hearts and minds of the hungry locals: Saudi Arabia needs all the possible help to come out of Yemen with less damage possible. It is accusing Iran of intervening in its backyard, raising tension between the two countries. The nervousness reached its peak when a video leaked to the Saudi, showing pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah Video [alternative source] training Houthis in Intelligence warfare inside Yemen, confirmed authentic to me by sources close to Hezbollah leadership. Therefore, it is not surprising to see reports on a collaboration between the Saudi-led coalition and Ansar al-Sharia (AQAP) for the battle against the Zaydi Houthis as the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran increases. Ansar al-Sharia come out as the absolute winner, offering infrastructure support, recruiting through activities, public service and games to win the hearts and the minds. Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, aka Ansar al-Sharia, is the only party winning in Yemen. It several times attempted to target U.S. civilians and is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. It is fighting on the side of the Saudis. But the U.S. military in the Gulf has nothing better to do than to promote the false Saudi narrative about the war on Yemen. For whom are these U.S. Central Command folks really working? Posted by b on March 7, 2016 at 18:46 UTC | Permalink Comments
HAVE ANY LEADS?

Burke Countys Most Wanted is partnering with Morganton Burke Crime Stoppers to pay for information that leads to the arrest of suspects on the Burke Countys Most Wanted list. Citizens with information can contact Burke County Crime Stoppers at 828-437-3333 anytime day or night. Without providing their name, the caller will be assigned a number. If the callers information leads to an arrest of the suspect, the caller will be paid a reward. A check will be issued to the callers number (not their name) and the caller picks up the check at a designated location.  Sheriff Steve Whisenant

Burke Countys Most Wanted Criminals

The Most Wanted list is compiled from the most recent information obtained from the Burke County Sheriffs Office. The following are the mug shots for Burke Countys Most Wanted individuals:

(Note: No mug shots available for Jim Zue Keu Moua, Victor Tyrone Coffey or Dustin Michael Hendrickson.)

Name: Dustin Michael Hendrickson

Date of Birth: Feb. 26, 1995

Last known address: 3978 Main Ave. Drive NW, Hickory, N.C.

Description: Hendrickson is wanted for felony breaking & entering and felony attempted larceny.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 3

Name: Victor Tyrone Coffey

Date of Birth: Dec. 6, 1996

Last known address: 611 Laurel St., Valdese

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds a warrant for Coffey for felony conspiring to commit a felony larceny.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 3

Name: Duane Jason Fiedler

Date of Birth: Sept. 14, 1984

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 2358 Burke Memorial Park Rd., Apt C., Morganton Description: Fiedler has an outstanding indictment for felony possession of a firearm by a felon.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 3

Name: Eric Seth Adams

Date of Birth: May 22, 1988

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 408 London St., Glen Alpine

Description: Adams has an outstanding order for arrest for probation violation on prior felony charges of larceny and possession of stolen goods/property.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 4

Name: Eric Sherard Jones

Date of Birth: Aug. 5, 1972

Race/Sex: Black/Male

Last known address: 2464 U.S. 70, Morganton

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds a felony warrant on Jones for failure to report new address of a sex offender.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 83

Name: Tony Lynn Bollinger

Date of Birth: Sept. 16, 1975

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 5597 Manley Clark Road, Morganton

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds an order for arrest on Bollinger for non-payment of child support. His cash bond is $6,354.67.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 78

Name: Jim Zue Keu Moua

Date of Birth: Sept. 23, 1998

Sex: Male

Last known address: 2650 Old Blue Ridge Lane, Connelly Springs

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds a warrant for arrest on Moua for felony possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver a schedule VI controlled substance, misdemeanor simple possession of a schedule VI controlled substance and possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 28

Name: Tong Xeng Yang Moua

Date of Birth: Sept. 17, 1976

Race/Sex: Asian/Male

Last known address: 2650 Old Blue Ridge Lane, Connelly Springs

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds a warrant for arrest on Moua for felony trafficking methamphetamine, possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver methamphetamine, and possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver a schedule VI controlled substance.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 28

Name: Anthony Takeo Sherrill

Date of Birth: Aug. 14, 1989

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 5521 Miller Mill Road, Hickory

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds a felony order for arrest for Sherrill for felony breaking and entering a place of worship, larceny, and possession of stolen goods/property.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 26

Name: Dean Allen Yancey

Date of Birth: July 14, 1954

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 7890 Will Hudson Road, Connelly Springs

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds an order for arrest for failure to appear on felony charges, felony discharging a weapon at an occupied property and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 16

Name: John Yang

Date of Birth: Oct. 26, 1979

Race/Sex: Male

Last known address: 2871 Cougar Valley, Morganton

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds an order for arrest for felony failure to appear, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or distribute a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 13

Name: Brandon Lee Woody

Date of Birth: Aug. 17, 1963

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: Unavailable

Description: The Burke County Sheriffs Office holds an outstanding warrant for arrest for felony obtaining property by false pretense, felony breaking and entering, felony larceny after breaking and entering and felony possession of stolen property.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 12

Name: Cletus Delon Stamey

Date of Birth: Mar. 29, 1966

Race/Sex: White/Male

Last known address: 4057 River Road, Morganton

Description: The Burke County Sheriff Office holds several outstanding orders for arrest for probation violations on Stamey for prior felony convictions. Stamey is also wanted by McDowell County for the same.

Weeks on Most Wanted: 7
Chancellor George Osbornes plans to reform tax relief on pension contributions has gathered a lot of attention over the past week. Morningstar.co.uk readers have also been keen to consume information on pensions and saving, and investment ideas among dividend-paying stocks. Here are the top 10 articles and videos from Morningstar.co.uk, as chosen by fellow readers over the past week.

Top 20 FTSE 350 Dividend Paying Stocks

UPDATED FEBRUARY 2016: A well-blended portfolio of stocks from the FTSE 350 can provide investors with a diversified sustainable income for life

Budget Risk of Triple Tax Grab on Pensions

FUTURE PROOF: Treasury could pocket an additional 1 billion from previous pension reforms  and may look to increase this with further Budget changes, insurers warn

Top 20 FTSE 100 Dividend Paying Stocks

THE INCOME INVESTOR: The largest companies in the UK source their revenues internationally, meaning your dividend stream is boosted by global economic growth

Woodford Fund Could Be Jettisoned From Equity Income Sector

Challenging economic climate means one-year yield is below official sector requirement  despite strong returns for investors

Fund Basics

A guide to fund investing for beginners... and a reminder of the basics for those more experienced investors who need a re-cap

The Discounted Cash Flow Method

Investors should consider using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method to estimate the absolute value of a company

Finsbury Growth & Income: Nick Train Buys First New Stock in 4 Years

Nick Train, manager of the Gold Rated Finsbury Growth & Income Trust has added a new name to the portfolio for the first time in four years - and revealed he almost sold Pearson

3 Stocks to Prosper Despite the Market Turmoil

Silver Rated manager Jeremy Podger choose stocks based on special circumstances, rather than market backdrop, meaning that they can grow regardless of the market cycle

What is the Difference Between an ETF and a Tracker Fund?

LOW COST FUNDS: Looking to invest? Want to go passive? We explain the key similarities and differences between exchange traded funds and mutual tracker funds

How to Pay Less Income Tax

Want to pay less income tax? Avoid higher tax bands, get back your Child Benefit and avoid the Personal Allowance clawback using legal allowances and reductions
With Donald Trumps momentum in the U.S. presidential election showing no signs of slowing, people are being forced to ask themselves: What if the unthinkable happens? What if he actually wins?Some think the most likely outcome is that the moon will turn to blood and the seventh seal will be opened. But a Trump win might actually be a boon for one small Canadian island.Cape Breton, off the coast of Nova Scotia , has long been a draw for tourists. But with its major industries  coal mining and steel  drying up, the island has had a tough time holding onto a permanent population.Thats why Ron Calabrese, a local radio D.J., created Cape Breton If Donald Trump Wins , a website encouraging U.S. residents to move to the island in the event of the orange-haired one becoming president.Calabrese admitted that he started the website as a joke. But after just two weeks, the site had seen more than 800,000 visitors  and Calabrese told CNN that thousands of U.S. citizens are seriously considering a move to Canada if Trump wins the general election.As people have told me, Im just some bozo up in Canada on an island no ones ever heard of, Calabrese told CNN. What I think of him is irrelevant, but the fact is he makes a lot of people very nervous about the future of the country.The evidence seems to back him up. Google searches for How can I move to Canada? saw a spike of nearly 400% in the U.S. after Trump dominated the Super Tuesday primary elections, CNN reported. And Calabreses website has been getting serious interest.As soon as I started getting serious inquiries, then all of a sudden the joke is over and this is serious, and we have a serious problem, he told CNN. People are showing a serious interest in moving here.And Mary Tulle, CEO of nonprofit tourism organization Destination Cape Breton, said the level of interest in the island has been unprecedented. Tulle said the organizations receptionist had handled about two inquiries per day in the past. And now? We have five people dedicated fulltime to manage the inquiries, she told CNN.So why Cape Breton, as opposed to other parts of Canada? Well, the islands natural beauty is a big draw  but so are the housing prices. According to Cape Breton If Donald Trump Wins, the island has one of the most affordable housing markets in North America. In Cape Breton, the average home price is about double the average annual household income. In Vancouver, its eight times the average annual income.Most island residents have reacted positively to the increased interest, according to CNN. Many hope that even if the island doesnt see an influx of refugees from Trumps America, tourism will see a bump.Robs our hero! He really is, yeah, island resident Tracey Boutilier told CNN. I know it started out in fun, but I think he said what we were all thinking. Were a little bit terrified of whats going on with your political situation in the States, and Cape Breton is such a haven.
In a statement on Thursday (March 3), the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) said that transaction volume in what is considered Canadas largest housing market went up by 21.1 per cent in February compared to last year.



This figure represented 7,621 dealings in that month alone, prompting realtors to conclude that a recent hike on down payments for more expensive homes has not helped in cooling down the Greater Toronto Area market.



The regulatory change, which was initially intended to slow down red-hot real estate markets such as Toronto and Vancouver, set the required down payment for homes worth between $500,000 and $1,000,000 at 10 per cent.



Even after accounting for the leap year day, sales were above the previous record for February set back in 2010. Sales were up strongly from the 15th day of the month onward as well, despite the new federal mortgage lending guidelines, TREB president Mark McLean said in a statement, as quoted by the Financial Post.



The activity in Toronto accompanied a growth in housing costs, the latest in a series of continuous price increases that have placed homes beyond the reach of an ever-larger fraction of the Canadian middle class.



With strong sales up against a constrained supply of listings, home prices continued to trend strongly upward, TREB director of market analysis Jason Mercer noted.



The average sale price as of February was $685,278 (up 14.9 per cent from a year ago). Detached homes remain to be among the most expensive properties in the city, selling for an average of $1,211,459 (16.3 per cent greater compared to last year).
Upcoming Events and Training; New Products and Vendor Updates

Well it's that time of year again, yup, election season. As you may or may not know with all the fireworks going on, a fellow mortgage industry member is running for Congress. This poses a unique situation for the industry to have a member in Congress. Marc Savitt, former President of NAMB, is running for the 2nd Congressional seat in West Virginia. Marc has been a strong advocate for the industry over the past 20 years and a mortgage broker for almost 35 years. You can get more information on Marc here.

Some interesting upcoming events & training:

NAMB is having a conference this week, and Parkside's Matt Ostrander is speaking at it on 3/10. The topic will be "How to succeed in a volatile rate environment." "It has been many years since we have experienced a material increase in mortgage rates. While higher rates are never inevitable, it is always good to be prepared for higher rates and the impact that could bring to the industry and borrowers alike. But will that actually happen or will we see feedback loops from a globally connected economy in our new big data world? How may you navigate the moves so that your business thrives in any rate environment? This session will address what to expect if mortgage rates are volatile in 2016, and what mortgage professionals can do to be prepared for such an environment. Industry volume, investor demand, and product development are all expected to adjust with any shift in the yield curve. Get an inside look at how industry leaders are preparing for risks and opportunities that may present themselves in a volatile rate environment. Presented by Matthew Ostrander, chairman and CEO of Parkside Lending.

National Mortgage Professional Magazine is hosting a free webinar on the Fundamentals of Manufactured Lending on Thu, Mar 10, 2016 2:00 PM EST. This presentation will give an overview of the Manufactured Housing Market including program guidelines, property eligibility, and available lending options. After participating in this webinar, you will be able to confidently speak with customers who are looking to purchase or refinance a manufactured home. American Financial Resources' Nicholas DiMilia will talk about the opportunities for originators in this space.

On March 22, ATS Secured is hosting a free webinar, "Mortgage Repurchase & Indemnification Demands Including TRIDs Impact." Presented by Amanda Raines Lawrence and Melissa Klimkiewicz, both of BuckleySandler LLP, the webinar will focus on the challenges lenders are facing today based on greater loan analysis and investor scrutiny. Don't miss this chance to learn how to deal with the latest demands on the mortgage industry. Register here.

Fannie Mae is offering a series of webinars to help you prepare for the implementation of Desktop Underwriter (DU) Version 10.0 the weekend of June 25, 2016. Key enhancements and other updates will be discussed with time allotted for questions. View the DU Version 10 Overview webinar schedule and register today.

Effective for case numbers assigned on or after April 27, 2015, a Financial Assessment of all prospective borrowers must be completed prior to Reverse Mortgage loan approval with Plaza Home Mortgage. On March 7th, an informational webinar will explain Plaza's new guidelines and procedures to comply with the requirements.

The MBA has something for everyone in the months of April and May. HMDA Implementation Workshop in both D.C. and Texas, Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance conference May 1st-4th in Denver Colorado, April 3th-6thNational Tech in Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo in Los Angeles as well as webinar recordings surveying the HMDA rule's new requirements and what they mean for your business.

Mortgage Industry Advisory Corporation's (MIAC) 7th Annual Secured Financing conference is accepting registrations. This event, April 27-29 in Scottsdale, will include topics such as Advance data capture and collateral performance measurements: introduction to DR Surveillance, Vision / DFAST stress testing, auditing client loan level data, and much more.

Vendors and lenders continue to roll out new products. What about vendors watching other vendors, or closing agents? The CFPB has stated that it has supervisory authority over the service providers of bank and non-bank lenders, including software vendors, and a while back Director Cordray said, "Consumers must not be hurt by unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices of service providers. Banks and nonbanks must manage these relationships carefully and can be held accountable if they break the law."

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of independent mortgage bankers, correspondent lenders and suppliers of mortgage products and services, is announcing the addition of an innovative vendor oversight platform called Vendorly that will allow for the management of increasing regulatory requirements. "As vendor violations are on the rise, and enforcement against mortgage bankers is anticipated to intensify throughout 2016. More than ever, it's important for lenders to comply with regulatory guidelines through a comprehensive vendor oversight program. Vendorly is a proprietary vendor management solution. Our technology is designed to streamline due diligence, document maintenance, monitoring and audits. You can enhance your protection and increase operational productivity with additional solutions from our experienced support team who will help you assess risk and execute an oversight plan. Additionally, Vendorly will mitigate third party risk, increase operational efficiency, and simplify Vendor Oversight: Rely on our vendor oversight solution and get more time to focus on your business.

Three mortgage companies have jumped on the Alight Mortgage Lending train. Alight, known for its real-time cloud-based financial optimization application, has signed Village Mortgage and Guardian Mortgage Company. "Lenders new to Alight get very excited when they realize they can evaluate challenges and opportunities from every angle to develop not only a 'Plan A,' but also plans b, c and d as well," said Jared Huff, managing director for Alight. Celebrating its 20th year in business, Village Mortgage is licensed in 6 stated with 15 branch locations. Guardian Mortgage Company Inc. is a 50-year-old residential mortgage originator and servicer located in Dallas, Texas with loan origination offices in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Michigan. And Mountain West Financial, one of the western states' largest lenders, is headquartered in Redlands, California with 37 Locations throughout the Western United States.

Effective February 19, National MI became an eligible mortgage insurance carrier on conventional loans delivered through the delegated business channel for Flagstar clients. Delegated customers should refer to the current Conventional Delegated Underwriting Welcome Package, Doc. #4013 located in the Seller's Guide regarding terms and conditions for loans with mortgage insurance.

Firstsource Solutions Limited, a global provider of customized Business Process Management (BPM) services, today announced its acquisition of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business of ISGN, a leading provider of end-to-end technology solutions and services to the U.S. mortgage industry. The BPO division provides Origination, Servicing, Title and Valuation Services to many banks and non-bank lenders in the U.S. More than 700 employees from ISGN's BPO division in the United States and India will join Firstsource. The move provides Firstsource with marquee customers and strengthens its Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) portfolio while also offering significant potential opportunities for cross-selling of services. "We're looking forward to introducing ISGN into the Firstsource family and expanding our capabilities in the U.S. mortgage BPO market with the company's impressive customer portfolio," said Rajesh Subramaniam, Managing Director & CEO of Firstsource. "The acquisition will bring Firstsource an experienced and strong management team from ISGN, supported by employees with significant domain and delivery expertise that will enable Firstsource a strategic entry into the growing US Mortgage business." The acquisition is expected to be finalized within the next few months.

eLynx has completed an integration with RamQuest enabling lenders to utilize eLynx's expedite ID compliance solution to exchange property, fee, and loan data electronically with thousands of settlement service providers using RamQuest creating a simplified collaboration to generate the closing disclosure.

Ellie Mae has launched three new solutions, further extending Ellie Mae's Encompass all-in-one mortgage management solution. Details can be found on The Ellie Mae Compliance Management SystemTM, Ellie Mae's next generation Encompass CRMTM and the Encompass MobileTM.

Platinum Data Solutions has upgraded RealView appraisal quality and compliance technology with the industry's only user-controlled customization feature in an appraisal technology. This feature enables users to customize their RealView software by authoring their own rules at any time of day, with just a few mouse clicks. For details, view its company news release.

United Guaranty is introducing its MI NOWM mobile phone app-the fastest way to get a rate quote with the benefits of Performance Premium pricing. The free download for iPhones is now available to United Guaranty MI Guideusers at the Apple App store. For more information, visit ugmiguide.com.

United Guaranty's SwiftClose was rolled out effective February 16th. Its new underwriting requirements align with DU and LP, specific to short sales and allowing non occupant co-borrowers. These changes will make it easier to insure loans with United Guaranty as it more closely align with the GSE's. UG's full announcement is available here.

Turning to mortgage rates, which are pretty much set by the mortgage-backed security market, they went up a little on Friday. With all of the marginal economic news in the U.S. it is easy to poke fun at the unemployment data, but nonetheless job growth has, if anything, accelerated this year rather than slow down. Now if only wages would improve (Friday showed a 0.1% decline in hourly earnings in February but January's wage growth was very strong so we're still doing well for 2016).

This week is weak for economic news, and hopefully things are tame overseas so lenders can work on funding those locks! Today and tomorrow are nil although there is a $24 billion 3-year note auction by the Treasury. There isn't much Wednesday either aside from a $20 billion 10-year note auction. Thursday things pick up a little with Initial Jobless Claims and a $12 billion 30-year Treasury auction. Friday we have the February Export Prices ex-agriculture and Import Price ex-oil (08:30 EST). We closed the 10-year at 1.88% Friday.

Jobs and Announcements

In job news, on the IT side of things OpenClose, a leading SaaS-based end-to-end multi-channel LOS provider, reports that as a result of tremendous company growth it has multiple positions available for Software Implementation Specialists/Project Managers to support new customer LOS implementations and training. OpenClose provides a unique, boutique-style, hands-on approach to its LOS implementations, Customer training and post-implementation support. The ideal candidate will have a working knowledge of lending workflows, possess mortgage technology experience, have an understanding of the SaaS model, know industry terminology and be familiar with industry vendors associated with AUS, credit, compliance, flood, etc. This position will participate in updating and creating training manuals and web-based training sessions as needed. OpenClose is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is preferred but not mandatory that new hires work out of WPB office. Click here for the full job description or contact the company directly at Jobs@openclose. com.

"Conventus Lending, an asset-based lending start-up in San Francisco, has a couple wonderful opportunities for very talented individuals to join our team. We are a small team of experienced mortgage professionals looking to create a fast, easy lending platform for property developers, real estate professionals and entrepreneurs. If you are looking for a ground-floor, challenging position in a fast-paced environment, Conventus Lending is looking for you. We are looking for a Senior Loan Processor, a Mortgage Loan Originator and a Mortgage Sales Director. Please contact Tony Sachs for more information."
In journalism school, a professor in an introductory class required us to watch TV with the sound off.

It seemed an odd assignment. Then I started seeing things I hadnt before: subliminal messages, infomercial parlor tricks, the emphasis on womens body parts, often detached from an actual woman.

Turns out, seeing things with only my eyes helped me see through new eyes. I wasnt distracted by the dramatic music and the compelling dialogue. I saw through the tricks and the noise, to the real message.

Today I ask: what would we see if we looked at the medias coverage of Donald Trump through the same lens?

We might see a truth as ugly as the one casually uttered by CBS CEO Leslie Moonves last week.

The circus of a presidential campaign, filled with bomb throwing to keep Americans interested, may not be good for America, but its damn good for CBS, Moonves was quoted saying in a Hollywood Reporter story.

Ive never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us, he said. Sorry. Its a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.

Of course, Moonves is a business executive, not a journalist. But his candor begs the question: Is the zeal with which the media has covered the Manhattan real estate mogul partially to blame for his rise?

Have we been too quick to draw views or clicks on news sites with Trumps latest insult about Mexicans or Muslims? Have we been too slow to take the buffoonish reality TV star seriously?

I think the answer is yes. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I viewed Trump mostly as comic relief, as a great entertainer who was performing some kind of elaborate satire on the political process.

Under the act, I figured, there was a shrewd businessman who, as president, would put fiscal considerations and pragmatic deal-making above ideology and Ted Cruz-style obstructionism.

Then came Super Tuesday. Reality set in. And Republicans began to panic.

Trump, a blowhard birther who has said Sen. John McCain wasnt a war hero because he got caught, who up until Friday supported torture and who wants to open up the libel laws to make it easier to sue media organizations that criticize him, is on a path to victory.

Chasing its tail

The guy America knows mainly from tabloids and TV, who avoids tough questions, brushes over details and has revealed only a shadow of his policy proposals, is getting close to the nuclear codes.

And the media frenzy helped him along. Its not the finest hour for the fourth estate, which is supposed to act as the publics neutral check on power.

There were times when it seemed as if Trump was the only story. He was allowed to hog time on the debate stage. He dominated nightly news coverage on ABC, CBS and NBC. The website Media Matters reported that Fox News alone gave Trump nearly $30 million in free airtime from May 2015 to the end of the year.

At one point, the biggest story in the country wasnt what Trump said in a Fox News debate, but the mere fact he was skipping it.

Recently, Media Matters quoted a list of veteran journalists criticizing coverage of Trumps campaign as everything from pathetic to fawning. Political reporters called out journalists for avoiding hard questions on Trumps biography, including his bankruptcies, for broadcasting full, unedited speeches, for not pressing him on exactly how hell pay for that wall.

One problem, the critics point out, is Trump keeps the media busy with so many offensive and outrageous statements that theres less time to go deep on them.

Its almost as if the press is chasing its tail to catch up on the things that he says, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told Media Matters.

Horse races

Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor, told me coverage of Trumps campaign has been an apt reminder that many news organizations are owned by publicly traded companies and feel pressure to produce profits.

The Trump candidacy has given us a good test, he said.

When theres a candidate many believe is unhealthy for the United States, what does the media do? The media covers him relentlessly.

Michael Schneider, vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs for the Texas Association of Broadcasters, acknowledged the financial pressures on news organizations today, but suggested that Trump has drawn media attention largely because of who he was before he was a candidate.

Its not often you get a reality TV star who announces for the presidency, Schneider said.

He also acknowledged the medias tendency to cover big elections as horse races, with an overemphasis on polls  a habit Trump exploited.

There is good journalism out there, diving deep into Trumps past and calling him on his failures and flip-flops. We saw that in the Fox News debate the other night. We need more.

Meanwhile, its time for those watching the news coverage and reading it to turn down the noise and focus as best they can on the substance.
Sadly, it is hard to expect our country will be better off four years from now.

We have watched too many debates to give us any confidence that those trying to get elected really care about making America better. They, for the most part, just want to get elected.

And getting elected in 2016 appears to be more about running a American Idol campaign than a substantive, issue-oriented campaign.

Yes, this started and has been exacerbated by the Donald J. Trump effect. As Ken Herman so accurately said in a column that appeared in Sundays Reporter-Telegram op-ed page, he is a master at playing to an audience.

He has manipulated the media. He has carved out more free air time, turned the debates into unwatchable debacles and has led other candidates to act like children in an attempt to fight at his level.

Herman is right. We should do away with audiences at debates. We will go one step further. The Republican and Democratic national committees should require debates be based on individual topics rather than the current catch-all formats that leaves us feeling like we have seen the same information over and over.

Still, what does it say about debates that leave us shaking our heads about tone, temperament and content? This isnt about political correctness, opinion about the alleged establishment or fondness for a particular candidate.

This is about getting it right. No one, by what they have seen in a vast majority of the debate coverage, can tell you for sure who would serve our country most capably when it comes to the debt climbing toward $21 billion. No one can say for sure which candidate really would be the best qualified commander and chief for the troops abroad and those returning from war. No one can say who really is on Americans side when it comes to health care, the proper size and role of government, our countrys decaying infrastructure, flailing economy and energy policies.

Why is that? Well, these debates are set up for one-liners and skimming the surface of issues, not holding candidates accountable for their positions.

Maybe most Americans are comfortable electing another leader based on sayings such as hope and change. Maybe we really do prefer the horse race and 140-character campaigns. We would argue it didnt work for the country in 2008 or 2012 and will accelerate the downward spiral America is on right now. Whether its the economy, foreign policy, entitlements, budget deficits, education, immigration and the direction of the Supreme Court, we must demand better of those who participate in the process.

Once that man or woman is in office there isnt the opportunity to vote him or her off the island, and we are not sure what our country might look like four years from now if Americans get another election wrong.
Bobby Brown has cancelled an appearance following the release of daughter Bobbi Kristinas autopsy on what would have been her 23rd birthday (March 4). The show that he cancelled was for the same day as the autopsy release, and Brown used Twitter to clear up any questions as to why he cancelled his concert.

My Gastroenterologist has made the decision to keep me resting for another week, Brown wrote on Twitter. I recently had surgery and the recovery time has taken longer than expected.

I recently had surgery and the recovery time has taken longer than expected.  Bobby Brown (@KingBobbyBrown) March 6, 2016

According to E!, the rapper had been slated to perform at Charleston Jam Fest this past Friday, which was happening at the North Charleston Coliseum & Performing Arts Center. Charleston Jam Fest also featured talents Keith Sweat, Jagged Edge and 112.

Browns next appearance is scheduled in Tampa, Florida for April and will feature Keith Sweat and Jagged Edge as well as H-Town.

After the release of Bobbi Kristinas autopsy Brown released a statement to E! News that read, First and foremost, 23 years ago today, Bobbi Kristina was born. Krissy will always live in my heart and soul. I love my baby girl. For news affiliates to seek and obtain my daughters autopsy report, before anyone has been brought to justice for her death is mind blowing to me. Please pray for my family.

It is rumored that Brown is still struggling with substance abuse following the death of his ex-wife, Whitney Houston, and daughter. While his rep did not explicitly deny that Brown was doing a stint in rehab, he also did not reveal the type of treatment that the 47-year-old was currently receiving in the facility.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
There's no sleeping on The 1975. The British alt-rock band's new album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It has debuted as the No. 1 album in the United States, besting new releases from the likes of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Anthrax.

I Like It When You Sleep... moved 108,000 units in America this week, easily surpassing Adele's 25 album as the best-selling LP of the week. Led by singles "The Sound," "UGH!" and "Love Me," The 1975's sophomore effort sold 98,000 in pure albums, Billboard reports.

The 1975's domination in album sales comes as a bit of a surprise. Grammy-winning rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis also dropped their new album last week, This Unruly Mess I've Made, but their new studio effort failed to resonate with audiences as much as The Heist did. Macklemore's new album debuted at No. 4 with 61,000 units moved and 51,000 pure album sales.

The other major debut in the top 10 this week comes courtesy of hard rockers Anthrax. Their new LP For All Kings started its chart journey at No. 9 with 34,000 units sold.

The three recently released albums on the charts aren't the only big appearances in the top 10 this week. After a stunning performance of "Piece by Piece" on American Idol, Kelly Clarkson's latest album Piece by Piece reemerged into the top 10 this week with a 114 spot jump in position and a 676 percent increase in sales. Piece by Piece moved 44,000 units and landed at No. 6. 19,000 of those copies were pure album sales; the rest of the tally was comprised of streams and single sales of "Piece by Piece."

The other six albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 are familiar ones. Adele's 25 slips down one spot to No. 2 with 74,000 units. She is followed closely by fellow former chart-toppers Rihanna's Anti and Justin Bieber's Purpose, which sits at Nos. 3 and 5, respectively, with 71,000 units and 56,000 units sold.

Other albums in the top 10 include Chris Stapleton's Traveller at No. 7 (43,000 units), Twenty One Pilots' Blurryface at No. 8 (36,000 units) and Joey + Rory's Hymns rounding it all out at No. 10 with 33,000 units moved.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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NWS Monday Weather Map View Photos

Sonora, CA  It is a damp start to the work week, and there are several traffic hazards in the Mother Lode.

In Tuolumne County, the CHP reports that a vehicle has gone off the 8800 block of Merced Falls Road and through a fence near Coronado Drive. No injuries have been reported. There is also a single vehicle accident on J-59 near Bonds Flat Road. No injuries have been reported.

In Calaveras County, a vehicle has hit a tree along Valley View Drive near Pine Lake Drive. There are no injuries. For the latest on school information, click here. As of 6:55am, PG&E reports that there are only two power outages in the region, impacting single customers in Rancho Calaveras and Dorrington.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the Sierra Nevada through 6pm, with snow levels anticipated to range from 3,500 to 5,000 ft. For the latest weather information, click here.
Sonora Opera Hall View Photos

Sonora, CA  Improvements are planned at both Sonora City Hall and the Opera Hall.

On the agenda for tonights Sonora City Council meeting is a proposal to award a contract to Baldwin Construction in the amount of $17,100 to install Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) access improvements at the Green Street entrance on the second floor of City Hall. At the recommendation of an outside consulting group, the city is looking to relocate the handicapped parking space on the second level of the parking structure, add an ADA van accessible space, create an accessible path of travel from these parking spaces, add new ADA signage and make the entrance ADA compliant.

In addition, the Council will vote on a $20,000 contract with the same company to make repairs to the balcony, and east gable, of the Sonora Opera Hall. It is related to problems that have arisen from dry rot.

The Council will also decide whether to send a letter to California state Senator Carol Liu opposing legislation she is proposing related to homelessness. The language of her bill states that it would allow homeless residents the right to use public spaces without discrimination based on their housing status and describe basic human and civil rights that may be exercised without being subject to criminal or civil sanctions, including the right to use and to move freely in public spaces, the right to rest in public spaces and to protect oneself from the elements, the right to eat in any public space in which having food is not prohibited, and the right to perform religious observances in public spaces, as specified.

The citys drafted letter in opposition to Senator Liu would note, The key to getting people off the streets is to provide more shelter. We need resources: permanent housing beds and accompanying social services such as mental health treatment, job training, addiction counseling, etc. Cities and other local agencies need more funding and flexibility to provide these proven programs.

Tonights City Council meeting starts at 5pm at City Hall.
Hundreds got their sweet tooth cravings satisfied and helped out a good cause in Melbourne Sunday afternoon.

The 12th annual Chocolate Festival put on by the Zonta Club took place at the Melbourne Auditorium.

Several local competitors battled for the crown of 'Brevard's Best Chocolate Fix.'

And the winners were:

1st place: Matt's Casbah



2nd place: Yellow Dog Cafe



3rd place: Buena Vida Estates Assisted Living



One of the fundraising event's sponsors is News 13 parent company Bright House Networks.

The Zonta Club of Melbourne works to end violence against women and human trafficking.

All proceeds from the Chocolate Fest go towards their service projects.
An exhibit in Osceola County explores the impact the media had on civil rights in Florida. This compelling assortment of history is a step back in time for many.

The images are engaging. Some are even disturbing. A new exhibit at the Osceola County Welcome Center and History Museum is spotlighting the medias role in shaping and informing people about racial equality in Florida.

Jim Pierro and his wife Gertrude Pierro came out to visit the exhibit. Jim said, We all have red blood. Color doesnt matter. The blood is still red.

Florida was a battleground for civil rights. The Pierros say they re-lived the era.

We lived through this years ago so this is very interesting for us to see again, Gertrude said.

The display shows how many local papers at the time made no mention of the iconic march on Washington in 1963, despite covering other national events.

Its so weird seeing actual news reports about the civil rights movements. And theres one in there that talks about the internet being brand new and imagine reading the newspaper on the internet, said Samantha Coville with the History Museum. So its interesting to see how they thought it would be this weird thing that wouldnt catch on and how now its such a huge part of the entire movement and our everyday life.

The exhibit is also meant to be interactive, it has an iPad so people can log into their social media accounts and post about issues that matter to them.

A conversation that cant be forgotten Pierro says. Civil rights has come a long, long way. It still has a way to go cause there is prejudice here and there. However I hope its not as strong as what it used to be, Pierro added.

The center is open and free to the public from Monday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This exhibit will run through March 31st.
Thousands came to pay their respects to former First Lady Nancy Reagan at her funeral on Friday.



Reagan was buried next to her husband, President Ronald Reagan, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Nancy Reagan died Sunday at 94 on March 6 at her home in Bel-Air, Calif., of congestive heart failure.



Her marriage lasted 52 years until his death in 2004.

A former actress, she was Reagan's closest adviser and fierce protector on his journey from actor to governor of California to president of the United States.



She rushed to his side after he was shot in 1981 by a would-be assassin, and later endured his nearly decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease. In recent years she broke with fellow Republicans in backing stem cell research as a way to possibly find a cure for Alzheimer's.

Data curated by InsideGov

Condolences

Gov. Rick Scott released a statement about Nancy Reagan's death.

"Ann and I join the nation in mourning the loss of Nancy Reagan, former First Lady of the United States and dedicated wife to the late President Ronald Reagan," Gov. Scott said. "Throughout her life, Nancy's incredible commitment to her country and her family did not falter, and she will continue to inspire all of us to live bravely and selflessly. Nancy Reagan made a monumental impact on our nation and I know her legacy will live on, just like her husband's legacy has. Ann and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Reagan family and all those who knew her."

Scott was not alone in expressing his condolences.

"I was privileged on several occasions to spend time with her," former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez said. "Probably the longest time was while I was governor, and this was 1987 when the Pope visited Florida. Had mass down in Miami."
Youve seen them before: vehicles moving too slowly in the left lane. What are the real consequences of this practice?

April from Ormond Beach wants to know this week?

Can you really be ticketed for driving too slow in the left lane on the interstate?

First of all, the answer is "Yes."

If you are driving slowly, you may get a ticket for traveling 10 mph or more below the speed limit in the passing lane, worth in some counties between $160 and $175. In addition, you could receive 3 points on your license.

Recently, the Florida Highway Patrol put together a campaign cracking down on slow left lane drivers. Florida law points out that for the most part, you shouldnt even be in that left lane in the first place.

The way the law works is that you should only be in the left lane of a multi-laned roadway if youre going to pass, FHP Sgt. Kim Montes said. We want people to stay out of that left lane because we want traffic to be consistent with its speeds. It also can create a road rage situation if someone is driving slowly in the left lane.



Doug Gifford visits the Orlando area from Tallahassee, our states capital.

My wife and I usually drive down to Disney World or somewhere, and these people are plugging up the traffic.

He constantly finds himself frustrated by people driving slowly in the left lane.

A lot of times, Ill have to pass them on the right, which is kind of dangerous because the semis are going so fast and other cars, and theyre probably doing 70 or less sometimes in that left lane, Gifford said.

Others are frustrated too, including Tampa resident Will Douglas, who commutes frequently between Tampa and Orlando.

I just dont like when they block and set up a wall pretty much. Thats what I dont like about it, Douglas said.

Many Floridians welcome the effort to educate drivers in FHP's new campaign.

I just think people are oblivious to the laws, and they dont really understand. They should make people be re-educated every couple of years, Douglas said.

And it's music to some peoples ears like Doug Gifford, who finds conditions very unsafe on his frequent commutes to the attractions.

So in order to have a lot smoother flow of traffic, people who are not going fast enough need to move over, Gifford said.

Hope that answers your question, April!

View our Real Time Traffic Map and check cameras on Central Florida's major roads.

If you have a traffic question, Ryan Harper can answer it. Send him your question.
Associated Press Writer

Two days after a car crash that killed five teenagers, Tom Ray hugged his 6-year-old son a little longer and made sure to tell his wife he loved her before he returned Monday to his teaching job at Jack C. Hays High School, the Buda school the teens attended.

"You kind of buck up," a glossy-eyed Ray said. "The idea of being there for the kids and trying to help them is mainly what you, I focus on, at least."

Four current and one former Hays high school students died from injuries they received after their sedan collided with an oncoming pickup when their vehicle swerved to avoid an ice chest in the road Saturday in Mendoza, about 20 miles southeast of Austin.

Three died at the scene and two died Sunday. The students were identified as freshman Dana Jackson, 15; sophomore Ashley Blackwell, 15; sophomore Kenneth Bullard, 15; and senior Debra Green, 18. Former student David Anthony Galindo, 19, the vehicle's driver, also was killed.

A sixth passenger, Jackson's 13-year-old sister, Amanda Jackson of Coldspring, remained in good condition Monday at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, a hospital spokeswoman said. The pickup's driver, Mary Sewalt Ledwik, 63, of Lolita, was in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Officials let students and teachers grieve Monday. A flag outside the Buda school was at half-staff. Officials called in substitute teachers to provide support to the full-time teachers and set up a room for students to gather. Counselors and about eight ministers from the area were on hand. Teachers and counselors talked to students about the crash.

Reporters were not allowed on campus to talk to students but several school officials gathered at the district's administration office in Kyle to talk.

"I've been in this business for a long time and I've never experienced a tragedy of this magnitude, where you've lost five students in one single event," Hays Consolidated I.S.D. Superintendent Kirk London said. "Anytime you lose a student, it's a tremendous tragedy but to lose five in one event, one tragic accident, really does make this a horrific tragedy that we have to deal with. We will be dealing with it for a long time."

After school Monday, about 75 students gathered at the accident site, bringing flowers, teddy bears, poems and crosses to the spot where broken glass still littered the ground. Some wept. Others expressed anger about the ice chest that had been left sitting in the road, The Austin American-Statesman reported in its Tuesday editions.

The accident occurred at 11:51 a.m. Saturday, when the teens were traveling in a Toyota on U.S. 183 near Texas 21. Galindo swerved to miss an ice chest that had fallen from a boat trailer.

The Toyota crossed the center lane and collided with Ledwik's oncoming Ford pickup, hitting it on the passenger side, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger.

No charges or citations have been filed against the driver of the boat trailer, who stopped at the accident scene, Vinger said. There was no evidence of drug or alcohol use.

Troopers plan to conduct a reconstruction of the accident, Vinger said.

Ray said Blackwell and Bullard were in his second-period world history class and he described Blackwell as vivacious, opinionated and patriotic. Bullard was quiet in class but popular with his friends, Ray said.

"Ashley considered (Bullard) to be her brother and that's her words," Ray said. "They were really good kids. I am going to miss them and our class will miss them."

High school counselor Mary Etheredge wore purple and white ribbons pinned to her blouse in memory of Green, whose favorite color was purple. Etheredge said Green was involved in an early childhood class that worked with kindergarten classes.

Etheredge described Galindo as energetic and mischievous.

The student government already has started collecting money to be donated to the families of the five teens.

___

On the Net:

http://www.hcisd.com/
Last month, he made his bid official. Now, John Hopkins would like to introduce himself as one of the four candidates vying to be Plainview's mayor.

"I want to see Plainview prosper, I want to see the people of Plainview prosper, and I know I don't have all the answers but I know a God that does and I am not afraid to ask," Hopkins said.

Hopkins is running for the mayoral seat against incumbent Wendell Dunlap, Precinct 6 councilmember Lionel A. Garcia and Plainview ISD teacher Michael Varner.

Hopkins said he grew up in San Bernardino, Calif.

At the age of 19, Hopkins enlisted in the United States Army and served as a military police officer from March 1986 to September 1988, until he was discharged under the sole parent rule.

Hopkins then attended business college in California from 1991-92.

"I have worked for various industries and businesses," Hopkins said.

"I came to the great state of Texas because I had transferred with Wal-Mart stores as an assistant manager at the Plainview Wal-Mart in 2001."

Hopkins now works for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a lieutenant of corrections at the T.L. Roach Unit in Childress.

He has have been employed with TDCJ for about 4 1/2 years, and was in retail management for more than 15 years before that.

"I am married to a wonderful, beautiful and godly woman, I am truly blessed. I have eight children ranging from ages 12 to 29," Hopkins said.

"We attend Faith Christian Fellowship with Pastors Marcus and Yvonne Flores which is on the corner of Fifth and Broadway, we are also leaders there. More importantly about myself; I am a man of God, I believe God still heals, I believe God wants us to be blessed to be a blessing, I believe Jesus died for me and that I have eternal salvation and I believe God loves everyone. I believe if we want things to change we need to get more involved instead of just complaining about it. Faith without works is dead. I am stepping out doing what I believe I am being called to do. God Bless."

Early voting runs from April 25 to May 3 for City and PISD school board positions. Election Day is May 7.
It was no surprise to see the original Toyota Prius v praised for high reliability in J.D. Power's latest study. But some of the other results were very surprising. Image source: Toyota.

Last week, J.D. Power released the latest edition of its influential and widely watched Vehicle Dependability Study. The VDS, as it's called in the industry, asks consumers who have owned a vehicle since it was new to report any problems that showed up in the third year of their vehicle's life. It then aggregates the data to draw conclusions about which models -- and which brands -- have the fewest problems.

Keeping in mind that the study looked at 2013-model-year vehicles, some of its results weren't very surprising. Toyota near the top? Ho-hum. Fiat Chrysler's brands near the bottom? Sadly, that's no surprise either.

But a few of the other results in the latest edition of the VDS were big eye-openers. We asked three Foolish contributors to weigh in with the ones that caught their attention.

Rich Smith

Maybe I'm being naive, but the biggest surprise for me in J.D. Power's VDS report was Ford's shocking fall from grace -- all the way down to a second-to-last finish in the rankings.

Just eight years ago, a Great Recession that swallowed up General Motors in bankruptcy proceedings seemed to give Ford a huge lead over its U.S. rivals. GM took a government bailout, becoming, in effect, Government Motors. Ford, however, charted its own course, made payments on its debts, and continued investing in product development.

As recently as four years ago, that investment was still paying off for Ford, lifting the automaker above the "average" mark on J.D. Power's 2012 report, and racing ahead of such perpetual quality powerhouses as Honda and its Acura luxury brand.

Sure, Ford's rating has slipped in recent years, falling below "average" in 2013, and further and further below in subsequent years. But I never expected things to get so bad that Ford would actually be neck and neck with Dodge, in a race to the bottom of the rankings, or to achieve a worse ranking than Fiat or Smart!

My, how times have changed.

Land Rover at the L.A. Auto Show. Image Source: Tata Motors.

Daniel Miller

Ah, how quickly America's love affair with SUVs returned as soon as fuel economy became an important feature and selling factor. Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors , is taking advantage of America's love affair with SUVs, especially with high-priced versions of those SUVs, and was one of the fastest-growing brands in the U.S. last year. Land Rover has posted four consecutive years of sales growth in the U.S. and sold more vehicles in 2015 than it has in any year going back to at least 2002.

However, the brand's performance in J.D. Power's U.S. VDS surprised me -- and not in a good way.

First, it was no surprise to see Lexus atop the list yet again. It also didn't surprise me to see Porsche right behind in the No. 2 spot. Nor did Lincoln's, Audi's, Mercedes-Benz's, BMW's, or Cadillac's spot above the industry average surprise me in the least. That's because these are luxury brands, and when you pay a premium for such a vehicle you expect a higher-quality product with fewer problems.

What did surprise me was that Land Rover bucked the trend of luxury brands, scoring well lower than the industry average. In fact, Land Rover placed horribly low, with 198 problems per 100 vehicles, fourth from the bottom. Land Rover was in fact the only true luxury brand to place below the industry average. It was surprising to find any luxury brand scoring below the industry average, but for it to score so low was fairly shocking.

However, investors and consumers should keep in mind that small issues with technology or infotainment systems can send these scores plummeting, and it's unclear if the Land Rover brand scored so low due to issues like that or more serious engine and/or transmission issues.

I agree with Rich that it was somewhat surprising to see Ford drop in the rankings. But to my eye, the real surprise, at least for those who don't follow the industry closely, was General Motors' outstanding performance.

Folks, GM arguably beat Toyota -- in a quality study. At worst, it was roughly a tie. This is serious. And it's not the first time that post-bankruptcy GM has pulled off an impressive showing in these studies.

Something very big and important has changed at General Motors. Look at the chart above. All four of GM's U.S. brands were above average. And GM vehicles won eight of the individual segment awards. Toyota only managed six.

The top-ranked small SUV in the latest Vehicle Dependability Study wasn't a Toyota or a Honda. It was GM's hot-selling Buick Encore. Image source: General Motors.

GM took a lot of flak for the 2009 bailout. But that trip through bankruptcy court and the big management changes that followed have led to some very good things for the General, things that it had arguably needed for decades. Today's GM has fewer (but busier) factories, a more streamlined global product portfolio, product-development goals and processes that have been completely rethought, and a management team that is focused on quality and return on investment rather than on meaningless market-share targets.

It's easy to talk a good game in the auto business, and some of GM's rivals do that very well. But under CEO Mary Barra, GM has adopted an approach of being careful about what it promises -- and then delivering on, or exceeding, its promises in dramatic fashion.

This is one of those things. It's not a fluke. GM's current crop of vehicles can compete head-on with any rival in the world, on any metric -- including with Toyota on quality.

Unfortunately for GM, it takes a long time to move past consumers' memories of the bad old days when GM's quality lagged its import-brand rivals. That has started to change -- GM's discounts are way down and its profit margins are way up -- but it'll take time to fully realize the benefits of the huge strides in quality that the company has made in the last few years.

For investors, that might be good news: There's still time to get in on this story.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity

The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

The article 3 Shocking Surprises From J.D. Power's Latest Vehicle Dependability Survey originally appeared on Fool.com.

Copyright  1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Macs don't meet the recommended system requirements for Oculus Rift. Image source: Oculus VR.

By the looks of it, virtual reality has the potential to be the next big thing. Facebook took the lead with its $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR a couple years back, but all of the other major players are investing in research in this burgeoning field. That includes Apple , who has hired VR researchers and is reportedly working on a VR headset prototype.

But it looks like Oculus Rift may never come to the Mac.

Them's fightin' words

That's the implication of some comments that Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey made at a recent Microsoft Xbox event. When asked if Rift will ever come to the Mac, Luckey told Shacknews:

That is up to Apple. If they ever release a good computer, we will do it. It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn't prioritize high-end GPUs. You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top-of-the-line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn't match our recommended specs. So if they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we'd love to support Mac. But right now, there's just not a single machine out there that supports it.

Ouch.

Feeling lucky?

However, Luckey's statements have a lot of truth to them. It's true that Apple has never put a lot of emphasis on high-end GPUs intended for gaming. OS X is simply not a good gaming platform compared with Windows. Any PC gamer can tell you that. And since Macs are sold as complete packages and only get more integrated over time, it's very difficult (if not impossible) to swap out graphics cards or other components after the fact. Most of the Oculus-ready PCs that Oculus VR refers users to start at $950 to $1,000.

We should all believe that Apple is indeed working on VR/AR because the company explores all sorts of technologies without publicly acknowledging them, it has related patent filings going back at least a decade, and the company has scooped up a handful of VR/AR start-ups. Yet, if Apple is indeed working on its own VR headset, does that mean the Mac maker will eventually need to start emphasizing high-end GPUs?

Not necessarily.

Better never than late?

Right now, VR/AR will be clearly positioned to the niche of gaming enthusiasts who are willing to pay higher prices to adopt the technology early on. But the broader goal for all companies researching VR, including Facebook, is mainstream use and practical applications. For example, Mark Zuckerberg has described a vision of going to see a doctor using VR, among other possibilities.

Mainstream applications won't require the type of beefy GPUs that high-end 3D games need to deliver an immersive experience. An early examplewas when Samsung made it possible for an Australian man to attend his baby's birth through VR from 2,500 miles away. That's where livestreaming technology and advanced 360-degree cameras come in.

It's entirely possible that these types of mainstream applications are what Apple is pursuing, since these are the use cases that are more likely to impact the average consumer's daily lives. Beyond casual mobile gaming, Apple has never been big on PC gaming, and it doesn't have to.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity

The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

The article Don't Expect Facebook's Oculus Rift on Your Mac Anytime Soon originally appeared on Fool.com.

Copyright  1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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9 things Jennifer Lawrence did to get the body she has now
More than 1,000 chefs throughout the world are cooking a special dinner to celebrate the glories of French cuisine, and Damien Watel of Chez Vatel Bistro, 218 E. Olmos Drive, is among them.

He's the only chef in San Antonio participating in Gout de France, or Taste of France, on March 21.
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New photos show the dilapidated North Texas home where more than 100 cats were recently discovered and seized by authorities.

The photos, shared with mySA.com by the Humane Society of North Texas, show the neglected felines crammed into every square inch of the 1,100-square-foot home, which is owned by a 56-year-old woman.

The Fort Worth-based animal group has been granted custody of the 108 cats that were seized from the home on Feb. 25.

SEE ALSO: New photos show inside of home where 57 cats were removed in San Antonio

Vernon police Sgt. Wayne Hodges described the condition of the home as "deplorable." He said two of the home's bedrooms had been blocked off from the cats, leaving them crammed in about an 800-square-foot space. An open dining area served as a litter box, he said.

The cats are being held at a quarantine facility in Crowley, near Fort Worth. Vernon, a city of about 11,000, is about 160 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

RELATED: Officials: More than 100 animals seized from West Side San Antonio home

Hodges said animal control officers had been trying to work with the cat's owner after complaints first surfaced a few years ago that the now 56-year-old woman was hoarding cats. At that time, Hodges said, the cats numbered around 20 to 30.

Eventually, he said, officials reached out to the Humane Society of North Texas.

"It finally just came to a head that we had to do something," Hodges said.

SEE MORE: Eerie photos show abandoned Costa Concordia cruise ship years after deadly disaster

Most of the cats had parasitic infestations and respiratory infections. Five have been preliminarily diagnosed with feline leukemia virus or feline immunodeficiency virus  life-threatening conditions that, if confirmed, will require the animals to be euthanized.

Whitney Hanson, humane society spokeswoman, said while many cats of hoarders cannot be adopted out because of a lack of socialization with humans, those seized in Vernon are "very, very social." She said her group will work to find them new homes once the cats recuperate and are spayed and neutered.

RELATED: Photos show desolate, abandoned Six Flags New Orleans 10 years after Hurricane Katrina

"Provided we can ensure they're healthy, all but those five, we are very confident will find a great home," Hanson said.

Hodges said it has not yet been decided if authorities will seek animal-cruelty charges against the woman.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kparker@mysa.com

Twitter: @KoltenParker
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Law enforcement officers believed they once caught the hooded killer behind a murder spree in Texarkana that left five people dead in 1946, but the suspect got off on a technicality.

70 years later, the case remains unsolved.

RELATED: Ex-priest arrested in connection with 1960 killing of McAllen beauty queen

A total of five people were killed in a series of seemingly random attacks in 1946 dubbed the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" by the press. Another three were injured.

Investigators in Texarkana believed the attacks were all perpetrated by the same person, apparently wearing some kind of hood with holes cut out of it.

RELATED: Parole decision issued for suspected serial killer of babies

On Feb. 22, 1946, a man assaulted Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey, sending Hollis into a coma and sexually assaulting Larey with a gun barrel.

The New York Daily News reported that Larey and Hollis, however, had discrepancies in how they described their attacker, leading to confusion for law enforcement.

Roughly one month later, Richard Griffin, 29, and Polly Ann Moore, 17, were found dead with bullet wounds in the back of their heads.

In April 1946, police found the bodies of Paul Martin, 16, and Betty Jo Booker, 15  Martin with four bullet wounds and Booker with bullet wounds in her head and heart, according to The New York Daily News.

Then, on May 3, Virgil Starks, 37, was killed in his living room when he was shot twice in the head through the window. His wife Katie Starks was shot twice in the face, but survived.

RELATED: 'Batman' killer studied brain disorders before mass murder

The killings caused a frenzy in the town bordering Texas and Arkansas: Getty Images archives show that citizens in the town kept lights on and weapons at the ready in case they encountered the so-called "Phantom Killer."

The Texarkana Gazette even published its first spot-colored photograph to print a color rendering of a flashlight found at the scene of the Starks shooting.

RELATED: A look back at weapons used as evidence in San Antonio murder cases

It has long been speculated that Youell Lee Swinney, then a 29-year-old man from Arkansas, was behind the killings.

Police caught Youell Lee Swinney about two weeks after they arrested his wife Peggy Stevens Swinney for driving a stolen car on June 28, 1946, according to The New York Daily News.

The newly married couple made a habit of stealing cars, the newspaper reported.

When police arrested him on a car theft charge, Youell Lee Swinney apparently asked, "Will they give me the chair?"

Peggy Swinney had told police that she witnessed one of the killings, but later did not testify in court because she would've been compelled to testify against her husband.

The suspect was never charged in any of the murders, as his wife refused to testify and evidence was otherwise too thin.

RELATED: Suspected serial killer slain by escort got speeding ticket in North Texas 2 weeks prior to death

James Presley told Texas Monthly that his uncle Bowie County Sheriff Bill Presley and other investigators on the case never stopped believing that Youell Swinney, who died in 1994, committed the killings.

"I recall my father saying during that summer of 1946, 'I saw Bill today, and he said we could relax now. They've caught the guy who did it. He's an ex-convict. But don't say anything about it to anyone,' " James Presley told Texas Monthly.

James Presley penned the 2014 book "The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: A Story of a Town in Terror," which detailed the case.

"He died before I started writing this book," Presley told Texas Monthly. "But I daresay he and every lawman who worked this case never quit mulling the story over and over in hopes of turning up the hard evidence that could have convicted Swinney of the murders."

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
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SAN ANTONIO  If you've got a warrant, you've got problems.

The San Antonio Police Department joined more than 350 state law enforcement agencies Monday for the enforcement phase of the 10th-annual Great Texas Warrant Roundup.

For the next five days, 12 SAPD officers will scour the city for anyone with an outstanding municipal court warrant and give them them option to pay up or go to jail.

LAST YEAR'S ROUNDUP: San Antonio-area law enforcement kicks off warrant roundup

SAPD Chief William McManus said tens of thousands of people in the city have outstanding warrants.

In the last week alone, more than 17,000 of those warrants have been cleared.

SAPD Officer Monico Meneses has participated in the roundup for seven years.

"There was one person I pulled over who had 28 warrants for his arrest," Meneses said. "Usually it's more of a surprise. It's just people's procrastination."

George Botello, 47, was first person Meneses pulled over on Monday.

RELATED: Task force nabs 36 violent fugitives in San Antonio

Botello said he was released from prison in January after a six-year stint, and had tickets from 2010 that were still outstanding.

"I've got to get this cleared up anyway. One way or another, this had to happen," he said.

Individuals with more if you're still encouraged to take care of them on their own avoid an unexpected trip to the jail.

Meneses said police will also go to homes and place of business to pick people up.

mdwilson@express-news.net

Twitter: @MDWilsonSA
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A map of Bexar Countys primary election turnout shows where San Antonio residents generally stand on politics: areas outside Loop 410 are home to mostly Republican primary voters while regions inside the loop have a higher concentration of Democrats.

With the exceptions of neighborhoods near Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Fort Sam Houston and Lackland Air Force Base, precincts inside Loop 410 had more Democratic than Republican votes during the 2016 primary election, according to data obtained by the Express-News.

Precincts with 25 percent or more turnout in the Democratic primary include neighborhoods in Midtown, Southtown and north of Monticello Park.

RELATED: As Trump dominates Super Tuesday, Cruz hangs on to Texas and Oklahoma

On the other hand, affluent communities like Terrell Hills, Olmos Park, Hollywood Park, Hill Country Village, Shavano Park and Fair Oaks Ranch had the greatest amount of Republican voters in Bexar Country.

When the counting ended around 2 a.m. on Super Tuesday, nearly 250,000 ballots were recorded  131,184 cast Tuesday and 117,459 in the 11-day early voting period  for a 25 percent turnout among Bexars 976,842 registered voters.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz received 40.8 percent of Bexar Countys Republican votes, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 66.84 percent of the countys Democratic votes, according to the election results.

Those results are close to Texas' statewide primary outcome: Cruz won 43.7 percent of the state's Republican votes and Clinton won 65.2 percent of the state's Democratic votes.

Because Texas has an open primary, voters aren't required to register with a party to vote in its primary. Voters are only allowed to vote in one party's primary each election and can change back and forth each cycle, if desired.

RELATED: Clinton easily takes Texas

In Bexar County, the Republican primary drew 132,850 people, surpassing total ballots in similar elections in 2008 (69,994) and 2012 (65,455).

The Democrats tally of 115,793 votes far exceeded the 2012 turnout of 42,433, but was barely half of the watershed 2008 presidential primary, when 205,022 chose between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The map above shows how each of Bexar Countys 712 precincts voted. Precincts highlighted in red represent those with the majority of Republican votes, and precincts in blue represent those with the majority of Democratic votes.

Move through the slideshow to see the map highlight the Bexar County precincts with the biggest Republican and Democratic turnouts, according to election data.

Staff writer John W. Gonzalez contributed to this report.

rsalinas@mysa.com
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Mexican drug cartels are like the mythological hydra: cut off one head and two more take its place.

RELATED: Why 'El Chapo's' beauty queen wife says she is 'afraid for his life'

Such is the case with the Sinaloa Cartel, whose leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was arrested in January after breaking out of a maximum-security prison near Mexico City in July 2015.

Guzman's prison stints and flights from law enforcement officers and the Mexican military have led to questions regarding who is directly in charge of the cartel's operations.

Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho told Telemundo in February that two of Guzman's sons "have controlled the cartel for many years, and the government knows this."

RELATED: Leader, co-founder of Mexican drug cartel Beltran Leyva pleads guilty to U.S. conspiracy charges

However, the brothers are believed to be active on social media, posting photos to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook flaunting their wealth and possessions.

In the past, this has led some cartel watchers to speculate whether members of the criminal organization would deem the brothers competent and sly enough to run the Sinaloa cartel.

"They're not as cunning," Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations, previously told mySA.com. "They're not as astute as the older generation who try to keep a low profile. They didn't flaunt the wealth because they knew that, by doing so, they would become high-value targets."

RELATED: 3 men arrested in connection with killing of 7-month-old baby, family in Mexico drug gang shootout

Guzman's lawyer says the drug lord is now seeking extradition to the United States, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Guzman wants to escape harsh conditions he says he has faced in prison, including sleep deprivation by prison guards.

Meanwhile, there are Sinaloa cartel veterans who may be pulling the strings on the notorious criminal organization.

Scroll through the slideshow to see the six men who could potentially replace Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman as the head of the Sinaloa cartel.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
SAN ANTONIO  National Weather Service forecasters are calling for rainfall all week in San Antonio, including chances for severe showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its going to stay wet all week, said NWS meteorologist Cory Van Pelt. The main event will be (Tuesday) afternoon through Wednesday morning.
Re: Council should respect religious, nonreligious, Eric Lane, Other Views, Feb 25:

Eric Lane points to one of the strongest arguments against religious invocations at City Council meetings: They are inherently discriminatory and exclusionary. Those with a generalized appeal to a higher power offend the nonreligious. Those that specifically invoke Jesus Christ offend Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and other non-Christians.

San Antonio includes a variety of people of faith and nonfaith, and citizens waiting to plead their case before the council. They expect to have their concerns heard without consideration of their personal beliefs. They should not feel intimidated by the preacher of the day.

In addition, such public expressions are inappropriate in this context. A City Council session is a civic meeting, not a church service. A religious invocation serves no civic purpose. If individual council members must consult with a higher power, they could do so in private.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself admonished his followers not to pray in public.

Seems like good advice to me.

Nick Lee

Bad mix

Sen. Ted Cruz openly campaigns with Jesus as his savior. This mixing of religion and politics is dangerous leadership.

The doctrine of separation of church and state has a long history. Judging from his bold evangelism on the campaign trail, this doctrine would be violated if the senator won the election.

About 35 years ago, this country witnessed the peril of a president who failed to uphold the separation of church and state. Jimmy Carter was so overwrought with his religious beliefs that he became impotent in dealing with Iran, which held 66 American citizens hostage for 444 days. The release of the hostages did not occur until Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the next president.

Religion by itself may make a good person, but by itself it makes a poor president.

Ken Crockett, Austin

Art of compromise

People who rant about party roadblocks do not seem to understand what politics is all about. If you agree with a political position, you want your party to approve it. If you disagree, you want your party to oppose it. The trick is to make positions palatable to the most people so it can pass. This is called compromise.

For goodness sake, this is politics, not religion. When politics become religion, we have Iran, Iraq, etc. I do not want to live under anyone elses religion.

Penelope Talley

Gloomy forecast

Re: The perverse, brilliant strategy of Trump, Lionel Sosa, Another View, Feb. 26:

Lionel Sosa contributed insightful criticism about Donald Trump. Unfortunately, his remarks expressed an attitude that has crippled the GOP: If he wins, hell have to do it without the vote of this lifelong Republican.

Democrats will vote for their party regardless of the candidate, while Republicans would rather be right than president a la Barry Goldwater.

Mr. Sosas friend, Lou Agnese, should make a prediction of the future if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is elected.

William E. Patterson

Another narcissist?

I realize your editorial position is designed to deny victory to Ted Cruz in the upcoming general election. This will most likely result in the nomination of Donald Trump.

Do you really want to put another lying, arrogant, narcissist in the White House? Isnt eight years of that type of president enough?

Sam Shelton, Spring Branch

No lesser evil

Edmund Burke, an English politician, said over two centuries ago, Constitute government how you please, infinitely the greater part of it must depend upon the exercise of the powers which are left at large to the prudence and uprightness of ministers of state.

Stated differently, the personal character (prudence and uprightness) of those we entrust with our government matters greatly, perhaps even more than what kinds of government institutions we have.

Second, a political writer, Jay Nordlinger, said recently, We are a nation of 300 million people. The two front-runners are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It would be hard for me to think of two people less suited to the presidency in mind and character  especially character  than those two. But, in a democracy, the people get their way. And elections tell us a lot more about us than about the candidates.

Unfortunately, we may wind up with one of these two as the U.S. president.

John K. Landry, New Braunfels

Retire the pundit

Re: U.S. interests reeling worldwide, Charles Krauthammer, Other Views, Feb. 27:

Mr. Krauthammer states, The international order built over decades by the United States is crumbling.

He no doubt refers to the declining imperialism of the U.S. that began with the land-hungry hordes of Manifest Destiny stealing much of North America from Mexico. Later, in the shameful guise of protecting American interests, we seized the Hawaiian Islands. The failed wars in Vietnam, Iran and Afghanistan have put a check on this geopolitical march, and Russia, China and Iran have taken note.

For decades, we have violated the sovereignty of other countries. Our leaders in Washington need to change their mindset, so that we become, with our military might, a nation of mediation and peace, developing and policing a real world order.

I usually vote Democratic but, lately, I find myself wishing for a Republican president so Charles Krauthammer will have nothing to write about and retire.

George Farias

Crux of the problem

The Chicago Tribune reports that more than 100 shooting deaths have occurred in the city this year and that the toll this February is twice that of last February.

Remember: Gun control works and black lives matter.

Wake up, America, and deal with the root cause of the problem.

Mike Colley, Universal City
WASHINGTON  The Merchants Payments Coalition, of which NACS is a founding member, applauds legislation in Canada that would reform the way banks charge retailers hidden fees every time a customer swipes a credit card at checkout, similar to successful reforms in the European Union and Australia.

A Canadian lawmaker recently introduced legislation to set credit card swipe fees at 0.3% of the purchase amount. Proponents say it will save Canadian consumers and merchants billions of dollars and energize the economy. The European Union implemented similar reforms last year to bring competition and transparency to its market.

American merchants pay the highest swipe fees of all the developed countriesup to 4% in credit-card swipe fees, or $4 for every $100 spent. Thats a 10,000% profit margin, since the transaction costs the bank only a few cents. These exorbitant fees raise prices of everything consumers buy, even if they dont use a card, and hurt the poorest consumers most.

The Merchants Payments Coalition urges Congress to consider the swipe fee reforms implemented in Australia and the European Union, and now introduced in Canada, as examples to consider in the United States.

The Merchants Payments Coalition includes restaurants, retailers, supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, fuel stations, online merchants and other businesses fighting unfair credit card fees and advocating a more competitive and transparent card system that works better for consumers and merchants alike. The coalitions member associations collectively represent about 2.7 million stores with approximately 50 million employees.
Considered the successor to last years Oppo R7, the Oppo R9 is a soon-to-be-unveiled smartphone that boasts high-end specs, but one that will likely not command high-end price.

Where to Buy Mobile Phones Jumia.com.ngfrom 14,995.00 Buy Now

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It is speculated that the 5.5-inch smartphone will be launched along side a bigger variant, the Oppo R9 Plus with a 6-inch display.

The behemoth, which may also be seen as a replacement flagship for the popular Find 7 from nearly two years ago, is expected to feature QHD display, heavy-duty cameras and latest, top-end Qualcomm processor. Heres the much we have gathered about the Oppo R9 at this time.

Design and Display

Teasers from Oppo reveal the R9 will be an attractively svelte device. One of the images released shows the handset has a metal body with gold finish and curved edges.

Oppo R9 is expected to pack a 6-inch capacitive touchscreen with a jaw-dropping resolution of 2,560 x 1,400 pixels. With a high pixel density closing in on 500 ppi, this display promises awesome movie watching and gaming experience.

The Camera

Available information suggests the Oppo R9 will be a camera-focused phablet. It is expected to pack a humongous 21-megapixel sensor from Sony on the rear. This will have phase detection autofocus, LED flash and 2K (2,160p) video recording capability.

The powerful primary shooter is complemented by a very robust 13-megapixel front-facing snapper. Selfie lovers should expect to get well served by this unit, at least on paper.

Hardware and Software

Rumours have it that the Oppo R9 will be driven by top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which runs along at speeds of up to 2.15 GHz and is paired with an Adreno 530 GPU.

The sturdy CPU will be provided strong backing by ample 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM. Onboard storage capacity is abundant at 64 GB and this can be expanded with a microSD card. Oppos Color OS based on latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow will provide the platform for the R9 to run on.

Other Features

The Oppo R9 will come with a large 3,700mAh Li-Polymer battery. It is being said this powerful juicer may support the Chinese companys new Super VOOC fast charging technology announced at MWC 2016. This lightning-fast technology will supposedly get you a full charge in just 15 minutes!

The dual-SIM phablet will support 4G LTE connectivity. Buyers will also get Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot for wireless connectivity. The Oppo R9 will expectedly feature a fingerprint scanner as well.

Pricing & Availability

The Oppo R9 and Oppo R9 Plus will be launched on March 17, 2016. There is no word yet on pricing for the two devices.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Readers, whenever I put on my yellow waders and post on Clinton it takes longer than I expect; so Im putting up stats now, and Ill return in short order with lots more!

UPDATE 3:30PM Now revised. Sorry again for the delay.

TPP/TTiP/TISA

The controversial TPP trade deal in two minutes [CNN]. Sigh. Its not a trade deal. Heres how they frame ISDS:  10) The deal allows companies and countries to challenge another nations laws and rules that have the effect of limiting overseas companies from competing in their market. But U.S. critics say that could allow foreign companies to use the agreement to invalidate U.S. safety rules and regulations. Note that left and right frame ISDS as a surrender of national sovereignty.

2016

Republican Debate

They ought to run a crawl along the bottom of the screen, [saying] This is NOT a debate for junior high school class president, Mr Springer told the Financial Times [ Financial Times , Trump show too juvenile for Jerry Springer]. O tempora! O mores!

Money

Yes I believe Hillary will fight the prison industrial complex and the factory farming industry Despite taking their money

The Voters

@D_Born @BernieSanders Super delegates don't "represent people" I'm not elected by anyone. I'll do what I think is right for the country

The Flint Debate

All you had to do was watch Sunday nights debate in Flint, Michigan, to realize Sanders isnt nearly ready to quit [Politico]. And you know that if Clinton had won, thats what would have been splashed over Politicos home page, and all the other Acela riders, too.

Testy debate suggests Clinton and Sanders battle will continue [McClatchy]. Well, that and what Sanders has said, and continuing support from his coalition, as measured by contributions, which means he can tell the DNC to take a hike.

Clinton said again she would release the transcripts only if all other candidates who have given paid speeches did. She also said that she stood up to Wall Street. I have a record, she said. And you know what, if you were going to be in some way distrusted or dismissed about whether you can take on Wall Street if you ever took money, President Obama took more money from Wall Street in the 2008 campaign than anybody ever had. Sanders quipped: Secretary Clinton wants everybody else to release it, well, Im your Democratic opponent, I release it, here it is. There aint nothing. I dont give speeches to Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars, you got it.

I dont have to tell NC readers how weak that quip is. (And Clintons effrontery really is boundless, isnt it? Then again, Russell Simmons agrees with her.)

The Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders clash over the auto bailout, explained [WaPo]. This is classic:

I voted to save the auto industry, [Clinton] said. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference. What Clinton said is technically true, but it glosses over a lot of important nuance, including the fact that Sanders is actually on the record as supporting the auto bailout. He even voted for it. So techically true means false, thenk? Its a topsy-turvey world! (Even leaving aside the idea that a died-on-the-wool Socialist would do such a thing.)

The Trail

Clinton insiders are eager to begin recruiting to their cause Republicans turned off by the prospect of Donald Trump  and the threat of Sanders sticking it out until June makes the general election pivot more difficult [Politico]. I have long held that Clinton does not want Sanders voters, and now I am confirmed in my view. Clinton wants moderate Republicans instead, for reasons temparamental (Goldwater Girl), financial (ka-ching), and institutional. Socialism and liberalism do not mix (even Sanders mild version of it). In addition, the Democratic establishment refuses to recognize that Sanders has broken their squillionaire-dependent funding model, and in consequence has gleefully stomped on youth voters (who needs em, anyhow?). It really is time for Sanders to start thinking about converting his campaign into a standalone entity that will continue beyond the election. Whats wrong with SFA (Socialists for America?) Clinton must make Elizabeth Warren her vice president [Dana Milbank, WaPo]. Ugh. Over the next two weeks, Sanders campaign surrogates  and, in some cases, the candidate  will meet with local activists. The campaign has employed this strategy before, but surrogates and aides said now it will be more publicized. Sanders, according to two sources briefed on the campaigns plans, will also be more specific about economic inequality and its effect on black communities in his stump speech [Buzzfeed]. Right now, when you look at the political revolution  it needs to be more intersectional , and his economic proposals need to be more more explicit on the ground and publicly, the activist [who wasnt authorized to speak for their organization] said. The Clintons will exploit that. When hes talking about it, hell give specific examples on the stump in ways he hasnt before, is my understanding. We discuss intersectionality today. Note especially Appendix 1, where the Sanders sites Racial Justice page is presented as a model. The Seattle Times editorial board recommends John Kasich, Bernie Sanders [Seattle Times]. Andrea Mitchell Pulls the Mask Off Harry Reid [Down with Tyranny]. How the neutral Reid delivered Nevada to Clinton. Hillary Calls for Michigan Govs Resignation an Hour After Her Spox Slammed Bernie for Same [Mediaite]. Send in the bots! There have to be bots! This could be the last time [Avedons Sidehow]. An excellent wrap-up of commentary on Super Tuesday. Mark Zuckerbergs $100 million donation to Newark public schools failed miserably  heres where it went wrong [Business Insider]. Maybe somebody should ask Cory Booker, before his VP aspirations become embarassingly open? New York: On the Democratic side, Clinton had a 21-percentage point lead over Bernie Sanders, 55% to 34%, the same as it was a month ago, the [Siena] poll found [USA Today]. Sanders position on fracking will help him, but only upstate. Was Sanders pragmatic enough to offer Sharpton a suitcase full of cash?

Supreme Court Trench Warfare Watch

Here are judges the White House is considering for the Supreme Court [WaPo]. All acceptable to Republicans, none with a paper trail.

Stats Watch

Labor Market Conditions Index, February 2016: The labor market conditions index, which is a broad composite of 19 separate indicators, fell back to minus 2.4 in February vs a downward revised minus 0.8 percent in January [Econoday]. Strength tied to payroll growth or the gain in the labor force participation rate are being offset by Februarys drop in average hourly earnings and the decline in temporary help payrolls as well as declines in non-government data such as the jobs-hard-to-get subcomponent of the consumer confidence report or the jobs-hard-to-fill component of the small business optimism index. These results are a surprise [no they arent] and offer a different look at the labor market, one that would confirm expectations for no action at next weeks FOMC meeting.

Employment Trends: The Conference Boards Employment Trends Index  which forecasts employment for the next 6 months declined suggesting that the rapid job growth in recent months is likely to slow down' [Econoday]. Just in time for the election!

Gallup US Consumer Spending Measure, February 2016: Americans daily self-reports of spending increased slightly [Econoday].

Bonds: The worlds biggest bond investors are leaving themselves with almost no room for error [Bloomberg]. More than $2.5 trillion of euro-area government debt all but guarantee losses for buyers. Traders are ramping up wagers on a selloff in German bunds as 10-year yields approach Aprils record lows. And jitters in the market are at levels last seen during the stunning rout in European debt markets a year ago. What could go wrong?

Commodities: Ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao jumped 19 percent to $63.74 a dry metric ton, Metal Bulletin Ltd. data show. Thats the biggest gain in daily data going back to 2009 and the highest price since June [Bloomberg].

Debt: As Russias economy falters, its citizens are sinking deeper into debtand bill collectors are going after them with vehemence. In recent months, collection agents have been charged with assaulting debtors, vandalizing their cars, even destroying baby carriages parked outside apartments [Bloomberg].

The Fed: We are heading into the March FOMC meeting next week. The recessionistas are on the sidelines, waiting for data to turn in their favor. I suspect they have a long wait. [Tim Duys Fed Watch].

Arrogance at The Economist [Economics versus Reality]. Say it aint so!

New paper examines the details behind stock market flash crash' [Phys.org]. The paper asserts that unsettled market conditions early in the day, combined with a huge sell order for the popular E-mini S&P 500 futures security by mutual fund manager Waddell & Reed helped trigger the sell-off. They point to and agree with a 2010 joint report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission that came to the same conclusion. Readers?

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 73, Greed (previous close: 71, Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 54 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Mar 7 at 1:22pm. Stalled in the mid-70s?

Gunz

High-tech bazooka fires a net to take down drones [BGR]. Cant we give cops these? Or loogie guns? Which arent designed to kill?

Gaia

Dead Wood Brings New Life. Quick, somebody tell the Democrats! [Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife]. Hard to believe, but trees can actually provide more habitats for wildlife dead than when they are alive. Standing dead and dying trees, called snags or wildlife trees, are important for wildlife in both natural and landscaped settings, occurring as a result of disease, lightning, fire, animal damage, too much shade, drought, root competition, as well as old age. Birds, small mammals, and other wildlife use snags for nests, nurseries, storage areas, foraging, roosting, and perching.

Black Injustice Tipping Point

The First Time Texas Killed One of My Clients [The Marshall Project]. Heart-rending.

Dear Old Blighty

Forelocks at the ready, peasants. Its time to Clean for the Queen. In honour of Her Majestys birthday, Tory politicians and major retailers have come together to encourage all good citizens to clean up their neighborhoods next weekend. Around the country, purple billboards, formatted in the style of those cloyingly awful Keep Calm and Carry On posters, urge the underclass to spruce up your streets! vacuum your villages!, as if Hyacinth Bouquet had suddenly been appointed Supreme Leader. The jolly press releases fail to mention that the reason the neighbourhoods got dirty in the first place is that the council cleaners were fired. Major sponsors of the event include McDonalds, Greggs, Costa and Kentucky Fried Chicken, who are hardly irresponsible for the mess [New Statesman]. Maybe I should have filed this under Class Warfare, but then everything in Blighty is class warfare, innit.

Class Warfare

The New Yorkers Alec MacGillis covers the carried interest loophole [The New Yorker]. Id love to see this shredded, but Ill just pick out one little gem even I can see:

After President Obama was sworn in, he was cautioned by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner not to go after high finance too hard. Geithner worried about imperilling the fragile recovery, and he wanted to coax financiers into accepting other industry reforms. Even so, by 2010, when the recession had officially been over for several months, congressional Democrats were talking about closing the carried-interest loophole with renewed seriousness.

Leaving aside the curious assumption that Geithner and Obama were acting in good faith, imperilling the fragile recovery?!?!? In January 2009? Four months after Lehman?

And as the rich own a greater share of real estate, major cities like New York, Los Angeles and London are going through a kind of resortification, familiar to posh beach towns or ski resorts, as their populations become more seasonal [New York Times]. These are all wonderful cities that I love. Only a global elite as ruinously stupid as our own could crapify them.

Marijuana Men [Vice]. Out: Black felons from the neighborhood. In: White mean wearing suits. Twas ever thus!

[The marijuana industry] is in a prime position to push for justice. As legalization spreads and the cannabis profit grows, Big Weed could lobby for convictions to be overturned, for charges to be vacated. But I saw no sign at the conference of anyone concerned with giving back, of leveling the playing field, of righting the wrongs wrought by the war on drugs.

Those of us who dont live in trailer parks or inner cities might think low-income families typically benefit from public housing or some other kind of government assistance. But the opposite is true. Three-quarters of families who qualify for housing assistance dont get it because there simply isnt enough to go around. This arrangement would be unthinkable with other social services that cover basic needs. What if food stamps only covered one in four families? [New York Times]. Throughout our history, wage gains won by workers through organized protest were quickly absorbed by rising rents. As industrial capitalists tried to put down the strikes, landlords cheered workers on. It is no different today. When incomes rise, the housing market takes its cut. What, the Grey Lady is hiring Communists now?

That $8 shirt seems like a deal, but its actually a huge problem [TreeHugger]. Fast Fashion means near-slave labor, and a lot of environmental damage.

News of the Wired

Are the Constants of Physics Constant? [Scientific American]. [U]nderneath all that change lies one number that connects them all and a number that has remain unchanged as far as we can see in the cosmos. And we dont know why.

Half of inventions arise unexpectedly from serendipitynot direct research [Ars Technica]. The PatVal study also underscores that the biggest source of inspiration for innovators comes from clients or users, people who will actually be using whatever the inventors create. At the other end of the scale are academic and research institutions, which inventors credit with inspiring very few new ideas. Note the confusion between innovation (business) and invention (industry).

Barnes and Noble shuts down Nook [The Register]. The company says its trying to set up a deal with Sainsburys Entertainment on Demand to ensure that you have continued access to the vast majority of your purchased NOOK Books at no new cost to you; (emphasis added). If only publishers had been able to arrange for paper to spontaneously combust after a set interval! Then they might have had a viable business model

For Some, iPad Pro Cant Match PC Strengths [New York Times]. By some, the Times means anyone who creates final products using digital tools. And I love my iPad pro  for sketching and photography and reading the Twitter. But not for serious work. I think Apple has this stupid concept that every user wants to be taking their hands off the keyboard to swipe and tap. No effing way. Of course, as Apple gradually crapifies OS X, Ill have to go to linux.

Ray Tomlinson, the man who put the @ in email, passes away aged 74 [TechCrunch]. The only character thats also a preposition.

Then again:

* * *

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 (from a loyal reader who lives on the New Hampshire seacoast):

Fall, alongside the Artichoke River in Massachusetts. Wow!

* * *

If you enjoy Water Cooler, please consider tipping and click the hat. Water Cooler would not exist without your support.
By Clive, an investment technology professional and Japanophile

How did what started out as a niche, narrow and oft derided political question come to dominate a countrys policy making mainstream? And can those who wish for policy change on political left  for so long condemned to be just so many strategising Cinderellas  learn a trick or two from the campaign which shifted an entire national political narrative?

In this article we will describe what has produced a successful campaign to bring about a policy change. In this case it is to force a referendum on Britains membership of the EU and potentially Britains ultimate withdrawal from the Union.

We do not necessarily make any claims about the appropriateness, ethicality or factual accuracy of the components which have made up the campaign. We merely state that they have proven to work. It remains an open question for those of us on the left who wish to see a similar advancement in our policy agenda whether we would consider adopting these techniques. It is certainly arguable that the movement to have Britain leave the EU has been, on occasions, at best sometimes disingenuous and sometimes downright dishonest. Few would claim that it has unstintingly held onto the moral high ground.

But by, as a worst outcome, achieving a referendum and potentially, to state the best outcome for the movement, achieving Britains exit from the EU, the campaign has brought about the policy objectives it is espousing. It is harsh  but true  to say that it has achieved what left-of-centre political movements have fairly consistently failed to do so far.

Do the ends justify the means? Would the anti-neoliberal movement, seemingly forever to be consigned to the margins, rather be right than successful? Or is it possible to be both? This article documents some of the more obvious lessons from the Brexit campaign.

Lesson 1: Single Issues Are Rarely, if Ever, Single Issues

Readers are probably aware that Britain will hold a referendum on June 23 to decide whether or not to exit the EU. Superficially, this would seem to be a dry, limited and almost academic concern. It barely registers in the lists of British voters stated important issues.

The key to generating interest in the issue of Britains membership of, or exit from, the EU, has been in using the countrys membership of the EU as a proxy issue which can be stretched to spoof pretty much any other. Immigration, the economy, welfare or housing would remain issues  issues for which voters would expect political parties to have policy solutions for  even if the EU had never existed.

But the lesson from the British EU exit campaign is that, whatever the problem is, the key is to try to get voters to think its the EU that caused it. And that leaving the EU will fix it.

The campaign to leave the EU has associated many different issues with one single issue, that of EU membership. This would suggest that for the left, rather than referencing a single narrow issue (for example, trade deals such as the TPP, political funding, corporation tax avoidance, different models for healthcare), when a narrow issue is identified it should ideally always be referenced back to a larger but much more nebulous concept.

Inequality or Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) would fit this role as both have the required dog whistle quality about them. But there are others. The point is to pick something and stick to it.

Lesson 2: Subvert Existing Power Structures for Your Own Ends

Campaigners for a British EU exit have demonstrated a good understanding of the British Conservative Partys internal politics. They have also ruthlessly exploited it for their own ends. Around half of Conservative Party MPs are elected by constituencies (the vast majority in England) which routinely give a 60-80% share of the vote to the Conservative Party candidate. These are the so-called safe seats.

These safe Conservative seats have a very active local party membership who, lets just say tend to have very conservative ideas.

The local party members get to pick their candidates. So they tend to pick candidates who reflect their views. In this way, what should have been a niche side issue (for most people) got to wreak civil war in the Conservative Party. This has rumbled on for 20 years or more. Battle fatigue has set in and the only way to finally resolve it one way or the other is a referendum.

To give an example, this constituency is fairly typical of the kind where the Conservative Party MP backs a British exit from the EU and the campaigns they associate themselves with in order to please local party activists. It is useful to note the symbiotic relationship between the mass media and the local Conservative MPs. The corporate media gets legitimacy added to stories they run on hot-button issues like immigration or pork barrel government spending. The local MP gets publicity. Party activists (local associations) get some proof their influence matters.

It is interesting to now note that the Conservative Partys leadership is seeking to change the balance of power within the party be reining in the local associations which were in the vanguard of the EU scepticism. But this can easily be seen as weakness rather than strength. Firstly, there are no guarantees that larger regional organisations rather than smaller local organisations would be any less susceptible to being subverted. Secondly, it is a scorched earth strategy. The local associations in the Conservative Party are essential for organising ground campaigns in both national and county elections and regional organisational structures will inevitable loose essential local knowledge  knowledge which often extends down to the level of individual streets.

The British EU exit campaigners have shown that, to them, it had become necessary to destroy the town (the town here being Conservative Party) to save it. Is the left willing to seize control of mainstream parties  such as the U.S. Democratic Party  and take it to the edge of, if not destruction, then at least the significant collateral damage which would be caused by dissent (voters say they do not like disunited parties) to get what it wants?

Lesson 3: Be Pragmatic

According to Hollywood legend, Joan Crawford who, perhaps to our modern sensibilities would be classed as a victim of rather than an active participant, in the notorious Casting Couch system, was auditioning for a director of a movie she wanted the lead role in. When upon leaving the directors office she discovered that it wasnt the director with whom shed just auditioned who was going to direct the movie, but another, entirely different director, the ever-practical Joan promptly put her clothes back on and sashayed down the corridor to the other directors office and auditioned for the part there too.

It was under a Conservative administration that Britain joined the (as it was then) EEC, which later became todays EU.

It would have perhaps been understandable, then, if Conservative voters generally  and party activists in particular  who identified strongly with the issue of Britains EU membership to have demonstrated their resentment by abandoning those who abandoned us. But this simply did not happen en masse. Rather, from the previous section above Subvert Existing Power Structures for Your Own Ends, many Conservative Party members lobbied at a local level to change national party policy.

Some Conservative Party supporters did defect and many former Conservative voters switched allegiance to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) which promised to leave the EU. However, the UKIP membership and the people who voted for it were not exclusively ex-Conservatives. UKIP also drew on support from ex-Labour and ex-Liberal Democratic party supporters. During elections, voters from all party allegiances who wanted a British exit from the EU would then vote for UKIP on a temporary basis.

The approach to this so-called tactical voting was modified in marginal constituencies. By being willing to vote for any candidate which supported leaving the EU, or as an alternative voting for another partys candidate who would defeat any pro-EU Conservative Party candidate, campaigners for a British exit ensured that there were more Conservative Party candidates standing who themselves supported the policy of withdrawing from the EU.

This went on to create a positive feedback loop. The more support which was available from voters to candidates who were at least amenable to considering a review of Britains membership of the EU, the more impetus was created in Conservative Party local activists to ensure that the partys local associations fielded candidates who were sympathetic to the British EU exit argument.

British EU exit campaigners have proven that, to achieve policy change, party loyalties must be fungible but issue loyalties must be immutable. A lot of British EU exit supporters noses had to be held for what turned out to be a long, long time. But this voting pragmatism was essential in forcing a change in Conservative Party policy regarding EU membership.

Is the left willing to, like Joan Crawford, degrade itself to get what it wants? Would normally Democratic voters vote Republican in order to send a message to a hopelessly neoliberally-inclined Democrat candidate?

Lesson 4: Do Not Get Drawn in to Specifics but Offer a Vague Vision

While the British EU exit campaigners put out various messages of what they are against (EU legislation, the free movement of people in the EU, a move to a political union and so on) the exit supporters do not rely solely on negative campaigning. What is usually touted as a means of resolving the negative consequences of EU membership is restoring British sovereignty.

Sovereignty is used as a rug under which all difficult to resolve questions can be swept. When presented with an issue, such as the appropriate level of immigration, protectionism for key industries such as farming, steel production, power generation etc. or how to regulate the financial services industry, then the exit campaigners can always evade having to provide a specific answer. Rather, instead, Brexit campaigners say that once sovereignty is returned to Britain, these problems can be resolved by the British people. Indeed, they can. But that is not the same thing as saying these problems are easily resolved, or that the possible resolutions come with consequence-free choices available.

So another lesson from the British EU exit campaign is that, whatever the problem is, to try to get voters to think that sovereignty is the solution and that sovereignty is incomparable with continued EU membership. Sovereignty is rarely defined and if it is defined at all, it is only a hazy one-size-fits-all definition.

The remain in campaign can only try to big-up the hardly inspiring reality of remaining a member of the EU. How can it compete with the out campaigners who are selling a dream of an independent Britain which, if it ever existed at all, is gone for good and isnt coming back? Dreams are more appealing to voters than realities.

Can  and should  the left, like the British EU exit campaign does, sell a convincing-sounding dream even if that dream is largely an illusion?

Lesson 5: Be Persistent

While Britain has a long history of incipient Euroscepticism, initial attempts to muster serious organised political opposition met with risible results, despite some big-money backing. In 1997, only 3% of the electorate supported parliamentary candidates belonging to a British EU exit party. It took over 20 years for a British exit campaign to achieve entry to the political mainstream and possess enough popular support to force the Conservative Party to adopt a policy of offering an in or out referendum.

The difficulties facing the political left to roll back neoliberalism are arguably greater than those which faced the movement wishing Britain to leave the EU.

If we assume the tide against neoliberalism only started to turn mid-way through U.S. President Obamas first term in office (to pick a reasonably justifiable timeframe given the absence of any particular watershed event) then the left is barely 5 to 6 years into a campaign which can be expected to be of similar  or even lengthier  duration to that which the British EU exit campaign waged. Subjectively, the battle to restore the political left to, as a minimum, a position which it last held in the pre-Regan era seems to be in approximately the same place that the Brexit campaign was in the early 1990s.

This means there is quite possibly another 15 to 20 years to go. Does the left really have the stomach for that sort of fight?
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Appointments

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has appointed longtime volunteer and retired business executive Karl Williams to lead its volunteer services division.

Jonathan Reynolds has joined Action Automatic Door & Gate as a sales consultant.

Events

The European American Network will hold a business luncheon and panel discussion on "Short Term Tourist Rentals & Investments in Lee & Collier Counties-Outlook for Tourism, Property Rentals, Regulatory, Taxes & Investments" at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Bonita Bay Club, 26660 Country Club Drive, Bonita Springs. Information: 239-281-1290; Bev1314@aol.com

Honors

Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Kelly Lyon Davis, a partner in the firm's Naples office, has received the AV Preeminent peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Deals

FTE Networks Inc., a networking infrastructure service solutions provider, has been awarded a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract with a leading telecommunications carrier. The contract is expected to commence on April 1 and is valued at over $45 million over the next three years.

HBKS Wealth Advisors signed a definitive merger agreement under which Global Wealth Consultants of Naples will join its multidisciplinary financial services firm.

To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com.
Investment Properties Corporation principals Craig Timmins, Clint Sherwood, Bill Gonnering and David Stevens, left to right. The Naples-based commercial real estate brokerage celebrates its 40th anniversary in business this year. (David Albers/Staff)

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By John Osborne, Daily News Correspondent

Naples-based commercial real estate brokerage Investment Properties Corp. celebrates its 40th anniversary in business this year.

Founded in 1976 by John T. Conroy Jr., the area's first full-service commercial real estate firm started in a small red brick office building at 3400 U.S. 41 N. before evolving into an award-winning outfit that specializes in buyer and seller representation, site selection, leasing, exchanges, consulting and development services.

Conroy, who first came to Naples as a project general contractor in 1963, said the victories were small at first.

"I was able to convince the telephone company to give me a phone number to match my address: 261-3400," he said of the firm that's now independently owned and operated by principals Bill Gonnering, David Stevens, Craig Timmins and Clint Sherwood, a group that collectively boasts more than 100 years of market experience. "The firm still has the same number, and it can be seen on more than 100 'For Sale' and 'For Lease' signs throughout Collier and Lee counties."

Now at 3838 U.S. 41 N., Conroy said the physical move represented one of the more modest changes the firm has seen during its four decades in business.

"Interestingly, after 40 years in business, IPC's current office is just one-third of a mile from its original location," said Conroy, noting that Naples had just one-fifth of its current population when he founded the firm. "Obviously, the city was a completely different city than it is today. It was a dot on the map."

As Naples grew from a dot on the map to a world-class destination, Gonnering said, much of the firm's longevity could be credited to adjusting to changing market conditions through booms and busts.

"When the economy took a hit in 2007-2008, for example, we learned about short sales and how to broker those transactions in the wake of widespread defaults and bank failures," said the 35-year veteran of the firm.

Sherwood, who works on Naples- area properties with several large national and international clients, said the economic downturn had a silver lining as many businesses renegotiated leases or downsized to smaller facilities.

"We actually saw steady leasing activity during the Great Recession," he said.

For his part, Stevens said improved technology also positively affected the firm as businesses moved from filing cabinets, faxes and microfiche to emails, videoconferencing and PDFs.

"Technology has enabled us to work more efficiently and more rapidly," he said.

Still, the more things change, the more they stay the same, Timmins said.

"One thing that has not changed over the years is the firm's team approach to selling and leasing properties," he said. "This team approach is part of the firm's client- centered business practice, which has resulted in significant long-term client relationships and referrals. Sharing information helps us help our clients."

Although he stepped away from his management role, Conroy remains available for consultation. Looking back over the past 40 years, he said he is delighted by the firm's growth and feels confident about its future.

"The guys have done a wonderful job of building the business," he said. "There are very few businesses that survive 40 years, especially in the extremely competitive commercial real estate industry."
By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News

When Laird Lile was in third grade, he often spent nights with his father at an Ohio law library, retrieving law books from the stacks.

Having started his career as a schoolteacher, his father had decided in his 30s to pursue a career as an attorney to give his wife and three children a better life. And since his dad was commuting three hours a day to make that dream happen, young Laird was eager to help him.

For Lile, his father's determination and perseverance became his own career template. By the time he was in his midteens, Lile had decided that he, too, wanted to be an attorney - and even knew what he wanted to specialize in trusts and estates.

"I guess it was in my DNA," said Lile, 56, an attorney who not only has established a decades-old Naples law practice, but also serves on a number of elected and appointed state judicial boards and commissions.

One is the Florida Courts Technology Commission, which among other issues is working to make state-mandated electronic legal filings efficient, simple to access and secure. That's no easy feat, given that just a few years ago all legal filings involved mountains of paper.

But dealing with technical issues is no stretch for Lile, who taught himself simple computer coding when he was a teenager, and then minored in computer science as an undergraduate business major at the College of William and Mary.

In the '80s, as a law student at Ohio Northern University and later at the University of Miami, he found that his facility with computers, then a nascent technology, gave him a big advantage in his studies.

"No one had a PC then," he recalled, adding his computer skills helped him do sophisticated calculations quickly when others were still doing them by hand, and often inaccurately.

Being a computer whiz also helped him advance as a young attorney with a large Miami law firm, where he worked on some high-profile cases, like the estate of playwright Tennessee Williams.

But Lile soon tired of the big-city life in Miami, and decided to move to Naples, a place more like his small Ohio hometown.

"In the early '90s, Naples was very much a Midwestern haven," he said. "It was a place where I could get to know people."

As a solo practitioner in Naples, Lile soon discovered he needed to know much more than the laws concerning wills, trusts, estates and probate. He needed to be something of a psychologist, too.

"The way to avoid problems after you die is to be open and honest with your family members while you are still alive," he said. "But people won't do it."

Instead, he said, tensions arise because parents often tell their children fibs to keep the family peace. For instance, they may tell each of their children that they can have the same treasured heirloom - but the children don't realize they've all been told the same story until after the parents die.

Passions can run so high that Lile sometimes has to be creative to resolve disputes.

One time, for instance, he had an old family portrait copied to calm two squabbling heirs. Neither heir could tell which was the original and which the reproduction. So both were satisfied when the paintings were divvied up.

"Every family has some level of dysfunction and secrets," he said. "And emotions are often out of proportion to the value of the thing under dispute, like a class ring someone's father always wore."

A divorced father of two, Lile understands the importance of planning for any family contingency.

But as the Internet has turned many people into legal do-it-yourselfers who download forms for wills and other documents, he said heirs often face more problems than they ever did before.

With do-it-yourself wills, "there's always something messed up," he said. For example, some parents don't name a guardian for their children should they both die.

While he's still focused on his local practice, Lile's professional interests are far broader. He's served on dozens of state boards and committees dealing with legal matters, and is currently a Fellow in the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (where he also is on the Board of Regents); an elected member of the Board of Governors for the Florida Bar; the chairman of the Second District Court of Appeal Nominating Commission.

He's also been included in the peer-reviewed directory The Best Lawyers in America for 21 years in a row. Nine years ago, the Collier County Bar Association named him Attorney of the Year.

Besides his numerous professional commitments, Lile has a long-standing interest in education. A founding board member and past chairman of the Collier County Education Foundation, he currently serves as president of the school advisory council for Naples High School.

Lile wants to further the education of newly minted attorneys, too. So he recently set up a residency program in his own office modeled after a medical residency.

While the pay isn't terrific - it's what an assistant public defender might make - Lile pays for his two assistants to go to conferences, delve into cases, and otherwise immerse themselves in real-life legal work. But they don't have to worry about racking up billable hours, as most young law associates do.

"There aren't enough jobs right now for young attorneys," said Lile. "This fills a gap."

The 56-year-old attorney also recently took on a younger partner, M. Travis Hayes, and changed the name of the firm to Lile & Hayes PLLC.

Hayes, 37, is also heavily involved in state legal committees, and was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Trusts and Estates Attorneys in Florida by the American Society of Legal Advocates.

Although he at first hesitated about giving up some control in his practice, Lile said he knew it was time. He'd seen firsthand the havoc that could happen in businesses where there was no clear succession plan for its active and involved - but ultimately mortal - middle-aged owners.

"I didn't want to be the shoemaker whose children had no shoes," he said.
SHARE Conrad, a Yorkie owned by Kim Whittemore, contemplates a drink - water, of coursein this "Mutts and Martinis" file photo. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent Kayakers follow a trail through the estuary. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

1. Wednesday: Mutts & Martinis - A doggone good time for a great cause

Set for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, March 9, at the Esplanade Shoppes, located at 760 N. Collier Boulevard, Marco Island, the YMCA annual affair brings dogs, their owners and fun seekers together for a festive evening that features music, a pooch parade, doggie-costume contest, a pet and owner look-alike contest, a canine-themed martini contest for bartenders and more.

Some new wrinkles have been added to this year's edition of the cavalcade of canines, their human companions and a certain much-loved cocktail that is the Greater Marco Family YMCA's annual Mutts & Martinis fundraiser. This year, the "more" will include:

A doggy psychic to decipher their thoughts and moods.

A photographer to take pictures of pooches and their owners that will be processed and printed on-site.

A caricature artist to depict owners and their furry friends.

The presence of rescue dogs available for adoption.

Mutts & Martinis will also include the ever popular pooch parade with local veterinarians serving as judges. The categories will be best dog costume, most festive dog costume, best look-alike owner and dog without costume and cutest dog. Local veterinarians will handle the judging.

There will also be a silent auction, music provided by DJ Steve Reynolds and of course, a contest to determine which bartender from CJ's on the Bay's Star Bar makes the most delicious martini.

All proceeds from Mutts & Martinis will benefit the Y's summer camp and Y Reads programs, migrant children, their families and the underserved population of Collier County.

Cost: $5 per person, with no charge for dogs, but they must be on a leash

Information: Contact Fritzi Holmes at 394-0974 or fritziholmes@gmail.com

Information about the Greater Marco Family YMCA, visit greatermarcoy.org or call 394-3144 Ext. 101.

2. This week and beyond: AARP Driver Safety Class

The AARP Driver Safety Class is designed to help drivers learn new Florida traffic laws, refresh their driving skills, and reduce their risk for tickets and accidents. Drivers over age 55 may be eligible for a discount on auto insurance. The fee is $15 for AARP members ($20 for nonmembers). Reservations are required; please call the number listed next

9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. March 10, at St Williams Ministry Center, 750 Seagate Dr, Naples. Call Greg at 732-5310.

9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. March 17, at Marco Island Lutheran Church, 525 Collier Blvd., Marco Island. Call Miles at 734-968-3105.

9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. March 21, at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church, 1225 Piper Blvd, Naples. Call Frank at 596-6007.

3. Learn about paddling

At 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 9, in the community room at Mackle Park, MIPA will hold a community meeting and a panel discussion on group paddling led by Michael Zabre. Zabre owned and taught classes for Adventure Outfitters, a chain of Outdoor Sporting Goods Stores, in New England for 35 years.

Zabre has led over 200 kayak trips and has paddled in Alaska, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Costa Rica, Chile, Hawaii, New Zealand, Baja California and much of the U.S. Coast. Michal is a member of the board of directors of Marco Island Paddlers Association Inc.

The meeting open to anyone who like to learn about paddling in our area or about our organization. MIPA is a nonprofit Florida Corp..

Information: meetup.com/Marco-Island-Paddling-Association/events/228312225/ or its Facebook groupmeetup.com/Marco-Island-Paddling-Association/events/228312225/ or call Phares Heindl at 239-285-5048.
FWC officers Justin Price and David Barrett retrieve an escaped cobra in Fort Myers on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015. The snake had been known to be missing since Friday afternoon. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff)

By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News

The owner who allowed his pet cobra to slither out of his garage in a rural neighborhood east of Fort Myers won't get his snake back - and he's sold all of his other deadly snakes.

Lewis Mark Pellicer, 60, who tried to cover up his snake's escape in November, was found guilty of three captive wildlife offenses late last year, after pleading no contest to the misdemeanor charges.

As part of a plea deal reached with the State Attorney's Office in Fort Myers, he agreed to give up all his venomous snakes and to surrender his licenses for all of them while on probation for a year. He couldn't be reached for comment by email or phone.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission charged Pellicer with failing to immediately report his snake's escape, providing false records during an investigation of the escape and housing a snake unsafely. He received 12 months of probation for two of the offenses and six months for the other, which he's serving out at the same time.

"If he doesn't have a snake license, he can't legally get back any reptiles he previously owned that he needed a license for," said Samantha Syoen, communications director for the State Attorney's Office.

Pellicer also had to pay for the cost of the FWC's investigation, which was a little more than $2,507, and for court and other costs related to the prosecution of the case.

"It is a closed case for FWC unless additional violations occur during his probation," said Stuart Spoede, an FWC officer and spokesman in Fort Myers.

After meeting the terms of his probation, Pellicer would be able to apply for permits again for venomous snakes, which would then be reviewed by FWC staff.

As far as the punishment goes in these types of cases, it can vary.

"These cases of escaped venomous snakes are rare and each one has different associated circumstances so there isn't a standard response," Spoede said.

In early November, a couple spotted Pellicer's snake, an Asian monocled cobra, crossing the road when they were driving near the intersection of Stratton Road and Kittyhawk Drive on a Friday. After they reported what they saw, FWC checked for venomous reptile license holders in the area and discovered Pellicer was the closest one, living about three miles away.

After inspecting Pellicer's home and reviewing his venomous reptile records, investigators figured out that the snake belonged to him and that he'd failed to report it. After investigators learned he was lying about the missing snake, Pellicer told them it escaped into his garage when he was trying to breed it and that he couldn't recapture it. He also admitted he'd "doctored the records" to try to cover up its disappearance.

After a rain-soaked daylong pursuit, the cobra was cornered, captured and sent away in a cooler thanks to an air-conditioning technician who saw it on his drive home from work a day after it was first spotted crossing a nearby road.

The 5-foot-long female snake was returned to Cold Blooded Reptiles in Fort Myers, where Pellicer purchased it a few years ago.
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By Daily News Staff

Fort Myers police arrested 24 men on felony sexual predator charges this weekend as part of a sting operation in conjunction with NBC "Dateline" and Perverted Justice. As part of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" show, men ranging from the age of 21 to 61 were charged.

Twenty-two of the men were charged with both obscene communications using a computer to seduce or solicit a child and attempted lewd and lascivious battery/victim 12 year of age to 15 years of age. One man was charged with one felony charge (obscene communications using a computer to seduce or solicit a child).

A Naples man, Clifford Wallach, 948 Hampton Circle, was charged with child neglect and attempted lewd and lascivious behavior.

In previous episodes of "To Catch a Predator," a decoy from Perverted Justice lures men looking for sex with an underage child to a home via e-mails and chat rooms. But instead of meeting a young boy or girl, NBC "Dateline" reporter Chris Hansen greets them in the kitchen.

There have been three prior editions of the program, but not until the third edition did NBC involve the police. "To Catch a Predator" has been the highest-rated shows in "Dateline" history.

The men arrested this weekend by Fort Myers police are from various cities around the state and outside of Florida. Sixteen of the men live outside of Lee County, living in Brooksville, Coconut Creek, Hollywood, Homestead, Jupiter, Lakeland, Lake Worth, Miami, Ocala, Orlando, Punta Gorda, Riverview, St. Petersburg, and Wellington.

Calvin Lee Green, 31, listed Little Rock, Ark., as his address.

Only five Lee County men were arrested in this weekend's undercover sweep. Thomas D. Campbell, 61, of Cape Coral; Brian Gosselin, 32, of Fort Myers; Dallas Lee, 40, of Lehigh Acres; Ryan Mcintosh, 23, Lehigh Acres; Donald Morrison, 48, of Fort Myers.

The sting ran from Friday night through Sunday.

Twenty-two of the men appeared in court this morning.

Find additional coverage in Tuesday's edition of the Daily News.
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Dolph von Arx, Naples

Ethics challenged

Voters should be aware of a simple character flaw in Mayor John Sorey's management style.

He consistently bends the truth to support his actions. His defense of his behavior relative to "sign gate" is disturbing. View the tapes to decide whether his actions at 5 a.m. are supportable. And now the trip to China underwritten by your tax dollars.

I have traveled to China several times to support organizations in Collier County.

Recently, I traveled to France to support the Naples/Collier County business development efforts. All my expenses were covered from my personal account.

One last observation: Sorey maintains that the absence of hotel billing statements resulted from language barriers at five-star hotels. Every five-star hotel in China has multiple English speakers at the desk and in the billing office.

I know from my experience that this dog won't hunt!
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Kathy McGrath, Bonita Springs

Support for McIntosh

I have known Steve McIntosh for 10 years. I first met him when he was elected to the board of Bonita Springs Utilities in 2006 and was very impressed with his attitude and expertise.

So I was very pleased when he ran for his first term on Bonita Springs City Council. I supported him then and also for his second term and my admiration and respect has grown even more over the years.

I attend all City Council meetings and it is a pleasure to observe his professional attitude. He questions everything until he is satisfied before voting on any issue, and he always votes on what is best for every resident of our city.

In addition to being a business owner, he teaches at Florida Gulf Coast University and education is very important to him. He regularly conducts Government Day at City Hall with students from Estero High School, Bonita Middle School and Bonita Charter School to show the students how government functions.

His community service is outstanding. He has served on many boards, including FGCU Foundation Board, Bonita Springs Centers for the Arts, Bonita Springs Utilities, Rotary Club of Bonita Springs, Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Florida Speakers Assembly and Bonita Springs YMCA. He has been honored as Bonita Citizen of the Year, Lee County Schools Partner of the Year, Rotarian of the Year, Chamber of Commerce Director of the Year, and chairman of the FGCU Foundation.

Bonita needs him as our next mayor to continue with his experience and leadership and he needs your vote to accomplish the important issues in the coming years.

His integrity and morals are second to none. Please join me and vote for Steve McIntosh.
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Glenn Kudelski, Naples

This isn't success

A recent letter by Bob Dimond praising President Barack Obama's successes was amusing. Let's examine those "successes."

The Affordable Care Act provided policies with high deductibles, which deterred those needing care from seeking it and initial Congressional Budget Office program cost estimates of $940 billion were revised to $1.76 trillion and continue to be revised upward, according to a Washington Examiner report. Premiums are rising 7 percent to 18 percent and state exchanges are failing throughout the country.

Mr. Dimond believes Obama's economic policies have benefited the country. Is the loss of full-time and manufacturing jobs good for the country?

Obama's regulation and taxing policies continue to stifle economic growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (U6) index stated unemployment was 9.9 percent for January. While Americans are being replaced by foreign workers, Obama proposes increasing H1-B visas.

Mr. Dimond gives credit to Obama for saving the auto industry. Mitt Romney first proposed a structured bankruptcy, but Obama chose a bankruptcy that favored unions and sacrificed salaried employees and investors.

Mr. Dimond praises the Trans-Pacific Partnership, of which Mexico is a signatory. It should be noted that Ford announced a $1.5 billion investment in Mexico, doubling production capacity there, and Carrier will move 1,400 jobs to Mexico.

GM is also importing a Chinese-built SUV badged as a Buick.

Obama's military policies have demoralized its members and have left our country's preparedness at pre-World War II levels and his rules of engagement have caused a dramatic increase in American casualties.

He proposed benefit reductions for our fighting men and women and ignores conditions at VA hospitals.

Obama is a pathetic leader. Our allies no longer trust us and our enemies laugh and taunt us. Mr. Dimond views Obama through the same rose-colored glasses as his narcissistic president.
SHARE Vann Ellison, Executive Director, St. Matthew's House, on NewsMakers 3-23-14. Vann Ellison, Executive Director, St. Matthew's House, on NewsMakers 3-23-14.

By Vann Ellison, Naples President and CEO St. Matthews House

Hemmings Motor News, the national go-to media platform for car enthusiasts, recently described Naples as the premier spot to host one of the best automotive shows in the country.

Marking its 12th year this February, "Cars on Fifth" attracted vehicles ranging from the vintage American Packard to exotic, state-of-the art Italian Ferraris.

The community impact of this event went far beyond a typical auto show, however.

Cars on Fifth provides critical financial backing for St. Matthew's House, enabling the organization to help individuals escape poverty, homelessness and drug abuse. With an estimated attendance of 50,000 people, $130,000 was collected thanks to the hard work of our volunteers who explained to attendees the importance of the $5 entry donation.

Thank you to everyone in the community for affixing yellow stickers on your shirts, hats, baby strollers and handbags, which enabled us to track donations.

In addition to the social impact on our community, Cars on Fifth drives economic development, most notably for the merchants and their hard-working employees along Fifth Avenue South.

Naples Ferrari Club President and event organizer Tom O'Riordan surveyed local businesses and the results are in: for many retailers along Fifth, the event is the single best day of the year. Restaurants reported up to a five-fold increase in revenues compared to a typical Saturday in-season, while other retailers said the event similarly led to dramatically increased sales as family members diverted their attention from automobiles to shopping.

In what has become a decades-long tradition, it's easy to see why Cars on Fifth is playing such a positive role for the Naples area on so many fronts. Taking up six city blocks along both sides of 5th Avenue South, the show attracted 550 cars neatly arranged block-by-block.

People flew in from all over the world just to attend the day-long Feb. 13 event. One block featured the British contingent of Bentley, Lotus, Triumphs and Rolls Royce. American muscle cars packed another block. Ferraris had their own blocks as did hot rods, Corvettes, Porches and classics like the Packard. Some of these cars are worth north of $10 million. Live music, the "rolling thunder" send-off as drivers and their cars depart the show at the end of the day, and Ferrari's race trailer captured everyone's attention.

Presenting sponsors included Seminole Casino Hotel, Ferrari of Tampa Bay and Fidelity Investments. These organizations enable us to continue this annual tradition, while automotive enthusiast clubs attract a steady supply of vehicles throughout Southwest Florida.

In addition to the Ferrari club, the West Coast Muscle Club, the Classic-Car Club of America, the Everglades Porsche Club, Corvettes of Naples, Cool Cruisers club and the British Car Club of Southwest Florida ensured diverse makes and models spanning decades of worldwide automotive history were represented.

St. Matthew's House is proud to be associated with this event. It helps us prepare for the slower spring and summer months just around the corner when many of our snowbirds and would-be donors head back north. Many of our residents are enrolled in year-long programs where we put to good use financial donations 12 months a year.

Just a few months ago, we announced a first-of-its kind partnership with Naples Nissan, whose general manager said at the time that test drives and car purchases allow all of us to feed families. That partnership and others help St. Matthew's House handle the ever-increasing demand of people who need our services as Southwest Florida's population continues to grow at some of the highest rates in the nation. With Cars on Fifth, we continue our approach of partnering with the private sector to help our community.

One of the best things in America, and especially Naples, is how the free-enterprise system can work on a voluntary basis to help the lives of the less fortunate. As an open-air event in a downtown area, our 400 yellow-shirted volunteers were instrumental in making this event a financial success. They fanned out across downtown explaining the mission of St. Matthew's House, provided program guides and handed out stickers to those who donated.

And our local Ferrari club volunteers put in a year's worth of planning to ensure tight coordination with automobile owners, street vendors, city of Naples personnel and St. Matthew's House. Their dedication to this event is as awe-inspiring as the cars they drive.

Look for enhancements to next year's event. Among them is meeting demand for commemorative T-shirts that we will make available to the public next year.

We will see you at Cars on Fifth in 2017.
Thursday night, Scoutings Alligator District recognized volunteers and units for their dedication in service to youth in Collier County. The evening culminated in three awards being presented to volunteers for outstanding service. Francisco Frank Fernandez was honored for service to youth in all of Southwest Florida Councils seven county territory with the Silver Beaver Award. Robert Leonard and Ted Soliday were each presented the District Award of Merit for outstanding service to youth in Collier County.

Mr. Fernandez serves as the Hispanic Initiatives chairman for the Southwest Florida Council and was awarded the Silver Beaver for service to youth through the local and council level. The Silver Beaver Award was introduced in 1931 and is a councillevel distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Some of Mr. Fernandez accomplishments include assisting his Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in starting a Boy Scout Troop in Immokalee. In 2004 Mr. Fernandez started Troop 65 with one boy and is still in operation serving 30 boys and has produced 3 Eagle Scouts despite the challenges youth in Immokalee face. Boys from Immokalee have cited drugs, gang violence, teenage parenthood, and others as factors they see facing themselves and their peers. Mr. Fernandez stated, I am very proud of our efforts and the youth who have changed their lives by living the Scout Oath and Law. As Hispanic Initiatives Chairman, Mr. Fernandez has represented the Southwest Florida Council at various charitable board reviews and ensured the council maintains a diverse presence in the communities it serves. Professionally, Mr. Fernandez is an entrepreneur and manages companies in the insurance, home health, home services, and restaurant industries.

Robert Leonard earned his District Award of Merit award as Training Chairman for Collier County Scouting as well as Assistant Council Commissioner overseeing unit service to LDS Scouting units. He also serves as assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 52. Mr. Leonard has overseen a terrific improvement in training and education opportunities for the volunteers in Scouting that has resulted in improved program and retention within the Scouting units. Professionally, Mr. Leonard is an Information Technology professional serving healthcare companies.

Mr. Soliday receives his District Award of Merit for serving on the board of the Southwest Florida Council representing Collier County Scouting. His service to local Scouting through donor engagement, service opportunities, and many other areas of support are too many to name here. He also serves in many capacities with other non-profits throughout the community and is a steadfast supporter of veteran and youth initiatives. Professionally, Mr. Soliday serves as Director of the Naples Airport.

Other awards given out included recognition for scouting volunteers at the unit level and for the units as a whole in recognition for providing outstanding program to youth. The Scouting program includes three programs. Cub Scouts serves boys in 1st  5th grades. Boy Scouts serves boys 6th  12th grade. Venturing serves young men and women aged 14  21 years old.

The Boy Scouts of America, Southwest Florida Council, Inc. serves 20,000 youth in seven counties. The mission of the council is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

For more information you may contact James Giles, District Executive. 239- 207-5366  JamesG@Scouting.org.




South Florida Design has been awarded Best Of Service on Houzz, which is the leading platform for home remodeling and design. A residential design firm servicing Naples and surrounding areas, South Florida Design was selected from over 1 million active industry professionals by the 35 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community.



Anyone building, remodeling or decorating looks to Houzz for the most talented and service- oriented professionals said Liza Hausman, Vice President of Industry Marketing for Houzz. Were so pleased to recognize South Florida Design, voted one of our Best Of Houzz professionals by our enormous community of homeowners and design enthusiasts actively remodeling and decorating their homes.



The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually and winners receive badges that are placed on the recipients profile. These badges reflect the companys commitment to excellence, as well as assisting homeowners to identify top-rated professionals in every metro area on Houzz.



We are honored to receive this prestigious designation from Houzz, states firm partner, Greg Weber. Partner Adnan Ahmedic adds, We are very proud of the accomplishments of our hardworking team!



Follow South Florida Design on Houzz: http://www.houzz.com/pro/sfdesigninc



South Florida Design is located in The Brooks Executive Center on Coconut Road in Bonita Springs and can be contacted at 239-431-1818 or by email at info@sfdesigninc.com.
The City of Naples Airport Authority Noise Compatibility Committee has adopted its 2016 strategic plan. The plans goals include improving compliance with Naples Municipal Airports voluntary curfew; communicating the value and benefits of the airport and the progress achieved in noise mitigation; pursuing measures to reduce noise impacts; and working with the Federal Aviation Administration.



Many of the action items were generated from public comments during two workshops held last year. Some will be accomplished this year; others are long-term or ongoing.



The Noise Compatibility Committee members proactively review procedures, research best practices, gather input from airport users and neighbors, and explore new ideas to lessen sound associated with aircraft operations.



The committee launched the Please Fly Safe Fly Quiet campaign in 2012, working with Airport Authority staff members to encourage pilots and aircraft operators to do all they can to minimize aircraft noise. The campaign continues to encourage pilots to observe the airports recommended 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. aircraft curfew and to use specific techniques that reduce sound.



The nine members of the Noise Compatibility Committee are volunteers appointed by the Airport Authority Board of Commissioners. Ernest Linneman serves as chair, and other members are Vice Chair Bruce Bickelmann, Bruce Byerly, City Council Member Doug Finlay, William Goddard, Justin Lobb, Richard Mellon, Robert Metzler and Gary Revall.



Committee members welcome opportunities to share information about the airports noise program. To schedule a speaker for meetings of homeowners associations, civic groups, service clubs or other organizations, contact Airport Authority Director of Communications Diane Terrill at 239-643-0733 or DTerrill@FlyNaples.com.



To learn more about airport noise and the challenges faced in making the airport quieter, log onto www.FlyNaples.com, and click on the Noise Abatement tab. The public is invited to attend Noise Compatibility Committee meetings; the next is scheduled for March 31 at 9 a.m. at the Airport Office Building conference room.



Naples Municipal Airport welcomed the return of scheduled airline service on Feb. 27 when Elite Airways began flights to Newark, New Jersey and Portland, Maine. The airport is home to flight schools, air charter operators, car rental agencies and corporate aviation and nonaviation businesses as well as fire/rescue services, mosquito control, the Collier County Sheriffs Aviation Unit and other community services.

During the 2014-15 fiscal year, the airport accommodated 99,569 takeoffs and landings.



All funds used for the airports operation, maintenance and improvements are generated from activities at the airport or from federal and state grants; the airport receives no property tax dollars. The Florida Department of Transportation values the airports economic impact to the community at $283.5 million annually.



For more information or to subscribe for email updates about the airport, visit www.FlyNaples.com.
Come out and experience incredible India while supporting Lighthouse of Collier at the Naples India Fest 2016 on March 19 from 11 am - 3 pm at Fleischmann Park in Naples. The Naples India Fest 2016 theme is Colors of India and will showcase various regions featuring their unique culture, history, myths, food, fashion and dance.

Kesha and Ankor Patel will be hosting a booth to sell Homemade Indian Cuisine with all proceeds being donated to Lighthouse of Collier. Look for the India Cuisine Vendor with the Lighthouse of Collier Banner and join in the fun in "Experiencing Incredible India" for yourself.

Free Admission for Lighthouse of Collier clients is being offered. Please call 239-430-3934 for more information and your "ticket" for admission.

The mission of Lighthouse of Collier is to promote the development, implementation, and on-going evaluation of programs and services which foster independence and enhance the quality of life for the blind, visually impaired and their caregivers. To learn more about Lighthouse of Collier please visit www.LighthouseofCollier.org 239-430-EYE4 (3934).
Wallace on Larson: 'Steering was gone, he just so happened to be there' Bubba Wallace explains his side of the story after a run-in with Kyle Larson took both cars out of the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Here's another group of bank officials who won't be going to jail for contributing to the meltdown.

Citigroup executives involved in the issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities at the center of the 2008 financial crisis will not be facing criminal charges for selling toxic bonds, U.S. authorities have determined.

"Citigroup knowingly and purposefully purchased and securitized loans that did not meet representation and warranties or in many cases were outright fraudulent loans," but there is "not enough compelling evidence" to pursue charges against executives and other employees, the inspector general's office of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in the final report on its investigation into Citi's RMBS sales between 2006 and 2007.

The report is dated Nov. 2 but recently became public as a result of an open-records request by Reuters. This is the first case of authorities publicly acknowledging that executives of a major bank involved in the financial crisis would dodge criminal charges for their involvement, according to a Reuters story Friday on the report.

The report did not reveal the names of executives who were investigated, nor did it elaborate on why they could not be prosecuted.

A $7 billion settlement in July 2014 resolved state and federal civil claims against the company related to the packaging and selling of mortgage bonds before 2009. However, the Justice Department had requested a review to determine if anyone connected with the companies involved in any of the RMBS settlements could be held personally responsible.

About 50 subpoenas were issued to Citigroup, trustees, servicers, due diligence providers and their employees as part of the civil probe, and government investigators reviewed nearly 25 million documents, the report said. Interviews were conducted with current and prior Citi employees and executives, according to the report.
NATO took swift decisions to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea to support our Allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the EU's border agency FRONTEX, in their efforts to tackle the migrant and refugee crisis. NATO ships are already collecting information and conducting monitoring in the Aegean Sea. Their activity will now be expanded to take place also in territorial waters.

Our commanders have defined our area of activity in close consultation and coordination with both Greece and Turkey. Our activities in territorial waters will be carried out in consultation and coordination with both Allies. The purpose of NATO's deployment is not to stop or push back migrant boats, but to help our Allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the European Union, in their efforts to tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks that are fueling this crisis.

NATOs Maritime Command has also agreed with FRONTEX on arrangements at the operational and tactical level. NATO and FRONTEX will be able to exchange liaison officers and share information in real time, to enable FRONTEX, as well as Greece and Turkey, to take action in real time.

This is an excellent example of how NATO and the EU can work together to address common challenges. I welcome the fact that we were able to finalise these arrangements in such a short time. In this crisis, time is of the essence, and cooperation is key.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on Monday (7 March 2016) to discuss the conflict and instability on NATOs southern borders. Mr. Stoltenberg thanked Turkey for its efforts to tackle the current refugee and migrant crisis and stressed that NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey.

The Secretary General underlined that Turkey is generously hosting more than two and a half million refugees and is bearing the brunt of the greatest refugee and migrant crisis since the Second World War in Europe. He also praised Turkeys commitment to NATOs surveillance deployment in the Aegean Sea. NATO ships are currently collecting information and conducting monitoring to support Turkey, Greece and the EUs border agency Frontex in their efforts to tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks. Earlier today, the Secretary General also met with Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos to discuss the details of NATOs deployment.

Over the week-end, we decided to step up our efforts and our support to assist international efforts to deal with the crisis. We are expanding the area of activity into the territorial waters of Turkey and Greece, in close coordination with both Allies. So NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today. We are expanding our cooperation with the EUs border agency FRONTEX. And we are expanding the numbers of ships in our deployment, the Secretary General said in a joint press point with Prime Minister Davutoglu.

Mr. Stoltenberg explained that NATOs Maritime Command has exchanged letters with Frontex. This will allow us to exchange liaison officers and to share information in real time. So that Frontex, as well as Greece and Turkey, can take even more effective action. This is a great example of how NATO and the European Union can work together to address common challenges, said the Secretary General.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Davutoglu, the Secretary General also discussed the situation in Syria. As part of NATO support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis, Allies have decided to intensify intelligence, surveillance and monitoring along the Turkish-Syrian border. This will complement the assurance measures for Turkey we decided late last year, including more AWACS presence and an increased naval presence, said Mr. Stoltenberg. He added that NATO will also continue to augment Turkeys air defences with Patriots.

The Secretary General underlined that the Syrian ceasefire remains the best possible basis for renewing efforts to reach a negotiated, peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria. He added that NATO remains concerned by the Russian military build-up in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean: Russias military activity in the region has fuelled the humanitarian crisis and driven more people to Turkeys borders. It has also caused violations of NATO airspace. So more than ever, it is important to see calm, de-escalation and dialogue.
Understand: getting the numbers right was the CDC's prime task.

(NaturalNews)(Story by Jon Rappoport, republished from JonRappoport.WordPress.com .)Telling the truth, of course, must lead to publishing the truth.And then follow-up investigations would be done to flesh out the story further; to prompt people with inside knowledge to emerge from their closets and confess their complicity.I'm talking about a certain kind of truth, whereby a sacred cow is destroyed; the kind of cow everyone immediately believes is self-evident, universal, and vital, representing the best motives and impulses of people in power.That kind of sacred cow.A cow holding up the world, so to speak.Destroyed.There are many important lies that don't quite rate that status. If they were exposed to the light of day, people would say, "Yes, it's shocking, but we always had doubts."And life would go on.A monumental sacred cow has the quality of being believed in the same way people believe the sun will come up in the morning.Therefore, when it falls, the shock is volcanic.However, I need to add this disclaimer. Most minds and eyeballs simply don't notice the sacred cow falling and shattering like porcelain. It happens, but it doesn't draw attention because people will do anything they can to maintain their grip on illusion.It would take something on the order of Kansas disappearing off the map overnight to arouse the populationand even then, large numbers of people would claim it didn't happen, because it couldn't happen.So now I'll describe an example.In the summer of 2009, the world was agog as a sweeping pandemic called Swine Flu invaded their lives. The virus said to be responsible for this catastrophe was H1N1.The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), whose job was to report numbers of cases, claimed there were roughly ten thousand Swine Flu victims in America.In the absence of doing that, they had no reason to exist as an agency tracking an epidemic.In the fall of 2009, a CBS investigative reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, discovered something quite strange. She hit the motherlode of a scandal:Back in July, the CDC had stopped counting Swine Flu cases.The agency didn't make this public. It didn't put out the story to reporters. But Attkisson found out the truth She went further. She uncovered the reason the CDC stopped counting.Here is what Attkisson wrote, on October 21, 2009, in an article posted on the CBS News website, titled,"If you've been diagnosed 'probable' or 'presumed' 2009 H1N1 or 'swine flu' in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn't have H1N1 [Swine] flu . In fact, you probably didn't have flu at all.""That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.""In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 [Swine] flu, and stopped counting individual cases. The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there's an epidemic?""...we [CBS News] asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 [Swine Flu cases] prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico."And the staggering capper on this tale? Roughly three weeks after Attkisson's Swine Flu revelations appeared in print, the CDC, obviously in great distress over the exposure, decided to double down. The best lie to tell would be a huge lie.Here, from a November 12, 2009, WebMD article is the CDC's response: "Shockingly, 14 million to 34 million U.S. residents  the CDC's best guess is 22 million  came down with H1N1 swine flu by Oct. 17 [2009]." ("22 million cases of Swine Flu in US," by Daniel J. DeNoon)I interviewed Sharyl Attkisson. She told me the following:"...we discovered through our FOI efforts that before the CDC mysteriously stopped counting Swine Flu cases, they had learned that almost none of the cases they had counted as Swine Flu was, in fact, Swine Flu or any sort of flu at all! The interest in the story from one [CBS] executive was very enthusiastic. He said it was 'the most original story' he'd seen on the whole Swine Flu epidemic. But others [at CBS] pushed to stop it and, in the end, no [CBS television news] broadcast wanted to touch it. We aired numerous stories pumping up the idea of an epidemic, but not the one that would shed original, new light on all the hype. It [Attkisson's investigation] was fair, accurate, legally approved and a heck of a story. With the CDC keeping the true Swine Flu stats secret, it meant that many in the public took and gave their children an experimental vaccine that may not have been necessary."In other words, the whole Swine Flu episode was a dud. A hoax.It was exposed on the CBS News website. Beyond that, it never became a big story at CBS or any other major mainstream outlet in the world. It was squashed.To receive the full force of this hoax, you need to understand that so-called epidemics are very big business. Vaccine business. Pharma business. Government business.When those governments announce an epidemic, the public believes. The belief is on the order of religious faith. It is also scientific faith. Once announced, there is no going back. These "epidemics" are, like major banks, too big to fail.But Swine Flu did fail. Right out in the open. On the CBS News website. It was exposed as a grand hoax.Realizing what they had just let happen, CBS dropped the curtain. There would be no follow-up. The story wouldn't make it on to the national evening television broadcast.And most of the people who read the story on the CBS website would blink and move on. Their minds wouldn't register the implications. Kansas had just disappeared, but for them it was still there.That's how consensus reality operates. It's there even when it isn't. It's there even after it's been axed, sawed, dissolved.It's the proverbial bad penny that keeps coming back. It keeps showing up.the matrix revealedThe public is married to the whole idea of viruses. Viruses are embraced as basic seeds of medical reality. From those seeds bloom all sorts of unshakable facts about illness. Virus does this, virus causes that, prevent virus from taking hold with a shotnews about viruses is as commonplace and familiar as pots and pans are in kitchens. "Everybody knows about viruses."Of course, everybody doesn't know about viruses, but they think they do.And here is a case, Swine Flu, where what everybody knew as a fundamental fact of reality was wrong.The virus wasn't there.As a researcher once wrote me, "Pepsi, Coke, McDonald's, ice cream, viruses. They're the pillars, the foundation stones. But you'd be surprised how often we're guessing about viruses. We say they're there, causing a disease. We give a name to the disease, and the public salutes. We're taking a stab in the dark. If we admitted it, our whole operation would crash..."You can doubt what the President is saying. You can doubt the Congress, the FBI, the CIA, and the IRS. You can doubt all the mega-corporations. You can doubt Mickey Mouse and the Pope. But when you doubt viruses, you're committing heresy, because medical science is a super-religion. Its basic tenets are "self-evident." They must be. They have to be.Especially when they aren't.Read more at JonRappoport.WordPress.com
(NaturalNews) When Democrats and President Obama were "selling" the Affordable Care Act to the American people in 2009, they made lots of promises that have never come true andnever come true."If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." Except when your doctor opts out of Obamacare exchanges, as hundreds of thousands have done "If you like your healthcare plan, you'll be able to keep your plan period." Except when those plans don't live up to Obamacare's mandatory coverage requirements , as millions have not."We will work with your employer to lower premiums by $2,500 a year." Except that, because Obamacare's mandatory coverage requirements exceed coverage held by most Americans, monthly premiums have skyrocketed , in some cases by as much as 78 percent, according to a new study.Finally, Americans were promised that, under Obamacare, overall employer healthcare costs would. But, alas, that promise hasn't come true for far too many companies.Only, that's not the president's fault, or the fault of the law; Obama is blaming it onDuring a question-and-answer session recently at Millennium Steel Services in Princeton, Indiana, a company manager asked why health insurance costs were still rising, when Obama promised that they would not. The president's answer was telling."We are seeing almost a double-digit increase in health-care costs every year," Millennium Steel general manager Mihir Paranjape said to Obama , according to. "Do you think that trend is going to go down, and what can we do to control that trend?""I think that's really interesting, you're gonna have to talk to Henry," Obama answered, referencing Henry Jackson, the company's CEO."No, no, no, this is serious," Obama continued, after several audience members laughed. "The question is whether you guys are shopping effectively enough."So in other words, Millennium Steel's execs are justObama went on to claim that health insurance premiums are actually at historic 50-year lows, a claim that likely drew more than a few eye rolls from the audience.As it should have: Study after study has shown that the president is simply not being honest at worst, or is cherry-picking his statistics at best.As reported by The DC:Also, the American Health Policy Institute has recently released a study which shows that most major employers' healthcare plans will cost them between $4,800 and $5,900 per year, per employee Over the next decade, the think tank found, employers will be on the hook for an additional $186 billion in health premium costs -- money that could instead go toward higher wages, expansion and more hiring.Because of the additional costs, businesses will instead have to adjust their services and fees to compensate, which means they will likely have to raise prices on consumers to offset the government-mandated expense, conclude the study's authors, former Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Tevi Troy and the institute's chief economist, Mark Wilson."Cost increases in the range of $163 million to $200 million per large employer over the course of a decade will not be overlooked by CEOs, CFOs, or Boards of Directors," the authors found. "Employers have a significant incentive to make fundamental changes to their health offerings as a result of the ACA."But all of that is, not Obama's or the Democrats who passed the "Affordable" Care Act. Just ask them.
Ultra-filtered honey

Honey laundering

How to differentiate between real honey and fake

(NaturalNews) Honey, often referred to as " liquid gold ," houses a wide range of vitamins and minerals. It is a natural and healthier alternative to sugar to sweeten things up. It kills bacteria, viruses and fungi. It also lowers cholesterol and inflammation.However, to reap all of honey's benefits, you should always buy local and organic , which comes from bees rather than from a factory. According to, more than 75 percent of honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't actually the same thing honey bees produce.They sent over 60 different jars bought in 10 states and the District of Columbia to premier melissopalynologist and professor at Texas A&M University, Vaughn Bryant. They found the market to be flooded with fake Indian or Chinese honey which is banned in Europe for safety reasons. It is often contaminated with antibiotics or heavy metals , and doesn't contain any trace of pollen."Any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey," states the FDA. However, nothing seems to be done about it, and fake, processed honey is still sold in grocery stores all over the U.S.In the normal honey-making process, honey is filtered to remove contaminants, such as bee parts, waxes and other impurities. Nothing wrong there; nobody wants to chew on bee parts or wax, right?Ultra-filtration, a technique refined by the Chinese, is a high-tech procedure in which honey is heated and pushed through extremely fine filters at high pressure. This technique not only removes contaminants, but pushes out the pollen and many other beneficial vitamins, minerals and enzymes, too.Why would a company go through all these expensive filtration steps to end up with an inferior product, ripped of all its nutrients?"Removal of all pollen from honey 'makes no sense' and is completely contrary to marketing the highest quality product possible," Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, toldChina is known to produce cheap honey diluted with inexpensive sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup . Many countries have banned Chinese honey, as it is all too often contaminated with antibiotics and heavy metals.After a few big scandals, the U.S. decided to pose higher taxes on Chinese honey to push U.S. companies to buy real, locally produced honey.But there is no stopping it. Chinese honey producers now launder their cheap, fake honey to another country, before shipping it to the U.S. In doing so, they avoid the higher import taxes, making it still cheaper than honey produced in the U.S.To cover up this dirty honey laundering secret, ultra-filtration is needed. Pollen serves as a fingerprint; it can tell you exactly where the honey came from, and would trace it all the way back to China."We are well aware of the tricks being used by some brokers to sell honey that originated in China and laundering it in a second country by filtering out the pollen and other adulterants," said Eric Wenger, director of quality services for Golden Heritage Foods.Ultra-filtration produces a crystal clear, easy-to-pour, yellowish liquid, while raw unprocessed honey is cloudier, and less pourable and spreadable. It can still contain small parts of the honeycomb, too.If you are a honey lover, you should stick to buying honey from a local, organic farm or co-op.According to the findings of, 76 percent of samples bought at grocery stores had all pollen removed. All samples coming from drugstores or single portion packages from fast food chains  such as KFC and McDonalds  had all pollen removed.On the contrary, samples that came from farmers' markets, co-ops and natural stores like PCC and Trader Joe's, all had a decent amount of pollen and could be called real honey.
Defended Vioxx that killed over 50,000 Americans before being withdrawn

(NaturalNews) The FDA has now officially been completely captured by the pharmaceutical industry. With the confirmation of pharma insider Robert Califf as the new head of the FDA, America can look forward to many years of FDA malfeasance in conspiracy with pharmaceutical manufacturers to cover up the deadly side effects of drugs like Vioxx, all while using the full power of the federal government to intimidate, censor and criminalize natural product companies.From Counterpunch.org In other words, the new head of the FDA, Robert Califf,. He thinks that FDA should "consult" with the pharmaceutical industry and that it's perfectly okay when FDA leaders are on the take from drug companies.Wow. Apparently the idea that the FDA should REGULATE drug companies is totally foreign to Califf. His position is that the FDA is really just a division of Big Pharma and should help out the industry at every opportunity.As Counterpunch concludes, "Commissioner Hamburgs appointment of Dr. Califf amounts to a sad legacy. It also suggests the FDA is no longer even making a pretense at policing industry/government conflicts of interest."From Health Impact News Now, more than ever, all Americans need to learn the truth about natural medicine because the FDA will be trying to censor it out of existence in order to protect the profits of Big Pharma.
Due to the heterogeneous population of PDLCs, it is critical to selectively isolate highly regenerative MSCs for successful use in clinical settings. We isolated DMSCs from PDL using FACS analysis and three combinations of cell surface markers that have previously been used in successful identification of MSCs from various tissues.23,32,33 Our results demonstrated that all three combinations of surface markers, CD51/CD140, CD271, and STRO-1/CD146 successfully isolated homogenous populations of multipotent progenitor DMSCs from the PDL with varying quantities of the isolated subsets. Although all of these sorted DMSCs showed strong osteogenic potential as evaluated by ALP activity and ARS, the expression of osteogenic marker genes was most significantly upregulated in CD271+DMSCS. The expression of PLAP-1, PDL marker gene, was significantly induced in all of these sorted DMSCs at day 10. Similarly, all three subsets of isolated DMSCs exhibited strong chondrogenic differentiation capacity and expression of chondrogenic marker genes was most significantly increased in STRO-1+/CD146+ DMSCs.

Mabuchi et al. first utilized CD271/CD90/CD106 combination of surface markers to selectively isolate a distinct subpopulation of highly potent MSCs in vivo.33 Therefore, we initially decided to explore the use of all three markers in PDLCs. Our data showed unreasonably high proportion of PDLCs expressed CD90 (Figure 1d) suggesting that CD90 may cause non-specific isolation of DMSCs. Conversely, FACS analysis revealed that 0% of PDLCs expressed both CD271 and CD106 (Figure 1e). As such, CD271 alone was used in this study to identify DMSCs from PDLCs. CD271, or p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR or low affinity nerve growth factor receptor/LNGFR), is a common receptor for all neurotrophins that stimulate neuronal cells to survive and differentiate.37,38 Of particular use with BMSCs, it has been demonstrated that CD271 consistently isolates highly multipotent BMSCs and has been described as the most selective marker for the purification and isolation of BMSCs.33,39,40,41,42,43

In addition, CD271 has been known for its involvement in epithelial mesenchymal interactions during tooth development.44 Progenitor cells from the PDL, which is derived from cranial neural crest-derived ectomesenchyme, are believed to be derived from the neural crest.7,13 These neural crest stem cells have been identified in the PDL by immunohistochemistry with CD271 and mRNA expression levels of CD271.7,13 However, no previous attempts have been made to isolate progenitor cells using CD271 and FACS analysis.

In our study, we successfully isolated DMSCs from PDL using CD271 but the expression was minimal at just 0.8% of PDLCs. This low percentage of CD271+ cells is consistent with the results in BMSCs, which reported less than 1% are CD271+.33,39,40,41,42,43 Although CD271 isolated only 0.8% of DMSCs, CD271+ cells had highly significant odonto/osteogenic potential and produced the greatest upregulation of osteogenic marker genes during induction. Alexander et al. previously reported that CD271 is an early surface marker of osteogenic capacity in vitro in human jaw periosteum-derived progenitor cells (JPCs) as CD271 was able to distinguish between mineralizing JPCs and non-mineralizing JPCs using FACS analysis.45

STRO-1 and CD146 are MSC surface markers that have been used individually and in combination to identify MSCs from various tissues.11,23,36,46,47,48,49 STRO-1, a cell membrane single pass type I protein is involved in calcium signaling.9 Initially, it was associated with the identification of osteogenic precursors isolated from bone marrow and later described as a promising marker for MSCs.13,46 CD146 or the melanoma cell adhesion molecule is a key cell adhesion protein in vascular endothelial cell activity and angiogenesis and is associated with vascular smooth muscle commitment.9,48,50 Our study with FACS analysis using the STRO-1/CD146 combination isolated 2.4% of PDLCs and these sorted STRO-1+/CD146+ DMSCs demonstrated high osteogenic potential (Figure 1c), confirming the results of a previous study.23 Consistent with the study by Xu et al., the adipogenic potential of STRO-1+/CD146+ DMSCs was insignificant (data not shown), confirming a preferential bias of STRO-1+/CD146+ DMSCs toward osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation.23

The intermediate filament protein, Nestin, identifies a distinct population of highly multipotent MSCs from mouse bone marrow.32 However, because of the intracellular location of Nestin, its utilization to identify BMSCs in vivo would require cell permeabilization preventing the isolation of live cells.32 In order to address this shortcoming, Pinho et al. used CD51/CD140 cell marker combination to isolate a stromal population that is Nestin+ and highly enriched in MSCs in the mouse and human bone marrow.32 Clonally expanded CD51+/CD140+ cells exhibited robust differentiation potential into osteoblastic, adipocytic, and chondrocytic lineages in vivo.32

CD51 identifies the integrin vitronectin  chain receptor, important for adhesion and development while CD140/platelet-derived growth factor receptor  is a tyrosine kinase receptor expressed on mesenchymal derived cells.51,52,53,54 In our study, a high proportion (24%) of PDLCs were positive for CD51 and CD140. This large yield of CD51+/CD140+ DMSCs from the PDL is consistent with high Nestin expression in the majority of adult neural crest stem cells.55,56 In addition, these isolated CD51+/CD140+ DMSCs were successfully induced to undergo differentiation into osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages. Quantification of ALP activity and ARS and expression of osteogenic marker genes exhibited comparably significant osteogenic and chondrogenic potential for CD51+/CD140+ DMSCs as STRO-1+/CD146+ DMSCs.

Our findings not only offer recommendations for isolating MSCs from PDL, but also provide future directions for clinical applications of DMSCs in dentistry and medicine, including periodontal therapy. Periodontal disease is a major cause of tooth loss and a substantial public health concern.19 Caused by precipitating factors such as microorganisms and their byproducts, periodontitis is initiated by an inflammatory process that leads to the dissolution of tissue components.17,20 The selective isolation of DMSCs from the PDL may offer the possibility of improvements in regenerating the periodontal apparatus that is destroyed by periodontal disease. Additional clinical applications of DMSCs from PDL in dentistry include periodontal defect repair, PDL development for titanium dental implants, and tooth root repair.12,27,57,58

In conclusion, our findings demonstrated the successful isolation of distinct subpopulations of DMSCs from human PDL with the use of CD51/CD140, CD271, and STRO-1/CD146 surface markers and demonstrated their capacity to undergo differentiation into osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages. Each marker yielded a different quantity of isolated mesenchymal progenitor cells with varying magnitude of multi-lineage differentiation potential. As CD51/CD140 produced isolation of significantly higher proportion of PDLCs than the other two cell surface marker combinations, CD51/CD140 may be a sufficient marker combination to use with FACS analysis to obtain highly multipotent MSCs from the PDL. Further studies are needed to validate whether these isolated cells may differentiate into functionally different lineages in vivo.
Thousands of people have signed a petition to get the University of Illinois-Chicago to cancel Donald Trumps rally at the school pavilion Friday.

As of Monday morning, nearly 43,000 people had signed the moveon.org petition arguing the rally has no place in Chicago but especially not at an institution of higher learning.

In many instances Trump rallies have led to students, youth, and people of color being violently attacked by attendees, the petition, started by a graduate student at the university, read. UIC should not be host to hate. Please cancel the event.

Thousands of students are also planning a peaceful protest at the event, encouraging Trump critics to obtain tickets to the free rally as well as gather outside the venue.

The GOP presidential hopeful will speak at the free rally Friday at the UIC Pavilion, according to his campaign website.

The event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. but doors will open at 3 p.m.

Protesters cited the Republican front-runner's stance on immigration, his calls to bring back torture techniques like waterboarding for alleged terrorists and a recent endorsement from white supremacist David Duke.

"The platform Donald Trump would announce at the UIC Pavilion is a direct attack on much of the UIC student body - from mass deportation to a ban on muslims to a refusal to denounce the KKK, not to mention regular insults to women," the student petition reads. "If UIC is a 'minority serving institution' that comes with specific responsibility. And that doesn't include serving white supremacists or hosting events that put the student body at risk of altercations with attendees who have a history of violent attacks on people of color at his rallies."

Trump is known for drawing large, protest-ridden rallies, but he has argued 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."

The school's chancellor, Michael Amiridis addressed students' concerns Saturday saying the university "is not endorsing, sponsoring or supporting any candidate for political office." Rather, it is continuing with a decades-long tradition of hosting campaign events on campus, he said, noting there is no legal basis to exclude a candidate "because of the views he or she expresses."

"UICs core values of freedom, equality and social justice for all, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability status or sexual orientation, are deeply rooted in our diverse community and not endangered by the presence of any political candidate on campus," Amiridis wrote. "We encourage public and civic engagement by all members of our University and we endorse the idea that the answer to speech that one does not like or finds offensive is more speech and not censorship."

Still, UIC faculty and staff sent a letter of concern to Amiridis Monday, saying they're worried about the safety of students and staff at the event.

"We are deeply distressed that this event threatens to create a hostile and physically dangerous environment to the students, staff, faculty and alumni who come out to express their opposition," the letter read. "We base this claim on what happened recently at another public higher education institution, Valdosta State in Georgia, where university security ejected a group of peaceful protestors, all of whom were students enrolled at the university, who were seeking to attend the rally being held in a campus venue. We are also concerned for the safety of the diverse staff and team of student employees who work at the UIC Pavilion, as well as of those in our community who have no choice but to traverse parts of the campus around the Pavilion going to and from work and class from the time the event doors open around three through and immediately after the full closure of the building."

Local politicians have also pledged to protest the rally, including Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) and Congressman Luis Guitierrez.

"When Mr. Trump arrives in Chicago, we'll be the first to welcome him, to greet him and then to send him back on his merry way because Chicago knows better," Lopez said. "Our people expect better and our country thankfully will get better."

Still, many supporters have said they plan to attend the event, despite the protests.

Trump's campaign declined to comment on the planned protests and petition, saying it "does not comment on matters of security." Chicago police said Trump now has Secret Service protection and also declined to comment on the potential for increased security due to protests.

Trump has been in Chicago headlines often in the past few weeks after he spoke out against the Ricketts family for making donations against his campaign.

I hear the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide, Trump tweeted last month.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts addressed Trumps comments shortly after, saying its a little surreal when Donald Trump threatens your mom."

His Trump-branded building has also been the source of controversy in the city after it installed 20-foot-tall illuminated letters spelling the real estate mogul's last name at the hotel and residential tower at 401 N. Wabash Ave.

The Friday event falls on the same night as an Illinois Republican Party fundraiser, which fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz has said he will attend. Other Republican presidential candidates have also been invited. It's not clear if Trump will make an appearance after his rally is over.

Other presidential candidates have also traveled to Illinois in recent weeks, with Hillary Clinton holding a get out the vote rally and fundraiser in the city last month and Bernie Sanders traveling to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for a rally Friday.

John Kasich will also hold a Palatine town hall Wednesday.

Illinois presidential primary will be held March 15.
One man is dead and at least 13 others wounded in weekend shootings throughout the Chicago area since Friday afternoon, police confirmed.

The only fatal shooting reported occurred at around 9:30 p.m. in the 300 block of East 50th St. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. Police say two men were arguing in an alley when shots were fired. One man was struck, and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the back. He was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. He was later identified as 44-year-old Wavey Brown, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner, though Chicago Police listed his age as 43 years old.

Other shooting incidents include:

Friday

At around 4:06 p.m., a 20-year-old man was standing on the corner in the 800 block of East 91st Street in the Burnside neighborhood when he heard shots and felt pain. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the arm and is in stable condition.

At 6:40 p.m., a 34-year-old man was standing on corner of the 3800 block of West Division Street in the Humboldt Park neighborhood when he heard shots and felt pain. He was taken to Norwegian-American Hospital, and was later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was listed in good condition with a gunshot wound to the left leg.

A 14-year-old boy was shot at 7:40 p.m. in the 2400 block of South Rockwell Street in the Little Village neighborhood. He was standing outside when a dark-colored SUV with one occupant drove by and fired shots, striking the victim in his left upper arm. He was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

At 8:33 p.m., a 40-year-old man was shot on the 5900 block of South Bishop Street in the Englewood neighborhood. The victim was sitting outside his vehicle when a light-colored car drove by and someone sitting in the back passenger side seat fired shots. The victim suffered gunshot wounds to the right thigh and a graze wound to right hand, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition.

In the 600 block of East 81st St in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, a 29-year-old man was shot at 8:50 p.m. during an attempted robbery. He was sitting in a sedan, stopped at a red light when a man approached on foot and announced a robbery. The victim sped off and the offender fired shots, hitting the driver in the right leg. He was taken to Christ Medical Center where he is in stable condition.

Saturday

A 35-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk in the 10000 block of South State St. in the Roseland neighborhood at 10:10 p.m. Two men approached him on foot and fired shots. He sustained a gunshot wound to the left hand and was taken to Roseland Hospital in stable condition.

Around 10:30 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was standing on the sidewalk in the 400 block of S. Springfield Ave. in the East Garfield Park neighborhood when he heard shots and felt pain. He was dropped off at Stroger Hospital by a family member, where he was listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the chest and left arm.

Five minutes later at 10:35 p.m., two people were standing on a front porch on the 1600 block of S. St. Louis Ave. in the Lawndale neighborhood on Chicagos West Side. An SUV drove past and an occupant fired shots. The two victims were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. The 17-year-old boy was in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the left leg, and the 20-year-old man was in serious condition with gunshot wounds in the buttocks and right leg.

Sunday

A 26-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk with a woman in the 100 block of E. 11th St at about 3 a.m. when he heard shots and felt pain. The woman drove him to 18th and State St, where she found members of the Chicago Fire Department. The victim was taken to Northwestern Hospital with a gunshot wound to the upper left arm and was listed in stable condition.

Twenty minutes later, a 21-year-old man was getting into a parked car in the 3300 block of W. Van Buren St in the Fifth City neighborhood on the West Side. A light-colored sedan drove past and an occupant fired shots. The victim was taken to Rush Hospital by a friend where he was listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the left thigh.

At 6:29 p.m., an 18-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk in the 200 block of W. 110th Place in the Far South Side neighborhood of Roseland when he heard shots and felt pain. He was half a block from the Roseland Hospital, so he was able to walk into the hospital and receive treatment. He sustained a gunshot wound to the left thigh and was listed in stable condition.

As of Sunday evening, no one is in custody in connection with any of these shootings, and police continue to investigate.
Former President Bill Clinton will attend an event in the Chicagoland area Tuesday to support Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in the lead-up to the March 15 Illinois primary.

At the event, Clinton will stump for his wife's campaign and encourage early voting.

"President Clinton will lay out what's at stake during this election and why Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who can break down barriers that hold Illinoisans back, deliver results, and continue the progress that we've made under President Obama," a press release provided by Hillary for Illinois said. "President Clinton will also encourage Illinoisans to take advantage of early voting which lasts until March 14th."

Information on the event has not yet been made public. An update will be posted when details have been made available to Ward Room.

In recent months, the Clinton campaign has been zeroing in on Illinois as a decisive primary.

Clinton debuted two television ads Saturday in Illinois. She previously opened two Chicago campaign offices, located at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave. and 1543 N. Wells St., in February.

Clinton also held a get-out-the-vote rally at the Parkway Ballroom in Bronzeville last month in an effort to gain the support of African-American voters. At the event, Clinton slammed Gov. Bruce Rauner and his Turnaround Agenda.

The governor has refused to start budget negotiations unless his so-called turnaround agenda gets passed, first, Clinton said during her speech. Now, his plan will turn Illinois around, all tight. All the way back to the time of the robber barons of the 19th century.

During that trip, she also attended a private host reception for donors who have raised more than $27,000 for her campaign.

Clinton leads Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton currently has 663 pledged delegates to Sanders' 459. She won the Louisiana primary Saturday, but lost Kansas and Nebraska to Sanders.

The two will face off in Illinois March 15 Democratic Presidential primary.

Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio will also be decided that day.


Parents of an Ellington man who lost his life to heroin want others to hear their son's story as a warning to others about the dangers of opioid addiction.

Tim Lally died in January after being rushed to Rockville General Hospital suffering from a heroin overdose. The Lallys received a call at 5 a.m. from a doctor.

"Tim was there. He was brought in on an apparent heroin overdose," John Lally, Tim's father said. "They told us he'd been in cardiac arrest, his heart had stopped. We went to the emergency room, my wife and I ran down there, I called our other son, he ran down there and we met at the emergency room and found out that Tim was kicked out of the sober home days before, even before he was here to visit and he never told us."

Tim died 36 hours later when John and his wife, Laura, decided to take Tim off life support.

His parents describe him as a happy kid, who's downfall began with anxiety and depression. That led to Tim using pot, prescription pain pills and eventually heroin. He had been in and out of treatment, but went back to using.

"There's a stigma about people who abuse drugs, who are addicts," John said. "Many of us in society think of these as bad people, as throw-aways, as 'well, they brought it on themselves, they deserve what they get. Why should we spend tax dollars, why should we go out of our way to help people who intentionally destroy themselves.'"

John blames bad choices for his son's path to heroin. He wants others to understand that heroin addiction happens in families regardless of race, location, status or education.

"Tim struggled with drug abuse for 2 or 3 years that we knew of, and we didn't share with friends or family, so I understand that, but when Tim died, we decided 'we got to stop this, we have to talk about this.' People have to understand, this doesn't, this happens to good people from good families, and it can happen anywhere in any town," John said.

The Lallys now have their memories, and a favorite photo of Tim perched on the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland.

"I look at him, I look at that smile and I remember what a good person he was, and how much love was in him and how much we miss him and how much we'll always miss him," John said.
The governor has ordered that flags lowered to half-staff in honor of former First Lady Nancy Reagan be raised tonight after the funeral.

Gov. Dannel Malloy said the flags were lowered in accordance with a proclamation from President Barack Obama.

Nancy Reagan died on Sunday at her home in Bel-Air, California, of congestive heart failure.
A teenager has died and seven other people were injured when someone opened fire early Sunday morning in Chelsea, Massachusetts, officials said.

Police are still looking for the shooter as family and friends are mourning the loss of the 19-year-old Pablo Villeda.

A small memorial is growing outside the building at 120 Washington Ave., where seven young people, including Villeda, were shot early Sunday morning. One more person jumped out a window.

Terrence Flood's fiance was woken up by the shots. They live next door.

"She said, 'I heard a shot, a gunshot,'" Flood said. "She heard the glass break where the guy jumped out the window."

Villeda was taken to Whidden Memorial Hospital, where he later died. The other victims were transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and Whidden Hospital with non-threatening gunshot injuries.

The surviving shooting victims were three males - ages 15, 18, and 22 - and three females - ages 15, 17, and 18.

Now, police are looking for a suspect. They believe there was one shooter with one gun.

They are also investigating why so many young people were inside that apartment.

"It's been vacant for like two or three days," said Flood.

A vigil is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. in front of the building.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 617-466-4805, or the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit at 617-727-8817
Hand-in-hand with his wife on the other side of the world, nothing about the place MLB pitcher Cole Hamels was standing felt comfortable, but the moment he saw the wide-eyed little girl, he knew he was where he was supposed to be.

"It was just kind of crazy," Hamels remembers. "I was like, 'I cant believe thats my daughter.'"

A dream planned out almost a decade before was now being realized in a courthouse in the middle of Ethiopia.

"I think she was hesitant to tell me at first," Cole says of his wife, Heidi, who competed on "Survivor: The Amazon" and revealed when the couple was dating her hopes to someday adopt internationally. "I was completely into it. It was something that I never thought about, because my focus was in a million other directions. But when I sat down and thought about it, I thought it was an absolutely amazing experience and opportunity for us to do."

The soon-to-be-named Reeve Hamels had been left in a field as a six-month old by parents who did not have the means to provide for her. A local orphanage had taken her in. Now, she was being adopted by an American family with a father known for dominating Americas pastime.

"At first, youre thinking of all what-ifs, the alarms, what people are going to think," the Texas Rangers left-hander said. "And then, when you really sit down and think about it, you think this is my life. This is our life together. Were going to live it the way that we choose."

It was a process that had originally crawled along (the Hamels had waited six years for the call), but had now shifted to shockingly fast-moving.

"Its all of a sudden, 'Hey, you need to be (in Ethiopia) in three days,'" Cole remembered. "You have a court date, and you see your daughter for the first time the day before, and you only have two hours with her. And its a beautiful country, and the people are incredible.

"But its a whirlwind."

After completing the enormous stacks of paperwork required ("it's encyclopedia-like, man.") and overcoming the initial challenges of visiting a country they had never been to before, the Hamels quickly saw why everyone at the orphanage raved about little Reeve.

"That smile that she has," Cole says, shaking his head. "Shes blown us away every day. Shes been an absolutely amazing daughter. Shes an amazing sister to our two boys. They cant imagine her not being their sister and she cant imagine not having two older brothers."

Cole doesnt hide that Heidis passion for helping international orphans inspires him. In fact, it is what fuels his Hamels Foundation, which just opened a school in Malawi, Africa, which will help educate an estimated 2,000 orphans.

That same passion also gave him his little girl, who now three years later, admittedly provides similar toddler challenges to her older brothers  "The terrible threes are a real thing"  but has changed the Hamels family in an incredible way forever.

"We cant imagine our life without her," the former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher said. "She is loved so much more than I think she could possibly ever understand and she is going to be protected probably more than she could ever understand."
It was a "hero's send-off" at St. Patrick's Cathedral as New York City Police lined the streets to honor a fallen brother.

Over forty law enforcement agents from North Texas escorted Hofer's family and remains back to NYC for the tribute.

"The service was incredibly moving. Our hearts are shattered, but it was great to see David laid to rest in such a beautiful, dignified way." said Euless Mayor Linda Martin.

Also present, countless numbers of family and friends who were schoolmates and former colleagues of David's in New York City where he grew up and spent five years as an officer with the NYPD.

"Hes just a great guy, hes a fantastic human being and its just a tragic loss for everybody." said Gian Carlo, one of David's childhood friends.

Hofer was one of almost a dozen who left New York for a quieter life in Euless.

"They worked very hard on the streets and the New York City Police Department trained these guys tremendously here and the training was brought down to the Euless PD, which is a smaller community and much more of a different environment." said Ed Pietrowski, the father of one of Hofer's friends who also serves on the Euless P.D.

Now the two communities that are "worlds apart" are coming together as one to honor a brother and friend. "I think because we know were finally laying David to rest and now we need to go home and start our healing process." said Euless Mayor, Linda Martin

Hundreds of New York City police officers lined Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in a farewell salute Monday to a former NYPD colleague who was gunned down in North Texas.

Mourners including NYPD officers in dress uniform and officers from several North Texas cities prayed before his cremated remains.

A Euless police officer had carried the cherry wood box with Hofer's ashes bearing his name to the altar, near some daisies and a sign that read, "Blue Lives Matter."

Hofer's fiance, Marta Danylyk, wept quietly, sitting close to his mother, Sonja, and his father, Helmut.

"He went to Texas to make a good life, but once you put a shield on your chest, you're always in danger," Pat Lynch, head of New York's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said after the service.

The 29-year-old Brooklyn native was killed Tuesday while responding to reports of shots fired in at J.A. Carr Park in Euless. As he and his partner approached, the gunman opened fire, mortally wounding Hofer. His partner returned fire, killing the assailant that authorities suspected was high on methamphetamine.

A New York University graduate, Hofer spent five years working in New York's Ninth Precinct in the East Village. He left two years ago for Euless, whose police department has welcomed several former NYPD officers to its ranks.

Hofer recently bought a house with his fiance. He had proposed to her in uniform, devising a surprise plan while she rode with him in a police vehicle, friends told The Dallas Morning News.

He pretended to respond to a report of a suspicious van. Instead, friends and family leaped out of the van as he dropped to his knee and asked for her hand.

On a sunny Monday morning in New York, the lone bagpiped sound of "Amazing Grace" rang over Fifth Avenue as Hofer's remains were carried out of the cathedral, the seat of New York's Roman Catholic archdiocese.


Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who passed away in her Bel Air home Sunday, often visited San Diego.

[I] started reflecting back to the times we had been with her and what a wonderful woman she was and how lucky she was to have found Ronald Reagan and vice versa, Kim Fletcher a local man who contributed to many of their campaigns told NBC 7.

Fletcher remembered the countless times Nancy had stood by her husbands side from local campaign fundraisers to his final stages of Alzheimers.

Many times if Reagan wasn't right on the spot with the answer, Nancy would fill in and help, Fletcher explained.

Just weeks after her husband's death in 2004, Mrs. Reagan greeted sailors at Naval Air Station North Island when USS Ronald Reagan home-ported in San Diego for the first time.

I know how proud he was for having this ship named after him and in my heart I know he's looking down on us today and smiling, she told sailors at the time.

Kim Fletcher said he will always remember her as a first lady fiercely loyal to her President and her country.

I think she will be well remembered and I hope we have more women like her, he said.

In a statement Capt. Christopher Bolt, Commanding Officer of the USS Ronald Reagan said:

"Today, the crew of USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76, takes a pause to remember a tremendous First Lady. Mrs. Nancy Reagan represents the best our nation and the world can offer, commitment to high ideals and an undying love and support to her husband for so many years. We rejoice that the great love affair between President and Mrs. Reagan can continue now forever in heaven. She will remain a symbol of grace, love and devotion to her President and her nation."

She welcomed me on my first day in command with a personal letter of congratulations. I was inspired by her elegance and heartfelt style. She continued to keep in touch with the crew of her ship during the last two and a half years during my time as CO. She personally corresponded with all the Commanding Officers of USS Ronald Reagan."

"I will keep and cherish her letters to me. She was the commissioning sponsor of USS Ronald Reagan. And grounded in Navy tradition, she decorated the Captains in-port cabin and designed it based on her favorite room at the White House. It is an elegant room that is clearly identifiable as being Nancy Reagan. We will be reminded of her often as we show this room to visiting dignitaries, and as each Captain works here when not out to sea. She is a great lady who will be missed. Our condolences go out to the Reagan family, but our prayers are for joy that she is now reunited with the love of her life. They made a terrific team.


The wife of Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles, was fatally shot at their North Hollywood home Sunday when a rifle she was handling discharged, according to police.

Lana Meisner was pronounced dead at the scene after officers responding to a report of a shooting arrived at 7 p.m. to find her suffering from a single gunshot wound, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.

Officers had also been called to the home in the 3700 block of Eureka Drive earlier in the day over a domestic violence incident.

Police said Meisner was moving the rifle out of a closet when the fatal round was fired. When she lifted the rifle, which was inside a case, another item within the case shifted and hit the trigger, causing the gun to discharge.

The Associated Press reported that the 63-year-old had been shot in the head.

"After a thorough investigation by Valley Bureau detective personnel and the Los Angeles (County) Coroner's Office, it was determined that Mrs. Meisner's death was accidental," the news release said.

About an hour and a half before the shooting was reported, police said they received a call from a woman asking for help regarding a possibly intoxicated male. Officers took a domestic violence incident report and left the residence. It was unclear who the woman was or what happened at the home.

"I knew Lana, lovely lady," said neighbor Lucy Bates. "I'm very, very upset this happened."

Police said Randy Meisner was cooperative with investigators. No one has been arrested.

Meisner, who played bass and left the band in 1977, was placed under court-mandated supervision last summer after allegedly threatening murder-suicide with an AK-47 assault rifle and pills, according to a New York Daily News report.

NBC4's Jane Yamamoto contributed to this report.
Emmy award winning journalist Maria Celeste Arraras celebrated her 30th on-air anniversary with a trip down memory lane on her Telemundo program Al Rojo Vivo this week.

Arraras, who began her career in 1986 in her native Puerto Rico, kicked off a three-day celebration last Wednesday with the much-anticipated on-set reunion with her ex-Univision Network cohost and friend Myrka Dellanos.

We both have goose bumps, but you are not seeing things! Arraras assured her audience on the show.

The reunion is a real dream come true for fans of the charismatic duo who through the 90s captured the hearts of the Hispanic television audience in the United States and Latin America with their daily news magazine program Primer Impacto, until Arrarass exit from Univision in 2002.

So many people have been asking to see us on camera together, this was the perfect opportunity to do that, Dellanos said.

When Dellanos, who now lives in Los Angeles, was proposed the reunion idea by producers of Al Rojo Vivo she immediately set aside her schedule for the exciting opportunity to fly to Miami to celebrate with her friend.

First of all, I wanted to honor Mari and then to reunite on-set in a live show was icing on the cake! Dellanos said.

14 years is a long time, but neither time nor distance has broken their on-air magic fans so fondly remember, and more importantly their friendship has remained intact.

You had to be here because you were my friend and colleague for one-third of my career and Im grateful you are here Arraras told Dellanos on-air.

At the request of producers Dellanos took over the program to usher in some surprises for her friend Maria Celeste, including a special visit and performance from reggaeton artist Farruko.

During the span of 30 years Maria Celeste Arraras has become one of the best-known figures in Hispanic television. She serves as editorial director of her daily program Al Rojo Vivo and also co-anchors the Telemundo network news alongside Jose Diaz-Balart.

She has interviewed leading figures in the world of politics, culture and show business and was named one of the 20 Most Powerful women of the Next Generation by Newsweek in 2009.

When asked by Dellanos what she would tell her younger self about what life was going to be like in the future, Arraras responded, I would tell her that an exciting life awaits and that her hard work would yield success and most importantly to do exactly what I did.

Congratulations to Maria Celeste!
Before Nancy Reagan became a fixture in the national consciousness and on home television sets, the late first lady also shared the big screen with the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, Glenn Ford and Ray Milland in her short career as a Hollywood actress in the post-war era.

After a few years on Broadway, Reagan, then Nancy Davis, moved to California and signed a seven-year contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, leading to roles in 11 features  her last of which was the 1958 feature "Crash Landing," a middling Fred F. Sears drama about a pilot (Gary Merrill) reflecting on his troubled marriage (to Reagan's character) in the midst of an engine crisis over the Atlantic.

She was never the biggest star, but she had her moments in a wide variety of genres from noir to melodrama, often as loving and supportive wives and girlfriends.

THE DOCTOR AND THE GIRL (1949)

Nancy Reagan's first big screen role was in director Curtis Bernhardt's drama about a wealthy doctor (Glenn Ford) who defies his family's wishes by opening a practice in a poorer neighborhood. Reagan played the main character's sister Mariette, who is engaged to a class-lusting physician (played by Warner Anderson).

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (1950)

In this Mervyn LeRoy-directed melodrama about a married couple torn apart by the husband's infidelities, Reagan played Helen Lee, a socialite and best friend to Barbara Stanwyck's wronged wife. James Mason played Stanwyck's philandering husband, one of whose consorts was Ava Gardner. "The ladies all wear expensive garments and the gentlemen drink expensive booze. But that still doesn't elevate the effort above the level of hopeful pretense," wrote New York Times critic Bosley Crowther in his review.

SHADOW ON THE WALL (1950)

After a run of playing mostly wives and girlfriends, Reagan got a particularly meaty and serious role in this Pat Jackson-directed psychological crime thriller about a 6-year-old girl (Gigi Perreau) who loses her memory after witnessing the murder of her stepmother. Reagan played a doctor who endeavors to help cure the girl and makes some critical discoveries about the nature of the murder along the way.

The New York Times said Reagan gave a "beautiful and convincing" performance.

THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR ... (1950)

When God starts giving radio broadcasts in this odd little William A. Wellman film, a married couple (James Whitmore and Nancy Reagan) and their 11-year-old son living in suburban Los Angeles are forced to confront their own faith. Reagan was praised for her "delightful" performance as the kind, gentle and very pregnant wife in the film.

NIGHT INTO MORNING (1951)

Reagan plays a widow who saves Ray Milland from his depression and drunkenness after his wife and child die tragically in a fire. Milland and Reagan were both applauded for their performances, but the melancholy story was seen as a bit of a letdown.

HELLCATS OF THE NAVY (1957)

This WWII-set film about a submarine commander charting minefields off the Japanese coast marks the only time Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, already married for five years, shared the big screen. As the land-locked love interest, Nancy Reagan didn't have much to do besides fret though. It's far from a classic  in fact it's somewhat derided  but the film remains an interesting document of historical value just by nature of the fact that it features the future President and first lady.
A two-year-old murder mystery involving a South Florida man accused of raping and killing his adoptive mother is headed to trial on Monday.

Gerard Lopes faces murder charges in connection to the death of 43-year-old Natalie Belmonte, whose bludgeoned body was found in a marsh near their Pembroke Pines home in July 2011.

The state claims that Lopes, who has pleaded not guilty, sexually assaulted his adoptive mother before killing her. In a hearing held Wednesday, state prosecutors sought approval to introduce DNA evidence they say shows the motive was sexual assault.

An autopsy showed that semen found in Belmonte matched Lopes DNA, but Lopes attorneys argue it's not relevant because the sexual relationship was consensual.



The state called a DNA expert, Dr. Martin Tracey, to the stand in Wednesday's hearing. Tracey testified the level of integrity of the DNA found shows the semen was deposited at the time of the murder.

"We know from other kinds of studies that I'm familiar with and teach at the university, the survival time for semen is about 3 to 5 days, Tracey said.

Police said security video from a neighbors house shows Belmonte and Lopes, who was 21 at the time of his 2011 arrest, leaving in the same car and stopping at a Walgreens before heading to a party. The car returns with both individuals around 2:48 a.m. A short time later Lopes is seen dragging a bag across the driveway and loading bags into the trunk. Belmonte's body would be found three days later near their Pembroke Pines home.

Lopes has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.



During Wednesday's motion in limiting hearing, prosecutors called Belmonte's sister Michaela Teixeira to the stand and asked point blank about the possibility of a consensual sexual relationship.

"There's absolutely no way she had consensual sexual relationship with her son, she said.

To give the statement punch, prosecutors detailed a normal, loving mother-son relationship showing Teixeira letters between the two, birthday and Mother's Day cards. Teixeira read from a card  one that if Lopes is proven guilty  could serve as an eerie message from the grave.

"Gerry I'm very proud of the man that you are becoming. Always remember the choices you make today determine the outcome of your future, she said, reading from the card.

At the hearing Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry ordered two prerequisites. If the state can establish a sexual relationship has serious negative consequences on Lopes, and secondly that the semen was deposited at or near the time of death, he'll admit the evidence. He also warned that if the state presents the argument into opening statements, but fails to prove relevance, he'll grant a mistrial.

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Lil Wayne performed a concert at Indiana University this week, and on his way out of town Saturday, he went the extra mile to express his gratitude. No matter what you think of his music, his act of kindness made an impression on several people at an Indianapolis airport.

Amanda Lickliter was at the airport when Lil Wayne, 33, was set to depart, and caught a touching moment. She says that a military aircraft arrived at the airport just as Lil Wayne was about to leave, and parked next to the rappers plane.

Though he and several companions had already boarded and were ready for takeoff, Lil Wayne (real name Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.) told the pilots he wanted to get off the plane. He then went inside the airport and shook hands with each of the roughly 30 service members hands, posing for photos and thanking them for their sacrifice.

Lickliter posted about the exchange on Facebook, and by Sunday afternoon the post had received more than 1000 shares.

So Lil Wayne came through IND today. At the same time he was due to depart, there was a military C130 arriving. It... Posted by Amanda Cooper Lickliter on Saturday, March 5, 2016

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She told NBC 5 that it wasnt who it was, but the act itself that impressed her most.

I would've shared it even if it was Joe Blow off the street, Lickliter said. I think it speaks volumes of someone who would take time out of their obviously busy schedule to shut down their plane and shake the hands of often forgotten about men. The fact that it was Lil Wayne just made it that much better.

It was awesome to see the faces of the guys he thanked, she continued. So many had to do double takes when they realized who he was.

A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Lil Wayne signed to Cash Money Records in 1991 as the youngest member of the label. Wayne's debut solo album "Tha Block Is Hot" was released when he was 17 and and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 before going platinum. Other albums include "Lights Out" (2000), "Tha Carter" (2004), "Rebirth" (2010), "Free Weezy Album" (2015) and "Tha Carter V" (2016).

In a 2011 interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez, Lil Wayne announced that he would retire at age 35; saying "I have four kids", and that "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point in their lives." The rapper's four children were all born to different mothers and range in age from six to 18 years old.

In November 2012 he said that "Tha Carter V" will be his last album ahead of him pursuing other interests.

Lickliter also said the fact that it happened without any cameras or members of the media there made it that much more meaningful.

I thought this was a very admirable thing to do, especially when there was no obvious publicity in it for him, she said of Wayne. He seemed genuinely happy to give them the recognition they deserve.
After North Texas law enforcement, neighbors and community members gathered to say goodbye to a Euless police officer killed in the line of duty Saturday, the community in New York  where he started his career  honored him Monday morning.



Officer David Hofer, 29, died Tuesday after he was shot in an exchange of gunfire with 22-year-old Jorge Gonzalez at J.A. Carr Park in Euless. Gonzalez also died in the shootout.

"David's life ended with him being the best police officer he could be on that day, at that time, and in that situation. Of that, there is no doubt," said Euless Police Chief Mike Brown.

Hofer worked for five years in the NYPD before joining the Euless Police Department in 2014. Dozens of NYPD officers were among those in attendance Saturday.

"Some of you travelled a few blocks to be here. Some of you travelled many miles, and there's a large congregation of officers who travelled from New York," Brown said. "You all came for the same purpose, to represent your departments and your communities in a show of support, solidarity, and love, for the ultimate sacrifice made by officer Davd S. Hofer."

Law enforcement, neighbors and community members gathered to say goodbye Saturday to a North Texas police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Hundreds of officers from departments across the country filled an entire section of bleachers at Pennington Field. Across from them hundreds of North Texas residents filled the stands to pay their respects. Though they did not know his son, Hofer's father, Helmut, issued the crowd a challenge that would honor his son's legacy.

"David made the ultimate sacrifice by doing the job he loved, but there are many less dangerous things each of us can do in our communities to make them better," he said.

Helmut Hofer, father of Euless Police Officer David Hofer, speaks at Hofers memorial service March 5, 2016, at Pennington Field in Bedford. Hofer was killed in action Tuesday, March 1.

Hofer's father said his son will be rememberd for his selflessness, dry wit, and passion for life. It's that passion that brought Hofer and his fiance, Marta Danylyk together.

"To my sweet, sweet, Dave - how truly blessed I am to have gotten to know your beautiful soul. Each moment of the last four years was overflowing with laughter, joy, love, comfort, and resepect," Danylyk said. "Your genuine spitrit, selflessness, unique sense of humor, and pure heart are unmatched. You are one of a kind. You are loved. You are missed beyond meaning. It is my absolute honor and privelage to be the one you chose to love."

Marta Danylyk, fiancee of Euless Police Officer David Hofer, speaks at Hofers memorial service March 5, 2016, at Pennington Field in Bedford. Hofer was killed in action Tuesday, March 1.

The celebration of Hofer's life included a 21-gun salute, a performance of 'Taps,' pipes and drums performing 'Amazing Grace,' and a flyover by Fort Worth Police Air 1.

Police officers from Grand Prairie, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Keller, Haltom City and Grapevine stepped in to patrol the city of Euless so members from the Euless Police Department could attend Hofer's memorial service at Pennington Field in Bedford.

David Hofer will be laid to rest Monday in New York City.

Thousands Line Procession Route to Pay Tribute

Hours before the public memorial began at Pennington Field, thousands of North Texans lined the procession route from Lucas Funeral Home in Hurst to the stadium in Bedford.

"He was a fiance. He was someone's son. He was someone's grandson. He was someone's brother," said Emily Mercer, a longtime resident. "God put it on my heart to bring our children out here to show the sacrifice these officers show daily."

Law enforcement, neighbors and community members gathered to say goodbye Saturday to a North Texas police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Mercer, along with her family, passed out flags and balloons for people to hold along the procession route.

"He went to work daily and fought for us and supported us. He kept our streets safe," Mercer said. "He crossed over to the other side and now he's supporting us from up there."

When the procession made its way to Pennington Field, a sea of police officers on motorcycles entered the stadium first.

The motorcycles were followed by Euless Police units and a hearse carrying Hofer's body.

The display of support from fellow officers moved many in the crowd to tears.

"I was just crying. I was thinking how amazing the brotherhood and sisterhood of the police is," said onlooker Debbie McClendon.

"He was a 29-year-old kid who was ambushed at a park," said Euless resident Karen Killian. "My heart aches for his family and the city of Euless."

Procession, Memorial for Euless Ofc. David Hofer

As the somber, yet powerful parade of blue lights passed by her, Lucy Hanson proudly held the sign she and her classmates at River Trail Elementary in Fort Worth made this week  the most heartfelt way they could think to say thanks to a hero.

"They put their names and some of them put little messages on there," said mother Kathy Hanson.

"From the times our kids were little, we'd teach them about the importance of police officers and trust in them. So, for them to really recognize it, sometimes they see things on the news and the movies, but this hits home. This makes it real for them," Kathy Hanson added.

Don Binnicker, a Euless resident and the father of a police officer, said his heart goes out to Hofer's family and coworkers. He said he hopes seeing the turnout, the signs and flags helped lift their spirits.

"I was proud to see people from all over the country here to support him as well," Binnicker said.

And he hopes that support will continue to be there for all police officers long after Saturday.

Officer David Hofers full memorial service March 5, 2016, at Pennington Field in Bedford. Hofer was killed in action Tuesday, March 1.

Donation Information

Anyone who wants to donate to Hofer's family can do so at a gofundme page set up by the Euless Police Benevolent Organization or by mailing a check  payable to EPBO  to the organization at:

My Credit Union

1014 N. Industrial Blvd.

Euless, TX 76039

NBC 5's Tim Ciesco, Chris Jose, Cory Smith and Kevin Young contributed to this report.
The pastor of a prominent Idaho church was shot and critically wounded in the churchs parking lot Sunday, NBC News reported,

Tim Remington, 55, was shot just a day after he delivered the invocation at a campaign rally for Republican candidate Ted Cruz.

Remington is the senior pastor of the nondenominational Altar Church in Couer dAlene. He was in critical condition late Sunday afternoon. Police told NBC station KHQ they found a man with several gunshot wounds. The gunman  described as a little taller than six feet, with short, curly blond hair  fled and remains at large.

"Our prayers are with Pastor Tim, his family, and the doctors who are supervising his care," Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Cruz's campaign, told NBC News. "We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice."
A Coatesville man was arrested after he allegedly arranged an armed robbery that led to the death of a Lincoln University student.

Police say Evander Wilson, 24, of Coatesville drove 22-year-old Christopher Robinson and a second victim to South 5th Avenue and Olive Street in Coatesville Saturday around 10:20 p.m. When they arrived, Robinson and the second victim were confronted by three masked men who began to rob them, according to investigators. During the robbery, one of the masked men opened fire, shooting Robinson in the neck. Robinson, a Philadelphia native and Lincoln University student, died from his injuries.

Police determined Wilson called the masked men ahead of time and arranged Robinsons robbery. Wilson was arrested and charged with homicide, robbery, conspiracy and other related offenses.

It's unclear if Wilson has an attorney who could comment on the charges.

The investigation is ongoing. If you have any information please call Detective Sergeant Brandon Harris of the Coatesville Police Department at 610-384-2300 or Chester County Detective Robert Balchunis at 610-344-6866.
Several congressmen are raising concerns about the safety of drinking water near two former U.S. Navy bases in suburban Philadelphia.



The lawmakers say firefighting foams used at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove and the Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster might be the source of cancer-causing chemicals found in nearly 100 public and private wells near the properties.



Republican U.S. Reps. Patrick Meehan and Mike Fitzpatrick, and Democrat Rep. Brendan Doyle, sent the letter to the Department of the Navy on Thursday.



They want to know how the Navy handled the discovery of the chemicals in groundwater at the two closed bases. The congressmen also say similar contamination is being investigated at the Horsham Air Guard Station, which is still operating.



The Navy says it has received the letter, but hasn't commented.
There are a lot of things to look forward to this week, but let's kick it off nice and easy, shall we? At the Belly Up, Monday holds the first of two nights with John Hiatt. He's been playing the market so frequently lately I'm starting to wonder if he lives nearby, but it's good for us because he's amazing and fills up every show he plays. It's also a big local night, with the Bulbs headlining the Casbah and Juice Box getting funky at Soda Bar. For an early evening opportunity, head to the San Diego Central Library to catch a screening of "Misunderstood," an Italian film featuring the music of locals Justin Pearson, Gabe Serbian and Luke Henshaw.

Monday, March 7:

John Hiatt, Rick Brantley @ Belly Up

The Bulbs, Sledding With Tigers, William & the Nephews @ Casbah

Picture This: "Misunderstood" film screening featuring the music of Justin Pearson, Gabe Serbian and Luke Henshaw @ San Diego Central Library (6:30 p.m., free)

Juice Box, Bomb Squad, Obtuse Goose @ Soda Bar

Motown On Monday @ Bar Pink

Michael Blake Tiddy Boom Quartet @ La Jolla Athenaeum

Real Live Monday with Shane Hall @ El Dorado

'80s with Junior the Disco Punk @ The Brass Rail

Metal Mondays @ Brick by Brick

Mercedes Moore @ Humphreys Backstage Live

Mic Check Mondays @ Gallagher's

Velvet Cafe @ Alexander's (30th & Upas)

Wheels of the Industry @ Live Wire

Open Mic @ Lestat's

Electric Waste Band @ Winston's

Acoustic Night/Industry Night @ Henry's Pub

Industry Night @ U-31

Industry and local night presented by Mark Rondeau @ 710 Beach Club

Rosemary Bystrak is the publicist for the Casbah, the content manager for DoSD, and writes about the San Diego music scene, events and general musings about life in San Diego on San Diego: Dialed In. Follow her updates on Twitter or contact her directly.
As a powerful El Nino storm arrived along San Diego's coastline, forecasters predicted potentially damaging surf, hail, snow and coastal flooding.

The leading edge of the cold front rolled over the county during the late stages of the morning commute and produced significant rainfall in a very short time from the coast, east to the foothills. The precipitation turned into snow in the mountains above 3,100-foot level.

El Nino Strikes Again

At 8:30 a.m., a eucalyptus tree fell in Rancho Santa Fe, blocking a main route. The tree fell at the intersection of Via de la Valle and Calzada del Bosque, north of Morgan Run.

In Rancho Bernardo, a large tree was reported down around 8:30 a.m. at Bernardo Heights Parkway and Paseo Lucido. Also, a large tree was blocking traffic outside the Estancia La Jolla Hotel Resort and Spa on North Torrey Pines Road.

Most of the rain thus far fell during this period. Tentative totals at midday range from a little more than a quarter of an inch at Lindbergh Field, San Diegos official reporting station, to more than an inch in Oceanside but only a couple tenths of an inch in the south bay. Palomar Mountain was the wettest spot at 11 a.m. with 1.19 measured at Birch Hill. Keep in mind, by 10 a.m., the rain had turned over to snow in the higher elevations. Those totals likely wont be available until later today or even early tomorrow morning.

Big down pour just in time for school drop off! pic.twitter.com/SIj8nz09XA  Steven Luke (@stevenlukenbc) March 7, 2016

NBC 7 received reports of hail falling in San Marcos, Tierrasanta, Fletcher Hills, Oceanside, Eastlake and Encinitas.

Thunder so powerful it's shaking my house!  Vanessa (@HydeAndChicMKE) March 7, 2016

Suffice to say, its been a good winter storm, beneficial to a moisture-starved region. Unfortunately it didnt last long enough and blew through too quickly to produce significant rainfall totals. Still, after one of the driest Februarys in history, we cant complain. And, theres a good chance well get a smaller, less intense storm early Saturday morning.

Download the free NBC 7 mobile app for updates on this storm.
The UC San Diego Jazz Camp is looking to recruit more girls into its ranks. The five-day summer program will hold a free concert featuring female Jazz Camp alumni. The special Young Lions Series performance will be on March 9 at Panama 66 in Balboa Park at 6 p.m.

Ive never been happy about the low number of girls and women in Jazz Camp, said Dan Atkinson, the founder and director of Jazz Camp. Ive questioned directors of similar programs, and, unfortunately, there are a lot fewer women than men at the camps. Maybe part of it is the old image of jazz as a guy thing. Id love to end that perception.

Atkinson with award-winning trumpet player and Jazz Camp instructor Gilbert Castellanos for the free concert to inspire more girls to join by showcasing some for the best female talent that has come out of the program, including Angelica Pruitt, Serena Geroe, Jenna Stevens, Abby Pragar, Natalie Kanga and Joice Caci.

The renewed focus on bringing girls to the camp will not only boost the confidence of girls but will also strengthen and grow the genre renowned jazz flutist and Jazz Camp instructor Holly Hofmann explained.

The aim of the Young Lions Series is to showcase young jazz musicians and give them an opportunity to perform at some of San Diegos best venues.

The Jazz Camp, in its 14th year, runs from June 19 to 25, and is aimed at intermediate to advanced musicians aged 14 to adult. Participants receive private and small group instruction and three continuing education credits from UCSD.

Instructors include Castellanos, Hofmann, Charles McPherson, Mike Wofford, Peter Sprague, Rob Thorsen, Joshua White, Myra Melford and many others. The camp will also feature instructor Grace Kelly, a jazz saxophonist and rising star who is also a member of The Colbert Late Show Band under Jon Batiste. The deadline to apply for this summers Jazz Camp is May 23.

For more information go to the Jazz Camp's website.


Confused, scared and in desperate need of medication: Its a terrible combination for people with dementia when they wander away from their homes.

Thats what Nancy Strohmeyers family thinks happened to her.

She spent her life taking care of other people, raising her own children while working as a Montessori teacher and a caregiver for the elderly.

"Over the last couple of months, she had been suffering from what we thought was rapid onset dementia," her son Kenneth Strohmeyer, Jr. said. He explained it happened so quickly, his mother abruptly lost about 30 pounds.

They have just one photo of what she looked like after the disease took control of her mind, a snapshot taken just hours before she vanished. We were having a difficult time getting her out of her apartment, her son said. Wandering just wasn't one of the things we were really concerned about."

But Feb. 8, his 66-year-old mother disappeared, last seen on the sidewalk in front of her apartment complex  a building sitting next to heavy woods that feed into Great Seneca Creek in Germantown.

That's where the News4 I-Team met with Officer Jason Huggins of the Montgomery County Police Department.

He said he is the only full-time search coordinator in the greater Washington area -- theres no one else like him in the region.

Accoring to Huggins, dementia searches jumped more than 10 percent last year in Montgomery County. He expects that number to keep growing as more and more Baby Boomers reach retirement age.

"A person walking two miles an hour for six-and-a-half hours, the entire county is our search area, Huggins explained. No one can search that amount of property."

So he works with a team of eight officers specially trained to find the missing.

They use a lot of math and statistical models to plot out the highest probability areas to search first. They rely heavily on a book called Lost Person Behavior by Robert Koester.

Koester lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, but travels the world training search crews to find all kinds of missing people.

"The fatality rate for dementia cases is twice that of lost children," Koester said. "For a long time in search and rescue we were used to looking for hikers and hunters and missing children and the dementia cases were not meeting the same patterns. They were closer. They were in locations that were briars, brambles, really thick sort of transitional zones and that was making our scratch our heads."

But by studying hundreds of real-life dementia cases, Koester created mapping software that allows police to simply drop an icon at the last known location and the computer will highlight the most likely places they should start searching.

Koester's research found dementia patients follow the same patterns. They walk in a relatively straight line until they bump into something, at which point they will stare at the object or lay down if theyre tired. They wont even think of turning around, Koester explained.

Since most dementia patients tend to be older, they typically take the path of least resistance -- sticking to roads and trails that go downhill.

That often leads to water, which Koester said many mistakenly believe will be an easy, flat place to walk.

But if they get in trouble, they will not call out for help or even answer if someone calls out their name. "They'll watch a search team walk right by them without saying anything, Koester said. They think, What are they doing in the woods? It doesn't even click that they're lost, they don't have that perception."

Koester explained the disease literally changes the way someone with dementia or Alzheimer's sees the world. "There's a loss of peripheral vision. Koester intertwined his fingers to create a visor above his eyebrows and then placed his thumbs on his temples, effectively blocking out his sight on either side and above eye-level. Thats all you're going to see, he explained. The sight distance gets even worse in reality because a lot of people with dementia are actually looking down at the ground."

In the woods, Officer Huggins put his hands in the same U-shaped position above his eyes and showed how someone with dementia will stop walking when they come to a small obstacle  in this case a medium-sized tree and some hanging vines.

"A person with dementia isn't going to push through this, he explained. This is enough. We look at it and we're like, Why wouldn't you just walk around? With a person with dementia, this may be enough where they're like, This is an impenetrable object. I can't go around it. At that point, Huggins started to stare at the tree trunk. We will find them standing just like this," he explained.

Nancy Strohmeyer's children now wonder if their mother didn't realize her home was literally right next to her as she walked along the sidewalk and instead walked off into the woods trying to find it.

She's been missing for a month and the case has become personal for Huggins. After more than a decade of searching for people, she is the only dementia patient he has yet to find.

7 Tips for Helping Authorities Find Loved Ones With Dementia

If someone you loves has dementia, experts say it isnt a matter of if they will wander, its when. Officer Laurie Reyes of the Montgomery County Police Departments special Autism and Alzheimers Outreach unit offered these tips about what you can do now to help them find the person you love:
A fourth arrest has been made in the murder of a man whose remains were found in a wooded area of the Prince William County earlier this year.

Kevin Wilfredo Vasquez Henriquez, 21, was charged with the murder of Oscar Rene Andrade on March 3, Prince William County police announced Monday. Police say Henriquez was previously arrested in California on unrelated charges and remains in their custody. He is awaiting extradition to Virginia.

Last month, 18-year-old David Jonathan Pineda Argueta and two 17-year-old boys were also charged in connection with Andrade's death.

Police say Andrade's family last heard from him on Sept. 10, 2015; they reported him missing four days later. Officers found the 29 year old's body in a wooded area of Barrett Drive in Manassas on Jan. 13, 2016.

While investigating Andrade's disappearance, police learned that Argueta had been stopped by police in D.C. while driving Andrade's car. At that time, Argueta was arrested on unrelated charges.

Police believe the suspects, who are known members of the street gang MS-13, conspired to rob and murder the victim.

Police do not believe Andrade was connected to the gang.

Argueta has been charged with murder, robbery, gang participation and gang recruitment. One of the teens has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder, gang participation and gang recruitment, while the other was charged with accessory after the fact to murder.
Virginia's Senate passed a bill Monday that would force condemned inmates into the electric chair if legal-injection drugs are unavailable amid a nationwide shortage.



Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has not indicated whether he will sign the bill, which set off a passionate debate in the General Assembly. The bill won approval with a 22-17 vote in the Senate, meaning it doesn't appear to have enough support to survive a veto if it's spiked by McAuliffe.



Like many states, Virginia has struggled to obtain lethal-injection drugs in recent years because drug companies have protested their use in executions. The short supply of the drugs has forced several states to pass or consider laws to bring back other methods of executions, such as electrocution and firing squads.



Supporters of the bill say death penalty foes are forcing the state's hand by making it more difficult to obtain lethal injections. But opponents say forcing inmates into the electric chair will actually undermine the state's death penalty by putting the constitutionality of the law at risk.

"If you press the green button you're going to be sending us into a hail storm of legal chaos," said Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, a staunch capital punishment opponent. "When somebody is given the death penalty in this state, the state is simply charged with extinguishing a human life, not torturing someone brutally until they finally die."



Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw countered that when offenders murder multiple people, they no longer deserve to be treated humanely.



"When you commit acts like that, you give you up your right to as far as I'm concerned to say, 'Well, I want to die humanely,'" Saslaw said.



Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions, but it currently gives inmates the choice of lethal injection or the electric chair. If they decline to make a decision, they receive the injection. The bill would allow the state to use the electric chair if lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told NBC News why his group opposes use of the electric chair.

"There is no humane way to kill another human being, but it is our opinion that electrocution is worse than lethal injection," he said. "You're basically cooking a human being while they are alive."

The last Virginia inmate to choose the electric chair was 42-year-old Robert Gleason Jr., who was executed in 2013 after strangling two of his fellow prisoners.



In 2014, Tennessee passed a similar law to the one approved in Virginia. Utah last year approved the use of firing squads for executions if drugs aren't available. And Oklahoma became the first state last year to approve nitrogen gas for executions if lethal injections become unavailable or is deemed unconstitutional.



None of the states have executed condemned inmates using those methods since the bills were passed.



Supporters of the Virginia bill had been using the impending execution of convicted murder Ricky Gray to make their case for the bill, noting that the state has said it doesn't have enough lethal injection drugs to put him to death. But a federal appeals court put Gray's execution on hold last month until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to intervene.



The Republican-dominated House approved the bill with a 62-33 vote last month. The measure faces a final vote in the House before going to McAuliffe because of a minor amendment approved by the Senate. It is expected to be sent to the governor this week.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been changed due to new information from police.

Prince William County detectives have learned a report of a sex assault in Woodbridge, Virginia, was not true, police said.

A 19-year-old woman told police she was walking from her job on Smoketown Road about 8 p.m. when she was approached from behind by an unknown man, who grabbed and touched her inappropriately.

Detectives said in an update Monday afternoon they learned the information the woman provided was false.

Information was not immediately available on whether she will be charged with filing a false report.
New figures from the Vermont Health Department show the deadly impact opiate overdoses continue having in the state.

In 2015, the state tallied 34 accidental deaths involving heroin. That figure is flat from 2014, but up from zero in 2010, according to the Health Department data. The potent opiate painkiller fentanyl was involved in 29 deaths, the new data showed. That is an increase of 11 fentanyl deaths over the year before.

In case they need to render aid to someone suffering an opiate overdose, officers with the Burlington Police Department now carry naloxone, often known by the name Narcan. The medication, administered by mist through the nose of someone experiencing an opiate overdose, can reverse the effects of an OD.

On February 26, the department announced it had its first Narcan save the night before, in the middle of traffic, at the busy intersection of Riverside and Intervale Avenues.

"He literally came back to life within minutes," said Chief Brandon del Pozo of the Burlington Police Department, describing the 56-year-old Colchester man who suffered an overdose in his car.

Del Pozo said police records indicated the driver had a history of heroin use, which helped his officers know to use Narcan. The man had no pulse when officers arrived to the stopped car, del Pozo said, but the overdose reversal treatment worked.

"Once he was revived, my officers arrested him," del Pozo told necn. "He had no business being behind the wheel of a car or under the influence, but we'd rather have a living person responsible for his actions than have someone dead by virtue of an overdose."

Del Pozo said his community outreach team helped the man secure a slot in a residential drug treatment center.

Across Vermont in recent years, Narcan has been widely deployed to loved ones of drug users, to EMTs, and others. It is credited with several life-saving OD reversals, but a specific number is difficult to pinpoint, because some of the data relies on family members or friends reporting the use of the reversal kits back to groups such as Howard Center in Burlington, whose Safe Recovery program distributes overdose rescue kits.

In the past two years in particular, Vermont made it a priority to strive to reduce overdose deaths and make inroads in the public health crisis of opiate addiction. Expanded treatment options, police and prosecutorial focus on drug trafficking, and community-based efforts are some of the ways Vermont is continuing to attack the problem.

In late February, the Upper Darby Township Police Department released surveillance video taken on a public bus outside of Philadelphia. The video showed a passenger on the bus allegedly injecting heroin. The reported drug use was too much for the man, and he collapsed on video.

The video then showed police rushing to his aid, using Narcan to revive him, and he walked off the bus on his own power.

For more information on accessing naloxone in Vermont, visit this website from the Vermont Health Department.


Republican leaders on Sunday grappled with the prospect that the best hope for stopping Donald Trump's march to the nomination may be Ted Cruz  the only candidate who causes as much heartburn among party elites as the billionaire businessman, if not sometimes more.

The Texas senator split contests with Trump in Saturday's voting, bolstering his argument that only he can defeat the real estate mogul. Trump and Cruz are now significantly outpacing Marco Rubio in the delegate count, further shrinking the Florida senator's already narrow path to the nomination.

If Rubio's slide continues, he would be the latest establishment candidate to fall victim to an angry, frustrated electorate that cares little about endorsements from party leaders or newspaper editorial boards. Rubio has rolled out both at warp speed in recent weeks, but his appeal with Republican voters is not keeping pace.

Rubio did pick up a victory Sunday in Puerto Rico's primary, his second win of the 2016 cycle.

Rubio rejected the idea that anti-Trump Republicans should rally around Cruz, arguing that the likely scenario is a long fight that leaves the party without a presumed nominee heading into the July convention.

"To be fair, it's hard to imagine at this moment the way things are going anybody getting to" a majority of 1,237 delegates, Rubio told The Associated Press Sunday night. "Even Trump, he'd have to win over half the remaining delegates to get there and he's not on pace to that now. We'll see what happens. It's a very unusual political year."

And he again promised that he would win his home state of Florida on March 15, claiming all 99 delegates in the winner-take-all matchup.

Democrats, meanwhile, held caucuses Sunday in Maine. Sanders won that contest, beating rival Hillary Clinton for his eighth win of the 19 contests already held in the nomination process.

Also, Democrats were debating debate Sunday night in Flint, Michigan, highlighting differences on economic policy.

The Democratic candidates were facing off just two days before Michigan's primary in a city that was already in tough shape long before residents learned their drinking water was tainted with lead.

Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator, claims that only she has a "credible strategy" for raising wages. In recent days, she has laid out a plan for a "clawback" of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, using the money to encourage investment in the United States.

Sanders wrote in Sunday's Detroit Free Press that his rival had supported "disastrous trade deals" such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalized trade relations with China that have resulted in thousands of job losses that devastated cities such as Detroit and Flint.

Sanders won Democratic contests on Saturday in Kansas and Nebraska, but Clinton's overwhelming victory in Louisiana enabled her to add to her commanding lead in delegates to the party's national nominating convention.

With 25 Maine delegates at stake, Sanders is assured of winning at least 14 while Clinton stands to gain at least six. But his victory won't have much impact on Clinton's substantial edge overall, thanks to her support among superdelegates  members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.

When including those party leaders, Clinton has at least 1,129 while Sanders has at least 498. It takes 2,383 delegates to win.

In the Republican race, the wary interest in Cruz from more mainstream Republicans is the latest unexpected twist in a nominating contest where talk of a contested convention or third-party candidate is becoming commonplace.

"If Ted's the alternative to Trump, he's at least a Republican and conservative," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said. While Graham made sure to note that it's "not like I prefer Ted Cruz," he encouraged Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to "decide among themselves" whether they can be a realistic alternative to Trump.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said Cruz is indeed "emerging" as the chief anti-Trump candidate.

"I think a lot of people were surprised by how well Ted Cruz did," said Romney, who has thrust himself back into the political discussion with a searing takedown of Trump in a speech last week.

Romney has stepped back into the spotlight at a moment of crisis and chaos for the Republican Party. Leaders in Washington who assumed hard-liners such as Cruz represented a minority view have been left wondering if they're the ones out of step with their party's base.

For months, Republican elites have lumped Trump and Cruz together, arguing that neither could win in November's general election. Cruz is an uncompromising conservative who has publicly criticized party leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for what he sees as a pattern of giving in too easily to President Barack Obama.

Cruz particularly angered Senate leaders when he helped orchestrate the 2013 government shutdown, which failed in achieving the senator's stated goal of defunding Obama's health care reform law.

But Cruz has built a loyal following among conservatives and evangelical Christians. After winning the leadoff Iowa caucuses, he's also beaten Trump in five more states, more than any other candidate.

Trump still leads the field with at least 378 delegates, while Cruz has at least 295. Rubio and Kasich lag far behind in the race to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination.

Rubio and Kasich desperately need to win in their home states of Florida and Ohio on March 15 to have any credible case for staying in the race.

Trump's lead has sparked a flurry of discussions among Republicans about complicated long-shot options to stop him. Rival campaigns are exploring ways to prevent Trump from getting the delegates he needs to win the nomination outright, then defeat him at the convention in July. A small, but influential, group of Republicans has raised the idea of backing a yet-to-be-determined third-party candidate.

Trump has warned Republicans that they'll lose his voters if they try to take the nomination away from him.

"We have a tremendous number of people coming in and a tremendous number of people showing up to vote," he said Sunday.

Graham and Romney spoke on NBC's "Meet The Press." Trump appeared on CBS' "Face The Nation."


Healed Norwich Christian realises African vision Healed Norwich Christian realises African vision

Next month Norwich Christian Joy McCann will visit a Christian organisation in East Africa and realise a vision that God gave her during her 13 years of ill health with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

In 2002 Joy McCann (25) from New Costessey was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME. Joy spent years in bed in the dark due to exhaustion and light sensitivity. However it was during this time that she had visions from God of a place in Africa where she was to go to when she was better.



Last year after suffering with the illness for 13 years Joy (pictured) was healed, through a lot of prayer at her church, Gateway Vineyard, in Norwich.



Now with her muscles recovering and the illness completely gone, Joy will be able to realise the vision that God gave her at an early age and sustained her during her years of illness, by visiting Africa and the organisation Tanzania Bridge of Hope.



Joy explains: Through an amazing church linkup I met a friend also from the UK, who shared in my calling and connected me with an organisation called Tanzania Bridge of Hope. The organisation work out in rural Mwanza preaching the Gospel and providing practical help wherever they can to the local community.



Joy and her friend will embark on their three week trip to visit Tanzania Bridge of Hope in April. After so many years of being unwell, Joy is filled with excitement to be able to live out the dream that God gave her.



She said: And now I've finally found I'm able to go out and see the vision for myself and just see where God takes it from there. It's so amazing. I really just can't believe it. I just want to share the story with more people because it is so exciting.



Joy and her friend are currently seeking to raise money ahead of their trip to help Tanzania Bridge of Hope fund a pre-school. They are crowdfunding through Just Giving until the 22nd March to raise the first years rent on a suitable building for the initiative.



Joy said: This will be a place where the children will be taught English, Bible stories and early life skills in a secure environment. All these things will give them the opportunity to get good jobs in Tanzania in the future, with the overall aim of raising a generation out of poverty.



If you would like to give a donation towards the rent you can rest assured it will result in many smiling Tanzanian children's faces!



To learn more about Tanzania Bridge of Hope and to donate to Joys vision of a pre-school please visit the Just Giving page at crowdfunding.justgiving.com/tanzaniabridgeofhope or the organisation's website www.tanzaniabridgeofhope.webr.ly



Main photograph courtesy of Tanzania Bridge of Hope
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunshine and some clouds. High near 80F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.

Vildagliptin/Metformin hydrochloride Consumer Medicine Information

What is in this leaflet This leaflet answers some common questions about Galvumet. It does not contain all the available information. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor, pharmacist or diabetes educator. The information in this leaflet was last updated on the date listed on the final page. More recent information on the medicine may be available. You should ensure that you speak to your pharmacist or doctor to obtain the most up to date information on the medicine. You can also download the most up to date leaflet from www.novartis.com.au. Those updates may contain important information about the medicine and its use of which you should be aware. All medicines have risks and benefits. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you taking this medicine against the benefits they expect it will provide. If you have any concerns about this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Keep this leaflet with the medicine. You may need to read it again.

What Galvumet is used for Galvumet is used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus in people who are already taking vildagliptin and metformin tablets separately, or whose diabetes cannot be controlled by metformin alone. Galvumet is also used with a sulfonylurea by patients whose blood sugar levels are not adequately controlled when taking only metformin and a sulfonylurea. Galvumet is also added to insulin in patients when a stable dose of insulin and metformin do not provide adequate blood sugar control. It is prescribed by your doctor together with diet and exercise. Galvumet contains two ingredients: vildagliptin, which belongs to a class of medicines called 'islet enhancers', and metformin, which belongs to the 'biguanide' class. Type 2 diabetes mellitus used to be known as 'non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM)' or 'maturity onset diabetes'. Type 2 diabetes develops if the body does not produce enough insulin, or where the insulin that your body makes does not work as well as it should. It can also develop if the body produces too much glucagon. Insulin is a substance which helps to lower the level of sugar in your blood, especially after meals. Glucagon is another substance which triggers the production of sugar by the liver, causing the blood sugar to rise. The pancreas makes both of these substances. Galvumet helps to control the blood sugar level. It works by making the pancreas produce insulin and less glucagon (effect of vildagliptin) and also by helping the body to make better use of the insulin it produces (effect of metformin). Your doctor will prescribe Galvumet either alone or in combination with another antidiabetic medicine to replace the antidiabetic medicine(s) you are already taking, where that medicine(s) alone is not enough to control your blood sugar level. It is important that you continue to follow the diet and/or exercise recommended for you whilst you are on treatment with Galvumet. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why this medicine has been prescribed for you. Your doctor may have prescribed it for another reason. Galvumet is not a substitute for insulin. It is not used to treat type 1 diabetes (where your body does not produce insulin at all), or diabetic ketoacidosis. This medicine is only available with a doctor's prescription. It is not addictive. There is not enough information to recommend this medicine for use in children under 18 years old.

Before you take Galvumet

When you must not take it Do not take this medicine if you have an allergy to: vildagliptin or metformin (the active ingredients) or to any of the other ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet. any other similar medicines (such as medicines of the same class or with a similar structure, if listed in the PI) Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include shortness of breath; wheezing or difficulty breathing; swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body; rash, itching or hives on the skin. Do not take this medicine if you have any of the following: severely reduced kidney function where your doctor has considered use of Galvumet to be unsuitable taken this medicine before and your doctor told you to stop taking it because of liver problems had a recent heart attack or have heart failure serious circulation problems, including shock and breathing difficulties serious complications of your diabetes for example diabetic ketoacidosis (a complication of diabetes involving rapid weight loss, nausea or vomiting) or diabetic coma type 1 diabetes (a condition where your body does not produce any insulin at all. Galvumet is not a substitute for insulin) diabetic ketoacidosis (a complication in patients with diabetes mellitus who have little to no insulin. Galvumet is not a substitute for insulin) Do not take this medicine if you are going to have a contrast x-ray (a type of x-ray involving an injectable dye). This medicine may affect your kidney function so you will need to stop taking it before or at the time of the procedure and for a few days after. Do not take this medicine after the expiry date printed on the pack or if the packaging is torn or shows signs of tampering. In that case, return it to your pharmacist.

Before you start to take it Discard any other medicines containing metformin that your doctor might have prescribed to you in the past and that you may still have in your possession. Galvumet contains metformin. If you have more than one metformin-containing medicine in your possession you may accidentally take too much (overdose). Accidentally taking too much metformin can cause a very serious side effect called lactic acidosis. ACCIDENTAL METFORMIN OVERDOSING IS A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY RISK. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you are unsure if you have any other medicines containing metformin. Metformin is sold under many different brand names in Australia. Your doctor or pharmacist will know which other medicines also contain metformin. Tell your doctor if you have allergies to any other medicines, foods, dyes or preservatives. Your doctor will want to know if you are prone to allergies. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or intend to become pregnant. Your doctor will discuss the possible risks and benefits involved. Tell your doctor if you are breast-feeding or plan to breast-feed. It is not known if the active ingredient of Galvumet passes into breast milk and could affect your baby. Tell your doctor if you have any of the following medical conditions: problems with your kidneys problems with your liver type 1 diabetes (formerly called 'juvenile onset' or 'insulin-dependent' diabetes mellitus or 'IDDM'), where the body does not produce any insulin diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition where chemicals called ketones build up in the body due to very low insulin levels If you are not sure whether any of the above conditions apply to you, your doctor can advise you. Your doctor will do some blood and urine tests for sugar level regularly, and for liver and kidney function at the start of treatment and regularly while you are on treatment. Alcohol, diet, exercise and your general health all strongly affect the control of your diabetes.

Taking other medicines Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including any that you buy without a prescription from a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. You may need to take different amounts of your medicines or to take different medicines while you are taking Galvumet. Your doctor and pharmacist have more information. This is particularly important with the following medicines: Certain medicines used to treat infections (e.g. vancomycin, trimethoprim) Certain medicines used to treat inflammation (e.g. corticosteroids) Certain medicines used to treat high blood pressure (e.g. amiloride, triamterene, nifedipine, enalapril, losartan, diuretics) Certain medicines used to treat irregular heartbeat (e.g. digoxin, quinidine) Certain medicines used to treat pain (e.g. morphine, diclofenac) Certain medicines used to treat stomach disorders (e.g. cimetidine, ranitidine) Certain medicines used to treat psychiatric disorders (e.g. phenothiazine) Certain medicines used to treat thyroid disorders Oral contraceptives and certain medicines used to reduce symptoms in women experiencing menopause or osteoporosis (e.g. oestrogen) If you need to have an injection of a contrast medium that contains iodine into your bloodstream, for example in the context of an X-ray or scan, you must stop taking Galvumet before or at the time of the injection. Your doctor will decide when you must stop and when to restart your treatment with Galvumet. If you have not told your doctor about any of these things, tell him/her before you start taking this medicine.

How to take Galvumet 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 label, ask your doctor or pharmacist for help.

How much to take The usual dose of Galvumet is one tablet twice a day. Your doctor will tell you exactly how many tablets to take. Do not exceed two tablets a day. Your doctor will monitor your blood glucose levels and may increase or decrease the dose of Galvumet to maintain good control of your diabetes. If you have reduced kidney function, your doctor may prescribe a lower dose. Also if you are taking an anti-diabetic medicine known as a sulphonylurea your doctor may prescribe a lower dose.

How to take it Swallow Galvumet tablets whole with a glass of water.

When to take it Take your medicine at about the same time each day. Taking it at the same time each day will have the best effect. It will also help you remember when to take it. Take this medicine either with or just after food. This will reduce the chance of you getting an upset stomach.

How long to take it Continue taking your medicine for as long as your doctor tells you to. Your doctor will check your progress to make sure the medicine is working and will discuss with you how long your treatment should continue. Do not stop taking Galvumet unless your doctor tells you to.

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 it 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 that you missed. This may increase the chance of you getting an unwanted side effect. If you are not sure what to do, ask your doctor or pharmacist. If you have trouble remembering when to take your medicine, ask your pharmacist for some hints.

If you take too much (overdose) Immediately telephone your doctor or Poisons Information Centre (telephone number: 13 11 26), or go to Accident and Emergency at your nearest hospital if you think that you or anyone else may have accidentally taken too much Galvumet. Do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. Keep the telephone numbers for these places handy. You may need urgent medical attention. Symptoms of an overdose may include: swelling in hands or feet tingling or numbness in hands or feet muscle pain fever Symptoms of an overdose can also include the symptoms of lactic acidosis: feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs) feeling very weak, tired feeling light-headed, dizzy severe nausea or vomiting feeling uncomfortable muscle pain drowsiness abdominal pain unexplained weight loss irregular heartbeat rapid or difficult breathing

While you are taking Galvumet

Things you must do If you become pregnant while taking this medicine, tell your doctor immediately. Galvumet should not be taken if you are pregnant. Insulin is more suitable for controlling blood glucose during pregnancy. Carefully follow your doctor's and/or dietician's advice on diet, drinking alcohol and exercise. Keep all of your doctor's appointments so that your progress can be checked. Your doctor will do regular checks to help prevent you from having side effects from the medicine or developing serious complications of diabetes. These will include tests for: Blood and urine: These should be regularly tested for sugar Kidney function: This should be checked at start of treatment and at least once a year whilst you are on treatment. This should be checked more often if you are elderly. Liver function: This should be checked at start of treatment and every 3 months during your first year of treatment, and regularly thereafter. General blood tests: These should be done at least once a year. Vitamin B12 levels: This will be checked at least every 2 to 3 years. Make sure you check your blood glucose levels regularly. This is the best way to tell if your diabetes is being controlled properly. Your doctor or diabetes educator will show you how and when to do this. Tell your doctor if you become ill or experience extra stress, injury, fever, infection or need surgery. Your blood glucose may become difficult to control at these times. Make sure you keep enough medicine to last over weekends and holidays. It is important to keep your blood glucose controlled at all times to prevent serious complications of diabetes from happening. Remind your doctor and pharmacist that you are taking Galvumet if you are about to be started on any new medicine. Tell any other doctor, dentist or pharmacist who treats you that you are taking Galvumet.

Things you must not do Do not give this medicine to anyone else, even if their condition seems similar to yours. Do not use it to treat any other complaints unless your doctor tells you to.

Things to be careful of Be careful driving, operating machinery or doing jobs that require you to be alert until you know how this medicine affects you. If your blood glucose level becomes too low, you may feel dizzy, lightheaded, weak or tired and your reaction time may be slower than usual. If you have any of these symptoms, do not drive or do anything else that could be dangerous. Be careful when doing any of the following things, which increase the risk of your blood glucose becoming too low: drinking alcohol not eating enough doing unexpected or vigorous exercise

Side effects Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are taking Galvumet even if you do not think it is connected with the medicine. 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. Do not be alarmed by these lists of possible side effects. You may not experience any of them. Ask your doctor, pharmacist or diabetes educator to answer any questions you may have. Tell your doctor if you notice any of the following side effects and they worry you: skin reddening or itching peeling of skin or blisters skin lesions joint pain swelling of the hands, ankles or feet low blood glucose diarrhoea abdominal pain a burning sensation in the chest rising up to the throat ('heartburn') metallic taste loss of appetite constipation wind (flatulence) weight increase Stop taking Galvumet and tell your doctor immediately or go to Accident and Emergency if you notice any of the following: swelling of the face, lips, mouth, tongue or throat which may cause difficulty in swallowing or breathing, sudden onset of rash or hives These are symptoms of severe allergic reaction. yellow skin and eyes, nausea, loss of appetite, dark urine (possible symptoms of liver problems) These are symptoms of liver problems. nausea, excessive sweating, weakness, dizziness, trembling, headache, chills These are signs of a low blood sugar level, which could be due to lack of food, too much exercise without enough food or too much alcohol. Severe upper stomach pain This is a possible sign of an inflamed pancreas. Stop taking Galvumet if you get any of the symptoms of lactic acidosis and go to Accident and Emergency immediately. Metformin has caused lactic acidosis in rare cases. This is a medical emergency that can cause death. It is caused by build-up of lactic acid in your blood. The symptoms of lactic acidosis are: feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs) feeling very weak, tired feeling light-headed, dizzy severe nausea or vomiting feeling uncomfortable muscle pain drowsiness abdominal pain unexplained weight loss irregular heartbeat rapid or difficult breathing Tell your doctor if you notice anything else that is making you feel unwell. Some people may have other side effects not yet known or mentioned in this leaflet. Some side effects (e.g. changes in liver function) can only be found by laboratory testing.

After using Galvumet

Storage Keep your medicine in the original container until it is time to take it. Store it in a cool dry place where the temperature stays below 30C. Protect from moisture. Do not store Galvumet or any other medicine in the bathroom or near a sink. Do not leave it in the car or on window sills. Keep the medicine 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.

Disposal If your doctor tells you to stop taking this medicine or the expiry date has passed, ask your pharmacist what to do with any tablets you have left over.

Product description

What it looks like Galvumet is a yellow, oval tablet imprinted as follows: "NVR" on one side and "LLO" on the other side (50/500 tablet). "NVR" on one side and "SEH" on the other side (50/850 tablet). "NVR" on one side and "FLO" on the other side (50/1000 tablet). Galvumet is available in blister packs containing 10, 30, 60, 120 or 180 tablets. Some pack sizes may not be marketed.

Ingredients Each tablet of Galvumet contains two active substances: vildagliptin and metformin hydrochloride. Three tablet strengths are available, each containing the following combinations of vildagliptin/metformin: 50 mg/500 mg 50 mg/850 mg 50 mg/1000 mg Each tablet also contains the following inactive ingredients: iron oxide red iron oxide yellow hypromellose hydroxypropyl cellulose Macrogol magnesium stearate Talc Titanium dioxide Galvumet does not contain lactose, gluten, tartrazine or any other azo dyes.
An innovative way of boosting the vitamin D levels of expectant mums could help to improve their babies bone health, say health pioneers BetterYou.

Research reported in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal showed that babies born during the winter months benefited if their mothers took vitamin D supplements while pregnant. Their bone mass was higher than that of winter-born babies whose mothers received the placebo during the trial.

BetterYous DLuxPregnancy daily vitamin D oral spray, which won the best maternity product category at the Boots Maternity & Infant Awards, guarantees optimal absorption of essential vitamins, bypassing the digestive system making it the ideal solution for those suffering from morning sickness.

Each dose delivers an optimal 1,000 IU (25mcg) of vitamin D3 along with the recommended 400mcg of Folic Acid, 6mcg of vitamin B12 and 100% of the guideline daily amount of vitamins K, B1 and B6.

Sunlight is our most important source of vitamin D. Mothers levels of vitamin D tend to drop from summer to winter, and therefore babies born in winter months tend to have a lower bone density than those born in the summer.

Dr Benjamin Jacobs, consultant paediatrician at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, said:

This clinical trial has shown strong evidence that we can improve the health of babies bones by giving mothers a daily dose of 1000 units of Vitamin D. More than a thousand pregnant women took part in the Maternal Vitamin D Osteoporosis Study making this one of the most important pieces of research ever performed in this field. Until now authorities in the UK only recommended 400 units of Vitamin D daily in pregnancy, but this study shows that 1000 units is safe, and probably more beneficial.

Low Vitamin D levels can have a major impact on expectant mothers and the foetus. Importantly, research now shows that pregnant women with low levels of Vitamin D may have higher rates of pregnancy related health conditions, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, birth by caesarean section and a lowering of the immune system.

Andrew Thomas, founder and managing director of BetterYou, said:

The UK Department of Health highlights all pregnant women, and children under five years as an at risk group for vitamin D deficiency and recommend that they should be given a daily supplement. Our DLuxPregnancy spray is tailored for pregnant women. By taking just one spray a day of one of our DLux oral sprays, vitamin D levels can be effectively managed.

Multiple clinical trials have found that oral vitamin sprays elevate serum vitamin D levels on average 50% faster than traditional tablets and capsules.

Researchers at Cardiff University, when testing BetterYous DLux vitamin D oral sprays, found that absorption within the mouth was far superior to the more traditional digestive route of tablets and capsules.

In addition, trials by both the National Technical University of Athens and the Swiss Research Centre Pharmabase found that vitamin D absorption via an oral spray was at least 50% faster and more effective than traditional tablets and capsules.

BetterYous DLux oral vitamin D spray range is listed in the NHS recommended product guide for vitamin D supplementation and comes in different strengths for people of all ages.

Source: http://www.betteryou.com/
APPROVAL EXPANDS USE AND OFFERS ADDITIONAL OPTION FOR US WOMEN WITH HR+, HER2- METASTATIC BREAST CANCER

AstraZeneca today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication in the US, expanding the use of Faslodex (fulvestrant) to include use in combination with Ibrance (palbociclib). The combination use is for the treatment of women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) whose cancer has progressed following endocrine therapy. Fulvestrant has been approved in the US since 2002 and in Europe since 2004 as a monotherapy for the treatment of postmenopausal women with HR+ MBC whose cancer has progressed following antioestrogen therapy.

The oestrogen hormone receptor positive (ER+) form of breast cancer is the most common subtype, and is one of the key drivers of disease progression. Preclinical studies show that fulvestrant directly targets the oestrogen receptor (ER) by blocking and degrading the ER, helping to inhibit tumour growth.

The new Faslodex indication provides another important treatment option for patients, as described in the study, who progressed on or early after prior endocrine therapy. The data supporting combination therapy with Faslodex plus palbociclib showed a clear increase in progression-free survival in patients in the combination arm, as compared to Faslodex and placebo, said Dr. Dennis Slamon, Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Haematology/Oncology and Executive Vice Chair for Research for UCLA's Department of Medicine.

The FDA approval of this new indication in the US for fulvestrant is based on data from the Phase III PALOMA-3 trial, which met the studys primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). The combination of fulvestrant 500 mg and palbociclib 125 mg resulted in a 4.9 month PFS improvement over fulvestrant and placebo, in women with HR+ HER2- advanced or MBC whose disease had progressed after endocrine therapy. Improvement in PFS was seen irrespective of menopausal status.

This new indication in the US is encouraging news for metastatic breast cancer patients, said Antoine Yver, Head of Oncology, Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca. As a company we are committed to optimising the current standard of care in breast cancer. To achieve this, we are exploring combinations across different scientific platforms through ongoing research and evaluation.

The most common adverse reactions (>10%) of any grade reported in PALOMA-3 of fulvestrant plus palbociclib vs fulvestrant plus placebo included neutropenia (83% vs 4%), leukopenia (53% vs 5%), infections (47% vs 31%), fatigue (41% vs 29%), nausea (34% vs 28%), anaemia (30% vs 13%), stomatitis (28% vs 13%), headache (26% vs 20%), diarrhoea (24% vs 19%), thrombocytopenia (23% vs 0%), constipation (20% vs 16%), vomiting (19%vs 15%), alopecia (18% vs 6%), rash (17% vs 6%), decreased appetite (16% vs 8%), and pyrexia (13% vs 5%).
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.
Working with lab-grown human stem cells, a team of researchers suspect they have discovered how the Zika virus probably causes microcephaly in fetuses. The virus selectively infects cells that form the brain's cortex, or outer layer, making them more likely to die and less likely to divide normally and make new brain cells.

The researchers say their experiments also suggest these highly-susceptible lab-grown cells could be used to screen for drugs that protect the cells or ease existing infections.

"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 virus has been found in the fetal tissue," says Guo-li Ming, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology, neuroscience, and psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering. "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." Ming led the research team along with Hongjun Song, Ph.D., a professor of neurology and neuroscience in the Institute for Cell Engineering, and Hengli Tang, Ph.D., a virologist at Florida State University.

Results of the experiments, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Florida State University, and Emory University, are described online March 4 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

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. 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 Tang reached out to Ming and Song, who use stem cells to study early brain development. The Johns Hopkins labs sent team members and cells to 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.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

According to Tang, three days after exposure to the virus, 90 percent 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 adds. 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, Song says. He and 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," Song adds.

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.
OVERVIEW

Melanoma rates in the United States have doubled over the past two decades.1 Fortunately for patients, this increase in melanoma incidence has been accompanied by the development of more effective tools for diagnosis and treatment, including genetic and molecular testing. In certain cases, these tests can yield valuable information that helps dermatologists provide individualized care for their melanoma patients.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY EXPERT

Information provided by Emily Y. Chu, MD, PhD, FAAD, assistant professor of dermatology, and pathology and laboratory medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

USES

Genetic and molecular testing can provide doctors with important information to aid them in the diagnosis and treatment of certain melanoma cases, Dr. Chu says. These tests are widely available through academic centers and commercial laboratories, she says, and many are covered through insurance or available at no additional cost to the patient.

"Today we have more tools than ever to diagnose and treat melanoma," Dr. Chu says. "These resources enable dermatologists to provide the best possible care for our patients."

Skin cancer is typically diagnosed through tissue biopsy, but biopsy results are sometimes unclear. In these cases, Dr. Chu says, doctors can utilize additional tests to help determine whether a lesion is malignant. Additionally, if a patient is diagnosed with advanced-stage melanoma, testing may be able to identify which treatments are most likely to be effective, she says.

DIAGNOSIS

If a biopsy does not clearly indicate whether a lesion is a malignant melanoma, Dr. Chu says, comparative genomic hybridization or fluorescent in situ hybridization may be helpful in determining a diagnosis. In both of these tests, doctors look for signs of melanoma as they compare the DNA in tumor cells to the DNA in normal tissue.

According to Dr. Chu, doctors also may utilize gene expression profiling to gather additional diagnostic information. This type of test, which screens the patient's tissue for genes associated with cancer, may be used to determine whether a lesion is malignant.

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TREATMENT

In advanced melanoma cases, doctors may utilize next generation sequencing testing,

which examines a melanoma for specific mutations, allowing doctors to select an

appropriate targeted therapy and provide the best possible treatment for the patient.

For example, Dr. Chu says, this type of test may identify BRAF mutations in melanomas, which in turn may be treated with BRAF inhibitors, a type of drug that can shrink tumors and stop further growth by "turning off" cancer genes.

According to Dr. Chu, further research into specific melanoma mutations and targeted therapies could help doctors provide more effective treatment in the future. "Although genetic and molecular testing for melanoma has advanced in recent years, it's still an emerging field," she says. "I think it will only get better."

LIMITATIONS

Patients who have heard of genetic and molecular testing may believe it can determine their risk of melanoma recurrence, Dr. Chu says, but such testing is currently in the early stages of development. While some tools currently available for the general public can estimate one's likelihood of developing certain diseases, including skin cancer, she says, these tests are not necessarily reliable. "Only a doctor can evaluate your melanoma risk or diagnose a suspicious lesion," she says.

While genetic and molecular tests can be a valuable tool for doctors, Dr. Chu says, the results must be considered in conjunction with other diagnostic data. "Test results are just another piece of information," she says, "but in certain melanoma cases, even a little bit of additional information can be helpful to a dermatologist in providing individualized care for each patient."

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY EXPERT ADVICE

"Genetic and molecular tests are a valuable tool in our arsenal for fighting melanoma," Dr. Chu says. "When used appropriately, these tests can provide dermatologists with important information to assist them in melanoma diagnosis and treatment, allowing them to provide patients with the best possible care."
The Woman's Condom, a new female condom designed to be easy to use and more acceptable to women and their partners, has been prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The approval marks a critical step forward in expanding options for female-initiated dual protection from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.

WHO/UNFPA prequalification represents an important step in increasing access to the Woman's Condom. The WHO/UNFPA decision allows United Nations agencies and other international purchasers to procure the product for public-sector distribution. Prequalification also serves as an endorsement of quality, efficacy, and safety. In addition to WHO/UNFPA prequalification, the Woman's Condom is approved in China, Europe, Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia.

"This milestone is a testament to the power of cross-sector collaboration," said Steve Davis, president and CEO of PATH. "Through the combined expertise of our partners and the Protection Options for Women Product Development Partnership (POW PDP), we successfully advanced the Woman's Condom from product development to market introduction, and achieved critical approval from WHO. By expanding the method mix for contraception and STI/HIV prevention, our partnership has achieved an important legacy for women's reproductive health."

The Woman's Condom was developed by PATH, CONRAD, and local research partners through a user-centered process across four countries. It has innovative features that enable easy insertion, secure fit during use, and good sensation and comfort for both partners. Clinical studies in multiple countries confirm the Woman's Condom is safe, acceptable, easy to use, and that it performs well. In 2008, PATH transferred production to the Dahua Medical Apparatus Corp. Ltd. (DAHUA) of Shanghai, China.

"DAHUA and our partners celebrate this shared success in advancing the Woman's Condom, known in China as the O'lavie Female Condom," said Mr. Chen Hua, president of DAHUA. "As the manufacturer, we are committed to developing a high-quality product and increasing method choice for dual protection, and are honored that more women and men across the world may have expanded access to this new tool."

WHO/UNFPA prequalification comes at a time when additional options for dual protection are urgently needed. According to recent estimates, more than 350 million new cases of curable STIs occur every year. In 2014, there were two million new HIV infections globally. Women account for slightly more than half of all people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries. An estimated 225 million women worldwide want to avoid pregnancy but are not using modern contraception, primarily because they want methods that do not have side effects and can be used only when needed.

"The Woman's Condom has great potential to address unmet need and improve reproductive health for women, men, and young people," said Mags Beksinska, research director at the Maternal, Adolescent and Child Health Unit (MatCH Research) in South Africa. "Our recent market studies in South Africa showed that women and men--especially young people--are excited about this innovative and pleasurable female condom. MatCH Research looks forward to working with DAHUA and the POW PDP to increase awareness and availability."

Over a five-year period (2011--2015), PATH, DAHUA, CONRAD, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development worked together to bring the Woman's Condom to market through their Protection Options for Women Product Development Partnership (POW PDP). Established by PATH with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the POW PDP focused on generating clinical evidence, building product supply, gaining product registrations and approvals, shaping new markets, and conducting advocacy. WHO/UNFPA prequalification is a culminating achievement that puts the Woman's Condom in an ideal position for introduction into a variety of countries.
Labor and Employment Law Symposium set

A Labor and Employment Law Symposium will be presented by Gentry Locke Attorneys and the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance.

The symposium will take place from 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 17 at the Craddock Terry Hotels event center at 1312 Commerce St., Lynchburg.

The symposium will cover information on employee policy and work through regulation paperwork. It costs $200 per attendee and includes a continental breakfast at sign-in and lunch. To register, email info@lynchburgregion.org.

Bedford chamber to host job fair Friday

A job fair will be held at the Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Central Virginia Community Colleges Bedford campus at 1633 Venture Blvd., Bedford.

The Chamber is recruiting businesses that will be hiring in the next six to 12 months to participate. Booth spaces are available for $50 and include a table, two chairs, advance promotion and refreshments for the business participants.

Contact Susan Martin at (540) 586-9401, ext. 101, or email smartin@bedfordareachamber.com for information or to reserve a table.

Outstanding mortgages foreclosures rate down

The Lynchburg area foreclosures rate among outstanding mortgage loans was 0.49 percent for December 2015, a decrease of 0.04 percentage points compared with the December 2014 rate of 0.53 percent, according to CoreLogic data.

Foreclosure activity in Lynchburg was lower than the national foreclosure rate of 1.20 percent for December 2015.

Also in Lynchburg, the mortgage delinquency rate decreased. According to 2015 data, 2.27 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared with 2.7 percent for the same period last year, representing a decrease of 0.43 percent.
Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest and the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce will receive a portion of more than $812,000 in matching grant money awarded by Virginia Tourism Corporations (VTC) Marketing Leverage Program this month.

Money will go to a total of 39 tourism initiatives. The Thomas Jefferson Craft Beer Tasting at Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest will receive $2,969, and the Smith Mountain Lake 50th Anniversary by the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce will receive $18,680.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced the grant funds Monday. The grants are designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging local marketing dollars.

Local organizations will match the state grant money by a minimum of 2:1 in order to support marketing projects. This funding cycle, local partners will match the grant dollars with more than $2.6 million, providing more than $3.4 million total in new marketing to increase visitation to Virginia, according to the governors office.

Tourism is an industry that provides enormous opportunity to grow, diversify and build a new Virginia economy, McAuliffe said in a news release.

According to the release, marketing campaigns that received marketing leverage grants increased visitation by 15 percent.

The tourism corporation awards approximately $1.7 million annually, matched and leveraged on average 3:1 by partner dollars.

For more information visit: www.vatc.org.
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Red Hulk, Ronin, and more: 10 Heroes and Villains whose secret identities were hidden from readers

There's a longstanding superhero tradition of hiding the identity of certain characters even from readers
ADR the way to go

It is what forms the basis of what is known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and already, 300 people in the Caribbean have been trained in the techniques of mediation as a means of solving disputes rather than seeking redress in a court of law.

In their effort to achieve this goal, the government of Canada announced in Barbados last week, that it would be spending $62 million Barbados dollars, to assist Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, in reforming their respective justice system.

The aim is to spread the concept of ADR throughout the Caribbean by training more personnel to become qualified as mediators, as a means of solving disputes amicable, than the cut-and-trust of the courtroom.

Dr Margaret Gail Miller, who is the senior director of the Caribbean Regional Programme and director for Canada to the Caribbean Development Bank,announced this when she opened a two-day Media Law workshop in Barbados last week Tuesday. Several journalists and editors from across the Caribbean, including Trinidad and Tobago, attended the workshop which was held at the Radisson Beach and Acquatica Resort.

The media workshop was part of a series of public legal education events for CARICOM member states, under the Canada-funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean project.

Gail Miller said that Canada has given a commitment, that 32 million Barbados dollars would be spent on what she termed: CCJ JURIST project. She explained that the various systems would be implemented which would enable judges and judicial officers, to deliver timely, transparent and effective justice.

The other 30 million Barbados dollars, Gail Miller said, would be spent on a what she termed, UWI IMPACT JUSTICE project.

The aim of that project, she told the media workshop, is to put the appropriate systems in place, so especially marginalised communities in the CARICOM region, as well as governments, the private sector and society as a whole, would have easier access to justice.

Professor Velma Newton who spoke after Gail Miller, said that under the Canada-funded Impact Justice programme for CARICOM countries, announced that 300 people have been trained in ADR and they have already begun to use the techniques to solve disputes. They comprise Justice of the Peace, teachers, religious leaders, and other community leaders.

Newton said that the objective of the ADR programme, is to teach people how to resolve conflict, without violence, and, before minor issues escalate and have to be taken to court. She said, Already, people have been using the techniques, with great results.

These and other mechanisms, teach how to resolve conflict without violence and before minor issues escalate and have to be taken to court or become matters in relation to which attitudes harden, and people box themselves into a corner and pride prevents them from saying sorry and moving on. We have now trained nearly 300 persons across the region. Journalists and editors from the region, were addressed by an array of speakers, both from the media fraternity, and the UWI Faculty of Law, on the following topics: Confidentiality of Sources; Defamation, On-line Reporting, Parliamentary and Government Reporting, Reporting on Family Matters and Gender Issues
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(Newser)  A new study has bolstered the case that the key to preventing peanut allergies in kids is to feed kids peanuts. A study conducted last year found that babies who were fed "peanut butter mush" were 80% less likely to develop a peanut allergy by age 5, NPR reports. The youngsters in that study, who started eating peanuts between 4 and 11 months, were deemed high-risk due to family history or eczema. In a follow-up study released Friday, researchers found that kids' tolerance of peanuts remained even after they stopped eating peanuts for a year. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on Friday released proposed guidelines based on the finding that recommend kids at high risk of allergies be fed peanuts starting between 4 and 6 months, the New York Times reports.

That, the Times notes, runs counter to the World Health Organization recommendation that babies consume only breast milk for the first six months of life. The new guidelines do recommend that infants that already have an egg allergy or eczema be evaluated by an allergist before peanuts are introduced. And early introduction of other commonly allergenic foodssuch as eggs, yogurt, sesame, whitefish, and wheatmay also prevent allergies, according to a King's College London study that found just 2.4% of kids who ate those foods on a regular basis developed an allergy. Of kids who were fed only breast milk in their first six months, more than 7% developed allergies. (Read more peanut allergy stories.)
(Newser)  Joseph Jones' wife, Nicole Tessa, went missing from the family's home in Patchogue, NY, in December 2010. On Friday, police arrested Jones on a charge of second-degree murder. The 33-year-old is due to be arraigned Monday, WNBC reports. Police declined to say what led them to arrest Jones, or why it took more than five years, reports CBS New York. "I'm just so happy, finally justice is going to be served," Tessa's sister tells News 12. But Jones' girlfriend of three years, Melinda Oblatore, says Jones is innocent, adding that they live together with her children and he has never been violent. "I'm bipolar," she says. "I've gotten violent for him, and he just stood there. He's not this person."

Jones has admitted that he and his wife argued on Dec. 17, 2010, the night she disappeared, telling WNBC at the time that "I left, and she left, and when I came back she wasn't here." Jones filed a missing persons report, and Tessa's body was found four days later in a wooded area near the couple's home. Jones had said that his wife had left angrily before. But she would always bring her anti-seizure medicine and eventually return to their son, who was 3 at the time. I just want you to come home," Jones pleaded in 2010. Please, honey. I love you, I miss you, just come home. (Read more Patchogue, New York stories.)
(Newser)  "Don't touch the treasure." That's the message more than 3,000 demonstrators in Naples had for the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday. The faithful in that southern Italian city fear that a recent government ruling could help the church get its hands on a priceless collection of jewels and other items dedicated to the municipality's patron saint. The Treasure of San Gennaro is said to be more valuable than the British crown jewels, AFP reports. A special local council called the Deputation has managed the trove, along with a chapel named for the saint, for centuries, according to the BBC. The decree by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano essentially relegates the Deputation to caretaker status and orders that the church should control four seats on the 12-person council.

Locals, however, aren't buying it. "We will not stand for interference from either the church or the government," says Paolo Jorio, director of the San Gennaro museum. Supporters of local control say the Deputation is much more than a mere caretaker, pointing to the fact that the city funded construction of the chapel that was completed in the 17th century. Also, they say, the council manages the annual miracle in which locals pray for a glass vial of San Gennaro's congealed blood to liquefy. (If the blood doesn't, it's bad news for the city, some believe.) It all goes back to 1527, when survivors of disease, war, and natural disasters pledged to build a chapel for San Gennaro (who was beheaded in the year 305). Items in the treasure, which includes a golden miter adorned with 3,326 diamonds, were donated by kings and aristocrats. The church has tried to get control of the collection through the centuries, some allege; Jorio says he thinks the archbishop of Naples leaned on Alfano for the favorable decree, adding that the Deputation would appeal. (In light of the Zika virus, Pope Francis recently said it was cool to use contraception.)
(Newser)  Two volunteer firefighters are on administrative leave after driving an 18-month-old girl to the hospital for urgent medical care in their fire engine, Fox 5 DC reports. Capt. James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom, who volunteer in Fredericksburg, Va., found the girl partly paralyzed and were told she had just suffered a seizure. Worse, the nearest medic was apparently 15 minutes away and a second call for a medic solicited a vague answer"southbound on Route 1"about its location, says Kelley. "Considering all the factors ... I felt it was in the patient's best interest to transport immediately," says Kelley, per a press release issued by his fire department. The girl's father, Brian Nunamaker, says it all began on the morning of Feb. 27, when his little girl had a seizure in the car and he pulled up near a McDonald's and called 911.

"As a parent, you feel extremely helpless to be unable to assist the most important person in the world (your child) during such a time of emergency," he says in an email. The firefighters came "quickly," he adds, and found his daughter limp with a pulse; she was also blue from her head to her chest, Kelley tells the Free Lance-Star. The firefighters administered oxygen and drove her to a hospital, where she was transferred to VCU and eventually discharged in good health. "The neurologists at VCU explained that timing is extremely important when reacting to seizures," the father says. But Bloom and Kelley were suspended because their fire engine is considered a "non-transport unit" and lacks medications and restraints. "I would not hesitate, I would do the exact same thing 100% 10 times out of 10," Kelley tells WUSA. A fire official declined to comment while the matter is under review. (In another case, four firefighters went on an arson spree.)
(Newser)  A ring said to have belonged to Joan of Arc is back in the medieval peasant-turned-warrior's native France nearly 600 years after she was burned at the stake. The ring, which had been in England since the 15th century, sold at auction for more than $400,000 (about 30 times its estimated worth), the Telegraph reports. Purchased by the Puy du Fou foundation, which runs a historical theme park in western France, the ring arrived home on Friday, the BBC reports. The foundation's president praised the "glorious return" of a "French treasure." Inscribed with "IHS" and "MAR" (for Jesus and Mary), the silver gilt devotional ring was made in about 1400. It will be officially unveiled this month, according to reports.

Joan of Arc herself describes the ring in transcripts from the trial that ultimately led to her 1431 execution in Normandy (then ruled by the English) on charges of being a heretic and sorcerer. It is believed that she gave the ring to England's Cardinal Henry Beaufort the day before she was killed at age 19. Centuries later, a man bought the ring in a 1947 auction for about $250. He passed it on to his son, Robert Hasson of Essex, who discovered the ring's value after taking it to be appraised by Timeline Auctions. Committed to turning back an English invasion of France, Joan of Arc led forces into battle and advised French royalty. A devout Catholic, who claimed to receive divine guidance, she was canonized as a saint in 1920. (Read more France stories.)
(Newser)  Florida native Christopher Le Cun was out enjoying a day on the boat with his family and best friend on July 12, 2015, when the two decided to anchor to a buoy and scuba dive down to mysterious structures faintly visible below. Le Cun swam up to one that he likened to a building and felt a sudden, strong current. "He got sucked in like a wet noodlehe just, poof, gone," his diving partner, Robert Blake, tells WPTV. Le Cun says his surroundings instantly dissolved into "complete darkness" and he struggled to hold onto his mask and regulator while he spent roughly five minutes being sucked through a 1/4-mile-long, 16-foot-wide intake pipe that pulls in 500,000 gallons of water a minute to cool the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant's reactors.

"You get to do a lot of thinking," says Le Cun, who envisioned a turbine chopping him up on the other end. "Do I just pull the regulator out of my mouth and just die?" Meanwhile, Blake surfaced, horrified, and Le Cun's wife called 911. But Le Cun survived without intervention, having been spat out into the plant's cooling pond. Le Cun, who tells CNN there were no warning signs, is now filing a lawsuit against Florida Power and Light, which issued a statement saying the intake pipe has a protective covering and that Le Cun "intentionally" swam in. An FPL rep also tells CNN the buoy above the pipe tells people to stay 100 feet away. This isn't the first time a diver has survived the journey: William Lamm tells UPI his ride through the dark tunnel in 1989 was "devastating." (Check out why these scuba divers are knowingly risking their lives.)
(Newser)  Calling all Jasons from Syracuse who attended the "K-Rockathon" concert in Vernon, NY, in July 1996: Your biological son, Jette Collins, is now 18 and looking for you. But, he assures you, he only wants to meet and say hi, he tells ABC News. After a little prodding from his girlfriend and her family, Collins, who lives in nearby Durhamville, last Wednesday posted a photo with his story to Facebook. He writes that a man named Jason met a girl named Diana Collins one fateful night in 1996 and that he is "the product of that night." (The concert featured acts like Butthole Surfers, Poe, The Refreshments, and The Verve Pipe, Syracuse.com recalls.) The post has already been shared more than 12,000 times and commented on 3,000 times, including negative comments directed at his mother.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Collins tells Today, and adds: "It's just something I needed to do. ... I've always felt like I was missing something." As for the birthdate on his Facebook profile predating the July 28 concert itself (a point highlighted by skeptics), Collins admits it's not accurate, saying that his grandparents, with whom he lives, always warned him to keep his personal details under wraps on social media. About to turn 19, he says he's gotten tons of messages alreadyeven K-Rock radio host Rainman wants to help, having not met his own biological dad until he was 21, he tweetedbut so far none have panned out. Either way, "I'm proud of my son," Diana Collins tells ABC News. "I will stand by him through anything." (These siblings took to Facebook to find their oldest brother.)
(Newser)  The former Los Angeles County prosecutor who failed to convict OJ Simpson of murder in 1995 says she would probably fail to convict now, for the same reason: Jurors who didn't care whether he was guilty or not. In an interview for an NBC Dateline special, Marcia Clark says some of the nine black jurors "came in for the purpose of payback" amid a similar climate of "racial mistrust" of the police as exists today. "They didn't care whether he was guilty or innocent," Clark says. "They were going to use this case for payback." There was plenty of evidence pointing to Simpson's guilt, but it "didn't wind up mattering because there was a fundamental large issue standing in the way of seeing the evidence," she says. "You had this enormous mistrust of everything LAPD, everything officer related."

"There was no way to reach that jury. There was no way to make them believe. There really wasn't," Clark says, per the Hollywood Reporter, which notes that interest in the case has surged during the airing of the FX series The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. Clark says the infamous decision to have Simpson try on a glove found near the murder scene wasn't hers. She says co-counsel Christopher Darden came up with the idea and apologized after it backfired. She says she told him it was OK. "If that lost the case for us, we were never going to win anyway," she says. (A knife allegedly found nearly two decades ago on Simpson's former estate is now being tested by the LAPD.)
(Newser)  In what is surely one of the most extreme reminders that money cannot buy everything, Iran on Sunday announced a death sentence had been handed to Babak Zanjani, whose fortune is worth an estimated $14 billion. The 42-year-old was arrested in December 2013, shortly after the election of President Hassan Rouhani, who ordered a crackdown on corruption that allegedly occurred during the eight-year rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The BBC reports Zanjani was instrumental in helping Iran evade sanctions that would have otherwise prevented foreign oil sales. Iran's Oil Ministry accused him of withholding oil revenues channeled through his companies and says he owes more than $2.25 billion; Zanjani has denied the allegations and can appeal.

Zanjani and two of his associates were sentenced to death for "money laundering," among other charges, a judiciary spokesman said in brief remarks broadcast on state TV. Previous state media reports have said the three were charged with forgery and fraud, reports the AP. "The court has recognized the three defendants as 'corruptors on earth' and sentenced them to death," said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi. "Corruptors on earth" is an Islamic term referring to crimes that are punishable by death because they have a major impact on society. The verdict came after a nearly five-month trial. Iran has in the past executed other wealthy individuals found guilty of similar charges. In 2014, billionaire businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi was hanged over corruption charges. (Read more death sentence stories.)
(Newser)  The attempted murder of a pastor in Idaho after his Sunday sermon is drawing extra attention because the pastor had publicly prayed with Ted Cruz only the day before. But whether there's any connection remains iffy, reports the Spokesman Review. The pastor, Tim Remington of Coeur d'Alene, works with addicts and had been threatened previously by some of those same addicts, notes the newspaper. Police on Monday identified a 30-year-old former Marine, Kyle Odom, as the suspect, and he remains at large. The 55-year-old Remington was ambushed Sunday in the parking lot of his church. The gunman shot him as many as six times at close range, including in the head, but, incredibly, Remington is expected to make a full recovery. The gunman "stood pretty professional as he was shooting," says another pastor at Altar Church.

On Saturday, Remington had prayed with Cruz at a campaign rally and gave the invocation at the event. "Our prayers are with Pastor Tim," a campaign spokeswoman tells NBC News. Meanwhile, a Facebook post by a church member is getting wide circulation: "One of the bullets TRIED to enter the brain but stopped at the skull, one of the bullets busted his hip, one fractured his shoulder pretty bad, but he is and will continue to be ALIVE AND SERVING GOD! Just like we all KNEW he would!" Remington and his wife moved to Coeur d'Alene after working in street ministry in California and running a coffeehouse there, according to the church website. Security footage shows that Odom attended the Sunday sermon. Police say he fled the scene in a silver Honda Accord and should be considered "armed and dangerous." (Read more Idaho stories.)
(Newser)  Seems Illinois cops had good reason to pull over a driver in January: "Stopped for driving with a large tree embedded in the front grille," a police report says. Officers in Roselle, a town in northeastern Illinois, figured the tree was about 15 feet high. "We didn't stand there and measure it, but it was a big tree," Roselle Deputy Chief Roman Tarchala tells the Chicago Tribune. An officer spotted the 2004 Lincoln ("presumably without much difficulty," says the Tribune) on Jan. 23 after a motorist called in about the strange sight. Police say the Lincoln's driver, 54-year-old Maryann Christy, smelled of booze and didn't pass sobriety tests.

Christy told police she had rammed into the tree in her hometown of Schaumburg, but wasn't sure where. Officers also noticed that airbags in her car had been deployed, WLS-TV reports. Roselle police eventually posted pics of Christy's car on the department's Facebook page and saw the images go viral, with more than 20,000 shares as of Tuesday morning. "We were just trying to be pro-active and put something on our new Facebook page," says Tarchala. Charged with driving under the influence, Christy is expected in court on April 15. (Meanwhile, Daytona's famous speedway may have logged its first DUI.)
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Mainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Low 27F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Low 27F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 50%.
New Delhi:

Very rarely you can notice Anupam Kher saying anything against Bhartiya Janata Party. His trenchant support for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is evident and the ideological similarity is world known. But yesterday, in a rare gesture Kher spoke against the party leaders.

Here are three incident when Anupam Kher spoke against the BJP:

1) Sadhvi Prachi, Adityanath should be thrown out of the party: Anupam Kher on Monday said that people like Sadhvi Prachi and Yogi Adityanath who make nonsense comments should be thrown out of the party.

There are some people in the party (BJP) who speak nonsense, and ill-behave, whether it is Sadhvi or Yogi...they should be put behind bars, thrown out of the party (...Hain kuch log aise party mein jo bakwas karte hain, chahe wo Sadhvi hon ya Yogi ho, unko andar kar dena chahiye aur unko nikal dena chahiye), Kher said.

...But, you cant play with the entire country and say that we have intolerance here (...magar aap pure desh ke saath khilwad nahin kar sakte ki hamare desh meyn intolerance hai, he said.

He was speaking in Kolkata on Saturday at the Telegraph National Debate on Intolerance.

BJP MP Yogi Adityanath and right-wing leader Sadhvi Prachi have courted controversies in the past for their inflammatory statements drawing sharp reactions from several quarters.

2) Against Selection of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII President: Anupam Kher took on Gajendra Chauhan on TV channel debate, questioning his appointment as the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India.

Of course you are connected to cinema, but cinema has plenty of people that are connected to it. However, there is a huge difference in being connected to cinema and being appointed the chairman for FTII. Kher has said disapproving of Chauhans appointment as FTII President.

3) When Shah Rukh Khan was targeted for intolerance: Taking a different gesture in case of Shah Rukh Khan, Anupam Kher has said that that SRK is a national icon.

Some members of the BJP really need to control their tongue & stop talking rubbish about @iamsrk. He is a national icon & We r PROUD of him. Kher has Tweeted for Shah Rukh Khan.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump suggested today that US laws should be changed to permit torture of terror suspects and targeting their family members, defending his position after being accused of backtracking on the issue.



I didnt flip-flop on torture, Im saying Im going to live by the laws, the candidate said in an interview with Fox News.



Its ridiculous when we have laws and ISIS doesnt. ISIS has no laws. We have rules, regulations, and laws, and I abide by it, but Im not thrilled about it, he said.



I would want to open up on those laws, were not playing on the same field. I didnt flip-flop at all. I abide by the laws, but I would also say that I would want to have those laws expanded.



Trump has said during his campaign and underscored during the Republican debate on Thursday that he supports waterboarding and other extreme interrogation techniques that are a hell of a lot worse, as well as authorizing the killings of terrorists family members.



His positions have been widely condemned, with observers saying the Pentagon would probably would refuse illegal orders.



A day later, Trump said in a statement that while he would use every legal power that I have to stop these terrorist enemies, he wouldnt order anyone to break international laws.



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.



Congress has banned the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics.



Trump said on Thursday that his seeming change in positions were a product of his flexibility.



I have a very strong core, but Ive never seen a successful person who wasnt flexible, he said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Aden:

An Indian priest missing after an attack on a care home run in Yemen is being held by the assailants, likely militants from the Islamic State group, officials said.



Yemeni authorities have blamed IS for the Friday attack on the refuge for the elderly operated by Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity in main southern city Aden.



According to our information, the extremists who attacked the elderly care home in Aden have kidnapped priest Tom Uzhunnalil, a 56-year-old Indian, who was taken to an unknown location, a Yemeni security official told AFP.



We are aware that no group has yet claimed the criminal attack... but information points to the involvement of Daesh, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous, using an Arabic acronym for IS.



Gunmen stormed the refuge killing a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other employees, officials said.



Four foreign nuns working as nurses were among those killed.



The Vatican missionary news agency Fides identified the nuns as two Rwandans, a Kenyan and an Indian, adding that the mother superior managed to hide and survive while an Indian priest was missing.



The internationally recognised government in war-torn Yemen is grappling with both an Iran-backed rebellion and a growing jihadist presence.



The Vaticans Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has said Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of this act of senseless and diabolical violence.



Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden, targeting mainly loyalists and members of a Saudi-led coalition battling Huthi rebels and their allies since March last year.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A 20-year-old girl jumped from the second floor of a building in West Bengals Howrah on Sunday to escape rape, reports said on Monday. Her friend and two of his friends have been arrested for allegedly trying to rape her.



The girl has suffered minor head injury and has been admitted to a hospital. The incident took place at Liluah near Kolkata on Sunday evening.



According to reports, the girl had come to meet her friend, who two friends were present when she arrived there. They allegedly tried to rape and threatened to kill her following which she ran to the roof and jumped off the building.

Locals caught the three accused and handed them over to the police.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A legend in the field of digital communication, Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email and selector of @ symbol for addresses, passed away aged 74.

A true technology pioneer, Ray was the man who brought us email in the early days of networked computers, Raytheon spokesman Mike Doble said in a statement confirming his death.

Doble said that Tomlinson took his last breath on Saturday morning, but said that he did not know if he was at home and did not have a confirmed cause of death. Tomlinson worked in the companys office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The tech world expressed its sadness over the passing of Tomlinson. Tomlison received worldwide headlines for his invention in 1971 of a program for ARPANET, the Internets predecessor that allowed people to send person-to-person messages to other computer users on other servers.

Thank you, Ray Tomlinson, for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map, read a Tweet from Gmails official Twitter account.

Thank you, Ray Tomlinson, for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map. #RIP  Gmail (@gmail) March 6, 2016

Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf called his death very sad news.

His work changed the way the world communicates and yet, for all his accomplishments, he remained humble, kind and generous with his time and talents, Doble said.
Mumbai:

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has invited another trouble. Now, the Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against the liquor baron and others in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.



Official sources said the agency recently filed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case.



They said while the EDs zonal office here has registered the case, sleuths are also looking at the overall financial structure of the now defunct Kingfisher airlines and a separate probe under foreign exchange violation charges could also be initiated.



Mallya and others will soon be questioned. The agency has collected relevant documents from concerned authorities and the bank in question, they said.



The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint which deals with money laundering case.



The CBI had booked Mallya, director of Kingfisher Airlines, the company, A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the airlines, and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits.



The CBI action came as part of its wide probe into criminal aspects of loans declared to be non-performing assets by public sector banks.



The ED is looking into the proceeds of crime (in Money laundering case) that would have been generated using the slush funds of the alleged loan fraud, they said.



While a DRT order is expected in this case today, ex-Kingfisher airlines employees have also gone public against Mallya and the company alleging they have been cheated of their remuneration and service benefits.



Mallya had yesterday said he is making efforts to reach a one-time settlement with banks through additional payments to the lenders, even as he denied personally being a borrower or judgement defaulter and alleged that disinformation campaign was being played to make him a poster boy of all bad loans.



The debt-laden airlines had stopped operations in October 2012.

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New Delhi:

Maha Shivratri, a Hindu festival, is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is celebrated across India with religious fervour by devotees, who keep fast to please the God. Devotees in other regions like Nepal also celebrate the festival.

But many still may not know why Shivratri is celebrated? Well, there are various mythological stories behind the celebration of Shivratri. One story says that on Maha SHivratri at midnight, the formless God appeared in the form of "Lingodbhav Moorti". This is believed to be the reason for devotees to stay awake at night and offer prayers to the God.

According to another story, Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati this day, which marks the union of Shiva and Shakti that are the two greatest power of the universe.

Unmarried women pray this day to get a husband like Lord Shiva and devotees worship him for a peaceful and happy life.

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Thiruvananthapuram:

Justice B Kemal Pasha of the Kerala High Court today exhorted women to come forward and fight for their rights in society.

Inaugurating a seminar on Protecting Women from Domestic Violence he said, Though the Holy Quran says that only the bridegroom should provide Mahr to marry a girl, it does not happen in our country as womanhood was weak.

Talking about the social evil, dowry, he noted that it could be eradicated only by creating awareness among the public.

Our mindset should change. Women should come forward to boycott the demand for dowry in marriage, he said.

Justice Pasha also asked religious heads to go for self-introspection before making judgements on sensitive issues.

Religious heads should go for a self-introspection on whether they are eligible to pronounce a verdict or not, he said.

On giving divorce by pronouncing triple Talaq, Justice Pasha said, Both the husband and wife are human beings. There should be enough time for them to come to a conclusion. Why cant a Muslim woman have four husbands but a Muslim man can have four wives?

All laws insist on dignified life and our constitution also gives protection to all through Articles 14 and 21. Protection of women from domestic violence will be meaningful only if several points, including the rights of a woman on her husbands property are properly defined, he said.

If she is married to a person, it is an implied contract to provide her safety and security, he added.

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New Delhi :

In a double whammy for liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Debt Recovery Tribunal today barred him from accessing USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit payment from Diageo till the loan default case with SBI is settled while the ED registered a money laundering case against him in another default case.

The money laundering case launched by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in Mumbai against Mallya and others was in connection with the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the same case, official sources said, adding Mallya and others will soon be questioned.

Diageo and United Spirits Ltd, owned by the UK-based firm, have also been restrained by DRT Judge Benakanahalli in Bengaluru from temporarily disbursing the USD 75 million amount to Mallya, who worked out the deal under a severance package.

The tribunal ordered that the amount be attached till the disposal of the original application filed by State Bank of India in 2013 in connection with Kingfisher Airlines loan default case.

In his order on the plea by the SBI application seeking the lenders first right on the USD 75-million sweetheart deal, the judge also directed disclosure of details of the agreement which they have arrived at. Three other applications filed by SBI before the DRT will come up for hearing on March 28.

SBI, which leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent money to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT in Bengaluru against the airlines chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000 crore of dues from him. The state-owned top lender had filed three other applications, including one seeking Mallyas arrest and impounding of his passport, which the judge had said on March 4 would be heard later.

Mallya had to quit recently as chairman of United Spirits a company founded by his family in which he sold majority stake to Diageo.

Official sources said the ED recently filed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered last year by CBI in the IDBI loan default case.

They said while the EDs zonal office in Mumbai has registered the case, sleuths are also looking at the overall financial structure of Kingfisher airlines and a separate probe under foreign exchange violation charges could also be initiated.

Mallya and others will soon be questioned. The agency has collected relevant documents from concerned authorities and the bank in question, they said.

The ED has pressed charges under various sections of the PMLA against Mallya and others named in the CBI complaint.

The CBI had booked Mallya, director of Kingfisher Airlines, the company, A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the airlines, and unknown officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits.
Speakers from the TedXUCincinnati's main stage event, Cosmopolitan, gather around the TedX logo after the event at Corbett Auditorium Saturday March 5, 2016.
GREENWICH  The grand marshal of the St. Patricks Day Parade was formally given the title of grand marshal this weekend. Heres the announcement from organizers....

CATHY LAVATY INSTALLED AS 2016 ST PATRICKS PARADE GRAND MARSHAL

Cathy Lavaty was installed as the Grand Marshal of the 42nd annual Greenwich St. Patricks Parade by the Greenwich Hibernian Association on Saturday evening, March 5, at the organizations annual St. Patricks dinner dance. The Parade will be held on Sunday March 20th at 2 p.m.

This years St. Patricks dinner dance also acknowledged the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. The Easter Rising led to the eventual establishment of Ireland as an independent country. Memorials to the Rising are being held across the world and will culminate on April 24, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Rising.

Cathy was installed by last years Grand Marshal, Brian OConnor in front of a sellout crowd of friends, relatives and members of the Greenwich Hibernians.

Cathy is a lifelong resident of Greenwich. She graduated St. Mary Grammar School and St. Mary High School before attending Berkley Business School in White Plains, NY. After graduation Cathy went to work for the National Broadcasting Company in New York where she worked for 38 years before retiring in 2005. At NBC Cathy worked in the news division, first as Program manager for the Nightly News, then on the Today show and finally for Dateline.

Cathy is involved with her church, St. Mary of Greenwich, both as a Trustee and as Chair of the parish Social Concerns Committee. She is a Board member of the NBC New York Employees Federal Credit Union and is also a Board member of the Today Show Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Cathy met her husband, Walter Kelly, a retired New York City Police officer on St. Patricks Day 1975. They were married in 1980. When not overly busy at home, Cathy and Walter enjoy their second home on Cape Cod. Last September, Cathy and Walter made their first trip to Ireland.

Cathys Irish roots go back to her grandparents George and Catherine Kelly who came from County Cork in Ireland in the late 1800s. The family home was on Oakridge Street in Greenwich. George was the first custodian of Hamilton Avenue School. Their daughter, Virginia Kelly, married Charles Lavaty

Parade information and updates will be posted on the Greenwich Hibernians website: www.greenwichhibernians.org
NEW MILFORD  The 30th District State Senate seat is wide open this election year and Democrats in New Milford are backing David Lawson to be the partys candidate for that seat.

State Senator Clark Chapin, R-30th Dist, announced last year that he would not be running for re-election leaving the district seat that includes New Milford open for the first time in decades.

Lawson has served on the New Milford Board of Education since 2003 and now serves at the boards chairman. He said this week that his dedication to the northwest corner of the state led him to his decision to run for the 30th District seat.

Im very dedicated and committed to the northwest corner, Lawson said., particularly to preserving the farmlands and open space through land trusts. There are serious issues that have to be tackled in the State Senate. The budget has to be settled once and for all. At the local level we need to preserve our three hospitals, tackle the drug issue and take a hard look at education reimbursements.

Lawson said he ran for a fifth term on the Board of Education because he wanted to be assured that he would be in a position to serve the town. In his time on the board he has championed all-day kindergarten, removing pay-to-play for sports, and bringing substance abuse counselors into the schools.

David is very well known in the New Milford area, said Andy Grossman, New Milford Democratic Town Committee chairman and spokesman for Lawson. He is probably one of the most respected Democrats in the town.

Grossman said Lawson brings a strong understanding of education policies and learning which will be one of the main issues the Legislature will be facing in the coming years.

David is hard working, intelligent, and level headed, Grossman said. He would serve in a distinguished fashion. He works very well across the aisle. New Milford Democrats are proud to back him. Hes a proven vote getter and would be an extremely effective legislator.

Lawson had taught history for 33 years in New York state. He and his wife, Lisa, have two children, Benjamin, now a junior at Boston University, and Jennifer, who will be attending medical school in the fall. His commitment to the northwest corner began in 1982 when he served as a camp counselor at Camp KenMont in Kent.

Thats how Lisa and I came to realize this was where we wanted to raise our children, Lawson said.

A second Democrat from the 30th District interested in the partys candidacy is Bill Riskka, an attorney who ran twice, unsuccessfully, against Chapin.

The Democratic caucus to name candidates for the November 2016 state election will be held May 23 in Litchfield. The 30th State Senate District includes New Milford, Brookfield, Kent, Canaan, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Cornwall, Morris, Warren, Goshen, Litchfield, part of Torrington and Winchester and Lakeville.

stuz@newstimes.com; 203-731-3352
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Expansion of senior relationship management team in keeping with company's growth and ongoing investment in delivering exceptional client service

TORONTO, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - CIBC Mellon, a Canadian leader in asset servicing, today announced that Jeffrey Alexander has been named to the newly-created role of Vice President, Head of Relationship Management. In addition to leading the company's relationship management team and bringing additional senior-level relationship resources to the company's large and strategic accounts, Jeff will be responsible for bringing a unified strategy and service experience for relationship management across all industry segments, as well as working to connect clients with advanced BNY Mellon and CIBC solutions.

"Throughout his 18-year career at CIBC Mellon, Jeff has worked collaboratively with clients and colleagues to strengthen relationships and build solutions that help institutional investors respond to an evolving business, regulatory and market environment," said Rob Ferguson, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Relationship Management and Capital Markets, CIBC Mellon. "Together with our experienced team of practice leads, relationship executives, service directors and account managers, Jeff is well positioned to help CIBC Mellon deliver on its ongoing commitment to an outstanding asset servicing client experience for pension, investment fund, insurance, corporate and other Canadian institutional investors."

"To be a leader in client service in today's marketplace, companies must consciously invest in a client-centric service experience and grow their servicing teams along with their businesses," said Jeffrey Alexander. "CIBC Mellon has earned substantial business in recent years, launching new solutions, providing expanded services to our clients and recruiting a wide array of industry experts to service our clients. We have great people, powerful technology and a client-centric culture. I am excited to take on this new role and to help carry on CIBC Mellon's tradition of service excellence."

Jeff has held progressively senior roles over 18 years at CIBC Mellon, most recently serving as Vice President, Global Securities Lending, with primary responsibility for business development and relationship management for the company's global securities lending program. Jeff reports to Rob Ferguson, who retains overall responsibility for building and strengthening CIBC Mellon's relationships with domestic and global clients and prospects across the asset servicing spectrum, as well as for global securities lending products and services, foreign exchange processing and settlement services, and treasury services.

About CIBC Mellon

CIBC Mellon is a Canadian company exclusively focused on the investment servicing needs of Canadian institutional investors and international institutional investors into Canada. Founded in 1996, CIBC Mellon is 50-50 jointly owned by The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). CIBC Mellon's investment servicing solutions for institutions and corporations are provided in close collaboration with our parent companies, and include custody, multicurrency accounting, fund administration, recordkeeping, pension services, securities lending services, foreign exchange settlement and treasury services. As at December 31, 2015, CIBC Mellon had more than C$1.6 trillion of assets under administration on behalf of banks, pension funds, investment funds, corporations, governments, insurance companies, foreign insurance trusts, foundations and global financial institutions whose clients invest in Canada. CIBC Mellon is part of the BNY Mellon network, which as at December 31, 2015 had US$28.9 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration. CIBC Mellon is a licensed user of the CIBC trade-mark and certain BNY Mellon trade-marks, is the corporate brand of CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company and CIBC Mellon Trust Company, and may be used as a generic term to refer to either or both companies.

For more information, visit www.cibcmellon.com or follow us on Twitter @CIBCMellon.

SOURCE CIBC Mellon

Image with caption: "CIBC Mellon names Jeffrey Alexander to newly-created role of Vice President, Head of Relationship Management (CNW Group/CIBC Mellon)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160307_C3330_PHOTO_EN_635911.jpg

For further information: Brent Merriman, Corporate Communications, CIBC Mellon, 416-643-5065, [email protected]
Meet the women and girls boosting gender equality across the city, country  and the globe

TORONTO, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, YWCA Toronto will be announcing its 2016 Women of Distinction Award recipients, an inspiring slate of seven who have quickened the pace of progress for women's and girls' equality. The winner of The President's Award, an honour conferred only three times in 36 years, will also be revealed.

Each one of this year's women and girls has her own story to tell. These talented and courageous women have worked hard to improve the lives of girls and women in ways highly relevant to issues being discussed and debated today. They have expanded opportunities for women, remedied inequities, found solutions, fought for more inclusive leadership and brought gender-based analysis to research and public services.

Outstanding role models, they champion the rights and contributions of women and girls in their respective areas of expertise - Indigenous people's rights, advocacy, finance, education, international development, law and health.

Discover who these women are by going to www.womenofdistinction.ca on March 8th. Learn what they changed, for whom and why. Where did they succeed and struggle? What are their proudest achievements? What work lies ahead to make communities, homes, workplaces and institutions safer and more equitable for women and girls?

The women will be introduced and participate in a panel discussion at an Alumnae Reception on March 8th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Hosted by TD Bank Group, it will be held in the Lambert Room, 54th Floor, 66 Wellington St. West, Toronto. Former Women of Distinction recipients, YWCA Toronto donors, funders and supporters as well as friends and colleagues of TD Bank will attend.

The 2016 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Event, hosted by CBC Toronto News co-host Anne-Marie Mediwake, will be held May 26th. It is YWCA Toronto's largest annual fundraising event.

YWCA Toronto is the largest multi-service women's organization in Canada. It helps women escape violence, move out of poverty and access safe affordable housing. Learn more: www.ywcatoronto.org.

SOURCE YWCA Toronto

Image with caption: "YWCA Toronto (CNW Group/YWCA Toronto)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160307_C2783_PHOTO_EN_636191.jpg

For further information: Media interested in attending and/or interviewing the women and YWCA Toronto, should contact [email protected]; 416.961.8101, ext. 326; 416.660.9483 (mobile)
TORONTO, March 7, 2016 /CNW/ - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has launched a two-week radio ad campaign to raise awareness of how the Wynne government is widening the wage gap between men and women.

The campaign is timed to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8.

"Premier Kathleen Wynne continually claims she wants to reduce the gender wage gap in Ontario, but her austerity program is driving the gap wider," said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President. "She's doing that by driving down real wages in the most female sector of the whole economy  the public sector. That's the story our ads tell."

Thomas says more than half a million Ontario women have seen real wage cuts since the Liberal austerity program began in 2010.

"If Kathleen Wynne is actually serious about narrowing the wage gap, she has to stop the cuts," he said. "And she must acknowledge her government's human rights obligations under the Pay Equity Act. Instead, the Liberals have stopped funding pay equity for hundreds of public agencies."

Billions of dollars cut from public services are being funneled into the private construction sector as part of the Liberals' $130-billion infrastructure plan, Thomas noted.

"This is a female-to-male wealth transfer funded entirely by public dollars," he said. "I'm all in favour of putting money in working men's wallets  I've got five sons of my own  but it can't come out of working women's pocket books."

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Audio with caption: "Radio campaign calls out Wynne for widening gender wage gap". Audio available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2016/03/07/20160307_C3923_AUDIO_EN_635731.mp3

Audio with caption: "Radio campaign calls out Wynne for widening gender wage gap". Audio available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2016/03/07/20160307_C3923_AUDIO_EN_635733.mp3

For further information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas, (613) 329-1931
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday welcomed the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari to the effect that Nigeri...

Spokespersons of IPOB, Emma Mmezu and Dr Clifford Iroanya who spoke for the organisation in a statement entitled Response to Ohanaeze and Buharis disparaging remarks about Biafra on Al Jazeera, said: We wish to reiterate for record purposes that our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has not mandated Ohanaeze or any youth group to negotiate for his release. The agitation for Biafra is a long and arduous process and the entire IPOB family all over the world understands this approach as espoused by our detained leader. Biafra protesters We have not come to merely agitate, we have come to restore or die in the process. Some people think we are joking or can be easily dissuaded from this divine path that God-Chukwu Okike Abhiama has mandated us to follow.Any negotiation on Biafra must be led by Nnamdi Kanu and nobody else. If roads, bridges and a few junior staff at Aso Rock are our problems as Biafrans, then IPOB worldwide can fund such infrastructural development alone and very soon, we shall do it. Our quest is Biafra- nothing more, nothing less.On the issue of Buharis Aljazeera interview on Biafra, we welcome his comments because Biafra would not also tolerate Nigeria. Lord Lugard created Nigeria not Chukwu Okike Abhiama, God Almighty. So, like USSR, it will collapse. We, the IPOB Worldwide have decided not to go back on the quest for restoration of Biafra.Nigeria is not bigger than USSR just as Buhari is not stronger than Michael Gobachev. Buhari can kill Biafrans as he did during the 1967 to 1970 civil war, but this time, it will not be the same. Meantime, a palpable trepidation is rife in the South-East geopolitical zone following yesterdays warning from the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, and the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, directing all Fulani herdsmen engaged in pastoral activities to retreat to the northern part of the country as their safety can longer be guaranteed.The pro-Biafra groups said it has become imperative for the Fulani herdsmen to leave the region as it can no longer, tolerate the systematic killing of our people and invasion of our land in the name of cattle grazing. In a statement signed and made available to newsmen in Enugu yesterday, MASSOB Leader, Uchenna Madu, revealed that it has mobilized its allies to ensure that its directive was heeded. According to Madu, we can no longer tolerate the systematic killing of our people and invasion of our land in the name of cattle grazing.Seventy per cent of Fulani herdsmen in the eastern region are Northern-trained secret army assigned for devastation and secret killing of Biafrans. MASSOB in collaboration with IPOB and other affiliates have vowed to protect Biafra land with enthusiastic spirit and motivation from foreign invaders in any disguise. As we have resolved to protect Biafra land, we warn Arewa secret army in disguise as Fulani herdsmen to concentrate on grazing with their cows as any further attack on our people shall be squarely returned. On the actualization of Biafra, MASSOB leader described President Muhammadu Buharis stance on the futility of Biafra secession from Nigeria as the,ranting of a frustrated man who has lost major focus on international/diplomatic politics.The level of Biafra actualization has gone beyond Buharis imagination and comprehension. As long as Ndigbo and easterners in general live, Biafra can never be subdued by Nigeria. We advise the international community to ignore Buharis diplomatic propaganda against Biafra. We will continue to toe the line of non-violence in our pursuit for Biafra and will not lower our guard to continue to press for the release Nnamdi Kanu,Ben Onwuka and other pro-Biafra detainees in prisons scattered all over the country.Preserving remains of killed IPOB Peeved by the recent killing of some people believed to be members of agitating Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, whose corpses were dumped in some burrow pits in parts of Aba, Abia state, allegedly by security operatives, a civil rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, has written to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to rescue the corpses and preserve them for proper autopsy that would aid investigation.The group also charged the governor to ensure that justice be done to the victims, their families and the people of Abia State and Nigerians as a whole. The group in the letter, signed by its chairman, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi, urged Governor Ikpeazu to urgently intervene and safely secure the corpses to aid investigation.Sadly, the corpses have remained abandoned and un-evacuated by the government of Abia State till date. The corpses were covered with leaves and soaked with chemical substances strongly suspected to be a mixture of raw acid and embalming chemicals; for the purposes of disfigurement, erasing traces and making the corpses odourless. As at our last checks on Sunday, February 28, 2016, and Wednesday March 2, 2016, the 13 corpses were still there. There is also discovery of another three corpses of murdered citizens, strongly suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in Abia State.The purpose of this letter of ours is to formally bring to your attention the carnage stated above and to demand that justice be done to the victims, their families and the people of Abia State and Nigerians as a whole, part of the letter said.
The trial of a leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, took a dramatic turn Monday, when counsel in the case told Justice...





(Premium Times)

The prosecuting team also accused Mr. Kanus lawyers and family members of constituting threats to its witnesses.Mr. Kanu and two others  Benjamin Maudubugwu and David Nwawuisi  were brought before the court for alleged treason, for maintaining unlawful society, among other charges.At the commencement of hearing on Monday, prosecution counsel, Mohammed Diri, informed the court that Mr. Kanus lawyer had altercation with members of the State Security Service while trying to enter the courtroom, Monday morning.Reading from a short note he claimed was written by a staff of the SSS, Mr. Diri said the defence counsel and members of Mr. Kanus family were constituting threats to the lives of witnesses.He asked the court to adjourn the matter till such a time when the witnesses would be granted the needed protection to help them confidently testify in court.But the lead counsel to Mr. Kanu, Chux Muoma, asked the court to grant permission to Ifeayin Ejiofor, the counsel who had altercation with the SSS, to explain what happened.When Mr. Ejiofor was given permission to speak, he accused SSS operatives of trying to kill him.According to Mr. Ejiofor, he had gone to intervene in a dispute between members of Mr. Kanus family and staff of the SSS.He said at the scene of the disagreement, he was told that the SSS staff were blocking Mr. Kanus family members from entering the court.Mr. Ejiofor said the SSS operatives at the scene insisted that they would only allow three additional family members of Mr. Kanu to join those already in the court premises.He said when he (Mr. Ejiofor) tried to explain to them that there was an order of court permitting members of the public to witness the proceedings, Mr. Ejiofor said a staff of the SSS threatened to kill him.He therefore prayed the court to take note of the threat.My lord I will like you to take note of this threat to my life, because I dont know what will happen tomorrow, Mr. Ejiofor said.The trial judge, Mr. Tsoho, who noted that events had taken a different turn from what was expected, added that if the parties to the matter felt threatened, the case might as well be handed over to the celestial order to resolve.He asked the parties to decide whether or not they wanted the trial to continue.The matter was thereafter stepped down for a 30-minute break to enable parties determine the way forward for the matter.The court had adjourned the matter on February 19, for today March 7.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has remanded a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, in Kuje Prison. Badeh was arraigned bef...

Badeh was arraigned before the court today on 10 counts of money laundering.The arraignment was initially billed for Thursday last week, but had to be shifted because of the absence of Justice Okon Abang.The EFCC had on Monday last week filed 10 counts of money laundering against Badeh and a firm, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, accusing them of fraudulently removing N3.97bn from the account of the Nigerian Air Force in 2013.Badeh was said to have allegedly perpetrated the fraud along with Iyalikam Nigeria Limited while he was the Chief of Air Staff.The relationship between Badeh and the company was not disclosed in the charges.The accused allegedly bought landed assets in many choice areas of Abuja with the money.The assets allegedly include a mansion at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, which the defendants were said to have purchased with N1.1bn.The accused also allegedly bought a commercial plot of land at Plot 1386, Oda Crescent Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II, Abuja, for N650m.They were said to have paid N878m for the construction of a shopping mall at Plot 1386, Oda Crescent Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II, Abuja, and another sum of N304m to complete the construction.
Barely 24 hours after Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, his wife and son died in a crash along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway. t...

A witness, Sunusi Abdul, told newsmen that the incident occurred in Daka-Tsalle town, along the expressway.The SUV he was travelling in had a head-on collision with a Toyota Avensis vehicle, Mr. Abdul said. Fortunately, the deputy governors vehicle did not somersault, but the Toyota car was badly damaged and some of its occupants injured.Mr. Abdul, who said the accident occurred around 9:30 am, added that he also narrowly missed hitting Mr. Alis car.He said the deputy governors convoy later continued its trip to Kano.The accident happened a day after the Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, his wife and son died in a crash along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway.Efforts to speak with the Yobe deputy governor was unsuccessful. He did not answer or return calls.Source at the Government House in Damaturu however revealed that the accident occurred as Mr. Ali travelled to Kano for a condolence visit to the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who lost his mother on Friday.The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is yet to comment on the accident.
Cameroon has annexed 16 mangrove island villages of Effiat clan in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Mbo mangrove island i...

Cameroon has annexed 16 mangrove island villages of Effiat clan in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.Mbo mangrove island is a fishing settlement, which lies west of the Rio Del Ray estuary and serves as the official borderline between Nigeria and Cameroon.According to reports, the island boasts oil wells and abundant gas reserves.A member representing Mbo State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Samuel Ufuo, told reporters in Uyo on Sunday that he reported the matter Assembly as matter a week ago.According to him, the continued expansionist foreign policy of Cameroon threatens Nigerias sovereignty on its maritime border.He said the Central Africans nations security agencies had been terrorising Nigerians in the areas carrying out economic activities on the border communities.He said, Cameroon has annexed 16 villages in Effiat clan, Mbo Local Government Area, which were not part of the peninsula under dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon.Mbo mangrove island is currently under the administrative control of Cameroon. This island is blessed with resources such as minerals and copious fishing routes. The island has approximately 350 oil wells. The strategic economic importance of this region brought the envy by our Cameroon brothers.It is pathetic to note that Akwa Ibom people who are living in their villages established when there was no Nigeria or Cameroon as countries are being terrorised, dehumanised, deprived of their rights and privileges and maltreated by Cameroonian security agencies.Quoting the March 11, 1913 Anglo-German treaties as reaffirmed by the ICJ (The International Court of Justice) on October 10, 2002, Ufuo said Mbo mangrove island is an integral part of Nigeria.He claimed there had been attempts by Cameroon to distort its official boundaries demarcation with Nigeria after the October 10, 2002, judgment of the World Court.The lawmaker said, Cameroon in an earlier attempt to take over another part of Nigeria which was not part of the peninsula ceded to it in 2002 removed pillar 113A and started encroaching on our land until Nigerian communities occupying the territory raised the alarm.He called on the Federal Government to re-exert its sovereignty over the island to save Nigerians occupying the communities from maltreatment from Cameroonian security officials.Ufuo urged the Akwa Ibom State Government to investigate the annextion of the island.President Muhammadu Buhari met with his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya in November last year and fixed December 2016 for the final demarcation of maritime boundaries of the two countries.
About 11,000 Benin Republic nationals yesterday converged at the Republic of Benins Consulate-Generals premises in Lagos to vote in th...

About 11,000 Benin Republic nationals yesterday converged at the Republic of Benins Consulate-Generals premises in Lagos to vote in their countrys presidential election. Most of the nationals who came from Badagry, Ijanikin, Sango and other communities in Lagos, arrived at the polling centre as early as 7:00 a.m. for accreditation. Mr Joel Houndolo, an Elections Supervisor in Benins National Electoral Commission (CENA), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the election that he was impressed with the peoples turnout.Even outside our country, we have here about 11,000 Beninese happily coming out in Lagos to participate in their nations Presidential election. This is the second time that we are having our elections in Nigeria, and we are very happy with the interest of the Beninese resident in Nigeria in taking part in our national elections from here.Let me also say that their interest in voting in our countrys election from here, also shows the peace they are enjoying in Lagos and across Nigeria, he said. Houndolo said that the votes would be counted at the premises, before being forwarded securely to Benins National Electoral Commission (CENA) for the general announcement of the results, with others from across the world. Dr Faustin Kpanou, Consul-General of the Republic of Benin in Lagos, said that the conduct of the election in Nigeria was to further promote the existing cooperation between Benin Republic and Nigeria.Kpanou commended the Federal Government, as well as the Lagos State Government for providing the consulate with 50 policemen, to ensure the peaceful conduct of the election in Lagos. The consul-general said that his government and Beninese resident in Nigeria would continue to enjoy the friendship and neighbourliness currently existing between the two countries.According to reports, the election was conducted under heavy security presence, where eligible voters were requested to present their voters cards before entry into the premises. Voters were also led out of the premises soon after casting their votes by officials of Benins National Electoral Commission (CENA).
Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday condemned the Federal Governments failure to prosecute...

Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday condemned the Federal Governments failure to prosecute Senator Ahmed Yerima who allegedly married an Egyptian girl of 13.Soyinka said failure to punish such acts embolden others to engage in them.He also faulted attempts to justify Ese Orurus abduction and conversion to Islam.At a joint briefing in Lagos, Soyinka and Falana said Eses abduction was an act of criminality that must not go unpunished.Soyinka disagreed with a professor of Islamic Eschatology and Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Ishaq Akintola, who claimed that Islam has no age barrier in marriage.I want to ask him (Akintola), who invoked religion in the first place? What everybody was screaming was that this was a crime, a criminal act. Who brought religion into a purely criminal act? People should be very careful when they speak. They should take care not to worsen an already inexcusable situation by dragging religion into it, Soyinka said.According to the Nobel laureate, specialists in human physiology had declared that at a certain age, a girl-child is not fit for sexual intercourse with a grizzled, horny adult.So, who exactly brings religion into issues of governance, of constitution, of law? Were saying that theres something higher than the protocols of any religion, and has to be higher simply because those who inhabit this border called Nigeria belong to more than one religion.There has to be a commonality which directs our conduct, which organises our lives. As inadequate as it is, it is the Constitution.For me  I dont know about you  the welfare of a child is even more important than money that is stolen. You can always retrieve the money, but when you damage a child with a fistula, which ruins a child for life, if you believe in God, youre committing a crime against God.If you steal money, you commit crime against the circular society, but when you damage a child because of your own depravity, you ruin that child for life, you traumatise that child, so dont come and tell me that youre religious and pious.Soyinka noted that during the Yerima child-marriage saga, scholars highlighted tenets from the Quran which proved Yerima wrong.A governor, now senator, boasts that he has a right to marry and consummated a marriage with a 13-year-old, when its proven that he actually paid the father who was a driver in Egypt, and we screamed at the time that this was a crime, not only in Nigeria but in a Moslem country  Egypt; that this was cross-border sex trafficking, in addition to flouting the laws of this nation and Egypt.He took the girl from school and then announces his right to consummate the marriage  that his religion permitted him to do so, Soyinka said.According to him, acts of impunity inevitably lead to problems such as Boko Haram.When you invoke religion, there are others who will say: O, you say you are pious, but I am holier than you, therefore I can interpret that same source the way I want to authorise me to kill you, your wife, your brothers, your family; because I say youre not holy enough and I can prove it. That is what happens when we allow people to get away with impunity based on religion.So, lets take religion out of this. Were talking about pure criminality and it is my demand, and will always remain my demand, that until you make an example of people like Yerima, there will be thousands of Yunusa, the man who abducted Ese, Soyinka said.Soyinka said demanding justice for Ese does not mean being against Islam.I sympathise with his (Akintolas) feeling that his religion is under siege. But he should look for other reasons. He shouldnt try and suggest that people hate Islam. Dont say that people are Islamophobic. Thats rubbish.Were against crimes, defined by the Constitution, the legal structure that bind us all together, and we say leave religion out of it. Any religious practice involves a continuous debate. But when were talking about crime please dont diffuse the subject. When we say Yerima should be prosecuted, dont diffuse it, Soyinka said.He also faulted the idea that it is culturally acceptable to marry under-age girls. According to him, culture changes.Culture is not static. Its dynamic. It constantly evolves. There are hard-core materials in any culture, but culture itself, especially the practice, in view of greater knowledge, discoveries, even as a result of learning from other cultures, we adopt what we have always considered sacrosanct, because at the bottom of it all, at the heart of it all, culture is about human beings, about humanity.Theres no culture without humanity. Its human beings who create culture and who are guided by it and who adapt them.So, when I read anything which suggests that a culture is sacrosanct, I just wonder on what planet they are living, because history contradicts this absolutely.Falana said under Section 38 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, no child of school age should be forced to convert to another religion other than his parents.The section says: No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own, or religion not approved by his parent or guardian.Falana said Ese was attending a school in Bayelsa State when Yunusa allegedly abducted her to Kano State and forcefully converted her to Islam without her parents approval.That is a violation of Section 38 of the Constitution, Falana said.Falana noted that Yunusas father had spoken out that he warned his son not to bring Ese to Kano, adding that when the Emir learned of it, he directed security agencies to intervene.There is a United Nations convention for the rights of the child. Nigeria as a UN member ratified the convention and domesticated the law in 2003. Since 2003, we have had the Childs Right Act. Under Section 15 of the Act, every child in Nigeria shall be educated at the expense of the state from primary to junior secondary school.For the avoidance of doubt, in 2004, we also enacted the Compulsory Universal Basic Education Act that has also imposed a duty on the state to ensure that every child is educated from primary to junior secondary school.In fact, under that law, it is a criminal offence not to allow your child to be educated. What Yunusa has done by taking that girl from her school in Yenegoa is a violation of that law.About 24 states have adopted the Childs Right Act, and under the law, which is applicable in Bayelsa State, what Yunusa did is purely criminal  kidnapping, forced marriage, rape, sexual assault on a girl who was 13 last year. Now she has been put in a family way. You can imagine the danger to the health of that girl.That is why all Nigerians must rise to retrieve all under-age children that have been forced into illegal marriages. We need a national movement against child marriage in our country, Falana said.
There is a fire outbreak at the popular Wuraola House at Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. According to unconfirmed sources, the fire was cause...

There is a fire outbreak at the popular Wuraola House at Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. According to unconfirmed sources, the fire was caused by a faulty air-conditioner in the building from the picture.Thick smoke can be seen emanating from an office at the uppermost floor of the building.As at the time of this report, men of the state fire service and security operatives were at the scene of the incident to curtail the spread of the fire.The building houses a number of offices and business ventures, including the Ikeja branch of Citibank.
Nigerian business tycoon and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote has commented at the Economist Summit in Lagos that the low price of...

While speaking at the 11th edition of the Nigeria Summit hosted by the Economist magazine, Dangote claimed that the crisis could be turned around into stepping stones that will lead to economic growth.He further stated that the Nigerian economy will grow if the government is consistent in its policies. The ace businessman likewise challenged Nigerian producer to boost exports to other countries.The issue with Nigerian exports is capacity. Most Nigerian companies are not geared up for exporting.On the depreciation of the Naira, the business tycoon advised that the only way to prevent the country's currency from falling further is through self-sufficiency and export booster.The way to manage the exchange rate is to be self-sufficient and export materials, he said.The summit which began on Monday, March 7th, 2016 at the Inter Continental Hotel, Lagos, brought together key government ministry officials, industry and business leaders as well as representatives of Nigerian civil society; together with international investors, economists and academics to discuss and debate Nigerias economic direction.
Medical doctors of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, Ogun State Chapter, have begun a one-...

Medical doctors of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, Ogun State Chapter, have begun a one-week warning strike today, 7th March, 2016.In a communique issued at the end of its emergency general meeting, the association revealed that the strike was aimed at getting the attention of the state government on urgent issues affecting the health sector of the state.The association also claimed that series of letters have been written to Governor Ibikunle Amosun on the urgent needs of the health sector, especially in areas of inadequate facilities and shortage of staff.In spite of the numerous letters the doctors' association said that the state government has failed to attend to the pressing issues,thereby making their working conditions more difficult.The body also identified shortage of staff across all cadres of the health workers, submitting that there was no new recruitment in the last two to three years,despite the increasing demands on the sector.The body also threatened that if the warning strike failed to attract government attention to their plight, more stringent measures will be taken to press their demands.
Nigerian troops have killed a total five terrorists and captured one, Musa Abdulahi, after raiding Boko Harams hideouts in different pa...

Nigerian troops have killed a total five terrorists and captured one, Musa Abdulahi, after raiding Boko Harams hideouts in different parts of Borno State.The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in an electronic mail on Sunday the Doksa, Biu Local Government Area operation in which two terrorists were killed and Abdullahi captured was carried out by the troops of the 231,331 battalions and some elements of the Armed Forces Special Forces 3 Division.He said three insurgents were killed in Dure 1, Dure 2, Jango Dibiye.Usman said the soldiers, who killed two and captured one in Doksa, also recovered two military uniforms, one General Purpose Gun, one AK 47 rifle and two dane guns from the Boko Haram fighters.He added that the troops recovered 25 motorcycles, 30 bicycles and grinding machines as well as foodstuffs during the operation.Usman said the troops discovered during the operations that the terrorists were also poisoning sources of water supply, apart from burying Improvised Explosive Devices in the areas.According to him, the troops encountered two of such devices and detonated them.The Army officer said that the troops were in high spirits after the operations.In another statement, Usman said that the troops of the 122 Task Force Battalion and the 26 Task Force Battalion carried out a major operation that resulted in the clearance of Boko Haram camps in Dure, Sambisa.According to him, the camps were cleared in Dure 1, Dure 2, Jango Dibiye and others in the operational area.He said the troops killed three terrorists, adding that three soldiers were injured during the attack and were being treated.He said several items, including materials for making IEDs, grain storage facilities and two hand-held Motorola radios were destroyed by the troops.Usman quoted the General Officer Commanding, 7 Division, Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, as saying that Dure 1 and Dure 2 were strongholds of Boko Haram in Sambisa.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians who believe in pursuing the good of the nation to support President Muhammadu Buharis ...

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians who believe in pursuing the good of the nation to support President Muhammadu Buharis administrations fight against evil.He spoke at the weekend in Fadan Kagoma, Kaduna State during the 2016 Khituk Gwong Day where he was the Special Guest of Honour.Osinbajo, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said in too many instances leaders from different areas of the nations life have tried to use religion and ethnicity to cause division in a bid to attain political and other selfish ends.Sometimes political leaders use religion to divide, they use ethnicity to oppress the people, the vice president said.A new Nigeria, he said, is now emerging that will include Christians, Moslems, people of all faiths and those who confess no faith.He said those Nigerians of the New Tribe are those who believe in truth, honesty and justice among other virtues that advance the right course for the country.He added: This new Nigeria must be based on love for each other, and must value integrity, Prof. Osinbajo declared stressing that it is indeed mandated in his own personal faith of Christianity to love everyone including your enemy. He explained that Christians have to love those who hate them and despitefully use them, and even have to pray for their enemies.According to him, those who have been stealing from and looting the nations coffers are drawn from all ethnicity and faiths, but are united in their quest to steal.
Security operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have nabbed a five-man gang of armed robbers, who was specialized in snatching vehi...

The suspects who were identified as Apolo Ejah, Michael Yakubu, Samuel Adeniyi, Sunday Oda, Eman Najo, were nabbed in Saturday at the Baruwa Ipaja area of the state, while they were fleeing with a stolen car they snatched from Ogun State.According to reports, the suspects snatched a Toyota car belonging to one Benedict Ologbosere at Aiseno close, Ogijo in Ogun and escaped through Ikorodu to Baruwa Ipaja.Detectives attached to the state Anti-Robbery Sqaud (SARS) led by a Superintendent of Police (SP) Adamu Amadu were said to have trailed the suspected criminals to their hideout where the stolen vehicle was recovered.The security operatives pledged to continue to make the state unfavourable for armed robbers and other sorts of criminals.
According to recent reports, the Ogun State Police Command has nabbed a 22-year-old man identified as Umaru Muktar, who was reportedly ...

According to recent reports, the Ogun State Police Command has nabbed a 22-year-old man identified as Umaru Muktar, who was reportedly a fleeting member of the Boko Haram sect.The man who hailed from Gonge in Maiduguri, Borno state, was arressted at Kara  Mowe area of Ogun state near Lagos, last weekend.While parading the suspect on Monday at the the Headquarters of the Federal Special Anti  Robbery Squad(FSARS) at Magbon  Abeokuta, Ogun state, the Commissioner of Police, AbdulMajid Ali, disclosed that the suspect confessed his membership of Boko haram sect.The Commissioner of Police added that Police investigation had also revealed that Muktar fled Maiduguri two and half years ago into Ogun and was initiated into the muderous Boko haram organisation by one Mustapha.The suspect who spoke through an interpreter revealed that he knew few Boko haram members in Borno state before fleeing the state when the security agencies stepped  up man  hunt for the sect.However, he claimed he was not part of those who attacked churches, mosques, markets or motor  parks.
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why it is necessary for Nigeria to join the Islamic coalition. He claimed that the coalition with...

President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why it is necessary for Nigeria to join the Islamic coalition. He claimed that the coalition with Muslims countries, led by by Saudi Arabia, is aimed at curbing the Boko Haram menace in the country.Few weeks ago, Buhari had claimed that Nigeria would not be a part of the coalition, only to say the contrary in a recent interview with Aljazeera during the weekend.Even if we are not a part of it, we support you, the President had said at the meeting held in Saudi Arabia in February."We are part of it because we have got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows, which claims that they are Islamic", he said in the recent interview.If there is an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism, Buhari continued.When asked whether his decision to join the Islamic coalition would appeal to Christians in Nigeria, Mr. President had this to say.Why cant those Christians that complain go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militants in the south. It is Nigeria that matters, not the opinions of some religious bigots.President Buhari enjoined all Nigerians to support the fight against terrorism in spite of their religion and tribal affiliations.
Religion is one of the greatest institutions created by man. For instance, Islam is defined as a religion of peace but you will find i...





Religion is one of the greatest institutions created by man. For instance, Islam is defined as a religion of peace but you will find in the Quran some passages as violent as this: ''And when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with Allah wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush.''





Even though you can find in its hallowed pages many passages urging mercy toward others, tolerance, respect for life and so on. Most interpreters of the Koran find no arguments in it for the murder of innocents. But it would be naive to ignore in Islam a deep thread of intolerance toward unbelievers, especially if those unbelievers are believed to be a threat to the Islamic world.





love but the Holy Bible contains a verse like I have brought you not peace but sword. (Matthew 34:10). The use of religion for extreme repression, and even terror, is not restricted to Islam. For most of its history, Christianity has had a worse record. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the bloody religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe saw far more blood spilled for religion's sake than the Muslim world did. Christianity defines God asbut the Holy Bible contains a verse like I have brought you not peace but sword. (Matthew 34:10).





Perhaps the most important thing for us to realize today is that the defeat of each of these fundamentalisms required a long and arduous effort. The conflict with Islamic fundamentalism is likely to take as long. For unlike Europe's religious wars, which taught Christians the futility of fighting to the death over something beyond human understanding and so immune to any definitive resolution, there has been no such educative conflict in the Muslim world.





Only Iran and Afghanistan have experienced the full horror of revolutionary fundamentalism, and only Iran has so far seen reason to moderate to some extent. From everything we see, the lessons Europe learned in its bloody history have yet to be absorbed within the Muslim world. There, as in 16th-century Europe, the promise of purity and salvation seems far more enticing than the mundane allure of mere peace. That means that we are not at the end of this conflict but in its very early stages.

Faith cannot exist alone in a single person.





Indeed, faith needs others for it to survive -- and the more complete the culture of faith, the wider it is, and the more total its infiltration of the world, the better. It is hard for us to wrap our minds around this today, but it is quite clear from the accounts of the Inquisition and, indeed, of the religious wars that continued to rage in Europe for nearly three centuries, that many of the fanatics who burned human beings at the stake were acting out of what they genuinely thought were the best interests of the victims. With the power of the state, they used fire, as opposed to simple execution, because it was thought to be spiritually cleansing.





A few minutes of hideous torture on earth were deemed a small price to pay for helping such souls avoid eternal torture in the afterlife. Moreover, the example of such government-sponsored executions helped create a culture in which certain truths were reinforced and in which it was easier for more weak people to find faith. The burden of this duty to uphold the faith lay on the men required to torture, persecute and murder the unfaithful. And many of them believed, as no doubt some Islamic fundamentalists believe, that they were acting out of mercy and godliness. One can guess rightly the reason religion is so misunderstood.





Questions that this writer often asks himself are: Why is religion so misunderstood by those who should even know better? Is culture not supposed to be part of religion? Why do some people do negative things in the name of religion?





There was an outrage on the social media some weeks ago about President Muhammadu Buhari forcing the minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, to cover her hair during a meeting in Qatar. The pictures that surfaced online showed the minister, with her hair covered, signing a bilateral agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes Income Doha, Qatar.









The perception of some Nigerians who saw the picture was that the President actually mandated the minister to cover her hair, a supposed directive which some interpreted to mean that Buhari was on the verge of Islamizing the country.

Those who have been following the thread of discussions since the 2015 presidential elections will not be surprised to hear the phrase Islamizing Nigeria from Buharis opponents.

Leading the pack in this is no less a person than the Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose who, for reasons best known to him, decided to capitalize on the fears of some Nigerians to accuse the president of setting in motion the process of Islamizing the country.





The first thing that comes to mind on reading this piece from the social media was that some people only did their utmost to make the minister look like a minor who has no sense of decision of her own. I say this because, even my 5-year old niece knows when to say no and mean it. If my niece knows when and how to stand her ground, why should a 48-year old woman not know how to, especially in a sensitive matter as ones faith?





The second thing that comes is the question of why the president will even be interested in forcing her to cover her hair. Can it be a condition from the Qatari government to get the deal? Is it an act of cheer patriotism or desperation or religious bigotry? Does covering ones hair in a foreign land simply translate to Islamizing your country?





As confusing as these questions appear, the answers are soon to be found if we look long enough. I have seen the picture of Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the President of Liberia with the Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim, on one of her visits to that country with her hair fully covered. I am not sure of the level of Islamization she has done to a Christian-dominated Liberia. I have equally seen the pictures of Mitchelle Obama with the Chief Imam of Jakarta mosque, Ali Mustafa Yaqub during their visit to Indonesia. Her hair was fully covered, just as it was when she met Pope Benedict XVI in his lifetime.





Some went as far as telling us that Buhari visited a Church at some point and he did not bother to take of his cap. My direct reply to this is, having read my Bible, I have not found any portion or verse that tells me to take off my cap as a man. If my Church doctrine tells me to do so and I did is my business. I have never seen the Pope or any other priest with their hair uncovered. My own Bible also tells me that women should cover their hair. But again, if my Church permits a woman to leave her hair uncovered has little to do with my business!





Aside our too religious friends, what I think Adeosun should have done was to have asked President Buhari or whomever forced her to cover her hair is: Sir, Why should I cover my hair? Maybe this would have saved some of us the stress of having to speculate why!





Olalekan Waheed Adigun is a political risk analyst and independent political strategist for wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns based in Lagos, Nigeria. Email: olalekan@olalekanadigun.com, adgorwell@gmail.com. Follow me on
Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has come under fire from the State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for stoppi...





Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has come under fire from the State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for stopping the free education policy and scholarship scheme introduced by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, erstwhile Governor of Rivers State and incumbent Minister of Transportation. Wike announced the development on 4th March, 2016 while appearing as a guest on Viewpoint, a Rhythm FM Port Harcourt programme. Wike stated:Imagine the people they were giving free education and scholarship, people that were studying Economics and English Language. Just imagine, ordinary Economics and English Language! You expect me to continue? No, I cannot continue free education and scholarship.Rivers APC in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, and issued on Monday in Port Harcourt described Wikes action as shocking and unfortunate.The free education policy was introduced by the Amaechi administration with the aim of creating an opportunity for the less privileged class in our State to be educated. Stopping this great legacy of a visionary leader aimed at making Rivers a leading State and empowering her citizens irrespective of social status exposes Wike as lacking the capacity and vision to effectively govern Rivers, APC said.The party described the development as a big shame, saying that it exposed the poor understanding of Wike who, though he read Law, never practised Law for one day probably because of his poor understanding of Law. It is, therefore, not entirely surprising that he considers those that read Economics and English Language in the university as inconsequential and of no relevance. This mistaken view is unexpected of a 21st Century State Governor.
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.
New Orleans Saints can begin negotiations at 11 a.m. Monday as free agency nears
Here's how you can be part of Tyler Perry's 'Passion' for free
Need something to do this week? There's always something brewing in Greater Sudbury. Here's a smattering of this week's events. For more, visit Sudbury.com.

March 7

March 8

NORTHERN ONTARIO MUSIC FESTIVAL

March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

March 13

March 14

Need something to do this week? There's always something brewing in Greater Sudbury. Here's a smattering of this week's events. For more, visit Sudbury.com. Intricate fabric designs, quilts and wall hangings by Fran Holland are on display at Artists on Elgin from March 1 to 30. Artists on Elgin is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.The festival brings together the best and the brightest talents from elementary school, high school and community ensembles. Groups range from guitar ensembles to jazz bands. Admission is $2. The festival runs March 8-9 at the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School.The Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op's Women In Film Wednesday series is presenting a 20th anniversary screening of the film "My Feminism" in honour of International Women's Day. The film will be screened at 7 p.m. at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University.Johnny Reid will be in Sudbury for his What Love is All About tour with special guests Natalie McMaster, Aaron Goodvin and JJ Shiplett.The show begins at 7 p.m. at the Sudbury Arena.Part romantic comedy. Part spy thriller. While on vacation, a young secretary thinks shes found the perfect man. But at the height of the Cold War, things are never really what they seem. The play runs March 3 to 13 at the Sudbury Theatre Centre, 170 Shaughnessy St.Lizzie Borden took an axe, Gave her Mother forty whacks. When the job was nicely done, Gave her Father forty-one  The words of the childrens skipping rhyme are still chilling to us today. Yet the horrific crime it refers to was never officially solved.Blood Relations is an award-winning play that examines the life of Lizzie Borden 10 years after the crime of which she was accused. Tickets are $10/students and seniors and $20/general admission. Performances are at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University. The play runs March 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 at 7:30 p.m. and March 6 at 2 p.m.Climb aboard a horse drawn sleigh and enjoy a scenic tour through the intery trails of the Boreal Forest. Arrive at a bonfire stop in the woods and be treated to a French-Canadian tradition, tire derable also known as maple taffy. Local maple syrup produced from Sucrerie Seguin Sugarbush, located in Lavigne, is boiled then poured onto fresh snow - grab a popsicle stick to create snow taffy! Runs every weekend in March, departing at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wagonwheel Ranch, 2200 Kenneth Driver, Val Therese. Admission: $18/adult, $14/children ages 24 months  14 years, no charge for babies/toddlers under 24 months old. Seating on sleigh is limited. Reservations are required by calling 705-969-8601.Packed with high positive energy, the Mini Pop Kids brand is about encouraging and empowering kids to be confident and shoot for their dreams with clean versions of current radio pop songs that the entire family can enjoy. Show starts at 1 p.m. at the Fraser Auditorium, 170 Shaughnessy St.Multi-Platinum selling Canadian pop-rockers Marianas Trench will bring their Never Say Die tour to the Sudbury with platinum-selling Canadian quintet Walk Off The Earth. Tickets range from $40 to $71. Show starts at 7 p.m. at the Sudbury Arena.
If you want to prepare your business for the future, harness the greatest resource local universities and colleges have to offer  students. That's the message Universities of Canada president Paul Davidson shared with Sudbury businesses March 3.

If you want to prepare your business for the future, harness the greatest resource local universities and colleges have to offer  students.



That's the message Universities of Canada president Paul Davidson shared with Sudbury businesses March 3. The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and Huntington University hosted the talk by Davidson at Bryston's on the Park in Copper Cliff.



The skills currently being learned will determine Canada's prosperity in the years to come, said Davidson, who said the nation's workforce is getting older, with more Canadians over 65 than under 18.



These skills, he said, should be gained through real world experience with local businesses and organizations.



I admire his focus on fostering productive relationships with business, municipalities, other levels of government, students, colleges, other higher education organizations and the not-for-profit sector, said Laurentian president Dominic Giroux.



It's still and quiet on the surface in Sudbury, said Davidson. But people are beginning to see what's going on underneath.



Underneath are scores of students ready and willing to gain experiential learning through local businesses, Davidson said.



People wonder how come universities are stuck in their ivory towers and don't want their students to get their hands dirty, he said. In fact, where we need the greatest help, we need more employers to step up to take the students that want to work. Students are keen, keen, keen to get in the real world.



The Canadian Chamber recommends the government provide more financial incentive for co-op students, especially to smaller enterprises. Co-op and internship students add real value to organizations, contributing new ideas and energy, employers at small and medium enterprises told Universities of Canada in a recent survey.



Students here in Sudbury are hard at work right now looking at new ways to solve problems and they have a lot to offer the private sector and community organizations, said Davidson. I wonder what work is underway that will take away our breath in 30 years.
Parramatta centres Michael Jennings and Brad Takairangi were quick to admit their frustrations following their opening-round 17-4 loss to the Broncos.

In his club debut Jennings and edge partner Semi Radradra were shut down at every opportunity by the unforgiving Broncos defence but said improvement will come in their combinations.

Kieran Foran (hamstring) and Corey Norman (neck) are likely to play against the Cowboys on Saturday night with Jennings expecting them to bring much-needed guidance to the Eels.

David Gower and Danny Wicks may come into consideration too after playing for Wentworthville over the weekend.

"We get that leadership, connection and structure back in place [with Norman and Foran]. We did the whole pre-season together so that's been in place for a long time and it's going to be good to get them back," Jennings told NRL.com.

"It'll give our sense of direction a boost around the team  'Foz' moving the forwards and stuff around is going to be a massive positive for us.

"It obviously wasn't the best start for us. But it's only Round 1 and we can take a lot out of that playing against last year's grand finalists. It's just about trying to get our combinations sorted. There's a lot of work that needs to be done with everyone.

"It is exciting in saying all that to continue building on what he have produced so far, Semi and I especially. Semi's a great player and everything he does is gold."

Takairangi was equally disappointed with the Eels' performance, especially with Brisbane winger Corey Oates making life difficult for him and Clinton Gutherson.

"It's obviously a brand new edge there but the more games we get to play together, the better for us. [Gutherson and I] were a bit rusty. We weren't happy with the couple of tries that went down our side but we can work on that," Takairangi told NRL.com.

"Obviously [Brisbane] loaded up on Jenko and Semi, but it's still our job to control that right-hand side and any chance we get we have to take them.

"I don't think defences will overload too much [on the left side though] because when you have someone like Kieran Foran inside you, anything can happen."

Not one to cry poor over opening their season against the 2015 grand finalists Takairangi said he couldn't imagine a better test for his Eels side.

"To play the best two teams in the competition to kick off the year, we wouldn't want it any other way," he said.

"It's good to see where we're at, we had a really hard pre-season and we're pretty confident with the team we have got. The energy was good against Brisbane but we'll have to be a lot better against the Cowboys."
Initiative aims to boost birth certificate accuracy

PEORIA  A statewide initiative to improve the accuracy of information on birth certificates has seen some success.

The Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, based at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, started the Birth Certificate Accuracy Initiative. Through the initiative, accuracy rates rose from 87 percent to 97 percent last year among participating hospitals.

Darlene Hammond, director of obstetrics at Pekin Hospital, said there are about 200 questions and queries they input into a long-form birth certificate. They then send that information to the state.

The Illinois Department of Public Health uses the data to come up with statistics on childbirth and maternity health. Hospitals and agencies base programs, policies and funding on information that comes from long-form birth certificates.

"It's significant because it's the only consistent source of data on all Illinois babies and moms," said Patricia Ann Lee King, project director of the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative.

Illinois hospitals had a reputation for giving unreliable information to the Illinois Vital Records System, according to published reports.

Food truck festivals return to downtown Chicago

CHICAGO  Chicago's food truck festivals are returning, and this year they'll be joined by mobile boutiques selling items such as shoes and clothing.

Friday marked the return of "Food Truck Fests" to Daley Plaza. Additional dates are scheduled through fall and run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

They'll be held weekly at Daley Plaza and once per month at Willis Tower.

The city's Small Business Center and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection announced the new schedule Thursday.

BACP Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek says the festivals are a "win-win." She says "they encourage even more people to enjoy the city's growing culinary options while supporting these innovative small businesses."

The festivals will feature a rotating line-up of trucks.
With a victory in Sundays Maine caucuses, Bernie Sanders won three of the four Democratic nominating contests over the weekend but continues to trail far behind frontrunner Hillary Clinton, with whom he clashed Sunday night in the latest televised debate. Time Warner Cable News Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

Well Ill begin by saying Amen to that, Clinton said.

To be sure Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders see eye to eye on a number of issues.

The secretary is right, Sanders said.

Well I agree completely, Clinton said.

I agree with what she said, Sanders said, including that officials should be held accountable for the water crisis in Flint, site of Sundays debate.

I agree. The governor should resign or be recalled, Clinton added.

But as their primary fight drags on, the two are highlighting where they differ, like after Clinton talked of penalizing companies that relocate.

Theyre going to have to pay an exit fee, Clinton said. Were going to stop this kind of job exporting.

I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue, Sanders replied.

Sanders then hit Clinton for supporting trade deals like NAFTA. She hit back for his vote against the auto bailout.

"I voted to save the auto industry, Clinton said. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference."

Sanders replied, If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy

Clinton tried to cut in, but was stopped by Sanders. Let me tell my story, you tell yours, he said. Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America."

Sanders reiterated his call for Clinton to release transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street firms. She noted that unlike Sanders, she supports holding gun manufacturers liable for some shootings.

You talk about corporate greed - the gun manufacturers sell guns to make as much money as they can make, Clinton said.

And both candidates took aim at Republicans, though Clinton noted only she had received more votes than Donald Trump this primary season, and said she looked forward to engaging him.

I think that Donald Trumps bigotry, his bullying, his bluster are not going to wear well on the American people, Clinton said.

We all, if elected president, are going to invest a lot of money into mental health, Sanders added. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.
Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio won the Puerto Rico Primary on Sunday, racking up all 23 of the U.S. territory's delegates.

With the Sunday win, his second victory in the presidential race, Rubio increased his delegate total to 151. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has 384 delegates.

The Florida senator used the win to encourage voters in Idaho.

"In an open primary where anyone can vote  not just Republicans, Democrats and Independents  I got over 70 percent of the vote, not because I became less conservative, but because I took our conservative principles to people," Rubio said.

Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich rallied voters in his state, looking towards the primary to be held there on the 15th.

"I'm not gonna go into the mud or the gutter, I'm gonna run a positive campaign that shows a vision for America," Kasich said to supporters. "And let me, let me tell you: I need you. I need you on the 15th."

The four remaining GOP candidates are scheduled to debate Thursday in Miami.
Representative Rick A. Lazio today issued his strongest rebuke yet to critics of his debate tactics, saying it was ''sexist'' to suggest he should not have walked over to Hillary Rodham Clinton's lectern in a challenging manner.

Mr. Lazio, the Republican Senate nominee, said the criticism of his tactic during last Wednesday's debate in Buffalo suggested that ''you can't make a point forcefully if you're a man and the person you are making a point with is a woman.'' He said, ''I just think that that's sexist.''

Mr. Lazio, responding to suggestions from Mrs. Clinton and her aides that he was overbearing, said a ''double standard'' was at play when he was criticized for physically confronting Mrs. Clinton, bringing talk about the role of gender in the campaign to the forefront. In his remarks, Mr. Lazio suggested that he would not have faced such criticism if his opponent were a man; Mrs. Clinton's advisers have argued that he would not have tried such an unusual televised confrontation if he were running against a man.

During the debate, Mr. Lazio walked over to Mrs. Clinton's lectern, waving a sheet of paper, gesturing at her and demanding that she sign a pledge abstaining from using unregulated campaign contributions known as soft money. She declined. Mrs. Clinton's advisers have portrayed his actions as bullying and likely to alienate women.
And Andy  well, he gets the dubious pleasure of Daisy.

Lets credit Baron Fellowes for at least trying to make the wretched girl endearing by putting her through that whole business of massacring her hair. And lets credit Daisy herself with recognizing that Andy looks plenty all right on a ladder in his undershirt. She could do worse, indeed, and after enough back-and-forthing and cold-shouldering to set the corridors of a high school ablaze, the two appear to be on track to cofounding a Mason pork-products empire. (Which will, of course, be supplying the Mrs. Patmore bed-and-breakfast empire.)

Right, says Baron Fellowes. Now what of Carson?

As you know, Abbots, this needs the heaviest lift because, in a very short space, Downtons second paterfamilias has become Downtons Mussolini. (You mistreat Mrs. Hughes at your own peril.) So whats the Fellowes strategy? Break the man down at a cellular level.

Thus, out of nowhere, Charlie Carson, like his father and grandfather before him, develops a palsy, as ruinous for a butler as for a neurosurgeon. Having spilled a little too much water and a little too much wine, Carson is ready to ship himself off to the glue factory when an unexpected solution presents itself: Mr. Barrow! Hes hating life at the Stiles Mausoleum (This is not 1850, you know) and jumps at the chance to put on the old livery.

So before the new year has even arrived, Carson is relegated to the role of elder statesman, seeing eye, manager of grand events and so on. Everybody thinks its a capital idea except Carson, whose welling eyes suggest that the glue factory might have been a more humane outcome.

There, says Baron Fellowes, audibly dusting his hands. Thats that.

And so end all the wild guesses, conspiracy theories and fan-fiction scenarios that have been circumnavigating the Internet all these months. Mary and Tom will not wed. Michael Gregson will not come staggering back from whatever German hellhole hes supposedly been moldering in to reclaim the mother of his child. (Although Baron Fellowes did lean rather hard on that If any man can show just cause moment. Surely he was giving us a tweak?)

Baxter will not hook up again with her old seducer, Peter Coyle, belatedly and blessedly severing one of the shows least rewarding narrative threads. And Barrow will be no closer to getting lucky than he was four seasons ago.
Back in the mid-late 2000s, when Lil Wayne used to refer to himself as the greatest rapper alive, music flowed forth from him like a geyser. Each year brought several dozen new songs, a sign of an artist obsessed with sound, and also with his own freedom to create.

In so doing, he marked the beginning of the second wave of the modern mixtape era, in which artists began to wrest control of the pacing of their output from the hands of record labels, who preferred neat album cycles. Eventually, these samizdat drops  be they in the form of DatPiff downloads or SoundCloud links  took on the qualities of official releases. Whole generations of rappers began defining the pace and terms of their ascent outside traditional albums. From Drake to Lil B, self-released, nonalbum music became an essential career engine, and the norm.

Late last week, two rappers looking for ways to balance celebrity with freedom released new projects. For Kendrick Lamar  possible inheritor of Lil Waynes greatest rapper alive mantle  there was untitled unmastered. (TDE/Aftermath/Interscope), a collection of demos collected over the past three years, the era in which he went from connoisseurs pick to mainstream star. And for Lil Wayne, there was Collegrove (Def Jam), the new album by 2 Chainz, on which he makes several appearances.

These are vastly different projects that serve a similar purpose: an outlet outside of the onerous narrative demands of the traditional album cycle. For Mr. Lamar, a rapper at the peak of his powers and reach, and one who resists many of mainstream hip-hops central preoccupations, its an opportunity to become even more insular. For Lil Wayne, a few years past his prime, and struggling to regain relevance, its an opportunity to play loose on someone elses field, accessing a level of creativity hes mostly left in the past.
Other news was made as well with this revival of Otto Schenks charmingly traditional 2006 production. The Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri sang his first Don Pasquale, bringing his powerhouse voice and larger-than-life presence to that touchstone role, a crotchety old bachelor in mid-19th-century Rome who, fed up with Ernesto, his footloose nephew and heir, foolishly decides to disinherit the young man and to take a wife. The bright-voiced, vivacious Italian soprano Eleonora Buratto had a rousingly received Met debut as Norina, the young widow who loves Ernesto. The conductor, Maurizio Benini, a bel canto specialist, drew animated and stylish, if sometimes overpowering, playing from the Met orchestra.

Even with his tall, hefty physique, Mr. Maestri, a compelling actor, is surprisingly light on his feet. This rumpled Pasquale, his gray hair a mess, has let himself and his villa fall into a shambles. At the start, he nervously awaits his reliable physician, Dr. Malatesta (the muscular-voiced baritone Levente Molnar), to seek advice about getting married.

Image Ambrogio Maestri, left, as Don Pasquale and Javier Camarena as Ernesto in Don Pasquale, at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit... Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Malatesta, who is friends with Ernesto, suggests the perfect bride: his sister, fresh from the convent. Its all a ruse to teach Pasquale a lesson. Malatesta convinces Norina to play his sister and to hoodwink the gullible Pasquale into a phony marriage contract. Once the papers are signed, the innocent bride becomes a bullying, shrewish spendthrift, a transition that is nicely handled by Ms. Buratto.

Mr. Maestri plumbed the serious core of this comic masterpiece by playing the role straight. Pasquale emerged as haplessly foolish yet endearingly vulnerable. In the midst of a fiery argument with her husband, Norina slaps Pasquale. Mr. Maestri looked stunned and humiliated. E finita, Don Pasquale, he sings, meaning, Its all over for Don Pasquale. I will not soon forget the aching way he sang these mournful lines.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who last tackled acid throwing in Pakistan, examines the countrys honor killings in her second Oscar-winning documentary short. Rebecca and Josh try to figure out whats next on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend now that theyve kissed. And Damien Thorn of The Omen grows up.

Whats on TV

A GIRL IN THE RIVER: THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS (2015) 9 p.m. on HBO. In June 2014, Saba Qaisers father and uncle shot her in the face and threw her in a river for a crime against their family: This young Pakistani woman had married her boyfriend without their consent. But Ms. Qaiser survived and became determined to prosecute the men in a country where the law allows victims families to forgive these honor killings  and the perpetrators to get away with murder. This Oscar winner for best documentary short, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Saving Face), recounts the story of Ms. Qaiser, a survivor in a year when more than 700 women in Pakistan were killed by their families. The film is already making a difference, Nicholas Kristof wrote in The New York Times. Citing the film, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan has promised to change the countrys laws so as to crack down on honor killings. (Image: Ms. Qaiser)

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL 6 p.m. on Fox News. Brett Baier moderates a discussion with Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and voters in Detroit.

CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND 8 p.m. on CW. Theyve finally kissed. But what Rebecca and Josh should do next isnt so clear. In Jane the Virgin, at 9, Jane regrets ever leaving Michael, especially since Rafael has reverted to his playboy ways.
And eugenics was of particularly keen interest to doctors, including Albert Priddy, the superintendent of Ms. Bucks institution. He saw it as the best way to rid the world of the sort of patients he spent all of his days ministering to, Mr. Cohen explains. His patients, in his view, were miserable  and a future burden on the state, sure to lead to an uncontainable problem of pauperism and criminality.

Image

Of all the tools to stem the tide of feeblemindedness, sterilization was by far the most efficient. During the Progressive Era, a number of states had enacted compulsory sterilization laws, including California and Connecticut. So bullish was Dr. Priddy to do the same for Virginia that he worked in concert with a methodical, meticulous local lawmaker, Aubrey Strode, to design a statute that would withstand the test of the highest court of the land. Ms. Buck was the test case.

There was only one problem, Mr. Cohen writes. Carrie had no idea what was going on.

An unsuspecting innocent, an ambitious country doctor, a nation briefly infatuated with a despicable ideology  these would all seem to be the elements of a captivating narrative. Yet Imbeciles is often a boggy read, and a disorganized one at that. Mr. Cohen, now a senior writer at Time magazine, repeats himself early and often, which suggests that the basic outline of a propulsive story eluded him. (Strange, given that hes written brisk, readable narratives before, including Nothing to Fear and The Perfect Store.) He takes the reader down a couple of biographical sinkholes, giving us pages of back stories when a simple paragraph would have done the trick.

Most crucially, he writes as if hes retrying Buck v. Bell. But we already know the decision was an egregious miscarriage of justice  it was the unenlightened product of an unenlightened time. And the case itself was unsuspenseful. The fix was in from the start.

We learn early on that Ms. Bucks lawyer, Irving Whitehead, had close personal and professional ties to the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded  the superintendent paid his legal fees  which meant he made no efforts to mount a serious defense for his client. He never called on Ms. Bucks teachers to confirm that shed acquitted herself well in school; more fundamentally, he never asked Ms. Buck to testify on her own behalf. His petitions for appeals were always brief and incomplete, making insufficient use of precedent.

He was an impostor, Mr. Cohen writes.

What this means, from the readers point of view, is that although the courtroom scenes involving Mr. Whitehead are tragic, they are utterly devoid of drama.

By the time the case made its way to the desk of Justice Holmes, himself an eager eugenicist, readers are hardly surprised by his chilling opinion. Nor are they surprised that his Supreme Court colleagues, many of them enthusiastic race purists, overwhelmingly sided with him.
Job-matching networks that serve a particular ideological niche have been around since at least the 1980s, when the Heritage Foundation created what became a widely trafficked database of jobs with conservative organizations and politicians. Another group called the Leadership Institute has long hosted a job bank and advised young conservatives on how to find entry- to middle-level positions.

The left has created a similar infrastructure, with a variety of email lists and message boards connecting activists and operatives with prospective employers. One, called JobsthatareLEFT, started in 2002 as a way to help a few unemployed campaign staffers seek lefty jobs, according to its Google group page. It says it has shared over 20,000 positions with 25,000 members since then.

Another group, called Inclusv, has helped progressives of color land jobs.

Paul Oyer, a labor economist at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business, said there are two characteristics that make niche matchmaking services successful: If the niche can claim a lot of members, and if not being in the niche is a deal breaker for those who are in it.

Talent Market gives every indication of serving such a niche. To upload a resume or sign up for the sites newsletter, a candidate must first answer three questions on the best way to solve societal problems, the proper function of government, and the prospects view of how markets function. (Sample option: Free markets almost always lead to the most efficient allocation of resources.)

Like most of the organizations it advises, Talent Market is a nonprofit. It charges clients no fee, subsisting instead on contributions from donors, foundations and other nonprofits.

It appears to be a bargain. Talent Market received at least $120,000 a year from 2011 to 2013 from DonorsTrust, a so-called donor-advised fund provider that helps wealthy people contribute anonymously to free-market causes, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. Other conservative and free-market groups, like the State Policy Network and the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, have contributed over the years.

Clients say Talent Market excels at finding hard-to-attract fund-raising staff members and at time-consuming searches for senior officials. But its greatest value may be in connecting far-flung organizations with talent they might not otherwise find.
Like millions of Americans, I grew up with Peanuts. But I never outgrew it.

So begins the foreword written by President Obama for the 25th volume of The Complete Peanuts, the latest in a series of hardcover books reprinting every daily and Sunday strip of the iconic series that appeared from 1950 to 2000. The volume, which is scheduled for release in May, covers Jan. 1, 1999, through Feb. 13, 2000, when the final Peanuts strip was published the day after the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.

For decades, Peanuts was our own daily security blanket, President Obama writes in his introduction. Thats what makes Peanuts an American treasure.

No one would agree with that assessment more than Gary Groth, the president and co-founder of Fantagraphics Books, which has been publishing The Complete Peanuts since 2004. Mr. Groth wanted to make sure this volume was special, beginning with the introduction  and who was going to write it.

Obama was inevitably at the top of the list, he said. Lets just reach for the stars. All he can do is say no.
The bill would make the tax increase contingent on the passage of corresponding legislation in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut, so that fund managers could not avoid the tax by simply moving to a nearby state. Those who helped draft the bill estimated that it could raise roughly $3.7 billion a year in New York if the tax increase were to go into effect.

The coalition includes groups focused on reducing inequality and challenging the political power of the wealthy, such as the Patriotic Millionaires and Hedge Clippers. Hedge Clippers is backed by the American Federation of Teachers and targets the influence of hedge funds and private equity funds. The coalition plans to push for similar legislation in California, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

The name of the so-called loophole refers to a feature of the compensation of many fund managers, who frequently receive a management fee equivalent to 2 percent of their funds assets, as well as 20 percent of the funds profits (sometimes contingent on reaching a certain profit threshold). The latter is known as carried interest.

The effort to change the tax treatment of carried interest, long a priority of progressive Democrats in Congress, has attracted support across the political spectrum in recent years. Two Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, proposed such a change last year.

Despite this growing support, however, Congress has repeatedly declined to make the change.

It is not just ridiculous and unfair, it is the kind of thing that has led to the rise of Donald Trump, said Whitney Tilson, a hedge fund manager and member of the Patriotic Millionaires, who has long opposed the tax provision despite personally benefiting from it.
The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.

At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.27 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.46 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.25 percent.

The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week:

MONDAY

Cherokee County School District, S.C., $60 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

Florida Department of Transportation, $301.2 million of revenue bonds. Competitive.

TUESDAY

Boston, $140 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.

Lancaster, Pa., $125.8 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.
A 23-year-old man slashed a woman in the face on Sunday morning in Queens, the police said, before fatally stabbing a shopkeeper and setting another man on fire several hours later at a nearby liquor store, leading to a wild manhunt that ended with officers shooting the suspect as he threw a chemical at them.

The man, James Patrick Dillon, refused to drop a knife and was spewing accelerant from a Corona bottle at a police lieutenant and an inspector when they shot him several times around 5:40 p.m. in his backyard in the Astoria neighborhood, the police said. He was taken to a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg; the lieutenant and inspector, who sustained chemical burns from the accelerant, were taken to a different hospital in stable condition.

The attacks, and the subsequent manhunt, turned a peaceful stretch of businesses and brick homes into a scene of panic and confusion. Officers snaked through backyards and alleyways with their hands on their guns as helicopters circled overhead and residents ducked for cover amid gunfire.

Mr. Dillon is accused of killing George Patouhas, 55, the owner of the liquor store, who was known for his friendly greetings and his lenient payment plans. Despite his easy manner, he was often harassed by an aggressive group of men, including Mr. Dillon, some customers said.
New Jersey Transit and its rail workers unions will continue negotiations on Monday in Newark, as both sides try to reach an agreement over wages and benefits before a threatened strike on March 13.

The discussions will come after eight hours of talks in Washington on Friday, where a federal mediation board tried to help break a monthslong impasse between the agency and its 4,200 rail workers.

An official for New Jersey Transit declined on Sunday to offer details about the continuing talks. But at a rally in Woodbridge, N.J., on Saturday, Stephen Burkert, a spokesman for the 11 rail unions, called the daylong session productive.
The most conclusive piece of evidence against Tairod Pugh, a 48-year old U.S. Air Force veteran accused of trying to join the Islamic State, is the letter he addressed to his wife. In it, Mr. Pugh, wrote of his plan to become a martyr.

I will escort you into Paradise and when you see the home paid for by my blood and your tears you will know it was worth it, reads the letter, typed on his computer in January 2015. In it, he pledged to use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic State.

Days after writing those words, Mr. Pugh boarded a plane for Istanbul. Prosecutors say he was on his way to neighboring Syria to present himself to the Islamic State.

But Mr. Pugh never got that far. He was detained upon landing in Istanbul and deported to New York, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation was waiting. Last week, he became one of the first American citizens to stand trial on Islamic State-related charges.
So far, the worst thing that has occurred in the tours history, according to Judy Stanton, a former executive director of the association who has been involved with the tour for three decades, was when a woman tripped down a staircase and dislocated a shoulder a few years ago. Even after the woman was taken away in an ambulance and the house was removed from the itinerary for the rest of the days event, the tour marched on, Ms. Stanton said.

But it is the mere specter of exposure on Instagram and in other corners of the Internet, not whether such a thing has actually happened, that has scared people away from volunteering their homes for the tour.

Its a strange kind of privacy concern that people have because on the one hand, they are active in social media, in ways that I dont think are at all private, and then they dont want people inside, said Ms. Stanton, who put her house on the first official tour in 1985, when her children were little.

I am of the generation that rings the doorbell for a cup of sugar, she said, adding, I dont see that kind of culture prevailing in 2016.

Real estate websites like StreetEasy and Trulia have made it relatively simple to search for a homes sale price, floor plans and even its owners identity, which may have turned off new participants, said John MacIntosh, who runs an investment bank that serves nonprofits and volunteered his house for the tour in the past. Visitors see the books you read, and they see the bed you sleep on, and I think that people are fine with that, he said. But I guess they are less fine about people knowing who they are in a LinkedIn, Internet, social media sort of world.

For some homeowners, the possibility of widespread social media exposure prompted concerns that their homes would become easy targets for burglars.

Yet organizers of house tours in other parts of New York City say they have not heard the same concerns raised that led to the demise of the Brooklyn Heights tour, offering explanations with a whiff of neighborhood rivalry.
In response, the A.P.A. issued The Goldwater Rule:

On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.

To diagnose conditions in someone weve never met  let alone offer treatment recommendations  is fraught both ethically and scientifically. Assessing patients face to face and finding out their experiences and history, much of which is private, and has perhaps never been disclosed to anyone, is essential. Otherwise, we risk making big errors and fostering confusion.

Psychiatric diagnoses are after all stigmatized (calling someone narcissistic, psychotic or in denial is commonly a denigration), and are frequently misunderstood. Insurance companies still grossly underfund mental health treatment, leaving millions of seriously ill Americans without care. These restrictions reflect, partly, widespread biases that psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., depression) are not real problems warranting insurance coverage. Hence, to legitimize psychiatric disorders and treatment is important. Doctors who loosely and freely offer diagnoses for individuals they have never interviewed threaten to make these terms cheap and ubiquitous, fueling misperceptions.

Over the 50 years since the Goldwater incident, researchers have thus conducted careful studies to make psychiatric diagnoses clearer and more precise, advancing scientific understanding and treatment. Since the Hippocratic oath, physicians have also sought to act professionally, to follow very high moral standards and respect privacy and confidentiality, partly to gain and preserve patients trust.

Nonetheless, many mental health providers have challenged the Goldwater Rule. Psychologists (with Ph.D.s, as opposed to psychiatrists, with medical degrees) argue that this principle does not fully apply to them, and that offering diagnoses of public figures can be in the national interest. Recently, several psychologists ranked all of the presidents in order of narcissism (L.B.J., Nixon and Teddy Roosevelt scored on top), and argued that this trait helped in persuading the public and advancing legislation, but could also lead to rigidity and impeachment.
The commission seems to accept the word of Indian Points operator, Entergy, that basic safety and environmental cleanup measures arent necessary, even after the latest mishaps. The commission even permits Indian Point to evade its own safety standards requiring that the electrical cables that control emergency reactor shutdowns have insulation that would last 60 minutes in a fire  giving the plant an exemption after finding that this insulation lasted just 27 minutes.

Poor maintenance at Indian Point has caused groundwater radiation levels to soar to 740 times federal limits, yet the commission just handed Entergy a five-year delay of the deadline for testing for possible leaks from the No. 2 reactor  the suspected source of this latest leak of radioactive contamination. The commission admits that tritium in the groundwater will reach the Hudson River and that the radioactive isotope, for which there is no safe dose, can cause cancer.

Indian Point also has about 1,500 tons of radioactive waste in the form of spent fuel rods packed into pools. These, too, are leaking radiological contamination that violates the Clean Water Act. In addition, the plants cooling system has devastating effects on the Hudsons ecology, killing more than a billion fish, eggs and larvae each year as it draws millions of gallons of water per day from the river.

The commission has reported that one of Indian Points reactors has the highest risk of all the countrys reactors of being damaged by an earthquake, and federal studies show that Indian Point is incredibly vulnerable to acts of terrorism. Tens of millions of people live within the reach of an Indian Point nuclear disaster. An evacuation would be practically impossible and emergency responses would be largely futile.

A recent poll in the Lower Hudson Valley found that a majority of respondents do not trust the plants safety or its operator. The fact is that we have enough power capacity to permit the immediate closure of Indian Point.
With its hidden-camera videos that took aim at Planned Parenthood, the Center for Medical Progress tried to stir up opposition to abortion rights by concocting a controversy over fetal tissue research. Now Republicans in the House are doing much the same thing.

Initially convened in response to the videos, the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, a part of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, pledges to get the facts about medical practices of abortion service providers and the business practices of the procurement organizations who sell baby body parts.

Its first hearing last Wednesday was a showcase for fallacious attacks on fetal tissue research. In her opening statement, Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who heads the panel, talked about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the forced sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities as a prelude to discussing fetal tissue research. She went on to claim that the Center for Medical Progresss videos showed something very troubling is going on related to fetal tissue and research, even though multiple investigations of Planned Parenthood have found no evidence of wrongdoing.
If you took every nightmare anyone ever had, multiplied it by every propaganda trope ever invented and made it into a horror movie, you would end up with something like what happened in Moscow last week.

Sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 last Monday morning firemen who had put out a blaze in an apartment in a large building discovered the body of a toddler among the debris. The child had been beheaded. A short time later, a woman dressed in black was seen at a nearby subway station. She was screaming, Allahu akbar! I am a terrorist! I hate democracy! I will blow all of you up! She was brandishing the severed head of a child.

According to various news accounts, the grisly scene stretched out for a while, perhaps as long as 40 minutes. Police finally apprehended the woman. She was identified as Gulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old woman from the Central Asian country Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic.

In the afternoon and evening, scant details emerged, breaking the heart further. The dead child was a four-year-old girl. She had been injured at birth and was developmentally delayed. Her parents had struggled to give her the best available care and education: Russia is a society where special-needs children are often ignored. The couple had one other child. They also had a Chihuahua, and it was now missing.
Many people long to live near water for the pleasures of swimming, boating, fishing, or just to contemplate.

But, says Manu Prakash, a scientist at Stanford with broad interests, the surface of an alluring lake or pond, the boundary where water meets air , can be far less inviting for certain insects.

Water is about 100 times as viscous as air, and insects that live on its surface must somehow negotiate movement in both realms. Most seem to choose one or the other. Some, like long-legged water striders, maintain a small measure of distance from the water with a cushion of air that lets them skate on the surface. Others, like whirligig beetles, embrace the water and swim.

The lily pad beetle, which Dr. Prakash and his colleagues report on in The Journal of Experimental Biology, has evolved a unique solution to moving in water and air at the same time.
When chef Timothy Hollingsworth was conceptualizing Otium, the new restaurant that is part of the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles, the former chef de cuisine of French Laundry made a request of colleagues and friends who have been influential in his career  in order to create a sense of soul and bring my past into Otium, as he puts it. He sent out a letter before the restaurant opened last fall: I would like you to send in any pots or pans, a serving vessel of sorts, to Otium for display and possibly use, it read.

The gesture echoes a trend among chefs  including Daniel Bouluds request of some of his peers to paint on plates to decorate the DBGB Kitchen in Washington, D.C., or Gavin Kaysens display of a number of the 500 spoons hes acquired over the years from places like Cafe Boulud and French Laundry in his Minneapolis eatery Spoon and Stable  which Hollingsworth referenced in his letter as a a meaningful way of unifying the creative forces of the culinary world.

Hollingsworths fellow chefs responded with items that are as vast as Otiums menu, which The Los Angeles Times hailed as L.A.s most ambitious new restaurant in years, and which includes innovative dishes like sea urchin on brioche with truffle butter, lardo and pistachio, and duck with leeks, tangerine, black sesame and cashew. Thomas Keller, the owner and chef of French Laundry, where Hollingsworth started his culinary career, sent an All-Clad pot. Grant Achatz, who worked with Hollingsworth there, gave him a serving vessel comprised of a wood base and porcelain leaves. Daniel Humm sent a carrot tartare board and grinder from Eleven Madison Park. Kaysen, who helped Hollingsworth with his 2009 entry into the Bocuse dOr competition, contributed a piece of his chefs counter, made of black walnut from Minnesota.

By using these pieces, Id be able to truly and directly share my influences with my guests, bringing the thoughtfulness behind cooking to the center of the table, explained Hollingsworth in his letter. Below, explore some of the vessels Hollingsworth received  and his relationships to their donors.
Her last visit to Paris was back in 2005, when she and Carl hopped over after attending the British Fashion Awards at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In the decade since, shes been very busy. The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted a popular exhibition about her style entitled Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel; she launched an accessories line that she sells on the Home Shopping Network; and she starred in Iris, the Albert Maysles documentary about her life. She has also designed a collection for Happy Socks and a line of expensive silver jewelry for Tane of Mexico. Oh, and I have more! she said. Toujours!

So when the Bon Marche called, I thought it was wonderful! she said. It gave me a reason to come back to Paris! For the installation, she selected a handful of items the store could sell  she wanted useful things, not trinkets. So there is her signature cross-body Mongolian lamb handbag/muff; Iris-like pinball-sized bead necklaces; Iris-style big resin bangles; Iris in Paris notecards; Iris in Paris notebooks, totes and umbrellas  even an Iris in Paris coffee mug. The show is organized around 10 tableaux: Iris at the Museum, Iris at the Flea Market, Iris on the Bateaux Mouches and so on. The French illustrator Eric Giriat produced witty sketches of her dressed in each scene for the stores windows, and the installation includes a short film of Apfel at home, talking about Paris, among other things.

On Wednesday night, the Bon Marche threw a party to celebrate the opening of the exhibit, with a jazz trio and Champagne. Apfel held court on a modern velvet loveseat, dressed in orange Mongolian sheep fur and serious turquoise. More than 800 attended, and the fete raged on until after midnight  when Apfel left.
NEW TRIPS IN NATIONAL PARKS

The National Park Service is turning 100 this year, and the tour outfitter Intrepid Travel is celebrating the landmark with four new trips ranging from seven to eight days that give travelers a chance to explore some of the countrys most renowned parks. The trips are all active-focused and include hiking and kayaking in Yellowstone; biking in Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah; hiking in Sequoia in California; and snorkeling and sailing in Dry Tortugas off Key West, Fla. Prices from $1,785 a person.

DELTA MAKES A COMMITMENT TO CHARITY

Delta Air Lines wants to make charity a big priority: The companys president and incoming chief executive Ed Bastian recently announced that, starting this year, the airline will contribute one percent of its net income from the previous year to charitable organizations. In 2016, that is $37 million. Delta plans to fulfill the commitment through cash contributions, in-kind travel and grants from the Delta Air Lines Foundation. The airline is based in Atlanta, Ga.  a state where the Senate recently passed legislation that allows businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples if it violates their religious beliefs. An airline spokeswoman, Elizabeth Wolf, said that Delta supports the Glaad Media Awards in Los Angeles and New York City and Pride celebrations in more than a half-dozen cities around the country including Atlanta.

IN MANHATTAN, A ROOM WITH A WARDROBE

Indulgent amenities tend to be a perk when staying in a suite at a luxury hotel, and for women, the benefit of booking the penthouse suite at the Surrey on Manhattans Upper East Side is more creative than the norm. Those who check into the 1,200-square-foot room will find a closet filled with a high-fashion wardrobe customized to their sensibility and size. The clothes and accessories are courtesy of FiveStory, the Upper East Side womens boutique; Claire Distenfeld, the owner of FiveStory, selects them based on a phone conversation she has with guests before their stay. Women can wear the clothing throughout their visit and also receive a $1,000 credit to use toward buying their favorite pieces. The stay includes a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne, a candle, a $50 credit for the propertys Cornelia Spa and the cost to ship all purchased items to guests after their departure. Nightly rates from $5,000.

BOULUD MENUS FOR AIR FRANCE

The two Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud has teamed with Air France to design a menu of French dishes with global touches for first and business class fliers; the meals are available as of this month to customers traveling to Paris from select cities in the United States including New York and Los Angeles. Mr. Boulud has created a menu of five dishes for first class such as lobster with curried coconut sauce, black rice and bok choy and lamb chop with zucchini pesto and cheese polenta; the business class menu includes four dishes like chicken tagine with cauliflower and couscous and salmon with fennel, chickpeas and sumac.
WASHINGTON  The Obama administration, responding to consumer complaints, says it will begin rating health insurance plans based on how many doctors and hospitals they include in their networks.

At the same time, the maximum out-of-pocket costs for consumers under the Affordable Care Act will increase next year to $7,150 for an individual and $14,300 for a family, the administration said. Consumer advocates said those costs could be a significant burden for middle-income people who need a substantial amount of care.

Under new rules to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, insurers will still be allowed to sell health plans with narrow networks of providers. But consumers will know in advance what they are getting because the government will attach a label indicating the breadth of the network for each plan sold on HealthCare.gov.

About 12.7 million people signed up or had their coverage automatically renewed in the third annual open enrollment season, which ended on Jan. 31.
FLINT, Mich.  Senator Bernie Sanders, anxious that the Democratic nomination is slipping away from him, launched a series of cutting and sarcastic attacks against Hillary Clinton over trade, welfare reform and Wall Street in a debate Sunday night that often felt like a war over Bill Clintons legacy and the moderate Democratic policies of the 1990s.

Even Mrs. Clinton joined in the repudiation of her husbands 1994 crime bill and 1996 welfare law, which both disproportionately harmed African-Americans. Both she and Mr. Sanders are aggressively courting black voters in Michigan, Ohio and other racially diverse states that hold primaries over the next nine days, but Mr. Sanders has an urgent need to cut into Mrs. Clintons support among African-Americans.

Mr. Sanders, who has fallen far behind Mrs. Clinton in their all-important race to accumulate delegates to clinch the partys nomination, has rarely been so aggressive. He portrayed Mrs. Clinton as an unapologetic champion of free trade for much of her career, in hopes of hurting her with Rust Belt Democrats. He tied her aggressively to the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Clintons signature trade policy, and to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Obamas 12-nation trade pact, which she supported as secretary of state but then denounced as a presidential candidate.

Mr. Sanders also attacked Mrs. Clintons support of the federal Export-Import Bank, the credit agency that antigovernment populists on both sides have called an instrument of corporate welfare, and he feigned amazement when she expressed criticism of some trade deals.
Donald Trump was uncharacteristically low energy, Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee in 2012, said in an interview Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press, taunting Mr. Trump with the insult Mr. Trump had employed against Jeb Bush. Yet despite the renewed optimism of his opponents, the path to deny Mr. Trump the nomination remains narrow and arduous.

Mr. Cruzs emergence as the most credible alternative to Mr. Trump has proved both a boost and a complication for those seeking to derail the New Yorker. Mr. Cruz has tried to undercut calls for a contested convention to deny Mr. Trump the nomination, which Mr. Cruz says would yield a manifest revolt among voters. But Mr. Cruz has done little so far to threaten Mr. Trumps lead in the delegate race.

Much of Mr. Cruzs late-breaking support on Saturday seemed to come at the expense of Mr. Rubio, not Mr. Trump. And the Cruz campaigns message of ideological purity and religious faith is a less natural fit for many of the delegate-rich Midwestern and coastal states that remain on the map.

Saturday proved that Trump can be contained and even beaten, said Scott Jennings, a longtime Republican strategist, who looked ahead to this summers Republican convention in Cleveland. The question is whether the field is going to allow for it moving forward. The most likely scenarios remain that Trump gets enough before Cleveland, or nobody does. The latter moved a little closer to realistic Saturday.

Mr. Rubios path is much less certain, despite his lopsided victory in Puerto Rico on Sunday. Even his supporters said that the results on Saturday seriously undercut the premise of his bid: that he is the only candidate who can unify the Republican Party and defeat Mr. Trump.

Look, Im supportive of Marco; Im very hopeful, said Mel Martinez, the former senator from Florida, who had supported Mr. Bush. But its a great concern that time has kind of caught up with this whole thing.
WARREN, Mich.  Neil Mortensen remembers how neighbors lost factory jobs in this suburb north of Detroit, and then, inexorably and sadly, their homes.

Id see all these businesses that used to produce normal products, even brooms, that everybody uses and purchases today, but are not produced here  they are produced overseas, he said.

A construction manager, Mr. Mortensen escaped the waves of layoffs because his employer, which once built plants for heavy industry, is now in the demolition business. Those factories are gone, and I get to knock em down, unfortunately, he said.

Which is how he and his wife, Kathy, ended up at a rally for Donald J. Trump, the anti-free-trade billionaire who promises to slap 35 percent tariffs on Ford cars built in Mexico. Were hopeful that Donald can bring those jobs back, and our neighbors, too, Mr. Mortensen said.
Heres how we analyzed the Democratic debate.

Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont faced off yet again Sunday night, after a weekend of voting where both Democrats notched wins. Mr. Sanders won the Maine Democratic caucuses, according to The Associated Press. The debate, hosted by CNN, took place in Flint, Mich., a town facing a drinking water crisis, in a state where voters head to the polls on Tuesday that will prove a crucial test for both candidates.

 Anderson Cooper, the debate moderator, kicked off the night by explaining why CNN had chosen to stage its latest debate in Flint, Mich. The city is in crisis, he said, and the water is toxic.

 Both Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton also paid homage to Flint in their minute-long opening statements, calling for the states governor, Rick Snyder, to resign. Mr. Sanders called the situation in Flint a dereliction of duty, and Mrs. Clinton said she planned to continue to shine a very bright spotlight on what has happened in this city.

 Mrs. Clinton declined to say if the head of the Environmental Protection Agency should be fired, saying she didnt know how high up the chain the problem went. But both she and Mr. Sanders said whoever was responsible for the crisis should absolutely be relieved of their job.
It may not strike everyone as the loftiest ambition: creating machines that are smarter than people. Not setting the bar terribly high, is it? So the more cynical might say. All the same, an array of scientists and futurists are convinced that the advent of devices with superhuman intelligence looms in the not-distant future. The prospect fills some of our planets brainiest specimens with dread.

They include certified smart men like Bill Gates of Microsoft, the physicist Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, head of SpaceX. Messrs. Hawking and Musk have been especially grim. The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race, Mr. Hawking told the BBC in 2014. At about the same time, Mr. Musk worried that with artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon, a fiend that he feared would become our biggest existential threat.

When people of their caliber speak, it seems reasonable to listen. And so, alarms about a computer-spawned apocalypse are a backdrop to the latest installment in the Retro Report series, video documentaries that explore major news events of the past and their continuing effects.

Men of science are not alone in the hand-wringing over the possibility of machines running wild. Asked what they feared most, Americans interviewed by researchers at Chapman University in Southern California ranked the consequences of modern technology near the top. Even death did not rattle them as much; it was way down on their list of worries, at No. 43.
BRUSSELS  The day before a European conference designed to persuade Turkey to curb the uncontrolled flow of migrants making perilous journeys across the Aegean Sea, NATO announced on Sunday that it would expand its maritime efforts to stop the smugglers who make many of those journeys possible.

More than one million migrants arrived in Europe last year, and the prospect of another large influx threatens to overwhelm Greece and destroy a policy of open borders across much of the Continent.

The dangers faced by migrants who take sea routes to Greece were underscored again on Sunday when at least 18 people drowned off the Turkish coast, according to news reports. More than 300 migrants have already died this year making similar journeys on that route.

As part of efforts to quell the mounting crisis, Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, said Sunday that ships used by the alliance would begin conducting operations in the territorial waters of Greece and Turkey after close consultation and coordination with the two countries.
BAGHDAD  At least 33 people were killed and 115 wounded in the Iraqi city of Hilla on Sunday when a fuel truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded at a checkpoint not far from the ruins of ancient Babylon.

The Islamic State took responsibility for the fiery blast in a message on the Amaaq website, which is affiliated with the extremist group, and in a Twitter post. The battle has just started and the coming will be worst, the Twitter post said.

Ali al-Hamdani, who owns a restaurant less than 350 feet from the checkpoint, said, I felt an earthquake when the car exploded.

He added, I immediately lay on the ground and saw flames all over the checkpoint.

Mr. Hamdani, 54, said that he had then stood up to check on my friends who sell tea near the checkpoint, and that one of them was beheaded and others were killed.
Israel conquered Jerusalems Old City and its environs, along with the West Bank, from Jordan in the 1967 war. Then it expanded the city limits, taking in 28 West Bank villages on the high ground surrounding the city, and annexed the territory in a move that was never internationally recognized. Ever since, its leaders have claimed sovereignty over what they deem Israels united capital.

But the Palestinians demand East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state. They and much of the world see the developments that Israel has built in the annexed area since 1967, now home to some 200,000 Jews, as illegal settlements. These would remain within Israeli Jerusalem under the plan.

The vast majority of the citys 300,000 Arab residents  about a third of Jerusalems population  chose not to apply for Israeli citizenship, but hold permanent residency status that entitles them to social benefits and to work and move freely throughout Israel.

International road maps for peace have long imagined Palestinian control of Jerusalems Arab areas and Israeli control of Jewish ones, with a special arrangement for the Old City and its surroundings. But this latest plan  which would remove about two-thirds of Jerusalems Arab residents by disconnecting populous outer neighborhoods like Beit Hanina, Sur Baher and Issawiya from the city  comes in the absence of peace talks and amid months of rising violence.

We have to open a public debate and a parliamentary debate: What is it we want to keep? said Shaul Arieli, a map specialist who took part in past peace talks and helped formulate the plan. Advancing a unilateral plan for Jerusalem as an interim measure, in the absence of talks for a permanent deal, he said, shows the Israelis that nothing is holy.

Mr. Arieli, a reserve colonel in the Israeli Army who participated in the 2000 Camp David negotiations, is among more than 30 Israeli public figures  veterans of the political, diplomatic and security establishments  who signed the campaign ads.
The British dancer Aakash Odedra first presented Rising, a suite of four solos by four choreographers (including himself), in 2011. Though he had shown parts of it in New York, the full production did not arrive here until Friday, when it came to the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts for one night.

The program showcases Mr. Odedras extensive background in Bharatanatyam and Kathak, two forms of classical Indian dance, and his departures from it. When he embarked on the project, contemporary dance was relatively unfamiliar to him. The high-profile European choreographers whom he enlisted  Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant  drew from his classical Indian training while nudging him in new directions. Rising reveals an exceptionally agile dancer who, it appears, has no trouble slipping between styles, effortlessly multilingual.
Downton Abbey has poured its last cup of tea, strapped its last traveling case to the car, dispatched its last awkward reaction shot to a mildly witty bon mot. The lesson of Sundays series finale was that every complicated melodrama requires a multiplicity of happy endings, no matter how hurriedly achieved. The lesson of the shows longevity and immense popularity was that even in the age of Very Serious television, our strongest appetite is for sheer escapism, and once were hooked we dont really notice if what were being served becomes progressively less savory.

To be fair, the creators and producers of Downton never made great claims for the shows enduring value and murmured modest expressions of surprise about its status as a cultural juggernaut. Taking the long view, its not likely to be part of the Peak TV canon. (Dallas received about the same amount of attention in its time, for some of the same reasons.) Future bingers, not caught up in the communal groundswell, may find themselves fast-forwarding to the points where Maggie Smith opens her mouth.
The references in and influences behind Jane Mendelsohns preposterous new novel, Burning Down the House, are beyond eclectic: The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury, East of Eden, Buddenbrooks, Atonement, the plays of Aeschylus, the movies Sabrina and Heaven Can Wait, the TV series Dallas and Dynasty, and countless daytime soaps. Its no surprise that the resulting novel is a melodramatic mess: suspenseful, even moving at times, but atrociously overwritten and overstuffed with implausible plot twists, stereotyped characters and scenes oozing sweat and tears.

As in many soap operas, the family at the center of this novel  the Zanes, who preside over a real-estate empire  are fabulously wealthy: so rich that they often celebrate family events in other countries in rented mansions, so powerful that the fate of people around the world can be decided over breakfast. The tale of this familys fall from the heady heights of power to the depths of scandal and despair is the spine of this novel.

Ms. Mendelsohns lyrical first novel, I Was Amelia Earhart, gracefully straddled reality and the world of fable with a fiercely imagined portrait of the missing aviator, while assiduously avoiding the more outrageous speculation that swirled around her (for instance, that she was on a spying mission for the United States government or that she returned to America after World War II and assumed a new identity).

Image Jane Mendelsohn Credit... Nick Davis

In Burning Down the House, Ms. Mendelsohn scoops up and embraces every available potboiler cliche and lurid plot development  including incest, rape, arson, murder and human trafficking. We learn that the familys resourceful new nanny, Neva, was spirited away from her family in Russia when she was 10 and forced to become a sex slave, and that Poppy, the niece and adopted daughter of the family patriarch, Steve, is in danger of suffering the same fate that Neva endured in her youth. As for Steves eldest son, Jonathan, who aspires to take over his fathers global empire, hes had two tourists killed in Laos to try to bully officials into granting him a building permit on a choice piece of waterfront land.
LONDON  Barclays said on Monday that it had hired a team from the boutique firm CMC Capital as it looked to strengthen its investment bank, one of two divisions that are the focus of the lenders strategy as it tries to turn around its performance.

The British lender said its investment bank would hire nine people based in London and Milan from CMC Capital, including Carlo Calabria, CMCs founding partner.

Mr. Calabria, the former vice chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynchs global corporate and investment banking division and the former co-head of European mergers and acquisitions at Credit Suisse, will join Barclays as chairman of mergers and acquisitions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Barclays said.

He will work closely with Pier Luigi Colizzi, the head of mergers and acquisitions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the bank said.
DuPonts planned union with Dow Chemical, both American companies, looks like a tough nut for interlopers to crack. The German chemical giant BASF is considering a counterbid for DuPont, its rival, according to Bloomberg. But tax benefits alone make the American conglomerates merger and expected breakup pretty close to ironclad.

Dow and DuPont agreed in December to a multipart transaction in which they would combine, cut costs and then split into three listed companies. The companies nearly equal market values and overlapping shareholders allowed them to structure the deal in a way that should avoid taxes on capital gains  a feat that BASF could struggle to match. The tax savings were not quantified but might far exceed the American companies target of $3 billion of annual cost savings, according to Reuters sources.

Derailing the merger would probably require BASF to offer a significant premium for DuPont  after covering the $1.9 billion breakup fee and any tax savings the Dow deal would have produced. The German conglomerate could struggle to pull all that off without destroying value for its own shareholders.

BASFs strength in pesticides and other kinds of crop protection would complement DuPonts valuable seeds business. The companies otherwise-limited overlap, however, suggests the synergies from any deal between them would fall short of what a Dow-DuPont transaction could produce, according to Bernstein analysts.
LONDON  Shares of Metro Bank, the money-losing British lender started in 2010 by the American financier Vernon W. Hill II, rose 4 percent Monday morning in the companys debut on the London Stock Exchange.

The lender said on Friday that it had raised 400 million pounds, or about $569 million, in a private sale of securities before going public.

Metro Bank sold shares to new and existing shareholders at 20 each, valuing the lender at about 1.6 billion.

Shortly after its debut on Monday, the companys shares rose 4 percent to 20.80 in conditional trading, after having gained as much as 9 percent. Metro Bank finished the day up 7.5 percent, at 21.50.
LONDON  The financial services firm Old Mutual said on Monday that it had made no decision on its strategic review, after news reports over the weekend that it was considering splitting into four parts.

Old Mutual, which is based in London, announced in November that it would conduct a strategic review of its operations after Bruce Hemphill joined the company as chief executive.

We can confirm that all options for the strategic review are being considered, but no decision has yet been made, Old Mutual said in a news release on Monday.
Until recently, awareness of the Zika virus was largely limited to readers of infectious diseases guides who made it to the last page.

That group did not include Jennifer Durst Lussier of Indianapolis, who bought plane tickets for $1,300 with her husband last autumn for a one-week vacation starting Feb. 27 in Antigua. She also spent $98 for travel insurance from Allianz Global Assistance.

It didnt do her much good.

As the trip approached, the Lussiers began hearing about the mosquito-carried virus that can harm pregnant women  and their unborn children. The condition is most prevalent in South America.

Then it blew up in the news media, said Ms. Lussier, whose daughter is due on Aug. 5.

The World Health Organization declared Zika a public health emergency and urged expectant women to avoid visiting affected areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoed the recommendation and declared its highest level of alert on travel  only the fourth time it had issued such a warning for health reasons.
He wavers about getting tested.

Sometimes I think, This is a terrible storm on the horizon that could absolutely devastate us, and I want to know if it is real or not. Other times I say, Gosh, if I do find out that it is real and I know I will die that way and I know probably the age I will die  that is an almost unbearable amount of information about my future.

People say you could go sky diving or ride a bull. But you can only do things like that as long as time and income provide. You still have to get up in the morning and go to work and pay your bills.

He joined a study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in which researchers are following members of families with the genes for early-onset Alzheimers disease. At a recent meeting, he recalled, he found himself in a room full of people like himself: All had a parent with an Alzheimers gene.

All were at risk of having the mutated gene themselves.

Mr. Reiswig asked the group, How many have been tested?

Half raised their hands.

Of those of you who have been tested, how many regret it?

He was met with ominous silence.

Then a man spoke up. He said he had been tested and learned he has the gene.

As for regrets, it depends on the day, the man said. I have battled weight issues and the suicide issue, and I have had problems with my marriage ever since I found out. Some days I really regret it. It is a huge burden. Other days I am glad I know.

Mr. Reiswig has been thinking it over. He has decided not to be tested.

For me, the return is not worth the investment, he said.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR ANDREAS TZAKIS FROM THE MEDICAL TEAM AT CLEVELAND CLINIC SAYING: The surgery on the donor and the recipient, used techniques that have been well established through transplantation of the other solid organs. Theyre a little bit more complex for this particular transplant because the uterus lies deep inside the pelvis and is difficult to access and the vessels are all deep inside the pelvis as well. So its a little bit more difficult that way. Our first uterine transplant took place on February 24th lasted approximately nine hours and Im pleased to report to you that our patient is doing very well. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LINDSEY, FIRST UTERUS TRANSPLANT PATIENT IN U.S., SAYING: First and foremost I would like to take a moment to express the immense gratitude I feel towards my donors family. They have provided me with the gifts that I will never be able to pay and I am beyond thankful for them. However the reason I chose to speak today is that I want to be open and honest and to share my story and that when I was 16 and was told I would never have children. And from that moment on I have prayed that God would allow me the opportunity to experience pregnancy and here we are today at the beginning of that journey. I am so thankful to this amazing team of doctors and all the nurses and staff who worked around the clock to ensure my safety and I feel like I found a new family in all of them. I am a mother already to three beautiful little boys that Blake and I have adopted through the foster care system. Because of that I would ask that you would all please respect our privacy and we will give updates as we can.
The retrial of a New Jersey man accused of strangling Etan Patz was postponed for six months on Monday because the lead defense lawyer has injured his back.

The adjournment was the latest delay in a case that has dragged on for nearly four years. The first trial collapsed in a hung jury in May 2014, when jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked, 11 to 1.

The man facing retrial, Pedro Hernandez, 55, of Maple Shade, N.J., told Justice Maxwell Wiley of State Supreme Court he would consent to the six-month delay because he wanted his lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, to continue representing him. He has been held at Rikers Island since his arrest in May 2012.

The adjournment is for reasons of health, Justice Wiley said. This is the one situation in which I would grant an adjournment  that is, a serious health issue regarding a lead attorney.
After initial discussions about retreating from the coast  including buying out much of the Graham Beach, Oakwood Beach and Ocean Breeze neighborhoods  officials determined it was better to restore communities like New Dorp, Dongan Hills, Midland Beach and South Beach. Not everyone wanted to go, or could afford to, and it was believed that they could survive the next storm with the right infrastructure. The city took up the task of either elevating homes or building new ones for residents, while the state bought those the owners could no longer sustain.

In October, on the third anniversary of the storm, City Hall set the end of 2016 as its deadline to complete work through the Build It Back program, which has been mired in setbacks and began elevation work in earnest only this past fall.

So far, 17 families in New Dorp Beach have sold their homes to the state. They moved up the street, upstate or down South, all to higher ground, though still feeling the pull of the tides. Their former homes still stand, however, and will be sold through an auction program to help restore the shore.

We see a future that can be even better than the past, since a lot of the homes we have purchased used to flood even just during a heavy rain, Rachel Wieder, director of buyout and acquisition programs for the Governors Office of Storm Recovery, said during a tour of the neighborhood last week.
LONDON  Last month, a co-chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club, Alex Chalmers, quit in protest at what he described as rampant anti-Semitism among members. A large proportion of the club and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews, he said in a statement.

Chalmers referred to members of the executive committee throwing around the term Zio  an insult used by the Ku Klux Klan; high-level expressions of solidarity with Hamas and explicit defense of their tactics of indiscriminately murdering civilians; and the dismissal of any concern about anti-Semitism as just the Zionists crying wolf.

The zeitgeist on campuses these days, on both sides of the Atlantic, is one of identity and liberation politics. Jews, of course, are a minority, but through a fashionable cultural prism they are seen as the minority that isnt  that is to say white, privileged and identified with an imperialist-colonialist state, Israel. They are the anti-victims in a prevalent culture of victimhood; Jews, it seems, are the sole historical victim whose claim is dubious.

A recent Oberlin alumna, Isabel Storch Sherrell, wrote in a Facebook post of the students shed heard dismissing the Holocaust as mere white on white crime. As reported by David Bernstein in The Washington Post, she wrote of Jewish students, Our struggle does not intersect with other forms of racism.
To the Editor:

As noted in Debts Pile Up as Banks Bill for Overdrafts (front page, Feb. 29), consumers are struggling to understand murky bank practices that result in high overdraft charges and high debt for consumers. One clear spot for consumers is on campus. This July, the Department of Education will enact a new rule that bans overdraft practices on campus-sponsored bank accounts.

The agency regulates colleges that contract with banks or financial companies to distribute federal financial aid payments to students. The process often results in campus-sponsored bank accounts that charge a high fee for overdrafts, subjecting financial aid recipients to the practice of reordering financial transactions so that multiple overdraft fees are incurred in one day. These fees eat into student aid dollars.

As a result of the departments new rule, student consumers will save money, and their student debt will be reduced.

CHRISTINE LINDSTROM

Higher Education Program Director

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Boston
That basically leaves two viable options for dealing with radioactivity. Either turn over contaminated areas to natural decay, as the Soviet authorities did with some 1,000 square miles irradiated by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Or securely store the waste.

Japan is too densely populated to abandon such a vast swath of land as Fukushima. But it has yet to build any permanent or semipermanent storage facility for any kind of nuclear waste: No one wants radioactive material in their backyard, perhaps especially not the Japanese, after their experiences of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then the Fukushima meltdowns.

Partly as a result, Japanese policymakers have only come up with stop-gap solutions  when they have come up with any solution at all. Keeping radioactive waste in motion between provisional storage sites isnt a coherent nuclear policy; its an elaborate dodge and a play for time.

Japans decontamination plan for Fukushima is so fiendishly complicated that its goals cannot possibly be met within the promised 30 years. And thats only to talk about the waste that has been collected.

The twisted, irradiated wreckage of Fukushima Daiichi itself will have to be dismantled and properly disposed of. Yet its final destination also remains unspecified. Given how much more toxic some of that waste is  it includes residual fuel  it would need to be put away in an even more secure facility than the interim kind Japan has not managed to build.

These problems are emblematic of the broader failures of the Japan governments nuclear policy.

The authorities still dont have a workable plan for disposing of the 47 metric tons of plutonium and the thousands of tons of uranium Japan has accumulated over years of producing energy at nuclear plants. Both are extremely radioactive and require storage in highly secure permanent facilities  such as underground granite chambers, as exist in Finland, or subterranean salt formations, as in the United States.
The rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States has declined to its lowest level in the last three decades.

The level in 2008 was 54 per 1,000 women and girls aged 15 to 44. By 2011, it was 45 per 1,000. Of the 6.1 million pregnancies in 2011, 2.8 million were unintended.

A recent analysis in The New England Journal of Medicine found variations in rates of unintended pregnancy by income, race, ethnicity, education and age. But there were declines, some quite large, in almost every demographic group.

The rate among teenagers, for example, declined by 28 percent. The rate of all income groups dropped, with the largest decrease  32 percent  among people with incomes at 100 percent to 199 percent of the poverty level.
Microsoft has always sold PC software for other companies operating systems, like that used by Apples Macintosh computers. But since becoming chief executive of Microsoft two years ago, Satya Nadella has gone further by creating software to run on other mobile operating systems like Apple iOS, and decoupling Microsofts Azure cloud computing system from Windows.

Now, for the first time that strategy is extending into so-called back-office software, a lucrative but not as well-known part of Microsofts business.

Data is the core asset now, Mr. Nadella said.

The numbers bear that out. While Windows Server is still popular, Linux servers are gaining. According to the research firm Gartner, 3.6 million Linux servers were shipped in 2014, compared with 2.4 million in 2011. Windows servers fell to 6.2 million in that time, from 6.5 million.

In the old computing world, decoupling Windows and SQL would have been unthinkable to Microsoft executives. But with Linux servers trending up and Microsoft servers heading down, insisting that SQL has to run on Windows would mean turning away potential customers.

That is not to say that Microsoft is in a weak position in corporate software sales. Even running on only one of two operating systems, Gartner said, Microsoft has 21.4 percent of the market in data management software. That is ahead of IBM and SAP, and behind only Oracle, which Gartner estimates still has a 43 percent share.
Q. SMS text messages have a character limit of 160 characters, so why does Twitter allow only 140 characters in a tweet?

A. The technical specification for the Short Message Service (SMS) format limits each message to 160 standard characters  including spaces and punctuation. Messages that run longer than 160 characters are typically split into multiple messages or converted into picture messages. (Sending messages that contain emoji pictographs usually lowers the maximum to 70 characters because of the way they are encoded and the amount of space they use.)

During Twitters early years in 2006 and 2007, when its creators were trying to develop a SMS-based dispatch system to let people update groups of followers about their current activities with text messages, they decided to limit Twitter posts to 140 characters. The reason was to create space for the senders Twitter username and a colon to precede the post  and still keep the whole thing within the overall SMS 160-character limit.

Twitter predates the modern smartphone era, and even though you can now post pictures, videos and links on Twitter, the service still holds to the 140-character limit for its standard posts and displays your character count as you type. Last summer, however, the company removed that constraint for private Direct Messages sent within its service, although Direct Messages sent via SMS are still subject to the character limit.
He joined Bolt, Beranek and Newman (later renamed BBN Technologies and now part of Raytheon) while working toward a doctorate, though he was not making much progress. Within a few years the company began working on the Arpanet, developing the first components of what would become the Internet.

He helped develop the Tenex operating system  so called because its paging software extended the memory capacity of the PDP-10 computer  and worked on the Arpanet Network Control System, which provided connectors and flow control between processes running on different Arpanet host computers. On the side, he began tinkering with the Sndmsg program.

Mr. Tomlinson was careful to note that he was the first to send a network email, rather than an email pure and simple. Messages had been sent before within single computers, and in July 1971 the programmer Dick Watson of the research and development company SRI (formerly Stanford Research Institute and now SRI International) had proposed a form of email in which messages would be sent to numbered mailboxes rather than individual users. It was never put in place.

When asked, on the BBN website, why he invented email, Mr. Tomlinson said: Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea. There was no directive to go forth and invent email.

Unfortunately for historians, there is no Internet counterpart to the first telephone communication, Alexander Graham Bells Mr. Watson, come here  I want to see you. Mr. Tomlinson tried his messaging system out for the first time in late 1971, using two DEC-10 computers, made by the Digital Equipment Corporation, standing side by side. They communicated through the Arpanet system.

I would type the message in on one machine, go to the other machine and examine my mailbox there to see if it had arrived, Mr. Tomlinson told The New York Times in 2001. When it finally worked reliably, I sent a message from the development machine (named BBN-TenexB) to all the users in my group on the production machine (BBN-TenexA) describing what I had done, including the @ convention for separating the user name from the host name.

The content of the ur-emails remains unknown. The test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them, Mr. Tomlinson told the BBN website.
HONG KONG  ZTE is one of Chinas few truly international electronics firms. Yet American companies will now need special permission to sell to it.

The company, which makes smartphones, was found to have violated American sanctions against Iran by selling United States-made goods to the country, according to a Commerce Department statement on Monday. As a result, ZTE will be blocked from buying any technology from American companies without a special license.

ZTE planned to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S export laws, the Commerce Department said. The sanctions against Iran, many of which were recently lifted, were intended to restrict Irans nuclear work.

The export controls against ZTE are unusual because such actions are rarely taken against such large companies. The action underscores how important the push is by the United States to gain Chinas cooperation in embargoes intended to combat nuclear proliferation.
In a recent report published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, scientists discovered colistin-resistant E coli in 21 percent of slaughtered pigs in China. They found isolates in 15 percent of meat sold from those animals in retail sites. They even detected resistant E coli in more than 1 percent of hospitalized patients.

Most horrifying, it appears that the resistance is transmitted by plasmids. That means the bacteria dont just pass on resistance to their children; they can pass it among one another and to completely different strains of bacteria. Scientists were also able to detect colistin resistance from the same gene in Klebsiella pneumonia in hospitalized patients. The accompanying editorial to the colistin report called this a major breach in our last line of defense.

While the concern is reaching a fever pitch, its important to remember that resistance isnt new. We cant blame all of our problems on antibiotic overuse and misuse. Even the proper use of antibiotics will eventually lead to resistance.

Our response to these setbacks has been to create new types of drugs. Penicillin-resistant staphylococcus were already being seen in labs in 1940, a few years before mass-produced penicillin was introduced. Tetracycline was introduced in 1950, and resistant shigella were identified in the same decade. Erythromycins introduction in 1953 was followed by resistant streptococcus in 1968. Gentamicin, developed in 1967, saw resistance in 1979; Vancomycin, developed in 1972, saw resistance in 1988; and Imipenem, released in 1985, saw resistance in 1998.

Its also in this game of catch-up that we are failing. Fifteen of the 18 largest pharmaceutical companies have abandoned the antibiotic market entirely. Research funding in all areas of academia has been cut back significantly as well. While 19 new antibiotics were approved by the F.D.A. from 1980 to 1984, only 13 were approved from 2000-2014. We arent keeping pace with resistance.

While we can quibble about the exact cost of bringing a new drug to market, we can all agree that its a lot of money. Drugs in the United States are profitable when they are sold in great volume or when they are very expensive. Antibiotics, as a class of drug, provide a poor return on investment for pharmaceutical companies. They face low-priced and generic competition. Any breakthrough drug will almost certainly be held in reserve for only the most resistant cases, meaning theres not a huge immediate market for it, when a company still has exclusivity.

Many people have proposed new ways to incentivize and reward innovation. The Group of 7 is poised to coordinate action, as is the Group of 20 and the World Health Organization. In Davos, Switzerland, nearly the entire drug industry agreed. It released a statement in January calling for big changes in how we pay for antibiotic research and development, including the idea of delinkage or paying for value as opposed to volume of antibiotics sold.
An Egyptian student in California has agreed to return to Cairo after he wrote a threatening comment on Facebook about Donald J. Trump that drew the attention of the Secret Service and led to the cancellation of his student visa, according to law enforcement officials and his lawyer.

Emadeldin Elsayed, 23, posted an article on Facebook last month about Mr. Trumps proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States. I literally dont mind taking a lifetime sentence in jail for killing this guy, I would actually be doing the whole world a favor, he wrote, according to his lawyer, Hani Bushra.

After the Secret Service investigated his comments, Mr. Elsayed was expelled from flight school, which made him ineligible to continue studying in the country on a visa, even though prosecutors decided not to charge him. Rights advocates say they are alarmed by his case and see it as another sign of the U.S. government using the immigration system as a punitive tool against people, particularly Muslims, who are perceived as threats.

An immigration judge last Friday granted Mr. Elsayed a voluntary departure, a form of repatriation that spares him a formal deportation but returns him to Egypt escorted by federal agents, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lawyers said it would be difficult for him to return.
Oberlin Colleges governing body has denounced as anti-Semitic and abhorrent social media posts by a professor that included suggestions Israeli and United States intelligence services were behind terror attacks.

The board of trustees called on the private liberal arts institution in Ohio to conduct a review and report back to it for possible action in the wake of Facebook posts by Joy Karega, a professor in the rhetoric and composition department.

These grave issues must be considered expeditiously, Clyde S. McGregor, the board chairman, said in a statement March 5 after a quarterly meeting. In consultation with President Marvin Krislov, the board has asked the administration and faculty to challenge the assertion that there is any justification for these repugnant postings and to report back to the Board.

The boards statement took a stronger stance than the colleges initial reaction to the posts by Dr. Karega, after The Tower, a media organization that reports on Israel and the rest of the Middle East, published on Feb. 25 screenshots of some of her postings from 2015. In them, she referred to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, as a C.I.A. and Mossad organization  a reference to the Israeli intelligence service  and suggested that Mossad had orchestrated the devastating attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
Facing a six-year barrage of increasingly large earthquakes, Oklahoma regulators are effectively ordering the states powerful oil-and-gas industry to substantially cut back the underground disposal of industry wastes that have caused the tremors across the state.

On Monday, the state Corporation Commission asked well operators in a Connecticut-size patch of central Oklahoma to reduce by 40 percent the amount of oil and gas wastes they are injecting deep into the earth. The directive covers 411 injection wells in a rough circle that includes Oklahoma City and points northeast.

It follows a February request that imposed a 40 percent cutback on injection wells in a similar-size region of northwest Oklahoma.

The actions significantly increase the effort to rein in the quakes, which the commission has long tried to reduce one well or a handful of wells at a time.
It lacked the vulgarities and, most likely, the ratings of the Republican debate on Thursday. But the Democratic face-off in Flint, Mich., on Sunday provided revealing moments and insights into the candidates and their campaigns. Two days before the Michigan primary, there were displays of impatience, passion, policy knowledge and, perhaps, fatigue.

Here are some takeaways from the debate:

Neither Clinton Nor Sanders Is Comfortable Talking About Race in a Debate

Asked a provocative and difficult question  what racial blind spots do you have?  Hillary Clinton dodged with all the elegance of a supertanker, instead answering a previous question before being pushed again by a moderator.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont detoured briefly to a not-at-all-brief story about being with a black lawmaker who could not catch a cab, and then he explained awkwardly that when youre white, you dont know what its like to be living in a ghetto. While each candidate spoke with conviction about the need to tackle incarceration rates and economic opportunity for African-Americans, both seemed to be walking on eggshells.

Its Not Over

Dispense with the idea that Mrs. Clinton will try to patiently outlast Mr. Sanders while she piles up enough delegates to wrap up the nomination. This debate showcased both candidates leveling their strongest attacks at each other.
Today, those who counted on Mr. Rubio to emerge as the Republican standard-bearer and usher the party into a new era talk about the same shortcomings that doomed his sweeping tax plan: an overconfidence in the power of his charisma; an emphasis on inspiring messages, rather than nuts-and-bolts tactics; and a lack of finesse at crucial moments.

It showed how green he was in this process, said Ed Connor, an antitax activist who was allied with Mr. Rubio during the 2007 tax push. He didnt know how to go about it.

Mr. Rubio declined, through a campaign spokesman, to comment on the tax plan or what he had learned from its demise.

The idea, as advertised, was simple: replacing Floridas surging property tax on primary residences with a 2.5-cent per dollar increase in the sales tax, in stages  a 42 percent rise that would lift the overall sales tax to 8.5 percent. A patchwork of rules and an overheated housing market had created a mess in Florida. Some homeowners, shielded by exemptions, paid exceedingly low property taxes; others, living in the same-size house next door without the same exemptions, paid three times as much. From 2001 to 2007, Floridians overall property tax burden doubled, to $30 billion from $15 billion.

The Rubio plan would have saved the average homeowner about $2,300 a year.

Mr. Rubio, then the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, had promoted it not just as a tax cut but as something much bigger: a restoration of basic, inalienable rights. Across Florida, in small-town church halls and big-city banquet rooms, Mr. Rubio had soothed homeowners furious about their property taxes with a radical message.
Michael R. Bloomberg, who for months quietly laid the groundwork to run for president as an independent, will not enter the 2016 campaign, he said Monday, citing his fear that a three-way race could lead to the election of a candidate he thinks would endanger the country: Donald J. Trump.

In a forceful condemnation of his fellow New Yorker, Mr. Bloomberg said Mr. Trump had run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on peoples prejudices and fears. He said he was alarmed by Mr. Trumps threats to bar Muslim immigrants from entering the country and to initiate trade wars against China and Japan, and he was disturbed by Mr. Trumps feigning ignorance of white supremacists, alluding to Mr. Trumps initial refusal to disavow support from David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

These moves would divide us at home and compromise our moral leadership around the world, Mr. Bloomberg said in a column published Monday on Bloomberg View, his opinion site. The end result would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies, and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk.
WASHINGTON  Senator Mitch McConnell has long antagonized Democrats with his tactics. Now he just has them perplexed, wondering why he would unilaterally block a Supreme Court nominee and potentially put vulnerable Republicans at risk with control of the Senate at stake in November.

Mr. McConnell, so crafty that he devised a way for Republicans to raise the federal debt limit by voting against it, has his reasons. So, whats in his head?

First, Mr. McConnell, who strove for years to become majority leader, would consider it malpractice to wave through an Obama administration nominee who would reconfigure the ideological balance of the court. The conservative court is the Republican bulwark against the march of social and demographic change, and he is not about to let President Obama, who has less than a year remaining in office, appoint a third justice if he can prevent it.

If you are Senate majority leader and you are actively giving up the court for the first time in a generation, what do you have the Senate majority for? said Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist and former chief of staff to Mr. McConnell. If you have an argument to stop it, make your argument.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas spent a recuperative day and a half off the campaign trail, holing up in Houston after a winter spent trudging through the Iowa and New Hampshire snow.

Donald J. Trump, straining to muster his typical bravado, looked uncharacteristically low-energy while addressing reporters over the weekend, according to Mitt Romney, who has been there.

And Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, sounding hoarse and weary himself during Thursdays Republican debate, spared his rivals a handshake afterward, setting off a medley of inelegant fist bumps and elbow touches.

Marco is sick, a campaign volunteer, Garrett Ventry, posted on Twitter, denying that Mr. Rubio had snubbed his opponents out of malice. Indeed, a deeper diagnosis seemed to be in order.
WASHINGTON  A retired pastor from Maine imprisoned in Spain on drug-smuggling charges has caught the attention of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, whose members say he and other older Americans are being tricked by international drug gangs to carry contraband, then jailed abroad if caught.

Nine senators, Republicans and Democrats, called on Monday for Secretary of State John Kerry or James Costos, the American ambassador to Spain, to raise the case of J. Bryon Martin, 77, directly with the Spanish government. Mr. Martin is serving six years in prison for smuggling drugs. Under Spanish law, individuals can be convicted without evidence of intent to violate the law.

We find it terribly unfair that an older American who by all indications is a victim and did not understand that he was being used to transport illegal drugs remains incarcerated abroad while the criminals who masterminded this scheme remain free, the senators wrote in a letter released Monday.

The lawmakers added, Because of his age and poor health, this may be a life sentence for Mr. Martin.
But they are here to stay, and these days the parties in major cases select and advise their friends with exquisite care.

We tried to decide what messages, what points, we wanted the court to hear and which messengers should make those points, Brigitte Amiri, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said of the behind-the-scenes wrangling and whispering in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, a 2014 contraception-coverage case, at Columbia Law School a few months before the decision landed. We read all of the drafts of the briefs that we knew about to try to make sure that duplication was limited, and that we were consistent on our points.

Writing in the Harvard Law Review about the wrangling and whispering that went into a 2006 case concerning the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Neal K. Katyal said the point was to ensure that the court was hearing only from a far-flung and diverse set of amici, represented by the best advocates, with the most affected clients, with the most expertise on the issues, and with no repetition.

The Supreme Court requires parties filing supporting briefs to disclose whether counsel for a party authored the brief in whole or in part.

Professor Devins said those words left room for interpretation. Everybody is aware of the rule and is sensitive to crossing the line, he said, but there is a willingness on the part of some of the attorneys to go fairly far in not necessarily line editing but in making fairly concrete suggestions about whether an amicus brief is helpful or not.

One unnamed lawyer cited in the study said that comment bubbles were acceptable but that redlined sentences were not.

More than 80 supporting briefs were filed in the abortion case on Wednesday, Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt, No. 15-274, a modest number by some standards. The record is held by the same-sex marriage case last year, at 147, according to statistics kept by Anthony J. Franze and R. Reeves Anderson, lawyers at Arnold & Porter. The first Affordable Care Act case, in 2012, featured 136.
WASHINGTON  In a pair of unsigned opinions, the Supreme Court on Monday restored the rights of an adoptive mother who had split with her lesbian partner and reversed a murder conviction tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.

The adoption ruling reversed one by the Alabama Supreme Court, which had refused to recognize the womans adoptions of three children, which had been granted by a Georgia court in 2007.

The woman, identified in court papers as V.L., said she was overjoyed.

I have been my childrens mother in every way for their whole lives, she said in a statement. I thought that adopting them meant that we would be able to be together always. When the Alabama court said my adoption was invalid and I wasnt their mother, I didnt think I could go on.

The United States Supreme Courts opinion, which had no noted dissents, said the Alabama court had violated the Constitutions full faith and credit clause. A state may not disregard the judgment of a sister state because it disagrees with the reasoning underlying the judgment or deems it to be wrong on the merits, the opinion said.
American Future Fund, a political nonprofit that does not disclose its donors, is airing a pair of new ads featuring veterans speaking out against Donald J. Trump.

On Screen

The voice of a veteran, Lt. Col. Tom Hanton, tracks his slow march to the camera, an American flag hung vertically behind him. When I heard Donald Trump insult my fellow prisoners of war from Vietnam by calling us losers, that was the most infuriating comment I think Ive heard from a politician in my entire life, he says.

Grainy footage of prisoner-of-war camps in North Vietnam flicker across the screen as Colonel Hanton says that Mr. Trump would not have survived a P.O.W. experience, and that he probably would have been the first one to fold.

A shadowy Mr. Trump, his head tilted back and his gaze downward, appears over a Boston Herald headline of Con Man Trump as Colonel Hanton begs the viewer to learn about Donald Trump, whom he calls a phony. He makes his final pitch directly to the camera: Stop him now.
The community that was so tightly knit, all the neighbors have left and fragmented, Said Ali, 30, said. Ill go wherever I can find a job, wherever they let me pray.

Even non-Muslim employees are moving on.

We were told: Were going to cut down on the prayer, said Adam Martinez, 39, a former supervisor who said he had quit after a boss asked him to write up an employee who left the line to worship. Sometimes whats right is right. These people didnt come all the way here to get treated like dogs.

The process of knitting together Fort Morgans disparate groups has not always been easy. When the Somalis arrived, for example, they had little experience behind the wheel, and the citys 28-officer police force caught them running into parked cars and streets signs. Sometimes, the Somalis tried to barter for goods.

There were a few instances of anti-immigrant vandalism. In 2009, a vocal coffee shop owner named Candie Loomis started a contentious petition calling for refugees to leave. Six hundred people signed it, she said in an interview.

But officials and a nonprofit organization called OneMorgan County have worked hard to smooth misunderstandings. The police chief has attended driver education lessons and broken religious fasts with newly arrived refugees; the nonprofit offers English classes and a mentorship program, and it fields phone calls from residents curious about their new neighbors.

Several people said they worried the Cargill dispute would undo many of those efforts.

We might be seeing another demographic shift that would ultimately affect the community at large, Michaela Holdridge, the executive director of OneMorgan County, said. Were all just kind of standing by and watching.
TUNIS  Fear engulfed Tunisia on Monday that Islamic State mayhem was spilling over from neighboring Libya, as dozens of militants stormed a Tunisian town near the border, assaulting police and military posts in what the president called an unprecedented attack.

At least 54 people were killed in the fighting in the town, Ben Gardane, which erupted at dawn and lasted for hours until the security forces chased out what remained of the assailants. An enormous stash of weapons was later found.

The authorities said at least 36 militants were among the dead. The others were a mix of security forces and civilians, including a 12-year-old girl.

It was unclear where the assailants had come from, although some witnesses reported that they had local accents and had pronounced themselves as liberators. But President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia, increasingly alarmed about the Islamic States expansion in Libya, blamed the militant group. In a televised address, he suggested that the motive was to create a new Islamic State territory on Tunisian soil, similar to the 150-mile stretch it controls in Libya.
He might have an expensive car, but the other presidents before him had their luxuries but did not help the people, Veronica Aguilar, 55, said of Mr. Ortega.

Ms. Aguilar said she met Mr. Ortega in person when she signed up for Houses for the People, a government program that distributes houses to the poor at favorable prices.

He came over and said Hello, like he knew me! she said.

Her experience underscores the difficulty the rebels face. Few people have a stomach for more war. Many low-income people have benefited from Mr. Ortegas administration and are hardly bothered by complaints about its excesses.

I won the lottery! said Ileana Rivas, 62, Ms. Aguilars neighbor. She said she got her house by calling a government agency  and the first lady called her back personally.

You dont see those pathetic cases of desperate people in the street that you saw 10, 15 years ago, said Alejandro Martinez, a successful Sandinista businessman who is also an economist. There is a distribution of wealth to people who were marginalized before.

The rebels are not buying it. In a sign of the new allegiance the socialist administration has to the countrys richest people, the government has lifted import taxes for luxury items like yachts and helicopters.

Nobody goes to war because they like it, said Tyson, the rebel. The Nicaraguan people are getting robbed.
CARACAS, Venezuela  Venezuela is opening an investigation into the possible killing of 28 miners in the southeastern jungle state of Bolivar, officials said Monday.

Family members of the missing miners have said that their relatives were murdered on Friday in a dispute over a gold claim. They have said that a gang seeking to control the claim dismembered the miners, who were operating there illegally, and then threw their bodies in trucks and took them away.

We will conduct an objective, independent and impartial investigation, Tarek William Saab, Venezuelas ombudsman, said on Monday, echoing a promise by the public prosecutors office.

Francisco Rangel, the states governor and a staunch ally of the socialist administration, denied that any massacre had taken place, saying that the local police investigated reports of a shootout but found no bodies at the mine.
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar  Efforts by Myanmars democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to negotiate her way to the presidency this year have failed, associates of hers confirmed on Monday, highlighting the challenges her party faces as it prepares to take power on April 1.

The setback is just one sign of potential difficulty for the party, the National League for Democracy, when it succeeds a quasi-military government that has ensured the armed forces will continue to have significant authority.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and tight-lipped party officials here in the capital have revealed little of their intentions. Three weeks before it will take over, the party has yet to announce a program or plan of action for the new government. And even though it holds a majority of the seats in Parliament, which will elect the next president, it has yet to reveal its candidate.

We dont want any controversy because of our predictions and our interviews, said U Win Htein, a senior party member and one of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyis closest advisers. We just want to be low key.
BEIJING  Dressed as Rosie the Riveter, the icon of American womens empowerment during World War II, Li Tingtings raised fist in a photograph posted on Facebook on Monday signaled defiance  one year after the authorities detained her and four other Chinese feminists on the eve of International Womens Day, causing an international uproar.

But while the women and their lawyers continue to protest the lack of resolution in the public disorder charges against them, Ms. Li welcomed a victory in a cause that feminists have advocated for more than two decades: Chinas first law against domestic violence took effect on March 1.

Taken together, the two issues reflected a society where there is progress even as feminists struggle to advance womens rights amid tightening restrictions on public advocacy. They also highlight differences between younger and older feminists who share similar goals but may differ in their approach.

On Monday, Ms. Li, 26, also posted a statement sarcastically thanking the Chinese government for pushing the feminist movement in China to another peak by detaining the women, and vowing that the women would persist in their cause, despite being greatly restrained.
BEIJING  In a crowded Chinese neighborhood, she suffered the loneliest of deaths.

She was trapped and forgotten in a broken elevator of her apartment building for more than a month before her body was discovered last week. She had a hand pressed against the door, some accounts said.

But now this death in Xian  the northwestern city famed for its ancient entombed terra-cotta warriors  has stirred protest and a nationwide roar of anger by people furious that lax building management can turn trivial acts, like riding an elevator, into fatal traps, news reports and Internet accounts said on Monday.

Hundreds of residents in the Gaoling District of the city, where the woman died confined between the 10th and 11th floors of her apartment building, gathered to rally last week, according to photographs and accounts on Chinese websites. Other pictures were said to be of the police, some in riot gear, lined up against the crowd.
BEIJING  A Chinese lawyer and professor who was detained last summer during a crackdown on human rights lawyers has fled to the United States after being released from surveillance, according to an international human rights group and a statement from the lawyer.

The lawyer, Chen Taihe, 45, joined his wife and children in San Leandro, Calif., on March 1, according to John Kamm, the founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, a group based in San Francisco that works to free political prisoners in China.

Mr. Chen was detained last July in Guilin, in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi, as part of a crackdown that month in which more than 200 rights lawyers and their associates were held. Mr. Chens pregnant wife and son, now 8, fled to the United States soon after. The second child, a son now 6 weeks old, was born in the United States.

Mr. Chens case was rare in that the authorities released a political prisoner after a lengthy detention and allowed him to leave the country. In recent years, during a broad crackdown on civil society, Chinese officials have detained many rights advocates, sometimes pressing criminal charges.
SEOUL, South Korea  The only North Korean defector in South Korea who has publicly said she wants to return to her home country, insisting that she arrived here by mistake, applied for political asylum at the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul on Monday.

The woman, Kim Ryen-hi, 46, walked into the embassy and asked it to accept her as a refugee and to help her return to North Korea, said Christian pastors who accompanied her. More than two hours later, South Korean police officers, who entered the embassy at its request, escorted her out.

I told embassy officials that I wanted to stay in until they gave me asylum, but they insisted that I should wait outside until their government makes a decision, Ms. Kim said after emerging from the building.

Breaking into tears before a group of reporters in front of the embassy, she said she feared that her request would be turned down, given her unwelcoming reception.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan  Sixteen people were killed Monday morning, including two police officers, when a bomber detonated his suicide vest after shooting his way into a court compound about 20 miles north of Peshawar, a senior police official said.

The bomber forced his way through the main entrance of the subdistrict court in the town of Shabqadar around 11:30 a.m., the police said. Once inside, he shot an officer who tried to stop him for a search and then set off his suicide vest when another constable tackled him to prevent him from entering the more crowded family court.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, an offshoot of the militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, took responsibility for the attack. In an email, its spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said the bombing was retaliation for the hanging of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a former security guard who shot and killed the governor of Punjab Province, Salman Taseer, in 2001. Mr. Qadri was sentenced to death by the court and hanged on Feb. 29.
PARIS  Long before the large-scale migrant crisis began to haunt Europe, the camp at Calais in northern France was the object of political contention and humanitarian indignation.

Now the camp, known as the Jungle and home to thousands of desperate people hoping against all odds to cross the English Channel to Britain, has become an issue in the debate about whether Britain should leave the European Union. Or is it a scarecrow?

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain used the Calais camp as a crucial part of his argument that voters should vote to stay in the European Union during a referendum in June.

If Britain were to leave, he said, France might abandon a 13-year-old bilateral treaty that, for the purposes of immigration, effectively moved the border with Britain to the French side of the channel.
BRUSSELS  Turkey surprised European Union leaders on Monday by hitting them with a new set of demands if it is to help stem the flow of refugees from Syria and Iraq and other migrants seeking to enter Europe.

Leaders assessed the demands at an emergency summit meeting in Brussels, where Turkeys prime minister asked for billions of euros in new assistance, easier access to visas for Turks to go to Europe and the dramatic acceleration of talks on Turkeys membership in the bloc, a discussion that has languished for years.

The toughening of the Turkish position underscored Ankaras apparent attempt to win more support from Europe if it is going to be expected to protect the bloc from hundreds of thousands of new asylum seekers.
TEHRAN  Just a week after his forces made significant gains in national elections, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has started a campaign to rescind a news media blackout against a former president, Mohammad Khatami.

Mr. Rouhanis calculated remarks broke a longstanding taboo and set the stage for a showdown between the president and the countrys hard-line dominated judiciary. The blackout had been in effect for some time before it was publicly acknowledged in February 2015. Since then, press officers for the judiciary have said that other institutions had ordered it, but it is the judiciary that has punished newspapers and websites that defied the ban.

Mr. Rouhanis comments on Mr. Khatami were for the most part ignored by the Iranian news media. The lone exception was the IRNA, a state-run news agency voicing the opinions of the Iranian government, which highlighted Mr. Rouhanis remarks on its web page.

Mr. Khatami, a reformist, led the country from 1997 to 2005, winning office twice by overwhelming margins. Under the ban issued by judiciary officials, no Iranian news outlet of any sort is permitted to mention his name or show his photograph.
BEITIN, West Bank  Children are watching television all night and lolling in pajamas until late afternoon. Parents are scraping together savings to hire tutors. Day care centers have extended their hours. Laith Zeidan, 17, is spending his days working in his uncles carwash because, as he put it, my dad said I had to stay off the streets.

Public schools across the West Bank have been shuttered since Feb. 7, in an unprecedented teacher strike against the ossifying Palestinian government. A dispute that began with the teachers demand for a pay raise has spiraled into the largest demonstrations in the West Bank in years, and a broad challenge to the Palestinian Authority, which is facing a severe budget shortfall and has responded with threats of arrests and mass firings.

The strike was organized through social media under a hashtag that translates to #dignity_for_teachers, and is a protest against the educators official union as well as the government. Palestinian leaders have refused to speak to the groups representatives, and are accused of forcing a Palestinian legislator who tried to mediate an end to the crisis into early retirement.

On Monday, as the latest demonstration raged in Ramallah, the West Bank city that is the seat of the Palestinian government, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah issued a statement saying he hoped to soon reach an agreement, though he did not provide any specifics.
In chunky glasses and a comfy cardigan decorated with a carrot brooch, Questlove looked like your favorite uncle as he worked the crowd at his food salon.

The 45-year-old musician and D.J., whose birth name is Ahmir Thompson, hosts one every few months. On a recent night, it was in his Lower Manhattan apartment building and he had invited enough famous actors, writers and musicians to make a TMZ reporter weep. (Was that the musical director for Hamilton? Is FKA Twigs in the bathroom? Has Gayle King shown up yet?)

Its very Playboy After Dark, said Al Roker, the television personality who was leaning against a wall enjoying a cocktail.

Mr. Thompson kept edging toward the little kitchen, where the chefs equivalent of a jam session was in full swing. Marcus Samuelsson handed him a slice of pickled lotus root topped with Arctic char tartare.
For those who believe the violence is the product of some intrinsic aspect of South American culture, the Brazilian case is instructive. In 1982, the homicide rate in Rio de Janeiro was on a par with New York Citys, at 23 per 100,000 inhabitants. Seven years later, while New Yorks had shown a modest rise, Rios had jumped to 63 per 100,000 inhabitants, a threefold increase that prefaced an even greater blood bath in the 1990s. During those seven years, Brazil had become the central transit country for cocaine heading across the Atlantic to Europe. The Colombian cocaine cartels were desperate to find new sales for their product once the North American market had reached a saturation point in the early 1980s.

By the mid-1980s, the astonishing profits accrued from the prohibited commodity enabled the relatively benign criminal gangs that had always existed in Rios slums, or favelas, to equip themselves with frighteningly potent weapons. These were enough first to challenge and then to outgun Rios police.

Grillo charts the fascinating rise of Rios oldest and most powerful drug gang, the Comando Vermelho, or the Red Commando. In the 1970s, common criminals from the citys favelas were locked up during the military dictatorship in the Candido Mendes prison on Ilha Grande, which lies an hours boat ride from the coast west of Rio. Here they mingled with the guerrillas who had taken up arms against the generals, learning the strategic value of planning, organization and solidarity. Grillo tells the story of William da Silva Lima, a former bank robber known now as the Teacher, who escaped from Ilha Grande in 1980 and returned to his favela, taking the Red Commando from the cellblock to the ghetto. The Red Commando used revolutionary terms to describe its activities: Robberies became expropriations, and a gang became a liberation group. Once cocaine entered the equation, the Brazilian state was confronted by one of its most formidable opponents in history.

As Grillo unfolds the complex and often gruesome stories of the drug trade, it becomes clear that this terror is comprehensible. It is the result of ossified policies  chief among them the so-called War on Drugs  that are wholly inappropriate for a globalized world. Grillo and his compatriot, Tom Wainwright, an editor at The Economist and the author of Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel, belong to a growing band of writers who seek out the testimony of criminals in order to better understand the rational calculation that often underpins the violence. The economic weight of transnational organized crime  not to mention its devastating political and social impact  is so considerable that without this testimony, we simply cannot grasp what is going on.

It is an exhausting and often nerve-racking job, but Grillo in particular scores some spectacular successes, notably his long conversation with a gunman for one of Kingstons most notorious or (depending on your point of view) celebrated drug lords, the appropriately named Christopher Coke, more commonly known in Jamaica as Dudus. Grillos descriptions of a don system that trains and directs assassins evoke the wild world of the film The Harder They Come, the story of a well-meaning country boy who slides into a life of violence.
ATLANTA (AP)  A longtime friend of Harper Lee says he is writing a book on the Pulitzer-Prize winning author who wrote the American classic "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Wayne Flynt told The Associated Press on Saturday that he expects the book, a mix of memoir and biography, to be finished by the end of the year. Lee died last month at the age of 89.

Flynt, who is a history professor, says he's known Lee for about 35 years.

Flynt eulogized Lee in a ceremony at the First United Methodist Church on Feb. 21. At the time, Flynt said he delivered a eulogy that Lee specifically requested years ago. The eulogy was a tribute Flynt gave in 2006 when Lee won the Birmingham Pledge Foundation Award for racial justice.
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LOS ANGELES  Authorities said a man died and at least 10 other people were injured in a shooting at a warehouse party in Compton.

The shooting, which occurred before dawn Sunday inside a warehouse where up to 150 people were attending a party, was gang related, Los Angeles television station KTLA reported.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said one man was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

It said seven of the injured were transported to hospitals by Compton and Los Angeles fire departments and that the rest used personal transportation to get to a hospital.

Investigators said more than one gunman may have been involved.

No arrests have been reported.
AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden began a Mideast tour Monday vowing that the United States and its allies would destroy and squeeze the heart of the Islamic State group, while thanking both American airmen and Emirati troops.

Biden spoke before hundreds of airmen as jets roared down the runway at Al-Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi, a main launching point for operations in Syria and Iraq targeting the Islamic State group.

The Emirates is one of the most important U.S. military and political allies in the Persian Gulf. It is also a major commercial hub that includes the business-friendly port city of Dubai.

Flanked by an F-22 Raptor and an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, Biden applauded Emirati authorities for their stepped up and expanded role in the anti-IS campaign.

You capture the images that provide us with intelligence we need to target the enemy to protect our forces, Biden said, as unarmed drones sat and taxied on the runway outside near radar planes and refueling aircraft.

You control the skies of Iraq and Syria. As a matter of fact, you all control the skies in the whole damn world, Biden added to cheers from the gathered airmen.

The seven-state Emirates federation, which includes the Gulf commercial center of Dubai, is one of the largest oil producers in OPEC. It hosts regional offices for numerous American companies in industries including aerospace, energy, technology and hospitality. Dubai state-owned airline Emirates is the largest operator of Chicago-based Boeing Co.s 777 wide-body jet.

Bidens remarks, however, did not touch on the worries of Emiratis and Saudi Arabia over regional Shiite power Iran. Tensions between allied Sunni Arab countries and the Islamic Republic have been high since January, when Saudi officials executed a Shiite cleric and protesters later overran two of the kingdoms diplomatic posts in Iran.

Saudi Arabia and the Emirates also are involved in a war in Yemen against Shiite rebels there who have received Iranian support, raising fears of a regional war. This has drawn some support away from the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State militants.

On the trip, Biden is scheduled to meet with Abu Dhabis crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is the federations vice president and prime minister.

Despite the regional challenges, Biden struck an upbeat tone, applauding the U.S. troops sacrifices while vowing to destroy the Islamic State group, which he dismissed as criminals and cowards.

We have to squeeze the heart of Daesh in Iraq and Syria so they cant continue to pump their poison in the region and around the world, Biden said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

The Emirates is the first stop on a regional tour that will also take in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His wife, Jill, is accompanying him.

The trip will include talks on U.S. economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said.

Biden is not expected to offer any new initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he travels to Israel and the West Bank. The White House has said it does not believe either side has the political will for reviving the peace process as the last year of President Barack Obamas administration winds down.

Earlier Monday, Biden visited Abu Dhabis Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, pausing outside to remove his black dress shoes in keeping with Islamic custom.

He examined a wall in the ornate mosque bearing the 99 names of God written in Arabic before stepping outside to wave at visiting tourists kept a short distance away.

Accompanying Biden on the mosque tour was its director-general, Yousif Abdallah Alobaidli, and Minister of State Reem al-Hashimi.

Biden also visited Masdar City, a government-backed clean energy campus on the capitals outskirts, taking a few moments to talk to Shefaa Mansour, a student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studying at the affiliated Masdar Institute.

He later looked at a model of a desalination plant, something crucial to the Emirates, which experts warn may run out of groundwater in the next 15 years. Emirati Minister of State Sultan al-Jaber handed him a bottle of water made at the plant.

The vice president looked at it, then smiled.

Now make sure Im still standing, he said. Watch what happens when I take the first sip. Im more energized.

Biden took a drink, paused for a moment and added: Do you need a partner? Im out of a job soon.

Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
LONDON  Police said a man has been charged with illegally climbing aboard a plane at Heathrow Airport.

The Metropolitan Police force said 38-year-old Louis Pedro Verdasca dos Santos Costa, of west London, has been charged with unlawfully being airside and unlawfully being on an aircraft.

He is due to appear in court next week. The incident, which occurred Saturday, is not believed to be terror-related.

British media reports said the man locked himself in the cockpit of an empty British Airways jet, where security officers struggled to reach him through the reinforced door, designed to protect pilots in case of attempted hijacking.

British Airways said Sunday it couldnt comment because someone had been charged in the case.

Heathrow said it was working with police and kept security under constant review.
IRVINE  Corria Thompson remembers sitting down with her parents to talk about the murder of Emmett Till, an African American teenager, in 1955. She remembers growing up in South Carolina at a time when she had to ride in the back of the bus and drink at a separate drinking fountain.

A lot has improved for black people, said Thompson, a 69-year-old Irvine resident. But so many bad things have happened to black people lately, like these shootings, and it jars you. It feels like the hate from back then is bubbling up again.

On Sunday, Thompson said she was hopeful for a better future as she worshiped alongside white parishioners at a service for members of both RockHarbor Church in Mission Viejo, a predominantly white church, and Christ Our Redeemer, an African Methodist Episcopal church in Irvine.

More than 900 people attended each of the two services.

The churches have been working together to consciously bridge racial gaps, embrace diversity and create unity in the Christian Church.

In January, Christ Our Redeemers the Rev. Mark Whitlock gave a sermon at RockHarbor.

On Sunday, it was RockHarbors Pastor Chad Halliburtons turn to do the same at Christ Our Redeemer.

My hope is that black churches and white churches come together for the purposes of racial reconciliation, Whitlock said between services. Heaven is fully integrated, and its time for churches to move away from racial segregation. Its not purposeful that we are racially segregated, but we must purposefully integrate churches, and we can do it by inviting other churches to come in and worship.

Thompson said the service Sunday made her hopeful for just that.

It gives me hope for a future that looks different than the past, she said. I hope more churches choose to come together and not just after tragic events like the shooting in Charleston last year or the KKK rally in Anaheim.

On June 17, nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., were killed by a 21-year-old gunman hoping to start a race war. In Anaheim on Feb. 27, three people were stabbed and 12 were arrested at a rally held by Ku Klux Klan members in Pearson Park.

The churches were planning to get together before the KKK rally took place.

Rachel Doroski, a volunteer from RockHarbor, has been working to unite the churches since she first attended Christ Our Redeemer last July.

She was motivated to attend and support the congregation after the Charleston shooting.

Doroski has passionately worked to bridge diversity gaps in the church since.

Now, Whitlock and Halliburton are friends. In fact, Whitlock started the service by introducing Halliburton as his brother from another mother.

Whitlock then talked about the KKK rally.

Evil was here just last week in Anaheim, California  but look what God did the next Sunday, Whitlock said with his hands in the air and smiling.

God brought people together who are holding hands and worshiping.

People from both congregations moved to the front of the room, holding hands and hugging during the prayer.

The rest of the service was filled with the same reverence and the message of unity.

I loved it, said Maygin Rye, a member of RockHarbor.

I think its important that all of us are going out of our little bubbles, said Rye, 32 of Mission Viejo. There are no color lines, there are no race lines, there are no denomination lines. Were just worshiping together.

Halliburton and Whitlock said they hope Sundays service resonates with others.

It sends a message around Orange County and around the country that hate will not defeat love, Whitlock said.

In spite of our colors, our cultures and the conditions of our community, we will love each other.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in the seventh Democratic presidential debate on Sunday night in Flint, Mich,. The citys well-publicized water problems framed a largely (although not entirely) polite conversation a marked contrast to the battle royales on the Republican side of late.

Winners

Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State came ready to fight on Sunday night. She kept her hit on Sanderss opposition to the auto bailout well hidden in the run-up to the debate in order to get maximum impact when she dropped it on his head. Ditto her attack on him being the long Democrat to vote against the Export-Import bank. She is still not great when it comes to answering questions she doesnt want to answer. Her Ill-release-my-Wall-Street-speeches-when-everyone-else-does answer to a question on her high-paid speaking gigs was, still, not very good. And, she remains overly cautious as a candidate; when pressed whether people at the Environmental Protection Agency should lose their jobs over what happened in Flint, Clinton was unwilling to say they should  a swing and a miss at a hanging curveball. Still, overall, this was a very solid showing by Clinton. On guns, on failing schools and on Flint, she was confident and effective.

President Barack Obama: It seemed as though no matter what Clinton was asked about in the debate, her answer wound back to a defense of the current occupant of the White House. Clinton even used Obama as a shield against Sanders as he bashed her on accepting money from Wall Street. Why? Because Clinton knows that among Democratic base voters  particularly African Americans  Obama remains hugely popular and, therefore, aligning yourself with him is a stone-cold winner.

The Export-Import Bank: A 10-minute discussion about an obscure bank almost no one has ever heard of? I take that as a win for Ex-Im. Also, the Export-Import Bank is now the second most famous bank in the world  right behind the Iron Bank of Braavos.

Losers

Bernie Sanders: The Vermont Senator had effectively walked a fine line in the previous six debates when it came to attacking Clinton without coming across as either bullying or condescending. He tripped and fell while trying to execute that delicate dance on Sunday night. Sanderss excuse me, Im talking rebuttal to Clinton hinted at the fact that he was losing his temper with her. His can I finish please retort ensured that his tone and his approach to someone trying to become the first female presidential nominee in either party would be the story of the night.

Put aside the fact that Sanders misstepped on tone, he also did nothing to change the underlying dynamics of the race. If you think Wall Street is the problem for much of what ails the country, you were for Sanders before this debate and certainly for him after it too. But, as we know from the first 40 percent or so of states that have voted, there arent enough of those people to make him the nominee. Sanders didnt knock Clinton off her game in any meaningful way, making the debate a loss for him. (Sidebar: His answer about white people not knowing what it is like to live in a ghetto or be poor would have been a massive gaffe if he was not as far behind in the delegate chase as he is.)

Foreign policy: There were a total of zero minutes dedicated to questions beyond Americas borders in the debate. I get that with the Flint setting this was going to be a largely domestic policy-focused affair. But, NO foreign policy questions? A little odd.

The 1990s: Look, it was an awkward time for all of us. Much of the debates middle section featured Sanders trying to hit Clinton for various things  the crime bill, welfare reform, NAFTA  that happened in the 1990s. Clinton effectively parried them, pointing out that the 2016 election will be about the future, not the past.
STOCKHOLM  The United Nations lead official on climate change says the next U.N. leader should be a woman, but she has no plans to seek the job.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, says a female candidate should succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he finishes his second term this year.

But when asked whether she could be that woman, the 59-year-old Costa Rican diplomat told The Associated Press on Monday it was not within my plans.

Figueres role in shaping last years long-awaited Paris Agreement to fight climate change has raised her international profile.

Four men and three other women so far have been nominated for the post. Although the U.N. nomination system observes no fixed rule, many diplomats take the view that its Eastern Europes turn to receive the top post under an informal rotation system. Six of the existing candidates are from Eastern Europe.

Figueres says she hasnt decided what to do after she leaves her job in July after six years in charge.

The Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank, listed Figueres among its women to watch in the race for secretary-general, while Vogue magazine called her one of the most promising potential candidates.

Jean Krasno, a City College of New York professor who oversees a campaign to elect a woman as the next U.N. leader, described Figueres as exactly the kind of secretary-general that we need, (someone) who can broker global agreements.

Figueres said its about time that a woman gets the job.

And I have no doubt that there will be strong candidates to compete for that responsibility, she said in a telephone interview from her office in Bonn, Germany.

She took the helm of U.N. climate change policy in 2010 at a low point following an acrimonious summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, that failed to produce an envisioned landmark agreement to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.

I very quickly realized that the tone had to change, Figueres said.

Citing her motto of Impossible is not a fact, its an attitude, she set out to persuade government, business and civic leaders to keep their faith that diplomacy could rein in climate-changing pollution.

Chances for a deal improved in November 2014 when the worlds top greenhouse gas polluters, China and the United States, jointly announced efforts to control their emissions. Figueres said she could see, by early 2015, that a global pact would be possible in Paris.

My efforts no longer went into getting the agreement  but rather to increasing the ambition of the deal, she said.

The Paris Agreement sets a collective goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

The pact requires all countries to submit plans for climate action and to update them every five years, though such plans are not legally binding.

Figueres called the agreement impressively ambitious and delivery of its central goals should not be taken for granted.

They are definitely a stretch for most countries if not all, she said.

The Paris Agreement must be ratified by at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions to enter into force. World leaders have been invited to the U.N. headquarters in New York for a signing ceremony April 22.
ANAHEIM  A driver killed in a Saturday night crash on the connector from the southbound 57 Freeway to the westbound 91 Freeway was a 19-year-old man from Downey.

Authorities say a Toyota Sequoia veered off the roadway at an undetermined time overnight, striking a palm tree. The Toyota overturned, landing on its roof.

The California Highway Patrol did not name the driver. Officers said the Toyota was transitioning from one freeway to the other at a high speed and left the roadway for undetermined reasons. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

The CHP asked for anyone with information about the collision to call 714-567-6000.

Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
JERUSALEM  Saying he wants to save Jewish lives, the leader of the Israeli opposition is proposing to divide Jerusalem with more high walls and checkpoints, effectively banishing 200,000 Palestinian residents from the city.

The proposal by Isaac Herzog, formally adopted last month by the Labor Party, imagines building miles of new concrete barriers and smart fences to separate 28 Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from Jewish neighborhoods and Jewish settlements in the city.

Even a discussion of carving up Jerusalem can stir apocalyptic warnings  illustrating the explosive potential of floating plans to change a status quo in an ancient city where three of the worlds major religions lay claim.

Yet Herzog, who describes his plan as were here and theyre there, says the walls must be built inside the city to stop Palestinians from killing Israeli Jews in knife, gun and car attacks.

The plan would transform vast stretches of Jerusalem from a demographically divided but physically contiguous metropolis into an archipelago of sectarian cantons served by roads and tunnels designed for either Israelis or Palestinians.

If the Herzog plan were to be implemented, Israel would reduce the Muslim population of Jerusalem from more than a third of the city today to about 10 percent.

They will put us behind a wall and say that 200,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem need a special permit to visit al-Aqsa mosque? That is a religious war, said Aziz Oubid, co-owner of an auto parts store in the Palestinian neighborhood of Issawiya just a few miles from the Old City.

They cant be that crazy, he said.

Palestinians complain that the Herzog plan is impractical, radical and racist  that it amounts to collective punishment for hundreds of thousands of Arabs for the actions of a few dozen assailants, and would separate lifelong residents of Jerusalem, both Muslim and Christian, from their jobs, schools, hospitals and holy places.

We are more than suspicious. Even talking like this increases the frustration, increases the anger, said Darwish Darwish, the traditional leader, known as muhktar, of the Issawiya neighborhood.

Darwish agreed that if the Palestinians someday were given their own state, his village would probably end up on the Palestinian side of a new border  and he said he supports that. What he doesnt support is being pushed out of Jerusalem before he has a state.

Herzog is telling Palestinians of East Jerusalem that we dont give a damn about them, said Daniel Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, a group that tracks development in the city.

The threat to Jewish Jerusalem isnt the Palestinians, Seidemann said. Its the occupation.

Herzogs plan would face many obstacles, not the least of which is that the Labor Party leader would have to be in the government, which he failed to do in the last election.

Herzog says that his plan is part of a broader effort to preserve the viability of a two-state solution, whereby Palestinians might be awarded their own country in the future. He said a lack of Palestinian leadership and ongoing violence means peace talks must wait.

Herzog said the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that were taken over from Jordan after the 1967 war were never intended to remain part of Israel.

Theyre Palestinians, theyre not Israelis, he said, describing East Jerusalem as a no-mans land.

Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem are immediately recognizable. In Issawiya, for example, there are flags flying for Palestinian political factions and the walls are covered with graffiti celebrating Palestinian martyrs  assailants who were shot and killed while attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Palestinians here hold Jerusalem residency cards, which allow them to work anywhere in Israel; they pay taxes and receive Israeli Social Security benefits and medical care.

But were not Israelis, said Montaz Alian, a shopkeeper. He complained that just last month, Israeli soldiers pounded on his door at 3 a.m. and demanded to know how many people lived in the house.

The proposal to divide the city stands in stark contrast to almost 50 years of assertions by Israelis that Jerusalem must not be carved up again  but stand as a solemn promise as the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish people.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said anyone who thinks it possible to divide Jerusalem was suffering from delusions. He said the infrastructure, transport and economy were too intertwined to make dividing the city possible.

Yet many Israelis say Barkats united Jerusalem is a myth, though they are divided over whether the Palestinians in East Jerusalem should be pushed into the West Bank to areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, as Herzog advocates.

In a poll released Sunday, more than 60 percent of Israelis described Jerusalem as a divided city rather than a unified capital, according the Israel Democracy Institute.

Herzog, a veteran lawmaker who lost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the last election, told The Washington Post that the 28 Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem include villages that most Israelis have never heard of.

The new wave of terror exposed the growth of a young Palestinian generation that has nothing to do with Israel, he said. They are brainwashed by the Palestinian Authority and its teachers and what shocked many Israelis is situation where young Palestinians from those villages come over and stab Israelis with no reason and no justification and there should be no mercy on terror.

Herzog charged that Palestinian youths have their fun in the afternoon killing Jews.

Twenty-nine Israelis, alongside an American and three others, have been killed by the Palestinians in the last five months; about 116 Palestinians have been shot dead during the attacks; another 52 have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

About a third of the Palestinian attackers have come from East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Israels domestic security service has arrested more than 1,900 Palestinians from East Jerusalem during the current wave of violence; Israel forces erected checkpoints into neighborhoods such as Issawiya and also blocked Palestinians from praying at the al-Aqsa mosque.

Herzog said, To cool off, you need to separate, and that means putting up a barrier.
Several Orange County law enforcement agencies and the elected officials who oversee them say a state law requiring cities and counties to disclose the use of technology that can surreptitiously sweep up cellphone data doesnt, at least for now, apply to them.

That stance appears at odds with the view of the senator who wrote the law. He maintains every local California agency that owns, uses, operates or receives information from such surveillance equipment should have had publicly adopted rules governing the sensitive telecommunication intercept programs by Jan. 1.

The intent of the law, said Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is to better inform the public about the program and clarify accountability for deployment and oversight of the systems, which have been the subject of civil liberties lawsuits.

Critics contend that information from large numbers of innocent bystanders can be collected by the equipment and that legal reviews of the technologys use arent rigorous enough.

Police officials argue the systems are essential to tracking suspected terrorists and dangerous criminals, and a judge must give prior approval for their use in all but emergency cases.

The devices, developed to help federal agents in overseas operations, can trick mobile phones into connecting to them instead of wireless telecommunications towers. Police then can collect phone numbers, location data and other unspecified information from the phones.

Federal agencies and the manufacturers have pressured local officials to keep details about the technology secret.

To date, no Orange County agency has fully complied with the states disclosure requirements, critics assert.

After the Register reported on the new state law month, the Anaheim Police Department, which owns and operates the intercept equipment for Orange County police agencies, quietly posted a brief, two-page policy on its website that explains when and how it intends to deploy these surveillance systems.

But that policy hasnt been publicly debated and approved by the City Council as the law requires and has several shortcomings, critics said.

Anaheim has used the equipment to aid investigators from other jurisdictions, including the Orange County Sheriffs Department and Brea and Buena Park police departments.

Officials representing those agencies argue that theyre not currently using the technology or that only Anaheim  as owner and operator of the systems  is required to comply with the state law.

TIMING AN ISSUE

The County does not own or operate cellular surveillance equipment, said an email from Jean O. Pasco, spokeswoman for the county of Orange, which oversees the Sheriffs Department.

Should that change in the future, the County will comply with all applicable policy and notification requirements.

Buena Park police Chief Corey S. Sianez told the Register his department turned to the technology  widely called stingray in reference to brand name StingRay  for only one investigation: a 2014 serial robbery case.

If we do intend to use their technology in the future, I assure you that we will abide by the requirements of the legislation, Sianez said in a statement.

Brea City Manager Bill Gallardo said the city hasnt asked Anaheim for stingray help since the law took effect. He also emphasized Brea has never owned or operated the cellphone intercept equipment.

Officials with the dozen cities that hire the Sheriffs Department to provide police services gave similar responses  except for one.

Ed Sachs, a city councilman in Mission Viejo, said hed have no issue with investigators using stingrays, as long as certain criteria were met.

That would include, he said, first obtaining a warrant from a judge and limiting the tracking to a specific cellphone, as well as discarding any data captured from other phones.

He also wants a full public disclosure of the devices use that allows for public input and to ensure compliance with constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

Sachs said he plans to raise the issue at Tuesdays City Council meeting. If the equipment is or could be used in Mission Viejo, I would consider starting a process to understand how we could look at a disclosure policy for the city, Sachs said. I am but one vote, he added.

Thats more in line with how Hill says he intended the disclosure law to work.

LAWMAKERS INTENT

Hill and civil-liberties advocates say the laws use of the terms own, use and operate have been misinterpreted by some agencies.

If the technology is to be used in a community by a local agency, the law applies, said Hill. It doesnt matter whether the local agency operating the technology or the jurisdiction it serves owns the technology, the law applies.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing Anaheim police to force the release of more information on stingray use, agrees.

Stingrays are a powerful spying tool that government can easily abuse, for example, through high-tech racial profiling, said Jessica Price, one of the lead ACLU attorneys involved in the ongoing lawsuit against Anaheim.

Any agency that makes use of a stingray and the information that the device gathers  no matter whos at the controls  needs its own policy to safeguard every person and piece of information that might be affected.

If the neighboring agencies spy on people with a stingray again, with or without the help of the Anaheim Police Department, they need a privacy policy, Price said.

Critics say Anaheims recently posted policy is flawed, in part because it was never publicly debated or voted on by council members.

If cellphone intercept technology is going to be used by a local agency in a community, then the residents of that community should be able to participate in a public process about whether the technology is used in that community, Hill said.

OVER-THE-TOP

An official with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which supports more transparency on stingray use, said it was good that Anaheim released some kind of policy. But it fails to include some key elements mandated by the new state law, said Dave Maass, an investigative researcher with the digital-rights organization.

The shortcomings include failing to indicate which outside police agencies have operating agreements for its use and clear rules on when collected data are to be purged.

EFF is also concerned that parts of the policy are unreasonably restrictive. For instance, the advocacy group takes issue with the section that forbids any member of the police agency from disclosing stingray information or records deemed privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law.

It seems a little over-the-top, Maass said. There should not be a blanket ban to talk about this.

Anaheim says it has done everything its required to do under Hills legislation, SB741, as its stingray was acquired years ago.

This law took effect January 1st and does not have retroactive application to activity occurring prior to that date, Anaheim spokeswoman Ruth Ruiz said by email. As required by this law, a policy has been prepared by the Anaheim Police Department and is posted on its website. At this time SB 741 does not require further action, nor City Council consideration.

A MODEL POLICY

Alameda County became the first in California to publicly debate and approve a policy on stingray use. That was before the new law took effect.

In 2014, Northern California law enforcement officials quietly sought to buy new and improved stingray equipment with a $535,000 federal homeland security grant, according to a grant application obtained by the ACLU under the states Public Records Act. The technology was to be made available to all police agencies in a 12-county region of the Bay Area.

Citizens demanded more information, but little was forthcoming because of a strict nondisclosure agreement with the manufacturer.

Boisterous debates followed in several public sessions at the Alameda County board of supervisors. In November, the county settled on a compromise that was acceptable to law enforcement and civil libertarians alike.

That policy requires the cellphone intercept technology to remain in the custody and control of the District Attorneys Office. Its to be used only when authorized by a search warrant signed by a judicial officer.

Its not to function as a GPS locator or be used to capture emails, texts, contact lists, images or any other data contained on the phone, including the account holders name, address or telephone number.

All data must be deleted as soon as that device is located and no less than once daily, the policy states.

The District Attorneys Office is charged with conducting audits every six months to ensure that data is deleted.

Accountability is an essential element in maintaining the integrity of the use of this technology by the District Attorneys Office, Alamedas policy states. Critics have called it the most comprehensive cellphone interceptor privacy policy in the country.

Contact the writer: lleung@ocregister.com and tsforza@ocregister.com
WASHINGTON  An American company that bills itself as a pioneer in tracking emerging epidemics made a series of costly mistakes during the 2014 Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africa  with employees feuding with fellow responders, contributing to misdiagnosed Ebola cases and repeatedly misreading the trajectory of the virus, an Associated Press investigation has found.

San Francisco-based Metabiota Inc. was tapped by the Sierra Leonean government and the World Health Organization to help monitor the spread of the virus and support the response after Ebola was discovered circulating in neighboring Guinea in March 2014. But emails obtained by AP and interviews with aid workers on the ground show that some of the companys actions made an already chaotic situation worse.

WHO outbreak expert Dr. Eric Bertherat wrote to colleagues in a July 17, 2014, email about misdiagnoses and total confusion at the Sierra Leone government lab Metabiota shared with Tulane University in the city of Kenema. He said there was no tracking of the samples and absolutely no control on what is being done.

This is a situation that WHO can no longer endorse, he wrote.

Metabiota chief executive officer and founder Nathan Wolfe said there was no evidence his company was responsible for the lab blunders, that the reported squabbles were overblown and that any predictions made by his employees didnt reflect the companys position. He said Metabiota doesnt specialize in outbreak response and that his employees stepped in to help and performed admirably amid the carnage of the worlds biggest-ever Ebola outbreak.

Metabiotas team worked tirelessly, skillfully and at substantial potential danger to themselves to assist when most of the world was still ignoring the problem, he said in an email. We are proud of our team efforts which went above and beyond the call of duty.

Wolfe said some of the problems flagged were misunderstandings  and that others were planted by commercial rivals.

The complaints about Metabiota mirror the wider mismanagement that hamstrung the worlds response to Ebola, a disease that has killed upward of 11,000 people. Previous AP reporting has shown that WHO resisted sounding the alarm over Ebola for two months on political, religious and economic grounds and failed to put together a decisive response even after the alert was issued. The turmoil that followed left health workers in Kenema bereft of protective equipment or even body bags and using expired chlorine, a crucial disinfectant.

WHO said Metabiota was well-placed to help when Ebola broke out in West Africa because of its expertise with Lassa, a related disease. The agency declined to give any detail about how it dealt with the complaints from senior staff about the firm or the status of their current relationship.

In Sierra Leone, Sylvia Blyden, who served as special executive assistant to the countrys president in the early days of the outbreak, said Metabiotas response was a disaster.

They messed up the entire region, she said. She called Metabiotas attempt to claim credit for its Ebola work an insult for the memories of thousands of Africans who have died.



THE VIRAL STORM

Wolfe, a swashbuckling scientist sometimes described as the Indiana Jones of virology, has focused his companys work on disease hotspots like West Africa in a bid to sniff out the next big threat. In his book, The Viral Storm, Wolfe writes that his work is aimed at hunting down the first moments at the birth of a new pandemic to prevent its global spread.

With a doctorate in immunology and infectious diseases from Harvard, Wolfe, 45, has found some serious backers. Metabiota and its nonprofit sister company Global Viral have received millions in funding from USAID, Google and the Skoll Foundation, among others. The Department of Defense alone has granted more than $18 million worth of contracts to the firm, federal records show.

In the early months of the outbreak, with WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thin on the ground, Metabiota said it stepped in to help at the request of the Sierra Leonean government.

An account posted to its website says Metabiota provided critical support in the earliest days of the outbreak, organizing training, jointly running Sierra Leones Ebola laboratory, assisting with outbreak logistics and producing daily reports for the government.

Messages saved to ProMed, a mailing list for outbreak watchers, are upbeat, describing Metabiotas tests and how it was teaching Sierra Leoneans how to set up Ebola isolation wards. On May 12, senior Metabiota scientist Dr. Jean-Paul Gonzalez said preparedness work had ultimately protected, or at least uniquely prepared, Sierra Leone.

But there were already reports of suspected infections in the country and, within weeks, the virus tore through Sierra Leone, overwhelming the hospital in Kenema where Metabiota shared the 700-square-foot (65-square-meter) lab with Tulane.

To some at Tulane, which had a long-established research project at the lab, Metabiotas missteps were predictable. The two groups worked side-by-side in an uneasy relationship that observers said sometimes tipped into open conflict.

Tulane microbiology professor Bob Garry questioned whether Gonzalez was the right person to teach Sierra Leoneans how to protect themselves from Ebola. In 1994, the French researcher was at the center of a safety scare at Yale University after he accidentally infected himself with the rare Sabia virus and didnt notify officials there for more than a week. The university put more than 100 people under surveillance and ordered Gonzalez to take a remedial safety course. Garry said that should have raised a red flag.

Do you really want the person who infected himself with hemorrhagic fever going around explaining to people how to be safe? he asked.

Gonzalez referred questions to a Metabiota press representative, who said in an email that the incident happened more than 20 years ago and that Gonzalez has extensive lab safety experience.

But Garry also faced questions; the WHO emails obtained by AP complaining about the Kenema lab are as critical of Tulane as they are of Metabiota.

Garry acknowledged mistakes but said they were understandable given the chaotic circumstances.

We didnt have the personnel and the infrastructure that was needed to handle the onslaught of cases that were coming, he said. We were doing the best we had with what we had there.



THEY WERE AT WAR

As the death toll mounted in July, scientists from WHO, the United States and Canada were voicing concerns about what Metabiota and its Tulane colleagues were doing at the Kenema lab, according to the emails obtained by AP and interviews with those on the ground at the time.

When Gary Kobinger, head of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada, double-checked some of the facilitys work in mid-July, he found worrying discrepancies in four of eight tests and identified up to five people wrongly diagnosed with Ebola, among them a worker with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Kobinger told AP in a telephone interview that the misdiagnoses he caught suggested many more had gone unnoticed.

If you detect two, three, four, five, how many are out there? he said.

The mistakes were doubly dangerous in a country where many mistrusted international workers, who were suspected of spreading Ebola deliberately, said Bertherat, the WHO outbreak expert. Attempts to reassure a jittery public could be totally ruined if the population does not trust anymore in the diagnostic of the medical teams, he wrote in an email.

Bertherat proposed two fixes for the problematic lab: WHO could either train Metabiota and Tulane staffers, or close down the facility and transfer all testing to another lab. He told his boss on July 18, 2014, that shutting down the shared lab was the more prudent option.

Five days later, Geneva-based WHO staffer Pat Drury emailed the agencys chief, Dr. Margaret Chan, with criticism of both Tulane and Metabiota, referring to their shared facility as two labs.

Both labs do not meet international standards for Biosecurity, he said, adding that several patients have been wrongly tested positive.

Metabiota founder Wolfe said we did wonderful lab work as far as Im concerned. Errors in the shared facility stopped once other groups were pulled from the testing and, in any case, he noted that Metabiota tested over 1,800 samples. Even if any mistakes were made, he said the error rates were well within ranges seen elsewhere.

Wolfe did not name the other groups, but documents and interviews show Metabiota and Tulane blamed each other.

On the surface, they were collaborating, Kobinger said. But in reality, they were at war.

U.S. health official Austin Demby, who was sent to evaluate the labs work at the request of the CDC and Sierra Leone, said initial diagnostic tests carried out by Metabiota and Tulane clashed as often as 30 percent of the time. Errors raised the risk that the virus could be spread further by sending infected patients home or confining otherwise healthy people to infectious Ebola wards.

In a July 21 email to CDC and State Department officials, Demby put the blame at Tulanes door, saying Metabiotas tests were always closer to the mark and that Tulanes add no real value to the diagnosis. But Tulanes Garry said Metabiotas staff stirred confusion by not following protocol.

Wolfe said that was simply false.

The labs set-up also was worrisome. Used needles littered the place, according to a worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because the worker was not authorized to speak to the media. Demby said in his email that the lab lacked an ultraviolet light for decontamination and didnt have enough space to process blood samples safely.

The cross contamination potential is huge and quite frankly unacceptable, he wrote.

Tulane pulled the plug on its tests soon thereafter and the labs results improved. Kobinger credited Metabiota researcher Nadia Wauquier  the hero of that whole gang  with tightening procedures, but eventually the company was relieved of its testing duties and the CDC took over. Both Tulane and Metabiota say they stepped aside voluntarily.



THEY ARE SENDING WRONG MESSAGES

Outside the lab, the training touted by Metabiota unnerved some fellow responders.

Anja Wolz, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, told AP in an interview that she saw Metabiota workers enter the homes of suspected Ebola patients without protective gear and without decontaminating themselves before leaving high-risk areas.

They didnt even have chlorine with them to wash their hands, she said, adding that Metabiota project coordinator James Bangura told her they didnt need the critical disinfectant.

I didnt go inside the Metabiota lab, she said. I refused to go because I had already seen enough.

In a telephone interview, Bangura denied flouting safety measures.

Aid workers also complained that Metabiota employees including Bangura and a Ugandan consultant hijacked the outbreak response in Kenema, which was supposed to be directed by WHO.

Metabiota staffers are systematically obstructing any attempt to improve the existing surveillance system and there are a lot of improvement(s) needed, WHO Ebola coordinator Philippe Barboza said in an August 8, 2014, email. The next day, he argued that WHO should pull its outbreak staff from Kenema so they wouldnt be tarred with Metabiotas failures, writing he was very concerned of the potential reputational risk for WHO.

British disease expert Chris Lane echoed Barbozas concerns. In a message to Barboza, he lamented that much good work was achieved prior to the arrival of the Metabiota field staff.

Barboza and Lane declined comment on the arguments. Metabiota officials acknowledged the dispute but downplayed it.

It is inaccurate to suggest a major conflict between WHO and Metabiota, Wolfe said, noting that Bangura was awarded a Sierra Leonean presidential silver medal for his Ebola efforts.

Nevertheless, the disagreement was serious enough that Metabiota said it fired the consultant and pulled Bangura from Kenema.

The consequences went beyond office politics. In one email, Barboza said 1 million euros in funding proposed by the International Rescue Committee was being held up because the donors wanted a clear WHO leadership.

Some responders said one of the most disturbing mistakes Metabiota employees made was misreading the epidemic.

Wolz, of Doctors Without Borders, said she recalled a meeting in the early summer as cases began multiplying when I said that the outbreak was completely out of control. She said Metabiota responded, No, we know where we are, everything is OK.

Kobinger, the Canadian scientist, said Bangura would interpret temporary dips in the number of cases to mean that the outbreak was dissipating. He said he couldnt fathom that reasoning given the number of Ebola-positive samples pouring into his own lab in nearby Kailahun.

Though Bangura said he did not personally make any estimates, Kobinger said Bangura told him in July that the outbreak would be over in two or three weeks.

Any suggestion Metabiota wrongly forecast the Ebola epidemic is rejected by Wolfe, who once wrote that his career is focused on creating systems that can accurately detect pandemics early, determine their likely importance, and, with any luck, crush those that have the potential to devastate us.

Wolfe told AP that his company couldnt be held responsible for the predictions of employees seconded to Sierra Leones Health Ministry.

We didnt make forecasts. We loaned individuals to the ministry, Wolfe said. So the notion that somehow its a Metabiota forecast is simply completely inaccurate.

Fellow responders may not have grasped the distinction. On Aug. 11  just three days after WHO had declared the crisis a global emergency  Metabiota employees presented a slideshow to an Ebola task force. Next to a bar chart showing a slowdown in cases were the words: The outbreak is stabilizing.

WHO data specialist Mikiko Senga wasnt persuaded.

This is the kind of report we get from Metabiota epidemiologists, she emailed colleagues from the presentation. They are sending wrong messages. The outbreak is clearly not stabilizing.

It was only in the second half of August that Kenema numbers began falling and, even then, the virus was merely moving to more populated areas.

Nearly two years after the virus was first discovered circulating near its border, Sierra Leone still is not officially Ebola-free.



THEY MESSED UP ON EBOLA

Despite doubts about Metabiotas performance, Wolfes firm has largely been congratulated on its work in West Africa. In December 2014, it won a European Union grant to help validate new tests and treatments for the disease, something a company official said was in recognition of the critical contributions our team has made in supporting the current outbreak.

In 2015, the company raised some $30 million in investment from four U.S. investment firms intended to support Metabiotas efforts to further develop and deliver epidemic risk management worldwide, according to a press release.

Even WHO has publicly credited Metabiota for its work during the outbreak. Months after Senga, one of its employees, complained privately about Metabiotas optimistic predictions in Kenema, she wrote a sunnier account on WHOs website.

The fact that they were already there helped a lot, she wrote in a post called Ebola Diaries. Tulane and Metabiota employees already being established in Kenema made our case investigations and contact tracing work a lot easier, she wrote.

Senga declined comment when reached by AP.

Guillaume Lachenal, a medical historian at Paris Diderot University who has followed Metabiotas work in Africa, said it was indecent of the company to claim Ebola as a success story.

They messed up on Ebola. That can happen, he said. To make a success story out of their Ebola response, thats quite something.
Hail in Laguna Hills. Workers in bucket trucks scrambling to restore power throughout Orange County. An office-building fire in Mission Viejo, sparked by lightning.

And a tree branch slicing into an Anaheim house  sending a family to a motel for the night.

A medley of morning rain, lightning and high winds  and, yes, snow and ice  hit Southern California on Monday, proving a nuisance to some Orange County residents, and to others a welcomed reprieve after one of the driest Februaries on record.

Mondays storm, which blew palm fronds into electrical wires and delayed flights in and out of Los Angeles, will make way for sunshine the rest of the week before more rain hits the region Friday.

This rain helps but is a long way from the Miracle March state water officials say is desperately needed to get back to normal water levels.

Every storm helps, said James Thomas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. But this wasnt a deluge by any means. To see a Miracle March, we would need to see much stronger storms than weve been seeing.

Orange County received a quarter- to a half-inch of rain Monday morning, accompanied with lightning and thunder and high winds from 30 to 40 mph.

By 9 p.m. Monday, San Juan Capistrano had received the largest rainfall, with .55 inches, Laguna Niguel recorded .39 inches and Costa Mesa followed with .32 inches, Thomas said. Light showers are expected to return late Friday into Saturday.

A high surf advisory was forecast until noon Tuesday, with waves reaching as high as 14 feet. For the past week, Orange County lifeguards have warned swimmers with red flags, said Zach Summers, a county lifeguard supervisor.

We make contact with everyone we can who looks like they might go in the water to get a sense of their experience level, Summers said. The water may not look dangerous from the shore, but it is.

On dry land Monday, wind caused problems. At 7 a.m., a large branch broke from a 75-foot-tall pine tree and and crashed through a home in the 10000 block of Rhiems Road in Anaheim, said Capt. Larry Kurtz of the Orange County Fire Authority.

It penetrated the house like a spear, he said.

Wind also left 612 residences in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach without power for about six hours: Palm fronds blew into electrical lines at Talbert Avenue and Newland Street at 11:15 a.m., said Robert Villegas, spokesman for Southern California Edison.

In Buena Park, lightning blew up a transformer, knocking out power for 2,302 customers. Lightning also downed wires in Santa Ana and Fullerton, affecting more than 2,000 customers. By Monday evening, the power was back on in all of those areas.

And farther south, in Mission Viejo, lightning struck an office-building attic in the 26000 block of Crown Valley Parkway around 7 a.m., igniting a fire. While quickly extinguished, the blaze caused an estimated $30,000 in damage, Kurtz said.

Five businesses in the building closed temporarily, but by the afternoon all the businesses (were), well  back in business, Kurtz said.

Los Angeles International Airport lost power around 6 a.m. because of the storm, and had to rely on backup generators. The power came back on in stages, said LAX spokeswoman Nancy Castles, with all of the terminals at full power within the hour.

The storms lightning, heavy rain and winds delayed the arrival and departure of more than 120 flights. Several arriving flights were diverted to Ontario International Airport, where they landed  and then were cleared to touch down at LAX.

A beneficiary of the storm were the San Bernardino Mountains: Some stretches received a blanket of powder 4 inches deep  still meager compared to the Sierra Nevadas 32 to 59 inches in the last three days.

These are very impressive snow totals that will help the snow pack into the spring and help the water supply, said Thomas, the National Weather Services meteorologist. It wont end the drought, but it will certainly put a dent in it.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6979 or chaire@ocregister.com
Heres a roundup of restaurant and retail news from across Orange County. Take a look at the slideshow for more details on each.

Poke: Poke bowl concepts are popping up all over Orange County, and the trend doesnt show signs of stopping.

Here are a few of the many concepts in Orange County:

Poke-Ria Sushi & Ceviche Bowls: The poke bowl chain opened its first location Feb. 10 at 1935 E. 17th St., Suite C, in Santa Ana. The counter service eatery specializes in sushi and ceviche, and it offers counter service.

Fins Poke Fusion: The poke concept will open a location at 513 N. Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton in April. Fins Poke Fusion has a location in Mission Viejo. In August, the restaurant opened after an extensive makeover from a sushi bar called Sushi Zone to become Fins Poke Fusion. It now focuses on poke bowls, macho rolls and fish tacos.

Poke Dot: Poke Dot opened at The Square in Irvine in October. The restaurant offers customizable poke bowls with more than 20 ingredients for diners to choose from, including sushi-grade seafood.

It is next to Twisted Noodles and Jersey Mikes Subs.

North Shore Poke: The poke concept, which also offers sashimi sandwiches and poke tacos, will soon open a location in Costa Mesa. North Shore Poke already has a location in Huntington Beach.

The new shop will be in a Bristol Street strip mall that recently added Creamistry, Capital Noodle and Halal Guys.

MAR: Last year, MAR opened at 4th Street Market, a food hall in downtown Santa Ana. It offers Latin-inspired seafood, including a wide range of poke bowls.

Oke Poke: The popular Chino Hills poke spot will open a location at the Lake Forest Gateway Center. Oke Poke also offers build your own poke bowls. Customers start with a choice of rice, salad or chips then add fish, vegetables and toppings. The restaurant has not set an opening date.

OTHER FOOD, RETAIL NEWS

Dunkin Donuts: A new drive-through Dunkin Donuts that also sells Baskin-Robbins ice cream is expected to open in Foothill Ranch this fall.

Winchells: On Feb. 7, the 200-unit doughnut chain, owned by Yum Yum Donuts, opened a new store at 301 N. Harbor Blvd. in La Habra. The chain plans to open five to six stores in the coming year. However, none are planned in Orange County. The La Habra store is at 301 N. Harbor.

Raising Canes: Louisiana-based Raising Canes opened its third California restaurant Tuesday in Orange. The fast-food chain sells made-to-order fried chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, cole slaw, soda and sweet tea.

The Orange restaurant, at 2249 N. Tustin St., is among three restaurants in Orange County.

Rekindle Caffe: The shops coffee and pastries are coming soon to 434 N. Tustin St., according to its Facebook page.

IHOP: An IHOP at 707 N. Tustin St. has closed and reopened as Sammys Stack House.

Pie Hole: The shop for hand-held savory and sweet pies is expected to open Old Towne Orange in April.

Blakelys Chicken: A rotisserie chicken restaurant is replacing Freebirds in Orange on Katella and Tustin.

Smart & Final: In mid-February, grocer Smart & Final launched a private-label charitable campaign, First Street First Percent. The first 1 percent of net profits from the sale of the First Street private label products in California, Nevada and Arizona now go to the Smart & Final Charitable Foundation to support local nonprofits.

Pie-Not: Aussie-style bakery Pie-Not products are being sold in Whole Foods locations in Orange County and San Diego. Whole Foods started carrying three savory pies from the Costa Mesa-based brand Feb. 22.

Jerrys Wood-Fired Dogs: Nearly 13 years after opening the first Jerrys Wood-Fired Dogs in Santa Ana, founder Jerry OConnell is calling it quits. Facing flat sales in recent years, the Ohio transplant said its been hard to keep everything afloat. As a result, he recently closed two Jerrys locations  one at the Market Place in Irvine and the flagship restaurant in Santa Ana.

Irvine Co. officials said they have not found a replacement for the Jerrys at the Market Place, which closed Jan. 31.

Fashion Island: The Easter Bunny will be visiting Fashion Island through March 26.

Sees Candies: The confectioner will open a shop Friday in Foothill Ranch at 26746 Portola Parkway, Suite 4C.

Dollar Rows: Discount retailer Dollar Rows will hold grand opening events Friday and March 12. The grand opening will have a ribbon cutting and city officials present. The store, at 1536 E. Katella Ave., behind Norms in the Tustin Katella shopping center, first opened in Orange in September.

Send any retail updates to hmadans@ocregister.com and any restaurant news to nluna@ocregister.com

Tomoya Shimura contributed to this report.
The second round in a one-two winter weather punch was due to strike Orange County at dawn Monday, bringing cooler temperatures, slick roads, brief thunderstorms and possibly small hail.

This storm should last through the day and into the evening before breaking up, said James Thomas, forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego.

He predicted a good soaking, with some wind, possibly a half-inch of rain during the day. Highs will be in the upper 50s to low 60s with sustained 20-30 mph winds  strongest along the coast.

The first storm, which passed through the region Saturday night and Sunday morning, produced two-tenths to two-thirds of an inch of rain around most of Orange County, with the highest rainfall atop Santiago Peak (1.42 inches).

As the new storm heads eastward tMonday night, warmer temperatures will prevail until the next chance of rain arrives late Friday through Saturday, Thomas said.

The county should see mostly sunny skies Tuesday through Thursday, with highs reaching 73 degrees Tuesday, 77 Wednesday and 78 Thursday, the weather service said.

Friday could reach 74 with a slight chance of rain developing in the evening and a chance of rain lingering Saturday morning with a mix of sun and clouds. Saturdays high should be in the low 70s.

At the beaches, Surfline.com is forecasting sets of waves as high as 10 feet Monday, with poor conditions due to the strong winds. The surf figures to gradually ease off and clean up Tuesday and Wednesday, but county health officials warn that elevated bacteria levels in the ocean from urban runoff could last up to three days after the rain ends.

Staff writer Greg Mellen contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
Nancy Reagan looked out the window of her home in Pacific Palisades at about 7 a.m. one day in 1966 to see a young man camped on the back lawn.

Who the heck are you? she asked.

The trespasser was a young, overly eager future congressman: Dana Rohrabacher.

A teenager, he told her he had vital information to share with her husband, who was running for governor of California.

Nancy Reagan, Rohrabacher recalled, sent him packing.

The story evokes how other Republican leaders remembered the former first lady, who died on Sunday in her Bel Air home at the age of 94.

She was a dominant person, said Dick Ackerman, a former California state senator representing inland Orange County and state GOP leader from 2004  2008. Even though she was small in stature, she was a force.

Nancy Reagan felt her husband was sometimes too gracious and giving of his time, said those who knew her.

She was a fierce protector because he was such a nice guy, said Michael Schroeder, state co-chairman and political director for presidential candidate Ted Cruz, and former California Republican Party chairman.

U.S. Rep. Rohrabacher, at the time 17 or 18, said he went to Reagans home to share what he thought was vital policy strategy in the gubernatorial race. After Nancy shooed him away, he said, she must have reasoned that if she let the interloper take up her husbands time, he would miss breakfast or be behind schedule.

She always made sure he had his breakfast, Rohrabacher said.

As the deflated teenager trudged down the driveway that morning, he recalled Ronald Reagan came out of the house half-dressed with shaving cream still on his face. Rohrabacher then broke into an impersonation of Ronald Reagan.

He said, Well, young man, if you can spend the night on my back lawn, I can spend some time with you.

Reflected Rohrabacher, I think Nancy balanced (Ronald) Reagan.

Nancy Reagan was the presidents steady rock, particularly when he faced immense criticism, said John Eastman, the Henry Salvatori professor at Chapman University.

She deserved much of the credit for rallying Reagan to remain in politics after he lost his bid to become the Republican presidential nominee in 1976, said Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County.

There would have been no Reagan revolution, or presidency, Whitaker said, without her by his side.

Many also credited Nancy Reagan with bringing sophistication and style to the White House.

Soon after moving in, Nancy Reagan set about making extensive renovations and changes, for which she was criticized by many. In particular, a $200,000 set of china was deemed excessive. However, her supporters said the money and the china were donated.

The Reagans brought a level of class to the office that had rarely been seen, Eastman said. It was the height of elegance and class, but without pretentiousness.

In photos, Nancy Reagan frequently looked adoringly at her husband. Several people in Orange County said it was no act for the cameras.

She always said her life began when she met and married Ronald Reagan. But sometimes her love came across in chance moments.

John Lewis, an Orange County pollster and political consultant, remembers being in the kitchen at a party for Ronald Reagan before he became president, when Nancy Reagan walked in.

She looked my way and said, Wheres Ronnie? Lewis recalled. There was something in that moment that was so tender that it stuck with me.

Schroeder got a similar feeling when Ronald Reagan would tell a story about how Nancy Reagan would keep bananas handy at night so that if she became hungry, she could eat and not disturb her husband as he slept.

She and the president had what everyone thought of as an idyllic partnership, said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party and publisher of the Flash Report.

When Fleischman was younger, he got a special peek at the Reagan romance.

The Reagans had just left the White House and were in their first day back home in Bel Air. Somehow Fleischman had been recruited to carry and unload luggage for the Reagans at their house.

As Fleischman was departing he looked over his shoulder and glimpsed the couple on their patio.

(Ronald Reagan) was lifting her up like a leaf and they were spinning and laughing, Fleischman said. They were clearly as in love as they had ever been, even on the day after his presidency.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., won the Puerto Rico Republican primary on Sunday, giving his presidential campaign a badly needed boost on a weekend already mired by losses.

It wasnt clear how many delegates Rubio had when the Associated Press called the race for the senator on Sunday afternoon. He traveled to Puerto Rico on Saturday for a series of last-minute appearances in hopes of shoring up support. The win is likely to Rubio all of the islands 23 delegates as he seeks at least to stall Donald Trumps fight to become the Republican presidential nominee.

Puerto holds a winner-take-most primary, meaning that some delegates may go to runners-up, depending on the final vote tally.

The win came after a miserable Saturday for Rubio. He placed third behind Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas, in contests held in Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana and fourth in Maine behind Trump, Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Trump still leads the pack with 382 delegates, while Cruz has 300 delegates, according to an AP tally. Rubio will have 151 delegates if he wins every available slot in Puerto Rico. At least 1,237 delegates are needed o secure the Republican presidential nomination.

In Puerto Rico on Saturday, Rubio campaigned in Toa Baja and brought along some star power: Actor Carlos Ponce, his former brother-in-law, called the senator a man of deep faith who is going to be an excellent representative and president, according to local news reports.

Idaho and Michigan will hold primaries on Tuesday. Rubio was campaigning in Idaho on Sunday and plans to visit the Tampa and Orlando areas on Monday as he begins his bid to win the winner-take-all Florida GOP Primary on March 15.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth that has only nonvoting representation in Congress and uses different political parties than Democrats and Republicans to run island affairs. Puerto Ricans may participate in the Democratic and Republican primaries, but they cannot vote in Novembers presidential election. But residents who move to the mainland United States are eligible to vote in the presidential election.

Millions of Puerto Ricans have fled the island in recent years amid its deteriorating economic situation  and most have relocated to Rubios native Florida. The exodus has been sparked in part by a $72 billion debt that Congress, the Treasury and bondholders are grappling with how to address and that has crippled the local economy. A growing number of Zika virus cases also are likely to affect tourism, a vital source of revenue on an island with 3.5 million residents.

Puerto Rican leaders are seeking Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, but federal law bars the commonwealth from doing so. The Obama administration and Congress seem to have moved away from legislation that would allow leaders to file for such protection, but leaders continue pushing for such changes to avoid a drawn-out debt restructuring.

Rubio has declined to support Chapter 9 protection.

This year alone, with all the problems theyre having, they barely cut their budget from one year to the next, he said recently when asked about such protection. So, I think the leadership on the island has to show their willingness to get their house in order and put in place measures 1 / 8to 3 / 8 allow the economy there to grow again.

Rubio added that the leaders in charge there now are doing a terrible job.
LATAKIA, Syria (AP)  At first glance, the Mediterranean port of Latakia doesnt look like a city at war. Its streets are jammed with traffic, stylish women chat under palm trees, and idyllic orange groves stretch for miles.

But the signs become apparent on closer inspection: a man in camouflage shopping with a Kalashnikov slung on his shoulder, the occasional military checkpoint, and rows of unfinished cottages and apartment buildings whose construction was interrupted by Syrias 5-year-old civil war.

For a group of international reporters on a five-day trip to Syria organized by the Russian Foreign and Defense ministries, the contrasts were stark.

From our military-escorted bus, we rode through a relaxed and sun-splashed Latakia, located in the heart of President Bashar Assads Alawite homeland.

We passed burned-out tanks, armored personnel carriers and a shattered bus in areas of recent battles.

And we came under fire in a mountain village, with shells falling around us as we scrambled up a street to an armored truck and safety.



Portraits of Assad and his father, Hafez, looked down from billboards, walls and windows on Latakias busy streets, packed shops and cafes serving kebabs and humus.

But the front lines of the civil war that since 2011 has killed a quarter-million people and displaced half of Syrias population were only about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) away.

As our group approached those lines, half-finished construction projects gave way to houses damaged by fighting. Many had walls riddled by shrapnel, a missing balcony or a roof blown off. In some places, cardboard replaced missing walls, and clothes hung out to dry across empty sections  signs of life amid the devastation.

Troops at checkpoints appeared increasingly tense as we got closer to the fighting, their look purposeful and fingers on triggers.

Our bus was escorted across central Hama province by a pickup truck with a heavy machine gun mounted on top, with a soldier in a black bandanna scouring the surrounding landscape.

At an intersection outside Hama, we transferred to armored trucks of the Russian military  a clear indication of the danger ahead. Reporters clumsily climbed up the ladders, and we continued under Russian army escort.

We were greeted in the village of Maarzaf, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the city of Hama, by scores of heavily armed men from the private militia of Sheikh Ahmad Mubarak, an influential leader in the province. We saw him sign a deal pledging to respect the cease-fire that began Feb. 27.

Some of his troops were in their early teens, and they looked proud of their weapons and fatigues.

When a Russian truck unloaded humanitarian aid, the sheikhs troops mixed with the residents reaching for candy, and one half-seriously loaded his rifle to fend off some particularly pushy boys.

But there was more curiosity than danger. A female press officer from the Russian Defense Ministry instantly became the focus of attention, with Syrian men elbowing each other to get a photo taken with her.



A visit to mountain villages near the border with Turkey was more harrowing.

Most of the homes in Ghunaymiyah, recently seized by the Syrian army from militants, were empty shells, their windows and doors missing and walls riddled by shrapnel. Residents who returned to inspect the damage reacted with shock.

A few knelt to pray at a Christian church, its walls half-ruined and the floor covered with rubble and broken glass. The devastation seemed incongruous with the blossoming trees and bright blue sky.

We then went to nearby Kinsibba, which sits on a steep hill overlooking a strategic road leading to Idlib and Aleppo, Syrias onetime commercial capital that has been the focus of a recent government offensive backed by intense Russian airstrikes.

An indifferent-looking Syrian general said the cease-fire was largely holding despite some shelling by militants of the Nusra Front, al-Qaidas branch in Syria, which is excluded from the cease-fire. The Russian officers werent so calm, and they nervously urged reporters not to stand at the edge of a cliff overlooking the hills controlled by the militants.

Reporters paid little attention, snapping pictures of the idyllic landscape and later moving down a street to chat with residents.

Suddenly, an explosion and a puff of gray smoke rose from the mountain slope about 200 meters (yards) below. At first, I didnt understand what had happened, but a Russian officer next to me immediately yelled: All down! We are under fire!

As I tried to hide behind a nearby low concrete barrier on the street, I saw another puff of smoke from a nearby explosion and reached for my camera. Thats when another blast forced me to get down.

More shells fell, and I realized the next one might land on us.

A Russian APC rushed forward to shield us from shrapnel. Under its cover, we ran up the steep hill and around a corner to where our armored trucks were parked.

I felt I was losing my breath after running in my heavy flak jacket, and others stumbled and fell, with the Russian troops helping them up.

We frantically climbed aboard, the nervous Russian officers shouted our names to make sure all were safe, and the trucks sped away over a bumpy road. We could see little through the small armored windows, and the feeling of danger was intense.

But the trucks soon reached a spot where our bus was waiting for us  a sign the immediate peril had eased. Medics treated those who scraped their arms and legs after falling on the asphalt.



On another day, a Russian military plane flew us to the capital of Damascus, where we saw entire neighborhoods wiped out by fighting, with barely a single apartment building intact. Just a few miles away, however, other neighborhoods bore no sign of damage, with streets filled with traffic and busy shops.

We were taken to al-Tall, on the northern outskirts, where hundreds of people gathered on the streets. Children chanted Bashar! Portraits of Assad and army heroes were everywhere. The atmosphere seemed relaxed, but Syrian military snipers patrolled the rooftops.

We went farther north to the Christian hamlet of Maaloula, which has changed hands several times in the war. Set into a mountainside with breathtaking views, the town is overlooked by the Catholic monastery of St. Sergius, locally known as Mar Sarkis and dating back to Byzantine times. A narrow gorge leads to the Greek Orthodox convent of St. Takla, a place of worship since the early days of Christianity.

Some people in Maaloula and other nearby towns still speak a version of Aramaic, the language Jesus is believed to have used.

The sites were badly damaged by jihadi militants. Their walls were blackened by fire and the frescoes damaged by bullets and shrapnel. Ancient icons were stolen.



At Hemeimeem Air Base, the facility used by the Russians in western Syria near Latakia, the military said its warplanes mostly have been grounded since the cease-fire, except for a few missions to the northeastern province of Raqqa, controlled by the Islamic State group. The relative calm contrasted sharply to a previous visit to the base in January, when Russian jets were taking off and landing around the clock.

Since Moscow began its air campaign at the end of September to help its longtime ally Assad, there have been more than 6,000 missions. The bombardment has allowed the Syrian army to reclaim ground in several key areas, most recently around Aleppo.



Our last trip was to Al-Issawiyah, a village 15 kilometers south of the border with Turkey, for a delivery of humanitarian aid. Most of the residents are Turkmen, an ethnic minority that Turkey sees as its kin.

The village has been spared fighting, and unlike other we were taken, there were few portraits of Assad and no chants of support.

The Syrian security agents who accompanied our group seemed nervous and urged us to stay together to avoid being abducted.

Still, residents said the Syrian army was protecting them, and some expressed sympathy for the Russian pilot killed by militants while parachuting from his plane that was shot down by a Turkish jet in November.
SEOUL, South Korea  The only North Korean defector in South Korea who has publicly said she wants to return to her home country, insisting that she arrived here by mistake, applied for political asylum at the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul on Monday.

The woman, Kim Ryen Hi, 46, walked into the embassy and asked it to accept her as a refugee and to help her return to North Korea, said Christian pastors who accompanied her. More than two hours later, South Korean police officers, who entered the embassy at its request, escorted her out.

I told embassy officials that I wanted to stay in until they gave me asylum, but they insisted that I should wait outside until their government makes a decision, Kim said after emerging from the building.

Breaking into tears before a group of reporters in front of the embassy, she said she feared that her request would be turned down, given her unwelcoming reception.

At one point, she rushed back to the closed embassy gate and pounded on it, yelling, I just want to go home to my old parents, to my daughter, to my husband.

The South Korean police said they planned to summon Kim to investigate whether she had stayed in the embassy illegally.

Our officials are trying to identify what is the problem, why she entered here, Thuy Tran, a secretary to the Vietnamese ambassador, said by phone.

The episode Monday was the latest twist in Kims life. More than 28,700 North Koreans have defected to the South since a deadly famine in their country in the mid-1990s. But she is the first to have entered a foreign embassy in Seoul in an attempt to obtain passage back.

Kim, who was a dressmaker in the North, says that while on a trip to China in 2011, she met smugglers who promised to take her to South Korea, where they said she could make a lot of money quickly before returning home.

But as soon as she arrived in the South, she demanded to return home. She said she realized that she had been cheated by the smugglers. With the help of sympathetic Christian pastors, she began a public campaign last year asking the South Korean government to let her go back to the North.

After learning of her story, North Korea also demanded her repatriation.

South Korea maintains that Kim became a South Korean citizen because she signed papers of defection before and after her arrival here. Under South Korean law, it is illegal to help a citizen flee to the North.

The South Korean government did not immediately comment on Kims attempt to seek asylum at the Vietnamese Embassy.
WASHINGTON  As President Barack Obama prepares to host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a state visit on Thursday, Washington states leaders in Congress have been busy preparing their wish lists.

Trudeau, the leader of Canadas Liberal Party, is new on the job, having been sworn in on Nov. 4. His election ended nearly a decade of conservative-dominated politics, and his visit to Washington will be the first by a Canadian leader in two decades.

For Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer, hopes run high that Trudeaus visit will kick-start the long-stalled Columbia River Treaty, which governs how the two nations divide the water supply from the 1,243-mile-long river, the longest in the Pacific Northwest.

The states two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, want to make it easier to go through border crossings into Canada by expanding preclearance operations, allowing more people to pass through customs inspections before they travel.

And the White House has its own priorities, with climate change, energy, security and economic issues among them.

Shortly after Trudeaus election, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration was particularly optimistic that the new prime minister would cooperate on climate change, noting that Trudeau had focused on the issue in his campaign and that Obama certainly would welcome the opportunity to cooperate on that priority.

That could be good news for backers of the Columbia River Treaty, an agreement that created a vast system of dams for flood control and electricity for the Northwest.

President Dwight Eisenhower signed the treaty with Canada as one of his last official acts in January 1961, when global warming was not a public concern. But now scientists predict that rising temperatures will continue to reduce the snowpack and glacier mass in mountains, resulting in less water during seasonal runoffs.

State officials fear the changes will mean fewer fish and damage the rivers ability to feed the turbines that have produced billions of dollars worth of hydropower for both Canada and the United States.

Members of Congress from Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and Montana have been pushing the Obama administration for the past two years to wrap up a renegotiated treaty, without success. That includes Cantwell, Murray and the entire Idaho delegation: Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Republican Reps. Mike Simpson and Raul Labrador.

It has been a little frustrating because this is a very important treaty for our region of the country, Newhouse said.

Last month, Newhouse met with Brian Doherty, the State Departments lead negotiator, who was just assigned to the case late last year. Newhouse described him as a very capable individual but said hes only getting started, putting a team in place and familiarizing himself with the issues.

The meetings with Canadians are very preliminary at this point, so the real meaningful negotiations havent begun, Newhouse said. It was very frustrating that the administration had not seen fit to engage in the process, but at least now we can say things have started.

On Tuesday, Cantwell and Murray introduced a bill that would expand pre-clearance operations at border stops between Canada and the U.S. And the senators said they expect the issue to be discussed when Trudeau comes to Washington.

Cantwell, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said speeding up border crossings would help both travelers and Washington states economy, making it easier to move the states products, everything from fish to fruit to technology.

In Washington state, trade with Canada results in more than $25 billion in business each year, accounting for more than 223,000 jobs, according to Cantwell. Canada now ranks as the top export destination for 35 states.

Canada and Washington state have something else in common, too: Trudeau has promised to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide, following the lead of Washington state, Colorado, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C.

But that is one issue that is not on Thursdays agenda.
PARIS  The European Union and Turkey were locked Monday in high-stakes bargaining over Europes proposals to send non-Syrian migrants back across the Aegean in attempts to ease the continents deepening humanitarian crisis.

The EU moves come amid a worrisome backdrop: More than 13,000 desperate refugees and others stranded in makeshift camps at the barricaded border with Macedonia, and the human tide into Europe likely to grow as the weather warms.

But Turkey  the pathway for more than a million asylum seekers, economic migrants and others in the past year  has set a high bar for agreeing to the plan, which was under discussion in Brussels.

At stake is billions of dollars in aid and revived talks over Turkeys decades-long push to join the European Union, where opponents of Turkish membership have cited many potential obstacles including crackdowns on free expression and dissent.

The deal, originally proposed in November, reflects an increasing desire across Europe to curb the flow of the 1.2 million migrants who arrived on the continent last year  even if it means resettling them in a place many view as unsafe for asylum.

According to Human Rights Watch, Turkey does not provide adequate protection for refugees and has frequently sent asylum seekers back to Syria. Although it has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, Turkey is the only country in the world that recognizes refugee status only for citizens of certain countries. Only Syrians among the current crop of refugees can claim such status.

Europes desperate need for Turkeys assistance has placed the country in a prime position for negotiation.

In what seemed like a test for European leaders, the Turkish government Friday seized control of Zaman, the countrys largest newspaper. Although the European Union considers press freedom a fundamental right, European leaders may look the other way if Ankara agrees to help.

Its a slap in the face, one senior EU official told the Reuters news agency on Sunday. Turkish President Recep Erdogan, the official said, wants obviously to show that he can do what he wants.

In Brussels on Monday, French President Franois Hollande insisted that Europes reliance on Turkeys participation did not mean the EU condoned restrictions on the press. Cooperating with Turkey doesnt mean we should not be extremely vigilant about press freedom, he said. And I am.

Yet if Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accepts the proposed resettlement of all migrants not in need of international protections, Europe, in return, is primed to expedite Turkeys accession to the European Union, a long-desired aim.

We are not here just to talk about the migrants, Osman Sert, Davutoglus spokesman, said Monday. Turkeys accession to the EU is an issue for us here.

Davutoglu surprised delegates in Brussels with a proposal that offered more than the European Union had initially asked but demanded more in return. In addition to taking back non-Syrian migrants denied asylum in Europe, Turkey also promised to take back migrants intercepted in its territorial waters. It also pledged to crack down harder on smuggling groups.

In return, diplomats said, it requested more far money in aid, expedited visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in Europe, and accelerated deliberations on its accession to the bloc. EU diplomats seemed willing to compromise on existing visa restrictions, provided that Turkey change its visa policies for Islamic states and introduce biometric passports.

Reuters initially reported that the exact amount Turkey requested was as large 20 billion euros, but by Monday afternoon both Turkey and the EU had agreed to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in addition to the existing 3 billion euros Europe had already promised in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Speaking from Turkey on Monday, Erdogan complained that although four months have passed since the EU promised aid, no money has yet been received.

My prime minister is currently in Brussels, Erdogan said. I hope he will return with the money. In Brussels, Sert reiterated that the money was not for Turkey but for Syrians in Turkey.

Leaders of the European Union have come under significant pressure to manage the largest European immigration crisis since the end of World War II. After more than one million people arrived by sea last year, about 2,000 people are arriving in Greece from Turkey every day. On Sunday, local media reported, at least 25 people drowned off the Turkish coast attempting to reach Greece.

The summit in Brussels comes just days after Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, appealed to migrants directly: I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe.

Still grappling with a staggering debt crisis, Greece has neither the resources nor the infrastructure to shelter the constant stream of migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea. More than 10,000 migrants are now at the countrys northern border with Macedonia, desperate to pass through the Balkans and into northern and western Europe.

Although European Union officials proposed to earmark 700 million euros ($760 million) in humanitarian aid last Wednesday, individual member states have until now largely been left to their own devices. Some, such as Germany, have re-introduced border controls. Others, such as Croatia, have gone so far as to threaten military deployment against migrants.

European leaders worry that too much EU criticism of Turkish authoritarianism might jeopardize the deal, but refugee advocacy groups, such as the United Nations Refugee Agency and Amnesty International, have criticized its legality.

Nothing in Turkish law prohibits officials from placing those who have fled other conflict zones  such as Iraq and Afghanistan  in detention camps or even from deporting them altogether.

Many European officials, however, face electorates increasingly dissatisfied with the migrant situation in their home countries. Most notably, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will face regional elections this coming Sunday. She, among others, is keen to see a semblance of a solution devised by then.
As Dunkin Donuts expands its footprint in Southern California, Winchells is not worried about the invasion.

On Feb. 7, the 200-unit doughnut chain, owned by Yum Yum Donuts, opened a new store on Harbor Boulevard in La Habra. Winchells gutted and remodeled the store, which was previously a Winchells more than 20 years ago, said Mel Allison, director of quality control.

After operating as an independent doughnut shop for several years, Winchells had the opportunity to reclaim the space. Like all Winchells stores, the La Habra shop is open 24 hours and serves breakfast all day.

The City of Industry-based Winchells, which will celebrate its 68th anniversary later this year, has spent the last few years expanding its menu beyond doughnuts, Allison said. The chain sells breakfast sandwiches, Frappuccino-style Chilla beverages and fresh squeezed juices.

Juice flavors include beet, orange and carrot. One of its newer additions is a green juice, a mix of spinach, celery, pineapple, and oranges. The chains croissant and bagel sandwiches, made with hand sliced deli meats, are available all day, Allison said. The chain is also switching soon from Styrofoam coffee cups to paper cups.

The chain plans to open five to six stores in the coming year. However, none are planned in Orange County. The La Habra store is at 301 N. Harbor.

Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com
In an extreme attempt to prevent cheating during a written exam, Indian Army in the state of Bihar has asked over 1,000 applicants to strip to their underwear and take the test outdoors.

Images published by Indian media show the naked men in an open field trying to complete the test by holding the sheets of paper on their thighs or on the ground, under the watchful eyes of uniformed supervisors. We were frisked and then ushered into an enclosure. Then the army officers asked us to remove all clothes except our underwear, said 21-year-old Harishambhu Kumar. I felt awkward, but the army people told us it was to check cheating, so I got used to it.

Photo: ANI/Twitter

The bizarre army recruitment exam took place on February 28 and has drawn criticism from the states high court, which has sought an explanation from Indias Ministry of Defense after a lawyer filed a petition against the army. The decision to ask candidates to appear for the exams without a shirt, trouser or vest is simply bizarre, lawyer Dinu Kumar said. Those who showed reluctance to remove their clothes were asked to leave. It was insulting.

Photo: Gopi Mishra

Officers responsible for the outrageous requirement dont seem to remorseful, though. Colonel V.S. Godhra, director of the Army Regional Office in Muzaffarpur, said the over 1,000 candidates were asked to strip to their underwear and sit in an open field to prevent them from hiding any cheat sheets in their clothes or under the desks and chairs. I am entitled to take all precautions necessary. In the past year, there have been two instances of candidates hiding cheating slips and mobile phones in their vests and undergarments, he was quoted as saying, by the Press Trust of India. We did not insult anybody or subjected anyone to cruelty. No examinee complained, so why outsiders are making a hue and cry over the matter.

To be fair, though, Bihar is famous for having a serious cheating problem during important exams. Last year, local police arrested around 1,000 aspiring officers who admitted to having paid other individuals to take the exams in their place. And lets not forget the local practice of scaling school walls to offer friends and relatives cheat sheets during year-end exams.

Im not saying that this justifies the local officers decisions. However, they probably felt that drastic measures were required to prevent cheating.

Sources: Indian Express, NDTV, The Wall Street Journal
Steinreich Communications has been appointed agency of record for Mexico luxury property Kore Tulum Retreat and Spa Resort.

Located near the village of Tulum in Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula, the Kore Tulum Retreat and Spa Resort is an all-inclusive, adults-only beachfront hotel and resort that offers seven villas and 94 suites, as well as two on-site restaurants, fitness classes and organic spa treatments. The Mayan Riviera property is owned by Cancun-based luxury resort group Parnassus Resorts.

As PR partner, Steinreich will now represent Kore Tulum in the global media, and will focus its communications efforts on international media relations. The account will be managed by Steinreich's New York travel and tourism team.

Fort Lee, NJ-headquartered Steinreich holds offices in New York, New Jersey, Washington, London, Los Angeles, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv.
I lived in Baja for 15 years and raced off road there for 11 years. So I figure I can speak with some authority on this subject.



There have been some frightening headlines lately regarding Baja. The big one has been about the people losing their homes in Punta Banda and the other eyeball-snapper was about the un-insured American who had a traffic accident and was held for 18 hours.



I've read the headlines in the U.S. papers about both things and have watched the TV news and heard much about these things on the radio as well. Much of what I've heard has been completely wrong, and the media people reporting it were uninformed. Recently, I spent a considerable amount of time with a Mexican business professional friend of mine, helping him prepare a newsletter for his insurance customers. In the process, we explored Mexican law to a great extent, spent time with various Baja agencies and officials and got some real facts. So, if you want to learn something, read on. Be warned, much of what you will read will be on the "dry" side, but this piece is designed to inform, not entertain.

THE PUNTA BANDA HOME NIGHTMARE

About 300 Americans living in Punta Banda (a beachside community just south of Ensenada) were having huge problems. They're being evicted from their home. As I mentioned, I lived in Baja for 15 years. I have purchased three homes and sold two with no problems whatsoever. The reason my purchases (and sales) were no problem, is that I found out what was required (by Mexican law) to acquire property without a hassle.



Before I even looked for a home in Baja, I spent an hour with an American who was a Mexican lawyer. The cost was $100. I then spent an hour with a good Mexican attorney, who verified what I had been told by the first attorney. They cost was $20. All told, it was time and money well spent.

THE FEDERAL ZONE

You've heard that no Americans can own beachfront property in Mexico. Guess what? No one - including Mexican citizens - can own land in the Federal Zone. The Zone is the land that is 20 meters from mean-average high tide; about 66 feet. In other words, if you drew a line in the sand where the average high tide was, and then took another measurement 20 meters back from that, all that land cannot be owned by anyone - period.

You can, however, use the land for a guaranteed period of time with a Federal Zone Concession. It will cost you an application and processing fee, a monthly fee, and a renewal fee whenever the term for the Concession has expired. The average fee will be between $3500 and $5000 and will depend on the amount of land. The average fee will be about $70 every two months.

The reason I know about Federal Zone Concessions is that part of my first house was right on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and allegedly in the Federal Zone. Allegedly? Well, in 1994 (could be wrong on the year) a little known law was passed that exempted property from the Federal Zone if the land was on an angle - or cliff - more than about 30 degrees. The reasoning was that you could not reasonably be expected to utilize land on a steep cliff. This ruling had no effect whatsoever on people whose land was on a normal, flat beach. In fact, many homes in Baja are split on both normal land and Federal Zone land.

LAND OWNERSHIP AND BANK TRUSTS

No foreigner can own land in Mexico (corporations excepted) that's within approximately 30 miles from the border, or the coastline. To get around this barrier, Mexico has come up with a Bank Trust. Here's how it works:

 You select the property you want and contact a Mexican bank.

 They do all the paperwork (with the help of a notary publico) and make sure the title to the property is free and clear, with no leins or encumbrances.

 They charge you a one-time fee for the trust, which varies, depending on the value of the property. Figure about $4000 for a nice house.

 There's a yearly fee of about $250 to $300 to maintain the trust.

 You get a title called a Fidecomiso that is a legal binding document.

 The bank is the registered owner and you are the beneficiary of the property. You can live in it, or sell it, or even rent it out if you want.

 You get all the benefits.

 The Trust is good for 50 years, and is easily renewable for another 50, and another after that.

 You can leave the house to your kids (or anybody else) if you die.

 You are protected with a bank trust and people do not lose their homes when they have a bank trust.

 In effect, the responsibility for a clean hassle-free title (trust) is with the bank. It's up to them and that's what they charge you for.

 This is the way to acquire property in Baja.



NOW, THE WRONG WAY!

 The worst way to acquire property in Baja is to rent it.

 The next worst way is to lease it.

 The longest a lease is legal in Mexico is one day less than 10 years.

 Any lease longer than 10 years is illegal and does not have to be honored.

 All the stuff you've heard over the years about 33-year and 99-year leases is simply not valid. Sure, people have made deals over the years with Mexican landowners for ultra-long leases and have had no problems. It's because they were dealing with an honorable person who lived up to the lease. However, you must be aware that the long-term leases are no more binding than a handshake.

 If you rent or buy land in Mexico, you must have some sort of a resident permit, normally an FM-3. Therefore, even if you bought land and then let your FM-3 expire, you lose your right to that land until you renew it.



SO WHAT HAPPENED IN PUNTA BANDA?

The people who bought (?) the land in Punta Banda violated nearly every rule I just pointed out. Not one of them acquired a Bank Trust! In addition, they did the following:

 Many of them rented land, then built homes on that land.

 Many of them signed long-term leases.

 It was common knowledge that the land they "acquired" was in dispute, and had been in dispute for a very long time. One family had a legal claim to the land, yet the land had been give to an "ejido" (workers cooperative) group.

 Why anyone would build a home on leased or rented land, knowing that the courts were fighting over the ownership, puzzles me greatly.

 In fact, one former US attorney, retired, rented a lot in Punta Banda, built a home on the lot, and is now complaining that the real landowners want him to leave the rented lot so they can sell it. The court recently decided on the rightful owners.

 These people "acquired" the land at a really low cost. That's how they got sucked in on the deal. The price was just too good to turn down.

 Some of them put a fortune into building a home on rented lots with illegal leases.

While I feel genuinely sorry for the plight of these people, they didn't do their homework when coming to a foreign country. And now they're paying the price. Would they use this approach if they retired to Germany, or France, or Italy? Think about it: You're moving to a foreign country to live and you did not take the time to learn what you need to know! In the U.S., no one would think about even buying a car without getting a clear title, and these folks built luxury homes on rented and leased lots.





MEXICAN INSURANCE

There's been a huge amount of controversy regarding Mexican insurance lately, with the headline -gathering accident of a few years ago. Rumors are everywhere and no one seems to know just what your insurance covers, and what it DOES NOT cover.

THE FACTS

 If you purchase Mexican insurance here, or on the U.S. side, chances are your "normal" liability policy covers only your car against third parties. This means that if you hit someone and it's your fault, the other party will be covered for damages to their vehicle and for medical.

 If you have full coverage, the third party will be covered, as will your vehicle and your occupants.

 When you use a toll road in Baja, you are issued a receipt. Keep this, as it gives you third party property damage protection and medical coverage for you and those in your vehicle. Please note that this toll receipt does not guarantee you legal council, or post a bond for you, in case of a felony accident.

 In the highly publicized recent Kraft accident, Mr. Kraft DID NOT HAVE MEXICAN INSURANCE when he had the serious accident. He only had the toll receipt, which protected him his occupants and the third party with medical insurance.

 Under Mexican law, if any person in the accident (either party) receives a major injury (one that would not be healed in two weeks), the accident then BECOMES A FELONY.

Right now, people are paranoid about coming to Baja. But this need not be the case. You simply must take the proper precautions, which include:

1. Get Mexican insurance.

2. Make sure that the insurance you purchase has legal aid, which includes attorney fees and bond posting.

3. We checked with Instant Mexico Auto Insurance (a popular insurance spot in San Ysidro, http://www.instant-mex-auto-insur.com/) and they told us that it cost only a few bucks per day extra to get the legal/bond coverage. If you buy full coverage insurance from them, the legal/bond coverage is included with the package.

4. So, if you plan to purchase basic liability (the minimum), you should add the legal/bond to protect yourself completely.

5. If you are currently living in Baja and have your insurance already, it has the legal/bond coverage you need if you're dealing with a good agent. I use Jorge Cuadros, who makes sure that all of his customers get the right stuff. His office is in Rosarito and the phone is 011-52-661-21295. Jorge will even take your insurance order over the phone so you don't have to stop before the border when crossing. I've known Jorge (George) for many years and he's a straight shooter. Keep that number handy if you have some special needs, like bringing in a boat or RV.

6. If you're going to race in Baja, or just ride off-road for fun, get the full coverage.
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